Ludhiana, May 11
The badly mutilated body of an eight-year-old girl, who had gone missing on April 22 from the New Shastri Nagar area in Jodhewal Basti, was found in a vacant plot at New Shakti Nagar near here today. She had gone missing while she was playing with her friends outside her house.

The police had registered a kidnap case against unidentified persons.

The incident came to light this afternoon when Anees and Nadeem, both rag pickers, were taking their goats out for grazing.

They spotted the body and informed the police about it.

"The victim’s limbs were scattered in the plot and the body was partially burnt," said Anees.

The police reached the spot and sent the body to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination. The victim's parents, too, were asked to visit the Civil Hospital to identify the body.

"She is my daughter. Look what the killers have done to her. God will never forgive the killers," lamented her mother. She identified her daughter from the nail polish and sleepers she was wearing the day she had gone missing.

Her father Bhajan Singh works as a porter at the railway station. The victim was the youngest of the three siblings. Her sister is married while her brother is a daily wage earner. Owing to poor poor economical condition of the family, Pushpa dropped out of the school and started helping her ailing mother at home.

Balwinder Singh, SHO, Jodhewal Basti, said the post-mortem of the body would be conducted by a board of doctors. He did not rule out the girl was dumped after being raped.

He said the police had registered a case of kidnap and murder against unidentified persons. The rape section would be included if the autopsy report proved the victim was raped and then killed.

Is it the handiwork of a serial killer?

Both the girls have been kidnapped and killed in a similar manner. There is a strong possibility that both the girls could have been killed by the same person — Naresh Kumar, ADCP - IV

Paedophile’s involvement not ruled out

Ludhiana, May 11
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation officials today sealed the workshop of Khushi Ram and Sons, a prominent sweets shop of the city located on the Ferozepur Road service lane here. The owner had not built a parking lot on the back of the building, as it has been shown in the building plan submitted to the authorities.

Instead of constructing a 2,703 sq ft parking on the rear side of his building, the owner constructed a workshop for manufacturing sweets. The area ‘shown’ as a parking lot in the building plan was sealed by the civic officials today.

During a similar drive, the civic officials had sealed a portion of former Congress MLA Jassi Khangura’s five star Hotel Majestic Park Plaza, a portion of the building that houses a the Olivia restaurant and a portion of the basement of KP Complex. Hotel Majestic Park Plaza had been sealed for not having a proper basement (40feet X265 feet), where a parking facility was to be constructed according to the building plan.

Rajinder Sharma, ATP, said the workshop of Khushi Ram and Sons had been sealed as it was constructed on the area, which has been earmarked for parking. “There was no provision of rear parking as shown in the building plan,” he stated.

The the Punjab and Haryana High Court had appointed commissioners to identify parking-related violations and 10 commercial establishments, namely Hotel Majestic Park Plaza, Ansal Plaza, Hotel Friends Regency, Hotel Nagpal Regency, Khushi Ram and Sons, Olivia, Hotel Batra, Hotel A, K P Complex and Jay Sons, were identified. During a hearing on April 30, the court had issued orders that the MC should serve 48-hour notices on these commercial establishments and seal the establishments if their parking arrangements were not according to the rules.

Ludhiana, May 11
The Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) has been drawing flak for a slack enforcement of the rules governing the allotment of residential and commercial properties, and inaction against the violation of the land use norms.

Scores of commercial establishments are thriving in residential areas as residential flats have been converted into shops and showrooms. In certain localities the allottees have rented out residential properties or flats for opening bank branches or running restaurants and other commercial ventures.

Recently, the LIT received a rap from the Punjab and Haryana High Court for allowing the commercial use of residential flats in Sant Isher Singh Nagar locality on Pakhowal Road here.

In a similar instance of gross violation of the land use and allotment norms, more than 70 per cent allottees of shop-cum-flats (SCFs) in the E block of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, a colony developed on 475 acres by the LIT, have put their properties to commercial use, without inviting any penal action from the Trust authorities.

In a complaint filed with the Principal Secretary, Local Government Department, Punjab, president of the Council of RTI Activists Rohit Sabharwal and its secretary Arvind Sharma have alleged that a majority of the allottees of the SCFs had illegally changed the land use and were not adhering to the approved building plans.

According to the complaint, banks, restaurants, department stores or private clinics were being run from the residential portions of the SCFs in many cases. “The blatant violations have taken place over a long period of time, but till date the LIT officials have not taken any penal action against the defaulters,” the complaint says.

The council has urged the state government to take appropriate action against the allottees for the illegal change of land use and violations of the allotment rules and building bylaws. It has also urged the state government to fix the responsibility of the LIT officials who had failed to take appropriate action against the defaulters.

An Engineer of the LIT, SS Jakhar, said the complaint had come to his notice recently. He admitted that no change of land use was permissible in any of the LIT properties, which were meant to be used specifically for the purpose mentioned in the allotment letters. Jakhar said the Trust would conduct a survey of the SCFs in E Block of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar in the next few days. “Action according to the rules of allotment will be taken for violations against the defaulting allottees on the basis of the survey report,” he added.

