Ludhiana, March 21
The death of two youths after falling from elevated road last evening has once again brought to the centrestage the death knell that the road continues to be despite the city having spent Rs 55 crore on the road. Two youths, who were going on a bike, could not anticipate the turn on the road near B.L. Kapoor memorial hospital and banged into the wall and fell from over the road and died on the spot.

This is not for the first time that such an incident had taken place on this road. Many motorcycle riders have died in such incidents in the past. While nothing has been done to stop such incidents as many political leaders have demanded a high railing on this part of the road. Residents say that the accident victims die because of falling from over the road. Otherwise they could be saved.

Virinder Bhakoo of the Public Cause had raised this point earlier also that the road was not made of good material and was slippery.

He said the commissioner had promised to raise the railing on that part of the road but even after a year nothing was done. ‘‘Innocent people are losing their lives and the administration is sleeping, ’’ said Bhakoo.

‘‘Had they provided a strong iron grill near the spot, if at all some people collided with the wall they would not have fallen from over the bridge. They would have only suffered injuries’’, said Bhakoo.

He added that the situation worsened on a rainy day as road turned more slippery. Shopkeepers of the Bhadaur House market today staged a protest against the elevated road.

President of association Varinder Bhumbak said they had demanded that a high railing should be put on the road. He said they were writing to the mayor and commissioner about their demands.

Meanwhile, the MC functionaries claim that the accidents took place due to overspeeding. They said there was nothing wrong with the design of elevated road but the commuters did not follow the speed limit of 40 km per hour on the road.

Ludhiana, March 21
Colours were splashed in city streets as people celebrated Holi with great fervour.

However, thanks to the confusion on date for celebrating Holi as the holiday in many departments being declared on Saturday, people are all set to continue with their celebrations on Saturday as well.

It was double delight for city youngsters as they have decided to celebrate the occasion as chhoti Holi and continue till tomorrow.

While, the boys were on a riding spree today, the girls preferred to stay at home. Hundreds of boys marched though the city roads, riding on various vehicles, throwing colours at every one who came in their way.

The police remained on their toes and installed barricades at various key locations in the city.

The Sarabha Nagar market, considered to be the hot spot for the city Holi miscreants was under siege by the police as all entry and exit points leading to the market were blocked.

One of the police officers on duty told The Tribune that the Sarabha Nagar market had been notorious for all such activities and to prevent any untoward incidents, temporary barricade had been installed in the market for two days as some people had decided to celebrate Holi today and tomorrow.

"We are all set to play Holi tomorrow as well it was choti Holi. We will make sure no one pass through our street without getting drenched, "said a group of girls at Government College.

Ludhiana, March 21
The Ralway Protection Forces (RPF) has tightened the security at several key location of the Railway Stations in the wake of the recent threat received from the Babbar Khalsa International to blast several railway stations in the state on the occasion of Holi. According to the reliable source in the RPF, a threat letter has been received by the station superintendent, Kapurthala, a couple of days ago.

According to the letter issued by Daljit Singh, an area commander of the Babbar Khalsa International threatened to blast the Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Faridkot and Bathinda railway stations on March 22. However, the letter has not mentioned the Ludhiana Railway Station but still the security has been beefed up by the RPF.

The tightening of security was also significant from the fact that the city has just revived from the scare of Shingar bomb blast took place last year. Further, the migrant population is always been the soft target for such terror outfits.

Kulwant Singh, inspector, Railway protection Force, said the RPF was keeping a strict vigil at crowded places in the station. Railway personnel had been deployed in the booking office as well to check the suspicious movement.

Phillaur, March 21
An impressive march past and investiture ceremony accompanied with an equally telling display of synchronised physical skills marked the passing out parade of Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Training Academy here today.

As many as 2,345 trainees of different ranks from Bhutan, the Maldives, Chandigarh and Special Security Bureau completed their courses. In addition, more than 1,524 police personnel of different ranks from the Punjab Police completed short-term and medium-term professional courses.

Addressing the passing out parade, R.S.Gill, the director-general police-cum-director of PPA, said the academy had a rare distinction of being the first police training institute in the Asia which was imparting the instructions of MA, M Phil and Ph.D in the police administration.

Gill highlighted the problem of staff shortage in the academy and need for infrastructural upgradation. Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, in his speech said necessary action would be taken on all issues brought to his notice at the earliest.

