Ludhiana, June 24
Alarmed by the depletion of the underground water table, Municipal Corporation here today tried to do its bit towards conservation by deciding to cut water supply hours.

Instead of getting water for 10 hours, residents will now get it for eight hours only. The supply during morning and afternoon hours will be reduced by half an hour each and the evening supply will be cut down by an hour.

The decision was taken at a meeting called by city mayor in the morning. After the meeting, senior deputy mayor Parveen Bansal said tap water would be available between 5 am to 8:30 a.m. instead of 9 a.m.

In the afternoon, it would be available from 12 to 1: 30 p.m. and in the evening from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

‘‘We want people to store water and use it judiciously. We have reached this consensus that if water supply timing is cut short only then there will be some improvement. Otherwise we are going to face a crisis situation in the years to come,’’ said Bansal.

The meeting also discussed on installing water meters so as to discourage people from wasting water. If the supply was not metered, the residents did not care for saving every drop. ‘‘We have seen that 80 per cent water supplied through taps goes waste. It is not required. If meters would be installed, they would think twice before leaving an open tap unattended, ’’ said Bansal.

It was also decided to challan the residents who wasted water despite the MC directions on its usage. The challaning would start shortly and anybody washing cars would be challaned.

The indiscriminate use of water would be discouraged.

The move to save water has evoked mixed reactions from area residents. Several residents have welcomed the step stating that saving water was the need of the hour. If the civic body had woken up to the cause, it needed to be lauded for it.

‘‘We are going to support the MC in its endeavour to save water. We all need to do it ourselves. But with the step, we our making life easier for our coming generations, ’’ said Dr Muktinder Singh, a homoeopath.

On the other hand, Virinder Bhakoo, president of the Kitchlu Nagar Welfare Association condemned the MC decision. He said people were already reeling under crisis due to hot weather. By reducing the supply time they were pressurising them all the more.

‘‘Are we not sensible enough to use water like a precious liquid? It should instead be available round the clock,’’ he added. 

Ludhiana, June 24
Rahul Setia and Sumit Gupta topped the district and secured seventh and eighth rank in the state in the Punjab PMT entrance examination, the results of which were declared last evening.

Both of them scored 696 marks out of 800 in the entrance examination. Rahul Setia, a student of Bharatya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Udham Singh Nagar, has earlier scored tenth rank in the Manipal University medical test.

"After hitting the top 10 in the Manipal University medical test, I was expecting to top the Punjab PMT entrance examination," said Rahul. He has also secured 574 rank in the all-India CBSE entrance examination.

On the other hand Sumit Gupta, a resident of Samrala, has yet again hit the top bracket by securing 8th position in the Punjab PMT by securing 696 marks out of 800 in the entrance examination.

Sumit, a student of Radha Vatika Senior Secondary School, Khanna, had earlier topped Combined Entrance Test (CET), Chandigarh, in the medical stream. Sumit Gupta, who scored 317.5 out of 360 marks, had a total percentage of 88.2.

"I was expecting that my name will figure in the top 10 in the Punjab PMT entrance examination as I secured first position in the CET, Chandigarh," said Sumit Gupta.

He said he studied for 14 hours a day. He gives the credit of his success to his parents. They encouraged him and provided all facilities to him, he added.

Despite securing top position in the CET, Chandigarh, and Punjab PMT entrance, Sumit has secured 302 all-India rank in Manipal University medical test, 95th rank in the Banaras Hindu University medical test and 144 rank in the all-India CBSE PMT.

Ludhiana, June 24
Tall claims of the state government of "rationalising" the education fall flat as private college managements continue to "fleece" students and their parents by asking for "token money" for reserving the seat for various courses here.

In absence of stern action by the authorities against the erring managements in all these years, such "exploitation" continues unabated at many colleges. According to sources, a number of college managements have been asking anything between Rs 1000-Rs 10,000 from students for getting his/her seat "reserved" for a particular course. One of the faculty member, on condition of anonymity, disclosed that this was nothing but a gimmick to lure innocent students to particular colleges.

She said average students felt insecured as they had to face difficult times while seeking admission.

"An impression is being created that there will be no seats available for the average students. If students deposited token money in advance, seats will be reserved for them. But reality is that the whole admission process depends purely on merit. How can any college management deny admission to a student scoring 80 per cent marks and reserve seat for a candidate who scores 60 per cent marks?", she said, adding that parents and students must not fall into the net.

