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Roof collapse at Sacred Heart leaves 1 labourer dead, 9 hurt
Ludhiana, June 7 Lal of Chhatterpur, Madhya Pradesh. The paramedics said the labourer, besides suffering multiple injuries, was asphyxiated after being buried under the rubble. Five of the injured have been identified as Sukhdev, Parkash Babu, Prem Lal, Vijay and Akhilesh. The identity of four others is not yet known. The incident took place around 6 pm when around 25 labourers were busy working on the lintel of the auditorium. According to an eyewitness, the structure collapsed suddenly, burying around 10 workers under the rubble. Akhilesh, one of the injured admitted to Raghunath Hospital, said he was working on the roof of the auditorium along with eight others when it collapsed. “Some labourers were working under the structure and might have been trapped. The roof just came crashing down. The next thing I remember was I was being taken to the hospital,” said Akhilesh, who suffered injuries on the legs, hands and head. The fellow labourers and security staff of the school swung into action and initiated the rescue operation. The police and fire department also reached the scene. An hour after the incident, 10 workers were pulled out of the rubble and sent to MediCity hospital and other multi-speciality hospitals. ACP Raj Kumar said: “The rescue operation is on and we have so far rescued 10 labourers from the rubble and sent them to various hospitals.” Panic in the area
The massive thud created panic in BRS Nagar and the surrounding area as residents took it for an earthquake and rushed out of their houses. The incident caused a traffic jam on the busy Ferozepore Road as curious motorists halted their vehicles to take a look at the site, leading to chaos. The rescue operation was delayed due to the snarl-up. Work was nearing completion
The construction of the state-of-the-art auditorium had been on for the past one year and was nearing completion. A church was also being constructed at the site. |
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No lessons learnt from past
Ludhiana, June 7 In most cases, lax attitude on part of the contractors and even the victims is believed to have caused the accidents. On October 1, seven migrant labourers, including a woman, were killed and several others injured when the roof of an under-construction building on the premises of Rishabh Spinning Mills at Jodhan village, around 20 km from Ludhiana, collapsed. The incident occurred when a portion of the roof, made up of iron and steel, collapsed like a pack of cards. Labourers, all hailing from Madhya Pradesh, were working at the construction site at that time.Similarly, on March 12 last year, four persons, including two women, one of them nine months pregnant, died while six others sustained injuries when a building collapsed at Focal Point, Phase VII, here. The incident took place when an under-construction building, where labourers were working, collapsed. In another such incident, five labourers were killed and 10 others injured when a building collapsed in Hira Vihar Colony of Basti Jodhewal on May 28, 2009. The incident took place early in the morning when 16 labourers were sleeping inside the structure. A lifting jack, out of the four fastened in the corners of the building, gave way and its roof came crashing down on the labourers.
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Ashish didn’t live to relish his success
4 days after he hung himself, he scored a not-so-bad 58 per cent marks Mohit Khanna Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, June 7 Fearing poor results, Ashish ended his life by hanging himself from a ceiling fan hook at his home near Baba Than Singh Chowk on June 3. It was an emotional moment for his parents as he did not live to cherish the happy moment with his family. His father, Karam Masih, was in a dilemma. "What should I do? Should I relish the moment or lament over the death of my child who didn’t live to cherish his success? I would have been a proud father today had Ashish been alive. But sadly my child is no more. These marks are now meaningless for me," he told The Tribune on phone from Dhariwal village in Gurdaspur district. Ashish was living and studying with his grandparents in Dhariwal town and had gone to his parents’ home a few days before he commited suicide to spend the summer holidays. ic loss. "Rumours were doing the rounds that my brother had topped the stream. So I contacted Ashish's classmates who told me his name was not in the merit list. This morning the school staff broke the news of Ashish's scoring 580 marks out of 1000. Had he been with us, he would have been very happy," said Ashish’s sister who is still coming to terms with her brother’s death. Ashish always aspired to be a doctor. His parents made many sacrifices to enable their children to study. "While I was working in Christian Medical College & Hospital, my wife was working as housekeeper at SPS Apollo Hospital. Both of us were doing overtime so that we could earn more money and help our children get quality education. I wanted to see my son become a doctor. But he left us before fulfilling my wish,”said Masih. Ever since Ashish commited suicide, the family has been camping in Dhariwal. Ashish’s mother is reluctant to return to the house where her son ended his life. His mother constantly breaks into tears while holding here son’s photograph. "His death has devastated us and created a void which will never be filled," said Karam Masih.
