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September 28, 2003, Chandigarh, India
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Teacher’s ire leaves boy partially deaf Ludhiana, September 27 The report of the examination available here today states that the boy had suffered injuries in his left ear and was experiencing difficulty in hearing. This has led strong credence to the allegations levelled by the victim that he was beaten up mercilessly by a teacher in the school. The alleged corporal punishment case came to light today when the boy was brought to civil hospital here for another medical examination. However, due to the
non-availability of the doctors concerned, the examination would be conducted on Monday now. Official sources said the Samrala police wanted to get a detailed examination conducted by the Civil hospital Ludhiana doctors as the hospital here was the best regarding medico-legal examination reports in the region. According to the victim, he was a student of Class IX. Four days ago, he was beaten by a school teacher, Dalip Singh, for roaming outside instead of attending his class. The student claimed that he had gone to the toilet with a class mate and the teacher confronted him when he was returning. He claimed that the teacher started beating him up even though he was explaining to him why he was not in his class. The boy said the teacher kept on beating him even when he fell on the ground. He suffered injuries all over his body especially on his ear and face. The teacher could not be contacted but sources in the school said he was maintaining that he had not beaten the child. Sources disclosed that a meeting of the teachers union was called today evening to decide the future course of action. Police sources said they would register a case after getting medical report from civil hospital in Ludhiana. The boy was admitted in civil hospital, Samrala, for the past four days. He returned to the hospital today evening. |
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3 held in orphans’
property case Ludhiana, September 27 According to the SHO, Division number-5, Mr Anil Joshi, the three had prepared a PAN card in the name of orphans’ father, Arun Puri. The children’s uncle complained to the SDM about the fraud. The SDM referred the case to division number -5 police and directed the SHO to conduct an inquiry. Mr Joshi said that Rajesh Kumar had taken the help of Baldev Raj, a caterer, who supplied lunch in the court complex for preparing the forged documents and later executing a sale deed. Waryam Ram and Rajesh Kumar are already in police remand and Baldev Raj was yet to be presented in the court. One of the orphans, Paras Puri had written a letter to the President of India, Mr A.P. J. Abdul Kalam, and had urged upon him to intervene. The President had written to the Chief Secretary, Punjab, to take appropriate action and to give justice to the orphans. |
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Cong aggravating financial crisis: Tohra Amloh, September 27 Mr Tohra was addressing a gathering at Nalini village of Amloh constituency on Friday after the inauguration of round-the-clock power supply to the village. In order to keep his chair safe, the Chief Minister has appointed chairmen of those corporation which were already incurring losses. He has further burdened the state government by providing cars, bungalows and various perks to the chairmen, he said. The Congress Government has not come into power due to mandate but it has grabbed power due to the infighting in the Akali camp, he added. Mr Tohra pointed out that the Congress government had worsened the financial crisis in the state by appointing 25 ADGPs, as many as 300 Superintendents of Police in 17 districts besides 300 IAS officers. The state government has to meet all these expenses from its own resources. But contrary to it, the government makes the lower employees a victim of financial deficit by imposing bans on appointments and causing delay in meeting their genuine demands. The appointment of 175 law officers in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, with each one of them getting salary between Rs15,000 to Rs 25,000 per month is also causing loss to the state as in spite of these persons the government engages private lawyers to fight government cases. Veteran Akali leader was critical of the government’s attitude towards judiciary which has to impart justice to the people because the government is going to get the appointments of judges in judiciary through the Haryana state. Referring to the so-called Akali leader and a former speaker Ravi Inder Singh, Mr Tohra advised him not to praise the Congress government. He was worried for not making the procurement of paddy up till now in the grain markets. He also demanded to fix the MSP of paddy on the basis of the inputs by the farmers. Exposing the anti-corruption movement of the Punjab Government, Mr Tohra alleged that Mr. Bhagat Singh, a retired chief engineer, had been appointed to probe into the expenses incurred on the cleanliness of the water minors and bungling of