Ludhiana, December 10
Tremendous academic pressure forced the two pre-teenagers, 11 year-old Kajal and 12 year-old Sneha, both students of Class VI, to run away from home.

The students of BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School, who were feared to have been abducted from outside their school last afternoon, were recovered from Haridwar in the wee hours today. Police said Kajal and Sneha were facing extreme pressure from both home and school to perform well in studies.

"Unable to cope up with the demands of education and parental expectations, the girls decided to run away to a place where they would not have to face any pressure from teachers and parents," said a police source.

Giving details, investigating officer and in-charge of the bus stand police station, Inspector Surjit Singh Nagra, said, "The girls were good friends and had made all the plans in advance. They were even carrying clothes in their school bags to facilitate their escape after school hours."

Police sources added that after their day in school got over yesterday, the girls went to the bus station and waited for a few hours after which they boarded a Haridwar-bound bus late in the evening.

"Kajal and Sneha reached Haridwar in the wee hours today but were detected by a local police patrol. Both the girls were in their school uniform at that time and were found roaming about aimlessly in a colony," added Nagra.

He added that the girls' young age and their school uniforms coupled with the odd hours of their discovery aroused the suspicion of the police party.

Nagra went on to add, "The police party questioned the girls but they refused to divulge any details. However, later when the police pressurised them, the girls finally revealed that they belonged to Ludhiana."

The police party then informed the girls' parents who immediately left for Haridwar. The parents later informed the city police of the girls' whereabouts.

Police officials said both the girls belonged to middle-class families. Kajal's father, Aman Behl, works at the Verka Milk Plant and Sneha's father, Dharminder Pal, runs his own cycle-parts business located on Gill Road.

Meanwhile, the police was waiting for the girls and their parents to return from Haridwar. Police officials said any further details in the case would be unraveled only after the girls and their parents reached the city. "They are on their way to Ludhiana," informed Nagra at the filing of this report.

Meanwhile, the school authorities could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

Ludhiana, December 10
The department of health and family welfare, Punjab, has closed “Jan Aushadhi,” a generic drug store on the premises of Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, following the orders issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The drug store has been in controversies ever since Punjab Health Minister Laxmikanta Chawla opened it in June 2008.

The Jan Aushadhi drug stores, which was opened in various districts of the state, are a joint venture of the Punjab Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, Government of India.

These 24x 7 drug stores were opened to promote the sale of generic medicines on 20 to 90 per cent discount to the needy people, as they cannot afford to buy branded medicines available at most of the drug stores outside the hospital.

But soon after its opening, patients started complaining about the storekeeper, who was found selling medicines on price higher than the MRP.

The glucose bottle, which was priced for Rs 17.68, is being sold at Rs 18 and Rs 20 at Jan Aushadhi store,” a complainant added.

The “doctor’s samples” were also sold to the patients against the prescriptions. The district president of the Small Scale Industries’ Association had lodged a complaint in 2009 for having been sold a glucose bottle with instructions “not for sale.” He had alleged that he had gone to buy medicines for his ailing relative who was undergoing treatment at the Civil Hospital wherein he was sold the medicine from the hospital supply.

So much so that the tags bearing the information about the manufacturing date, batch number, date of expiry and other important details were torn before being sold at this counter.

The hospital authorities, during the repeated raids conducted at Jan Aushadhi earlier this year, established the fact that the medicines from the hospital’s supply to be provided to the patients

free of cost were being “smuggled” out to the Jan Aushadhi and were sold to patients / attendants.

But the storekeeper filed a writ petition against the department of health and family welfare in the High Court. The court ordered the closure of the store and asked the department to conduct a detailed inquiry following the submission of the report to the court.

The storekeeper was selling branded drugs worth Rs 3 lakh every month while the sale of generic drugs was restricted to Rs 50,000 per month, a senior doctor added.

Though action has been taken against the Jan Aushadhi store and its keeper, but the department of health and family welfare has failed to bring to the task the “staff” guilty of smuggling medicines meant for the hospital.

Dr Yashpal Mehta, the officiating civil surgeon, said he could not comment on the issue as the matter was sub judice.

Ludhiana, December 10
The regional passport office (RPO), operating under the external affairs ministry in the city since last August, will now accept applications for ‘tatkaal’ (instant) passports.

Referred to as the ‘passport seva kendra’ (PSK), the office is located at Akashdeep Complex located near Preet Palace cinema and is being maintained by Tata Consultancy Services. In addition to catering to residents of Ludhiana district, the PSK is also serving Jagraon, Khanna and Moga districts.

