Ludhiana, March 30
Following the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials today confiscated more than 50 two-wheelers and eight cars. Around 110 residents were challaned for wrong parking on the service lane along the Ferozepur road here. The drive, which started in the afternoon, continued till late evening.

Ever since the issue of encroachments on the service lane along the Ferozepur road reached the High Court, the civic body officials have been pulled up by the court. This anti-encroachment drive has been going on for the past several weeks, but it seems the residents are just not following the rules. People still park vehicles on the service lane.

It was in the afternoon that a team, led by MC Additional Commissioner Sumit Jarangal, visited the Ferozepur road to take stock of illegal parking. Later, the drive started outside Friends Regency Hotel, from where 27 two-wheelers and four cars were confiscated. Several two-wheelers and four-wheelers were also impounded from Bedi Electronics, Punjab National Bank and other commercial establishments situated along the service lane.

Tehbazaari Superintendent of the MC Naveen Malhotra said the owners of the Majestic Park Plaza hotel had been asked to uproot the green belt developed on a portion of the service lane.

"The green belt is causing obstruction to traffic. The owners of malls, hotels and commercial establishments have been directed to make their own parking arrangements. If any person parks his or her vehicle on the service lane, they would be confiscated," he informed.

In case of a four-wheeler being confiscated, the fine is Rs 850, for a two-wheeler Rs 500 and in case of an on-the-spot challan, the fine is Rs 200 per vehicle.

Ludhiana, March 30
Former bank manager Harpal Singh of Model Town here has been sentenced to rigorous life imprisonment for killing his wife Amarjit Kaur. On March 27, Additional Sessions Judge Sunil Arora had held him guilty of murdering his wife by slitting her throat.

Harpal Singh had murdered his wife 25 years after the marriage, as she could not bear a child. The former manager of Punjab National Bank wanted to marry again in order to father a child, claimed the prosecution.

Amarjit Kaur was murdered in her house on June 27, 2003. She was stated to be alone at the house at the time of the murder, which took place between 8.45 pm and 10 pm.

In an FIR, Harpal Singh had stated that when he came home that night, he found the door open and saw his wife dead on a sofa. He had blamed robbers for his wife's death. Initially, a case against unknown persons was registered at the Model Town police station on June 27.

The case had become a prestige issue for the police, as the woman's parents, who are based in Kolkata, had hired private detectives to crack the case.

The victim's brother Taranjit Singh, a Kolkata-based businessman, had pursued the case with the police and the accused was booked 33 days after the murder.

Special Public Prosecutor Sukhchain Singh had demanded severe punishment for the convict.

Ludhiana, March 30
In the two cases of daylight theft in the city today, thieves stole Rs 5 lakh and Rs 3 lakh from cars at separate places by breaking their windowpanes. Both the incidents happened within an hour.

In the first incident, thieves stole Rs 3 lakh from a car near Punjab Diary at Maharaj Nagar at around 12.45 pm.

According to the police, a contractor, Naushad, had gone to meet an architect near the diary. His driver parked his SUV in the busy market and went to fetch water from the nearby temple. Thieves broke the windowpanes and took away a briefcase placed on the backseat of the vehicle.

"I had kept Rs 3 lakh in the briefcase, which was stolen," said Naushad.

The second incident took place on Gill Road around 1: 40 pm. According to the police, Parveen Kumar, a businessman from Sangrur, along with his son and servant, had gone to a showroom to purchase some goods. They parked their car outside the showroom. While they were purchasing the required goods, Parveen went out to get the cash from the car. "I was shocked to see that the windowpanes of my car were damaged and the briefcase, in which I had kept Rs 5 lakh, was stolen," said Parveen.

Ludhiana, March 30
With three snatching incidents reported last evening within a span of three hours, snatchers seem to have become active in the city.

Two bikers snatched a woman's gold chain and escaped through a police naka in Green Field area, near Model Gram. The incident took place around 7:30 pm. More than eight policemen were standing near at the spot.

Another snatching incident took place at Sarabha Nagar around 9 pm when a bag containing Rs 11,000, an ATM card and a driver's licence and other documents was snatched from a woman.

Meanwhile, the Daresi police registered a case in which two snatchers has snatched two mobile phones, a silver chain and Rs 600 from a couple near Jain Model School.

Around 64 cases of snatching have been reported in the city in the past six months. Many cases go unreported as women do want to be involved in formalities involved in the filing of cases with the police.

A woman, who is a government employee, while recounting her experience, says: "Recently, my purse was snatched by two motorcycle-borne youngsters and after 15 days my gold chain was also snatched. Women like me feel insecure." A senior citizen from a locality near Agar Nagar is still to recover from the shock of having her gold chain snatched by bikers.

