Ludhiana, August 7
In a major reshuffle in the building branch of the Municipal Corporation, Commissioner Pradeep Aggarwal today shifted about 38 employees (including class IV staff) in all the four zones (A, B, C and D) of the corporation. Aggarwal’s action has come in the wake of a large number of complaints received against the employees of the building branch.

Reshuffle of a large number of employees, including head draftsmen, draftsmen and building inspectors, has come as a “shock” for many in the building branch. One of the officials said: ”During the tenure of then Commissioner SK Sharma in 2006-07, all employees of the building branch were shifted in just one day. This is the second major reshuffle. Many of us were not even prepared for this major reshuffle”.

Earlier, many officials, including assistant town planners, building inspectors and head draftsmen, were given warnings by the Commissioner that they should either work diligently or be ready to face the music. The Commissioner had admitted that about 70 per cent of the total complaints concerned the building branch. Besides, he was perturbed over the mushrooming of “illegal” structures in the city.

About a dozen building inspectors, two head draftsmen and five draftsmen have been shifted. Commenting on the transfers, Aggarwal said these were long due. Since the MC had to adhere to the directions of the High Court in a few cases, the officials/employees were not transferred earlier.

Ludhiana, August 7
The voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) for extension of connected load has been extended by Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) till October 4, 2014, for domestic, non-residential, small power (SP), medium supply (MS) and agricultural power (AP).

The central zone of the PSPCL, including Ludhiana, has collected more than Rs 25 crore as security and service charges from the consumers for extension of their load under the scheme during the period of April-July in 2014.

A circular issued by the Chief Engineer (Commercial) of the PSPCL said the VDS had been extended from August 5, 2014, to October 4, 2014. The scheme was earlier launched by the power utility in March 2014 for a period of three months, and was subsequently extended till July 31, 2014.

During an interaction with the Chairman and Managing Director of the PSPCL, KD Chaudhry, a few days ago, the representative bodies of the industry had stressed that the VDS ought to be further extended as all those keen to get their connected load extended had not been able to apply for the same.

According to Rachpal Singh, Chief Engineer, Central Zone, as many as 23,547 consumers had availed themselves of the VDS scheme till July 31, 2014. The domestic consumers had sought extension of 16,869 KW of connected load, the NRS (commercial) consumers 10,445 KW, SP consumers 7,948 KW and MS consumers 15,166 KW. In all, the scheme had yielded Rs 25.02 crore to the power utility.

He said the PSPCL had already launched an ambitious project for upgrading and strengthening the distribution network under the “accelerated power development and reform programme (APDRP)”.

Under the ongoing project, new underground cables are being laid, feeders are being revamped, new transformers are being installed and substations are being upgraded. With the consumers coming forward to get their load extended under the VDS, the PSPCL would be in a better position to create adequate infrastructure and bring about qualitative improvement in power supply and distribution, the chief engineer added.

Ludhiana, August 7
Addicts have started shying away from getting treated at the drug de-addiction centre of the Civil Hospital after a fee of Rs 200 per day is being charged for admission. They are also required to deposit an advance of Rs 1,000 in case of admission.

From June 19 to July 3, a fortnight camp was held by the government in all government hospitals, during which addicts admitted to the hospitals were given treatment, including medicines and meals, free of cost.

The Senior Medical Officer, Dr RK Karkara, said it was only during the workshop that patients were given treatment free of cost. “Now, at the drug de-addiction, run by the Civil Hospital, a nominal fee of Rs 200 per day is charged (Rs 1,000 as advance in case of admission),” he said.

Member of one of the patient’s family, who had come to get their son admitted to the centre, had to return disappointed. “It is not possible for us to shell out money for his treatment. I have brought my son here after somebody told me that treatment is done free of cost here,” said a man, who wanted to get his son admitted.

Dr Sudha Vasudeva, district nodal officer for mental health, said patients were reluctant to get treatment after they came to know a fee is charged at the drug de-addiction centre. “Those who are in the dire need of treatment are admitted to the drug de-addiction centre run by Red Cross where patients are not charged any fee,” said Dr Vasudev.

Ludhiana, August 7
The third and final meeting of the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC) of Municipal Corporation was held here today during which almost all the agenda items were discussed.

While many items were approved, several were put on hold for legal opinion. Besides, there were other items for which committees have been constituted. One of the decisions taken by the F&CC was to run the MC swimming pool on a public-private-participation mode.