Under the ‘tatkaal’ scheme applicants who require passports within one to seven days of filing their applications have to deposit an additional ` 1,500 along with the passport fee of ` 1,000 while those who want the passports within 8-14 days need to pay only ` 1,000 extra.

While the passports will still be issued by the Chandigarh office all the formalities will be completed at the local office, obviating the need for applicants to go to Chandigarh.

Vipul Kumar, regional passport officer in Chandigarh, said applications for passports under the ‘tatkaal’ scheme would be accepted at the PSK office in Ludhiana, which the applicants should visit after registering and taking an appointment online.

City residents welcomed the news with many saying the facility of submission of applications for passports under the ‘tatkaal’ scheme would not only save time but also make the process easier.

Opined Darpan, an IT professional: "People often have to miss out on important family functions of their close relations living overseas as they can't spare the time to go to Chandigarh to apply for passports under the ‘tatkaal’ scheme. But things will now be easier with the facility available at the PSK here”.

Interestingly, the scheme will give a boost to the business of travel agents offering "attractive” holiday packages to foreign countries valid for a limited period. "Ludhiana has a large number of customers for foreign holiday packages and the ‘tatkaal’ scheme will definitely give a chance to residents who don’t have passports but are interested in enjoying a holiday abroad," remarked a travel agent.

Ludhiana, December 10
The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has allegedly wasted public money by constructing roads at night to benefit a few blue- eyed contractors.

Ludhiana Improvement Trust officials laid one such road at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar late in the evening despite opposition from those residing in the area.

The residents led by Atul Sharma, a social activist, questioned the LIT officials about the motive behind constructing the road at night when the temperature is below that required for laying the road. It was the blatant misuse of the public money, which could not be tolerated, they argued.

The LIT officials, however, overruled them on the pretext that if the road were not laid then the contractor would have to suffer Rs 50,000 loss. But, the residents insisted that the road would not be of good quality and wither out soon. Besides this the state exchequer would suffer a huge loss. At this, the LIT officials assured them that the road would be re-laid rebuilt later also.

Atul Sharma alleged that the road that lid by the LIT on Thursday night was not of good quality and the rules had been flouted while constructing it.

Amarjeet Singh, SDO, LIT, refuted the allegations levelled by residents and added that the road was laid during the daytime after following the required procedure.

Ludhiana, December 10
Raising a question mark on the working of the health department of the state, the municipal corporation (MC) has tied up with local private hospitals by ignoring those run by the state government to give free anti-rabies treatment to the poor after dog bite.

Tying up with the state government could have proved useful for the cash-strapped MC, as it could have given the treatment free of cost to the poor people. Instead, the MC has tied up with two leading hospitals of the city to provide the anti-rabies treatment up to Rs 1,500 to poor people. However, keeping in view the elections ahead, the MC authorities do not want to miss any chance to prove that it is a real service provider to the public.

It has put a condition that for getting such medical treatment, the assent of the area councillor would be must. A strange fact, however, is that though the MC authorities have announced this ambitious project, they have not made any blueprint regarding it and no survey has been conducted yet about the total number of patients of rabies coming up in the city.

Highly placed sources claimed that the MC authorities had not tied up with the government hospitals as they face acute shortage of the anti-rabies vaccine. Moreover, the poor credibility of the health department in dealing with such cases is also another reason for not tying up with them, added the sources.

The top brass of the civic body was tightlipped over it. Both Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura and Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal, who had called a press conference to announce the programme with much fanfare maintained that the real motive of the scheme was welfare of the people. Though both top political functionaries of the civic body also refrained from commenting on the working of the health department, they asserted that by tying up with hospitals like DMC and CMC the MC could provide better service to the residents then any other government run institution. About the need of survey for conducting such a programme, they asserted that the survey was not possible for it.

Ludhiana, December 10
The Union Ministry of Tourism has approved the construction of public toilets at the key points by spending around Rs 80 lakh at various places for which the sites have been earmarked by the municipal corporation.

According to information, under wayside amenities scheme the Union government has agreed to construct five blocks of the toilets at Daresi, Transport Nagar, Focal Point Road, Industrial Area and Kotwali localities. Under the scheme an integrated project on comprehensive Way Side Sanitation in the city has been prepared for the department of tourism by an NGO, Sulabh International Social Service Organisation, at a total budgetary cost of Rs 72.25 lakh. Under the scheme 80 per cent of the grant for constructing the toilets would come from the Union government and 20 per cent would be contributed by the state government.

Sources revealed that work on the construction of these toilets was likely to kick off in January and would be completed in 12 months.

