Ludhiana, April 1
With gold prices on an upward spiral, women in the city are under constant threat from fraudsters. Despite police initiatives to curb such incidents, the city has witnessed an increase in the snatching incidents.

In the latest incident, three persons, including a woman, decamped with three gold rings and a gold chain by engaging a staff nurse of the civil hospital in a conversation.

The incident took place in broad daylight when the victim, Surinder Kaur, a resident South Model Town, was on her way to the hospital.

"An elderly person stopped me near Field Gunj and asked me the way to a temple. When I reached near the hospital, a young woman and a man intercepted me and said that I had misbehaved with the elderly person. Meanwhile, the elderly person appeared and the trio engaged me in a conversation. The woman, while arguing with me, held my hand. I don’t know when they removed my gold chain and rings," said the victim, Surinder Kaur.

She realised that her ornaments were missing when she reached the hospital. She informed the Division No 2 police. The victim claimed that the gold ornaments were worth over Rs 1 lakh. 

Ludhiana, April 1
Two motorcycle-borne youths snatched a gold chain of a woman from the Naulakha garden colony near the CMCH this evening.

The incident took place when the victim, Reetu, was standing outside her house and was waiting for her husband and son. Two youths on a motorcycle appeared and the one riding pillion pulled the gold chain of Reetu.

The snatchers were caught on the CCTV camera installed in the locality. The police matched the latest footage of both the incidents and arrived at the conclusion that the bike-borne snatchers were involved in a similar incident in the area a few days ago.

It is learnt that a similar snatching incident took place a few days ago in the area and the snatchers were caught on the closed circuit television camera installed in the locality.

The police procured the CCTV footage, but the accused are still at large. 

Ludhiana, April 1
A 25-year-old woman, reportedly in an inebriated state, died after falling off a wall at Kanganwal village last night.

Ludhiana, April 1
The Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) has postponed the draw of lots scheduled for April 2 for allotment of MIG and LIG houses to the 1984 riots’ victims. The draw will now be held on May 15.

GLADA additional chief administrator Baldev Singh said a comprehensive exercise had been carried out to verify the claims of applicants for allotment of dwelling units as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

"There were thousands of applicants for the MIG and LIG houses. The credentials of applicants were verified. Finally, the list of over 6,400 persons found eligible for allotment of residential flats was put on the official website and the date for the draw of lots was also fixed. However, many applicants, whose cases were rejected or accepted for a particular category of flat, pleaded for a review," said Baldev Singh.

He said following the additional burden involved to verify the claims and to carry out corrections in the final list, the draw of lots had to be postponed.

Some 790 MIG and LIG houses are available for allotment to the riot victims in Dugri, Phase I and II, and the final list of applicants will be uploaded on the website before the next date of the draw, said Baldev Singh.

He said the eligible applicants who had taken unlawful possession of 102 residential flats in the CRPF colony had been allotted alternative flats and 14 others who had to vacate the flats by March 31 as per the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had also handed over the possession to GLADA. 

Ludhiana, April 1
Thieves decamped with iron gates and grills of a park and Senior Citizen Bhawan in BRS Nagar, I Block.

Bhem Sen, resident of BRS Nagar, said the revolving iron gates weighing over 50 kg were stolen.

"The thieves used a gas cutter to remove the iron gates and grills. They also tried a sledge hammer to remove the gate," said Bhem Sen.

Councillor Veera Bedi’s husband Harpreet Singh Bedi said it was not for the first time that the thieves have struck at the area.

The incident was reported to the police.

In a separate incident, thieves struck at an industrial unit in Focal Point and decamped with two tempos containing scrap and a motorcycle.

The incident came to light when Harmeet Singh, owner of Gulzar Mechanical Works, reached the factory. He was shocked to see the shutters broken.

Harmeet said the thieves might have stuck on the intervening night of Saturday and Sunday as they were aware that the factory unit will remain closed on Sunday. 

Ludhiana, April 1
Tall claims of the education department of taking stern action against schools that fail to register under the Right to Education (RTE) Act by March 31 have fallen flat. The department has failed impose penalty on erring schools.

RS Malhi, district education officer (primary) said the department was serving notices on the erring schools.

The department had been claiming that the RTE Act had to be implemented in the state from April 1 and the schools which were not following the norms would be penalised. The department decided to impose a fine of Rs 1 lakh on an erring school on April 1 followed by regular fine of Rs 10,000 per day. However, no action was taken against any school today. There 62 schools which have not registered under the RTE Act.

Meanwhile, officials at the office of the Director General of Secondary Education at Chandigarh said closure notices would be served on the schools.

Wishing not to be quoted, an official said: "We will give a month’s time to the schools so the students don’t suffer.” 

