Ludhiana, July 17
Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Sukhbir Badal's visit to the city today was chock-a-block with activity planned to the last detail. Apart from holding meetings with the party MLAs, Municipal Corporation officials and inspecting the development projects in the city, the Deputy CM attended the felicitation programme hosted by the District Akali Jatha Ludhiana (Urban).

President of the Ludhiana Dyeing Industries' Association Ashok Makkar joined the SAD today during the felicitation programme. Makkar, in his induction speech, was highly critical of the Congress policies. Launching a scathing attack on the Congress for its "anti-people policies", he said Punjab was making a steady progress under the leadership of the Akali Dal.

While Makkar claimed that prior to joining the Akali Dal he was a secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, the District Congress Committee Ludhiana (Urban) president Pawan Dewan claimed that Makkar was currently not holding any office of the party.

Meanwhile, in the later part of the day, the Deputy CM visited MLA Manpreet Singh Ayali's residence to mourn the demise of Ayali's father. He also visited the Bhogals' residence to mourn the death of MS Bhogal, the industrialist who had brought the cycle industry of Ludhiana on the world map.

Ludhiana, July 17
The plan to kidnap Manish Bharara was straight out of a Bollywood flick, Special-26. But Gur Arpan and Deepali Bassi failed to outsmart the police.

Gur Arpan and Deepali’s arrest brought to the fore how debt-ridden businessmen were taking extreme measures to maintain their lavish lifestyle.

Deepali and Gur Arpan met for the first time at a gymnasium of a hotel on Ferozepur Road. As the gym was frequented by socialites, Deepali, a resident of Lajpat Nagar in Model Town and a daughter of industrialist Mahinder Partap Bassi, took Gur Arpan to be a rich bachelor. Soon, they entered into a relationship.

It did not take much time for Deeplai to realise that Gur Arpan was under debt and the Mercedes Benz and Chevrolet Cruz were purchased to maintain the pseudo lifestyle. Sources said Deepali used to lend money to Gur Arpan and pressured him to do something to improve his financial status.

Meanwhile, both of them watched ‘Special-26’ in which Akshay Kumar hoodwinks the police and flees with cash and jewellery.

Deepali suggested Gur Arpan to do something similar to overcome the financial crises. She reportedly suggested Gur Arpan to kidnap industrialist Tarun Bharara, Manish’s elder brother, as he had a lot of money.

In order to make a quick buck, Deepali and Gur Arpan hatched a conspiracy to kidnap Tarun. Amit, Sahil, Himmat, Sonu and Tony were also a part of the conspiracy.

As per the plan, Gur Arpan and his accomplice Amit went to Rajasthan and purchased opium and weapons, including a duplicate AK-47, three .32-bore pistols and cartridges. Later, Gur Arpan and Sahil purchased police uniforms with badges.

For nearly two months, the accused conducted a recce at Manish's factory and house in the posh Sarabha Nagar Market.

The accused held several meetings before committing the crime.

Finally, they struck on Saturday evening and kidnapped Manish Bharara, instead of Tarun, and his driver Hem Raj.

It is learnt that Deepali visited Bharara's house to console the family after the kidnapping. She kept updating Gur Arpan about the developments taking place at Manish’s house.

On July 14, when Gur Arpan took the cash from Manish's father Harminder Bharara near BCM School at Dugri, Deepali was present in another vehicle and was keeping a watch on him.

Ludhiana, July 17
Congress councillors lambasted Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwadia for the ‘poor’ progress of development works in the city and for his ‘autocratic’ attitude towards the elected representatives.

Continuing their protest at the MC headquarters for the third consecutive day, the protesting councillors and activists of the Congress asked the Mayor to seek trust vote in the House and also issue a white paper on his achievements, if any, in the past one year.

Spokespersons of the party councillors Parminder Mehta, Rakesh Parashar and Pritpal Singh Ghayal alleged that the councillors belonging to the ruling coalition were also frustrated with the lack of development in the city.

“Development works launched long back are still dragging and missing deadlines. Most of the new projects have failed to take off for the reasons best known to the Mayor and the MC top brass," they said.

Charging the Mayor with wilfully evading the brewing discontentment among councillors cutting across the party lines, the Congress leaders said the General House meeting of the MC had not been convened since long and the ruling alliance in the civic body had also failed to constitute the finance and contracts committee, which was a statutory requirement.

