Ludhiana, October 3
Many localities in the city plunged into darkness last night when the 220 KV Lalton sub-station developed a major snag, giving sleepless nights to residents.

After one of the two 100 MVA transformers at the grid sub-station, feeding five 66 KV sub-stations in the city and two rural sub-stations, developed a fault, nearly 40 feeders remained cut off for major part of the night. It took considerable time for the PSEB officials to partially restore the supply to some of the affected localities by shifting their load to other sub-stations or through rotational load shedding.

Senior PSEB officials said the situation was grave as the transformer needed to be replaced and it would take a couple of days to bring in a new 100 MVA transformer, install it and make it operational. The new transformer has been requisitioned and work has already commenced for dismantling the defective one.

Deputy chief engineer (City East) HS Randhawa told The Tribune that power supply from 66 KV sub-stations at Model Town, Gill Road, Dugri, Basant Park and Alamgir as well as rural sub-stations at Narangwal and Pakhowal was disrupted as the 100 MVA transformer at Lalton went out of circuit.

“We took action on war footing to restore supply, albeit partially, to the affected areas since this morning by rescheduling the power cut timings and load shedding by rotation. The entire load of Alamgir sub-station has been shifted to Dhandari to make it fully functional while there could be some interruptions in power supply on other sub-stations, both during the day and night. Our effort will be to ensure that power supply does not remain affected for more duration than the scheduled power seven-eight hour cut," Randhawa said.

With power supply playing truant, many localities including Dugri, Urban Estate, Phase I and II, Model Town, Model Town Extension, Janta Nagar, Simlapuri, Dashmesh Nagar and Partap Chowk, remained without water in the morning and afternoon.

Ludhiana, October 3
As if selling liquor on dry day (Gandhi Jayanti) was not enough, meat and liquor shops remained open in the city today despite the Deputy Magistrate's (DM) order. According to the order, all the meat sellers and liquor vend owners were directed to close their shops for two days, October 3 and 4, to celebrate Valmiki Jyanti. 

However, liquor vend owners didn’t care two hoots to the DM’s order and kept their vends open. At some places, shops selling meat and chicken were also found open.

Some liquor vends in the city remained open even on Gandhi Jayanti (October 2) when rest of the country had observed a dry day and prohibited the sale of liquor. “We kept our liquor vends open even on Gandhi Jayanti and no one stopped us from selling liquor. What will happen if we sell liquor today also,” said a liquor vend employee.

Interestingly, while the followers of Maharishi Valmiki were gearing up for the birthday celebration and put up ‘pandal’ at Bhadaur House, liquor was being sold at a vend about 100 metres from the venue. Even liquor vends at Ghumar Mandi, Aarti Chowk and Malhar Road were found open. DM Vikas Garg could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Ludhiana, October 3
Sidhu Hospital, Doraha, has once again become the centre of controversy with some senior doctors alleging the hospital authorities of having paid lakhs of rupees to strike a compromise with the family of Jagat Bhushan Johar, the BJP leader from Ludhiana, who had died following his bariatric surgery performed by Dr Gurdip Singh Sidhu.

The role of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) too is being questioned as some doctors accusing the association of having sided with Dr Sidhu without getting to the bottom of things.

Dr Kuldip Singh, in e-mail to the IMA, has pointed towards the role of the association in the whole episode. Dr Singh, while referring to the protest rally and dharna staged by the IMA in favour of Dr Sidhu, has asked the association leadership to clarify their stand. He questioned the IMA about their involvement in the negotiations between the two parties and also asked for justification from the IMA leadership for involving medico fraternity in the issue.

The doctor stated: “If yes, was it justified to open the floodgates of blackmail for the whole medical community even though the doctors from the state had taken a stand for the prestige of the profession.”

The BJP activists had vandalised the hospital and manhandled doctors and staff after the death of Jagat Bhushan Johar on July 11 and had also given a complaint at the police station Payal, alleging that the doctors at Sidhu Hospital were involved in paying commissions to other doctors and clinics for referring cases of obesity to them.

They also alleged that Jagat Ram was a fit person and did not have any problems. A case was registered against Dr Sidhu at the Payal police station.

Dr Sidhu, on the other hand, denied the allegations of “monetary transaction”. “These are just rumours as the said doctor has not even identified himself and the reply has been given by the IMA,” said Dr Sidhu.

IMA state vice-president Dr Arun Mitra said this was a false allegation as the law is taking its course as per the Supreme Court ruling wherein it is mentioned that no case should be registered against doctors under Section 304 without the report of the medical board.

