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CPM workers hold Kirti Rally
Jalandhar, December 8
At the call of the CPM, Punjab, scores of workers, peasants, agriculture labourers, youth and women participated in a massive ‘Kirti Rally’, held here today against sky-rocketing prices, widespread unemployment, rampant corruption and increasing state repression.

Unauthorised beacon users challaned
Nawanshahr, December 8
On the directions of SSP Narinder Bhargav, the police has launched a special campaign to check the unauthorised use of red beacons atop vehicles. The city police, led by SHO Vinod Kumar, put up at a naka at the Chandigarh Chowk, here on Tuesday evening and intercepted vehicles using unauthorised red beacons.

Surprise Check
DC finds meal entries, employees missing
Nawanshahr, December 8
With a view to ensure proper attendance of the staff, as well as to bring in efficiency in the functioning of various government departments, Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh today conducted surprise inspections of Government Elementary Schools and anganwari centres at Bhagauran and Barwa villages and health centres at Langroya village in the district on Wednesday.

Newborn found abandoned
Jalandhar, December 8
In an unfortunate incident, a baby girl was abandoned by her mother within four hours of birth. The baby was noticed by passersby adjacent to a water channel in Golden Avenue Colony this morning. The news spread like wildfire following which the colony residents assembled at the spot and subsequently the police was informed.

Government toughens stand against quacks
Batala, December 8
The Punjab Government has empowered the chief medical officers and district magistrate of all districts through a notification to take action and launch prosecution against quacks, who call themselves doctors.

