Ludhiana, October 25
In a gruesome incident taken straight from a Bollywood flick on revenge in unsolicited love, a 35-year-old jilted man embraced his 30-year-old beloved and pumped five bullets into her for not responding to his repeated phone calls today.

Vivek, the accused, entered the house of her beloved and after a verbal confrontation first shot victim’s mother and than pumped five bullets into his beloved, Mona Sharma, at her Atam Nagar residence located at Jassian road yesterday night.

Kajal, younger sister of the victim and an eye witness to the brutal incident, said, “The accused was under the influence of liquor and continued to press revolver’s trigger even after emptying it.”

The family member told The Tribune that both of them were in love for quite some time. The victim’s family claims that Mona Sharma, who got divorced a few years ago, got married to the accused eight months ago.

It was after their marriage, Mona found that Vivek was already married and has two daughters from it. This strained their relationship. Recently, the accused stopped giving financial assistance for her daughters’ education.

Mona along with her daughter went to attend a function at GRD Academy. However, she failed to respond to the repeated phone calls of Vivek.

Vivek, who was already high on liquor, got irritated and reached Mona’s house and started quarreling with her late last night.

Kajal said: “Vivek suspected that Mona has developed illicit relationship with someone thus was not responding to his phone calls.”

The accused took out his revolver and started threatening her. Mona’s mother tried to intervene but was shot by Vivek. She received bullet injuries on her right arm.

Mona got frightened and rushed towards the back door but failed to open it. She covered her face but the first bullet pierced her hand and went into the head. He then her pulled her close and pumped three bullets into her stomach and one into the heart.

“My sister bled to death in front of me but the accused kept on shooting at her,” said Kajal, who was consoling her niece that her mother will soon return.

Nitu, the youngest sister, tried to stop the accused from escaping but was choked until she fell unconscious.

The accused along with his accomplice Billu fled away from the spot.

Maani, victim’s brother-in-law, said, “The accused has not only ruined our family but also destroyed his and family’s life. He has two daughters from his first marriage.”

The accused used to work with the city’s famous DJ player Bhannu some time ago. He left the DJ business and became property dealer a few months ago.

Ludhiana, October 25
The wholesale cracker dealers at Dana Mandi got agitated today when a few officials from the sales tax department reached the spot and asked them to pay the "respective tax". The dealers objected to the sudden raids conducted by officials. They said since they had already paid huge amounts to the district administration while getting the shops, why should they pay to the department without selling the product?.

Surinder Goel, a dealer, alleged that department officials even stopped customers from buying the crackers from the stalls. "We have already paid to get the stalls. As far as sales tax is concerned, it should be on the billing. We have not even sold our product, why should we pay tax?", he asked. A few dealers also objected that officials had come to put "pressure" on dealers.

The dealers started raising slogans against the officials. There was utter chaos in the area due to the protest and traffic jam by the dealers. The police had to be called to avoid any untoward situation. Only after a few dealers and an area councillor intervention that the shopkeepers agreed to pay Rs 10,000 as tax (till Diwali) to officials. There are at least 60 wholesale dealers of crackers in the Dana Mandi.

Ludhiana, October 25
Repeated raids by the district health department have failed to put a tab on the use of adulterated milk products, including khoya, in sweets during the festival seasons.

Doctors warn that consumption of such spurious sweets could cause serious stomach disorders. Ingredients of some of the sweets are even carcinogenic, they add.

A large number of sweet shops in different parts of the city that were found guilty of using adulterant in sweets in the past are carrying on with the practice.

The district health department, in spite of having pronounced shop owners guilty of violation of the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, does not have the authority to seal shops, encouraging the guilty to continue with the malpractices.

Pointing towards pick-and-choose policy of the health authorities, a senior official maintaining anonymity said: “The department is targeting the small fish in synthetic khoya business as none of the big sweet shops that were held guilty of using synthetic khoya in sweets during Diwali last year have been questioned or checked.”

Ironically, the food inspector instead of accelerating the campaign against adulteration in sweets was busy performing VIP duty with Maj Gen J.J. Singh Singh (retd) who was in the city today. The department neither checked any sweet shop and nor did it take any sample today.

District health officer Dr S.S. Dhir said repeated raids had put pressure on importers and exporters of adulterated khoya, as they had incurred heavy financial losses.

“But shopkeepers have started installing machines to produce such khoya in their godowns and backyards, which is a matter of concern. However, we are mobilising teams after procuring information from all quarters to conduct raids and are keeping a strict vigil on habitual offenders as well,” DHO said.

