Chandigarh, February 18
In a massive operation spread across Punjab, Haryana, Himachal and the UT, several teams of the investigation wing of the income tax department today conducted raids on nearly 18 business houses, including four residential premises of the KC group owning a hotel chain, resort and educational institutes.

Besides the tricity, the premises searched by the IT sleuths include Mahilpur in Punjab and Una in HP. The KC group has several hotels like KC Residency in Sector 35 Chandigarh, KC Crossroad in Panchkula, and an upcoming five-star hotel in Sector 3, Panchkula.

The group is also running educational institutes, including an engineering college, hotel management institutes and public schools in Nawashahr and Una.

During the search, basic facilities like telephone calls were also suspended. The raids, which began in the morning at Panchkula, Chandigarh and Mohali continued until late evening.

While senior officials confirmed the raids, they refused to divulge any details. However, they claimed that they could reveal the concealed and undeclared income after seizing “incriminating” documents, books of accounts and other relevant information about property as the group deals in real estate, too.

It is believed that the alleged tax evasion by the group could run into several crores. More than 100 officials of various ranks are involved in the operation. The search was conducted under the supervision of the director of income tax (investigation).

Chandigarh, February 18
A five-year-old schoolgirl was killed while her seven-year-old cousin was seriously injured after reportedly being hit by a car in Sector 45 here this afternoon.

Apart from this, six persons have been injured in separate road accidents in various parts of the city.

Giving details about the fatal accident, the police said the victim, Chotti, was crossing the road with her cousin Julie when a Maruti Swift car (CH 03 X 2368) knocked them down near the dargah in Sector 45. The girls were badly injured in the mishap.

The car driver, 30-year-old Manpreet Kaur of Sector 44, rushed the victims to the Sector 32 GMCH, where Chotti was declared dead on arrival. Julie fractured her leg and sustained multiple injuries. The victims were residents of Burail.

Earlier during the day, Surinder Singh of Sector 42 had a miraculous escape this morning when his Maruti Esteem rammed into a grill on the road separating Sectors 22 and 23 after hitting a bus. He was reportedly overtaking the Punjab Mandi Board bus from the wrong side and that too on high speed.

A scooterist came in front of the car, forcing him to take a sharp turn. In the process, his car came in front of the bus and lost control after hitting the bus. The car crashed into the grill and broke it along with a streetlight pole.

The car then went to the other side of the road, but luckily no vehicle came in its way before it came to a halt, the investigating officer in the case said.

Surinder Singh was taken to the GMSH and discharged later. The police has booked him for rash and negligent driving on a complaint lodged by the bus driver.

In another case, Randeep Singh of Darua village rammed his car into a rotary at Sector 18-19-20 and 21 intersection in an inebriated condition last night. The car was speeding and damaged the rotary, the police said. All three persons in the car were injured and rushed to hospital, where Randeep’s condition was stated to be critical.

Chandigarh, February 18
Breaking its silence in the Boston rape case involving law student Nitin Jindal, the PU authorities today decided to contact Harvard University to get a comprehensive list of delegates who claimed affiliation to the PU.

The decision was taken by a committee constituted to look into the case after PUSU students protested outside the VC’s office yesterday.

The committee comprises Prof SC Vaidya as chairman, Prof BS Brar, Prof PS Jaswal and Prof Sangeeta Bhalla.

Having found that the details of only 21 students was available with the UILS, who went through the screening process and were sent to Boston, the authorities decided that Harvard University would be contacted for the names of other students who claim they are from the PU. A subsequent inquiry would be conducted, verifying who sent the students. The committee also recommended that the PU must adopt a two-step system to send students to conferences -- the department would screen the students and a standing committee would give its approval.

UILS chairperson Sangeeta Bhalla said 46 students had applied to the department for participating in the conference, out of which 23 were selected and eventually 21 went.

PUSU leader Simrandeep Singh Dhillon said they had submitted a memorandum to the VC’s office and if the authorities were unable to find how the students went unofficially, they would hold a strike on Monday. Even outsiders were part of the PU team and had managed a testimony from the PU, he remarked.

Panchkula, February 18
The presence of higher officials can make a big difference in government affairs. This was proved during the auction of “mundan ghat” at Mata Mansa Devi Temple here today.

The bid which ended at Rs 4.6 lakh last year, fetched a whopping Rs 13 lakh this time. The only difference for the threefold jump in the revenue from the first auction prior to the Navratras this year was that the chief administrator of Mata Mansa Devi shrine board, who is also the DC, was present during the auction.

Every year the shrine board auctions the mundan ghat to enable devotees to get their heads tonsured. However, the sharp increase in the revenue has left a question mark on the efficiency of the officials of the board who have been holding the auctions in the past.

As per the figures, there was only marginal increase in the auction price of the ghat during the past three years. While in 2007, Rs 3,60,000 was the final bid for the ghat, it went for Rs 4,11,000 the next year. In 2009, it was auctioned for Rs 4,60,000.

Chandigarh, February 18
A two-day seminar on “Religion and social identity in Punjab” being organised by the department of sociology, Panjab University, began today.Aimed at discussing the importance and revival of religion in the 21st century, the first day of the seminar was attended by eminent dignitaries, who were welcomed by department chairperson Prof Sherry Sabbarwal.

