Ludhiana, May 10
High-velocity winds accompanied by rain claimed two lives in Ludhiana today. A 35-year-old expectant woman and her two-year-old son were killed when the roof of their house collapsed following high-velocity winds and rain that lashed the city.

The incident took place around 7.30 pm at a one-room house in the Model Colony, Jagatpura Road, when the boundary wall of the adjoining double-storeyed building fell on the roof of the house, leading to the roof collapse.

The deceased have been identified as Nisha, a homemaker, and her son Kalu. Her five-year-old daughter was also injured in the accident. According to the police, Nisha was eight-month pregnant.

Nisha, along with her husband Satish and their six children, had been residing in the locality for the past many years. Satish is a safai worker in the city.

It is learnt that Nisha and her son were critically injured in the roof collapse. They were taken to the Civil Hospital, where they were declared brought dead. The daughter was discharged after giving her first aid.

Chandigarh, May 10
Nearly three decades after the Ludhiana Collector ordered the eviction of occupants from Faridkot House in Chaura Bazar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has upheld the orders.

The development is significant as the occupants were in possession of the property for almost half a century and were using it for commercial purposes. The orders came on a bunch of three petitions filed in 1987 by Jawahar Singh and other petitioners.

In their petition placed before Justice GS Sandhawalia, the petitioners had challenged the order issued on July 9, 1984, by the Collector. He had held them to be in unauthorised occupation of the public premises before ordering their eviction. An appeal filed before the Patiala Commissioner was dismissed on August 12, 1987.

The petitioners claimed that Faridkot House originally belonged to the erstwhile state of Faridkot. On formation of Pepsu, it became a property of the Union Government. Later, the property was devolved upon Punjab state under the State Reorganisation Act, 1966.

It was added that the premises was leased out to Jhanda Singh, Daljit Singh's father, who further leased out the property to the petitioners. Moreover, they were “all tenants and in occupation even before the premises was leased out to Daljit Singh on February 10, 1949”.

In March 1957, the Punjab Government formed the State Disposal Committee to dispose of uneconomic or surplus properties. In March 1964, the lease in favour of Daljit Singh was terminated. Thereafter, the petitioner-tenants were contacted for negotiations for the sale of the property. In March 1965, the petitioners and the committee, at a meeting, agreed to sell Faridkot House to the petitioners for Rs 3, 50,000.

The first instalment was deposited in April 1965. In December 1965, the then Finance Minister observed that the rate was too low and a “good amount” could be fetched in an open auction after getting it vacated. When the petitioners approached the committee to deposit the balance amount, the respondents refused to accept it. They were served a notice for ejectment in October 1975 on the grounds that on the termination of the lease of Daljit Singh, their possession was unlawful.

Taking up the matter, Justice GS Sandhawalia asserted the minister’s decision against entering into an agreement “could not be held to be against the interests of the government”.

Moreover, the lease of Jhanda Singh was terminated on March 31, 1964; and sub-tenant petitioners became unauthorised occupants of the public premises. “No fault can be found in the order of eviction passed against the petitioners which have been duly upheld by the Commissioner and the writ petition is dismissed. However, since the petitioners have been in possession of the property prior to 1965 and are using it for some commercial purposes and it would take some time for them to shift their place of business, the state will not take steps to dispossess them for a period of four months from the date of the order”.

Ludhiana, May 10
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation (MC) today sealed the entrance of a banquet hall of former Congress MLA Jassi Khangura's Hotel Majestic Park Plaza, a five-star facility, and two other commercial properties on the Ferozepur Road service lane. The entrance to Hotel Majestic Park Plaza’s Darbar and Kohinoor Hall was sealed as it fell in the parking area according to the building plan of the hotel.

The two other properties sealed today are Olivia and KP Complex. The complex also houses the office of a vernacular national daily.

After the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed some parking violations by 10 commercial establishments on the Ferozepur Road service lane, the MC had served notices on Monday asking the establishments to make provisions for parking according to the approved building plans or be prepared to get their premises sealed.

