Ludhiana, April 11
The orders by Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura that no Ludhiana Municipal Corporation employee would leave office without informing him if he was called for meeting by any political leader, excluding Cabinet minister, might snowball into a controversy, with elected representatives terming it to be a “murder of democracy”.

These orders were circulated amongst the MC staff yesterday and also bear the signatures of MC Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi. As per Giaspura’s orders, all MC staff would have to inform the Mayor in case an official is called for any meeting or for any other purpose by any political leader below the rank of a Cabinet Minister.

Sources within the MC said these orders had been issued to “keep under control” independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains who had announced that he would be fielding his candidates from all 75 wards of the city.

“We all know that Bains has been holding Sangat Darshan’s in the MC’s Zone C office as well as his own office for a long time. Sometimes MC officials are also called for attending his Sangat Darshan so that people can get their problems redressed on the spot. As the MC elections are approaching, the state government does not want Bains to stake claim of any work and the Mayor has issued these orders,” said a senior MC official requesting anonymity.

Confirming these orders, MC Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi said Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura had passed instructions to all MC employees. “These instructions have been duly implemented and circulated amongst staff by me. The entire Ludhiana Municipal Corporation staff has been directed by me to strictly comply with these instructions,” said Jaggi.

Independent MLA Simarjit Singh Bains said no MC staff could refuse an elected representative whenever he was called for a meeting. “Unlike all other leaders, I don’t ask MC officials for my personal work and it’s people’s work for which they are called for meeting. Such orders passed by Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura clearly reflect the murder of our democracy. I also feel that after my elder brother Balwinder Singh Bains defeated Giaspura in the recently held Vidhan Sabha elections, he is now trying to snub all those officials who assist us in helping the residents. Both me and my elder brother will certainly raise this issue in the Vidhan Sabha,” said Bains.

Ludhiana, April 11
The Traffic Police has come up with more plans to ease the traffic situation in the city. It has provided telephone number 0161-2770012 of the control room, which can be contacted anytime to inform the police about the traffic congestions/jams in the city. The control room will immediately inform the concerned SHO/traffic policemen about the the problem.

Giving details of certain new plans, ACP Traffic Swapan Sharma said 10 motor cycles - "Jam Busters" - will be given to the traffic cops, which would be different from PCRs and these would stand on different routes (on all major roads). In case of any jam or congestion on a particular road, these "Quick Reaction Teams" (men on motor cycles) will immediately reach the destination to ease the traffic. These jam-busters will be operational in the next 15 days.

"Apart from this, the duties of operational and administrative staff (of traffic) have been bifurcated. There will be decentralisation of all traffic zones. SP I, II, III and IV will take care of their respective zones. All operations of traffic will come under them. The administrative duties will be performed by the other traffic staff. The administrative staff will continue to bring more reforms to ease traffic in the city, which has a population of about 17 lakhs people," said Swapan Sharma.

The traffic cops will be put on duty rotation wise by the Traffic Police. The duty of cops at one point will not be continued for more than one week. "Besides, on 30 major points in the city, the department will provide walky-talky to the traffic cops, who will immediately inform about the jams to the SHOs concerned," said the ACP.

Ludhiana, April 11
The Secretary, Government of Punjab, Department of Public Works (B&R), will hold a meeting with officials in Chandigarh tomorrow following the High Court's directions to hold a joint meeting of officials from the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI0 and other authorities concerned of the state government to verify the steps to be taken to remove the difficulties being faced by the NHAI regarding the six-laning of Shambhu Border to Jalandhar Section of the NH-1.

Sources in PWD (B&R) said from Ludhiana, Deputy Commissioner and Commissioner Municipal Corporation would attend the meeting with all the required details. "The meeting has been organised as a detailed report has to be submitted to the High Court on or before April 17, 2012," said a senior official with the PWD department here.

