Ludhiana, June 10
In the Kulwant Singh murder case, the role of his wife Mukhtiar Kaur has come under the scanner after she appeared as a witness in the case.

Kulwant Singh (75), an NRI, was allegedly killed by his younger brother Jaswant Singh (62) on May 16 at a house in Mehma Singh Wala village near Dehlon. Jaswant was recently arrested in this connection.

Mukhtiar Kaur had told the police that her husband Kulwant Singh was apprehending a danger to his life from his brother Jaswant Singh, also an NRI, who owns a mega pizza chain in the UK.

According to Satinder Singh, SHO of the Dehlon police station, Mukhtiar Kaur had reportedly told the police that she received a call from Kulwant a few days before the murder during which he had mentioned about a threat to his life from Jaswant.

However, investigations revealed that Mukhtiar and Kulwant had strained relations and were living separately, a fact highlighted by the accused, Jaswant Singh, during the investigations.

Investigating officer Swarn Singh said, "Jaswant told us that Kulwant and Mulhtiar Kaur were living separately and recently divorced each other. However, no evidence was found that the couple had divorced."

Jaswant's two sons attended Kulwant Singh's bhog ceremony at a gurdwara in Mehma Singh Wala village yesterday. This had raised many an eyebrow in the village.

An elderly resident said on condition of anonymity that the murder case would head for a compromise.

"Mukhtiar Kaur, who stays in the UK, is not going to pursue the case. With the passage of time, the case will weaken and Jaswant will be let off. Both Mukhtiar and Kulwant had strained relations. It can be gauged from the fact that Kulwant's body kept lying dumped in a room for nearly 15 days and Mukhtiar did not bother to ask anyone about her husband's whereabouts," said the resident.

Jaswant was today produced before a court, which remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days. 

Ludhiana, June 10
As the tehbazari wing of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation gets busy in checking encroachments in other parts of the city, encroachments have resurfaced outside the Deputy Commissioner's office on the Ferozepur Road service lane as well as the footpath alongside this lane. Due to the encroachments on the footpath, people are forced to walk on the service lane, which is fraught with danger due to the traffic.

Several persons have set up shop on the footpath right alongside the boundary wall of the Deputy Commissioner's office. These people are either typists, deed writers or sell stationery or eatables.

After the MC was pulled up by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, encroachments from footpaths as well as the service lane and the parking spaces between Ferozepur Road and the service lane used to be removed almost on a daily basis.

However, after the last court hearing, the MC has reportedly gone soft on such encroachers due to a "shortage of staff".

Naveen Malhotra, MC Tehbazari Superintendent (Zone D), said they were continuing with their anti-encroachment drives in the area. “If any such encroachments have come up on the road, we will clear these positively by tomorrow. If any person is found operating from the footpath, his goods will be confiscated,” he said.

Tehbazaari officials today confiscated four kiosks and an equal number of rehris from near the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital here. “We also visited the Feroze Gandhi Market to check whether the parking contractor had started issuing new parking slips or not. The contractor told us that he was not overcharging and had placed a printing order for new parking slips,” said Malhotra.

Ludhiana, June 10
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation is yet to float tenders for the allotment of parking lots between Ferozepur Road and its service lane. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently asked the MC to float tenders for these parking lots to check encroachments on the service lane.

Ever since this service lane has been constructed, it has never been put to use the way it was initially planned. Most of the commercial establishments along this service lane have been using this lane for parking purposes.

Even the parking zones between Ferozepur Road and its service lane are used by vendors for commercial purposes who put up their "rehris" and "farhis" there.

Perturbed over this, a city resident, living in a house opposite gate number 2 of Punjab Agricultural University, had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding the misuse of the service lane in front of his house. Acting on his plea, the court directed the MC to get the service lane vacated. During the hearing in the case, 10 violators were identified of which six properties were sealed.

During the last hearing, the court directed the MC to auction these parking zones so that the service lane could be made fully operational.

