Ludhiana, September 25
The failure of the Ludhiana municipal corporation to take action against some tainted officers in cases related to unauthorised constructions has drawn flak from the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The High Court today sought details from the municipal corporation why inquiry (as old as 2005-06) against these officers had not been completed yet.

The Division Bench of the court said it wanted to know the details about the inquiry officers appointed in these cases and whether chargesheets had been issued to the officers, besides the time frame in which the pending inquiries would be completed.

The Bench directed the civic body to file an additional affidavit divulging these details.

Apart from it, the department of housing and urban development has been asked to give details about the master plan along with the date of notification and objections received for it.

The directions came following petitions by a journalist and others, including an NGO, pleading that residential properties were being commercialised in Ludhiana in connivance with MC officials who were granting CLUs according to 
their whim.

Talking to The Tribune, counsel for the petitioners said: “The Ludhiana MC today filed an affidavit stating that around 10 officials were facing disciplinary proceedings for unauthorised constructions. These officials include STP BS Brar, MTPs Hemant Batra, SS Bhatia and PK Garg, and ATPs Harpreet Ghai, Kamaljeet Kaur, Monica, Tarlok Singh and Tejpreet Singh.”

However, the civic body had failed to justify why no action had been taken against these officials, the counsel added.

The petitioners had alleged that residential areas were commercialised blatantly in the city, keeping the CLU at stake. Hundreds of constructions had come up in violation of building bylaws and the master plan.

They had pleaded that several areas, including Civil Lines, Mall Road, College Road, Rani Jhansi Road and Cemetery Road were replete with illegal structures and they urged that they be demolished.

They also contended that commercial activities in residential areas were disturbing the environment.

Mandi Gobindgarh, September 25
Municipal council president Dharampal Rao was caught stealing electricity today, for which he was fined Rs 1.35 lakh.

A team of the PSEB, Patiala, raided an empty godown belonging to the MC president at Motia Khan Market on the Amloh road. Officials of the board found that the electricity of the office, adjoining the godown, was connected to the main line illegally.

The direct supply of electricity was snapped and wires used in the crime were confiscated by the board officials, who said electricity would be restored only after the council president paid the fine.

Supporters of the council president when contacted by a section of the media refuted that power theft was detected at the godown and said electricity department officials had come to upgrade the power connection.

However, later they said a complaint had been lodged by one of their rivals and the raid was conducted by a team of the electricity department.

The officials said the MC president was running two air-conditioners in his office on a kundi connection and had been stealing 4 KV power for the past some time.

Area residents, besides industrial units of Mandi Gobindgarh and adjoining areas, have been reeling under power cuts for the past several months. Residents said they got power for less than 10 hours a day.

The PSEB has launched a drive to detect electricity theft and have fined a large number of defaulters in nearby villages. 

Ludhiana, September 25
A meeting convened by Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg between officials of the Northern Railway and the excise and taxation department here last evening to resolve the deadlock over the inspection of goods on the railway premises to check tax evasion, remained inconclusive. However, officials attending the meeting agreed to cooperate in the future.

GP Singh, divisional traffic manager, Ferozepur division, along with RK Sharma, station superintendent, and senior officials of the excise and taxation department attended the meeting.

The district administration had to intervene in the wake of several incidents when railway officials had objected to the excise staff inspecting “outward goods in transit” at the goods booking office within the railway compound to ascertain if proper invoices for the goods were issued and taxes had been paid. The railway officials took the stand that once the goods had been handed over to the railways, the rules did not permit for any inspection by the state excise and taxation department.

Maintaining that the excise department had no jurisdiction within the railway premises, and it could carry out inspection of goods and documents anywhere outside the railway compound before the goods were handed over to the parcel office, the railway authorities had earlier rejected a proposal mooted by the excise department to have a checkpost and install a close-circuit television camera outside the parcel office.

As far as the evasion of taxes worth crores every year by way of unaccounted goods sent to various parts of the country through railways is concerned, a long-drawn blame game is going on between the railways and excise officials. Both departments accused each other of being hand in glove with “peti mafia” which was operating for the “safe carriage” of outward-bound goods from the premises of the consignor to the parcel office, and charging hefty fee for these services.

The excise and taxation officials alleged that employees at the parcel office as well as the railway police and other officials were collaborating with operators of the peti mafia and making easy money. “This is the only reason that every time our staff intercepts a consignment on the railway premises, the railway officials create hurdles and interfere with the inspection,” an excise official pointed out.

