Ludhiana, November 9
A 33-year-old building contractor, who consumed poison on Wednesday, died at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) today.

The deceased has been identified as Amit Bansal (33), a resident of New Tagore Nagar. Family members of the deceased said, he had committed suicide by consuming poison as his in-laws used to harass him. The police has also found a 16-page suicide note, in which Amit stated that his in-laws had been harassing him.

Amit was married to Nisha, a resident of Chander Nagar, nine years ago. They have a 8-year-old daughter from the marriage. There was some dispute between them for the past some months.

The family members of Amit said that Amit's father, Sushil Bansal, had purchased a property worth Rs 75 lakh, a few months ago. Amit’s wife had been pressuring him to get a share in the property so that she could help her brother in his business. The kin of the deceased alleged that Amit did not want to take the share in the property.

In his complaint to the police, Amit’s father stated that Amit succumbed to the threats and humiliation by his in-laws. Amit had consumed some poisonous substance, his father said.

A case of abetment to suicide has been registered against more than 10 relatives of his wife, including father-in-law Bhushan Kumar Aggarwal, mother-in-law Kirin, brother-in-law Abhishek Aggarwal, under Section 306 of the IPC at the Division Number 4 police station.

The family members of the deceased have also found some complaints, addressed to Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India, Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Sumedh Singh Saini, Director General Of Police , some politicians and media houses, which he wanted to post.

Bittan Kumar, SHO, Division Number 4 police station, said, “All the accused are at large. We have been conducting raids to arrest the accused persons at various locations".

Ludhiana, November 9
The Punjab Kabaddi Association and the Sports Department, Punjab, held an open trials for the selection of Indian kabaddi team to participate in the fourth World Kabaddi Cup, to held from November 29 to December 14. In the absence of proper medical facility on the ground, the players, who got injuries during the trials, were left unattended to by the doctors. A player who was injured on his arm was allegedly attended to by a helper on the ground.

SL Lottay, Deputy Director, Sports, said, "The medical team and a ambulance was present on the occasion to provide medical aid to the players. We have all arrangements in place on the ground".

On the first day of the trials, in the men section, 162 players, including 59 stoppers and 103 raiders participated.

Most of the participants were from various districts of Punjab, but a few belonged to Haryana and Rajasthan.

Meanwhile, the players who have already represented India in the previous World Kabaddi Cup tournaments also participated in the trials. Senior players, including Mangat Singh Mangi, Sukhbeer Saravan, Bitu Dogal and Gagandeep Gagi were participated in the trials.

As per the selection criteria, the selection committee will conduct three rounds of trials to select the players for the training camp.

The Punjab Kabaddi Association will select 25 to 30 players for the camp. Today, the selection committee completed the first round. Lottay said,

"The trails are compulsory for all the aspirants. We count the marks of every participant to judge the performance of players."

The selection committee members include Shivdev Singh, Balwainder Singh Fidda, Harpreet Singh and the coach of the Indian kabaddi team were present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, November 9
Traffic in the interior city went haywire today as the organisers of some religious and social functions blocked the roads to use the space for holding these programmes.

Commuters took more than an hour to cover the one-km detour (near the Domoria Bridge and towards the school) that again was chock-a-block with two-wheelers, three-wheelers and four-wheelers. Even ambulances were stuck in the bumper-to-bumper traffic. As for the pedestrians, negotiating the traffic was a virtual nightmare for them.

"It's a matter of shame that our social and religious programmes spill over to roads. We have become not only insensitive, but also callous. Why don't we realise that a delay of a few minutes could be fatal for a person being taken to a hospital? No religion teaches us to celebrate the sufferings of another human," said Aarti Sharma, a commuter.

Another commuter, whose car was stuck in the traffic jam, said such traffic snarls had become a routine feature in the city. The lenient attitude of the district administration compounded to the problem, he said. "Wherever the organisers feel like, they pitch a tent. Be it a wedding or a social function or a religious event, the organisers conveniently decide on the road to be blocked. And then the commuters are at their mercy," he added.

