Ludhiana, January 14
Confusion prevailed over the “formal” inauguration of the passport facilitation centre in the city by External Affairs Minister SM Krishna scheduled for today. The minister's visit was reportedly postponed after his helicopter could not fly in the bad weather. Nevertheless, those invited to the function including news reporters, unaware of the development, rushed to the venue at the scheduled time of 12.45 pm.

The e-mail forwarded by the Press Information Bureau’s Jalandhar office was ambiguous, with the subject stating the function had been put off. However the mail’s text carried a note saying Punjab minister of state Preneet Kaur would also be present at the inauguration ceremony. Also, the note at the end of the mail requested extensive coverage of the event along with mentioning the date and time for the scheduled press conference at a nearby hotel.

The invitees along with reporters arrived at the venue only to learn the function had been postponed following cancellation of Krishna’s visit.

The city’s regional passport office (RPO) has been operational under the external affairs ministry since August last year. The office had recently expanded its services by accepting applications for 'tatkaal' (instant) passports.

Referred to as the 'passport seva kendra', the facilitation centre is located at Akashdeep Complex near the Preet Palace cinema and is being maintained by Tata Consultancy Services. In addition to catering to residents of Ludhiana district, it also serves residents of Jagraon, Khanna and Moga.

Ludhiana, January 14
Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) and ICL Business Excellence Group conducted one-day seminar on Lean Manufacturing System and Implementation. The lean manufacturing is a system, which creates products with minimum wastage, reduced lead time and delays, minimised gaps between the activities and helps in a better floor management of the production plants. Avtar Singh, general secretary, CICU, while speaking on the occasion said that in the present economic scenario, MSMEs were to be encouraged for enhancing awareness for adoption of Lean Manufacturing System, so that they could develop the right skills-sets to face the challenges head-on. — TNS

Ludhiana, January 14
In a blatant violation of building bylaws and norms of land use, a commercial building is being constructed in Maharani Jhansi Enclave, a posh residential colony developed by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT), while the regulatory authorities seem to have given in to the might of a “well-connected” builder.

Construction of the commercial complex is in full swing on the 5.53 acre Maharani Jhansi Road without any approved building plan or change of land use (from residential to commercial) having been obtained. The colony was carved out for residential purposes with a provision of multi-storey HIG flats.

According to a representation submitted by Rani Jhansi Enclave Welfare Society to the LIT chairman, the construction is being carried out on some 800 square yards located at the rear side of the HIG flats. Residents of the colony said any commercial activity or complex coming up in the colony would not only be in violation of the approved layout plan, but would also create a nuisance for residents who had made massive investments in buying the flats so as to have peaceful and conducive surroundings.

That the construction of the commercial complex has been going on without regulatory bodies like LIT and municipal corporation having taken any notice, speaks volumes of the clout of the builder. If residents of the colony are to be believed, present owner of the building claims proximity to a couple of councillors as well as certain officials of the building branch of the MC, who have been, of late, making rounds of the area.

When contacted, executive engineer of LIT Pramod Sharma told The Tribune that no building plan of the said building had been approved either by the MC or LIT and no commercial activity was permissible in the colony as per the layout plan. “We have directed owner of the building to get a building plan approved and carry out construction scrupulously as per the approved plan.”

Ludhiana, January 14
In the run up to the BSNL elections, workers of the National Federation of Telecom Employees (NFTE) took out a rally today.

Chandeshwar Singh, general secretary of the federation while addressing a gathering said the present union had failed to tide over the problems of employees.

He said the workers were not given bonus and the department of telecom was doing everything to render the BSNL bankrupt. He called upon the workers to safeguard their interest by supporting the NFTE. “The present recognised union has failed to keep its promises,” he said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, January 14
The education department has directed principals and headmasters of government schools to maintain comprehensive information registers.

District education officers have been asked to ensure that heads of all schools falling under their jurisdiction remain equipped with detailed information about functioning of their schools.

A majority of heads of government schools are ill-informed about details on various aspects of school functioning.

Instead of maintaining comprehensive records in their offices, they ask teachers to consolidate information.

Situation turns awkward when a monitoring team arrives at a school and heads call one teacher after the other to seek information.

Admitting the tendency, a principal argued that it was not possible for a head to keep all details with him or her. “Though basic information on various aspects is available in the office, a teacher can provide more details,” maintained the principal. 

