Ludhiana, October 28
Members of various trade unions held a protest against the rising inflation, unemployment and the privatisation move by the government while small-scale industrialists and traders vent out their ire against the government and the PPCB for closing their units here today.

Union activists belonging to CITU, AITUC, INTUC and AICTU raised slogans against the government’s attitude towards workers at the mini secretariat. They said the interest of the workers was not being considered by the government.

Jatinderpal Singh, representing CITU, said more than 77 crore Indians were getting meagre daily wages of Rs 20 a day. The workers were not only being exploited, but also labour laws were being violated.

President of INTUC Swaran Singh said to check unemployment, work opportunities must be provided to the needy and NREGA schemes should be implemented in spirit. Around 35 crore labourers working in the unorganised sector should be provided with transport, electricity education and health facilities.

Meanwhile, condemning the master plan of the city, which was implemented on September 12, 2008, the small-scale industrialists and traders’ association alleged that their establishments were closed down due to the wrong decisions of the government.

Hundreds of small-scale industrialists and traders held a dharna outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner today.

Gurwant Singh, president of the association, criticised the government for declaring Janta Nagar, Shimlapuri, Barota Road, Aadarsh Nagar, Guru Nanak Nagar and Dhillon Colony, where 80 per cent of people were running their shops/business establishments, a residential area. Without giving a thought to the outcome, the master plan declared the entire area residential and more than 1,50,000 people were affected due to the decision, he said.

“The government directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to seal units which are being run in these areas for the past several decades. Power supply to several units was also suspended. This is a setback to the industry. Hundreds of workers have become unemployed due to the sealing move,” he said.

Khamano, October 28
Fire extinguishers provided to various schools of the district by the government have been gathering dust for nearly three years.

The extinguishers were installed specially at schools where mid-day meals were cooked to avert any fire tragedy. A visit to various schools of the district revealed that several fire extinguishers were lying in a corner and had not been installed at proper places as per rules.

Teachers, principals and students were not aware of its use and nodded in negative when asked about the purpose of keeping the extinguishers. “We are not aware of any training regarding the fire-fighting equipment. We were not informed by the fire department or the education department,” a section of teachers said.

Officials of the education department said lakhs of rupees had been spent on the purchase and installation of these fire extinguishers in the district, but all were lying unused and several of these would have got damaged due to mishandling.

Even private school officials had been told to keep the fire extinguishers and training was made necessary for teachers and school children, but nothing had been done about it.

District education officer (elementary) Surinder Singh said the fire-fighting equipment was purchased even before he joined. He expressed his helplessness about the lack of training to teachers and students, but said he would raise the issue at the monthly meeting. He said teachers and principals of all schools would be informed about it.

The chairperson of the human rights manch of the Khamano block, Manjit Kaur, said the teachers and school children must be equipped by the government to deal with any tragedy. They must be given training, she said.

Ludhiana, October 28
Agriculture minister Sucha Singh Langah today failed to make it to the training camp for farmers here today.

Though the agriculture department had announced his visit and invited the farmers to listen to farm experts, they kept waiting for him to arrive. At the last minute, they were told he would not come since he was preoccupied.

Meanwhile, the farmers were asked to diversify, use pesticides judiciously and cut down the input cost so that agriculture remained a profitable employment option.

The joint director, agriculture-cum-state nodal officer, asked them to come out of the wheat and paddy monocycle. He urged them to save underground water and other natural resources.

He said the department would ensure that they got improved seeds and fertilisers in time. It would also be ensured that the DAVP was in full supply unlike last year when the farmers were complaining about its shortage.

Dr Yadvinder Singh Chhina, chief agriculture officer, said the department would be organising block and village-level training camps to disseminate knowledge of agriculture.

Experts from the PAU addressed the farmers on the importance of getting the soil tested for better yields, rotation of pesticides, method of spray and other techniques. An exhibition was also organised on the occasion.

