Amritsar, October 8
Gambling incidents are on the rise in the city as unscrupulous elements are keen to make a quick buck ahead of Diwali.

These elements in the hospitality sector, low- rung politicians and people with a chequered history are organising gambling parties with heavy entry fee and even turning the houses in residential sectors into a gambling den to escape the attention of the authorities. The illegal practice, where stakes run into lakhs, is flourishing in renowned hotels of the city and in some farmhouses on the outskirts.

A number of hoteliers are renting out their rooms to gamblers on hourly basis.

In return, they charge four-fold rent for rooms used for gambling. This also ensures the sale of their food and liquor.

A hotel with rooftop dancing floor on the Mall road, a hotel on GT road and another hotel on the Queen's road, are renting out suites. To gain entry, one would have to buy the entry pass in advance after shelling out Rs 2,000 per person.

A suite accommodates 15 to 20 persons. This implied a net income of Rs 30,000 and above per day for a suite which comes between Rs 6,000-Rs 8,000 on normal days.

Gambling has taken the shape of a well-entrenched business. An interesting aspect is that no currency would be visible on the table. Rather, the play would go on through "counters" (plastic coins), having different values in terms of rupees.

Apart from hotels and resorts, many houses in the walled city and in posh localities are converted into dens surreptitiously hold gambling sessions to extract as much money as possible. A rough estimate suggests that gambling, which starts at least a month before Diwali, registers transactions worth crores.

Wrapped in tradition, gambling has now become a well-administered illegal trade in which not only commercial establishments but also families get involved to secure as big a pie as possible.

A majority of these organisers hold gambling sessions in the name of kitty parties and use coloured plastic chips round in shape called counters to play. Each colour is specified for a value.

That the organised gambling sessions are held in the city is evident from the police raid conducted at a resort on the Fatehgarh Churian road bypass on October 2011. The police claimed to have recovered Rs 7.40 lakh from the spot from as many as 125 couples belonging to well-off families.

As per law, gambling is an illegal act and the persons involved in it should be booked under the Gambling Act.

Interestingly, a majority of the hotels here have politicians as their managing partners. What significance the rules would hold for them could be anybody's guess?

When approached, Amritsar Hotel and Restaurants Association president APS Chatha said he was not aware that any hotel was indulging in this illegal activity.

He, however, added that an advisory would be issued to all members of the association to refrain from this activity besides keeping a close watch that any unscrupulous person may be misusing the space after taking a room on rent.

Amritsar, October 8
Mystery shrouds the death of a youth whose body was found in the fields in the Lopoke area last evening.

The deceased was identified as Dulab Singh (21) of Sarangra village. His body had the marks of strangulation and sharp weapons. The police have booked five persons of his in-laws’ family following the statement of his father Beant Singh.

Dulab Singh had married a girl against the wishes of her family and his father suspected that his in-laws might have killed him.

Among those booked include Subeg Singh, his son Gurlal Singh and Ajaib Singh, all residents of Sarangra village, Dara Singh of Bhangwan village and Mastan Singh of Chak Mishri Khan Village. No arrest has been made so far, said the police authorities.

Beant Singh told the police that his son Dulab Singh had gone to Lopoke on his motorcycle for some work on September 6.

However, he did not return till late in the evening following which the family started searching for him. Yesterday, his body was found in the fields in Lopoke.

They found a rope and strangulation marks around his neck. His body also had marks of sharp weapons. He suspected his in-laws might have killed him as he had a court marriage with Harpreet Kaur of the same village.

Harminder Singh, SHO, Lopoke police station, said those booked were relatives of Harpreet Kaur and a case under Sections 302, 201, 148, 149 IPC has been registered against them.

He said though a case has been registered against them, initial investigations did not find their involvement in the crime so far.

He said as per the preliminary probe, the killers committed the crime somewhere else while later dumped his body in the fields in Lopoke.

He said the police was yet to find his motorcycle. 

Amritsar, October 8
Though the two sides have entered a compromise over an auto-rickshaw driver being crushed to death by some Guru Nanak Dev University students a month ago, the varsity authorities are bent on initiating action against them.

The GNDU security officials said that the students were later identified as Dharamvir Singh of music department and three students Sartaj Jeet Singh, Yadwinder Singh and Jatinder Singh, all three from electronics department. Ironically, the house was owned by one Tarsem Singh, a contractual Class IV employee of the GNDU only.

