Ludhiana, July 3
The health authorities confiscated drugs worth Rs 30 lakh in a series of raids conducted yesterday and today on two unlicensed stores owned by Pawan Medical Hall in Pindi Street.

The unauthorised stores in Gujjarmal Market and Lakkar Bazar had illegally stacked up 300 cartons of injections, tablets and cough syrups.

Pawan Kumar, the owner of Pawan Medical Hall, is absconding.

Civil surgeon Dr Satpal Sharma, while listing the drugs seized during the raids, said it was a record recovery from a single medical hall.

The drugs seized included Proxyvon tablets and injections, Dexovon, Corex, Phensydyl, diazepam, Lomotil and various other tablets and injections commonly used by drug addicts.

“These drugs are categorised as ‘habit-forming drugs’, which are commonly used by drug addicts in Punjab,” said the civil surgeon.

Wholesale Chemists Association general secretary G.S. Chawla said the association had already expelled Pawan Kumar from the association following the seizure of drugs worth Rs 5 lakh.

“The association has extended cooperation to the drug control authorities as Pindi Street is known for legitimate drug business and the association will volunteer for the abolition of illegal sale of drugs,” stated Chawla.

The raids were carried out on the directions of state drug controller Bhag Singh following a complaint against the wholesaler.

The drugs seized will be produced in the court tomorrow, followed by registration of case against Pawan Kumar.

However, a senior official while pointing towards “leniency” in punishment for the crime stated that criminals easily got bail and were back in business after undergoing a mild punishment.

Ludhiana, July 3
In a serious blow to the environment in Punjab, a large number of trees in different forest areas of the state have dried up due to the low water table, change in weather conditions and fungal attacks.

A Tribune team visited the Mattewara forest area spread in 1,700 to 1,800 acres yesterday. A large number of trees like sheesham, kikar and eucalyptus, which once used to provide dense green foliage in the entire range, had dried up.

Whereas the smallest shrub has turned green, only a few trees have survived the nature’s onslaught despite heavy rainfall experienced in the region.

Forest officials said, “ Not only the trees in Mattewara area but the entire green cover in the state has also dried up.

Divisional forest officer, Mahavir Singh, said, “ The situation is alarming. The forest department reported the matter to the Forest Research Institute, Dehra Dun, and a team of scientists have already surveyed the entire forest belt in Punjab.

According to them, numerous factors were responsible for the untimely drying up of the trees. The depleting underground water table was one of the major reasons followed by climactic changes. Besides these, fungal attacks have also dried up these trees. If a fungus attacks a tree, the termites do the rest of the damage, said the DFO.

He added that forest department was now planning to plant saplings of resistant varieties that would be hardy enough to sustain itself in all types of weather. A list has already been prepared in this regard. Neem tops the list, he added.

Area forest ranger, Harbhaj Rai, said the trees in his area got dried up due to the lowering of underground water table. The forest department was yet to conduct a census on dead trees. The department had chalked out a plan to plant 5 lakh saplings.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 3
An inter-state gang of swindlers, including hoteliers, travel agents and self- styled social activists, are exploiting misguided innocent girls by extorting a huge sum from rich families by implicating their sons in false rape cases.

Rishi Sood of Anand Nagar, Jassian Road, who underwent mental and physical torture in Ludhiana jail for 189 days after being booked in a false case on the statement of an impersonator (girl), has urged the Punjab Human Rights Commission to impress upon the Punjab police to initiate action against such gangs.

In a communiqué to commission’s chairman, Sood alleged that a gang of swindlers had tried to extort huge amount of money by first implicating him in a false rape case and then demanding Rs 22 lakh for withdrawing the complaint. Apprehending danger to his life, Rishi is nowadays staying with his relatives in the Chand Cinema road area.

Suman Paul of Gaziabad, impersonating as Parul Gupta, had got him booked under Sections 376, 420, 506, 307 and 120 B of the IPC at the Sarabha Nagar police station on March 21, 2007.

A joint team led by SSP Khanna, Gautam Cheema, after thorough investigation found that Suman Paul had lodged the complaint with an intention to blackmail Rishi Sood and extort money. They recommended cancellation of the FIR. During investigation, Braham Dev Paul, father of the complainant, stated that Suman had fallen into bad company about five years ago. Instead of acting on her parents’ advice she had threatened them of dire consequences if they (parents) tried to interfere in her affairs.

Sood alleged that Suman, along with her accomplice, had also tried to implicate six other boys of prestigious families. He alleged that an inter-state gang of swindlers had used Suman for carrying out extortion job. The gangsters had connived to pressurise Sood’s family for accepting Suman as their daughter-in-law and then transferring the entire property in her name.

