Counselling session held for addict jail inmates
Amritsar, July 10
With a view to eradicate the problem of drug addiction,Swami Vivekananda Drug De-addiction Centre today organised a programme at Amritsar Central Jail.

Intoxicant powder seized from visitor to jail
Amritsar, July 10
The Amritsar jail authorities today seized around 3.5 gm of intoxicant powder from a visitor who had come to meet a jail inmate. He had concealed the contraband, wrapped in a polythene bag, in his rectum.

Congress looks askance at selling of govt properties, mayor defends move
Amritsar, July 10
Lashing out at the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, the Opposition today questioned its policy of selling government properties to generate funds.

Naujwan Sabha seeks action against archaeologist
Amritsar, July 10
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha, Punjab and Haryana, today demanded stringent action against archaeologist Moinuddin Farooq for allegedly giving ‘irresponsible’ statements regarding Kaliayanwala Khuh martyrs.

Amritsar, July 10
A young couple was brutally murdered by several armed assailants in Kammoke village falling under the Baba Bakala subdivision area of the district here late last night.

The deceased were identified as Guriqbal Singh (30) and his wife Kirandeep Kaur (28). Bachitar Singh, brother of Guriqbal, however, managed to escape from the spot in an injured condition and informed the police about the incident. He said the couple was hacked to death with sharp-edged weapons by unidentified accused. They, however, let alone the three-year-old child, Manbirpal Singh, who was sleeping in another room at the time of the incident.

The police have registered a case of murder and included other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code against Manmohan Singh, Sarpanch of the village, and several others following the statement of Dalip Kaur, mother of the deceased. Among those booked include Harjinder Singh, Sarabjit Singh, Ajit Singh, Sukhjinder Singh and Kuldeep Kaur, all residents of the same village. They, however, refuted the charges while speaking to the media and said that they had nothing to do with the murder.

Dalip Kaur stated to the police that Guriqbal Singh had a land dispute with Manmohan Singh. She suspected that the opposite group had killed the couple due to the dispute.

She said she had gone to the city in order to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. She stayed at the gurdwara in the night and returned around 8 am. She said she was shocked to see the bodies of her son and daughter-in-law lying in a pool of blood while her other son, Bachitar Singh, was not present.

Balwinder Singh, SHO, Beas police station, said that the family used to reside in a home located on the outer periphery of the village. Therefore, nobody knew about the incident. He said there were sharp- edge weapon injury marks on the bodies of the two deceased. He said that though the complainant had suspected the involvement of village Sarpanch Manmohan Singh, his role was yet to be ascertained in the case. Investigations revealed that the couple had put up a struggle with the armed assailants before they died.

Jagdev Singh Rai, DSP (Detective), who along with other senior police officials visited the spot, said that Bachitar Singh had been changing his statement. He said the police teams were still investigating into the case and nothing could be said at this moment.

Amritsar, July 10
The traffic police in the holy city seem to have switched over to a pro-active mode when it comes to acting tough against those violating traffic norms. They have been challaning the offenders at various key intersections, particularly those indulging in drunken driving.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh has taken over the reins of the traffic police to check violations. He has chalked out plans to streamline traffic in various parts of the city, which is grappling with traffic problems for long. Many earlier projects and initiatives initiated by the police ended up in a futile exercise in the absence of proper support from other departments.

The strength of the traffic police has been increased recently. Around 400 policemen have been attached with the traffic wing, including those who were relieved from the security of the VIPs. Around 60 women cops have also been attached with the traffic wing.

The traffic police is armed with four alcometers and speedometers to check drunken driving and over speeding. A few days ago, four youths were seriously injured when they indulged in rash driving on an elevated road. In the past couple of days, the police have challaned nine persons for drunken driving.

Aulakh said, “The traffic police have been directed to set up nakas at different places. The duration of these nakas will not be of more than one hour or so. After this, they will shift to another point.” Traffic policemen would remain on duty till 11pm. Earlier, they used to remain on chowks till 7pm, added the Police Commissioner.

“These steps have been taken to prevent traffic violations especially rash and drunken driving. People indulge in drunken driving during evening hours leading to road mishaps. The policemen have also been asked to check rash driving also. The youths, driving bikes at high speed or racing, often indulge in rash driving,” said the Police Commissioner.

Traffic police could be seen checking vehicles and challaning the offenders till late in the evening. The number of nakas, which have been increased in the city, are being supervised by senior police officials, including the ADCP and the ACP traffic. The Police Commissioner is also holding surprise checks at the nakas.

Amritsar, July 10
The municipal corporation has thought of framing a special policy to regularise illegal hotels, inns and guest houses around the Golden Temple. The policy will be tabled before the general house meeting scheduled for tomorrow to get the final nod.

The move is being initiated after the MC authorities roped in Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Inderbir Bolaria, the city mayor, Bakshi Ram Arora, and the councillors.

