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Assembly
in session
Cong leaders slam property tax
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SAD likely to curtail
session
Security to the Tarn Taran girl has been provided following a High Court order
Another policeman suspended
Smuggler shot dead; 10 packets of heroin seized
BSF men display the items recovered from the killed smuggler at Khemkaran in Tarn Taran on Tuesday. Photo: Vishal Kumar
Early Lok Sabha elections inevitable, claims Sukhbir
New District Planning Board chairman HS Gabria offers sweets to Sukhbir Badal in Ludhiana on Tuesday. Tribune photo
SAD plans ‘vichar sammelan’ next month, to invite BJP too
Hospital laundry staff refuse to wash sheets of AIDS, hepatitis patients
CAG report points out lacunae in rural road projects
Govt overshoots Budget allocation
Finance Minister PS Dhindsa at the Vidhan Sabha on the eve of the Budget on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Parvesh Chauhan
Punsup attaches Akali leader’s
assets to recover missing paddy
Mining Rules relaxed: Joshi
Shiv Sena protests against film shooting
Auction of liquor vends
175 food inspectors strike work
No ban on ‘kirpan’, clarifies Gurdwara of Rochester
Judicial officer courts trouble
over missing ancient painting
3 more held in drug haul case
Youth held at exam centre for impersonation
Raped by tantrik
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Assembly in session
There are in all 53 PSUs, 31 working and 22 non-functioning, with 65,000 employees on the rolls. Of the working PSUs, 14 earned a profit of a mere Rs 58.67 crore whereas 12 PSUs incurred a loss of Rs 1568.83 crore. Three PSUs are neither in profit nor loss and two have yet to start commercial activities. Though the CAG report does not say so, it is obvious that most of the PSUs have become a liability on the government. Years ago, the state government had set up a disinvestment commission to wind up loss-making PSUs. However, it failed to muster courage to shut these undertakings. The major profit-making PSUs are the Punjab State Container and Warehousing Corporation, Punjab Genco Limited and Punjab Information and Communication Technology Limited. Among those running into losses are the Punjab State Warehousing Corporation, the Punjab State Grains Procurement Corporation and Punjab State Power Corporation Limited. The CAG report has attributed the losses to deficiencies in fiscal management, planning, and implementation of projects besides a lack of professionalism. The report has recommended that for a turn-about, these PSUs need to be managed in a more professional manner. Dwelling on state finances, the CAG report says that the state has not been able to contain its revenue deficit as per the targets fixed for year 2011-12. On the contrary, the revenue deficit has been rising. It was 2.74 per cent against the target of 1.80 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). However, the fiscal deficit (3.42 per cent) was within the target of 3.50 per cent. The report says that though the debt-GSDP ratio at 33.47 per cent is within the target of 41.80 per cent, borrowed funds are mostly being used for redemption of past debts, leaving a relatively smaller portion for other purposes such as development. A shocking 24 per cent of the revenue receipts were used to meet the burden of interest payment or on debt servicing. There is no data available to ascertain as to how much has been actually spent from funds released by the Centre for various schemes.
State of Affairs
Profit-earning PSUs
Loss-making PSUs
State Finances
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Cong leaders slam property tax
Chandigarh, March 19 Pinki said: “The annual property tax for less than 10-year-old rented accommodation (1,000 sq ft) in New Delhi is Rs 35,100 whereas in Punjab it will be Rs 1,34,600 in Patiala and Rs 12,2,000 in Ferozepur”. Introducing a ‘resolution’ to withdraw the tax, Sunder Sham Arora, Hoshiarpur MLA, said that with the tax being levied only on urban property, adjoining villages were now reluctant to “join boundaries with nearby towns”. Arora said in Zone-A , for a shop measuring 200 sq ft, the owner would have to pay Rs 11,500 per month for the ground floor and a similar amount for each floor. Those on rent would have to pay double the amount for each floor. Occupants of six-marla houses would have to shell out Rs 4,500 per month. The burden would be much more for those running business from their buildings, Arora said. Sunil Jakhar, leader of the Congress Legislature Party, said: “In March 2011, I had pointed out to a pond in the heart of Abohar being encroached upon by a private party. The Deputy CM said he had no knowledge of the matter and that action would be taken immediately. Nothing was done.” Jakhar showed pictures of work being done at the site.
