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Proposal again to develop Lodhi Fort
Ludhiana, July 11
There is plan to develop hanging gardens in 3.5 acres around the fort and a park on Daresi Grounds, situated 200 meters from
it. Local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia yesterday announced that they had chalked out a comprehensive plan to develop hanging gardens in 3.5 acres around Lodhi Fort and a walkers park on Daresi Grounds, situated 200 meters from the fort. The announcement came as a breather for the residents of old city who had been demanding green parks in the congested city. But there seems to be a long way to go. If the past experiences are to be taken into account, many such proposals were mooted in the past with none living to the lofty promises. While the government dithers, the land of the fort has been gradually encroached upon and many historical things in it have gone missing. There were canons placed on four sides of the fort, situated at a high mound above the surrounding areas. It was only a campaign launched by The Tribune in 2002 that forced the administration to save the last of the four canons. Interestingly, all projects have been mooted during the SAD-BJP government. In 2002, the vacant but prime land of the historical Lodhi Fort attracted several takers. While the Knitwear Club and the National Institute of Fashion Designing lobbied hard for getting the land on lease, the authorities of the Punjab Police Academy at Phillaur demanded control over the place with promises of conserving
it. The State Archaeology Department had also jumped in the fray claiming it would declare it as a protected monument and conserve it. The Knitwear Club, along with NIFD, was endeavouring to acquire the land. It had mooted a proposal to the district administration in 2001 to open a research-cum-training institute there. It was also the part of a special tourism circuit formulated by successive governments. It was proposed that tourists to Punjab would visit the fort and the house of Shaheed Sukhdev, situated not very far from it. None of these moves materialised and the fort remained abandoned. The fort remained forgotten all these years. Now, with the SAD-BJP back in saddle, a fresh proposal has been mooted. But only time would tell, if the fort would be ever conserved and
developed.
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BSNL services hit as
staff go on strike
Ludhiana, July 11 Activists of the participating unions claimed that the strike was observed in the entire Punjab Circle and the routine work of the BSNL was also affected. According to the BSNLEU circle secretary Balbir Singh, BSNL employees assembled at their headquarters in the morning and lodged protests against the attitude of the union minister for communications and IT, whom they charged with blocking the modernisation of the BSNL. The trade union activists maintained that the employees would continue agitation till the process for acquisition of the latest technology was taken to its logical conclusion. Addressing the protesting workers, Balbir Singh, along with lnderjit Singh, vice-president, SNEA, and Ashok Khanna, circle secretary, AIBSNLEA, alleged that even though the tenders for acquisition of modern technology had already been finalised and the purchase order was waiting approval of the minister. However, for reasons best known to him, the communication minister was delaying the approval and misleading the public. "The employees have been forced to resort to direct action, feeling that the minister wants to deprive the BSNL from the latest technology. It is only for this purpose that he (the minister) is unnecessarily causing delay and confusion," the trade union leaders asserted. The union activists said during the course of the ongoing agitation by the BSNL employees, the public might have to face some problems due to disruption of services, but the protest was not only in the interest of the employees but also for the public. Among other speakers at the rally were Balwinder Singh, district secretary, BSNLEU, M.S. Dhaliwal, district secretary, AIBSNLEA, Raj Kumar, district secretary,
SNEA, Mohinder Parshad, district secretary, NFTE, Jasbir Singh, Harbhajan Dass, Hari Narayan Singh, Darshan Singh Gill, Paramjit Singh, Avatar Singh Jhande, Jaswant Singh, Gurcharan Singh, Sudesh Joshi, Mohinder Lal Chaudhary and Amarjeet Chander. Mandi Ahmedgarh: In response to a call given by the central committee of the BSNL Employees Union (BSNLEU), telecom employees today held a protest rally outside the telephone exchange here and suspended work. The call was given against the delay in award of contracts and other demands, including the government's decision to increase the foreign direct investment in the telecom sector, disproportionately. While talking to the Ludhiana Tribune after organising a protest march, Hoshiar Singh and Bahadur Singh, office-bearers of the union, alleged that the successive governments had been ignoring demands raised by the organisation from time to time. Condemning role of the TRAI in taking decisions against the interests of the constituents of the BSNL, union leaders apprehended that the economic viability of the organisation would be at stake in case remedial action was not initiated. Meanwhile, the consumers of the company had to suffer a lot due to suspension of work. Besides suspending maintenance and repair work in regard to landline connections and mobile phones, the activists of the employees union shun clerical work also. The phone calls remained unattended today.
