Ludhiana, July 2
Snatchers struck again this evening when a woman’s hand bag containing jewellery and cash was snatched by two miscreants at Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar main market.

The miscreants snatched the bag from the woman who came to the market to get her jewellery repaired at Karaj Jewellers in BRS Nagar. This is the seventh incident of snatching in the past three days in which snatchers targeted women from Shrabha Nagar and the adjoining areas.

The incident took place around 7 pm in the crowded market. Eye witnesses said, the snatchers were on a black motorcycle and they targeted Reena Gupta, a resident of E block , BRS Nagar, just after she come out from the jeweller's shop.

The victim said that she lost jewellery worth Rs 1.15 lakh and 5,000 cash.

The eyewitness stated that the miscreants were roaming near the jeweller's shop before the snatching incident. Both were clean shaved and did not cover their faces. When the victim came out from the shop, the miscreants snatched the hand bag of the woman and fled.

The PCR patrolling team reached the spot after sometime and they got the CCTV footage from a camera installed in a nearby shop. The woman who was with her daughter was in a state of shock after the incident.

When contacted, Manjit Singh, Assistant SHO, Shrabha Nagar, said that he was not aware of the snatching incident, as he was deputed on election duty in a village.

Ludhiana, July 2
Making banks responsible for receiving 15G and 15H forms, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has instructed banks to issue acknowledgement slips to customers on submitting the forms.

If the interest on the fixed deposit is more than Rs 10,000, then the provision of tax deduction at source (TDS) is applicable.

Of late, many customers have complained that despite submitting the forms, the banks are deducting their TDS.

If a person submits 15G or 15H form to the bank then the bank is not supposed to deduct TDS on the interest of the fixed deposits. Submitting these forms means the person's income is not taxable.

“I have submitted the requisite forms, but still the bank deducted my TDS. When I contacted the branch authorities, they said that they had not received the forms and I did not have any paper or receipt to prove that I had submitted them. Now, that the banks will be issuing the acknowledgement slips is a welcome step as the responsibility will now lie on their shoulders,” said Raminder Singh, a resident.

Jatinder Khurana, taxation lawyer, said that making banks accountable was a positive step.

“The banks will issue acknowledgement slips and thus will be accountable for receiving the forms. To avoid any inconvenience, the person submitting the form should always mention his/her permanent account number (PAN) on it,” he said.

Ludhiana, July 2
Once again the Health Department reshuffled 17 Senior Medical officers (SMOs) within the state. Out of 17, five SMOs have been transferred within Ludhiana district.

According to the list released by state Health Department, "Dr Ajit Singh Chawla from the Community health Centre, Koomkalan, has been transferred to CHC, Manupur, in Ludhiana. Dr Nirmaljit Kaur from CHC, Malaud, to ESI Dispensary Number 6, Ludhiana, Dr Kulwinder Saini, ENT specialist from ESI Dispensary Number 6 to CHC Hatthoor, Ludhiana, Dr Renu Baweja, CHC, Sidhwan Bet, Ludhiana, to Sub Divisional Hospital, Raikot, and Dr Lovleen Garg from Sub Divisional Hospital Raikot to ESI Dispensary Number 2, Ludhiana."

Gulshan Kumar, Medical Superintendent of ESI (Zonal), Ludhiana, has been transferred as the Civil Surgeon, Mukatsar. While Rakesh Kumar, Civil surgeon, Mukatsar, has been transferred as the Medical Superintendent of ESI (Zonal), Ludhiana.

Sources revealed that the transfer list of 461 medical experts will be released after the panchayat elections. As many as 523 medical experts were transferred in June. After a few days, 62 transfers were cancelled.

Ludhiana, July 2
The Municipal Corporation(MC) seems to have had enough of habitual defaulters in the wake of mounting arrears of house tax in the mega city with recoveries not forthcoming despite notices served to the property owners. The MC has identified five biggest defaulters in each of the four zones, and details of their properties have been sent to approved valuers for selling the properties through an open auction.

