Ludhiana, November 10
Tall claims of the traffic police about not allowing shopkeepers to put up tents or stalls outside their shops during Divali have fallen flat as temporary encroachments by shopkeepers dot city markets. In the absence of stern action by the law-enforcing agencies, shopkeepers have conveniently put up a majority of their products on roads, leaving very little space for commuters to move.

The public roads have temporarily been encroached upon at leading market places, including Sarabha Nagar, Ghumar Mandi, Model Town, Dandi Swami and Field Ganj. The shopkeepers have "extended" their shops up to the yellow lines (the area meant for parking) on both sides of the roads, giving a tough time to shoppers.

Kajal Beri, an accounts teacher, said shopkeepers had put up everything outside their shops on the roads and it becomes too difficult to get space for parking vehicles. "I have to carry heavy stuff to a distance as I could not find space to park my vehicle nearby. Almost all the shopkeepers in Ghumar Mandi have put up stalls outside their shops to attract maximum customers. No doubt during the festive season they do brisk business, still they must realise the problems being faced by commuters," she said.

Owing to less space for traffic movement in market places, residents were seen banging their each other’s vehicles.

Sukhwinder Singh, a shopkeeper in the Ghumar Mandi area, said shopkeepers were helpless as there was no space in the shops to keep huge stocks. "The police or visitors must understand that during the festive season, everyone has to bear a little inconvenience as the entire city seems to have come on roads for shopping," said the shopkeeper, adding that it was virtually impossible to keep huge stocks inside shops.

Traffic in charge Jasmin Kaur, however, said it was the duty of the Municipal Corporation to remove the encroachments from markets. When she was confronted with the fact that these were temporary encroachments during the festivals and not the permanent ones, which were to be removed by the MC, Jasmin Kaur said the department would take action against erring shopkeepers.

Ludhiana, November 10
The contractor of the newly constructed multi-storey parking at the Mini Secretariat, which was inaugurated on November 1, who paid Rs 45 lakh as bid money to get the contract, has started overcharging visitors to the Mini Secretariat. Right under the nose of the Deputy Commissioner and other administrative officials, the contractor has conveniently started charging Rs 30 for four-wheelers against Rs 20 fixed by the district administration.

Since November 1, the day the parking contract was given to the contractor, many complaints about overcharging had come been made by visitors. But, it is unfortunate that all the administrative officials, including the Deputy Commissioner, Rahul Tiwari, have not been able to curb the unethical practice by the contractor.

According to sources, the DC reportedly had asked the District Nazar to personally check as to whether the parking slips issued by the contractor were as per norms and thereafter the contractor was issued a warning. But, the parking contractor seems to be "unfazed" in the wake of the warnings given by the officials. So much so the board displaying the parking rates was removed illegally by the contractor and it was later reinstalled after the intervention of the administration.

Since hundreds of visitors visit the Mini Secretariat daily, it is expected that the District Administration will take a stern action against the erring contractor.

Ludhiana, November 10
Despite several discrepancies in the construction of the Pakhowal Road, the senior MC authorities have given a clean chit to the officials concerned. A formal inquiry was conducted into payments made to a firm blacklisted by the Finance and Contract Committee of the MC, besides other anomalies in the construction of the Pakhowal Road stretch starting from the Sidhwan Canal bridge till the Municipal Corporation limits.

After an RTI activist, Kuldeep Singh Khaira, complained to the then MC Commissioner, AK Sinha, an inquiry was marked to the then MC Additional Commissioner, Kuldip Singh, on May 31 last year.

Even though Kuldip Singh was supposed to submit the report to the authorities within 15 days of the start of the inquiry, the inquiry moved on a snail’s pace and it was submitted to the authorities after a gap of almost three months, on August 8 last year. But it seems that no action was taken because the inquiry report clearly gave a clean chit to the MC officials.

Khaira had come to know about anomalies committed in the recarpeting of the Pakhowal Road on the stretch from Sidhwan Canal to the MC limits. The Rs 1.49-crore work was awarded to a contractor, SS Singla, on February 28, 2009, allegedly without analysing his technical bid.