“Had I succumbed to pressure and married her, the gangsters could have succeeded in grabbing our property. When we refused to handover the desired amount they got a case registered against me. I had to pass over six months in judicial custody,” rued Sood. The fact that the hotelier is still providing services to Suman despite a pending bill for Rs 1.5 lakh suggests that a few others are also linked with the hotelier.

Suman and Sood had met at an exhibition of medical equipment organised at Pargati Ground, New Delhi, in September 2006. Suman had introduced herself as Dr Neha. Later, they met at various places. After which she impressed upon him to marry her. She, posing as Parul Gupta, got a case registered against him. The case was reinvestigated on request of Varinder Sood, Rishi’s father.

Besides demanding cancellation of the case Sood has urged the authorities to arrest Suman and her accomplice and protect innocent youths from falling prey to their trap. 

Ludhiana, July 3
An Australia-based research economist, Dr Rajinder Pal Singh, from department of primary industries, New South Wales, visited the PAU and interacted with scientists.

Delivering a lecture during a seminar on “Fine-tuning of Happy Seeder Technology” at the department of economics and sociology, Dr Singh highlighted the economic and environmental benefits of technology.

He observed that the technology led to a significant reduction in production cost of wheat in terms of saving on fertiliser use and enhanced water use efficiency.

Dr Singh said the technology indirectly led to reduction in emission of greenhouse gases and was environmentally friendly, as it reduced air pollution resulting from burning of crop residue.

He said in wheat it led to around 30 per cent water use efficiency and saved electricity to the tune of 81 kW-hr per hectare. With such benefits, farmers got attracted towards the technology, said Dr Sidhu.

PAU vice chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang said the PAU research and technology generation programme aimed at natural resource conservation and environment protection, adding that Happy Seeder Technology, being ecologically benign in terms of water saving, was being popularised among farmers.

Director of extension education Dr N.S. Malhi shared the experiences of Punjab farmers with regards to the use of the technology.

The faculty of departments of economics and sociology, soils and farm power and machinery also interacted with the speaker.

Earlier, Dr R.S. Sidhu, head, department of economics and sociology, introduced the guest speaker to participants and welcomed those present.

Ludhiana, July 3
A meeting of the PAU Kisan Club was organised in the Wheat Auditorium on the PAU campus in which farmers and farm women from different parts of Punjab participated.

PAU vice chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang, who was the chief guest, said farming had become a knowledge-intensive venture and farmers must maintain contact with agriculture experts and make it a habit to read PAU publications to keep abreast with technological developments taking place.

He said the PAU was laying stress on developing technologies that were eco-friendly, user-oriented, economically viable and acceptable. He said prudent use of natural resources was the need of the hour. He suggested farmers to follow a work culture in farming as well.

PAU director of extension education Dr N.S. Malhi said today’s life was full of stress and people faced many health problems. He highlighted the importance of harmonious living in the family and society, which, he said, was on the decline owing to pressures of the prevailing lifestyle.

He said farmers must maintain contact with experts to know about the latest farm-worthy recommendations.

Different specialists from the PAU provided tips to farmers on areas like natural resource conservation, reducing cost of production, integrated management of pests and diseases, marketing, etc.

London mayor Harbans Singh Kanwal was also present. He said the PAU had played a significant role in making the country self-sufficient in food and improving the economic well-being of farmers.

Sahnewal, July 3
The only lane that most of the girl students of Government Senior Secondary School here had been using for long to go to the school and return home has been blocked by a gargantuan pond that has gobbled up the entire walking space in the absence of any check on part of the civic authorities.

Consequently, the students, most of whom go by walk or ride bicycles, are now left with no other alternative but to risk their lives by taking a detour through the national highway.

Once on the highway, they are not only subjected to traffic but also rowdy youngsters who often drive their vehicles close to the schoolgirls or honk at them as they whiz past them.

Girls complain that speed demons on the national highway don’t seem to care a hang for them. “We are forced to go through this ordeal on a daily basis,” they lament.

A student recently sustained injuries when she fell from her bicycle after she failed to bear the intensity of a pressure horn blown by a private bus driver. Her knees and and elbows were hurt and she had to be taken to a nearby hospital.

Durlabh Singh, a senior teacher of the school, says parents of some students have even decided to discontinue with the studies of their children as they feel that the life of their children cannot be risked for the sake of education.

He says the Sahnewal municipal council has been informed about the problem many a time but the pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

“The pond has started to swell rapidly towards the school. Even sewer enters the school premises every now and then. The sewer apart from emitting foul smell poses serious health risk to the lives of students as well as teachers.