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SAD likely to curtail
session
Chandigarh, March 19 However, Akali minister Bikram Majithia denied there was a move to curtail the session. "The Congress has chosen to boycott the proceedings rather than debate people's issues in the House."
He maintained that the SAD still wanted the Congress to participate in the proceedings but Congress legislature party (CLP) Leader Sunil Jakhar should tender an unqualified apology for the behaviour of his MLAs. It is on this issue that a stalemate has been reached. Speaker Charanjit Atwal invited the CLP Leader to his chamber twice yesterday but no compromise could be reached as Jakhar refused to tender an apology. Jakhar said the party was considering a no-confidence motion against the Speaker tomorrow which would have to be put to vote by the Speaker.
Former minister Jagmohan Kang said once this was done, the Speaker would have to leave his chair and the party would win a "moral" victory.
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Finally, assault victim gets security; 7 cops transferred
Chandigarh, March 19 As the case came up for resumed hearing, Punjab Additional Advocate-General Sukhdip Singh Brar told the Bench that the orders for transferring the seven erring policemen had been complied with. He also told the Bench that a communication had already been addressed to the CRPF Director-General and the IGP for providing CRPF personnel for the petitioner’s protection. Taking on record the assertion, Justice Ranjit Singh asked Assistant Solicitor-General Anmol Rattan Sidhu to appear before the Bench and make necessary arrangement for providing the security cover. Sidhu, accompanied by Central standing counsel Onkar Singh Batalvi, then appeared before the Court and assured the Bench that arrangement for the petitioner’s protection would be made by providing CRPF security. Before parting with the case, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “It is made clear that the issue before the Court is only limited to ensure that no pressure or influence is put on the petitioners to compromise or otherwise withdraw their complaint. “The Supreme Court is seized of the case and is dealing with the same. This court cannot, and would not, deal with any other prayer, except to ensure the safety of life and liberty of the petitioner. It is alleged if inference is not checked, it will amount to a direct interference in the cause of justice…. It is made clear that this court is not considering any action to direct investigation by independent agency as prayed for”. Describing the incident as “unfortunate”, Justice Ranjit Singh also verbally asked the petitioners’ side not to play politics. The case will now come up for further hearing on April 2.
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Another policeman suspended
Tarn Taran, March 19 Sources said head constable Jinder had been suspended after the video footage of the incident pointed towards his involvement in the case. The district police has already suspended Head Constable Davinder Kumar and Constable Saraj Singh, both of whom had also been arrested. Earlier in the day, seven policemen allegedly involved in the incident were shifted out of the district. Narinder Singh, Harjinder Singh, Paramjeet Singh, Tarsem Singh and Ashwani Kumar were shifted to Amritsar. Similarly, Gurdeep Raj has been shifted to Pathankot and Davinder Kumar to
Batala.
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Smuggler shot dead; 10 packets of heroin seized
Amritsar/Ferozepur, March 19 Ten packets of the contraband, suspected to be heroin, a pistol and a mobile phone with a Pakistani SIM card were, among other things, recovered from his possession. Addressing mediapersons at Khemkaran in Tarn
Taran, BSF Inspector General Aditya Mishra said troops deployed at Harbhajan post observed suspicious movement of three to four persons along the border at 11.45 pm last night. “After about half an hour, the smugglers sneaked into the Indian territory while taking advantage of a boundary pillar. They then headed towards the fence and pushed a plastic pipe through the border wire. The Indian operative who was waiting for them also moved towards the fence to receive the consignment. When challenged, the smugglers opened fire. While the Indian smuggler was killed, his Pakistani counterparts managed to escape,” he said. Kuldeep reportedly had good links with politicians in his native place. His wife had even contested nagar panchayat elections as an Independent candidate in the past. He was also reportedly active during the dark days of terrorism, though the local police says he did not have a criminal record.
