Amritsar, September 8
With scores of buildings that collapsed due to incessant rains recently in the walled city area, claiming at least nine lives in the district, including four within the city limits, the Municipal Corporation authorities today issued notices to owners or tenants occupying 128 rickety buildings.

The notices directed the occupants to vacate the unsafe premises on their own or repair the damaged portion.

The MC authorities had earlier carried out a demolition drive around 18 months ago in various parts of the walled city area, but it had to stop midway due to various reasons.

There were 143 buildings, which were declared unsafe, according to a survey conducted by the Municipal Town Planning Department. Of these, some were demolished while a majority of others enjoyed immunity as court cases were pending in the court.

According to officials, these court cases pertained to disputes between the owners and their tenants.

Over 60 per cent of the buildings were under dispute as the tenants, both residential and commercial, have been occupying the buildings for decades and they were not ready to vacate until and unless some “lucrative” deal was struck with the owners.

Around 10 per cent of the houses, which were in a dilapidated state, were found to be locked for decades due to a property dispute between the heirs and have been served stay orders by the court.

Similarly, there were around 5 per cent ill-maintained houses, which were locked for decades and the whereabouts of their owners were difficult to trace.

Municipal Town Planner Nirmalpreet Singh said that despite all odds, today around 128 occupants of such crumbling structures had been served notices.

“The occupants have been told to move to safer places on their own as their buildings not only posed a threat to their lives, but could also damage the adjoining buildings. The problem is that the property owners will never repair the rickety structures as they want to get rid of their old tenants. On the other hand, the tenants will not leave the place before getting some handsome compensatory amount. Since, most of the cases are pending in courts, we refrain from taking any direct action, but still we have served notices to the occupants to leave the premises to save their lives,” he said. 

Amritsar, September 8
Even after three weeks of getting the records from the Narang hospital in the Haripura locality here, where deaths of two women during delivery in July was reported, the local health authorities are finding it difficult to achieve a breakthrough in the case.

Sources in the department said the records earlier received from the hospital were insufficient to figure out the details of the case. However, they added that the name of a doctor serving with the Health Department had surfaced in the preliminary investigations for conducting surgeries on both the women.

Meanwhile, it has also been learnt that the department has written a fresh letter to the hospital today to submit all documents related with the case.

The department had earlier received only two files pertaining to the medical summary of the patients.

The hospital owner, Ashwani Narang, and four others are presently in jail to serve 14 days in judicial custody after a case against them for “misbehaving” and “threatening” senior health officials, who had gone to inspect the hospital, was registered on August 22.

The police had arrested all accused earlier last week after the Health Department employees in the district had boycotted medical services to pressurise the police.

Talking about the outcome of the ongoing investigation, the Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajiv Bhalla, said that a team under the chairmanship of Dr RS Sethi was constituted to probe the records. He said the team had asked the hospital for more records besides interviewing key persons mentioned in the available records.

Sethi said that a letter was sent to the hospital on Friday to submit OPD and indoor records of the two cases. He said the hospital had accepted the letter, in which it was instructed to submit the required documents by September 10. 

Amritsar, September 8
With the crime graph shooting up in the city, a need is being felt for a separate wing dedicated to carrying out investigations into crime incidents, occurring in the city.

Being a holy city and famous for its religious and tourist destinations, Amritsar witnesses frequent VIP and VVIP movements. It also has the mini parliament of Sikhs, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). Therefore, political developments are always on the boil here, leading to regular visits of political leaders to the city.

A number of police officials pointed out, on condition of anonymity, that they remained busy in providing security cover to these VIPs, thus finding hardly any time to investigate the crime incidents happening in their areas thoroughly.

“We hardly find any time for proper investigations due to VIP duties. The investigations suffer and give sufficient time to the criminal elements to escape,” said an SHO-rank official, preferring anonymity.

Another senior policeman while admitting the problem said that around 50 per cent of the police force remained busy in non-policing jobs. The VIP duties were no different. He pointed out that reserve battalions such as the Punjab Armed Police (PAP) should be used for the VIP duties and other non-policing jobs. Specific police stations should be kept apart for these duties. This would give ample time to the policemen to investigate cases.

SS Chhina, a former policeman, said that though constituting a separate investigating wing would be a welcome step, he said he was apprehensive that this wing, too, would be put on VIP duties to provide foolproof security to them.

He said controlling the law and order problem and holding impartial investigations was not a big problem, but it required political will to do so. Political intervention badly affected efficient policing.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said there were plans to separate the investigation wing in future. 

