Ludhiana, May 3
Two youths manhandled a police official and damaged the official vehicle after they were stopped by the latter for reckless driving in the Dugri area last evening.

The incident took place in the evening when two Malerkotla-based youths identified as Mohammad Anwar and Mohammad Shakil along with their two relatives, including a woman, were heading from the Dugri area.

According to the police, the youths were travelling in a black Ford Fiesta car. They first hit a rickshaw puller and simultaneously hit a cycle following which the police chased their vehicle and forced the driver to stop the car.

The rickshaw puller sustained serious injury on his left leg and his rickshaw was badly damaged. The cyclist also sustained minor injuries.

Soon after alighting from the vehicle, the youths began arguing with the cops. They flaunted their political and police connection. They told the police official that they would get him suspended, as they were close relatives of a woman MLA and high-rank police official.

When the police official did not deter from their threats they started manhandling the on duty cops. Sub- Inspector Manjit Singh tired to intervene, but the youths roughed up with him as well and tossed his turban.In the meantime, infuriated commuters, who were chasing the vehicle after it hit the rickshaw puller reached the spot and damaged the vehicle of the youths. The youths retaliated and damaged the police vehicle.

Amidst confusion, the woman, who was travelling along with Mohammad Shakil and Mohammad Anwar, fled the scene with her accomplice. The youths were later taken to Dugri police station.

The accused were booked under Sections 279, 337,427,332,353,186, 506 of the IPC for reckless driving and manhandling a public servant on duty. Interestingly, they have been booked for cognizable offences.

Ludhiana, May 3
A security guard employed with a private security agency was stabbed to death by two armed motorists in the Shimlapuri area in the wee hours of today.

The incident took place at around 5 am when Subash Chander (40), a resident of Jujhar Nagar in Shimlapuri, was returning home on his bicycle after finishing his duty at an industrial unit in Moti Nagar.

According to the police, when he reached near Matharu Chowk, two men came on a motorbike and waylaid him. Before he could react, they took out a dagger and stabbed him to death before fleeing. The victim bled to death on the spot. His body was taken to the Civil Hospital for postmortem.

An eyewitness said the motorcycle did not bear a number plate.

ADCP-II Sushil Kumar said the police was probing the matter. “Personal enmity could be the reason behind the murder as the investigating team could not find any clue that could indicate that the murder was a fallout of a snatching incident,” he said.

Meanwhile, tragic scenes were witnessed at the house of the victim in Jujhar Nagar area. He is survived by his widow, a 10-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. Subash was the only breadwinner of the family.

Ludhiana, May 3
The prices of cotton yarn have come down by Rs 5 per kg. After a continuous hike in the prices of yarn over the past few months, the prices were reduced across the country.

Recently, textile unit owners met the union textile minister and were told to either cut the prices or the duty drawback incentive of 4 per cent for export on cotton yarn would be withdrawn.

Hike in the price of raw material, shortage of power, scarcity of cotton bales and anti-dumping duty levied on the acrylic yarn are the main reasons behind the constant increase in the yarn prices.

The decision to reduce the prices was taken to extend support to the downstream sectors (handloom and garments) of the textile industry.

In addition to the decrease in the prices, the textile industry is also extending its full support to the handloom sector by supplying adequate quantity of hank yarn.

“The government has already withdrawn the duty entitlement passbook (DEPB) benefit of 7.67 per cent, which would make Indian yarn very expensive in the global market and mills would lose customers,” said Jagdeep Singh, a yarn manufacturer.

The Indian spinning sector could achieve a 15 per cent share in the global yarn trade owing to the efforts made over decades. Any further negative steps against this sector like levying export duty on cotton yarn or any other control on cotton yarn exports would become counter productive. China, Pakistan, Thailand, Indonesia and Bangladesh would grab the opportunities, a
member of the Northern India Textile Mills Association remarked.

