Ludhiana, January 31
A day after the Assembly polls, it’s back to the routine work for most candidates, albeit with an additional bit of post-poll analysis.

With more than a month to go for the poll verdict, they know it's a long wait. And they're making the best of this period.

Veteran BJP leader and the BJP candidate from Ludhiana Central Satpal Gosain started his morning as usual on an interactive note. "I'm a people-oriented person. Whenever it's required of me, I'm there to address the public concerns. This morning also, I went about meeting the people, the only difference being that I did not negotiate the narrow lanes of the city as I had been doing in the past few days."

He takes the 74 per cent voting in his constituency as a favourable sign. "Development has been one of the major issues that impacted the Assembly polls," he adds.

For Gurpreet Singh Bhatti, the Sanjha Morcha (PPP) candidate from Khanna, it's time to keep intact the "connect" with the people. "We're looking for a change - a change for the better. This is the time to continue with what we have initiated," he says.

"When we have to reach the minds of the masses, we need to establish a close rapport with the people. Our party opted for door-to-door meetings and these worked well," he adds.

It's after many days that he had the luxury of sleeping through early morning today. As for the evening, he has already planned it out - a quiet, relaxed dinner with his family.

Congress leader Rakesh Pandey, who's in the fray from Ludhiana North, is laconic when it comes to discussing the post-poll scenario. "The impressive turnout of the voters went in favour of the Congress," he says.

He, too, believes that a "personal contact" with the voters works well. After a busy schedule packed with meetings and travel, he's taking some time off to be with his family, though not at the cost of his routine work.

Drawing a parallel between college examination and polling, Manpreet Singh Ayali, SAD (B) candidate from the Dakha Assembly constituency, says if you're on a sure footing neither the examination nor the polling is stressful . "I'm a stickler for the routine. Even today, I was at my Dakha office at 9 am. There's no day off for me."

He's upbeat about the huge (84 per cent) turnout of the voters at the Dakha constituency. "The voters acknowledge the work done at the grass-roots level," he says in a self-congratulatory mode. 

Ludhiana, January 31
While the Assembly elections came to an end yesterday, the residents, especially the business community, will heave a sigh of relief as the Election Commission (EC) has withdrawn checking of vehicles carrying cash by surveillance teams or flying squads. Though the model code of conduct will remain in effect till further orders, for other "relaxations", District Election Officer (DEO) Rahul Tewari said they will get a reply from the EC by tomorrow.

Briefing the media on a peaceful completion of the elections today, Tewari said the observers had expressed their satisfaction over the conduct of the elections in the district and had decided that there would be no repolling in any constituency in Ludhiana district. Tewari added that all the election material had been deposited with the returning officers, who had sealed everything and put the trunks in the treasury. The counting of votes will be done on March 6 and till then everything has been kept in 14 strongrooms, which have been guarded by the commandos of the BSF and the police.

Meanwhile, the district witnessed 76.02 per cent voters’ turnout during the elections yesterday. The total number of voters was 21,35,853 out of which 16,23,608 exercised their right to franchise. Out of 11,40,892 male voters, 8,70,689 cast their vote while out of a total of 9,94,961 female voters, 7,52,919 cast their vote in the district. 

Ludhiana, January 31
Three-year-old Rishabh goes behind the "play-window" and acts like a magician while four-year-old Divya, dressed as a fairy, waves her wand behind the curtains.

Schools have introduced many activities to excite the imagination of little children. Many schools have introduced a host of activities like ball pool, playing with clay, splash parties and other learning activities. Such schools have been springing up in the city for the past few years and have brought the "playway culture" as virtually a pre-requisite before taking admissions to senior schools. As many of these playway schools are part of the larger chains of such schools, they have introduced activities and curricula for young children.

Talking about one such activity, Manju Ahluwalia, Director, The Olive Kid, says: "Kids love to do role-play. Imitation is the way of learning for kids and they always tend to imitate adults." Elaborating further, she says, "In our role-play section, children get dressed up and play the roles of gardener, policemen and also learn rhymes associated with the subject. In this manner, learning becomes interested and they learn more briskly and understand more about the people." As they learn to enact as different people, they are able to learn and remember a lot more, she said.

