AMRITSAR:

Corporation health officer Dr Yogesh Arora said following its initiative to catch stray dogs, animal organizations like Blue Cross had raised objection to the method, terming it “cruel”. Also, some employees had been bitten by the animals.

The specialized training in Jaipur has been organized by People for Animal Welfare. They will teach how to use special implements for catching dogs, besides handling the animals in a less cruel way. A dog catching drive was currently on in Jaipur, Dr Arora said. Amritsar had an estimated 25,000 stray dogs.

source-ht

AMRITSAR:

The students also had a glimpse of STS-132, the final flight of Atlantis Space Shuttle, at the launch pad at Kennedy Space Centre. The space shuttle is targeted for launch on May 14. The team included Harleen Kaur, Vanshu Mahajan, Shrey Mittal, Jaspinder Singh Randhawa, Rommail Singh Johal, Rikin Khanna, Harmanbir Singh, Rajwinder Singh, Jashandeep Singh and Harkanwar Singh. Three other members of the team, Navreet Singh, Malikbir Singh and Tanveer Singh, won a space competition organized on this occasion. Vanshu Mahajan, a Class VII student, was appreciated for his presentation on the parts of a rocket.

The students were elated on the unique experience that they got at the trip. Not only did they get a chance to take a sneak ‘ peek into space but also came face to face with the challenges such as time and resource management and budgeting that the scientists confront prior to a space mission. “It was an exciting trip. We were taught about land rovers, space shuttles and rocket launchers, which are usually associated with NASA’s Mars mission and other space odysseys,” said Harleen Kaur, the lone girl accompanying the team.

“The camp was more of an activity-based learning programme as the students were required to execute what they were taught,” said Sonia Mann, the teacher accompanying the team to NASA. She maintained that the students got a chance to interact with NASA’s Chief Engineer of Designs for space shuttles Satish Reddy and Chemical Engineer Heather Paul, who designs space suits for astronauts.

SOURCE-HT

AMRITSAR:

Forensic teams from New Delhi and Chandigarh also reached the city to identify the material.

Police Commissioner Varinder Kumar said the forensic teams had taken samples and it will take a couple of days before they could confirm the nature of the explosives.

“The number on the car was fictitious. The police are working on various theories,” he added.

The SIT is headed by the Police Commissioner and includes ADCP (II) Makhan Singh, ADCP (D) H.S. Brar, ACP Lakhbir Singh and an official from the counter intelligence.

SOURCE-HT

AMRITSAR:

The meeting was attended by Commissioner of Amritsar Municipal Corporation, Superintendent of Police (Traffic), and concerned traffic in-charge of the area and other officials of the MC. Besides, shop owners from Hall Bazar, Fish Market, Ram Bagh, Katra Jaimal Singh, Tahli Sahib market and Bazaar Pachimwala participated in the meeting.

It was decided that the owners of shops located in the stretch from Hall Gate to Goal Hatti to the Municipal Corporation office, Dharam Singh market upto Katra Jaimal Singh would park their vehicles in the designated parking iden­ tified by the MC.

To avoid decongestion, the customers would be allowed to park their vehicles within yellow lines in front of the shops at specified parking rates for two-wheelers and four­ wheelers for a specified time limit. SP (Traffic), along with an engineer of MC has been entrusted with the task of ensuring the marking of necessary yellow lines out­ side the shops. Further, no vehicle would be allowed to park in front of the books market in Hall Bazar. Smilarly, all the vehicles for the stretch of Bharawan Da Dhaba and Katra Jaimal Singh up to Katra Kanhaiya will be parked in the open in front of Gurdwara Santokh Sar.

MC D.P.S. Kharbanda said that they have increased the capacity of the fish market parking lot by five times, which can now house 600 vehicles. “Moreover, we have made two-gate system for easy movement of vehicles,” he added.

Moreover, the administration has narrowed down on parking rates for customers depending on the hours that the vehicle will be parked.

MAKE WAY FOR CUSTOMERS

The Hall Bazaar Traders’ Association, a prominent association of the commercial hub of Amritsar has accused the district administration for not providing a better parking lot to traders and has asked not to charge customers.

