Ludhiana, July 1
If allegations raised against the municipal corporation by the Punjab State Municipal Karamchari Dal (employees union) turn out to be true, the civic body should brace itself for facing another scam, this time involving misappropriation of funds amounting to over Rs 50 crore.

Though the MC today agreed to regularise all sanitary workers, numbering almost 1,800, under the ‘mohalla’ sanitation scheme, it has been releasing salaries of over 3,000 workers every month going by its audit department.

Eyebrows are now being raised over the discrepancy in the MC’s records. If there are a total of 1,779 employees working under the sanitation scheme, who are to be regularized, then how come 3,000 workers have been drawing their salaries for the past 13 years when the scheme was launched?

Vijay Danav, chairman of the Karamchari Dal, told The Tribune the union had received a list of 1,795 sanitation workers who would be confirmed under the ‘mohalla’ scheme.

"Then where have other 1,200 workers gone? MC records show salaries are disbursed to them every month but now, when they are to be regularised, the total number of ‘mohalla’ sanitation workers has been put at only 1,779. This is a huge scam in which councillors, sanitary inspectors and, maybe, some civic officials are involved. For the past 13 years salaries are being paid to about 3,000 sanitation workers but now their number is said to be only 1,800. A vigilance inquiry must be conducted into the matter", said Danav.

Giving details about the ‘mohalla’ sanitation scheme, Tony Gehlot, president of the Karamchari Dal, said it was floated about 13 years back. “Initially the sanitation workers were given a monthly salary of Rs 2,400. During the tenure of then local bodies minister Jagjit Singh, the salary was raised to Rs 2,850 and is now about Rs 3,500 a month”, he said.

“According to our knowledge, the fake workers are working in factories, houses of sanitary inspectors and many councillors with salaries being paid by the MC. Even at the recent house meeting the issue was discussed but nobody bothered to go into the depth of this scam", said Gehlot.

Assistant MC commissioner Amarjeet Singh Sekhon, in charge of the scheme, however said the list of about 1,779 sanitation workers had been put up on the MC notice board for inviting objections. "This is the list of those workers employed by the MC as on April 1, 2008 and who are still on the rolls. These workers fulfill all requirements under the scheme. The others either quit their jobs or were not fulfilling all the conditions mandatory for regularisation", he added.

Ludhiana, July 1
Offenders should now think twice before attempting to give cops the slip. The city police will soon induct 14 customised MUVs (multiutility vehicles) equipped with GPS (global positioning system) and CCTV (close circuit TV) cameras for effective surveillance.

The white-coloured Chevrolet Taveras, which will be part of the police control room (PCR) along with PCR motorcycles, are expected to soon roll out on the streets. It is learnt DGP PS Gill will visit the city in the next few days to hand over the keys of the MUVs to the cops.

The vehicles, which will be directly inducted into the PCR fleet, will be used in giving hot chase to fleeing criminals as well as traffic offenders. At least four personnel would travel in each MUV, which would be parked in the major intersection of the city.

Further, these fully equipped MUVs will be utilised to encounter any kind of eventuality. “Among other things, they would be used as an ambulance as well as for the purpose of sealing off trouble torn areas. They will patrol the city’s streets round the clock along with the PCR motorbikes”, said a police official.

However, police officials were tightlipped about the new MUVs. Sources said the police was planning to hold a special function for induction of the new vehicles into the patrol fleet. They added the MUVs were provided to the police due to the efforts of the police commissioner. 

Ludhiana, July 1
The healthcare services were obstructed in villages adjoining Ludhiana as rural medical officers (RMOs) went on a three-hour strike on Doctor’s Day today.Doctors working in village dispensaries were observing “black day” and refused to attend to patients for the first half of the day.

A large number of patients had to return without being examined while the others had to wait for hours before a doctor attended to them.

Harvinder Singh from Pandori village said: “My son has fever and diarrhoea. We had to wait for more than two hours for the check-up as the doctor refused to see my son before 11 am.”

A farm worker said he was suffering from stomach infection, and was unable to pay the fee of a private doctor. “I do not even have the conveyance to go to another government hospital. I will have to wait till tomorrow,” he said.

Dr Anand, spokesperson for the Rural Medical Services Association, Punjab, said: “We do not want to harm the interests of the poor, but the government is not ready to accept our demands and strike is the only democratic way to fight against the system.”

