Blood donation camp held
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 25
The staff and students of Lord Mahavira Homeopathic Medical College and Hospital donated around 25 units of blood during a blood donation camp organised here yesterday.

The blood was collected by doctors of Guru Teg Bahadur Charitable Hospital for their blood bank.

Dr Waheguru Pal Singh, Medical Supreintendent, GTB and Mrs Arvind Khurana, head of the laboratory, Medicine and Pathology Department, were also present to encourage student donors.

SPORTS

400m synthetic track laid
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, May 25
The much awaited 400-m synthetic track laying project at Guru Nanak Dev Stadium here was completed today and only marking on the track is left.

The stadium will be ready to host any national and international event very soon. According to officials in the stadium, the marking will be done by members of the synthetic track laying project, who are expert in marking the track. They are presently in China and are expected to arrive here in a day or so.

A sum of Rs 2 crore has been spent on the track. Out of this Rs 1.75 crore has been spent on floodlights. The stadium is one of the main venues to host the national games in September.

In the past 20 years only one international athletics meet was held. The fencing around the track has also been completed. A sports official disclosed, “Those people who are not sportsperson but they are regular visitors to the stadium would be issued special cards. The entry would be strictly restricted.”

ADMINISTRATION

DC orders transfer of Panchayat Secretary
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, May 25
During sangat darshan held at Kotla Fazal village in the district, Mr Vikas Partap, Deputy Commissioner, ordered the transfer of the Panchayat Secretary of the village after getting the complaint from the village panchayat. The panchayat complained that the Secretary unnecessarily interfere in the development projects as well as promotes groupism in the village.

Interestingly, it was the first time that during the sangat darshan learning driving licences were issued and patients examined.

Most of the complaints were related to the construction of roads, removal of illegal encroachments on shamlat land and shortage of power. As many as 40 complaints were solved on the spot.

The DC announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the construction of streets and drains in the village. He also directed the XEN, PSEB,to supply 24-hour power supply to the village as the panchayat had already deposited the amount.

PSEB to upgrade ME labs
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 25
The Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has decided to upgrade its meter equipment (ME) labs by investing Rs 6 crore in purchasing computerised meter checking equipment. The board plans to replace or repair all faulty, burnt and obsolete meters in the state in phased manner. The new equipment would help to check the meters more accurately as the number of consumers have expressed serious doubts about the efficacy of the present equipment in the labs.

The board is losing hundreds of crore of rupees due to these outdated meters. A large number of consumers in the state are forced to pay their bills, according to' average set by the board based on the previous consumption.’ However, the consumption of the household have increased manifold. Board officials say some consumers have even burnt their meters or tampered with them in connivance with field staff.

Experts say that any mechanical or electro-mechanical meter should be ideally replaced after 15 years and it should be checked every year. Since a meter generally slows down by 5 to 15 per cent after its life span depending upon the climatic and environment conditions of the surrounding area.

In Ludhiana city alone, out of the 4 lakh connections, about one lakh meters have passed their life span. Roughly, the board is losing about Rs 40 to 50 crore every year due to the non-replacement of the meters. Mr G. S. Grewal, Chief Engineer, PSEB, admits, ‘‘There are large number of obsolete meters that have crossed their life span of 15 years. We are replacing about 4,000 meters with electronic meters by the end of May 31 where the consumers are using airconditioners. The industry meters having load of 70 KW or more also being replaced on the first priority.’’

Mr Pritpal Singh, in-charge of the lab, says, ‘‘We have repaired about 34,000 meters in the last year. In the past one and a half month alone 5000 meters have been recalibrated that would be replaced with the outdated meters. The board has provided error ratio standard (ERS) meters to field staff to check the tampering with the meters. On an average they have found 10 per cent of meters that have been tempered by the consumers in one way or the other.’’