Ludhiana, March 25
Office-bearers and members of the Ludhiana District Chemists Association today blocked traffic on Dandi Swami Road in protest against the Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, for failing to meet them to accept their memorandum despite the fact that they had taken an appointment from him on Friday.

They held a dharna and blocked traffic for about 20 minutes, leaving commuters at the receiving end.

The commuters had to take longer routes to reach their destinations. The protesters lifted the dharna after police officials convinced them to do so.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Tikka Daleep Singh, president of the association, said, "The Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, gave us an appointment on Friday and asked us to come to his office today. We reached at the stipulated time, but the Civil Surgeon wasn't there. We waited for nearly an hour. Later, the Assistant Civil Surgeon, Dr Kaushal Saini, told us that Dr Batta had to rush to attend to some important work and would be back within 20 minutes, but he failed to turn up. We then decided to block traffic."

Tikka said they had gone to Dr Batta's office to hand over a memorandum to Health and Family Welfare Minister Madan Mohan Mittal.

The protesters lifted the dharna following the intervention of police officials. Later, the Civil Surgeon met the chemists and accepted their memorandum. 

What the chemists say

• The drug authorities are not issuing drug licences to qualified persons holding a diploma or a degree in pharmacy
• The authorities are putting a "red stamp" on drug licences and even asking for an affidavit, which is a violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act
• The police is interfering in the functioning of chemists and is harassing them on one pretext or the other such as registering false cases under the NDPS Act
• Fearing harassment by the police, the Punjab Chemists Association has decided not to sell habit-forming drugs from Monday. They say if patients face any problem due to a shortage of such drugs, the entire responsibility will be that of the state government

They had taken an appointment from me on Friday and I was supposed to meet them at the designated time. However, I had to rush to Mohan Dai Oswal Hospital to attend to an emergency case due to which I got late. I requested the association members to hand over the memorandum to the Assistant Civil Surgeon, but they refused to do so

Dr Subhash Batta, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana

Ludhiana, March 25
A mobile tower installed on the house of a Ludhiana Municipal Corporation employee was sealed by the MC in the Vishal Nagar area on Pakhowal Road this evening following objections filed by area residents.

In August last year, the residents had complained against the installation of the mobile tower. After a gap of over seven months, the tower was finally sealed today by a team led by ATP Rajinder Sharma.

The tower belonged to a leading telecommunication company and was located on the corner house on Street No. 5, Vishal Nagar.

With the number of mobile phone users on the rise, thousands of mobile towers have come up in the city.

Senior citizen Pargat Singh Grewal, who lives in the same locality, said when the mobile tower was being installed in the area, residents had requested the owner of the house not to go ahead with the installation.

“We all know that radiations emitted from such towers are harmful for human beings. Despite this, people get such towers installed on their rooftops. The owner of house where this tower was installed, works in the health branch of the MC. We are thankful to the MC for sealing the mobile tower,” said Grewal.

The mobile tower menace has spread its tentacles in the city. People on whose premises such towers have been installed have now themselves started getting these removed or sealed.

Two such mobile towers, installed on property owned by a resident, Aseem Kalra, were sealed by the MC in the Shastri Nagar and RK Road areas in the city on January 16. But even for this family, it was not an easy job as it had to write hundreds of letters to government departments for getting the two mobile towers sealed.

On December 11 and October 5 last year, two mobile towers were sealed on the rooftops of two private buildings on College Road. On December 4, the MC had sealed two mobile towers installed on the rooftop of Raghunath Hospital located near Aggar Nagar on Ferozepur Road.

What the rules say

Earlier, whenever the MC granted permission for the installation of mobile towers, there was a clause (number 9) which stated that if any area resident objected to it, the tower would have to be removed. Now clause 9 states that in case of any such problem, the matter would be forwarded to the Cellular Operators Association of India, a private body. During the past few months, the MC has forwarded 22 such complaints, but has not received any response so far.

Affected residents can complain in writing to the building branch of the zone concerned of the MC. The assistant town planners concerned can be contacted at: Zone A: Kamaljit Kaur (9780968870); Zone B: Monica Anand (9815571786); Zone C: Banke Bihari (9988600064); and Zone D: Rajinder Sharma (9988878890) 

Ludhiana, March 25
Satwinder Singh, a head constable posted at the Moti Nagar police station, has been suspended for allegedly misbehaving with a girl late last night.

The head constable allegedly misbehaved with a girl, who was with her male friend near the Vardhman ground. Her friend’s sister was also present on the spot.

According to Inspector Jagjeet Singh, SHO, Moti Nagar, the head constable was going towards his home. On the way, some people informed him that a couple was seen behaving in an indecent manner. He asked the girls to go home. The head constable was allegedly under the influence of liquor.

