Ludhiana, June 4
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has once again failed to take the parking "mafia" head-on. This could be known from the fact that the e-auction of the MC multi-level parking situated near the civic body headquarters at Mata Rani Chowk flopped as only one person deposited the earnest money. The auction for this parking lot has flopped for the second time in a row.

The MC had planned to auction of this multi-level parking through e-auction because it wanted to break the hold of the parking "mafia" over this business.

During the previous auction held on May 6, the MC had managed to auction it for Rs 33.68 lakh against a reserve price of Rs 33.50 lakh, but as the bid amount was only Rs 18,000 more than the reserve price, the auction was cancelled. At that time, Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria had put his foot down and ordered the cancellation of the auction.

In 2012, the same parking lot was allotted against an yearly lease of Rs 25.87 lakh, but this time the reserve price was fixed at Rs 33.50 lakh.

During the first auction held on April 25, both the MC as well as 11 bidders were not prepared to bear the burden of service tax, which has been imposed by the Union Government on parking fee this year. The auction was postponed to May 6.

On April 25, the reserve price for awarding the parking contract for a period of one year was fixed at Rs 37.44 lakh, but due to "pressure" and "opposition" by bidders, it was slashed to Rs 33.50 lakh.

Meanwhile, MC Zonal Commissioner (Zone A), Kamlesh Bansal, confirmed the auction had been cancelled. "The auction process was to start from 10 am today and would have continued till 4 pm tomorrow. As only one person deposited the earnest money (Rs 3.35 lakh), we could not conduct the auction. The new date of auction will be announced soon," he said.

Ludhiana, June 4
The Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) has earned the wrath of the audit wing for its failure to deposit 5 per cent education cess worth more than Rs 20.52 crore in the treasury on account of the sale of vacant government land between April 2007 and March 2012.

The audit report of GLADA for 2011-12, which was obtained under the Right to Information Act by Rohit Sabharwal and Arvind Sharma, president and secretary, respectively, of the Council of RTI Activists, has pointed out that GLADA sold a chunk of the government land under the optimum use of vacant government land (OUVGL) scheme for Rs 402,37,13,831 between April 2007 and March 2011 and another for Rs 8,03,36555 during 2011-12.

"However, 5 per cent education cess, which works out to Rs 20,52,02,519 recovered from the bidders against the sale of the government land, has not been deposited in the treasury," the report mentions while adding that instructions to this effect were issued by the Government of Punjab, Department of Finance, Chandigarh, on March 17, 2008, and by the Secretary, Department of Housing and Urban Development, Punjab, on February 7, 2009.

According to the report, "On being pointed out, it was stated (by the GLADA authorities) that information regarding 5 per cent education cess under the OUVGL scheme was sent to the Chief Accounts Officer, PUDA, Mohali, and the amount of cess was to be deposited in the treasury by PUDA, Mohali".

The GLADA Estate Officer, RK Popli, told The Tribune that the land under the OUVGL scheme, having been transferred by the state government to PUDA, is sold on behalf of PUDA. "The sale proceeds recovered from the bidders were transferred to PUDA headquarters at Mohali. And, the education cess was also to be deposited by PUDA against the sale of the government land," he said.

The Chief Accounts Officer, PUDA, Mohali, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts to know whether education cess worth Rs 20.52 crore on account of the sale of the government land in Ludhiana between April 2007 and March 2012 by GLADA had been paid or not.

Ludhiana, June 4
The issue of a gate in the Aggar Nagar area is taking an interesting political turn with the leaders of the SAD and the BJP throwing their weight behind both the groups. While one group, comprising residents of Aggar Nagar, want the gate to be closed permanently, the other, comprising the residents of the adjoining localities, want the gate to remain open.

Even though the gate has been opened following the orders of SDM Kuljit Pal Singh Mahi, the second group said the Aggar Nagar residents "intentionally" put big stones on the road on the pretext of carrying out some construction.

Last evening, when a group of women decided to make way for their vehicles by removing the stones themselves, an altercation ensued. When the matter was reported to the police, the Aggar Nagar residents alleged that they were attacked and one person was injured. The other group alleged that two women, one of them named Bhupinder Kaur, were abused and manhandled by the Aggar Nagar residents.

