Ludhiana, April 7
Ludhiana City Bus Service Ltd has discontinued service on the route of low-floor buses running through Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar. The trial run on this route had started in March and after continuing it for around 20 days, service on the route was discontinued, as this particular route was not proving to be financially viable. Moreover, not many people avail themselves of this service.

Two buses were plied on this route, which starts from Threeke village and runs through Rajguru Nagar and Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar before reaching the Verka Milk Plant turn on the Ferozepur road.

It is learnt that the per kilometre expenditure on this route was around Rs 29 while the LCBSL was able to earn around Rs 14 per kilometre only. “Being a posh area, very few people availed themselves of this service. Most people residing here own vehicles,” said an official of the LCBSL.

Special bus service to Gurdwara Manji Sahib at Alamgir is proving to be a profitable route. Here, the LCBSL is earning around Rs 33 per kilometre against the running cost of around Rs 28 per kilometre. This bus service operates every Sunday.

Baljit Singh, general manager, LCBSL, said the Gurdwara Manji Sahib-Alamgir bus service is operational from 6 am to 7 pm every Sunday. “A total of six buses have been put on this special service and these start from the main bus stand. The fare is Rs 15 per person if one takes the bus from the bus stand, Rs 10 from the Gill chowk and Rs 5 is he takes the bus from the Sidhwan Canal bridge on the Gill road,” he said, while confirming that the Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar route has been discontinued.

Ludhiana, April 7
After getting a positive response, the Income tax department has decided to continue sending letters to assesses, who do not file income tax return. The department has already issued letters to over one lakh non-filers for failing to file the income tax returns in the past couple of months.

"We are getting results. The number of returns filed is showing an increase and we intend to continue with the efforts," said a senior IT official.

The letters contain summary of information about financial transactions along with customised response sheet with a view to know why the person has not filed the income tax return.

As per the department, there are over 12 lakh PAN (Permanent Account Number) holders who had not filed income tax returns. After identifying the defaulters, the department has already sent letters to over one lakh such assesses.

"As the tax base widens, hopefully in near future, tax rates could fall. The Finance Bill 2013 proposes that failure to pay excise duty and service tax over Rs 50 lakh could lead to arrest of defaulters. People are advised to pay their due taxes on time to avoid the consequences," added the official.

Ludhiana, April 7
Despite a monotonous and demanding profession, Visakha Singh, a security guard, manages to take out time for creative pursuit of writing songs. As lyrics and creative songs sprout in his mind even at work, he writes them when he returns home late in the evening.

Visakha Singh

Visakha Singh has been working as a security guard for many years. But he started writing song in year 2008.

Residing at Shauni Mohalla, Visakha Singh retired from the Indian Army as a sepoy and wrote his first song "border" in 2008. In which he expressed the patriotic feeling of a sepoy, who fights on border during the war.

"I used to stay alone during my duty. My mind started imagining about the different experiences of life. I use to make stanzas of songs and composition during the duty time. But in the absence of note book I was not able to write the songs. I used to cram the lines till the end of duty and used to write after reaching home," said the soldier.

"In the past five years, I have written around 200 songs on various issues. Most of them are duet songs. I have written patriotic, devotional and cultural songs," he added.

Ludhiana, April 7
To provide birds and small animals water in scorching summer, office-bearers and volunteers of Care of Animals and Protection of Environment (CAPE-India) today distributed earthen bowls and bird feed packets to devotees at Shri Aadinath Jain temple at Civil lines today. 'Feed a Bird' programme was started by CAPE-India in 2007.

Saving House Sparrow project was also started by the organisation on the occasion. Under this project, people are educated about dwindling number of house sparrows, said Dr Sandeep Jain from the organisation.

Even if people intend to save and feed birds, they tend to procrastinate going to get earthen bowls by the time the summer is generally passed, which is when, it is critical to provide them water and feed, said Dr Jain. He said that with rapid urbanisation, the sources of water and food for birds have dwindled because of concrete housing and roofs, reducing nesting places for birds and sparrows in particular.

Members of the organisation told people to take measures like providing food and water, planting shrubs like bougainvillaea around houses, adopting organic products. Worms and caterpillars perish due to use of insecticides and agrochemicals.

Apart from being a health hazard, insecticides are destroying the food and atmosphere congenial to sparrows and other birds, a member of the organisation said.

Ludhiana, April 7
The Shopkeepers Welfare Association, New BRS Nagar, L-Block and Sunet, in association with NGO Zindagi Live Foundation, celebrated the birthday of Dr Samual Haneman, founder of homoeopathy, at 186-G, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar. The association organised a free medical check-up and blood donation camp on the occasion.

