Amritsar, August 12
The GNDU authorities have started taking steps to enhance the security arrangements on the campus. The need was felt when a number of instances of intruders sneaking in in the girls’ hostels came to the fore.

Meanwhile, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar, has ordered to suspend classes till August 18 in view of the unrest prevailing on the university campus in the aftermath of the molestation of a hostel inmate a few days ago.

The notice was pasted on the campus notice board in the evening, following the girls’ move to gherao the VC’s official residence again in the evening. The students had alleged that some unidentified person had again made indecent gestures at them while he was on the road adjoining the boundary wall of the hostel.

The notice stated that due to unexpected and undesirable demands of the girl hostel inmates and due to their agitation again at 7.30 pm, the teaching on the campus was hereby suspended with immediate effect till August 18. The agitating hostel inmates had backed out of the written assurance given to them and were not honouring the agreement. The students have been instructed to go back home till that period.

The issue was resolved after the VC had assured the students in writing to enhance the security on the campus, said the university authorities. Nonetheless, as a first step in this direction, the height of the boundary wall was being raised up to 10 feet with two feet barbed wire over it.

Professor Brar said that the security of the students was of prime concern and every effort would be made to ensure their safety. He gave his word to the students that the Dean, Students Welfare, and the security officer would visit the hostels every day till the security measures were in place and fully functional.

Commenting on the instances of intrusions into the girls’ hostels, Professor Brar said that investigations were being carried out to arrest the intruders under the supervision of Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh. “The university, on its part, could have lodged an FIR, but the victim’s parents insisted on backing out of such a move. Otherwise, a complaint was submitted with the police station concerned and an investigation is on to arrest the culprits. On our part, we have started enhancing the security,” he said.

Amritsar, August 12
Prof Sharanjit Singh Dhillon has been appointed as the new Registrar of Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU). The Syndicate, at its meeting today, accorded its approval to the appointment as the term of the incumbent registrar, Inderjit Singh, is coming to an end on August 14.

An eminent economist and professor at the GNDU, Professor Dhillon, at present, is as head, the Punjab School of Economics of the university. He did his graduation, post-graduation and doctorate from the Punjab School of Economics of the university.

Another significant development included clearance for laying of a new state-of-the-art synthetic athletics track, as the Union Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports has sanctioned Rs 5.5 crore under its urban sports infrastructure programme. This was stated by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof AS Brar, at the meetings of the Senate and the Syndicate held today.

Meanwhile, the Syndicate also approved to present Rs 31,000 as honorarium to athlete Navjit Kaur Dhillon of Khalsa College for Women for winning a bronze medal in discuss-throw at World Junior Atheletics Championship held in the US.

In yet another decision, the GNDU will offer subject options of human rights and women empowerment in the combination of subjects of group II and group V in the BA course.

New faculty appointments in Physics and Chemistry departments also got approved. Professor Brar said that these selections were made on the basis of merit. The selected candidates were PhDs from IIT Roorkee, IIT Delhi, Guru Nanak Dev University, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, and one from Netherlands.

While talking about the recent happenings on the campus, Professor Brar apprised the members of details and said that the university was committed to the safety of the university students, but to achieve this, they also expected cooperation from the students. He informed the house about the promotions of SC/ST candidates in detail. He said the university was only following the rules and regulations outlined by the Punjab Government for the appointment of SC/ST candidates.

Both Senators and Syndics appreciated the stance of the university in these matters.

Amritsar, August 12
The contractual staff in the SGPC-run schools is a harried lot these days as they have not received their salaries since April.

A contractual employee, on condition of anonymity, said they were already underpaid and besides that the delay in the payment of their salaries was telling heavily on their family life. He said he daily travelled about 50 km between his house and school. A sizeable sum from his salary was spent on transportation expenses. Delay in the release of salary meant that he had to take loan from his friends and relatives to fund travelling expenses. With no family support, his job is the sole source of earning for his family.

Another teacher said the delay had upset their routine lives. For the past five months, they were without salary. She said BA, BEd and MA, BEd contractual teachers were being paid between Rs 5,500 to Rs 6,500 per month. Besides, insurance cover instalments and different funds like cancer fund were also deducted from their meagre salaries.

Anticipating regularisation, she had joined the institute on three-year contract, but there was no move to regularise them, she rued.

They lament the “indifferent” attitude of the authorities while claiming that they had approached top SGPC officials, but the latter cold-shouldered them saying that they could not do anything in the matter. There are over 60 schools running under the SGPC. SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh, who is looking after education, claimed that the contractual staff of a few schools had not been paid salary. He added that a majority of the school staff had been paid salaries. He said due to technical reasons, there was a delay in releasing salaries. Efforts were already underway to release the salary of remaining contractual employees soon.

Amritsar, August 12
The Health Department has instructed Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital to set up isolation wards to tackle the ebola virus threat. Civil Surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla said both the hospitals would be provided protection kits.

