Ludhiana, October 30
Already bearing the pain of losing their loved ones, these distressed families are now living on the promise of a permanent job with the MC to one member of each family whose only breadwinner was killed while cleaning sewers.

The only thing these families hope for is that the promise becomes a reality. Meena, whose son Anil (25) died while cleaning a sewer at Basti Jodhewal on September 6, said the wait was endless. “After Anil’s death when Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura visited the hospital where his body was kept, he gave us a letter and promised that Anil’s younger brother would get a job soon,” she said.

“It has been over a month, but no one from the MC has turned up to ask if we have got the job. Forgetting a promise is easy for them, but what about us? We have received Rs 2 lakh as compensation, but the money hasn’t been used so that they don’t say that we are greedy,” she added.

Satan Singh,meanwhile, has been struggling for years to get his dues. “I was promised Rs 50,000 and a permanent job in 1996, but I only got a job on an ad hoc basis. In 1996, I was called by the then Municipal Commissioner, Ashok Kumar, to recover bodies from sewers and in front of all officials, he gave me a pat on my back and promised me a permanent job with the civic body,” he said.

“My services are used by the MC and the police when bodies have to be recovered from sewers, Budha Nullah, etc. They remember my services, but not their words,” he said, adding that he had written to the Centre also, but his faith in government officials had been shaken.

There are several cases in the fire department, too, where family members continue to wait for a government job on compassionate grounds.

Ludhiana, October 30
Taking note of the sudden spurt in crime, the SSP, Dr SS Gill, has written a letter to all SHOs of the city to improve their performance.

As per information, the development took place following a recent meeting of all police chiefs with the Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Badal, where he told them to check the working of the lower-rung officers of their area.

The letter, which was sent last evening, is strongly worded. According to sources, the SSP has categorically told the SHOs to perform or perish. The letters warns that if the SHOs do not show improvement in their working, they would be suspended and sent to the Police Lines.

The SSP said the safety of residents should be the priority of every officer and if someone was lacking commitment, he had no right to retain the chair.

An official, on the condition of anonymity, said the letter was nothing but a face-saving measure as the growing incidents of snatching and theft had added to the problems of senior officers.

The sources said some miscreants snatched cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 1.2 lakh from the purse of Napinder Kaur, wife of state Labour Commissioner Raminder Singh, during a wedding ceremony at a gurdwara in BRS Nagar on Wednesday.

It is learnt that the wife of the CM, Parkash Singh Badal, was also attending the wedding ceremony.

At the same time, the SSP is eager to encourage cops. It is learnt that he made a call to the police control room from a friend’s mobile, stating that he had been robbed. After receiving the call, PCR officials reached the spot within four minutes. Impressed by their efficiency, he sent an appreciation letter to them.

Ludhiana, October 30
Kerosene meant for distribution among the poor of Himachal Pradesh is being sold here for filling auto- rickshaws.

The anti-narcotics cell of the police has arrested two persons for selling kerosene on higher rates and seized 3,000 litres of kerosene meant for Himachal.

Harish Kumar and Ramesh Kumar of Salem Tabri, who are part of the chain of black marketeers, revealed that their employers, Paramjit Singh and Raj Kumar who were out on bail for a similar offence had contacted ration depot owners and government officials and procured kerosene at subsidised rates.

It is learnt that the accused used to collect kerosene meant for the poor at Rs 15 per litre and would sell it for Rs 25 per litre. It was being sold to autorickshaws that used petrol mixed with kerosene, cutting the input cost.

According to police sources, Himachalis were using forest wood for cooking and hence, the kerosene meant for them was lying unused.

The police sources said a majority of the kerosene was being used by autorickshaws, while the rest was being sold to migrants who did not have ration cards.

Harpal Singh, in charge of the anti-narcotics cell, said as there was a huge demand of kerosene in the city, the racketeers were exploiting the situation and making a quick buck.

He said Paramjit Singh and Raj Kumar, both residents of Qila Mohalla, had been booked for a similar offence a month ago and on that occasion, 15 drums of kerosene were seized from their possession.

But soon after getting bail, they again got involved in the trade. The police is trying to coordinate with the HP police to check the source from where the kerosene was procured.

