Ludhiana, December 2
Tax evasion to the tune of lakhs of rupees came to light when officials of the Excise and Taxation Department here captured hosiery goods at the local railway station being sent by a railway booking agency using wrong Tax Identification Numbers (TIN) today.

As per investigations so far, the agency has sent goods to the tune of roughly Rs 40 lakh in the last week or so and the department officials indicated that using similar modus operandi, tax evasion to the tune of crores of rupees by booking agencies could not be ruled out.

As the peak season of hosiery trade is on, Excise and Taxation Department officials have been conducting checking at the local railway station so as to find irregularities in sending of goods if any. "We suspected something wrong and identified two-three TIN numbers used by the said railway booking agency. Based on that information, we contacted the party whose TIN number was mentioned. However, they denied that they had sent any goods following which we captured around 11 boxes of hosiery goods that were being sent to places like Dehradun, Muradabad etc," said Mr Paramjit Singh, Excise and Taxation Officer, adding "this is the first such case of evasion detected from the railway station."

Officials said due to heavy rush in peak season, it was normal practice with booking agencies to depute their employees for booking at different places. The agencies, added officials, avoided any inspection of goods being sent by them on the grounds that state Excise and Taxation Department had no business to interfere in their business as Railways was dealing with them.

Mr Kanshi Ram Khurana of Khurana Hosiery, the company whose TIN number was mentioned, when contacted, told Ludhiana Tribune: "We were quite shocked to see our TIN number on the invoices whereas those goods did not belong to us. We were lucky that the department caught hold of the wrong doers and called us." He said people involved in using such malpractices should be nabbed so that those adopting right ways are not unnecessarily harassed. "Chances that there are many more such cases cannot be ruled out. It not only amounts to losses to industry but also to the government in terms of revenue."

ETOs H.S. Grewal, Mahinder Singh, Balwant Salhan and Pramjit Singh carried the inspection. Giving more details, Mr Singh said: "We will also find as to which party was involved in sending the goods using a wrong TIN number. Further investigations would reveal more details and actual evasion by the agency could run up to lakhs of rupees."

Ludhiana, December 2
Guru Nanak Stadium here is rapidly becoming a major venue for cultural and political functions rather than sports.

A few weeks earlier, the ground and the tracks were damaged first during the recruitment rally of constables and ASIs of the Punjab police and then for a function which was attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The stadium would now hold a Gurdas Mann nite on December 2.

Ironically, while earlier, the sports fraternity was up in arms against the administration for misusing the stadium for cultural and political functions, this time the Kabbadi Association is organising the nite.

A visit to the stadium by a team of Ludhiana Tribune revealed the damage caused to the ground for constructing a stage where the noted Punjabi singer would perform.

The sports fraternity here is upset over the repeated damage caused to the stadium. A number of sportspersons and sports promoters were of the view that the sports centres should not be misused. "It is a pity that the damage caused to the stadium during the Prime Minister's rally on September 27 was yet to be rectified fully that arrangements for another non-sport function were being made," they opined.

Ludhiana, December 2
The Sessions Judge, Mr Harbans Lal, sentenced Gurpreet Singh (23) of Gujjarwal village and Varinder Singh (24) of Khophra village, Nawanshahr, to rigorous life imprisonment in a murder case.

Delivering the verdict, the judge held that the prosecution had successfully proved the charges levelled against the accused. It was proved with the help of circumstantial evidence that the accused caused the death of Lok Nath of Gujjarwal village. The duo were fined Rs 5,000 each.

However, the court acquitted Sarabjit Singh (24) and Kulbir Kumar (23) of Gujjarwal village, giving them the benefit of doubt.

The FIR was registered following the statement of ex-Subedar Nachhattar Singh, father of the deceased, at Sudhar police station. The complainant had submitted to the police that Gurpreet Singh had come to his house on June 13, 2002. After some time the other co-accused also came there. The two took his son Lok Nath with them. At noon, a villager came to him and said Gurpreet had told him that Lok Nath had drowned in the canal near the Ballowal bridge.

