Jalandhar, September 9
In the presence of MP Mohinder Singh Kaypee, supporters of two senior Congress leaders today clashed during a marriage function at a resort near Malsian, here this evening. In the melee, one Congress worker sustained serious injuries and was rushed to the hospital.

Sources said Hardev Singh Laddi Sherowalia, general secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress, and Rajanbir Singh, senior Congress leader and son of former Finance Minister, Punjab, along with their supporters had gone to attend a marriage function.

When the MP went on the stage to give blessings to the newlywed couple, both the above said leaders along with their supporters also climbed the stage. And in a bid to stand nearer to the MP, they indulged in heated arguments.

Supporters were pacified only after the intervention of certain people.

Sources said when the MP was leaving the function, supporters of both the leaders again indulged in heated arguments, which later took the shape of a scuffle.

It was learnt that Rajanbir’s personal assistant Dalbir Singh argued with Laddi Sherowalia, which actually led to the scuffle between the supporters.

Sources said Laddi’s cousin Ashwinder Pal Singh sustained serious head injuries and was rushed to the Civil Hospital.

Both the leaders levelled allegations against each others.

Jalandhar, September 9
As many as 10 persons were injured in a group clash at Kalyanpur village near Lambra late last night. The clash reportedly took place following a quarrel between the children of opposite parties. The injured were identified as Jasvir Singh, Mangal Singh, Manga, Vijay, Kaka, Sabi, Somnath, Debu and Tarsem. Sources said following the quarrel of children in the day, both the parties reached a compromise in the presence of the village sarpanch. But at 10 pm on Saturday night, certain motorcycle-borne youths arrived outside the house of Balkar Singh and started hurling stones inside his house. The opposite party too threw stones. Police sources said no case was registered as the groups reached a compromise today.

Jalandhar, September 9
In an open violation of norms, Punjab Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal’s son Mohinder Bhagat was found using a vehicle fitted with a red beacon here on Sunday.

Also state BJP vice-president, Mohinder Bhagat came to Punjab Press Club in Jalandhar on a Innova car (PB-08-BY-0215) fitted with red beacon. Moreover, the car had no sticker pasted on the vehicle, required to use red beacon on vehicles.

When some photojournalists clicked photographs of the vehicle with red beacon atop, Bhagat requested them not to publish the same in the newspapers. Bhagat said, “He is the guest of the media as he has come to Punjab Press Club for addressing a press conference regarding the constitution of All-India Bhagat Sabha.”

At the press conference, when The Tribune asked him if he is authorised to use the vehicle fitted with a red beacon, he evaded a direct reply.

To further queries, he said, “Every elected MLA can fit a red beacon atop his private vehicles and his father and minister Bhagat Chunni Lal has got his Innova car fitted with a red beacon.”

Going by the norms, one’s vehicle may be impounded if one is found misusing beacons. ADCP Traffic Sukhdev Singh could not be contacted.

Bhagat sabha set up

Announcing the set-up of All-India Bhagat Sabha, its newly elected president Mohinder Bhagat said the sabha would work for the uplift of the Bhagat community. He said, “There are 25 lakh members of the Bhagat community in the state.” He said the sabha would be non-political and would work for better medical and education facilities for the community. Bhagat Chunni Lal was also declared the patron of the sabha.

Jalandhar, September 9
The Congress has attacked the SAD-BJP Government for registering a criminal case against seven Congress workers, who had gheraoed Local Bodies Minister Bhagat Chunni Lal over lack of development in the Basti Peerdad locality.

Two Congress workers were arrested after the registration of an FIR under sections 283 (Danger or obstruction in public way or line of navigation), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 186 (Obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC at Basti Bawa Khel on inspector Hardayal Singh’s statement.

However, they were later released on bail after strong protests by Congressmen, including advisory member of PPCC grievances cell Sanjay Sehgal and vice president of Jalandhar West Youth Congress Rajesh Agnihotri Bhola.

Sehgal and Bhola said they had met former Congress ministers, including Chaudhary Jagjit Singh and Avtar Henry, to apprise them about the high-handedness of the police.

Bhola alleged that several policemen, including Rajinder Kumar, SHO, police station number five, manhandled the protesting Congressmen.

