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District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum
Overhead water reservoirs pose danger to lives of residents
Property dealers assn stages hunger strike
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Pankaj Tripathi shoots for US production ‘Mango Dreams’ in city
Better amritsar—inadequate footpaths—I
Terrorist victims’ association seeks meeting with Prime Minister
Dr BR Hastir, chairman of the All-India Terrorist Victims’ Association (sitting on left) holds a meeting with the family members of terrorism victims in Amritsar on Sunday. photo: vishal kumar
Minister, Mayor spar over utilisation of development funds for city
NGO demands new board to keep tab on private schools
Docs advise patients to exercise precaution during winters
DAV hosts two-day sports event
Man held with five kg of heroin
Ex-minister urges people to fight against drug abuse
Three snatchers, cop’s son nabbed
Gangs of robbers, vehicle-lifters busted
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District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 26 Earlier, Rajinder Singh, a resident of Butari village, had filed a complaint against Tata AIG General Insurance Company Limited, stating that the company insured their cow for a period of three years for Rs 50,000. The complainant stated that during the validity period of the policy, the insured cow suffered some problem and was treated at a veterinary clinic at Rayya, where she eventually died. After the death of the insured cow, the complainants lodged their claim with the company while submitting all the documents. Rajinder Singh stated that the company denied the claim on the flimsy ground that the Insured Live Animal with captioned Tag Number and carcass photos was not matching as per live animal reports and policy details. The company stated that the shape of the horns of the insured animal was straight but as per the carcass photos, the shape of the horns of the animal was stubbed. The complainant reasoned that the Tag Number, which was punched at the time of effecting insurance, was found intact in the ear of the cow and it was removed personally by the surveyor of the opposite party. In its reply, the insurance company stated that on verification of the dead animal, it was found that it did not match the photos of the cow at the time of insurance. The complainant reasoned that the horns of the cow were damaged in a fight with another animal and had to be amputated on medical advice for fast healing. The company stated that, as such, as per the exclusion clause No 5 of the Cattle Policy, the insured shall give immediate notice in writing to the company of any illness or lameness or accident or injury to any animal hereby insured. It stated that the claim was repudiated as per terms and conditions of the policy. The forum observed that it was the duty of the complainants to inform the opposite party regarding any change in the status of the insured animal as per clause 5 of the Cattle policy, but the complainants failed to inform the opposite party regarding the incident in which the insured cow had broken her horns and the same were to be removed keeping in view the health of the animal. However, the forum stated that this sole ground should not be the reason for repudiating the whole claim of the complainants under the insurance policy in question.
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Overhead water reservoirs pose danger to lives of residents
Amritsar, October 26
Particularly, two such tanks, one near the Pink Plaza market, the busiest spot, and the other in the Ram Bagh area, could fall any moment. These tanks, otherwise with locked stairs, have also been the favourite spot for protesters who climb up the stairs and threaten to commit suicide in case they were not heard. People park their vehicles near these tanks and some have even started running small-time shops from these locations. The residents fear that these tanks may fall down any time and have demanded from the authorities that these may be demolished or maintained properly. Showing the uneven, concrete base of the tank at Pink Plaza, Ramneek Singh Aujla, a resident said the base of the tank had started showing signs of age, but the authorities never bothered to take notice of it. “Being a shopping arcade, this place is always full of hustle and bustle. What will happen if it falls down?” he said. Another local resident, Vikram Khurana, said this tank attracted the attention of the authorities only when some protesters used it as a “tool”. “Recently, a section of jobless teachers had climbed up the tank and threatened to kill themselves in protest against the government’s apathy. Only then, the authorities, right from the police, the administration and even politicians had come here. But except for gaining mileage, no one was bothered about the dilapidated condition of these tanks,” he said. Identical was the situation noticed at the tank installed in the Ram Bagh area. This tank, too, has been lying defunct for long. A resident of the locality, Jagdish Singh, said, “The stairs, too, have been broken from many places as also the concrete slabs. Its cemented patches fall off due to poor grip, which is getting weaker by the day. We are afraid of a mishap, if anyday this tank falls down,” he said. When the matter was brought to the notice of mayor Bakshi Ram Arora, he said, “Not all such water reservoirs have been lying defunct, but there were some. Out of 42 of these water tanks, 17 are still used to supply water, but the ones that have been brought to our notice will be inspected. I will direct the Superintending Engineer to do the needful.”
