Ludhiana, December 5
Already grappling with the problem of air and water pollution, the dust clouds emanating from the dug up roads engulf the city, thereby adding to the health problems of city residents.

Respiratory diseases like bronchial asthma and allergic problems including rhinitis, conjunctivitis, and dermatitis are on the rise due to the dust. The authorities concerned and the contractors engaged in the work are indifferent to the issue.

A study conducted in Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) in 2009 reveals that cities and towns with higher levels of air pollution have high incidence of cardiac diseases.

Ludhiana having been declared as the most polluted city of Punjab by the Central Pollution Control Board is already witnessing a surge in the number of cardiac patients as is evident from the OPDs in all city hospitals. Bronchial asthma is the most common chronic condition of childhood, which has emerged as a challenge for city paediatricians.

Ludhiana, December 5
Lack of proper planning and vested interests of civic officials, along with their habit of delaying work on various development projects in the city, are the major factors due to which residents have to suffer when any work begins.

It is unfortunate most of the projects are undertaken by the municipal corporation not for the welfare of residents but to serve the interests of politicians, contractors and even civic officials themselves. In many such cases either the statutory regulations are ignored or are bent to extend largesse to a select bunch of contractors.

For the MC it does not appear to matter if important files on some ambitious projects that have been stalled go missing. The fact that a large number of corrupt officials are at the helm of its affairs also seems irrelevant.

The result is that faulty plans for project are drawn up, which are inaugurated without any proper surveys and studies and then stalled after spending huge amounts of funds. However, there seems to be no accountability with no action taken against those responsible for blunders.

Civic officials do not appear to be bothered about the misery faced by residents living in localities along the ‘nullah’ (stream) from the Dukh Niwaran gurdwara to Shingar cinema after the contractor had left the work in between after drawing more then Rs 1 crore from the civic exchequer. In the same manner there is no account of problems faced by residents due to the stalling of the work on Lakkar Pul rail overbridge for over a decade.

Delays in the construction of an elevated road near the Clock Tower, the flyover at Gill Chowk, the ramp at Jagraon bridge and many

other ambitious projects are just minor affairs for MC officials. Even the siphoning of more then Rs 16 crore to a blue eyed contractor for the incomplete stadium at Pakhowal does not awakes the conscience of civic officials as they simply believe in their own words according to which people have to face minor sufferings due to the developmental works. But most officials fumble for words when they are asked why proper a proper study is not conducted before launching a project.

The MC officials have no answer as to why work on covering a ‘nullah’ and laying down sewage pipes in Janakpuri were started, only to be disbanded later after a huge amount of money was spent in the process.

Similarly they do not have answer as to why the indoor stadium was started even though the Sports Authority of India had not approved the project.

Unfortunately the civic body has not learnt lessons from its mistakes in the past and the attitude of most officials towards development projects remains apathetic. However, local MLA Harish Rai Dhanda, who is also chief parliamentary secretary of the local bodies department, feels the civic body needs to review its manner of functioning.

“There’s lack of coordination among various MC departments and the ultimate result is that people have to suffer. We’re working on a new procedure to bring about some major changes in the MC’s functioning”, he added.

When contacted, senior deputy mayor Praveen Bansal admitted there had been flaws in implementing some projects in the past. “However, the shortcomings have been largely rectified and now projects are being completed within the stipulated timeframe. We know people have to face a lot of problems so it’s our duty to complete the projects in time”, he claimed.

Ludhiana, December 5
Five police officials of the city have been arrested by the Delhi Police for helping Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA)-accused flee after attending a hearing in a case.

The five cops, including line officer Chamkaur Singh, were nabbed for preparing fake court summons.

However, the police remained tightlipped and refused to divulge any detail pertaining to the arrest by the Delhi police.

Sources in the department said the five cops were running the racket of making fake summons. The cops struck a deal with the criminals and used to take them along by showing fake summons in the jail.

