Ludhiana, April 8
A comprehensive plan has been formulated to revamp the power transmission and distribution network in the Ludhiana central zone of the PSEB at a cost of Rs 458 crore.

The project envisages replacement of electricity poles with underground cables, installation of more transformers and feeders to reduce load and construction of substations to improve power supply.

Stating this at a press conference here today, the MP, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, said the plan had been approved by the state government and forwarded to the Centre to arrange funding through financial institutions. He had earlier gone to the PSEB headquarters to review progress on ongoing projects.

The transmission and distribution system would also be improved to ensure uninterrupted power supply in other towns falling in Ludhiana zone.

These included Khanna where Rs 24.45 crore would be spent, Jagraon (Rs 13.62 crore), Sirhind (Rs 12.24 crore), west circle (Rs 13.4 crore) and east circle (Rs 6.72 crore).

Dhillon said the central zone of the PSEB alone had achieved an increase of Rs 322 crore in its annual revenue collection from the sale of energy. The losses that stood at 11.25 per cent during 2006-07 had gone down to 10.34 per cent.

“In order to improve the quality of power supply and cut down tripping, the PSEB authorities have downloaded 2,468 transformers while 2,200 new transformers have been installed in towns and villages. The load has also been reduced on the transmission system with the erection of 38 new 11KV feeders,” he said. Construction on new substations was in progress and most of them would become operational before paddy season.

The engineer-in-chief, B.S. Bath, said the PSEB was in the process of setting up a fully equipped call centre in the city that would register complaints of consumers from all over the state and forward these to the subdivision concerned for speedy rectification of faults.

A conservation drive had also been launched to motivate consumers to replace bulbs with CFLs, he said.

Ludhiana, April 8
Providing a relief to a tenant, who had been living without power following interference by the landlord, the permanent lok adalat has directed officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), CMC division, to provide power connection to the former.

The tenant had been living in darkness for months in spite of paying for a new connection as also unpaid bills, within 15 days.

The lok adalat also directed PSEB officials to take the help of the police if the landlord resisted the installation of a new connection on the premises of the widow tenant.

Lok adalat chairman C.D. Gupta, and members R.S. Khokhar and Nand Lal pronounced the order while deciding the complaint filed by Sunita Sharma of Street No. 9, Janakpuri.

The complainant claimed that she was a widow and made both ends meet with difficulty by doing embroidery work.

She had been living as a tenant for a long period and had been paying the rent regularly.

However, the power connection of the entire house was severed by the PSEB due to unpaid arrears amounting to Rs 5,851 by the landlord.

Thereafter, she applied for a new power connection on her tenancy premises.

She deposited the charges for getting a new connection. Later, she was told that she would have to clear the payment of Rs 5,851, as the connection was to be released in the same building.

She paid the entire amount on January 24, 2008 but the power connection was not released, she added.

On the other hand, PSEB officials admitted the deposition of the requisite amount by the complainant for getting a new connection. They, however, claimed that the landlord was not allowing them to install a new connection.

After going through the documents placed on record and keeping in view the relevant provisions of the PSEB, directions were issued to install a new connection within 15 days to the complainant.

Ludhiana, April 8
Hundreds of gallons of clean water is getting wasted at the mini secretariat.

Taps have been running uninterruptedly at lavatories on the second floor, causing waterlogging at several places.

The department that suggests various methods of water conservation has itself failed to do so.

Also, leakage in sewers has caused waterlogging in the basement of the building.

A guard on duty said, “Due to the continuous flow of water, the basement has become a breeding centre for mosquitoes. Waterlogging is damaging walls and the basement has turned filthy.”

Some taps were found choked and at some places, the taps were missing and water was flowing directly from pipes.

An employee with the education department complained that waterlogging was causing a lot of problems. Lavatory doors were broken, rendering them of no use.

Another employee said, “The maintenance of toilets is with the public health works department, but it seems to have forgotten about it.”

Ludhiana, April 8
Employees of the municipal corporation, agitating for past several days over the arrest of three staff members and registration of vigilance cases against them, will hold a day-long strike on April 9.

