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| Wednesday,
December 12, 2001, Chandigarh, India
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Tension over move to demolish jhuggis Ludhiana, December 11 A demolishing party consisting of officials from the Railways and the police armed with bulldozers and other demolition equipment descended on the colonies at about 10 a.m. and began the process. A large number of people, mostly migrant labourers, who live in the illegal houses collected in large numbers to stop the demolishing party. They also sat on a dharna on the main road in the Focal Point area near the dry port in order to register their protest against the demolition. They lifted the dharna after a couple of hours only on the intervention of the Focal Point police. Due to the dharna, traffic flow was blocked on the road, causing
inconvenience to commuters. The situation remained alarming for sometime as the railway officials were adamant on the demolition and the families living in the houses were also not willing to give way. According to the Railways sources, the houses were illegal as it was Railways land. An official said they had given notices to the occupants several times in the past but they did not shift. The Railways authorities had issued a notice to them on Saturday directing them to vacate the place within 48 hours. Representatives of alleged encroachers said they were living at the place for several years and had requested the Railways authorities to make them the legal owners of the land. Mr Harbans Lal Sethi, district president, BJP, also reached the place. The tension was defussed in late afternoon with an understanding that the encroachers would be given some more time to approach senior officials regarding their demand of making them legal owners of the land. |
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Swindler
‘journalist’ in police net Ludhiana, December 11 The police has initiated an inquiry against some police personnel on the suspicion that they might be hand in glove with the accused as he once managed to flee in the presence of a police party. The police was tight-lipped about the identity of the police personnel suspected to be involved. A case against the accused swindler has been registered with the Focal Point police station which was also conducting the inquiry against some police personnel. Revealing the interesting modus operandi of the swindler, police sources said the accused used to throw his weight around by introducing himself as the crime reporter of a leading vernacular daily and dupe several persons. Recently, he robbed a goldsmith in Bhagwan
Nagar. The accused went to his shop and expressed his desire to buy some rings. The accused bought two gold rings and wore them. Then he allegedly revealed his identity and told the goldsmith that he had forgotten his money and if the shopkeepers sent some man with him, he would give the money. The shopkeeper agreed but when the accused and a worker of the shop reached half way, a police van intercepted their way and ordered them to come out. The moment the worker came out, the accused sped away in the car. The police van also followed but he could not be caught. A case was registered and now the man has been arrested. Police sources said the man had confessed that he used to operate in such a fashion. A stolen car (PB-07-1332) has been recovered from his possession. The accused used to travel in this car. Police sources said it was suspected that some police personnel who intercepted the accused and the employee of the goldsmith, may be involved with the accused though no concrete evidence had been established so far. The sources said it might be a coincidence that the police van proved to be of help to the accused or it may be a planned action. |
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2 MC inspectors suspended Ludhiana, December 11 The two suspended building inspectors, Mr
K.P. Singh and Mr Ramesh Kumar, have been charged with gross negligence and connivance in the compounding of a commercial building in the Gurdev Nagar town planning scheme and regularisation of non-compoundable violations of a marriage palace on Chandigarh Road in the city, respectively. Mr Gagan
Uppal, another inspector in the building branch during the period the violation took place and now serving elsewhere, has also been recommended to be placed under suspension. According to Mr Raminder Singh, Additional Commissioner, who heads the building branch of the MC, the civic body has also been asked to take action, including issuance of charge sheets to the two erstwhile Municipal Town Planners, Mr S.S. Gill and Mr S.S.
