Ludhiana, August 20
Two suicide cases rocked the city of Ludhiana today. In the first incident, a 28-year-old woman, identified as Sharanjit Kaur, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at the residence of her in-laws in Harbanspura, near the Division No. 3 area.

The incident took place last night after Sharanjit Kaur had a quarrel with her husband Ravinder Singh. Later, at midnight, Ravinder informed Perminder Singh, Sharanjit Kaur's brother, that his sister had committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan.

Perminder Singh, along with his relatives, reached Rabinder's house and staged a protest. He alleged that Ravinder and his family members had killed his sister and hanged her body from the ceiling to pass it as a suicide.

Parminder Singh said his sister got married nearly eight years ago, but Ravinder and his family members started torturing her for arranging more dowry articles. The couple had two children. However, Ravinder kept harassing his sister, he alleged, adding that the area residents had told him that Ravinder and Sharanjit had picked up a fight over an issue.

He has lodged a murder complaint with the police.

Meanwhile, the police has sent the body to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem examination and started investigation into the case.

Ludhiana, August 20
In blatant violation of the service rules, several employees and officials of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT), residing in other towns and cities, leave station without obtaining permission from the authorities concerned. The staff members coming from outstations normally arrive late, and more often than not, leave early in the evening. Hence avoidable harassment to visitors to the Trust office.

Even as it is known to almost each and every senior official of the LIT that many of the employees come from places like Samrala, Khanna, Moga, Phagwara, Jalandhar, and even from distant cities like Amritsar, the LIT authorities maintain that no official/employee can leave station without obtaining "station leave".

Information obtained under the Right to Information Act by Rohit Sabharwal and Arvind Sharma, president and secretary, respectively, of the Council of RTI Activists, revealed that as per the record available with the establishment branch of the LIT, no employee or official had obtained station leave on a permanent basis, nor can such permission be accorded as per the service rules.

While the LIT officials maintain that any member of the staff availing casual or medical leave obtains station leave, they choose to evade the issue of the employees/officials residing in other towns who obviously leave the station every day in violation of the service rules.

A middle rung official of the LIT admitted that several members of the staff were residing in other towns and cities. "Naturally, they travel every day from their place of residence to the city and back. To make the matters worse, these employees arrive at the office and also leave in the afternoon at their own convenience depending on the timing of their mode of transport (bus/train)," the official said.

In a complaint lodged with the Vigilance wing of the Local Government Department, the Council of RTI Activists has sought a thorough probe into such kind of violation of the service rules.

Come late, leave early
The staff members coming from outstations normally arrive late, and more often than not, leave early in the evening. Hence, avoidable harassment to visitors to the Trust office.

Ludhiana, August 20
The Income Tax Department is going to get strict with tax evaders. Those defaulting on income tax returns are now liable for prosecution, the department officials have said.

If tax evasion exceeds Rs 25 lakh, the defaulter can be sentenced to a minimum imprisonment of six months and maximum of seven years, besides being asked to pay a fine. If tax evasion is less than Rs 25 lakh, the imprisonment would range between three months and two years in addition to a fine, said an official source.

Recently, a tax payer in New Delhi was sentenced a to six months' imprisonment for evading tax in one assessment year and one-year imprisonment in the subsequent assessment year for repeating the offence of not filing income tax returns, added the source.

Ludhiana, August 20
Colleges seeking tax exemptions are under the Income Tax Department scanner. The department is now planning to knock out these tainted colleges from the tax exemption list.

Private medical colleges are generally owned by registered trusts and get 100 per cent exemption from income tax. However, it has been found that these colleges collect crores of rupees as fee from students. Officials are now working towards getting these institutions declared as commercial ventures.

According to sources in the department, these colleges earn between Rs 150 and 250 crore per year.

According to reliable sources, the department is also planning to start trailing the sources of income of those who deposit amounts with the colleges. Those who will voluntarily declare their income might enjoy immunity from action by the department, as a measure to encourage people to help the department curb the menace of skyrocketing donation fees.

These colleges get 100 per cent tax exemption and reportedly sell management quota seats at whopping rates.

Voluntary declaration
Those who will voluntarily declare their income might enjoy immunity from action by the department, as a measure to encourage people to help the department curb the menace of high donation fees.

