Ludhiana, January 1
Revellers went berserk at local, hotels and even on streets on the last night of 2010 even as others let their hair down at their own private bashes to ring in the New Year.Blaring music filled every nook and cranny of the city, as young as well as the not-so-young set the dance floors on fire.

Heady fragrances filled the air as fashionistas and dandy boys heralded the New Year, dressed in their festive best.Rivers of booze flowed across the length and breadth of the city and lip-smacking delicacies and desserts added to the fun.

Colours of the fun-filled chilly December evening deepened as the party crowds thickened.

The countdown to the dawn of the New Year brought the city to a standstill as Ludhianvis waited with bated breath to welcome another New Year of hopes and aspirations.

Deep breaths, handclasps, smiles and silent prayers flooded the rooms as all eyes stared at the clock, eager to behold the rendezvous of its two hands.

Screams of “Happy New Year” reverberated the arenas as the clock chimed with joined hands to welcome 2011. Warm, friendly hugs and kisses followed amid swashbuckling fireworks that lit up the city sky. Streets witnessed huge rush of revellers heralding the New Year by breaking into songs, jigs and whistles on thumping dhol beats amid heavy police deployment and barricades.

City’s main roads, markets and malls went chock-a-block with revelers wishing each other from across the road.

The three lifelines of the city — Ferozepur Road, Pakhowal Road and Jagraon Bridge — tuned into virtual parking lots while prominent marketplaces Sarabha Nagar, Model Town and Ghumar Mandi looked nothing less than any discotheque.

Celebrations spilled over to restaurants, eating joints, liquor vends and coffee shops. Religious places, too, witnessed frenzied activity as devotees thronged temples, gurdwaras and churches for a sacred beginning to the New Year with the Almighty’s blessings.

Farm houses on the city’s outskirts, too, were drowned in festivities as were the roads leading to Chandigarh, Doraha and Neelon — the hot spots for out-of-town midnight drives. The New Year festivities continued till late into the night.

Ludhiana, January 1
The residents who hoped to begin the New Year amid sunshine were disappointed as fog and mist welcomed the revellers today. Starting from early morning, freezing winds blew across the region, forcing residents to remain indoor till noon.

While the minimum temperature did not come down from the current 8.2 °C, cold wave continued to grip the region. The maximum temperature, however, went down to 15.6 °C.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, experts from the Met department, Chandigarh, said in the next 24 hours, bright sunshine was expected to provide relief to residents from the chilly weather. “Chilly winds are sweeping across the region. The minimum temperature, however, has not come down from 8-10 °C in past three days. Chill has gripped the region, especially after the rain. We expect sunshine by tomorrow,” said an expert in the department.

Commuters on two-wheelers had to bear the brunt of the chill. The drivers of four-wheelers got relief by switching-on their car-heaters. Homemakers, whose wards had to join the schools after the winter-break, seemed a worried lot. They hoped the school managements would extend the holidays keeping in view the extreme cold.

Radhika Verma, a homemaker in Civil Lines, said it would be harsh to send kids to school in the prevailing weather conditions.

“The schools are going to reopen from Monday after December holidays. Seeing the weather conditions, the district administration must order for closure of school for another couple of days. The severe cold weather can prove harmful for kids, who go to schools in rickshaws, auto-rickshaws, bicycles or two-wheelers,” she said.

Ludhiana BKU general secretary Jagdish Singh Sadarpura said mild rains had done good to the crops. “But we are expecting bright sunshine. If the foggy conditions prevail, the grain of wheat will be discoloured. The rain has brought freshness to the crop but sun is now needed for wheat as well as other vegetable crops,” said Sadarpura.

Ludhiana, January 1
Rowdy elements ruled the city roads on the eve of New Year and even thrashed two policemen who intervened to resolve a fight between two groups of tipplers in the Dugri area late last night.

Chaos was the order of the day as thousands of youths from all over the city and neighbouring towns converged on the Malhar Road. The police also retaliated strongly to the unruly behaviour of drunk youths.

Drunk youths who created ruckus were thrashed as policemen used force under the blanket of Section 144 of the IPC that was imposed in the city.

Sarabha Nagar market, the city’s celebration destination, was turned into a fortress as heavy police force was deployed and no vehicle was allowed to enter the market.

However, these arrangements could not deter the overzealous crowed from expressing their excitement in a wild manner. The youths danced, drank, and smoked openly showing scant regards to the law of the land.

