Ludhiana, October 15
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) is in a fix as after e-tenders were floated for starting a dog-sterilisation project in the city only one company showed interest in the project.

And this is the cause of worry for the civic body as now the MC is in a fix whether to go ahead with the same project or float fresh tenders.

For the past several months, the corporation is going slow on starting the project in the city. Though the project to sterilise 25,000 stray dogs was approved at the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) meeting held on January 30 and even Rs 2 crore were sanctioned for the project, the civic body failed to start the project.

The MC had floated e-tenders for this project but only one company showed interest in the project. MC officials had opened technical bids yesterday and were surprised to see only one company - Vets Society, Hyderabad, - had applied for this project.

But MC’s track record for dog sterilisation projects has not remained “up to the mark” as most of these projects started by the MC had to be stopped midway. Stray dogs can be seen in every nook and corner of the city. Though the MC claims that not many dog bite incidents are being reported, a majority of the cases go unreported.

This time, the MC plans to divide the project into two parts, which means two different companies would be allotted the project. Under this plan, the city would be divided into half- Zone A and B, Zone C and D.

Dr Charanjit Uppal, Municipal Health Officer, said the company which applied for this project qualifies the MC terms and conditions.

“Now we would analyse their financial bid and after analyzing it, we would inform our seniors,” he added.

On January 30, the F&CC had cleared a Rs 2-crore project under which 25,000 stray dogs were to be sterilised. But later a new proposal was prepared and MC officials claimed it would be ‘better’ than the previous one. The tenders for this project were floated and only one company applied for the same.

Sudhar, October 15
Mystery shrouds the death of Raju, a 24-year-old youth of Budail village, near Sudhar, who died after the Sudhar police had questioned him regarding a complaint lodged by his stepmother.

The situation got tense in the morning when the members of the deceased's family expressed eagerness to cremate the body without conducting a post-mortem examination. However, the supporters of a former Sarpanch opposed the move and demanded a probe into the incident.

The police said Raju's mother Surinder Kaur had lodged a complaint, accusing him of interfering with her private life as well as that of her daughter from her first marriage.

A group of residents alleged that Raju was picked up by the police, beaten up and left at his home. They claimed he died soon there after and an attempt was made to cremate his body at night also.

The SSP, Ludhiana Rural, Ashish Choudhary said on receiving information, he prevented the body from being cremated in the morning and ordered for its post-mortem examination.

"The prost-mortem was conducted by a panel of doctors and then the body was handed over to the family. The village panchayat had taken Raju to the police station yesterday and he returned along with them after a compromise was affected between the mother and the son," said Ashish Choudhary, quoting the Sudhar Police. He added the police had initiated inquest proceedings under section 174, CrPc.

Sukhdarshan Singh, Sarpanch of the village, who, along with his supporters, gathered at Premjit Hospital at Sudhar, claimed that his detractors were making it a political issue. He alleged Raju was a chronic drug addict and perhaps died due to drug overdose and not because of police torture.

"Raju had a criminal past. He was facing three theft cases," alleged Sukhdarshan Singh.

The panel of doctors, including Dr Girish Dogra, Dr Ravi Khera and Dr Nisha Jain, carried out the post-mortem examination of the body at the Premjit Civil Hospital at Sudhar.

Dr Girish Dogra said there was no injury mark on the victim's body and the heart was normal. He added that the viscera had been sent to a special laboratory to substantiate the reason behind the death. Dogra also indicated that the victim might have died due to drug overdose.

Sudhar SHO Rajesh Sharma rejected the allegation of custodial torture leading to Raju's death.

"Surinder Kaur had lodged a complaint against her son Raju on October 10. Yesterday, the panchayat had brought Raju to the police station. Later, in the afternoon, a compromise was effected between the mother and the son and both returned home. In the evening, we came to know about Raju's death. We brought the matter to the notice of senior police officers and carried out a post-mortem examination of Raju's body," said Rajesh Sharma.

Ludhiana, October 15
Openly admitting to the fact that corruption was rampant in the Revenue Department, the patwaris who are holding a strike maintained that they were deadly against corruption and believe that corrupt person must be given strict punishment as per law. But at the same time they maintain that under pressure from various so-called associations patwaris could not work freely.

General secretary of the Patwari Association Darshan Sharma said they were against the corrupt practices prevalent in the revenue department. He said not all people are same in the society.

There can be patwaris who are indulged in corrupt practices and we are against such persons.

But here we are fighting against the so-called leaders, who blackmail us to get their illegal works done. Similar cases should be registered against them too," said the general secretary.

