Ludhiana, June 12
The municipal corporation today sealed seven shops in Ghumar Mandi for building bylaw violations amidst violent protests from shopkeepers and Congress councillors. They laid a siege on National Road and Arti Chowk, blocking the Ludhiana-Ferozepore highway, and set several waste tyres afire, causing inconvenience to hundreds of people.

The Civil Lines police lodged two FIRs against the protesters. It booked area councillor Gurpreet Singh Gogi, Pawan Batra and several other shopkeepers for staging a dharna and blocking traffic on Ferozepore Road.

Another showroom owner, Satish Kumar, was booked for obstructing MC employees from performing their duty.

An MC team led by Joint Commissioner Ashok Bajaj sealed seven establishments in four different buildings in Ghumar Mandi in a morning operation.

The shops that were sealed included Silver Mod, two shops of Shabnam Boutique, Hot Spot, TQS, Swaran Jewellers and Choice Lehngas.

As soon as the team reached New Shopping Centre, area councillor and Congress leader Gogi protested and threatened suicide if the team sealed the shops in the complex. The MC team had to go back without completing their work.

Soon after, the agitators asked the entire Ghumar Mandi shopkeepers to shut down their shops in protest. Gogi along with another Congress councillor, Parminder Mehta, and their supporters staged a dharna on National Road for more than an hour. The traffic remained blocked and people spoke about inconvenience while talking to the media.

Ludhiana, June 12
The District Food and Civil Supplies Controller (DFSC) seized 10 duplicate and two underweight cylinders from Azad Gas Agency in Haibowal here today. Department officials also detected instances of forcing customers to buy retail products by K.C. Gas near Jagraon Bridge.

At Azad Gas, officials detected irregularities in books of accounts as the actual number of cylinders was lesser by 30 in number than those mentioned in the records.

Officials conducted investigations on receiving complaints from customers against both these agencies.

"Several consumers complained that K.C. Gas forced them to buy retail products that the agency offered besides forcing them to buy gas pipes with every refill. Though not widely prevalent, we found that the agency was indeed indulging in such practices, causing undue harassment to its customers. We will take up the matter with Hindustan Petroleum (HP)," said Ajvir Singh Sarao, DFSC West.

Officials said retailing of items of daily use had been started by oil companies but forcing customers to purchase them amounted to harassment and was not permitted.

In case of Azad Gas, the department served a notice, lodged a complaint with the SSP and also with Indane Gas for action.

"We have sought a reply from the agency and at the same time lodged a complaint with the police. Indane Gas has also been intimated about violation of LPG Control Orders by Azad Gas."

Duplicate cylinders, said officials, were found in a separate room within the agency's premises. The team of officials, during the investigations, found 10 such cylinders. "It is a serious offence as duplicate cylinders can be sold off as original. They can pose a major safety threat."

The weight of two cylinders was found 500 gm lesser than the prescribed weight. On inspecting the books of accounts, it was found that the actual number of cylinders was 30 lesser than what was mentioned in the books. The department suspects that "missing" cylinders might have been sold off in black or misused.

The department has been receiving numerous complaints from consumers due to which it has tightened its noose against gas agencies. 

Ludhiana, June 12
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) is pressurising the district administration and the police to withdraw criminal cases lodged against party’s councillor Hans Raj and other residents who had dismantled the liquor vend set up in a park in the Karabara Chowk here earlier this week.

Addressing a press conference here today, general secretary of the state unit of the party Ramanjit Badhan said a deputation of senior party leaders had met the SSP and district officials in this regard. The SSP had marked an inquiry to the DSP.

Lambasting the SAD-BJP government in the state for promoting the liquor trade to earn more revenue, the BSP leader said it was regrettable that the liquor traders were encroaching upon every nook and cranny while the authorities express their helplessness.

“It is ridiculous that on one hand the government is projecting itself as committed to wean away the youth from drugs and other intoxicating substances, but on the other hand all laws and norms are thrown to the winds to accommodate liquor vends,” Badhan observed.

