Ludhiana, November 13
On the second day of the anti-encroachment drive here today, more than 250 encroachments were removed. But encroachments by bigwigs were given a miss.

A picket on the footpath in front of SAD MLA Harish Rai Dhanda’s house was not touched. “We know it’s an encroachment, but action would be taken only after having a word with the SSP,” MC officials stated.

A floral entrance gate in front of Embassy Palace situated on the compound of the MLA residence was also not removed. When asked about it, the officials said it was unfair to spoil someone’s wedding.

Hotel Friend’s Regency was next. BJP leader Tarun Bawa Jain was present at the site and after having a word with the MC officials, it was decided that only one step of the staircase was an encroachment. The demolition squad also failed to remove the iron grills of the lift and the generator, which were on the list of encroachments, stating that 3 to 5 inches of encroachments could be “overlooked”.

When they went to demolish a small portion of Hotel Country Inn, the owner showed them a legal document, stating that he had a stay. The squad had to leave.

Sources said the documents were as old as 2002 and that “no court can give a stay on encroachments, be it a local court, High Court or the Supreme Court”.

When it came to the public, the demolition squad showed no mercy. Canara Bank and Batra Hotel, besides shops, were not spared.

Ludhiana, November 13
In another display of brute force by the powerful “peti mafia” involved in the transportation of goods to the railway station and helping the trade and industry “evade” taxes worth crores every year, Parminder Singh, an excise and taxation officer (ETO) deployed with the mobile wing, was attacked by at least a dozen persons when the enforcement team confronted the operators while trying to slip in packages inside the railway complex from an opening near Society Cinema here late last night.

The ETO sustained injuries and three of his other team members -- a driver and gunmen -- were also roughed up. Parminder Singh said at a press conference here today that at around 10 pm last night, the enforcement team was keeping a watch at the main gate of the railway parcel office when information was received that goods were being slipped in by some persons.

“On reaching the spot, we saw that goods loaded in a rickshaw were being taken inside the complex from an open space where the boundary wall had been broken. When my staff accosted them, about a dozen people pounced on us from all directions. In the meantime, their accomplices managed to take away the goods,” he stated.

Senior officials of the excise and taxation department had been asked to provide them with more force to deal with such elements in an effective manner, he added.

Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Parampal Singh said the issue of providing adequate force to the enforcement wing had been taken up with the top brass of the department. “We are duty-bound and tax evasion would be stopped by all means,” he said.

The police has registered a case against four persons, who have been identified, and some unidentified accomplices, but no arrest has been made so far.

Ludhiana, November 13
Blatant violations of the Child Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act are in stark contrast to Children’s Day celebrations.

Thousands of children below the age of 14 are working at private establishments in the city, even though it is prohibited under the Child Labour Act. These children are not only being denied right to education, recreation and health, but are also being subjected to harsh labour conditions that may cause behavioural problems.

Oblivious of Children’s Day, a large number of children work day and night in automobile markets. Some are also engaged in making and processing pottery and ceramic articles. Potters, in order to pass on the skills to their children, don’t mind not sending them to school. Some others, send their children to work at manufacturing units located outside the city.

The sight of ragpickers and scavengers between the age of 5 and 14 years is another sad saga. They can be found wandering near garbage dumps and cleaning public toilets.

Nothing is being done by government agencies to discourage the practice.

The stigma attached with the word “Chotu” haunts little boys from UP and Bihar sent by their family to work in an alien place. Most young boys working at tea stalls and dhabas are addressed by this name.

Dhananjay (12) is resentful of his employer, a dhaba owner, saying: “No one addresses me by my real name at work. My employer, co-workers and customers, all call me Chotu. Mein is naam ke saath bada nahin hona chahta kyonki yeh meri pehchaan nahin hain (I don’t want to grow up with this name as this is not my identity).”

