|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||
|
City gets direct train link to Chandigarh
Ludhiana, September 11 The train, having one air conditioned chair car coach and eight second class sleeper coaches, chugged in at around 7.15 am, the scheduled arrival time, and departed after five minutes for Chandigarh. Being the first day for the train in its new avatar, there were only a few passengers, both in the AC chair car and the sleeper
class. When the train arrived here this morning, half of the 70-odd seats of the AC chair car coach were empty, while the occupancy in the sleeper class coaches, which can carry over 800 passengers, was not more than 25 per cent. The AC chair car fare from Ludhiana to Chandigarh by this train has been fixed at Rs 222 (non-AC Rs 65); to Jalandhar it is Rs 195 (non-AC Rs 48) whereas for travel between Ludhiana and Amritsar, one will have to pay Rs 225 (non-AC Rs 66). If frequent travellers on the Ludhiana-Chandigarh route are to be believed, the fare, especially in the AC chair car, will prove to be a big constraint in the way of choosing rail travel in place of travelling by bus. "While the bus fare and rail travel in the non-AC sleeper class are almost comparable (the train is a bit cheaper), there is a huge difference between the fare of an AC bus and the AC chair car, which stands at around Rs 130 and Rs 222, respectively. Besides, the journey time by train is a bit longer, and the railway station in Chandigarh is also located far away from government offices and business hubs," said Shyam Kumar, a local businessman and frequent traveller. However, some residents seem to be quite happy at having a train link to Chandigarh, which will further provide connecting trains to Kalka and Shimla. "Travelling by train has its own charm, particularly when one is out on a vacation. The train link to Chandigarh has come as a gift for those intending to travel to Kalka and Shimla by train," said Vaneeta Bedi, a college lecturer, who is planning a trip to Shimla with her family on one of the weekends. A senior railway official said the train had been converted into an inter-city superfast train because of the Duronto experience having turned out to be financially non-viable as the occupancy on the train was persistently low. "We expect daily travellers to use the inter-city superfast train in due course as a lot many people travel to Chandigarh, Jalandhar and Amritsar from the city," he added.
|
|
Tow-away drive suspended; traffic chaos back
Ludhiana, September 11 Sources said the tow-away drive was suspended following orders from Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh. Confirming the development, ACP (Traffic) Swapan Sharma said, “The tow-away drive has been suspended for the time being. We will start the drive again within two months. We will introduce high-tech recovery vehicles, which will not cause any damage to the vehicles.” There has been a mixed response to the suspension of the tow-away drive from city residents. PS Bhogal, a Professor at Arya College, said, “The traffic scenario in Ludhiana was bad until recently. City residents and visitors did not care two hoots for traffic norms and parked their vehicles at their convenience. This often lead to traffic jams. The tow-away campaign started by the traffic police in the city a few months ago had started showing results. Now, the police has
suspended the campaign. This is unfortunate and deplorable." Sarabjit Singh, president of the Brick-kiln Association, said, “I welcome the move of suspending the tow-away drive. I was not against the towing away of haphazardly parked vehicles, but against the damage caused to the vehicles during the exercise.” |
|
Fumes from sewer line land nursing students in hospital
Ludhiana, September 11 "Around 8 pm yesterday, chlorine and bleaching powder were poured into a sewer line of the nursing college hostel to clean it. Students living in the hostel were warned against visiting the area as the fumes of the chemicals were harmful. However, they did not bother and went there. Soon, they started feeling breathlessness due to the pungent fumes. They had to be admitted to the emergency ward of the CMC," said a source. Confirming the incident, Amarjeet Kaur, spokesperson for the CMC, said on behalf of Pannama Singh, Principal of the College of Nursing, "Students were warned against entering the area, but they did not pay heed. The affected were hospitalised in the emergency ward of the hospital and kept under observation throughout the night. Now, they have recovered and have been discharged." Chlorine and bleaching powder
Around 8 pm on Monday, chlorine and bleaching powder were poured into a sewer line of the nursing college hostel to clean it. Students living in the hostel were warned against visiting the area as the fumes of the chemicals were harmful. However, they did not bother and went
there. — A source
|
|
MC yet to recover Rs 121 crore from defaulters
