Ludhiana, March 19
To check the activities of mobile phone lifters, the city police has warned all the mobile sale-purchase outlets to maintain records of persons selling second-hand phones or face action.

SP-Detective Gurpreet Singh said a study of crime incidents in the last six months had revealed that a number of youths and drug addicts had fallen deep into the crime world by snatching or stealing mobile phones only with the purpose to sell them cheaply to buy drugs. The police has case histories of 40 such youths.

The police has directed shopkeepers to take the identity proof and the picture of a person selling second- hand mobile phones. "We have busted many gangs, in which youngsters, mostly drug addicts, have revealed how they stole phones and sold them at cheap rates to shopkeepers to arrange money for drugs," said the police official.

He said the police aimed to check this ready market for the criminals. The shopkeepers would have to inform the CIA staff about the phones purchased by them and the sellers every 15 days.

Till now, the police was generally taking action against jewellers, car dealers or scrap dealers for buying stolen things. It is for the first time that the mobile phone sellers and purchasers would be liable to face similar action.

The SP said the shopkeepers who violated this order would be liable to face criminal action. “The police will be conducting surprise raids to check the records,” he warned.

Moreover, whenever the police finds during a case investigation that some shopkeeper had provided such an easy market to criminals, he will be prosecuted along with the criminals.

In the same order, the police has issued another stern warning to chemists and druggists in the city to refrain from selling intoxicant tablets and syrups.

The police will be taking stringent action against those chemists who are caught selling intoxicants more than once. The police has during interrogation of drug addicts found they were becoming addicts first and then entering the world of crime to arrange money for getting their daily dose of intoxicants.

COMMUNITY

Jagriti Yatra reaches Ahmedgarh
Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 19
It was a historical moment as the Jagriti Yatra of Guru Granth Sahib (Gurta Gaddi) went around local town and various villages of Ludhiana and Sangrur districts. Thousands of devotees paid obeisance to the holy Guru Granth Sahib brought from Hazoor Sahib in Nanded, Maharashtra, and the weapons of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.

The Yatra entered Sarinh village in the afternoon yesterday and left Bhogiwal village early morning today after passing through Ghabbaddi, Rurka, Guram, Butahri, Karamsar, Jhammatt, Kalarh, Jagera, Kup, Ghallughara Rohira and Jitwal.

A sea of devotees thronged roads and streets for a glimpse of the weapons and the holy scripture, which were carried in palanquin decorated with floral petals. Devotees waited for hours on the roadside. Some sprinkled scented water on the crowds, filling the atmosphere with fragrance. They remained awake for the whole night.

The yatra started from Hazoor Sahib last year and is to go around the country to commemorate the tercentenary of the consecration of Guru Granth Sahib. 
Shastars (weapons) of Guru Gobind Singh and other articles, including the handwritten Guru Granth Sahib, is part of this yatra.

The police had a tough time managing the vehicular traffic that had to be diverted on alternative routes at certain places.

Activists of a few religious and social organisations arranged langars of tea and snacks at Gurdwara Karamsar, Gurdwara Bahadurgarh, Gurdwara Singh Sabha and Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj.

Raghbir Singh Saharanmajra, member SGPC, Jai Pal Mandian, Yadwinder Singh, Jagwant Singh Jaggie, Ajit Singh Walia, President of Gurdwara Committee, Kuldip Singh Karwal, Kuldip Singh Bhullar and Amar Singh Saraon led their respective jathas at various places. 

Ludhiana, March 19
An 83-year-old man is fighting since the last three decades to get pension as per his grade but thanks to red tapism, he is getting pension as per the old grade.

Ajit Singh Sodhi, a resident of Field Ganj, who retired as a head sorter, Higher Selection Grade -II from Ludhiana Railway Mail Services, is still getting pension that is not in accordance with his higher selection grade.

He has written thousands of letters to various authorities in the postal department, but to no avail. All he has achieved is a collection of reams of paper, on which he wrote to his authorities.

Ajit Singh is making rounds of various offices to get his grade. Having retired in 1983, he is yet to be heard by the authorities even after 25 years of his superannuation.

‘‘I am getting a basic pension of Rs 725. If I were given a pension as per the new grade, I would be getting Rs 750. But, this would help me in several ways, as I would get the benefits of Central Pay Commissions also,’’ said Ajit Singh.

He added that he was promoted to H.S.G-II in 1982, just a few months before his superannuation. But, the benefit of promotion was not passed on to him all these years.

He is left all alone to fight his battle. He lost his wife two years ago and both his sons are settled abroad. He makes rounds of the offices himself, as there is nobody to help him. Having attended 7-8 postal adalats to get his grievance redressed, Ajit Singh said the entire system had made a mockery of him.