The Delhi Police also arrested Vipin Sharma (34) and his brother-in-law Aman Alam (26). The duo was charged under MCOCA for running an illegal immigration racket.

The duo managed to rope in the accused cops to create fake production warrants and escaped. However, the special cell of the Delhi Police managed to nab the duo, 10 days after their disappearing act on November 6.

According to the Delhi police, the accused were allegedly planning to fly to the USA illegally via Guatemala and Mexico. The team of ACP LN Rao arrested Sharma and Alam from the airport and GT Karnal Road Bypass, respectively, on November 6. Police sources said that the Special Cell had also arrested them six months ago for running the fake visa racket.

It has been learnt that a four-member special investigation team (SIT) was formed to probe the issue. After conducting and inquiry into the matter, SIT found the involvement of the cops in the escape bid of the criminal.

"Both accused were arrested on charges of duping people and illegally sending them to the US through South American countries. They were also booked under MCOCA as they were doing an organised crime on a large scale. The special MCOCA court of Tis Hazari had ordered the accused to continue in Tihar Jail but somehow they managed to move to Ludhiana Jail despite court orders. This might have been part of their plan to escape. And on the October 31, they produced forged production warrants and got away," said a police officer.

It is learnt that these five cops took the duo away by showing fake production warrants. The police said Sharma was involved in 23 cases of cheating, forgery, criminal breach of trust, attempt to murder and wrongful confinement registered at various police stations in Delhi, Haryana and Punjab.

Both accused managed to fax fake documents from Delhi and conned the jail officers. Vipin arranged a forged production warrant of Tis Hazari court, Delhi of November 1 and Aman forged the documents of November 2.

The Delhi police was suspicious about the role of cops who had taken the duo from Central Jail, Ludhiana, by showing fake documents. Later the cops disappeared. They were trying to flee the country. Vipin Sharma went to Mumbai, while his brother-in-law Aman stayed in Delhi. The duo hired an agent Narinder to escape to the US via Mexico. Narinder runs an immigration consultancy, named Carrier Krafter Immigration in Ludhiana.

Sources said senior police officials got to know about the matter and suspended the cops.

Despite repeated attempts, Deputy Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh was not available for comments.

ACP Bhupinder Singh confirmed the development and said he had yet to get details.

Ludhiana, December 5
About 70 "guest faculty" lecturers with PhD or MPhil degrees who have cleared the UGC NET exam and are teaching in two government run colleges in the city will be paid Rs 2,000 at most as salary for December! This is because they will get only 4-5 days' salary for this month as examinations are set to begin.

Besides, the lecturers have been "temporarily relieved" until January 15 due to the Panjab University winter-break, which means they not get 15 days' salary next month too, due to the state government’s policies that continue to exploit well-qualified teachers in need of jobs.

These guest faculty teachers have the same tasks and responsibilities as the “permanent” college lecturers and professors, who are paid nothing less than Rs 50,000 a month. They teach important subjects including history, Punjabi, English, biology and political science to students. However, they are also paid an "honorarium" of Rs 175 per hour. Most of them have been teaching in colleges for the past 5 or 6 years.

Narinder Singh (name changed), one such guest faculty lecturer at SCD Government College here, said: "I come from Khanna and the daily bus fare is Rs 80. What more can I say? We’re a frustrated lot and our exploitation by the government is painful. I have cleared the UGC NET exam. Words can’t express how my father worked-hard to provide me with a good education and, when it’s time to repay him, I can’t do anything ", he said.

As if their pitifully meager salaries were not enough, the guest lecturers’ teaching experience will also not be taken into account if they apply for

a government job. "I’m working here for the past 5 years. Like any other permanent lecturer, I take four-classes daily but the experience of a guest faculty teacher isn’t counted by the state government. According to UGC norms, ad hoc lecturers should be paid consolidated salaries of about Rs 21,000. However, the state government, trying to act smart and play safe, has changed our designations from ad hoc lecturers to guest faculty. The government doesn’t pay us a single penny - we’re being paid by colleges through the parents-teachers' association (PTA) fund. By halting recruitment of college lecturers in the state the government may be saving crores of rupees but will the problem of unemployed teachers will worsen", said Mohit Kumar (not real name), another guest faculty lecturer at Government College for Women.