A meeting of senior officials of the Health Department, Government Medical College, Sri Guru Ram Das International Airport and the Attari international check post was held today in this regard.

The airport authorities have assured to help the health team in the examination of the travellers.

The department has planned to keep a close watch on travellers at the airport and the Attari integrated check-post. The department will focus on the travellers who recently visited West African countries.

The department has also planned to create awareness about the virus among the people with the help of posters. “We will paste information about the virus at the airport and the integerated check post soon. Besides, we will organise awareness programmes for the public,” said Civil Surgeon Bhalla.

He said people should not panic as no case of ebola virus had been reported in India. He said the suspected travellers would be quarantined for screening and observation to ensure the safety of the masses. Dr Bhalla said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had earlier declared the ebola virus disease as the “most complex outbreak leading to public health emergency.”

According to media reports, around 1,000 people in four Western African coutries—Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Nigeria—have been killed by the virus.

Amritsar, August 12
The Health Department has detected another illegal de-addiction centre near Guruwali village on the Tarn Taran road here today.

The centre named ‘Rebirth’ is run from an old house in the village. The inspecting team found 16 inmates at the centre.

The Assistant Civil Surgeon, Dr Balwinder Kakkar, said that there was no doctor or paramedical worker at the centre. The centre was run by non-medicos. The inspection was done in the presence of Subdivisional Magistrate Rajesh Sharma. The other members of the team included the Senior Medical Officer, Verka, Dr Rajinder Singh Sethi, and Drug Inspector Ramneek Singh.

The employees present at the centre at the time of inspection could not produce a licence authorising them to run the centre. They could not produce any bills or records of medicines found at the centre.

Kakkar said that the centre did not have the required manpower, infrastructure or permission to provide de-addiction services. He said the centre was told to contact family members of the inmates, so that they could be taken home.

Kakkar said the four-member team had recommended to the Deputy Commissioner to order closure of the centre. However, the team could not find out details about the owner of the centre, as the employees present there could not provide any detailed information except for a phone number.

With the state going through a drugs scourge these days, a large number of illegal de-addiction centres have mushroomed to exploit people.

Kakkar said that they would continue to look out for such fraudulent centres that do not have the required expertise to provide de-addiction facilities.

Amritsar, August 12
The sale of unhygienic food outside government health institutions continues unabated. Heavy rush of patients at government hospitals, especially at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital and the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital, has resulted in the mushrooming of various illegal eateries.

Most of the eateries are cooking food in unhygienic conditions. A number of these eateries are running from makeshift shacks.

A large number of the eateries can be seen outside the Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital. Visitors to the government hospitals said attendants of the patients often eat at these eateries as the canteens in the hospitals failed to serve good food.

A visitor to the Civil Hospital said, “The government should rope in contractors to run the canteens so that quality food could be provided to the attendants of the patients.”

The people also demanded that the Health Department should collect food samples from the eateries so that the quality of food could be improved.

District Health Officer Dr Shivkaran Singh Kahlon said to ensure the sale of better quality food was a priority. He said food samples from the eateries outside all government hospitals would be collected and action would be taken against the eateries selling unhygienic food.

Amritsar, August 12
Indifference of the contractors engaged by the Municipal Corporation for various public works towards public inconvenience is evident from the fact that they have not bothered to display information about the route diversion as the road near Khazanawala Gate has been dug for sewerage work.

Though vehicles cannot pass through point near Khazanawala Gate while coming from Jhabal Road, no warning sign has been put up. “It would have been better if a display board had been put up at the Bakarmandi turn,” said a commuter.

A goods carrier was seen stranded on the road. Another commuter Kusamjit Kaur said, “The accidents can happen during the night when the roads are less crowded and people are driving at a high speed.”

She said the information about the roadblock would save them from harassment. The area residents said the road had been blocked for the past many days but no barricades were for public safety. 

Amritsar, August 12
Although an escalator has been installed at the Amritsar railway station, the authorities are yet to make it functional, awaiting its formal inauguration.

However, passengers and visitors in order to avoid a long walk to the island platform have started utilising the stationary escalator.

A passenger, Gurmail Singh, said he needed to reach the island platform number three to catch the train to his destination. “Looking at the escalator, I alighted at the entrance to the railway station. After reaching there, I found it non-functional,” he said. It was cumbersome to carry the luggage to another bridge near the Golden Temple model on platform number one. He said since the holy city was a major tourist destination, the railway authorities must execute such projects on priority.

Another visitor at the railway station, Ravinder Kumar, said the escalator did not go to platform number one, as such passengers had to come out of the station to access it. A similar problem was faced by passengers coming down from it.

A vendor at the railway station said that due to the aforementioned reason, many passengers, in order to avoid a long walk along with heavy luggage, were risking their lives by crossing railway lines. Earlier, there was negligible such crossing from platform number one.

