Ludhiana, May 22
In the seventh such incident in the last 30 days, a cop was manhandled by a youth when he was chased for not heeding to a signal in the BRS Nagar area here today.

The incident occurred this afternoon when Sahil (26), a former employee of a local television channel was signalled to stop the vehicle at a police check post near BRS Nagar (E-Block).

The police said instead of stopping the vehicle, the offender tried to escape from the spot. The cops chased his vehicle and forced him to stop the motorcycle.

ASI Jagjit Singh, who chased the offender, said: “When I asked the offender to show the documents he entered into an argument and refused.” On the other hand, Sahil claimed that the cop had allegedly abused him, which led to a scuffle between the two.

According to an eyewitness, both Sahil and ASI Jagjit Singh exchanged blows, following which a police party came to the rescue of the cop and nabbed the youth.

“He slapped me. In turn, I also slapped him. He started pushing me and hurled abuses. But, I did not let him go. I brought him with me. I have complained against him to the senior police officials. He would be booked now,”' the ASI said. Later during the day the youth was booked for manhandling a public servant.

While in police custody, Sahil said the incident would not have occurred had the policeman not abused him. Terming the allegation of the cop as baseless, Sahil counter-alleged that it was the cop who had thrashed him. 

Ludhiana, May 22
Unable to pay for the treatment of his father, a man and his wife allegedly gagged him to death in cold blood here yesterday.

The incident occured yesterday morning, when 70-year-old Jagdish Singh, who used to work as an auto-rickshaw driver untill 10 days ago, suddenly died at his Field Ganj residence. The relatives raised an alarm following which the police booked the couple on the basis of a complaint filed by his daughter Charanjit Kaur.

Police sources said Jagdish met with an accident while driving his auto-rickshaw on the -city roads and sustained multiple injuries. His son and daughter-in-law, Manjot Singh (32) and Kamal (30) respectively, admitted him to a private hospital.

Since his son, also an auto-rickshaw driver, could not pay for the “expensive” treatment, the private hospital authorities shooed them away. They brought the elderly man home and could not arrange money for his treatment.

Neighbours say that Jagdish was often heard screaming in pain since his wounds were not healing. “We really used to feel pity for the elderly man. But, we were not able to do anything. Suddenly, his shrieks went silent yesterday. We were told that he succumbed to his injuries,” said a neighbour.

Charanjit Kaur said Manjot and Kamal, used to thrash Jagdish on earlier occassions. The father had complained to her a number of times.

She added that the couple was looking for an opportunity to eliminate Jagdish.

Charanjit Kaur, in her statement to the police, has stated that the couple allegedly gagged Jagdish to death in order to evade suspicion.

The matter came to light last evening when Charanjit Kaur alleged that the couple was responsible for the death. The police sprung into action and sent the body to the civil hospital for postmortem after taking the body into posession.

The police has booked the couple for murder, but till the filing of the report no arrest had been made.

Investigating officer Assistant Sub-Inspecter (ASI) Pritam Singh said," The postmortem report is yet to reach me. However, we have sent the viscera to a government laboratory for testing at Kharar." Meanwhile, the childless couple is absconding. 

Ludhiana, May 22
With the temperature hovering around 46 degrees Celsius, hundreds of commuters had to rough it out for hours as the municipal corporation (MC) blocked one side of the Domoria bridge for the cleaning of sewerage during peak hour.

As a result, commuters were stranded for long and heated arguments were witnessed. Roads leading to Kailash Chowk, Mata Rani Chowk and Deepak Cinema were jammed with hundreds of vehicles. Autorickshaws ferrying schoolchildren dropped the kids on the road itself.

Satbir Singh, a commuter, said the city had become a virtual hell to live in. “The government claims to be undertaking a lot of development work, but it is all haphazard. Without sparing a thought to the inconvenience of public, the road was blocked,” he said.

The councillor of Ward No. 35, Paminder Mehta, said such work should be undertaken at night when the movement of traffic was slow. “Since all such work could easily be done during night hours, there is no need to harass commuters. City roads are in a bad shape and constructions are going on at several places, but with proper planning, such chaotic situations can be avoided,” he stated.

The laying of sewers in Field Ganj further added to the problem. Reena Malhotra, a housewife, complained that since the Field Ganj road was blocked and a ramp was being constructed near Mata Rani Chowk, the Bhadaur House road was flooded with traffic.

MC Commissioner AK Sinha admitted that the cleaning work could have been advanced or put off for the convenience of commuters. He told officials concerned to immediately halt the work. 

Ludhiana, May 22
In addition to the erratic power supply, Ludhiana is now also reeling under acute labour shortage. Local industrial units faced this problem during the harvesting season earlier also. But, this time, it has turned out to be a perennial problem. Numerous industrialists maintain that they are short of 50-60 per cent of labour due to various reasons. With most of the industries relying on the migrant population, the Manchester of India is now on the verge of crippled production.

With at least one person from every household guaranteed 100-day employment in a year under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA), the Central scheme has proved to be a boon for states like Bihar, but a bane for Punjab.

Labour shortage has increased the production cost for industries’ as the wages of labour has shoot up.

Also, many industrialists are apprehensive of booking future orders as they are not sure whether they would be able to deliver them on time or not. Upkar Singh, general secretary, Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings, said, “The local industry is dependent on migrant labour. Its shortage is weighing heavily on the industry. It could badly hamper the industrialization of the state.”

Another industrialist Harbans Lal Khurana, who deals in auto parts said, “With many infrastructure projects coming in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar the interests of migrant labour have started shifting closer to their homes.”

With not enough workforce in the factories, experts say the shortage has not only affected domestic output, but also hit the export by 15 to 20 per cent.