Dr Ravinder Kochar, principal, Lord Mahavir Homoeopathic, inaugurated the camp and appreciated the efforts of the association for this social cause. As many as 124 patients were examined and provided free medicine and tests like HCV, HBSaG, blood sugar, etc, during the camp. Sixty-three persons donated blood on the occasion.

Kamaljit Singh Matharoo, president of the association, said such camps would be conducted in future also.

Harpreet Singh Bedi was the guest of honour. Sachin Kapoor, secretary of Zindagi Live Foundation, thanked the donors and members of the association. He said the next camp would be held on May 5.

The Niswartth Sewa Society organised a blood donation camp at Shri Aadinatth Jain Mandir, Civil Lines. Over 150 volunteers donated blood on the occasion.

Artificial limbs were distributed among the needy with the help of the Bharat Vikas Parishad. As many as 200 persons pledged to donate their eyes.

Lovely Jain, president of the Niswartth Sewa Society, thanked chief guest Ravinder Mittal, Assistant Commissioner, Income Tax, Dr Amarjit Kaur, DR Rupinder Kaur and all donors.

Lifeline Hospital marked World Health Day here today by holding a free heart and blood pressure (BP) check-up camp. More than 200 patients were examined and free ECG, blood sugar and other tests were conducted. Medicines were also distributed free of cost among them.

Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Mayor HS Gohalwaria inaugurated the camp. It was followed by a seminar on “control of BP”. Dr Tushar Arora, a neurosurgeon, delivered a lecture on “management of stroke” and Dr Gaurav Maheshwari spoke about fatty liver and hypertension.

Ludhiana, April 7
A farewell function was organised by the Department of English of SCD Government College.

The function began with the screening of a documentary which encapsulated the high points of the two years spent in the campus of all the senior students present on the occasion. Classical dance, a musical drama, bhangra, modelling was performed on the occasion. Council members of The English Literary Circle and the winners of the handwriting contest were also felicitated on the occasion. Principal, prof Rajinder Singh, encouraged them to strive for greater excellence in the journey of life.

Ludhiana, April 7
Goat farming has become a money spinning occupation as the farmers holding huge lands also adopting the profession in the state. Commercial benefits have overridden the social stigma of keeping the goats in last some years.

Earlier, only "Bakrian Wale" (most often economically depressed class and landless labourers) used to keep the goats for the commercial uses.

They used to sell goats on the festivals for the mutton purpose and milk requirement of their families. It was a social stigma for land holder farmers to keep the goats for commercial uses.

Under the diversification projects, Punjab Agricultural University and Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University played a significant role to change the mind sets of land holder farmers.

Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University has constituted a Progressive Goat Farmers Association recently and retired Colonel PS Gill has been elected as the president of association.

Moreover, a farmer who bagged the Chief Minister Award at PAU this year has also adopted the goat farming under diversification and kept the goats for commercial purpose.

Colonel (retd) PS Gill has kept around 55 goats at his indoor farm at his village Chogawan near Jagraon district Ludhiana.

Colnoal PS Gill, goat farmer said, "Goat farming is a best alternative job in agriculture sector. I am well settled in life. I am doing nothing to do something for myself it is to lead the example. I am not a social worker but with this initiative people start saying, if the Colonel can keep goats then why cannot they? I know 20 well-off people who have been adopted goat farming.

Dr HK Verma, from GADVASU said, "Social Stigma attached to keeping goats no longer exists. A number of landholder farmers have been keeping pigs. So now they go behind the economic benefits. Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University is doing its best to popularise the goat farming."

"Our main aim was to transfer the scientific knowledge of livestock farming to the end users," stated Ranjodh Singh Sahota, Director Extension, GADVASU.

Ludhiana, April 7
Judicial Magistrate Jasvir Singh today extended the police remand of tehsildar-cum-sub registrar Arvinder Singh and his alleged aide Bunty for one more day in a corruption case.

Assistant public prosecutor Navjyoti Gupta had sought the police remand of both accused with the plea that the Vigilance Bureau (VB) needs more time for investigation.

Tehsildar’s lawyer strongly opposed the contention of the Vigilance Bureau. Though the tehsildar remained in police remand for a sufficient period, nothing was recovered from him. After hearing both sides, the court extended the police remand of both accused.

The Vigilance Bureau had conducted a raid on the office of the sub-registrar (West) situated near the Hambran Road on April 5.

As per the VB, Bunty was acting as a middleman. He used to pass the bribe money to the tehsildar after taking the same from people who used to go there for getting their sale deeds registered. In return, he was paid Rs 500 daily.