If they would not sell it, the racketeers would not have procured it, an official said.

Though the accused had been booked under Section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act, but the police fears that the accused would be let off soon and would again indulge in the trade.

Ludhiana, October 30
The construction of a mobile tower atop a commercial complex at Moti Nagar (C-block) locality here has been stalled after the MC withdrew the no-objection certificate (NOC) issued for the purpose.

A report about the protest against the erection of the tower in a predominantly residential area was carried in The Tribune recently.

The senior town planner of the MC, in a letter dated October 28 to the owner of the commercial complex, Rajdeep Singh, stated that the permission granted for the mobile tower was being withdrawn and work on the structure would be discontinued.

The MC had earlier issued a show-cause notice to the owner of the commercial complex, asking him to submit his reply to certain points within seven days, and in the meantime, suspended the construction work on the tower. In the absence of a satisfactory reply, the NOC was withdrawn.

As per the civic authorities, even though an NOC was issued for the erection of mobile tower, it stated: “Permission (for construction of tower) can also be withdrawn at any time if any dispute arises in relation to site, property, public interest and directions issued by the government from time to time or violation of any conditions.”

Ludhiana, October 30
An Executive Magistrate was allegedly manhandled by a group of lawyers when he had gone to seal a milk booth at the courts complex here today.

Naib tehsildar Jasbir Singh Walia had gone to seal the booth set up by Verka following the orders of the Deputy Commissioner who had termed it as an encroachment.

When he was about to seal the booth, several lawyers allegedly manhandled him and did not allow him to do so.

Walia returned from the spot and wrote a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner. However, no action has followed yet.

The DC’s move had triggered protests by lawyers as well as the chairman of Verka, Ajmer Singh Bhagpur. The lawyers said they needed a food joint on the premises.

Bhagpur said Verka had started to set up the booth at the courts complex two months ago. The place was being used as an open urinal and Verka got it cleared. For two months, the authorities did not have any problems, he said.

Ludhiana, October 30
The 10-km stretch of the Ferozepur Road from the Jagraon Bridge to the southern octroi post, re-carpeted at a cost of Rs 10 crore a few months ago is under scanner with the state vigilance bureau ordering an inquiry into the quality of material used for the project.

The road, re-laid by four contractors-Kabir Constructions, DM Constructions, Shekhar Chand Jain and sons and Ludhiana Builders-had developed potholes a few months.

The vigilance bureau was forwarded a complaint stating that though Rs 10 crore was spent on the road, it had started developing potholes. A stretch of road in front of Westend Mall was even given a patchwork some times ago.

Following the allegations, a technical team of the vigilance bureau visited the city today and took samples of material used for its construction. The samples were filled from various spots starting from Jagraon Bridge to Octroi Post in Barewal.

Not willing to be quoted the officials of the team said the bureau ordered an inquiry following a complaint. They would fill the samples and send these for testing at the state laboratory.

‘‘If the samples fail test, we would register a case against the contractors concerned. If the samples are okay, we would close the case,” said the official.

The Ferozepur Road is in the midst of a controversy ever since it was recaperted. The work was started in September 2008 and following reports that it was being re-laid during winters, it was stopped.

For several months only one side of the road remained re-carpeted while the other was left untouched. Later the work restarted in March and the project completed. The patch near Rajguru Nagar started coming off soon after. Later on, it was repaired.

Ludhiana, October 30
The excise and taxation department has extended the last date of the e-filing of VAT returns once more. So far, the department has received 80,000 returns from the entire state.

Today was the last date for the e-filing of the quarterly VAT returns. Apart from a technical problem in the server, the passwords provided to traders were also invalid due to which they were unable to file the returns.

Even small traders, who trade outside Punjab, have to e-file their returns. “We do not have computers at our place and have to make the rounds of lawyers to file the returns. But it isn’ t helping since the passwords are invalid and the server is very slow,” Vinay Kansal, a trader, said.

“The server was slow and there were some problems with the passwords, hence, the department would remain open for the next two days on holiday. We will be providing the passwords to traders and also receipts of the e-filing will also be collected by the department on the following two days,” a source from the department said.

