Ludhiana, June 20
The municipal corporation today removed seals from Hotel Park Plaza, Olivia and KP Complex on Ferozepur Road after the commercial establishments provided parking space on their premises following the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders.

The complexes were sealed by the MC following the directions of the high court for using service lane along the national highway for parking of vehicles. The parking space on the premises was being put to commercial use.

In the orders issued on May 29, 2013, the high court directed the MC to provide designated paid parking areas along Ferozepur Road in service lane or other vacant places. The HC also imposed restrictions on the duration of parking of vehicles in the paid parking lots.

The HC had also made it clear that the visitors to hotels, restaurants, malls, marriage palaces and multiplexes would not be allowed to use the paid parking lots.

The orders had laid down that all such commercial establishments that intended to convert a part of their building into earmarked parking, would submit the revised building plans duly signed by an approved architect along with requisite charges as may be prescribed under the building bylaws along with other necessary documents.

"Upon submission of these revised building plans, the MC shall decide the matter within four days. If the site plan so submitted is found in accordance with the building bylaws, the MC shall remove the seal from the premises to allow commercial establishments to continue with their activities subject to an undertaking to be given by them that an alternative parking area shall be made available within a month," Justices Surya Kant and RP Nagrath had ruled.

The business establishments which were sealed on May 10, 2013, had filed applications through their counsel Harpreet Sandhu for removing seals from their premises. They also submitted building plans to provide earmarked parking space within their premises on June 10, 2013. In accordance with the HC orders handed down on May 29, 2013, the officials of the building branch of the MC removed seals from the premises and permitted the commercial establishments to carry out their normal activity. 

Ludhiana, June 20
Following reports of tax evasion by traders, the Excise and Taxation Department has issued a notification asking traders to register their goods at the information collection centres.

Many traders evade tax by ferrying their consignment through public transport. The department will now impose a heavy penalty on violators.

"If one fails to get the goods registered at the barrier, they will have to pay 50 per cent of the value of goods as penalty plus VAT,” said an official.

Companies that display their products in cities also use public transport to ferry their goods and evade tax. “Heavy penalty will be imposed on such companies,” the official said. 

Ludhiana, June 20
High drama was witnessed outside the Police Commissioner's office today when protesters demanded the arrest of PPCC secretary Almudin Saifi and his 
two aides.

Almudin was booked by the city police following Mohammad Khurshid’s death due to cardiac arrest at Mayapuri on Tibba Road.

The protest was led by Bablu Qureshi, president, Minority Council, Punjab. During the protest, Bablu fell unconscious and was rushed to the Dayanand Medical Hospital and College. He was discharged after medication.

Bablu alleged that Almudin, who has been booked for abetment to suicide, met police officials yesterday, which was against the law.

"Almudin has committed a non-bailable offence. The police should immediately arrest him, said Bablu.

Denying the allegations, Almudin said the issue had been politicised by some ruling party leaders.

Bablu alleged that Almudin was pressuring the victim for arranging Rs 60,000 for getting his two sons freed from the police custody. 

Ludhiana, June 20
The city police nabbed an impostor, who allegedly used to dupe residents by posing as an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police. The accused has been identified as Jagtar Singh, a resident of Sultanwind Road, Amritsar.

The police of Division no. 8 attested the accused following a tip-off. The police said Jagtar used wear police uniform for threatening residents at Rakh Baag and Rose Garden. He used to take away cellphones and cash from them.

The police raided Rose Garden at the Civil Lines area at 5.30 pm to nab the accused. The police said the accused was a hardcore criminal. A number of cases have been registered against him at various police stations in Amritsar.

Parveen Randev, investigating officer, said: “Preliminary investigations revealed that the accused had a criminal past. He was also wanted by the Amritsar police.” 

Jagraon, June 20
With the aim of preventing water borne diseases during the rainy season, a team of Health Department officials conducted a surprise checks at several shops located in the various parts of the town today. The team members led by Jagraon Civil Hospital senior doctor Harinder Sharma also destroyed the eatables being soled in unhygienic conditions.