Group of youths, holding liquor bottles, were spotted dancing on Punjabi music on city roads. Certain motorists even exhibited their ridding skills by pulling off daredevil stunts on the road. Some fell from their bikes and received injuries, too.

SHO Dharampal, while shooing away troublemakers, said: “I am surprised at the erratic behaviour of the youths. As long as they were on the Ferozepore Road, they were riding their motorcycle normally, Suddenly they went berserk once they turned towards the Malhar Road.” The presence of police posse at Sarabha Nagar Market failed to deter rapturous youths.

The over 100 policemen present at the market found it hard to handle frenzied crowd as the latter broke all security cordons. The police finally resorted to a mild cane-charge to control the situation.

Despite being unwell, Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh visited Sarabha Nagar area, Ferozepore road, Ghumar Mandi and Mall road to check the law and order situation. Deputy Commissioner of Police Yurinder Singh accompanied him.

Ludhiana, January 1
Eleven New Year babies brought hope to the lives of 11 families of the city today.The babies were born at Suman Hospital, Deep Hospital, Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH), Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), SPS Apollo hospital and Iqbal Nursing Home after the midnight.

The parents of 11 babies born on January 1 had planned their births for the specific day. But it was a bonanza for the five mothers who got the gift of “New Year” babies owing to the extra time that went into childbearing.

There were no bounds to the joy of Manish and Seema Sharma, the parents of the baby boy born at 11.11.11 am today at Suman Hospital.

“Having a New Year baby was a wonderful feeling but his birth at 11.11.11 has added to our excitement,” shared the infant’s father. The baby was healthy with the birth weight of 4 kg.

Dr Suman Sharda, senior gynaecologist at the hospital, said it was rare to see a baby born at such a unique time.

The birth of three boys and one girl at Deep Hospital added to the New Year celebrations on the premises.

Ishmeet and Meenu became the proud mothers of baby boys who were born at 7.55 am and 1.25 pm, respectively, at Deep Hospital. The two were amongst the lucky few to have delivered their babies on January 1.

“The C-section had been planned owing to some complications but I did not want my child to be born in December, 2010 thus we opted for January 1 after getting a nod from our gynaecologist,” affirmed Ishmeet.

Rupinder gave birth to a male child at 6.17 am, while Rupinder became the mother of a healthy baby girl at 2.35 am at the same hospital.

CMCH, DMCH, SPS Apollo Hospital and Iqbal Nursing Home too got their share of New Year babies as 11 boys and girls were born on January 1.

 Ludhiana, January 1
High drama was witnessed after MC Senior Deputy Mayor Parveen Bansal and government fingerprint expert Manjeet Kaur entered into a heated argument after their vehicles collided near the Jagraon bridge here this evening.

The incident took place when the private car of Bansal collided with the scooter of Manjeet Kaur, who was returning home after paying her obeisance at Gurdwara Dukh Niwaran Sahib. Bansal was reportedly driving the vehicle when the accident took place.

Manjeet Kaur claimed that she received leg injuries and told Bansal to drive carefully. This irked the politician and he came out of the car and told Manjeet Kaur to apologise for her rude behaviour.

An eyewitness said the trouble began when Manjeet tried to take the keys out of the politician’s vehicle and spoke rudely.

Manjeet dismissed the allegations and said Bansal and his supporters had yelled at her.

A policeman reached the scene and effected a compromise between the two sides. Avtar Singh, husband of Manjeet Kaur, alleged that Bansal was trying to pressurise his wife to file a written apology.

However, Bansal stated that it was a minor issue and the matter was resolved on the spot.

Ludhiana, January 1
A drug de-addiction rally was taken out by the NCC/NSS cadets of Khalsa College for Women here today.The rally was part of the ongoing NCC camp organised by CATC 83.More than 260 students are taking part in the 10-day camp.

A lecture was delivered on career counselling by Col Sehgal. Cadets carried placards depicting ill-effects of drugs. The cadets pledged to shun drugs on the occasion.

Ludhiana, January 1
Students, who want to pursue career in tourism, will now get an opportunity to learn certain courses in hospitality at SCD Government College here.From the coming academic session, the college is going to introduce several diploma courses in hospitality. The college has been selected to promote tourism.

Jasbir Kaur Makkar, principal of the college, said five government colleges from Mohali, Sangrur, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Bathinda, had been chosen by the Ministry of Tourism, Delhi, to introduce these courses in Punjab.