Bhatia, as well as four ATPs, Ms Kamaljit Kaur, Ms Monica, Mr Suresh Kumar and Mr Bhagwant Singh, deployed in these areas at different time periods for their failure to enforce the regulations. The MC Commissioner, Mr
R.L. Kalsia, who had conducted an intensive inspection of commercial buildings in several city localities during the past few days, has issued unambiguous instructions to the employees of the building branch that building bylaws be scrupulously enforced without fear and favour and strict departmental action be initiated for violations, if any. It was further leant that the Department of Local Government, Punjab, has, meanwhile, issued show-cause notices to a couple of civic body officials who were recently promoted to the post of superintendents to show cause as to why their promotion orders should not be cancelled. The two MC superintendents have been charged with misrepresentation of concealing material facts at the time of their promotion. |
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3 held in bank
robbery case Jagraon, December 11 According to a press note issued by the police, in December 2000 the due joined one Jaswant Singh. The three then snatched a new scooter (without number) from Joginder Singh of
Sudhar, a cashier in the electricity board where a case was registered u/s 382 /34
IPC. They used the snatched scooter in looting liquor vends at Jandi Madarour Mer Karima and in the bank
dacoity. According to information, the three developed a dispute regarding the distribution of the looted amount. Later on Jaswant Singh and Pargat Singh separated from Sukhwinder Singh and started living with Gurcharan Singh, alias Channi. The trio of Jaswant Singh, Pargat Singh and Channi reportedly looted Rs 6000 from Bhag Singh’s milk dairy of Uchi Talwandi in April 2001 and thereafter looted liquor vends at Jhande village. |
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Cops ‘fleecing’ Railways Ludhiana, December 11 Among those heading for the exit was a tall, burly, young cop, properly uniformed with a rifle slung over his shoulder, who was being closely followed by at least a score of passengers, including women and children. But instead of heading for the exit where a ticket collector was on duty, the cop led the passengers all the way down platform No 1 (which remains deserted these days due to the ongoing reconstruction of the track along the platform) to the parcel office exit. A ticket examiner in plain clothes, on spotting such a large contingent on the heels of the cop, protested. The cop said something about being
"apna khas aadmi'' to the ticket examiner. In the meantime, the ticket examiner had stopped a young man carrying a briefcase and demanded the ticket. The flabbergasted passenger started looking askance at the cop who in turn signalled him to go ahead without bothering about the ticket examiner. The helpless ticket examiner, whose repeated protests were ignored by the cop, just shrugged his shoulders, and that was that. When prodded, the ticket examiner, who had grown a bit suspicious, said there was nothing unusual and that the cop was one of his friends. Inquiries revealed that it was routine for the Railway police on security duty on trains to indulge in the illegal exercise of transporting passengers without any valid tickets. The system is flourishing as the passengers too prefer to pay the cops because this not only saves the hassle of buying a ticket and then fighting for the seat which is invariably already occupied by somebody else. Pay the cops and ensure a seat for yourself, that is the popular psyche. However, when Mr Lakha Singh, SHO, GRP police station, was contacted to know whether cops from Ludhiana also do security duty on trains, he said security staff on trains changes at Pathankot and Ambala, besides other stations. He was anxious to know if there was any specific complaint so that it could be taken care of. But when told of the racket and asked if he was aware of it, the SHO replied in the negative. |
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112 cops promoted Jagraon, December 11 Mr Inderpreet Singh Kahlon, SDM, Raikot, was also invited on the occasion. Mr Balkar Singh assigned the rank and a promotion parade was also taken out. |
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Minor sodomised Ludhiana, December 11 According to the boy’s father, the accused used to live with them in their previous place of residence. He came to their house last evening and took away the child on the pretext of playing with him. He returned the child after a couple of hours and left hastily. The parents were shocked when they saw the child was bleeding. The doctors attending on the child revealed the shocking incident to them. The whereabouts of the accused were unknown as he has left the house where he used to stay. |
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LUDHIANA CALLING Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar) president Simranjit Singh Mann is known for his straightforwardness. He is one of the few politicians who sticks to what he says, even if it leads to some controversy. But sometimes such situations arise when you cannot even own what you had said. That is what happened with Mr Mann at the Panthic Morcha rally on December 9. Mr Mann seemed to be irked with the Bahujan Samaj Party supremo, Mr Kanshi Ram, who had laid different conditions for aligning with the morcha. While Mr Kanshi Ram was supposed to attend the rally, he did not turn up till the end. Disappointed and upset, Mr Mann did not spare Mr Kanshi Ram, although he did not mention his name. He used the typical Punjabi slang to rebuff Mr Kanshi Ram. Everything seemed to be too obvious. Unpredictable as Mr Kanshi Ram is, he turned up at the rally, right at the end, when the last speaker, Baba Sarabjot Singh Bedi, convener of the morcha, was addressing the rally. He showered lavish praises at the Panthic Morcha declaring his full support to the morcha. Mr Mann was to be seen to be understood. Fortunately for him, he had not mentioned the name of Mr Kanshi Ram. That was the only saving grace for the Panthic Morcha in general and Mr Mann in particular. Birthday bash December 9 has assumed an important place in the history of India. Rather these days it had an urgent importance. Reasons are too obvious to be concealed by anyone. December 9 comes only three days after December 6, when the Babri Masjid was demolished at Ayodhaya. Both the dates have special significance for the Congress. December 6, it celebrates as the “black day” in Indian history. And December 9 happens to be the birthday of the Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi. While every year the day is celebrated with much fanfare, this year this day had special importance because of its significance, at least for those who are seeking Congress tickets from the Congress. In Ludhiana, the nerve centre of political activity in Punjab, not a leader worth his name could be located on that day, as all of them had rushed to Delhi to greet the Madam, as Ms Gandhi is addressed now. And interestingly, none of them has returned so far, with each one ensuring that everyone else has left before he departs from the Delhi durbar.
