Ludhiana, May 21
The Akali Dal has emerged victorious in 14 of the 15 zila parishad zones, the results of which were declared late this evening. The results of the remaining 10 zila parishad zones were awaited at the time of filing the report.

The SAD has bagged a majority of the seats in nine block samitis, while the Congress has won a majority in one block (Doraha block). The results of two blocks (Machhiwara and Ludhiana 1) are still awaited. In the 10 block samitis, the results of which had been declared, the Akali Dal won 142 seats, while the Congress won 34 seats.

The ruling SAD made a clean sweep in the block samitis as a majority of the candidates of the SAD were declared winners in the results announced here today.

Of the total 21 seats in the Sudhar Block Samiti, in 19 seats, Akali Dal candidates won. Only one candidate of the Congress and one Independent succeeded.

Ludhiana, May 21
With the mercury soaring and no relief in sight from the heat wave, city residents are reeling under frequent power failures, either due to unscheduled cuts or due to an overburdened distribution system. Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), however, has been maintaining that the state has enough power and no power cuts are being imposed on any category of consumers.

Reports pouring in from different parts of the city indicate that on an average, people are facing power failures of four to five hours.

"Power was shut down at least six times for durations up to an hour and a half during the day," alleged residents of the Civil Lines, Cemetery Road, College Road, the Mall Road, Green Park and Old DMC Road.

They added that the problem was compounded when the power supply was disrupted in the morning and again in the evening for over an hour today as they had to go without water due to it.

Residents in many other localities said yesterday also, power played truant as a result of which many people in the affected areas did not get water.

In a few localities in Haibowal and in the old city, there was a power failure on Sunday night due to an overloaded system and in many areas, residents had sleepless nights. The disruption in the water supply due to the power failure added to their misery. Irate residents allege that the complaint registration and fault rectification system of the PSPCL leaves a lot to be desired. "Customer care phones are either busy or the calls are not answered. Even if someone takes a call, he or she is reluctant to register a complaint," said Jagtar Singh of BRS Nagar.

PSPCL Chief Engineer (Central Zone) KL Sharma, however, denied that power cuts were being imposed. "The power supply was disturbed due to maintenance work at several feeders and the substation.

Maintenance work was also carried out at the 220 kV Lalton substation, which necessitated rotational load shedding in many localities yesterday," he said.

Making similar claims, senior PSPCL officials at the headquarters of the power utility in Patiala said the state had adequate power and no regulatory measures had to be taken at least till June 10 when the paddy-sowing season would start and an eight-hour power supply would have to be provided to the agricultural sector to run tube wells.

Sources in the PSPCL maintained that even though four units of thermal power projects, two at Bathinda and one each at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat, were shut down for repairs, enough power was available to meet the total demand, which stood at around 1,490 lakh units (LUs).

Ludhiana, May 21
Frequent and unscheduled power cuts in the scorching heat of May have become a pain in the neck for patients undergoing treatment at Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana.

During the power cuts, the ceiling fans do not work and the heat becomes unbearable for patients, who are already in pain.

Jagiro, a resident of the Tajpur Road area, whose daughter is under treatment at the hospital for typhoid, said, "We are here since Friday. There have been frequent power cuts. The situation becomes unbearable during power cuts at night as there is no light and fans do not work." The worst sufferers are patients of burn injuries.

The situation in the paediatric ward is no different. Soni, a resident of Janakpuri, said, "My son Sahil is under treatment here. He is suffering from weakness and when the fan stops during power cuts, he becomes restless."

Waiting endlessly for getting the IV fluid administered to his two-year-old sick son, Sanju said, "I wish the power supply doesn't get disrupted tonight as my son is suffering form high-grade fever."

Shiv Ram Saroy, a member of the Rogi Kalyan Samiti, said, "It is difficult for patients to stay here in the absence of power. The government should do something about it at the earliest as the mercury is on the rise."

The situation became tense when the Congress workers gathered outside the multi-purpose hall, opposite Guru Nanak Stadium, started raising slogans against the government for not being "fair" in counting of votes. Several Congress leaders and supporters, led by local MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu, alleged that despite counting votes for two times (during which, the leaders had claimed, the Congress candidate emerged the winner), recounting was being done at the centre in the absence of the polling agents from their party.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Bharat Bhushan Ashu said when their party candidate emerged the winner in the two rounds of counting where was the need for another round of counting? When recounting started, our agents were not inside the counting centre. "The first round of counting finished at around 12 noon and now it is 8 pm. If they had any problem, recounting could have been held at that time only. What took them eight hours to start the entire process again?" said Ashu.

The Congress workers were protesting against "unfair" counting of votes polled for the Jandiali block samiti seat. The contest was between Harinder Singh (SAD) and Jaswinder Singh (INC).