Ludhiana, October 28
The cold-blooded murder of Pran Ranjan Sinha (30), a resident of Jharkhand and working as an assistant manager at the Union Bank of India, on October 19 has left the police confused.

Several theories were floated by investigation agencies and some seem to be pointing fingers at an autorickshaw gang. The police suspects that a new gang is behind the sudden spate of snatching and murder incidents.

A blood-stained rope (used to start an autorickshaw) lends credence to the claims of the police. According to the police, there were 25 stab wounds on the body of Sinha and four to five persons were involved in the murder. Sinha, who lived in the Dugri area, had returned to the city after celebrating Diwali with his brothers in Delhi.

It is learnt that on reaching the railway station, he hired an autorickshaw, which reportedly took him to Phoolanwal. There the gang robbed and killed him. The identity of the deceased was established from the railway ticket lying near the body.

Sinha was due to get married on November 19. The injuries on the fingers show that the killers tried to remove his engagement ring, but failed to do so.

Udhay Pratap, the victim’s brother, said though the police assured him that the killers would be nabbed soon, but nothing has been done so far.

Meanwhile, Butta Singh, assistant general secretary of the Union Bank of India employees’ union, said the union was planning to take up the matter with higher officials. “We want this case to be solved and the guilty should be nabbed soon. Such a killing and that too of a promising banker is unacceptable. We will keep pursuing the matter,” he said.

Navneet Gupta, branch manager of the bank, said due to hard work, Sinha had reached the position of assistant manager at a young age. The murder had shaken the morale of the employees, especially those from other states. They were reluctant to meet clients late in the evening, he said.

The SSP said the police was trying to solve the case. “There is no doubt that an autorickshaw gang is involved in the murder,” he added.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 28
The Union government has initiated a process to update and modernise Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) situated in 35 localities of the state.

In all, 1,396 localities in the nation have been identified for the upgradation and renovation under the current project.

While talking to the Tribune after inspecting the existing rented building of the ITI here yesterday, Nanak Singh Kohli, chairman Institute Management Committee (IMC) said draft plans for the upgradation of the institutes, at least 35 localities of the state, had already been finalised.

An amount of Rs 2.5 crore was sanctioned for the ITI at the local town, he said. An amount of Rs 3,490 crore was earmarked for updating and modernising ITIs situated in 1,396 localities of the nation.

Usha Goel, chairperson of committee, after looking into the development work of the local unit, claimed that all formalities for starting the construction work had been completed.

Former chief secretary SS Dhanoa, Municipal Council president Usha Sood, vice-president Kedar Kapila, Ravinder Puri, Dilshad Mohammad, Bimal Sharma, all councilors, BJP president Vijay Goyal, patron Ramesh Ghaie, nodal officer Abdul Ajij, principal Varinder Dhingra and director Amarjit Singh Sidhu were present on the occasion. 

Ludhiana, October 28
A seminar was organised in BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, in collaboration with University of Cambridge to provide an insight into the importance of creating learning environment in the classes, which stimulates a spontaneous interplay of listening and speaking English.

Around 50 teachers from schools across Ludhiana attended the seminar. Deepa Dogra, principal, Cambridge International School, Jalandhar, was the resource person.

She laid stress upon facilitating young learners to acquire language skills through meaningful communication to increase their command over language. The programme was made interesting by the power-point presentation.

The workshop focused upon the development of positive attitude and values among students.

A main chunk of the workshop dealt with the techniques to enrich the listening, reading, writing and speaking skills such as how to make use of contemporary and child-friendly themes, attractive illustrations, stories, songs, poems, plays and variety of games.

Doraha, October 28
Lt Col Manoj Kumar, commanding officer 814 combat engineering training camp, Doraha, conducted a workshop on disaster management at Doraha Public School today.

During a power-point presentation, he sensitised the students about various natural and man-made disasters. He discussed important aspects like awareness, community contingency plan, flood forecasting stations, rehearsal and mock exercises about the disasters and also suggested ways and means to tackle such situations.