crores of rupees was unearthed. The chief minister had to drop the case after he was pressurised by Mr Sardool Singh Minister, he maintained. The Akali leader accused the chief minister of accumulating land by filing a case of 600 acre land near Kharar in the court and now it was the turn of the Central Jail, Patiala, to be added to his possession, he said. Mr Tohra said he was proud of the performance of the Akali government and added that whenever Akalis had come to power they had brought prosperity to the state. Former minister Harmail Singh Tohra appealed to Akali workers to forget their differences and make the SAD a strong party. The chief of Mullepur Akalidal circle Varinder Singh Nalini welcomed the chief-guest and spoke about the problems of the village. Mr Karnail Singh Panjoli of youth Akali Dal and Ajayab Singh Jakhwali alleged that the farmers who had not used canal water for irrigation were being compelled to pay the “abiana” (water tax). Among others senior Akali leader Ranjit Singh Libra, SGPC member Jaswant Singh Taan, Kulwant Singh Nalini, President Gurdwara Committee Naulakha Suchha Singh, former chairman of Market Committee Harbhajan Singh and Harmahinder Singh Harji, also spoke on the occasion. |
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Three tricksters held Ludhiana, September 27 Three persons belonging to Uttar Pradesh have been identified as Varinder Kumar, Shailendera and Chander Prakash. A police team led by SHO Anil Joshi got a tip off that some suspicious persons were living in the hotel. The persons belonged to a gang of tricksters who had duped Mr Naresh Kumar of Kings Footwear, Mr Pawan Kumar, a cloth merchant at the Pakhowal road, and Mr Manu Malhotra of the Division No. 2 area. Mr Joshi said the accused used to gather details about the personal life of their targets and then impress them. They then claimed to be the disciples of a religious guru, who would end all the miseries of the victims. They used to get cash, jewellery or clothes as appeasement to the Gods. A number of cases were registered in different city police stations against them but they managed to elude arrest. Police said the accused have revealed a lot about their nefarious activities in the city and other places. |
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Music company tenders
apology Ludhiana, September 27 A press release by the producers said the intention of the noted duo of comedians was to provide pure entertainment and comic relief to the people through their skits and music composition in the album and there was no intention of making any derogatory remarks against any section of society. The entire contents of the album should be taken in the right perspective of providing entertainment. Terming the strong objection raised by certain ragi jathas as unwarranted and ill conceived, the producers said the issue had been discussed in detail by Jaswinder Bhalla with the head priest of Akal Takht Jathedar Joginder Singh Vedanti and the SGPC President, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra. In fact, the Akal Takht jathedar, during his telephonic conversation with Jaswinder Bhalla, had lauded the role of comedians in general and the Chankatta artistes in particular, in sending out reformatory messages to society through their satires and skits. Jaswinder Bhalla, the producers claimed, had assured Prof Vedanti and Jathedar Tohra that there were no derogatory remarks against ragi jathas in the album. However, the producers and the artistes expressed regret and offered their apology to those who might have taken any remarks in the album as otherwise. |
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Five more dengue cases in DMCH Ludhiana, September 27 According to a DMCH press release, the dengue patients from Batala town included Raman Kumar (28), Sunil Kumar (25), Rakesh Kumar (38), Bhushan Kumar (20) and Darshna Devi (46) and from Batala Paramjit Kaur (40), Vijay Kumar (22) and Jai Kumar (32) and from Bathinda Bhupinder Kumar (28). The doctors said till date 96 dengue patients were admitted to the hospital, out of whom 34 were discharged while 62 others were still under treatment. The number of cases testing positive remained at 29 and others were suspected cases with dengue-like symptoms. |
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Speakers flay govt’s
water policy Ludhiana, September 27 The chief speaker of the seminar, Dr Sudhirendar Sharma,
Director, Ecological Foundation, New Delhi, strongly criticised the
government’s approach to water which is most essential for life. He
said that national water policy adopted in March, 2003, is a pack of
paradoxes. On one extreme, it seeks to de-bureaucratise water by
bringing it under community control and on the other it advocates the
increased role of private sector participation in managing water. As
if this wasn’t enough, the government whole-heartedly launched the
interlinking of rivers to get over the prevailing water-stress
situation in the country. He pointed out that in all fairness, it is
a disguise to further distance water from the community to which it
