Ludhiana, August 21
Gastroenteritis claimed another life today as a 50-year-old man died in Ambedkar Nagar here.

Karma was undergoing treatment for gastroenteritis at a local clinic in Ambedkar Nagar for the past 10 days.

Karma lived in a house opposite the park, which the area residents refer to as the "killer park". The park is being used as a dump as the garbage from almost 700 houses is disposed of here. The clogged sewerage in the park adds to the sorry state of affairs.

Two vacant plots in Model Town Extension, the area adjoining Ambedkar Nagar, too, have become permanent dumps amassing waste of the remaining 800 houses in the area.

Karma's family that first agreed that his death was caused by gastroenteritis, later on denied it, stating that he died because of heavy drinking. The residents of the area alleged that the family was pressurised by supporters of the area councillor to change their statement.

Dr Surjit, registered medical practitioner (RMP), alleged area councillor Harbhajan Singh Dang was harassing residents of Ambedkar Nagar for not casting votes in his favour during the MC elections. "I was his polling agent and know that people in the area did poll in his favour but he is just trying to settle scores with some of his rivals in Ambedkar Nagar," he said.

Dang said, "I am not aware of the death and will look into the matter immediately. The sewerage got damaged just two days ago and will be repaired at the earliest." He also said that the corporation machines could not be taken inside the plots as following a dispute with the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, the owners had gone to the court.

Maratha mohalla, a part of Ambedkar Nagar, has its share of poor sanitation. A large number of people here are ailing from diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases. Public toilets in the locality have not been cleaned for years, thereby becoming a breeding ground for infections.

Another area resident, while pointing towards the indifferent attitude of the authorities concerned, said that despite getting a representation from a deputation from Ambedkar Nagar, nothing had been done. "We had submitted a formal request to clear the clogged sewerage water in two parks, remove heaps of garbage, clear the muck near Nishkam school and undertake regular fogging," the resident added.

Ludhiana, August 21
Nearly 20 hours after two labourers died and one was injured seriously in a basement cave-in, allegedly being dug illegally late last night, no heads rolled in the municipal corporation's building branch here today.

Two labourers Rakesh and Raju from Bihar died due to asphyxia after they got buried under caved in earth while they were digging the basement of a small shop Vishal Motors near Kaka Marriage Palace late last evening.

They were rescued alive after a two-hour-long operation launched by the city police and fire brigade. But they died after they were shifted to two different hospitals. One of their co-workers is still admitted to the hospital. His condition is also stated to be serious.

While all this happened, the MC did not take any action against the building owner who was digging the basement illegally in a congested area that too in the dead of the night. Though the illegal act took the life of two persons, the MC did not write a complaint to the police to register a case. The questions that are being raised now are how come the MC officials allowed the structure to come up all these days.

The division number 5 police has also not taken any action against anybody. SHO Shawinder Singh Dhillon said they were waiting for the relatives of the deceased to arrive and write a complaint to them. “We will register a case of causing death due to negligence as soon as we get a complaint,” said the SHO.

While the incident has shook the city, nothing seemed to move the MC. Joint commissioner Kuldeep Singh, while talking to Tribune, said the building was coming up illegally. “It was shocking that the owner was digging a cave-like structure and nobody came to know about it. I have directed the municipal town planner to look into the matter and file a complaint with the police. We will get a case registered against the owner,” he said.

MTP Hemant Bhatia, however, said he was in Chandigarh and attending a meeting. He said he had told the JC that he would not be able to do it as he was away. He said he had directed head draftsman Vijay Kumar to look into the matter.

Vijay Kumar denied having received any instruction from any senior. He said he was a draftsman and it was not his job. “It is up to the building branch to take action. Afterall it is a field job and I am just a draftsman. The building inspectors should know what was happening,” he said.

Ludhiana, August 21
Sri Guru Hargobind Law College, Sidhwan Khurd, near here, has enrolled just one girl student under management quota in LLB course this session. Thanks to the state government's strange policies which keep on changing every year for convenience.

The Sri Guru Hargobind Ujagar Hari Trust, which runs parallel Khalsa College, B.Ed College, schools at the premises, had spent about Rs 1 crore on infrastructure of all women Law Colleges about two years back. Both 3-year (LLB) and 5-year (BA LLB) courses are being run by the college management. The girls college being run by the trust is perhaps the oldest college (rural) in the country.

