The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Thursday, July 5, 2001,
Chandigarh, India

THE TRIBUNE SPECIALS

50 YEARS OF INDEPENDENCE

TERCENTENARY CELEBRATIONS

L U D H I A N A

Flood-prevention steps on war footing
Khera Bet (Along the Satluj River) July 4
With the arrival of the monsoon the threat of imminent floods is looming large in the district, particularly along the 100 km belt of river Sutlej, the district administration here has launched a massive flood prevention programme.

Deputy Commissioner S.K. Sandhu inspects flood-prevention measures taken along the Sutlej near Kasabad on Wendesday. — Photo Inderjeet Verma

Row over MC vice-chief’s poll deepens
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 4
The controversy over the vice-presidential election of the Municipal Council, Sirhind, Fatehgarh Sahib, has deepened further as Mr Rakesh Verma, who claimed to have won the election and said he had taken the charge of his office and inspected the octroi posts. But on the other hand the President of the Council said Mr Verma had not been elected legally.

EARLIER STORIES

	Donation withdrawn, courtesy rivalry July 4, 2001
	SAD rally kicks off poll campaign July 3, 2001
	Speakers for action against Jaya July 2, 2001
	Wet blanket on normal life in city, Jagraon July 1, 2001
	Indo-Pak war enters cyberspace June 30, 2001
	‘God’ finally gives way to road June 29, 2001
	Govt may scrap privatisation of civic services June 28, 2001
	Night that shook public confidence June 27, 2001
	Constable arrested for blackmailing mechanics June 26, 2001

Schools reopen after vacations Ludhiana, July 4 City schools reopened here today after one-and-a-half-month summer break, amidst a mixed reaction from the students. While some were overexcited with the thought of meeting the school mates, others said that they wanted relaxation for some more time.
Students of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, come out of the school after taking classes on Wednesday. — Photo Rajesh Bhambi

MC clears Rs 10-cr projects
Tenders for roads, water supply ratified
Ludhiana, July 4
The Municipal Corporation has approved various development projects for the city worth more than Rs 10 crore. The meeting of the Finance and Contracts Committee of the MC, presided over by the Mayor, Mr Apinder Singh Grewal, here today ratified tenders received for building of roads, streets and pavement of drains worth Rs 5.88 crore, sewerage and water supply projects worth Rs 79.92 lakh, providing of and extension of streetlights worth Rs 25.65 lakh and maintenance of parks worth Rs 71.74 lakh.

Without salary for 3 months
Ludhiana, July 4
About 250 workers of the Arihant Industries in Mattewal near here, have not been paid salary for the past several months despite instructions of the district administration.

AIATF plans agitation for Chohan’s arrest
Ludhiana, July 4
The All-India Anti-Terrorists Front, headed by Mr Maninderjit Singh Bitta, would launch a statewide agitation and resort to a fast here from July 15 if the self-styled president of the Khalistan Council, Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan, was not arrested by then.

Fake scribe arrested
Ludhiana, July 4
The Ludhiana police yesterday arrested Rajnish Garg, a resident of Aggar Nagar, for posing as a reporter of Hindustan Times and driving a car with black panes without having secured a permission for the same.

Criminals in beggars’ garb abound city railway station

Ludhiana, July 4
Criminals in the garb of beggars and babas, who had been using the local railway station as a permanent residence for years but had been driven out following exposure by Ludhiana Tribune last year, are back to their respective places and rackets. Beggars and idlers use the farthest end of the new railway overbridge towards platform Nos. 6 and 7 for sleeping and resting.

Beggars and idlers use the farthest end of the new railway overbridge towards platform Nos. 6 and 7 for sleeping and resting.

COMMUNITY

PSEB workers stage rally
Samrala, July 4
More than 200 members of the Technical Services Union, PSEB, staged a rally in front of the courts of SDM, Samrala, and gave a memorandum to Ms Raghbir Kaur Khaira, SDM, who assured them to send it to Punjab Government.

SHSAD grant for dispensary
Ludhiana, July 4
Senior Akali leader and former minister Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal today presented a cheque for Rs 1 lakh to the village panchayat of Rashin in the Kila Raipur assembly segment today, for the village dispensary.

Minister distributes sewing machines
Khanna, July 4
All arrangements for the purchase of paddy have been completed and the payments for paddy procured by the government agencies will be delivered within 24 hours of procurement to the farmers.

