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Police raid on cyber cafe sends teenagers scurrying
Ludhiana, June 4 The Model Town police led by the Station House Officer (SHO) conducted a raid at the cafe located on the Dugri road and found five couples in cubicles. According to sources, when the police reached the cafe, it triggered panic among the boys and girls, all teenagers. A few of them locked themselves in the bathroom while the others hid under tables. The police let them go after issuing them a warning. However, the matter was not reported to their parents. The owner of the cyber cafe was taken to the police station for questioning. Confirming the development, the SHO said it was not an act of moral policing. “It was a routine check to inspect whether the owners of cyber cafes were maintaining a list of people visiting the cafes for surfing. The check was conducted purely for security reasons,” said SHO Model Town Gurveer Singh. One of the youths who was caught off-guard said: “I was told that this cafe was safe and the police did not conduct raids here. It is for the first time that I visited the cafe and the police raided it.” The cyber cafe did not bear a name and was being run from a multi-storeyed commercial complex. Not the first time
It is not the first time that the police has cracked down on cyber cafes. Raids have been conducted from time to time, leading several cafes across the city to shut down. The bone of contention between the police and the cafe owners is the cubicles installed inside. However, not all cafes have cubicles on their premises. Some are strict and do not allow anyone without verifying their antecedents. Cheaper surfing
With the Internet facility getting cheaper and even available on smart phones, the cyber cafe business has been adversely affected. “I hardly see anyone visiting cafes these days. So it is easy to guess what is going on in there. But not all cafe owners are indulging in such practices,” said Shiv Soni of Dr Ambedkar Vichar Manch.
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Cancer survivors triumph
Ludhiana, June 4 “I was in Class X when I developed excruciating pain in one of my legs. I came to know I had cancer at the Christian Medical College and Hospital. My family was told that my treatment would cost Rs 10 lakh. But through the kindness of a doctor, I was given medicines free of cost. The intensity of the pain was such that my parents would also cry. I started going to the gurdwara at 3-4 am so my parents would not see me suffer. But I had firm faith in God. Hair fall was another phase which saddened me. But I did not give up.”
Now, Vijay is leading a healthy life and works in a shop. “One has to have a strong will to fight this disease,” he adds. Balwinder Singh, husband of Harjinder Kaur (42), was the pillar of strength for his wife who was suffering from chronic myeloid leukaemia (the commonest blood cancer in India). “My husband always told me not to worry about money for treatment. I am happy that I am cured and can look after him and my two kids.” Balwinder Singh said: “We never left her alone and would try to keep her happy and now she is fine.”
Captain Inderjeet Singh Dhami, Deputy Director Youth Service Sports Jalandhar, said: “About two years ago, I was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukaemia. I got myself treated properly and am now working as usual.” Asked how he coped with the side-effects, he said: “With help from my doctor, I tolerated the severe pain. I lost my hair and went weak due to chemotherapy, but I accepted it with fortitude.” Bone marrow transplant
Dr Devinder Singh Sandhu, an oncologist, said he treated Harshveer Singh, a computer engineering student who had Hodgkin lymphoma (a type of blood cancer), through a bone marrow transplant in 2006. And now he is perfectly all right. He was diagnosed with the disease about five years ago. “I have got my hair back. Throughout my treatment, I did not allow myself to slip into depression. I suffered physically, not mentally,” says Harshveer. |
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Student ends life anticipating poor result in Class XII PSEB exam
Ludhiana, June 4 The boy, identified as Ashish (18), was spotted by his mother, who raised the alarm and informed the residents about the incident. The police also reached the spot and started the investigation. It is learnt that Ashish had not done well in the examination and feared a bad result. Apprehending that he would become a laughing stock among the peer group he perhaps committed suicide, said investigating officer Raj Kumar. Three days ago, Rohit, an 11 year-old class IV student, had committed suicide after he flunked the PSEB examination. The pre-teenager ended his life after hanging himself from a hook in the ceiling of his house on the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) campus here.
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3 of family commit suicide
Ludhiana, June 4 The victim, identified as Mukesh Kumar, had gone with his family to Dera Bassi about 10 days ago. Mukesh left a suicide note stating that he had committed suicide due to poor financial condition.