One of the trustees disclosed that last year, the state government had allowed them to admit students under management quota and they were able to enroll many students. "But this time, we have been told not to adjust students, who had not cleared the Common Entrance Test. If we knew about the changing policies of the government, we could not have spent so much on building this Law College", rued the member, adding that there were total 80 seats for the course (part I). As many as 27 girl students have already pursuing LLB IInd and IIIrd year in the college.

An educationist in the city said last year, the government had relaxed its rules during the admission process. Managements of private colleges were allowed to admit eligible students under certain quotas but this year, acting strict, they asked private colleges not to admit students who could not clear the tests.

Interestingly, the rules have again been changed recently.

The government has reportedly asked the managements to admit students who had at least appeared in the tests, no matter whether failed or passed. If this was the criterion, then what was the fun for appearing in tests?, asked one of the retired principals here.

Dr Kanwarjit Singh, DPI Colleges, said only students who had appeared in the tests were eligible to get admissions. "We have relaxed the pass/fail criterion", he said.

Ludhiana, August 21
The Bal Bhalai Schools, run under the aegis of the National Child Labour Project, are in a state of utter neglect. Thanks to the lackadaisical attitude of bureaucratic machinery, these schools are yet to receive last four months’ funds.

The project started in 2001 with an objective to provide elementary education to children who work as labour at various industrial unites situated in Amritsar, Jalandhar and Ludhiana. The grant comes from the Centre but these schools are administered by the additional commissioner, development, of the respective districts.

As many as 40 child labour schools were set up in the district but in seven years, the number of these schools has come down to just 20. These schools not only have to provide free education to children, but also have to give a monthly scholarship of Rs 100 to every student. The irony is that the scholarships of 2005 and 2006 are still pending with the department.

The meal funds allotted for children often get delayed by six months. Fifty students are allowed to take admission in these schools which run from 2 pm to 6 pm. These schools face a lot of problems in admitting new children, thanks to red-tapism which delays the process for months before giving it a final nod to admit students.

The school being run by Model Town Welfare Society at Ambedker Nagar Street No 9 has met with the same fate. Earlier, there were 100 students in this school but around 50 of them cleared the Class V board examination, since then the school is waiting for approval of the authorities to admit new students.

According to society member Surjit Singh, “Grant for this school is schedule to arrive on the fifth day of every month but it takes around nine months before it reaches. Grants of May, June, July and August, amounting to a whopping Rs 55 lakh, are pending with the department. The district needs around 100 such schools but instead of increasing the number, the government is busy decreasing it,” he added.

The condition of the school run by Indian National Trade Congress at Taj Pur road is no better. District president of the society Pawan Sharma even complained to special envoy of the National Human Rights Commission N.D. Mishra in a recently held meeting.

However, with all bureaucratic higher-ups washing their hands off the matter, these societies are left with no option but to foot the bill from their own pocket.

Ludhiana, August 21
Hundreds of activists of various Hindu organisations today courted arrest before the District Magistrate in the Mini Secretariat over the Amarnath Shrine land row.

A large number of women activists carrying saffron flags and raising slogans against the central and the Jammu and Kashmir governments also courted arrest.

State BJP president Rajinder Bhandari along with BJP investor cell head Sukhminder Singh Grewal and heads of various sects were the first to court arrest.Police buses later let off the arrested on the outskirts of the city.

The organisations that participated in the protest were the Amarnath Yatri Sangharsh Samiti,the Amarnath Yatri International Welfare Association,the Neelkanth Sewa Samiti, the Gobind Gaudham Sangla Wala Shivalaya,the Shakteshwar Dham ,the Santam Dharam Parchar Samiti and the Mangla Gaur Amarnath Yatra Samiti, besides others.

Sahnewal, August 21
The constant threat of an epidemic outbreak looms large over Ward 8 of Sahnewal due to the overflowing sewage on the streets.

Most of the streets are full of filth and sullage while the authorities have failed to take any action.

The residents rue that at times the sewage not only floods the streets but also enters houses , thus making the situation worse.

The drainage system has choked to such a degree that even a mild rain leaves the streets and the houses in bad shape. Even under normal circumstances, the sullage gets accumulated on the streets.