Is it humanly possible to teach or study in such unhygienic conditions?” he says.

Guardians of the students say the lane that has been gobbled up by the pond is the only safe way for girls to go to school.

“The authorities have shown total disregard for our complaints. It is our children who are going to suffer on account of any mishap they encounter on the national highway. So why should the authorities be bothered about it?” they rue.

The executive officer said they had once made an effort to channel the pond water in a particular direction but were dissuaded from doing so by landowners.

He added that the council was trying to find out some other solution to the problem.

Ludhiana, July 3
Normal life in the city has been thrown out of the gear due to the scheduled and unscheduled power cuts throughout the day at regular intervals. The total cuts being imposed on the urban and mixed feeders in city localities for the past couple of days range from anything between six to eight hours per day.

Most of the city areas remained without power from 7.30 am to 8.30 am, 11 am to 1.30 pm and again from 2.30 pm to 5 pm yesterday and today. The sudden increase in the daily scheduled power cut all over the state from three to six hours per day was attributed to spurt in the demand for power from the agriculture sector because the dry spell was prevailing for the past few days after widespread rains in the last week of June.

The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) was also facing a deficit of 210 MW power after one unit (number five) of Guru Gobind Singh Thermal Plant at Ropar had tripped more than a week ago. While efforts were on to make the unit operational, it might take a few more days for the unit to start generation. Sources in the PSEB revealed that share of the state from the Central grid were also affected due to disruption in power generation at Sangrauli Thermal Power Station in Uttar Pradesh. With paddy sowing operations in full swings, the state was facing a yawning gap of more than 100 lakh units in the availability and demand of power.

“The situation, is however, expected to improve in the next few days when unit No. 5 at Ropar becomes functional and adequate power is available from the Central grid, or even earlier if there is rainfall which will reduce the demand for power from the farm sector,” the sources added.

With the power-playing truants, coupled with the element of uncertainty about timing of power cuts, the people were facing tough time. The outage during early morning affected the supply of piped water and most of the times, no water was available to the residents for household chores.

The industry was also sore at drastic power cuts being imposed on all urban feeders. “When the entire industry is subject to a compulsory weekly off, it is the responsibility of the PSEB to ensure uninterrupted supply during other days of the week so that industrial production and economy don’t suffer,” remarked an office-bearer of an industrial association.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 3
Having received a blow in the recent municipal council elections, the SAD-BJP alliance is now trying to take learning from the defeat. Both parties have decided to constitute teams that would investigate reasons behind their poor showing.

District units of the SAD and the BJP have decided to constitute teams to investigate reasons behind the defeat of their bigwigs.

While the SAD could retain two out of seven seats, the BJP failed to harness enough support for victory of any of its five candidates.

SAD district president Rajinder Singh Kanjhla said he would draft a strategy to analyze circumstances leading to the defeat of five out of seven candidates.

“After listening to the defeated candidates, we will constitute a team to investigate reasons behind their defeat. We want to take a lesson from the loss incurred to the party,” said Kanjhla, adding that he along with his associates will visit the town soon.

According to local BJP unit president Vijay Goyal, region in charge Jagat Kathuria would constitute a team to probe reasons behind the defeat of the party candidates.

To collect firsthand account, members of the committee will interact with candidates and residents of their respective wards. Credentials of the candidates and claims made by them in their applications will also be checked.

The team will also try to evaluate efforts made by unit president and other office-bearers.

“While we will present records and evidence about efforts made by us and resources put at the disposal of candidates, the committee members will have every right to cross-check claims made by us,” said Goyal, adding that he would step down from his office in case it was proved that he had opposed candidates.

SAD-BJP bigwigs lost miserably in the municipal council elections here in spite of having entire government machinery at their disposal prior to the elections.

The party high command was shocked to find Jagwant Singh Jaggie, a confidante of MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, and Ashootosh Vinayak, former state president Bharatiya Yuva Morcha, reeling at fourth and fifth positions, respectively, in their wards.

Ludhiana, July 3
The district unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) has decided to hold its annual elections in September.

Election committee chairman Dr Iqbal Ahuja along with two other members Dr R.S. Gulati and Dr Jagmohan Chopra today said notification in this regard was being issued.

“The new team will be elected in September but it will take over in January, 2009. Members whose names are on the list (till August 31) will have the right to vote,” said Dr Ahuja.

There are around 500 IMA members (Ludhiana chapter) and the life-time membership fee is Rs 6,000.