Ashwani Tandon, a close associate of Jagat Bhushan's family, said he is not aware of any such development.

Ludhiana, October 3
Two armed miscreants robbed a thread trader of over Rs 8 lakh at pistol point at Bajwa Nagar here today. The incident took place this afternoon when two motorists entered inside the office of Rajindfer Kumar and trained the pistol at him.

Rajinder said he had just received the amount from a hosiery manufacturer and put it into a drawer. He said two youth barged into his office and one of them trained a pistol at him, while the other took the cash out from the drawer.

He said the robbers took away Rs 4.75 lakh cash and demand drafts for Rs 4 lakh from his office. He said the robbers also snatched his mobile phones. Area shopkeepers said the robbers fled towards Shivpuri area and after committing robbery.

As soon as the robbers left in their vehicle, without a number plate, Rajinder followed them and raised an alarm and called the police.

Senior officials, including SP (City-I) Harsh Bansal, reached the spot. The CIA staff team also reached the spot and a sketch of the robbers was made according to the description given by Rajinder.

The SHO, Division 4, said the police has registered a case and started the investigation. Meanwhile, sources said the police has received some vital leads in the case.

Jagraon, October 3
The SSP Ludhiana (rural) today assumed his office. Soon after joining, Jagraon SSP Harinder Singh Chahal addressed police officials and media persons and said he was not new to the area, as he had already served this area during January 1993 to June 1994 when extremism was at its peak.

He said now the scenario had changed. Now he was not here to counter the terrorists but larger social issues like drug abuse, violence on female, corruption and forgeries. He went to the extent of warning his officers to act promptly on all complaints.

He said the error done while performing the duty innocently could be ignored, none will be spared if found guilty of working against the provisions of law of land. 

On one hand he warned the bad elements to mend their ways or leave the area, while on other hand he discussed the problems of the area and discussed it with his officials.

SSP Chahal was given welcomed. A guard of honour was also given in his respect. SP (D) Raj Pal Singh Sandhu, SP (H) GK Rai, DSP (D) Satnam Singh, DSP Jagraon Bhupinder Singh, DSP Mukhtiar Singh, DSP Paramjit Singh Goraya, DSP Narinder Pal Singh Ruby and all SHOs were present.

Ludhiana, October 3
With just two days to go for the Vishwa Mangal Go Gram Yatra to converge at Shri Govind Godham, the pace of arrangements has gained momentum. The yatra will be welcomed at Pakhowal road near Shri Krishna Balram Goshala and will reach the venue at 8.30 am on October 5.

Sumer Kharabanda, press secretary, Vishwa Mangal Go Gram Yatra, informed this in a press note here today.

The yatra is aimed at creating awareness about the importance of Indian cows.

Kharabanda said ill effects of farming could be controlled by using cow dung and cow manure in organic farming. He also said the yatra would aim at spreading awareness of pure breed of Indian cows among people.

The yatra had started on September 30 at Kurukshetra and would conclude on January 17, 2010, at Nagpur.

The main attraction of the yatra will be the signature campaign, carrying a charter of demands like creation of a ministry of cows, enactment of laws to stop butchering of cows etc.

Ludhiana, October 3
The incidence of breast cancer in urban population of Ludhiana is at an all-time high as Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) alone is getting between 200 and 250 breast cancer cases every year.

Dr J S Sekhon, the medical oncologist at the DMCH, stated that more than 90 per cent of the breast cancer patients (at stage I of the disease) could be cured.

Speaking on the latest concept of "breast conservation", Dr Sekhon said women with a primary tumour of less than 4 cm could go for breast conservation as the risk level involved is the same as that of removal of breasts. "We recommend breast conservation, as it is not only aesthetic but also gives a psychological boost to women enabling them to recover with a positive frame of mind," observed 
Dr Sekhon.

Citing the example of Bangalore where the breast cancer cases have doubled since 2005 followed by Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai, he regreted the fact that most patients succumbed to the disease, as it was not detected in time.

Comparing the awareness level of Indian women to that of the US women, he said more than 85 per cent of patients in the US come in for timely medical treatment and the tumours reported were no larger than 1.20 cm which can be easily treated without chances of recurrence.

Breast cancer can be primarily classified as Early Stage Breast Cancer (ESBC) and advanced or Metastatic Breast Cancer (MBC). ESBC means when the disease is localised, i.e. limited only to the breasts, whereas MBC means that cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

Breast cancer may be treated by surgery, radiation therapy or chemotherapy. However, the choice of treatment depends on the stage of the treatment.