Expressing concern over moral policing, a senior BJP leader has condemned the head constable’s behaviour.

The BJP leader alleged that in some cases, policemen frighten helpless women in a bid to exploit them.

ACP Dhrumal Nimbule termed these allegations as baseless. “We found that Satwinder Singh was under the influence of liquor and suspended him. If any other allegations are found true, we will take action.”

Ludhiana, March 25
A day after the issue of a park in Joshi Nagar being allegedly encroached upon by three Ludhiana Municipal Corporation employees was highlighted by Ludhiana Tribune, the civic body today swung into action with the MC Commissioner summoning the record of the land in question.

The MC Commissioner said if any of his employees was found guilty, action would be taken and if it was proved that the land in question was part of a park, the land allotment would be cancelled.

According to the MC records, the encroached area, a piece of land measuring 1,045 sq yards, is a park. Area residents say a park used to exist on this land till a few years ago. A park management committee had also been set up for its proper upkeep.

In 1994, three MC employees (two from the horticulture branch and one from the building branch) were allotted land in the Balloke area in the city. Even after making payments, these officials were not given the possession of the land. Later, these employees approached the court, which directed that the employees be given land at an alternative place.

Some MC officials, in connivance with these three employees, allotted them land illegally in a park in Joshi Nagar. The building branch not only allotted them land, but also sanctioned their building plans.

The allotment of plots in the park was passed by members at a MC general house meeting.

MC Additional Commissioner Isha Kalia said there was a possibility that some MC officials might have misguided the MC House when the agenda of the land allotment was cleared.

"I have asked my staff to show me the file pertaining to the land record so that we can check whether a park existed on this land or not. Besides, I have also issued orders that other encroachments on this piece land should be removed. Hopefully, these encroachments will be removed within this week," she said.

In 2005, the 1,045 sq yard piece of land was converted into a park. A boundary wall was constructed there and saplings and flowers were planted there by the MC.

Area residents claim that the park management committee used to get regular grants for this park.

Ludhiana, March 25
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar, while reiterating that the Congress in the state will oppose Property Tax, slammed the state government for "failing to fulfill its promises to the electorate".

Jakhar was in the city to extend his support to the Youth Congress activists, who were on hunger strike to protest against the imposition of Property Tax.

While speaking to The Tribune, he accused the government of "deliberately misleading" the public on the issue of Property Tax.

Charging the Akali-BJP combine with making "false promises to hoodwink the public", he alleged that the government is imposing taxes to make up for the shortfall in funds. "The fund-crunch is a direct consequence of the government's shortsighted policies that are a drain on the economy of the state."

Instead of imposing new taxes, the government must ensure that the funds allocated to it under various Centre-sponsored schemes are utilised judiciously, he added.

Alleging that the funds earmarked for developmental works are being diverted to other programmes, he said, "Funds to the tune of Rs 350 crore were allocated for slum rehabilitation programme in Ludhiana district. But have these been used for the said purpose?" he asked.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Youth Congress president, Vikram Chaudhary, urged the state government to rethink on the imposition of Property Tax. "Instead of burdening the public, the government should curtail the expenditure on the jaunts of its own leaders."

Chaudhary added that keeping in view the state government's response, the Congress will work out a strategy to oppose the imposition of Property Tax.

Later, the Youth Congress activists ended their fast.

Ludhiana, March 25
Annual founder’s day celebrations of Christian Medical College & Hospital were held at the CMC & Hospital, here today. The day is celebrated in the memory of CMC’s founder, Dame Edith Brown, who realised the need for training doctors to serve the community.

The day started with a worship service in the Lady Willingdon Hall, CMC. Dr Subhash Singla, president, Association of the Medical Alumni, CMC welcomed the visiting alumni. Dr Abraham G Thomas, Director, CMC & Hospital and Dr SM Bhatti, principal, addressed the gathering.

There was a Continuing Medical Education Programme in which Dr GS Sandha from the reunion batch of 1982 delivered a scientific talk. Visiting alumni, alumni from the city and nearby towns and the CMC faculty and students attended the scientific session with great interest.

Dr Abraham G Thomas, Dr Kim Mammen and Dr SM Bhatti gave away the mementoes to the reunion batches. During the occasion, the alumni shared their experiences since graduation and also narrated anecdotes about their time spent in the CMC many years ago. The alumni also visited the hostels, college and hospital premises to relive old memories and to see the newer developments that have taken place at the CMC, since the days that they were here.

Ludhiana, March 25
A free medical camp was organised by the Rising Youth Association at Gurudwara Singh Sabha, Abdullapur Basti here 
yesterday.

