Ludhiana, August 12
The Ludhiana Metro Rail project will have a total of 27 stations, which would include 11 underground ones and 16 on elevated platforms. The proposed minimum fare is Rs 8 per person while the maximum is Rs 30 per person.

With MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma having been made the Managing Director of the Ludhiana Metro Rail Corporation, the work on the project has gained pace.

To start with, four coaches with a total capacity of 1,032 persons will run on each corridor and if the demand increases, the total number of coaches can be increased up to six. Out these four coaches, two will be Driving Trainer Cars (DTCs), which will have engines attached on the front and the rear of the rail.

A DTC will carry a total of 247 persons while the coaches will have a capacity of 270 persons. A DTC will have 43 seats while the standing capacity will be 204 persons. The normal coach will have 50 seats and 220 persons can stand on the aisles.

According to the detailed project report, the Ludhiana Metro Rail will have a total capacity of carrying 40,000 persons per hour (if the metro rail stops at every station for two minutes on an average).

Distance between two stations

The metro train has been proposed to stop three minutes at every station and this interval can be brought down to two minutes as per the requirement.

The corridors would be elevated as the metro rail will run some 26 feet above the ground level and for the underground corridor, it will run 15-20 metre below the ground.

Ludhiana, August 12
Ever since the survey relating to the Ludhiana Metro Rail project started in the city, the residents of the areas where land is to be acquired have been feeling panicky. The residents, mostly from the old city areas, are worried that the land on which their houses and shops are situated might be acquired, leaving them homeless.

It is learnt that a total of 80-odd properties have been identified that have to be acquired for this project.

To speed up the work concerning the Ludhiana Metro Rail project, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation commissioner has already constituted a three-member “support cell” that would look into various aspects of the project, including the acquisition of land and liaison with other government departments.

This team includes Assistant Commissioner (Technical) HS Khosa, who will oversee the work of the Ludhiana Metro Rail project as a coordinator-cum-nodal officer, Senior Town Planner (STP) Hemant Batra, who will study and prepare a detailed report regarding all government and private properties to be acquired for this project, and SDO (Bridges and Roads) Sanjay Kanwar, who will look into the office work of this support cell.

Kartar Singh, a resident of the Karimpura Bazar area in Field Ganj, is a worried man. “I have owned a shop in this area for a long time and this shop is the only source of income for my family. A few days ago, a team of the building branch of the municipal corporation conducted a survey of the area and since then all of us have been worrying because we fear that our shops might be acquired for this project,” he said.

Gurmeet Singh, another shopkeeper of Karimpura Bazar, who runs a cloth shop, said the metro rail line in this area would be underground. “When the metro rail will run below the ground and even the stations will be located underground, why does the state government wants to acquire our properties?” he questioned.

While speaking to The Tribune, Hemant Batra said the survey had already been completed and its final report would be ready by Wednesday.

“We have kept the Detailed Project Report (DPR) as base and the survey has been conducted accordingly. We already know about the places where metro rail stations will be constructed and most of the land will be required for the construction of these stations only. The project is still in its initial stages and right now we are just identifying the properties to be acquired. The land acquisition process will come at a later stage,” said Batra.

Ludhiana, August 12
Doctors should get ready to pay tax on freebies such as free samples of medicines, gifts or foreign trips provided by pharmaceutical or health-care companies, as their worth will be calculated as taxable income.

Similarly, drug makers and allied health-care companies will also be no longer get tax exemptions on expenses on such promotional activities, mentions the notification issued by Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT).

It is an open secret that drug makers are giving freebies to doctors in the forms of gifts, sponsoring foreign trips in return for prescribing a particular company's brand of drug. This expenditure is included in the cost of medicines and ultimately borne by consumers.

A doctor said: “The government needs to be flexible with its rules to make sure that the introduction of new drugs is not restricted. If a doctor knows that he/she will be taxed for receiving samples of new medicines, then he/she will obviously keep away from this practice. The government should review its decision once again and see that it does not become an hindrance to the introduction of new medicines,” he said.

Meanwhile, Harleen Kaur, a bank professional, said: “It is a right decision taken by the Income Tax Department. It is a fact known to everybody that doctors these days go on foreign trips and the expenses are borne by the pharmaceutical companies. Also they charge hefty commissions for prescribing particular medicines and referring patients to certain diagnostic centres,” she said.

According to the Income Tax Act, expenditure made from the income is eligible for tax deduction if it the money is spent on the promotion of business or profession. But, since the amended guidelines of the MCI of 2009 make such freebies and promotional activities illegal, this provision was no longer applicable to the pharmaceuticals and allied health-care industry, the CBDT notification mentions.

