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TOP STORIES

Water-sewerage project hit by Rs 4-cr scam
Ludhiana, May 22
Even as the local municipal corporation is drawing flak for increasing the water-sewerage rates, a scandal of over Rs 4 crore has been detected by the local Vigilance Bureau in the execution of such works in several parts of the city.

Cess hike: dharna continues
Ludhiana, May 22
Activists of the BJP, the SAD and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) along with councillors and senior leaders of the parties continued their dharna in protest against the increase in water and sewerage charges and tuition fee for higher education at the MC headquarters for the second day here.

181 jhuggis gutted

Ludhiana, May 22 The district administration has confirmed that 181 jhuggis were burnt in the fire that engulfed the jhuggi colony, near Vishkarma Colony, in Jamalpur yesterday evening.

Smoke rising from the burning jhuggis in Vishwakarma Colony as the inhabitants come out to safety trying to save as much as they can of their belongings in the Focal Point area in Ludhiana on Wednesday evening. — A Tribune photograph

Fire-fighting equipment missing in mini-secretariat

Ludhiana, May 22 Practice what you preach, the adage seems to have no effect on officials of the district administration if the adherence to fire safety norms in the mini-secretariat here is any indication. Even as the district administration is conducting a survey of various hotels and restaurants flouting the fire safety norms, the offices in the mini-secretariat complex do not follow the norms themselves. Rush of people outside the Sub-Registrar’s office in a basement in Ludhiana that has no fire-fighting equipment. — Photo Pradeep Tewari

Fires continue to rage in the city
Ludhiana, May 22
Havan and scores of prayer meetings in the city during the last fortnight have failed to appease the fire god and the city continues to be in the grip of blazes, one after the other.

These firemen operate from MC parking
Ludhiana, May 22
Firemen of the city, who fought the flames in Khud Mohalla and doused the fire in Frontier Mail near Laddowal recently, are a dejected lot as far as their own facilities are concerned. These firemen operate from a dingy corner of the municipal parking near the corporation headquarters.

ASSAULT ON K.K. JINDAL
Red faces as probe entrusted to CBI
Ludhiana, May 22
There are a lot of red faces, both in the police department and the Congress, following orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to hand over the investigations in the case of a murderous assault on Mr Kewal Krishan Jindal, former acting chief of the municipal committee of Malerkotla, to the CBI.

Offices issuing receipts without revenue stamps
Ludhiana, May 22
Some institutions including those owned by the government are learnt to have been issuing receipts without the mandatory revenue stamps. Despite representations by citizens, these institutions are continuing with this practice. Even a number of offices of the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) have been found issuing receipts without revenue stamps.

Heat brings host of ailments
Ludhiana, May 22
The scorching heat and dry spell, with mercury hovering around 44°C, has forced residents to remain indoors and has brought with it a host of summer ailments like gastroenteritis, viral fever, typhoid and jaundice.

COMMUNITY

Encroachers shift focus to green belts

Ludhiana, May 22 Encroachments on government land continue unabated as the enforcement authorities seem to have closed their eyes to the land mafia that is active in various prime localities here. A part of the common passage has been blocked by the building coming up on government land on the Dugri Road in Ludhiana. — IV

Condition of parks: Chief Secretary’s intervention sought
Ludhiana, May 22
After getting the Punjab Human Rights Commission to serve a notice on the Punjab Government, the Federation of Park Management Committee (FPMC) has, now, sought the intervention of the Punjab Chief Secretary, Mr Rajan Kashyap, in sorting out the situation arising from non-payment of dues to the Park Management Committees (PMCs) by the Municipal Corporation and as a result, the PMCs in the city going defunct.

Prayers for those who perished
Ludhiana, May 22
When the flames leapt aboard the Frontier Mail, these were the people who came to the aid of those struggling to put out the fire and rescue the passengers. Now once again, these villagers from Mang Phagowal and 20 odd other neighbouring villages have decided to do something for those who were not so lucky to survive.

Plans to celebrate 400 yrs of Guru Granth Sahib installation
Ludhiana, May 22
The Guru Gobind Singh Study Circle has chalked out an elaborate strategy for celebrating the fourth centenary of first installation of Guru Granth Sahib, scheduled on September 1, 2004.

Man missing
Amloh, May 22
Mr Baldev Singh (50), a resident of Sherpur village near here, is missing since May 20. On the basis of an affidavit, Mr Sukhdev Singh, elder brother of Baldev Singh, the Amloh police has registered a DDR.

CRIME

85,000 looted from postal employee
Ludhiana, May 22
In a daring daylight robbery, four armed youths snatched a bag containing about Rs 85,000 from an employee of a post office near Baddowal this afternoon when the employee was on his way to deposit the amount.

XEN caught red-handed
Ludhiana, May 22
An Executive Engineer (XEN) of the PSEB, Sohinderjit Singh, posted at Jagraon was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 from a dhaba owner. According to sources, the premises of Parminder Singh, owner of Raja Dhaba situated on the Ludhiana-Ferozepore road, were recently raided by a team of the board.

Woman, servant murdered
Ludhiana, May 22
A woman and her servant were found murdered in a house at Shastri Nagar today late evening. Both seemed to have been clubbed to death. However, there were no signs of robbery in the house.

3 kg of gold seized, 4 held
Ludhiana, May 22
The Customs Department has seized around 3 kg of gold and has arrested three persons in the golden bricks case that had rocked the city during the past many days.

Three booked
Ahmedgarh, May 22
The local police has booked three persons including a woman, under Section 109 of the IPC. According to sources, a police party caught Pala Singh of Nangal village and Surinder Kaur of Malerkotla from a deserted tubewell in a compromising position.

98 cylinders confiscated

BUSINESS

AirTel braces for competition
Ludhiana, May 22
Punjab is the largest and the fastest growing market for cellular services in the country after Delhi and Mumbai. Cellular operators are working on the presumption that in Punjab mobile phones will far exceed landlines in the near future.

Protesting students arrested
Ludhiana, May 22
Activists of the Ludhiana unit of the ABVP organised “book auction day” today in which they planned to sell their course books in front of the house of Mr Harnam Dass Johar, Minister for Higher Education as a protest against the hike in fees of undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

PAU selects book for award

COURTS

Labour lok adalat

CULTURE

‘Encourage Hindi playwrights to save theatre’
Ludhiana, May 22
“If we want the Hindi theatre to survive, then the government and people ought to give encouragement to Hindi playwrights or else the serials being aired on television will swallow both the writers and their plays.