Ludhiana, December 16
Bank services remained paralysed today due to a strike call given by the All-India Bank Employees’ Association and the All-India Bank Officers’ Association.

Customers had a tough time as no transaction could take place due to the strike, which was observed by officials at all public sector banks.

The secretary of the Punjab Bank Employees Federation, Ludhiana, Naresh Gaur, said their long-pending genuine demands were not being considered by the government.

Lakhs of customers had to suffer because of the callous attitude of the government, he said.

Gaur added that their demands included strengthening and expansion of public sector banks, takeover of private banks, stringent action to recover bad loans and pro-people banking policies.

He said the privatisation of public sector banks, the closure and merger of associate banks and other public sector banks with the SBI and the amendment in the Banking Regulation Act to allow full voting rights to foreign investors in the banking sector should be stopped.

Hundreds of bank employees, including officers, organised a rally in this connection in front of the Canara Bank, Bharat Nagar Chowk.

Rohit Verma, an employee with a private firm, said he came to the bank at the Fountain Chowk to deposit cash, but was sent back.

Mandi Ahmedgarh (OC): The staff of nationalised banks here and in surrounding villages staged a protest at the State Bank of Patiala near the Grain Market on Wednesday.

Union activists working with local branches of the Punjab National Bank, the Central Bank of India, the Punjab and Sind Bank, the Union Bank of India and the State Bank of Patiala gathered here in the morning.

Ludhiana, December 16
A major fire broke out at the Garg Acrylics plant on Kanganwala Road adjacent to GT Road early morning today, destroying materials worth Rs 6.5 crore. However, no loss of life has been reported.

The fire started at about 3:30 am from a godown on the second floor of the three-storey building in Unit IV of the company, where bales and bundles of cotton were stored.

Though evacuation of stored materials was undertaken most of them were engulfed in the flames and reduced to ashes. Talking to The Tribune, an eyewitness. Jayant Lal, said, "Around 3 am in the early morning we heard an alarm being raised and cries of ‘fire’. When we came out from our industrial unit we found large flames coming out from the building of Garg Industries and they were even visible on the GT Road. I along with my friend Raghu rushed to the site and came to know there a fire had broken out there." He added work at the industrial unit continued during the fire but no labourer was injured.

Within few minutes of fire a large number of fire-fighting engines were rushed to the site and over 50 tankers of water were used to douse the flames.

Ludhiana, December 16
The committee of inquiry set up by the Ludhiana civil surgeon to look into the death of Ajay Pal Singh, 32, who died last October after he was forced to shift to PGI, Chandigarh from Dayanand Medical College & Hospital (DMCH) has indicted the doctors concerned for "medical negligence".

Ludhiana, December 16
As the nation remembered heroes of the the 1971 war today, the district administration forgot to salute them as it organised no official function.

The District Sainik Welfare Board and the Arty Brigade paid tributes to the martyrs. Brig RK Gupta, Commander, 715 (I), Arty Brigade, laid a wreath on the Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon War Memorial at the Mini-Secretariat. District Sainik Welfare Officer Col Harinderpal Singh (retd) was present.

Surprisingly, none of the officials of the district administration was present. The absence of senior administrative officials left everybody shocked.

Army officials arrived at the memorial around 11 am and held a brief wreath-laying ceremony. Nobody spoke to the media.

Photojournalists were initially not allowed to click photographs, but were allowed to do so after some time.

Officials of the Public Relations Department said they did not have any information on the function and they could not invite anybody for it.

Ex-servicemen said they were not invited to any function. “We are invited by the Deputy Commissioner’s office every year. This time, we did not know if they were holding any function,” said an ex-serviceman.

Meanwhile, tributes were paid to Flying Officer Sekhon and other martyrs who laid down their lives for the country during the 1971 war by several commoners who passed by the memorial.

Ludhiana, December 16
A three-member delegation of MLAs led by Virsa Singh Valtoha today again met with officials of various departments, including the municipal corporation, the PWSSB and the PPCB, to discuss matters pertaining to the city.

Sources who attended the meeting said: “The foremost question of the committee was about the status of roads. The MLAs asked the officials of the B&R branch about the reasons why roads in the city broke often and also sought records of the past three years.”

On questions related to roads, XEN Brijpal of the MC took the plea that due to absence of storm sewerage in the city, the life of roads was reduced. “Stagnant water plays havoc with roads and the poor drainage system often leaves cracks in roads,” said the engineer.

