Ludhiana, May 9
In a major case of tax evasion on wheat, the excise and taxation department has imposed a tax of Rs 28.01 lakh on three Jagraon-based flour mills. The three mills were attempting to evade purchase tax on wheat worth over Rs 7 crore.

The mills on which the tax has been imposed are Sai Roller Flour Mills, Mahalakshmi Flour Mill and Golden Wheat Floor Mill.

The department also imposed a tax to the tune of Rs 19 lakh on a works contractor here. The department, that is keeping a close eye on high-value transactions and tax evasions, has also sent notices to a large number of traders, asking them to get their VAT registration numbers.

The move is likely to add at least 5 per cent to 10 per cent to the existing number of 55,000 traders in Ludhiana.

For the first time here, the excise department is liaisoning with the central excise and income tax departments to obtain information on the details of assessees.

Sources said notices were sent in cases where the department from its own investigations found that the turnover exceeded Rs 5 lakh.

“We have sent notices to several people and have even imposed tax on many of them. The exercise would help us curb evasion and bring more people under the tax net,” a senior official told The Tribune.

Apart from the requirement of an annual turnover, exceeding Rs 5 lakh, the dealers who engage in purchases outside the state also have to apply for VAT within 30 days of such transactions.

The department has also been keeping a close eye on the ones having high-stock values.

“These have been the requirements, but people are not aware. Now that the department is observing tax evaders closely, it would add to revenues. People should come forward themselves in order to avoid any complication,” Jatinder Khurana of the Taxation Young Lawyers Association said.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 9
Taking cognizance of the mood of supporters of various zila parishad and block samiti candidates, the administration has declared 114 out of 282 polling stations of the six blocks of Kilaraipur, Jagraon and Raikot Assembly segments as sensitive.

More forces have been deputed in the area to combat any unsavoury situation.

As many as 114 polling stations at villages in Dehlon, Pakhowal, Sudhar, Raikot, Sidhwan Bet and Jagraon development blocks were declared sensitive at a joint meeting of civil and police officials.

The authorities claimed to have deputed additional forces at these booths.

Supporters of candidates owing allegiance to the SAD and the Congress have been levelling allegations and counter-allegations during their door-to-door campaign and public meetings for their respective candidates.

Congress leaders have also accused certain government officials of “coercing” people to cast their votes in favour of candidates belonging to the SAD.

Gurpreet Singh Bhullar, Ludhiana SSP (rural), said elaborate security arrangements had been made to ensure peaceful and fair conduct of elections on May 12.

About 1,700 security personnel have been deployed at 543 polling booths.

To keep vigil round the clock, 27 patrol parties, each constituting a head constable and three constables each, have been constituted.

The SSP called upon office-bearers of various social and political organisations to impress upon residents of their area not to succumb to any pressure.

“Any discrepancy in our arrangements or a problem should be brought to us at 01624-223253 and 9815024555,” he said.

Ludhiana, May 9
The City Centre scam case would come up for hearing before the court of the sessions judge on May 10.

Former Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh’s counsel today moved an application seeking exemption from personal appearance before the court for tomorrow. As per the application filed today, Capt Amarinder Singh is suffering from cervical pain and has been advised bed rest for two weeks.

His counsel also moved an application, seeking directions to the Vigilance Bureau for providing “deficient documents to them for addressing arguments”. The counsel mentioned in its application that they had inspected 38 files out of a total of 85 filed by the Vigilance along with the chargesheet.

It was alleged that they were not provided with several documents. The case is fixed for hearing of arguments on the framing of charges.

Ludhiana, May 9
Thousands of young boys and girls thronged the Guru Nanak Public School (GNPS) campus to give auditions for Zee TV music show “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”.

The contestants remained glued to their seats waiting for their turn. “When the going gets tough, the tough get going,” exclaimed Shivankar, a BAMS student who came all the way from Jammu to try his luck for the second time.

“I had made it to top 25 in the last contest and this time I have come back to make it to the top five,” he added.

Buoyed by their success in the first round, girls went about with their practice singing “Babuji dheere chalna”, etc.

For Kavita Arora from Amritsar, it was “Lagja gale ke phir yeh hasin raat ho na ho” that took her to the second round, whereas “Paani paani re naino mein bas ja” did wonders for Harmeet, a contestant from Patiala.

Their rendition of “Tumko paya hai” from the recent Bollywood flick “Om Shanti Om” helped a group of young school boys get popular amongst their competitors.

“We all sang the same song in our first round of auditions as we are all in love with the song,” said one of the boys.

Sunwinder, a class XII student from GNPS, too was hopeful of making it to the top like Ishmeet, who became the Star Voice of India.

Parents of the contestants waited anxiously outside the school gates to know the outcome.