In-charge, Kamoh police station, Sukhdev Singh confirmed that the parties negotiated and the complainants had withdrawn the case stating that the car driver should not be held guilty of the crime. "The complaints had said that there was no error on the part of the car driver and therefore, they did not seek any action," he said.

GNDU Registrar, Dr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, said they might have managed to reach a compromise with the victims' family members (who otherwise had staged a protest against police inaction while blocking the Jalandhar-Attari bypass road with the body of the victim on September 9), yet action would be taken as per the university norms.

It has been learnt that all these students remained absent from the university since the instance had occurred. They had even skipped their exams.

The instance had occurred in the Mahal area on September 8 when the victim, identified as Aastha, along with other persons living in his vicinity were engaged in an altercation while objecting over the immoral activities allegedly being committed by the GNDU students living in a rented accommodation in the same locality.

"Taking cognisance of their involvement in such a heinous crime, their case has been forwarded to the standing committee comprising the Dean, Students’ Welfare, the security officer and other prominent faculty for deciding upon further action against the students," he said.

Amritsar, October 8
Ramandeep Singh, a member of the Indian hockey team, who played an active role in defeating Pakistan to win the gold medal in the Asian Games, today returned to a warm welcome in the holy city.

A product of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Hockey Academy, Ramandeep, said, he like all other members of the national hockey team was happy to crush the arch rival in the finals of the Asian Games after 48 long years. Besides, they managed to qualify for the Olympics.

Recalling the pulsating match, he said players of both teams were playing under immense pressure. However, their aggressive field hockey coupled with good team work offered an edge over the rivals.

Talking about the changes in hockey, he said: "Currently, hockey is extremely fast and the score rests more on penalty corner rather than field goals. The Asian teams were playing defensive hockey while the Europeans are playing an attacking game."

He said his team wished to play more matches with teams like Holland, Australia and Germany to sharpen skills and gain plenty of exposure ahead of the Olympics.

Ramandeep, accompanied by office-bearers of the Academy, Sandeep Rishi, who is also the Improvement Trust chairman, former Olympian Balwinder Singh Shammi and others, visited the academy. 

Amritsar, October 8
The “negligent” approach of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has come to the fore with the authorities failing to fix a transformer in New Amritsar, which has almost got detached from the electric pole, posing a threat to the commuters. Besides, some electricity poles, damaged earlier, are yet to be replaced. A pole had got uprooted from its base and had fallen on the branches of a tree. For the past fortnight, it is lying as it was.

Besides,a transformer is on the verge of detaching from its base posing a threat to the commuters in the New Amritsar area.

Some electricity poles, which have been damaged due to the recent inclement weather conditions, too, need to the replaced. At some places, the PSPCL has put up a temporary support to make the pole stand. A few electricity poles are broken from the point where the wires get the support.

Though the work of shifting and revamping the powerlines underway in different parts of the city has been outsourced to a private firm, the PSPCL has the liability for the execution of the work.

The residents rue that the quality of work being done is not up to the mark.

A transformer has recently been installed at New Amritsar Block-A. With a poor base, the four RCC poles, on which this transformer has been rested, have tilted.

Harcharan Singh, a resident of house 426, said reinforced poles were not being installed for transmission lines by the private company. “Even if the work is being done through private hands, it was the duty of the PSPCL to ensure the safety of the residents, especially when it charges a hefty tariff and taxes from the consumers,” he said.

Pointing towards the weak base of the concrete electric poles, another resident, Sukhdev Singh Mattewal, said, “Even the bases of the four cemented poles have been left half done and there has been no proper filling at their base. Since this transformer has got tilted, it may fall on the road. I have constantly been making calls to power officials, right from the Superintending Engineer to the linemen, but in vain.”

Despite repeated attempts, Superintending Engineer SK Chawla today did not respond to repeated calls. The matter was brought to his notice in September, too, but he gave verbal assurances only. Xen Darbari Lal said he would take up the matter on priority basis However, the SDO, Mall Mandi, Amit Deepak, said he would follow up the matter.

Officialspeak
I am aware of this lapse and I had instructed the officials concerned to remove it. But I suppose it was not followed up. I will positively send my team to survey the area and remove the snags tomorrow
— Darbari Lal, Xen

Amritsar, October 8
Though the civic authorities have initiated cleanliness drive in the holy city under the Prime Minister’s “Swachh Bharat” campaign by roping in various sections of society, the proper mechanism needed is yet to be devised to make the campaign a success.

A section of residents say the drive appeared to be a photo session exercise to gain political mileage. Municipal Corporation Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal assured to continue the cleanliness drive on a regular basis, but also sought public cooperation.

