OTHER HAZARDS 3.5.1 Heat Wave and Cold Wave

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3.5.1 Heat Wave and Cold Wave

As per the data available, temperature in this district during the month of May and June goes as high as about 45 degree centigrade and during the months of Dec. & January lowest temperature hovers around Zero degree centigrade. The district has no houseless population and there having been no incident of any death due to heat wave or due to cold waves reported even then the role of Health Department is very crucial to tackle such kind of situation. In addition, all Municipal Councils must keep check on the migrant population who are prone to heat/ cold waves. The role of district Red Cross Society, Amritsar is also very important. The Society provides blankets to the needy people.

3.5.2 Drought

Through most of the agriculture land in the District is under irrigation through canal water and tube wells. In 2008, villages of Sub Division were affected the drought as a result of which kharif crop got affected and a sum of Rs. 6,13,629/- has been sanctioned as relief to the farmers in the locality. Xen Rural water supply shall ensure that there is no shortage of drinking water supply in the affected areas.

3.5.3 Thunder, Lightening And Hailstorms

There have been occasional incidents of thunder, lightening and hailstorms resulting in damages of property, crops, livestock and human lives. Most important aspect for tacking this kind of disaster will be to ensure immediate first aid to the affected population and then to shift them to the nearest hospitals. In case of localized fire generally local people come to extend help to immediately control it. However in case of major fire, fire tenders from Municipal Corporation Amritsar/ Mpl. Councils can always be requisitioned.

3.5.4 Epidemics

Through there is no history of any out break of epidemics in the recent past in this district, yet contingent plan prepared by Civil Surgeon shall take care of any out break of epidemics. District Amritsar five civil hospitals and 13 PHC's.

3.5.5 Pest Attack

There is hardly any previous incident of pest attacks. However, in the recent years, because of shift in paddy wheat cycle, there can be possibility of pest attacks. Chief Agriculture Officer has prepared a plan for control of any kind of pest attacks. Chief Agriculture Officer, Amritsar has constituted team also. These teams shall be responsible for tackling any anticipated disaster under their respective jurisdiction. They will also be responsible for organizing farmers training camps, supply of pesticides and green and dry fodder for the animals during the disaster period.

3.5.6 Cattle Epidemic

Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry has prepared a contingent plan for taking care of any cattle epidemics. The contingent plan is as under:-

Deputy Director, Animal Husbandry, Amritsar has constituted Block level teams in order to tackle any cattle epidemics arising out of flood or any other anticipated disaster in the distt. The control room at telephone No. 267478 is working round the clock in order to convey message to the Block level teams.

3.5.7 Festival Related Disaster

In Indian culture, there are number of festivals which are celebrated by Hindu, Muslims, Christians and Sikhs with lot of enthusiasm. Likewise in Amritsar District, there are two main festivals which attract lot of crowds i.e. Baisakhi which is celebrated every year from 13^th April and the second festival is Diwali which is celebrated in the month of October/November. So far as Baisakhi is concerned, these are managed by a committee which takes care of every possible disaster. During Diwali festival the district draws huge crowds in the markets. There is considerable sale of the crackers by un authorized persons other than the authorized licence holders. During the festival any small spark in the busy market places can be a cause for major fire. Respective Assistant Commissioner, Mpl. Corporation/ E.O MCs shall ensure that at suitable locations sufficient number of fire fighting equipment (if available) sufficient number of buckets filled with sand and sufficient amount of water is stored. The whole town shall be divided into different sectors. Each sector is given under the charge of a responsible officer along with representatives of shopkeepers in the locality SDMs shall keep a constant vigil on the situation by having frequent visits in the markets.

3.5.8 Air, Rail And Road Accidents

There are three main Railways Stations i.e. at Amritsar, TarnTaran, Patti, and Beas. In case of any rail accident the information shall be passed on to the Divisional Railway Manager and the other concerned officers through police control room. For other concerned officers through police control room. For extrication of bodies/ injured persons from railway coaches, help shall be taken from the near by villagers, the local residents in the nearby cities/ towns and the local NGOs. One control room shall be set up by the Railway Authorities. Respective SDMs shall be responsible for coordination between different agencies working at the site. Medical services shall be mobilized by the District Red Cross Society and the other NGOs, DTO in consultation with the officer in charge of the relief operation shall arrange for transport within the state. Railways shall provide for transportation facilities to the affected persons out side the state. Local police shall maintain a record of all deaths occurring in the incident. A district level officer shall be put on duty as in charge of complaining information of the dead, injured and the survivors. Round the clock medical serices shall ensured in the nearest hospitals, if need be, services of private hospital can also be requisitioned. In case of road accident, the same contingent plan shall be put in place except the role of Railways.