Senior MC officials said, zone D tops as far as arrears of house tax are concerned. Five biggest defaulters owe Rs 1.22 crore among themselves to the civic body. "Details of the properties of defaulters have been sent for valuation, after which these will be put for sale through an open auction after serving final notices as per the provisions of Punjab Municipal Corporation Act," said an official.

Even though the amount of arrears in other three zones are not as high as in zone D, but the MC is not letting the defaulters off the hook, and valuation of the properties of five biggest defaulters is being conducted, the officials said. It was officially stated that the default amount of five top defaulters in zone A stood at around Rs 4.50 lakh, in zone B Rs 7.73 lakh and in zone C at was approximately Rs 6 lakh.

Civic officials claimed that a tough stand is being taken to curb the practice of defaulters stalling the process of auction of their property by making payments through cheques which were later not honoured by the bank due to insufficient funds. Not ruling out collusion of the field staff of the MC in this malpractice, an official confirmed that a policy decision had been taken to file criminal cases where cheques paid towards arrears of house tax were returned unpaid by the banks. "We have already lodged a few complaints with the police for registration of cases against the defaulters under Negotiable Instruments Act," said an official of the accounts wing of the MC.

Ludhiana, July 2
An undertrail fled from police custody, when the police brought him for a hearing of a case to the court yesterday afternoon.

According to information, the accused, Kulwant Singh, a resident of Nathowal village, told the policemen that he wanted to answer nature's call. Head constable Satnam Singh permitted him to go. The accused did not return and managed to escape from the courts complex. The police had brought the accused for hearing along with 74 other jail inmates at the court complex.

The accused had allegedly offered free lunch to the head constable at the canteen of the courts complex.

The head constable kept on looking for the accused for two hours, but all in vain. Then he informed the police at the Police station Division No 2.

The police booked Satnam Singh for negligence in this regard.

According to information, the Raikot police had nabbed Kulwant Singh in a drug peddling case, six months ago, and he was behind bars at the Central Jail, Ludhiana.

Rajesh Thakur, In charge at the police post court complex, said, "We have registered a case under Section 223 and 224 of the IPC against Kulwant Singh and have also booked the Head Constable. We are trying our best to nab him”.

Ludhiana, July 2
Following the league of their private sector counterparts, now public sector banks have also started charging for SMS alerts, which has not gone down well with many bank customers.

Banks offer a number of options by way of emails and text messages that alert customers of any activity related to their accounts.

Earlier, banks offered this value-added service free of cost. However, many banks have now started charging for the same.

Private-sector banks took the lead and now, public-sector lenders such as the State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) have also started charging for SMS alerts.

Some private banks charge Rs 60 a year from savings account holders and Rs 100 a year from current account customers.

From July 1, both SBI and PNB decided to charge Rs 15 per quarter for SMS alert services. PNB, however, will not charge senior citizens, retired people and students for the same.

“Earlier, SMSes were cheap; hence, banks could bear the cost. Now, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has increased the SMS charges. Hence, banks have had to start charging for SMSes,” said a senior bank official from a public sector bank.

Look at these charges as a small fee towards protecting your bank or credit card account. It would help you get alerted in no time against any fraudulent transactions in your account, he added.

Most customers are unhappy that an SMS alert helps only once a fraud has been committed. There is no system to avert frauds in the first place.

“These alerts may not avert the first fraud but they do help you avoid a repeat attack. Because once a fraud is reported, banks flag an account and any transaction after that goes through extra scrutiny,” the official added.

Now banks have started charging for every single service being provided by them. "We are its customers and keeping our money safe is also its duty but they also charge for that,” said Hardev Singh, a customer.

"Earlier, this service was provided free of cost but now the bank has started charging for the same. But keeping the security in mind, I think it is a small amount and one should not mind paying it. One can keep a tab on one's bank and credit card accounts," said Rajesh Sharma, another bank customer.

If you are contemplating asking your bank not to send alerts because of the charges, think again. The alerts do help prevent hi-tech frauds and you should not mind spending a small amount.

