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SSOC brings smuggler on warrant
Kidnapped youth rescued within an hour, nine arrested
Counselling for residential schools from July 21
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NGO inspires residents to take up cleanliness drive
Man held for impersonation
Guest house owner stages protest
Art exhibition held
GRP nabs gang of robbers
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SSOC brings smuggler on warrant
Amritsar, July 19 His name figured during the interrogation of two accused, identified as Dalbir Singh of Muthiawala village and Nishan Singh of Noor Mohammad village, in Tarn Taran. They were arrested with the contraband and fake currency from Amritsar where they were waiting for the
consignment. Sandeep Singh is currently lodged in Hoshiarpur jail in connection with a murder case. There, he came in contact with smugglers having their contacts with Pak- based smugglers. They lured him to smuggling activities and introduced him to their Pakistani counterparts. During the interrogation, Sandeep revealed that he involved a relative in the illegal trade who further hired certain couriers living near the Indo-Pak border in order to retrieve the drug consignment from near the barbed fence. These couriers used to give the contraband to him after retrieving it from the border and used to deliver the consignment in Delhi, he told the SSOC. The sources in the SSOC said the police have initiated the process of arresting his relative who also lives in Hoshiarpur. According to sources, this is for the first time that a jail inmate lodged in Hoshiarpur jail has been found involved in drug peddling from across the border. The Central Jails have become a grooming ground for the new smugglers. A number of jail inmates lodged for petty crimes are being introduced to smuggling. The jails are overcrowded with prisoners and small-time drug peddlers and thus have become a hunting ground for smugglers for ‘recruiting’ new persons in the illegal trade by luring them to make a fast buck. Most of the smugglers inside the jail remain in contact with their new recruits through the mobile phones. "Over 350 smugglers have been nabbed by the SSOC in the last nine years. Many of them were still serving their terms. Interrogation of various smugglers revealed that they came in contact with Pak smugglers in jails and they remain in contact through mobile phones," said the sources.
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Kidnapped youth rescued within an hour, nine arrested
Amritsar, July 19 The police have arrested nine persons in this connection. They have been booked by the police on kidnapping charges, besides under other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act in this connection. Those arrested were identified as Balbir Singh of Nurey Shah Colony, Aram Chand of Kahnuwal (Gurdaspur), Baljeet Singh of Loharka Kurd, Hira Singh of Housing board Colony, Kuldeep Singh of Malluwal, Sohan Singh of Budlala (Mansa), Bagicha Singh of Sarhala, Immanual of Gopal Nagar, Majitha road, and Jassa Singh of Bal Khurd. Nimo, mother of the victim, said her son Pawan Kumar was a good friend of Harjit Singh, who is the son of Balbir Singh of the same locality. She said Harjit Singh was hooked to drugs and consumed it in the company of her son Pawan Kumar. She said Harjit died of drug overdose after which Balbir started holding her son Pawan responsible for his death. "Balbir Singh filed a complaint against her other sons who were later released after an inquiry by the police officials," she stated to the police. She alleged that last evening around 7.30 pm, the accused, armed with weapons, barged into her residence and kidnapped her son Sunny with the intention of killing him. Amrik Singh, SHO, Islamabad, said immediately after getting the information, the whole area was sealed by the police teams. The accused took him to the abandoned railway quarters in B-block area. Sunny was recovered after an hour of the kidnapping. He said Harjit had died about a month and half ago and his body was found near the railway lines. The police have registered a case under Sections 452, 364, 506, 148, 149 of the IPC and 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act. He said more persons are likely to be involved in the kidnapping and they would be subsequently arrested during the investigations.
