Broken panes of the main door to the Sunder Nagar division office in Ludhiana on SundayTribune photos: Inderjeet Verma

Ludhiana, August 2
Peeved over erratic power supply for the past three days after a transformer at the 66 KV substation at Nurewal had gone non-functional, an unruly mob today attacked the Sunder Nagar divisional office of the PSEB on Kakowal Road. They smashed windowpanes, causing damage to doors while some miscreants fiddled with the power supply system, disrupting supply to the entire area in the process.

Tension prevailed in the PSEB office for more than an hour and the scared employees ran helter-skelter to save themselves from the wrath of the mob. The police had to be called in who took seven persons, including area councillor Rakesh Sharma and six others, in custody on the charges of causing damage to government property.

The arrest of seven persons further aggravated the situation as hundreds of area residents squatted on the GT Road and obstructed vehicular traffic till late in the afternoon.

As the protesters refused to disperse till the arrested persons were let off, the police registered yet another case of causing traffic jam against protesters. A dharna was continuing till the filing of this report.

According to HS Randhawa, Deputy Chief Engineer, City East Circle, one of the four transformers installed at the Nurewal substation developed a major snag on Thursday and it needed to be replaced which requires 72 hours. With one transformer going out of service, the load of the area fed from the substation was shifted to the functional transformers which necessitated cuts of two or three hours in different parts under the division by rotation.

"A new transformer was installed at the substation last evening. As the PSEB staff was in the process of shifting load to the new transformer this morning, a mob gathered around the office of Sunder Nagar division on Kakowal Road and started throwing stones and made forced entry inside where power supply equipment was installed," he said.

Randhawa claimed the newly installed transformer went operational by around 11 am this morning and power supply to the entire area under Nurewal substation had been restored.

Ludhiana, August 2
With 15 more cases of severe gastroenteritis surfacing in the recent outbreak in Punjabi Bagh, Ludhiana, the total count has gone up to 63. The patients have been referred to the civil hospital.

Teams of health officials examined 30 mild and 20 moderate cases of diarrhoea at the ongoing special medical camp organised in Gurmat Gyan Missionary College, Punjabi Bagh.

With today’s OPD, the total number of patients affected by gastroenteritis has risen to 300 plus. Holding the Municipal Corporation responsible for the gastroenteritis outbreak in Punjabi Bagh, the district health authorities alleged the corporation officials for having failed to take any “preventive” measures for it.

Civil surgeon Maninderjit Singh said the Department of Health and Family Welfare was responsible for “curative measures”, which has been taken care of with precision.

The health authorities denied any further mortality in the Punjabi Bagh outbreak, stating that there was just one death.

District Health Officer (DHO) SS Dhir, while assessing the situation, said the situation in Punjabi Bagh was under control. “But the diarrhoea cases from adjoining areas, including Jwaddi Khurd, Dugri and Pakhowal road, have started coming at the medical camp.”

District epidemiologist GP Mangla said it was must to take care of the underlying problem with source of infection that is “water”, adding that, “The tests of five water samples taken from the area have ‘failed’ and the reports of other samples taken will be available tomorrow.”

Testifying the claims of the health authorities, Sunanda, a resident of Punjabi Bagh, said, “The doctors and paramedical staff is dispensing their duties round the clock. They have extensively covered the houses in the area to administer the required treatment to the people suffering from gastroentritis.”

Ludhiana, August 2
The Punjab School Education Board has been taking the issue of children's learning skills seriously by improving classroom teaching and learning. All children should be able to read and write.

But, all efforts to improve the system have failed to bring the desired results. Various learning enhancement programmes have been chalked out like “Parrho Punjab”, which is one of the flagship programmes under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. But even after wasting crores of rupees, it is yet to give any results.

As per the “Parrho Punjab” programme, the primary teachers are supposed to teach children one sentence everyday in English to improve their English-speaking skills. Sadly, these children have not been able to pick up one sentence over the past 10 days, as they belong to migrant families.

When Ludhiana Tribune visited some of the government schools and interacted with teachers, one revealed that a number of teachers lacked pronounciation skills. One of the teachers uttered four times "I’m” instead of pronouncing it as "I am”.

In another government school, a teacher pronounced the alphabet “I” as “Aayee”. How can they expect students to learn English when elementary teachers themselves find it difficult to speak correct English and correct pronounciation.

Even in-service training is not going to improve the level of teaching of teachers as they are deficient in English-teaching skills.

The “Parrho Punjab” methodology of dividing children among groups like “letter”, “word” and “para” is not approved by any educationist, rather it is quite opposite to the latest research by the NCERT, which propagates that a child does not learn a language in this way.