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It’s fruit of labour, pure and simple
Ludhiana, June 7 “Simple Chhetri, who passed the class 12 exam with 84.4% marks, suffers from a cardiovascular disease characterized by shrinkage of the heart. She is currently being treated at the Mohan Dai Oswal Cancer Hospital. But actually she is a genius, scoring 80.45% marks in the first semester of class 12. And in her cumulative results of both semesters of the class she has performed better and scored 84.4% marks," said Dheeraj Sharma, the school’s assistant coordinator. She has improved performance in academics since class 10 in which she scored 85% marks. She is equally good in sports and has already won gold and silver medals in the district judo and karate contests in 2008 and 2009, and has also participated in the state championships. While Simple could not be contacted, school principal Asha Sharma said, `”She also stood first in the ‘tehsil’ level science exhibition”. Simple’s father, Jeewan Chhetri, is a labourer in a factory while her mother, Aruna, is a housewife and she has three siblings. Said Sharma: “She aspires to be an air hostess. She didn’t get any financial support from the government for her hospital treatment though a few months ago her school provided some funds. She is indeed a shining star of our school”. |
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Woman booked for sending ‘threatening’ SMSes to cop
Ludhiana, June 7 Giving details, assistant superintendent of police (west) Raj Kumar said the woman, identified as Amandeep Kaur, a resident of Patiala, had sent the messages to ASI Jagjit Singh. "The police filed a case against her after thorough investigations”, he added. According to Jagjit, Amandeep married his brother-in-law a few years ago but the marriage did not work and the couple separated. “Amandeep then levelled allegations of being harassed for dowry against her husband and the latter was arrested. Following the dispute he and the couple’s children began receiving threatening calls and SMS messages from his wife’s cellular number”, he added. Jagjit said he then brought the matter to the notice of his senior officials in August 2010 and even lodged a complaint with the city police “Amandeep had procured the mobile phone number from a Morinda youth who confirmed she and her grandmother had come to get the cellular SIM card from him”, he added. Amandeep alleged Jagjit was trying to “settle scores” with him. However, the latter refuted the claims as baseless. “I’ve nothing to do with the marital dispute between my brother-in-law and his wife and she is making accusations to evade punishment”, he averred.
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MC demolishes five illegal colonies
Ludhiana, June 7 In a recent survey, the MC had detected 18 such colonies spread across different parts of the city. At that time, the officials had given an option to the owners of getting these regularised by paying development charges or face demolition. The colonies that were demolished today were located at the Tibba Road, Kailash Nagar, Mayapuri and Jassian Road. A team led by Assistant Town Planner (ATP), Zone D, Surinder Singh Bindra demolished two colonies located on the Jassian Road. “One of the colonies was spread over eight acres, while the another covered six acres. We have razed all roads and sewerage set up in the colony,” Bindra informed. Similarly, another team led by ATP, Zone B, Harpreet Ghai demolished three colonies. “The colonies are situated in Kailash Nagar, Mayapuri and Tibba Road. There were some houses under construction in these colonies. We have just razed the roads and sewerage,” said Ghai. Municipal Town Planner Hemant Batra said people should refrain from purchasing houses in illegal residential colonies. A recent survey suggested that five illegal residential colonies had come up in Zone A. Ghumman Colony on the Kakowal Road had come up around 18 months ago and was spread over eight acres. Prince and Raji Colony on the Kakowal Road were build a year ago and spread over nine acres. Another adjoining colony was one year old and spread over two acres. A colony adjoining Gurnam Nagar on the Jassian Road came up five years ago and was spread over four acres. Also, Gurnam Colony on the Gahlewal Road, near Kailash Nagar, was seven years old and spread over eight acres. In Zone B, illegal colonies were found on the Tibba Road, Rishi Nagar (near Gopal Chowk Road), Mayapuri Colony, a colony near the dump on the Kakka Dhaula Road, GK Estate, near Chandigarh Road in Mundian Kalan, a colony on the Bhamia Road, opposite Sector 33, and Gulabi Bagh on the Tibba Road. In Zone C, one colony was situated in Lohara and two on the Kanganwal Road. In Zone D, two colonies were located on the Jassian Road, covering 8.5 acres and three acres, respectively, and the third one in Haibowal on 2.5 acres.