He provided an insight into the major calamities, which have occurred in the past and also suggested the ways and means by which human lives could have been rescued.

He also focused on various survival skills like first aid, adoption of different safety measures and role of working in a group for the rescue operations.

Doraha Group of Institutes chairman Sukhpal Singh, director Tapvir Singh and Doraha Public School principal Jose P Thomas thanked the resource person.

Doraha, October 28
A seminar on adolescent healthcare was organised at the Doraha College of Education here in collaboration with Sant Kishan Singh Education and Welfare Society under the National Rural Health Mission recently.

Dr Sandeep Sawhney, principal of the college, welcomed the chief guest, Dr Yash Pal Mehta, officiating Ludhiana civil surgeon, and other dignitaries.

Dr Mehta said, “Personality that gets shaped in teenage cannot be changed throughout life and so, we have to develop a mature balance in all domains for healthy living.”

Gursharanjit Singh, secretary of the Punjab Police State Apex Committee for NGO Projects, was the chief organiser.

He threw light on the contribution and joint efforts of NGOs and the healthcare department, particularly in villages.

Dr SC Gupta, head of the CMC in Ludhiana, spoke on adolescent healthcare and discussed crucial problems of adolescents in the fast-changing world, apart from distributing posters among children.

Dr Pardeep Sharma, while interacting with students, laid stress on the awareness about health hazards.

Pooja Mani,a student of the college, discussed the history of the UNO Day through a PowerPoint presentation.

At least 200 students and teachers were screened by a team comprising Dr JP Singh, Dr Maninder Singh, Dr Mandeep Walia, Dr Manorama Awasthi, and Kewal Sekhon.

Mandi Gobindgarh, October 28
Guided by social science teachers of Gobindgarh Public School, 65 boys and girls enacted parliamentary proceedings for over one-and-a-half hour in the school hall today.

Dressed in a variety of regional costumes, the students represented everyone from PM, Dr Manmohan Singh to opposition leader LK Advani, Congress chairperson Sonia Gandhi, home minister P Chidambram, Lalu Yadav, Prakash Karat and other members of the treasury and opposition benches.

The budding parliamentarians discussed the role of “black money in politics”, “interference of politicians in the government agencies like CBI”, “barring of criminals into politics”, “prevention of atrocities against women” and “Indo-Pak joint statement”.

The students of the school and parents of the participants witnessed the event.

Jagraon, October 28
The Sidhwan Educational Institutions celebrated its foundation day recently in the educational complex at Sidhwan Khurd.

Sri Guru Hargobind Ujagar Hari Trust of Sidhwan Khurd at present runs five educational institutes in the names of Khalsa College for Women, GHG Harparkash College of Education, GHG Institute of Law, GHG Public Senior Secondary School and Sikh Girls Senior Secondary School. Staff and students of all colleges were present.— TNS

Khanna, October 28
The four-day zone-B youth festival held at Guru Gobind Singh Khalsa College for Women concluded here yesterday wherein students performed various cultural events.

The audience was enthralled by giddha performed by students of different colleges. Parliamentary secretary Bikramjeet Singh Khalsa and area MLA Jagjivan Singh Khirnia were also present.

A song on girls by Sandeep Kaur and Mirza by Aman were highly appreciated by the audience, besides humour by Dr Kirpal Singh.

The area MLA appreciated the efforts made by college principal, Dr Paramjit Kaur Tiwana, to organise such a programme.

Mullanpur Dakha, October 28
The battle for the Deol estate here has intensified, with a son of the real estate owner and former transporter complaining against his father, brother and relatives for trying to grab his property.

Rajpreet Singh Deol, alias Raja, in his complaint to the police dated October 15, has accused his father Pritam Singh Deol, an NRI, brother Davinder Singh Deol, an NRI, relatives Jasmail Singh, alias Pappa, of Rasulpur village, Jagjit Singh of Rasulpur village and Balwinder Singh, alias Gandhi, of Raqba village, along with at least 10 unidentified persons, of burning his standing crops on the night of October 14 and firing in the air to scare his employees away.

