Ludhiana, February 7
The fourth day of agitation by industrialists against the rising steel prices had industrialists pulling rickshaws in the city today. Associations of the industrialists also burnt effigies of union minister of steel Ram Vilas Paswan.

Representatives of the industry also started roping in support from other states like Gujarat on the matter and said they would intensify their stir if government failed to act. While assurances of getting the issue resolved poured in from various quarters, the Centre remained mum on the issue. Several industrialists pulled rickshaws near Vishwakarma Chowk this afternoon shouting slogans against the government. When questioned on the tactic, they said, "We want the government to know the fate of the industry if it does not take an action to come to our rescue."

"We have been assured by several politicians that the matter would be resolved soon but we are still waiting for the Central government to respond. The stir will continue till the price hike is withdrawn," said Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma, president of United cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association.

Among those who supported the industry was BJP state president Rajinder Bhandari who termed the industry's demands as "genuine" and said the matter would be taken up with the Centre soon. "We are supporting the industry on the issue of steel prices as such a steep hike is harming industrial units. Their demands are genuine and we will take it up with the Centre soon," Bhandari said here.

The dharna by industry bodies recorded a heavy turnout. "With each passing day more people are joining us. We are also roping in industries from other states like Gujrat to protest against this issue," said Vishwakarma.

Among those who participated in the relay fast were Gurpargat Singh Kahlon and Surinder Singh from Motor parts Association.

Jagraon, February 7
One person was charred to death and other five injured in the fire which broke today in the early hours of the morning in a cotton factory at Kothe Fatehdin, 2 km from here. The fire tenders were summoned from Moga and Ludhiana and it took about three hours to extinguish the fire.

According to information, about 12 workers of Mahadev Agro Industries were sleeping in the godown of the factory and others were working when the fire broke and spread over a big area in which Jora Singh, 65, of Sherewal burnt alive whereas his son Sukha, Nirmal Singh of Jalal, Kuldip Singh of Sherewal, Channi Heeran and Sandeep got burn injuries.

Sandip and Channi were shifted to Kalyani Hospital whereas the other three to the civil hospital. They are out of danger. The SHO, along with others, reached the spot. According to the partner of the factory, it was due to short-circuit and the loss is estimated Rs 12 lakh.

Ludhiana, February 7
With the cold wave continuing to lash the region, and the power situation going from bad to worse, life has been thrown out of gear. The mixed feeders in the urban areas are being subject to a daily power cut ranging from three to five hours whereas the power supply scenario in rural areas is still worst with the cut lasting from anything like 10 to 12 hours every day.

Even though officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) continue to claim that the gap between demand and supply of power was just about 100 lakh units, the persisting cold weather had pushed up the demand to around 1,100 lakh units daily as against total availability of 800 lakh units in the state. In addition to increased demand of the domestic sector in Punjab, the farm operations also require more power to irrigate the crops to save them from frost.

That the people of the state have a still harsher summer ahead when the daily requirement of power in the state shoots up to some 1,700 lakh units is beyond any doubt because from its own resources, the PSEB would not be able to add more than 200 lakh units from hydel power projects and second phase of Lehra Mohabbat project which is expected to become operational in March or April 2008.

Ironically, the PSEB management seems to be oblivious to the precarious power situation as, till now, no steps have apparently been taken to sign advance agreements with power surplus states to purchase power during summers. Highly placed sources in the PSEB confirmed that except for initial negotiations with states like Orissa, West Bengal, Sikkim, Jharkhand, Jammu and Kashmir, nothing concrete had been done to procure power during summer season.

According to established norms, the agreements for purchase of power have to be concluded two to three months in advance, and if the PSEB authorities did not come out of their slumber soon, the board will not be in a position to meet the increased demand for power in peak season. But, in any case as things stand now, no relief from the extended power cuts seems to be in sight in the immediate future.

Ludhiana, February 7
Routine work in all the circle, divisional and subdivisional offices of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) here came to a complete standstill as the technical and a part of clerical workers observed a day-long strike in response to a call given by the Joint Forum of PSEB Unions. The cash counters all over the city remained closed and fault-repair service was also affected.

