Ludhiana, June 11
This year students from the district have secured almost twice the positions in the state merit list compared to last year in the Class X examinations conducted by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB), the results of which were declared today. Students from the district secured the maximum slots on the merit list -- 110 out of 398.

Sarita from RS Model Senior Secondary School, Sashtri Nagar, stood second in the state by scoring 95.61 per cent, while Priyanka Middha of BCM Senior Secondary School, Jamalpur, secured the fourth rank with 95.46 per cent. Varinder Kaur of Nankana Sahib Public School, Kot Gangu Rai, stood third in the district and sixth in the state.

Some of the schools brought laurels to the city as a number of students made their place on the state merit list. As many as 17 students from BCM Senior Secondary School, Shastri Nagar, made it to the list. Thirteen students from RS Model Senior Secondary School; 11 students from Nankana Sahib, Janta Nagar; and seven from SGD Grammar High School also figured on the list. Meanwhile, the overall result of the district was not very impressive. As many as 47,542 students appeared in the examination in the district, but only 30,880 students passed. This year, the pass percentage is 64.96 and the district stands 14th in the state according to the pass percentage of the students.

Sarita

Claim to fame: Second in state with 95.61 per cent

School: RS Model Senior Secondary School

Aim: Wants to become a computer engineer

Parents: Father is a mechanic and mother a housewife

Success mantra: Determination and hard work. After school, she would study for four to five hours every day.

Priyanka Middha

Claim to fame: Fourth in state with 95.46 per cent

School: BCM Senior Secondary School, Jamalpur

Aim: Wants to become a doctor

Parents: Father a 'kiryana' trader and mother a housewife

Success mantra: Used to study for five-six hours. Focussed hard work and proper guidance must.

Varinder Kaur

Claim to fame: Sixth in state and third in district with 95.30 per cent

School: Nanakana Sahib Senior Secondary School, Kot Gangu Rai

Aim: Wants to become a doctor

Parents: Mother is a seamstress

Success mantra: She worked hard and gives credit to her teachers and school as they paid her fee

Girls continue to rock

Year after year, toppers in academic courses in schools have become synonymous with girls. City girls Sarita, Priyanka Middha and Varinder Kaur have notched the top positions. Nine out of the top 10 merit-holders are girls, with three of them being from the district. Sanjiv Thapar, principal of a government school, says that girls are more sincere and devote more time to studies.

Govt school performance tad better

The performance of government schools was a little better this time around as far as the PSEB results go. A student from a government co-educational school at Jad Tauli made it to the merit list, breaking the mould for government schools. Last year no student from any of the government schools had figured on the merit list.

District report

Students appeared: 47,542

Students passed: 30,880

District pass percentage: 64.96

Pass percentage ranking in state: 14

Ludhiana, June 11
After the Municipal Corporation election results were announced yesterday, the race for the post of Mayor has hot up among Akali councillors. Several senior councillors have been lobbying hard with the party high command to become the Mayor.

The Ludhiana MC is the richest civic body of the state with the annual budget of 2012-13 being Rs 741 crore.

The main claimants to this post at the moment are finance and contract committee member Pal Singh Grewal and outgoing Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura. Even the Bains group might lobby for their aide Kamaljit Singh Karwal, SAD councillor from ward number 45.

A senior Akali MLA said: “The decision would be taken by the Deputy CM and SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal. He is likely to choose a candidate who has a clean image, is non-controversial and acceptable to all leaders. Those who have gone against the party at some point of time or are controversial might not be considered for the post.”

Sources within the Akali Dal said a meeting of all SAD and BJP councillors, local MLAs and senior leaders from both parties had been called for a meeting at PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon’s house tomorrow. “All the leaders have been called to the meeting so that the next course of action could be discussed,” said sources.

Pal Singh Grewal said: “Every councillor aspires to be a Mayor. I have been associated with the SAD since the '80s and have been a dedicated party worker. Politics is not a business for me because I have enough resources to take care of my family. If the party high command thinks that I am capable enough to become the first citizen of Ludhiana, I will not let it down.”

Grewal, who is a confidant of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, comes from a family of landlords. One of his brothers is a member of the Punjab Public Service Commission while another brother is a Deputy District Attorney. His wife is a District Revenue Officer.

