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Health department sounds alert
Ludhiana, September 9 The patients were identified during a medical camp organised by the health department at Dhandari Khurd. The paramedical staff undertook a random visit of 270 houses in the area. The district health officer, Dr S.S. Dhir, in a letter to the MC authorities, asked them to take immediate preventive measures to clear the sewer blockage in Prem Nagar as it had added to diarrhoea cases in the area. “The sanitation condition is worst in Prem Nagar as people are living in muck and filth. I have warned the corporation of the impending danger of a cholera outbreak,” he said. If the needful was not done at the earliest, the situation might get out of hand, he added. “Vehras” accommodating five to eight families are the worst hit due to the unhygienic conditions outside their dwellings. The sewerage is not meant for the large number of people living in these small dwellings. It has resulted in blockage and seeping of sewage in pipes supplying potable water. Pointing at the growing number of patients down with fever, officials in the health department are apprehensive of dengue cases, too. “It is imperative to take up regular fogging, in addition to spray by the anti-larvae wing, in the area,” they said.
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Teachers go without salary for two months
Ludhiana, September 9 Due to lack of clear-cut demarcation of powers between the administration and the zila parshad, ETT teachers have not got their salaries for the past two months. They have also not been promoted since the schools were brought under the control of the zila parishads. The teachers are now appealing to the state government to bring these schools back under the education department. They rued that despite the fact that they protested several times and talked to various senior officials, their efforts failed to bear fruit. “Since the time primary schools have been placed under the zila parishads, sarpanches have been assigned the job to attest our attendance report, only then are the salaries released by the revenue department,” they complained. They protested against this practice and brought the matter to the notice of the director, panchayat department, who in turn, issued a letter saying that the teachers’ attendance report need not be signed by sarpanches. “Things were fine for two-three months, but then a letter was issued stating that the earlier practice of attendance report being signed by the sarpanches should be resumed. We haven't got our salaries for July and August,” Amanpreet Singh, vice-president of the ETT Union, said. “The BDPO’s office has not released our salaries because the treasury is not accepting the controller’s signature on the pay bills. The treasury is demanding a letter from the ADC in this regard,” Paramjit Singh Mann, president of the ETT Union, Punjab, said. “Numerous cases of exploitation of teachers by the sarpanches had come to the fore, due to which we have boycotted the practice of our attendance report being signed by the latter. Teachers, especially the woman staff, often report that sarpanches misbehave with them,” he claimed. The ADC, Priyank Bharti, said the salaries of the teachers had been released. “I have not received any complaint in this regard so far. If any complaint comes to my notice, I will look into it,” he said.
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No stopping underage driving
Ludhiana, September 9 These teenaged drivers, including girls, are generally seen jumping lights and speeding their vehicles. As many as 331 teenagers have been challaned from January 1 to August 31 this year. These underage drivers have not learnt any lesson from the past incidents when a minor son of an industrialist was killed while driving or the Delhi-Gurgaon expressway accident in which three teenagers were killed. The SP (traffic), Roopinder Singh, said the department had been organising awareness rallies and competitions for students to create awareness. “But the real work has to be done by parents who need to discourage their kids from driving until they attain the age of 18 years,” he said. However, there has been a decrease in underage driving cases in the city. In 2005, 1,554 children were challaned while the number came down to 1,106 in 2006. Last year, witnessed a marginal decrease with 586 cases. BCM School principal Paramjit Kaur said: “We have a token system in the school and only students who have a valid driving license are allowed to bring vehicles with gears.” She expressed surprise that students possessed a valid license even though they were not eligible for it. Gajinder Kumar, a businessman who has teenaged kids, said children want to become independent at an early age. In today’s fast paced world, one could not be with a child every time. “If parents don’t teach their kids driving, they learn it from friends and partial knowledge is more dangerous,” he said. A school student, on the condition of anonymity, said he had learnt driving from his classmate. “In good schools, the mode of conveyance is a status symbol and if you go on a cycle, your friends think you belong to a lower strata,” said a 15-year-old, who has a driving license, describing his age as 18 years. Asked about traffic rules, he said he knew only about traffic lights and not sign boards and speed limits. According to the Motor Vehicles Act, no person under the age of 18 years can drive a motor vehicle. A motorcycle without a gear may be driven by a person after attaining the age of 16 years.
