B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Notice to varsity for not paying house tax
Faridkot, June 21
The Deputy Director-cum-Special Magistrate, Local Bodies Department, Punjab, has issued a legal notice to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to pay Rs 2,37,096 as house tax to the Municipal Committee (MC), Faridkot, before July 9 or face action.

Kin vandalise hospital, block road after patient’s death
Muktsar, June 21
Following the death of a local resident due to the alleged negligence of doctors at the Mission Hospital here today, his relatives damaged the hospital property and blocked the Malout-Muktsar road demanding action against the hospital authorities.

Two kids among four pilgrims killed, 40 hurt
Abohar, June 21
Four pilgrims, including two children, were killed while 40 sustained injuries as the driver of a bus in which they were travelling, lost control over it near Hardesar village on the Hanumangarh-Sardarshehar highway today.

Petrol pump owner found murdered
Muktsar, June 21
Sangat Singh (60), a petrol pump owner, was found murdered near Jhabelwali village last night. The deceased was returning to his house on his scooter after collecting Rs 20,300 in cash from the petrol pump located at the village when some unidentified persons attacked him and fled with the cash.

Notice to varsity for not paying house tax
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, June 21
The Deputy Director-cum-Special Magistrate, Local Bodies Department, Punjab, has issued a legal notice to the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) to pay Rs 2,37,096 as house tax to the Municipal Committee (MC), Faridkot, before July 9 or face action.

The notice was issued following a complaint from the MC. The MC alleged that despite many reminders to the university to pay the house tax for its residential campus area, the tax was not paid.

The house tax amount pertained to last three years, said Subash Joshi, executive officer (EO) in the MC.

Three years ago, the doctors’ residential campus was taken over by the university and since then, no tax was paid, said Joshi.

Last month, the MC had issued legal notices to the BFUHS, the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College, the Dashmesh Institute of Research and Dental Science, a private school and the owners of many other big commercial houses for violating the Punjab Municipal Act by raising huge buildings without getting approval from the MC, and not paying the mandatory fee.

The Punjab Government announced its decision to abolish octroi on petrol and diesel in the state two months back. Now, to improve its frail economic condition, the MC has started targeting big institutions to raise funds, said a senior functionary in BFUHS.

However, Subash Joshi said as per the Punjab Municipal Act, before starting the construction of a building within the municipal limits, it was mandatory to get its drawings passed from the engineering wing of the MC and pay the necessary fee. For every commercial building, the fee was Rs 5 per square feet in Faridkot, he added.

Evasion of house tax was also a civil offence, so the MC and the Local Bodies Department were taking action against the university for non-payment of house tax, he said.

After abolition of octroi on petrol and diesel, the MC has now limited sources of income which is mainly restricted to house tax and building construction and renovation fee.

Octroi was the main source of income for the MCs. The state government had already abolished it on all items except for electricity, petrol and diesel with effect from September 1, 2006.

But now, the government has also done away with charging octroi on petrol and diesel, which was otherwise bringing handsome earning to the MC.

Octroi was charged at the rate of 1 per cent and 2 per cent on petrol and diesel, respectively.

“In absence of any other source of income after abolition of octroi on petrol and diesel, we have no other option but to tighten the noose around those not paying house taxes and building construction fees,” said the executive officer.

Kin vandalise hospital, block road after patient’s death

Muktsar, June 21
Following the death of a local resident due to the alleged negligence of doctors at the Mission Hospital here today, his relatives damaged the hospital property and blocked the Malout-Muktsar road demanding action against the hospital authorities.

Rajiv Kumar, a local resident, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday after he sustained injuries in a road mishap and died after the surgery was performed at the hospital.

The deceased’s family members alleged that Rajiv died due to negligence of doctors, as post-operation he felt uneasiness and the doctors gave him some injection, which allegedly caused his death. Irate, they broke some windowpanes of the hospital. They also blocked the Malout-Muktsar road seeking action against the guilty.

A police party led by DSP (D) Surinder Singh reached the spot and pacified the family members with an assurance that action would be taken against the hospital authorities, if their negligence was proved in the post-mortem examination report. Following this, the blockade was lifted. — TNS

Two kids among four pilgrims killed, 40 hurt
Our Correspondent

Abohar, June 21
Four pilgrims, including two children, were killed while 40 sustained injuries as the driver of a bus in which they were travelling, lost control over it near Hardesar village on the Hanumangarh-Sardarshehar highway today.

The bus was returning from Katra in J&K after pilgrimage to Vaishno Devi shrine and passed through Abohar this morning. As many as 60 passengers were on board the bus.

Arun Chaudhary, who led the police to the site, said the bus rammed into a stationary truck on the roadside. The mishap blocked the traffic on the highway. Passengers from other vehicles and locals dragged the dead and injured persons from the badly-mangled bus. All were shifted to the Civil Hospital at Sardarshehar in ‘108’ emergency ambulance, highway ambulance and private vehicles.

Chaos prevailed as the Civil Hospital was not equipped to deal with such a high number of causalities. Administrative officials had a tough time controlling the situation and made arrangements to shift the 10 patients with serious injuries to Jaipur.

Those killed were identified as Pushpa (35), Vijay Maurya (33), Mohit Berwa (12) and Mansi Kumawat (10).

Petrol pump owner found murdered

Muktsar, June 21
Sangat Singh (60), a petrol pump owner, was found murdered near Jhabelwali village last night. The deceased was returning to his house on his scooter after collecting Rs 20,300 in cash from the petrol pump located at the village when some unidentified persons attacked him and fled with the cash.

The police said the body was found lying on the road along with the scooter, but the cash was missing. A case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered at Bariwala police station. — TNS