Giaspura on the other hand is a five-time councillor. Ever since Ludhiana got a Municipal Corporation, he has been a councillor. Also a confidant of Parkash Singh Badal, Giaspura is hoping for a second term as Mayor.

Ludhiana, June 11
The minimum winning margin of a candidate in the MC elections was of four votes while the maximum margin was of 6,763 votes. The winner with the lowest margin is Jai Parkash Sharma of the Congress, who defeated Avtar Krishan Tari of BJP by four votes from ward no. 30. Jai Parkash Sharma secured 3,683 votes.

Daljit Singh Grewal was the winner with the highest margin of 6,763 votes. Out of the total 15,101 votes polled in ward no. 8, Grewal, an Independent, got 9,699 votes against his nearest rival, Ashwani Passi of SAD.

From ward no. 28, senior Akali Dal leader Harish Rai Dhanda lost to Maharaj Singh Raji of Congress by a margin of 276 votes. Out of 10,353 votes polled, Raji secured 4,658 votes.

Sham Sunder Malhotra, a senior Congress leader, lost to Gurpreet Singh, an Independent, by 747 votes from ward no. 37. Gurpreet secured 2,365 out of a total of 6,716 votes polled. Dolly Gosain (BJP) from ward no. 41 and a relative of former health minister Satpal Gosain lost to Pinky Bansal of Congress by 605 votes. Amita Rai, BJP candidate from ward no. 54 and daughter-in-law of senior BJP leader Lala Lajpat Rai lost to Deepika Bhalla by 1,116 votes.

Ludhiana, June 11
Several sitting councillors who were denied party ticket for the MC elections have made it to the MC by contesting as Independents. Nine of the councillors, who won as Independents, are either sitting councillors or family members of sitting councillors who were denied ticket by their respective parties. Some of them are councillors who had won the 2007 elections as Independents.

Randhir Singh Sibia, who won as an Independent from ward no. 1, is the husband of councillor Ratanjit Kaur, who had won the 2007 elections as an Independent, but later joined the SAD. Gurpreet Singh Gora, who won as an Independent from ward no. 7, was the sitting councillor from ward no. 9. He had won the last MC elections as an Independent and later joined the SAD. This time, he contested from another ward and managed to register a victory.

Daljit Singh Grewal won from ward no. 8 and is a sitting councillor from the same ward. He had joined the SAD after winning the 2007 MC elections.

During the recently held Vidhan Sabha elections, Ratanjit Kaur, Gurpreet Singh Gora and Daljit Singh Grewal were expelled from the SAD as Grewal had contested as an Independent from the Ludhiana East constituency against Ranjit Singh Dhillon, the SAD candidate.

Raghbir Singh, who won from ward no. 33, was a sitting councillor. He had also won the last elections as an Independent and joined the SAD later.

Neha Nayyar, who won from ward no. 38, is the wife of councillor Ajay Nayyar, who won the last MC elections as an Independent.

Kapil Kumar Sonu is a sitting councillor from ward no. 50 and managed to win from this ward again. Veeran Bedi is an Independent winner from ward no. 57. Her husband Harpreet Singh Bedi had contested the 2009 MC byelections on SAD ticket, but lost. This time also, Bedi was hopeful of getting party ticket, but the SAD chose Gurmeet Kaur, wife of Gurinderpal Singh Pappu, a trustee in the Ludhiana Improvement Trust.

Swaran Singh Mahauli, who had won the last elections on SAD ticket from ward no. 65, won as an Independent this time because he was denied party ticket. Baby Singh Thakur also won as an Independent. During the 2007 MC elections, he had won as an Independent, but later got associated with the SAD.

Ludhiana, June 11
Heat wave has now started taking a toll on the health of city residents. Recently, about six patients suffering from diarrhoea and heat stroke fell prey to acute renal (kidney) failure, however, timely medication saved them.

Disclosing this Dr Timothi Rajamanickam, associate professor and head of the nephrology department, Christian Medical College and Hospital, said, "Last week, four patients suffering from diarrhoea were admitted to our hospital, who later developed acute renal failure. While two patients, who were suffering from heat stroke, also became a victim of renal failure as their serum cretanin varied from 1.6 per cent to 7 per cent. All these were treated with the help of IV- fluids along with oral fluids. This way, their serum cretanin came back to normal."