Ludhiana, July 2
A city-based NGO, Rahat-Health for All, has come forward for helping a patient who as been suffering from breast cancer.

Dr Ramanbir Soi, founder-president of the NGO, said: “We got Harbans Kaur (60) operated free of cost for breast cancer at Krishna Charitable Hospital, Model Town. The patient is from Raikot and cannot afford the cost of treatment. We will also pay for her chemotherapy once we get reports from Delhi.”

Dr Soi further said their NGO was three-month-old and they have done the second free surgery during this period. The NGO was started with five members and at present it has 45 members. The NGO aims at treating poor and needy patients who cannot afford treatment.

Ludhiana, July 2
Activists of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union (URMU) met the Station Superintendent and discussed the issue of duty roster with him.

Leaders of the URMU alleged that the stationmasters did not have any authority to make duty roster of employees.

The competent authority for making the roster was the Divisional Personnel Officer.

ML Prasher, assistant divisional secretary of the Uttariya Railway Mazdoor Union , said carmen were surplus at the Railway Station, Ludhiana, so officials take there services when required.

Satnam Singh, a carman, had been deputed at the booking office for the past two years.

Now, the Station Superintendent deputed a train disperse peon at the booking office.

“We have the objection that why the train disperse peon has deputed at a place where surplus carmen are serving well. We met the Stationmaster and he agreed with our point,” Satnam Singh added.

Jagraon, July 2
In an embarrassing incident, a polling official of the Jagraon area allegedly refused to provide a vehicle to staff members deployed on poll duty for the panchayat elections.

The staff members deployed on the polling duty said they had been provided no vehicle by the administration so far as promised by the state government ahead of the elections. “But despite this, we have been performing our duty by hiring private vehicles and spending money on taxis from our own pockets,” said a member of the polling staff.

“When we approached the Polling Officer, he refused to entertain us. The polling officer misbehaved with us and asked us to leave the office and spend the night at the Sidhwan Bet police station,” said Prof Rakesh Raman of Science College, Jagraon, who has also been deployed as a staff member on poll duty in the Sidhwan Bet area, near Jagraon.

“We are not criminals, therefore why shall we spend night at the police station when we did nothing wrong,” he asked.

Besides, the administration made no arrangements for the stay of the polling staff.

“We have to face a lot of problems due to lack of proper arrangements. The administration should provide proper arrangements for the staff on poll duty for smooth functioning of the elections,” said another polling staff member on the condition of anonymity.

Gurmit Singh, SDM, Jagraon, said he was aware of the issues faced by the polling staff.

“We are looking into the matter and if something wrong is found an appropriate action would be taken against the polling officer,” the SDM added.

Ludhiana, July 2
Surrounded by a series of controversies and scams the government is finally planning to do away with the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) programme. It programme was launched in 2006.

The existing Special Economic Zones will continue to remain operational and those approved might not be notified and developers might be allowed to utilise the land for other purposes.

Sources said there had always been some tension between the Finance and Commerce Ministries over the success of Special Economic Zones. So a study was being done by a neutral organisation on whether it had been able to measure up to its objectives.

It seemed the Commerce Ministry was also keen to do away with the policy so that it could promote the National Manufacturing and Investment Zones (NMIZ), under the National Manufacturing Policy, said a source from the Industries Department.

“It has often been said Special Economic Zones have led to large-scale realty scams and gave developers an opportunity to make quick money while enjoying tax exemption,” said an industrialist on the condition of anonymity.

Special Economic Zones had already been giving their national contribution in terms of raising exports and employment; regional contribution in terms of income generation and promotion of ancillary industrial activities.

They also used to attract the migrating rural population and increase the demand for housing and other commercial real estate. Employment opportunities that would have been created would now go into oblivion, said Rajesh Kundra, a city- based industrialist.

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 2
To instil a sense of security and confidence among residents of the region for conduct of a fair and fearless polling tomorrow, the police organised flag marches at various localities. Combing operations were also conducted to rule out the possibility of storing of liquor, drugs and narcotics by candidates and their supporters.