The RMOs are demanding PG quota in medical colleges in lieu of their services in rural areas, but the state government has refused to do so despite having made a promise during elections. The services of the RMOs were also to be regularised, but the government went ahead and appointed new specialists.

Dr Sukhdev Malhotra, a rural medical officer, stated that disparity in pay packages of rural medical officers and PCMS doctors was another sore point.

“We will observe indefinite strike in future, which will have adverse affect on the national health programmes as 90 per cent of these programmes are carried out by doctors working in village dispensaries,” he stated.

Ludhiana, July 1
Private doctors registered with the Indian Medical Association (IMA) observed “black day” today in protest against the clinical establishment Bill. More than 100 private doctors from the district gathered at Ghumar Mandi and took out a candle-lit march. They urged the government to roll back the Bill and deliberate on the issue.

The National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) with doctors from alternative systems of medicine like homoeopathy and ayurveda also joined the march, alleging that the Bill was “anti-doctor” and “anti-patient”.

Dr Surinder Gupta, secretary of NIMA, said the government was not justified in formulating the Bill as doctors working under the recognised systems of medicines were already registered with the respective state and centre councils and registration with another council was uncalled for.

Questioning the union government on its stand against quacks, doctors said no concrete law had been formulated to date to put an end to the menace of quacks. “Quacks are playing havoc with healthcare in rural/remote areas and the government has failed to provide healthcare services to all through government hospitals,” Dr Narottam Dewan, IMA district president, stated.

Ludhiana, July 1
Under the new time table which comes into effect from today, the northern railways have announced introduction of several new trains in the region, and at the same time some changes will take place in departure timings and terminals of certain trains.

Among the three new trains to be run later this month are 2241/2242 Chandigarh-Amritsar Duronto train, 2408/2407 Karambhoomi Express train between Amritsar and New Jalpaiguri and 2549/2550 Durg-Jammu Tawi Express.

According to railway officials, Chandigarh-Amritsar Duronto will run on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday, leaving Chandigarh at 6.30 am and arriving at the destination at 11.15 am. On its return journey, the train will leave Amritsar at 1.10 pm and reach Chandigarh at 5.50 pm. It will have executive chair car and AC chair car accommodation.

The Amritsar-New Jalpaiguri Karambhoomi Express will run every Friday from Amritsar at 9.30 am and Wednesday from New Jalpaiguri at 8.15 am. Running with general accommodation, it will have stoppages at Jalandhar City, Ludhiana, Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Moradabad, Sitapur Cantt, Gorakhpur, 
Siwan, Chhapra, Muzaffarpur, Khagaria, Katihar and Barsoi.

The weekly train between Durg and Jammu Tawi will run from Durg on Tuesday and from Jammu Tawi on Thursday. It will have stoppages at Raipur, Bilaspur, Anuppur, Sehdol, Katni, Murwara, Sangour, Jhansi, Agra Cantt, Delhi Safdarjang, Ambala Cantt, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Chakki Bank stations.

In another change that comes into effect from July 25, the terminal of 2497/2498 Shan-e-Punjab Express running between New Delhi and Amritsar has been changed from Hazrat Nizamuddin to New Delhi. The train will start from and terminate at the New Delhi railway station.

The departure time of 4629 Ludhiana-Ferozepur Sutlej Express has been revised from 7 am to 7.15 am from Ludhiana while 4630 will depart from Ferozepur at 5.30 pm against existing time of 5.20 pm.

The 2277/2278 Kolkata-Amritsar Express has been renumbered as 2357/2358.

Ludhiana, July 1
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has landed in controversy once again with the administration’s move to give additional charge of the office of controller of examinations to Ravinder Kaur Dhaliwal, a professor in the extension education department, following the retirement of Vinod Kumar Dilawari.

Senior faculty members who were in the race for the position have expressed their resentment against Dhaliwal’s appointment, claiming they had been ignored despite their seniority and experience.

Said a senior PAU professor: "There are almost 30 professors who are senior to Dr Dhaliwal. Their vast experience and work done in the field of conducting examinations has been ignored by varsity officials."

The heads of various departments in all PAU colleges were deemed competent to be considered for the post of controller of examinations.

This is not the first time the PAU administration has come under flak on the issue of out of turn promotions. In the recent past varsity professors have objected to various appointments and additional charges, accusing administration officials of promoting people with “strong political links".

The removal of research director PS Minhas some time ago had also shocked the PAU teaching fraternity as well as agricultural scientists in the state. However, because of the research work he had done, he garnered support from large quarters and was later reinstated.

