Ludhiana, June 28
Dera Sacha Sauda followers' protest today disrupted life in the city for eight hours. The followers staged a dharna near the Verka Milk Plant on Ferozepur Road from 8 am till 4.30 pm against the uploading of a photograph of dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh on a social networking site showing him in poor light.

The police diverted traffic on alternative routes to avoid inconvenience to commuters, but they suffered due to long traffic jams in the humid weather.

Heavy vehicles were caught in traffic jams on streets in residential areas. People had to spend hours on the road to reach their destinations.

The police had diverted traffic on the route from Mullanpur for those who wanted to go to the Jalandhar side. Traffic was diverted on the route from the Lodhi Club to BRS Nagar for entering the city. Traffic was also diverted on the route from Bhaiwala Chowk to Pakhowal Road for those wanting to go out of the city.

People who had to attend to important and time-bound work in different parts of the city were among the worst hit as they got stuck in the BRS Nagar area.

Ramandeep Kaur, a resident of Moga who had come to the city along with her children to visit her critically ill brother at a city hospital, got stuck in a traffic jam on Ferozepur Road for two hours.

"It is one of the worst days of my life. I had to deposit fee at the hospital for my brother's operation. The protesters are heartless. The operation will get delayed now because of them," said Ramandeep Kaur.

"I reached the university one hour late as the protesters did not allow me to pass through Ferozepur Road. My entire schedule has got upset. Students were waiting for me on the campus. This is not the way to protest. The government should deal with such protesters strictly," said Jagrup Singh Sidhu, a professor at Punjab Agricultural University.

Ludhiana, June 28
The district has started a 24-hour helpline to provide information about the Uttarakhand tragedy on the instructions of the state government. Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari said staff would be deployed on helpline number 0161-2433100 round the clock.

Tiwari said a proper record would be maintained of all calls on this helpline number. 

Ludhiana, June 28
The municipal corporation (MC) has chalked out an ambitious plan for slum-dwellers and the urban poor under the centrally sponsored Rajiv Awas Yojna in a bid to rid the city of slums.

The "slum-free city plan of action" will aim at a multi-pronged approach, focusing on bringing the existing slums "within the formal system" by providing basic amenities, checking the failures of the system that are responsible for the creation of slums and tackling the problem of shortage of land and housing.

According to MC officials, the process has been set in motion for the appointment of an agency to prepare a project report for the plan of action, which will focus on improvement of the existing slums and strategies to ensure that no more slums come up in the city.

The plan will also take into consideration the present status and priorities of slum-dwellers and also the resources available in the city to improve the quality of life of the urban poor and the capacity of the urban poor to be partners in the development process.

Ludhiana, June 28
Intensifying their agitation against officials of the carriage and wagon section of the Northern Railway, railway employees, led by activists of the Northern Railwaymen's Union (NRMU), today squatted on the rail track near the Jagraon bridge and obstructed rail traffic for more than an hour and a half.

As a result, several mail, express and passenger trains had to be halted at the Ludhiana railway station during the protest. Stranded passengers faced hardship due to the hot and humid conditions.

Ludhiana, June 28
The District Transport Department conducted an auction of 24 vanity numbers in the PB DN series and 35 numbers in the PB DL series at Bachat Bhawan today.

The department earned Rs 9 lakh. On June 21, the department had auctioned 100 vanity numbers. It had generated a revenue of Rs 17.85 lakh.

In today's auction, 24 vanity numbers were sold for Rs 5.5 lakh while 35 numbers generated Rs 3.5 lakh, said the DTO.

When asked why the department had failed to generate a good revenue, DTO Anil Garg said people preferred going in for one digit or two digit numbers. In the last auction, PB 10 DN 0001 was auctioned for Rs 2.25 lakh. Besides, the first 10 numbers also generated a good amount, said Garg.

An official said 76 numbers in the PB 10 DN series were auctioned on June 21 but there were no takers for the remaining 24 numbers. Therefore, we decided to auction these today. But the DTO said the auction was conducted in two phases.

"We do not want the work to suffer in the DTO office. Post-lunch, the employees were seen doing their routine work," said the DTO. 

