Amritsar, November 6
The Punjab Police has further tightened the noose around the notorious gangster Jagdeep Singh, alias Jaggu, by arresting two of his accomplices, Malkeet Singh, alias Nawab, of Channanke village and Ranjodh Singh of Udhonangal village.

Their interrogation revealed that it was Jaggu, Nawab and their accomplices, who had shot infamous gangster Sanjiv Nayyar, alias Babba, more than a month ago. Nayyar was out on parole and was returning home after attending a marriage function.

The accused were arrested from near Udhonangal village when they were going to Arjanmanga village, falling in the Amritsar rural police area. The police also seized two country-made pistols of .315 and .38 bore besides 17 cartridges from them. It also seized 260 gm of narcotic powder from the dash board of the car. A case under section the NDPS Act and the Arms Act has been registered in this regard.

Jasdeep Singh, SSP, Amritsar rural, while giving details said that on the inputs given by the two, the police had arrested their third accomplice and one of the prominent members of the gang, Akul Pandit. Pandit is currently under treatment in a private hospital where he was admitted with a broken leg. He fractured his leg in an accident a few days ago.

He was shifting hospitals regularly during the past 15 days in order to evade arrest. Besides, he got admission to hospital under a fake name, the SSP added.

Investigations revealed that Nawab and Ranjodh were also wanted in the shootout incident in front of the Alpha mall on Diwali. The city police had already arrested five persons, who used to give shelter to Jaggu.

The SSP said that Ranjodh used to provide weapons to the gang. He used to procure these from Gwalior or western Uttar Pradesh, infamous for manufacturing illegal weapons. He said further investigations were going on to ascertain the ownership of the car (PB-02-R-8147) in which they were travelling.

Jaggu was wanted in as many as 20 cases, including murder and attempt to murder cases, registered in Amritsar city as well as the rural area, Batala, Jalandhar and Tarn Taran. The SSP said the police had launched a manhunt to arrest Jaggu, who has been on the run since the Babba’s killing.

Meanwhile, the rural police have confiscated a .32-bore country-made pistol from Rupinder Singh of Butari village. The police also seized three cartridges from him.

Amritsar, November 6
In a major catch, the special staff of the city police arrested an infamous drug peddler, identified as Harinder Singh, alias Chhina, of Bidhichand Chhina village (Tarn Taran), who was currently residing in the Guru Nanak Pura area in Chheharta.

He was arrested from the Gumanpura road railway crossing, following specific inputs. The police seized 380 gm of heroin and impounded his car (PB-46-N-3220). A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against him.

HS Brar, ADCP (special), said the accused used to procure drug consignments from another notorious smuggler, Amrik Singh, alias Amba, of Cheema village and further sell it to vulnerable youths. Amba came in Chhina’s contact in 2013. Brar said Chhina’s name figured in the investigations of other drug peddlers, who were arrested during a concerted drive launched against drug abuse by the state government. In order to evade arrest, Chhina had escaped to Hazoor Sahib and returned only a month back and restarted his operations. He said further investigations were under progress.

Meanwhile, the police arrested 11 persons on charges of drug peddling and bootlegging during the past 24 hours. Among those arrested were Ravi Parkash Singh of Sandhu Colony, Batala road, Sukhdev Singh of Rasulpur Kallar, Shiva of Hari Ram Di Bagichi on Ram Tirath road, Jarnail Singh of Chowk Karori, Gurpreet Singh of Shaheed Baba Sangat Singh Nagar, Mehta road, Baldev Singh of Guru Arjun Dev Nagar, Sukhdev Singh of Pilly village (Tarn Taran) and Gurdev Singh of Ekta Nagar. They allegedly possessed a total of 1.79 kg of narcotic powder in separate instances. Hardev Singh of Guruwali was arrested for possessing 15 gm heroin while Judge of Himmatpura was held with 20 bottles of illicit liquor and Gurmukhtar Singh of Kasel village (Tarn Taran) was arrested with 100 capsules of proscribed drugs.

Amritsar, November 6
The residents of the Bhagtanwala area continued their agitation for removal of the gabage dump located near their houses. They vehemently rejected the proposal of setting up a solid waste management plant by the Municipal Corporation in their area.

