Ludhiana, July 27
Even as the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation is spending crores on development works in the city, it has failed to install covers on open manholes, which costs Rs 1,100.

The MC doesn’t seem to have learnt any lesson from the past incidents where many lost their lives after falling into open manholes.

The recent incident being of a seven-year-old boy Sujan, who died after his father's scooter slipped due to a 25 feet open manhole on National Highway-I near Jalandhar bypass in January.

The incident took place when Sujan, along with his father Satpal, was coming from Qadian village after attending a religious function on a scooter. When the duo reached near the road leading to their house in Chander Nagar in Bhaura village, Satpal noticed a manhole that was uncovered in the middle of the road. He applied brakes only to lose balance and his scooter skidded, while Sujan, who was standing in front of the driver's seat, fell in the 25 feet deep manhole.

Though MC officials tried to save the boy, his body was fished out of the sewerage treatment plant in Bhattian village, 5 km from the accident site, after three hours.

Sujan's death was a clear example of the civic body’s lackadaisical attitude in checking such drains and open manholes that have virtually become death traps.

Another city resident, Sarita Ahluwalia, lost her life in a similar incident on the fateful night of April 18, 1999. Nearly 12 years after the incident, which devastated the family, 69-year-old Anand Sagar Ahluwalia, husband of the Sarita Ahluwalia, who at the time of incident was the vice-principal of New Senior Secondary School, is fighting the case in court.

Similarly, 56-year-old Rakesh Talwar fell prey to an open manhole in 1998. A screen printer by profession, Talwar's career ended on the day of the incident in 1998 when he was riding his scooter through a flooded street in the Dhobi Ghat area on Rajpura Road. He fell into the open manhole after his scooter got stuck in it. The cover of the manhole had hit his head and the right side of his body was paralysed. He had suffered 50 per cent disability and remained in coma for six months at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital.

Last month, he was awarded a compensation of Rs 8.5 lakh by the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. This compensation was awarded on the directions of District and Sessions Court.

Ludhiana, July 27
The incident involving members of the Raj family having a providential escape after tripping over an open manhole in the city has once again touched a raw wound among relatives of a seven-year-old boy who died seven months ago after falling into a manhole near the Jalandhar bypass and who are still waiting for justice. When contacted municipal corporation commissioner Ajoi K Sinha said: “Seven months ago we sent an executive engineer on forced leave and suspended Jatinder Kumar, a lambardar and in charge of the patrol team as well as Sunil Kumar, a junior engineer, for their failure to detect missing manhole covers.” He, however, said he was unaware what happened to these three officials.

Rather than ensuring justice to the boy’s family, the district administration rubbed salt on its wounds after a probe held by subdivisional magistrate Prem Chand laid the blame for Sujan's death on his father as well as civic officials and a private firm.

The administration was forced to order the inquiry after a protest by area residents who accused civic officials of negligence. Subsequently Chand, who visited the accident site, conducted the probe by calling MC functionaries, representatives of the firm, SOMA, that has undertaken the work to widen NH 1 and even the deceased's father.

However, to the utter shock of many, in his inquiry report Chand held Sujan’s father, Satpal, responsible for his son’s death along with officials of the MC and SOMA. According to him Satpal had “used the area under construction as a shortcut to his house” though the MC staff was also responsible for mishap to a big extent because they had not replaced broken manhole covers.

Ludhiana, July 27
High drama was witnessed in the city’s Rishi Nagar locality on Wednesday morning when a few vigilant area residents caught hold of a milk vendor reportedly mixing drain water with the milk he intended to sell.

An area resident, Sunil Dutt, told The Tribune: “We had been keeping an eye on the milk vendor, a migrant named Ramesh, for the past four or five days after someone had earlier told us he used to adulterate the milk he sold with water. But today we ourselves saw him doing it and caught hold of him red handed. We immediately informed the police and also the district health department. Two cops came here after about an hour while a team of health officials arrived about two hours later."

Meanwhile, a food inspector, Harpreet Kaur, said: "We’ve taken samples of the milk this vendor was carrying and will send them for lab testing on Thursday. The report is expected to come after 30 days and action, if any, against the vendor would be taken after that. The vendor used to purchase milk from various dairy farms on Hambran Road”.