By not complying with the high court directions, this could invite the offence of contempt of court. Otherwise, too, it will have been a harsh step to demolish all units, which have come under the MC’s scanner, as it could backfire politically.

Secondly, the MC was responsible for the lapse too. The hotels, guest houses did not crop up overnight. In view of the enormity of the legal aspect of the issue, a lot more was required to be done on the part of the authorities to prevent these establishments from coming up. Several MC officials were charge-sheeted during whose tenure the practice prospered.

The special investigation team (SIT) had identified 131 such commercial units and after scrutinising various records, it found that scores of these units seldom complied with the Municipal Building Bylaws 1997 and the revised Building Bylaws 2010.

However, adopting a conciliatory stance, the authorities have devised a pattern under which these units could come under the ambit of compoundable offence. The compoundable offence speaks about those properties which could be regularised after paying a certain amount of penalty.

Nonetheless, the issue occupied centre stage when a PIL was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the authenticity of these units. The role of some Municipal Town Planning officials, too, had come under scanner.

The HC has already ordered the authorities to initiate action against illegal commercial structures by July 23. However, the next date of hearing has been fixed as August 22.

Amritsar, July 10
The Amritsar jail authorities today seized around 3.5 gm of intoxicant powder from a visitor who had come to meet a jail inmate. He had concealed the contraband, wrapped in a polythene bag, in his rectum.

Jail Superintendent RK Sharma said that the accused, identified as Pankaj, had come along with another person to meet a jail inmate, Sunny, who is lodged in the jail under a serious offence under Section 302, IPC.

According to information, Sunny is a known gangster of Jalandhar and was brought here from Kapurthala jail.

Sharma said that the visitors, Pankaj and another person, had managed to cross the outer gate of the jail.

Nonetheless, it was the alertness of the jail staff that they were caught before getting inside the interview room, where the visitors can meet the inmates.

“Pankaj had hid the narcotic powder in his rectum. Our warder got suspicious about their activities. When both were frisked thoroughly, a packet containing narcotic powder was seized from Pankaj who had hid it in his rectum,” he said.

Both have been taken into custody and proceedings are being initiated to take legal action against the duo.

Amritsar, July 10
Lashing out at the ruling SAD-BJP alliance, the Opposition today questioned its policy of selling government properties to generate funds.

The Leader of the Opposition, Congress councillor Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky, said the “tall claims” of the Deputy Chief Minister about making Amritsar a “smart city” were just an eyewash as nothing was visible on the ground.

“What kind of ‘smart city’ do they visualise when over 25 per cent of the residents here are devoid of water supply in their homes and over 40 per cent of houses are without proper sewerage facility? The whole city gets inundated with water during rainy season. There is no water treatment plant and the residents are forced to drink unsafe water. The JAICA sewerage revamp project could not be executed even after the lapse of five years,” pointed out Lucky.

Criticising policy matters, Lucky stressed that the MC had formulated a faulty budget, after it withdrew its idea of raising loans from banks. “When the public raised hue and cry about inadequate civic amenities, the government announced to raise loans from the financial institutions. After procuring a paltry sum on loan from HUDCO, it realised that they were not in a position to pay back the loan amount and withdrew the idea of procuring more loans,” he added.

“Now when the Centre is also in the ruling alliance camp, where is the hitch in bringing in funds for the development of the holy city,” asked the Congress leader.

“Earlier, they used to blame the UPA government for discriminating Punjab while releasing funds. This implied that they had faulty policy matters. That’s why, now the ruling alliance is bent on selling its prime properties to generate funds. The Congress government had extended grant for various development projects, but it had to be rolled back because the ruling alliance could not invest the matching amount,” said Lucky.

About the much-talked about illegal hotels, guest houses, inns around the Golden Temple, he said the alliance was just playing a double game.

On the other hand, Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora says that the move to sell government properties has been adopted in the interest of the public at large. The funds were generated by selling the properties will be ploughed back for the development of the city and revamping the basic amenities for the residents.

Amritsar, July 10
Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha, Punjab and Haryana, today demanded stringent action against archaeologist Moinuddin Farooq for allegedly giving ‘irresponsible’ statements regarding Kaliayanwala Khuh martyrs.

In a statement here today, Jaswinder Singh Dhesi, president of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Naujwan Sabha, Punjab and Haryana, along with other members of the organisation urged the government to reject the report submitted by him in connection with the Kaliyanwala Khuh.

Around 500 soldiers had started a revolt at Mian Mir Cantonment in Lahore as part of the 1857 uprising and swam across the Ravi to reach Ajnala. Of them, 218 were killed by the British at Dadian Sofian village, near here, while the remaining 282 were incarcerated in a cage-like room, where many of them died of asphyxiation. The rest were shot dead before their bodies being thrown in the well, which later came to be known as Kalianwala Khu as the British used to call Indians “kale” (black).

The management of the historic Kalianwala Khuh had recently dug up the khuh and took out the mortal remains of the martyrs, which were taken over by a team of the Archaeology Survey of India for forensic examination.

