Ludhiana, October 28
A thick smog cover has engulfed the city for the past couple of days. Post-Diwali pollution, stubble burning and western disturbances contributed to this hazy weather. According to experts, the particulate matter remains in the air for a few days after Diwali, thus leading to smog.

The level of pollution this year on Diwali was relatively higher than last year. It seems the city people’s vow to observe a green and eco-friendly Diwali was just a lip-service. While a week before Diwali, respirable suspended particulate matter (RSPM) was recorded at 272 micro grams per cubic metre in the commercial zone, it rose to 546 micro grams per cubic metre on the night of Diwali. The RSPM in the residential zone rose to 316 micro grams per cubic metre, which stood at 183 micro grams per cubic metre a week before Diwali. In the sensitive zone, the RSPM recorded on Diwali night was 362 micro grams per cubic metre as against 250 micro grams per cubic metre a week before.

“The level of ambient air quality on Diwali was relatively high compared to last year. The RSPM was the highest at 546 micro grams per cubic metre in the commercial zone,” said the Chief Engineer, Punjab Pollution Control Board, Gulshan Rai.

Dr LK Dhaliwal, Director, School of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, Punjab Agricultural University, said the reason behind the smog is western disturbances that have raised the level of moisture. “The smog cover is also due to post-Diwali pollution and burning of stubble. The sky will clear after rain,” she said.

These weather conditions appear to have led to high dust concentration and higher concentration of oxides of nitrogen as the pollutants are unable to disperse due to inversion phenomenon, said weather experts. The smog in the city must be dense due to the RSPM above the normal level but the exact status can be known only after a detailed comparative analysis of the week. There has been a sudden dip in the temperature, due to which smog is not being dispersed,” said an official from the PPCB. 

With the city receiving rain, residents had a sigh of relief and hoped smog would disperse soon. Dr LK Dhaliwal, Director, School of Climate Change and Agricultural Meteorology, PAU said: “The smog will clear after rain”.

Ludhiana, October 28
Stubble burning and Diwali pollution has led to an increase in respiratory cases, especially patients of asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Doctors have witnessed an increase in the number of such patients by 20-30 per cent in the past few days.

Farmers generally burn stubble in their paddy fields during this time of the year. Smoke emanating from the fields contains harmful substances, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. It leads to various kinds of health hazards.

According to medical experts, asthma, respiratory and throat problems and eye infections aggravate during this time of the year.

“People living both in cities and nearby villages are complaining of throat and respiratory infections. The problem aggravates during this time of the year due to stubble burning and post-Diwali pollution. The number of patients visiting the OPDs has increased by 20-30 per cent. Pollution in the air has increased manifold due to the burning of stubble,” said Dr Anil Kashyap, Associate Professor, Department of Pulmonary Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital.

The number of patients suffering from problems such as cough, throat infection, bronchial asthma and allergic bronchitis has risen in the past few days, said another city-based physician, Dr Gurdeep Kohli.

“Generally, we receive around three or four cases of asthma every day and COPD and these days we are receiving 10 or 12 cases per day. While asthma is more common among children, teenagers and adults, COPD is more common in elderly people,” he added.

“Using mask covering nose and face is helpful but one shouldn’t stop or cut down on asthma medication during this time,” say experts.

A city-based eye specialist, Dr Dinesh, also confirmed the increase in the case of eye irritation and allergy. He sites stubble burning the reason behind the it. “I daily get seven or eight patients with complaints of eye irritation and eye allergy,” he said.

“The high pollution level caused by stubble burning has increased the number of cases of air-borne contact dermatitis, resulting in itching and rashes. There has been around two times increase in the number of such cases at this time of the year,” said a dermatologist, Dr Sukhjot Kaur.

Ludhiana, October 28
A 30-year-old Youth Congress worker, who was allegedly harassed and humiliated by the owner of a factory when he asked the latter to pay his dues, committed suicide by hanging himself from a ceiling fan at his (deceased) factory in the Mahopuri area here today.

