Ludhiana, February 27
The stage is set for the biggest state-level sports extravaganza with the inaugural edition of the Shaheed-e-Azam Bhagat Singh Punjab Games, which is scheduled to be held at Guru Nanak Stadium here tomorrow.

Ludhiana, February 27
‘Stunt star’ Akshay Kumar is all set to make an emphatic entry in the stadium during the Shaheed-E-Azam Punjab Games tomorrow.

A white stallion of the Arabian descent has been arranged for the power-packed entry of “Khatron Ka Khiladi”.

But the plan of using a horse has not gone down well with players, who complain that horse mitt would damage the Astroturf.

The development seems have taken place at the last minute after the Bollywood star expressed his intention of using a horse for his entry to stadium.

Akshay would enter through the main gate riding on a horse straight up to the stage. The star’s proposal of using a horse has put the event organisers in a quandary. Though they did not lodge a formal protest, they expressed their concern over the last-minute development.

The trainer of the horse said: “I have brought the stallion here in order to see if it adapts to the loud music being played in the stadium. If the house gets scared, we will have to change it.”

He said that Akshay Kumar expressed his intention to use a pure white horse. “As he is a trained rider, I hope he will not have any problem in riding the horse,” he said.

Ludhiana, February 27
The performance of Akshay Kumar during the Shaheed-E-Azam Punjab Games to be held at Guru Nanak Stadium on Monday has snowballed into a major controversy as a local Congress leaders has alleged that city-based industrialists have been told to arrange funds for the star performance.

While the sports department maintained that the superstar was performing for free, the Congress has fired a salvo at the ruling SAD and claimed that local industrialists have been told to arrange money for the show.

Ludhiana, February 27
Even as city residents continue to face an acute shortage of domestic cooking gas, nearly 30 domestic LPG cylinders have been “requisitioned” to keep the flames of the ceremonial torch burning during the opening ceremony of the Punjab State Games at the city’s Guru Nanak stadium on Monday.

While Punjab sports department officials were tightlipped about the use of cylinders meant for the kitchen, an employee of its local office revealed the cylinders would be used to keep the ceremonial torch burning continuously throughout the event till March 6.

The presence of LPG cylinders kept in the open near the games torch caught the attention of visitors to the stadium on Sunday.

While criticizing the event’s organizers for “misusing the common man's fuel”, Gurpreet Singh, a spectator who had come to the stadium in the afternoon to watch the rehearsal, said: "If the authorities are spending over Rs 3 crore for organizing the games, why don’t they shell out a few extra bucks on purchasing cylinders that are not meant for domestic use. If only government officials and politicians had to stand in a line for hours to get an LPG canister only then they’d realize its importance”.

A local LPG distributor was reportedly “forced” to provide these cooking gas cylinders to the games organizers.

Another visitor, Ramanjit Singh, too was shocked to see these cylinders beside the games torch. Expressing his disgust, he remarked: "Earlier people use to misuse these cylinders to run their vehicles, but now government officials have gone a step further”.

Ludhiana, February 27
Making mockery of the 2011 census slogan, “Our Census, Our Future”, several enumerators have reportedly even gone to the extent of getting signatures of city residents on blank forms and then filling out the details on their own. Throwing discipline to the wind they often spend less than three minutes in one household, thereby omitting vital data that is to be noted down in the census form’s 29 columns.

Dr Gurminder Kaur of the Christian Medical College & Hospital, who lives in Urban Estate, Dugri, said a census enumerator convinced her father-in-law to sign on a blank form after telling him he (enumerator) would fill out the details he had jotted down in his rough notebook.

“The enumerator asked my father-in-law about the number of family members, their names and occupations and left out the other columns in the census forms,” Gurminder complained. While registering a protest against the conduct of enumerators in general, she said her hospital’s paramedical and nursing staff residing in Model Town, Kitchlu Nagar, Haibowal, Mullanpur and Civil Lines told her none of the enumerators visiting their areas had filled out the column on “disabilities”.