These 10 commercial establishments were Hotel Majestic Park Plaza, Ansal Plaza, Hotel Friends Regency, Hotel Nagpal Regency, Khushi Ram and Sons, Olivia, Hotel Batra, Hotel A, KP Complex and Jay Sons, all located on Ferozepur Road.

During a drive carried out yesterday, Hotel Batra and Jay Sons were sealed by a five-member panel comprising MC Joint Commissioner Ajay Sood, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Dhruman Nimble, Additional Commissioner (Technical) Dharam Singh, Municipal Town Planner Raj Kumar and Assistant Town Planner (Zone D) Rajinder Sharma.

Ludhiana, May 10
The decomposed body of a four-year-old girl was found in a house in Model Town here today. The girl was allegedly killed by her mother due to a matrimonial dispute after which the woman also tried to kill herself on April 21.

The body of Jasmira, daughter of Harsimranjeet Kaur and Jaskaran Singh, was found lying in a bedroom at their rented accommodation in Model Town, where the couple was residing for the past two and a half months.

According to preliminary investigation, Harsimranjeet Kaur allegedly killed her only child, Jasmira, on April 21 and also tried to attempt suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling with a dupatta. She wrote a "suicide note" on a wall of the bedroom stating that her brother-in-law Jasmeet Singh, alias Somu Batra, his wife Pushpinder Kaur, alias Gudia Batra, and Gudia's brother Sonu were responsible for her and her daughter's death.

According to the police, she also took poison in a bid to commit suicide on April 21, but survived.

"Harsimranjeet was admitted to Preet Hospital after she took poison. The hospital authorities informed the police. When the police went to the hospital on April 22 to record her statement, she said she had taken an overdose of a medicine," said Davinder Kumar, SHO of the Model Town police station.

On the night of April 22, she jumped in front of a train near the railway station, but survived. However, she lost her leg and sustained injuries. Her parents admitted her to the DMCH.

According to the SHO, "She did not disclose to anyone that she had killed her daughter. Her husband Jaskaran Singh had left the house after the dispute on April 21 and was not aware about his daughter's status. He was staying in a hotel near the railway station".

Today, Jaskaran went home to collect some clothes and found the house locked. He opened the door with a duplicate key and found his daughter's body lying on a bed. He informed the police.

Ishar Singh, owner of the house, said they became suspicious after foul smell started emanating from the ranted accommodation. "I had called up Jaskaran a few day ago and asked him to vacate the accommodation", he said.

Harsimranjeet Kaur and Jaskaran Singh got married in 2008. They often used to fight with each other. Harsimranjeet had got a case registered against her in-laws in 2012 on dowry charge. The duo had left the house in Model Town Extension to avoid a dispute with the family and had hired an accommodation. However, this did not help much.

The SHO said, "Harsimranjeet has confessed in the note written on the wall of the bedroom that she killed her daughter. She later attempted suicide. A case under Sections 304 and 309 of the IPC has been registered against Harsimranjeet. She is under treatment at a hospital and is yet to be arrested."

Ludhiana, May 10
Work on a hostel at the Government College for Girls has not been completed due to the paucity of funds. Though the University Grants Commission 2007-08 released the grant to the college the work has not been completed.

At present, the college authorities have got the hostel facility for about 250 students (150 sports-wing and 100 non-sports wing) but they need more accommodation for more students.

Dr Gurminder Kaur, Principal of the college, said a grant of Rs 70 lakh had come from the UGC in two instalments. The money of the first instalment has been utilised. “We are planning to construct two new blocks for girls. However, the construction was stopped by the PWD for about one year. With the intervention of Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, PWD Minister, the construction has now again started. If not both, we hope that at least one block is constructed with the money well in time,” said the Principal.

One of the senior teachers in the college said the cost of construction had increased manifold during the last five years. He said there was a need to generate more resources to get the construction of both blocks completed. 

Ludhiana, May 10
Panic spread in Rajiv Gandhi colony and surrounding areas after a missile-like object hit the house after explosion at Focal Point area today.

According to residents, the explosion was very loud and resident of the area in panic left their residences.

The missile like object fell on Ramesh Kumar's house. The incident took place at around 2.00 pm when Priya, daughter of Ramesh, was alone at home.

