Ludhiana, April 17
Major fire broke out in one of the main transformers of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) near the Chand Cinema here this afternoon. Though no loss of life has been reported but panic gripped among the residents as thick fumes spread over the entire area for more than two hours. Officials and good number of workers from the Fire Department and the PSEB immediately rushed to the spot to take stock of the situation. More than four fire tenders were sent to control the fire. The fire was still razing till the filing of this report. The department officials maintained that it would take at least 4-5 hours to douse the fire.

Being one of the major transformers worth several crore, it (20 MV) supplied electricity to 1/4th of the interior areas of the city like Bhadaur House, Deepak Cinema road, Chand Cinema road, Chaura Bazaar, Chavni Mohalla, Ghanta Ghar and Naulakha Cinema road etc.

Chief fire officer Kartar Singh said efforts were on to save other adjoining transformers that were installed at a distance of less than 4 meters. “As water can not be used for such fire incidents, foam is being used in heavy quantity. It will take another 4-5 hours to douse the fire,” said Kartar Singh adding that fire could not be controlled till the last drop of fuel in the transformer.

Panic gripped among residents and nearby shopkeepers. Many a commuters were seen taking alternative routes to reach to their destinations. Rajinder Kumar, an eyewitness said, “I was passing through the road when I saw the black smoke coming out from near Chand Cinema. Within no time, the flames reached to heights. It was very frightening as for 10 minutes, we were not able to understand what exactly had happened”. 

Ludhiana, April 17
Even as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) were heaving a sign of relief after the two-day strike passed off peacefully with no snag in the power supply, a major fire at one of the four 20MV transformers at the 66 KV sub-station at Old G.T. Road late this afternoon caused a major disruption in supply affecting nearly 15,000 people in many localities in the old city and parts of the Civil Lines area.

As the fury of fire was continuing till the filing of this report, and the fire fighters were still at work to douse the flames, the three other transformers, adjacent to the one that had caught fire, were also switched off to enable the firemen carry out their task without running the risk of electrocution.

Chief Engineer, PSEB Central Zone, PS Gill, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari and DCP Pramod Ban along with other senior officials rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation while also supervising the fire fighting operations.

According to senior PSEB officials, it will take several hours that too, after the fire could be brought completely under control, to restore the power supply to the affected areas. “We will switch on the remaining three transformers of 20 MV each, one by one, and later the load of the damaged transformer will be shifted on other transformers,” the officials added.

With the complete shutting down of the 66 KV sub-station during this period, power supply to nearly 24 feeders remained disrupted. “The restoration of power supply to all the areas fed from this sub-station could take anything from four to 10 hours after the situation stabilises. The burnt down transformer will have to be replaced at an estimated cost of more than Rs 2 crore,” a senior PSEB official added. 

Ludhiana, April 17
With the dry run of the Delhi-Ludhiana-Delhi flight of Alliance Air having been carried out successfully at Sahnewal Airport today, decks have been cleared for regular flights on this sector, which is expected to commence from the second week of May.

The 48-seater aircraft ATR took 65 minutes after take off from Delhi and made a perfect landing at Sahnewal at 11.40 am. Its return flight, scheduled at 12.10 pm was delayed by a few minutes due to the delay in clearance from the Air Traffic Controller.

R Dasgupta, Deputy Chief of Maintenance, Air India, who was on board, said the test flight was absolutely smooth. On commencement of regular flights on this route, he said a report would be submitted to the CMD of Air India, who was the competent authority to take decision in this regard.

Maintenance engineer Amit Kumar, who was accompanying the Alliance Air team, disclosed that based on various factors, the regular flight from Delhi to Ludhiana and back, had been recommended to be run between 11 am and 1.30 pm when the visibility is maximum and weather conditions are good. Among other crew members of the aircraft were pilots-Capt Mangla and Capt Sanjay Gupta and engineer Chandna Devi.

An official of Alliance Air, domestic arm of the national carrier Air India, said the airfare for the Ludhiana-Delhi flight was yet to be decided and booking of tickets would commence only after the regular schedule of the flight was drawn up and fare finalised.

Even as Congress MP Manish Tewari had been vigorously pursuing the issue of Ludhiana-Delhi flight with the Air India management, none of the Congress functionaries were present at the airport when the aircraft landed here.

However, quite a few senior leaders of the SAD were present and offered a “siropa” to the airline officials. The Akali leaders had also brought a cake to celebrate the arrival of the test flight but the members of the crew and accompanying officials politely turned down the request to cut the cake.

