Amritsar, August 21
A group of over 30 youngsters abused and threatened senior health officials as they did not allow them to enter Narang Hospital near the Islamabad locality here for inspection today. The youngsters threatened officials of dire consequences if they dared to come to the hospital again.

Death of two women during delivery on July 13 and July 15 were reported from the hospital. As a policy matter, each and every maternal death is reviewed by the District Health Society chaired by the Deputy Commissioner to prevent such cases in future.

The Health Department had reportedly sent a letter to the hospital owner to submit records of the two cases on August 8. “The hospital owner had even refused to accept the letter. So, it was decided to conduct an inspection at the hospital by sending a team,” said Dr Rajiv Bhalla, Civil Surgeon, who led the team today.

The other members of the team included the district health officer, Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar, and the district BCG official, Dr Rashmi Vij.

The hospital owner, Ashwani Narang, who had prior information of the inspection, called up his men to prevent the team from entering the premises. The mob used derogatory words against doctors’ team even as two women doctors were present.

In a high-voltage drama, which continued for about 45 minutes, the doctors failed to get any help from the police, even as the Islamabad police station is merely 200 metres away.

As the team decided to leave the place, the mob blocked the road and did not let it go. It was only after a few mediapersons got involved and persuaded the mob to clear the road that health officials managed to leave.

As soon as the health team left, Dr Ashish Nagpal came out of the hospital and thanked the robust mob. A few in the mob asked the doctor for a treat and promised that they would be around if somebody came again.

An investigation by The Tribune revealed that the owner of the hospital, Dr Ashish Narang, is a BAMS doctor while his wife, Aanjana Narang, is a homoeopathic doctor. Though no names of qualified, specialist allopathic doctors were mentioned on the main display board of the hospital, the Caesarean surgeries are regularly conducted at the place.

Talking to the media, Dr Ashish Narang said that the Health Department was not happy with his flourishing business as they want him to sent delivery cases to Bebe Nanki Mother and Child Care Centre, a government facility at Government Medical College. He denied his role in obstructing the health teams from entering the hospital, saying that the area residents had acted on their own.

The Civil Surgeon said that they had sent a letter to the Commissioner of Police and would brief the Deputy Commissioner. He said, “We suspect that something illegal was going on inside, which the owner of the hospital did not want the team to know, which was why the team was obstructed from going in.” He said they had been conducting inspections at private health facilities for long, but never has anybody behaved in such a manner.

An ultrasound centre at the hospital was sealed by the Health Department two years ago for violations of the PC-PNDT Act. 

Amritsar, August 21
The six-year-old daughter of Gurparkash Singh, alias Sunny, arrested by the Tarn Taran police sometime back in connection with a drug seizure case was cremated here today. The family had earlier staged protests, claiming that Gurparkash Singh was innocent. It said the child, Namanjot Kaur, had died of depression as she could not bear the brunt of separation from her father.

A tearful Gurparkash Singh while talking with the media held the police responsible for the death of her daughter. “The police wanted to find out about my association with Hardeep Singh Perry, whom I do not know,” he said, adding that he was tortured by the police by passing electric current through his body.

“As I work as a money exchanger along with selling garments, the police said that Perry had exchanged $1,000 from me,” he said. How could I know about the illegal activities of any of my customers, he asked.

Gurparkash Singh said that when he was picked up by the police on June 26, he had requested them to let him inform his family. “They did not let me make a phone call and took me to the CIA staff police station at Tarn Taran. It was after three days that a case was registered against me,” he said, alleging that the police told him to pay Rs 20 lakh if he did not want a case registered against him.

The family had earlier demanded an inquiry into the Gurprakash Singh’s arrest by staging a protest at Bhandari Bridge after which Tarn Taran SSP Manmohan Sharma had assured them that an inquiry would be conducted by him.

Amritsar, August 21
Though the sword of sealing hangs on the illegal hotels, guest houses and inns falling in the surroundings of the Golden Temple, the attention is focused on the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which will hear the case tomorrow.

The hoteliers are taking the plea that their properties could be regularised on the lines of other holy cities like Hardwar and Banaras.

Around 125 hotels and guest houses in the surroundings of the Golden Temple are observing closure to protest against the move to close their businesses as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court had termed them as illegal and not complying with the stipulated building bylaws.

The century-old walled city area was under mix-land use where both commercial and residential premises mushroomed with the passage of time, yet these premises never complied with the Building Bylaws of 1997, which were later revised in 2010. A local resident had filed a petition in the high court while challenging their operations.

On the other hand, the hoteliers admitted that some commercial units came up with permission and some without permission, but this had helped the ever-increasing number of visitors to the holy city, who come up to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and looked for cheap and convenient accommodation.