Senior PSEB officials, however, claimed that engineers and the junior engineers remained present on duty and power supply was maintained all through the day.

Divisional offices of the PSEB in Model Town, Sunder Nagar, Civil Lines, Aggar Nagar, CMC and Janata Nagar wore a deserted look with the employees holding rallies and dharnas. Consumers, with no advance intimation of the strike by the employees, were seen moving from one office to the other with no one to listen to them. Many consumers, who had come to the cash counters to pay their energy bills, had to return disappointed at several places.

According to activists of PSEB Employees Federation (AITUC) and Technical Services Union (TSU), gate rallies were organised at all divisional offices against the policies of privatisation and outsourcing in the PSEB.

The protesting employees demanded that Electricity Act 2003 be scrapped, all vacant posts be filled up, new recruitment on the basis of work load be revived, compassionate employment be provided to eligible family members of employees, victimisation of employees be put to an end and contractual working system be done away with.

Kewal Singh Banwait, vice-president of PSEB Employees Federation, and Pawan Kumar, circle secretary, TSU, said strike was almost complete and protest rallies were organised at divisional and subdivisional offices of PSEB in other towns and rural areas of the district as well.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 7
Activists of the Ahmedgarh Surakhsha Manch called off the relay fast strike that was started six days ago to impress upon the owners of lone gas agency at the local town in order to improve supplies to consumers. The decision to call off the strike was taken after Jaipal Singh, owner of the agency, agreed to provide extra facilities at the agency office besides improving home delivery service.

Ajay Malhotra, president of the manch, claimed that the action had been taken in public interest and no ulterior motive was involved in it.

The activists of the manch had started the strike accusing the owners of the agency of violating norms during supply of refills. Jaipal Singh, owner of the agency, had refuted charges leveled against him and his staff. He assured that more facilities would be provided to consumers visiting agency office. 

Ludhiana, February 7
First few years of child’s life are crucial. During this period, they learn about themselves and the world around them. But for a disabled child, the experience of growing and learning can be very painful and frustrating. It becomes more painful when the disabled child comes from an environment where survival was an everyday affair. Coming from deprived families, their disability gets compounded further by malnutrition and parental ignorance.

A recent study “Assessment of family support to rural-disabled children”, conduced by Yadwinder Kaur, department of human development and sociology, College of Home Science, Punjab Agricultural University, under the guidance of Dr I.J.S. Jaswal reveals that physically-challenged child needs extra time for his or her care. But, when their needs are not addressed, the care gets affected which ultimately led to irritated behaviour of family members towards such a child.

The study was conducted in rural areas of Ludhiana and Sangrur districts. A large number of families having children with either of four abilities like mental retardation, physical disability or speech and hearing challenged were taken.

It was found that constant psychological stress, negative effect on siblings, misunderstanding within the family and economic burden were significant factors associated with the families of disable children. Presence of disable child hindered family’s opportunities for social interactions. The degree of disability affected the care provided to the disable child. In 64 per cent of cases, these special children were primarily taken care by their mothers alone. 82 per cent of the families did not take their disable child along with them to social functions.

Siblings are the first companions but the relationship was different when one of the siblings was disabled. Siblings reported that they were the target of frustration of their parents, which was due to disable child.

Jagraon, February 7
Chamkaur Singh (55), a tube well No.6 watchman at Hira Bagh, died after being electrocuted yesterday. He was on night duty. When Karam Chand came to start the tube well motor at 5 a.m, he found smoke coming out from the room attached to it. There he found the charred body of the watchman. The body was handed over to Chamkaur’s relatives after the postmortem at the local civil hospital. A case has been registered.

One booked: Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassa of Sudhar, has been booked under Sections 325 and 323 of the IPC has been registered on the behest of Rajinder Singh of his village. Jasminder Singh used foul language while standing in front of the complainant’s house. When Rajinder objected, he was assaulted.

