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Fit of Rage
Ludhiana, June 22 According to Surinder Singh, Additional Station House Officer of Basti Jodhewal, Baldev asked the fruit vendor the price of a dozen bananas and was informed by vendor Ram Bau that he had two types of bananas, one priced at Rs 20 per dozen and the other priced at Rs 25 per dozen. Baldev asked Ram Bau to give him a dozen bananas of the Rs 20 variety. Baldev took the bananas and handed over a Rs 20 note to the vendor following which the problem started. Vendor Ram Bau started asking for Rs 25 and claimed to have quoted the amount as the price of the fruit to which Baldev objected. After a heated argument between the two, Ram Bau called his son Vipan Kumar, who was selling jaamuns at a rehri nearby. As soon as Vipan came, Ram Bau caught hold of Baldev's throat. When passersby tried to intervene, Vipan hit Baldev on the head with a 2-kg weight. Baldev fell unconscious and was rushed to the Civil Hospital by his father, where he was declared brought dead. Baldev was working as a sewadar at Krishna Hospital, Model Town, and belonged to a very poor family. His father Chamakuar Singh is a rickshaw puller and the father-son duo had been struggling hard to keep the kitchen fire burning in their home. The tragedy has left Chamkaur Singh a shattered man. "Baldev was my strength and my eldest child. He used to work very hard to help me run the family, which comprises my other two children, who are too young to support me financially." "A trivial argument turned so violent that my child was killed. His life was much more than those few rupees over which that fruit vendor killed him," sobbed a broken Chamkaur Singh. Meanwhile, Ram Bau and Vipan Kumar, who had fled yesterday, following the incident, were arrested today. While Vipan was nabbed from the railway station, Ram Bau was caught from near Jagirpur Road.
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Power cuts, load shedding derail normal life
Spurt in demand Even after imposing two weekly holidays on power intensive industries like arc and induction furnaces, rolling mills and one compulsory off on other industrial units, the state is facing a shortfall of around 150 lakh units with the total demand hovering around 1,800 lakh units
Ludhiana, June 22 Frequent power breakdowns in many urban areas, particularly in the old city areas and periphery of the city, have become a routine due to overloaded transformers and spurt in demand with mercury soaring beyond 40 degree Celsius and the region being in the grip of severe hot and humid weather conditions. While the city residents are getting used to the scheduled power cuts and organise their daily routine accordingly, it is the unscheduled
cuts, load shedding and breakdowns for hours together which upsets the normal life. There was no power supply to several 66 KV sub-stations fed from 220 KV BBMB sub-station at Jamalpur last evening for more than four hours and people in more than a dozen localities had to go without power, which was restored after midnight. Similarly, thousands of residents of Haibowal locality had a sleepless night as the LT cables of a transformer in New Tagore Nagar were burnt due to overloading. The power supply, which went off late in the evening, was not restored till today afternoon. MP Singh, senior executive engineer of Aggar Nagar division of Powercom, said the LT lines were being repaired and power would be restored by the evening. An additional transformer for the locality has been approved but the installation was delayed due to differences between two groups of residents on its location, he added. Meanwhile, District Youth Congress president Dimple Rana has flayed the state government for its failure to ensure adequate power supply even as the spurt in demand during the paddy season was known well in advance. “The power cuts have made the life of the people miserable. Traders, shopkeepers and industrialists are suffering due to scheduled and unscheduled cuts but the leaders of the ruling coalition as well as senior officials of Powercom are misguiding the public by making false promises,” he said. |
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Power Connections
Taking cognisance of a complaint filed by Sewa Singh, a shopkeeper at Tibba Road, near GK Estate here, the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC) has issued notices to the home affairs department principal secretary, Punjab government, and the Powercom secretary. The next hearing in the matter will be on July 30. In the orders issued on May 25, PSHRC members LR Roojam and KK Bhatnagar observed the complainant (Sewa Singh) had alleged Powercom officials were giving commercial electricity connections (in Focal Point division) on the basis of fake NOCs after accepting illegal gratification. "After going through the contents of the complaint, the commission, prima facie, takes cognisance of