Ludhiana, July 3
A branch of a full-grown tree snapped and fell in the Pindi Street in the wee hours today, evoking protests from residents of the area.

The branch fell around 5 am when nobody was in the congested street except a morning walker.

The street usually teems with people during daytime.

The tree had grown in an unsafe building. Neighbours said they had asked the owner to prune the branches of the tree but to no avail.

Doraha, July 3
Ludhiana College of Engineering and Technology (LCET) under the aegis of the college’s computer science department organised a weeklong workshop on “Introduction to computer fundamentals” on its campus recently. The aim was to update the knowledge of faculty.

College faculty attended the workshop and understood the need of computerisation in technical institutions.

Rajni Sharma co-coordinated the programme, which included areas like MS Word, Powerpoint, MS Excel, use of Internet, etc.

LCET director Dr J.S. Sohal appreciated the efforts of the department and its faculty for the endeavour and emphasised the need for organising such personality enhancement programmes in the future.

Meeting: A condolence meeting was held at Ludhiana College of Engineering and Technology (LCET) to mourn the death of former speaker of Punjab Vidhan Sabha and finance minister Dr Kewal Krishan.

The meeting was attended by the management, faculty and students. Members expressed their grief and prayed for the peace of the departed soul by observing a two-minute silence. The faculty and students termed Dr Krishan a multifaceted personality, true statesman, great patriot and a fine human being. A resolution was passed to convey condolences to the family members of the departed soul.

Summer camp: A cultural programme marked the end of a summer camp at GGPS here today.

Children took part in activities like songs, dances, choreography, skits, speeches, etc.

During the camp, they learned swimming, skating, basket ball, band and martial art, dance, music and attended art workshop.

Senior students gave music performances ranging from ethnic to western rock. They danced to various songs. Principal S. George appreciated the students and staff for their contribution to the camp.

Ludhiana, July 3
BCM School XI defeated Vinay XI by five wickets to enter the final of the Ist Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Tournament (u-19) organised by the Ludhiana District Twenty20 Cricket Association at Government Polytechnic Institute, Rishi Nagar, here today.

Batting first after winning the toss, Vinay XI scored 96 runs for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.

Gun Sagar of BCM XI maintained an accurate line and length and chipped in with five wickets after conceding just 12 runs in his quota of four overs, thus enabling his team restrict Vinay XI to a modest total.

For Vinay XI, Rajan top-scored with 34 runs, followed by Nitin and Vivek, who contributed 11 and 10 run, respectively.

Other notable wicket-takers for BCM School XI were Nikhil Bassi (2 for 15), Yogesh Narang (1 for 19) and Sahil (1 for 13).

In reply, BCM School XI made 97 runs after losing five wickets in 12 overs and took the match by five wickets.

The main scorers were Nikhil Bassi (32), Davinder Singh (25) and Gun Sagar (11).

For the losing side, Sunny took one wicket for 14 runs in two overs, Vivek captured one for 22 in three overs, while Vinay scalped one wicket for 41 runs.

Ludhiana, July 3
Himani and Victoria, both from Haryana, survived some anxious moments before romping home victorious against their rivals in the semifinals (girls u-12) on the penultimate day of the annual PAU AITA Total Tennis Talent Series Championship organised by the Total Tennis Academy on the Punjab Agricultural University campus courts here today.

In the first semifinal, Victoria won the first set 6-3 against Vasundra of Delhi.

However, in the next set, Vasundra bounced back to win it 6-4, levelling the score at 1-1.

In the deciding set, Victoria, after some initial hiccups, managed to squeeze past Vasundra 6-4 and secured a berth in the final.

In the second semifinal, Himani Mor prevailed over Karman Kaur of Delhi in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 to set up the title clash with her state mate, Victoria.

In the boy’s semifinal (u-12) category, Rahul Poria of Haryana and Fatehdeep Singh from Punjab recorded wins to book their place for the summit clash.

Fatehdeep Singh scored an easy 6-0, 6-2 win over Shrey Gupta of Haryana, while Rahul Poria outplayed Tejas Kapoor of Delhi 6-4, 6-2 to make it to the final.

In the semifinals (girls u-14 years), Rajvir Kaur of Punjab got the better of Nikita of Chandigarh and Victoria from Haryana managed to scrape past Disha Dang of Delhi 1-6, 6-3 and 6-1 to enter the final.

The final in the boy’s u-14 years section will be played between Rishabh Dev of Punjab and Chinmay Handa of Delhi.

In the semifinals, Rishabh defeated Aditya of Delhi 6-1, 6-0, while Chinmay outplayed Fatehdeep Singh of Punjab 6-2, 6-3.