Ludhiana, December 2
In the latest incident of robbery, robbers struck at Jain Temple located on the Ferozepur Road and fled with five silver idols and a donation box after gagging a security guard of the temple.

The six suspects, who were caught on the close-circuit television cameras (CCTVs) installed in the temple, entered the temple at midnight.

According to the temple trust members, the suspects overpowered and thrashed the security guard identified as Chuotu. They then tied him up with a rope. Unable to break the locks of the temple, the robbers broke open the door and fled with five idols worth lakhs of rupees and the donation box.

The temple trust members led by Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner LK Jain met Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari and told him about the incident. They met senior police officers and demanded speedy action in the incident.

The police was procuring CCTV footage to identify the robbers.

Ludhiana, December 2
A day after the body of four-year-old Sonu was found inside a septic tank at a beverage factory unit in Moti Nagar, the police smells a rat and has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the case.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Nilambari Jagdale said: “We are going ahead with the investigation. How the four-year-old boy managed to sneak inside the heavily fortified beverage factory unit raises suspicion. There is only one entry point to the factory and that too is manned by security guards. How the child escaped the attention of so many workers raises doubt.”

Meanwhile, the police has booked two employees, including a manager, Hardeep Singh, for negligence following the complaint of Anil Kumar, the child’s father.

The police is also taking action against those who vandalised the factory last night. The ACP said the police had identified the miscreants and action would be taken against them.

Angry migrants vandalised the factory after the body of the boy, who was missing since November 26, was found floating in the tank last evening.

According to the police, the body was spotted by a security guard of the factory, who informed the police.

Anil Kumar, a resident of Rajiv Gandhi Colony, said his son went missing while playing in the street. It maintained that the boy was first killed and later his body was dumped in the tank. The autopsy report of the victim is awaited.

Ludhiana, December 2
The PNDT Advisory Committee today cancelled the registration of an ultrasound centre of Lifeline Hospital in connection with the alleged abortion of a five-month-old foetus.

The Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, said: “The decision was taken at a meeting of the PNDT Advisory Committee here today. Eight members, including myself, decided to cancel the registration of the ultrasound centre of Lifeline Hospital until the orders of the court.”

On November 29, a case was registered against four city doctors for aborting the foetus at Seerat Nursing Home in Abudullapur Basti on November 28. The doctors have been identified as Dr Manjit Singh, his wife Dr Gagandeep Kaur, both from Seerat Nursing Home, Dr Inderjit Singh, an anaesthesiologist, and Dr RS Maheshwari from Lifeline Hospital.

A case was registered under Sections 315 and 201, IPC; Sections 4 and 5 of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971; and Section 29 of the PCPNDT Act, 1994, following a complaint by Dr Sanjeev Hans, District Family and Welfare Officer.

Ludhiana, December 2
Khushpreet Kaur, an third-year MD student of Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), consumed 47 tablets of Digitalis on November 30. She is on a ventilator. Doctors have told the police that she was unconscious and not fit to give any statement.

ACP (West) Gurpreet Purewal said the girl hailed from Talwara and on November 30, she consumed about 47 tablets of the drug. Her family was informed and her mother immediately rushed to the DMCH.

According to information, the girl stayed in a hostel at the DMCH and had been given an independent room.

“We tried to talk to her mother to know the reason for the suicide attempt, but she is unwilling to say anything. But we have been told by the authorities that the girl was under severe depression and earlier, too, had tried to commit suicide.

The hospital authorities had asked her family members to stay with her as she was depressed. Meanwhile, some students claimed that she was perturbed over “favouritism” regarding the duty roster. But the police said the hospital authorities maintained that the duties were a routine matter and could not be the reason for taking such an extreme step.

Ludhiana, December 2
He cannot write, walk and stand on his own, yet he runs a diagnostics laboratory successfully. Manoeuvring his automatic wheelchair in the corridors of the laboratory, Dr Satwinder Singh Grewal, who has been suffering from multiple sclerosis (a neural disease in which brain nerves get damaged), welcomes his patients with a smile and conducts MRI, CT Scan and ultrasound with the help of his staff.

Grateful to God, Dr Grewal says: “My brain’s eyes are working so I am able to work. I inspire my patients not to worry about their illness and think of me who suffers and still loves life.”

Despite odds, he has been living his life with positive thinking and a strong will power. The 49-year-old doctor has been on a wheelchair since 1997. “I started suffering from this disease when I was only 18 years old. It degenerated slowly when I became a medical student. My love for sports is a glorious past, but I still cherish the moments when I used to play and dance like a Punjabi boy. But my most cherished dream is to witness the 100th Independence Day of the country,” he says.

His parents, friends and wife, Dr Lilly Grewal, are a pillar of strength for him. A father of two children, he says: “My daughter has done MSc in clinical psychology from the UK while my son is pursuing his studies in a medical college.”