He contended that if the accused had raised an alarm in time, his son could have been saved. His son died due to their negligence. But later during the investigation, the police found it to be a murder case on the basis of an extra-judicial confession made by one of the accused. 

Ludhiana, December 2
With just three months to go for Assembly poll in Punjab, persons aspiring for the Congress ticket have started making efforts.

Ludhiana witnessed a massive Congress rally on November 14 in which people from all over the state participated. The Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh’s vikas yatra also went through Guru Gobind Singh Marg.

The District Congress Committee (Urban), Ludhiana, is badly divided into various groups and the leaders have been busy in leg-pulling. The efforts of the president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee(PPCC), Mr Shamsher Singh Dullo, to bring them closer has been to no avail. Rather, the recent re-organisation of the unit has further created fissures among Congress leaders.

All four Vidhan Sabha segments, namely Ludhiana North, Ludhiana East, Ludhiana West and Ludhiana Rural, are with the Congress at present. Ludhiana North is represented by Mr Rakesh Pandey, who is a minister in the Amarinder government.

Mr Pandey, who is the son of late Joginder Paul Pandey, has won thrice from this constituency and is a candidate for the Congress ticket for the fourth time.

Besides Mr Pandey, Mr Ramesh Joshi and Mr Prem Mittal are the other hot contenders for the Congress ticket. Mr Parminder Mehta, secretary of the PPCC is also a candidate for the ticket.

Ludhiana East has Mr Surinder Dawar as the sitting Congress MLA. He will have no difficulty in getting the ticket primarily because he is a loyalist of Capt Amarinder Singh and has no major rival in the party to replace him. He defeated BJP veteran Satpaul Gosain in 2002 Vidhan Sabha elections.

Ludhiana West, which has Mr Harnam Das Johar as the sitting MLA, has many aspirants. Mr Johar may not face much difficulty in getting a ticket.

Besides Mr Munish Tiwari, who contested the Parliamentary election from Ludhiana on a Congress ticket, is also a serious candidate. Mr Tiwari is labelled as an outsider as he lives in Delhi and has started coming to Ludhiana recently to meet his industrialist friends.

Finance Minister Surinder Singla was a aspirant for the Congress ticket in 2002 and he will be a serious contender this time as well. But his credibility with traders and industrialists here is very low as he has not kept a single promise regarding VAT and other issues which concerns them.

Mr Krishan Kumar Bawa of the Bairagi Mandal is also a candidate for the Congress ticket from this seat and he had organised a rally in Ludhiana where he invited the Chief Minister to show his strength. Mr Bawa is more interested in building a Bairagi Mandal bhavan in Rajguru Nagar here where he is facing strong opposition.

Ludhiana Rural has Mr Malkit Singh Birmi, who resigned as Chief Parliamentary Secretary following directions from the Congress high command. He is again trying to make up his loss and is trying to please the Chief Minister. The PPCC president is seen to be strongly opposed to him.

Another serious contender for the ticket is Mr Nahar Singh Gill, Mayor of the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation. Mr Gill has also organised his Samparak programme where he invited the PPCC president and Mr Lal Singh, in charge of Ludhiana district.

Mr Gill has been Mayor of the corporation for more than four years now and has made his contacts with local industrialists and traders. He is close to the Chief Minister and the PPCC president.

Another candidate Mr Ashok Singh Garcha is the son of Mr Devinder Singh Garcha, who was elected to Parliament five times from Ludhiana and once to the Punjab Vidhan Sabha. Mr Ashok Singh Garcha was appointed the chairman of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust, but he resigned in the wake of the Ludhiana City centre scam.

Kila Raipur is another important Vidhan Sabha segment in the district. This has Mr Jagpal Singh Khangoora of Park Plaza hotel as the main aspirant for the Congress ticket. In 2002, Mrs Khangoora contested on a Congress ticket and lost to the Akali candidate, Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha.