Educationist Baljeet Singh said a very few dare raise their voice against those who use the roadside space for organising functions - politicians are reluctant to disturb their vote bank, while the common people prefer to steer clear of controversies.

"The same people who would not think twice before pitching a tent bang in the middle of the road complain the loudest when they have to face inconvenience because of similar actions by others," said a retired teacher, whose two-wheeler was stuck in today's traffic jam.

He added that it's imperative to keep the roads free of all kinds of celebrations.

Among the suggestions mooted by the city residents for the unhindered flow of traffic include earmarking a special space for social and religious programmes, imposition of a heavy penalty on those blocking the roads and social strictures against the offenders.

When contacted, ACP Traffic Deepak Hilori, while admitting to the problem, said in such situations the traffic police could only arrange for alternative routes and deploy additional force.

Ludhiana, November 9
The town planning wing of the state government has issued orders of demolition of the houses of a former Congress councillor located in Sarabha Nagar, here. The councillor’s neighbour had complained that the ex-councillor was illegally running commercial activities from her house.

Kirpal Singh, a resident of J-Block of Sarabha Nagar has alleged that former Congress councillor Amrit Varsha Rampal had illegally constructed more floors in violation of rules and was running commercial activities from her house. Rampal remained a councillor of the area from 2002 till 2012 and is a lawyer by profession.

In his complaint, Singh alleged that Rampal was running a tuition centre from the basement of House Number 169-J, a dance studio from the basement of House Number 170-J, supply centre of kitchen appliances from the ground floor of 170-J, a tuition centre from the second floor of 170-J and a hostel for boys and girls from the entire building of House Number 159-J.

“She not only indulged in illegal commercial activity, but the original 20 feet road was illegally widened to 40 feet by encroaching upon land reserved for a government school located opposite her house. Trees were axed for the purpose. Besides this, an interlocking tile footpath having width of about eight feet has also been constructed on the government school land. Not only this, but Amrit Varsha Rampal didn’t even pay the house tax of her properties,” alleged Singh.

Ludhiana, November 9
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation will be hiring a consultant to deal with the rehri and farhi mafia besides upgrading five fire stations across the city and dairy complex on Hambran Road and Tajpur Road. The consultant will also be helping with the maintenance of Rose Garden and Rakh Bagh.

For this work, the cash-starved civic body will be paying the consultant a fee of Rs 43.12 lakh.

This agenda was cleared during today's finance and contract committee (F&CC) meeting held at the Mayor's camp office.

The F&CC cleared 95 agendas relating to developmental works of around Rs 80 crore. In the six-hour meeting, a total of 98 agendas were put up.

The finance panel of the Municipal Corporation has also cleared the file relating to the installation of tube-wells, for which funds were provided by Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and local MP Manish Tewari under the Member Parliament Local Area Development (MPLAD) quota.

The consultant to be hired by the MC will help the civic body in developing and rehabilitate the dairy complex on Hambran Road and Tajpur Road besides helping the civic body in identifying areas in the city where these dairies can be shifted to.

The consultant will also help the MC in tackling with the problem of disposal of cow dung into Budha Nullah and sewerage system by some dairy owners.

The fire brigade has also a reason to cheer because the same consultant will help the MC in upgrading five fire stations located in different parts of the city. The fire brigade has been crying for attention for a long time and at present is one of the worst equipped departments of the state.

The consultant will also help the MC in preparing a master plan for rehri and farhi vendors, in which such places will be identifies where these vendors can operate without causing any hindrance to the flow of traffic.

Identification cards will also be provided to the vendors.

The consultant will assist the MC in proper maintenance of Nehru Rose Garden and Rakh Bagh, which have not been upgraded for long.

Besides these agendas, the MC will also be hiring a consultant for carrying out financial reforms so that the finances of the civic body can be managed in a better manner.

The other agendas passed by the F&CC included those related to roads, sewerage, parks and streetlights.

While speaking to The Tribune, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria said that to discuss some more agendas, the F&CC will be meeting again on November 16.

Ludhiana, November 9
The Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Manish Tewari, has asked the Congressmen to unite. He said this while addressing the party workers' meeting here today.

