Ludhiana, April 14
Hundreds of teachers, who have applied for the post of master cadre with the Punjab government, are caught in a Catch-22 situation as they have been asked to resign from their respective private schools.

The scare of unemployment is stark at their faces as the recruitment process is getting delayed. Teachers say that the school authorities are forcing them to resign. A number of them have already resigned and number of others are on verge of tendering their resignation. In case, the recruitment process is not sped up by the state government because of coming panchayat elections, teachers will virtually come on the roads without any source of income.

Sources in the education department confirmed that there were all chances of the recruitment process getting delayed because of the impending panchayat election this summer. With the code of conduct coming into force any moment now, the recruitment process will be stalled, at least temporarily.

It is not the first time these candidates are facing a similar situation. Earlier, these candidates suffered due to a technical glitch in the issuance of the experience certificate.

Out of 14 recruitment committees, some had raised objection on the authenticity of the certificate as it was attested by deputy district education officer (DDEO).

Jagjit Singh Jhande, a school teacher said, "The school authorities have asked me to submit the resignation letter as they want to recruit some one else on my post. I am a sole bread earner of the family. I am worried as the recruitment process can be delayed due to the panchyat election. I am really worried, if I will resign from the school, than how will I feed my family."

Jagjit Singh is not the only teacher who is worried due to the delay in the recruitment process, hundreds of teachers are also facing the same situation as scare of delay in the recruitment process put a question mark on their future.

A principal of a private school said, “if the teachers leave the school in the middle of the session, it will affect the education process. So we ask the teachers to resign so that we can recruit new teachers in the beginning of the session.”

Ludhiana, April 14
The Dehlon police is in the dock for allegedly siphoning off a large quantity of poppy plants seized from two persons, including a woman, in Khera village on April 9.

SSP Ludhiana (rural) is enquiring whether a team of the Dehlon police had seized about 10 kg of poppy plants but shown only 150 gms as seized material. DIG Ludhiana Range Ishwar Singh had ordered the probe into the allegations.

The complainant, Lakhbir Singh, a resident of the Khera village, in a complaint to the DIG, said on his information the police had raided the fields owned by Sarbjit Kaur in Khera village and seized 10 kg of poppy plants grown there.

The seizure was made in the presence of village elders. However, later when the police registered a case against Sarbjit Kaur and cultivator Harwinder Singh of Siarh village, the FIR showed only 150 gms of poppy plants were seized.

Lakhbir Singh has, in the complaint made before the DIG, named an ASI, who had carried out the raid and allegedly shown the wrong seizure. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, he said he had informed about the illegal cultivation to DSP Dakha Paramjit Singh Goraya, who had ordered the raid.

Goraya has rubbished the charge of siphoning off the poppy plants. He said the complainant had old enmity with the accused woman but still on his complaint , the police conducted the raid. He said the case was registered and the main accused Harwinder Singh had been arrested.

He said the plants were weighed immediately after the raid. They were found to be around 400 gms. The weight decreased when the plants dried, he claimed.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 14
A pennant erected on a mound amidst ruins of a site where 35,000 Sikh were massacred by Ahmed Shah Abdali’s army on February 5, 1762, is what the successive governments and Sikh religious organisations could be proud off.

Had the move to construct gurdwara Shaheed Ganj near the mound not started, the historical site could have remained in oblivion.

After politicians, irrespective of their political alliances, tried to gain benefits out of it by announcing grants for the proposed memorial, a few religious leaders have aroused a bitter controversy over the selection of the site for the proposed monument.

Investigations by The Tribune revealed that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had authorised Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa to acquire the land for constructing a memorial at Rohira to commemorate the sacrifices of 35,000 Sikhs, including children and women.

Before the administration could start the process of acquiring the land, a group led by organiser of a gurdwara started demanding a memorial at Kup da Tota, where 12 persons were killed during the “Rasta Roko Andolan” on April 4, 1983.

