 |
|
| Friday,
November 3, 2000, Chandigarh, India |
|
|||
|
Armed robbers strike again in
periphery; NANDPUR(Ludhiana), Nov 2 — Two persons were killed and eight seriously injured in yet another daring incident of armed robbery in the city when a group of seven to eight miscreants struck at a house in Nandpur village, 16 km from Ludhiana, last night. It is learnt that the incident occurred some time in between 1.15 a.m. and 1.30 a.m. at the house of Maggar Singh when the entire family was in a deep slumber. While Harbans Kaur (80) and Amarjit Kaur (42) were killed as a result of gunshots, eight other members of the family — Maggar Singh, his wife Jaswant Kaur, son Balwinder Singh, daughter-in-law Harbans Kaur, grandsons Kuljit Singh and Amritpal Singh, grand-daughter-in-law Harbir Kaur, grand-daughter Manpreet Kaur and relative Amritpal Kaur — were seriously injured and are recuperating in Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana. Though there is still no clue about the goods or cash stolen or the exact number of the assailants, the members of the family, who escaped unhurt, as well as the immediate neighbours, who came to their rescue, maintain that they were eight to 10 in number. It is worth mentioning here that the two sons of Maggar Singh — Balwinder Singh and Avtar Singh — are among the best commission agents of Sahnewal Grain Mandi. These days with the paddy procurement at full swing, a lot of cash is learnt to be lying with the agents. It is suspected that this could be the reason for the attack on the house of Maggar Singh. According to information available, other than one of Maggar Singh's sons, Avtar Singh and the latter's wife, deceased Amarjit Kaur, all other nine persons were sleeping in the rooms on the ground floor of the house. It is suspected that the assailants could have entered the house from the front side by scaling the wall. The numerous elevations in the house are believed to have helped the accused in climbing to the roof and they could have then opened the door to go down in the house. It is suspected that once they reached inside the house, they then sedated the unsuspecting persons and then began hitting all of them with iron rods and other sharpedged weapons. Maggar Singh's old sister, Harbans Kaur, who was sleeping in the lobby, was shot at and also beaten up with iron rods. When she cried, two of the girls — Aman and Ramandeep, who were sleeping in a separate room, heard the cries, but because of fear, they did not come out of the room. While narrating the sequence of events, Avtar Singh, who managed to escape unhurt, said that the attack lasted not more than 10 minutes. "I was sleeping in my room with my wife when I heard a gunshot and the screams of someone in the house. Both of us went out to check if everything was well. Amarjit had a broom in her hands for safety, but as soon as she reached near the stairs, one of the assailants shot at her. She received the gunshot in her stomach and belched for support. ''The accused also tried to fire at me, but I ducked and they missed the shot. I thought that she had been taken by surprise at seeing robbers in the house so I took her aside and laid her down. In the meantime, my immediate neighbour, Swarn Singh, had also heard the gunshots and he came out on his terrace with a rifle. He fired two-three shots in the air which made the robbers flee. They rushed out from the rear of the house into the open fields and took away two trunks and one briefcase with them which the police later found around 500 yards away," he said. Still unaware of the tragedy that had struck the family, Amandeep Kaur and Raman Kaur, daughters of Balwinder Singh and Avtar Singh, respectively, said that they had heard one of the accused talking in typical Punjabi when they had knocked at the door of their room and asked them to open the door. "We had heard the screams and the gunshots. We were very scared and did not want to go out. Later, when our neighbours too began firing at the assailants, they fled. Later, when there was complete silence, we came out of the room and there was nothing but the smell of disaster and carnage." It was then that the two girls went out of the house and raised the alarm. Within no time, all the people in the village gathered and began lifting the injured in their cars in order to take them to hospital. The police, too, got to know of the incident and rushed to the spot. Meanwhile, the SP (City-II), Mr Pramod Ban, when contacted, told TNS that though there was a similarity in the nature of the attack last night and all the previous attacks in Ludhiana, Jagraon and Jalandhar, it could not be ascertained that this attack was also the handiwork of the Kale Kachchewale gang. "The police is making allout efforts to trace the culprits and no stone would be left unturned to nab the culprits and bring them to book," he declared. |
|
