Ludhiana, January 14
City residents visiting the mini secretariat here early this morning in order to get their work done fast were a harassed lot after they found officials absent in their offices. The administration offices wore a deserted look, with deputy commissioner Vikas Garg and most SDMs not to be seen on their seats.

A female clerk who was sitting in one of the offices at the secretariat said the entire administrative staff had gone to attend an ‘akhand path’ (Sikh ceremony) organised by one of the staff members of the district administration.

Even as people who had come to the mini secretariat were left in the lurch, some staff members said the ‘babus’ (officials) were attending the ceremony, ‘‘What if we have taken an hour to attend a religious ceremony organised by the employees? Can we do that?’’ asked Garg angrily.

While the officials justified themselves there were several like Jaswant Jeerakh, a social activist, who along with other residents of Sunet village arrived at the DC’s office to hand over a memorandum to Garg had to wait for him for over two hours.

Said Jeerakh: “When we couldn’t catch sight of the DC we decided to hand over the memorandum to another official but even his office wore a deserted look. We asked a security guard and he told us all the administrative staff had gone to attend the ‘akhand path’ ceremony.”

Taking a jibe at the administrative machinery, a senior police official said, “Officials have perfected the art of sycophancy. If DC attends some function the entire administrative officials also mark their present in order to be in his good books.”

People who were sitting outside the DC’s office were fuming over the delay caused in get their work completed. Said one of them: “When the officials are in office then the file goes missing and when the files are found then the officials goes missing. Someone has rightly said if you intend to get your administrative work done then take the whole day off from work.”

Ludhiana, January 14
The decision to grant relaxation in the PAU rice variety 201 specifications may be further delayed as the union food ministry has referred the matter to the health ministry for analysis of the variety. The teams of the PFA authority (Prevention of Food Adulteration Act) of the ministry have arrived in Punjab and are collecting samples of the paddy variety from stores of rice millers since no paddy is standing in the fields.

There was hue and cry in October when the produce started arriving in the market due to the reported higher damage to the grain of this particular variety. Union agricultural minister Sharad Pawar then asked scientists of the ICAR to look into the issue.

The ICAR team, headed by Dr RT Patil, Director, CPHET, Ludhiana, had submitted a report in November, saying that the pin-head black-tip was not due to any fungus, but might be due to the higher content of iron.

The committee stated: “The data on pathological studies has proved that the blackening is not due to the fungal infestation as it was suspected. The grain is not susceptible to the aspergillus attack. Hence, looking at the health benefits of the high iron content of this variety, the slightly blackened grain, which does not lose its aesthetic appeal compared with white grain, can be considered as a good grain due to the extra health benefits. Iron fortification is a priority health concern of the country and this variety can provide an easy solution to the problem.”

Dr Patil told The Tribune today that the ministry had sought further clarification from them after the submission of the report to Pawar. He maintained that the damage (discolouring of the grain) was there, but it was not harmful and was fit for consumption.

Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal had also met Pawar last week in Delhi and sought an early decision on the relaxation in the specification for procurement and acceptance by the FCI.

The rice millers had threatened to return the paddy stocks if there was no immediate decision regarding the relaxation in specifications. The FCI accepts damage to the grain from 3 to 4 per cent whereas in the 201 variety, the damage is high due to the blackening of the grain.

The rice millers and procuring agencies of the state have procured about 40 lakh tonnes of this variety. 

Ludhiana, January 14
Traders filing their quarterly VAT returns are ignorant about the requirement for the PAN card during e-filing, which has been made mandatory for all those who got their VAT number in April last.

However, the website of the department does not mention these changes, leaving traders unaware of the amendments made by the excise and taxation department.

Initially, only the VAT number was required for e-filing. Santokh Gualti, a trader, said since he was not in the city he had asked his accountant to file his return and it was only after meeting the advocate did he come to know that PAN also had to be mentioned in the return form.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 14
Uninhabited octroi booths, posts and cabins have been providing protection to hundreds of passersby and the homeless this winter.

A large number of posts on the outskirts of the town and localities nearby are being used in this manner, though three years have passed since an end to octroi in Punjab.

Unmindful of the consequences of sneaking into public buildings owned by civic bodies, a large number of nomadic families have taken shelter therein for the time being.

The users include nomads, vendors, hawkers, commuters and cops on night patrol. The verandahs of almost all posts have been reported to be occupied these days.

Though a majority of the posts are vacated during the day, some remain inhabited. Wheat and rice straw is spread on the floors of the verandahs as an insulator.