Office-bearers of the trust running the affairs of the gurdwara, on the other hand alleged that the controversy was being created to benefit the land mafia. “The fact that Sikhs were massacred at Rohira can be verified through any known archaeological or scientific procedure,” said Jagwant Singh Jaggie.

“Bara ghallughara”, as is known in the local dialect, is situated at Rohira, 3 km from Ahmedgarh towards the East. The monument stands concealed under a canopy of acacia trees. The successive governments led by the SAD and the Congress had done little towards according it the status of a national monument.

In 1967, Gurmukh Singh, a renowned industrialist of Ludhiana, had taken up the task of renovation and Baba Santa Singh of the Budha Dal took its charge in 1974, which was handed over to a committee formed by the “sangat” of the area. Though Jathedar Kirpal Singh Bhawanigarh had once again started “kar sewa” under the guidance of Baba Sant Singh Tarantaran Wale, the ‘Sangat’ wanted the state government to take up the matter with the Union government.

Then SGPC chiefs Kirpal Singh Badungar and Bibi Jagir Kaur, during their tenures, had declared that a women’s college would be established besides erecting a befitting monument here. Admitting controversies about Sikh history, he had said a board would be constituted within one week to decide on baseless inclusions in history books.

Tikka Raja Shatrujit Singh, the 10 descendant of Nawab Jassa Singh Ahluwalia, who bravely held the forces at bay 243 years ago, had also expressed his desire to visit the battlefield where his ancestor had fought. He met the management committee of Gurdwara Shaheed Ganj in 2004. 

Ludhiana/Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 14
Rich tributes were paid to father of the constitution Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his 117th birthday at a function organised by the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj (BVDS) in Daresi Grounds here today.

Besides functionaries of BVDS, several dignitaries, including Hira Singh Gabria, minister for jails, tourism and cultural affairs, Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, MP, Rajinder Bhandari, president, Bhartiya Janata Party, Sat Pal Gosain, deputy speaker, Punjab Assembly, Harish Rai Dhanda and Bikramjit Singh Khalsa, both chief parliamentary secretaries, Avtar Singh Makkar, president, Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee, mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura, councillors and leaders from different political parties offered floral tributes to Dr Ambedkar and recalled his contribution for empowerment of Dalit community in the country.

In his presidential address, Dr Dev Singh Adwaiti said while Dr Ambedkar had spent his entire life to secure the rights of dalit community in the constitution of the nation, it was regrettable that even after 60 years of independence the government at centre and different states have been denying these rights to the oppressed classes from time to time.

Sounding a note of caution to the SAD-BJP government in Punjab, the national director of BVDS, Lakshman Dravid, and general secretary Ashwani Sahota said the government would commit a mistake in taking the support of Dalit community for granted while several demands which were thoroughly discussed at several levels before acceptance, were hanging fire.

They said being answerable to the community, the body would be forced to adopt the path of agitation if the government failed to implement the accepted demands by July 11. These demands included handing over control of valmiki shrine in Amritsar to valmiki community, providing separate 12.5 percent reservation out of 25 percent to members of Valmiki and Mazhabi Sikh community in recruitment, admission and promotion, dissolution of Mohalla Sanitation Committee and replacement of contractual sanitation workers with regular employees and increase in reservation for the community from 25 to 34 percent on the basis of their population.

In a separate function, organised by the Punjab State Municipal Karamchari Dal, Dr Ambedkar was remembered for his struggle to secure dignity of Dalits and oppressed sections, empowerment of women and social reforms.

Tributes were paid to Dr B.R. Ambedkar on his birth anniversary here today. Several functions were organised by various political and social organisations here and surrounding villages.

The main function was organised at the Jagera road under the chairmanship of Pyara Singh, president of the Ambedkar Welfare Society.

Paying tributes to Dr Ambedkar, various leaders pointed out that he had conceived one of the greatest constitutions of the world, which gave the country secularism and democracy.

However, they regretted that under present circumstances, communal and divisive forces were threatening the sacred ideals.

