 |
|
|
|
|
||||
|
10 years on, law catches up with murder accused
Ludhiana, July 28 The gang leader, Sushil Kumar, alias Sheela Kanna, used to catch gang members young. Most of the arrested members were in their early 20s after being a part of the gang for the past several years. The youngest one, Lovely, used for identifying the vulnerable spots, was just a teenager. Kotwali SHO Harjinder Singh revealed that the gang had made elaborate plans of striking at several places in the city. The police acted just in the nick of time to put them behind bars. A large number of victims of the alleged gang came to the police
station for identification of the accused. The family of Mr Ravi Kanda, a lineman with the Punjab State Electricity Board, whose 14-year-old son, Dipu, was killed 10 years ago, were quite emotional at the arrest. Family sources said 10 years was a long time to wait for the arrest of the accused and the family had given up. The SHO said three other accomplices of the accused, Besides Sheela and Lovely , other gang members were Badal, Raju, Rahul, Subot Kumar, Babbal Mishra and Ram Pal. The police have recovered two Maruti cars, a van, a toy pistol, five knives and a baseball bat. The SHO said besides looting people at gunpoint, the modus operandi of the gang included targeting locked houses and shops. The teenager, Lovely, used to roam in the streets selling stitched suits. He used to look for locked houses or vulnerable places. The gang had indulged in theft of clothes from AC Market in May this year, burglary in a hosiery at Kutcha Baily Ram, another burglary in a Manna Singh Nagar hosiery, theft in a house in Model Town, another one at a house in Qadian Road, besides snatching jewellery from a woman at Brown Road in April 2003.
|
|
Killer of six in police net
Amloh, July 28 He was wanted by the police in several cases of murder. The police claimed to have recovered a countrymade pistol with four live cartridges. The police has registered a case under the Arms Act. The alleged criminal, after committing the murder of Gurcharan Singh of Tana village in 1991, threw the body in the fields. He was awarded life imprisonment in the case, but escaped. He was declared a proclaimed offender by the court. In another act of brutality, he murdered Ishar Singh, son of Natha Singh, a resident of Chandra Kalan under Patran police station in Patiala, by inflicting severe injuries on his body. In yet another case, Gursewak Singh murdered Janak Raj Khatri, a resident of Kotla Ajner village. He was wanted by the police. When Baljit Kaur, a resident of Rauni village, sister of the alleged criminal, asked him about the whereabouts of her three sons — Harvinder Singh, alias Binda (7), Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sukhi (5) and Manpreet, alias Mani (2) — who were taken by him to Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa (Haryana), he first remained silent but gradually confessed: “you along with your children were a burden on me. I killed them and threw them into a canal”. On the statement of Baljit Kaur, the police registered a case. The body of Manpreet (2) was found from the canal in Mansa district on June 27, 1998. But the other two bodies could not be traced.
|
|
Five booked for kidnap bid
Khanna, July 28 When they neared Cheema Chowk, some persons came in a Zen car and picked up one of the youths and ran away. Later, the car was found by the police and impounded. The police recorded the statements of both parties. A case was registered on the complaint of restaurant owner Bharpur Singh, Ravi, Manpreet, Manvir, Amaninder, Balwinder, Monu, Kaka, Sarbjit, Pawan and Deepak under Sections 452, 342, 427 and 506. The police also registered a case under Sections 365, 307, 511, 148, 149 and 506 against Bharpur Singh, Amaninder, Patwinder, Gurdeep Jagtar and some unidentified persons.
|
|
Passing Thru
Why are you against the Punjab Government proposal to provide free power to poor farmers and families below poverty line?
