Amritsar, July 29
An outfit working for human rights, Punjab Human Rights Organisation (PHRO), has accused the state police of harassing innocent people on the pretext of checking narcotics use and trade.

At a press conference held here today, PHRO vice-chairman Kirpal Singh Randhawa cited the case of a Class XI student, Sonu, a resident of Kiralgarh village under Lopoke police station.

Randhawa said the police was looking for Sonu and failing to find him had arrested three of his relatives to pressurise the family. “Sonu was arrested and tortured by CIA staff police around a month ago. Later the police let him go as nothing incriminating was found against him,” said Randhawa.

He alleged that the police post in charge at Kalae village, who is a former terrorist turned a police ‘cat’, is again trying to take custody of the child. “The child fearing torture once again has gone into hiding but the police have abducted three of his relatives, namely Baldev Singh, Ghulla Singh and Darshan Singh,” said Randhawa.

Randhawa said that instead of taking action against real smugglers and drug peddlers, the police were harassing innocent people.

While talking to The Tribune on phone, Sonu’s uncle, Hardev Singh, said, “Sonu’s father, grandfather and two of his uncles were killed by terrorists, as they failed to pay the money demanded from them. The present police post in charge was a terrorist at that time.” Hardev Singh said that the official was trying to implicate Sonu in a false case.

Amritsar, July 29
The state government hired 19 faculty members for its Senior Secondary Residential School for Meritorious Students, set up at Guru Nanak Dev University. It is likely to be operational from August 1.

Four teachers each have been hired for physics and chemistry, two teachers each for biology, mathematics, English, Punjabi and physical education. They were hired on annual contract basis, which is likely to be renewed, on a monthly salary of Rs 38,000 and Rs 35,000 in case of physical education teachers. Their medical examinations have been conducted and four of these teachers will be staying on the campus.

DEO (Secondary) Satinderbir Singh said all DEOs from the state had been called to attend a meeting over the initiation of the meritorious schools with Principal Secretary, Education, at Chandigarh tomorrow (July 30).

On the loss of precious time of the students due to a delay in starting the school, as the academic session started on April 1, he said the matter had already been discussed threadbare with the teachers. He said that they were preparing their plan accordingly to make up for the lost time. Even extra classes would be held to cover the curriculum.

After conclusion of counselling, 300 students have been admitted in the non-medical stream, 100 in medical and an equal number (100) in commerce. Earlier, as many as 550 students, including, 416 girls and 134 boys applied for admission here against the 500 sanctioned seats.

At present, Manmeet Kaur, Principal, Government Senior Secondary School for Boys, Ajnala, has been given the additional charge as Principal of the meritorious school here.

Meritorious Schools is registered as the “Society for promotion of quality education for poor and meritorious students of Punjab”. Students of government schools, affiliated with the Punjab School Education Board, who have secured 80 per cent marks or above in Class X during the 2013-14 session, were admitted to these schools.

The school building was ready with regular classrooms, but its entire building will be completed by October 31. Besides, labs are ready and benches have arrived.

The district education office, meanwhile, has sought help from the Baba Darshan Singh Dera across the road from the school. The dera will accommodate boys while the girls’ hostel was ready on the school campus. 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 besides houses for 10 school staff members and the Principal.

These meritorious students will be imparted quality education for Classes XI and XII free of cost.

Amritsar, July 29
A 23-year-old married woman committed suicide in the Kot Khalsa area late last night. After recording the statements of her parents, the police have registered a case under Section 174 of the Indian Penal Code.

Deceased Amandeep Kaur was under depression due to her strained relationship with husband Satnam Singh, an agriculturist. They were married four years ago and had no children.

The in-charge of Kot Khalsa police station, inspector Satnam Singh, said things got worst sometime ago as Satnam Singh had married another woman. This had created tension in their relationship.

Last evening, she hanged herself with the ceiling and ended her life. 

Amritsar, July 29
A minor fire incident at ENT Hospital, Majitha Road, associated with Government Medical College has once again exposed the lack of proper fire-fighting arrangements at government health institutions in the city.

An air-conditioner at ENT Hospital had caught fire yesterday due to short-circuit, following which, the hospital had to postpone its surgery schedule.

A visit to many of these government health institutions will reveal that most of them depend on outdated and expired fire safety equipment to tackle any emergency.

Apart from fire extinguishers, which were fixed to walls many years ago, the other equipment at the institutions have come of their age. Even the hospital staff are not trained to use simple devices such as fire extinguishers. The reason is that fire safety drills had never been organised.

Water hoses and hose pipes were seen missing at most of the fire safety boxes installed at the Civil Hospital, Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, ENT Hospital, TB Hospital and many other government health institutions.

Except one, none of the private hospitals in the city have obtained a no objection certificate from the fire safety wing of the Municipal Corporation.

An official at Government Medical College admitted, “In times when there is a shortage of medicines or other medical facilities, it is unjustified to think of upgrading fire safety equipment.”