The decision was ratified at a meeting of the 31-member action committee set up under the banner of the Municipal Karamchari Dal (MKD) here today.

MKD president Lakshman Dravid and chief adviser Ashwani Sahota, who are also members of the action committee, said top civic officials and senior government functionaries had failed to give any assurance for withdrawal of false cases against employees of the building branch and putting a stop to further vindictive action by the vigilance bureau against corporation employees.

The representatives of the action committee also met MC commissioner Vikas Partap to put forth their demands.

The commissioner made an appeal to the agitating staff on the ground that members of public would suffer in the event of strike and further that the issue over which the agitation had been launched was directly related to the state government.

The activists, however, stood their ground and decided to go ahead with the strike.

A meeting of the state committee of the body would also be convened here tomorrow to discuss further course of action to seek support from civic employees all over the state.

Earlier, addressing the protest rally by the staff, MKD chief Dravid said the government had failed to initiate any action to put an end to the injustice being done to the employees by the vigilance bureau despite continuous agitation since March 26.

He said the civic staff would not take interference in the day-to-day working of the corporation by the vigilance bureau lying down and agitation would continue till false cases were withdrawn.

Ludhiana, April 8
Hundreds of ‘84 riot victims gathered at Bachat Bhawan here today for the issuance of red cards.

The victims, including octogenarians, women and the handicapped, waited in queues in scorching heat for more than five hours. A majority of them had to return empty handed due to “incomplete documentation”.

Sore at the attitude of officials, some persons broke windowpanes and raised slogans against the district administration for harassing them.

Terming the whole exercise “torturous”, they said they had lost patience and faith in the system. “Thousands of applications are pending with officials. They are putting objections one after another on our documents. Even if they are reluctant to issue red cards, they should tell it to our faces. For the last four hours, I have been standing in a queue hoping to meet officials,” said S.P. Singh, a resident of BRS Nagar, who had come from Patna two decades ago.

A middle-aged woman, Veena Nayyar, said she was issued a slip yesterday and was asked to come today. “Seeing the huge rush and haphazard way of working, I do not think that I will be able to go inside,” she complained, adding that some agitated persons had broken windowpanes in the morning and raised slogans against officials.

Kamalpal Singh (77), a resident of Aman Nagar, said a systematic procedure should have been adopted by the district riot-victim welfare committee to avoid unnecessary rush. “I have been standing in a queue since morning, but now I have been told to come tomorrow. They are entertaining those who were issued slips yesterday. The wait seems to be endless,” he said.

An official, on the condition of anonymity, said seeing the huge rush, the date had been extended to April 10. He said people were not cooperating with officials. “How can we tackle such rush in a day? We are interviewing applicants and if the proofs satisfy us, only then can we issue the cards. We cannot issue the cards to every claimant without proper verification,” he said.

Ludhiana, April 8
Relatives and neighbours of a minor girl, allegedly molested by a doctor at the ESI Hospital here a few days ago, held a demonstration at the hospital here today demanding registration of a criminal case against the accused doctor and his immediate arrest.

Demonstrators disrupted the normal working of the hospital and the police had a tough time dispersing the mob and preventing protesters from causing damage to the hospital property.

Relatives of the victim alleged that senior police officials were being indifferent to the plight of the girl and in spite of assurance by the SSP yesterday, no case had yet been registered against the doctor.

Doctors at the ESI Hospital, however, expressed solidarity with their colleague, who, they said had discharged his duty of conducting the medical examination under the medical ethics and in accordance with the procedure laid down in text books of medical science.

Doctors held a meeting on the hospital premises and took strong exception to the pressure being mounted by the family of the girl to get the doctor booked for a crime that, they claimed, he had not committed.

They wanted an inquiry with the involvement of professional medical institutions like the Indian Medical Association and the Punjab Civil Medical Services Association and medical experts to bring out the truth.

Ludhiana, April 8
Hundreds of brick kiln workers held a protest march against rising inflation and non-revision of minimum wages here today.

