Ludhiana, September 17
Two unidentified youths snatched a bag containing Rs 8 lakh from employees of a share broker in Feroze Gandhi Market today.

The incident took place around 12.20 pm when two employees of a share broker, Sukhwinder Singh and Rahul Verma, were on their way to a bank to deposit cash.

Two youths riding a black motorcycle snatched the bag containing cash, alleged Rahul Verma. Rahul reportedly slipped and sustained injuries while chasing the snatchers.

The police is, however, looking at the incident with suspicion. SHO, Division No 5, Nirmal Singh said the incident took place around noon, but the victims did not inform the police till 1.15 pm.

"Moreover, there is no witness to the incident even as the market always remains crowded. All these things raise suspicion," said Nirmal Singh.

“The case is under investigation. It would not be appropriate to comment whether it was a concocted story or a snatching incident," said ADCP Harmohan Singh.

Both the employees are working for share broker RK Verma for past several years.

The police has also not ruled out the involved an insider behind the snatching incident. Police official, who was investigating the spot where the incident took place, said: “If the snatching incident took place in reality, snatchers might be aware that Rahul and Sukhwinder were carrying cash."

Initially, Rahul claimed he was carrying Rs 5 lakh, but later he changed his statement and said he was carrying Rs 8 lakh, the police said.

Ludhiana, September 17
Invitation letters for the oath taking ceremony of councillors and Mayoral election scheduled for Friday have finally arrived in the city. A team of Ludhiana Municipal Corporation went to the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, in the morning to get the invitation letters by hand.

The MC officials and the newly elected councillors were awaiting these letters ever since the MC elections were held on June 10. The newly elected councillors will finally be administered oath at 11 am in the Committee Room of the MC Zone-A office located near Mata Rani Chowk on Friday. The Zone-A office building is being spruced up for the event. The Ludhiana MC House has 82 members, including 75 councillors and seven local MLAs.

As per rules, whenever the state government sends an official communiqué in the form of invitation letters, the oath ceremony takes place at least 72 hours (three days) later. As the term of the outgoing MC House ended on September 6, local leaders were earlier expecting that the oath taking ceremony as well as the Mayoral election would take place before or on that day, but the state government fixed September 21 as the final date.

Talking to The Tribune, Manjit Singh, secretary, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, confirmed that they have received the invitation letters today.

“I had gone to Patiala to receive the letters. The letters have been dispatched to all 75 councillors and seven MLAs,” he said. The invitation letters have come in the form of individual sealed envelopes from the office of the Divisional Commissioner, Patiala.

On September 21, Ajit Singh Pannu, Divisional Commissioner, Patiala, will administer the oath to the newly elected councillors. This will be followed by a short break after which the Mayor, the Senior Deputy Mayor and the Deputy Mayor will be elected. 

Ludhiana, September 17
The Congress seems to be a divided house ahead of the Mayoral elections. Out of the 19 councillors, a group of seven Congress councillors as well as the Ludhiana (West) MLA, Bharat Bhushan Ashu, skipped the party meeting that was organised to discuss the name of the leader of the Opposition in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation House.

These Congress leaders claimed they were not intimated about the meeting. However, District Congress Committee (Urban) president Pawan Dewan claimed that all councillors as well as the MLAs were informed about the meeting by former Congress councillor Parminder Mehta.

The meeting was held at Circuit House today and under the chairmanship of Rana KP Singh, vice-president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. He has also been made the observer of the Ludhiana MC Mayoral election.

The councillors who skipped today’s meeting include Deepika Bhalla from Ward Number 54, Narinder Sharma from Ward Number 52, Mamta Ashu from Ward Number 49, Balkar Singh Sandhu from Ward Number 55, Gurpreet Singh Bassi from Ward Number 53, Maharaj Singh Raji from Ward Number 28 and Jai Parkash Sharma from Ward Number 30. Interestingly, all these councillors owe allegiance to the group headed by MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu.

