Ludhiana, November 19
An assailant created ruckus in the Sarabha Nagar market last night, leaving three shopkeepers injured. One of the suspects was nabbed and handed over to the police after being thrashed.

The incident took place last night when nearly a dozen armed men entered a games shop and thrashed a businessman identified as Rajesh Kumar. They also attacked two salesmen, Raju and Karamjit Singh.

Rajesh, owner of a music store, said a youth was caught on the close-circuit television camera (CCTV) while stealing a mobile cover in the evening.

The incident led to a heated argument between the youth and Rajesh. The youth reportedly called his friends to the shop. In the meantime, Rajesh closed his shop and went to a games shop and narrated the incident to other shopkeepers.

“Just as we were thinking of calling the police, the assailants entered the shop and started thrashing us. The other shopkeepers came to our rescue. The accused fled the scene, but one of them was nabbed and handed over to the police,” said Rajesh.

Pardeep Kumar, the investigating officer, said the police had recorded the statement of the shopkeepers. “We will take the CCTV footage of the youth who was caught stealing the mobile cover. He has not admitted to his involvement in last night’s incident,” he said.

Ludhiana, November 19
There seems to be no end to incidents of snatching and robbery. While the police is busy ensuring the smooth conduct of the Kabaddi World Cup final to be held here tomorrow, anti-social elements are having a field day.

In yet another incident, two motorcycle-borne youths snatched a gold chain and purse worth over Rs 1 lakh from a teacher at pistol point in the Model Town area here today. Before fleeing, the snatchers fired two shots into the air to deter residents from chasing them.

The incident took place around 2.30 pm when the victim identified as Jaswinder Kaur of Kamal Colony, Samrala, was returning home after attending a meeting at Gujjarkhan School in Model Town. She was walking towards the Dugri road to catch a bus to Samrala.

Two youths on a motorcycle and with their faces covered, drew close to her. “The youth riding pillion lunged towards me and tried to flee with my chain and purse. But I retaliated and overpowered him. I raised the alarm, but people did not come forward to help,” she said. By then, the snatcher freed himself and fled.

She said the snatchers were carrying a pistol. “I do not know if they fired a shot. It appeared to be a toy pistol.”

However, Sanjay, an eyewitness, said: “The snatchers fired two shots into the air to create fear. If they did not have a pistol, they would have been nabbed.”

Soon the police also reached the spot and recorded the statement of the victim. This is not the first time when a woman has fallen a prey to snatchers in the Model Town area. Three incidents of snatching have taken place in the area in the past three days, but the police has done nothing so far.

The Station House Officer of Model Town said the woman had stated that the snatchers were carrying a toy pistol. The police has launched a manhunt to nab the accused.

Ludhiana, November 19
Much to the relief of city residents, Air India has changed the timings of flights operating from Ludhiana (Sahnewal) airport from November 23. Now, instead of evening, the flight would take off in the afternoon.

The timing has been changed keeping in mind the changing weather and its impact on visibility, which was causing regular delay of flights.

From November 23, the flight would take off at 12.30 pm instead of 5 pm. Even the days on which the flight would take off from the city havebeen changed.

Amrik Singh, manager of Air India at the local airport, said instead of flights operating on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday, these would now operate on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. “The flight would depart from the Delhi airport at 11.05 am and will arrive at the Ludhiana airport at 12.10 pm. The same flight will then take off from Ludhiana at 12:30 pm and reach Delhi at 1.35 pm. We are hoping that with the changed timings, city residents would avail of this facility in large numbers,” he said.

Ranjodh Singh, an industrialist, said Ludhiana was the financial capital of the state and the Ludhiana airport must be equipped with improved facilities.

“It should be an all-weather airport. Due to uncertainty of flights, we prefer using Shatabdi for going to Delhi. If flights get cancelled at the last minute, it becomes very difficult for us to look for an alternative. Flights should operate in the city on all days because now there is a gap of a day between the next flight and people visiting Ludhiana for business do not stay here for more than a day,” he added. 

