Ludhiana, April 25
The auction for the allotment of a multi-storeyed parking of the municipal corporation on a lease of one year could not take place due to a row over the service tax. Both the MC and the intending bidders were not prepared to bear the burden of the service tax, which has been imposed by the Union Government on parking fee from this year.

Left with no other choice, MC officials postponed the auction. A fresh date for the auction of the parking facility with a clear-cut provision for service tax will be notified soon.

The extended term of the existing contractor will expire on April 28. At the moment, there seems to be no other possibility than the MC staff operating the parking lot till new arrangements are made.

Last year, the parking was allotted on a yearly lease money of Rs 25.87 lakh and the reserve price for the allotment this year had been fixed at Rs 37.44 lakh.

According to MC officials, in all 11 bidders had participated in the auction proceedings and were initially insisting that the reserve price was on the higher side.

The officials maintained that other MC parking facilities were yielding much more, and hence the reserve price had increased by about 35 per cent. The parking fee of vehicles had also been revised accordingly.

The multi-storeyed parking has had its share of controversies ever since the term of the existing contractor running the parking facility expired on March 28. As the MC could not hold an auction for the next year in time, the contractor got his term extended by one month on the payment of Rs 2.15 lakh on a pro-rata basis.

The extension of the contract had sparked off a row as city Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria objected to the decision, and the officials concerned as well as the dealing staff were reprimanded for their failure to conduct the auction in time and also extending the existing contract.

An attempt was made to evict the contractor from the parking facility but the contractor, who had already deposited the money for a period of one month, refused to hand over possession before April 28.

Ludhiana, April 25
What earlier used to take several visits to the Suvidha Centres of the municipal corporation for availing of different kinds of services, will now be possible with a click of the mouse as the MC has made a part of the services online. City Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria formally inaugurated the online facility of the MC Suvidha Centre at the Zone D office here today.

With some of the services going online, city residents will now be able to apply online for the TS-I certificate, new sewerage and water connections, registration of births and deaths and approval of building plans. They will also be able to lodge complaints about civic amenities like the water supply, sewerage and streetlights.

MC Additional Commissioner Isha Kalia, who was instrumental in providing online services to the city residents, said for the time being, the online payment facility would not be available. However, in the next phase of the project, the online payment facility would also be provided so that people did not have to visit the MC office or a Suvidha Centre for availing of any of these services.

"Once an application is submitted for any of the services that are available online, the applicant will be given a registration number, and a specific time and date will be intimated to the applicant to visit the Suvidha Centre for making the payment for the desired services," Kalia said.

The MC Additional Commissioner said even though the applicants would have to visit a Suvidha Centre to make the payment for the services that are available online, the new system of providing a specific date and time for this purpose would cut down the waiting period and the applicants would not have to stand in queues.

Ludhiana, April 25
A technical snag occurred at the traffic lights in Bharat Nagar Chowk, leaving motorists high and dry.

The snag occurred in the morning during office hours when commuters were heading towards the old city area and other other parts of the city through Bharat Nagar Chowk.

Suddenly, the red, yellow and green lights started blinking simultaneously at all four traffic lights installed at the roundabout, living the commuters confused.

The snag led to a traffic chaos at the busy intersection. Traffic policemen were also left confused and informed senior officers about the problem.

The municipal corporation was informed about the problem as the responsibility of the maintenance of the traffic lights rests with it.

The MC did little to solve the problem. Finally, traffic policemen decided to ease the traffic chaos, but not with much success. It was only in the evening that a technician came from Chandigarh and fixed the snag. 

Ludhiana, April 25
A 45-year-old woman gave birth to quadruplets at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital a couple of weeks ago. She gave birth to the quadruplets (three male and one female) after 31 weeks of pregnancy. The delivery was conducted by Dr Suman Puri, Associate Professor, at the hospital through an elective Caesarean section operation.

Dr Puri said the babies weighed between 1.3 kg and 1.5 kg, and were delivered within four minutes.

Dr Puneet Pooni, Professor of Paediatrics, and Dr Kamal, a neonatologist, shifted the babies to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. The babies had shown good improvement, the doctors said.