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Awareness camp to inculcate traffic sense among residents
Ludhiana, September 9 Under the programme, the Jaycees would be holding camps at various important intersections of the city, trying to inculcate a traffic sense among the city residents. Organisers said they would be adopting Gandhigiri as a tool and tried to impart education about the traffic rules to the Ludhianvis. Giving details, project convener Ravi Sharma said, "Junior Chambers International (JCI) is a Canada-based organisation and we celebrate September 9 to 15 as the Jaycee week. This year we have dedicated the week to the traffic of Ludhiana as it needs a great attention." He said under the programme, they would be organising the camps in front of schools and urged the school principals not to allow underage driving in their institutions.
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City Concerns
People living in the city, slums and low-lying areas in particular, are usually faced with a battery of seasonal diseases. Stagnant water and stinking garbage are conducive for gastroenteritis, diarrhoea, skin allergies and other diseases. The preventive measures taken by the Ludhiana municipal corporation don’t mean anything because garbage is littered all over the city in the absence of any effective litter management machinery or staff.
Heaps of rotting garbage can be seen in vacant plots and areas earmarked for parks in residential colonies across the city. Improper disposal of waste has resulted in the outbreak of gastroenteritis in
Gyaspura, Fauji Colony, Ambedkar Nagar, Sherpur Kalan, Janta Nagar and other areas. The administration has overlooked the gravity of the situation and the loss of lives due to gastroenteritis over the past decade have gone “unnoticed”. Ludhiana Tribune is seeking public opinion on what is the urgent requirement of the hour for garbage disposal in the city. Is the government expected to do all the cleaning work in the city? On which front is the service mechanism failing to clean garbage? Can the residents contribute towards cleanliness, at least in their own areas? Ludhiana Tribune invites its readers to write their opinion on this issue. Response, in not more than 200 words, can be mailed to
ludhianaconcerns@tribunemail.com or sent to our city office at Bhadaur House, Ludhiana. |
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2 get life term for murder
Ludhiana, September 9 The duo were sentenced to rigorous imprisonment for life. Declining their plea of leniency, the judge also ordered them to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 each. They were booked under Section 302 of the IPC following the statement of Ajaib Singh, father of the deceased. The complainant had stated to the police that his son and Sukhwinder Singh were living in Libya. The accused had taken a loan of Rs 4 lakh from his son, but did not repay it. His son used to ask for the money and due to this, their relations had got strained. Moreover, the accused was suspecting that his son had illicit relations with his wife. On October 29, 2004, the accused came to his house and took his son along with them on the pretext of some work. Later, they were seen sitting near a canal. His son did not return home that night and the next day, his body was found from near the canal. His son had been shot in the head. The police had recovered a .12 bore pistol from the accused.
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Police registers kidnap case on court orders
Ludhiana, September 9 Denied justice by the police, the complainant had moved court on the issue. The complainants, Neha and Hira, residents of Jawahar Nagar, had stated in their petition that their sisters — Krishna and Maya — were taken for musical and dance performance at Patiala, where accused Ram Piari and Vicky Bahadur, Jalandhar-based coordinator of the dance troupe, confined and beat them up. They also threatened them with dire consequences. The court directed the Division No. 5 police to book the accused for kidnapping and assaulting the victims. Kochar Market police station in charge Balbir Singh said the police had registered a case following the court order. Meanwhile, according to the police the accused are still at large. |
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Regular fuel still a luxury here
Ludhiana, September 9 The sale of premium petrol in the city and around has declined by 15-20 per cent within the past three months, if owners of petrol stations are to be believed. Demand for diesel, on the other hand, has gone up. After fuel price hike, oil companies had asked petrol stations to ensure high sale of premium variety of fuel. Many pumps were given only premium variants, a move that was widely resisted by dealers. In spite of the changed demand scenario in the past three months, many petrol pumps, particularly those on the outskirts of the city are not selling ordinary petrol and diesel, causing inconvenience to motorists. “It has been over three months that fuel prices were increased. Ever since, obtaining regular fuel has become very difficult. Yesterday, I wanted regular petrol for my car and had gone to a pump on Pakhowal Road, but I was asked to buy premium fuel. I decided not to get the fuel filled from that station, but it is quite an inconvenience. Oil companies should ensure sufficient availability of petrol and diesel,” said Davinder Kumar, a resident. Unlike the initial phase, when customers suffered, they have cut down on consumption now. “Only a small fraction of customers like owners of luxury cars are going in for premium fuel, which is costlier. As the price gap between ordinary and premium varieties has increased from the previous around Rs 1.50 to Rs 4-5 now, people are unwilling to shell out more. The demand for premium category has declined by almost 20 per cent,” J.P. Khanna, president of the Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, said. Under such a situation, dealers feel efforts on dual pricing would add to inconvenience. Expressing their inability to sell if the proposal of dual pricing got a nod, dealers said: “It will be impossible for us to gauge the reason of fuel consumption. We have indicated it to the government that we will not be able to sell fuel if oil companies resort to dual pricing for various categories of customers.” Changed pricing has resulted in an increased demand for diesel in the past three months, said petrol pump owners. The coming days may record a further growth in demand for diesel, they added.