Ludhiana, August 12
One more suspected patient of dengue, who is under treatment at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has been diagnosed with dengue. District Epidemiologist Puneet Juneja said, "The patient, Bahadur Singh, is 25 years old and belongs to Jalandhar. He was confirmed dengue positive today. However, no fresh case of dengue was confirmed today."

A few days ago teams of the health department came across dengue larvae in some areas. Eighteen surveillance teams of the department have been conducting a survey of different areas of the city, including the areas inhabited by VIPs and offices of the district administration. Dr Juneja said, "These teams have been allocated beats and daily go to their respective beats according to their roster."

Meanwhile, Civil Surgeon Subhash Batta, who got his office premises cleaned only a few days ago in order to curb the menace of dengue, said, "I appeal to the public in general to keep their houses, shops, factories and surrounding areas clean and free from stagnant water."

Ludhiana, August 12
Had it not been for hectic lobbying by senior functionaries of the ruling coalition and certain leaders of the main Opposition parties in the state, the proposed revised policy on compounding of unauthorised colonies across Punjab would have been announced by now. Even though the key features of the policy have not been made known to the stake holders, the indications given to real estate developers point towards some of their major demands having been conceded.

However, the state government is understood to be facing immense pressure from the powerful lobby of major developers who have built licensed colonies and are opposed to giving any concession to the unauthorised colonies or soft peddling the crucial issue of compounding the unlicensed colonies on "as is where is basis, which
is the main demand of
the developers.

Highly placed sources in the Department of Housing and Urban Development also maintained that major developers, including the ones who have built PUDA-approved colonies, were also not in favour of compounding the unauthorised colonies merely on payment of external development charges by the plot owners, as was being pleaded by the stake holders.

"Compounding an unauthorised colony in this manner will defeat the entire exercise which has been aimed at planned development because residential plots are sold in unlicenced colonies at much cheaper rates compared to the ones in approved colonies for several reasons such as incomplete development, excess coverage and no payment made to the regulatory body," said a major player in the real-estate sector.

A few senior political leaders having a say in the corridors of power are pleading with the state government that it should come out with a simplified policy for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies so that more and more developers, or else residents of such colonies come forward for payment of external development charges (EDC) and they could have access to basic amenities.

"You can not simply wish thousands of such unauthorised colonies away which are providing lakhs of people with roofs on their heads. Many of these colonies are decades old and the developers will have no interest in obtaining licences and fulfilling other requirements. Regularising these existing colonies on payment of EDC in one go will not only benefit lakhs of residents but will give a thrust to planned growth in the future. A cut off date should be fixed for this purpose and in the future no unlicensed colony should be allowed to be developed," said Gurdial Singh, a developer.

Ludhiana, August 12
Finally, Punjab Agricultural University authorities have implemented the long awaited project to install CCTV cameras at strategic points for electronic surveillance in the campus. In its first phase, the university has installed CCTV Cameras on entry gates No 2 and 4 at for keeping an eye on the outsiders.

According to the PAU officials, CCTV cameras will also be installed on other important points like girls hostel, Home Science College etc in coming days.

There were several incidents of fights reported at the PAU and Veterinary University in the past where the involvement of outsiders was proved. To avoid such incidents, the PAU had planned to install cameras in campus.

According to the officials from PAU security, the main objective of these CCTV cameras is to keep a check on outsiders. Now every movement in the range of the camera would be recorded. We have installed cameras outside the check post for outdoor surveillance.

Harman, a student at the PAU said, "It's a good initiative by the PAU authorities. Earlier, the security guards on the main gates had to check every vehicle, but now numbers of vehicles would be recorded automatically.

Jaskaran Singh, estate officer, PAU, said, we are installing the cameras to keep a tab on the movements and happenings inside the campus. In its second phase university would install cameras to cover the campus market, students home and other colleges and hostels.

Jagraon, August 12
Unemployed educated youths of Jagraon and surrounding villages staged a protest at the Lala Lajpat Rai Park, Jagraon, today against the state government's proposal to increase the retirement age of government employees.

The protest was organised by the Unemployed Youths Union. Several students, unemployed educated youths and representatives of several organisations took part in the campaign and raised slogans against the state government.

The protesters criticised the proposal to increase the retirement age of government employees in various departments. While addressing the protesters, union leader Alamdeep Singh warned that the decision of increasing the retirement age would not be allowed to be implemented at any cost. He also demanded that instead of increasing the retirement age of the serving government employees, the state government should fix the retirement age of government employees at 55 years so that the educated but unemployed youths can get employment opportunities.