Amrit Lal Aggarwal, president of the Aggar Nagar society, claimed that it was the other group, which tried to take away stones from their locality. "When two elderly persons tried to stop them, they were attacked and one of them was hit on the hand with a sickle," he alleged.

Meanwhile, Bhupinder Kaur claimed that her clothes were torn and she was manhandled by the Aggar Nagar residents when she was just clearing the road of the stones.

Gurvir Singh, SHO, said both the groups had lodged their complaints and the police would be registering FIRs against both of them.

Ludhiana, June 4
With the transfers of 516 medical specialists, the State Health Department today witnessed a major reshuffle as these experts have been deputed at 100 health institutions to be converted into fully equipped government hospitals. Seven of these institutes are in Ludhiana district where the experts from the peripheral areas have been transferred and vice versa.

According to the transfer list released by the Health and Family Welfare Department of the state, "The specialists transferred to these hospitals include anaesthesiologists, biochemists, child specialists, forensic medicine experts, gynaecologists, orthopaedicians, microbiologists, radiologists, pathologists, TB specialists."

The Health and Family Welfare Minister, Madan Mohan Mittal, said: "To improve health facilities in the state, we are going to equip 100 government hospitals in the state in all aspects, including staff and infrastructure. The move has been aimed at providing better health facilities to the people of the state in every 10 km."

Meanwhile, Senior Medical Officers, who were transferred before the imposition of the election code of conduct for the Zila Parishad and panchayat samiti elections, have also joined the rat race for getting transfers to the stations of their choice. The SMO, who are not happy at their new postings, are leaving no continued on page 3

stone unturned for getting these modifications in transfers done. Sources revealed that these doctors are more worried about their transfers than the patients. Requesting anonymity, an officer said: "My wife is posted in a district and I have been posted at a far-off station. I am trying to come back. Under such circumstances I am not even able to focus on my work." Raj Kumar, a patient from a peripheral area, said: "Ever since a senior doctor has joined here, he remains busy on his cell phone and hardly bothers about the patients."

Ludhiana, June 4
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation finally demolished a commercial complex, which was under construction in the Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar area here today. The construction of this commercial complex had been going on for a long time, thanks to MC apathy.

Earlier, the MC officials had demolished this structure twice, but its owners raised the structure again.

Several shops and other commercial establishments have come up on the 60-foot main road of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, which is a residential area in the Municipal Corporation records. This area has almost been turned into a hub of illegal construction.

When The Tribune highlighted this particular illegal construction, initially, the building branch officials did not act. But, when the matter was followed up, they finally demolished the structure this afternoon.

Meanwhile, the local residents demanded that the civic body should also seal the existing commercial establishments situated on this road. 

Ludhiana, June 4
In a broad daylight shooting incident, a youth barged in vice-president of the Shiv Sena (Bal Thakre) RD Puri's office located in the Division No. 3 area and fled after firing three shots at the leader.

The incident took place this afternoon when the youth, who was riding a motorcycle, arrived at the Puri's office. Soon after entering the waiting room, he pulled out a pistol and fired three shots.

Puri said the bullets pierced through the glass partition and hit a religious place in the office. Puri, who was present in the office, escaped unscathed.

The youth, who was caught on a close circuit television camera (CCTV) installed in the office, was wearing white shotrs. The assailant then fled towards Gaushala Road on his bike.

The youth could not be identified as he had covered his face with cloth. Even the CCTV footage could not help the police in identifying the assailant.

The firing incident caused panic in the area and the local residents gathered at the spot.

Soon the police officers, including Commissioner of Police Ishwar Singh, arrived at the scene and started investigation. The police recorded eyewitnesses' statements and beefed up security in the area.

The police has also strengthened security cover around RD Puri.

Sources said a separate team of police officers is investigating whether the incident was stage-managed to get extra security cover.

It is learnt that Puri is going to hold a rally against terrorism on June 6, the day when Operation Blue Star was launched in Golden Temple.

Two years ago, Parminder Singh Pappu, in charge of the state unit of the Shiv Sena, had claimed that unidentified assailants had fired shots at his office in Moti Nagar. The incident remains a mystery. However, Parminder was provided with security.

Ludhiana, June 4
The person, who had sent the anonymous slur e-mail to 524 government schools created a stir in the Education Department, was an insider and the computer from which the e-mail was sent was also of the Education Department.