Criticizing the conduct of the officials looking into the execution of the census operations at the district level, Sandeep, a resident of the old city, said: “So much so even the column on ‘castes’ has been ignored by the people performing census duties, which had been incorporated after a lot of deliberations at various levels”.

The cooked up information on “castes”, economic activity, literacy and education, language, religion, migration and disabilities will be against the public interest.

Interestingly, the Indian government’s website has specifically said people do not need to furnish any documentary evidence to support the information they provide to enumerators, though underlining respondents should ensure all details are authentic.

The website also warns providing false information can lead to severe penalties under the Census and Citizenship Acts. However, the question remains as to who should be held accountable for providing “misinformation”.

Ludhiana, February 27
The “Bubbly- Bunty” duo of the city, who were nabbed by the Delhi Police for a credit card fraud, has leaved the city shocked.

Mukul Garg, son of an iron trader from Dugri, who was caught along with his fiancée, Alisha Sharma, used to dupe people.

But the city police is yet to received any complaint against the duo.

The houses of both the suspects wore a deserted look today. Residents of Durgi said that after completing his MBA in England, Mukul used to live in Delhi.

It is learnt that the duo were operating in connivance with notorious Nigerian gang of credit card fraudsters.

Alisha is a daughter of a noted weightlifter, who is currently employed with the Railways. The girl's father is a three-time Commonwealth gold medallist.

Ludhiana, February 27
Making further inroads into the Indian market, Chinese buttons and laces are here to stay. These fancy and colourful buttons, made of fibre, steel and brass, have flooded the market.

True to their Chinese nature, these buttons and laces are available in many varieties, and that too, at a nominal price. Be it electronics goods, eatables or clothes, the Chinese are ruling the market.

“Now tiny things like buttons are also coming from the ‘Land of the Dragon’. As usual, the Chinese are giving a wide variety at low prices. This is the reason people take easily to made-in-China products,” says Vicky, dealing in embellishments used by boutiques and designer studios.

Fancy multi-coloured buttons with various prints are available. For children, there are specially designed buttons with cartoon characters like Poo, Bob and Tom and Jerry. While Indian buttons start from Rs 6, the Chinese ones are available from Rs 1.25.

Ludhiana, February 27
A technical snag in the server has led to a delay in the process of opening of e-tenders, thereby hitting the start of development projects in the city. This, despite tall claims by the municipal corporation authorities of simplification of the procedure through e-tendering.

Development works in the city continue to suffer due to the technical snag as authorities have failed to open the bids for works worth over Rs 65 crore.

On February 21, the civic body had invited tenders for carrying out development works in the city. The tenders were to be opened on February 22.

However, even after the passage of over three days, the tenders are yet to be opened by the civic authorities.

Sources in the civic body say the company undertaking the work of e-tendering has not been able to open the tenders submitted by various contractors.

They add that the delay has been caused by a technical snag in the server, keeping the authorities from accessing the tenders till Friday.

However, the sources reveal, the top brass of the civic body is pressuring the officials of the building and roads (B&R) branch and representatives of the company to facilitate the opening of tenders at the earliest, so that development work can be initiated.

Superintendent engineer DPS Wadhwa, who is looking into the matter, says the tenders will be opened by Friday evening. He, however, attributes the delay to administrative reasons.

The e-tendering process has been in the news for all wrong reasons. The contractors had initially boycotted the procedure over the charging of processing fee by the company undertaking the process.

After a delay of over a month, the MC officials managed to resolve the matter and made the contractors agree to participate in the process.

The civic body invited the tenders on February 14, which were to be opened on February 15. However, a technical snag forced its deferment till February 21.

Ludhiana, February 27
The ongoing project on widening the GT Road (National Highway 1) has played havoc with the city’s sewerage system with sewer lines choked by broken manhole covers, mud and construction rubble further hassling area residents. The work is being undertaken from Basti Jodhewal Chowk to Samrala Chowk by a privately run construction firm.

The worst affected are residents of Daulat colony, Gulabi Bagh, Karamsar colony and Mayapuri.