One of the faculty members of Arya College here said colleges had initiated this move to tab brilliant students and not to fleece them. He said managements were not forcing students but the latter were interested to deposit token money to avoid unnecessary rush during admission days. "Though the admissions are scheduled from July 8, students scoring above 70 per cent can get their seats reserved for BBA, B.Com, BCA courses", he confirmed.

Madanjit Kaur Sahota, principal, Master Tara Singh College, meanwhile, said no college could reserve seat for any student in advance. "There can be some special case. Parents of students (who are already studying at college) from far-off places like Malout, Bathinda etc request us to take some money in advance as coming again will be difficult for them. We tell them that no receipt will be given to them before July 8 but they keep on insisting to take some money. In such cases we do accommodate them", she said.

Dr Manjit Singh Komal, former area secretary, PCCTU, said some of the defaulters had brought disrepute to all private colleges. "This commercialisation of education must be stopped", he added.

Ludhiana, June 24
A storm that lashed the city in the wee hours of this morning disrupted the power supply for several hours, throwing normal life out of gear. The power supply which went off around 4 am was restored in some parts of the city after three hours while several other localities remained out of power till noon.

Due to the disruption of power, residents had to go without water supply as well besides having to sweat it out in the hot and humid weather.

H.S. Randhawa, superintending engineer of the PSEB, City East Circle, told The Tribune that out of some 400 feeders in the city, 100 were affected by the squall. The areas along G.T. Road near Sahnewal, Focal Point, Rahon Road and many other localities, including Civil Lines, Model Town, Sarabha Nagar and quite a few old city colonies were the worst affected.

"The snapped power lines were repaired and other faults rectified in most of the areas by seven in the morning. However, in some other localities, where main lines were down, power could be restored around noon. While the storm did affect the power supply and to some extent the transmission lines, no damage was caused to electric poles or transformers," Randhawa added.

Meanwhile, the PSEB imposed half an hour power cut from 12.30 to 1.00 pm in some areas while other localities had an outage from 2.15 to 2.45 pm. Sources in the PSEB headquarters at Patiala said unit number 5 of Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Power Plant at Ropar was still non-functional causing a loss of 210 MW. Punjab was also drawing less power from the national grid due to two units of Sangrauli thermal project in Uttar Pradesh having been shut down.

Even with demand of power from agricultural sector being on at its peak (nearly 1350 lakh unit), the gap between demand and supply of power was not more than 15 to 20 lakh units. The cut had to be imposed due to low frequency and not owing to shortage, the sources claimed.

In a large number of city localities where power supply remained cut off till noon, residents had to make it without water supply as well. Rued Jaswinder, a working woman and resident of Civil Lines: "There was a snag in the power supply and we could not fill the overhead water tank last evening. As there is no power and we don’t have a drop of water."

Ludhiana, June 24
A portion of a two storied private building collapsed in the middle of the Manju Cinema road after an illegal hoarding fixed atop it was carried by windstorm in the small hours today.

The windstorm not only uprooted the frame on which it was fastened but a huge concrete portion of the building came crashing down. Fortunately, windstorm lashed the city in the early hours today when nobody was commuting on the road.

During the daytime, a large number of people pass through this road. Shopkeepers in the area said a major tragedy was averted as the building didn’t fell during daytime.

The issue raised many eyebrows today as the displaying of advertisements on the rooftops of the buildings was banned by the High Court a long time ago. Still the municipal corporation failed to remove the hoardings. Sources said these were put up in connivance with a close relative of a senior municipal corporation’s functionary. Thus, no action was taken in this regard.

The municipal corporation has failed to keep a check on such illegal hoardings as a large number of such advertisements could be seen all over the city.’ We hoped that some action would be taken against the violators today. But, nobody cares for humans,’’ a shopkeeper said. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh June 24
Heavy rain that lashed the town today threw the normal life out of gear besides exposing the inadequacy of infrastructure to check flooding especially in the low-lying areas. However, civic authorities claimed to have strengthened the sewerage system to cope with the situation. 

The downpour brought embarrassment for candidates contesting for the municipal council’s election as people accused them of ignoring the town’s development.

The city came to a standstill today morning with heavy downpour inundating the low-lying areas like railway road, Jawahar Nagar, Guru Nanak Nagar, Amarpura Mohalla, Mahavir Road, Dehliz Road, Gandhi Chowk, Bhagat Singh Chowk areas and the municipal council’s office.