Ludhiana, September 11 The civic body’s present annual budget (for 2012-13) is Rs 741 crore and dues worth Rs 121.09 crore are pending against 62,700 defaulters of Zone A and Zone C. In Zone A, the MC is yet to recover Rs 19.16 crore as pending house tax from 17,263 defaulters. The civic body is yet to recover a whopping Rs 35.52 crore as pending water supply and sewerage bills from 11,999 defaulters. Similarly, in Zone C, the civic body is yet to recover Rs 26.23 crore as pending house tax from 15,043 defaulters and Rs 40.18 crore as pending water supply and sewerage bills from 18,395 defaulters. These revelations came to light during an RTI application filed by Karandeep Singh, president of an NGO, the People for Literacy. “The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation seems to be least bothered when it comes to recovering outstanding dues from city residents. The civic body is not making whole-hearted efforts to recover this money from residents. All it is doing is issuing notices. If this money is recovered, the MC can carry out several development works in the city,” Karandeep said. MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma said he had already issued clear-cut instructions to his staff to recover the outstanding dues. “We are already in the process of recovering the pending dues,” claimed the MC Commissioner. |
|
|
Gang of looters busted, five arrested; daggers seized
Ludhiana, September 11 At a press conference held here today, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police-I, Nilambri V Jagdale, and Assistant Commissioner of Police (North) Swapan Sharma said Subash Kumar Rinku (27), a resident of New Kundanpuri, was the leader of the gang. Vijay Kumar of Salem Tabri, Pappu of Mehrban, Sonu of Basant Viahr Extension and Ajay Kumar of the grain market area, Salem Tabri, were arrested by the police. Two daggers and three ‘kirpans’ were recovered from their possession. Ten mobile phones, which they had looted from passers-by, were also recovered from them. "The modus operandi of the gang was that they used to loot people on desolated streets. They would stop their victims and ask them to hand over their belongings. If passers-by refused to do so, they would stab them," said the ADCP. Members of the gang had stabbed their victim Vishnu Sharma on April 20. He died in Patiala after sometime. A case under Sections 397 and 34 of the IPC was registered and Section 302 was added to the FIR later. Leader of the gang Subhash, alias Rinku, and five others, Sunny, Arvind, Ram, Jagru and Sonu, were involved in this murder. Rinku was arrested today while the others are at large.
|
|
|
2 killed, 3 hurt in truck mishap
Mandi Ahmedgarh,
September 11 The deceased have been identified as Mandeep Singh (20) an Samsher Singh (18) of Kheri Kalan village near Sherpur. The truck belonged to Sukhpal Singh. Jaspal Singh, Sapinder Pal and Baljit Singh of the same village were injured seriously in the incident. Preliminary investigation by the police has revealed that Sukhpal Singh's friends and relatives wanted to pay obeisance a religious place at Karamsar. They decided to go in Sukhpal's truck, which he had purchased recently. Since there were a large number of pilgrims, some of them sat on the wooden plank on the rear side of the truck. The chain supporting the wooden plank gave way and the victims fell on the road. |
|
Woman commits suicide
Ludhiana, September 11 Neha's parents are from Darjeeling, but have been living in Punjab for many years now. She had a love marriage two years ago with
a resident of New Prem Nagar. Neha's husband is an employee of the municipal corporation. She was living with her in-laws. Neha's parents were not happy with her marriage. However, they did not oppose it. Pawan Kumar, in charge of the Rose Garden police post said, "According to the statements of neighbours and relatives of the victim, Neha did not have any dispute with anyone in the family." |
|
6 gastro patients hospitalised
Ludhiana, September 11 Dr Juneja said the number of patients reporting at the free medical checkup camp organised by the Health Department had also come down. "Yesterday was the first day of the camp and 32 patients of gastroenteritis registered at the camp. Today, we received only 12 patients. So, we withdrew the ambulances stationed in the affected areas," he added. The DHO said the Pulse Polio teams of Health Department had been in the field since Sunday. These would administer polio drops to children till Thursday. He said, "We have asked all these teams to spread awareness among people about general hygiene and benefits of drinking boiled water." Meanwhile, the report of water samples collected by officials of the Health Department from the Jawahar Nagar camp yesterday is still awaited. Dr Juneja said, "We have sent these samples to Punjab Agriculture University. We hope to get the report of these samples tomorrow or day after tomorrow."
