Ludhiana, December 16
About 20 employees from various government departments found missing from their offices were issued a show-cause notice by the Deputy Commissioner, Rahul Tewari, during a surprise check conducted here this morning.

The employees are from the offices of the district town planner, PWD, DEO (S), Civil Surgeon and B&R and Government Middle School, College Road.

The district administration has taken the action following instructions of the Punjab Deputy Chief Minister, Sukhbir Singh Badal, to carry out checks to ensure proficient working in government departments.

During the checking, a majority of employees were found absent at the District Education Office (Secondary) as they had proceeded on year-end leave. The DC instructed the DEO (S), Harbhajan Ram, not to sanction leave to more than 15-20 per cent employees at a time.

Harjinder Singh from the establishment branch was found absent since December 13 as was evident from his unmarked attendance in the register. Similarly, Raghbir Singh and Karamvir Singh from the PWD department were found absent from duty.

The DC later visited the Civil Surgeon’s office to find Jatinder Singh, a clerk, absent from office since December 9. Manjit Kaur, Usha Rani and Paramjit Kaur were the other employees who were missing from office for more than a day.

Out of the total seven teachers at Government Middle School, three were on leave. Taking a serious note of the “casual attitude” of the employees, the DC said each department must maintain a movement register to keep a record of the field movement of its staff. Also, no employee would proceed on leave without getting it sanctioned from the department head, he said.

Ludhiana, December 16
While the nation paid tributes to the 1971 war heroes on the occasion of Vijay Diwas today, for the veterans of the district, it was a day spent in agony and resentment.

The district administration, which organised a small function to pay tributes to the war heroes, but left out former Army officers of the district.

“This is what we get from the government in return for our service to the nation. Our sacrifices have been forgotten,” Col (retd) RS Sohi, president of the Ex-Servicemen Welfare Society, Ludhiana, lamented.

“The administration did not even invite us to the function, let alone recognise our sacrifices,” he stated. The administration should have planned the event well in advance and invited all ex-servicemen. “The Deputy Commissioner, who is also the president of the Sainik Welfare Board, seems to be cold towards the welfare of ex-servicemen,” he claimed.

The ex-servicemen society has decided to organise a private event to mark Vijay Diwas on December 18.

Meanwhile, the district administration organised a small event to mark Vijay Diwas wherein floral tributes were paid to war heroes at Flying Officer Shaheed Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon Memorial. Several serving Army and IAF officers, along with some officials of the district administration, were present.

Army officials arrived at the memorial at around 10 am and held a brief wreath-laying ceremony. Floral tributes were paid to Paramvir Chakra recipient, Flying Officer Niramaljit Singh Sekhon, and other martyrs who died during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

Commenting on why ex-servicemen were left out, DC Rahul Tiwari remarked: “It was the duty of the Sainik Welfare Board officials to invite them. I questioned them about it and they told me that there was no communication from the government in this regard.”

Ludhiana, December 16
The programme to impart training for population census to Municipal Corporation (MC) employees got delayed by more than an hour here today as officers reached late at the venue.

A workshop for imparting training to 47 MC staff members involved in the census operation was organised at the zone A office of the civic body. Though the workshop was to begin at 9.30 am, it was delayed by over an hour as senior officers of the civic body and the census department, scheduled to preside over the workshop, arrived late.

In their speeches, VK Sharda, MC Zonal Commissioner, and VK Goyal, Deputy Director, Census, said the MC staff should ensure that the work of recording data for census should not get delayed as it would cause huge losses to the nation.

Sharda apologised for the delay and said from Friday, the three-day workshop would start on time.

They said the census work would begin from February 9 and go on till February 28 and the MC should gear up in advance to complete the project in time. As Ludhiana was one of the biggest cities of Punjab, it should lead by completing the project in time. 

Ludhiana, December 16
Industrialists, who have already submitted Rs 1.36 crore in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for detonating scrap explosives that they had imported from the Gulf countries nearly six years ago, would have to shell out more money from their pocket.

The district administration, which is currently spending money on the rehabilitation of the residents of Sekhewal, Kalewal and Haider Nager villages, is in no mood to shell out more money.

According to Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari, the administration would recover even a single penny spent on purchasing shelters for residents and fodder for animals.

The deputy commissioner has made a vague estimate of nearly Rs 20 lakh to be spent on the project. But, if the department sources are to be believed then a whooping Rs 80 lakh would be spent on the rehabilitating people and animals of these three villages, who are currently putting up in shelters either in the forest or on the Sutlej bed.