The deceased has been identified as Naresh Kumar, alias Neeta. He was an active member of the Youth Congress and was handling the party activities in the Madhopuri area, said Congress leader Lucky Kapoor.

Neeta has left a suicide note in which he has held a person, identified as Bunty, owner of Starlight Factory, responsible for his death.

Chintu Kaushal, Neeta’s brother, said Bunty used to outsource work to Neeta’s factory and owed him Rs 14 lakh, Chintu added.

Neeta had visited the factory several times in the past and even requested Bunty to pay up the dues, so he could pay salaries to his employees. But Bunty refused to give him a single penny, said Chintu.

Neeta visited Bunty’s factory yesterday and asked for his dues. Bunty humiliated him, which drove Neeta into depression. He went to his factory in the morning and committed suicide in his office.

The matter came to light when a worker went to his office in the afternoon and found Bunty’s body hanging from the ceiling fan.

The police has recovered the suicide note and started investigation. Neeta is survived by a three-year-old child and wife.

Sukhwinder Bindra (Raja), president of the Ludhiana Youth Congress (West), demanded action against the culprit and the recovery of Neeta’s dues from Bunty.

Ludhiana, October 28
World Stroke Day is observed on October 29 every year to understand the serious nature and high incidence of stroke, create awareness on its prevention and treatment and ensure better care and support for the survivors.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death and fourth leading cause of permanent disability worldwide and its incidence is increasing in India like diabetes and heart disease, probably because of sedentary lifestyle, urbanisation and improved life expectancy.

Dr Monika Singla, Assistant Professor, Department of Neurology at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, said stroke is mainly of two types. It can be because of occlusion of blood vessel (blood clot), leading to ischemic stroke, or because of rupture of a blood vessel, leading to haemorrhagic stroke. It usually affects elderly persons.

“The patients, who have hypertension, diabetes, heart disease and high cholesterol levels, are also at high risk of stroke. But these days, stroke among the youth is also getting common. Although young patients with addictions like smoking, alcohol and multiple substances are also prone to stroke, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease still remain the common causes because of inheritance of these diseases in families,” said Dr Singla.

Dr Gagandeep Singh, Professor and Head of Neurology at the DMCH, said stroke is the third leading cause of death and fourth leading cause of permanent disability worldwide.

“Stroke was known to be the disease of only developed countries. Now, its incidence is increasing in India too,” said Dr BS Paul, Associate Professor of Neurology.

Dr Rajinder Bansal, Professor of Neurology, DMCH, said the symptoms of stroke included sudden weakness of one side of the body, with or without facial weakness, numbness of one side, inability to speak or slurring of speech or imbalance of body. 

Ludhiana, October 28
The Municipal Corporation authorities have again extended the last date for receiving tenders for City Bus Service. In view of the stretched holidays and requests made by certain bidders, the last date has been extended for the third time.

Neeru Katyal, Additional Commissioner, MC, who is in charge of City Bus Service, said the last date for receiving tenders was October 28. After discussing the matter with the higher-ups, it was decided to extend the date to November 11.

When asked about the reason for the extension, she said there were continuous holidays and then certain bidders requested the authorities to extend the last date for receiving tenders as they could not apply for the same. She said at present, four bidders had shown interest in operating the bus service.

Ever since the City Bus Service contract awarded to a private company, it has suffered major losses. As the losses mounted to Rs 3 crore, the company abruptly discontinued the service in July.

Now, around 105 buses of City Bus Service are gathering dust in godowns and open areas in the city. Earlier, the Municipal Corporation had claimed that it would start the service within two months.

This time, the authorities have decided to award the contract to multiple bidders on the route basis. 

Ludhiana, October 28
About 200 persons, including a number of parents of students studying in the Government Primary School, Kundanpuri, protested against the shifting of the school to Government School at Chander Nagar.

The District Education Officer (Primary) had ordered the school, being run from a Dharamshala, to be shifted to Government School, Chander Nagar. The decision was taken after the building was declared unsafe, following inspections by the chief engineer and the PWD Department.

