Amritsar, September 2
A 20-year-old married woman was seriously burnt, allegedly by her in-laws, at Bal Kalan village, near here. The police has reportedly took her husband, Gopi, in its custody after registering a complaint against him, his mother, Rani, his father, Chanan, and other family members, including his sister-in-law.

Meanwhile, the statement of the victim, identified as Jyoti, was noted down in the presence of a magistrate at Guru Nanak Dev Hospital, where she is still under treatment. It is learnt that she has received over 80 per cent burn marks over her body.

Her family members, belonging to Tung Bal village on the Majitha road, alleged that she was burnt by the trio in a pre-planned move after an altercation last evening.

The woman’s family members also smelt foul play and alleged police inaction into the matter.

While the SHO of Kamoh police station, Inspector Sukhdev Singh, said that a case under Section 307, IPC, had been registered, he did not confirm Gopi’s arrest. “Action is being taken, according to the law. After registering the victim’s statement, a case has been registered. Now, we will proceed to arrest the accused named in the FIR. At present, all accused are missing,” he maintained.

On the other hand, the victim’s family members claimed that Gopi was in police custody since morning, but may have been let off by the police.

Gurdev Singh, brother-in-law of the victim, verified that he himself had helped the police in arresting Gopi. “I had left him with the police while he was being handcuffed in the morning. How could the police let him off like that? We will approach the Police Commissioner, JS Aulakh, tomorrow,” he said.

According to information, Gopi, who works as a small-time painter, had developed illicit relations with his sister-in-law (victim’s brother’s wife). He had been visiting her in a rented accommodation near a locality at the backside of Escort Hospital.

“This house, too, was hired by Gopi. He used to visit his sister-in-law, who lives separately from her husband, here only. The illicit relations led to arguments between the husband and the wife. Last evening, he returned home after spending two days out of home and a quarrel broke out between them over the issue,” he said.

“It was at around 9 pm that Gopi and his parents, under a conspiracy, tried to kill Jyoti by setting her on fire. We had lodged a complaint with the Heir Kamoh police station,” Gurdev Singh said. 

Amritsar, September 2
Traders, passengers, tourists and businessmen, associated with tourism, are keenly awaiting the operationalisation of the weekly train between Ahmedabad to Katra via Amritsar, but its uncertain schedule is keeping them on tenterhooks.

A vigilant resident, Naresh Johar, said an advertisement displayed by the railways in newspapers misled the readers instead of guiding them. He said the timing of the train was splashed in major newspapers of the region, but the date of commencing of the operations was not mentioned. He pointed out that the advertisement read as salient features of Northern Railway’s new time table (effective from Septmebr 1, 2014). Under the time table is given the schedule of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Katra-Ahmedabad Express (weekly) and its number is given as 19416/15. While no asterisk was given against it, yet a footnote stated that the date of the introduction of new trains, extension of trains, etc would be announced later.

He said the government was repeatedly announcing that the holy city would be developed as a tourist hub. However, absence of accurate information could ruin the itinerary of tourists.

Johar said information for the same train by other sources revealed that it would reach Amritsar at 11:55 pm on every Monday from Ahmedabad. Its stoppage here would be for 25 minutes, after which it would leave for Katra at 12:20 pm. It would return to Amritsar on the next day at 5:15 pm and would leave for Ahmedabad at 5:50 pm.

Railway officials stated that the announcement of a train in the budget meant that it would be made operational within this financial year.

The holy city will be connected with cash and business-rich western India and the popular tourist circuit of Jammu and Kashmir. Though the railways has advertised its timings, there is no word on its operation.

PL Seth, a local shawl manufacturer, said Gujarat was among the leading business and trade centres in the country. Another link between Amritsar and Ahmedabad will boost business and tourism activities. He said already three trains, namely Paschim Express, Golden Temple Express and Kochivalli Express, were catering to passengers between Amritsar and Gujarat. He said a dedicated direct train between Amritsar and Ahmedabad would be an advantage as trains were always found highly occupied. A hospitality industrialist, Satnam Singh Kanda, said the train would link the city tourist circuit of Jammu and Kashmir. 