The residents, who have been protesting against the administration under the banner of Sanjhi Sangharsh Committee, said if need arises the agitation would be intensified.

They said the ground water in their localities had got contaminated due to the spilling of the garbage. It had also led to spreading of many diseases in the area. The waste management plant would further affect the environment of the area, they added.

Nawal Chawla, a resident of the area, who was protesting along with others, said people had been losing their family members due to medical problems whereas the authorities had shown casual approach towards their cause. “Officials of the Municipal Corporation burn the garbage and the smoke emanating from the dump causes serious respiratory problems among the residents of the area,” he said.

Another aggrieved resident, Goldy Bhatia, said no one from the administration had ever shown serious concern or assured them of providing any solution. “They only give verbal assurances. Otherwise, we are still in dark about what preventive measures the administration has been planning to take to provide relief,” he said. Meanwhile, the residents prevented the Municipal Corporation’s vehicles, which carried garbage, from entering the area.

“We will not allow them to spoil our lives anymore. The dump yard has already filled up to its limit, but the garbage is still being unloaded here. The situation is so bad that the garbage has spilled on to roads,” said Satnam Singh, another resident of the area.

A resident of Fateh Singh Colony, Jaswinder Kaur, said, “Diseases such as hepatitis are rampant in area. There cannot be a single house where the family members are not on medicines, which cost Rs 200 to Rs 500 daily.”

MC Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal said, “I have visited the site and spoken to the residents. We will resolve the issue at the earliest after consultation with our health officer.”

Amritsar, November 6
Though the traffic police had to stop taking cognisance of underage schoolchildren driving two-wheelers in violation of the Motor Vehicles Act under political pressure yesterday, the issue calls for parents’ as well as school authorities’ attention as well.

To check driving by underaged children, the special campaign launched by the police during the past few weeks was appreciated by the city residents.

Questions are being raised whether the morale of the police has gone down going by the fact that no traffic policeman was found to be checking traffic violations, following yesterday’s developments.

Five policemen were shifted to the Police Lines as punishment when during one such drive outside a school, an altercation arose between them and a BJP councillor, Suresh Mahajan.

Even as the Police Department conducts traffic awareness drives in educational institutions, it has had little impact in making students realise the seriousness of the offence they commit by violating the traffic norms.

For school students, zipping around on high-speed motorbikes and funky scooters could be fun. For their status-conscious parents, it may be a matter of pride. Yet, both of them little realise that they are inviting a tragedy to occur anytime.

In case of an accident, Section 180 of the Motor Vehicles Act is applied. It will be parents/guardians, who will be prosecuted for providing a vehicle to the children. Even the school authorities could be held guilty if the children ride to the school on a geared vehicle exceeding the prescribed engine capacity of 50 cc.

Not only could accidents cause severe physical and emotional scars on the survivors, there could also be loss of life. Many parents are not aware that insurance companies are only obliged to honour claims from licensed drivers and hold no responsibility to compensate for the damage caused by underage drivers.

Just visit any school after classes end and you will see children in school uniforms riding bikes and scooters beyond permissible limit engine capacities. Eighty per cent of schoolgoing children are under 18 and don’t have driving licences.

Traffic Marshal Surinder Singh clarified that only those students who have attained 16 years of age become eligible to drive gearless two-wheelers whereas only those above 18 can drive a vehicle with gears.

This implies that almost all students studying in schools up to the senior secondary level are not eligible for driving a vehicle with gears.

Amritsar, November 6
Discussing or debating world politics can be an uneasy thing to do even for the seasoned. Global conflicts, economic and social impacts, humanitarian crisis and the general state of constant chaos is not easy to keep track of. But not for this group of 10 youngsters, who have had a first-hand experience of the global political scene.

The 10-member student delegation from One Up, Amritsar, is on cloud nine after their maiden representation at the India International Model United Nation, Mumbai. The team was honoured with the Special Mention trophy at one of the most prestigious and biggest educational youth conferences of Asia. “It’s a mixed feeling of happiness and relief. We had been working constantly for four months, preparing for the event, researching on our topics and learning the finer details. To get appreciation in our first attempt to present our opinion on crucial world matters means that our hard work has paid off,” said Vedansh Kapoor, one of the members of the team.

