Ludhiana, July 19
For the past three decades, successive governments have been making efforts to clean and beautify Buddha Nullah, but to no avail.

In the absence of funds and a concrete plan, ‘operation clean-up’ seems a distant dream. The “toxic vein of Malwa” continues to be a bane of the city.

Crores of rupees spent by the governments have gone down the drain.

The Municipal Corporation gives around Rs 55 lakh to the drainage department to clean the nullah, but all efforts go futile. Industrial waste makes things difficult for the department.

Zonal Commissioner, Zone B, Kamlesh Bansal said despite carrying out a number of cleanliness drives, heavy metal content was found in the nullah. “There are 16 disposal units into the 14-kilometres nullah,” said Bansal.

Recently, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had asked engineers of India Limited Company to visit the city and look for ways to clean the nullah. The engineers met the higher authorities and went through the data.

Besides, the Central government had given its nod to construct three green-bridges for the cleaning of nullah and two more were to be constructed.

The project worth Rs 15.25 crore has been stalled,” said the Zonal Commissioner. 

Ludhiana, July 19
Hundreds of dairy owners in the Haibowal and Tajpur area bathe buffaloes/cows in Buddha Nullah, jeopardising the lives of the animals and residents.

The buffaloes may catch an infection while bathing in the nullah which remains polluted with chemicals, intoxicants and pollutants.

Experts believe that strict measures should be adopted by law enforcing agencies against such dairy owners.

Professor of Veterinary Extension at Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) Dr Harish Verma said the dairy owners or farmers did not know that bathing the animals in the nullah could be dangerous. Awareness needed to be created as milk buyers too were at risk. The milk could poison them, he added.

“The animals drink the same water. The milk that they give is not fit for consumption as pollutants and chemicals are disposed of in the nullah. The consumers can also catch infectious diseases such as foot and mouth disease, tuberculosis and brucellosis. These are called zoonotics diseases which spread from animals to humans,” said Dr Verma. Joint secretary of the Progressive Dairy Farming Association Rajpal Singh said only a few farmers took their animals to the nullah. “Leading companies check the quality of milk before buying it from the farmers. The consumers too should get the quality of the milk checked.

The farmers should not take their animals to the dirty/poisonous nullah,” said Rajpal Singh.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 19
Two persons were killed while 40 others suffered injuries when the tempo they were travelling in overturned near Kup Kalan village on the Ludhiana-Malerkotla road this afternoon.

The deceased were identified as Niranjan Singh and Ramki Devi while the injured are yet to be identified. They were returning home after paying obeisance at Anandpur Sahib.

The driver lost control over the vehicle after one of the tyres burst near Sirhind Canal. Passersby and area residents pulled the bodies out of the vehicle and helped the police take the injured to the hospital.

Sadar SHO Harwinder Pal Singh and city SHO Tejinder Singh said they rushed the injured to the Civil Hospital, Malerkotla. Four of them, including a child, were referred to Government Rajindra Hospital at Malerkotla, they said.

At the Civil Hospital, only one doctor and one nurse were available.

Ludhiana, July 19
Prices of essential commodities have gone through the roof and the common man is bearing the brunt. The elderly and physically challenged are having it the toughest. They are given Rs 250 for their regular handouts per month.

The beneficiaries said the government was not concerned about their needs. Punjab Khet Mazdoor Sabha and other NGOs have decided to give a representation to the Chief Minister demanding a pension of Rs 3,000 per month.

Gulzar Goriya, general secretary, Punjab Khet Mazdoor Sabha, said, “There are more than 13 lakh pensioners in Punjab. They have been getting Rs 250 since 2007.”

He said the scheme was started in 1964-65 and the pensioners used to get Rs 50 per month at that time. It took the government decades to increase the amount from Rs 50 to Rs 250. Swaran Singh Nago, president of the sabha, said, “We have taken up the issue with the Central and the state governments a number of times, but to no avail. The state government had assured us of increasing the amount, but nothing of the sort has happened so far. The Union Budget was a disappointment. No one knows what the pensioners are going through. How long will they be able to hold on? Each day is a struggle for them.”

Saraswati Devi, a pensioner, said, “It appears as if the state government is laughing at us. I don’t have money to afford treatment. At the age of 75, officials expect me to make rounds of their offices. My son works at a grocery store. His salary is meagre. I don’t know what fate has in store for us.”