Ludhiana, August 20
Following the instructions of the National Green Tribunal, the District Administration has asked the industrialists to immediately stop using the power generators causing noise and air pollution or else face the music. The SDMs in the district have been asked to conduct checks in their respective areas and take appropriate action against defaulters. Many SDMs have constituted teams of officials for the purpose and asked them to submit their reports to the authorities by August 23.

Talking to The Tribune, SDM (West) KS Mahi said the teams comprised officials from GLADA, Pollution Control Department and the Police Department. "We (SDM East and West) held a meeting of the officials recently and the teams have been asked to provide us feedback by August 23. We will be issuing a warning to defaulters and if they fail to adhere to the instructions, the power generators causing pollution will be sealed," said Mahi.

When asked if the authorities had any specific number of the generator sets running illegally in the district, Mahi said data was being compiled by the teams and the exact figure could be known after the completion of the survey.

Meanwhile, one of the members of a survey team, who is an official of the Pollution Control Board here, said half of the population (using power generator sets) in the district was using generator sets, which caused both air and noise pollution.

"The authorities, including the Pollution Board, administration and the Police Department have to crack down on them. Either defaulters should be penalised heavily or their generator sets sealed permanently, only then we can check pollution in this industrial hub. Apart from the polluting industry, power generator sets are the second major source of pollution in the district," said the official.

Ludhiana, August 20
With the 2014 Lok Sabha elections approaching, leaders are not leaving any stone unturned to woo those who matter. The local leaders have reportedly started recommending the names of their "trustworthy" teachers, to be adjusted as per the latter's choice so that their "services" could be hired during the elections.

Such lists were allegedly sent by the leaders' aides to the District Education Officer (Secondary), Paramjit Kaur Chahal, during a meeting on transfers at Malwa School, Kochar Market. The Chahal said: "According to the orders by the department, we have invited applications from teachers seeking transfers within the district (local level)".

If sources in the Education Department are to be believed, then most leaders have sent their recommendations/lists through PAs, gunmen and others. "We have got a huge list of teachers seeking transfers and all names have been recommended by influential persons," said an official.

He added it was unfortunate that the leaders were not bothered about filling vacant posts in the government schools in their respective constituencies but were more worried about getting their men adjusted at vantage locations. "Teaching is a humble profession. The teachers provide a strong base to our future generations but politics has taken the noble profession into its tentacles. The department will ultimately bow to the pressure tactics of these leaders and adjustments will be made as per their wishes," said the official in the Education Department.

In many government schools, there are no regular teachers for various subjects and students have suffered in the absence of subject teachers.

Meanwhile, a good number of vehicles, including official ones, were seen parked outside Malwa School.

Ludhiana, August 20
Though fewer snakebite cases had been reported this year, there's a scarcity of anti-venom injections at the hospitals. The recommended pharmaceutical companies are unable to provide these injections to the state Health Department. However, to deal with emergency cases, the district Health Department has purchased these injections from other pharmaceutical firms.

Senior Medical Officer of the Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, Dr Rajkumar Karkra, said: "This year, we received only 6 snakebite cases so far. Last year, the number was 26. For the past many months, we have not received any anti-venom injection from the recommended pharmaceutical firms. But to meet any kind of emergency, we have purchased 14 injections from some other firms."

The Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, said: "Perhaps, manufacturers are not making the injections as these are very costly. Their requirement is very less and expiry date is not very long. So these are not manufactured in bulk.''

He said all the Community Health Centres had stocks of these injections. "A snakebite victim should be treated immediately, as venom travels through veins very quickly. One should be treated within two or three hours of a snakebite," Dr Batta said.

He said: "As soon as a snake bites a person, the area should be tightly wrapped with a cloth in such away that venom shouldn't spread to the other parts of the body."

Ludhiana, August 20
The sub-committee headed by Additional Deputy Commissioner (D) Kanwalpreet Brar will submit a report on viable sites for the shifting of scattered dairies to curb the pollution level in the Buddha Nullah tomorrow to the main committee.

If the sites are approved by the main committee formed by the Chief Secretary to the Government of Punjab, the list of sites will be handed over to the government for acquiring land, and dairies will be constructed on the sites within a year.

According to available information, the viable sites are at Baunkar Gujran, Dhanansu, Miani, Balliewal and Valipur. The land has been shortlisted by the ADC (D) after consulting the panchayats concerned.