Jatinder Khurana, a lawyer, said though the online system had been introduced, it was not up to the mark. The department should have been geared to tackle the situation, he said.

Jagraon, October 30
Expressing solidarity with the stamp vendors, all the offices in the Jagraon court complex remained shut recently.

The stamp vendors of Jagraon went on strike since Tuesday in protest against the government decision to decrease the permitted denomination of sale of stamp papers by stamp vendors along with commission. Earlier, the stamps vendors were allowed to sell the stamp papers up to the denomination of Rs 50,000, but with the new notification, they are allowed to sell stamp papers up to the denominations of Rs 20,000 only.

The stamp vendors, supported by the Jagraon Bar Association, the Deed Writers Association and the Typists Association, staged a dharna at the judicial complex against the order.

Ludhiana, October 30
Alleging harassment at the hands of officials of the department of health and family welfare to sweetmeat shop owners, the Punjab Halwai Association conducted a special meeting recently.

Members of the association claimed that they were being targeted without reason.

The hype against sweetmeat shops was a move of multinationals to promote chocolates, cakes and candies, besides bakery products, they alleged.

Narinder Pal Singh, president of the association, stated that they would meet Punjab health minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla to urge the department of health and family welfare to continue the drive throughout the year to get hold of those involved in the sale of synthetic or spurious sweets.

Pointing to the loss of between 70 and 75 per cent that a majority of them had suffered this festive season, a Doraha sweetmeat seller rued that he had not been able to return the money he had borrowed.

On the other hand, Dr Maninderjeet Singh, civil surgeon, stated that 70 per cent of the samples of sweets and khoya from Ludhiana having failed tests justified the action taken by the department.

He also stated that sweetmeat shop owners could check hospital records to know the number of persons who had fallen ill after consuming sweets on Diwali.

The figure would have been much higher had they not taken timely action against cold stores and sweetmeat shops selling sweets made from synthetic khoya.

The authorities had failed to give the results of the samples procured from the 11 big sweetmeat outlets in Ludhiana so far.

Ludhiana, October 30
An eye check-up camp to be organised by a city-based NGO on October 25 was shelved after district health authorities conducted a raid on the pretext of “missing permission” from the department of health and family welfare.

A team of health officials raided the camp following the news carried in The Ludhiana Tribune on October 25, thereby canceling the registration of the NGO.

Now, the NGO working under Rawel Ashram in Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar on the Pakhowal Road will hold the eye check-up camp on November 1. It has taken the permission in this regard from the department of health and family welfare. Amrik Singh Kohli, president, Rawel Ashram, said: “Not taking permission from the department was not deliberate but it was due to ignorance. Had we been aware of the law we would have definitely taken permission”?

He also stated that they had been conducting similar health check-up camps and eye check-up camps in the past also adding that nobody ever informed them to take permission for the same. The NGO had engaged a city-based ophthalmologist Dr Ashok Kumar Gupta running Poly Eye Hospital in Jamalpur colony who was not allowed to check the patients during the last camp in absence of permission. The same doctor will be present for the eye check-up camp on November 1.

Ludhiana, October 30
Has Punjab given up on the cause of Green Revolution as is evident from its readiness to adopt “gene revolution”? This was the question asked by Kavita Kuruganti of the Coalition for GM-Free India; an NGO working against inflow of genetically modified food in India.

The NGO activist stated that health and agriculture were state subjects, thus there was no reason for the state government to comply with the wishes of the Union government that had given a go ahead to field trials of Bt Brinjal.

The efforts of activists of the Kheti Virasat Mission, an NGO from Punjab, have gone in vain, as state Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla categorically told them that it was the Chief Minister’s prerogative to take a decision on the matter.

Some states, including Kerala, Orissa, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, have already exercised their rights to keep their territories free of GM food.

Doctors for food and bio-safety in the state referred to nearly 65 health problems/diseases caused after the consumption of GM food, which have been documented in “Genetic Roulette” authored by Jeffery Smith, a renowned scientist from the USA.

Dr GPI Singh, former Head of Department of Community /Preventive Medicine, DMCH, and at present working as director of the Adesh Institute of Medical Sciences and Research, Bathinda, stated health problems caused by the consumption of GM food products were enlisted after prolonged experiments on rats/mice.