The workers, who took off their shirts in protest, said rising inflation was depriving the working class of even basic necessities like food, clothing and shelter.

The protest started from Chattar Singh Park from where they marched to the deputy commissioner’s office and also went to the labour office here.

“The government has failed to control rapidly rising prices due to which we are suffering. Our minimum wage is the least in comparison to other states and even worse it has not been revised for the past seven years,” said the workers, who protested under the banner of the Lal Jhanda Brick Kiln Mazdoor Union.

“We want that commodities like flour, pulses, tea, sugar, oil be provided on subsidised rates to the economically weaker sections. The wages that are due for revision since January, 2006 too should be revised,” said Tarsem Jodhan, a union leader.

They also raised demands like better working conditions, uniforms for brick kiln workers and withdrawal of “false” cases against workers.

The workers also presented a memorandum to the deputy commissioner.

The workers said they would continue their agitation till their demands were accepted.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 8
Timely action by the police averted a clash between supporters of Zallaur Singh, newly-elected president of the Truck Operators Union, Kup Kalan, and the dethroned head Dalbir Singh Billu during the daily “pukar” today.

“Pukar” was later organised by employees in supervision of duty magistrate and the police.

Heavy police was deployed at the union office, where leaders of rival factions, both claiming to be the elected representatives of the union, had set up their camps.

Group led by Zallaur Singh was supported by former chairman Tuffail Mallick, while that led by Billu was backed by area in charge Abdul Gaffar. Both owe allegiance to Dhindsa faction of the Shiromani Akali Dal.

The groups had clashed yesterday afternoon over the issue of the elections of the union.

While Zallaur Singh claimed that he was unanimously elected president in place of Billu yesterday, the latter claimed that the election was not legal as democratic procedure had not been adopted.

The intervention of the police averted the flaring up of the incident. The police dispersed potential trouble-makers on both sides.

When both groups insisted on holding the daily “pukar”, SHO Sadar Maghar Singh persuaded them to get it organised by munshi in the supervision of the administration.

Zallaur Singh claimed that senior SAD leaders, including Tuffail Mallick, Rajinder Singh Kanjhla district president and Jai Pal Singh Mandian, had garlanded him in the presence of majority of operators yesterday.

“They elected me president under a compromise effected at the time of previous election last year,” said Zalaur Singh, accusing Billu of betraying the promise made by him earlier.

Terming the election illegal, Billu alleged that some leaders of his party had tried to dethrone him in the absence of in charge of the constituency, Abdul Gaffar, former minister.

Ludhiana, April 8
“Entrusting a team member with a work that would in routine be handled by a superior can produce results far superior than a leader’s expectation. The team gets motivated and results improve, clearly portraying the significance that delegating work holds,” said Sachit Jain, executive director, Vardhman group, while delivering a lecture on leadership to members of the Ludhiana Management Association (LMA) here yesterday.

Jain said good leaders needed to repose trust in their team members apart from possessing traits like courage, self-discipline and in depth knowledge.

Citing the example of his own company, he narrated how he effectively communicated with his workers making them realise that their workplace was their temple and if they had a problem it could be sorted through a two-way dialogue.

Asserting the need for teamwork for a good performance, Jain said leaders should acknowledge the work done and the achievements of their subordinates, while failures should be taken as learning experiences.

He also suggested various ways for energising self and teams. Elaborating on the concept of self-exploration and introspection, he said these qualities came from within and were critical for ones success.

LMA general secretary K.N.S. Kang and president Anil Kumar were also present.

Ludhiana, April 8
The Punjab Commerce and Management Association (PCMA) has termed the decision of the Punjab government to implement semester system in higher education as an innovative step that will improve the efficiency of education system in the state and keep students and faculty busy throughout the year.

It will offer more time to think and acquire new knowledge. “It is more conducive to promoting reflective and deep thinking and provides for independent studies under the supervision of faculty members and greater opportunities for interacting with faculty,” said Prof Ashwani Bhalla, executive vice-president PCMA, in a statement issued yesterday.