Sources in the party claimed that a cold war was on between Ashu and Pawan Dewan, a close associate of local MP Manish Tiwari, since the Assembly elections. “Pawan’s name was almost finalised from the Ludhiana (West) constituency, but Ashu managed to get the ticket at the last moment. Since then, their relations have been strained and maybe that is why Ashu and his group skipped today’s important meeting,” claimed a senior party leader.

Pawan Dewan claimed that former councillor Parminder Mehta was given the duty of intimating all councillors and MLAs. “Everything about today’s meeting was planned during our meeting held last week. But still I had asked Mehta to intimate everyone about the meeting,” said Dewan.

Parminder Mehta claimed to have informed all councillors, MLAs and other party leaders about the meeting. “Maybe there was some confusion about the timing due to which the councillors skipped the meeting,” he claimed.

When contacted, MLA Ashu claimed that he and other councillors were not intimated about today’s meeting. “Had we received any intimation, we would have certainly attended the meeting,” he claimed.

After the meeting, Rana KP Singh claimed that Ashu might have been busy in some work. “Maybe that is why he could not make it to the meeting. Moreover, it’s an informal meeting as I had come to discuss the issues related to the Mayoral election as well as choosing the leader of the Opposition with the party councillors. When we hold our next meeting, all party leaders will be present.”

He added that the name of the leader of the Opposition as well as other issues related to the Mayoral election would be finalised by three MLAs, including Bharat Bhushan Ashu, Surinder Dawar and Rakesh Pandey, and local MP Manish Tiwari. “They will decide on the name themselves,” he claimed. 

Ludhiana, September 17
The city traffic police began a crackdown on overloaded auto-rickshaws. The police has decided to book errant auto drivers under the Motor Vehicle Act.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Swapan Sharma said only the auto-rickshaw driver would be allowed to sit on the driver's seat. He said strict action would be taken if an auto-rickshaw driver is seen accommodating passengers on his seat.

He said the city traffic police had impounded 500 illegal auto-rickshaws in the past 15 days. Besides, he said, 1,373 autos were challaned. The traffic police has also launched a drive to challan overloaded auto-rickshaws, he added.

Addressing the press conference here today, Sharma said the drive against illegal auto-rickshaws generated fear psychosis among the auto drivers, which reduced traffic chaos on city roads.

He said: "Traffic policemen have been directed to jot down the driving licence number of persons who are challaned. The driving licence numbers will be stored in the database. We are in touch with the District Transport Officer and licences of habitual offenders will be cancelled. We have identified four such traffic violators and action will be taken against them soon," said the ACP (Traffic).

He said the tow-away drive had been resumed again following complaints of traffic chaos on city roads.

Earlier, a delegation of the City Auto Rickshaw Union led by Najar Singh, president, Gurvinder Singh and Gurdial Singh Bajwa called on the ACP (Traffic) and hailed the move of the official for banning of illegal autos belonging to other states and districts running in the city.

Members of the association said the banning of illegal autos had generated job options for local residents. It has also reduced traffic chaos on city roads, they said. 

Doraha, September 17
The dumping of a black chemical, allegedly by factories, on the bank of the canal and into the roots of trees, is posing great danger to environment, particularly to trees and the canal here.

The panchayats of Buani, Landa, Bilaspur villages along with Desh Bhagat Memorial Foundation and Kisan Union Ekta (Ugraha) have joined hands to fight against the people, responsible for threatening the environment.

The residents of the villages have complained to various departments, including the Forest Department, Agricultural Department and Health Department regarding the issue. The residents have also complained to the Chief Minister and demanded his immediate intervention into the matter. In the letter they have complained about the unrestrictive dumping of a black chemical on the banks of the canal and into the roots of the trees, which had resulted in drying up of the trees. They expressed fear that the chemical might pose danger to the aquatic life in the canal.

Meanwhile, acting on the complaint, SMO Payal along with his team visited the spot and found that the factory owners were dumping the chemical which was affecting flora and fauna of the region. Earlier, the senior officer of the Pollution Control Board had sought inquiry into the matter. 

Jagraon, September 17
The issue of poor drainage system in the town emerged as a major issue during a sangat darshan program here today. The programme was held by Jagraon MLA SR Kaler.

