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Traffic disrupted after deluge
Ludhiana, October 22 However the downpour resulted in roads being submerged in knee-deep water. Commuters, especially those riding scooters and motorcycles, were caught unawares by the high velocity winds and olive sized hailstones in the afternoon. Chaotic traffic was the order of the day and it became almost impossible to wade through the flooded roads. The worst hit were several low-lying areas in the city where many commuters were seen stranded in the middle of the flooded streets. A large number of vehicles were stuck on the roads in the low-lying areas of the city. The Domoria Bridge, was one of the worst affected link between the old and the new areas of the city as rainwater up to two to three feet water caused many vehicles to break down. The rain, however, cleansed the surroundings, which had been engulfed in a thick blanket of smog for the past ten days due to the combined effect of falling temperatures and farmers burning paddy stubble in defiance of a Punjab & Haryana High Court order. Residents suffering from various respiratory problems and cardiac disorders had been the worst sufferers as the smog had made it impossible for them to carry on outdoor activities. The heavy showers however brought some respite to such patients. Meanwhile, the showers brought cheer to the city’s hosiery manufacturers. ‘‘There was a nip in the air today and, if all goes well, we’ll have a good season, ’’said Ashwini Jain, owner of a hosiery factory. ‘Tennis ball-sized’ hailstones City resident Ravinder Vatsyayan claimed to have seen hailstones the size of a tennis ball. One of the pictures sent by him to The Tribune office (which could not be reproduced owing to technical reasons) had a white hailstone with light black specks resembling a smiley with eyes.
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Paddy in mandis damaged
Ludhiana, October 22 Also, market committees had failed to provide an ample number of tarpaulin sheets, adding to the farmers’ woes. Despite being the second largest grain market after Khanna, the city’s Salem Tabri ‘mandi’ has a poor drainage system as was evident from several places being immersed in almost two feet of water. Satwinder Grewal, a farmer from Phillaur who had come to sell his produce in Salem Tabri, accused the market committee officials of "negligence". "None of the officials from the market committee have visited the mandi even after two hours of the rain and the produce is all wet, as a result the farmers will have to wait for another two to four days for the paddy to get dry. As a result procurement agencies won’t buy even an ounce of paddy till the grain is rid of excessive moisture," Grewal rued. Disconcerted over the prevailing circumstances, Kurban Singh from Kakkowal village said he was hopeful of getting good returns from his paddy crop. “But I was aghast to see a part of my produce getting washed away with the rainwater in the drain at the ‘mandi’, he added. Another farmer, Jasvir Singh from Mattewara village, said: “Looking at the weather conditions, which were not conducive from the farmers’ point of view, the district administration and the ‘mandi’ officer should have reviewed the arrangements”. Meanwhile, district ‘mandi’ officer Rajpal Singh Dhaliwal said: “I’ve have already asked the SDO to visit the Salem Tabri ‘mandi’ and supervise operations to pump out the rainwater. I had to visit Machchiwara and Samrala areas as the PUSA 44 variety, which had not been harvested, were damaged due to the heavy rain and hail. Ludhiana and Khanna are the only areas with 40 percent arrival of PUSA 44, whereas in other areas of the district had received only 23 percent of the produce”. Arrival in markets
The district’s grain markets received 3,80,000 metric tonnes of paddy till today out of which 3,60,000 tonnes have been sold. A thousand tonnes of the grain remained unsold due to excessive moisture content |
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Roommate killed drunk youth
Ludhiana, October 22 Unfolding the blind murder mystery, ACP Raj Kumar said 25-year-old Vijay Kumar from UP strangled Shiv Prasad. The police has recovered a trouser that was used for strangling Shiv Prasad. Maninder Badi, SHO of Division No. 8, said marks on the victim’s neck and the postmortem report confirmed that it was a case of strangulation. The varied statements of Vijay Kumar raised the suspicion of the police. “Due to smog everyone was sleeping indoor, but Vijay said in his statement that he was sleeping outside, which raised our suspicion. After receiving the postmortem report, we questioned him and he confessed to have committed the murder,” the ACP stated. The accused reportedly told the police that Shiv Prasad was abusive and would beat him up. Angered by the repeated incidents of physical assault, he decided to kill Shiv Prasad. On the intervening night of October 19 and 20, Shiv Prasad consumed liquor and allegedly started beating him up. Vijay decided to kill him and waited for him to sleep. He then strangled him. After killing the victim, he raised the alarm and concocted a story that Shiv Prasad succumbed to injuries that he sustained in a fight at an eatery. The SHO said they had investigated and found that no brawl had taken place at any eatery on the intervening night of October 19 and 20. While Shiv Prasad was married, Vijay is a bachelor. The police has registered a case of murder against the accused under Section 302 of the IPC. Cops tread with caution in shooting case Ludhiana, October 22 They said when they were returning to their hostel, the robbers started chasing them and intercepted them. They said the highway robbers, all in their mid-20s, were on a motorbike. The victims could not recall the number of the motorcycle. They also did