These well-qualified teachers, when they work throughout the month, make about Rs 10,000 but are are paid a maximum monthly salary of only Rs 7,000.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
The public works department, roads and bridges (PWD B and R) has failed to take steps for preventing vehicular accidents due to faulty road dividers and unauthorised gaps created by public on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road that is being four-laned these days.

The tendency, if allowed to continue, could turn into a death trap due to frequent blanket of smog and approaching foggy seasons.

What to talk of preventing unauthorised creation of gaps in central divider on the road, the authorities did not bother to fill the gap that was created to facilitate diversion of traffic during the Deputy Chief Minister’s visit at Rohira village recently.

A few centrelines, which were once marked on two-lane roads, are now proving hazardous as these lead to road dividers at many places. Instead of helping the drivers to steer their vehicles safely, these lines can lead them to death traps waiting in the form of dividers.

Obstruction due to dumping of building material and dug out earth at various places has compounded the problem further, but the authorities concerned continue to be indifferent towards clearing the path. Numerous accidents were reported during past few weeks.

While it is mandatory for the maintenance staff to ensure that central verge is not broken at high speed areas, a majority of them seemed to have ignored the guidelines, leaving the travellers at the mercy of the nature.

Roadside dhabas, filling stations, educational institutes, religious places and factories besides localities situated near the highway are places where dividers have been broken illegally.

Regrettably organisers of an SAD conference on the occasion of foundation laying ceremony for Ghallughara Memorial at Rohira had got the divider broken at some places for convenience of activists of the party a few weeks ago. One of them is proving more hazardous as it is situated near a curve and drain bridge. Residents of the area have urged the authorities to take remedial steps to avoid accidents.

Ludhiana, December 5
The recent decision of the Local Bodies Department to handover the work of e-tendering to a private firm has raised many eyebrows, with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation councillors questioning the processing fee being charged by the private firm conducting the process.

In a recent decision, the state government started the e-tendering process in the MC and hired a private firm for the purpose. The firm will be charging 0.05 per cent of the total project cost for conducing the e-tendering process. However, councillors have started raising fingers on the decision as they feel the company will be earning huge profits without giving anything to the civic body.

BJP councillor Indrejeet Singh Kaka had raised the issue with Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal in a meeting held a few days back. Kaka rued that as the contractors had been asked to pay afresh to enlist their companies and the payment is to be given by the MC, then what is the need of processing charges. He said that due to the clause, the company would be earning crores from the MC in lieu of various developmental works but it would not pay even a single penny to the civic body. He said the MC should raise the matter with the Local Bodies Minister for getting a share in the income from the processing fee.

Similarly, Congress councillor Parminder Mehta said if the company was charging fee on MC projects, then it should also give something to the civic body. “We cannot allow anyone to earn money from the civic body without giving anything to it. We will raise the matter in the next General House meeting of the MC,” he said.

When contacted, Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal admitted that councillors were opposing the government’s decision. He said the MC would take up the matter with the Local Bodies Department.

Ludhiana, December 5
District administration’s lack of will to mobilise and initiate the “Greening of Budha Nallah” campaign has disillusioned a city NGO, which has been keen on contributing towards decreasing the hazards of the drain.

The Punjab Youth Forum, a city-based NGO working for various environmental issues, despite having tried hard to give a thrust to the “greening project” on the sides of the nullah has failed to wake up the authorities concerned.

The drain with its ever-increasing contribution to water and land pollution is an eyesore for city residents.