Ludhiana, November 19
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) may have authorised easy bill outlets depositing the electricity bills but some of them have been found guilty for over charging from consumers.

In one such case, the department (PSPCL) recently cancelled the authorisation of Maurya Karyana Store, an easy bill outlet, near GNE College, Gill road on the complaint of Kuldeep Singh Khaira, a resident of Chet Singh Nagar.

In his complaint, Khaira said the owner of the easybill outlet demanded an extra amount of Rs 10 in addition to the electricity bill. As the complainant was aware about the rule of PSPCL regarding not giving extra money other than electricity bill, he refused to pay the extra amount. On his refusal, the owner of the easybill outlet (Maurya Karyana) returned the electricity bill and amount. Khera complained regarding the issue to the concerned official and again went to the outlet for payment of the electricity bill in the evening. But the owner said Khera could lodge complaint anywhere but they (the outlet owners) had to bear the expenses of PSPCL local officials and it was their right to charge the extra money from the consumers, alleged Khera.

The PSPCL's concerned official PK Monga asked one Sukhbir Singh, an assistant executive engineer, to look into the matter, after receiving the complaint. Sukhbir brought it to the notice of officials that the version of the complainant was correct and that the easy-bill outlet Maurya Karyana Store was charging Rs 10 extra from consumers. Besides, the matter was also referred to Easy Bill Limited for taking punitive action against the outlet under intimation to the office.

PK Monga, the official concerned, when contacted said, “Yes, the particular bill outlet was charging extra money from the consumers. The company, Easy Bills, informed us that his authorisation has been cancelled."

Ludhiana, November 19
Rana Nayar, chairperson, department of English and Cultural Studies, Panjab University, Chandigarh, on the feedback of the new textbook prescribed for BA I (compulsory), "English @ Work" has assured the faculty and students of English that it is not possible for them to bring about necessary changes in the textbook for the session 2011-12, but changes will be made during the next academic session.

In a letter written to Prof KBS Sodhi, Department of English, GGN Khalsa College here, Nayar said that department was grateful to get the feedback of the teachers and students on the particular textbook. He assured that all suggestions in this regard would be placed before the Undergraduate Board of Studies in its next meeting.

He said that it was not possible to bring about the necessary changes. Even if review was attempted, it would take minimum six months to carry out the changes made through different stages of decision making. And if the chapters were to be changed, consent of the publisher was required. The revised book will not be available before the start of the next academic session, Nayar said.

Ever since the particular textbook was prescribed for the students of BA I, neither the students nor the teachers felt "comfortable" with it. Sodhi, in a letter written to the VC, PU, in October 2011 had asked to make changes in the textbook as it was posing problems to the students coming from rural, urban, semi-urban, government and non-government colleges.

In the letter, Sodhi wrote, "There are apprehensions about its fall out which can lead to disappointment and frustration among the students resulting in poor pass percentage in university exams, which is already far from satisfactory. Poorer pass percentage is likely to have cumulative effect on the students' strength seeking admission to BAII and subsequently to BA III".

Sodhi said that it was a crucial situation, some urgent remedial measures were warranted before it was too late.

Doraha, November 19
An inter-house English declamation was organised at Green Grove Public School today.

Priya of class VIII spoke on "Improve Education in schools", Akanksha of class IX shared her views about the use of computer and Karanveer of class VII delivered her speech on "Rising Prices". Among juniors, Anika and Harwin of class (I A) was first, Sehnoor (I A) and Ivneet (III B) secured second position and Shagun (III B) got third position.

Arshnoor(II A), Alisha (III B), Tanveer ( II A), Harseerat (III A), Suhani(I A), Prabhjot (I A), Vineet (III A), Navleen (II B), Puneet (I A) and Sehajveer (II A) were declared the best speakers.

Among seniors, Navkiran (XI) secured first position while Navreet (X) and Priya (VIII) got second and third positions respectively. Akansha (IX) and Purnoor (XI) were given consolation prizes. Amritveer (X), Hasrat (IX), Karanveer (VII), Savreen (VII) Millanveer (VII) Pushpinder (X), Navera (XI), Navret (VIII), Ravneet (VIII) and Ramnik (X) were declared the best speakers. Students of class X Jaskirat, Ashna, Akshit and Pushpinder presented a power-point presentation on the life of Indira Gandhi.

