Ludhiana, March 11
An elderly woman was allegedly murdered by her tenants who looted Rs 40,000 and gold earrings in Kucha Number 12 of Field Ganj here. The woman, identified as Jarnail Kaur (65), had reportedly gone missing last morning. Her body was found locked in a trunk in her house today. The accused had also locked the room.

Raj Singh, Jarnail Kaur’s husband, told the police that she had gone missing under mysterious circumstances from her house.

The police suspect Jarnail Kaur was allegedly murdered by her tenant and his sister, who had rented a room in their house almost a week ago. Jarnail Kaur and Raj Singh, who is a labourer, had rented out two rooms. Their tenants hailed from Bihar.

Her family had lodged a missing complaint with the police. Raj Singh got suspicious when foul smell started emanating from the locked room.

Raj Singh told the police that they had rented out a room to a rickshaw-puller and his woman accomplice, said to be his sister, around a week ago. Though they had taken their photographs, they did not get them verified from the police. “The family did not note down the names and permanent addresses of their tenants before renting out the room,” said Additional Commissioner of Police Deepak Hilori.

The shawl and sleepers of the deceased were recovered from another locked room. The walls of the room were stained with blood. Probably, the killers murdered her in this room before packing the dead body in the trunk and dumping it in another room, suspect the police.

Meanwhile, a large number of area residents gathered outside Raj Singh’s house. They were critical of the deteriorating law and order situation in the city.

A murder case has been registered against unidentified persons.

Deepak Hilori said the police were investigating the case and preliminary investigations suggested the tenants murdered the woman. A manhunt has been launched to arrest the accused.

Ludhiana, March 11
The district Health Department sees no threat to society from smoking. At least, it was borne out the way it handled No Smoking Day that falls on March 11. No special initiative was taken to observe the day. The department observes only those days, intimation about which comes from the head office.

Although Civil Surgeon Subhash Batta said the department must be holding a seminar in some part of the city and also creating awareness against smoking, he did not have any details about the programmes.

Another senior official from the department said they were not taking any special step on No Smoking Day. “Challans for smoking in public places are being issued and that is done in routine. Apart from this, nothing special is being done to mark the day,” he said.

Ludhiana, March 11
Three complaints of violation of the election code of conduct have been received by the District administration in the last six days. Of these, two complaints were found to be baseless.

Shena Aggarwal, in-charge of the Complaint Cell for the Lok Sabha Elections for Ludhiana District, said: "We received three complaints. One was about the transfer of a government senior secondary school teacher. It was stated that she had been transferred after the implementation of the Model Code of Conduct. However, District Education Officer Paramjit Kaur denied it, saying that the orders were issued on March 1."

The other complaint was lodged by a resident of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar. He had complained workers of the AAP unfurled the National Flag during their meetings and rallies. Randhir Singh, an employee of the Election Office, Ludhiana, said: "When the Assistant Returning Officer concerned asked the complainant about the place where the National Flag was unfurled, he said he saw it in the news and the place was in Delhi, not in Ludhiana, he was mistaken."

The third complaint came through Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab. The complainant was Partap Singh Bajwa, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee. He had stated that the photographs of Prakash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, and Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, were yet to be removed from government offices and institutes. He had demanded these should be either removed or covered.

Shena Aggarwal said: "After receiving the complaint, we issued instructions to all the government offices and got the photographs of the Badals covered."

Ludhiana, March 11
Mild storm, accompanied by intermittent rain, that lashed the city last night disrupted power supply in several localities. At many places, low tension (LT) and PVC power cables snapped due to the felling of trees and some electricity poles were also uprooted by highvelocity winds.

While Chief Engineer, Central Zone, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), Rachpal Singh claimed supply to all main lines had been restored, people in many areas complained they had been without power since last night. The affected localities had to go without water due to power failure.

The PSPCL Chief Engineer said light showers and high-velocity winds had affected 45 feeders in eastern, western and suburban areas of the city, and the Khanna circle, which resulted in power failure in many localities in the city and outskirts.

“There were reports of some electricity poles getting uprooted in the high velocity winds and LT as well as PVC cables snapped due to the felling of trees,” he said, adding that the field staff had been on their toes all through the night. In many areas power was restored within about an hour.

Rachpal Singh claimed by early morning today, power supply on all main lines and affected feeders had been restored. At some places only, they received only individual complaints, which were being attended to.

Residents of many posh areas, including Sarabha Nagar, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Dugri, Aggar Nagar, PAU Complex, Rajguru Nagar, Civil Lines, Haibowal and Chhawni Mohalla, and many localities in the old city said power supply had been erratic or elusive all through the night and till morning.

Adding to the misery of the residents of the Civil Lines and old city areas, there was a six-hour maintenance power shut down at the 66 KV GT Road (old Sabzi Mandi) and the 66 KV Kitchlu Nagar sub-stations from 10 am to 4 pm.