Amritsar, September 8
Tourists visiting the Wagah-Attari border for the retreat ceremony may look forward to better facilities in the near future as the work on the expansion of the spectators’ gallery and addition of other facilities is all set to start within a month.

Talking to The Tribune, BSF DIG, MF Farooqui said, “The design of the new spectators’ gallery has been finalised and the process for tendering is underway. The work on it is likely to start within a month. The new gallery will facilitate a seating capacity of 15,000 people as compared to the existing capacity of around 5,000.”

When asked whether the expansion work will affect the ceremony, he said the work would be carried out in a phased manner so that the ceremony was least affected.

According to sources, the entire project will cost Rs 23.98 crore. Under the project, the spectators’ gallery will be further expanded to accommodate more tourists. They said the gallery would also be redesigned to facilitate better height and viewing angles to watch the ceremony. The new design placed a lot of importance on visibility, so that people could watch the ceremony in a better way.

The project would also include facilities like conference hall, dining hall, kitchen, guards’ room, hall, lobby and a medical room.

The BSF also intended to have state-of-the-art facilities such as CCTV cameras, a bullet-proof control room, a cafeteria, a spacious parking area, an open-air theatre, toilets, an observation tower and a VIP gallery. The sanction for the project came from the Union Home Ministry in October last year.

At present, the BSF authorities face a lot of problems in handling the huge rush at the flag-lowering ceremony as many of the visitors do not find a proper place to sit and watch the ceremony.

The tourists often rue lack of facilities, including a sufficient number of washrooms and availability of drinking water.

Earlier, the Home Ministry had also given a green signal to the BSF to acquire six acres of land at Attari for beautification of the retreat ceremony spot. The retreat ceremony is a big draw among the tourists visiting the holy city from different parts of the world.

On weekends, at times, the number of visitors for the retreat ceremony touches as high as 20,000.

Amritsar, September 8
Punjabi films have always had a thing for the foreign element. From foreign locales to NRI characters and even production crew. Now it’s the turn of foreign actors to be a part of the Punjabi madness, at least on screen. The upcoming Punjabi film, “Goreyan Nu Daffa Karo” is all about loving and hating the ‘goras’ or as they say.

Actor Amrinder Gill, who plays the lead in the film, interacted with mediapersons here while promoting the latest comedy caper. It also stars Yograj Singh and Binnu Dhillon in pivotal roles while debutant Punjabi model, Amrit Maghera, plays the female protagonist, who has been brought up in the UK.

“The film is the story of a Sardar, Naajar Singh, played by Yograj Singh, who wants to take revenge from the British. But his elder grandson falls in love with a British girl and the younger grandson tries to make amends, taking care not to hurt his grandfather’s sentiments,” said Gill, who plays the younger grandson.

The film releases this Friday, that is September 12 and is directed by Pankaj Batra. Amrinder said he found this character interesting and was ready for it in seconds. He said, “The most important part of the film is the script. You see this concept is outstanding and new. No one could commit the mistake of denying this role. I am playing Kala Singh in the film, whose brain works 24 by 7. He has a solution to every problem. People will love this character.”

The music of the film composed by Jatinder Shah is being appreciated all over. The writer of the film is Amberdeep Singh, who has earlier written many TV comedy shows. Monty Shoor, the producer of the film, said the film had a strong story and every character had been given full space and shaped up well. “The audience will feel that their own story was being shown on the screen. As producers, we have high hopes from this project.”

Amritsar, September 8
With the city police failing to achieve any breakthrough in arresting a gang of robbers, involving three women, it continues to rob innocent people. The latest incident occurred near the Chheharta grain market in which an elderly man, identified as Ajit Singh, a resident of the Naraingarh area, was robbed by the accused.

In his complaint to the Chheharta police, the victim stated that he was standing near the grain market when a woman approached him and said that the sister of one Gurnam Singh, who was sitting in a car across the road, wanted to meet him. He said when he went to the Maruti Swift car, the accused bundled him in the vehicle and robbed him of his gold ‘kara’ (weighing 40 gm). He told the police that among the accused were three women and a man.

The gang, which is active in the city for the past one month, had committed around 10 such crimes in the city. They used the same modus operandi to rob their victims. Though the police made sketches of a couple of women in the case, it has failed to achieve any breakthrough in the case.

Earlier, the gang had robbed a Karnal-based couple on September 1. Prem Nath Shodhi, a resident of Karnal, stated to the police that the accused made his wife sit in their car and robbed her of two gold bangles (weighing 45 gm). They later threw her out of the car. He said an unidentified person was also accompanying the accused.

