Koom Kalan, September 6
Three youths, including a school student, allegedly gangraped a minor girl last night.

The police has arrested the three youths on a complaint of the girl. Two of the accused have been identified as Jaskamal Singh and Ajay Kumar, both from Sahnewal. The third one is a minor from Tajpur.

The girl told the police that she is a student of Class XI of a private school. She alleged that a student of Class XII named Jaskamal Singh of Tajpur village often commented on her and she had also informed her parents about it few days back. Following which her parents reprimanded the boy. Last night, her mother was sleeping and her father was out for some work, while she was watching TV. At about 11pm someone knocked their door. She opened the door and found Jaskamal with two more youths on motorcycles. She alleged that she was forced to sit on a motorcycle by Jaskamal and one of the youth caught hold of her and sat behind her. She alleged that they took her to a deserted house near Kohara and raped her one after other. She was dropped near her house by one of the youths at about 4.30 am. After reaching home she narrated the incident to her parents and they reported the matter to the police. Koom Kalan police SHO said a case has been registered in this regard at Katani Chowki against the youths under Sections 363 and 376 of the IPC.

Chowki in charge Chamkaur Singh said, "Two youths are major, while one of them is minor." He said that the girl's medical report is awaited.

He said, "One of the youths, Jaskamal, is a student of same school the girl studies, while two others are his friends."

Ludhiana, September 6
A man allegedly killed his wife's paramour in Maharban village here last night. The victim, identified as Pankaj (26), had come from Bihar nearly four years ago and was living in migrant quarters near Meharban.

According to residents of the area, Pankaj, who was working at a dairy, was having illicits relations with a woman for the past two years.

Pankaj used to visit the house in her husband's absence. The accused, Jai Parkash, came to know from his children that Pankaj used to visit his house in his absence.

Jai Parkash laid a trap and asked his wife to call Pankaj. The victim soon arrived at the house where Jai Parkash stabbed him. Pankaj fled from Jai Parkash's house and died on reaching his quarters.

According to the police, Jai Parkash fled the house along with his family.

The Meharban police has registered a case of murder.

Ludhiana, September 6
A cyber swindler allegedly duped a couple for Rs 23,000 on the pretext of offering a job in London. The police has registered a case against Locivi, a resident of London, and is investigating the matter.

The police is still clueless about the place from where the email was generated and the account in which the money was sent. According to the investigating officer, the name and address appear to be fake.

The complainant, Surinder Singh, a resident of New Janta Nagar, said his wife Sukhwant Kaur received an e-mail from Locivi stating that professionals were required by a company in London. Locivi asked them to submit their bio-data.

Surinder and Sukhwant's happiness knew no bounds as their dream of working in London appeared to be becoming a reality. They provided their bio-data. They then received another e-mail stating that they had been selected and were now required to pay Rs 23,000 as visa fee. Surinder Singh deposited the money in the account provided by the accused on August 12.

However, later they realised that they had been duped. Surinder brought the matter to the notice of police, which recorded his statement.

Ludhiana, September 6
Railway employees staged two separate dharnas in support of their demands at the railway station today. The Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU) organised a protest at the entrance of the station and criticised the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority Bill (PFRDA) passed by the Central Government recently.

Large number of employees gathered outside the inquiry window and staged protest. Passenger also faced inconvenience as the employees were sitting outside the inquiry window.

Daljit Singh, Divisional Secretary, Northern Railway Men's Union (NRMU), while addressing the employees, said: “The new pension bill is anti-pensioners and it will not serve them. As per the Pension Fund Regulatory Development Authority Bill, the government will put the 26 per cent amount of pensioner's fund in share market. The increase in the amount will not be distributed among the employees as the corporation or board concerned will be the beneficiary.”

“Government has decided to withdraw the Family Pension Scheme so now an employee will get pension for only 20 years after retirement. We oppose the anti-employees bill,” said Daljit Singh.

Meanwhile, the activists of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union also staged a protest at platform number 1. The union leaders had been organising meeting from several days.

Ajay Kumar, divisional vice-president, Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union, said the railway employees have been facing several problems due to the negligence of railway authorities. “Non-availability of specialist doctors at the Railways Hospital is a major concern. The railway quarters are in bad shape, roads of railway colonies are bumpy,” he said.

Ludhiana, August 6
District Congress Committee (DCC) Ludhiana (Urban) chief Pawan Dewan was conspicuous by his absence at a party programme chaired by Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar today. Congress MLA Bharat Bhushan Ashu accompanied Jakhar on the occasion.