Circle officers at Gill, Amargarh, Malerkotla, Payal and Raikot supervised the preventive measures to avert any clash during the panchayat poll in their respective areas.

A convoy of vehicles carrying armed police personnel passed through villages falling under the Gill segment.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Joginder Singh and Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP), Gill, Gurpreet Singh Sikand led the flag march organised at Gill, Sayan, Sarinh, Dehlon Gopalpur and Lehra villages.

Addressing residents at various places, the ADCP and the ACP said the administration had made sufficient arrangements to check violation of normal code of conduct on the poll day.

Ludhiana, July 2
The government schools opened yesterday after the summer break. From July 1, the schools had to prepare meals for primary and upper primary students on the premises. But in the absence of clear guidelines and instructions by the department, funds and food grain, it seems that will take a few more days.

A few schools have started making meals for the students while others have been collecting funds from teachers to start the scheme. One of the teachers at Government High School, Brahmpuri, said: “In the absence of proper instructions, there is a lot of confusion. Today, we collected funds and prepared meals for students. When the funds will be released by the department, we will get the reimbursement.”

Meanwhile, the teachers and students have expressed happiness that meals will be prepared on the school premises. Kirandeep Kaur, a student, said the quality of meals served earlier, which was prepared in the community kitchen, was very poor. But now fresh food is being cooked for us and we are very happy.”

Tarsem Banga, manager, mid-day meals, said majority of the schools had started distributing proper meals to the students while others had provided substitutes.

Banga said, “In two to three days everything will be streamlined. Ration is being sent to the schools by Punsup. We have written to the department and they will be releasing the funds soon and by that time, the schools will make the arrangements of funds and will provide meals to the students.”

Earlier, a community kitchen contractor used to cook food for about 175 schools in the city. The contract was scrapped due to poor quality of the meals. 

Ludhiana, July 2
Ritish Goyal from Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, BRS Nagar, has scored the second rank in the JEE mains.

He has bagged 98.6 per cent in Class XII and stood first in the district. "Perseverance is the key to success," said Ritish. He wants to become a computer engineer.

"IIT Mumbai is my dream institute. I used to study 5-6 hours daily," said Ritish.

Son of Dr AK Goyal, an orthodontist, and Renu Goyal, a homemaker, Ritish gave credits his parents and teachers for the success. "My parents and teachers were always there for me. My teachers were the pillars of strength," he said. 

Ludhiana, July 2
The DCC (Urban), president, Pawan Dewan, and senior Congress leader Parminder Mehta handed over a cheque Rs 3 lakh to the management committee of SDP Senior Secondary School, Quilla Mohalla, Ludhiana. The grant has been released by Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari out of his discretionary quota of MPs Fund.

Speaking on the occasion, both Dewan and Mehta said Tewari has always considered education as the basis for development. The Centre was working to upgrade the level of education across the country. In Ludhiana district alone funds worth crores of rupees have been released under various Centre sponsored education schemes.—TNS

Ludhiana, July 2
The Nib Tehsildars in the state have recently been given the powers to register the partition cases. The Punjab Land Record Society, Jalandhar, will hold a two-day workshop to provide training to the Naib-Tehsildars on the subject.

Ludhiana, July 2
With an aim to provide technical and operational skills to potential entrepreneurs, Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) will establish business planning and development unit (BPD) under the World Bank funded National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP).

It is the part of the Network of Indian Agri-business Incubators (NIABI), which consists of five ICAR institutes (IARI, IVRI, CIRCOT, CIFT and INRJAFT) and five State Agricultural Universities (TNAU, AAU, BAU, HAU and JNKVV) with Agri-Business Incubator-ICARISAT as lead center. The institute is one of the among 12 ICAR institutes across the country selected for this purpose.

Ludhiana, July 2
The summer camp organised by the Punjab Cultural Society concluded today. People from age group 3-60 years participated in the camp.

"Through the camp we promoted the rich cultural heritage of our state. During the one month summer camp we taught the participants Punjab's folk dances, songs and how to play traditional music instruments of Punjab," said Ravinder Ranguwal, president of the society.