Amritsar, September 2
The ultimatum given by the Akali leaders to the police administration demanding release of their party councillor, Dilbagh Singh, in a case wherein a Gate Hakima police team had allegedly tortured a PCR head constable, Dilbagh Singh, at the behest of the councillor, seems to be showing results.

Though the police could not arrest all 11 accused named in the case, the councillor, his brother, Jagtar Singh Jagga, the police team’s former in charge, Upkar Singh, and head constable Satpal Singh (both dismissed from service later) have managed to procure bail from the local court and were released.

The rest of the accused named in the case are still missing. They are head constables, Kulwant Singh and Balwinder Singh, besides Gurdas Singh, Sonu, Baba Bobby, Sucha Singh, Guggi, Manga, Lala, all residents of the Anngarh area, confirmed Vidya Sagar, in charge, CIA staff.

The police has also recovered a pistol from Jagtar Singh and a case under Sections 452, 342, 506 and 311, IPC, and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act had been registered against them. It is learnt, however, that Section 452 (trespassing)) and charges under the Arms Act were dropped in the police inquiry, which made the bail possible.

Sources said that the report of the police inquiry that was presented in the court yesterday, had emphasised that there was neither any conspiracy nor any forced entry into the house of the head constable, Dilbagh Singh.

It was after the intervention of DGP Sumedh Singh Saini on August 24 that the whole team of the Gate Hakima police was dismissed and the councillor was arrested. After the action, scores of alliance leaders camped at the office of the Police Commissioner, in the presence of DGP Saini, who had flown down here especially to follow the case, demanding release of the councillor.

Questions are being raised over the issue that serious charges have been withdrawn, following the protest by the Akali leaders led by district unit president Upkar Singh Sandhu. The Akali leaders had stated that the head constable, Dilbagh Singh, had created a ruckus under the influence of liquor and the councillor, Dilbagh Singh, being a public representative, had reported the matter to the Gate Hakima police. The Akali leaders had also alleged that the top police officials had kept them in the dark.

On the other hand, the complaint lodged by head constable Dilbagh Singh stated that he was taken to the police station forcibly during the late hours on August 22, kept there in “illegal confinement” and given third-degree torture by the police team for two nights.

Amritsar, September 2
Employees of the Health Department have postponed their decision to boycott services at hospitals in the district after an assurance by police officials that the private hospital owner, Ashwani Narang, and his supporters will be arrested by Friday.

The employees had staged a protest at the Civil Surgeon’s office to demand the arrest of persons, who had allegedly misbehaved with senior health officials when they had gone to inspect Narang hospital in the Haripura area on August 21.

As a team of police officials met the protesting employees and assured them of arresting the culprits, the employees associations decided not to hold a protest march as announced earlier.

The associations decided that they would not stall the services at OPDs till Saturday, but they would continue to boycott services of issuing no-injury certificates, medical examinations and medico-legal reports, all three related with the police, till the promise was fulfilled.

As employees of all cadres from health institutions in the entire district had started gathering at the Civil Surgeon’s office despite rain, the medical services at these institutions were affected.

The employees’ decision to restart services from tomorrow has offered a temporary respite to the general public, visiting government hospitals.

People were seen waiting for the employees to return to the Civil Hospital. The latter were protesting outside. The leaders of the associations, in a press note issued later, said they would stall all services at all government health institutions on Saturday morning, if police officials failed to fulfil their promise.

The protesting employees were demanding arrest of Ashwani Narang, the owner of Narang hospital, and his supporters.

Though the police had registered a case against Narang and his staff on August 22, they have failed to arrest any of the accused. 

Amritsar, September 2
As employees of government hospitals have been demanding the arrest of the owner of Narang hospital and his supporters, accused of misbehaving with the Civil Surgeon and other officials, the Nursing Home Cell of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has expressed solidarity with them.

The IMA’s Nursing Home Cell is an association of 140 private nursing homes, run by MBBS doctors. At a meeting of the cell, presided over by its chairman, Dr HS Nagpal, the executive passed a resolution, condemning the attack on the Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajiv Bhalla.

Dr JS Grover, convener of the cell, said, “The membership of the Nursing Home Cell of the IMA is restricted to institutes run by MBBS doctors only.”

He said the association didn’t support any hospital run by non-medicos and BAMS doctors.