District president of the Congress Pawan Dewan criticised the ‘anti-people’ and ‘anti-councillor’ policies of the Mayor. He said amid factionalism among the ruling SAD councillors and MLAs, the development projects had taken a back seat. He said the party would continue its fight in order to bring the process of development back on the track. Dewan also asked the state government to review the new policy for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies which, in its present form, would not serve the intended purpose.

Ludhiana, July 17
Parents and children continued to suffer as the strike by school van operations entered the eighth day today. Parents were seen dropping and picking up their wards from schools.

The school van and bus operators sat on a hunger strike from today against the ‘rigid’ attitude of the District Transport Office. The managements of schools and the district transport authorities are, however, hopeful of ending the impasse.

Managements of many schools have decided to cooperate with transport authorities to ensure safety of students.

Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, District Transport Officer Anil Garg said the department and managements of schools would hold a camp at BCM School, Shastri Nagar, tomorrow, asking the van/bus operators to show their documents. Those having valid documents would be asked to ply vehicles immediately. “We are not here to harass children or their parents. However, we are not going to compromise on the safety of students. About 150 transporters have approached us with valid documents. We will hold a camp to check the documents, and those having valid documents will be allowed to run their vans/buses,” said Garg.

The president of the School Vans Association, Darshan Sabharwal, said the conditions of the transport authorities were harsh. Replying to a query, Sabharwal said over 40 per cent of the school buses and vans were ‘jugadu’. "We cannot stop the vehicles immediately and need some time to replace the same,” said Sabharwal.

Doraha, July 17
The teachers, who were earlier issued appointment letters, made to join and later sacked for want of ‘correct evidence’, have demanded their reinstatement at the earliest.

These teachers had applied in the year 2007 as per the requirements of the advertisement, where in it was stated that the experience certificate to be shown should be released from the principal of that

school and countersigned by the DPI. But in the year 2009, despite the fact that the teachers had shown their experience as per the said advertisement, had been asked to join and worked for an year, still as many as 563 out of them were sacked as they were blamed for having submitted the wrong information.

“Now we have again been asked to prove our ‘innocence’ from 12th July to 26th July, meaning thereby that we can present our point of view and it is on the part of the department to decide whether they shall reinstate us or not. Our contention is that the department asks about the written records of our presence from the particular schools or institutions where we had taught. If the later is unable to produce the same, should we be held responsible for the same? Many of the schools have not maintained the records of the teachers appointed for an year and hence are in no position to give any experience certificate. Moreover, it has been six years now. If the record was not available with the schools then, how can it be possible to have it today?” said a sacked teacher requesting anonymity.

“The department should have adhered to the advertisement instead of trying to go beyond that. The department has no right to sack the teacher who has already been issued the appointment letter and has worked for one year,” said another teacher.

“Further, on April 12 this year, as many as 27 sacked teachers were made to join by the Gurdaspur District Education Officer by demeriting their merit,” said one teacher.

“We want a common-criteria to be fixed for reinstatement. If the department can adjust 27 teachers by demeriting their merit then why not others ? Should there be different set of rules for the same category of teachers? It is simply ironical. Moreover, we have already passed the testing phase. Why should we tested again and again? We should be assured that the ones being reinstated are done in a rightful manner and we will be satisfied once and for all. For this, we are ready to pass through any trial to prove our innocence,” said another teacher who falls under the same category.

“Everything seems to have turned lopsided. The deserving are shunted out and the non-deserving rule the roost,” added another teacher.

DPE (Elementary Education) Darshan Kaur when contacted said: “We are definitely giving them a second chance by inviting them personally to the department office and proving their point once again. I have just to listen and consider the documents they possess. As far as the reinstatement is concerned, it is for the department to decide. But we simply do not want the deserving candidates to be left out in any case. For this we may have to repeat the entire procedure again but we shall definitely reconsider the meritorious ones.”

Ludhiana, July 17
Ludhiana Machine Tool Manufacturers Association today announced an exhibition on “machine tools and automation technology”. The exhibition will be organised from October 24 to 27 at GLADA ground, opposite Vardhman Mill.

Kirpal Singh Sagar, president of the association, said: “The main aim of holding the exhibition is to give a boost to the machine tool manufacturers in technology advancement and productivity so that they become globally competitive. The exhibition will be a perfect opportunity for the companies to exhibit their products, interact with buyers and sellers and enter into new tie-ups.”

