Ludhiana, May 19
A liquor vend that opened after midnight at Karabara Chowk here was shut down after a protest by hundreds of residents this morning.

The protest continued for more than two hours and people broke the make-shift structure of the vend and liquor bottles following which the police resorted to a mild lathicharge to bring the situation under control.

The opening of the liquor vend on the land belonging to the forest department and the NHAI invited the wrath of people due to its location as a park was to come up there.

Residents of the nearby areas, including Shivpuri, New Grain Market, Azaad Nagar, Salem Tabri and Bahadurke Road, alleged that the contractors had been planning to set it up for almost a fortnight, but as they feared public fury, they secretly put up a makeshift structure at around 2 am.

“The structure put up by them was located on the land where a park was planned. Being a prime location, it would have caused inconvenience to those residing there. It was only in the morning that people saw that the vend had come up and they were furious,” said Hans Raj, councillor of the area, who led the protest.

The protest started around 8 am and continued till over 10 am after which the structure was shifted by the police.

The protesters, including women, raised slogans against the authorities and broke liquor bottles.

They said about a fortnight ago, the contractors had started constructing the vend. “However, we complained to the forest and the highway authorities, after which the construction was stopped. It was shocking to see that the vend had come up again,” they said.

Police officials said they had shifted the structure to a “safe place”. No case has been registered.

Ludhiana, May 19
In yet another faux pas, the district administration has put more than 500 government employees to inconvenience as the rehearsal venue of the forthcoming panchayat elections was yesterday changed from Rotary Bhawan in Ludhiana to Pakhowal village without giving prior intimation.

Showing dissent over the unwarranted move of the district administration, employees from the government departments and educational institutions in various parts of Samrala, Machhiwara, Sidhwan Bet and Pakhowal districts in a communique to additional deputy commissioner (development) Priyank Bharti refused to go to Pakhowal village. Out of them at least 50 employees were women.

The employees had reached Rotary Bhawan for the inter- block duties before 9 am only to find “a handwritten notification” informing about the last minute change in the venue. Pointing at the vagueness of notification, an employee from the Punjab State Electricity Board, said, “ The notification had no authorised signatory and it carried incomplete information. We had been asked to report to the BDPO at Pakhowal. But soon, we got another message wherein the employees were asked to reach Machhiwara that irked us further.”

Beleaguered over the apathetic attitude of the district administration, the employees staged a silent protest and sought an explanation from the officials concerned. But, not a single senior official reached Rotary Bhawan to address the grievances of the employees.

It was only after 1.30 pm that an official was sent to mark the attendance of those present for rehearsals. But, the absence of higher official at the venue flared the employees’ anger.

Disgruntled at the high-handed attitude, H.L. Bhatia said, “It is inhuman on the part of officials to ignore basic needs like provision of water and tea for the people coming for election duties. On top of it, the government even has failed to pay us any remuneration for this extra work. On the contrary, the employees covering the distance of 50 to 60 kilometres end up spending Rs 200 to 400 from their pockets,” Bhatia rued.

Ludhiana, May 19
After more than a year, construction of Gill flyover connecting the railway overbrige over the Dhuri line is set to start with the state government giving the green signal. The flyover will ease traffic at the busy Gill Chowk.

The bridge will be connected to the railway overbridge on the Dhuri line so that the traffic moving towards the bus stand does not halt at Gill Chowk.

The construction was suspended after the SAD-BJP government took over. The project was started by the former government when Nahar Singh Gill was mayor.

Traders in the vicinity of Gill Chowk with shops on the road had staged a protest against the move , arguing that their business would be affected.

The vigilance cell of the local bodies department had summoned records pertaining to the bridge from the MC following allegations that there were irregularities in bills.

The director, local government, in a letter to the commissioner has said that payment to the agency be released as per the revised schedule amounting to 7 per cent of the bridge.The curtailed payment of 10 per cent would be adjusted in the next bill.

The contract for the bridge was allotted to Deepak Builders Private Limited.The company got a survey conducted from another company and sent a bill of Rs 2.55 crore to the MC. The bill included the cost of construction of site office to the tune of Rs 45.9 lakh, survey of traffic management during construction worth Rs 1.521 crore and Rs 1.21 crore for its drawing.The MC agreed to give approval to 60 per cent of the amount and passed a bill of Rs 1, 46,71,384.

This led to a controversy with the bill having been passed without the company having constructed the site office.

The project was allotted to the builders on August 4, 2006, and the work order released. The construction was to start in January 2007.