Dr Puri said birth of triplets and quadruplets was being reported quite often now as assisted reproduction techniques had improved fertility among infertile couples. It was an IVF-assisted pregnancy, she said.

The mother and the babier were in good health, the doctor said. 

Ludhiana, April 25
Though Ludhiana district has topped Patiala division in wheat procurement this season, arhtiyas have been facing problems as the contractor at the Jagraon mandi has refused to lift the procured wheat. The process of re-tendering got under way today and it is expected that a fresh contract will be awarded to another contractor.

Meanwhile, Divisional Commissioner, Patiala Division, Ajit Singh Pannu, who was in the district today to visit mandis, said about 10.5 lakh tonnes of wheat was expected to arrive in mandis in Ludhiana district this season. Pannu, along with Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari, today visited the seven mandis of Payal, Raikot, Jagraon, Bassian, Roomi, Salemtabri and Mehdoodan and interacted with farmers and arhtiyas. He said 6.13 lakh tonnes of wheat had arrived in mandis. About 88 per cent of the purchased wheat had been lifted from about 102 mandis in the district. Besides, 80 per cent of the farmers had got payments within 72 hours.

Pannu said the mandi authorities had sufficient number of bags and there was no problem of "bardaana".

The procured grain has no moisture, he said, expressing satisfaction over storage capacity.

Pannu instructed all the SDMs to make sure that wheat was lifted immediately so that farmers did not face any problem. 

Ludhiana, April 25
While the state government claims to be working towards bringing "transparency" in each and every department, the Education Department seems to be toeing a different line. The uploading of letters and important information on the website of the Education department has abruptly been stopped. After April 14, no such information has been uploaded on the website and it is learnt that Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka has put a "ban" on issuing statements and sharing information on the Internet, citing a few statements made by some senior officials give “wrong impression” of the government. Ever since the process of uploading information on Internet was started by the Education Department, teachers and principals had heaved a sigh of relief, as they could get to know the latest instructions issued by the department at the earliest.

"After April 14, no such instruction or information has been uploaded on the website. We could update ourselves about so many things by seeing the website,” said a senior teacher of the government school, Bharat Nagar Chowk, here.

Another teacher said "transparency" didn’t go well with persons having vested interests. "The system had brought so many positive changes. Everyone was held accountable. Teachers had become cautious. The media, too, started giving detailed coverage on schools, which made the department more accountable. But, now things will be back to square one with teachers, employees adopting a lackadaisical approach," said the teacher.

Meanwhile, the Secretary, Education, Anjali Bhawra said there was nothing wrong if the minister had taken a policy decision. "As and when required, information will be uploaded on the website. If nothing had been uploaded in the past few days, that means there was no important instruction". 

Ludhiana, April 25
District Education Officer (Secondary) Paramjit Kaur Chahal said, "As per the instructions from the Punjab School Education Board, I will put the principals of various schools on duty from tomorrow to check whether the private schools are following other conditions mandatory for getting an affiliation from the PSEB or not."

A list of about 303 private schools constructed in less than 500 square yards of land in the district was send to the DEO by the PSEB to check if these schools were fulfilling other conditions as required by the PSEB or not.

For getting affiliation by the PSEB, it is mandatory that schools has more than 500 square yard of land. While these schools had asked the government to provide some time so that they can build their infrastructure as per board's conditions. And they were given time for another two years to fulfill it.

A letter was sent to the DEO on April 5 but it reached late, as claimed by the department. "Now we are putting principals on duty, who will check four to five schools and the final list will be sent to the board by May 10. The principals will check whether these schools are following the norms laid down by the Punjab School Education Board or not," said the DEO.

Ludhiana, April 25
Youngsters are excited and disappointed about witnessing the lunar eclipse. They are elated about the occurrence of the phenomena but unhappy about the fact that the city lacks the facilities to witness the celestial phenomena.

The eclipse scheduled to occur from 1:22 am to 1: 53 am in its umbra phase on Friday morning had some of the city youngsters excited.

"We study about the eclipses in the text books, but the opportunities to witness the special phenomena are rare," said a student of Class IX. "I have been waiting to see it since the time I got to know about its occurrence," she said.