Sources in the department stated that nearly Rs 20 lakh would be spent on fodder being provided to the cattle of these villages. The villagers have also welcomed the move of the administration.

“The industrialists who have forced us to lead a life like nomads should also feel the pinch. It is because of them that we are suffering. It was the mistake of handful of industrialists, who in order to make quick money, put the life of thousand of residents at risk,” said Bakshish Singh.

Manpreet Chatwal, SDM (East), stated that several lakhs of rupees would be rehabilitation process. Meanwhile, a few residents of Kalewal and Sekhewal villages have demanded that the administration should spend the money judicially.

“The administration is spending money in a miserly manner as if they are doing so from their own pocket. Nearly after a month we have been provided plastic sheet so that we could sit near the riverbed. The food and medical facilities were provided to us after the newspaper highlighted our plight,” quipped a group of residents of Sekhewal village sitting near the Sutlej. 

Ludhiana, December 16
In order to streamline traffic at busy points in the inner areas of the city, municipal corporation as well Powercom officials visited key areas in the city to work out a plan to remove power poles from roads.

A team of municipal corporation led by Senior Deputy Mayor Praveen Bansal visited areas around the CMC Hospital and Police Division No. 3 to find a solution to the problem of traffic congestion faced by residents.

The team accompanied by Powercom officials concluded that electricity poles in the middle of roads were creating an obstacle in the smooth flow of traffic.

It was noticed that a transformer at the CMC Chowk and another at the Police Division No. 3 chowk obstructed the movement of traffic.

Bansal asked the Powercom officials to initiate the process of shifting these. For the purpose, the civic body was ready to pay the charges.

Talking to mediapersons, Bansal said the aim of the visit was to assess the situation at the ground level to find a permanent solution to the problem.

He said they had been getting a large number of complaints from the general public and councillors about the hindrance being caused by poles. The joint inspection was conducted to take necessary steps.

Ludhiana, December 16
The local bodies department’s ambitious e-tendering programme in the municipal corporation has drawn criticism with contractors of the civic body meeting with the MC Commissioner to lodge their protest against the processing fee being charged by a private company undertaking the project.

A delegation of contractors comprising Vinod Kumar, Vipan Kumar, Anil Kumar, Ajay Kumar, Amrit Kumar, Hitesh Kumar, Bhagwan Dass and Amrik Singh met with MC Commissioner AK Sinha at his zone D office here today.

The contractors told the officer that they had been facing inconvenience ever since the launch of e-tendering facility as they had to pay a processing fee at the rate of 0.13 per cent on the total cost of the project to the company executing the tendering process, which was not justified.

They said to compound the problem, the fee was to be paid for all projects for which the contractor or the firm had applied.

They said the processing fee clause was not justified as other departments where e-tendering had been adopted did not carry any such policy.

They added that under the e-tendering facility, even a single tender was accepted, which was against the rules of the civic body, which provided for acceptance of at least three tenders for any development work.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner assured them of forwarding the complaint of the contractors to the state government for necessary action.

Sahnewal, December 16
Going by his promise made to people, on the occasion of the historic rally at Sahnewal in October this year, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal has given a nod for upgrading it to the sub-tehsil level.

Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, chairman, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation and in charge of the Sahnewal assembly constituency, said Sahnewal would start functioning as the sub-tehsil soon and there wouldn’t be any need for the local people and those living near the adjoining villages to go to Ludhiana any more.

He said the local railway overbridge, which was sanctioned by the Punjab government earlier, was awaiting final approval from the Railways.

Ludhiana, December 16
Facing acute staff crunch, engineers of the Municipal Corporation (MC) met the Mayor to seek fresh recruitment in the department so that the ongoing development works could be monitored in a better manner.

A delegation of the Municipal Corporation Engineers Association, led by general secretary Sunil Sharma, met the Mayor, Hakam Singh Giaspura, in this regard. They said a large number of posts like Junior Engineer and Sub-Divisional Officer had been lying vacant for the last several years. The civic body was planning to start a lot of development works in the coming months but due to the shortage of staff, the quality of work would suffer, they said. The Mayor assured them that the recruitment would begin soon. 

Ludhiana, December 16
Acting on a report published in these columns today, highlighting the plight of a 58-year-old woman after some men grabbed her plot located near Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, the city police swung into action and registered a complaint.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Nilambri Vijay Jagadale, who heads the women’s cell, visited the scene where the woman, Paramjit Kaur, had been squatting in protest, after she expressed her inability to move due to ill-heath, today.

The police registered a complaint on the spot and started the investigation. The woman expressed her gratitude to the Commissioner of Police for taking prompt action.