"I was doing my routine chores at my home when a missile like object fell over our house after explosion. I had never heard such an explosion before," said Priya.

According to the police officials, the missile like object was a pipe. It was 3-feet long with 12-inches in radius. The weight of pipe was around 30 kg. The pipe made depression of 10 inch on the ground. The roof of the house was damaged. The pipe was empty from inside and there were no signs of nut-bolts on the edges of the pipe.

After explosion a huge number of people gathered at the spot and informed to the police. ADCP NK Sharma and Moti Nagar SHO Jagjit Singh rushed to the spot. The police vacated the houses and a school from the 200-meter area. To identify the type of "weapon" the police also called army officials. Army officers denied that the pipe was missile or any such weapon.

Ludhiana, May 10
Residents heaved a sigh of relief today in the evening when stormy winds followed by rainfall made the weather pleasant. At around 6 pm today, dark clouds followed by stormy winds dipped the mercury, which touched 41.6 degree Celsius today.

Dr KK Gill, Agrometrologist, Punjab Agricultural University, said: “The rainfall was expected due to western disturbances. The weather will remain cloudy till May 12.”

Today 23 degree Celsius was the minimum recorded temperature. 

Ludhiana, May 10
As the zila parishad and the block samiti elections approach, the state-level political alliance is showing chinks at the local level.

Seat-sharing, in some blocks, has turned into an issue between the SAD and the BJP. The local leaders and workers of the BJP allege that the SAD leaders at the local level were reluctant to share power with their alliance partner.

Referring to the May 8 incident, in which the SAD allegedly tried to adopt coercive tactics to pressurise a BJP candidate from the Kanech Block to withdraw his nomination, the BJP District Ludhiana (Rural) president, Bikramjit Singh Cheema, admitted that the relations between the alliance partners at the local level were less than cordial.

"The high commands of both the parties have been trying their best to sort out the problems, but still the issues at the local level remain unresolved," he said.

He said the differences usually arise from the unwillingness of one of the partners to allow the other partner a political space. "The party workers get demoralised if they are not given any political space during the poll."

The PWD Minister and senior Akali leader Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, while denying that there was any issue related to seat sharing between the parties, said earlier also the SAD and the BJP had no seat sharing at the block samiti and zila parishad levels. 

Ludhiana, May 10
It is democracy on paper. A closer look at the grass-roots level reveals disturbing trend, as the influence of the ruling party is too conspicuous at this level.

Twentysix candidates for the samiti poll are standing unopposed after the withdrawal of nominations. Most of these unopposed candidates belong to the ruling SAD. No one has filed nominations against the SAD candidate from Zone 16 in the zila parishad elections. The condition is worse in Sidhwa Bet, where 10 of the 14 candidates in the fray are standing unopposed after 12 candidates withdrew from the contest.

"Many of the candidates were not allowed to file papers, and some of the nominations of our candidates have been cancelled," said Malkit Singh Dakha, president of the district Congress (rural). "But, we are contesting the elections to maintain our existence at this level. Even though candidates generally are not very keen on these elections for the limited powers given to the members of the rural bodies," he said.

"If the Opposition candidates had withdrawn their nominations or joined the SAD, it only reflects the condition the Opposition party is in," said PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon. 

Ludhiana, May 10
The youngest and the oldest candidates contesting the Zila Parishad poll in Ludhiana are from the Congress. And incidentally, both are women. Anju, Congress candidate from the Hans Kalan zone, is 21 years old while Kartar Kaur, party candidate from the Narangwal zone, is 73 years old.

The average age of the candidates contesting the Zila Parishad poll in Ludhiana is 44 years. Among the SAD candidates, the youngest person is 25-year-old Barjinder Singh from the Mutton zone while the oldest is 69-year-old Gurcharan Singh from the Heeran zone.

Among the 17 women candidates, eight are from the SAD and an equal number are from the Congress. One is from the Rashtriya Teesra Front.

As for the educational qualifications, around 40 per cent of the candidates are either matriculate or plus two. At least six candidates are under-matriculate. Among the candidates with higher educational qualifications are the Congress candidate from Kila Raipur who's an LLB, the SAD candidate from Narangwal who is a post graduate in commerce, the SAD candidate from Sudhar, a BTech, and the SAD candidate from Chak Sarwan Nath who has a bachelor's degree in nursing.