Ludhiana, December 2
As many as 14 samples collected by the health department during the festival season have failed the purity test. The health department had collected 82 samples of various eatables during the festival season from the district. Out of these, 14 have failed the test.

Dr Subhash Batta and Dr Kulwinder Singh, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, said: “The samples which failed include mustard oil and ‘cheeni ke khilaune’ from Mander Karyana Store, Issaru; ‘khoya burfi’ from Aujla Sweets Shop; packaged drinking water of Sunil Cold Drink, Haibowal Kalan; sweets from Super Lovely Sweets, Lakkar Bazar; ‘patisa’ from Shyam Lal Sweets, Dashmesh Nagar; ‘rasgulla’ of Sharma Sweets, Focal Point Sherpur; ‘pettha’ of Bhure Lal factory; mustard oil from Calcutta Karyana Store, Pakhowal; ‘daal mansur’ from Mohini Karyana Store, Kochhar Market; and pickle from godowns in Udo Ram Dera Karabara and Dera Bazigar.”

Manoj Khosla, Food Safety Officer of the health department, said: “The owners of the failed samples will be booked under the Food Safety and Standard Act.”

Doraha, December 2
With the morning visibility getting difficult due to winters fog, commuters on the National Highway No.1 (NH 1) find travelling a Herculean task. The reason being the road-widening project is lying in the lurch and lack of preparedness on the part of NHAI authorities, who despite setting in of the winter season, are yet to take imperative measures required in such conditions.

“Even in normal conditions, the travelling on NH-1 is no safer, particularly till the project gets finally completed. But in the foggy weather, timely detection becomes difficult, especially when you find reflectors missing at some places or compulsory diversions, without distant signals. It has literally become a cumbersome affair as the commuters cannot make out as to what lies ahead due to the haze that encompasses everything around,” said Harpartap Singh Brar, a resident of Doraha.

Dr Jagmohan Singh from Sahnewal says, “The process of widening the road to six lanes has lead to the narrowing down of the passage to the extent that it has cost many a lives dear and hurt many others in the process. It seems that the authorities have failed to learn any lessons from the accidents that took place last year due to the inadequate arrangements of reflectors and other road safety signals that should have otherwise been made available, especially when the construction work is on.”

“As the blanket of fog is going to become denser in the days to come, special arrangements should be made by NHAI authorities. In the absence of proper signboards, barricades and speed breakers, driving requires extra caution,” expressed Jaswant Singh Gill.

“Although at a number of places the diversions have been earmarked, but these prove to be insufficient for the foggy conditions. The company should make specific precautionary arrangements at every step, especially in the outers, so that a traveller slows down from a specific distance,” viewed a commuter. However, repeated calls made at the NHAI office at Ambala remained unanswered.

Ludhiana, December 2
The going is tough for consumers of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) following a backlog of LPG cylinders from a week to nearly a fortnight over the last couple of months. A large number of consumers are now shifting to LPG distributors of other oil companies.

Though officials of the IOC deny that the supply of LPG to their consumers is worse compared to other oil companies like the Bharat Petroleum Corporation (BPC) and Hindustan Petroleum Corporation (HP), but IOC consumers maintain that they are being harassed by “indifferent” distributors and their arrogant staff.

The city has about 4.5 to 5 lakh LPG consumers and some 40 distributors, the highest number (over two dozen) being those of the IOC, followed by seven and six outlets of the BPC and HP, respectively.

Several consumers of the IOC said they were made to wait for 10 to 14 days for a refill. “The staff at the IOC distributorship or for that matter at agencies of other oil companies, book the request for a refill after 21 days of the delivery of the previous cylinder, and if the consumer does not get the refill for, say a week or more, the LPG cylinder in use also gets exhausted, leaving no choice but to procure an LPG cylinder from the black market for over Rs 600 as against the original price of Rs 420,” Naginder Singh, a resident of the Civil Lines area, said.

The worse part, he said, was that the staff at the IOC distributorship had been persistently refusing to issue a transfer voucher so that he could shift to the distributorship of some other oil company where the supply was better.

Another IOC consumer said he had to lie to the staff at the agency that he had been transferred outside Ludhiana to get a transfer voucher.

Distributors of other oil companies said they had enrolled some consumers who were earlier with the IOC. “More than the number of consumers who have actually shifted from any particular oil company to the other, it is the number of enquiries about the procedure for doing so that is baffling,” said an LPG distributor.

Jagraon, December 2
Harvest International School celebrated its third annual day on the school premises. Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri Dr Shyama Chona, the eminent educationist of India, presided over as the chief guest at the function.

Tiny tots welcomed the chief guest with garlands and presented bouquets. A ceremonial lamp was lighted followed by Saraswati vandana. Founder of the school Harvey Saran in his opening speech welcomed the chief guest.