Ludhiana, June 10
Punjab PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon has hailed the appointment of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi as the chairman of the BJP poll campaign panel for the coming 2014 Lok Sabha elections. Dhillon said this while addressing a gathering during a programme organised to felicitate zila parishad/block samiti members.

Speaking on the occasion, he said there was a pro-Akali Dal-BJP wave in the state and the combine would win all 13 Lok Sabha seats.

Ludhiana, June 10
The State Information Commission, Punjab, has awarded a compensation of Rs 5,000 to Rohit Sabharwal, president of the Council of RTI Activists, while deciding an appeal filed by the applicant against the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) alleging failure on the part of the Trust to provide information sought under the RTI Act.

In his orders passed on June 4, State Information Commissioner Narinderjit Singh noted that on the last date of hearing on April 11, Public Information Officer Avtaar Singh Azaad, Executive Officer, Ludhiana Improvement Trust, was directed to be personally present on the next date of hearing to submit his written response regarding the letter dated March 16, 2013, of the appellant within two weeks with a copy to the appellant.

"Counsel for the appellant submits that the directions given by this commission have not been complied with and the appellant is facing harassment and detriment due to the delay in providing information and the appellant be compensated," the orders said.

Accordingly, the commissioner directed the public authority, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, to pay an amount of Rs 5,000 as compensation to the appellant within one week through a bank draft to be sent through a registered post. The commissioner further directed the PIO of the Trust to be personally present on the next date of hearing on June 27.

Rohit Sabharwal had filed an application before the LIT to provide details of the record and annual reports submitted to the State Information Commission, Punjab, pertaining to all actions taken under the RTI Act as laid down in Section 25 from January 2009 till date. Under the Act, it is mandatory for all public authorities to maintain a complete record of all applications received under the RTI Act, all decisions taken on these applications, charges collected under the Act and particulars of any disciplinary action taken by the public authority concerned against any official or staff member with respect to the administration of this Act.

Jagraon, June 10
A day after the local police registered a case against the members of Punbus Contract Workers' Union, while they were protesting against the state government during a protest yesterday, a large number of union members again held a protest outside Jagraon bus stand.

Annoyed over registration of case against the union members, angry protestors also staged a dharna at Ludhiana-Ferozepur National Highway and blocked the traffic for around 10 minutes, thus, causing huge inconvenience to the commuters. The protestors raised slogans against the state government and the police department and demanded immediate cancellation of a case registered against union members.

"We were protesting in a peaceful manner yesterday but despite this the police registered cases against the union members under political pressure. In fact, the state government has been trying to oppress the union members, who were protesting to get their long pending just demands fulfilled. The government misuse police to get a false case registered against the union members to create pressure," said Boota Singh, secretary of the Punbus Contract Workers' Union. "We are not going to bow down before the government at any cost. We will continue our struggle till our demands are not met," he said.

The local police had registered a case against many union members, including Mahima Singh Sidhu and Sukhdev Singh, state president, and Jagraon unit president of Punbus Contract Workers' Union, respectively, yesterday for allegedly illegal trespassing, breaking the lock of the door of retiring room forcibly and obstructing the bus service on the complaint lodged by the Punjab Roadways, Jagraon Depot General Manager, Jagdeep Singh. However, the police has not arrested any union member so far.

The DSP, Jagraon, Surinder Kumar, denied that the police has booked the members of the Punbus Contract Workers' Union under any pressure. "The case against union members was registered only on the basis of a complaint registered by general manager Jagdeep Singh," said the DSP. 

Ludhiana, June 10
The city has been a centre of music and culture with popular singers like Daljit Dosanjh making waves in the Punjabi music circuit. The city has already seen the success of singers at musical reality shows in the past few years. Some singers are also making their presence felt online.

