Ludhiana, October 15
Five robbers posing as policemen kidnapped a salesman of a Mumbai-based diamond jeweller and robbed him of diamonds worth Rs 30 lakh today.

The unidentified robbers threw the victim out of the moving vehicle near Sahnewal this evening and fled with the booty.

Narrating the incident, Rajesh Kumar, a salesman with diamond trader Ritish Sidhi of Mumbai, said he arrived in the city three days ago for booking diamond jewellery ahead of the festive season.

Due to a slump in the market, he did not receive encouraging orders from city-based jewellers and decided to return home today.

When he came out of a hotel on the Mall Road and was heading towards the railway station to catch a train to Mumbai, two men, who were wearing khaki uniform, waylaid him. The two men told Rajesh to sit in a jeep. Rajesh was told that he was being taken the police station for questioning.

“Three more men were also sitting in the jeep. I told them that I am a diamond salesman. But they refused to listen. Once the vehicle reached the highway, they pulled out their weapons and told me to handover whatever I had. It did not take much time to realise that I was being kidnapped," said Rajesh.

The robbers took his laptop, a purse, a bag containing diamonds worth Rs 30 lakh and threw Rajesh out of the moving vehicle near Sahnewal. Rajesh immediately contacted his owners in Mumbai. They told him to contact the authorities of Nikkamal Jewellers on Mall Road.

Vaneet Danda of Prem Jewellers also met the salesman and informed the police. Soon the police sounded a red alert.

ADCP Joginder Singh, ACP (West) Gurpreet Kaur Purewal and ACP, Sahnewal, Jaswinder Singh also reached the spot and questioned the salesman about the sequence of events.

Ludhiana, October 15
The district administration has launched a campaign to check attendance of employees in all the government offices. On the first day of random checking, five employees were found absent from duty.

Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari said Additional Assistant Commissioner (under training) Jatinderpal Singh had conducted spot checking in the offices of the District Agriculture Officer, Deputy Director, Horticulture, and the Divisional Forest Officer during which five employees were found absent.

He said the heads of these departments had been directed to take action as per service rules against these employees and seek explanation from those not attending duty without prior intimation or coming late to the offices. "The heads of the departments have been asked to submit the detailed report on absenteeism and late comers," Tiwari said while adding that the practice of spot checking in government offices would continue.

The Deputy Commissioner said two employees in the agriculture office were absent and another reported for duty at 9.45 am. Similarly, in the horticulture department, two employees failed to turn up while another arrived at 10.20 am. In the forest office, one employee was marked absent and another had marked his presence at 11.15 am.

Ludhiana, October 15
City boy Dhruv Kapila won a triple crown in Carlton Punjab State Sub-Junior Badminton Championship held recently at Sandhu Singh DAV Rural Public School Mukandpur. Dhruv played in the under-13 category and is a state champion from the past three years.

Twelve-year-old Dhruv is a student of Class VII at BCM School. He has started practising badminton three years ago. He is a trainee of the Ludhiana Basketball Academy and now taking coaching under badminton coach Pullela Gopichand at Hyderabad.

"Badminton is my passion and I love this game. My goal is to represent India in international events. I am striving hard to become a national champion one day," said Dhruv. Dhruv has also won under-15 singles and under-15 doubles in the state championship. His current ranking in under 13 is fourth.

Gagan Kapila, Dhruv's father, said: "It's the beginning. He had won the state-level championship and is the state champion for past three years. These are his achievements, but we consider it nothing. It's our dream to see him representing India."

"Pranb Chopra, international badminton player, district sports officer Kartar Singh and principal BCM School Paramjit Kaur are the persons who encouraged Dhruv and motivated him," Gagan.

Ludhiana, October 15
A group of residents, who had purchased 10 shop-cum-offices (SCOs) in Transport Nagar through an open auction held in 1999 are a harried lot these days.

They lamented that despite paying 50 per cent of the total amount, the Ludhiana municipal corporation had not given them possession of the land where these SCOs were to be constructed.

A total of 10 SCOs were auctioned by the MC on October 29, 1999. The people, who managed to get these SCOs through an open auction, deposited money with the MC as per their terms and conditions.

It is learnt that all city residents, who managed to get these shops, paid 50 per cent of the amount in two instalments of 25 per cent each.