The team visited a cold drinks factory in Fili Gate area of the town, where the team members found the cold drinks were kept in highly unhygienic conditions. The team members destroyed the drinks from the factory. Though no action was taken against the owner of the factory and he was let go with the warning. The Health Department officials warned the factory owner to maintain proper hygiene while filling the bottles in the future otherwise an action would be taken against him.

Later on, the team visited Old Sabzi Mandi Road where they found a large number of vendors selling fruits and vegetables in highly unhygienic conditions. The team members destroyed the vegetables and fruits kept in open by the vendors and instructed them not to keep vegetables, fruits and other eatables in open.

Apart from Old Sabzi Mandi Road, the Health Department team also examined shops at Tehsil Road, Raikot Road, Kamal Chowk, Sadan Market and some other areas of the town. The team members primarily focused on shops that were selling sweets, fruits, vegetables and other eatables and wherever the team found eatables kept in unhygienic conditions, it destroyed these eatables.

Civil Hospital Jagraon Senior Medical Officer Dr Balwinder Singh said that raid was conducted for creating awareness to prevent an outbreak of water borne diseases during the ongoing rainy season.

"This drive would continue and regular inspections would be conducted in the area. We would not allow anyone to play with the health of the people. Though this time the team only issued warnings to the shopkeepers who were found selling eatables in unhygienic conditions, next time if any shopkeeper is found selling eatables in unhygienic conditions, a strict action would be taken against him", said Dr Balwinder Singh.

He also appealed the common people to keep their surroundings clean and prepare vegetables and other eatables in hygienic conditions to stay away from various water borne diseases.

Ludhiana, June 20
Roadside vendors in the city are violating the Food Safety and Standards Act, 2006, with impunity.

Most of the vendors selling golgappas do not wear gloves. They do don't maintain hygiene and cleanliness.

Flies and mosquitoes are seen hovering around the food. Rakesh Kumar, a street food vendor at Model Town, said officials of the health department visited the area at whims.

"All this is happening right under the nose of the health department and the district administration," said Sadhna, a Dugri resident.

"The government should take a serious note of the hygiene at such vends as it poses a threat to the health of the residents," he said.

District health officer Dr Avinash Kumar said the department was doing its best. "Efforts are on to maintain the quality. The department collects food samples on a regular basis," he said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 20
Feeling concerned about the most distressing situation in the flood-hit regions of the Uttarakhand, samaritans have started coming forward to chip in for undertaking rescue operations, which might continue for weeks to come.

However, in the absence of any organised movement to help the victims, common people, predominantly women, are undecided about mode of extending their help.

A large number of residents preferred to send money to social organisations, engaged in sharing responsibility of the government, to rescue the stranded devotees and natives of the hill state.

Media reports and repeated replay of distressing clips on TV channels have acted as catalyst to persuade the potential donors.

Annapoorna Arora, a bank official of Dehlon said all her colleagues had decided to contribute liberally for helping flood victims of Uttarakhand. “Like all other citizens, we also feel concerned about the safe return of devotees, trapped in flood-hit areas of Uttarakhand state,” said Arora.

She further said that she and her colleagues had decided to contribute their share to organisations working for rescue and rehabilitation of the flood victims.

The financial help would be in addition to any contribution to be made by the parent organisation, said Arora.

Realising that sending perishable eatables to the flood hit areas would not be a feasible proposition, Manav Sethi, a real estate dealer from local town said that dealers of the region had decided to send blankets and garments to the victim families.

Identifying geographical distance as the major hindrance in sending help to the victims, Dr Rajinder Mittal, chairman Social Welfare Organisation, and councilor Bimal Kumar Sharma said residents had started sending monetary help to the management committees of the Ashrams and religious organisations.

Meanwhile, the local administration led by president municipal council Ravinder Puri has succeeded in establishing contact with the members of all the groups of pilgrims from local town, who were stranded at the various places at Badrinath and Kedarnath.

Though the stranded devotees are yet to reach safe places, their families have heaved a sigh of relief with the reports about their wellbeing.

Ludhiana, June 20
The strike of the clerical staff entered the second day today. Visitors were at the receiving end as they had to return without getting their work done.