According to the norms, in every project of over Rs 1 crore the contract is awarded only after analysing all technical bids. In this case, the contractor delayed work for over a year after which the agency was debarred for two years by the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) vide resolution dated October 7, 2010. Despite this, the final payment amounting to Rs 1.60 crore was made to the contractor on December 6, 2010, without the committee’s prior approval.

Even as the final payment was made to the contractor, the MC was not even in possession of the bitumen bills. "I have proof regarding this anomaly because when I filed a complaint under the RTI Act, the MC authorities gave it in writing that they have asked for a copy of bitumen bills from the contractor as they were not attached in the work file. Not only this, my name was revealed in front of the contractor, which is a violation of the RTI Act," alleged Kuldeep Singh Khaira.

When the contractor was debarred by the committee on October 7, 2010, by that time, the contractor had not signed any agreement with the MC.

Interestingly, the inquiry report (which is in possession of The Tribune) states, "The execution of agreement at a later stage after work order has been issued and accepted by the contractor and work has been started at the site within time does not effect the contract in any way. Once work is taken up in hand within the stipulated time period, the signing of agreement is only a statuary obligation."

But, the agreement was done on October 25, 2010, while work order was issued 19 months and 25 days prior to it. Had there been an agreement, according to terms and conditions, penalty could have been imposed, and maybe that is why, the contractor, despite getting debarred, ended up losing nothing. Had the F&CC imposed a penalty, the contractor could have easily challenged it in the court.

Not only this, when the contractor was debarred (on October 7, 2010) another @work of re-carpeting of road stretch from the Pakhowal Road to Gurdwara Sahib, Shaheed Karnail Singh Nagar, was executed on the directions of the then Mayor, Hakam Singh Giaspura, who approved this work on October 28, 2010, to the same blacklisted contractor. But, the inquiry report had answer to this also as it states, "This work was executed out of savings of the original estimate as per the approval granted by the Mayor on the request of ward councillor".

Kuldeep Singh Khaira alleged that this clearly shows that despite several discrepancies, no action was taken and all the MC officials concerned were given a clean chit.

Ludhiana, November 10
With the arrest of three persons here, the city police claims to have solved about a dozen cases of snatching and robbery. The kingpin of the gang, Bharat Bhushan, along with Rakesh Kumar and Arvind Kumar, was arrested on the Tibba Road while they were making a plan to commit another crime.

The ADCP, Nodal, Harmohan Singh, said the police recovered one pistol, 10 mobile phones and other weapons from their possession. Bharat Bhushan is a resident of Basant Nagar while Rakesh Kumar is from Jagirpur and Arvind Kumar was a resident of Tajpur Road. The ADCP said two more members of the gang, Sonu and Balraj, however, escaped. The members of the gang were arrested after a source provided vital information to CIA II in charge Gurbans Singh Bains that the gang was planning a strike.

The gang had been active in the city for the past more than two years and had committed various crimes, including snatching and robbery. The police said the kingpin lived in a private hostel at Ghumar Mandi and he used to recruit fresh faces in the gang.

Ludhiana, November 10
Samples of ice creams and bakery products collected by a team of the District Health Department have failed purity test. Disclosing this here today, District Health Officer Kulwinder Singh said: "Two samples of ice cream collected from Franco's Ice Cream Parlour, Kesar Complex, Malhar Road, have failed purity test. The quality of ice cream has been found substandard."

Meanwhile, samples of bakery products collected from Sweet Temptations, Udham Singh Nagar, have also failed the test. Food Safety Officer Ravinder Garg said, "A few days ago we collected four samples of bakery products from this bakery shop. Of these three have failed the test."

Many days ago, the Health Department also collected samples of tobacco products from Moti Ram and Sons. The DHO said, "Two samples of 'Jaafrani Patti' were found unfit for human consumption as instead of silver foil, aluminium foil was used on these."