Grover said, “The committee has expressed support to Bhalla and the action taken by him against Narang hospital.”

The owner of the private Narang hospital, Ashwani Narang, and his supporters had earlier abused and threatened a team led by Bhalla for carrying out an inspection at the hospital. 

Amritsar, September 2
The project of setting up urban haat that includes a food street and a heritage hotel has been delayed by about four months.

The project is being set up at the heritage value building of Sri Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital that has been lying abandoned for years.

A food street on the pattern of Lahore and a heritage hotel, come under the ambitious project of the Parkash Singh Badal government to catapult the Amritsar tourism industry into an international one.

The Health Department vacated the building, dating back to the British Raj, long time ago to facilitate its alternative use.

The tender was allotted to a Delhi-based private firm in December 2013. It was expected to finish the work in nine months after the start of work at the site.

Earlier, tenders were floated twice but no firm evinced interest in the project. Officials of the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) said hardly any company was showing interest as intricate conservation work was involved.

The PUDA also engaged the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) to prepare the DPR as the building has heritage value.

The abandoned hospital building was formerly known as Victoria Jubilee Hospital, which was named to commemorate Queen Victoria’s rule. It began functioning here in 1891.

Besides, it is located close to Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s summer palace known as Rambagh, a site protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI).

The site is situated at a place that is less than a kilometre from Golden Temple and Jallianwala Bagh.

The site spans more than 9.70 acre area. About 4.65 and 5.6 acre have been earmarked for the haat and hotel, respectively.

The urban haat is being built on the northern portion of the site, which will have features like a craft appreciation centre, souvenir shops, Punjab emporiums, a food court, a restaurant, an open air theatre, plazas, eating joints, a craft bazaar, an exhibition, meeting rooms, an administrative complex, toilets, kitchens, green rooms, gym and spa. A heritage hotel with 100-room capacity will be added to the haat.

The objectives of the initiative are preservation, conservation, restoration and reuse of the existing building.

The site has been divided into three parts. The heritage building constructed between 1860 and 1920 will be conserved without any modifications.

Later additions made between 1920 and 1940 could be modified and altered according to need and function. The structures added after 1940 will be demolished.

The chief administrator, Amritsar Development Authority (ADA), Sandeep Rishi, who also heads PUDA here, said the reason behind the delay was that the restoration and conservation of the historic site required plenty of time to maintain its originality.

He informed that the tender for the second part of the urban haat would be floated on September 4 and the company would take four months to finish the job.

Amritsar, September 2
As the new batch of MBBS students has joined Government Medical College, the college authorities have taken up initiatives to curb ragging of the juniors by seniors at the institute.

The college authorities have encouraged the newcomers to report any such instance to the teachers immediately so that timely action can be taken.

The college had yesterday organised a function to welcome the new students where director, Research and Medical Education, Dr Tejbir Singh, college Principal Dr Santokh Singh, and many faculty members interacted with the students.

Principal Dr Santokh Singh said the institute had an anti-ragging committee and a disciplinary committee to handle any such complaints on the campus. He said the phone numbers of the members of the committees had been made available to the students so that they can report problems at any time.

The management would not tolerate any act of indiscipline at the college, he said.

Senior Faculty member Dr RS Sidhu said the seniors too would be sensitised about dealing with the juniors.

Amritsar, September 2
The Amritsar Municipal Corporation today honoured its founder members and their kin, who were a part of the Municipal Committee in 1953, which was formed for the first time post Independence.

Chhattisgarh Governor Balramji Das Tandon, who was himself a councillor then, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Tandon said when the committee was constituted in 1953, he was in the jail as a political prisoner and had submitted his membership papers from the jail premises.

“Amritsar has always been a trading hub and till date, many residents here have earned their name in various trade practices, which are known worldwide,” he said.

Around 23 founder members or their kin, out of total 43 members then, were honoured during the programme.

Others present on the occasion included Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, former foreign minister Raghunandan Lal Bhatia, CPS Inderbir Bolaria, former ministers Baldev Raj Chawla and Laxmi Kanta Chawla, MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal, Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat and Police Commissioner JS Aulakh among other leaders of the ruling alliance. — TNS

Amritsar, September 2
Three persons, including a woman, have been booked on the charge of rape on the basis of a complaint lodged by a married woman.