Incidentally I have on my table 5 books concerning the works of Saadat Hasan Manto. In English there are two books, namely ‘Bitter Fruit: The very best of Saadat Hasan Manto’, edited & translated by Khalid Hasan and ‘Naked voices: Stories & Sketches by Manto’, edited and translated by Rakhshanda Jalil. In Urdu the two books are, ‘Saadat Hasan Manto: Ek Legend’, edited by Dr Humayun Ashraf and ‘Fasane Manto ke aur phir bayan apna’, by Khalid Ashraf. In Punjabi, the book is, ‘Saadat Hasan Manto de Afaasane’, edited and translated by Purdaman Singh Bedi.

Manto has refused to fade away from the memory of his readers since his death in 1955. In fact he is being admired now like D.H. Lawrence and Guy de Maupassant, whereas during his lifetime he was prosecuted for his writings by the powers that be. He was charged for being too outrageous in depicting man-woman relationship in his short stories. This process started in 1944 after the publication of his short story ‘Boo’ (smell) in an Urdu monthly, ‘Adab-e-Lateef’, Lahore. In the meanwhile, Ismat Chughtai’s short story ‘Lihaaf’ (The Quilt) had also been categorised as obscene. As such both Manto and Ismat used to travel from Bombay to Lahore to be present at court proceedings. In the beginning the travel was, more or less, a joy ride but later the humiliations heaped on these writers by the prosecuting agencies were unbearable.

Before the partition, Manto was prosecuted (and subsequently acquitted) for his stories ‘Boo’, ‘Dhuan’ and ‘Kali Shalwar’. For ‘Boo’ and ‘Dhuan’, he used to come from Bombay to Lahore, but for ‘Kali Shalwar’, he travelled from Delhi to Lahore. After the partition, he was prosecuted for his short stories ‘Thhanda Gosht’ and ‘Ooper, neeche aur darmyan’. He suffered a lot in the case of ‘Thanda Gosht’ as he had to travel a long distance from Lahore to Karachi despite his failing health. Subsequently he was fined for the publication of both these short stories.

His short story ‘Khol Do’, published in an Urdu monthly ‘Naqoosh’, Lahore, was banned and the journal confiscated. This one is unmatched for its pithiness, terseness and pointedness in the context of Urdu short stories written after the partition.

Purdaman Singh Bedi has rendered a great service to Punjabi literature by translating Manto’s 51 short stories into Punjabi. The book, consisting of 416 pages, has been published recently by Jaswant Printers, Ludhiana. The introduction, ‘Ikk Mahan Adabi Shakhsiyat’, is remarkable in tracing the growth of this great storyteller. He tells that Manto was a Kashmiri by origin whose ancestors had settled down first in Lahore and then in Kucha Vakilaan, Katra Jaimal Singh, Amritsar. He was born on May 11, 1912 in Samrala (Ludhiana district) where his father Maulvi Ghulam Hasan was a sub-judge in those days.

Manto studied in Muslim High School and Hindu College (at that time known as Hindu Sabha College), Amritsar. He could not get through F.A. as his mind was not in studies. He had started taking interest in literary activities and during 1933-34 he translated Victor Hugo’s play ‘Veera’, Gorky’s short stories and Maupassant’s short stories.

In 1934, he left for Bombay to try his luck in the film world as a script writer. He got married to Sofia in 1938 in straitened circumstances. His first child, a son, was born in 1940 but he died after a year. With the passage of time he was blessed with three daughters. The eldest Naghat was born in Bombay in 1946, whereas the younger ones, Nuzhat and Nusrat took birth after the partition. He migrated to Pakistan in the early months of 1948 and died in Lahore on January 18, 1955 at the age of 43 years.

The Punjabi translation by Purdaman Singh Bedi, the result of his hard labour for years, is a tribute to a great Urdu writer. It has come into existence by way of his admiration for the genius of Saadat Hasan Manto. His style is captivating and the language lucid. He has selected 51 stories out of the plethora of 233 short stories. He deserves kudos for this momentous task.

— N.S. Tasneem

Ludhiana, October 25
Dr Pirthipal Singh, former director (health), Punjab, who passed away on October 23, spent his childhood in Faridkot where his father, late Capt Puran Singh, an eye specialist, was posted. Having done his schooling in Faridkot, Dr Pirthipal got admission in Arya Medical School, Ludhiana, to study LSMF.

Thereafter he went to Lucknow to study MBBS in prestigious King George’s Medical College. His passion to serve his own brought him back to Punjab and he joined PCMS. He did his MS in surgery at Patiala.

He served as SMO, Rajpura, civil surgeon, Kapurthala, and civil surgeon, Ludhiana. He was the first medical superintendent of ESI Hospital, Ludhiana. He was also instrumental in initiating the surgical work at Kapurthala and developing the hospital into a complete health care facility.

