Ludhiana, June 7
The city traffic police today conducted a challan drive at Ghumar Mandi against wrongly parked vehicles.

Women who were purchasing vegetables while sitting in their vehicle also become a target of the traffic policemen. Traffic inspector Raj Kumar said the motive behind the drive was to clear the road from erratic parking of vehicles.

Besides, vends and kiosks were also removed from the roadside. Raj Kumar said similar drive would be conducted in other parts of the city.However, the move of the traffic police did not seem to go down well with the shopkeepers. A majority of the shopkeepers at Ghumar Mandi resented the move."Where should the customers park their vehicles? The MC has not made any adequate parking arrangement at Ghumar Mandi. If the police will be strict with us then we are going to lose out on our business. Why doesn’t the police conduct similar challan drives outside shopping malls," said one of the shopkeepers requesting anonymity.

Ludhiana, June 7
A team of the District Health Department collected six samples of eatables from an eatable factory and karyana stores in the city.

Dr Avinash Kumar, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, Food Safety Officers Harpreet Kaur and Manoj Khosla collected the samples on the instruction of Dr Subhash Batta, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana.

The collected samples include samples of matthi, baalushahi from a factory at New Moti Nagar in Vishwakarma Colony, salt samples from a karyana store at Cheema Chowk and Campa Cola Chowk and juice and water samples form a restaurant at Clock Tower Chowk.

Bhatta cautioned those indulging in adultration of eatales, He said strict would be taken against violators under the Food Safety and Standard Act. The District Health Officer said “We will continue the routine sampling of eatables to curb the menace of adultration. The Health Department has become strict on adultrated food items and thay have been taking samples of eatables on a regular basis.

Ludhiana, June 7
In view of the approaching monsoon season, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, has written to the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation Commissioner as well as the District Administration to gear up for tackling problem of water borne diseases and mosquitoes.

Mosquitoes breed in stagnant water. A file photograph

The Mayor has asked the officials to make sure they are all geared-up for the monsoon season and in case of any shortage of medicines or any other such deficiency, they should intimate him in advance.

Sadly, each monsoon season, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, district health department and district administration officials are caught ‘napping’. This is so because whenever there is any outbreak of water-borne diseases such as gastroenteritis, MC as well as health department officials, start the blame game by passing the onus onto each other.

This not only worsens the situation but even leads to tough time for the residents of areas where there is outbreak of such diseases.

“That is why, I have shot a letter to all of them so that they remain vigilant and are not caught napping. I have also asked them to prepare a list of medicines as well as other necessary equipment so that in case we require them, they should be available in adequate numbers,” informed Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria while speaking to The Tribune.

The Mayor has also asked the MC as well as district administration to prepare themselves for all kinds of flood control measures. “The officials should take my letter seriously because if, at later stage, they tell me they are short of medicines or any such thing, I would deal with them strictly. They should all understand that it is due to such poor planning on their part that the residents suffer. If they feel there is shortage of any thing, they should intimate be beforehand so that we can maintain a stock,” Gohalwaria informed.

Ludhiana, June 7
To treat and rehabilitate drug addicts, now the district health department will have its own de-addiction centre. The centre will come up near Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana.

The site where the de-addiction centre is set to open in Ludhiana. Photo: Inderjeet Verma

Disclosing this, Director Health Services, Punjab, Dr Ashok Nayyar, said, "The state health department is opening these de-addiction centers at each district headquarter. These will be from 10 to 30 bedded in different districts depending on the size of district. In Ludhiana also we are going to start one."

De-addiction centre in Ludhiana will be opened near Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital in the building where earlier, there used to be Community Care Center for HIV positive patients. This centre was being run by Punjab State AIDS Control Society and District Red Cross. Later, PSACS handed it to some NGO. A few months ago it stopped working.

Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, said, "The de-addiction centre will be opened here in this building. Funds for construction have already come. The tenders have been called for the construction. It will be a 10-bedded indoor de-addiction centre, where both treatment as well as rehabilitation of addicts will be catered to."

Dr S S Dhir In charge of Opioid Substitute Therapy Center running at Civil Hospital Ludhiana said,"In our center we cater to Opium addicts in the OPD. Once this de-addiction center will come up, it will be easier for us to treat serious opium addicts as it will bee indoor."

Ludhiana, June 7
The training programme initiated by the Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) for processing of haldi (turmeric) has come to the rescue of farmers of Gurdaspur, who had lost lakhs of rupees after a steep fall in prices of turmeric crops last year.

Dr DM Kadam, senior scientist at CIPHET, said by processing the raw crop, turmeric growing farmers could get value addition of more than double. He added that Punjab farmers would also get the benefit of saving transportation cost as processed turmeric powder used to come from the Southern states earlier.

Dr Prasoon Verma, Head of Transfer of Technology Division, said Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology had initiated turmeric processing training to save the farmers from distress sale.

Dr SN Jha, Director (Acting) Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology , said farmers and entrepreneurs can contact the institute for various training programmes to get the benefit of value addition in post-harvest sector.