They said a delegation of the Congressmen would meet Police Commissioner Gaurav Yadav demanding cancellation of the FIR and suspension of the SHOs Hardayal Singh and Rajinder Kumar.

Bhola said they had gone to meet the minister for drawing his attention towards the sanitation problem in the Basti Peerdad locality and for laying sewer pipes in that locality.

Bhola said they had brought the sanitation problem to the notice of the minister earlier too.

On the other hand, Bhagat Chunni Lal’s son and BJP state vice president Mohinder Bhagat justified the registration of the FIR against the agitators. He alleged that the protesters had kicked the minister’s car.

“The protesters could have come to the minister’s residence to protest against the sanitation problem, but they should have not gone to the site where the stone for bridge was to be laid,” he said.

Jalandhar, September 9
Vacant posts, crumbling infrastructure, a lack of a district head, an abandoned OPD and the staff which was not sure where it belonged - this was the state of the School Health Clinic a week ago.

While on the infrastructural front, the clinic still languishes, the recent posting of Medical Officer and District Dental Officer at the clinic is all set to ensure better days for the clinic in the coming days.

After a recent story, which ran in these very pages about the deplorable condition of the School Health Clinic (SHC) at Basti Gujan, the health department took note of its ruinous state and deployed ‘permanent’ staff which will take care of the state of affairs at the clinic.

Medical officer

While the MO of the clinic was working only on the basis of verbal orders, he has recently received orders from the Punjab Government that he has permanently been posted at the clinic.

MO Dr Anirudh has received orders from the office of the Principal Secretary, Department of Health and Family Welfare, that he is being permanently posted from the Central Jail, Kapurthala, to the School Health Clinic at Basti Gujan, Jalandhar.

Dr Gurchetan Prakash, who was posted at this clinic (but was working elsewhere), has also been posted to the Central Jail, Kapurthala, permanently as per the orders.

District Dental Officer

On its visit to the SHC, The Tribune had learnt that the post of the DDO at the clinic had been lying vacant at the clinic for at least a year.

But a few days ago, the post was filled with the posting of Dr Kanwaljeet Kaur from Community Health Centre Kahnuwan (Gurdaspur).

The OPD, which had only been restricted for Thursdays will now be opened for the week.

DSMO

While the post of the District School Medical Officer is still vacant, a doctor has been put in charge of school health for the time being. Assigned the charge of School Health Officer, Dr Aruna, who already holds the charge of the Assistant Health Officer, shall be looking after the affairs of school health for the entire district.

Some Relief

Jalandhar September 9
Despite all-out efforts by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal to overcome the problem of acute shortage of police force in the state, as many as 7,468 posts of police personnel are lying vacant in different departments of the state police.

These startling facts have come to the fore through an information obtained under the RTI Act from the office of Director General of Police (DGP) by Nitin Sharma, a Shahkot-based businessman.

Interestingly, the Deputy CM had recently removed a heavy posse of police from unnecessary security duties who were deployed with state politicians, police officers, bureaucrats and businessmen. However, this, too, did not ensure any solution to the persistent problem of shortage of police staff.

It has come to the light that the state police force is facing a dearth of posts of constables, head constables (HC), sub-inspectors (SI), inspectors, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) and Superintendent of Police (SP).

Similarly, there is a shortage of police personnel in senior ranks like the Director General of Police (DGP), Inspector General of Police (IGP) and Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG).

The highest shortage of police force has been noticed in the rank of head constables and constables. The available facts say that out of the 61,055 sanctioned posts of constables, only 55,472 have been filled so far, which means that 5,583 more constables were needed to match the required strength in the state police. Similarly, against the needed strength of 12,909 head constables, only 11,717 have been deployed at various stations in across the state.

The available information also states that against the 9 sanctioned posts of DGPs in the state police, two significant posts of DGP (Law & Order) and DGP (Security) are lying vacant. The only exception is with the rank of IGP where out of the 36 sanctioned posts just one is lying unoccupied.

The facts also highlight that 7 posts of DIGs against the sanctioned limit of 26 are lying unfilled. There is a shortage of SP rank officials, as around 10 posts were found unoccupied out of the total 237 sanctioned strength. Similar is the status of the vacancies of the ASP, as out of the 22 approved postings, only 13 have been filled so far while nine were lying vacant.