Ludhiana, June 28
A SPS Apollo Hospitals critical care nursing workshop-cum-conference was organised by the Department of Critical Care and the Department of Nursing.

As many as 400 nurses from hospitals, nursing colleges and homes attended the workshop aimed at sensitising and updating nursing professionals with best practices in critical care.

The conference opened with experts speaking about the roles and responsibilities of nurses working in critical care units.

Speaking on the occasion, Subash Batta, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, said: The critical care services can progress in the country by the hard work and dedication of all people working in the healthcare field and if we want to take it further then we have to train nurses in the field of critical care.”

Jugdiep Singh, Managing Director, SPS Apollo Hospitals, said this was the second such workshop and conference in the field of critical care in the region for nursing professionals.

Dr Anupam Shrivastava, Head, Department of Critical Care of the hospital, said the workshop would go a long way to sensitise nursing professionals about the specific requirements, promote excellence of care of critically ill patients, to develop and enhance the knowledge, attitudes and creative thinking, which was essential for good critical care nursing practice.

Lt-Col Neera Devi, Chief of Nursing Services at SPS Apollo Hospitals, said nurses found the sessions useful and there could be a tremendous improvement in their output and approach subsequent to such sessions.

Ludhiana, June 28
A delegation of the All-Industries and Trade Forum today met Rishipal Singh, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC), under the leadership of Gurmeet Singh Kular, Convener, AITF, and president, UCPMA, at his office to discuss the issues faced by the industrialists, especially regarding VAT refund.

He was apprised of the large number of refund cases pending for want of fourth stage verification of purchase. He gave a patient hearing to their demands and assured that the issue would be resolved at the earliest. — TNS

Ludhiana, June 28
With an objective to promote drug de-addiction among factory workers and other sections of society, the Ludhiana chapter of the CII organised an awareness session on drug de-addiction for factory workers at Shingora Textiles Limited. Dr Rajesh Thapar and Dr SK Prabhaker were the keynote speakers for the session.

In his opening remarks, Neeraj Satija, convener, CII, Ludhiana City Development Core Group, said a strong and healthy society was the need of hour and it was only possible if all sections of society become aware of their responsibilities.

Drug Abuse was one such menace that should be dealt on priority by society. Factory workers, who are an important part of society, should be guided and made aware about the harmful consequences of using drugs and other narcotics on their life, he said.

Sharing their views with participants, Dr Rajesh Thapar, Managing Director, Herbotech India Limited, and SK Prabhaker, psychiatrist, S AS Grewal Hospital, Ludhiana, stressed that “overcoming the habit of drug addiction is not that tough as it is believed. It just needs understanding about its harmful consequences, willpower and determination to overcome the same. It is important to lead a healthy and drug-free life and motivate others to do the same.”

Ashok Keswani, Ludhiana zonal council member, CII, requested all to stay away from drugs and other narcotics and motivate others to lead a drug-free and healthy life. The session received a positive response as nearly 100 participants, including company officials, attended the session.

Ludhiana, June 28
Mild cases of diarrhoea have been reported from the Jawahar Nagar camp area here today.

The affected are three children from the Chain Chowk, Street No. 7 and 8 of the Jawahar Nagar camp area.

District epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma said: “There was a report of yellow- coloured water coming out of drinking water pipe in the Chain Chowk. Two teams, under the supervision of Medical Officer, Model Gram, were deputed who surveyed the area.

In the survey, three mild cases of diarrhoea were reported from different streets. Now, all of them are recovering at their homes.”

Following this complaint, health officers informed Municipal Corporation officials for providing safe drinking water in the area through a water tanker.

Dr verma said: “We also informed the matter to AS Sekhon, Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, Ludhiana.

The teams of Municipal Corporation and the Health Department collectively collected eight samples of water from the Chain Chowk, street No. 7, No. 8 and Labour Colony.

The report of these samples will be given by the Health Department.

Last year in September, over 24 cases of gastroenteritis were reported from the Jawahar Nagar camp area.

Ludhiana, June 28
The cases of cyber crime are on the rise, with businessmen being a soft target.