The residents said power supply was disrupted last night. Before it could be restored, the six-hour shut down was imposed. They had to go without power and water supply since last night. In some residential areas, people could not take bath and many others had to fetch water from nearby areas.

Ludhiana, March 11
Tobacco vendors have found a new way to temporarily escape law by setting up their stalls exactly outside the entry and exit gates of the railway station. The Railway Protection Force said they could not take action as that part of the land came under the local administration.

In the absence of regular checking by the Health Department, banned tobacco products such as gutka and pan masala are easily available outside the station. The vendors have displayed gutka sachets at their stalls but neither the Railways authorities and nor the district administration have taken action against them.

During a visit to the railway station it was found that the Government Railway Police personnel deployed at the gates were not even sure of their jurisdiction.

However, Yashwant Singh, in-charge, Railway Protection Force said, "The tobacco sellers at the gates of the railway station have encroached the land that comes under the civil authorities. We can't take action against them."

"We keep a tab on the sale of tobacco products on the railway station premises. We issued challans to a lot of persons for smoking on the premises and in trains. The situation is under control now. It is very rare that someone sells gutkas in our jurisdiction. We are very strict," he said.

District Health Officer, Ludhiana, Dr Avinash Kumar, said, "We had conducted an inspection at the railway station around four months ago. I am not aware about the recent encroachments by tobacco sellers. Whenever we conduct a raid these vendors run away. We will definitely conduct more raids in future."

Ludhiana, March 11
The Confederation of PAU Pensioners’ Associations in a meeting today expressed concern over the “discriminatory treatment” being meted out to its members.

Confederation head Dr Sarjit Singh Gill accused the Punjab government of not providing sufficient funds to the varsity for the disbursement of arrears of pension, revised with effect from January 1, 2006, and payment of the difference in gratuity to those who retired after this date.

Also, arrears of the revised old-age allowance have not been paid to the pensioners besides the leave travel allowance due for payment in January 2014, said Dr Gill.

Jaswant Singh Zirakh, general secretary, said in case the government failed to release the grant, the pensioners would be forced to resort to protest.

Dr GS Behl, Jaswant Singh, Asa Singh Pannu and Zila Ram Bansal represented the various member associations of the confederation at the meeting.

The gathering appealed to the people, especially farmers, to extend support to the federation. 

Ludhiana, March 11
Members of 'Punjab Ate UT Mulazam Sangharsh Committee, Punjab' conducted a Halla Bol rally for the pressing their demands. Thousands of members of the organisation gathered at ‘Dana Mandi’. They also staged a ‘dharna’ on the road near Gill Road flyover.

One of the members said if their demands were not accepted, they would hold a 'chakka jaam' rally on March 21 and a mass rally on April 7 in Bathinda.

Some of their demands were regularisation of employees, revision of salaries, DA at par with central government, salary to contract employees at par with regular employees, setting up pay commission, old pension scheme for those appointed prior to 2004, with drawl of false police cases against employees, implementation of cashless health scheme. Conveners of the Punjab Ate UT Mulazam Sangharsh Committee Ved Prakash, Sajjan Singh, Ranbir Dhillon apart from others were present during the rally.

Ludhiana, March 11
Deputy commissioner-cum-district electoral officer Rajat Aggarwal instructed the bank officers to be vigilant if any customer goes for transaction of rupees 1 lakh or more than that. He said the officers should also keep a strict vigil on the accounts which were earlier inactive and suddenly being operated for depositing and withdrawing money.

He said this while holding a joint meeting of bank officers, NGOs, excise and taxation officers, printing press owners, liquor contractors at Bachat Bhawan.

He said the candidate will have to open his account one day before filing the nominations. He will do his election related expenses only from the designated account.

While addressing the excise and taxation officers he asked them to keep an eye on daily sale of liquor especially on March 31 when the licenses of liquor vendors will be cancelled.

He said, "Compare the sale of liquor with last year's sale on March 31. If the sale increases, then file a detailed report.

Ludhiana, March 11
The industrialists, who paid the property tax as per the initial guidelines of Municipal Corporation have been struggling to get the refund after reduction in property tax by the MC. Several tax payers, who paid the tax on time, are now in a fix and rued the conduct of the civic body. They said they are being harassed even after paying the property tax on time.

Meanwhile, the Municipal Commissioner Shruti Singh stated that the persons, who wanted to get the refund, can apply at zonal offices of the MC.

There are several industrialists, who paid the property tax at Foal Point area as per the rates mentioned in the first circular issued by the Municipal Corporation.

Rajnish Ahuja, an industrialist, from the Focal Point said, "The people, who pay the taxes on time have been demoralised with the functioning of Municipal Corporation. We have paid the tax after the notification of the MC. Then the MC gave the relaxation in the tax. We met the MC Commissioner to refund the amount. Now, even after several months we did not get our money back.

"The MC did not issue any guidelines for refund of the extra paid tax. Most of the people are unaware about the procedure. It is unfortunate that MC demoralised the tax papers instead of motivated them," he added.