He said, on condition of anonymity, that the civil work to facilitate the installation of the escalator had earlier been stalled for many months. It was good that eventually the installation and the civil work was finished. In this scenario, the passengers had no option but to climb the escalator on their own, which caused great difficulty to children and elderly.

It seems to be a long wait to see the escalator operational at the railway station. Technicians and the workforce have installed the set-up on platform number one of the railway station, but it is far from being functional.

Railway sources stated that it would be made functional within this month.

Passengers and visitors, especially aged, frail and physically challenged, are suffering the most, as they have to walk more to board a train.

The construction wing of Northern Railway floated a tender for the civil work for installation of escalator on platform number one and other miscellaneous and allied work at Amritsar railway station on July 8 last year. Tender bids were opened on August 20, 2013. As per the tender, the work was to be completed in three months of the opening of the tender.

Sources in the Railways stated that the work was expected to be finished by February, as it was started in December.

Even as the Indian Railways has time and again made promises of turning the Amritsar railway station into a world-class facility, the ongoing work to install the escalator on the premises has been painfully slow, causing inconvenience to the commuters.

The Northern Railway, Ferozepur Division, initiated the process of providing world-class facilities under the Railways International Tourist Destination Programme.

Amritsar, August 12
A delegation of the Punjab Subordinate Services Federation met the DC today. They submitted a memorandum of demands of the contractual staff in government departments.

Federation president Baldev Singh Jhamka said the foremost demand of all contractual workers was for the regularisation of their services. He said they should not be paid differently for same work. — TNS

Amritsar, August 12
To streamline the working of the Birth and Death Registration Department of the Municipal Corporation, Additional Deputy Commissioner Baldev Singh, along with three teams, raided the district health office on Monday.

The team found 730 pending cases, which could not be cleared as the officer concerned had not endorsed them.

The matter was brought to the notice of Amritsar Civil Surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla, who later intervened and got the backlog of cases cleared.

Besides, instructions have been given to make a provision for clean drinking water and an air-conditioned waiting hall facility at the district health office.

Amritsar, August 12
After romantic comedies, it’s historical dramas that Punjabi film industry is cashing in to attract the audience. The production house Sai Cine Productions is ready with their next historical drama "Kaum De Heere", a biographical account of the true incidents of 1984.

The success of "Punjab 1984" and "47 to 84" has once again put the spotlight on the drama and serious genre of entertainment. There is nothing more striking and entertaining when it comes to historical depictions. Satish Katyal, producer of the film, said, “Kaum De Heere is based on the biographical accounts of Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. Based on true events, as per the findings of the Justice Thakkar Commission, the movie does not aim at creating any controversy. Our only motive is to tell the audience the actual chain of events. We can't change history but we can learn from it."

Satish Katyal was joined by Punjabi lyricist and singer-turned-actor Raj Kakra, who plays the role of Beant Singh in the movie and model-turned-actor Sukhdeep Sukhi, who plays the role of Satwant Singh, Sardar Sohi and Isha Sharma.

Katyal added that the movie was an outcome of a thorough research on the topic. “There is nothing fictitious in it,” he added.

The director, story, screenplay and dialogue writer of the movie is Ravinder Ravi, best known for films "Tere Ishq Nachaya" and "Aappan Pher Milange". Shivtar Shiv is responsible for its cinematography while Beat Minister has created its music. Actor Raj Kakra has written lyrics of the songs. “It’s important to get into the skin of the character and that too when playing real life characters. I had to research the topic and the ideology of the characters," Raj kakra said.

Films dealing with sensitive subjects often find a way to attract trouble. But Katyal said, "Filmakers don't want to get involved into any controversy as a lot of money, hard work and time is invested in projects.The audience needs to understand that the Punjabi cinema should graduate to serious subjects."

The last time the star cast of the film was here, the Censor Board banned its screening, citing its controversial content. The film is based on the assasins of late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and has been criticised for glorifying them. But the producer and actor Raj Kakra says the changes have been made into the fil. "We are not trying to scratch old wounds. It's just another aspect of the events," says Kakra. The film releases on August 22.

Amritsar, August 12
A group of 40 students of Delhi University, who are taking out the Bharat-Pak Peace Cycle Rally, arrived Amritsar today. They carried out a mashaal rally from Jallianwala Bagh to various areas of the city.

They said the objective of their cycle rally was to mobilise support for friendly relations between India and Pakistan so that the money spent on arms and ammunition could be utilised for food, health and education. — TNS

Amritsar, August 12
The table tennis team of Bhavan’s SL School stood first in the Under-14 category during the two-day District Table Tennis Competitions for Girls.

The event concluded at Guru Harkrishan Public School today. Girls of host Guru Harkrishan Public School stood second in the same contest. The final of the Under-17 category was in progress. — TNS