Sources in the police confirmed that the circulation of the slur e-mail was the work of an insider, who is jealous of perks offered to computer teachers.

It was on May 30 that e-mails containing lewd language and pictures referring to computer teachers were sent to the government schools across the district.

The delegation of the Computer Teacher Union met the Commissioner of Police and requested the top police officials to speed up the investigation.

The Commissioner of Police had asked the computer teachers to name the miscreant, who could be behind the sending of e-mail.

The police had recently registered a case against an unknown person for creating a fake e-mail profile of the District Coordinator to send slur e-mail.

Narinder Saggar, a resident of Prem Nagar, Civil Lines, who is the District Coordinator at Education Department in Mini-Secretariat, said that some miscreant had created a fake e-mail ID on his name (saggar.sag@gmail.com) and send slur e-mail to 524 government schools. The e-mail contains the message “Computer Adhyapaka te Madama da grade pay (5000) vadhan ker ke unhade hava kharab ho gaye hai” (The computer teachers and female staff have become arrogant after the increase of Rs 5,000 in grade pay).

Sources in the police department said, “The cyber crime unit has got some vital information in the case and is planning to send the case to a special cyber cell in Mohali for further investigation.” 

Ludhiana, June 4
The Ludhiana Computer Teacher Union held a protest march from Rakh Bagh today against the failure of the police and administration in nabbing the unknown person, who had sent defaming e-mail to the government schools.

The agitated computer teachers said the police had assured them that the person responsible for creating the mess would be arrested within two days. “No arrest has been made so far and the teachers feel cheated and upset,” said Rupinder Singh Dhandran, senior vice-president.

The computer teachers said they had been working with all the dedication for the past eight years in government schools but the recent e-mail sent by an unknown person had defamed the community. One of the agitated teachers said though a case had been registered under cyber crime but the guilty was not arrested.

“It is the work of some mischievous person, who is not happy with the progress of computer teachers. If government has given us the increments or our scales have been enhanced it is not our fault. We got what we deserved,” said another computer teacher. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, June 4
The police was at the receiving end today when a group of residents from Kup Kalan village made them release a youth of the village who had been detained in connection with a case registered under the NDPS Act.

To press the administration to release the youth, the villagers blocked traffic on the highway for two hours. The police had detained Parminder Singh, a close relative of the owner of Master Palace, for verifying allegations that he (Parminder Singh) had conspired to implicate the palace owner in a false case that was registered a few days ago.

A team of police officials led by Jarnail Singh SHO Sadar had earlier recovered 350 gm of opium from a cupboard in the office of the Master Palace owned by Sadhu Singh. Sadhu Singh, who was booked under NDPS Act, however, refuted the charges and maintained that somebody from outside had conspired against him and placed the contraband in the office.

The police instead of arresting the accused started working on information provided by him and picked up Parminder Singh from the village today. Maintaining that the investigation was proceeding in a fair manner, SHO Jarnail Singh said Parminder Singh had been called to join investigations on the basis of conclusive evidence. However, he was released after villagers promised to present him whenever required. 

Ludhiana, June 4
Income tax payees, who have been getting faulty demand notices, will now heave a sigh of relief after the High Court passed an order and has given detailed directions to the Income Tax department regarding the same.

"Earlier, officials used to maintain record manually and later the data was updated with central processing centre (CPC), Bangalore. Some of the incomplete data was also uploaded with CPC. The data was incomplete as some of the officials were transferred or various other reasons," said a senior IT official on the condition of anonymity.

In cases, where the tax payer is not at fault, will not be only given the refund amount but also the interest on the refund amount, said the High Court judgment.

Taxpayers across the country are facing lot of inconvenience due to faulty processing of the Income Tax Returns and non-grant of the TDS credit. While assessees are waiting for the refunds they get demand notices from the department. The High Court has given directions to the department to first send an intimation to tax payers if any arrear is pending and then send the notice and adjust the refund towards arrears.

"At present, this route is not being followed by the department as the computer itself adjusts the refund due against the existing demand (arrear). The High Court has issued directions that the department must follow the procedure prescribed and give the assessee an opportunity to file a reply before making the adjustment of refund amount against the demand," said Jatinder Khurana, tax professional.