‘‘Whenever I wrote to them, I received a reply but that was misleading. If I asked for something, the reply was about something else. This is how they have been evading my queries. I do not know why should they behave with a senior citizen like this. If I deserve a benefit, why should it not be passed on to me,’’ he asked bitterly.

Now, he has shot off a letter to Chief Information Commissioner, Central Information Commission, New Delhi, complaining to him that he had not received relevant information from him regarding his case. 

Machhiwara, March 19
Mystery shrouds the murder of Ashwani Kumar (40), son of a SAD leader of Rahimabad village, whose body was found lying in the fields on the outskirts of the village last evening. The victim had disappeared under mysterious circumstances after receiving a telephone call on Monday evening.

The police has initiated a probe into the sequence of events leading to the suspected murder.

In his statement given to the local police, Kuldip Chand Sharma alleged that his son Ashwani had been killed by some persons who had a scuffle with him a few days ago. A financial dispute was reported to be the cause behind the scuffle.

Investigations by a police team, supervised by DSP Daljit Singh Rana, revealed that Ashwani had left his house on Monday evening after receiving a telephone call from an unknown caller. When he did not return till late night, members of his family started inquiring about him from his friends and relatives. "We were about to lodge a missing person report at the police station when some villagers told us that a body was lying in the fields on Chakki road. We were shocked to find that my son had been killed mercilessly," Kuldip Chand reported to the police.

Further investigations revealed that the deceased had withdrawn Rs 50,000 from a bank a few days ago.

Injuries on the head suggested that the assailants had attacked him with a sharp- edged weapon. Ashwani's mobile phone and purse were also missing.

The police has initiated the process to get details of telephone calls made and received by the deceased during the days preceding his murder. 

Ludhiana, March 19
The second budget announced by the Akali-BJP government for the year 2008-2009 has failed to satisfy agriculturists. Experts feel that very less share was provided to the agrarian sector and there was no scope for further development and research with such a "meagre" amount.

The livestock experts, however, seem to be satisfied with the budget as they feel that the grant announced by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal will give boost to dairy farming in the coming year.

Dr K.S. Aulakh, former vice-chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), said the government had provided less share to agriculture. It should have announced liberal funds to promote agriculture. In the absence of funds, there cannot be growth of agriculture. If there are no planned schemes, how can one think of expanding the agrarian sector, asked Dr Aulakh.

Dr S.S. Johl, an economist and former vice- chancellor, Punjabi University, Patiala, terming it to be an "unplanned" budget said that it had brought no relief to the agrarian sector. He said Manpreet Badal had brought Punjab back on track but he was not given a free hand.

Talking about PAU, Dr Johl said it was unfortunate that the agricultural university was facing a severe financial crunch. "The experts cannot think of further development or research if they are under continuous pressure. The pensioners have not been paid a single penny for the past five months and Rs 20 crore granted for them by the state government, is a part of the development fund. Even the audit can raise objections over the use of this grant. The so-called agrarian state is in a bad shape today", said Dr Johl.

PAUTA president Dr M.S.Mahal said the government should have done something for the small farmers (having less than five acres of land). "It is a routine budget, nothing new in it", he said, adding that the subsidies announced in various sectors were not meant for the needy. The farming community should have been given more relief. "We are blaming the central government for not paying attention to farmers but what are we doing for their benefit, asked Dr Mahal.

Ludhiana, March 19
The ISTE students’ chapter of Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, organised national-level students’ competitions "Infovision-2008" here today.

Students of various management and technical colleges of Punjab and other states were invited to participate in paper presentation, software development, web development, debugging, logic design, extempore and debate.

Vikramjit Singh, faculty, GNIMT, having experience in handling mobile technology, gave the keynote address on the topic “Applications and hazards of mobile technology”.

Priya Sharma and Navjot Kaur of SASIITR, Mohali, bagged the first prize in paper presentation and Rishabh Dua of GGNIMT got the second prize. In debate, Chanpreet Kaur and Jasmine Bedi of GNIMT bagged the first prize and Ajay Verma and Priyanka Sharma of SASIITR, Mohali, bagged the second position. The first prize in software development was bagged by Gurpreet Singh and Sukhwinder Singh of SASIITR and Ravi Mantra and Mandeep Singh of LCET, Katani Kalan, bagged the second prize.

Jasmine Bedi of GNIMT got the first position in extempore and Manvir Singh of GGNIMT bagged the second prize. In debugging, Jaspreet Singh and Simerdeep Singh of LCET bagged the first prize and Saurabh Jain and Jaswinder Singh of GNIMT bagged the second prize. In web development, Manjit Singh and Albis Naoram of SASIITR bagged the first prize and Sandeep Singh and Kamal Kumar of GGNIMT got the second position.

Dr (Col) H.S. Singha, director, GNIMT, gave away the prizes. Dr Singha thanked the directors and faculties of all the participating colleges and congratulated the organisers and winners of various prizes.