Ludhiana, May 3
Tension prevailed at Punjabi Bhawan last evening, the venue for the Punjabi Sahit Akademi elections, as supporters of the newly elected president and general secretary of the akademi took out weapons after exchanging heated words.

However, the timely intervention by the police brought the situation under control.

Gurbhajan Singh Gill, president, and Dr Sukhdev Singh Sirsa, general secretary, belong to different factions.

Having consumed liquor to celebrate the victory, some supporters of Dr Sukhdev Singh allegedly went overboard and took out their pistols during the altercation.

Apprehending commotion, the returning officer requested the police to be present at the venue.

The SHO of Division Number 5 police station said the rifle and pistol owned by the supporters of Dr Sirsa were taken into custody till they were present at the venue. Later, these were returned as these were licensed weapons.

Dr Anup Singh, Dr Labh Singh, Sushil Dosanj, Dr Joginder Nirala and Surinder Kailey were elected vice-presidents of the akademi. 

Ludhiana, May 3
The nine-member advertising reform committee being headed by Hakam Singh Gyaspura, the Mayor has failed to resolve the issue of removal of illegal unipoles/advertisements from the city. Despite holding several meetings, the committee members have failed to take decision till date. In yet another meeting organised here today, in absence of proper documents, the committee failed to discuss the issue in detail and members have been asked to meet tomorrow again.

The top municipal corporation officials are finding it hard to implement anything due to numerous simmering controversies in the “advertisement scam”. “We failed to take any decision so far. A committee was constituted about two-months ago. Now, it is for the committee members to direct us which unipoles are legal and which not. If the Mayor, who is heading the committee, directs us to remove such poles from the city, we will take quick action. But they are coming up with vague solutions, which lack clarity. The issue remains unresolved”, said the official adding that social organisations/activists always condemn the corporation for being “callous” in removing such illegal hoardings.

Sources added that the decision on erecting unipoles on bus shelters was still in doldrums. There were total 80 bus shelters in the city and the Greenline Company had put unipoles on about 20 shelters. Whereas at the time of bid, that took place in early 2009, the bus shelters were included in the bid. But the committee has still not decided whether remaining bus shelters were to be maintained or not. The latter reportedly has been demanding for the compensation. Due to various ongoing projects, companies have not been able to erect their unipoles/advertisements despite payments forwarded to them.

Due to the lack of coordination and concrete decisions, the influential people have been able to get away with the “illegal” advertisements. “We know that many of them have encroached upon the public land and now are advertising on their private buildings but we have failed to take any action. The committee has to act tough for curbing this unethical practice”, the official said.

Congress Councillor Amrit Varsha Rampal, however, said the Mayor should keep a deadline for report to be submitted through such committees. “In case within certain period, committee fails to come out with results, it should be resolved automatically. The decision on which the municipal functionaries feel reluctant to take, are passed on to such committees”, Rampal added. 

Ludhiana, May 3
The Powercom (erstwhile PSEB) administration of the Central zone, including Ludhiana, has gone overboard to streamline the power distribution network in the mega city during the past couple of months in the wake of expected spurt in the load during the peak summer season.

With something like 8 per cent of the total 9,594 transformers in the East and West circles of the city being overloaded from 90 to 100 per cent, power failure and load shedding used to have become a routine rather than an exception in most of the residential areas, adding to the misery of the people due to extended power cuts which range from four to seven hours daily.

“Things will be different during this summer season,” the Chief Engineer of the Central zone said today.

“There were a total 716 overloaded transformers in the city till the end of last financial year with 27 having been identified in the West circle alone in March. Out of these, 71 were overloaded less than 90 per cent, another 322 were 90 per cent or above while 323 others were found to be overloaded 100 per cent or above."

The chief engineer disclosed that in the course of a concerted drive to revamp the distribution network, about 314 transformers were reloaded during last year at a cost of Rs 249.75 lakh. In addition to this, LT lines and PVC cables have also been either replaced or strengthened in problematic areas to improve the quality of power supply.