Goriya said six NGOs, including Kul Hind Hit Mazdoor Union, Dehati Mazdoor Sabha and Pendu Mazdoor Union, were in talks with the authorities and were trying hard to get the amount increased from Rs 250 to Rs 3,000 per month.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 19
A couple committed suicide by jumping before a train near Kup Kalan village this morning.

The bodies have been kept at the Civil Hospital, Malerkotla, for identification. In-charge, railway police chowki, Karamjit Singh said the two were in their twenties. The couple had gone to a factory near Kup Kalan for a job interview.

Ludhiana, July 19
The police have booked a doctor for negligence. Complainant Chintu Singh told the police that the medicine given by the doctor had claimed the life of his wife.

The deceased was identified as Kushboo, a resident of Jasdev Nagar, Gill Road.

Chintu said after his wife complained of toothache, he took her to Tomar Clinic. Dr Joginder examined her and gave her some medicines, but she did not get relief. When they went to the doctor in the evening, he changed the medicines, Chintu said. He said after taking the medicines, Kushboo started crying and was unable to breathe. She died after sometime. Balbir Singh, in-charge, police post, Marado, said, “We have registered a case under Section 304A.” — TNS

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 19
Contrary to earlier trend when only illiterate and elderly persons using ATM cards were duped by cheaters, members of the elite class are also at the receiving end these days.

Elated on receiving a call from a woman claiming to be a bank official, bank customers, including highly educated ones, spontaneously tell their ATM card number and password. Later, they find themselves duped when they receive messages about debit in their accounts.

Illiterate and elderly seem to have immunity against these type of incidents as they cannot read out card numbers and tell passwords on phone.

Investigations revealed that incidences of swindling of money from saving accounts of depositors by transferring amounts using ATM number and password received on the pretext of reactivating cards had increased during the past times.

Banks officials have been finding hard to educate individual customers that no information about their accounts or password is to be provided to callers pretending to be bank officials.

Malkiat Singh, a customer of a nationalised bank, was duped of Rs 15,000 by unknown members of a gang having educated women after he responded to a call from Mumbai.

“I was confused when I received a call from a woman claiming to be a bank official who informed me that my ATM card was blocked. I told my card number and password to her,” said Singh, adding that the caller had told his account number which he himself remembered with great difficulty.

Singh later got his card blocked himself after receiving a message on his cellphone about a withdrawal of Rs 15,000.

Gurvinder Kaur, a teacher and a savings account holder of a nationalised bank, was also duped of Rs 11,000 in a similar manner. Interestingly, she was not called by a woman but a youth speaking fluent Hindi.

Many cases were reported where account holders were saved by officials of their banks by immediately getting their cards blocked or putting their accounts on hold, but the tendency still continues.

Leaders and high profile officers too show casual approach towards maintaining secrecy of password of their ATM cards. In a majority of the cases, when they want to withdraw money from accounts through ATM cards, their personal aides are asked to operate the card. The ATM number and password was later misused for making online transactions by the latter.

Upset over increased number of incidences and inquires, officials of various banks have urged their customers not divulge any information about their accounts and alternative channels of transaction, including ATM card, even if the caller is a bank official.

Ludhiana, July 19
Senior Congress leader and former Union Minister Manish Tewari said today that Akalis in Punjab have no one to blame now for their own failures since they were the alliance partners of the ruling government at the Centre.

“Earlier, the Akali-BJP leaders tried to put all blame on the Centre when Congress was in power. Now, when it is their own government at the Centre, things have only gone from bad to worse,” he said this while interacting with mediapersons after inaugurating a tube well near Ishmeet Chowk at Shastri Nagar. The tube well was constructed with the Rs 15-lakh grant provided by Tewari from his MP’s Local Area Development fund.

Referring to severe shortage of power, Tewari said: “Years ago, we were told by this government that surplus power will be exported to Pakistan, but it has not been able to maintain even the regular supply to residents.”

He said the agriculture sector was the worst hit as farmers were not getting proper power supply. “Theoretically, they are getting free power, but actually they are not getting any power at all and they have to spend money to run their diesel-operated motors to irrigate their fields.”