On Friday, officials of the municipal corporation’s operations & maintenance branch received complaints of clogged sewer lines from residential localities around Basti Jodhewal Chowk. As the sewers in the area are connected with the city’s main sewerage line the officials rushed to the site to look into the problem. However, after arriving there they noticed the mess has been created due to broken manhole covers as well as mud being thrown into the sewer line.

After inspecting the site the civic officials observed about a dozen broken manhole covers on a stretch of the road had been thrown into the 3-foot deep sewerage line. Even at a point complete manhole cover had been thrown into the sewer pipe, which was obstructing the smooth flow of sewage. As the sewer line is quite deep and the manhole covers very heavy, the MC staff had to dig up a part of the road after which it called in a crane to bring the manhole covers out with the help of the crane workers. Similarly at many points sewerage line filled with mud due to which it was choked.

Likewise the MC staff faced a tough time in de-silting the whole line to make it operational. On the other hand sewerage line from Samrala Chowk to Basti Jodhewal was also damaged due to which localities on its ides also faced problem of choking of sewerage. Meanwhile along with carrying out repair work MC officials once again called up the representatives of private company carrying out widening work and asked them to take care of the sewer lines.

Commenting on the matter, Kamlesh Bansal, executive engineer in the operations & maintenance branch, confirmed over a dozen broken manhole covers had been thrown into the sewer line by the construction firm’s employees during the work to widen the road. “We’ll clear up the choked sewer pipes and normalcy would be restored soon”, he added. The civic staff has accused the construction firm of damaging the sewer line and officials of the b operations & maintenance branch have informed the MC top brass of the matter.

Ludhiana, February 27
Traders (businessmen) in mandis (market) were the one who walk away with the cake, while hardworking labour and women were at the receiving end. Conveying the message of economic exploitation in society through a play “Chog Kasumbe Di”, artistes from Pakistan held audience spellbound with their mesmerising performance at GGNIMT here last evening.

The play was based on Bulle Shah’s “Kafi-ni main kusubra chun chun hari”, in which seven female characters played the role of hardworking farm-women, picking up flowers from fields but the gains went into the pocket of businessmen, who dominated the poor and needy.

The play, based on poetry, was directed by leading theatre director and an artiste from Pakistan, Dr Huma Safdar. Written by Najam Hussain Syed, the play depicted the plight of labour class in society.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Dr Huma Safdar said her troupe belonged to the Sangat group in Pakistan, which depicted social evils prevalent in society with the help of plays. Besides, these plays conveyed an important message to society, she said, adding that the second play, “Sammi di var”, which will be staged this evening, will present a picture of Gadri movement. “The play is based on a ‘faqir’ (saint) and a poor girl ‘Munni’, belonging to 1920s,” said Safdar.

A group of about 37 persons, including artistes, directors, writers and poets attached to the theatre have come here to take part in the Indo-Pak Drama Festival on an invitation extended by the Punjabi Naat Academy.

Prior to the play, the artistes took part in a seminar promoting Punjabi, its culture and traditions in both Indo-Pak society. Leading personalities, Dr Atamjit and Santokh Singh Sukhana, expressed and exchanged their views on natak (theatre) with their Pakistani counterparts. Nirmal Jaura, secretary Punjabi Rang Manch, focused on the simplicity and affection of culture and stressed on the need to promote it on international platform.

Ludhiana, February 27
A large number of students suffering from juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) are discouraged by their peers and teachers to pursue courses in medical and non-medical streams that acts as a deterrent in their personal and professional development, observed neurologists attending the 12th joint annual conference on epilepsy.

The three-day conference that commenced on February 25 is being organised by the department of neurology, DMCH. Dr IMS Sawhney, a neurologist of Indian origin, presently working in Swansea in UK, said these students could go in medical and non-medical colleges. "People grow out of some epilepsies, including rolandic and childhood absences, thus they should not be deprived of career opportunities. However, students in medical stream should avoid going in for surgical specialisations and the non-medical students should not go for flying," said Dr Sawhney.

