Ludhiana, May 24
Tension prevailed in Shimlapuri area this morning after 20 armed assailants of the Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj, Damdma Sahib, allegedly attacked followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda at Street No. 8, Satguru Nagar, leaving 12 injured.

The followers of both the groups sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the CMC and the Civil Hospital for treatment.

The incident took place at around 7.30 am when the Dera Sach Sauda followers were returning after attending a weekly prayer. Area residents said the followers of the Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj were armed with swords and other sharp-edged weapons. After being attacked, the Dera followers ran backwards for cover.

In the meantime, a few more followers of the Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj arrived on the spot and surrounded the Dera followers from both sides and attacked them.

Three followers of the Khalsa fauj, identified as Pardeep Singh, Pritpal Singh and Jaspal Singh, sustained injuries and were rushed to the Civil Hospital, while five Dera followers, identified as Mukhtiar Singh, Shiv Kumar, Khushal Singh, Ajay Kumar and Balbir Singh were admitted to the CMCH in critical condition.

The other injured were admitted to different private hospitals. Area residents alleged that members of the Khalsa fauj had earlier threatened the Dera followers against convening prayer in Shimlapuri area. Meanwhile, heavy police force had been deployed in the area.

Ludhiana, May 24
With the failure of the Northern Railway authorities in running adequate number of summer special trains and enhancing the carrying capacity of the existing long-haul trains, passengers are having a tough time as there is virtually no room on trains bound for Howrah, Mumbai, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar even as the summer vacations are still a few days ahead.

Even though the railways had announced to run quite a few summer special trains to meet the increased passenger load and put additional coaches on some other trains on trunk routes, there are only four trains - Jammu-Mumbai, Jammu-New Delhi, Udhampur-Delhi and Amrtisar-Mumbai summer special trains - that touch Ludhiana.

While there has been a huge increase in the number of passengers travelling to Uttar Pradesh, Howrah and other far-off places in different parts of the country, and the traffic is expected to further swell in the days to come after the schools close for summer vacations, majority of the long-haul trains either have long waiting lists, or there is no room (even waiting is not available).

There are reports that those intending to book their tickets in trains the Howrah Mail, the Howrah Express, the Sealdah Express, the Kisan Express, the Pashchim Express (Deluxe), the Dadar Express, the Golden Temple Mail, the Swaraj Express, the Himgiri Express and the Shaheed Express have to return disappointed as reservation is not available on most of these trains for next three weeks.

The frantic rush for railway reservation to distant destinations during the summer break draw frustrated passengers to touts, who are said to be hand in glove with some staff at the reservation centre or railway reservations agents.

It is alleged that these middlemen arrange a reservation ticket at a heavy premium and share the booty with the railway staff concerned.

Railway officials plead helplessness, saying introducing new trains or enhancing carrying capacity of exiting trains is the prerogative of the officials at headquarters in New Delhi or division-level officers at Ferozepur, who are being given a constant feedback.

Khanna, May 24
The president of the local Youth Congress was attacked by some unidentified men last night near a hotel in Guru Amar Dass Market on the GT road.

Jaswinder Lotey, president of the Youth Congress and councillor from ward number 27, went to a clinic in the market to enquire about the well-being of a known person admitted in the clinic.

“He was told by the doctors that the person he was looking for had been referred to a hospital in Ludhiana. He was about to leave the parking lot when some unidentified boys, who were in an inebriated condition, attacked him,” said a close relative Naveen Kumar.

Ludhiana, May 24
Six days after the Special Investigation Team (SIT) was formed to look into the fake stamp paper scam, it has not even recorded the complainant’s statement in the case as yet.

While the state exchequer has already suffered loss worth crores on account of the scam, the seriousness of the police can well be gauged from the delay in investigating the case.

The SIT was formed on May 18, when The Tribune had in these columns reported about the scam. The police had booked stamp vendor, Ravinderpal, and yesterday nominated Jyoti in the case. Nothing more came out of it.