During the auction of these SCOs (of 70 sq yard and 100 sq yard), the reserve price was fixed at Rs 6,000 per sq yard and the MC managed to auction the shops at a price ranging from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per sq yard. Which means every allottee paid an amount of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 7 lakh, but still they didn't get the possession of SCOs.

One Amarjit Singh Grewal, who had purchased one such SCO, said they were issued allotment letters by the MC. "We were told that once we pay 50 per cent of the amount, we will be given standard design and possession of the said land. But till date the MC has neither given possession of the SCOs nor did they provide us with standard design," he lamented.

Not only this, some "influential" people managed to construct a line of "illegal" shops right opposite the land meant for these 10 SCOs. "These illegal shops were constructed right under the nose of the MC and till date no action has been taken against them," said another allottee.

MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma said the shops were auctioned in 1999 openly. "But after some time, the Ludhiana Improvement Trust raised an objection claiming that the land that was auctioned was owned by them. The matter reached the state government. I wonder why LIT raised an objection because we had organised an open auction and moreover the land was handed over to the MC by the LIT themselves. But we will certainly prepare a detailed report and take up the matter with the state government so that the residents don't suffer because they are not at fault," he claimed.

When questioned about some shops constructed opposite the land meant for SCOs, the MC Commissioner said, "They are certainly illegal shops and I think they are the same people who managed to scuttle the entire auction process. I am positive that we will raise the issue with the state government and get it resolved," claimed Rakesh Kumar Verma.

Ludhiana, October 15
The Punjab government has finalised a new policy for regularisation of marriage palaces in the state and it may be notified in a couple of days. The comprehensive policy envisages adequate provisions of public safety, conveniences and parking space.

Further, a separate category of marriage palaces will be created under the new policy as against the present classification under commercial category so as to provide a major relief to the marriage palace owners across the state.

Sources in the Housing and Urban Development Department revealed that the draft policy focuses on stringent fire safety norms and parking place for people attending functions to check the prevailing practice of parking of large number of vehicles along the roads which obstruct flow of vehicular traffic and often lead to traffic jams.

The government intends to notify different categories of marriage palaces depending on their location and capacity and all charges payable by the marriage palaces for regularisation like change of land use (CLU) and licence fee will be based on these classifications.

Since a very few marriage palaces have sought mandatory approval and no objection certificates under the commercial buildings, a cut-off date will also be notified for collection of the CLU and marriage palaces operating prior to the cut-off date will get a huge relief. This was one of the major demands of the marriage palace owners, said sources.

Another demand of the marriage palace owners that the CLU and other charges fixed for regularisation ought to take into account the fact that this was a seasonal business, has also been taken care of in the draft policy, sources said.

It was also learnt that the draft policy for regularisation of marriage palaces was presented in the Punjab and Haryana High Court as per an undertaking given by the Punjab government after the HC, in the course of disposal of a petition, had ordered sealing of all marriage palaces operating illegally in some major towns of Punjab.

A senior official of the Housing and Urban Development Department said that with the draft policy having passed the judicial scrutiny, it could be notified any day now to facilitate the process of regularisation of marriage palaces.

Ludhiana, October 15
After cotton, it is now high cotton yarn prices that are pruning margins of textile manufacturers seeking duty free import of yarn.

Besides, the industry also feels that duty free import of yarn in the case of cotton will help stabilise domestic prices and cater to the growing industry demand in the coming season.

Domestic yarn prices have gone up by 15 per cent in the past two months against 3-5 per cent spurt in cotton prices. Yarn prices in India have become more expensive as compared to Pakistan and other competing countries.

“Indian cotton yarn prices are higher than the price from other countries such as Pakistan and CIS countries. Hence, we have requested the government to make yarn import duty free by removing 10 per cent custom duty. Besides, they should also allow duty drawback on export of garments manufactured from such imported cotton yarn,” said Vinod Thapar, chairman of the Knitwear Club.

“We have been demanding imposition of dumping duty on yarn. This is the only solution to the problem. We have also written to the government in this regard,” said Satish Khurana, a yarn dealer.

Ludhiana, October 15
Steel makers are reeling under raw material crunch and feeling the heat of rising imports, aided by free-trade agreements (FTAs) with countries like Japan and South Korea.