Following is the first-person account of Aman, who was witness to the horror that was enacted in her house at midnight. Our family will never be the same. We may never laugh again as we used to, before the horror show was enacted in our house in the dead of night. And it will remain incomplete as we have lost the grand bhua and the chachi. Who could know that we were laughing together for the last time. For tragedy was awaiting us and death knocking at our door. We did not even have a premonition of what was going to happen, that morning will never come and time will come to a standstill. It was around midnight. I was sleeping in my room along with my sister Raman. We had just gone to bed after completing our routine reading. After about half an hour we heard cries and screams of Harbans Bhua, the sister of our grandfather. She was sleeping on the ground floor. Within a few seconds, more cries and shouts were heard. This was interspersed by occasional gunshots. I and Raman were horror struck. We came out of the bed. Somebody was knocking at the door outside our room, asking us in Punjabi to open the door. We bolted the door from inside. Both of us shrunk with fear. We just could not switch on the lights. We tried to conceal ourselves in a corner. We could only recite the path of Gurubani. Within a few seconds there were gunshots. I feared that somebody was firing at my father Balvinder Singh and my uncle, Avtar Singh. In the dead of night, only cries could be heard. Within a few minutes, everything was quiet. I somehow summed up courage to switch on the lights before opening the door. It was all horror outside. The floor was littered with blood and the bodies could not be identified. The killers had mostly hit our family members on head only. I thought everyone in my family had been killed. I tried to shake the bodies to see if there was any life in them. To my horror, no one responded. I came into the open. My voice was choked. I could not even cry to call my neighbours and relatives living next door for help. I could not even remember the telephone numbers of the people I wanted to call. Everything appeared to be absolutely blank. My world had ceased to exist. It took me sometime to recollect the people and their numbers so that I could call them for help. Somehow, one of our neighbours who had heard the gunshots had come out with his rifle. He had fired some shots, which made the assailants flee. He was the first to reach our house. I tried to make as many calls as I could to gather maximum number of people. Within half an hour neighbours and relatives started pouring in. Somebody made announcement from the gurdwara about the incident. Many people reached our home with their vehicles to take our people to hospital. I am told that I have lost the grand bhua and my aunt Mrs Amarjeet, while all others are struggling for their life. |
|
Randhawa best book award for
Jalota, Prihar LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — The book, Reducing Soil Water Evaporation With Tillage and Straw Mulching by Dr S.K. Jalota and Dr S.S. Prihar has been selected for the Dr M.S. Randhawa best book award for the year 1998. The book which has been published by the Ohio State University Press, USA, has been approved for the award by the Vice-Chancellor, PAU, on the basis of the recommendations of a committee consisting of Dr M.S. Bajwa, Director of Research, Dr K.S. Sekhon, Dean, PGS, Dr H.S. Garcha, former Dean, College of Basic Sciences and Humanities, and Dr S.S. Gill, Additional Director, Extension Education (Communication Centre). Elaborating the need for a book on saving water, the authors have said that the availability of fresh water supplies is likely to be a major limiting factor in meeting the future agricultural needs of the growing world population. Conservation and efficient use of water hold the key to alleviating the constraint. Direct evaporation of water from the soil surface constitutes a large fraction of the total water loss not only from the bare soil but also from cropped fields and is an unproductive water loss. The authors further add that although much theoretical and empirical information on the subject is lying scattered in various scientific journals, reports and bulletins, the book will provide information in one place and presents it systematically. The book will be useful to researchers, teachers, students, and planners. It will also help in the selection of suitable water conservation management practices for various soil and climactic conditions. Dr S.S. Prihar, a soil scientist of international repute, has written this book after retirement. Dr G.S. Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, congratulated the authors and revealed that the book carried a cash prize of Rs 5,000 and a certificate. |
|
Telecom men face the
music LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — Officials of the local division of the Telecom Department here faced the ire of the newly appointed Telephone Advisory Committee members in the first meeting today since August this year. The members, 36 in number, strongly criticised the telecom authorities for lack of preparation in meeting the challenges thrown by the private telecommunication companies. Apart from discussing the general complaints of subscribers about deficient service, the TAC members expressed their displeasure at the increase in the number of complaints against the department in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. The issue raised by Mr Jagdish Anand was supported by other members and it was decided that the authorities should work towards bringing down the number of complaints. The members also stressed on the need for fixing responsibility about deficient services on erring employees. The issue of non-feasible areas was also discussed heatedly at the meeting. Mr Harpal Singh Kohli, supported by Mr Jagdish Anand and Mr Ramanjit Badhan, took the officials to task for the large number of non- feasible areas in the city. The members lamented that while private companies were introducing schemes like telephone connection service at your door step, the Department of Telecommunication had not succeeded in making the areas feasible. The officials in their written reply said that some of the areas had been made feasible and the process for making others was on. Other issues that cropped up at the meeting were the slow pace of computerisation of the telecom offices, and a number of complaints regarding non-shifting of telephone connections. |