Sohne Lal, a migrant showed area residents the drain where Ramesh used to mix water in the milk he sold.” On asking his name, he kept telling different name on all the three days when we were keeping a strict vigil on him. One day he told us his name as Sanjay on first day, Mela Ram on second day and today as Ramesh”, said some residents.

Meanwhile, cops at the Kitchlu Nagar police post began enquiries about the milk vendor.

Ludhiana, July 27
The police department owes Rs 13,60,957 lakh as rent to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC). The rent is for the Model Town police station, which is situated in a building owned by the MC. The outstanding amount is from March 1986 to July 1999.

As per a report procured under the Right to Information Act, audit department officials have raised objections and have asked the MC authorities to recover the amount.

In a letter written by the Deputy Inspector General, Ludhiana Range, on August 31, 2001, the DIG confirmed that it owed Rs 13,60,957 to the MC and said the outstanding rent would be paid soon. But this remained only on paper as the police has failed to pay the amount.

This is not the first time that the matter was taken up by the audit department. The issue was highlighted in its reports of 2001-02, 2002-03, 2003-04, 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Rohit Sabharwal, president, Council of RTI Activists, said one could imagine the state of affairs in the MC as not only residents, but also the police department is not paying the outstanding rent.

“On the one hand the MC is raising funds by either selling its properties or by mortgaging them and on the other hand, it is not doing anything to recover the dues,” he said.

Police Commissioner Sharad Satya Chauhan said the matter was under process and the MC would be given the outstanding amount soon.

Ludhiana, July 27
Some 6,000-odd units engaged in manufacturing bicycles and cycle parts in the city, with a daily turnover of around Rs 25 crore, are under serious threat from import of bicycles and parts from China, which has achieved phenomenal growth in the past two years. The bicycle and bicycle parts manufacturers strongly feel that in the absence of immediate remedial steps as well as adequate incentives, the industry providing direct employment to more than six lakh persons will suffer huge set back with grave repercussions on the entire state economy.

Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) general secretary Avtar Singh said the bicycle and components units here have an installed capacity of 50,000 to 60,000 bicycles a day and out of some 1.35 crore bicycles manufactured in India every year, the local industry accounts for nearly 90 per cent. In, addition, more than 3,000 units are engaged in cycle trade and the total employment generation capacity of the bicycle segment (industry and trade) is over 26 lakh persons.

With the import of complete bicycles and components like steel spokes, steel balls, pumps, paddle axles, saddle and saddle parts, handle-brake levers, basket, chain and chain wheels and brake cables from China at highly under-valued prices since last year, the local units are feeling threatened.

He said that the Chinese bicycles and components are eating into the local market and it is evident from the fact that import of these items from China has shot up from Rs 200 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 1,000 crore in 2010-11. "Not only the indigenous production had to be cut down by 25 per cent due to the low demand, but the export of bicycles and cycle parts has also dropped by almost 50 per cent during this period."

The overall impact on the sector has been excruciating, said the CICU functionary while claiming that some two lakh workers have been rendered jobless while the central and state exchequers have suffered huge loss of revenue due to evasion of custom duty, VAT and other taxes due to under-valuation of import from China.

"In the wake of deep crisis looming over the head of the domestic bicycle sector, the government ought to act with a sense of urgency," said Avtar Singh calling for immediate measures like anti-dumping duty on Chinese bicycle parts and evolving a mechanism for strict verification of invoices and other documents for import of bicycles and parts from China.

He also made a fervent plea with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to announce a comprehensive package of relief and incentives at par with those being offered to sugar and textile industry.

Ludhiana, July 27
Newly appointed Commissioner of Police, Dr SS Chauhan, on Tuesday transfered some of the SHOs posted in the city. The reshuffling was accompanied with the claim that thetransfers were neither complaint-based not done under any pressure. "Changes have been made to bring more efficiency", he said.

SHO, Focal Point Paramjit Singh has been sent to Police Lines while Kanwarjit Singh, SHO, Koomkalan, has been posted the new SHO of Focal Point. Inspector Harpal Singh, who was SHO, Model Town, has been shifted as In-charge CIA-1.

