Khanna, January 24
The district police has registered a case against two unidentified children on the charge of stealing Rs 1.5 lakh in cash from a wedding party.

Prem Nath, son of Visakha Ram, who is a resident of Machhiwara, has lodged a complaint with the Khanna police alleging that two unidentified children, who were spotted moving around during the wedding of her daughter that was held at Gurdwara Sangat Sahib, disappeared with Rs 1.5 lakh in cash.

In his complaint, Prem Nath said during the wedding he was sitting with the cash bag right in front of him, but when he got up to shower flowers on the newly wedded couple, someone picked up the cash bag and disappeared.

He said it was not until they saw the movie clips shot during the function that they discovered that two children had stolen the bag. He said other members of the family who had reported that they were present on the gurdwara premises even before they had arrived there, saw the two children.

After receiving the complaint, the police registered a case against the children under the relevant section of the law. The police said similar incidents of theft in which children managed to walk away with bags containing cash and jewellery had also been reported from Chandigarh and some adjoining places.

These earlier incidents would also be studied to ascertain any link between these crimes, the police said.

Ludhiana, January 24
With the power situation in the industrial hub of the state going from bad to worse, the normal life of the people from all walks of life has been thrown out of gear. The continuous cold wave, gripping the entire region, has further added to the woes of the residents who have to brave it out in the freezing cold weather without power for most part of the day.

The city localities, including shops, commercial establishments, service providers and industrial feeders, are subjected to unscheduled power cuts ranging from an hour to three hours many times during the day time, and in some parts of the city, the power supply is reported to be off for six to seven hours at a stretch.

Even as commercial and industrial activities have been adversely affected by drastic power cuts and erratic supply, the city residents, in many areas, have to go without water supply since during power cuts, the tube wells and submersible pumps are rendered non-functional. In particular, if power supply is affected during scheduled timing of water supply in the morning, afternoon or evening, the taps run dry and overhead tanks cannot be filled to meet the requirement of water for drinking and other domestic usage.

The trade and industrial community in the city is especially sore over the deteriorating power scenario which, they say, has had an adverse impact on business and industrial production. "With no power, either the production has to be stopped or the units have to be run on generators which adds to the cost of production considerably and eats into profit margins," lamented Arvind Sharma, owner of a small-scale industrial unit.

In the same manner, Mohinder Aggarwal, running an electronics business in an upmarket commercial centre, summed up the predicament of the trading community when he observed that the shopkeepers stand to lose business if power cut is imposed during peak time. And if they run generators for longer spells, the overheads increased and the profits shrunk.

Senior officials of Punjab State Electricity Board expressed their total helplessness in this regard, saying the power generation at both the thermal and hydel projects was low while the demand had increased. "Even otherwise, the schedule and duration of daily power cuts are decided at the headquarters at Patiala depending on availability and demand of power in the entire state," they said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh/ Jagraon, January 24
With Ludhiana district remaining the epicentre of terrorist activities during last year and especially one of the allegedly absconding terrorist Harminder Singh still at large, the police is not taking any chances in ensuring security in view of the Republic Day celebrations.

Various teams supervised by circle officers falling under jurisdiction of the Ludhiana-urban and Ludhiana (rural) police erected check points and intensified patrols to make sure that no illegal ammunition or explosive was brought to the area.

Search of vehicles, including two wheelers, private cars and public transport was so intensive that even hand bags were checked. Contrary to common practice, the cops (lady police) were even frisking women and their vehicles to search the luggage.

Barring some odd cases, majority of the travelers cooperated with the police in complying with orders received from their seniors.

Paramjit Singh Gorayan, DSP, Dakha, Narinder Pal Singh Ruby, DSP, Raikot, and Rattan Singh Brar, DSP, Payal, supervised the search operation conducted in their respective areas.

Besides, a number of nakas were organised at Jagera Bridge, Dhulkot Chowk, Narangwal Chowk , Dehlon Chowk, Hari Singh Nalwa Chowk and Bija Chowk.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, Ludhiana (rural), said the officials had been directed to ensure that no harassment was caused to the public in general and women and aged persons in particular.