Sub-Registrar, Maj GS Benipal, had reported the scam to senior officials 10 days before the election. The officials, waiting for the elections to be over, kept sitting on it. The SIT was constituted after the results were declared. But, it has not been able to do anything substantial in the case.

Ludhiana, May 24
Clive Dunstan, a British national, is a happy man after losing 12 kg in three day after his mini gastic bypass (the latest procedure in bariatric surgery). The procedure has also cured Clive of diabetes thereby putting an end to his physical and mental agony.

The patient who was taking medicines for diabetes for the past 10 years is completely off the drugs.

The operation was performed at a local hospital in Ludhiana.

Dr Kuldeepak Kular, while explaining the procedure, stated that 18-200 cms of the first part of the small intestine was bypassed and stomach was stapled to reduce its size which in turn reduced the food intake and hunger pangs thereby resulting in weight loss of the obese.

The doctor said the procedure is recommended for people with body mass index (BMI) of 33-37 adding, "metabolic surgery is being done at some places wherein people suffering from arthritis, diabetes, hypertension but with less BMI are being operated but it is yet to be approved by medical bodies."

In case of excessive weight loss, the procedure can be reversed also which makes the surgery a unique procedure, shared Dr Kular. 

Ludhiana, May 24
According to the decision of the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) Employees' Union, regional-level conventions are to be held throughout the state on different dates. The regional convention of Ludhiana was held here today.

NK Gaur, vice-president, All-India Bank Employees' Association, and general secretary, All-India State Bank of Patiala Employees' Federation, inaugurated the convention. Devinder Singh, president, All-India State Bank of Patiala Employees' Federation, presided over the convention.

Gaur said the settlement on revision of wages and service conditions of bank employees were due from November 1, 2007. The unions had submitted a common charter of demands in October, 2007. The Indian Banks' Association (IBA) assured to commence the negotiations and expedite the settlement.

"The discussion on our demands started in May, 2008. The IBA has come forward with the offer of an increase in the wage Bill by 15 per cent, which is too inadequate in the context of changing work profile and role and responsibilities of bank employees, increased volume of work in the branches for the employees and officers. There is a need to expedite the settlement with fair increase in wages without any further delay," Gaur said.

The members also demanded that another option for pension scheme should be extended without any pre-condition. They also opposed anti-employees conditions in the negotiations and asked for implementation of compassionate appointment/ ex-gratia scheme as per agreed understandings.

They said if need be, they would hold agitational programmes all over India, including demonstrations, mass rallies, badge wearing, dharnas and all-India strike on June 12, 2009, and a two-day strike in July to press for their demands.

Ludhiana, May 24
Dr Kundan Singh Dhillon and Dr Jasmer Singh Khangoora, both former heads of the departments of pharmacology and parasitology, respectively, at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), Ludhiana, have been selected to be honoured at World Forum 2009 being hosted by American Biographical Institute (ABI) at Washington DC on July 4.

Dr Dhillon has been selected for "Man of the year" award, a rare award to be conferred on less than 50 scientists across the globe, for their contribution in various fields.

Dr Dhillon will be the first Indian to get this award.

No less is Dr Dhillon's student Dr Khangoora, who has made his name to the "Hall of Fame for Distinguished Accomplishments" at Ra leigh, North Carolina, ABI Headquarters. An enlarged photograph of his will be displayed in the hall of fame.

The awards are being given for their outstanding contribution in research in the field of human medicine and veterinary pharmacology.

They scientists focused their attention on explaining the underlying pathophysiologies and management of various human and cattle diseases.

The teacher-student duo has published nearly 20 research papers of international repute on migraine, headache, role of zinc in ischaemic cardiac injury and various neuronal degenerative disorders, including Alzhiemer's disease, Parkinson’s disease etc in humans and mastitis, napier grass poisoning and haemoglobinuria in cattle.

Dhillon-Khangoora collaboration finds mention in various text books of human medicine and veterinary pharmacology published across the US.