“The yesterday’s incident though did not cause any major damage to the hospital property or to the people, the institutions must take it as an eye opener and adopt the fire safety measures,” he said.

“An operation theatre at a hospital is the most flammable place because of the presence of a large number of chemicals and oxygen cylinders. Luckily, the fire did not spread, but none of the employees knew how to use a fire extinguisher,” said a doctor. 

Amritsar, July 29
Thousands of postal pensioners here have been deprived of their legitimate right to medical healthcare facilities. The reason is that for the past eight months, there has been no regular medical officer who could visit the postal dispensary, Amritsar.

Secretary of the Postal Pensioners’ Association, Surinderjit Sharma, said there were about 3,000 beneficiaries who avail healthcare facilities at the postal dispensary, as per the norms of the Department of Posts and Ministry of Health.

As a stopgap arrangement, a medical officer from Jalandhar has been attached to the Amritsar dispensary. “He too has constraints in coming daily. So, he visits here once in a week — on Wednesdays. This is not enough as thousands of elderly beneficiaries have to visit private doctors who charge heavy check-up fees,” he said.

Endorsing it, finance secretary of the association, JR Sharma, said as per the prescribed norms, two medical officers — one male and one female — should be deputed at the dispensary.

“The government should stop fooling the public by making false promises of promoting health care facilities when its own employees who have served throughout their lives are deprived of medical facilities. Nobody is prepared for redressal of our grievances though it is our legitimate right to get medical care,” he said. — TNS

Amritsar, July 29
The state government’s ‘Safe City’ project under which closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras and other sophisticated equipment were to be installed at key locations in the holy city has been hanging fire for long.

According to instructions of the government, the Amritsar Police Department had done what was required and submitted a report to the DGP’s office at Chandigarh after gauging the vital requirements of the project like identifying important locations, but a reply is still awaited.

However, the announcement regarding the project has been made repeatedly, but still nothing has moved on ground.

The fact is that the petty crime graph comprising instances of snatchings, lootings and eve-teasing have been rising at an alarming rate here. The snatchers riding mo-bikes vanish in no time after committing the crime, leaving no clue behind.

The project, under which CCTVs were to be installed at key locations in the city, was announced primarily by the then Member Parliament Navjot Singh Sidhu in the presence of the then Police Commissioner RP Mittal and Amritsar Improvement Trust chairman Sanjeev Khanna in June 2011. This project was to be completed in a year, but it couldn’t be.

During the initial planning, the task was entrusted to the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT), which was supposed to fund the project, costing about Rs 5.5 crore.

Meanwhile, the respective tenures of Mittal and Khanna had ended, but the project could not see the light of the day.

Nonetheless, yet again the Finance Minister, Parminder Singh Dhindsa, had kept a provision in the current annual budget for making Amritsar and Ludhiana as ‘safe cities’ by installing over 1,000 CCTV cameras on the pattern of New York by deploying the latest and most sophisticated crime-prevention technology solutions worth Rs 150 crore.

Such announcements were made earlier, too. The same project was part of the budget speech by Minister Dhindsa in 2013, too, except for the estimated cost of the project, which was then quoted as Rs 135 crore.

Prior to 2012 Assembly elections and 2014 Lok Sabha elections, the Deputy Chief Minister, too, endorsed the move on several occasions, but till date, it could not move towards reality.

Now, the latest announcement by Minister Dhindsa was that the ‘Safe City’ project involving installation of smart cameras, various types of sensors, and Automatic Licence Plate readers at all city entry and exit points, important traffic junctions, shopping malls, etc, would be implemented over the next 12-15 months.

High-resolution day-and-night cameras have been proposed to be installed at 52 vital points in the city. These cameras will be connected with a centralised control room through dedicated broadband lines. The real time footage will be available in the control room to watch all happenings occurring in the entire area.

Amritsar, July 29
Dal Khalsa today extended greetings to Muslim brothers on Eid-ul-Fitr. Party activists lead by Kanwar Pal Singh today visited the historic Jama Masjid and met Imam Hamid Hussain Qasmi and others on the occasion.

The Dal Khalsa leader emphasised on strengthening the cultural bonds between the two communities. They also held a brief discussion on the volatile situation in Saharanpur.

Representatives of both the communities expressed concern and pain over violent clashes. They also expressed grief over the loss of lives and property during the clashes.

They made an appeal to the people of both the communities to maintain peace. Kanwar Pal Singh urged the people to defeat the attempts of the miscreants.

He said according to version of Sikhs in Sarahanpur, some politicians ignited the situation for their vested interests.

He alleged that to polarise the voters in view of the by-polls, politicians were precipitating the tension. — TNS

Amritsar, July 29
Prof HS Walia was felicitated on being elected as general secretary of PCCTU today. District president of Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union (PCCTU), Prof Malkiat Singh, recognised the services rendered by Prof Walia for the teaching fraternity.

