Ludhiana, February 23
While autorickshaw drivers are under the police scanner these days owing to their involvement in certain crime incidents, a group of such drivers left their work to rescue three missing children. The children, two sisters Roshni and Anju, along with a boy, Taheer, all aged between 4 and 7 had gone missing from Shivpuri after attending school. The autodrivers found them crying near Jalandhar bypass chowk at about 9 pm.

Displaying a perfect example of a good samaritan, the drivers Baljinder Singh and Harbhajan Singh along with Santokh Singh Mattu and Manoj Kumar Bunty, took the children in their shelter and enquired about their parents.

They took them to the Salem Tabri police station and called their union leader Madan Lal for taking up the matter with the police lest cops suspect them of wrong doing.

Additional SHO Darshan Singh said the parents of the missing children came after a wireless message was sent to all police station to report if there was any complaint of missing children.

The children were fed by the cops in the police station till 11 pm when Laljit, father of the two girls, and Parvez, father of the boy, came running after they learnt the children were found, "They said they were tired to their bones in search of the children with their mothers too needing medical attention over the loss."

The children said they too were initially roaming around after the school but could not find the way to their house when they wanted to return.

Ludhiana, Feburary 23
In a landmark move, the district and sessions Judge G K Rai has decided to send the judicial magistrate to local jails for the purpose of extending the judicial remand of undertrials.

Ludhiana Sessions Division will be the first to introduce such a concept of its own to minimise the scope of fleeing of undertrials during transit from jail to courts and then to back. This system will reduce heavy rush in courts and prove respite to the local police, who were finding it hard to guard the undertrials due to acute shortage of sufficient number of cops.

The Ludhiana Tribune had highlighted the need of taking preventive measure, keeping in view the rising incidents of fleeing of undertrials during transit from jail to courts, in these coloumns yesterday. It was reported that one such step could be introducing video-conferencing or deputing the magistrates to visit jails periodically to extend the judicial remand of undertrials.

The magistrates will start visiting Central Jail, Women jail and Borstal jail from March 7 to extend the judicial remand of undertrials against whom the chargesheet was not filed by the police. As per the orders issued today under the signatures of CJM Ludhiana, Rajinder Aggarwal, the remand work at jails would be attended in afternoons from 1.45 pm to 2.30 pm. The arrangements have been made till May, 2008.

The SSP Ludhiana, R K Jaiswal that it would be of great help for the local police. It would not only save our manpower but also minimise the risk of escaping of undertrials. The step was certainly praiseworthy, added Jaiswal.

The president of District Bar Association Parupkar Singh Ghumman hailed the initiative taken by the Judiciary to cope with the rising incidents of fleeing of undertrials. B K Goel, member Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana, former Bar Presidents K R Sikri, Hemant Kalia, Naval Kishore Chhiber have also hailed this decision.

Judicial magistrate K K Bansal will visit jails on March 7, JMIC Kuldeep Singh on March 14, JMIC Ranjan Khullar on March 24, JMIC K S Sullar on March 28, JMIC Vijay Kumar on April 7, JMIC Kawaljit Singh on April 15, JMIC Randhir Verma on April 21, JMIC Charanjit Arora on April 28, JMIC Jagdeep Sood on May 7, JMIC S S Jossan on May 14 and JMIC Amit Thind May 21, 2008.

Ludhiana, February 23
The International Institute of Fashion Design (INIFD) opened its two-day annual exhibition “Designer Tadka” on their premises here today. The exhibition was inaugurated by Ritu Kochhar, director of INIFD corporate, Chandigarh. She awarded the students and complimented them for their hard work and the aesthetic values they had put in their collections.

More than 1,000 articles and designer ideas related to fashion design, textile design, interior design were on display at the exhibition. About 300 students have been participating in the event. The stalls are named according to the nature of the collections, namely "urbane", "highway tavern", "tex-platter" and "apna Punjab" etc.

Besides, skill games stalls have been put up for the entertainment of students. Visitors to the exhibition were full of compliments for the budding designers of INIFD.

According to Arvind Gupta, centre head, INIFD, some of the students had already got orders for their collections. "The industry people feel that the designs are market viable", said Gupta.