The delegation’s assigned country was Afghanistan and they had to work on various topics under different committees, including the Disarmament and International Security Committee (DISEC), the Economic and Financial Council, Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee (SOCHUM), Special Political and Decolonization Committee and Legal Committee.

The three-day gruelling diplomatic sessions and debates left them craving for more. “We really enjoyed the free flow of ideas and opinions, various insightful perspectives given by over 2,000 delegates from across the country. There were first-timers and then seasoned MUNers. Watching them was a learning experience,” said Anshul Mahajan.

A member of the SOCHUM, Anshul along with his partner Siddhanth participated in debates on the Syrian crisis and the status of women in Arab nations. “We were a strong country and spoke at length about the Syrian crisis, the human right violations and increasing involvement of the UN in bringing stability to the war-torn state. We even authored a resolution that was supported by almost three-fourth of the committee, though it fell short of being voted in favour of,” said Anshul. Similarly, another successful team, the DISEC, too, drafted a resolution, presenting debates on the Ukrainian conflict.

Admitting to be overwhelmed and clueless about the IIMUN experience, the youngsters said once they started, it became too interesting and important to stop. “We got a chance to hear and meet some of the best speakers like Shashi Tharoor, Rahul Bose, Ronnie Screwala and Leslie Lewis. We lobbied with other nations and delegates, which was exciting as you got to know people. We even faced some ‘political bullies’, some regular MUNers, who were very aggressive in their debates and got personal at times. It was a life lesson,” said the team.

The most exciting part of it all was that they got some powerful nations like the US, China, Russia and Japan to agree on the same thing. “I think it’s a nearly impossible feat in the real world,” jokes Sidhanth.

Dalbir Kaur Madaan from One Up, who accompanied the team, said, “It’s an achievement for them because they all were first-timers at the IIMUN and came from a small city like Amritsar, where opprtunities are limited. The fact that we, as a team from a private organisation, were competing with some of the best schools and educational institutions in India was appreciated even by the IIMUN organisers. We were not expecting the honour as we left midway between the closing ceremony and were informed about our win while boarding at the airport.”

Amritsar, November 6
A PhD student of the Department of Chemistry of Guru Nanak Dev University, Dr Varun Vij, has been selected for the first prize at the “2014 Lilly Outstanding Thesis Awards” for his works.

The title of Dr Vij’s thesis is “Hexaarylbenzene and hexa-peri-hexabenzocoronene based molecules: Synthesis, self-assembly and sensing applications”.

The award comprises US$ 1,500 and a Lilly plaque. It will be given during the J-NOST Conference, which is scheduled to be held at Indian Institute of Technology, Chennai, on December 4.

Prof Prabhakar K Jadhav of Eli Lilly and Company, USA, will be present during the award ceremony.

Dr Varun Vij did his PhD from the Department of Chemistry while working in the research group of Dr Vandana Bhalla and Prof Manoj Kumar.

He has published seven research papers in international journals of high impact factor. He has also presented his research work in third International Conference on Molecular Sensors and Logic Gates (MSMLG-12), held in Seoul, South Korea, in 2012. Besides, he has also delivered an invited lecture at a meeting of National Organic Symposium Trust (NOST) held at Agra in 2012.

Presently, Dr Varun Vij is working as a post doctoral research associate in National Institute of Science and Technology at Ulsan, South Korea.

Amritsar, November 6
The Health Department has failed to resume ultrasound scan facility at Jallianwala Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital ever since the previous radiologist resigned from service around a month ago.

The department had plans to engage a radiologist on contract basis to conduct scans of neonatal cases, but so far no one has been appointed at the post. Patients have to get scans conducted from private centres, which charge a lot more than government hospitals.

Sources in the department said trained radiologists were not ready to work with government hospitals as they earned a lot more at private clinics. “Besides they do not have to appear as a witness in court cases,” said the source.

Even the Sub Divisional Civil Hospitals at Baba Bakala and Ajnala do not have a permanent radiologist. The sources in the department said district departments could hire a radiologist on contractual basis for conducting scans in neonatal cases only.

