Ludhiana, June 13
Stung by the opposition from shopkeepers of Ghumar Mandi yesterday, the MC today refrained from sealing more buildings and deferred the drive.

The MC had sealed seven shops yesterday and had to return midway following strong protests. The shopkeepers’ association had given a bandh call.

Playing safe, the MC did not seal any shop today. Joint commissioner Ashok Bajaj said the drive would restart but due to the protests, the MC postponed it at least for today.

Shopkeepers did not open shops this morning and a heavy posse of police was deputed in the area. Chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda, through a public address system, urged shopkeepers to open shops, which they did.

Rajinder Pilot, general secretary of the shopkeepers’ association said they had deferred the protest. ‘‘Dhanda has assured us that our shops would not be sealed if we continue with our business in a usual way. We have decided to wait and watch,’’ he said.

Meanwhile, councillor Gurpreet Singh Gogi held a meeting of Congress councillors and leaders at his house today. The leaders condemned the registration of case against Gogi and decided to take up the matter with the party high command.

Gogi alleged that Dhanda had threatened the shopkeepers to open their shops and boycott the bandh call, else all shops would be sealed.

Ludhiana, June 13
The MC demolition squad today razed seven newly constructed shops on the Gaushala road amid protests by shopkeepers and an SAD leader.

Led by the joint commissioner, Ashok Bajaj, the team reached the area and demolished the shops. This led to protests by shopowners and it was joined by an SAD leader and husband of a councillor, Amarjit Singh Bhatia.

The shopkeepers stopped the joint commissioner's car when he was leaving after the demolition. Bajaj stepped out of the car and Bhatia argued with him.

The shopkeepers reportedly misbehaved with senior town planner Balkar Singh Brar when he was about to leave the spot. Brar justified the MC action, stating that the shops had been constructed without getting the site plan approved.

The protesters raised slogans against the MC and the state government. One of the shopkeepers showed the registered sale deed of his shop and said the construction was completed three months ago.

“Nobody said anything to me then. After I spent lakhs of rupees, the structures were pulled down,” he said, claiming that he was not issued any notice.

‘‘I used 150 sq yards instead of 300 and they still say it is an encroachment. I want them to tell me which part was an encroachment. I would have demolished that portion myself,’’ he added.

Ludhiana, June 13
A team of health officials raided some dairy complexes in Haibowal, allegedly involved in the sale of synthetic milk, ghee and refined oil.

The team took cream and milk samples from various dairies in A and B blocks. The team raided house of Ram Kumar and seized synthetic milk being made from refined oil and water. The milk was stored in drums to be sold in adjoining areas.

A dairy owned by Jagtar Singh was also raided and he was caught preparing synthetic ghee, milk and refined oil.

Ludhiana, June 13
Carrying forward their campaign against the government's financial sector reforms, bank employees will hold a protest demonstration here on June 18. The employees will also hold a state-level rally on July 5 here.

The rally would involve participation of around 2,000 bank employees from across the state, said Naresh Gaur, secretary of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation.

Gaur said the issues that would be taken up at the demonstration and the rally would relate to attempts at privatisation of banks, mergers and consolidation, unrestricted entry of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in banking sector and interest-free loans to weaker sections.

The union members also condemned mobilising of high-cost deposits from large corporates and granting low- cost advances to corporate houses.

They said issues like stringent laws for recovery of non-performing assets (NPAs) and mergers of regional rural banks in sponsoring banks needed to be dealt with properly after discussing various aspects concerning them.

Ludhiana, June 13
The Progressive Dairy Farmers' Association has procured imported semen of high-genetic merit Holstein Friesian bulls from the US.

The information was given by Daljit Singh Gill, president of the association, at the monthly seminar organised by the department of veterinary and animal husbandry extension, directorate, Extension Education, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary & Animal Sciences University here today.

The semen of three progeny-tested bulls has the progeny's average lactation milk yield of about 12,500 litres and 3.8 per cent fat.