"I was waiting for the refund but got a shock of my life when I got the demand notice. Although my no arrear was pending but still my refund amount was adjusted against the demand. I have to make several rounds of the department to set things right. The problem had occurred as the last officer on duty had not updated the date in the computer. Intimating the tax payer in advance before deducting the amount is the best way," said Saurav Kapoor, a tax payer.

Ludhiana, June 4
To get admissions in government schools, parents and students are being asked to bring the caste certificates.

When the parents, after filling up the forms, approach the area councillors, the latter refuse to sign the form and ask them to go to their native villages to get the documents attested. The parents are now feeling helpless as even after having voter cards and Aadhaar cards here, they are finding it difficult to secure a seat for their ward in a government school just because of this.

Suman, a domestic help, said that her ward Kavita scored first division in Class X. “Till now, she was studying in a private school. But now, I want her to take admission in a government school as the fee in government schools is less as compared to private schools. When I went to get the admission form, I was asked to get my daughter's caste certificate made. I approached the area councillor but he refused to sign on the documents. One of the officials asked me to get it attested from UP, from where we hail. But we are residing here for the last 10 years and had our voter’s card and Aadhar card made at this place only. The admissions are on till July 15.”

Her case is not the only one. Several others have been facing a similar problem at the hands of school management, local councillors and patwaris.

District Education Officer (Secondary) Paramjit Kaur Chahal said it was mandatory for students to submit their caste certificate at the time of admission in government schools.

“This is a thorough procedure. The area councillor and patwari has to sign the certificate and then the SDM clears it. On the basis of this, the schools provide admission to the students,” she said. 

Ludhiana, June 4
Assistant Commissioner (Grievances) JP Singh today said that he would submit the inquiry report of Ryan School to Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari within two days.

He said it was the second meeting called to record the statements of the parents and the school authorities but none from the school side could make it again.

The Assistant Commissioner (G) will submit the report ex parte. Over 50 parents of the students studying in Ryan School, Dugri, and the president of the Feed Foundation Jaspreet Singh gathered at the Mini-Secretariat.

JP Singh said, “The problem of parents seems to be genuine. I too have gathered information from several quarters that the school has still not got the affiliation from the CBSE. Besides, they are not providing basic facilities to students. Parents feel that the fee is also exorbitant. We tried to call the school management twice but they failed to make it. So, I will submit my report to the DC within two days showing ex parte. Some of the problems of the parents seem to be genuine.”

Jaspreet Singh, president of the Feed Foundation, said the district administration has the power to reach any conclusion and submit its report as school authorities were taking everything in a light manner. But justice needs to be delivered to the parents as their grievances were genuine. 

Ludhiana June 4
To showcase their artistic skills, students of the family resource management department at the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) exhibited their handicraft work at the College of Home Sciences.

The AKANA creations, a group of five students, including Akaknsha, Kavya, Anjali, Namita and Ashima, had initiated theexhibition under the guidance of Dr Surinder Kaur and Dr Jatinder Kaur Gill from the College of Home Sciences.

Most of the art work was done by using the domestic waste material and simple chemicals.

They had categorised the art work according to the material used to create the item. The categories were m-seal art, epoxy art, papier mache, ceramic art, marbling and quilin. 

Khanna, June 4
The Khanna police has arrested three persons in connection with a five-month-old murder case in which a taxi driver from Khanna was kidnapped by some unidentified persons.

The accused has been identified as Chamkur Singh, a resident of Jaimal Wala, Gurnam Singh, a resident of Lohgarh, and Taresm Singh, a resident of Moga, while Satwinder Singh, the fourth accused, is still at large.

S Bhupati, SSP, Khanna, said a complaint was registered by Neetu, a resident of Model Town, Khanna, that some persons had kidnapped her husband, Arjun Singh, a taxi driver, on the pretext of going to Bhundri, on January 22. On January 25, the body of Arjun singh was recovered from Kokri Kalan, Moga.—OC

Khamano, June 4
One person was killed while his son was injured in a road accident on Ludhiana-Chandigarh road near Maheshpura village.

Jasvir Singh, a resident of Bilaspur village, was returning back from Chandigarh to Khamano along with his 12-year-old son in a mini truck. When they reached Maheshpura village suddenly some a truck hit their mini truck. The accident was so fierce that the driver of the vehicle, Jasvir Singh, died on the spot. Amandeep Singh, Jasvir’s son, was taken to the Civil Hospital, Khamano.—OC

Ludhiana, June 4
The city police has arrested a physically challenged man, who had kidnapped a four-year-old girl on his wheelchair from outside her house in Jeevan Nagar area last night. The polio-ridden man kidnapped the minor girl with an intention of rape her, said police.