Satwinder Singh, investigating officer, said a case under Section 379, IPC, had been registered against the culprits while further investigations were under progress to identify and arrest them. 

Amritsar, September 8
A servant made his landlords eat some intoxicant substance and decamped with the gold jewellery, a mobile phone, a camera and some cash.

Ashima, a resident of Katra Bagiyan, lodged a complaint with the Chheharta police that she had come to her parents’ home at Chheharta to meet them. She said the accused, Ravinder Kumar, a migrant hailing from UP, worked as a servant in the house. She alleged that the accused served her mother some eatable laced with an intoxicant, following which her mother fell unconscious. The accused later fled after stealing gold jewellery, a mobile phone and cash. A case has been registered against the accused.

Meanwhile, in another incident, thieves decamped with gold ornaments, a laptop, a camera, credit and debit cards after breaking open the almirah of a house belonging to Sourav Puri, a resident of the Namak Mandi area here. Puri stated to the police that they had gone to attend an engagement ceremony after locking the doors. He said when they returned, they found the locks broken and the house ransacked. A case has been registered. 

Amritsar, September 8
Poor road infrastructure has invited the ire of the residents who attribute it to the disinterested attitude of the civic authorities coupled with corruption prevailing at various levels that has resulted in sheer wastage of the public money.

Faulty planning and lack of vision of the authorities have once again surfaced during the recent 72 hours incessant rains. Even the newly laid roads developed cracks and potholes.

Call it wrong leveling of the road or a snag in the drain outlets, the result is waterlogging that damages the roads.

Amritsar, September 8
In a move that seems rather overboard, the officials of the Power Corporation tried to pacify the industrialists at Industrial Estate, Chheharta, by getting an electricity meter installed for a water pump yesterday.

In an earlier development on Saturday, the industrialists had accused the Power Corporation officials of providing false information to the Deputy Chief Minister regarding the installation of the meter.

The industrialists had been requesting for the installation of an already approved electricity meter for the water pump for long. Failing to get the connection, the Industrial Estate Entrepreneurs Association had filed a complaint with the Deputy Chief Minister.

A reply from the Deputy Chief Minister on the complaint had informed the industrialists that as per Power corporation officials, the said connection was already installed.

However, the Industrial Estate Entrepreneurs Association had took the media to the spot where the said electricity meter was supposed to be installed but nothing was found there.

Vice president of the association, Deepak Suri, said, “The meter was installed at 8.30 am on Sunday morning. The same department which does not cater to complaints on working days, got it installed on a holiday. But we had to take the Deputy CM in the loop to get a simple work done.”

Suri said the incident was an example of how the industrialists were facing hardships on every day.

The association said they requested the state government to make things simpler and easier for industry.

President of the Association, Kuljinder Singh, said, “We hope that the other problems associated with the Industrial Estate would be solved soon now.” 

Amritsar, September 8
Delay in removal of sewerage line has put an obstacle in carrying out the work of the Durgiana Temple beautification project, besides causing inconvenience to commuters on the road outside Hathi Gate.

Durgiana Temple is located outside Hathi Gate. A patch of the road was dug up some months ago. Now, it is covered with mud and has been opened for traffic. However, the movement of vehicles leaves the entire area under clouds of dust.

This has adversely affected the business as shopkeepers complain of low sales. An icecream seller, Janak Raj, said, “About 11 months ago, the road was dup up for some sewerage work. However, delay in relaying it and unsanitary conditions around discourage customers to visit the area.”

Officials of the Improvement Trust said the trust was constructing a double-storey underground parking under the beautification project. However, a sewerage line had to be removed from the place where the parking lot is to be constructed, they added.

For this, the trust deposited Rs 3 crore with the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Hence, the patch of the road between Hathi Gate and the entrance of the Durgiana Temple was dug up.

However, inordinate delay and high rainfall adversely impacted the project work. With the festival of Navratras ahead, Improvement Trust officials are on tenterhooks as the footfall of devotees increases manifold to celebrate Langoor Mela.

The SAD-BJP government’s ambitious Durgiana Temple beautification project was notified in 2007. However, the delay in implementation escalated the project cost from Rs 36 crore to more than Rs 50 crore.

As per the beautification project, the trust will develop about 3.03 acre around the temple by raising an auditorium, open-air theatre, ‘joda ghar’ and information centre, besides a parking lot to accommodate about 400 cars and more than 150 two-wheelers. More than 70 per cent of the land will be left as open space and will be under green cover.

The phase-I of the beautification project was already completed, under which a multi-storey commercial complex was built.

