SPORTS

Roll of honour and merit certificates
Our Sports Reporter

Ludhiana, September 5
The following students of Punjab Agricultural University have been selected for roll of honour and merit certificates for their performance in the field of sports and cultural activities for 2000-2001, according to Mr J.S. Toor, Director, Students Welfare.

The players who will be given university colour are Harish Kumar (badminton), Manreet Kaur (handball), Bharat Randhawa (volleyball), Gaurav Sharma (table tennis), Hrinderjit Singh (folk dance), Harmandeep Singh (speaker forum), Yadwinder Singh (hockey), Sanjay (volleyball), Narinder Pal Singh (fine arts) and Jagroop Singh Bal (hockey).

And the students who will get merit certificates are Bharat Randhawa, Raminder Singh and Sumedha Ghai (athletics), Gaganpreet Kaur (basketball), Ashwinder Kaur,Ashish Alam Singh and Chetan Singla (badminton), Nirmal (cricket), Prithviraj Singh, Ramandeep Kaur, Shelly Bawa Manider Kaur (handball), Pankaj Kumar and Ravneet Mahal (table tennis), Jeetender Kumar (volleyball), Gursangat Pal Singh and Manjinder Singh (speaker forum) and Harinderjit Singh (folk dance).

Hockey trials: The Ludhiana District Hockey Association (LDHA) will conduct trials to select the district team (U-14) here at Punjab Agricultural University ground on September 7 at 4 p.m., according to Harinder Singh Bhullar, general secretary, LDHA.

Interested players are required to bring with them their Class V certificate.

The selected players will represent Ludhiana in the Punjab State Sub-Junior Hockey Championship scheduled to be held at Guru Nanak Dev University ground, Amritsar, from September 14 to 16.

Skating meet: A two-day skating championship for senior secondary schools of Ludhiana district will be held at Bhaini Sahib Academy near here on September 10 and 11, according to Mr Gurjeet Singh Sohal, secretary, district tournament committee. Competition in speed skating and roller hockey in the u-17 and u-18 years for boys and girls will be conducted during this championship.

Sports mela: The 17th Baba Kehar Dass Memorial Sports Festival will be held at Bhamian Kalan village near Ludhiana from September 5 to 9, according to Mr Jora Singh Grewal, general secretary, Baba Kehar Dass Sports Club. Dog races, football, kabaddi, volleyball and shooting will be the main attractions of this festival. Cultural programmes will be organised on all the five days of this festival.

Mr Gurcharan Singh Ghalib, Member of Parliament from Ludhiana, will be the chief guest on September 8 while Mr Mahl Singh Ghuman, chairman, Mandikaran Board, will distribute prizes on the last day.

ADMINISTRATION

Selection panel for ZP posts comes under cloud
Our Correspondent

Fatehgarh Sahib, September 5
The selection panel constituted to conduct interviews to fill various vacancies of the Zila Parishad in the district has come under a cloud. The panel is headed by the DDPO but the District Welfare Officer and District Sanik Welfare Officer have not been included in the panel to protect the rights of SC candidates and ex-servicemen.

The controversy started when the District Welfare Officer shot a letter to the chairman of the selection panel expressing his apprehensions regarding the interests of the SC candidates. He was bluntly informed by the chairman that in the notification made by the government, there is no mention of his being a member and hence his presence is not required. Likewise interests of ex-servicemen have also been ignored.

Not only this, no nominees of those bodies for which the recruitments are made have been included in the selection panel which puts a question mark on the selection panel itself.

It is worth mentioning that more than 1600 applicants have turned up for the interviews and about 250 applicants are interviewed daily and these would continue for more than a week.

When contacted, the chairman of the selection committee said that he had received a guideline from the “top” regarding the interviews and he would faithfully abide by the “diktat”. He could not tell how many candidates would be selected and how many vacancies exist. He said that he would send the entire list to the department, which would finalise the selection.

Sources revealed that the interviews are just an eyewash. Moreover, the powers of the autonomous bodies are arbitrarily withdraws in total disregard of the government policy. These institutions under various rules and enactments have been enjoying the powers of recruitment in the past on their own.

The candidates who had come to the office were totally confused about the selection process. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune they expressed dissatisfaction with the mode of interview as they were hardly asked any question by the panel. They said that the panel only examined their certificates and this process takes only half a minute. They also said that whosoever is “able to pay through the right sources” would find his name in the list.

