Ludhiana, March 22
In a broad daylight robbery, two motorcycle-borne assailants shot at the manager of Shingaar Cinema and fled with Rs 3.5 lakh.

The incident took place around 1 pm on the Shingaar road when the manager of Shingaar Cinema, Gurdas, was on his way to a bank on his motorcycle to deposit cash. He was intercepted by two motorcycle-borne youths.

Before he could react, the miscreant riding pillion pulled out a gun and shot Gurdas in the left thigh.

The victim fell on the road and in no time the robbers snatched the bag containing Rs 3.5 lakh and fled. The police said two rounds were fired from a .32-bore gun.

Ashok Kumar, an eyewitness, said the robbers fled towards the Ganda Nullah road. Rakesh Kumar, a shopkeeper, came to the victim’s rescue and rushed him to the civil hospital where doctors referred him to the CMCH.

The incident spread panic in the area and residents gathered at the spot.

Councillor of Ward No 18 Inder Aggarwal said crime was on the rise in the area. In a recent incident, two robbers had barged in the house of a hosiery trader and assaulted a woman, her daughter and a servant. He said the police should increase patrolling in the area to keep a tab on the criminals.

ADCP-I Nilambari Jagdale said it was not for the first time that Gurdas was targeted. On December 27, armed assailants had snatched a bag containing Rs 1.9 from him. On Thursday, the city police nabbed the robbers who had snatched the bag from him in December.

“Gurdas is inviting trouble. He was asked to inform the Shingaar Cinema police post while going to the bank to deposit cash. He was also told to prefer car to a motorcycle," said the ADCP-I. 

Ludhiana, March 22
With the arrest of four persons, the city police claimed to have busted a gang of thieves and recovered huge cache of mobile phones and electronic gadgets from their possession.

The accused have been identified as Roshan, alias Dayi, Kewal Krishan, alias Ladi, Mangal Singh, alias Manglu, all residents of the Amarpura area, and Sandeep Kumar, alias Natta, a resident of Issa Nagri in Ludhiana. The kingpin of the gang, Krishan Lal, alias Raju, is still at large.

Investigating officer Paramjeet Singh said the accused were arrested in Punjab Mata Nagar at a police checkpoint. The gang used to conduct a recce in the target area before committing the crime. The police have recovered two LCDs, 13 cellphones, a DVD, 10 electronic motorcycles stolen by the gang members. The accused have confessed to have committed 25 burglaries and 15 thefts. The hunt is on to nab the kingpin of the gang. 

Ludhiana, March 22
The city police has arrested a member of a kidnappers’ gang. The gang used to rob their targets of valuables in moving vehicles. Gurveer Singh Toor, SHO, PAU police station, said, The accused has been identified as Puneet Singh, son of a PAU employee. “

Puneet was nabbed at a police checkpoint near the PAU following a tip-off today. During interrogation, the accused confessed that he had committed four kidnappings along with his accomplices Avtar Singh Tari, Nannu Napali and Sonu Mota of Jagraon.

The gang was also behind the sensational kidnapping of Vijay Sharma, a train ticket examiner (TTE) with the Railways. Sharma was kidnapped on March 12 when he was returning home at Aman Nagar after work.

The miscreants drove Sharma around the city, thrashed him and threw him out the moving vehicle near Kaka Marriage palace on the Ferozepur road.

A chronic drug addict, Puneet was given a new Chevrolet Beat car by his father. He reportedly told the police that he used the car for kidnapping and robbery.

Pardeep Kumar was the gang’s latest target. Narrating the incident, Pardeep said he was returning home on his motorcycle on March 21. When he reached Shivalik Enclave near Raghunath Enclave, four youths intercepted him. Before he could react, the assailants attacked him. They took him at a knifepoint and made him sit in a car. He said the miscreants thrashed him black and blue. They took his ATM card and withdrew Rs 45,000. They also took away a blank cheque and his voter card. He said the kidnapers drove him for nearly an hour before throwing him out of the moving vehicle. 