A team of doctors examined as many as 440 patients and rendered follow-up advice. Free medicine were distributed and diagnostic tests like BMD, spirometry, ECG and blood sugar were also conducted free. Civil Surgeon Ludhiana Dr Subhash Batta was the chief guest. Surjit Kaur Bhatia, councilor of ward number 45 honoured all the doctors who checked up the patients. Gurinder Chahal, president of the NGO said: “We are determined to spread the awareness regarding proper diet, professional important tests and quality health supplements by conducting health camp and provide the right solutions to maintain good health and wellness.

Meanwhile, to mark the martyrdom day of Bhagat singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, Lok Sewa Club Sawaddin Kalan in collaboration with Punarjot Eye Bank Society at Gurudwara Jhiri Sahib. About 750 patients were examined and as many as 125 patients were operated upon for cataract while 200 were given away spectacles.

Ludhiana, March 25
Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria today discussed the issue of Property Tax with his Amritsar counterpart Bakshi Ram Arora during a meeting held at Mayor’s camp office in the Civil Lines, here today. Arora was also honoured by the Mayor and local later by councillors.

Bakshi Ram Arora, who is also a member of Punjab Pollution Control Board, had gone to attend a meeting in Patiala today and he stopped over at the Mayor’s camp office on his way back to Amritsar.

Mayor Gohalwaria informed that the issue of property tax was discussed in today’s meeting. “This is a much talked about topic these days and I want that before levying it on the city residents, I should discuss it with my other counterparts. Soon, I would also discuss the matter with other Mayors of the state as well,” he said.

Councillors, who attended the meeting, included Tanvir Singh Dhaliwal, Bhupinder Singh Bhinda, Jagbir Singh Sokhi, Kapil Kumar Sonu, Jaswinder Singh Bhola, Swaran Singh Mahauli, Sukhdev Singh Gill, Mandeep Kaur Sandhu, besides others.

Ludhiana, March 25
Students of the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) have brought laurels to the university by clinching nine medals at the Punjab State Inter-University Youth Festival, organised by the Directorate of Youth Services, Government of Punjab, from March 19 to 21 at Shivalik Public School, Mohali. The PAU students won gold medal in poster making, and bronze medals in skit, mime, folk song, poetry recitation, collage making, cartooning, clay modeling, and gidhha events. PAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, and Director Students' Welfare, Dr Balwinder Singh congratulated the students for winning laurels at the state level youth fest and exhorted them to maintain this rich tradition.

Giving details, Satvir Singh, Welfare Officer, PAU, said all the universities of the Punjab state participated in this festival. The PAU contingent, consisting of 40 members, participated in the events of music, theatre, literary and fine arts, he informed.

SGPC donates Rs 10 lakh to PAU

The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has donated a sum of Rs 10 lakh to the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Endowment Fund. S Banta Singh, a representative of the SGPC, presented the cheque of Rs 10 lakh to Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU. The Registrar of the University, Dr PK Khanna was also present on this occasion.

Dr Dhillon expressed his profound gratitude to the SGPC and said this gesture will be beneficial for strengthening the farm research and transfer of technology programmes.

He stated that the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee is a historic organisation which has taught the people to work hard and serve the society with devotion and dedication. "As the rural populace is intensely associated with the farming, there is a need to encourage the youth to embrace agriculture as a profession and make vital contribution to the nation's food grain bowl," emphasised Dr Dhillon.

The contemporary agriculture, in the Punjab state, is confronting many challenges, he observed, saying that this gesture of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee will go a long way in addressing the farm issues through intensive research.

Ludhiana, March 25
The semester system in the post graduation classes, being run in the colleges affiliated with Panjab University, Chandigarh, is on the verge of closure as the PU Vice-Chancellor has formed a review committee comprising representatives from different colleges to study and submit their feedback on the issue. The semester system is expected to be abolished from the coming academic session if the Syndicate provides its nod in April meeting.

The issue was discussed in detail during the meeting of the Senate of the PU, in Chandigarh yesterday. Talking to The Tribune, Harpreet Dua, one of the members said that the semester system in postgraduate classes was introduced about three years ago to get good results.

"The semester system is tough as there are not sufficient numbers of teachers in colleges. Secondly, in December, winter break is declared (holidays). But the students of the PG classes have to take examinations. The concept was introduced to get better results. But they are the same as were under annual examination system. Many of the Senate members raised the issue and we are hopeful that the semester system will be abolished," said Dua.