It may be mentioned that the NHAI had submitted a list of pending issues with the state government. The issues concerning Ludhiana include encroachments’ removal and religious structures from several areas. Besides, the NHAI has said that the work was going at a slow pace due to the non-availability of land for shifting of HT wires/towers.

"Among the encroachments, three religious structures have to be removed for speeding up the ongoing construction work. Apart from that, the disposal of sewage has to be done at two points. A writ petition about the delay in the project was filed by one Harish Kumar Puri Vs State of Haryana and others on pending issues regarding the six-laning of the Shambhu border to the Jalandhar section of NH-1," said the official on condition of anonymity.

Ludhiana, April 11
The special investigation team (SIT) in the infamous DSP Balraj Gill murder case will take all the accused to the joint interrogation centre situated in Amritsar.

The police wants interrogation of all accused “face to face with each other” in order to check the authenticity of revealations made by the accused and to bring out the truth. This was stated by the police in the court of Judicial Magistrate Amarinder Pal Singh here today while seeking the extension of police remand of the accused.

The court also allowed the police to take fingerprints of the accused for matching these with the fingerprints taken from the Chevorlet car of Monica Kapila. Convinced with the submissions of Additonal Public Prosecutor Ashwani Bedi and counsel for complainant Harpreet Sandhu, the court extended the police remand for five days.

Meanwhile, accused Harwinder Singh, alias Binder, Pritpal Singh, alias Ladoo, and Umesh Karda, all residents of Talwara village, Ludhiana, were produced this afternoon in the court. The prosecution had submitted that weapons such as the “dasta”, “sabal” and iron rod, which were used by the accused for Gill’s killing were yet to be recovered.

Ludhiana, April 11
Colonisers and developers have joined hands to seek their political masters’ support, with the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) intensifying its crackdown on unauthorised colonies on the periphery of the city after the expiry of one-month notice period.

Upset over demolition of internal development works in five out of 114 unauthorised colonies, which were put on a month’s notice by GLADA on March 1 earlier this week, the Ludhiana Property Dealers’ and Colonisers’ Association has raised a hue and cry that the regulatory action was against what the ruling SAD-BJP coalition had promised in its election manifesto.

Besides taking up the matter with the state government at an appropriate level, the colonisers said they would submit a memorandum to the chief administrator of GLADA tomorrow for seeking an immediate halt to the demolition drive.

If the proliferation of unauthorised colonies in and around the city and total failure of the developers of such colonies to go for compounding on payment of stipulated licence fee and external development charges (EDCs) on the basis of total area of the colony as per the policy formulated by the government for this purpose is any indication, it is easy to gauge that the unscrupulous colonisers and property developers want the regulatory body to close its eyes towards their unlawful activities and give them a free hand to loot the gullible buyers by passing off plots in unlicensed colonies without making adequate provisions for internal and external development and basic amenities.

That the developers of unlicenced (and unauthorised) colonies, especially those who have some connections with the ruling alliance, have chosen to seek shelter under the wings of politicians is also not strange since it is no secret that most of the unauthorised colonies are developed under the patronage of politicians. “It is a matter of record that politicians of all hues put pressure on us as and when we launch a drive against unauthorised colonies or carry out demolitions,” confided an official of the field staff of GLADA.

Additional Chief Administrator of GLADA Jaswant Singh said regulatory actions being taken against unlicenced developer was strictly as per the policy of the government and laid down standard procedures. “Our brief is very clear, we have to implement the policies of the government in letter and spirit and action initiated to check unplanned and unregulated growth will continue in a relentless manner.”

Ludhiana, April 11
Authorities of various schools, parents of students and drivers of school vans seem to have not learnt any lesson from previous incidents. They continue to violate the guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court for plying school buses.

The condition of school vans has still not changed. Most of them still remain overcrowded. Lack of fire extinguishers and other safety measures continue to play havoc with the lives of children in the city.