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Website glitches keep schools in a fix
Ludhiana, June 7 Talking to the Tribune, Rajinder Sharma, president of association of PSEB affiliated schools and director of Everest Model Senior Secondary School said, “The PSEB website did not function smoothly. We could not download the school results at one go and had to download by filling the roll number of each student." The problem was faced by many other schools too. MR Mehta, principal of BCM School, Chandigarh Road, said, “The website opened with lot of interruptions and we could download the whole result in the afternoon." However, the bookshop owners did not face much problem as individual results were getting down loaded a bit easily. Requesting anonymity, a government school computer teacher who was deputed on special duty for downloading the whole school result said, “It took four hours to download the whole result. As per the information of
PSEB, Mohali, the result would have been available at 7 am, but it was not true. As we clicked the website at 7:30am, we could read the message, ``Services not available". And this continued till 11:30am. It was around 11:45 am that the website started opening at very slow rate." Fed up with the website glitches, a private school principal said, “We did not download the school result today as it was a very time consuming process. The students will tell us on their own." |
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Cadets organise rally against female foeticide
Ludhiana, June 7 The cadets raised slogans and made the masses aware of the unethical practice. The rally was organised under the guidance of Lt Col. Subhash Sehgal. The cadets passed through many areas. Starting from the Khalsa College for Women, cadets holding pamphlets and placards passed through Ghumar Mandi, Arti Chowk, Bhaibala Chowk and finally concluded their march at KCW premises. The NCC cadets said that women all over the world had created a niche for themselves and they must be warmly welcomed at the time of birth. Besides, the cadets made the commuters aware of the traffic rules at Bhaibala Chowk.
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Poor performance by govt schools
Ludhiana, June 7 Harbhajan Ram, district education officer (Secondary), Ludhiana, says that the results are not good in government schools as the students come from uneducated families. Talking to the Tribune, Ram said, “There is improvement in our results as compared to last year’s. The students which we get in government schools do not come from educated families. However in private schools all the students come from educated families. So the gap of performance always remains there." When asked if he would also pull up schoolteachers, he said, “Yes of course, I will pull up those subject teachers whose students have failed. To discuss the performance of all the Government Senior Secondary Schools, I will call the meeting of principals next month." Meanwhile, the private schools are in a jubilant mood. Vandana Sethi, Principal of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Udham Singh Nagar, said, “It is the hard work of teachers and students. I think the government school teachers are involved in many non-teaching jobs, which affects their teaching."
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No physics teacher at govt school in Sahnewal
Sahnewal, June 7 Sunita (name changed), a student studying in Class XI complained, “I am crazy for science but my parents could not afford to admit me to a private school, hence I came here only to find that there was no physics teacher to teach us. I have been in a fix throughout the session.” “The science laboratories, constructed by spending lakhs of rupees, too, are lying unused,” she added. “When I got admission in this school, I was happy to find infrastructure, especially laboratories, up to the mark, but I was least aware of the fact that there is no one to guide us,” rued a science student. “We have requested the government several times to make arrangements for a science teacher, but to no avail,” said principal Kulwinder Kaur. “The students keep on approaching me time and again and I keep on sending reminders to the government. I, too, am helpless, but the helplessness of the students is greater than mine, as it is their future, which is at stake,” she added.
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Students of GN Model School excel
Doraha, June 7 Prabhjot Singh, (non medical) has bagged the 8th position in the district in the science stream by securing 90.7 per cent while Navjot Kaur (Commerce) obtained 38th position in the district by securing 89.1 per cent. Roop Brar, president of the management board, Harpartap Singh Brar, secretary of management board, Tarlok Singh Jaggi, secretary of management committee, director Jaswant Singh Gill congratulated principal DP Thakur, the staff and the meritorious students for their hard work.
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Orientation course
Ludhiana: “New developments in communication technologies have greatly enhanced indigenous knowledge of India,” stated senior director of Parsar Bharti (Doordarshan Kendra), Jalandhar, Dr Daljit Singh, who was here to inaugurate an orientation course on “Science Communication through Media: Recent Trends” organised in the auditorium of MS Randhawa Library at Punjab Agricultural University today. Dr Singh said there had been a tremendous growth in the channels for flow of knowledge to the end users. In view of the new happenings taking place in electronic and print media and other portals of communication, it had become necessary to apprise the faculty about new developments. Dr Singh said scientists should convey their message to farmers in a non-scientific manner. He appreciated the PAU Centre for Communication and International Linkages (CCIL) for organising the orientation programme on enhancing communication skills of farm scientists. The involvement of experts belonging to media, literature, science, administration, publishers and farmers as resource persons in the programme would surely benefit participants as communication skills were vital in all fields, he said. The programme is being organised by CCIL with the support of Punjab State Council for Science and Technology (PSCST). French delegation visit
Aiming at exploring new marketing avenues and to acquaint themselves with latest agricultural technological practices in India and in Punjab particularly, an Agri Pass Group (ACP) from France visited Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) today. The delegation comprising 23 members, including scientists, farmers and technicians, interacted with the experts of PAU and visited Crops Museum of the department of plant breeding and genetics (PBG) and the department of farm machinery and power engineering. Led by Caudron Stephane, the delegation said agriculture was an important segment. Stating that agriculture generated activities and thus employment downstream in the agri-food sector, they lauded the accomplishments of the PAU in wiping out food deficiency in the country and were happy to know that the per hectare average productivity of various crops was higher in Punjab. Evincing interest in sugarcane cultivation in the state, they divulged that France had a large cultivable area of almost 30 million hectares and the combined sector of agriculture, hunting and forestry formed about 3.1 per cent of the French working population.
