19102024-ATR-01.qxd 10/18/2024 11:24 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST MAINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 33°C | MIN 19°C YESTERDAY MAX 33°C | MIN 20°C JCT WORKERS PROTEST IN PHAGWARA OVER SALARY ABOHAR FARMERS GET TIPS ON PROPER STRAW DISPOSAL FOUR INJURED AS VEHICLE OVERTURNS IN ABOHAR The protesters burn effigies of Sameer Thapar and Mukulika Sinha in front of JCT Mill. P2 DC Amarpreet Kaur Sandhu has urged farmers to dispose paddy stubble as suggested by the Agri Dept. P3 Four persons were injured when a vehicle ferrying over 10 labourers overturned in Abohar last night. P3 » » SUNSET SATURDAY 5.53 PM » SUNRISE SUNDAY 6.37 AM SATURDAY | 19 OCTOBER 2024 | AMRITSAR Gurpurb today, holiday in dist Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney said that the Punjab government has announced a holiday on October 19 in all government offices, boards, corporations and educational institutions of the district. In view of this, all service centres (Sewa Kendra) in the district will also remain closed tomorrow on the occasion of Gurpurab. Meanwhile, Police Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Deputy Commissioner Sakshi Sawhney, Additional Deputy Commissioner Jyoti Bala and other senior officials participated in Nagar Kirtan to mark Gurpurab and offered garlands and handkerchiefs to pay obeisance. — TNS MC takes action against 4 illegal under-construction buildings Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 The Municipal Town Planning (MTP) wing of the municipal corporation took strict action against illegal under-construction buildings here on Friday. On the directions of MC Commissioner Gulpreet Singh Aulakh, a team of the MTP wing, led by Assistant Town Planners Parminderjit Singh, Angad Singh and Gurvinder Singh and Building Inspectors Navjot Kaur and Manish Kumar visited the central zone of the city. The team partially demolished two under-construction hotels in Gadaman Wali Gali, one in Katra Ahluwalia and one behind the old Rebranding them could help in their revival, as per experts Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Officials of the MTP wing seal an under-construction illegal building in Amritsar on Friday. Improvement Trust office. Officials of the MTP wing claimed that they have been constructing hotels without getting the building plan approved. The MC team carried out the operation from 10 am to 3 pm. The team sealed three hotels in Sher continued on page 2 Divine light An illuminated Golden Temple on the eve of the birth anniversary of fourth Sikh Guru Ram Das in Amritsar on Friday. VISHAL KUMAR ADA asks rural police to file FIR against illegal colonisers PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 Taking a serious view of the construction of illegal colonies in rural belts, the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) has written to the SSP Amritsar Rural , Police, seeking registration of FIRs against the illegal colonisers. Confirming the development, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Urban Development) Major Amit Sareen said they have requested police officials to submit action-taken report to the department also. The ADA submitted four different complaints regarding illegal colonies in Manawala, Lopoke and Ajnala areas. As per the complaints, an illegal colony, Green Villas, has come up on around 53 kanals 8 marlas of land at Manawala village. As per the land revenue records, there were around 25 owners. Panj Garai Nizzran PUNJAB AMRITSAR Manawala Chogawan MAP NOT TO SCALE Similarly, another unauthorized colony, Laskhmi Enclave, has been constructed at Chogawan village in 31 kanals 17 marlas. The ADA recommended the registration of an FIR against Avtar Singh, Ranjit Singh, Gurjit Singh and Baljinder Singh, who were the owners of the land as per the revenue record. Another illegal colony was constructed on 13 kanals 8 marlas at Panj Garai Nizzran village in Ajnala block. The land was in the name of Sarwan Singh, Resham Singh and Jaspreet Kaur. The ADA also found another unauthorized colony, Heritage value of old hotels remains unnoticed in city Green Farm, at Manawala village that was being constructed at 14 kanals 9 marlas owned by Kuldeep Kaur, Gurbinder Singh, Smilee, Nirmal Singh, Arun Kumar and Parveen Kumari. Amit Sareen said as per Section 5 of the Punjab Apartment and Property Regulation Act, 1955 (amended 2014 and 2021), it was mandatory for the colonisers, estate agents and promoters to get themselves registered with the department and get the