 |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
Mayor’s Post Vimal Sumbly Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, August 16 The contest appears to be between Simarjit Singh Bains and Hakim Singh Giaspura. However, there are two other claimants, K.L. Chhabra and Harbhajan Singh Dang. In fact, Dang was the leader of the SAD group in the previous house. Bains has several factors in his support. Besides being young, he is well-qualified. He has always remained alert and active during the past five years of the Congress regime. Moreover, he has quite a number of independent and party councillors supporting his case. He recently met the working president of the party, Sukhbir Singh Badal, to lobby for the post. His supporters have been asserting that although he enjoyed no post in the previous house, yet he remained active during the past five years. “He was the face of the SAD during the previous regime,” claimed one of his supporters. However, his detractors have been alleging that Bains had joined the SAD quite late as he was elected to the previous house on the ticket of the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar). But that hardly deters his supporters who claim that he had made his place in the party by hard work and sincerity. They maintained that when nobody was prepared to take on the Congress regime, Bains led from the front by organising regular party programmes, including protest demonstrations and rallies. Giaspura on the other hand is a party veteran having close proximity to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. He has been a long-time councillor. His supporters claim that he is the “most seasoned politician” in the pack. While Bains and Giaspura are involved in hectic lobbying, other party leaders are trying to maintain an equal distance from both of them. As everybody’s knows that it will be the discretion of Sukhbir Singh Badal, nobody wants to side with any of the two. None of the senior party leaders Ludhiana Tribune tried to talk to was prepared to come on record on the issue.
|
|
Alumnus offers $1 lakh to PAU
Ludhiana, August 16 Chinnan has said the fund can be used “for travel of faculty to participate in conferences or to go on sabbatical to some other institution to learn new technologies/techniques”. He has also suggested that the fund can be used for enhancing the research capability of the institution through acquisition of analytical or processing equipment and dedicating a lab or building to the donor. He said the amount would be given to PAU over a period of 10 years, which means $10,000 every year for 10 years. He said the fund could go to a trust fund or endowment and the interest may be drawn at the end of every year to be spent on the agreed focus of activity. Manjeet has said the modalities of the fund would be worked out later once he met the vice-chancellor.
|
|
Nokia users flock outlets
Shveta Pathak Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, August 16 Mobile phone outlets in the city had to make special staff arrangements to deal with high number of queries generated by customers. Major fear of the customers is that the battery could blast while charging. "I have four Nokia handsets. After I heard the news I got quite worried as they are expensive ones which is why I have come to the outlet. People are saying that the battery could blast and off late I have realised that the battery lasts for a very short time," said Kanwarpreet Singh, an exporter. As many as 52 models of Nokia, which holds a significant market share, carry these batteries. "The company has clarified that its customers should not panic and in case of a problem, it would deliver batteries at their doorstep. However, due to absence of awareness people are panicking and coming to us in large numbers to know if their phones are safe," said Harjinder Singh, owner of Nokia outlet in Sarabha Nagar. Singh said they had put their staff specially on duty to help customers on the issue. "The number of people turning up is so high that two people at the store are solely attending to them. Since batteries would not be replaced at any of the retail outlets, we are helping people to go to the company website and enter their 26-character identification number," he added. Despite the worry, customers said they were happy that the company had cared enough to warn its consumers of the potential risk. "Never ever had I heard a company showing concern of a potential risk due to its product. ," said Anu Gupta, a resident.
|
|
‘Bear hug’ chokes gains
Ludhiana, August 16 The fall was attributed to international market redemptions but experts said long-term investor need not worry as Indian economy has strong fundamentals. "Many investors had to suffer major losses. Short-term investors opted for short loss by selling. The trading community was quite disheartened due to the bear-run which is likely to last for some more time," said Vishal Sharma, area manager at Centrum Direct Limited. A smarter lot of investors, however, took it as an opportunity to buy. "Since economic fundamentals are strong, I took it as an opportunity to buy shares that reported losses. The market would definitely rise in the coming days and I would book profits then. I feel small investors should follow this strategy instead of selling in haste," said Gurdip Singh, a businessman. The BSE Sensex was at 15,000 points only two days ago. Trading community had been expecting the bullish trend to continue. However, on Tuesday a fall was predicted. Market experts said today's fall, apart from the global trends was a combined effect of two days as markets in India remained closed yesterday. Experts here said the return to 15,000 might not be as smooth this time and
could Continued from page 1 take time. “It would take some time but the market would bounce back. For investors, I would advise a cautious approach. they should never sell thoughtlessly and remain in the market even if there is a fall. A long term strategy definitely pays better,” said Ashwani Sharma, an investment adviser. Experts also advised investors to invest after carefully studying about fundamentals of companies instead of relying on word of mouth or suggestions. They said those who cannot seek expert advise should opt for other investment options like mutual funds, fixed deposits etc. “Even mutual funds, that are equity based, have given high returns to people. It is definitely safer to rely on the decision of fund managers than on your own if you are not an expert.”