With the passage of time, hackers have changed the way of committing crime.

Keeping in view the rising cases of cyber crime, the Chamber of Industrial and Commercial Undertaking (CICU) organised an awareness programme.

Cyber crime investigator Ivneet Singh from Malaysia was invited to share his expertise and guide participants; how to be alert and what measures should be taken to protect the industry from such frauds.

He said the hackers targeted importers/exporters and were always on a lookout for data and account numbers of businessmen and on getting the same, they hacked the data and transferred money from their accounts.

He told the audience how he saved an industrialist from a fraud of Rs 25 lakh and how a cyber criminal got Rs10 lakh transferred to his account from the account of the industrialist.

The expert said, "By adopting security measures, we can safeguard ourselves from such frauds."

Harpreet Khattar and Kshitjit Adhlakha also aired their views. Fifty industrialists attended the programme.

Upkar Singh Ahuja, joint secretary, and Avtar Singh, general secretary, said, "One must always keep a tab on spam mails." 

Ludhiana, June 28
In almost all 12 blocks of Ludhiana district, there are at least a few villages where the Akali Dal is pitted against the Akali Dal. Though the Panchayat elections are not contested by political parties on the party symbol, the candidates' political affiliation is an open secret in villages. The local power pockets in villages are often personality centric which makes factionalism even more pronounced during the poll.

It is learnt that in some villages of Jagraon block, the candidates close to a leader, who has joined politics fairly recently, do not see eye to eye with those associated with a veteran leader. "When votes are cast, the candidate's political affiliation is hard to ignore. But equally important is the group affiliation. If you have been associated with a leader for years together, you cannot shift your loyalty during the poll," said a villager.

Sources said more than 12 villages in the block, including Malak, Sherpur Kalan, Akhara and Dhalla villages, had two and even three candidates from each village who flaunted their affiliation with various Akali Dal "factions" active here. In Samrala block, villages like Chawa may have around 450 votes only but this does not stop it from being a village where the party lines are clearly blurred - one of the contestants (for the post of sarpanch) is the senior vice-president of the District Youth Akali Dal, while another is the director of Primary Agricultural Development Bank. Even as they are contesting against each other, their affiliation to the same political party (Akali Dal) is hard to discount. District president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Ludhiana (Rural), Santa Singh Umaidpuri admitted that in many villages the candidates contesting against each other had their political affiliation with the Akali Dal. "We tried to work out a consensus, yet in many villages the candidates decided to go on with the contest," Umaidpuri said. He added that the Panchayat poll had no party label to them. The elections were more about the village-level politics and the local factors took precedence in the poll. 

Ludhiana, June 28
With only four days left for the panchayat elections, officials are busy making arrangements.

To review the arrangements, Samir Kumar, Home Secretary, Punjab Government, visited Samrala/Machhiwara blocks.

Kumar met the SDM, returning officers, assistant returning officers.

When asked whether he was satisfied with the arrangements being made for the gram panchayat poll in these blocks, Kumar said he was 'pretty satisfied'.

He said he would go to Doraha and Raikot tomorrow and would convene a meeting with the SDMs and returning officers.

Samrala SDM Ghansham Thori said the returning officers learnt to conduct polling and count votes. In Ludhiana district, there are a total of 927 villages.

The elections will be held on July 3 in 796 villages while in 131 villages, members have already been elected.

To conduct the elections in a peaceful manner, the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner has already issued prohibitory orders. The sale and purchase of liquor will be banned on July 3 in areas where elections will be held.

Nobody will be allowed to carry weapons, arms and other explosives till July 4.

Ludhiana, June 28
The Punjab government has formulated a Rs 1,914 crore plan for urban development and delivery of civic amenities to the urban population during the current financial year. This was stated by Punjab Local Bodies Minister Chuni Lal Bhagat while addressing a function in connection with Kabir Jayanti organised by the Municipal Karamchari Dal at the MC headquarters today.

The minister said it was the development agenda of the SAD-BJP that had led to landslide victory of of the coalition in the Assembly elections, and later in the civic body polls. "The ruling alliance is all set to repeat its performance in the forthcoming panchayat elections," he said.