Mohinder Singh of Hathur village, who ferries rice husk and wheat straw in tractor-trolleys for an industrial unit, says the vacant octroi posts serve as suitable shelter for commuters and drivers from winds and the chill at night.

The main rooms of some posts have been occupied, though temporarily, by some nomadic families and vendors coming from other localities.

The civic body authorities, claiming ignorance about the practice, maintain that nobody will be allowed to stay in the posts permanently.

Ludhiana, January14
The long drawn, but inconclusive discussion of the Punjab Mini Bus Operators Association with the state government may end up in an agitation and the angry bus operators may opt to hold a protest on Republic Day.

Secretary general of the body Jasbinder Singh Grewal told The Tribune today that ever since the Lok Sabha elections, when the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal had accepted the pending demands of the mini bus operators and had assured implementation after the elections, the government had been giving a deaf ear to the problems being faced by the operators.

Even after a series of meetings with the government officials and reminding the top officials of the state transport department, no step has been initiated to mitigate the suffering of over 5,500 mini bus operators in Punjab.

"Our demand for increase in minimum fare from Rs 4 to Rs 5, extending period of special permit from one day to two or three days and extension of route length from 25 to 30 kilometres are hanging fire. The proposed government policy on need-based grant of route permits as against liberal policy, has not been materialised so far," Grewal said.

The biggest roadblock in the way of government policy for mini bus operations, which was to provide for 20 per cent routes to be handed over to the state transport organisations, he maintained, was the powerful lobby of transporters, claiming close proximity to certain senior leaders of the ruling party, who themselves owned massive fleet of buses.

A meeting of the state executive of the association, along with regional and district-level office-bearers and delegates is being convened at Chandigarh on January 21 to discuss the situation and chalk out next course of action, including a mass protest to seek justice, Grewal added.

Ludhiana, January 14
Shopkeepers, led by activists of the Niggar Mandi Shopkeepers Association, today burnt an effigy of the Australian government to lodge their protest against the incident of setting a gurdwara in Melbourne on fire and continued racial attacks against the Indian students.

Youth Akali Dal leader Harpreet Singh Raju Makkar, who led the protest, urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and the SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar to immediately take up the matter with the Australian government so as the culprits of sacrilege were brought to book.

“At the same time, the Australian government be asked to ensure adequate security and safety measures for the Indian students and members of the Sikh community to check recurrence of such attacks on Indians and Sikh shrines,” the protesters demanded.

Others present were Manjit Singh Saini, Parminder Singh, Gurpreet Singh Winkle, Devinder Singh Jyoti, Harwinder Singh Kochhar, Sarbjit Singh Shunty, Darshan Singh, Manjit Singh, Ajay Goyal, Vijay Kumar, Gurbaksh Singh, Paramjit Singh, Tarsem Singh, Harpreet Singh Baba and Harwinder Singh.

Ludhiana, January 14
With the voting for the annual elections of the District Bar Association (DBA) scheduled to be held tomorrow, the contesting candidates made all out efforts to woo the voters.

Late night parties were on a full swing from a week. Several contestants organised lunch parties and late night parties to please the voters. There seems to be an SMS war amongst the contestants. The legal fraternity made full usage of free SMS facility through Internet or by taking packages of SMS and by hiring the services of different operators for sending the same.

Young lawyers may influence the result of any contestant. In the last couple of years more than 600 lawyers had joined this profession and they were going to vote tomorrow.

During the campaign almost every candidate concentrated to ensure the maximum votes of young lawyers. The returning officer, Harpreet Singh Makkar, said the voting would start at 9 am and would continue till 4.30 pm without any lunch break.

Ludhiana, January 14
Two cops posted in Nakodar and Jalandhar, respectively, have resigned from their posts, giving a major setback to the Punjab government’s initiative to promote the cops working as sub-inspectors for the last 18 years.

Rajinder Singh and Kamaljit Singh, working as CID officers in Jalandhar and Nakodar, resigned from their posts and raised serious allegations of nepotism against the state government in the promotion process.

They alleged that they were recruited in 1989 and had devoted 20 years of their service, working on a same post.

While the government was offering them a post of inspector, on the other hand a sizeable number of cops who had joined much after them had been excelled to the ranks of the DSP.

Ludhiana, January 14
The department of paediatric surgery at the Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) here has recently won the best poster award at an international conference for its recent research-based findings on foreign body aspirations.

Dr William Bhatti, head of paediatric surgery at the hospital, says they remove foreign bodies from respiratory tracts, even of children.

Organic foreign bodies such as peanut seeds and vegetable matter are responsible for most causes of foreign body aspiration.

