Amritsar, March 26
The Municipal Corporation passed a budget of over Rs 209.19 crore amidst acrimonious scenes here today.The situation became piquant for the BJP-led House as a number of councillors of its partner party, Shiromani Akali Dal, raised openly questions against it and many abstained from the budget proceedings.

 Akali councillor and senior Deputy Mayor Ajaybir Pal Singh Randhawa objected to the style of functioning of Mayor Shwet Malik, originally a BJP councillor and its reflection on the lopsided growth of the city.

He said the Parkash Singh Badal-led government had extended ample funds for the development of the holy city. He, however, insisted that the councillors of the ruling party had not garnered the respect and appreciation of the common citizens. He held Mayor and his way of functioning responsible for it.

The moment proceedings were initiated, councillors of the opposition party Congress started raising slogans. However, their job was soon overtaken by the councilors of the ruling party protesting against the Mayor.

Amidst the din, the budget was passed in a hurriedly held session. Mayor Shwet Malik walked out of the meeting hall. Meanwhile, as soon as he came out of the Hall he was waylaid by protesting Congress workers led by Secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), Harpal Singh Bhatia. Bodyguards of the Mayor escorted him safely to his office in Town Hall.

Amidst pandemonium, the budget was declared passed. Bhatia said all developmental works in the holy city were going on under the grants and plans approved by the Congress-led Union Government.

He said absence of efficient planning led to total collapse of business of about 200 shops inside Shera Wala Gate. He said majority of the shopkeepers were transporters. He said the road was dug out about two years ago for constructing elevated road. Till now elevated road has not reached near it. He blamed that areas under Congress councillors were being discriminated by not including in the development works.

The MC envisaged to spend nearly Rs 80.90 crore (39 per cent) on development works inlcuidng installing street lights, laying roads, digging drains, matching grant of Rs four crore for JNNURM projects and Rs five crore for water supply and sewerage. Rs 27 crore (12 per cent) have been spared for contingency expenditures like paying electricity bill, procuring petrol, diesel and stationary. Meanwhile, lion share of 
Rs 102 crore (49 per cent) would go in paying salaries to its employees.

Serious Safety issues: Iron grills being fitted to put up a new hoarding at the terrace of Nehru Shopping Complex building in Amritsar.Photo: Vishal Kumar

Official reaction

KS Pannu, Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar: There are around 188 unipoles which come under our reading; rest of them would stand to be illegal. About the new hoardings you are talking about, I am immediately passing instructions to take notice of it. DPS Kharbanda, Commissioner, Municipal Corporation: A resolution about hoardings and advertisement displays would soon be coming into force. Soon, notices would be served to the violating firms. 

Amritsar, March 26
Now the children, whose mothers have been lodged at the Amritsar Central Jail in connection with cases, have reasons to smile as they would get swings in the jail premises to rejoice with. It is probably the only jail in the state where the children would have such a privilege.

It is pertinent to mention here that as many as 30 children up to 6 years live are there in the jail. These also include children of foreign nationals from Bangladesh and Myanmar who have been serving the jail term on account of various criminal charges, which include illegal border crossing.

Sparing a thought for these innocent children, the local councillor and chairman food processing industries, north zone, has installed swings in the jail premises.

Gurjit Aujla, the councillor, said arrangements would also be made in future for their visit to the Golden Temple, Jallianwala Bagh and witnessing Beating the Retreat Ceremony at Attari-Wagah joint checkpost.

“It is our endeavour to get these children acquainted with the wonders of outside world. Our motive is that their vision should not be restricted to the four walls of jail only,” he added. In addition to this, education facilities too have been introduced in the jail by engaging the services of those inmates who are educated and are serving the jail term. Meanwhile, among others who were present include Jail Superintendent G S Sidhu and Deputy Superintendent Balbir Singh.

Amritsar, March 26
Two toll tax barriers would be established within the gap of nearly 32 km on Amritsar-Jalandhar G.T road which means the commuters traveling on four-wheelers and heavy vehicles had to shell out more bucks from their pockets.

The barriers, as has been disclosed by an official of the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) on the condition of anonymity, would probably be operational sometime from next month.