Dwelling on the development plans for the towns and cities, he said master plans for all major towns had been notified to ensure planned and regulated urban growth. The industrial hub of the state, he added, would soon have the metro rail facility and a detailed report of the project, expected to cost Rs 9,840 crore, has been sent to the centre for final approval.

Bhagat Chuni Lal claimed that the government had launched several schemes for the welfare and benefit of Dalit sections of society. Under various welfare schemes for Backward Classes and Scheduled Castes, an amount of Rs 598.67 crore has been earmarked during the current financial year. Terming corruption as the root cause of many evils in society as well as ever-rising prices, the minister called upon the people to wage a war against corruption. He said the Congress-ruled UPA government had proved to be the worst-ever government at the Centre and ought to be removed as soon as possible.

"The voters will get a chance to give their verdict against corruption in the next Lok Sabha elections scheduled to be held in 2014," he remarked while adding that in the larger interest of the nation, the people ought to vote for the NDA in the next elections.

Ludhiana, June 28
Terming wireless sets used by the police as a 'reliable source' for transmitting warning messages, Chief Engineer, Canals, Punjab, has urged the Director General of Police to flash flood warning messages through their wireless stations.

In a letter written to the DGP, the Chief Engineer stated that as per the Punjab floods and other emergency relief manual, the officials of the irrigation department are supposed to send flood messages through canal wire, postal, telegram and telephone. Many a time, the messages reach late due to network problem and officials fail to take timely action.

In the past as well, warning messages sent through wireless stations installed in the police department has helped the officials save several precious lives.

As the monsoon has set in, the Chief Engineer has requested the DGP to issue instructions to the officers in charge of all wireless stations asking them to convey urgent messages to the authorities concerned till October 10, 2013. 

Ludhiana, June 28
Owing to haphazard parking and influx of vehicles into the head post office, an attendant has now been deployed to note the numbers of vehicles along with the parking time duration. "This has solved the problem as people refrain from parking their vehicles on the premises for long," said Swaraj Kaur, senior postmaster.

 "Earlier, vehicles remained parked haphazardly on the post office premises. Those visiting the courts too used the parking space," said an official. "Cars remained parked here for days together. Nobody paid heed to the no-parking sign in the area. To tide over the problem, we decided to keep a check on these vehicles," the official said. "Visitors won't be allowed to park vehicles for more than two hours," said Kaur. — TNS

Ludhiana, June 28
'Hues of my identity', an art exhibition, was organised at Sutlej Club today. Sixteen paintings were displayed at the exhibition by amateur artist Jasbir Kaur Bhogal. The paintings have been painted in baroque style.

"The style reflects exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted details to produce drama, tension, exuberance and grandeur in paintings," said Bhogal.

Mandi Gobindgarh, June 28
A proclaimed offender declared by the Chief Judicial Magistrate of an Amloh court on October 7, 1995, was arrested today by a police party at the national highway near Gobindgarh Public School and was produced in the court at Amloh. The accused was sent to judicial custody to a Nabha jail.

SP (D) Gurpreet Singh said a three- member police team - PO Wing in charge Haqiqat Singh, Thana Division No. 1 In charge Shinvinderpal Singh and Division No. 2 in charge Chand Singh - succeeded in arresting Gurmukh Singh, a resident of Bhoopar (Gurdaspur), an alleged close associate of terrorist Kharrak Singh.

The accused was booked under various sections of the Arms Act and the 5 TADA Act in October 1995 at Mandi Gobindgarh. The police had allegedly recovered a desi pistol from his possession.

Deepjot Singh, a student of the first batch of the Bachelor of Fisheries Science (BFSc) degree programme from College of Fisheries, Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University, Ludhiana, got admission to Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi (USA) for MS in Fisheries and Mariculture Programme.

He is also appointed as a Teaching Assistant with a package of US $15000 per annum along with out-of-state tuition fee waiver.

During his degree programme for MS in Fisheries, he will be doing research on Super Intensive Culture of Shrimp under the guidance of Dr Tzachi Samocha.