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Sarpanch ‘facilitates’
land grabbing
Ludhiana, July 11
Village nambardar Baljinder Singh and one of the panches, Gurmel Singh, in a written complaint to the deputy commissioner, have alleged that the sarpanch, Darshan Singh, was also acting in an arbitrary manner and was not even ready to show the records. Gurmel and Baljinder alleged that the land was worth about Rs 4.5 lakh and it belonged to the entire village. The land has allegedly been transferred into the name of four brothers whom they identified as Mukhtiar Singh, Nishan Singh, Jagtar Singh and Joginder Singh. They alleged the connivance of certain officials with the sarpanch to "facilitate" the land grabbing. Gurmel Singh alleged that the sarpanch had always adopted a dictatorial attitude and never listened to the grievances of the people. Besides, he was not even prepared to show any records of income generated from various sources in the village in the past several years. "Village money, to the tune of Rs 3,50,000 collected from different sources has not been shown in records. If we ask him about it, he threatened us of dire consequences", Gurmel alleged, while adding that he had even managed some inquiries against him. “We have also complained about it to the director, Department of Panchayats, Chandigarh. Villagers feel that he should be checked by the authorities”, said Gurmel Singh.Meanwhile, Darshan Singh said these were allegations. There were a handful of people in the village who wanted to malign his reputation. He said enquiries were initiated earlier also and reports were in his favour. “The land has belonged to these persons for the past several years. I had not facilitated anyone to grab village land. I do not bother what these people say”, he said.
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Move to abolish
arhtiya system, farmers differ
Ludhiana, July 11 The board, supported by the
BKU, Punjab, led by Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, who is also the chairman of the board argues that the farmers were being left at the mercy of the commission agents. Once the government starts making payments to them directly, they will become independent. However, the BKU led by Balbir Singh Rajewal wants that the old system
to Once the arthiya system is abolished, Rajewal said, the total mandi system in the state would collapse. The government would not be able to generate cess. Besides, there were 13 lakh people employed in the mandis with the arthiyas, who would become unemployed. There would be other problem as
well. The arthiyas get the payment from the government or other purchasing agencies in bulk. The farmers will have to get it individually and it would be problematic for both and only harass farmers. Besides, farmers have always enjoyed a cordial relationship with the arthiyas who stand by them in their good and bad times. The farmers can freely take loan from the arthiyas without any security as they know that their payments would come through them. This will not be possible if the system is abolished and the farmers will have to depend on the banks, he added. “Everybody knows how complicated the bank system is while sanctioning the loans”, he remarked. The BKU has been maintaining that only those organisations were supporting the current system whose leaders were themselves arthiyas. They have urged the state government to expedite the move to abolish the arthiya system and set the farmers free from the age old system.
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Cong mounts attack on Shekhawat
Ludhiana, July 11 Manish Tiwari, Secretary of All India Congress Committee, was in town today. He claimed that the UPA and the Congress were silent about Shekhawat only to maintain the dignity of the President’s office. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune, Tiwari ridiculed the high moral ground taken by the NDA about Shekhawat. Reacting sharply to the "dirty NDA campaign" against Patil, Tiwari alleged Shekhawat was involved in many scandals ranging from land grab to hoarding of essential commodities. Tiwari alleged, "He (Shekhawat) as Chief Minister, facilitated the biggest land grab in the country by amending the Rajasthan Tenancy Act 1955 twice in 1979 and 1992. He did this to allow a number of feudals including the family of his son-in-law to grab 26 lakh bighas of government land in the command area of the Indira Gandhi canal in the district of Chiru, Sri Ganga Nagar, Bikaner and Jaisalmer, whose current market value is more than rupee one thousand crore." Questioning the BJP's claims of nationalism, Tiwari asked, as how could Shekhawat as Chief Minister in 1990-91 allot thousands of acres of land along the Indo-Pak border in Rajasthan to the people who had fled to Pakistan during 1965 and 1971 war, but returned later. He claimed the previous Congress government had disallowed their return in the interest of the national security. The AICC secretary alleged, Shekhawat was also involved in facilitating the grabbing of about ten thousand acres of surplus government land allotted to the BJP and RSS leaders in Sri Ganga Nagar district by staying the recovery proceedings in 1990-92 and between 1993 and 1998, despite the fact that the orders were held illegal during the President's rule in the state between December 1992 to November 1993. Tiwari claimed that two cases were registered against Shekhawat under section 3/7 of the Essential Commodities Act for hoarding food grains and these were cancelled by him within twenty days of becoming the Chief Minister in 1977. The AICC leader said the UPA never wanted to take up these issues. "Since NDA had stooped to low, we had to counter the fiction with the facts," Tiwari claimed, while adding, the NDA was fighting a desperate battle as it had realised that its candidate was certain to be defeated by a huge margin.