|
|
Man kept in doghouse
Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 16 The victim was rescued by a police team which arrested two of the accused. Mela Singh (65), a farmer of Nangal Kalan village near here, was tortured by a group of miscreants, led by Surjit Singh and his son Amardeep Singh, yesterday. The miscreants had abducted the victim from his house and had kept him in a doghouse. A dispute over a piece of land was reported to be behind the incident. According to Narinder Singh Ruby, DSP, Raikot, the Jodhan police received information regarding the abduction of Mela Singh from his house in the afternoon yesterday. Police parties swung into action and one such party, led by Nidhan Singh, found the victim at a deserted house belonging to the Surjit Singh party. The victim was in a state of shock when the police freed him from the clutches of the accused. Preliminary investigations revealed that Mela Singh and Surjit Singh had developed enmity over the purchase of a piece of land belonging to Mela Singh’s brother. Surjit Singh had allegedly challenged Mela Singh that he (Surjit) would purchase all land belonging to his brother. “Surjit Singh and his associates threatened to eliminate me,” Mela Singh told the police during investigation. Mela Singh claimed that he had expressed his apprehension to former sarpanch Nirbhai Singh, who had assured to get the matter solved amicably. “While I was waiting for a message from the former sarpanch, a group of miscreants, led by Surjit Singh and his son Amardeep, forcibly entered my house and took me to their house where they bolted me in a cage meant for dogs,” Mela Singh told to the investigating team. Mela Singh alleged that the miscreants tortured him. Besides thrashing him, the miscreants allegedly put “black oil” in his eyes. He was rescued by the police late in the evening.
|
|
It was Cong versus cops at recent elections: Preneet
Ludhiana, August 16 She was in city with her son Raninder Singh and son-in- law Raminder Singh Ritchie, who were to appear before the VB here. She said the government had given instructions to the police that the Congress should not be allowed to win. A reign of terror was unleashed and hundreds of Congress activists were rounded up or forced not to campaign for the party candidates, she alleged. The MP said the Akalis should not gloat over their victory, which was in fact a “murder” of democracy. On the future course of action, she said the high command had been appraised of the sequence of events. The party could pursue any legal option on the issue. She parried questions on whether the party was a house divided and said no individual should be held responsible for poor results. On a change in the leadership of the state unit in view of the municipal polls, Preneet Kaur sdeclined comment. Any change was the prerogative of the high command, she added. Talking to mediapersons after coming out of the VB office, Raninder said he had been questioned for 15 - 20 minutes by DSP Ravcharan Singh Brar since SSP Kanwarjit Singh Sandhu was out of town. The next appearance was scheduled for August 23. On the alleged transactions of Rs 6. 68 crore in various bank accounts of the family, he said even if transactions of all 17 accounts operated by the family were added, these would not total more than Rs 10 lakh. A large number of party workers from the district had assembled in large numbers at the VB office. Preneet Kaur and Raninder Singh thanked them for their support.
|
|
Suspended for no fault of his?
Ludhiana, August 16 His fault was that he received a call from a person claiming to be the PA to the Chief Minister’s wife, asking him to transfer two women teachers to Ludhiana. He conveyed this message to the DEO, who transferred the two teachers. Narrating his tale of woe, he alleged that the police had already arrested four persons — Ravi Gupta, Deepak Kumar, Kulbir Singh and Sartaj Singh — in the case. He said he was falsely implicated by Deepak Kumar for vested interests. Even the FIR (number 172) lodged by an SHO of Rajpura against the accused on July 23 did not mention his name anywhere. The transfer orders of both teachers were also cancelled once the true picture emerged. “Despite this, I was arrested by the police for investigations. I was sent to judicial custody for 14 days. After the proceedings, I was granted bail as no evidence was found against me. But I am suffering at the hands of two former ‘corrupt and influential’ DEOs, against whom I raised my voice,” said Anil Sandhir. The suspension orders came as a big jolt to him on August 3. He said he was being punished without any fault of his. He claimed that in the past 31 years of service, not a single complaint had been registered against him. He also got an appreciation letter from the director, public instructions, Punjab, in 2001 for his services to the department. A chronic kidney patient, who got one of his kidneys transplanted recently, Anil said in December 2006, he was given powers to recruit 393 teachers, lecturers and headmistress in the department. “I am ready to face any punishment if a single person appointed by me points a finger at me. The recruitment was done on merit. I have faced a lot of humiliation in the past two months. The allegations against me are baseless. Inquiries have already been conducted. I fail to understand why I am being punished unnecessarily by the government,” said a visibly disappointed Anil.