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Counselling for residential schools from July 21
Amritsar, July 19 DEO (Secondary) Satinderbir Singh said he was trying to shift the venue for counselling to Amritsar as a majority of the students come from economically weaker families. The scheme is registered as "Society for promotion of quality education for poor and meritorious students of Punjab". The students of government schools affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board, who have attained 80 per cent marks or above in Class X during the 2013-14 session, were admitted to these schools. These schools, named Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, are coming up at Amritsar (GNDU campus), Patiala (Punjabi University), Bathinda (Giani Zail Singh Engineering and Technology College), Ludhiana (Government College for Boys), Jalandhar (Sports School) and Mohali (Sector 70, opposite Mataur village). The DEO said the school would be functional from August 1. The faculty of the school would report here on July 25 and subsequently, they would undergo a three-day orientation programme before the commencement of classroom teaching. At present, Manmeet Kaur, principal, Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, Ajnala, has been given the additional charge as principal of the meritorious school. He said the school building was ready to host the regular classrooms but its entire building would be completed by October 31. Besides, labs are ready and benches have arrived. He said for the meantime, Baba Darshan Singh Dera across the road from the school would accommodate boys while the girls' hostel was ready on school campus. He said the the school required 45 rooms but 36 were ready. The Amritsar Improvement Trust has constructed a double-storey building with 20 classrooms, two separate hostels for girls and boys each besides residences for 10 school staff members and a principal. To strengthen the structure of education at the senior secondary level, the state government has started the admission process for its six smart residential schools established for meritorious students who would be imparted quality education for Class XI and XII free of cost. Besides the syllabus of Class XI and XII (English medium) prescribed by the board, special teaching classes for preparation of various competitions like JEE, medical entrance tests, CLAT/ CPET and other undergraduate tests held by universities would be undertaken. These classes too would be free of cost. The curriculum had been designed to build the overall personality of the students. Special career counsellors would also be there to assist the students from the initial stage. The curriculum would be in English medium with help from the teachers to translate it into local languages. Fact file
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Improve city bus service, say residents
Amritsar, July 19 A senior citizen, Naresh Johar, said, “As many as 150 buses were to be introduced under the JNNURM’s Rs 33.30 crore city bus service project. It means that the cost of city bus service project is less than 10 per cent of the entire cost of the
BRTS project.” He said the functioning of the government was weird. It was grappling with the scarcity of funds yet it was adamant to introduce projects, which needed whopping investment for raising infrastructure. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal laid the foundation stone of the Rs 580-crore ambitious BRTS project on February 26. In order to operationalise the project a massive network of 30.73 km skin to the elevated road was to be constructed. As many as seven dedicated corridors were to be built in the city, for which 2.5 metre-wide columns were to be erected in the middle of these roads. An elevated road will be constructed on these columns for plying of buses. These elevated corridors would be built on Albert Road, Bhandari Bridge loop, Bhandari Bridge roundabout to Daburji bypass, Central Core Hussainpura Chowk to Celebration Mall to Kitchlu Chowk to Albert Road junction, SSSS Chowk to Crystal Chowk, Celebration Mall to NH bypass, NH bypass to Verka canal and ROB at Verka. Johar added that city bus service was already operating on a majority of the aforementioned stretches. “It means that these roads are wide enough to accommodate city buses and its management has already claimed that the occupancy was over 80 per cent”. Amritsar Vikas Manch (AVM) president Kulwant Singh Ankhi said, “The government functioning is akin to an unguided student, who partially reads a chapter, then another and then another one. At the end he has not learnt anything, but wasted time and resources.” Earlier, the SAD-BJP coalition government imitated the famous PODs project of Heathrow airport at London for a part of the holy city. Then came the city bus service and now the BRTS, added Ankhi. He said the government should run the city bus service to its full capacity by introducing the planned number of buses on various routes, as commuters still had to wait for a bus for a long time. This mass transport service was a hit among the locals and even tourists. Sixty buses are currently being operating out of the proposed 150 low-floor AC, non-AC, and mini buses to be introduced under the JNNURM scheme in
the city. When contacted, Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, who is also the director of the Amritsar City Transport Service Ltd, cited the paucity of funds for delay in procurement of the remaining buses. In response to another question, he said both projects were sanctioned at different times. He said the Union Urban Development Ministry granted its approval for the BRTS. As per the project, half the cost is to be borne by the Union government and the remaining half by the state government. He added that buses under the BRTS would run within the MC limits. However, the MC would not contribute even a penny for the project. When informed that routes of both projects were common he said once the BRTS would become operational the city buses would be pressed into
other areas.
