Ludhiana, July 26
The health department and the municipal corporation has yet to kick off the much awaited fogging operations, a precautionary measure to prevent mosquitoes from breeding in the rainy-season.

Due to “differences of opinion" among officials of the two bodies, fogging is not being done in spite of humidity levels soaring to their maximum. Perhaps officials are waiting for an outbreak of dengue fever or malaria before they swing into action, feel city residents.

At a recent meeting with health officials of both bodies deputy commissioner Rahul Tewari had asked them to start fogging operations as soon as possible. "Since the health department had said earlier it wasn’t the right time for fogging the MC waited for the former’s nod. However, at the recent meeting we asked the authorities concerned to begin the process soon", he stated. According to MC officials fogging operations had already been started. The MC’s health officer, Dr Charanjit Uppal, told The Tribune fogging machines were in place and all set to begin work in city areas.

"The process started today itself. We’ve got stocks of the medicines needed for fogging for the next ten days. The next order has already been placed and fresh medicines will arrive before the existing stocks are depleted. This is the ideal time for fogging”, Uppal claimed.

“Officials are busy making a fast buck in this whole exercise. Instead of fogging by machines door-to-door manual spraying is more effective. But in that case the officials wouldn’t be able to continue with their corrupt practices. Health experts have already declared fogging was nothing but an eyewash,” said Congress councillor Parminder Mehta.

Mosquito larvae in stagnant water at Dhandari Kalan, Ludhiana. Tribune photos: Himanshu Mahajan

Ludhiana, July 26
The recent rain has led to a spurt in malaria cases in the city slums where pools of stagnant water and heaps of garbage have become the breeding ground for mosquitoes.

More than 20 cases of malaria have already been reported from the city and its periphery. But the measures to control the disease have taken a backseat as the health department is short of pyrithrim, the medicine used to destroy the mosquito larvae. At the same time the controversy over fogging has further added to the problem.

Ludhiana, July 26
Six senior police officers, including an IPS one, have found themselves in trouble after a constable accused them of framing him in a false case of drug peddling in the Punjab & Haryana High Court. He has now demanded a criminal case be filed against the officers.

The constable, Kuldip Singh, who was acquitted in the case, has now filed a criminal writ petition in the high court against the then SSP Harpreet Singh Sidhu, who is now posted as DIG, Punjab State Human Rights Commission, and Sandeep Goel, PPS ADCP PCR and control room, Ludhiana range.

The others who were summoned include retired DSP Malkiat Singh; DSP (Jalandhar range) Mukhwinder Singh; ASI Darshan Singh and head constable Narinder Singh, posted in Sahnewal. Taking cognisance of the petition, the high court has issued notice to these police officers for filing a reply in the case till July 30.

After being rendered jobless for five years Kuldip has now rejoined the police force but the latter has refused to include the five-year period during which he was placed under suspension in his service career. He asserts he was falsely implicated and has demanded the government should compensate him by including those five years in his service.

The incident reportedly took place on October 2002, when DIG Harpreet was Ludhiana SSP. The department formed a PCR squad and Kuldip was deployed as PCR officer. In the meantime a robber looted Rs 2 lakh from Sahnewal and Kuldip was posted in the area where the incident took place. It led to wide criticism of the SSP and the PCR officers for a doing shoddy job.

Swati Pandya Sood

“I pay extra attention to the client's style and make sure to depict it through the theme," she says, disclosing her trade secret.

Swati dismisses the notion that wedding planners are a luxury that only the wealthy can afford. "That’s a myth. A minimal budget wedding can also be made very special with a little extra care towards finer details, which are generally overlooked at, in a grand Indian wedding setup”, she avers.

A multitalented personality, Swati feels proud to be a part of the most important event of someone's life in a very special way. "Nothing gives me more joy than making weddings perfect for everyone, right from the bride and the groom to their families and invitees," says the stylist, who also teaches event management to final year students of the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), New Delhi, besides writing columns on styling in leading national dailies.

On her journey so far, Swati recollects with a bright smile: "Wedding planning has been a passion for me ever since I can recall. So, in order to be able to live my dream and passion, I set up my one-woman company 'Bollywood Secrets' some seven years ago and today we are 62 and growing."