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22-year-old needs help
Ludhiana, July 11 According to doctors, he is suffering from Landry-Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a disease due to which he has weakness of all four limbs and respiratory muscles. As a result, he has been put on a ventilator (artificial respiration) since December 2006. His family has already incurred in excess of Rs 16 lakh on the treatment. Presently, Manjit is fully conscious but due to his disease, he cannot move his limbs. The patient comes from a humble background, and his father, a farmer, has already sold all his land and other valuable assets for getting his son’s treatment and restored back to health. The hospital has also been helping the patient and the family in all regards, but still, to continue with the treatment, the family needs a financial assistance of Rs 3 to 4 lakh. The DMCH authorities have made a fervent appeal to kind good Samaritans to come forward to donate and save young Manjit's life. Those willing to help this needy patient may contact the office of medical superintendent (Phone 0161-4687504) or Vikram Bhanot (COSD) on his cell (98155-45311).
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Adopt small family norms: Civil surgeon
Our Correspondent
Ludhiana, July 11 These observations were made by civil surgeon Sat Pal Sharma while presiding over a district-level function to mark the “World Population Day” at Industrial Training Institute for Girls at Ghumar Mandi here today. He urged people to adopt the “small family” norm so that the children, who were future citizens of the nation, could have access to health facilities, education and a healthy environment for overall growth. In this context, he cited examples of developed countries, which had achieved phenomenal growth due to population control. The computer science department of SDP College for Women, in collaboration with the NSS units, organised an essay writing contest on “Increasing World Population - A Serious Threat to Prosperity.” Reena (BCA-I), Dharamwati Sharma (BCA-I) and Miki Sehgal (BCA-I) were awarded first, second and third prize, respectively. An essay writing competition was also organised at Sri Om Parkash Gupta SDP Senior Secondary School on “World Population Day” in which a large number of students participated. President of SDP Educational Society Balraj Bhasin and director of SDP institutions Sushil Verma spoke on the need to effectively check the population growth and involvement of the people in making it a mass movement. Green Land kids visit slum
Students of Green Land Senior Secondary Public School made their contribution towards World Population Day in a unique way. Students of the senior section went to the slums and other areas to enlighten the people regarding the menace of overpopulation and the ways and means to curb it. An inter-house poster making competition was also organised on the school premises. The students made beautiful charts expressing their displeasure over the growing population. SDP School
Students of SDP Senior Secondary School were told the ill-effects of overpopulation. An on-the-spot-essay competition was also organised. Deepak Bhandari obtained the first prize while the second and third positions were bagged by Rishab, Gurpreet and Kanahea.
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World Population Day celebrated
Samrala, July 11 The theme of this year is participation in controlling population, said Dr Harvinder Singh. On this occasion, the lectures were given to mothers and other patients by Dr Rashmi and Dr Tarkjot Singh. The audience was told about the dangers of population explosion and the role of today's youth in controlling it, added Dr Harvinder Singh. Machhiwara: A seminar was held at CMC, Machhiwara, 10 km from here. According to Dr Renu, senior medical officer, more than 100 students of age group 16-19 years, along with their teachers, participated. The students also spoke on population and its dangers. The seminar was addressed by Dr Jasdev Singh, medical officer, and Jagat Ram. Later a rally was taken out in the main bazaar of Machhiwara by the students depicting the play-cards and banners.