According to reliable sources, the “Parrho Punjab” material is being prepared cheaply by untrained persons following the copy-and-paste method.

Jagraon, August 2
Competitions on World Population Day were organised on the premises of District Institute of Education and Training here today.

The essay writing, on-the-spot painting, singing, quiz and declamation contests were held under the patronage of Joginder Singh Aulakh and principal, DIET.

These aimed at creating awareness about evils of the rising population under the guidelines of Population Education Cell, State Institute of Science Education, Punjab, and Chandigarh.

Over 100 students took part in the programme. Santosh Kumari, Karmjit Kaur, Anju Bala, Jasvir Kaur and Jaskiran Kaur were the judges for these competitions.

Prof Baldev Singh and Prof Gurkirpal Singh conducted the quiz competition, in which four teams participated. Bagging 50, 40 and 20 points out of 80, Sanju and Deepika of Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Kiranpreet Kaur and Jasmeen Kaur of Swami Roop Chand Jain Senior Secondary Public School and Harleen Kaur and Rajdeep Kaur of New Punjab Public School stood first, second and third, respectively.

In the declamation contest, Bhupinder Singh of Government Senior Secondary School, Jagdeep Kaur of Swami Roop Chand Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Renu Bala of Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School and Harleen Kaur of New Punjab Public School stood first, second, third respectively.

In singing, Neha Chawla of Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School, Harleen Kaur of New Punjab Public School, Rajbir Kaur of Sikh Girls Senior Secondary School and Jasbir Singh of Swami Roop Chand Jain Senior Secondary Public School bagged first, second and third positions.

In essay-writing, Harleen of New Punjab Public School, Shallu of Sanmati Vimal Jain Senior Secondary Public School and Bhupinder Singh of Government Senior Secondary School (Boys) stood first, second and third. Similarly, Swarnjit Kaur and Jasmeen Kaur of Government Senior Secondary got first and third positions. Amritpreet Kaur of New Punjab Public School stood second in the painting competition.

Prof Baldev Singh, vice-principal, DIET, distributed prizes to the winners. He encouraged the students to develop a rational outlook in life and be aware of the downsides of the increasing population. 

Ludhiana, August 2
While lifestyle modifications can prevent the incidence of diabetes, some simple tests and investigations can prevent secondary complications of the condition.

This was stated by Dr Surendra Gupta, secretary, local branch of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) while speaking at a free diabetes screening camp, organised in collaboration with the Diabetes-Free World in Shivpuri here today.

A team of NIMA doctors, comprising Dr Surendra Gupta, Dr Rajesh Thapar, Dr Inder Sharma and Dr KK Kharbanda, examined patients and prescribed necessary medicines which were provided free of cost.

Interacting with patients, Dr Gupta said the rate at which diabetes patients were increasing in India, particularly in Punjab, diabetes care clinics were the need of the hour.

It was so because each and every diabetes specialist as well as family physician needed a lot of expertise to tackle hyperglycemia on one hand and take timely preventive measures against its complications like hypertension, coronary heart disease, retinal damage of eyes and kidney failure.

He said diabetic patients required a few simple investigations on regular basis to get fair evaluation of the disease status.

Simple examination of urine for albumin (a type of protein) can give advance information of renal (kidney) damage.

Vibration and electrical impulse-based test is an effective tool to detect neuropathy or nerve damage. Timely dietary supplements and anti-oxidant vitamin-based medicines can reverse this neuropathy and thus save the patient from burning and numbness in the feet, which could often lead to development of diabetic foot, a condition which sometime requires amputation of feet or leg in diabetes patients.

As far as prevention of type-II diabetes was concerned, Dr Gupta said it could be assured by making certain minor lifestyle changes which included consumption of low calorie, high fibre nutritious diet, changing gear of physical activities (from sedentary to active one).

Adopting a positive attitude towards life also helps.

Some other simple measure like taking food at fixed time could prove to be an insurance against incidence of high blood sugar.

Similarly, persons

who have obesity, high lipids and uric acid in blood, indulge in smoking or consume alcohol, need to lose weight and give up habits of smoking and drinking.

All these steps assure a diabetes-free life, even in those having family history of type-II diabetes.

Ludhiana, August 2
The B.Ed Teachers Front today protested against the non-implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report and burnt an effigy of Punjab Education Minister Upinderjit Kaur.

Harvinder Singh, president, B.Ed Teachers Front, and member Ajit Pal Singh pointed out that the primary teachers were being paid Rs 4,550 and service providers Rs 5,400.