“Though checking is a routine matter for our department, we have been directed to be extra cautious in view of Republic Day celebrations at Ludhiana and surrounding subdivisions. We have advised our cops to be courteous to all whom they stop for search,” said Bhullar while talking to The Tribune.

It is on record that Ludhiana has of late become the epicentre of terrorist activities during past year. Besides Shingar Cinema blast, large quantities of explosives were seized from areas falling under jurisdiction of Ludhiana and Ludhiana (rural) police districts.

Moreover, Chief Minister of Punjab Parkash Singh Badal has also been target of certain terrorist groups. As Badal is scheduled to attend Republic Day function at Ludhiana, the police is not taking any chance to compromise with security of the area.

Ludhiana, January 24
Hundreds of people, who had to make rounds of different government departments to get their work done, will heave a sigh of relief once the newly constructed Suvidha Complex near Bachat Bhawan starts functioning.

The complex, expected to begin functioning in the first week of February, will provide a common platform to the people as it will have 36 service counters of various government departments.

"The counters from different government departments will complete all formalities relating to the work of people on the spot. People will be benefited as earlier they had to go to different places", said Priyank Bharti, ADC (development), adding that the aim of behind starting the complex was to provide better services to the people under one roof.

Twelve windows out of 36 will be used for issuing different certificates at the revenue department counter regarding mutations and affidavit attestation. Other counters will provide services for arms licence renewal, right to information, issuance and acceptance of passport forms etc. ADC Bharti added that they were in touch with the district transport office to open one of their counters, too. He said the delay was due to networking, which would be completed in the next few days. All counters will be computerised, he added.

The district administration has been organising Suvidha camps in the district as well as the city for the past many years but its functioning gets hampered as employees are sent to the camps.

Sucha Singh, one of the retired professors, said the Rs 1.6 crore complex was expected to be unique for delivery of services, ensuring availability of staff, completion of various formalities at one place, scrutiny of documents at the time of submitting of application and time-bound delivery of services.

"But officials must ensure that there was no harassment by middlemen, delays or corruption in the delivery of services. Otherwise there is no fun spending a huge amount on such buildings", he said.

Ludhiana, January 24
Cracks have started appearing in Guru Nanak Dev Stadium and this has left the sports fraternity worried. A deep crack appeared on the VIP arena near the entrance of the stadium.

While associations of various games have expressed their concern, this does not seem to move the authorities concerned.

Teja SIngh Dhaliwal, general secretary of the Punjab Basketball Association, said if the repairs were not undertaken immediately, a serious problem could arise.

He said they would take up the matter with the sports department soon. ‘‘We are concerned as the stadium, having been set up after spending crores of rupees, would soon be in the ruins if attention would not be paid to it,’’ he said.

Ludhiana, January 24
To keep pace with advancements in research methodologies and techniques in agricultural sciences, proper compilations in the form of book are the need of the hour. This was stated by the PAU vice-chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang. He released three books on agriculture in a special function held today.

He congratulated the authors for their efforts in providing knowledge in available book form.

The first book to be released was ‘Crop Improvement: Strategies and Applications’ jointly edited by Dr R.C. Setia, Dr Harsh Nayyar and Dr Neelam Setia. The book contains 21 chapters authored by scientists from various institutions in India and covers a wide range of topics.

Introducing the book, Dr R.C. Setia said the book would be useful to researchers, teachers and students interested in crop improvement and crop husbandry.

The second book, ‘Hydrocarbon and Organic Synthesis’ is authored by Dr Ranjit Singh Dhillon, professor of organic chemistry at PAU and published by Springer, Germany. Highlighting the contents of the book, Dr Dhillon said the 30-Chapter book deals with organic synthesis and can be useful for pharmaceutical industry. The book throws light on the basics of organic chemistry.