The successful candidates will be taken to Mumbai to perform before “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa” judges following which the selected contenders will take part in “Dvitiya Vishav Yudh” of “Sa Re Ga Ma Pa”. 

Ludhiana, May 9
In a parallel to the youth not joining the defence forces because of poor emolument, the PAU, too, might have no takers for scientific research for the same reason.

In a letter to the Chief Minister, Parkash Singh Badal, eminent personalities from various walks of life, have said: “If the country and the state has to survive, agricultural research and education must be strengthened and scientists should be encouraged instead of kicking them out in the evening of their lives.”

The letter has been signed by Dr S.S. Johl, a former VC of Punjabi University and former chairman of the Agricultural Costs and Prices Commission of India, Darshan Singh, a winner of Jagjivan Ram Memorial National Award for farming, Col Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd), president of the Indian Ex-Servicemen's League (Punjab and Chandigarh), Dr I.K. Garg, president of the Confederation of PAU Pensioners Associations, Dr M.S.Mahal, president of the PAU Teachers Association, and Prof Hazara Singh, president of the Alumni Association of the PAU.

The letter reads that “after farmers, who have been awarded with economic bankruptcy leading to suicide, their co-partners in ensuring food security (erstwhile scientists and workers of the PAU) may also be forced to take extreme steps. Today, the country is facing shortage of officers in the armed forces because of unattractive service conditions. It is no wonder that looking at the plight of senior scientists, bright and capable young boys and girls will not commit the mistake of taking up agricultural research, teaching and extension as career.”

The letter has been sent in the context of “disbursal of well-earned pension of approximately 600 retired scientists and approximately 2,000 supporting workers” being stopped since February 2008.

The researchers and workers had been getting pension for the past over 20 years.

“It should shake the conscience of Indians that these persons who played a major role in Green Revolution during the 1960s are facing a humiliating and cruel treatment at the fag end of their lives,” the letter adds.

Let me tell you what the fate of a creative writer is. He suffers throughout his life in the hope of better days. But his dreams usually turn into nightmares. Mirza Ghalib could not own a house. The rented house in which he lived had a leaking roof.

In a light mood, he wrote in a letter to a friend, “If there is rain for two hours, my roof goes on leaking for three hours.”

Ustad Zauq, mentor of the last Mughal emperor, Bahadur Shah Zafar, lived in a house whose courtyard could hardly accommodate a cot. Earlier, Mir Taqi Mir had left Delhi for Lucknow in search of greener pastures, but there too he could not get the patronage of the nawab for long.

He could not extend his hand for financial help as it had become numb under his head. “Aage kisu ke kya karen dust-e-tamaa draaz, woh haath so gaya hai sirhane dhare dhare”.

Nearer home, my friend Shrawan Kumar Varma is living in a dingy room “like a patient etherised upon a table”.

He had been a lawyer, but his health has confined him to bed. He snatches some moments from his stressful existence to compose a poem or write a short story.

He has been writing in Urdu since 1949 when he was 20 years old. So far, he has published six collections of short stories and a novel in Urdu, three books in Hindi and two books in Punjabi. Some of his short stories have been translated into English, Tamil, Telugu, Marathi, Gujarati and Oriya.

He has kept aloft the banner of Urdu in Amritsar, which has produced stalwarts like Saadat Hasan Manto, Kirpa Ram Sharma 'Nazim', Puran Sing Hunar, Saifuddin Saif, Ahmed Rahi, A. Hamid and Shehzad Ahmed.

Shiromani Urdu Sahitkar Award was bestowed on him in 1993 by the Languages Department of the Punjab Government. He received some other awards also.

With all these honours, he is at present living in Amritsar incognito. He has no visitors, except a friend.

My meeting with Shrawan at his place last month was nostalgic. My heart warmed up when I heard him read his short story “Ret Nadi” published in the May issue of the Urdu monthly “Ajkal”.

He presented me a copy of his latest collection of short stories entitled “Raag Ram Kali”.

On my request, he gave me his photograph that seemed to be older than his years. I told him he looked like Raghupati Sahai Firaq Gorakhpuri who lived up to a ripe old age. His smile deepened the contours of his face.

He did not ask me to make an appeal in view of his failing health. Nor do I intend to. His wife and children are with him for comfort and solace.

He is as proud as Mir Taqi Mir and as humorous as Mirza Ghalib. Like Ustad Zauq, he still has a room of his own that can accommodate not one, but two cots.

— N.S. Tasneem

Ludhiana, May 9
Senior economist Dr S.S. Johl, who heads the high-powered committee set up by the PAU to look into the financial mess in the varsity, has appealed to the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take suo motu notice on the plight of 2,700 pensioners.