Amongst the key speakers was Dr Navtej Purewal, Manchester University, who underlined the ideological contour of the theme and also the empirical studies done from across the academic spectrum in this regard.

Terming religion as a fundamental aspect of various things, Prof TN Madan, Delhi University, discussed its role in different global issues.

Le Corbusier's architectural marvel, has changed along with the times. Chandigarh is no longer a sleepy town inhabited by retired and government employees. And the changed scenario has necessitated construction of a mass rapid transport system for the city as it prepares to enter the big league.

A metro rail system is the only long-term solution to the worsening traffic chaos in the city, which has the highest vehicular density in the country. With its periphery bursting at the seams construction of an MRTS in the ‘Chandigarh capital region’ would go a long way in easing traffic congestion in the city. The RITES report that suggested a phasewise expansion of the proposed metro was a step in the right direction.

Considered the country’s "most livable" city and gateway to Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, Chandigarh attracts tourists from all over the world. Since towns on the city's periphery do not have a reliable public transport systems, the metro would take care of transportation needs of those living there.

Besides easing commuter woes the metro would discourage vehicular traffic into and from the city. At a time when the city is scaling up infrastructure with plans for an international airport and a ‘world-class’ train station, an the expected entry of major firms in the recently set up IT Park, an MRTS is not a luxury but a necessity for residents.

Given Chandigarh's design and the apathetic attitude of the administration and civic officials, the city is yet to have a cheap and hassle-free transport system. Since there is a limit to which streets in and on the outskirts of the city can be widened, the metro would offer a fast and reliable mode of transport for years to come.

The argument that construction of a subway system would alter the city’s basic character is untenable as we cannot remain oblivious to rapid modernization of urban areas all over the world. The project should be implemented before the ever-increasing traffic on roads takes its toll on the city.

For Chandigarh, which is directly administrated by the central government, funds have never been a problem for executing various projects. In fact, Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have already shown their willingness to be partners in building a metro. Efforts should be made to extract the maximum share from these states as they would stand to benefit the most from the project.

Chandigarh, February 18
Differences between the municipal corporation and the UT administration have not been confined to matters such more powers for the former. The civic body is also striving to get grants amounting to crores of rupees that have been kept pending by the administration for the past two years.

Sources close to the MC said for the last two years the latter has not received the incentive of three percent on property taxes, which comes to about Rs 9 crore, which the administration has assured would be granted to the civic body. Similarly the administration had promised a liberal grant for beautification of Phases I and II of the Industrial Area after allotting work to the MC. The grant is still awaited.

The sources said the civic body had twice rejected the proposal on imposing 10 percent of property tax at the house meeting in 2006. Then the administration sent another proposal to the corporation that if the latter imposed property tax in the city then the MC would get a three percent share as an incentive.

The sources said in the initial two years the civic body received a three percent share but for the past two years it had not got a single penny from the administration in this regard.

The sources said that even the grant of about Rs 23 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM) from the central government was still pending. A senior MC official said though the civic body had taken up all the projects under JNNRUM and beautification of the industrial area was also going on, it had yet to receive the grant.

At the recent meeting on the finance & contract committee budget, BSP councillor Jatinder Bhatia and Congress party councillor Chander Mukhi Sharma pointed out the delay in the receipt of grants from the UT administration and the central government.

MC commissioner Roshan Sunkaria told the panel they had taken up the matter time and again at the coordination committee meeting of the MC and the UT administration and were expecting to get a grant of Rs 33 crore by March from the administration under plan head.

Meanwhile the house meeting on the budget and development agenda is scheduled for tomorrow. It is expected the councillors in the house may also raise these issues. 

Mohali, February 18
Decks have been cleared for construction of 632 Housfed flats in Sector 79 here, ending the long wait of the allottee for a dwelling unit.

After several rounds of meeting between GMADA and Housfed officials and a field visit to the spot, it has been decided that to solve the power of non-feasibility of sewerage connection, the latter would construct a sewerage sump.

It would enable the Housfed to discharge the sewerage discharge from the flats into the sump before being disposed off at far off place. “The decision was taken following a recent meeting between the financial commissioner (cooperation), secretary housing, registrar, Cooperative Societies, chief administrator of GMADA and other officials here.

Now, GMADA has to merely issue a letter to Housfed, following which the construction of the flats can begin. Chief administrator of GMADA, VP Singh, confirmed the development. The allotment letter and layout plans of the flats already stand approved by GMADA.

Sources said initially a former Punjab cabinet minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, mooted the proposal. But Housfed officials were not ready to give an undertaking regarding start of construction of flats subject to the outcome of the court case.

“By the time the flats come up, the stay of the land could be vacated and the need to use the sump might not arise. Once the stay is vacated, the sewerage network of GMADA would reach the Housfed site,” said an official.

In the past, Housfed had been blaming GMADA for failing to provide sewerage connection and other public health facilities for the two plots it had sold more than six years ago, leading to a huge loss to Housfed as well as its member allottees.

GMADA had sold two developed plots to Housfed in 2003 for Rs 10,23,93,830. Housfed then floated the scheme for the allotment of flats in 2004 and the allotment was made within three months and plans were submitted for approval, which were cleared by GMADA in January 2005.

The allottees had been complaining that it had taken loans from banks to make payments for the flats and were themselves staying in rented accommodations all these years.

Mohali, February 18A fine of Rs 10,000 has been imposed on the Jan Aushadhi store located on the premises of the Civil Hospital in Phase VI on charges of running the shop in a lax manner.

The store got involved in a controversy after a resident of the town had alleged that she was given a wrong medicine which led to a miscarriage.

The fine was imposed by the SMO in charge of the hospital, Dr HS Sarang, today and the drug store has been asked to make the payment in the next three days.

Dr Sarang said he had received directions from civil surgeon Dr PK Sridhar to impose the penalty on the Jan Aushadhi store.

He said action was taken in accordance with the terms of the agreement of the contract between the Punjab Health Systems Corporation (PHSC) and the store owner.

It is learnt that earlier the health authorities had issued a warning to the owner of the store who was asked to be more cautious while selling the medicines to patients.

Meenakshi, a resident of Phase III-B2, had said that she had aborted her 54-day-old foetus after she was allegedly given a wrong medicine by the shop on the hospital premises.

She had then made a complaint to the managing director of the PHSC after which an inquiry was initiated. However, this inquiry did not make much headway as the person running the store reportedly kept denying of having sold any wrong medicine to the victim.

Mohali, February 18
The Congress MLA from Kharar, Balbir Singh Sidhu, said he would take up the matter with the privileges committee of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha and also in the assembly regarding the behaviour of the director, local government, Punjab, with him as MLA. Opposition councillors have also got exposed by not clearing estimates related to the development of the town.

Addressing a press conference here today, the MLA said he had rung up the director, local government, Punjab, and requested him to approve all estimates of development works of Mohali because the councillors of the opposition group had cleared only those estimates which were related to their wards at the general house meeting held on December 29.

The development of the town would suffer if the estimates were not cleared, he added. The director had assured him that he would do the needful, but ultimately he approved only those estimates which were cleared by the opposition group.

Sidhu said later he tried to contact the director several times over the phone but the latter was not responding to his calls. He said Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had stated that the rank of an MLA was equal to that of a chief secretary, but in this case the director was not attending the phone calls of an MLA. He said this matter would be brought to the notice of the privileges committee of the Vidhan Sabha and would also be raised in the assembly.

He said estimates for development works worth about Rs 6 crore were put up at the general house meeting held in December but the opposition group cleared estimates only worth Rs 2.12 crore which were related to their wards.

Estimates worth Rs 1.82 crore for common works like maintenance of parks, streetlights, roads and tubewells were not cleared by the opposition councillors, who were in a majority at that meeting. Estimates worth Rs 2.6 crore related to the wards of the ruling group were also not cleared.

The MLA, who is an ex-officio member of the council, said residents of the town would be suffering because of the irresponsible attitude of the opposition councillors. These councillors could have personal differences with him or with the president of the civic body but they should be responsible enough to protect the interests of the residents, he said.

He added that during the three and a half year tenure of the council, the ruling group had never indulged in any discrimination with the opposition councillors because ultimately the residents were at the receiving end. The MLA said after taking a legal opinion, they would go to court in this regard.

Now, council authorities were again contacting opposition councillors to find out about the works of their wards that could be put up on the agenda of the next meeting, but some of them were not responding and would later raise a hue and cry at the meeting, added the MLA.

Chandigarh, February 18
The CBI special court today framed charges under the Prevention of Corruption Act against four persons, including 1985-batch IAS officer of Haryana cadre Sanjeev Kumar.

The CBI special court of Darshan Singh framed charges against Sanjeev Kumar, the then director of the DPEP, Tikka Hassan Mustafa, Nirmal Singla and Sushant Swain.

Acting on a Haryana vigilance bureau report, the Chandigarh police had registered a case of breach of trust by a public servant, forgery, falsification of accounts and criminal conspiracy under Sections 406, 409, 471, 477A and 120B of the Indian Penal Code against him on June 5, 2002 and five other persons in connection with textbook publication scam.

The accused reportedly had approved tenders of printing and publishing books to three private agencies at a “much higher cost” than the government rates.

Some of the firms to which the orders were given did not even have a printing press or the capability to carry out the order.

The state government had ordered a vigilance inquiry into the matter after the issue was highlighted in the media. 

Chandigarh, February 18
To quick dispose of cases of undertrials in custody for petty offences, a special jail lok adalat was held under the supervision of Justice Ashutosh Mohunta, executive chairman of the State Legal Services Authority, and Justice SS Saron, Administrative Judge, Sessions Division, on the Burail Jail premises here today.

Two Benches took up 20 cases and 10 inmates involved in petty crimes were freed on the spot.

Two Judicial Magistrates, Hemraj Mittal and Pritpal Singh, were present on the premises to dispose of the cases. Devinder Singh, Girdhar, Gurdev Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Inderjit Singh were among those who were released during the adalat. The special lok adalat is organised every month.