Besides, these units have also become a source of livelihood to over 60 families, who had passed through the period of militancy in the state and, with no other option left, had converted their residential premises into commercial use by accommodating visitors. Apart from this, 4,000 persons are directly involved as supporting staff in running these small hotels and guest houses.

The affected hoteliers said that the local civic authorities had devised a one-time settlement policy to regularise the so-called illegal hotels, guest houses and inns, but the “harsh” move of SIT to seal them was condemnable and contradictory. The SIT report was “biased” and “discriminatory”. It never objected to big hotels in the Civil Lines area. Even the high court was being misled by some disgruntled elements, they added.

President of Federation of Hotel and Guest House Association of Amritsar Surinder Singh said that accommodation close to shrines was not new in India. “It existed for long and it still exists in Hardwar, Katra, Jammu, Allahabad, Banaras, Nasik, Puri and so on. Amritsar was not an exception in this context. We are dependent on the high court’s mercy,” he said.

Patron of the federation JS Wadhwa appealed to the government and the SIT to abstain from any such action, which could destroy the livelihood of thousands of families.

“In this critical hour, we will just wait and watch as we do not want to spoil the peace of the holy city by staging mass protests. We have been observing an indefinite closure of our hospitality units in a peaceful manner,” he said. 

Amritsar, August 21
Development in the holy city is taking a heavy toll on the green cover, much to the resentment of the environmentalists and local residents. However, Bakshi Ram Arora, mayor, says that they are ready to compensate for the loss and will plant a large number of saplings.

Taking a serious note of indiscriminate chopping of century-old, rare trees in the name of development in Amritsar, MP Capt Amarinder Singh moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which, in turn, has granted three weeks’ time to the state government to decide on Capt Amarinder Singh’s representation.

There are around 4,500 to 5,000 trees that are on the chopping block for paving the way for various development projects. According to estimates, over 2,000 trees and plants must have been damaged while carrying out work on various development projects like the BRTS, Kitchlew Chowk, elevated road or widening of roads in the bypass areas.

Various environmental NGOs of Amritsar protested at all levels, but in spite of verbal assurances, rampant cutting off of tress continued. The centuries-old trees like banyan, pippal, mulberry, jamun, shisham and various other full-grown, healthy and sacred trees were chopped off mercilessly and saplings of palm trees have been replanted in lieu of these.

Only recently, during a general house meeting chaired by Arora, a resolution was passed to allow chopping of as many as 368 big trees and 30 small trees on both sides of Mecleod Road (from Aerodrome road to GT road) to widen it. Similarly, the Forest Department has allowed the PWD (B&R) to fell142 trees on GT road from Bhandari Bridge to Guru Nanak Dev University. These include many trees, which create no hindrance of any sort.

On March 18, an RTI application had been filed in this regard by Parbodh C. Bali to the Amritsar Municipal Corporation asking for information on the total number of trees within Amritsar City since 2008 with all details.

It was confirmed vide letter no. 15 of December 31, 2013, that the Xen (Horticulture), Municipal Corporation, Amritsar, had granted an NOC to the Amritsar Improvement Trust to cut off 858 trees from Circular Road to Kitchlew Road without adopting any procedure or a resolution of the house of councillors, which is mandatory, claimed Bali.

There is also a big setback to the wildlife of the area, causing millions of birds, including endangered species, to lose their shelter and shade. Environmentalist PS Bhatti of Khudai Khidmadgaran said, “It was painful to see full-grown trees chopped off in the name of development. It takes not years, but decades for trees to attain this growth, but these are chopped off in a matter of hours.”

Sheenu Singh of Voice of Amritsar said that already considerable damage had been done to the green cover on the Mall road due to the construction of high-rise buildings and multiplex malls, etc. Further chopping of trees would do irreparable damage to the environment for generations to come. 

Amritsar, August 21
Who doesn’t want to make a statement at weddings? All you want is a perfect dress with perfect hair and make-up. As the wedding season begins, the latest trends in hair and make-up are doing the rounds these days.

Breaking the routine for the bride, style experts spell out experimental, minimal, yet elegant looks for the season.

“Getting rid of the traditional bridal look with heavy doses of make-up and bulky hairdos, it’s time to try something different. Dumping the usual bulky bridal buns, looks with flowing manes, curls and smart chignons are the hottest style trends in hair. Undone chignons, retro hair folds and even open, flowing manes, accessorised with flowers and jewellery give just the right balance of catching the attention without being too flashy,” says Vishal Moudgil, a Gurgaon-based make-up artist, who recently held a bridal show at VLCC.

