Ludhiana, June 19
Long queues of students were witnessed outside the Punjab School Education Board depot at Punjabi Bhawan on the penultimate day of the submission of compartment forms of Class XII here today.

Approximately, 1,000 boys and girls from the city and periphery areas gathered there to submit the forms.

The students complained that the PSEB authorities did not make adequate arrangements due to which they had to suffer a lot.

Depot officials said they had started receiving the forms from 9 am onwards.

In the afternoon, the students started complaining against the PSEB officials. They complained against the extended lunch time taken by the PSEB officials. It was later discovered that they had run out of the receipt books.

Tejinder Kaur, a resident of Jamalpur, who came to submit the forms rued, "I was standing in the queue since morning and in the afternoon, when my turn came, they ran out of receipts.

Then the officials said they would receive forms after lunch time, but now it's going to be 3 pm. I have never seen a lunch break that spreads over three hours."

Shika, a resident of Khanna, who came to submit compartment form of her sister, complained, "We are standing in the queues since morning. The work is going on at a snail’s pace despite the fact that today is the second last day for the submission of forms. We think the board should increase the number of depots to make it easy for people."

One of the PSEB officials said to deal with the heavy rush, they had opened seven counters at different places in Punjabi Bhawan to accept the compartment forms.

However, despite repeated attempts, director of the PSEB depot Kawaljit Kaur was not available for comments. 

Ludhiana, June 19
With Punjab Technical University having failed to announce admission dates for BBA and BCA classes, it is feared the students may opt for colleges affiliated to Panjab University, where July 7 is the admission date.

Almost all city colleges affiliated to PU-Arya College, Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College, GGN Khalsa College, Guru Nanak Girls College, Ramgarhia College for Women, Khalsa College for Women and Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women-are offering these courses.

A senior faculty member at Gujjranwala Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology said: " It is rather sad that city management institutes have better infrastructure than PTU.

The nonchalant attitude of the university will result in the university losing quality students.”

Director Guru Nanak Institute for Management and Technology Col HS Sangha, when contacted, said admissions should start mid-June if the results are late. "It will be tough for PTU to fill seats this time with bright girl students opting for admission in girls’ colleges offering BBA, BCA courses."

Also, PU colleges have been permitted to hike admissions by 10 per cent under UGC guidelines.

A senior retired professor said it seemed “ illogical” to allow PU to go ahead with technical courses. "It defeats the purpose of setting up Punjab Technical University," he remarked.

Director GGNIMT Prof GS Dua said PTU should streamline the system of admissions.

Ludhiana, June 19
The Leader of the Opposition in MC house, Prem Mittal, today surrendered the room allotted to him in the MC house by mayor Hakam Singh Gyaspura as a protest against yesterday's announcement that it would be used by all party councillors.

The decision to vacate the room was taken at a Congress councillors’ meeting today. Angry councillors said it was unfortunate that the mayor had “buckled under pressure” from BJP councillors who had been objecting to the allotment.

‘‘We do not want the room anymore, ’’ said Mittal.

He said the mayor had given in to local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia. ‘‘When the mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor have their own rooms, why should they sit in our room where we listen to people's grievances. ’’

The room (No. 77) was allotted to Mittal, a senior deputy mayor in the earlier house. The move did not go down well with BJP leaders in the house.They took up the matter with the local bodies minister.The latter then directed the commissioner to get the room vacated.

Even a fortnight after the orders, the room remained with Mittal. Finally,yesterday the mayor said it would be open to all party leaders in the house.

Ludhiana, June 19
Monsoon has already lashed the region but the local municipal corporation seems to be sleeping over the silt in Budda Nullah that threatens to flood scores of houses in colonies located at its bank.

Residents of several colonies are having sleepless nights as the MC has failed to clear the water body of hyacinth and silt.

On the basis of their experiences of the past years, the residents claim that the silt and weed was enough to cause floods in their area and inundate their houses once again. The civic body, however, continues to be in a slumber and no effort has been done to desilt the nullah.

Colonies like New Madhopuri, New KundanPuri, Shiv Puri, Luv Kush Nagar, Salem Tabri, Mahavir Jain Colony, New Puneet Nagar, Kirpal Nagar and several other areas face fury of floods caused by the nullah almost every year. This year, with prediction of heavy rainfall, fears of residents have been compounded.

With the weed growing all over and no desilting operation in sight, the nullah would not be able to contain rain water and might flood these localities.

‘‘When will the MC start work? The third week of June is elapsing. Are they waiting us to be drowned? Thankfully, there was not much water after the first rain. Otherwise our houses would have been flooded,’’ rued Inderjeet Singh, a resident of Kirpal Nagar.

