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| Thursday,
April 4, 2002, Chandigarh, India
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No rotation of reserved wards for MC poll Ludhiana, April 3 A senior official of the Local Government at Chandigarh told Ludhiana Tribune during a telephonic conversation that a letter to this effect was indeed issued today and copies of the same had been faxed to all the four MC Commissioners in the state. The government had already indicated that there would be no additional wards and despite significant increase in the city population, the number of wards would remain 70, simply because there was not enough time left for the time consuming process of delimitation of wards. The statutory stipulation for rotation of reserved wards as provided in the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, had created many a sleepless nights for a large number of city councillors, including the city Mayor, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, Deputy Mayor Santosh Aneja, group leader of the Congress councillors Surjit Singh Ahluwalia and group leader of the BJP councillors Pran Bhatia, who would not have been able to contest from their wards if rotation system was given effect. Out of a total 70 wards in the city, 24 were reserved for women and during the 1997 civic elections, starting from Ward No 1, every third ward had a women contender. Though the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, stipulated for reservation and rotation of wards after each civic election, the state government enjoyed certain discretionary powers and the mandatory provisions for this purpose could be bypassed through a notification as was done recently in the case of Delhi civic polls. The opinion among the councillors and other political functionaries, on rotation of wards for all reserved categories in the city, was divided, based on one’s own personal interests. Certain politicians, who could not contest from their respective wards in the previous election due to reservation, wanted that the rotation system, as provided in the Act, should be scrupulously followed so that they were eligible to contest the coming poll. But those, who claimed that they had nursed their respective wards during their five year term, were stoutly opposed to the rotation system. Echoing the sentiments of councillors, the city Mayor, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune said that the concept of rotation did not fit into the present political set-up and the election system. “In simple terms, why would a councillor nurse the ward during the term if he or she knows that as a part of rotation, next time the constituency is bound to change.” However, many others contended that why should any particular ward remain permanently reserved for any particular category and others must get a chance to contest after each civic elections.
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Blast in foundry wakes up neighbourhood Ludhiana, April 3 The number of workers who got injured in the blast could not be known as the factory owners, fearing police action, reportedly, took them away. The impact of the blast was felt in a large area and windowpanes of several nearby houses were shattered. The roof of the factory was also blown up and some nearby houses also developed cracks in walls. Following the blast, enraged persons of the neighbourhood blamed the district administration for its “failure” to find a permanent solution to the problem of scrap explosives. They have renewed their demand to shift scrap factories out of the area. They said the administration had, once, ordered the shifting of the factory, but the factory remained there in spite of it. The explosion that took place at about 6.30 am caused panic in the area and frightened persons could be seen running out of their houses for dear life. A large number of persons gathered around the factory. The police, that got to know about the incident a couple of hours later, cooled them down and said it was investigating the cause of the blast. The factory owner, Mr Darshan Singh, however, said there had been no blast of any kind and no one had got injured. He has, reportedly, given this statement to the police, but the police says that there has been a blast. Mr Balbir Singh Sooch, a lawyer who lives close to the factory, said a loud noise had woken him up with a start in the morning. He found a windowpane of his house shattered and all members of his family running outside. Neighbours had also joined them and everyone thought it was some kind of a terrorist attack. Later, they saw smoke over the foundry and gathered outside the factory. Mr Pritam Singh, who also lives near the factory, said the ash thrown up by the blast had fallen on his house and the explosion had also shattered some windowpanes. He said even some walls had developed cracks. Mr Sooch said the blast might shake the administration out of its slumber, as those who live nearby had been demanding since long that the factory be shifted. He said, so far, the administration and the Pollution Control Board had done nothing in this regard. The issue of scrap explosives was first raised here about 5 years ago when three persons died in scrap blast in Katani Kalan. Since then, about 10 persons, mostly labourers, have lost their lives in several such explosions. The district administration had taken up the issue about 6 months ago after a child had died in such a blast, but later, said it had sought help from the Centre and the Army to get the scrap examined. |
