12012023-ATR-01.qxd 1/11/2023 11:56 PM Page 1 c m y b Amritsar tribune FORECAST PARTLY CLOUDY MAX 17°C | MIN 8°C YESTERDAY MAX 16°C | MIN 9°C MC’S CAMPAIGN AGAINST SALE OF BANNED KITE STRING RRR WINS GOLDEN GLOBE FOR BEST SONG FOR NAATU NAATU SIMARAN KAUR IS SET TO HOST INDIA’S BEST RESORTS The health wing of the Amritsar MC has started a campaign against the plastic kite string on Wednesday. P2 The song bagged the ‘best original songmotion picture’ trophy. It’s the first Indian production to win the award. P3 Artiste Simaran Kaur will be seen hosting a new travel show, titled India’s Best Resorts. P4 » » » SUNSET THURSDAY 5.46 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 7:31 AM THURSDAY | 12 JANUARY 2023 | AMRITSAR Light rain good for crops: Farmers INBRIEF AWARENESS ON PNEUMONIA Amritsar: The district Health Department launched a programme to create awareness regarding childhood pneumonia under the Social Awareness and Actions to Neutralise Pneumonia Successfully (SAANS) project of the Health Department here on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Charanjit Singh said pneumonia was a major cause of death in children aged below five years of age. He said awareness about symptoms and other aspects of the disease would help in early detection of the disease which would help in saving many lives. He said workshops would be organised to train community health officers, staff nurses, paramedics and ASHA workers which would help them detect children with symptoms of pneumonia before their condition worsens. Dr Ashwani Sarin said common symptoms of pneumonia include cough and cold, rapid breathing, chest pain while breathing and high fever. Apart from this, in severe symptoms, a child cannot eat and drink, feels tremors and becomes lethargic, he said. District Immunisation Officer Dr Kanwaljit Singh said it is very important to keep a child warm and get him/her vaccinated. TNS Our Correspondent Farmers stage a protest under the banner of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee in Amritsar on Wednesday. TRIBUNE PHOTO Farmers protest discharge of industrial waste into water bodies Tribune News Service ON THE WARPATH SINCE NOV 26 Amritsar, January 11 Farmers under the banner of Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) staged a protest outside the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) office here on the 46th day of their agitation on Wednesday to highlight the issue of discharge of industrial waste into water bodies. The KMSC has been protesting outside the DC office since November 26 and have made three toll plazas in the district free for commuters since December 15. Union leaders said they were not against industrial units ■ The Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee (KMSC) has been protesting outside the DC office since November 26 and have made three toll plazas in the district free for commuters since December 15 but the government must make them adhere to all pollution control norms. KMSC general secretary Sarwan Singh Pandher said: “Industries must be asked to treat waste water before discharging it directly into nullahs, canals and even underground borewells.” Pandher said groundwater reserve has been contaminated with highly dangerous chemicals and industrial waste. A large number of people in the state are dependent on groundwater for drinking, cooking and other purposes, he said, adding that the pollution control board had turned a blind eye to the unethical and illegal activities of industrial units which was a cause for concern. “We want the authorities to wake up from their slumber and realise that their children too are drinking the same polluted water,” said Pandher. The KMSC leaders said the government should ask all industrial units to set up sewerage treatment plants and effluent treatment plants to treat waste water generated by them in their units. They said all government departments, dealing with industrial units, seem to have turned a blind eye to the pollution being caused by these units. The leaders said as Punjab is an agricultural state, the priority of the government should be to set up food processing and agriculturebased industry. They said pollution-causing industries should not be allowed to set up their units. Tarn Taran, January 11 Cold wave with dense fog in the district disturbed normal life in the district. A light rain in the evening added to the weather vagaries though it was deemed beneficial for green fodder crops and wheat. The sun remained invisible the whole day with weather conditions forcing the vehicles to move slowly on the roads. Bau, a vegetable seller, said the arrival of veggies had been affected with labourers shying away from work in the cold. Tejinderpal Singh Rasulpur, a farmer, said the light rain was beneficial for the wheat crop and there was a possibility that the weather would clear the A light rain witnessed in Tarn Taran on Wednesday evening. next day. The supply of green fodder was affected in the town today. Chief Agriculture Officer Surinder Singh said the rain had been welcomed in the area and it was hoped that it would help increase the yield of winter crops. A view of Darbar Sahib, Tarn Taran, after a spell of rain on Wednesday in the evening. PHOTOS: GURBAXPURI Nameplates of ex-MLAs, councillors removed Fog, chill throw normal life out of gear Our Correspondent Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Tarn Taran, January 11 The local municipal council removed the informatory boards bearing the names of former MLAs, municipal councillors and others here on Wednesday. The step was taken as these persons were no longer MLAs and municipal councillors and these boards were carrying their identification. These boards were removed