Every year during rains, residents of these localities face a lot of difficulty. ‘‘Water enters our houses and we have to shift our household goods to safer places. But nobody listens to us. We do not know what would happen this year?’’ he asked.

Residents of Mahavir Jain Colony, who suffered due to floods caused by nullah last year, also said no lessons were learnt despite a lot of hue and cry raised by them. ‘‘We had thought they would wake up early this year, but they are still in slumber,’’ he said.

He added that every year, lakhs of rupees are spent on the cleaning of the nullah, but despite all that residents have to suffer. 

Ludhiana, June 19
Residents of Jain Mohalla, Chowk Mishra and Thapar Street in Daresi here are doing without potable water for the last one and a half month due to a technical snag in submersible supply to them.

All the pleas to municipal corporation officials to get the problem rectified have fallen on deaf ears. Residents are sick of carrying water from houses in other localities. This, however, does not shake the employees concerned.

As the tubewell supply to these areas was proving insufficient till October last year, most of the days the residents had to go without water. However, a BJP leader got a submersible pump sanctioned for the area on request.

The water was, however, not chlorinated, as it was not pumped from a normal tubewell, where procedure of chlorination is followed.

The residents continued to adjust with the problem by boiling drinking water. However, their taps went dry in May and since then they are doing without it.

Rajesh Kumar, an area resident, rued, “Whenever we go to our area councillor, he tells us that he has got another submersible pump sanctioned for the area. But it was never installed. I do not know what are they waiting for?”

He said when they protested against the problem, they were supplied with a tanker everyday. “Now our womenfolk have to carry water in buckets. They are doing this for the past one and a half month. Moreover, we have to manage with just a few buckets of water in this hot and humid weather.’’ The residents threatened to go on a protest if the submersible pump was not repaired.

Ludhiana, June 19
The state-of-the-art auditorium situated in Braille Press Bhawan has turned into virtual ruin, thanks to the official apathy. The auditorium is under construction since 1993 and the authorities seem to have turned a blind eye to the project meant for the blind.

The work done at the auditorium so far has started weathering away, which could have played a vital role to make the Braille Press Bhawan financially independent.

According to official sources, estimated Rs 2 crore has been spent on the auditorium so far. The wooden wall-to-wall ceiling has been eaten by termites and the auditorium is becoming a breeding ground for stray dogs. Gurpreet Singh, president of Sports Association for Blind, said, “The stalled work at the auditorium is a perfect example of how serious the government machinery is about the issues of the visually challenged people. The project, which began 15 years ago has not completed yet and it requires more money.”

The auditorium with the capacity to accommodate 500 people has extra rooms on the first floor.

It can cater to the need of the industrial houses situated in its vicinity, as there is hardly any venue available to organise industrial conferences.

A senior official of Braille Bhawan questioned the very location of the auditorium. On a note of anonymity, the official said the auditorium had been constructed close to the classrooms of the visually challenged children. The noise from the auditorium can disturb the students and the vehicular traffic will pose an extra threat to them.

Khanna, June 19
With as many as nine people killed in last eight days and around a dozen accidents reported everyday, the city roads have become insecure to ply on.

Those killed in accidents includes a minor boy, two homeguard jawans, a resident of Gurgaon, three unidentified people and three residents of nearby villages.

In a latest incident today, a resident of Bhattian village, Prem Singh, was crushed under a bus. Prem was driving his two-wheeler when a bus hit him and he died on the spot.

Eleven-year-old Dhyan Singh, who came from Gorakhpur to visit his relatives in Khanna, was crushed under a speeding truck yesterday morning. The truck driver fled from the spot and was later arrested, but bailed out same day. Two homeguard jawans lost their lives to the killer roads while taking a round of the city on Monday night on their bike. At around 1 am an unidentified speeding vehicle hit them and both Karam Singh Rahon and Satnam Singh Lalheri died on the spot.

“We drive on these roads in awe, as you never know from which side some vehicle, pedestrian or a rickshaw would obstruct the way. The buses, trucks and VIP vehicles are the real nuisance creators which are run at a breakneck speed,” said Suresh, a resident of Lalheri road.

The rough patches of roads had also claimed life of a teenager, Sandeep Kaur, who travelled daily from her village Salana to the city to take IELTS classes. On June 8, she was travelling in a three-wheeler. When the vehicle passed over a bumpy stretch, she fell down on the road and was crushed under the rear wheels of vehicle.

In yet another incident, a truck carrying milk cans collided with a Qualis car. Around four people got injured in the incident and one was killed near village Bulepur.

Despite repeated tragic deaths on these killer roads little is being done to keep a check on the reckless drivers and repair potholed roads.