Members who attended the meet today included MC Commissioner Pradeep Aggarwal, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, Senior Deputy Mayor Sunita Aggarwal and Deputy Mayor RD Sharma.

Earlier, the members had met about six months ago due to which there were many items on the agenda. Three meetings had to be convened to discuss all the agenda items.

Ludhiana, August 7
Everyone loves to serve his nation. But serving the nation through enriched literature not only contributes to history but also establishes a deep bond with the generations to come. In his continuing effort to serve society through literature, a Padama Shri recipient, Dr Surjit Patar, has come up with an adaptation of Girish Karnad’s famous play “Naag Mandal” in the form of a book and named it “Icchadhari”.

Dr Patar’s love for any language reflects in his adaptation of “Naag Mandal”, which has been embellished with “Punjabi songs” and set in a total Punjabi atmosphere. From the very beginning till its end, there are a series of versified songs written by the writer, which make it a true Punjabi play.

Starting with the soliloquies of a person sitting in a dilapidated temple on the village outskirts, the writer transcends you in a mysterious world. After some time, all the wicks of lamps also gather (after the villagers put out lamps) there and start chatting with each other about the owners of their houses. The very procrastination of the arrival of these wicks goes with a song, “Aaiyan kude asin tap daleejan aaiyan kude, sab sau gaye taan rajaiyan kude, asin langhiyan suttiyan galiyan kude, phul sau gaye gal lag kaliyan kude”.

An abstract character, “Kahani”, narrates a story to all the wicks and to the person sitting in the temple. It is a mythical story, which revolves around a young bride, Rani, who is neglected by her unfaithful husband Shama. Her husband comes home only for lunch and spends the remaining time of the day with another woman.

Rani misses love of her husband and one day her neighbour Bishani asks her to give her husband milk laced with the love root. The milk gets spilled on an anthill and a cobra drinks it. The cobra changes itself into a human and starts visiting Rani as her husband. After sometime, she becomes pregnant. Her husband gets suspicious about her chastity.

One day, Shama sees the cobra (in the human form) visiting her wife at night and starts fighting with him. Naga is killed in the fight. Afterwards, Shama realises his mistake and accepts Rani with her baby in the womb.

Dr Patar, who has adapted five different plays and has nine books of poetry and prose to his credit, said: “When I have nothing good to write I start adapting or transliterating literature of other languages. By doing so, I also get an opportunity to learn many new words”.

Recently, he transliterated selected poetry of famous Urdu poet Shaharyar, who also wrote gazals for famous Bollywood movie “Umrav Jaan”, in Gurmukhi. He said: “Once I met Shaharyar at Goa and told him that one of the Punjabi poets had got his poem published in Punjabi. He was shocked to listen it and immediately requested me to transliterate all his poems.” But the book was released after Shaharyar’s death.

Dr Patar said: “I never knew that he would leave us so early. This book is my tribute to the famous poet Shaharyar”.

Ludhiana, August 7
The Blossom Residents Welfare Association has expressed resentment over poor sanitation in the area. Residents said despite repeated pleas, the civic body had failed to drain out rainwater from the basement of the building.

They were not able to park their vehicles there. Besides, there were chances of water contamination as sewage had accumulated in the area.

The residents complained that after every rainfall, water got accumulated in the basement, which could result in a cave-in. “We have spoken to the builder and the MC authorities, but nobody cares. The building may collapse if steps are not taken to drain water out,” said the residents.

Building owner Bharat Bhushan Sharma there were a few residents who did not want to provide maintenance charges. “I have been maintaining the building for the past 11 years, but now I cannot continue doing it as they are not ready to pay the charges. Still, I have asked the MC to get the sewage cleared at the earliest,” said Sharma.

Ludhiana, August 7
As an example of how children can bring about a change in villages, students of Satya Bharti School staged plays in Balliyewal village.

The plays highlighted the plight of widows. The students also interacted with the village sarpanch and a family that had ousted their daughter-in-law after the demise of their son. “Various such initiatives are being taken by the students and teachers of schools run by the Bharti Foundation, said Vijay Chadha, CEO, Bharti Foundation. He said the foundation aimed at transforming villages.

Teachers of the school meet parents of underprivileged students every week and counsel them. They said it took a lot of effort to convince and counsel the parents to send their children to school. Over the years, their mindset has changed as they want their children to study at schools run by the foundation, and not by the government.

