Ludhiana, September 22
Hundreds of people who visited the sub-registrar’s office were harassed as no work was taken up in both west and east offices even three days after the arrest of A.P. Verma, sub-registrar (W), by the vigilance in a graft case.

None of the two offices registered a sale deed today, causing losses to the state exchequer as most employees proceeded on leave following the vigilance action.

Verma was arrested on Friday morning and that day, too, no work was taken up. People who came from different parts of the district had to return as there was nobody to attend to them.

Only security personnel were seen outside the offices. The visitors came in the morning and left after waiting for about an hour.

"When they took action against the sub-registrar, they should have appointed a tehsildar to ensure that work did not suffer,” said Gurkirpal Singh, who returned after the security staff told him that there was nobody in the office.

Also, there was no information if work would be taken up tomorrow. “I have to take a bank loan and start the construction of my house. I want the sale deed of my house registered,” he said.

Sub-registrar Kanwar Narinder Singh reached the east office, but when he saw no official had turned up, he went back.

Meanwhile, panic gripped advocates, deed writers and agents following the arrest of Verma. The vigilance claims that Verma had revealed the names of some advocates and deed writers involved in the racket.

Ludhiana, September 22
“Give me death; give me death”, tehsildar-cum-sub registrar Arvind Parkash Verma, in Vigilance Bureau’s custody, pleaded before a local court.

“I will prefer dying than facing such third degree torture and humiliation”, he added. “I can’t tolerate the electric shock being given to me by the Vigilance officials”.

When Verma was produced before Chief Judicial Magistrate Lachhman Singh on expiry of his police remand, he broke down and kept on weeping despite being consoled by his lawyer.

In order to humiliate him, he was stripped off before other co-accused who were junior to him. All this was being done just to settle political score. Moreover, he was aspiring for promotion as the SDM, he added.

He stated that he had not named any senior official or anyone else, as claimed by the vigilance official in the newspapers.

The bureau had claimed in a section of newspapers that accused had named a few senior administrative officials to whom he used to share the ill-gotten money.

The Vigilance Bureau had also claimed that it would also probe their role.

Meanwhile, CJM Lachhman Singh extended the police remand of all three accused for another two days, after being convinced with the submissions of Additional Public Prosecutor Sukhchain Singh.

The prosecution claimed that during interrogation, the accused had confessed to having deposited Rs 1 crore in his bank account maintained with ICICI Bank, Mumbai.

Moreover, he has disclosed that he purchased property in the name of his wife and mother from the ill-gotten money in Noida, Mumbai, and other places, such facts needs to be verified, stressed public prosecutor.

The Vigilance Bureau sleuths had also raided the house and shop of Vema’s brother in Jalandhar. Even, his brother was booked under the Excise Act.

The defence counsel today refuted the allegation of the prosecution.

The defence counsel said the Vigilance officials should not be remanded in police custody for probing the alleged disproportionate asset of the accused.

Jassowal, September 22
The Railways staff has resumed the charge of the local station by issuing passenger tickets after a gap of 21 years.

The staff had fled following the mass killings of migrant labourers in the neighbouring railway stations of Kila Raipur and Baddowal in 1987.

The staff fled immediately after arson at the station and all these years, the ticket counter was manned by a railway halt contractor.

Boarding from the station came to an absolute halt for the villagers of at least six villages when the Northern Railway, in a letter dated July 2006, asked the contractor to stop the sale of tickets "within three months".

Hundreds of residents and labourers work in Ludhiana industry from Alamgir, Dulay, Humayunpur, Dullon Kalan, Dullon Khurd and Kheri Jhamedi Bila villages.

They had no option but to shift to buses. A bus costs Rs 9 for a single trip, while a train trip costs only Rs 3.

The station today is in absolute shambles except for one room occupied by Tejwinder Singh, who is here on temporary duty of a booking clerk from Kila Raipur. The station does not have any control phones and not even fans.

The windows are broken and wild grass has grown in the compound and even
inside closed rooms.

"On an average, I sell about 60-70 tickets in a day. Last week I sold 191 on a single day," he said.

The station was closed as the railways authorities said it was not feasible because of lesser number of passengers boarding trains here.

