Ludhiana, June 29
High velocity winds claimed the life of a factory worker at Geeta Colony, Tibba Road, this afternoon when a wall under construction collapsed at a dying mill. The deceased has been identified as Pintu of Geeta Colony, who worked at the same unit. Two bikers, who were passing the mill, were injured in the incident.

The injured bikers, Chandresh and Ram Chander, were admitted to the Civil Hospital. The wall, which was being raised on the third floor of the Rozy Tex dying mill, collapsed due to high velocity winds at around 2 pm.

The wall was being raised to built an additional room on the third floor.

Pintu was going towards the factory when the wall came crashing down. Chandresh and Ram Chander, who were going towards the Tibba Road. A huge number of factory workers gathered there and demanded police action in this matter. They even refused to remove Pintu's body from the spot.

"Our priority is to save the injured and after that we will investigate the matter," Balwinder Singh, SHO, Basti Jodhewal police station, said.

No police case had been registered in this regard till the filing of this report.

Meanwhile, another wall collapsed in the Mata Rani Chowk area due to high velocity winds. An astrologer was injured seriously while the man accompanying him suffered minor injuries. The astrologer has been identified as Satpal Sharma of Sanglan Wala Shivala.

Satpal visited the Citizen hotel to check arrangements for a meeting. When he started his scooter to go back home, the wall on the fifth floor of the hotel collapsed on them.

Satpal was admitted to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital. The man accompanying him was discharged after first aid.

Fortunately, the road under the elevated bridge was closed for some maintenance work at a nullah and the traffic was diverted to the single road. Otherwise, it could have been a major tragedy as people used to wait for buses and auto-rickshaws at the spot where the debris of the collapsed wall fell.

Ludhiana, June 29
Sukhwinder Singh, aka Sukhgill of Sanghowal village here, who has been accused of hurting religious sentiments of the members of Dera Sacha Sauda, was today denied anticipatory bail by a local court.

He was booked for hurting religious sentiments by uploading derogatory photographs of Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim of Sirsa on a social networking site, which had caused much resentment among the dera followers.

The arguments on the anticipatory bail application were heard by the court of Additional Sessions Judge RK Jain.

Dismissing the bail application, the court observed that it would be not appropriate to grant anticipatory bail to the accused, in view of the serious nature of the allegations levelled against him.

A large number of supporters had entered the court room when the bail application was put up for hearing. In order to avoid any untoward situation, the court asked them to wait outside. However, the complainant, Harbans Lal Singla of Dugri, was allowed to remain present during the hearing along with SHO of the Dugri police station Satvinder Singh Virk.

The Additional Public Prosecutor (APP), ML Bathla, opposed the grant of bail to the accused with the plea that it might disturb peace in society. He had alleged that the accused had done a shameful act of uploading the dera chief's photos, showing him in a poor light. Such trend needs to be curbed and no one should be allowed to hurt the religious sentiments of any person, added the Additional Public Prosecutor.

The accused was booked under section 66-A of the Information & Techonolgy Act as well as under section 295-A of the IPC at the Dugri police station a few days ago.

The dera followers had blocked the traffic on the Ferozepur road yesterday from 8 am till 4.30 pm.

Ludhiana, June 29
It seems that the advisories being issued by the Health Department regarding saving oneself from water and vector-borne diseases have been falling on deaf ears as people are still not bothered about the necessary precautions.

Yesterday, a team of the Health Department found mosquito larvae in 5 desert coolers at different houses in Prem Nagar and destroyed them by spraying temephos.

Today, after getting the information, a team of the Health Department, including District Epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma, District Health Officer Dr Avinash Kumar, Satinder Singh, Health Supervisor Manpreet Singh, insect collector Krishan Dev visited Kucha Number 5 of Field Ganj and checked 20 coolers. The team members found larva in one of the coolers and destroyed it by spraying temephos. Here, the team members also interacted with the residents and told them about malaria and dengue.