He was very passionate about national health programmes and was pioneer in starting the laparoscopic tubectomy at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana. He was awarded for his performance in national population control programme by the then President R. Venkataraman.

He was instrumental in reservation of two seats for the wards of faculty of Guru Gobind Singh Medical College so as to meet the staff shortage and this endeavour did show results. He was also the initiator of the Punjab government policy to recruit the local people of Faridkot through employment exchange to meet the shortage of supporting staff in the medical college.

He was a trustee of Dasmesh Institutes in Faridkot, Kotkapura and Barghari, namely, Dasmesh Dental College and Hospital and Dasmesh Public School. As a mark of respect the educational institutions were closed on October 23.

Ludhiana, October 25
The department of pediatrics at CMCH organised a comprehensive workshop on “basic life support (BLS)” for medical interns and nursing students today. The basic life support is a specific level of pre-hospital medical care provided by trained providers, which is important for survival and quality of life of victims.

The participants were given hands-on training for various lifesaving techniques, when no medical facility or equipment is available. This workshop included the techniques of CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) in adults, children and infants with one and more rescuers. They were also briefed about the use of bag and mask ventilation and use of AED (automated external defibrillator) useful in the patients, who suffer from sudden cardiac arrests.

In this workshop, the participants were also given the hands-on training on "relief of choking" due to foreign body airway obstruction in the infants, children and adults.

The basic life support should be a part of community effort, which includes the prevention of injury, basic CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and prompt access to emergency medical services. Most laypersons can master the BLS after attending the hands-on training workshops for the basic life support.

Those who attended the workshop were head of pediatrics at DMC Dr Harmesh Singh Bains, Dr Puneet Pooni, Dr Gurpreet Singh Dhuria, Dr Sukmeet Singh from DMCH, Dr Gurmeet Kaur and Dr Inderpreet Sohi from Christian Medical College.

Ludhiana, October 25
Close on the heels of the initiative taken by the state government to provide relief to debt-ridden farmers of the Malwa region, the Central government has decided to start a “Saline water” project in the region soon.

The project will not only boost the fish farming industry in the state but also provide a ray of hope to hundreds of idle farmers of Mansa, Bathinda, Muktsar, Moga and other districts.

In Punjab, over 2.5 lakh hectares of land in these districts is unsuitable for traditional farming (wheat and paddy production) due to water-logging and saline groundwater. Maximum cases of farmer suicides have also been reported from these areas due to the barren land.

Saline water scheme — a pilot project — is coming up at Abul Khurana, near Malout here, to give boost to fish faming.

Under the project, the National Fisheries Development Board (NFDB) has provided Rs 36 lakh for training and extension purposes, while Rs 13 lakh have been sent for preparing experimental farm.

Expressing gratitude towards the state and central governments for taking an initiative, Kamaljit Singh Sidhu, an ex-officio member of Fish Farming Development Agency, Punjab , said the state government had decided to promote fish farming in the state on a larger scale.

“For this, a project report of Rs 50 crore will be sent to the Central government. In case of a positive outcome, there will be an increase in farmer economic growth and productivity of fishery in state. The central government is ready to pay subsidy to farmers who are interested in diversifying towards fish farming,” said Sidhu.

He added that fish farmers had produced export quality prawns in the recent times. They were ready to meet the demands of the Centre by producing good quality prawns weighing around 90 gram (each) provided they were given an assurance of good markets.

Fish farming has become a lucrative profession in the state in recent years with farmers producing 6,750 kg fish per hectare.

The figure is almost double the national level of 3,000 kg per hectare. The state government targets to cross the 8,000 kg per hectare mark by next year.

In all major districts, including Ludhiana, Ropar, Patiala, Amritsar and Jalandhar, fish farming has come out as the most productive profession.

Raikot, October 25
It has been an irony for Raikot as its MLA has always been from the opposition party. This has hurt the constituency in terms of development.

Every election, the candidate who gets elected from the constituency has invariably been from the opposition party. In the 2007 Assembly elections, voters of Raikot elected Congress candidate Harmohinder Singh, who defeated Akali candidate Ranjit Singh Talwandi.

While Talwandi lives in Chandigarh and occasionally visits the area, Harmohinder Singh is preoccupied in his business and people of the area rarely approach him with their problems, thinking he would have a little say in the government being an opposition MLA.

Both the sitting and former MLAs seem to have lost interest in the constituency after it was declared reserved. Also, Raikot was earlier a part of the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat. However, the Sangrur MP rarely visited the area. Now, as per the new constituency formulation, Raikot has been made part of the Fatehgarh Sahib Lok Sabha seat.