Most hit would be the tourists and pilgrims flocking Amristar to get a glimpse of the holiest Sikh shrine, the Golden Temple, or visit Jallianwala Bagh, witness the Retreat Ceremony at Attari-Wagah Joint Check Post or savour Amritsar’s cuisine.

The NHAI official said the exact amount of tax to be levied would be known only after it gets validated by the head office, which is seized of the matter.

Opposing the move, Pritpal Singh, a resident of Chandigarh, who visit the city on a frequent basis on his car, said if the barriers come into force, he would have to change his mode of transportation and even curtail his visits. Till now, he has to pay Rs 65 for one side at three toll tax barriers.

The holy city has been rated as one of the highly visited tourist places in the world, marching ahead of even Taj Mahal. Among the pilgrims and tourists visiting the Sikh shrine, the visitors coming in four wheelers form a sizeable number.

Since Jalandhar-Amritsar GT Road is a National Highway (NH) connecting the border district with the national capital, it experiences a great rush of traffic. Besides, major cities of the Punjab, Jalandhar and Ludhiana are located on this road while it connects with the roads leading to Patiala and Chandigarh.

Amritsar, March 26
Traders and businessmen have flayed the Excise and Taxation Department for promulgating a notification which restricted the availing of input tax credit up to first, second, third and fourth stages of buyer purchasing goods from manufacturer and importer.

The notification was made applicable from the date of its publication March 17.

The buyers of subsequent stages would not be able to avail input tax credit in respect of purchases made by them. A businessman, Ramesh Kumar, feared that the new law would not only give untold hassles to trading community but also give nightmare to accountants. He said such cumbersome rules would make the trading more complicated.

The Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) shot off a letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal demanding its deferment unless the new provision was discussed with its pros and cons.

PPBM President Amrit Lal Jain said businessmen were contributing over Rs 8,000 crore through VAT. Keeping their contribution the state government must give weightage to their opinion before implementation of such rules. He feared that complicating the rules would mean discouragement to trade.

The new rule makes it mandatory that in order to pass on the credit one has to know as to which stage of purchase or sale belonged as the notification stated that the traders have to mention the stage of purchase on the invoice being issued.

VAT-23 and VAT-24 have been amended to provide detail of each and every invoice of sale and purchase in contrast to earlier requirement to provide details of customers and suppliers.

Besides, it has been made compulsory to report stage of sale whether it was first, second, third and fourth stages of suppliers. In VAT-24 one has to report the status of supplier. “Here appears to be contradiction within the notification,” said Jain.

Ironically, there is no column for amount of tax and notification is unnumbered. He said it spoke of haste in which the notification has been issued without undergoing any thought process. He said it seemed that the government unable to handle the baffling problem of tax evasion by a small number of traders had decided to crack whip on the entire business community. 

Amritsar, March 26
Falling credit-deposit ratio of the banks in the district left the officials of the district administration worried during the District Consultative Committee meeting held here today.

Performance of the banks and other government agencies of the district were reviewed for the third quarter that ended in December 2009. Additional Deputy Commissioner (Development), Perneet Bhardwaj, who presided over the meeting, pointed this negative trend out and stressed for paying special attention to the bankers. He said all round economic development of the district would be possible only when the living standards of the BPL families be raised through micro financing. He asked the bankers to provide government sponsored and subsidised schemes to self-help groups and SGSY on priority. He added the banks had achieved all other quarterly target allocated to them.

A.R. Mishra, Deputy General Manager, Circle Head, Punjab National Bank, informed that disbursement/credit flow during the third quarter was Rs 1,924.13 crore against the target of Rs 1,794.91 crore showing achievement of 107.20 per cent. Disbursement in agriculture sector during this period touched the figure of Rs 1,002.57 crore against the proportionate target of Rs 947.26 crore showing achievement of 105.84 per cent.

Aggregate deposits in the district increased from Rs 11,145 crore in December 2008 to Rs 12,872 crore at the end of December 2009. Credit growth in the district had been from Rs 6,017 crore in December 2008 to Rs 6,592 crore in December 2009.

With a view to boost agriculture credit the banks have issued KCCs to 4,541 farmers amounting to Rs 105.63 crore during April 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009. Under the small scale industry (SSI) sector credit flow had been Rs 473.72 crore against proportionate target of Rs 425.02 crore. The district has achieved all other national goals e.g. PS advances to total advances, agriculture advances to total advances, advances to weaker sector and advances to women beneficiaries. The performance in respect of DRI advances is, however, not up to the desired level.

