Sahnewal, August 21
A large number of residents, lead by the local Traders Association, organised a rally through the main market road in protest against what they called poor services being provided by the Punjab State Electricity Board, Doraha, this morning. A two-hour bandh was also observed as a mark of protest.

The association, lead by the chairman, Mr Tarlok Singh Jaggi, and the senior vice-president, Mr Pritam Singh Jaggi, organised the march that began from Railway Road, Doraha, and culminated in front of the office of Executive Engineer, PSEB, Doraha.

The residents raised slogans against the poor supply of electricity.

In a memorandum submitted to Mr Charan Kamal Singh Aujla, Executive Engineer, PSEB, Doraha, the residents demanded that they should be connected to the Ghulal grid as against the present supply from Jamalpur, which, they said, was irregular.

The association demanded maintenance of electric wires. which, it said, were naked at many places, besides regular checking of transformers.

It said unscheduled power cuts were a great cause of inconvenience to shopkeepers and needed to be checked.

Mr Inderjit Kala, president, Dashmesh Charitable Trust, Mr Rasik Bihari Gagi, treasurer of the Traders Association, Mr Krishan Lal Gupta, general secretary, Mr Taranjit Sharma, vice-president, and Mr Jandeep Kaushal, a social activist, were among those who took part in the rally.

The Executive Engineer assured the protesters that the power supply would be improved.

Ludhiana, August 21
A district court remanded the prime suspect in the Kiran Dhawan murder case in a five-day police custody after the Sarabha Nagar police got him here from the judicial custody in Delhi.

Parkash, a former servant of the deceased’s family, had been missing since July 17, 2004, when she was found murdered. Mr Deepak Dhawan, husband of the victim, recognised his pictures in a newspaper after he was caught by the Delhi police on the charges of murdering a man and his wife in Delhi early this month.

Ludhiana, August 21
Deputy Commissioner Ashok Kumar Gupta has exhorted the students to exercise full attention to save energy and to educate people on judicious use of our conventional energy resources, as these resources were not renewable.

Mr Gupta was addressing a well-attended function, which was organised to distribute the prizes to the winners of district-level competitions in on the spot painting, declamation and model-making on the subject of tapping of renewable energy resources by the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) as a part of Akshay Urja Divas at Guru Nanak Bhavan here today.

There was a lot of potential of tapping all three renewable energy resources, sun, wind and hydro, in our country. He said in our country only 15 per cent of the hydro energy had been tapped so far. The government was focusing to substantially enhance the power production from rivers and canals.

The misuse of the conventional energy resources on a large scale could cause serious problems to the developmental process. Owing to the location of our country in the Zone where sunlight was available for the maximum period, we must lay more focus on the exploitation of such energy.

To observe the birthday of late Rajiv Gandhi, a former Prime Minister, as Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Divas, a rally was taken out by schoolchildren to create awareness among people about the importance of the usage of non-conventional energy resources.

The Deputy Commissioner congratulated the winners of the competitions and distributed the cash prizes among them.

Ludhiana, August 21
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Ashok Kumar Gupta, has said that UN Compensation Commission (UNCC), set up to provide compensatory funds to the expatriate nationals of several countries who suffered injuries or losses during the Iraq-Kuwait Gulf War in 1990-91, has appealed to Indian victims to intimate their new addresses to Ms Sarita Bali, Joint Secretary (SKC & Library), 9, Bhgwan Dass Road, ISIL Building, New Delhi-110001, Phone 23387012, Fax 23386953, E-Mail: jssk@mea.gov.in.mea within a period of one week so that their compensation could be provided at the earliest.

He said the UN Security Council had in 1992 established a Special Compensation Commission, called the UNCC. Over 1 lakh claimants have already been paid a sum of US$ 1 billion in compensation through UNCC.

As many as 8,615 claimants are yet to receive their compensation since they had changed their addresses and did not intimate their new addresses to the MEA. He said that a list of these claimants could be accessed on the Ministry of External Affairs website: www.mea.gov.in, under MEA links (Special Kuwait Cell).

He said that the last date fixed by UNCC for locating these persons was September 30, 2006, following which their claims would lapse. Keeping in view the minimum time required by banks to secure funds from UNCC, the claimants are advised to ensure that their letters intimating their new address must reach SKC Division within a period of one week, he added. 

Ludhiana, August 21
Former Chief Minister and SAD president Parkash Singh Badal has reiterated that his party was all-inclusive. Speaking at a function organised here last evening to induct councillor K.L. Chhabra into the party fold, he said, “SAD is inspired by Sikhism and Guru Granth Sahib, which preach equality among all.”

He said SAD had accommodated members of other communities also and from time to time made them ministers as well. He said during his last tenure he ensured that one Muslim and one Hindu legislator from his party was inducted as a minister in the government.

Welcoming the people like Mr Chhabra into his party, he claimed this was an indicator of the changing mood of the people. He said more and more people were coming out to join SAD as they were disillusioned with the Congress. He said the Congress government in the state had failed on all fronts.