Secondary steel producers produce steel through the induction furnace route. "The threat of imports is a major concern; the first five months of this fiscal saw a 40 per cent spurt in imports. Imports at concessional duties, under FTAs, is hurting Indian steel-makers," said Katrik Sood, an induction furnace owner.

"The rising imports and poor demand have added to the woes of the secondary steel producers, who have already been hit by the rising cost of power," he added.

"In addition to the government's new policies such as the e-trip system has further added to the problem. It will not be possible for us to follow the system due to technical reasons ," said Mohinder Aggarwal, president of Induction Furnace Association of Mandi Gobindgarh.

In Punjab, several secondary steel makers, who produce steel through the induction route, have shut their units.

The main reason why these units have shut down is the high cost of power as well as shortage of power. The units are migrating to Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Another major problem faced by these units is the shortage of iron ore. Some of the units use sponge iron as raw material while a majority of them use scrap metal to produce castings, ingots and billets.

"The governments should solve our problem otherwise the units will shut down and we will be left importing the stuff," said Krishan Garg, another industrialist from Focal Point.

Ludhiana, October 15
Taking action against those who had encroached on the portion of the road by constructing pavements, a building branch team of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation today demolished such encroachments from the Model Town Extension area of the city. The MC officials also demolished an illegal structure in A-block of Shastri Nagar, here.

Acting on a complaint by a city resident, an MC team led by Assistant Town Planner Surinder Singh Bindra had gone to remove encroachments from B block of the Model Town Extension, here.

Some residents had blatantly encroached upon the government land (road) by enhancing their pavements by 5 to 6 feet in the Model Town Extension.

ATP Surinder Singh Bindra said that due to these encroachments, the road was reduced in width and that is why we had to take action against them.

“When we started our demolition drive, some residents tried to stop us but we managed to demolish few of them. But later, after getting assurance from the city the residents as well as former councillor Harbhajan Singh Dang, we have given a week’s time to the residents to remove these encroachments themselves. If they still fail to remove them themselves, we will demolish them ourselves,” informed ATP Bindra.

Later, the MC officials also demolished a structure in A block of Shastri Nagar, here. “A resident had constructed a structure to keep his water cooler on the road,” informed Bindra.

Ludhiana, October 15
A man was duped by a woman, who fled with his car while they were watching a late night show. Narrating his small love story, Harjit Singh, a resident of Mandeep Nagar, said he met the girl at a filling station in Haibowal, three day ago.

"I was sitting in my Swift car and the girl was riding a scooter. After eye contact we exchanged mobile numbers near filling station and later during the day we spoke to each other on the phone," Harjit reportedly told the investigating officer.

The second day was followed by lunch and dinner. Finally, on the third day, they decided to watch a late night movie.

As per the plan, they met on Sunday evening and headed towards Waves cinema at the Westend Mall to watch the movie "Bhoot returns".

Harjeet Singh parked his car at the basement parking of the Westend Mall after procuring a receipt for parking and paid for the same.

It was during the interval that the swindler girl identified as Nature started playing with the keys of Harjit's car.

The keys remained with Nature till the end of the movie. Finally, when they reached the basement, Harjit was shocked to find his car missing. The keys were also missing. Both returned to their residences and the matter was reported to the police.

In the morning, the police started the investigation and questioned Harjit. Despite, sending several reminders, Nature did not turn up at the police station.

Till afternoon it was clear that the girl fled with the vehicle and her accomplice had taken away the car from the parking lot. The police then started tracking the mobile locations of the swindler girl.

During the last tower location available with the police, Nature was spotted near Malerkotla. The police was searching for her in buses and other vehicles in and around Malerkotla.

"A police team led by IO Amrik Singh has been sent to Malerkotla in search of Nature", said Alam Vijay Singh, SHO, Sarabha Nagar police station.

Ludhiana, October 15
A painting exhibition "Fluorescence -Sparkles of Life" by Veeno Julka concluded on Sunday at Dr MS Randhawa Art Gallery of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU).

Chief guest Dr Surjit Patar, an eminent Punjabi poet, said the paintings spoke of the dedication and devotion of the artist to art.

"A variety of expressions, emotions and features in vibrant hues in the paintings depict various aspects of life," he added while congratulating the artist on the excellent work.