Ludhiana, May 19
The Sadar police today nabbed one of the six assailants in the murder case of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College student, Rajdeep Singh, even as students today staged a dharna again, demanding the arrest of the accused.

Students blocked traffic on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, saying that the assailants who murdered the student on the campus on May 14, should be arrested.

The police claimed in the evening that one of the assailants, Bikramjit Singh, had been arrested. It also said raids were on to nab the other accused.

Police sources said Bikramjit had revealed that an argument between Rajdeep and some other students in the hostel had led to the attack.

Student leaders rued that even after five days of the murder, the police was not able to arrest the accused.

Ludhiana, May 19
Local electroplaters are upset that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal instead of meeting them had met chairman of Vardhman Group of Industries S.P. Oswal for discussing the issues pertaining to the dyeing and electroplating units.

Later on, the Oswal group had even convened a meeting of the industrialists for discussing the issue. But, like earlier representatives of the small and medium electroplating enterprises were not invited. “We are upset that the Chief Minister did not even invite us though we were involved in taking up issues concerning this industry with the state as well as the Central government. We have learnt that the issue of CETP was also discussed and false facts were presented to the government,” Joginder Kumar, chief executive officer, Ludhiana Effluent Treatment Society for Electroplating Industries, said today.

Kumar said the society was looking after the common effluent treatment plant at the Focal Point for the past more than two years and was taking steps towards upgrading the plant as well.

“Our initiatives to check pollution and meet the pollution control board’s norms should not have been undermined. The plant has been functioning well since it commissioning and has treated 1.15 crore liters of effluent between June 2007 and April 2008. The treated samples were tested and found ok by the Thapar Institute in Patiala and also by the Punjab Pollution Control Board. It is a pity that the stake holders are not being invited by the state government for discussing the issues pertaining to them. We are in a far better position to explain details than anyone else,” said Ashok Kumar Gupta, society’s secretary.

The society said apart from industrialists, PPCB member secretary, PSIEC chief engineer and director (industries) were its members.

Talking about the CETP, the members said they had learnt that this issue was discussed and the Chief Minister briefed that the treatment plant was not functioning.

“We want the government to consult before it takes any decision on the electroplating industry,” they demanded.

Ludhiana, May 19
First woman regional manager, State Bank of India (SBI), Ludhiana, Inderjit Bakhshi, plans to focus on direct and indirect lending in rural areas and agricultural financing. Bakhshi, who took over as the bank’s AGM today, will head more than 50 branches in Ludhiana and Sangrur.

She has put in over 34 years of service with the SBI so far.

Talking to The Tribune, she said:"Agriculture would be a prime focus area. Besides, I would endeavour to bring more customers from all categories, including pensioners under the Internet banking and encourage them to use facilities like ATMs for their convenience."

SBI would open 40 more branches in rural areas in the Ludhiana module this financial year, she revealed. Apart from agri-lending, the bank would make efforts to increase its financing for the small and medium enterprises and clusters in Ludhiana.

“We want to contribute to the growth of the industrial sector here. Cluster formation is being encouraged by the government and as textile,hosiery clusters come up in this industrial town we would focus on providing finance to them,” she added.

Talking about retail lending, Bakhshi said the housing sector was still recording a phenomenal growth.While last year the growth in housing finance was 25 per cent, this time, it increased to 40 per cent, which projects that the boom in this sector has not ended.

On social initiatives, she said the SBI had launched a campaign of adoption of girl child and providing quality education to girls. "A large number of gilr child have been adopted by a few branches of the bank and we would continue to work in this direction."

Ludhiana, May 19
The agro-met observatory at Punjab Agricultural University yesterday recorded maximum and minimum temperatures of 38.6 degrees and 24.4 degrees centigrade, respectively. According to Dr G.S. Bains, head of the department of agricultural mateorology, the normal maximum temperature for the week was 38.5 degrees celsius.

Dr Bains added that under the prevailing conditions, sky would remain partially cloudy and there would be isolated downpour at places in the next 24 hours.

He added that the downpour would be beneficial for the standing crops like sugarcane, cotton etc. He said in the rain-fed areas, the soil-moisture level would increase. 

Ludhiana, May 19
In a buildup of the Panjab University senate elections, rival candidates are claiming support from the group of teachers of SCD College.

Reacting over statement issued by president of the GCTA’s SCD unit S.S. Bamb recently, Prof Jaipal Singh, president, Government College Teachers’ Association (GCTA), Punjab, said it was wrong to issue such a statement on part of the entire unit.