The accused has been identified as Goba (22). He was arrested from a park located in Urban Estate Phase-II. The four-year-old girl was also rescued from the spot.

Giving details about the incident, SHO Jagjeet Singh, Moti Nagar, said the incident took place last night when the girl was playing outside the house. Goba kidnapped the girl by offering her a ride on his wheelchair. "Fortunately, he could not rape the girl as he slept due to excessive drinking," said SHO Jagjeet Singh.

However, the police has conducted the medical to clear the doubts. Jageet said Goba suffered polio at an early age. "He was into beggary and used to consumed liquor," said SHO. He said the police was informed about the incident late last night following which a massive search operation was launched to nab the accused. In the morning, the police received an information that a man on wheelchair and a girl were seen sleeping in a park.

The accused has been booked under Section 366-A, 354 and Child Protection Act, for molestation and kidnapping of a minor girl.

Ludhiana, June 4
The four-day match between Ludhiana and Jalandhar in the ongoing Punjab State Inter-District Cricket Tournament (U-19) for Dhruv Pandove Trophy being played at the Punjab Agricultural University ground here today ended in a draw. But on the basis of a first innings lead of 46 runs, Ludhiana earned three remaining points and the visitors had to content with one point.

In reply to Ludhiana's first innings score of 290 runs, Jalandhar's first essay culminated at 244 runs an Ludhiana made 223 runs in their second innings setting a victory target of 270 runs in minimum 74 overs.

Today, Ludhiana resumed its second innings proceedings at over night score of 180 for 8 and added 43 runs before last batsman, Anirudh Aggarwal was run out. Needing 270 runs for an out right victory, Jalandhar toiled hard to achieve the target and also appeared to be cruising well (185 for 3 after 58 overs). This followed hiccups as the visitors lost four wickets in quick succession that forced them to play safely for the draw. They survived a scare, 231 for 9 when it was called a day.

Brief scores: Ludhiana (first innings) 290 all out in 122. 2 overs (Nimit Malhan 49, Gurkaran Singh 27, Parul Mehndiratta 29, Nikhil Choudhary 6, Hartejasvi 53, Sandeep 83, Chirag 19, Anirudh Aggarwal 6; Manpreet 3 for 85, Mohit 3 for 66, Rishin 3 for 70 and Rohit 1 for 47).

Jalandhar (first innings)-244 all out in 93.2 overs (Rajat 17, Anurag 42, Himanshu 58, Mansab 74 Sahil 10, Manpreet 17; Hartejasvi 4 for 65, Sandeep 3 for 33 and Nabendhu 3 for 35).

Ludhiana (second innings)-233 all out in 84.1 overs (Nimit Malhan 40, Gurkaran Singh 12, Parul Mehndiratta 28, Nikhil Choudhary 74, Hatejasvi Kapoor 12, Sandeep Singh 6, Nabendhu Sharma 24 and Chirag Maria 16; Rishin Sharma 3 for 52, Mohit Mariya 2 for 68, Rohit Chauhan 2 for 45 and Anurag Prakash 1 for 13).

Jalandhar (second innings)-231 for 9 in 75 overs (Rajat Sharma 36, Anurag Parkash 26, Himanshu Sharma 64, Mansab Gill 58, Manpreet Bhullar 26 and Chirag Bawa 15; Sandeep Singh 6 for 74 and Nabendhu Sharma 2 for 52).

Ludhiana, June 4
Punjab Swimming Association (PSA) will organise the 38th Junior Punjab State Swimming Championship for boys and girls in all the national events at War Heroes Swimming Pool, Sangrur, from June 7 to 9.

Swimmers, born in the years 1996, 1997 and 1998 can compete in the age groups (15-17 years) while those, born in the years 1999 and 2000 are eligible to take part in 13-14 years. Players (boys) born on or after January 1, 1995 may participate in the water polo championship.

On the basis of their performance in this championship, the Punjab squads will be finalised for the 40th Junior National Aquatic Championship to be held at Hyderabad from July 10 to 13, informed Balraj Sharma, honorary general secretary, PSA.