Hundreds of local residents took part in the programme and raised their problems. The residents complained about the drainage system as even a short spell of rain causes flooding in the streets of the town. People also complained about the bad condition of roads in the town and alleged that substandard material was being used in various construction works.

Meanwhile, MLA Kaler assured of solving the problems in a time bound manner. Later, Kaler also visited Filly Gate area to look into the problem of chocked sewerage. The residents of the area said they had complained about the sewerage to the municipal council but nothing concrete was done to resolve the problem permanently.

Kaler also visited the garbage dumping area of the town. After seeing the huge heaps of garbage, Kaler expressed shock and promised to resolve the problem soon.

Kaler declared to hold a sangat darshan program in the town and rural areas every month.

Gurmit Singh, SDM, Jagraon, Davinder Singh Toor, Executive Officer Jagraon Municipal Council, were also present during the program.

Phillaur, September 17
Amrinder Singh, 24, law student of Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, was allegedly attacked and seriously injured by some unidentified armed assailants with sharp-edged weapons near his residence in Uchi Ghati Mohalla, Phillaur, on Sunday night. The Injured was rushed to the Civil Hospital immediately. The assailants fled from the site after injuring Amarinder.

Meanwhile, the residents of Phillaur held demonstration before the Phillaur Police Station and blocked traffic against the alleged inaction of the police. DSP Paramjit Singh Pannu said the police would soon nab the assailants. However, no case has been registered even after 30 hours of the incident.

DSP Pannu said the case could be registered only after recording the statement of the victim. --OC

Ludhiana, September17
The Bharat Vikas Parished, Kitchlu branch, distributed artificial limbs among the differently abled at Viklang Sahayata Kendra, Rishi Nagar, on Sunday.

Meeting

The PCMS Association of Doctors held a meeting to discuss the government's new policy here. Doctors are unhappy with the decision of the government to award them PG degree in six years instead of three years. Earlier, they used to get the degree in three years. They demanded that the government should revoke the decision.

Check-up camp

Ludhiana: The Pashu Palan Mela of Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) will be organised on September 21 and 22.

Giving details about the preparations made by the university, Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, said, "The university will always be at the service of young entrepreneurs to give them training and marketing tips. The new Krishi Vigyan Kendras of the university will extend services in a larger sphere in near future."

Dr Ranjodhan Singh Sahota, director, Extension Education, said an exhibition on animals would be held to motivate farmers to breed superior livestock by getting improved germ plasm from the university. Books on dairy farming, pig farming, goat farming and package of practices for animal husbandry will also be available during the mela. Hoof trimming, teat dip practice, acaricide drug applications, urea treatment of wheat straw and preparation of uromin lick will also be demonstrated. "Milk and meat processing technologies for value addition will be discussed. The livestock farmers will be provided free testing facilities for nitrate poisoning of fodders, mastitis testing and food samples," said Dr Sahota.

Various departments of the College of Veterinary Science, College of Dairy Science and Technology and College of Fisheries will hold exhibitions to display new techniques and practices for the benefit of the livestock farmers and will answer their queries.

All developmental organisations of the state, including the department of animal husbandry, dairy development and department of fishery; cooperative organisation viz Milkfed and Markfed will put up stalls at the exhibition. Other important private-sector organisations dealing with production/marketing of animal feed, medicine, vaccines, animal germ plasm, animal farm machinery, milk and meat processing machinery, fodder seed and banking institutions will provide valuable information and know-how to the livestock farmers.

Various associations such as the Progressive Dairy Farmers Association, Piggery Farmers Association, Innovative Fish Farming Association and Goat Farmers' Association being run under the guidance of university will also put up stalls. — TNS

Ludhiana: Aiming at increasing the income of farmers through value addition, the Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET), today started a five-day training programme on "Post-Harvest Technologies for Rural Catchments" for farmers from Ahmednagar, Maharashtra, here at its campus.

Ludhiana, September 17
Despite the ban on medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) kits, easy availability of the kits is putting the health of women at risk.

It is being felt that stringent rules, checks, awareness campaigns and harsher punishment for those keeping the kits are the need of the hour.