Due to the absence of first-aid boxes, safety grills, fire extinguishers and adequate staff, it becomes too risky to send children in such school vans and auto-rickshaws, which are generally overcrowded. Buses of different colours run on roads without the school’s name inscribed on it. Some of the vans run on LPG cylinders. Moreover, many drivers aren’t even aware of the Supreme Court’s guidelines.

Jaswant Singh, father of two children, said, “Every time when something happens with school buses, the incident leaves an impact on the minds of parents.

But bus operators are ready with excuses every time. Fuel price hike is the permanent excuse of the drivers to justify overloading. When we ask them to improve the condition of buses, they demand more money.” Meanwhile, Navita Puri, principal of Kundan Vidya Mandir School, said, “We have our own buses. But private van operators who are associated with us, sometimes, don’t care about the norms. We often conduct meetings with them to make them aware about the traffic rules and guidelines of the government.”

Ludhiana, April 11
The debate on whether the semester system should be continued has begun again in the high rungs of the education authorities while teachers’ unions have given contradictory views on the system.

The education department favours the elimination of the semester system while the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) is keen on continuing with it.

Some days ago, the issue was taken up during a meeting of the Education Secretary with district officers. According to sources, most district officials were in favour of ending the system.

In the last tenure of the SAD-BJP government, a committee was constituted by the then Education Minister to formulate the education policy.

Considering the semester system an extra burden on teachers and students, the committee had recommended an end to it.

Contrary to this, PSEB Chairman DS Dhillon felt that the semester system was important for students to excel.

“The semester system has been running all over the world. It has given better results than the annual examination system,” he said.

“In the last two years of the semester system, results have improved by 8 per cent. I personally favour this system,” he asserted.

An official with the district education office said on the condition of anonymity that it was an undue burden on students.

He claimed, “The board is interested in earning money. The Centre has recommended an end to examinations under the Right to Education Act, but Punjab is increasing the burden on students.”

Ludhiana, April 11
The announcement that Facebook for mobile phones is going to be launched in eight Indian languages, including Punjabi and Hindi, has brought cheer amongst the youth in and around the city.

There is a sizeable and growing community of people in the region using Punjabi as the language for surfing websites. Youngsters from both rural and urban areas in and around the city are connected on Facebook.

Sarabjit Singh, a BA student, said that he used to write in Punjabi using English alphabets. But the introduction in Punjabi on mobile phones would ease things up. "Regional language written using the English alphabet seems funny and frivolous," he says.

According to the noted Punjabi poet Jaswant Zafar, who is a regular user of the popular social networking website in Punjabi, “There is a vast community of Facebook users in Punjabi, but there was always a constraint of using it on computers. Mobile platform may propel the online use of Punjabi."

Padam Shri awardee Surjit Patar said, "Mobile phones these days are very popular with the youth and so is Facebook. It is good that even while using Facebook on phones, there would be no constraint for people to use the Roman script for sharing and writing Punjabi poetry."

“Such initiatives are aimed at increasing the footprint of social networking sites, but they are also facilitate the growth of the languages as a byproduct,” he said.

Ludhiana, April 11
Corruption in the judicial system will not be tolerated at any level. If anyone is found to have indulged in it, strict action will be taken.

This was stated by Sessions Judge Gobinder Singh during interaction with lawyers at the Bar room at the district court complex here today.

He said the menace had been eating into the system and the common man was the worst sufferer. He appealed to lawyers to extend full co-operation in eradicating the evil.

He further said instructions had been issued to all judicial officers to respect members of the District Bar Association.

He sought the co-operation of Bar members in not seeking long adjournments so that the disposal of a large number of pending cases was speeded up.

Association president Jagmohan Singh Warraich put forth sentiments of lawyers. He stressed the need to respect Bar members when they appeared in court.

He said junior lawyers should be encouraged. He added that the judicial system could work more efficiently if relations between the Bench and the Bar were cordial.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 11
Getting their demands met has proved a challenge for organisations established for recognition of anthropology and human biology as optional subject at the college and school level.

