Ludhiana, February 5
The core committee of the municipal corporation today constituted another committee to finalise the city’s master plan following the directions of the High Court.

Chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda, senior deputy mayor Parveen Bansal, senior town planner Balkar Singh Brar and leader of the opposition in MC house Prem Mittal are on the committee.They will prepare a proposal for the master plan.

A number of areas are proposed to be placed in the commercial category by the members, who held a meeting today.

It was proposed that town planning schemes should be removed or amended and residential areas used for commercial reasons be included in the “commercial” category in the master plan.

These areas are Mohan Singh Nagar, New Shivpuri-I, New Shivpuri-II, Shingar cinema, Kalyan Nagar, Bajwa Nagar. Sunder Nagar, Kirpal Nagar, New Madhopuri, Madhopuri, New Kundanpuri, Dhobi Ghat, Haibowal -IV, Vishwakarma Road , Kot Mangal Singh, Radhan Swami Road in Dashmesh Nagar, from Sidhwan canal upto Vishawakarma chowk, Dholewal, Partap Nagar, Parbhat nagar, Guru Arjun Dev Nagar, Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar, Ram Nagar, Daba Road, Lohara Road, a part of Janta Nagar.

The other areas that were discussed at the meeting include Mohindra Colony, Samrala Chowk, Hargobind Nagar, Janakpuri Road, 33 foota Road, Sufian Road, Radha Swami Road, Mundian, Tibba Nagar, Sunder Nagar, Road from Arti Chowk to Circuit house road, mohalla Maharaja Nagar, Main Haibowal Road, Chander Nagar Road, Rajpura Road, Bahadurke Road, Jassian Road, Noorwala Road, Kakowal road, Rahon road part, Circular Road, Kashmir Nagar main road, Gaushala main road, Sekhewal road, Karabara road, GT Road from Sherpur to bypass road.

The authorities of the civic body, however, said this was not the final list as the committee would study every aspect in detail and the final plan would be taken to the general house of the MC for final approval.

The meeting was chaired by the mayor and attended by the commissioner, Vikas Partap. 

Ludhiana, February 5
Continuing with their protest against galloping steel prices, industry bodies held a candlelight march here today. Representatives of the industry said they would also participate in a major way in the BJP-Akali rally to Parliament on February 22 in New Delhi to mark their protest.

Undeterred by the minister of steel Ram Vilas Paswan's move to form a committee to monitor steel rates, the industry representatives said they would not budge until the entire hike of almost Rs 7,000 per metric tonne effected by the leading producers of steel in the country was withdrawn and at the same time a 15 per cent cess on export of semi-steel by large producers be imposed and and cut duty on import of scrap to zero.

"Arbitrary hikes by the five major producers of steel are ruining the industry. The union minister of steel Ram Vilas Paswan's move to form a five-member committee for monitoring steel price hike is insufficient. We want the entire hike to be rolled back. We will not stop our protest until government takes concrete measures like imposing cess on export and cutting duty on import of scrap. Export should be discouraged as it creates shortage for domestic users and on the other hand a duty on import makes situation tough for small scale manufacturers," said Varinder Kapoor, general secretary of the United Cycle and parts Manufacturers Association.

Industrialists said they were hopeful of a solution this time as the state government was extending its support.

MP Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, who visited industrialists on protest yesterday assured them that the matter would be taken up at the Centre. The industry's participation in the rally on February 22 is also indicative of the mutual support.

"The stir would not end until we get a conrete solution. Support from the state government has made us hopeful," said S.C. Ralhan, president, of Hand Tools Manufacturers Association.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 5
Finding three policemen of Humbran police station guilty of facilitating theft of timber on forest department land, the Ludhiana (Rural) police has suspended them.

ASI Harbhajan Singh and constables Malaggar Singh and Kashmira Singh were suspended for allegedly helping certain persons in the theft of timber on the forest department land. Action was taken on the recommendation of Paramjit Singh Goraya, DSP, Dehlon, who conducted an inquiry into the case.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP Ludhiana (Rural), said officials of forest department spotted the policemen helping some persons in felling three trees in Khaira bet area on January 20.

As the suspects deposited Rs 11,300 as penalty on directions of the forest department, no criminal case was registered against them.