Party sources reveal that Ashu is close to Jakhar, while the DCC president shares a good equation with a senior Congress leader who holds an important portfolio at the Centre. The differences between Ashu and the senior Congress leader remain unresolved, by the MLA's own admission. The MLA had skipped a recent programme in which the senior Congress leader was the chief guest.

Even though the party claims to be in preparation mode for the 2014 Parliamentary polls, the Congress leaders seem to be forging intra-party alignments with renewed vigour.

Member of Parliament from Ludhiana Parliamentary Constituency Manish Tewari has said repeatedly that no party has the power to defeat the Congress. The Congress defeated itself in the state assembly polls.

Meanwhile, when asked to comment on his absence from today's programme, Dewan said the CLP leader had neither contacted him nor informed him about his visit. “In the past too, I have not been taken into confidence,” he said.

However, the CLP leader said the party is united in its fight against the Akali-BJP Government in the state. He said, “If and when there's a big event, all the leaders will be together to participate in it.”

Ludhiana, September 6
Complaints of contaminated water have been received from various parts of the city.

Sushil Kumar, a resident of Rishi Nagar, said he was shocked to see a small snake in the tap water at his residence. “I have a small child in and I am really worried. How can the authorities be so careless?” he said.

Meanwhile, Kartar Singh from Madhopuri said small insects coming out of the water supply have become a routine affair in the area. Every now and then people complain but to no avail.

Residents of Jawahar Nagar have been regularly facing the problem and had also staged a dharna in this regard many times but no steps have been taken by the authorities to overcome this. — TNS

Ludhiana, September 6
A day after the raids conducted by the Health Department on chemist shops, irked chemists visited the civil surgeon's office to give a memorandum to the Civil Surgeon, Subash Batta, with a demand of decreasing the number of police officials with the Health Department teams during the raids.

However, the civil surgeon was not available at the office as he had a meeting with the newly recruited Deputy Commissioner, Rajat Aggarwal.

Amandeep Ahuja, from Retail Chemist Association, said, “There are around 3,300 chemists in the city. We wanted to tell the civil surgeon that we are not criminals that the department raids along with 60-70 police officials. The presence of police in the chemist's shop defames the person’s reputation. We are not against the move of the Health Department to curb the sale of habit-forming drugs. But, we feel that such huge police force is not required for these raids.”

“It is sheer harassment of the chemists. We visited to the civil surgeon's office to give a memorandum but he was unavailable. Now, we will meet him on Monday and will discuss the matter,” he said.

The chemists demanded that the civil surgeon has to make a list of banned medicines for the clarity of chemists.

“We have also a deep concern with the youth of Punjab so we are always supportive to the department in this drive. If the department issues a list of the banned medicines, our association will not allow any chemist to sell such medicines,” said Aman Ahuja.

Ludhiana, September 6
Punjab Excise and Taxation Department is planning to muster more revenue from marriage palaces by charging them lump sum tax.

With the levying of lump sum tax, the department expects its revenue from marriage palaces to increase by 70 per cent. At present marriage palaces are paying luxury tax, value added tax (VAT) and excise duty on liquor.

Under the proposal, the department will be creating different slabs of rent starting from Rs 25,000 in order to calculate tax on the palaces. According to sources, the department had even conducted sting operations by sending decoy customers to few marriage palaces to know actual price being charged from customers for holding marriage functions.

“Department is working out on a proposal for levying lump sum tax on marriage palaces since it has been observed that marriage palaces indulge in tax evasion by understating their income,” said a senior official from the department.

“During sting operations, it was that found marriage palaces were indulging in under billing in order to pay less tax. There is huge difference between the price they charged and the price they write on the bill,” said the official.

Ludhiana, September 6
Under a drive against illegal change of land use and conversion of residential buildings into commercial establishments, a team of the municipal corporation today pulled down extensions and alterations being carried out in an HIG flat on Maharani Jhansi Road for converting a part of the building into three shops.

Officials and staff of the building branch of the MC, accompanied by a police force, razed the supporting pillars, partition walls and projection of the lintel with the help of a JCB machine and labour.

Madanjit Singh Bedi, building inspector of the MC, who led the operation, said violation of building norms and illegal change of land use was rampant in this particular locality which was close to the upmarket shopping area of Ghumar Mandi.

