devotional outpouring: Bhagwan Valmiki Milap Sabha members participate in a Shobha Yatra on the eve of Bhagwan Valmiki Jayanti in Amritsar on Tuesday. photo: vishal kumar

DAV students make it big in creative writing
Amritsar, October 7
Two students of DAV International School, Disha Sharma and Jessica, brought laurels to the institution as their creative writing entries have been selected for Swachh Bharat Expression Series launched by the CBSE and the Union Human Resource and Development Ministry.

DAV International School principal Anjana Gupta congratulates students whose entries were selected for CBSE’s Swachh Bharat Expression Series in Amritsar. A Tribune photograph

Three-day Zonal Youth Festival inaugurated at GNDU
Amritsar, October 7
The 3-day Zonal Youth Festival of D-Zone comprising affiliated colleges from Kapurthala and Nawan Shahr districts was inaugurated here today at Dashmesh Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University.


Students render a group song during the Zonal Youth Festival that began at Guru Nanak Dev University in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTOs: RK SONI

PRTC retirees protest to demand release of pension
Bathinda, October 7
After waiting for the last four months, PRTC retired employees today staged a protest near the Bathinda bus stand and raised slogans against the government demanding the release of their pensions and clearance of medical bills for June, July, August and September.

Relentless: Students of Chintpurni Medical College along with members of the NSUI take out a candle march at Lawrance Road in Amritsar on Tuesday. PHOTO: RK SONI

 

Amritsar, October 7
The Municipal Corporation’s proposed move to seal the illegal hotels around the Golden Temple had to be deferred again today, apparently after the intervention of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal here.

The Deputy Chief Minister has assured a hoteliers’ delegation that met him here that the government is taking steps to implement the “one-time settlement policy” to regularise these hotels, guest houses or inns in the vicinity of the holiest shrine.

The president of the Federation of Hotel and Guest Houses Association of Amritsar, Surinder Singh, said that Sukhbir Badal had assured them that he would expedite the “one-time settlement policy” on priority.

It was on the recommendation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that an SIT (Special Investigation Team) was formed comprising Principal Secretary Rahul Tiwari, Amritsar Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat and the Chief Administrator of the Amritsar Development Authority, Sandeep Rishi.

The action against the illegal units was recommended by the SIT only. Though the number of illegal commercial hospitality units was above 100, yet the SIT had identified 21 commercial establishments during a survey conducted by the Deputy Commissioner in the first phase. These establishments did not comply with the stipulated bylaws. The action was planned against 15 units only, as the proprietors of the remaining six units had managed to procure stay orders from the high court.

MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said that the sealing drive was postponed due to some administrative reasons.

However, in the backdrop of the withdrawal of the move was the fact that the Deputy Chief Minister was in the town and the hoteliers’ delegation had approached him to find a solution to the problem.

The MC had tried to act in mid-August against these 15 units, but could not do so due to stiff resistance from them.

The affected hoteliers stated that the local civic authorities had devised a “one-time settlement policy” to regularise the so-called objectionable hotels, guest houses and inns, but the “harsh” move of the SIT to seal them was condemnable and a contradictory one.

“The SIT report was biased and discriminatory. It never raised fingers over the big hotels located in the Civil Lines area. Even the high court was being misled by some disgruntled elements,” maintained Surinder Singh.

After getting passed in the MC’s House meeting on July 11, the MC had forwarded a proposal of regularising 125 hotels, guest houses and inns under the “one-time settlement policy”. These units, though not complying to the Municipal Building Bylaws 1997 and revised Building Bylaws 2010, were proposed to be put under the ambit of compoundable offence and, thus could be regularised after realising a certain amount of penalty. 

Amritsar, October 7
The Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) is likely to take a final call on selecting 20 allottees out of 50 applicants to set up a retail market at New Amritsar locality tomorrow. Firecracker traders are geared up to set up a retail market at New Amritsar locality as the trust has made arrangements for facilitating around 50 kiosks of firecrackers in all.

Improvement Trust Chairman Sandeep Rishi said the trust had made arrangements to allocate space for 50 booths at its New Amritsar scheme. He said the trust would charge Rs 20,000 as fee from each booth allottee.

Out of 50 booths, 30 would be reserved for petitioners who knocked at the door of the court demanding a permanent firecracker market.

For the remaining 20 booths, the trust has received 50 applications. He said the decision over the allocation of these booths was likely to be taken tomorrow.