Dr Timothi added that after a proper medication all of them came out of danger.

While Dr J S Sandhu, professor and head, nephrology department, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said,"Heat stroke happens when one does unaccustomed exercise in hot and humid weather. A patient suffers form acute renal failure. On exposure to heat one gets high grade fever along with fluid loss through skin. All this leads to

non-traumatic rhabdomyolysis, breakdown of muscle fibres which results in the release of muscle fibre contents (myoglobin) into the bloodstream without trauma and it also leads to acute renal (kidney) failure. It happens to only those who do not take adequate amount of liquid."

Ludhiana, June 11
After a brief relief from the rising mercury through dust storms and rain, the maximum temperature is on a steady rise again. Agrometrologists say that the temperature will increase in the coming days.

Dr KK Gill, Assistant Agrometrologist at Punjab Agricultural University, said: "Today the maximum temperature remained 39 degrees Celsius and the minimum was 9 degrees. It was a little cloudy and the winds were blowing, so it did not make much impact.

But in the coming days the temperature is likely to increase by 3 to 4 degrees. It is expected to rise to 44-45 degrees."

She ruled out the possibility of rain till June 20. Meanwhile, due to the hot weather conditions, people stayed indoors during the day.

Hot winds kept blowing till late in the evening. 

Ludhiana, June 11
Senior railway officials have decided to act tough against the construction agency for the delay in completion of the railway overbridge (ROB) in place of the erstwhile Lakkar Pul (foot overbridge) connecting Civil Lines with the old-city localities.

They made it clear that no extension beyond October would be granted for completing the project. “Any further delay will attract heavy penalty,” the senior officials of the construction wing of Northern Railway told the construction agency in no uncertain terms today.

The Chief Engineer of the Northern Railway based at headquarters (New Delhi), along with deputy chief engineer and local officials of the engineering wing of the Railways visited the site to review the progress of the project.

Representative of the construction agency was given a dressing down by the railway officials for causing delay in completion of the project, which has been hanging fire for more than a decade. The total cost of construction had also gone up due to the escalation of the prices of construction material during the intervening period.

The contractor told a team of railway engineers that work for fabrication of the steel frame for laying the floor would be undertaken within a week. Shuttering for the construction of the concrete portion of the ROB on supporting pillars would commence as soon as the Railways allow the block (suspension of the rail traffic) on the tracks where work is to be carried out. “Both works can be completed simultaneously,” the construction agency told the railway engineers.

The project, ever since it was conceived in 2000, has been facing stumbling blocks. The total cost of the project, now estimated to be completed at Rs 50.85 crore, has been going up. After partial completion of the portion of the ROB on the Civil Lines side, the construction work was virtually stalled for several years.

In 2009, the work on the project restarted and the two up and down ramps were constructed on the Clock Tower Chowk and the Bhadaur House sides, respectively. Thereafter, supporting pillars were erected in between the railway tracks, and that work too was completed three months ago.

According to railway engineers, the final drawings of the portion of the ROB has finally been approved and the construction agency will start the final phase of the flyover within a few days when the operation wing of the Northern Railway permits block on the railway tracks for the desired duration.

Doraha,June 11
Manpreet Kaur, a quiet simple-looking rural girl, has secured a place on the merit list of the Punjab School Education Board for the third time.

"The reason being that from the very beginning I had this misconception on my mind that since I am from a small town and have to put up with rural stuff all around, I will not be able to achieve what I actually want to. But my merit position in Class VIII has encouraged me and after that there was no looking back for me," asserted Manpreet.

Manpreet, a student of Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School, was on the merit list in Class VIII with 88.3 per cent. In Class X, she had secured 88.5 per cent and this time again in Class XII she has carved a niche for herself by being placed on the board's merit list by securing 89.7 per cent in science stream. Manpreet's father is a senior lab assistant at Government Senior Secondary School, Sahnewal, mother Sukhdev Kaur is a housewife and elder sister Amandeep Kaur is doing MSc botany from Government College, Jagraon.

Elated Manpreet expressed, "I had full confidence that this time, too, my name would figure on the merit list as I had put in a lot of effort to maintain my position."

Harbhajan Singh, her proud father said, "What else is left to ask from the Almighty? My daughter has given us joy which is beyond description. She has set up a good precedent for others to follow."