Sore over the rampant corruption by patwaris at small places, a businessman from Mandi Ahmedgarh, Raj Kumar said for getting a copy of a farad, he was made to make rounds by the concerned patwari for about a month. "And the document was given only when I paid Rs 1,000 to patwari. Not only this, they have hired services of youngsters, who are class X or XII passed who do the needful for them and many of them have provided them second hand cars as these youngsters bring them good business," alleged the resident.

When asked about such unethical practices being done by patwaris, another office-bearer of the Patwari union said revenue department was visited by every section of society.

"Be it poor or rich, everyone has to approach the department and some people demand money to get the works done.

Such persons bring disrepute to everyone," said the office-bearer.

Meanwhile, a delegation of the patwaris met with deputy commissioner Rajat Aggarwal. "DC has asked us to see the recording of the incident first, before reaching to any conclusion. We are hopeful to watch the recording on Thursday," said Darshan Kumar.

Meanwhile, the Active Anti Corruption Group has said whenever any such matter of corruption against patwaris is highlighted in the public, latter builds pressure tactics to prove innocence.

Ramesh Bangar, president of association said they start blackmailing the district administration, create ruckus so that common man suffers, just to press-upon authorities that they did no wrong. He asked the whole incident is captured on camera, how they can deny from that?

The authorities must not succumb to any pressure and the corrupt person should be punished as per law, added Bangar. 

Ludhiana, October 15
A 22-year-old woman was killed while two others were struggling for life after a wall came down crashing on them. The victim has been identified as Bholi Devi and the injured as Rekha (35) and Suman (10). The incident took place in the Ram Nagar area here.

According to eyewitnesses, a truck driver, identified as Dalip Kumar, was unloading coal in the godown. While unloading the coal, he hit the wall and it collapsed on the two woman and the girl who were leaning against it.

While Bholi Devi died instantly, Rekha and Suman were admitted to a private hospital.

The police has registered a case against Dalip Kumar and godown owner for causing death due to negligence under section 304-A of the IPC.

Bholi got married barely a few months ago to a daily wage earner, Raj Kumar. She lived in "Kapoor Da Vehra" located adjacent to the godown. 

Ludhiana, October 15
To boost export, micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) need to upgrade its research and development (R&D) and marketing strategy to make the MSME produce globally competitive and acceptable, said KH Muniyappa, union minister for micro small and medium enterprises. He was in the city to interact with the local industry.

Badish Jindal, national president, Federation of Associations of Small Industries of India (FASII) demanded the lower interest rate for industries, implementation of industrial infrastructure development scheme through associations, proper implementation of procurement policy for MSME. He also demanded a check on Chinese imports which has increased more than one lack eighty two thousand crores.

While interacting with the industry representatives at United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association's (UCPMA) office, Muniyappa also stressed the need for coordination between the entrepreneurs, bankers and government to increase export of various MSME products and make them globally competitive.

Charnajit Singh Vishavkarma, president of UCPMA, raised the issue of cheap import of bicycle parts, lack of research and development of technology in bicycle industry.

He demanded anti-dumping duty on bicycle parts, R&D center for the UCPMA; he also demanded the Technology Upgradation Fund scheme for bicycle industry and coverage of industry under MNREGA scheme. "The MSME sector is the nursery of entrepreneurship and has been recognised as the engine of growth. The MSMEs also have a vital role in the dispersal of industries and generation of employment opportunities," said the MSME minister.

Meanwhile, Manjit Singh Khalsa, spokesman of the UCPMA, condemned the central government for step-motherly treatment to the industry of Punjab. He accused that Punjab is not getting the due share in central schemes and the poor infrastructure of industrial areas of Punjab are result of failure of central government schemes. Industry also discussed the problem of absence of an exhibition centre in the city. "Ludhiana is a hub of cycle and hosiery industry but it lacks a permanent exhibition centre.

Industry is forced to hold exhibition at different places and the demand of permanent exhibition centre in the city stands pending," said Joginder Kumar, chairman of UCPMA.

Ludhiana, October 15
The residents of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar have complained to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials alleging that their area is suffering due to several problems.

The area residents have also submitted a memorandum in this regard to Zonal Commissioner (Zone D), MC today. Interestingly, the memorandum was presented by a delegation led by Gurinderpal Singh Pappu, an Akali leader of the area.

Pappu rued that a garbage dump along the green belt near Lodhi Club, here, is a cause of concern for area residents. “The green belt was prepared by spending lakhs of rupees by the MC and now due to the garbage dump in its vicinity, area residents suffer.

Besides, the entire ward number 57 is suffering due to encroachments in the form of rehris along the prominent roads of the area. Stray dogs can also be seen roaming freely in the ward.