Though the employees had reached their respective places when the rain stopped for a while, they had to sit idle for at least two hours as people had difficulty in reaching them. Shops had to remain close for longer duration in the morning.

Even, a large number of two wheelers were seen stranded on flooded roads. People preferred to hire rickshaws for reaching their respective places of work and business establishments.

Former councillors, who are trying their luck for the second time, claimed that the authorities had tried their best to tackle the situation.

“Besides supplementing drainage system we had installed more pumps to flush out the water and deputed labourers to clear the blocked drains,” maintained councillors, maintaining that disposal was major problem in all towns and cities.

Ludhiana, June 24
Workers of Centex, a woollen manufacturing unit, alleged today that they had been rendered jobless as owners were shifting the manufacturing unit to Gobindgarh near Sahnewal. The workers, who also protested outside the labour office today, said they were not even allowed to enter the premises.

“The owners shifted the unit and are not even considering employing labourers who had been working here. The company has a few other factories and instead of rendering labourers jobless or asking them to shift to the new unit, which is far from here, should adjust them in other factories of theirs,” said Harjinder Singh, president, moulder and steel workers union, which came out in support of these labourers today.

Upset over the shifting, which has affected 12-odd labourers, the union members alleged that shifting was illegal and they had even complained to the deputy director of industries in this regard?

The workers demanded that they be adjusted by the company and their previous service should also be counted. They said the factory owners should give them other benefits too and in case they were to be shifted to the new premises, conveyance be arranged accordingly.

Ludhiana, June 24
"Rivers, canals and reservoirs/wetlands of Punjab, potential natural resources of irrigation, drinking water and power generation, harbor about 25 per cent (116) of total warm water fish species of India and about 30 per cent of total fish production of the state is from these resources," said Dr V. K. Taneja, VC, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).

Over the years, due to industrialisation and urbanisation, these water resources were being used as dumping grounds for wastes/effluents and were continuously under the threat of ecological degradation, which had resulted in decline in fish population and threat to survival of 26 fish species in the major wetlands, disappearance of all the 56 fish species reported from Budha Nallah and 11 species from river Satluj near Ludhiana.

Reports of many studies revealed that toxicants especially heavy metals and pesticides were present in these water bodies beyond the permissible limits and were entering the human body through food chain causing many diseases and disorders.

Latest instance of fish mortality in Harike wetland had raised an alarm. Main causes of this fish mortality included entry of waste water of Budha Nallah being loaded with heavy metals, acids, alkalis, organic waste, runoff from agricultural fields and catchment areas having pesticides, nutrients and silt with rain water. Poisoning of water bodies for catching fish by the contractors also cannot be ruled out.

Dr Kamaldeep Kaur, dean, College of Fisheries, GADVASU, said, "Realising the pollution intensity in these waters after mass mortality of fish, supply of drinking water to various districts of Punjab and Rajasthan has been discontinued to save its human as well as livestock population from any serious health disaster, but it is a temporary solution and there is an urgent need to protect these water bodies not only for human use but also to protect its valuable fauna."

Hence, before reaching the point of no return, strategic plan should be made by the administration, Punjab Pollution Control Board, Punjab State Council for Science and Technology, GADVASU, State Fisheries Directorate, industrialists and NGOs for conservation and management of natural resources, stressed Dr Taneja. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 24
A major tragedy was averted when a tanker, filled with highly inflammable solvent, collided with a PRTC bus carrying at least 50 passengers near Momnabad village on the Ludhiana- Malerkotla road near here today.

Ten persons, including drivers of both vehicles, were injured in the mishap. Had the solvent caught fire, loss could have been massive.

The tanker (HR 37 A 2601) was heading towards Ludhiana when it collided with the PRTC bus (PB 11 E 9611) going to Hisar in Haryana.

Kirpal Singh (bus driver) of Salar village and Tarsem Singh (tanker driver) of Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi, who were seriously injured, have been shifted to multi-specialty hospitals in Ludhiana. Others were discharged after first aid.

Investigations revealed that the tanker driver had lost control over the vehicle probably after he fell sleepy. The bus, after being hit fell into dug up part of the road that is being widened. 