PAU additional communications director JD Dhiman confirmed Dhaliwal’s appointment. However, he expressed ignorance about the resentment reportedly expressed by other senior professors eyeing the position.

LUDHIANA: Vibhuti Jain, a Ludhiana girl, has topped the entrance examination for MSc (bio-informatics) of Panjab University this year, results of which were declared on Wednesday.

Ludhiana, July 1
After a lull of over a year, students in government elementary schools of the state have something to rejoice about as the education department is set to relaunch the FM radio education programme for students.

Learning from past mistake, the education department is trying to make the radio programme a pleasant learning experience.

Earlier, the education department had to discontinue the programme after students lost interest in it and termed it dull. Besides the lackadaisical attitude of the education department and mismanagement also led to the suspension of the programme.

The Director-General of School Education (DGSE), Krishan Kumar, said the radio programme would start for primary school students in July. The programmes would be class-specific and would cover classes I to V. The programme would be based on the syllabus. Krishan Kumar said they had trained staff to air the programmes and radio sets were already available with the schools.

Sources said the department was looking forward to rope in All India Radio for getting one-hour slots to air education programmes. Teachers from various schools would be selected and given training to deliver lectures on the radio.

“Children are learning a lot from radio and this is a special attraction for students to go to school. It is good that the education department is launching the radio service again,” a parent stated.

Jasvir Singh, principal of Government Senior Secondary School, Hassanpur, said children who were not able to attend school would receive some sort of education through this programme while sitting at home.

Ludhiana, July 1
The government of India has sanctioned Rs 65.20 crores for the Ludhiana City Bus Service project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Out of the total expenditure on the project, 50 per cent will be provided by the central government, 20 per cent by the Punjab government and 30 per cent by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (LMC).

Disclosing this here today, the Ludhiana MP and the national spokesperson of the All-India Congress Committee, Manish Tewari, said out of the sanctioned funds, an amount of Rs 14.30 crores has already been provided by the Government of India and Rs 6.52 crores contributed by the Punjab government. The LMC is yet to put in its share, he added.

Tewari disclosed that he was coordinating at different levels of the government and the administration to ensure that the city bus service became operational at the earliest.

He pointed out that it was a pressing need of the hour as the city had spread out too much and there was no proper mass transport system.

The Congress MP hoped that the service would start at the earliest. At the same time, he appealed to the local government department to extend total cooperation to the project so that it takes off at the earliest. He said this would help in decongesting the overcrowded roads from the vehicular traffic as a large number of people would prefer to go for public transport if it turns out to be timely and comfortable.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 1
Delayed monsoon, shortage of labour and power crisis have decelerated paddy transplantation. Unlike earlier seasons, some farmers are still preparing their fields for paddy transplantation even after three weeks of commencement of the process.

Higher wastage rate of saplings and increased susceptibility to certain pests are suspected to erode income of the growers.

Though the authorities had allowed farmers to transplant paddy on June 10, a large number of paddy growers were still preparing their fields for the crop. While some farmers deployed local labour and used diesel pump sets to prepare fields for the crop, others delayed the process expecting monsoon since it used to rain by the third week of June.

Apprehending adverse affect on the yield, Baldev Singh Latala, an office-bearer of Punjab Kissan Sabha, regretted that the administration had failed to provide sufficient power to the agriculture sector. Farmers, including those who had completed transplantation, had been made to bear extra burden due to defective policies of the government, he alleged.

“While those who chose diesel pump sets have already spent extra money for preparing fields, the others who have delayed the process are sure to suffer loss due to poor yield,” he stated.

Jasbir Singh Sekhon, a botanist, said the late transplanted crops would be prone to pest attack. “In case of delayed transplantation, the larvae of weevils like rice stem borer penetrate the stem of young plants and produce dead hearts. This is going to affect the yield considerably,” he said.

Jagraon, July 1
The Jagraon Sadar police has booked five persons for the murderous attack on a senior Congress leader of the area, Pritam Singh Akhara, yesterday at his native village -- Akhara -- near here. While returning with fellow villagers from a crematorium, Pritam Singh was shot by an unidentified youth from a point blank range.

The police, on the statement of Bhupinder Singh, a fellow villager, has booked five persons, including a former sarpanch of the village, Sukhdev Singh, alias Kaka, under Sections 307, 148, 149 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.