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Row over vigilance raids Ludhiana, April 3 Vigilance Department officials refute all allegations and maintains they had proof about the absent employees and has been forwarded to the state government. The evidence included the attendance registers, dispatch registers and other documents. Sources in the Health Department said none of the employee found absent had been suspended so far as the government was examining the vigilance report. The accused employees have resumed duties. At least 20 of the 65 employees found absent have apprised their seniors that they were on leave or on official tour when the raids took place. They said they were being victimised in order to please political bosses. An official of the Sidhwan block office told this correspondent over the telephone that the vigilance sleuths did not ask anyone and just noted who was not present and took all the registers with them. According to an official of the Health Department, employees have to go on official assignments in the block at the call of seniors and do not have the time to enter details in registers. Such information is entered into registers by subordinates, whenever they get time. The Vigilance Department sources dismiss the allegations as excuses. According to them, employees keep an undated leave application with their colleagues which is presented whenever there is any checking. They said the department was not victimising anybody and all the allegations were part of a plan of the employees and their ‘friends’ to cover up the ‘well-known’ absentism in rural health departments. Mr R.P.S. Bajwa, SP, Vigilance, said they had seized incriminating documents from the primary health departments and dispensaries, which proved that the employees were absent. He said, “anyone who is on leave has to mark it in the attendance register. If someone is on official tour, he has to enter it in the dispatch or movement register, which was not done in any case.” Mr Bajwa said the department had sent the report and evidence to the government for necessary action. He said none of the employees had approached them with clarification. They could have approached the Health Department, which could take up the case with the government, he said. Raids were conducted at about 32 primary health centres and dispensaries last week. About 65 employees were found absent. They included doctors, pharmacists and other employees. The raids were welcomed by the villagers who had to suffer the most due to the non-availability of health officials. |
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Rural experience course proves costly Ludhiana, April 3 Under this recently launched ICAR sponsored course, almost 17 girls from the college have been going to the village for the past almost seven weeks, staying with the families of the ruralites, educating them on issues regarding hygiene, maintenance of home, especially kitchen, cooking nutritious food for kids, family life, scope of entrepreneurship, women empowerment and conducting group discussions and group demonstrations. Despite the fact the cases of small pox and measles are common in that part of the region and two of their batchmates have already contracted the disease, the students as well as the accompanying staff are still in high spirits and said that they would continue with the course till they complete it by April 10. Confirming the incident, Dr S.K. Mann, Dean of the college, said that the girls have been staying daily with the village families for over eight hours during the day for the past seven weeks and it was yesterday that a few of them have been found to have contracted small pox. She said that the course was a part of their curriculum and it was mandatory for the students to complete it.
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School clubs with a
difference Ludhiana, April 3 Activities are not just limited to the middle and senior sections as was done earlier, these have now become more common among the primary section kids. Besides, ensuring their participation in clubs, several schools are now coming up with special activity rooms for tiny tots where they have several educational toys, electronic gadgets, computers with educational CDs, besides conventional playway methods like clay, coloured chalks, differently shaped blocks and glazed papers. At Kundan Vidya Mandir, there are five clubs for primary, middle and senior section students which include iron-eagle club, eco-club, speaker’s forum, rifle shooting club and NCC club. Giving details of the iron-eagle club, Ms I.Kumar, Principal, said that the effective strength of the club is 45 cadets, who are under the command of a chief officer and three unit officers. The eco-club of the school is registered with World Wild Fund (WWF) for nature and aims to plant trees, educate masses against the ill-effects of deforestation, preserving environment and waste management. Ms Kumar said that several seminars, workshops are held for its members including the one held at Costa Rica which was attended by its