Talking about the teenage girls suffering from epilepsy, Dr Sawhney said they should refrain from taking contraceptive pills as they react with the epilepsy drugs making contraception ineffective. "The complication arises when failed contraception results in unwanted pregnancies that further lead to abnormalities in the newborns. The abnormalities vary from cleft lips to serious mental disabilities," said Dr.

Referring to the increased probability of an epileptic meeting with an accident, experts said the patient could get a seizure while driving, thus it was mandatory for the authorities concerned in every country to formulate regulations before issuance driving licences to epileptics.

Wrong and late diagnosis in epilepsy according to the neurologists is disastrous as patients with syncope, migraine, movement disorders and non-epileptic attacks are treated with anti epilepsy drugs (AED), which cause more harm. "It is must to take the detailed history of the patient so as to assess whether or not the patient is suffering from epilepsy which should be seconded by the available tests," Dr Sawhney added.

Ludhiana, February 27
Putting all reports on squabble over seat sharing between the ruling coalition partners in the coming assembly elections to rest, Shanta Kumar, former Union Minister and in charge of BJP affairs in Punjab, along with Punjab Local Bodies, Industry and Commerce Minister Manoranjan Kalia, today asserted that this was no issue at all.

Addressing a news conference at the conclusion of a two-day state executive meeting of the party here, the BJP leaders said the coalition government was performing well and the matter of seat sharing would be discussed at the appropriate time taking into account the winning potential. “Our ultimate object will be to see the ruling coalition gain majority and form the next government.”

On a question about resentment among the party cadre about not being given due recognition in organisational and the government bodies, Shanta Kumar and Kalia said it was not possible to satisfy each and every person.

“There could be some shortcomings in the working. But we shall take proper steps to set things right soon,” he added.

Having launched a tirade against the Congress-led UPA government over the issue of corruption in the state executive meeting, the former Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh faced a tough moment when his attention was drawn to several scams being reported in the Municipal Corporation and Improvement Trust here, which were under the ministry of Local Bodies, a portfolio held by Kalia. But gaining composure in a flash, Shanta Kumar said his party (and the Punjab government) believed in zero tolerance on corruption.

Intervening, Kalia added that stern action had been taken against those involved in fraudulent deals and all guilty persons had been placed under suspension. Steps are underway to take further action, as per the law of the land, to penalise the corrupt employees and officials, he added.

Terming the complaint of the trade and industry on slow speed of disposal of VAT refunds as false and unfounded, Kalia claimed that during the last four years total refunds of Rs 1,200 crore had been made and pending refunds were of just about Rs 210 crore. “There were 3,400 applications and some of the refunds were based on fabricated and fudged records which had to be inspected minutely.”

The resolution on political and economic situation in the country, put forth at the concluding session of the state executive meeting, could not be adopted as the discussion on amendments remained inconclusive till the end of the meeting. Party leaders said the final resolution would be released on a later date.

Ludhiana, February 27
Don’t think that you are perfect in driving a car, there is much more to learn about your car. “Speeding” the car is not “racing”, one need to know more about skills, which are essential to make one a perfect car driver as well as a good rally racer.

The Motor Sports Association has been facilitating the city youth in learning these tactics. The instructor is Sanjeev Sankhla of the Motor Sports Adventures Association, Jaipur, who have trained numerous national-level car and motorcycle champions. A training camp has been organised near Baddowal.

Around 10 participants, who appeared for the training camp, learnt the skills of motor racing and applied their talent on the muddy tracks.

While talking to the Ludhiana Tribune, Sankhla informed that he has been imparting training since 27 years and has produced numerous national-level car and motorcycle champions.

“We provide the training of the international level. I am here in Ludhiana to teach some basic skills of driving and controlling speedy cars. The skills include breaking, gear breaking, drifting, turning and sweeping,” Sankhla said.

Ludhiana, February 27
Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari has questioned double standard adopted by the BJP on various issues, particularly corruption and terror. He said this during the thanksgiving motion on the President’s address in the Parliament recently.