Other booked included Surinder Singh, alias Sindi, Jaswant Singh, alias Kallu, Kulwant Singh, alias Jeeti, and Sukhjinder Singh, alias Kaka Panch. All accused belonged to Akhara village.

While Sukhdev Singh has been arrested, the remaining four are still at large. DSP, Jagraon, Joginder Singh said the police parties were raiding all possible hideouts of the accused.

He, however, maintained that the police was still clueless regarding the identity of the assailants. He did not rule out the possibility of involvement of contract killers in the incident.

The condition of Pritam Singh is said to be stable now at the DMCH, Ludhiana.

Ludhiana, July 1
The Punjab Hot Weather Bodybuilding Championship will be held at Tara Institute on the GT Road, Chaheru in Jalandhar district, on July 3.According to Dr Deepak Prashar, vice-president, Punjab Amateur Bodybuilding Association (PABA), competition in the beginners, intermediate and advance weight groups will be conducted during this one-day event.

Prizes will be given to the first three position holders in each weight category, informed Ravi Prashar, joint secretary, PABA.

Ludhiana, July 1
Pranav Chopra, a trainee of the Ludhiana Badminton Academy (LBA) has added another feather in his cap by romping home victorious in the doubles category in the 9th UBI All India National Ranking Junior Badminton Tournament held at Bangalore from June 27 to July 1.

Continuing with his consistent performance, top ranked, Pranav teaming with Sai Praneeth from Andhra Pradesh came out triumphant to bag tenth title in the junior national ranking tournament.

In the final, Pranav and Sai faced a little resistence from Kerala duo of Arun George and Santosh Ravuri whom they tamed in straight sets 21-12 and 21-16.

The pair of Pranav and Sai had already stamped their superiority in an international tournament when they emerged winners in the Iran FAJR International Ranking Tournament held early this year in Iran.

Besides, Pranav has won three international medals in Berlin, Youth Commonwealth Games in Pune and Asian Badminton Championship in Malaysia.

Currently undergoing coaching at Gopi Chand Aacadmey in Hyderabad, Pranav was sent to Indonesia last year by the Badminton Association of India to attend a specialised training (doubles) programme.

Pranav has also been selected in the elite group of players for the 19th edition of the Commonwealth Games slated to be held in New Delhi in the month of October this year.

The office bearers of the LBA congratulated Pranav on this performance and wished him more success in the future tournaments. 

Ludhiana, July 1
A 60-member squad from Ludhiana will take part in the Punjab State Open Athletics Meet scheduled to be held on July 3 and 4 at Sangrur.

These athletes (boys and girls as well as senior men and women) were selected during trials conducted by the Ludhiana District Athletics Association (LDAA) at Guru Nanak Stadium here on June 29, according to SS Pannu, general secretary of the association.

The players are: (Boys u-14) Gaurav Kumar, Abhey Puri, Prabhjot Singh, Jaskaranpreet Singh, Vijay Pal Singh and Shashank.

(Boys u-16): Vikas Kumar, Bikramjit Singh, Suraj Sharma, Gagandeep Singh, Gurinder Singh, Hardish Singh, Simerdeep Singh and Guriqbal Singh.

(Boys u-18): Raghu, Bhupinder Singh, Sonu Kumar, Prashant, Simranjeet Singh, Shaminder Singh, Sahil Sharma, Jatinder Singh and Gurvir Singh.

(Boys u-20): Yesu Raj, Ajay 
Yandon, Yudhvir Singh, Sandeep Kumar, Mandhir Singh, Rohit Kumar, Sumit Kumar, Gurlabh Singh and Kuldeep Singh.

(Men): Amandeep Singh, Bhupinder Singh, Sunil Kumar, Inderjit Singh, Kushant Kumar, Soni Singh, Daler Singh, Gurmeet Singh and Mohit Prink Dhami.

(Girls u-16): Harmandeep Kaur, Kritika Sharma and Priya Mahindra.

(Girls u-18): Simerdeep Kaur, Ramneet Kaur, Juhi, Prabhdeep Kaur and Tandeep Kaur.

(Girls u-20): Naini Bala, Renu Bala, Amrit Pal Kaur, Harpreet Kaur and Ramandeep Kaur.

(Women): Ramandeep Kaur, Rajinder Kaur, Prabhbir Kaur, Kulwinder Kaur, Gurpreet Kaur, Rajni Bala and Harleen Kaur.