Chief Lead District Manager, PNB, R.S Chattha, AGM, RBI, Y.B Bajaj, AGM, NABARD, Surinder Singh and senior officers from different banks also participated.

Amritsar, March 26
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should immediately intervene to resolve the grievances of the farmers who were agitating against the state government and police administration for allegedly shielding the accused in the murder of Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan), Sadhu Singh Takhtupura.

Stating this, Dr Joginder Dyal, National CPI Secretary, pointed out that instead of suppressing the protest of farmers, the government should negotiate with them and work out solution regarding their grievances. He strongly criticised the police, which has arrested a number of the farmer leaders to scuttle their move to organised a three-day protest dharna in front of the IG police border range office here.

Interacting with media, he said the movement of farmers should not be based on a single issue of brutal murder of Takhtupura. He said it could be one of the vital issues being faced by the farming community in the state and the country. He said the terms of trade should be corrected, as it is more favourable to industry than agriculture.

He said the farmers in the state were facing severe economic crisis as farm inputs have been going up day-by-day in view of spiralling prices of fertilisers and diesel while the return has decreased considerably.

Criticising the state government, he said the government has failed to control the non-productive expenditure incurred by way of providing security to every who’s who in the state.

Amritsar, March 26
A 20-member new Planning Board of the Guru Nanak Dev University has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Vice-Chancellor, Prof A.S. Brar, for a period of one year to be commenced from April 1 to March 31, 2011. The newly designated Dean, Academic Affairs, Dr Surinder Singh, who takes over the charge of his office on the same day, will be the convener of the board.

Dr Inderjit Singh, Registrar, said Dean (Students Welfare) Dr M.P.S. Ishar, Dean (College Development Council) Dr M.S. Hundal, Professor In charge (Finance and Development) Dr Sharanjit Singh Dhillon, president of the University Teachers’ Association Dr T.S. Banipal, secretary of the University Teachers’ Association Dr Sukhpreet Singh and the Registrar were taken as members. Former president and secretary of the University Teachers’ Association had also been taken as members of the board, he added.

He said Dr T.S. Gill (Physics Department), Dr N.S. Tung (Psychology Department) and Dr Jasvir Singh (Electronics Department) as Deans of faculties had been included in the Planning Board till June 30 this year.

The Registrar said other members who had been taken on the board were three Professors Dr Raghbir Singh (Commerce and Business Management Department), Dr R.K. Bedi (Physics Department) and Dr V.K. Chadha (Punjab School of Economics), three Readers Dr B.S. Mann (Commerce and Business Management Department), Dr Davinder Singh (Psychology Department) and Dr Saroj Bala (Botanical and Environmental Sciences Department) and a Lecturer, Parminder Kaur (Computer Science and Engineering Department).

New appointments

Dr Surinder Singh, Professor of the Physics Department of Guru Nanak Dev University, has been appointed as new Dean, Academic Affairs, of the University. The appointment has been made by Vice-Chancellor Prof Ajaib Singh Brar from April 1 till March 31, 2011.

Dr Hardeep Singh, Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department, is the new Dean, Alumni, Dr Satish Verma, Professor of the Punjab School of Economics, is Director, Academic Staff College, and Dr Jagrup Singh Sekhon, Professor of the Political Science Department, is Director, AIS Centre of the university.

Dr Inderjit Singh, Registrar of the university, said Prof M.P.S. Ishar, Dean Students’ Welfare, Prof A.K. Thukral, Director, Research, Prof Gurupdesh Singh, Director, Distance Education, Prof M.S. Hundal, Coordinator, EDUSAT, Prof Paramjit Singh, Coordinator, Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion and Inclusive Policy, Dr G.S. Virk, Director, Hospitality, Prof Rajinderjit Puar, 
Director and Head, Adult Education, Prof Tajinder Kaur, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, of Regional Campus, Jalandhar, and Dr Pawan Kumar, Associate Dean, Academic Affairs, Students’ Welfare of Regional Campus, Gurdaspur, were given extension till March 31, 2011.