Ludhiana, June 23
In a fresh incident of gang war between old rival groups, two armed youths allegedly grievously injured Ajay Kumar, a Kundanpuri-based youth, belonging to the Billu Badshah gang late last night.

Ajay was attacked in Kundanpuri. He suffered multiple stab wounds inflicted with swords by the attackers.They were riding a motor cycle and attacked him when he was walking alone in a street at about 11 pm.

The police said Ajay belonged to the Billu Badshah gang. The gang had almost disintegrated after Billu was murdered a few months ago. The rival gangsters were targeting persons close to him after the murder.

SHO Ravinder Singh said raids were on to nab the attackers. He said the accused were identified but there names could not be disclosed.

Police sources said an attack on two brothers in Haibowal two days ago could be the provocation against Ajay. The brothers, Gurwinder and Sonu, were attacked in their photo studio. Though the FIR did not mention the name of Ajay in the incident, the police said those nominated in the Haibowal incident were close to Ajay.

The police has also learnt that Ajay, alias Changu, was upset after the murder of Billu. Ajay was pursuing the legal battle to bring the accused, most of the Rocky gang, to book. He had a verbal exchange with the accused Rocky in the district court complex recently.

Billu and Rocky gangs were one of the several such groups in the city indulged in the illegal trade of finance and extortion. They have clashed with each other to get upper hand.

It is an open secret that political leaders, belonging to all parties, have been sheltering these gangsters. They have been using them against their political rivals or as their henchmen.

Ludhiana, June 23
Residents of Basti Mani Singh in the Basti Jodhewal area, who had complained against choked sewers, were allegedly threatened by personal assistant of area councillor who asked them to desist from complaining.

The residents of street number 3 in the area had complained a few days ago against the choked sewers. Their plight was highlighted in these columns also following which a team of municipal corporation employees had visited the area and cleaned manholes.

‘‘After cleaning the manholes, Rajinder Jain, PA to area councillor Santosh Kalra, visited our houses and terrorised us. He warned us that if we complain in future, we would be fined by the councillor. He even threatened us of dire consequences if we dared go to the media, ’’ said Vadish Kumar Gupta, a resident.

He added that while the problem was solved on the next day of complaining, sewers were again choked and they were getting contaminated water from taps. ‘‘The situation has not changed. The manholes are still choked and we do not know what to do,’’ added Gupta.

Gupta has written to commissioner Vikas Partap also. He has also enclosed signatures of 51 residents of the area.

Rajinder Jain, however, refuted all allegations. He said he had never threatened anyone. He had not gone from house to house to see whether there was a problem with the sewerage or not. ‘‘Why should I threaten anybody? I have no problems with him. I do not know why he complained against me. Only last evening, we had tea together in the presence of at least 10 persons. And now I am hearing he complained against me, ’’ said Jain.

He said, “after the complaint, we had called a team of the MC for cleaning the system. They cleaned it and the work was done.” He said Gupta did not like the previous councillor's working and now he was complaining against Kalra.

Ludhiana, June 23
Parks and green belts in colonies developed by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) in the city portray a pathetic picture of persistent neglect and poor upkeep and despite an outcry by residents, officials remain indifferent.

Almost all parks in Rishi Nagar are in a pitiable condition with broken or non-functional swings, broken benches, unkempt lawns, wilted plants, and in many of them, even the portions of boundary walls or fencing is missing.

The agitated residents of the colony complain that even after investing huge amounts of money in constructing their houses in the colony, the residents have no places to relax while children and senior citizens, in particular, face problems because of poor maintenance of parks.

Says a functionary of the Residents Welfare Association, "We have taken up the matter of poor upkeep of parks in the colony with officials of LIT a number of times without evoking any response till now. The indifferent attitude of the authorities have not only led to denial of an amenity to which the residents are entitled, but also at many places, parks and green belts are under unlawful occupation, which ought to be attended to and got vacated without further delay."

The residents feel that if the LIT authorities cannot maintain the parks at their level, these might be handed over to park management committees (PMCs) comprising area residents as is being done in most of the colonies. The LIT can pay the cost of maintenance to the PMCs as has been fixed by the state government.

When asked to comment on the issue, LIT executive officer Avtar Singh Azad told The Tribune that works relating to development and improvement of parks in the area were held up as tenders received by the trust were not approved by the state government for the last few months.

As and when these are cleared by the government, the work will be taken in hand. Further, there was no provision of handing over the maintenance of parks to PMCs in the colonies of the improvement trust.

