Ludhiana, April 27
The 105 year-old Lakkar Bridge, one of the Ludhiana’s most prominent landmarks that over the years has seen the city’s transformation from a small urban cluster to a flourishing industrial hub, will soon vanish from the horizon. The railways engineering wing is expected to begin work on demolishing the structure, which linked the old city with the new, on Thursday to make way for a rail overbridge, construction of which under way.

Sources close to Northern Railway said the four spans in the old bridge would be dismantled in phases with the help of cranes, beginning with span numbers 3 and 4 on the side of the yard lines.. Later, span numbers 1 and 2 that are above the busy NH 1 artery, would be removed.

Train traffic is likely to be affected during the entire operation, especially at the later stage as spans 1 and 2 lie above the Amritsar-Delhi trunk rail line on which over 150 trains pass every day. The overhead high tension power cables for locomotives will also be shifted.

Confirming work on dismantling the old bridge would commence on Thursday, Northern Railway deputy chief engineer SK Sharma said: “Our staff will be on their toes complete the work within four days. It’s a daunting task but we’re fully prepared for it”.

Ludhiana, April 27
It is a clear reflection of the sad state of affairs in the municipal corporation that even after 14 years a civic project that was aimed at reducing traffic congestion in the city remains uncomplete.

The Rs 13 crore project to build a rail overbridge in place of the 105-year-old Lakkar Bridge, a prominent landmark, was floated way back in 1997. The civic body claimed the overbridge would provide easier access from the old city with newly developed areas and announced the project would be completed within two years.

At that time it was decided that half of the cost of constructing the rail overbridge would be borne by the civic body with the other half by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust. However, owing to technical glitches in planning the project remained stalled for over a decade. For years the incomplete construction belied the claims of MC officials and politicians of providing better civic amenities and only reminded one about the huge waste of taxpayers’ money. During all these years residents had to put up with great inconvenience due to the stalled project. Moreover, the project cost skyrocketed from Rs 13 crore to Rs 58 crore in subsequent years.

With electrification of the Amritsar-Delhi trunk rail line under way Northern Railway sought Rs 21.98 crore from the MC for constructing the bridge over the train tracks.

The overhead high tension power cables over the tracks as well as unauthorized structures around the Lakkar Pul were removed by the MC and Powercom only after a decade after the work on the rail overbridge resumed in November 2009. The project is expected to be completed later this year.

Ludhiana, April 27
Lakkar Bridge, a reminder of the British Raj, had a glorious past, as it was not only a major link between the old and new city but also a source of earning for many.

As the axe of development falls on it, the city's old timers will remember the bridge for years to come as they have pleasant memories attached with it.

The Lakkar Pull, that stands lonely today over the Railway lines of the city, was one of the most frequently used links between the old and new city in the last century.

For decades, people from all strata of life, including young and old, rich andpoor, used it to cross the Railway lines which used to divide the old and new city.

Dr R Vatsyan recalls that the bridge was constructed in 1906 and at that time it used to connect the old city with the new. He asserts that since most of the people were living in the old city, they used this bridge to cross the railway line to go towards the secretariat, courts or civil lines where most of the top officers lived.

Turning nostalgic about the bridge, he added that he spent many moments of his childhood on the bridge. ‘‘It used to be my favourite pastime. I would climb the bridge and witness shunting of trains for hours. The bridge, in fact, gifted me with a mind that can think. I used to stand up there silently for hours and keep on thinking. It is sad that it would not be there anymore. It used to remind me of a golden era,’’ he said.

Ludhiana, April 27
With an objective to bringing down the increasing number of accidents and to provide immediate medical care to accident victims on the 90-km Ludhiana-Chandigarh highway, popularly known as the killer stretch, the police today set up a first-aid post at the Ramgarh police post.

The first-aid post, equipped with ambulance, recovery van and a first-aid kit would work round the clock to rush the injured to nearby hospitals. Brainchild of Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh, the first-aid post was inaugurated by DGP PS Gill here this morning.

