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Only three water tankers for watering 3.58 lakh saplings
Ludhiana, November 1 The district forest office claimed that they had planted 1.35 lakh plants under the Compensatory Scheme, 1.97 lakh plants under CAMPA (Compensatory afforestation fund management and planning authority), 50,000 plants under the Farm Forestry Scheme and 26,500 under the Green City Scheme. The forest department is not bothered about taking care of them. The department planted 5,000 sapling at the SCD Government College campus and nearabout 3,000 plants at the Government College for Women campus two months back. Besides colleges, the department planted saplings in schools, the cantonment, edge of the roads and the para-military force campus. Meanwhile, the GCW authorities rued that no one came from forest department after planting the trees in college campus. "Plants are surviving
because of heavy rain in this session. Otherwise, not a single person from the forest department visited the college campus" said a gardener at the Government College for Women. “We have only one water tanker and tractor for the entire city. The growth of plants suffers due to shortage of water. Luckily, there was sufficient rain water this season. But the city needs at least two more water tankers", said an employee of the forest department, requesting anonymity. The District Forest officer Naresh Mahajan said, "We have one water tanker in the city to water the undergrowth plants. It is sufficient. When we need more tankers we adjust easily because we have a total of three water tankers in the district".
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Race for jail reforms with eye on poll
Ludhiana, November 1 From relaunching of kindergarten classes for children of women inmates to the computerisation of visitor attendance and even the appointment of 19 wards of jail guards who had died while performing duty-everything was done keeping in mind the upcoming assembly elections. The Minister for Jails first inaugurated the newly constructed creche and nursery school building for the 26 children of women inmates facing heinous charges. The school was earlier being run inside the women’s jail and today a newly constructed building was inaugurated. Even the biometric attendance system had started functioning on October 12 and so far 2,750 visitors have registered their entry through this process. The 19 wards of jail guards were also given appointment letters on this occasion. They rued the fact that the department had kept them waiting in order to hand over over
the appointment letters. “The authorities had told us the appointment letter would only be given after we attended the function. But now we have no regrets since we have received the appointment letter and our future is secure," said a kin of the jail guard. While the women, who were given appointment letters, complained of a lot of confusion. They wanted a home posting but they have been transferred out of the district. When asked, the Minister for Jails said, “The biometric visitor attendance system was being run on a trial basis and has been formally launched only today. Constructing new buildings for little children is a big achievement. Due to the lack of infrastructure, little children were forced to study inside the jail, but we have introduced them to a school-like environment for them so that they should not feel out of place during formal schooling." Reforms on track
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Goods worth Rs 14 lakh reduced to ashes
Ludhiana, November 1 Three shopkeepers suffered a loss of around Rs 14 lakh, which includes goods as well as furniture. Rajinder Singh, owner of G Collection, a shop of readymade garments selling shirts and trousers, informed that his entire shop has been gutted. “It was around midnight when we came to know that flames were coming out of my shop. By the time we reached the spot, the entire shop had been engulfed by flames, while the two adjoining shops were also in the grip of fire,” said Rajinder Singh. He also said that the fire started from his shop, “and as the adjoining shops are made of wood, they too caught fire. The other two shopkeepers managed to bring out some of their goods, but they too have suffered losses.” |
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Bakr-Eid
Ludhiana, November 1 With Bakrid (Eid-ul-Zuha) just a week away, the Bakar mandi near Jalandhar Bypass is abuzz and buyers are thronging the place in large numbers. The 50-year-old old goat market is famous in Ludhiana for buying goats for Eid. More than Rs 6,000 goats sell in a few days in this market. Goats of special breeds from different parts of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and UP await buyers in the market. The regular price of a goat is not more than Rs 5,00 but it is now selling at Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000. Eid goats are reared with special care and buyers prefer to buy them from a reputed seller. Even the GT road faces a traffic jam as goat vendors line up on both sides of the road. Aslam, a buyer from Field Gunj, expressed his worry about the cost of goats, "I came here on last Saturday to buy a goat but goats are very expensive. I am looking for a goat priced at Rs 10,00 to Rs 15,000 but it's hard to find a goat at this price". |
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Rly station getting a hurried makeover
Meanwhile, the railway station here is being spruced up for the visit of the union minister of state for railways KH Muniyappa on November 4 for the flagging off of the Ludhiana-New Delhi Shatabdi Express. In the wake of the minister's visit, senior railway officials from the divisional headquarters of northern railway at Ferozepur have been on their toes. The railway station is being given a fresh coat of paint and the moving area is also being cleaned up. The sanitation level across the railway complex and the tracks have suddenly undergone immense improvement. Server not updated