Ludhiana, March 22
The Excise and Taxation department today became richer by Rs 7.39 crore which was collected as the initial amount after the liquor vends were allotted to the successful applicants. The draw of lots was held toady.

Malhotra Group managed to win eight zones followed by Dhillon Group that grabbed four zones. Chadha Group managed three zones, Singla Group three and BD Mittal Group got two zones. AB Liquor-Genuine Wine, Chhabra Group, Bajaj Group, Manik Reikhi Group and Parminder Mittal Group got one zone each.

A total of 25 draws were held for Ludhiana. The city has 25 groups which have 16-17 liquor vends.

The revenue collected from the allotment fee today was Rs 7.39 core from Ludhiana I, II and III, while the department managed to collect a whopping Rs 74 crore through the application fee. Last year, the department had collected Rs 48.38 crore. A total of 5,500 applications were received within the Ludhiana MC limits.

"The department has abolished the L-2B licence for departmental stores. Now, model shops in each zone of the corporation and 'A' class municipalities will be allowed to sell liquor,” said Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Kanwalpreet Brar. The successful bidders today deposited 2 per cent of the total fee. They will have to deposit 5 per cent (after adjusting the initial deposit) of the licence fee within 48 hours of the draw of lots. The remaining 10 per cent will have to be deposited within a week of the draw of lots. The licensees can pay 5 per cent amount of the security by April 15.

DP Reddy, Financial Commissioner, said the quota of liquor had been increased by 5 per cent in Punjab medium liquor (PML) and 2 per cent in Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL).

Now, the quota for the PML and the IMFL stands at 920 lakh proof litres and 440 lakh proof litres, he said. In order to encourage exports, permit fee of Re 1 levied on the manufacture of the IMFL has also been abolished.

The discrimination between the distilleries and bottling plants for manufacturing the IMFL to be sold in Punjab has been removed by levying a uniform permit fee, said Reddy. 

Ludhiana, March 22
In a classic case of jumping the gun, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has made an offer to take over Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, a 475 acre colony developed by the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) on Pakhowal Road. But the transfer of four other colonies of the LIT is still hanging fire.

The adoption of a resolution in the General House meeting of the MC on March 12 to take over Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar was not only against the provisions of the relevant laws, but also in violation of the conditions followed for the transfer of other colonies of the LIT to the MC for maintenance. Both the MC and the LIT have mutually agreed that four colonies of the Trust, including Maharishi Valmiki Nagar, Rajguru Nagar, Sant Isher Singh Nagar and Bharat Nagar Extension, be transferred to the MC for maintenance as per the provisions of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, and several rounds of meetings have taken place to finalise the modalities for the transfer. A number of joint inspections have been carried out to assess the pending and ongoing development works in these colonies and the expenditure involved in execution of these works which are to be borne by the LIT.

Sources in the engineering branch of the LIT revealed that the MC had made a demand of more than Rs 3 crore for repairs, re-carpeting of roads and other development works in these colonies, mainly in Rajguru Nagar and Maharishi Valmiki Nagar, which had remained in a state of neglect for quite some time now. "The LIT is yet to take a formal decision whether the funds will be provided to the MC for the execution of the pending development works or the Trust will get these works done at its own level and then transfer the colonies to the MC," said a senior LIT official.

The resolution adopted by the MC to take over Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar came as a surprise to the LIT officials to put it mildly.

""While the LIT had already adopted statutory resolutions to transfer four colonies that have been fully developed to the MC, no such resolution has been adopted for Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar where several pockets of land were still under development or litigation," said officials while asserting that the decision for transfer of a colony to the MC ought to have been taken by the Trust and not the other way round.

The officials said as per the provisions of the Punjab Town Improvement Act, colonies of the Trust have to be transferred to the MC for maintenance.

