L U D H I A N A

Bank robbery at Ludhiana
Youths decamp with Rs 7.10 lakh
Ludhiana, April 23
In the second incident of bank robbery in the district in less than two months, two scooter-borne youths robbed the Punjab and Sind Bank, Kitchlu Nagar branch, of Rs 7.10 lakh here this afternoon.

MC ‘orders’ probes to cover up issues
Ludhiana, April 23
The Municipal Corporation administration has devised a novel way of pushing embarrassing, yet vital issues, under the carpet by ordering ‘high level’ inquiries as and when these issues are raised either by way of motions in the general House meetings of the civic body or through councillors or members of public.

Cong infighting goes to high command
Ludhiana, April 23
While the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Capt Amarinder Singh, and his rival, Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar, may have buried the hatchet, the factionalism in the party here refuses to die down with the rival leaders taking the fight to the Congress high command.

Probe into share market scam sought
Ludhiana, April 23
The government should order an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court to probe into the lose of more than Rs 800 crore by the public sector banks through share market brokers like Ketan Parekh.

Rail passengers resent reservation hassles Ludhiana, April 23 ‘‘I have been standing in the queue for the past six hours, but queue is not moving at all as the computer network is out of order for the past three hours.  A chaotic scene at the Ludhiana Railway Station reservation counter.

COMMUNITY

Harassment by bank employees alleged
Machhiwara, April 23
Mr Jagdish Singh, a former Naik from the nearby Uppal village, has blamed some bank employees of the Bank of Baroda, Bhaini Sahib, for delaying the payment of a sanctioned loan amount of Rs 1 lakh to him.

SAD(B) councillors support Dr Sandhu
Ludhiana, April 23
In a significant development, which may have far reaching political ramifications in the city, a group of SAD(B) councillors, led by Mr Kulwant Singh Dukhia, has come out in the open in support of Dr S.S. Sandhu, Commissioner of Municipal Corporation.

Development sidelined in war of wits
Ludhiana, April 23
It is an interesting war of wits between Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, de facto legislator of Ludhiana (rural) and Mr Hira Singh Gabria, de jure legislator, being fought in the streets of their Assembly segments. While Mr Dhillon is the Chief Minister’s choice and is ‘acting’ like a legislator, Mr Gabria owes allegiance to Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra.

Cong men flay BJP campaign
Ludhiana, April 23
Several local Congress activists have taken strong exception to burning of Ms Sonia Gandhi’s effigies by BJP workers here and elsewhere. In a joint statement Mr Krishan Kumar Bawa, Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran, Dr Harbans Kaur, all members of Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and Mr Pawan Diwan, Chairman, Urban Development Cell of the India Youth Congress have flayed the BJP leadership for resorting to such undemocratic measures.

Panel set up for Mahavira centenary celebrations Ludhiana, April 23 Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has announced setting up of a committee for organising the year-long birth centenary celebrations of Lord Mahavira. He said it would be celebrated at a grand scale in Punjab and elaborate arrangements for executing the programmes would be made.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a function organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of Lord Mahavira in Ludhiana on Sunday. On his right is leading industrialist Jawhar Lal Oswal and vice-president of the All-India Jain Conference, Mr Hira Lal Jain. (Right) A view of the audience. — Photo by Rajesh Bhambi

Telephone subscribers sore over disconnections
Fatehgarh Sahib, April 23
Resentment prevails among a large number of telephone subscribers of the district as their telephones have been disconnected by the department without any notice.

400 attend Aggarwal Sabha meeting
Jagraon, April 23
The Aggarwal Sabha held a meeting at LRDAV College in which about 300 local members and 100 delegates from all over India, including Mr Pardeep Mittal, president, All-India Aggarwal Sammelan, participated.

Annual day function held
Ludhiana, April 23
The Himachali Pratinidhi Sabha organised the annual day function here yesterday. Mr Vidyasagar, Minister of Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh, was the chief guest on the occasion.

FENG SHUI TIPS
Theory of Yin & Yang
FENG Shui is the question of balance and this is related to opposites, expressed in terms of Yin & Yang. All the energies of the earth are said to be either Yin or Yang in nature. The elements of the earth are said to have a Yin or a Yang essence. Yin and Yang have their own magnetic fields of energy.