Not only kids but their parents and grandparents also attended the camp. "It was really overwhelming to see the three generations taking lessons in folk songs/dance together," said Ranguwal. 

Ludhiana, July 2
Jashandeep Kaur, daughter of Avtar Singh, an ex-serviceman, failed to get admission to BEd course in Punjabi University, Patiala, as the office staff at Sainik Welfare Office here failed to provide Lineal Descendent Certificate to her. Not that the certificate was not provided to her father, but the documents were torn by the Superintendent at the office, alleges the father. The Superintendent however said that it was the father who lost his temper and threatened the staff and tore-off the documents himself.

Avtar Singh said he had gone to the Sainik Welfare Office here yesterday to get the required Certificate for his daughter as it gave additional benefit at the time of admission. "I was told by the superintendent that the official concerned was on leave and certificate could not be given. I was shocked to see that similar certificate was being handed over to another person. When I asked them how other person could get the certificate, the superintendent said that he was allowed to sanction just one certificate and others will be released once the official concerned joins the duty,"said Singh.

Meanwhile, Baljit Singh, office superintendent, said Avtar Singh was too rude and he himself destroyed the papers in front of the staff. When he was asked how the other person could get the same certificate, when Avtar Singh was denied, the Superintendent said that the other person's work was under process and the officer in charge had asked him to release the certificate. The superintendent said, "Such persons are lairs. They come to us and throw tantrums. He was an arrogant person so he suffered." 

Ludhiana, July 2
Two out of the six water samples collected from Jawahar Nagar camp area have failed the potability test. These water samples of MC water were collected by the Health Department on June 18.

Dr Avinash Kumar, District Health Officer, Ludhiana, said: "These samples were collected after people complained of yellow coloured water and three cases of mild diarrhoea were also reported from street number 8, 9 and Chain Chowk areas on June 28."

Meanwhile, no new cases of mild diarrhoea have been reported from the area. Teams of Health Department have also distributed chlorine tablets to the area residents along with awareness pamphlets.

This award is in recognition of institutions that are innovative, modern and industry related in their curriculum. Dr MS Saini, director of the college, said: “These types of awards are well researched and chosen by an independent jury and a panel of professionals. We are delighted to receive this coveted award .This is a moment of pride for the management, staff and students.” — TNS

Students also played games during the camp. Students of art and craft displayed their items which they learnt and made during the camp. Students of dance entertained parents with their performances. Prem Lata Sehgal, director of the institute gave ‘Youngest English Learner Award’ to Anshuman Soi, who learnt complete grammar and skills of the English language from the institute at age of seven years. Kamal Sehgal, founder chairman and CEO of the institute, thanked parents and appreciated the efforts of students for the success of the camp.—TNS

Mandi Ahmedgarh, July 2
The Dehlon police has nabbed a septuagenarian self-styled godman who had allegedly abducted a minor girl from Ghabadi village with an intention to exploit her modesty yesterday.

Though the police is yet to conduct the medical examination of the girl, it is believed that the accused could not succeed in his sinister designs for unavailability of time and place.

The situation could have been different, had the police not nabbed the accused when he was taking the girl on his bicycle to a deserted place near Natt village in Ludhiana district.

The accused was identified as Sat Singh alias Sadh of Khanpur village in Ludhiana district. The accused was earlier booked for allegedly molesting his niece.

According to the FIR registered under Sections 363 and 366 A of the IPC on the statement of Prem Singh of Ghabadi village, grandfather of the victim, the accused had abducted the girl when she was playing in the village yesterday afternoon.

Having failed to find the missing child in the village, Prem Singh reported the matter to the Dehlon police which cordoned off the area and started a hunt for the accused.

A party, led by Dev Raj, ASI, succeeded in nabbing the accused when he was taking the child on his bicycle to a deserted place.

Appreciating promptness of the police, Assistant Commissioner of Police Gill apprehended the situation could have been different had the cops not acted swiftly after receiving the complaint. Investigations further revealed that the accused had been caught teasing girls and woman earlier also.