Meanwhile, a city-based private firm has prepared a couple of temporary booths as a sample for the prospective allottees. An official of the company said they were ready to raise 50 booths as per the demand of the allottees. About the cost of a booth, he said it would be known exactly only after learning the choice of material. With a view to gain adequate time to organise a firecracker market ahead of Diwali, members of the Amritsar Fireworks Association met the district administration to provide to them a temporary suitable space for the market.

President of the association Harish Dhawan said after members of the association met the Deputy Commissioner, Ravi Bhagat, instructions had been passed on to the Improvement Trust to give them a suitable temporary space. After receiving the allotment letter, the allottees would present these letters to the police authorities to verify the space to get approval. Thereafter, they will be in a position to set up temporary kiosks to sell firecrackers. A firecracker trader, Harjit Singh, said their business was hit due to the long time taken by the district administration to earmark space to set up the market.

Meanwhile, firecracker traders were required to seek licences from the Police Commissioner under the Explosives Act to permit them to sell firecrackers. According to the norms, the Police Commissioner has the power to issue licences for a certain time period to allow the sale of firecrackers, which fall under the category of explosives. Similarly, the Union Government issues licences under the Petroleum and Explosive Safety Act for their storage.

Earlier, the wholesale cracker market used to be situated in the IDH Market, near the bus stand, and at the congested Pappar Wala Bazaar, near the Golden Temple.

However, these markets had to be shifted to Jahajgarh in 2000 after a massive fire had broken out at the IDH Market in which material worth crores of rupees perished and loss of human life was also reported in 1999.

Amritsar, October 7
In a dramatic turn of events, the Mohkampura police today released the lone person arrested in connection with the thrashing instance of a woman, Jyoti Devi, in the Rajesh Nagar area a couple of days ago.

On the other hand, under pressure by the massive protest by the residents of Rajesh Nagar, mostly migrants from UP and Bihar, outside the Mohkampura police station, the Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Gaurav Garg had to intervene after which a case was registered against over 40 persons and the SHO of Mohkampura police station, Gurmeet Singh, was shifted to the Police Lines for questioning. The case has been handed over to ASI Vijay Kumar for further investigation.

Surinder Singh, son of Mohinder Singh, was arrested while Vikram Singh, Mohanty, Bhatia, Lovely, Mony and 40 other unknown persons were booked under various sections of the IPC.

ACP Garg claimed that Surinder Singh was not released but was granted formal bail keeping in view his ill health. “He was granted temporary bail as he was suffering from high blood pressure and diabetes. His condition deteriorated when he was about to be produced before the judicial magistrate today. That’s why we had to put him on formal bail. He would be interrogated as soon as he recovers,” he said.

On the other hand, the aggrieved family members of the victim alleged that the police favoured him because of political pressure. “The police was not ready to lodge the FIR. It was only when we gheraoed the police station that the case was registered and Surinder Singh, a government civil contractor having political connections, was arrested. He had tried his level best to approach his political bosses yesterday, too. Today, he became successful in obtaining immunity from any action and the police has dramatised its action on fake medical grounds. Similarly, others, too, would find a way out,” said a resident, preferring anonymity.

On Sunday evening, following a quarrel between two families, one of them migrants, over a minor dispute, Jyoti, in a complaint submitted with the police, stated that her four-year-old son had urinated in the street after which her neighbour, Kanta, beat her son. When she tried to desist Kanta from doing so, she called up her supporters who had a political background. They trespassed into her house and beat her mercilessly leaving her clothes torn. 

Amritsar, October 7
The upcoming film ‘Ekees Topon Ki Salaami’ comes at a time when the ‘hatke’ films trend is getting popular in Bollywood and the tag of being ‘different’ is being practised rather than just preached.

The lead actors of the film Neha Dhupia, Devyendu Sharma and Anjali Sharma, and director Ravindra Gautam have dedicated the film to their fathers.

The team of the upcoming social satire was in Amritsar to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple. After taking blessings of the Almighty, they got to business, talking about what’s new in the film.

“It’s a story about the generation gap and how difficult it becomes for the son to tell his father that he respects him. The film centres around the relationship between a father and a son, played by Anupam Kher and Devyendu Sharma respectively, and how the son wants to do something to honour his father — the ‘salaami’ is for the father,” said Dhupia.

In between the tales of the ordinary people doing extraordinary things, the film uses loads of sarcasm and undertone humour. It also plays on the social evils like corruption without being didactic.

Dhupia, who is one of the prominent faces in the film, is quite confident for the new project.