After verification of facts, Tehal Singh, in charge of the Jagraon CIA, yesterday got an FIR registered against the accused under sections 452, 336, 427, 294, 447, 506, 511, 148 and 149 of the IPC and sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act.

He said the main accused, Pritam and Davinder, had fled to Canada before the registration of the case while Pappa and Gandhi had been arrested.

He said the police had been conducting raids to nab the other accused while the Ludhiana rural police had made a lookout case against the father-son duo.

Tehal Singh said the accused would be arrested at any airport in India following the issuance of the notice if they returned.

Pritam Singh Deol, an accused in the case, earlier on May 1, submitted an application to the Dakha SHO and to the then Jagraon SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar on May 2 that his son Raja, along with Karnail Singh of Tungahedi village near Raikot and some other persons, had grabbed his land, the land under question being the same.

After the inquiry of the Dakha DSP, the Dakha police had booked Raja and Karnail Singh under Sections 447 and 511 of the IPC and arrested them.

The police had also proceeded against Raja under Sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC to avoid any untoward incident. This case was still pending.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 28
The desire to celebrate festivals with pomp and show prompted the salesman of a Khanna-based cattle feed manufacturing company to dupe his employers of a few thousands by stage-managing a robbery three days before Diwali.

Though he succeeded in pocketing Rs 87,475, collected from clients of the company, he could not use it for celebrations as the police became suspicious, with circumstantial evidence contradicting the sequence of events narrated by him.

To avoid immediate action by the police, he remained in hiding for about a fortnight and was eventually arrested on the evening of October 25.

Balbir Singh of Jitwal Kalan, a salesman with the Aman Cattle Feed Industries, was arrested by the sadar police for stage-managing a robbery by three unidentified miscreants on October 14.

An amount of Rs 87,475, belonging to his employer, and a mobile phone, which were reportedly robbed, were recovered from his possession. He was booked under sections 382, 411 and 34 of the IPC.

According to the FIR registered on the basis of the statement of Anil Kumar of Khanna, three unidentified motorcycle-borne miscreants waylaid Balbir near the village on October 14.

They snatched Rs 87,475 and a mobile phone from Balbir. He had collected the amount from various clients of the Barnala area.

Preliminary investigations revealed that Balbir had been facing financial constraints for a couple of months.

Though he had been drawing a handsome salary from the company, his lifestyle pointed to a gap between his income and expenditure.

Failing to manage exorbitant expenses during a number of festivals, he planned to dupe his employers by stage-managing the robbery.

Though the police recovered the cash and the mobile phone, it was yet to establish the identities of the facilitators of the accused.

Amloh, October 28
The National University of Planning and Administration has ranked Punjab on the top among other states of the country for providing adequate infrastructure to the elementary and upper-elementary schools.

This was stated by OSD and deputy director Roshan Lal Sood at a religious function held yesterday.

He further stated that education minister Bibi Upinderjit Kaur was striving hard to bring improvement in the school education, to provide quality education to the students and the vacant posts of teacher would soon be filled up.

Mandli member and chief guest SP (D) Samsher Singh Boparai, mandli chief Baldev Sedha, former Municipal Council chief Tejwant Singh, social worker Kuldeep Moddi and advocate Mela Ram honoured Roshan Lal Sood and ASI Balbir Singh for their valuable services to society.

A langar was also served to the people.

Later Baba Balak Nath Sankirtan Mandli in collaboration with many social and religious organisations had organised chownki of Baba Balak Nath.

Bhagat Sanjeev Kumar and party from Ludhiana presented religious bhajans till morning today.

Ludhiana, October 28
The Universal Human Rights Organisation (UHRO) has take a serious note of the non-delivery of power bills to thousands of consumers in Punjab Mata Nagar, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Vikas Nagar, Vishal Nagar, Model Town Extension and other localities under the Model Town division of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and the consumers having to pay surcharge for no fault on their part.

