Amritsar, July 14
The state has given a six-month relaxation to textile units that had failed to install effluent treatment plant connections so far. The Punjab Pollution 
Control board had earlier issued notices to these units for disconnecting their sewerage connections.

With the soil and water pollution on the rise in the city, effluent treatment plants for treatment of industrial waste water seems to be the need of the hour. However, industrial units at present are discarding their waste water either in the public sewerage system or in the bore-wells dug inside the factory premises. In both cases, the chemical-mixed water is hazardous for soil and water health.

As the industry has welcomed the government’s decision to extend the deadline for the installation of ETP connections by six months, the crucial question is whether the units will be willing to benefit by the decision or just while away time.

A trade insider said, “Such plants have already been set up in Ludhiana and the step seems to be working. However, the problem with Amritsar is that most of the industrial units are in the mixed-use land area and are scattered.” The government should also take notice of such polluting units in the mixed-land use area, he said.

Meanwhile, textile industry representatives said that the installation of the ETPs could not be completed in time because of shortage of technical staff to handle these. The extension of deadline would give the industry the required time to find enough manpower with technical expertise to handle these plants.

Association leader Krishan Kumar said, “The industry had brought the matter to the notice of the Industry Minister. We are thankful to him because of this extension granted by the government.” He said that the industry was sensitive to the problem of pollution and the ETPs would be completed in a fixed time frame. 

Amritsar, July 14
Even as the government had taken foreign assistance under its JAICA project in augmentation and revamping of old and obsolete sewerage system of the holy city, it has nevertheless become a nightmare for the residents of Bagh Ramanand.

The ongoing work on this portion of the holy city has got stalled for the past few days. The excavation has been done in their streets and the residents find it difficult to reach the entrance of their houses.

Sources said that the work had been stalled for want of funds. The contractor who had undertaken this job, costing around Rs 12 crore, had stopped working as the authorities did not clear his dues.

Superintending Engineer, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Amritsar, Gurmeet Singh said that there was a shortage of the pipeline, which hampered the ongoing work but assured that it would be restarted soon.

“There was no question of dues. It was a temporary breakdown just for want of pipeline. The pipeline has been arranged now and the work has been restarted. Once it is complete, I can assure the residents that they would not face any problem. I am monitoring the progress of the work on priority,” he said.

Adding to the woes of the residents is unsafe drinking water. The authorities explained it by stating that the water supply had got muddy temporarily because of the ongoing sewerage revamping project.

It is irony that despite spending around Rs 53 lakh on three tube wells in the area, the residents of Bagh Ramanand have been getting contaminated water.

Iqbal Singh Sherry, former Congress councillor and a local resident, said the problem had cropped up after a tube well was bored at a wrong place. Its eroded pipes led to leakage and water got mixed with sewerage water.

“The tubewell, costing Rs 23 lakh, was bored at a place which had a nullah nearby. The officials did not care to inspect and got it connected with the domestic water supply line. After the matter was repeatedly taken up, the tube well was made defunct,” Sherry said.

After that two new tube wells, costing Rs 15 lakh each, were bored some months ago. This, too, could not alleviate the residents’ misery.

Jagdish Singh, a resident of the area, expressed his shock over the level of contamination in the drinking water. He said that the water supply line in the area was more than four decades old and repeated requests to the authorities proved futile.

The contamination level of the water can be gauged from the fact that stored water turns black in a couple of days. “The contaminated water has been telling upon the health of the residents and an epidemic may erupt if we continue to drink the dirty water for a few more days,” he said. 

Amritsar, July 14
Rampant encroachments on roadsides by shopkeepers on almost all road stretches in the city cause frequent traffic jams.

As shopkeepers extend their shops up to footpaths, in some cases even beyond, the passage for traffic becomes narrow. Even as the footpaths are used for stocking goods, the pedestrians have to walk on the roads, which further slows the traffic.

The railway link road here is an example of the traffic jams caused by encroachments. Apart from the shopkeepers, the rehri walas (vendors), too, park their rehris on the roadside. The final blow comes from the drivers who park their vehicles anywhere.

“Even as tow-away vehicles of the police can be seen moving on the roads, the problem of haphazard parking still is unresolved,” said Kulwatan Singh, a shopkeeper on the stretch. He said that people were afraid to come on the road because of the frequent traffic jams.