“It’s a different film not just in story, but in treatment as well. The viewers will come out of the movie hall as proud men,” said the actor.

She also felt proud of the fact that her work is connecting her to her Punjabi roots. “I feel so good every time I come here, especially being a Punjabi. I have already done a Punjabi film and I am ready with another. Parts of ‘Ekees Topon Ki Salaami’ have also been shot in Patiala.”

She is eagerly awaiting the release of her upcoming films ‘Ungli’ and ‘Santa Banta’.

As for the younger stars of the film, Devyendu Sharma and city girl Anjali Sharma, they too have tasted a bit of success with their respective films ‘Pyar Ka Punchnama’ and ‘Ladies vs Riky Behl’. 

Amritsar, October 7
An internet-driven lifestyle is turning into a mental illness and according to experts, studies around the world have already confirmed it, terming it as Problematic Internet Use (PIU) or Compulsive Internet Use (CIU). India, too, has recently realised the need for de-addiction and opened its doors to internet de-addiction facilities, one each in Bangalore, New Delhi and one recently in Amritsar.

Taking on the increased cases of internet addiction among the youth as well as adults, the specially designed clinic will reach out to the internet-dependent and addicts with counselling programmes. Noted neuro-psychiatrist Dr JPS Bhatia is expertly guiding the rehab and counselling process in the city and suggests that it’s about time the addiction is tackled.

“I deal with patients who show symptoms of psychological disorders due to overexposure to the internet. Our facility runs with two objectives — to educate youngsters by giving them information and tests to identify any behavioural and psychological problems. The other part is to convince them to limit the usage and plan a strategy to overcome the addiction.” Dr Bhatia opines that the youth who become addicted to internet usage have poor attention span and memory loss, they were depressed and frustrated, like aloofness and their educational performance had come down from the normal levels. “Social networking has become a disease and a negativity and most of the addicts do not even realise their addiction before developing mental problems,” he said.

A team of counsellors work with patients in self-help groups and motivate youngsters.

With studies showing that over 70 per cent of youngsters are suffering from psychiatric distress due to internet dependence, some compulsive users do not accept they have a problem. “That’s the core problem with internet-dependence: Many do not realise the social drift and behavioural problems arising because of over exposure to the digital media,” says Dr Harjot Singh Makkar, neuro-psychiatrist and recipient of the Global Healthcare Excellence Award recently. A consultant at Fortis Escorts, Makkar says peer pressure and a corrupting family structure are responsible for increased internet dependence. “Family structure and values have taken a backseat and everything else has become a priority. Parents do not invest much time with children, who are increasingly maturing fast mentally and intellectually, thanks to the dot com culture. Inter-personal relationships are restricted to social messaging and FB platforms,” he says.

The problem is as serious in adults as in youngsters, only most of the users are in denial. “Loneliness and unbalanced parenting is causing us to push the younger generation towards digital media. In our race towards material gains, we are reaping a future generation of internet addicts, unless we check the trend,” says Makkar. Agress Dr Bhatia, “The dependence on social media is affecting their social life and leading to problems like insomnia, depression, behavioural changes, anti-social and insecure adulthood. “Even parenting needs counselling as adults, too, are hooked on to the internet.” 

Amritsar, October 7
The condition of the general waiting hall and the adjoining rooms of officials at the Amritsar railway station has further deteriorated with cracks widening on the walls. It is now posing a serious threat to the railway staff and the commuters.

Railway offices continue to operate from a dilapidated building despite the fact that the engineering wing of the Railways has declared it unsafe.

The building dates back to the British era. In a letter dated September 9, Northern Railway Divisional Engineer had declared the roof opposite the booking office and the adjoining offices, near the waiting hall, as unsafe.

Railway officials, who are working in the building, on a condition of anonymity, said, “The department concerned has discharged its duty by issuing a letter. No alternate arrangement has been made to secure the life of the staff and passengers. The engineering wing will wash off its hands in case any untoward incident takes place.”

The letter stated, “Some portion of the roof of the said building had fallen during heavy rains in the last few days. The roof is made of battens and tiles, which were eaten up and have become weak. Walls and arches show cracks at various points.”

It also admitted that, “Passengers stand in a queue round the clock for buying tickets under the said structure.”

The building has a cluster of offices linked to IT, not only of the local railway station, but also of other 42 stations. Any mishap could hamper work of all these stations.