Ludhiana, June 7
At present, the participation of women in textile industry is a meager two per cent and with an aim to take that percentage up to 25 per cent, the Textile Integrated Park (TIP) will start special training classes for women.

The TIP will be setting up a training institute at the textile park where special emphasis will be given to the training of women. For women, emphasis will be laid on training in three fields flat knitting, linking and stitching.

"We have received grant of Rs 24 crore while will be getting Rs 16 crore more from the Central Government for the textile park. Stress will be laid on imparting training to women. We are expecting to give training to nearly 400 women in the first slot," said Darshan Dawar, director of Integrated Textile Park.

He further said instead of giving sewing machines or ration to women, we aim to make women economically independent. Training in fields like knitting and stitching will be given to women.

Dawar further said that women are already doing works like knitting, stitching at home and want them to adopt them as profession.

Textile industry does not have night shifts for women and a very congenial environment will be provided to them at workplace once their training is finished. Ludhiana is known for textile industry and they will not find any difficulty in finding work and will be easily absorbed in the city.

Manupur(Khanna), June7
Residents of Manupur village gheraoed the Civil Hospital, Manupur, and protested against the death of a pregnant woman and her child during delivery at the Community Health Centre, Manupur village, Khanna. The protesters alleged that both died due to the negligence and apathy of the hospitals staff. The deceased has been identified as Kamlesh, a resident of Manupur village, Khanna.

According to Maya Devi, the victim's mother-in-law, her daughter-in-law had labour pain when she was brought to the hospital at about 12 noon . She alleged that no one from the hospital staff attended to her. Maya Devi said when they brought the Kamlesh's condition into the notice of the hospital staff, they send them from one room to other. Meanwhile, the victim's condition deteriorated and soon she fell unconscious, Maya Devi alleged.

She alleged that Kamlesh bore the severe pain for 10 hours and bleeding started, but still there was no body to listen to them and eventually her daughter-in-law died.

As soon as the news of the death spread in the village, the villagers gathered on the premises of the hospital and started raising slogans against the functioning of the hospital staff .They protested against the non-availability of doctors in the need of the hour. The hospital administration called up the police so that any untoward incident could be prevented.

Harjinder Singh, SHO, Samrala, said the police had recorded the statements of the victim's guardians and it was only after the post-mortem report that they would be able to initiate an appropriate action. He said the situation was under control.

Meanwhile, Lachhman Singh, SMO, Government Hospital, Manupur, refuted the allegations of negligence and apathy . He claimed that the deceased's relatives brought her to the hospital at 11 am and had taken her back to the home in the late evening.The SMO claimed that there was a doctor on duty and they gave possible medical aid to her, but she collapsed during the treatment. He said that a post-mortem would be conducted at the Civil Hospital, Samrala, and the real cause of death would come out after the autopsy report.

Ludhiana, June 7
Death of a newborn that had sparked a protest against a pediatric Yogesh Khanna at the Civil Hospital was allegedly fuelled by the doctors who wanted to settle personal score with the former.

The sources inside the Civil Hospital confirmed the development. The incident had yet again brought to fore the petty politics which is causing disrepute to the premier hospital institute of the district. Sources said Yogesh had not taken leave for the past one week and was on duty round the clock.

The parents of the newborn did not complain about the line of treatment prescribed by the doctor. It is learnt that the relatives of the newborn were returning peacefully following the death, but a doctor with the help of scribes from vernacular newspapers instigated the parents. All attempts to contact Yogesh Khanna failed. He did not come to duty today. Khanna had recently earned accolades for his hard work in pediatric care.

Ludhiana, June 7
The elevation of police officer Gurpreet Singh Toor to the IPS cadre has brought cheers to his family and friends. He is a former alumnus of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) and served as an Assistant Professor of agronomy.

Besides writing on social issues, he had also written two books- Sambhlo Punjab and Jive Jawani- on the drug menace of drugs in the state.

Toor spend the whole day with his family members. His elevtion has been hailed by many.

Sahnewal, June 7
Over 100 rice mill manufacturing companies from India and abroad will showcase their latest rice processing machineries during the three-day trade fair, Rice Pro-Tech Expo, at Sahnewal,. The exhibition, organised by the Business Empire Exhibitions in association with the Punjab Rice Millers' Association aims at promoting the latest technology in the rice industry of Punjab.

Tarsem Saini, president of the Federation of All-India Rice Millers' Association, while inaugurating the expo urged the rice millers from Punjab to adopt the latest milling technology to improve their rice quantity and quality.

Tarsem Saini said the country was facing a shortage of foodgrains and the better use of technology could do wonders in increasing the foodgrain quantity as well quality. “More than 10 per cent of paddy in the country getting lost during processing, mainly due to the old practices adopted by the rice millers. The exhibition will provide a big opportunity to over 4,000 rice millers of Punjab and Haryana to have access to the latest technology that will help them in improvising their rice milling operations, reduce post-paddy procurement losses and increase the quality of rice”, he said

Tarsem Saini, who will also chair a general house meeting of the Punjab Rice Millers' Association tomorrow at the Jifco Resorts, said the Punjab rice industry was reeling under a crisis because of the wrong policies of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

"The rice millers of Punjab are facing huge losses because the FCI is refusing to take our rice stocks due to the space constraints. All these issues will be discussed at the meeting tomorrow and a strategy will be prepared to confront the FCI," he said.