3.5.9 Road Accidents

Amritsar city is facing the problem of traffic so much that the ill effect of this is relevant from the figures of Accidents. The unprecedented growth of vehicles coupled with the large number of accidents may be seen in following table no.

Table 30: Trend of Road Accidents in Amritsar, 1997-2010

Details	1997	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010
Total Case	125	118	146	105	149	143	128	114	126	131	166	190	199	129
Total Fatal Cases	72	61	89	71	80	75	69	76	79	101	103	99	100	65
Total Non-Fatal Cases	53	57	57	34	69	68	59	38	47	30	63	91	99	64
Total Person Killed	78	67	98	74	81	84	77	89	84	115	119	115	119	69
Total Persons Injured	91	123	140	83	116	122	132	91	98	80	123	161	123	88

Source: Amritsar Police Dept; 7/1/11

Observing the accident statistics for Amritsar city from the year 1997-2010, it has been concluded that the total number of registered accident cases have increased from 2004 onwards and is highest in the year 2009 which is of the order of 199. This figure is highest among the last twelve years, which implies that Amritsar city is facing traffic problems acutely which has resulted into large number of accidents in the city. On an average 60% to 70% of the total cases registered are fatal in nature. The cause of accidents (other than negligence of driver) is the blind curves, lack of signals/traffic lights/ road markings, encroachment reducing effective road width, poor road condition or poor road geometry, these requires improvements.

Fig no.10: Rambagh Chowk

Fig no.9: Canal office Chowk
he black spots have been identified both in the city Amritsar and in Amritsar by department of Punjab police based on the number of accidents occurred at

those junctions. The black spots in Amritsar have been identified at village Chouhan, Manawala and canal bridge Rayya. The black spots within the city includes Maqboolpura Chowk, 100ft Chowk, Ram Talai, Jahazgarh, Sangam Chowk, Hussainpura Chowk, Ghee Mandi Chowk, Bhandari Bridge, Hall Gate

YEAR	TOTAL CASE	TOTAL FATAL CASE	TOTAL NON FATAL CASE	TOTAL PERSON KILLED	TOTAL PERSON INJURED
1997	72	51	21	52	45
1998	79	60	19	62	49
1999	90	69	21	72	53
2000	92	71	21	70	49
2001	79	60	19	61	53
2002	75	64	11	64	54
2003	89	66	23	67	60
2004	92	68	24	69	59
2005	89	63	26	63	58
2006	86	65	21	65	49
2007	118	62	56	63	38
2008	87	67	20	67	48
2009	100	81	19	83	85
2010	162	129	33	147	117

Table.30.a- Trend of Road Accidents in Amritsar at Village level, 1997-2010 Source: Amritsar Police Dept, Mall Mandi; 7/1/11
near Peer Baba Dargah, Lohgarh Chowk, Sultanwind Gate Chowk, Ghee Mandi Chowk, Sheranwala Gate, Mahan Singh Gate, Chita Gumbad, Rambagh Chowk, Goal Hatti Chowk, Bharawan Da Dhaba, Sadar Chowk, Chowk Office Neharwala, Ashoka Chowk, Mahal Chowk, Fatehgarh Churian Road Byepass, Hukam Singh Road, Majitha Road Bye pass, Batala Road and GT Road Daburji to Byepass India Gate via Taran-wala pul and Verka Chowk.
3.6 Environment
Today's environmental problems faced by the inhabitants of Punjab, its causes and pressures can easily be traced back directly or indirectly from urban areas. The forces and processes that constitute urban activity have far-reaching and long-term effects not only on its immediate boundaries, but also on the entire region in which it is positioned.