All we want is that the MC should help the residents so that they can lead an easy life,” demanded Gurinderpal Singh Pappu, in a memorandum submitted to the Zonal Commissioner.

Ludhiana, October 15
The State Information Commission, Punjab has issued bailable warrants against Public Information Officer-cum-Environmental Engineer, Punjab Pollution Control Board (Regional Office-2, Ludhiana) Rajiv Sharma for his failure to appear before the commission and comply with the orders for grant of compensation to the appellant under relevant provisions of the Right to Information Act.

Pronouncing orders on the appeal filed by Hariom Parkash, State Information Commissioner Narinderjit Singh noted that on the last date of hearing Ravinder Bhatti, environmental engineer-cum-APIO had submitted that PIO Rajiv Sharma could not make his presence before the commission as he had gone to Delhi in connection regarding some court cases. The respondent had sought adjournment of the case.

The complainant stated that there had been no response to the deficiencies pointed out by him in the information provided under the RTI Act nor had the amount of compensation paid to him as per previous orders of the Commission. The Commission further took note of the fact that the amount of enhanced compensation of Rs 7,500 was not paid to the appellant by the public authority of PPCB despite directions having been issued on July 4 and July 24.

Taking a serious view of the absence of the PIO to produce relevant record and explain the reason for non-compliance of the earlier orders with regard to providing complete information to the complainant and payment of compensation, the Commission ordered that bailable warrants be issued for production of the PIO of PPCB along with relevant record at the next date of hearing on November 14.

The orders said, "In view of the non-compliance of the earlier orders and absence of the PIO from today's hearing, this Commission is constrained to issue bailable warrant of Rajiv Sharma, to produce the relevant record relating to the complaint of Hariom Parkash."

Ludhiana, October 15
Four children, who are suffering from thalassaemia, will get a new lease of life following bone marrow transplant donated by their real brother and sisters. Diya Khurana, Deepak and Krishna (all from Ludhiana) will get bone marrow from Pratham Khurana, Krishna and Hari Om, respectively, Amrita Kaur (from Jakhal, Haryana) will get bone marrow from 11-month-old Rehmat Kaur.

In August, an NGO, Salam Zindagi, under the Umeed - A Hope project shortlisted 23 thalassaemic children for the Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) test for matching bone marrow. Of them, bone marrow of four children has matched with that of the donors. "Salaam Zindagi has adopted 70 thalassaemic children for blood transfusion since 2010," said Baldeep Singh Nagi, secretary of the NGO.

Manjit Saini, president of the Salaam Zindagi Foundation, said: "Treatment procedure will start from the next month. An amount of Rs 70 lakh will be spent on it. It is a matter of pride for us that four city clubs, namely the Satluj Club, Luxmi Ladies Club, Sarabha Ladies Club and the Youth Chemists Welfare Club, have come forward to share these expenses."

Rajat Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner, inspired the whole executive body of the Sutlej Club to come forward for this noble cause. Dr Rohit Dutta, general secretary, Sutlej Club, and Geeta Gupta, president of the Laxmi Ladies Club, lauded the Salaam Zindagi Foundation and promised full support in the Umeed - A Hope project. 

Ludhiana, October 15
As many as 24 new cases of dengue were reported at different hospitals of the city today. Of these, 19 are from Ludhiana district, three from other districts and two from Jammu and Kashmir.

Today, 19 patients from Ludhiana were confirmed as dengue patients. They belong to Jamalapur, Islam Ganj, Khud Mohalla, Machiwara, Khanna, Hargobind Nagar, Sunder Nager, Dhandari, Dhobhi Ghat, Guru Ram Dass Nagar, Jodhewal, Habeeb Road, Sangeet Cinema area, Tajpur Road, Dhuri Line, Tagore Nagar. Two patients are from Fatehgarh Sahib district and one from Hoshiarpur district.

The number of cases diagnosed in the Ludhiana hospitals has reached 277.

Meanwhile, a team from the Health Department, comprising Mass Media Officer Harjinder Singh and Inderjeet Singh, delivered a talk a an awareness camp organised by transporters at Transport Nagar.

A similar camp was also organised by the Rameshwar Welfare Trust on Dhandra Road.

Dr Anil Verma, District Epidemiologist, along with his team, visited ward numbers 36, 37, 42, 43, 74, 29, 51 and 71. Meetings were conducted in the Bhagwan Nagar area, Giaspura, Dhandari Kalan and near the cycle market on Gill Road to create awareness regrading dengue prevention.