Sarpanch of Balliyewal village Amarjit Singh said the villages witnessed a transformation of their children. “No fee is charged from the students, they are provided free uniform and mid-day meals as well. Latest teaching techniques, including phonics, advanced teacher-learning methodologies, activity-based learning and teachers being trained regularly is bringing the change among the students. There are currently 95 such schools, including primary, elementary and senior secondary, in the state. More than 40 institutions are in Ludhiana district. Many more are being run to provide support to the government,” Amarjit said. 

Ludhiana, August 7
“Inappropriate feeding practices results in a child’s death,” said experts during a state-level symposium organised by the Food and Nutrition Board of Women and Child Development to mark World Breastfeeding Week. This year’s theme is “Breastfeeding: A Winning Goal for Life.” Rupinder Kaur, district programme officer, spoke on protection, promotion and support of breastfeeding.

Dr Rajinder Gulati, head, paediatrics department, Civil Hospital, said 10.8 million children under five died every year. In India, 2.4 million deaths were reported every year, they said.

Dr Rajinder Gulati is also a national trainer of Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF), 2002. He said inappropriate feeding practices are related to malnutrition. “In India, 27 million children are born every year and about 60 million below the age of five are malnourished. Some 2.42 million children under the age five die every year, about 1.6 million die at the age of one. Most of the deaths, caused by diarrhoea, pneumonia and neonatal infections, are preventable,” said Dr Gulati. He added that according to the Global Strategy for Infant and Young Child Feeding, inappropriate feeding practices and their consequences were an obstacle to sustainable socio-economic development.

Ludhiana, August 7
The Women Forum of Ludhiana Management Association (LMA) organised an interactive session on “Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Initiatives” last evening.

Mohini Daljeet Singh, CEO, Max India Foundation, and Banashree Banarjee, World Bank Consultant, graced the occasion.

Describing corporate social responsibility as an essential business tool for sustainable growth, Mohini highlighted the activities of the Max India Foundation, a part the Max India Group. She stressed the need for the CSR saying every individual should play a role to save the environment. The Max India Foundation has more than 400 NGOs associated with them. She said beneficiaries would be the stakeholders.

Banerjee, who is working on a World Bank assignment on ‘The Poverty in Ludhiana’, threw light on 3 Ps of Ludhiana — prosperity, poverty and pollution. She stressed the involvement of all sections of society in the process of the CSR. Citing examples of exemplary success of the CSR activities in Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, she urged upon people of Ludhiana to take a step forward in this direction. Corporate sectors, civil society and the government should come together on a single platform for the CSR activities, she added. Queries were taken up and lectures were held. A proposal to float a giver’s club was tabled. Funds donated by residents can be used to develop the city. Earlier, Dr Sandeep Kapur, general secretary, LMA, welcomed guests. 

Ludhiana, August 7
A CICU delegation met DP Reddy, Principal Secretary, Industries & Commerce, Government of Punjab, today. Avtar Singh, president, CICU, submitted a memorandum to Reddy calling for a new Focal Point near Ludhiana. He said the city should have an exhibition centre, a skill development board and model centres.

Reddy assured the delegation of taking up their demands with the authorities. Raminder Singh, Secretary and Director, Industries, Punjab, and Yashvir Mahajan, managing director, Punjab Small Industries & Export Corporation Limited.

Ludhiana, August 7
Literature lovers will soon get a feast to relax their nerves as a literary CD is on the anvil. Having lyrics of eminent Punjabi poets, the CD will have six songs.

Karamjit Grewal, a Punjabi poet and a writer said: “All songs have been sung by writers themselves and a few amateurs. The theme of songs revolved around ‘life’.

Karamjeet Grewal, Dr Surjeet Patar, Ram Singh, Buta Singh Chauhan and others have penned the lyrics.

Dr Surjeet Patar, an eminent Punjabi poet, said: “Many people love literature but do not have time to read books. Moreover, most of our legendary writers remained limited to books only. I think CDs are the best way to make the literary lovers listen good poetry.“ The songs have been sung by Karamjeet Grewal, Manraj Patar, Ram Singh, Priya Sidhu, Harppreet Moga and Buta Singh Chauhan. Grewal said it was his third literary CD. The music for the album had been given by Rajinder Raj. The CD was expected to be released in two-three weeks.

He said: “Ït is an audio version. Later, we will convert it into a video CD.”