He further asked the state government that if it imposed its right on the PAU, why was it not shouldering its responsibility in this regard.

He said the government was taking over lands/farms and income of the PAU for its own convenience. Now, when the PAU was facing financial crunch, it must bail it out.

He said he had asked the PAU authorities to submit a detailed report regarding the pension issue.

In 1966, the PAU had campuses in Ludhiana, Hisar and Palampur. Hisar and Palampur came with their own universities later. “When its counterparts in other places are doing well, why is the PAU in Ludhiana suffering?” he asked.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 9
In search of greener pastures in the USA, Yadwinder Singh of Phallewal village married an NRI niece of his uncle three years ago and spent lakhs of rupees to maintain the relation.

But when he refused to succumb to her pressure to get his beard and hair trimmed, the NRI wife, in order to teach him a lesson, married another youth in Canada last week.

Yadwinder has now urged higher authorities, including the DGP and immigration authorities in the USA and Canada, to initiate action against the woman and her accomplice.

Yadwinder Singh, general secretary of the Sikh Students Federation (Grewal), alleged that his wife Manjinder Kaur Pannu had allegedly married another youth in Canada by changing identity and concealing her marital status.

According to him, his marriage with Manjinder of Shahpur village was organised at Jandali, near here, on January 2, 2005 and the expenses were borne by his parents and maternal uncle Raghbir Singh Khangura.

Though the bride and her relatives started pressuring Yadwinder to trim his beard and hair before “Anand Karaj”, he declined to do so.

Things became normal for around eight months during which Manjinder visited the USA once and stayed with her in-laws at Phallewal village for a few months.

“But after Manjinder left us for the USA in August, 2005 she started threatening me that she will not move papers unless I cut my beard and hair. When I refused to succumb to her pressure around six months ago, she left the USA and married another youth in Canada last Friday,” alleged Yadwinder.

Referring to information received from his relatives in the USA, Yadwinder contended that “Anand Karaj” and “Lawan” (marriage rites) of Manjinder with Harpreet Singh Khaira were performed at a gurdwara in Surry (Canada) on Friday. Gurdwara president Balwant Singh refused to register the marriage as the couple had not produced relevant documents issued by the Canadian government.

Statues of leaders, martyrs, etc. installed at junctions remain in utter neglect as these are exposed to elements of nature as well as pollution. Instead, statues should be erected only at the place of birth of the figure. Also, a real tribute to such figures would be to open a school, college or a hospital.

— Anonymous

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Jagraon, May 9
The body of a young man (22) with multiple injuries was found on the outskirt of Sidhwan Kalan village in mysterious circumstances. The victim has been identified as Parminder Singh, alias Pinda, of Sidhwan Kalan.

Though the Sidhwan Bet police suspected it to be a case of accident involving a vehicle, the sister of the deceased suspected it to be a case of murder.

The body was noticed around 2.30 am by Surinder Singh, a farmer, who was returning home from fields. He identified the deceased and informed his relatives.

Ludhiana, May 9
Mealy bug has emerged as a serious pest on cotton in recent years. The damage caused by mealy bug was limited to some pockets in Punjab in 2006 but the pest attack spread to new areas in 2007, causing damage to cotton in Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepor districts.

With the introduction of Bt cotton, the productivity of cotton touched 728 kg lint/ha in 2006-07 but declined to 630 kg/ha in 2007-08 due to various factors and mealy bug was a major factor.

Dr P.S. Minhas, director of research, PAU, has already proposed a management strategy of mealy bug on cotton and a campaign will be further intensified during the ensuing crop season.

The Sir Rattan Tata Trust has funded a research project on the management of mealy bug on cotton.

According to Dr N.S. Malhi, director extension education, the strategy evolved by the PAU would be adopted in select villages.

As the main source of carry over of the pest was the weeds and cotton stacks, prevention of spread of the pest from these sources to the newly planted cotton would be dealt with on priority, he said.

The statement issued by the PAU said the university had selected 12 villages of Bathinda, Muktsar and Ferozepor districts with the involvement of KVK.

The movement of mealy bugs will be monitored in these villages and farmers will be provided relevant information by IPM knowledge centres set up in these villages.

The PAU along with other agencies will organise special campaigns for removal of weeds and dissemination of technology on the farmers’ doorstep.

Dr N.S. Butter, head of the department of entomology, added that as many as 270 scouts had been especially trained to contain the menace of mealy bug.

Need-based information was being provided to the farmers on their doorstep.

Dr A.K. Dhawan, working in the project, said mealy bug was a new pest of cotton that had proliferated recently after the effective control of American bollworm with Bt gene.

Besides ways and means to prevent its spread to new areas, the varsity would restrict the use of non-chemical methods of management including the use of biorationals, said Dr Dhawan. 