“It is rather ironic that none of the multinational companies promoting GM food products have refuted the claims of doctors and scientists opposing them,” added Dr GPI Singh.

It is mentioned in Genetic Roulette that Bt in crop is toxic. Similarly, chronicle with a sub-head “seeds of deception” also states that expectant mothers eating this food may endanger offspring and that gene insertion disrupts the DNA and can create unpredictable health problems.

Dr Satish Jain, medical director of Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation, Ludhiana, termed the decision of the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee of approving field trials of Bt Brinjal as a premature one.

“Any decision that involves human health should be taken with the utmost care and should follow a detailed study on the subject as results of the consumption of GM food products may take years to surface,” the doctor added.

Ludhiana, October 30
Holding the SAD government responsible for the non-implementation of their long-pending genuine demands, non-teaching staff of the private colleges and activists of the Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Unions (Punjab and Chandigarh) have threatened to intensify stir in case their grievances were not redressed.

The non-teaching staff took out a protest rally at the close of day-long dharna staged outside the Arya College.

Rajiv Bhasin and Ashwani Thakur led the protesting activists.

Addressing the rally, speakers, including Kanwar Gurdit Singh, Sohan Lal Sharma, Rama Sobti, Tejinder Kaur, Ram Dass and Tilak Raj alleged that the successive governments had been ignoring their long-pending demands for decades.

Apex leaders of the SAD, who had promised to implement all pending demands during the assembly elections seemed to have forgotten their promises, alleged the leaders.

Organisational measures undertaken by the union during past three years proved futile.

Demands raised by the union included five per cent interim relief with retrospective effect, enhancement of medical allowance, payment of second instalment of fifty per cent merger and implementation of new pay scales.

Office-bearers of the union said next rally would be organised at Punjabi University, Patiala, on November 13.

CS Gupta, GS Bisht, Dhan Singh, Balwant Singh and Mohinder Singh were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, October 30
The Management Federation of Non-Government Colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh has decided not to implement revised pay scales till the Punjab government increases grants to colleges without any discrimination between aided and un-aided colleges.

Principals and lectures of private colleges may resort to protests if the government failed to do so.

The decision was taken at an emergent general body meeting of the federation held at Guru Nanak Khalsa College for Women here today. The meeting was attended by members of the management and principals of private colleges.

Functionaries of the body alleged that the Punjab government had turned a blind eye to their problems.

"Punjab government has issued notification for hike in salaries of the college lecturers by more than 40 per cent. However, there has been no proportionate hike in the grant-in-aid to the colleges," said members of the management.

Launching scathing attacks on the state government, representatives of the management of private colleges stated that the grant-in-aid had not been released after May and the government had been maintaining silence over the increase in grants to bear the burden of revised scales.

"Under the UGC guidelines, 80 per cent of the grant is to be paid by the Centre and only 20 per cent is to be paid by the state government to lecturers of aided and un-aided colleges and the federation cannot pay revised salaries from their own meagre resources," the speakers added.

The federation demanded the Central assistance and state assistance for both aided and un-aided colleges.

Members of the federation asserted that several states had already extended this benefit to their un-aided colleges. If the notification was not extended to un-aided employees and the financial burden was imposed on the management, then students of Punjab would be financially overburdened unnecessarily, which in turn might evoke wide-spread protests from various students bodies, they added.

The federation further asked for lifting up the ban on fresh recruitments, as 1,500 posts were lying vacant in colleges.

Ludhiana, October 30
A three-day long cultural fiesta “Fusion-2009” kicked off at BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School here today.

Various competitions will be organised during the three-day festival.

Nearly 400 participants from around 40 schools will actively participate to showcase their talent.

Today’s session was inaugurated by Lt Gen VK Singh, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command.

After the welcome address by principal Paramjit Kaur, a thematic play “Let Peace Prevail On Earth" and a group dance were presented by students.

Today’s results:

Ballet competition: Alpine International School, Ludhiana, 1, DAV School, Kurukshetra, 2 and St Thomas School, Ludhiana, 3.

Mandi Gobindgarh, October 30
A lecture on cloud computing was delivered by Navraj S Chohan at RIMT-IET here today.