A resident of the Putlighar area, Amanpreet Singh said, “The shopkeepers charge money from the rehri walas to allow them to station their rehris in front of their shops.” The act is illegal as the shopkeepers are charging rent for the road, which is meant for the movement of vehicles, he said.

Traffic mess can be seen on the entire stretch of the road from the Islamabad chowk to the Gwal Mandi chowk at any time of the day. Jeevan Kaushal, an area resident, said, “The traffic cops are available at the Putlighar chowk on this stretch, but they seldom patrol the area to see if the traffic flow is smooth.” He said that encroachments by shopkeepers should be removed and haphazard parking of rehris and vehicles on the roads should be strictly prohibited. 

Amritsar, July 14
The holy city of Amritsar is counted among the top ten places in the world, visited by maximum number of tourists. The delay in rectifying the snag in light and sound show equipment at Jallianwala Bagh has been depriving the tourists of the macabre event, which occurred here long time back.

The light and sound show depicts the massacre of freedom fighters by then British Brig-Gen O’ Dyer is an attempt to re-connect the tourists, coming from various parts of the country, to the event, which took place here on April 13, 1919.

Secretary ,Jallianwala Bagh Memorial Trust, SK Mukherjee, said, “The son-et-lumiere (light and sound) show has not been functioning for the past one month. There is some technical snag and the company concerned has been informed and its technicians have checked the system.” They would submit a report and required repairs would then be carried out, added the secretary.

Bhupinder Singh, a member of a group of students from Karnal, said they came here to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and visit other historic monuments in the city during their summer vacation. He said his group had heard of the light and sound show from other people who had visited the city on earlier occasions. However, they were disappointed to learn that there was no show these days. He said technical snags of such systems must be checked and removed swiftly so that tourists coming from diverse culture and background did not lose an opportunity to see such events.

It may be mentioned here that the then Defence Minister AK Antony had inaugurated the show in 2010 and actor Amitabh Bachchan lent his voice for the show. Its objective was to familiarse the present generation of a gruesome event in the Indian political struggle. 

Amritsar, July 14
The residents of the town stand for the preservation of the historic gates of the holy city, which are crying for the attention of the authorities concerned. Vagaries of nature have taken a heavy toll on these heritage structures. Many gates have vanished with the passage of the time.

Amritsar, July 14
An aged farmer, having his land across the barbed border fence, today alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) was not issuing him gate pass to enable him cultivate his agriculture land. The BSF has been helping some other persons from the village, who did not have any rights to cultivate the said land, which originally belonged to the Forest Department, said the farmer.

Joginder Singh, a resident of Mandiawala in Ajnala, said the Sub-divisional Magistrate (SDM) after holding a probe and perusing the revenue records confirmed that demarcation of the said land was in his name while the court of the Additional Sessions Judge had also given the verdict in his favour.

He alleged that despite the court’s decision, BSF officials were not issuing him gate pass for cultivating the land. He said he had around 396 kanals across the border fence. Giving details Joginder said he met with an accident following which he could not till his land for a couple of years. He alleged during this period Surjit Singh, who was a policeman and his brother Jagir Singh, who works in Chogwan Block Samiti, started tilling his land after an agreement with his brother. Showing the documents he said Ajnala SDM Surinder Singh had even written to BSF officials concerned about this and informed the BSF authorities that as per the documents he was the actual cultivator having demarcation in his name. The SDM also mentioned that the appeals of the opposite group, who had approached the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, were rejected and the decision of Civil Judge, which was in Joginder Singh’s favour, was upheld.

The SDM said the opposite party had claimed that they had an agreement with the complainant in which he had allowed them to till the land after taking money. However, as per the rules the government land cannot be transferred to a private person following which the agreement could not be entered in the revenue records. DIG, BSF, MF Farooqui said the matter was pending in the high court. At present the land was under the occupation of the opposite party. He refuted the charges that the BSF was favouring any particular person in the case.

The DIG said the BSF had debarred both the parties from entering the said land. He said he had written to the district administration to come to the spot and tell them who should be allowed to cultivate the land in question.

Amritsar, July 14
The Police Department has finally taken notice of the deplorable conditions of various police stations falling under the jurisdiction of the city police here. It has sanctioned a grant of Rs 3 lakh to each police station for its repair, renovation and providing basic amenities.