A resident laments:” This is not the first time that we are facing this problem. It has been there for years, but this time, the situation is grim.The foul-smell emitted by the sullage is agonising.”

The residents say that though the nagar council has been informed about the appalling condition several times, but leave aside taking corrective measures, no single employee has bothered to visit the spot even once.

They said that while on the one hand the living conditions are deplorable, on the other hand not even a single flogging machine has arrived since the beginning of the summer season in spite of repeated reminders. There are heaps of garbage and no cleanliness drive has ever been launched.

Ludhiana, August 21
Showcasing India’s culinary heritage, a 10-day kebab and biryani food festival got under way at The Majestic Park Plaza.

The unique gourmet event at Punj Sice will bring together the famous biryani and kebab speciality.To bring you the authentic taste of the legendary kebab and biryani, master chef Raminder Pal Singh Malhotra (of Dumpukht and Bhukhara Fame) has brought together a wide range of spices from every part of India to suit every palate.

The festival is based on two important aspects of Indian cuisine, kebab and biryani. Kebabs originated from Turkey in Central Asia from ‘Kaam Aaab’ meaning less water or semi-dry, the emphasis being on 'craftsmanship in culinary skills', the art of manipulating the duality of fire (aag) and water (paani), states the chef from Delhi.

The legendary Hydrabadi kache gosht ki biryani that has not yet travelled outside Hydrabad, too, is on the special menu as chef Raminder adds, "When I took the recipe from the chefs in Hydrabad, they said you need the water from this city to get the actual taste of the dish, but I have managed to come out with good results."

This festival will be a gastronomic delight for the people of Ludhiana as the delicacies will be cooked on the sigri (open fire charcoal grill), tawa, mahi tawa, kadhai (deep fry and stir fry) and steamer.

The food fest will clear another misconception that kebabs are synonymous to the North West Frontier Cuisine as people will get to savour kebabs from Goan, Konkan, Parsi, Tamilian, Rajasthani and Bengali cuisines.

Ludhiana, August 21
Students of SCD Government College here today elected Ekjot as president of college student union. He was given a warm welcome by his supporters and local councillor Simarjit Singh Bains. Ekjot is BA III student of the college, who has been selected as president for the third consecutive year.

Meanwhile, students of GADVASU also elected Money Singla, a third year student of the veterinary college as president of the GADVASU Students Union here today.

Dr Amritpal Singh Sekhon, the outgoing president, said Money Singla would represent all three colleges, including College of Veterinary Sciences, College of Dairy Technology and College of Fisheries. He said since there was no opposition, there was no need for elections.

The name of new president was announced on the campus earlier today and later formal announcement was made by students at hostel number 8.

Ludhiana, August 21
Strange are the ways of the Punjab State Education Board as the students appearing for the Class X supplementary examination, scheduled from tomorrow, had to return empty-handed as the roll number slips of several students went missing.

The roll numbers of these students were not available even on the Internet.

In the meantime, long queues were witnessed at the board’s depot at Punjab Bhawan here today as the students were waiting to get their roll numbers on the last day.

Students from across the district, mostly from the periphery areas like Khanna, Raikot , Mangli village and Jagraon were frantically waiting for their roll numbers, which were promised to be given today, but did not arrive at the board book depot.

How they will appear for the examination is the big question looming large on the minds of the students.

A group of five students from Mangli village, who visited the book depot twice in five days, complained about the careless attitude of the officials of the book depot.

"When we reached here to take our roll numbers, we were told by the department that our roll numbers were not available with the book depot."

Another student, who came from Khanna, complained, "How can they say they lost the roll numbers? My roll number is not available even on the Internet."

Tajinder Kaur from Jagraon, the only girl who was standing in queue to take her roll number criticised the “apathetic” attitude of the officers. I feel as if an year is going to be ruined due to the slack attitude of the department."

A department employee explained their inability to entertain the students. He said, "We can understand the inconvenience caused to students, but what can we do as the roll numbers are not with us. We are trying to contact the board employees at Mohali."

Bomb (Samrala), August 21
Bomb - a tiny hamlet situated on the Bija-Samrala road amuses one and all. At times the name even creates panic.

