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Factory workers robbed of Rs 6.75 lakh Ludhiana, May 26 Paramjit Singh and Shyam Sunder, employed with Raj and Sandeep Furnace Ltd, were robbed of cash a few minutes after they had withdrawn the amount from Bank of Punjab, Dholewal branch, around 1.45 p.m. . The robbers shot Paramjit in the ankle and forced the other two
employees to flee after they tried to resist the crime. Paramjit was taken to a city hospital by the police. The robbers, one turbaned and the other two clean-shaven, had come in a white Maruti car and were carrying guns. The two employees were riding a scooter. They had withdrawn the amount for disbursement of salaries to the labourers, sources said. They had covered some distance when the robbers hit the rear of the scooter with their car. They fell off the scooter. The two robbers pounced on them and threatened them to hand over the bag. The employees resisted and tried to run away. One of the robbers sitting in the car shot at them. Paramjit Singh was operated upon in the hospital. His condition is said to be stable. Police sources claimed to have got some leads about the car being used in the crime. Sources said that the car could be a stolen one and could be found abandoned by the robbers as is found usually in such cases. DSP R K Bakshi said the police was hopeful of tracking down the criminals soon as some vital clues had been found. The police sounded a red alert in the city after the incident.
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No lesson learnt from robberies Ludhiana, May 26 The police seems to have gone slow on the surveillance scheme adopted early last year, when there was a spate in such incidents. The police had posted men in mufti near banks, besides posting PCR officials near these places, to prevent such crimes. The industrialists too do not take precautionary measures. The labourers are given wages around the 25th every month. A majority of robbery victims have been industrial employees who withdraw money from banks during the last week. |
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Major fraud in tax evasion detected Ludhiana, May 26 Disclosing this here today, the Commissioner of Central Excise, Ludhiana, Mr P.S. Purhoti, said that during the current financial year, 10 cases involving goods valued at Rs 18.43 crore and the duty amounting to Rs 2.57 crore had been detected in the readymade garments and iron and steel sector. He said of these 10 cases two were outstanding. The commissionerate booked M/s Devinder Sandhu Impext Ltd, Sardar Nagar, Ludhiana, and M/s Davinder Exports (Unit-I), Guru Nanak Dev Nagar, Ludhiana, for clandestine manufacture and removal of readymade garments valued at Rs 17.09 crore involving a central excise duty of Rs 1.71 crore which has already been recovered. Mr Purhoti asserted that the commissionerate was actively pursuing the anti evasion drive and during the previous year, 145 cases were registered, involving a central excise duty evasion of Rs 38.55 crore. He said, Rs 3.09 crore was realised on the spot. The cases booked were in respect of duty evasion prone commodities like readymade garments, yarn, fabrics, shawls, iron and steel motor vehicle parts and cement agents. The commissioner revealed that during the last financial year, the commissionerate realised revenue of Rs 1427.11 crore, which was more than Rs 79.53 crore as compared to the previous year. Referring to service tax evasion, he said the anti-evasion service tax cell was created in October, 2003, to check leakage and evasion of service tax by taxable service providers either without getting registration with the department or by not declaring the correct amount of their taxable value. During the period from October, 2003, till date, 27 cases involving taxable value amounting to Rs 251.35 lakh and service tax amount of Rs 17.61 lakh have been registered. Of this Rs 12.76 lakh have already been recovered. About the audit performance he said during the last financial year 398 audit paras were booked by the audit section of the commissionerate involving Central Excise duty of Rs 29.54 crore out of which Rs 72 crore has already been realised. The Commissioner maintained that the department was acting from case to case basis only. He said the action was initiated only after specific information. He said there was no random survey or checking so far. He said the level of evasion had come down substantially as was indicated by the increase in the revenue collection by the
commissionerate. |
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40 PTU centres to be connected digitally Ludhiana, May 26 This was stated by Dr S.K. Salwan, Vice- Chancellor of PTU, during his visit at a joint cultural festival organised by 38 learning centres of Ludhiana and adjoining districts at GGN Khalsa College, Civil Lines, here last evening. The Vice-Chancellor was accompanied by Dr M.S. Grewal, Registrar, and Dr S.K. Bhatia, Director of Distance Education Programme. Talking about the new project, Dr Salwan said the educational programmes would be relayed from three studios to be set up at Jalandhar, Bangalore and New Delhi. He said that top information technology and management experts would be invited to interact with the students and take their classes. He said that in the initial stage, 40 centres were being connected but many more would be added by the next session. Dr Salwan said that from this session onwards all centres imparting distance education courses would be evaluated in terms of the qualification of their faculty, infrastructure and their results. He said that it would be mandatory for all such centres to meet their expectations or else they would have to face cancellation. The Vice-Chancellor said that it was for the first time that an online helpline had been started by the PTU to regulate any shortcomings pertaining to the Combined Entrance Test scheduled on June 2. He said that admit cards had been sent to all students and in case anyone was left out, he could download it from the website after filling in all the necessary details. He said that nearly 15,700 candidates would be appearing in the test this time and the number was almost 1000 more compared to last year. The VC said that six new engineering colleges had been granted affiliation this year. He said that these were being set up in Mandi Gobindgarh, Rajpura, Lalru, Nawanshahr, Patti and Amritsar. Besides, one management college was being opened in Rajpura. In addition, he said that the seats of management colleges were being raised this time. |