|
|
Civic body pulls up
staff
Asks building branch to scrutinise, organise zone-wise records within two weeks Puneet Pal Singh Gill Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, September 11 On January 13 this year, an RTI activist, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, had applied for seeking information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act. He had sought certified legible copies of relevant pages of a register containing all entries of sanctioned building plans for Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar area from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2005. He had also sought the information regarding relevant pages of the register containing all entries of challans, along with the challans filed under Sections 269 and 270 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, for Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar area. But the MC building branch did not bother to provide the information within 30 days of the RTI application, which is mandatory as per the Act. Khaira then went into first appeal with the First Appellate Authority, who is the MC Commissioner on February 21. During the hearing of the first appeal on May 14, building branch officials from zone D claimed that the information has to be provided by zone A officials, while the zone A officials claimed that the information will be provided by zone D. Harpreet Ghai, APIO-cum-ATP of zone A, told the MC Commissioner that the record is not present with them, so it cannot be provided, stated Kuldeep Singh Khaira. A time-bound inquiry was then marked to the senior town planner (STP) to fix the responsibility of the custodian of the record and it was also directed to the STP to avail the documents sought by the appellant as soon as possible. Till date, the inquiry officer has not initiated any proceeding of inquiry and if the concerned file is lost, there is a clear-cut procedure under the Public Records Act, 1993, that the officer designated as records officer? has to follow. This may be summarised as SRF i.e. search, reconstruct and register FIR, stated Khaira. Highlights
|
|
4,000 to take part in BSNL conference
Ludhiana, September 11 The conference will be inaugurated by CITU president AK Padmanabhan on September 25 and KKN Kutty, secretary general, Confederation of Central Government Employees and Workers, and M Krishnan, secretary general, National Federation of Postal Employees (NFPE), will address the conference. An open session will be held in which Tapan Sen, MP and general secretary, CITU, will be the chief guest. General secretaries of all unions of executive and non-executive employees in the BSNL will address the open session. A seminar on the BSNL’s financial viability and national telecom policy-2012 will be held on September 26. Top management of the BSNL, including CMD, BSNL, director (HR) and director (finance) will participate in the seminar. Dr Prabir Purkayastha, Delhi Science Forum, will deliver an expert lecture on the national telecom policy-2012. A women’s convention will be held on September 27, in which Sudha Sundararaman, general secretary, All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA), will be the chief guest. The major issues before the conference are financial viability of the BSNL and deteriorating equipment supply. The BSNL management has centralised the purchase of equipment, which has resulted in deterioration of the services. The BSNL has the best broadband technology in the country. We are not getting WiFi modems for the broadband services for the last more than 2 years, which are in great demand.
|
|
Shoe merchants to observe strike on September 14
Manav Mander Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, September 11 Earlier, there was 5.5 per cent VAT on footwear except leather-made footwear and 12.50 per cent on leather-made shoes. Now, the state government had introduced 5.5 per cent VAT and 10 per cent surcharge (total 6.05 per cent) on all footwear on the sale price of up to Rs 250. Meanwhile, 13 per cent VAT and 10 per cent surcharge (total 14.30 per cent) on all footwear on the sale price of above Rs 250 had been introduced. Comparing the Punjab government with neighbouring states, Harpreet Singh said footwear up to sale price of Rs 500 were exempted from tax in Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. He pointed out that the footwear industry could not flourish with the policies of the state government in Punjab. “The recent enhancement of tax on shoes worth more than Rs 250 per pair will adversely affect the trade and nearly 20,000 families associated with this trade and earning their livelihood. We will be left with no other option but to move from the state,” added Singh. A 21-member committee had been constituted by the association to run peaceful agitation in Punjab. “The footwear industry across Punjab would observe complete strike on September 14. We would stage protest demonstrations at all district headquarters. We demand that the new system of taxes should be rolled back and there should be no tax on sale price of up to Rs 500,” added Rajinder Sachdeva, another member of the association.