The branch was on the hit list of the delegation because the delegates had experienced a bumpy ride during their visit to the Tajpur road yesterday.

The delegation enquired about the functioning of sewerage treatment plants at Jamalpur, Bhattian and Baloke and found their working suspect, especially after their visit to Buddha Nullah yesterday.

The officials of the PPCB took the plea that they had tried their best to counter pollution in the city.

Citing the example of disconnecting power connections of 17 dyeing units early this year, the PPCB officials said: “It raised a commotion, due to which we were later directed to restore the connections. However, we have tried to disconnect pipes linking dyeing units to Buddha Nullah but the unit owners still discharge effluents at night.”

The delegation expressed its desire to visit the dyeing units and see the functioning of their effluent treatment plants, which the PPCB claimed were functional.

Later, the delegation comprising MLA Valtoha along with MLAs Harpreet Singh from Amloh and Madan Lal from Patiala and Municipal Commissioner AK Sinha visited various places in the city.

Ludhiana, December 16
Residents of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, a 475-acre residential colony developed by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) here, are a harassed lot and their repeated attempts to move the trust authorities for better maintenance of parks, improvement in sanitary conditions and provision of other amenities as well as utilities promised in the town planning scheme of the colony have evoked little or no response.

In a communication to LIT chairman Ashok Juneja, locality’s park management committee president Pran Bhatia and residents of E block have lamented that a large number of vacant plots in the colony have become garbage dumps with massive growth of shrubs, weeds and congress grass due to lack of sanitation and maintenance.

These vacant sites have become safe haven for stray animals who pose health hazard in addition to causing scare among senior citizens, women and children.

“The LIT authorities ought to issue notices under the prevailing rules to the allottees of plots to undertake construction within a fixed time, failing which the plots should be resumed under the provisions of the sale agreements signed at the time of allotment,” Bhatia stressed.

The residents further rue that several parks in the colony have been crying for better maintenance, which is not forthcoming especially in those parks that had so far not been entrusted to park management committees (PMCs).

The condition of sanitation has gone from bad to worse because the contract for sanitation work, which expired in March, 2009, has not been renewed so far.

They want the site, which has been earmarked for a primary school in E block of the colony, to be utilised for construction of a senior citizen home-cum community centre after seeking mandatory approval from the trust and the state government.

Bhatia and other residents of the colony have asked the LIT authorities to make arrangements for providing power backup (generator) and chlorinators on the tubewells and submersible pumps so that water supply is not disrupted during power cuts and residents can get safe drinking water.

LIT officials say most parks in the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar have already been handed over to the PMCs and some others are in the process of being transferred.

As for sanitation work, they say, even though no fresh contract has been awarded, financial sanction has been obtained for deployment of safai workers on ad hoc basis within the next couple of days.

Ludhiana, December 16
Traffic on the Jagraon bridge was brought to a halt for an hour following a protest by safai workers of the Bhartiya Valmiki Sewa Dal here today.

Around 100 protesters blocked the road and prevented the flow of traffic, causing inconvenience to motorists.

Organisation president Surinder Kalyan said: “It has been over a year since the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has failed to regularise safai karamcharis in spite of directions from the local bodies department. In fact, civic bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia has already taken the project in his constituency of Jalandhar, where 1,100 safai workers were put on regular payrolls on November 4.”

He alleged that MC Commissioner AK Sinha with the support of Mayor and councillors was trying to snub the voice of safai karamcharis.

“With the support of some of factions of safai karamcharis, the Ludhiana municipal corporation has decided to recruit sanitation employees on DC rate and we are against it,” said Kalyan, adding that when Jalandhar could regularise its employees, why couldn’t Ludhiana.

Besides, the outfit also demanded regularisation of sewermen and medical checkups for both safai workers and sewermen.

Meanwhile, those caught in traffic snarl-up were a peeved lot. Rajesh Sharma, who was on his way to Jalandhar for an official meeting, said: “I fail to understand what sort of protest this is where public is unduly harassed. For injustice, one should go to courts or the officials concerned. Blocking roads is of no use.”

Similarly, his colleague Parwinder said: “The Supreme Court needs to pass a ruling regarding blockage of traffic by dharnas since the governments both at state and centre levels have failed to find a lasing solution to such protests.”

Ludhiana, December 16
Indicting the police and the district authorities for arson and other acts of violence here in the first week of December, a fact-finding committee, comprising prominent residents, social activists and trade union members, has demanded a judicial probe into the series of incidents leading to violence, imposition of curfew, loss to property and a sense of insecurity among migrants and other sections of society. The committee, led by Jagmohan Singh, general secretary, Association for Democratic Rights, released its report at a press conference here today.