the matter and calls for a report under section 17(i) of the Protection of Human Rights Act, 1993 from the State government department of home affairs & justice and the secretary of Punjab State Power Corp Ltd before the next date of hearing,” the orders say. In his complaint, copies of which were also sent to the Punjab chief minister, Powercom and the MC, Sewa said most of the commercial electricity connections issued to shops and other commercial establishments located on Tibba Road (under the Focal Point division) were sanctioned on the basis of bogus NOCs that were suspected to have been prepared by Powercom employees and conniving wiring contractors. The Powercom staff was also accused of taking bribes for issuing new connections in the commercial category. To corroborate his allegations, the complainant has attached copies of a forged NOC purported to have been issued by the assistant town planner (HQ) of the municipal corporation in the name of one Urmila Sharma, shop no 25-26, Tibba Road, Gopal Chowk, near GK Estate, Ludhiana under reference no 90/ATP/MC dated October 8, 2009. However, details obtained by Sewa from the civic body under the Right to Information Act reveals the MC (zone B) had issued no such letter (NOC) and, further, that the reference number quoted on the said NOC was in fact a letter written to someone else. This is not for the first case in which fake NOCs issued for obtaining commercial power connections which has surfaced here. A couple of months back over a dozen NOCs pertaining to commercial connections at Daresi Road, sent to the MC by the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board for verification, were found to be forged. HS Gill, Powercom senior executive engineer (Focal Point division), said orders had been issued for disconnection of power supply to shops that were said to have obtained connections on the basis of forged NOCs. He claimed the allegations of the field staff taking bribes appeared to be “motivated” because the complainant had also applied for a commercial connection that was yet to be released. |
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MC to crack down on residential encroachments
Ludhiana, June 22 What needs to be appreciated is that in many cases residents themselves are coming forward to help MC officials in their task. In many areas the former have begun removing their unauthorized iron wires, gates and brick walls to avoid any trouble. Civic officials admitted the efforts made by residents to make their job easier in several localities including BRS Nagar, Sarabha Nagar and even Jawahar Nagar camp have been positive. Additional commissioner KP Brar said MC employees were initially reluctant to go ahead with their task to remove encroachments. “However, residents acted as responsible citizens. They were not only removing their extensions but were cooperating with officials too”, he added. "Encroachments have to be removed at any cost from the city. These are the high court’s orders and we must adhere to them. Unauthorised structures in residential areas include iron gates, grills, brick walls and edgings and wires that have been erected on all public lanes, which make the paths for commuters much narrower. As far as planting of saplings or trees is concerned, we don’t mind. Rather, we’re in favour of planting more trees but they mustn’t be surrounded by permanent hedges", said Brar. Meanwhile, some residents have alleged a “pick and choose” policy was being adopted. Narinder Pal Singh, a resident of D Block in Kitchlu Nagar, said: “Residents in the park lane should be given some advantage. Generally 3-4 feet lane on both sides of roads is left. But road touching public parks should be left, that advantage should be given to residents facing public parks. I’ve just completed construction of my house and now we’ve been asked to remove the ramp outside the main-gate, which pinches." Civic officials asserted they intended to be “very strict” against defaulters this time. "In case any encroachment resurfaces we’ll file an FIR against the defaulter", Brar stated. |
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...pulls up ‘unresponsive’ officials
Ludhiana, June 23 The sources added that the XENs of the B and R department were told to remove the debris, following demolition drive outside residential areas, at the earliest to avoid any inconvenience to the residents. They were also told to encourage them to grow more plants and remove encroachments at the same time. The officials of the tehbazari wing, B and R department, were told to create a “public-friendly” image in the city. An official reportedly complained that one of the assistant town planners did not bother to attend even the phone calls of their juniors. The Additional Commissioner also asked these officials to be responsive towards the people.
