Amritsar, August 26
Proprietors of illegal hotels, guest houses and inns surrounding the Golden Temple may have been had a temporary respite from sealing of their properties, prompt action against MC officials, however, during whose tenure such commercial units prospered, could be expected any time now.

The special probe committee, constituted by the Punjab Government and headed by a retired sessions judge, has started scrutinising the role of Municipal Town Planning (MTP) officials. It is learnt that 33 officials up to the rank of Municipal Town Planners, Assistant Town Planners and building inspectors will be under the radar of this committee.

On behalf of the Punjab Government, the Additional Secretary, Madhawi Kataria, has furnished an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court stating that the probe committee under the tutelage of Sessions Judge BC Gupta (retd) has started an inquiry into the matter, according to the directions and the process of chargesheeting the suspect officials has been initiated.

Otherwise, according to precedent, departmental action is taken against the chargesheeted employees, but it will be for the first time that a special committee has been constituted to take action against such officials.

During the hearing on August 22, the high court had granted three months’ time to serve the chargesheet and take action against the suspect MC officials, before filing the compliance report on the next date of hearing, which has been fixed as December 19.

This implied that officials of the MTP Department, whether serving, shifted or the retired ones, would have to face legal action, if they were found on the other side of the law.

The insiders, preferring anonymity, said that the erring officials may face suspension or their increments may be stopped as punitive action.

On the other hand, the petitioner, a local resident, Sarbjit Singh Verka, who had challenged the functioning of illegal hotels, inns and guest houses around the holiest Sikh shrine, has welcomed the move.

“It is the first time that such a ‘harsh’ action has been taken by the government since 2010, when I had approached the high court against illegal commercial units around the Golden Temple. I expect that the special committee headed by a retired judge will do justice in a fair and transparent manner,” he said.

The committee is also constantly monitoring breach of bylaws around the Golden Temple and trying to stop illegal construction and subsequent demolition. Over 125 illegal hotels, serais and inns have been identified around the Golden Temple.

Amritsar, August 26
A local court has sent MC councillor Dilbagh Singh to judicial custody for 14 days in the case pertaining to manhandling and illegal confinement of a PCR Head Constable.

The MC Councillor, owing allegiance to the ruling SAD, was sent to the central jail here today after instructions from the court.

The police had earlier produced SHO Upkar Singh and Head Constable Satpal Singh before the court yesterday. The other two accused: Kulwant Singh and Balwinder Singh are still at large.

The Police Department had earlier dismissed the entire police team at the Gate Hakima police station for beating up a colleague and keeping him in illegal confinement under political influence.

Head Constable Dilbagh Singh had complained against the accused Gate Hakima police station in-charge Upkar Singh and others.

Dilbagh Singh had stated that he had been organising a fair of Baba Dhiru Shah shrine at his village for many years. He said the councillor was angry because his photograph was not published on the poster printed for the annual fair.

The Director General of the Punjab Police, Sumedh Singh Saini, went to Amritsar to enquire into the matter and get the case registered.

Amritsar, August 26
District Congress Committee (Rural) president Gurjeet Singh Aujla today condemned the assault on head constable Dilbagh Singh by his own colleagues led by a local SHO at the behest of an Akali councilor. The Congress leader went to see the policeman at his residence.

Gate Hakima SHO Upkar Singh and head constables Kulwant Singh, Balwinder Singh and Satpal Singh had allegedly beaten up constable Dilbagh Singh a couple of days ago at the police station.

Aujla said Akali-BJP activists/leaders were masters of pioneering new ways of violating the laws. The situation was so tense that the DGP had to come to Amritsar to fix it up.

“The family of the victim and other residents of the area informed me that the SHO, police personnel and workers of the ruling party have created a fear psychosis in the area so as to provide cover to the drug traffickers,” he said.

“I condemn the SAD-BJP leaders who kept pressuring the Police Commissioner till midnight to get the involved councillor free, which proves that the Akalis and BJP always protect criminals,” he said.

“I demand that an independent judicial probe must be conducted into the matter so that constable Dilbagh may get justice in time and the police force is disciplined. The probe must be conducted keeping in view the drug lords involved in the matter so that the entire cartel may be unearthed,” he said.

Amritsar, August 26
SP Baljit Singh, who appeared before the National SC Commission Vice Chairman Raj Kumar Verka here today, said the police had arrested a person for locking a dalit inside a dog cage at Bhagiari village in the Tarn Taran district.

The SP told the commission that the police were looking for the other two accused in the case.