The doctor stated that new bio markers were being tested to identify if patient would response to a therapy better vis-à-vis another therapy. Breast cancer is now curable with newer chemotherapeutics being used in the ESBC.

The biggest benefit of Adjuvant chemotherapy (treatment in early stages) is that it can provide cure, increase the survival, delay progression of disease/controls disease and provide better quality of life.

However, the side-effects related to chemotherapy are now being done away with newer and far more advanced treatments. 

Ludhiana, October 3
Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) is installing 13 new transformers in different parts of Ward No. 58 in order to bring about qualitative improvement in power supply in the area.

This was stated by Akali Dal legislator Darshan Singh Shivalik while addressing a meeting of development committee of the ward here last evening.

He said that once the work was completed, the problem of frequent disruption in power and voltage fluctuation would be over. Besides, load on existing transformers will also ease, he added.

The localities where new transformers were being installed included Madhuban Enclave, Modi Enclave, Shere Punjab Colony, Parkash Colony, Green Avenue, Malkiat Avenue, Ashapuri, Apex Nagar, Rajori Garden, Fatehpur, Barewal, New Aggar Nagar and Jagjit Nagar.

Area councillor Paramjit Kaur said that electricity poles in the middle of the roads and main crossings were being shifted so as to ensure smooth flow of traffic on Barewal road. She said the work of laying new sewer lines from Barewal to old octroi check post on Ferozepur road was being carried out on war footing. In a bid to improve environment and cut down pollution, 4,000 saplings had been planted along the roads and streets in the ward, she added.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 3
Apprehending mismanagement during procurement and lifting of paddy arriving in mandis, farmers of the area have urged higher authorities to direct commission agents to make necessary arrangements for saving their produce from the vagaries of nature.

The administration on the other hand claimed to have made adequate arrangements for smooth procurement of the produce at all grain markets and purchase centres under Sangrur and Ludhiana districts.

Meanwhile, arrival of paddy has been poor in mandis of the area.

Alleged indifference of commission agents towards handling of agricultural produce arriving in mandis and reports of exploitation of farmers at the hands of private traders have made peasants unsure if they will be able to realise the full value of their produce.

A group of farmers led by Punjab Kissan Sabha leader Baldev Singh Latala alleged that officials of procurement agencies and commission agents had failed to complete arrangements at grain markets and purchase centres even after commencement of procurement.

The lackadaisical attitude of commission agents has made farmers apprehend that their produce will be susceptible to vagaries of nature, including precipitation and dust.

“While earlier officials and commission agents used to get their plots cleaned much before the commencement of procurement, they seem to be least interested in making arrangements this time. Protests by outfits of commission agents and rice shellers have further compounded the problem,” said Latala.

He urged the higher authorities to impress upon the commission agents to make extra arrangements in view of apprehended glut of produce during weeks to follow.

This year, the agencies are not expecting early paddy in mandis because the government has been strict in checking its early sowing.

Payal SDM Dr Neeru Katyal and Raikot SDM Jaspal Singh Jassie claimed that they had directed officials of market committees and procurement agencies to ensure that all commission agents had arranged PVC sheets for protecting heaps of paddy in case of adverse weather conditions.

Officials have been directed to ensure that all commission agents have been allocated sufficient jute bags to felicitate proper lifting of the produce.

Doraha, October 3
The arrival of paddy in the grain market is in no way going to be stink, squalor and filth- free as the ground has not been prepared for placing it hygienically.

On one hand the government has directed that special arrangements be made at the procurement centers, on the other the local market committee is yet to take adequate measures for providing a clean base for storing paddy, the arrival of which has already begun.

The farmers whose crop is to be brought here rue that the authorities are least bothered about the fact that the crop needs an unsoiled base for storage. “The government through advertisement and other sources is pressuring us to bring healthy crop, but we are being provided such a miserable place for our hard-earned yield”, complained one such farmer who brought his yield to the market.

“I fail to understand that why are the officials so unconcerned, even about their basic responsibilities. Last year, too, the condition was no better. It was only when this problem was highlighted thorough the columns of Ludhiana Tribune that the authorities had sprang into action and made necessary amendments. This time, too, it seems, the same story is being repeated”, commented a social worker.

People are openly dumping the garbage even though three containers have been placed on the floor of the market. Wild grass has covered almost majority of the space in the market. Pigs and other stray animals literally dominate the scene where the grain is to be stored for days together.