Principal of Guru Nanak Model Senior Secondary School DP Thakur shared, "Manpreet is a glowing star of our school. She is not only a brilliant student, but also a good player. She has won a number of prizes in hockey at the district and state levels. We are proud to have such an excelling student in our school. She has really made us all proud."

President of the School Roop Brar, vice-president Harpartap Singh Brar, director Jaswant Singh Gill, manager Tarlok Singh Jaggi and committee members felicitated Manpreet. 

Ludhiana, June 11
Panjab University has announced the dates for admission to BCom, engineering and architecture courses in colleges affiliated to PU for the session 2012-13.

Admission to BCom will commence from June 14 while the Joint Admission Committee will be conducting admission to BE and BArch courses for the session 2012-13, the registration for which will start from June 11 onwards.

This year admission to BCom-I at colleges falling in "urban conglomerate" of Ludhiana city will also take place via the centralised online counselling system. Urban conglomerate are the peripheral areas located within 1 km boundary of a city.

Detailed information regarding the application form, number of seats in different colleges, eligibility conditions and reservation policy is available on the website http://bcomadmissions.puchd.ac.in .

Students will have to fill in an online application form with at least five options of colleges in order of their preference. They can then submit the form, attaching copies of matriculation certificate, Class XII certificate, category certificate in addition to a demand draft for Rs 150 (general category) or Rs 75 (SC/ST) to Prof Suresh K Chadha, coordinator, BCom online admissions, by June 30.

Forms can also be submitted by hand at the PU Regional Centre, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, by June 30.

Meanwhile, all candidates desirous of seeking admission to Panjab University affiliated institutions for engineering and architecture are required to submit their applications online at www.chdenggadmissions.nic.in.

Candidates have to register themselves online by providing roll number, application number, candidate name, date of birth, as printed in AIEEE admit/result card.

Last date for submission of registration-cum-counselling fee is June 23, however, students can complete their registration forms after depositing fee by June 22, 2012. Candidates can pay their fee by HDFC e-challan or debit/credit card.

Documents' verification will be done after the third round of counselling i.e. on July 31 and August 1 at the allotted institutes. 

Ludhiana, June 11
For officials of the district administration and the Municipal Corporation (MC), who remained busy with the municipal elections for the past several days, had a hectic Monday with a lot of public dealing due to the pending work. The officials said other government employees who were on election duty must have taken a "break" today, but for them it was a busy day and they attended office from morning till evening.

SDM (East) Ajay Sood said he came to the office at 9 am. "It is like any other normal day. Public dealings are being done since morning. Besides, the pending works/files which suffered due to the municipal elections, have to be cleared soon," he said.

Municipal Commissioner MS Jaggi said much work was pending as the entire staff was busy with the MC elections that concluded yesterday. "The elections have passed off peacefully except for one or two unfortunate incidents, but we cannot think of being relaxed for the time-being as a lot of work has to be done in the coming days," he said, adding that he was in the office from 9 am to 5 pm.

Kuljitpal Singh Mahi, SDM (West), said he was mentally relaxed as the elections were over, but other than that, it was a routine day at the office. "We have to do court work too, besides dealing with public and clearing routine files. The past few days were very hectic," he said. 

Ludhiana, June 11
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India, in a recent letter to the Director-General/Inspector-General of Police of all the states has asked them to take urgent steps to curb road accidents.

The ministry admitted that the overall safety scenario in the country was far from satisfactory as the country had reported the highest number of fatalities in the world, with one accident every minute and one fatal road accident every four minutes.

Nitin R Gokarn, Joint Secretary (RT), said following the recommendations of the National Road Safety Council, the ministry had set up five working groups on the "4Es" of road safety -- enforcement, education, engineering and emergency care.

"The state governments may kindly look into these recommendations and draw a detailed action plan and start implementing them in the right earnest," said the Joint Secretary in the letter.

The ministry said most of the measures could be implemented within the existing set-up and without additional cost in the shortest possible time.

But the effect on road safety would be manifold. 

Ludhiana, June 11
The Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) yesterday called upon the union government to immediately announce minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and other Rabi crops on the basis of recommendations made by Dr MS Swaminathan Committee.