He further alleged that a large number of senior functionaries of the SAD were involved in multi-crore drug trade in Punjab and adjoining states. The BSP was planning to expose such political persons and dual policy of the ruling combine.

“Presently, the law and order in the state has worsened; trade, industry and the farm sector are being deprived of electricity, economy is in a shambles but oblivious to all this, the government is making false claims of having fulfilled its poll promises.”

The BSP functionary cautioned that if the government failed to withdraw false cases in connection with removal of liquor vend, the party would launch a mass movement. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 12
The filing of nomination papers for the municipal elections, scheduled for June 30, started on a sluggish note here today.

Only six candidates filed their nominations papers for the civic body poll at the sub-registrar’s office here today. Five of the six candidates who submitted their papers today to assistant returning officer Manjit Singh are new faces.

This is for the first time that the administration has arranged submission of nominations at the sub-registrar’s office. Earlier, candidates and their supporters wasted a lot of time in traveling to Malerkotla town for filling nomination papers and participating in other meetings regarding the scrutiny of nomination papers and allotment of symbols.

The authorities concerned don’t expect a rush of prospective candidates for filing nomination papers even tomorrow. A number of prospective candidates are interested in filing their papers on Saturday, and as such, a heavy rush was expected on that day.

The prospective candidates are working overtime to win over the maximum number of voters. They are going from house to house with copies of voters’ list, confirming the number of votes in each house and also wooing voters. They are also distributing election material while making tall claims. The prospective candidates are busy appeasing voters by arranging liquor for them.

Election offices are being set up with just a fortnight to go for the polling. Banners have also been put up at a few places in the town.

Jaspal Singh Jassie, SDM, Malerkotla, has called upon office- bearers of a few parties to impress upon to maintain decorum during poll process. He cautioned that nobody would be allowed to violate norms laid down by the election commission. Women employees have been exempted from the poll duties 

Jagraon,June 12
Former minister Malkit Singh Dakha along with district president Bhulinder Singh and MLA Gurdeep Singh Bhaini today announced the names of the candidates contesting the local municipal elections slated to be held on June 30.

Out of the total 19 wards,Congress will contest on 15 seats,on three independent candidates will be fielded and the name of one is yet to be announce. The names od the selected candidates are Avtar Singh Palah (general) ward No.1; Paramjit Kaur (SC, woman) ward No.3; Inderjit Singh Lohat (SC, male) ward No.4; Amar Nath Kalyan (SC male) ward No.5; Daljit Kaur (SC, woman) ward No.6; Daljit Kaur Sivian (general, woman) ward No.7; Nachhatar Singh (SC, male) ward No. 8; Bakhtawar Singh Nikka (SC, male) ward No.10; Raman Kumar (general) ward No.11; Naresh Kumar Ghaint (general) ward No.13; Jaswinder Singh Puppa (general) ward No.14; Anju Setia (general, woman) ward No.15; Ravinder Kumar Pheena (general, male) ward No.16; Chander Parkash (BC) ward No.18 and Nirmaljit Kaur (general) ward No.19 will contest on the Congress ticket. Sudha Bhardwaj in ward No.9; Bimla Devi in ward No. 12 and Kanwarpal Singh in ward No.17 are being supported by the Congress. No announcement has been made with regard to ward No. 2 which is reserved for Scheduled Castes and is likely to be announced shortly. Akali BJP has already announced their candidates for the coming civic poll. 

Ludhiana, June 12
Jagdish Sharma of Lucknow used to dream of his son’s better future while white washing houses in that city. Instead, he is running from one city to another and from one village to another in search of his son, who went missing from Lucknow two weeks ago after failing in matriculation examination.

His son, Pardeep Sharma, had taken the failure to his heart and ran away from Lucknow with his friend. The anxious parents are searching for them but in vain.

About 10 days ago, the other boy returned home alone. He told pardeep’s parents that he had taken up a job in Ludhiana. Jagdish immediately rushed to the city but could not locate him. Pardeep’s friend had given the mobile number of his employer.