Arms, cash stolen: A few persons entered Ranjit Singh’s house at Dholkot and stole .32 inter-Webley No.B 77907 revolver worth Rs 2.25 lakh and cash worth Rs 25, 000 from there. The Dehlon police has registered a case.

booked: Swaranjit Singh of Dhoolkot and a few others have been booked under Sections 325,323 and 148 of the IPC for allegedly felling trees from the land belonging to Gurpreet Singh of Khera. When Gurpreet objected, he was assaulted with sticks. The incident took place on Jan 18.

Ludhiana, February 7
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) director of extension education, Dr N.S. Malhi, said today that a two-day kisan mela would be organised on the university campus. The theme of the mela would be “save environment, save Punjab.” This was decided in a meeting to finalize the preparations for the kisan melas to be organised at Ludhiana, Bathinda, Ballowal Saunkhri, Rauni (Patiala) and Gurdaspur.

The mela would be held on March 13 and 14. Kisan mela will also be organised at the regional research stations of the university at Bathinda on March 5, Ballowal Saunkhri on March 11, Rauni (Patiala) on March 18 and Gurdaspur on March 25.

Various activities like exhibitions and plots for technology demonstration, sale of plants, seeds and farm literature, interactive sessions with experts, stalls of different PAU departments, agro-industrial exhibitions will be organised for the benefit of farmers.

Ludhiana, February 7
An inter-house declamation contest was organised for the middle section of Kundan Vidya Mandir (City) here today. The students spoke on topics like “As you sow so shall you reap”, “self-discipline” and “failures are the reap to success.”

Headmistress Namita Raj Singh applauded students. Results: English declamation: Richi Sharma Ist; Richa Sethi 2nd; Devanshu Malhotra 3rd; and the consolation prize was won by Vidhi Gumber.

Hindi declamation: Sophia Arora Ist; Sughandha Mahajan 2nd, Himanshu Jain 3rd; and the consolation prize was won by Charu Jindal. House-wise results: Gandhi House Ist; Nehru House 2nd and Tagore House 3rd.

Workshop: A two-day workshop on “Inclusive Education” strongly endorsed by CBSE curriculum for children with disabilities was organized at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, here today. The workshop was organised in collaboration with Ashirwad (North India Cerebral palsy association) with a view to promote inclusive and child-friendly approach for educating disabled children.

Seema Handa, director, Eklavya School, Jalandhar, Pallavi Khanna, consultant psychological counsellor, Patel Hospital, Jalandhar, Anita Sachdev, special educator, Delhi Police Public School, New Delhi, along with Dr Neelam Sodhi, gynecologist, GTB Hospital, Ludhiana, were the resource persons. At least 60 teachers from elite schools of Punjab attended the workshop. The programme was formally inaugurated by ceremonial lighting of the lamp followed by welcome address.

With a view to provide appropriate responses to the broad spectrum in both formal and non-formal educational setting, the resource persons advocated for changes and modifications in content, approaches, structure, policies and strategies to transform the education system so it can provide quality education to all learners.

The main objective of the workshop was to share experiences of inclusive education practices in the schools and to develop recommendations on how to further promote it within curriculum framework. Participants shared innovative approaches, resources and leant from experiences and innovative movie clippings on a few issues such as hearing impairment, visual impairment, autism and cerebral palsy.

School exhibition: The city will host the 4th India and International Premier School Exhibition (IIPSE) from February 9 to 10 at Majestic Park Plaza. The exhibition is being organized by AFAIRS, India.

The 4th edition of IIPSE will showcase numerous schools from across India, including the day, residential, primary, middle and secondary- level schools with different board affiliations. Schools from Dehra Dun, New Delhi, Mumbai, Ambala and schools from across Punjab are taking part in the exhibition.

The IIPSE will double up as a forum for parents to clear doubts about parenting and schooling and give them an opportunity to be counseled by experts free of cost.

Renowned psychiatrist and child psychotherapist Dr Vinod Goyal took part in the exhibition. Besides this there is also a presentation for principal, school heads and management trustees by the University of Cambridge International Examination, UK on CIE and your school.

Workshop at BVM: Students’ empowerment workshop was organized at Bharatiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Udham Singh Nagar, here today.