The teachers demanded that they should be given new grades recommended by the Fifth Pay Commission. They added that they would take out a state-level rally on August 9 at Kapurthala, outside the residence of Upinderjit Kaur.

Ludhiana, August 2
Students of MSc (Maths), Khalsa College for Women, Civil Lines, Ludhiana, brought laurels to the college by topping in annual examinations conducted by Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Jeevandeep Kaur topped in the university by securing 443 marks out of 500. Baldeep Kaur stood fourth in the university with 426 marks, Shweta Sharma and Vandana got seventh and ninth positions by securing 409 and 401 marks, respectively. Eleven students have scored more than 70 per cent marks.

Jagraon, August 2
The recent rains in the town have taken its toll on the Jagraon judicial complex. Though most parts of the town also bore the rain brunt, visitors to the judicial and the subdivisional courts were, particularly, a harried lot as the judicial courts and SDM court had no approaching route at all that was not waterlogged.

Raghubir Singh Toor, Bar president, working committee, and other advocates today narrated their tales of woes. Many visitors, including old-age persons, had fallen in the court complex due to slippery conditions.

He added that mosquito larva was breeding in a big way in the complex and the advocates feared an outbreak of an epidemic or a disease due to these. The main problem was waterlogging as the level of surrounding areas being higher. As a result, the rainwater was not drained out, causing the problems.

Jagraon SDM Mukand Singh said instructions had been issued to the municipal authorities to immediately solve the problem of waterlogging in the court. 

Jagraon, August 2
Lok Sewa Society, an NGO, has decided to plant 300 saplings within two months.

Baba Avjinder Singh inaugurated the plantation drive at Nanaksar Kelaran by planting a sapling yesterday. Baba Avjinder appreciated the step taken by the NGO in keeping the surroundings clean and green.

Society chairman Gulshan Arora and president Kulbhushan Gupta said the saplings would be planted by school principals at crematoriums, road dividers, play grounds, parks and on the side of the roads if needed. 

Ludhiana, August 2
Though the rains have been inadequate in the region, these have provided some reprieve in terms of power supply to the people, reeling under power cuts during the peak summer. However, the relief is purely temporary and long power cuts will be there to haunt the state for at least three more years when sources for generation of additional power will be available to Punjab.

These observations were made by KD Chaudhry, member (Distribution) of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), while presiding over a review meeting with officials of central zone here on Saturday.

He said as a direct result of rainfall all over the state, the demand for electricity from the agricultural sector had come down and, for the time being, all restrictions on power supply to various categories of consumers, including the industry, had been withdrawn. "All weekly offs on category III and IV feeders (industry) have been withdrawn and during peak hours also, the industrial units can use their sanctioned load in full."

On the proposed unbundling of the PSEB, for which last extension till September 15 has been granted by the Central government, Chaudhry said the PSEB had received no orders from the state government in this regard. Even otherwise, the decision had to be taken by the government and the PSEB would act as per directions of the state government.

Making a strong case for the upward revision of power tariff, he said the board had already filed a tariff revision petition with the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission and a favourable decision was expected to be taken in this connection. The PSEB is suffering a deficit of Rs 2,300 crore every year and hike in power tariff would help bridge this gap to some extent.

Stressing the need for power conservation, which had assumed greater importance in the wake of huge shortfall in availability and demand of electricity, he said the ongoing drive for replacement of traditional incandescent bulbs from the households and commercial establishments with compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) had yielded good results. People were still not going for CFLs in the desired manner only bacause these lamps were expensive.

"We are exploring the possibility of providing CFLs at highly subsidised cost through a special scheme, which could give a big impetus to power conservation."

Ludhiana, August 2
Members of the BSNL Employees’ Union staged a demonstration in front of the General Manager (Telecom) office on the call of the United Forum of BSNL Union for settling their long-pending demands.

Balwinder Singh, district secretary of the union, said implementation of promotion policy, immediate revision, fitment benefit on par with top executives, five year periodicity of wage revision, annual increment at the rate of 5 per cent on the basic pay be granted cumulatively for non-executives along with the revised pay scales, pay fixation on promotion and 50 per cent IDA mergers for pensioners were some of their major demands.

Addressing the gathering, Balbir Singh, circle secretary, Punjab, said the management was delaying the promotional policy and wage negotiations in violation of the agreements reached with the recognised union.

“The agreement for promotion was reached about eight months ago, but it has not been implemented so far. Negotiations with the management failed to yield the desired results,” he added.

The wage has not been revised since January 2007.

But, the management is not taking their demands seriously. Resentment prevails among the non-executives.