coordinator Ms Pratibha Rath and school students. The club celebrates World Environment Day, Tree Plantation Day and holds exhibitions on waste management, she said. Speaker’s Forum of the KVM has 150 members from primary, middle and secondary sections and aims at inculcating the art of public speaking, develop confidence and enable them to express themselves well on the stage. Rifle shooting club of KVM has 25 shooters as its members, who practice in a 10-metre indoor shooting range in the school. Giving details, Ms Kumar said that 11 students of the school qualified for the national-level championship held last year. The fifth club of the school is that of NCC in which 100 boys and 50 girls are recruited. Members of the club participate in national integration and annual training camps. As many as 12 girls and eight boys appeared for the ‘A’ certificate examination in the previous session and all of them passed it, said the NCC officer, Mr Ved Prakash. At BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, there are more than 10 clubs for candle making, textile designing, orchestra, home science, gardening, vocal music and science. Ms Paramjit Kaur, Principal, said that all the clubs jointly organise an annual exhibition in which they display their yearly output. Besides, she said that an eco-club of the school aims at making students aware about environmental hazards. Its recent ‘no plastic campaign’ has urged students to stop the use of plastic bags for bringing tiffins and other materials to schools. The members of the club were
instrumental in urging the book supplier to bring all sets of books in cloth bags, she proudly said. Mr R.S. Gill, Principal, Guru Nanak Public School, Sarabha Nagar, said that although the clubs for band, music, dance and craft were functioning in the school, but he was planning to introduce new clubs for science and environment as well from this session. |
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PAU council gives nod for PG
entrance tests Ludhiana, April 3 The decision was taken at a meeting of the council headed by the Vice Chancellor, Dr K.S. Aulakh, yesterday. The members decided that for fair conduct of the admission process and to abide by the norms of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research
(ICAR), it was necessary for them to hold entrance tests for all master’s programmes. It was decided by the council that the tests would be held in the month of June while the last date of submission of applications for entrance tests to all graduate and postgraduate courses would be May 30. The council also decided that the students opting for postgraduate courses, other than MBA, would be given 200 multiple choice questions in the test to be answered in three hours. Giving details of the test, Dr S.S. Chahal, controller of examination, said that the students opting for various courses would be given a prospectus specifying the syllabus of the test along with a model question paper which would be released by April end. He said that the topics of the syllabus would be from the lessons learnt during their graduation, especially those pertaining to the subject they are opting for. He said that the syllabus as well as model question papers had already been prepared in consultation with the deans and staff of the respective departments. It may be mentioned that while earlier entrance tests were held for admission to undergraduate courses as well as MBA, admission to other postgraduate courses was held on the basis of percentage in graduation and an interview. The council has also stated that there would be no change in the conduct of undergraduate and MBA entrance examinations which would be held in a pattern similar to the previous session. Dr Chahal said that following the test, ranks would be allotted to the candidates who would then be called for a counselling instead of an interview as held earlier. He said that there had been no change in the eligibility criteria for the applicants of postgraduate courses which stands at a minimum of 60 per cent or six overall credit points out of 10. Discussing the purpose of conduct of the tests, Dr Chahal said that the test would help in screening the students for the postgraduate courses, all of which have very limited seats. He said that all the applicants from PAU, Khalsa Colleges at Faridkot and Amritsar, as well as those from PU and Punjabi University would be at par for admission for the entrance test as the admission would be held purely on merit. He also said that every year the administrative as well as the teaching staff was approached by several parents and relatives pressurising for admission of their wards. Such cases would be avoided following the conduct of entrance tests, said Dr Chahal. Meanwhile, to discuss the issue of conduct of entrance tests with the final year students of undergraduate courses, a meeting of the advisory committee was held this afternoon which was open to all the final year undergraduate students of the university. The students were apprised of the new system of admission and queries of the students regarding the entrance tests were answered by committee members. |
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Farmers protest against
arhtiyas Ludhiana, April 3 The farmers raised slogans outside the shops of some arhtiyas who had reportedly vanished without paying their dues. They said cases should be registered against these arhtiyas and the district administration and the police should help them recover their hard-earned money. The farmers also met the Subdivisional Magistrate (West) and the Deputy Superintendent of Police at Mullanpur Dakha in this regard. They had with them receipts and the other documents in support of their claims. The farmers said more than 60 of them were running from the pillar to post to get back their money. Several of them would become bankrupt if they did not get the money at the earliest. |