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Mentally challenged man lynched
Ludhiana, June 4 Residents of the “vehra” took him to be a thief and thrashed him before handing him over to the police. The police rushed him to hospital where he succumbed to his injuries. The police has booked seven persons for unintentionally murdering him and has started investigation. |
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15 villages near Sutlej affected with malaria
Ludhiana, June 4 However, sources reveal that the health authorities did not take necessary measures on time and thus malaria has started spreading. Dr GP Mangala, district epidemiologist, said: “I have already visited these villages and have made people aware about the precautionary measures. Keeping in view the Annual Parasite Index, we also got the DDT spray done in these The villages where malarial parasite has affected the people include, Bangar Gujjran, Talwandi Kalan, Ladhowal, Bagga Khurd etc. Dr Nirmaljit Kaur, Senior Medical Officer of the area, said: “I am on a long leave so contact Dr Amanpreet who is the officiating SMO.” However, all efforts to contact her Dr Mangala said, “I will again visit this area after some days. Presently, I am visiting other areas of Ludhiana, including Dhandhari Khurd, Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Mansuran Road, Makkar Colony, Gyaspura and Sherpur. There is ‘vehra’ culture in these areas. Many families live together on common premises in the absence of adequate drinking water and toilet facilities. The health personnel are also distributing chlorine tablets to residents and instructing them as how to use these for drinking water.” Meanwhile, the district health department organised an awareness rally yesterday as June is observed as anti-malaria month. Interestingly, the rally that was flagged off by Dr Yashpal Mehta, assistant civil surgeon, Ludhiana, passed from some posh areas of the city and concluded at the civil surgeon’s office.
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Generation Y keen on bringing change in society
Ludhiana, June 4 Ranked 16 in the civil services examination, Shruti Sharma, a city-based girl, is all set to face the new challenges ahead. Her training will start in September. Sharing her views with The Tribune, Shruti said: “Do we need to tell why we need to bring a change in society? You ask anyone and you would get an answer. The masses need to be apprised of their rights and duties. Once we are able to bring awareness, we will not let others take advantage of our innocence. If the younger generation is committed, I am sure change for better will come,” said Sharma. Dr Ajaypal Singh, who scored 160th rank in the civil services examination, feels system needs to be revamped in the country. “I was pretty satisfied being a doctor, but during my internship I found that patients were suffering as they were not given the best treatment at primary levels. Had their problems been taken care of at the initial stage, their suffering could have been managed. I want to bring a change and for that I had to be a part of the system,” he said. The urge to curb sick practices like corruption, gender inequality, unemployment and illiteracy prevalent in society could also be seen among those aspiring to become civil servants. Shivangi Sood, who scored 97.4 per cent in class XII recently, wants to be an IPS officer. “I want to join police services to tackle the problem of law and order. Strict laws are to be implemented to curb practices like corruption. We have to become a part of the system to bring a change,” said Sood. Like Shruti, Dr Ajaypal and Shivangi there are many other young, intelligent students who are fed up with the system and who want to bring a change. Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari, while expressing his view on the role of civil servants in tackling corruption, said: “I personally feel that there is an extreme mismatch between the haves and have nots in the country and for filling this gap, civil servants can do very little.” He added that, “There is a huge layer of inequality in the country. Civil servants cannot tackle the problem of corruption alone. Society, political leaders and policy makers need to join hands to bring in the change. But we can definitely put in our share to amend the system.”
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Site-specific crop management key to precision farming: US scientists
Ludhiana, June 4 The discussion brought into focus the concerns such as enhancing fertilizer use efficiency, proper use of field labour, promoting processing, value addition and storage of agricultural commodities, dealing with water distress, problems in protected cultivation of crops, etc. The selection of proper varieties, proper date of sowing of crops like wheat and good management were considered to be important factors that were vital for bridging the gap between harvested and potential crop yields. Dr Wall said site-specific crop management was the key to precision farming. Dr Allan Mayfield, pathologist, said mechanised application of inputs enhanced precision adding that the input use efficiency needs to be optimised through their site-specific management. He mentioned that diseases affecting foliage, ears and grains were important and that disease management should be a part of the precision agriculture framework. Welcoming the visitors, PAU Registrar Dr RK Mahey said PAU had developed several field-worthy technologies for resource conservation, input use efficiency enhancement and energy efficiency for the sake of precision in agriculture and rational use of inputs.