“The expo will offer an opportunity to SME's and manufacturing and engineering companies to transact, network, tie-up, and exchange ideas for the growth of the industry,” said Sagar.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 17
Farmers of the region have responded positively to the crop-diversification programme launched by the Punjab’s Department of Agriculture. Comprehending significance of the trend for preserving environment and conservation of depleting water table, more farmers have come forward to cultivate maize in fields where paddy was sown earlier.

Observations revealed that area under cultivation of maize had increased almost by 300 per cent this year. Promotional steps taken by officials of the Department of Agriculture supplemented with supply of seeds of standard companies at subsidised rates and concern for conservation of water were cited as major factors behind the tendency.

Farmers have almost accepted cultivation of maize as their social responsibility. “Besides cultivating maize in our own fields we have persuaded a large number of farmers to follow guidelines issued by officials of the Agriculture Department as they ( officials ) are in a better position to guide us,” said farmers led by Baldev Singh Latala and Sikandar Singh Jartoli, office bearers of Punjab Kissan Sabha.

Referring to preventive steps taken by the district administration led by Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari, Latala said farmers of the Pakhowal block had already been alerted against fast depleting water table in their fields.

Latala and Jartoli appreciated steps taken by a team of officials led by Dr Narinder Singh. They said problems of farmers could have multiplied had they not been guided properly by Dr Narinder. It was due to timely guidance provided by the specialists that farmers cultivating maize saved thousands through subsidy on inputs and lower water requirements during cultivation.

Acknowledging the trend, chief agriculture officer Dr Bakhshish Singh Chahal claimed that maize was sown in over 3,300 acre in Ludhiana district in comparison to 1,500 acre under the crop last year. Justifying government's decision to promote crop diversification Dr Chahal said it would improve financial condition of farmers by cutting cost on irrigation. “While 175 lakh litre of water is required for rearing paddy crop in one acre of land, only 40 lakh litre water is needed for maize crop sown in the same area,” claimed Dr Chahal.

Dr Chahal said teams of agriculturalists were available for guiding farmers of various blocks falling under the Ludhiana district.

Ludhiana, July 17
Punjab Agricultural University has restricted the entry of some vehicles, which were seen being driven inside the campus without any work. The university authorities have provided a list of vehicles to the security guard and pasted the same on all the entry gates to ban their entry on the campus.

There are around 12 cars, the registration numbers of which have been mentioned in the list, and issued by the estate officer of the university. The models and numbers of the cars have been mentioned in the list.

Officials said that all the numbers of the cars that have been mentioned on the list belong to outsiders. These vehicles enter the premises mostly in the afternoon and evening hours on the university campus.

"As per the instructions of senior officials, we gathered information about these outsiders who keep driving aimlessly within the campus and we noted the vehicle numbers and informed the authorities", said a security guard.

"Most of the vehicle owners are young boys, who mange to enter the campus with the reference of some hostlers", he added.

Dr Jaskaran Singh Mahal, estate officer, said, "We had come to know that some people were driving inside the campus without any work here so we have banned their entry within the campus ".

Ludhiana, July 17
After the outbreak of gastroenteritis and diarrhoea in the areas dominated by the migrant population in the city, the Health Department has been organising medical-checkup camps in the disease prone areas.

Today, one case of gastroenteritis and two cases of mild diarrhoea were reported at a medical-checkup camp in the Sherpur Kalan area.

A team from the Community Health Centre, Sahnewal, organised a medical camp near Gurdwara Sahib, Sherpur Kalan.

Dr Anil Verma, district epidemiologist, said, As many as 107 patients from Muslim Colony, Baba Deep Singh Colony and other adjoining area of Sherpur Kalan had been examined at the camp today. One case of gastroenteritis and two cases of mild diarrhoea were reported today. "

"The health teams from Sahnewal Community Health Centre, slum area dispensary, Transport Nagar conducted a survey at Muslim Colony and the Sherpur area. They visited 2,516 houses in the area", he added. Health officials said that during the survey of houses, blood tests for malaria were also conducted by the health workers. Chlorine tablets, oral rehydration solution (ORS) packets and pamphlets were also distributed in the area.The residents were told to takesafety measures.

Ludhiana, July 17
Congress workers, led by district president Pawan Dewan and party legislator Rakesh Pandey, today staged a protest in front of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) office near Chand Cinema on GT Road against prolonged power cuts and high power tariff.

To highlight the poor plight of residents due to acute shortage of electricity, the protesters distributed lanterns and hand-held fans among the area residents.