Crying bitterly, Jagdish said when he called at that number, a man replied the he lived near Moga city but Pardeep had left him. The man told him he had given Rs 100 to Pardeep on June 4 for returning to his village.

However, a week has passed since then and the boy still remains untraced. Jagdish had already lodged a missing report with the Lucknow police.

Ludhiana, June 12
Terming the denial of a mediclaim to be unjustified, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has ordered the officials of United India Insurance Company to pay Rs 1 lakh to an aggrieved consumer.

Passing the order, president of the forum J.S. Chawla and its member Daljit Singh Bakshi directed the company to pay Rs 2,500 on account of mental pain and agony suffered by him due to denial of claim and that too without any plausible reason.

The orders were passed while deciding the complaint filed by senior citizen Baldev Jindal (69) of Kitchlu Nagar, Ludhiana. In his complaint, the consumer had stated that he along with his wife was regularly taking mediclaim policy for Rs 1 lakh each from the company. It was renewed on March 18, 2005 and was valid for one more year.

On April 15, 2005, he suffered pain in the chest and was hospitalised in the Hero Heart Centre. He was discharged after 14 days as he had undergone coronary angiography. Thereafter, he underwent bye-pass surgery in Escort Heart Hospital, New Delhi. An amount of Rs 2,34,864 was spent on his treatment. But, the insurance company refused to pay the claim, added consumer.

On the other hand, the insurance company justified the denial of mediclaim to the consumer on grounds that the consumer was hospitalised within 30 days after getting the insurance cover, such claim was not payable as per the terms and conditions of the policy. Moreover, the consumer was having pre-existing disease of hypertension since 25 years, as per the discharge summary of Escort hospital.

But the forum did not agree with both reasons cited by the company for denying the claim. It observed that the insurance company had admitted that the consumer was getting mediclaim policy regularly since 1999. The condition of not paying the claim, if the claim was reported within 30 days was for the new persons taking policy only, which was not applicable in this case.

Apart from this the forum not found the hypertension to be the cause of the present disease. It also specifically mentioned the law laid down by higher courts to the effect that the hypertension, diabetes were normal wear and tear of life particularly in the highly urbanized and industrialized cities.

Ludhiana, June 12
Industrialists and experts asserted on forming clusters to emerge globally competitive in a seminar conducted by the Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) here last evening.

B.K. Trivedi of CII said nearly 140 clusters of various industries with 1,100 units functioning in them were operational in the country. In case of Ludhiana, Avon Cycles had formed a cluster by including nine companies along with. The move was resulting in major saving in costs for the industry.

CII had also stepped forward to forming cluster for handtools, machine tools and other industries, added Trivedi.

Onkar Singh Pahwa of Avon Cycles, Charanjit Singh Vishwakarma, president of United Cycle Parts Manufacturers Association, J.R. Singhal and Avtar Singh Bhogal were 
among others present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, June 12
PAU would honour farmers with three awards namely S. Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award, Parwasi Bharti Award and S. Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award, according to director of extension education Dr N.S. Malhi.

These awards will be presented to selected farmers on the eve of Kisan Mela to be held at PAU campus, Ludhiana, in September this year. The application forms for the above awards can be obtained from the associate/deputy directors (T), Krishi Vigyan Kendras, director, regional stations, district extension specialists, district extension coordinators, chief agriculture officers, deputy directors of horticulture in different districts of Punjab and directorate of extension education, PAU.

Dr Malhi added that the last date for the receipt of applications in the office of the director of extension education, PAU, would be July 7. For each award, separate application would be accepted.

Giving details about these awards, Dr Malhi said S. Dalip Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award would carry a cash award of Rs 5,000 along with a plaque and citation and self cultivating farmers of field crops in the state of Punjab would be eligible for the award.

The Parwasi Bharti Award would carry Rs 8,000 cash along with a plaque and citation and self cultivating farmers engaged in diversified farming system would be eligible, said Dr Malhi.

The S. Ujagar Singh Dhaliwal Memorial Award carrying Rs 3,100 cash along with a plaque and citation is open to self cultivating vegetable growers who put alteast 60 per cent area of their operational holding under vegetable crops in winter as well as summer seasons.