Ludhiana, May 11
"Schools that do not comply with the norms laid down by the board will be closed down," said Tejinder Kaur Dhaliwal, Chairperson, PSEB, "It is difficult to even locate the addresses of some of the schools. Such schools do not confirm to any of the norms and will be shut down," she added.

To prevent the menace of copying in schools, she said the board would be initiating an anti-copying campaign from July to October this year, she said. There would be seminars, and teachers would be given information about the measures they could take to stop copying, she added.

Talking about the changes in syllabus and content of the books, she said that the changes were being done in a phased manner and it would take about two and a half years to complete the process. She said that though contents of some of the books were not up to the standards, but this was only two per cent, as content of other books was better than even CBSE books.

When asked about the increase in the examination fee, she said that the fee had rather been rationalised and not increased, as the procedures have been made online, these would help streamline work, and decrease hassles for students.

Talking about the rationalisation of teachers, she said that although it fell in the domain of the administration and education department, but she was in favour of rationalisation. A lot of work had been done by DGSE office and all the information and data that was required for the purpose had been collated, she added.

She said that although boards had started adopting international education pattern. Some of the schools in Chandigarh have tied up with foreign agencies to impart education, but the value of education cannot be undermined. Providing international content is fine, but our children can only progress if they were given indigenous education and knowledge. Knowledge of our land and mother-tongue could not be undervalued, she said.

She mentioned that late paper-purchase was a reason for the late printing and delivery of books in schools and that happened before had taken charge.

She said delivery of books for elementary classes had now been completed, and none of the stocks remain pending with the board. Printing for books for higher classes for some subjects was being completed, she said.

Ludhiana, May 11
For ensuring free, fair and peaceful panchayat samiti and zila parishads elections in the state, the State Election Commissioner, Punjab, has asked to political parties, contesting candidates, ministers, employees of the state government, local bodies and other public servants connected with local body elections, to religiously follow the code of conduct.

SS Brar, the State Election Commissioner, Punjab, said the District Electoral Officers-cum-Deputy Commissioners and the police were authorised to initiate prosecution against violation of the code before the Competent Criminal Courts under intimation to the State Election Commissioner.

The State Election Commissioner, in the code of conduct has also mentioned that the Election Commission has appointing Observers. If the candidates or their agents have any specific complaint or problem regarding the conduct of elections, they may bring the same to the notice of Observer.

For the public servants, the code says that a public servant shall not participate or accompany a minister in any programme, organised at an individual’s house for which the minister has accepted the invitation during his election tour. The code of conduct will be imposed in Punjab till May 23.

Ludhiana, May 11
For dispatching the poll material and employees to the polling booths and stations, District Transport Office needs to arrange about 250 buses, the list of which has already been sent by the 12 Returning Officers to DTO Anil Garg.

DTO Garg said the department had got the detailed list of the requirements. “We need to be prepared with the buses by May 18 evening as poll material has to be dispatched,” said Garg. He said that arranging buses would not be a problem as the Transport Department has set their rates and diesel, too, would be provided by the department.

“We will need both the district buses and mini buses for the zila parishad and panchayat samiti elections. Each bus will cater to about six to eight polling booths/stations,” said Garg.

Mandi Ahmedgarh/ Payal, May 11
Defying government's claim about immediate payment of the procured wheat, farmers of the area have threatened to oppose SAD candidates in ensuing zila parishad and block samiti elections in case the payment was delayed further.

Maintaining that the procurement agencies had cleared almost bills presented by the commission agents of their concerned area, officials said payment in some cases was delayed due to technical reasons.

The Assistant Food Supply Officer, Payal, Narinder Singh, said farmers bring wheat to the market committee at Payal and nearby purchase centers had been receiving payment of their produce through their commission agents within reasonable period. However, in some cases unavoidable delay was caused due to the changed mode of payment through bank cards. "With exception of central agency, where payment was staggered due to procedural complication all payments were made fairly fast. However, payment of some heaps procured on last day of process (May 2) under central quota is pending due to technical problem," said Narinder Singh.

The Punjab Kissan Sabha activists led by Sikandar Singh Jartoli and Baldev Singh Latala said they had urged senior officials of various state and central agencies to impress upon officials concerned to release the payments immediately so that farmers could start preparations for sowing saplings for the next paddy crop. Referring to information received from farmers of the area falling under Dakha, Gill and Payal constituencies, Jartoli and Latala alleged that some farmers had to borrow money from private financiers to buy inputs for next paddy crop.

Rakesh Raj, District Manager, Punjab Agro, when asked about the alleged non-payment to farmers from Khanna Mandi, claimed that farmers have not faced any problems in receiving the payments. "96 per cent of the payments have already been made," he said. ""If there has been any delay in some cases, it might be because of the standard time it takes between bank-to-bank money transfers," he said.

Sahnewal, May 11
PWD Minister Sharanjit Singh Dhillon and Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha Charanjit Singh Atwal today canvassed for votes together at Katana Sahib and Rampur villages, falling in Chak Sarwan Nath zone of Sahnewal Assembly constituency.