from outside the house of former MLA Harmit Singh Sandhu, who represented the Tarn Taran Vidhan Sabha constituency thrice, and that of late Dr Dharambir Agnihotri, who had lost election to the AAP in 2022. These boards were installed either by the roadside or in the middle of road dividers in the town. The persons whose boards were removed belonged to opposition parties. Kamaljit Singh, Executive Employees of the MC remove a board of late Dr Dharambir Agnihotri, ex-MLA, on Wednesday. Officer (EO), municipal council, said the information on the boards was no longer genuine. It is worth mentioning that the so-called leaders of the ruling AAP were accompanying the employees of the MC while removing the boards with the help of a JCB machine. Even the civic body did not rectify the information by placing the word ‘former’ or ‘ex’ before their names. Besides, boards of former municipal councillors too were removed. Employ- ees of the civic body with the help of JCB machines removed the boards and threw the debris at vacant plots. This operation by the civic body ended peacefully as there was no one to raise objection over it. Amritsar, January 11 People in the city woke up to intense cold and dense fog today. The thick layer of fog threw normal life out of gear because of reduced visibility with the elderly and children preferring to stay indoors. In the biting cold wave conditions, a large number of people preferred to commute in the comfort of their fourwheelers, resulting in traffic chaos, especially during the peak hours. Vehicular traffic was affected as drivers had to keep their speed low to avoid accidents. This was more visible on the peripheral roads. Returning from the Sri Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, Shruti Mehra said her car was stuck for over an hour in a traffic jam. Residents active on social media did not hold back from airing their views on Commuters make their way along a road amid dense fog in Amritsar on Wednesday. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR the situation. A social media user said he was stuck in traffic jam on the stretch from New Amritsar to the Mall Mandi and another on the Sultanwind road to Tara Wala Pul. Caught in the traffic jam, people honked horns incessantly resulting in a cacophony of sorts on the roads. The arrival of two trains, namely, Howrah Mail and Sachkhand Express was delayed on Wednesday. Similarly, their return journey also got delayed, causing inconvenience to passengers. Already, the railways has stopped plying of 10 trains from the Amritsar railway station because of reduced visibility in fog and for better train management. Similarly, several buses were running late at the Shaheed Madan Lal Dhingra inter-state bus terminal. People were seen gathering around bonfires placed on roadsides for warmth. Sale of winter snacks like peanuts, gajack made of jaggery and dry fruits though picked up indicating that winter was at its freezing best. Installation of street lights on Traffic bottlenecks in city: SOPs overlooked in BRTS plan Ram Tirath road commences Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Amritsar, January 11 Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO inaugurated the work of installing streets lights on the 8-km-long stretch from the Guru Nanak Dev University bypass road to the historic Ram Tirath shrine on Wednesday. Speaking on the occasion, the minister said a total of 616 LED street lights would be installed on 308 poles on the stretch to facilitate commuters at night. The project would be completed at a cost of Rs 1.90 crore. The minister claimed that the project would be completed within two months. The Power Minister said Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO (2L) inaugurates a project. free power of up to 600 units per household had benefited 90 per cent of the consumers in the state during the current month as they had received zero electricity bills. Amritsar, January 11 Even after the coming up of mega infrastructure projects like elevated roads and the bus rapid transit system (BRTS) worth around Rs 930 crore during the past decade or so, traffic scenario in the city is yet to be streamlined. Instead of easing the flow of traffic, they have instead resulted in more bottlenecks. Urban planning experts are of the view that many standard operating procedures (SOP) associated with city mass transport the world over are not being complied with as far as the BRTS is concerned. Prof Ashwani Luthra, head of Guru Ramdas School of Planning at Guru Nanak Dev c m y b A view of a city road brimming with vehicles, including auto-rickshaws, in Amritsar. PHOTO: VISHAL KUMAR University (GNDU), who studied contemporary transport scenario in the holy city, said road network has not developed as per the master plan. Raised with an investment of nearly Rs 600 crore, the BRTS does not adhere to several SOPs like not allowing auto-rickshaws and oth- er small modes of transport to operate on roads where BRTS buses, called metro buses, are being plied. Overcrowding of passengers is normal in autos with passengers in five auto-rickshaws almost taking up the passenger share of a bus which has a strict time schedule to follow. These should actually be feeding passengers to the metro buses. Similarly, the distance between two bus stops of metro buses should not exceed 500 meters and no at-grade crossing should be there. Both these norms were not complied with. Junction-to-junction distance has increased. At many places, cycle tracks made along the BRTS route are not barrier-free. Constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 350 crore, the 4.5 km long elevated road also failed its purpose of offering a convenient ride to tourists continued on page 2