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Early Lok Sabha elections inevitable, claims Sukhbir
Ludhiana, March 19 Sukhbir was addressing a press conference at the mini secretariat here after attending a ceremony wherein Hira Singh Gabria took charge as chairman of the District Planning Committee, Ludhiana. The Deputy CM said: “The Congress-led UPA Government was in the ICU and the day-to-day supply of oxygen cannot keep this brain dead government alive for long”. He said the SAD-BJP alliance was well prepared for the Lok Sabha elections and was aiming to win all the 13 seats in the state. Condemning the “anti-democratic” attitude of the Congress in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Sukhbir said such kind of violent behaviour by the Opposition was never witnessed in the history of the Vidhan Sabha. Sukhbir said he was surprised by a single-point agenda of confrontation espoused by new PPCC president Partap Singh Bajwa. His call of boycott of SAD-BJP ministers would have long-term consequences on the smooth working of the democratic system, he said. On the imposition of property tax, he said the SAD-BJP Government never wanted to impose any tax on the people of Punjab, but the Centre “forced” the state to impose property tax as a pre-requisite to release JNRUNM grants.
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SAD plans ‘vichar sammelan’ next month, to invite BJP too
Chandigarh, March 19 Sources said the party had decided to invite the BJP to attend the event this time as SAD president Sukhbir Badal wanted the alliance partner to be a party to the core discussions. The sources said the decision was also indicative of the fact that the bitterness between the alliance partners, which had crept up during Rajinder Bhandari’s tenure as Punjab BJP chief, was a thing of the past. The sources said Revenue Minister Bikram Majithia had been entrusted with the responsibility of organising the sammelan. The organising committee is considering three destinations, Goa, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. A final decision would be taken considering the availability of accommodation. The party is looking at participation by more than 250 persons and wants to arrange at least 100 to 150 hotel rooms to accommodate the delegates. Majithia said discussions would also be held to find ways and means to apprise the people of “credible” achievements of the government. The sources said the sammelan was also being seen as an occasion for the top leadership to bond with the party leaders in order to create trust and remove misgivings. It could also result in finalising upcoming appointments in the party and the government, including boards and corporations.
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Hospital laundry staff refuse to wash sheets of AIDS, hepatitis patients
Patiala, March 19 Their decision has come as a shock to the hospital staff as for over past two decades, the department has been doing the laundry for all the wards, irrespective of what the patients were suffering from. Each ward has been provided with bleach (sodium hypochlorite) so that they can dip the infected bedsheets and later send them to the laundry. A nurse in ward no. 3 has filed a complaint stating that a hepatitis B patient was admitted in the ward and his bedsheets and blanket had been dipped in bleach for past few days but the laundry staff had refused to wash them despite repeated requests. One of the staff members said as the laundry employees had refused to wash the sheets a few days ago, all the clean sheets had been exhausted. He said patients were left with no option but to make do with the dirty sheets. Despite repeated attempts, Sharda remained unavailable for comment. Sources claimed Sharda had consented to this demand stating it was a precautionary measure so as to ensure the sheets for such patients did not get mixed with those of other patients. However, no alternate arrangement for cleaning the sheets has been made so far. Doctors and staff members in the hospital expressed anger over the decision of the laundry workers. One of the doctors said it was against the law to discriminate against these patients. "It is the duty of the laundry staff to clean the sheets. There are only around 30 sheets in each ward. How can they refuse to do this job? They have to soak these sheets in bleach for an hour and then clean them. After this precaution, there is no chance of catching any infection. Patients who come here are from far off places and so, they cannot get their own sheets. Moreover, we cannot give them used sheets because it would increase the chances of the infection getting spread," said the doctor.
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CAG report points out lacunae in rural road projects
Chandigarh, March 19 The report says that in five of the 14 divisions, 10 roads had been constructed "without acquiring land." This had led to roads without the requisite width and susceptible to "premature disintegration." Berms and culverts for strength of roads are missing too, it says. The report says that the state spent Rs 7.36 crore on carrying earth from different places, including Amritsar, Bathinda, Kapurthala, Malerkotla, Muktsar, Sangrur and Sirhind despite clear instructions that “no expenditure shall be incurred for transportation of soil, except in case of black
cotton soil, for constructions of roads” . Rural jobs The CAG report says that funds for rural employment have been diverted for purchase of laptops, sofa sets and repair of sofa sets, none of which are covered under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Jails' condition It says unrealistic budget estimates did not provide for creation of space for separate lodging of tuberculosis patients. Overall, health services in jails was found to be inadequate. There were no measures to reform prisoners.