The Amritsar Computer Traders’ Association and a team of the Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT), led by its chairperson Sandeep Rishi, kicked off a sanitation drive at Nehru Shopping complex here today.

Though located in the heart of the city, this complex could never find a place in the priority list of the authorities as far as its maintenance was concerned. Consequently, amidst the haphazard parked vehicles, heaps of garbage kept on piling, which remained unattended for days altogether.

Owing to the lack of coordination between the MC and the AIT, this complex remained neglected. Officials of the AIT say maintaining sanitation was the liability of the MC. The MC on the other hand refrained from shouldering the responsibility of cleaning areas falling under the jurisdiction of AIT.

AIT chairperson Sandeep Rishi said he would initiate talks with the MC Commissioner to reschedule routes of garbage lifting trolleys so that the internal areas of the AIT too were cleaned up.

MC Commissioner Sabharwal said irrespective of the administrative constraints, the MC would take it as its moral duty to make all the areas in the city garbage free. He said a strategy could be worked out in coordination with the AIT chairperson.

To sustain the cleanliness drive, Sabharwal said two wards were being picked up every day. With the cooperation of residents, the MC teams had been removing filth from these wards, added the Commissioner.

“Despite all limitations, a special cleanliness schedule has been chalked out. The MC staff under the supervision of superintending engineer, XENs, SDOs and JEs of the civil wing of the areas concerned have been directed to carry out the drive,” said the MC Commissioner.

Amritsar, October 8
The five-day science camp “INSPIRE”, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, concluded at DAV College here today.

A series of lectures were delivered by prominent scientists and scholars during the Inovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE) camp.

As many as 30 schools from Amritsar district and adjoining areas, including Pathankot and Gurdaspur, sent their applications out of which only 16 schools with 225 students were selected for the camp.

There were 11 scientific and technical sessions and 10 practical sessions in physics, chemistry, botany, zoology and biotechnology.

The valedictory function was chaired by
Prof Adarshpal Vig, Department of Botanical and Environment Sciences, and Principal of DAV College, Dr K N Kaul.

Amritsar, October 8
Alleging police inaction, the residents of Rajesh Nagar area and migrants took out a march from Shivala Bhaiyan to the office of the Police Commissioner and handed over a memorandum to him. The protesters were seeking immediate arrest of the culprits involved in thrashing of a migrant woman, Jyoti Devi.

The protesters alleged that the opposite group was trying to give the incident a communal angle by provoking people. They said supporters of the culprits, who had political connections, were making announcements from a religious place in the area asking people to join hands in support of the accused, who was on the run.

Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh assured the agitators that the police was on the job and the culprits would be arrested soon.

A minor dispute over urinating of a child took an ugly turn when several youths thrashed and beat up a migrant woman Jyoti Devi, mother of the child. They allegedly entered into scuffle with other migrants, who had come to the rescue of the victim. This enraged the migrants, who gathered in a large number and gheraoed the Mohkampura police station. They also raised slogans against police officials a couple of days ago. ACP Gaurav Garg had to intervene and pacify the protesters. The incident had led to the suspension of the SHO of the Mohkampura police station, who was shifted to the Police Lines, till further orders. He allegedly failed to take prompt action and did not file an FIR in the case till next day.

The police had arrested Surinderpal Singh alias Palli, who allegedly slapped the woman in the police station. Palli was granted bail owing to health reasons yesterday. The police have booked around 40 persons in the case.

The migrants, who claimed the support of several Hindu organisations, threatened to launch agitation if the police failed to arrest the culprits soon.

Amritsar, October 8
Members of the Mid-day Meal Workers Union staged a protest at Company Bagh here today to impress upon the government to accept their demands like enhancement in wages.

Led by its district unit president Gurmeet Kaur they raised slogans against the SAD-BJP coalition government. Their demands include minimum wages of Rs 7,228 for regular workers and Rs 6,448 for part time safai workers per month. She said the present system of paying 10-month salary must be abolished and these employees must be paid wages for 12 months.

Addressing the mid-day meal workers president of the Mulazam Manch Punjab, Germanjit Singh, said mid-day meal preparation must be taken back from contractors. He said these workers must be given benefits at par with other employees.

Amritsar, October 8
Students of Chintpurni Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), who have been on path of agitation for the past two weeks, declared to intensify their agitation today as the state government failed to pay heed to their genuine demand. These students have been demanding their adjustment in other medical colleges in the state as the CMCH has been de-recognised by the Medical Council of India.