Principal Dr Harsh Sadawarti, Prof Sushil Garg, HOD, faculty members and around 100 students participated in the session.

Dr Sadawarti delivered valedictory speech and motivated students of MTech to take up research work in the field of cloud computing.

Ludhiana, October 30
Students of INIFD brought laurels to their institute by winning first prize in a fashion show “Ritambhara” held in IIT, Kanpur.

The ramp was set on fire by students of INIFD, as they walked the ramp on final day.

Judges for the event were Rohit Dhingra, fashion photographer, and Himmat Singh, fashion designer. Students participated in four major events namely “Ritambhara”, a fashion show, “Roots-the folk dance competition”, “Abhivyakti-the mime competition” and “Nukkad-the street play”.

INIFD won second prize in the mime competition.

The theme chosen by students was India in the yester years and in the present scenario.

Ludhiana, October 30
The police administration in collaboration with the Ek Noor Welfare and Charitable Society organised a play “Dukhdi Rag Punjab Dee” at Ramgarh near here today.

Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, chairman, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation, was the chief guest and Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, chairman, Punjab Mandi Board, presided over the function.

Students from Mai Bhago College for Women, Dashmesh Public Institute, Government School, Jandiali, and Government School, Ramgarh, performed skits on drug abuse. Dhillon called upon the social, religious and educational institutions to start a drive to create awareness among people against drug addiction. He said such plays and seminars should be organised frequently.

Ludhiana, October 30
Development works undertaken in Bihar is leading to the mechanisation of the Punjab agriculture as farmers are buying machines to tide over severe labour crisis.

As migrants are refusing to return due to the better employment avenues back home this has led to severe shortage of farm labourers in the state, a few farmers of different villages are now pooling in resources for buying machines used for sowing seeds, transplanting the saplings and other agricultural operations.

This was evident during farmers’ training camp for the Rabi season organised by the department of agriculture when farmers showed a keen interest in machinery displayed on the occasion.

Satnam Singh Swatch, a farmer from Lalori Kalan village near Khanna, said the farm labourers had become so costly that he had pooled his resources with another farmer of his village for buying a potato planter worth Rs 30,000.

‘‘The costly labour was burning a hole in our pocket. We decided to buy a machine that requires a single person and very less time for the work. We are now very happy. Now the farming would get mechanised and work done at faster pace, ’’ he added.

He added earlier a labourer was available for Rs 50 per day but now they were demanding Rs 100 besides food and clothes. This was getting too expensive. ‘‘We have sown potatoes with the help of this planter now. We do not have to run after migrants now, ’’ he said. Another farmer, Jagtar Singh of Ucchi Daud village said he and several farmers had got together and purchased a stubble incorporator-cum-seed planter worth Rs 1.10 lakh. ‘‘We are freed of the hassles of labour. We have already sown wheat in our fields and did not have to run after farm labourers,’’ he added.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 30
Swayed by cops posted at police stations under the Ludhiana (Rural) district, thousands of activists of social and religious organizations have vowed to play an active role in crusade launched by the police against drug addiction.

Before taking oath at a function organised at Jagraon, the enthusiasts marched in groups through villages falling under Ludhiana districts.

A large number of villagers, led by office-bearers of these organisations of about 50 villages marched to Jagraon for taking part in a rally against drug addiction organised at Gurdwara Nanaksar Kaleran in Jagraon subdivision today.

The activists shouted slogans against menace of drug abuses while passing through Dehlon, Kilaraipur, Gujjarwal, Chhappar, Latala, Barundi, Ghungrana, Jartoli, Pohir, Lehra, Gopalpur, Malaudh, Sihar, Jhammat and Kalarh villages.

Acknowledging the massive response received from residents of the area, since known for alleged drug trafficking, Harinder Singh Chahal, SSP Ludhiana (Rural) appreciated that rank and file in his force had succeeded in roping in office-bearers of these organisations for a crusade against the menace of drug addiction.

Amloh, October 30
A gang of anti-social elements shot at a man and snatched a cash bag he was carrying here late last night.