The lone CPI (M) candidate has studied till Class VIII while the only Independent candidate has cleared Class V examination. 

Ludhiana, May 10
For conducting the panchayat poll in a smooth and transparent manner, Deputy Commissioner-cum-district election officer Rahul Tiwari has banned the carrying of arms/weapons on May 19. The DIG, Ludhiana Range, MF Farukhi, has said a meeting of the police officials was held yesterday where the officials were told to redress the local residents' grievances on priority.

Talking to The Tribune, Farukhi said instructions had been given to the SSPs concerned to activate their police force and identify problems in the sensitive areas. The maximum sensitive stations have been identified in Ludhiana Rural where 46 stations are highly sensitive and 102 polling stations sensitive.

"For conducting elections in a peaceful manner, residents' arms will be deposited. It will be our discretion to allow residents to carry weapons in serious cases. Besides, the officials have been asked to keep a tab on the miscreants who could spoil peace during the elections," said the DIG.

According to the data available with the Commissioner of Police and the DIG, Ludhiana Range, out of a total of 960 polling stations in Ludhiana district, maximum sensitive stations have been identified in the Ludhiana Rural area. Under Ludhiana Commissionerate, there are a total of 306 polling stations (the number can increase as the final lists were being prepared). Of these, 125 stations are sensitive while the remaining 181 are normal. In Khanna, there are 352 polling stations for the panchayat elections. Of these, 113 stations have been identified as sensitive. Out of a total of 960 polling stations in Ludhiana district, 386 stations have been identified as sensitive.

Ludhiana, May 10
On a call of the All-India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists, the Ludhiana District Chemists Association observed a bandh today. Although very critical patients were attended to by chemists, patients at the OPDs were at the receiving end of their agitation as the shops had been closed for 24 hours.

A few chemist shops, which were partially opened in the morning, were later closed on the request of the association members.

Raminder Kaur Chawla, a resident of Model Town, said: "I was not aware of this strike. The doctor has prescribed some medicine, but I failed to buy it due to the bandh." In the scorching heat, patients at the OPDs of different hospitals were seen quite upset with only prescription slips in their hands. Another patient, Narinder Verma, who was accompanying his father for a follow-up check-up at a private hospital, said: "It is good to raise voice for getting justice but it should not be at the cost of patients' convenience."

Ludhiana, May 10
On the directions of the Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, the District Health Department today observed National Deworming Day under the guidance of Dr Kaushal Saini Assistant Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, by distributing albendazole tablets to the students of government and government-aided schools.

Each student was given away one tablet of albendazole. The second doze of this tablet will be repeated on November 15. Dr Saini said, "Each child will be given one iron tablet every week. With this the school students will get relieve from the worms and blood efficiency will also improve."

Ludhiana, May 10
To protest against the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation’s anti-encroachment drive, the shopkeepers, whose shops are near to the service lane at Ferozepur road, have jointly given a call to keep their shops closed on May 14. a“The local associations of the shopkeepers from the Bharat Nagar Chowk, Aarti Chowk and Aggar Nagar jointly held meeting today to fight back for the injustice being done to them. 

Ludhiana, May 10
An urgent meeting of the office-bearers of the United Cycle and Parts Manufacturers Association was held under Inderjit Singh Navyug, acting president in the absence of Gurmeet Singh Kular, to discuss advance consumption deposit (ACD) being implemented by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for consumers and unscheduled power cuts.

The cycle industry is already facing a financial crunch. Continuous problems like ACD charges will further affect production, squeeze liquidity and throw the industry out of competition at the national and international levels. — OC

Ludhiana, May 10
Residents of the Pratap Colony in Jamalpur beat up a thief today. He barged into a house in an inebriated condition and snatched the bangles of a woman in the house while threatening her with a knife.

Area residents caught him when he was trying to flee after stealing the bangles. He was later handed over to the police officials. The accused has been identified as Bhupinder Kumar of Harbanspur area. A case of theft was registered against him. 

