Ludhiana, November 28
At this moment, when everyone at PAU are waiting for the final finding of committee's report into the alleged sexual harassment case, one of the members of the standing committee (an NGO) has reportedly resigned from the membership.

Sore over the way the probe was going on, Sarwan Kumar of the Nishkam Sewa Ashram here sent his resignation to the university authorities day before yesterday.

Sarwan Kumar, talking to The Tribune, said the committee members, probing the sexual harassment case, were eager to reach the conclusion. "But somehow, I was not satisfied with their argument. If we are levelling allegations against anyone, he/she should be given a patient hearing. Secondly, the documents required by Brar should have been given to him. I have attended three meetings on this issue", he said, adding that one of the committee members had approached him to sign on the final report (the findings) but he refused to bow to any pressure. He, however, expressed doubts over the complainant's submitted proofs/evidence.

Dr Neelam Grewal, chairman of the committee, however, said: "The committee has not submitted its report yet". She refused to divulge the details.

Seeing the sudden development on part of the NGO, a senior faculty member of the varsity said it was a mental torture for the complainant. "For how long can we take to provide her with justice. It has already been more than two months since the complaint was filed with the authorities. If we fail to submit the report within the stipulated time, we will be criticised, and if the authorities are trying hard to reach the conclusion, even then they are being condemned?", asked the faculty member.

Ludhiana, November 28
With the Satluj Club failing to pay its house tax of around Rs 1.5 crore despite the completion of deadline given by the municipal corporation, municipal commissioner G.S. Ghuman has decided to take the matter into his own hands.

He would now meet deputy commissioner Sumer Singh Gurjar, who is also the president of the club, to solve the issue.

Interestingly, on November 11, the municipal corporation had issued a notice to the club and had given it three days to pay back Rs 1, 50, 41, 937. Though the deadline finished on November 14, the defaulter club failed to submit the amount till date.

The notice was issued by the civic body after the Punjab and Haryana High Court squashed the appeal forwarded by the club. According to information, the house tax amount was around Rs 70 lakh and the rest of the amount has been added as interest, as the defaulter failed to pay the tax.

Sources revealed that another club Lodhi Club, too, had been not paying tax since 1996 and the case is still going in court.

"Many elite of the city are members of these clubs and they pay amount in lakhs for securing the membership. When they have so much money, we don't know why they try to run from paying taxes despite the fact that they know that it has to be used for development projects," MC officials said.

Ludhiana , November 28
In the wake of terror attacks in Mumbai and spurt in snatching incidents, the city police has directed all marriage palace owners to install CCTV cameras on their premises.

The police has asked the marriage palace owners to install CCTV cameras in parking lots, main hall, at the entrance and exit points. They have also been directed to install metal detectors at the entrance. The hosts will be required to identify their guests so that no unwanted person gets inside the marriage palace.

Besides, the police has also asked the marriage palace owners to get the police verification done of the staff. The owners should have all past records of the worker along with his photograph and permanent address.

They have been asked to remain vigilant and ask the hosts to watch out for any unclaimed stuff and inform the police control room in case of any suspicion. According to the directions, no liquor will be served inside the premises without a permit from the excise department and the palaces should be let out in accordance with the capacity only. The owners were also asked to adhere to the fire safety norms.

The SSP said that during a survey, he found that kitchens were very close to the main halls where hundreds of people remained present during the function. He asked them to keep the cylinder at a safe distance.

The owners also asked the SSP to divert the heavy loaded vehicles like straw trucks from the main road, especially the Ferozepur Road where most of the marriage palaces were located.

He said he would take up the matter with PWD to provide service lanes in front of marriage palaces so that the traffic situation was streamlined.

Raikot, November 28
The issue of fake currency allegedly circulated by the then Ferozepur SSP Gurcharan Singh Pherurahin has resurfaced again with inspector-general, Patiala Range, C.S.R. Reddy reaching the village with an inquiry team to probe the matter afresh.

According to sources, the IG questioned him for two hours inside his grand mansion in his native village Pherurahin.

SSP Pherurahin was booked by the then SHO Mohinder Kumar Ghai and DSP Harjit Singh Brar on September 6, 2002, on the charges of circulating fake currency and recovered Rs 5.2 lakh of fake currency from his house.