“The farmers are at their wits end to understand as to where should their produce be placed, which they have reared with the sweat of their brow. This is definitely not the place to lay our produce. If the market committee cannot make timely arrangements why not give us another option to unload our produce at some other place rather than creating panic,” rued a farmer of surrounding village.

“One can very well imagine that if the humidity of the overgrown wild grass enters the yield, would it not be rendered unfit for sale and consumption? As it takes days for the ultimate lifting of the crop, paddy would get destroyed by the time, thus holding the farmers responsible for the objectionable yield”. 

Ludhiana, October 3
Punjab government, under the agenda and initiatives of the HRD Sector-Task Force-Higher education, will sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Global Talent Track (GTT).

The GTT will start working with Punjab InfoTech in two colleges, SCD Government College, Ludhiana, and Government College, Dera Bassi, on a pilot basis.

On completion of the pilot batches, the model, upon the recommendation of the government, will be replicated in all government and private colleges across the state, this was stated by Alok Baraya, vice-president, of GTT, a Pune-based IT education company.

Baraya addressed teachers and students of SCD Government College, Ludhiana, during an orientation-cum-awareness workshop in the college.

The pilot project will involve a five-stage process to implement. The first stage will include "talent assessment" of students. In the second stage GTT will build and operate GTT -career lab in the college within eight weeks from the date of confirmation. In the third stage re-assessment of the candidates for their effectiveness will be conducted. In the fourth and fifth stage step Internship and placement of students will be ensured.

Jasbir Kaur Makkar, principal of SCD Government College, Ludhiana, said the decision to implement the project in SCD Government College, Ludhiana, was taken under the chairmanship of SKBS Sidhu, principal secretary of higher education. She said on our recommendations Punjab government had appointed Ashwani Bhalla, associate professor in the PG department of commerce as nodal officer to implement this project in our college.

Deputy director (colleges) Dr Jasbir Singh, assistant director (colleges) Dr Ashwani Chadha, officials from Punjab Information and Communication Technology Corporation Limited also presented their views.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 3
Acknowledging that the blood donation was a noble contribution towards the ailing humanity, students of MGMN Senior Secondary School vowed to contribute their role in spreading awareness about the endowment among masses.

Oath was taken in response to call made by the local unit of the Rotary Club during a seminar on blood donation, organised on the school premises on occasion of the World Blood Donation Day recently. Dr Ravinder Sharma, chief, Rotary Club, presided over the seminar and Harinder Singh, SHO (City) was the chief guest.

Terming the blood donation as a noble contribution towards the ailing humanity, office-bearers of social and medical organisations called upon the youth of the area to donate blood voluntarily.

Stressing the need for voluntary blood donation, Dr Ravinder Sharma, Harinder Singh, Dr Bhupinder Singh Bedi, former district Ayurvedic officer, and principal Pardeep Sharda, urged constituents of the school and office-bearers of social organisations of the area to join hands in creating awareness about the significance of blood donation.

“Blood, like many other organs of the body cannot be manufactured synthetically and that donated by professional donors may be infected. Moreover, a healthy body can produce transfused blood within a reasonable period. So, in order to save lives, we should not hesitate in donating it,” they added.

Claiming that huge units of blood were lost due to violence and vehicular accidents annually, Harinder Singh urged students to shun hostility and obey traffic rules to save the vital fluid.

Ludhiana, October 3
SDP Senior Secondary School, Hazuri road, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti.

Ludhiana, October 3
An NCC camp for the cadets of 3 Punjab Bn NCC (Boys) commenced at SCD Government College here today.

Nearly 750 cadets from 28 institutions reported for the camp. Camp commandant Lt Col IPS Dhaliwal, who briefed the cadets on the importance of NCC in day-to-day life, said training would be imparted to the cadets in various fields like physical training, weapon handling, firing, obstacle training, general awareness and community work.

Dhaliwal emphasised the need of good military training to lead a disciplined and organised life. He also stressed the need to become good citizen so that each cadet could contribute towards the development of the country and further their careers.

The cadets at the camp were in high spirits and willing to learn and make positive contribution to the nation and the society. 

Internet is a repository or mine of information. One can resort to ‘googling’ or click Wikipedia for retrieving information on any damn subject within minutes.

A few days back, the Chandigarh Tribune carried a human-interest story “Adult thesis zaps many”. The news says that the thesis of a research student of the English department has kicked up a row at Panjab University.