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NGO inspires residents to take up cleanliness drive
Amritsar, July 19 A garbage dumping
site has now been converted into a clean area, painted and two jamun saplings and bougainvillea planted. A signage stating “I am the change” depicting the residents of Amritsar and the motto “Amritsar-my city, my pride, my responsibility” has been added to the spot. The caricature on the wall paint was done by artist George Emanual. The modus operandi of the volunteers is to identify ugly sites and dumps in the city, clean them up in the night or in the early morning hours and leave an aesthetic mark in the shape of a painting. The initiative has generated much excitement among the residents of colonies. Children as well as adults either joined
the group in its edeavour or offered drinks and snacks. The drive has the blessings of the Municipal Corporation, which is providing all assistance to residents of the area, who are willing to do their bit for the holy city. President of Dilbir Foundation (DF) Gunbir Singh expressed happiness at the success of the venture. He asked youngsters and residents to keep their neighbourhood clean and green. He commended the dedication and spirit of volunteers, including Madhubani Singh and Prabh Boparai, who are spearheading
the drive. People should take charge of their city as it catered to millions
of pilgrims each year, he added. “A people’s movement is indeed the only way forward,” said Gunbir. The Dilbir Foundation requested artists of
all hues to lend and get their ideas approved under the Artists for Amritsar’s Transformation scheme (AFAT).
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Man held for impersonation
Amritsar, July 19 The association has handed him over to the police where further necessary action has been initiated against him. The accused was identified as Sukhcharan Singh, a retired employee of the Labour Department. According to sources, he had already extorted money from three industrial units. When he reached India Factory, the owner of the unit became suspicious and called other industrial unit owners who gathered at the spot. His identity card was checked and later enquiries from the Labor Department revealed that he had already retired from the department. He reached the Focal Point area and started checking various industrial units. He alleged that the units were harassing the labourers. He asked for details about the labours, salaries being paid, ESI numbers and even threatened to issue a challan. He allegedly demanded Rs 15,000 from the owners in order to hush up the matter.
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Guest house owner stages protest
Amritsar, July 19 He alleged that he had filed a complaint against an assistant junior engineer and a lineman on July 4, who had taken bribes for repairing a fault. He said he had also submitted audio and video recordings to strengthen his claim. However, the senior PSPCL authorities failed to take any action or even inquire into the matter, added Prabhjot. He alleged that the PSPCL employees union was also trying to save their colleagues involved in corrupt practices. Prabhjot demanded cancellation of the registration of their association so that they could not resort to pressure tactics. The PSPCL employees association on the other hand refuted Prabhjot’s allegations and burned his effigy. The union in a press statement today said Prabhjjot was in habit of blackmailing government employees. The union alleged that the accused had earlier blackmailed police officials and was now demanding Rs 2.50 lakh from the PSPCL employees. The union demanded registration of a case against Prabhjot. The PSPCL employees would intensify their struggle if the police failed to take any action against the accused, added the union.
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Amritsar, July 19 Hailing from an educationist background, Neha, who currently teaches at the HMV College, Jallandhar, said her affiliation with art was developed by her father, KK Mahajan, who is the principal of MMDDAV College, Giddarbha. “Senior artists like Baldev Gambhir have been my inspiration. While growing up, I learnt from their work, which had a great effect on my understanding of art,” said Neha. She has tried to depict different spheres of art, from miniature, traditional and modern or abstract forms through her paintings. The use of various colour schemes was appreciated by art lovers. This is Neha’s first solo exhibition. — TNS
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Remove encroachments sans bias
News items like “MC team attacked again” (Amritsar Tribune, July 17) are reported time and again. Every time it is the residents who are blamed. Though I am neither justifying the attack on corporation employees nor appreciating the encroachment by anyone, I am also not aware as to what actually could have happened as I was not anywhere near the spot. Yet while reading the news like many others, I also thought why the Municipal Corporation team went to that particular spot to remove encroachments when half of the city has been encroached either with or without the consent of the corporation. Why don’t officials concerned act impartially and remove encroachments from every nook and corner of the city? I can assure they will not only be supported, but also be appreciated if do their job without any bias. Devgan, Amritsar Widening of roads saves precious lives
The rise of mortality on roads with the increase of fast moving traffic and uncontrolled traffic jams has prompted the Municipal Corporation to widen the city roads. I do not understand the political wisdom of a few BJP leaders protesting against the widening of roads. Is it another gimmick by those losing political clout? Amritsar roads are most congested and narrow leading to daily accidents. One can hardly find any car free of scratches. Incidents of road rage are a common occurrence. For projecting the city as tourist destination, right kind of infrastructure has to be in place. These leaders have to choose between felling of trees or losing human lives. Land in Punjab is fertile and trees grow very fast. Hence, cutting them for development is not a big issue. One fine example is of thousands of trees planted from Taranwala Bridge along the canal to Taran Tarn road after the four laning. Dr Ranbir Singh, Amritsar
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