Addressing party workers, Dewan and Pandey said that in the past six years of the SAD-BJP rule, the power tariff had increased by a whopping 79 per cent in Punjab which was unprecedented. "As this was not enough, the PSPCL is now collecting hefty advance consumption deposit from the consumers, which is non-refundable and non-adjustable. The government and the power utility are out to cheat and rob the people," they maintained.

Ridiculing the leaders of the ruling coalition, and especially Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal for making tall claims of Punjab being a power surplus state, the Congress leaders pointed out that the industry was being denied power for three to four days whereas common people were forced to have sleepless nights due to extended power cuts. "It seems that the state will have surplus power if the entire industry shuts down. Then of course, Punjab will be able to export power to Pakistan as well," they taunted.

Prominent among others present were KK Bawa, Rakesh Prashar, Sham Sunder Malhotra, Parminder Mehta, Baljinder Bunty, Satwinder Jawaddi, Palwinder Taggar, Jarnail Singh Shimlapuri, Manpreet Grewal, Gurmukh Singh Mithu, Vinod Bathla, Vikram Pehlwan, Varinder Sehgal, Lali Grewal, Sanjay Sharma and Kanwardeep Pappi.

Ludhiana, July 17
A broad-day light robbery and two snatching incidents were reported in the city today. In another incident, a goldsmith foiled a robbery bid and overpowered one of the robbers.

In the first incident, armed assailant, suspected to be a drug addict, barged into a house in B- Block of BRS Nagar and decamped with four gold rings, gold chain and Rs 20,000 cash.

The incident took place this afternoon when the victim identified as Shilpa (27), wife of Jitesh Gupta, was alone at home.

The victim said, an armed assailant entered the house and put a knife on her neck and threatened to kill her if she did not hand over cash and gold ornaments to him. Shilpa handed over the gold ornaments and cash to the robber and then he fled the scene. However, the snatching incident caused major embarrassment to the police as the victim was Surjit Kaur, Councillor of Ward 47 and wife of senior SAD leader Harbhajan Singh Dang.The incident took place this afternoon when Surjit Kaur was walking towards her house in Model Town after visiting a nursing home. Surjit Kaur said two motorcycle-borne youths came from behind and snatched her gold chain.

She said before she could react the miscreants fled the scene. She reported the matter to the police and the investigations have started.

In the third incident, three armed assailants snatched a gold ring and mobile phone from a migrant identified as Lovnesh Kumar. The incident took place this morning when he was heading to his factory unit in Mangli village.

The trio intercepted him and snatched the gold ring and mobile phone and fled the scene. The police suspect that the snatching could be the handiwork of drug -addict youths.

In the meantime, an alert goldsmith foiled a robbery bid at Rahon road and overpowered one of the accused persons.

The incident took place this afternoon when three persons travelling on a motorcycle entered the shop of Jasbir Singh, a goldsmith, and pointed a pistol at him. Jasbir Singh said the trio asked him to handover the cash and gold ornaments to them. He said that he grabbed the pistol of one of the accused and raised the alarm. While two robbers managed to flee the scene, one of the robbers was overpowered by the goldsmith.

The police has nabbed the robber and started the investigation. Balwinder Singh, SHO, Jodhewal Basti, did not rule out the fact that the accused were the same who tired to rob a hosiery trader Manmohan two days ago.

Ludhiana, July 17
Every district in the country will have at least one income tax office by the end of the year.

Sources said that this was approved at a recent meeting of top I-T and Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) officials when they sat down to plan the rollout of the recent government decision, which sanctioned a large-scale cadre restructuring of the department and created 20,751 posts, in various ranks, in the I-T Department.

The CBDT, the apex policy making body of the tax department, has put its stamp of approval on the decision."There will be an I-T office in every district of India. This will not only reduce the hardship of taxpayers living in small towns, but will also help in widening the tax base bringing in more revenue to the government kitty," added a senior I-T official.

The department has also decided to implement the big- ticket restructuring proposal by the end of the year, the official said."The primary objective of the strengthening and restructuring is to improve the efficiency of the I-T Department, maximise revenue collection and provide better services to the taxpayers, apart from improving career prospects of the employees," the blueprint, is also called the vision document, said a source in the department.

Districts sans I-T offices
At present, only metro, semi-metro cities and a few towns have I-T offices while a number of districts are without it. The taxpayers have to go to the nearest city or neighbouring district to perform tax-related work. The CBDT, the apex policy making body of the tax department, has put its stamp of approval on the decision.