Jagmohan Singh said a demand had been made for an adequate compensation package, immediate release of migrant workers and members of their families who had been arrested, strict action against anti-social elements, steps for improvement in the law and order situation and an effective mechanism for registration and speedy redressal of migrants’ grievances.

The report maintained that at most places where miscreants and anti-social elements had indulged in arson and robbing of migrants’ families, the police was not only a mute spectator, but at times, the abettor.

The migrants’ outburst was mainly due to the insensitive attitude of the police and the situation was allowed to go out of hand by low-rung and middle-level police officials to settle scores with migrants, he pointed out.

Regarding the clashes between radical Sikh and Hindu groups on the issue of a religious congregation by Ashutosh Maharaj, the committee pointed out that the administration was guided by political considerations.

Political leaders had added fuel to the fire to draw political mileage, with scant regard for the city or its residents, the committee observed.

Other members of the committee were Dr Arun Mitra, general secretary, Indian Doctors for Peace and Development, AK Maleri, Dr HS Grewal, DP Maur, general secretary, Joint Council of Trade Unions, Ramesh Rattan and Gurbant Singh, chairman and general secretary, respectively, Small Scale Industries and Traders Association, Naval Chhiber and Narjit Kaur, convener, Working Women Forum.

Ludhiana, December 16
The Dental Council of India (DCI) has conferred the Lifetime Achievement Award on Dr Bhagwant Singh, a Ludhiana-based dental surgeon.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal presented the award to Dr Bhagwant Singh at the inaugural function of the diamond jubilee celebrations of the DCI along with 16th national conference of Indian Society of Oral Implantologists (ISOI) at NIPER, Mohali.

According to Dr SPS Sodhi, organising chairman of the ISOI, at least 700 delegates from all over the country participated in the national conclave.

Among the distinguished personalities who attended the opening ceremony were Padambhushan Dr Anil Kohli, president, DCI, Dr SS Gill, vice-chancellor, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, and Dr Rama Rao, director, NIPER.

Dr PS Bath, organising secretary, ISOI, said Dr Bhagwant had been honoured with the prestigious award for his efforts to uplift the faculty of dentistry for almost four decades.

He had also been president of the All-India Dental Association and currently held the post of the vice-president of the Asia Pacific Dental Federation-cum-Asia Pacific Regional Organisation, which comprised 37 Asia Pacific countries.

Dr Bhagwant Singh was second Indian dental professional to be elected to this post and the only Indian to have be chosen for a second term.

Jagraon, December 16
Both groups at the Jagraon Bar today reached a sharing arrangement and unanimously elected the president, vice-president, secretary and two executive members for 2010 and 2011.

Earlier, the election to the 69-member Bar Association was scheduled on December 19. Nineteen candidates had filed their nominations, out of whom eight later withdrew their candidature.

Today, both groups reached consensus and the group represented by Santokh Singh Deol and Ashwani Kumar Atrey made way for the group represented by Mohinder Singh Sidhwan and Ashwani Bhardwaj to form their team for 2010, while retaining the team for 2011.

With this, Jyoti Saroop Sehgal has been declared president, Preetinder Singh Kushal vice-president, Vishal Sharma secretary, and Iqbal Singh Akalgarh and Sukhwinder Singh executive members for 2010.

Ludhiana, December 16
“I want to see animation in India grow as big as in Hollywood,” Paresh Parekh, casting director of ‘Rang de Basanti’ and ‘Mangal Pandey’, says.

The actor-turned-writer-turned-director is in town for a two-day workshop on acting, facial expressions, movie-making and post-production for students of FRAMEBOX Animation and Visual Effects, an institute at which he is also the creative director.

Paresh says the animation industry has immense scope for growth, with movies like ‘Roadside Romeo’ and ‘Hanuman’ being produced here, adding that his favourite animation films are ‘Shrek’ and ‘Lion King’.

For someone in the business of film-making, the most important thing is to have an understanding of all aspects of the process, be it acting, expressions, camera, script, visualisation, body language or production, he says.

“I realised this after my shift from acting to film-making in 2000,” says the director, who started his acting career in 1995.

He has done television serials like ‘Ek Mahal Ho Sapno Ka’, ‘Naya Daur’, ‘Aahat’ and ‘Swaraj’, besides plays.

He has over a decade of experience in dramatics, television and short-film-making. “The most challenging task is to work with veteran actors,” he says.