Ludhiana, April 1
With 51 water samples failing purity test in schools, the water and sanitation department has decided to provide all government and aided schools in the city with H2S kits.

District health officer Dr Avinash Kumar said: "The water samples will not be sent to a laboratory as H2S kits will be used to check the quality of water. The report will be out within 24 hours."

He said: “Dr Gurmeet Singh of the Ludhiana civil surgeon’s office has been trained for testing water samples using H2S kits. “Soon, these kits will be made available at the Civil Hospital and the block-level health centres. Health employees will check the quality of water at all 1,533 schools. In case a water sample fails the purity test, the report will be sent to the Deputy Commissioner and Executive Engineer, rural water supply, division number I, II and III, Ludhiana.”

The district health officer said the schools were also supposed to follow the instructions to maintain the quality of water. The authorities should ensure chlorination of water and water tanks should also be cleaned at regular intervals. Strict action will be taken against the schools that fail to follow the instructions.

The health department has 2,400 testing kits.

How the kit works?

The Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) kit is used to check the microbial quality of drinking water and is based on the detection of hydrogen sulphide producing bacteria rather than the coliform bacteria. For testing, the kit is filled up to a specific mark and is kept at room temperature. If bacteria are present in the sample, they produce hydrogen sulphide, which turns the water sample black or brown. 

Ludhiana, April 1
The city which is one of the biggest districts of Punjab is without a Public Relation Officer since March 22. Thanks to the lackadaisical approach adopted by the department. For the past 10 days, the work of the department is suffering as nobody is there to manage the affairs.

Though the drawing and disbursing powers have been given to the District Public Relation Officer, Patiala, by the department, still no regular appointment has been made so far. One of the officials on condition of anonymity said that he required the services of the Public Relation Officer to make the masses aware as a camp was to be organised in villages, but he felt helpless in the absence of the District Public Relation Officer or Assistant Public Relation Officer.

"If the media has to be told about the project, the DPRO has to contact them. It is not our duty to call the reporters or the photo-journalists. And in a district like Ludhiana, one or two events are organised every day. Besides, the ministers and other dignitaries make routine visits and the news has to be sent by the department only", said the official.The DPRO was suspended due to "dereliction of duty" on March 22. 

Ludhiana, April 1
Anna Hazare entered the city from the Jalandhar bypass at 11.10 am. Here, he was welcomed by Vishav Guru Ravidass Mission and he garlanded the statue of Dr B R Ambedkar at Ambedkar Chowk. It was around 12.15 pm that he reached the Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital where an NGO, Ann Jal Sewa Trust, welcomed him.

Here, Anna Hazare along with his team, spent more than one hour. They had lunch, prepared by the NGO. He also handed over a tricycle to a physically challenged person on behalf of Ann Jal Sewa Trust. Commenting on the occasion, Anna said, "You are not handicapped, but I am handicapped."

While appreciating the work of the NGO, Anna said, "Ann Jal sewa Trust is doing very well by serving the sick and needy people here in the government hospital. In fact, it is the job of the government that the NGO is doing."

While interacting with Anna, members of the NGO told him about the problems being faced by them like not getting subsidised LPG cylinders for cooking food for the patients and also made him aware about the government hospitals in the state that do not have adequate infrastructure. Listening to this, Anna said, "All these problems will be solved once the evil of corruption is over from the country."

Anna was honoured with Desh Sewa Ratan Award by the Ann Jal Sewa Trust and Bhagwan Mahavir Sewa Sansthan.

Ludhiana, April 1
Residents of Chander Nagar of Haibowal area staged a dharna against opening of a liquor vend in the area. Narinder Singh Malhi, area councillor of Ward No. 3, said that the liquor vend was illegally being set up in the residential area.

"The residents have opposed the move of the contractor, as the vend is being set up near the temple. Two schools are also located in the same street", Harnam, a resident of Chander Nagar, said.

Residents along with two councillors raised slogans against the Excise Department. Meanwhile, ACP J. Elanchezhian reached the spot and arranged a meeting with the officials of the Excise Department.

Malhi said, "We have talked to Jaskaran Brar, Excise and Taxation officer. He promised us that the location of the vend would be changed. The contractor also assured that the location of the vend would be changed".

Ludhiana, April 1
Traders from the knitwear industry have requested that new bogies be added to the passenger trains to carry the merchandise to desired destinations in the stipulated time. The problem has been persisting for a long time, now, and no action in this regard has been taken by the Railways.

"Due to the shortage of bogies, the goods are not supplied at the right time at the desired destination. As a result, the customers face a lot of problem in the season and our payments get delayed," said Darshan Dawar, president of Knitwear Club.