President of the DC Office Karamchari Union, Ludhiana, Baldev Singh said on the request made by the Deputy Commissioner, they had agreed to make the certificates of the Scheduled Caste/Backward Class candidates contesting the gram panchayat elections to be held on July 3 in Punjab.

"We have asked a few clerks to make the certificates. We do not want candidates to suffer because of our protest against the state government. At the same time, we are not doing any other work in any of the offices," said the president.

Due to the three-day strike, visitors to the Mini-Secretariat had to suffer unnecessarily.

Ludhiana, June 20
Badish Jindal, the National President of FASII, represented India in International Labour Organization (ILO) as an adviser and strongly raised the issue that different norms are required for the developed and developing countries. He further said that the developed countries must share the technology with the developing countries, which was supported by the Secretary Ministry of Labor and Employment of India and the employer groups of the Asian countries.

Against the strong demand of workers, the employers opposed the profit sharing, where as it has been decided to create five crore new jobs by 2015.

It was also decided that the special policies would be drafted in the world to give more opportunities to the women and old. The unemployment of youth below 25 years was also discussed and all the nations were requested to prepare a draft containing special policies for their employment and training. It was also decided that special rules would be made for the job security of the women and old, said Jindal.

The ILO is an important body of United Nations and all the 185 countries abide by the rules made by ILO.This year the 25 serious complaints were heard by the credential committee of ILO. The countries were asking to take the proper measures for abiding the ILO rules.

Ludhiana, June 20
Projecting Luxembourg as an ideal entry point to the European market, Gaston Stronk, Ambassador of Luxembourg said, “Luxembourg can be used as a passport to Europe.” Stronk was here in Ludhiana during an interactive session organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Flanked by France, Germany, Netherlands, Stronk said, “You can reach 60 per cent of EU GDP just by choosing Luxembourg as an entry point, with EU being a single market with 350 million consumers.”

Boasting of the best logistics set up in the world, Stronk said Luxembourg was equipped with highly skilled multi-lingual work force making it a natural choice for the investors. He further said a favourable and legal framework of regulations, were more to support and sustain rather than refrain.

Citing amongst the five main reasons to choose Luxembourg, Stronk said, it was a leading international financial centre, besides being equipped with the availability of sophisticated investment vehicles and having the number one investment fund centre in Europe, and number one for listing of international bonds in Europe.

Sharing that Luxembourg looked forward to be a more strategic partner with India, Stronk said that strong market dynamics, enabling environment for investments and most importantly, the government's commitment to market driven growth made Luxembourg a perfect investment destination.

The attractive tax benefits for employees, low social contributions for employers, possibility of tax consolidation, flexible company law, no red tape, and easy access to the decision makers, made Luxembourg an ideal country for investment.

Indicating that the future prospects for trade and investment between our countries are significant, Dalip Sharma, Regional Director, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that economies of both Louxembourg and India offered innumerable opportunities and it was important that both the countries carry on the existing strong relations.

Ludhiana, June 20
Heavy rain that lashed the city last week has taken a toll on an old and dilapidated building on Deepak Cinema Road which partly crumbled today.

The entire front portion and ceiling of a room have caved in. The owner of the building, who runs a tea shop in a part of the building, was away.

Ashok Kumar, owner of the building, said the wall of he building caved in this afternoon. The building is 75-year-old, with the whole structure standing precariously.

The owner said there was no loss of property as no household items were kept inside. "Only the discarded items are lying inside," he said.

Area residents said the building was unsafe and should be pulled down to ensure public safety. 

Ludhiana June 20
The labour department has rescued more than 10 child labourers who were working in hotels, restaurants, dhabas and industrial units in the city. The labour department has conducted a raid on 250 establishments. 

Ludhiana, June 20
National general secretary of the International Human Rights Organisation Harinder Singh Bholu and state president of the United National Youth Organisation Dr Shiv Gupta submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, appealing to them to grant an aid of at least Rs 5,000 crore to the Government of Uttarakhand.

Dr Gupta said the PM should announce ex-gratia relief of Rs 5 lakh per victim.

All state governments should extend their assistance to the government of Uttarakhand.

