Ludhiana, April 6
Reflecting a grim unemployment scenario that has left well-educated youths desperate for jobs, several postgraduates in computer applications as well as other fields have applied for the contractual post of conductors with the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. All of them have applied for 80 posts (driver and conductor), who will be attached with the City Bus Service project.

It clearly shows that these candidates, possessing degrees like master of computer applications (MCA), master of arts (MA), M.Ped (master of physical education), bachelor of education (B.Ed), bachelor of computer applications (BCA), bachelor of commerce (B.Com) are trying their luck to grab an employment opportunity.

The eligibility for these posts is Class VIII (for drivers) and matriculation (for conductors). Besides, all of them must possess a heavy motor vehicle (HMV) driving licence.

For the posts of driver, the MC has received 157 applications, while a total of 578 applications have been received for the posts of conductor. The selected candidates will fall in Class III category and will be hired on contract for two years. Disappointed with the job senario, a candidate who is a postgraduate, said that he had applied for many jobs but had been rejected and even circumstances at home forced him to apply for this job.

“Even though I am more qualified than the requirement, I need a job to support my family. I am aware that it’s a contractual job but we all know working in the government department means you might get lucky anytime when the government makes us permanent,” he said while requesting anonymity.

Baljit Singh, Manager of City Bus Service, informed that the final appointments would be made after a written test, interview and training. “By the end of this month, we will hire them,” said Singh.

Ludhiana, April 6
Senior officials of the Northern Railways at the divisional headquarters as well as the local officials have turned a blind eye to illegal parking of taxis at the railway station by some 40-taxi operators for the last several years. Not only repeated complaints lodged by the licenced taxi operators have persistently been ignored, but the musclemen of the unauthorised operators have also been threatening and intimidating those pointing a finger at them.

That the writ of railway authorities does not run at the railway complex here is obvious from a complaint lodged by a licenced taxi operator - Deol Tours and Travels to the divisional headquarters of the Northern Railway.

The complainant has alleged that those parking their taxis at the railway station without any permission from the Railways or payment of stipulated parking fee were resorting to strong-arm tactics. "The unauthorised taxi operators flaunt their connections with the senior railway officials, and have even gone to the extent of beating up our drivers when they raised objection to unlawful parking of taxis," complainant Kulwant Singh said.

He further said that on the directions of the Punjab State Human Rights Commission (PSHRC), to whom a copy of the complaint had been forwarded for redressal, the Government Railway Police (GRP) had initiated a probe into the racket. "But after the unlawful taxi operators pulled the strings, the inquiry failed to make any progress in the past three months. Rather than taking action against the defaulters, the GRP has been sending summons to me while the unauthorised taxi operators continue with their illegal activities right under the nose of the railway authorities”, he said. The GRP officials were evasive or at best provided vague information about the outcome of the complaint. "A police official is looking into the complaint on the directions of the PSHRC," a railway official said without providing any specific details of the investigating officer.

Ludhiana, April 6
Judicial Magistrate Amarinder Pal Singh today sent three youths arrested in the Balraj Gill, DSP, Moga and Monica Kapila murder case to police custody till April 9.

The Judge put several queries before the police officials, who had brought the accused Harwinder Singh, alias Binder, Pritpal Singh, alias Ladoo, and Umesh Karda, all residents of Talwara village, to the court.

Harpal Singh, CIA in charge, Ludhiana, who was carrying the case file, when asked if the fingerprints were taken from the spot of murder, could not satisfactorily answer the query. He stated that he did not remember the same, as he had joined as a member of the Special Investigation Team (SIT) at a later stage.

On bein asked how were the three youths connected with the murder, the police officer replied that the accused had made extra judicial confession before one Jaspal Singh, respectable of the village, who produced them before the police. Moreover, their mobile phone location was also traced to the area, at the time of murder.

The court also asked if the complainant, father of the DSP, was present in the court or not, but was told that he was not present there. In reply to a query, the police official stated that previously the accused were not booked in any case. But as they had confessed to have committed snatchings, a case was registered against the trio.