A coordinated move for the purpose will be launched after conclusion of the second annual meet of the Anthropological Alumni Association Panjab University (AAAPU) scheduled to take place on April 12.

The authorities at the department of anthropology at Panjab University, Chandigarh, however, claimed that they had already taken up the matter with the state education department.

A meeting of anthropologists convened at MGMN Senior Secondary School resolved to urge the Union government that anthropology and human biology should be introduced at the school and college level.

Anthropologists led by Jaspal Singh and Anand Kumar said it was unfortunate that most of their contemporaries had to join such departments, which were not even remotely connected with the subject they had mastered.

“Though the department of anthropology at PU has pioneered in the subject and had established as a centre of excellence in the study of genesis of mankind, the degree holders of the university have been wasting their talent,” argued Singh and Kumar.

Dr RK Pathak, former chairman of the department, disclosed that a move had been launched earlier to get recognition for anthropology and human biology as equal subjects and scholars in these subjects were capable of teaching biology more efficiently than those in other streams.

He said the matter had already been taken up with the authorities concerned. He asserted that the subject had been introduced at the school and college level in many states.

Ludhiana, April 11
Finally, the education department swings into action to implement the Right to Education Act (RTE Act) and has started visiting private schools to check the required infrastructure.

According to sources, “A large number of irregularities in private schools have been observed during a recent inspection. The deadline to be provided to these schools for necessary improvement will be decided by the district education office.”

According to the RTE Act guidelines, “The schools are supposed to have all required infrastructure till March 31, 2013. However, by now the schools should have 40 per cent infrastructure.”

Teams of the education department led by Ranjit Singh Malhi, district education officer (elementary) have visited around 10 private schools of Jagraon block yesterday.

On being asked, Ranjit Singh said, “We are checking for the basic infrastructure of private schools. In first term, they are supposed to have 40 per cent infrastructure. When teams go for the inspection in the private schools, we note down the required infrastructure and also make aware the school authorities about the lacking facilities.”

Harminder Singh, legal advisor SSA, “We are visiting only those schools, who submitted application to get recognition under the RTE Act guidelines. As many as 833 private schools from all over the district have submitted their application for the same with the education department.”

According to Dr Baldev Singh, district education officer (elementary) Moga, “The private schools have to fix the strength of students in classes under these guidelines. The ratio of teacher, classroom and student is set up as 1:1:40 up to class VI and 1:1:35 for classes from VII to XII. Moreover, it should also be assured that the school have clean water to drink, separate urinals and toilets for girls, classrooms and child-friendly environment.”

Ludhiana, April 11
On one hand, the Central Government has fixed the target to enroll every child in school under the Right to Education Act (RTE), contrary to it, the education department of Punjab has not launched any such campaign or admission advertisement to enroll the students in the government schools.

For the past few years, director general school education (DGSE) has been giving instructions to the district education officials to organise torch rallies to inform people to enroll their children in the government schools.

Ironically, the new academic session of the government schools has started from April 2, but the DGSE office has still not issued any instructions or advertisement campaign for the admissions.

“The new academic session is always an opportunity for the department to enroll more students. Survival of the department depends on students. If we enroll more students, the department would be strengthened. So, the absence of admission campaigns is a failure of the higher authorities,” said a teacher from a local government school.

Deputy district officer Charanjit Singh said, “We have not received any instructions from the DGSE office and thus haven’t further sent any such instructions to the schools. New students are coming without any advertisement and the government schools have no shortage of students.”

Ludhiana, April 11
Advance Scientific Homoeopathic Association celebrated Dr Hahnemann's birthday at Lord Mahavira Homoeopathic Medical College and Hospital under the leadership of Dr Sunil Verma. Dr Daljeet Sharma (president) told about the progress of homoeopathy in the city for the past few years as well as the progress of the association.