On her visit to the city, she says, "People in Ludhiana are rich. They love to experiment and don't mind spending big money to make a lasting impression, especially at occasions like weddings. I think the city is a great potential market for wedding planners. I’d love to work with people here and am really looking forward to a wedding I’m working on for a local client."

Ludhiana/Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 26
Tightening noose around anti-social elements stocking illicit liquor and selling it without seeking the administration’s permission, the Punjab Excise Department and Narcotic Cell of the Ludhiana police have launched a joint crusade.

Under Sections 61,1,14 of the Punjab Excise Act, those nabbed with illicit liquor are imposed a fine of Rs 5,000, besides being tried.

Investigations by Ludhiana Tribune revealed that the authorities in the Excise Department and the Narcotic wing of the district police had launched a coordinated movement against those who were selling illicit liquor without paying tax.

Profits made by licensed vendors also got eroded due to obvious fall in sale at their shops in specified periods. Illicit liquor was either manufactured at unauthorised distilleries or procured from vends situated in other areas.

A team led by excise inspector Gurcharan Singh and Gurpreet Singh, in charge, Narcotic Cell, booked some persons for keeping and selling illicit liquor in the recent past.

Gurpreet Singh, a resident of Aman Nagar, was nabbed and 20 bottles of illicit liquor were seized from his possession. The investigating team is trying to ascertain the source of supply of illicit liquor. Besides being tried for the offence, he was directed to deposit a fine of Rs 5,000.

Four bottles of liquor of unknown origin were recovered from Partap Singh, a resident of Simla Puri, who was nabbed by the team on a tip-off. He was also asked to pay a fine of Rs 5,000.

Investigations further revealed that some dhaba owners, grocers and transporters were involved in the trade. Bottles which were commonly sold at licensed vends for Rs 200 were available at unauthorised places for Rs 150.

It was found that the sellers had procured these bottles from outside sources at a much cheaper rate. Some truck drivers used to supply them liquor at the rate of Rs 1,000 to Rs 1,100 per case.

Ludhiana, July 26
Dr RT Patil, director, Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), today said the production of milk from soybean and groundnuts had a lot of potential and was healthy for consumers.

He was speaking on the inaugural session of a five-day training programme on soybean and groundnut, organised for farmers of Gurdaspur district.

Emphasising on the demand and consumption of soybean milk in China, Dr Patil said the potential was not exploited in India. “The plant milk extracted from soybean is much safer, if produced under hygienic condition. Also, researches have shown it reduces blood pressure, controls diabetes and ageing effect,” he said.

Advocating for maintaining high-safety standards in production, Dr Patil said farmers adopting processing should never compromise on quality. “Farmers can maintain better quality in villages than industrialist in cities, as they have more easy access to fresh raw material.” he added.

“Farmers getting training from CIPHET can use institute name to market their products,” added Dr Patil. Dr Deepak Raj Rai, head, Transfer of Technology (TOT) Division, said they would provide all support to farmers. Senior scientist Dr Sangeeta Chopra and technical officer OP Moondan were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, July 26
The Rising Youth Association (RYA) organised a plantation drive at Ambedker Park near Dholewal Chowk here today. Activists of the NGO, led by its president Gurinder Chahal, planted more than 100 saplings of satpati, bahera, neem, amia and ashoka.

A large number of saplings were also distributed among area residents for plantation in their respective localities.

Surinder Mohan, SHO, Police Div No 2, and Amit Gosain, chief guests at the function, said people, especially the NGOs, could make a significant contribution towards the environment protection by planting saplings and joining awareness campaign.

Naresh Dhingan, prominent leader of Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj, and trustee, Ludhiana Improvement Trust, while planting a sapling, observed that trees were important, valuable and necessary for the existence of any living creature on earth. “In the wake of alarming level of environmental pollution in the predominantly industrial city, there is a dire need of afforestation and expansion of green cover,” he added.

Chahal stated that during the drive, an awareness lecture was organised to educate people on the ways to check pollution-tree plantation being the first and foremost among them.