The songs like ‘Khedi khed sada sach di te pyar di, chhad gal jit ate haar de’ (lyrics by Dr Surjeet Patar) and ‘Zindagi de raah vich lakhan ne haneriyan, tutan na sanjhan kade teriyan te meriyan’ (lyrics by Karamjeet Grewal) have been included in it.

“Each lyrics has a symbolic meaning and we hope that people fond of literature will love to listen it,” Grewal added.

Ludhiana, August 7
After getting to know about some poor students in India, German residents have come forward to their rescue through Noble Foundation, a non-government organisation. These included Wilhem Karrenberg, Nadine Schaefer, Jrmgard Haagdietz, Ariadne and Helga Karrenberg.

Helga Karrenberg (70), who has retired as a nurse in Germany, has been doing this service for humanity since 2008. Today she along with four other German citizens visited Maa Sharda Vidyapeeth, a school run by Noble Foundation, at Bihari Colony.

Talking to The Tribune, Helga said: “This is the second time I have been to this school. Last year, I visited it for the first time and helped the poor children studying here. I make a visit to India twice in a year as it gives me immense satisfaction to spend 2,000 Euro for poor children. I collect the money through private donors of my country.” She distributed school bags among the students. She also gave some money to the school. She said she would also visit Palampur and Dharampur in Himachal Pardesh for donating to the poor children studying in some schools there. Meenakshi Sharma, school coordinator, said: “The children presented some cultural items and also tied rakhies on the wrists of guests and wished for their long and healthy life.”

Ludhiana, August 7
The 65 days’ old strike by students of the fisheries department of the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) came to an end today when the university authorities showed a letter sent by the Fisheries Department, Punjab, stating that the vacancies in the department would be filled at the earliest.

The protesting students called off the strike around 11am today when Vice-Chancellor of GADVASU VK Taneja, Registrar PD Juyal and other officials from the university met the students and offered them sweets and juice.

Khushwinder Singh, one of the student who was sitting on the strike since June 2, 2014, said all students were happy as something in writing had been given to them now.

“Earlier, only assurances were given to us either by the university authorities or political leaders. But now we have a written intimation that the state government wants to fill the vacancies and we can try our luck. We are happy that the strike has been ended and we will celebrate it in the evening. Now, all students from places like West Bengal, Ropar and Jagraon will be able to return to their homes as the course has been completed,” said Khushwinder.

Students Mamta Sharma, Jagdeep Kaur and Aparna Kumari said now, they got a ray of hope and were hopeful that vacant posts in the Fisheries Department would be advertised soon.

The students of GADVASU were sitting on an indefinite strike after the state government had given them a cold shoulder on the issue of providing government jobs. Though these were the pass-out students from GADVASU, they sat on an indefinite strike against the government’s statement.

During these two months, many VVIPs visited them but since students were not satisfied with the replies given by political leaders, they continued the strike. Several trade unions and social organisations also extended support to them. However, the recent letter sent by the Fisheries Department has come as a ray of hope for the students who feel that now their future is secured.

Ludhiana, August 7
Today’s education system has become a problem creator instead of problem solver. There is a need to devise a new education policy at the national level which can ensure inclusive growth of people and make them job creators instead of job seekers.

These were the views presented at a national seminar organised by the Shiksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas on the theme ‘Problems of educational policy and challenges’ at the Guru Nanak Bhawan here today.

While presenting the theme, chief organising secretary of the Shiksha Sanskriti Uthan Nyas Prof Des Raj said with the change of guards at the Centre, the education policy also changes and there was no stability in the education system. He said the present education system was creating many problems in society.

Dr Rajnish Arora, Vice-Chancellor of Punjab Technical University, shared his experiences at the PTU. Dr Dharam Singh, Principal of SCD Government College, Ludhiana, focused on personality development and character-building courses in the higher education system so that chaos in society could be removed.

Principal RS Jhanji said the corporate culture in the education system should be removed and there should not be profiteering attitude in the private managements.

He said it was not only the duty of politicians to develop education but it was also the duty of educationists who should deliberate, debate and devise a new education policy and the government should provide resources, instead of interference, to the system. The seminar was attended by over 300 teachers from different schools, colleges and technical institutions. — TNS

Ludhiana, August 7
An activist of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), Rupinder Singh Sheela, who was booked in an abetment-to-suicide case after a former model committed suicide, is still at large.