The doctors shared their views on the difficulties faced in practising homoeopathy. Dr Vipan Gupta (general secretary) emphasised more on the issue of government jobs and added that association will conduct more CME’s in the college to upgrade the knowledge of practising physicians as well as of the students. The function ended with a cake-cutting ceremony and cultural programme.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Dr Vinod Singla (prof), Dr SK Chalotra (vice principal), Dr Tarun Chowdary, Dr KC Garg, Dr Anurag Sood, Dr Gaurav Jain, Dr Rajan Kapil, Dr Yogesh Malhotra, Dr Prashant, Dr Seema Jain, Dr Lalita, besides others.

Jagraon, April 11
The absence of a fire brigade station at Jagraon has always been a sore point for residents of the town. Despite a number of fire incidents in the town every year, no fire brigade station has been set up in Jagraon till date.

The residents of the town have been demanding to set up a fire brigade station since many years, but their demand seems to be falling on deaf ears and nothing has been done in this regard so far. As a result, huge resentment prevails among the residents.

The residents rue that whenever fire breaks out in the town, the fire brigade is called from outer stations, which consumes a lot of time.

Intererstingly, last year MP from Ludhiana, Manish Tewari, had offered to issue a grant of Rs 10 lakh to set up a fire brigade station in Jagraon. But the issue has been hanging fire since then, as the Jagraon municipal council did not show any interest in setting up the station in the town.

According to sources, the municipal council had rejected the offer saying that the council neither has funds to pay salaries to employees to be deployed with the fire brigade nor it has space for setting up the station. This stance of the municipal council has drawn a lot of criticism from the residents.

When contacted, MC president Baldev Krishan Dhir accepted that MP Manish Tewari had offered to issue a grant for setting up the fire station in Jagraon. “But it is also true that the municipal council does not have sufficient funds and infrastructure to set up a fire station in the town at present,” he said. He, however, assured to take up the matter with the state government to arrange funds for setting up and managing the station in the town as soon as possible.

Ludhiana, April 11
Two former computer science engineering 2007 batch students of the Bhutta College of Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana, have won the Gandhian Young Technological Innovation Award through their innovative project “Hope” on image, speech recognition and speech synthesiser.

Saurabh Saket and Rahul Ranjan received this coveted award on April 5 from Dr RK Mashelkar, former director general, CSIR and Prof Anil K Gupta of IIM, Ahmedabad.

The Society for Research and Initiatives for Sustainable Technologies and Institutions (SRISTI) have felicitated young engineers for their innovation at the RJ Mathai Centre of Educational Excellence, IIM, Ahmedabad.

The students named their device “Yasha” and have floated their own firm, SuMaya Corp. The said system understands human gestures and converts and transmits these into a language by using a voice synthesiser through a speaker. Saurabh and Rahul have successfully invented a voice recognition system (VRS), which can convert voices into written notes. 

Jagraon, April 11
Jagraon MLA Shiv Ram Kaler set a deadline for completing the cleaning process of a drain passing through the town till June 30. According to Kaler, it will take at least three months to clean 40,000-feet long drain and approximately Rs 12 lakh would be spent on the work.

Kaler was speaking to mediapersons after meeting a team of senior officials of the drainage department, who came from Chandigarh to conduct a survey of the drain. The visiting team included state drainage department Xen Gurdial Singh, SDO Subhash Bansal and junior engineer Tej Singh.

Kaler claimed that the work of cleaning the drain would start shortly and will be completed in a time-bound manner. “Once the drain is cleaned thoroughly, it will help draining out the rainwater of the town. This will sort out the water blockage problem of the town, which continue to haunt residents for last many years,” added Kaler.

The drain has not been cleaned for past many years, thus causing a lot of problems for the residents.

Kaler also informed that the cleaning work of the drain would be allotted to a private company through tenders and work would be conducted in a transparent manner. After surveying the drain, Xen Gurdial Singh stated that the drain is one of the longest drains in the state and the drainage department would be cleaning such a long drain for the first time in history.