Ludhiana, October 15
The Health Department today collected 13 samples of eatables from different places.

These include two samples of milk from milk dairies at New Kundanpuri, sweets samples from a shop on the Chandigarh road, milk cream from a Jalampur-based dairy, sweets sample from a factory on the Chandigarh road, sample of sweets from a sweetmeat shop on the Samrala-Khanna road, Samples of sweets from different shops in the Samrala Main Bazar, sample of milk from a milk vendor on the Samrala road, wheat flour sample from a shop on the Chandigarh road. — TNS

Ludhiana, October 15
Employees of Punjab Agricultural University continued their protest for the second day today due to the non-release of grant-in-aid meant for salaries.

The staff led by the PAU Employees Union demanded the release of salaries and pension for the month of September. A large number of employees and pensioners, including women employees, participated in the protest rally. Some teachers also joined them.

While addressing the rally, Dr Gulzar Singh Pandher, general secretary of the PAU Employees Union, said the Punjab Government was doing injustice with the PAU. It was the duty of the government to release the required funds for paying salaries and pensions timely. The salary should be released on the 1st of every month.

Dr Harmeet Singh Kingra, president, PAU Teachers’ Association, said the PAU was a pioneer institute of the world, which had contributed to achieve the desired goals of food grains.

He further asked on the one hand the Punjab Government was not releasing the funds to pay the salaries to the entire establishment of the PAU, and on the other the government had imposed a number of taxes like property tax and regularisation of colonies tax on residents of the state.

Jila Ram Bansal, president, PAU Retirees Association, and Harbans Lal Bhatia, senior PAU leader, while addressing the rally, said: "If the salaries of the PAU employees will not be released, then the protest will be intensified. There is a great resentment among the teachers, employees and pensioners due to the non-payment of salary and pension."

Baldev Singh Walia, Manmohan Singh, Gurmel Singh Tung and Jarnail Singh, were among those others who addressed the rally.

Ludhiana, October 15
Thieves struck at a mobile shop of BJP councillor from Ward No. 51 Reenu Bansal's husband and decamped with 79 mobile phones worth lakhs of rupees. The incident came to light when resident of the locality near Gulmohar Hotel informed Yogesh Bansal, Reenu's husband, about the broken shutters of his shop.

Yogesh reached the spot and informed the police about the incident.

According to Dharampal, SHO of the Division No. 5 police station, the thieves uprooted the shutter to gain entry into the shop.

It is learnt that there was no CCTV camera installed in the shop. Reenu confirmed the incident. — TNS

Katani Kalan (Samrala), Oct 15
Three persons, including two minor girls, were killed while three injured in a road accident on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road, near Sandli Darwaja, when their car was hit by a truck today. The deceased were identified as Balvir Singh (60), a resident of Kot Gangu Rai village, 2 km from Katani Kalan, his grand-daughter Simranjit Kaur and a two-month-old baby Arman Kaur. The injured were Harpal Kaur, Baljinder Kaur and Sukhman Singh, who were admitted to a hospital.

Bant Singh, a resident of Kot Gangu Rai village, along with his family, was going towards Ludhiana in his Alto car. When they reached near Sandli Darwaja, near Lato Dana village, a truck coming from the opposite side collided head on with the car. Balvir Singh an Simranjit Kaur died instantly while Arman Kaur succumbed to injuries at the Civil Hospital, Sahnewal.

The 108 van staff and police reached the spot and evacuated the injured with great difficulty. The police said the truck driver escaped. A case has been registered against him.

Ludhiana, October 15
With the arrest of four persons, including a woman, the city police has claimed to have busted a cricket betting racket.

The accused have been identified as kingpin of the gang Raj Kumar alias Raju, his wife Rajni, Harmeet Singh Ripsy and Rajan.

The raid was conducted at white quarters near the Dhuri lines following a tip-off.

The police team led by ACP Deepak Hilori received a specific input that Raju was operating his gambling and betting racket.

The team raided the premises and recovered Rs 9.5 lakh cash, 42 mobile phones and a special briefcase enabled with transmitter sets.

While the four accused were arrested, their accomplices identified as Davinder, Jadeja, Sanjay, Soni and Kambli managed to escape from the scene.

Hilori said the accused were booked under Section 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the IPC.

“We are scanning the phone record and more skeletons are expected to tumble out of the closet,” Hilori added.

Jagraon, October 15
The Jagraon police has arrested two persons and seized 35 bottles of illegal liquor from them in two separate incidents during the past 24 hours.

The accused have been identified as Baljinder Singh and Bittu, both residents of Malsihan Bajan village, near Sidhwan Bet. The police seized 22 bottles of illegal liquor from Baljinder while 13 bottles were seized from Bittu.