Ever since the Congress debacle in the Assembly polls, Tewari has been exhorting the party members to unite. During his Ludhiana visit earlier, he had said that no party had the "power" to defeat Congress; the Congress had defeated itself.

The Minister, who is the Member Parliament (MP) from Ludhiana, regretted that certain mistakes had been made in the past. Consequently, the entire state had to suffer, he said, alluding to the victory of the Akali-BJP combine in the Assembly polls.

Later, while speaking at a programme organised in the city, Tewari slammed the Municipal Corporation for failing to curb the menace of dengue. This year, too, dengue spread its tentacles in the city. What the authorities have been doing is too little and too late, said the MP.

"Such kind of cavalier attitude towards these serious problems is unfortunate,” he said.

Claiming that the state government had failed miserably on all fronts, Tewari said the government was trying to make money by slapping arbitrary taxes on the people, such as the property tax on as small a house as 50 square yard in area.

"Such measures do not generate resources," he said, adding that the state government needs to build confidence among investors to improve the economic position of the state.

He urged people to defeat "communal forces".

"It is not important as to what the Congress has done for the country as that is all-too-visible to the people. What is of concern to everyone is what those aspiring to come to power will do with the country," he said.

Among those present during the Minister's address to party workers in the Atam Nagar constituency today included senior leaders KK Bawa and Malkiat Singh Dakha. 

Ludhiana, November 9
A seminar on Haiku was organised at Punjab Agricultural University by the Young Writers’ Association of the university.

Haiku expert Amarjit Sathi conducted the seminar. Apart from discussing the Japanese form of poetry that is rapidly being adopted in Punjabi, a workshop was organised for students to pen Haiku based on a picture shown to them.

Amarjit Sathi, a noted Haiku poet based in Canada, said he was inspired by Parminder Sodhi’s Punjabi translation of Haiku. To promote the form of poetry, he also brought with him a collection of over 120 books on Haiku. The books were exhibited during the seminar.

Sathi said there were a number of online poetry pages and around 2,130 members regularly contributed to the development of the Punjabi Haiku on Facebook.

He said Punjabi, having a rich vocabulary with words adopted from Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Hindi and Sankrit, was apt for Haiku. It allowed the poet to be flexible and brief, as brevity was the soul of Haiku, he said.

"In English, for example, the articles are necessary, but these make sentences longer, while in Hindi people need to complete the sentence for grammatically correct formation. The flexibility in Punjabi allows one to be very brief," he said.

The poetic form also appeals to the scientific mind, as Haiku is about writing about what one perceives and sees, rather than expressing opinions, he said. So many youngsters from the engineering and science background are writing Haiku, said Sathi.

An exhibition of free books was also organised. Dr Jagdish Kaur, president of the association, said they had been making efforts for people to exchange books.

"Knowledge should not remain stacked up in cupboards. So, exhibiting free books is a great idea,” said a student.

Ludhiana, November 9
With the dip in mercury, the number of dengue cases being reported across the district has seen a decline too. After witnessing as many as 23 cases being confirmed in a single day, the data available with the district health department showed a downward trend in recent days. On November 4, 10 cases were reported; on November 5, these stood at 8, and on the following days; i.e. from November 6 to 0, 16, 11, 10 and 12 cases of dengue were reported from different hospitals in the district.

District Epidemiologist Dr Anil Verma said: "In coming days, we hope that the number of dengue cases will decrease further, as it takes 10 days to get infected after a mosquito bite. Now, due to chilly weather, larvae are not flourishing, but the adult mosquitoes are still there. So, one should take all the necessary preventive measures."

It has been observed that although winters have set in, people have not thrown away mats of coolers. Dr Verma said these must be disposed of as these might carry larvae.

Meanwhile, today, too, on the instructions of Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana, Dr Subhash Batta, a team of health department, under the supervision of Dr Anil Verma, visited Railway Colony No. 10 and 11 and held five group meetings besides distributing pamphlets.