Ludhiana, April 11
The audit wing has objected to overspending by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) on deposit works undertaken by it on behalf of various government departments and autonomous bodies. In the internal and external audit report for 2010-11, the audit has held officials of the engineering and finance wing of GLADA responsible for this lapse.

Copies of the internal and external audit report of GLADA obtained by the Council of RTI Activists under the Right to Information Act reveal that it had overspent Rs 57.23 lakh on various civil works executed on behalf of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU), which is in gross violation of the laid down procedures for the deposit works.

The audit report pointed out that as per the code of procedure laid down for deposit works by the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) vide its memo PUDA-A/cs- (4) 2005/2555 dated 20-9-2005 says that full amount against the estimated cost or proportionate funds---50 per cent in the first instance and remaining when 25 per cent funds are spent shall be deposited by the department.

The memo further said in case of excess expenditure over the deposited amount, the officials in the engineering and finance wings would be held responsible.

However, in the case of deposit works executed by GLADA on behalf of GADVASU, Rs 57,22,738 was spent in excess of the funds deposited by the university authorities for civil works. These included repair and renovation of laboratory and office block, construction of a lecture hall, layer and poultry sheds, cafeterias, herd shed, library, special repair of hostel no 5, repair and renovation of terraces of various laboratories and poultry shed no 2, providing electrical installations in library building, repair of building of College of Veterinary Science and repair/construction of roads in the university campus.

The auditors termed the explanation of the GLADA officials as not tenable as the amount deposited by the university for different civil works was less than the works actually executed on site.

Ludhiana, April 11
After facing a week of scorching heat residents of the city have been enjoying cool weather for the past two days. Dust storm followed by rain lashed the city once again today afternoon. Residents heaved a sigh of relief, but farmers were in pensive mood after their wheat crop got damaged.

Sudden change of weather was witnessed from April 1 after the mercury rose. Officials of the agro meteorology department of Punjab Agricultural University blame western disturbances for sudden change.

Dr KK Gill of Agro meteorology department said, “Temperature rose sharply on Sunday and Monday. We were expecting clouds and rain. The city was lashed with dust storm yesterday afternoon. Only 4.6 mm of rain was recorded yesterday.

“The city will remain overcast with clouds and there are chances of showers till April 13. Temperature will also decrease in two to three days,” Dr Gill added.

Yudhveer Singh, a resident of the Pakhowal Road, said, “ I woke up yesterday morning to be greeted by clouds. But, things totally changed afternoon onwards. It was pleasant today, but evening showers made it awesome.”

Harpreet Singh, a resident, “I feel relaxed after the showers. But it is the worse time for the farmers.”

Mandi Ahmedgarh, April 11
Extramarital and illicit relationships, which have emerged as major factors behind a large number of murders and unnatural deaths, were allegedly reported to be encouraged by senior female members of both victim and defendant families.

Majority of the ruined families could have been saved from devastation, had the female members checked youngsters of their respective families from falling prey to alleged genesis of the westernization.

Investigations revealed that alleged involvement and support of women to love affairs and extramarital relationships had caused spurt in incidents of honour killings and murders due to the marital discord.

In most of the cases, mothers, aunts, sisters and sisters-in-law were first to know about illicit relationship between young boys and girls. Instead of preventing their wards from the alleged abnormal behaviour these women had tried to hide the situation from male members of their respective families.

Rather they tried to justify the relationship by citing examples from families of their relatives settled in metropolitan cities and foreign countries.

Perusal of records at various police stations of the area revealed that at least one woman was involved directly or indirectly in murder cases related with extramarital and illicit relationships.

Acknowledging the tendency, Assistant Commissioner of Police, Gurpreet Singh Sikand, said: “Had the women realized their responsibility and tried to handle the situation, majority of murders could have been averted. It is high time when a coordinated movement should be launched against the social evil which has since emerged as a menace.”