Ludhiana, November 13
Kingfisher airlines, which was scheduled to start its operations from Ludhiana to Delhi from November 15, has not sent a revised schedule yet, sources at the Sahnewal airport have said.

They said the airlines had sent a schedule a few days ago, expressing interest in taking passengers from Ludhiana to Delhi on a 42-seater aircraft from 4 pm onwards.

“But no revised schedule has been sent to the airport authorities so far. We do not think that it would go ahead with the scheduled plan,” a senior official of the airport authority said, adding that if the airlines still went ahead with the plan, it would suffer losses on account of no ticket bookings.

Sources in the state aviation department said the plan was cancelled at the last moment as the airport was not equipped to cater to domestic flights.

The Delhi-Ludhiana railway line which passes near the airport main gate also put the plan in a limbo as the level crossing largely remained closed during the departure of flights.

It is learnt that the Kingfisher airlines expressed its intention to start the operations from November 15 and even submitted the flight schedule to the Airport Authority of India (AAI) to begin its daily operations on the Ludhiana- Delhi-Ludhiana circuit. The company was also allocated space for ticket counters and an office on the airport premises.

The Sahnewal airport, located 14 km from Ludhiana, is being used only for chartered flights. In the early 80s, both morning and evening flights used to take off from the airport, but it suffered a major blow during militancy when the government ordered the discontinuation of flights following terrorist threats.

Ludhiana, November 13
Members of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers' Union (PCCTU) today observed a two-period strike and held campus rallies in colleges against the managements of privately managed aided and unaided colleges of Punjab and Chandigarh for not implementing new pay scales.

Federation of managements of private colleges have expressed solidarity regarding the long-pending demands of the college teachers and claimed to support them against the government, said a press note issued here today.

Prof Vinay Sophat, finance secretary, PCCTU, said: "We appreciate their approach. If they really mean it, then their first step should be to immediately implement the new pay scales in their colleges as has already been done by many managements of the state."

He added it was unfortunate that teachers of these colleges were fighting for the grades for the past four years against the Central and Punjab governments and now the managements were denying this to the teachers in "totally dictatorial unlawful way".

"All other sections of the state are getting the new pay scales. More than two-and-a-half months have passed since the Punjab government has notified the new grades. If the managements do not respect the government orders then teachers will further intensify the agitation," he added.

For further action, the executive committee of PCCTU will hold a meeting on November 15 at Lyallpur Khalsa College, Jalandhar.

Meanwhile, teachers will continue their two-period strike and will hold campus rallies on November 14.

Ludhiana, November 13
Students hailing from various government schools, who gathered to watch performances on de-addiction programme organized by social securities department at Mohan Palace, witnessed an unprecedented scenes when the theatre artistes belonging to Punjabi University, Patiala, started arguing with social securities officer Inderpeet Kaur, after they were allegedly refused food following their performance.

The argument took place when Hira Singh Gabria was addressing the media on the sidelines of the function. The moment he started answering the queries of the reports, the staff artistes belong to theatre reparatory of Punjabi University, Patiala, started arguing with the social security officer.

This left the minister fuming and he decided to intervene. “You people deliberately create a scene in order to attract media attention. They are ways to lodge protest, why are you spoiling the function,” said the minister angrily, who arrived late at the function. After being reprimanded by the minister the artistes narrated their complaint and stated that they were not offered food as promised by the social securities department.

“We did not know that the minister was holding a press conference at the very place where we were arguing with the department officials after they refused to provide us food,” said a woman artiste.

After listening to their complaint minister directed the staff of the social securities department to provide food to the artiste with immediate effect. Earlier, the students of the various government school performed skits on drug de-addiction. 

Ludhiana, November 13
Dr Surinder Sandhu, associate professor of department of plant breeding and genetics, has been selected to receive a 2010 Endeavour Research Fellowship. The Endeavour awards are the Australian government's internationally competitive, merit-based scholarship programme providing high-achieving individuals with a unique opportunity to undertake study, research or professional development.