Ludhiana, November 10
Ludhiana leads in the number of postal saving scheme accounts but recently, the number has declined over the years due to host of reasons. There are several saving schemes available at post offices, including saving account, offering 4 per cent interest rate, recurring deposit with 8.4 per cent rate of interest, term deposit, which is offering 8.1 per cent interest for one year and National Saving Certificate offer 8.6 per cent for five years and 8.8 per cent for ten years, yet people are not much willing for opening new accounts.

An official at the Postal Department said," many alternate investment options available with banks are offering rate of interest as high as 9 per cent. So, people have started choosing options that offer better returns. Additionally, with the availability of investment options like mutual funds, people have also started investing there."

Besides, availability of alternative options, reduction in the commissions of agents had made an adverse impact, another official said. The incentives for agents in some of the schemes were reduced from 1 per cent to 0.5 per cent about a year ago. "The incentives on the PPF and senior citizens savings certificate were removed altogether. So, the interest of agents in bringing clients also reduced with time," another official said.

Discontinuation of popular saving schemes like the Indra Vikas Patra a few years ago and the Kisan Vikas Patra a year back have also impacted the opening of accounts.

"Lesser number of lucky draws by the state government may also have contributed to decreased enthusiasm for opening accounts. A lucky coupon is given to a person depositing an amount of Rs 10,000 or more in the saving schemes at post offices. A lucky draw is held and prizes like tractor, gold coins are given to the winning entries. Such lucky draws were held quarterly but now these are being held only once a year," according to an official.

Ludhiana, November 10
Despite being a Sunday, the Head Post Office would remain open tomorrow for the sale of gold coins on the occasion of Dhanteras.

Swaraj Kaur, Senior Postmaster at Head Post Office, the Head Post Office would remain open tomorrow from 9 am to 5 pm.

According to an official at the postal department, there is always a good sale of gold coins on the occasion of Dhanteras at post offices, as people consider it auspicious to purchase gold on this day.

"Purchasing gold on the occasion of Dhanteras is auspicious. It is believed that the gold purchased on this day remains with you for a long time and brings good luck," says Deepika Sharma, a resident.

The gold coins available at the post offices are available in various denominations including 0.5gm, 1gm, 5gm, 10gm, 20gm, and 50gm. The gold coins are 24 carat gold with the purity of 99.99 percent and are manufactured in Valcambi, Switzerland, in association with World Gold Council and Reliance Money Infrastructure.

Ludhiana, November 10
Bharati Kisan Union (Lakhowal) demanded from the Centre Government to announce the MSP for wheat crop as per the Swaminathan commission recommended in its report. Farmers demanded that government has to announce Rs 2,450 Minimum Support Price (MSP) for the wheat crop.

During a state-level meeting of the Kisan Union, Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, president BKU stated that Commission for Agriculture Costs and Prices (CACP) had recommended the government to give no hike in the MSP for wheat, but now the government has instructed the CACP to review its recommendation after study all the factors.

The BKU has also demanded Rs 6,000 MSP for per quintal cotton and Rs 400 for per quintet sugarcane.

Meanwhile, Ajamer Singh Lakhowal alleged that the Centre Government was discriminating with the farmers of Punjab as it has given the package for drought hit to farmers of south India but did not gave this package to Punjab farmers.

"BKU also opposed the move of the government to impose the diversification model on farmers. If, the government will provide good and profitable crops as the alternative of wheat and paddy and provide efficient policy for marketing then farmers can move for the diversification modal," stated Ajmer Singh Lakhowal.

Ludhiana, November 10
With a motto to ensure peace and calm everywhere, the IMA president Dr DP Singh Arora urged the people of Ludhiana to celebrate green Diwali this year. Dr Narjit Kaur honorary secretary IMA, Ludhiana, said we should celebrate an environmentally safe Diwali as firecrackers lead to noise and air pollution, which leads to ENT/Chest problems.