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Chemists allege
harassment by police official Ludhiana, May 26 In a representation to the SSP, functionaries of the association pointed out that a police official not only ordered the immediate closure of chemist shops between 11.30 pm and 12 midnight last night but had also threatened the shop owners with dire consequences if they kept their shops open after 11 pm. The association said the police official concerned was not posted at the police division 2, which covered the area. It said the police had hardly initiated any steps against shops in temporary structures, which were encroachments. |
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Labourer buried
alive Mandi Ahmedgarh, May 26 Around 3.30 pm, sides walls of the ditch collapsed and Bhola, alias Asgar (35) of Dugri and Baru Khan of Kailon at Malerkotla, got buried under the earth. Other labourers escaped and labourers and passersby extricated them. They were taken to a local private hospital, where Bhola was declared brought dead. |
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’84 riot victims hail PM’s assurance on relief Ludhiana, May 26 Addressing a news conference here today, Mr Surjit Singh, president of the society, charged the Congress government in Punjab with failure to take any relief measures to assist the riot-hit people during last more than two years and treating the victims in a discriminatory manner. He said it was reprehensible that the present government had stayed all relief and resettlement schemes launched by the previous SAD-BJP government to help the riot-hit families. Mr Surjit Singh further observed that if the new Congress government at the Centre was really keen to give a healing touch to the riot-affected families, it must immediately dismiss Mr Jagdish Tytler from the Union Cabinet for he was the kingpin of the 1984 massacre. He said the riot-affected persons, along with their family members would hold a protest demonstration in front of the Parliament House against Mr Tytler on June 2. The society also wanted both Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and AICC President, Sonia Gandhi to apologise in Parliament for the communal riots of 1984 and that the entire House should observe two minutes’ silence to pay homage to those who had lost their lives in the communal frenzy. Welcoming the announcement by the SAD chief and former Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to boycott the Union minister Mr Jagdish Tytler, in Parliament, the society vowed to join hands with the party in any kind of struggle to seek justice for the riot-hit families. |
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Akali leaders snubbed Ludhiana, May 26 Mr Bhunder had invited active workers and leaders of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Ludhiana (urban and rural units) at Chandigarh to sort out the differences and elect the delegates for the election of the
office bearers of the Shiromani Akali Dal to be held next month. Mr Bhunder was having a meeting with leaders and workers of the Ludhiana rural unit of the dal when a group of leaders and workers led by Avtar Singh
Makkar, claimant for the post of president of the urban unit, reached the venue of the meeting and found the doors closed. They pressed for the opening of the doors but they were told to wait. They started pushing the doors of the venue of the meeting with the result the doors got opened. Mr Bhunder took affront to this behaviour of the leaders and the workers and reprimanded them. Later, a meeting of the Ludhiana urban unit was held where Mr Parkash Singh Badal was authorised to nominate office-bearers of the Ludhiana urban unit. |
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Sigh of relief for axed PLDRC employees Ludhiana, May 26 The Agriculture Minister, Punjab, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, has ordered to hand over 1,550 acres belonging to the PLDRC at Laddowal to the Punjab Agricultural Industrial Corporation
(PAIC). This was claimed yesterday by retrenched employees of the
PLDRC, who stated that the minister had ordered the transfer on papers and the development was yet to be notified by the state government officially. Expressing happiness at the development, Mr Dalip Singh and Mr Roshan Lal, general secretary and president of PLDRC Employees Union, respectively, said that with the transfer of land to the
PAIC, the employees would be absorbed. The employees had been sitting at home since November last after they were shown the door by the state government. They said that after getting the shock of losing the jobs, two employees died of heart attack. Some of them were even admitted to hospitals. Besides, the employees had not been paid salaries for the past one year. The employees were retrenched after the corporation was dissolved in November last year as it had been suffering huge losses. They had decided to launch a protest against the government over the retrenchment of employees. They claimed that they had been working in the department for the past 25 to 30 years and had given their prime to it. But during the twilight of their life the government had shown them the door without giving any compensation to them . The trouble arose for these employees in 2001, after the 20-year-old lease of the erstwhile Central State Farm to the Central Government expired and over 2,700 acres was returned to the state government. The state government had in turn distributed some part of the land between the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the PLDRC and the Punjab Police, while retaining remaining of it with itself. The PAU had got 1,250 acres, while the PLDRC and the Police Department were transferred 1,550 acres and 50 acres, respectively. As per an agreement between the state and the Central governments the liability of these workers rested with the state government, which had in turn passed the responsibility on to the PAU and the