On the other hand, senior officials maintained that the mafia was operating with the tacit understanding of excise officials. If the excise staff really wanted to nab those sending goods without the payment of taxes and proper invoices, they could do so outside the railway complex when the goods were being brought to the parcel office. Knowing well that as per rules, the railways would not permit the inspection of goods inside the railway complex, the excise staff insisted on checking the goods after these were handed over to the parcel office, they said.

Ludhiana, September 25
The Haibowal police has made no headway in the case where acid was thrown on a couple at the Churpur road.

The family of Sumit Tandon, the victim, is hoping that he would be able to identify the attackers.

According to his family, he had identified some attackers, but was unconscious and not in a condition to record his statement.

Sumit and his wife were returning home after undergoing a checkup at a private hospital in Haibowal on Wednesday evening when they were attacked.

The police said in the absence of any eyewitness, it was only the victim who could identify the accused. It said it was a planned attack as the Churpur road remained crowded and had several “escape routes”.

His panic-stricken wife, Shveta, could not identify any of the accused. “It happened so quickly that I could not see their faces,” she said.

Narrating the incident, she said: “We were barely some yards away from home when a youth in mid-20s waylaid us. Before we could ask the reason, two youths came from behind and the youth riding pillion, threw the acid upon us. The three then fled the spot.”

Nitin Tandon, brother of Sumit, who is trying to gather some information about the attackers by visiting shops of the locality, expressed disappointment over people’s attitude. “It is surprising that no one could identify the attackers. I think people are reluctant to come forward as they fear they would be targeted by the attackers,” he said.

The family of the victim, however, suspected the involvement of an accountant who was sacked by Sumit after he found some irregularities in the account books.

Haibowal SHO Gurpreet Singh said: “We are clueless, but one thing is certain that it is a clear case of personal enmity otherwise no one would dare to throw acid on someone in a busy street.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, September 25
Skewed sex ratio in each family has resulted in slow death of art depicting the lifestyle of old Indian families through “Sanjhi”.

Unable to keep the art of creating a replica of Goddess “Sanjhi”, her maids and other associates with mud and decorating them with colours on the house wall, women prefer to perform the ritual with readymade ones purchased from the market.

Traditional songs highlighting elements of happy and prosperous society are also conspicuous by their absence.

“As middle-aged women, dominantly working ones, have become busy in their family chores, there is nobody to initiate young girls to ‘Sanjhi’. Girls, too, don’t have time to prepare mud and create figures of “Sanjhi”, “Ghudhu”, “Barota”, stars and moon on their own,” said Veena Rani Lomash, while apprehending that the ritual would die a slow death in years to come.

“Sanjhi” is installed on “amavas” of the Ashvina month and worshiped on Navratras in the evening.

It is considered a symbol of prosperity and universal brotherhood.

Claiming that comprehensive procedure for preparing and worshipping “Sanjhi” was aimed at improving craftsmanship and learning elements of ideal lifestyle, Madhvi Sharma said children were made to recite songs taken from animate and inanimate objects of daily use.

Installation of inverted replica of a “chore” (thief) depicted punishment and reward whereas positive characters were shown served with sweets and other dishes.

Songs like “Uth meri Sanjhi, attre khol, patre khol, kurian aaian tere kol” and “Meri Sanjhi tan mangdi hara hara gobar, Lal lal chunian, chite peele gehne, chite chawal” were aimed at enabling children to learn properties and sources of various articles.

Significance of growing more trees was also highlighted.

Ludhiana, September 25
Municipal Commissioner AK Sinha today made some inter-departmental transfers. While superintendent Ashok Verma, who was holding charge of tehbazari D zone, has been transferred to the health branch, house tax superintendent Amardeep Singh has been shifted from zone- B to tehbazari D.

Similarly, house tax superintendent Ranjeev has been given additional charge of the house tax zone-B.

Demolition: The town-planning wing of the Zone D today demolished a structure coming at Haibowal Kalan, Part-I. ATP Kamaljeet Kaur and building inspector Kuljit Singh conducted the drive this evening. The officers said, “The construction was coming opposite Prince Property Dealer where a commercial building was under construction. The building owner had erected columns and was violating the town planning scheme, so the structure was demolished.”

Shifted: The municipal commissioner today formally gave accounts branch to Additional Commissioner Kamalpreet Brar. The orders were issued to the officer today, while she had conducted a raid on the branch on Sunday and had seized blank cheques available with accounts department.

Ludhiana, September 25
In order to create awareness on heart diseases, their prevention, management and treatment, the Hero DMC Heart Institute (HDHI) organised a series of awareness lectures on the eve of “World Heart Day” here today.

