The Tribune – Elevated road may restrict entry to Pingalwara

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, May 31. The ride for pilgrims visiting the Golden Temple would soon become more comfortable with a ramp of the elevated road connecting the holy shrine with the GT road nearing completion. However, another ramp of the same elevated road may spell trouble for the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society.

Municipal Commissioner Dharam Pal Gupta said the work was in its final stage and the ramp would be opened for traffic within a month or so.

However, the second ramp is a cause for concern for the Pingalwara Society as it starts right in front of its entrance gate. A 10-foot-high pillar of the proposed ramp of the elevated road has been built right opposite the entrance of the main Pingalwara branch near the bus stand. Once the ramp gets extension, hardly any space would be left to reach Pingalwara, which has been established for the destitute and mentally challenged patients. The three-storey building of Pingalwara currently facilitates over 1,100 patients who are housed, fed and looked after by the charitable society.

It was observed that entry and exit of a 12-foot-high ambulance (approximately) from this point would be restricted. This building houses administrative complex, a female ward, children’s ward, rehabilitation centre, printing press, dispensary, medical lab, dental centre and common kitchen of the society. It is also apprehended that this ramp, in its existing state, will adversely affect the movement of vehicles to Pingalwara, which may even have an impact on donations at the society’s office.

Society president Dr Inderjit Kaur said several communications had been sent to the state government, but in vain. “We have written to the CM, the local MP as well as the Local Bodies Department to review the move. But, all our efforts have proved futile,” she said.

On the other hand, the MC Commissioner claimed the matter had been sorted out and the charitable society had no problem due to the ramp now.

The elevated road project was conceptualised during the previous Congress regime in 2006. The project cost was pegged at Rs 210 crore and it was supposed to be completed by October 2009.

The main elevated road, a 3.5-km stretch, was inaugurated by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in May 2010.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120601/punjab.htm#2

The Tribune – Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PHRC) seeks report on prisoners

Chandigarh, May 31. Taking suo motu cognisance of the news report “20 prisoners behind bars despite completion of term” published in the columns of The Tribune, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission has called for a report from the Principal Secretary, Home, and the DGP, Prisons.

The report revealed that despite having completed jail sentence, certain persons were languishing at the Ferozepur Central Jail for the past two years and that the state government was “dilly-dallying” over the matter. Many of these prisoners are elderly persons. One of them is aged 100. (TNS)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120601/punjab.htm#7

The Asian Age – Palaniappan Chidambaram seeks all-party view on J&K interlocutors’ report

Asian Age Correspondent

New Delhi, 1 June 2012. Union home minister P. Chidambaram on Thursday said that an all-party meet may be called to discuss the Jammu and Kashmir interlocutors report at a later stage. He said that the government has not yet taken a view on the panel’s recommendation on setting up of a constitutional committee to review all Central acts and articles of the Constitution of India to the state extended after 1952.

“The government has not yet taken a view so it would be inappropriate for me to express my personal view. The matter has been thrown open for an informed debate,” he said while addressing his ministry’s monthly press conference. The home minister also urged the political parties to come out with their views on the recommendations of the report.

“Each one of us in some way is a prisoner of our assumptions or a prisoner of the past. We should release ourselves from the past and genuinely participate in the debate. When the debate takes place, I am sure, different view be expressed on the proposal to constitute a constitutional committee and let us look at the pros and cons of the proposal,” he said.

Asked whether it would be a structured debate, the home minister said the interlocutors have offered to act as resource persons to facilitate the debate.

http://www.asianage.com/india/pc-seeks-all-party-view-jk-interlocutors-report-599

Sint-Truiden – Brussel – Bristol vv 19/04 – 25/04 2012

On the 19th of April I went to Vilvoorde and on the 20th I travelled from Vilvoorde to Bristol via Brussel and  London. I returned from Bristol to Sint-Truiden on the 25th of April. 

Bristol Parkway – London Paddington -London St Pancras – Brussel Zuid/Bruxelles Midi 

25 April, London Paddington Station, Hammersmith & City Line platform
I took the underground to Kings Cross-St Pancras from here

25 April, St Pancras International 
For Eurostar, East Midlands and Thameslink

25 April, St Pancras International
Waiting for the Eurostar to Brussel

25 April, St Pancras International
East Midlands DMU

25 April, St Pancras International
East Midlands DMU

To see more UK public transport pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157611244941713/

More UK pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Summer sun scorches, no respite in sight; 7 deaths in Amritsar, Bathinda areas so far

Tribune News Service & PTI

Amritsar/New Delhi, May 31. The blistering heat wave continued to sweep Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh with mercury hovering between 41 and 46°C at many places. In fact, the northern and eastern parts of the country baked at above normal temperatures today due to the scorching summer sun and hot winds.

