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Twins asphyxiated as
room catches fire
Ludhiana, January 17 The twins, Khwaab and Khayaal, died after the room they were sleeping in caught fire from a lit candle that was left there by their mother, Ms Sonia Passi (30), who had taken her daughter to a doctor nearby thinking that she would be back within half an hour. Tragedy struck the family at around 2:30 pm when the neighbours found smoke emanating from their two-storeyed house. They found the house locked from outside and they reported the matter to the Fire Department and the police. When the PCR policemen and firemen reached the place, they broke open the door only to find the twins sleeping. They, were, however, in an unconscious state. They were taken to the CMC hospital where they were declared brought dead. The boys with burnt faces seemed to have died of asphyxia even before fire could do any harm to them. The couple, Ms Sonia and Mr Rakesh Kumar Passi, did not allow mediapersons to click pictures stating that they did not want the matter to be highlighted by the media. The Station House Officer, Mr Jaswant Singh Mangat, Police Station Division No-3, said the twins’ elder sister, Chelsea (5), was not feeling well and Sonia had taken her to a doctor nearby. Mr Passi is a rice merchant. As the boys were sleeping and there was no electricity in the house, Ms Passi decided to leave a lit candle near their bed thinking that they would not cry if they woke up. As luck would have it, the house caught fire. Mr Passi that the candle might have fallen down and the bedding might have caught fire from it. He urged the mediapersons not to go inside the house as the family did not want them to do so. The condition of the parents was pathetic. A wailing Sonia was repeating that she had lost her world and mediapersons were trying to make light of tragedy that had struck her. She was blaming herself for it. The neighbours were also not willing to comment on it. The police has initiated proceedings under Section 174, CrPC in the case.
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Greed drives youths to murder friend
Ludhiana, January 17 According to the Station House Officer of the Mullanpur Dakha police station, Mr Prem Singh, the police found the body of Navdeep Singh, son of Shiv Charan Singh of the same village, in Bhanaur drain. Earlier, it appeared to be a case of blind murder, as the family did not suspect anyone. Navdeep owned a dairy farm and was reportedly producing about a quintal of milk daily. The police, Mr Prem Singh disclosed, questioned some of his friends. It was learnt that Navdeep had a drink with two of his friends Kulwinder Singh, son of Jeet Singh of the same village, and a migrant labourer identified as Dinesh, who used to work for him (Navdeep) till about three months back. The three drank heavily. The police claimed that Kulwinder and the migrant, who has not been identified so far, thought that Navdeep was carrying a lot of cash. They allegedly took him to some unknown place late in the night and asked him to hand over all the money to them. When he refused, they allegedly strangulated him to death and threw the body in the bushes near the Bhanaur drain. The Deputy Superintendent of Police, Mr Jatinder Singh Khera, accompanied by Mr Prem Singh and a few more policemen, went to the spot. They immediately launched a search operation and nabbed the suspects. The police officials claimed that during questioning Kulwinder confessed to the murder. After allegedly strangulating Navdeep to death, the suspects took away his gold chain and the purse which contained Rs 1,300, much to their disappointment as they had expected to find several thousand rupees. The police has recovered the chain and Rs 300 from Kulwinder.
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NRI offers Rs 50,000 for Rahul’s treatment
Our Correspondent
Ludhiana, January 17 Talking to the Ludhiana Tribune on the telephone from Canada, Dr Ahluwalia said the little child should be saved at any cost. He said he and his other NRI friends had formed an organisation, which would be donating for the noble cause. “We had read the story on the Internet and were sad to know about the child’s condition. We pray to God to save the child”, said Dr Ahluwalia. Meanwhile, the child’s grandmother, Kamla, on hearing about the donation, said theirs was a hand-to-mouth family. Rahul’s father was a salesman and earned only Rs 2,500 a month. Rahul was the only child in the family and his mother, Rani, prayed for his good health every day. She said, “We are very happy to know about the financial help. Good people still live in this world. God bless such people”. Dr Tejinder Singh, treating doctor, said the child was in the hospital for about a month now. He suffered from pneumonia and was on ventilators. “But his condition is now stable and we hope that he would be able to lead a normal life after getting treatment”, said Dr Tejinder. The Ludhiana Tribune had made an appeal to help the child on January 16. According to the hospital authorities, an estimated expenditure of Rs 80,000 was expected to be incurred on Rahul’s treatment after receiving financial assistance from the hospital.
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Model Town residents hold dharna
Ludhiana, January 17 Mr Nirmaljit Singh alleged that the assailants had attacked Jasbir Singh 25 days ago following a confrontation over some issue. The police had facilitated a compromise between the two parties then. Later, the same assailants attacked Jasbir’s friend, Lakhwinder Singh, for helping the former. While he had received injuries in the attack, they were booked for voluntarily causing hurt by using weapons only. He further alleged that the police personnel of the post did not even register a case and they had to report the matter to the Model Town police station where the case was finally registered
on January 15. The police did not let the agitators protest for more than 10 minutes, he alleged, adding that they were told that if they would protest they would be arrested.