Team of expert doctors comprising Dr NK Sood, Dr Bishav Mohan, Dr Naved Aslam, Dr S Khumbhkarni and Dr Naveen Kumar dwelt upon diverse topics, including types of heart disease, their causes and related risk factors like smoking and hypertension, prevention of heart disease through proper diet, exercise and yoga and also available treatment of heart ailments. The lecture session was coordinated by Dr GS Wander, chief cardiologist, who also spoke on “workers welfare health programme”.

Elaborating on diet and lifestyle, consultant cardiologist Dr Bishav Mohan said a balanced diet, coupled with an active lifestyle, can keep one’s heart fit and healthy as conveyed by the theme of this year’s World Heart Day, which is to “Work with Heart”. The theme stood for work place health promotion through the reduction of individual risk-related behaviours such as tobacco use, physical inactivity and poor nutrition.

Consultant physician Dr S Khumbhkarni spoke on the need to curb the smoking habit, which was a major cause of heart disease among the younger age group. “A single cigarette puff has more than 4,000 harmful chemicals, of which about 40 are known carcinogenic agents. But, such is the natural recuperative capacity of our body that smokers who manage to kick this habit before it inflicts any serious harm, gradually have health risk-profiles matching those of the non-smokers.”

Consultant cardiologist Dr Naved Aslam enumerated the risk factors of heart disease, which included high blood pressure (hypertension), high blood cholesterol, diabetes, obesity and overweight, smoking, physical inactivity, heredity and stress. Senior consultant cardiologist Dr NK Sood focused on the various treatment options available in case of heart disease.

Concluding the session, Dr Wander said, “In pursuit of our mission to prevent disease before it occurs, the institute is organising a quiz competition for all the leading schools of the city on the occasion of World Heart Day. The competition is open for students for senior secondary class students.”

The purpose of involving schoolchildren in this year’s commemoration of World Heart Day, he added, was to ensure that the next generation was made aware of the dangers posed by heart disease for the health of the society at large so that the underlying purpose of observing this day was served. 

Ludhiana, September 25
Serious allegations of misutilisation of funds have been levelled against SM Sharma, principal, Arya College, by a member of the college managing committee and has sought probe into the allegations.

In the eight page letter to the Vice-Chancellor, Punjab University and DPI (colleges), Punjab, S K Sayal who retired as principal of the Arya College, Nawanshaher, and also served as a faculty in Arya College, Ludhiana, has alleged that the principal had not constituted amalgamated fund committee as required under the regulations and illegally drawn from amalgamated fund account Rs 16 lakh, 58, 000 and 400.

“If this amount is multiplied in six years, this would run into a fraud of over rupees one crore.” Syal has further alleged that the principal has been collecting medical charges from the students at the rate of Rs 30 per student for the past six years and this amount has exceeded five lakh.

He has further charged that the principal has not utilised Rs 20 lakh donated by Sunil Mittal Bharati of Bharati Airtel which was given by him in 2005-06 for the construction of IT block needed urgently in the college for BCA and MSC students.

The president of the managing committee had even set up a four-member committee to decide about the block, but the principal was shirking responsibility.

Syal has further alleged that the financial position of the college had deteriorated due to malfunctioning of the principal.

Arya College shift has been closed and Arya College Women section is on the verge of closure where the strength of students has come down to 360 in 2009 -10 from 1,050 in 2002-2003.

Strength of the students in the main college has fallen from 3,346 in 2002-03 to 1,863 in the current year. This has caused a loss of Rs 1.80 crore in the income of the college.

SM Sharma, principal, Arya College, said: “I have not received any official copy of complaint and would not comment.”

Syal has urged the Vice-Chancellor to order an inquiry against the principal.

Ludhiana, September 25
Head, department of horticulture, PAU, Dr Pushpinder Singh Aulakh was one of the members of a delegation of officers, who visited Hong Kong to attend Asia Fruit Logistica.

The other members of the delegation included Vikas Pratap, IAS, and Pardeep Sharma, PAGREXCO additional managing director and general manager, respectively.

The Kinnow growers also participated in the event said Dr Aulakh.

Dr Aulakh said the visit was sponsored by PAGREXCO, he added that the delegation had an opportunity to visit Asia Fruit Logistica, a horticultural fair where 52 countries had put up their stalls. He said discussions with experts were also held.

Doraha, September 25
Volunteers of NSS and youth wing at Guru Nanak National College, Doraha, launched a tree plantation drive on the college campus today by planting as many as 900 saplings of a total of 50 varieties.

Principal Dr Narinder Singh Sidhu said: “By planting more saplings we can make up for the loss apart from adding beauty to our landscape, shade to our surroundings, fruits and vegetables for the population to relish and timber to construct shelter.”