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Land prices in GLADA colonies go through the roof
Ludhiana, September 9 According to GLADA officials, the reserved price for SCFs, measuring 158.58 sq yd each, had been fixed at Rs 94,500 per sq yd, while it would be Rs 1,05,165 per sq yd for booths measuring 22.69 sq yd. The bidders will have to pay an eligibility fee of Rs 1 lakh for the SCF site and Rs 50,000 for the booth. Going by the trends in the sale of properties through open auction of both commercial and residential sites in GLADA colonies during past few months, it is evident that the land prices have hit the roof and average price of land is not in keeping with the appreciation witnessed in other posh localities of the city. Sources in the real estate market attribute this to the role of speculators, property dealers and developers, operating in and around GLADA colonies, who are out to make a quick buck from the residential plots and commercial sites held by them and those being offered on resale at a much higher premium. “Once a residential property or commercial site is sold for a certain price in open auction, that becomes a benchmark price for similar properties in and around that area,” said a property dealer of Dugri. Sources in the real estate market maintain that prices of residential or commercial plots even in posh colonies like Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Rajguru Nagar or newly developed colonies in other parts of the city have not shown similar upward trends during the past couple of months and the land prices have remained, more or less, stable. Enquiries made by The Tribune revealed that land prices in Sectors 32, 39 and Dugri Urban Estate, all developed by GLADA, had gone up by 75 to 150 per cent or even more in some cases after auction of commercial and residential properties since June, 2008. During this period, the rate of SCF sites had more than doubled while residential prices were commanding 50 to 80 per cent premium on resale. Also, zooming prices of land in GLADA colonies, had a significant bearing on private colonies located in the vicinity where prices were reported to have gone up by 50 to 100 per cent.
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Mosquitoes bug PAU boarders
Ludhiana, September 9 Students of Hostel Nos. 2 and 6 (girls hostel) have complained to the authorities about the menace, but to no avail. In the absence of spraying by the department concerned, a majority of students have to rely on mosquito repellents, which often prove to be of little use. Talking to The Tribune, a boarder of Hostel No. 2 said overgrowth around the hostel had not been removed for the past several months. Also, fumigation or spraying of insecticide had not been done in or around the hostels. “Diseases like malaria, dengue are common these days. We try to use all necessary precautions but things have not improved. We have complained to the wardens, who have further conveyed it to authorities but to no avail,” said a boarder, adding that it had become difficult for students to move around the campus in the evenings due to the menace. She said as insecticide sprays were expensive, not many students could purchase these on their own. Another postgraduate student said certain students, teachers and employees of the university threw plastic bags, empty packets of juices and disposable glasses near the students’ home. Heaps of garbage further aggravated the problem. “It becomes a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes. Although the university has kept bins at various places, people refrain from using these. Authorities must punish those who throw who litter,” she added. An official, on the condition of anonymity, said there was an unavailability of insecticide sprays with the maintenance department due to financial crunch. But, he said, the wild growth and bushes were regularly being trimmed by the staff. “Most of our staff is also put on election duties by the district administration and the campus working suffers on account of it. We will ask the authorities to purchase sprays,” he said.
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Contest inside, chaos outside
Ludhiana, September 9 In what is called a classic case of comedy of errors, a state-level poster making contest on traffic management in Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Sarabha Nagar, here, became the cause of major traffic chaos outside the school. Interestingly, the traffic cops, who had been working hard for the past three days to make the function a success, failed miserably when it came to managing the traffic outside the very venue of the much-awaited event. Inspite of heavy police deployment, the situation was so bad that parents, who had come to pick their wards from the school, were stranded in the jam for around 30 minutes. "The function was delayed by 10-15 minutes which led to the jam on the road outside the school," said SSP (city) R.K. Jaiswal. "But the jam lasted barely 5-7 minutes," he added. However, a colleague, who had gone to pick her children from the school, had a different story to tell. "The situation was maddening. I got stuck in the jam for over 25 minutes and there was utter chaos on the road," she said. "See the irony of the situation, inside, there is a contest on traffic management going on and outside, there is utter chaos," she quipped. Besides the state-level poster making competition, there was an exhibition on traffic rules and regulation, traffic equipment, slide show aimed at creating traffic awareness and presentations. As many as 1,000 students from 15 district of the state participated in the event. Others who participated included drivers of heavy vehicles, traffic cops, industrialists and traffic wardens.