"Our objective is to provide uninterrupted power supply to the city when the electricity is available. Power cuts are there to stay till such time when the huge gap between demand and availability could be bridged but we are doing our best to bring about improvement in the distribution network,” he maintained.

Commenting on the financial performance of the Central zone, Gill said the total revenue at the end of March had touched Rs 3,000 crores and the transmission/distribution losses had been cut down from 8.96 to 8.41 per cent, the lowest in the entire state, and perhaps in the country also.

Both operation and enforcement wing of Powercom, he added, had been vigorously carrying out campaigns against power theft, use of unauthorised load and consumption of power for purposes other than specified to plug the leakage of the revenue.

"Last ast year, the enforcement wing inspected 5,904 connections and detected 1,809 cases of theft or unauthorised load in the Central zone alone involving a revenue leakage of Rs 735.50 lakh. A penalty of Rs 395.28 lakh was slapped on the offenders. Similarly, the operation wing checked 1,27,750 connections of different categories of consumers during the year, detected 12,840 cases with a revenue leakage of Rs 1170.06 lakh which led to recovery of Rs 697.68 lakh," the Powercom chief engineer added. 

Ludhiana, May 3
Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) director-general Dr S Ayyappan has said research in post-harvest is critical for meeting food needs of the country and increasing income of farmers.

He was here at the Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology to chair a meeting on ”Post-harvest technology and value addition of agriculture produce: scenario, issues and strategy” here recently.

The aim was to identify critical gaps and formulate future strategy for research in post-harvest technology, including partnership among R&D institutions.

Inaugurating the session, Dr Ayyappan said a lot needed to done in post-harvest technology as processing in the country was very low as compared to international standard.

He said CIPHET, being the nodal institution, could play a fundamental role in this.

“India is housing around 18 per cent of world’s population, while it has around 9 per cent of agriculture land,” he said, adding that post-harvest losses stood around 20-30 per cent.

“If this is taken care of, food requirement of the country could be met for longer duration.”

Calling for collaborative approach between different institutions in post harvest, Dr Ayyappan said ICAR institutes needed to be competitive and should produce technologies of industrial standards.

Ludhiana, May 3
A stitch in time saves nine, but the MC does not seem to believe in it. It is watching silently as a sewer under the Domoria bridge continues to leak.

Water eats into bitumen and the movement of traffic takes away particles of gravel leading to the withering of the top layer of the road. Who would know more about it than MC engineers? But they turn a blind eye even as the road developed potholes in two days. Residents said the sewer started overflowing yesterday, but nobody had come to fix it.

The road was re-carpeted a few months ago and would have lasted for three years, but due to lack of follow-up by the MC and contractors, the road is being damaged. Surinder Singh, a shopkeeper, who crosses the bridge daily, said an MC office was near Mata Rani Chowk, which meant several officials and workers must be commuting on this road. “But they prefer to ignore everything. They spend crores on constructing roads but fail to maintain these. Had they acted timely, the damage could have been restricted,” Surinder Singh said.

Another shopkeeper said the problem of leaking sewer persisted for months. The authorities would make temporary arrangements, but the leakage had to be stopped permanently.

“Many commuters prefer the other lane of the bridge and it adds to traffic chaos. It takes 20-30 minutes to cross this small stretch of road. The problem gets aggravated due to the leaking sewer,” he complained.

Joint Commissioner MS Jaggi said the road would be damaged if the sewer leaked continuously. “I will ask officials in the sewerage department to look into the matter immediately. The leakage needs to be stopped,” he said.

Ludhiana, May 3
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ministry of Human Resource, has sanctioned a research project of Rs 25 lakh to the department of veterinary pharmacology and toxicology, GADVASU, Ludhiana.

Dr Suresh Kumar Sharma is the principal investigator and Dr S Rampal and Dr VK Dumka are co-investigators of the project. The project has been awarded to the department for its contribution in the field of pharmacokinetics.