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Anti-impotence drugs play havoc with youth
Abuse leads to
depression The results of investigations, including a haemogram, liver and renal function tests, blood sugar, lipid profile, VDRL, HIV and serum testosterone, conducted in the clinic on men who had abused anti-impotency drugs and complained of erectile dysfunction were said to be normal. However, they were found to be severely depressed and failed to respond to regular psychotherapy, antianxiety drugs, antidepressants and oral
testosterone. Also, boys/men taking a combination of drugs like cocaine, heroin and MDMA along with Viagra exposed themselves to ‘high-risk’ sexual activities including homosexuality.
Ludhiana, June 22 According to the study conducted by Dr Rajiv Gupta, a psychiatrist, and Anshul Mahajan, a final year medical student, several youngsters are coming to them with complaints of "severe depression" after they were rendered impotent by these drugs. These youths abused sildenafil citrate, commonly sold as Viagra, Suhagra, Caverta and various other branded anti-impotency medicines. These drugs are used to treat erectile dysfunction (ED), a common sexual disorder in men, and pulmonary artery hypertension. However, their abuse has become rampant among young men in Punjab with many of them becoming permanently impotent. "Some men even develop suicidal instincts as their sexual organs become immune to erectile dysfunction drugs after a certain period, which becomes an unmanageable problem once they get married," said Gupta. “The drugs are often abused in combination with opium, smack (heroin), alcohol and recreational drugs like MDMA, ketamine, gammahydroxy butyuric acid (GHB), and amyl nitrate (‘poppers’). This has led to manifold increase in permanent impotence among teenagers and young men”, he added. Sildenafil was introduced in India about a decade back and today numerous pharmaceutical companies are manufacturing and marketing this drug. Despite instructions by the Drug Controller of India this drug is being sold over the counter without the prescription of a medical practitioner, thereby impairing sexual functioning among youth. Erectile dysfunction drugs are prescribed by physicians to cure impotence in men who suffering from erectile dysfunction, which occurs due to various physical disorders, surgical procedures or as a side effect of some medicines. However, many men misuse these drugs for recreation without realizing their excessive use can result in permanent impotence. Referring to a case of 24-year-old single, unemployed graduate male
suffering from erectile dysfunction, Mahajan stated: “This village boy had a history of multiple sex partners and was initially taking small quantities of opium for two years. Gradually he began having 25 mg of sildenafil and as time passed the drug’s effect tapered off. However, in order to experience the same effect he steadily increased the drug’s dosage to 50 mg, 75mg, 100mg and 150 mg per sitting and continued using it for another five months. After six months of using higher doses of sildenafil he reported to the clinic complaining of erectile dysfunction and severe depression”. Another case reported at Dr Gupta’s clinic was that of a 28-year-old married businessman with a history of smack addiction over three years, who began suffering from erectile dysfunction two months after he got married. He began taking 25-50 mg of sildenafil every day on his own, gradually increasing the dose to 100 mg. After five months even this high dose was not effective and the patient did not respond to a four-month course of psychotherapy, antianxiety drugs, antidepressants and testosterone therapy. His marriage was on the rocks. |
43 yrs on, govt to erect memorial to Tara Singh
Ludhiana, June 22 A formal announcement to this effect would be made here during a state-level function to be organised on the occasion of his 126th birth anniversary that falls on June 24. Announcing this here yesterday, Jails and Tourism Minister, Hira Singh Gabria, said though the decision came quite late but the sentiment behind acknowledging him should be considered. He said the Akali leader’s memorial would be set up either in the city or in Amritsar, where he spent most of his years. Gabria said Master Tara Singh was a patriot and a very upright political leader. He watched the interests of the people of the state and stood up for their rights. Though a college in city has been named after him, the government has now decided to commemorate his life, he said. Popularly named as “Panth Rattan,” Master Tara Singh remained active in Punjab’s political scene for 40 years. He remained president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) for five consecutive terms. Gabria said Rajya Sabha member, Balwinder Singh Bhundr, Punjab State Backward Classes Commission chairman, Kirpal Singh Badungar and Public Relations Minister, Sewa Singh Sekhwan, would be attending the function to be organised on his birth anniversary. The organisers have also requested Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, to attend the function.