Kishori Lal Badhan, a former president, called upon the Dalits to rise above politics and unite hands to safeguard the interests of their brethren.

“Unfortunately, the political leaders had been exploiting us to win elections, but never watched our interests”, he argued.

The speakers said the greatest tribute to Dr Ambedkar would be to defeat the designs of the communal forces that were bent upon creating division between members of different communities.

National awardee Ram Singh, Darshan Singh Dhaliwal, joint DPI, Gurdev Singh Latala, Kuldip Singh Karwal, general secretary, SAD, and Zamna Dass Jakhu also spoke. 

Ludhiana, April 14
Residents of Haibowal have complained that the Jassian Road from Haibowal was dug up last year to lay sewerage but was not recarpeted.

The work of laying of sewerage line was completed in August last year but the municipal corporation was delaying the work of recarpeting, causing inconvenience to hundreds of commuters on the road.

Ramneek Lal, a shopkeeper in Haibowal, said they had complained to the area councillor a number of times but to no avail.

Whenever it rained, a slush was formed and the people found it very difficult to pass through the road. Otherwise also, there was no sign of metalled road. It was just a sandy layer that marked it, said the residents.

Hem Raj Aggarwal, councillor of ward number 27, said though the road did not fall in his area, he had taken up the matter with MC authorities. The tenders for the work were already called and the recarpeting would start within a few days only.

Ludhiana, April 14
It was a tough time for a large number of city residents who had to wait in the scorching sun for more than two-hours for worshipping “kanjaks” on Durga Aashtami yeterday. As residents were finding difficulty in searching for little girls, many residents had to send the “prasad” of “puri”, “chane” and “halwa” to their homes whereas a few others were seen waiting for “kanjaks” outside Durga Mata temple, Jagraon Bridge.

The girls, wearing bright clothes could be seen visiting various houses along with small brothers and sisters along with them.They were loaded with “prasad” and gifts offered by people from all walks of life. Gayatri Sharma, a homemaker near Rani Jhansi road said she wanted to worship at least seven small “kanjaks” but due to their unavailability, she managed to call just four for “puja”.

Amrit Goel, a businessman, said, “Someone told me that I could get “kanjaks” outside Durga Mata temple only. But, people were seen waiting for them, there too. I had to wait for half-an-hour to take five “kanjaks” to my place", said Goel.

People of Punjab strictly observe Navratras. A few devotees of Goddess Durga consume only milk for seven days before breaking the fast on the eight or the ninth day, while others eat fruits and other fast-related eatables.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 14
The police has launched massive hunt for two suspects, who had been involved in robbing residents at gunpoint after entering their premises on pretext of employees of electricity board.

They were booked for allegedly snatching cash and valuables from Promila Jain at the pistol point after entering her house at Guru Nanak Pura when she was alone at home on April 1.

The hunt was on and the police released sketches of the suspects here yesterday.

In order to collect information from public at large, the authorities displayed the sketches at public places.

Meanwhile, the circle officer called upon office-bearers of social organisations to make women and children aware about the modus operandi of the anti-social elements who might find entry into their house on pretext of some employees.

Ludhiana, April 14
After a gap of over an year, the Punjab Agriculture University campus is in grip of burglars’ fear again. Two major thefts apart from some minor incidents have been reported in last two weeks only.

Burglars broke into the house of Dr J L Sharma in the last week of March and decamped with cash and jewellery worth lakhs of rupees.

Then on April 3, a youth broke into the house of Dr Ramesh Arora. The unidentified burglar damaged many household things and ransacked the rooms, almirahs but could not decamp with valuables.

Both incidents took place when the families were out of station. A neighbour of Dr Arora reported that she had spotted a youth near the house. The security wing of the university suspects some campus insider is involved.

The PAU fraternity is scared over the incidents. Eleven such thefts or burglaries had taken place one after another last year. The culprits were never arrested. The police had only registered two FIRs.

There was talk that a drug-addict son of a professor was caught red-handed but was let off when his parents paid the loss. The police, media and the PAU fraternity had adopted a humane approach to the involvement of a drug addict at that time.