The department has well-equipped laboratories and latest facilities to carry out such projects. Scientists of the department have also published a large number of research articles in international journals of repute.

The sanctioned project “Pharmacokinetics-pharmacodynamics integration and toxicological studies of fluoroquinolones and cephalosporins in buffalo species" will lay emphasis on the use of these anti-microbials in buffalo species.

The PK-PD modelling will be carried out in buffalo to design strategies for treatment of bacterial diseases and will help to prevent the emergence of bacterial resistance against these drugs. Toxicological investigations of these anti-microbials will lead to safe use of these drugs in buffaloes.

The expected outcome of the project will establish the guidelines for field veterinarians for appropriate dosage schedule of these drugs in buffalo species, which would minimise the losses incurred by farmers due to bacterial diseases.

Ludhiana, May 3
“Cotton Fab”, an exhibition, organised by the Rashtriya Sanskriti Samaj Avom Sabhayata at Welkom Palace is drawing large crowd.

Rajasthani block printed and Kota fabric from Rajasthan, Lucknow chicken and Banarsi fabric from Uttar Pradesh, Chanderi and bagh prints from Madhya Pradesh, Phulkari from Punjab, Bagalpur silk from Bihar are among the few things that are attracting people.

At least 200 weavers from across the country have put up their artifacts on display. One can choose from printed fabric, cotton, block printing, kantha work, chicken and silk.

One of the exhibitors from Nagaland is in the city with the collection of her dry and artificial flowers. “Beautiful dry flowers will give a new look to my room,” said Jasmeet while buying flowers from the stall.

In the home décor one can choose from kalamakari rugs, gudari, durries, curtain, bed sheets, cushions and table spreads. The much in demand for the summer season-kurties are available from Rs 150 onwards.

“Cotton Fab is the best place to buy summer stuff. While the shops in the city markets are selling the dress material at high prices, the same is available here at half the price,” said Puneeta, a visitor at the exhibition.

Ludhiana, May 3
Summers are back with a bang... and so are countless summer skin and hair woes! From skin ailments, including suntan, sunburn, dehydration and serious versions like blemishes, pimples and pigmentation to hair problems like dry hair, split ends, frizzy and brittle hair - the summer sun and humidity bring along numerous problems.

But you don't have to fret! Beat the heat this summer, maintaining your beauty and keeping your skin and hair soft, glowing and well nourished with expert tips.

Ludhiana Tribune talked to famous skin and hair expert Indra Ahluwalia of Grace Beauty Clinic to give you a detailed guide to proper beauty, skin and hair care regime during summers.

"Sunshine, heat, humidity affects your skin. Sunrays can result in wrinkles, early ageing, tanning, sunburns or even worse, skin cancer. Prolonged stay in heat or sun can lead to rashes and clogged pores but with proper care one can have a glowing skin even under severe weather conditions," says Ahluwalia.

The technology demonstration resulted in 61 per cent higher fish growth, 35 per cent higher fish yield and more tan Rs 18,000 higher income from the demonstration pond in comparison to the control or reference pond of the farmer. — TNS

Khanna, May 3
Four youth have been booked for killing a 24-year-old late last night. Mohit Sharma (24) was attacked by four youths, all in their late twenties, with iron rods and sticks.

He sustained head injuries and was rushed to a local civil hospital where he died.

In a complaint lodged with the police, Mohit’s uncle Ruldu Ram, said Mohit was standing in front of his house in Khukhrain Colony when a few attacked him.

Two of them caught hold of his arms and others beat him up with iron rods and sticks.

Police officials said a case had been registered in this connection and efforts were on to nab accused.

City SHO Parminder Singh said the motive behind attack was yet to be ascertained as the statement of the complainant’s family wasn’t clear.

He added that some of the statements were yet to be recorded by them and only then they would reach at some
conclusion.