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Property dealers assn stages hunger strike
Amritsar, October 26 The association president, Sanjeev Rampal, said the agitation would continue as long as the government did not issue a notification in this regard. He said many families were staring at financial hardship due to non-issuance of NOCs to sell their properties. He said families in need of finances to fund sudden expenditure besides marriages of their wards and investing in their higher education were finding themselves in trouble. However, the government was not paying any attention to their woes. In the absence of the notification, the Municipal Corporation and PUDA are not issuing fresh NOCs, leading to no new registration of properties at the Revenue Department. DCC president Gurjeet Singh Aujla along with party workers supported the protest against the “anti-real estate business policy of the SAD-BJP combine.” The government incurs revenue losses while many people were not able to sell off their properties, he
commented. The protest is being staged at Bhandari Bridge and will continue till the government doesn’t open the NOC for land registration due to which the property business has come to a halt in the state and thousands of families dependent on this income are seeing worst days ahead. Aujla said he would take part in the sit-in to support property dealers and their demands from October 27. Criticising the Local Governments Minister, Anil Joshi, Aujla said he was a mere puppet in the hands of his SAD masters and due to his “childish” attitude, the Badals have delayed the notification with regard to the NOCs. He advised Joshi to stay away from the game plan of the Badals and added that he must not hinder the NOC notification again by snatching media mileage. Replying to a query, Aujla said Joshi must introspect on the “insulting” defeat he and the BJP candidate faced in the Lok Sabha elections in Joshi’s Vidhan Sabha constituency and find out why his own constituency rejected him. Aujla added that the protest would continue till the NOCs were issued and anti-Punjab experiments by the Badals were not stopped.
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Pankaj Tripathi shoots for US production ‘Mango Dreams’ in city
“The film is a completely US production with an all Indian star cast. It’s a road movie, journey of a 70-year-old doctor, who travels from Ahmedabad to Wagah. The travels show how borders affect human lives, the impact geographic boundaries have on people,” he says. Shooting at a village in Dera Baba Nanak, the actor says the film’s USP is that the film brings in a different concept. “The protagonist travels throughout the places in an auto, the driver being his only companion.” The film has Sameer Kochar and Ram Gopal Bajaj apart from him. Parallel to the film’s story, traveling across Gujarat, Rajasthan and Punjab, covering 25, 000 km while shooting was a real life experience for Pankaj. “I am happy doing films that are close to reality. It brings in the honesty in your reel character.” The actor, who confesses to be a ‘sufi’ when it comes to doing films, conciously chooses to do honest films. His list includes Ketan Mehta’s “The Mountain Man” and a low-budget movie “Global Baba”, which he says has no stars. “I don’t believe in mainstream or parallel cinema. It’s only good cinema or else. I cannot do false acting or just be a part of the commercial Bollywood brigade. I won’t mind working for free if the script is good,” says Pankaj. His “Gangs of Wasseypur” experience proved that small films could bring in big success, if made with dedication and honesty. “I am happy doing a ‘Singham Returns’ or ‘Dabangg’ if I get to work in two honest good films every year. The actor in me will live in harmony along with the performer in me.”