“These sites are near the periphery of the city and dairy owners should not have any problem in shifting the scattered dairies, about 600 in number,” said an official in the sub-committee.

Meanwhile, KP Brar told The Tribune that the Buddha Nullah was considered as critically polluted and efforts were being made to make it clean.

“As various components are adding to the pollution levels, the scattered dairies are one of the sources of pollution in the nullah. The government has already made two major points for the dairies on the Tajpur Road and Haibowal, and these will not be shifted. The move is to shift the scattered dairies adding to the pollution in the nullah. For that, we have identified certain sites near the city where these could be shifted. We will handover the report to the main committee with Commissioner MC Rakesh Verma, Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari, Deputy Director (Rural Development) and Deputy Director (Dairies) as the members. The final decision will be taken by the main committee after taking the dairy owners into confidence,” said Brar.

Once the site is finalised, the committee will send its recommendation to the state government and the latter will acquire the land. Powers will be given to the Municipal Corporation to go ahead with the project.

Ludhiana, August 20
The 19-year-old molestation victim, who had relentlessly fought against police apathy for 41 days, forcing the police to register a case of molestation against four youths, has become an ideal for girls.

The promising BSc-II medical student of Government College for Girls feels that though her studies took a hit and she suffered mental agony, raising voice against injustice earned her a lot of public support.

“My classmates and girls living in the locality are being subjected to eve-teasing and molestation. I have not come across a girl who had not been followed by youths and had not received lewd comments. Due to the social and parental pressure, girls keep quite and do not bring up such issues. Inaction on the part of girls emboldens the confidence of youth and they target other girls,” said the molestation victim.

Not only the molestation victim, but her parents, too, had undergone a testing time. “I do not know how many times I was asked this question that the youths touched which part of my daughter's body. I cannot have food properly just because of disgusting and negative approach of society. I went to the police station to report the matter, but the policemen confined me in a lock-up. Is giving birth to a girl child a crime?” said the girl's father, who is a migrant from Uttar Pradesh and is working as a class-IV employee in PAU.

While showing the mark sheet of his daughter, he said: “I am proud of my daughter. She raised the voice against the injustice done to her. Other girls too should take a lesson and raise voice against the injustice.”

The girl's mother said: “The mother of Rajesh, alias Sheru, one of the accused booked for molestation, told me that her son had just held my daughter by the arm. What was the need to make such a hue and cry out of it. She was saying that by raising an objection, my daughter is earning a bad name for the family.”

Succumbing to public pressure, the city police yesterday booked four tipsy youngsters, who were involved in the alleged molestation of a girl. The case was registered after 41 days.

Dr Arun Mitra, social activist of the city, said various NGOs came in support of the molestation victim.

The victim, a medical student, was allegedly molested by a group of youngsters while she was watering the plants outside her house at Chand Colony in Rishi Nagar on the evening of July 9.

Ludhiana, August 20
As many as seven drug stores of Sahnewal were raided today by a team of the District Health Department.

Sukhbir Chand, drug inspector said: “I raided seven drug stores in Sahnewal and collected samples of five medicines from two stores. I collected samples of three drugs from Singh Medical Hall and two from Dhashmesh Medical Hall.”

He said: “We also seized habit-forming drugs from Lovi Medicos. These included 20 cough syrups and 500 tablets of phenotil.”

The District Task Force challaned as many as nine persons for smoking at public places. The District Task Force, which included District Health Officer Dr Avinash Kumar; Food Safety Officers Manoj Khosla and Harpreet Kaur; Additional District Attorney Amandeep Singh; and a representative of an NGO Krishan Lal Malik, challaned people for smoking near religious places, selling tobacco products near religious places and not displaying proper signboards.

Ludhiana, August 20
On the directions of Dr Subhash Batta, Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, an awareness workshop was organised by District Health Officer Dr Avinash Kumar at Government High School, Sarabha Nagar, and Gurmat Missionary College, Jawaddi. The students were told about water and vector-borne diseases like malaria, dengue, gastroenteritis, typhoid, cholera, etc.

While interacting with students, District Mass Media Officer Harjinder Singh gave tips on preventing the spread of these diseases.