In yet another transfer, Inspector Navreet Singh, who was with the traffic police, has been posted as the SHO of the Model Town police station. Assuistant Sub Inspector Pavittar Singh has been shifted from the Police Lines as the In-charge Police Post, Dhandari Kalan. Inspector Dharampal has been shifted to Police Lines.

Ludhiana, July 27
More than 100 students participated in the Inter-House Talent Search contest organised at Kundan Vidya Mandir School, Civil Lines, here today.

The school houses, comprising students from Classes VI, VII and VIII, competed in compering, mime, mono acting, duet-dance, duet-song, keyboard and orchestra on various themes. Most of the performances were based on folk culture and social issues. Social problems like child labour, evils of begging, child education and terrorism were highlighted.

Students also underscored issues like water conservation and religious unity in front of an audience exceeding 800 students in the school auditorium.

“We made sure that along with the development of various talents, students understood and felt for society as well. So we gave them themes that were socially relevant and culturally enriching,” said principal Navita Puri.

“I played a poor man, a policeman, a politician and a doctor. I feel bad about the state of the poor,” said Nikhil Sharma of Class VI, who won the first prize in mono acting. Nitika, Gulshan, Samriti, Ishita and Vaibhav, all students of Class VII won in miming category. They showcased the problem of excessive use of gadgets and technology.

Gauri Phull and Diksha Jain of Class VIII won in compering. Mehak and Gaurang stood first in singing. Tanish Galhotra and Harleen Kaur sang ‘tappas’ to bag their first prize. Vaastav Bhasin walked away with the first prize for performance on keyboard.

“Cultivation of talents of children is a must for personal enrichment and making of a complete individual,” principal Puri said.

Ludhiana, July 27
Sore over the callous attitude adopted by the state government and authorities at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) for not releasing the pending arrears, the Non Teaching Employees Union of GADVASU held a dharna at the veterinary campus here today.

Jagjit Singh, the president of the union, said if the state government failed to release their pending arrears (from January 2006) till August 15, the union would intensify their agitation. He said 40 per cent arrears were pending with the government out of which 20 per cent were to be given to the employees while remaining 20 per cent were to be deposited in the GPF of the non-teaching employees.

"Despite making repeated requests, GADVASU authorities have failed to take-up our mater with the state government.

Whereas, other employees working in different government departments had already got arrears. We fail to understand, as to why the government had adopted a step-motherly attitude towards the non-teaching employees", said Rajinder Singh, general secretary of the union.

Meanwhile, the Private College Non -Teaching Employees Union, Punjab, and Chandigarh have also declared their strike mandate against the government's policies. The employees union will hold their state-level pen-down strike on July 28 and a series of dharnas on August 1, 2 and 19, 2011.

Hoshiar Singh, district president of the union, Ludhiana, said that their main demands included arrears of new scale from January 1, 2006, raising of medical from Rs 250 to Rs 350 from January 2006, 5 per cent interim relief, implementation of pension and gratuity and abolishing ban on new recruitments.

"The strike mandate has been decided under the leadership of Kulwant Singh, president, Private College Non-Teaching Employees Union, Punjab, and Chandigarh", said Hoshiar Singh. The union will hold a state-level protest rally on August 3 (Panjab University wing) and August 26 (GNDU wing).

Rajiv Bhasin, senior vice-president of the union added that the non -teaching of the state was capable enough to get their rights from the state government and later on from the management of their colleges. Hoshiar Singh said that all the demands were genuine and government should fulfil these demands immediately keeping in view the assembly elections in the state.

Ludhiana, July 27
The health department woke up only after cases of measles were reported in Zeenat Nagar of Ward Number 31.

According to sources, "More than half a dozen children had been suffering from the measles in the Zeenat nagar area. It was on Tuesday morning when the team of health department got to know about it they got them admitted at the Civil Hospital."

Confirming this, Dr Charanjeet Uppal, the health officer of Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana, said, "We got the area properly cleaned along with adjoining vehras. We also got the fogging done over there. The residents were also distributed chlorine tablets along with instructions about usage.

