J A L A N D H A R

Labour protest against police
Jalandhar, January 8
Demanding release of their eight members, the Pendu Mazdoor Union today began an indefinite protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today.

Members of the Pendu Mazdoor Union stage a dharna in Jalandhar on Monday. — Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Exporters for tax exemption
Phagwara, January 8
The Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters has urged the Union Government to give full service tax exemption on the foreign agent commission paid by Indian exporters. It also urged the Union Government to give full exemption on warehouse, courier, inland haulage and banking charges.

Manch spells out support terms
Phagwara, January 8
General Category candidates were being deprived of opportunity to contest elections in 120 Lok Sabha and 1,081 Assembly constituencies throughout the country due to the reservation policy. More than 20 crore voters of these constituencies have not been able elect candidates of their choice.

BJP candidate list after Jan 10
Jalandhar, January 8
The state BJP president, Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, said today that the party would announce the list of its candidates anytime between January 10 and 13. Talking to mediapersons here today, he said top leaders, including Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Sahib Singh Verma, would campaign in the state for the 23 seats that the party is contesting.

2 killed in accident
Jalandhar, January 8
Two persons were killed in a collision between two tempos on the GT Road, near the Dakoha railway crossing, here this morning. The deceased were identified as Faqir Chand and Prem Chand of Kapurthala.

Certificates distributed
Pathankot, January 8
The local unit of the Nehru Yuva Kendra organised a function here on Sunday. Mr Vikramjit Singh Gill, district coordinator, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Gurdaspur, distributed certificates among 50 persons who completed the courses conducted by the kendra. Mr Sudhir Chadha, a member of the district advisory committee, was honoured.

Power shutdown
Phagwara, January 8
Power supply will remain suspended in nearby Nangal Khera, Mauli, Pandwa, Gobindpura, Basant Nagar, Thakreke, Bhanoki Jagatpura Jattan and Chachoki villages from 9 am to 5 pm and to Hoshiarpur Road, Bhularai, Khurrampur, Khati, Khilwara and Kirti Nagar from 10 am to 3 pm on Tuesday due to urgent maintenance work.

Labour protest against police
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 8
Demanding release of their eight members, the Pendu Mazdoor Union today began an indefinite protest in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today.

Eight members of the union were lathicharged and arrested while holding a rally outside Master Gurbanta Singh Memorial Janta College, Kartarpur, where Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Deputy Chief Minister, was attending a function on December 15.

Mr Tarsem Peter, president of the union, said the arrested persons were holding a peaceful protest and had simply come to give a memorandum to Ms Bhattal, pertaining to their demand of giving free, unconditional power supply to Dalit families from September 2005 when they were arrested. Terming the act of police as “inhuman”, he demanded that the case be thoroughly probed and all guilty be brought to book.

Exporters for tax exemption
Tribune News Service

Phagwara, January 8
The Punjab Chamber of Small Exporters (PCSE) has urged the Union Government to give full service tax exemption on the foreign agent commission paid by Indian exporters. It also urged the Union Government to give full exemption on warehouse, courier, inland haulage and banking charges.

Talking to media persons here, Mr A.K. Kohli, senior vice-president, PCSE, said that there should be no tax on fringe benefits on export sale promotion services and product development. All the benefits as per the Punjab IT policy, should also be extended to all categories of exporters, especially those who are registered as 100 per cent export-oriented units with the Department of Industry and Commerce, Punjab, added Mr Kohli.

"It is a general demand from all the exporters, especially small-scale ones, producing hand tools, diesel engine pump sets and its parts, bicycle parts, tractor parts, auto parts, agricultural machinery and equipment and there should not be any discrimination among export units, like exporters under SEZ and EOU, which get income tax benefits for their units in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttaranchal, etc. as they are enjoying Central excise, income tax and other tax benefits. But the exporters who have set up their small-scale units in other parts of the country and are exporting good quantum of products, are not entitled to any such tax benefits like income tax, service tax, fringe benefit tax, concessional rate of transportation of exportable goods, etc," he said.

Manch spells out support terms
Tribune News Service

Phagwara, January 8
General Category candidates were being deprived of opportunity to contest elections in 120 Lok Sabha and 1,081 Assembly constituencies throughout the country due to the reservation policy. More than 20 crore voters of these constituencies have not been able elect candidates of their choice. This was alleged at a meeting of the General Samaj Manch, Punjab, held under the presidentship of Dr Ashok Sharma here today.

The Manch has decided to support only those candidates in the Punjab Assembly elections, who will announce their commitments to watch the interests of the General Category citizens.

In a resolution passed unanimously, the Manch has urged the Union Government to provide reservation only on economic basis ,instead of caste-based reservation. The meeting strongly condemned the decision of the Congress to support reservation for Muslims and the Shiromani Akali Dal for Christians.

Mr Sita Ram Kapoor, Dr RPS Virk, Mr Shiv Chopra Advocate, Mr Sham Lal Gupta and Mr Madan Mohan Bajaj also addressed the meeting.

BJP candidate list after Jan 10
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 8
The state BJP president, Mr Avinash Rai Khanna, said today that the party would announce the list of its candidates anytime between January 10 and 13.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said top leaders, including Mr L.K. Advani, Mr Rajnath Singh and Mr Sahib Singh Verma, would campaign in the state for the 23 seats that the party is contesting.

While Mr Khanna and Mr Vijay Sampla, state secretary, remained mum over the likelihood of seat allotment, former MLA Bhagat Chunni Lal has been quite vocal about being given ticket from the Jalandhar South constituency.

2 killed in accident
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 8
Two persons were killed in a collision between two tempos on the GT Road, near the Dakoha railway crossing, here this morning.

The deceased were identified as Faqir Chand and Prem Chand of Kapurthala. The injured were Sakhan, Buta Singh and Darshan, all residents of Danwind village in Kapurthala district, Kewal Singh of Nangal village and Kuvir Singh and Jodh Singh of Kotli Surat Mandir in Gurdaspur.

One of the vehicles coming from the Kapurthala side was ferrying three buffaloes that too died. A case was registered.

Certificates distributed
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, January 8
The local unit of the Nehru Yuva Kendra organised a function here on Sunday. Mr Vikramjit Singh Gill, district coordinator, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Gurdaspur, distributed certificates among 50 persons who completed the courses conducted by the kendra. Mr Sudhir Chadha, a member of the district advisory committee, was honoured.

Support

Sarpanches, panches and samiti members of the Sujanpur constituency announced to support Mr Raghunath Sahai Puri, Transport Minister, for his re-nomination from this constituency at a rally held at Phulpiara village on Monday. Mr Onkar Singh, block president, said they would not allow any one else nominated as a Congress candidate from this constituency. — OC

Power shutdown

Phagwara, January 8
Power supply will remain suspended in nearby Nangal Khera, Mauli, Pandwa, Gobindpura, Basant Nagar, Thakreke, Bhanoki Jagatpura Jattan and Chachoki villages from 9 am to 5 pm and to Hoshiarpur Road, Bhularai, Khurrampur, Khati, Khilwara and Kirti Nagar from 10 am to 3 pm on Tuesday due to urgent maintenance work.

This was stated in a press release issued by Sr Xen Sh Sanjeev Kumar here today. — OC