— TNS
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20 units of blood collected Punjab National Bank, Benjamin Road branch, celebrated its 10th foundation day on Tuesday. On the initiative of Madhu Bhandari, branch manager, a special blood donation camp was arranged with the co-operation of specialist doctors of the local civil Hospital. More than 20 units of blood was collected towards the blood bank. Yashpal Barar, circle head, PNB Ludhiana circle, inaugurated the camp. In his address Barar said it was a best service towards mankind. He said that a drop of blood donated could save a precious human life. — TNS Students excel in
class XII exam
Students of Master Tara Singh Memorial Collegiate Senior Secondary Public School brought laurels to school by performing well in the class XII examination. The overall result of arts and commerce stream was 100 per cent. In commerce stream, Charanpreet Kaur stood first with 82.6 per cent marks, Simran secured second position with 82.2 per cent and Harsimran Kaur got third position with 81.8 per cent. In arts stream, Rubby Rattna stood first with 81.3 per cent marks, followed by Rumneet Kaur (77.4 per cent) and Monika Rani (77.3 per cent). Out of 125 students, 96 students got first division. —OC 567 patients examined
The Maa Bhagwati Club organised a free eye checkup camp at Evershine Public High School in Salem Tabri in which 567 patients were examined by a team of doctors led by Dr Ramesh, eye specialist. Free medicines were also distributed among the patients. Area councillor Satish Nagar while inaugurating the camp lauded the initiative of the club in providing free medical care facility to the poor people. The club chairman Ashok Marwaha along with president Avinash Sikka coordinated the activities at the camp. —OC
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Summer camp
Ludhiana: As part of a non-academic, positive learning experience, a two-week long summer camp is being organised by Guru Nanak Public School, Sarabha Nagar, starting from June 6. Principal Mona Singh said such camps provided a safe environment, where children could develop self confidence, social skills and good work habits while still allowing them to have fun. We live in a fast paced world with new technologies which may actually lower a child’s ability to interact with others. The principal emphasised that such camps allowed children to learn the values of teamwork and help them improve their ability to socialise with both peers and adults. Keeping all this in mind, a summer camp to train students in roller skating, karate, yoga, cookery, art and craft, music, giddha, bhangra and turban tying has been organised. — TNS
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MC employee arrested for paddling charas
Ludhiana, June 7 Last evening, the Shimlapuri police received a tip-off and set up a checkpoint at the grain market, near Arora Cinema. Shimlapuri SHO Balwinder Singh said while the police was checking the antecedents of motorists, Kuldeep, who was riding a bike, tried to evade the police. The police stopped his vehicle and tried to search him. At this, he tried to wriggle out by saying that he was a government employee and was going home after work. However, the police searched the vehicle and found the contraband kept in a black polythene. It was later found to be charas weighing 4.9 kg. The SHO said the accused was peddling charas for the second time. He had earlier sold the contraband in different parts of the city. “We are trying to identify those who were to receive the contraband. More revelations are expected during the course of the investigation,” he said. The accused was produced in a local court, which remanded him in police custody.
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Suspect detained, DNA sent to lab
Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, June 7 The 12-year-old girl was abducted, raped and then dumped near a level crossing at Alamgir village in the wee hours of June 1. The victim, belonging to a nomadic family, was sleeping out in open along with her parents near Manakwal village. The parents came to know about her disappearance when her mother woke up in the night following bad weather. In the morning, village residents spotted the girl and informed the nomads about her. According to the victim, who is still recuperating, she could not identify the accused as he had his face covered. Sources said a 45-year-old man, who lives in the same locality, had been detained for questioning. The suspect had a fight with the girl’s elder brother over a minor issue earlier. At that time, the suspect had threatened to rape the victim.