"As solar eclipse cannot be seen with naked eye, I will miss the chance to see the lunar eclipse," said Aarav, another student.

But most of the youngsters looking forward to see the phenomena were disappointed as no telescopes are installed in the city for witnessing the spatial event.

"There should be telescopes in the city for astronomy lovers and star gazers in the city, not only to develop interest in space and astronomy, but also to promote science and develop the sense of curiosity amongst students," said a school teacher.

A city-based physics teacher said, "This will be the third shortest partial eclipse for the 21st century lasting 27 minutes. It will be the first out the total three lunar eclipses to take place this year." 

Ludhiana, April 25
The annual general meeting of the Taxation Bar Association was organised today during which members of the executive committee were also elected.

Jatinder Khurana was unanimously elected as the general secretary of the Taxation Bar Association for the year 2013-15.

New TBA team has been appointed for two years and Ravinder Garg was elected as the vice-president, Harminderjit Singh was elected as the finance secretary, Shaveta Vohra was elected as the joint secretary, Vishal Sharma was elected as the secretary and Vijay Sharma, Pawan Chopra, Tarlok Bhalla, Navinder Sharma, Dharam Pal Bindra were elected as the executive members.

Elections will be held for the post of president for which two nominations have been received from the Advocates, OP Bhardwaj and Balbir Khanna. President will be elected by election held on April 29. 

Ludhiana, April 25
The Ludhiana cycle industry will be facing tough times ahead as tenders worth Rs 300 crore have been cancelled by state governments. The Punjab Government had also cancelled the tenders in January.

The Karnataka Government recently cancelled tenders for nearly 5.25 lakh cycles. To fulfil its poll promise, the government plans to give laptops to students, so there are apprehensions that the tenders might be cancelled permanently.

Similarly, the Rajasthan Government had cancelled a tender for cycles worth Rs 130 crore. The companies, which were making bids, were asked to deposit Rs 2.6 crore. Though the amount has been returned to the respective companies, the loss caused to the industry is colossal.

The Maharashtra Government, which purchases cycles through dealers, has also cancelled its orders worth Rs 25 crore.

The MD of Neelam Cycles, KK Seth, who had sent quotations for the tender floated by the Rajasthan Government, said had these tenders been matured, there would have been a big boost for the local industry.

Badish Jindal, president of the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association, said the cancellation of the orders and tenders would prove to be costly to the local cycle industry.

Talking about the Punjab Government, Jindal said the state government had cancelled tenders three times before scrapping the last tender in January. "There is no intimation if new tenders are being floated by the Punjab Government. Instead of laptops, the government should first concentrate on providing cycles to students," added Jindal.

Ludhiana, April 25
On one hand the Health Department makes tall claims about taking steps to prevent an outbreak of malaria and other diseases, on the other the employees of the department the other wings of the administration are ill-equipped to deal with insanitary conditions in many parts of the city.

Garbage dumps, overflowing sewers and waterlogged streets are a common sight in areas like Gyaspura, Sherpur and Dhandari. A visit to these localities, which are situated on the outskirts of the city, reveal the poor insanitary conditions people are living in. With the monsoon just a couple of months away, an outbreak of malaria or dengue seems certain in these localities. Mosquitoes have started breeding in some of the areas in the city.

"It has become very difficult to sleep at night as there are too many mosquitoes. No matter how much mosquito repellent we use, its no escaping mosquitoes," says Gyan Chandra Bhagat, a resident of the Shanti Nagar area. Vijay Kumar from the Gyaspura area said many residents of the area had been suffering from fever. Mosquitoes have made people's lives a hell here.

Dr KS Saini, assistant civil surgeon, said mass media awareness campaigns were regularly conducted in schools and high-risk areas and people were told about the causes and prevention of diseases like malaria, dengue, etc.

But, residents of these localities hardly know about the measures they can take to prevent these diseases. They said no awareness campaigns had been conducted in their areas. "If a campaign is conducted in schools, how much difference does it make in the affected areas?" says Arun Kumar, a resident of Shanti Nagar.