Ludhiana, March 22
After two consecutive failed demolition drives, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials are in dilemma over the action plan prepared to demolish encroachments, listed in famous Civil Writ Petition (CWP) 4886 of 2003. Since there is a lot of pressure by some religious bodies, the MC officials could not demolish encroachments in Gur Mandi and Talaab Bazaar area of the city. Now that the next demolition drive regarding CWP 4886 is scheduled for April 2, the MC officials are not sure whether this particular drive will be successful or not. On April 2, MC is to demolish 64 encroachments located on Sem Nullah in Haibowal Kalan area of the city.

Following directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, MC officials were to demolish 30 illegal shops in Gur Mandi on March 13, whereas more 22 shops were to be razed in Talaab Bazaar area, yesterday. Ironically, in both the cases, the shops are located near two different temples and the shopkeepers claim that the shops are property of Mandi committees.

An MC official rued that during yesterday's demolition drive, the shopkeepers had organised a langar outside the temple. They were clearly misusing the temples for their own wrong motives. Thereafter the shopkeeps started raising slogans in favour of police and against the MC, which worsened the situation. The MC Commissioner, Rakesh Kumar Verma, claimed that both the demolition drives in Gur Mandi as well as Talaab Bazaar were postponed as the matter turned into a communal one. "But it does not mean that we will not demolish these encroachments. The encroachments will be demolished at every cost", claimed the MC Commissioner.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 22
A speedy truck rammed into a jewellery shop, situated in the main market at Dehlon, on Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, here on this morning. However no one was injured in the incident. Investigation revealed that driver of truck, number PB 13 AB 2181, lost control over vehicle on sudden appearance of a tractor trailor on the road near Sahnewal bypass and rammed the vehicle into Verma jeweller shop. 

Khanna, March 22
The Khanna Municipal Committee's meeting over the budget for 2013-2014 was adjourned after a majority of municipal councillors of opposition did not attended the meeting. As many as 10 councilors of Congress, one from PPP, one from independent , local MLA and a faction from the ruling group were of the view that they would not participate in the meeting as it was anti-development and anti-public budget.

Gurminder singh Lalli, leader of Congress councillors said all the 10 councillors from Congress were of the view that they should not participate a budget which came in the category of anti-development and anti-public budget. Lalli further alleged that their party councillors would not participate in the budget meeting until the authorities changed it and made it a pro-development and pro-masses budget. He alleged that the budget failed to fulfil the basic expectations of the local residents. Lali said that they had no information about the next meeting of budget.

When contacted Gukirat singh Kotli, Congress MLA from khanna, he claimed that the budget was apparently an anti-public and anti-development budget, so he along with his councillors decided not to participate in it.

Vijay sharma, an independent councillor alleged that what he understood by studying the budget that no funds would be available for any kind of development after clearing all the dues of the staff and all the previous outstanding liabilities.

Interestingly, Lakhbir Singh Kalalmajra, a councilor from SAD said that a parallel function of their party regarding joining of an ADC Official at khnana, was going on at the same time as MC's meeting, so they failed to attend the budget meeting. But he alleged they were not given enough time to study the budget, while ample time should be provided to the councillors for such an important function.

When Iqbal Singh, President of Municipal Committee, khanna, was contacted he confirmed that they adjourned the budget meeting due to a parallel function was going on in connection with the joining of first ADC of Khanna and also due to less counting of MC's at the time of meeting. He made it clear that he had called next meeting on Monday to pas the budget for the development of the city.

Ludhiana, March 22
An official of the district public relations department was today suspended for "not imparting his duties diligently". According to sources, the official has been suspended due to the media coverage of some function. The official, however, said he had not yet received any orders.

Gurwaryam Singh, additional director, information and public relations department, while confirming the development, said he was not aware about the reason behind the official's suspension.