Dr Asha Dhawan, Dean, College of Fisheries, said Deepjot was the first student from College of Fisheries to get this opportunity and had brought laurels to the college. He would be joining the degree programme in the US during the first week of September 2013. — TNS

Ludhiana, June 28
Three persons committed suicide in separate cases while a girl died under mysterious circumstances in the city. A 45-year-old commission agent at a shoe market reportedly committed suicide in a godown situated in the market. He has been identified as Vivek Kohli, a resident of Phillaur.

According to Surinder Mohan, Station House Officer of the Division No. 1 police station, Vivek was upset over the illness of his son. When his helper reached the godown this morning, he found Vivek hanging from the hook of a ceiling fan.

A news anchor of a local news channel committed suicide by taking poison yesterday. The deceased has been identified as Gulshan Kumar. He was reportedly suffering from depression due to his poor financial condition.

In another incident, 26-year-old Ashok Kumar committed suicide at his residence in Mahavir Nagar. Ashok was a drug addict and often used to quarrel with his wife over trivial matters. His wife alleged that he had a scuffle with her this morning after which he took the extreme step.

Meanwhile, a 23-year-old girl died under mysterious circumstance at the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Colony here today. The victim has been identified as Bhiwani Devi. According to relatvies of the girl, she fell from the stairs at home and died. The police took the body in its possession when family members and relatives were taking it for cremation.

According to Balbir Singh, in charge of the police post concerned, since the girl had died under mysterious circumstances, they would get a postmortem of the body done tomorrow. 

Ludhiana, June 28
The state Vigilance Bureau has arrested a Junior Engineer (JE) of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited while taking a bribe of Rs 10,000.

Suresh Arora, Chief Director-cum-DGP, Vigilance Bureau, Punjab, said, "The Vigilance Bureau has caught Randhir Singh, a Junior Engineer of the PSPCL posted at Pohir subdivision in Ludhiana district, while taking a bribe from complainant Iqbal Singh of Lohgarh village in the district."

The complainant approached the bureau alleging that the Junior Engineer was demanding a bribe of Rs 10,000 to install a power connection at his workshop at Dhurkot village in Ludhiana. A Vigilance team, led by Sandip Goyal, SP, Vigilance Bureau, Ludhiana, laid a trap and arrested the accused in the presence of two government officials as witnesses.

The bribe money was recovered from him.

"A case under Sections 7 and 13 (1) read with Section 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, has been registered at the Vigilance Bureau police station," said Suresh Arora.

Jagraon, June 28
With the arrest of three youths today, the police has claimed to crack a theft incident that took place six days ago in Jagraon.

The miscreants arrested by the police on charges of theft have been identified as Jagdeep Kumar, Resham Singh and Karamjit Singh alias Kala, all residents of the New Mukandpuri locality of Jagraon.

Giving details during a press conference here today, DSP, Jagraon, Surinder Kumar, said a police team, led by ASI Kuldip Singh, arrested the main accused Jagdeep Kumar, alias Gagan, along with a stolen laptop at a checkpoint set up by the police at the Disposal Road, Jagraon, this afternoon.

“During the course of investigation, Jagdeep confessed to executing the theft along with two other youths. He also disclosed the names of two of his accomplices before the police, following which it arrested both of them from their houses. The police has also recovered the stolen goods worth over Rs 1 lakh from the accused,” the DSP said.

Mohammad Jamil, SHO, city police station, Jagraon, said the theft incident took place at the house of Aatma Ram, a resident of the Shastri Nagar locality, on June 22 when he had gone to Rajasthan along with other members of his family to meet some of his relatives.

“When the family members of Aatma Ram returned to Jagraon on June 23, they found the locks of their house broken and two LCDs, one laptop, one computer, two LPG gas cylinders, a mobile phone and some other valuables missing from the house.

He immediately informed the police about the incident and lodged a complaint", the SHO said.

Following this, the police registered a case against unidentified persons at the Jagraon city police station and started investigations. A special team was formed to solve the case which finally traced the accused and arrested them. The police had also recovered the stolen goods from the accused.