He was booker during the previous Congress regime when the PPSC chairman Ravi Sidhu was booked and arrested in the job for cash scam. A huge amount of fake currency was recovered from his lockers. He accused SSP Pherurahin to have supplied that fake currency amounting Rs 1 crore as graft for the appointment of his son as DSP and his daughter as a PCS officer.

It needs to be mentioned here that at the time of his posting as SSP Ferozepur, the police had recovered a huge cache of fake currency being supplied from Pakistan.

The Ambala court acquitted him from the charges of fake currency as all the witness turned hostile, but after the media published reports in this case, High Court chief justice took suo motto notice and issued a notice to the police to submit an affidavit why they lied in the court. The then SHO and DSP filed the affidavit that they acted under the pressure from government as SSP Pherurahin was reportedly close to the them former CM Parkash Singh Badal. After the filing of the affidavit, the police has now initiated a high-level police inquiry into the matter.

In today’s questioning, the then DSP (now SP, Baba Bakala), and SHO (now SHO, Rampura) were also included. The media was kept at bay during this closed-door questioning.

IG Reddy only said to the media that they were here to investigate the matter. He refused to reveal any details of the investigations. However, reliable sources reveal that the advocate who represented Gurcharan Singh Pherurahin at that time is now on a high government post and is all determined to acquit him permanently from the fake currency case. Instead, all efforts are being made to “implicate” the then DSP Harjit Singh Brar and SHO Mohinder Kumar Ghai in the case of “falsely implicating” Pherurahin in the case of fake currency.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Gurcharan Singh Pherurahin said he was innocent and was falsely implicated during the Congress regime. He was acquitted by the courts and said he still hopes to be acquitted by the court again.

Ludhiana, November 28
Adopting a strict policy, the municipal corporation today demolished the pedestrian path near the Bhai Bala Chowk which was encroached by hotel Park Plaza.

The municipal officials, who were accompanied by a team of police officials, in the presence of XEN (B& R) , conducted the drive in front of the hotel at around 6 p.m.

The MC cleared the area, which was supposed to be a slip road, joining the Pakhowal road and Ferozepore road and was encroached by the hotel owned by Congress MLA Jasbir Singh Khangura.

According to information, the place belonged to the forest department and was given to the municipal corporation for the maintenance during the tenure of former municipal commissioner Vikas Pratap. The MC did try to vacate the land during the tenure of Vikas, but the hotel owner brought a stay for it.

The hotel had encroached the service land and had been using it for parking vehicles of the hotel visitors.

Ludhiana, November 28
A team of health officials, led by district family welfare officer (DFWO), Ludhiana, Dr Reena Sandhu, today seized an ultrasound machine from Dr Jatinder Gambhir Hospital at Pakhowal road.

The team was accompanied by DSP Bhupinder Singh, who is the investigation officer in the case.

Earlier in July, the health authorities had sealed the ultrasound machine following a raid at the hospital. Dr A.P.S. Gambhir was arrested for violating the Medical Termination of Pregnancy and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Test Act, but was later granted bail by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Dr Yash Pal Mehta, the then deputy medical commissioner, Dr Reena Sandhu, district family welfare officer, Dr Harvinder Singh, senior medical officer of local civil hospital and Dr Gurwinder Kaur, had conducted the raid on the hospital and found Jasbir Kaur from Rurka Khurd near Goraya being readied for termination of pregnancy in the labour room following the sex determination test.

However, Dr Gambhir dismissed the allegations, saying the court had granted him bail after going through the test reports of the foetus which clearly stated that it was impossible to conduct a sex determination test before 12 weeks of pregnancy. The doctor also said that the patient had come to their hospital with a miscarriage and added that he and his wife were being falsely framed in the case.

Civil surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr S.P. Sharma said that the DFWO and other doctors, along with the investigating officer, interrogated Dr Jatinder Gambhir (gynaecologist) and Dr A.P.S. Gambhir.

Dr Reena Sandhu said that the doctor violated the PNDT Act and alleged that he has managed to get bail after getting the reports tempered.

Dr Sandhu said that she had written to the Punjab health minister about the case, asking her to look into the matter and help the department in getting cooperation from the law enforcing agencies for strict implementation of the PNDT Act.

Ludhiana, November 28
Though the cheque for Rs 40 crore handed over to the municipal corporation by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on October 11 had brought cheers, it's now the payback time for the civic body.