While Dr Anil verma, district epidemiologist, said, "Four children had fallen sick with different diseases. Out of these, two were suspected to be suffering from measles, while the third one was suffering from eye flu and the fourth from diarrhoea. We have conducted some tests on these children and once the reports come we will treat them accordingly. They are under treatment at the Civil Hospital. Today we did not receive fresh cases of measles."

Ludhiana, July 27
Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari was flooded by complaints when he visited the villages, which are most prone to floods during the monsoons, today. The DC kept assuring the villagers that the state government was making the best arrangements with the available resources, but it seemed as if every person had a different story to tell.

The residents of various villages, which the DC visited today, complained that government was not doing anything to help them. But the DC kept telling them that the state government had already released Rs 31 crore for the strengthening of the Sutlej banks.

Accompanied by a battery of senior district administration officials, Tewari visited villages such as Shergarh, Dhullewal, Sainsowal, Issapur, Ghumana and Mattewara today.

Tewari claimed that he was taking first hand information of the present situation. Some of the villagers stated that the state government had not done anything concrete to check floods in their area, while some rued that their fertile land was washed away in floods and had now become a part of the riverbed. However, they claimed that they were not given any compensation by the state government.

Sewa Singh (70), a resident of Dhullewal village, rued that he owned 11 acres in the village. “But during various floods from 1993-96, 10 acres of my fertile land was washed away. And now I own just an acre. The state government has not given us any compensation for the same. Now, I am forced to lead a life of a pauper. All I want is either land or compensation, so that I can lead a respectable life.”

Ajmer Singh, another resident of Dhullewal, rued that the state government had not chalked out a comprehensive plan for checking floods in their village. “Officials visit our village every year and all that we are left with are fake assurances,” he stated.

Another village resident Budh Singh said he had lost five acres due to floods. “Leave aside compensation, the government did not even assure us of any help.”

Tewari claimed that there were 15 points along the Sutlej river banks, which were sensitive. “Three of them, which include Mattewara, Khaira Bet and Madhepura, are very sensitive. For this reason the Ludhiana district has been divided into three zones — Samrala, Ludhiana and Jagraon — which would be headed by ADC (development) Pardeep Aggarwal, myself and ADC (general) SR Kler, respectively,” the DC said.

He claimed that out of a total of Rs 31 crore sanctioned by the state government, Rs 4 crore has already been sent to the district administration. “With this money we are strengthening the river banks at Mattewara, Khaira Bet and Madhepura,” he added.

Ludhiana, July 27
Some six resident welfare societies have lodged a protest against the community centre in Dugri Urban Estate Phase II, being given to a contractor for maintenance, who in turn, has converted it into a resort/marriage palace. The community centre in Dugri has met a similar fate as that of the one in Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, which has not only been turned into a marriage palace by the ruling group of residents welfare society, but its name also changed to Le Satkar Palace.

A deputation of the welfare societies, led by Gurpreet Singh Chawla, which met the additional chief administrator of the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA), Jaswant Singh, in his office here today, submitted a written representation against alleged misuse of the community centre, which was meant for the residents of the locality.

Talking to The Tribune, Chawla said GLADA had exceeded its authority in handing over the common facility to a contractor against the rules, and further that the community centre being put to commercial use was against the very purpose for which the facility had been created. Functionaries of the resident welfare committees asserted that a representative committee of the area residents was the competent body to run and maintain the facility, and GLADA ought to scrap the contract so that the residents could themselves look after the community centre at their own level.

Expressing a sense of dissatisfaction at the low pace of various development projects in Dugri Phase III, the delegation urged the GLADA authorities to develop greenbelt in the area and make operational the service lane from Dhandra Road to Phullanwal bypass, take up sanitation work, development of parks and street lights in phase III, make provisions for proper roads, adequate parking spaces, drainage of rain water and parks in all phases of urban estate.

Jaswant Singh, while asserting that the contractor of the community centre had been explicitly directed not to change the name of the building, however, sought to justify the facility being handed over to a private party for making it a self-supporting entity. "The centre has a swimming pool and other facilities and they also have heavy electricity bill to take care of," he said.