The third book that was released today was ‘Handbook of Vegetable Crops’ authored by Dr M.S. Dhaliwal, senior vegetable breeder of PAU. It provides elementary information, including definitions, importance and scope of vegetables, cultivation practices and care required for successful vegetable growing.

Dr Dhaliwal said the book would be useful for classroom teaching as well as for vegetable practitioners.

First copies of the books were presented to Dr Kang. In the function, dean, college of Basic Sciences, Dr Tejwant Singh and heads of the various departments of PAU, faculty members and students participated. Dr Singh proposed vote of thanks.

Jagraon, January 24
A 16-year-old girl has moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for directing the police for registering a sexual harassment case. Finally, the Sudhar police had to register a case under Sections 354,376 and 149 of the IPC against seven persons, including her aunt and uncle and two mediapersons last night.

Girls’ aunty Paramjit Kaur used to coax to elope with Sukhwinder Singh. She even threatened to defame the girl when she refused to cooperate.

She charged Sukhwinder Singh of Sudhar, Harpreet Singh of Jaissowal, her cousin Jagdip Singh, her aunty Paramjit Kaur and uncle Baldev Singh, Santokh Singh Gill and two mediapersons with entering her place of work on December 2, 2007 and even threatening, dragging and insulting her.

Ludhiana, January 24
The Excise and Taxation Department, which plans to launch e-filing of its electronic VAT returns soon, has started testing it by inviting at least 5,000 dealers from across the state to file their returns.

The dealers have been asked to file their monthly and quarterly returns. With this at least 1.6 lakh registered VAT traders would be able to avail this facility.

Excise officials said e-filing would facilitate reduction in time taken for transferring the data to their records. The dealers would be able to file their returns from anywhere.

Taxation lawyers, however, in a meeting with excise officials said today that, “Already dealers who have been using the system are facing technical problems. Earlier, too, in case of technical problem it is the assessee who has to suffer. Since the penalty that can be imposed in such cases is very high the department first needs to make the existing system foolproof before introducing anything like e-filing.”

Gulshan Goyal, president, and Jatinder Khurana, district taxation Bar association, said introduction of e-filing would also prove to be a burden on small traders, who were currently not using computers. Such traders would be forced to spend money on either computers or would have to pay the fee to experts for getting their returns filed. 

Ludhiana, January 24
Punjab Agricultural University plans to have 5 per cent growth rate in agriculture during the 11th five year plan. The University also envisages revitalizing the economic conditions of the farmers through enhanced agricultural growth rate in the state. Disclosing this in an exclusive interview with Ludhiana Tribune Dr Manjit Singh Kang, vice-chancellor, PAU, said the thrust areas would be emphasis on biotechnology, organic farming and precision agriculture, peri-urban agriculture for meeting the needs of urban people, initiation of research on development of micro-nutrient intense crops through their bio-fortification with enhanced level of iron, zinc, carotene and protein. The emphasis would also be on bio-fuels, harnessing solar energy, empowering woman and creating market intelligence cell.

The vice-chancellor said under the human resource development in cutting edge research areas, the faculty of a few departments would have “retreat programmes” to go to the fields of selected farmers, interacts; receive feed backs in order to make their efforts as per need and problem solving.

The PAU also plans to have links with the industry and market in the areas of post-harvest handling, processing and value addition. Besides this, global partnership in research, exchange of scientists and students in learning mode and reducing in breeding.

Dr Kang pointed out that the agriculture in Punjab had become stagnant and the farmers were under Rs 24,000 crore debts. The stagnation was required to be broken.

He says that wheat in Punjab has achieved the highest level of productivity of 4.7 tonnes per hectare in 1999-2000..... and there are a few major constraints in raising the productivity further. However, efforts would be made to enhance the productivity in wheat by strengthening research to ensure continuous upgradation for yield, biotic and a biotic stresses and quality. New and upcoming disease free varieties are need of the hour. Adoption of new varieties can deliver up to 5 to 6 per cent advantage in yield.