Dr Arun Mitra suggested to say no to fore crackers as Ludhiana is already leading in noise and air pollution and has maximum number of asthamatic and allergic patients. He said that high level of noise produced by crackers could lead to permanent deafness in any age group especially children.

While Dr Karamvir Goyal said, sadly all firecrackers are mostly burst by very young children. Since the substances being handled are extremely toxic, many of child labourers fall sick and die in their teenage years.

While Dr RK Sharma said every body should be very careful about sweets and eatables as lot of cases of adulteration are being found everyday.

Ludhiana, November 10
As many as six faculty members from the Department of Veterinary Pathology participated in the XXIX Annual Conference of Veterinary Pathologists recently held at Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Hisar. They bagged a number of prestigious National awards.

Dr Naresh Kumar Sood, Senior Veterinary Pathologist-cum-Head, was awarded 'Fellowship of Indian Association of Veterinary Pathologists' for the year 2012 for his outstanding achievements in Veterinary Pathology; Dr Charan Kamal Singh, Senior Veterinary Pathologist, 'Best Laboratory Animal Pathologist' for outstanding research on rabies in albino mice and guinea pigs; Dr Apminder Pal Singh Brar, 'Savithree Jibach Sinha Best Poster Award-2012' for his research paper entitled "Coventional and advanced diagnosis of cryptosporidiosis in bovine calves" co-authored by Naresh Kumar Sood, Kuldeep Gupta, Mudhit Chandra, Deepti Narang, Gagandeep Singh and Bhupinder Singh Sandhu; Dr Kuldip Gupta, Dr Patri Rama Rao Award-2012 for best PhD thesis entitled "Pathological and immunohisto-chemical studies on canine mammary tumours with emphasis on diagnostic and prognostic aspects" and Dr Mirza Rizwan Biag, Dr Ram Raksha Kiran Shukla Award-2012 for best Master's thesis entitled "Studies on molecular and signaling pathways of epithelial-mesenchymal transition in canine mammary tumor".

Since the inception of the department, it is for the first time that the faculty has won 5 awards at a national conference. These include 'Canine Mammary Tumour' as a model of 'Human Breast Cancer', which is an important, upcoming field for finding novel diagnostic and therapeutic modalities. Research on rabies with emphasis on ante-mortem diagnosis is an area of utmost significance and zoonotic importance. Involvement of cryptosporidia in diarrhoea in bovine calves is responsible for heavy economic losses to farmers and its zoonotic importance is well documented.

Dr Sood, Dr Charan Kamal Singh and Dr Amarjit Singh presented lead papers in their areas of expertise during the conference. Dr Amarjit Singh was nominated as Web Manager of Indian College of Veterinary Pathologists (ICVP) and editor of the E-newsletter of ICVP. Dr Kuldip Gupta, Associate Professor acted as rapporteur in another technical session.

Paper presented in the Young Scientist Award session by Dr Akeel Bashir on 'Immunohistochemical Detection of Rabies' guided by Dr Bhupinder Singh Sandhu was highly appreciated by the delegates of the conference.

Ludhiana November 10
Taraksheel (Rationalist) Society of Punjab organised a biannual conference at Punjabi Bhawan here today. A large number of delegates from Punjab participated in the conference.

Economist and social worker Dr Anoop Singh was the main speaker on the occasion. While addressing to the conference, Dr Anoop Singh emphasised to adopt the scientific and rational approach for the social change.

"Taraksheel Society has been playing a historical role to making aware the people about the superstitious and unscientific issues. Scientific ideas are now more relevant due to changes in society," said Dr Annop Singh.

Balwinder Singh Barnala, president Taraksheel Society Punjab said, "It is matter of pleasure that society members have done a great job in last two and half decade. Rationale ideas have been spreading in the society with the hard work of Taraksheel cadre. Two and half decades ago, some of the members of this society had took pledge to make a superstition free society. Now our organisation has been playing a vital role in the changing world."

Master Jarnial Singh Karanti, delegate from Mohali said, "Despite the science has made a lot of change in our surrounding but unfortunately common people of the India are still practising the irrational thoughts in their daily lives. We have to work with more dedication to make the aware about the irrational and unscientific activities."