Incidents of aspiration of inorganic foreign bodies like metallic pins, whistles and batteries, and even toys, are not rare.

In 90 per cent of the patients, the history of choking is helpful in diagnosis of foreign body aspiration.

Dr Dhruv Ghosh, associate professor, observes that respiratory tract infection not responding to medical treatment may also be due to an undiagnosed foreign body and the definite way of foreign body removal is through a rigid bronchoscope.

Obstruction of the respiratory tract due to foreign body aspiration is a common problem in children less than six years of age.

It can result in a spectrum of presentations, from minimal symptoms often unobserved to respiratory failure and death.

Children in this age group are affected because their activity increases and it is difficult for parents to observe them.

Driven by their curiosity to know their surroundings and their level of interaction increases the incidences of foreign body aspiration.

The diagnosis is missed initially, especially in children where history may be vague and parents cannot explain events properly, the doctor observes.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 14
Humanity is the best religion and social and political leaders should refrain from exploiting religious sentiments of innocent members of particular communities for harnessing meager gains.

This was stated by Sukh Dhaliwal, Canadian Federal Parliament member from British Columbia, during an inaugural function of Dehliz Foundation, an NGO formed by an NRI family of the area on Wednesday.

"If I am successful in following teachings of Guru Nanak Dev and other nine gurus in my practical life, I should be called a true Sikh. Otherwise, definitions being advocated by leaders according to their own convenience will confine activities of members of all religions to a limited circle," said Dhaliwal, when asked about lifestyle of Sikhs living abroad.

Appreciating the initiative taken by Davinder Singh Garcha to establish the Dehliz Foundation for helping the poor and downtrodden, Dhaliwal maintained that all citizens of a nation had a right to quality education, health services and social equality. Dhaliwal said more prosperous families should contribute towards sharing social responsibility of providing basic amenities to all.

IAS GK Singh, and Prof Amarjit Singh Sidhu, director of Guru Har Krishan Educational Trust, Harjinder Singh Nathumajra, Mohinder Singh Pardhan MLA Raekot, MLA Avtar Singh and Amrik Singh, former legislator, were prominent among others who addressed the function.

Ludhiana, January 14
Farmers can increase their income many times by adding value through processing of food, said Dr RT Patil, director, Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), during the inaugural function of training on ‘Post-harvest technology for rural catchments’ for 20 farmers from Lakhisarai district, Bihar, sponsored by the Agricultural Technology Management Association (ATMA).

The five-day training programme would cover subjects of grading and milling of grains, milling technology for pulses and oilseeds, preparation of snacks food, processing of onion, ginger, garlic, groundnut, soyabean and beetroot, technology for making green chilli powder and storage and processing of other crops.

Dr Patil said a person could earn more from same crop by processing of food. He said the same food was sold in the market at higher prices after adding value through processing.

“Farmers should sell products instead of produce,” he said. CIPHET’s head of transfer of technology Dr KK Singh said the training aimed to enhance knowledge of farmers.

Farmers shared their views regarding the areas they wanted to improve in. Most of them showed interest in knowing more about cereal processing, cattle feed processing plant and fruit and vegetable storage.

They were given a presentation regarding various works undertaken by the institute since its inception. Dr Sangeeta Chopra, senior scientist, coordinated the talk.

Ludhiana, January 14
Punjab Agricultural University will organise a national meet of tractor and agricultural machinery manufacturers in collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Department of Agriculture and Cooperation (DOAC), Ministry of Agriculture, Government of India, and Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) from January 16-17 on its campus.

The meet will be inaugurated by the PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang.

Dean, College of Agricultural Engineering and Technology (CoAET) Dr PK Gupta said manufacturers of tractors, power tiller, combine harvester and engineers, scientists and researchers from state agricultural universities, ICAR Institutes, officials from government and semi-government organisations, banks and farmers would participate in the event.

Dr Gupta added that products of more than 50 brands of tractors and other farm machines would be on display.

Ludhiana, January 14
A team of 24 French farmers, including 10 farm women visited Punjab Agricultural University today.

The additional director of communication Dr Jagtar Singh Dhiman explained them about the university and Punjab agriculture.

The team members were shown the demonstration plots of wheat, PAU Apiary House, Museum of Social History of Punjab and the Centre for Communication and International Linkages.

The members interacted with Dr Indu Sharma, Dr Navtej Bains and Dr Damanjit Kaur on diseases, new varieties and problems in wheat, etc.

The French farmers were keen to know about the green revolution that made India self-sufficient in food production.