"I am serving here for the past many years and the college has no tradition of passing such a resolution. We support contestants silently. A few college teachers may be supporting one or two candidates but that does not mean that whole unit has extended their support to them. No individual has the right to claim that entire team would support candidates of his choice," said Jaipal.

General secretary of the GCTA’s SCD wing said the president did not call any meeting of the GCTA on May 16. "It was a routine principal-staff meeting in which many issues were discussed. And the president requested to vote for two particular candidates, but there was no consensus on the issue," he said.

Another contender Harpreet Singh Dua, sitting senator from the teacher's constituency of Panjab University, Chandigarh, while countering claims of the rival candidate said there were just 74 members in SCD College who were eligible to cast their votes. "How can 100 teachers from the same college support them?" asked Dua adding that many of the teachers of the college claimed that no such resolution was passed to support the two candidates.

Sitting senator (graduate constituency) Parveen Sharma is contesting again from the same constituency. Reacting over statement issued by S.S. Bamb, Sharma said many teachers of the college extended support to him. "A good number of RSS workers are supporting me. How can president claim support on their behalf?" he asked.

Terming the statement to be "misleading", Kuldeep Singh from the PCCTU, who is contesting for the first time, claimed that his supporters too promised him a sure victory.

Meanwhile, S.S.Bamb, talking to The Tribune on phone, claimed that the meeting was attended by about 100 teachers, who supported Mukesh Arora and Prof Jagpal Singh in the coming senate elections.

Ludhiana, May 19
Guru Nanak Institute of Management and Technology (GNIMT), here, has claimed to have developed a software, which will help parents to get direct access to the performance of their wards and the lectures attended by them.

This software has already started connecting the entire GNIMT family throughout world. Tripat Dua, computer science lecturer at the GNIMT, who is involved in the development of the software, said in next 10 to 12 years, more than 6,000 alumni of the GNIMT would be connected worldwide with all their details.

He stated that no alumnus/student could access other's account unless mutual willingness. "The administrator can approach the students of the institution, but one student cannot access other's account due to security reasons," said Dua further elaborating that in one click, the software could send messages to approximately 125 mobile phones and one message would cost about 60 paise.

Dua said this was possible because of wholehearted support of director of the institute Dr (Col) H.S. Sangha.

"He has always inspired the GNIMT family to come up with innovations and ideas that benefit the institute," said Dua.

Ludhiana, May 19
A five-day sadhna shivir, organised at Sanatan Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, here, culminated with dancing meditation today. Students from Classes VI to XII were shown VCDs of Anandmurti Gurumaa in which she had guided on the ideal method of living.

It was explained that youngsters needed right direction to overcome troubles of life. In her words, their “spiritual life and worldly life” should be in perfect union. The importance of yog exercises like surya namaskar, bhastrika, kapal bhati etc was explained to the students. They were also taught to do singing and dancing meditation to overcome shyness and nervousness.

NSS CAMP: A lecture on food poisoning was delivered by home science lecturer Latika Gupta today on the third day of the 10-day NSS camp that is underway at Devki Devi Jain Memorial College for Women. A poster competition on "health is wealth" was also held. The volunteers visited slum areas of Kidwai Nagar to make the dwellers aware of vaccination and hygiene. They also planted saplings.

LECTURES: Lectures on balanced diet and personality development were delivered to the volunteers today on the fifth day of the 10-day NSS camp that is underway at Government College for Women. Preetam Kaur spoke on personality development. "Punctuality is the most important quality for personality development of an individual," she said. She even answered a number of queries. In charge of the camp Manju Sahni thanked the speaker and volunteers. Home science lecturer Jaspreet Kaur talked about balanced diet. “Most of the Punjabis were facing problems because their work pattern had changed, but they had not changed their diet patterns,” she said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 19
Acknowledging that schools were the most effective and organised means for educating masses to improve quality of life, the local unit of the Rotary Club organised the seminar on "Causes and consequences of hepatitis virus" at MGMN Senior Secondary School here today to observe World Hepatitis Day.

In his keynote address, Dr Narinder Dhawan, chairman, medical wing of the club, said that lack of public awareness was the major cause for steep rise in cases of hepatitis C and hepatitis B.Educational institutions, mainly state-run and government-aided schools, were the most effective means of spreading social messages. "No other method is as effective and prompt as educating students and inspiring them to disseminate the information," explained Dhawan.

Dr Rajiv Sood and Dr Sunit Hind stressed that parents and teachers should inculcate good food habits among children.