Even as the train is to commence its commercial run just after three days, the new Shatabdi train to New Delhi to run via Sangrur and Rohtak has not been uploaded on the main server of the railway. The schedule of the train is not available on the railway timetable. When asked, railway officials said the new train was likely to be uploaded on the server by this evening. Staff clueless
The staff at the railway reservation centre here is clueless about the booking of tickets for the new Shatabdi Express. An official, requesting not to be identified, said tickets could only be issued after the train was uploaded on the main system. “As and when it is done, the facility of advance reservation on the train will be provided,” he said. |
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Fewer samples of eatables collected this year
Ludhiana, November 1 Some are attributing it to the amendments to the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act while the others say it is due to shortage of staff. The Chief Medical Officer, however, said it was due to the delegation of powers to two officers. Dr Daleep Kumar, Chief Medical Officer, said they collected 81 samples of sweets and other eatables during the festivals. Dr Kulwinder Singh, District Health Officer, said: “By now, we have received reports of 18 samples, out of which only 10 have passed. The reports of the remaining samples are being awaited.” Manoj Khosla, Food Safety Officer, Ludhiana, said: “The samples that have failed include samples of pickle seized from two godowns on the Bahadur Ke
Road; “patisa”, which was seized from a factory at Dahsmesh Nagar in Jagroan; “petha” seized from a sweetmeat factory on Tajpur Road; and samples of sweets collected from a sweets shop in Lakkar Bazar. The samples of two quintals of khoya seized by the health department on October 13 in Khanna has passed the purity test. It was owned by Goldy Sweets Shop.” The district health department today took three samples of milk. The District Health Officer said the samples were taken from a dairy in Luhara while two more samples were taken following a complaint by the Raikot police station. No specific reason
There is no specific reason behind it. This time for collecting food samples, the District Health Officer was appointed as designated officer and I was appointed as the supervisory officer. The powers were delegated to two officers in the district for the campaign. Had the powers of the designated officer also been given to the CMO, things would have been
different. — Dr Daleep Kumar, Chief Medical Officer, Ludhiana |
5 buildings under construction pulled down
Ludhiana, November 1 Assistant Town Planner (ATP) Kamaljit Kaur said the first under-construction building was demolished on the College road, here. “We had earlier demolished pillars of the building, but the owner went ahead with the construction of lentil late last night. Neither did the owner get the Change of Land Use (CLU) approval, nor did he get any permission. He did not even get the building plan sanctioned from the MC, which is why, we razed the structure,” said ATP Kamaljit Kaur. When the MC officials reached Kali Mata Mandir on the Hambran road, the building owner, along with his friends, tried to stop the officials from demolishing the building. “He even tried to come in front of the ditch machine. We had to call the police from Kitchlu Nagar police post following which we went ahead with the drive. Later, the owner gave us an affidavit that he would not go ahead with the construction and would use it for residential purpose only,” said Kamaljit Kaur. Owners of other two buildings on the Hambran road, who were constructing buildings without getting building plans sanctioned, were also stopped from going ahead with the construction. “Both of them gave us affidavits that they would not go ahead with the construction. Another three-storey building in Jawahar Nagar Camp area was also demolished. It’s a residential area and the owner was constructing a shop on the ground floor. He, too, gave us a written affidavit stating that he would not go ahead with the constriction,” claimed ATP Kamaljit Kaur.
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Residents annoyed as MC fails to cover manhole
Jagraon, November 1 The cemented manhole cover fixed near Shastri Nagar locality of Jagraon had caved in when a tractor-trailer went over it yesterday. A Maruti car also got stuck in the open manhole. The careless attitude of the MC officials has annoyed the area residents. “The manhole cover had caved in around 10 am yesterday. Though I made a number of calls to the MC officials, including the civic
body president, no one arrived at the spot and bothered to cover the manhole till late night,” said an annoyed shopkeeper Amarjit Singh. Meanwhile, open manholes were also found on the Disposal road. Area residents made a number of calls to the MC officials, including MC president Baldev Krishan Dhir and area councillor Rachpal Singh, but to no avail. “Though MC president Baldev Krishan Dhir was out of city, yet he assured us that he would get the manhole covered at the earliest. But nobody arrived at the spot for hours, with the manhole posing a serious threat to commuters as well as nearby residents,” lamented Deepak Kumar, a resident. The cemented sewerage manhole covers had been laid down only about three months ago by the Jagraon municipal council while fixing interlocking tiles on the DAV College road. Sources said the manhole cover had caved in twice in the past. They said substandard material was used by the contractor while fixing interlocking tiles. “There are many schools and a college situated on the road and if it is not covered on time, it may lead to a tragedy,” said Madan Mohan Dhand, another resident. When contacted, MC president Baldev Krishan Dhir said, “I have instructed the officials to get the manholes covered.”