Vinod Thapar, chairman of the club, said that they had also written to the General Manager, Northern Railways, in this regard. "Moreover, goods keep lying in the open at the Ludhiana railway station because of the shortage of bogies causing problems to manufacturers and buyers. Sometimes, the goods get destroyed due to rain as no proper arrangements are made to keep the finished products," said Thapar. Ludhiana being the chief industrial hub for knitwear and textile Industry, which contributes to the revenue of the country, the demand should be met with immediate effect.To attend to business work, traders travel on Shatabadi train to go to Sabzi Mandi, but in the schedule of Shatabadi, there is no stoppage at Sabzi Mandi”, added Dawar. 

Ludhiana, April 1
Taking exception to the move by the municipal corporation to hand over the work of door-to-door garbage collection to a private company, the MC sanitation workers (safai karamcharies), led by activists of "Valmiki Samaj Bachao Andolan" staged a protest at the Mini-Secretariat today.

Through separate memoranda submitted to the Deputy Commissioner and the Police Commissioner, the leaders of the MC sanitation staff served a 15-day ultimatum to the authorities to revoke the agreement signed with A2Z Waste Management Company for collection of garbage from the door steps of residents failing which the affected workers would be forced to agitate.

Addressing the protesting sanitation workers, Surinder Kalyan, president of the body, cautioned the civic and district administration against taking the demands of the sanitation staff lightly.

He said the MC workers were determined to stop the staff deployed by the private company for garbage collection. "The confrontation between the two groups could lead to a law and order situation, and also lead to disruption in the work of garbage collection."

Reiterating the demand that door-to-door collection of garbage from households ought to remain with the MC sanitation staff, the activists made it clear that they would not let the private company collect garbage from the houses of residents.

Kalyan and other speakers at the rally charged the SAD-BJP government in Punjab with pursuing “anti-Dalit” policies.

They cited the example of hiring a private company for the disposal of garbage from containers to the dumping site and then also entrusting the task of door-to-door collection of garbage to the same company despite vehement protests by the affected workers.

"Senior government functionaries had assured the sanitation workers that the decision of handing over the work of garbage collection to the private company will be reviewed and interests of the sanitation workers will be safeguarded. But the government has failed to keep its word," the leaders of the protesting staff asserted.

Among others, Hans Raj Gagat, Om Pal Chanalia, Ravi Bali and Mangal Das Balialso addressed the rally.

Ludhiana, April 1
To strengthen bi-lateral trade ties between India and the countries of Africa continent and to strengthen export, The Africa Conclave-2013 will held on April 5 at the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) Complex.

"The African continent is the second fastest growing region in the world. In 2011-12, export from Africa to India stood at $43 billion, and imports from India stood at $23 billion.

This programme will provide a platform for improvising strategy to register significant boost to export and import from the African continent," said Upkar Singh, joint secretary of CICU.

Ten Ambassadors and High Commissioners of African Countries in India representing Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia have confirmed their participation at the event. Exporters, importers, manufacturers and representatives of prominent industrial bodies associated with the CICU will interact and explore trade and industrial business opportunities for mutual benefits.This event will help India’s trade relations.

Ten Ambassadors and High Commissioners of African Countries in India representing Algeria, Kenya, Morocco, Namibia, Niger, Rwanda, South Sudan, Egypt, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia have confirmed their participation at the event.

Ludhiana, April 1
Over 28 students of Kamla Lohtia Sanatan Dharam College here will not be allowed to take their final examination tomorrow due to shortage of lectures and for not securing required marks in house examinations.

The students of BBA/BCA/BA etc protested against the decision taken by the management. The authorities maintained that these were the university guidelines, so the students had to adhere to it.

The final exams of the colleges are starting from tomorrow. As these 28 students had failed to attend enough lectures throughout the year and failed in the house tests as well, they will not be allowed to take the final examinations, said the college authorities.

Ludhiana, April 1
Under the guidance of the DGSE, Punjab, the DEO (S) Paramjit Kaur Chahal, inspected several schools by constituting four different teams here today.

About half a dozen staff members and Class IV employees were found to be absent from their duty by the teams of officials from the DEO department.

A sweeper was found absent at a Government School in Haibowal Kalan, while a clerk was found absent at a school in Gahaur.

Another team inspected Pamal village, where a science teacher had gone abroad for a long time without informing the authorities. While at a government school in Cheema, a sweeper and a peon were found absent from duty.

The department has prepared a report, which has been sent to the DGSE for a necessary action. The teams were led by the DEO, Assistant DEO and District Science Supervisor etc.

Chahal said the inspection was conducted to check that quality education was being provided at the government schools.