"There are several lakh educated youngsters in Punjab but they are not able to get jobs due to the wrong policies of the state government. Unemployment causes disappointment and depression, and a large number of youngsters are getting addicted to drugs," said the union leader.

Besides this, the protesters also demanded abolishing the contract system adopted by the government in various departments. Later, a protest march from the Rani Jhansi Chowk to the bus stand, passing through various roads of the town, was also held.

Ludhiana, August 12
As the world celebrates International Left-handers’ Day, there remains a strong bias against the use of left hand among people in India. Despite the fact that the world is getting more friendly towards left handers, parents here discourage their children from turning left-handed.

"Using left hand has never been considered good in our society," says Rakesh, a resident. Even when we were young, we were told to use the right hand, and so we too advise our children to use the right hand, which is considered the 'right' way of doing things," he says.

But experts advise against it. "There have been studies that left-handers make use of the right part of the brain which is considered the sphere of creativity and imagination. Although concrete conclusions cannot be drawn from the studies, this does suggest that discouraging the use of left-hand amongst children is not recommended," says Dr Ravinder Kala, a psychiatrist.

"If children naturally choose to use left hand, they should not be discouraged from using it. Preventing the use of left hand would not allow them to grow to their potential," says Dr Kala. Sometimes if children are stopped from writing with left hand, they are not able to write as legibly as they otherwise would, she says.

"Being a lefthander has always been an advantage in the field of sport. Sachin Tendulkar, perhaps, wouldn't have been as great as he is if he had been stopped from using the left hand for writing," says Param Saini, a psychotherapist." A lot of artists have been lefthanders, including the great Leonardo da Vinci. Many of the US Presidents as well have been lefties. So children should not be discouraged from being left-handed," she says. 

Ludhiana, August 12
Uploading data about schools on the state education department’s under-construction website has become a major headache for school teachers. The data was to be uploaded by Aug 5, but due to the technical snag, schools could not upload the data. According to teachers the server was down.

Taking a note of the error, the department had ensured on Thursday that website would run properly and teachers could upload the details on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Teachers came to schools on Janmashtmi but server did not work.

Owing to the continuous technical snag, the department issued new instructions and chose five districts to upload the data in the first phase. The districts were Amritsar, Bathinda, Barnala, Faridkot and Fathegarh Sahib. But now all details had to be uploaded within 2 days. Teachers said it was impossible to upload the details in a couple of days. According to the format available on the website, teachers are required to fill all details regarding infrastructure, students and teachers.

“Due to the traffic on the website, the server has not been able to run. Now the department has instructed to upload the details within 2 days, but it is impossible. The department must fix the problem soon,” Gurvinder Singh, president of computer teachers union, said. 

Ludhiana, August 12
Much to the relief of common man, prices of tomatoes came down as supply from the south began, while the prices of other vegetables and fruits remained almost stagnant and no increase was witnessed.

Tomatoes, the price of which rose to Rs 100 per kg, are now available for Rs 40 per kg. Though the price is still higher than the normal days, people felt a sigh of relief from shelling Rs 100 for a kg.

The price of other vegetables was same as last week. The tomatoes have finally came town to Rs 40 per kg. “Shelling out Rs 100 for one kilogram of tomatoes was, too, much. I hope in the coming weeks as the supply improves, the price will come down further,” said Jaspreet, a homemaker from Rajguru Nagar.

Ludhiana, August 12
A truck carrying goods got stuck due to a cave in on the 33-feet road near Mundian this afternoon. It is learnt that this is the third road cave-in incident on the same road ever since the monsoon has started.

As per information, it was in the afternoon when the truck was passing from the 33-feet road and its rear wheels got stuck due to the cave in. Later a tractor was called to pull out the truck from the cave-in spot.

Sources within the municipal corporation (MC) informed that a sewer line was laid on the road before the Vidhan Sabha elections.

The MC wanted that the road should be carpeted after a gap of around one year, so that sand gets settled down. But soon after the Vidhan Sabha elections, we had the municipal corporation elections and we were under pressure to re-carpet the road with a layer of bitumen. Maybe that is why, now the road is witnessing frequent cave in as the sand has not settled down properly, said a source.

Karamjeet Singh, MC executive engineer, informed that a new sewer line was laid in the area before the Vidhan Sabha elections. At that time, a few residents had connected their private sewer lines with the main line and that is why, maybe some weak points were left. We suspect that this road cave-in is due to the same reason, but we have got it repaired, claimed Singh.

Ludhiana, August 12
The Independence Day was celebrated by organising a voluntary blood donation camp jointly by Parbhat Welfare Society and a team of Zindagi Live Foundation at the Gurdwara Guru Nanak Mission, Dholewal, Ludhiana.