Ludhiana, April 17
Blinded by love, a young man not only killed his friend brutally but also, landed another one behind bars, besides himself falling in the police net.

Kewal Krishan, in his mid 20s, was arrested here late last evening along with his friend Subeer Chand, also in his mid 20s, for killing Yahspal (40), a resident of Bhargo Camp, Jalandhar.

While Kewal Krishan is a resident of Bhargo Camp, Jalandhar, Subeer Chand is a resident of Jammu. The duo was arrested from near Laddowal last evening.

They had killed Yahspal, alias Pappu, on March 28. Giving details, ACP Narinder Pal Singh Ruby said Kewal Krishan allegedly had illicit relations with the deceased’ wife, which strained their relations.

On March 28, Kewal Krishan and his friend Subeer Chand asked Yashpal to accompany them to the banks of Satluj at Ludhiana. Yashpal also knew Subeer Chand. The trio had drinks on the banks of the river.

The ACP added that Kewal Krishan and Subeer gave intoxicant-laced liquor to Yashpal. When he fell unconscious, the duo took him to Daljeet Singh’s fields in Laddowal and beheaded him. Leaving the body behind, the duo them took the deceased’s head and threw it from Chehru Bridge on their way back to Jalandhar. They also burnt Yashpal’s clothes.

Following the sudden disappearance of Yashpal, his wife had lodged a missing complaint with the Jalandhar police. While the headless body was recovered on March 28 from Daljeet Singh’s fields, the deceased was identified about two days ago with the help of identification marks on the body. The deceased’s head, however, is yet to be recovered.

Yashpal was a waiter while both accused were engaged in honey extraction. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered against the accused.

Ludhiana, April 17
The blood bank at Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital got a new blood component separator on Friday. The machine that costs Rs 25 lakh has been contributed by Rotary Club, Ludhiana. Chairman Improvement Trust Ashok Juneja inaugurated the blood components preparation unit at the hospital.

Raikot, April 17
A child reportedly got drowned in a pond at Jalaldiwal village near here yesterday evening. The pond was renovated and its depth increased by 9-foot under the NREGA scheme by the panchayat.

The accident took place when Navdeep Singh (11) along with other friends was playing on a school premises adjoining the pond. The panchayat had neither raised any boundary nor wired the pond for the villagers’ security.

While playing, they got attracted by the ducks swimming in the pond. They stated playing, pelting pebbles and chasing them around the pond. A few of also tried to catch the duck. Unaware of the lurking danger Navdeep Singh went closer to the pond, slipped and got drowned.

His friends raised an alarm and ran towards the house to inform his family members. The villagers reached the spot but could not save him from drowning. His body was fished out of the pond late in the evening. He was, however, taken to a local hospital where the doctors declared him bought dead.

Navdeep Sigh was studying in Class V of Government Primary School.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 17
The Dehlon police has started a probe into the incident in which the principal and a senior lecturer of Government Senior Secondary School, Kalakh, had assaulted and threatened each other during the duty hours.

Hari Kumar Mayar, principal of the school, alleged that Pyara Singh, a senior lecturer, and former in charge of the institute, had assaulted him, when he was directing his clerk to prepare the salary bill of the school staff this morning.

On the other hand, Pyara Singh claimed that the complainant had attacked him first and he had acted in defence.

In a complaint lodged with the Dehlon police, Mayar alleged that Pyara Singh was found talking on a mobile phone while teaching students.

“Observing that clerical staff of the school was getting disturbed by the presence of other members, I had asked the peon to remove extra chairs from the office. On this, Pyara Singh started abusing me and tried to strangulate me,” said Mayar, maintaining that he had lodged a complaint with the police after holding a meeting with the staff.

Staff of the school also demanded stern action against the lecturer, Mayar added.

Dehlon SHO Satinder Pal Singh said a formal report would be registered after verification of allegations and counter allegations.

Village sarpanch said, “Such incidents leave a bad impression on students, therefore, the matter should be solved at the earliest and the guilty should be dealt with strictly.” 

Ludhiana, April 17
A meeting of the Machine Tool Cluster was held here under the presidentship of Kirpal Singh Sagar.The cluster has taken out a state-level directory of its manufacturers.

The directory will be distributed among major corporate houses in the country and chambers of commerce of various countries through their embassies/missions.

Kirpal Singh said their aim was not only to provide benefits to the members, but also to all machine tool manufacturers in the region. He said the association would continue to promote the interests of machine tool manufacturers in future also.