Even in the fresh incidents, the Sarabha Nagar police has not registered any FIR so far. Police sources said the victims had not filed a complaint hence they could not pursue the matter.

On the other hand, the victims said they had sent the complaint to the police through the PAU security officer. Dr Ramesh Arora said he had filed the complaint to the security wing for necessary action.

Chief security officer R S Dhillon said the complaints were forwarded to the police which insisted that it should be made by the teacher in whose house the incident took place.

He said investigation by his wing suggests some insider was involved. "All incidents took place when the families were out of station. Some one living on the campus only can know about this. We are keeping an eye and will catch the cuplrit soon."

He said on the other hand, the resident on the campus have also to share the blame. "Despite our repeated request, no one informs the security wing to keep extra vigil on their houses as they are going out of station. The incidents can be minimised or checked completely by an all around awareness about the means to prevent it," he said.

Ludhiana, April 14
Moradabad-based Rs 500 crore Lohia Group has forayed into automobile business and will come out with electric bikes and three wheelers within three months.

Talking about market in Ludhiana, he said: "We are quite buoyant on two-wheeler market in North India especially in Ludhiana, that has a strong potential for electric vehicles. It is one of our key target markets and we plan to have 57 dealers in this region in the initial phase."

On the entry of multiple players in the e-bike segment, Lohia opined that a large share of the market was still untapped and by offering the customer more number of options, they would be able to capture a good hold in this segment.

"The market size of e-bikes is Rs 500 crore and expected to grow to Rs 6,000 crore within the coming four to five years. In terms of volumes the market is still at nascent stages."

Sharing the company's plans further, he said it would have over 300 dealers across the country in the next two years.

The bikes, he added, would be the first German technology e-bikes which have been engineered to a high standard of quality along with various innovative features.

On electric three-wheelers, Lohia said it was the first time that any company had come out with electric three-wheelers. "These will save fuel and offer security, safety , convenience and also style."

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 14
Gap between paddy being sown by a large number of farmers and that advised by experts from the state agriculture department will be minimised if not bridged this year.

Delayed harvesting of wheat and mustard due to inclement weather, persistent administrative efforts to make farmers aware of the adverse affects of early sowing and losses borne by them due to declining water table were cited as reasons for the trend.

Investigation by The Tribune revealed that majority of farmers had not yet started reaping their wheat crops due to varied reasons. Formal commencement of the procurement of wheat at markets reflects that the experts were expecting arrival of the produce in April. But news about its arrival had been received from the area.

There was a time when harvesting used to be completed by Baisakhi. But only a few farmers were reaping the crop manually till barely two days prior to the Baisakhi. Harjinder Singh Kaka, a farmer of Nathumajra village, said he would have to delay sowing of paddy in his fields as preparation of fields would be staggered due to delayed harvesting.

According to Gurjit Singh of Barhampur, entire process of harvesting, preparing nurseries for paddy saplings and transplantation would be staggered by a fortnight at least. The harvesting that used to start in the last week of March since last year will pick up in third week of April now.

According to deputy director, Punjab Agriculture University, Dr Rajinder Singh Pandher, the farmers had realized that early sowing of paddy has caused massive losses due to depletion of water table and poor yield during past years. “Early sowing of paddy was major reason for failure of tube wells and submersible pumps now. 

Ludhiana, April 14
"It is gravest warning to India since bird flu first broke out in Maharashtra in 2006, the United Nations has said the highly pathogenic H5 N1 Avian influenza virus may have gut entrenched in the IndoGenetic plains of India and Bangladesh and fear of human pandemic remained high", Dr Paramjeet Singh, deputy director, Animal Husbandry, Ludhiana, said this on the concluding day of the three-day training for field veterinary doctors of district here.

He said although there was no threat of bird flu in Punjab, yet such training was being given to veterinarians throughout India. He said it was difficult to take poultry from poor people who depend on it and it was even much harder to control the outbreak and stamp out the virus, so this training had been imparted. Dr B S Sidhu, director Animal Husbandry, Punjab, specially visited this training camp.