Ludhiana, January 14
There seems to be no respite in sight for passengers as chilly weather continues to mar their travel plans.

Many trains had to be cancelled due to dense fog in the region.

The Northern Railway authorities cancelled the 12459 Amritsar-New Delhi express this morning as the corresponding up train-12460 New Delhi-Amritsar express was running nine hours behind schedule. The 19782 Amritsar-Jaipur express was also cancelled.

Among the up trains 13005 Howrah mail (13 hrs), 15653 Guwahati-Jammu Tawi express (12.45 hrs), 15209 Darbhanga-Amritsar Jansewa express (5.20 hrs), 12925 Bandra Terminus-Amritsar Pashchim express (1.40 hrs), 12413 Jaipur-Jammu Tawi Pooja express (12 hrs) and 15767 Amrapali express (9.30 hrs) were delayed.

Barring 14674 Amritsar-Jaipur express which was running behind schedule by 4.30 hrs, most of the down trains (coming from Amritsar and Jammu side) were delayed by half-an-hour or an hour-and-a-half. After having an erratic run for the past many days, the elite up and down Shatabadi express ran almost as per schedule, said the railway officials.

Ludhiana, January 14
Eminent Punjabi poet Dr Surjit Patar will be given Shaheed Kartar Singh Sarabha Award at Ghadar Heritage Conference to be organised by the Centre for Indo-US Dialogue at Holtsville Farm, Stockton (California), the USA, in May this year.

Noted playwright Dr Atamjit Singh, who is chairman of a three-member awards selection committee formed by the Centre for Indo-US Dialogue, made the announcement at a press conference today.

Historian Prof Malwinderjeet Singh Waraich will be conferred Lala Hardyal Memorial Award, while writer of “Canada De Ghadri Babey” S Sohan Singh Pooni (Vancouver) will be given Maulvi Mohammad Barkat Ulla Khan Memorial Award. S Surinderpal Singh Solan (USA), a founder member of Ghadar Party, will be given Baba Sohan Singh Bhakna Memorial Award.

Similarly, Dr Chaman Lal from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and Dr Sadhu Singh (Vancouver) will be honoured
for their valuable contribution towards the documentation of history of the Ghadar Party.

Prominent personalities, including Kuldip Nayyar, Dr Gurdev Singh Khush, Dr Manjit Singh Kang (Vice-Chancellor PAU), Prof Gurbhajan Gill, Charan Singh Judge, Gulinder Singh Gill and Kuldip Singh Dhaliwal, attended the Holtsville Farm Ghadar Heritage Conference last year.

Ludhiana, January 14
Farmers are a worried lot as vegetables, which are flowering will be affected by the rain and hailstorm that struck the city last night.Residents too were taken by surprise as after the rains, the minimum temperature rose to 11degrees Celsius giving relief to the people throughout the day. Though the temperature rose but cold breeze continued to blow throughout the day and the sun played hide and seek with the residents.

Weather experts from PAU predicted that the temperature would rise further in the coming days. "Today it was partly cloudy in the city but the sky will clear in the days to come," said KK Gill, senior agro meteorologist from PAU.

Adding further, she said the hailstorm would not have any negative impact on the wheat crop at this time. But vegetables, chillies and other crops, which are flowering, would surely be affected by the rain and hailstorm, she added.

"The cold winds continued to blow throughout the day. Sun was appearing and disappearing the whole day. I wish the coming days turn out to be sunny as it is really becoming hard to live in this intense cold wave," said Daman, a resident of Gurdev Nagar.

"Mild rains had done no harm to the crops but now we are expecting bright sunny days. In case the foggy conditions continue for some more days it will result in the discolouring of the grain of wheat. The rains have brought freshness to the crops but now sun is much awaited for wheat as well as other vegetable crops," added Jagtar Singh, a farmer from Lalton village .

Potato growers are concerned about their crop and are praying for sunny days. "Rain has affected our crop and if the sun does not appear consistently there are chances that our crop might get damaged in the prevailing conditions," added a potato grower from Sekhewal village.

Ludhiana: The BJP has re-constituted its legal cell. The following have been appointed office-bearers of the cell.