Principal Dr Avinash Pratap Shrivastava said the school firmly believed that true success was measured by a number of hurdles overcome and achieving excellence was a journey and not a destination.

Following this, students performed a multi-cultural show on the occasion. The cultural programme by 70 students revolved around the theme “Celebration of Life”. The opening item was a welcome song followed by a group song.

The students presented a play “Freedom to Dream”, to encourage youngsters to chase their dreams, where as a hindi drama “Girgit” depicted the police system and its working. After these scintillating performances, the students presented a fusion dance.

After the performances, Director Hardeepak Singh addressed the gathering with his inspirational speech. Dr Chona gave away the prizes to the students who had excelled in academics and various competitions. The stage became lively with the last performance of bhangra and giddha. Saran felicitated the chief guest with a memento and thanked him for sparing his valuable time to attend the function and inspire the young students to excel in life.

Ludhiana, December 2
The MTSM College for Women organised an industrial visit to a soft drink plant for MBACIT students. The purpose of the visit was to expose the students to various aspects of the beverage industry and have a practical understanding of the business process.

DP Singh, vice-president, Satinder Singh, general manager, and Harpreet Singh and DS Bhatti, managers, respectively of the unit, provided them with knowledge about how the company worked to achieve high quality and error-free production.

Ludhiana, December 2
The elections of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Employees’ Union went peacefully at the farm varsity today. Out of total 1,424 votes, 1,356 employees cast votes to choose their respective candidates. Sham Lal was the observer, while Gurjit Singh was the chairman of the election committee.

Starting at 9 am today, the employees continued to cast their votes till 4.30 pm at the cycle stand near the College of Basic Sciences. The employees polled for two major groups, represented by Harbans Singh Mundia and Paramjit Singh Gill.

About 350 women employees (non-teaching) of the farm varsity also cast their votes in the favour of their respective candidates. The results will be declared tomorrow afternoon.

Meanwhile, PAU staff heaved a sigh of relief, as elections got over. A senior faculty member said for the past one week, the normal functioning of PAU was disrupted, as employees were busy canvassing for their candidates.

Ludhiana, December 2
A club at Ludhiana organised a function for the help of special kids at Ekjot Viklang Bachhyan Da School at BRS Nagar.

On this occasion, 55 children belonging to the economically weaker sections and 35 special kids were distributed woollens, stationery and refreshment.

Meritorious students were also awarded with merit certificates and special prizes on the occasion.

Ludhiana Citizens Council’s chairman Darshan Arora inaugurated the function.

Dr Karandeep Singh Kochhar, an ENT surgeon from Shri Raghunath Charitable Hospital, also examined 50 children and gave them free medicines. — TNS

Ludhiana, December 2
Thieves decamped with a 42 inches LCD and two laptops from an ayurvedic medicine shop on the premises of Guru Nanak Bhawan here last night.

The police is looking into the matter and no case has been registered so far.

ACP (West) Gurpreet Purewal said images of the unidentified thieves were recorded in the CCTV cameras and they were wearing masks. “We are investigating the matter. It seems that some internal person, who knew about CCTV cameras, was involved in the crime. We are recording the statements and things will be cleared shortly,” said the ACP.

Ludhiana, December 2
The permanent lok adalat (PLA) has quashed the demand of Rs 1,03,920 raised by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (Powercom) on the charges of theft of energy. Permanent lok adalat chairman RS Khokhar and a member, Nand Lal held that theft charges could not be proved.

It further held that the demand was illegal and unsustainable. It also ordered Powercom to refund the amount deposited by the complainant.

PLA pronounced the order while deciding the complaint moved by Kulbir Singh of Krishna Nagar, Ludhiana.

The complainant had submitted that Powercom changed the electricity meter after it was damagedfollowing a spark in the meter.

It was alleged by the complainant that the meter was neither packed nor sealed by officials. It was taken in loose condition after removing from his premises on October 20, 2010. During the past one year, three meters were damaged due to the moisture on wall, as the construction work was going on, he added.

On the other hand, Powercom officials stated that when the meter was checked in the ME lab, it was observed that the glass of meter was broken and some pieces of glass were lying inside the meter. It was claimed that the checking in the ME lab was done, as per the consent of the consumer. But the PLA held that no such written consent was ever produced or proved.

After appreciating the evidence on record, the PLA held that as per rules, the consumer was required to be associated at the time of checking.

Moreover, the meter was not inspected at the spot by the official to know the reason of burning/damaging of meter. So, the demand was not justified.

The cagers from the local college, trained by a senior basketball coach and former director of NIS Patiala, Dr S Subramanian, stamped their superiority over others to romp home champions. In the final, SCD Government College outnumbered Panjab University campus 66-43.

Earlier, in the semi finals league, hoopsters from Government College outwitted SD College, Chandigarh, and Khalsa College, Chandigarh, to advance into the title clash match.