The police conducted raids on several locations in the district. According to police sources, all his possible hideouts were found locked during the raids.

A 24-year-old girl, Shina, was found hanging at his house yesterday. The victim’s father blamed that the SAD activist, Rupinder Singh, dumped his daughter to marry another girl, which drove his daughter into depression and she committed suicide.

Paramjit Singh, Dugri SHO, said, “Today, we conducted raids at several places. We suspect he has left the district”. — TNS

Jagraon, August 7
The Jagraon police today arrested a man and recovered 20 kg of poppy husk from his possession.

Sukhwinder Singh, alias Kaka, a resident of Kothe Fatehdeen village on the outskirts of Jagraon, was arrested from near Sherpur Chowk, Jagraon, during routine patrolling by the police.

Jagraon bus stand police chowki in-charge ASI Satpal Singh said, “We were patrolling the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway this morning. When we reached near Sherpur Chowk village, we saw a person carrying a bag on his head. When the police team came closer he got afraid, which made us suspicious. We stopped him. On search, we found poppy husk in the bag.”

A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against the accused at the Jagraon City police station.

The ASI said during the preliminary questioning, the accused admitted that he was into drug peddling for the last many months.

Ludhiana, August 7
An activist of a NGO, which provides legal aid to residents, was allegedly thrashed at a police station today.

Amandeep Singh, president of the Suttantar Awaz Welfare Organisation, alleged that some persons thrashed him in front of police officials at Sanjh Kendra, Sarabha Nagar police station.

Jagraon, August 7
With the arrest of two persons last evening, the police claimed to have cracked the case wherein a Toyota Innova was robbed near Kaunke Khosa village some days ago.

The accused have been identified as Gurwinder Singh and Jasvir Singh, both residents of Kothe Hari Singh village near Jagraon.

The investigating officer in the case, ASI Harmesh Kumar, said following a tip-off, the police arrested the accused from near Gurusar village. Another accomplice of the accused, Jaswinder Singh, was at large, he added.

Jaswinder is the kingpin of the gang and the police had been looking for him.

The ASI said three armed robbers had snatched a Toyota Innova (DL 04 AF 0790) from one Sham Lal near Kaunke Khosa village at gunpoint on July 30. On the complaint of the victim, a resident of Mahavir Colony, the police had registered a case against three unidentified persons.

“During the course of investigation, the police found some significant clues. An informer told the police that the suspects were seen near Gurusar village, following which we immediately conducted a raid and arrested two of the accused,” said the ASI. The police have also recovered the robbed SUV, he added.

“During the preliminary questioning, the accused confessed to have robbed the SUV at gunpoint. We are carrying out raids to arrest Jaswinder Singh. He will be arrested soon,” said ASI Harmesh Kumar. 

Ludhiana, August 7
With the arrest of six persons, the police claimed to have busted a gang of looters today.

The accused have been identified as Charanjit Singh, alias Channa, Karamjit Kamma, Gurvinder Singh, alias Bunty, Balvir Singh, Raju Verma, alias Jhona, and Amardeep, alias Babbu.

The gang had robbed an employee of a mobile distributor company of Rs 1.51 lakh at Shivpuri Road a few weeks ago. The police have recovered Rs 70,000 in cash from the accused.

Rajesh Kumar, in charge, Crime Investigation Agency-2, said they received a tip-off that the accused were heading towards the city from the Jalandhar side. The police laid a naka and arrested the accused near the toll plaza at Ladowal.

Ludhiana, August 7
Kundan Vidya Mandir (KVM), Civil Lines, registered victory by 55 runs over Government Model Senior Secondary School, Punjab Agricultural University Campus, in the Ludhiana Schools Cricket Zonal Tournament (U-17) being organised by the Punjab Education Department at SDP College.

Batting first after winning the toss, KVM made 95 runs for the loss of five wickets in their quota of 10 overs. The main scorers were Bhuvnesh Rai (37), Sehaj Beri (15), Deepin Chitkara (12) and Shubham Dyal (10).

For Government School, PAU, Sachin, Divinjot, Adarsh and Jatin captured one wicket each.

The target set of KVM turned out to be a big one as Government School lads could muster just 40 runs after losing four wickets as they ran out the overs.

Their innings revolved around Manav who contributed 22 runs.

For the winning side, Yashvir Puri, Keshav Sharma, Vikas and Shubham Dyal shared the bowling honours and restricted their opponents to a small total.