Notably, against the sanctioned limit, the state government has deployed two additional ADGPs with the state police. Vacancies at the rank of DSPs are also large in number, as out of the 449 posts only 347 have been occupied, while 102 were still lying vacant.

In the rank of inspectors posted at various police ranges, GRPs, Armed Battalions, intelligence wing, PPA/Phillaur, etc., and at the ex-cadre positions, including Vigilance Bureau, PSEB and MC, the state police posted only 940 inspectors against the sanctioned limit of 1,030.

The RTI information further states that 357 vacancies of sub-inspectors against the sanctioned strength of 1,343 were also lying vacant. The shortage already excludes 124 pending cases of promotion of head constables who will be promoted as sub-inspectors in future. Similarly, there are about 115 vacancies of the ASI rank, as 2,739 have been posted against the required strength of 3,101.

Jalandhar, September 9
The Punjab Pradesh Beopar Mandal (PPBM) has given a seven-day ultimatum to the Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government for abolishing the e-trip system (e-filing of bills).

Amrit Lal Jain, president of the PPBM, and its general secretary Sunil Mehra said if the Badal government did not abolish the e-trip system by September 15, a mahapanchayat of traders would be held at Pathankot, where Punjab BJP president Avinash Sharma resides. A future course of action would be decided in the mahapanchayat, they added.

Elaborating further, Jain and Mehra said: “The e-trip system implemented by the State Excise and Taxation Department from August 10 is illegal as there is no provision of such system in the VAT Act, 2005, and Excise and Taxation Commissioner A. Venu Prasad has introduced and implemented the system using the powers of the legislature which he can not do.”

Flaying the BJP for failing to do anything practically against the implementation of the e-trip, they said the core committee of the BJP had opposed the introduction of e-trip, under which a trader had to submit the information in advance about the sale of iron of Rs 2 lakh or above and any other item of Rs 3 lakh or above on the website of the Excise and Taxation Department.”

Representatives of the PPBM also criticised the Badal government for steep hike in power tariff that, too, retrospectively from April 1. All such steps, including increasing VAT on several items, would hit the industrial and commercial growth of the state, they added.

Jain and Mehra said the steps taken by the Badal government, including 0.5 per cent increase in VAT, e-trip (e filing of bills), annual processing charges on VAT dealers and imposing property tax, would adversely affect the traders.

The Gujarat government has announced its textile policy 2012 in which it had announced a number of concessions such as interest subsidy, cheap power, refund of VAT on purchase of plants and machinery, financial assistance, reimbursement of tuition fees to trainees.

Jalandhar, September 9
With the enhancement of luxury tax on hotels and lump sum tax on brick-kilns, it is the customer who is going to bear the brunt, said hoteliers and brick-kiln owners.

While the city-based hoteliers claimed that they would be forced to hike room rents and other services, the brick-kiln owners were of the view that the industry was doubly affected with this decision of the state government.

Anil Chopra, owner of Hotel Ramda, said the industry won’t be hit with this decision but it was the customer who would have to pay over 10 per cent extra on the existing tariffs. The enhancement of luxury tax would break the backbone of the trade.

Ravish, owner of F-Bar, a discotheque, said the decision was going to affect the tourism industry in a big way.

“The decision is totally stupid. The government should have concerted with the hoteliers before implementing it,” said JP Singh, managing director of Hotel President.

Meanwhile, Rakesh Mohan Puri, owner of a brick-kiln in Hoshiarpur, said the kilns were struggling for survival after a ban was imposed on the mining and now the government had doubled the taxes on a lump-sum basis for different categories.

The decision of the government would force the brick-kiln owners to close their establishments and show doors to lakhs of labourers across the state, he said.

He also warned that the brick-kiln owners would be forced to join other affected parties to launch massive protests against the government if the division was not reviewed in a favourable manner.

The state government has enhanced the rate of luxury tax on hotels and marriage palaces from 4 per cent to 8 per cent, besides doubling the lump sum tax on brick-kilns.

Gurtej Singh, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner (DETC), Jalandhar Division, said the hike in the taxes had come into effect from September 5.

The DETC has advised the business community to use E-TRIP and E-ICC for better and hassle-free transportation of goods. Every tenable person has to deposit a processing fee of Rs 800 in October, along with submission of annual returns every year.

This is in lieu of service provided by the department in terms of e-filing of returns, e-payment of tax and various other direct and indirect services.