Ludhiana, May 3
Once again, an anti-encroachment drive of the Municipal Corporation has to be postponed as the police have failed to provide adequate force. Since the next date of hearing in encroachment-removal case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court is May 27, the civic body will have to "reschedule" everything as action report has to be submitted before the court by then.

The three-day drive had to be initiated today. It was learnt the police "failed" to provide the number of policemen required by the civic body for carrying out the drive.

"Since the encroachments had to be removed from Chaura Bazar and Sem Nala, a lot of resistance from the encroachers was expected. The civic body had demanded at least 300 policemen and an adequate number of police women for the drive. Around 350 shops were to be razed in Chaura Bazar and around 100 houses were to be pulled down at Sem Nala. But the department could not provide a sufficient number of police personnel and drive could not take place. We got to know about the suspension of the drive at around 9 pm last evening," said one of the MC officials.

The civic body had also requested Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal to provide Duty Magistrate for the drive. He put three persons on duty.

It is not for the first time that MC has to "postpone" the drive for want of adequate police force. Earlier, on two or three occasions, the drive had to be cancelled for the same reason.

Ludhiana, May 3
On a complaint pertaining to the misuse of parking space for other commercial purposes by hospitals here, the Director, Local Government, Punjab, has asked the MC Commissioner to take appropriate action against erring hospitals. The Director has also asked the MC to make sure that proper parking space was provided to visitors to these hospitals.

The Director has further asked the Commissioner to get any illegal structure at these hospitals removed.

The letter was issued on April 25, 2014, following a complaint made by an RTI activist, Rohit Sabharwal. He pointed out many of these hospitals were using the parking space for other commercial activities and visitors were forced to park vehicles on the roads.

Around 40 hospitals were served notices by the civic body about three months ago for not providing parking space to visitors. The MC had sought replies from these hospitals and warned them of "strict" action.

Most of these are private hospitals and nursing homes situated in the posh areas. The doctors running the hospitals claimed since the MC did not raise the issue while the hospitals were being constructed a long time ago, it was not possible for them to adhere to the parking norms now. Even the MC officials are reluctant to take action against these doctors as most of them are politically well connected.

Ludhiana, May 3
The Parents Association took out a rally against unjustified fee hike and readmission fee charged by private schools. The rally, led by its president Rajinder Ghai, started from the Jalandhar bypass and concluded at the Deputy Commissioner’s office. The office-bearers of the association submitted a memorandum to the DC.

Ghai said: “We are not targeting any single school. We are protesting against all schools, which have been violating the norms of the Central Board of Secondary Education as well as the Right to Education Act (RTE).

“On one hand the government makes big claims of providing quality education to all students while on the other the private schools have been making it tough for poor parents. The parents have no other option but to protest,” he added.

The private schools increase fee by 15 or 25 per cent every year. I am working in a private company. None of the private companies gives a salary hike corresponding to the hike in school fees. Then how can we provide quality education to our children,” Ravi, a parent, said.

Ghai said: “The parents individually can’t fight the school authorities. So, they have to unite for this common cause. We are making aware parents of need to raise their voice against the unjustified fee hike by private schools. We have to press the school authorities for a review of the unjustified fee hike and readmission fee.

Jagraon, May 3
Wheat crop on about 100 acres, belonging to farmers of different villages here, was destroyed in a fire last night.

According to the information, the fire broke out in a field at Sherpur village, near Jagraon, while certain farmers were burning wheat stubble in their fields. Winds quickly spread the fire to the nearby fields and it soon engulfed several acres.

A large number of farmers gathered there and tried to control the fire. Police teams from Jagraon and administrative officials also reached the spot. It took more firefighters more than five hours to control the fire.

The crop belonged to more than 20 farmers of Sherpur, Kothe Jeeve, Kothe Sher Jang and Kothe Baggu villages was destroyed. They have demanded compensation from the government. 

Ludhiana, may 3
The Model Town police have launched a helpline number for senior citizens. The step has been taken to ensure that elderly persons do not face any kind of harassment at police stations.

In order to make senior citizens residing in areas falling under the jurisdiction of the police station aware of the initiative, the police have distributed pamphlets in the area besides mentioning the helpline number on hoardings.

The helpline numbers where senior citizens can lodge their complaints are 7837018611 (station house officer), 9815501917 (munshi at the police station), 7837018829 (Atam Park post in-charge) and 01612547715.

SHO Inspector Gurdev Singh said he came to know that some senior citizens were finding it difficult to get their work done at police stations.

“To provide them with better policing facilities, we have launched the helpline,” he said.

Ludhiana, May 3
With five cases of diarrhoea being reported from Fatehgarh Mohalla, experts have issued advisories on symptoms of the disease and precautions to be taken. Regular camps are being held at the colony to distribute medicines among the residents.