BUSINESS

Arhtiyas go on strike in Khanna mandi
Khanna, April 23
The commission agents of Asia’s biggest grain market, Khanna , went on a strike and staged a dharna in protest against non-payment of wheat procured and rejection of discoloured wheat by government agencies. The agents protested in front of the Food and Supply Department office here today.

AGRICULTURE

 Summer crops “more paying”
Ludhiana, April 23
While the state agriculture is facing problems of glut, lowering of water table and intensive use of energy, a recent study by scientists at Punjab Agricultural University has suggested that the replacement of paddy crop by summer vegetables can prove to be a solution to all these problems.

Fire destroys crop in 5 acres
Jagraon, April 23
Wheat crop in an area of five acre was burnt to ashes at Galib Kalan village due to the negligence of the Punjab State Electricity Board as the switch of a transformer at a little distance from the village continued to spark and was never repaired despite several complaints by Mr Gurmohan Singh, owner of the field.

EDUCATION

725 posts of school principal lying vacant
Samrala, April 23
In a random survey conducted by the Government Secondary School Teachers Union, Punjab, about 725 posts of Principals of Senior Secondary Schools are lying vacant, according to Mr Behari Lal Saddi, vice-president of the union, here today.

PAU VC conducts surprise visits
Ludhiana, April 23
The Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Dr K.S. Aulakh, today paid surprise visits to ascertain the progress of the austerity drive as well as to check the compliance of punctuality orders given by him.

2 computer training centres opened
Ludhiana, April 23
Ms Mridula Sinha, chairperson, Centre Social Welfare Board, inaugurated two new computer training centres at Barewal and Rampur villages, about 10 km from here today. The centres have been set up at a cost of Rs 10 lakh to provide free computer education to the rural and poor women.

CULTURE

A writer in love with the surreal
Ludhiana, April 23
He is called Gorky lovingly by his admirers for his extreme fondness for the Russian author, Maxim Gorky. Dr Amarjeet retired as a Reader from GND University, Amritsar and has written two collections of short stories. He, however, is equally fluent when it comes to penning poetry. He also has a collection of poems to his credit.

A literary figure of stature
“I AM both a writer and a painter and hence I chose Chitarkar as my pseudonym. Basically, I am a writer.” For his literary work, he was awarded the Sahitya Shiromani Award by Bhasha Vibhag this year. Chitarkar has been prolific in his writings. His greatest contribution is the translation of Gitanjali by Rabinderanath Tagore in Punjabi. He also has the distinction of translating Meghdoot, a classic by Kalidas, into Punjabi in the verse form.

HEALTH

Hypertension rate high in city
Ludhiana, April 23
Studies reveal that 25 to 30 per cent of the Indian population suffers from hypertension, with Mumbai, Ludhiana and Jaipur ranking highest in the list. This was disclosed by Dr B.K. Sharma, winner of the BC Roy Award and former director of the PGI in Chandigarh, during the 23rd public health lecture on hypertension, organised at Dumra Auditorium, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, last evening.

Nuclear Disarmament Day
Ludhiana, April 23
The Indian Doctors For Peace and Development (IDPA) will observe May 11 as Nuclear Disarmament Day. According to a press note issued here today by Dr L.S. Chawla, president, IDPA, this was decided in a meeting of the central council of the IDPA which was held in Delhi.

ADMINISTRATION

‘Funds crisis not to affect development’
Ludhiana, April 23
Mr Sukhdev Singh Libra, member of Rajya Sabha, has assured adequate funds for development works in rural areas, saying rural population would be provided civic amenities on par with those available to city people and that the financial restraints would not affect the pace of development projects.

Govt to issue stamp on Swami Ram Nand soon
Ludhiana, April 23
The Union Government will soon issue a commemorative postal stamp in memory of Swami Ram Nand, the founder of ‘Bairag Math’. This was disclosed by Mr Bal Kavi Bairagi, Member Rajya Sabha and chief Ppatron of the All-India Bairagi Maha Mandal in a brief speech at railway station here last evening.

• DFSO’s post still vacant