Ludhiana, October 25
Covered with rags, such people could be found on every road and in markets of the city asking for alms and have started indulging in petty crimes.

Beggars are not new but increase in their numbers, especially during the past few years, has surely irked the residents.Every traffic light on busy roads like Ferozepore and Pakhowal Roads, one could find large number of kids, women and physically challenged men asking for alms. Even religious places are not spared by beggars especially during evening hours.

Shobha, a housewife, while talking to The Tribune, said she was on her way to the market along with her husband, when suddenly an 11-year-old boy appeared on traffic lights near the Samrala Chowk.

“I kept my mobile on the dash board and opened my purse for taking out some money. Suddenly the signal turned green and my husband drove the car,” she said, adding that the boy fled away with the mobile within no time. She realised it only after covering some distance.

Similarly, another victim Rajinder, who is working in a private firm, revealed that he had gone to buy vegetables from the market on the Pakhowal Road last Thursday. “I had tied three polythene bags with my scooter. Suddenly a woman with a baby appeared in front of me. Since the kid was crying, I thought of giving some money to her, as soon as I took out a coin, my mobile rang up. I picked up my phone and started talking. On reaching home I found one o bag missing.”

Akshay, a college student, added that these beggars could be found sitting on stairs in temples. They are so stubborn that one has to use abusive language for getting rid of them.

Advising people not to give alms to these beggars, SP (traffic) Roopinder Singh said residents should not encourage practice of begging by giving cash and kind to these people.

He admitted that these people had been contributing towards increasing crime rate in the city and added that police could not put all beggars behind bars as they had limited place in prisons.

Ludhiana, October 25
A function was organised by Guru Nanak International Education Trust today to mark the 300 years of Gurta Gaddi Divas of Guru Grant Sahib. Governor of Uttrakhand, former General J.J. Singh was the chief guest at the occasion.

The trust has also opened a Guru Nanak Dev Bhalai Council under which they have opened a school to provide education to the needy students. While applauding the efforts of the trust, J.J. Singh said Guru Grant Sahib preaches us the teachings of all ten gurus and every individual should follow them in their lives.

He added that he was very concerned over the fact that very few Punjabis were joining the Army. “More and more youngsters should come forward in the service of the nation as these young people are the backbone of the nation,” he said.

Uniforms were distributed to the needy children and the Governor declared that he would be adopting one child and bear the expenses of his or her education.

A polio-affected girl was handed over the cheque for her treatment on this occasion. “A person should be good at heart and should always come forward to help those in need,” he added.

Ludhiana, October 25
The Punjab Postal Service in association with Reliance Money limited launched services to provide gold coins here today.

Inaugurating the services at the Ludhiana head post office, chief postmaster general, Punjab Circle, Chandigarh, P.R. Kumar said initially the head post office, central post office and Miller Ganj post office and three post offices in Jalandhar had been identified for the sale of gold coins.

He added that the gold coins sold from post offices would be of 24 carat certified in unbreakable seals in 0.5 gm, 1 gm, 5 gm and 8 gm weight denominations.

The sale of gold coins will continue on Sunday and Diwali and a discount of 5 per cent would be available to costumers till October 31.

The department is already providing services like speed post, business post, retail post and other services like collecting telephone bills, water and electricity bills.

Ludhiana, October 25
With mercury dipping and winter round the corner, city residents are making a beeline for woolens. Hot trendy jackets in countless hues are the latest rage and have caught the fancy of the young and old alike.

Fabrics and styles that were earlier available in Europe or the US are now being offered by stores and malls and outlets of almost all brands at affordable prices. In fact, even small manufacturers are not far behind in the race.

Available in various fabrics and styles, jackets are now no longer a utility item in one’s wardrobe, traditionally used as protection against chilly winter winds. In fact, they have now become an integral part of every wardrobe, irrespective of the age or sex and come in countless styles and fabrics.

A survey of the city markets revealed that jackets with embellishments like big belts, bold buttons, studs are in vogue this year.

Confirming this, Bipasha, a stylist, said: “Style is the keyword this year. Lots of embellishments on jackets and attention-seeking pockets are in. The price range varies from Rs 1,300-3,000.”

She added that suede in black and beige and denim were the favourites among women and men alike this year. “Short waistcoats are going to be the pick of the season,” she said.

Added Rajeev of Time Option: “There is no dearth of designs, styles and fabrics in jackets. Imported fabrics are very much in demand but cotton still rules the roost. Besides, imported satin and polyester-based fabrics with shine are very in this year. These are popular, especially among youngsters, and are available at affordable rates. We research the foreign markets and brands and get tailor-made designs that are available in Europe and the US. These are reasonably priced.”