|
|
BSNL to launch new initiatives for rural areas soon
Ludhiana, September 11 This initiative is being taken to strengthen the reach and streamline the processes of the telecom company in the rural areas. An area of five base transmitting systems (BTS) would be covered by a distributor in the rural areas, who can charge retailers, Bhanot said. He added that 5 per cent commission would be given to the distributors, according to the sales made. As the distributors would be chosen from the rural areas, this would also generate employment in these areas in addition to making the connectivity better, he said. The educational eligibility for a distributor would be middle school. As the distributors would be in small pockets, collection of money would be easier. This would ease the customers in the rural areas, as they wouldn’t have to come to the city for correspondence. For increasing the broadband connectivity, the BSNL already gives subsidy in the rural areas and these subsidies are given through universal service obligation funds for the support and providing fillip to the reach of broadband connection in the rural areas.
|
|
|
Brick-kiln owners on strike today
Ludhiana, September 11 All 290 brick-kiln owners in Ludhiana district will be observing the strike against the government’s recent decision to increase the lump sum amount of VAT on kilns to Rs 40,000 per month. “Presently, we were giving a lump sum amount of Rs 20,000 per month as VAT and now it has been doubled to Rs 40,000 per month. I fail to understand why the government is burdening us with taxes. It has become impossible to meet both ends. If things continue the same and the government does not roll back the increased amount, we will either shift to other business or shift our base,” said Amarjit Singh, a brick-kiln owner. For four months i.e. from July to October, it is almost off season for us as construction activity comes to a halt due to the rain. The kilns near the city are still in a better position, but how will those located in the rural areas survive after the new tax structure? Our sale is less throughout the year and it is difficult for us to give Rs 40,000 as VAT to the government,” said Gurdev Singh, a brick-kiln owner.
|
|
Health Department collects 8 samples of eatables
Ludhiana, September 11 They collected samples of daal prepared in ghee from Gyan Vegetarian, Gill Road, daal and gravy samples from Gyan Vegetarian, Red Cross Bhawan, black and yellow daal from Kanpur Gyan Vegetarian, Clock Tower, chana masala and ghee from Rishi Dhaba, Gill Road, and chana masala and daal from another Rishi Dhaba on the Gill road.
|
|
National literary events held
Ludhiana: The Association of Schools for the Indian School Certificate organised the 16th National Literary Events for ICSE and ISC schools at Ram Lal Bhasin Public School, on Tuesday. The events included debate, declamation and creative writing. The entire region, which included Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh was divided into six zones and the winners of each zone had participated in the events. A total of 21 schools from the region had come for the second round of the competition. The winners of the second round will compete with the winners of other regions at national level. Sister Rita Maria, Regional Coordinator (north), ICSE and ISC, was present on the occasion. Winners: Debate competition (seniors): Vashi Negi (first), Wahegurupal Singh (second), Evelyn Mildred Bombley (third); debate competition (juniors): Karan Attri (first), Sheronpreet Kaur (second), Pranshu Bharti(third); declamation (seniors): Wahegurupal Singh (first), Evelyn Mildred Bombley (second), Priya (third); declamation (juniors): Sanchitdeep Singh (first), Ishneet Kaur (second) and Rukam Mahawa (third). Stress-free teaching
In order to relax the teachers’ mind, a seminar on stress-free teaching was held on Tuesday at Guru Nanak International Public School, Model Town, Ludhiana. The seminar was organised under the aegis of The Art of Living Foundation. Aman Arora, alumnus of the school, gave meditation tips to the teachers. He emphasised that yoga and meditation keep people healthy and improves emotional and mental well being. He said the teachers could equip themselves with better innovative ideas while dealing with a sensitive child. The teachers should make children emotionally strong and spiritually inclined by disciplining their emotions, words, actions, habits and behavior, he said. Principal of the school, Gurmant Kaur Gill, thanked the resource person for his support towards the cause. Car wash day
Cherrylane Play School organised a "car wash day" to make the children familiar with different parts of a car. They learned about the various parts of a car such as steering, wheels, doors, headlights, windows, boot. They enjoyed washing the car.