The court also asked, if the gunmen of DSP were interrogated, as it was written in one of zimni dated Feburary 2, 2012 that they were required to be interrogated. In reply, the police officer stated that later on the SIT was re-constitued, which did not deem it fit to interrogate them, as the DSP had gone to the farmhouse at Golflink in plain clothes without gunmen.

The police had sought police remand, with the plea that they were to recover weapon of offence, purse and watch of DSP, keys of vehicle and trousers of the woman . They also stated that accused had gone to Gurdaspur to sell vehicles and the role of that person was also required to be probed.

Since no defence lawyer appeared before the court, the court provided them a lawyer Harjit Kaur, deputed by the Legal Services Authority. She opposed the police remand, with the plea that the accused were teenagers and had been falsely implicated just to solve the high-profile murder case.

ADCPs Sushil Kumar, Manjit Singh Dhesi, Joginder Singh and inspector Prem Singh were also present in the court.

Ludhiana, April 6
Jewellers have finally called off their all-India strike, going on since March 17.

The decision to end the strike was taken after the members of the Gems and Jewellery Association of India held a meeting with UPA president Sonia Gandhi and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in Delhi.

The jewellers had been protesting against excise tax on unbranded jewellery, a doubling of duty on gold imports, and a tax (tax deducted at source or TDS) on the purchase of jewellery above Rs 2 lakh. All these proposals were announced in the Union Budget on March 16.

Members from the trade community today met Sonia Gandhi and requested her to ask the government to roll back the excise duty on unbranded jewellery, reduced customs duty and lower TDS on sale of jewellery.

"The Finance Minister has also assured the jewellers that once the Parliament session begins he will rollback the duties imposed on them. It was a gentleman's promise so trusting his word we have called back our strike and expect that FM will stand by his word. In case the duties imposed are not rolled back, we will once again follow the path of agitation," said Anand Sikri, president of the Ludhiana Jewellers Association.

"In the Budget for 2012-13, the FM had imposed 1 per cent excise duty on all unbranded jewellery and doubled the import duty to 4 per cent on gold. He also announced that quoting of PAN card would be mandatory for purchase of jewellery worth more than Rs 2 lakh. Jewelers were protesting against these proposals," Sikri said. strike since March 17.

Ludhiana, April 6
Shortage of funds has “forced” the Ludhiana municipal corporation to act tough on “influential” shopping mall owners when it comes to recovery of pending dues, which is why, the civic body is now claiming that pending house tax against big shopping malls in the city has been paid.

From main shopping malls-Westend Mall owned by liquor baron Ponty Chadha, Ansal Plaza, Flamez Mall and others, the MC has recovered house tax around Rs 6 crore.

This time, the MC officials had got “strict” orders from their seniors and which is why no political interference and bureaucratic hurdles were tolerated.

Even a renowned transporter of the city, who is known for his proximity with Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal, and is having a good hold in the government, was made to cough up Rs 10.37 crore as the last instalment of his under construction shopping complex on the Ferozepur Road. Interestingly, the payment was made four to five days before the election results came and the Akali Dal formed the government once again.

Notably, the house tax evasion by big shopping malls has always remained a “controversial” issue in the civic body. But due to political interference and bureaucracy, taking payments from these malls has always remained one of the biggest challenges.

For the past few years, many examples have come to fore where notices of house tax defaulters of elite clubs have been published, yet the municipal corporation had failed to recover the money.

The residents often accused the MC officials of remaining “busy” in sealing offices or shops of house tax defaulters, but as far as the major culprits were concerned they looked in no mood to put themselves in any “trouble”.

As the fiscal year ended on March 31, the Ludhiana municipal corporation was able to generate a whopping revenue of around Rs 123 crore in February and March. An amount of around Rs 101 crore was recovered in March alone, which included recovery of pending dues, value added tax (VAT), HUDCO loan, octroi and a long-pending grant from PIDB.

Hartej Singh, superintendent of Zone D, said around Rs 2.5 crore had been recovered from Westend Mall, while around Rs 1.5 crore each were recovered from Ansal Plaza and Flamez Mall. “This is the second time that the Westend Mall has made payment of house tax, while Flamez Mall made payment of house tax that was pending for the past two years,” Hartej Singh added.