Ludhiana, May 9
To discuss different aspects of research methodology, the Betty Cowan Research and Innovation Centre at Christian Medical College and Hospital (CMCH) will organise a CME-cum-workshop for postgraduate residents, faculty and staff from May 12 to 15.

According to a press note, internationally acclaimed faculty like Dr Jeyaprakash Muliyil, Dr Prathap Tharyan (both from CMC, Vellore) and Dr Manjit S. Kang, vice chancellor of Punjab Agricultural University, along with faculty from the CMCH - Dr Shavinder Singh, Dr Tejinder Singh and Dr Joseph John - will be the speakers.

The workshop will span four days. One batch will deliberate from May 12 to 14, while the other from May 13 to 15 at the CMCH auditorium.

It said a well-planned research held answers to help improve the quality of medical care. Research was an integral part of the postgraduate medical training and knowledge, and the understanding of research methodology was the fundamental necessity for PG students.

Ludhiana, May 9
Social, voluntary, religious and educational institutions along with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) ought to motivate people towards voluntary blood donation so that it could be made a mass movement for the welfare of humanity.

Addressing a function organised by district branch of the Red Cross Society at Bachat Bhawan here today to felicitate 18 regular blood donors and 31 voluntary organisations, assistant commissioner (general) J.K. Jain emphasised that blood donation was a noble task that saved the lives of critically ill persons.

He also asked NGOs and educational institutions to dispel certain myths among common people about blood donation.

Jain said the district Red Cross Society had set up a blood bank to meet the requirement of blood for poor and needy persons.

During the last financial year, the society organised 33 blood donation camps in which 5,846 units of blood were collected.

During this period, the blood bank provided 5,465 units of blood to patients.

Among the blood donors felicitated at the function were Hem Raj, who has donated blood 116 times, followed by Bhupinder Singh (103), Sudhir Moudgil (98), Dev Pandher (85), Gursharanjit Singh (78), K.K. Bawa (50), Inderjit Makkar (35) and J.K. Jain (30).

Ludhiana, May 9
Steffi Kala, an upcoming shuttler from the city, has been making big strides. This 14-year-old badminton player, a student of class VII of Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar branch, has impressed one and all with her performance during various inter-district, state and national-level tournaments in the recent past.

Steffi gave her best and wrapped up a number of titles.

Taking to badminton at an early age of five, Steffi showed great ability to excel.

Her coach Gianinder Singh Sandhu, former district sports officer, Ludhiana, and a senior badminton coach of Punjab, spotted her talent and nurtured her.

Steffi, too, did not disappoint her mentor as she went on to perform well in the tournaments she played in.

Steffi has been hogging the limelight, with the last year being an eventful one for her.

Competing in Sahodaya Schools Complex Tournament, State Championship, Open Punjab State Meet, National School Games and Open National Badminton Championship, she proved her mettle by downing her experienced opponents.

She emerged champion in the Sahodaya Schools Complex Championship in the u-19 years category and then romped home victor in the under-17 years section during the zonal (school) tournament.

Steffi added another feather in her cap when she came out triumphant in the sub-junior section (singles as well as doubles) of the Open Punjab State Championship held at Sangrur.

Steffi created a history of sorts when she became the youngest state junior champion at the age of 14 years in the Open Punjab State Tournament at Nabha.

She, pairing with Harveen Kaur, also went on to clinch the double’s title. The duo gave a sterling performance that enabled Punjab to bag the team event at Nabha.

Steffi also represented the state in the Open National Badminton Championship conducted at Nellore and then at Uttarakhand where she gave account of herself, though failed to finish among position holders.

Gianinder Singh, who taught Steffi the basics of the game, termed her success great. “She is a hard working player, an asset to the nation and has the potential to excel at national and international scene,” he opined.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 9
Social and educational organisations of the town felicitated Mohit Dhand, a local powerlifter for his performance in the Asian Powerlifting Championship held at Tashkent, Uzbekistan, recently, at a function organised at Hind Hospital yesterday.

Dharminder of Ludhiana won bronze medal in 110 kg category. Dhand got a silver in 125 category by lifting cumulative weight of 735 kg.

Last month, he had won a gold medal in the National Bench Press Championship (senior wing) organised by the National Powerlifting Federation at Navi Mumbai.

Earlier, he was declared winner in the National Junior Powerlifting Championship held in Assam and the Punjab State Bench Press Championship organised at Samrala.

The performance of another powerlifter, Gurpreet of Kapurthala, who missed a medal by a narrow margin, was also appreciated.

Dhand will represent India in the World Bench Press Championship, scheduled to commence in Germany on June 25 and the Asian Bench Press Championship to be organised in Hong Kong in December.