While addressing a press conference here after the meeting of the state committee, the BKU president, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, said as per the Dr Swaminathan report, the MSP of paddy worked out to be Rs 2,500 per quintal.

Terming the delay in announcement of the MSP for paddy as deliberate on the part of the Centre, the BKU chief said amidst speculations, the government wanted the farmers to sow paddy crop, and thereafter cheat them with unremunerative price which would be less than input cost. He outrightly rejected the hike of Rs 170 per quintal in the MSP of paddy suggested by the Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission as it was much below the cost of inputs.

Criticising the state governments of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh for repression let loose against the farmers agitating against forcible acquisition of land, Lakhowal alleged that force was used against the farmers and the national spokesperson for the BKU, Rajesh Tikait, had been put behind bars.

Serving an ultimatum to the state government concerned to restore the rule of law, the BKU president said if Tikait was not released by June 14, the farmers from the entire country would gherao the central office of the Bhartiya Janata Party in New Delhi on June 15 to lodge their protest.

He said the state committee of the BKU, through a resolution, had urged the Punjab government to ensure 12-hour daily power supply for tubewells during the paddy sowing and also waive recovery of water charges against canal irrigation.

Lakhowal said farming-related departments should be brought under one nodal agency. Other demands included immediate payment of arrears of sugarcane purchase and adequate compensation for crop losses caused by breach in Bathinda canal.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 11
Accusing senior functionaries at the block development and panchayat office in Pakhowal, Ludhiana, of trying to hush-up complaints regarding the alleged misappropriation of funds by chief of the civic body at Chhapar village, near here, residents, including four panches, have urged the higher authorities to probe the matter and recover swindled public money and initiate action against the suspects.

Surinderjit Singh, village development organiser (VDO), posted at Chhapar, apprehending threat to his life, has also sought action against the chief of the panchayat. He has accused the sarpanch and his accomplice of withdrawing amounts to the tune of Rs 7,25,000 from various bank accounts by forging the VDO's signatures. The village panchayat chief, Gurmail Singh, however, refuted the allegations.

Superintendent at the block development and panchayat office at Pakhowal maintained that she and the present incumbent at the BDPO, Inderjit Singh, had joined recently. She added that necessary action would be taken after verifying allegations levelled by the official and residents.

A perusal of complaints lodged by residents led by panches Ravinder Singh Romi and Amarjit Singh revealed that the civic body led by Gurmail Singh had allegedly been violating rules while undertaking development in the village. Though all receipts and payments are supposed to be routed through a cashbook, according to the resolution passed jointly by the elected members and government's representatives, the sarpanch had allegedly been withdrawing money without taking consent of the VDO or BDPO. Residents alleged that amount worth lakhs in form of cash; bricks and labour had been swindled during the past year.

In a separate letter addressed to the BDPO, Surinderjit Singh had alleged that his predecessor had not handed him over the record pertaining to the village for six months. While Dharam Singh, ex-VDO, claimed that all records were with the sarpanch, Gurmail Singh maintained that his grandson knew about the same.

The sarpanch had informed the officials that no amount had been withdrawn from any of the bank accounts. Demanding action against the sarpanch and his accomplice, the VDO has also apprehended threat to his life.

Jagraon, June 11
In a blatant violation of traffic norms and guidelines laid down by the state transport department, tempo operators could be seen putting the lives of the people commuting from various villages to Jagraon or visa versa at risk by allowing them to travel either on side or back stands of their vehicles.

Though ferrying of passengers in such a manner has been banned, but the tempo operators of the area are not paying any heed to it. As per the norms, the tempo operators can not ferry more than eight passengers, including the driver. But, they could be seen at least 20 people at a time.

Besides this, the tempo operators can not make the passengers sit on the side and back stands of the tempo. But, people from remote areas have are left with no option but to compromise with their safety as there is no other mode of transport available for them to reach their destinations.

A large number of people have died while travelling on the side stands, but the tempo operators seem to have learnt no lesson from the past. Even the authorities seem to be least bothered this practice.

At least 10 persons, including women and children, got injured when the tempo they were traveling in turned turtle after one of its tyre got punctured near Akhara village on the Jagraon-Raikot road. More than 20 persons were travelling in the tempo when the accident took place.