City-based singers Karan Sembhi (left) and Prabh Gill

A city-based singer, Karan Sembhi, whose debut music album "Shortlisted" was recently released, is already topping the music charts on the popularity lists. Having studied at Guru Nanak Public School, Karan, 23, has completed a course in Interior Designing. He was passionate about music since childhood. Like the current singers, he is not averse to taking the Pollywood path. He listens to "good" music as only listening to good music and training would help him to sing good songs, he says.

Prabh Gill from the city is already an online star. His music tracks 'Hostel No 1', 'Notorious Jat' and other such tracks are already very popular. His career got a head start after the track was uploaded on Youtube about four years ago. There has been no looking back since. He wants to become a playback singer, he says.

Realities TV star Shahnaz Akhtar also became popular via a music reality TV show. He is already working with music directors in Bollywood. Apart from regular "riyaaz" and musical training to improve further, his live shows are already very successful, he said. He has performed in South Africa, Israel and Dubai and his tours to Canada, US and other places are already scheduled, he says. He admires Sukhvinder Singh and Sonu Nigam and wants to earn a name like these singers in Bollywood.

Ludhiana, June 10
Mom, we have won the match and I scored maximum for the team. We got champions trophy and today I also got mathematics test copies back in which I scored 100 per cent marks. Now please tell me when you will come home. This was the pleading voice of Rohan, an adolescent boy, while talking to his mother on phone who was busy with her office work. And answer that comes from other end was, “I am busy will talk to you later” and the call ends. One can well imagine how much the feelings of Sam got hurt for whom the whole world was her mother but mother has no time for him.

This is not a single child's story but a common story of all the children of adolescent age whose mothers is over worked and remains busy in one job or the other. Recently, celebrated Mothers Day once again brought into focus in the modern mothers’ desired attention towards their children specially the adolescents who badly need them.

Dr BP Mishra, Clinical Psychologist at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said: “I usually come across many children from the age of 8 to 15 years who complain headache, irritation and have some behavioural problems. The reason behind is that their mothers do not spend quality time with them. This complaint comes from both working and non-working mothers."

Shantanu said, “My mother always keeps comparing me with my cousins and friends. She never appreciates me. I feel very bad. I wish I too had a mother who used to be friendly with me and narrate bed time stories to me.”

Dr Ravinder Kala, another city-based clinical psychologist, said: “Adolescents usually complain of lack of time with their mothers, communication problem, criticism and comparison with other children. Most of the times, working mothers are more harassed or angry due to stress, so parenting to that problem starts. Anxious nature of mothers also adds to the problems.” 

Ludhiana, June 10
A belly dance workshop, “Khal Belly Hafla” was organised in the city by an institute. The workshop comprised of 56 participants.

There were four levels of belly dancing, including beginners; it comprised technical aspects of belly dancing, including the correct posture, muscle control and isolation of different body parts. Another level was termed as bellywood, it combined Bollywood music with belly dancing. On the occasion, there was a special performance by Akanksha Vadera and Sakshi Malik from the Banjara School of Dance. Akanksha said, “The term belly dancing is the western name coined for West Asian dance form Raqs Sharqi. The city has come a long way and about 150 students have already taken part in belly dance workshop,” he said.

Sangita B Khushwaha, organiser of the workshop, said: “Belly dance is getting popular in the city.” 

Ludhiana, June 10
The Punjab Government has issued posting and transfer orders of five IAS and 27 PCS officers in the state with immediate effect. Among them, Kanwal Preet Kaur Brar, PCS, has been transferred and posted as ADC (D), Ludhiana, while Rishipal Singh, PCS, has been posted as DETC, Ludhiana. Jatinderpal Singh, PCS, has been posted as SDM, Raikot, while Arina Duggal, PCS, has been posted as AC (General), Ludhiana, and in addition AC (Grievances), Ludhiana. 

Ludhiana, June 10
The state Agricultural Department and Punjab Agricultural University have been making efforts to promote new methods of paddy sowing to save water and labour for last few years but farmers seem less interested in the direct-seeded method and paddy transplanter machine.