Paresh has had the opportunity to work with Naseeruddin Shah, Mita Vashisht, Ketan Mehta, Rajpal Yadav, Berry John and Satyadev Dubey.

He has mentored Neil Nitin Mukesh, Imran Khan, Minisha Lamba and Tulip Joshi, among others. He was also the script researcher for ‘Slumdog Millionaire’.

A postgraduate from the National School of Drama, Delhi, Paresh has also served as a professor at the Drama Academy of Mithibai College, Mumbai.

He has also won the best writer award from the Maharashtra government for the play ‘Clone’, which he has also directed.

“Next on the agenda is a film with FRAMEBOX, which I hope to start working on in 2010,” he adds. 

Ludhiana, December 16
Confusion and resentment prevailed among students and parents as all Punjab School Education Board affiliated schools across the state remained closed for the second consecutive day as a mark of protest by school authorities against the disaffiliation of 187 schools in the state by the board.

Students rued that that they were not informed by the school authorities about the reason behind the closure of schools.

“We got to know from newspaper reports that the schools will remain closed for two days. However, in the absence of any clear directions from school authorities, we did not know whether to send children to school or not,” said Dr Parul, mother of two students of a local school.

Anu Chawla, a class X student of another school, added that when contacted over the phone about the reason for closure, her class teacher asked her to enjoy the holidays and not probe too much into the “matters of elders”.

The lackadaisical attitude of the school authorities in the matter has also caused widespread resentment among parents who feel the association of the board-affiliated schools should adopt an approach that would not interfere with students’ interest.

“Educationists’ foremost concern should be that studies should not suffer at any cost. We are not against protest by various school authorities but they should make sure that students’ valuable time is not lost in their fight for justice,” said Asha Mehra, another parent.

The education board had withdrawn the affiliation of at least 187 affiliated school in the state for failing to provide affidavits of payment of salary to their staff, under the board’s rules governing affiliation.

In protest against the board, the Association of PSEB Affiliated Schools of Punjab had decided to close all 2,880 affiliated schools across the state on December 15 and 16.

All schools affIliated with the board in the city as well on its periphery remained close today.

Ludhiana, December 16
On the penultimate day of the CBSE National Basketball Championship (girls u-19) at the BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road branch, reigning champions Mont Fort Public School of Delhi besides Army Public School, Noida, scripted victories to advance into the semifinals.

Chettinand Public School of Chennai and Moti Lal Nehru Sports School, Sonepat, warded off stiff resistance from their respective opponents and made it to the last-four stage to complete the semifinal lineup.

In the first quarterfinal, holders Mont Fort Public School, Delhi, registered an easy 64-22 victory over Yugantar Public School, Rajnandgaon.

The major chunk of scoring for the winners came through A Chnmai and Maini Rai who contributed 30 and 21 points, respectively, while Anushree and Kalpna chipped in with 10 and 5 points for Rajnandgaon.

The second quarterfinal played between Chettinad Public School, Chennai, and I S Dev Samaj School, Chandigarh, turned out to be a keen tussle in which the former came out triumphant 76-55.

Shruti from Chennai played the pivot role with 38 points, while Adi supported her well with 14 points. Sushma and Manpreet with 30 and 14 points, respectively, fought valiantly for the losing team.

In a seesaw battle, Moti Lal Nehru Sports School, Sonepat, edged out hosts BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road branch, with a wafer-thin margin of one point (51-50).

The last quarterfinal was played between Army Public School, Noida, and Modern School, Kota, in which Noida girls got the better of Kota players 40-1.

Dhriti and Pritha accounted for 18 and seven points, respectively, for the winners, while Shiji Jacob and Diksha netted five and 4 points each for Kota.

In the boys matches played at BCM Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, Jindal School, Dwarka, along with PML SD School, Chandigarh, Police DAV School, Amritsar, and Spring Dale School, Amritsar, recorded victories in quarterfinals to advance into the semifinals.

Jindal Public School beat Budha Dal Public School, Patiala, 82-73; PML SD School beat Gyan Ganga Academy, Bhopal, 75-68; Police DAV School beat Giri Deepam Central School, Kottayam, 67-37; and Spring Dale School beat Army School, Bhatinda, 54-26 to secure berths in semifinals.