The protesters even locked the teachers. The shifting of stationery and other material from the school was also stopped by them.

They said they would not send their children to study at the school in Chander Nagar as it is about 2 km away from the present school and also the students would be shifted to the evening shift.

Some of parents said they would rather take their wards out of the school, than sending them away from home.

The president of BJP District, Parveen Bansal, present on the occasion, said the building could have probably become unsafe due to washermen drying clothes on the roof of the building. “This may have caused the dampness,” said Bansal.

The DEO (Primary), Gurjot Singh, said the Education Department cannot give grant for repairwork of the building because it is a private land. The Education Minister and the District Administration have taken a notice of the matter, he added.

“Two rooms are safe there,” said the DEO.

The president of the Bal Bhalai Committee, an NGO, Sukhdheer Singh Sekhon, said earlier also schools have been shifted to safer places. In this case, shifting is being obstructed because of vested interests. “Safety of children is paramount for parents. They are being incited to act this way,” alleged Sukhdheer Singh Sekhon.

Jagraon, October 28
Farmers had to pass through testing times as the region witnessed a moderate rainfall in the evening today. The situation gave rise to panic and chaos among farmers in the Jagraon Grain Market where their paddy crop was laying for procurement.

The farmers were seen covering their crops from rain. Other farmers, whose crops were standing in fields, were also concerned due to the rainfall.

Some anxious farmers at the local Grain Market complained that the government has failed to provide better facilities at the grain markets of Punjab and it as a result of the failure, that the crops are getting damaged in these markets.

“The procurement agencies were already observing strictness over the moisture level of the paddy crop. After the rain, the moisture of the crop is bound to increase. In such a situation, it will not be an easy task for us to sell our crop,” said Bhagwant Singh Toor, a farmer from Sherpur village.

Most of the farmers were irked over the arrangements made by the Market Committee for the visiting farmers. Some of the farmers rued that they were not even provided proper shelter during the rain.

The secretary of the Market Committee, Jaswinder Singh, claimed that the local Market Committee has made best possible arrangements for the facility of the farmers visiting grain market.

“We even provided covers to the farmers to cover their crops,” said the secretary of the committee.

Machhiwara, October 28
A chetna march was carried out by the Police Saanjh Kendra, Samrala, and Outreach Centre, Machhiwara, with the help of some social organisations at Machhiwara.

The march was held to aware masses about the clean campaign and to ensure smooth traffic in the town. Shopkeepers were told to not to display their products on the roadside. The crusaders appealed the shopkeepers to obey directives given by the government. A strict action will be taken against shopkeepers who do not follow the rules and regulations, said the inspector.

The march was led by Saanjh Kender in charge, inspector Parveen Sharma. Various representatives of different departments participated in the march.

A team of officials from the Health Department also inspected fruits, vegetables and sweet shops in the region.

The SHO, Machhiwara, Darshan Singh, sub-inspector Kulwant Kaur, social activist Shiv Kumar Shivly, members of the suvidha centres and general public were also present on the occasion.

Ludhiana, October 28
Engraving of Goddesses on coins has courted controversy. The Bharatiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj activists today filed a complaint with the Commissioner of Police demanding action against the authorities concerned for hurting religious sentiments of followers.

The matter has been referred to the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP-I), Joginder Singh, for further investigation. The activists demanded action against the authorities concerned who gave the nod for issuing coins in the mint, on which the pictures of Goddess Durga and Laxmi were engraved.

Activists Sahiv Soni and Ravi Bali, who lodged the complaint with the police, said the coins with picture of Goddesses should be kept respectfully but unfortunately these are being used as auxiliary coins in the purse. The activists said before issuing such coins, the authorities concerned should have taken religious sentiments of people into consideration. 

Phillaur, October 28
Senior Congress MLA Rakesh Pandey and PPCC secretary Parminder Mehta have sought resignations of Harsimrat Kaur Badal from the Union Government and Navjot Kaur Sidhu from the post of the Chief Parliamentary Secretary (Health) Punjab.