The name of tehsildar Arvinder Singh and one naib tehsildar had figured in the alleged statement given by Bunty that he used to pass the money to them.

Ludhiana, April 7
The District Health Department administered polio drops to as many as 83,632 children during the Migratory Pulse Polio round, which kicked off today.

District immunisation officer Dr Sanjeev Hans said: “Today our volunteers visited 1,70,531 houses. They administered polio drops to 66,501 children in their respective houses. However, 9,456 children were administered polio drops outside their houses”.

While 548 children were administered polio drops in the houses with the mark of X (the houses where volunteers could not meet children during their previous visit), supervisors administered drops to 1,554 children and 5,583 children were administered drops by mobile teams.

Dr Hans further said: “The pulse polio campaign will be for five days in the city, Koomkalan and Sahnewal. All children will be covered here till April 11. However, in the remaining health blocks of Ludhiana district, the campaign will be of three days i.e. till April 9 and children of only migratory labourers will be covered here".

Ludhiana, April 7
To mark World Health Day, the Indian Medical Association (IMA), Ludhiana, organised a Continuing Medical Education (CME) on diabetes. Pawan Dewan, president, District Congress Committee, Ludhiana, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Dr Manoj Sobti, president, IMA, Punjab, said the construction of an auditorium was going on in full swing. It would be used for academics activities and holding free medical camps.

As a huge amount of fund is required for the construction of the auditorium, Dr Manoj requested IMA members and the chief guest to contribute generously towards the building fund.

Pawan said Manish Tiwari, State Minister for Information and Broadcasting, had sanctioned an amount of Rs 10 lakh for the construction of the auditorium.

Pawan Dewan presented a cheque of Rs 6 lakh to the IMA. He said another cheque of Rs 4 lakh would be given to them after the submission of the utilisation certificate. He also appreciated the efforts of the IMA for constructing the auditorium and asked the doctors to do free service to poor patients.

Dr Parminder Singh, HoD, Endocrinology, DMC&H, delivered a talk on “Management of Type 2 Diabetes - Recent Guidelines”.

He said: “Diabetes mellitus is a common disorder affecting more than 6 per cent of the population and its incidence is rising with time. Diabetes mellitus and hypertension are the commonest chronic medical disorders affecting society and seen by physicians. Genetics, obesity, high calorie diet, lack of exercise and stress are the main contributors to the rising incidence of diabetes. As compared to the West, it affects the young population more in India. India has become the diabetes capital of the world. Uncontrolled blood sugar increases complications like kidney disease, heart attack, blindness, foot amputation, erectile dysfunction and brain stroke”.

Dr Kulwant Singh and Dr Karamvir Goyal were the chairpersons on the occasion.

Ludhiana is growing by leaps and bounds and boasts of malls, multiplexes and International food joints. People from the neighboring cities also throng the city at weekends but insignificant parking space keep haunting the people. Known as the city of riches, people can spend thousands while shopping in a mall or watching their favourite movie at a multiplex. But they hesitate while spending a mere amount of Rs 20 as parking fee. The police department's tow away drive has brought some discipline in the people's mind set and they started parking their vehicles at the right place. But with the suspension of the drive, things are again back to square one. One of the senior citizens came to our office requesting that we should write about the parking menace regularly so that the tow away drive is started again at the earliest. "Some discipline that was brought through this drive is again waning away from the city people," he said.

Opportunity for challaning violators!

There seems to be no end to traffic related problems of the city residents. As an enlightened reader pointed out that the traffic policemen are, apparently, more keen to issue challans of the people rather than bringing some order in the chaotic movement of traffic on the roads. He rightly said that the sign board saying "U-turn prohibited" outside the Mini-Secretariat has been put up at an inappropriate place and majority of the drivers fail to notice it. "The moment a vehicle takes a u-turn after coming out of the public parking at the Mini-Secretariat, a couple of traffic policemen pounce upon the driver and issue a challan in no time," he said. The people are well within their rights to demand that direction boards about traffic regulations ought to be put up in a prominent manner where these come to the notice of each and every road-user. Once, this is done, no body will raise a finger against the traffic cops who book the offenders.

No check on vulgar cinema

Ban on Indian movies is becoming more of a regular feature these days. Sometimes, it is religion, others it is a political party or some individual. Sometimes, it is believed that a violent film can prompt youth to go violent over some issue. On Thursday evening, the state government imposed a ban on Sadda Haq, a Punjabi Movie, which was followed by Haryana and Delhi governments too. Even movieies like 'Rang De Basanti' had to pass the scrutiny of armed forces. Well, films are an effective medium to convey any message to masses. But when it comes to vulgarity or violence in films or music videos, the same governments or religions or individuals, who claim to be the torch-bearers of society, keep mum. As a reader said, "Ironically, we have never seen any vulgar movie getting banned in such a manner. I wonder, the yardstick the state government has taken while banning the recent Punjabi film."

