Ludhiana, April 5
Principal secretary and convener of the Budda Nullah Development Committee P. Ram today warned the industrial units discharging toxic waste in the nullah. He categorically stated that if they did not meet the May 30 deadline, the units would be closed.

P. Ram along with Baba Jaspal Singh, the deputy commissioner and officials of other departments today reviewed the situation alongside the nullah, starting from Chamkaur Sahib.

Later, P. Ram visited Dhnansu, Tajpur, Bhattian and Balloke villages and inspected industrial units alongside the nullah.

He said the committee would not give more time to the electroplating and dyeing units that were polluting the nullah.

‘‘If after May 30 the units continue to throw toxics in the nullah, they would be closed down. We will not consider any more pleas as we have given them enough time,’’ he remarked.

The committee had earlier given March 31 deadline to the units but this was extended after the matter was taken up with the government.

To ensure that the industrialists could not hoodwink any of the enforcement authorities, the units would be monitored round the clock.

P. Ram expressed dissatisfaction over the treatment of effluents by Dhnansu Paper Factory in Dhnansu village as he said the treatment arrangement was not satisfied.

‘‘They showed us the entire system but it could not satisfy us. The owner needs to do more,’’ he said, adding that they had constituted a committee to study the discharge and to submit its report to them.

He, however, gave a clean chit to Malwa Cotton Mill, stating that they had a state-of-the-art treatment plant and another committee was constituted to make judicious use of the treated water for irrigation purposes.

He said a pipeline would be laid in at least seven villages initially where the water would be given for irrigation purposes.

‘‘The village panchayat is ready for an agreement with the mill that if toxic water would damage any crop, the mill would pay for it,’’ he said.

He further said the sewerage treatment plants at three strategic places in the city would be functional by October 31. While the treatment plant at Bhattian Bet was under trail, two plants at Balloke and Jamalpur would be completed soon.

About the “kar sewa” taken up by Baba Jaspal Singh of Baddowal, P. Ram said work on 10-km stretch of the nullah was done successfully and the rest was underway.

Contradicting allegations that the Baba had accepted money from the World Bank, P. Ram said the spiritual head was arranging his own resources and neither the World Bank nor the state government had given him anything.

Ludhiana April 5
Acting tough with "careless" college-going students, Panjab University has detained nearly 100 students of various city colleges this time. A majority of them are under-graduates. According to university sources, stern action against irregular students was needed to teach them a lesson.

Most of such students are boys. As many as 44 students of SCD Government College have failed to appear in the examination where as more than 30 students of Kamla Lohtia College have been detained.

A Senate member of the university, on the condition of anonymity, said that every year such students raise a lot of hue and cry over issuing of roll numbers. Most of the times, they easily get away with this, but this time university authorities acted tough, which was a good decision.

"These indifferent students are issued warnings throughout the year but they care a damn.The university had asked for the lists of such students from all affiliated colleges, which were sent by the end of February. Nothing could be done at the principal level this time. That is why so many students were unable to take up their examination", he said.

The students have been detained on the basis of lecture shortage and were unable to get more than 25 per cent marks in house examinations.

Prabhjot Kaur, Principal, Government College for Women, said that only two or three students of her college were detained. "We need to be strict with the students, otherwise they start bunking the classes on regular basis.

Principals can not condone so many lectures each time. Parents' vigil was also needed in this matter", she added.

Meanwhile, Surjit Singh, one of these students, said that he knew that he was at fault but the college authorities could spare him. He alleged that in some of the private institutions, lectures were granted to many students after they greased the palms of the office staff concerned. "One of my friends was issued roll number like this but we are suffering because we could not do it", he said.

Raikot, April 5
The local police has booked at least six persons for allegedly killing a youth of Bassian village near here by stoning him in front of his house on Tuesday night and threatening his parents, who had tried to rescue him from their clutches. The wretched parents saved their lives by remaining inside their house for the whole night and sought police action in the morning only.

According to the police, the terror of a group of miscreants had forced the family of Bassian village near here to witness their son being stoned to death in front of their house on Tuesday night. Their attempt to come to the rescue of the deceased was foiled by the assailants, who had threatened to kill anybody who would come to save him.

Bahadur Singh (27) of Bassian village was allegedly killed by a group of miscreants led by Pindi and Jassi of the same village on Tuesday night.

Illicit relations of the deceased with a village woman was reported to be cause of rivalry between the two.

According to an FIR registered under sections 302, 506, 148 and 149 of the IPC, Balaur Singh, father of the deceased, had accused Pindi , Jassi and their four other accomplice of murdering his son by stoning him in front of his house at about 9 pm on Tuesday. Though Balaur Singh had seen Bahadur Singh being assaulted, he could not rescue him as the accused, who were wielding bricks and rods, had threatened to kill anybody who would try to stop them.

"When I tried to come out to rescue my son, the assailants, including Pindi and Jassi, threatened to kill everybody who would try to save him. We saved ourselves by bolting us inside our house and came out to report the matter to you in the morning," stated Mr Balaur Singh before the police yesterday.

Referring to information received from the complainant and residents of the village, Amarjit Singh Khaira, SHO, informed that the incident had taken place due to enmity developed over deceased's alleged illicit relations with a village woman

Preliminary investigations by the police led by Narinder Pal Singh, DSP, revealed that the assailants were at least six in number. The complainant had identified two of the accused and four of them, with masked faces, were yet to be identified. Though the police had been raiding hideouts of the accused since yesterday, no arrest was made till this evening.

