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GIS survey reveals thousands of tax evaders
Jilted lover stabs beloved’s sister
Fashion shows, walks, kitties, games mark Karva Chauth
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1 killed in mishap
Sweetmeat sellers cut down on selling ‘khoya’ products
Youth fest begins at Lovely Professional University
NRI donates Rs 76.27 lakh to city hospital
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GIS survey reveals thousands of tax evaders
Jalandhar, October 15 With survey done in just two wards as of now, it has been observed that the officials had been relying on a very old record of property owners for levying house tax and water and sewer charges. The poor update seems to have helped thousands of property owners in remaining unnoticed, evading taxes and enjoying free water connections for years. The officials are now of the opinion that they were getting just a small amount as recoveries. They now believe that if their records are corrected and recoveries are made 100 per cent, the income of the MC could go up multiple times, facilitating the civic body to become a highly profitable public office. Sample this: In Ward 39, the survey for house tax has shown just 10 mapped properties (satellite imagery, records and manual survey matching) in contrast to as many as 532 valid but unlisted ones (number of defaulters almost 53 times more). The 213 properties from the ward, which were otherwise listed on record and were being sent bills and notices from time to time, have been found to be invalid addresses. In the same ward, it has been found that there were 1,327 mapped properties and 1,782 unmapped ones for water and sewage connections. This implies that the illegal connections in the area outnumber the legal ones. The ward also has 888 vacant plots, with a total of 3,997 properties in it. In contrast, the number of illegal water and sewer connections has been found to be almost double in Ward 54. There are as many as 2,324 unmapped connections in contrast to nearly 1,011 mapped ones. There are a total of 3,834 properties in this ward with as many as 499 lying vacant. In the same ward, there were 31 mapped house tax properties and as many as 782 unmapped ones.
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Jilted lover stabs beloved’s sister
Jalandhar October 15 The accused, Surinder, who was said to be in an inebriated condition, visited the house of the victim, Sumitra, and demanded to see her sister. When she objected and asked him to go away, he stabbed her with a knife. She was rushed to the Civil Hospital. Police sources said Surinder was nabbed from the spot by the residents and beaten up. He was later taken in custody and sent for a medical examination. A case has been registered under Section 307, 452 and 324 of the IPC. Sumitra is recuperating in the hospital and her conditions is said to be stable.
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Fashion shows, walks, kitties, games mark Karva Chauth
Jalandhar, October 15 While at homes and nondescript streets, women sat and chatted and tended to kids, at posh hotels bedecked women in the costliest of couture, representing the latest of trends, contested to steal the Karva Chauth show. There were Karva Chauth fashion shows, walks, kitties, games across the city today and hordes of sponsors also chipped in to give a hearty entertainment in the afternoon to the fasting-wives brigade. While in the previous years, the Karva Chauth gatherings in the city have mostly been about colony kitty parties, this year as many as seven to eight clubs held high-profile gatherings for women. Ravinderjit Kaur, president, JCI Girlz, has been holding such gatherings for the past 10 years. She says, “The momentum of the Karva Chauth parties has certainly picked up in the past two to three years. It was different this time and very grand this year. We organised many games on the occasion and gave away JC and non-JC titles. We got as many as 12 sponsors and 250 women participated in the event.” Giving away commodities like microwaves as bumper prizes and holding as many as 21 lucky dips, the women geared up for fashion contests and won Karva Chauth goodies. Shilpa Jain, who began holding a Karva Chauth party under the banner “Special Effects” this year, says, “We held mehndi and jewellery contests. As many as 150 women participated and we played team games, tambola, etc.” Coming home for the parties in the evening, the women held Karva Chauth poojas. While most women still hold on to the trend of breaking their fasts as the moon comes out in the night, oldies say the trend of women breaking their fasts right after the pooja (with water, tea, etc) is fast increasing. Bedecked thalis with fruits, nuts and money were passed on among groups of women as they chanted the Karva Chauth song (karvara vataunni aan) and the Bahmani (priestess) told them the quaint, traditional Karva Chauth tale. In the evening, women ended their fasts with through-the-sieve glances at the beautiful moon and then at the men for whom they fasted. |