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garbage collection
Ludhiana, November 1 The government had announced that the company would not be allowed door-to-door lifting of garbage and would be able to lift it only from the existing collection points in the city. The company officials said they were already into secondary collection, which was lifting garbage straight from collection points, in other cities like Indore and Ghaziabad. “We suspect that when the garbage would reach us, it would not have polythene and plastic in it. We feel that private garbage collectors would take out polythene and plastic from the garbage before bringing it to the collection points and would sell it themselves. Our company has planned to make refuse derived fuel (RDF) from the polythene and plastic and if the garbage we get is free of them, we would not be able to make the fuel, hence leading to a financial loss,” sources within the company said. The RDF is also called green coal and has the same burning capacity as that of coal. It is sold in the form of blocks and is used in factories for burning purposes. Ever since the company started its operations in the city from August 15, it has been facing tough resistance from private garbage collectors. In protest against the contract of solid waste management being given to a private company, thousands of safai karamcharis across the state had gone on a strike from October 4 to October 9. Later, after an assurance from the CM, the strike was called off. The decision of not allowing the company to collect garbage from door to door was taken in a meeting held between members of the Safai Karamchari Sangharsh Morcha Punjab with the Chief Minister, Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, local bodies minister Tikshan Sud and other senior officials of the state government as well as the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation in Chandigarh yesterday.
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Exchange programme
Ludhiana, November 1 About 6,000 young people are invited to Japan mainly from East Asia Summit member states, including ASEAN, Australia, China, India and New Zealand every year. Keshav Farmaha studying in Class XI, is all agog and excited about the visit. “When I got the news that I have been selected I couldn’t believe it,” he says. “But I am really delighted to have been selected among a few students from the country,” he adds. He has already prepared a video about his school and taken pictures with his family to exchange these with Japanese students. “We will visit schools in Tokyo and stay with a family there for a day,” he smiles. Renuka Joshi from Spring Dale School is all set to give a cultural dance performance in the country. “I am delighted to learn about their culture and country,” she says. She is both delighted and nervous about the visit as she’ll be going to new people. But she has already learnt a few Japanese words, including greetings such as "koncheva", "sayonara". The programme aims at promoting mutual understanding in East Asia region. “The visit was supposed to happen earlier, but because of tsumani in Japan, it got delayed,” says Gurmant Kaur Gill, principal, Guru Nanak International School.
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GADVASU NOTES
The major objectives of the project are to progeny test Murrah buffalo-bulls and supply semen and bulls of high genetic merit to farmers of the state for their buffaloes. The bulls are selected on the basis of average milk yield of the daughters which are produced and milk recorded in different institutes of the country.
Surgeon awarded
Dr M Raghunath, assistant professor at the department of surgery and radiology, GADVASU, has been awarded an international travel grant by the department of science and technology, ministry of science and technology, Government of India, to attend and present a research paper titled “Indigenously developed interlocking nailing technique for long bone diaphyseal fracture fixation in calves” authored by M Raghunath, Tarunbir Singh, J Mohindroo, NS Saini, Navdeep Singh and Pallavi Verma. The paper was presented during the livestock production and health session at the 30th World Veterinary Congress 2011 held at Cape Town in South Africa. Dr Raghunath has done pioneering work in veterinary orthopaedics involving both small and large animals. He was earlier awarded gold medals and appreciation awards in various national conferences and symposia.
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Doraha lad strikes gold in flying
Doraha, November 1 HS Gulati, Commanding Officer of 4 Punjab Air Squadron Wing, while talking to this correspondent said Ajaypal was a born pilot. “In my 20 years of experience in the Air Force, I have come across such a lad for the first time. Presently, he has been selected to represent Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and Chandigarh from our directorate to fight the All-India Competitions in Bangaluru. I am sure he has the capability to put his best foot forward. His dream of becoming a fighter pilot shall come true one day as Ajay is an aspiring lad who has his goal marked clearly in front of his eyes. Not only this, I am thinking in terms of presenting his case to the director-general of NCC to allow him for a solo flight as the boy has that measure of a calibre in him,” said the Commanding Officer. “I always wanted to be a part of the sky and my dream came true when I got a chance to join the NCC last year. Since then I started admiring my new attire and the very thought of leading a disciplined life, fascinated me to the core,” said Ajay. “After this there was simply no looking back for me. I began to practice with single minded devotion and thorough determination with the assistance of my Commanding Officer who made me withstand every situation and reach this pinnacle of glory. I have seen a sea change in myself and my personality since the day I joined the NCC. Hence, I appeal to the youngsters that they should develop addiction to their goals so that their dreams are realised.” Jajiwan Pal Gill, the proud father, said, “As every parent does, I too had dreamt high for my child, but seldom had I expected that he would be able to touch the sky at the very onset. When I see his will to excel and touch the sky, I really feel proud. His involvement is so complete that success is bound to touch his feet. Moreover, what else can be more privileged for a father if his child wishes to become a fighter pilot and do something worthwhile for his nation.”