Following tips were given to students Dengue spreads through mosquito bites, which occur during the daytime. Mosquitoes breed in containers having fresh water like flower pots, water coolers, water tanks, etc. Clean and dry coolers once a week. Keep rooftops clear of containers/tyres and protect your family from dengue. Wear full sleeves and cover your feet in the morning and evening. Spray insecticides under the tables/behind the curtains. Use anti-mosquito nets to prevent dengue and malaria.

Ludhiana, August 20
The dyeing units today took a collective decision to increase the rates of dyeing.

With rupee weakening against dollar and chemicals becoming costly, the dyeing units have decided to increase the prices by 5-8 per cent.

“It has become difficult to bear overhead costs as the prices of chemicals have been increasing. No profit is left in dyeing, so we have unanimously decided to increase the prices by 5-8 per cent,” said Bobby Jindal, general secretary of the Dyeing Association of Ludhiana.

“Rupee is weakening against dollar and it is taking a toll on us. As a result, the rate of chemicals is increasing and it has become difficult to continue with the previous dyeing rates. We will be increasing the rates of dyeing as decided by the association,” said another member of the association.

Khanna, August 20
A large number of people blocked traffic and ransacked a bus after the death of a three-year-old child at Ikolaha village. The deaceased has been identified as lovepreet Singh.

As per information, lovepreet was playing in front of his house. Suddenly an over speed bus that was going from Ikolahai to Ikolaha crushed the child. In the meantime, some villager those were sitting near the site run towards to the bus. Fearing trouble, the driver of the bus tried to escape by escalating the speed of bus but in the meantime the child was mowed down under rear tyres and he died on the spot.

The villagers blocked the traffic on Khanna Malerkotla road to protest against the driver. Some angry villager also ran sacked the window panes of the bus. Driver escaped from the scene.

A police team lead by Jagdish, a police official, reached the spot and pacified the agitators after registering a case against the driver of the erring bus. DSP Khanna said the driver of the bus has been arrested and a case under relevant sections has been registered. 

Ludhiana, August 20
From kitchen napkins to cell phones there are about dozen things which are used by people in daily routine but none bothers about maintaining their proper cleanliness and thus fall an easy prey to health problems.

Cell phones, handles of doors and windows, handles of refrigerator, foot mats, keyboards, increased nails, hand bags, pens, landline phones, kitchen napkins etc are used by almost everyone daily and are biggets carriers of germs.

Dr Kanwal Maseeh, Medical Superintendent of Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, and professor in pathology department said, "I always keep instructing my staff in the hospital not to touch anything without requirement as there remains chances that one may carry micro organisms from one patient to the other. But I have observed that people bother only about such things whenever there is any epidemic like swine flu."

He said all the persons should make it a habit to maintain proper hygiene of these things on daily basis by washing hands with soap and not by touching things un-necessarily.

Dr Aroma Oberoi, professor and head of microbiology department, Christian Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana, said: "Last year we conducted a research on cell phones. We found methicilline registrant staphylococcus aureus bacteria on the cell phones of health care providers." She said many women love to increase nails and also paint them but pathogenic bacteria remains hidden beneath the nails and thus health gets affected. Sometimes the filth hidden in nails also gets converted into fungal infections and even makes the nails brittle.

Dr Raju Sinfgh Chhina, Chairman, Infection Control Board, DMCH, and Dean Academics said: "Water-borne diseases spread through oro-faecal route. It means people don't wash hands properly after going to toilet and the microorganisms which come out through excretion spread from one person to another and then make them fall sick."

Ludhiana, August 20
Students of Punjab Agricultural University today started hunger strike on the seventh day as a part of the ongoing protest.

The students rusticated from university, Dilpreet Singh, Jashandeep Singh and Harpreet Singh, also sat on hunger strike outside the Vice-Chancellor's office.

Irked from the notice issued by Dean of the College of Agriculture, students staged protest outside the dean's office in the afternoon.

HS Dhaliwal, Dean, College of Agricultural, issued notices against students sitting on the strike.

Meanwhile, office-bearers of the Punjab Agriculture University Student's Association (PAUSA) met the Dean of the College of Agriculture Engineering for resolving the issue. But the meeting failed to produce any result as the students denied that they had consumed liquor on July 22.