Vishav Bandhu, general manager, District Industries Centre, was the chief guest on the occasion. He paid the first instalment of subsidy released by the Ministry of MSME.

He added that the association would provide its support and cooperation for the industrial development in Punjab.

Mandi Gobindgarh, April 17
The Society of Civil Engineering Students and department of civil engineering RIMT-IET, Mandi Gobindgarh, organised “knowledge sharing”, including technical paper presentation and quiz competition here yesterday.

Dr VS Batra said: “Classroom teaching is not enough, students must have a platform to discus emerging trends in general and in civil engineering in particular. He laid emphasis on various objectives of civil engineering society which include knowledge sharing, technical paper presentation and lectures from experts. Karan Babbar, Gurpreet Kaur and Ravinder Sandhu spoke on “challenges and issues in transport sector”. They said the major issues of transportation today were environmental pollution, accidents, poorly served rural areas, lack of proper roads, over loading, strengthening of pavements, etc.

Mohit Mantrao of sixth semester and Ajay Sharma of fourth semester civil engineering bagged first position in quiz competition.

Jagraon, April 17
Wheat spread over 65 acres, along with 11 acres of wheat straw, was gutted in fire at Dalla village, near here.A short-circuit in the overhead high tension electric wires is said to be the cause behind the raging inferno.

With losses running into lakhs, farmers are knocking on the doors of the government for compensation.

Yesterday’s fire caused a loss of Rs 20 lakh.

The farmers, who suffered the loss, included Prem Singh (8 acres), Nirmal Singh (6 acres), Bhola Singh, Mohan Singh and Amar Singh (5 acres each) and Harpreet Singh (3 acres), Darshan Singh (16 acres), Jeet Singh (7 acres) Prem Singh (5 acres) and Tehal Singh (1.5 acres each).

Besides, 12 acres of straw on land owned by Darshan Singh was gutted in fire.

As usual, there were no fire tenders available and farmers had to douse the flames on their own.

Some police officials from the Kaunke police post and Jagraon tehsildar reached the spot to take stock of the situation. They then sent reports to the higher authorities to ascertain the exact losses.

On April 15, in a similar fire, 47 acres of wheat was gutted in fire, besides 8 acres of straw at Salempur village near Humbran and 28 acres of wheat crop, along with 5 acres of wheat straw, was destroyed at Gidderwindi village near Sidhwan Bet.

On April 9, fire destructed 20 acres of standing crop and straw at Kailpur village near Mullanpur Dakha. 

Ludhiana, April 17
The decision of the Punjab government to disband the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and replace it with two fully owned government companies has evoked sharp criticism from different quarters.

A meeting of the industrial workers held under the banner of the Center of Indian Trade Unions (CITU) here today observed that the government had bowed down to the powerful lobby of corporate who were advocating policies of privatization and the so-called economic reforms.

Hanuman Prasad Dube, president, and Jatinder Pal Singh, vice-president of the CITU, Punjab, said the unbundling would promote outsourcing and contract system, thereby hitting the interests of the employees. “The power situation in the state is dismal and all categories of consumers, especially the industry and farmers are facing grave crisis due to the prolonged power cuts. The unbundling of the board at this juncture might further compound the situation and create more problems for the people.”

Asserting that there is more to it than meets the eye behind the unbundling move of the state government, the SAD (A) (Panch Pardhani) felt that this was, perhaps, another step forward toward handing over the state electricity board to the private sector.

In a statement, Amrik Singh Issru, general secretary, and Sultan Singh Sodhi, district president of the party, blamed the state government for putting the PSEB in a big financial mess, and then strangulating the institution. The Central government had also given a step motherly treatment to Punjab as far as power generation projects and sharing the burden of subsidised power supply to the farm sector were concerned.

The SAD leaders were of the view that even post unbundling there was not much scope for the improvement in the power sector. The now defunct PSEB has a debt burden almost equal to its total assets. If the companies replacing the board need to bring about reforms, these will have to borrow heavily, which could further lead to jacking up power tariff and slashing of subsidies. 

Ludhiana, April 17
The College of Basic Sciences & Humanities, PAU, has started a five-year Integrated MSc (honours) programmes in microbiology, biochemistry, botany and zoology disciplines.

Dr RS Sidhu, dean of the college, said the students under these programmes could also opt for BSc degree after completing three years. The 10+2 pass outs from medical/non-medical streams with 50 per cent or more marks are eligible. Dr Sidhu informed that the admission would be based on entrance test to be conducted by the PAU on June 18. The last date for receipt of application form is May 12 (without late fee) and May 19 with late fee. The details and application form, along with prospectus for 2010-11 are available at Centre for Communication and International Linkages.