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Stolen goods recovered;
five held Mandi Gobindgarh, April 3 According to the press note, the police acted on a tip-off that some suspects were coming here from the nearby Dadheri village on bicycles. The police party led by Mr Harcharan Singh Bhullar, Deputy Superintendent of Police at Amloh, and Mr Harinder Singh, SHO at Mandi Gobindgarh, laid an ambush at the Dadheri head near railway crossing and caught Satpal ‘Sonu’ and Bipan Kumar, both of Ram Nagar Basti at Mandi Gobindgarh, Hans Raj of Alipur and Ranjit Singh and Jasvir Singh of Badla Neewa. Their interrogation led to the recovery of three television sets, one electric motor, one calculator and 25 more bicycles. The five persons told the police that a man called Buta Singh of Bhadla village was their leader and he had, now, absconded. They also said they had stolen bicycles from Mandi Gobindgarh and Khanna. The police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 411 of the IPC against the accused. |
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Cong men burn Chautala’s effigy Ludhiana, April 3 The activists held a procession which passed through various places in the city and reached Clock Tower where they set fire to Mr Chautala’s effigy. Earlier, while addressing the activists, Mr Khanna alleged that Mr Chautala in connivance with a former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had planned to “rob Punjab of its precious water”. He asserted that not a single drop of water would be allowed to flow into Haryana. Mr Khanna appreciated the stand taken by the Punjab Chief Minister and claimed that the people of the state stood by and supported him in his mission to get Punjab its due. He said Punjab was already short of water and no additional water was available which could be supplied to Haryana. The activists raised slogans against Mr Chautala and Mr Badal. |
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Netherlands food technologists
hold Ludhiana, April 3 The main bakery items chosen for this training programme are fruit baskets, winstons, baguettes, fritters, choux, flan, Dutch craknels, coffee and mosaic biscuits, donuts, egg free pie and cakes, icings and other confectionery items. One of the participants, Ms Ridima, while talking to Ludhiana Tribune said, “ I have come here to increase my home menu. “This workshop is really a wonderful opportunity for participants to learn craft of making delicious bakery items.” Another participant Ms Jyoti said, “We know how to make cookies, but here I am learning the various methods of preparing bakery items of different shapes and sizes. Everyday we eat cookies, but preparing cookies of the shape of sparrow or ice-cream cones is be a different experience. The training will help to please children who hesitate eating bakery items of regular shapes.” The workshop is being organised by the Department of Food Science and technology while Nestle India Limited has sponsored the programme. The two foreign experts are from Netherlands Management Corporation Programme (NMPC) an organisation of retired professionals who work free of cost and impart professional knowledge. The NMPC has more than 3,000 retired professionals. They do not draw salary from the organisation. Their job is to visit third world countries to impart technical know-how. Members of the NMPC have already conducted many training programmes here in spinning, hosiery, pharmaceutical and cycle production. The organisers of such training programmes in these countries have to bear only the boarding and lodging expense of these experts. The NMPC does not charge anything for providing technical
knowhow.
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Food technologists get
award for research Ludhiana, April 3 Dr Berry was awarded for his contribution to the food science and technology, while Dr Jha has developed a “kheer mix powder” with a shelf life of more than six months. Dr Berry has developed certain traditional food items with added shelf value which include “gravy paste” used to cook traditional food items, with longer shelf value and mango pulp without heating which could be used for preparing any food item for a longer period. Besides this, he has also prepared some food items which consume less time as compared to tradition method of cooking, like “instant halwa mix”, “instant dahi bhalla” and “kesari kofta”. Dr Berry is presently working in the Centre Food Technological Research Institute, Ludhiana. He did his graduation, postgraduation and Ph.D in food science and technology from England. Dr Alok Jha produced “kheer mix” powder at the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal, in 2000. This “kheer” powder contains rice, milk powder, dry fruits, sugar and some other ingredients. However, this product has not been launched in the market since the technology transfer has not been done so far. Dr Jha is a dairy technologist. He did his graduation, postgraduation and Ph.D in dairy technology from the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. Dr Jha did his Ph.D on this “kheer mix” powder only. Moreover, he read his research paper at an international conference at Norway and France in June and October, 2001, respectively. Presently, Dr Jha is working as senior scientist at the National Research Centre for Women in Agriculture, Bhuvneshwar in Orissa.