So even if the department manages to get a radiologist on contract, technically, the cases other than neonatal will have to get scans conducted at private clinics. Officials of the Health Department said the government hospitals in the entire state were facing shortage of specialists, including radiologists. “There are only 20 radiologists left with government hospitals in the state. Most of them have resigned and others are waiting for the right moment,” said a senior doctor.

When contacted, Civil Surgeon, Dr Rajiv Bhalla, said, “The process to engage a radiologist on contractual basis as per guidelines is under way. It is expected that the facility will resume soon.” He said permanent appointments of radiologists come under the preview of the government.

Amritsar, November 6
The police have booked a migrant for allegedly kidnapping and raping a minor girl after alluring her for marriage. Mother of the victim, who originally hailed from Uttar Pradesh and was currently residing in the city, stated to the Gate Hakima police that the accused, identified as Sunny, a resident of Daryabad village in Uttar Pradesh, used to come to their house. She alleged that on October 11, he abducted her 17-year-old daughter after alluring her for marriage. She said the accused took her daughter to his native village and raped her.

The police have registered a case under Sections 363, 366-A and 376 of the IPC in this regard. No arrests have been made so far.

Meanwhile in another incident, the Ajnala police have booked Bagga Singh of Avan Wasau village for allegedly trying to rape his younger brother’s wife. The victim in her statement to the police said that she was unwell and went along with the accused to a doctor for a check up. She alleged that on way to a clinic the accused took her to fields near Hashampura village and tried to rape her. The police have registered a case under Sections 376 and 511 of the IPC in this regard. No arrests have been made so far.

Amritsar, November 6
A continous medical education (CME) session was organised by Amritsar Gastrosciences Forum here today. Liver specialists from the PGI, Chandigarh, Dr Ajay Duseja and Dr Sunil Taneja, delivered lectures on various liver problems.

Dr Ian Gollow, chairman, Surgical Services, and Dr Parshotam Gera, consultant paediatrician from Princess Margaret Hospital for Children, Perth (Australia) spoke about surgical aspects of liver, especially in children.

The function was presided over by Dr Harpreet Singh, president of the forum.

Amritsar, November 6
A drug de-addiction camp was organised by Yuva Parivar Sewa Samiti at Shaheed Baba Sangat Ji Gurudwara, Maqboolpura, on Wednesday. Press secretary of the samiti, PC Sharma, said as many as 90 patients attended the camp.

He said the samiti had utilised services of eight doctors, who examined all the patients thoroughly. Free medicines were provided to all the patients, who attended the camp, he added. He said doctors also motivated addicts to shun the habit of taking drugs.

Amritsar, November 6
The Health Department has detected the presence of mosquito larvae at hostels of the Government Medical College here. The department has instructed the hostel management to clean the area in order to prevent breeding of mosquitoes, which if not taken care of can lead to the outbreak of malaria or dengue.

District epidemiologist, Dr Raju Chauhan, said the larvae were found inside air coolers at hostels. He said it was very important to remove water from air coolers after their usage was stopped due to the change in season.

Mosquitoes often breed at places where water gets stranded, he added. Students and college management had been instructed to take proper precautions in view of the dengue threat.

The college management too had earlier asked students to get their surroundings cleaned. It had also issued fresh instructions about draining out water from all coolers and get insecticides sprayed to kill the larvae. — TNS

Amritsar, November 6
A basketball coach from the USA, Xavier, visited Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mall Road, here on Wednesday. He gave tips to national and international players of the school.

Head coach of Punjab, Davinder Dhindsa, assistant coaches Arun Kumar and Richu Sharma, also accompanied Xavier on his visit to the school.

While talking about game tactics, he said players should concentrate only on the game and nothing else once they were in the basketball court. This approach would help them touch heights in the game, he added. He invited the school team to visit his academy in the USA, where he could further polish their skills and also teach advanced strategies of the game.

Principal of the school, Mandeep Kaur, while welcoming the guests said fresh insights and thoughts of inspirations could guide players towards their chosen game and help them excel in their career.

While inspecting the school hostel and mess, Xavier lauded supervisor cook Rashmi Bindra and hostel warden Baljit Kaur for their efforts to provide hygienic and nutritional food to players.