Another trader Santosh Khanna, who deals in readymade clothes, said, “The labourers who went home for attending festivals and marriages never returned.”

Admitting that NREGA had pushed city’s industry on the back foot, he said, “Acute shortage of labour is a reality and we’re trying to work things out. With many migrants getting jobs back home, they are not at all interested in living in another state without their family around”.

Whereas another industrialist said, “ Be it skilled or unskilled labour, there is a shortage of all. Labour prefers to returning home with so many projects being undertaken by the respective state governments.”

Ludhiana, May 22
With two Fall-Winter 2010-11 buyer-seller meets on in the city at two different venues, there is a clear indication that the garment and hosiery industry is a divided lot. The meets have been organised by the Ludhiana Apparel and Knitwear Manufacturers' Association (LAKMA) and the Knitwear and Apparel Manufacturers' Association, Ludhiana (KAMAL), supported by Vinod Thapar and Ajit Lakra, respectively.

The dates of both the meets are the same -May 22 to 26. LAKMA has organised the buyers' meet at Omaxe Plaza while KAMAL has organised its meet on the grounds of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). One meet was inaugurated by DC Rahul Tewari while another at the PAU was inaugurated by Vice-Chancellor MS Kang.

Sandeep Wadhwa of LAKMA told The Tribune that many new entrants wanted to join KAMAL but the association had closed the membership for newcomers. “In just 45 days, we planned and executed this project because we thought that each and every manufacturer had the right to participate in such mega events. And the response from members as well as participants has been tremendous. Just 50 to 70 members do not constitute the industry. There are thousands of other manufacturers in city who are part of the industry. This is a bigger event than KAMAL as we have already registered more than 100 members,” claimed Wadhwa.

Sudershan Jain of KAMAL said the association had organised meet at two places - PAU and Le Baron - but many industry representatives did not agree on it. They were adamant to organise it separately, he said.

"The buyer base is big in the city. Each year, new manufacturers want to join, but we cannot give membership to all due to some limitations. The meets may have been organised by two different groups at different venues but we are all one industry. We have no ill-feelings against anyone. We are focussed on buyers and they must get the best from us,” said Jain.

COURTS

City Centre Scam
Case adjourned till May 29
Our Legal Correspondent

Ludhiana,May 22
Court of Sessions Judge SP Bangrah today adjourned the hearing in the alleged multi-crore City Centre scam till May 29, after hearing the arguments by the lawyer of former trustee of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust Kala Navkar Jain, on framing of charges  against him.

The defence lawyer submitted that his client did nothing wrong when he attended the trust meeting in which the financial bids were cleared. Because trustees were required to attend the important meetings. Apart from it, the defence lawyer denied all allegations levelled against Navkar Jain. It was pleaded that no charges could be framed against him, as the prosecution was not having any convincing proof against him.

Capt Amarinder Singh, former Chief Minister of Punjab, not attended the court proceedings.His presence was exempted by the court on medical grounds. Apart from him, the court also exempted the personal presence of Captain Amarinder's son Raninder Singh, GK Gambhir, MD, Today Homes.

Former Local Bodies minister Choudhary Jagjit Singh, former Additional Advocate General Hapreet Sandhu were present in the court during the hearing. 

Ludhiana, May 22
Sandeep junior scored four goals, including a hat-trick, as Jarkhar Hockey Academy beat its spirited rivals Sports Wing, Sudhar, 5-3 in the junior section on the third day of the inaugural edition of the Olympian Prithipal Singh Hockey League at Mata Sahib Kaur Stadium, Jarkhar today.

This was Jarkhar Academy's third win in a row. At the half time, Sudhar boys were leading 2-1 and in the second session, Jarkhar players went ahead to win the match 5-3. Sandeep senior contributed one goal in Jarkhar outfit's victory.

For the Sports Wing, Santa Singh, Darshpreet Singh and Amarjot Singh contributed one goal each.

In another match, Jagtar XI of Jarkhar proved too good for Government High School, Ghawadi, whom they trounced 5-0 in which Ranjeet Singh scored a hat-trick while Harmanjeet Gill and Gagandeep Singh accounted for one goal each to complete the rout.

The third match of the day was played between the Sports Excellence Centre, Ludhiana, and Grewal Hockey Academy, Kila Raipur, in which the former romped home victorious 4-1.

For the winners, Jagjit Singh, Harmanpreet Singh, Sarabjot Singh and Dhiraj Mann pumped in one goal each while the lone goal for Kila Raipur came from the stick of Gurpreet Singh.

Ludhiana, May 22
Hosts Ludhiana failed to capitalise on fine batting by Akhil Aggarwal (89), Geetnash Khera (47) and Jashan Sidhu (46) as their first innings folded at 313 runs against Chandigarh on the opening day of the match in the Punjab State Inter-District U-22 Cricket Tournament being organised by the Punjab Cricket Association at the Punjab Agricultural University ground, here today.

Ludhiana won the toss and decided to bat first. They started the proceeding on a sound note by hoisting 150 runs on the board and losing just 2 wickets. Thereafter, they went on losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually could reach total of 313 runs in 90.5 overs.

The main architects of Ludhiana's innings were Akhil Aggarwal who made 89 runs off 113 balls, Geetansh Khera (47 runs off 94 deliveries) and Jashan Sidhu who faced 88 balls for 46 runs. For the visitors, Gurinder Singh was the pick of bowlers who scalped five victims for 109 runs in 31.5 overs.

Anshul Tripathi sent down 20 overs and grabbed two wickets for 65 runs while Anil captured one wicket for 77 runs.

Chandigarh began their reply on a cautious note. At draw of stumps, the visitors were 9 for no loss after six overs. The two not out batsmen were Manan Vohra (6) and Amit Prashar (0).