According to information, the municipal corporation has been asked to identify the land worth Rs 20 crore and hand it over to the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) for auction. The decision was taken during the meeting with chief secretary of the local bodies department in Chandigarh yesterday.

Confirming this, municipal commissioner G.S. Ghuman said the MC has been directed to handover the property to PUDA as soon as possible for paying back the loan. He added that the extra amount received from auction after deducting Rs 20 crore would be given to the municipal corporation. The sources added that the municipal corporation had already a list of identified lands which could be auctioned to get revenue.

Interestingly, when the cheque was handed over by the CM, he didn't reveal that the amount was a loan, where both PUDA and Punjab Infrastructure Development Board (PIDB) had contributed Rs 20 crore each. It was only after three days that the civic body received a letter disclosing that the amount has been lend and has to be returned.

With these directions, it seems that the fund-crunched Punjab government is now going to target government property to initiate development in the city. Although the CM claims that the state exchequer is not short of funds, but when it comes to financial aid, the government has been managing funds from here and there.

Earlier, the municipal corporation was handed over two pieces of land, 7.3 acres at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and 1.13 acres on Ferozepur Road and was asked to take Rs 150 crore from the auction of these two plots.

The amount was to be used for undertaking many development projects in the city. However, the auction could not be held till date owing to global meltdown and huge reduction in real estate prices.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 28
Their hope against hopes to find their son alive was diminished when his body was fished out of the pond in the wee hours today.

Raunaq of Kup Kalan village in Sangrur district and his wife, who had praying that their two-year-old son should be alright, were shocked when villagers told them that the body of the child had been retrieved from sludge of the pond.

All efforts to console the couple failed. While Shakila came into shock immediately after hearing the news, Raunaq cursed the time when he allowed his son to play near his mother who was preparing cow-dung cakes near the village pond on Wednesday evening.

Though nobody had seen the child falling in the pond, the villagers assumed that he had slipped in the water.

According to Jaspal Jassie, SDM, Malerkotla, the mishap was brought into the notice of the civil administration yesterday.

After divers failed to search the child in muddy water and sludge of the pond, the authorities decided to pump out the water with the help of submersible pumps and fire engines.

Though there was a little hope of the child being rescued alive, the SDM directed the officials to continue emptying the pond till its basin was visible.

Ludhiana, November 28
Dr Yadvinder Singh, PAU's senior soil chemist, has been elected fellow of the most prestigious Indian National Science Academy for his outstanding contributions in soil science. The academy awards one fellowship within India from all subjects of agricultural sciences every year.

Dr Singh is already a fellow of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian Society of Soil Science. Among the several honour and prizes that he received previously were the Rafi Ahmed Kidwai Memorial Prize for the triennium 1991-1993, Dr G.S. Khush Distinguished Professor Award of PAU (2006), Recognition Award of NAAS (2005), FAI Silver Jubilee Award of Excellence (2001), Marie Curie Senior Post Doctoral Fellowship of the Commission of European Communities (1994), Commonwealth Fellowship of Government of Canada (1981), and All-India (ICAR) Competitive Junior Fellowship (1971).

Dr Singh has conducted research on fertiliser moisture interactions which provided a basis for developing sound fertiliser management practices for dryland crops. He has developed a simple and improved method for characterising nitrifying activity in soils. He conducted research to develop integrated nutrient management packages based on inorganic fertilisers and several organic source for rice-wheat system. He has made significant contributions in managing crop residues for nutrient cycling and reducing environmental pollution.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, November 28
The Punjab Human Rights Commission, Chandigarh, has initiated a probe into a case in which a self-styled baba and his henchmen had been booked by the Dehlon police under Section 429 of the Cruelty to Animals Act for allegedly detaining cows and committing cruelty against them by starving them 20 months ago.

The probe was initiated on the request of the suspect, who had accused various officials of the police of siding with complainants.

A team of officials, led by SP Gurdev Singh and S S Chawla, today interacted with residents of villages surrounding Shri Radha Krishan Gaushala, formerly known as Seth Gobindmal Chanan Ram Parmapati Gaushala, at Kaind village, to hear allegations and counter-allegations made by office-bearers of the gaushala and Varinder Puri, a self-styled baba.

Though officials did not disclose the outcome of their inquiry, it is learnt that that residents and office-bearers of various constitutional, social and religious organisations had refuted charges levelled by the baba.