One can often see such overloaded tempos particularly during the late evening hours. “We don’t force the passengers to climb the stands, but they still do this and risk their lives as they do not have the other means of transport to reach their destinations,” tempo operator Amrik Singh said.

On the other hand, the passengers too say that they don’t want to risk their lives by travelling in such an unsafe manner, but no other mode of transportation is available for them. The passengers have urged the government to ply more buses on various routs especially during the evening hours to resolve this problem.

Jagraon traffic police in charge Gurcharan Singh stated that the traffic cops keep a regular check on overloaded tempos. “We have fined tempo operators ferrying passengers in an unsafe manner. But this problem can’t be resolved as people don’t have any other options to reach their destinations.

Ludhiana, June 11
A vigilant elderly woman cried foul and got a case registered against a supporter of an Independent candidate for bogus voting at ward no 61 in Dugri.

The incident took place yesterday when Harcharan Singh, a resident of Dugri, entered the polling booth no 1 in order to help an elderly Harwinder Kaur in casting vote.

But instead of pressing the button of the candidate favoured by Harwinder Kaur, Harcharan pressed another button and voted for the Independent candidate.

On seeing this, Harwinder Kaur raised an alarm and told the presiding officer about the bogus voting.

The polling agent and election officers tried to stop him, but Harcharan Singh pushed them and fled from the polling station.

The police has recorded the statement of Hawrinder Kaur and booked Harcharan for obstructing a government servant in discharging his duty.

Ludhiana, June 11
BJP candidate from ward no 30 Avtar Singh Tari, who lost the civic poll to his rival Congress candidate Jaiparkash by a margin of four votes, has demanded re-polling in booth no 7 of Shahi Mohalla. Tari along with his supporters staged dharna at the Domoria bridge today evening and blocked the traffic.

"I had received complaints that the EVMs in booth no 7 was not functioning properly. And the button of my election symbol got stuck. I want re-polling in booth no 7 for free and fair election," added Tari. It was only after the intervention police officials that Tari agreed to lift the dharna. 

Ludhiana, June 11
A day after the municipal corporation elections, policemen and candidates were seen relaxing. While a few preferred to go to sleep, most of the politicians and police personnel were seen making a beeline for salons for face massage and trimming overgrown beard.

“From bullets to bricks, scorching heat to sleepless nights we have been virtually facing everything for the past one week. Now, it is time for us to relax. My skin has blackened and beard overgrown.

I am unable to take care of my heath. Thank god, the municipal corporation elections are over and now I could look after my health,” a police officer said.

A large number of them were planning to the hit the gym. Some policemen and candidates were still pondering over the idea of heading to the hill stations with their family members.

Congress candidate Baljinder Singh, who was defeated by Independent candidate Kapil Sonu, said, “Winning or losing are two sides of the same coin. But the campaigning in the area was tough. I could barely sleep properly for nearly a fortnight. I would take rest for a week as my health has deteriorated.”

The newly elected women councillors, too, were seen visiting beauty parlours to regain their lost “charm”.

“To be honest, in my entire life I have never been out in such a scorching heat. I along with my kitty party friends have been doing door-to- door campaigning for seeking votes. All of us are suffering from skin pigmentation and are planning to get it treated,” said a woman candidate, who fought an election from an upscale locality of the city.

Khanna, June 11
About 23 PCR motorcycles and a commando gypsy were flagged off by DIG (Ludhiana Range) MF Farooqui in a function organised at the local Police Lines.

He said these PCR motorcycles would be stationed as per beat system for controlling robberies at night and petty crimes. These motorcycles would be driven by trained police personal, who had been equipped with sophisticated weapons and ammunition.

If needed, a commando battalion will also be available in the police district.

The DIG said a CPO scheme, which was started in the police district, would soon be re-introduced for the benefit of the people. 

Ludhiana, June 11
Humbran substation will be shut down for urgent repair and maintenance of 100 MVA transformer from 9 AM to 3 PM tomorrow (June 12). During this period, power supply to DC Complex, Kitchlu Nagar, Sabzi Mandi, Ferozepur Road, South City, Amaltas, Balloke Road, Rajguru Nagar, Aman Park, Haibowal, Barewal Road, Civil Lines, Rishi Nagar, Ghumar Mandi, Pakhowal, Model Gram, Bhattia, Ladhowal, New Kitchlu Nagar, Maharaj Nagar and Gobind Nagar will be affected.