The proposed title of the study, “Transgressive depiction of sexuality onscreen, a study of selected films of Catherine Breillat and Pedro Almo Dovar,” was discussed at the Research Degree Committee (RDC) and the research student was reportedly asked to change the study and then the decision was deferred recently.

Wikipedia says that Catherine Breillat (born 13 July 1948) is a French filmmaker and novelist. She started her career after studying acting at Yves Furet "Studio d'Entraînement de l'Acteur" in Paris together with her sister, actress Marie-Hélène Breillat (born 2 June 1947) in 1967. Breillat is known for films focusing on sexuality, gender conflict and sibling rivalry.

She has been the subject of controversy for her explicit depictions of sexuality and violence. She cast the porn star Rocco Siffredi in her films Romance (Romance X, 1999) and Anatomie de l'enfer (Anatomy of Hell, 2004). Her novels have been best sellers. Her work has been associated with the New French Extremity tendency.

Operating systems, web browsers, search engines and web directories are used by Internet visitors. This development not only shows great progress in computer technology used in the world, but it also reveals trends related to Internet usage.

The most often used operating systems belong to the family of Windows operating systems (it is used by 99,4% of Internet users). Analysing the popularity of different versions of Windows operating systems, it can be seen, that the Windows XP system undoubtedly prevails as it is used by approximately 91.3%.

The other two versions according to the popularity are Windows 2000 and Windows 98 (they are used by 3.6% and 3.2% of Internet users respectively). The Windows Vista operating system, which appeared in the market not so long ago, is used only by 0.4% of Internet users.

It is hard to imagine how the usage of Internet resources would be possible without web browsers. At present there are three most popular web browser groups: IE (Microsoft Internet Explorer), Firefox, and Opera. The IE web browsers still corner the biggest share of Internet users. Firefox is the second group of browsers according to their popularity.

Even though now the Firefox browsers are used only by a fairly small part of Internet users - 12.2%, their popularity is constantly (although slowly) growing (several years ago it was used almost by four times less Internet users). 6.8% Internet visitors use the Opera web browsers. The process of surfing on the Internet and finding information is facilitated by search engines.

At present the variety of search engines is great but the most popular one is Google, which is used by the record number of Internet visitors (as many as 98.9%). Indian search engines tend not to be popular. A very small proportion of Internet visitors use the Yahoo (0.7%) and MSN (0.3%) search engines. Web directories, which allow for seeking information according to different subjects are not popular means of searching information on the Internet.

But do not forget the Wikipedia, the biggest single mine of information on any subject or prominent individual. However, the web space does not only contain mine of information, it is also full of misinformation.

The Western masters of the Internet allow only that information which suits to their vested political and economic interests. The Internet users are expected to use their discretion while navigating the web world in search of information.

The writer is editor with Instablogs.com (anilm@instablogs.com)

Jagraon, October 3
The police has booked three tricksters here for duping young boys and decamping with their motorcycle.

Rupinder Singh (14) of Agwar Gujjaran, in his complaint with the police, stated that on August 2, he along with his friend Pardeep Singh, was going towards Nanaksar to pay obeisance.

On the way, petrol in their motorcycle got exhausted and they started waiting for some help. Meanwhile, three youths, in their early 20s, came on a motorcycle with registration plate and asked about their problem. When they narrated the problem, they easily offered them petrol. After pouring the petrol in the tank, one of them asked for a trial ride for them, to which they agreed.

He started the bike and went towards Nanaksar. When he did not return, both his accomplices went to search for him. They also never returned.

After waiting for them for a long time, Rupinder Singh and his friend returned home and informed the family. The family tried to locate the motorcycle but in vain.

They lodged a complained with the police, who after inquiry registered a case against the accused under Sections 420, 379 and 34 of the IPC. However, no arrest has been made so far.

Raikot, October 3
Sudhar police today busted a gang of two-wheeler thieves and recovered three stolen bikes from their possession.

The police also managed to arrest two thieves of the gang. Both of them used to steal bikes from various localities of Ludhiana and then used to sell them at nominal prices after finding a suitable buyer.

SHO Tehal Singh yesterday got a tip-off that both the accused, including Baljinder Singh of Jagraon and Dharminder Singh of Mullanpur were going towards Raikot on a stolen motorcycle. He immediately laid a naka near Budhail village on Raikot road and arrested them along with motorcycle (PB 10 BL 4417).

The police also recovered another motorcycle and a scooter stolen by them. The police booked them under Sections 379 and 411 and presented them before the Jagraon court that sent them to Judicial remand.