Julia Gillard, minister of education from the Deputy Prime Minister's office, Parliament house, Canberra, in her communication to Dr Sandhu, congratulated her.

Melissa Sheehan, director scholarships, exchanges and alumni section of department of education, Australian government, has informed that the award is valued at upto $ 2,3500 (Australian).

Sandhu passed her MSc and PhD with distinction and fetched the prestigious Jawahar Lal Nehru Award (1996) for her doctoral research.

PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang extended his wishes to Dr Sandhu.

Dr Sandhu informed that she would be placed in the Centre for tropical crops and bio-commodities at Australia's Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane. She explained that the overall goal of the research to be carried under the award would be to modify the expression of genes involved in the control of lignin biosynthesis with the intent of altering the cell wall of sugarcane.

She said the project envisages the identification of a lignin path way promotor with high expression in sugarcane. This would help to boost ethanol production from sugarcane in an efficient way, she added.

Ludhiana, November 13
Children's day was celebrated at BCM School, Dugri, here today. A magic show was also presented for students of kindergarten and primary wing by magician Mogambo.

Students were also made aware about World Diabetes Day, which is celebrated on November 14 in response to growing concerns about the escalating health threat that diabetes now poses.

Shubh Karman Public School: It was a fun-filled day for students of Shubh Karman Public School as Children's Day was celebrated with fervour here today.

Students participated in various activities like recitation and dance party. Tributes were paid to Jawahar Lal Nehru and sweets were also distributed among students.

Jain Public School: Jain Public School celebrated Children's Day with zeal. A declamation contest was held in which students presented speeches on Pandit Jawahar Lal Nehru. Tiny tots from primary section performed on patriotic songs.

SDP School: SDP School celebrated Children's Day. Students took part in various activities like singing competition, chart making and essay writing. Principal Jasvir Singh Chauhan presented a speech on life of Nehru and urged the students to follow the path showed by him.

GN International: GN International Senior Secondary Public School, Model Town, celebrated Children's Day here today by showing varied talents through a talent show. Students of pre-primary classes had a poetry recitation competition, which was based on "Chacha Nehru". One-minute games, dance competition, singing competition, riddle telling, mimicry contests and quiz were also held.

KVM: Children's Day was celebrated at KVM School with fervour. Headmistress Namita Raj Singh presided over. Students were given refreshments and return gifts.

Ludhiana, November 13
Before going for the free trade agreement (FTA) with China, India needs to be cautious as tension is increasing between the two countries.

The industry, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs), feels they will not be able to face competition from China under the FTA move.

President of the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry PD Sharma said the government of India should not rush with the FTA. He said the trade between India and China had accelerated rapidly in the recent years amid continuing high growth and trade liberalisation on both sides.

China joined the World Trade Organisation in 2001 and since then the Sino-Indian bilateral trade had grown from $ 2.3 billion to $ 40.6 billion a year.

This was an increase of 50 per cent. The trade between the two countries had grown almost double the rate of their trade with other countries since 2003-2004.

Besides, India’s imports from China were increasing at a much faster rate than its exports to the country.

The Institute of South Asian’s Studies and National University of Singapore showed that the Indian imports had been the main driver of the huge increase in the Sino-Indian trade. China was now India’s biggest source of imports and it accounted for 10.7 per cent of its total imports.

Electrical and electronic machinery, organic chemicals, chemicals, iron and steel, mineral fuels and waxes constitute two thirds of the total imports.

Since the global attention was towards China, major multinationals in the automobile sector were moving towards China.

Thus, Indian ancillary suppliers of automotive components will be under pressure due to cheap products of China.

“China is roaring ahead with monthly car sale of a million units which is marginally lower than what India produces annually. Big automobile multinationals like general motors are increasing the production of light commercial vehicles in China. Thus the component suppliers of India will be adversely hit by imports from China,” said Sharma.