Even as no arrest has been made so far, a case under Sections 376 and 120-B of the Indian Penal Code has been registered against Parveen Kumar, Merry and Kulwinder Kaur in this connection.

In a complaint registered at the Sultanwind police station, the victim alleged that she went to meet her sister Preeti at Daburji yesterday when the accused, who were already present there, forcibly took her to a room and raped her.

She alleged that Kulwinder Kaur helped the accused in overpowering her.

Investigating officer SI Simranjit Kaur of the Sultanwind police station said the accused also threatened to kill the victim’s brother and daughter if she dared to disclose anything about the incident.

“The victim is from Jodhe village and she went to meet her sister, who lives in Daburji. We have started our investigation to verify the facts. No arrest has been made so far and search is being conducted at the possible hideouts of the accused,” she said.

Amritsar, September 2
A team of National Accreditation and Assessment Council (NAAC) that included Prof Divya Prabha Nagar, former Vice Chancellor, JRN Rajasthan, Vidyapeeth, Prof Geetha Gopinath, Principal, Mar Thoma Teachers’ Training College, Kerala and Dr Indira Dhull, Dean, Faculty of Education, MD University, Rohtak and other education experts visited Khalsa College of Education today.

The team assessed the infrastructure and curricular and co-curricular aspects of the college and observed teaching sessions, said Principal Dr SP Kaur Dhillon.

A cultural programme was also organised by students of the college. It was presided over by Khalsa College Governing Council honourary secretary Rajinder Mohan Singh Chinna. — TNS

Amritsar, September 2
A high resolution PC-controlled analytical 200 kv transmission electron microscope (TEM) was installed at the Emerging Life Science Block of Guru Nanak Dev University today.

Costing around Rs 3 crore, the system was formally inaugurated by Vice Chancellor Prof AS Brar. The equipment was purchased under the programme ‘University with Potential for Excellence’ of the University Grants Commission, New Delhi.

The equipment will provide help in a wide range of fields from material research to medical and biological applications.

To cater to the field of material science and nano-technology, the system can give a lattice resolution of 0.14 nm (nano-meter) with a maximum magnification of 15 lakh times.

The minimum probe size of 1.0 nm can be used for nano area analysis. The instrument has a provision to carry out bright field and dark field imaging and selective area electron diffraction.

Amritsar, September 2
Even as the government has yet not devised a new format of collecting property tax, those who have skipped the deadline of August 31 for depositing their dues for 2013-2014 will now have to pay the penalty from today onwards.

As per information, the property tax will now be realised along with 50 per cent penalty and 18 per cent rate of interest for the delayed period from the defaulters. The rate of interest on the penalty dues will be calculated from April 1.

The Punjab Government had imposed property tax last year with effect from April 1, 2013.

Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi had made it clear that though the Punjab government was in the process of reassessing the property tax format, the reformed formula will be applicable from the next year — 2014-2015.

The residents were asked to clear their dues for 2013-2014 as per the existing pattern before the deadline.

In Amritsar, around 3 lakh properties, including around 50,000 commercial units, come under the ambit of property tax liability. The set target was estimated to be between Rs 40-50 crore, up to March 31, 2014. But the process was stalled due to general election.

Till date, only around 1.5 lakh units could be covered. The total realisation of property tax till date is around Rs 23 crore, which includes a major chunk from commercial units only.

A resident who owns a 1 kanal house (500 square yard plot) in posh locality such as Green Avenue or New Amritsar (having nearly Rs 20,000 per square yard as collector rate) has a liability to pay Rs 3,000 annually, after deducting 10 per cent depreciation of his property.

Now, with the penalty clause coming into effect, he will have to pay a penalty of around Rs 1,500, along with 18 per cent interest, calculated for delayed span from April 1.

Even as the buzz is around that as per the upcoming proposed format, the five-marla (125 sq. yard) houses and vacant plots will be given immunity from paying the property tax, as per existing pattern, for self-occupied houses up to 50 square yards, a consolidated sum of Rs 50 per year will be charged. For houses between 50 to 100 square yards, there is an annual consolidated tax of Rs 150 for 2013 -2014.