PLDRC, who got major chunks of the farmland. The government had given the responsibility of 183 employees to the PAU and 205 employees to the
PLDRC. At that time also the employees were not absorbed for at least an year. It was only after three persons committed suicide that the state government absorbed the employees. |
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Road cries for attention Sahnewal, May 26 The road linking the town with Kohara and the adjoining villages is frequented by rural folk as Sahnewal serves as a major shopping centre for them. Mr Ramesh Kumar Pappu, president of the Nagar Council Sahnewal said, “This is the most frequented road and the authorities are least bothered about its condition. We have sent several reminders to the PWD authorities but to no avail.” Thousands of vehicles ranging from two-wheelers to heavy commercial vehicles tread the main market road adding to the woes of the shopkeepers. Ms Santosh Kumar, president, Cloth Merchants Association, said,” A big layer of dust is visible on the clothes at the end of the day. Our sales have been hit due to the bad road as people prefer to shop at some other place rather being caught in a ‘dusty’ situation.” The president of the Arthiya Association, Mr Harbans Singh, said the road has resulted in various physical ailments and deformities as slip discs, fractures, bone injuries etc, to the commuters. Another shopkeeper complained that the dust accumulates on the sweets and eatables makes them unfit to be eaten. Residents of the area said on account of heavy vehicular traffic, dust emerging from the road causes breathing problems. Many children and aged people are facing severe asthmatic problems due to the suffocating environment caused by the rising dust. “No authority has paid any heed to our regular reminders as they have never turned up to find a solution to our problem”, the people complain. Mr Balbir Chand, Circle Superintendent, PWD, said,” The tender regarding construction is yet to be passed. |
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Pensioners’ body seeks
DA merger notification Ludhiana, May 26 Mr Yash Pal Ghai, additional general secretary of the association, said in a press note that though there was no model code of conduct in force since May 13, the Punjab Government was silent on the issue while the Haryana Government had issued the DA/DR merger notification. The decision of the Punjab Cabinet regarding the enhancement of reimbursement rates for spectacles, hearing aids, dentures and lenses had not been implemented, said Mr Ghai, adding that the association had urged the Chief Minister to issue the notification at the earliest. |
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Dera sevadar hurt in attack dead Doraha, May 26 The miscreant killed Dashrath, chief of the dera, with sticks on May 21 and injured Bagga, a sevadar of the dera. The murder had created terror among the villagers. The news of a gang of robbers striking at the gurdwara at Rohira village on May 22 and injuring the sevadar had heightened their fears. They demanded the arrest of the accused at the earliest. |
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Class IV staff seek poll duty wages Ludhiana, May 26 The deputation, headed by Mr Jasdev Singh Lalton and Mr Rajinder Singh Lalton, said the SDM (West) had already paid the poll duty wages to Class IV employees. They also demanded that TA and DA be permissible to them also. |
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Old man hit by bus, dies Ludhiana, May 26 Servant booked:
Newborn abandoned:
Bus hits autorickshaw:
Family booked:
Woman beaten up:
Man assaulted:
Bid to occupy land:
Man held with liquor:
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Woman forced to undergo abortion Doraha, May 26 As per a case registered at the Payal police station, Sawarnjit Kaur was issueless and in order to have a child, she along with her husband and with the consent of her relatives, tried to win the confidence of the victim and “forced” her into an illegal relationship with her husband. She later changed her mind and along with the help of the other relatives, made the victim abort the child.
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Nepali youth
commits suicide Samrala, May 26
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New govt ‘may ignore’ small-scale industry Ludhiana, May 26 Mr Sharma said prices of inputs for steel like iron ore had gone down while prices of steel were going up. He said sponge iron prices were down by about Rs 1,500 per metric tonne. He said public and private sector units had raised prices disproportionately and were trying to exploit the transition period. He said left parties were crying hoarse against any hike in diesel prices, but were silent on the prices of petrol. He said furnace oil was getting dearer, which would hit the industry adversely. He regretted that the RBI, in its credit policy, was silent on the issue of credit to the small-scale sector. |
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Tavera launched Ludhiana, May 26 According to Mr Amit Dutta, vice-president, GM India, the Tavera is ideal for those looking for a spacious, stylish and comfortable vehicle. Features include larger reinforced tyres and rims, recalibrated suspension and brakes and seats and steering wheel adjusted for local users. It has a 2.5 litre turbo diesel engine. Introductory warranty on the engine for five years or 150,000 km, whichever is earlier, is being offered to customers. GM India is a wholly owned subsidiary of General Motor Corporation. Besides the Tavera and the Optra, GM India manufactures the Opel Corsa and imports the Opel Vectra and the Chevrolet Forester. |
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Bank complex stone laid Ludhiana May 26 Mr Bhargava said the complex was likely to be ready within three years and it would be equipped with modern facilities. He said the bank had introduced centralised banking solutions at 56 branches in Punjab.
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