Dr Anil Verma, district epidimologist, said frequent, loose and watery bowel movement marked diarrhoea. Other symptoms associated with the disease are bloating, wind, rectal pain, lower abdominal pain or cramps, nausea, fever, blood or flecks of mucus in the stool, loss of appetite and weight loss.

"A person can get infected on coming in contact with another infected person or on consuming contaminated food or water," he said.

Diarrhoea that affects a person suddenly and lasts for no longer than a couple of days is usually referred to as acute diarrhoea. Most people with acute diarrhoea recover without any medical intervention.

On the other hand, diarrhoea that lasts for more than two weeks—called chronic diarrhoea—requires medical care to find the underlying cause and to treat complications such as dehydration.

Experts say that the time diarrhoea lasts for often depends on what causes it. Diarrhoea from norovirus lasts for around two days; for rotavirus infection, the duration is three to eight days; campylobacter and salmonella infections may last for two to seven days; and patient suffering from diarrhoea caused by giardiasis can take several weeks to recover.

Residents have been advised to seek medical advice if infection persists for more than three to four days besides experiencing other symptoms.

Ludhiana, May 3
Staff on election duty faced inconvenience while staying overnight at polling stations. Members of various teams have blamed schools heads of not providing them proper facilities during the recent Lok Sabha elections held on April 30.

Despite instructions of the Education Department, several schools failed to provide basic facilities such as furniture, electricity, potable water and arrangements for night stay.

A teacher, who was deputed on election duty, said, “As soon as we reached the polling station at a government school in a village on the periphery, we found there was no furniture provided there.”

“We had to struggle with mosquitoes and did not even have a ceiling fan during our night stay. Toilets were dirty and there was not potable water,” said a member of another polling party.

District Education Officer Dr Charanjit Singh said, “Some teachers informed me about the problems they were facing, and I solved them the same day. I had written to all school heads to provide basic infrastructure to the polling staff. If any school failed to do it, the polling staff must inform us so that we can take appropriate action against the erring school heads.”

Ludhiana, May 3
Youngsters who voted for the first time during the recently held Lok Sabha elections are irked by the district administration’s refusal to give them discounts at shopping malls and multiplexes, as promised earlier.

The district administration, meanwhile, claims that the Election Commission of India had issued directions forbidding it from providing any discount to first-time voters.

To make sure that a large number of first-time voters exercised their right to franchise, the district administration had promised to give discounts to them at shopping malls, multiplexes and eateries.

The announcement was made for the first time on March 28 by the District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Rajat Aggarwal.

It was during a meeting convened by election observer Rajesh Jha when Aggarwal had stated that first-time voters would get appreciation certificates besides discounts on movie tickets, eatables and other products at commercial establishments.

Isha Kalia, Additional District Election Officer, said though it was announced earlier that first time-voters would get discounts, later the administration received directions from the Election Commission of India forbidding it from giving any such discounts.

She said some eateries and shops offered discounts on their own.

On the day of polling, too, first-time voters got a rude shock when they were told only those in the age group of 18 to 20 years would get appreciation certificates.

A 22-year-old first-time voter said: “I was excited about getting an appreciation certificate after casting my vote, but the election staff blatantly refused to give me one on the pretext that I was too old to get the certificate. I never knew that the district administration had fixed some terms and conditions for issuing these certificates, because earlier they said all first-time voters would get them.”

Ludhiana, May 3
Members of the Punjabi Sahit Akademi (PSA) were busy canvassing for their candidates in the run-up to the elections to various akademi posts. The elections will be held on May 4.

Dr Sukhdev Singh Sirsa and Dr Tejwant Mann are the main contenders for the post of president. Supporters of both candidates were putting their unending efforts for the success of their nominees.

The Punjabi Sahit Akademi, a sixty-year-old institution, is one of the highly acclaimed associations of Punjabi writers. A majority of members hail from Punjab but it has a huge membership in other parts of India and abroad. Many of its members have settled in North America, Europe, the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates.

The main poll issues include promotion of Punjabi literature, publishing quality literature, promotion of book culture, dealing with challenges facing the Punjabi language and its literature and developing Punjabi as the language of market and employment.

Apart from these issues, the akademi always come forward to honouring Punjabi writers and to organising seminars and conventions regularly.

Though elections are associated with some propaganda, there was no such thing in the Akademi elections. Akademi is a body that always puts pressure on the government for the development of Punjabi.

With the advancement in technology, contenders have changed their mode to reach the members. Earlier, they used to send letters to every member and inform them about the elections but now they are sending SMSes, e-mails and exploiting social networking sites for gaining mileage.

Janmeja Singh Johal, a writer and member of the akademi, said: “The Punjabi Sahit Akademi has a total of 1,600 members but around 1,200 of them participate actively in the poll.” He said: “Dr Jodhi, Dr MS Randhawa, Nanak Singh, Dani Ram Chatrik, Sant Singh Sekhon, Mohan Singh, Jaswant Kawal and Balwant Gargi were the prominent members of the akademi and they have contributed a lot to the promotion of Punjabi across the world.”