Technology making us less humane

With the introduction of Google glasses, a new era of wearable computers is all set to start. Technology is quickly evolving to push reality closer to the science fiction of yesteryears. "With the pace with which fiction is turning into reality, artificial intelligence and 'chips in the brains' do not seem far from reality now," said a resident. "As computers have risen from desk, to lap and soon becoming wearable, their getting under the skin and becoming part of the body doesn't seem unreal any longer," he said. "But isn't technology making us less human?" he asked.

Begging for right qualities

The number of beggars in the city has increased manifold over the years. Sometimes, we feel sad when come across people who are fully fit and still can be seen begging on the streets. But there are some who keep their head high despite being financially poor. I have been seeing one such person for the past more than 10 years. This man is tall and thin and would be above 75 years of age and can be seen doing all kinds of chores in students’ home of Punjab Agricultural University. He cleans the area, lifts garbage in the form of paper cups and papers thrown by the 'educated' students and employees of this varsity. Till date, I have never seen him asking for any favour or money from any student sitting there. I wish all the 'able' persons start working hard than finding an easy way such as begging.

Contributed by Manav Mander, Kuldip Bhatia, Charanjit Singh Teja, Gurvinder Singh and Puneet Pal Singh Gill.

Ludhiana, April 7
Scholarships were given to girls of various schools at Sanatan Vidya Mandir School here today under a project, Shakti. Around 19 girls were given scholarships at a programme organised at the school. The scholarships were given to daughters of handicapped parents, widows and war martyrs to complete their school education, under the project. It supports the girls, who are deprived of education due to lack of funds.

Over 65 girls from various schools in the city get financial help and their school fee is paid under the project.

Gurleen, whose family income is low, said that she has been given a scholarship amount of Rs 3,000. Another student, Richa, said she lost her father and the scholarship and financial help that she has been receiving for the last four years has been her motivation to study hard and perform well in studies. Because of this, she has secured good marks in Class X exams. The scholarship varies from class and the subjects. Full fee is paid in some cases.

Project Shakti, is aimed for empowering girls and education is the best way to equip them to rise, said a member of Punjab unit of Shakti. The project initiated by Anandmurti Gurumaa provides scholarships to girls in various parts of the country, he said.

A play against the menace of female foeticide was also performed students on the occasion.

Tributes paid to Jagjit Singh

A musical tribute was paid to the ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh by the city based literary organisation “Dhvani” Association for Promotion of Art at Punjabi Bhawan, here on Saturday. Kartar Singh, younger brother of the ghazal maestro, Jagjit Singh, participated in the event. Young artist, Uday Chopra, set the mood of the evening by ever popular composition of Jagjit Singh, 'Hothon Se Chhoo Lo'. Dr Raman Mittal sang 'Tum Itna Jo'. Rakhi and Randhir Kanwal performed the song of ghazal of Sahir Hoshiarpuri. Kartar Singh sang Jagjit's 'sham se aankh mein nami si hai. He narrated many of incidents from his life.

PPCC president visits temple

PPCC President Partap Singh Bajwa visited Shree Durga Mata Mandir during his visit to the city. President Poshotum Goyal and secretary Sanjay Mahendru Bhumbi and Mandir trust members welcomed him along with his party MLA's and local Congress leaders who accompanied him to the temple.

‘Capitalist policies are enslaving countries’

Democratic Employees Front , Ludhiana, Employee Convention organised a convention dedicated to the episode of throwing bomb in Lahore Assembly by Bhagat Singh on April 8, 1929. While reading a paper about the episode, district president of the organisation said capitalist policies are enslaving countries and communities. He said that an 'explosion' of awareness against such thoughts is required even today.

Vaisakhi melas

International Namdhari Sangat would organise Vaisakhi melas at different places. The melas would be organised at Yamunanagar on April 9, at Payal on April 10, Bhoolath on April 11 and at Mandi on April 14. This was informed by representatives of the organisation at Jamalpur, here on Sunday.

Ludhiana, April 7
A five-year-old girl was allegedly raped at Guru Arjundev Nagar at Dholewal. The incident came to light last night when the parents of the minor girl reported the matter to the police. The police booked the accused under rape charges for the crime.