Mr Chhabra alleged there was nobody to listen to workers’ grievances in the party or the government. He hinted that several others were likely to resign from the Congress and join SAD.

Prominent among them were Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief Avtar Singh Makkar, local MP Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, former minister Jagdish Singh Garcha, rural and urban district presidents Sant Singh Umedpur and Hira Singh Gabria, Jeevan Dhawan and Mann Singh Garcha.

Ludhiana, August 21
“The police is aware of its image in the public, and is trying to improve it,” said Mr M.F. Farooqui, district police chief, at a foundation stone-laying ceremony of a reception and duty officers complex on the Sadar police station’s premises by Mrs Harbans Kaur Dullo, Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab, today.

Highlighting the purpose behind opening up such a facility centre, the SSP said the convenience of the public was the sole motto. The center would work round the clock. Officers would attend to problems and complaints related to all police stations of the district. Women officers would also be deputed for the convenience of the 
fair sex.

SP (D) Darshan Singh Mann, SP (D) Sushil Kumar, DSP Jhilmal Singh, SHO, Sadar, Gurbaz Singh, City SHO G.P. Singh, Sant Ram Sarhadi, president of the municipal council, Executive Officer of the council Nazar Singh, Amarbir Singh, ASCW Principal, Rekha Bhardwaj and Gursharan Gogia were among those present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, August 21
Alleging that the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) was not taking enough measures to save power amid the ongoing power crisis, the industry today said the functioning hours of markets and malls should be reduced.

“While people across the state are suffering inconvenience and the industry was incurring losses due to the ongoing power crisis, it is surprising that the PSEB is not taking any measures to save power. Instead of increasing compulsory off days and duration of cuts in supply to the industry, it should reduce working hours of malls and markets,” said Mr G.S. Kahlon, president of the Auto Parts manufacturers Association.

Industrialists said the board should have taken measures like ensuring controlled usage of air-conditioners in offices and households. “The entire focus, it seems, is on imposing cuts on the industry whereas electricity consumption in case of malls and commercial markets is no less. It is quite surprising that no measures are being taken to save electricity,” said Mr Chhaber Singh, president, Focal Point Phase VIII Industrial Association.

Industrialists said it was the small-scale industry that was the key generator of employment and not the upcoming malls. “Employment created by the malls, which government boasts of as heavy investment generators, is miniscule in comparison to what the SSI sector is doing. The need is to save small-scale sector first,” they added.

Leaders of the industry also blamed the government for its failure to tackle the ongoing power crisis. “The government boasts of attracting thousands of crores as investment. However, there is no planning as to how it is going to cater to the demand for power that would arise as a result of such investments. The city centre alone has estimated its demand around 45 MW, and the same is likely to double once it is put to operation. But where is the planning to meet such a demand,” said Mr Rajnish Ahuja, president of the Focal Point Industrial Sheds Association.

Ludhiana, August 21
In the election to All-India Steel Re-Rollers Association, mill owners of Khanna and Mandi Gobindgarh won key posts.

Mr Vinod Vashisht of Lakshmi Steel Rolling Mills, Khanna, was elected second time as president of the association. Mr Harmesh Jain of Jain Alloys and Mr Raj Kumar Jindal of Vivek Re-Rolling Mills Mandi Gobindgarh were elected senior vice-president and vice-president (North) respectively. The elections for the three-year term were held yesterday at Hotel Nikko in New Delhi at the annual 
general meeting of the association.

Out of total 27 posts the Punjab Re-Rollers won 18 posts of the national executive of the association. Besides Mr Vashisht, Mr Jain and Mr Jindal the other elected in the national executive of the association were Mr Kamal Singla, Mr Kulwant Rai Panesar, Mr Rajiv Sood, Mr Sanjeev Dhamija, Mr Gurmeet Singh Rehal, Mr Ravinder Jassar, Mr Subhash Kumar, Mr Ajay Garg , Mr Ramesh Goyal, Mr Sadhu Singh, Mr Rajneesh Kumar Bhatia, Mr Surinder Singhi, Mr Davinder Singh, Mr Ashu Bhardwaj all from Mandi Gobindgarh and Khanna .

Whereas Mr B.M. Aggarwal of Delhi was elected as general secretary, Mr Mahesh Gupta of Jaipur as treasurer, and Mr S.M. Malladi of Bangalore was elected senior vice president (South) were the posts won by other members of the Association.

Ludhiana, August 21
The State Bank of India (SBI), Chaura Bazaar branch, took physical possession of the properties of Mr Satish Kumar Bhalla and Mr Ashok Kumar Bhalla in Dugri here on Saturday.

In a press note issued here today, the bank said the party had defaulted in the repayment of bank dues to the tune of Rs 12.9 lakh following which a 60-day notice was served on them in March, 2004. However, as the borrower failed to respond. The bank on Saturday took physical possession of the property mortgaged in the aforesaid account.

The properties were duly locked and sealed. The entire procedure was carried out with the assistance of M/s GATS Financial Reconstructors Limited. The authorised officer warned other defaulters from such stringent action in case they failed to repay their debts. — TNS