Ludhiana, August 31
The patience of hundreds of passengers was put to test after activists of railway unions blocked traffic under the Jagraon bridge for more than two hours today.

The activists alleged that the Railway Hospital failed provide timely treatment to an injured employee due to which his foot had to be amputated.

In a joint action, activists of the Northern Railway Men's Union and Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union sat on the railway tracks under the Jagraon bridge from 11.30 am to 2.00 pm and blocked the rail traffic. The activists were demanding an apology from a doctor and the divisional traffic manager.

A railway employee, Chhote Lal, was injured after he fell off an engine last night. He was rushed to the Railway Hospital, but had to be referred to the CMCH due to the lack of specialised facilities in the hospital.

General secretary, NRMU, Ferozepur division, Daljit said there was no ambulance to rush the injured to the hospital. Doctors at the Railway Hospital referred Chhote Lal to the CMCH.

“As there is no collaboration between the Railways and the CMCH, we had to deposit money from our pocket for the treatment. It is not justified. When an employee meets with an accident, it is the responsibility of the Railways to foot the bills,” said Daljit.

S Prashar, general secretary of the URMU, said: “The doctor on duty and the divisional traffic manager did not show any concern for the injured employee.”

Meanwhile, the divisional railway manger has sectioned Rs 75,000 for Chhote Lal’s treatment.

The blockade disturbed the schedule of many trains. The Pathankot-Delhi train was delayed by 2.30 hours, Dadar Express by 2.35 hours, Delhi-Moga Sathabadi by 1.25 hours and Shan-e-Punjab by 2 hours.

Ludhiana, August 31
Thinking that every LPG consumer will be linked with the main portal in Delhi by September 1, 2013, the National Payment Corporation of India had started transferring subsidies on cooking gas cylinders into the bank accounts of the consumers. But in Ludhiana district, out of 9.3 lakh consumers, only 45,000 have been linked with the portal so far.

Left with no other option, the Ministry of Petroleum, Government of India, had to extend the date for making Aadhaar cards and get these linked with the main server in Delhi till November 30, 2013. At the same time, this is being made cleared by the gas agencies to the consumers that if the latter fails to get themselves enrolled for the Aadhaar cards and Aadhaar numbers (to be given by the gas agencies), they will not be given the subsidy.

A meeting of the higher officials of the district administration, district food and supplies department and gas agencies was held yesterday in which the reasons for the failure of the enrolment was discussed in detail.

An owner of a gas agency said the process was slow as the consumers were being 'discouraged' by the banks whenever they went for getting themselves linked with the agencies.

"It is true that up to 25 per cent of the population has still not enrolled itself for Aadhaar cards. But the work is moving at a snail's pace as there are many problems arise when Aadhaar numbers are presented in the banks. Many consumers say the bank officials have told them that there is no such need and the system is not going to be implemented soon by the government," said the owner of the gas agency.

It is also learnt that the Additional Deputy Commissioner (General) has been asked to hold an immediate meeting with the district coordinating officers of the banks to issue instructions to them not to harass the consumers and get their Aadhaar numbers and accounts linked so that they can easily get the subsidies on gas cylinders in their bank accounts.

With the scheme, the consumers will get the subsidy transferred into their bank accounts while at the time of delivery of the gas cylinders, they will have to pay Rs 950.

Ludhiana, August 31
If you want to have ornamental plants in your office but don’t have the time, patience or resources to grow, maintain and look after them, then somebody will just do it for you.

Nurseries in the city have started offering service for maintaining plants. Commercial establishments, hotels, restaurants and offices in the city are taking the benefit of the service.

“Looking after plants is not easy and is time consuming. It’s not viable in commercial establishments,” says Avinash Kapoor, a resident. The plants not only look beautiful, liven up the space around, but also improve the quality of air.

The service providers charge Rs 65 per plant at a commercial complex. The plants are even changed once or twice a month.

“As people don't have time to grow and maintain plants, especially in commercial establishments, the task is done by nurseries. Plants are taken to the nursery and replaced on a rotational basis.