Ludhiana, June 23
With the efforts to woo labourers failing to yield results, local industry is now making heavy investments towards automation to deal with the labour shortage in the long run.

According to rough estimates, a medium unit would spend Rs 20 lakh to Rs 2 crore in the direction.

Factories are facing a shortage of more than 35 per cent these days with majority of migrant labourers opting either to stay back at their respective hometowns or to work with farmers. The shortage has hit industrial production and made it tough for manufacturers to ensure timely deliveries.

The problem aggravated earlier during wheat harvesting and, now, during the sowing of paddy.

"Industry in Punjab relies heavily on migrant labourers. The shortage, this time, has prolonged and is unlikely to get better. We are making efforts to attract labourers. But, as a long-term solution, we have begun making investments towards automation. It would reduce our dependence on labour," said S.C. Ralhan, regional chairman of Engineering Export Promotion Council.

Punjabi workers have been eluding industry. As a result, more than 80 per cent of the labourers in factories here are migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Hit by the shortage, industrialists have been trying to woo labourers by offering them monetary as well as non-monetary incentives. Apart from increasing wages, manufacturers have also been attempting to tap women workers.

"We have been hiring women workers and offering the special facilities. However, we realise that the long term solution lies in depending more on machinery than workers, due to which we are now focussing on automation," said Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma, president of United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association.

Ludhiana, June 23
The National Consumer Awareness Group has expressed resentment against the hike in cable charges. "Cable operators have increased the rates and that is causing harassment to customers. The government needs to take action against them,” said M P Singh Gogia, president of the group.

The rates had been increased to Rs 350 in some localities, he alleged.

Demanding that uniform rates should be fixed in all localities, the group said variation in the rates was unjustified. It also alleged that small operators misbehaved with subscribers. "The operators do not even issue payment receipts, which is against the rules. They understate the actual number of subscribers in order to evade taxes," added Gogia.

The group condemned the operators for not installing their own poles. Some group members said it was unfair on part of the operators to use PSEB poles for their own wires.

Urging the government to save customers from harassment, the group said the administration should take stern action.

Ludhiana, June 23
Three students of Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) are volunteering the task of spreading agricultural education in areas considered to be backward in the state.

Concerned over the decline in the ratio of students belonging to rural areas, these students visited village schools and encouraged students to take up BSc (Agriculture) initiated by the university.

The PAU has recently introduced a six-year BSc (Agriculture) course. The course has received encouraging response as 700 forms have been received.

Hira Singh, who is perusuing his PhD in vegetable science at PAU, is leading the campaign.

Belonging to a sleepy village Bohpal in district Mansa, his room number 129 in hostel number seven has turned into counselling centre for the youngsters belonging to his native village.

So far, he has been successful in persuading 25 students of his village to take up the course. Hira Singh has also written an article about the benefits of the course.

Inspired by the initiative taken by Singh, two other students of the PAU joined him to take the task further.

One of his companions, Gurpreet Singh Brar of village Mangewala, district Moga, is preparing for his MSc (Agriculture) entrance examination.

"There has been a steady decline in the ratio of students, belonging to rural areas, who opt for agricultural studies, which is not helping in the promotion of agriculture in the state. Therefore, we decided to promote agriculture education in the villages. I have visited the village schools to encourage the students and will continue to do the same soon after the summer vacation get over," said Gurpreet singh Brar.

Another member of the group, Hardeep Singh of village Ganga, Bathinda, is upset over the use of agriculture degree for the purpose of brain drain. “The students from the cities are opting for this degree as agriculture graduates are highly in demand abroad. I believe that it will be beneficial for the agriculture of the state if the rural students are encouraged to peruse the degree," he said.

Hira Singh said," With 66 per cent of our population is still dependent on agriculture, we need to take this subject with respect. People still prefer other courses over agriculture due to lack of awareness."

Ludhiana, June 23
The state government in collaboration with Panjab University (PU), Chandigarh, organised a career counselling session for 10+2 students at SCD Government College here today.

As many as 445 students, comprising 138 from science stream, 72 from commerce and 235 from arts stream, were individually counselled by a team of experts from PU. The experts who guided the students regarding various courses included Dr Sween, Dr Paramjeet Singh Kang, Dr Kirandeep Kaur, Dr Pooja and Dr Navleen Singh.