The school also has other activities like playing with clay and sand. Many schools like Mother's Pride take little children out for picnic. Toddlers from the school were taken to tiger safaris and picnics, says Tina Sood from Mother's Pride, branch coordinator.

Anil Wadhwa, a businessman, says earlier I was not in favour of admitting my child to any playway school, but with these school offering different activities, I think it is not bad. "But as it is such a tender age, and learning in this age being important, choosing the right preschool is very important," he says.

Ludhiana, January 31
Even as the fate of all the candidates has been sealed in electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the election results would be announced on March 6, most of the candidates from the Atam Nagar constituency are claiming to have already “won” the elections.

A few hours after the voting finished yesterday, SAD candidate from the Atam Nagar constituency, Hira Singh Gabria, Cabinet minister, had released a press note, thanking the voters for showing faith in him. In the press note, Gabria also claimed: “I want to thank voters who have voted for me wholeheartedly, which led to my victory.” Gabria claimed that not only Atam Nagar, but the SAD-BJP candidates would win all the seats of the district.

When contacted, Congress candidate Malkit Singh Birmi claimed that he would easily win the elections.

“My two main opponents, Hira Singh Gabria from the SAD and Simarjit Singh Bains, an Independent, were very weak candidates. Moreover it was the Akali vote which got divided as Bains, who had won as a councillor on SAD ticket, was contesting as an Independent. The Congress vote bank in the constituency remained intact and there were several voters who voted in favour of the Congress because they know that the Congress would be forming the next state government. So they didn’t want to waste their vote by voting for the SAD or an Independent candidate. Moreover, Independents never have much impact on election results,” claimed Birmi, a two-time Cabinet minister.

Bains, too, claimed that people would create a history of sorts this time. “Let Birmi and Gabria daydream till March 6. All I want to say is that I have full confidence in the electorate of Atam Nagar, who have always voted for an honest and upright candidate. For them, party symbols never matter and that is why, I would easily win this seat. Moreover, my elder brother Balwinder Singh Bains, too, would win from the Ludhiana South constituency,” claimed Simarjit Singh Bains.

Ludhiana, January 31
The Northern Railway authorities have announced restoration of certain mail/express and passenger trains on various routes from February 1. These trains had been suspended, short-terminated or cancelled for the past more than one month due to foggy conditions.

Senior railway officials said the 19782 biweekly Amritsar-Jaipur Express, 12460 Amritsar-New Delhi Super Fast Express, 14681 New Delhi-Jalandhar Express, 74969 Lohian-Ludhiana Passenger and 74968 Ludhiana-Hissar Passenger will commence their run as per schedule from tomorrow. According to the officials, most of the trains on trunk routes are now running according the time table as the foggy weather has given way to sunny days.

Sahnewal, January 31
The residents of Sahnewal, who face frequent traffic jams almost every day, still believe a flyover, the foundation stone of which had been laid by the Chief Minister, is a distant dream.

According to the official version, the project has been approved and the process is under way but the residents still regard this as “mere tall claims carrying no substance”.

“How can we believe unless and until work starts? Does the laying of the foundation stone make any difference until the work practically starts? The machines especially brought to construct the flyover, too, have moved from the place,” said Manish Kapila.

“Some hope was definitely in sight when we heard that the project had been passed but with no work visibly in progress, who knows it was all a sham and nothing more than that,” opined Bhupinder Nath Sharma, a resident.

“The level crossing, I must say has taken half a span of our life time. Passing the only main congested railway road, when the level crossing is closed, is a real test of ones patience. The level crossing of Sahnewal had always remained an eyesore not only for daily commuters but also for residents, shopkeepers and pedestrians who had to suffer frequent traffic congestions on the single main market road of Sahnewal,” said Dharmpal Bhardwaj.

“As the crossing remains closed for most of the time, each time at least half an hour of precious time of commuters go waste. This happens nearly 10 or 15 times a day. Containers going to a freight station have compounded the traffic problem. In fact, it seems that one fourth of our time goes waste standing at the level crossing,” expressed Inderjit Singh.

“We were really elated when we heard that work on the flyover will begin soon. I think that our staff and students are the worst sufferers. Our school being located on the other side of the crossing, it is a perpetual problem for the students as well as the staff, as they often get late on account of the closure of the level crossing,” said Bal Krishan Aneja, Director, Tagore International Public School, Sahnewal.