Fearing loss to the Indian industry, Mahesh Kumar, running an electroplating unit at the Industrial Area, said India had FTA with many countries, including Sri Lanka, Singapore, Thailand and ASEAN.

“China sends some its products to these countries and after value addition they are imported to India under FTA. For instance China sends products to Sri Lanka for electroplating, etc. and these products might be rooting to India under FTA.

The government of India on one hand is intending to boost SME sector while it is harming the sector with large number of FTAs on the other hand. At present SME’s share in the national GDP is around 17 per cent and the government intends to increase it to 22 per cent by 2012,” he added. 

Mandi Gobindgarh, November 13
Unmindful of the consequences, the Congress government at the Centre is going to implement the Sachar report, which will divide the country and harm the interests of the Scheduled Castes. This was stated by Punjab Khadi and Village Industries Board chairman Vijay Sampla during his first press conference held here yesterday. He was appointed president of the state unit of the All-India Arakshan Bachao Manch yesterday.

“The manch has launched awareness campaign all over the country and state level rallies will be organised on November 26, to celebrate ‘Savdhan Diwas’, the day when the Constitution was drafted, suggested Sampla. The rallies will continue till January 26, the day when the Constitution made public.

Talking about the adverse consequences of the report, Sampla said the proposal of Schedule Castes reservation facilities to Christians and Mohammedans in schools would be great injustice to the Scheduled Cates. On the other hand the schools run by the Christians and Mohammedans don’t provide any reservation to the Scheduled Caste students, he added.

Municipal Council Chief Dharampal Rao and councillor Gurdeep Singh Goldi were also present on the occasion. 

Raikot, November 13
Two partners of a local medical store were arrested yesterday and a rich haul of psychotropic medicine seized from their possession. The Jalaldiwal police picket in charge had arrested Rajiv Kumar of Bhandarian mohalla, the owner of Shankar medicos, situated at the Tajpur Chowk and seized the medicines.

Whereas, the in charge of the police post was also tipped off that Shankar Medicos situated at Tajpur road was openly selling habit-forming drugs without any license. About 180 capsules of Proxivon and other salts, 400 tablets and 31 bottles of cough syrups were seized from his possession. He was taking the unaccounted medicine to his shop for being sold to addicts. While, the in charge was fishing his formalities of registering the case, he got a tip of that another partner of the arrested chemist, Parmod Kumar is carrying unaccounted habit forming medicines and is on way to his shop. Pramod was arrested from near his shop and 624 capsules of Proxivon and other salts and 29 bottles of cough syrups were seized from his possession. Cases have been registered against both of them under various sections of the NDPS Act.

Ludhiana, November 13
Hira Singh Gabria, state minister for jails and tourism, today said that marriages at Amaltas resort would be held as per schedule.

Reacting to a report published in The Tribune, highlighting the plight of families whose wedding plans had been hit due to the sudden decision of the tourism department to close down the resort, he said: “We have told the families that marriage functions would held as per schedule. We understand the problems of the families and that is why we have directed the authorities to make necessary arrangements for the smooth conduct of the marriage ceremonies,” he said.

The order of the tourism department to close down Amaltas, a government-run resort, from November 15 had put six wedding functions in a state of uncertainty.

It is learnt that recently a delegation consisting of families who had booked the resort for marriages had met the minister and apprised him of their problem. Today’s statement by the minister has brought cheer to the families who were told by the authorities to look for some other marriage palace.

The direction to close down the resort with immediate effect was given by principal secretary Geetika Kalha after she found some irregularities in the functioning of the resort.

Satinder Sharma, a resident of Phillaur, whose cousin’s wedding is on November 22, said: “We were planning to reschedule the marriage. We are grateful that the minister understood our concern and allowed us to organise the marriage as per schedule.”

Sources in the tourism department said the minister had sent no communique in this regard and in the absence of any direction, they would have to shut down the resort. They had started retrenching the staff.