Interestingly, certain villagers buy tickets just to fatten the railway records for showing them that the station had sufficient number of passengers.

In the immediate context, the Railways decided to close down the halt station, saying the operation was not feasible (financially) for the Railways.

The contractor was asked not to sell tickets after three months. Following the
closure of the station, Jagdev Singh Jassowal, a former MLA, was in continuous
communication with the Railway authorities, including ministers, for the past
couple of months.

Jassowal said the decision to not have the stoppage had led to widespread resentment and Railway authorities should have instead upgraded the old station.

Bacchan Singh, a local, said, "The closure of train halt had led to villagers shifting to buses. The travelling class is largely poor and it can save a decent amount on account of shifting to train as their mode of daily travel”.

He said the number of travellers would increase if the 7 pm AJH train, which could get back the daily labourers, halted at the station.

Ludhiana, September 22
The police has nabbed a man who posed as a Colonel and collected money from people on the pretext of giving them clerical jobs in the Army.

According to the SP (D), Gurpreet Singh Toor, the accused tricked over 50 youths and collected around Rs 10 lakh from them.

The accused has been identified as Rajinder Singh, a resident of Kangra in Himachal, was nabbed near the Baddowal main gate.

He was nabbed on the complaint of Mahinder Singh, Balwinder Singh and Gurpreet Singh, all residents of Sidhwan Bet.

Gurpreet Singh alleged that the accused was a jawan and was dismissed from
service in 2000.

He started duping youths since 2001 and was earlier also arrested in various states on the charges of fraud.

The SP(D) said the accused used to stay in a hotel, from where he used to
operate his business.

He would lure youths and assure them clerical jobs in the Army headquarters at
Chandi Mandir.

He also prepared a fake stamp of the department. He would charge Rs 50,000 in advance to get the work done.

Gurpreet Singh said the accused was operating from Kangra, Chandigarh, Bathinda and several other places.

The accused had been sent to jail several times, but whenever he got out, he would start cheating people again.

Ludhiana, September 22
With a few city hospitals failing to provide parking facilities on its premises, a number of vehicles can be seen parked on the roads leading to traffic chaos.

The area around hospitals is no longer a silent zone as vehicles caught in a traffic jam honk continuously thereby causing inconvenience to patients.

The haphazardly parked vehicles on the roads near the hospitals not only leave little space for pedestrians, but are also an open invitation to mishaps.

Most of these hospitals are private and charitable, including those on Jawaddi Road and the Pakhowal Road.

Interestingly, even the cars of the hospital staff and ambulances could be seen parked on the roads.

Mandeep, a regular commuter on the Jawaddi Road, said, “You can find vehicles parked on the road in front of the Deep Hospital, Suman Hospital, Pal Hospital and RG Stone and Super-speciality Hospital. These hospitals do have security guards who don’t allow vehicles to be parked in front of the gates. But, those parking their vehicles on the road cause traffic chaos.”

Aman Sharma, a businessman, said, “Karanvir Hospital in Haibowal, Khosla Nursing Home in Model Town and Jatinder Gambhir Hospital on the Pakhowal Road don’t have parking facilities and as a result you can see vehicles parked on the road. People often overlook the no parking boards near the hospitals.”

Shweta, a research fellow at the PAU, said: “There are regular traffic jams near the Arora Neuro Centre on the Mall road. Patients in the hospital want silence but regular honking during the traffic jams makes them restless.”

Chandigarh, September 22
By 2011, the pressure on the road network in the local planning area of Ludhiana is likely to mount, with 4.89 lakh people travelling every day.

The present road mass transport system is inadequate to meet the increasing demand, the state’s town and country planning department has said.

In the Ludhiana master plan, approved by the Punjab government, concern has been raised over the increasing deaths in road accidents. Discipline and policy measures can help manage the traffic problem in the city.

It has been pointed out that for the total planning area of 1271.22 sq km, comprising Ludhiana, Sahnewal, Doraha, Mullapur, Phillaur and 301 villages, an efficient mass transport system of roads in the form of underpasses, overbridges, elevated sections and light rail system, instead of metro, has been advised.

On the basis of studies conducted by RITES and the city development plan prepared by the Ludhiana MC, the town planning department has said people face difficulties in commuting from one place to another.