The former minister also referred to the closure of about 18,000 industrial units in the state.

He said it was because of power shortage and extra costs and wrong taxation policy of the government that the industry was shifting base to other states.

“All promises of the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre have proved hollow,” he said.

Former minister and MLA Rakesh Pandey, district Congress committee Ludhiana (Urban) president Pawan Dewan and Parminder Mehta were among others present.

Ludhiana, July 19
The Shahi Imam of Punjab, Habib-ur-Rahman Sani Ludhianvi, has condemned the violent clashes at Baltal camp in Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, one of the base camps for pilgrims visiting the Amarnath cave shrine.

He said a scuffle between two stall owners turned into riots because of the role of mischievous elements to disturb the communal harmony. The Jammu and Kashmir Government must make arrangements of appropriate security at such places and camps.

The Shahi Imam also condemned the hatred against minority communities in Punjab in reaction to the J&K incident and said sloganeering and stone-pelting at Jama Masjid at Phagwara following the violence at Baltal was a conspiracy to disturb the communal harmony in the country and in the state.

He alleged that the police was responsible for allowing rioters to reach the mosque.

The Shahi Imam appealed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that action be taken against mischievous elements attacking the mosque and demanded disciplinary action against the police and the administration for lax attitude of letting such incidents happen.

He added that Muslims across Punjab condemn the violence at the Baltal camp and appealed for maintenance of peace in the state.

Dr Amandeep Sharma revealed that during the three-day training they were apprised of quality evaluation and testing of milk, milk processing and manufacturing of different milk products (paneer, lassi, ice cream, mozzarella cheese, flavoured milk and whey beverages). Besides product manufacturing they were also told about various government schemes available for the promotion of dairy farming, milk processing and value added dairy products in rural area. Framers showed keen interest in learning the various technologies for value addition of milk. — TNS

Ludhiana, July 19
In an odd move, the Education Department called the applicants for Meritorious School at Mohali for counselling. Ironically, a majority of students of government schools could not go for the counselling due to financial issues.

In a circular issued by project director, society for promotion of quality education, the students who have submitted the forms for admission have to attend the counselling at Mohali.

The students who got 80 per cent or more than 80 per cent marks in Class X were eligible to take admission in Senior Secondary Residential Schools for Meritorious Schools.

Despite providing free education and residential facilities, schools failed to attract the students. The government has initiated these schools in six districts of Punjab, including Amritsar, Ludhiana, Patiala, Bathinda, Jalandhar and Mohali.

Ludhiana, July 19
Scientists from Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana; National Research Centre on Plant Biotechnology (NRCPB) of ICAR, New Delhi; and Delhi University (DU), in collaboration with International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium (IWGSC), have published a research paper in one of the most reputed international journal ‘Science’.

The paper on chromosome-based draft sequence of the bread wheat genome provides new insight into the structure, organisation, and evolution of the large, complex genome of wheat, the world’s most widely grown cereal crop.

According to Dr Kuldeep Singh, director, School of Agricultural Biotechnology, PAU, who is the project coordinator for India and one of the author, the decoding of wheat genome has helped in identifying more than 1,25,000 genes and assigned these to the individual wheat chromosomes. Dr Arveen Chhuneja is the other co-author from PAU.

Dr Singh further said bread wheat has the largest content of DNA among all the food crops, making wheat genetics more complex than other food crops. Ten years back, wheat was considered one of the toughest crops to decode due to its huge genome size of 17,000 million bases and presence of three sets of highly similar chromosomes in the genome. Technological advances made in recent years and availability of specialised wheat lines has made it possible to isolate individual chromosomes for sequencing, he added.

He further informed that India was entrusted with the responsibility of decoding of chromosome named ‘2A’, which alone had a size of about 900 million bases, which is about two and a half times the size of entire rice genome and is about one third the size of human genome. The Indian initiative was financially supported three years ago by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Ministry of Science and Technology and Government of India at a total cost of Rs 35 crore. PAU is the lead centre for the sequencing project.

The draft sequence is an assemblage of about 60 per cent of the wheat genome and is a major landmark towards obtaining a complete gold standard sequence of the hexaploid bread wheat genome, the ultimate goal of the IWGSC. Quoting Dr Catherine Feuillet, co-chairperson of IWGSC, Dr Singh informed that researchers in the IWGSC envisage that the full genome sequence would be available within three years.