Dr Subhash Batta, Civil Surgeon, said the kits were found at five medical stores in Haibowal, Barewal areas and near DMC Hospital in a raid conducted a few days ago by the health department."Women come without proper prescriptions, and purchase these kits," And now, despite the ban, the kits are getting sold secretly, a local chemist said. "Prior to the ban, the kits were easily available at medical stores on the prescription of doctors. But women had started using these as a procedure to prevent pregnancy," he added."The government is not doing enough to spread awareness about the problems one can face while using MTP kits. The ban cannot succeed unless the demand for these is brought down. This can only happen if women become aware about the health hazards one can face if it is not used under the supervision of a doctor," said a doctor on the condition of anonymity.

Keeping these should call for harsher punishment for medical store owners, he said.

Medical experts said these could cause major health problems. Using them without any supervision could lead to incomplete abortion which could further cause several health problems.

It can also be fatal if used without medical supervision. "If MTP kits are used without the supervision of a medical practitioner or a gynaecologist, it can lead to severe infections.

Dr Archana Gupta, a city-based gynaecologist said, "Using the kit without any medical supervision can lead to excessive bleeding and anaemia". Complications arising out of these conditions can also cause death, she added. 

Ludhiana, September 17
High drama was witnessed at the railway station in Model Gram, when a youth lay down on a railway track on seeing an approaching passenger train here this evening.

But before the train could come to a halt, it ran over the youth's leg.

The incident took place around 6pm here when a youth identified as Munna reached the railway station.

Initially, the people standing there took him to be a routine passenger.

But on seeing the approaching train he ran towards the railway track and lay on it. On spotting the youth lying on the railway track, the train driver applied the breaks. But before the train could come to a halt it ran over the right leg of Munna. He sustained injuries on head and other parts of his body.

The passengers immediately rushed Munna to the Civil Hospital where his right leg was amputated.

It is learnt that the youth was suffering from depression. His condition was stated to be out of danger. 

Ludhiana September 17
Finally, the police assured the family of Abhinav Sachdeva that they would investigate the case from all perspectives. Today, Ishwar Singh, Commissioner of Police, visited the vacant plot at Feroze Gandhi market, from where the body of Abhinav was found on Saturday.

Earlier, 21-year-old Abhinav’s family was not satisfied with the police investigation.

However, the police has not yet registered a case as family members were busy performing his last rites.

Family members of Abhinav have not yet come to terms with his death.

Ashok Vyas, a close fiend of Abhinav's father, said, "The doctors who conducted Abhinav’s postmortem examination also suspected that it was a case of murder. The viscera report is yet to come ".

Vyas said Abhinav dropped out from school and began helping his father in the yarn trade.

"Abhinav was an introvert at home but was open with friends. He was fun loving." he said.

The police on the first day was working on drug addiction theory.

Vyas said, drug addiction could not be ruled out as children never shared such things with parents when they were indulging in it.

"We want the police to examine all call details" he added.

Ludhiana, September 17
As a part of campaign to build public opinion against increase in the price of diesel, the rationing of LPG and the levying of property tax by the state government, the Communist Party of India (CPI) held a “prabhat pheri” at Chand Colony and Y - Block of Rishi Nagar here today.

The pheri was led by Dr Arun Mitra, assistant secretary, district unit of the party.

Addressing the corner meetings, Mitra pointed out that increase in the diesel price would lead to increase in the freight of commodities, which would add to their prices. There will be increase in the bus, local transport and rail fares also. Taxi drivers have already announced increase in the rates, he said.

"It is a mockery that the Punjab government has maximum VAT because of which petrol is already costly by about Rs 7 in our state as compared to neighbouring states."

He further added that limiting the LPG to six cylinders per family per year would lead to problems as on an average a family uses 20 cylinders in a year. Purchasing 14 cylinders without subsidy will be taxing for the common man, he added.

"FDI in retail will ruin a large number of small traders and shop keepers. FDI in telecommunication will give control of the propaganda machinery to foreign countries, which will be y detrimental to our national interests," he said.