“Normally such cases are closed after the losses borne by the department are made good by the suspects. We deputed DSP Goraya to conduct an inquiry as the image of the uniformed force was tarnished by the policemen,” said Bhullar.

He said the policemen had been assisting timber thieves for personal gains. “Though it could not be ascertained whether or not they took money from the thieves, it is obvious that they exploited their official position for helping friends and relatives. During a departmental inquiry, we will find out if there are more black sheep in our department.”

Former chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust Ashok Singh Garcha had also alleged that some policemen were hand in glove with timber thieves.

Ludhiana, Feburary 5
A fast-track court has sentenced Kuldip Singh and his father Bant Singh of Rurka village to undergo 10 years rigorous imprisonment in a dowry death case. The body of Harjinder Kaur was found hanging with ceiling fan in bedroom of Kuldip Singh just less than three months after the marriage.

Delivering the verdict, R L Ahuja, judge of fast-track court, held that the prosecution had succeded in bringing home the guilt of the accused beyond all shadow of reasonable doubt.

An FIR in this case was registered against the accused at Dehlon police station on November 7, 2003, following the complaint of Kuldip Singh of Lapran vilage. The complainant was brother of the deceased. Jagwinder Kaur, mother-in-law of the bride, was also booked by the police in this case. But during the trial she had expired.

The report of chemical examiner had suggested that the cause of death was due to hanging with ceiling fan and intake of poisonous substance.

It was submitted by the complainant that her yonger sister Harjinder Kaur was married to the accused August 15, 2003. They had given sufficient dowry at the time of marriage but failed to satisfy the greed of her in-laws family. It was alleged that a few days after the marriage, the in-laws family of her sister had started maltreating her. They were demanding a car in dowry.

This fact was told by her sister to him. He had tried to convince the husband and members of her sister's in-laws family that they were not in a position to give them car.

On November 6, 2003, he went to the house of her sister, following the receipt of a telephonic call from her that she was being harrased. He tried to sort out the matter. But on the very next day, they just got the dead body of her sister hanging with the ceiling fan.

But the defence counsel produced on record the photocopies of certain love letters allegedly written by the lady to her lover. But the court disagreed with defence version and held that neither the original letters were produced on record nor it was proved by the accused that the letters were actually written by the lady who had died, in accordance with law. 

Ludhiana, February 5
Two hundred units of blood were collected at a blood donation camp organised by the Blood Donors Council in collaboration with the department of transfusion medicine of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital at Rampura Phul yesterday.

People from all walks of life, including the Milk Producers Union, played a key role in donating blood themselves and motivating others towards the noble cause.

It was primarily due to active support of H.L. Bansal, president of the Blood Donors Council, and Dr Bishav Mohan, consultant cardiologist, that the voluntary blood donation programme had become a regular feature for the people in this region.

Lauding the initiative of the people for coming forward to donate blood, Dr Amarjit Kaur, professor and head, department of transfusion medicine at DMCH, said the blood collected at the camp would be thoroughly processed and screened to make it safe for transfusion. Further, with the aim of providing benefit to more and more patients in need of blood, different blood components like packed cells, platelets and plasma would be prepared to meet the specific needs of each recipient.

Ludhiana, February 5
The sale deed execution work at the sub- registrar's office came to a halt in the this morning when activists of the Property Dealers Association and advocates entered into an argument with the sub-registrar over the entry of documents and waiting list of sale deeds.

The situation took an ugly turn when some advocates and property dealers objected to the working of the sub-registrar and started abusing him over the issue.

This angered the sub-registrar who refused to execute more sale deeds for the day and walked out of his office. The residents, who had come from villages and other parts of the city, had to go back without getting their work done.

Mukesh Kumar complained to the Sarabha Nagar police. The police later booked Lucky Chopra, general secretary of the Property Dealers Association, on his complaint. He was booked for obstructing the work of the sub-registrar and threatening him in his office. A case under Sections 353, 186, 447, 506, IPC, was registered against him.

Earlier a delegation of advocates and property dealers met the deputy commissioner, Sumer Singh Gurjar, and complained against the sub-registrar. The delegation was led by District Bar Association president Paropkar Singh Ghuman, Bar Association, Mini Secretariat, president Rajinder Gupta, and office-bearer of the Property Dealers Association Kamal Chatley complained against the sub-registrar and the staff.

