L U D H I A N A

MC may regularise encroachments
Illegal occupation by civic staff
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — To further add to a score of controversial items, forming part of the agenda for the general house meeting of the local municipal corporation, adjourned twice earlier and rescheduled to be held on Wednesday, a bid to regularise several cases of encroachment on civic body land by its own employees will be made by the MC administration.

PSEB ordered to refund power bill
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The District Consumer Redressal Forum has quashed a bill amount of Rs 87,923 charged by the PSEB from a consumer, but has justified the demand of Rs 10,700 as fine for theft of energy raised against the same consumer by the board.

No threat to classical music: Shiv Kumar Sharma DRESSED in a white kurta and pyjama and crowned with silver hair, Padamshri Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s santoor recital charmed the audience in the city. Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma during a performance in Guru Nanak Bhavan, Ludhiana. — Photo by Rajesh Bhambi

DoT to provide Internet services in city
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Private Internet Service Providing companies (ISPs) in the district will soon face formidable challenge. The government run Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has finalised testing of a project to provide Internet services in the district.

Embroidery units that kill innocence LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Most of the delicate embroidery on cloth is the work of children, most of whom are barely in their teens. Thousands of children work for about 16 hours a day in various embroidery units of the city. They earn meagre wages that range from Rs 75 to Rs 150 per day. Many children like Yaseen and Raja work for about 16 hours a day for meagre wages in the suffocating environment of various embroidery units in Ludhiana. — Photo by Rajesh Bhambi

PAU plant hospital helps farmers
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The Punjab Agricultural University plant clinic is coming to the aid of a large number of farmers everyday. According to Dr N.S. Buttar, who heads the plant clinic, 7,268 farmers visited the Central Plant Clinic for redressal of problems related to agriculture, during the crop season. He said, that farmers were aware of the clinic and enthusiastic about adopting new technologies and varieties.

LUDHIANA CALLING FOREVER on the lookout for a piece of action, residents of Ludhiana appear to have gone on a sanman samaroh binge after the election of Mr Satpal Gosain, a BJP MLA, as Deputy Speaker of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha earlier this month.

COMMUNITY

‘India set to become IT superpower’
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Who is afraid of the WTO, the global market and competition it will bring in its wake in a few years time? Certainly not the industry.

Watch your pet’s pedigree
Sept 19 — In the past two decades, keeping a dog of a good breed has become fashionable for the people of Ludhiana. So a number of dog breeders have sprung up. A large number of kennels have also come up. The periodically held ‘dog shows’ give an opportunity to the dog lovers to exhibit their beautiful and healthy pets.

‘Stop exploiting ground water’
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Excessive use of ground water for agriculture has resulted in problems like depletion of ground water level and increase in soil salinity. At present 80 per cent of the total ground water is used for agriculture and only 15 per cent is used for industry and other purposes. 

Training course on rice, wheat production
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has sanctioned a research project on “Sustainability of Rice-Wheat Production System in Team of Excellence mode (HRD only)” under NATP with a total outlay of 127.5 lakh.

PAUTA’s concern over Punwire deposits
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — A meeting of the general body of the Punjab Agricultural University Teachers Association (PAUTA) was held today to discuss the issues of arrears of revised scales of pay and the investment of PF amount with various financial institutions. The other items on the agenda were to seek clarifications on various points of the Career Advancement Scheme (CAS) and the investments with various financial institutions including Punwire.

3 post offices to be auctioned
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — A District Court here has ordered the auction of three post offices in the city on October 25 on account of non-payment of compensation for land acquired by the Defence Ministry of 22 persons of Daba village near here .

YC to work in urban areas
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The Youth Congress (YC) would launch a determined fight against the problems being faced by urban people.

45 coloured chicks seized
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Activists of the People For Animals (PFA) seized 45 coloured chicks from a vendor near Dumorian Pull here today.

• College girl killed in accident

MAIL BOX Illegal colonies WHY cannot Ludhiana follow the guidelines that are applicable to Delhi? Delhi also has many unauthorised colonies where government approval is given on payment of 150 per cent of the cost of the house. In a fast growing city like Ludhiana, such a policy will check the mushroom growth of colonies.

CRIME

Victim’s family alleges harassment
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Family members of a woman who had died in a road accident have accused the policemen at the Vardhman post of rude and uncooperative behaviour. This is just another example of the failure of the Shrimaan Scheme launched by the police.

• Scooterist killed

• Car stolen
  

BUSINESS

Sheer grit pulls them through
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Lack of job opportunities in the public sector and tough competition coupled with low wages in the private sector have forced modern Punjabi women to look for new avenues for employment in recent times.

‘Cut custom duty to stabilise petrol price’
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — Mr Joginder Kumar, President of Federation of Tiny and Small Industries of India in a press release today vehemently decried the ill-conceived move of hiking prices of petro products when the industry was facing a recessionary trend. Any hike in the domestic petro products would be inflationary and would have a cascading effect on the industry. 

Seminar on corporate governance
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The Ludhiana chapter of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) is organising a seminar on “Corporate governance and the role of company secretary” on September 20 at hotel Baron, Ludhiana.

EDUCATION

Students go on indefinite strike
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The students of the College of Agriculture in Punjab Agricultural University here today launched an indefinite strike in support of their demands. Most of the students boycotted their classes. They also staged a demonstration.

PU Senate poll
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — All the four principals of the Ludhiana colleges who contested in the Panjab University Senate poll have won, the counting for which was done today. These are Ms Harmeet Kaur from Ramgarhia College, Mr B. D. Budhiraja from SD Kamla Lohtia College, Mr Tarsem Walia from AS College, Khanna, and Mr Jaswant Gill from Guru Nanak College , Doraha. 

CULTURE

Festival begins on Oct 20
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The annual Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Mela will be held on October 20 and 21 in Punjabi Bhavan here, according to Mr Pargat Singh Grewal, President of the Prof Mohan Singh Memorial Foundation.

SPORT

‘Industry should promote sport’
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — While the Sydney Olympics fever is catching on all over the world, the residents of the city are unaware about this megaevent, according to a survey by Ludhiana Tribune.

Badminton meet from Oct 4
LUDHIANA, Sept 19 — The Ludhiana District Badminton Association (LDBA) will organise the District Mini and Veterans’ Championship from October 4 to 10 in Shastri Hall of Guru Nanak Stadium here.