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Auction of Coop Society Property
Mullanpur Dakha, June 22 In 1998, it suffered a loss as the then president had in connivance with other office-bearers had embezzled Rs 98 lakh. To avoid recovery after attaching his properties, he even disposed off his properties presumably under fictitious deals. Sharanjit Kaur and Sukhdarshan Kaur, daughters of Harbans Singh, had invested in the society through fixed deposits worth Rs 1.36 lakh and Rs 1.12 lakh, respectively. After embezzlement both of them filed a recovery suit and the court attached the property of the society for the recovery. The court ordered its auction so that the amount of both women could be repaid along with 9 per cent interest annually. The property was to be auctioned today. Bhupinder Singh along with Chamkaur Singh, patwari, visited the society’s office to auction the property. The minimum price was fixed at Rs 11 lakh but about six bidders offered 31 bids for the property and raised it to Rs 16.1 lakh. Jagjit Singh of the same village bought the property. Earlier, a ruckus was created by the present members of the society as among seven members five were present today, including president Gurdev Singh, vice-president Jaswant Singh, besides members like sarpanch Jatinder Singh, Gurjit Singh and Sajjan Singh. Paramjit Singh had expired while the seventh member Harvinder Singh had gone abroad. The present five members requested the Naib Tehsildar not to auction the property, as they were willing to repay the amount to both sisters. Bhupinder Singh, however, expressed inability to defy the court order and proceeded on auction formalities. Five of them tendered their resignation protesting the auction. Another hurdle faced by the Bhupinder Singh was that the site to be auctioned had no passage linked to it. He wanted to postpone the auction till a solution regarding the passage was worked out but the villagers wanted the auction process to continue as they were willing to buy the land without any passage linked to it.
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Mining Ban & Price Hike
Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 22 With the contractors trying to evade apprehended loss by either delaying the work or giving up unfinished projects, more people are seeking the police or social intervention for getting their projects finished. Even as the region is witnessing a boom in the construction business, a sharp increase in the cost of sand and gravel (bajri) threatens to upset the budgets of the major projects and housing for the common man. A random survey revealed that the prices of building material had increased by almost 300 per cent during the past couple of months, as people have to buy gravel or sand at about Rs 3,200 to Rs 3,500 per 100 cubic feet. Earlier, the rate varied between Rs 800 to Rs 1,000 per 100 cubic feet. The prices could increase further as the stock stored with the crushers was almost finished. Rajesh Sharma, a building contractor of local town, said: “I had undertaken to complete some building according to prices of major inputs a few months ago. As material costs have hiked steeply now I am finding it almost impractical to complete projects at settled prices. Earlier, the prices of cement and steel had increased by 15 to 20 per cent and now the increase in sand and other building material has enhanced the construction cost.” Sharma is somehow keeping the work running, as the sand and gravel were almost unavailable in the market. Gurmit Singh, another contractor, said he had suffered a loss of about Rs 2 lakh as he had signed various building contracts with building material like sand at Rs 800 cubic foot about four months ago. The material is almost unavailable at four times the original price, said Singh adding he had almost stopped work on some projects. A few contractors had tried to keep their projects running by using poor quality alternatives for sand and gravel. Mud mixed black sand, mined from certain parts of Haryana, was commonly used by the contractors. Owners of some under-construction buildings had to seek the police and social leaders’ intervention for getting their work done at settled costs. For obvious reason of apprehended loss contractors are trying to either delay the work or surrender the contracts. They are ready to even forgo pending payments even. Last year, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had allowed to carry out mining activities in the state without environment clearance as a stop-gap arrangement so that the development projects and construction activities were not hit. A blanket ban had been imposed after the state government failed to get environment clearance from the expert appraisal committee of the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests. All this had led to the present situation.