Following the directions of the PPCB, the district administration had initiated the project almost a year ago. The district forest officer (DFO) was asked to conduct interviews of NGOs and the names were also shortlisted for the same. But before things could be finalised, the ADC (D), who was the in-charge of the project, was transferred. Thereafter, the DFO, too, was transferred, thereby sealing the fate of the project. On the project, a senior official said it proposed to carry out plantation on both sides of the drain, right from its origin to the point of its merger with the Sutlej.

The drain originates from Mattewara and merges with the Sutlej near Vallipur village, around 20 km from Ludhiana.

Ranjit Rai, a senior member of the Punjab Youth Forum, said plantation on either side of the nullah would not only provide relief to people living in the adjoining colonies from stench but also give a fresh look to the otherwise filthy surroundings.

“Our organisation had been shortlisted and we had made all preparations to initiate the process but now we have learned that the whole process of shortlisting of NGOs will be rescheduled under the new ADC (D),” lamented Rai.

The NGO activists opined that the administration should expedite the procedure as it concerned the health of city residents.

Newspaper offices get plenty of press releases of various colours, shapes and sizes every day. Many of these are very well written and reporters hardly make much effort to send these for publication. But there are some in which there is no news. Despite trying again and again, reporters fail to understand what message they want to convey to readers. A person came to deliver press note of a seminar organised recently in an organisation. It mentioned names of 56 persons, many of whom were keynote speakers, guests of honour, dignitaries and office-bearers etc. There was no topic on which these people spoke. When the reporter called up the organisers to get more details about the seminar, the person on phone replied: "Madam, who reads the topic or objective? The seminar was well attended by all. We are interested in reading our names, so mention as much as you can.”

Ludhiana, December 5
The eagerly awaited beauty pageant based on Punjabi culture, Miss World Panjaban-2010, will be unveiled to audience at Ludhiana and will be telecasted throughout the world live on December 18.

This pageant will be presented by “Sabhyacharak Sathh Panjab and PTC Punjabi.

Giving this information in the press release, Jasmer Singh Dhatt, founder chairman of the organisation, and Rajiee M Shinde, COO, PTC Punjabi, told four rounds, beauty, health, general knowledge, household work and personal talent, were conducted at Mohali.

The following girls are selected on merit basis after semifinals, Amandeep Bhambra, Miss Hoshiarpur; Harsimran Kaur, Miss Spain; Harminder Kaur Arora, Miss Ludhiana; Manpreet Gill, Miss Kolkata Panjaban; Navreet Kaur, Miss USA Panjaban first runner-up; Amandeep Kaur, Miss Delhi Panjaban; Gurpreet Kaur Aulakh, Miss Chandigarh; Rajnish Kaur, Miss Gurdaspur; Monica Singh, Miss Italy Panjaban; Parneet Kaur Kunder, Miss Patiala; Arshpreet Kaur, Miss Mohali; Navneet Kaur Waraich, Miss Haryana Panjaban; Harpreet Kaur Johal, Miss Ropar; Arshdip Kaur Gosal, Miss Canada Panjaban; Karampal Mand, Miss USA Pabjaban; Simranjit Kaur Gurian, Miss Mumbai Panjaban; Barinder Kaur, Miss Muktsar; and Tina Singh from Australia.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
Activists and office bearers of various religious and social organisations vowed to foil sinister designs of anti-social elements who had tried to disrupt peace and harmony of the town by damaging three idols installed at Sitla Mata Mandir here two days ago.

An oath was taken in response to a call made by the administration, led by SDM, Malerkotla, Gurlovleen Singh Sidhu and DSP, Amargarh, Gurpreet Singh Sikand.

Responding to a call made by Sadhu and Sikand, office bearers and activists of various organisations, including the Gaushala Committee, Shree Ram Mandir Committee, Luxmi Narayan Seva Dal, Sat Narayan Mandir, Geeta Bhawan, Har Har Mahadev Sewa Sangh, Shri Radha Krishan Gaushala Kaind and Shiv Mandir, undertook to maintain peace and tranquillity of the region at any cost.