|
Run-for-power rally by
PSEB LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — In a bid to step up its efforts to curb theft and misuse of electricity, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) organised a run for power in the city today. Speaking on the occasion, the Member (Transmission) of the PSEB, Mr A.K. Kundra, observed that the menace of power theft and wastage of electricity could only be checked by creating awareness and through total involvement of the consumers. He was confident that the PSEB could turn the corner and improve its financial health once the theft of power could be checked and the general public could be motivated for conservation of power. Giving details of the steps being taken by the PSEB in this direction, Mr Kundra informed that a series of lectures would be organised in schools all over the state and interaction with the consumers would be started at various levels to achieve the desired results. According to him, such rallies were being organised in all the zones in Punjab and the results had been encouraging. Conceding that some unscrupulous employees of the board might be conniving with consumers in stealing power, he waned that the PSEB contemplated taking harsh measures and nobody found involved in theft would be spared. Mr Kundra claimed that the power situation in Punjab was satisfactory. The average daily demand for power was around 3,500 MW, while the availability from the thermal power stations, added to the state's share from Bhakra, was 3,700 MW. The state was also entitled to draw another 1,400 MW from the central pool. Prominent among those present on the occasion were the Chief Engineer, Mr A.S. Randhawa, the Chief Engineer (Workshop), Mr S.K. Seth, the Superintending Engineer, Mr M.S. Dhaliwal, and the Director, Enforcement, Mr P.D. Dua, besides other senior officers and PSEB employees in large numbers. |
|
AT THE CROSS ROADS THE other day he told me that it was very difficult to write for children. One has to be at the intellectual level of children to compose poems, short stories and plays for them. To write plays and then enact them on the stage is an uphill task. It is this challenge that attracted a scientist to this genre of literature. He believes that there is need for awakening, knowledge and exposure to the present day world so far as children are concerned. There is no need for direct preaching, the message has to be conveyed in a convincing manner. But this is possible only when the theme is a significant one and has been presented aesthetically on stage. Dr Faqir Chand Shukla has written a number of plays in Punjabi on scientific themes of general interest. His primary concern is with nutritional aspects. Junk food is playing havoc with the health of the children. They are the first victims of indiscriminate TV ads that propagate the products with the sole aim of earning a fast buck. Fast food, such as noodles, chips, cold drinks, biscuits, and deep-fried products, lead to over-eating that results in converting the young ones into couch potatoes. There is no count of calories at any level. In the play Didh nun Sanbhal, Motu (pick up your belly, Motu), he has dealt with the theme of obesity among children. Likewise, in his play Daal nibhay Zindgi nall (Pulses set the pulse of life), he has emphasised the nutritious value of pulses, apart from the importance of taking green leafy vegetables. The cheap and readily available groundnut can beat costly dry fruits such as cashew, pistachios and almonds and can be taken any time anywhere. Doctor Bijee also promotes herbal treatment for common diseases. Instead of running to doctors for minor ailments, it is advisable to resort to home remedies. The plays Dharti Saadi Maan (The earth, our mother) and Janam Din (Birthday) create environmental awareness among children. There is a need for a clean and green environment for the healthy growth of man, bird and beast. The yearly tree plantation drive is more of a ritual than any significant activity. Saplings find it hard to slake their thirst and most of them wither away by their ‘first birthday’. Dr Shukla is the Founder-cum-general secretary of Punjab Sahitya Kala Manch. The manch organises on-the-spot painting competitions among school children to popularise science. They are asked to paint nature in varying moods. In the fancy dress competitions, children come to the stage in leafy consumes with a view to highlighting one aspect of the natural environment or other. At times, the audience is made aware of the pollution that has taken varied form in in this megacity, such as air pollution, noise pollution, water, pollution and the pollution caused by the industrial waste. Dr Shukla was born on September 21, 1944, at Khizrabad in Ropar district. He received his early education at the village school and then joined Arya High School, Ludhiana for matriculation. Later, he did his graduation in Agriculture, postgraduation in Biochemistry and Ph.D in Food Technology from Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana. Apart from his professional activities, he has deep interest in creative writing, stage-acting and singing,. He has numerous collections of short stories, plays and essays, both in Punjabi and Hindi, to his credit. He has received two national awards for his books in Punjabi on food and nutrition (Khurak Ate Sehat and Sasta Bhojan Vadhiya Bhojam), apart from other prestigious awards from NCERT, the Languages Department, Punjab and the World Hindi Conference for his literary works. He remembers his wife Sneh Lata, who died of cancer in March 1999, with deep sense of sorrow. He gives all credit to her for his achievements. He used to discuss with her the themes, the dialogue, the stage setting and the presentation of his plays. She was a teacher at a local government school and had received two awards for her books in Punjabi on household themes — Bachian Di Dekhbhal and Kudrat Di Niamat. In her absence, he is trying to come to terms with life by resorting to philantrophic work, which was dear to her heart. |
