Ludhiana, July 3
With the arrest of a person, the city police have claimed to have cracked the murder of a man whose body was found in a vacant plot near Phase II of Dugri.

The accused has been identified as Ajay Kumar.

Ajmer’s body was found in a vacant plot on June 27. A monetary issue was stated to be the reason behind the killing.

Addressing a press conference, ADCP (Crime) MS Dhesi said it was a planned murder. Ajay first consumed liquor with Ajmer and then took him to a vacant plot. After killing Ajmer, he went to a place nearby on his scooter and buried the weapon and the victim’s purse.

Both Ajay and Ajmer worked at the same factory near Cheema Chowk.

Ajay had borrowed Rs 36,000 from Ajmer on interest. Ajmer was pressing for the money. Finally, Ajay planned to kill Ajmer. On June 26, both left the factory unit on their respective vehicles. Ajay parked his vehicle at bus stand and accompanied Ajmer to a liquor vend. Both consumed liquor. When Ajmer got drunk, Ajay took him to a vacant area at Phase II Dugri, near BCM School.

On reaching the vacant plot, Ajay pulled out a hammer and bludgeoned Ajmer to death. After parking the victim’s scooter and dumping the weapon and the victim’s purse, Ajay fled the scene.

During investigation, the police came to know about the monetary dispute between Ajay and Ajmer. The accused was interrogated. He cracked soon and confessed to killing Ajmer. The police have recovered the victim’s purse and the hammer used in the crime.

Ludhiana, July 3
A 13-year-old girl, who failed to complete her holiday homework, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself from a ceiling fan at her house in New Subash Nagar in the Basti Jodhewal area last night. She studied in class VII.

The girl’s father, who runs a medical store in the same area, said last evening, his wife informed him that their daughter had locked herself in the room.

Soon, the girl’s father reached the house and broke the door, only to find her hanging from the ceiling fan.

The couple rushed her to the CMC hospital where the doctors declared her dead on arrival.

The girl’s father reportedly told the police that his daughter was under immense stress as she could not finish her holiday homework on time.

Ludhiana, July 3
A week after the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) impounded a water tanker from a unit at Focal Point, another tanker carrying polluted water was impounded today.

The PPCB impounded a water tanker filled with polluted water from a unit on the Sua road. PPCB chief Gulshan Rai said: “Initially, it appeared the company was to discharge polluted water into the Buddha Nullah. After investigation, it was found that polluted water was to be used in making fertiliser. One needs permission from both the Central Pollution Control Board and the state government for using polluted water for this purpose. But, the company did not have the permission,” said Rai.

A case has been registered against the driver and the cleaner of the tanker.

With regard to the tanker impounded for discharging polluted water into the Buddha Nullah last week, Rai said the representatives of the company would come for a personal hearing on July 15 and 16 and further action would be taken after it.

Ludhiana, July 3
The railway authorities today constituted an inquiry committee to probe the reason and fix responsibility for the derailment of a goods train here last evening. The derailment of the goods train led to the delay in the schedule of several passenger trains going towards New Delhi.

The officials of Ludhiana Railway Station said after unloading the goods, the train was going towards the yard when it derailed.

Ravinder Sharma, Station Superintendent, said: “An inquiry committee has been constituted in this regard. The committee will find out the reason behind derailment. After the committee submits it report, action will be taken against the responsible persons.”

Meanwhile, the members of the inquiry committee visited the spot and recorded the statements of employees.

The goods train derailed at around 7 pm yesterday. Many trains, including the New Delhi Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Jainagar-Amritsar Express, Shatabdi Express and Heerakund Express, were delayed by more than one and a half hours.

According to information, the railway experts took two hours to clear the track and restore the railway traffic.

Ravinder Sharma, Station Superintendent said: “We will adopt all measures to avoid such incidents in the future. We thank the passengers who cooperated with us”.

Trains delayed
Many trains, including the New Delhi Express, Jan Shatabdi Express, Jainagar-Amritsar Express, Shatabdi Express and Heerakund Express, were delayed by more than one and a half hours.

Ludhiana, July 3
A major fire broke out in a building in the Daresi area today. After the preliminary probe, it was come to light that a short-circuit led to the fire. It took 10 fire tenders about three and a half hours to put out the fire.

The fire officials faced a tough time reaching the three-storey building because it is located in the narrow lanes of the area. They climbed the roofs of the nearby buildings to douse the fire.

Rajinder Singh, Fire Officer, said: “Ten fire tenders were pressed into service. A local resident informed them about the fire after which they rushed to the spot.”