The bandmasters With marriage season at its peak, there is a great demand for musical bands. Although the invasion of DJs has reduced the craze for musical bands, yet there are thousands of people, who still take the services of these bands. For the DJs are too expensive and not many people can afford them. These bandmasters may not have made much progress as compared to the DJs, who earn in lakhs, yet they seem to have learnt some tricks of the trade from their futuristic generation (the DJs). These bandmasters also believe in advance booking and at a proper price. If one tries to bargain with them, they will simply and straightway tell you, “You better go and hire a DJ”. But despite that, they cannot afford a luxurious life. Most of these bandmasters, more so the players, still live “not a comfortable” life. At times they have to move long distances on foot and use single uniform for the full marriage season. At best they hire a three-wheeler or even a horse driven cart. “That is what we can afford the best”, remarked a band master.
Dry spell blues The continuing dry spell coupled with the onset of winters is giving rise to the number of dry cough, vomiting and fever cases in the city. Children and the elderly, who are more vulnerable to catch cold these days, are the worst hit. Hopes of a shower on Monday afternoon were belied as the clouds brought in by a steady east wind since early morning vanished under the impact of the non-stop wind blowing from the east. Old timers say a shower is a must before Christmas otherwise the city would fall an easy prey to various kinds of ailments associated with dry winter spell. Hosiery traders are also looking forward to a shower as it would certainly give a boost to their sales.
Child killer at large More than a week has passed since the body of a seven-year-old boy was recovered under mysterious circumstances from a vacant plot on the Tajpur road but the police has not been able to make much progress in the investigations of the case. Since the hand of a tantrik is suspected to be behind the gory murder, the police has rounded up some babas and tantriks for questioning which has not yielded any tangible clues so far. But nevertheless, it claims that it is close to solving the crime without disclosing any details whatsoever. Meanwhile, the general scare among parents of school-going children created in the wake of the murder still persists. The police has to show some results in the near future if public confidence in the force is to be restored.
The lucky 95 No more STD’s. No more going to PCO’s to call up the friends residing out of the city. The No 95 has proved to be a boon for all those boys and girls of Punjab as they can have access to direct dialling. Thanks to BSNL, the boys and girls are able to converse for long periods at quite nominal costs. This facility of dialling 95 before the number of the other party provides them a chance to share sweet nothings to each other any time all the time without their parents being aware of it. The telephone bill never shows the call made outstation and the parents often are surprised at the high number of local calls.