Based on the latest guidelines from the government of India and to drive home the seriousness of implications of Avian Influenza virus on the economy of India and Punjab in particular, 110 veterinary doctors from Ludhiana district were given exhaustive training on the latest development of the deadly Avian Influenza virus, which had wrecked havoc with the poultry industry in some parts of India and rest of world in the recent past.

Dr Ashok Sharma, president, Punjab State Veterinary Officer's Association, encouraged all officers to be ready if they were needed in any state of India. Dr Paramjeet Singh assured the scientists from Jalandhar that the Avian Influenza virus would not be allowed to wreck havoc with the poultry industry of Ludhiana. All the veterinary officers were geared up and in upbeat mood to meet all eventualities.

Ludhiana, April 14
The Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), Gujarkhan Campus, organised a one-day national seminar on "Organisational excellence through talent management", sponsored and approved by the AICTE, here.

In the inaugural session, Dr (Col.) H.S. Singha welcomed the session chairperson Dr Rosy Joshi Walia and delegates from various educational institutions all over India.

Participants from various states such as Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and J&K presented their research papers in the conference.

Girish Nayyar presented the first paper on the topic "Retention Strategies: Challenges and Remedies". The next paper was presented by Preety Menon which was an empirical study on "Managing Talent in the management institutes of Ludhiana". This was followed by a paper from Munish Kapila, on "Retention strategies with respect to the BPO sector in Indian industry". In all, 20 papers were presented for the first session.

Organising secretary Sandhya Mehta (faculty GNIMT) honoured the session chairman with a momento and gave a vote of thanks. In the second session, Vinod Goyal, CEO, Vardhman Spinning and General Mills, delivered a keynote address on achieving organisational excellence through talent management. Dr Prem Kumar, principal, Aurobindo College of Commerce, presented a paper on managing talent.

Dr (Col.) H.S. Singha , director GNIMT thanked all panelists, guests and faculties from other institutes for their participation and contribution in the national seminar.

Ludhiana, April 14
The present century has no place for the computer-illiterate people and every citizen of the country must try to learn computer and IT technology to live honorably in IT world.

The poor and needy students, who do not have the resources, must be provided adequate resources to train themselves for this purpose.

With this mission, Harish Rai Dhanda, chief parliamentary secretary to the government of Punjab, has sponsored the free computer training workshop for students belonging to economically weaker section of the society.

The group will cover the SC/ST/ OBC and students belonging to lower 
income group.

The programme will be run at SCD Government College here in which every month, 20 needy students will be given basic computer training for 25 days. P.C. Garg, political secretary to Dhanda, in a press statement yesterday said a grant of Rs 64,000 for running the programme in 2008-09 had been released and if the results proved to be useful then more grants would be given to the college for further enhancement of this programme.

He said the basic mission of the programme was to enhance computer literacy among the poor students and to make them capable for earning their livelihood. The students may enroll themselves for this programme at the computer centre of SCD Government College. More organisations and institutions would be involved in this mission to make the human resources IT enabled under this capability enhancement programme.

Ludhiana, April 14
The eloping of students from their school in Sarabha Nagar has left city schools alarmed. While many feel that efforts to build cordial relationship among students, parents and teachers will go a long way towards checking such problem, others blame increased ‘materialism’ as the root cause of such issues.

Waking up to the urgency of growing problems of students, several schools have come out with innovative methods to tackle the issue, which they opine generates from fear in students from their elders.

Some schools have started orientation programmes while other schools are inviting thinkers and psychologists to build harmonious student-teacher relationship. Schools are also focusing on generating awareness among parents with a view to tackling the problem.

“We recently conducted an orientation programme to make parents understand the emotional, social and educational complexities of environment, which their children experience as they enter the adolescent age. Psychologist focused on analysing child behaviour. The parents were also taught on how to handle a child in this age,” said S.C. Saxena, principal of Kundan Vidya Mandir (KVM).