Experts highlighted various priority areas in wheat research. Some farmers showed keen interest in the varieties of barley and triticales that were explained by Dr Bains.

Ludhiana, January 14
The Principal Promotion Front, Punjab, has taken a serious note of the wrong propaganda by certain lecturers belonging to a particular category for their vested interests.

A meeting in this regard was held here under the chairmanship of Sarabjit Singh Toor, president of the front. The president said seniority of lecturers was prepared as per the directions of Supreme Court and High Court and was in accordance with the directions of personnel department, Punjab, and seniority rules issued by the Punjab government.

It was also clarified by the department through a public notice, appeared in various sections of media, on February 12, 2009.

The government had proposed to promote 500 male and 500 female lecturers, out of which only 43 male and 33 female lecturers belonging to the SC category would be promoted. Besides, 14 per cent male and female SC lecturers (49 from each segment) would be promoted, Toor added.

"A total of 174 lecturers, belonging to the SC category, would get promotions whereas the issue of seniority is still pending with the Punjab and Haryana High Court. We should have patience till the court orders", he said.

Jagraon, January 14
The Sidhwan Bet police has booked six persons, including a woman, for abducting two minor sisters. The girls were abducted on the evening of January 5.

Balkar Singh of Rampur Bhundri village, near Sidhwan Bet, lodged a missing report of the girls. Later, he came to know that his daughters Baljit Kaur (16) and Sukhbir Kaur (13) (both names changed) were abducted by Gurpreet Singh of Khera Bet village and Aman Kumar of Bhawanipur village, near Garh Shankar, in Hoshiarpur district, with the help of their friends Jagga Singh, Hakam Singh, Goldy of Khera Bet village and Narinder Kaur of Aliwal village.

Jasbir Singh, inquiry officer of the case and in charge of Bhundri police post, said all accused, except the woman, were employed by a sand contractor.

Sources revealed that the house of the complainant was situated near the spot where the accused used to work. Gurpreet Singh and Aman Kumar reportedly developed a relationship with the girls who eloped with them when the former lured the girls of marrying them.

However, a case against the accused has been registered under Sections 363, 366A and 120B of the IPC. No arrest has been made.

Ludhiana, January 14
The Lohri celebration turned sour for residents of New Janakpuri in the Salem Tabri area when two drunkard miscreants created ruckus and misbehaved with women of the locality, late last night.

The incident took place around 10 pm when residents of the locality were gathered around a bonfire and were celebrating Lohri.

Sunil Kumar, a resident of New Janakpuri, alleged that two youths, identified as Shelly Sandhu and Pankaj, who were reportedly drunk, started making nasty comments at the women.

The incident infuriated the locality residents which resulted in a scuffle.

In the meantime, the miscreants called their accomplices at the spot. Sunil said the youths were heavily armed and a few were even carrying firearms. They fired in the air which led to commotion and residents ran for shelter. After few minutes, the residents regrouped and called the police. While other assailants managed to flee the spot, Shelly and Pankaj were nabbed.

The police had detained them for questioning while no case was registered so far. It is learnt that the residents were mounting pressure on the police to take a strict action against the miscreants so that such incident should not be repeated in future.

The two youths who were nabbed by the police were also residents the same locality.

Ludhiana, January 14
Rajan Sharma, a trainee of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy and Jasdeep Kaur of Ludhiana have been named captains of the Punjab boys and girls teams, respectively, for the forthcoming 60th Junior National Basketball Championship to be held from January 17 to 24 at Indore.

The players were given a send-off at the Guru Nanak Stadium, here today.

Teja Singh Dhaliwal, honorary general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association, along with Vijay Chopra, vice-president of the Ludhiana District Basketball Association and coaches were present.

The names of the players: Jasdeep Kaur, Deepali, Indu and Sandhya of Ludhiana; Jagroop Kaur, Mamta and Manmeet Kaur of Amritsar; Amanpreet Kaur and Kulwinder Kaur of Gurdaspur; Gauri of Kapurthala, Harpreet Kaur and Kajal of Jalandhar. Harjinder Singh will accompany the team as coach.

Boys: Rajan Sharma, Amritpal, Jaskaran, Kamalpreet Singh, Sandeep Singh, Amanjot Singh, Parminder Singh and Jimmy Joy of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy; Guriqbal Singh of Jalandhar; Akash Gill of Ludhiana; Vikram Jot Singh of Bathinda; Shahdadab of Rail Coach Factory, Kapurthala. Standby- Sunil Bajaj of Ferozepur. Dr S Subramanian has been appointed coach of the squad.