The study by RITES had pointed that the travel speed was falling in the face of increased transport demand, limited road capacity and poor transport system.

In the proposed demand projection for 2011, a total of 24.26 lakh vehicular inter-zonal trips are expected to be generated in Ludhiana every day.

If this demand is catered to by the existing system, it would lead to congestion on all roads, substantial reduction in vehicular speed, increased delays at junctions and increased pollution levels.

Trip assignments for 2011 show that on major corridors, the transport demand is likely to be over 10,000 peak hour peak direction trips (PHDPT) for mass transport. This is beyond the capacity of the present road-based mass transport system.

Also, travelling would be concentrated on the Chandigarh-road, between Jamalpur and Shingar cinema, Ferozepur road between Punjab Agriculture University and the GT Road, Budda nullah and the GT road between Mata Rai chowk and the railway station. The transport demand on the corridors would increase by four to six times.

To integrate the road network strategy, an alternative mass transport network consisting of a circular corridor has been designed.

This network includes Budda nullah, Shingar cinema, Transport Nagar, Jagraon bridge, Bharat Nagar chowk, Fauvara chowk and Domuriya Pul.

The other networks are from Ferozepur road-Bharat Nagar chowk-PAU; Malerkotla road-Dasmesh Nagar-engineering college; Chandigarh road from Shingar cinema to Jamalpur chowk; Rahon road from the police division 3 to Viram Colony and Haibowal road from the old courts to the dairy complex.

The total length of the proposed network would be 36.6 km and would roughly carry 4.89 lakh passengers daily by 2011.

In the first phase, comprising the circular corridor, Ferozepur road and the Chandigarh road, a length of 24.12 km would carry 4.28 lakh passengers every day.

The maximum PHDPT of the recommended network would be 25,000 by 2021. A bus transport system has also been designed on 24 routes.

It has been suggested that the light rail system on elevated tracks would have an average speed of 30 kmph and could negotiate sharp curves and follow road alignment, reducing the need for space and damage to built-up private property.

Ludhiana, September 22
An iron gate erected on the 50-foot main road in the C block by the residents welfare society of Rajguru Nagar, a posh colony developed by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT), has made the road in the area inaccessible to more than 20,000 residents of Threekay colony, Threekay village and New Rajguru Nagar, located around the colony.

Demanding removal of the barricade erected unlawfully on the street, sarpanches and other representatives of the village bodies submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner, LIT administrator and the SSP in this regard.

The villagers complained that in the course of carrying out repairs of various roads in Rajguru Nagar, the trust authorities had constructed nearly 12 steep humps in the C- Block which had led to numerous accidents in the recent past.

To make the matters worse, a gate was erected on the 50-foot main road, thereby making the road network leading to Ferozepur Road, a state highway, the Punjab Agricultural University and other private and government offices in the area, inaccessible to the villagers living around the colony, they added.

Chamkaur Singh, a resident of Threekay village, said with the access to main road barred, people of three villages, including PAU teachers and employees, were forced to use the 16-foot passage, which had neither been repaired, nor had streetlights.

The panchayat representatives regretted that the association’s functionaries had failed to see reason and pleas to dismantle the gate had curtly been turned down.

The residents had stated in the memorandum that if speed-breakers and gate on main road were not removed within three days, they will resort to agitation, and any law and problem arising out of such an eventuality will be administration’s problem.

When contacted, R.K. Garg, trust engineer, told The Tribune that they had not received the memorandum till now.

“As and when we receive the complaint, we shall take appropriate action as
per the rules.”

Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 22
Residents of Khanpur village, native village of Bobby Piyush Jindal, the first and youngest Indian-American Governor of Louisiana (USA), are sad that the Punjab government, instead of according special status to their village has even failed to provide basic amenities water, sewage and sanitation and health services to them.

Their sufferings have compounded further as the panchayat chief was yet to be elected. Though, the residents still hope that the state government would coordinate with the Jindals for opening a multi-specialty hospital and a medical institute affiliated to American universities.

Villagers alleged that the administration had failed to construct a proper building for housing subsidiary health centre, being managed by the Zila Parishad.