On the first day of paddy transplantation, farmers were seen sowing paddy using conventional methods. However, farmers have been facing labourer shortage and the level of groundwater has been decreasing swiftly but they did not adopt the protective measures.

Despite the efforts of Punjab Agricultural Department and extension workers of Punjab Agricultural University only 16 acres area has been sown with direct seeded method in the last 10 days. The government gave permission to the farmers for sowing direct seeded rice from June 1. Same is happening in case of paddy, a machine which decreases the labour and cultivation cost is also not popular among the framers. Officials at the Agriculture Department said, “They are expecting that only 300 hectare will be cultivated by using the paddy transplanters. In the initial stage, only educated farmers do these types of experiment. There are some complications in sowing paddy by using transplanter.”

Bakshish Singh Chahal, Chief Agriculture Officer, Ludhiana, said: “We recommend direct seeded sowing only in healthy fields. Moreover, it is quite tough to change the mindset of the farmers. They keep using the conventional method. We are making all efforts to educate them and hopefully they will adopt this soon.” “The farmers can get more yields by using paddy transplanters as it increases the number of plants. Moreover, it reduces the cost of cultivation and labour. There is already a shortage of labour in agriculture. Farmers should adopt the new technology for paddy transplantation,” he said. 

Ludhiana, June 10
The colleges in the city, which send immediate press releases about their "stupendous" results in various courses, are silent on the results of BCA part I this time. Though the result of the class got declared about a week back but colleges preferred to keep mum. Reason: The result of both private colleges and government colleges was poor. The overall result of BCA part I of Panjab University, Chandigarh, is just 29 per cent this year.

A principal of the local college said, “Out of 70 students, more than 45 students in BCA part I got failed. We are too worried. It’s not that the results of our college is bad, all colleges are sailing in the same boat. In Chandigarh, the students are even holding protests against the bad results. Last year, our result for BCA part I was 100 per cent but we were shocked to see the figures this time.”

One of the senior teachers at a government college said that out of 40 students, 10 students had failed in BCA part I this time. Maths remains the main subject in which students have performed badly. In most of the colleges in the city, majority of students have either failed or have compartments. The private college managements are responsible for the poor show in the sense that usually, their seats for BCA courses could not be filled. In order to get the seats filled in private colleges, the university decided to exempt students, who did not take Maths in Class XII. The eligibility now is matric with Maths.”

Another principal of a local college said there was some lapse at university's end. Either the checking was not proper or there was some another mistake while compiling the results.

Meanwhile, an official at the PU, said a committee has been formed which would look into the matter. "We have decided to re-check three papers of 10 students randomly and then see if there is any improvement or students get similar numbers. If required, we will do certain modifications. But anything on this will be decided after June 13.”said the official. 

Ludhiana, Tribune 10
The entrance examination for various courses at Punjab Agricultural University started from June 7. The students who want admission in next academic session at the PAU have been appearing for these exams . To avoid the rush, the PAU is conducting entrance tests for the postgraduate courses daily. The first exam was conducted for the journalism course on June 7.

Today, the entrance examination for postgraduate course for the College of Home Sciences was conducted at examination hall.

According to the PAU officials, the applicants have to score more than 20 per cent in the entrance exam to get eligible for selection. These examinations have negative marking and students cannot score more than 50 per cent.

The PAU will conduct common entrance exam (CET) for under graduate courses on June 18. 

Ludhiana, June 10
A large number of students are getting themselves enrolled in various colleges in the city daily. As per the academic calender of Panjab University, Chandigarh, the admission to various courses, including BA, BBA, BCA, BCom, BSc will start from July 11-21. To avoid the last minute harassment, students have started filling and submitting the forms well in advance.

Principal Gurminder Kaur from the Government College for Girls said that students came daily to buy forms/prospectus. “We have around 14,000 prospectuses for all the courses and about 8,000 have already been sold. We started the sale of forms from June 1. The price for each prospectus is Rs 40,” she said.