Driving home the point for extensive plantation all over the city, he said the trees not only cleaned the air, worked as a natural air filter of particulate matter such as dust, micro sized metals and pollutants like ozone, nitrogen oxides, ammonia and sulphur dioxides, but also improved the water quality. “A healthy urban forest can have a strong influence on our region’s water quality. Tree canopies and root systems slow and reduce storm water runoff, flooding and erosion. Trees also help filter water runoff, thus reducing potential sources of water pollution in our rivers and storm drains.”

The speakers castigated the Punjab Pollution Control Board for its utter failure to initiate effective measures against industrial units, hosieries and dyeing mills which were creating air and water pollution-hazardous for health.

A traffic violator was stopped by a cop after she jumped a red light at a small intersection in the city’s interiors. Even before the policeman could say something, the girl started speaking, “I am extremely sorry sir. I did not see you.”

The harried cop, with a flabbergasted expression on his face, reminded the driver that she had to stop at the intersection as the traffic light was red and not because he was standing there. The girl replied that she knew the traffic rules and had been following them “only to be jeered at by fellow motorists for being a traffic hazard on the busy city roads. Thus adapting to the city motorists’ way and to save myself from being run over by other vehicles, I have learnt to ignore the traffic lights and watch out for traffic cops instead. But today I somehow missed you and got caught,” grinned the girl from the car’s window.

Ludhiana, July 26
The Punjab Civil Medical Services Association (PCMSA), Specialists Doctors Association (SPA) and Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA) today alleged the department of health and family welfare, Punjab, of promoting “corruption” through re-employment of retired specialists in the state.

Contesting the claims of the health department for re-employing retired specialists in the wake of “no response” from the eligible specialists in the state, Dr Hardeep Singh, the state president of the PCMSA said, “The health department has admitted to have received more than 300 applications against the 128 vacant posts. Thus there is no question of re-employment of the specialists who have attained superannuation.”

Dr Hardeep Singh pointed towards the postponed date of the “interviews” of fresh specialists from July 25 to August 8. “The retired specialists have been called for interviews on July 28 and 29, which is evident that they are being given preference over the young and eligible specialists,” alleged Dr Hardeep.

On the other hand, rural doctors, while expressing their resentment, said they had suspended their protests against the state government’s move of re-employment of specialists due to floods in Punjab. “But the Punjab health minister instead of rewarding the rural medical officers working day and night in the flood hit areas has backstabbed them by calling the retired specialists for interviews,” accused RMSA state president Dr Aslam Parvez.

The rural doctors in an urgent meeting convened in Ludhiana last evening decided to gherao the health directorate in Sector 34, Chandigarh, on July 29, the scheduled date for the interviews of retired specialists.

RMSA advisor Dr JP Narula and spokesperson of the association Dr Rajesh Sharma said, “There are nearly 1,200 doctors who are doing rural job and serving people in peripheral rural areas for the past five years and are taking care of the rural healthcare, where the doctors had not gone for the past 20 years. Instead of regularising their jobs or giving full pay scale, the government has not even fulfilled its promise of giving them PG quota in government medical colleges in lieu of the rural job,” alleged RMSA representatives.

The monthly salary of each re-employed specialist will come to Rs 1 lakh per month, an additional burden on state exchequer. Also, these specialists had been serving as senior medical officer, civil surgeon, deputy director and director for 10 to 12 years and were out of practice in terms of “clinical work”, alleged the above associations.

Raikot, July 26
If breaking a portion of the metalled road to allow water to flow is called rescue operation, we do not need any such help from the administration, said residents whose houses are surrounded with water and their paddy crops submerged under rainwater.

By the time, the level of water will come down, more rains will transform the fields into a pond.

Having suffered a loss of worth lakhs of rupees by way of damaged crop, commercial items and household goods, the residents have urged the Chief Minister of Punjab to depute some senior official to evaluate the role of officials in the civil administration in performing their duty.

It was only after a few social and political organisations of the area staged a protest dharna on Friday that the block development official of the area allowed the residents to break a portion of the metalled road and allowed the water to flow on the other side of the road. All requests to install equipment for pumping out water proved futile.