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Left, employee bodies to lend support
Our Correspondent
Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 9 The decision was taken at a joint meeting at municipal park here today. CPI district secretary Kartar Singh Buani and CPM district secretary Sukhwinder Singh Sekho chaired the meeting. The meeting was organised to finalise preparations for holding a joint conference of the two organisations, scheduled to take place at Chhapar mela on September 15. Addressing the meeting, speakers, including Buani, Sekhon, Punjab Kissan Sabha senior vice-president Baldev Singh Latala, Punjab School Teachers Union state president Sikandar Singh Jartoli and Khet Mazdoor Union president Harbhalav Dass Sharma alleged that successive governments had ignored the demands of employees. Accusing SAD and BJP leaders of betraying with anganwari workers and ETT teachers, the office-bearers of various outfits threatened to join struggling employees if their demands were not accepted soon. Referring to information collected during meetings held at various villages of the area recently, the speakers claimed that activists of their respective organisations were keen on taking part in the conference scheduled to be held at Chhapar on September 15. CPI nation executive member Dr Joginder Dyal and CPM secretary Prof Balwant Singh, besides other senior Left leaders, would address the conference.
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WTO Negotiations
Ludhiana, September 9 Regional joint director general foreign trade V.K. Gupta said the consultations with the industry would facilitate devising of future negotiating positions in respect of the sectors. “The objective of the workshop is to make industry aware on the latest state of negotiations in WTO, to identify sensitive items on these sectors and identify sectors in which India
can participate.”
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Intelligence setup on lines of KGB must, says Grewal
Ludhiana, September 9 He welcomed Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi’s proposal for setting up Federal Intelligence Services on the lines of the KGB as its inception would enable swift intelligence gathering to avoid misdemeanor of the likes in Ludhiana. He will also write to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to support Modi’s proposal, as this would enable the country to counter terrorism and espionage activities.
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Free medical check-up camp organised
Ludhiana, September 9 A team of doctors examined 600 patients under disciplines, including medicine, pediatrics, surgery, eye and gynecology. Arrangements were made for free laboratory tests and free ECG for heart patients. The camp was sponsored by the Punjab Youth Federation Welfare.
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Shooting training for NCC cadets
Ludhiana, September 9 It was for the first time that the cadets had a real-time experience where they shot with the 0.02 rifle. "Learning shooting was an unforgettable experience as my long cherished wish was fulfilled and touching the real rifle and bullets was an experience out of this world," said one of the cadets. AHO, Gurdeep Singh, said initially the number of girl cadets was less but now more and more girls are taking up NCC. The camp was organised under the supervision of Commanding Officer 4PB Air Sqn, NCC, Ludhiana and Wing Cdr Pardeep Bishnoi.
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Accident claims of over Rs 60 lakh settled
Ludhiana, September 9 The pre-lok adalats were being oraginsed in view of the upcoming special lok adalat on September 13. Judges have been able to settle a large number of motor accident claim cases with the assistance of officials of insurance companies, lawyers as well as litigants at these pre-lok adalats. Sessions judge Rai said judicial officers had been doing spade work for several days. Efforts were on to settle maximum number of cases in order to reduce the huge pendency of cases. Additional sessions judges M.S. Virdi, Kishore Kumar, Manjinder Singh, G.S. Saran, Ashok Kumar, R.L. Ahuja headed different benches of the pre-lok adalat today. Insurance company officials represented their respective companies for settling claim cases.
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Revive octroi, says workers’ union
Ludhiana, September 9
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100 examined at camp on obesity
Doraha, September 9 Around 100 patients were examined by a team of doctors and given dietary and health advice. Also patients falling under morbid obesity group were advised bariatric surgery.