Khanna, April 6
Heart rendering scenes were witnessed when the bodies of two youths of Khanna, who were killed last night during an accident near Banur, reached Khanna.

Family members were inconsolable. The two youths identified as Varinder Singh (18), a resident of Gobind Nagar, and Vaibhav (18) a resident of Basant Nagar, both resident of Khanna, were students of BA1 and were studying in a college in Mandi Gobindgarh.

They were sportspersons and had taken part in boxing competition at different levels. Yesterday, they left for Banur on a motorcycle and when they were coming back to Khanna at night, suddenly their motorcycle rammed into a bridge. The impact was so great that they both died on the spot.

Some passerby noticed them and informed the police. Their bodies were kept in a mortuary last night at a hospital in Rajpura. Today, their bodies were taken to Khanna after postmortems were conducted. They were cremated today.

Ludhiana, April 6
High drama was witnessed on the Shinghar cinema road this morning when an over speeding sports utility vehicle ( SUV) collided with a scooter.

What left the city police shocked was the fact that the scooter driver, who was thrashed by occupants of the SUV, claimed that the men had abducted his niece, but later he changed his statement saying that it was a road rage and no kidnapping had ever taken place.

The incident took place around 4 am when Jagdish Kumar was heading towards the railway station, as his sister Saroj had to board a train.

When the victim reached near Kashmir Nagar, his scooter collided with the SUV. Both Jagdish and Saroj fell on the road. They sustained injures on hands and legs. The accident led to a heated argument between Jagdish and the SUV occupants. The heated argument further led to a quarrel. Jagdish Kumar then stated that after thrashing him and his sister, the men fled the scene.

Both were then rushed a private multispeciality hospital for treatment. Jagdish first said that the SUV-borne youths had abducted his niece but soon backtracked.

SHO Maninder Bedi said it was a case of accident and road rage and no abduction had taken place.

Ludhiana, April 6
A drunken police driving a PCR multi utility vehicle (MUV) went on a hitting spree at Daba road here today. The incident took place around 9.30 pm when the drunken police, identified as Constable Buta Singh, lost control over the vehicle and hit four motorcycles.

Four motorcyclists were injured in the incident. The irate residents then chased the PCR vehicle and damaged it. It is alleged that the police was also thrashed black and blue before being handed over to the senior police officers.

Jagraon, April 6
Upset due to alleged continuous pressure by a man from her own village for developing illicit relations with him, a middle aged woman set herself on fire after pouring kerosene oil on herself. Soon after the incident, the victim was rushed to the Civil Hospital where she succumbed to burn injuries and died last evening.

The deceased was identified as Manpreet Kaur of Sidhwan Kalan village situated on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway. Manpreet is survived by two children and husband. Manpreet Kaur had tied the knot with Sony of Sidhwan Kalan a few years ago.

In her statement to the police, Manpreet Kaur had stated that a villager, Nikka Singh, was forcing her to have illicit relations with him. On Thursday morning, Nikka Singh, who happens to be Sony’s friend, arrived at her house and started asking Manpreet Kaur to develop illicit relations with him.

When Manpreet Kaur refused to do so, he forcibly started molesting her. Manpreet Kaur, however, managed to escape and set herself on fire. Nikka Singh fled from the scene.

Investigating officer Mankiat Singh said a case had been registered at the Jagraon Sadar police station under Sections 305 and 511 of the IPC against Nikka Singh on the statement of the victim. He added that the accused was at large.

The body was handed over to the family after an autopsy.

Ludhiana, April 6
Bhagwan Mahavair Sewa Sansthan today celebrated the birth anniversary of Bhagwan Mahavir by holding a free medical camp.

Artificial limbs were also distributed among the needy.

Rakesh Jain, president of Bhagwan Mahavir Sewa Sansthan, said, “We have conducted nearly 500 operations and keep distributing artificial limbs,” he said. Artificial limbs were distributed among 60 patients. Madan Mohan Mittal, health minister, Punjab, appreciated the efforts of the organisation. 

Ludhiana, April 6
The new age image consultants have turned image and style into a science. They classify body and face types into various categories and recommend fashion accessories and make up according to what would suit you the best.