"We have just recorded statements of all concerned and noted down details of the gaushala. We will submit our report to the rights commission through our ADGP Jyoti Tehran and the final decision in the case will be taken on the basis of facts," said Gurdev Singh.

The case was registered after a number of social and religious organisations of the local town and Ludhiana had launched a crusade against the alleged nasty act of the baba.

Virender Puri and his associates, however, had denied the charges and maintained that they had been taking care of the animals.

Puri and his associates had allegedly been detaining and starving cows and diverting funds collected from donors of the area. A number of cows had died due to the negligence of the workers deputed for taking their care.

Apprehending that he might lose control on property worth lakhs, Virender tried to stop activists of the Brahmin Sabha, Ahmedgarh, the Brahmin Sabha, Ludhiana, the Gau Surkhsha Samiti, Ahmedgarh, the Bhartia Mahavir Dal, the Bajrang Dal and the Kalgidhar Federation, Ahmedgarh.

On the demand of Varinder Puri and his sympathisers, senior officers, including SSPs and DIG, had conducted inquiries in connection with the case.

Ludhiana, November 28
In a bid to provide ultra-modern treatment facilities to patients, a state-of-the-art machine for breaking stones, Extracorporeal Shock Wave Lithotripsy (ESWL), was installed at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here today.

German-made "Dornier Compact Sigma Modular Lithotripter" is able to crush even hard stones because of its powerful shock generator. This makes the machine more advantageous than other smaller versions and as a result bigger stones can also be broken with good results. The machine was made operational in the presence of faculty members and other staff of urology department.

Dr Sandeep Sharma, professor and head of urology at DMCH, said X-Ray or ultrasound were used to locate the kidney stone and by a computerised system the kidney stone was placed at the focal point of the energy source of the lithotripter. Stone was powered into fine particles which passed out through urine. Patients with stone disease could be treated on outpatient basis without any cut or anesthesia and could be discharged within a few hours. The patient felt no pain and could resume work on the same day.

He remarked that renal stones mostly affected North Indians, which is also referred to as the "stone belt" by doctors.

Dr B.S Aulakh, professor of urology, added that stones were formed due to reasons which could be metabolic breakdown, hereditary, infection, dietetic factors, low intake of water, a sedentary lifestyle, absence of stone inhibitors and hyper activity of the para-thyroid gland.

Stressing the need for timely preventive steps, Dr Arvind Goyal, assistant professor in the department of urology, said high fluid intake was the single most important factor in the prevention of a kidney stone and its importance could not be undermined. "In normal course, one ought to have three to four litres of fluid intake daily, enough to produce 2 to 2.5 litres of urine."

Medical superintendent and professor of gastroenterology at DMCH Dr Rajoo Singh said this machine was also useful in breaking of gall bladder stones in common bile duct. Dr Daljit Singh, principal, lauded the installation of such high-series machine for non-invasive management of stone diseases.

Mandi Gobindgarh, November 28
The Regional Institute of Management and Technology organised IT Fusion 08, an interactive seminar on Computer Network Security and Infrastructure Management Services here. More than 250 students and members of the faculty from the department of computer science of the institute participated.

Welcoming resource persons of the seminar, the director general of the institute, Dr. B.S. Bhatia, said the students and members of the faculty must be aware of the career opportunities available for professionally qualified students in the industry and this helps the educational institutes to train and develop students accordingly. Dr. S.N. Panda, the principal of the institute, said, RIMT had always tried to train students on the latest technologies.

Avinash Garg, director of the Delhi-based IRIS Unified Technologies, said students and technical institutes concentrated on software development for job opportunities whereas networking, infrastructural management, security and ERP also offered a lot of job opportunities worldwide.

Krishna Sai, the technical director of the IRIS Unified Technologies in his address, said there were plenty of business opportunities in the IT industry. But unfortunately there was a big mismatch between the industry and institutes on the technology front. He said the technical institutes were not offering the skills which were required by the industry.

Ludhiana, November 28
An annual day function, “Mission Natio Concordia” was celebrated with great pomp and show at Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, B.R.S. Nagar. Dr Anil Couto, school patron and Bishop of Jalandhar, was the chief guest.

Ludhiana, November 28
For the past three days, residents of Sarabha Nagar have not received water supply.

All three motors in ward 56, which include the one in I-block and J-block, got a technical snag due to which the residents had been facing inconvenience.

Sonica, a resident, said, "There has been no drop of water for the past three days and the municipal corporation has been doing nothing despite repeated complaints."