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...while jailbirds get chance to be with their spouses
Jalandhar, October 15 Owing to the importance of the festival, one of its kind in the world where wives pray and fast for the longer life and prosperity of their husbands, even the government had granted special permission to allow spouses to meet and greet each other between 9 am to 5 pm today. It was sight to behold as hundreds of bedecked women descended on the premises of the Central Jail here and could be seen savouring the moment with spouses with no rancour or talk about why their husbands were behind bars.Ekta, who had came to meet her husband, Bikaramjit, who has been in the jail for the past four and a half years having been convicted under the NDPS Act, could not control her emotions and broke into tears when she had a glimpse of her husband. “Every year on the occasion of Karva Chauth, I along with my son Sahil and daughter Khushi come to meet my husband. From the last three years I have been celebrating the day and am eagerly awaiting his release from prison,’ she sobbed. Today, she had brought some of the favourite dishes of her husband. “It really broke my heart when my children asked me today that are we getting ready for bringing Papa back home today,” she says unable to control her tears. Preeti, whose husband Sodhi, an undertrail lodged in the jail and facing a cognisable offence, echoed similar emotions. “Today I feel at cloud nine, we talked for long time and my husband even praised me when he saw me in red sari and colourful bangles. The best thing is that he promised me that he would be a reformed person once he gets out. That’s the best gift he could have given me today,” she bubbled with joy. Sneha, who came to meet her husband Sunil, an undertrial, also could not hide her excitement as her husband too promised her of being a good husband and a good citizen.
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1 killed in mishap
Jalandhar, October 15 In the first accident, the driver of a truck died on the spot when a tractor-trailer hit his vehicle from the side on the Jamsher-Shapur road, near here late last night. The truck (PB-08N-9982) was heading towards Jalandhar while a speeding tractor-trailer loaded with potatoes collided with the truck from the side thus overturning it, said Gurpinder Singh, SHO, Sadar police station. The deceased was identified as Satnam Singh, resident of Nangal Jamal village in Tanda (Hoshiarpur). The tractor driver fled from the scene after the accident leaving behind his tractor-trailer. The body was handed over to family members after postmortem at the Civil Hospital. A case of rash and negligent driving under Sections 279 and 304-A of the IPC has been registered against the absconding tractor driver at the Sadar police station. In the second accident, the driver of an auto-rickshaw sustained serious injures when a truck heading towards Ludhiana from Amritsar collided head-on with his vehicle on the busy GT Road, adjacent to the cantonment railway station, early this morning. The truck driver was also hurt in the collision. The mishap occurred at about 4.30 am when Ashwani Kumar, a resident of Dakoha, was going in his auto-rickshaw towards the railway station and the Ludhiana-bound truck (Pb-02AN-9828), loaded with cloth bales, collided with it head-on. The truck dragged the auto-rickshaw for almost 15 feet and then both the vehicles overturned. Ashwani Kumar was lucky as he was thrown out of the vehicle in the accident, ASI Santokh Singh, who visited the spot soon after receiving the information, said. The injured was rushed to a private hospital and doctors after giving him first aid referred him to the Civil Hospital. The truck driver Sonu, who also sustained injuries, fled from the scene. Traffic on the GT Road was also disrupted for over one and a half hours following the collision.