Phillaur, April 17
A few unidentified armed robbers entered into a Punjab State Warehousing Corporation’s godown at Bachhewal village in this subdivision and decamped with a truck (PB-08Q-9411) loaded with 250 bags of wheat. In the processes they attacked and killed watchman Kishan Chand (55) and wounded two other watchmen Gurmit Singh and Vidhya Ram.

DSP Kamaljit Singh Dhillon said yesterday that the robbers tied the injured watchmen and locked three others Ram Pukar, Parmod and Rajesh Kumar, who were sleeping in a room before fleeing.

The DSP said the robbers first attacked Kishan Chand, a resident of Gheen village in Kangra district, who died on the spot. They, then, locked the room where three others were sleeping, from outside. After this, they entered in the godown. Two watchmen tried to stop them but the robbers attacked and wounded them and drove away with the truck loaded with 250 wheat bags.

The injured were admitted to a local civil hospital. A case has been registered against the robbers under Section 360 of the IPC. 

Ludhiana, April 17
In order to speed up the process of reducing heavy pendency of more than 30,000 cheque bounce cases in local courts, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has setup four special courts in the city.

These courts will only try the cheque bounce cases. According to sources, 7,500 cases have been entrusted to each court headed by Judicial Magistrates Yukti Goyal, Rajvinder Singh, Vipindeep Kaur and Deepti Gupta.

Talking to The Tribune, the Sessions Judge SP Bangarh said these special courts would be helpful for the litigants in getting speedy justice. Pending cheque bounce cases constitutes around one third pendency of total cases pending in all courts.

The pending civil, criminal or other cases have been withdrawn from these courts. The said cases have been entrusted to other courts of similar jurisdiction, said Sessions Judge.

He said, in future, all new cheque bounce cases would be directly filed in these courts. The cases pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Police Station Division No: 6, 7, Sarabha Nagar, PAU, Focal Point, Moti Nagar, Daba and Jamalpur police stations would be filed directly in the court of Judicial Magistrate Yukti Goyal.

Whereas, the court of Judicial Magistrate Rajvinder Singh will directly entertain the new cheque bounce pertaining to the jurisdiction of the Police Stations Division No: 5, 6, Salem Tabri, Laddowal, Haibowal and Payal.

The new cases pertaining to the jurisdiction of Police Stations Division No: 3, 4, Shimla Puri, Daresi, Basti Jodhewal, Koomkalan, Sahnewal and Meharban will be directly filed in the court of Judicial Magistrate Vipindeep Kaur.

The new cheque bounce cases relating to the jurisdiction of Police Stations Division No: 1, 2, Model Town, Dugri, Sadar Ludhiana, Dakha, Hambran, Dehlon and NRI would be entertained by the court of Judicial Magistrate Deepti Gupta.

Earlier, the cheque bounce cases were filed directly in the court of concerned Illaqua Magistrates.

Ludhiana, April 17
On the basis of first innings lead of 61 runs, Ropar beat Ludhiana in the second match of the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (U-16) for the ML Markan Trophy, which concluded at MGM Public School, Dugri, here today.

Ropar won the toss and decided to bat first. They could not survive for total 90 overs, as their essay culminated at 319 runs in 76.1 overs.

Harpreet Singh was the main contributor, who went on to hit a century (120), including four sixes and five hits to the fence. Akashdeep Singh and Jaydeep, too, played well as they contributed 49 runs each, while Kanwalpreet chipped in with 21 runs.

For the hosts, Shubhankar was the main wicket taker who claimed five wickets for 56 runs off 14 overs runs, while Mankaran, Sandeep Singh and Nikhil Chowdhary scalped one victim each.

In reply, Ludhiana failed to cope up with the accurate bowling by Ropar, who restricted them to 258 runs all out in 89.2 overs.

The main scorers were Chirag Maria and Mankaran Singh, who made 69 and 62 runs, respectively, while Kanwalpreet of Ropar grabbed four wickets for 53 runs.

In the second innings, Ropar made 110 without losing any wicket when it was called 
a day. Jaydeep Singh and Harmanjeet Singh remained unconquered at 55 and 51 runs, respectively.

With this victory, Ropar secured two points to open their account. They had lost their first match against Chandigarh.

Now, Ludhiana will play their third match on April 19 and 20 against Chandigarh.