Ludhiana, March 19
Dr Pritam Kaur Sidhu, toxicologist, department of epidemiology and preventive veterinary medicine, College of Veterinary Science, GADVASU, has been awarded with a prestigious UKIERI - Research Fellowship for 12 months, to conduct research at Royal Veterinary College, London.

This was the first time that the UKIERI fellowship was awarded to a scientist working in the field of veterinary pharmacology in India.

Dr Sidhu is going to work on the project “A novel pharmacological approach to minimise the risk of anti-microbial resistance” during this fellowship period. The research committee headed by Prof Jonathan Elliot, vice-principal of Royal Veterinary College, London, has accepted the research proposal. Sidhu did her PhD in Veterinary Pharmacology from University of London in 2001. Her area of specialisation is pharmacokinetics and toxicology. She is a recipient of post-doctoral fellowship at University of South Carolina, USA.

Ludhiana, March 19
Students of R.S. Model Senior Secondary School planted many medicinal saplings in the school premises here today. The plantation drive was initiated by Mohan Lal Kalra, principal, and Veena Khanna, vice-principal.

Mint, turmeric, akarkara, brahmi, tulsi, stevia and aloevera were among various medicinal plants that were planted by the students.

The students were taught about the medicinal value of these plants by science faculty, Dimple Chopra and Kawalpreet Kaur.

Workshop: An art and craft workshop for parents was organised at Darshan Academy, Bhamian Kalan, here today. Gulwant Singh acquainted the parents and teachers with the basic tactics of calligraphy, drawing, painting and craft.

Parents enthusiastically participated in various games like lemon and spoon race. Musical chair was also organised for them.

Children gave self written thank you letters to their parents expressing their gratefulness for their love, care and co-operation.

Principal Yachana Chawla thanked the parents and assured that the schools will continue to organise similar workshops in future.

Farewell party: Sunrise Kindergarten celebrated the farewell party for their outgoing students in the school campus here today.

Students presented a colourful programme.

Varinder Kaur, principal of the kindergarten, gave away prizes to the winners. 

Ludhiana, March 19
The Little Kingdom Nursery School, Gurdev Nagar, celebrated its 3rd annual day function on the school premises here today.

Mandi Gobindgarh, March 19
The RIMT-Institute of Management and Computer Technology will organise a three-day seminar on ‘Sustainable Development’ on its campus from March 25 to March 27. Jagesh Khaitan, vice-chairman and managing director, Amrit Banaspati Company, will inaugurate the seminar.

Apart from students, experts, research scholars and faculty members of various institutes and universities will take part in the seminar.

Ludhiana, March 19
Shiromani Akali Dal Amritsar (Panch Pardhani) chairman Daljit Singh Bittu and Gursharan Singh, alias Gamma, have been discharged in a 21-year-old TADA and attempt-to-murder case by the Special Judge, M S Virdi, here yesterday.

The orders of the Judge say that they stand discharged for the time being. The file be consigned to the record room till the original challan was produced before the court, for starting trial.

The main reason for discharging the accused was that the police had failed to produce the challan against the accused in the court. However, police officials were maintaining that the original challan was filed in the TADA court at Hoshiarpur, as at that time there was no Special Court to deal with the TADA cases here.

The case was registered back in the year 1986 on the charges of attempting to kill the then Special Judge, R L Anand, at Ludhiana. The Judge had retired as a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court and also served in the Human Rights Commission Punjab.

Bittu and Gamma were arrested in this case on April 24, 1996. Supplementary challan was presented against them in the court. But the original challan was missing. This fact came to the light during the cross examination of constable Sukhbir Singh in the year 1999.

Then the case was adjourned. When the police officials maintained that they had already filed challan in TADA court at Hoshiarpur, the enquiry was conducted by the court. It was held that the original challan was never presented.

Instructions were issued by the local court to SSP Ludhiana for presenting the original challan. But the case kept on lingering for awaiting original challan to start the trial. Few days back, the accused had moved application with the request that the case is liable to be sine-die till the presentation of challan.

FIR was registered under section 307(attempt to murder) of IPC and 3/4/5 of the TADA Act at Civil Lines police station. 

Ludhiana, March 19
In the alleged multicrore rupees paddy scam of Mullanpur, additional sessions judge Gurbir Singh today extended the interim bail granted to district food supplies controller Simarjit Kaur till March 26.

The same court also extended the interim bail granted to Punsup's district manager Darshan Singh Mann, Subash Chander inspector, Punjab Agro's DM Sham Sunder Bassi, inspector Mela Singh, PUNGRAIN's inspector Manjit Singh, inspector Manpreet, the owners of Kuber Rice Mill Amarjit Singh, Hardial Singh and Sukhdev Singh till March 26.