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‘Biometric system in Jail a hit’
Ludhiana, November 1 The Inspector General Jails, Jagjit Singh, said the system has been introduced on the lines of Tihar jail. “It is a high-profile jail. As the incidence of smuggling in drugs is on the rise, we are introducing new technologies to keep tabs on anti-social elements. We have witnessed how many anti-social elements were meeting the inmates by claiming themselves to be the relatives of a prisoner,” he said. According to the new system only the blood relative could meet the inmate and that too if the prisoner is willing to meet them. The officials at the biometric centre said, "The cameras would take the pictures of the visitors and generate a computerised slip. But it would only be issued after they showed the driving licence, ration card, passport or voter card." The time frame has also been fixed. The relatives could meet the inmate once a week. SP Khanna, Deputy Jail Superintendent said, "Following the introduction of the system, the jail has witnessed a drastic decline in the number of visitors. Earlier, nearly 300 visitors used to visit the jail on working days, following the introduction of the system a decline of 100 visitors has been witnessed. It has controlled smuggling of mobile phones and contraband in a big way. Now the visitors fear that they have been photographed and police could nab them. This has led to reduction in smuggling of drugs and kept the anti-social elements at bay." Gabria said the system has been introduced to bring about more transparency. If the project is successful it would be introduced in other jails of the state also. "I request the people visiting jail from far-flung places to carry the proof of being a relation otherwise they would not be allowed to meet the inmate," said the Minister. Experience helped introduce jail reforms
The flip side
A fruit vendor finds business
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Suspected dengue cases continue to pour in
Ludhiana, November 1 Dr Valsa Verghese, Deputy Medical Superintendent of Christian Medical College and Hospital, said: “The suspected dengue patients have crossed the figure of 600 in our hospital to date. We are receiving more patients with symptoms of dengue haemorrhagic. The patients come to hospital with less platelet count along with complaints of bleeding.” Dr Hardeep Singh, president of the PCMS Association, is suffering from dengue hemorrhagic. “I have been down with dengue for more than 15 days. I am still on leave and on the way to recovery. This year dengue proved to be an epidemic and spread fast. I have reports that the number of patients are still on the higher side,” he said. Dr Valsa Verghese, Deputy Medical Superintendent of Christain Medical College and Hospital, confirmed that Dr Kanwal Masih, Medical Superintendent of CMCH was also suffering from dengue. Dr Sandeep Puri, Medical Superintendent of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said: “Everyday we receive 30-35 suspected dengue patients in the hospital. We send their samples to the health department for confirmation of the disease.” Dr Kulwinder Singh, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, said: “There are 837 confirmed dengue patients from Ludhiana, 481 from other cities of Punjab (who are under treatment in city hospitals) and eight are from other states.” Dr Daleep Kumar, Chief Medical Officer, said so far, five patients belonging to Ludhiana had died due to dengue.
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Rannvijay all out for youth-oriented television shows
Ludhiana, November 1 It's wrong to say that such shows are high on the meanness quotient, he elaborates. "It's easy to generalise and criticise. But if anyone follows
our show closely, they would not miss out the parts that stress on the basic values." “It's not easy to make it big in the glamour industry”, says the actor who was in the city today. "You have to work your way to success. Hard work is imperative. There are ups and downs, but you have to keep going." “The success barometer in the glamour industry, thankfully, is not dependent on your birthplace”, he says. Even those from a small town or a non-metro city can be successful. Many Bollywood actors, who are doing quite well, are from tier-II and tier-III cities, he avers. Rannvijay will be in Amritsar for the next few days to shoot for a Punjabi film. His latest Hindi film 'Mod' was released last month. About his Ludhiana connection he says: "My grandfather Col H.S. Singha, Director of the GNIMT, is settled in
Ludhiana."
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punjab day
Ludhiana, November 1 Ancient coins of Maharaja Ranjeet Singh’s era were the special attraction. Students attired in traditional Punjabi dresses served “saag and makki di roti” along with butter. A photo exhibition of traditional Punjabi dances and musical instruments was also held. Punjabi culture is rich in history. Rajeev Gulati, general secretary, LGC, inaugurated the exhibition. He congratulated the faculty and students. Dr Parm Pal Singh Sidhu, principal of the institute, appreciated students for their efforts.
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Ludhiana, November 1
Ludhiana, November 1