requisite licence for the same. No one was allowed to change the land use for carving illegal colonies nor can they advertise the same. If anyone is found involved in this illegal act, they would have to pay a fine to the tune of ~2 to 5 lakh or a jail term from 3 years up to 7 years. Charanjit Singh, SSP , Amritsar Rural Police, said the police were in the process of registering FIRs in this regard. Amritsar, October 18 Illegal hotels around the Golden Temple are raking in the moolah whereas old hotels depicting the architectural growth of the city are getting ignored by the people and government agencies. The heritage value of these hotels has gone unnoticed. Piyush Kapoor, General Manager of Ritz Plaza, said the sprawling two acres of prime land on the famous British-era Mall Road continues to retain its old world charm as approximately 60 per cent of the area is covered by trees like palm, pine, neem, mango, amaltas and gulmohar. He regretted that no government agency ever bothered to undertake any campaign to promote the hotel. The property is being currently managed by Ajit Rattan Mehra who said it was a favourite venue of Amritsar’s elite for hosting marriage parties in the 1980s and 1990s. The erstwhile bungalow of Rai Bahadur Rattan Chand Mehra, who was bestowed the Order of British Empire (OBE) honour in 1872, was redesigned by then British architect Christopher and became operational in 1963. Its architecture reflected the modern architecture then prevalent in Europe while retaining the features of a An old hotel, sprawling on two acres of prime land on the famous British-era Mall Road, continues to retain its old world charm as 60 per cent of its area is covered by trees. PHOTO: SUNIL KUMAR 19th century bungalow. Randip Singh who once owned a leading hotel on the Mall, said hardly a pre-partition hotel existed in the holy city. There used to be one Ambassador hotel on Court Road which was pulled down in the early 1970s to make way for a commercial building. One of the oldest hotels in the city situated on Railway Link Road collapsed during the digging up of a deep foundation for the construction of an adjoining commercial building. Its building contained arches similar to the ones visible in Iranian architecture, locally known as Islamic architecture. Rameshinder Singh Sandhu, a freelance travel writer, said concerted efforts by the government and people could revive old hotels in the city of Golden Temple. “In many countries, old hotels are rebranded, taken over by international hotel chains. This gives them a new life and keeps the old hotels alive. In Amritsar, there are many hotels including Mohan International which are lying ignored. The local administration can play a big role in inviting hoteliers. It can be good for the local economy as well.” During the course of his travels, Sandhu found that in many cities, buildings got converted into hotels, be it old train stations or post offices. In Brisbane, Australia, an old cinema got converted into a tourism office. In London, many old churches became cafés or got taken over by gurdwaras. In this way, old buildings stay alive and revive, he quipped. Farmers lay siege to Ayurveda Mela inaugurated Dhaliwal’s Ajnala office Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 Following a state-wide call given by Bharatiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan), its local unit gheraoed the office of cabinet minister Kuldeep Singh Dhaliwal and started a ‘pakka morcha’ (indefinite agitation) at Ajnala. The farmer union is demonstrating against the tardy procurement of paddy, low prices of basmati, shortage of DAP fertiliser and other issues since October 13. The BKU (Ekta Ugrahan) made the toll plazas free for public at three locations. Demonstrations were held at three toll plazas including Nijjarpura, Varyam Nangal and Chiddan of Amritsar district for the second consecutive day. At the same time, union activists and farmers led by district president Kashmir Singh started a protest in front of the office of cabinet minister Kuldeep Dhaliwal today. Dr Parminder Singh Pandori, a senior leader, said that the Punjab government has failed to ensure procurement and lifting of crop. He said that the government knows that the arrival of crop will start from October 1, but no proper arrangements were made. The leaders said that the festival season has started and Diwali is approaching. The economy of Punjab is based mainly on paddy. If the procurement of paddy does not start at the right time, then all business will suffer. Union