SHO, Jagraon city police station, Inspector Mohamad Jamil, said Baljinder was arrested near Kothe Sher Jang village last evening by a police team from the Jagraon Bus Stand Police Chowki following a tip-off.

“A police team led by Jagraon Bus Stand Police Chowki in charge officer ASI Balwant Singh conducted a raid and arrested him with the liquor,” the SHO said.

In the other incident, a police team from the Jagraon city police station arrested Bittu near a drain outside Malak village.

"It seized 13 bottles of illegal liquor from him,” said the SHO.

The police has registered cases against the accused in both incidents.

Ludhiana, October 15
The Court of Additional Sessions Judge Priya Sood today adjourned the hearing in DSP Balraj Gill and Monica Kapila murder case till October 23.

The court today recorded the statement of Surinder Kapila, husband of deceased Monika. He identified the mobile phone & keys of vehicle belonging to his wife, which were stated to have been recovered from the accused. Monica Kapila had left the house in that vehicle, which was alleged to have been taken away by accused after killing her & DSP Balraj Gill.

On January 15 the charges were framed against the accused. All the six persons facing accusations of committing brutal murder of DSP in a farm house near Hambran road on Feburary 1,2012 are still behind bars. A case against them was registered against them at Haibowal police station.

Ludhiana, October 15
Ludhiana and Kairon emerged champions in the boys and girls' sections respectively in handball in the 59th Punjab State Inter-District School Games organised by the Punjab Education Department at Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU here today.

In the girl's category, Bathinda and Ludhiana secured second and third positions. In the boy's tournament Faridkot finished second and Muktsar had to content with third place.

In tug-of-war, Ropar boys proved too good for their rivals and bagged top honours while Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib finished second and third, respectively and in the girl's section, Bathinda romped home as champions, followed by Fatehgarh Sahib and Ludhiana.

Sarbjit Singh Toor, deputy director, school games; and District Education Officer (senior secondary) Paramjit Kaur Chahal distributed the prizes. 

Ludhiana, October 15
Lovely Kumar of Government Senior Secondary School, Dadhahur and Pallavi Sethi from Guru Teg Bahadur School, Khanna finished ahead of others to clinched titles in the boys and girls sections, respectively in 5000m walk U-16 in the Open Ludhiana District Athletics Meet held at Guru Nanak Stadium here today.

In the boy's U-20 category, Ravinder Singh of GTB, Khanna came won in the 10000m walk while Daljit Kaur of Government Girls School, Samrala clinched up the title in the 5000m walk event in the girl’s U-18 group.

Ajaib Singh Kalke, president, Punjab Athletics Association and Satvir Atwal, president, District Athletics Association, Ludhiana distributed prizes to the position holders. The winners received track suits in addition to the participation certificates while those who secured second and third positions were also given sports kits.

Results: Javelin throw; Girls U-16 Kayenaat Gill; Men- Raghav ; Boys U-16 Jagdev Singh; Boys U-18 Divnoor Singh ; Women- Parminder Kaur ; Boys U-20 Charanjeet Singh; Girls U-18: Simranjot Kaur ; Girls U-20: Balwinder Kaur.

Discus throw: Boys U-16; Harpreet Singh; Boys U-18: Divnoor Singh; Boys U-20; Gurmanpreet Singh; Men- Harpreet Singh; Girls U-16: Anmolpreet Kaur; Girls U-18: Savreen Kaur; Girls U-20: Kiran ;

Triple jump- Boys U-18: Parminder Singh; Girls U-18: Rekha Rani; Boys U-20: Jagroop Singh.

High jump- Girls U-14: Simranjeet Kaur; Girls U-16; Gaganpreet Kaur; Boys U-14; Guramrit Singh; Boys U-16; Harmanpreet Singh; Boys U-18; Gurtaranpreet Singh; Boys U-20; Arshdeep Singh; Men- Sahil Sharma.

400m hurdles- Boys U-18; Suraj Kumar; Boys U-20; Mandeep Singh; Men- Anil Sharma; Women- Rajni; Girls U-18; Manmeet Kaur; Girls U-20; Yogita Rani.

3000m race- Girls U-18: Gurmeet kaur Girls U-20; Sharanjeet Kaur.

200m race- Boys U-20: Bikramjeet Singh; Boys U-18; Ranjit Singh; Boys U-16; Amritpal Singh; Men- Pardeep Singh; Girls U-18; Abhiti Sharma; Girls U-16; Jaspreet Kaur; Women- Veerpal Kaur.