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Majithia launches plantation drive
Koom Kallan (Ludhiana), July 11 Majithia was addressing a function after inaugurating a campaign to plant 5 lakh saplings on the both sides of 62- km stretch of the Budha Nullha being cleaned and widened by Bhai Ghanaya Charitable Trust through kar sewa here today. Expressing concern over the depleting green belt in the state, Majithia warned if this generation failed to shoulder its responsibility of making the state green, “the coming generations will not forgive us”. The minister also expressed concern over the exhausting and pollution of the underground water in the state. He pointed out that the ground water in large area across the state was not safe for drinking and the people were facing a serious threat of water-borne diseases. To provide potable drinking water the state government had implemented a comprehensive World Bank-assisted 'Punjab water supply and sanitation project' worth Rs.1280.30 crore across the state. He said under its first phase, water schemes would be executed in 2,124 villages and the existing water supply schemes would be upgraded in 920 villages. The minister said for this project World Bank would contribute Rs 750.90 crore whereas the Punjab government would contribute Rs 240.45 crore. The contribution of the Central government would be Rs 207.20 crore where as the community would contribute Rs 76.80 crore, he added. Majithia asserted that the project would be completed by March, 2012, and would supply water to 7.4 million people in the state. Majithia said the government was committed to focus on accountability and transparency in the execution of this project so that people living in remote villages should enjoy its benefits. He said the counter-intelligence system by independent bodies to monitor the quality of the project implementation would also be introduced. He said the project would also provide small-bore sewerage in 100 villages on pilot basis, which would be expanded further, as well as remodeling of 1,000 villages ponds to improve sanitary conditions and environment. He said the government would bring the entire Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Dalits and other economically weaker sections of the society under the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) so as to provide safe drinking water to them. The minister appreciated the efforts of Sant Baba Jaspal Singh of Bhai Ghanaya ji Charitable Trust for undertaking Kar Sewa for the cleaning the Budha Nullah and launching sapling plantation drive on its both sides. Addressing the function Baba Jaspal Singh said with the cooperation of the people, a 12-km long patch of Budda Nullah had been desilted, widened and saplings planted. He said the trust would ensure the maintenance of saplings, so that the environment in the area improves. He said a balance needs to be drawn between industrialisation and safeguarding of the environment as both were important and one could not be promoted at the cost of the other. He said the industry was important for the growth and progress of the state. “At the same time we need to take care of the environment”, he said. Moreover, the minister said, the industry alone was not causing pollution there were other factors which needed to be taken into consideration. He pointed out, the industrial waste constituted only about 20 per cent of the total waste generated in the urban areas. In a city like Ludhiana, 80 per cent pollution was caused by the municipal waste, he added. Majithia clarified: “The problem of pollution needs to be tackled through an integrated approach. My ministry cannot do anything on its own. Other departments also have an important role to play. The environment ministry will no longer be identified as one which harasses the industry but as a facilitator for its eco-friendly growth and development.” The minister also met representatives of the industry at Ludhiana and assured them that their grievances would be taken care of the industry must address the issue of environment on priority. "Environment concerns us all, even the industrialists as well so they must give due thought to its preservation", the minister remarked.
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IHRO opposes govt for stopping Khalsa march
Ludhiana, July 11 Chairperson of the outfit D.S. Gill said both Punjab and Haryana administrations should be held responsible for failing to book dera chief Gurmit Ram Rahim Singh. While holding Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal responsible for putting pressure on Akal Takht, through his "henchman" SGPC chief Avtar Singh, to alter its edicts and decisions in tune with their nefarious political designs. The people of Punjab would not forgive his regime which has indulged itself in the political gimmicks as no Sikh worth his salt will continue to tolerate the illegal activities of the dera head. Not only that, Gill said, Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal openly supported the cause of the dera leader for petty electoral gains. The dera head should be arrested along with such collaborators under Section 120-B of the IPC as they were deliberately and maliciously instigating the offenders. He said the response of the Haryana unit of the Congress towards the Sikhs was not encouraging either and it might go the Bhajan Lal’s way as it had been during the Asian Games in 1982. Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda needs to be more vigilant to understand the gravity of the matter and the wrath of the Sikh people against the culprits. He called upon the Sikh groups, irrespective of their political affiliations and leadership crisis, to sink their differences and come together with the Khalsa Action Committee under the patronage of Akal Takht till the time the Khalsa Panth does not bring the culprits to book and again establish peace in the state.
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Suvidha camp organised
Ludhiana, July 11
Dhaliwal said more than 5000 people were benefited from this camp where things like learning driving license, old age pension, widow and disabled pension forms were completed and issued on the spot. Mukesh Sharma, Naib tehsildar, Harbans Singh (Kanungo), Bhupinder Singh (patwari Sunet circle), Karan Jaspal Singh (patwari Phullanwal), Dr. G.K Bansal and Dr. Puneet Sidhu (Civil Surgeons office), Gurpreet Singh and Jora Singh, both lambardars, represented the government side. Staff from the D.T.O. office and clerical staff from other allied departments were also present to help the people. Special arrangements for form vendors, typists, and stamp vendors were made. In order to assist the public there was facility of xerox machine and photography. The main aim of the camp was to bring the facilities at the doorstep of the public. This was also an attempt to highlight the steps taken to make the entire system people friendly and less time consuming. He said 1200 learning driving license were issued on the spot and about thousand forms of old age widow/disabled persons pension certificates were completed on the spot.