Dr Dhillon registered his name in "2000 outstanding intellectuals of 20th century," published by International Biographical Centre, Cambridge in 2001, "Leading intellectuals of world" published by ABI in 2004,"Who's Who in the World" published by Marquis USA in 2006-07 , "500 Greatest Geniuses of 21st Century " in 2008 in addition to being an "Invited Member of New York Academy of Sciences " for his distinguished contribution.

Dr Khangoora finds his name in "Who's Who in the World," "2000 outstanding intellectuals of 20th Century" in addition to have won "American Medal of Honour" for his distinguished scientific work.

Dr Dhillon was appointed one of the members of three-member task force constituted by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) New Delhi in 1982 to carry out research work in degnala disease outbreak in North India.

Dr Dhillon did his BVSc from HAU, Hissar, and then moved to the US for his masters degree from Ohio State, University. He was then posted as assistant professor Pharmaacology and Toxicology in Manitoba State University, Canada. Then coming back to his motherland, he did his PhD from PAU, Ludhiana , and worked as research scholar in leading institutes of the country like All-India Institute of Medical sciences, New Delhi, Lady Harding Medical College etc. 

Ludhiana, May 24
All first appeals under Value Added Tax (VAT) and Central Sales Tax (CST) to be decided at the level of deputy excise and taxation commissioner, which are filed by dealers or appellants of Ludhiana, will be heard at Ludhiana.

Such provision may also be made for other districts in the state. According to Ashok Juneja, chairman, and B.R. Kaushal, general secretary, Punjab Tax Bar Association (PTBA), the said issue was decided by A.Veenu Parsad, excise and taxation commissioner (ETC), Punjab, on the plea of PTBA which offered him suggestions for improvement and smooth working of the department.

Raj Paul Gupta, vice-president, and Tarlok Bhalla, finance secretary (PTBA), said this decision would provide much-needed relief to those tax professionals, dealers, traders and industrialists who previously had to visit other cities for such cases and districts where these cases were fixed as well as the cost of litigation would stand decreased.

Bal Krishan Gupta and Varinder Sharma, state executive members (PTBA), demanded that total infrastructure, including upgradation of the computer system, extra staff, permanent availability of Form C, to make fast amendments on the website and publishing of notification in all leading newspapers.

Juneja and Kaushal said on one side when the revenue of the department is increasing, refunds must be issued well in time and all the excise and taxation offices of Punjab be upgraded, renovated.

Further, State Bank of India officials educated all the tax officials and PTBA office-bearers and executive members regarding the payment of VAT by the e-payment system which has been started in Ludhiana. 

Ludhiana, May 24
Newly elected Member of Parliament Manish Tewari today said that his priority would be to help arrest recession, save the existing jobs and generate new job opportunities. He would be the representative of each and every person of his constituency, irrespective of the fact whether they voted for him.

Addressing a press conference, Tewari said he had already got down to meeting representatives of the local industry.

He pointed out that all the development projects were to be executed by the state government and his role would be that of a facilitator. There are several Central projects which are to be implemented in the state. “I will help in their implementation and for speedy clearance from the Centre,” he claimed.

Besides his cooperation to the state government, he would help in getting various projects sanctioned and grants released for the development of the constituency.

Tewari appealed to all political parties to rise above petty politics and vested interests and work for the development of the area.

To a question about the increase in toll tax at Phillaur, he said he would take up the matter with the National Highways Authority of India soon.

Jagraon, May 24
A four-day English language teaching (ELT) workshop was organised here today. The workshop was conducted by vice-principal Prof Baldev Singh, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), here according to guidelines of the state project director, education for all, Punjab, to impart new teaching techniques of teaching English.

50 teachers of Jagraon attended the workshop. Well-trained resource persons, Des Raj Singh, Dharm Singh, Sudhir Jhanji, Shiwani, Manmohan Singh and Jagdeep Singh trained the participants with basic and fundamental use of pronouns.

They were given lessons on various topics of English grammar, syllable division and sound production.