He added that if a body of residents came forward with the commitment to run and maintain the facility in the desired manner and raise the required funds for this purpose, GLADA would have no problem in handing over the centre to them.

Meanwhile, the BRS Nagar (East) Welfare Society has flayed the total inaction on the part of the district administration in holding probe into alleged financial and other irregularities committed by the ruling group in converting the community centre into a marriage palace. They alleged that the building was constructed with the government grants, which was now being put to commercial use in an illegal manner.

Charging the reigning group with holding office for several years beyond their term, failure to hold general house meetings despite requisition by majority of the members and debarring bonafide members from the election process in an unconstitutional manner, they urged the authorities to inquire into gross mismanagement of the facility and the funds without further delay.

Ludhiana, July 27
Both indoor and outdoor ornamentals are used to beautify houses, gardens and landscapes, said PAU experts of the department of floriculture and landscaping. Providing tips to the farming community and general public for the management of ornamentals in August, the experts said the plantation of ornamental trees, shrubs and creepers can be continued in this month due to less mortality.

Talking about permanent plants, the floriculturists advised that the growing tips of young bougainvillea plants in pots should be pinched for desired shape and size. The gap filling of the permanent plants may also be undertaken which died during earlier planting.

Ludhiana, July 27
Depressed over being rejected by her much younger lover, Harjinder Kaur, 45, a resident of Daba Road in the city’s New Simlapuri locality, accused him and three others of attempting to set her afire late on Tuesday night. Based on her complaint the Salem Tabri police has filed an FIR against Brij Lal, 29, and the three other unidentified people under sections 436, 506, 509 & 34 of the Indian Penal Code.

According to Harjinder, Lal, a resident of Gobindsar Mohalla, accompanied by the three men came to her home at about 11:15 pm while she was watching TV. “On hearing a noise coming from the verandah I opened the door and saw Lal setting a few things in the room on fire. They even threw a bottle filled with kerosene oil on me but I managed to run away. The intruders used abusive language and then fled the scene”, she claimed.

When contacted police station house officer Balwinder Kumar said a case had been filed though no arrest had been made so far.

“Primary investigations reveal that Harjinder was having an affair with Lal, who married another girl about six months ago and stopped seeing Harjinder. The complainant has alleged Lal and three others barged into her home on Tuesday night and tried to set her ablaze. We’re still looking into the matter and can’t comment till the investigations are over", said Balwinder.

Ludhiana, July 27
Ludhiana Zone I and Kila Raipur Zone proved their mettle to come out as champions in the girls’ under-14 and 17 groups, respectively in the Ludhiana Inter-Zonal Football Tournament being organised by the Punjab Education Department at Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Kitchlu Nagar branch here today.

In the under-14 category, Ludhiana Zone I and Raikot Zone secured five points each, however, the former were declared the champions on the basis of better goal average. Kila Raipur Zone collected three points to finish third.

In the girl's under-17 category, Kila Raipur Zone accumulated 5 points to emerge as winners, followed by Khanna Zone which scored four points to finish as runners-up. Ludhiana Zone I with three points stood third.

In the boy's under-14 section, four teams- Kila Raipur along with Jagraon Zone, Raikot Zone and Khanna Zone wrapped up their respective matches to qualify for the league phase.

Kila Raipur Zone managed to scrape past Samrala Zone 1-0; Jagraon Zone got the better of Ludhiana Zone II 3-2; Raikot Zone outclassed Ludhiana Zone I 5-3 and Khanna Zone routed Sahnewal Zone 3-0 to advance into the league.

Ludhiana, July 27
In the Inter-School Chess Tournament, BVM Senior Secondary School, Kitchlu Nagar branch, beat BVM School, Dugri Road branch, 2-0 while Sargodha Public School defeated Alpine International School 2-0 in the boys under-14 group to being their campaign on a strong note.

In the boys’ under-17 category, BVM, Kitchlu Nagar branch, blanked Nankana Sahib Public School, Gill Road 2-0; Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar outnumbered RS Model Senior Secondary School 3-1 while KVM, Civil Lines beat BCM School, Dugri Road branch 2-0.