The SHO said the deceased could have had an altercation or old rivalry with other boys who, too, were of the same age group as that of the deceased. Mohit was running a small mobile shop near his house. 

Mullanpur Dakha, May 3
The Dakha police has booked 4 persons of a family for cheating a girl of Rs 4 lakh by luring to send her abroad under study VISA.

Jaspreet Kaur of Dholan village near Jagraon has complained to the SSP, Ludhiana (rural), Harinder Singh Chahal, on April 23 that Gaurav of Guru Nanakpura Mohalla of Jalandhar in convenience with his sister Gurpreet Kaur, father Rakesh and the husband of his sister Dharminder Singh had lured her and had promised to send her to Cyprus on study visa. They cheated her of Rs 4 lakh. She said her father was not economically sound and had taken a loan from a private financier at a very high interest rate.

Jaspreet Kaur said she along with her friend Amarjit Kaur of Heran village near Jagraon had appeared for IELTS exam but did not fare well. Both of them secured a very low grade but Amarjit Kaur after contacting Gaurav managed to go to Cyprus on study visa.

She advise Jaspreet Kaur to contact them if she wanted to go to Cyprus. She paid Rs 4 lakh to Gaurav and his accomplices and submitted her passport to them.

She was also made to undergo a medical examination at Civil Hospital, Jalandhar, and a visa was stamped on her passport. She was given a ticket to Cyprus for the flight scheduled for December 2.

But a day prior to her flight on December 1 Gaurav called her over the phone and intimated her that her air ticket has been cancelled due to some unavoidable reasons and they would be arranging air tickets again soon.

Thereafter, Gaurav and his accomplices began avoiding her on the phone on one pretext or another and when her visa expired they even refused to refund the amount given to them by her and even threatened her of dire consequences in case she made an issue regarding the deal.

SSP Harinder Singh entrusted Krishan Dev, In charge EO wing, Jagraon, to enquire into the matter. His inquiry confirmed that the accused had cheated Jaspreet Kaur of Rs. 4 lakh. On the basis of the inquiry report and consultation with DA legal, Singh ordered an FIR to be registered against the accused. The Dakha police booked all four accused under Sections 406, 420, 467, 506 of the IPC. No arrest has been made so far.

Jagraon, May 3
The police recently booked a teacher at the local DAV College for allegedly raping a woman after promising to marry but deserting her later.

In her complaint lodged with the Jagraon SSP, the woman, a resident of Atam Nagar, accused Parminder Singh alias Mitha, who teaches Punjabi at the college, of raping her. She claimed the teacher had also “transferred” her property along with her financial assets in the name of his wife, Kulwant Kaur.

The complainant stated after seeking divorce from his wife, Parminder established a sexual relationship with her with a promise to marry her. She said he continued “exploiting her physically” during this time and she remained quiet believing he would keep his pledge to wed her. “During all these years Parminder got my assets including landed property, cash and ornaments transferred in the name of his wife, Kulwant Kaur. When I was rendered penniless he refused to marry me. Even after obtaining a divorce from his wife he continued the relationship with me just to cheat me”, the complainant stated.

The local police has booked both Parminder and Kulwant under various sections of the Indian Penal Code. However, no arrest has been made so far.

On the other hand, Parminder told the Ludhiana Tribune from an undisclosed location that the woman who had accused him of raping her were “just friends”.

“I don’t know anything about the cash and the gold the complainant is talking about. The property she claims to have been transferred in my wife's name was actually sold off by her”, he claimed.

Ludhiana, May 3
Having been at the receiving end from the traffic police and the state transport department for quite some time now for various irregularities and also causing massive air pollution in major cities of Punjab, including Ludhiana, thousands of auto-rickshaw drivers got a major relief after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to carry out a fresh survey on the level of air pollution caused by all public transport, including auto-rickshaws, using diesel as a fuel, in the state by the time the case comes up for hearing on July 19.