The centre, which was functioning from the office of a cooperative society earlier, has now been temporarily shifted to a deserted building of the panchayat ghar.

Allegations of absenteeism among a rural medical officer and his staff were substantiated by health centre’s appearance.

Wild shrubs, herbs, stagnant water and manecured passage suggested that neither the staff nor the beneficiaries have visited the place since long.

Health authorities maintained that a new building was constructed at focal point a few years ago.

But, the residents did not agree to the proposal of shifting the health centre to this building as it was far off from the village. The focal point building has already become inhabitable.

Jagjit Singh Grewal, a resident, alleged that all SOS calls for improving public health services had fallen on deaf ears.

Last year, we had urged the state government to invite Bobby Jindal to the village so that we could impress upon him to contribute towards development of his native place. The government neither took any step nor directed authorities to provide us basic amenities, rued Grewal.

Ludhiana, September 22
Anxiety prevails at the Ludhiana Stock Exchange (LSE) here after the resignation of its chairman and director, S.P. Sharma.

Sharma, who resigned last week, alleging a non-cordial environment at the bourse, has drawn flak from other members, who have now come out with details of various issues raised by Sharma.

Against the allegation of irregularities and the issue of work coming to a halt in January this year, the vice-chairman of the LSE, Jagmohan Krishan, said the terminals of brokers were "voluntarily" put off in a square off mode by the office.

"SEBI team during its visit to Ludhiana inspected the matter and its report is awaited," he said.

On the division of seats of the director, Krishan said it was a baseless allegation. Two seats were vacant for the posts of shareholder director, for which three nominations had been received. The office is scrutinising the nominations.

Ludhiana, September 22
Reeling under severe financial crunch, the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) authorities had every reason to smile after the recent ‘kisan mela’ was held on September 18 and 19.

There had been a record sale of seeds to the tune of Rs 1 crore and 33 lakh during the ‘mela’ as compared to Rs 75 lakh last time.

PAU VC Dr M.S. Kang told The Tribune that the authorities felt satisfied as the seeds introduced by the university were in great demand among farmers from all over the state.

“There has been a record sale of seeds this year. Though, the rains had spoilt the charm on the second day of the mela, but farmers who had come for seeds went only after the purchase,” he said.

During the mela, PBW 550 -- the new wheat variety seed -- remained the main attraction for thousands of farmers coming from places like Patiala, Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Abohar, Muktsar, Mansa etc.

The farmers had queued up at the university seed sale counters in the wee hours to get this newly released variety.

According to university officials, the particular variety was introduced last year, but it could not be distributed amongst farmers due to less availability.

Seeing huge response, the agricultural department of Punjab decided to distribute 10 kg seed kits (PBW 550) to farmers of the state for further multiplication.

The particular variety possesses high degree of resistance to yellow and brown rust diseases and is learnt to be superior from other popular wheat varieties like PBW 502 and PBW 343.

Mukesh Siag, general secretary, Punjab Agricultural University Teachers’ Association (PAUTA) said the varsity felt happy over the record sale of seeds, but the amount was far less to get PAU out of the financial burden.

“The varsity is running between Rs 60-70 crore deficit, such a meagre amount will not help much,” he said.

Ludhiana, September 22
Industrialist Vinod Kumar Adya (52), who had been missing since the past one month, was strangulated with a shoelace on August 12.

Sources told The Tribune the three accused, who were nabbed by the police from Faridkot in connection with the murder, had admitted that the industrialist was strangulated with the shoelace.

The accused further disclosed that after killing the industrialist, they dumped his body in a sack and threw it from Sakhewal Bridge. The accused are truck drivers.

The police, that is still tight lipped on the issue, has begun a search operation after learning about the strangulation theory, the sources confirmed. However, the body has not been found so far.

A senior police official said, “The police teams have searched the areas as told by the accused.” However, he refused to divulge the name of the accused.

A close relative of the family said the accused were the victim’s friends. But,
the family used object Vinod’s affiliation with them as he used to spend lavishly
on the accused.

The police sources said, the family was against his lavish spending on his friends and that is why they decide not to give him cash.

As Vinod was a habitual boozer, he became a liability on accused and the three decide to kill him.

On the night of August 12 they strangulated him and threw his body from the
Sekhewal Bridge.