Machhiwara, May 10
A commission agent of Raipur Bet village was killed today when his .12 calibre rifle went of accidentally while he was cleaning it. Rajinder Singh Gill (52) was cleaning his rifle before depositing it at the police station. The Koom Kalan police station officials were informed about the incident and they reached the spot to check about the incident. ASI Jasvir Singh said no complaint has been filed in this regard.

Jagraon: A man was injured when a bullet fired accidentally from his licensed revolver hit the lower part of his leg. The victim, identified as Jagdish Singh, is a resident of the Tehsil Road area, Jagraon, and a close relative of a senior Akali leader and former Jagraon MLA Bhag Singh Mallha.

The incident reportedly took place late last evening when the victim was cleaning his licensed revolver at his house. His family members rushed him to a private hospital in Jagraon. The victim is stated to be out of danger. The police confirmed the incident. 

Ludhiana, May 10
The Excise and Taxation Department has unearthed nearly 10 cases of bogus billing at Transport Nagar. While the offices had been opened as transport firms, they were actually involved in bogus billing. No transport business was carried out by these firms. These firms were regularly paying sales tax returns to hoodwink the department.

The department raided 10 firms located at Transport Nagar and seized 49 bill books. "All these firms had opened transport offices in the name only. They were actually doing the illegal work of making bogus bills. The actual amount of the bills issued will be known only after we assess their bill books," said Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, District I, Tejbir Singh Sidhu.

Discussing the modus operandi adopted by these firms, Brar said they issued bills to those traders who had stock without documents. The consignment was then sent to the neighbouring states without getting the stock checked at information collection centres and hence causing loss to the state exchequer.

Jagraon, May 10
The Jagraon police has booked a woman and her son for allegedly stealing valuables and forcibly occupying the house of an NRI.

ASI Raminderjit Singh said the police has registered a case against Gurpreet Kaur and her son Tejpal Singh, residents of Rauwal village near Sidhwan Bet, following a complaint lodged by a Canada-based NRI woman Charanjit Kaur.

In her complaint to the police, Charanjit Kaur said that her family had moved to Canada around 27 years back. “When I returned to our village in the first week of February I was shocked to see that my brother-in-law’s wife and son had illegally occupied our house. Besides, some valuable were also found missing from the house,” said Charanjit Kaur in her complaint to the police.

ASI Raminderjit Singh said after verifying the facts of the complaint, a case under Sections 379, 448, 511 and 34 of IPC was registered against Gurpreet Kaur and her son Tejpal Singh. 

Khanna May 10
Twelve women workers of a spinning mill were injured when a mini-bus in which they were travelling overturned near Bhattian Khanna.

The injured has been identified as Jasbir of Ramgarh, Rimpi of Ramgarh, Chranjit Kaur of Bhari, Manpret Kaur, Dhrampal of Raghheri, Suman of Khanna, Gurpreet Kaur of Ramgarh, Paramjit of Ramgarh, Chranjit Kaur of Khanna, Surinder of Khanna, Inderjit Kaur of Rangheri, Arshpreet of Rangheri and Ajay of Lalheri.

SMO Khanna said 12 women were rushed to the hospital and were given first-aid. He said all the women were out of danger and have minor injuries.

The bus was coming from Ludhiana to drop the women to their respective houses and it overturned near Khanna.

SSP Khanna S Bhoopthi said all the women were declared out of danger. He said that they were enquiring into the matter.

Ludhiana, May 10
The police today arrested three members of the Arora family in the Sachin murder case. The Arora family resides in a house right in front of Sachin Gupta's house.

Earlier, the police had booked Hari Parshad, alias Gabbar Singh, alias Chhotu, a domestic help of the Arora family, for murdering Sachin Gupta on the same day when his body was found from the Aroras' residence.

Today, the police arrested Davinder Arora, alias Goldy, Chetna, alias Harleen Kaur, Goldy's wife, and Inderjeet Kaur Arora, his mother.

Police commissioner Ishawar Singh said they had found the members of the Arora family were involved in the murder case. The accused murdered Sachin for ransom. The police had arrested some of the members of the Arora family on May 7. One of the accused, Manjit Singh Arora, Goldy's father is still at large.