The workshop was conducted by Gaurav Garg and Garima Jain from Shree Atam Vallabh Jain College. Speaking on the occasion, Garg said one should take right decision. They should have a goal to move forward and opt for the career which they like.

They should evaluate their strength and weaknesses and identify the subject and activities which they enjoy. They should gather relevant information regarding their goal from career councellors.

It is important that students themselves decide their career options. The students were later apprised of a few courses offered by the college. Garima gave a detailed presentation regarding career option in fashion technology.

A seminar based on the technique of acupressure was organized on the premises of Bharatiya Vidya Mandir, Kitchlu Nagar, here today.

Raman Kumar was the resource person. While dwelling on his views, he told students and staff about a few central points in the hand and feet of a person and how by pressuring these points a person can come out of the mental and physical problem.

We should use less of pain killers and tablets to avoid serious diseases in the long run and put more stress on the natural therapy for treating such problems, he added.

Ludhiana, February 7
As if the hospitalisation of sub-registrar, Mukesh Kumar, after a controversy erupted with advocates and property dealers, was not enough, a number of local advocates have demanded action against him for allegedly misbehaving with them.

Mukesh Kumar, a tehsildar, was rewarded for his honesty by the Chief Minister himself and posted as sub-registrar, Ludhiana, an office that makes crores for the state exchequer every month owing to skyrocketing prices of land.

He was hospitalised in the Intensive Cardiac Care Unit yesterday after he complained of discomfort while working in his office. Already a heart patient, Mukesh was diagnosed with stress reaction. His family had stated that he was paying a price for his honesty as he had angered affluent and influential people of the city by not toeing their line.

Mukesh had an argument with some advocates and property dealers over some documents pertaining to sale of a property on Tuesday. He had walked out of the office. He had applied for leave to the deputy commissioner who had declined it.

He was convalescing at a hospital today when the advocates, led by David Gill, submitted a complaint with the president of the district bar association, deputy commissioner, Chief Minister, Punjab, and Punjab and Haryana High Court Chief Justice demanding action against him.

In the complaint, signed by a number of advocates, Gill said Mukesh had banned their entry in the office. He had even thrown documents at their face when he had refused to execute a sale deed.

The lawyers have now demanded strict action against the sub-registrar for his alleged misconduct and misbehaviour.

Highly placed sources said Mukesh had not banned the entry of anybody in the office. It was just that he had refused to execute a sale deed questioning the accuracy of the documents.

Meanwhile, the DC assigned naib tehsildar Joginder Singh to work as acting sub- registrar in the absence of Mukesh Kumar.

Ludhiana, February 7
Camp on female foeticide was oganised at Government Girls Senior Secondary, Katani Kalan; here today.Sahnewal senior medical officer K.L. Kapoor was the chief guest.

Kapoor expressed concern over the rise in female foeticide cases in the state. He encouraged the student to root out the problem which is plaguing the state. Student performed skits and sang a few songs for discouraging it.

Kulpreet Singh, NSS programme officer, while addressing the students said the female foeticide should be discouraged in order to restore a balance between the sexes. Rajinder Singh, school principal, thanked the guest.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 7
Mangewal village team emerged winners in the 42-kg category kabbadi matches organised on the opening day of the three-day rural sports fair at Kanganwal village near here today. Chonda village was the runner up.

Abdul Gaffar, former minister, inaugurated the event and Sunit Hind was the chief guest.

Kuldeep Singh, president of the Kanganwal Sports Club, said as many as 200 players and athletes had reported for participation in various events to be held during the fair. Eighteen teams participated in 42-kg category of the kabaddi tournament. Teams of Nothoheri, Baba Sidh Jhaner and Government High School Dhaler had reached in semifinals in 47 kg category after defeating their rival teams.

Addressing the inaugural function, Abdul Gaffar called upon the office-bearers of social and political organisations to impress upon youth of their areas to adopt sports as a lifestyle and shun use of drugs and narcotics.

Appreciating the role of village sports clubs, Gaffar claimed that these organisations had played a significant role in creating awareness about hazardous affects of addiction.