Once fogging is carried out, it is not repeated for months. Fogging should be done regularly to prevent mosquito breeding," said a resident of the Gyaspura area.

We fear an outbreak of diseases like malaria, said Sonakshi, a resident of a tenement. "Sewers on the nearby streets keep on overflowing and the whole are stinks due to stagnant sewage," said a resident.

Officialspeak

Dr Puneet Juneja, District Epidemiologist, said 197 (officially reported) cases of malaria had been reported last year. "We aim at reducing the places of mosquito breeding by using anti-larval solutions," he added. 

Ludhiana, April 25
Two persons and their paternal aunt, who were caught yesterday by the Ladhowal police for kidnapping and gang-raping a 15-year-old girl at Chintpurni in Himachal Pradesh, were produced before the local court today. Later, they were sent to one-day police remand.

The police team also visited Aarti Guest House at Chintpurni and collected the record.

“For investigation we visited Aarti Guest House at Chintpurni and took the accused along. The record procured from the hotel established that trio, including the girl had visited the hotel. The entries and signatures of both the men are on the register maintained by guest house staff,” said Kamal Dutt, Additional SHO, Ladhowal police station.

Today the medical examination of the victim was conducted at the civil hospital. The reports confirmed that the girl was raped.

The victim is a student of Class IX of Government Senior Secondary School.

The police officials also visited the school today to take the record that the girl was absent from school that day.

The two accused, Manjinder Aulakh of Jalandhar and Ranjit Kaumar of Kapurthala, were arrested by a team of Ladhowal police from Bhattian village.

The victim's aunt, Manjit Kaur of Rajowal village near Ladhowal, was also arrested for allegedly conniving with the accused.

The victim alleged that on April 21, she expressed her desire to visit a shopping mall with Manjit Kaur. The victim alleged that her aunt gave her Rs 100 and told her that Manjinder and Ranjit would meet her in Phagwara and take her to Jalandhar.

The victim said that the two accused instead of taking her to Jalandhar took her to Chintpurni and raped her. 

Ludhiana, April 25
The “Woolmark Rendezvous” was today organised by The Woolmark Company in the city to introduce new product range in wool, including presentation on The Wool Lab SS 14.

The seminar was about the new initiatives taken by The Woolmark Company to help the industry in adopting new technologies and introduce new product platforms which can be offered to emerging Indian consumers.

The Woolmark Company, the global authority in wool, today introduced The Wool Lab SS 14, an inspirational seasonal guide to the world's most innovative, fashionable and high quality wool fabrics and yarn. 

Ludhiana, April 25
A woman swindler, posing as a magistrate, allegedly duped a woman of Rs 70,000. The victim, Nisha Rani, a resident of Khanna, today appeared before the Commissioner of Police and alleged that a woman swindler had duped her of her hard-earned money. She said her husband, Lucky, was in jail in a drug peddling case since May 2012. She said a man met her in the court complex in August last year when she was visiting the court in connection with a hearing.

The man told Nisha that a magistrate was known to him, who could help her. On the next date of the hearing, a woman approached Nisha and identified herself as a judge. "She told me that she would get my husband bailed out within three days. I was beguiled and handed over Rs 70,000 to the woman. My uncle was also with me when I handed over the money."

Nisha said neither was her husband bailed out nor did the woman return the money.

Nisha said the woman stopped taking her phone calls and her husband starting threatening her.

The Commissioner of Police has marked an investigation into the case. Sources said prima facie it appeared to be a case of monetary dispute and Nisha might have concocted a story for speedy action in the case. 

Khanna, April 25
The Khanna police has booked in-laws, including husband of a married girl on the complaint of Nirmal Singh, father of the deceased and a resident of Peerkhaana road, Khanna.

As per the statement recorded with the police, Nirmal Singh said that his daughter, Devinder Kaur (25), got married to Jaspal Singh six month ago. He alleged that after the marriage, Devinder’s husband Jaspal Singh, father-in-law Jarnail Singh and mother-in-law Tarsem Kaur started harassing her for dowry.