While at the SCD Government College for Boys prospectus will be made available to the students from June 15. The college has also got approximately 13,000 prospectuses published for different courses for the current academic session.

Praveen Chawla, principal, Master Tara Singh College for Women, said they had started selling the forms about 15 days ago. “This time we have got about 2,500 prospectuses published for different courses and the cost of each form is Rs 150. The university has given specific dates according to which the admission process will be completed by July 21 and immediately after the admissions the classes will begin,” said Chawla.

Suman, who has passed Class XII with humanities, said that she would go for Economics Honours. “I have come here (at GCG) to collect the form. I will submit it as soon as possible. On last dates there will be huge rush of students and parents. Besides, in case we fill the forms wrongly or if there is any discrepancy, we will get to know about that well in time. I do not want to start my college in panic by filling forms on last dates,” she said. 

Ludhiana, June 10
Ever since a raid was conducted at the Sub Registrar's office here by the Vigilance officials, it seems the working at the office has not been streamlined so far. A scuffle reportedly took place at the office when the naib tehsildar, Mullanpur (who has been given additional charge), reportedly tried to left early for the day. The visitors reportedly raised an objection to his early departure from the office, saying that the official reaches the office late and leaves early.

However, the Tehsildar, West Office, PS Bains, maintained that no such incident took place and there was a minor "brawl" when two "dealers" started arguing over the issue of commission and one of them took out a sharp weapon.

One of the employees at the office said the naib tehsildar reached the office late and after an hour or so, he started winding up for the day. The visitors raised an objection as their documents could not be registered. They (visitors) even raised slogans against the department. The naib tehsildar was "made" to sit for sometime more by the visitors and around 45 documents were registered. On an average, around 100 documents are registered every day. Owing to holidays on Saturday and Sunday, Monday remains the busy day at the Sub-Registrar's offices, said the employee.

Meanwhile, PS Bains said since he had to go to the court, the Naib Tehsildar performed the duty today. "I had asked him and he reached the office by 9:30 am. Since he had to go to Mullanpur, too, he left the office at 12 noon. There was no scuffle or protest by anyone. In fact, two dealers had a minor fight over some issue and one of them took out a sharp weapon. But, the issue was settled down later," claimed Bains. 

Ludhiana, June 10
The Salem Tabri police has nabbed a person for setting a shop on fire situated at old Sabzi Mandi after stealing Rs 2,500 cash. The accused has been identified as Nanku, a resident of Ashok Nagar.

The incident took place on June 8. According to Bhupinder Singh, a resident of Daresi, it was around 9:15pm when he visited his shop and was shocked to see the shop engulfed in flames.

He doused the fire and found out that Rs 2,550 were missing from the shop.

A case under Sections 454, 380, 435 of the IPC has been registered against the accused. —TNS

Ludhiana, June 10
The division number 5 police has nabbed a person for carrying poppy husk. The accused has been identified as Varinder Singh, a resident of Gurdaspur. The accused was nabbed from bus stand during a police checking. 

During the search of his belongings, police seized 7.5 kg of poppy husk. A case under Sections 15, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused.

Ludhiana, June 10
A pickpocket stole the purse, containing gold earrings and Rs 2,500 cash, of a dog-bite patient while the latter was standing in queue for treatment at the Civil Hospital here today. The victim, Saroj Rani of Guru Nanakpura, said the incident took place thoday afternoon when she was standing in a queue at the Civil Hospital. The matter was later reported to the local police station

Row over land resolved

The row over the vacant land at Tajpur road headed for a compromise after the authorities decided that a school would be constructed on the land. Yesterday, two communities were at loggerheads for the construction of a religious place. The incident also led to the transfer of the SHO Division No 7. 