During the past five years, the Khangooras have looked after the constituency well and made deep inroads. It looks like there will be no problem for Mr Khangoora to secure the Congress ticket.

The Samrala Vidhan Sabha constituency has Mr Amrik Singh Dhillon as the sitting MLA and he is sure to get the ticket. He has already been elected twice from this constituency.

The Kumkalan segment (reserved) has a strong contender in Mr Ishar Singh Meharban, who is general secretary of the PPCC.

The Dakha constituency (reserved) has Mr Malkiat Singh Dakha as sitting MLA of the Congress and he may get nominated this time too. He is a loyalist of Mr Dullo and a Beant Singh loyalist.

The Khanna constituency (reserved) has Ms Harbans Kaur as sitting MLA. She is the wife of Mr Dullo and Mr Dullo himself is keen to contest this time as he has been supported as the Chief Ministerial candidate by Mr Jagmeet Singh Brar.

Mr Gurcharan Singh Galib, a former MP, may seek the Congress ticket from the Jagraon Vidhan Sabha seat. He is also keen to usher his son into politics from this seat.

Mr Tejparkash Singh is likely to be retained as Congress nominee from Payal segment. His son Gurkirat Singh is also active in politics. Mr Harmohinder Singh Pradhan, former president, DCC (Rural), is likely to get the Congress nomination from Raikot segment and he is a strong candidate to face the Akali nominee Ranjit Singh Talwandi.

Ludhiana, December 2
Taking a strong view of the appeasement policy aimed at providing special relief packages to minorities and scheduled castes and tribes, the Akhil Bhartiya Brahman Mahasabha has demanded that merit be restored. The mahasabha asserted that as long as merit was ignored, the country could not progress.

According to the president of the mahasabha, Mr Naresh Dat Sharma, the Brahmans had been getting a raw deal for quite some time. He said they were being victimised and discriminated against by successive regimes for vested political interests. He pointed out that despite the phenomenal contribution of Brahmans to the freedom struggle and also in post- independent India, they were being marginalised.

The British had disbanded the Brahman Regiment in 1942, as a step in vengeance against the Brahmans, as they were at the forefront of the freedom movement. He said even after 60 years of independence, the Brahman Regiment had not been set up again. He demanded that the Brahman Regiment be set up in the Armed Forces at the earliest.

Mr Sharma also opposed any move to introduce reservation in the private sector. He warned that this would lead to frustration and desperation among millions of meritorious youth of the country. He said at least these meritorious youth could join the private sector, but if that was also reserved, they would have no where to go. 

Ludhiana, December 2
Financial accounting practices have undergone a sea change due to the globalisation of Indian business. If the trend in the internationalisation of the business continues then it will lead to more transparency, integrity and reliability in the accounting system, which may lead to increase in the net tax collections and reduction in tax evasion.

These views were presented by Prof Ashwani Bhalla, senior lecturer in the Department of Commerce of SCD Government College, while addressing the Excise and Taxation Officers of the district at a workshop on ‘accounting practices’ organised by the Department of Excise and Taxation (Ludhiana-III) under the guidance of Mr Mohan Singh Kundulas, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, at the Bachat Bhavan here today.

Around 80 Excise and Taxation Officers attended the workshop and took keen interest in the new accounting practices. Prof Bhalla, the key speaker in the workshop, specifically designed the programme for the Excise and Taxation Officers and Inspectors to apprise them about the basic accounting system and latest trends in preparing the financial statements.

Prof Bhalla said the harmonisation of accounting practices at the world level and the synchronisation of the Indian accounting standards with the international accounting standards had provided a transparent and efficient accounting system.

The lecture started with the basic accounting concepts and Prof Bhalla took live examples to explain the concept of preparing the financial statements. He said accounting had now been developed as a separate stream known as Accounting Information System (AIS), which was not only helpful in preparing the traditional financial statements but was also generating different analytical reports that provided help to different users of accounting.