In all, 43 coolers and 80 containers were checked by them. Larva was found in one cooler. The sanitary inspector of the Municipal Corporation was informed about it. A meeting was also held with the sanitary inspector of the Railways, Dinesh Parshad, regarding routine checking of coolers and disposal of mats.

Sewerage was found to be blocked at Railway Colony. The Municipal Corporation officials wereinformed about it.

The total number of dengue cases diagnosed in various city hospitals this season stand at 1,272.

Of these, 782 patients belong to the Ludhiana district, 367 are from other districts of Punjab and 123 belong to other states.

Ludhiana, November 9
Dr Baldev Singh Aulakh, head of transplant surgery department at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, has been nominated as a member of the newly reconstituted Medical Council of India (MCI). A renowned urologist and transplant surgeon, he has won nationwide recognition, both as an accomplished surgeon and for exemplary work in the field of organ donation.

An alumnus of the PGIMER, Chandigarh, he has also been trained at Addenbrooke's Hospital, UK, Cleveland Clinic and University of Maryland, USA.

With an experience of 25 years, Dr Aulakh has over 1,000 kidney transplant surgeries to his credit. He is the first urologist in North India to successfully implant bladder pacemaker for urinary problem.

Ludhiana, November 9
Dr Maninder Singh appointed as inquiry officer for conducting inquiry of expired 32 units of blood at Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, said, “It will take two-three days to conduct complete inquiry. There are more than 30 points on which I will investigate. I hope I will submit the report by Wednesday.”

It needs to be mentioned here that 32 units of blood from blood bank at Lord Mahavir Civil Hospital, Ludhiana were found expired yestrerday and staff had to dispose it.

Senior Medical Officer of the hospital Dr Rajkumar Karkara said, “I am on leave for two days. The In-charge of the blood bank is also on leave. He will come on Monday and will get the investigation done.”

Jagraon, November 9
Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said awareness about the government policies is the key to the success of these schemes. The Union Minister was speaking during the inauguration of three-day long awareness program Bharat Nirman Public Information Campaign initiated at Government Senior Secondary School, Mullanpur Dakha. The program is being organised by the Press Information Bureau for creating awareness about various government policies.

The Member of Parliament from Ludhiana also urged upon the need of creating awareness about the public welfare schemes being run by the Congress led UPA government. "Awareness is an essential key for the success of various public welfare schemes. The masses must know these government policies only after this they will obtain benefit from these schemes," said the MP.

Manish Tiwari also appreciated the efforts being made by Information and Broadcasting Department to create awareness among the people about various public welfare schemes. While speaking during the occasion, Tiwari said the government has provided the people with the Right to Information (RTI) Act which is very strong tool to know about government. — OC

Ludhiana, September 9
National Legal Services Day was celebrated on the premises of Government College for Girls, Ludhiana, by the Legal Literacy Club and NSS as per the guidance of Gobinder Singh Matharoo, Sessions Judge-cum-chairman of District Legal Services Authority.

Gurminder Kaur, principal of the college, presided over the function.

Speaking on the occasion, principal congratulated and appreciated the efforts of faculty members and students. She exhorted the students to fight for liberty and equality in our society. She also mentioned that we should have knowledge of basic human rights.

A paper reading competition was organised in which the students of all the streams presented their views on various topics like legal aid, equality and legal system, human rights.

Shivangi Sood (B.A.III), Aastha Parmar(B.A. II) & Aakanksha Gupta(B.A. II) were declared as winners. Earlier, Dr Sukhwinder Kaur accorded a warm welcome to CJM-cum-Secretary of Authority KK Singla. He apprised that free legal aid was being provided to the people who fall under these categories:- woman, victims of natural disaster, childern, mentally retarded or physically challenged or persons having income below Rs 1,50,000 per annum.

CRIME

Drug peddler arrested
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, November 9
Following a tip-off, the Division No. 7 police arrested a drug peddler and recovered 20-gm heroine from his possession at EWS Colony yesterday.

The accused has been identified as Bhusan Kumar of Guru Arjan Dev Nagar. One of his accomplices, Deepu, managed to flee. The police has registered a case under the NDPS Act.