“Minor accidents and scuffles due to severe congestion are a common sight. The flyover will end all our traffic-related problems,” said Soni, a shopkeeper.

According to PWD official Gurvinder Singh, “The Sahnewal railway over bridge is among the 17 new bridges which have been sanctioned all over India for construction, in the railway budget of the current year. The Sahnewal-Kohara road on which this bridge is being constructed, links National Highway No. 1 (New Delhi-Amritsar road) with National Highway No. 95 (Chandigarh-Ferozepur road). The total time period involved in its construction will be 14 months,” he added.

Ludhiana, January 31
“The excessive, indiscriminate and unregulated use of pesticides has led to new problems and has resulted in the presence of pesticide residues in the food chain and environment,” said experts of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

Keeping this in view, Dr Balwinder Singh, head, department of entomology, PAU, has advised farmers to make safe and judicious use of pesticides. He emphasised that the pesticides should be used when necessary and told them that pesticides have made great impact on human health, production and preservation of food, fiber and other cash crops by controlling disease vectors and by keeping in check many species of unwanted insects and plants.

Although various methods were used to control pests in different pest management systems, pesticides continue to be the major component of most of the pest control programme and will probably remain so in the near future, stated the expert.

Pesticides should be used according to the recommended guidelines, stressed Dr Singh and revealed that with the introduction of Bt cotton, there had been significant decrease in the use of pesticides. The university had recommended new pesticides, which were effective at low dosages and leave little residues in the environment, said the expert, further adding that PAU was also promoting use of bio-control agents in crops like sugarcane, maize, paddy and vegetables so as to reduce the reliance on chemical pesticides.

Remarking that the university regularly organised educational programmes, seminars, publicity campaigns, radio and TV talk and kisan melas to create awareness among the farming community, he impressed upon the farmers to make judicious use of pesticides.

Khanna, January 31
A major tragedy was averted when a fire broke out due to leakage in the LPG in the house of Lalln Parsad, a migrant living in Guru Nanak Nagar. Domestic goods got damaged in the fire, whereas there is no loss to human life.

As per information, the incident took place when Lalln Parsad’s wife asked him to replace the cylinder. When Lalln was changing the cylinder, a poignant smell spread and the couple ran out and alarmed neighbours.

One of the neighbours suggested that they could minimise the loss if they throw the defected cylinder away. They wrapped the cylinder in wet clothes and threw it to the deserted area. When Yash Pal Gomi, a fire official, Khanna, was contacted, he confirmed the incident. Gomi said as soon as they got the information, he along with his team rushed to the spot and with the help of the neighbours controlled the situation. — OC

Ludhiana, January 31
Karamjeet Grewal, a Punjabi teacher at Government High School, Kheri-Jhameri, who had earlier written many poems, stories and plays, has now written some lyrics and have also got these recorded in his voice.

Grewal, who is a state award winner of 2009, said, “I wrote these lyrics on subjects varying from Punjabi culture, mother, sacrifices by martyrs and social evils.”

There are a total of seven songs in the CD, out of which three have been recorded live, while four were recorded at different locations. Jhande Brothers have composed the music.

He has six books to his credit and has also won many prestigious awards.

Ludhiana, January 31
Students studying trading and markets under the financial market management (FMM) stream at the higher secondary-level schools would now get real-world experience and training in financial trading as National Stock Exchange has come out with the NLT (NSE Learnt to Trade) programme for students studying FMM. With the launch of this programme, students studying trading in stocks at the school level across the nation would get hands-on experience of the real-world transactions in financial markets. The only difference here would be that the students would manage all the facets of actual trading, without money being involved, in the process.

The prices of various stocks would be of actual current values and online trading window similar to the one actually be used by brokers. Each student gets a unique password, and it would be possible to watch the performance of each student online by both the NSE authorities and schoolteachers.

There is a change in the process of trading. Now, prices of stocks listed on both National Stock Exchange and Bombay Stock Exchange flash on the screen simultaneously, which was not the case with a programme available earlier.

Earlier, there would be only one day in a month to practise stock trading under National Exchange for Automated Training (NEAT), but now students of FMM can get training online 24x7 through the software. "Trading with perfection is a tough skill to learn," says Bhupinder Singh, at BCM Arya Model School. "It is crucial to know when to enter and exit the market while carrying out intra-day transactions," he says.