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Training camp concludes
Ludhiana, July 11 The chief warden Gurcharan Singh and deputy chief warden, V.N. Meghta also addressed the students.
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Book on Guru Granth
Sahib released
Ludhiana July 11 Recalling the achievements of university academicians in the field of literature, Dr Kang said new faculty members should carry forward the traditions set by litterateurs like Prof. Mohan Singh, Dr Vidya Bhaskar Arun, Kulwant Singh Virk, Ajaib Chitrakar, Dr S.S. Dosanjh, Dr D.S. Deep and Dr. Surjit Pattar. Outlining the content of the new release, Gurbhajan Gill, editor, Changi Kheti said the main achievement of the book was its global vision in analysing Guru Granth Sahib. The new concepts of its dialogue with other philosophies had been represented in a free-flowing style, he added. Dr Jagdish Kaur, writer of the book, traversed through the journey of writing this work. She pointed out that the research gave her an opportunity to come face to face with the realities discussed in the epic to which she was a mute spectator earlier. The entire teaching faculty of centre was also present on the occasion.
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Promoting UK as tourist destination
Ludhiana, July 11 “It is for the first time that an Indian travel agent has teamed up with VL and will organise a road show for promoting destination specific itineraries,” said Rupjeet Sagger of Sagger Travels, while addressing a press conference here today. VL representative Punam Singh said a large number of Indians travel to the UK and VL wants to make people aware of the place and its cultural side. Giving details of the tri-city road show, Singh said it would be organised in the city, Jalandhar and Amritsar from July 11 to 13 and people would be informed about travel, trade etc. The road show is being supported by the Travel Agents Association of India (TAAI).
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Rotary club appoints governor
Ludhiana, July 11 This appointment was made by the district governor based on excellent work done by Chadha during his tenure as President. He implemented many projects for the welfare of the poor and needy people like free homoeopathic dispensary, computer training centre, rain-water harvesting and recharging project, polio programmes. K.K. Chadha's job as assistant governor will be to help and guide the district governor in the implementation of the rotary projects in the Rotary district.
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Three booked for demanding dowry
Jagraon, July 11 One booked A case has been registered against Beeja of Bhamal, alleged of sexually harassing a girl of their village. Sidhwan Bet police has registered a case under sections 294, 354, 363, 511, 120-B of the IPC. Car recovered The local police have registered a case under sections 379, 411 of the IPC against two unknown persons. According to sources, police recovered Zen Car No. PB-10AY-4137 and Esteem Car no. HR-20J-7575 from the area of Agwar Gujjran. Wire stolen Some unknown people stole electric transformer wire from the village Talwara total worth Rs 18,000. The Sidhwan Bet police have registered a case under sections 379 of the IPC on the complaint of Jagtar Singh of Talwara. Road mishap Major Singh of Gonsuwal PS Jullandhar was injured near village Khursaidpur when his motorcycle Pulsar no. PB-08P-1935 was hit by Zen car no. PB-08-AT-8080. Sidhwan Bet has registered a case under sections 279, 338, 427 of the IPC. The injured has been admitted in DMC Hospital, Ludhiana. Gambling Raikot police has arrested Amarjit Singh, his brother Natha Singh, Iqbal Singh, Gurbheg Singh and Paramjit Singh all of Buraj Hakima on the charge of gambling in their village. Around Rs 1200 were recovered from them with playing cards. A case under Gambling Act has been registered. Assault Ranjit Singh, Rupinderpal Singh, his brother Surinder Singh and Piara Singh of Tugal allegedly assaulted Satnam Singh of their village with sharp edged weapons. Sudhar police has registered a case under sections 323, 341, 506, 34 of the IPC. The injured has been admitted in Arora Neuro Hospital Ludhiana.
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Two nabbed for stealing autos
Ludhiana, July 11 Addressing a press conference at Kotwali, ASP Babu Lal Meena said a team led by SHO Kotwali Sandeep Wadera arrested the allegd culprits when they were passing through a road in the area. They were identified as Bhupinder Singh alias Happy and Raju. The accused used to lift the three-wheelers and remove its engine, tyres and axles. They sold it different places. The police has recovered a three-wheeler and some spare parts from the accused.
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