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Filing of tax refunds to get easier
Ludhiana, June 7 Taxpayers will also be able to check the status of their refund applications at ATMs. In addition, they will also be able to spot mistakes they may have made while filing for refunds/credits. After tying up with banks for providing tax deduction at source (TDS) details through Internet banking and payment of tax at ATMs, the income tax department is planning to take tax services to the next level. According to sources in the department, in the days to come, taxpayers may also be allowed to file returns through the banking channel. “The department plans to expand collaboration with banks. Taxpayers will be able to apply for refunds and get them through ATMs. They may also be allowed to file returns through ATMs. The idea is in initial stages but some countries like Sweden have already implemented it and we are also considering the same,” said a source. Since income tax payees will be able to spot mistakes they made during the filing of the return, it will save both department and assesses’ time. They will be able to make corrections themselves instead of waiting for the department to point out the same through a correspondence. All this will need time and the department is ramping up its information technology infrastructure for the same. The department expects these measures to increase tax compliance and collections, besides making the interface between the government and taxpayers more efficient and transparent. The facility of paying income tax through ATMs was launched earlier this year and is being provided by many banks, including Oriental Bank of Commerce, Union Bank of India, Corporation Bank and Axis Bank. Most were already accepting tax payments at their branches and portals.
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LIT hikes allowance for maintenance of parks
Ludhiana, June 7 LIT chairman MM Vyas, who presided over the meeting, later said the work of sanitation would also be handed over to the mohalla sanitation committees of resident welfare societies, who would appoint safai workers and supervise the sanitation work in their respective colonies. Providing a major relief to the owners of constructed houses in different colonies of the trust, it was decided to relax the norms for compounding of excess covered area. In the wake of majority of the house owners having exceeded the permissible covered area as per the building plans, the move will come as a relief to defaulters who will be able to get their buildings regularised on the payment of a stipulated composition fee. The only exception will be coverage of house line, which remains non-compoundable. The trust decided to give thrust to development works, including carpeting and strengthening of roads, development of parks, providing streetlights and other infrastructure in various colonies. Among the development works approved at the meeting were strengthening and carpeting of a 100-foot road in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar for Rs 85 lakh. Progress of other ongoing projects like computerisation of LIT records, disposal of commercial properties and vacant pieces of land were also discussed.
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Fire victims accuse MLA of desertion
Ludhiana, June 7 They alleged that even the district administration officials never offered them a helping hand or compensated them for the loss. MLA Darshan Singh Shivalik refuted the allegations saying he had given them sarees, towels and other household items worth over Rs 70,000 a few days after the incident. “They never came to meet me after the incident. How can they now say that I never helped them out. I am always willing to contribute from my discretionary funds for such persons, but they should not accuse me of not helping them. Some people with vested interest are accusing me wrongly,” Shivalik claimed. Hundreds of people, including women and children, had gathered outside the house of Darshan Singh Shivalik and held a protest today. They even submitted a memorandum to Shivalik’s representative, as the MLA had gone to Chandigarh for a meeting. On April 29 last year, around 100 families were rendered homeless when the shanties they were living in were reduced to ashes after a major fire broke out in Hussainpura village. The shanties that were put up on a private piece of land caught fire and within a few minutes, all temporary houses caught fire. By the time the fire brigade reached the scene, it was too late. Manju Didi, district president of Janata Dal (United), who was leading the protesters today, said the victims lost almost everything in the form of cash, jewellery and household goods. The victims had put up their shanties on a piece of land owned by an area farmer, Kukkoo, and were paying him Rs 200 per month. Manju rued that leaders had left the victims at the mercy of god and not even bothered to visit the penniless labourers. “If the MLA fails to visit the shanties tomorrow and compensate them for the loss, the labourers will stage a protest against him,” Manju claimed. Shivalik said he would visit the area tomorrow and forward the case to get compensation from the CM’s relief fund.
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Oswal management ready to bend for nurses, not sweepers; strike continues
Ludhiana, June 7 The protest by nurses continued even for the seventh day as the hospital management was not ready to take sweepers back. Sources said: “Last evening, the hospital authorities held a meeting with the representatives of nurses. The gates of the hospital were then closed for the agitating staff. However, attendants, patients along with paramedic staff and doctors were allowed entry after making queries at the hospital gate.” Meanwhile, two nurses of the hospital, Anita and Harjot Kaur, who suffered from heatstroke while participating in the protest are still under treatment in the emergency ward of the Christian Medical College and Hospital.” No one from the hospital authorities could be contacted for comments.
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