The scheme is likely to benefit the city residents as it directly aims at improving the local sanitation. Similarly, it would directly focus on personal hygiene and health of the population of the places and the visiting tourists.

Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal asserted that the public toilets would prove a boon for the city residents apart from helping the MC to serve people well. “We will also ensure that this scheme is extended to other parts of the city also,” he added.

Ludhiana, December 10
Director (sports), Punjab, Pargat Singh visited the Guru Nanak Stadium yesterday to get the first hand information regarding the renovation work to be taken up there.

Padma Shree awardee and former captain of the national hockey team, Pargat Singh, accompanied by Sukhvir Grewal, former hockey star, engineers and architects of the Punjab Mandi Board and general secretary of the Punjab Basketball Association, Teja Singh Dhaliwal took a round of the complex to identify the places where the renovation work was required.

Talking to the media, the director said the state-of-the-art Guru Nanak Stadium would soon get a facelift. The seating capacity of the main stadium would be increased in addition to providing more chairs in some blocks.

“The existing changing rooms in the stadium would be spruced up and more enclosures would be created. The water supply in the complex would also be improved,” said Pargat Singh.

Later, they went to the Punjab Agricultural University where the astro-turf at the Prithipal Singh Memorial Stadium was to be re-laid as the present one had already outlived. The track had worn out, posing injury threats to the players.

“The VIP enclosure at the PAU hockey stadium would be provided a roof and changing rooms would be erected there to provide better facilities to the players. The astro-turf would be re-laid and the present strip would be used for six-a-side tournaments and practise purposes,” added Pargat.

Ludhiana, December 10
Following the outbreak of black quarter in some districts of Punjab, especially in Patiala, experts of the department of epidemiology and preventive veterinary medicine of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) have warned dairy farmers of the region to immediately get their animals vaccinated.

The experts of GADVASU have advised the farmers to get their dairy animals, above two months of age, vaccinated against black quarter from the nearest veterinary hospital.

Affected animals should be treated with high doses of penicillin - morning and evening - for one week from nearest veterinarian.

Dr MP Gupta, head, department of epidemiology and preventive veterinary medicine, revealed that black quarter is an acute infectious and fatal, bacterial disease of cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats.

Young cattle between 6-24 months of age in good body condition are mostly affected.

The disease is caused by soil-borne organism and spreads due to ingestion of contaminated feed and contamination of wounds. He said symptoms of the disease were high fever at 106°F, loss of appetite, depression, dullness, suspended rumination, rapid pulse and heart rates, difficult breathing, lameness in affected leg, crepitating swelling over hip, back and shoulder, swelling is hot and painful in early stages, whereas cold and painless in inter-recumbency (prostration) followed by death within 12-48 hours.

The farmers are further advised not to buy new dairy animals from the local market and other states like Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu where the disease is prevalent, Dr Gupta said.

Talking about general measures, he suggested isolation of infected and in contact animals, disposal of carcass either by deep burial or burning, proper disinfection of surgical instruments prior to operation and avoid grazing in affected area.

Ludhiana, December 10
Ludhiana today witnessed an exclusive exhibition where fashion was seen in its new ‘avatar’. Aspiration Ladies Club, a Chandigarh-based women’s organisation, in collaboration with Hyderabad-based group “Khwaish” today organised an exhibition “Trendy Khwaish”.

All five members of “Khwaish” Ritu Dalmia, Archana Dalmia, Namita Kanodia, Savita Bansal and Vanita Kanodia introduced the “out-of-ordinary” creations of the artisans to the city residents.

Monica Singhal, founder of Aspiration Ladies Club, Chandigarh, said: “Khwaish comes forward for a dual noble cause of promoting Indian handicrafts and providing free education to the underprivileged. Nearly 35 stalls have been put up displaying specialised and uniquely designed products like jewellery, garments, footwear, paintings, household articles and handicraft from participants across the country.”

Ritu Dalmia, one of the members of Khwaish, said: “The success stories of the past have laid the path for organising the event once more. The aim is to expose the hidden talents of women entrepreneurs. This time Khwaish is introducing a sparkling night bazaar for the first time in the city.”

Saachi from Ahmedabad, Saira fashions from Amritsar, Bamboo Greens and Rasberrie from Delhi, Eternity from Chandigarh, Ghar Aangana and Vintage Allure from Kolkata, Cyynosure from Pune, Choclate and Art N Craft from Chennai and Adaa, Almaas, Sole affair, Essence, Nargis 
and Veera from Mumbai are taking part.