The post would consist of one waiting room, computer room, first-aid room and one traffic zone in charge room. Not only this, it would also have all numbers of major hospitals located in the vicinity. Further, the cops have been provided the mobile numbers of all NGOs, social organisations and blood banks so that help could reach quickly.

“Our motive it to provide immediate medical care to all accident victims so that precious lives could be saved. We are doing our best to ensure the safety and security of the commuters,” said DGP police PS Gill. Later during the day, the DGP inaugurated police DAV school.

He said the police had signed a memorandum of understanding with the DAV authorities and 16 DAV schools would be built across the state to provide quality education to children of policemen.

“Earlier cops used to face a lost of problem during the time of their transfers. The admission of their children in a good school has always been a challenge, but not anymore. There schools have been constructed keeping in mind that the cops do not have to run from pillar to post for the admission of their wards,” said the DGP.

Ludhiana, April 27
In the first of its kind endeavour to encourage eco-friendly policing, nearly 40 male and 10 women cops were distributed bicycles at a special function held in the police lines here today.

These cops have been deployed to patrol the congested areas of the city.

As many as 50 bicycles that were gifted to the local police at cycle expo held last month were handed over to cops today. The DGP PS Gill was invited on this occasion who flagged off the cycles.

“This is an eco-friendly mode to commute. We have started the project from the city and if it proves to be successful, cycle patrolling would be launched in other parts of the state as well,” said DGP PS Gill.

The idea of cycle patrolling was mooted by a high-rank officer who saw PCR motorcycle serving no purpose other than wasting petrol in old city areas, which has chaotic traffic during the day.

The task of police teams patrolling on bicycles would be to maintain vigil in their respective areas and report to the station house officer in case of any emergency.

Meanwhile, cops who were thinking that they would get a chance to ride the bicycle to reduce their tummy were left disappointed, as senior police officials, in order to avoid any kind of embarrassment, did not deploy a single cop with a burgeoning waistline for cycle patrolling.

Doraha, April 27
A parcel sent six months back to Canada has gone missing. A family of Mehdodan village near here is perturbed that their repeated pleas to the postal department over the missing parcel has fallen on deaf ears.

Jaswant Singh of Mehdoodan village said he had parcelled clothes to his son-in-law in Canada from the Doraha post office on September 2, 2010. “The clothes cost around Rs 14,000 and the postal charges were Rs 1,602. I waited for a month for the parcel to be delivered but when it failed to reach its destination, I contacted the Doraha post office where I was told that it was sent to Ludhiana and I should enquire from the main post office at there. Despite my repeated visits and calls to the main post office in Ludhiana, the parcel is yet to be traced.” he said.

“Every time I approached employees at the post office, I got the same hackneyed reply that the complaint has been mailed to Delhi. I was told that if I wish to know about the parcel, I should better go to Delhi and try there,” rued Jaswant Singh.

“Now, I am being told that due to an error in the address, the parcel has failed to get through. But then it should have come back to us as we had clearly mentioned our address on it. I am fed up with such replies. I am seriously thinking of moving the consumer court against the postal deparetment,” expressed perturbed Jaswant Singh.

“Is it not the responsibility of the postal department to at least tell us as to how and why the things went wrong and how can we get our parcel back? Six months and not even a single soul to guide us as what should we do to get the parcel back.” said Manpreet Singh, Jaswant’s son.

Navreet Kaur, a post office employee at Ludhiana office dealing with the case, however, said the parcel was sent to Canada through speed post on September 2, 2010, but was returned to Delhi on October 10, 2010, and is missing since then. We had lodged a complaint in Delhi but we got no response. Now we have sent a written complaint to the chief as well as the chairman at the directorate office. The reply is, however, awaited.”

Ludhiana, April 27
The police today inaugurated an anti-human trafficking cell to tackle increasing number of complaints of travel agents duping innocent youths on the pretext of sending them abroad.

Giving details about the functioning of the cell, the Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said anti-human trafficking cell was the need of the hour, as cases of fraud by travel agents were on the rise.

“Earlier, the residents were advised to remain vigilant and not to fall prey of travel agents. The police will now do this job and keep a tab on fake travel agents operating in the city,” said the Commissioner.