“Had the police not acted promptly, I would have perished in pursuit of regaining possession of my property,” said an elated Paramjit Kaur while sitting inside her property.

The 58-year-old widow had grabbed the attention of SBS Nagar residents when she pitched tent outside a plot measuring 200 sq yard in protest against the realty mafia.

Paramjit, who lost her son last year, had been staying with her daughter in Canada. While in Canada, she was told that some men belonging to the local realty mafia had occupied her property.

She claimed that the property was in her husband’s name. Her husband, who was a Markfed employee, had died a few years ago and she had been looking after the property ever since.

She alleged that she had constructed a room on the plot and hired a woman as its caretaker. However, the accused forced the caretaker to vacate the room and took possession of the property.

Paramjit said she was in possession of the power of attorney of the plot.

Ludhiana, December 16
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, has released Rs 40 lakh as first-year grant to Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) under Niche Area Excellence in Fisheries. The university is the third in the country to get this prestigious project in fisheries after GB Pant University of Science and Technology, Pantnagar, and Central Institute of Fisheries Education (CIFE), Mumbai.

Dr Kamaldeep Kaur, dean, college of fisheries, and in-charge of the project, said the state had a considerable stretch of land (1.25 lakh hectares) in south-west districts affected by salinity/water logging, which was either unsuitable for agriculture or under-productive for profitable agricultural activities.

However, the land had potential for fish production, employment generation and socio-economic up-lift of farmers owning the waste lands.

“The university has pioneered in this field by conducting on-farm trials in salt affected waterlogged areas in Fazilka, Ferozepur district, to assess the possibilities of aqua-culture in inland saline waters and achieved freshwater carp productivity of 2.5 tonne per hectare. The university has also been successful in rearing of brood-stock and carrying out breeding and seed production of common carp, a freshwater carp fish that was expected to be more salt tolerant for surviving well and growing fast in inland saline water,” said Dr Kamaldeep.

Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, said the project had been sanctioned to undertake region-specific research for sustainable aqua-culture in Punjab with major focus on developing suitable aqua-culture package for inland saline waters/waterlogged areas in the south-west districts of Punjab and diversification of carp culture with high value species like catfishes/air breathing fishes for higher economic gains and aqua-culture productivity enhancement.

Dr Taneja added that the niche area project in fisheries would help in establishment of centre of excellence at the university for generating quality human resource/manpower and region-specific aqua-culture technologies for sustainable growth of fisheries sector in the state.

Inland saline water utilisation for economic gains through aqua-culture will help uplift the socio-economic status of the affected farmers.

Dr Asha Dhawan, senior scientist-cum-head, department of aqua-culture, and principal investigator of the project, said more on-farm trials would be conducted under the project in different inland saline waters of the districts to develop site-specific aqua-culture packages, as preliminary studies had revealed that water chemistry of inland saline water varied with site even within the same district.

Ludhiana, December 16
PAU Vice-Chancellor Dr Manjit Singh Kang has underlined the need to further strengthen the ties with the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (CIMMYT), especially in the area of addressing problems of global concern.

The exchange of scientific problem-solving information between them was proving mutually beneficial. Highlighting the pivotal role played by the PAU in transforming the country from food-deficit to food-sufficient nation, Dr Kang said the university had released 54 wheat and 31 maize varieties for general cultivation in Punjab. Out of these, 32 varieties of wheat and maize had been released at the national level.

Referring to the regional training programme on “Conservation Agriculture (CA): Nurturing Sustainable Production Systems in South Asia” organised by the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA), PAU, and CIMMYT in November, here, he said it was the first training course in South Asia that had cemented the relationship between the PAU and the CIMMYT.

During his visit to the CIMMYT, Mohinder Singh Grewal, former member of the Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices, Government of India, and a progressive farmer from Punjab, spoke on “Innovations in Crop Diversification” at a seminar held recently.

He attributed his attainments with the ongoing research efforts of the PAU, offering assistance to CIMMYT scientists.

Holding discussions with a group of scientists, he shed light on the progressive attitude of Punjab farmers and the major challenges faced by them, which include global warming, drought, heat, cold, and depleting water table, and other economical and ecological problems attributable to the rampant rice-wheat rotation.

He shared his views about the role that the PAU, government and the international scientific community could play to ensure sustainable, profitable and productive agriculture.

Thomas A Lumpkin, CIMMYT director general, expressed his desire to set up an institute in North India and evinced keen interest in working with the university to address the challenges faced by the regional farmers. 

Ludhiana, December 16
The third convocation of Sportking Institute of Fashion Technology (SIFT) was held here today.