"Developing arbitration skills and carrying out transactions within a few seconds are important. There is an opportunity to earn from the discrepancies of prices of a stock on the NSE and the BSE, that last very small time. We teach students to build numeric speed through numeric speed booster feature of the software. Speed is paramount during arbitration, buying and selling have to be carried out within seconds. Students are taught to make bids within 15 seconds, gradually building up the speed to carry out bids within three seconds," he says. There are a lot of good jobs in NSE and at Delhi and Mumbai for good arbitrators.

"This software will also aid students in learning how to become good portfolio managers. We teach students to analyse the companies, study their financial statement, their prospects before selecting the stocks for trading, and not select the stocks randomly. They have to analyse the sectors, and learn to diversify their portfolio to minimise risks," he said. They learn all the aspects of cash market, future and option market, currency deriviative, commodity deriviative, he says.

Because they are learning, we advise students to become good professionals and not to get distracted by greed and rumours and carry out random intra-day transactions, and become sound investors, adds Singh.

Ludhiana, January 31
If anyone did not get valid rates of the land, which has been acquired by the government in Ludhiana, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts for six-lane project in 2008 and wants to file a case with arbitrator, one can file it personally or through his lawyer with all proofs in the office of the Commissioner, Patiala division.

Disclosing this, SR Ladhhar, Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, said, “If the owner of the acquired land is not satisfied, he can file his case in the office of the Commissioner, Patiala division. There is no deadline for filing such case. The hearing of such cases will be done by the Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, on every Saturday at the mini-secretariat’s office, Patiala. But one can file the case on any working day.”

Mullanpur Dakha, January 31
Avtar Singh Mullanpuri, Akali leader and close aid of senior SAD leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, died following a heart attack at his residence this morning. He was about 60 years of age. He is survived by two children and a wife.

Starting his career in journalism, he later joined the Lok Bhalai Party led by Balwant Singh Ramoowalia. Some time back when Ramoowalia joined the SAD, Mullanpuri, too, followed suit.

Jagraon, January 31
Residents of Fily Gate area in the old city as well as those living in Agwar Ladhai are facing a tough time due to blocked sewerage in these localities.

According to residents, the sewerage has been blocked since one week but the municipal council (MC) has paid no attention towards the issue.

The residents lamented that though they have brought the issue into the notice of MC officials many times, the problem continued to haunt them. The chocked sewerage has made lives of the residents of these two localities a virtual hell. Irked over the lethargic and irresponsible attitude of the MC officials towards solving this problem, the residents have threatened to hold a protest if the MC fails to solve this problem at the earliest.

“Due to the chocked sewerage, the water has flooded into the streets of our localities. This water has even entered our houses due to which we are facing a lot of troubles,” complained Surinder Verma, an area resident.

The residents face immense difficulties due to the sewerage water flooding the streets. It has been proving an uphill task for the residents to move around.

“Moreover, the chocked sewerage has even resulted in huge financial losses to shopkeepers of the area, as visitors prefer to go to other markets due to dirty surroundings. In such a situation, our business is getting adversely affected,” added Harvinder, a resident.

Besides this, the stagnant water has acted as a breeding ground for mosquitoes, thus giving an invitation to various water-borne diseases. When contacted, MC president Baldev Krishan Dhir said, “We could not clear the chocked sewerage as we were busy with the Assembly elections. When the issue was brought to my notice, I immediately sent a team of MC employees to clear the chocked sewerage.”

Ludhiana, January 31
After the hectic schedule of election duty, officials of Excise and Taxation Department were today back to their routine work. Officials today sigh a relief as they were all the time on their toes during elections.

As it was the last day of the month, rush was witnessed at the department for filing VAT returns.

"Work was started back in full swing in the department. Owing to election duties, work in the department had taken a backseat as most of our staff was on election duty. All the three Assistant Excise and Taxation Officers (AETC) in Ludhiana were on election duty. Now, work will not suffer in the department as the elections are over and every official will be imparting his duties," said DETC Gurtej Singh.

"A lot of work has been pending in my office. Now, that elections are over we will be able to concentrate on our office work. There was a lot of work during the elections as we were keeping a tab on liquor vends. Though many liquor vends had been sealed during dry days, still we were keeping a strict vigil on the vends," said the official.