It is also learnt that another official from the department has been transferred on the same issue. — TNS

Ludhiana, March 22
The Ludhiana Effluent Treatment Society has extended help to the Amritsar-based industry in treating the water discharge from its units. Avtar Singh, CEO of the society, said since the local industry was not using the treatment plant to its full capacity, they had decided to help the Amritsar-based industry.

"The company that has been given contract will be collecting water from industrial units in Amritsar that will be treated at the plant based in Ludhiana," said Avtar Singh.

He said industrialists should understand that they were responsible for keep the environment clean and should treat the water discharged from their units.

Ludhiana, March 22
Not many personalities are remembered by the youth decades after their demise. But popularity and appeal of Bhagat Singh remains the same. He still has a following among the youth.

He is an idol of 'Naujawan Sabhas' in the city. They also propagate literature about his thoughts and ideologies and articles written by him.

"Bhagat Singh had a great foresight and kept high ideals. Had his ideas been implemented and emulated by the people, India would have been a corruption-free nation," says Rohit, a student.

Bhagat Singh can also be found on T-shirts and on the rear of automobiles. "The picture in which he twirls his moustache has become a symbol of not accepting tyranny," says a youngster.

"Bhagat Singh for me is an attitude: a vision of nation-building and respecting freedom," says Sahil, a young businessman.

Ludhiana, March 22
As the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev is observed across the nation, the ancestral home of Sukhdev Thapar in Naughara area of the old city is a picture of neglect.

"It has been lying locked for more than a year," says Ashok Thapar, president, Shaheed Sukhdev Thapar Memorial Trust. He said the trust had urged the President, through a memorandum submitted to Governor Shivraj Patil, to hand over the house to the trust. "We paid Rs 5 lakh to get the house vacated, so that it could be opened for the general public as a museum. The administration, however, took it over and locked it," he said.

The trust also got the house renovated and fenced from outside. 

Ludhiana, March 22
There were days when people would look into the skies and try to judge weather, the season and the time of the day. During those days, a distant dark clouds would mean impending downpour, pandemonium amongst ants would signal rains, the arrival of migratory birds would mark the change of season. Interestingly all this happens even now, quietly behind the urban cacophony, but our eyes have turned oblivious to the signals.

With the dawn of 70's and development of broadcast media, the attention turned to the forecasts on radio and TV. People would wait for the map of India and listen intently for the weather. Not only farmers and fisherman but even people in general would listen to the weather on Akashvani or Doordarshan. Come 21st century, the weather information has gone mobile. "Technology has brought meteorology on fingertips and thus has become immensely useful," says Sarabjit Singh, a businessman. 

Ludhiana, March 22
World Tuberculosis Day was observed here at Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital in collaboration with Akshay project. On this occasion Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana Dr Subhash Batta was the chief guest.while addressing the gathering Dr Batta told people about the free of cost facilities available for testing and treatment of Tuberculosis at government hospitals. He also flagged off the van for TB awareness.

While TB Officer Dr Balwinder Singh said that from January 2013 till March, many awareness camps had been held in slum areas. One camp was held at Rajiv Gandhi Colony in which sputum of 79 patients was tested, out of which 8 tested positive of TB. Similarly as many as 79 patients were checked in areas including Vishawkarma Colony, Dhandari Kalan, Bihari Colony, Ambedkar Nagar Aarti steel factory, Transport Nagar, Superfine Factory etc. and here 9 patients tested positive of TB.

On this occasion Population Services International also staged a nukkar play for making people aware about TB. The employees of TB department were awarded for excelling in their services. Thereafter, SMO Dr Karanveer Goel, also addressed the gathering.

Khanna March 22
The Payal police claimed to have busted a gang of vehicle thieves after it arrested three vehicle thieves and recovered vehicles from them. Police arrested Dilpreet Singh, Avtar Singh Tari, residents of Dhamot Kalan village and Jagjit Singh, resident of Ward No 22 Bhattian and recovered a Scorpio, a Safari and an Indigo car that were stolen from different places by the gang members.