The building has six booking office counters, a booking office passenger hall, an unreserved ticketing system server room, a booking office stock room, an office of the chief booking supervisor for public dealing has been shifted within the building, a branch office of the NRMU and a station superintendent store for stocking uniforms, stationery and safety material for guards posted in running trains.

Divisional Railway Manager, Naresh Chander Goyal, said he had sanctioned the repairs of the worn out portion of the building today.

In case the rooms were not found fit, then other rooms would be allotted to run offices, he added.

Amritsar, October 7
Amritsar College of Engineering And Technology (ACET) hosted an exhibition of books published by leading publishers on its campus today.

Chairman of Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology, Amit Sharma, said books were a person’s true friend as they not only provide guidance to a person but also increase the knowledge.

Organised by the ACET’s central library, the exhibition showcased books of more than 13 publishers such as Tata McGraw Hill, Pearson, Prentice Hall of India, Wiley, Cambridge publishers and others. These publishers exhibited more than 2,000 books.

Not only students, but the staff also participated actively in the exhibition. Books related to competitive examinations, engineering, current awareness and other fields were on display.

Principal Dr VK Banga said these types of exhibitions were very effective for students as they get a chance to choose from a variety of books of their interest.

Amritsar, October 7
Two students of DAV International School, Disha Sharma and Jessica, brought laurels to the institution as their creative writing entries have been selected for Swachh Bharat Expression Series launched by the CBSE and the Union Human Resource and Development Ministry.

With this, they have joined the group of ten meritorious students whose writings were selected by the panel on the first day.

Principal Anjana Gupta congratulated the winners and applauded their efforts. She also wished them good luck for future.

Meanwhile, under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, students of Ryan International School engaged themselves in a number of activities to fulfil Mahatma Gandhi’s vision of clean India.

They took a pledge towards cleanliness and emphasised to work for cleaning the surroundings. Students of Class IX and X planted saplings in the vicinity of the school. Tiny Tots of Montessori made different types of dust-bins and placed them at different corners of the school. — TNS

Amritsar, October 7
The 3-day Zonal Youth Festival of D-Zone comprising affiliated colleges from Kapurthala and Nawan Shahr districts was inaugurated here today at Dashmesh Auditorium of Guru Nanak Dev University.

As many as 400 student-artists are participating in 20 contests in various fields such as music, theatre, dance, literature and fine arts. This festival will conclude on October 9.

Prof CL Khetrapal, distinguished Professor, Centre of Biomedical Research (CBMR), Lucknow, and former Vice Chancellor of Lucknow University inaugurated the festival by lighting the candle.

Dr Amarjit Singh Sidhu, Dean, Students’ Welfare and Dr Renu Bhardwaj, Professor in-charge of Examinations were the guests of honour. Dr Jagjit Kaur, director, Youth Welfare, welcomed the chief guest and student-artists. She gave details of the activities of the youth festival.

Prof Khetrapal said cultural activities along with formal studies were equally important for a balanced and complete personality.

“Students should participate in more and more such activities. I appreciate the students’ talent, especially rendering of shabads and bhajans. The national level achievement of the university in the field of culture is remarkable,” he said.

Dr Sidhu and Dr Renu also presented their views on the occasion.

Dr Jagjit Kaur honoured the chief guest and others with mementoes. Today, the festival was started with group shabad/bhajan, followed by group song Indian, one act play, vaar gayan and kawishere.

Tomorrow, the competitions for costume exhibition, skit, mimicry, poetical symposium, rangoli, fulkari, folk song, geet gazal and mime will be organised.

On the last day on October 9, the competitions for quiz, group dance and giddha, followed by prize distribution function, will be held.

Bathinda, October 7
After waiting for the last four months, PRTC retired employees today staged a protest near the Bathinda bus stand and raised slogans against the government demanding the release of their pensions and clearance of medical bills for June, July, August and September.

Members of the PRTC Pensioners Association staged a dharna and blamed the state government for formulating policies that are against the retired employees.

There are around nine depots and above 4,000 employees across the state who are not getting their pensions, claimed the district president of the PRTC Retired Workers Union, Gurbachan Singh.

The pensioners said they were facing a tough time due to shortage of money and that too in times of rising inflation.

“We have been protesting since September 6. On September 17, a big protest was staged in Patiala where all the protesters from across the state gathered. On September 20, officials of the PRTC and the state government pacified us by promising the payment of our pension very soon but nothing was done. The government is not willing to give us pension. We would intensify our agitation if a need arises,” Gurbachan Singh added.