Ludhiana, July 1
Gurvinder Kaur, seven months pregnant, was allegedly killed for dowry here today. She was found dead by her father Harchand Singh this morning, after he was informed by her in-laws that she was vomiting and her condition was critical.

Harchand Singh of Thikriwala village, Fatehgarh Sahib, reached Beantpura only to find his daughter dead.

He complained to the police that her in-laws were seeking more dowry from him and said she was poisoned by them.

Gurvinder (23) was married to Parminder Singh of Beantpura eight months ago. She was constantly harassed for more dowry, he alleged.

The police has booked Parminder Singh, his mother Nacchattar Kaur and two sisters under Sections 304-B and 34, IPC. Parminder Singh and Nacchattar Kaur have been arrested.

The assistant SHO of Division No. 7, Davinder Pal Singh, said the role of the victim’s father-in-law was also being investigated. He had not been booked yet.

The body has been sent for postmortem at the civil hospital. She was suspected to have been poisoned but the cause of her death has not been ascertained. Her viscera has been sent for further examination.

The SHO said the victim’s husband owned a medical store. She was being pressured to get a motorcycle and a washing machine.

Harchand Singh told the police that she was very unhappy at her in-laws’ house and would often talk about it whenever she visited her parents. They, however, told her to adjust, saying that things would be normal soon.

Unscheduled Holiday
Last day, but education board says no to forms
Mohit Khanna
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 1
It was the last day for the submission of Class X compartment forms at the Punjab State Education Board depot (Punjab Bhawan) today, but students from across the district had to return without giving the forms. The department was closed in view of the holiday announced by the state government on the death of Dr Kewal Krishan, former speaker and finance minister, last evening.

The students complained that the department was closed for the past three days and today was the last day to submit the forms.

They said now they would have to pay Rs 500 as late fee for no fault of theirs.

A group of students from Mangli village that visited the board book depot twice in five days complained about the “careless attitude” of depot officials.

“Today when we reached to submit our forms, department officials refused to accept these and asked us to come tomorrow. We cannot visit the city every day,” students from Mangli complained.

Another student who came from Khanna said: “If the state government had announced a holiday, the depot should have at least accepted the forms of those who had come from far away. The department should have appointed someone to take the forms. I will have to pay more money and will have to travel all the from Khanna to submit the form again.”

Gurleen Kaur from Jagraon, the only girl in the queue, criticised the attitude of the officials. “If these employees had travelled in a crowded bus in this weather, they would have realised our problem,” she said.

A depot official said: “We can understand the inconvenience caused to the students, but due to the holiday, the department is closed and there is no place to keep the forms. Late fee, however, will not be charged.”

Rains spell doom for low-lying areas
Anshu Seth
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 1
With failure on part of the municipal corporation to ensure healthy living conditions even after the advent of monsoon, the probability of outbreak of diseases has increased in low-lying areas.

The residents of various colonies in Giaspura, Tajpur road, Salem Tapri and Kot Mangal Singh Nagar have been forced to live in deplorable conditions, as the recent rains have converted vacant areas into pools, thereby making them a breeding ground for mosquitoes.

Compounding the problem, people are forced to dispose waste in these plots in the absence of garbage bins in Makkar Colony, Shanti Nagar, Fauji Colony and other areas near Sherpur.

At the same time, the health department has failed to organise awareness campaigns ignoring the statement issued by the Indian Medical Association cautioning the residents against stagnant water, which breeds mosquitoes and causes malaria and dengue fever.

Protesting against the prevailing conditions, Rajni said: “The stench emanating from the heaps of waste floating in water is unbearable and it has become a nightmare for the residents living nearby.”

Pointing towards the missing supply of potable water in the area, a grocery store owner, Manikchand, said the health authorities had neither visited the area nor had they collected a single water sample.

“A large number of houses receive murky water bearing foul smell but all complaints made to area councillor Jaspal Singh Giaspura have fallen on deaf ears,” rued the store owner.

Civil surgeon Dr Satpal Sharma said: “The role of the health department comes at the time of outbreak and we are well-equipped to deal with catastrophe. The prerogative of taking preventive measures lies with the municipal corporation.”

Ludhiana, July 1
With the new time table of Northern Railway taking effect from today, the computerised railway enquiry (139) along with touch-screen machines for reservation status in the zone has been blocked till July 5 in order to feed the data of revised schedule of different trains running in the region.

Railway officials said till the computerised railway enquiry and touch-screen machines became functional on July 6, passengers will have to rely on manual enquiry system. Information on the status of reservation will also have to be obtained from reservation counters.

According to officials at the divisional headquarter of Northern Railway at Ferozepur, 23 new trains had been introduced in the zone, routes of five others had been extended, around 10 trains would have greater frequency during the week while changes had been made in days of running of four trains.