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Govt overshoots Budget allocation
Chandigarh, March 19 Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa said that the supplementary demands for grants for the current financial year covered 25 grants and a gross additional expenditure of Rs 9808.30
crore. This included Rs 4,883.21 crore on the revenue account (which is the current account of the state) and Rs 4,925.09 crore on the capital account (related to asset creation). However, owing to an increase in revenue receipts and better recoveries, the net additional outgo from the consolidated fund was Rs 4,503.39 crore. This is additional expenditure after the Budget proposals have been okayed by the House. And after approval of the House, this supplementary expenditure is included in the main Budget. A closer look at the supplementary demands for grants reveals that the maximum additional requirement for grants arose in the Finance Department (Rs 1,261.32 crore), followed by Education (Rs 1,171.63 crore) and Irrigation and Power (Rs 1,099.68 crore). Together, these three departments have spent almost 72 per cent of the additional grants. Sources said that the reason for the high additional grants in the Finance Department was high over-drafts to meet the state’s committed expenditure all through the year. With the state’s rising interest payments (almost 23.94 % of the state’s revenue receipts), the hike in salary and pension bill (which is up by 23 % this year) and payment of education cess, the revenue outgo in the Finance Department has increased from Rs 6,935 crore to Rs 21,648 crore.
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Punsup attaches Akali leader’s
assets to recover missing paddy
Faridkot, March 19 The miller has now pledged his properties worth Rs 7 crore with Punsup as a security for the payment of the missing paddy. In case, the accused failed to make payment, Punsup can sell the pledged property to recover the amount, said Sandeep Bansal, district manager,
Punsup. Official sources said the agency had stored 1.11 lakh paddy bags in the rice mill in October 2011. Of this, the rice miller did not deliver 27,000 quintal paddy after milling. The agency had sent numerous reminders to the miller, but to no avail. On January 21, Punsup sought the district administration’s help for conducting a physical verification of the stock. But due to the Moga
byelection, the administration stayed away from the matter. After the election process concluded, Punsup and the district administration tightened the noose around the accused.
Acting tough
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Mining Rules relaxed: Joshi
Chandigarh, March 19 He was responding to a query by Tota Singh, MLA from Dharamkot. The Dharamkot MLA pointed out that with mining of sand and gravel rampant in his area, trucks ferrying extracted minor minerals were plying on village roads that were unable to bear the heavy burden and had disintegrated. Addressing his concerns, the Industries Minister said the state was vigilant against those indulging in illegal mining. "In the past one year, we have registered over 1,000 FIRs against those indulging in illegal mining. Hundreds of vehicles have been impounded," he said. Joshi said that by allowing extracting of earth on an area less than four hectares, brick-kilns in the state too could resume work without any environmental clearance.
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Shiv Sena protests against film shooting
Patiala, March 19 Criticising members of the film crew for misbehaving with some city residents and a photojournalist, who had gone to watch the shooting, the party workers said the crew should pack up by tomorrow. Addressing the protesters, district Shiv Sena (Youth) president Rajesh Kaushik said Patiala residents had always extended full support to the cast and crew of every film that came to shoot in the royal city but there had never been incidents of manhandling of the fans before. Recalling the incident in which members of the film crew had thrashed a youth who had gone to see the shooting, Kaushik said, "This is totally uncalled for. The crew must apologise
for this." Meanwhile, the second day of the shooting in the college was quite peaceful. The college principal had yesterday directed the crew to shoot only in vacant areas or after working hours.