Meanwhile, the family remained tightlipped and refused to divulge anything. Even SSP R.K. Jaiswal was reluctant to speak anything on this issue.

Raikot, September 22
The infection of gastroenteritis seems to have settled in the affected areas of Raikot. The infected patients were replacing the treated ones.

District health officer Dr Dhir visited the town and affected areas today to take the stock of the situation.

A meeting was held between SDM, SMO and EO, Raikot, and it was decided that the water supply of municipal committee be discontinued in the affected area.

All the efforts of the health authorities to control the infection had proved fruitless. Proper cleanliness drive was resolved in the town effectively and selling of eatables in unhygienic conditions in the market would be discouraged. All the vendors were issued strict warning.

The joint team of municipal committee and health authority identified a leakage in water supply system at Sabajpura Road, where water pipes were passing through stinking stagnant water.

The infected water was mixing with potable water from there and therefore there was no control over the infection. The samples of water from there were collected.

Meanwhile, the Raikot police today intercepted a van (PB 13 J 3771) and detained two drums of synthetic milk from therein.

The police arrested the owner Sukhjeet Singh of Leel village near Pakhowal.

The milk was chilled and it seemed that it was to be supplied to a milk-procuring agency of a private milk company. The police is investigating the matter.

The operation will be conducted in civil hospital, Jagraon, and will be provided free lenses and medical aid.

They were asked to clean their coolers and other water containers, as these were prefect breeding ground for the diseases.

They also distributed chlorine tablets. Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura, municipal commissioner G.S. Ghuman, attended the camp.

Ludhiana, September 22
At least 240 patients were examined at the 64th diabetes and cardiac check-up camp organised by the local branch of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) in association with the Hero DMCH Heart Institute, Shivpuri, here yesterday.

G.S. Wander, Rohit Tandon and Harpreet Singh, from Hero DMCH Heart Institute, Surendra Gupta, Inder Sharma, K.K. Kharbanda, Diwaker Sharma, K.K. Kohli and K. Subodh Virdi from NIMA examined the patients.

According to NIMA secretary Surendra Gupta, the patients were given basic diagnostic tests like blood sugar level, ECG and blood pressure.

A lecture was also organised to make people aware of the necessary lifestyle changes to prevent diseases like diabetes, heart attack and dengue.

Chief cardiologist at HDHI Wander cautioned that hypertension should be treated early with medicines and lifestyle modification, to prevent heart failure.

Whereas Gupta advised people to wear full sleeve shirts and socks, keep the surroundings clean and free from water logging and use of mosquito repellents for avoiding dengue fever.

In case of dengue attack, the patient ought to take complete bed rest, plenty of fluids, light and nutritious diet.

Ludhiana, September 22
Fiery, independent and strong-willed youngsters of the city love to live their lives according to their own rules and don’t mind declaring, “It’s my life!”

The young generation is not much concerned about what their parents will or will not approve. They are not ready to lead their lives according to wishes of parents.

They have their own preferences when it comes to studies, career, clothing,
leisure and relationships.

Many youngsters of the city believe in living life king-size and they leave no stone unturned in endorsing their way of life in their own style.

Ramandeep Singh, an MBA student at Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Boys, says he is very strong willed when it comes to making his own choices.

“I do seek opinion of my parents but the final decision comes from my side. I need space of my own so during vacations I along with my bunch of friends zoom out to one of the hill stations. Though my parents had a hitch when I first planned a vacation with my friends but now they are used to it,” he quips.

Chipping in, his friend Angad says their parents have a traditional mindset and the generation gap is bound to be there.

“I respect my parents but I will never surrender to their demands like choosing a particular career or getting married to a girl of their choice,” he adds.

Not only boys but the city girls too like to have their own way when it comes to taking decisions about their life.

Gunjan has decided to migrate abroad and is at present preparing for IELTS.

“Today girls are self-reliant and my parents have accepted my decision of moving abroad as they now understand that the avenues and opportunities available there are more than those in India,” she asserts.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 22
Terming the government’s decision to deduct Rs 1,500 from the salaries of those teachers who had boycotted the CTE examination as unconstitutional and a step towards privatisation of education, a few teachers’ organisations of the area had threatened to launch agitation in case the decision was not withdrawn.