While addressing the students and parents, Dr B.D. Budhiraja, dean, college development council, PU, said there were enormous opportunities for city students but students belonging to rural background needed orientation. He said that PU had started various courses, which can be pursued after plus two examination and placements were also good. He explained the qualifications and eligibility requirements for different courses being offered by the university and colleges affiliated to it.

Dr Malkiat Singh, principal, SCD Government College, said the Punjab government was serious for the upliftment of the rural students and the guidance and career counselling programmes were part of it. He said that the college was going to start job-oriented professional programmes, BCA and PGDCA, from the current academic session.

District education officer, Dr Sudesh Bajaj, said barring five schools, majority of the schools had achieved hundred per cent result in 10+2 of Punjab School Education Board. She said that from the next academic session, district education office would organise career guidance programmes in all senior secondary schools of the district. She added that government schools were providing noble services in the state and development of these institutions was instrumental in the upliftment of rural and poor people of Punjab.

Ludhiana, June 23
Bhutta College of Engineering and Technology (BCET) launched on-campus training programmes, in collaboration with leading IT Industry leaders Oracle, HCL and NIIT, here today.

Dr M.S. Kang, vice-chancellor, PAU was the chief guest and Jagdish Singh Garcha, former technical education minister, Punjab, presided over the function.

Dr V.K. Sharma, principal, BCET, said the college had taken initiative in organising the training as per the requirements of IT industry. He added that the students would be able to get training on the campus itself at a considerably lower cost and would be directly employable to the industry.

Ludhiana, June 23
In a bid to reinforce the continuing education related to safe and efficient nursing care, the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) has sponsored an eight-day workshop on quality assurance in nursing practices, which commenced at the hospital auditorium here today.

Inaugurating the workshop, CMCH director Dr Abraham G. Thomas stressed on improving the quality of nursing care in the hospital to perfection. "This can be made possible when nurses are professionally competent, socially relevant and high in spirituality," he said.

The CMCH director expressed that he had learnt a lot from nurses as there was excellence and touch of class in their behavior. The chief organiser of the workshop Triza Jiwan, principal, College of Nursing, observed that the aim of nursing was to improve standards of practices. "The nurses actively participate in risk-management and contribute to the institution by decreasing the potential liability which ultimately decreases the health-care cost without compromising its quality,”she said.

Thirty participants from the city and other places of Punjab and Haryana, along with senior nursing staff, are participating in the workshop, which will conclude on June 30, 2008.

In the course of deliberations, the participants will discuss different topics related to managerial skills, which directly or indirectly affect patient care.

Ludhiana, June 23
The annual divisional-level table tennis- 2008 was organised by the Life Insurance Corporation of India at its Divisional Office premises, Dugri, here today in which participants from the local branch offices, Divisional Office, besides from Samrala branch office took part.

Defending champion Jasbir Singh, who is working as higher grade assistant in the Divisional Office, retained the title.

In the final, he fought a pitched battle against T.P.S.Nanda from branch office, Unit-IV, Ludhiana, before romping home victorious.

Jasbir survived many anxious moments before wrapping up the first two sets 22-20, 21-18. However, in the third set, he lost it meekly at 14-21 and also went down fighting in the fourth set 18-21 which levelled the score two-all.

In the deciding game, Jasbir kept his composure and exhibited great control to rattle his opponent 21-17 which helped him fetching the title.

In the match to decide the third position, Harjit Vashisht faced a little resistence from Malkit Singh of branch office, Samrala, whom he outplayed in straight sets 21-17, 21-9.

Jasbir Singh has qualified to represent Ludhiana division in the Zonal Level Table Tennis Tournament slated to be held in Jaipur in August.

Darshan Singh, manager (P&IR) of LIC, Ludhiana Division, distributed the prizes.

Ludhiana, June 23
Continuing with their fine performance, hosts, Punjab, drubbed Tamil Nadu by 67 runs to register second win in a row on the second day of the first Senior National 20 Cricket Tournament being played on the Punjab Agricultural University campus grounds here today. Sixteen teams are taking part in this four-day tournament.

Punjab won the toss and elected to bat first. In the stipulated 20 overs, hosts hoisted a big total of 164 runs for the loss of four wickets. Then, they restricted the rivals to 97 runs with one ball to spare.

In the second match, Madhya Pradesh defeated Jammu and Kashmir by three wickets. Madhya Pradesh won the toss and invited Jammu and Kashmir to bat.

Jammu and Kashmir batsmen were bowled out for 107 runs in the allotted 20 overs. Madhya Pradesh made the required runs in 17 overs losing seven wickets.