|
|
Residents suffer as debris blocks street for 2 yrs
Ludhiana, August 16 The trouble started after a building in the street, being constructed in violation of the building bylaws, was demolished by the Municipal Corporation in 2001, and the debris, including bricks and other material, was not removed. A major part of the street continues to remain blocked and because of this the residents have to take a longer route to reach the main road. According to Dr K.K Sharma, president, New Maya Nagar Sanitation Committee, the unlawful construction in the lane was pulled down by the building branch of the MC almost two years back. However, the MC staff did not remove the debris at that time. Residents of the area said the owner of the building had moved the civil court, challenging the action of the MC and sought relief and that the court, while rejecting his plea, had ruled that the applicant (encroacher in this case) was not at a liberty to make any encroachment in the street and if any such encroachment was being done, the respondent (MC) would be at liberty to proceed further in accordance with the law. The residents have repeatedly taken up the matter with the MC authorities for the removal of the debris and clearing the street for use by the residents but had not achieved any positive response so far, Dr Sharma added. Sources in the civic body maintained that once an unlawful construction was demolished, removing the debris and clearing the site was the responsibility of the defaulting person. In the event of the builder failing to do so, the MC could proceed to clear the site and charge the cost from the builder under Section 246 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act. Dr Sharma said the residents had taken up the matter with the civic officials a number of times with the last representation having been submitted on December 1, 2003, but to no avail. "Keeping in view the difficulty being faced by them, the area residents had even made an offer to bear the expenses of removing debris, but authorities gave no response to this suggestion too." Dr Sharma and other affected residents of the locality were of the view that inaction on the part of the civic administration might be due to the influence exerted by the defaulting builder.
|
|
State honour for 3 dairy farmers
Ludhiana, August 16 Daljit Singh is also the president of the Progressive Dairy Farmers' Association (PDFA). He has a dairy farm of about 200 crossbred cows. Randhir Singh Rode, former president, PDFA, is also a leading dairy farmer of Moga District. The peak milk yield of one of the cows on his farm was recorded as 51 litres in a day. Karnail Singh is the owner of 125 cows in whose farm peak milk yield of a cow recorded was 52 litres in a day. These farmers are also the recipients of the Chief Minister’s award constituted for Innovative Dairy Farmers instituted by the Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU). All of them started dairy farming after shifting from traditional agriculture. They started with a modest number of five to ten crossbred cows, about 10-20 years ago and graduated to commercial dairy farming. They have reached this pinnacle with their sheer hardwork and commitment.
|
|
Freedom fighters seek a better deal
Ludhiana, August 16 Dharam Singh Kanech, president of the organisation said neighbouring states like Uttaranchal, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were giving Rs 5,000 per month to the freedom fighters whereas in Punjab they were getting only Rs 3,000 per month for the past many years. He said after the death of Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, they had not been given ‘tamra patra’, which should be given to all by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. One per cent quota in jobs to blood relations of freedom fighters should be increased to two per cent, he demanded. "In our twilight years, we should be given health-care facilities at all dispensaries and hospitals in the state. We should be issued identity-cards by the government and respect and honour should be given to us by officials in government departments. We should also be given free plots", said Kanech.
|
|
50 PSEB employees
honoured
Ludhiana, August 16 This was stated by chief engineer B.S. Bath, who was speaking at a function organised to honour 50 employees who had excelled in public dealing. Reiterating the board’s commitment to contribute towards agricultural and industrial development, he added, “The electricity board will continue to come out with ways to produce more electricity and provide better services to its consumers. More schemes for the benefit of the consumers are on the anvil,” he disclosed. Among the 50 employees honoured were Paramjit Singh Pammi (AJE), Rajinder Singh Virk, Rampal, Vinod Bhandari, Gursimran Kaur, Sudershan Kumar, Mahinder Singh and Kuldeep Singh Lalton Kalan.