The CTE examination was conducted by Sarav Sikhya Abhiyan authorities recently.

Activist and office bearers of Punjab School Teachers Union, SCBC Teachers Union and Democratic Teachers Front were against this move of the administration.

Punjab School Teachers Union state president Sikandar Singh Jartoli said, “We have already started spadework for launching a coordinated struggle against the dictatorial policies of the government. Office bearers of almost all teacher organisations have shown inclination to join hands with us and an action committee will soon be constituted to monitor the move.”

Disproving the logic of holding of the test, the union leaders dared SAS authorities to have a debate on the issue.

“Now, when they have tried to humiliate our teachers by implementing arbitrary decisions, let them organise an open debate. We will second the idea of taking examination. If the officials of SAS could answer all basic questions put by our teachers, we will accept their decision to take our tests,” said Jartoli.

“The post is meant for non-teaching, technical employees, who are the administrative and accounts officers (AAOs). A teacher cannot understand the problems of non-teaching employees. We are against this appointment,” said Sandhu adding that a non-teaching person should be accommodated on the post.

The union employees have also decided to hold a protest rally against today’s appointment on September 24 outside the VC office.

Ludhiana, September 22
The annual day function- Jashn-e-Baharan of College of Basic Sciences and Humanities (COBSH) of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) was held last evening in the Pal auditorium of the university.

The event was organised under the aegis of the Society for Advancement of Academics, Sports and Cultural Activities (SAASCA). Dr Kulwinder Singh Saini, director, Biotechnology and Bio-informatics at Ranbaxy Research Laboratories, Gurgaon, was the chief guest while Dr S.S. Marwaha, chief executive officer of Punjab Biotechnology Incubator, Mohali, was the guest of honour and vice-chancellor, Dr Manjit Singh Kang, also presided over the function.

Dr. Saini highlighted the importance of working in a team. He said that information technology had proved its worth as far as globalisation was concerned. He said that the college should exercise preparing students to play at the global stage.

Dr Kang, in his presidential address, said that in this competitive world, a student was expected to be an all-rounder.

He advised the students to make best use of the time to excel in their studies. On the occasion, awards were also distributed to achievers in various subjects.

Youngsters are crazy about ringtones. They can be seen downloading these either from shops or their friends through bluetooth. In a unique incident, two group of boys were having an argument.

Ludhiana, September 22
Two rickshaw pullers and three passengers were injured when a speeding bus hit them near the Shiv Puri Chowk yesterday evening.

The two rickshaw pullers, who were cycling on the edge of the road near the Shiv Puri Chowk, were hit after the bus driver coming from the Jalandhar bypass lost control over the vehicle.

The bus drivers tried to flee from the spot, but could not go far as the irate residents got the bus forcibly stopped.

They, even, broke the windowpanes of the bus by pelting stones. The matter was resolved after a PCR official intervened.

Ludhiana, September 22
A twelve-member Punjab squad left for Pune today to take part in the 47th National Bozdybuilding Championship to be held from September 24 to 26.

The Punjab Amateur Bodybuilding Association selected these bodybuilders during the trials conducted here last week.

According to the press secretary of the association, Vicky Sharma, office bearers, including Navneet Singh, Aprinder Singh, Pardeep Appu, Sukhdev Singh Sodhi and Harish Gupta were also present at the gym to wish good luck to the team members.

The names of the Punjab squad are: Ramandeep Singh of Amritsar (55kg), Amit Bhatia of Ludhiana and Vaneet Marwaha of Hoshiarpur (60 kg), Rahul Sharma, Charanjit Singh, both from Ludhiana and Vivek Sharma of Amritsar (65 kg), Surinder Kumar of Ludhiana (75 kg), Jagtar Singh of Ludhiana (80 kg), Raghuraj of Ludhiana (85 kg), Sandeep Singh of Ludhiana (90 kg) and Dharminder Singh of Ludhiana (above 90 kg).

Ludhiana, September 22
Bharatiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Udham Singh Nagar, won 19 medals in the district kickboxing championship.

The players won nine gold, six silver and four bronze medals, organised by the Ludhiana Kick Boxing Association at GHC Academy, Jagraon.