belonged not long ago. Given the fact that there are no regulations to
either maintain assured supplies on one hand and to safeguard public
health on the other, the chances that the hapless citizen will be a
victim of the nefarious design of the politician-corporate linkage is
becoming all too evident. The fact that water is not included under
‘food’ led to the safe escape of the cola companies despite being
proven that the soft drinks were contaminated. In such a situation,
grave apprehensions are being expressed by the civil society on the
way the state is managing and manipulating water resources in the
country. Speaking on the water policy of the Punjab Government, Dr
Sharma said that Punjab’s draft water policy is no different. While
it has the current buzzword like community partnership and ownership
of water utilities, the proposed four-tier system starting from an
apex council reflects the growing control by the state in connivance
with the water corporations. The crop diversification plan, apparently
to save the state from the imminent water crisis, is one such plan
whose hidden agenda is rooted in corporate hijack of Punjab’s
agriculture and farmers. The incident of deaths of 7 persons at
Gyaspura and sickness of many more because of gastroenteritis due to
polluted water supplied by the Municipal Corporation figured
permanently in the seminar. The citizens felt that Municipal
Corporation is running away from its responsibilities and trying to
put the blame on the victims themselves. “ Do we have right to clean
drinking water or not,” the participants question. A team of the
BJGVJ led by Dr Arun Mitra, who had visited the area in the morning,
pointed out that heaps of garbage lay surrounding the main tube well
but the authorities never bothered. After the privatisation process these managements of the tubewells have been handed over to untrained low paid workers who have no concept of chlorination etc. Speaking on the occasion, Mrs Amarjeet Kaur emphasised that the persons responsible for water supply should be accountable. It is an irony she said that when nearly half of the population is deprived of clean drinking water, the water bodies have been put to sale the multinational corporations and Cola giants who are selling water at a price higher than milk. Earlier
Major (retd) Sher Singh Auluck, President, BJGVJ, welcome the chief
speaker who had taken all the pains to come from Delhi to speak on a
subject of national importance. Dr Rajinder Pal Auluck said that BJGVJ
will continue its movement for clean drinking water for all. Amrit Pal
Singh informed the audience about the level of pollution in water in
different parts of the city. Others who actively participated include
Dr Daler Singh, Mr Krishan Lal Malik, Mrs Gurcharan Kochar and Mr
Shoan Singh.
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Street vendors hold rally Ludhiana, September 27 Responding to the demands of the street vendors, listed in the memorandum, presented by Mr Bal Krishan Pappi, president, Rehri Farri Union, Punjab, the Commissioner of Municipal Corporation, Mr S.K. Sharma, said that vacant sites in the city were being identified to relocate the street vendors. It was also proposed to set up exclusive markets for rehri and farriwalas in different colonies. Mr Sharma said the civic administration would also sympathetically consider the plea by the vendors for outright sale of vacant sites to them. Earlier, hundreds of street vendors, under the aegis of the Rehri Farri Union, Punjab, held a rally in front of the MC here demanding adequate safeguards to their right to employment. They threatened an agitation, in coordination with the National Alliance of Street Vendors, if their demands were not met. Addressing the rally, Mr Pappi and other functionaries of the union focussed on persistent harassment and eviction threats by the police and the civic staff. |
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Boy traps monkey Ludhiana, September 27 A student of eighth standard of St Thomas School, Navpreet, had laid the trap for the monkeys three days ago. After waiting for all these days the simian was finally trapped in the morning. It was handed over to president of the Welfare Society of the area by the boy’s family who would hand it over to local Tiger Safari. Talking to the Tribune today, Navpreet said that he had arranged for a trap from a friend’s family. He kept it in the backyard of his house and kept some bananas in it. But the monkey did not appear for two days. Today morning the monkey was attracted by the bananas and he entered the trap. Navpreet slid the lid of trap seeing the monkey inside. It was caught. An elated Navpreet said that he had to constantly sit outside while waiting for the monkeys. “It was easier as my school was closed after the mid-term exams. So I could spare this much time. I will try to catch other monkeys also.” The strayed simian had caused injuries to many children, besides creating menace in the area. The residents had written to the local authorities also to catch the monkey and help them but to no avail.