The officials supervising the breaking process of the road maintained that the department had no equipment to pump out water from any place.

Ludhiana, July 26
Ludhiana MP and national spokesperson of the All-India Congress Committee Manish Tewari has sought more funds for the cleaning up of Budha Nullah under the National River Conservation Plan.

Tewari requested Union Minister of State for Environment Jairam Ramesh to play a proactive role in the cleaning up of Budha Nullah. He said, although the water being the state subject, the Central government could supplement these efforts by providing both technical expertise and robust oversight in the utilisation of funds.

Tewari also requested the minister to ask the Punjab government as to where a grant of Rs 50 crore, sanctioned by the Planning Commission for the clean up, had been utilised, as the funds had not been utilised for the intended purpose.

Responding to the appeal made by the Congress MP to visit Ludhiana for an on-the-spot assessment of Budha Nullah-a huge source of pollution in the industrial hub of the state, the minister had tentatively scheduled his visit for August 14 to assess the implementation of various schemes for the conservation project connected to the clean up of the Budha Nullah.

Tewari said Ramesh would be bringing along some officials and experts from his ministry.

The delegation that met the minister in New Delhi included Qila Raipur MLA Jassi Khangura, Pawan Dewan, Bhupinder Sidhu and former minister Malkiat Singh Birmi.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 26
The Kargil Vijay Diwas is no more important for residents of this area, which once used to observe the occasion with great enthusiasm.

Though a large number of youths from villages of this area falling under Ludhiana and Sangrur had sacrificed their lives, none of the social, educational and constitutional organisations had even garlanded statues of these martyrs today.

While leaders of all political parties used to make their presence felt on such occasions for some years following the Kargil war, majority of them remained busy in pleasing their senior leaders by pretending to mobilise more people in support of their party.

Investigations by The Tribune revealed that the Vijay Diwas had gone unnoticed among administrative officials and political leaders in this region of the state that contributed largest share in the war.

No organisation was reported to have even showered floral petals over the statues of the martyrs erected at various places. Authorities at schools named in memory of the martyrs failed to get the statues and signboards cleaned.

When this reporter visited Shaheed Ajmer Singh Memorial Government High School at Dhulkot, no activity was seen on occasion of the special day. Neither the villagers nor the authorities at the school remembered that the day had some importance. Children playing in the ground could not tell even the importance of Vijay Diwas.

A teacher, on condition of anonymity, said the authorities had stopped celebrating martyrdom day of Ajmer Singh for obvious reasons of financial constraints.

Similar was the case at Paramjit Singh Memorial Government Senior Secondary Gill, where nobody from the school, village or the family bothered to garland the statue of the martyr. Students admitted that they were not told significance of Vijay Diwas in the morning assembly.

“Parents of the martyr were invited to the school every year earlier, but the authorities have stopped inviting them. They (parents) observe anniversary of their son by distributing sweetened rice among children at their residence only,” said Mohan Singh, an area resident.

Johlan, Ghudani, Manakwal and Bhasaur are other villages where statues of martyrs remained unattended today.

Ludhiana, July 26
Court of Additional Sessions Judge Munish Singal today dismissed the anticipatory bail plea of lawyer Ashok Mittal, who is facing accusations of manhandling and thwarting a court official from performing official duty.

Dismissing the bail plea, the court remarked that the accused had deterred a public servant from performing his duty. There were allegations that after manhandling the court official, he created ruckus in the court of sessions judge, Ludhiana.

Keeping in view the gravity of offence, the accused was not entitled to the grant of concession of anticipatory bail, further observed the court.

The defence lawyer had argued that actually, the court official had manhandled Mittal. But he moved false complaint against him in order to save his skin. It was also stressed that nothing was to be recovered from the accused.

The alleged recovery had already been affected. It was submitted that no case of custodial interrogation was made. So, the concession of anticipatory bail should be given. A large number of lawyers were present during the hearing.

The lawyer was booked a few days back under Sections 332, 353 and 186 of IPC on the complaint of Chaman Lal, ahlmad of the court of sessions judge.