Gurjinder Singh, a trader, said he had been making rounds of the department as he wanted to get his VAT number but due to the elections most of the staff was on poll duty. "Today, I finally got my VAT number as the official concerned was back after election duty. Work in the department has suffered a lot due to the elections," he added.

Another official from the department was seen quickly going through his files in his office.

"At last we are back to our routine work. Work has suffered a lot due to the elections. Now, all the concentration will be on finishing my pending work," added another official.

Ludhiana, January 31
With more than eight small and big rooms of the Government College for Women being utilised as strongrooms for keeping EVMs, counting halls and accommodation for the BSF and Punjab police personnel, commerce students have no classroom to sit in.

The Election Commission have set up three counting centres for the three constituencies of Khanna, Samrala and Payal this time. Earlier, the commission used to set up only one counting centre at the college.

The college authorities just can’t refuse as the accommodation was sought under the orders of the commission. Now, the college authorities are in a fix whether to take combined classes or change the timetable to adjust classes for all the students.

More than 15 personnel of the Punjab police and 25 personnel of the BSF are deployed on security of the EVMs. The college has to arrange for their accommodation in the same complex where the EVMs are kept.

"The college is already facing a shortage of rooms. Somehow, the college authorities managed rooms for the EVMs and the security personnel, but now the administration is demanding one more room on the commerce complex. Now, we have to provide them the laboratory or the staff room," said a professor.

"We can't provide the laboratory to the armed forces because we are going to complete the syllabus and practical sessions would be starting soon. So, studies will suffer if we provide them the laboratory," said a professor, requesting anonymity.

"We can't oppose these processes as these are the orders of the Election Commission," said Manju Sahni, in charge of election arrangement at the college. 

Jagraon, January 31
A migrant youth was killed while another was injured in a violent clash between two sides over a money dispute at Jangpur village near Mullanpur Dakha yesterday. The police has registered a case against five persons in this regard and started investigation into the matter.

The deceased has been identified as Chuni Lal, a resident of Masima village in Uttar Pradesh, while the injured has been identified as his brother Bare Lal.

In his statement to he police, the victim’s brother, Bare Lal, stated that they had a money dispute with certain persons of Jangpur village for the past many months. According to Bare Lal, the incident took place yesterday when he, along with his brother Chuni Lal, had gone to recover their money which they had lent to Rakesh Kumar and Sumer Singh.

“As soon as we reached their place, Rakesh Kumar, accompanied by four other persons, attacked us with sharp-edged weapons. My brother suffered serious injuries in the attack. We immediately rushed to the Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, where he succumbed to his injuries this morning,” said Bare Lal.

According to investigating officer ASI Balraj Singh, the police has registered a case against five persons, including Rakesh Kumar, Sumer Singh, Bhanu Ram, Chote Lal and Laxman Singh, on the charge of killing Chuni Lal, on a statement of Bare Lal.

Rakesh Kumar, Sumer Singh, Bhanu Ram and Chote Lal have been arrested while Laxman has absconded. The police is conducting raids to nab him, added Balraj Singh.

The police has handed over the body of the victim to his relatives after conducting a post-mortem examination.

Khamano, January 31
The annual athletics meet of Sarv Hitkari Mandir School was held on the school premises and around 300 students participated in the meet.

A national-level athlete, Anupma Jain, took the oath on behalf of all participants. Competitions were held in under-11, under-14 and under-17 categories for both boys and girls. Bhagat Singh House won the overall trophy with 70 points. Manpreet Kaur, Gurinder Singh and Gagandeep Singh were declared best athletes among girls and boys.

In 100m race for teachers, Navneet Kaur bagged the first position, while Sukhdarshan stood second. In 200m race under-17 category, Jagdeep Singh came first, while Vipan stood second. In long jump under-17 girls’ category, Manpreet Kaur bagged the first position, while in the boys’ section, Gurinder Singh bagged laurels.

In 400m race, Jagdeep Singh came first, in 800m race, Gurinder won the first position. In kho-kho under-14 category, Bhagat Singh House stood first, while Lakshmi Bai House came second. School principal Pathania and director Devinder Dania thanked students and staff for participating in the meet and also honoured the winners.