not inform the police about the incident and it was their friends who called the police. What is strange, however, is that the accused fled with the motorcycle of the victims, but did not snatch the purse and mobile phone of the victims. The police is probing the angle that the duo might have picked up a fight with some anti-social elements on the Ferozepur road, as a result of which they might have been shot at. Sources in the police said the police was treading with caution as it apprehends it might trigger a protest by the student union. The police is trying to rope in the student union president to help in cracking the case. The police is trying to trace where the ammunition was purchased from. |
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Market slump hits campus recruitment
Ludhiana, October 22
“Last year till October, over 100 companies, including big business houses, had held or registered for campus placement drives in our college. Some had picked students even before that,” a student of a local management college stated, adding that this year till now, “only about eight-10 small companies have come to the campus. No reputed companies are coming forth. Small players in finance, marketing and BPO sectors are hiring on meagre salary.” Students rue that companies are offering “under-employment” to students even though most of them are more qualified for the jobs. They say the number of recruitments through such drives, as reflected on the college registers, are “manipulated” to boost the image of the institution. “Even an undergraduate can get the job of a sales executive with a bank, which is being offered to MBAs and MCAs,” a student said. He complained that the jobs offered to students were of “sales executive, marketing executive, BPO executives, front office or back office executives”. Confirming the recent slump in the local job market, career consultant H Singh said: “A few months ago, the job market for white-collared workers was booming. Every student, even before he graduated, had an entry-level job waiting for him. He got to pick and choose the employer depending on various factors such as salary, perks, growth potential, training and job security.” However, he added that given the current market scenario, while the national job market was doing fine, campus recruitment had suffered a setback. Regional market forces played a crucial role in this. A lecturer at a management institute said: “Professionally qualified students expect and deserve high-profile jobs in industries such as aviation, manufacturing, real estate, finance, banking, hospitality, automobile and insurance. Unfortunately, these have not shown much interest in the region over the past few months, hence, the lukewarm response to placement drives.” He said the BPO and a few other service industries were hiring but that too only at the entry level. “We do not have big firms coming in for recruitment this year unlike previous years,” he added.
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...Purchasing power dips
Ludhiana, October 22 ‘‘The footfall in our market prior to Diwali used to be overwhelming. The buyers, however, seem no more excited. They are forced to think twice before sparing even a single penny, ’’ said Gurmukh Singh, a shopkeeper in Chaura Bazaar. ‘‘The cost of living has skyrocketed. There has not been marked increase in their salaries,” he asked? Not only the traders but corporate and small business houses, too, are feeling the heat. Come Diwali, promotional activities of these houses generally gain momentum and sale also begin during this time of the year. But this year, the show
is rather drab as no major sales have been announced so far and business houses are shying away from offering lucrative offers. The slump has hit mostly the middle and lower middle class. “With high price index the purchasing power of the people is going down except the elite class. Earlier people use to do bulk shopping during Diwali but today things are not same. People buy according to their convenience and compulsive Diwali shopping is not a trend these days,” said one of the crockery shop owners at Ghumar Mandi. Jaswinder Bhullar, who works in a private bank, said the household budget had gone awry due to rise in the prices of essential commodities. “We will be buying just the essential goodies, no extra shopping this Diwali, “ he added. |
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All that glitters is diamond
Ludhiana, October 22 With a 25 per cent rise in the sale of diamond jewellery annually, this segment is likely to take away a major market share from gold jewellery. Raman Aggarwal, a jeweller at Sarafan Bazar, said light-weight diamond jewellery was in. “People prefer buying diamond instead of gold. In diamond jewellery, we use 18 carat gold which is less expensive while in the making of gold jewellery we use 22 or 24 carat gold,” he stated. A sales executive at a jewellery showroom at Mall Road said gold jewellery remained a favourite among customers when it came to weddings, but for Diwali and Dhanteras, people had switched to light-weight diamond jewellery. “Machine-made diamond jewellery, which is light on pocket, is the preferred choice of people these days. The jewellery is mostly made in Delhi and Mumbai. Branded diamond jewellery is catching the fancy of buyers. People are going in for small pendant sets with earrings and rings,” he said. Another jeweller at Sarafan Bazar said there was a big shift to diamond jewellery in India. “Consumers are shifting to diamond jewellery from gold jewellery so we have also added diamonds to our antique jewellery collection and the sales are increasing,” he said. “Diamonds are preferred over gold. About 80 per cent of our customers opt for diamond jewellery, with the best sellers being those sets with diamonds from 2 to 5 carat,” he added.