The Congress MP, amidst interruption from the Opposition benches, strongly defended the party’s stand on corruption while pointing out, it took no time in seeking the resignation of the Maharashtra Chief Minister on the Adarsh Society issue and also from Suresh Kalmadi following the reports about some wrongdoings during the Commonwealth Games.

Compared to that, Tewari asked the BJP what steps had it taken in Karnataka where its Chief Minister was facing serious corruption charges. Similarly, in Chhattisgarh a company was granted lease of a mineral mine the same day it was founded in New Delhi. He also questioned granting land worth Rs 65 crore on lease to Khushabau Thakre Trust in Madhya Pradesh for just Rs 1.

Referring to the 2G Spectrum issue, he said the issue needed to be viewed in proper perspective. “Credit goes to the UPA government for ensuring that the mobile phones have reached every nook and cranny of the country,” he added.

Tewari also referred to the incidents of terror in which some organisations claiming themselves to be nationalistic were allegedly involved. He asked them to introspect and think what will happen to India if terror was encouraged and supported like that.

Speaking on food inflation, he said, it was with the efforts of the UPA government that the food inflation had come down from 20 per cent to 8 per cent. However, he said, the issue needed to be looked in the broader context as during the past 20 years the population of the country had increased by 34 crore while the resources had not increased in equal proportion.

Tewari strongly called for increasing the GDP while maintaining that it was being said that 21st century was supposed to be the Asian century.

Ludhiana, February 27
An Aaykar Seva Kendra was inaugurated at the Income Tax Office on Friday. It is a computerised shop for taxpayers to obtain services promised by the Income Tax Department in its citizen charter 2010. The kendra has a front office with certain amenities for taxpayers. It will be manned by friendly personnel and backed by re-engineered business processes to provide quality services.

“Our ultimate aim is to improve voluntary compliance through better taxpayer services,” said GS Randhawa, Chief Commissioner, Income Tax.

Ludhiana, February 27
The cycle industry in Ludhiana, which is losing business to China, has pinned high hopes on the Union Budget to be announced on Monday.

Known for its cycles worldwide, the industry here is witnessing a downward trend due to tough competition from China. The cycle industry’s long-pending demand to appoint a steel price regulatory commission is yet to be fulfilled. “We hope our wish is fulfilled in this Budget. Changing steel prices is proving fatal for the cycle industry. The prices of steel are revised overnight and it becomes difficult for us to complete our pending orders," said Charanjit Singh, chairman of Federation of MSME.

Steel is being sold on cartelised basis. The prices of steel are fixed arbitrarily and not commercially. Steel prices in India are fixed on the import parity basis. This means some global reference is taken and costs to bring steel to Indian border is added. This simply means that the Indian steel using industry has to pay more price than the global consumers. This difference is about Rs 5,000 a tonne.

Another long-pending demand of the cycle industry is to impose anti-dumping duty on cycle and cycle parts. Huge imports of parts of bicycle have affected the domestic manufacturers. "Exports of bicycle and its parts have gone down considerably whereas the imports have increased manifold," said Kushal Kumar, a cycle manufacturer. The principles of anti-dumping duty is to prevent dumping and ensure fair trading practices and to create a level playing field for domestic producers vis-à-vis foreign producers and exporters resorting to dumping.

Ludhiana, February 27
The city’s labour intensive industrial units are worried over the government's plans to increase wages of workers hired under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) scheme in the coming budget for fiscal 2011-12. The scheme has already taken a very heavy toll on small and medium industries not only in Punjab but all over the country.

"The government intends to substantially hike wages under the NREGA scheme. This will further hit the industry hard. When industrial units are ready hire labour there’s no justification for the government to spend taxpayers' money on such schemes," said PD Sharma, president of the Apex Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

The country’s industrial production has been declining, one factor being shortage of labour. The index of industrial production (IIP) fell to an alarming low of 1.6 percent last December.

“The government loses substantial revenues in taxes from industry. On the other hand it is paying wages from its exchequer under the NREGA scheme. This double loss to government revenues is totally uncalled for. We urge the finance minister not to raise wages rates under NREGA and this scheme should be squeezed rather than expended in the interest of industrial production. The much needed exports are also suffering due to shortage of labour caused by the NREGA scheme”, Sharma added.