Dr Kang further said cotton was another potential crop which would receive the attention in the 11th five year plan. Punjab had an area of 6.28 lakh hectares with a production of more than 26 lakh bales and productivity of 7.5 quintals per hectare last year. The area was likely to increase with shift in area from paddy. The area under BT cotton was likely to increase and would fail in test cotton and non-Bt cotton varieties.

There was shortage of quality seeds of BT cotton varieties and also shortage of canal irrigation. The vice-chancellor stressed on the need for enhancing the production and productivity by increasing area and ensuring canal water by mid April.

The village adoption programme also needed to be adopted on massive scale in the cotton belt.

There would be more emphasis on research in maize as there was scope in increasing the area under this crop. There is a need for adoption of bio-intensive integrated pest management (IPM), programme through organised campaigns by the state agriculture department. The government can take up mass production of bio-control agents with industry. The university will continue to provide technical help, assured the vice-chancellor.

Dr Kang revealed that the university had received Rs 75 crores from the Centre under the special grant of Rs 100 crores for the University for strengthening the infrastructure.Labotaries for development of biotechnological research would also be established.

Ludhiana, January 24
A large number of students took part in the annual sports meet of the Government College for Women, Ludhiana, which started today. Heats and preliminary rounds were conducted in different athletic events besides fun games like chatti race, three-legged race and cycle race.

Girls performed giddha and presented martial arts. An impressive parade by the NCC cadets was another feature of the inaugural ceremony. Two-day meet was inaugurated by the Punjab minister Hira Singh Gabria. R.K. Aulakh, principal of the college, welcomed the chief guest.

Councillors of the Ludhiana municipal corporation, faculty members and a large number of students witnessed the inaugural ceremony.

Annual sports meet: The annual sports meet of the employees of Dayanand Medical College and Hospita (DMC&H) concluded here today.

In the cricket final played at the Bachan Singh Academy, Balloke village, team of Surinder Singh Negi beat the team of Ashwani Kumar by 4 wickets.

Other results: Tug-of-war: team of Prabhjot Singh got the better of the team of Amandeep Sandhu; volleyball: team of Suram Singh blanked team of Ajay Kumar by 3-0; basketball: team of Amandeep Sandhu beat team of Prabhjot Singh by 25-17.Badminton: men’s singles: Sanjeev Kumar outplayed Rakesh Kumar; men’s doubles: Gian Chand Rana and Pawan Kumar defeated Vishal K. Chuttani and Amit Gupta. Badminton: women's doubles: Aanchal Bharadwaj and Saroj Kumari beat Shaveta Vaid and Kavita Jamwal, quiz contest: team of Anshumali Gupta and Christopher Ronny stood first and team of Nikhil and Prashant Kaul finished second.

Ludhiana, January 24
Story telling competition was organised in the KG section of Kundan Vidva Mandir here today. The children took active part in the competition2.

Chavvi Sood of UKG- B and Smarth Guar of LKG- E got first prize in the English section. Kanav Kapoor of LKG- A and Aradhiya Bhatia of UKG- F bagged first prize in the Hindi category.

The children of LKG- D gave a presentation on Republic day. The children dressed up as freedom fighters.

Principal S.C. Saxena appreciated the efforts made by the children. Vice-principal Navita Pun spoke highly of the children and the teachers and the commendable efforts made by them. Ranjana Dhanda, in charge of the KG section, also spoke.

Ludhiana, January 24
A fast-track court has sentenced Raju of Ferozeshahpur, Behrich district, UP, to undergo seven years’ imprisonment on the charges of abducting and raping a minor girl of his landlord.

Delivering the verdict, Pritam Singh Dhanoa, presiding officer of the fast-track court, held that the prosecution had successfully proved the charges levelled against the accused. The judge also ordered the accused to pay fine of Rs 3,000.