The owner of the building, Atul Sahnan was unavailable for comments. According to the local residents, the owner has rented out the building. — TNS

Ludhiana, July 3
Adhering to the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s directions, both the Municipal Corporation and the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) have asked their senior officials to get the details of properties in four major areas of the city where violators have changed the use of their properties without permission. The court has given both the MC and the LIT 15 days to decide who will take action against the defaulters. A joint committee has been formed to identify properties under the purview of the MC and LIT and to take action accordingly.

The Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation, Pradeep Aggarwal, said a meeting was held with the officials of the LIT. “It has been decided that building plans passed by the MC will be taken care of by the civic body while those passed by the LIT will be the latter’s responsibility. The common areas, if any, will be the responsibility of the MC to take action. The court has given us time to decide who has to comply with the orders of the High Court. We have constituted a committee, which will submit its report with details of ownership of properties within a few days,” said the MC chief.

The chairman of the LIT, Shruti Singh, said since it was the responsibility of both the bodies, the team constituted by the LIT and the MC would carry out surveys and file a report. Action will be taken against violators accordingly. “If building plan has been approved by us, we are responsible for taking action,” she said.

An RTI activist, Rohit Sabharwal has filed a civil writ petition (number 11140), stating that owners have changed the use of their properties by making restaurants, clinics, offices, etc, in areas and colonies, including SCFs at the main Sarabha Nagra Market, HIG flats on Rani Jhansi Road, SCFs at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar and BRS Nagar, due to which residents face problems. This illegal change of land use has caused loss worth crores to the state exchequer.

Ludhiana, July 3
The Communist Party of India (CPI) took out a protest march from the railway station to Clock Tower Chowk today.

They condemned the rise in prices of essential commodities, including petrol, diesel and food items, after the BJP-led NDA government assumed power.

The CPI leaders said the inflation had gone up manifold and it was a worrisome trend with food being the basic requirement to sustain life. “The claim of the government that the inflation has gone up marginally is a fraud as the prices of almost all essential commodities are continuously rising,” they remarked.

The speakers criticised the senior functionaries of Modi government, who till a few weeks ago, were critical of the previous government. But the same leaders were now cutting a sorry figure. The claim of “acche din” (good days) had fallen flat, they added.

The party leaders maintained that the government was out to please lobbies of sugar and other commodities which was evident from lame excuses being made by various ministers to justify the rising prices.

Quoting the report of the Arjun Sen Gupta Committee, appointed by the previous government, they said 77 per cent population of the country lived on less than Rs 20 per day. “No wonder a majority of our population is malnourished as with prevailing prices the minimum cost of food, necessary to just sustain life, is more than Rs 70 per day, if one only consumes basic food items like flour, daal, vegetables, tea, rice, ghee and spices.

The life of people was going to be miserable, they said, adding that the government, which was bent upon privatisation of everything, was running away from its responsibility from even providing education and health to the people.

The party demanded control over the prices of essential commodities. It pointed out that the increase in the prices of petrol and diesel had already shown a cascading effect on the prices of basic commodities, thereby adding to the woes of the people.

Ludhiana, July 3
Congress councillors’ protest entered the second day today. The councillors, sitting outside Zone A office near Mata Rani Chowk, raised slogans against Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria and the authorities for delaying development works.

They said officials of the civic body had money to renovate their offices, but when it came to developing the city, they went bankrupt. As far as the issue of property tax was concerned, the BJP and the SAD kept changing their statements. The public wanted to know the facts, said the councillors.

“The furniture and tapestry in offices are being changed, but our wards are suffering for want of funds. The Deputy Chief Minister laid foundation stones of different development works, we want to know about the disbursement of funds,” said the councillors.

They said if the Mayor failed to convene a General House, they would gherao his office. “We are answerable to the public and the authorities are answerable to us,” said the councillors, including Hem Raj Aggarwal, Parminder Mehta, Narinder Sharma Kala, Rakesh Prashar, Gurpreet Gogi and Sanjay Talwar.

MC Commissioner Pradeep Aggarwal also met the protested councillors.

Ludhiana, July 3
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has extended the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) for extension of load for yet another month. The scheme will now remain open till July 31 for consumers falling under domestic supply (DS), non-residential supply (NRS/commercial), small power (SP), medium supply (MS) and agricultural power (AP).

Earlier, the VDS was introduced for a period of three months from March 1, 2014, till May 31, 2014, and thereafter was extended till June 30, 2014. Under the VDS, the consumers will be able to get their power load extended on the basis of actual connected load without the payment of any penalty. As per the commercial circular issued by the Chief Engineer (Commercial) of the PSPCL, unlike the first phase of the scheme (till May 31), the field staff will now conduct spot checking of connected load. However, no penalty for use of unauthorised load will be imposed in case, a consumer opts to go for VDS or the unauthorised load is disconnected.

