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3 dead, 5 hurt in blast at Ludhiana scrap unit
Nakodar NRI shot in
Philippines
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Stamp duty collection dips on slowdown
Cong ex-minister all set to join SAD
Badal seeks Rs 5,000 cr for crop diversification plan
Strike over, paddy procurement picks up pace at Khanna mandi
Soon, Amritsar to don heritage look: Sukhbir
HIV cases on the rise in Sangrur
Colleges deny admission to pvt board students
Dental college working with 30% staff
PU offers ‘golden chance’ to students to clear exams
Mystery shrouds 7-yr-old’s death
Class XII students rape teenager
Jilted lover sets girl on fire
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3 dead, 5 hurt in blast at Ludhiana scrap unit
Ludhiana, October 6 Police said the incident occurred around noon. At the time of the blast, eight workers were present at the unit, MS Iron Store. An anti-bomb squad was soon pressed into service to search for more explosives, if any, at the store. Deputy Commissioner of Police GS Toor said, “Prima facie it appears that a latent bomb exploded. But, Army, forensic and anti-bomb squad teams will investigate the matter and find out what exactly caused the blast.” A case under Section 304 of the IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) has been registered against the unit owner, Manjit Singh. Eyewitnesses said the workers were separating iron from components by dismantling shells. Such was the impact of the explosion that the body of Kishore, who struck the hammer, was shattered into pieces. The other deceased stood nearby. The iron sheet of a truck parked outside the shop also got pierced. Police said had the truck not been stationed there, the casualties could have been more. Gurinder Singh Grewal, a Sarabha Nagar resident who was stuck in traffic jam at Samrala chowk, said, “I heard a thud and the next moment, the front-left tyre of my car was deflated... The space outside the unit was strewn with body parts. Vehicles parked nearby also got damaged.” Police was also yet to find out from where the shell reached the scrap unit. Manjit’s statement that his employees used to collect iron scrap by moving door to door on bicycles has the police in a tizzy. So far, scrap imported from gulf countries used to be the reason behind such blasts, mostly occurring at furnaces located in Ludhiana and Gobindgarh areas.
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Nakodar NRI shot in
Philippines
Nakodar, October 6 Malkit’s elder brother Major Singh said Malkit had been living in the Philippines for the last 10 years. He was into garment business. “We received a call in the morning from our relatives in Philippines that Malkit had been murdered. He was shot on his head and he died on the spot," a relative said. His relatives claimed that as Malkit was returning home after collecting cash pertaining to his daily business, loot could have been the reason behind the murder. He had last visited India six months ago. As soon as the news spread, a pall of gloom descended over Balkona village and villagers reached the deceased's house.
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Stamp duty collection dips on slowdown
The total stamp duty collection so far this year is over 8 per cent less than last year. As against the stamp duty collection of Rs 1,568 crore between April and October 2011, the total collection during the same period this year is Rs 1,437 crore. Considering that the annual target set for the Revenue Department to collect money through stamp duty is Rs 3,335 crore this year, the state should have collected Rs 1,667 crore by the end of September. Last year, against a target of Rs 2,900 crore, the state had raked in Rs 3,090 crore under this head. In 2010-11, the total stamp duty collection was Rs 2,327 crore and in 2009-10, the state had earned Rs 1,562 crore as stamp duty. This is after a gap of almost three years that the stamp duty collection is showing a negative growth. However, in spite of the slowdown, the Deputy Chief Minister has set an additional target of Rs 1,000 crore through stamp duty for the Revenue Department. This additional Rs 1,000 crore is to be used by the state for its ambitious urban regeneration mission. However, considering a negative sentiment prevailing in the real estate sector, it would be an uphill task for the state to register such an impressive growth in revenue. The government is, however, unfazed by the development. Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal said the reason for lower stamp duty collection was a slowdown in the real estate sector. "Also, ever since the government came down heavily on illegal colonies, the stamp duty collection is slow. But this is a temporary phase. We are coming up with a new policy on colonisation, which will give a fillip to the sector. The policy is at the final stages," he said. Sukhbir said the government was working on a policy to remove all lacunae in stamp duty collection by taking smaller units for determining the collector rate. He said this policy was under deliberation with all stakeholders. Regarding the slow growth of 20 per cent in VAT collection this year, the Deputy Chief Minister said the collection was expected to increase in the next six months and said the VAT collection this fiscal would be over Rs 15,500
crore. Worrisome Figures
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Cong ex-minister all set to join SAD
Fatehgarh Sahib, October 6 Harbans Lal had unsuccessfully contested the recent Assembly poll from Fatehgarh Sahib as an Independent. He had won for the first time from the constituency in 1992 on the BJP ticket. He had later joined the Congress during the tenure of former Chief Minister the late Beant Singh. He won on the Congress ticket in 1997 and 2002, but was defeated by the SAD’s Didar Singh Bhatti in 2007. The Congress denied him the ticket in the recent Assembly elections, following which Harbans Lal turned a rebel. Subsequently, the Congress expelled him from the party after he refused to withdraw his candidature against official nominee Kuljeet
Nagra.