Ludhiana, June 24
Vigilance sleuths have arrested block development and panchayat officer (BDPO) Manoj Dhand for allegedly taking a bribe for extending favour in a land deal. The officer was nabbed at Sudhar yesterday afternoon, while receiving a bribe of Rs 25,000 on a complaint lodged by panchayat secretary Balwinder Singh.

Balwinder Singh had approached Dhand for getting a piece of land allotted on lease.

The complainant alleged that the officer demanded Rs 25,000 for doing the same. Balwinder approached the Vigilance Bureau and got Dhand arrested while accepting the bribe.

A case under the prevention of corruption act has been lodged against the accused. 

Ludhiana, June 24
Mahindra and Mahindra has tied up with Mahindra Finance to provide on-the-spot tractor loans to farmers through its dealerships. The company is holding an 'On-the-Spot-Loan Mahotsav' in eight states including Punjab. 

AGRICULTURE

Demonstration on leaf colour chart by PAU
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 24
A demonstration on resource conservation technologies for paddy cultivation was organised by PAU department of extension education in the adopted villages of Mandi, Bhar Singhpura and Kandola Kalan today wherein PAU scientists highlighted the need for judicious use of resources like fertilisers and water. 

The use of leaf colour chart (LCC) that results in saving of about 25 per cent nitrogen and tensiometer that leads to a saving of 20-25 per cent water was explained to the farmers and farmwomen. These instruments were distributed free of cost to the farmers for the purpose of demonstration. Farmers interacted with experts and cleared their doubts.

Jarnail Singh of Mandi village expressed gratefulness to PAU on behalf of the villagers for adopting their village under the scheme "identification and development of farmers/farm women/youth key-communicators/ opinion leaders for agricultural development of Punjab state". Another farmer Ajwinder Singh of the nearby Bhar Singhpura village discussed fertiliser use in paddy and shared the plan regarding environment protection through tree-plantation near their tubewells and to mobilise farmers in this direction.

Dr C.S. Arneja, senior extension specialist, shared steps on how to check depleting water table through judicious water use in paddy. Dr Manmeet Kaur and Diljeet Pal Brar discussed resource management techniques in agriculture. A large number of farmwomen of Kandola Kalan village, who participated in the demonstration, showed keen interest in self-help group (SHG) approach for natural resource management using these techniques. The gathered farmers expressed interest in the purchase of farm literature brought out by the PAU. The scientists emphasised the importance of developing rapport with Krishi Vigyan Kendras (KVKs) of the district for acquiring technical knowledge through training. The team also advised the farmers to purchase farm machinery through co-operative societies and promote custom hiring for mutual benefits.

Ludhiana, June 24
Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) conducted the common entrance test (CET) GADVASU 2008 today at R.S. Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar.

Dr V.K. Taneja, VC, GADVASU, visited various examination centres of CET GADVASU for assessing the comfort and convenience of the appearing candidates. Controller of examinations Dr S.P.S. Sangha said 939 students appeared in the test for BVSc and AH, BFSc and BTech (dairy technology) programmes.

Among the candidates, 60 per cent (569) were boys while 40 per cent (370) were girls. Further, Dr Sangha said there was great enthusiasm among the students for the entrance test. "Students have excellent scope for placement in the field in our country as well as abroad and no candidate is unemployed at present.”

Dr S.K. Jand, registrar, GADVASU, said the counselling for BVSc and AH and BFSc would be held on June 30 and July 1. Two new courses BFSc and BTech (dairy tech) were being started by the university from this academic session.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 24
Dr M.S. Kang, vice-chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, inaugurated an on-campus training programme in information technology (IT) at Bhutta College of Engineering at Bhutta village near here yesterday.

Former minister of technical education Jagdish Singh Garcha presided over the function. Officials of the NIIT, HCL Info-Systems and Oracle elaborated upon various avenues in information technology.

Appreciating the role of private engineering colleges in imparting quality education in various fields of technology, Dr Kang claimed that students of these colleges had contributed significantly in economical development of the region. He recommended that the students should be innovative and have a vision to be successful in globally competitive scenario.

Terming practical experience as complementary to theoretical knowledge gained in the class, Garcha claimed that the on-campus training programme was launched to enable the students acquire practical knowledge during studies. He apprehended that a large number of students would try to obtain fake training certificates if they were made to stay away from their residents or educational institutes. The arrangement would prepare industry-ready professionals, said Garcha. 