Claiming this here today, Om Parkash Jodhan and Madan Lal, both presidents of the district and city units of the auto-rickshaw union, who had filed a civil writ petition before the High Court, and had appeared in person at the hearing today, said nearly 15,000 auto-rickshaw drivers plying in the city with proper documents, permits, had heaved a sigh of relief at the High Court’s directions.

They said the auto-rickshaw operators were prepared to extend support the efforts of the administration and the judiciary to cut down the level of air pollution that had assumed alarming proportions, especially in the industrial capital of the state. “However, spending a hefty amount of around Rs 40,000 for conversion of a diesel-run auto-rickshaw to LPG is beyond the capacity of numerous operators, who are the sole bread winners of their families.”

The functionaries of the union said the state government ought to come to the rescue of poor auto-rickshaw drivers by arranging bank loans for them on soft terms for conversion of diesel autos to LPG as was being sought to curb the high level of air pollution.

Meanwhile, Kulbir Singh Khalsa, president, district auto-rickshaw workers’ federation, has also hailed the relief provided to the auto-rickshaw operators by the Punjab and Haryana High Court by the pollution board to conduct a fresh survey. 

Ludhiana, May 3
Ludhiana failed to capitalise on fine batting contributions by Tarun Passi (74 n.o) and Bharat Malhotra (76) as Chandigarh came out triumphant on the basis of first innings lead of 87 runs in the Punjab State Inter-District Senior Cricket Championship for Katoch Shield played at the Punjab Agricultural University, here today.

Resuming the game at the over night score of 21 for 1, Ludhiana were skittled out for 292 runs in 84.5 overs. Chandigarh, in their firs essay, had scored 379 runs.

Yesterday's not out batsmen, Geetansh Khera and Deepak Bansal went on to contribute 36 and 30 runs, respectively. Tarun Passi and Bharat Malhotra added 101 useful runs for the sixth wicket but eventually Bharat fell a victim to some superb fielding by Chandigarh players. Skipper, Ankur Kakkar made 23 runs.

For the visitors, left arm spinner, Vipul Sharma was the main wicket taker who chipped in with six wickets for 69 runs. Gaurav Gambhir and Karamveer Singh accounted for one wicket each after conceding 61 and 75 runs, respectively.

Ludhiana, will now play their next match here at PAU on May 5 and 6 against Ropar.

Ludhiana, May 3
The Punjab Youth Basketball Championship for Boys and Girls will be held at Mansa from May 11 to 14.

According to the president of Punjab Basketball Association (PBA), Rajdeep Singh Gill, players born on or after, January 1, 1994 are eligible to take part in this championship. Entries close on May 9. One can contact Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, PBA at Ludhiana.

Perormance during this championship will be taken in to consideration while selecting the state teams for the forthcoming Youth National Basketball Championship slated to be held at Trichnapali in Tamil Nadu from June 1 to 8.

Ludhiana, May 3
Teja Singh Swatantar Memorial School outnumbered RS Model School 13-9 in the girls’section to annex the title in the 30th Ludhiana District Softball Championship for junior boys and girls,which concluded at Ramgarhia Educational Complex, Miller Ganj, here today.

For the winners, Manpreet, Tejinder Kaur, Shelly, Palwinder Kaur and Sharanjeet Kaur secured two points each while Harjot Kaur, Neha and Mansi contributed two points each for RS Model School.

Earlier, in the semi final, RS Model School faced no resistance from Ramgarhia Senior Secondary School as the former romped home victors without being challenged (5-0) and Teja Singh Swatantar Memorial School registered a comprehensive 10-0 win over BCM Scgool, Focal Point branch to set up the title clash.

Meanwhile, honorary secretary of Punjab Softball Association, Pran Nath Passi said the district softball junior teams would be selected during the trials slated to be held at Ramgarhia Educational Complex, here tomorrow. The selected boys and girls will represent Ludhiana in the Punjab Junior Softball Championship scheduled to be held here on May 8 and 9.