|
|
Pensioners Assn celebrates I-Day
Ludhiana, August 16 Meanwhile, the shopkeepers of Kup Road, Maloudh District Ludhiana, celebrated I-Day with great enthusiasm. A huge gathering of shopkeepers officers from banks, and other offices had joined in the celebrations.
|
|
|
How to avail of ‘atta-dal’ scheme? The much hyped “atta-dal” scheme launched by the Punjab government with lot of fanfare on Aug 15 in Ludhiana appears to be a political stunt. Even after several months of intensive exercise to identify the eligible persons in the lower income groups, no mechanism seems to be in place. Even though I am personally not eligible for any benefit under the scheme but several persons in my close contact who should have been enrolled as beneficiaries and issued "atta-dal" cards had been left out simply because they did not know whom to approach. If the government seriously means to help the poor people, they should streamline the system for identification and enrollment of the eligible persons and further ensure that subsidised food grains meant for distribution is not diverted to black market. Ishwar Singh, BRS Nagar, Ludhiana Readers are invited to mail letters (not more than 200 words) at "ludhiana@tribunemail.com" or post the same to The Tribune, 1, 2 Improvement Trust Building, Badaur House, Clock Tower, Ludhiana.
|
|
Gang of robbers busted
Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 16
Two pistols, one revolver, five live cartridges and a knife were seized from the arrested muggers. Acting on a tip off, a joint police party led by Pirthipal Singh, in-charge CIA Jagraon, Pritam Singh, SHO Sidhwan Bet, nabbed four out of six robbers who had gathered under bridge of a drain near Jandi village in Ludhiana district last night. The arrested persons were identified as Kewal, son of Amar Nath of Indira Colony Mullanpur, his brother Sewal, Vijay son of Neela of Prem Nagar Mullanpur, and Chandan son of Mohan of Grain Market Moga. Two robbers who had escaped under the cover of darkness were identified as Meena son of Lekhraj Mohalla Ram Nagar Jagraon and Vanjara son of Hari of Slum colony near Railway Station, Jagraon. One revolver .32 Bore, one pistol country made DDBL 30 Bore, one pistol 12 Bore, one knife automatic and 5 live cartridges were recovered from the possession of the robbers. According to Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, SSP Ludhiana (Rural), the gang had been active in the area for over a year. They used a Scorpio van and a Tata-407 pick-up van for carrying out robberies and burgling houses and banks. Preliminary investigations revealed that the gangsters had robbed at least 7 co-operative societies or banks and dozens of other establishments during last year.
|
|
Biz Word Tribune News Service
Ludhiana, August 16 The purifier, claims the company, removes antibiotics and hormones in meat, fish and sea food and enhances the shelf life of food. "The product ensures that the fruit, vegetables and meat are purified of chemicals, pesticides and insecticide in a few minutes," said Mahesh Gupta, managing director, Kent RO Systems in a press note today. Shoe cream
Homme, a French footwear brand, has launched a shoe cream. A company press note said the cream was formed from imported palm wax and woollen oil extract. As an introductory offer, the company would give the cream free on purchase of shoes. SBI plan for staff
In a move to acquire a cutting edge in the competitive banking industry, the State Bank of India (SBI) has planned to bring 'attitudinal' change in its employees. The bank has launched 'Parivartan', a change management programme for its staff. Under the programme, the employees would be given expert advice on customer service, customer retention, value addition through higher quality of service, attitudinal, change for listening to customer in order to understand their requirements better and various other aspects. The bank said as many as 15 workshops of two days duration would be
held. The bank would compete with public as well as private banks for a higher market share, it added. SBI has also created its largest loan processing centre in the industrial town. The centre handles over 6,000 loan accounts. It has also created a trade finance cell which handles an estimated of 40 per cent of import and export business in the city. Workshop
Deepti Peshoria, a freelance beauty expert with Mehar Bhasin Academy in Delhi, will share exclusive skincare and professional make up tips along with exciting makeovers at a workshop to be conducted here on August 17. The workshop is being organised by Oriflame, a Swedish cosmetics company.
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
The arrested robbers admitted to have robbed lakhs from at least 7 cooperative banks and society besides committing robberies in dozens of houses and private establishments during past year.