They will stage a dharna on August 8 followed by two days strike on August 19 and 20.

Ludhiana, August 2
Legal agreement seems to be of no importance for the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation as it blatantly violates the terms and conditions.

The latest target in the civic body's hitlist is the agreement between the MC and the Park Management Committees, (PMCs) signed on March 8, 2008, where the former has added a new clause of getting signatures of three municipal councillors to get payments.

The agreement states that for the payment of grant after one month, a demand letter certified by the area councillor concerned is required. For the polluted city, where the PMCs are the only hope for maintaing green cover, the diversion from legal document has irked the PMCs members, who have threatened to abandon the parks in August.

Talking to The Tribune, Federation of Pollution and Park Management Committees president S.S. Channa said, "The agreement clearly states that signatures of area councillor are required for payments of grants. But suddenly a clause has been added by the members of the Finance and Contracts Committee, stating that signatures of three councillors are required." They have no right to change rules.

He revealed that the PMCs had not been paid bills for the last month, citing this reason and if the MC would not abide by the agreement they would take the matter to the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

A senior officer from the horticulture wing said, "It's again a political gimmick that will affect the environment in the city. The document is a work of executive body of the MC and politicians have no write to play with it as the decision on PMCs could be taken by the Municipal Commissioner only."

At present, the city has 783 public parks under the charge of the MC and only 324 had been transferred to the PMCs till date. The PMCs are paid maintenance charges at the rate of Rs 1 per square meter.

"The members of federation have decided that we are going to wait till August and then we will desert parks which are lungs for the choking city. Its duty of the civic body to maintain public parks in every locality, but we have come forward to share the responsibility and if this is the way, who will care to give a helping hand to the MC," added Channa.

Ludhiana, August 2
Punjabi singer Dr Satinder Sartaj encharmed the audience with his melodious voice at “Mehfil-e-Sartaj”, which was organised by Punjabi Sabhayachar Academy, Alibe artistes group and Prof Manmohan Singh Memorial Foundation here yesterday.

The jam-packed auditorium at Guru Nanak Dev Bhawan had grand gathering of intellectuals, ranking officials, music lovers and exponents of Punjabi culture and language.

Dr Satinder Sartaj (PhD in Sufi music) was at his best and was welcomed by Ludhianvis.

Said Ashim, a music lover, said: “While listening to Satinder Sartaj, I could feel the whip of fresh air from the fields of Punjab and the camaraderie imbibed in simplicity of the rural folks of the land.”

It was the component of introspection that was evident in his poetic diction “Dil pehle jiha nahin reha eh kathor ho gaya, saiyan ve nagme nu far ke baithe aan”. Similarly, he touched the hearts of youth with his imagery of pastoral topography depicting the emotions of a Punjabi boy for his beloved.

Songs portraying bilateral ties between India and Pakistan and martyr Udham Singh drew applause from the audience.

The evening lasted for over three hours, as Sartaj could not say no to the “once more” requests by his ardent fans.

Ludhiana, August 2
More than 150 persons of different age groups took part in the Run for Fun, organised by a health club in here today.

The run was flagged off by Col H S Kahlon (retd). The participants covered a distance of about 10 km. They started from the club, passed through Ferozepur Road via Welkome Palace on the Malhar Road before finishing at the club.

Nishchay Sachdeva said the run was organised to motivate the people to exercise regularly in order to stay fit and healthy. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 2
Recognising the role of social and political leaders in curbing anti-social elements disguised as radical religious leaders, the police has called upon office-bearers of these organisations to join hands with the administration to launch a crusade against rebellious elements.

Police officials have been directed to keep a vigil on the activists of the radical organisations who might exploit the sentiments of innocent residents on the pretext of recent incidents of violence in Mansa and Patiala district.

Claiming that earlier crackdowns on anti-social elements had only been possible due to valuable information provided by a few social leaders, SSP Ludhiana (Rural) Gurpreet Singh Bhullar maintained that the police had succeeded in saving numerous lives by taking prompt action on being tipped off.

“Had we not received vital information about misdeeds of Baba Balvir Singh Lamme Jattpura, he along with his accomplice could have harmed other religious leaders. Earlier, we had seized explosives and detonators from their possession and now the management of the religious place has found two 12 bore pistols from a room once occupied by Baba Balvir Singh,” said Bhullar adding onus of the weapons seized lies on Balvir Singh who along with two others is languishing in a Nabha jail.

Malerkotla DSP Gurpreet Singh Sikand disclosed that Sangrur district police chief Naunihal Singh had directed the cops to increase the vigil in their respective areas. Emphasis was laid on reviewing security arrangements at places where ‘shakhas’ and meetings of saffron outfits were arranged.