|
|
Industrial tour
Ludhiana: Sri Aurobindo College of Commerce and Management, Ludhiana, organised an industrial visit to Bharti Teletech, Hambran. A total of 25 students of BBA I along with Puja Jain and Dr Pooja Sikka visited the organisation. A PowerPoint presentation by Gajanan, senior manager production, depicted the brief history and manufacturing capabilities of the company. Students were taken on a tour of the plant where they saw the layout of the plan and three main steps of production process- moulding, PCB line and assembly section. Students visit Avon Cycles unit
BS Dhiman, executive director, and Gupta, quality manager of Avon Cycles welcomed and interact with students of Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana. They took the students to a tour of the unit. The students learnt about different processes that are followed before making a cycle.
— TNS
|
|
|
PUDA prepares master plan for Samrala
Samrala, September 11 A meeting to give the approval to the plan was held at the office of nagar council, Samrala, in which Bhag Singh Malha, chairman of the Planning Board, Ludhiana, former MLA Jagjivan Singh Khirnia, SDM Samrala Ghanshiam Thori, nagar council president Mahinder Singh Bhanglan and officials of PUDA participated. Assistant town planner, Madhu Arora, said Samrala, which was spread in 668 hectares, and Machiwara which was extended up to 350 hectares would be developed and all needs of the growing population would be taken care of. She said 200 meters of the land on the both sides of Rahon-Khanna road would be declared mix land, which would be outside the limit of the nagar council. —
OC
|
|
Sanjeev elected president of NZAPSI
Ludhiana, September 11 Dr Uppal said reconstructive surgery was usually performed to correct facial and body abnormalities caused by birth defects, trauma, disease, post cancer surgery or aging. It also included a variety of fields such as craniofacial surgery, hand surgery, burn surgery, microsurgery, and paediatric surgery, he added. "There are many parents, seeking surgery for their children who are born with birth defects, but due to the costly treatment it becomes difficult for them to avail the benefits of reconstructive surgery," he said.
|
|
Construction near Baddowal banned
Ludhiana, September 11 This order will also be promulgated through publicity vans of the Public Relations Department and by displaying its copies on the notice boards at the offices of the DC, SDMs and the Tehsildars and at the police stations and bus stand.
— TNS
|
|
Heroin worth Rs 45 lakh seized
Mandi Ahmedgarh,
September 11 According to Amandeep Singh Brar, SHO, Dehlon, the accused were arrested during an inspection by the police. The police had intercepted an Accent car on the outskirts of Narangwal Khurad village and became suspicious of them when they tried to flee. During the inspection, a packet containing white powder, weighing about 71 gm, was recovered from Mohammad
Chand. Investigations revealed that the accused were involved in drugs trafficking for a long time but could not be caught because of their influence in police circles. They had developed relations with the student leaders of many educational institutes on the pretext of being involved in the businesses like money transfer and medicines and property. The accused used to reach their targets by first offering them narcotics free of cost and then offering them commission on the sail of narcotics to other addicts. The police is yet to establish the buyer of the recent consignment. It is suspected that the consignment was to be delivered through some Unidentified couriers.
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
The Police Commissioner had recently sent a circular to the traffic police that no vehicle should be damaged while being towed away. 
Of the total defaulters in these two zones, 32,306 residents are defaulters in the matter of house tax while 30,394 residents are defaulters in the matter of paying water supply and sewerage bills. 
District Epidemiologist Puneet Juneja said, "I met all the patients who were admitted to different hospitals yesterday. They have been discharged. The new patients, who have been admitted to different hospitals, are stable now."