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Nurses’ stir enters Day 4
Ludhiana, June 4 Satpal Gosain said, “In the morning, nurses requested me to intervene in the matter. I went to meet the hospital management and asked them to resolve the issue amicably. I told the nurses that they should have approached me instead of staging a protest. But the moment I left the hospital, I got to know that the management had issued court notices to some nurses.” The minister said he would meet the hospital management on Monday again. Meanwhile, due to the ongoing strike, patients admitted in the hospital remained harassed. The hospital authorities could not be contacted despite repeated efforts. The nurses went on a strike on May 1. They accused nursing superintendent Col Tejinder Kaur of misbehaving with them and not fulfilling their genuine demands of issuing cumulative offs, along with casual and earned leave. However, Col Tejinder Kaur denied all allegations.
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Buddha Nullah continues to be bane of city
Ludhiana, June 4 Described as the “river of sorrows”, the nullah continues to be bane of city residents. Scores of people have died due to water-borne diseases caused by polluted underground water due to the nullah and several are living with diseases like hepatitis B, jaundice and respiratory and skin ailments. There was a ray of hope after the Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh inaugurated the bio-remediation project for cleaning up the nullah. The multi-crore project is funded by the Central government and will be one of the largest projects of this magnitude undertaken in the country by the ministry. Environmentalist Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal says that though the bio-remediation project is good, it will not bear fruit till factories stop throwing untreated water into the nullah. "Even if you clean a room and if the other person keeps throwing garbage in it, it would not remain clean forever. If the government really wants to convert the nullah into a clean stream, it will have to take stringent action against industries polluting it," Seechewal said. Ludhiana's hosiery, machine parts, electroplating, heat treatment, cycle manufacturing, dyeing units and chemical industry are discharging effluents into the nullah. More than 20 sullage drains from colonies, including Islam Gunj, New Madhopuri, Jamalpur, Gau Ghat Gaushala and Balmiki Mohalla flow into the nullah that finally empties into Sut l ej river. Was a clean water body once l
From a clean water channel just four decades ago, along whose banks the city flourished in the late 19th century, it has today turned into a slow moving stream carrying black-coloured and foul-smelling toxic elements from the city into Sutlej river. There is evidence that the nullah was the sub-channel of the erstwhile Sutlej river. The Lodhi Fort, according to historians and Ludhiana Gazetteer, was constructed in the 17th century on its bank. Originating from several streams coming from a hillock near Ropar, the nullah, which was earlier known as Buddha Dariya, takes proper shape near
Macchiwara. It then passes through the city and then joins Sutlej in the Bet area. After the 1960s, the clean Buddha Dariya began changing form as a number of industries, especially the dyeing, electroplating and acidic, began discharging effluents into it. Even a number of hospitals in the city began throwing truckloads of medical waste into it.
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Sidhwan Canal going the Buddha Nullah way!
Ludhiana, June 4 Even slums have mushroomed along the canal near the Gill Road bridge and migrants have erected their shanties at many places. They litter garbage along the banks of the canal, besides washing clothes and utensils in it everyday. Thanks to the callous attitude of the Sidhwan Canal Division Department in keeping the canal and its banks clean and the failure of the district administration in preventing people from throwing garbage and litter into the canal, it is fast going the Buddha Nullah way. The amount of garbage thrown into the canal seems to so high that it was contributing immensely to the raise in level of the canal bed also besides the pollution. While environmentalists state that if the government was really willing to save this canal, it should take some concrete steps. "I have seen that in various parts of the world, canals have been turned into picnic sports and in England, they are major spots of attraction for tourists," Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal said.