Green chillies In India the superstitions die hard millennium or no millennium. If one takes note, one sees a bunch of green chillies strung in a thread
criss-cross with a lemon at the bottom. Almost all the shopkeeper of big or small showrooms, the dhabas the teastalls hang this at the entrance of the door way. Most of the users say this has been a traditional way of warding off evil and to ensure that they are protected from the envious glances of the neighbours. Whatever may be the reason, the good thing that has come out from this belief is that countless numbers of unemployed persons have found employment. Hundreds of families are busy stringing chillies and
lime. Sentinel |
Staff to take part in Dec 18 stir Ludhiana, December 11 This was announced by trade union activists while addressing a rally, jointly organised by the Technical Services Union
(TSU) and the PSEB Employees Federation at Grid Maintenance Division and City Centre Division here today. Various speakers, including Mr Gurnam Singh, Mr Som
Nath, Mr Ramesh Sharma, Mr Pawan Kumar, Mr Mohinder Pal, Mr Kewal Singh, Mr Mehar
Chand, Mr Chhote Lal and Mr Paramjit Singh warned the Union Government against going ahead with presentation of the Bill in Parliament. Terming the proposed legislation as anti-people and anti-employee, the PSEB employees observed that the real purpose behind the bill was to disband and privatise the state electricity boards and the employees would not allow the ulterior motives of the government to take effect. Rather pushing the Bill with undue haste and in the face of stiff resistance from all quarters, the government should take care of thousands of unemployed diploma holders and apprentices and take necessary steps to provide for additional power generation to meet the increasing demand. |
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SAD Ludhiana units meet CM today Ludhiana, December 11 Sources in the SAD (B) disclosed that this was part of the series of meeting of all districts units being presided over by the Chief Minister. The programme had reportedly been chalked out in the aftermath of Mr Badal’s injury, which has made his movement difficult. Otherwise, these meetings were planned at the district headquarters only. The sources said, all the prominent and active workers, besides leaders of all districts will meet the CM regularly to provide him regular feedback about the activities being carried out in their district. Tomorrow’s meeting of Ludhiana district also holds importance as it is being held immediately after the Panthic Morcha rally organised here only two days ago, which was a grand success and had become a cause of concern for the ruling party. Senior Akali leader, Mr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, who is mobilising and organising the workers for the meeting, said only selected people have been called for the meeting, who can provide proper feedback to the Chief Minister about various activities in their respective areas. Some senior officials of the district administration are also likely to attend the meeting, since the Chief Minister is said to be keen on keeping a tab on the development activities. |
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‘Revision of history should not be politicised’ Ludhiana, December 11 A senior citizen and retired Professor, Dr
D.V. Jindal, is of the view that the history books need to be rewritten, but only after a discussion among the senior historians of different universities. He says that the facts to be taught in the history books should be based on convincing evidence. An advocate, Mr Harish Rai Dhanda, also supports the former’s viewpoint. He says, “I remained the topper in the subject till completion of my graduation. But I never came to know that Akbar had a haram (a place where women are kept) of 5,000 women. I read only his praise and my perception about him was that he was a great ruler.” A social science teacher in a school, Ms Veena Jain, says that if there is a need to change the history, it should be changed. She agrees that there are some wrong facts in the history writing which need to be changed. But she opines that the politicians should not give any colour to the matter for the their vested interests. The history should only be revised after a proper discussion and consensus of senior academicians having expertise in the subject, she adds. A college teacher, Ms Parveen Chawla, also thinks that the history should be changed. But she is of the view that this matter is not as serious as the ruling and other political parties are trying to portray it. “There are some facts in the history which should be corrected but it does not mean that politicians make an issue out of this for their vested interests. The matter can be resolved easily and not very serious and can be resolved after discussion with senior historians,” she adds. A retired school teacher and holder of Rashtrapati Award for excellence in education, Mr H.S. Bedi, favoures rewriting of history so that the next generation should have an accurate knowledge about the past. He said the history of India has been badly distorted and this is the right time to rewrite the history. But at the same time, the leaders of the country should ensure that none should mould history to get political mileage. |
