| |
PAU, residents lock horns over closure of gate
Ludhiana, May 31
Punjab Agricultural University(PAU) and residents of Kitchlu Nagar have again locked horns over the closure of gate No 6. The situation took a grim turn last evening with the Sarabha Nagar police registering a case against 40 residents of the colony for allegedly forcing their way into the university campus and manhandling the security staff.
Scrap CET, says Public Cause
Ludhiana, May 31
Public Cause, a forum for voicing common problems of people, has requested the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Chandigarh, for scrapping the Common Entrance Test (CET) 2005 scheduled for June 3.
MC employees to agitate against govt policies
Ludhiana, May 31
The Municipal Karamachari Dal will launch an agitation to seek justice for employees of the civic body, and in particular for restoration of the policy of providing jobs on compassionate grounds to eligible family members of deceased employees.
Growth of this bustling metropolis has no parallel
Land prices highest in the North
No inhabitant of Meer Hota, a tiny hamlet on the banks of the Sutlej founded by the Yodhas in 1498, would have thought that their settlement would transform into a metropolis called Ludhiana a few centuries down the line. Plundered and razed many times by invading hordes, the city rose like a Sphinx every time and continues to expand.
Govt health infrastructure inadequate
Private hospitals providing world class facilities
Even as the state government is pursuing the agenda of privatisation of health institutions in the state, and in fact the civil hospitals in major towns, having been told to generate their own financial resources for day to day expenses, are already partly privatised, the government health infrastructure in Ludhiana is grossly disproportionate to the burgeoning population, both in terms of manpower and financial resources.
Ludhianvis give top priority to entertainment
They love their drinks, wear designer clothes, party hard and have a penchant for jewellery
Welcome to big bucks Ludhiana, whose denizens have shed their small town inhibitions and are working harder and partying even harder.
Gone are the days when a night out meant a social do where booze flowed freely, albeit in the men’s enclosure.
| Ludhianvis like to live life to the full. They work hard and freak out at parties in the evenings.
— Photo by Inderjit Verma |
Zardosi (a kind of embroidery) is a favourite theme during wedding parties.
— A Tribune photograph. |
Youngsters regret there is no exclusive lovers’ zone in city
“Cops and crowd don’t let romance blossom”
Ludhiana may soon boast of high-end malls that may make it rival even the ultra modern Gurgaon, but the youngsters here rue that there is no exclusive lovers’ zone anywhere in the city. A city whose population has already crossed three million, in fact, hardly has any beauty spots like good parks or green patches. Ask any teenaged college going boys and girls who would like to freak out with their friends and the answer invariably will be: Arre yaar, where is the place.
Ultra modern sports facilities are there but the culture is missing
Ludhiana, the industrial hub of Punjab has emerged as the sports capital of the state with a number of sports
infrastructure coming cup here in the recent past. By building up of sports complex for the games such as athletics, football, basketball, volleyball, handball, gymnastics, judo and badminton, the city can now boast of providing ultra modern facilities to the sports persons.
| A view of the flood-lit Guru Nanak Stadium in Ludhiana.
— A Tribune photograph |
The astroturf hockey ground at PAU, Ludhiana.
— A Tribune photograph |
Cops always have a date
with the Mafia
Four years ago the then DGP, Punjab, Mr Sarbjit Singh and the Chief Secretary Mr N K Arora had to rush to the city for confidence building measures among the public following the cold-blooded murder of a youth allegedly at the hands of some cops, besides a spate of incidents of snatching and the failure of the police to catch a gang of child kidnappers and a pedophile indulging in rape, sodomy of minor girls and boys.
People of all faiths, cultures feel at home in city
LUDHIANA is not just the industrial and financial capital of Punjab, it is a mini India in itself. With an estimated population of over 30 lakh people, Ludhiana has a cosmopolitan culture. People right from Kashmir to Kanyakumari have come here and settled down and added to the colourful collage of cultures.
People want Sahnewal as
satellite town
As more and more professionals, businessmen, qualified and educated people and students
working or studying in Ludhiana are chosing this town as permanent residence or for that matter on rent , the town seems to be a fit case to be developed into a satellite town of Ludhiana.
 |
A pity, no memorial to remind people of Sahir
Masroof zamana mere liye kyoon waqt apna barbad kare.
This foreboding of Sahir about himself has tragically turned true in his native city, Ludhiana. The man who immortalised Ludhiana by suffixing it with his pen name seems to have been forgotten here. Barring a handful of die hard admirers of Sahir, not many people in Ludhiana know about Sahir’s Ludhianvi origins.
This encyclopaedic ignorance seems to have been compounded by the hostile indifference of the rulers towards the man who is known across the continents for his revolutionary and iconoclastic poetry. And with him is known Ludhiana. |
Tourism potential remains untapped
Ludhianvis love to freak out but have few options to chose from in the city and its major vicinity. Though the city sits in the lap of history, has water bodies like Satluj, Sidhwan Canal, neelon, a Tiger Safari and children’s park, yet people have only hotels , roadside eateries to go for excursion in the evening or at the weekends.
A view of the sunset reflected beautifully in the waters of the Sidhwan canal.
— Tribune photo by Sayeed Ahmed |
 |
Basic amenities elude Dhandari Khurd
Ludhiana, May 31
Residents and industrialists of Dhandari Khurd colony are an unhappy lot due to bad condition of roads and overflowing of sewer water on roads. Most of the roads here are full of potholes. Certain stretches are so bumpy that people have started calling these shocker-breaker roads.
| The main road in Dhandari Khurd that remains unmetalled despite tall claims by the MC authorities.
— Photo by Inderjeet Verma |
A park in Dhandari Khurd that remains inundated with sewage.
— Photo by Inderjeet Verma |
Neglect of public parks leads to encroachments
Ludhiana, May 31
Taking advantage of little or no maintenance of parks and greenbelts by the civic administration for quite some time now, a number of residents in Green Field colony on the Pakhowal road have resorted to making use one of the public parks (No. 200 in zone D) in the colony as the backyard of their houses.
|
 |
| Violating the MC directive, some residents have broken the wall surrounding a public park in order to allow entry into their houses from the park in Green Field Colony on the Pakhowal road in Ludhiana.
— Tribune photo by Sayeed Ahmed |
More girls getting hooked on drugs
Ludhiana, May 31
The major issue facing society is the increasing trend of drugs among the youth. According to a survey conducted by Aas Kiran, an NGO, girls more than boys are getting hooked on drugs.
Appeal to check stage-managed abductions
Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 31
The Sangrur police has called upon leaders of social and political organisations to discourage those who had been creating panic in the area by reporting concocted stories regarding stage-managed abductions and other similar incidents.
At the crossroads
The grand old man of Punjabi literature
AT 88 Prof Surinder Singh Narula is braving the onslaught of old age. He has been reduced to a skeleton but his brain is as alert as ever. His eyesight and hearing are perfect and his speech is flawless. He is quick to retort and impatient to convey his point of view.
|