The accused has been identified as Mithu, a resident of Arjundev Nagar in Dholewal. The girl is student at an Anganwari Centre in the nearby area and she had just returned from the centre in the afternoon when the accused brought her to his room and raped her.

The parents of the victim did not dare to complain the matter to the police due to pressure of the migrant community and threats by the accused.

Woman commits suicide

A married woman allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself at her house in Aman Nagar in Daba area here last night. The police has booked her paramour

The accused identified Rajinder Singh was booked the accused in abetment to suicide after the deceased, identified as Sandhya Devi, left a suicide note blaming Rajinder for her death.

Sandhya was married to Vinod Singh, a resident of Gobindpura, few years ago. However, the sources said that she fell in love with Rajinder and both of them connived together and threatened Vinod, who left the city.

After Vinod deserted Sandhya, she started living with Rajinder. The live in relationship went on for few months. Then Sandhya insisted that Rajinder should marry her soon. She again talked to Rajinder last night and asked him to marry her. But he refused and allegedly thrashed her. She returned home and committed suicide by hanging herself with a ceiling fan. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital by her husband and neighbours, but she died on the way.

Her brother, Dinesh Singh, has lodged a complaint with the Daba police station and a case under Section 306 of the IPC was registered but accused is still at large.

Ludhiana, April 7
Panic gripped South City area after a body of woman was found floating in Sidhwan Canal. The incident came to light here this evening when some commuters spotted the body and informed the police.

Soon the police team reached the spot and fished out the body from the canal.

The body was badly mutilated and was sent to civil hospital for the postmortem examination.

Three jail inmates held with drugs

The jail officials have nabbed three inmates for possessing drugs. The inmates have been identified as Tara Chand, Ranjit Singh and Sucha Ram. The jail authorities conducted a surprise check and seized 40 and 30 gm of opium from Tara Chand and Ranjit, 10 gm of suspected powder was seized from Sucha Ram. The trio was already facing charges of drug peddling. — TNS

Ludhiana, April 7
In a major breakthrough, the city police has arrested six persons and claimed to have busted a gang of robbers, who were behind thee sensational highway robberies.

The gang had also committed several cases of snatching, including the one in which they targeted a senior woman journalist near PAU Gate No 2.

The accused were identified as Khush Singh, Mohneet Singh, Kamaldeep Singh, all from Janta Nagar, Jagjit Singh of Alamgir village, Gurbir Singh of Aasi Kalan and Deepak Kumar of Sangrur. They were nabbed from a park located near Senior Citizen Bhawan in BRS Nagar.

“The accused were nabbed when they were planning to commit another robbery. All of them belong to good families. While Khushpreet was perusing Bachelors in Mass Communication (BMC), Kamaldeep has done Bachelors in Business Administration (BBA) and Mohneet was helping his father in his cycle part factory unit. Deepak was running a shop in Sangrur and Gurbir was working as a taxi driver,” said Mandeep Singh, SHO Sarabha Nagar Police Station.

Gurpreet Purewal, ACP-West, said Mohneet and Deepak had snatched the purse from a senior journalist on March 29.

"All gang members were chronic drug addicts. They had segregated themselves in two parts, “waddi game” and “chotti game”. They used to commit robberies in a car and called it “waddi game”. All of them used to carry it collectively. They termed snatching as “chotti game” and two persons of the gang used to commit the crime on a motorcycle,” said ACP Purewal.

Joginder Singh, ADCP III, said last year they had committed two sensational robberies where they kidnapped the victims and threw them at a secluded place on the outskirts of the city.

They had also robbed a man of Rs 32 lakh at gunpoint in the Tagore Nagar area.

Besides sharp-edged weapons, the police also recovered a car from their possession, which they used to commit robberies.

Ludhiana, April 7
Four persons, including two women, have been booked for withdrawing Rs 34.75 lakh cash of a businessman by hacking his account details.

Amit Kumar, a resident of Chandigarh road, was shocked when a message of the withdrawal of money appeared on his cellphone screen. He immediately informed the bank authorities about the fraud.

The police initiated an inquiry in the matter and a case under Sections 420 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered.

During investigations, the police came to know that the money was withdrawn after hacking the password.

The police has named four persons, including two women, in the case. They are Rajesh Goyal, his son Mahesh Goyal, Parveen Goyal, wife of Rajesh Goyal, and Veenu Goyal, daughter of Rajesh Goyal, all residents of Haibowal in Ludhiana.

The accused persons were running a chit-fund company. Amit came in touch with the accused and also started dealing with them.

Amit said during this period, the accused got hold of the password of his bank account and withdrew the money.