Another Senate member RPS Josh said under the semester system, another major problem was delaying of results. The session for the next semester starts in colleges while results of previous semesters get delayed many times. "The next meeting of the Syndicate is going to be held in April and we hope that the system will end if there is a unanimous decision," said Josh adding that the members also discussed that the Self-Financed Courses, which had no viability and were in deficit, should be stopped, too.

Ludhiana, March 25
There seems to be hardly any takers in the city for the pre-paid broadband service being offered by the BSNL. CS Bhanot, Senior General Manager said there are not many customers for the pre-paid broadband service in the city. He said, however, there is a good customer base for the post-paid broadband service and the pre-paid service is not being much preferred here. Had it been introduced earlier, it would have been better received in the market, he added.

A resident, said that one of the reasons for fewer customers for the pre-paid broadband is less advertisement about the service being offered, said Jaswinder Singh, a resident. He said that he came to know about the scheme from a banner hanging at the BSNL office, Bharat Nagar.

The service is only available from the head office, say the BSNL officials. If it were available from the other BSNL offices, its popularity would have been more, said a resident.

Rather than low customer base, some residents complain about inadequate recharge vouchers for the service at the BSNL office.

Some BSNL officials said there can be problems of shortage of recharge vouchers, if prepaid service is switched to, said another resident.

Another problem is that the recharge vouchers are available only at the BSNL office.

"I was really interested in the pre-paid service, as one can choose to get the vouchers filled whenever required, rather than paying the regular monthly rent for the post-paid service. But I had to shelve the plan to switch to the new service when I came to know about shortage of recharge vouchers," said Rohit, a resident.

Talking about the complaints of less availability of the recharge vouchers, the GMT said he had not received any such complains of shortage of vouchers as yet. But if there were any, he would look into the issue,” he said.

Ludhiana, March 25
Fearing a tremendous hike in the collector rates from the coming financial year, residents are rushing to the sub-registrar offices to get their land deals registered by March 31.

A sub-registrar said because of a call for strike by the ministerial staff for two days and then due to holidays for another two days, offices remained closed. With Holi celebrations and then a weekend, a very few working days remained, he said. "Residents believes that from April 1 collector rates will increase, so many land deals are being registered these days. We, however, have not received any instructions to increase the rates," he said.

The collector rates generally see a hike of up to 20 per cent every year. This year, however, due to an overall slump in the real estate business, the state government recently issued a letter to all the Deputy Commissioners, seeking their feedback on the issue: Whether the collector rates should be increased and how much should the hike be. The DCs from various districts have been holding meetings with their respective tehsildars before giving details to the government.

One of the DCs said he has convened a meeting with tehsildars on March 29 to discuss the issue, after which he would send the feedback. "The real estate market has not done well in the previous financial year; so the hike, if implemented, should be nominal,” said the DC.

Another DC said there could not be a single rule for all the areas. He said the real estate prices had increased tremendously in some of the areas, while other areas saw a slump. "The government needs to be realistic while increasing the collector rates. It is good that we have been asked to provide feedback on the issue. It will make it easy for the state government to take a decision,” said the official.

Ludhiana, March 25
Shopkeepers of Gur Mandi and Talaab Bazaar today held a meeting with the MC Commissioner. Submitted their side of the story, shopkeepers claimed the shops were the property of temples located in respective areas.

The MC had planned to remove the shops, which it claimed were encroachments on its property. The demolition of 30 shops at Gur Mandi was to be carried out on March 13, and 22 shops were to be demolished at Talaab Bazaar on March 21.

However, the MC officials had to call off the demolition drives, after the duty magistrates and the police claimed if the MC went ahead with the drive, the issue might take a violent turn.

In both the cases, the temple committees claimed if the shops were demolished by the civic body, it would mean the demolition of the temple.

Today’s meeting was chaired by MC Commissioner Rakesh Kumar Verma and was attended by former BJP minister Satpal Gosain and Talaab Mandir Committee president Vinod Jain, besides others.

After the meeting, the temple committee members claimed the MC Commissioner has assured them that instead of demolishing the shops, an alternative way would be found.

The MC Commissioner, however, said the next course of action would be decided after deliberating on the claims submitted by the shopkeepers and the committees.

MC Additional Commissioner and head of the building branch Isha Kalia said the demolition drive had been put on hold for some time. “This does not mean the demolition drive has been cancelled. We will study the matter in detail and the final decision will be taken after that,” she said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 25
Feed Foundation Punjab, an NGO, which serves poor and downtrodden, announced to adopt slums situated on outskirts of the town.

The announcement was made during a maiden function of the organisation held at Shree Ram Dharamsala today. Besides extending monetary help to poor families for marrying their daughter, office-bearers presented books and stationery to the needy students of Government Primary School. — OC