Sultanpur Lodhi, March 6
Several villagers led by the sarpanch, all belonging to the Kamboj community, allegedly demolished two houses of the Dalits at Mewa Singh Wala village falling under Sultanpur Lodhi subdivision of Kapurthala district.

Sarpanch Kuldip Singh is reportedly a Congress supporter and he allegedly demolished the temporarily constructed houses as the Dalits had not voted in favour of the Congress candidate during the elections.

The houses were reportedly temporarily constructed on the land provided to the Dalits by the Badal government in 2001.

Confirming the incident, DSP Puskar Sandal said seven persons, including the sarpanch, were booked for demolishing the houses. No one was living in these houses at present, he added.

According to information, five-marla plots were allotted to each of the 10 Dalit families in the village in 2001 with the condition that the houses would be constructed within six months.

However, none of the families construct the houses.

Two Dalits, Kulwant Singh and Harvinder Singh, did some temporarily construction on their plots a few months back.

Taking the plea, the sarpanch along with some villages razed their houses with the help of a tractor-trailer on Monday.

The DSP said the sarpanch and some other villagers had taken law into their own hands by demolishing the houses.

An FIR under Sections 447, 427, 379, 148 and 149 of IPC and Section 3 (10) of the Atrocities on SC/ST Act was lodged against the sarpnach and six others on the joint complaint of Kulwant Singh and Harvinder Singh, he added.

One of the accused, Sadhu Singh, was arrested, while the six others are at large. 

Jalandhar, March 6
Claiming that the union budget failed to enthuse the industrialists, Sushma Berlia, President, PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), urged the Finance Minister to make taxes unified.

She also laid stress on reforms besides a way out for checking inflation.

Talking to the mediapersons after a prize distribution function at Apeejay College of Fine Arts here, Berlia said, “One has to follow a crazy route of calculations. With service tax, fringe benefit tax and other newer forms of taxes, the assessment has become too complex. Industrialists have been making different interpretations, computing and re-computing the taxes in various ways.”

Maintaining that supply constraint was the root cause of inflation, she said that the government must act immediately to ensure more crop productivity by means of agricultural reforms. She also showed concern towards soaring prices of cement and steel.

Also the Vice-President of Apeejay Education Society, Berlia said that the industry also wanted a quality human resource for which the ITIs and vocational institutes must be revamped.

She said that she felt pleased to know that the Finance Minister mentioned that a part of budget would also be spent for training teachers but she cautioned that the money be used wisely or else it would mean recycling incompetence.

She said that the Apeejay University which the society had been planning was still a far-fetched dream as she was still waiting for any government support or change of policies for the private institutes.

Hoshiarpur, March 6
Bringing respite to a harried truck-owner who was allegedly denied a claim by the National Insurance Company Limited (NICL), the District Consumer Forum ruled that the company in question should pay Rs 8 lakh to Gurmail Singh of Chak Narihal village in the Mahilpur segment as part of its service agreement. The insurance company now has to pay an annual interest of nine per cent on the ordered sum along with a litigation expense of Rs 1,000.

In one of the speedy disposal, the District Consumer Forum of Hoshiarpur, headed by P. D. Goel, ordered the NICL to recognise Gurmail Singh’s complaint as genuine.

Gurmail Singh had filed a complaint with the forum wherein he stated that his truck had been insured with the NICL.

The complaint further read that the truck was totally damaged when some miscreants set the truck on fire when it was the way to Sri Rampur from Guwahati.

However, the insurance company denied him reimbursement, claiming that the driver of the vehicle was not in possession of a licence at the time of the incident.

The forum in its ruling held that legality of the driving licence possessed by the driver has no relevance as far as this case is concerned.

It further added that this was a case of ‘deficiency in service’ on part of the insurance company.

The forum also directed the NICL to deduct the scrap value of Rs 81,510 of the vehicle and policy excess amounting to Re 1,500 from the amount in the case of non-deposit of salvage by the complainant.

Jalandhar, March 6
Besides a Chandigarh Transport Corporation (CTU) bus, the state transport department today challaned three Haryana Roadways and 50 private buses for ‘illegal plying’ in the state.

The department has sought an explanation from the CTU for running the buses in the state on the basis of temporary permit for months. The buses were challaned on the Jalandhar-Amritsar and Jalandhar-Ludhiana routes.

The department is claiming to have cracked the modus operandi of the CTU for running buses on the basis of temporary permits. The CTU bus was challaned on the instructions of the Jalandhar-based secretary to the Regional Transport Authority.

“The modus operandi was under observation for the past few months. The bus was challaned in order to send a message to the CTU,” said a department official.

The transport department asked the CTU to deposit the requisite special road tax for the offence, said the official. — TNS

Nawanshahr, March 6
Seeking to ensure qualitative improvement in the field of school education, Joginder Singh Aulakh, president, Gazetted Educational School Services Association, has urged the state government to initiate the process of filling the vacant posts in the Education Department.

Laying stress on the new appointments and promotions, he stated that the posts of director, deputy director, DEO, principal of In-Service Training Centres and DIETs and subject experts had been lying vacant for the past many years.

Besides, about 90 per cent of the schools had been functioning without permanent principals, Joginder Singh Aulakh said.

He said these delays in the decision-making process had become the cause of resentment among school officials.

Jalandhar, March 6
Parents living in the villages should pay special attention towards providing proper education to their daughters, said Himachal Pradesh Governor Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje while presiding over the annual prize distribution function of Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidayala here today.

The Governor said an educated woman could help in creating a better society that was why there the girls should be provided proper education.

Principal P.P. Sharma read out the annual report of the college.

Batala, March 6
The annual prize distribution function of the RR Bawa DAV College for Girls, Batala, was held in the college today. Mr T.R. Gupta, secretary, DAV college managing committee, New Delhi, was the chief guest. — OC