In addition, 66 KV Model Town substation and 66 KV Dugri substations will also closed for two days (June 12 and June 13) from 9 AM to 1 PM, while 220 KV Ferozepur Road substation will be shut on June 13 from 9 AM to 1 PM for urgent repair and maintenance works.

During this period, power supply to Model Town, Model Town extension, Atam Nagar, Dugri, Shastri Nagar, Jammu Colony, Abdullapur Basti, General Bus Stand, Dugri Phase I, Phase II, Urban Estate, Vikas Nagar, Vishal Nagar, Punjab Mata Nagar, Kanchan Colony, Phullanwal, Basant Avenue, Dhandra, Manakwal, Himmat Singh Nagar, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Sarabha Nagar, Gurdev Nagar, Aggar Nagar, Barewal and Bharat Nagar will be affected.

Ludhiana, June 11
More than 40 members of the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertakings (CICU) left for China to attend international machine tool and tools exhibition. It is being held from June 12 to June 16 at Beijing.

The main purpose of the visit is to explore new areas of technology infusion/up-gradation, use of low cost automation, improving market of MSMEs products. This will also provide in-depth knowledge and use of cost effective integrated manufacturing solutions to enable participants to meet and conduct business with fast emerging industries.

The delegation shall be visiting specified industrial units in China to study the impact of use of cost-effective machine tools for adoption in their units in India.

This visit will be by far one of the most unique and exclusive of its kind towards promoting bilateral trade between China and India. Rajnish Ahuja, Rajesh Gupta, Sukhmeet Singh, Amandeep Bassi, Paramvir Singh, Rajeev Gupta, Ashish Bansal, Vishal Gupta, Ravi Sharda, Shallen Sharda, Sukhdev Singh, Jagdev Singh and others are in the delegation. 

Ludhiana, June 11
Ludhiana requires 46 runs to overhaul Mohali’s first inning score of 414 runs on the third and penultimate day of the match in the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (u-22) being organised by the Punjab Cricket Association at Punjab Agricultural University today.

Resuming at overnight score of 124 for the loss of three wickets, Ludhiana went on to hang on till the draw of stumps today with scoreboard reading 369 for seven in 140 overs.

The main contributors were Ashish and Anil Siag, who chipped in with 87 and 67 runs, respectively. Skipper, Geetansh Khera made 21 while Himanshu Shelly scored 22.

Davinder Sidhu and Gurinder Hara were at the crease with 34 and 21 runs against their names when it was called a day. Brief scores: Mohali (first innings)-414 all out in 144.1 overs. (Harsarup 98, Pukhraj 88, Ankit Pursharthy 67, Sachin Sohal 72 and Bir Kanwar 47; Sukhjinder 5 for 85, Himanshu 2 for 90, Sandeep Singh 1 for 24, Ashish 1 for 46 and Anil Siag 1 for 83).

Ludhiana (first innings) -369 for 7 in 140 overs (Sunny Pandey 27, Akhil Aggarwal 23, Nikhil Chowdhary 41, Ashish 87, Anil Siag 67, Geetansh Khera 21, Himanshu Shelly 22, Davinder Sidhu 34 n.o and Gurinder Hara 21 n.o; Harpreet 3 for 135 and Mehnaz 1 for 57).

Ludhiana, June 11
The 37th edition of the Punjab State Swimming Championship for junior boys and girls in the age groups of 15 to 17 years and 13 to 14 years, respectively, will be held at Mahindra College and NIS Swimming Pool, Patiala, on June 23 and 24.

This was stated by Apinder Singh Grewal, president, Punjab Swimming Association (PSA).

Swimmers born in 1995, 1996 and 1997 are eligible to participate in the age group 15 to 17 years. Those born in 1998 and 1999 came compete in the age group 13 to 14 years. Competition in all national events will be conducted in this two-day meet.

Entries close at Ludhiana with Balraj Sharma, honorary general secretary, Punjab Swimming Association, on June 21.

Performance in this championship will be taken into consideration while selecting the Punjab squad for the 39th Junior National Aquatic Championship slated to be held from July 11 to 15 at Chennai, added Grewal.