Realising that anti-social elements had no religion and sentiments, the office bearers called upon the residents to assist the administration in identifying suspects who had damaged the idols of Shiv Parivar at Sitla Mata Mandir on Friday night.

Earlier, addressing the all-party meeting organised to resolve the issue, Sidhu and Sikand assured the gathering that strict action would be taken against those found guilty of religious sacrilege. Urging the activists and officers to help the administration maintain peace, the officials sought help in establishing sequence of events leading to damage of the idols.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
Cautioning against the alleged exploitation of the RTI Act at the hands of anti-social elements, teachers of the region called upon office-bearers of social and political organisations to come to the rescue of those public servants who had been harassed unnecessarily.

Appeal was made during a seminar on “RTI - Empowerment to the citizens” at Government Degree College, Karamsar.

Acknowledging that the Act was meant for empowering people of the nation, speakers, including Kuldip Singh of Government College for Women, Ludhiana, Gurjinder Singh Chahal, Nirmal Singh and Harmit Kaur regretted that the common man was still unaware of the most powerful tool carved for safeguarding his interests.

On the contrary, a large number of persons with vested interest succeeded in exploiting the Act to settle score with their targets in the administration.

Speakers cited many instances wherein some self-styled social activists and office-bearers of human rights organisations had extorted huge amounts from those officials who were least concerned with the functioning of particular sections of government and quasi-government departments.

Highlighting various avenues of the Act, the speakers stressed the need for understanding that the provision had been allowed to curb corrupt practices and bring transparency in the working of various government departments and not to harass public servants.

Condemning the abuse of the Act at the hands of dubious persons, Parkash Singh and Har Gur Partap Singh urged participants to come to the rescue of those officials who had been victimised at the hands of blackmailers.

Arun Pal regretted that overzealous government officials, who in an attempt to serve society in a better way, had to pay for going beyond their jurisdiction.

Students showed keen interest in the seminar and a large number of them participated in discussion during an interactive phase.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
The Director-General, School Education (DGSE), has directed all district education officers (DEOs) to ensure that none of the employees associated with teaching of subjects like mathematics, English and science should be deployed by the civil administration for non-teaching tasks like census duty etc.

Maintaining that census duties were decided while keeping in view the directions of the apex court of India, the civil authorities said any anomaly brought into their notice would be removed after reviewing the cases.

Investigations by the Ludhiana Tribune revealed that a large number of teachers posted at various government schools of the region had been deployed on the census duty and as BLOs. The deployed teachers included mathematics, English and science teachers, besides members of mathematics master trainer, English master trainer, science master trainer, besides district science supervisor teams.

The tendency, besides affecting general education in routine, affected the projects launched to impart quality education to students of the government schools.

Perusal of records revealed that the Director General (school education) had taken serious notice of the deployment of teachers undertaking special duties associated with projects for improving quality of education in government schools.

It was observed that a large number of assistant election registration officers-cum-block development officers had included science and mathematics teachers in the lists of employees deputed for census duty. Some of these teachers were performing duty as master trainer in their respective subjects. Still others, who are members of the district trainer teams and district science supervisor, have been continuously monitoring schools, according to predetermined schedule.

Apprehending that the tendency if allowed to continue will affect the progress of improvement of education standards in schools, the DG has now directed all DEOs and district science supervisors to get the duties cancelled at their own level.

“You are advised to ensure that the district mathematics coordinators, district English coordinators, district science coordinators, English master trainers, district science supervisors and members of their teams if deployed in census duty or as BLO should be exempted at your own level,” reads the communication received at the offices of DEOs of the region.

Investigations revealed that getting election duty exempted had been a tough task for a common man during the past years. Those seeking exemption had to shuttle between various offices at the sub-division and district level to the work done. This is the first time that the authorities in the education department have taken firm stand on the issue.

Ludhiana, December 5
The annual conference of the Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists, national symposium and CL Davis Foundation satellite seminar and first annual convention of the Indian College of Veterinary Pathologists (ICVP) were held at the department of veterinary pathology, College of Veterinary Science, Assam Agricultural University, Guwahati, Assam, recently.