Ludhiana, July 17
Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari today expressed relief over the safe return of industrialist Manish Bharara after remaining in the captivity of his abductors.

At the same time, the Minister expressed grave concern over the incident wherein a person was kidnapped in broad daylight without anybody taking notice of it, which he said was a failure on the part of administration. He said that such incidents not only shake the confidence of the people in law, but also encourage and embolden the criminals. The minister observed that if right lessons had been learnt at the right time, the abductors would not have kidnapped the man, demanded the ransom and then walked away with the money.

Ludhiana, July 17
To streamline traffic on Ferozepur Road, the Tehbazari wing of Municipal Corporation, barricaded four problem points near Aarti cinema, Bhaiwala chowk and mini secretariat.

Ludhiana, July 17
In an era, where allopathy has been dominating all other medical practices in the country, the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU) still encourages ayurveda, an ancient therapeutic practice.

The PAU has developed a herbal garden on the campus in an area of one acre land. The agronomy department grows more than 100 herbal plants and trees, which are useful in ayurveda.

The garden was developed about 10 years ago.

Experts at the agronomy department say that plants like tulsi, aloevera, akarkara, rose, jamalghota, lemongrass, brahmi, mulathi and stevia are in demand as people have been using thesein some form or the other for centuries. Other important plants grown on the campus include kalmegh, periwinkle, rose, gugal, citronella, nirgundi, samundar sokh, buch, coleus, hadzor, mugh, ashwagandha, aanantmool, bajardanti, babchi, basil, niazbo, kapurwasi and mentha.

"The herbal plants have their benefits but using them without consulting an ayurvedic specialist can be harmful,” said an expert at the PAU.

The garden is for academic purposes as the students’ research on the medicinal values of the plants. However, the department also sells the herbal plants to farmers and the general public to promote cultivation.

Along with the medicinal values, the plants have ecstatic value too. Many people use plants such as rose as ornamental plants too.

Dr Gurmit Singh Buttar, head of the department, said, “We have been getting positive feedback from the residents and farmers. Farmers can also grow herbs but not on a large-scale because marketing can be a major problem.”

Ludhiana, July 17
People in the disaster-affected areas around Uttarkashi are reeling under severe health problems, according to an eight-member team formed by Indian Doctors for Peace and Development (IDPD), Indian Medical Association (Ludhiana), Punjab Medical Representatives’ Association and Wholesale Chemists Association.

The team had gone to several interior villages of the area to examine patients, and to give medicines to the deprived.

General Secretary, IDPD, Dr Arun Mitra who led the team said, “In addition to holding medical camps, the team also visited some patients at their home and gave preventive and curative treatment including intravenous infusions. Women and children, particularly, were found to be anaemic and malnourished. The infectious diseases such as abdominal, skin and chest infectivity were widespread."

Psychiatrist Dr SK Prabhakar said a large number of people were found to be suffering from anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorders.

“Basic health education to improve hygiene has to be given. The nutritional status needs to be improved to strengthen immunity. Efforts have to be made for gender equality particularly for the nutritional status of women,” said Mitra.

After examining the patients for almost a week, the team demanded long-term planning to preserve ecology by preventing deforestation and adopting a development strategy that would prevent such a disaster in future. They felt a long-term planning for comprehensive health care was required.

The team had left for the relief camp on July 7. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 17
In response to the appeal made by district governor Dr Arun Gupta, over seventy units of Rotary International falling under jurisdiction of RI districts 3080 and 3090 have decided to provide services for the rehabilitation of localities in the flood-hit Uttarakhand. Rotarians led by Pardeep Sethi also announced felicitation of those involved in the rescue operations. ‘Rotary Salutes Heroes Fund’ has been instituted in recognition of the members of the Armed Forces who undertook the rescue operations.

A team of volunteers led by councillor Bimal Sharma will be sent to the adopted villages besides contributing funds, said Sethi.

Appreciating the initiative, Dr Arun Gupta said many clubs of the district had confirmed help through drafts and cheques in favour of ‘Rotary Salutes Heroes Funds’ and ‘Rotary District 3080 Service’. Some clubs have even collected contributions from the public.

He cited a few examples wherein children from families of Rotarians had contributed their pocket money for raising funds.

“Funds received in the service account will be used for rehabilitation of one devastated village that has been adopted by the Rotary. In the initial stages, houses will be constructed, water supply and sewage system will be checked, and once families start living in these houses, articles of daily use will be provided,” said the governor.