Co-founder of Aspiration Club, Neepa Arora said: “Under the guidance of Janahitha, a unit of Ekal Vidyalaya, a tribal village of Andhra Pradesh is adopted and looked after by providing education, food, shelter and hygienic environment. The exhibition also promotes eco friendliness by refusing to use plastic and encouraging the use of bags made of natural fibers.”

Ludhiana, December 10
Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings organised a seminar on Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).

More than 150 entrepreneurs from Ludhiana participated in the seminar. The conference provided an interactive forum for entrepreneurs to acquire information regarding best practices in the MSMEs from experts.

Avtar Singh, general secretary, CICU, said: “Ludhiana is an important industrial hub in North India and therefore, a key market where industry best practices need to be highlighted.” Upkar Singh, joint secretary of CICU said MSMEs play a vital role in the growth of Indian economy, contributing almost half of the country’s industrial output while creating one million new jobs every year.

Using SME ratings, banks can take more informed decisions on lending MSMEs. It will help them for faster access to funding at appropriate interest rate and flexibility in other terms, increased credibility with business partners, customers, suppliers and collaborators, to better access their strength and weaknesses and tool for self-improvement.

A panel discussion was held on “Importance of Best Practices for MSMEs,” by Yoesh Dixit, head-SME Ratings, CRISIL Limited, KK Seth, managing partner, Seth Industrial Corporation, Ajit Lakra, managing director, Superfine Knitter, Bokare-DGM, State Bank of India and Brar, DGM, Punjab National Bank. — TNS

Ludhiana, December 10
Residents will soon get a respite from traffic congestion, as the state government has asked district administration, police and municipal corporation to take steps for smooth flow of traffic.

Principal secretary to CM Darbara Singh Guru, who presided over a meeting with Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari, Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh and Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner, discussed various options available to curb the growing traffic menace.

Principal secretary gave orders to clear grass along the main roads of the city within three weeks and remove encroachments on slip roads.

The officers also gave suggestions to solve the traffic problem. Besides removing encroachments, it was decided that the condition of the slip roads would be improved. It was also decided that the slip roads would be declared as no parking zones.

It was also decided that a review would be conducted for the traffic lights in the city and if needed the time of the traffic lights would also be increased.

Besides these short-term measures, Guru also asked officers about the long-term methods like availability of alternative public transport system, which could be adopted for reducing traffic congestion in the city. Later, Guru, along with the key administrative, police and municipal officers visited some of the key traffic bottlenecks of the city to find solutions.

Ludhiana, December 10
In order to give reprieve to the city residents from the lack of civic amenities, the state government has warned the municipal corporation authorities that zero tolerance would be adopted if any type of laxity was found in providing the basic civic amenities to them.

The orders in this regard were given by Darbara Singh Guru, principal secretary to the Chief Minister, Punjab, while addressing a meeting of the MC officers here today. In the meeting, in which MC Additional Commissioners Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar and Kuldeep Singh, Joint Commissioner MS Jaggi, Superintendent Engineer (SE) VP Singh and a battery of other officers took part, a detailed discussion took place regarding the condition of the city.

While laying thrust on the cleanliness of the city, regular water supply, proper de-silting of the sewerage lines and on the well maintained street lights, Guru said zero-tolerance attitude would be adopted by the state government if any complaint regarding the lack of civic amenity was found.

He further told the MC officers to ensure at least 10-hour water supply to the residents daily so that they should not face any difficulty. Guru also reviewed the pace of the ongoing developmental works in the city and asked the MC officers if they were facing any sort of problems in executing the work.

He assured them that there would be no shortage of funds needed for completing the projects. However, he asserted that no delay should take place in completing the project and the quality of the work should also not suffer. Expressing somewhat satisfaction on the working of the MC officers, he asked them to improve their style of working so that the public should get real benefit of it.

Talking to the newsmen later, Guru said the main focus of the meeting was to review the work of the civic body and to co-ordinate in the matters involving the state government. “Though the work is satisfactory, there is always a scope of improvement for which we will hold such review meetings regularly,” he added.

Ludhiana, December 10
The second phase of the 2011 national census will be taken up in the country from February 9 to 28 and during this period the headcount to enumerate every family and its members will be conducted in this district, according to deputy commissioner and district census officer Rahul Tewari.

Speaking at the commencement of a training programme, he said master trainers from various district blocks will be imparted training from December 9-11 and again from December 13-15. “On completion of their training these master trainers will train supervisors and enumerators to enable them to carry out their assigned tasks in the desired manner”, Tewari added.

Addressing a seminar in the course of the training programme, joint census director census KS Bhatnagar underlined the fact that data collected from census operations played a significant role in formulating developmental schemes and welfare programmes.