In this congregation, three scientists, including Dr NK Sood, professor and head, department of veterinary pathology; Dr CK Singh, professor department of veterinary pathology; and Dr Bhupinder Singh Sandhu, associate professor, department of veterinary pathology, GADVASU, participated.

The team won the Savithree Jibachch Sinha Best Poster Award for their work entitled “Histochemical detection of rabies in skin”.

It is a new work started by the department, which helps in ante-mortem detection of rabies i.e. before the death of animal resulting in constituting early preventive measures against the disease i.e. post exposure vaccination.

In the national symposium, Dr Sood presented a lead paper entitled “Clinico-pathological aspects of canine models of human breast cancer” in the session “Molecular pathology and oncology”.

Dr Sood also chaired a session on “Environmental and toxic pathology” during the symposium. The area of employing animal models for human diseases is an upcoming field having wide ramifications for finding new therapeutic strategies against human diseases, including cancers, as it saves a lot of money and avoids direct testing of drugs and toxic chemicals in humans. The conference proved to be a great learning experience and highly fruitful for GADVASU scientists.

Ludhiana, December 5
Technologies like rotary maize sheller and banana comb cutter attracted heavy rush of visitors to the stall of the Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology during the CII AGRO-TECH 2010 going on at Chandigarh. The exhibition, where both Indian and foreign manufacturers from private and public sectors have turned up, will continue till December 6.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) institutes, including Central Soil and Water Conservation Research and Training Institute, Dehradun and Central Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal, are also displaying their technologies. “We have participated in various exhibitions, but never saw such rush of people enquiring about technologies of CIPHET,” said technical officer of CIPHET OP Moondan, adding that farmers/entrepreneurs were especially interested to know about post harvest technologies as they think that it could be the only way to help increase their income substantially.

Saying that thousands of visitors were arriving every day, Moondan said farmers were enquiring more about rotary maize sheller, banana comb cutter, evaporative cooled room, basket centrifuge and value added ready-to-eat vegetable blended meat products.

HK Lakhra, who grows bananas in Assam, said banana comb cutter would help him a lot. “I would like to purchase number of banana comb cutters as it saves time and also assures safety of our labourers,” he added. While AK Sharma, food technologist from Himachal Pradesh, showed interest in basket centrifuge, Jagdish Singh, a farmer from Patiala, was interested in evaporative cooled room developed for on-farm storage. Recently, standardised technology of ready-to-eat blended meat products, which could be produced by using vegetables and meat products, was also explained to farmers. Director, CIPHET, Dr RT Patil and head (transfer of technology), CIPHET, Dr Deepak Raj Rai said farmers were now showing more interest in processing to increase their income rather than solely focusing on production. — TNS

Ludhiana, December 5
Dr Amarjit Singh, deputy director, Punjab Veterinary Vaccine Institute, PAU, Ludhiana, Punjab government, has been elected member of the Punjab in Veterinary Council of India (VCI) for three years. The council is a statutory body established under the Ministry of Agriculture of the Government of India under Indian Veterinary Council Act, 1984 (52 of 1984).

Dr Amarjit had joined as field veterinary officer in 1976 after graduating from the PAU. Dr VK Taneja Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, congratulated him on winning the election.

Ludhiana, December 5
The Internal Audit Standards Board of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) organised a seminar on internal audit and risk management.

The seminar was aimed to help members working in the industry as well as in achieving and sustaining their competitive edge in the area of internal audit.

The topics discussed included internal audit report writing, computer assisted audit techniques, risk-based internal audit and fraud detection.

Raj Kumar Adukia, central council member and chairman, Internal Audit Standard Board, ICAI, said the internal audit was undergoing significant changes in migrating from a reactive, historically focused function to a proactive group that took a risk-based focus today.

Internal audit function is being looked upon to assume a leadership role in assessing and managing their strategic risks, adding value to the organisation and identifying operational improvement opportunity.