This was stated by Meha Bhargava, an image consultant from Delhi, who was here for a three-day fashion and lifestyle exhibition organised at Park Plaza. “Now, there are tools and techniques to enhance good features and counterbalance other body features through clothing, style and make up to lend you the style according to your body and the occasion and the role.

For instance, for a triangular face with broader jaws and smaller forehead, it is better to have hairdo that would make the hair more noticeable and flicks on the forehead making the smaller forehead less conspicuous, she said. Image consultants may do everything according to the personality and body right from selecting the kind of clothes and fabrics to deciding the best colours according to the complexion, purpose and occasion.

Another consultant at the exhibition, Beekay Arora, from Panchkula, claims to use everything from numerology, face reading, astrology, tarot cards and runes reading to resolve the problems. Apart from these, various stalls at the exhibition showcased designer collections, jewellery, footwear, home décor and other lifestyle products. 

Ludhiana, April 6
There seems to be no end to faction fighting and leadership bashing in the Congress. After licking the dust in the recently held Assembly elections, the party is facing a revolt-like situation among its ranks.

Close on the heels of a meeting of the former office-bearers of the District Youth Congress (DYC) here yesterday where the party ranks blamed the leadership for defeat, some more YC activists, including a former president of the DYC, today expressed lack of confidence in the directionless leadership while also floating a body named as Ludhiana Youth Club (LYC).

Dimple Rana, a former president of the DYC, who has been nominated chairman of the club, and Gurpreet Dugri, the president, said the body would provide a "non-political" forum to the youth (read Youth Congress activists) so that they could continue to serve the masses through community welfare projects.

While addressing a gathering at Circuit House here, Rana said after the defeat in the elections, the YC leadership had failed to provide any directions or policies for mass mobilisation.

In a veiled threat to the leadership, the former DYC president said if the party failed to give due recognition to dedicated and loyal workers before the civic poll, which could be announced any day now, the LYC would enter the political arena as well. “We shall field at least 25 youths as independent candidates in the municipal elections under the banner of the club if the leadership continued with its wrong policies and nepotism.”

Doraha, April 6
The residents of Doraha are waiting for fogging to start at the earliest or lest diseases like dengue and malaria would entrap the poor residents.

Residents blame the council for neglecting their task of installing proper drainage system while the council puts the blame on the lack of space. The residents complain that accumulated water has become an eyesore. One of the residents said, “In the summers, we know, the things are going to aggravate. We have approached the committee many a time to find a permanent solution to this problem. But the authorities do not seem to be serious about the matter.”

A resident from Shere Punjab Dhaba Street said, “We are tolerating bad odour of sewer water for years now. The sewer water not only floods the streets but also enters our houses. The drains get choked to such an extent that even a shower causes these drain to overflow. In such a situation mosquitoes are sure to multiply.”

Moreover, the garbage is picked only to be dumped again on the roadside. The residents alleged that the council practically has no space for dumping the waste. The passersby and residents especially of Post Office Street, Lakkar Bazaar, Shere Punjab Dhaba Road are facing this problem everyday.

Fear of dengue and other diseases such as diarrhoea, gastroenteritis, jaundice and typhoid too hangs heavy on their heads in the wake of the approaching sultry weather.

The deputy commissioner has issued instructions to maintain adequate sanitary condition in the towns, but the council here seems to look the other way. “The government issued clear instructions to the councils and the committees to launch various health awareness programmes and cleanliness drives from time to time,” said a resident of the area.

Rajinder Singh, ME, Municipal Council Doraha, said, “The order for medicines has been placed and we shall be starting the fogging at the earliest. We have also prepared teams which will be sent to areas where water accumulation generally takes place.”

Sahnewal, April 6
A peace procession was taken out in Sahnewal today by the Parish Priest Church Committee in which the devotees of Christ King Church participated. The procession was taken out in connection with Good Friday and Easter celebration.

Daniel Gill, the Director of Sacred Heart Convent School, said Good Friday is the day on which Jesus Christ was crucified and on the third day comes the Easter Sunday on which Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.

Phillaur, April 6
The state-level convention of Government Teachers Union concluded in nearby Mau-Sahib village today. The members have decided to intensify their stir if government does not accept their demands.