Olive, beige, khaki, coffee brown are colours that are selling like hot cakes this year and bright hues are passé, added Rajeev.

“Denim, suede, leather-look and polyester jackets that came into vogue last year will continue to be popular this year as well. Coat-style, short, long, waist length are the styles for this year. Denim is popular in classic blue shade for jackets and coats” said Raj Avasthi, director of a store.

He added that a piece that costed around Rs 15,000-17,000 abroad was available at Rs 2,200-3,000 in India. “Quality of the stuff is on a par with imported garments,” he remarked.

Said Chitra, a banker, “The best thing about jackets is that they come in various styles, long and short and go with almost anything from a pair of jeans to skirt to salwar-kameez. One just needs to look around for the right shade and style.”

Ludhiana, October 25
Though the students of College of Agricultural Engineering at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) called off their strike on Thursday but most of the students seem to be adamant to plead the case of one of their seniors, Amir Hameed Wani, who has been debarred from the varsity for "misleading" other students, with authorities concerned on Monday.

One of the students of IIIrd year said Amir acted as a leader for the welfare of other students. Before preparing any date sheet, a class representative has to be taken into confidence by the chairman, the teaching committee, said the student. Since Amir is one of the senior students, he extended help and pleaded our case but the authorities did not like his leadership on the campus. They assured us on our demands but debarred Amir from the hostel and varsity, which is unfortunate. We will request the authorities to take a soft stand as his career will be ruined", said the student. As per PAU officials, firm stand had to be taken against Wani as he had not been able to clear his courses even though he was given mercy pleas for three times.

Some of senior faculty members of the varsity however said the students were never consulted before preparing the date sheets. "It certainly will not be viable if the teachers keep on changing the dates of examinations as per convenience of the students", said one of the faculty members.

It may be mentioned here that on Wednesday almost 100 students of College of Agricultural Engineering went on the strike against "non-cooperative" attitude of their dean. On Thursday they staged a dharna outside the VCs office, and the latter had to call the police to remove the striking students. 

Ludhiana, October 25
Darshan Singh, a driver at Greenland Convent School, Chandigarh road, was allegedly beaten up by the parents of a student, Sambhav, on two consecutive days. According to the police, Sameer Mohindra, father of Sambhav and a resident of the G.K. Colony has, however, lodged a report that his son was beaten up yesterday by the driver and he was not taken in the bus this morning.

On the other hand, Darshan Singh alleged that he was beaten up yesterday as well as today by the parents of the boy and their accomplices. The police is investigating the matter.

Samrala, October 25
SSP Arunpal Singh, Khanna, today held a public meeting at the Nagar council office, Samrala, to know the problems and to give directions to people for the upcoming Diwali.

In his address he appealed to the citizens to be aware of any unclaimed device and report it to the police immediately. He said the police patrolling had been intensified to save any untoward incident. He appealed to shopkeepers to put crackers in open while selling.

Ludhiana, October 25
In an attempt to please the local residents once again, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal would be holding sangat darshan in various areas here tomorrow.

His schedule starts at 9.30 am at Pindi Dyal dharamshala, followed by a meeting at Chandan Devi Government School, Saleem Tabri, at 11 am. After this, he would hear public grievances at SAN Jain School near Daresi Ground at 12 noon, followed by one at Government High School, Sekhewal, at 3 pm.

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.

Ludhiana, October 25
A local court today convicted a Nepalese resident, Dilbahar, alias Dilbahadur Singh, of possessing 5.5 kg charas and sentenced him to 10-year rigorous imprisonment. He was arrested while coming out of the local railway station in 2003.

Additional sessions judge M.S. Virdi also ordered the convict to pay pay a fine of Rs 1 lakh.

Pronouncing the verdict, the judge held that the prosecution had succeeded in proving the charges levelled against the accused beyond any reasonable shadow of doubt. The judge also turned down the plea of leniency raised by the accused.

An FIR was registered against him under Section 20 of the NDPS Act at the GRP police station on November 29, 2003.

According to prosecution, the then SHO of railway police, Lakha Singh, along with a police team was frisking suspected persons at the railway station when the accused carrying a bag tried to evade the team on being asked to stop.

He claimed himself to be a shopkeeper at Nepal Ganj in Banke district, Nepal.

Police officials searched his bag and found charas weighing 5.5. kg from his possession.

During the trial, the accused pleaded not guilty. He claimed false implication in the case.

But after appreciating the evidence on record and hearing the arguments, the court found him guilty.