Ludhiana, June 19
The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), under the ministry of statistics and programme implementation, will organise a regional training conference on collection of socio-economic data in the city on June 23, an official press release of the NSSO said here today. The data is being collected specifically for domestic tourism, housing condition and urban slum.

The workshop is being organised by the NSSO for collection of the data throughout the country by employing scientific sampling methods. The series of the ongoing 65th round of the socio-economic survey is scheduled to start from July 1.

Since the NSSO employs door-to-door canvassing for collection of socio-economic data and its success depends on the co-operation of the general public, the office of the NSSO is making all efforts to give a wider publicity to the event regarding utility of the services. Sarvesh Kumar, deputy director general, New Delhi (headquarters), will inaugurate the conference.

Ludhiana, June 19
Vijay Kumar (24) was killed in a freak accident near Bhaibala Chowk here this evening.

An overspeeding vehicle hit his scooter from the rear; he lost control and hit the divider. The impact was so strong that his body fell on the other side of the road which had vehicles coming from the opposite direction.

As he tried to recover from his fall, another speeding vehicle hit him. He fell down and his head was crushed. He died on the spot.

Ludhiana, June 19
A couple dating in Ansal Plaza here was reportedly kidnapped by relatives of the girl this evening.

Sunil of Jalandhar and his girlfriend were taken to a farm house near Jodhan village. The boy was allegedly beaten up and then released. He has lodged a complaint with the city police.

Ludhiana, June 19
The pensioners of different government departments celebrated the 6th foundation day of Pensioners’ Bhawan in Mini Secretariat here today. More than 250 pensioners, along with their family members, attended the function, which was presided over by K.C. Vijayvargi, deputy general manager of Oriental Bank of Commerce.

The building was put up at a cost of Rs 20 lakh, which was raised through contributions from government agencies, public sector banks entrusted with the task of disbursement of pension and NGOs.

Jagraon, June 19
Sub-divisional Magistrate of Jagraon Mandeep Kaur Bedi today extended the police remand of Gurbhej Singh, alias Sonu, of Kathunangal in Amritsar, and Manjit Singh, alias Meeta, of Bardeke village in Jagraon, till June 24. The duo was in earlier remanded in the police custody for two days. The Ludhiana rural police (Jagraon) recovered 24.5 kg of explosives and 25 detonators from the duo on June 17.

Extending the police custody of the duo, the state counsel pleaded that both were hardcore criminals and during the period of earlier police remand of two days, the duo had not revealed any clue pertaining the origin of the explosives and how the same reached them from Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The police was yet to ascertain which terrorist outfit supported them. Bedi, after hearing the counsel for the state, asked the duo about their counsel if engaged to plead their case and in his absence, to plea themselves or seek the help of the counsel from the Free Legal Aid, but both of them pleaded innocence as to the way how to engage a lawyer. The duo disclosed that they had never been to Nagpur or Andhra Pradesh and they had received the consignment from someone in Ropar. They were asked to keep it with them for sometime. The person in Ropar had got the direction from Gurmeet Singh based in Germany, to hand over the consignment.

Ludhiana, June 19
A trainee of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) centre, opposite Guru Nanak Stadium here, gave a stupendous performance during an international meet to bring name and fame to the state as well as the nation.

Inderjit Singh of Taran Tarn in Amritsar, a student of plus two in Nav Bharti Public School, Ludhiana, gave a good account of himself to help India clinch a silver medal in 4x400m relay race at the Junior Asian Athletics Championship held in Jakarta, Indonesia, from June 12 to 15. The Indian relay team clocked 3.12 seconds to finish runners up.

Inderjit, an upcoming athlete along with another trainee of this centre, Amandeep Singh, were among 60 athletes picked up for the junior national athletics coaching camp conducted at Pune from May 25 to June 8 to prepare the national team for the Junior Asian Athletics Championship.

The former found a place in 35-member national contingent to take part in this event.

An elated in charge of the SAI centre, Ludhiana, and coordinator, Punjab, Harbans Singh informed that Inderjit, in his maiden participation in an international competition came out with flying colours and put the centre’s name on international map.

Appreciating Inderjit’s performance, Harbans Singh said his achievement would go a long way in inspiring other trainees of the centre to excel in their respective disciplines. He congratulated Inderjit and coaches M.S. Dhillon, Sita Kapila and Jasbir Singh to produce the stuff of international calibre.

Sharing his success with the media, Inderjit said his ultimate aim was to finish among medal winners in the forthcoming Junior Commonwealth Games, Junior SAF Games and also win accolades in the next Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi in 2010.

Besides, he aims to win a medal in the 2012 Olympics for which he had started preparing himself.

Harbans revealed that the SAI had sufficient funds, which could be utilised by sending players of great potential such as Inderjit to foreign countries for more exposure so that they could compete in international tournaments.