According to sources, the police officials pretending as aspiring youth would visit the office of travel agents who give advertisement in vernacular dailies claiming to send people abroad.

If found guilty, action would be taken against the travel agent, the Commissioner added.

The move behind setting up the cell was to address the complaint of victim and take action against the culprit.

In majority of cases, those who were duped by travel agents, used to run from pillar to post to file their complaint. It was only after some NGO took up the issue, the police swung into action and used to file case against travel agents.

But with the setting up of an exclusive cell, all fraud cases by travel agents would be handled properly. The cell would be monitored by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP- Crime).

Ludhiana, April 26
The leniency shown by drug control officials to unlicensed godowns and wholesale pharmacies that illegally store and dispense unbilled habit-forming drugs in the city has permitted drug pushers to operate freely and fearlessly. Also, no action is taken against retail chemists who are dispensing addictive drugs without prescription.

That the raids conducted on these godowns and stores by health officials are little more than an eyewash has become evident from the illegal trade in addictive drugs that is being carried on at the "Narang tower" on Pindi Street.

Said an old-established wholesale chemist: "The godown located in Narang tower has stocks of Rexcof cough syrup that are not sent to chemists but dispensed to the drug mafia to be supplied to addicts, most of whom are young boys and girls. Though the drug inspector is well aware of those actually operating the illegal godowns what is surprising is that enforcement officials haven’t been able to catch hold of the culprits even once. It’s rather odd that during every raid those guilty manage to escape only to return later to resume their business”.

Interestingly, drug inspector Balram Luthra admitted officials had repeatedly raided three local chemists - Pawan Medical Store on Pindi Street and RK Medical Sore and Bajaj Medical Store in Jawahar Nagar. “The drugstore owners were found guilty of selling "scheduled H” drugs without prescription by a licensed medical practitioner. Also there was no pharmacist present at these stores,” he added.

However, when asked about no action being taken against the habitual offenders, Luthra said” “Several cases have been pending with drug control officials in Chandigarh, whose job it is to file criminal cases in the courts against those found guilty to permanently put them out of business”.

Meanwhile, the fact that several drugstores are operating near educational institutions has raised flak. Referring to one such chemists shop located close to a college, Kuldip Khera Gill, a “social activist, said: "There’s no hospital or nursing home in the vicinity of the market opposite Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College and a polytechnic on Gill Road but there are four drugstores that are doing a good business by selling habit forming drugs to the college students. Lomotil, spasma proxyvon, Dexavon, Carisoma, Codeine formulations and morphine injections are sold over the counter. These are strictly emergency drugs but are abused by addicts”.

Ludhiana, April 27
The construction work on the underpass in Aggar Nagar finally started today even as its foundation stone was laid eight months ago. The under path was expected to be operational by July this year.

The project is aimed at providing facility to residents of the posh Aggar Nagar Colony for crossing the busy Ferozepur Road. It was kicked off by Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal on August 10, 2010. The work order for the Rs 4-crore underpass was issued on September 17 and the project was expected to be complete by July 2011. However, for more than eight months, the project was hanging fire as “overzealous” MC officials had not bothered to take the required permission from the forest department to axe the trees.

Similarly, there was delay in conducting the survey of the road, which further delayed the project. However, to appease their political bosses, MC officials had hurriedly laid the foundation stone of the project. However, knowing well that the project is vital for their political bosses who would try to cash it in the coming elections, MC officials have now started the work on a war footing.

Sources in the civic body revealed that MC officials had directed their staff to ensure that the work on the project was completed by the December-end.

Ludhiana, April 27
Despite the fact that Municipal Corporation (MC) had debarred Simerjeet Singh Bains, a foe of the civic body Mayor, from holding Sangat Darshan at C Zone on Monday, the latter conducted the programme here on Wednesday with much fanfare.

C Zone, which has been a stronghold of the Bains group, with most councillors belonging to this area, has witnessed a lot of politics over the Sangat Darshan ever since the present SAD-BJP government came into being.