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Sweetmeat sellers cut down on selling ‘khoya’ products
Jalandhar, October 15 Almost every shopkeeper that The Tribune spoke to seemed keen on disowning the khoya sweets that they sold. While some shopkeepers had genuinely cut down on khoya items, others pretended to do so, even as their sweet racks flaunted khoya goodies. A sweetmeat seller near the Milap Chowk said, “We have stopped selling khoya sweets. Of the khoya sweets, it is only barfi that we still sell. The rest is stuff like besan laddoos, mathis and jalebis. There is indeed a fear among customers of khoya sweets, keeping that in mind, we changed our menu. When asked what he thinks regarding the rise in adulterated food items, the shopkeeper said, “Ask the big fish in the business.” A shopkeeper said, “Animals don’t give milk according to the demand of the festive season. We get 70 kg milk from dairies per day, make our own khoya and make our sweets before afternoon. If we ask for more milk, I’m sure we will be given adulterated milk. So I have no clue how those, who handle big orders, manage it. The 40 kg can of milk is no more available in the market, the 5 kg one was also stopped around Raksha Bandhan. The half litre pack costs Rs 36. If someone gives us order for 10 boxes of sweets, we have to think twice. We sell 15 boxes a day and there is certainly a dearth of ‘original’ milk and fresh sweets in the market. This web of adulterated sweetmeat sellers and dwindling customers is costing people like us, who sell pure stuff, dear. For the big names, it is still smooth sailing.” When asked whether the fear of adulterated food had caused lesser customers, owner of the Cremica sweet shop said he had faced no such problem. “Though inflation might have played a role in the business being reduced marginally, but since our customers trust our quality, they still come. As far as khoya sweets are concerned, we don’t sell too many of them and the few that we do are made of the khoya that we make ourselves.” Ram Singh, a shopkeeper in a city area, said, “There is indeed a change in the way people buy things and it has affected business by at least 40 per cent. The best way to go about in these circumstances is that we make lesser products and sell lesser than we earlier used to.” Ramesh Mittal from Lovely Sweets, however, has no qualms, “Good quality always sells.” About the adulterators
from Leo Fort and three from a unit where ‘matri’ was
prepared
awaited
Preventive measures
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Youth held with pistol
Jalandhar, October 15 The accused has been identified as Jeevan Kumar of Dhak Pandori village in Kapurthala. Acting on a tip-off, Naresh Kumar, in charge of the Division No 7 police station, laid a trap near Defence Colony and arrested the youth and recovered the material. The police said Jeevan had a criminal background and three criminal cases had already been registered against him at different police stations. A case under Sections 22, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against Jeevan.
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Youth fest begins at Lovely Professional University
Jalandhar, October 15 Hundreds of talented students are participating in various theatre, music, dance, literary and fine arts competitions as more than 20,000 are witnessing and encouraging their performances. Events held today comprised instrumental Western vocal, Western dance, acting, elocution, quiz, poster making, cartooning and clay modelling. Rangoli was based on themes of patriotism and festive occasions. Food and game fun stalls are part of the festival. The main attraction of the celebration is “Muzihileration - The Rock Show”, wherein performances from the university bands Psychic breakdown, Black musters, Down by the river, Rhythmic boys, Agrath and Sarggm at the Sunken Stage will continue for full two days. Chancellor of the university Ashok Mittal inaugurated the festival by lighting a lamp. Enjoying celebration full to the core, Gurnoor Kaur, Rafi, Adebayo, Mriganav Borah, Jo-Ann and Mehak Goyal, some of the university students, said in a voice, “The festival has come to us as a post-exam stress buster. We will cherish these days in our lives as precious moments.”
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NRI donates Rs 76.27 lakh to city hospital
Jalandhar, October 15 The NRI, Makhan Singh Roy (86), who hails from Paragpur village here, has donated the amount in the memory of his wife Catherine, who passed away sometime back. The amount has been received by president of the Guru Nanak Mission Hospital Trust Balbir Singh Saini. A retired chemical engineer, Roy has recently figured in a history book, “Stories from the early migrants from the Indian Subcontinent - Coming to Gravesham”. The book has been written by Gurvinder Singh Sandher under a community project, led by the Kent Equality Cohesion Council. The first chapter of the book, “The first migrants”, starts with the story on Roy’s migration to England in 1949. It reads how he and his brother-in-law managed to get a passport for a total of Rs 50 through an Inspector. An interesting anecdote reads: “The whole village had gathered at the main square to bid farewell to me. The women were crying and saying that they may not see me again and this made me cry as well. My father managed to give me Rs 1,000, the exchange rate was Rs 7 to a pound and the amount was enough to get me to London by ship.” As a member of the Cycling Touring Club of South-West London, he has been making efforts in raising charity for earthquake victims of Pakistan, raising funds for donations to hospitals and medical camps. The octogenarian is quite fit and has been cycling around in Jalandhar even now, despite the fact that he had earlier undergone a cardiac surgery and treatment for cancer. He has plans to leave for the UK in a week’s time.
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Jalandhar, October 15
Jalandhar, October 15
