L U D H I A N A

Rebel MLAs to submit memo to Jacob on crime
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — The city legislators have sought the intervention of the Governor Lt Gen J F R Jacob, (retd) over the deterioration of law and order in the city. A delegation of the city legislators which includes Mr Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal, Mr Hira Singh Ghabria and Mr Bikramjit Singh Khlasa, all rebel Akali MLAs, have decided to submit a memorandum to the Governor, as they claim that the state government has failed to provide security to the life and property of the people.

Avtar murder case
DSP deposes before panel
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Mr Rajinder Singh Cheema, DSP (D), Jalandhar, today deposed before a committee of District police officials set up to probe various angles in the Avtar Singh Murder case.

Encroachment by PUDA?
Office in school building
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA) officials are never tired of complaining and reporting about encroachments on the allotted plots and commercial sites. But interestingly, the PUDA office in the city has been functioning in a school building in sector 32 near Samrala Chowk on the Ludhiana- Chandigarh road, for the past five years.

Farmers stage dharna against loan recovery 
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Hundreds of farmers today staged a demonstration in front of Cooperative Bank to protest against the recovery of loans.

Farmers stage dharna outside Cooperative Bank to protest against the forcible recovery of loans.
—Photo by Inderjeet Verma

‘Exempt science teachers from census duties’
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Mr Tota Singh, Education Minister, Punjab, has directed the Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.K. Sandhu, to relieve all science and maths teachers of Classes V, VIII, X and XII from census duties.

First hospital with transfusion medicine dept
 LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) has become the first hospital in the city to have the department of Blood Transfusion Medicine. The department, inaugurated today, is fully computerised .

COMMUNITY

Little demand for Punjab potatoes
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — The dumping of potatoes on the roads of Jalandhar indicated the plight of Punjab's farmers who have been facing this problem for the past four years.

Industry seeks waste treatment facilities
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Ludhiana has emerged as the most polluted city after Delhi in northern India. The Pollution Control Department and various non-government organisations were asking industrialists to either have treatment plants or shut down. Justice Kuldeep Singh, a former judge in the Supreme Court, had also recently warned industrialists to behave as responsible citizens or be ready to face the wrath of environmentalists.

INBEC flays VRS
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — The Indian National Bank Employees Congress has labelled the voluntary retirement scheme in banks as a ‘Hire and fire policy’ to curtail trade union rights.

SISI trains 22 women
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — For as many as 22 girls and women, who have come here from the surrounding villages and towns, a month-long training programme may herald the beginning of a new life. Sitting in a small classroom, they are learning not just the skills to run a boutique but are also gaining confidence and strength to fight their battle in the male- dominated world.

Mala Dhanda is Mrs Punjaban
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — The Aar Cee Ladies Club today organised an inter-club Mrs Punjaban contest at Hotel Le Baron in which married women of about seven ladies club took part.

Participants from various ladies clubs perform during the Inter-Club Mrs Punjaban Contest in Ludhiana on Thursday. — Photo by Rajesh Bhambi

Sifting garbage for a living
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — Hari Ram (35) came to the city from Ferozepore about 20 years ago in search of a living. After working here and there as a labourer for a couple of years, he started plying a cycle rickshaw. Things were not bad in the beginning, but gradually, he started getting weak and was unable to pull the rickshaw. His wife left him and went to live with her parents, along with her daughter. He gave up the rickshaw and took to rag-picking.

CRIME

Two killed in road mishaps
SAHNEWAL, Jan 18 — Two persons were reportedly killed and one was injured in two separate road accidents near here.

BUSINESS

Industrialists resent exclusion from VDS
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — In a statement, the president, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU), Mr Inderjeet Singh Pradhan, and the general secretary, Mr Avtar Singh, have condemned the reported exclusion of the industrial sector from the PSEB’s voluntary disclosure scheme of the power load.

EDUCATION

Declamation contest at KVM
LUDHIANA, Jan 18 — An inter-house Hindi declamation contest was organised at Kundan Vidya Mandir, city branch, here today.