Congratulating the scientists on this big achievement, Dr Baldev Singh Dhillon, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, said the genetic blueprint of wheat was an invaluable resource to plant science researchers and wheat breeders in particular. For the first time, they have at their disposal a set of tools enabling them to rapidly and precisely locate specific genes on individual wheat chromosomes which wheat breeders can use for tracking and transfer of any number of genes from one variety to another through cross hybridisation. “With a chromosome-based full sequence in hand, wheat breeders will have high quality tools at their disposal to accelerate breeding programmes and to identify how genes control complex traits such as yield, grain quality, disease, pest resistance or abiotic stress tolerance,” he said.

Dr Satbir Singh Gosal, director of research, PAU, stated that this research had opened tremendous possibilities to produce a new generation of wheat varieties with higher yields and improved sustainability to meet the demands of a growing world population in a changing environment. According to Dr Navtej S Bains, lead wheat breeder at PAU, the draft sequence is already providing new insights into the history and evolution of the wheat genome and genes involved in grain development and disease resistance. This will also decrease the time from discovery to commercialisation of new varieties for farmers, he added. 

Ludhiana, July 19
Two candidates for the Punjab AgriculturalUniversity Teachers Association (PAUTA) withdrew their nominations here today.

Gulzar Singh, who had filled the nomination for councillor from North Research, withdrew his nomination as no one from the rival group was contesting the election. While Ruchika Bhardwaj, another councilor, also withdrew her nomination.

The elections of PAUTA are scheduled to be held on July 22.

There are two groups namely Kingra and Siag contesting the elections. Total 446 voters will use their right to vote.

Dr KS Sanga is contesting for the post of president from Kingra group, while Dr Mukesh Siag is contesting from the Siag group. DK Sharma is contesting for the post of general from Kingra group while Kulbir Singh Saini is contesting for secretary from Siag group. 

Ludhiana, July 19
The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) will hold a series of seven kisan melas and kisan divas in various parts of Punjab in September 2014.

Divulging details, Dr HS Dhaliwal, director of extension education, said the series would commence with kisan divas at Nagkalan Jahangir in Amritsar on September 8 followed by the kisan mela at Ballowal Saunkhri on September 10. The kisan mela on the PAU campus, Ludhiana, will be held on September 12 and 13, he informed. The kisan mela at Rauni, Patiala, will be organised on September 16 whereas kisan divas at Faridkot will be held on September 18, he said. The regional kisan melas at Gurdaspur and Bathinda will be held on September 23 and 26, respectively.

Dr Dhaliwal said during the melas and divas, the farmers and farm women would be given an opportunity to visit exhibitions, technical stalls, discuss their farm issues with the PAU experts and seek solutions for their agri-problems. In addition to showcasing latest agricultural technologies, the melas will educate the farmers about new farm innovations and scientific know-how of progressive farming.

The farmers can also purchase farm literature, new seeds and planting material during these melas, he added. 

Machhiwara, July 19
Standing crop spread over nearly 70 acres of land in Machhiwara was inundated today after Buddha Nullah overflowed due to heavy rain.

A few days ago standing crop spread over around 2,000 acres of land was affected due to breach in the nullah. Several affected farmers of the area had threatened to commit suicide if the Irrigation Department and administration failed to solve the problem.

Showing their inundated crops, Bhupinder Singh, Avtar Singh, Gurpreet Singh and other farmers who have fields near the Lakhowal Kalan bridge said the problem kept recurring as the authorities concerned had failed to clean Buddha Nullah.

They said the nullah had not been cleaned for the past 30 years and the weed growth obstructed the flow of water, leading to overflowing in monsoons. They said several trees had fallen into the nullah, but no one had cleared them yet.

XEN, Irrigation Department, Balvir Singh Sandhu said only a few acres of fields had been affected, instead of the reported 70 acres. He said the department had taken up the task of cleaning the affected parts of the nullah between Powat and Machhiwara.

Sandhu, who was reportedly at the site to take stock of the situation, said JCB machines would be arranged to start the process of cleaning the nullah by tomorrow.

Ludhiana, July 19
Vipin Bhatia has been taking care of injured and sick birds for the past seven years.