Meanwhile, the exhibition will remain open till June 9 (Sunday). Besides machinery manufacturers from Delhi, Chennai, Karnataka, manufacturers from Canada, Germany, Spain, China and Japan are also participating in the event. The latest rice machineries, including colour sorter machines, air compressors, silos, rice husker, de-stoner, and rice seperator, induction motors, flour and Dal milling machinery will be on display during the event.

Ludhiana, June 7
The District Legal Services Authority (DSLA) held a legal literacy seminar at Gill village, Ludhiana, on Friday. It was organised in association with the Jeet Foundation Self-Help Group Society.

Ludhiana, June 7
The city police has booked three industrialist brothers for allegedly assaulting a businessman at Nehru Rose Garden. Monetary issue is stated to be the reason behind the alleged assault.

The trio have been identified as Sunil Maria, Satish Maria alias Judge, and Naresh Maria, all residents of Kitchlu Nagar.

Complainant Vinod Gupta, a resident of Agar Nagar Enclave, said the incident took place on June 4 when he had gone on a morning walk along with his friends Girdhari Lal and Raj Kumar Dara.

He said when he reached near a water tank at the Nehru Rose Garden, the trio overpowered him and thrashed him.

Vinod said he was rescued by his friends Dara and Girdhari Lal. He later reported the matter to the police following which a case was registered against the trio under Section 423, voluntarily causing hurt, 341, wrongfully restraining a person and 506, criminal intimidation.

Vinod further said that the trio had taken iron bars worth Rs 16.29 lakh and promised to make the payment in the schedule period. However, they did not make ant payment, following which, Vinod had sent his employee to their office to ask for the payment, said Vinod Kumar.The issue had become the hot topic among the morning walkers at Nehru Rose Garden.

Sources said Vinod and Maria brothers were often seen entering in to a verbal spat over the issue. All efforts to affect a compromise between the two failed.

On the other hand, Sunil Maria has claimed that he along with his brothers were implicated in a false assault case. “It is a pressure tactic by the police. Instead Vinod's company had taken material worth Rs 40 lakh from us and was not returning the amount of Rs 25 lakh," claimed Suil Maria. He further stated that Vinod concocted an assault story.

Jagraon, June 7
The police has arrested two prominent electronic traders of Jagraon for allegedly violating the Copyright Act by illegally manufacturing and selling duplicate ceiling fans of two separate electronic companies - Usha Electronics and Polar Electronics.

The traders arrested by the police have been identified as Madan Lal and Kuldeep Singh, both residents of Jagraon.

The police seized 195 ceiling fans bearing the forged labels of Usha Electronics and Polar Electronics.

According to sources, both the accused were arrested during two separate raids at two city-based fans manufacturing units following a complaint by Satwinder Rana, field officer, Speed Limited Tower, Mohali.

Giving details of the incident, CIA staff Jagraon In charge, Inspector Prem Singh, said the first raid was carried out at Friends Electronics, Rajiv Gandhi Market, while the second raid was conducted at Chana Mechanical Engineering, Nehru Market, Jagraon.

" During the first raid, the police team recovered 85 ceiling fans bearing forged labels of Usha Electronics and a large number of fake stickers of the company while 110 fans bearing fake labels of Polar Electronics besides several stickers were recovered during the second raid," said the Inspector.

Khanna, June 7
With the arrest of two persons, including a woman, the Khanna police claimed to have solved a blind murder case, in which a man's body was found on the way from Rajewal village to Ikolaha in 2012. According to the information, one of the accused had contested 2012 assembly elections from the Khanna Assembly constituency as an independent candidate.

The accused have been identified as Darbara Singh of Baghour village and Jaswinder Kaur, a resident of Dhamot village. The motive behind the murder is said to be an illicit relation and the victim's property.

S Bhupati, SSP, Khanna, while giving information, said after the recovery of an unidentified body, they had given an advertisement in newspapers so that the identity of the body could be established. Later, during the investigation, the police succeeded in establishing the victim's identity. The victim was identified as Gurnam Singh of Raiya village. The villagers had revealed that the victim had purchased a house at Ajner village and had started living there.

The SSP said during interrogation the accused confessed that the victim was a frequent visitor to a brothel where he came in contact with Jaswinder Kaur. She left the flesh trade and started living with him. Amidst this, they came in contact with Darbara singh, who allegedly lured her.

Later, they hatched a conspiracy to eliminate Gurnam Singh. The SSP added that the accused had an eye on the victim's property. After killing Gurnam, they threw the body on the road and burnt his clothes so that the body could not be identified.