Most of the cases that occurred at Majri road, Dehlon, Ramgarh Sardaran village, Mangwal village in Sangrur district, Beer Rauke, Kadon village, Gujarwal village, Raqba village, Kanganwal, Pamal village and Kothala village, women of both families were aware of the illicit relationships.

Ludhiana, April 11
Power cuts during daytime have become a cause of concern for those residing in Sarabha Nagar. They are not only miffed because of the power cuts per se, but also due to halting of work at the Sarabha Nagar post office during this period.

As the registration and speed post has become online at the post offices, entire work is dependent on the availability of power.

According to sources, power cuts last as long as 5 to 6 hours in the area. Thus, the work at the post office comes to halt and no post could be sent during these hours. Senior citizens residing in the area are the worst sufferers. “I can not go to other post office as the weather is blazingly hot. I had to speed post an article yesterday. I was able to do so sonly in the evening as the cut lasted for 5 hours from 11 am. A few days ago, I faced the similar problem,” a senior citizen said.

Residents complain that as the post office falls under essential service, the work should go on uninterrupted. “As post offices are being modernized, facility like power backup should be made available,” a resident of the area added.

A sub-post master at the post office said the UPS of computers had not been working for the past a few months. “We have applied for their repair and the problem will soon be rectified,” he added.

RL Meena, Senior Superintend of Post Offices of the city division, promised to get the problem resolved at the earliest. 

Ludhiana, April 11
With blazing sun shinning overhead, the city is getting ready to beat the heat with oodles of ice creams and cool shakes. Not only residents are keen to relish the rich creamy flavours of black currants, butterscotches and the exotic new tastes, ice-cream manufacturers are also luring people with new flavours.

Exclusive ice-cream parlours are dishing out new flavours catering to the growing demand for the ice creams in the city. A parlour offers fat-free ice creams made from yogurt, another parlour offers only fruit-based ice cream. A few prefer to go for traditional kulfi, while some prefer mixing flavours.

A city-based ice-cream parlour today launched new flavours of kiwi, litchi, pineapple, watermelon and grapes in order to add to its already wide array of flavours. According to Payal Jain from Yogurt Factory, they have introduced frozen yogurts that taste like ice cream and are calorie free.

An ice-cream parlour chain in the city is also going to introduce new flavours. According the Rajinder Singh Basant, managing director of city based ice cream parlour chain; they would introduce new fruity flavours to their range of ice creams with chiku, pomegranate, guava, watermelon and melon for this season. The traditional kulfis are also going to come in new avatars of mango, pineapple, pomegranate and “pan” flavours this time around, he claims.

Bhumika, a B. Com student of the Khalsa College for Women, said she just craves for ice-creams. Rahat, another student, said, “I don’t miss having ice creams even in winters, so summers for me are a license to enjoy all flavours that exits.” 

Ludhiana, April 11
To fulfill the dream of quality education of financially poor students the, KVM School has adopted two students to make their career. The Prarth Club of the school has adopted two students from a modest school yesterday.

The KVM School would give free admission to these students securing the highest score in Hindu Putri Pathshala School, Haibowal. The school would provide free education, uniform and books to these children. This year, Firoz Khan and Mini have been given free admission in class IX at the School.

Firoz Khan got 95 per cent marks in class VIII. His father is a mason and mother a housewife. He used to study in Hindi medium but now he is keen to pursue his studies in English medium.

“I had been studying in previous school from pre-nursery. I never dreamt of getting admission in any English medium reputed school. Now all my relatives and neighbours are surprised how I got the admission in the school".

Mini also shares the similar story. She got 90 per cent marks in class VIII and topped among girls of the previous school. She passed the criteria of the KVM School and got admission in school. Her father is a tailor and was not able to enroll her in an English medium school.

“I am happy to get admission here. I want to be a lawyer. I worked hard in studies to get admission in this school,” said Mini.

Even in the year 2011-12, two students Ashish and Anu were given admission in Class IX.