Veeno Julka said, "There are many doorways into the world of creativity. I chose to walk through a more bizarre door." She told that her oil works, inspired by eclectic forms, ranged from child portraits to adults and from wildlife to everyday life.

"The paintings are the perception of reality and vibrations around and the expressions like affection, compassion, nature and innocence," added Veeno.

Besides the paintings of Lord Ganesha and Krishna, the works of the artist depict different roles performed by Indian women in various fields, be it agriculture or household chores. Based on different themes, the painting on "daredevils" is dedicated to the spirit of Punjab and is a fine display of valour and expertise in horse race by Nihang Singh. Two paintings, including "Summer Splash" and "Tranquility", show how the tigers try to beat the heat in the stream of fresh water and present the spectacular beauty of the natural world through the ducks sailing in togetherness in the blue waters. 

Ludhiana, October 15
“A few icons of music in India have lived, celebrated cameo life and become a star in such a short span as Chamkila did," says Gunjit Chopra, who is making a documentary on the life of the most popular Punjabi singer Chamkila, who died 24 years ago.

So much has been his popularity that even after 25 years of his demise, he continues to have fans crazy for his music, he says. "During the course of making the documentary, I met a young music aspirant paying homage to Chamkila before leaving for the shooting of his music album," he says.

This is the maiden documentary for the 27-year-old. "I had heard about songs of Chamkila at many places during my student life and this idea and desire to make a documentary on his life germinated in my mind. After completing my studies from Delhi University, I went to Mumbai and worked with a few production houses. But this idea and desire to make this documentary sustained, he says.

As it has now been a year-and-a-half since he has been working on the documentary and have shot about 50 hours of footage.

Nothing has been documented on Punjabi songs earlier and this makes the task a lot more difficult, but he has been pegging away passionately about his story. This is only befitting for the man who reached the zenith of popularity and died at the age of 28, became a legend within a short span of a few years.

He entertained people in the dark phase of Punjab, in the times when people dreaded moving out of homes after 6 in the evening, says Gunjit. So much is his popularity that even till date his son Jaimanjeet Singh continues to get royalty from Chamkila's music, he says.

"I want Chamkila's story to go global and the world know about the man and his music. It is the story that goes beyond the mustard-seed laden fields and picturesque scenes. It is the story of raw Punjab and the legend born here," says Gunjit.

Ludhiana, October 15
A 45-year-old industrialist reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling hook at the store room of his factory unit at Kailash Nagar near Basti Jodhewal today.

The victim Naresh Kumar Ahuja, owner of SS Ahuja Private Limited, arrived at the factory unit this morning. A security guard at the factory said that after offering prayers, Naresh Kumar and went to store room.

The matter came to light when the employees arrived at the factory and were shocked see Naresh hanging from a ceiling hook.

They informed the police and Naresh’s family about the incident. Soon the victim’s family reached the factory along with the police. The body was taken to the Civil Hospital for post-mortem.

Naresh used to manufacture jackets and was an established businessman. The reason behind the suicide is yet to be ascertained. Sources said that Naresh Kumar was going through financial crises due to which he was under depression.

Ludhiana, October 15
A three-year-old girl succumbed to burn injuries, while her 24-year-old mother is struggling for life at a hospital after they caught fire.

The victim has been identified as Neena, a resident of Shimlapuri. Her mother Ramma Devi said she was cooking food while her daughter was standing near her. Ramma said that suddenly her clothes (sari) caught fire. Before she could manage to douse the fire her daughter Neena too suffered burn injuries.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, October 15
The Dehlon police claimed to have busted a gang of drug peddlers which had been involved in smuggling of drugs and narcotics from neighbouring states and supplying these among the youth.

The police said 20 gm of smack was seized from the possession of the kingpin of the gang identified as Malkit Singh, alias Chhota, alias Peet, of Sahnewal Khurad village. Gurpreet Singh Sikand, Assistant Commissioner of Police, said the accused was nabbed at Umaidpur village last evening. The contraband was to be supplied to addicts.

The accused along with his accomplice used to bring large consignments from Ambala in Haryana through public transport and trucks.

The accused had developed links with drivers and conductors of some private buses who used to help them.

Ludhiana , October 15
Judicial Magistrate Shilpa has acquitted Rajveer Singh and Kulwinder Singh of Nirnakari Mohalla, Street Number 1, Miller Ganj, Ludhiana, in a Trade Mark and Copy Right Act case, as the prosecution failed to prove its case.