President of the union Karnail Singh Sandhu said a delegation of teachers will meet Punjab Education Minister Sikandar Singh Maluka in Chandigarh on April 10. If the talk with the minister fails to yield result, the union will intensify its state-level agitation.

Their major demands are: Clubbing of the school should be stopped, schools working under the village panchayats or zila parishads should be brought under the direct control of Punjab School Education Board, privatisation in the department should be stopped and recommendations of the pay commission should be implemented.

Ludhiana, April 6
Department of Pharmacology, DMCH, in collaboration with the WHO (South East Asia Regional Office, New Delhi) and ICMR, New Delhi, organised a workshop on 'Clinical Research Methodology' at Dumra Auditorium.

It was inaugurated by secretary of DMCH managing society Prem Kumar Gupta along with Principal Dr Daljit Singh and others.

The workshop was accredited four CME hours by Punjab Medical Council and Dr Arun Mitra (PMC Member) gave a brief overview of the policies of Punjab Medical Council and about the importance of the research.

Dr Sandeep Kaushal, Professor and Head of Pharmacology, also organising secretary for the workshop said the purpose of the workshop was to provide hands-on-training in various aspects of research methodology, including hypothesis making, writing research protocol and data analysis.

Speakers from various medical colleges from all over the country spoke on various aspects of clinical research methodology. The data management and statistical analysis of the collected data was discussed.

Ludhiana, April 6
Father and son duo died while crossing a railway track near Jassian road here today.

The victims, identified as Sudhir (55) and Rakesh (12), used to beg to earn a livingand used to live near the railway track. The bodies were sent to the local Civil Hospital for postmortem.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 6
The police has claimed to have arrested kingpin of a notorious gang of miscreants that had allegedly killed owner and driver of a taxi five days ago.

Body of the driver, identified as Milkha Singh of Umarpura village, was recovered from a tributary of Sirhind Canal near Sular Gharat in Sangrur district.

The accused, Ram Rajinder Singh and his accomplice, all residents of Kasba Bharal village in Sangrur district, had hired the taxi of Milkha Singh on Friday evening. Though Milkha Singh had remained in touch with his family through his mobile phone till late evening on the fateful day, he went missing after informing his son that he had fallen in the trap of some miscreants.

Having failed to find whereabouts of Milkha Singh from their relatives and friends, Umarpura family informed the police, which conducted a probe into the sequence of events leading to his disappearance. It was due to joint efforts of the victim’s family and the police that the body of the deceased was recovered from the canal yesterday.

Harcharan Singh Bhullar, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sangrur, said a SIT, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police, Amargarh, Devinder Singh Brar was constituted to probe the matter.

Investigations revealed that the accused had abducted Milkha Singh after dropping some of their friends at Kasba Bharal on the fateful day. He was allegedly beaten to death at Jaure Pul on the Malerkotla-Khanna road.

Though the deceased had sensed danger to his life and informed his son on phone, nothing could be done to save him as the miscreants had switched off his mobile phone.

A police team led by SHO Devinder Singh nabbed Ram Rajinder Singh when he was trying to leave the area today. The police is yet to recover fatal weapons and the vehicle (PB 11 A 9122).

The accused were seen at Sujan Pur.

Ludhiana, April 6
The inaugural edition of the Ludhiana District Open Games being organised by Ek Pehal began at the GLADA Sports Complex, Sector 38, on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh road here today.

More than 150 participants in the sub junior, junior and senior categories have registered for participation in three disciplines- table tennis, athletics and badminton.

Hira Singh Gabria, former Punjab minister, inaugurated the games and wished the participants good luck. Sukhdev Gill, Pal Singh Grewal, Amit Kapoor, all members of the organising committee, along with Fang Tenn Chiu, secretary, Ludhiana District Table Tennis Association, were present at the opening ceremony.

Matches (table tennis) in the boys as well as girls U-14 were held on the opening day. In the girls’ section, Yashi Sharma blanked Tamanna 11-4, 11-6 and 11-7 to emerge victorious while Tanya Munjal secured the third place.

In the boys’ section, Parivansh quelled a strong resistance from Jasjot Singh before romping home winner 11-9, 11-8 and 11-7. Mandeep Singh finished third.