Also, timings had been rescheduled for nine trains and three others would have new places of origin or new destinations.

“To provide accurate information to passengers, new data has to be fed into the servers and existing information about several trains has to be updated. For this, the call centre enquiry and system feeding touch-screen machines has been blocked for five days,” a railway official said.

In the intervening period, passengers may have to face some difficulty in obtaining information about schedule of trains and their reservation status but they will have to bear till the computerised enquiry and machines became operational, added the officials.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 1
The SAD-BJP bigwigs lost miserably in the municipal council elections here in spite of having entire government machinery at their beck and call prior to the elections.

Alleged pressure by administrative officers, promises of jobs and quotas by SAD-BJP candidates and door-to-door canvassing by ministers notwithstanding, the alliance could not save its heavyweights from being flogged by their opponents in yesterday’s election.

The defeat of Jagwant Singh Jaggie, a confidante of MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, in ward No. 11 has left top leaders of the alliance frustrated. They had begged for votes for him during campaigning last week.

Dhindsa was known to have “directed” rank and file in the administration to impress upon residents to support him.

Even chief parliamentary secretary Harish Rai Dhanda and former chairman Jagjit Singh Ghungrana had gone from door to door to beg votes for him.

District authorities in various departments, a DSP from Patiala and a director from Chandigarh had visited houses of members of a particular community to harness support for Jaggie, but the party high command was shocked to find Jaggie reeling at fourth position out of six candidates in fray.

Rakesh Verma, a senior SAD leader whose party ticket was withdrawn due to a claim made by former state president Bharatiya Yuva Morcha Ashootosh Vinayak, secured just 68 votes in ward No. 10. He is also the general secretary of the All-India Sikh Students Federation led by Gurcharan Singh Grewal.

Only two out of seven SAD candidates emerged victorious yesterday.

SAD candidate Shiraj Mohammad, who was reported winner earlier, had lost to Khushi Mohamad.

Defeat of all five BJP candidates resulted in allegations and counter-allegations by candidates and the unit presidents.

While Ashootosh Vinayak accused president Vijay Goyal of supporting rival candidates, Goyal alleged that aspirants did not enjoy good reputation.

Perusal of records revealed that Vinayak could pocket just 34 votes in ward No. 10 and Ravinder Kumar of BJP nominee in ward No. 14, secured only 40 votes.

Bharatiya Yuva Morcha district vice-president Sandeep Puri is also among losers.

Prof Rajinder Pal Bhandari, state president, Shawinder Singh Grewal state president (youth wing), MLA Harish Bedi and Parveen Bansal, deputy senior mayor, municipal corporation, Ludhiana, were among other party leaders who begged votes for defeated candidates.

Khamano, July 1
The SAD won three seats and the BJP one in Khamano. In the other seven wards, mostly SAD-supported Independents won.

In Ward No. 1, Ravinder Kumar defeated his nearest rival by 68 votes while in Ward No. 2, Gian Chand of the SAD won by 294 votes.

BJP candidate Kamlesh Kumari from Ward No. 3 won by 99 votes and Jaswant Singh Jassa won in Ward No. 4 by defeating former councillor Inderjeet Singh Romi.

In Ward No. 5, Akali Dal (youth wing) leader Balamjeet Singh Princi won by 70 votes.

In Ward No. 7, Amarjeet Singh Billa won by 214 votes and Sarbjeet Kaur won by 91 votes in Ward No. 8.

In Ward No. 10, Gurdeep Kaur won while in Ward No. 11, Sadhu Singh of the SAD won by 16 votes.

Ludhiana, July 1
Ludhiana, being the industrial hub of the state, has been witnessing uncontrolled urbanisation and as a result of this urban-rural divide is diminishing. Even the profile of the fringe countryside is changing. The urbanisation has led to a steep escalation in land prices.

This has resulted in increase in the number of land disputes and resurgence of land mafia, notwithstanding denial by the police.

The land mafia has always been active in the city, be it during the reign of the Congress or the SAD-BJP combine.

Mafia kingpin find their masters accordingly and also manage to get the support of the police.

Talking about the functioning of the administration in the district, a local MLA said: “All are realtors.”

With the expansion of the business activity, major foreign banks have also opened their branches here. The banks employ security guards but still the onus of providing security falls on the police.

The city has also not remained untouched from the mall culture. Over five malls have already opened and another 10 are under construction.

These malls also pose a huge security risk and traffic problems to the administration. Visitors to the malls park their vehicles right on the roads causing traffic jams.

Malls have put up closed-circuit television (CCTV) to keep a watch on the movement of people. But the city police has not taken any such steps.

The police needs to install CCTV on important road intersections and sensitive points to keep a vigil on anti-social elements and ensure smooth flow of traffic.

The city has also witnessed a number of kidnapping and abduction cases and the number is steadily rising.