Ludhiana June 20
Residents of the Rishi Nagar area and family friends of the Salwans came forward to trace missing Sarvesh (11).

Ludhiana, June 20
They leave stethoscopes, pairs of tongs and put on scarves and bandanas instead of operating masks and catch hold of a base guitar, drumsticks and a microphone.

Students at medical colleges go all out for rocking the audience with their music.

"Rock music is the music of the youth and the most popular among youngsters," said Ritansh (20), an MBBS student at the DMCH.

He and his batchmates formed a rock band 'Chronic RRRReiGN' in college. The band name comprises acronym of the members' names, including Ritansh at the base, Rohan at drums, Ritesh at keyboard, Rajat, lead guitarist, Gurveer, vocalist, and Nilanshu playing keyboard and vocals.

Nilanshu said, "We sing Coke Studio tracks from both India and Pakistan."

"We all had inclination towards rock music. After six odd months of coming to the college, we formed the band

a year-and-a-half ago and have so far performed and got invited to perform at various places and high-profile events in the city," said Ritansh. We are going to start writing our own lyrics and compositions now," said Nilanshu. "We recently sang the rock version of 'Fevicol' song, which was liked by the youngsters," he said.

Another rock band 'Black Ice' was formed in the beginning of 2012. With Gunveer at the drums, the team has Jovan, Jishu, Shaurya, Siddharth in the band. The band mostly sings English tracks. "We formed the band last year and have performed in college festivals," said 21-year-old Gunveer. Rock music gives you a break from the routine stuff. "Although our schedules are hectic, but rather than whiling away our time, we focus on music," said Ritansh.

The students take their passion seriously as they have a separate room where the rock bands have the jamming sessions.

"We have got sound proofing of our jamming session room done. Each of us have an instrument costing us more than Rs 30,000 and we have to shell out money before the events," said a member of the team.

But it is the passion for music that keeps them going. Other bands in the city, including Nostalgia, Distortions Crew, have been performing in the city. "Rock band Syndrome that was already successful at the DMCH paved way for us and more bands," said another band member. 

Ludhiana, June 20
While the previous batch of successful Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) candidates, has already been struggling to get jobs in the government schools, as they had passed the test aroung two years back, another batch of about 8,500 TET candidates is again ready to start their struggle for the jobs, after the declaration of results, here today.

About three lakh candidates had appeared for TET held on July 3, 2011 and just two per cent of the candidates had passed that time, making the count of successful candidates to about 6,000. While those candidates have already been struggling for getting the jobs in government schools, another batch of about 8,500 students is again ready to find the jobs. The recent TET was conducted on June 9 and about two lakh candidates had appeared for the particular exam, a mandatory test, to get jobs in government schools.

Deep Raja, the president of district unit of the Teachers Eligibility Test (TET) Unemployed Teachers Union said, "It is shameful state of affairs. Today, we are holding a protest in Ludhiana and raising slogans against the state government for not filling the vacant posts in schools, despite the fact that we had successfully cleared the test around two years ago. Though government had given advertisements in September 2011 for taking in 5,078 posts of teachers all over Punjab, it has been two years, no vacancy has been filled so far. And today, about 8,500 fresh rivals have been added, which makes the total number to about 14,500", rued Raja. He added that despite being given assurances and number of posts lying vacant in the schools, the TET candidates have been running from pillar to post to get their dues.

Jagraon, June 20
In a bizarre incident, a youth allegedly snatched a bag full of money from a woman, cashier of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, at Sidhwan Khurd village near Jagraon today afternoon. The bag contained cash worth more than Rs 1 lakh , however, the accused snatcher was arrested by the police within one hour of the snatching incident.

The accused youth has been identified as Rajinder Singh alias Ravi, a resident of Sidhwan Khurd village. The police has also recovered the money, snatched by the youth from the woman. Later on, the police registered a case against the accused at the Jagraon Sadar police station on the complaint of victim.

The incident took place near the office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited at Sidhwan Khurd, around six km from Jagraon. The cash snatched by the youth was collected after the electricity consumers deposited their bills at the office.