“Recently, we nabbed the criminals who were involved in cases of snatching and recovered four gold chains from them,” said ADCP-1 Nilamberi Vijay Jagdale 

Ludhiana, March 30
First phase of "jantantra", a yatra by social worker Anna Hazare, will commence from Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar on March 31. Till April 4, the social activist, along with General VK Singh (retd) will cover several districts of Punjab before reaching Delhi.

During his short stint, at Platform Number 2, railway station here around 11.20 am, Hazare was warmly welcomed by the workers of the Jantantra Morcha. While the workers raised the slogans, a drummer played drums as a welcome gesture.

On his way to Amritsar, Hazare came near the entrance point of the bogey and thanked the supporters for extending warm welcome. He said it was unfortunate that government was making fool of the masses over Jan Lokpal Bill. He said he will struggle till the bill was passed.

"We want India to be corruption free. The jantantra yatra is a step towards it and it will last for a year and a half," said Hazare. He also said the masses need to be united for a corruption free India.

Hazare alongwith Gen VK Singh (retd) will start the yatra tomorrow from Jallianwala Bagh, Amritsar, and will move at places Dera Beas, Kapurthala, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Moga, Hussainiwala, Faridkot, Guniana, Barnala, Bathinda etc. By April 4, Anna will cover Punjab before going for Haryana and Western Uttar Pradesh.

Ludhiana, March 30
With just a day remaining for the end of current financial year (2012-13), the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials are hopeful that they would be able to achieve their target by tomorrow.

At present, the MC officials are running short of around Rs 22 crore when compared with total outstanding house tax and around Rs 7 crore when compared with this year’s house tax recovery target.

For speeding up the recovery drive, the MC Commissioner had asked its staff of the house tax branch to keep working on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, all holidays in the civic body.

It is learnt that this amount has stayed pending because the residents were expecting that the state government would give them some relief by waiving off of interest on pending house tax.

As per information, city residents owe around Rs 105 crore as house tax to the MC and till date, the civic body has managed to recover around Rs 83 crore. Even though the MC had set itself a recovery target of Rs 90 crore for the current financial year (2012-13), but when we compare it with the total outstanding amount, the remaining amount comes out to be around Rs 22 crore.

MC Additional Commissioner Davinder Singh informed that the ground work for the recovery of outstanding house tax has been done.

“Our officials have worked very hard in these three days and are expecting that by tomorrow (last day of the current financial year), we would be able to recover enough outstanding amounts so that our year’s target of Rs 90 crore is achieved,” he informed.

The MC officials are expecting that tomorrow being the last day of current financial year, a large number of residents would be submitting their house tax. “If they fail to pay the outstanding amount, then from April 1 onwards, they would have to pay it along with the penal interest,” warned Davinder Singh.

Ludhiana, March 30
The district Health Department is yet receive about 20 types of medicines and surgical equipment.

According to officials sources, "All the district hospitals are supposed to have as many as 152 types of medicines, which they give to patients free of cost. Of these, about 20 medicines and surgical equipment have not been supplied to them".

The supply of these medicines started in December 2012. According to an officer of the department, "Earlier, the government hospitals used to get these medicines through the Punjab State Health System Corporation. Now, these are supplied under the National Rural Health Mission. The contracts were awarded to pharmaceutical firms in Nov 2012 and the supply of medicines began in Dec. The medicines are being supplied till date."

Deputy Medical Commissioner AK Handa said: "We have received about 90 per cent of the medicines from the state Health Department. Only 10 per cent medicines are yet to be supplied. However, we have other medicines as substitute."

The district Health Department received these medicines after a span of one or two years.

Ludhiana, March 30
A 10-year-old child injured his foot badly when a transformer fell on his foot after a truck rammed into an electric transformer at Street Number 9 of New Kundanpuri area here today.

The incident took place around 6 pm when some children were playing in the street near Anad Marg School. A Tata 407 truck rammed into the electric poles and the transformer on the poles fell down. The victim’s toes of left foot were crushed under the power transformer.

It is not the first time when such accident took place in the area. Electric poles in can be seen in the middle of narrow streets in the area which often led to the accidents.

Samrala March 30
The Khanna police has formed a special police team under SPD Khanna to conduct a probe in an alleged raping and injuring of a minor school girl’s case. Confirming the incident SSP Khanna said that a minor girl of Class I was admitted to the Civil Hospital on March 18 and later she was referred to Ludhiana.

After the medical reports, the doctors suggested that the girl was also raped before accident. Following the report, the section of rape was added by the Samrala police in the case.

The SSP assured that the special team will enquire the case deeply. He said the rape charges are yet to be confirmed.

Ludhiana, March 30
Kulwant Singh Malhi, an ASI with the Punjab police was honoured by the Senior Citizens Welfare Association here for helping a visually impaired senior citizen, who landed at Ludhiana railway station after being abandoned by his family in a train in Maharashtra.

The president of the association, SP Karkara said during year 2012-13, Senior Citizens Welfare Association, Ludhiana, (SCWAL) had organised six free medical camps, three seminars/symposiums on problems and issues concerning elderly persons and two visits to senior citizens homes to help the inmates who had to live in isolation from their families.