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RSPM down but still higher than permissible limit
Ludhiana, June 4 Even then, a look at the data does not \give any reason for the residents to rejoice. As the RSPM levels are still more than double as compared to the permissible limit. The RSPM is more than double of the permissible limit of 100 micrograms/metric cube in the city. With nearly 300 vehicles added to the city everyday and 25,000 auto-rickshaws billowing out thick fumes into the air, the PPCB's one of the monitoring points, the Bharat Nagar Chowk, which is incidentally one of India's most polluted chowks as per a study by the Central Pollution Control Board, New Delhi, has recorded an RSPM of 252 micrograms this year. Two years ago, it was 237 micrograms. “It is not the industry alone. After all we have the maximum number of vehicles in the state,” said Dr Satpal, scientific officer, PPCB. He said the decline in the RSPM was because the industry had installed pollution control devices. "Due to this, the pollution level has come down. But they it is still higher than the permissible limits. Hopefully, the pollution level will come under control within a few years,” he said. The PPCB has set up four ambient air quality monitoring stations in different parts of the city, which are in PPCB's Zonal Office near the bus stand, Verka Milk Plant on Ferozepur Road, Vishwakarma Chowk and at Nahar Spinning Mills in Industrial Area.
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Trees a casualty to development
Ludhiana, June 4 Recently, around 900 trees were axed for eight-laning of the Ferozepur Road. Work on the Rs 40-crore road project being undertaken by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) began after the forest department granted approval for the same. However, to compensate the axing of trees, the GLADA authorities decided to plant saplings in Gurdaspur. This was done because GLADA officials managed to get a chunk of land at much cheaper price as compared to the same land in Ludhiana. "If we were to purchase same chunk of land in Ludhiana, it would have been worth crores, but in Gurdaspur, we got the land at much cheaper rates. Even if the saplings are planted in Gurdaspur, they would be helpful in checking pollution," AK Sinha, Chief Administrator of GLADA said. However, environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal said the government was cutting more number of trees and was not planting saplings to compensate for the loss. "All the government officials are hand-in-glove with corrupt people and no one is concerned about the environment," he lamented.
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Only one LPG filling station for 1,500 autos in city
Ludhiana, June 4 Om Parkash Jodhan, president of the Ludhiana District Auto-rickshaw Union, said the government had launched this initiative with much fanfare. “But they provided us with only one filling station. Now, if a person living on Chandigarh Road owns one such auto-rickshaw, he would have to travel all the way to Ferozepur Road, where the LPG filling station is situated, to get his vehicle refilled, which is not financially viable," Jodhan lamented. “If the government wants to attract people to purchase LPG-run auto-rickshaws, they should open more filling stations. Otherwise LPG cylinders meant for domestic used would remain as the most easily available source of LPG for us,” an auto-rickshaw owner said. There are more than 30,000 diesel-run auto-rickshaws in the city, which are responsible for traffic congestion and pollution.
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Fogging from June 15, but where are the machines?
Ludhiana, June 4 As many as 75 fogging machines, one for each ward, were purchased for Rs 50 lakh by the “cash-starved” MC. Gurpreet Singh Gogi, councillor from Ward No. 53, said the fogging machines were kept in the storeroom soon after the purchase. “We have neither been given a demonstration about how to use the machines nor have these been handed over to us,” he lamented. MC Health Officer Charanjit Uppal said the machines had been kept “safely” in the storeroom of the MC. “We will distribute these before June 15, when fogging begins,” he assured, claiming that the councillors had been given live demonstrations. About a year ago, civic officials provided the machines to all councillors for the purpose of fogging to get rid of mosquitoes in their respective wards. However, officials “forgot” to give them the chemicals to spray as well as the required manpower to operate the machines. As a result, these have been gathering dust. Though the councillors had complained to MC officials, the latter, instead of putting the existing fogging machines to use, decided to go in for 75 new ones. Tackling malaria
l The municipal corporation (MC) has claimed to have formed 15 teams for zones A, B, C and D to tackle the spread of malaria. The teams have been visiting various areas of the city and spraying anti-malaria chemicals.