Expressing her solidarity with students, senior BJP leader Laxmi Kanta Chawla also came in their support and participated in their agitation. The protesting students said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had assured them of resolving their issue by Tuesday and Medical Education Minster Anil Joshi had also sought time till today. They said they were yet to receive any word or assurance from the government. They threatened to intensify their agitation from tomorrow if the government failed to resolve their grievance.

Meanwhile, the Department of Medical Education and Research has written to the Medical Council of India (MCI) urging it to expedite the process and pass the necessary instructions for shifting of agitating students of the CMCH. Joint Director Research and Medical Education, Dr Gurdeep Singh Kalyan, said the department had written to the MCI in this regard and was waiting for its response. — TNS

Amritsar, October 8
A 100-member volunteer force of the NGO, EcoAmritsar, cleaned the route of the Nagar Kirtan taken out to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Ramdas here today. The move was aimed at ensuring that the route of the procession was not littered with waste.

Volunteers of the NGO included students from schools, colleges, pilgrims and members of Baba Kulwant Singh group. The ‘sewa’ was done by youth, who wore gloves and green ribbons. The volunteers also carried awareness messages. The chabeel and langar stalls were provided with garbage bags. The NGO also appealed to the public to not to litter but collect all garbage in black bags, which were later collected by the work force.

Tarundeep Singh, project administrator, EcoAmritsar, said garbage in Amritsar was a major problem and his organisation sought the collaboration of all faiths and communities to keep the city clean. He said this was the eighth Nagar
Kirtan that they had served. “We will be happy to assist clean Nagar Kirtans and festivals of all communities,” he added. Chairman of EcoAmritsar, Gunbir Singh, said, “One is humbled by the enthusiasm of doing ‘sewa’ amongst the youth of the holy city. We often underestimate their zeal. Today their spirit, despite rain and huge quantity of trash, prevailed as always, and the city of Guru Ramdas was enriched by their sewa.”

Amritsar, October 8
A Nagar Kirtan was taken out today to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Ramdas, which falls tomorrow.

Led by Panj Piaras, Nagar Kirtan started from the Golden Temple after performing ardas at the Akal Takht.

The Nagar Kirtan was organised by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the management of the Harmandar Sahib and other Sikh organisations. It passed through various markets of the city, including Brahmbuta Market, Chowk Ghanta Ghar, Bazar Mai Sewan, Bazar Kaathian, Bazar Papdan, Bazar Baansan, Chowk Chatti Khuhi, Chawal Mandi, Chowk Karori and Chowk Pragdas. It culminated at Guru Ramdas Niwas in the evening.

SGPC secretary Manjeet Singh said on the occasion of Gurpurab “Jalaun” (show of splendour), which includes display of costly and rare artefacts and objects, would be held at the Golden temple, Akal Takht and Gurdwara Babba Attal Rai tomorrow. He said Amrit Sanchar would be held at Akal Takht at 12 pm. Religious programmes would be held throughout the day in which prominent Raagis, Krtaniye and Dhadhi Jathas would render holy hymns, he added.

Amritsar, October 8
If everything goes according to the plan, the Galliara police station, located near the Golden Temple, will soon have a new building. At present it is operating from make shift cement-sheds. It becomes almost impossible to sit and work under these sheds during extreme summers.

During rainy season policemen have to make arrangements for safeguarding the records as water often leaks from the roofs of these sheds.

Senior police officials have expressed their concern over the deplorable working conditions at police stations, which cater to Darbar Sahib and its surrounding areas. It gives a bad impression whenever a tourists or pilgrims visit the police station in case of any problem or for lodging a complaint. “The police force is for the security of the devotees and tourists visiting the holy shrine for paying obeisance. It should be given proper facilities to serve the people,” said officials. Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh has taken up the issue with the authorities concerned in this regard.

The Punjab government has sanctioned requisite funds for the construction of building of the Galliara police station. The construction work of the three-storey building will start soon.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP), headquarter, while confirming the development, said the Punjab Police Housing Corporation had been entrusted with the job to construct the building. He said the state government had sanctioned Rs 50 lakh for the construction of the new police station building. “The map of the police station has been made and passed by the authorities concerned,” he added.

A police chowki (Brahmbutta) was established near the Golden Temple during the time of militancy, which was later shifted to a private building for the construction of Galliara. In 2008, a temporary police station was established in a vacant place near Galliara. It was later named as Galliara police chowki.

Police Commissioner Aulakh said the police station would temporarily be shifted to some other place for the construction of its building, which would have all facilities, including a lift. He said the work on the building would start soon.

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