	ASSOCHAM proposal on industrial clusters evokes mixed response Amaninder Pal Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 8 The proposal of the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM), to set up various industrial clusters in the city, invited a mixed response from the respective quarters of the city’s industrialists. The suggestion to set up industrial clusters of sports goods, agricultural implements, leather tanning, leather footwear, surgical instruments and rubber goods in Jalandhar, was mooted in the “Development for Inclusive Growth in Punjab”, a study, recently compiled by the chamber. Sounding positive for any such project, industrialists hold the opinion that such a cluster would eventually help in value addition in the form of technology up-gradation and quality production. “The growth rate of the Jalandhar sports industry, which constitutes a major share of the sports goods export of the country, is melting off every year. Besides other things, the major reason behind this is lack of refined technology. This is the reason that the Jalandhar sports industry is lagging far behind the sports industry of Pakistan and China”, said Ravinder Dheer, a leading sports manufacturer of the city and founder president of the Sports Forum, Jalandhar. If such a cluster comes up, it would be a boon for the Jalandhar sports industry, which consists of over 400 registered sports manufacturer-cum-trading units, he added. He, however, said such a cluster should come up within the limits of the city to avoid high transportation and labour cost. Welcoming the recently mooted proposal for leather industry, Ajay Sharma, a city based leather manufacturer said if the government wants to set up a cluster in the leather segment, it should come up in the leather goods production and not in the tanning segment. “We are already processing raw leather here. The cluster should come up to provide techniques and training to manufacture leather goods from processed leather”, he said. He said besides setting up the cluster, the government should also give ear to the various demands of existing tanneries to imbibe more advanced techniques and training centres for the already operating leather tanneries. On the other hand, BB Jyoti, president, Punjab Rubber Goods Manufacturers’ Association, Jalandhar, said in the light of the hitches laid down by the government’s own concerned departments during the setting up of such clusters, the clusters would end up as sources of harassment for small industrialists. Past experiences are too bitter to evoke any positive response, especially in the mind of small industrialists. Moreover, the small industrialists don’t possess that much capital to invest their share and bear recurring costs for such clusters, he added.
	Army called in to put out fire at departmental store Goods worth Rs 1 crore gutted Tribune News Service Kapurthala, December 8 The district administration had to seek help from the Army to put out a major fire that broke out at a departmental store at Sarafan Bazaar here on Wednesday morning. The Army had to be called in as seven fire tenders from Kapurthala and nearby areas could not extinguish fire even after making relentless efforts for four hours. Water failed to control the fire as goods in the departmental store, mainly cosmetics, garments and other inflammable articles, were bursting like crackers. Nearly, 50 Army men with five tankers were pressed into service to douse the flames. Finally, the situation was brought under control at around 4 pm after putting in six hours of labour. Goods worth about Rs one crore was gutted in fire in a departmental store at Sarafan Bazaar here on Wednesday. Apart from Kapurthala, fire tenders were also called from Jalandhar, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Rail Coach Factory (RCF) and Kartarpur to put out the fire. Jalandhar, Division commissioner, SR Ladhar, ordered a magisterial inquiry into the firing incident soon after visiting the spot. SDM Satish Singla was asked to look into the fire incident and submit a report. He would recommend to the government to compensate the owner of Shiv Departmental Store after the loss was determined, he added. Ladhar arranged fire tenders from Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Amritsar and even contacted local Station Brigadier for the services of the Army to extinguish the fire. The owner of the four storied Shiv Departmental Store said he noticed a smoke in the upper portion of the building and immediately called the fire tenders. The flames spread into the departmental store in no minutes and he and his employees saved their lives by coming out of the departmental store, he added. Blaming the Fire Department of the Kapurthala Municipal Council for delay in extinguishing the fire, he said that the local fire tenders took one hour in refilling the water tank from the pumps which were also out of order. SDM Satish Singla and MC EO Gurvinder Kaur supervised the entire extinguishing operation.
	CPM workers hold Kirti Rally Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 8 At the call of the CPM, Punjab, scores of workers, peasants, agriculture labourers, youth and women participated in a massive ‘Kirti Rally’, held here today against sky-rocketing prices, widespread unemployment, rampant corruption and increasing state repression. The rallyists, who came from all corners of the state, thronged the Desh Bhagat Yadgar Complex, which was filled to the brim well before noon. The rally was presided over by a presidium comprising Comrades Amarjit Singh Kular, Trilochan Singh Rana, Kulwant Singh Sandhu, Dr Satnam Singh Ajnala and Gajjan Singh Duggan. Several speakers, including Comrade Mangat Ram Pasla state secretary, Harkanwal Singh, Raghbir Singh, Rattan Singh Randhawa, Gurnam Singh Daud, Bodh Singh Ghuman, Inderjit Singh Grewal and Pargat Singh Jamarai, all members of the state secretariat of the party, addressed the rally and highlighted the problems being faced by people because of the new liberal policies of the central as well as state governments. They also condemned the communal and separatist forces, which are indulging in disruptive machinations and are thus mounting a danger for the unity and integrity of the country. Addressing the rally, Comrade Mangat Ram Pasla severely criticised the UPA government for entering into a strategic alliance with the imperialists, who pose a grave threat to the security and economy of our country. He said the ‘Wikileaks’ exposures have amply brought forward the nefarious designs of the American imperialists in this direction. He lambasted the unholy nexus between leaders of the ruling parties, corrupt bureaucrats and corporates which are jointly swindling away billions of rupees from the state exchequer and are brazenly looting the natural resources of the country.
	Unauthorised beacon users challaned Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, December 8 On the directions of SSP Narinder Bhargav, the police has launched a special campaign to check the unauthorised use of red beacons atop vehicles. The city police, led by SHO Vinod Kumar, put up at a naka at the Chandigarh Chowk, here on Tuesday evening and intercepted vehicles using unauthorised red beacons. The public virtually rejoiced at the special operation, as unauthorised users of red beacons were seen explaining about their political clout and trying to contact their political mentors on mobile phone to convince cops about their identity. However, the cops on duty remained quite calm and removed the red beacons from the vehicles of erring owners, challaning them and ignoring all efforts by them to put pressure on cops. As many as five vehicles were challaned for using unathorised red beacons and three vehicles for using black films on vehicles’ windows.
	Surprise Check DC finds meal entries, employees missing Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, December 8 With a view to ensure proper attendance of the staff, as well as to bring in efficiency in the functioning of various government departments, Deputy Commissioner Shruti Singh today conducted surprise inspections of Government Elementary Schools and anganwari centres at Bhagauran and Barwa villages and health centres at Langroya village in the district on Wednesday. The DC examined the registers and records. At the anganwari centre, Bhagauran, the DC found no entry in the registers regarding what was served to the children on December 6 and 7. At the anganwari centre, Barwa, Rewal Kaur, anganwari worker, was found absent and no entry of the food served to the children from November 30 to December 7 was found in the register. The DC asked the CDPO to take stern action against the errant anganwari workers. Caption : Deputy Commissioner, Shruti Singh conducts sudden inspection in Nawanshahr district on Wednesday.
	Newborn found abandoned Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 8 In an unfortunate incident, a baby girl was abandoned by her mother within four hours of birth. The baby was noticed by passersby adjacent to a water channel in Golden Avenue Colony this morning. The news spread like wildfire following which the colony residents assembled at the spot and subsequently the police was informed. Sukhpal Singh, Station House Officer, Police Division No 7, said the baby was wrapped in a blanket and seemed to have abandoned by her mother in the morning. Since the baby was not feeling well, she was admitted to the local Civil Hospital where her condition is stable. The SHO said the police had started collecting data of pregnant women admitted at various government hospital and private maternity homes, located in the area, to identify the mother. A case under Section 317 of the IPC has been registered against the unidentified parents for abandoning the girl child.