Earlier, Sahib Singh, a resident of the village, had filed a complaint stating that he was locked inside a dog cage and tortured as he had failed to pay back the money he had borrowed from a farmer in the village.

SP Baljit Singh said Nirmal Singh, a village panchayat member, had already been arrested.

The vice chairman had instructed police officials to appear before it along with the report on the action that had been taken.

The complainant had stated that he was kept in the dog cage for three hours before he was rescued by the police.

Amritsar, August 26
Demanding arrest of the owner of Narang hospital and his supporters for “misbehaving” with senior health officials, health employees staged a protest at Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital here today.

Members of the PCMS Doctors Association and the Civil Hospital Employees Welfare Association said that the police had failed to arrest the accused in the case even after five days.

The association had earlier announced to shun work and not entertain medico-legal cases and medical examinations of persons brought by the police. However, the move was postponed after senior health officials persuaded the employees to give police another three days.

The employees demanded that senior health officials in the district, particularly the Civil Surgeon, should be provided permanent security in view of the nature of his services. Rakesh Sharma of the Civil Hospital Employees Welfare Association said, “The way the health team was allowed to inspect the hospital records is not done as they were made to submit to unjustified demands of the hospital owner, who had gathered a large number of people in his support.”

The associations said that if the police failed to arrest the culprits within 72 hours, the health employees associations would launch a statewide protest.

Meanwhile, sources in the Health Department said that the records submitted to the team were incomplete and did not bear the signature of the surgeon who had attended to the two women patients, who had died at the hospital in July during delivery. The team was also not allowed to inspect the operating theatre, the pharmacy and the ultrasound room as these were locked.

The police had earlier registered a case against Narang hospital’s owner, Dr Ashwani Narang, and his staff for obstructing the health team from conducting an inspection at the hospital pertaining to the death of two pregnant women during delivery.

The Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajiv Bhalla, said that they were going through the record files, submitted by the hospital, and it would be only after that they would decide their next step.

Amritsar, August 26
The SGPC has taken up the task of cleanliness around the Golden Temple. From September 1, a special cleanliness drive, in collaboration with volunteers, will be launched, which will cover not only the galliara, but also the streets leading to the holiest shrine of the Sikhs.

A bird’s eye-view of the Golden Temple in Amritsar, whose surroundings leave much to be desired in terms of cleanliness. A tribune photograph

In the backdrop of this move, the SGPC was dissatisfied by the failed cleanliness mechanism of the Municipal Corporation. A few days ago, Bakshi Ram Arora, mayor, had expressed his intention to join hands with the SGPC in its mission of cleanliness, but there was no word from him over the issue at present.

The MC claims that it spends Rs 55 lakh per annum extra to maintain sanitation around the Golden Temple, but it could never deliver effective results, apparently due to lack of planning or integrity on the part of its staff. Though the night sanitation drive by roping in private players by the MC was a welcome step, it, too, could not be continued as the contract of the existing firm had lapsed and formalities could not be put in place to float tenders to hire another firm.

The SGPC has, however, now come out with a full-fledged plan in this direction and has started the process of procuring sanitation machinery. In the first stage, three ‘chotta hathi’ (garbage canters) equipped with a jack to load will be purchased.

SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar said that a cleanliness plan had been drafted during the special meeting convened today, which was attended by the SGPC secretary, additional secretary, assistant secretary and manager. The SGPC’s santiation team will wear proper uniforms for their easy identification.

The SGPC has also appealed to the residents, living in the vicinity, to cooperate and not litter the streets. The residents have been told to collect their domestic refuse in polythene bags, to be handed over to the SGPC’s sanitation team that will make rounds of the streets twice or thrice a day.

“The MC has proved to be a failure in its job. It was a pain to see that the pilgrims, who come from all over the world to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple with devotion, navigating heaps of garbage piled up on the streets and open drains emanating foul smell. With a view to provide a spic and span passage to them, we have constituted a dedicated team of the SGPC, which will ensure cleanliness around the Golden Temple. The team will perform the sanitation job twice or thrice a day. We will also enroll volunteers in the drive. I appeal to the residents living around the Golden Temple to avoid throwing garbage on the streets. They could collect it and hand it over to our sanitation teams. And if need be, we will also provide garbage- collection bags to the residents,” he said.

Amritsar, August 26
Inordinate delay in repairing the damaged portion of Bhandari railway over-bridge has turned out into a nightmare for commuters and pedestrians.

Nearly nine months ago, a sidewalk of the bridge was damaged due to the fault of a heavy vehicle driver.