Ludhiana, April 1
Autism is a lifelong developmental disability which appears during the first three years of life. But unfortunately, very few city residents are aware about it. It will not be wrong to say that the awareness level about this form of disability is like a "drop in ocean". This was said by Dr Gurpreet Kochar, a Child Neurologist at SPS Apollo Hospital, Ludhiana, while talking to the Tribune on the eve of World Autism Awarenss Day.

Dr Kochar said many parents keep wandering here and there with such children and still fail to recognise an autistic child.

While NIranjan Kumar founder of Darpan Centre for Autistic Children in the city said, "With time, more cases of autistic children are rising all over world. In the year 2005, the ratio between normal and autistic kids was 500:1, two years ago, it changed to 150:1 and at present, it is 50:1 in the world. But the specific reason behind autism is yet unknown."

He said with time, educated people are getting aware through therapists and experts but for uneducated people it is still an unsolved mystery.

Shortage of funds

Niranjan Kumar, founder of the Darpan Centre for Autistic Children said, "We are ready to hold awareness programmes. But we need funds for that. Last year, we had organised an awareness camp on autism for public at Dhandhra road and it remained quite successful. But this year, we are yet to hold as 
for holding one such camp we need an amount of Rs 10 to 15,000."

Red Flags of Autism:

As per the American Academy of Pediatrics, following are the Red Flags of autism.

• If a child does not utter any word up to the age of a year and a half.
• When a child cannot utter small sentence having two words till the age of 2 years.
• Loss of any language skills at any age.
• Does not respond when called up by his or her name.
• When a child does not start with earlier babbling till the age of 1 year.
• Sensatory issues: Hypo or hyper while listening to a sound or seeing a bright light etc.
• Does not get involved with other kids of his age.
• Remains in his own world like playing with a particular game in the same style.
• Have repetitive speech, repetitive work.

Ludhiana, April 1
Inherited traits, environmental pressures and negative life experiences play a major role in psychiatric illness. This was stated by Dr Rajeev Gupta, a city based psychiatrist and president of the Manas Foundation, while addressing a seminar on common psychological problems and their treatment here yesterday at Rotary Bhawan.

Dr Gupta said that about certain stressors, those trigger illness in people, which are susceptible to depression on being exposed to death of a known person, divorce, dysfunctional family life, changing jobs or schools and substance abuse etc.

While Dr Sunil Mitta, a Delhi based psychiatrist, talked about the misconceptions related to psychiatry, which include myths like young people and children do not have psychiatric health problems and people who have ever had psychiatric illness can never be normal. He also told about many other misconceptions about psychiatry to common people.

He provided valid facts for false statements by saying that a person, who had psychiatric illness and do recover to resume to normal activities of life and cope well with all problems of life on his /her own.

Dr Satyam Sharma from Patiala talked about family care for psychiatric patients and coping strategies for the family members of hospitalised psychiatric patients. He also told as how to cope with the problems of patients with proper support and understanding towards them.

However, Dr Nitin Gupta from Chandigarh Medical College talked about various treatments of psychiatric illness and how correct treatment can help a person's condition to improve or in some cases allow them to recover completely as sometimes, the symptoms can be so confusing for the persons that they do not realise they are ill. Over 300 patients and their parents participated in it.

Ludhiana, April 1
Small bicycle manufacturers have alleged that the procurement of bicycles done by the different state governments is not done according to the instructions issued by the Central Government.

Federation of Association of Small Industries of India has written to KH Muniappa, Union Minister for Micro, Small And Medium Enterprises regarding the flagrant violation of the procurement policy by the government of Rajasthan and Karnataka.

According to the procurement policy, the Central Government ministries, departments and public sector undertakings shall procure minimum 20 per cent of their annual value of goods or services from micro and small enterprises.

"Despite the prevailing order of the Union Government, the governments of Rajasthan and Karnataka have blatantly violated the same in their procurement of bicycles under the different Central Government schemes implemented through the said state governments," said Badish Jindal, national president of FASII.

The government of Rajasthan has issued two tenders for purchase of over five lakh bicycles for students costing Rs 130 crores. But the conditions stipulated in the tenders have not gone well with the small manufacturers.

"The conditions enlighten that the said governments are in hand and glove with the cartel of few large scale manufacturers o are preventing and thwarting the business prospects and marketing avenues of the micro and small enterprises.

Ludhiana, April 1
In a shocking incident, a 30-year-old woman was raped before her seven-year-old daughter at Karamsar Colony in Jodhewal Basti here today.

The police has arrested the accused, identified as Sonu Sood, a truck driver.

The victim said, Sonu entered her house and locked the door from inside. She said she tried to escape but Sonu overpowered her. He tied her daughter and raped the victim.

Sources said that the victim lives alone in the house following a marital dispute with her husband. The police has registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC.