Jalandhar, June 11
The Punjab excise and taxation department has set a tax collection target of Rs 7,000 crore for this fiscal year which is nearly 20 percent more than the previous year. Excise and taxation commissioner A Venu Prasad told mediapersons here today that last year's revenue collection was Rs 5,871 crore.

Prasad, who was here to conduct a meeting of department officials of all the districts in Jalandhar division regarding planning of taxes for the current financial year, said the total revenue collected last year from the division was Rs 2,328 crore, while for this financial year the target has been fixed as Rs 2,750 crore. Out of the total revenue collected last year in state, Rs 1,500 crore was from petroleum products only, he added.

He said that officers have been directed to clear all the pending refund payments of the business houses at the earliest. As many as Rs 200 crore worth of refunds had had been cleared last year while Rs 60 to 70 crore were yet to be refunded this year, he added.

The delay was on account of checking the records of the traders to prevent any leakage of revenue to the exchequer.

He also said that for the benefit of traders, the department has started e filing of taxes this year whereas the department has also proposed to introduce e-payment system, which would be introduced in the next two to four months.

“We are in the process of selecting software and the system would be in place soon. This would not only enable them to check the records on line but also aid them in sending the refund money to the traders in the same way,” he added.

Answering a query on reports of monopolisation in the liquor trade in some districts of the state, he said the excise policy had only prescribed the minimum rates to check this practice and promote competition. Nevertheless, we will look into this, he assured.

Jalandhar, June 11
Aspiring to join the BSF’s first-ever women battalion, most of the candidates 
who participated in the recruitment rally at the Punjab frontier headquarters here today said they had never got an opportunity to visit the country’s international border.

While as many as 8,500 candidates had applied for the 685 posts of mahila constables in the general duty cadre, the forms of 2,800 applicants have been found valid. Nearly 660 candidates, mostly from Gurdaspur, Ropar and Jalandhar districts, were called for the rally today. The rally will continue for three more days.

A local candidate and daughter of a retired police head constable, Kulwinder Kaur, said it was her dream to visit the border area, watch the retreat ceremony, see the fencing and understand the difficulties of the people on either side. “But now I wish to do all that after my appointment with the BSF,” she said.

A majority of the girls came from the rural background, with many having their fathers posted with the police, defence or paramilitary forces.

Menika Sharma from Bebehali village of Gurdaspur said she had been doing her teacher’s training diploma. “But when the posts for women constable were advertised, I wanted to grab the opportunity. My father, who has retired from the BSF, helped me prepare for it, especially the physical training part,” she said.

Karanjit of Qadian said many of her family members were in the defence forces. “My father wanted my elder brother to join the force but he is somehow more interested in moving abroad. So he had pinned all hopes on me. When he heard of woman recruitment in the BSF, he immediately got a form filled for me. Later, I joined the pre-recruitment training course at the sainik welfare office here and it really helped,” she said.

The candidates appeared for physical test, including that of height and weight, and got their certificates and other documents checked. Many candidates faced rejection when they were tested for their fitness by being made to run an 800-metre track and jumping 3-foot high and 9-foot long jumps.

The candidates who have been found to be physically fit will have to appear in a written test and interview. The selected candidates are likely to receive call letters by August. Senior PRO Jagir Singh Sran said the successful candidates would be put through 36 weeks of basic training.

He said the BSF had 553 km of border with Pakistan and nearly 300 gates to facilitate farmers to go across for cultivation of 32,000 acres of farmland ahead of the fencing.

He said earlier frisking of women was not possible, but now this would be done with the help of the women constables.

Phagwara, June 11
The name of a former Congress councillor, Davinder Sapra, who had recently been expelled from the Congress for his alleged anti-parties activities in the PRI elections, figured in the SAD list of candidates for the Phagwara municipal council election, scheduled to be held on June 30.

The SAD allocated him seat from ward number 4 after he formally joined the ruling party. A SAD political affairs committee member, Jarnail Singh Wahid, released a list of seven SAD candidates here today.

Sapra won the last Phagwara municipal council election by defeating well-known BJP leader Ram Swarup Arora from ward number 9.

The other six SAD candidates are Om Parkash Bittu (ward 1), a former councillor Sarabjit Kaur (ward 10), Iqbal Singh Kundi (ward 14), Ranjit Khurara (ward 16), Jasbir Kaur Walia (ward 17) and Gajbir Singh Geju (ward 25).

The SAD alliance partner BJP was also supposed to release its list of candidates today. For that, a special press conference was also scheduled to be held this evening but it was cancelled for some technical reasons at the eleventh hour. The Congress also did not announce any candidate for the total 27 MC seats.

The filing of nomination papers will start tomorrow. Nomination papers may be filed before the election officer-cum- SDM Amarjit Paul between June 12 and 17 from 11 am to 3 pm.

The scrutiny of papers will be done on June 19 and the nomination papers may be withdrawn on May 20 till 3 pm.

Amritsar, June 11
The Amritsar central jail authorities on Wednesday recovered a bottle of whisky from controversial Nihang leader Ajit Singh Poohla after he was brought back from a hearing in a local court in connection with a murder case..

The Sadar Police has registered a case against him for possessing liquor in the jail premises under relevant sections of the IPC.

Ajit Singh Poohla was arrested on May 13 along with his three accomplices by the Amritsar rural police at Darhewal Kotli village in connection with an old case in which seven family members of one Joga Singh of Khanpur village were murdered.

Jalandhar, June 11
The police arrested Jammu and Kashmir militant Mohammad Safi’s son Qasim Mohammad on the charge of drug peddling at a police checkpost near Workshop Chowk here today.

SP (city I) S.K. Kalia said the police seized 170 gm of charas and 25 gm of smack from him. Qasim was accompanied by Sita Ram who was also arrested for possessing 2.75 kg of ganja.

Qasim told the police that his father Mohammad Safi was lodged in Central Jail, Jalandhar, in connection with a blast on a rail track in Goraya in January, 2004. He had been staying in Mayur hotel on the jail road for the past some time to pursue his father’s case.

Kalia said keeping in mind his father’s background, the police was verifying Qasim’s links with militants. Besides, the hotel owner was yet to be questioned whether he took an identity proof from Qasim before renting him a room or not.

He said Qasim told the police that he was purchasing drugs from Sita Ram, alias Raju, who was residing in the Maqsoodan locality.

An FIR has been lodged against both of them.

Jalandhar, June 11
Activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union staged a dharna to demand a royalty on wheat from the Union government as had been done in the case of other crops in many states.

The agitators raised slogans against the government for not acceding to their demands which could help the farmers tide over the present crisis facing the farm sector.

BKU secretary-general Puran Singh Shahkot said Punjab should be declared a special wheat zone and a royalty of Rs 500 per quintal should be given to the farmers since a majority of the wheat was contributed to the central pool from the state.

The government has not accepted this demand but similar concessions were being given to other states like Assam for tea, Rajasthan for marble and Puducherry for bamboo.

“Other than a biased attitude towards Punjab, there doesn’t seem to be any reason behind the government not giving us our due. The acceptance of our demands by the government would encourage farmers to stick to agriculture, which otherwise was proving to be an unviable proposition,” Puran pointed out.

He also said the minimum support price should be announced before the sowing season and that should be linked to the cost of production as recommended by the Dr Swaminathan report. According to the report, the cost of rice should be Rs 1,540 per quintal, cotton Rs 4,000, pulses and oilseeds Rs 4,250, maize Rs 1,527 and sugarcane Rs 200 per quintal.

Farmers have been hard hit by the hike in the prices of diesel. The government should roll back the hike since it could lower the central taxes and excise duties on petroleum products, Puran said.

The debts of the farmers would be waived off on the basis of one time settlement and the banks should be directed to disburse loans at an interest rate of 4 per cent, he added. Later, a delegation presented a memorandum for the Prime Minister through the deputy commissioner.