Other terms and conditions for service connection charges and initial security remain unchanged.

Even as the PSPCL authorities have extended the VDS for another month, the focus of the power utility has now shifted to detection of power theft (through unauthorised load or otherwise). Chief Engineer, Central Zone of PSPCL, Rachpal Singh said special squads had conducted spot checking of more than 7,000 AP (agricultural power) connections in Ludhiana East, Ludhiana West, suburban and Khanna circles from June 10 to 30, 2014.

In the course of the drive, 18 cases of theft and over 4,500 cases of unauthorised load were detected. A penalty of Rs 21.61 lakh was imposed on those found stealing electricity while the PSPCL generated revenue of some Rs 4.18 crore by way of security and service charges under the VDS for extension of load.

Similarly, during the last quarter (April to June 2014), added Rachpal Singh, nearly 23,000 domestic power connections were checked which led to the detection of 484 cases of theft and 492 cases of unauthorised load which entailed a penalty of Rs 1.27 crore (for theft) and recovery of Rs 57.33 lakh (under the VDS for extension of load).

The chief engineer said 11,800 applications had been received for extension of load under the VDS which included 2,058 domestic consumers (additional load 7058 KW), 777 NRS consumers (4557 KW), 1,067 SP consumers (7092 KW), 682 MS consumers (13662 (KW) and 5,633 AP consumers (23790 KW).

Ludhiana, July 3
Vendors at Amar Shaheed Sukhdev Bus Terminal are fleecing passengers and visitors. They are making hay in the absence of any check. For a soft drink costing Rs 30, a passenger is made to pay Rs 35 or Rs 40.

During a visit to the bus terminal, it was found that almost all vendors were overcharging the passengers. Sometimes, the passengers enter into an argument with the vendors as they are asked to pay double the maximum retail price (MRP). On being threatened, the sellers turn away the buyers saying they are not scared of anybody. Boards put up outside vends read: “Do not pay more than the MRP. Call up on the following numbers for help.” A passenger, who once called up on the number, said a security guard took the call and assured the caller of doing the needful.

But when the guard asked one of the vendors to mend his ways, he said he was not fleecing the passengers. He said he was only following the instructions of the contractor concerned.

A vendor selling packaged water and soft drinks told the security personnel that his owner had asked him to charge more.

Surinder Singh Panu, manager, Bus Terminal Operating Company, said, “We will act if we get a written complaint. We have cancelled the licences of some contractors. To check the practice, more boards will be installed soon. We will instruct the vendors to mention rate lists outside vends.”

Ludhiana, July 3
The authorities have locked hostel rooms of the 28 striking students of the Fishery Department at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU).

The students, who are on strike, use rooms only for freshening up.

One of the students, on the condition of anonymity, said, “They were occupying five rooms and for the last one month, (starting from June 2) they were on strike against the state government’s attitude of shirking away from its responsibility to recruit the students as fishery officers at the block and district levels.”

“We are entitled to use our rooms till July 31, but the authorities locked the rooms to put us in inconvenience. According to them, since we have completed our degrees, we must leave the hostel rooms. They know that we are already disturbed and are not happy to sit here. But even then they have initiated this step. They could have at least permitted us to use the rooms till the state government woke up from its deep slumber.”

The students said they have requested the registrar to open the rooms for the convenience of students. Nothing has been done so far.

“We are requesting other students/research scholars to kindly allow us to use their washrooms,” said Amarjit Kaur (name changed).

Ludhiana, July 3
Staff of as many as 40 schools, running under National Child Labour Project, have not been paid their salaries for the past eight months. These schools provide free-of-cost education to slum children. Each school has staff strength of up to five employees and is issued a grant of Rs 17,000 per month by the Central Government.

Employees are finding it very hard to make their both ends meet as the last salary which they received was in October, 2013.

“I have started taking tuitions now to meet my daily expenses,” said a teacher.

Another teacher said, “It has become a routine feature of these schools now. I have to borrow money from my friends due to this reason. The soaring prices are adding to our miseries. The government should regularise it at the earliest because we deserve it.”

Each of these 40 schools is up to Class V and has 50 children from the age of 9 to 14 years. They are provided education, free-of-cost, for four hours daily. These children are also provided books and uniforms for free.

Every student is also given a stipend of Rs 150 per month. There were 20 schools running under NCLP in the year 2001 in Ludhiana. The number of schools increased to 40 in 2013 (June 4). Even though the number of schools doubled last year in Ludhiana district but, Central Government has been releasing budget of only 20 schools.