Ludhiana, June 10
Mata Shib Kaur Hockey Academy, Jarkhar, in the junior section and Grewal Club, Kila Raipur, in the senior section came out triumphant to win the titles in the 4th Olympian Prithipal Singh Seven-a-side Hockey Festival, which concluded at Jarkhar village on the the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, about 15 km from here, yesterday.

The festival was jointly organised by the Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association and Jarkhar Hockey Academy in the memory of hockey legend, former captain of the national hockey squad and penalty corner specialist Prithipal Singh.

In the junior section, the final was played under floodlights between Jarkhar Academy and Grewal Academy, Kila Raipur, in which the former emerged victorious 6-2 to lift the winners' trophy.

The Kila Raipur players who surged ahead in the 8th minute when Rajesh Kumar sounded the board. Three minutes later, Jarkhar Academy restored parity through Sukhpreet Singh (1-1).

Sukhpreet again struck in the 13th minute to put his side in the lead while Ajay Kumar added two goals (27th and 30th minutes) to consolidate the lead (4-1).

Harsimranjeet Singh of Kila Raipur scored a fine field goal in the 31st minute to reduce the margin 4-2. Pawanpreet struck twice in quick succession (37th and 40th minutes) which sealed Kila Raipur's fate 6-2.

Ajay Kumar of Jarkhar Academy was declared the man of the tournament while Pawanpreet Singh and Harsimranjeet Singh shared man of the match award.

In the senior section, Grewal Club, Kila Raipur scraped past Jagtar XI of Jarkhar 5-4.

The match was decided through a tie breaker as the two teams were tied 3-all at the end of stipulated period.

Narinder Singh of Kila Raipur was adjudged the man of the tournament and Damanjeet Singh of Jagtar XI was named the man of the match.

Avtar Singh Makkar, President, SGPC, was the chief guest at the prize distribution function. He announed a grant of rupees 1 lakh for the organisers of Jarkhar Hockey Academy.

Olympian and DIG, Police, Surinder Singh Sodhi, Ranjeet Singh Dhillon, MLA, Randhir Singh Rakhra, Chairman, Sugarfed, Punjab, Jathedar Gurmail Singh Sangowal, Arjuna awar winner, Sajjan Singh Cheema, social activist, Hardyal Singh Aman, Manpreet Singh Talwandi and Tanvir Singh Rania, members, Zila Parishad were among other prominent personalities present on this occasion.

Ludhiana, June 10
Swimmers from Ludhiana district reigned supreme, securing 227 points to emerge overall champions in the 38th Junior Punjab State Swimming and Waterpolo Championship that concluded at the War Heroes swimming pool, Sangrur, yesterday.

Participants from Ludhiana district bagged top honours in the girls' group-II besides finishing runners-up in the girls' group-I, boys' group-I and boys' group-II. Competitors from the hosts district, Sangrur, garnered 217 points to finish at the second spot.

The Ludhiana swimmers created four new meet records to stamp their superiority over others.

In the 200m individual medley (boys), Manavdeep Singh Bal clocked 2:26.10 seconds to set a new meet record. The existing record of 2:28.59 seconds was made in 2011 by Harroop Singh of Sangrur.

In the girl's section, Shubhkarman Dhaliwal of Ludhiana rewrote the record in the 400m free style event. He took 5:30.38 seconds to put to shade the earlier record of 5:32.45 set by Abhipsha Thakur, also from Ludhiana, in 1997.

Ishpreet Kaur of Ludhiana created two meet records. In the 200m free style, Ishpreet with the timing of 2:35.45 seconds, put to eclipse the old record of 2:38.18 seconds, set by Abhipsha Thakur in 1997.

Ishpreet again hogged the limelight when she clocked 1:11.47 seconds to establish a new meet record in the 100m free style event. The earlier record of 1:12.00 seconds was made by \Manjot Kaur of Patiala in 2008.

Apinder Singh Grewal and Ajay Kumar, president and honorary secretary, respectively, of the District Swimming Association, Ludhiana, appreciated the swimmers' achievements and congratulated their coaches on this outstanding performance.