She added that her family had to spend around Rs 1,000 to buy potable water as the fresh water was unavailable.

Businessman Rajan lamented that even the civic authorities take the problem of water so lightly. It has been more than two days that we are reeling under the problem, but to no avail. He added that the daily routine had been upset due to the absence of water.

Municipal councillor Amrit Varsha Rampal said she was aware of it and she had complained about it to the junior engineer concerned. "Two of the motors have been repaired today and the one would be ready by tomorrow," she said, adding that it takes time to correct the problem as the motors are underground.

Ludhiana, November 28
The College of Physiotherapy, CMC, here, celebrated its "Freshers Night" and "College day" here on Thursday. All faculty with their families, students and interns participated in the function. Students presented various cultural items, including dance, plays and songs which were well received by the audience.

Welcoming the guests, principal of the college Dr M.K. Mam gave a brief history of the department which, he claimed, was one of the oldest, or rather first of its kind to be started in Punjab in 1961.

Dr Kanwal Masih, medical superintendent, spoke about the ethos of CMC and the associated institutions.

CMC director Dr A.G. Thomas, who was the chief guest of the function, gave the details of all stalwarts, who started different department and focused on their contribution to the institution. He also emphasised the role of physiotherapists in patient management and their rehabilitation.

Ludhiana, November 28
Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad, and MGN Public School, Jalandhar, recorded victories in the girl's u-19 years section on the second day of the CBSE National Handball Tournament being played at the Nankana Sahib Public School grounds, Gill road, here today.

In group B matches, Dehradun Public School outplayed Bhartiya Public School, Ambala Cantt, 7-2 while MGN Public School got the better of Maheshwari Girls Public School, Jaipur, 11-6.

MGN Public School, Jalandhar, in their second match played today outnumbered Dehradun Public School 9-4 and in a group C match, Shah Satnamji Girls Public School, Sirsa, defeated Lourdes Central School, Mangalore, 8-1.

In the girls u-14 years section, Dehradun Public School, beat Nankana Public School, Ludhiana, 14-8; Bel Vidyalya MES, Ring Road, Mangalore pipped Apeejay School, Navi Mumbai, 4-1; Janandeepa School, Karnataka, blanked Sophia Girls Senior Secondary School, Kota (Rajasthan), and Dehradun Public School outclassed Maharaja Agrasen School, Delhi, 7-1.

Other results: (boys u-19)- BSF Senior Secondry School, Gwalior, beat Little Rock Indian School, Bangalore, 16-8; Heera Public School, Ambala, defeated Bhiani Children's Academy, Sriganganagar, 24-14; Police DAV Public School beat Navy Children Public School, Vishakapatnam, 26-13; Nankana Public School, Ludhiana, prevailed over Little Rock Indian School, Bangalore, 10-9; Dehradun Public School lost to MDN Public School, Kaithal, 11-16; BSF Senior Secondary School, Gwalior, outplayed Nankana Public School, Ludhiana, 20-6 and Heera Public School, Delhi, overcame stiff resistence from Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad, 37-32.

Boys u-14- Khalsa Academy Sikshan Smiti, Sri Ganganagar beat Dehradun Public School, Ghaziabad 14-7; Jaypee Vidya Mandir, Bulandshahar beat St Xavier's Convent School, Jammu 16-12; Police DAV Public School, PAP, Jalandhar beat Gurukul Public School, Pune 14-7 and Bel Vidyalaya MES Ring road, Mangalore defeated St Xavier Convent School, Kathua, Jammu 15-13.

Ludhiana, November 28
As many as 18 teams will be seen in action during the 30th Junior Punjab State Football Championship (U-19) to be held at Khadoor Sahib in Taran Tarn district from November 29 to December 3.

According to general secretary, Punjab Football Association, Inder Singh, matches in this tournament will be conducted on knock-out basis and on the opening day, two qualifying matches will be played. In the first match, Amritsar will take on Barnala and the second will be played between Mansa and Taran Tarn.

Pre-quarter finals will also start on the opening day in which Gurdaspur will play against Mohali and Muktsar will lock horns with Jalandhar while Nawanshahr take on Faridkot and Fatehgarh Sahib play Kapurthala.

On the second day, two matches will be played: Hoshiarpur vs Sangrur and Bathinda vs Ropar. The quarter finals will start from December 1, said Inder Singh.