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‘Repeal graduation clause for elections’ Ludhiana, December 11 At present there are over 2,500 members registered with the club. Many of them are not graduates thus ineligible to contest elections. Several members, who spoke to this reporter on the condition of anonymity said the clause was arbitrary. In fact, the graduation clause has been introduced to become member of the club. Describing the clause as “arbitrary and whimsical”, they said, this clause should be repealed immediately in the general house. The members wanted that the club should call the general house meeting to remove this clause before the next elections scheduled in March next. One member questioned while pointing out, “there is no such educational qualifications required even for the President of India. Is the post of the Satluj Club’s general secretary more important than that of the President of India”. The current president and the DC Ludhiana, Mr S.K. Sandhu, told Ludhiana Tribune here today that the amendment to the constitution was under consideration. The issue is likely to be discussed, first in the executive body of the club and then it would put in general house for the approval. |
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Homage
paid to Ashok Kumar Ludhiana, December 11 “Chalti Ka Naam’ in which he co-starred with his brothers, Kishore and Anoop Kumar with irrepressible Madubala, turned out to be a super comedy. The movie has been an all-time favourite with all classes. The effortless ease in which he slipped into a role of comedian as well as serious roles was commendable. Perhaps most of the new generations do not know that he used to sing his own songs in his early movies like “Rail Gadi” and “Mein Ban Ki Chidiya”. He changed his name from Kumudlal Kunjilal Ganguly to Ashok Kumar. He had led a chequered career from a law graduate to a
laboratory assistant in Bombay Talkies. What an actor! What range of emotions he displayed! When big actors did not want to act in television, he chose to anchor Hum Log, a very popular serial. Moreover, he enacted the role of Bhadur Shah Zafar in a tele serial. His performance was overpowering and it seemed that he had got into the skin of the role of the character. So formidable was his performance that people were under the illusion that his feelings , his pathetic state of affairs would be what the real Bhadur Shah Zafar would have suffered. |
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Cobbler
crushed
by car Ludhiana, December 11 |
Drug smuggler arrested Ludhiana, December 11 Police sources said the suppliers , the main link in drug-trafficking business, normally succeed in eluding arrest whereas the local smugglers are the ones who generally fall in police net. With the arrest of the alleged supplier, Yadvinder Singh, the police believes it has cut a major supply link to local smugglers. The accused was arrested from a naka and 2 kg of opium, worth about Rs 50,000, in drugs market has been recovered from him. Questioning from the accused revealed an interesting modus operandi of the smugglers. The alleged supplier told the police that he used to increase the quantity of the opium by mixing “Gur” and Bournvita into it. This material is not detectable. It helped him in making huge profits and made him sell more quantity. Police sources said the city was fast becoming a main opium market in North India. The smugglers were mainly bringing opium to the city from Madhya Pradesh, especially from areas in and around
Indore. The supplier revealed to the police that stringent punishment to narcotic smugglers failed to act as a deterrent to them as huge profit in the trade encouraged them to take the risk. The profit can be gauged from the fact that 1 kg of opium costs Rs 10,000 in Indore and is sold at around Rs 24,000 here. With adulteration, the quantity increases bringing a collective profit of more than one-and-a-half times. The police sources said it had got information about the supplier from a local smuggler Vikas, who was arrested recently. The police had laid traps for the supplier several times but he was managing to elude the police net till now. |
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Two killed, two injured
in accidents Doraha, December 11 Ram Kishan of Bhadewal village, who was on the way to his village, was reportedly crushed and killed by a TATA-407 (Hr 20A-5887). A case has been registered at Payal police station under Sections 279 and 304-A,
IPC, on the complaint of Kashmira Singh, son of the deceased. While the vehicle was taken in custody by the police, the driver is still at large. Vijay Aggarwal, servant of Satwinder Singh of Model Gram, on whose complaint the FIR has been registered at Sahnewal police station under Section 304-A of
IPC, was crushed and killed by an unidentified vehicle near Sahnewal Khurd. Ranjit Singh and his father, Kehar Singh, were injured when they were going from Payal to their native village, Jallah, on a scooter (PB 55-2599). They were reportedly hit by a bus (PB-10-AG-9698) as a result of which they fell down. Manjit Singh of the same village immediately took them to hospital. A case under Sections 279, 337 and 338, IPC, has been registered at Payal police station and the complaint of Ranjit Singh. |
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Two booked for kidnapping minor Ludhiana, December 11 Dowry harassment Beaten Auto-drivers booked Another auto-driver was booked at the same police station for parking his vehicle on the road and jamming the traffic, under Section 263 of the
IPC. The driver, Deva Bhatta, a resident of Shivpuri road, had parked his three-wheeler (PB1-9878) on the road near Sabzi Mandi yesterday which caused a traffic jam in the area. Booked Poppy husk seized Bookies held Liquor seized Another case was registered at the same police station against Jaspal Singh, a resident of Lal Quarters, from whose possession 11 bottles of liquor were seized. The Model Town police has arrested Sukhwinder Singh a resident of Preet Nagar mohalla, New Shimla Puri, and booked him under Sections 61, 1 and 14 of the Excise Act for possessing 10 bottles of liquor. |
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