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Better amritsar—inadequate footpaths—I Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service
Amritsar, October 26
With the rise in the number of vehicles, the authorities are simply demolishing and reducing the width of footpaths to widen the busy roads. It could be seen at Bhandari Bridge, Lawrence Road, Queen’s Road, Hall Gate, Katra Jai Mal Singh and other popular commercial areas of the city. Besides, a number of areas don’t even have footpaths at all. The footpaths that have survived are almost useless for the public as they have been encroached upon by shopkeepers, vendors and through installation of poles. For instance, the footpath on both sides of Rego Bridge has been lying closed nearly for the last decade as the bridge has outlived its life. Similarly, the walkway on both sides of Bhandari Bridge has been turned into roads for two-wheelers and rickshaws while newly constructed ramps on the sides of the bridge, leading to Ram Bagh, are so narrow that these do not have provision for passage of people to walk up and down. Another problem is of installation of hoardings over footpaths. The same can be found at the Income Tax Intersection, Bhandari Bridge, Sant Singh Sukha Singh intersection, also called Four S Chownk, and at many other places of the city. The footpath along the boundary wall of Ram Bagh Garden is intact since there is no commercial activity. However, the opposite side of the historic Bagh is encroached by shopkeepers and vendors. Encroachments can be found on the road around the walled city, Puttalighar Chowk, Queen’s road, Cooper Road, Hall Gate and Sikandari Gate. People who understand the matter said the rate of land in these commercial areas were too high with a square yard costing above Rs one lakh. This prompts the shopkeepers to utilise the public land for their personal commercial activity. At the same time, the lax approach of the authorities has also contributed to the rise in encroachments. Shopkeepers compete among themselves to encroach upon the maximum space. Similarly, travelling on the stretch from Dharam Singh Market to the Golden Temple is a daunting task for the commuters, especially tourists visiting the holiest Sikh shrine in the world. Since Jallianwala Bagh and the Golden Temple are situated on the same road, a large number of pedestrians are tourists. However, these tourists hardly find any space to walk over the footpaths as these are encroached by shopkeepers and vendors. As a result, tourists walk on the road, which leads to congestion and slows down the pace of the traffic. The 7.30 km long external circular road around the walled city covering all 12 gates is another glaring example of the footpaths being neglected. At many places, the footpaths are either missing or encroached upon.
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Terrorist victims’ association seeks meeting with Prime Minister
Amritsar, October 26 Dr BR Hastir, chairman of the association, said even after two decades of militancy, these families were running from pillar to post for their rights and demands while the state as well as the Central government was turning a blind eye towards them. A number of families lost their bread earners while the facilities provided by the government still elude them, said Hastir. He said the consecutive governments had failed to take appropriate measures to rehabilitate the militancy affected families till date. He informed the families participating in the meeting that the association had already shot a communiqué to the PMO and sought time for a meeting from the Prime Minister. He said as soon as they get the permission a, delegation of the terrorist victims’ families would meet him. Members of the victims’ families were not getting pension on a regular basis, he added. He said due to the indifferent attitude of the government staff, the families sometimes get pensions after four to six months. He appealed to the SDMs concerned to get their documents prepared for the release of the pensions by 25 of every month so that the families could receive pension in time.