The areas houses sizable population of Dera Sacha Sauda followers also. A large number of “premis” visit Nam Charcha Ghars at Jagera, Jalaldiwal and Gahaur daily. Uneasy calm prevailed in and these deras. Though the police had not prohibited activists from entering the dera, premis are staying away from it these days. 

Ludhiana, August 2
Ajay Mehra excelled with ball (6 for 17) to fashion hosts Government Model Senior Secondary School, PAU, to score 51-run win over Government Senior Secondary School, Mangat, and entered the semifinal of the ongoing Ludhiana Inter-School Zonal Cricket Tournament (u-19) being organised by the Punjab education department at Government Model School, PAU, here today.

Government Model School, PAU, won the toss and chose to bat first. In the 16 overs, they scored 103 for the loss of six wickets. The main contributors were Joban (36) and Shivam Passi (26). For Government School, Mangat, Sunil and Latif were the main bowlers, claiming two wickets each while Surinder scalped one victim.

In reply, Government School, Mangat, were all out for 52 runs. Vinod Kumar could reach double figure with 20 runs.

For the winners, Ajay Mehra took six wickets for 17 runs to help the hosts clinch the issue.

In another match, Government Multipurpose School, beat Government Senior Secondary School, Haibowal Khurd, by three wickets.

Government Multipurpose School scored 72 runs for 9 wickets in 16 overs (Kuldeep-19 and Munish-14). For Government School, Gurwinder captured three wickets for 8 runs.

Government Multipurpose School achieved the target after losing 7 wickets with Gurinder and Inderpreet Singh scoring 12 and 11 runs, respectively.

The successful bowlers for the losers were Munish (3) and Amit (2).

Ludhiana, August 2
Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, defeated Sacred Heart Convent School, Sarabha Nagar, by 10-wicket to emerge champions in the Ludhiana-II Inter-School Zonal Cricket Tournament (u-14) organised by the Punjab Education Department at Baba Ishar Singh Senior Secondary School.

Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School won the toss and invited Sacred Heart Convent to bat. Their decision yielded the desired results since Sacred Heart Convent batsmen found themselves struggling and the innings folded at 38 runs in the stipulated 10 overs. Zuber and Ishan contributed seven runs each.

For Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Ishan Aggarwal, Anirudh and Raghav restricted their opponents for just 38 runs.

The target turned out to be a small one, as Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School surpassed the total in just four overs with Ishan Aggarwal (25) and Anirudh (3) remaining unbeaten. Sacred Heart Convent School bowlers conceded 11 extras also.

Sister Sobel, principal, Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, appreciated the students becoming champions. She felicitated the team’s manager and the sports department.

NRI Sports Club comes to footballer’s aid 
Mahesh Sharma

Mandi Ahmedgarh, August 2
The NRI Sports Club, led by Gurinder Jit Singh Gorayan, has decided to financially support Jagdeep Kaur, winner of three gold medals in the All-India Inter-University Football Championship. She had decided to abandon her practice as the authorities of the sports department had failed to support her.

Besides providing Rs 10,000 per month for pursuing her sports career, the association will spend Rs 3 lakh getting her house reconstructed. Her father had died after one of the walls of his house fell on him about two months ago.

Appreciating Jagdeep Kaur outstanding performance in numerous tournaments at the national and international level, Gorayan said the association decided to adopt the Jagdeep after overseas media highlighted her plight. The organisation had already adopted 21 other needy sportspersons.

“We have appointed presidents for almost all districts of Punjab and each chief is supposed to sponsor needy sportsmen from his area. Kuldeep Singh Sahota, president for Hoshiarpur district, has come forward to adopt Jagdeep Kaur,” said Gorayan.

Jagdeep Kaur had started playing football while she was studying in Class VI at Government Senior Secondary School, Butahri. Darshan Singh Khatra, the physical training instructor, had inspired her to do so. While as a student of HMV College, Jalandhar, she won three gold medals in the All-India Inter-University Sports Meet and represented India in Asian Games in 2005 and 2007. She won various matches in Senior National Games also.

She was on a lookout for a job that could help her widowed mother to run the family. All her appeals for the financial aid have fallen on deaf ears. It was on these grounds that she had decided to abandon her practice.

“But when the association has decided to financially support her, I wish my younger brother and sister should also continue their studies and start practicing for sports of their choice,” said Jagdeep.

Manjit Kaur, mother of the footballer, was proud of her daughter who had brought laurels to the family and the village.