With a population of 1,300 out of which 770 are voters, no one in the village knows where did the name originate from. There are hearsays that have passed on from one generation to another. Children use this name in their schools and government records, too, carry this name since a long time, said villagers.

Villager Balraj Singh says long ago someone in the village had defused a bomb and from there, the village picked up its name. Others say a bomb was found in the village many years ago, hence the name. In many families it's the fourth or the fifth generation living. But even the village's elderly do not remember from where the name originated.

Also, the villagers have different stories to tell about the general public’s reactions to the village's name. "When I went to donate blood at a camp held at Christian Medical College and Hospital, doctors there thought that I was discussing a bomb with someone. It was later that they came to know that I was telling my village's name," said Harmukh Singh, member of the village panchayat.

"I am going to Bomb, I came from Bomb, I am calling from Bomb. These are the common sentences which sometimes amuse the listeners and often, panic them. So we have to tell them that it is our village's name," said Hari Singh, another villager.

One of the panchayat members Harmukh Singh said as soon as they reveal the name of their village, people start discussing it. "People first inquire about the origin of this name. But even we don't know who named our village," he said.

"No matter what prompted our ancestors to name this village, we are happy with it. At least people are either amused or confused after hearing this name and this makes us special," he said.

Ludhiana, August 21
Targeting the large number of cases that are pending, the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) will organise a special lok adalat at district courts complex on September 13.

Divulging the details, Sessions Judge G.K. Rai said in order to settle the maximum number of cases, judicial officers have already started doing spadework. They have started organising pre-lok adalats for persuading litigants to resolve their disputes through lok adalats. He appealed to the masses to resolve their disputes by way of amicable settlement, as it not only puts an end to their dispute forever but also helps in reducing bitterness among the parties.

In order to chalk out the strategy, a meeting of the DLSA was held here today. The meeting was chaired by Additional Sessions Judge M.S. Virdi and attended by Chief Judicial Magistrate Lachhman Singh, Civil Judge Senior Division Rajinder Aggarwal, SP (D) Gurpreet Singh Toor, Assistant District Attorney Arvind Markan, members of the authority Ruby Fernandiz and Daljit Singh Saini.

Several benches will be constituted to settle cases of different natures.

Each bench will be headed by a judicial officer and assisted by a lawyer and a social worker. Cases involving motor accident claims, banker-debtor disputes, matrimonial and civil disputes, workmen compensation cases, civil appeals, cheque bounce cases, traffic challans etc will be taken up in the lok adalat.

Ludhiana, August 21
The animal husbandry extension committee's (AHEC) meeting was held yesterday at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Husbandry University (GADVASU). This was the first meeting of the AHEC since the inception of the university in April, 2006.

The AHEC has representatives from different animal farming sectors comprising dairy, poultry, sheep/ goat, piggery, horses and fishery, milk and meat processing units. The committee also involves officials of various government organisations, including animal husbandry, dairy development and fisheries department.

Dr O.S. Parmar, director, extension education, chaired the meeting. Dr Parmar said the committee was a platform to get feedback from livestock farmers of the state and share views with all the departments working for the cause of livestock development. It was a sort of interface where livestock farmers brought their problems to the university in the presence of research and development organisations which were deliberated upon thoroughly and the university got guidelines to reorient its research programmes as per the requirements of the farmers.

At the meeting, members of the progressive dairy farmers association deliberated upon the agenda for control of brucellosis at the village and border level and among nomadic people. Further, they demanded a laboratory at the entry point of the border areas of Punjab to test the animals which were entering into the state for common contagious diseases like brucellosis, TB and JD diseases.

Dr Parmjit Singh, deputy director, department of animal husbandry, assured them abundant supply of calf hood vaccine for brucellosis and informed that their department would take up the matter with the state government for procurement of RB-51 vaccine. Dr A.S. Nanda, director, research, revealed that regional development centre/ krishi vigyan kendra of GADVASU would soon start at Padhri Kalan (Tarntaran), Kaljharani (Bathinda) and Talwara (Hoshiarpur).

Dr Kamaldeep Kaur, dean, College of Fisheries Science, also clarified various agendas of fish farmers and revealed that the fisheries college was striving for the upliftment of fish farmers, introduction of new culture, tackling the problems of fish farming, innovation of new technologies, cage culture and pen culture.