Ludhiana, April 11
CII's Young Indians Ludhiana Chapter visited two aanganwadis in Ludhiana on the occasion of World Health Day here yesterday. “Malnutrition is a serious threat to our country and one in every three malnourished child lives in India. Our main focus it to eradicate this menace and with this objective in mind, we visited two aanganwadis of Ludhiana in Gobind Nagar and New Prem Nagar and distributed nutritional food items to the children,” said Sifti Riat, co-chair, Ludhiana Chapter.

Dr Ashish Ahuja, Yi co-vertical Chair, Health, also gave a brief talk to the tiny tots of the aanganwadis about the importance of fruit. Also present on the occasion were Varun Mehra, Yi vertical chair, Health, who interacted with the kids, played games, and also distributed gifts. The main objective of the programme was to cater to the needs of young children and to ensure holistic and aesthetic development of the child.

Young Indians (Yi) is an integral part of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). It is a a non-government, not-for-profit, industry-led and industry-managed organisation playing a proactive role in India's development. 

Ludhiana, April 11
Sewer men working in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation have urged the civic authorities to regularise them in same way 1,450 safai sewaks were done a few days ago. A group of 250 sewer men met Municipal Commissioner Malwinder Singh Jaggi and requested him to take up the matter with the state government.

The sewer men are working in inhuman condition in the absence of proper safety equipment. Several sewer men have lost their lives while cleaning sewerage lines or fallen unconscious due to this.

A sewer man, who was among those who met Jaggi, said, “The corporation has to shell out Rs 2 lakh whenever a sewer man dies. The amount is given as compensation to his family. This clearly shows that cost of human life is Rs 2 lakh for the civic body, Had it spent Rs 2 lakh on purchasing safety gear for us, several lives could have been saved. But no one listens to us,” the sewer man added.

The Municipal Corporation had purchased some safety kits few years ago, but they were of no use due to their weight. Each weighs around 18 kg. It is impossible for the sewer men to enter a 12-inch diameter manhole after wearing this safety kit.

Another sewer man said whenever any mishap occurs with sewer men, majority of whom are temporary employees, they are often silenced by paying compensation. “Our families will get maximum benefits if we are made permanent employees of the corporation. Moreover, we would be insured in case of any mishap. That is why, we have requested Municipal Commissioner to take up our case with the state government.”

Hans Raj Gagat, chairman of Sangharsh Committee, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, said a sewer man gets monthly salary of Rs 3,842, whereas the DC rate is around Rs 4,200. “They are not even paid the DC rate, which is sad,” he added.

Wazir Singh Jassal, president of an NGO Ghadar Lehar, said they have submitted a memorandum in this regard to Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura. “Sewer men will be able to lead a respectable life if they are regularized,” he said.

Khamano, April 11
The Khamano police has recovered two new tractors, stolen on the night of April 6, and arrested one person in this regard.

Khamano DSP Tarun Ratan told mediapersons that Amarjit Singh of Bassian village, under the Raikot police station, reported the theft.

He said Amarjit was taking two new Swaraj-855 tractors, valued at around 11 lakh, from the factory at Chhapar Chhiri towards Jagraon.

The DSP added that Amarjit consumed liquor and went to sleep by the roadside near Manderan village at night. He further said some unidentified persons escaped with the tractors and Amarjit reported the matter to the police.

The DSP said a case under Section 379 of the IPC was registered, after which and special teams were formed and ‘nakas’ set up. He further said the police party at the ‘naka’ near the bus stand of Ranwan village spotted some persons driving two new tractors.

The DSP said the police team swooped on them, but they tried to flee. He added that one of them was nabbed and both tractors were recovered. The police identified the accused as Sohan Singh of Suhavi village. He was presented in the court at Fatehgarh Sahib, which sent him to judicial custody for 14 days.

The police was trying to identify and arrest the other accused. Khamano SHO Rajwinder Singh was also present at the press conference.