The animal husbandry department, Punjab, repeatedly requested for permission to import the semen of high-genetic merit to the Union Government but due to some restrictions, it could not be allowed.

Now the government gave the permission to the National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) for the import of 20,000 doses of semen of high-genetic merit Holstein Friesian bulls.

The association procured 5,000 doses of imported semen for use in Punjab after getting the approval from the animal husbandry department. Dr O S Parmar,
director, Extension Education, GADVASU, inaugurated the first consignment of the imported semen.

Dr Parmar congratulated the association for the procurement of the semen, which will be beneficial for the dairy farmers and discussed its importance for the improvement in the genetic potential of crossbred cattle.

He also stressed on the record keeping of the progenies of these bulls for proper evaluation of the bulls for the future. A small proportion (approximately 1,800 doses) of semen was distributed to the farmers on this occasion.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 13
Timely action by public and the police saved lives of three persons who were injured in two separate accidents during the past 24 hours.

Sanjay Sood, a prospective candidate for the municipal election, was rescued by the police and the passersby when the car he was driving turned turtle in a ditch near Akbarpur Chhanna village on Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, near here, last evening.

It is learnt that Sood, who was returning from Malerkotla, lost control over the vehicle while managing a turn.

When he applied brakes suddenly, the vehicle turned at an angle of 180 degrees and turned turtle in a pit on the opposite side of the road.

Passersby broke open the windows and rescued Sood. He was shifted by the police to a private hospital here.

According to an FIR registered with the Sudhar police, Harjinder Singh of Kamalpura and Sarup Kaur were injured when a scoter driven by Gursharash Singh collided head-on with their two-wheeler.

The victims were shifted by passersby and the Sudhar police to a hospital at Jagraon. Gursharan Singh was booked for negligent driving.

Councillor Simarjit Singh Bains said the corporation could make up for the losses incurred due to abolition of octroi from the advertisements.

The power supply to Manakwal, Memoodpura, Tera Nagar, Roop 
Nagar, Satjot Nagar, GK Vihar and Dhandra will remain suspended 
from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday.

They both were arrested by the police. They were produced in the court today and were sent to judicial custody.

They were held from Sector 32, Industrial Area. They were allegedly caught in compromising positions.

Ludhiana, June 13
Reliance Retail Limited (RRL) launched its first jewellery store in the region here today. This is the company's third store in the country.

Spread across two floors, the jewellery store offers over 20,000 designs in gold and diamond jewellery.

Bijou Kurien, president and chief executive, lifestyle, said, "The store is another milestone in our effort to bring a unique shopping experience with assured purity of gold and certification of diamonds."

The gold jewellery range encompasses Kolkata filigree, Rajkot antique, kundan from Rajasthan, jadau from Amritsar, etc.

The company is offering BIS hallmarked gold jewellery and diamond jewellery certified by an independent international certification laboratory.

Ludhiana, June 13
The CET conducted by the PTU every year have generated a lot of controversy. Students, parents and social organisations have been demanding the scrapping of the tests as these were nothing, but a way of "minting money".

A section of society here feels that the CET should be scrapped and admissions should be made as per the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).

Public Cause, an NGO, has alleged that the university must not be allowed to "fill its pockets" under the garb of counselling, which earned about Rs 8 crore every year.

A.K. Bhandari, general secretary, Public Cause, said on June 16, 2005, the then technical education minister, Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, had said the PTU CET would be scrapped from 2006.

"It has been two years, but the tests are still being conducted," he said, adding that Tamil Nadu, Haryana, Kerala and UP had already scrapped the CET.

Parents allege that on the one hand, they are asked to pay heavy counselling fee and on the other, many institutes give advertisements in various sections of the media for direct admissions.

Every year, thousands of seats remain vacant in institutes affiliated to the PTU. In 2005-06, the total available engineering seats were 13,400 out of which 4,400 remained vacant. In 2006-07, there were 7,800 seats, out of which 3,859 had remained vacant.