Due to lack of funds, we cannot hold the combined annual function of these schools, said the teachers.

officer speaks
Avtar Singh, Additional Project Officer, said, "We receive grants in two instalments annually. The last instalment was received in October 2013. We are yet to receive the second instalment for 2013-2014. The first instalment of 2014-2015 is also awaited. We have sent reminders to the authorities concerned and hopefully, we will get the pending instalments by July 15. We will disburse the grants to the school as soon as we receive them."

Ludhiana, July 3
A number of roads are yet to be carpeted at the university. According to university officials, the work of re-carpeting the remaining roads will restore as soon as the Mandi Board is done making the estimates for the project.

Roads leading to boys’ hostels, employees’ quarters and research farms are in sorry state of affairs on the PAU campus. Some of the main roads have deep pits and are in dire need of re-carpeting.

As per the information, the Mandi Board has made an estimate of an approximately Rs 4 crore for the project.

The chief engineer, Punjab Agricultural University, Jaspal Singh, said, “A team of Mandi board from Chandigarh visited the campus and made estimates for re-carpeting the roads. Now, the money will be sanctioned by the Mandi board, Ludhiana. The university celebrated its golden jubilee in 2012 and it was only during the visit of former PM Manmohan Singh in 2012, that the board re-carpeted the main roads of the campus.”

The hostellers have been demanding to re-carpet the roads for a long time now, as they face inconvenience, especially during rainy season. 

Ludhiana, July 3
In order to apprise students of the ill effects of drugs, the Education Department is encouraging students to watch a movie based on the theme of drug de-addiction.

In a circular issued by the Principal Secretary of School Education, Anjali Bhawra, movie titled ‘Karmi’, should be telecasted on Doordarshan (DD Punjabi). The movie has been produced by the Punjab Government.

As per the given schedule, the movie has already been telecast on July 1 and 2. The telecast will now be repeated on August 5 and 6.

According to Bhawra, schools have to make students, parents and common public aware about the telecast of the movie so that maximum numbers of people are able to watch it.

Many students are, however, not familiar with DD Punjabi channel.

“Due to a variety of channels on the cable network, students hardly watch Doordarshan channels. The EduSat authorities should have telecasted the film on Edusat labs in schools,” said a teacher, on condition of anonymity.

Ludhiana, July 3
There is a dire need to comprehend the exact data of unemployment. This was stated by officials of the Federation of Small Industries of India (FASII) during its meeting with the Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Narinder Singh Tomar.

The federation, on the occasion, also submitted points to the minister regarding the existing labour and employment problem.

“For the formulation of any long-term policy, we require data of workers in India. So far, we do not have an exact data of unemployed or underemployed workers in India. We do not even have an exact ratio of unemployment in village viz-a-viz urban areas and cities. We need to have an estimated data of skilled and unskilled workers in India. Our employment exchanges have failed miserably. Therefore, a nation-wide survey needs to be carried out in this regard,” said national president, FASII, Badish Jindal.

He further added, “The State Labour Departments should be ordered to collect the exact data so as to make the tailored policies for employment generation.”

In the present scenario, the exchanges require to be updated online and should serve as a link between the employers and employees through its strong I-T network. Further, the members stressed upon the creation of green jobs.

“These jobs can be created in hospitality services/tourism and medical tourism. New tourism destinations are required to be developed for a speedy promotion of this sector. The service tax and other taxes can be slashed down,” said Jindal.

Issues discussed
The Federation of Small Industries of India, on the occasion, also apprised the the Union Minister for Labour and Employment, Narinder Singh Tomar, about the existing labour and employment problems.

Ludhiana, July 3
A pickup truck driver and cleaner were injured after the vehicle fell into an open drain near the Jalandhar bypass today.

As per the information, the incident took place this morning when the truck carrying iron material was heading towards Jalandhar side. The pickup truck suddenly ran into an open drain.

The commuters rescued the driver and cleaner and rushed them to hospital for treatment.

Open drains pose danger

The purpose of the drain was to keep the roads dry after rain. Though drains have been constructed, these have not been covered and are now serving as ponds. Two children had died in the Dhandari area nearly three years ago after falling into a drain filled with rainwater. Protruding iron bars in these drains also pose a threat to commuters. The accident, allegedly caused due to the poor condition of the road, has again highlighted that the road company, SOMA-Isolux, has not learnt any lessons. Repeated accidents have occurred on the same stretch but the company has not covered these drains.

Ludhiana, July 3
Paying no heed to the instructions of officials of the civic body, shopkeepers in Bhadaur House and AC Market encroached upon corridors and government land soon after the tehbazari wing of Zone A left the place today.