Yeshay T Phuntso of Bhutan, who commanded the parade, won the medals for the best all round cadet and also for the best cadet in outdoor activity.

Choki Phuntso, also from Bhutan, was adjudged the second best cadet while Gagandeep Singh won the prize for the best cadet in indoor activity category.

In the category of SIs and ASIs, Sukhchain Singh was adjudged the best all rounder while the second place was bagged by Manjit Singh. Sukhchain Singh also won the prize for the best in indoor activity while Devinder Parkash was first in outdoor.

Devinder Pal was adjudged the best cadet in the ladies basic recruit course for the best all rounder and best in indoor activity.

Pardeep Kaur was the second all rounder while Kiran Kumari was first in the outdoor activity.

The second part of today's ceremony included myriad skills on display, including pipe band, dog show, mob control exercise, Maldivian dance, dare devils on motor cycle, tent pegging, shooting and malkham(a dare devil show of ancient gymnastics form). A bhangra in the end aptly wrapped the day's proceedings.

Ludhiana, March 21
Each day is a fresh struggle for more than 2.5 lakh labourers in the unorganised segment here who seek employment daily, work at tea stalls, shops, as household helps and with tiny industrial units.

Uncertainty stares them in the face as many of them wait for employment every morning near places like Aarti Chowk, Vishwakarma Chowk, Partap Chowk, Gill Chowk and on Hambran Road.

With no assurance of employment or a minimum wage, uncertainty when they suffer health problems, no social security system in place for them, these workers are yet to find a place in the priority list of the government.

"Only a month ago when my son had fever, I was unable to buy medicine for him. It was very tough as the income he gets from working at a tea stall also stopped coming. Whether my family will get two square meals a day is what bothers me every day. Every morning I look for work and pray that nothing goes wrong with me because it would destroy my family," said Ram Bharose, an unskilled labourer.

People looking for workers approach these labourers at the common spots they gather. While an unskilled worker manages Rs 100-120 a day, the skilled ones in construction can get double the amount.

"But we do not get work every day. There are days when one has to go without work, which is not rare," Shambhu Lal, another labourer said.

Apart from those who get employment daily, there are others who work at tea stalls, small shops and even small industrial units that do not register them. For all these workers, the pay they get is based on the work they put in every day.

"Our owner does not pay us for days when it is a holiday or when we fall sick. I work with a tiny textile unit but all I manage to make is Rs 1,500-Rs 2,000 a month, which is not sufficient to manage my family," said Krishan, another worker.

Workers unions that focus largely on the organised segment have a couple of labourers from the unorganised segment too. Being a part of a union gives them some support and they are also more aware. However, the fact that the number of those who are members of such unions is meagre and besides the unions, too, cannot solve their problems, is a disadvantage.

"We do have members from the unorganised segment but they are very few. Their problems are unresolved so far. We have urged the government to make their cards that help them getting their ration cards and voter ID cards made, provide them ESI, minimum wage and social security benefits. However, nothing concrete has happened in the direction so far," said Raghunath Singh, general secretary, Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU).

The complainants then reported the matter to the Vigilance Bureau. A Vigilance team under the leadership of a DSP caught the ASI red-handed accepting the bribe from the complainants.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 21
The infamous Chinkoian double murder case of women took a new turn when Laddi of Nathumajra, a nephew of the deceased and great-grandson of former MLA late Chanda Singh, admitted to having hired the killers.

While Sajjan Paswan of Sajjanpura (Darbangha) in Bihar, one of the contract killers, was arrested last week, others identified as Ramu and Nonu of the same village are still at large.

Bhupinder Kaur (75) and Amar Kaur (65) lived with their brother Teja Singh at Chinkoian village near here and were allegedly killed by their servant Ramu and his accomplice on the night of February 15.

Though earlier it seemed that the migrant labourers had murdered the women to loot cash and valuables, police investigations revealed that Laddi had got them killed in order to grab massive property.

Investigation revealed that nephews of the victims, Laddi and Lali, had stayed with them for some days before the fateful night. Teja Singh and Laddi had gone to Nathumajra village while Lali, who is mentally unstable, was alone with the women on the fateful night.

Ramu, who had accepted a supari worth Rs 50,000, hatched a conspiracy with Sajjan and Nonu, who worked at a rice sheller in Malerkotla, to rob his employers after killing them. He called the duo on the day of the crime and kept them in his room.