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Minister, Mayor spar over utilisation of development funds for city
Amritsar, October 26
While Joshi emphasised that there was no fund crunch and that the Mayor should initiate the process to raise loan from financial institutions (as has been practised with other corporations), Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora maintained that, it was not advisable to raise unreasonable loans since the financial health of corporation was weak and it would not be in a capacity to pay back the loan amount. He asked what would the Mayor do when the government was not ready to release the funds. Nonetheless, the issue has given an opportunity to the Leader of the Opposition to point fingers over the working of the civic authorities. Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky, the senior Congress leader lamented that the row between them had proved the lack of communication and misutilisation of funds as the Local Bodies Minister, who belonged to the city, was not convinced with the vision of the Mayor, who is also from the former’s party. “It is pity that minister Joshi, being the native of Amritsar, had failed to get any grant from the Central government for the city. The development works, which have been visible, were executed only due to the funds released by the Manmohan Singh-led Congress government, which included Rs 225 crore elevated road, Rs 450 crore for the BRTS project, Rs 100 crore for revamping sewerage, Rs 28 crore for the solid waste management plant, which are still lying unutilised. The situation is so dismal that no firm was ready to take up any major project here due to the dilapidated and corrupt system prevailing here,” said Lucky. He suggested that the Mayor should raise his voice at the Central-level taking other councillors into confidence who know the ground realities. Joshi, during a press meet yesterday, had said the MC had taken Rs 48 crore loans from the Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) and the money was lying unspent. The Mayor has been requested several times to make use of it, but in vain, he added. He had also stressed that the Mayor should take steps to expedite the functioning of its revenue generation departments to increase the MC’s income. On the other hand, Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said the minister should quit his “ministership” and occupy the Mayor’s chair to know the actual situation. “He is misinformed. We have been demanding from the Local Bodies Ministry to streamline the VAT returns, but the minister has been silent over the issue. “Rather, to cover-up his department’s shortcomings, he is diverting the attention towards unrealistic things,” he said. HUDCO has sanctioned an amount of Rs 52 crore to the MC. Out of this, Rs 4 crore has already been taken and utilised. “The norm is that the loan amount is released only after we submit the bills pertaining to the works carried out,” he said. “The money is with the HUDCO but it would be received as per norms and demand. Already, developmental works to the tune of Rs 34 crore have been approved for various wards and once completed, the bills of all these works would be cleared through HUDCO loans,” mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said. The Mayor said, “We had initially announced to carry out works to the tune of Rs 30 lakh for each ward, followed by another Rs 11 lakh for each ward and recently another Rs 10 lakh for each ward. All these works are being carried out through HUDCO’s loan amount.” “We are not in a hurry to raise some unreasonable amount as we are not in a position to pay back the loan amount. On the other hand, the major setback is that the VAT return, which amounts to Rs 11 crore per annum is not received regularly, as per the norm. We are not even in a position to pay the salaries of our employees,” he added.
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NGO demands new board to keep tab on private schools Amritsar, October 26 PSS president Balram Kumar Sharma said scores of private schools were violating the open-market competition norms by opening shops on their campuses to sell school uniforms and stationery. He said parents were forced to purchase from these shops. Some schools had tied up with certain shops and suggest parents to buy things from those shops, he added. Sharma said in this way, the trade in school uniforms and stationery items was being monopolised. He alleged that some schools run by religious societies were flouting the Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices (MRTP) Act, 1969. The board could check whether the schools are complying with the Right to Education Act norms and the commercial activities undertaken by the schools, he said. — TNS
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Docs advise patients to exercise precaution during winters
Amritsar, October 26 The doctors said the winters are more troublesome for asthmatic patients as many cases are reported at hospitals due to asthma during the season. Even for cardiac patients, winters could be risky, they said. Further, a large number of viruses are believed to be active during winters resulting in increased infections and other problems. Chest specialist Dr Naresh Chawla said during winters, the pollutant mixed air comes down to the lower zone, which is the breathing zone. With the fall in temperature, patients feel heaviness in the chest area and breathing exercise becomes difficult, he said. The cardiac experts said the first few days of frost and fog can be very dangerous for the heart patients as there is a decrease in the supply of blood to the heart and other vital organs. A heart attack in the winter months is also believed to be fatal than during any other season of the year. Child specialist at the Civil Hospital, Dr Sandeep Aggarwal, said keeping infants away from flu and cold was a big challenge for the parents. He said they must ensure that the head of the child is covered properly and the child is wearing enough clothes. More precaution should be exercised when the weather is changing as children often fall sick due to change in weather, he added.
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DAV hosts two-day sports event
Amritsar, October 26
Under the guidance of regional director Dr Neelam Kamra and cluster in-charge principal Anjana Gupta, approximately 600 students are participating from five DAV schools of Amritsar Zone — DAV International School, DAV Public School, DAV Police Public School, GND DAV School, Bhikhiwind, and MKD DAV School, Neshta Attari. In this two day event, 19 different games such as cricket, hockey, football, gymnastics, lawn tennis, judo, kho- kho, badminton, basketball, handball, table tennis, kabaddi, chess, yoga, skating, air pistol, athletics and swimming, are being organised at DAV International School, DAV Public School and DAV Police Public, Amritsar.