Mandi Gobindgarh, December 16
The second day of the CBSE National Volleyball Tournament at the Gobindgarh Public School grounds saw stiff competition between teams. In the girls’ section, outstanding performances were seen from SGGS Collegiate Public School, Chandigarh, St Joseph’s Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhopal, St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Jaipur, while in the boys’ section, RS Public School, Karnal, SN Vidya Bhavan Senior Secondary School, Trissur, Green Field Public School, Ghaziabad, won their respective matches.

Results: Girls: St Francis De Sales School, New Delhi, beat Bokaro Ispat Vidyalaya, Bokaro, 2-0; DAV Public School, Vishakapatnam, beat New Way Senior Secondary School, Aliganj, Lucknow, 2-0; Modern School, Noida, beat Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Chennai, 2-1; Shah Satnam Ji Girls School, Sirsa, beat Dundlod Public School, Dundlod, 2-0; SGGS Collegiate Public School, Chandigarh, beat Mount Carmel School, New Delhi, 2-1, St Joseph’s Convent Senior Secondary School, Bhopal, beat DAV Public School, Ludhiana, 2-0; Sant Isher Singh Ji Memorial Public School, Rara Sahib, beat Modern Vidya Niketan Public School, Fridabad, 2-0; St Xavier’s Senior Secondary School, Jaipur, beat New Way Senior Secondary School, Lucknow, 2-0; Thakur Dass Senior Secondary School, Hisar, beat Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, Chennai, 2-0; Shah Satnam Ji Girls School, Sirsa, beat Delhi Public School, Bokaro, 2-0; Green Ways School, Rurki Heeran, Ropar, beat Bokaro Ispat Vidyalaya, Bokaro, 2-0; Mount Carmel School, Anand Niketan, New Delhi, beat Delhi Public School, Chirang, 2-0; and Apeejay School, Navi Mumbai, beat Dav Public School Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Ludhiana, 2-0.

Boys: RS Public School, Karnal, beat St. Atulanand Residential Academy, Holapur, Varanasi, 2-0; Mira Model School, Janakpuri, New Delhi, beat Dayawati Modi Academy, Varanasi, 2-1, Monfort Senior Secondary School (CBSE), Nagpur, beat New Indian Model School, Dubai, 2-0, Brahmanand Public School, Karnal, beat Sainik School, Jharkhand, 2-0; Army School, Akhnoor, Jammu, beat Sant Shri Asaram Ji Public School, Agra, 2-0; Dundlod Public School, Dundlod, beat Miles Bronson Residential School, Guwahati, 2-0; Shah Satnam Ji Boys School, Sirsa, beat GPS, Mandi Gobindgarh 2-0; RS Public School, Karnal, beat St John’s Higher Secondary School, Andhra Pradesh, 2-0; SN Vidya Bhavan Senior Secondary School, Trissur, beat Mira Model School, New Delhi, 2-0; Green Field Public School, Ghaziabad, beat Monfort Senior Secondary School (CBSE), Nagpur, 2-0; Brahmanand Public School, Karnal, beat Guru Nanak Mission Public School, Paonta Sahib, 2-0; Ram Ratna Vidya Mandir, Thane, beat Army School, J&K, 2-0; Sharada Vidyalaya, Mangalore, beat Miles Bronson Residential School, Guwahati, 2-0; Shah Satnam Ji Boys School, Sirsa, beat Bal Bhavan Public School, Delhi, 2-0; Pooja Modern Public School, Haryana, beat DAV Public School, Ludhiana, 2-0; St Atulanand Residential Academy, Varanasi, beat St John’s Higher Secondary School, Andhra Pradesh, 2-0; and Indian Islahi Islamic School, Abu Dhabi, beat Dayawati Modi Academy, Varanasi, 2-1.

Ludhiana, December 16
Ludhiana will again be the venue of the senior national basketball championship for men and women.

This sports extravaganza will be organised by the Punjab Basketball Association here at Guru Nanak Stadium from December 27 to January 3.

Giving this information, association honorary general secretary Teja Singh Dhaliwal said the city would host the championship for the seventh time.

The inaugural edition of the championship was held here in 1951 when Punjab (men) emerged champions, overcoming Mysore.

The city again played host in 1982, 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2005 and it was after a gap of four years that the mega event was returning to the city.

“Nearly fifty outfits in the men's as well as women's sections would be seen in action during this championship. Over 1,200 cagers, including officials, technicians and coaches, would be in the city for around 125 matches that would be played at four grounds,” said Dhaliwal.

Various committees would be formed for the smooth conduct of the event and board and lodging arrangements for the players as well as visiting officials would be made at different hostles in the city colleges and the Punjab Agricultural University campus, he added.