The PWD Minister on the occasion said, "This is a man to man interaction with the villagers. What the Akails have done for the general public can never be forgotten by anyone. We will get victorious in very election. We have already won half the battle and the rest is going to follow on its own".

"The representative of the public has to make inroads into their hearts by convincing them that he is with them, come what may. The other parties may make good efforts as it is their right but the victory of Akali Dal is written," said Charanjit Singh Atwal.

Ludhiana, May 11
The Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) is considering making electronic filing of excise duty payment mandatory. The system is being upgraded to take the load of e-filing and an announcement in this regard is likely to be made soon.

Electronic filing will also help the department in expeditious audit and processing of returns.

At present, there is a duty cap of Rs 10 lakh for e-filing, which is likely to be done away with. All the tax payers may have to file returns electronically. Only manufacturers having a turnover of more than Rs 1.5 crore have to pay central excise duty.

“The main motive behind this move is to improve compliance and minimise the intervention of officials to reduce errors. This will also reduce the work load of the department as a large number of returns are filed,” said a source.

“This will help in saving time as people will be able to file their returns from their homes and offices,” said Santosh Jain, a trader.

Ludhiana, May 11
Titled "Ujjal Moti Sohne" (Shining Beautiful Pearls), this book acquaints with 30 persons from the city, who are working to make the city more beautiful, humane, and culturally rich. Penned by Satnam Singh Komal, the book was released at Punjabi Bhawan today. The book is an effort to pay tributes to the honest efforts made by people towards on to the society. People working for special children, saving the environment, contributing to agriculture, literature, serving people have been mentioned in the book.

Komal, 63, has been an agriculturist and is currently working as a store manager. He has written a couple of ghazal books, including 'Dhup Di Moorat', he said. He has also written a book on the lives of the Ten Sikh Gurus.

He initiated the book at the suggestion of a friend. But it was difficult to find such people, he said. "Although it seemed like a futile exercise when I started, but soon it became a revelation and joy to meet such wonderful people and write about them", he added.

Ludhiana, May 11
NGO Raahat has come to the rescue of a 3-year-old boy, Prince, who suffered from Hernia. Dr Raminder Soi, presidentof the NGO said, "We helped this needy child by sponsoring for his surgery at Krishna Charitable Hospital."

Ludhiana, May 11
The Dugri has nabbed two persons with habit-forming drugs today. The accused have been identified as Parminder Kumar and Pilot Sanjeev Kumar.

Parminder Kumar was arrested during a routine checking at a check-post. Huge quantities of pharmaceutical drugs were recovered from his possession.

During questioning he told the police that he had bought these drugs

from Pilot Sanjeev Kumar who runs a laboratory at Shimlapuri. Later, the Police raided the laboratory but the accused managed to flee from the spot. A case under Sections 22-61-85 NDPS Act and 29-61-85 has been registered against the accused. — TNS

Jagraon, May 11
The local police has nabbed four robbers.

The accused has been identified as Gurtej Singh, Malwal village, Ferozepur; Yakub Mohhamad, Nathowal village, Ludhiana; Tejinder Singh, Rauli village, Moga, Amritpal Singh, Nathowal village, Ludhiana. Another accomplice of the accused who escaped the arrest has been identified as Raju, a resident of Ludhiana.

According to police, the members of gang had executed several robbery incidents in different areas.

Jagraon DSP Surinder Kumar said the alleged robbers were arrested the police from Hathur police station following a tip off from Chakar village.

“The police has recovered two illegal pistols, 37 gram smack and some other sharp edged weapons from the accused. This gang used to target liquor vends and steal bottles of liquor. Besides this, the members of this gang had executed many snatching incidents in Jagraon, Raikot, Sidhwan Bet and Mullanpur Dakha,” said DSP Surinder Kumar.

SHO Hathur Dilbagh Singh said the police has registered a case against all the accused and investigation is under way.

Ludhiana, May 11
Harsimranjeet Kaur, who has been accused of killing her four-year-old daughter, was today sent to judicial remand here.

The accused was admitted to the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital after she tried to commit suicide twice.

Panic had gripped the Model Town area yesterday after the decomposed body a four-year-old girl was found from a house.

Ludhiana, May 11
Ludhiana wilted under pressure and Chandigarh scripted an outright victory by a massive 247 runs to earn six points on the penultimate day of the match in the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for the Dhruv Pandove Trophy being played at Satish Chander Dhawan Government College ground today.

Enjoying the first innings lead of 193 runs, Chandigarh started the second day's proceedings at 134 runs for five wickets and declared at 244 for 98 after 68 overs. Last night not out batsman, Arpit Singh went on to score 81 runs while Avneet Daka contributed 53 runs.

Ludhiana (second innings): 190 all out in 58 overs (Chirag 62, Pushpinder 38; Avneet Daka 25 for 25, Sagar Sharma 2 for 48, Arjit 1 for 11, Simranpreet Singh 1 for 36 and Sagar Sharma 1 for 9).