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Cop booked for accepting bribe from BJP worker
Ludhiana, January 17 Constable Harjit Singh was booked under Section 7/13(2), 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act on the complaint of Rajdeep Singh. The complainant had alleged that the constable had demanded a bribe for the compliance of summon of the FIR number 362 under Sections 353/186/188, IPC, on January 15. No arrest has been made so far. The
BJP workers, led by The BJP leaders had threatened to launch an agitation if the police did not take action against the culprit in the case. The party workers had given a complaint with sworn affidavits by three persons in the police station. In another case Head Constable Harmesh Lal was booked for replacing new tyres of an impounded truck with old ones at the Sarabha Nagar police station. He has been booked under Sections 409 and 120 B of the IPC. The truck was in the custody of the Sarabha Nagar police in a case registered under Sections 379/411/420/467/ 468/471/34, IPC. The Head Constable allegedly replaced three new tyres with old ones at the midnight of January 15.
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BKU seeks case
against factory owners
Ludhiana, January 17 According to Mr Ajmer Singh Lakhowal and Prof Manjit Singh Kadian, president and working chief, respectively, of the outfit, the unearthing of the factory manufacturing spurious fertilizer at Sultanpur village, near Doraha, was a serious matter and just the tip of the iceberg. Many such units were operating with impunity in various parts of the state and were causing irreparable damage to the economy of the state besides damaging the lands of the farmers, they added. The kisan leaders said upon receiving the information, they informed the DDPO and took a team of officials to the site and saw that several truckloads of the spurious fertilizer, packed in cement bags, was awaiting transportation. The matter was brought to the notice of the SDM, Samrala, who ordered that all bags should be sealed and taken into custody. They alleged that they had come to know that instead of registering a case against the owners of the factory and arresting them, the police had allowed them to remove the incriminating material from the factory. The Sultanpur village panchayat too has reiterated that they will resort to an agitation in case the owners of the factory were not arrested. Action should also be taken against the officials responsible for allowing the spurious fertilizer to be removed from the site, they pointed out.
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5 Shiromani awardees honoured
Mohali, January 17 While four of the five Shiromani awardees were present to receive the honours from well-known Punjabi author Dr Santokh Singh Dhir. Dr Atamjit Singh could not be present on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion, the four writers stressed that there was the need to encourage Punjabi reading among youth. Dr Rama Rattan stated that while good Punjabi literature for children was available, there were not enough readers to appreciate those. “The government should ensure that our children be exposed to Punjabi nursery rhymes instead of other languages. The government should ban the teaching of nursery rhymes in other languages in schools,” she said. Dr S.S. Dosanjh of the Pustak Pathak Manch explained to the audience the aim of his manch. Dr Sahib Singh’s work “Parinde Jaan Hun Kithe”, Mr Sarabjit Bedi’s latest work “Tara Turiya Jaaye” and Avtar Singh Saraon’s “Dardan Da Pujari” were also released on the occasion.
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Shiv Sainiks burn effigy of Jayalalithaa
Ludhiana, January 17 Carrying banners and placards, the slogan shouting party workers asked the President of India to dismiss the government for what they described as blatant interference in religion and humiliation of a revered religious leader of Hindu community. In a memorandum submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, the party charged the Tamil Nadu Government with nursing designs to take control of the math and causing harassment to the seer to settle personal scores. Mr Pawan Sharma and other party leaders observed that the arrest of the seer in a false case of murder had hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindu community all over the country. They asked the Chief Minister to withdraw all cases against the Shankaracharya and tender a public apology for her highhandedness failing which the party would continue to hold protests and the agitation would be further intensified. The Shiv Sena functionaries further said they would build up a case for a probe into the circumstances which led to the arrest of the religious leader and his harassment at the hands of the state police which was merely playing in the hands of their political masters. They maintained that the party would also seek the reopening of cases of corruption and misuse of power against Jayalalithaa which were hushed up due to political pressure by the ruling party. Prominent among those present at this occasion were Mr Parveen Mittal, Mr Parveen Jindal, Mr Suresh Manchanda, Mr Shiv Murti Sharma, Mr Lakshmi Narayan, Mr Sanjeev Pathak, Mr Anil Singla, Mr Suraj Ahluwalia, Mr Krishan Bansal, Dr Rajesh Kumar, Mr Sunil Choudhry, Mr Barjesh Singh, Mr Tanush Garcha, Mr Ajay Mullapuri, Mr Barjinder Singh Sodhi, Mr Manjit Singh Chahal, Mr Hardeep Singh, Mr Vimal Kumar, Mr Arvind Sharma, Mr Ajit Singh, Mr Inderdeep Singh, Mr Tarsem Singh, Mr Krishan Lal, Mr Tilak Raj, Mr Suminder Singh, Mr Ravinder Kumar and Mr Punna Yadav.