"The census work, therefore, has to be conducted diligently and scrupulously”, he stated.

“The first census in India was conducted in 1872 and the one to be undertaken next year will be the 15th national census”, he added.

Phillaur, December 10
Road and rail traffic remained disrupted for several hours due to poor visibility caused by dense fog, which enveloped the entire area today. Vehicles were seen being driven carefully, with the headlights turned on, on national highways. Several trains, including Delhi bound Shatabdi Express, Super fast Express, Dadar Express, Barauni Express, Sachkhand Express, Pashchim Express, Amritsar bound Howrah Mail, Howrah Express, Frontier Mail, Tata Express, Jammu bound Jammu Mail, Jhelum Express and Himgiri Express, were running from half an hour to four hours behind the schedule due to thick fog.

Meanwhile, railway authorities have set up “fog signal posts” near all railway stations of Firozepur division to provide normal running of trains during foggy weather. — OC

Ludhiana, December 10
District Magistrate SR Kler has imposed prohibitory orders on sale of plastic ‘dor’ (kite string) under Section 144 of the CrPC in the entire district, except for areas under police commissionerate.

In the orders issued today, Kler said it had been brought to his notice that unbreakable plastic dor (thread), often coated with broken glass dust, was being sold openly which could cause injuries to people.

In the wake of emergency nature of the issue, the orders were issued ex-parte, and these would remain in force till February 7 next year. 

Mandi Gobindgarh, December 10
Gurgaon-based Interglobe Technologies visited the RIMT Group of Institutions today to recruit MCA students. The drive was specifically organised for MCA students and was open for all colleges across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu.

While welcoming company officials, RIMT Group of Institutions chairman, Dr Hukam Chand Bansal said Interglobe was the second MNC visiting the institute for recruiting MCA students, as earlier Thomson Group came for recruitment.

He said Interglobe was a leading global travel technology company, providing integrated IT and BPO solutions and services to international airlines, large travel agencies and travel technology companies.

HR officials started the process with the presentation on the company and briefed students about the company and available openings. They said with the strength of more than 2,000 employees associated with the company, Interglobe services included application development and maintenance, loyalty programme management, airline distribution system, Internet booking engines and enterprise solutions management.

With 389 students participating in the recruitment drive, 63 cleared the written test and appeared in the group discussion round followed by technical and HR round of interviews. Finally, 24 students were shortlisted and called for the final interview at the Gurgaon office.

Meanwhile, director-general, Dr BS Bhatia said those selected would be offered a package of Rs 3 lakh per annum with joining offer from June-2011.

Ludhiana, December 10
The division number 4 police today arrested a 50-year-old resident of Salem Tabri with 17 cases of liquor near Chand Cinema.

According to SHO Devinder Kumar of division number 4 police station, accused Baldev Raj, alias Debi, was arrested with 14 cases of the IMFL, one case of pint and two cases of nips. A Hero Honda motorcycle (PB 10 AN 2271) was also recovered from the accused.

Giving further details, the SHO said the accused was living in Salem Tabri and had rented a room near his residence from where he used to operate.

“The accused was arrested this afternoon during a drive to nab liquor smugglers,” said the SHO.

The accused was presented before the excise and taxation department this afternoon where he later paid the fine imposed on him. A case under Section 157 of the Excise Act was registered against the accused.

Phillaur, December 10
The Phillaur police claims to have uncovered a large-scale scam of supplying country made liquor in empty bottles of branded whisky during several functions.

Phillaur DSP Harkamalpreet Singh Khakh said after receiving a tip off, a police team raided the house of Satinder Paul, alias Babbu, at Goraya in Phillaur sub-division last evening and caught three persons red-handed while filling country made liquor in branded empty liquor bottles.

DSP Khakh said while two accused managed to escape, the police succeeded to nab the third accused, identified as Parma Nand of Adiana village, Balachaur, under Sections 103 and 104 of the Trademark Act, 1999, and Sections 420, 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act and seized 60 bottles of Royal Stag and 21 bottles of McDowell, filled with country made liquor, besides wrappers, cartons and empty bottles from the house.

While narrating the scam, DSP Khakh said the gang members were supplying this liquor to different marriage palaces and hotels of Ludhiana, Phillaur, Phagwara and other areas of the state.

Khakh said the accused were purchasing country made liquor at ` 70 per bottle and were selling the same at ` 290 per bottle to marriage palaces and earning easy money. He added that many more disclosures and arrests of the other accused were expected soon.

Ludhiana, December 10
A large number of students took part in different sports disciplines and fun games at the annual sports meet of Ram Lal Bhasin Public School, Dugri, which was held here today.