The team members also observed that garbage dumps lying near Durga Mata Mandir were not cleaned by A2Z company till 12:30 pm.

Ludhiana, June 29
Rains are here again, but looking at the condition of several areas in the city it seems that the administration is ill-prepared to curb the outbreak of diseases like malaria and dengue. Mosquitoes have already started breeding in the stagnant water in the district, even as monsoon rains have not yet picked up.

Areas like Gyaspura, Focal Point, Haibowal, Sahnewal, Field Ganj, Dholewal, Ambedkar Nagar, Shimlapuri, Jawahar Nagar, and the areas around Budhha Nullah are particularly prone to the spread of diseases and the diseases break out here every year.

“Mosquitoes are breeding in the area and nobody seems to be doing anything. Fogging has been done only once in our area,” said a resident of the Jawahar Nagar area.

The plight of the residents of Gyaspura, Ambedkar Nagar and Abdullapur Basti remains the same where water gets accumulated following the rains.

“We have now given up as it seems that the administration will not do anything. Every year, water gets accumulated in our jhuggis and we fall sick. But nothing is done about it,” said Pramod Kumar, a resident of the Ambedkar Nagar area.

Meanwhile, Mayor Haracharan Singh Gohalwadia said he had already held a meeting with the team of health officials and the city administration to check and take appropriate measures in the areas prone to the outbreak of such diseases and slums and take preventive measures rather than act later.

He said it was also the responsibility of the residents to have a better civic sense. They should not throw garbage in the open as it invites more diseases.

Ludhiana, June 29
Exactly 11 days ago, the Health Department collected water samples of the Municipal Corporation in the Jawahar Nagar camp area, but the report on these samples is still awaited.

These samples are of the same area from where mild cases of diarrhoea were reported yesterday and people complained of yellow-colour water in some areas. Following this, 8 water samples were also collected yesterday by a joint team of the Municipal Corporation and the Health Department.

Dr Avinash Kumar, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, said: “We collected six water samples from the Jawahara Nagar camp area and sent them for testing to the Microbiology Department of Punjab Agriculture University. But, the report on these samples is still pending.”

Meanwhile, no fresh cases of diarrhoea have been reported from this area today. Yesterday, three cases of mild diarrhoea were reported from street numbers 7, 8 and Chain Chowk areas of Jawahar Nagar camp.

Dr Sucharita, medical officer of government dispensary, Model Gram, under whose guidance two teams of the Health Department visited these areas, said: “I didn’t receive any new patient today. The condition of patients, who were admitted to the hospital yesterday with symptoms of mild diarrhoea, is stable. We distributed chlorine tablets among the residents for potable water and made them aware of maintaining general hygiene”.

District Epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma said: “The teams of the Health Department surveyed street number 8 to 16 and block numbers 71, 72, 101 and 102 and didn’t come across any new case of diarrhoea. The team members also distributed pamphlets among the residents.”

Ludhiana, June 29
After waiting for five days, Jatin Arora, a local resident, was able to avail the online challan facility.

Though the facility was started on June 25, not even a single person had availed the facility till yesterday.

District transport officer Anil Garg said it was quite cumbersome to procure the documents after settling the challan. The online facility saves a lot of time. It seems that residents do not know how to pay the challan online,"said Garg.

He said from Monday onwards, the department would start distributing pamphlets, apprising them of the entire process. On uploading the registration number of a vehicle and other credentials at www.ludhianatraffic.com, one gets to know about the offence and the fine that has to be deposited.

The receipt of the payment is sent through an email. HDFC Bank has tied up with the transport office authorities for the purpose.

It is learnt that the authorities have spent Rs 50,000 on the facility. Jatin Arora, who availed the facility, said, "The officials should deliver documents at home. They can charge fee for the same."

Those, who are not tech-savvy, will encounter problems while paying the challan online," said a resident."