Sops like free power are seldom availed by those who are actually supposed to be benefited by them. In most of the cases the populist schemes are misused. In case of free power, electricity board faces the danger of suffering a financial crunch. Still if state government thinks that the scheme would help people at the grassroot level it should go ahead. The Planning Commission has no objections. What should be done to strengthen the economy of Punjab? Close coordination between agriculture and industry is needed to accelerate economic growth in the country. With our economy primarily based on agriculture, it is important that we take due care of agriculture along with the industry. What is the Planning Commission doing regarding health of agriculture in Punjab? The Planning Commission takes a strong notice of the suicides by debt-ridden farmers, depleting water table and people shying away from taking up agriculture as their profession. In my opinion, diversification is the only solution to all problems. Farmers have to come out of wheat-paddy monoculture and switch over to high cash crops. — Kanchan Vasdev |
|
Decision on DCC (urban) chief in Sept
Ludhiana, July 28 The party was organising a number of programmes in August including the death anniversary of the former Chief Minister, Mr Beant Singh, at Kotli village in Payal and a political conference at Issru in memory of Shaheed Karnail Singh Issru. With the result the PCC President had reportedly kept the issue of leadership in Ludhiana and some other districts in abeyance. Mr Dullo had gone on record to say that he did not have any prejudices against anyone. He said he would thoroughly examine the working of the existing team of party office-bearers and only then take a final decision. The efforts of the DCC Presidents in ensuring the success of different party programmes would play an important role in their continuance in the office. Meanwhile, a number of aspirants have started lobbying with the PCC President, some even in Delhi with the party high command, for the prestigious job in the district. These include Mr Pawan Dewan and Mr Parminder Mehta, two former district Youth Congress presidents, Mr Amarjit Singh Tikka, senior vice-president of the Pradesh Youth Congress, Pappi Prashar, general secretary of the PCC, Mr Ramesh Joshi, a secretary in the PCC and a number of others. Most of the aspirants are young and have been associated with the Youth Congress or continue to be associated with it. Mr Dullo is understood be interested in appointing a young and fresh face so that the party cadres are actively mobilised since there has not been much activity in the party during the last few years. However, everybody will have to wait till September.
|
|
Poor sanitation in Rajguru Nagar Colony
Ludhiana, July 28 The trust authorities, in a bid to assuage the residents, repaired the main road. However, there are many roads in the colony which have not been repaired. Mr Anant Ram Gupta, vice-president, and Mr Charanjit Singh Aulakh, counsellor of the Rajguru Nagar Welfare Society, said today that the colony was also facing a shortage of drinking water. Two motors of the tubewells in the colony had gone out of order, as a result of which the residents were facing water shortage. They further said that huge wild growth of congress grass had come up all along the roads, which was a breeding ground for snakes. Besides, the debris all along the newly constructed houses was also lying on both sides of the roads, presenting an ugly look to an otherwise posh residential colony of the city. Mr Gupta and Mr Aulakh have called upon the authorities of the improvement trust to take immediate remedial measures. The cuts on roads have been made by those who are undertaking the construction of the houses, but they were not taking steps to repair the roads.
|
|
Women welcome SC order on Gill
Ludhiana, July 28 Ms Monika, a school teacher, appreciated Ms Bajaj for being courageous and setting an example for other women. She said Ms Bajaj could have remained tight-lipped and the episode could have been easily ignored. “But she was bold enough to make it public and maintained her self-respect. Law is equal to everyone and it has been proved in the order of the SC. Mr Gill misbehaved with a woman and has been found guilty by the law. It is a lesson to women that they should not tolerate anybody’s non-sense,” said Ms Monika. Ms Rati Ahuja, an employee of a multinational bank, said she hailed the order. “Ms Bajaj, though an IAS officer, got justice after such 18 years. She faced everything with courage but if it was some other woman, she could have compromised with the situation,” she said, adding that the women should learn to safeguard their rights. “Ms Bajaj should be given a pat for being so gutsy. She never gave it up and fought till the end. It is very easy to malign the reputation of a woman but women, instead of keeping mum, should bring the culprits to book,” said Ms Ahuja. A social-activist, Ms Pappo Abnash Singh, however, said the issue could have easily been sorted out much before, without going public on the sensitive matter. “The matter could have been solved at the personal level. The media always highlighted the issue on front pages and maligned Mr Gill’s reputation. But the supercop had done a great job for the people of Punjab by saving them from the clutches of militancy. His reputation should not be maligned like this. Ms Bajaj and Mr Gill could have sorted out everything amicably,” she said.
|
||
|
Now e-payment of excise duty
Ludhiana, July 28 Giving this information at a press conference here today, Mr
V.K. Garg, Commissioner of Central Excise, said seven banks had been notified to collect electronic payment of taxes and duties. These were the Union Bank of India, ICICI Bank, IDBI Bank, HDFC Bank, UTI Bank, Punjab National bank and State Bank of India. The facility would be 24x7 and assessees would be able to make payment any time of the day. All payments received till 8 pm would be accounted for the day itself and those made thereafter be considered as receipt for the next working day. According to Mr Garg, the procedure of e-payment was extremely simple. “After obtaining a user ID and password, the taxpayer can login through the Internet to secure banking and pay all taxes. On successful validation, an automatic challan is generated as proof of payment.” The facility would be available to all taxpayers who were in possession of PAN based on a 15-digit assessee code or customers with an Internet banking ID of respective bankers. The Commissioner made an appeal to all assessees of the Central Excise and Service Tax to make use of facility which would help ensure prompt and efficient service while at the same time bringing improvement in the relationship between the department and the taxpayers. Mr Garg observed that the big
assessees, paying an annual revenue of more than Rs 1 crore were already being provided the electronic facility for submission of data of weekly production, clearance and exports, as also filing returns and making payments. “This data is available instantly at the highest level in the commissionerate which enables the department to keep abreast of prevailing trends in the industry and to address the problems, if any, without any loss of time.” |
||
|
Gurgaon episode ‘condemnable’
Ludhiana, July 28 It demanded that Honda management, should take back all retrenched workers, reach an agreement with the workers Union and the Haryana Government should release the arrested workers. The right to demonstrate is a basic right of the workers in a democratic set up. The workers of Honda Factory were absolutely peaceful and were without any stick or lahti. “The provocation seems to be from the police. Moreover, the question arises as to who ordered a lathi-charge. There was no duty magistrate and the police beat the workers in such a brutal manner that it surpassed police cruelty during the British Raj.” The Northern Railway Pensioners’ Welfare Association has also condemned the action of the police.