The meeting went on for more than one and a half hours but remained inconclusive. The DC remained non-committal on the issue and said that they should meet the higher authorities in Chandigarh to resolve the issue.

Ludhiana , February 5
Bikram Singh Majithia, minister for water supply and sanitation, information & public relations, science, technology, environment & non-conventional sources of energy said the state government as a part of its programme to harness the non-conventional energy resources had embarked upon a plan to augment more than 1500 MW electricity from different sectors of renewable energy, including small/micro hydel, biomass power projects, co-generation, waste to energy and solar thermal power generation projects.

While interacting with mediapersons at the residence of Charanjit Singh Atwal, deputy speaker, Lok Sabha, Sunday, Majithia said it was imperative for the Punjab government to exploit all sources of natural energy to come out of power crisis being faced by the state. He said he would seek the co-operation of the Union ministry for getting funds for these projects and also invite various companies to participate in this sector.

Emphasising the need for educating the public regarding energy conservation, he said PEDA was launching a special multimedia campaign.

Ludhiana, February 5
A one-year-old girl child Pallavi has been undergoing treatment for acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (blood cancer) in the paediatric ward of the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) here for the past two months. She has a hole in her abdomen due to which she was operated upon earlier.

Her father, Hargobind Singh, is working as an electrician in a private firm on a meagre salary of Rs 3,000. The family has already incurred a lot of expenditure on Pallavi's treatment and is hardly left with any more resources.

Keeping in view the inability of Pallavi's family to raise funds to clear the bills and to continue the treatment, the DMCH authorities have made an appeal to the kind-hearted people to come forward and donate generously to save the life of the child.

All those who wish to bring back a smile to Pallavi's face and come to the aid of her family could contact the office of medical superintendent (0161-4687504) or COSD Office (0161-4687508, 098155-45311-Vikram Bhanot) at DMCH. All donations should be made in favour of "Dayanand Medical College and Hospital" and "Treatment for Pallavi (C.R. No 2007-116677, admission No.40795)" written on the back of the cheque/DD or on the covering letter. 

Ludhiana, February 5
The agitating industrialists have decided to participate in the rally being organised by the SAD-BJP combine against the “anti-Punjab” policies of the Centre to express their resentment against the unprecedented rise in steel prices and failure of the UPA government to come to their rescue.

Stating this Avtar Singh, general secretary of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, Ludhiana, said today that they had decided to extend all cooperation to the SAD-BJP government as the state government had promised to take up their problems in the memorandum to be submitted to the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh on February 22.

The industrialists have started an agitation against the central government from yesterday to press for the acceptance of their demands.

The industrialists of this town are divided into groups having affiliation with the Congress and the SAD-BJP combine. The Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, headed by Inderjit Singh Pardhan and general secretary Avtar Singh, have their soft corner for Parkash Singh Badal and they are anti-Congress. Amarinder Singh during his tenure as the Chief Minister had cancelled his programme of addressing the industrialists at the last minute when the chamber had issued invitations to the local industrialists for the visit of the then Chief Minister.

Ludhiana, Feburary 5
RajMohani, mother of Justice Arvind Kumar Goel of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, died at DMC Hospital here early this morning following a heart attack.

She was cremated at the Civil Lines crematorium today. Justice Nawab Singh, Justice Pritam Pal, Justice Nirmal Yadav, District and Sessions Jugde G.K. Rai and former bar association presidents Balwinder Goel, K.R. Sikri were among those who attended the funeral and paid homage to the departed soul.

Ludhiana, February 5
Anaha, a jewellery brand, today launched 'Coldan', a new range of colourful kundan jewellery here.

Addressing a press conference, Karanvir Singh Gosal, CEO of the company, said this range would break the monotony of the routine white crystals or polki diamonds used in kundan jewellery.

"We are using intricately cut colourful kundan crystals and stones which give a rich traditional look and add a lot of beauty to jewellery. Natural gemstones that add colour to the pieces like amethyst, aventurine, citrine, aquamarine, tanzanite and garnets would be used."

He said the company would also give customers a choice to select their own colour and get designs according to their own requirement.

Simran Singh, director, design, Anaha, was also present. 