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Molestation in Jail
Ludhiana, June 22 “The woman clerk came to me with her request that she should not be transferred. Since the inquiry was pending, I thought we should give her a chance,” said Gabria, adding that the report of inquiry was to be submitted today. He said he was in Ludhiana throughout the day and could not go to his office in Chandigarh. “I do not know about the contents of the report. I can only comment on it tomorrow,” he said. Meanwhile, allegations and counter allegations continue to flow in the case. Following counter allegations against her of making false claims about molestation at the hands of the jail superintendent, the clerk today refuted the charges and claimed that her allegations were true. She also said the allegations of her giving varied statements during the probe were false. “I never apologised to anybody. Neither did I give any contradicting statements during the probe. In fact, the probe has not even started as yet," said the jail clerk. She added: “I am not trying to strike any compromise with the jail superintendent as reported in a section of the media." Earlier this month, the clerk had levelled charges of molestation against Borstal Jail superintendent Kuldeep Singh following which a special investigative team was constituted to look into the matter. When contacted, Kuldeep Singh said he had full faith in the SIT and was looking forward to its report. ‘‘I have not done anything. I will come out clean,” he claimed.
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Drizzle fails to provide relief from heat
Ludhiana, June 22 The maximum humidity recorded at the observatory of meteorological department at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today morning was 62 per cent followed by minimum relative humidity of 43 per cent. Dr KK Gill, the weather expert at meteorological department at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), stated that there wasn’t any weather forecast of rainfall till Friday. He added that the weather would remain dry throughout the week. Speaking on humidity, Dr Gill said today's rise in humidity was because of the low pressure area due to the heat wave in Punjab which she said was temporary. However, briefing on the temperature for the coming week, Dr Gill said the maximum temperature would vary from 44 degrees Celsius to 45 degrees Celsius. The doctors have called upon people to keep themselves hydrated with 10 to 12 glasses of water every day. Avoid going outdoors during the daytime as direct exposure to the sun causes heat stroke, the health experts cautioned. The department of health and family welfare has specifically advised people against consuming cut fruits as majority of the roadside vendors sell stale fruits in unhygienic conditions. The weather experts have called upon the farmers to save paddy and vegetable crop from hot and dry climate. Regular irrigation to the paddy crop in the absence of rainfall is the only answer. Similarly, the vegetable crops should be protected from direct heat.
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Water Supply Work
Ludhiana, June 22 Harbans Lal Fenta, husband of Sunita Fenta, had complained that there was continuous water leakage in the area and the officials concerned failed to visit the sight despite repeated complaints. The three-member committee headed by Assistant Commissioner BK Gupta will look into the water-supply work in progress in Ward No. 22. Harbans Singh told The Tribune that the work for laying water supply pipes in area was sanctioned but everything was being done in a "non-technical" manner. Many residents in the area were not being able to get water due to workers' fault, alleged Harbans. "Officials of water-sewerage department had left everything on the contractor. The officials did not bother to visit the area even once to see the pace of the work. The work was not being done satisfactorily. It was after the intervention of the commissioner that the committee was set up today to see the development work," alleged Harbans.
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GNDEC adjudged best in state
Ludhiana, June 22 This ranking survey-2010 of all the engineering institutes of the country, including IIT's, NITs was done by the magazine ‘Outlook India’ based on the criterion-like academic excellence, personality development and industrial interface, infrastructure and placement etc. The achievement has become a consistent feature in the records of GNDEC, which is propelling it to attain the highest position of academic and overall excellence. It is also a matter of pride for the college that 40 MNCs, including Kirloskar, Denso, ACC Concrete, Thermax, IBM and Wipro have visited the institution and more than 80 per cent of the students have been placed in these MNCs.