They were divided into groups for group activities, presentation, field evaluation and group demonstration for effective, result-oriented and exciting teaching of English.

He further disclosed that the participating teachers after joining the schools would impart these lessons in the form of class practice to the students in a week-wise schedule divided into 12 weeks.

The DIET coordinator of the teacher training programme said during the months of April and May in 14 centres of Ludhiana, including Khanna, Samrala, Machhiwara, Doraha, Raikot and Sidhwan Bet, more than 3,500 teachers had been trained under the training programme. 

Ludhiana, May 24
A subscriber of a private cellular company has alleged harassment at the hands of company officials. Vinay Mittal, a subscriber, said though he had submitted his ID proof at the time of purchase of a SIM, still his number had been deactivated by the company.

Mittal said a few days back he had bought a new Airtel number which was activated the same day but after nearly one week his services were barred and he was asked to submit his ID proof.

"Though I had already submitted the ID proof at the time of purchase, I had to submit the same once again,” he said.

When he enquired the issue from the company executive, he told him that the SIM was dead. “While I still have Rs 500 as a balance in my number, the company has refused to pay back my money,” he alleged.

Ludhiana, May 24
The process to establish the Central University in the state has been set in motion with Vice-Chancellor Dr Jai Rup Singh setting up an office at Bathinda. The university campus will be set up on an abandoned cotton mill premises in Bathinda. The Union government had announced Central University for Punjab before the Lok Sabha elections.

At a meeting held yesterday, the V-C discussed establishment of different schools under the Central University at GGN Khalsa College.

He said the university would start graduate classes soon as the renovation of the building, which had been taken on rent, was on.

The Central University has signed an agreement with the Punjab government for the use of the cotton mill premises.

The V-C disclosed that the meeting with the UGC regarding introduction of courses would be held in Delhi on May 28.

The social science school was likely to be started from August this year, he added.

The V-C said the university might start undergraduate courses from the next academic year and would be a non-affiliating university.

The Punjab government has already acquired 500 acres of land for setting up of the Central University at Ghuda village in Bathinda district.

However, the university was yet to get the possession of the land. 

Jagraon, May 24
A fire broke out in the central old city of Jagraon this morning. The fire that broke out around 6 in the morning took more than 3 hours for the residents to extinguish.

The non-existence of Fire Brigade service here was condemned by looker residents.

Nearby shopowners and residents of surrounding areas came out with buckets from their houses and fought the fire.

Sonu Bajwa, the owner of the shop, Bajwa General Store, at committee bazaar, that was burnt down said he suffered a loss of more than Rs 5 lakh, as nothing was left in the shop.

A short-circuit was stated to be the cause of the fire.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 24
Mystery shrouds death of a woman whose body was found lying along the bank of Bathinda branch of the Sirhind Canal near here yesterday. She had remained missing for about eight hours, after she left her house for usual duty at a city PCO on Friday.

Profuse bleeding from the mouth of Jasbir Kaur (38), a resident of Vishawkarma Colony, the deceased and circumstantial evidences suggested she had been murdered.

Though members of the deceased, including her husband Sohan Lal, stated that she had no enemy, it is likely that the suspects had killed her to conceal their illegal activities.

According to Sohan Lal, Jasbir Kaur had left her house for the PCO as usual at about 9 am but she did not reach the destination. The family became suspicious about her whereabouts when they didn’t receive any telephone call from her till afternoon. Finding the PCO closed; they started searching for her and ultimately found her body lying on the bank of the canal at about 300 yards from the Jandali Railway Bridge.

Investigations revealed that blood was oozing out of her mouth. Her face was covered with a dupatta. A pair of shoes and a handbag, keys of the PCO and other belongings were kept near the body. Two carry bags containing karah parsad suggested that she had been to a nearby gurdwara before being killed.

As there wasn’t any mark of scuffle on the body, it is suspected that the suspects, at least two in number, had killed her somewhere else and carried the body to this place in a four wheeler. The police is dark over the motive behind not throwing the body into the canal.