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Vet varsity now eligible to get central grants
Ludhiana, October 22 The UGC provides financial assistance to eligible universities declared fit to receive central assistance (UGC grant) as per approved pattern of assistance under various schemes. Dr PD Juyal, registrar of the university, informed that an expert committee nominated by the UGC visited and inspected GADVASU in May and submitted its report to the commission. The university may get central assistance as it has submitted various research projects to the commission for receiving central grants under this section and this recognition has opened the doors for obtaining the approval of these projects. This will further strengthen research and development programmes running in the university.
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PAU Youth Fest
Ludhiana, October 22 PAU estate officer-cum-chief engineer Dr Gurkirpal Singh was the chief guest. The day started with the events of creative writing and photography. The students were asked to express themselves on nature. “Trees of the PAU” was the topic given to students for the event of photography. For elocution students were given the topic of ‘Nurturing the Child for Nation Building’. The results of the competition will be declared on October 30, the final day of the youth festival.
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BJYM starts signature campaign on J&K
Ludhiana, October 22 The district presidents, Rajiv Katna and Kantendu Sharma of the BJP and the BJYM, respectively, alleged that under pressure from separatist elements, the government was following a weak policy on Kashmir which would have disastrous consequences. “The policy of appeasement has never paid off and never will. The only way to deal with anti-national and separatist forces is to tackle the situation with a firm hand,” they stated. Other speakers, including district general secretary Harsh Sharma and secretary Chandan Gupta, remarked that the Kashmir problem was related to the issue of security and integrity of the nation which called for concerted action to deal with core issues. The BJYM functionaries said the signature drive would continue for a few days and such programmes would be organised in various Assembly segments of the district.
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From Schools & Colleges LUDHIANA: An inter-house speech competition was organised on Friday at Mehta Gurukul Public Senior Secondary School, Doraha, to celebrate Gandhi Jayanti and pay a tribute to the “apostle of peace” Mahatma Gandhi. The competition was held in three different groups. The first group comprised classes III-V, the second group included classes VI-VIII and the third group had classes IX-XI. All participants spoke confidently. Their enthusiasm was clear on their faces. The results were declared immediately after the competition in which Manjot Kaur of Mercury House and Simranjot Kaur of Earth House stood first and second, respectively, from the first group. In the second group, Ramanjeet Kaur of Mercury House and Jaskaran Kaur of Earth House were declared first and second, respectively. In the third group, Komal Sharma of Earth House grabbed the first position while Harshita Srivastawa of Mars House stood second. Talent hunt
The Sportking Institute of Fashion Technology hosted an inter-college talent hunt competition on its premises on Friday. About 75 students from various colleges took part with great zeal and displayed their talents in flower arrangement, one-minute performance, junk to funk and T-shirt painting. Parveen Jothaniya, design director, Sobhagya Sales Private Limited, gave judgement on T-shirt painting and junk to funk. He said such extra curricular activities were necessary for overall development of students. A beautiful and entertaining cultural extravaganza presented by the students in one-minute performance kept the audience fixed to their seats.
