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TOP STORIES

Ex-DC (Customs) booked under Excise Act
Ludhiana, April 5
Mr Amresh Jain (IRS), former Deputy Commissioner (Customs, Dhandari Dry port Ludhiana), who was caught by CBI sleuths in February on graft charges, has been booked in yet another case by the local police. A case under the Excise Act has been registered against him at the Sarabha Nagar police station on an application of the CBI stating that they had found 14 bottles of wine and liquor from the accused’s residence in Agar Nagar during a recent raid.

Tension continues in Sabzi Mandi

Ludhiana, April 5 The standoff between traders of New Sabzi Mandi in Salem Tabri here and a parking-lot contractor continued here today, in spite of efforts of politicians, councillors and senior officials of the Municipal Corporation to resolve the disputes.

Police deployment at New Sabzi Mandi, Ludhiana, following a standoff between traders and a parking-lot contractor. —Photo Inderjeet Verma

Why cinema is a no show here
Ludhiana, April 5
There is no business like show business, but ask cinema-hall owners, all of whom have similar problems. The high tax on the business has broken their back. Arora and Kailash here have already closed down as the owners could no longer bear the losses.

Trust dissolved; Rakhi Gupta new head
Ludhiana, April 5
Ms Rakhi Gupta Bhandari, Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), has been appointed the Administrator of the local Improvement Trust. She succeeds Mr M.M. Vyas, who has been removed from the headship of the trust, following the dissolution of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust. Ms Bhandari took over here today.

PSEB employees protest
Ludhiana, April 5
In response to a call given by the PSEB Struggle Committee, the employees of Sunder Nagar Division of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) today burnt an effigy of the PSEB management and called upon all their colleagues to intensify the agitation for acceptance of their pending demands.

COMMUNITY

Public urinals not built

Ludhiana, April 5 A “Site for urinal” signboard near Fountain Chowk here shows where a public lavatory was to be built by the Municipal Corporation (MC) about a year ago. However, there is no sign of the urinal and there are six such sites. The land earmarked for urinals is being used for private purposes. Now some enterprising entrepreneurs are using the land for keeping power generators and other articles. This signboard was put up here about a year ago, but no urinal has been built so far.— RB

Master bookmaker is no more
Ludhiana, April 5
Demise of Dr Hazara Singh, Ex-Director, Publication Bureau, Punjabi University, Patiala, has dealt a blow to the literary world of Punjab. He expired on March 28. Around 1,800 books were printed during his tenure. 

Baisakhi special on Alpha TV
Ludhiana, April 5
Punjab — the land of valour — is also known for its gaiety and festivities. The festivals are closely linked with the seasons and crop circles in this granary of India. One such festival, which is very important for all the Punjabis, is Baisakhi — the Punjabi new year. 

• Holy man condemns VHP, Bajrang Dal

CRIME

Driver injured in attack
Ludhiana, April 5
A 35-year-old truck driver was attacked by some persons with sharp-edged weapons and injured him seriously when he was waiting for his turn at a PCO near his residence in Shimla Puri here last night.

AGRICULTURE

Wheat procurement arrangements reviewed
Ludhiana, April 5
The Reserve Bank of India has released Rs 3,050 crore for wheat procurement for the month of April and another Rs 3,200 crore will be made available in the beginning of May. The government has sufficient funds to meet the procurement requirements.

Farmers flay rabi crops prices

Ludhiana, April 5 The Kirti Kisan Union, the Punjab Kisan Sabha, the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) and many other farmers’ bodies organised a demonstration here today to express resentment against “non-remunerative” prices of wheat and the other rabi crops. In a memorandum to the government, the bodies criticised the Union Government for announcing minimum support prices of various rabi crops that “did not even cover the cost price of each crop”.

Members of several farmers’ organisations protest against “non-remunerative” prices of rabi crops, in Ludhiana on Friday. —IV

PAU awards teachers, students
Ludhiana, April 5
Dr J.S. Hundal, Professor and Head, Department of Vegetable Crops, was awarded the gold medal for the development of chilli hybrid varieties, Mr S.S. Cheema, Professor of Plant Pathology, was given a prize of Rs 5,000 and was awarded the meritorious teacher award at the annual convocation of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) by the Chancellor and Governor of Punjab, Lieut.-Gen. J.F.R. Jacob (retd), today.

City may have regional centre
Ludhiana, April 5
The initiative taken by the Senate members of Ludhiana, Panjab University, of exploring possibilities of establishing a regional centre at Ludhiana for imparting education is commendable.

SPORTS

Police sports meet opens

Ludhiana, April 5 The Ludhiana Police District Sports Meet began at the police lines here today. This is for the first time that such games, which involves teams of various police stations and zones competing with each other in the discipline of volleyball, kabaddi, relay race and tug of war championships, are being held here. A scene of kabaddi match in the district police sports meet opened today at police lines.—Photo by Rajesh Bhambi.