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Powercom officials violate Act
Mullanpur Dakha, June 4 What to talk of seeking permission, the officials accomplished their mission despite warnings by the forest department authorities. One of the PSPC officials tried to follow procedure by seeking permission from the forest department, but the authorities instead of appreciating his action got the job done by replacing him with another official. Demanding removal of installations from the reserved area, the Range Forest Officer, Ludhiana, has issued notices to at least three officials of the Powercom. Senior Powercom officials showing ignorance about the sequence of events leading to issuance of the notices said they would coordinate with the forest department authorities to seek their approval. Investigations revealed that some officials of the PSPC had allegedly installed electricity poles and transmission lines in forest reserve area near Bhanohar Punjab village along the Ludhiana-Ferozepur road, near here. Though the officials were supposed to take prior permission from the department, they continued their job despite being stopped by the officials responsible for conservation of the forest cover. Perusal of notice issued to Mohinder Singh and Sarabjit Singh, junior engineers at Mullanpur subdivision of the PSPC, revealed that land situated along roads, canals and railway lines had been transferred to the forest department and declared as reserve forest. Thus, encroaching upon government land and undertaking non-forestry work on the land was a grave offence and violator could be booked and punished under the Forest Conservation Act 1980 and Indian Forest Act 1927. SDO of the segment SP Singh had written at least two letters to the higher authorities to initiate the process for seeking permission from the forest department. The authorities instead of appreciating his act preferred to replace the incumbent with Avtar Singh, another SDO from Humbran segment. Though the officials receiving notices (dated April 19, 2011) were supposed to reply within 15 days, the forest department has not received any response so far. XEN, PSPCL, Amarjit Singh Grewal, said his colleagues were issued notices and they would look into the matter. He said he would coordinate with forest officials.
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MC razes building under construction
Ludhiana, June 4 Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Kamaljit Kaur said: “The owners of the under construction building were warned many times in advance, but they didn't pay any heed to our warnings. That is why we demolished the building today.” The owners of the building had submitted two site maps of 290 sq yards each for approval to the MC. One of the site maps was approved, while the other one was lying with the MC. “They were to get the other site map cleared by January, but they failed to do so. That’s why, they were told not to go ahead with the construction. Even on Friday evening, we have stopped them from doing any construction," ATP Kamaljit Kaur said. She said the building was constructed in a hush-hush manner. “The owners had deployed around 50 labourers at the construction site. Whenever the building inspectors visited the site, they used stop the construction and resume the work when the officials went away. We also came to know that the owners had hired rooms for labourers nearby,” the ATP said.
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Hyundai Motors told to pay
Rs 25,000
Ludhiana, June 4 The forum also ordered them to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation on account of harassment and Rs 2,000 as litigation cost. The forum observed that the plea of company and its dealer denying receipt of documents from complainant to claim loyalty bonus appeared to be false to deny rightful claim of the complainant. Pronouncing the order, president of forum TN Vaidya and its member Priti Malhotra also directed the company to pay 9 per cent per annum interest on loyalty bonus. The orders came on a complaint moved by Manisha Sharma of Urban Estate, Focal point, Ludhiana. She had stated that the company had floated a scheme to give loyalty bonus of Rs 25,000 if a person purchases a Hyundai car and his family member was already having Hyundai company car. Allured by the scheme, she also purchased Hyundai Verna on November 2008 in order to avail loyalty bonus and submitted all requisite documents. Prior to that, her father was already having a Hyundai car. Thereafter, she submitted same documents twice but all in vain.
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BSNL employees’ conference begins
Ludhiana, June 4
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From schools
Spring Dale Senior Secondary Public School, Sherpur, organised summer workshop "Run to Have Fun-2011" for students up to class V. The workshop concluded on Saturday. The main attractions of the day were martial art, yoga and meditation, badminton, cooking without fire and folk dance. — TNS Environment day observed in school Environment Day was celebrated on the premises of St GDS Convent School, Rahon road. Students of junior block participated in a fancy dress competition in which they were dressed as tree and flowers. The staff members were also dressed green. In the morning assembly, speeches were delivered on the Environment Day in which students were made aware about the importance of environment. Students took pledge to keep environment neat and clean. Saplings were planted on the school premises. A quiz was also organised on the occasion.