|
|
Kanwarias’ arduous journey for Ganga water
Ludhiana, July 28 Devotees of Lord Shiva may undertake the journey by bus or by train but once they get water from the Ganga, they have to walk back carrying the holy water. Even when they retire for the night, their colourfully draped pots can not be placed on the ground. These are hung up on trees. On their return journey many people arrange langars for them. Ludhiana Tribune caught up with a contingent of Kanwarias led by Mr Raj Kumar Garg from Ferozepore. He said, “It is our family tradition to undertake this journey in the month of Sharavan. My father took the journey for 50 years to get water, I have been getting the holy water for the past 20 years. I started the journey with Shiv devotees on July 17 by train. There were 10 lakh Kanwarias in Hardwar. The administration stopped the vehicular traffic near the Ganga so that we could move freely. After collecting holy water, we started homeward journey on July 19. We stopped for 13 times to take rest, but we took utmost care to keep our holy water safe. In Ludhiana, we stayed in Community Centre in Aggar Nagar. We will reach Ferozepore on August 1.” Mr Garg will pour water on Shiv’s idol in Shivla Mandir situated in Ferozepore Cantonment. He said that temple was 250 years old. In the city too, the Shiv Shakti Club will undertake its 13th journey on foot from July 29 from Sangla Wala Shivala. On August 3, they will assemble at Gita Temple in Daresi and from there the Shiv devotees will reach the ancient Sangla Wala Shivla and offer holy water to the idol of Lord Shiva .
|
|
Affidavit process made easier
Raikot, July 28 The SDM office here extended the facility to the residents of this area recently. Any resident of the area having a proof of identity can get the affidavit attested by the authorities, including Executive Magistrate, Tehsildar and Naib-Tehsildars. The document carries a computer-generated photograph of the deponent, which minimises the chances of submitting a false affidavit. “Now, the onus of proving his identity will lie on the deponent and elected representatives, including councillors, sarpanches and lambardars, will be saved from their unwanted involvement in frequent false identifications for no fault of theirs,” said Mr Prem Chand, SDM. The SDM said the decision to issue computer-generated affidavits was taken after complaints were received about exploitation of deponents at the hands of agents.
|
|
Probe into steel import resented
Ludhiana, July 28 Due to low prices of China’s flat products like HR coil, the inventories of steel producers are building up. Cheap HR coil is being received from CIS countries and some quantity from Iran. In the international market, the fall in the prices of HR coil is very heavy — about 35 per cent, but on the domestic front, the fall is hardly 18 per cent. The coverage prices of HR coil in the country are hovering around Rs 22,000 to Rs 25,000 per tonne.
|
|
Close shave for scribes; case against ETO
Samrala, July 28 The accident occurred when the car in which the correspondents were travelling was hit by a private bus after being suddenly signalled to stop by the ETO,for checking. Ram Gopal Sofat, a reporter of Punjab Today looking after the Khanna area, who was driving the car, has lodged a report with the police, charging the ETO with negligence. The car was badly damaged in the incident. The Samrala Press Club has sought legal action against the ETO.
|
|
|
SDM takes stock of civic amenities
Amloh, July
28 Mr Som Nath, president of the Class IV Employees Union
said there were only 6 regular safai sevaks in the town and they had to
lift garbage also. He demanded that part-time employees should be put on
the MC rolls. The Administrator said street lights would be installed in
Ward No. 4.
|
|
|
Land mortgage bank elections
Samrala, July 28
|
|
Minor girl traced
Ludhiana, July 28
|
|
Seminar on mergers
Mandi Gobindgarh, July 28
|
|
Housewife kills self
Jagraon, July 28
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