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Truck operators air their anguish
Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 22 Rice sheller owner’s refusal to unload truckloads of paddy purchased by the procurement agencies, resulting in undue hold up of trucks triggered protest among activists of the truck operator unions, who were already unhappy over alleged lower transportation rates. A group of truck operators associated with the Pohir Truck Operators’ Union had threatened to stop shifting paddy bags from grain markets to various godowns at rice shellers of the area, till they were compensated for blocking their vehicles for no fault of theirs. Contrary to routine practice of getting materials unloaded within and hour or so, the rice sheller owners had made the truck operators wait for days together and then refused to receive the commodity. As responsibility of safety of the lifted produce lied on the truck operators they were forced to park the trucks at safe places according to availability and convenience. Having failed to convince officials to get their vehicles unloaded and compensation paid for the stale period, operators staged protest rally at Pohir village. Gurjit Singh Majri, president, Pohir Truck Operators’ Union, regretted that the authorities, instead of impressing upon the traders to obey their directions, were harassing operators by making them wait for days together. “Instead of making us bear the loss the officials should direct the traders to either receive the materials or refuse to work for the agencies,” argued Majri maintaining that the operators were not ready to continue working till fate of trucks loaded earlier was decided. Gora Lal Dhand, president, Rice Shellers’ Association, on other hand justified action of the traders rejecting consignments on merit basis. Alleging that standard of quality had been compromised during procurement; Dhand apprehended that the sheller owners would suffer huge losses in case they were forced to mill paddy, with higher moisture content and broken pieces.
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Beating up of youths
Khanna, October 22 They were taken to the local police station where a head constable and another cop abused them and beat them up. When the Valmiki Sabha came to know about this, they block traffic on the GT road in front of the local civil hospital. The blockade was lifted after senior p0olice officials assured them of a probe. The youths were admitted to the civil hospital. Valmiki Sabha leader Madan Lal Balu has demanded strict action against the policemen who beat up the youths.
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Paddy procurement: Inclement weather upsets farmers
Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 22 Rejection of the produce due to higher percentage of moisture, lack of colour and broken grains, which has lead to frequent boycotts and strikes by commission agents, have further aggravated farmers’ problems. Paddy brought to grain market yard at the local Jagera road and temporary purchase centres is likely to get damaged due to the absorption of moisture from soil and atmosphere if the weather worsens further. The inclement weather has upset farmers who were waiting for their produce to be procured by the government agencies or traders. As a few rice shellers have refused to unload truckloads of produce in their godowns on pretext of higher percentage of moisture, the commission agents at some grain markets have decided to boycott the procurement process. The commission agents were irritated, as they had been forced to hire plots to procure the paddy. Besides hitting their profit by way of rent, the fear contamination would degrade the quality of the produce. Farmers would also suffer loss due to the deduction in prices. The commission agents are also arranging for PVC sheets for protecting the produce from contamination and weather. Though it is the responsibility of officials of the market committee to provide concrete plots for dumping the produce, workers of commission agents have prepared open plots for the purpose. A few plots are located near the bank of Sirhind Canal, a few kilometers away from the main grain market.
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Youth Cong slams state govt, MC for bad roads
Ludhiana, October 22 Addressing a party workers meeting at Sekhewal in block number 3, DYC chief Dimple Rana came down heavily upon the civic administration for the pathetic condition of the city roads. He said a brief spell of heavy rain that the city had this afternoon, had inundated the entire road network, the sewerage system was choked and the badly potholed roads were further damaged due to waterlogging. Rather than making hollow claims of all-round development, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, and his other cabinet colleagues, ought to have visited the industrial capital of the state today to see the plight of the people who had to wade through two to three feet water on roads even several hours after the rain had stopped, he asserted. “The senior government functionaries and civic administration should hang their heads in shame for such poor civic amenities and infrastructure in the mega city which contributes maximum by way of local and other taxes,” the DYC president said. Among others present at the meeting were block president Shaminder Singh Waraich and delegate of the PPCC Tejinder Chahal.
