18072024-LT-01.qxd 7/17/2024 11:47 PM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune FARMERS SEEK PENSION FOR LABOURERS ABOVE 60 YRS FARMERS ALLEGE POOR WATER MANAGEMENT VICKY KAUSHAL, TRIPTII DIMRI PROMOTE THEIR FILM Members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) staged a dharna in Ludhiana on Wednesday. P2 Irked over reduced supply in Mehrajpur Minor, residents of Sito Gunno and Mehrana villages hold protest. P3 Dressed in ethnic Punjabi attire, the Bad Newz star cast took Chandigarh by storm. P4 » » FORECAST GENERALLY CLOUDY MAX 36°C | MIN 27°C YESTERDAY MAX 36°C | MIN 29°C SUNSET THURSDAY 7.24 PM SUNRISE FRIDAY 5:33 AM » THURSDAY | 18 JULY 2024 | LUDHIANA Ban on single-use plastic items goes for a toss, authorities fail to take action Shivani Bhakoo Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 17 Though the state government had already banned single-use plastic items around two years ago, the same are being used by traders and residents openly in the various parts of the state despite the ban. Futile attempts were made by the state government time and again, but regretfully, nothing fruitful was achieved as single-use plastic products were widely utilised in marketplaces, places of worship, community langars, social gatherings, etc. Randomly, this correspondent called a few shopkeepers to ask if plastic products were available with them. One of the attendants at a leading showroom near Kailash Chowk said both plastic and paper products were available. “Disposable plastic plates were available for Rs 25 per 100 pieces, spoons Rs 65 for 100 pieces, glasses for Rs 40 for 45 pieces. Quantity is not an issue,” said the attendant. When asked if usage of the same could bring trouble as plastic products were banned, the Residents and traders have been using polythene bags and other plastic items openly in Ludhiana despite the ban. INDERJEET VERMA Ludhiana, July 17 Though Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU) is claiming to got remarkably good response to its newly introduced BTech food science and technology programme, the letter written to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann by the founder dean, College of Dairy Science and Technology of the university regarding starting of the programme in violation of the University Act has created a turmoil and confusion among students. In the letter written to the Chief Minister, Dr Onkar Singh Parmar, founder dean, has pointed out various anomalies from violating the mandate of the university to appointments of unqualified/under qualified faculty in various departments of the university. The starting of BTech (Food Tech), which would cover processing and value addition technologies of various agriculture produce and was not covered in the University Act and the starting of the programme in the College of Dairy Science and Technology was completely in violation of the Punjab Act 16 of 2005, Dr Parmar stated in the letter. “There is only one Dairy Science and Technology College in the state. The starting of the Vet varsity VC terms allegations baseless, says programme got overwhelming response food technology programme in the dairy science college will drastically effect the BTech(DT} programme as the college has been provided limited faculty. As a result, the university has not started the dairy business management and PhD programmes in all disciplines. Moreover, no research and extension faculty has been provided so far to the College of Dairy Science & Technology, Dr Parmar said. He alleged that the new programme had been started in violation of the University Act not to meet any scarcity in trained manpower in food technology but to protect the interests of some unqualified/under qualified teachers appointed in the college. He alleged that in different departments, deserving candidates were rejected to make way for the unqualified/under qualified faculty, mostly from the parent state of the VC, for the reason best known to the authorities. Dr RS Sethi, Dean, College of Dairy and Food Science Technology, said with the globalisation of the food If the common man was easily getting all banned plastic products, what are law-enforcing agencies waiting for and not taking action against violators. ing agencies waiting for and not taking action against violators? Rajiv Jain, who had a plastic manufacturing unit that was shut due to the ban on plastic products in the state, rued that the authorities had failed to curb the usage, stocking and marketing of the plastic items. “The plastic products are coming from other states such as Gujarat and Haryana and are stocked Wait for rain relief Girls carry umbrellas to protect themselves from the scorching sun in Ludhiana. ASHWANI DHIMAN by traders in bulk outside city areas. If the authorities are not able to curb the usage, marketing of the product, why they are asking manufacturers not to run their units. Either there should be a complete ban on everything or the products should be allowed,” he said. Meanwhile, the singletime plastic plates, spoons and glasses are being used all over at community kitchens and get-togethers. The authorities have failed to take any strict action against violators. Rahul Tiwari, Administrative Secretary, Depart- ment of Science, Technology and Environment, under which the PPCB comes, said for challaning, the Municipal Corporation Commissioner and officials in urban areas had been given powers as the PPCB was facing problem of staff crunch. Six of vehicle thieves’ gang nabbed Ludhiana, July 17 Congress leader Sushil Kapoor Lucky has started a hunger strike against shortage of staff and other issues at Civil Hospital due to which patients have to suffer. Lucky said the hospital lacks staff and some of the machines were also lying non-functional. “Our main demand is that more staff, including Class IV employees, should be recruited and infrastructure should be upgraded. The hospital caters to the entire district but it presents a sorry state of affairs,” he said. He said workers should be regularised, adding that he would continue his hunger strike till his demands were met. BJP youth wing leader Saurav Kapöor and workers of Dr Ambedkar Youth Sena had also extended their support to Lucky. — TNS No action taken due to LS poll, says MC chief Meanwhile, MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi said due to the Lok Sabha elections, entire focus was on poll but the department would again act against the menace and challan violators. Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 17 With the arrest of six persons, the Police Division 8 claims to have busted a gang, which had been involved in stealing two-wheelers from different areas of the city. The suspects include Harpreet Singh alias Happy, a resident of the Rahon Road area, Naresh Singh of the Jagirpur Road area, Jatin Sharma, a resident of the Rahon Road area, Sukhbir Singh, alias Sukhi, a resident of the Tibba Road area, Yash of the Rahon Road area and Suraj Kumar, a resident of Basti Jodhewal. The police have recovered six Honda Activa scooters and two motorcycles from the suspects. A case had already been registered against Suraj at the Tibba Road police station. The gang members in police custody in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO According to the police, the suspects first surveyed areas and then used to steal the twowheelers from such places. They also used to steal vehicles outside several public parks. The suspects were taken on police remand and are RTO clears pendency backlog, collects ~221.18-crore revenue Tribune News Service Ludhiana, July 17 In a major sigh of relief to the public, the Regional Transport Officer (RTO) has cleared the pendency backlog of driving licences (DLs), vehicle registration certificates (RCs) and all other allied services in Ludhiana district, the government has said. 64K driving licences issued, 52K new vehicles registered in 6 months Besides issuing almost 64,000 DLs of different forms, the RTO has also issued RCs to over 52,000 new vehicles registered in the district during the past six months, officials have revealed. With this, the RTO has collected a whopping revenue amounting to over Rs 221.18 crore. A huge rush of vehicles at the Mata Rani chowk in Ludhiana. PHOTO: ASHWANI DHIMAN It was done despite acute staff shortage and other shortcomings in the system. Most of the backlog cleared during the year was lying pending since previous years. RTO Randeep Singh told The Tribune here on Wednesday that pending files pertaining to various services related to DLs, RCs and other allied deliveries, which were complete in all respects and industry, there was a growing demand for food science professionals worldwide. “An undergraduate degree programme on food science technology has also being initiated by the National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal. The university had to increase the tentative admission strength of the first batch to 50 in view of heavy demand from students and all seats were filled in the first counselling,” said Dr Sethi. Dr Inderjeet Singh, ViceChancellor, said the program witnessed an unprecedented rush of admissions, surpassing the demand for other prominent programmes such as BFSc (Fisheries) and BTech Animal Biotechnology. “The programme has been further enhanced to include specialised courses on meat, egg and fish processing which are hallmarks of the university’s strength. This addition ensures students receive a holistic education, covering all major aspects of food science so that graduates will have better opportunities to work with multinational companies,” he said. He said all appointments in the university are done following the proper procedure and the allegations are baseless. “University’s faculty is from all parts of the country,” he said. — TNS Staff shortage at hospital: Cong leader holds fast EASY AVAILABILITY attendant said: ”No issues, you can use them openly”. Another shopkeeper in the Ghumar Mandi area said all single-time plastic products were available. “In case you need in bulk, please place an order so that we get the same from the godown,” the owner said. Ironically, if the common man was easily getting all “banned” products in no time, what are law-enforc- New food science course violated norms, founder dean tells CM were received till June 30, have been cleared, and the work was in full swing to clear the remaining pendency as well at the earliest. “The files lying pending at present at different stages are due to technical errors, redundant files or shortcomings at the level of applicants such as non-submission of complete documents, expired insurance, no HSRP , pending fines or not turning up for tests,” he said. The RTO said DL and RC applications received till June 30 had been processed with the issuance of relevant certificates to applicants while the documents at present lying pending at the scrutiny or verification stage were mostly delayed due to the shortcomings/ deficiencies at the level of applicants. c m y b Divulging the pendency reasons, the RTO detailed that almost 819 files of vehicle registration certificates were pending due to various reasons and were being cleared as and when the applicants were clearing shortcomings. Similarly, around 1,028 pending files of DLs were pending, of which 300 were delayed due to technical errors while others were pending due to incomplete tests. “The pending RC files, mostly those which were having errors of “HSRP not found” or pending fines, were being reverted back to the applicants for rectifying the mistakes at their level,” he revealed. According to official figures, as many as 1,028 files pertaining to various services related to the DLs and 819 cases of RCs for different purposes were in the course of issuance at various stages till June 30. When it comes to the issuance of the DLs, as many as 63,667 new DLs, including 42,353 learners, 20,216 regular and 1,098 international, were issued here between January 1 and June 30. Besides, 24,605 driving licences were renewed or re-issued with change in address or other corrections during the period. A total of 52,291 new vehicles were registered in the district during the past six months, of which the RCs were already issued to 51,472 applicants. Besides, the RTO office had approved a whopping 2,39,627 transactions for various services pertaining to RCs and DLs, of which 1,51,355 applications were processed for RCs and 88,272 applications were approved for DLs of all forms, including learner’s, regular, international, conductor, renewal, and others as well. Dubious past The office of the Ludhiana RTO has a dubious past. The then incumbent Narinder Singh Dhaliwal was arrested by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) for allegedly running an organised crime racket to collect money as bribes from transporters in 2022. During the probe of a complaint lodged at the C’s Anti-Corruption Action Line on November 18, 2022, the VB had found that he was indulged in collecting bribes through some private persons from different transporters on a monthly basis in Ludhiana on the pretext of not issuing challans of their vehicles. Following the arrest, the working of the RTO’s office had come to a standstill, which had led to the pendency of various services. being interrogated. The police said they were also probing involvement of other persons in vehicle theft cases. Two booked on abduction charge Ludhiana, July 17 The Police Division Number 6 has registered a case against Ashish Kumar, a resident of Guru Angad Colony, for allegedly eloping with a minor girl. A complaint has been lodged by the brother of the 16-year-old girl, who stated that on July 10, his sister went out from the vehra and did not return. The complainant said the suspect must had run away with his sister on the pretext of marriage. In a similar incident, the Focal Point police have registered a case against Rahul Tiwari for eloping with a 17year-old girl, a resident of Premier Complex, Neechi Mangli. The father of the victim complained that his daughter had gone missing since June 23. Her father suspects that the man had eloped with his daughter on the pretext of getting married to her. — TNS
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