Ludhiana, February 23
Punjab Agricultural Management & Extension Training Institute (PAMETI), Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) campus, organised a six-day national training programme on ‘Conjunctive Use of Surface and Ground Water Including Use of Brackish Water’ from February 18 that concluded today.

The programme was sponsored by the ministry of water resources, Government of India. It was held with the objective of providing training to extension officers of the line departments so as to train them to have technical know-how along with exposure in order to manage available water resources in the country.

Dr SPS Brar, director, PAMETI, in the concluding session told the participants that in more than half the state, underground water was marginal to unfit. With proper advice and management, water can be used for a long time without adversely affecting the soil.

To handle various technical sessions during the training programme, the resource persons had been called from PAU, GNIMT Ludhiana, Panchkula, Karnal, Meerut and New Delhi. An exposure visit to areas affected by the problem of water-logging in Muktsar district was also conducted, where trainees got a chance to observe the problem in reality. The training was attended by extension personnel including agricultural development officers, soil conservation officers and assistant engineers from various parts.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 23
Recognising their outstanding role in busting notorious gangs of smugglers and seizing massive quantities of drugs and narcotics, the Ludhiana (Rural) district police has decided to honour the in charge and members of the anti-narcotic cell of the district.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP, Ludhiana (Rural), said he had recommended felicitation of Amarjit Singh Khaira, in charge, and other members of his team who had nabbed over 50 members of notorious interstate gangs of smugglers during the past six months. As many as 39 cases had been registered under various sections of the NDPS Act against the accused since April 22, 2007. Besides 5.350 kg of opium and 5 kg of ganja, the cops had seized more than 73,018 kg of poppy husk and 32 gm of smack.

A large haul of scheduled drugs were also seized during joint raids by the district police and the drug inspector Thursday.

Ludhiana, February 23
Thomas Cook India and Travel Corporation of India today conducted a holiday carnival showcasing various travel and emerging destinations.

A roadshow organised on the occasion covered destinations like Cochin, Indore, Lucknow, Kanpur, Surat, Vishakapattanam, Coimbatore, Ludhiana, Nashik Nagpur, Chandigarh and Jaipur other than metros like Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.

Besides, there were discount offers on destinations.

Nalini Gupta, president and head, Thomas Cook India, said: “The number of Indian availing leisure travel has been on a rise for the last couple of years ." She said the company, through the carnival aimed to generate awareness on tourism destinations.

Ludhiana, February 23
Despite assurances, large steel producers have increased steel rates, rued the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU).

Inderjit Singh Pardhan, president of CICU, yesterday said that even after promises from the Prime Minister and the union minister of steel, an increase of Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 per metric tonne had taken place within the last few days again.

Ever since the marriage palaces were moved out of the cities, they have started dumping their refuse on the roadside.

The tree cover in front of the marriage palaces has been wiped out. Both sides of the road in their vicinity are littered with garbage and leftovers from the marriage functions.

Stray animals and birds rummage for food over these dumps, competing with beggars and rag pickers.

The stink coming from these dumps and smoke emitting from the garbage set on fire is unbearable.

Then there is this loud garish sound blaring from the music systems in the palaces, throwing all norms to wind. All this has made life hell for people living near them.

Will the concerned authorities wake up and step in, before it’s too late?

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 23
The Ludhiana (Rural) police has initiated probe into a case in which a youth of Raekot town and his accomplice had tried to create false evidence by staging a drama of his murder by the husband of a woman with whom he allegedly had a relationship.

Cops of the Raekot and Jagraon police had remained busy searching for the "body" of the youth who had left his blood-stained shirt and identity card near Akhara Bridge on the Abohar branch of Sirhind Canal, near here.

Gurmel Singh, alias Chand Singh, of Raekot town and his besides his mother Amarjit Kaur had allegedly staged a drama that the husband of Kulwant Kaur (assumed name) along with his accomplices had killed him and thrown his body in the canal near Akhara Bridge on Thursday evening.

“An anonymous caller (later identified as Gurmel Singh) informed the control room on Thursday evening that he had seen some persons attacking a youth and throwing his body in the canal near Akhara Bridge. As a blood-stained shirt and an identity card were lying at the spot identified by the caller, we immediately started investigating. But we became suspicious when the caller kept on ringing us but did not disclose his identify,” said SSP, Ludhiana (Rural), adding that Amarjit Kaur, mother of Gurmel Singh, had later accused Kulwant Kaur’s family of murdering his son.