Rajiv Jain, another Industrialist said, "Earlier the MC officials informed that the extra paid money will be adjust in the next term. The Municipal Corporation has to work on the disparity of property tax within the industrial category. So while adjusting the tax in next term the industrialists do not get confused.

Ludhiana, March 11
MC employees are up against authorities for delay in disbursement of salaries. Nagar Nigam Karamchari Sangh today said despite getting assurance by the Civic Body, they were not able to get their salaries.

The president of Sangh, Hari Shankar Pal and general secretary Jang Bahadur said they had complained about it to the chairman of SC/ST Commission, Punjab, and a meeting in this regard will be held tomorrow at Chandigarh. The members said the top officials get their salaries well in time while employees of the lower rung have to wait for their salaries.

The Sangh members also submitted a memorandum to the commissioner that despite repeated requests, the salaries were never released on time. They said they will be forced to hold an agitation if the authorities fail to provide salaries before the festival of holi.

Ludhiana, March 11
Shiva Gupta started writing when he was studying at Sacred Heart Convent School. Now, at the age of 20, he has come out with a novel.

Titled "Growing up in Mist", it peeps into the dreams, passions and confusions of teenagers. Shiva says the novel is partly based on his life.

"There was a lot of confusion when my parents wanted me to pursue engineering, while I wanted to become a writer," says Shiva. He says most of the teenagers go through this confusion while stepping out of the school.

The young author says although he has adjusted to his life as an engineering student at Delhi Technological University, he has not given up on his dream of becoming a writer. In the book, Shiva offers some solutions to teenagers to clear their "mist of confusion".

Now, Shiva, who counts Paulo Coelho, Chetan Bhagat and Nicholas Sparks among his favourite authors, plans to publish a book of poems, before writing other novels.

Ludhiana, March 11
The starcast of the upcoming movie “Myself Ghaint”, was in the city today for its promotion. Actors Gaurav Kakkar and Dolly Sidhu, director Akashdeep Singh Batth and music director Mr Vgrooves among others came for the promotional event.

Kakkar, the protagonist, said it was a situational comedy, unlike the ones that were being made these days.

He said most of the movie was shot in and around Chandigarh, adding that many Punjabi movies being made these days were based on formula comedy but they might not necessarily be good cinema.

The story of the movie revolves around the lives of three friends living as paying guests. The movie dwelt on social reality and social issues were weaved in dialogues for giving the audiences the food for thought, said a crew member.

Batth said he wrote the screenplay and the dialogues and it was his first directorial venture. Mr Vgrooves said music was one of the strengths of the movie. Kailash Kher has sung for the movie, making it his first Punjabi single.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, March 11
Expressing his views about the much-touted movie “Gulaab Gang”, local actor Ranjan Kaushal, who has portrayed a negative role of police officer Ram Lal Chauhan, said, "None of the viewers will dare follow my negative actions when they will see that one of my senior officers Raju Singh, whom I have been teasing in the movie, shoots me near the climax."

He said negative roles did not necessarily leave a darker impact about the personality of an actor.

According to Ranjan, the movie will go a long way in projecting problems related with women in all sections of society and exposing drawbacks of the social and political system.

"The strong character of Sumitra Bagrecha (Juhi Chawla), who robs the poor of their foodgrains, peddles spurious liquor and indulges in electoral malpractices with the help of police officials like Ram Lal (me), exposes the reality of the political and administrative system," said Ranjan.

Having played important roles in more than two dozen movies, Ranjan has worked in Madhuri Dixit's four films - “Sailab”, “Aarzu”, “Mohabbat” and “Gulaab Gang”. “Sadiyan”, “Daman” and “Sailab” movies established his position in the film industry.

“Guns of Benaris” is the next film in which he has played an important role. 

Ludhiana, March 11
A resident of Sahnewal along with his accomplice were arrested by the police after they threatened one of their friends to implicate him in a false case in Jammu and Kashmir. They demanded Rs 15 lakh from and had already extorted Rs 5 lakh from him as first installment, the police said.

The accused were identified as Tejpal alias Tej of Sahnewal and Mohammad Sadiq of Rajgarh village. When family members of the victim came to know about the matter, they advised him to lodge a police complaint. The victim, identified as Palvinder Singh of Khyas Pura village of Ropar filed a complaint at Sahnewal police station on Monday.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) city-4 Swapan Sharma informed that after receiving the complaint, police took swift action and arrested both of the accused and registered a case against them today. The police have also recovered Rs 5 lakh from the possession of accused.

The police said Tejpal and Palvinder were good friends. Both of them were booked for killing grandfather of Palvinder Singh in year 2002. They were arrested in 2004, but acquitted by the court in 2006. Later, Palvinder Singh shifted to Rup Nagar and started a ‘dhaba’ there.

Tejpal thought that Palvinder had become rich and hatched a conspiracy to extort money from him. The police said Tejpal has criminal record and Mohammad Sadiq is also facing trial in cheating and drug peddling cases.