Dr Prem Kumar, principal, Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce, said many state governments like Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka had already introduced the system in undergraduate and postgraduate classes in keeping with the UGC recommendations and Punjab was lagging behind.

He said the new system would offer more flexibility to students and help bring academic discipline in them.

He also urged the universities to introduce more flexibility for students to appear in examinations according to their choice on the number of papers.

The new system should be introduced with continuous evaluation system and curriculum should be designed with rigorous exercises.

Prof Bhalla said the decision should be implemented in letter and spirit and universities should immediately convene meetings of undergraduate and postgraduate board of studies of respective subjects to frame the new syllabi and curriculum.

He said a core committee of all universities of the state should be constituted to implement a common syllabus in these courses.

PCMA president Dr Vijay Asdhir said for the success of the system, universities needed to work hard and rationalise their examination cells to improve their efficiency for timely declaration of results.

He said the duration of the semester, number of contact hour per paper, per semester and relative weightage of continuous internal assessment and semester end examination needed to be prescribed unambiguously.

Ludhiana, April 8
Residents of at least six villages around Bhaini Sahib Gurdwara are living under the fear of their agricultural land being acquired by the government for constructing ambitious project of Sant Khalsa memorial at a cost of Rs 60 crore.

Residents and panchayat members of Bhaini Sahib, Raiyan, Pratapgarh, Panjeta, Kot Gangu Rai and Chak Sarwan Nath gathered at Bhaini Sahib to protest against the “proposed acquisition of the land by the government”. Kuldip Singh, a farmer, said “On one hand the leaders are making statements that our land will remain untouched and on the other state-level meetings for construction of the complex are being organised.”

The agitators circulated a copy of the minutes of a meeting on the proposed complex. The panchayat members are protesting against the proposed move to acquire their “fertile land which was already decreasing due to large-scale urbanisation”.

Jagdev Singh Panjeta (CPM), Balwant Singh and Sadhu Singh, Kuldip Singh, secretary, Punjab state unit of the CPI (U), were present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, April 8
People label them as deaf, but they are an intelligent lot. God has been unkind to them, still they are leading a satisfied and happy life. Almost 100 participants from different states have gathered here to show their skills in the 4th national chess championship of the deaf. The championship is being organised by the Association of the Deaf, Punjab, which is affiliated to the All-India Federation of Deaf, New Delhi (a multipurpose training centre recognised by the Government of India).

The credit of organising such an event in the city goes to Padam Passi, who is unable to hear and speak himself. Through his son (the interpreter), Passi said he had attended one such tournament in the South a few years back and he took a pledge to organise a similar event in Ludhiana. "But we had no money. Nobody was ready to sponsor the event either. Finally, our efforts borne fruit in the form of this national championship," he said.

The players have come mainly from states like Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal. Out of these, three players from Tamilnadu namely G. Spensor Alexander, M. Sivaraj and M.K. Alaguraja from Tamilnadu have been internationally rated. Due to financial constraints, they were not allowed to play abroad. "Life must go on. Whatever God has given, we have accepted it. And we are leading a comfortable life," said Alexander, a teacher, adding that he was able to get Rs 10,000 a month.

Sharing her feelings, Sunita Thomas from Mumbai said she liked the city and its people. "They are good hosts. Excellent arrangement for our stay has been made by the organisers," said Sunita, working with CII, Mumbai, on a monthly salary of Rs 15,000. She added that she never developed any complex because of her disability.

Coordinator of the event Varinder Sharma and Arbiter Rajinder Sharma said many cash prizes would be given to the winners. "We feel happy to see the sportsmanship among the participants. They are quite accommodating to each other," said Rajinder Sharma.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 8
Over 200 persons underwent free diagnostic tests organised by Walayati Ram Jindal Memorial Charitable Clinical Laboratory here on Saturday.

Jaswant Singh Gajjanmajra, chairman of Pioneer Group of Educational Institutes and Tara Group of Industries, inaugurated a laboratory being run by the Smaya Seva Samiti. BJP district president Jatinder Kalra was the chief guest.