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Badal seeks Rs 5,000 cr for crop diversification plan
Chandigarh, October 6
While interacting with top officials of the Union Government here today, Badal said Punjab was keen to shift 12 lakh hectares of land from paddy cultivation to other crops to save its natural resources and to adjust to the changes going on at the national level in the farm sector. However, Union Government's Agriculture Secretary Ashish Bahuguna said in the first attempt, Punjab should shift 5 lakh hectares. The Chief Minister said Punjab had prepared a plan to increase maize cultivation area by 4 lakh hectares, cotton and agro forestry area by 2 lakh hectares each, sugarcane and fodder by 1.5 lakh hectares each and vegetables by one lakh hectares. Badal said the Centre should review its policy of blending petrol with ethanol. Blending should be increased from 5 per cent to 15 per cent to promote conversion of maize into ethanol. He also urged the Union Government to expedite shifting of the Directorate of Maize Research from Delhi to Ladhowal (Ludhiana), besides making Borlaug Institute for South Asia functional at the earliest so as to develop Ludhiana as a hub for maize breeding. He also demanded opening of a Regional Centre of ICAR for research in pulses and soyabeen in the state. He demanded setting up of a centre of excellence for citrus at Abohar. He said there should be a provision for long-term bank finance and incentives to promote agro-forestry. The central team assured Badal of all help.
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Strike over, paddy procurement picks up pace at Khanna mandi
Khanna, October 6 With the beginning of procurement, officials of the market committee and administration heaved a sigh of relief. Market Committee secretary Malkit Singh said about 2,500 tonnes of paddy was procured today by five state agencies and some private traders. He said 6,250 tonnes of purchased stock and 2,900 tonnes of non-procured paddy had been lying in the grain market. He said meters were being used to check moisture content in the produce and tractor-trailers carrying paddy with high moisture would be returned. Ranjit Singh, a farmer, said he had been waiting for buyers for the past two days. It was only after the stir was called off today, his produce was procured, he added.
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Soon, Amritsar to don heritage look: Sukhbir
The Deputy Chief Minister also held a meeting with officials of the local administration and the Municipal Corporation. He directed them to prepare a draft plan to beautify the city’s roundabouts on the heritage theme. He also discussed the issue of erecting gates on all roads leading to Amritsar. Sukhbir also told the civic and police officials to streamline traffic in the city. He said all taxis and autorickshaws should be registered so as to curb illegal plying. Refuting the Congress’s allegations that the SAD-BJP government’s “ill-conceived” policies were fuelling disturbance in the state, he said no untoward incident had been reported in Punjab ever since the coalition came to power. “As Home Minister, I can assure the state citizens that Punjab is the safest place to live in. The false propaganda by the Congress should not be taken seriously,” he said. Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal said, “Apart from introducing projects like the personal rapid transit system, we have plans to build open air theatres, indoor auditoriums, an air-conditioned trade centre and a gallery at Attari, depicting the rich cultural heritage of Punjab.” Among others present on the occasion were Police Commissioner Ram Singh, SSP (rural) Parampal Singh Virk, Municipal Corporation Commissioner Dharampal Gupta and Additional Commissioner Pardeep Sabharwal.
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HIV cases on the rise in Sangrur
Sangrur, October 6 Sources said over 105 HIV positive cases had been detected in the district this year so far.
As many as 35 HIV cases were detected by the Sangrur ICTC, 30 were reported by the Malerkotla ICTC and 20 cases were detected by the Dhuri ICTC. Another 20 cases were detected by the Sunam ICTC till August. Sangrur ICTC incharge Dr Inderjit Singla said a majority of the cases belonged to unsafe sex and intravenous drug user categories. He said there might be more such cases in the district which had not been reported for one reason or the other. Besides, there could be patients who were in the “window period” and might emerge as HIV positive after a few years, he added. Besides four ICTCs in the district, there are linked counselling and testing centres situated at Bhawanigarh, Longowal, Lehra, Kohrian and Amargarh.
