L U D H I A N A

3 hurt in clash over house; 5 arrested
Ludhiana, April 1
In a case of lawlessness, three persons, including a woman, were injured when more than 30 persons, armed with guns, swords and sticks, claiming to be close to a local Akali leader, allegedly attacked a house in Ghumar Mandi here this morning.

Cars damaged by a group of about 30 persons after a clash in Ghumar Mandi, Ludhiana, on Sunday.
— Photo Rajesh Bhambi

Dr Aulakh takes over as PAU VC
Ludhiana, April 1
Dr K.S. Aulakh took over as the eighth Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University here today. Addressing a gathering of university faculty, staff and students, Dr Aulakh said that he would take it as a responsibility and not as a privilege.

PAU not to fill Pro-VC post, says Aulakh
Ludhiana, April 1
Punjab Agricultural University has decided not to fill the controversial post of Pro-Vice-Chancellor till the Punjab and Haryana High Court decides on a petition challenging the post existence.

Rinwa seeks relief for farmers and traders
Ludhiana, April 1
The BJP has urged the Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to provide relief to the trade and industry and farmers of the state and to take necessary steps to solve the difficulties being faced by common people.

Second innings of punters: no one out
Ludhiana, April 1
Between Dasehra and Divali past year, the city police had arrested several persons for gambling. The bets were from a few thousand rupees to several lakh rupees. However, now, crores of rupees are changing hands here in betting on India-Australia cricket matches and no offender has been arrested so far.

Don’t mind the prank, it’s April 1
Ludhiana, April 1
On April 1, people become skeptical as they fear someone might play a prank on them. However, due to busy lifestyles, they often fall into traps. College boys have devised their own way of having fun at the expense of others. They get some new notes of Rs 5 or Rs 2 denominations, after which, they get some paper of the size of the notes cut from a press.

COMMUNITY

Duplicate telephone bills double postmen’s burden
Ludhiana, April 1
The callous and irresponsible attitude of the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has doubled the burden on the postmen, besides, harassing customers. The BSNL has issued duplicate bills to the same customers for the same period. The postmen have lodged a protest since it has doubled their work.

Miss World Punjaban contest in Canada
Ludhiana, April 1
“If a language is lost, some thing is lost. But if culture is lost, everything is lost”, this is what Mr Kumar Sharma, a TV producer from Canada has to say about the reasons for his switching over to full time production of Punjab TV programmes.

INTUC to stage protest
Ludhiana, April 1
The Punjab president of the Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Dr Balwant Rai Kapoor, and other members appealed to all the national-level trade unions to stage a protest on April 16, 2001, to show resentment against the Central Government for presenting 'anti-people, anti-labour and pro-capitalist budget.'

Pensioners’ memo to PM
Ludhiana, April 1
The Government Pensioners Association, Ludhiana, has submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha urging them to review the Budget proposals regarding reduction of interest rates on provident fund and other small saving schemes, deduction in interest income on bank savings and slashing of the limit for tax deduction at source on the interest income from bank savings.

CRIME

Man arrested with contraband
Ludhiana, April 1
The Division No 4 police of the city yesterday arrested Garish Kumar, son of Mr Harbans Lal, resident of Bapri village in Una district of Himachal Pradesh, and seized 300 gm of opium from his possession.

MC plot sold illegally
Ludhiana, April 1
The Jodhewal basti police has booked a person for cheating a man by selling him a plot actually owned by the Municipal Corporation.

Accountant dupes firm
Ludhiana, April 1
An accountant of a private company has duped it of Rs 16 lakh by preparing false account-sheets and forged cheques. This amount is likely to much more than this, as the police is still studying the documents.

BUSINESS

‘Local manufacturers will have to improve quality now’
Ludhiana, April 1
Happy Consumers Day, from today i.e., April 1, the day belongs to the consumers. Not playing a April Fool ‘s day joke. The consumer will be able to buy almost all ‘phoren goodies’ at his neighbourhood kiryana store or at special outlets that would be selling their favourite brand of lingerie, chocolates, swim wear, cigarettes, wines, baby foods, milk, cheese, etc.

EDUCATION

Inter-college festival at GNEC
Ludhiana, April 1
Students from nearly 12 engineering colleges of North India participated in Fiesta-de-Athene-2001, an inter-college youth festival, organised at Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College here today.

PAU scientist for World Bank
Ludhiana, April 1
An eminent soil scientist of Punjab Agricultural University, Dr Pal Singh Sidhu, has been appointed agricultural expert by the World Bank. He will take his new assignment tomorrow at New Delhi.

CULTURE

Passion for art still alive
Ludhiana, April 1
Niranjan Parkash Dhanda (NP to friends) has been painting for over 70 years. He has won several prizes. Dhanda started painting when he was 10 years old. When he decided to work under Munshi Mohammad Rafeek, who used to paint sets for theatres, NP had to face stiff opposition from his parents as artists neither commanded respect nor made enough for a living.

HEALTH

Unique spinal surgery at DMC
Ludhiana, April 1
Mr Darbara Singh (40), a paralysed man, who had lost all hopes of walking again, is looking forward to leading a normal life, thanks to a unique surgery performed on him by Prof N.K. Aggarwal at the DMC last month.