Delivering the judgment, the court held that the investigation in the present case was conducted by an officer of the rank of ASI. But as per law, the police officer of the rank of Assitant Sub-Inspector is not competent for search, seizure and investigation in the present case. Moreover, no opinion of the Registrar was obtained on the facts involved in the case.

A case under Sections 78,79 of the Trade Marks Act, 63,64,68-A of the Copy Right Act and 420, 486 of the IPC was registered against the accused persons on January 8, 2004, following the statement of Anil Mittal, director of BM Metal Works Pvt. Ltd, Ludhiana.

The complainant had submitted that they were engaged in the manufacturing of cycle parts with the mark “BM” and on the boxes there was the mark of “Rajis”. Their product was good and had a name in the market. In 1999, they came to know that the accused persons belonging to M/s RS Industries were selling similar type of boxes having themark “Rajis”.

On the other hand, the accused persons had pleaded innocence. They had stated that they never violated any law of the land.

Ludhiana, October 15
Shivdeep Kaur, a student of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, hogged limelight as she proved too fast to win 100m sprint and also came out triumphant in long jump on the first day of the Ludhiana District Women's Games being organised by the Punjab Sports Department at the Guru Nanak Stadium, here today.

Shivdeep clocked 13.27 seconds to emerge as the fastest runner. She was closely followed by Abhiti Sharma of Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Kitchlu Nagar branch, who took 13.29 seconds to finish as runners-up. Jaspreet Kaur of the Khalsa College for Women, Sidhwan Khurd, with timings of 14.10 seconds had to content with the third position.

In long jump, Shivdeep Kaur with a leap of 4.81 m bagged top honours while the second position holder, Rajdeep Kaur from the Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana jumped to a distance of 3.67 m. Rajwinder Kaur of Government College for Women, Ludhiana's attempt of 3.63 m fetched her the bronze medal.

First day's results

Badminton (final): Aditi Mahajan bt Harveen Kaur 21-17, 21-18;

Badminton doubles (final): Aditi Mahajan and Harveen Kaur bt Prerna Dawar and Neha Rani 21-14, 21-15.

Table tennis (final): Kritika bt Shipika 11-9, 11-8, 9-11, 7-11 and 11-9.

Kabaddi (quarterfinals): Sports Club, Latala, bt Government Polytechnic College, Ludhiana, 36-5; Khalsa College for Women, Ludhiana, bt Hargobind Public School 33-24 and Government College for Women, Ludhiana, bt Sports Club, Latala, 30-11.

Kho-kho: Coaching Centre B bt Coaching Centre C 15-2; Coaching Centre A bt Coaching Centre B 8-5; Government College Club bt Green Land School 5-0 and Ghalib Kalan School bt Government Polytechnic College, Rishi Nagar, Ludhiana 10-1.

200m race: Naini Bala of Guru Nanak Girls College, Ludhiana, first, Rajni of Guru Nanak Girls College, Model Town, Ludhiana, second and Shivdeep Kaur of GNGC, Ludhiana, third.

800m race: Rajni Bala of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, first, Amandeep Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, second and Sukhbir Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, third.

1500m race: Gurpreet Kaur of KCW, Ludhiana, first, Amandeep Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, second and Amandeep Kaur of KCW, Ludhiana, third.

3000m race: Amandeep Kaur of KCW, Ludhiana, first, Prabhvir Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, second and Laxmi Chauhan of Government School, Doraha, third.

100m hurdles: Rajni of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, first, Amandeep Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, second and Simardeep Kaur of KCW, Sidhwan Khurd, third.

High jump: Yogita Rani of Coaching Centre, Khanna, first, Harpreet Kaur of Coaching Centre, Khanna, second and Sukhbir Kaur of GNGC, Model Town, Ludhiana, third.

Discus throw: Anmol Kaur of Coaching Centre, Rampur, first, Inderpreet Kaur of Coaching Centre, Rampur, second and Ravneet Kaur of Sant Ishar Singh School, Rara Sahib, third.

Shot put: Anmol Kaur of Coaching Centre, Rampur, first, Ravneet Kaur of Sant Ishar Singh School, Rara Sahib, second and Inderpreet Kaur of Coaching Centre, Rampur, third.