“The service providers clean and water plants at nurseries, which is not possible at offices," says Juhi Bakshi from Technocare nursery. “If people desire, plants can be replaced every month or after a fortnight, says Aarti Bhalla, from a nursery. Many exotic plants, both for indoors and outdoors, are available at the nursery, she said.

Plants like areca palm, aglaonema dow, aglaonema silver, araucaria, dieffenbachia, draecena bhaskar, draecena mahatma, victoria, money plant, junipeus, song of India, yucca varieties including elephantia, glorisa, and varieties of silver palms, including areca, chamaendorea, phoenix, raphis, trimax, are used for decorative purposes.

The nurseries also offer maintenance services for plants at office and homes. "Rather than a gardener coming, it is better that workers from a nursery come and maintain the garden," says Ashima Gupta, a resident.

Ludhiana, August 31
Civil Surgeon Dr Subhash Batta has reproached medical superintendents of medical colleges and other city hospitals for their failure to check the breeding of aedes mosquito on the premises of their institutes.

Dr Batta instructed them to follow all the instructions for controlling the dengue menace during a meeting held with representatives of around 15 hospitals on Thursday.

The integrated disease surveillance project officer, Ludhiana, Dr Anil Verma, said: "We instructed the medical superintendents not to conduct the rapid test for the confirmation of dengue. Some hospital representatives said the Mac-Eliza test was very costly. We asked them to send the samples of suspected cases of dengue, on the basis of the rapid test, to the Civil Hosptal where the Mac-Eliza test will be conducted free of cost. For confirmed cases of malaria, we told them to administer radical treatment, i.e. providing the patients with chloroquinine for three days and primaquine for 14 days. They can avail themselves of these medicines from the Health Department free of cost.”

This season, 10 confirmed cases of dengue have been reported from different parts of Ludhiana.

Dr Verma said residents too had to act responsibly to curb the menace

“Many a times people wash cars and corridors, and let the water collect on the roadside. The water of hydrated plants should also be changed every two to three days,” he said. 

Ludhiana, August 31
A "financially starved" Education Department has asked government schools in the state to download question papers for the SA-I and terminals for Classes VI-XII from its website and get them photocopied for the exams to be held in September.

School authorities, however, are finding it difficult to adhere to the instructions. Schools, especially the middle schools, do not have sufficient funds.

Principals of senior secondary schools and high schools, too, called it a “mockery of a system”. "On the one hand the department is making tall claims about implementing the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act in Punjab, and on the other it is failing to manage its finances,” said a school principal.

“Not all these schools are in cities. Hundreds of schools are in remote villages, where the Internet facilities are not easily available. The department expects the schools to download the question paper on the day of the examination, get it photocopied and then distribute it among the students. How will this be possible when all the classes will be having exams?" the principal said.

A senior teacher at Government School, Jawahar Nagar Camp, said with the new arrangement, chances of copying would increase.

"Earlier, the department with the objective of reforming the education system told the schools that it will be sending the question papers. Now, the department is again putting the responsibility on the schools. How can the department assume that there will be no problems regarding photostat machines in villages?" said the teacher.

Teachers said they would be facing many problems because of the recent directions of the department.

Khamano, August 31
Punjab and Haryana farmers will hold a ‘Kisan Adhikar March’ under the leadership of president OP Dhankar and secretary Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal on September 1 and 2 in Chandigarh.

A memorandum will be sent to the respective Governors of Punjab and Haryana as well.

The BJP Kisan Morcha National secretary, Sukhminderpal Singh Grewal, said, “The march is being held to protest against the lackadaisical attitude of the Central and State Governments towards the farmers. The BJP will hold the 'Kisan Adhikar March' in all non-BJP ruled states as well, including Odisha, in the first week of September.”

It would also hold a similar protest in Delhi in the first week of October and submit a memorandum with a 15-point charter of demands to the President, Pranab Mukherjee, said Grewal.