General secretary- Jayant Malhotra; co-conveners-Ravi Joshi, Rakesh Bhatia, and Shashi Kant Verma; secretaries-Anil Arora and Rubal Singhi; joint secretaries- Inderjit Singh, Ajay Dogra and Rekha Kalra; organising secretary- Yashbir Choudhary; senior finance secretary-Varinder Mohan Gagna and finance secretary- Anju Sodhi.— OC

Ludhiana, January 14
The city police today nabbed a car thieve and recovered one stolen car from his possession.

A team led by Sherpur in charge Dalip Singh nabbed the accused identified as Varinder Kumar (36), a residents of Sector 32, Chandigarh Road, following a tip- off from the Focal Point area last night.

Varinder, a native of Batala, stole the Maruti Swift of Ajay Gupta on January 1. Gupta reportedly visited Gulzar Motors and parked his car outside the showroom. The police claimed that it was a trap laid by Varinder, who fled with the vehicle.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Sushil Kumar stated that the accused was using the stolen car by putting fake registration number plate.

While describing the Modus Operandi of the accused ADCP said, "The accused used to flee with the original keys of the vehicles, at the time the vehicle came for servicing."

Sources said, later ,he called the car owner posing as the representative of the car dealer and offered free service.

Following the call, Ajay visited the car dealer’s showroom and aking the opportunity, Varinder fled with the vehicle using the original keys. The accused reportedly confessed to have committed the offence.

"We have recovered the stolen car and two keys from the possession of the accused. We are currently probing, if the accused was having links with the employees working in the car-dealer showroom," said Kumar.

Jagraon, January 14
The Ludhiana (rural) police has arrested two drug peddlers and recovered a huge amount of psychotropic drugs from their possession.

As per the information, bothaccused were arrested near Raikot by a police team from the CIA Staff, Jagraon, during a routine check.

The accused have been identified as Ramandeep Singh, son of Tejinder Singh of Farwali village in Sangrur district and Vipin Kumar, son of Kewal Krishan of Bhaini Darera village, near Raikot.

Confirming the development, Inspector Tehal Singh said that a team from the CIA Staff, Jagraon, had set up a check post on the Raikot-Mandi Ahmedgarh road yesterday. The accused, who were coming from Raikot side on a motorcycle, were also carrying a black bag with them.

When the police stopped the motorcycle and searched the bag, a huge amount of intoxicating drugs were found. According to Singh, the police recovered near about 92,000 tablets and capsules of different types from their possession.

The accused could not produce any bill of the drug they were carrying with them following which the police arrested both of them. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against both the accused at Raikot police station.

Later on, the police produced both the accused in the court of CJM, Jagraon, and they were sent to police custody till Saturday.

Ludhiana, January 14
Depressed by her husband's addiction to drugs, a 30-year-old woman reportedly committed suicide under mysterious circumstances by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her home in the city’s Azad Nagar colony near Daba Road today. The incident came to light in the afternoon when area residents noticed Manjeet Kaur’s lifeless body hanging from the fan and promptly informed the police.

The deceased’s relatives Manjeet was suffering from depression and the couple used to quarrel frequently over her husband's drug addiction that she vehemently opposed.

According to neighbours the woman appeared be normal when she came out of her house this morning to see her six-year son off to school. They said her husband, Kamaljit Singh, a daily wage worker, also left for work soon thereafter. They added they had not seen any “outsider” visiting the couple’s house today.

Meanwhile, the Daba police has begun investigations into the incident.

Ludhiana, January 14
Two unidentified motorcycle-borne youths fled away with Rs 2 lakh by breaking the windshield of a car parked at a petrol station near Gyaspura Chowk here today.

The incident took place at 11.40 am when Manjeet Singh of Gill village went to the office of a bus service operator to use the toilet. He was waiting near the office to receive his nephew who was coming from Canada.

He told the police that he had stopped at a bank located near Miller Gunj to withdraw Rs 3 lakh. He put Rs 1 lakh in his pocket and the rest in a bag, which he kept on the front seat of his car. He parked the car near a petrol station as he waited for his nephew. Later, he entered the office of the bus service to use the toilet.

“When I came out, I was shocked to see that the windshield of the car was broken and the bag missing,” said Manjeet. The place where the theft took place remains busy throughout the day, but still the thieves managed to commit the theft and went unnoticed.