Some of them alleged that the selection had already been finalised and these mock interviews are conducted to escape the “ire” of courts.

Candidates alleged that though they have interview call letters, their forms are not traceable so the panel is not conducting their interview.

Octroi collections touch Rs 44 crore
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 5
The uncertainty created by the government move to abolish octroi and reduction in rates on certain items like iron and steel during the past two months notwithstanding, the octroi collections in the city remain unaffected. On the contrary, if the target fixed for the year is revised in proportion with the reduction in rates, the income has far exceeded the projections.

As against a target collection of Rs 130 crore for the current financial year, the total income till end of August was to the tune of Rs 44 crore. Octroi income during the last month was Rs 8.83 crore as against Rs 9.11 crore during the corresponding period last year. According to figures made available by Mr S.K. Sharma, Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, to Ludhiana Tribune, the average daily income from octroi, which was Rs 27.62 lakh during the period August 1 to August 24, had registered an impressive hike of almost 15 per cent to Rs 31.40 lakh during the last week of August.

Earlier during the week, the octroi collection in a single day had touched a staggering Rs 52 lakh, which was a record of sorts. Having undertaken a comprehensive exercise to revamp the enforcement wing and to effectively plug massive evasion, Mr Sharma said supervisory officials had been told in no uncertain terms that habitual offenders would be dealt with sternly and the MC would soon introduce a reward policy to create a network for information on cases of octroi evasion. At the same time, the MC employees, deployed in administrative and enforcement wings of octroi department, will also be treated on the basis of performance.

Commenting on a slight drop in octroi collections during the year, the MC Additional Commissioner said that rate of octroi on iron and steel and wool waste, the basic raw material for the engineering industry and hosiery industry, respectively, was slashed by 50 per cent. Similarly, fodder and vegetables were placed in the exempted category. While the uncertainty over continuance of octroi had not affected the income, till now that is, the usual hike in the income during this period, in the wake of coming festival season was yet to take place. Sources in trade circles revealed that the ordered consignments were put on the hold for the time being and traders were waiting for the expected announcement of abolition of octroi, well before the festivals so that they could avail the relief.

Meanwhile, industry and trade circles in the city, while waiting for the formal government decision on abolition of octroi, with their fingers crossed, were sore over the fact that having made several announcements, the government had developed cold feet on the issue. The decision was being delayed on various pretexts like identification of alternative revenue for the local bodies and non-receipt of the report from the committee set up for this purpose.

Sources in several trade bodies denied that any discussions were on between the government and the trade bodies to find out alternative sources of income to make up for around Rs 300 crore annual loss of income from octroi. Members of trade had not positively responded to a proposal for surcharge on sales tax with the plea that besides affecting the uniformity of sales tax in all northern states, the move would adversely affect the overall trade scenario. Similarly, another proposal to impose entry tax had also evoked strong protest from trade and industry and was dropped.

MC men oppose octroi abolition move
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, September 4
Upset over the government’s move on the abolition of octroi in the state, civic employees are mobilising their ranks for a statewide stir against “populist measures that are a threat to the financial health of local bodies”.

Employees of the local Municipal Corporation organised a gate rally here for the second consecutive day today to express their resentment against the abolition of octroi. At the rally, Mr Tarlochan Singh, President of the Nigam Employees Union, said octroi collections comprised more than 60 per cent to the MC’s income. In the absence of an alternative source of revenue, the financial condition of local bodies would become bad and the MC would no longer be able to pay salaries to its employees, he said.

Many others who spoke on the occasion, including Mr Devi Sahay Tandon and Mr Padam Chand Sharma, said the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had given in to the pressure tactics of his coalition partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party, that wanted to please a section of traders at the cost of the common man. They said local bodies would have to stop all development work due to financial constraints.

They said the worst sufferers would be the MC employees, particularly those in the Octroi Department.

The coordination committee of various unions of the MC employees that met here yesterday to draw an plan for the proposed agitation, deferred the decision to Thursday. “On that day, the joint action committee of municipal employees will hold a meeting here,” said Mr Tarlochan Singh. He said employees, besides opposing the octroi abolition, would also focus on the other pending demands like the enhancement of conveyance allowance, deprovincialising of posts upto the rank of a superintendent, abolition of contract system in the Sanitation Wing and regularisation of the services of ad hoc employees.