Sidhwan Bet (Jagraon), November 13
Residents especially students are harassed by local private bus operators plying on the Jagraon route. The parents of these students and the resident of the area yesterday gathered at the bus stand and protested against the highhandedness of the bus operators.

The situation took an ugly turn when the government-run buses plying on 11 routes were withdrawn. These included two from the Ferozepur depot, three from the Ludhiana depot and seven from the Jagraon depot.

Sidhwan bet happens to be a thickly populated town on the Jagraon- Jalandhar toll road. It is also connected to Ludhiana through various villages. Though 25 villages use the Sidhwan Bet bus stop for commuting but people of about 90 villages have been affected by this move. Worst sufferers are the girls as the private buses do not accommodate them as they possess passes and the operators treat them as free boarders and a liability. Since there is no educational institute beyond secondary school a large number of students daily commute between Jagraon, Ludhiana or Moga.

Yesterday a deputation lead by Bapu Sohan Singh Slempura, president, Jeewan Jot Welfare Society, met Balraj Singh of the Jagraon Roadways depot. After patiently listening to the problems Balraj immediately fixed three routes for 7.30 am, 8am and 8.30am for students. He also assured to start new busses in the evening for their convenience. He also assured that three new routes to Jalandhar, Shri Paonta Sahib and Amritsar would be introduced. These would pass through Sidhwan Bet.

Ludhiana, November 13
A US-based woman has allegedly accused her husband for thrashing and abandoning her at her maternal aunt’s residence in Malerkotla following the birth of twins.

Parinita, a US-based engineer, along with her mother Uma, met SSP Dr SS Gill and demanded action against her husband Gagan Chopra, a resident of Sector 32, Chandigarh road.

Parinita, who got married to Gagan last year, alleged that she recently gave birth to twins. But her husband refused to take them home and after getting discharged from a hospital he thrashed her and abandoned her with her two little sons near her aunt’s residence in Malerkotla.aAfter, listening to her complaint, the SSP further referred the matter to the police station concerned. Despite repeated attempts, Gagan Chopra could not be contacted for comments.

Doraha, November 13
The hockey team of Mehta Gurukul Public School once again grabbed the Diwali Hockey Trophy by giving a tough fight to Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School, Doraha, in the 11th Inter-School Diwali Hockey tournament, organised in the memory of Dr Ishwar Singh, founder president of the Guru Nanak National College, at the Guru Nanak Stadium today.

In the semifinal, Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School team gave a tough fight to Government Senior Secondary School, Dhamot, won by a difference of 5-0.

In another game, Mehta Gurukul Public School team defeated Shakti Public School with a difference of 2-0. Jagjiwan Pal Singh Gill, vice-president of the college managing committee was the chief guest.

He congratulated the winning team and exhorted the runners up to be geared up for the next competition. He gave away prizes to the winning teams.

Mehta Gurukul team was awarded Rs 3,100 by the college followed by a special prize of Rs 1,100 by the chief guest. Runners up Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School was given a cash prize of Rs 2,100 and a special prize of Rs 1,100 by the chief guest.

Sharanjeet Singh, who was declared the best player of the tournament, was awarded a cash prize of Rs 1,100 by Sukhjit Singh Sukhi, former captain of the hockey team of Panjab University and GNN College, Doraha.

Principal Dr Narinder Singh Sidhu welcomed the chief guest and other dignitaries. Director Jaswant Singh Gill said the teams should put in their heart and soul into the game to popularise hockey.

Prof Balwant Singh Pangli, general secretary of the college management committee, recalling the services of the late founder president of the college Dr Ishwar Singh, said Dr Singh’s contribution in the promotion of sports and games especially hockey has been immense.

“It is due to the efforts of the founder president that the inter-school Diwali tournament has become a regular feature of the college and with the passage of time we have met tremendous response from the budding youngsters of the surrounding schools especially the rural ones,” he opined.