Stressing that the overall environment of the child matters in this regard, he added: “It is easy to blame teachers for the mistakes committed by the children. The parents should also realise their responsibilities. It has lot to do with the environment in which the child is being nurtured.”

A section of educationists blamed social change for such problems. Prof L.S. Badi, head of the English department, GGN Khalsa College for Boys, said social change and the luxuries like mobile phones, vehicle and other such things provided by the parents also have a major role to play in spoiling the children.

Chandigarh, April 13
Dr Ambedkar Study Circle, Sector 37, Chandigarh, has announced the introduction of PMT and CET coaching classes at very nominal fee, today.

Briefing mediapersons, Anil Kumar Lamdharia, general secretary of the society, told that they have been focusing on the students who are academically bright but belong to poor families.

“We would charge Rs 1000 for a course, which otherwise cost Rs 40,000,” said Anil. Dr Ambedkar Study circle runs computer education centre on their premises. Classes will be officially inaugurated by Pawan Kumar Bansal on April 13.

Ludhiana, April 14
Green Land Senior Secondary School celebrated Baisakhi and 17th Founder’s Day in the school premises here today.

Principal Baldeep Pandher and other members of the staff welcomed the chief guests of the day, R.K. Rudra and Usha Rudra.

The students participated with great zeal. They presented various cultural items depicting the Punjabi culture. The principal congratulated the students for their effort.

Ludhiana, April 14
Gurdas Mann enthralled audience in Satluj Club at a function organised to celebrate Baisakhi here last evening.

The singer began with Saraswati Vandana and later presented various numbers like ‘Boot Polishan’ and ‘Lokan vekhna vaisakhi wala mela..’.

It was the first cultural function organised by the new team of the club. The audience enjoyed the show.

Ludhiana, April 14
Davinder scored 45 runs while Mrinal scalped three wickets as Mahajan Club defeated National Club by 31 runs to register second win in the cricket tournament being organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association to prepare the district team (u-16) for the forthcoming Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the M.L. Markan Trophy on the Satish Chander Dhawan Government College ground here today.

Mahajan Club won the toss and elected to bat first. It scored 129 runs in 51 overs. Besides Davinder (45), other notable scorers were Sunny Pandey and Piyush who contributed 31 and 12 runs, respectively, while Ashish made 8 runs.

For National Club, Subodh Mishra grabbed five wickets for 31 runs and Chirag captured three wickets after conceding 18 runs while Darshpreet took one for 19.

Needing 130 runs for win in 60 overs, National Club’s innings culminated at 98 runs in 36 overs. Abhinav Bhatia top scored with 31 runs while Gaurav remained unconquered at 23 runs. Chirag and Pawan contributed 15 and 5 runs, respectively.

For Mahajan Club, Mrinal was the most successful bowler, chipping in with three wickets for 32 runs. Other wicket takers were Rohit (1 for 12), Piyush (1 for 15) and Paras Mehndiratta (1 for 13).

Ludhiana, April 14
About one hundred aspirants of different weight categories attended a karate training camp organised by the Punjab Ashihara Karate Federation at GMT Public School, Jalandhar, here today.

Sensei Subodh Dhiman from Delhi and chief instructor of the federation, Sensei Pankaj Sahani, a black belt IInd Dan, gave tips to the trainees. Earlier, director of the school, Jasvir Singh Thind inaugurated the camp and principal Amarjit Dhariwal welcomed the instructors.

Later, a competition was held for the trainees. In the girl’s section (35 to 40 kg), Shivani secured first position while Hemlata and Gundeep finished second and third, respectively.

In the boy’s section (25 to 35 kg), Aryan bagged top honours, followed by Nitin and Sachin while in the 40 to 50 kg category, Manoj proved his mettle to bag first position. Harish finished runner up and Rohan had to content with the third position.

Vijay Kumar Agnihotri and Kewal Chand Garg, chairman and president, respectively, of the federation distributed the prizes.