He said no unlawful extension, alteration or construction in residential flats would be permitted for commercial exploitation."The civic body has issued show-cause notices to at least 15 other owners of HIG flats in this locality who have fully or partly converted residential buildings into commercial establishments. The violators have been given 15 days' time to file their reply and put a stop to commercial use of their buildings immediately. Failure to do so will attract penal action like sealing of the commercial buildings and demolition," an MC official said.

Ludhiana, September 6
The Directorate General of the All-India Radio has allocated Rs 3.65 crore for the generation of local programmes to be broadcast on the Ludhiana FM launched recently by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari.

A spokesperson of the Prasar Bharti said, “This will facilitate the generation of daily two-hour local programmes on the Ludhiana FM.”

The Director General of the All-India Radio has allocated additional funds of Rs 2.65 crore for the year 2013-14 for generation/production of daily two-hour local programmes on Ludhiana FM. Earlier, Rs 1 crore was allocated for the production of local programmes for the Ludhiana FM. This amount was enhanced to Rs 3.65 crore with the additional allocation. The additional allocation of funds has been placed at the disposal of the Station Director, All-India Radio, Jalandhar, for two-hour daily local programmes.

It has also been specified that this amount will not be diverted for any other purpose.

Ludhiana, September 6
The Department of Plastic Surgery, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, is organising a two-day conference of the North Zone Association of Plastic Surgeons of India and a live workshop on FUE Hair Transplant and Lasers in Post Burn/Acne Scars at Dumra Auditorium.

Ludhiana, September 6
With Indian rupee sliding down the graph the situation is brimming up for the real estate and has come to the forefront as a possible investment hub for the non-resident Indians (NRIs). During bad times of the Indian economy, NRI investments in realty can provide the much needed capital to keep running development projects.

The NRI investment in Indian real estate is a good sign for the sector as there has been a slowdown due to limited availability of capital and bank finance. The current slowdown in the Indian currency has created an environment that will surely draw maximum the NRI investment in realty sector.“Most of the NRIs, being strong against the Indian currency, yield enough amounts for possible investment in Indian properties. A large number of the NRIs, who have financing options, are investing and borrowing property in India at low rates,” said Pritpal Singh, property advisor. Home ownership in the country is one of the most satisfying means available to the NRIs to stay connected with their motherland. Very often, such investments in their country of origin help them to maintain their relationships back home while they make fortunes abroad. Most of the NRIs plan to come back to India someday.

Ludhiana, September 6
A day after a 14-year-old girl was attacked her on face by a jilted middle-aged lover in the Field Gunj area, the humanity was yet again put to shame, this time by a 61- year- old father.

The Sadar police has booked a 61-year-old man in an attempt to develop physical relations with his daughter. The accused has been identified as Tajpal, a resident of Bhai Himmat Singh Nagar. According to the complainant, 31, is employed with a private firm.She said that she runs the house and take care of her mentally-challenged mother.She added that her mother was bedridden for the past 15 years. She informed the police that her father had been making sexual advances for nearly eight years. She reportedly told the police that due to fear of social embarrassment she kept quite.She said there were times when she kept herself locked in a room along with her mother for the whole night. She reportedly told the police that she could not share her mental agony with her friends and relatives.She said she tired to confront her father. But she was subjected to brutality and was thrashed badly by him.

On July 1, she was again thrashed by her father following which she reported the matter to the police after medical examination.

Following a probe, the police has registered a case against Tejpal for obscenity, assault and outraging the modesty of woman and started the investigation.

Khanna, September 6
The Khanna police has nabbed two proclaimed offenders who had allegedly murdered three persons at Sudhar and Khanouri in Punjab and stole hundreds of tyres from various states, including Punjab, Haryana and Rajsthan. The accused has been identified as Harjinder Singh alias Raju and Gopal Singh alias Bunty, both residents of Sabdalpur village in Patiala district. SSP Khanna, Sushil Kumar, said the police launched a special drive and arrested them.

“The duo confessed that they stole a truck in 2009 near Manjio Sahib and drove it after pushing the driver out on Dehlon road. Later, they took out 120 tyres worth lakhs of rupees. In other incident in 2009, they robbed a canter after tying the driver of the canter on the Samrala-Ludhiana road and fled away with 110 tyres. In 2012, they broke the shutters of a shop near Bhattian village and fled away with tyres worth thousands of rupees.