Despite repeated attempts, SDM-East Ajay Sood, returning officer, could not be contacted. The Deputy Commissioner-cum-District Election Officer, Rahul Tiwari, said: ”I had got the details from the returning officer, who said that in the first round, the Congress candidate was leading, but the SAD candidate appealed for recounting. In recounting, the SAD candidate was ahead of the Congress candidate. I have asked the officer to be fair in recounting”.

Meanwhile, till the filing of the report, recounting was on.

Congress leaders and workers of Doraha celebrated their victory today with the party winning more 50 per cent of the total seats in the Doraha block.

"It was bound to happen," stated Tejparkash Singh Kotli, former Transport Minister of Panjab. "The Akali government was under the impression that it was going to remain in power in the years to come, but the voters have turned the tables on them this time".

"The villagers have shown that if any party resorts to extremism and starts adopting a dictatorial attitude, then it can be replaced by the electorate any time. Moreover, you can fool some people at times, but you can not think of fooling all the people all the times.

The increase in the Shagun scheme amount from Rs 1,500 to 3,100 is no more than a joke. From March 2010 to 2013, crores of rupees meant for the Shagun scheme had allegedly been lying in the Akalis' coffers. Villages like Ghudani, Julamgarh and Kotali are still to receive the Sarb Sammati Grant of Rs 3 lakh; farmers' produce is rotting in the open; Dalits are jobless due to unavailability of raw material; and industrialists are moving out of the state, said Lakhvir Singh Lakha, Congress in charge for the Payal constituency.

Jagjiwan Pal Singh Gill, a Congress activist, said: "We have got nine seats. We have been able to garner the support of more than half of the voters while the Aklai Dal has lost the support of more than half of the people. The ruling party should now be prepared to face a stiffer competition ahead".

Ludhiana, May 21
The cash-strapped Ludhiana Municipal Corporation managed to auction 13 out of the total 17 shop-cum-offices (SCOs) locates opposite Keys Hotel, Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, during the auction today.

After this auction, the civic body got richer by around Rs 22 crore. The highest bid for 100 sq yard SCO was Rs 1.72 lakh per sq yard while the lowest was Rs 1.70 lakh per sq yard against a reserve price of Rs 1.5 lakh per sq yard.

However, this time the SCO's were auctioned for a lesser price as compared to the previous auctions held at the same place. The highest bid of SCO at the same place has been Rs 2.10 lakh per sq yard, which was during an auction held on December 26, while the highest bid was Rs 1.78 lakh per sq yard during auction held on November 26 and on auction held on January 22, the average bid amount was Rs 1.85 lakh per sq yard.

Each SCO is 5.48 by 15.24 metre (18 ft by 50 ft) in size and will have a covered area of 83.61 sq metre (100 sq yards). The reserve price for these 17 SCOs of 100 sq yard each (number 44-60) was Rs 1.5 lakh per sq yard.

Earlier also MC had auctioned 43 SCOs at the same place and this time, SCO number 44 to 60 (17 in number) were put to auction.

MC Additional Commissioner Isha Kalia said a total of 19 bidders took part in today's auction. "Maybe it was due to slump in the real estate market that the highest bid amount was less as compared to the previous auctions. But still we have managed to sell them at a good price, which is much more than the reserve price. Today, we have managed to auction 13 out of total 17 SCOs and four SCOs were left as no bidder took part in their bidding," she said.

The successful bidder would be required to deposit 10 per cent of the total amount (after adjusting the eligibility fee of Rs 1.5 lakh) within 24 hours aand another 15 per cent in 30 days from auction. The balance 75 per cent is required to be submitted in six half yearly installments.

ludhiana, May 21
A two-day business productivity enhancement workshop, organsied by the Knitwear Club and the UCPMA jointly, concluded today.

The workshop was conducted by the Mission Control India, a consulting, training and development firm. It focused on elevating organisational performance and productivity to provide a unique approach that generates alignment at all levels of the organization. Vivek Chopra, the resource person for the workshop, said: “Our purpose is to empower and enable people and organisations to dramatically increase their productivity .” — TNS

Ludhiana, May 21
Taking a serious view of the rising number of drowning incidents, the Commissioner of Police today issued an advisory to prevent the youth from swimming in the Sutlej.

Recently, one person drowned at Ladhowal that falls under the Ludhiana Commissionerate, three youngsters drowned at Hambra, which is in the Ludhiana rural police range, and a 13-year-old boy drowned in the Phillaur police range.

While taking to The Tribune, Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh said: "Several deaths due to drowning had been reported from the areas along the river in the past three days. It is a matter of concern and the residents are advised to stay away from river water. Further, I have directed the police officials to take stringent steps so that such incidents can be prevented."

Police sources said as part of an awareness drive, policemen would install caution signboards and visit villages to create awareness among the youth about the risks involved in swimming in the river.