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Lottery
sellers go on fast Ludhiana, September 27 In a statement, Mr Bharat Bhushan Thapar, president of the association, criticised the officials of Punjab State Lotteries for issuing misleading and the threatening advertisements in the newspapers. “The sellers are resorting to a peaceful agitation to seek justice and the government attempts to intimidate them will meet stiff resistance.” He said the Directorate of Lotteries had claimed in the advertisement that lottery tickets were being sold at the same price for the past seven years. This wasn’t true. The department was aware that the stockists had raised the price of tickets. Mr Thapar alleged that the main stockists, with the assistance of certain officials of the Lottery Department, had committed irregularities in the tenders for organising weekly lottery. This should be probed into, he added.
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Bairagi
mandal demand Ludhiana, September 27
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Youth missing Ludhiana, September 27 |
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Gopal Bhushan elected president Ludhiana, September 27 Mr Prem Gupta from Patna, Mr M.K. Dattaraj from Bangalore and Mr R.K. Garg from Gwalior were unanimously elected as senior vice-president, vice-president and secretary, respectively. TNS
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One more held in fake currency racket Machhiwara, September 27 The accused belonging to Mehtot village in Chamkaur Sahib police station, used to circulate the fake currency in fairs.
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Industry upbeat Ludhiana, September 27 During the previous year each and every industry, be it the hosiery or the bicycle, had witnessed a phenomenal decline in the production. Even leading names in the hosiery and bicycle industries had to cut down their production as the domestic market was not showing good response. Mr Aneesh Dhawan of Gitane Exports maintained that the monsoon played an important role in the economy, particularly in the northern region. Most of the products are supplied in the northern states of Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, which are predominantly the agriculture-based economies. If the agriculture production is good, the farmers are in a capacity to spend. Although most of the industrialists maintained that it is too early to make any predictions, yet the indications are quite encouraging. The orders for the season are booked in advance. For example, the booking of orders for the winter season starts as early as in June and by September the supplies also start. It was learnt that the repeat orders have also started flowing in. Ludhiana manufacturers mostly depend on the domestic consumption. Since the hosiery products are mostly used in the north, the agricultural production in the northern states has a direct bearing on the purchasing power of the farmers there. It has been seen over the years that the good monsoon leads to good turnover for the industry also. Besides the poor monsoon, the shrinking of the winter season had also severely hit the hosiery industry hard last year. Now the hosiery industry expects a good jump as every recessive year is followed by a good year. |
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Production
normal at Hero Cycles Ludhiana, September 27 Mr Munjal said most of the workers had resumed their work and the production was in full swing. He disclosed it had come to the normal level. He pointed out that Hero Cycles was providing all the facilities, including the LTA,
HRA, bonus, leave and other benefits to the workers and they had been convinced about it. Mr Munjal said while the minimum wages stipulated by the government for the workers are Rs 2185 a month, Hero Cycles was paying more than Rs 3000. He said no worker was getting less than Rs 3000 gross salary while some made even Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000. He said the management of Hero Cycles had always adopted a progressive approach for workers and they were provided due care. Meanwhile, some of the labour representatives today held a meeting with the Labour Commissioner. Some representatives of the company were also present at the meeting. |
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Hoteliers
seek tourism promotion Ludhiana, September 27 These observations were made at a function organised by the association to mark the World Tourism Day. Speaking at the function, the president of the association, Mr N.S. Nanda, said, “due attention needs to be given to promote rural, farm, health, eco and religious tourism”. He maintained that new tourist destinations and circuits need to be explored in the state and demanded that the income accrued from tourism should be exempted like the agricultural income. The
association also demanded that the Anandpur Khalsa Heritage Complex, being claimed to be one of the biggest tourist attractions in the world, be completed on priority basis and also the work on the Amritsar International Airport be expedited. Mr Nanda also suggested developing the Harike Pattan Bird Sanctuary and the Ranjit Sagar Dam as good tourist spots to attract good number of tourists there. |
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