He alleged that today suddenly her in-laws informed him that his daughter was not well and when they took her to a doctor, the doctor declared her brought dead.

Nirmal Singh alleged that his daughter was murdered by her in-laws. On his complaint, the police has registered a case under Sections 304B and 34 of the IPC against Jaspal Singh, Jarnail Singh and Tarsem Kaur.

SHO Hans Raj when contacted confirmed the incident and said that all three have been arrested and would be presented in a court tomorrow. 

Ludhiana, April 25
Trials to select hockey players (u-14 and u-19) held at Mata Sahib Kaur Stadium, Jarkhar, near here, received an overwhelming response as more than 200 aspirants turned up at the venue.

These trials were organised to select talented boys for the Jarkhar Hockey Academy. Sarbjit Singh, Deputy Director (Sports), Punjab Education Department, along with Rupinder Ravi, state organiser (sports), and Paramjit Kaur Chahal, District Education Officer, supervised the selection process. Forty boys were shortlisted during the trials.

After the trials, Sarabjit Singh said the players of Jarkhar Hockey Academy had brought fame to the academy. He appreciated the organisers' efforts in providing facilities to budding hockey players.

The members of the Mata Sahib Kaur Sports Club and prominent personalities of the area were also present there. Paramjeet Singh Neetu, president of the club, Principal Hardev Singh and Rupinder Ravi honoured Sarabjit Singh on this occasion.

Ludhiana, April 25
After restricting Ludhiana to a small total of 101 runs in the first innings, Chandigarh went on to score 159 runs on the second day of the second match in the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (u-16) for ML Markan Trophy played at SCD Government College here today. The second day's play was affected by rain. There had been no play for over three hours.

The visitors resumed at the overnight score of 90 for 5 and scored 159 runs in 66.5 overs, in which Yogesh made 37 runs while Anshul scored 17.

For Ludhiana, Anmol Sharma and Raghav Sharma shared the bowling honours, capturing five wickets each conceding 50 and 61 runs, respectively.

Facing a deficit of 58 runs, Ludhiana began their second innings on a cautious note. They were sailing smoothly (65 for 1) when Chandigarh's Adarsh made a hat-trick, forcing the hosts to go on the back foot. At the draw of stumps, Ludhiana were 110 for 7 in 55 overs.

Brief scores

Ludhiana (first innings): 101 (all out) in 60 overs (Jaskaran Singh 21, Gurjot Singh 17; Raman Bishnoi 6 for 23, Nipun 2 for 19).

Chandigarh (first innings): 159 (all out) in 66.5 overs (Raman Bishnoi 49, Jasnoor 22, Yogesh 37, Anshul 17; Anmol Sharma 5 for 50 and Raghav Sharma 5 for 61).

Ludhiana (second innings): 110 for 7 after 55 overs (Jaskarn Singh 28, Deepin Chitkara 35 not out, Jasnoor 22; Adarsh 3 for 29 and Yogesh 3 for 32).

Ludhiana, April 25
An eight-day free sports camp was organised at Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Pakhowal road, Daad, Ludhiana, from April 18 to April 25 under the aegis of the Punjab State Soft Tennis Federation.

Haspreet Kaur, Jasjot Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Niharika Kathpal, all from Ludhiana, and Manveer, Muskan and Navneet, all from Moga, were selected for the u-19 girls’ team. Varinder, Chetan, Anmol, Gurpreeet, Prabhjot, all from Moga, and Navjot, Gurpinder, Gurpreet, all from Kotakpura, Jashanjot Singh and Gurpreet Singh from Ludhiana were selected for the u-19 boys’team.

Anuragdeep Kaur, Ramandeep Kaur, Arshdeep Kaur, Avantika, Anjali and Jasleen Bedi were selected for the u-14 girls’ team while Shivam, Lakshaypal, Amrit, Jagdeep, Advinraj and Jagdeep Singh, all from Moga, Arenveer, Lovepreet, Akashdeep and Gulshan, all from Katkapura, were selected for the u-14 boys’ team.

A tournament for u-14 players will be organised in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, from May 1 to 5. Another tournament for u-19 players will be held in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, from May 22 to 26.