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Auction of liquor vends
Patiala, March 19 Excise officials said the department expected to earn Rs 4,000 crore in the next financial year and an additional Rs 175 crore from application fee. Last year, the department had collected Rs 141 crores as application fee. The department has decided to allow time till April 15 to the successful applicants to deposit the entire amount with interest. Punjab Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma said: “Additional time will be allowed after a clearance from the district excise officer concerned”. Sources said the auction would not help small players as the fee was high and groups had already been formed. “Liquor prices are set to rise by more than 20 per cent under the given circumstances”, they stated. The deputy commissioners have been made observers for the auction to ensure transparency in the presence of the media. “Any dispute arising out of the draw would be sorted on the spot,” said Neelam
Choudhary, Joint Excise and Tax Commissioner. The state consumed over 30 crore bottles of liquor in the current fiscal. The numbers is expected to reach 31 crore bottles next fiscal, thanks to the “over enthusiasm” of the state authorities in selling liquor.
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175 food inspectors strike work
Sangrur, March 19 The inspectors staged a dharna and held a rally in front of the Deputy Commissioner's office here, demanding reinstatement of the suspended inspectors without any delay. The vice-president of the joint coordination committee of food grain agencies, Harpreet Singh Chahal, said Pungrain had got stock verifications conducted in rice mills but these had allegedly not been conducted as per government norms, due to which 18 inspectors had been suspended. He said later on the directions of the high court, verifications of the stocks in the rice mills had been conducted by joint teams of procurement agencies. However, he said, these teams had found that 99 per cent of the stocks were
in order. Keeping in view these verifications, Chahal and district chairman of the coordination committee Gurinder Singh Rana demanded that Pungrain should immediately reinstate the suspended inspectors. The protesters threatened to intensify their agitation if their demand is not met.
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Judicial officer courts trouble
over missing ancient painting
Chandigarh, March 19 He has even moved the High Court on the judicial side against the decision of not releasing his dues taken on the administrative side. Acting on his petition, a Division Bench has refused to grant him relief, but has directed the expeditious disposal of the inquiry for fixing the responsibility. For the purpose, a deadline of six months has been fixed by the Bench. In his petition against the High Court and other respondents placed before the Division Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Ritu
Bahri, the judicial officer, Jagjit Singh Chohan, had earlier claimed retirement benefits, including death-cum-retirement gratuity. Opposing the plea, the counsel appearing for the High Court, on the other hand, had pointed out that no dues certificate was not being issued to the petitioner for the reason that an ancient painting “installed at the official residence of the petitioner, while he was working as an Additional Sessions Judge at Faridkot has gone missing and the inquiry was being conducted in the matter”. After hearing rival contentions and going through the documents, the Bench asserted: “In view of the stand taken in written statement filed on behalf of the High Court, we do not find that any direction is required to be issued for releasing the death-cum-retirement gratuity to the petitioner in the present writ petition.” Before parting with the case, the Bench disposed of the petition by adding: “However, the respondents are directed to complete the inquiry expeditiously and preferably within a period of six months.”
No relief
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3 more held in drug haul case
Chandigarh, March 19 Among those arrested was UK national Kulwant Singh, who hails from Phagwara and was a key distributor of drugs in Europe and Canada. He was arrested from a hotel in Delhi by the Fatehgarh Sahib police. He was planning to fly out of the country tomorrow. Others held were Kirpal Singh of Uttar Pradesh and Harpreet Singh of Patiala. Kirpal is a retired DSP who belongs to Meerut. He allegedly was one of the main suppliers of raw materials, including amphetamine, used for the production of drug ice (crystal
meth).
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Youth held at exam centre for impersonation
Sangrur, March 19 Meanwhile, two other students were handed over to the police by the centre superintendent for using unfair means and misbehaving with a woman invigilator.
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By charging property tax four times than that charged by the Delhi Government, the Badal government is openly looting the public, said Parminder Singh Pinki, Ferozepur MLA, while addressing a mock assembly session here today.
Amritsar/Ferozepur, March 19
Ludhiana, March 19
Chandigarh, March 19
Chandigarh, March 19
After the higher authorities threatened to get a criminal case registered against the Akali leader, the latter mellowed down and allowed the PV, which revealed that paddy worth Rs 6.5 crore was missing.