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Colleges deny admission to pvt board students
Chandigarh, October 6 Started in 2009, the CSE is a registered private board. It is the only ISO certified board providing secondary education to students in the state. The issue of recognition to its certificate is pending with the Punjab and Haryana High Court. At least three plus two students of the council were recently denied admission by Chandigarh University, Gharuan. A university official said: "We do not have any information on the recognition of the course. We had sought information from different academic quarters, but no one confirmed whether the certificate is recognised". Council chairman Manjit Singh Gill said: "The issue is pending with the Punjab and Haryana High Court and we are expecting a positive outcome shortly". The council has filed a writ petition against the Union Ministry of Human Resources, Panjab University, Chandigarh, Council of Boards of School Education (New Delhi), education departments of Punjab and Haryana and their respective boards of education, seeking directions to them for considering the certificates issued by it equivalent to those by the state school boards. The council has also sought that officials of the department concerned should clearly lay down criteria for recognising boards that can conduct secondary and senior secondary examinations.
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Dental college working with 30% staff
Amritsar, October6 College principal Dr Vimal Sikri said: "We have written to the state government about 58 vacant posts that need to be filled on priority. The application has reached the personnel department and we hope for an early action.” The college is visited by around 250 patients every day. “Since the procedures of dentistry are lengthy and time consuming, the existing staff is over burdened,” said a faculty member.
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PU offers ‘golden chance’ to students to clear exams
A Syndicate member said students who wished to avail the benefit needed to apply within a month after the notification of the decision. “There are thousands of students who will benefit from the decision,” said a university official. The Syndicate also accepted a recommendation that PhD candidates who could not complete their degrees should be given another chance. They can now complete their degree within the period provided under the regulations (three years from the date of enrolment plus an extension of two years and the period of condonation of delay), provided that the research supervisor is available and finds the continuation of the research work academically worthwhile. The resolution in this regard was moved by Dinesh Talwar, a Syndicate member, following which the university had formed a committee which recommended the authorities to give a chance to research scholars with incomplete PhDs.
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Mystery shrouds 7-yr-old’s death
Jalandhar, October 6 The victim, Jyoti, and her younger sister, Babbu (4), had disappeared from their house in Khambra. However, Babbu had appeared mysteriously in the locality the next day. Station House Officer (SHO) Lakhbir Singh and his team reached the spot. The body was identified by Gurpreet Singh, victim’s father. The body was handed over to the family after a postmortem. The SHO said Gurpreet had earlier lodged a complaint regarding his daughters’ disappearance. A murder case has been registered. The SHO said the girl could have been raped before being killed or it could be a case of “black magic”. The family members, however, said Babbu told them that a car-borne woman had taken them to an unidentified place. The woman had later abandoned Babbu near her house.
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Class XII students rape teenager
Mohali, October 6 A case under Sections 376 G, 363 and 366 A of the IPC has been registered at the Kharar police station (Sadar). Sources said the accused allegedly took the victim, about 17 years old, to a tubewell in the village and kept her there for over six hours. The victim is said to have known one of the accused. The accused later dropped the girl near Sunny Enclave in a car. The victim later narrated the incident to her parents, who approached the police this morning. The victim alleged that the accused had threatened her of dire consequences if she disclosed the incident to anyone. The police has recovered a motorcycle used in the crime, but is yet to recover the car in which the accused had dropped the girl.
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Jilted lover sets girl on fire
Ludhiana, October 6 The incident took place this morning when Manu, who works as a maidservant, was on her way to a dairy. The police said the accused, Gopi, along with his friend stopped the girl. Gopi's accomplice caught hold of Manu while Gopi set her on fire after pouring kerosene on her. Both fled on a motorcycle. Passersby rushed for Manu's help and took her to the Civil Hospital. Gopi (18), who works at the office of a property dealer, was having relations with Manu for the past one year. Babbu Ram, Manu's father, said his daughter had broken all ties with Gopi when the latter refused to marry her.
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Three workers were killed while five others were injured after a latent shell exploded while it was being dismantled at a scrap unit in Jindal Market near Samrala chowk today.
The purchase of paddy started today at the Khanna grain market after the end of strike by staff of the procurement agencies.
The process was to start from October 1, but it could not commence due to a boycott by the procurement staff.
Chandigarh, October 6
Amritsar, October 6
Chandigarh, October 6