There are still over 80 cases of missing persons who have not been traced or their cases remain unsolved.

The city is frequented by VIPs and the police remains busy providing security to them.

The day chief minister visits Ludhiana, a major chunk of the force is deployed for his security and management of traffic. In certain areas, curfew-like situation prevails.

Besides, local VIPs also get security from the police. Certain politicians retain policemen even when no reasonable threat to their life is there.

A certain retired police officers retain a large fleet of policemen and official vehicles on the pretext of “security threat” to them.

Most of the official manpower is used to run the errands of officials. These officials also draw petrol and diesel for official vehicles.

Similarly, the PCR patrol launched here a few years ago also seem to have run out of steam as most of the time, the vehicles are out of fuel. The response time of the PCR has gone down considerably.

The city also needs qualified staff to handle cyber crime. It needs a DNA profiling laboratory as the current CFS laboratory in Chandigarh is ill-equipped. Also, facilities for narco analysis and polygraphic tests need to be upgraded.

The city also needs to have a police commissionerate to tackle increasing incidence of crime.

The amended Punjab Police Act has also provided for a commissionerate for towns of Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar and Patiala.

The volume of work of policemen has increased as a number of statutory agencies like the Punjab State Human Rights Commission, the Women Rights Commission keep the force busy in seeking answers to their queries under deadlines.

Ludhiana, July 1
Choked sewer on the Circular Road has made life hell for residents. They claim that overflowing sewage has made it difficult for them to commute besides posing a threat to their health. They said the condition had turned from bad to worse in the past two months and all complaints to municipal corporation had fallen on deaf ears.

Varinder Kumar, a hosiery trader, said sewermen had opened a manhole for cleaning two months ago. After cleaning it, they left the sullage on the road itself.

The road began to wither away and within two months the road as well as sewer underneath was completely damaged. Consequently, the sewage started flowing on the road.

“We cannot sit in our shops as it stinks badly. It is proving to be a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes and flies but nobody is paying heed to the problem,” he said.

He added that commuters used the road to reach Kamla Lohtia College, Dhobi Ghat, Bajwa Nagar, cremation ground main road, Jain School, Basti Jodhewal.

Ludhiana, July 1
The Ludhiana Philatelic Club displayed postcards to mark the 129th Postcard Day at the Head Post Office on the Ferozepur road. Addressing a press conference, senior superintendent post offices V.K. Raizada stressed the need for adopting hobbies like philately. He said postcards were amongst the most popular ways of written communication. They were particularly popular among rural masses.

“The cost is very low and postcards today cater to communication needs of millions of people,” added Raizada.

Talking about the history of postcard, Yash Pal Bangia, president of the philatelic association, said the first postcard in India, launched on July 1, 1879, cost as little as one-fourth of an anna.

The price, in spite of high inflation, today is 50 paise and the Indian Postal Department has launched “Meghdoot” postcard that costs only 25 paise.

Politicians are turning the city into a congested and polluted slum only to benefit their vote bank. Two PIL petitions are pending in the high court pertaining to the removal of encroachments on Gill road and violation of building bylaws. Recently, the MC tried to implement the orders of the high court, but certain councillors instigated the public to stage demonstrations against the sealing of buildings that did not have a provision for parking vehicles, thus congesting roads.

In Ghumar Mandi, a councillor came in support of violators and resisted the move of the corporation. Residents should be alert and not elect such persons in future.

The residents want a clean, decongested city that is free of encroachments and has green belts. But politicians meddle in MC affairs and this must stop.

Sher Singh, Ludhiana

Readers are invited to mail letters (not more than 200 words) at "ludhiana@tribunemail.com" or post the same to The Tribune, 1, 2 Improvement Trust Building, Badaur House, Clock Tower, Ludhiana.

EDUCATION

GADVASU Counselling
All under-graduate course seats taken 
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 1
The first counselling of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) has been completed for three under-graduate courses at the Silver Jubilee Block of the university.

The counselling for BVSc and BFSc was conducted yesterday while counselling for BTech dairy technology was held today. As many as 939 students had appeared for the CET conducted by the university on June 24. About 550 candidates appeared for counselling. All 51 seats of BVSc, 15 of BFSc and 20 of BTech dairy technology were filled in the first counselling itself.

GADVASU will be starting BFSc and BTech dairy technology courses for the first time in the region. The second counselling for BVSc will be on July 24, for BFSc on August 26 and BTech dairy technology on August 27. Dr S.K. Jand, registrar, said seats under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) quota had also been filled.

Dr V.K. Taneja, VC, congratulated students and said with the new courses, the university would be in a better position to meet the changing needs of the academic world.