"However, we have found a blood-stained shirt and slippers belonging to accused, besides bricks used in the incident," said Khaira while talking to Ludhiana Tribune. 

Ludhiana, April 5
Activists of the Punjab Nirman Mazdoor Union today staged a dharna against police inaction in a assault-cum-robbery case.

Doctor Yadav and Prabhu Yadav, both brothers, in a memorandum to the SSP said they were attacked by Naresh Batra, Harish Batra and Mohinder Kabaria and others on the intervening night of November 20 and 21 last year.

A criminal case under sections 452, 323, 148, 149 of the IPC was registered the next day. They alleged that the police had arrested Mohinder Kabaria but was later on let off. The Batra brothers went scot free and are still evading police action.

The complainants further alleged that they were sick of making rounds to various police officials and nobody listened to them. They handed over a memorandum to SSP R.K. Jaiswal.

Ludhiana, April 5
In the infamous Ludhiana City Centre Scam, one more accused, Rajesh Singh, of Chandigarh today moved the sessions court, Ludhiana, seeking anticipatory bail.

In the FIR, the name of Capt Rajesh Singh figured prominently. But the present application is silent whether he was the same person or not.

Taking congnisance of the anticipatory bail application filed today, Sessions Judge Harbans Lal entrusted the case to Special Judge Gurbir Singh for tomorrow. All other bail applications moved by the accused are pending in the Special Judge’s court.

In the FIR, former chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust Ashok Singh Garcha has been quoted stating that Capt Rajesh Singh called him on the phone and asked to arrange Rs 100 crore from the city centre project. Later, Garcha met the then Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee president, H.S. Hanspal, and apprised him that the caller had claimed that the money was needed by the All-India Congress Committee.

Claiming himself to be innocent, the accused has submitted that he was ready to join the investigation. He had done nothing wrong.

Meanwhile, city-based lawyer S.C. Gupta moved an application seeking early hearing of the regular bail application of Kamal Kumar Verma, who is in jail. His bail application was fixed for April 13.

Ludhiana, April 5
For all pet owners who have been waiting for their pets’ bath, finally the winter has ended.

Questions like the age at which the pet must be bathed, how often should it be bathed and with what product have always dogged pet owners.

A dog can be bathed as young as six weeks, but eight weeks is preferable. The most important thing is to remember that young puppies should be kept dry and warm as much as possible, so only bathe them when necessary. Dry bath products may be a desired alternative, especially in cold climates.

Too frequent bathing can dry out the pet's skin and coat. You may bathe the pet only when it is dirty, if its paws are dirty, just wash them.

In addition to the odour-provoked emergency bath, it’s safe to bathe your dog with a veterinary shampoo once a week. However, if the shampoo you’re using contains any medication or insecticide, follow the instructions provided by your veterinary surgeon. Prescription shampoos treat specific problems and may necessitate bathing more or less frequently than once a week. The products to be used depends upon the condition of the pet’s coat and any specific problem.

It may also seem reasonable to use a dish soap or a product designed for human hygiene, such as a shampoo. However, if you use products meant for humans on the dog, they may strip away natural oils from its fur and may irritate the skin. So, use a veterinary shampoo rather than one designed for people. Harsh chemicals aren’t necessary; a mild hypoallergenic soap that’s formulated for veterinary use is all you need. After a bath, your dog would smell good, look good and probably feel good.

Make sure your dog is dry before you allow it to go outside, or it would feel good enough to dry itself. It would streak from the tub straight outside to find a new exotic aroma to play in and bring home to share. A final insight pertaining to bathing your pet is to comb its coat prior to bathing. Wet fur mats more than dry fur so a wet tangled coat is harder to brush out and would take longer to dry.

Jagraon, April 5
Raman Kumar, Charanjit Singh, Jassi and Visakha entered the house of 
Surjit Singh of Salempura and allegedly assaulted him.

Ludhiana, April 5
The need for an effective national policy to tackle the problems of apiary business was felt during a seminar on “Current problems and future of bee-keeping” held on the PAU campus today. The seminar was organised by the National Bee Board in collaboration with the Progressive Bee-keepers' Association and PAU.

Addressing the gathering of over 1000 bee keepers of northern India, K.S.Aulakh, Vice-Chancellor of the university, said Punjab was contributing 25 per cent of honey to the nation despite occupying only 1.5 per cent of the geographical area. There was also a demand from the foreign markets as well. This could further be augmented if a national policy to provide facilities to progressive bee-keepers could be devised. Self-marketing of honey would ensure more profits, he opined.

A.S.Atwal, an internationally renowned entomologist also spoke on the occasion. Though India produced honey of better quality than the other countries, yet it required more efforts to attain recognition in international markets, he remarked.

N.S.Malhi, Director of Extension Education, said that 25000 farmers in Punjab were pursuing bee-keeping and were producing 6000 tonne of honey every year, out of which 4000 tonne was sold in the international market. He informed that 70 training courses on producing royal jelly, bee-venom and queen bee would be held by the Krishi Vigyan Kendras in the state.

Vice-chairman of the National Bee Board Gagandeep Singh demanded that the apiary business be freed from VAT restrictions as it was a part of agriculture. He expressed his concern over the invasion of markets by Chinese honey, which could prove detrimental for Indian bee-keepers. Standards of Agmark did not properly fulfil our national needs and standardization on new lines was required, he opined.