Besides, artificial limbs were provided to over 40 poor physically disabled persons and eye surgery of as many as 53 poor patients was arranged free.

Jagraon, March 30
The Mullanpur Dakha police has arrested a youth and claimed to have seized a huge quantity of habit forming drugs from his possession. The accused has been identified as Vikky, a resident of Mullanpur Dakha.

The police said, the accused was arrested from near Mullanpur Dakha during a routine checking by the police last evening. The Mullanpur Dakha police station, SHO Manjinder Singh, said a police party led by ASI Bikkar Singh had set up a check post on the outskirts of the town.

"The police personnel were checking the vehicles at the check post when they noticed a pedestrian coming from the Ludhiana side. The police stopped him after searching him, it recovered habit forming drugs," said the SHO.

He further informed that the police had recovered 2,600 tablets, 30 capsules and one bottle of cough syrup from him. — OC

Jagraon, March 30
A 22-year-old girl died while her younger brother and father were critically injured when the two-wheeler they were riding on, was hit by an unknown vehicle on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway here today afternoon.

The mishap took place near Gurduwara Nanaksar, about five kilometres away from Jagraon when the victims were returning to their village from Jagraon.

The deceased has been identified as Rajvir Kaur, a resident of Kaunke Kalan village near Jagraon, whereas the injured have been identified as Jagsir Singh (father of the deceased) and her younger brother Gurvir Singh, who is 6-year-old.

Sources said, the trio was returning to their village from Jagraon where they had come for the admission of Gurvir in a school located on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway. As they reached near Gurduwara Nanaksar, the scooter their scooter was hit by an unknown speeding vehicle coming from the backside.

They were immediately rushed to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana, where the girl was declared brought dead by the doctors. The father and son due were under treatment at the hospital and their condition is stated to be stable. The driver of the vehicle who had hit their scooter fled away from the scene immediately after the accident.

Jagraon, March 30
A 28-year-old boy reportedly attempted suicide by jumping into the Abohar Branch of Sirhind feeder canal, near Akhara village, today. It was feared that the youth might have died off drowning, even though the body had not been recovered.

The youth has been identified as Sona, son of Nacchatar Singh of Dholan village located on Jagraon-Raikot Road. The incident came to light today afternoon when some people saw the youth jumping into the canal, near a bridge built over the canal. The onlookers then informed the local police. The police force and senior police officials, including DSP Jagraon Surinder Kumar and ASI Mukhtiar Singh arrived at the spot and launched the search operation to retrieve the youth. But all the attempts went in vein and the search operation had to be stopped due to darkness. The police would resume the search operation tomorrow morning.

"We have failed to locate the youth and we would resume the search operation tomorrow morning. Though the possibility of the youth being alive is grim", said ASI Mukhtiar Singh, investigating officer of this case.

According to ASI Mukhtiar Singh, some people saw the youth consuming liquor near the canal. "The police has also found an empty liquor bottle from where the youth jumped. This indicates that the youth jumped into the canal with the intention of committing suicide", he added.

However, no case has been registered and ASI Mukhtiar Singh said the police would take appropriate action only after locating the youth from canal

The IMA has strongly condemned the violent incident which took place at the Kiran Hospital, Gill Road, yesterday. The IMA has full sympathy with the family of the deceased Mini Chopra. But at the same time IMA is of firm opinion that relative of the patient should not take law into their own hands & indulge in ransacking the hospital.

A delegation of IMA doctors, led by Dr Manoj Sobti, president IMA, Punjab, met Bhupinder Singh Sidhu, Additional Commissioner Police, Ludhiana, and requested him to provide protection to the doctor & his hospital.

Khanna, March 30
The Khanna police arrested one person and recovered 4 kg of opium from his possession here. The accused has been identified as Pritpal Singh, a resident of Shamspur village near khanna. Bhupinder Singh, SP (D) said that the accused was arrested during a naka held by the CIA team at a bus stop in Nasrali village.

While mentioning about accused's modus operandi, the SP said accused, who was the husband of former sarpanch of the village, used to sell illegal wine around eight-ten years ago and poppy husk, but was never arrested. Sometime ago he started selling opium in Sangrur and Ludhiana periphery.

He brought the contraband from Madhya Pardesh and later sold it in this area. The SP said that only through such means of earning, the accused could send his daughter abroad and afford the expensive study of his son.

He further said Pritpal intended to sell opium in Jarg Mela, which was going to start in next few days. He wanted to make huge amount of money but was arrested well before this. The police has registered a case against the accused and he will be presented in the court tomorrow.

In other incident a person identified as Inderjit singh, a resident of Jalajjan village was arrested during a naka near Faizgarh village with 30 Kg Poppy Husk.

A case under the NDPS Act was registered against the alleged accused.