Jagraon, November 19
The Halwai Association, Jagraon, today backed the sweets shop owner accused of selling fungus-infested sweets to a customer few days back.

During a meeting of the association here today, the representatives of the association said that the customer who had accused the sweets shop owner of selling the fungus-infested sweets had in fact purchased the sweets from the shop about 10 days back.

Talking to mediapersons after the meeting, association president Nirmal claimed that the sweets shop owner had warned the customer not to keep the sweets stored fore more than five days but despite warning, the customer stored the sweet boxes for more than one week and the sweets were infested with fungus due to this. “Therefore it is not fair to blame the sweets shop owner for the sweets getting infested with fungus”, he said further.

Association office -bearers said, the association had also issued instructions to all sweets shop owners of the city to keep proper record of the sweets sold by them in future to customers so that if this kind of situation arose again, they could defend themselves.

Ludhiana, November 19
A Punjabi book, "Nanak Singh-The Dickens of Punjabi Novel" was released today at Khalsa College for Women. "This book is an attempt to show that Punjabi literature is in no way poorer than English literature,”says Prof KBS Sodhi. Revealing about his book, Prof Sodhi said told comparative study on Nanak Singh and Dickens. Having done master’s degree both in English and Punjabi, Prof Sodhi has been able to understand the profundities of both the languages and of the novelists. Comparing their lives, he said there were many commonalities between the lives and thus writings of the two. “Both had poverty-stricken childhood and youth full of struggle. Both have written about the social problems of lower middle class and the evils of society. While Dickens wrote extensively about child labour, Nanak Singh wrote about the condition and exploitation of women. Both of them passed away at work while writing,” he said.

Prof said they were prolific, had similar childhood problems and wrote in a sentimental tone about the common man. Dr SP Singh, former Vice-Chancellor GNDU, was the chief guest. Prof Tasneem, Prof Prem Singh Bajaj, principal Gurcharan Singh and Punjabi Sahit Academy president prof Gurbhajan Singh were present on the occasion. 

Doraha,November 19
Sudden fog that engulfed the region today, made the easy going life a bit difficult for the townsters.

“Till yesterday it seemed that the weather till this time of November was more or less the same but today in the morning I was astonished to find the sudden shift from hot to cold. Cold wind too added to the weather,” commented Pawandeep Singh, who teaches at Guru Nanak Engineering College, Ludhiana.

As six laning project of National Highway is still in progress, the commuters too found it difficult to make their way through the fog especially in the wee hours today. “These diversions should be clearly marked at the very onset of wintry season so that it is visible from quite a distance,” commented Ramandeep Singh who commutes from Ludhiana to Doraha everyday.

Tejinder Singh, who is employed at Doraha and takes the canal road for commuting everyday, said the situation was worse along the canal due to the dense fog as nothing was visible.

Students at an exhibition on “Scanning of business world” at Khalsa College for Women in Ludhiana. A Tribune photograph

In the individual prize category, prize for the best comprehensive and informative idea was given to Sanchita (B.Com II) on "Digital Marketing", Harmanpreet Kaur (B.Com II) got second prize on the topic "Caller tune Advertisement" and third prize was bagged by Pratibha (B.Com III) on "Rural Entrepreneurship in India".

Auditions for reality show

The Pinnacle Institute of Fashion Technology (PIFT), had hosted one of the exclusive auditions for an upcoming reality show at UTV BINDASS at PIFT campus on November 18 and 19. The auditions are being taken by Manik Vyas on behalf of UTV. The auditions are being conducted for an upcoming serial "Dating In The Dark" for UTV Bindass. The Pinnacle Institute of Fashion Technology in Association with Style India,- one of the professional agencies are responsible for conducting the auditions. — TNS

Samrala November 19
The Machiwara police has booked four persons, including father and his two sons for defrauding more than 10 persons of about 32 lakh of the Machiwara area. The police said Mohan Singh of Burj Pawat village and some other persons had given a written complaint to the Khanna SSP against Narinder Singh Batra, two of his sons and one of their employee.