"Normally, the youngsters think that water is shallow and they will not drown. But, they are not aware about the current. Often they go deep in the river and are swept away by the current," said Mandeep Singh, SHO, Ladhowal.

It is learnt that the Commissioner of Police is in talks with the administration for constructing "ghats" to prevent such incidents. If "ghats", with fencing, are constructed along the river, then it would be easy for people to perform various rituals on the river banks.

Khanna, May 21
A major tragedy was averted when an engine of a goods train caught fire. The train was stopped at the Khanna railway station as soon as the driver witnessed.

Yash Pal Gomi, fire officer, Khanna, said they got a call in the morning in this regard and they rushed to the spot. He said when they reached the spot they found big flames coming out from the engine. Firstly, we managed to separate the engine from the train and then we doused the fire. The whole operation took almost one and a half hour. The cause of fire could not be ascertained at that moment but mechanical fault in the engine cannot be ruled out. — OC

Ludhiana, May 21
The bodies of the remaining two youths, who had drowned in the Sutlej, were fished out by residents here today.

Prabhjot (18), Purneetpal Singh (20) and Rajdeep Singh (18), all residents of Ghamnewal village near Hambra, had taken a dip in the river to beat the heat on May 19. They had gone deep into the river and were swept away by the strong current of the water.

The incident came to light when Prabhjot's body was found floating in the river waters yesterday.

The residents brought out Prabhjot's body and launched a massive search operation to trace Rajdeep and Purneetpal Singh's bodies.

Their bodies were found from the river today. While Prabhjot was cremated yesterday, Rajdeep and Purneetpal's funeral took place this afternoon.

Ludhiana, May 21
A lot of hue and cry has been raised over the scrapping of the semester system in postgraduation classes in colleges affiliated to Panjab University, Chandigarh. But still the matter has not reached to any conclusion.

Confusion prevails amongst the faculty member as the academic calendar that has reached the colleges from the university did not mention any change in the examination pattern (the annual examination of the PG courses).

Principal of the Master Tara Singh College for Women Parveen Chawla said that their college has received same academic calendar unlike previous year. “There is no change in the pattern of the examination system which means that semester system will continue in the same pattern,” said the Principal.

Even amongst the teaching faculty there has been a difference in opinion on the issue of semester system. While most of the faculty members teaching science and commerce courses feel that the PU must continue with the semester system for the welfare of the students, another group of faculty members believe that it was too difficult to go with dual teaching pattern in colleges (annual system for undergraduate courses and semester system for PG courses) with limited staff.

Dr Kuldeep Singh, president of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers' Union, said: “Until the new staff is recruited, semester system will not become successful in colleges.”

Naval Kishor, Dean, Academic Council and Development, PU Chandigarh, said that there was no clarity on the scrapping or continuation of the semester system for the PG courses. “The issue has been raised but the committee has still to approve it,” he said.

Meanwhile, one of the principal of local college said that the decision should have been taken by now by the university. “The admission process will start after a month or so but the confusion is still going-on over the scrapping of semester system,” she said. 

Ludhiana, May 21
With the rise in mercury, hostel inmates at Punjab Agricultural University are going through a tough time as the coolers are not working due to improper electricity supply.

The university provides only ceiling fans to hostel inmates. If one wants to install a cooler in the room, Rs 500 extra are charged. Students need to buy their own coolers. According to a student leader, around 50 per cent host inmates hire a cooler for their convenience.

According to the hostel inmates, they cannot run the coolers due to less power load. Voltage starts fluctuating when they start the coolers.

"The distribution of power load is not proper. We pay Rs 500 extra for coolers but still have to depend on fans. Electricity starts fluctuating with the load of coolers. The wiring is also poor in the some of the hostels. The authorities should enhance the power load of hostels so that the coolers can function properly," said a student.

"The GADVASU provides water heater facility to its hostel inmates but in the same campus the PAU hostel inmates take bathe with chilled water in winters. The hostels should be updated," said another student.

Dr Balwinder Singh, Director Student Welfare (DSW) said, "I did not receive any complaint from students about this problem. I will confirm from the hostel wardens and if any problem if found, it will be fixed soon."

Ludhiana, May 21
Head Constable Mohammad Sadique, posted at the Dehlon police station, has been booked under various Sections of the NDPS Act after a huge quantity of narcotics was recovered from his possession.

The raid was conducted by the Economic Offences Wing at the police residential quarters last evening.

The raiding party seized poppy husk, 37 bottles of liquor, five litres of country-made liquor, 22 bottles of cough syrup, 230 tablets and a sharp weapon. The Head Constable managed to flee from the scene.

The registeration of a case against Sadique has not gone down well with area residents, who suspect foul play in the case. An elderly resident of the Dehlon area claimed that some drug addict might have planted the narcotics in his room.