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Traffic jam due to ‘chetna march’
Ludhiana, January 17 Residents of the city who are used to such jams had just another bitter experience. Former Chief Minister and President, Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal), Prakash Singh Badal, also had first hand experience of how difficult such jams can be. Mr Badal along with his Z-Plus security men was stuck in long queue of the vehicles. He even had to get out of his car. He relished kinnows like the common man on the roadside.
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Rs 15 lakh sewerage project for Doraha
Doraha, January 17 The beautification project is being followed under the guidance of Mr Tej Parkash Singh Kotli, local MLA and Mr Tejinder Singh Dhaliwal, SDM , Payal. Traffic lights on the National Highway, streetlights all along the park road and in other areas will also be installed as a part of the project, he added. Mr Surjit Singh, Executive Officer, said all encroachments would be removed by March 31. Mr Sood also said a cultural-cum-community centre would come up in the town by March 31. The cultural centre will be a common place with a separate gym, a conference hall and a park for kids also. Cultural programmes and community welfare camps will be organised in the centre from time to time. "Further the committee is all set to launch a sewerage project worth Rs 15 lakh," said Mr Sood. He also said the roads were being widened and recarpeted. ‘‘The Kaddon road is being widened up to five feet.’’
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Jasleen Takkar is ‘Winter Queen’
Ludhiana, January 17 In 35-45 year category, Anila Nagpal stood the winner while Geeta Kumar was declared the first runners-up. In the third category (above 45 years), Shelly Goyal was adjudged winner. Kavita Talwar and Aman Bawa were declared the first and second runners-up respectively.
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Foundation stone laid
Ludhiana, January 17
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Waiting hall inaugurated
Jagraon, January 17 Furnished with modern furniture and gadgets, the hall is fully air-conditioned.
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Federation concerned over power crisis
Doraha, January 17 In a press note released by the federation, Mr Jandeep Kanchal, secretary of AIFDY and the cell-secretary of MCPI, criticised the deteriorating power situation in the state. He said the worst hit were the students. The rising prices of sugar and other commodities too are a matter of concern for a common man, the federation asserted.
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Sahibzadas’ martyrdom commemorated
Ludhiana, January 17
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Two brothers assaulted, threatened
Ludhiana, January 17 In a complaint to the police, Mr Heera Lal, victims’ father, who is a paint contractor, said his elder son was sitting in his grocery store when the assailants attacked him. Later, they allegedly assaulted Kangresh. Mr Heera Lal alleged that this was the handiwork of a neighbour. He said the assailants also threatened them. Heera Lal said he had been living here for the past 22 years. He owned a house in Kehar Singh Nagar, a bicycle shop, a PCO and a grocery store. The assailants allegedly broke a computer kept in the PCO and threw away items kept in the store.
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Liquor seized, one arrested
Khanna, January 17 Man consumes acid: Poppy husk seized: Cyclist killed: A case under Sections 304-A and 279 of the IPC has been registered at Sidhwanbet police station.
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Villager attacked over property dispute
Sahnewal, January 17 The bone of contention between the two parties was said to be a piece of land. The injured was taken to primary health centre at Koom Kalan and a case has been registered under Sections 324 and 452 of the IPC at the Sahnewal police station.
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Raise IT exemption limit, demands INTUC
Ludhiana, January 17 Mr Balwant Rai Kapoor, state chief of INTUC, and Mr K.R. Tripathi, president of NOGE, have called upon the government to make provisions for deduction of DA from taxable income because the allowance was not actual income but reimbursement against rise in inflation. They further pleaded for rationalisation of the income tax structure and suggested that there should be just three slabs of income tax rates at 5 per cent for annual income of Rs 1.5 lakh, 10 per cent for income upto Rs 5 lakh and 20 per cent beyond that level. According to Mr Shiv Gupta, general secretary of INTUC, the government was asked to enhance rebate under Section 88 from Rs 70,000 to Rs 2 lakh to induce national savings, provide 100 per cent rebate on housing loan repayment up to Rs 1 lakh, saving bank interest should be increased to 10 per cent and that on the PPF and the EPF to 12 per cent. The trade unions also made a plea for complete exemption from income tax for senior citizens as they survived on pensions alone. The memorandum called upon the government to bring rich farmers in the fold of income tax in view of several subsidies granted to the farm sector. It wanted the non-payment of income tax by corporate houses to be made a criminal offence besides making public the names of big defaulters of banks, strengthening the public sector, provision of social security to private factory workers and abolition of ceiling on bonus and waiving surcharge on income tax. Pleading for strengthening and extension of health cover to income tax payers, INTUC and the NOGE demanded that in the wake of increasing cost of hospitalisation and medical treatment, the government should provide for free treatment and surgical procedures for chronic and fatal diseases in recognised hospitals for income tax assessees.
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