In a memorandum submitted to the engineer-in-chief of the PSEB, central zone, through deputy chief engineer HS Randhawa here today, activists of the UHRO pointed out that not only were consumers made to trace their power bills at the divisional office and make several rounds of offices to get details of power bills, but a large number of them had to pay surcharge for late payment.

In many cases, the consumers who did not get power bills and were not aware of the last date for payment had to suffer disconnection of power supply.

The UHRO functionaries asserted that the PSEB was duty bound to ensure the timely delivery of power bills and failure to do so was tantamount to deficiency in service, for which officials should be proceeded against.

By forcing consumers to pay surcharge for late payment when bills have not been delivered, the PSEB has, in a way, inflicted injustice on consumers, according to the memorandum.

The money so collected should be adjusted in the future and the PSEB should allow a grace period for payment without surcharge to consumers who are still not aware that the last date for payment is over, the UHRO has demanded.

UHRO president Satnam Singh Dhaliwal, who led the delegation, flayed the state government for taking an about-turn on the hike in power tariff.

Even after the chief minister had explicitly announced that the power tariff hike had been put on hold, the PSEB had issued power bills on revised rates.

He called for immediate directions to the PSEB management to issue power bills on old rates in the future and the adjustment of the excess amount collected from consumers in the bills to be issued afterwards.

Ludhiana, October 28
The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has embarked upon a mega housing project for the weaker sections in the industrial hub of the state under which 1,100 flats would be constructed in the 8.8 acres of land in Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar on the Pakhowal road here.

The project has been approved in principle by the state government and the trust would adopt a formal resolution in this regard at the forthcoming meeting to be convened sometimes during next week.

Talking to The Tribune here today, LIT chairman Ashok Juneja told the proposed housing complex had been taken up under the centrally sponsored “affordable housing” scheme under which the Government of India would grant a subsidy of Rs 1 lakh for each flat in the economically weaker sections (EWS) and low income group (LIG) categories.

He said the issues related to speedy completion of other housing projects in various stages of completion, working out enhancement of the cost of flats and handing over possession of built-up flats to the allottees would also be taken up at the next meeting of the trust.

“Statutory formalities for the enhancement of cost, if any, and handing over the possession to the allottees of 42 MIG flats in Model Town Extension Part I, 458 MIG, EWS and LIG flats in Sukhdev Enclave and another 162 HIG and HIG super flats in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar will be completed shortly and flats will be handed over to the allottees soon,” Juneja stated.

According to Juneja, other issues to be taken up in the forthcoming meeting of the trustees of the LIT would include complete computerisation of the working of the trust on the pattern of commercial banks in order to streamline the operations and threadbare analysis of pending court cases so as to redress genuine grievances of the litigants out of the court, if possible.

“Ever since I assumed the office, at least 1,000 pending cases of different nature have been taken up and more than 650 disposed off. Some of the cases needed to be referred to the state government which has been done and necessary action will be taken as per the directions of the government,” he added.

Juneja further told that at a special meeting of the trust conducted on Monday, a resolution for transfer of 2.10 acre of land in Rajguru Nagar to the cultural affairs department for setting up Ishmeet Music Academy had been adopted and sent to the local government department for its approval.

Ludhiana, October 28
Following the confirmation of a case of “polio virus” in Ludhiana, the district health department has fortified its ongoing three-day immunisation programme in slum areas of the city.

The girl tested positive for polio was born in one of the slums in Ludhiana and is presently living in Lucknow.

Civil surgeon Ludhiana, Dr Maninderjeet Singh, stated that it has been established that the child was residing in Ludhiana when she got infected with the polio virus adding that she was not administered polio drops even once during the routine immunisation programmes.

Teams of health officials are visiting jhuggis and other unauthorised slum dwellings in the city, which have been earmarked as “high risk areas”.