The third phase of the project, envisaging beautification of the surroundings of the temple, that saw demolition of shops, houses and structures, is currently underway.

The project widened the approach road to Durgiana Temple, which will facilitate smooth operation of battery-operated cars. Besides, an open-air theatre and an auditorium will also be constructed on the same space.

Owners of the residential area were paid compensation amount calculated at an approximate rate of Rs 18,000 per square yard. On the same pattern, the proprietors of commercial space have been compensated at about Rs 60,000 per square yard.

Amritsar, September 8
While inaugurating a new block of Sri Guru Ram Das Dental College run by the SGPC, president Avtar Singh Makkar announced that Sri Guru Ram Das Charitable Hospital would provide free child delivery services to pregnant women.

Makkar said the hospital would also give Rs 1,000 as ‘shagun’ to women undergoing delivery at the hospital.

He announced that the residents of Jammu and Kashmir would be treated free of cost, irrespective of their cast and creed.

He said the Jammu and Kashmir patients would not have to pay admission, general ward bed charges, operation charges and doctor and nursing care charges. He said they would have to pay only for medicines.

Makkar inaugurated 24,000 sq ft building complex having an auditorium and a library. College principal Dr Charanjit Singh Bal said presently, the total covered area of the college building was around 1.29 lakh sq ft, which was much more than the requirement as per the Dental Council of India. — TNS

Amritsar, September 8
Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani conferred the prestigious CBSE Award for Teachers – 2013 on DAV International School (DAVIS) principal Anjana Gupta at a glittering ceremony in New Delhi. She is the third principal from the Amritsar district to receive the honour.

Gupta was honoured with a certificate/citation, a cash award of Rs 25,000 and a shawl during the ceremony organised at the Manek Shaw Centre, New Delhi.

She was presented the award in the presence of Secretary, Ministry of Education, R Bhattacharya, and CBSE chairman Vineet Joshi.

The honour has been bestowed upon her for her contribution in the field of education.

She has been duly felicitated with several distinguished awards like Best Principal Award in 2009 by the Government of India, Mahatma Hansraj Award – 2013 by DAV Managing Committee, New Delhi, and Best Teacher Award – 2013 by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Under her able guidance, the school has won National School Sanitation Award – 2012, Green School Award – 2013, International School Award for the year 2006-2009 and 2010-2013 and various other awards. It has also won the honour of becoming the first CBSE–i school in the Amritsar district. — TNS

Amritsar, September 8
The first kisan mela of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) was organised at Dana Mandi in Majitha today.

Dr HS Dhlaiwal, director of Extension Education, PAU, inaugurated the mela. The theme of the mela was ‘Use Improved Seeds; Reduce Cost and Enhance Profit’.

Dr Dhaliwal called upon the farmers to use PAU recommended seed varieties for healthy crops and good yield. Keeping in view the challenge of depleting underground water, he said the university had developed various water saving technologies.

Farmers can conserve natural resources by adopting leaf colour chart, tensiometer, drip irrigation and laser land leveler technologies, he said. — TNS

Amritsar, September 8
International basketball player and a student of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, The Mall Road, Gagandeep Kaur, was awarded with a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh by the state government.

School principal Mandeep Kaur here today informed that Education Minister Daljit Singh Cheema felicitated the player with the title ‘Player of India’ recently.

Gagandeep represented the country in various basketball tournaments held in China, Cyprus, Sri Lanka, Jordan and Japan. She played a vital role in helping the school team to be victorious at Mahindra NBA Challenge, National IMG Reliance Tournament, State Level Tournament, Punjab State Rural Sports Tournament and National Level School Basketball Tournament.

She has repeatedly got the ‘Best Player Award’. She participated 9 times at national-level sports events and 12 times at state-level basketball tournaments. Besides, her efforts propelled the school team to get the first position in the national level basketball tournament this year. 

Amritsar, September 8
The Rajasansi police have failed to make a breakthrough in the ATM robbery case in which unidentified persons decamped with Rs 26.50 lakh after breaking open an ATM in Rajasansi.

The incident has put a question mark on the security of ATM machines, most of which don’t have any security guard. However, in this incident, a private security guard was deployed at the ATM but he was attacked by the unidentified robbers. The robbers then broke open the machine using a 
gas cutter.

The police are feeling helpless in the case. The security guard could not help in drawing the sketches of the unidentified robbers who had their faces covered.

Moreover, the bank had also failed to provide proper documents to the police so far, said Kanwalpreet Singh, SHO, Rajasansi police station.

He said the police were working on different theories to crack the case.