The Malerkotla DSP said a case would be registered after getting a post-mortem examination conducted by a panel of doctors. The local police has been directed to verify antecedents of the deceased.

“Though family members, including husband, have stated that they don’t want any investigation, we can’t leave the case, as it’s an unnatural death. Call details of her mobile will certainly give us a lead about the suspects,” the DSP said.

Khamano, May 24
Shabad kirtan sandhya was organised at Gurdwara Sahib, Khamano, by Sarvhitkari Vidya Mandir, Khamano, on Friday.

Around 63 students of the institution recited shabads. A large number of people, including parents enjoyed the kirtan.

Ludhiana, May 24
Miraj Ahmed and Sanjay Kumar, both from Punjab, emerged overall champions in the senior and junior boys’ sections in the All-India Ashihara Karate Championship organised by Shaheed Mangal Pandey Sports and Welfare Club in association with the Punjab Ashihara Club at Valmiki Bhawan, the Chandigarh road,here today.

In the junior boys’ section, Aryan Kumar from Punjab and Sahil Kumar of Chandigarh secured second and third position, respectively, while in the senior section, Sunil Kumar from Chandigarh finished as runner-up and Deepanshu from Delhi stood third.

Other results:

Sub-junior girls- Kirti of Delhi 1, Sweety Sharma of Jammu and Kashmir 2, Lajwant Kaur of Punjab 3; junior girls- Shikha of Delhi 1, Ritambra of Punjab 2 and Gurjeet 3; senior girls- Hem Lata of Punjab 1, Puja of Punjab 2 and Karina of Punjab 3.

Sub-junior boys- Sanjay Kumar of Punjab 1, Arjun of Punjab 2; junior boys- Ashish Kumar of Punjab 1, Harvinder of Jammu and Kashmir 2, Shivam of Punjab 3.

Deputy Mayor Sunita Aggarwal, Ludhiana, gave away prizes to the position holders.

Ludhiana, May 24
A large number of participants shrugged their shoulders in the Ludhiana bicep competition held at Prime Bodies Health Club, Shastri Club, here on Saturday. After a keen tussle, the following participants came out triumphant in different weight categories.

Below 50 kg: Cass Alam 1, Honey 2 and Suresh 3; 50-55 kg- Rajeev 1, Pawan Dogra 2 and Rishi Madan 3; 55-60 kg- Bunty 1, Ravi 2 and Kunwar 3; 60-65 kg- Dimple 1, Gagandeep 2 and Dr Saikat 3; 65-70 kg- Gurmeet 1, Mani 2, Dr Harpreet and Manmeet 3;

70-75 kg- Rajinder 1, Jasbir Salaria 2 and Jagmeet 3; 75-80 kg- Savi 1, Inderjit and Jaspreet 2, Veenu Rana 3; 80-85 kg- Jatin 1, Dr Dalveer 2 and Harjot 3; above 85 kg- Monty Chugh 1, Kapil Sehgal 2 and Gaurav 3.

Ludhiana, May 24
PAU XI and Sher-e-Punjab Club scored identical (2-1) victories over their opponents in the annual Ludhiana Hot Weather Six-a Side Hockey Tournament being organised by the District Hockey Association, Ludhiana, at the Prithipal Singh Memorial AstroTurf Stadium on the Punjab Agricultural University campus here today.

The first match was played between PAU XI and Ludhiana Hawks in which the latter surged ahead in the second minute through Tej Pal Singh.

However, seven minutes later, PAU XI restored parity when Kaka Singh sounded the board. The match-winning goal came off Gurmeet Singh Lucky's stick in the 12th minute (2-1).

In the second match, Sher-e-Punjab Club defeated Kings XI in a similar fashion 2-1. For the winners, Rinku and Money struck in the 16th and 26th minute, respectively, while Malkit Singh of Kings XI reduced the margin in the 34th minute.

Olympian Ramandeep Singh Grewal, coach of national hockey team and deputy director, sports, Punjab Agricultural University, was the chief guest.