While Akali councillor Bains had started organising the Sangat Darshan about eight years ago during the Congress regime, realising well that his foe is getting popularity from the zone, Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura also started the practice in the zone about two years ago.

While Bains used to hold his Sangat Darshan on Monday, the Mayor started the practice of holding the Sangat Darshan on Wednesday. After it started the war of dominating the affairs of the zone, which ended after Bains was debarred from entering his office in the zone, which was taken in previous Congress government, with the help of police on Monday.

Though there was a lot of tension on Monday, still nothing happened on Wednesday, as there was neither police nor any sort of barricading around the zone.

The Mayor, along with his supporters sat in the office of the Zonal Commissioner Mahinder Pal Gupta and listened to the complaints. Mayor addressed the complainants coming to him for getting the problem solved and assured them that they were committed to the service of the people.

For more than two hours, Mayor, along with his supporters, remained at the C Zone during which the officers of the civic body were on their toes to get orders from the authorities concerned.

Taking a dig over the issue, a senior officer of MC said whatever was the reason, it was good that at least the top brass of the MC was sparing sometime to hear public grievances.

“It is good for people, who have to run from pillar to post to get their work done here,” he added.

Ludhiana, April 27
In a glaring example of how officials of the Municipal Corporation (MC) ignore public problems, key officials of the C zone remained away from an important meeting just because the civic body Mayor was holding a Sangat Darshan in their zone.

Irked over this, a councillor rapped the officers for their negligence.

In order to bring effectiveness in the working of the sub-committees, MC Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura had recently reconstituted the committees. Likewise, the meeting of the sub-committee on the B&R was held under the chairmanship of MC Additional Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi at the B zone.

At the meeting though officials of the branch from the rank of Executive Engineers (XEN) onwards from all the zones were present, but those from the C zone were conspicuous by their absence. The reason being that the officials had gone to the C zone where the MC Mayor was holding Sangat Darshan.

The absence of key officials of his area irked councillor Parminder Singh Soma, a member of the sub-committee. Soma raised the matter in front of Additional Commissioner and asked him about the reason of absence of the officials of the C zone from the meeting despite the fact that the officials of all other zones were present. When Jaggi enquired about the matter, the officials told him that they were not able to come due to the Sangat Darshan of the Mayor.

Irked over the matter, Soma lodged his protest in front of Additional Commissioner and asked him about the viability of calling the meeting of sub-committee when the officials are not there.

Training his guns at officials Soma, a close confidant of Simerjeet Singh Bains, an arch rival of MC Mayor, said it was very unfortunate that the key officials were refraining from it to appease their political bosses.

He asked the Additional Commissioner to ensure that the officials were present at the meeting in future, else the meetings should not be convened. Soma said the sub-committee of house was more important than any individual and the officials must realise that. He said the incident clearly shows that politicisation of the bureaucracy had taken place and officials were ignoring interests of people to appease their bosses. "This is not tolerable as officials are answerable to the representatives of the public,” he added.

Ludhiana, April 27
To ensure quality control in construction of roads, the sub-committee of the building and roads (B&R) branch of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has decided to get regular sampling of the under construction roads done.

The decision was taken at a meeting of sub-committee held at the D Zone office under the chairmanship of Additional Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi. At the meeting, a detailed discussion took place for ensuring good quality of roads in city. After councillors expressed concern over the poor quality of roads in the city, Jaggi assured them that regular sampling would be done for optimum utilisation of the public money.

It was also decided that the road cutting charges would be taken from private companies damaging roads for laying cables. Councillors raised the matter of removing trees from the centre of the road posing danger to the life of commuters. They also opposed the installing of interlocking tiles in the streets. At the meeting, councillors raised the matter regarding laying of storm water sewerage in many areas of the city. In the absence of storm water sewerage system, roads get waterlogged and are damaged, they said.

Ludhiana, April 27
As many as150 doctors affiliated to the National Integrated Medical Council (NIMA) attended a seminar on cardiology. The seminar was organised in association with Wellmax Superspeciality Hospital and Cardiac Institute.