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54 lakh mt tonnes of paddy procured
Ludhiana, October 22 Speaking on the problem of storage of grains in the state, Guru said they had already invited tenders for making warehouses to store 70 lakh mt tonnes of grains. He said the problems of the millers would be redressed at the earliest as the government was already deliberating on the issue from various perspectives.
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Community dairy farming: Changing face of Qila Raipur villages
Phallewal/ Majara, October 22 These rural women, from the heart of Punjab, are instrumental in bringing “TruMilk” (the recently introduced cow’s milk) in market. Each and every cow, in this venture, is owned by women entrepreneurs from these villages. Jassi Khangura, Qila Raipur MLA, the founder of MDVL, has taken the initiative to develop a community dairy infrastructure for enabling women empowerment. Spread over 2 to 8 acres in 12 villages, including Latala, Majara, Mukandpur, Purrain, Handoor and Aliwal each community dairy unit has a self-help group which takes care of cattle and clean their sheds for providing feed/fodder. Terming it as a move to offer entrepreneurship opportunities to rural women and to change rural landscape, Jassi Khangura said: “The project is already making a difference in the economic conditions of the marginal and landless farmers. It is also providing pure milk through hygienic procurement and transportation.” Each woman entrepreneur, aged between 28 and 55 years, gets bank loan to own five head of cow (HF breed). Milk taken out from these cows fetches them anything between Rs 6,000 and 7,000 per month. After paying their loan installments, medical expenses of cattle and other overhead expenditures from the total amount earned, each woman is able to save Rs 2,400. Manjit Kaur, who works at Phallewal Community Dairy Unit, said: “Making two ends meet was difficult for me after my husband’s death as my son’s salary was not enough to support the education of my two daughters. But things have become different ever since I became part of this venture. It has provided me financial security for lifetime,” she added.
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5 star hotel, retail outlet to open in city
Ludhiana, October 22 Radisson Hotel MBD will have an electrifying mix of fine dining options and specialty restaurants. A sophisticated health club, state-of-the art spa and fitness centre with trained therapists, private spa suites, salon, private dining rooms and a swimming pool will usher in a complete new lifestyle in the city. Brands which will set up their shops at MBD Neopolis are: Kids’ Entertainment Area by Fun City, World Food Lounge Gigabite, and a Hypermarket by Hypercity, a department store by Lifestyle, Mac, Ed Hardy, FCUK, Calvin Klein, L’occitane, Jack and Jones, Esprit, Tommy Hilfiger, Nike, Diesel, Alcott, Louis Phillip, Van Heusen, Levis, Gant, Ethos, Triumph, Mother care, U S Polo, JBL and Forest Essentials among others.
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Lifetime Achievement award for Hanumantha Rao
Ludhiana, October 22 Hanumantha Rao (86), who was born in a poor peasant family, is multi- dimensional personality. He worked as a journalist and later on joined Saradhi Studios and also acted in films with NT Rama Rao, before starting his printing unit Pragati Art Printers in 1962 with small letterpress printing machine. Pragati Offset is now considered to be the top printer of India and only third in world. With its offices at Hyderabad, Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata and New York, Pragati is catering the need of not only Indian but the International buyers also.
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In-laws booked for dowry
Payal, October 22 Her family provided all valuables at the time of the marriage. But, after sometime her in-laws started demanding more dowry and often used to threaten her of dire consequences if she failed to fulfill their demands. They even threatened to eliminate her. A case has been registered against her husband Rajinder Singh, father-in- law Jagdev Singh and mother-in-law Gurmail Kaur for harassing the girl for bringing more dowry.
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Gang of robbers busted
Phillaur, October 22 A .315 bore pistol, five cartridges, four sharp-edged weapons, six mobiles and other valuables were seized from the accused. The members of the gang confessed having committed several robberies Kapurthala and Jalandhar.
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Teacher booked for fraud
Khanna, October 22 He demanded Rs 24 lakh for sending them abroad. They gave Rs 4 lakh to Ajit Singh in advance. When his son Gurdeep Singh and daughter-in-law Amandeep Kaur went to embassy they were refused visa on the pretext that the fees had not been remitted with the authorities concerned.
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While college managements and educationists continue to deny the phenomenon, students, who are directly affected, say there is a drastic fall in the number of companies coming to the colleges for holding recruitment drives. 