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Marital Discord: Man commits suicide
Ludhiana, September 9 His mother alleged that he was suffering from depression due to the on going marital dispute. Recently, both sides had reached a compromise with the intervention of some relatives and the victim had to pay the settlement amount yesterday. Ginni had gone to the market along with his mother when he complained of stomach pain and returned home. When his mother reached home a little later, she found his body hanging from the ceiling fan. She called the police, which later sent the body to civil hospital for a post-mortem examination.
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Principal accused of charging extra money
Mandi Ahmedgarh,
September 9 They alleged that she was also shielding miscreants who had stolen articles of dead stock of the school and cash. Denying the charges, Amarjit Kaur, principal claimed the students voluntarily donated the amounts. According to her, the thefts occurred, as there was no watchman in the school for over two decades. The fee collected from students was stolen, a few days ago, along with an electric generator, a stabilizer and some fans were also stolen on various occasions during past months. Perusal of records at the Payal police station revealed that no case was registered in connection of these thefts. Gurdev Singh, sarpanch and Daljinder Singh Grewal, a panch said the matter had been brought into the notice of the district education officer, who had assured to conduct an inquiry into the allegations leveled by the students and their parents.
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Focus on environmental degradation at SGHPS
Doraha, September 9 The function began with tree plantation by the chief guest. Students of the school presented a cultural programme, which included a play focusing on the issue of environmental degradation, songs, giddha and bhangra were also presented during the show. The management honoured teachers of the school. Those who were especially honoured included the school principal, Manjushaw Vinayak, and teachers, including Prince Sood, Paramjit Kaur Sekhon, Surinder Kaushal, Devinder Singh, Ravinandan and Gagandeep Mittu.
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Paper-reading contest at GGPS
Doraha, September 9
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Katoch Shield Anil Datt Our Sports Reporter
Ludhiana, September 9 However, despite this defeat, Ludhiana with five points along with Mohali, Amritsar and Chandigarh, managed to secure a berth in the semifinals slated to begin on September 11.In the semifinals scheduled to be played at Mohali on September 11 and 14, Ludhiana will take on Amritsar. Ludhiana skipper, Ankur Kakkar, won the toss and elected to bat. In their first essay, Ludhiana could muster 248 runs in 94 overs. The main contributors were Geetansh Khera (104), Gagandeep Dhand (40), Deepak Bansal (32) and Karan Goel (27). For the hosts, Gurinder Singh was the pick of bowlers, who captured three wickets for 64 runs, while Vishwash Bhalla and Gogia scalped one victim each. In reply, Chandigarh were 270 runs for the loss of five wickets after 90 overs when it was called a day. The main architects of their innings were Sarul and Vishwas Bhalla, who scored 135 and 72 runs, respectively, and steered their team to overhaul Ludhiana's total of 248 runs. For Ludhiana Gaurav Marwaha sent down 24 overs and took three wickets for 65 runs while Ankur Kakkar grabbed one wicket for 28 runs in 15 overs and Deepak Bansal secured one wicket for 32 runs in 16 overs.
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Committee honours hockey players
Mandi Ahmedgarh,
September 9 Harbhajan Singh, manager of the committee, presided and Gurmail Singh Gill and Gopal Singh, secretaries, presented mementoes to the players. According to the principal Hadev Singh, U-14, U-17 and U-19 hockey teams of the school had emerged winner in their respective categories in the district-level school hockey tournament (girls) that concluded in Ludhiana on Saturday. Eight players of the U-14, 10 of the U-17 and five of the U-19 teams were selected in the state-level tournament. The U-17 team defeated the PAU zone team by 10-0. The U-14 and U-19 teams defeated Malwa Khalsa School and Kila Raipur zone, respectively, in the final matches in these categories. Coaches Chamkaur Singh, Paramjit Singh and Rachhpal Singh, were also felicitated. Bhupinder Kaur principal of Guru Nanak Kanya Mahavidyalaya also spoke on the occasion.
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District inter-block tournament from Sept 11
Ludhiana, September 9 The tournament includes athletics (boys and girls), archery (boys and girls), kabaddi (boys and girls), kho-kho (boys and girls), hockey (boys and girls), football (boys), tug-of-war (boys), volleyball (boys and girls), weightlifting (boys) and wrestling (boys and girls) competitions. Meanwhile, a District Panchayat Tournament for men will also be held from September 11 to 13 during which the competition in five disciplines namely athletics, hockey, kabaddi, volleyball and football will be held. The hockey matches will be organised at Prithipal Singh memorial astro turf stadium of Punjab Agricultural University campus while other events will be conducted at Guru Nanak stadium, the DSO said.
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