Karanvir Singh Sandhu, vice-president, PAUSA, said: "Instead of tactics, the authorities should address the problems of students. We are not interested in missing classes and are aware of the loss of study. So the authorities should review their previous decisions immediately."

Sahranbir Singh, president, PAUSA, said: "The protest against the injustice is democratic right of the students. So we will not call off the strike till all our demands are not addressed."

Ludhiana, August 20
Patients that come in for total knee replacement now a days are younger than the ones we used to receive five to seven years back. The average age has reduced from 65 years and above to mid-50s now. In such cases it is a viable option to use oxinium knee implants as it reduces the chances of revision surgery. This was said by Dr Sanjeev Mahajan, an orthopedic and knee replacement surgeon, Department of Orthopedics Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, while addressing a press conference.

Dr Mahajan who has recently conducted surgery on a 60-year-old woman through this technique said, “Oxinium knee implants don’t have nickel content, patients who suffer from metal allergies can be deemed to use these superior quality knee implants safely. The patient whom I operated upon a few days ago has shown good progress post operation and will be able to resume active life within four to five days.”

Dr Mario Penta, Consultant, Orthopedic Surgeon, Flinders University, Adelaide, Australia, who is a well known orthopedician and is abreast with new advancement in total knee replacement surgeries worldwide said, “I and Dr Mahajan collaborated together in order to create an interactive knowledge sharing platform and discuss new developments. In Australia, in 2011 as many as 75,000 people suffered from knee problems. The number might have increased further now.”

About the use of Oxinium Knee Implants in India, Dr Neeraj Bansal, orthopedic joint replacement surgeon and consultant, Global SuperSpeciality Hospital, said: “In Ludhiana the cases of total knee replacement have been growing at a rate of 20 to 30 per cent every year. The growth in the number of surgeries is due to increased awareness by the patients of the knee replacement and also how it drastically improves the quality of life. Sedentary lifestyle, stressful work environment, lack of exercises has also caused these cases to aggravate further.”

What is Oxinium?

Oxinium is metal alloy with the surface transformed to ceramic using a patented process—has proven to be a superior surface for use in hip and knee implants due to its reduced friction and increased resistance to scratching and abrasion. These superior properties result in significantly less wear than that produced by traditional implants. 

He is a member of board of management of vet varsity. He is using green fodder and silage along with self-produced feed for balanced nutritive values. One of his cows has produced 58 litres milk. Second person who received the award is Jyoti Saroop. He is manager of The UNATI Co-operative Marketing-cum-Processing Ltd.

It was established in 2003 by a group of 14 young, dynamic and innovative persons with a vision of integrating rural community of Kandi Area for sustainable livelihood and development from natural bio-resources and novel rainfed agriculture with cultivation of medicinal and aromatic plants. The UNATI started initially with a vision to explore the opportunity in processing and marketing of natural herbal bioresoures of Kandi area like Amla, Giloye, Harar, Bahera, Karela, Shivlingi, etc. The society has integrated around 300 families in Kandi area for collection of bioresources which are in turn procured by the society at pre-fixed prices, much above the market price as an incentive for assured supply of raw materials. Third award was conferred on Veena Sharma. Veena is president of the Sada Shiv Modern Self-Help Group (SSM SHG) which was formed in the year 2003 with 36 village women with the primary objective of providing gainful employment to women. This SHG is also associated with the NAIP. The group started with making washing powder which was sold through small shops in the surrounding villages." Dr VK Taneja, Vice-Chancellor, GADVASU, congratulated the winners. — TNS

The course has been organised by the Department of Home Science Extension and Communication Management (HSECM) under the directions of Dr Sukhjeet Kaur, course director, and Dr Kiranjot Kaur, course co-director. As many as 26 newly recruited scientists from different departments of the PAU and its Krishi Vigyan Kendras are attending the course.Dr Rupa Bakshi, Dean, College of Home Science, PAU, inaugurated the course. — TNS

The programme continued for six days in which various activities, clay modelling, rangoli, landscape, still life painting, on-the-spot painting, knitting, pakkhi making, crochet work, essay writing, story writing, poem recitation, debate, elocution, mehndi designing, photography and poster making competitions were held. Principal Dr Shikha Soni congratulated the winners and the participants. She motivated the students to take part in extracurricular activities for overall development. — TNS