Though the facility was started on June 25, not even a single person had availed the facility till Friday evening. On uploading the registration number of a vehicle and other credentials at www.ludhianatraffic.com, one gets to know about the offence and the fine that has to be deposited.

Ludhiana, June 29
From now, the Punjab School Education Board will send question papers for classes X and XII to banks instead of schools and centres. This was decided at a meeting of the Board of Directors of the PSEB on June 27 in Chandigarh. Chairperson of the board Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal said, "If the pilot project yields good result, then from the next academic session, the board will send the papers to banks and the departments could get the same an hour before."

Ludhiana, June 29
Supporters of Independent councillor Daljit Singh Grewal, who is behind the bars in an attempt to murder case, burnt an effigy of Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon at Basti Jodhewal Chowk today.

The supporters shouted slogans against the Akali-BJP alliance.

Both the groups had clashed at Shakati Nagar recently.

Ashwani Sharma, a supporter, said the police had registered a case against the supporters of Grewal while Dhillon's supporters were let off the hook.

They demanded that Grewal should be released soon.

Akali MLA Ranjit Singh Dhillon held a meeting with councillors and area residents.

Dhillon said he met Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal a few days ago and brought the matter to his notice.

Sukhdev Singh Gill, Pal Singh Grewal, Sarabjit Laddi and Narinder Kaur Malhi, all councillors, attended the meeting. 

Ludhiana, June 29
Social media has been hailed to have revolutionised communication, but the flip side of the freedom of communication is being misused to vent anger, incite people and post content to defame.

The misuse of social networking sites has become common. Complaints pertaining to the uploading of indecent or morphed pictures on such sites keep pouring in.

It is sad that the freedom to communicate is also being misused," said Rohit, a teacher.

He said, "The new form of social media can be equally harmful, which has to be in the right hands."

"Although we are all for the freedom of speech, control needs to be exercised when it comes to the use of social media, if the posts or material uploaded is said to be offensive. Social media firms should act to learn more quickly to take any offensive information off the Internet as soon as possible if it reported to be offensive to anyone," said Meenakshi, a student.

"There have been reports of posting of morphed indecent pictures on social networking sites. Therefore, I avoid posting too many pictures on such sites," she said.

"Cyber policing is the need of the hour," said Sarabjot Singh, a businessman.

"The cyber cell should keep an eye on people posting distasteful things on social media," he added.

Doraha, June 29
Residents of Ghudani Kalan want candidates to focus on the development of the town. They do not want the contestants to woo them with sops only.

The villagers have been on a chain fast since yesterday.

"As the panchayat elections are round the corner, the candidates and their supporters have started the wooing act," said Gagandeep Boparai, a social activist.

"We want the candidates to fulfil their promises. They should work for the welfare of the people," said Saudagar Singh, district president, Kisan Ekta Union.

"We will continue the stir. We have urged the villagers to join us and form a human chain," he said.

"A candidate approached us saying that he would not distribute liquor or money among voters. We are planning to hold a meeting with the candidates at the village gurdwara," said Madan Gopal, former block officer.

The village has 4,000 voters.

Samrala/Khanna, June 29
The police station of Samrala is now the Best Police Station of India. The ADGP, SK Sharma, Director of Police Academy at Phillaur and Community Policing, Punjab, conferred the prestigious award Best Police Station-2011 on the Samrala police station at a function organised at the police station.

Khanna SSP S Boopathi, SPD Bhupinder Singh, SPH Satinder Pal Singh, DSP of Samrala Jagwinder Singh Cheema and Samrala SHO Harjinder Singh received this award from the ADGP. Sharma said this competition was held globally in the US and was based on the facilities given to the public at police stations. The award was forwarded to the Samrala police station by the UN. He said a global visitor week was observed at the global level during which the personnel from the police stations of 30 countries participated.

He said the award for 2012 had been conferred on the Bhawanigarh police station and will be presented to its personnel shortly.