Review power tariff
hike, pleads BJP LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — In a significant move, the district unit of the Bharatiya janata party (BJP) today pleaded for rolling back the recent hike in power tariff in the state in view of, what it described, ''the crisis facing the trade and industry for quite some time and the inability of the consumers to absorb any additional financial burden.'' The demand by the district unit of the BJP, an alliance partner of the shiromani akali dal, to win favour with the trade and industry, assumes importance in the wake of several Punjab ministers belonging to the BJP and even the state President of the party, have in no uncertain terms publically taken the stand for the withdrawal of free power supply to the farm sector. The district President, Mr Harbans Lal Sethi, who presided over the meeting, made an appeal to the party workers to bring more and more functionaries under the fold of life-long mutual fund launched by the party. The meeting, while reviewing the national awareness campaign, decided to observe a special week-long drive from December 23 to highlight the achievements of the NDA government led by Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee during the one year in office. The party would launch yet another campaign from November 27 to December 23 to propagate the message of the National Working Committee of the BJP which had recently met at Nagpur. The state Vice-President, Mr Balbir Chand Kapila, the General Secretary, Mr Anil Sareen, the Chairman of the Improvement Trust, Mr Madan Mohan Vyas, the Chairman of the Punjab State Industrial Development Corporation, Mr Vinod Jain, the Vice-Presidents, Mr Ramesh Sharma and Mr Shakti Kumar, the General Secretary, Prof Rajendra Bhandari, and the President of the Yuva Morcha, Mr Kamal Chatley were prominent among those who attended the meeting.
|
|
Pensioners' plea to
government LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — The Fifth Pay Commission made recommendations for the pensioners i.e. restoring of commuted pension after 12 years instead of 15 years, pension on the last pay drawn instead of 10 months and 1 per cent hike in pension per year who had put in more than of 33 years of service. The Northern Railway Pensioners Welfare Association has drawn the attention of the Finance Ministry and the PMO to this issue, but nothing has been yielded and now it is learnt that the ministry has closed the file of the Fifth Pay Commission. Mr Sher Singh, President of the association, says acceptance of these three demands would put very negligible financial burden on the Central Budget, whereas expenditure on political set-up of the government is unlimited. Even small states, including Punjab and Haryana, restore commuted pension after 12 years. The judgement of the Supreme Court that commuted pension be restored after 15 years should not be any hurdle in the way as the pay commission had recommended restoration after 12 years. Moreover, the monthly medical allowance is a severe joke in the prevailing high cost of medicines. The plea of the government that ordinary citizens are not getting any medical care from the government has no sound logic. It is requested that the government should make all the lab tests, medicines and diet free in government hospitals. |
|
Hobby classes: a hot favourite among women LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — In the last two years, many hobby classes for women have opened in Ludhiana. One can find an art centre in almost every corner, from Dugri to Haibowal, to Dandi Swami. The city has literally seen a mushrooming of hobby classes offering short term and long term courses in oil painting, glass painting, metal embossing, Chinese painting, artificial bonsai, fabric painting, Thanjore painting, flower-making, pot-painting,sculpture, brass painting, etc. Though oil paintings are evergreen and quite popular, but right now, glass paintings are a rage among enthusiastic art learners. In every drawing room, one can see oil paintings or some piece of art made by the daughter or mother of the family. Ruhi Sood, a Government College student and a good artist herself, used to join art classes every vacation ever since she was in the tenth standard. Now she is familiar with all kinds of paintings and crafts and can dabble in anything with expertise. “I was always interested in painting. It was an excellent way of spending holidays. In fact, doing something creative gives me immense satisfaction. Also, if circumstances demanded, I could convert my hobby into a business.”, she said. Ms Jayshree Puri, who has been running the Jayshree Arts Center in Model Town for the past 25 years, teaches about 80 to 100 enthusiastic students daily in three batches. She reveals, “I started my own art classes at the age of 16 due to financial problems. I had hardly any technical training myself. But I was quite creative and could make a painting, a toy or a flower even by seeing them once.” Ms Puri further