Labourers paint the damaged portion of the Bhandari railway over-bridge in Amritsar on Tuesday. Photo: RK Soni

A portion of the bridge had caved in as a sand-laden truck passed through it. The sidewalk was originally meant for offering a safe passage to the pedestrians as it was separated by an iron railing.

The key bridge is the lifeline of the city as it connects the old city with the rest of the areas. Proper repair of the damaged portion of the bridge would ensure smooth and swift movement of traffic.

The repair work on the bridge started around a month ago when a team from the bridge workshop at Jalandhar collected the measurements of the beams of the cantilever bridge. After its fabrication at the workshop, the damaged part will be transported and installed at the bridge.

The railway authorities took stock of the situation after five months of the incident and finally ordered its repairs. A part of the bridge had collapsed on December 6, 2013.

The slack approach of the government and the district administration has been highlighted through the delay in taking up repair work.

The state government’s tall claim of providing world-class infrastructure to the city also fell flat.

Naresh Johar, a senior citizen, said keeping in view the significance of the bridge and the high-volume traffic passing through it, residents expected a quick response to its repairs. However, the bridge remained unattended to all these months.

Commuters are facing a tough time as the bridge often witnesses traffic snarls during the day.

Bhandari Bridge, popularly known as ‘Uccha Pul’, was built in 1955. According to RITES company, which had studied the immense load being borne by the bridge, around 1.64 lakh vehicles pass through this bridge in 24 hours.

This leads to frequent traffic jams. High volume of traffic also suggests that the pollution level also remains high during this period.

A three-member technical team of the railways visited the bridge in February 2011 to study the feasibility of widening it but later rejected the proposal on the ground that the iron angles, which separated the main bridge from the pedestrian path on both sides, could not be removed as it was a cantilever bridge.

An engineer from the bridge workshop of the Railways from Jalandhar, on condition of anonymity, said the fabrication of the portion of the cantilever bridge was in the final stage. He said in all probability, it would be installed by the next month.

Amritsar, August 26
A jail inmate tried to end his life as he could not get his daily dose of drug in the Amritsar Central jail.

Yudhbir Singh alias Yoda, cut his nerve with a spoon, which was sharpened like a knife, but he was saved.

Sources said the accused was in jail in a case registered under the NDPS Act — FIR number 112/14 U/S 22/61/85.

A case has been registered against him on the complaint submitted by jail superintendent RK Sharma.

The superintendent said the accused was under depression. A case against him was registered in 2009 under the NDPS Act at the C-division police station.

“He was admitted to a de-addiction centre but he never cooperated. Later, he himself wrote that he didn’t intend to undergo treatment. We too had no choice as he often turned violent and hurt himself. Yesterday, he had procured an old spoon and tried to cut his vein to kill himself, but timely aid saved him,” he said.

“We will provide him counselling to get him out of depression. He is an addict and when he is desperate, he behaves violently,” he added.

Investigating officer Malook Singh of Gumtala police station said a case under Section 309 IPC and 42 of the Prisoner Act had been registered against him at the Cantonment police station.

Amritsar, August 26
Punjabi folk singer and actor, Gippy Grewal, today visited Guru Nanak Dev University and interacted with students. He was accompanied by Gurpreet Ghuggi, a popular comedian and an alumnus of the university, on the promotional tour for his Punjabi film, ‘Double di Trouble’.

A special programme was organised at Dashmesh Auditiourm.

Dr Jagjit Kaur, director, Youth Welfare, welcomed the filmstars and informed about the achievements of the department.

Ghuggi exhorted the students to excel in their lives with hard work and commitment while respecting their teachers and parents. — TNS

Amritsar, August 26
‘Malhar Utsav’ was celebrated at Guru Nanak Dev University today. The event was organised by the Department of Music in collaboration with North Zone Cultural Centre, Patiala.

Padam Bhushan Pt Debu Chaudhuri, a highly acclaimed artist, and Pt Prateek Chaudhuri, besides top rank AIR artists Prabhakar Kashyap and Divakar Kashyap and disciples of Pt Rajan–Sajan Mishra, enthralled a large number of students, teachers and employees with their music. Dr Murli accompanied the artists on tabla.

Pt Debu Chaudhuri said the importance of playing sitar and other instruments was already described in the Vedas and Puranas in the ancient times. It was the glamour of the western world that had deviated the Indian youth from traditional music, he added.

Vice-Chancellor Prof AS Brar was the chief guest and Dr Sarvjit Kaur Brar, principal, Khalsa College Public School, presided over the function.

Prof Brar said it had been scientifically established that good music provides peace of mind and is good for health. He also appreciated the efforts of the Music Department and the North Zone Cultural Centre for organising the event.