A meeting of the district administration, MC and Amritsar police was held with the traders to convince them to park their cars in the parking lot and leave road for customers to park by paying charges as per hours utilized.

Vijay Nayyar, secretary of the association, blamed, “Our association, one of the biggest, was not invited for the meeting.”

“We are ready to move to parking lots for our customers but they should not be charged in return. They are coming here for shopping and they may take time, which will eventually increase the parking rates,” Nayyar said.

SOURCE-HT

AMRITSAR:

The University’s sewage treatment plant came up in the year 2000 while Pingalwara’s plant has been operational since last
year.

GNDU came up with a sewage treatment plant in 2000 following a suo moto case by Punjab Human Rights Commission. The entire work of setting up the plant was done by the engineering department and the teachers of the university.

A FIRST IN THE REGION

At present, the engineering department handles even the task of maintenance of the plant. “We were the first institute in Punjab to come up with the plant and were the only one who got approval by the Punjab Pollution Control Board,” says Heera Singh, Assistant Engineer and in-charge of the plant.

In keeping with the expansion of the university, the authorities upgraded the existing plant two years back and, at present, it has the capacity of 2.5 mlt. The entire water produced by the plant is utilized in the campus itself for horticulture.

ECO-FRIENDLY PLANT

”The entire working of our plant is completely natural. Activated sludge process is used and no chemicals are added in the plant. Besides, very less energy is utilized in the plant for safeguarding the environment,” Singh said.

Furthering its contribution to the environment, the university is in the process of setting up a similar plant on its Gurdaspur campus. The construction is currently underway and would be completed in two months.

IMPETUS TO FARMING

On the other hand, Pingalwara also came up with a sewage treatment plant last year in its Manawala campus. Col D.S. Bawa, chief administrator, said that Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology at Patiala has done consultancy for the treatment plant free of cost. Moreover, the plant came up as an endeavor for Pingalwara.

Mandeep Asija, who is looking after the plant’s functioning, said that the plant has been designed with a capacity of 1 lakh litres keeping the’ coming five years in mind. “Presently, it is using 65 per cent of its capacity,” Asija said, adding that in the present scene, releasing untreated sewage water is considered a crime.

Asija added that despite this, there are several agencies that are releasing untreated water in Ganda Nala. “We are treating sewage water and are utilizing it for agriculture purpose at the Manawala campus;’ Asija said.

AMRITSAR: The Panther Division celebrated “VIJAY DIWAS” on today to commemorate the historic victory of Indian Army in 1971 war with Pakistan.

The event was marked by a simple and solemn memorial service held in memory of brave soldiers who laid down their life while fighting for the Nation at DOGRAI war memorial in Amritsar.

On this occasion, Deputy General Officer Commanding Panther Division, Brigadier AK Ganguly, paid rich tributes to the brave soldiers who made supreme sacrifice for the honour and integrity of the nation by laying a wreath at the ‘Dograi War Memorial’.

He was accompanied by senior serving officers of the station including Commander Khasa Brigade and other senior officers of the Panther Division and Dograi Brigade. A large number of Ex-Servicemen were also present to pay homage and commemorate the occasion.

Brigadier AK Ganguly, highlighted that in December 1971, ninety three thousand soldiers of Pakistan Army surrendered to Indian Army making it the largest Military surrender after World War-II.

It was on this day 38 years ago, When the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Eastern Command Lt Gen Jagjit Singh Arora, accepted the ‘Instrument of Surrender’ from Lt Gen AAK Niazi of Pakistan Army at Dhaka. Since then, 16 December is celebrated as “Vijay Diwas” to mark the historic victory of Indian Army.
Speaking on the occasion he exhorted all ranks to continue to retain the highest standards of operational preparedness in order to serve the mother land as and when required at short notice.

In the play Palace guards were seen with placards around their necks urging conservation like “water is precious.. save it ‘ , ‘Nature is God.. worship it’ to bring home the message of importance of environment for our present and future.