“The akademi elections are conducted every two years and most of the office-bearers are elected unanimously,” added Johal.

Ludhiana, May 3
Students of the Sportking Institute of Fashion and Technology showcased their designs during a two-day exhibition at Sutlej Club.

Around 60 students set up 16 stalls on designs inspired from different themes: dualism, aqua world, butterfly fish, mystery, etc.

A group of students made dresses on the theme of candy fruit for children aged between one and five years.

"We have used neon colours in the dresses that children will be attracted to,” said Gurcharan and Sahil, members of the team.

Anjali Avasthi, president of the institute, said the exhibition was an annual affair to showcase students’ talent to the leaders of the garment industry who frequented the club.

Ludhiana, May 3
Students of BSc, nursing 2nd year and GNM 3rd year, accompanied with two faculty members of the Nursing of Desh Bhagat University visited Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasuali.

The objective of the visit was to make the students familiar with the current trends in the competitive world by sharing knowledge, ideas and skills with those of the people from the industry. — TNS

Ludhiana, May 3
Joint Entrance Examination (mains) results were declared today. A large number of students from the city qualified for the Joint Entrance Examination (advanced). Kshitij Bajaj from the city scored an unmatchable 330, highest in the entire region.

The Akash Institute claimed that 45 students qualified from Ludhiana centre. Meanwhile another institute EduSquare claimed that 70 students qualified for next level. The JEE was held at Amritsar and Bathinda on April 6. The JEE (advanced) will be held on May 25. More than 12 lakh students appeared in the examination across India in which 1.5 lakh qualified for next level.

“More than 70 students from EduSquare have qualified and will be eligible to take JEE (advanced) exam to be held on May 25th this year, said Tejpreet Singh, director, EduSquare.

Talking about his achievement, Kshitij Bajaj, said he owes his success to his parents’ and teachers’ guidance. “Teaching methodology and highly structured planner along with personal attention played an important role. Mantra to succeed is to do proper self-study and follow the guidelines of the teachers for proper direction,” said Kshitij. He said regular practice tests helped him gain confidence and improve his performance. He emphasised on the time management and discipline as deciding factors for success in a competitive examination. 

Ludhiana, May 3
Comedian Manish Jangra and Pankaj Saraswat, the man behind many comedy shows, were in the city today to promote their new show Gangs of Hasseepur that recently premiered 
on television.

Comparing the new show with the successful comedy show Comedy Nights with Kapil, Saraswat said while the latter was a chat show, the Gangs of Hasseepur was a “proper” comedy show with various sections that would raise issues of social importance through satire.

"A lot of serious things can be said indirectly through the means of comedy," he said.

Comedians in the show will be seen mimicking popular faces from various fields including Navjot Sidhu, Narendra Modi, Manmohan Singh, Sanjay Dutt and Aamir Khan.

Manish Jangra, who plays BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in the show, said Modi was the face of television these days and it felt great to mimic him.

The show is being aired at weekends on Zee TV.

Ludhiana, May 3
A 60-year-old woman has alleged that she was gang-raped at Saiyan Kalan village in Dehlon during the night of April 29. A rape case has been registered against four unknown persons at the Dehlon police station.

The police suspect the story narrated by the 60-year-old victim, a migrant.

The complainant alleged four persons barged into her house and two persons raped her while the other two looted Rs 60,000 and gold and silver jewellery kept in an almirah in her room. When the incident took place, her husband and other members of the family were away for work at a brick-kiln, she said.

She said after the incident, she fell unconscious. She regained consciousness after her husband and a neighbour returned from work at around 3 am.

The victim said the accused were carrying a gun. They threatened her that they would kill her in case she tried to raise an alarm.

A case under sections 376 and 304 of the IPC, sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act and sections 3 and 4 of the SC/ ST Act was registered against four unidentified persons at the Dehlon police station yesterday.

Investigation officer in the case said: “The investigation is going on. Hopefully, the accused would be identified soon,” he stated.

Ludhiana, May 3
The District Bar Association’s newly elected president Vijay B Verma today stressed on the need to have cordial relationship with the Bench. Addressing a joint meeting of judges and lawyers here today, Verma said lawyers were also officers of court and deserved proper respect. He also shared practical problems being faced by lawyers.

Sessions Judge KS Kang along with Additional Sessions Judges HS Grewal, Kamaljit Lamba, Harjit Singh Khalsa and Sanjiv Joshi besides Chief Judicial Magistrate Ranjiv Kumar Vashisht and other judges posted in the city attended the meeting. Sessions Judge Kang assured the legal fraternity of “full cooperation”.

Verma and vice-chairman of the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana Parupkar Singh Ghumman were honoured by the Lawyers Brigade on the occasion. Association vice-president Rakesh Bhatia and secretary Gurpreet Singh Arora were also present on the occasion.