Amritsar, July 10
National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) in collaboration with the state government kicked off ‘Jaagriti Yatra’ (awareness rally) today to promote the use of condoms and erase the stigma of Amritsar having the maximum number of HIV positive intravenous drug users (IDUs) in the country.

Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, flagged off a rally in a van to spread awareness regarding AIDS under the banner of NACO. She said the awareness van would visit 13 districts of the state. It would also cover rural and slum areas in the city.

On objections being raised at the installation of condom vending machine by some religious bodies, she said there was a need to change the mindset. “The stigma is not in having these vending machines in their areas, but the city having the highest number of HIV positive intravenous drug users (IDUs) in the country is the shame which needs to be corrected,” added the CPS.

She said the national average of HIV prevalence among IDUs was about 7.23 per cent while in Amritsar it was as high as 30.04 per cent. She reasoned that the incidence of IDUs in Amritsar was high mainly because of the easy availability of injectable drugs in the border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Gurdaspur.

District Health Officer, Dr Shivkaran Singh Kahlon, district programme officer, Dr Devinder Singh were among others who participated in the flagging off ceremony.

Amritsar, July 10
A city-based NGO Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) has flayed the move of various government agencies to sell off their prime properties to raise funds for carrying out their projects.

President of the AVM, Principal Kulwant Singh Ankhi, said the Punjab Financial Corporation (PFC) announced to hold auction of its local office at Ranjit Avenue’s prime commercial property on July 23. He said it was a set-back to the industry in the holy city. “The state government has sold off its Amritsar International Hotel near the bus stand. Similarly, youth hostel was also scrapped and the land transferred to another department. Now, when tourism is booming, the government does not have sufficient infrastructure of its own,” added Ankhi.

He said, “The Municipal Corporation is selling off its properties. It’s latest move to auction 2,100 sq yard land along the ‘faseel wall’ (inner Circular Road from the Hall Gate to the Sikandari Gate), which rolls around the walled city, will derail its own campaign to de-congest roads leading to the Golden Temple.”

He suggested that instead a parking lot must have been raised over there and acres of land opposite it got vacated from wholesale fruit and vegetable traders, which was lying vacant for the past many years. He said the vacant land could be used to set up food street for which the government had been searching land for the last few years.

Amritsar, July 10
Broken roads, defunct sewerage system and stagnant water in the streets have become a nightmare for the residents and transporters of Jahajgarh.

Ironically, pits on the road are so large that even a truck can fall into them. In such conditions, no rickshaw or rehri operator is ready to transport goods to this market. This is hampering the growth of business in the Jahajgarh area.

The area residents have decided to go on a hunger strike, if the authorities concerned still did not listen to their grievances and revamp the dilapidated roads and sewerage system within a week’s span.

To show their aversion, a few days ago, the residents had performed “mock prayers” at the two foundation stones laid by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Navjot Kaur Sidhu last year and again by Local Government Minister Anil Joshi in February this year. They also raised slogans against the state government.

Secretary of Pradesh Congress Committee Dinesh Bassi said the problem existed because of the faulty sewerage system. “It is a pity that Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi, who belongs to this city, had laid the foundation stone and its residents are yearning for even the basic amenities. Recently, Joshi had given them another false assurance to a give a face-lift to the area, but it can never materialise,” said Bassi.

The Punjab government had displaced the transporters from Ghee Mandi and settled them at Jai Inder Singh Transport Nagar at Jahajgarh. The Amritsar Improvement Trust had provided land to transporters at a reserve price.

The present collector rate here is around Rs 38,500. Transporters claimed that they paid service tax, property tax, sewerage and water supply taxes, but when it came to providing basic facilities, the government and the authorities looked the other way.

Rehra Ghora and Rickshaw Union president Baba Gurmukh Singh said Dr Sidhu had assured them to revamp roads, sewerage and all other facilities in the area shortly, but nothing had happened till now.

“Transport Nagar, which was conceptualised in 2005, has been crying for basic amenities and no one had ever cared to take stock of the situation here. Dr Sidhu and Local Bodies Minister Joshi virtually ditched us. Four months ago, Dr Sidhu had given us a false promise that Rs 6.5 crore has been sanctioned for revamping and augmentation of the sewerage system of the Jahajgarh area, but it could never be,” said Baba Gurmukh Singh.

Amritsar, July 10
A maxillofacial surgeon and associate professor of Sri Guru Ram Das Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Dr Amit Dhawan, was awarded a fellowship in oral cancer treatment foundation for head and neck oncology by Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai.

Dr Amit said oral cancer was increasing in Punjab due to lack of awareness against the consumption of tobacco products. He said more than 24 lakh people of Punjab were consuming tobacco products. “The surgery for oral cancer is very mutilating for a patient, but that is the only choice besides radiotherapy and chemotherapy,” added the surgeon.

He said with this advanced training, he would be able to give a new hope and better treatment to patients suffering from oral cancer.