The accused was booked under Sections 363 and 366, IPC, at the Model Town police station on November 11, 2003, following the statement of the victim’s father, Gurmeet Singh of Model Town here. Later he was also booked under Section 376, IPC, when the victim alleged that she was raped.

The complainant had stated to the police that her daughter aged about 16 years was missing since Novemeber 9 and one of their tenants, Raju, was also missing. It appears that he had abducted her daughter. The police had arrested the accused on November 15, 2003, from the local railway station and recovered the girl.

The victim girl had deposed in the court that the accused had forcibly taken her to Amritsar, where they stayed for two days. Thereafter, she was taken to Beas. She also alleged that under the threat of killing his brother, the accused raped her several times. When they were apprehended by the police at the local railway station, the accused was purchasing tickets for going to his native village in UP.

However, the accused pleaded not guilty and claimed false implication. He pleaded that on the alleged day of the incident, he had gone to Barabunki in Lucknow. On November 10, the girl had reached there. The very next day he took her back to Ludhiana for leaving her in her house. When he reached Ludhiana, he was apprehended by the police. He denied having taken the girl to Amritsar or Beas.

But convinced with the submissions of additional public prosecutor Ravinder Abrol and after appreciating the evidence on record, the court found the accused guilty and sentenced him. 

Ludhiana, January 24
The department of medical oncology of Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) organised a lecture on cancer at Guru Nanak Girls College here today. A large number of students and faculty members attended it.

Dr Bedi said, “Tobacco is a major cause of cancer, besides this, erratic food habits, fungal infection and smoking are related to cancers of the colon, breast and the prostate.”

He stressed on the need for early detection and screening of the cancer. The need of the hour was to educate people about the early warning signs of cancer like lump in any part of the body, cough, hoarseness of voice, difficulty in swallowing, poor appetite and weight loss, change in bowel and urinary habits, abnormal discharge or bleeding from anywhere in the body.

About 70 to 80 per cent of the cancers were being diagnosed in advanced stages (III or IV) which were usually incurable. Chemotherapy is given to shrink the cancer for performing the surgery.” Only 20 to 30 per cent of the cancer patients are diagnosed in early stages, unlike in western countries where most of the patients are diagnosed in stages I and II. Such patients are treated with combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Survival in early stages is usually more than 80 per cent whereas it is poorer in the later stage. Now, newer treatment like monoclonal antibodies, ant angiogenesis agents are being added to chemotherapy and have dramatically improved the chances of survival. Newer drugs have better efficacy and fewer side effects,” he pointed out.

Ludhiana, January 24
Local girl Manvir Kaur Gill gave a good account of herself to guide Punjab team to bag silver medal in the 53rd National Schools Basketball Championship held at Davangere in Karnataka, recently.

Manvir (13), a student of Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University campus, Ludhiana, started playing the game only five months back and instantly made her presence felt when she helped her zone team to emerge champion in the inter-zonal sports meet organised by the education department.

A trainee of the PAU coaching centre being run by the Punjab Sports Department, Manvir also played a pivot role in her school’s title winning performance in the district championship.

For her consistent performance, Manvir was selected to represent Punjab u-14 squad in the 53rd National Schools Basketball Tournament held in Karnataka. In this meet, Manvir was among the five playing members of the team.

Punjab recorded convincing victories over their opponents in which Manvir Kaur contribution was substantial. Punjab eves won six matches to reach final which they lost to Maharashtra.

Sanjeev Thapar, principal of the school congratulated Manvir and J.S. Bhandari, senior coach with the Punjab Sports Department, for bringing fame to the school.

Ludhiana, January 24
At least 44 employees of the municipal corporation zone-A office were issued show cause notices by the zonal commissioner for being absent from duty yesterday.

These employees were found absent by zonal commissioner A. Veerpal Singh when he visited a few offices between 9 a.m and 9.15 a.m.

The show cause notices were issued today and they were asked to file reply and answer what action should be taken against them.

Commissioner Vikas Partap had directed all zonal offices for conducting raids on office for ensuring discipline, Veerpal Singh said.