As many as 111 units of blood were collected by a team of doctors from DMCH led by Dr Sonia.

Zindagi Live Foundation chairman Ashok Marwaha congratulated and lauded the effort of Parbhat Welfare Society for supporting thalassaemic children by donating blood.

Jagraon, August 12
The Jagraon police arrested a drug peddler and seized a huge quantity of habit forming drugs from his possession yesterday evening. The accused has been identified as Ram Lal, a resident of Raikot Road, Jagraon. The police has registered a case against the accused under various sections of the NDPS Act at the Jagraon city police station and started the investigation.

Giving the details of the incident, SHO Jagraon city police station Mohammad Jamil revealed that the accused was arrested near the Kothe Khajura area by a police party lead by ASI Nirmal Singh. The team was patrolling the area on the occasion of Janmashtami yesterday.

"When the police team was patrolling in Kothe Khajura area, it saw a youth carrying a bag coming towards the city. On seeing the police team, the youth got scared and tried to hide which made the police suspicious. Following this, the police stopped him and searched the bag and found huge quantity of habit forming drugs," stated Mohammad Jamil.

According to the SHO, the police recovered 100 bottles of cough syrup, along with other habit-forming drugs from the possession of the accused. Mohammad Jamil also informed that during the preliminary investigation, the accused has confessed that he has been indulging in peddling and selling drugs since a long time for earning quick bucks. "The accused also revealed that he is a fruit vendor and used to supply drugs to his permanent customers on demand. He said that most of his customers were between the age of 16 to 25 years. He used to hide the drugs in the fruit boxes," added the SHO.

According to SHO Mohammad Jamil, the police is trying to find out the source from where the accused drug peddler managed to purchase drugs on such a large scale. The police will also take action against the wholesalers from whom the accused used to purchase these drugs, the SHO added.

Ludhiana, August 12
The city police nabbed a notorious swindler, Shiv Kumar, alias Shibbu. The accused used to dupe women on the pretext that their husbands had met with an accident. He then ferried them on a motorcycle to a secluded place and left them there.

After this, he used to return and strike at their houses and decamped with gold jewellery and cash.

The Salem Tabri police has also nabbed a goldsmith, Rajan Kumar, an aide of Shibbu.

According to SHO Bittan Kumar, the police has recovered three tolas of gold ornaments and 14 tolas of silver ornaments from the possession of the accused.

The police has also recovered a stolen Hyundai Santro car. It is learnt that the accused had used the stolen vehicle for committing thefts.

Shiv Kumar was nabbed following a tip-off from the Salem Tabri area here last night. A recidivist (habitual offender), Shibbu, was earlier nabbed by the Shimlapuri police in the same connection.

According to the police, soon after coming out on bail, Shibbu again started duping women. He used to first conduct a recce of the house of his target. According to the police, Rajan, the goldsmith, was also helping the accused in identifying the prospective target. He normally used to strike during afternoon when the women used to be alone.

Ludhiana, August 12
It were boys and girls of Faridkot who stole the show today with emphatic victories against their respective opponents in the ongoing third edition of the Mahindra NBA Challenge Basketball League being organised by the Punjab Basketball Association with the help of Punjab sports department at the Guru Nanak Stadium.

Faridkot players were in thick of action in the under-13 category and won the matches hands down.

In the girls’ section, Faridkot district made mince meat of Patiala district, as the former registered 30-0 win.

Faridkot eves earned an early lead and managed to hang on to it till the long hooter. The star performer for the winning side was Deep Kaur who accounted for 10 points.

Patiala girls found themselves helpless against their superior rivals and even failed to open the account.

Later, in the boys’ U-13 section, Faridkot district proved too good for Green Land Public School, Ludhiana, whom they overwhelmed 45-3, in which Manpreet Singh dropped as many as 22 baskets that paved the way for an easy victory for visitors.

In another match (girls’ U-13), Doraha Public School, Doraha, recorded their maiden victory. They faced stiff resistance from Khalsa Pothohar School, Ludhiana, in the initial moments but managed to prevail over eventually 22-10.

Diptish Dhir scored 12 for the winning side, while Harpreet chipped in with five points and Kaur fought well for the losers.

In other encounters (girls’ U-13), thanks to Prabhjot Kaur who secured 21 points to enable Mansa district to outplay Muktsar district 39-5, Gymkhana Club, Ludhiana, routed Sangrur district 21-2 with the main contribution came through Sakshi who netted nine baskets and Moga district got the better of Gurdaspur district whom they drubbed 23-16 in which Asmi was the top scorer with eight points.