Ludhiana, August 21
Has the boundary wall of a park (no. 150) in Phase I, Urban Estate, Dugri here, and that of an adjoining building crumbled due to incessant rains or is it a veiled bid to encroach upon the green belt? The mystery is bothering thousands of area residents, who visit the green belt every day during mornings and evenings to have a whiff of fresh air.

If functionaries of the HIG Residents Welfare Association are to be believed, this seems to be too much of a coincidence that the boundary wall of the park and a portion of the side wall of the adjoining building should collapse at the same time. "The manner in which an attempt is being made to construct a side gate of the building towards the park suggests that there is more to the issue than meets the eye."

The association along with other affected residents of the colony has taken up the matter with officials of the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA).

Ludhiana, August 21
The district consumer disputes redressal forum has ordered the Oriental Insurance Company to make the payment of Rs 2.69 lakh to a consumer on account of expenditure incurred by him on treatment during hospitalisation.

President of the forum and its member also directed the company to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to the consumer for harassment. The consumer will also get interest at the rate of 9 per cent per annum from Feburary 19, 2005, when his claim was repudiated.

The orders were pronounced while deciding a complaint filed by senior citizen Janak Raj Jain of Purana Bazar, Ludhiana.

Doraha, August 21
An orientation programme was organised to mark the commencement of the new academic session for BBA and BCA students.

The orientation programme began with the introduction of faculty members by V.J. Rai.He focused on the main features of the institute along with the achievement, especially the placements during the last two years.He highlighted the concern for non-indulgence of ragging by the students and cautioned them in this regard as it hamper the overall personality of the students.The academic rules and guidelines were thoroughly explained by Nishi Bala and Kanika Jain.

Ruma Mehta elucidated students development programme and cultural functions of the institute.In addition, students were given information regarding bus facility, bus routes, canteen, library, sports and computer lab.

In the second phase, students were entertained through cultural activities. The main motive of these activities was to discover the hidden talent and creativity of the students.

Khamano, August 21
Teej was celebrated at GGS Khalsa College for Women, Jhar Sahib, with pomp and show. College principal Dr Paramjeet Kaur Tiwana inaugurated the function. Students participated in various competitions.

Jaspreet Kaur stood first in mehndi competition while Preeti stood second. Amanpreet stood first in rangoli making competition and Payal was first in 
embroidery. Students participated in dance items, including gidha.

Sumanjeet of BA (final) was declared ‘Miss Teej’and was given a ‘saggi phull’ by the prinicpal. Later, the students were treated to kheer puras.

Ludhiana, August 21
In various results declared by Panjab University, Chandigarh, yesterday, city girls once again proved their mettle by holding top university positions. Students of MA-I and MA-II (music vocal) of Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women showed excellent results in the examination held in April, 2008.

Ludhiana, August 21
Saravjit Singh excelled with bat and ball (43 n o and 4 for 33) to anchor Sports Club of Machhiwara to a 49-run win against Royal Club of Phagwara in the final of the annual Om Nath Dhingra Prize Money Cricket Tournament which concluded at Akal Stadium, Phagwara, today. Eight teams participated in this knockout tournament.

Royal Club skipper won the toss and invited Sports Club to bat first. In the allotted 25 overs, they scored 221 run for the loss of 7 wickets. Their innings revolved around Hardeep Singh and Saravjit Singh.

Hardeep scored 67 runs off 41 balls with the help of 9 fours and two sixes while Saravjit Singh remained unbeaten on 43 runs which came off 39 balls. Other contributors were Ramandeep Singh and Harpal Singh who chipped in with 38 and 22 runs, respectively.

For Royal Club, Sukhdeep Singh took three wickets for 44 runs while Vishal claimed two for 49 and Sanjay Kumar grabbed one for 39.

Chasing the target, Royal Club's innings was wrapped up at 172 runs in 22.3 overs with main contributions coming through Harmanjit Bawa, Manjot Singh and Talwinder Singh who made 44, 37 and 31 runs, respectively.

For the winners, Saravjit Singh was the pick of the bowlers who sent down five overs and took four wickets after conceding 33 runs. Manpreet Thandi and Haradeep Singh scalped two victims each for 48 and 38 runs, respectively.

The winners pocketed a cash prize of Rs 21,000 while the losing finalists received a cash prize of Rs 11,000.