Ludhiana, December 5
Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Mukal Mudgal yesterday presided over a conference on “Present Arbitration Regime: A legal prospective”. He said, “Unfortunately, the concept of arbitration has not achieved success in our country.”

It has been observed that an arbitrator appointed by a company favours that party only. Justice Hemant Gupta, Punjab and Haryana High Court, also spoke on the occasion.

Additional Sessions Judges Mohd Gulzar and Arunvir Vashist were of the opinion that in arbitral proceedings, independence, neutrality and impartiality played an important role.

Mullanpur Dakha, December 5
Three years after a woman of Leel village was allegedly duped of ` 11 lakh by a gang of notorious travel agents, the local police has registered an FIR under Sections 420 and 406 of IPC against four suspects.

The case was registered on the recommendations of the Senior Superintendent of Police Ludhiana (Rural). However, no arrest has been made so far.

The accused have been identified as Davinder Singh of Mukerian in Hoshiarpur district, Balvir Singh of Sohian near Jagraon, Binder Singh, alias Pappi, of Philaur and his brother Manga.

Investigations revealed that Baljit Kaur of Leel village had allegedly been duped of ` 11 lakh on pretext of sending her to England three years back. The victim had borrowed a major part of money from moneylenders on exorbitant rates of interest and rest from her friends and relatives. She was taken to various offices in New Delhi and other cities to convince her that her case was being processed on priority. Baljit Kaur became suspicious when the accused stopped receiving her telephone calls. They ultimately refused to entertain her and also declined to return her money a few months back.

Baljit lodged a complaint with SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Gursharan Singh Sandhu who got the case investigated. Finding a prima facie case in the complaint, the SSP directed the SHO, Dakha, to initiate action against the suspects after registering a case. 

Ludhiana, December 5
BCM Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar branch, bagged the overall trophy in the Ludhiana Sahodaya School Complex (LSSC) Tae kowon do Tournament held at BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road, today.

Spring Dale Public School, Sherpur Chowk, and hosts BCM Senior Secondary School, Chandigarh road, secured second and third positions, respectively.

Manager, BCM Schools, SK Mehta inaugurated the tournament. Paramjeet Kaur, principal of BCM Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, was the chief guest at the prize distribution function. She along with principal of the host school DP Guleria gave away prizes and to the winners.

Ludhiana, December 5
More than 100 participants took part in the 17th edition of Mr Ludhiana Bodybuilding Competition organised by the Ludhiana Amateur Bodybuilding and Fitness Association (LABBFA) under the aegis of Punjab Amateur Bodybuilding Association at Luxmi Narayan Mandir, adjoining DAV School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, here today.

Parminder Singh and Brijesh Kaushal, both national judges, supervised the aspirants and adjudged the winners. Chief organiser, Dr Deepak Prashar, PP Khullar and Ravi Prashar, president and general secretary, respectively, of the LABBFA were present on the occasion.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 5
Platinum edition of the Kila Raipur Rural Sports Festival, popularly known as Rural Olympics, will be organised at Grewal Sports Association Stadium, Kila Raipur, from February 3 to February 6. This was stated by Gur Sandeep Singh, president, Grewal Sports Association.

Param Jit Singh Grewal, secretary of the association, said the main attraction of the four-day festival would be the Bhagwant Gold Cup Hockey Tournament, both for men and juniors, air pistol shooting, cycling, track, field and equestrian events, tent pegging and the tug-of-war. Besides this, the traditional rural sport events like bullock cart, camel and dogs races, sack lifting and team events like kabaddi would also be organised.

Nihang Sikhs would also display their traditional games and sports like trick- horse riding, ‘gatka’ and sword fight. The winners of various events would get attractive cash and other prizes.

First three position holders in each athletics event will receive Rs 5,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000, respectively. The main event will be followed by dog race and pigeon fight competitions on February 8.Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal has already sanctioned Rs 10 lakh grant for the event.