The killers had overpowered Amar Kaur and strangled her when she was tying a buffalo to a peg. They then strangled Bhinder Kaur and decamped with cash and jewellery worth lakhs. As the victims and their brother Teja Singh were all unmarried, children of their sister (married at Nathumajra) were legal heirs to their property.

Having failed to make the sisters transfer their property in his name Laddi conspired to get them murdered. But investigations by a team led by a DSP exposed his involvement in the crime.

Raikot, March 21
The police has booked eight persons under Sections 452, 323, 341, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC for allegedly assaulting and threatening to kill Parminder Singh Jattpuri, reporter of an English daily two days ago.

Sandeep Kumar and Vinod Kumar has been arrested and sent in judicial remand. According to Jattpuri, the accused had assaulted him after entering his house forcibly on the night of Wednesday. The suspects has intercepted and chased Jattpuri when he was returning home. He received injuries on the chest and face.

Investigations revealed that the suspects had developed enmity with Jattpuri over issue of allegations of purchasing stolen goods, including iron bars.

"In fact I had seen a person selling stolen iron bars at their shop; they threatened me of dire consequences in case I published the matter in paper or informed the police. It was on Wednesday night that Sandeep Kumar, Vinod Kumar and Roshan Lal, accompanied with five other persons assaulted me after entering my house forcibly," Jattpuri told the police.

Narinder Pal Ruby, DSP, told Ludhiana Tribune that he had directed SHO Gurdial Singh to verify allegations leveled by Jattpuri.

Ludhiana, March 21
After robust growth in woollen business due to prolonged winter this time, yarn traders from various parts of the country have already begun making a beeline to hosiery manufacturers from Ludhiana, expecting huge business.

The woollen hub of the country consumes 6 to 7 million kg of yarn annually for manufacturing woollen wear and shawls, which is a significant share in total consumption in the country.

Hosiery manufacturers, who termed the winter as the best in the last couple of years and high growth in sales cleared most of their stocks. They are keen on introducing innovations in the fresh material that is manufactured this year.

As these manufacturers have started working on their product development for the next season, yarn traders from across the country are pinning hopes for obtaining good orders from them.

“We are offering good quality yarn from the Australian marino wool. As Ludhiana is the hub of manufacturing, we are expecting to do good business here,” said Ravi Malik from Modern Woollens of Bhilwara, that showcased its yarn here today.

High quality yarn that includes yarn from marino wool, acrylic and several other innovative blends are on offer.

“After clearing most of their stocks, manufacturers of woollens and shawls are keen on getting the latest and best material available,” said S.K. Chaudhry of Wool mark, which held an expo by yarn traders.

Ludhiana, March 21
A large number of small and medium enterprises located in residential areas are unable to avail the benefit from Punjab State Electricity Board’s (PSEB) voluntary disclosure scheme.

About 8,000 to 10,000 units, located in Shimlapuri, Janta Nagar, Partap Ngar, Vishwakarma Colony and Dasmesh Nagar, have been told to obtain no-objection certificates (NoCs) before availing benefits under the scheme.

With the last date for availing the benefits under the scheme nearing (March 31) the units now want it to be further extended by three months. Under this scheme, a unit can disclose the extra load being used by it and save itself from penalties in case the electricity board finds any fault. But for the PSEB, it means more inflow of revenue.

“Over 80 per cent of the city’s small and medium enterprises are located in the residential areas. All these units have failed to avail the benefits under the scheme as they are required to furnish NoCs from the pollution control board or the municipal corporation. Hence, the scheme is of no use to the units until a way out is devised, said Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma of Vishwakarma Industries.

Engineering and cycle parts industries have urged the government to extend the last date so that these could avail benefits under the scheme. Meanwhile, industry representatives have also urged the Chief Minister to extend the last date for submitting C forms with annual 
statements.

Ludhiana, March 21
Experts in water resources management at Punjab Agricultural University have underlined an emergent need to ensure a postponement in the early sowing pattern of paddy, the biggest water drawer from underground, to wrest the fast-depleting reserves of water.

The water table which fell at an average of approximately five centimetres per year in 1973 has accumulated to a figure of more than 10 metres in 2007.