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Demands not met, says
committee Ahmedgarh, April 3 The incident had left 22 persons dead, out of which 12 were killed at Kup Kalan Chowk. Mr Parkash Singh Badal, former Chief Minister and president SAD, had assured the committee to fulfil all its demands at the Shaheedee Samagam held at Kup Kalan Chowk on April 4 last year but to little avail. According to Mr Hari Singh, president of the committee, and other leaders, the ex-CM had assured the committee to provide 24-hr power supply at state expense to the villages whose
residents were killed in the incident. However, no village had been provided the facility. The committee had also demanded construction of memorials at Kup Chowk and Malerkotla, for which special executive officer of the then CM had passed orders to officials concerned on May 23,2000. Bus permits, nomination in boards and committees, free connections and concessions on extremist victim pattern were other demands which could not be met during the SAD regime, lamented the committee leaders. |
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Pensioners resent cut in
interest rate Ludhiana, April 3 These observations were made by Mr B.R. Kaushal, president, Punjab State Pensioners Confederation, in a press release here today. He said the prices of essential services and goods were sky-rocketing, but ironically for the ultimate end consumers, there were no organisations like “consumer resistance forum” to take care of their interests. Moreover, the education and healthcare services were going out of reach of the common people. According to Mr Kaushal, there was a multiplicity of “consumer awareness fora” but no movement existed for consumers resistance. “The retired persons are made to suffer silently due to constant reduction in their hard-earned savings on which they are dependent in their advanced age. He urged the government to ensure better terms on savings in the larger interest of the people in general and the pensioners in particular. |
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Shobha yatra Ludhiana, April 3 The shobha yatra passed through Tajpur Road, Samrala Chowk, Guru Arjan Dev Nagar and Adarsh Nagar before culminating at the Shiva Temple in Kishore Nagar. A contingent of women carrying “kalash” on their heads headed the yatra. A spokesman of the temple management told Ludhiana Tribune that a special langar would be held on April 3. |
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One booked for noise pollution Ludhiana, April 3 Attacked:
Beating case:
Father, son booked:
According to the complainant, Ms Kuldip Kaur, she was alone in the house at midnight as her husband was away on a business trip. In his absence, the father-son duo allegedly entered her house. She raised an alarm and a couple of woman neighbours rushed to her rescue, she added. Eve-teasers get violent:
A couple of eve-teasers in Chander Nagar, Haibowal, who used to tease a girl resident of the locality every day, turned violent when they attacked the house of the girl along with five other cronies here last night. According to information, the girl, who was fed up with the humiliation, had availed the services of a PCR motor cycle team and complained against the eve-teasers who were taken away by the cops. The angry youths returned to her house along with their cronies and started beating her family members on Monday night . The accused also damaged household goods, she added Booked for firing:
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Taxi driver deprived of vehicle Ludhiana, April 3 |
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New exim policy hailed Ludhiana, April 3 Mr Murasoli Maran, Union Minister of Commerce, while announcing the policy identified Ludhiana as an industrial cluster for woollen knitwear among other clusters as Tirupur for hosiery and Panipat for woollen blanket. Mr Maran said, “The recognised associations of units in these areas will be able to access the funds under the market access initiative scheme for creating focused technological services. These areas will also receive priority for assistance for identified critical infrastructure gaps.” The provisions in the new policy would serve a long way to realise the potential of Ludhiana and will enhance the capability of collective response to major common issues faced by small units such as competitiveness. The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) has also hailed the new exim policy. The president, CICU, Mr Inderjit Singh Pardhan, and the general secretary, Mr Avtar Singh, in a statement said that the incentives announced will definitely boost the export of the country. While commenting on the state of local cycle industry, Mr Pardhan asserted that no specific incentives had been provided in this exim policy. He said that Ludhiana-based cycle industry was not clear whether they will be benefitted by this exim policy. |
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