leader Kashmir Singh said, “The sowing of wheat will start after some time, but there is not even a single bag of DAP fertiliser in cooperative societies. Farmers would be unable to sow the next crop due to the negligence of government.” The leaders of BKU Ekta Ugrahan strongly condemned the misbehaviour of the police with leaders of Sanyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM). Health Minister Dr Balbir Singh inaugurates the Ayurvedic Festival at ITI, Ranjit Avenue, in Amritsar. Tribune News Service Amritsar, October 18 The Ministry of AYUSH is hosting the All India Ayurveda Conference jointly by the Centre and state government here. The Punjab Health Minister, Dr Balbir Singh inaugurated the conference and requested the Central Government to open the All India Institute of Ayurvedic Science at the level of PGI in Punjab. “Ayurveda is mil- lions of years old and the state government will give full support to develop it. The main target of our government is focused on health and education and for this work we are ready to support the Central Government in any possible way,” he said. He said that 17 colleges and universities were already running in the state to promote Ayurveda. Apart from this, taking a special initiative to maintain health, CM’s Yogashala has been started, in which nearly 1.5 lakh Punjabis are participating in yoga classes at different places every day. He congratulated the organisers for holding the conference and said the effort made would prove to be a milestone for the development of Ayurveda in this region. He also made an appeal to the people of the state to get into the habit of eating locally produced food. Youth stabbed to death over minor dispute Noted Sikh scholar Prof Sabar passes away Amritsar, October 18 A youth, identified as Harwinder Singh (28), a resident of Verka, was stabbed to death in Verka area here on Thursday. The police have booked four persons in this connection. A minor dispute was stated to be the reason behind the incident. Amanjot Kaur, SHO, Verka police station, said the police arrested the prime accused, Harpreet Singh, alias Happy, of Mohan Nagar Verka who had stabbed the victim to death while his remaining accomplices have been absconding since the incident. Apart from Harpreet, the police had booked Jasbir Singh, Ravi and Mangu, all residents of Verka. A murder case was registered against them. Harjit Kaur, mother of the victim, said Harwinder, a farmer, had told her that around three days before the Dasehra festival, he along with his cousin Gurpreet Singh had gone to attend a religious programme in the area. On the way they had a heated argument with Jasbir Singh, his brother Ravi and Happy who were heavily drunk at that time. She said on October 12, he along with his friend Jobanjit Singh had gone to pay obeisance at Nanaksar Gurdwara, the accused stopped and started abusing them. She said when they asked them to desist from abusing, Harpreet took out a sharpedged weapon and stabbed Harwinder below the stomach leaving him critically injured. After committing the crime, they fled the scene while injured Harwinder was rushed to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries yesterday. — TNS c m y b Amritsar, October 18 Eminent Sikh scholar Prof Jasbir Singh Sabar, who retired as head of Sikh studies from the Department of Guru Nanak Studies at Guru Nanak Dev University, passed away this morning. His mortal remains were consigned to flames at the cremation ground near Gurdwara Shaheedan Sahib. A President’s awardee, Prof Sabar retired in 2000 from the Guru Nanak Dev University. with introducing middle age His father Sher Singh Punjabi literature, was a freedom fighter Gurmat literature, and Sabar was born Gurbani, Sikh histoin 1942 in Pakistan’s ry, Sikh culture and Punjab province. Gurmat music in a After the partition, his contemporary perfamily migrated to spective. India and settled in In 1988, the Amritsar. A prolific Jasbir Singh Sabar Sahitya Akademi writer, he is credited award was conwith having penned 36 books in ferred on him by then Presihis eventful career. A renowned dent Shankar Dayal Sharma. Sikh scholar, he was credited Starting his career as a Pun- jabi journalist, he rose to become the editor of Punjabi daily Qaumi Dard. He was also in charge of the SGPC’s Sikh History Research Board and founder-director of the correspondence course in Sikh Studies from 2007 to 2012. He authored and edited more than three dozen books. He remained a member of GNDU’s senate, syndicate, academic council and Board of Studies.