The arguments in their bail applications will be heard by the court on the next date of hearing. The Vigilance Bureau (VB) had registered the case, claiming that it was a scam of Rs 2 crore 73 lakh and 23,000.

The VB had raided the premises of M/s Kuber Rice Mills and M/s Guru Kirpa Rice Mills, Mullanpur, and checked their stock of paddy provided to them by the government agencies. The bureau had claimed that in connivance with the government officials, rice millers were duping the government. 

Ludhiana, March 19
Deputy speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha Satpal Gosain has sent a cheque for Rs 5 lakh from his discretionary funds for the treatment of poor patients at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH).

In his message, Gosain said the present grant was being provided without any demand from the institution. The gesture of providing financial assistance, he said, was to recognise the noble work being done by the CMCH for the last 114 years in the field of medical care. Gosain made a special mention of moments of crises like Khud Mohalla fire, Khanna train accident, Shingaar bomb blast and many more when the hospital had come all out to alleviate the suffering of the victims.

The deputy speaker offered his congratulations to the new team of administrators at the CMCH and assured them of total support from the state government for all the future endeavours in public interest. He promised a significant contribution from his funds for the Cancer Centre, in case it was undertaken by the institution on its own without any support or collaboration from outside.

Gosain promised to take up the matter with Punjab chief minister Parkash Singh Badal to grant significant funds for the proposed projects of CMCH. He also expressed his desire of setting up a deemed university in the name of Dame Edith Brown, the founder of CMCH.

Being busy with the budget session of state assembly, Gosain had deputed his grandson Amit Gosain to present the cheque to Dr Abi Thomas, interim director, and Dr V.P Singh, interim medical superintendent.

In his thanksgiving letter, Dr Abi Thomas appreciated Gosain's concern for the poor and his interest in the welfare and growth of CMCH. He assured that the donation would be used exclusively for the intended purpose and urged the deputy speaker, as also other like-minded people, to keep up their thoughtfulness and generosity in future as well.

Ludhiana, March 19
More than 500 patients were examined at a free heart and medical camp organised at Khosa Kotla, district Moga, by the village welfare society in association with Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI), here yesterday.

Dr G.S. Wander, chief cardiologist and coordinator at HDHI, led the team of doctors including Dr Rohit Tandon and Dr Harpreet Singh, along with the support staff.

Commenting on the significance of such camps in rural areas, Dr Wander said, “With rapid changes in our lifestyles, we find that diabetes and hypertension, the so called lifestyle diseases, are now spreading their tentacles among the rural populace as well. But, in general, the level of awareness among rural masses has not kept pace with the incidence of these ailments. This is the reason that more and more rural patients are suffering the slow but visible effects of these ailments, most notable among them being cardiac complications.”

He said sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet, even amongst the villagers, was leading to the rise in the number of diabetics. It had also been proven that people with diabetes were much more likely to have high blood pressure. Often called the ‘silent killer’, this condition is the cause of numerous deaths due to heart attacks and stroke. But a large number of people with high blood pressure were not aware of this problem.

Stressing on the need for creating awareness, he said it was of prime importance that rural population was apprised with this condition, the risk factors and proper treatment. Dr Wander pointed out that in the western nations, timely treatment and management of hypertension had reduced the occurrence of heart disease and stroke by 50 percent since 1970 onwards.

At the camp, investigative tests including echocardiography were conducted and medicines were distributed free of cost. 

Ludhiana, March 19
Indian Airlines blanked Bharat Petroleum Corporation, Limited, 3-0, to settle for the title clash with Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Limited who defeated Air India, Mumbai, in an identical fashion in the semifinal on the penultimate day of the 5th All-India Guru Gobind Singh Gold Cup Hockey Tournament being organised by the Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association at Prithipal Singh AstroTurf Stadium of Punjab Agricultural University here today.

The final is slated for tomorrow at 4.15 pm.

The first semifinal between Indian Airlines and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited turned out to be a one-sided affair with former dominating the proceedings most of time.

After wasting a penalty corner in the initial moments and also a couple of scoring chances, Indian Airlines drew the first blood in the 24th minute when Dilbagh Singh found the target. Two minutes later, Pawan Bassi scored a filed goal to increase the lead (2-0).

In the second half, BPCL players tried to put a brave face as they exhibited fine ball control and stormed opponents’ territory time and again but could not capitalise on chances, which came their way.

Indian Airlines added another goal in the 50th minute through Varinder Lakra to consolidate the lead (3-0) and managed to hang on to it till the long hooter.

In the second semifinal, Indian Oil Corporation Limited with internationals in their ranks got the better of Air India 3-0. The winners were leading by two goals at half time.

IOC Limited surged ahead in the 4th minute when skipper Deepak Thakur sounded the board and in the very next minute they enhanced the lead through Jaswinder Singh. The third goal came off Raghunath’s stick in the 43rd minute, which sealed Air India’s fate, 3-0.