Jagraon, June 24
Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Jagraon, Mandeep Kaur Bedi today extended the police remand of Manjeet Singh, alias Meeta of Bardeke and Gurbhej Singh, alias Sonu of Pakharpur, Kathunangal in Amritsar, till June 26 on the request of Rattan Singh, state’s counsel.

The counsel had sought remand for further interrogation of the duo in FIR No.137 (June 17, 2008) under Sections 121, 121A, 123, 153, 153A and 120B of the IPC and Sections 3, 4, 5 of the Explosive Act. The Ludhiana (Rural) police had on June 17 recovered 24.5 kg explosives, 25 detonators and wires from them. The state counsel while pleading for the another seven days police remand stated that it was needed for sorting out their links with Jagmohan Singh of Fatehgarh Sahib, who’s name was disclosed by them.

Besides, finding the mobile number from which they received a massage for getting the delivery once the consignment of arms arrives from the Ferozpur border.

The police also wanted to verify about Gurmeet Singh, alias Bagga, from Jhaj village to which he belongs. Gurmeet is presently in Germany. After hearing both sides Bedi extended the police remand of the duo for another two days.

Ludhiana, June 24
On the penultimate day of the first Senior National 20 Cricket Tournament being played at the Punjab Agricultural University campus grounds here today, hosts Punjab along with Uttar Pradesh, Uttranchal and Maharashtra secured berths in the last four.

In the semi-finals, slated for tomorrow morning, Punjab will take on Uttranchal while Maharashtra will play against Uttar Pradesh.

However, it is worth mentioning here that all the matches conducted today were of 10 overs each side. When asked, the organisers said since the outcome of the matches played on Tuesday would not affect the standing of teams which had already qualified for the semi-finals, so a decision was taken to hold ties of 10 overs.

Today, in the first match, Jammu and Kashmir scored an emphatic 35-run victory over Haryana. Put in to bat, Jammu and Kashmir scored 73 for the loss of 8 wickets with the main contributions coming through Wasim (19), Murtaza (18) and Bashir (14).

For Haryana, Parvinder took four wickets for 10 runs in two overs while Riasat Ali grabbed two for 27 runs.

In reply, Haryana were bowled out for just 38 runs in 9.2 overs. Only Gurjant (11) could reach double figure. For the winners, Mudassar claimed four wickets after conceding just four runs while Wasim accounted for two wickets for 10 runs.

In the second match, Maharashtra pipped Madhya Pradesh by two runs. In reply to Maharashtra's total of 65 for 6 in which Aamir remained not out on 21 and Rohit scored 13 runs, Madhya Pradesh could muster 63 runs after losing 7 wickets.

In other matches, Chandhigarh (102 for 7) beat Tamil Nadu (93 for 8) by nine runs; Delhi (141 for 5) outplayed Himachal Pradesh (121 for 4) by 20 runs; Himachal Pradesh (49 for 5) defeated Andhra Pradesh (34 all out) by 15 runs and Rajasthan (42) outclassed Tamil Nadu (31) by 11 runs.

Ludhiana, June 24
On the eve of the Cricket World Cup, as Indian team is celebrating the silver jubilee of its feat, a self-styled national cricket association has made a mockery of the game by organising whooping nine matches of 10 overs each instead of the scheduled 20-over matches in a day.

The Punjab State 20 Cricket Association, which is organising a national-level cricket tournament at different venues of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), today organised as many as nine matches to wrap up the tournament in a hurry.

The squeezed version of the game disappointed many players who came here from various states to participate in the tournament.

While talking to The Tribune over the phone, official scorer of the tournament said, "Four teams have already qualified for the tournament and win or loss of the rest of the teams does not really matter. Therefore, we decided to organise a 10-over match instead of the usual 20 over.”

Curtailing of the overs of matches in the tournament to just 10 overs has greatly disappointed the players.

"This is sheer mockery of cricket as we have travelled more than 2000 kms just to play in the tournament but we were made to play matches of 10 overs each, making a fun of the game," said, players from the Tamil Nadu team on the condition of anonymity.

As many as 16 teams are participating in this tournament, which is being played on league and knockout basis.

This for the first time this association has organised a cricket tournament.

Even Punjab sports minister Gulzar Singh Ranike attended the opening ceremony of the cricket tournament. Repeated attempts to contact the general secretary of the organising association yielded no results.