The elected members of the PCCTU are — president Prof Kuldip Singh (Guru Nanak College, Doraha, Ludhiana), general secretary Prof HS Walia (DAV College, Amritsar), vice-president Prof Jagwant Singh (SD College, Chandigarh), finance secretary Prof VK Sareen (DAV College, Jalandhar), GNDU area secretary Prof Vinay Sophat (RK Arya College, Nawan Shahar), Punjab University area secretary Prof Jaswant Singh (SD College, Hariana, Hoshiarpur), Punjabi University area secretary: Prof Avtar Singh (Khalsa College, Anandpur Sahib). — TNS

Amritsar, July 29
The PWD authorities have started the ground work for the reconstruction of the Circuit House building. The demolition work has started within the building.

The state government plans to build a modern and spacious Circuit House in place of the existing one, which is a decades old building with a limited number of rooms.

At present, the Circuit House has two buildings, of which, one is of heritage value and it would be administered by the Culture and Tourism Department.

Keeping in view the increased visits of VIPs and VVIPs to the holy city and the objective of extending them befitting hospitality, the state government has endorsed the district administration’s plan to build a new Circuit House.

Presently, the building has only 16 rooms, including two suites for the Chief Minister. Now, a 60-room building will be constructed, which will have a meeting hall, a mini meeting hall, lobby and other facilities.

Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat said the Circuit house would be administered by the Hospitality Department while its construction was being funded by the Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB).

The district administration had forwarded a proposal of revamping the house and had also suggested building of a multi-storey commercial complex and a five-star hotel.

The Deputy Commissioner said there was no proposal to build a hotel and commercial complex at the place. He said adequate parking space would be made available at the site. Keeping in mind the future needs, efforts would be made not to compromise with the existing green belt, he added.

Amritsar, July 29
The police have booked two persons for allegedly harassing a police official and defaming him on frivolous grounds.

The accused are Balwinder Singh and his son Sarbjit Singh alias Harry, both residents of 471 Jagdish Niwas, GT Road, Amritsar.

It has been learnt that ASI Daljit Singh had lodged a complaint at the Chheharta police station stating that last year, the accused had defamed him and protested publicly against him on flimsy grounds.

“They levelled false graft charges against me. They involved two other persons — Kulbir Singh and Amandeep Singh — and got an affidavit submitted against me. Later, during investigation, both the complainants admitted that they were provoked and had submitted a false affidavit under the influence of Balwinder Singh and his son,” he said.

In the backdrop of the instance, a complaint number 4285-COP was filed against the accused for holding protest and publicly abusing the Police Department on May 17, 2013.

Thereafter, another case was registered against the accused, after it was found that the affidavit submitted against the police official was false.

This case was registered after an enquiry was conducted by ADCP (west Amritsar) and ACP-II.

“The accused were booked for threatening me, insulting me and interfering in my government duty. They continued to harass me. On September 22, 2013, the accused had hit my car and threatened me with dire consequences,” said ASI Daljit Singh.

Investigating officer ASI Salwinder Singh of Chheharta said the matter was under investigation. “Even as no arrest has been made so far, a case under Sections 186, 341 and 506 of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at Chhehartta police station. — TNS

Amritsar, July 29
Nearly 50 teachers from CBSE affiliated schools participated in the one-day advocacy-cum-orientation programme — Students Global Aptitude Index (SGAI) — held here today at Delhi Public School.

The workshop aimed to familiarise the teachers in CBSE schools with SGAI.

“CBSE is making efforts to broaden coverage amongst educationists in its programme. It aims to sensitise teachers and principals about the ways to approach SGAI,” said Dr Chand Trehan, a resource person from CBSE while conducting the workshop.

Manisha Gangwal, another resource person in the team, said, “The purpose of such interactions was also to provide a platform to all schools to share experiences and invite suggestions to strengthen SGAI further to assist students in recognising their talents and plan their careers accordingly.”

Earlier, both resource persons were welcomed by host principal Sangeeta Singh and Aakash Khandelwal, member of the school management committee.

Through power point presentations, the teachers were familiarised with the need and importance of aptitude assessment for students at the school level after Class 10th.

Amritsar, July 29
Noted employees rights’ activist and general secretary of Consumer Rights Protection Society, BR Preenja, has come out with a book to create awareness among the serving and retired government employees about the group insurance scheme of the state government.

Preenja is also running a free of cost consultancy office in the city to guide employees about various schemes and procedures to avail their benefits.

Septuagenarian Preenja said, “Most of the employees face difficulty in availing facilities available to them. Even they face a difficulty in computing the exact amount of the benefits.”

He said in such cases, the staff of the government offices responsible for disbursing these facilities either knowingly or unknowingly make procedure complicated for the beneficiaries.

Preenja said the booklet would help employees in knowing the exact procedure.