Yesterday, the MC removed temporary encroachments from the area.

Officials led by Additional Commissioner Devinder Singh confiscated rehris and other items.

Singh said the shopkeepers encroached upon the corridors/parking lots within minutes, putting commuters to inconvenience.

On seeing the police and the civic officials, the shopkeepers removed items on their own. Acting swiftly, the officials confiscated the rehris. Some of them even asked the officials to talk to the local leaders before removing the encroachments.

The Additional Commissioner said that the drive would be carried out on a regular basis.

Back to square one

Shopkeepers in Bhadaur House and AC Market encroached upon corridors and government land soon after the tehbazari wing of Zone A left the place on Thursday. Officials led by Additional Commissioner Devinder Singh confiscated rehris and other items.

Jagraon, July 3
An RTI activist, Davinder Kumar, has requested the District Administration to remove illegal encroachments by shopkeepers on both sides of Jagraon-Jalandhar Road at Sidhwan Bet, near Jagraon.

Kumar said as a result of encroachments, commuters have to face a lot of difficulties.

Kumar had obtained information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act which clearly states that more than 130 shopkeepers of Sidhwan Bet have illegally encroached upon the both sides of the road. The encroachments lead to inconvenience for the residents and commuters.

“Following this information, I requested the Administration to get these encroachments removed as soon as possible, so the people can commute without any difficulty,” said Kumar.

Davinder Kumar has also lodged a complaint with the Punjab Public Grievances Portal, started by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, and has sought removal of these illegal encroachments from the roadside.

Ludhiana, July 3
It has been over two months since a cement trader was attacked by his former employee and his accomplices but the accused, despite being booked in an attempt to murder case, were roaming freely and threatening the victim and his family. Monika Sharma, wife of victim Naresh Sharma, said due to the brutal attack her husband has lost his mental balance and was still in a state of shock.

She said if the police do not arrest the accused in 15 days she will stage a protest in front CM’s office.

It was in May when accused Jaspreet along with his accomplices had attacked Naresh. Monetary issue was the reason behind the attack. Monica said police was favouring the accused.

She said that an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) had demanded Rs 40,000 from her for arresting the accused.

Ludhiana, July 3
When you hear the word “fat,” you automatically think “bad.” That’s because for years we’ve heard that fat causes heart attacks, high cholesterol, weight gain and even afternoon slumps.

Research has shown that certain types of healthy fats protect one from high cholesterol, diabetes and high blood pressure. There are two types of heart-healthy fat.

Telling about the healthy fats Ruchi Khanna, a city-based dietician said, “Omega-3 fats help lower bad LDL cholesterol, raise good HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides (a type of blood fat), and may reduce the risk of blood clots. While Monounsaturated fats are important heart-healthy fats are known to lower bad LDL cholesterol and raise good HDL cholesterol. They are found in olive oil, almonds and avocados.”

“Limiting certain fats we eat also is also important. Saturated fat and trans-fats are the ones we should try to limit or avoid. Try to keep saturated fat to not more than 10 per cent daily calories. And, try to keep trans-fat out of diet altogether,” added Khanna.

Healthy fats from plant-based sources, such as avocado, nuts, olives and olive oil, help heart by lowering the bad type of cholesterol, added Dr Ramesh Singla.

Ludhiana, July 3
An upcoming player from Ludhiana, Raghav Bansal, hogged limelight on the first day of the inaugural edition of the FIDE Rating (below 1800) Prize Money Chess Tournament that began at Kundan Vidya Mandir, Civil Lines, today.

Raghav created a flutter when he outwitted a highly ranked player, Vaibhav, to begin his campaign in style. Vaibhav appeared to be a novice against Raghav who exhibited a great class to leave his experienced opponent gasping.

Earlier, Navita Puri, principal of the host school, inaugurated the championship by making the first move. Around 175 players are participating in the four-day open prize money chess championship in which one player, Santosh Gautam from Nepal, is also taking part.

Raghav Bansal of Ludhiana besides Ludhiana district champion Dilbagh Singh, Shubham Shukla , Surinder Marwaha, Kirti Sharma, Amarjit Singh, Sanjiv Sood, all from Ludhiana, Harminder Singh of Delhi, Sudhir Kumar of Haryana, Santosh Gautam from Nepal, Raj Kumar of Delhi, all won their first-round matches easily.

Arvinder Preet Singh, secretary, Ludhiana District Chess Association, said the championship was recognised by FIDE (World Chess Federation), All-India Chess Federation and Punjab State Chess Association. Anybody, who is without FIDE rating or having FIDE rating below 1800 points, can participate in the championship.