Grewal said the procurement policy of the Punjab and Haryana Governments had failed to lift tonnes of paddy. The surplus crop was rotting, much to the farmers’ dismay, he said.

“The farmers do not have any social security and are forced to commit suicide. Without giving the producers their due, how can we bring a Food Security Bill to please the consumers,” said the national secretary.

Grewal appealed to the farmers to come together and fight for their rights. 

Ludhiana, August 31
The Commissioner of Police, Paramjit Singh Gill, today transferred many station house officers.

Inspector Dharampal, who was the SHO of the Salem Tabri police station has been made the SHO of the Division No. 5 station. SHO of the Basti Jodhewal police station Inspector Balwinder Singh will take his place at Salem Tabri.

Inspector Inderjit Singh, meanwhile, has been moved from Koomkalan to Dehlon and inspector Mandeep Singh from Ladhowal to Meharban.

Sub-inspector Surjit Singh Nagra has been transferred to the Koom Kalan police station from Shimlapuri.

Inspector Gurpreet Singh, who was posted at the motor transport wing in the police lines, has been made the SHO of the Basti Jodhewal police station.

Sub-inspector Kanwaljit Singh, who was deputed in the traffic wing, is the new SHO of the Ladhowal police station. Inspector Anil Bhanot is the SHO of the Division No. 6 police station. He will be replacing inspector Gurdev Singh.

Inspector Satwinder Singh Virk, who was the SHO of the Dugri police station, Inspector Nirmal Singh of the Division No. 5 police station and inspector Satinder Pal Singh of the Dehlon police station were sent to the police lines.

Ludhiana, August 31
In another incident of dog bite, a stray dog has bitten a 4-year-old boy, Namit, a resident of Bhamman village in Koomkalan Block.

Shiv Ram Saroy, founder of NGO Ann Jal Sewa Trust, said, “The child has already been given the Tetanus-Toxide injection and anti-rabies injection by the Primary Health centre, Koomkalan. The victim is currently undergoing treatment at the Lord Mahavir Civil hospital, Ludhiana.” The NGO also helped the child in getting Kamrap injection worth Rs 6,000. The child has been bitten on his cheek.

We have requested the SMO to provide him the best treatment to ensure his early recovery, said Saroy. — TNS

Ludhiana, August 31
The local police has booked three persons in a case of cheating.

The accused have been identified as Vipan Kumar, a resident of Dhandra Road, Harminder Singh and Akhilesh Garg.

Surinder Singh, a resident of Urmur Tanda village, Hoshiarpur district, lodged a complaint with the Deputy Commissioner of Police stating that the accused had duped his family of Rs 22 lakh on the pretext of sending it abroad.

Khanna. August 31
The Machiwara police has arrested a 25-year-old youth at a naka, near the Garhi Tarkhana bridge and recovered 1-kg opium from his possession. The accused has been identified as Sukhwant Singh, a resident of Lakhmirwala village, Mansa.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Khanna, Sushil Kumar, said, “A police party led by the station house officer, Machiwara, Harjinder Singh, stopped a white Maruti Zen car at a naka. The driver of the car tried to escape but was overpowered by the policemen. During a thorough search operation, the police seized 1 kg of opium from his possession.”

The SSP said, “As per the primary investigations, the youth had purchased the contrabands from Haryana at a rate of Rs 50,000 per kg. He was to apparently sell it to some dhaba owners and truck drivers at a price of Rs 70,000 per kg in Samrala and Machiwara areas.”

As per the SSP, Sukhwant is himself an addict and he was allegedly involved in the illegal sale of these contrabands from past six months to clear a heavy debt. He has two minor children. The alleged drug-peddler has no criminal record.

Ludhiana, August 31
Bowlers dominated the proceedings as 22 wickets tumbled on the opening day of the four-day match between Ludhiana and Amritsar in the Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament for Katoch Shield being played at Punjab Agricultural University.