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Missing man found dead in canal
Ludhiana, June 4 The body of the victim was spotted floating in the canal by the residents of Beeja village here this morning who further informed the police about the incident. Soon the family of the victim also came to know about the incident and reached the spot. Victim’s brother Sumit Kumar suspected foul play as Amit was embroiled in a financial dispute with his business partner. It is learnt that Amit was in a debt of Rs 5 lakh and was continuously harassed by his business partner. The family brought the matter to the notice of the police three days ago following which the cops launched a search to trace Amit. The victim got married five years ago and had a four-year-old son. The body was taken to the civil hospital for the autopsy. The police has launched an investigation into the
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Mobile phone snatched
Ludhiana, June 4 He said two motorcycle-borne youths with their faces covered followed him. When he reached Sector 32 and pulled out his mobile phone, the pillion rider snatched his mobile phone and fled. The motorcycle was without the number plate, said Sahil. A case has been registered.
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Former JE killed in accident
Ludhiana, June 4 An overspeeding car, driven by Bhupinder Singh of Jalandhar, hit the scooter from behind, killing Gurbachan on the spot. The police has booked Bhupinder under Section 304 (A) of the IPC for negligent driving causing death.
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Jarkhar juniors prevail over Mohali XI
Ludhiana, June 4 Jarkhar Juniors drew the first blood in the very first minute as Ramandeep Singh scored a fine field goal. However, their joys were short-lived as Mohali XI scored the equaliser in the fifth minute through Ranjeet Singh who pumped in two more goals (15th and 21st minutes) to complete his hat-trick. Harmanpreet Singh of Jarkhar Juniors struck in the 17th and 23rd minutes to level the score 3-all at half time. In the second session, Amritpal Singh and Jaspreet Singh of Jarkhar Juniors contributed three and one goal, respectively, while Damandpreet Singh accounted for two goals for Mohali XI and Jaswant Singh found the target once to salvage some pride for the losers. The second match (u-21) was played between Ludhiana and Ropar in which the former came out triumphant 10-7. For the winners, Pawandeep Singh scored four goals, followed by Manish, Amritpal Singh and Jangpreet Singh who chipped in with two goals each to complete the rout. For Ropar, Kiranpreet Singh (3) and Bakhshish Singh (2) played brilliantly but that was not enough to save their side from the defeat. Gurlalpreet Singh and Amandeep Singh, with one goal each, too contributed to reduce the margin (10-7).
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Maharashtra men wrap up doubles title
Ludhiana, June 4 For Maharashtra, Arshad and Rashid played the anchor’s role to enable their side to emerge as champions while Navreet and Atul fought well for the losers. Earlier, in the semifinal encounter, Maharashtra outnumbered Chandigarh 3-2 and Uttar Pradesh edged out Haryana 3-2 to book berths in the final. In the women’s doubles, Madhya Pradesh, along with Chhattishgarh and Uttar Pradesh, wrapped up their respective quarterfinal matches to advance into the last four stage. Madhya Pradesh beat Delhi 3-1; Chhattisgarh pipped Maharashtra 3-2 and Uttar Pradesh defeated Delhi 3-2 to secure their places in semifinal.
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Over 40 aspiring shuttlers attend coaching camp
Ludhiana, June 4 These beginners are being imparted coaching by the LBA free of cost. The academy has engaged a state-level badminton player and coach, Lakhwinder Singh Punnu, to train these aspiring boys and girls. MK Chopra, president of the LBA, said they would select 10-15 talented shuttlers from this category to train them regularly at the academy. “We have already 35 regular players enrolled in our academy for the last four years. A few of our players have already won medals in the Punjab State Badminton Championship," said Chopra. Besides, Pranav Chopra, an international player and a product of this academy who recently returned from China is also helping these young and budding players with the latest techniques of international standards. "Pranav has been apprising players of value of physical training which is the major part in the modern badminton game," added Chopra. The LBA is providing free shuttles and diet to all the players. This is for the first time that any academy is providing free training to the players as all other academies are charging more than Rs 5,000 for such camps. Besides, the players are being taught discipline and time management, which helps them in their day-to-day life. We will also invite other coaches from Punjab for this camp. Players will also be shown video clips of important international matches. The camp will conclude on June 18.
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