PAU under its “Niche Area of Excellence Project of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR)”, during the recently concluded Kisan Mela, has asked farmers to switch over to the PAU 201 variety over the existing large scale use of PUSA-44 variety which is cultivated for early yield. The PUSA-44 variety was being planted around mid-May against the normal cropping requirements of early July.

The university has worked out a formula of shifting the plantation time by 15 days in the coming three years to save on the water reserves front.

Prof Gurdev Singh Hira, a former additional director of research at PAU, said from the past more than a decade, the paddy plantation started as early as second week of May which meant a huge burden on the underground water reserves, before the normal monsoon began.

This also meant a huge burden on the farmers in upgrading their infrastructure costs each year. During the last two years, there has been a general shift of the paddy plantation to nearly June 10 which has saw recorded a slight improvement in the falling water tables from approximately 82 cms per year to 65 cm.

Experts feel that the figures of falling ground water, recorded by the Ground Water Cell of the Punjab State Directorate of Agriculture are a clear warning for disastrous repercussions on the state agriculture in the future in case immediate steps were not taken.

“The farmers might find it very difficult to spend on the water digging infrastructure. The sinking wells mean deeper bores, more horsepower motors and naturally greater use of electricity. It can be estimated that the infrastructure cost has seen an increase of at least four times during the last 15 years”, Professor Hira said.

The proposed plantation schedule has asked the farmers to begin paddy plantation by June 15. They have been asked to shift the schedule by five days each in the coming few years to get it back to July 1.

It is also felt that the state government needs to interfere in checking the early paddy plantation by issuing instructions to farmers and even conducting surprise checking.

“The agriculture university recommendations mean little in case the state did not comprehend the need of the hour and plan for the future of agriculture in the future”, Professor Hira added.

Ludhiana, March 21
A two-day training course on precision farming for the scientists of Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) functioning in different parts of Punjab was organised in the university under the aegis of the Directorate of Extension Education here yesterday.

While inaugurating the training course, Dr N.S. Malhi, director of extension education, highlighted the importance of precision farming in intensive cropping.

Emerging farm machinery like laser leveller would play a leading role in coming times, which would improve efficiency of applied water and nutrients and increase profitability of farmers as well as save environment, he said.

The use of tensiometer will help in timely and need-based application of irrigation water while that of leaf colour chart will rationalise application of nitrogen through urea.

Dr Malhi exhorted the participants to update their knowledge by interacting with experts and clearing their doubts for serving the farmers better.

He appreciated that about 20 field workers of PAU were provided tips to deal with the rodent menace. Dr Sehgal said losses in crops ranged from 1.7 per cent in wheat to 13.8 per cent in sugarcane.

Ludhiana, March 21
Wylie Memorial High School in association with Hope, an animal welfare society, and Darpan, school for autistic children, celebrated compassion day on the school premises yesterday.

Wylie students interacted with those from Darpan and played with animals brought by Hope. A painting competition was also organised in which children from both schools took part.

Ludhiana, March 21
Members of the Punjab Networking for Positive People (PNPP) took out an awareness rally in the district here today.

The rally, which started from Sarabha Nagar, passed through Jodhewal Basti, Mattewalra, Chaunta, Rahima Bad, Machiwara, Samrala, Tanday and Nehlo before culminating at Mondia Kalan village.

The rally was flagged off by Kartar Kaur, a 90-year-old woman. PNPP president Jagjit Singh Mann expressed concern over the death of AIDS and HIV patients and urged the government to rehabilitate those orphaned.

The rally was attended by Mehar Singh, Amarjit Kaur, Sukhwinder Kaur, Surinder Kumar, Dr Manjit Singh, Maninder.

Ludhiana, March 21
More than 5,000 children in the district are autistic. However, only 60 per cent out these have access to treatment while majority of people are still engaged in black magic and other such measures to find cure of autism, said Niranjan Kumar, a speech therapist.

Experts could not find any reason behind autism, but the figures suggested that one out of every 130 children were autistic, he added.

Niranjan Kumar, currently associated with Darpan, a school for autistic children, organised an interaction between the students of Wylie Memorial School and autistic children on the school premises here yesterday.

He said, “It is sad that people do not show compassion towards such children. These children's are not patients they are special and that was the reason I started Darpan.”

So far, Darpan School is looking after 20 autistic children and providing them special care. “We are planning to expand the school as we want to help more autistic children but falling short of space,” said Kumar.