Amritsar won the toss and opted to bat first. They were skittled out for a meagre total of 118 runs in 51 overs in the first innings which included 16 runs as penalty imposed on Ludhiana for slow over rate. Mohit Handa top scored with 24 runs while Sharad Loomba contributed 17 runs and Abhinav Sharma chipped in with 15 runs. For Ludhiana, Amritpal Singh claimed five wickets for 24 runs and Rahul Singla scalped three wickets for 36 runs. Deepak Bansal grabbed one wicket for 15 runs. However, Ludhiana's joys of restricting the visitors to a small total were short-lived as the hosts were shot out below the three figure. Ludhiana's first essay culminated at 97 runs in 25.5 overs.

Baltej Singh made 22 runs while Anil Sihag and Geetansh Khera who had scored centuries in the first match against Chandigarh too failed to perform well today, contributing 18 and 12 runs, respectively. Right-arm off-spinner of Amritsar Charanjeet Singh was the wrecker-in-chief. He sent down 7.5 overs and captured six wickets after conceding 36 runs. Medium pacer Kamal Passi took three wickets for 11 runs in five overs. Vinay Chowdhary secured one wicket for 13 runs. Amritsar started second innings also on a dismal note, losing two early wickets. At draw of stumps, the visitors were 13 for 2 in 11 overs. Rohan and Navneet were at the crease with 8 and 2 runs, respectively, against their names. 

Ludhiana, August 31
Nirmal Kaur has been named captain of the Punjab girls' team for the Junior National Basketball Championship scheduled for September 1 to 8 at Cuttack in Odisha.

This was stated by Teja Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary, Punjab Basketball Association (PBA).

The names of the other players are Kulwinder Kaur, Satveer Kaur, Navdeep Kaur, Arshpret Kaur, Tanvi Prashar, Harpreet Kaur, Jaswinder Kaur, Jaspreet Kaur, Navdeep Kaur, Savita and Lovepreet Kaur. Davinder Dhindsa has been appointed head coach while Jaipal Singh will be the coach. Harpreet Kaur will accompany the contingent as the manager. The members of the team were given a warm send-off yesterday. Pawan Kumar Tinu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Punjab (sports), and office-bearers of the PBA were present at Guru Nanak Stadium to wish the girls good luck. — OC

Ludhiana, August 31
The Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, survived a scare against Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Model Town, before romping home victorious 5-3 to clinch the title in the ninth Senior Ludhiana District Baseball Championship being held at Guru Nanak Khalsa College, Model Town. Amanjot Kaur and Amandeep Kaur scored two runs each that came handy for the Khalsa College for Women to lift the trophy. Nine teams competed in the women's section.

Earlier, in the semifinals, GNW Club 10-2 while the Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, routed Ramgarhia Girls College, Miller Ganj, 10-0 to enter the final.

Both the semifinals turned out to be one-sided affairs as Guru Nanak Khalsa College and Khalsa College for Women faced a little resistance from their opponents and stormed their way into the final. In the match for the hard-line cup, Ramgarhia Girls College faced stiff challenge from GNW Club before registering 6-3 victory and secured the third place.

In the league matches, the Khalsa College for Women outwitted Sahi Sports College, Samrala, 5-1; RS Club overpowered Teja Singh Swatantar Senior Secondary School 3-2; GNW Club overwhelmed the Arya College for Women 11-2; Guru Nanak Khalsa College defeated BCM Senior Secondary School, Focal Point, 5-2 and GNW Club beat Government Senior Secondary School, Koom Kalan, 11-1.

In the men's section, Ranjit Club blanked Sacred Heart Convent School 4-0 while Guru Nanak International Public School managed to squeeze past BCM Senior Secondary School, Focal Point, 6-5. The match was played between Famous Club and RS Model School, Model Town, in which the former came out victors 10-0 and in another match, Arya College beat Government Senior Secondary School, Koom Kalan, 4-0. In other matches, PPC Club defeated Teja Singh Swatantar School 5-0, Ranjit Club drubbed Sahi Sports College, Samrala, 7-2, Koom Kalan Club outclassed RS Club 4-3 and PPC Club outnumbered Sahi Sports College, Samrala, 9-5.— OC