Prof Balwant Singh Pangali, general secretary of the college managing committee, while explaining the importance of trees spoke that the mother earth had been rendered barren by man’s selfishness, which always craved for endless expansion, be it at the cost of hazarding the environment or even at the expense of his own life.

Director Jaswant Singh Gill expressed that sapling planted must be nursed and owned till the time they became self-sustaining.

A seminar was also organised on the topic “Lets create a clean and green environment”, in which scientist from Punjab Agricultural University ensured their active participation. Dr Avtar Singh, professor and head department of forestry, laid stress on plantation of saplings.

Dr RK Dubey, assistant professor, department of floriculture and landscaping, stressed on the aesthetic value of growing particular varieties of trees, especially the flowering ones. “Saplings should never be sown just for the sake of sowing, rather they should be chosen meticulously and planted prudently,” he added.

Ludhiana, September 25
RT Patil, director, Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), signed an MoU with Syed Hasan Jafar, senior content operations manager, Reuters Market Light, Reuters India Pvt. Ltd.

Under this MoU, CIPHET will provide information on process, equipment, products and technologies on post harvest engineering and technology for farmers and entrepreneurs to Reuters for one year.

Ludhiana, September 25
With the arrest of two youths, the division No 8 police claims to have busted a gang of thieves and seized three stolen motorcycle and computer appliances from them here today.

The accused were nabbed from the Shamshan Ghat area in Deep Nagar, while they were planning to steal a motorcycle parked outside a school.

The accused have been identified as Gagan Kumar and Sunny, both resident of Haibowal. According to SHO division No.8 Maninder Bedi, the police received a tip- off that the accused were planning to steal a motorbike. The police laid a trap and nabbed the accused while they were crossing a police check post near the cremation ground.

Bedi said the duo was involved in numerous theft cases and vehicle thefts that had taken place in the surrounding areas during the past few months. Beside, three motorcycle, two computers, stamps and other electronic goods were seized from their possession.

A case has been registered against the accused. 

Jagraon, September 25
Two persons have been booked for cheating a woman on the pretext of sending her daughter to Canada. Sukhdev Kaur of Rurka village near Mullanpur in a complaint lodged with the police had stated that Tejwinder Singh Sekhon, the accused, and his wife, Kulwinder Kaur, lured her to send her daughter, Ramandeep Kaur, to Canada for a nanny course.

The accused were themselves conducting the course and the interview. The deal was struck at Rs 11 lakh. She paid Rs 4 lakh at her uncle Gurpal Singh’s house at Agwar Lopon on 25 January 2004. She paid the balance amount of Rs 7 lakh later on.

The accused made her daughter to complete the nanny course, but she could not pass the interview conducted by the embassy. The complainant then asked the accused to either return the amount or send her daughter to Canada. The accused refused to do so.

The accused stated that the girl could not clear the interview despite their training. The complainant then lodged a complaint with the police in this regard. The accused, then, paid Rs. 2.5 lakh to them. However, they refused to pay the balance amount and went into hiding. On November 3, 2007, she again lodged a complaint with the SP (H), Jagraon, who ordered EO wing in charge to enquire into the matter. The EO wing in charge found all allegations true as both accused had gone into hiding and the court had declared them proclaimed offenders in 2007 itself.

On the basis of the report, the SSP Ludhiana (Rural) ordered a case to be registered against the accused. Thus, a case under Sections 420 and 120B of the IPC was registered against the man and his wife.

Ludhiana
assaulted: A student of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College was allegedly attacked by a few unidentified youths on Wednesday evening.

In his complaint, Vikramjit Singh alleged that the accused waylaid him and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons. Vikramjit sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the CMC hospital, where his condition is stated to be critical. The police is probing the matter.

Raikot
Snatched: A few persons reportedly snatched cash and a mobile phone from Chanchal Gupta, an employee of a finance Company, on Wednesday evening.

He lends small loans to entrepreneurs and collects the installment on daily basis. While one of his agents Kulwant Singh was collecting loan amounts on his bicycle, two youths on a motorcycle snatched Rs 1,700 and his mobile phone from near the local bus stand.

The DSP said he had directed the SHO to station cops at snatching-prone areas. 

Ludhiana, September 25
The Model Town police and a team of the enforcers of intellectual property rights (EIPR) seized a huge chunk of duplicate auto parts from a store located near the Attam Park Chowk in Model Town here today. However, store owner Ravinder Singh managed to escape.

According to the police, the EIPR employees lodged a complaint that Rajinder Singh was selling duplicate auto parts of Lucas company, following which a raid was conducted and goods seized. The police recovered huge amount of contact points, regulators, condensers and other auto parts.