According to sources, the incident took place when Rajinder Kaur, who works as a cashier at the Sidhwan Khurd office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited, was going to deposit the cash in the Sidhwan Khurd branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce. "The woman cashier had left the office for the Oriental Bank of Commerce on her bicycle. She had travelled a little distance when a youth, who had covered his face with a cloth, suddenly emerged out of the bushes.

He pushed the bicycle after which the woman fell on road. Following this, the accused snatched the bag from the woman and fled away," added the sources.

When the victim started shouting, several villagers gathered there. The victim told the villagers about the incident, following which the villagers made an announcement from village Gurdwara to alert the other villagers.

The villagers also blocked all the roads, approaching the village, and informed the police about the incident. Soon after this a police team from Jagraon Sadar police station arrived the village and a joint manhunt was launched by the police and the villagers.

After some time, the police nabbed the accused youth who was hiding in the washroom of a house located in the village. The police also recovered the bag containing the cash from him.

The Jagraon Sadar police station SHO, Rachpal Singh Dhindsa, said that the bag snatched from the woman, containing cash worth Rs 108,000. "We have arrested the accused youth and recovered the money.

A case has been registered against the accused Rajinder Singh, alias Ravi, on the complaint filed by Rajinder Kaur and further investigation is on", said Dhindsa. 

Khamano June 20
Khamano Police claimed to have solved a murder case of a missing person of Samrala and arrested a youth and his beloved in this connection. Gurdeep Singh Saini, a resident of Samrala, who was working in a mill at Khamano was missing from May 20 under the mysterious circumstances. The accused have been identified as Vinay Kumar, a resident of Maheshpura village and his beloved Manpreet Kaur, a resident of Mohan Majra village.

Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, SSP, Fatehgarh Sahib, said that Gurdeep Singh was working in a mill at Khamano as a manager for last 22 years and was crazy for gold ornaments and money, along with ATM cards.On May 20, Gurdeep came to his work in his Zen car but did not return home. His wife Narinder Kaur gave his information of missing to Samrala and Khamano police. During the enquiry, it came to notice that Vinay Kumar had also worked in the mill under Gurdeep Singh. Vinay, in lust for money and gold hatched a conspiracy along with his beloved. Under their plan, Vinay called Gurdeep Singh to meet him and his beloved. When Gurdeep Singh reached at the place of meeting, Vinay offered Gurdeep a glass of wine mixed with sedatives intoxicants powder. When Gurdeep became unconscious they extracted his gold ornaments, cash and ATM card from his pockets. Thereafter, they both put him on the rear seat of their car and after reaching near Ropar they threw him in the Bhakra canal.

The Khamano police had registered a case in this connection on June 8 and after the enquiry, Vinay Kumar and Manpreet Kaur were arrested. Some of the gold ornaments, stolen from Gurdeep along with ATM card, Zen car, were also recovered from them. The body of Gurdeep Singh was fished out of the canal in Haryana, under Choki Maloya, on May 29 and after enquiry the Khamano police came to know about the incident. 

Ludhiana, June 20
In a thrilling finish, Pankaj Club beat National Club by four runs during the inaugural match of the 18th Chaman Lal Malhotra Cricket Cup Tournament (U-15) being played at Satish Chander Dhawan Government College.

Pankaj Club won the toss and opted to bat first. In the stipulated 30 overs, they scored 165 runs after losing six wickets.

Their innings revolved around Naman and Varun who scored 47 and 38 runs, respectively. Nikhil and Keshav too played useful innings of 19 and 18 runs while Navkirat made 12 runs.

For National Club, Shubham captured two wickets for 39 runs while Paras claimed one wicket for 29 runs.

In reply, National Club could muster 161 runs losing nine wickets in the allotted 30 overs and fell short of the target by just five runs. Jashan's contribution of 40 runs went in vain. Similarly, Harkirat and Chander Kesh who made 16 and 12 runs, respectively also failed to cheer their side as National Club fumbled to surpass its rival's total of 165 runs. For the winners, who played the pivot role in containing National Club included Keshav and Akshit, grabbing three and two wickets after giving away 14 and 7 runs, respectively. Harshit got rid off two batsmen for 18 runs and Naman scalped one wicket for 30 runs.