The alleged accused were presented in the court and were sent to police remand till September 11. — OC

Ludhiana, September 6
Dwindling rupee is casting its spell on every commodity and now plywood manufacturers have decided to raise the price by 10 per cent.

“With input cost becoming unbearable we have no other option but to increase the prices. The rates of plywood and plyboard will be increased by 10 per cent across all the product categories,” said Ashok Juneja, chairman of Punjab Plywood Manufacturers Association.

Weakening of the rupee has squeezed down their profit while the cost of production has increased considerably. Chemicals like formaline, phenol are imported from countries like China and Vietnam and with the dwindling rupee the cost of production has head northwards.

Juneja said the notification to declare Plywood industry as agro-based is still pending. The association has already written to the Department of Industries and Commerce and financial commissioner development in this regard.

“We will get 5 per cent interest subsidy on bank loans if our industry is declared agro-based industry by the Punjab government,” he said.

“The Central Government should exempt plywood industry from excise duty since agro-based units are contributing much for the progress of the farmers and industry,” Juneja said. Plywood makers have also demanded that the state government should not charge any market fee on poplar and eucalyptus trees sold by farmers directly to the industry.

Meanwhile, the construction business is already going into losses with people putting their plans on hold. “To further add to our woes the rates of plywood will also be increasing. There is literally no work in the market,” said Tarsem Singh, a builder.

Ludhiana, September 6
Judicial Magistrate Ashish Thathai today extended the judicial remand of two persons facing accusations for attacking a city lawyer and his family.

Accused Naunihal Singh of Sarabha Nagar, Ludhiana, and Ravi Sarandeep Singh of Mullanpur were arrested near the Silver Arc Mall on Ferozepur road.

A case under Section 307 of IPC was registered against the accused at Division No 5 police station last week following the statement of victim Aman Mehta, a city lawyer.

Ludhiana, September 6
Ludhiana district survived a scare from Kapurthala district before coming out triumphant 2-1 in the women's section in the seventh Senior Punjab State Baseball Championship (men and men) being played at Sahi Sports College, Samrala, near here today. Twelve teams competed in the women's section.

In the final, Amanjot Kaur Bains and Sandeep Kaur accounted for one run each to steer Ludhiana team to victory. Patiala district thrashed Ropar district 9-3 to secure third position.

In the semifinals, Ludhiana routed Ropar 11-1 and Patiala defeated Moga 9-3 to storm their way into the final.

Earlier, in the league encounters, Moga beat Fatehgarh Sahib 3-0; Ferozepur defeated Mohali 2-0; Patiala blanked Bathinda 5-3; Kapurthala outplayed Sahi Sports College, Samrala 7-4; Ludhiana beat Moga 10-0; Ropar defeated Ferozepur 11-1; Patiala got the better of Jalandhar 2-0 and Kapurthala pipped Amritsar 1-0.

Sarabjit Kaur, Chairperson and Gurbir Singh, general secretary, Punjab Baseball Association distributed the prizes.

Ludhiana, September 6
Students of Alpine International Senior Secondary School gave an excellent performance to hog the limelight at the Ludhiana Sahodaya School Complex (west) Table Tennis Tournament organised by the education department on Alpine School campus here, recently.

Players from the school annexed five out of six titles that were decided in the tournament. Amrit Indo-Canadian Academy clinched one title (girls U-16) to make a mark.

In the girls’ U-14 category, Alpine International School registered 3-0 to begin their hunt on a sound note. Khushi drubbed Pawanpreet while Nandani defeated Harneet Kaur and Harman outplayed Ravneet Kaur to fetch the title. However, in the girls U-16 group, Amrit Indo-Canadian Academy survived some anxious moments before romping home victorious 3-1 against Alpine International School. Pawneet Kaur of academy went down fighting against Vanshika 2-3. But Manpreet Kaur levelled the score as she got the better of Sumedha 3-2. In the third match, Karishma made in 2-1 in favour of the academy.

Alpine International School recorded a 3-0 win over Amrit Indo-Canadian Academy to win the title. Kanika outclassed Balvinder Kaur, Supriya overwhelmed Simrat Kaur and Parul outplayed Arshveer to complete the rout.

In the boy's section, Alpine International School dominated and wrapped up all the three titles. In the Under-14 category, Alpine School beat DAV School, Jagraon, 3-0. Aryan beat Ishan, Gaurav pipped Gurpartap while Somaya outnumbered Paras.