Lapran takes over as DCC (rural) chief
Ludhiana, July 4
Mr Gurdev Singh Lapran today took charge as the new president of the District Congress Committee (rural) at a function organised at the local office of the party. The function was presided over by senior Congress leader and Lok Sabha MP, Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib.

Self-development course for cops begins
Ludhiana, July 4
A three-day course in self-development for field officers was inaugurated by Mr D.R. Bhatti, director, Punjab Police Academy, at Phillaur today. About 30 gazetted and non-gazetted police officers from various police districts and units of the state were taking part in the course.

Teenaged boy missing
Ludhiana, July 4
Inderjeet Singh (15), a four-and-a-half-foot tall boy, has been missing since June 24 from the house of his aunt, LIG 563, in Jamalpur Colony.

Youth drowned in canal
Fatehgarh Sahib, July 4
A 19-year-old youth of Bassi Pathana, Shine Jo Rene, drowned in the Bhakra Main Canal, where he had gone to bathe along with his friends, on Friday. The body is yet to be recovered.

CRIME

No clue to killer yet
Ludhiana, July 4
The city police is still groping in the dark about the identity of the killer who shot dead a medical representative outside the Bank of Baroda here on Monday.

Auto-rickshaw driver arrested
Sahnewal, July 4
An auto-rickshaw driver, who was allegedly responsible for injuring Jaswinder Singh, has been arrested by the Sahnewal police and sent to jail. His arm was fractured when the auto-rickshaw in which he was travelling turned turtle near Tibba village.

BUSINESS

Misleading ad breaks tender heart
Ludhiana, July 4
Multinational soft drink giant Pepsi is apparently taking customers for a ride through its ongoing promotional campaign of cash prizes for lucky numbers under the crown. Advertisements on electronic media on television channels allure viewers to take home cash prizes of Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10,000 for a three-digit lucky number and the last two digits of the same number, respectively, taken out on weekly or fortnightly basis.

AGRICULTURE

PAU experts’ advice to paddy growers
Ludhiana, July 4
PAU experts have advised farmers to complete transplanting of pusa basmati-1 during the first fortnight of July, while basmati 370 and basmati 386 should be transplanted during the second fortnight of July.

Cheques distributed among farmers
Sahnewal, July 4
The Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Mr Charanjit Singh Atwal, distributed cheques worth Rs 23 lakh among 763 farmers at a function held at Arti Palace here today. The programme was attended by a large number of panches and sarpanches of surrounding villages.

EDUCATION

English Greek to many
Ludhiana, July 4
With hundreds of BA final-year students getting compartment in English for the past several years, the Panjab University authorities and of colleges concerned do not seem to be bothered.

Education at your doorstep
Khanna, July 4
The Khanna regional centre of Indira Gandhi National Open University has come out with a scheme to take education to the doorsteps of the public. It has decided to have collaboration with selected cable operators all over Punjab and Chandigarh to make Gyan Darshan, an educational channel, available to the people of the state.

Training course for women
Ludhiana, July 4
The youth unit of the Department of Extension Education, Punjab Agricultural University, organised a training course in home science at Government Girls High School, Ramgarh, today.

CULTURE

Dancing to rhythm of heart

Ludhiana, July 4
Fifteen-odd children were very excited as they got a chance to display their dancing skills at a competition organised by the Asian Club and India Cultural Entertainment School. The function was held at Deaf and Dumb School, Tagore Nagar, yesterday. The contestants were divided into two groups: one below eight years and the other above eight years of age. The young ones looked very appealing in their fetching outfits. As usual the function started late. The chief guest of the evening was Mr Suresh Arora, DIG, Ludhiana range. Before the show Mrs Suvarsha, Principal, Deaf and Dumb School, enumerated the achievements of the school. Aaina Dhanda who stood first in the junior group in a dance competition held at Deaf and Dumb School on Tuesday evening.

Aaina Dhanda who stood first in the junior group in a dance competition held at Deaf and Dumb School on Tuesday evening.

HEALTH

AIDS cases double in district
Ludhiana, July 4
Over 3.5 million Indians are infected with AIDS and the number is rising each year. While developed nations have termed the situation in India as alarming, Punjab has already achieved the distinction of becoming the fourth largest state in the country with HIV infected people.