Ashok Aggarwal, a local industrialist in the hosiery sector, expressed his fear about wages under the NREGA scheme being increased. "Industry is already paying heavy due to this scheme of the government as labour has started shifting base to their hometowns and labour intensive industry is running short of manpower," he said.

“The acute labour shortage has substantially increased labour costs of the city’s small and medium industrial units to the extent of make it uncompetitive. To beat the shortage factories are forced to automate but the capital costs are exorbitant. Banks hesitate to lend to this sector and if they do the interest rates are very high, in additional to heavy processing charges”, said another city industralist.

Sahnewal, February 27
Among the 17 new bridges that have been sanctioned all over India, the Sahnewal railway overbridge is the only one in Punjab to find a mention in this year’s railway budget.

The Punjab government had already approved the bridge and the final nod from the Centre was awaited to initiate the process of construction.

All approach sections of the bridge will be constructed by the public works department (building & roads), while the span over the tracks will be built by the railways.

The Punjab Infrastructure Development Board had given its approval to the project in May. The state government then hired an agency, RITES, for survey and design of the bridge after which a case for approval from the railways was sent through its division office, Ferozepur.

The level crossing of Sahnewal has remained a headache not only for motorists but also for residents, shopkeepers and pedestrians, who have to suffer frequent snarl-ups on the main market road.

Motorists have to wait at least half an hour for each of the nearly 15 times the level crossing is closed every day.

The state leadership had earlier met with railway minister Mamata Benerjee for an early approval of the bridge. They had submitted a letter written by the Chief Minister to which the railway minister had given a positive nod but the approval was officially awaited.

PWD (B&R) chief engineer GR Bains said the department would invite tenders shortly.

PWD, Ludhiana, assistant engineer Sehajpreet Singh Mangat said: “A case for the shifting of electricity poles and transformers has already been moved by the PWD. The department has initiated the case for the cutting of trees with the forest department.”

Addressing mediapersons here today, SAD leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon said the process of construction of the bridge would begin by April.

He thanked the state leadership for their support in getting the bridge sanctioned. He also thanked the people of the Sahnewal constituency for their patience.

Mandi Gobindgarh, February 27
To curve the growing menace of drug addiction among youth, the Punjab government under the directions of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has launched a massive campaign of sports competitions to divert the attention of the youth. The mother game, kabaddi, which was forgotten in the state, is now not only given its forgotten glory, but has also begun to gather interest among Punjabis all over the world, said finance minister Bibi Upinderjit Kaur, while addressing the three-day kabaddi tournament, which concluded late last night.

The tournament was organised in memory of late Capt Kanwaljit Singh by Baba Marru Dass Memorial Youth Sports and Cultural Club of Salana village.

The minister said the government had awarded prizes worth ` 7,54 crore to the world kabaddi teams and players were given gazetted jobs. She announced a grant of ` 5 lakh for the stadium and ` 2 lakh for the club.

The minister criticised the Central government for stepmotherly treatment meted out to Punjab in the matter of development schemes. Club chief, MD Cooperative Bank, Surinder Singh thanked the guests.

Among the dignitaries, Sirhind MLA Didar Singh Bhatti, Banur MLA Jasjit Singh Banni, deputy director Roshan Sood, market committee chairman Randhir Singh Bhambri, SAD district chief Jagdeep Singh Cheema, Zila Parishad chairperson Rajinder Kaur, State Karamchari Dal chief Karamjit Singh Bhagrana, SAD district general secretary Manjit Singh Salana, Capt Kanwaljit Singh’s daughter Manpreet Kaur Dauli were also present.

More than 100 teams participated in the tournament. Gopi of Maunki team was declared the best player and Gurmeet Singh from Moondian team was adjudged the best raider in the tournament and both were awarded gold rings. Maunki village team lifted the trophy with a cash prize of ` 41,000 by defeating Moondian village team with a margin of one-and-half points, who got ` 31,000.