Ludhiana, June 12
A two-day training course on ‘Operation and Adjustments of Laser-Leveller’ was organised on June 10 and 11 by the training unit in collaboration with the department of farm power, machinery, soil and water engineering of College of Agriculture Engineering, PAU.

As many as 30 participants, including engineers, technicians from the department of agriculture, Punjab, and farmers participated in the programme. They learnt various adjustments of this machine in the field during operation.

Dr P.K. Gupta, dean of the college, who was the chief guest during the concluding function, said declining water table and degrading soil health were the major concerns and laser land-levelling was an important technology for using water efficiently as it reduced irrigation time and enhanced productivity of not only water but also of other non-water farm inputs.

Dr S.S. Ahuja, head of the department of farm power and machinery, informed that laser-leveller technology saved 25-30 per cent water and 30 per cent time and also improved productivity by 10-15 per cent.

Dr M.P. Kaushal, head, department of soil and water engineering, said the technology was applicable to larger fields where farmer had the option to reduce operating time by 10 to 15 per cent. Dr Manjeet Singh, incharge, training unit and coordinator of the event, informed that the training had been organised under the Central Sector Scheme for the promotion and strengthening of agricultural mechanisation through training and demonstration approved by the department of agriculture and cooperation,  ministry of agriculture. 

Ludhiana, June 12
Grand finale of summer camp was held at Bal Bharati Public School on the concluding day of the camp here today.

An art exhibition, computer presentation programme and a cultural show were organised for the parents. Kids were taught swimming, dramatics, clay modeling, art and craft, dance, instrumental music and computer by the experts. Around 250 children from the age group of three to 12 participated. Art exhibition displayed all the artistic creations of children prepared during the camp.

Around 700 parents witnessed the computer presentation programme and imaginative creations of their wards.

Yoga camp: A two-day Yoga camp was organised at Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Ludhiana under the guidance of Shri Krishan Lal Gupta, president, Patanjali Yog Samiti, Punjab. Students and staff were given demonstration of various aasans and pranayams.

Camp at Rajeshwari Kala Mandir: As many as 600 students are participating in various activities in a summer camp organised at Rajeshwari Kala Mandir.

Skating, dance, music, fine arts, mehndi, beautician, computer, candle making and painting are taught. An exhibition on the last day will be organised.

Ludhiana, June 12
The add-on courses started by the University Grants Commission (UGC) need to be restructured as a large number of students have been forced to cope-up with vast syllabi. Secondly, the courses were losing its importance to the “poor” monitoring by the funding agency.

The add-on courses offer certificate, diploma and advance diploma courses in the call centre, nursery teacher training (NSS), dress designing, fashion designing, personality grooming, insurance business, office management and information technology. But, the real spirit seems to be defeated as sources reveal that a few institutions opted for these just to get huge grants from the UGC.

One of the faculty member disclosed that the managements admitted students free of cost whenever only a few took admissions in such courses. These were introduced to make students aware of the market-oriented programmes.

“It was a novel idea to introduce the vocational courses on which the UGC is spending crores of rupees. But a large number of college managements are not taking it seriously. In the absence of proper qualified staff, students were losing interest in such courses”, she added.

Megha Jain, a BA I student of a local college, said: “ I had opted for fashion designing certificate course. After sometime it become impossible for me to cover the syllabi of compulsory subjects in addition to the add-on courses. We used to attend zero and late classes. I had to discontinue it as I was not able to handle so much pressure”, she complained adding that condition of bona fide student should be lifted by the funding agency.

Dr Madanjit Kaur Sahota, principal, Master Tara Singh Memorial College for Women, said the UGC or the university alone should not be blamed for students’ failure. Commitment from all fronts was needed to take any challenge. “The concept of add-on courses is unique. But students, already reeling under pressure, find it difficult to handle so-much syllabi”, she said hoping that newly-introduced add-on cell at Panjab University, Chandigarh, will take necessary steps for running smoothly.