Confirming the development, Kuljit Singh, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP-headquarter), said the responsibility of supervision of the work has been given to the SHOs concerned so that the quality work done was maintained rather than depending upon construction contractors, who used inferior quality material leading to early damage most of times. The funds have been released from the police welfare funds, added the ADCP. Senior police officials, including Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh, have also been visiting police stations to take stock of the renovation work underway.

A number of police stations, including Sadar police station located on the Batala road, Verka police station at Verka, Mohkampura police station, Islamabad and Gate Hakima police stations have dilapidated structures. These police stations are being run from the make shift buildings or temporary sheds. Most of these police stations were police chowkis, which were upgraded to police stations after the implementation of the commissionerate system in the city.

The basic aim of sanctioning the grants was to provide basic amenities, including urinals in police stations.

“After providing basic amenities like drinking water facility, proper washrooms and whitewashing, SHOs can also procure furniture as per their requirement depending upon the availability of funds,” said ADCP Kuljit Singh. He added that after police stations, police chowkis would also be renovated.

Amritsar, July 14
The Bar Council of India has decided to start BA LLB (honours) five-year course from the session 2014-15 at Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU). The decision was taken after conducting inspection of the Law Department of the GNDU.

Prof Rattan Singh, Head of the Law Department, said the admission to this course would be held on basis of centralised counselling to be conducted by Panjab University, Chandigarh.

“This will constitute the merit of the marks obtained in X+II examination in any stream. Online applications shall be received upto July 17 for the course,” added Prof Rattan.

He said more information was available on the site www.pblawadmissions2014.admissionhelp.com. The counseling for the course would be held from August 4 to 6, said Prof Rattan.

MA (commercial arts) results

The results of MA (commercial art) second semester, MA (police administration) Part-II (annual) and MA (Urdu) second semester, whose examination were conducted by Guru Nanak Dev University in April/May this year were declared here today.

Dr Renu Bhardwaj, Professsor in charge (examinations), said these results were also available on the university website www.gndu.ac.in.

Amritsar, July 14
The Dairy Development Department has announced to conduct a training programme for unemployed youth, desirous of venturing into the dairy sector. The course will commence from July 21.

Deputy Director, Diary Development, Kashmir Singh, said, “The basic qualification for the 45-day course is matriculate. The candidate should have at least five milch animals at his or her farm.”

“Along with proper upkeep of milch cattle, the candidates will be taught the skills for value addition of the products. The training will help aspirants to set up high-tech dairy farms,” added the deputy director.

He said, “Generally the farmers are dependent on milkmen and other entrepreneurs to sell their product, but after completion of the course they will be able to manufacture various milk products, which have a better price in the market.”

“Candidates will also be taught about diseases inflicting the milch cattle and the way to take care of the animal in case of a diseased condition. They will be selected on the basis of an interview, which will be conducted on July 18 at the office of the Deputy Director, Dairy, Verka,” added Kashmir Singh.

Amritsar, July 14
An engineering student and a local resident, identified as Pragun Agarwal, drowned in the Ravi in Dera Baba Nanak area last evening. His body was fished out this morning. The police handed over the body to the family after a post-mortem examination.

According to information, Agarwal, a BTech (Electronic) final year student at Guru Nanak Dev University along with his friend Aditya Chouhan of Income Tax Colony had gone to Dera Baba Nanak. They were standing near the river when Agarwal slipped and fell in the river. His body could be fished out only this morning. 

Amritsar, July 14
A woman was run over while several persons were injured when a speeding private bus collided with a car carrying followers of Divya Jyoti Jagran Sansthan at Hussainpura railway overbridge here last evening.

The deceased was identified as Devi, a resident of Gulmohor Avenue here. Her husband, Harish Kumar, stated to the police that he along with his wife, two sons, Rahul and Rohit, besides four other persons were going to the religious dera at Manawala when the bus (PB-02-BA-9985) belonging to Malhi Bus Service hit their car (PB-02-BV-7038). Following the collision, the car turned turtle while his wife was run over by a tempo coming from behind. He said all the injured were taken to a private hospital from where his wife was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital. She later succumbed to her injuries. Asha Rani and Dalbir Kaur, both residents of the same area, who were accompanying them, also sustained minor injuries.

The police have registered a case under Sections 304-A, 337 and 427, IPC, at the Civil Lines police station here. Arun Kumar, investigating officer, said that the driver of the bus was yet to be identified, adding that he had fled leaving the bus behind. He said the bus had been impounded while the accused would be arrested soon.