His NGO Pakshi Sewa Samiti has saved more than 3,500 birds since 
its inception.

A small cloth merchant by profession, Bhatia ends up spending Rs 6,000 a month on the treatment of ailing birds. He has constructed three special rooms at his home to tend to the birds.

Bhatia, however, has one complaint: Ludhiana residents have always 
been selfish.

“People call me up and ask me to treat injured birds but no one volunteers to help me in this endeavour. To date, I have treated around 3,500 injured birds and nurtured many baby birds that got separated from their parents,” 
says Bhatia.

He says many NGOs sought his services for treating injured birds, but none extended a helping hand.

“Some volunteers did come forward but left after some time,” says Bhatia.

Finding no help coming in, Bhatia decided to wind up his NGO and send the birds undergoing treatment at his house to other safe places.

“Last week, I handed over 45 birds to Pakshi Vihar, Hoshiarpur. Tomorrow, I am going to hand over four injured crows to Pakshi Sewa Society, Rakh Bagh,” says Bhatia.

A postgraduate in political science, Bhatia recalls how his passion developed: “It was about 22 years ago when I came across an injured bird on the roadside. I took it to a doctor but the doctor said he could not treat birds. As the bird was bleeding profusely, I brought it to my home. My mother advised me to treat the injured bird with an ointment and bandage it. Slowly, the bird recovered and one day it was able to fly again.”

After this incident, Bhatia got encouraged to treat injured and sick birds. By now he has saved a wide variety of birds: owl, bulbul, eagle, cuckoo, parrot, Australian parrot, duck, crane, hornbill, etc.

He says: “The city residents have no time to take care of the environment. I have appealed to many, but all in vain. The birds which are with me will be shifted to other places after ensuring their safety. This is a promise I have made to myself.”

Ludhiana, July 19
A 70-year-old ex-serviceman protested outside the Police Commissioner’s office seeking action on an FIR lodged by him in February this year.

Accusing the police of inaction, Subedar Gurdeep Singh (retired) sat outside the office this afternoon.

He alleged that his younger brother Mahinder Singh Grewal, who is a retired District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO), had grabbed his share of ancestral land at Balloke village.

He said the Haibowal police had registered an FIR in the case in February 11, but had failed to take any action on the complaint.

Gurdeep Singh said: “The police have not submitted the charge sheet in court in the past five months. My brother is an influential person due to which the police are taking no action.”

Gurdeep Singh alleged that Mahinder Singh had also broken his leg in 2006.

SHO, Haibowal police station, Inspector Amarjit Singh said he was investigating the case.

Ludhiana, July 19
A high drama was witnessed at Mintgumri Chowk when a girl started beating up some tipsy youths after they allegedly misbehaved with her in the Model Town area.

The youths, identified as Navjot Singh, Harpreet Singh, Barinder Singh, Harpreet Singh and Samul, had parked their vehicle on the wrong side in the market area, disrupting the traffic.

When the girl objected to this and asked them to remove their vehicle, they allegedly misbehaved with her, using derogatory language.

As per eyewitnesses, the girl got infuriated and started thrashing the youths. Meanwhile, the police reached the spot. The girl, however, did not file any complaint against the youngsters.

Station House Officer, Model Town police station, Gurdev Singh said: “When we reached the spot, we found that the five youths were under the influence of liquor. They all hail from Raikot and are preparing for IELTS in Ludhiana. We have registered a case of creating nuisance and disrupting traffic against them.”

Ludhiana, July 19
Local lad Manavdeep Singh Bal stole the limelight by winning medals at the 41st Junior National Aquatic Championship held at Bhopal recently.

Manavdeep gave a stupendous performance to clinch a gold medal in addition to a silver medal in the freestyle events.

In the 100-m freestyle event in the age group of 15-17 years, Manavdeep clocked 54.17 seconds to romp home victorious and bagged top honours.

In the 50-m freestyle event, he took 24.51 seconds to finish as the runner-up in the same age group.

Other swimmers from the state also performed well at Bhopal and reached finals in various events. Harleen Kaur of Sangrur got gold in the 200-m breast stroke (age group: 15-17 years) and bronze in the 100-m breast stroke event.

The Punjab water polo team (boys) missed the bronze medal by a whisker.