Shiv Kumar Sonu (31), who resisted their attempt to snatch the bag was shot at and succumbed to his injuries later on. He after closing the confectionary and a mobile shop at the Nabha Chowk was going towards his home in ward No. 8 on his scooter when the gang members waylaid him, shot at and snatched the bag. In the melee Sonu picked up the pistol that had fallen down. But, the gang members had by then fled away.

Meanwhile, Sonu managed to note down the registration number of the vehicle. Sonu, who was severely wounded went to a private clinic but collapsed. The police was called and the victim admitted to the local civil hospital. From there he was referred to Daya Nand Hospital in Ludhiana. He, however, on his way to the hospital.

The victim is survived by his wife and two daughters. He was the only son of his parents. Late in the evening the body was cremated. The cremation was largely attended. Vikas Bhalla, son of Parveen Kumar Bhalla, has registered an FIR against unidentified persons. The police is investigating the case.

Jagraon, October 30
The Sidhwan Bet police yesterday netted 41 kg of poppy husk with the arrest of five persons, including a woman member of a gang involved in drug peddling.

The cops acted on a tip-off that a gang comprising women was selling poppy husk at Sowaddi Kalan. Sidhwan Bet SHO and his team raided the village. They managed to an armed guard of the gang identified as Avtar Singh of Guru Nanak Nagar, Dhuri. A .12 bore country made pistol and three cartridges were seized from his possession.

Besides him, Gurmail Kaur of Sherpur village in Sangrur district was also arrested and 10 kg of poppy husk seized from her possession. Mahindro of Sherpur village in Sangrur district was nabbed with 11 kg poppy husk and Amar Kaur of Sangrur with 9 kg of poppy husk. Amgrej Kaur, alias Kali of Naginderpura near Mansa, was arrested with 11 kg poppy husk.

The SHO said the case was being investigated but prima-facie it seemed that Avtar Singh was the kingpin of the gang and the women were selling the contraband on the daily wages basis.

Meanwhile, the Dakha police has also arrested a man identified as Sukhwinder Singh of Jangpur village along with 40 kg poppy husk from near the drain of Rurka village. Cases under Sections 15/61/85 of the NDPS Act have been registered against the accused. Avtar Singh has been booked under Sections 25/54/59 of the Arms Act.

Jagraon, October 30
A youth died yesterday after a truck rammed into his motor cycle. The deceased identified as Deepak (19) of the Kacha Malak Road was returning to Jagraon from Sidhwan Bet when he was hit by a Pathankot-bound truck near Bansipura village.

Deepak died on the spot. Swaran Singh, the truck driver, was arrested by the police. Meanwhile, a man died when a car rammed into his moped.The deceased has been identified as Bhola Singh (53) of Purain village. He was on his way to Mullanpur for buying eggs for his tea stall when a speeding car (PB 10 BE 3636) rammed into his moped.

Jagraon, October 30
A chemist shop opposite to the SSP’s office was raided yesterday on the basis of specific information that its owner was selling psychotropic medicines. The shop owner was running this shop for years together and was selling these medicines illegally. Though the entire city was aware of his activities, the police was not aware of it.

However, the cops recovered 273 capsules of Proxivon, 552 of Spasmo, 160 Faravon Spas, 13 bottles of Corex, 45 packets of Monotil and 179 of Karisoma from his shop. All medicines recovered from the shop were unaccounted and was being sold without any prescription. The accused has been booked under Sections 22/61/85 of the NDPS Act.

Mullanpur Dakha
Arrested: The Humbran police has arrested a man and seized 2.15 kg opium from his possession.

The cops laid a naka at Bhatha Dhuha village and stopped a man and recovered the contraband that was hidden in a polythene bag from his handbag.

The man has been identified as Ram Murti, a resident of Shah Jahan Pur in Uttar Pradesh.

He was presently residing at Sher Singh’s house at Jangpur village.

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused.

Ludhiana, October 30
The city eves steered into semifinal on the opening day of the State-Level Inter Polytechnic Sports Tournament being organised at Government Polytechnic College, Rishi Nagar, here today.

The tournament was inaugurated by Mohinder Singh, principal of the college.

In kho-kho, Ludhiana and Ajitwal made it to the semifinal, while in badminton, Ludhiana and Khuni Majra reached the semifinal.