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Man held with five kg of heroin
Amritsar, October 26 He was produced before the duty magistrate, who sent him to three-day police custody. Police sources said that the accused was arrested following a tip- off. The contraband was smuggled from the Pakistan side. Further investigations were under progress. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the culprit.
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Ex-minister urges people to fight against drug abuse
Amritsar, October 26 Presiding over the programme, former Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla said people would have to start fighting against drugs from their homes. She said there was a need to teach moral values to children at homes. Schools can also play a great role in teaching ethics to students, she added. She said children should be educated about the harmful effects of drugs during their growing years. On this occasion, a play depicting the ill effects of drugs, ‘Sangarsh Zari Hai’, was staged by Alfaz group under the direction of Mandeep Ghai.
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Three snatchers, cop’s son nabbed
Amritsar, October 26 The incident occurred in Avtar Avenue, near the New Medical Enclave area. The woman identified as Pinki, who works as a staff nurse in a private hospital, had just alighted from a rickshaw when the three accused snatched her purse. Initially Pinki resisted their attempt and got bruises on her arms and legs as she fell down in the attempt. However, before the three motorcycle-borne accused could flee, they were caught hold of by the residents of the area. Those arrested were identified as Saifal, a resident of Bohar Wala Shivala, Nishu of Tandon Nagar and Sharanjit Singh of Bohar Wala Shivala. Prempal, in charge, Majitha road bypass chowki, said Saifal was the son of ASI Surinder Mohan, posted at Jalandhar at present. He said bad company prompted him to commit the crime. He said a case under Sections 382 and 34, IPC, had been registered against them and further investigations had been initiated. The police recovered a ration card and a voter card from
the bike.
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Gangs of robbers, vehicle-lifters busted
Amritsar, October 26
Those arrested were identified as Lovepreet Singh, alias Shelly, and his brother, Gurpreet Singh, alias Ghora, of Meerankot Chowk and Sajan Kumar, a resident of an area opposite Amritsar Central Jail. The police authorities said the accused were intercepted from Nat Peer Chowk following a tip-off. The police party recovered a stolen scooter from them. Later, during interrogation, the police recovered two scooters from Shelly, three motorcycles from Ghora and four motorcycles from Sajan. A case was registered under Sections 379, 411, 420, 468 and 471, IPC, at Cantonment police station against them. A preliminary probe found that they used to sell the vehicles after forging the documents. Further investigations were under progress. Meanwhile, the Division A police has arrested Ravinderpal Singh of Lakkar Mandi for allegedly stealing a motorcycle from outside Celebration Mall. Gurcharan Singh of Rajinder Nagar told the police that he had parked the motorcycle outside the mall, from where it was stolen. Later, Ravinderpal was arrested for possessing the motorcycle. A case under Sections 379 and 411, IPC, has been registered in this regard. Meanwhile, the Amritsar rural police busted a gang of robbers and arrested three persons in this regard. The police recovered a countrymade pistol, four cartridges besides sharp-edged weapons from their possession. Those arrested include Tarsem Singh, Varinder Singh and Bikramjit Singh, all residents of Timmowal village. Four of their accomplices, identified as Prabhjit Singh, Heera Singh, Jobanjit Singh of Timmowal and Gurpreet Singh of Ekal Adda escaped from the spot. Amolak Singh, SHO, Khilchian police station, said the accused were arrested following specific information that they were hiding in the guava garden owned by Randhir Singh of Rattangarh village. He said a police party immediately raided the area and arrested the three of them. A case under Sections 399, 402, 379, IPC, has been registered while raids are being conducted to arrested the remaining culprits.
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All India Terrorist Victims’ Association today held a meeting with members of the militancy affected families and decided to meet Prime Minister Narender Modi in order to seek his intervention on the issue of the plight of families who were still struggling to settle themselves.
Amritsar, October 26