Ludhiana, November 10
Heroin worth Rs 25 lakh was seized from a local resident at BRS Nagar on the Lodhi Club road here last evening. Pankaj Kumar (37), a resident of the Civil Lines area, was nabbed by the police during a naka on the road. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused. In charge, Narcotics Wing, Harbans Singh said he claimed to be a hosiery manufacturer.

He was held with 50 gram of heroin, which he had bought from Rahon. Pankaj is a drug addict. "He maintains he himself consumes the drug, but for making a quick buck, he sold it to youngsters at times.

A case has been registered against Pankaj, who is married. The complain has been registered in the Sarabha Nagar police station," said Harbans Singh. He added that Pankaj was signalled to spot for checking at a check post but he (Pankaj) tried to escape by speeding his motorbike. "The motorbike developed some problem stopped midway. Then the police nabbed him," he said.

Ludhiana, November 10
Anjali Devi, 21, committed suicide last night by hanging herself from ceiling. Balwinder Singh, SHO, Basti Jodhewal, said the deceased had married to Suresh Kumar about 3-4 years. Both belong to Uttar Pradesh.

Khanna, November 10
The Samrala police booked three persons in the alleged attempt to suicide case by a granthi some days ago and found the missing woman. Three persons- Baldev Singh, Varinder Singh and Jagjit Singh- all residents of Detwal village were booked under Sections 306,511 of the IPC. They were booked on the complaint of Gurpal Singh Sunny, granthi Balihar Singh's son. He had alleged that his father consumed poison due to the three persons.

Notably, Balihar Singh, who was a granthi in a gurdwara at Bhukhri village , tried to commit suicide by consuming some poisonous substance allegedly at the police station, Samrala, on November 6 when his son and son-in-law were asked to appear in the police station on the complaint of the three accused.

Earlier, the accused had lodged a complained that Balihar Singh's elder son, who was residing in Malaysia, had lured their girl and had been missing since then.

However, the Samrala police said the granthi had tried to commit suicide outside the police station while family members alleged that the incident took place inside the police station.

Balihar Singh is sill under treatment at CMC Hospital in Ludhiana.

When contacted, Harjinder Singh, SHO, Samrala, said:'' The woman's father ( one among the three complainants) and her relatives were booked in the case.''

He confirmed that the missing woman was found and would be handed over to her parents after completing legal formalities.

He confirmed that the condition of the granthi was still very serious.

Ludhiana, November 10
Dr Tejeshwer Dyal Singh from Ludhiana has been appointed as physical trainer with the Punjab Ranji Cricket Team being led by cricketer, Harbhajan Singh.

According to a communique from the Punjab Cricket Association (PCA), Tejeshwer Singh, currently posted as a teacher, physical education with the Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, here will train the Punjab senior team for the ongoing cricket season.

TD Singh, PhD in sports psychology from the Panjab University, Chandigarh has created history of sorts as he is the first person from Punjab state, who has been assigned with this duty.

Tejeshwer was associated with the Ludhiana District Cricket Association (LDCA) as physical trainer for the last couple of years and after recommendations, his name was forwarded to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) for level I test conducted by the cricket apex body which he passed out successfully.

Subsequently, Tejeshwer was attached with the Indian probables (U-17) as an interim trainer who attended a 42-day (June-July) camp at the National Cricket Academy, Bangalore.

Tejeshwer, son of a former Punjab Ranji player and a national umpire, RD Singh, has already trained players such as Karan Goel, Geetansh Khera, Bharat Malhotra, Tarun Kanish and Deepin Chitkara.

Chaman Lal Malhotra, chairman, selection committee, Punjab (senior) along with Rajinder Nath Mahajan and Vinod Chitkara, president and general secretary, respectively of the LDCA congratulated Tejeshwer on his appointment the PCA.

They wished him success in future and expressed hope that Tejeshwer had the expertise and capability to be assigned the duty at national level.