Ludhiana, December 21
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has got a jinxed start to its second round of auctions, aimed at generating income for the cash-strapped civic body. The second round of auctions was to start from the auction of a 5,917 sq yard commercial site on Hambran Road today. However, a person, claiming to be the owner of this land, approached a local court, following which the auction had to be cancelled.

MC officials had reportedly received the orders last evening after which senior officials discussed the matter and finally decided to cancel the auction.

Earlier, on November 21, the MC had tried to auction this property, but no person took part in the bidding process.

The MC is in dire need of funds as it owes close to Rs 100 crore to contractors and government departments. Due to the shortage of funds, many ongoing development projects are hanging fire as contractors have stopped work owing to non-clearance of dues.

The local court has directed the MC to stick to its stand (of not going ahead with the auction of the said property) till the time the case is decided. Randhir Singh, who claims to be the owner of this property, had approached the local court for getting the auction proceedings stayed.

On April 4, MC counsel had given a statement before the court that till the time the case was decided, the MC would not auction the property. Despite this, the property, measuring 5,917 sq yards, was put to auction on November 21. Some persons, claiming to be Randhir Singh's relatives, had reached the spot on November 21 and had submitted a memorandum in this regard. Following this, no person took part in this auction, despite the fact that some persons were willing to purchase this property.

After the November 21 auction, Randhir Singh had approached the court requesting that contempt proceedings be initiated against the MC officials who organised this auction. MC officials said they were not aware of the statement made by their counsel before the court on April 4.

During a hearing of the contempt proceedings yesterday, the judge ordered that the MC will have to remain bound by the statement made by its counsel in the court on April 4. The court ordered that in view of the said undertaking, the MC could not alienate the property in possession till the case was decided.

Meanwhile, counsel for the MC has been shown the door by MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma for making a statement before the court which "he was not authorised to make".

The MC is hopeful of generating some money from the auction of two more properties. A 9,820 sq yard residential site near Dairy Complex on Hambran Road will be put to auction on December 24. The reserve price has been fixed at Rs 10,000 per sq yard. The third auction will be of nine SCOs of 100 sq yard each located opposite Keys Hotel near Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar on December 26. The reserve price has been fixed at Rs 1.5 lakh per sq yard.

Ludhiana, December 21
Infighting in the Congress seems set to intensify in the coming days. Ten days after the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation got its leader of the opposition, senior deputy leader and deputy leader, the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, Capt Amarinder Singh, has made three more nominations to the MC.

Balkar Singh Sandhu, Congress councillor from ward number 55, has been nominated as chairman of Congress councillors, Sanjay Talwar, Congress councillor from ward number 39, has been nominated as the party nominee for the finance and contract committee election and Gurpreet Singh Gogi, Congress councillor from ward number 53, will be the party nominee for the house tax committee election.

Sandhu, Talwar and Gogi are close to Ludhiana West MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, who is at loggerheads with Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and local MP Manish Tewari and District Congress Committee (Urban) president Pawan Dewan.

On December 10, Hem Raj Aggarwal, councillor from ward number 27, was named as the leader of the opposition, Rakesh Prashar, councillor from ward number 36, as senior deputy leader and Sushma Mehta, councillor from ward number 35, as the deputy leader. All three are considered close to Manish Tewari and Pawan Dewan.

When the three appointments were made, MLA Ashu had rejected these, saying that these were “not on merit”. After today’s nominations, the PPCC president seems to have tried to strike a balance between both groups as of the 19 party councillors in the MC, eight owe allegiance to MLA Ashu.

Reacting to these appointments, Ashu said he was thankful to the PPCC president for choosing "right councillors for the right positions".

Pawan Dewan, however, claimed to have no knowledge about any new nominations.

Ludhiana, December 21
Acting tough against violation of norms for use and storage of LPG cylinders by hotels, restaurants and other commercial establishments, a team of officials from the District Food and Civil Supplies Department today conducted raids on two restaurants on Pakhowal Road and seized 39 commercial cylinders of different oil companies. The cylinders were stored in the open in violation of rules laid down in the Explosives Act as well as guidelines of oil companies.

Surinder Beri, District Food and Supplies Officer, who led the raiding team along with Sunil Kumar, District Sales Officer of the Indian Oil Corporation, and the police, said two restaurants in the Canal Colony market on Pakhowal Road, Flames and Grill and Bistro, had stored LPG cylinders in the open on a pavement, which was close to electric transformers and overhead power cables.

"Containers of diesel to run generators were also placed close to the place where the LPG cylinders were stored, and in case of a mishap, there could have been grave danger to public safety," he said.

Beri said the LPG cylinders were seized and show-cause notices had been issued to the owners of the restaurants to explain why they should not be proceeded against for violation of rules.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, Dec 21
Timely intervention by the Amargarh circle police prevented the situation from turning sour when an ASI allegedly manhandled a woman and a number of social organisations staged a dharna in front of the city police station in protest against his action.

The dharna was lifted after the erring cop was suspended, pending inquiry.

Bhupinder Kaur, a resident of the Jawahar Nagar locality here, who had been called to the police station in connection with a complaint regarding a matrimonial issue in the afternoon today, was allegedly beaten up by Balwinder Singh, ASI.

The woman’s supporters, who took her to the local civil hospital, staged a dharna in front of the police station.

All efforts by City SHO Jasbir Singh to pacify the protesters failed. They were insisting on an inquiry into the matter by an officer not below the rank of a circle officer.

It was only after Sukhdev Singh, DSP, Amargarh, announced the suspension of the erring policeman pending inquiry that the protesters lifted the dharna.

A student holds a placard demanding action against the accused in the Delhi rape case, in Ludhiana on Friday. Tribune photo: Himansh Mahajan

Ludhiana, December 21
Various organisations in the city have showed their solidarity with the victim of the Delhi gang rape. Students of Kundan Vidya Mandir today observed a silent march to protest against the gang rape of a young para-medical student. The students carried placards and raised slogans.

The members of Inklabi Kender Punjabi also got together and expressed concern over the rising crime against women. In the meeting it was decided that they will hold a rally on December 26 from Bhai Bala Chowk. The protest march will pass through Ghumar Mandi and reach DC office where memorandum will be presented to DC in this regard. An open discussion was also held by Punjab Istri Sabha and Bharat Jan Vigyan Jatha. Speaking on the occasion, Dr Narjit Kaur, convener of All India Working Women Forum Sabha, said: “Everyday we come across news of rape, gang rape, sexual harassment and honour killing. To make things worse, incidents like kidnapping of girls and putting acid on girls’ face, sexual exploitation in work place are on a rise.”

Ludhiana, December 21
Putting a challenge to the police, for the third consecutive day, thieves were successful in their strikes. This time they decamped with lakhs of rupees from a retired Principal's house and an electronics goods shop by breaking the locks. The thefts have put a question mark over the night patrolling by the police in the city.

At Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, the thieves targeted former Principal Trilok Arora’s house. After scaling a wall of the house, they broke the locks and decamped with cash and jewellery. Arora was away to Nabha at his daughter's place when the theft took place. He came to know about it when he returned home this morning.

At Haibowal, the thieves targeted a shop, AN Electronics. The thieves stole cash and other valuables from the shop. The shop is a few yards from the Haibowal police station. Anurag Nayyar, the owner of the shop, said he had closed the shop at around 11 pm. At 6 am, one of his acquaintances told him on the phone that his shop had been burgled. When he reached the shop, he found the locks broken.