Preliminary investigations by a team supervised by DSP, Raekot, revealed that Gurmel Singh had developed illicit relations with Kulwant Kaur and the duo had eloped for some days. They were suspected to have been living at some unknown place here.

Gurmel Singh had later left Kulwant Kaur at a religious place near Raekot town. Apprehending reaction by her in-laws, he in collusion with his mother enacted the drama of being "killed" by them and ultimately fell in the trap himself.

Though Amarjit Kaur has accused Kulwant’s husband and others of allegedly abducting and detaining her son, the police suspects that Gurnmel Singh is hiding at some place which is known to her. 

Ludhiana, February 23
Gupta Model High School celebrated its annual day at Surinder Auditorium here today. Vijay Rai Dhanda was the chief guest on the occasion. Aacharya Amit was the guest of honour.

The function started with lighting of the traditional lamp, followed by Saraswati vandana. Tiny tots of the school presented "Old Macdonald had a Form". The audience enjoyed the Rajsthani dance. Punjabi items 'Jaggo' was applauded by the audience.

The annual report of the school was presented by the principal, Dr Kulwinder Kaur Minhas.

Ludhiana, Feburary 23
In the quarterly Lok Adalat, held here today under the supervision of G K Rai, district and sessions judge, disputes involving more than Rs 16 crore were settled amicably.

Giving details, K S Cheema, civil judge, Senior Division, said in all 593 cases were taken up by different benches of the Lok Adalat. Out of these, 382 cases were settled through reconciliation.

Each bench was headed by a judge and assisted by two lawyers. They made efforts to persuade the parties to reach a compromise. More than 90 cheque-bounce cases and 32 civil suits were decided.

In a matrimonial dispute, the bench headed by additional sessions judge Gurbir Singh spent more than two hours to resolve the dispute between a couple, who were having a small baby. The woman had moved a petition seeking divorce from her husband. The couple was advised to meet on Sunday for interaction. The judge advised them to sink their differences, forgetting the mistakes of each other. Their case will come up for hearing before the same judge on Feburay 25.

The sessions judge, Rai, has appealed to the litigants to resolve their disputes through the Lok Adalats. He said once a dispute was settled in the Lok Adalat, it ends forever, as no party could file appeal against this settlement. 

Ludhiana, February 23
Hosts Ludhiana and Ropar registered comfortable victories in the respective matches to enter the semi finals of the 3rd Senior Punjab State Baseball Championship for Women being played at Guru Nanak Girls Khalsa College , Gujrakhan Campus, Model Town, here today. Ferozepur and Moga, too, romped home victors to complete the semi final slots.

In the first match, Ropar trounced Sangrur 11-1 with main contributions coming through Paramjit, Jaspreet Kaur and Baljeet Kaur who chipped in with two points each. Virpal Kaur, Amardeep, Prabhdeep, Hardeep Kaur and Ranjit Kaur scored one point each to complete the rout.

In other matches, Ludhiana drubbed Patiala 10-0, Ferozepur prevailed over Faridkot 8-6 while Moga got the better of Jalandhar 9-3 to secure berths in the last four stage.

Chandigarh, February 23
Dev Samaj College of Education for Women, Sector 36, hammered Dashmesh College of Education, Badal (Muktsar), 2-0 in the Panjab University Inter- College Badminton B-Division (women) Tournament being played at the PU gymnasium hall here yesterday.

For the winner, Tany beat Amanpreet 21-11, 21-6 in the singles event while in the doubles, the duo of Tany and Manjula got the better of Amanpreet and Meenakshi 21-6, 21-15.

In another match, GHGH College of Education, Sidhwan Khurd (Ludhiana), registered a 2-0 victory over BAM Khalsa College, Garhshankar (Hoshiarpur).

The team comprising Swati and Renu clinched victory in the doubles as the duo beat Gagndeep and Harpreet 21-14, 21-14 while in singles, Swati outclassed Harpreet 21-8, 15-21, 21-16.