“The grant to run courses, which will start from the new academic session, will be released by the ministry through DPI (Colleges), Punjab,” Makkar added.

The courses include food preservation, food and technology, food and beverages, housekeeping, etc. The duration of courses will be one-and-a-half year. SCD Government College has already applied for the affiliation from Panjab University, Chandigarh.

“More than a crore will be sanctioned by the ministry to each college, which will include installation of necessary equipment too. We have received first grant of Rs 10 lakh to start the programmes. The courses will begin in July,” said Makkar.

Welcoming the move, Jyoti Walia, a student, said such options were not available in government colleges. “Students had to go to private institutes for such courses, but with this development, we will be able to pursue courses in government colleges also, which will be much cheaper,” she said.

Ludhiana, January 1
While the world partied hard to ring in 2011, Miss World Panjaban Arshdeep Kaur Gosal started the New Year on a social note.The charming 18-year-old beauty queen visited Bal Bhawan and spent the day sharing joys with the inmates.

Children, mesmerised with the beauty and humble demeanour of Arshdeep, enjoyed posing for photographs with their new “didi”.

They sang, danced and shared sumptuous meals with Arshdeep, who embraced them with glee and wished them Happy New Year.

Talking about the endeavour, Arshdeep said, “Everybody celebrates occasions like these with their family and friends, but these children have no one.” “I loved celebrating the day with these kids. I will make sure that I visit them every time I am in town,” smiled an emotional Arshdeep, before leaving the premises.

Children bid her a warm goodbye as she walked out of the Bal Bhawan with a promise to come back.

Ludhiana, January 1
The Municipal Corporation (MC) officials, under political pressure, are planning to sanction crores of rupees on developmental works in the city. However, due to acute shortage of funds, they are not able to give payments worth crores of rupees for the already completed developmental works here.

Figures available from the MC reveal that the civic body has not been able to clear bills worth more than Rs 30 crore to contractors of the Building and Roads (B&R) branch against various developmental works conducted in the city from the past few months. Sources revealed that bills worth Rs 6 crore had been pending for the developmental works completed in October.

Similarly, payments worth Rs 12 crore and Rs 14 crore has been pending against the MC for November and December. Sources also revealed that Rs 30 crore is the amount pending for the B&R branch only, whereas another big amount is also pending in the operation and maintenance (O&M) branch.

Similarly, sources revealed that the payment of Rs 30 crore was only for the laying of roads and streets, as it exclude the payment for an under construction railway over bridge, a flyover and flats under the Basic Services for Urban Poor Scheme. The sources also revealed that owing to the huge paucity of the funds, the MC was even finding it tough to give the salary, which amounts to Rs 13 crore monthly. Also the MC has not only started work on developmental projects worth Rs 50 crores more but it has also passed work of another Rs 50 crore for the city, amounting to total Rs 100 crore. In order to appease the political leaders of the ruling alliance, the Finance and Contract committee (F&CC) is all set to pass an agenda of 600 items in which crores of rupees would be spent on developmental works in the city.

MC Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura asserted that there was no shortage of funds, rather the MC was the only body in the state which was running its business profitably. However, admitting that there was delay in payment, he said as they get the payments to be done to the contractors from various quarters, some delays take place. “We are recovering our pending dues efficiently and even the state government is ready to provide funds to us so there is no shortage of any sort,” he added.

Ludhiana, January 1
With the arrest of two youths, the city police today claimed to have busted a gang of vehicle lifters and recovered three stolen motorcycles from the possession of the accused.

The accused were identified as Daljit Singh, alias Jora, and Kamaljeet, alias Kamal, who were arrested from a police check post near Tajpur Chowk here today.

Giving details about the arrest, Assistant Commissioner of Police Naginder Rana said division number 3 SHO Raj Kumar received a tip-off that the accused were conducting a recce near Shingar cinema and were planning to steal a vehicle.

Following the information the cops laid a trap near Tajpur Chowk and nabbed the accused. During interrogation the accused confessed to have been behind several vehicle-lifting incidents that took place in the recent past. The accused told the police that they used to hide the stolen vehicles at a plot near Jalandhar bypass chowk. Following information, the police raided the spot and recovered two stolen vehicles.

In the meantime, the police has launched a manhunt to nab Sukhwinder Singh Sodhi and Sukhwinder Singh Malhi, the other two accomplices of the accused, who managed to flee from the scene.