It is learnt that the leaders have sought the resignation as the alliance between SAD and the BJP is on the verge of separation, as indicated from the statements of the leaders from the respective parties.

Both the leaders, while addressing the mediapersons, today claimed that the both parties are befooling the people by showing false alliance only for the lust of power.

They described the claims and campaign of the Modi government of bringing back the foreign currency from Swiss Banks as mockery.

Both Mehta and Pandey also alleged that the people of the state are feeling suffocated due to Badal’s misrule.

Second prize (along with cash prize of Rs 5,100)-GGN Public School, Rose Garden;

Third prize (along with cash prize of Rs 3,100)-Guru Gobind Singh Public School, Vill Daad; Consolation prizes-Guru Nanak International Public School, Nankana Sahib Public School, Gill Road. 

The other nine teams were given Rs 1,100 each. — TNS 

Jagraon, October 28
Despite repeated appeals by the district administration against burning of paddy stubble in the fields, the practice has been going on unabated in the region.

On visit to various villages in the area, paddy stubble was found burning in various fields. The situation is most grave in villages falling in the Bet area near Sutlej River and on the Ludhiana-Moga highway.

The practice of stubble burning not only causes pollution, but also leads to major health hazards and has an adverse impact on the fertility of agricultural land. The smoke billowing from the stubble burning in the fields also reduces visibility, leading to road accidents.

The Agricultural Department had urged the farmers to use the “Happy Seeding” sowing machine to prepare their fields for the next crop, but the farmers have shown little interest.

A farmer of Bodalwala village near here said he saw no harm in stubble burning. “Almost every farmer does it. We have been following this practice for several years as it is an easy and cheapest method to prepare the fields for next crop,” he said.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate, Jagraon, Apneet Rayat said the administration had warned the farmers against burning stubble.

“The administration has been creating awareness among the farming community about the harmful effects of stubble burning. We are doing our best to prevent the farmers from burning paddy stubble,” said the SDM. 

Ludhiana, October 28
A series of extension lectures was organised by the PG Department of Commerce and Management, Kamla Lohtia SD College, Ludhiana.

A lecture on “How to stay positive in tough environment” was delivered by Dr Kulbhushan Chandel, chairman and head, Department of Commerce, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, and a lecture on “Researh methodology” was presented by Dr OP Verma, former chairman, Department of Commerce, Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla. The head of the PG Department of Commerce and Management, Dr Rajesh Marwaha, welcomed the guests.

The president, College Managing Committee, Sunil Aggarwal, along with Sandeep and Brij Mohan Ralhan, vice-president, College Managing Committee, and principal Dr Shiv appreciated the efforts of prof Marwaha and his team. — TNS

Ludhiana, October 28
The Dangapeerit Welfare Society, a body of victims of 1984 anti-Sikh riots, today announced that the riot victims and their families will support the call given by the All India Sikh Students federation (AISSF) for Punjab bandh on November 1 to lodge protest against the government’s failure to dispense justice to the victims.

President of the society Surjit Singh Dugri said the riot victims would join the AISSF workers to block the movement of trains and vehicles on roads in the entire state from 5 am to 10 am during the bandh.

Dugri said the fact that those responsible of killing innocent Sikhs, including women and children, remained unpunished to date was ample proof of collusion of successive governments with the culprits.

AISSF chief Karnail Singh Peer Mohammed said the call for Punjab bandh had been given on November 1 — the day anti-Sikh riots started 30 years ago.

He said it was to make it clear to the NDA government that the Sikh community would not take injustice being meted out to them lying down.

Connecting the anti-encroachment drive launched by the Municipal Corporation at the Mini-Secretariat here this evening with the call for Punjab bandh, Dugri alleged the MC staff, along with the police, had tried to remove a kiosk of fruit juice, put up by a riot victim, without any prior notice.

Find missing children, demands farmers’ union

Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta) activists today staged a protest outside the Mini-Secretariat, demanding action in the matter of missing children.

District unit general secretary Sudagar Singh said many children had gone missing from the state, but the government was showing a lax attitude.