"Private colleges are being opened by business houses as profit-making ventures with the least regard for education. Some colleges admitted students by charging fees far below the one prescribed by the government so that they could attract more ‘customers’ not students," alleged Sunil Manchanda, a parent who had to pay Rs 40,000 during last year’s counselling.

A PTU official said on the condition of anonymity that the university was holding the tests as per the government's decision. "Scrapping it is the government's decision and we will adhere to it," he said.

Ludhiana, June 13
The committee constituted to resolve the on-going stalemate prevailed between two groups of the PCCTU recommended some new proposals to maintain the unity and solidarity of 59-year-old organisation of college teachers.

Kuldeep Singh, general secretary of the union, in a press statement today said Brar-Jagwant group had already accepted the new proposals but the other group had not accepted these yet.

As per the constitution of PCCTU, the term of previous executive committee was expired on May 15, 2008. The elections of district councils for the year 2008-09 were held statewide on May 4.

Kuldeep Singh said it was unfortunate on one side committee recommended proposals to end the stalemate, while on other hand, other group was trying to tarnish the unity moves of the committee.

Dr Dilawari added that like all other programmes, the percentage of girls was more (79 per cent) than the boys among the candidates.

Ludhiana, June 13
The court of additional sessions judge Kishore Kumar has convicted five persons on the charge of murdering Jarnail Singh of Chakar village, Jagraon, in March 2005 by firing gun shots.

All the accused were sentenced to undergo rigorous life imprisonment. Those convicted incldued Jasbir Singh (25), Parminder Singh, alias Goni (30), Baljinder Singh (24) and Darshan Singh (32), residents of Chakar village, and Balbir Singh (30) of Boudey village. They have also been ordered to pay a fine of Rs 1,000 each.

Delivering the verdict, the judge held that the prosecution had proved the charges levelled against the accused beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt. The judge turned down the plea of leniency raised by the accused.

According to the prosecution, the deceased was a previous murder convict. After completing his sentence, he was living with his family at Chakar village.

He was having enmity with the accused due to the previous murder, which he had committed. On March 5, 2005, he was standing at some distance from his house. The accused, armed with deadly weapons like pistols, attacked him.

He expired on the spot. A case under Sections 302, 148 and 149 of the IPC was registered against the accused on the statement of Gurmeet Kaur, wife of the deceased, at Jagraon police station.

However, all the accused had pleaded innocence. But finding cogent and convincing evidence against them, the court sentenced them.

Ludhiana, June 13
Loveneet Singh and Pawandeep Kaur, both trainees of Ludhiana Basketball Academy run here at Guru Nanak Stadium, have been named captains of the Punjab boys’ and girls’ teams.

They will take part in the 35th Sub-junior National Basketball Championship to be held from June 15 to 21 at Kapurthala, announced Teja Singh Dhaliwal, honorary secretary, Basketball Association. Teams:

Boys: Loveneet Singh, Kushneet Singh, Manipal Singh, Satnam and Sameer Sen from Ludhiana Basketball Academy, Arjun Prasad from Ludhiana, Inderjit Singh and Maneer from Mansa, Navjot and Gagandeep from Ferozepur, Chetan from Kapurthala and Sehajdeep Singh from Patiala.

Gurjinder Singh and Jagroop Singh will accompany the team as coach and assistant coach, respectively, while Ajay Chopra will be the manager.

Girls: Pawandeep Kaur from Ludhiana Basketball Academy, Sukhnoor, Parminder, Sarabjit, Jaspreet, Harpreet and Manpreet Kaur from Gurdaspur, Amandeep Kaur and Sukhdeep Kaur from Sangrur, Savita, Kamaljit and Rakhi from Kapurthala.

Kanwarjit Singh has been appointed coach of the squad, while Ashwani Kumar and P.S. Nijjar will accompany the team as assistant coach and manager, respectively.