Ludhiana, September 17
A meeting of office bearers of the United Cycle Parts Manufacturers' Association (UCPMA) was held with the District Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Kamalpreet Kaur Brar, under the president ship of Gurmeet Singh Kular, president, United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association, here today.

Members said that a huge amount of VAT refund was pending with the department for which, Brar assured to look into the matter and the cases would be finalised soon. The members said that in certain cases ETOs were asking the exporters to produce a proof regarding the receipt of the bill amount for getting the VAT refunds, which should be stopped.

Kular said that the cases sent by the association for refund of VAT on the association's letter pad should be cleared immediately. The members also requested the DETC to stop asking for unnecessary details when the members of the association went to the sale tax department to get the C-Form. The members said that from October 10, everything was going to be online and such requirements would not be there.

Inderjit Singh Navyug, Pardeep Wadhawan, Baljit Singh Lotey, Ajit Kumar, K.K Seth, Jaswinder Singh Birdi, Varinder Kapoor, Anil Sachdeva, Rajeev Jain , Jagatvir Singh ,Rajnish Gupta and Subash Lakra were the members who were present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, September 17
In case of plane hijacking, how well equipped are the authorities will be seen during a mockdrill by the anti-hijacking committee at Sahnewal Airport here on October 8.

The district administration in association with the Airport Authority of India will organise a mockdrill exercise in which higher-officials from different departments from Delhi along with officials from district administration will take part.

Giving details, the Sahnewal Airport Director, VP Singh said that this exercise was conducted once in a year with the Deputy Commissioner as the chairman of the anti-hijacking committee.

“The exercise is done to see how well equipped we are in case a plane is hijacked from Sahnewal or a hijacked plane lands here. Even if we do not have any aircraft for practice, we use a four-wheeler in place of a hijacked plane”, said Jain.

He further said that the members of hijacking committee include the Deputy Commissioner, who is the chairman, while the Deputy Commissioner Police is the member.

Other members include the Director, airport, a senior representative from Intelligence Bureau, the senior most official of the airport security unit, a senior representative of airlines concerned, the commander task force, the senior representative from the Government of India and a representative from the RAW.

“This exercise takes about one hour and we get to know how well prepared we are in case such a situation arises”, said VP Singh. 

Jagraon, September 17
The Raikot police has arrested one person and seized 230 grams of opium from his possession. The accused has been identified as Tara Chand, alias Gogi, a resident of Raikot.

The police said on receiving a tip-off it raided the shop where the accused worked and recovered 230 grams of opium from there.

Ludhiana, September 17
Right-arm off spinner, Rahul Singla scalped six victims to steer Ludhiana to victory on the basis of first innings lead of 27 runs against Mohali in the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the Katoch Shield here at the Punjab Agricultural University ground here today.

With the win, Ludhiana earned three points to further consolidate their position at the points table.

In reply to Ludhiana's first innings score of 288 runs, the visitors resumed at overnight score of 195 for 7 and were eventually bowled out for 260 runs in 86.5 overs.

Sachin Sohal, who was at the crease yesterday with 65 runs against his name, remained unbeaten at 90 and helplessly saw wickets falling at the other end. His courageous innings went in vain.

Rahul Singla who claimed two wickets for 91 runs yesterday, gave an excellent performance with the red cherry today as he finished with 6 for 124 runs that played the pivot role for Ludhiana in containing the visitors to 260 runs.

Brief scores

Ludhiana (first innings): 288 all out (Arjun Puri 55, Nitin Goel 51, Devender Sidhu 47, Geetnash Khera 0, Bharat Malhotra 0, Rahul Singla 7, Sukhjinder Singh 29 and Deepak Bansal 56 n.o; Maninder Singh 4 for 64, Parneet Pandher 1 for 59, Varinder Singh 1 for 39 and Gurkirat Mann 3 for 66).

Mohali (first innings): 260 all out in 86.5 overs ( Harpreet Mander 20, Sunny Sohal 12, Sachin Sohal 90 n.o, Mayanak Sidana 18 and Gurkirat Mann 71; Rahul Singla 6 for 124, Sandeep Singh 1 for 19 and Amritpal Singh 1 or 45).