At least 45 students of apparel merchandising and marketing, fashion design, knitwear design and apparel production and merchandising were awarded diplomas.

Charanjeev Singh, industrial co-ordinator, and secretary, Knitwear Club, Ludhiana, along with faculty and members of the managing committee welcomed Sukhvir Singh Dhillon, Director-Punjab and Chandigarh, Ministry of MSME, MSME Development Institute, Government of India.

Dhillon lauded students on their success in academics. He said the fashion industry offered vast opportunities to young graduates.

Course leaders Nirbhay, Kapil, Gurkiran, Harpreet Sarna and Aman, placement officer, wished students success for future endeavours.

All graduates, some of whom had come from Haryana and UP, were awarded diplomas by Dhillon.

Doraha, December 16
The Human Rights Day was celebrated at Doraha College of Education today. Dr Kuldip Puri, associate professor, department of education, USOL, Panjab University, Chandigarh, was the chief guest.

Dr Puri shared his views on the need for valuing human rights. He said: “We need to create a world free of fear, want and greed. To talk about human rights means to talk about human survival.”

Dr Sandeep Sawhney, college principal, said: “Rights and duties are the two sides of the same coin. Usually we talk about the rights and forget about the duties.”

Archana and Vishavdeep discussed ‘Philosophical views of human rights’ and ‘Human rights education’ through PowerPoint presentations.

The programme culminated with the National Anthem.

Ludhiana, December 16
The Ludhiana Management Association organised a lecture on “Health, business and stress management through pranic healing” on Tuesday.

Wg Cdr NJ Reddy (retd) of the Indian Air Force was the guest speaker.

He has been involved with the pranic healing movement for the past 16 years. He is also closely associated with master of pranic healing Choa Kok Sui.

Wing Commander Reddy said: “Pranic healing is an ancient science and art of healing that utilises ‘prana’ or ‘ki’ or life energy to heal the physical body. It also involves the manipulation of ‘ki’ and bioplasmic matter of the patient’s body. It has also been called medical ‘qigong’ (ki kung or ki healing), psychic healing, therapeutic touch, laying of the hand, magnetic healing, faith healing, and charismatic healing. Pranic healing is based on two laws: The law of self-recovery and the law of prana or life energy. It is through these basic laws that rapid or miraculous healing occurs.”

He added that pranic healing was as easy to learn as it was to drive. Its basic principles and techniques can be learned in a few sessions. Like driving, pranic healing requires practice and time to achieve a certain degree of proficiency.

The Ludhiana Management Association general secretary said: “Pranic healing is beneficial as it can help parents bring down the temperature of their children suffering from high fever in just a few hours and heal it in a day or two in most cases. It can relieve headaches, gas pains, toothaches, and muscle pains almost immediately. Cough and cold can usually be cured in a day or two.”

He added: “To excel at the global level, businesses need to be strong internally, considering the amount of work pressures and growing demand for improved performance, keeping employees and employers under a lot of stress and pressure. Such techniques help us tackle stress in organisations in a better way.” 

Ludhiana, December 16
A resident of Manjit Nagar near Model Town landed in trouble for allegedly offering a tea laced with sedatives to a girl. The girl was admitted to a multi-specialty hospital in Model Town after her condition deteriorated. The youth, who was taken into preventive custody by the Model Town police, was also found to be under the influence of the drugs.

The incident came to light this morning after the girl collapsed in the hospital canteen while she was admitted to a private multi-specialty hospital. According to hospital employees, the youth and the girl were found sitting in the canteen at around 5 am in the morning.

The hospital authorities said the youth fled away as soon as the girl collapsed. But, the Model Town police nabbed him. The youth reportedly told the doctors that the girl’s condition deteriorated after she consumed a tea laced with a tranquilizing pill.

The girl is stated to be out of danger, the doctors added.

“The youth is still under the influence of drugs. The entire matter would be sorted out once the youth regains consciousness,” said Manjinder Singh, SHO, Model Town.

Meanwhile, how the girl and the boy came under the influence of drugs remains a mystery? However, the hospital employees alleged that they had spotted the youth mixing compose tablets in the tea of the girl.

The girl is a student of a college located in the old city area. The boy is a resident of Model Town. How they managed to reach the hospital is also a mystery.

“We can not speculate and jump to a conclusion. Let the youth come to his senses the matter would be brought to a logical conclusion,” said the SHO. Police sources said after spending the entire night travelling around the city, the girl and the youth entered the hospital’s canteen. There the youth gave sedatives to the girl.

Why the youth consumed sedatives is still a mystery for the police.