As for make-up, the monsoon wedding is all about subtle and soft feminine hues. But then the bride deserves better than that. So playing around with bold colours such as fuchsia, pink and red and neon, the attention to detail is evident.

“An important tip is to keep the skin fresh with translucent make-up to avoid excess shine and play with bold colours. If the eyes are bold with gold, silver and aquamarine colours, the lips are kept coral and soft hued. Heavy eyebrows and lashes make for the dramatic effect in summers. You can ditch the extra pancaked face in summers for a cool refreshing make-up in softer shades,” said Moudgil. 

Amritsar, August 21
With the Municipal Corporation deciding to re-float the tenders for the proposed solid waste management plant tomorrow, the residents can hope to get rid of the solid waste problem soon.

Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora today held a meeting in this regard with MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal at his camp office at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama here.

Talking to Amritsar Tribune, he said the MC would float the tenders tomorrow, the advertisement for which would also be published in the media.

Besides, the companies interested in setting up solid waste management project could also apply online.

He said another meeting would be held to clear all the queries of the companies and by September 30, the MC would finalise the company to which project would be handed over.

The project has been hanging in balance for the past one and a half year even as it got environmental clearance from the Union Government, Punjab Pollution Control Board and the Airport Authority of India for setting up the plant.

Earlier, the tenders were rejected due to exorbitant rates quoted by the firms in response to the MC’s tender notice in December 2013. According to officials, the interested firms had quoted Rs 1,500 per tonne for lifting garbage, which was later reduced to Rs 1,100 per tonne. But it was not expected by the MC after which it decided to re-float the tenders for the project.

Hundreds of tonnes of garbage are generated in the city every day. As per the original plan, a municipal solid waste management plant with a capacity of handling over 500 metric tonne garbage generated in the city was to be established under the JNNURM scheme.

Earlier, the Antony Waste Firm hired by the MC quit around one and a half year ago after it failed to clear its dues to the tune of Rs 1.6 crore. The firm used to charge Rs 500 per metric tonne for lifting garbage.

Amritsar, August 21
The city police have arrested eight persons for allegedly possessing narcotics and illicit liquor in separate instances. Those arrested include Sarabjit Singh of Anngarh, Nitish Kapoor of Ram Tirath Road, Avtar Singh alias Chandi of Kale Ghanupur, Chheharta, Mittar Singh and Bachitar Singh of Ghumanpur and Amandeep Singh of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar.

Besides, the police held Kulwinder Singh and Amandeep Singh of Bage Wali Patti, Verka, for allegedly consuming heroin.

As per the details, Sarabjit Singh was held with 40 bottles of illicit liquor while Avar Singh was arrested with 8 cans of illicit liquor.

The police also impounded his Innova car PB-30-A-9292. Mittar Singh and Bachintar Singh were arrested for allegedly possessing 50 gm of narcotic powder and 20 intoxicant injections. The police also seized a stolen motorcycle from their possession.

Nitish Kapoor was apprehended with 1gm heroin while Amandeep Singh of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar was arrested with 150 gm of narcotic powder.

The Ram Bagh police confiscated 54 bottles of liquor but the accused managed to escape from the spot.

Amritsar: Vivek Sharma, a student of Grade IX of DAV International School, Amritsar, received a rare honour as Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani recently honoured him with an appreciation letter by the CBSE and a message personally signed by the Prime Minister of India for his achievements in Yoga.

He was among 48 students who were chosen for their excellent performance in CBSE sports competitions and invited by the CBSE for giving an insight into the rich cultural heritage of India in a three-day event involving a heritage walk, preparation of an e-book (Hamari Dharohar & Hamara Sapana), and listening to the speech of the Prime Minister at the Red Fort. Talking about the exceptional achievement of her student, Principal Anjana Gupta lauded the efforts and hard work put in by him and extended her good wishes to his family. She said the school possessed excellent sports infrastructure, which offers the much-needed cutting edge to the students and groom them as adept sportspersons. Chairman Dr VP Lakanpal and manager Dr KN Kaul also appreciated the student for his great achievement and wished him good luck for future.

KCPS students excel in sports

Khalsa College Public School (KCPS) students stole the show in the district level boxing championship organised by Punjab School Education Board (PSEB). Jagpreet Singh, a student of Class VI bagged a gold medal while Bishamber Singh got a bronze medal in the tournament. KCPS principal Dr Sarvjit Brar said the school’s cricket team had also reached the zonal level and would play for further competitions. She said Naseeb Dhillon, a student of Class XI, brought laurels to the school as he was selected for the Asian Camp (Junior) to be organised shortly at Delhi by the Swimming Federation of India. She congratulated the winners and thanked the management for encouraging sports in the school. — TNS