Sadique was behind the arrest of more than 100 drug peddlers in the area. He had also played a crucial role in defusing communal tension sparked off by burning of scriptures of a holy book at Dehlon two years ago. 

Khanna, May 21
A woman was killed and three other passengers sustained injuries when the bus they were travelling in rammed into a stationary truck near Khanna.

The bus was on its way from Vaishno Devi to Delhi. The bus belonged to the J&K Transport Corporation.

The deceased has been identified as Rachna (45), a resident of Delhi, while the injured persons have been identified as Arshad, a resident of Haathras in UP, Nehru Lal (40) and Imraan (24), both residents of Kathua in J&K. The incident took place at around 3.30 am at Gaggar Majra village near Khanna.

Khanna SHO Waryam Singh said the driver of the bus failed to judge the actual location of the truck that was parked in the middle of the national highway due to low visibility and lost control over the vehicle. The woman died on spot. Injured persons were taken to the Civil Hospital in Khanna.

The SHO said a case had been registered against the driver of the truck who had parked his truck in the middle of the national highway with no parking lights on. He the drivers of the bus and truck fled from the spot.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 21
The city police has 
booked three persons under Section 376 D of the IPC for allegedly raping a minor girl by alluring and detaining her at a shop.

The accused were identified as Abhie of Ward Number 7, Surjit Sharma of Ward Number 4 and Malkit Singh of the Hargobind Pur colony. Investigations revealed that the accused had allured the victim, a 14-year-old daughter of a migrant labourer, to a shop situated at Chhanna road last evening. Though the medical examination report of the victim is yet to be received by the police, the complainant alleged that the trio had exploited her modestly against her wishes repeatedly and somehow she managed to ecsape the custody of the accused and narrated the story to her mother who later informed the police. The accused succeeded in fleeing before the police could raid the shop where the crime was committed.

SHO Jasbir Singh said The accused succeeded in fleeing but they would be nabbed soon.

Rakesh Kumar, an Income Tax Lawyer, a resident of Raj Guru Nagar, became the victim of car thieves today.

According to Rakesh Kumar, he had parked his car outside the Sutlej Tower and went inside his office. Later, when he returned, he was shocked to find that his car was missing. The police has registered a case against unidentified persons.—TNS

Ludhiana, May 21
Akalgarh XI and Grewal Club of Kila Raipur scripted victories in their respective encounters in the senior section to begin the campaign on a positive note in the 4th Olympian Prithipal Singh Seven-a-Side Hockey Festival that started at Mata Sahib Kaur Stadium, Jarkhar village, on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road, near here, last evening. Besides, Sant Fateh Singh Club, Dholan, registered a win to mark its presence felt.

This festival is being organised jointly by the Ludhiana Sports Welfare Association and Mata Sahib Kaur Hockey Academy in the memory of star drag flicker and former captain of the national hockey squad Prithipal Singh. The matches are played under floodlights on Astro-turf.

In the inaugural match of this festival, Sant Fateh Singh Club survived many anxious moments against Jagtar XI of Jarkhar before coming out triumphant 7-6.

At half time, the winners were trailing 2-4 but managed not only to wipe out the deficit but also surged ahead to clinch the cliffhanger with a narrow margin.

For Sant Fateh Singh Club, Kulwinder Singh and Joga Singh scored a brace each while Harpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh and Jaswinder Singh contributed a piece each to help their side to romp home victorious.

For the losers, Mandeep Singh chipped in with three goals, followed by Gursatinder Singh, Maninder Singh Happy and Harminder Singh who scored one goal each.

The second match was played between Grewal Club, Kila Raipur, and Guru Gobind Singh Club, Ludhiana, in which the former emerged winners 6-4. They were leading 3-1 at the lemon break.

Jasvir Singh and Jagjeet Singh contributed two goals each while Balwinder Singh and Sandeep Singh struck once to the complete the tally.

Harminder Pal Singh, captain of GGS Club, opened the account for the losers while Jasdev Singh (railway), Bubby Brar and Hukam Singh found the target once, which enabled them to salvage some pride.

In the third match, Akalgarh XI caused an upset when they overwhelmed the current champions, Friends Club of Doraha, 12-3. The winners had established 4-2 lead at the breather.

Joginder Singh sounded the board three times while Jagdeep Singh Vicky, Mandeep Masih and Harminder Singh scored two goals each. Manjinder Singh and Jasmel Singh contributed one goal each to complete the rout.

Earlier, Hira Singh Gabria, former minister and Chairman, Planning Board, Ludhiana, declared the festival open. He handed over a cheque for Rs 1.50 lakh to the organisers. He said another mini-Astro-turf would be laid at the stadium where upcoming hockey players could practise.

Matches in the second round will be played on May 25 under floodlights between 7 pm and 10 pm.