The SSP marked the inquiry to the economic offence wing who after probe found the above said persons responsible for breach of trust to more than 10 persons of the area and a case was registered in this regard at the Machiwara police station against Narinder Singh of Machiwara, two his sons named Kamalpreet Singh and Kamaljot Singh and their accountant Shamsher Singh. The police said the accused were still at large and they were conducting raids to nab them.

Narinder Singh was a commission agent at grain market, Machiwara, and several people of the area had deposited money with the firm owned by Narinder Singh and his family members but he disappeared some time ago with his family members.

The affected persons who are said to be in large number were running from pillar to post to get back their hard earned money. More than 10 persons of the area, including Mohan Singh of village Pawat, Angrej Singh also of Pawat had presented a written complaint to the police in this regard and they were booked after through probe.

Ludhiana, November 19
Mehta Gurukul Academy, Doraha, along with SAI XI, Orissa, SAI, Patiala and Scindia Academy, Bhopal, secured berths in the last four stage on the penultimate day of the 9th All India Gold Cup Hockey Tournament (boys u-21) being organised by the Doraha Hawks Club at Mehta Gurukul Public Senior Secondary School, Doraha, today.

The first quarter final was played between Mehta Gurukul Academy and Dhar Academy, Madhya Pradesh, which remained unresolved as the two teams were tied one-all.

Dhar Academy went ahead in the 11th minute through Manoj Patel while the Doraha outfit restored parity in the 29th minute when Ravinder Pal Singh found the target.

In the second quarter final, Steel Authority of India Limited (SAIL), Orissa, faced some resistance from Sports School, Jalandhar, whom they outplayed comprehensively 4-1. SAIL surged into the lead in the sixth minute. Jagtar struck in the 29th minute to consolidate the lead (2-0).

Ajmal Lakra pumped in two goals (29th and 23th minutes) to further cement the lead 4-0. The lone goal for the losing side came off Karanbir’s stick in the 58th minute.

The third quarter final played between SAI, Patiala, and Sports Hostel, Gurgaon, turned out to be contested affair in which the former managed to overcome stiff challenge and wrap up the issue 2-1. Sports Hostel drew the first blood in the 12th minute when Hassan Khan scored a superb field goal to put his team into the lead.

SAI bounced back to wipe out the deficit in the 27th minute through Jatinder Singh. He added another goal just two minutes before the long hooter which also fetched them the match and booked a place in the semi final. In the fourth quarter final, Scindia Academy, Bhopal, pipped Sangrur Academy 2-0. Sarfraz opened the account in the second half while Rajesh Kumar scored immediately to read it 2-0.

Both the semi finals and the title clash match are scheduled for tomorrow. An exhibition match in the women’s section will also be organised on the occasion.

Ludhiana, November 19
Preparations for various events at Guru Nanak Stadium for the closing ceremony of the finals may cause damage to the sports infrastructure at the stadium.

It is a violation of the directions of the Cabinet, enforcing a ban on such events at sports stadiums. Several years ago, Sports Director Pargat Singh had also opposed such events in stadiums.

The authorities have set up two stages in the ground and one near the athletics track. The main stage is for politicians, chief guests and film stars while the other is for the band and performing artistes. The third stage will be the control room where the light and sound and all other equipment will be placed.

These stages are propped up on iron pillars which will damage the ground. Sports lovers and players fear that the stages may damage infrastructure, the repair of which will 
take months.

“It seems that the government is not bothered about protecting the sports infrastructure because it is organising the Kabaddi World Cup only for political gain,” an athlete claimed.

The general secretary of the Punjab Basketball Association, Teja Singh Dhaliwal, said: “The government is doing this for political mileage. It does not care about sports. Such events have caused extensive damage to the ground, the AstroTurf, fencing and seating areas of the stadium in the past.”