Dr Rajeev Gupta a noted cardiologist spoke on the "1st Line Management of Acute Myocardial Infarction, or Heart Attack". "Heart attack occurs when a major part of the heart musculature called myocardium suddenly fails to get blood from the coronary arteries, due to sudden blockage by clots. Each artery supplies blood to a particular part of myocardium, which is reflected through a pain in the chest, shoulder or in the left side of the body. Some even complain of pain in the right side of the chest and shoulder, while others may feel pain in the stomach region or even in jaws," said Gupta.

The pain is usually accompanied by profuse perspiration and difficulty in breathing. In diabetics ,apart from other symptoms, pain may not be present. It is due to severe neuropathy, where nerve sensation is lost due to diabetes.

Family history of heart attacks, smoking, or high fats/lipids in blood called dyslipidemia is a major cause of choking in the arteries, including coronary artery blockage. Gupta further said that as per the latest guidelines MONA is the protocol for urgent implementation in a case of acute myocardial infarction. Similarly, M stands for Inj morphine, O stands for oxygen and N stands for nitrates, or nitroglycerine in tablet form or in inhaler form. A is for Aspirin and the patient should be asked to chew, a 300mg tablet of Disprin (the only available soluble Aspirin) immediately as it is an effective tool to dissolve the clot in the coronary arteries.

Dr Surendra Gupta, secretary, NIMA, Ludhiana, said that an acute heart attack emergency is a major challenge for a family physician, because he has to diagnose, manage, stabilise and refer the patient to a coronary care unit at the earliest.

While the delay or wastage of a single minute can risk the survival of the patient. The family physician has to cope up with infrastructure crunch. Moreover, professional competence of the doctor is on test.That's why, the habit of attending CME sessions on regular basis has significant importance. Moreover, he has to perform in a challenging situation, with a risk of unnecessary litigation, in case the patient collapses," observed the doctor.

Ludhiana, April 27
The sanitary workers union held a meeting with the Municipal Corporation (MC) Commissioner and requested him to stop political interference in their attendance.

A high-level delegation of the Sangarsh Committee of the sanitary workers led by the leaders of the organisation, including Hans Raj Ghagat and Lovely Pal met the MC Commissioner AK Sinha at D Zone.

Additional Commissioners Kanwalpreet Kaur Brar and Kuldeep Singh were also present.

The leaders apprised the Commissioner that despite of issuing directions to the staff that attendance of the sanitary workers would be marked by the supervisors some of the councillors were themselves marking the attendance of the workers.

The union leaders said the aim of such councillors was to keep the sanitary workers under their control, which was not fair. They further said by keeping a control on the workers, councillors wanted to exploit them, which could not be tolerated. The union leaders urged the authorities concerned to check exploitation of workers, after which Sinha asked Brar to look into the matter.

Similarly, the sanitary workers also raised the issue of regularisation of sanitary workers and container attendants after which the officer ensured them that the matter would be considered. The issue regarding the non-issuance of the salaries to sanitary workers was also discussed at the meeting.

Ludhiana, April 27
The foundation-laying ceremony is a small but significant function. This was stated by Dr MS Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha) and agricultural scientist of international repute, after laying the foundation stone of a state-of-the-art laboratory complex of pest bio-control on the research farm of PAU Department of Entomology here yesterday.

Dr Swaminathan said pests, pathogens and weeds were there even in the beginning of agriculture, some 10,000 years ago. Quoting renowned Indian entomologist, Dr Pardhan, Dr Swaminathan said rather than controlling the pests, it was prudent to manage them. It was the crux of the concept of integrated pest management (IPM), he said.

Referring to the rice-wheat cropping sequence in northern India, Dr Swaminathan said that the former had many pests, while the latter the least. He said a symphony of inter-disciplinary approaches, ideas and scientists was required for achieving results. He remarked that the Green Revolution in India, too, was the outcome of the symphony among scientists, farmers, technology generators and disseminators. — TNS

Ludhiana, April 27
The Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) will allot 144 two-bedroom (BHK) flats and another 120 single-room service apartments in Dugri Urban Estate, Phase II, through draw of lots today.