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Girl dies of snake bite
Mullanpur Dakha, June 22 After sometime the child started crying aloud. When she went towards her daughter, she saw that Parampreet’s hand had turned bluish. She took her to a hospital where the doctors told her that the child had been bitten by a deadly snake. The child died breathed her last in the hospital.
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6-yr-old boy drowns
Ludhiana, June 22 His body was later fished out from the canal by divers and sent for post-mortem to the civil hospital. Dheeraj was the son of a labourer, Manoj Kumar.
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Rs 3.66 lakh snatched from petrol station manager
Raikot, June 22 Avtar Singh, a manager of Sacha Sauda petrol station at Barundi village near Raikot, left the place at around 1pm with Rs 3.66 lakh for depositing it in the Pakhowal branch of the Oriental Bank of Commerce. While on his way to the bank, he was waylaid by two unidentified youths on the scooter near Pakhowal village. These youths started driving parallel to him and suddenly struck him with a screwdriver. The manager sustained injuries and lost hi balance due to sudden and unexpected attack on him. The snatchers decamped with the bag containing cash. The manager informed the police about the incident. A case has been registered at the Sudhar police station. Avtar Singh was admitted to the Pakhowal civil hospital.
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9-yr-old hit by car, dies
Mullanpur Dakha, June 22 The car ran over the child while trying to overtake
a bus. The mother-sister duo were standing near the bus stop and waiting to cross the busy road when this accident took place. The car driver didn’t even bothered to stop, instead he fled away from the scene. A case has been registered under Sections 279 and 304 A of th IPC on
the statement of the vicitm’s mother against the car driver.
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Murder Case
Mandi Gobindgarh, June 22 After an inquiry, the police called it a case of accident near Ajnali village on the national high way by some unidentified vehicle. The Mandi Gobindgarh police registered a FIR no. 131 on June 21 against the unidentified driver of
a vehicle. In another case, the police has registered a case under Section 188 of the IPC against Gobind, son of Ram Murti, and Avtar Singh, resident of Mandi Gobindgarh, as they failed to give information about their tenets to the police.
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Swimming
Ludhiana, June 22 In group I, Suhapanpreet Kaur bagged four gold medals (50m freestyle, 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke) besides winning as many silver medals. She finished runner-up in 100m freestyle, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay. Kanwalpreet Kaur from Ludhiana proved her mettle and clinched gold medals in 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 400m freestyle and 800m freestyle events. Kanwalpreet secured silver medals in 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay. In this group, Arman Kaur annexed eight silver medals (50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, 400m individual medley, 1,500m free style, 4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle and 4x100m medley relay. Aarushi Gupta won three silver medals (4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay in addition to a bronze medal in 200m freestyle event). In the girl's group II, Shubhkarman secured four gold and four silver medals while Ishpreet Kaur won one gold, three silver and four bronze medals and Simran Brar pocketed three silver and one bronze medals. Similarly, Pukhraj Gill won three silver medals (4x100m freestyle relay, 4x200m freestyle relay and 4x100m medley relay). In the girl's group III, Manimehtab, Khushnaz and Tamanna gave excellent performance to help their team to romp home as overall champions. In the boy's section, Adhiraj in group I while Balteshwar Singh and Saksham in group II finished among position holders. Apinder Singh Grewal, president, District Swimming Association, Ludhiana, congratulated the swimmers and their coaches, Wasakha Singh, Amandeep Kaur and Ajay Sharma on this performance.
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Even after imposing two weekly holidays on power intensive industries like arc and induction furnaces, rolling mills and one compulsory off on other industrial units, the state is facing a shortfall of around 150 lakh units with the total demand hovering around 1,800 lakh units. "Low generation at hydel power projects has also made a big dent in the total availability of power to the state," said Powercom officials.
Ludhiana, June 22