Terming diagnostic tests necessary for management of a majority of disorders, Gajjanmajra and Kalra held that a large number of persons from the lower strata of society fell prey to chronic deceases, as they could not afford expensive tests.

They called upon members of the medical fraternity to stick to ethics of their profession while dealing with poor patients.

Society president Vikas Sharma also addressed the gathering.

Ludhiana, April 8
Aiming to attain a stronghold in political circles, Ludhiana’s industry has got divided into two groups, with each claiming the credit for making “successful efforts” in getting steel prices controlled and levying allegations on the other group.

Even as steel prices are yet to stabilise, industry does not want to miss a chance to take credit for the recent minor reduction in steel prices.

Insiders said the division had occurred as several industrialists were keen on getting a representation in industrial boards, an election promise by the SAD-BJP government.

The tiff began when a couple of industrialists, including Rajnish Ahuja of Focal Point Industrial Sheds Association and K.K. Garg of North India Induction Furnace Association, decided to honour the president of Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry P.D. Sharma for “his contribution towards development of industry ... his contribution in controlling steel prices..”.

This did not go down well with representatives of the All-Industries and Trade Forum, including Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma and Varinder Kapoor of United Cycle and parts Manufacturers Association and Narinder Bhamra of Fasteners Manufacturers Association, who openly came out in protest against the other group and declared to boycott the function.

“We jointly protested against rising steel prices for almost two weeks. We do not want any honour but it is wrong for them to honour one person when efforts were made jointly,” said Kapoor.

Stating that the claims of the other group that they were getting a major support from industry were baseless, he said “most associations are attached with this forum”.

He also said the All-Industries and Trade Forum would resist from supporting the other group in any future struggles of the industry.

Voicing his fears, he also alleged that a couple of industrialists were trying to hog the limelight as they were keen on getting a representation in the industrial boards, which may be formed soon.

The function to honour Sharma, that would be held tomorrow, has on its list guests like BJP president Rajinder Bhandari, tourism minister Hira Singh Gabria, MP Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, AICC’s Manish Tiwari and chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda.

“It is very sad that they are fighting like this. If we want to honour someone, it is our choice. The industrialists who are protesting should have rather participated in the celebrations,” said Rajnish Ahuja.

Ludhiana, April 8
Participants from Tamil Nadu and Delhi made their presence felt in the men’s as well as women’s sections by winning their respective matches on the opening day of the 4th National Chess Championship for the Deaf that started at the Samiti Kendra, Sham Singh Road, here today.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party state unit president Prof Rajinder Bhandari inaugurated the three-day meet in which around 80 players from 12 states are taking part.

Ludhiana Bar Association president P.S. Ghuman along with other prominent persons was also present at the inaugural ceremony.

Players who won their matches in the second round and secured two points each are: Men: M.K. Alguraja, M. Sivaraj, T.P. Ganpathy, S. Singadurai, S. Harikrishna (all from Tamil Nadu); Hussain Koya, M. Rehman and Mohd Rashid from Kerala; Pradeep Dehria from Madhya Pradesh, Shyam Babu Singh, Anubhav Gautam, Gaurav Arora, Manjul Dalal from Delhi; Anil Mahajan from Punjab; and Gour Ghoush from West Bengal.

Women: Illa Joshi and Renu Bala from Delhi; and Gajalakshmi from Tamil Nadu.

Ludhiana, April 8
The Ludhiana District Basketball Association, under the ageis of the Punjab Basketball Association (PBA), will hold the 59th Punjab State Basketball Championship for junior boys and girls at Mata Sahib Kaur Stadium of Jarkhar village, near here, from April 23 to 26, according to the PBA president Rajdeep Singh Gill in which over 35 teams are expected to compete.

Players born on or after January 1, 1990 are eligible to take part in this tournament.

Interested teams are required to confirm their participation with PBA general secretary Teja Singh Dhaliwal.

On the basis of their performance during this tournament, Punjab squads will be selected for the forthcoming Junior National Basketball Championship slated to be held at Bhilwara in Rajasthan from April 25 to May 1.

Punjab minister Hira Singh Gabria will inaugurate the tournament on April 23.