On this occasion Chief Guest Mr Navjot Sidhu Member Parliament was accorded a floral welcome by the school Principal, Mrs Amandeep Sekhon who read out school’s annual progress report and outlined the future plans of the institute.

The function started with “Saraswati Vandana”—offering to the goddess of Knowledge followed by a merry dance by toddlers to the number “Lakdi Ki Kathi, while another set of students performed acrobatics on “Boogie Woogie” title song.

In the play Cinderella  and another performance “Animal Kingdom’ students of lower Kindergarten presented a colorful dance by children dressed in  animals outfits who exhibited  complete harmony of ‘Nature’ where flora and fauna (plants and animals) dance and swing alike to the music and share a hearty meal together. Senior students took the stage and danced on title song “Jai Ho” of Oscar winning film “Slum Dog Millionaire”.

However the most thrilling moments were during the thumping ‘Bhangra’ in a show title ‘Rangla Punjab’  glorifying  the beauty of Punjab’s  People and its Rich Cultural Heritage in the song …’Mein Punjab di sift sunavan..ethey Rab vargian Maava…Dharti Punj Darya di Rani…’

On the occasion meritorious students were awarded medals including (athlete) Jaideep Gill as ‘Sportsperson of the year’, Ghazal Bhalla (best in Academics) and Gursharan Kaur (best Extra-curricular). The gathering was addressed by the Chief Guest, who impressed upon the need for parents to inculcate the right values in their children. He felt that society seems more engrossed in watching TV at the cost of spending quality time with the children. While appreciating the efforts of the school he announced a grant of Rs.3.0 lacs during the next financial year.

AMRITSAR:

The exhibition was inaugurated by Governor of Panjab His Excellency General (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues at Chandigarh Carnival on 28 November 2009. Later, the exhibit was extended by another 15 days on his request to take it to the door steps of all the educational institutions and public places. The exhibit is now touring different parts of Chandigarh to reach out to as many people as possible.
This mobile exhibition has already received a huge applause at many prominent educational institutes and public spots in the city. The exhibition has so far visited the Government Museum, Panjab University, Govt. College Sector 46, S.D. College, St. Peters School, Sukhna Lake, Rock Garden and the State Library Sector 34 and Sector 17. The exhibition plans to visit Government College for Men Sector 11, Sri Guru Gobind Singh College Sector 26, Government College Sector 42, Shivalik School Sector 41 in the coming days. Over 25,000 people have visited the exhibition in 15 days and we have still 3 days to go.

Davinder Pal Singh, Executive Director of Panjab Digital Library told that the exhibition is showcasing select digitized pieces of art and text from different manuscripts. With such events PDL wishes to bring awareness among the masses through wider public contacts. This endeavor emphasizes on the need for preservation of heritage, more particularly, the digital preservation and the role a common man can play in it. Everyone is encouraged to come and appreciate the myriad colors of our common ancestral treasures and spare a thought for their preservation.

PDL is a non-profit NGO that has launched the first comprehensive digital library on Panjab and its rich literature and art. It has been working in digital preservation of such literature since 2002. So far the organization has digitized over 3 million folios from about 3300 manuscripts, and roughly same about of books, apart from a good number of periodicals, old newspapers, pictures, and coins and historical records. Its major clienteles include institutions like Kurukshetra University, Government Museum and Art Gallery, Panjab Languages Department, SGPC, DSGMC, Chief Khalsa Diwan and Panjab Virasat Charitable Trust.

PDL recently came up with first online digital library of the region www.panjabdigilib.org that is showcasing rare manuscripts, newspapers and other things.

NEWS By: RASHMI TALWAR

During the convention Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad Khalifa-Tul-Masih would address the community on Ahmadiyya TV in a live telecast from London. Pakistani Pilgrims would cross the Indo-Pak border on foot and will board on special buses from Wagah Border for Qadian. First group from Pakistan is expected to cross border on 19th December 2009. It May be recalled that the Ahmediyya is a persecuted community in Pakistan which does not enjoy any rights as Muslims in Pakistan do.