Jagraon, July 1
Duty magistrate Ranjeev Kumar Vasishth today extended the police remand of Amrik Singh of Parvana Nagar, Daljit Singh of Mohalla Krishanpura and Sarbjit Singh, alias Sokhu, of Sardar Nagar, Moga, Gurbhej Singh, alias Sonu, of Pakharpur, Kathunangal, and Manjeet Singh, alias Meeta, till July 5 in the explosives seizure case.

State counsel Rattan Singh had sought 10 days of police remand for the five.

A case under Sections 121, 121-A, 122, 123 and 120-B, IPC, and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosives Act had been registered against the accused on June 26 at the Jagraon police station. The Ludhiana (rural) police had seized 34.5 kg RDX from two accused.

The police has seized three passports from Amrik Singh, Daljit Singh and Sarbjit Singh and is verifying the antecedents of the accused as they had visited Pakistan many times.

The state counsel had also sought police remand on the plea that Amrik Singh had stated that he had concealed a mobile phone, to be used as a remote-controlled device, at Chamkaur Sahib and that he could help the police in its recovery.

The defence counsel opposed the contention saying that the accused had already been in police custody since June 27, which was enough for interrogation.

After hearing the contentions, the duty magistrate remanded the five in police custody till July 5 to facilitate the police to complete the interrogation.

HEALTH

IMA cautions residents against diseases
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 1
The district Indian Medical Association (IMA) on the occasion of Doctor’s Day today issued a statement cautioning residents against diseases specific to this weather.

Doctors advised the residents to take preventive measures in this regard.

Dr Karamveer Goyal of the IMA said residents must take steps to avoid malaria, eye flu, skin rashes, gastroenteritis, fungal infections, hepatitis and typhoid.

They said stagnant water should be drained out from houses and their surroundings and coolers should be dried every week to prevent mosquito breeding.

Drinking water should either be boiled or chlorine tablets used to prevent  gastroenteritis.

They also said people should drink plenty of water, wash hands with soap before meals, wear cotton clothes to prevent skin problems and use dark glasses to protect eyes. 

Ludhiana, July 1
Rajvir Kaur of Punjab and Vasundra from Delhi recorded victories against their opponents to move into the third round in the girls’ u-14 years section in the main draw matches on the fourth day of the annual PAU AITA Total Tennis Talent Series Championship being organised by the Total Tennis Academy on the Punjab Agricultural University campus courts here today.

Rajvir proved too good for her rival, Akriti Oberoi, also from Punjab beating her 4-1, 4-0, while Vasundra overpowered Harsimran Kaur from Haryana 4-2, 4-2.

In girls u-14, Riya Bhatia from Delhi blanked her city mate Karman Kaur 4-0, 4-0; Nikita from Chandigarh defeated Himani from Haryana 4-2, 1-4 and 4-2; Victoria Chahal of Haryana beat Harman Kaur of Punjab 2-4, 4-1, 4-1; Sripriya Saraf from Bihar outclassed Pukhraj Gill of Punjab 4-0, 4-1; Disha Dang of Delhi beat Nahmat Aulakh of Chandigarh 4-3, 4-0; and Dipti Rana of Delhi beat Sonali Bansal of Chandigarh 4-2, 4-0.

In u-12 section for boys, Tejas Kapoor of Delhi, Abhijit Singh of Chandigarh, Rahul Poria of Haryana, Dalvinder Singh of Punjab, Sayam Raj from Delhi, Fatehdeep Singh of Punjab, Shrey Gupta of Chandigarh and Maka Krishna of Andhra Pradesh registered wins.

Similarly, in boys’ u-14, Rishav Dev of Punjab, Aditya Sharma of Delhi, Ravinder of Punjab, Chinmay Handa of Delhi, Hardeep Singh of Punjab and Fatehdeep Singh of Punjab won their matches.

Ludhiana, July 1
The performance of Nikhil Wadhwa enabled BCM School, Shastri Nagar, to script an easy 56 runs over Iron Bulls XI on the third day of the Ist Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Tournament (u-19) being organised by the Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Association at Government Polytechnic Institute here today.

By virtue of their second consecutive win, BCM School XI secured a berth in the semifinals.

Batting first after winning the toss, BCM School XI were all out for 119 runs in 20 overs.

The main contributors were Nikhil (26), Dipankar (15), Sahil (18), Nayak (13) and Manjot (13).

For Iron Bulls XI, Anmol Chugh and Inderjeet grabbed three wickets each after conceding 19 and 18 runs, respectively, while Deepak scalped two wickets for 26 runs.

Chasing the target, Iron Bulls XI were bundled out for a paltry 63 runs in 16 overs. Only two batsmen, Sumit and Rohit, could reach a double figure. Sumit scored 18 runs while Rohit made 10.

For the winners, Nikhil Wadhwa took two wickets for 13 runs, Nayak claimed two for 8, Sahil grabbed two for 15 and Yogesh accounted for two wickets for 13 runs to guide their team to wrap up the issue quite comfortably and booked their place in the last four stage.