The attitude of the police, too, left a lot to be desired, he said.

The protesters demanded cancelation of cases against the Faridkot Action Committee that was fighting for the cause of missing children. 

Ludhiana, October 28
Delhi-based Bharatnatyam dancer Ragini Chander Shekhar captivated the audiences at Delhi Public School and Drishti Dr RC Jain Innovative Senior Secondary Public School, Narangwal, here today.

Performing at functions organised by SPIC MACAY, a society that promotes Indian classical music and culture among youth, Ragini delineated forms of “abhinaya” for the students and mesmerised them with her “nritta” presentation of “Krishna bal lila” and devotion of Mira Bai besides invoking Lord Shiva and Ganesha.

Daughter of veteran dancer Jamuna Krishna, Ragini has been performing for over 25 years and is a recipient of Ustad Bismilla KhanaTuva Pratibha Puruskar.

During her performances in the city today, she was accompanied by S Shankar on nattuvangam, K Venkteshwar on vocals, Chander Shekhar on mridangam and Rajat Prasana on flute.

Machhiwara, October 28
Some unidentified burglars allegedly struck at the Central Cooperative Bank, Panj Graian, but failed to break open the gate. Later, they allegedly sneaked into a neighboring cooperative society’s premises, but failed to open the safe.

The Machhiwara police have registered a case under Sections 380, 457 and 511 of the IPC in this regard against unidentified thieves and are trying to trace them.

The burglars reportedly came to the bank on motorcycles and broke open the shutter with an iron rod, but failed to break open the iron gate. Later, they tried to break the wall of the building, but failed.

Later, they broke open the doors of a neighbouring agricultural cooperative society building, but could not open the safe.

SHO, Machhiwara, Darshan Singh said there were no CCTV cameras or security guards on the bank premises. He said the burglars escaped with an inverter and a battery, but failed to take away any cash from both the buildings.

Ludhiana, October 28
The students of Spring Dale Senior Secondary School, Sherpur Road, stamped their supremacy, clinching titles in the boys’ under-17 and under-19 categories at the Ludhiana Sahodaya School Complex Kabaddi Tournament hosted by International Public School here today.

In the under-17 group, the school overpowered Bhartiya Vidya Mandir Senior Secondary School, Kitchlu Nagar, and in the under-19 category, the Spring Dale students routed the hosts.

School director Avinash Kaur appreciated the students’ performance. Principal Kamalpreet Kaur advised them to take active part in sports for an overall personality development.

Ludhiana, October 28
Harkiran Kaur of the host institute was declared the best athlete at the two-day Ludhiana Sahodaya School Complex (West) Athletics Meet that concluded at Amrit Indo Canadian Academy grounds today.

A large number of students from schools in the district competed in various track and field events during the meet. The hosts emerged as the overall champions.

800m race (girls’ U-16) Suman Lata (Guru Ram Rai Public School) 1, Amandeep Kaur (GHG Academy) 2, Babli (Amrit Indo Canadian Academy) 3; 

high jump (girls’ U-16) Akashveer Kaur (Sacred Heart Convent School) 1, Amandeep Kaur (GHG Academy) 2, Richa (Amrit Indo Canadian Academy) 3; 

high jump (boys’ U-16) Ravdeep Singh (Bloosom Convent School) 1, Balkaran (Guru Nanak Public School, Mullanpur) 2, Ravideep Singh (Amrit Indo Canadian Academy) 3; 

4x100m relay (girls’ U-19) Amrit Indo Canadian Academy 1, Saint Kabir Academy 2; 

4x400m relay (boys’ U-19) Eastwood International School 1; 

400m race (boys’ U-16) Harpreet Singh (St GDS Convent School) 1; 

400m (girls’ U-16) Harkiran Kaur (Amrit Indo Canadian Academy); 1500m (boys’ U-19) Jagjit Singh (Eastwood International School) 1; 

discus throw (girls’ U-16) Jashanpreet Kaur (Peace Public School) 1; 

100m race (boys’ U-14) Jaspreet Singh (Satya Bharti School).