Dr Vikas Hind, a dental surgeon, cautioned students against sharing toothbrushes and tongue cleaners. 

Ludhiana, May 19
Students of Bal Bharati had a gala time with lemonade during ‘Lemonade Party’ which was organised at phase II, Dugri. Theme of the party was say yes to "Healthy drinks”.

Children were dressed in lemon coloured dresses while they were given tips to beat the summer heat.The children were also served lemonade in sippers decorated with lemons.

Principal Punam Dogra shared her views with tiny tots on the importance of lemonades in scorching heat.

Ludhiana, May 19
The Ludhiana Ophthalmological Society (LOS), the professional body of eye surgeons, has come out in support of Mandip Pal Kaur, an association member, working in the government hospital at Mansoorann in this district, who was charged with negligence resulting in the lose of four persons eye sights after the surgery.

Society’s executive committee in a meeting convened here today discussed the issue in detail before expressing solidarity with the doctor. Its secretary G.S. Bajwa said action against the doctor for alleged medical negligence would be uncalled for and such a step would affect the morale of the medical and surgical professionals working in the rural areas.

The eye surgeons present in the meeting said these four cases were isolated ones whereas the doctor was reported to have performed more than 3,000 eye operations within three years. According to Dr Bajwa, the society members were of the view that cases reported from Mansoorann government hospital could, in no way, be compared to blindness caused in a mass surgery like a rural camp. “All these complications are very well reported in textbooks and journals. This fact has been totally ignored and should be taken into consideration in the present case.”

Ludhiana, May 19
Nothing seemed going well for Ludhiana as they suffered second defeat in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (u-16) for the M.L. Markan Trophy. They lost to Ropar Zone B XI in the match played at Government College ground, Ropar, today.

Batting first, Ludhiana team were out for a paltry 117 runs in 59.2 overs. The main architect of their innings was skipper, Abhishek Talwar, who made 69 runs.

For Ropar, Arjun Kumar and Manpreet shared the spoils. Arjun scalped four victims for 43 runs while Manpreet grabbed three wickets after conceding 40 runs.

In reply, Ropar scored 297 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in 65 overs. Their innings revolved around Maninder Singh, who hit 105 runs while Harmanjit Singh scored 43 and Sarpinder Singh contributed 59 runs. Avinashdeep chipped in with 25 runs.

For the losers, Abhishek Talwar and Gaurav shared three wickets each for 71 and 62 runs, respectively, while Kunal Partap Singh captured two for 43.

Ludhiana play their third match at Chandigarh on May 21 and 22 against Chandigarh.

Ludhiana, May 19
Hosts Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School came out triumphant without being challanged from their rivals, Guru Nanak International Public School to clinch the title in the boy’s section of the 7th Sub-Junior Ludhiana Softball Championship which concluded at Ramgarhia Educational Complex, Miller Ganj, here today. In the final, Ramgarghia school lads blanked Guru Nanak International Public School 6-0.

In the girl's final, Teja Singh Swatantar English Medium School stamped their superiority over B.C.M.Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road branch, to clinch the title. The winners faced a little resistance from their opponents and wrapped up the match quite easily 15-2.

Gurbachan Singh, principal, Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School, distributed the prizes. P.N. Passi, honorary secretary, Punjab Softball Association, office-bearers of the Ludhiana District Softball Association and principals and heads of participating schools were present on the occasion. 

Ludhiana, May 19
More than 50 karatekas attended the gradation camp organised by the Ludhiana unit of the Punjab Ashihara Karate Federtation at GMT Public School, Jalandhr bypass chowk, here today.

Boys and girls between tow to 20 years exhibited their expertise in this form martial art during the camp which was inaugurated by school principal Amarjeet Dhaliwal. Chief instructor, Sensei Pankaj Sahni, Black Belt DAN, along with trainers was present at the camp.

Karatekas were given grades on the basis of their performance during the camp. Boys and girls who have been promoted to the next grade are Karamjit, Urvashi, Sonam, Komal, Shivani, Saurav, Rohan, Aryan, Schin, Rajbir, Kamjot, Rishab Dua, Sachin Gautam, Jatin, Shivani, Manoj, Mamta, Gurleen Singh, Sachin, Saurabh, Suresh and Ram.

Vijay Kumar Agnihotri, chairman,Punjab Ashihara Karate Federation,Ludhiana, was the chief guest.He called upon the students to take part in this game which keep them fit besides teaches to defend oneself.