Ludhiana, February 5
Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, chief parliamentary secretary for technical education and industrial training, Punjab, has said the technical education system in the state will be revamped to make it relevant to the needs of the fast advancing technology in the industrial sector, so that the trained youth in the technical institutions can capture their share from the enormous job opportunities created at the global level.

Addressing students at a function after inaugurating a talent search contest at Govt Polytechnic for Women, Rishi Nagar, today, he said most courses, being taught to the students, had become irrelevant with the induction of the latest technology at all levels and the youth were finding it difficult to get the jobs in corporate sectors. Khalsa said now it was the right time to thoroughly review the technical training programme in consultation with corporate sectors, so that the youth could be given training as per the needs of the industry and service sector. He exhorted the students to acquire excellence in their respective vocations, so that they could compete with their counterparts from all over the world.

Chief parliamentary secretary said the state government had also decided to open at least one polytechnic or ITI in each block of the state, for which the survey had already been conducted. He said with a view to preparing the students for technical education, 10+1 and 10+2 classes were being started in all polytechnics and ITIs, where, they would be given quality education in maths, science and English subjects utilising, the available qualified staff and updated labs.

Appreciating the conduct of talent search contest, Khalsa said that such events were the most essential ingredient for channeling the energies of the youth. He said the role of teachers was of a model for the students and they should perform their duties of creating a healthy society by inculcating moral values, spirit of patriotism, sacrifices and service among the students and appealed the students to accord respect to the teachers. In the contest, competitions of folk songs, dance, skits, mono acting, fancy dress, choreography and gidha were conducted.

Prominent among others who were present on this occasion included Baljinder Singh, principal ITI, Darshan Arora, chairman Ludhiana Citizen Council, M P Singh, S A Khan and R P Chopra.

Mandi Gobindgarh, February 5
The training and placement cell of the local Punjab Institute of Management and Technology organised campus interviews for the final year MBA students yesterday.

Director, PIMT, Dr S.L. Bhardwaj, welcomed Vinod Sapra and Mohit Mehmi, ICFAI university personnels, from Panchkula.

ICFAI recruited students for different job profiles like executive development officers, administration executives for corporate sectors and executives, events.

The selection process was conducted on the basis of group discussion, presentations, written tests and interviews. According to officials, development officers, administration, executives for corporate sectors and executive events will get a package for Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs 3.10 lakh per annum respectively. The company shortlisted 32 students. In charge training and placement cell, PIMT, Amit Garg, Prof Meenakshi Seth and Prof Maninderjit Singh Khanna congratulated the students and wished them success for their future. 

Ludhiana, February 5
Bad weather and cold conditions failed to dampen the spirits of aspirants who turned out in large numbers to appear for the selection trials for the admission of players to the Sports Authority of India (SAI) training centre being run here at the multi- purspose sports complex, opposite Guru Nanak Stadium.

The trials receieved an overwhelming response as more than 250 sportspersons, including those from Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Haryana and Chandigarh besides Punjab, enrolled for the selection. Most of the aspirants are medal winners in the national-level tournaments.

During the next three days, players will be selected for the residential and non- residential schemes in the disciplines of athletics, handball, judo, volleyball and weightlifting for boys and in judo and volleyball for girls.

Expressing satisfaction over the turnout of players for the selection trials, SAI training centre, Ludhiana, in charge and the state coordinator Harbans Singh said players who had secured first three positions in the national and state-level competitions in the age groups of u-14 to u-19 years would be selected and provided facilities like boarding, lodging, coaching besides sports kits and competition exposure as per the guidelines of the SAI. The expert panel of the selection committee of regional northern centres of SAI have been engaged to conduct trials and monitor the potential of capable athletes in their respective discplines.

The panel includes D K Sharma from Bhiwani, H S Sandhu from Ludhiana and Jangi Ram from Sonepat (weightlifting), P C Thakur from Chandigarh and M M Malhan from Hisar (basketball), Shiv Bedi from Chandigarh (volleyball), Olympian Ranjit Singh from Anandpur Sahib (athletics), Kanta from Kurukshetra and Vikramjit Singh from Ropar (handball) and Sat Pal Rana (judo) from Jalandhar. On the first day, after the registeration of aspirants, certain tests were conducted to ascertain the players' speed, strength, endurance, flexibility and agility besides other qualities.