Chandigarh braved yet another scorching day while hot and humid conditions prevailed in Ludhiana, Patiala, Jalandhar, Amritsar, besides other towns in Punjab.

The intense heat wave that swept the Amritsar region claimed two lives in the past 24 hours. While a woman devotee was found dead at the Golden Temple, the body of an unidentified person was found on a roadside in the city. He died due to intense heat conditions, the police said. The deceased could not be identified so far.

Till now, three persons have lost lives due to the heat wave in the Amritsar area. Amritsar recorded a high of 47.6°C after yesterday’s 47°C. The Met Department has predicted that the temperature may further rise by 1-2°C.

The heat wave has also started affecting human life and crops in the Malwa region in the state. Four heat-related deaths have been reported during the past about one week in the region. Amanjeet Kaur, 47, who had come to Bathinda from Delhi, died this afternoon in the civil hospital due to heat stroke.

With day temperature touching 46.5°C, tender leaves of the fresh cotton plants have also started wilting. The situation is very bad in the districts of Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh of Rajasthan where the residents were facing acute shortage of drinking water.

In Haryana, Hisar, Gurgaon, Bhiwani, Ambala and Rohtak were among the towns that experienced sweltering heat.

The Met office has forecast no immediate relief from the ongoing hot weather conditions in the region.

Delhi recorded a maximum temperature of 45.4°C, the highest so far in the season. Today’s maximum, which is 5°C above normal, bettered this summer’s high of 45°C recorded on Wednesday. The minimum also rose 4°C above normal to touch 31.2°C, up from the previous day’s 28.2°C.

The mercury kept on soaring in the desert state of Rajasthan with Churu recording maximum temperature of 48.7°C, highest of the season. Normal life was also affected in Sriganganagar and Bikaner that recorded 47°C and 46.8°C, respectively. Kota, Jaipur, Jodhpur and Jaisalmer recorded day temperatures of 46.3, 45.2, 44 and 43.9°C, respectively.

In Jharkhand, one person died of sunstroke in Latehar district on Wednesday as heat wave swept across the state with most districts recording over 41°C. A labourer, who had gone to cut wood at Jamuna village in Latehar district, collapsed and died after suffering sunstroke. Latehar registered 43.2°C.

With inputs from P K Jaiswar (Amritsar) and S P Sharma (Bathinda)

Sweltering Hot

Churu 48.7 – Amritsar 47.6 – Sriganganagar 47.0 – Bikaner 46.8 – Chandigarh 45.1 – Delhi 45.4

All figures in °C  

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120601/main5.htm

BBC News – Suu Kyi warns against ‘reckless optimism’ on Burma reforms

Friday 1 June 2012. Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has warned against ”reckless optimism” over reforms in the country.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Bangkok, she said the process was not yet irreversible.

The parliament of which she recently became a member was still far from democratic, she added.

She also called on investors to meet the country’s needs, saying that job creation and training was vital for Burma’s young population.

She added that when investment comes into the country, then it should not fuel corruption or inequality.

”I am here not to tell you what to do but to tell you what we need,” she said in her first major speech outside Burma for more than 20 years.

She urged investors who are planning to put money into Burma to do so with an awareness of the need for improvement in the lives of ordinary Burmese people.

”Please think deeply for us,” she said.

Burma’s military-backed civilian government has started a series of reforms to open up the country.

Practical plans

Ms Suu Kyi said Burma didn’t want investment to mean further corruption and greater inequality.

”We want it to mean jobs,” she added.

She said that skills training would be a key factor in enabling Burma’s workers to fill any of the new jobs that are created.

”There is a great need for basic skills,” she said. ”We need vocational training much more than higher education.”

While she said that she valued the latter, she added that the international community should consider the country’s needs ”in a very practical way”.

Burma is committed to reforms, she said, and would like to be ”linked to a regional and global commitment to share growth”.

”We want to be part of that more prosperous, peaceful world,” she said.

More prominence

Since arriving in the Thai capital on Tuesday, she has met Burmese migrants in the Samut Sakhon province – who gave her a rousing welcome – as well as dignitaries including Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

For the past two decades, Aung San Suu Kyi has either been under house arrest or was afraid that if she left Burma she would not be allowed to go back.

But recent reforms led to her election to parliament last month and she is playing an increasingly prominent role both inside and outside Burma.

The pro-democracy leader was given a passport in early May.

After her trip to Thailand she plans to return to Burma before travelling to Europe later this month.

She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize that she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family. She has also accepted an invitation to address the British parliament on 21 June.

It has also been reported that she will go to Geneva, Paris and Ireland.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18291862