However, the resistance from the city schools to polio immunisation is hampering the whole programme, as Dr Maninderjeet Singh said, “A large number of the children between 0-5 years are school going and it is easier to immunise them and maintain their records school wise but school principals are refusing on the pretext of no permission from the parents.”

He also stated that a meeting would be held with the Deputy Commissioner and district education officer to issue instructions to the schools to give cooperation for the national health programme.

Meanwhile, a team of World Health Organisation (WHO) was also in the city today to address medical officials partaking in the three-day pulse polio drive, which will conclude tomorrow.

Dr Sahir Pal representing North Indian states in WHO said, “The schools can’t say no to pulse polio, as it is a part of micro plan observed worldwide by WHO in the polio eradication programme. I will take up the matter in the Union health ministry,” Dr Pal went on to add.

Dr OR Goldy represents Malwa region of Punjab in WHO and stated that the teams are more focused and structured this time. Out of total 5 lakh migrant populace immunised for polio in Punjab, more than 2.5 lakh belong to Ludhiana alone.

Khanna, October 28
A seminar on anti-ragging law was held today at AS College for Women wherein students were taught about the anti-ragging law.

The seminar was organised with the help of Punjab Legal Services Authority and Bar Association of Khanna.

Additional civil judge Mandeep Singh Dhillon was also present, besides other lawyers.

Different queries of the college students were also answered by the organisers of the seminar.

Ludhiana, October 28
The credit war among politicians has started taking a toll on development projects and one such work was stalled at Ward No. 40 today.

According to information, construction of a Rs 20-lakh road was begun in the ward by area councillor Ravinder Kaur Chaddha today.

While a truck of premix had already been laid, the contractor was asked to stop the work following objection by MLA Satpal Gosain’s grandson and some residents. Senior deputy mayor Parveen Bansal was also at the site.

Eyewitnesses said Gosain’s grandson said the work should be stopped immediately because it was being constructed under the sangat darshan quota and needed to be inaugurated by his grandfather first.

Corporation officials stalled the work, stating that the quality of the material was inferior.

The incident has once again brought to light petty politics that is hampering development work.

Refuting the allegations that the work was stalled due to political credit war, XEN Karamjit said: “I was informed by the JE that the contractor was not using quality material and thus the work was stalled.”

Ludhiana, October 28
In the field of veterinary profession, pathology had always occupied a key position and had been the backbone of disease diagnosis. The diagnostic practices had seen a major shift and modernisation due to untiring efforts by veterinary pathologists.

In the wake of increasing needs of precise and rapid diagnosis, emerging and remerging diseases, zoonotic and trans boundary diseases between animals and humans coupled with threats of bio terrorism, the role of a veterinary pathologist got even more challenging.

These inaugural remarks were expressed by Brig Dr NS Kanwar, chief guest at the three-day annual conference of the Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists with the theme on “Diagnostic pathology” and an international symposium on “Philosophy of disease diagnosis through morphological to bimolecular approaches”, organised by Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) today.

Dr VK Taneja, VC GADVASU, presided over the function. He said veterinary pathology was in fact a unifying science, which bridged a network to clinical veterinary sciences and when required translated to human interfaces.

The subject extended numerous commendable contributions to animal and human health by understanding various intricacies of animal or human diseases by employing newly developed diagnostic approaches.

“Despite all efforts, we are still lagging behind in making out differential and confirmatory diagnosis of many prevalent diseases, owing to capricious nature of etiological agents. Animals are comparatively more affected with various diseases and more specifically with mixed infections, owing to their habitat, which greatly affects their production and performance. In other words, the productivity of animals rests on its health status. Continuing efforts to monitor the animal health care is the need of the hour in the present day crisis,” said Dr Taneja.

He also stressed that the veterinary scientists, especially veterinary pathologists were playing a paramount role in combating the newly emerging and re-emerging diseases through their valuable acumenship, thus ensuring food safety and animal resources for giving a fillip to the economy of the state and nation.