There are 2,518 applicants for the residential dwellings to be constructed under a self-financing scheme within a period of one and-half-year of allotment - 806 for one room service apartments and 1,712 for 2 BHK flats - all having paid 10 per cent of the tentative cost of the flat/apartment with the application.

GLADA additional chief administrator Jaswant Singh said for the 2 BHK flats, there were 1,557 valid applications under general category and another 155 under different reserved quotas for SCs, BCs, freedom fighters, riot-affected persons, retired Army personnel and handicapped persons. Similarly, for the one-room service apartments, there were 716 applicants from general category and 90 from the reserved category.

The two-BHK flats, he added, would have a carpet area of 1,000 square feet with cost varying between Rs 23.17 lakh and Rs 20.22 lakh for first and sixth floor flats, respectively. It will have a drawing-cum-dining room, two bedrooms, a kitchen, two toilets and stilt parking on ground floor and a basement.

The 320 square feet service apartments to be constructed in a four storeyed complex will have one multi-purpose room, a kitchen and a toilet. The price of the flat will vary between Rs 7.55 lakh for ground floor to Rs 5.47 lakh for the third floor.

As per the terms and conditions of the allotment of flats, the total cost of the flat (after deduction of 10 per cent earnest money paid with the application) will have to be paid by the allottees within a period of 120 days in two instalments from the date of issue of letter of intent/allocation, with first instalment being due for payment within 60 days, the GLADA ACA said.

At the time of inviting applications from eligible persons for the two BHK flats and one-room service apartments, the GLADA had designated three banks - the State Bank of Patiala, Punjab National Bank and the Union Bank of India for sale of brochure-cum-application form of the scheme, collection of applications from the eligible persons and providing finance to successful applicants, if they so desired.

Ludhiana, April 27
A delegation of farmers today visited Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) to explore possibilities of setting up food processing industry at Jalgaon district, in Maharashtra.

They were especially interested in banana jam, the technology of which is being advocated by the CIPHET director Dr RT Patil. Govind Ramesh Patil, an advocate, said he grows banana and papaya in his 180 acres. “My son has recently completed LLB. But he is more interested in food processing than in legal profession,” he said.

“We are interested in banana jam, powdering technology of onion and garlic and green chilli powder technology,” he added.

Ludhiana, April 27
Nikhil Chaudhary and Mayank Bhagria remained unconquered at 59 and 58 runs, respectively, while the former also scalped five victims to help Mahajan XI to defeat Pankaj XI by 31 runs in the Hot Weather Cricket Tournament (U-16) organised by the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) at Satish Chander Dhawan Government College here today.

Batting first, Mahajan XI scored 276 runs for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 70 overs. Besides, Nikhil and Mayank, Jagdev and Parul batted well, contributing 21 and 24 runs, while Viren Singh made 17 runs.

For Pankaj XI, Sumit grabbed three wickets for 35 runs, while Gurjot and Sandeep captured two wickets each after conceding 31 and 41 runs, respectively. Anirudh took one for 15.

In reply, Pankaj XI could muster 245 runs in 66 overs with main contributions coming through Sandeep (51), Ajay Mehra (28), Anirudh (37), Chirag Maria (32) and Paras (30).

For winners, Nikhil Chaudhary was the most successful bowler, who took five for 65 and Parul followed him with three wickets for 51runs, while Jai captured two wickets for 53 runs.

Ludhiana, April 27
Gulgul Singh has been selected to lead the Ludhiana girl’s basketball squad in the Punjab Youth Basketball Championship for girls and boys scheduled to be held at Abohar from April 28 to May 1. This was informed by Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, Ludhiana Basketball Association.

Those who are selected include Gulgul Singh (captain), Gagandeep Kaur, Shweta, Simarpreet Kaur (Doraha), Karanjeet Kaur, Navparkash Preet Kaur, Pooja, Varinderdeep Kaur, Simarpreet Kaur (Dakha), Gurpreet Kaur, Kirandeep Kaur and Inderpreet Kaur.

Devinder Pal Singh (Dakha) has been named coach of the team.