Ludhiana, December 16
Irked over his remarks about “Hindu terrorism” in the context of terrorist attack in Mumbai, the activists of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) held an angry protest and burnt an effigy of All-India Congress Committee general secretary Digvijay Singh at the Bharat Nagar Chowk here today.

District chief of the BJYM, Kantendu Sharma, and president of the district unit of the BJP, Rajiv Katna, who led the protest, charged the Congress with betraying the Hindus for its narrow political gains. “Remarks of Digvijay Singh on martyrdom of ATS chief Hemant Karkare is an example as to what extent Congress leaders could stoop to draw political mileage even on an issue involving security of the nation.”

The BJYM leaders maintained that the “Hindu terrorism” or saffron fundamentalism were figments of imagination of the Congress leaders who did not think twice to indulge in politics of vote bank even on sensitive issues.

Ludhiana, December 16
A tragedy was averted due to the timely response of railway staff on board the 2460 Amritsar-New Delhi Superfast Express after smoke was seen coming out of an air-conditioned chair car coach when it was about to reach Ludhiana. The heating system of the coach had developed a short circuit after which the overheated wiring started emitting smoke.

There was confusion and panic in the coach for some time as a few passengers started suffocating while others raised an alarm. The railway staff on board the train immediately stopped it. The passengers were evacuated and power supply to the coach cut to stop the compartment from catching fire.

According to railway officials, passengers were adjusted in other air-conditioned compartments. The train was brought to the Ludhiana railway station and the coach detached for repairing the heating system. In the process, the train got delayed by 30 minutes.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, December 16
Not caring two hoots about the guidelines issued by the administration regarding appointment and established protocol for staff accompanying public transport buses, conductors and drivers continue to violate the rules.

While its not difficult to locate the driver, passengers find it hard to identify conductor out of a number of tipsy youths pretending to regulate passengers at various stops.

Incidences of passengers getting injured due to hindrance in doors are not uncommon.

In a recent incident, a youth, who reportedly fell from a crowded bus, was crushed to death by vehicles following the bus in which the victim was travelling.

Observations revealed that conductors and drivers of buses plying on various routes in this region have been violating rules with impunity.

Protocol and courtesy are distinguished by absence among majority of staff posted on public transport buses irrespective of their ownership.

While it is mandatory for conductors and drivers to wear uniform bearing name tag during duty hours, none of them obeys this protocol.

On the contrary, tipsy youths are often engaged or allowed to regulate passengers in crowded buses. Though some are paid for assisting the conductor, others work with hidden agenda of eve-teasing.

Vikas Tondon, a social activist, says the tendency has resulted in a situation when common man fears travelling with family in buses.

“People prefer to spend extra money on hiring a taxi instead of facing embarrassment in buses.”

Accusing some conductors of being hand in glove with anti-social elements, including pickpockets, Davinder Singh of the Jandali road area laments his wallet containing Rs 3,500, besides important documents was nicked while travelling between Ludhiana and Ahmedgarh recently.

Due to lack of knowledge about the exact place of the incident, none of the police stations on the way agreed to register a case.

Residents led by Balwant Singh Dulman and Harjinder Singh Kaka of Nathumajra have urged the state transport department authorities to impress upon the officials concerned to check the tendency and protect the rights of passengers travelling in public transport.

Samrala, December 16
A pal of gloom descends on the town when the report of the death of a youth in Australia reached his parents. Gurpreet Singh (22), who had left two years ago, was reportedly found dead under mysterious circumstances in Melbourne.

His father, Gurmeet Singh, an employee at the local telephone exchange, said his son had gone to Australia on a student visa and had been running a taxi to bear expenses of his studies. He received a phone call yesterday that his son was no more. Relatives told them that the body would be sent to India after medical examination.

Heart rendering scenes were witnessed in the house as relatives and neighbours consoled the grieving family. 

Ludhiana, December 16
Residents of Urban Estate- Phase- I had to pay a heavy price for parking their vehicles outside their houses as the gang of vehicle thieves fled away with two Hyundai Santro cars within a few minutes.

Jasjit Singh, one of the victims, whose car (DL-3C- BF- 5984) was stolen, stated that the thieves struck at around 3 am.

“I heard a noise and quickly went out of the house to check the activity. By that time, the thieves had sped away in my car. I raised an alarm following which I came to know that the vehicle thieves have stolen another Santro car from the same street,” said Jasjit Singh, who is working as Assistant General Manager in Weston. 

The thieves also laid their hand on third vehicle parked in the street but failed take it away. Meanwhile, the Moti Nagar police has registered a case and stated the investigation. — TNS