Environmental Pollution: Generation And Consequences
3

Fig 11 Industry releasing plume without adopting pollution control devices
.6.1 Air Pollution: - One of the major areas of environmental concern in the Amritsar city is that of rising air pollution levels which are result of increasing personalized modes of transport and intermediate modes of transport such as auto rickshaws in the absence of efficient

public transport system in the city. 60% of

goods vehicles are auto rickshaws (2.43% of

total registered vehicles). Most of them are using kerosene as the fuel thus creating air pollution. The personalized vehicles (99.6% of passenger vehicles) are 89.7% of total registered vehicles making congestion on roads and creating pollution. Apart from this, narrow roads carrying high volume of traffic, frequent jams, etc. have been observed creating air pollution along major roads such as Lawrence Road, Cooper Road, Hall Bazaar and chowks such as Bhandari Bridge Chowk, Hussainpura Chowk, O/s Bus Stand, O/s Hall Gate etc.

Apart from the automobile pollution, the other major source of air pollution in the city is industrial emission of gases. The various industrial units like rice shellers situated on Tarn Taran Road, units in industrial focal points and other scattered industries in the city releases intensive air pollutants into the atmosphere, which affects the environment of the surrounding residential areas. From planning point of view, neither any sufficient buffer zone nor any landscape elements are provided there to reduce the impact of air pollutants.

The other sources of air pollution in the city include pollution from developmental activities, handling and burning of municipal and domestic waste and from agriculture waste burning etc. With a view to clearly assess and monitor the status & quality of ambient air in Amritsar, several monitoring stations in different parts of the city i.e. industrial, residential and commercial zones have been established by the Punjab Pollution Control Board. These stations have been placed at the most vulnerable parts of the city, which not only carry large volume of traffic but also have large number of industrial/residential/commercial units. The data collected from these monitoring stations with respect to SPM, SO₂ and NOx in the year 2006 reflects higher SPM levels in the air in both residential and commercial areas against the permissible limit of 140µg/m³ indicating deteriorating quality of air in these areas. The higher SPM levels have also been recorded in the industrial areas of the city then permissible level of 360µg/m³with monitoring stations located at Indian Textile - Amritsar, Mehta and Avan. With regard to the level of SO₂and NOx, it has been found that the permissible limits are well below the prescribed standards in all the areas.

Table 31: SPM, SO₂ and NO_xlevels in Industrial Area of Amritsar at different Air Monitoring Stations from 1997-2001 (Units: µg/m³)

Year	Indian Textile, Amritsar			Mehta			Avan
Year	SPM	SO₂	NO_x	SPM	SO₂	NO_x	SPM	SO₂	NO_x
1997	440	17	44	-	-	-	-	-	-
1998	447	16	42	-	-	-	-	-	-
1999	439	20	43	389	18	40	446	20	40
2000	396	17	20	361	13	18	371	18	21
2001	-	-	-	373	11	16	443	12	18

Source: PPCB, Patiala

Although, the air monitoring stations have been established by PPCB but still there is no continuous recording of database relating to air quality. Hence, it is required that these monitoring stations should do monitoring on regular intervals.

3.6.2 WATER POLLUTION

3.6.2.1 Surface Water Sources & Pollution

Rapidly increasing urbanization and industrialization of Amritsar has not only adversely impacted the quality of ambient air in the city but also has affected the city’s water resources.

There are two rivers, namely river Beas and Ravi, flowing in the catchment area of Amritsar and delimiting it. While river Beas forms the eastern boundary of the district, river Ravi bounds the district from the western side. The upstream characteristics of the river Beas and Ravi have been studied by PPCB in Dec 2000 under the Govt. of India scheme.

MINAR (Monitoring of India National Aquatic Resources) and it has been observed that all parameters of surface water characteristics are within the permissible limits prescribed by BIS (ISI) except BOD and total coliforms.

3.6.2.2 Upper Bari Doab Canal
A

part from the two rivers, Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) flows in the form of two branches, which can be termed as

U
Fig no 12:.110 UBDC (1) near Mehta road

BDC 1 flowing on the Eastern side while UBDC 2 flows in the Western part of the district and both these enters into Tarn Taran district in the South of the district. Apart from these, there are two distributaries of UBDC flowing through Amritsar namely Warpal Distributory and Jhabal Distributory, and other fresh water bodies such as Kasur Branch and Rajasansi Minor. All