He said, “There is a good news for such children as now the vide variety of treatment is available which is very helpful. There are 2000 doctors across the world, which are specialized in the Autistic treatment. While, some treatments may lead to great improvement, while others may have little effect.”

He said, “With the availability of specialised team of doctors at Shri Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi, the treatment of such children have gained momentum. After analyzing the autistic child they further categories the child in various categories, of wither the child is suffering from any mental or hearing ailment and according to the ailment the treatment follows.”

Kumar suggested that the sooner the autistic child was detected; the better can be the results. “In recent years there has been a marked increase in the percentage of children who can attend school in a typical classroom and live semi-independently in community settings. However, the majority of autistic persons remain impaired in their ability to communicate and socialize,” he added.

He said it was astonishing that the ratio of boys was much higher then girls, as one girl out four boys are affected with autism.

Kumar is further planning to make a youth autistic club quite similar to the clubs made for hearing impaired people. “Establishing such a club will help the autistic youth a great deal,” he said.

Ludhiana, March 21
The municipal corporation (MC) will launch a special sanitation campaign in the city from March 24 as a preventive measure against theoutbreak of diseases in the wake of a rise in mercury.

As a part of the drive each and every city ward will be cleaned up continuously for five days under the supervision of the area councillor.

MC commissioner Vikas Partap said from March 24 to 28 the sanitation work would be carried out in ward nos 1, 19, 2, 24, 20 36 in zone A, 5,11, 15, 17, 41 in zone B, 44, 67, 48, 61, 68, 72 in zone C and ward nos 29, 53, 26, 50, 51, 47 in zone D.

Similarly, ward nos 3, 23, 32, 33, 35, 38 in zone A, 6. 12, 16, 40, 42 in zone B, 45, 63, 64, 66, 69, 70 in zone C and 27, 30, 46, 48, 56, 60 in zone D would be covered from March 31 to April 4.

The sanitation work in ward nos 2, 4, 6, 34, 37, 39 in zone A, 7, 8, 13, 18, 43 in zone B, 44, 65, 67, 68, 71, 74 in zone C and 28, 37, 49, 51, 57, 61 in zone D would be carried out from April 7 to 11.

In the concluding phase, ward nos 21, 22, 25 in zone A, 9, 10, 14 in zone B, 44, 63, 66, 70, 73, 75 in zone C and 29, 46, 47, 48, 54, 58 in zone D would be cleaned up from April 14 to 18, 2008.

The commissioner said, besides cleaning up the city localities, the civic staff would also run an awareness campaign to motivate the people to keep their surroundings clean and ward off the outbreak of seasonal diseases.

Ludhiana, March 21
Highfliers XI quelled a strong challenge from the Royal Challengers XI before emerging champions to bag top honours in volleyball during the 3rd Founders' Day Sports Meet of SPS Apollo Hospitals, being held here today.

A large number of staff,including doctors, technicians, nursing staff took part in various sports disciplines.

The Highfliers XI went down fighting in the first set 16-25 but bounced back into the game in the second set wrapping it up 25-21. They failed to keep up the momentum in the third one losing it narrowly by 21-25.

In the fourth set, the Highfliers managed to squeeze past 26-24 to level the score at 2-all. In the deciding set, they proved too good to down their opponents 25-13 and bagged the title.

Jatinder of the security department, captian of the Highfliers XI along with other members of the team- Sudesh, ECG technician, Birbal, X-Ray technician, Kartik of engineering section and Kishore, operations executive received the trophy and certificates from J.Sivakumaran, vice-president, Apollo Hospitals.

Raikot, March 21
Local municipal council unanimously approved the annual Budget of Rs 334.20 lakh for the year 2008-2009 with 14 out of 15 councillors supporting it at a general meeting held under chairmanship of Sudarshan Joshi.

About Rs 173 lakh has been earmarked for town’s development. According to president of the council Sudarshan Joshi, the drafted Budget was unanimously approved for presentation before the higher authorities.

Out of the total estimated income of Rs 334.20 lakh, Rs 173 lakh would be spent on constructions like roads, streets and drains and Rs 137 lakh would be disbursed as salaries and wages.Rs 24.28 lakh has also been earmarked for contingency expenses.

Major income of Rs 162.80 lakh is expected to come from VAT whereas the excise and house taxes would fetch Rs 70 lakh and 30 lakh, respectively.