added that she charged only Rs 500 on a monthly basis and there was no restriction on the number of hours. It all depended on the students. Sometimes students who cannot afford the fee are taught for free. Ms Puri also makes paintings and pots on order. However, she felt that the Ludhianavis had become money-minded and they did not appreciate art. It was only last year that her work was recognised and she was given the best artist’s award by the Punjab government. Ms Paramjeet Arneja, a graduate in fine arts, started her own art centre at Model Gram 10 years ago. “When I started only a limited number of students used to come but for the past two to three years, many more girls have been coming. Parents are also more liberal nowadays and there is much more awareness among girls who want to utilise their time creatively”, she says. She claimed that the 3-d painting (a mixture of art and craft) course is a unique feature of her classes. Ms Asha Singhania, is the director of the Singhania Polytechnic for Women (approved by the Punjab government), which is one of the oldest institutes of its kind in the city. Ms Singhania claimed that theirs was the first institute in Ludhiana to offer hobby courses, courses on personality development, beauty courses, etc. The institute offers many diplomas as well as short term courses not only in arts and craft but also in cooking, computer-aided textile designing, interior decoration, beauty courses and car driving. Ms Singhania informed that her institute’s two unique courses — home maker’s composite course and living in style, were designed keeping in mind the needs and aspirations of the modern Indian women. They had also started ‘recipe kitties’ where the members paid Rs 80 per month and played tambola. After that they cooked three dishes and give recipes to all the members. “Nowadays women are venturing outside the home. They are no longer satisfied doing merely domestic chores. They are educated, smart and quite ambitious. They know how to best utilise their leisure hours”, said Ms Singhania, giving the reasons for the popularity of the hobby classes. |
Exporters’ charge
against Concor LUDHIANA, Nov 2 — Is the local branch of the Container Corporation of India (Concor) at Dry Port Dhandari Kalan amassing profit worth crores of rupees “wrongfully” at the expense of exporters of this industrial city? This serious allegation against Concor has been levelled by none other than the Engineering Export Promotion Council, a statutory organisation of the Union Ministry of Commerce. According to sources, the exporters are upset about the charges taken by Concor in transporting containers containing products of industrialists of the city. The process brings large revenue to the country. The magnitude of the problem and the grievance of the exporters can be gauged from the fact that Mr S.C. Ralhan, Chairman of the council, has dashed to New Delhi to meet Mr Murasoli Maran, Union Commerce Minister, in order to personally apprise him of the excess rates. According to a letter addressed to the minister, it has been alleged that Concor is charging very high rates from the exporters. Being the only agency to handle export and import containers, the Concor was charging Rs 17,800 per 20 ton container from the exporters, while it was paying only Rs 10,615 for the same weight to the Railways.The exporters said the profit of Rs 7185 earned per container by the agency was against the rules. They also fear that the export-import business was being hit as the industrialists were paying a heavy price for the containers. They have even threatened to move the Monopolistic Restricted Trade Practice Commission against the act of the agency. Another serious allegation against the agency was that it was pocketing subsidy given to the exporters by the Railways. According to Mr S.C. Ralhan, the Railways is supposed to give a subsidy of 85 paise per 20 ton container per kilometer to the exporters but the Concor was pocketing the amount itself. Interestingly, the Concor authorities here when contacted acknowledged the prices alleged by the exporters but denied that it to be wrong or against the rules. Mr N.L. Manjonka, Manager, Concor, here declining to talk much only said that it was the policy decision to charge such rates. He said he can comment only this much and further inquires should be made from their head office in New Delhi. The exporters have, however, also contested the policy claim of the agency. A letter sent to the Union Commerce Minister quotes a circulation issued by Ministry of Railways in June this year. According to this circular, the Railways charges Rs 5.95 per km for a 20 ton weight from Ludhiana to Mumbai from Concor. The charges calculate to Rs 10614.80t but the agency charges more than Rs 17000 from the exporters. According to the letter if handling charges of Rs 1000 is excluded even then the agency is making huge profits. According to the letter, the agency thus wrongfully earned about Rs 29 crore in the last financial year, as it handled 48258 containers in the said period. The letter specially mentioned that the Concor was thus charging 68 per cent profit from the exporters which was against the norms.
The Concor authorities at New Delhi could not be contacted. |
 |
| Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir | Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs | Nation | Editorial | | Business | Sport | World | Mailbag | In Spotlight | Chandigarh Tribune | Ludhiana Tribune 50 years of Independence | Tercentenary Celebrations | | 120 Years of Trust | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