On the first day of the conference, a daylong satellite seminar was delivered by Dr Bruce Williams, an eminent pathologist and president of CL DAVIS DVM Foundation, US, as well as a distinguished faculty member of the Armed Force Institute of Pathology, the US.

Dr Bruce Williams is the most sought after prolific speaker throughout the seminar.

In the next two days, deliberations will be held on different topics relating to veterinary pathology, particularly, diagnostic aspects. There will also be scientific meeting and core group discussions during the conference, besides encouraging young scientists and distinguished pathologists through awards. There will also be discussions on veterinary pathology education and future.

Dr Simrat Sagar Singh, chairman of the organising committee and dean College of Veterinary Science, said the conference would be a great learning experience for acquiring new techniques and diagnostic methods for precise and rapid diagnosis of animal diseases, as large number of veterinary pathologists working in the state veterinary hospitals were also participating.

In the long run, the proceeds of conference and recommendations made by scientists were expected to improve the animal health.

The conference is being attended by 260 delegates from all across India and about 15 delegates from the US, Canada, UK, Italy, Sudan, Iran and Bhutan informed Dr NK Sood, the organising secretary and head, department of veterinary pathology, GADVASU.

Ludhiana, October 28
The Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) has taken exception to reports of the distress sale of PR-201 variety of rice and Basmati 1121 in mandis with the procurement agencies of the Centre and the state government being oblivious to the plight of farmers.

According to Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, president of the BKU, who is also chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board, an emergency meeting of the state executive of the union would be convened here on November 2 to take stock of the situation and evolve a strategy against the exploitation of farmers.

Talking to mediapersons here today, Lakhowal and BKU general secretary Ajmer Singh Gill said the PR-211 was a rice variety approved by the Punjab Agricultural University and the farmers had widely sown this particular variety. But now sheller owners, as also the government procurement agencies, were refusing to buy this variety of paddy. As a result, paddy growers were facing uncertainty about the sale of their produce.

“Similarly, Punjab Basmati 1121 is also selling in various mandis in the state at a price varying between Rs 1,600 and Rs 1,700 per quintal whereas the same crop was being purchased by Nafed in Haryana at more that Rs 3,000 per quintal,” the BKU functionaries said, urging the state government to ask Markfed to purchase Basmati 1121 variety on the pattern of Haryana to help the paddy growers.

They said the government’s decision to scrap import duty on rice would have disastrous consequences on the farmers. “The step (of importing rice) might lead to filling up the central pool of foodgrain, but would have serious consequences on the overall agricultural economy of the nation,” they added.

Ludhiana, October 28
There was tension in the Kadwai Nagar area here following the death of a youth whose body was found lying on a railway track near Sahnewal here this morning.

The deceased, Ravi Kumar (27), a resident of Kadwai Nagar, was a member of the musical troupe Prince Band.

This morning, people found the badly mutilated body of Ravi Kumar on the railway track. The identity of the deceased was established from the uniform of Prince Band.

The police contacted the band owner and informed him about the incident. Things took an ugly turn when the family of the deceased levelled murder allegations against the owner of the band and damaged his office and material used for marriage parties.

Ravi’s brother Mahipal said the band owner forcibly took his brother from home as he was reluctant to work for the band.

He further alleged that it was the band owner who killed him and later threw his body on the railway track.

On the other hand, the band owner said the youth might have committed suicide as he went missing during the marriage procession. They were later informed that Ravi was found dead.

The police reached the spot and started investigations. The body was been sent to the civil hospital for post-mortem examination.

According to information available, some persons were detained for questioning while a few others were nabbed for damaging the office of the band owner.

Khanna, October 28
Manpreet Kaur, a student of class X, Khanna, yesterday succumbed to injuries at a hospital in Ludhiana.

She fell off from a scooter yesterday due to a sudden bump on the road. Manpreet was on her way to attend tuition and received serious head injuries after falling from the scooter. She met with the accident near Sacred Heart School in Khanna.

She was rushed to the civil hospital and in view of her serious condition the doctors referred her to Ludhiana. She was declared dead today.