Jalandhar, March 28
The trading community of Jalandhar cantonment has a reason to cheer as the Punjab Assembly has resolved to compensate the cantonment board in lieu of abolition of octroi. The tax was abolished in Punjab except the cantonment areas of Jalandhar and Ferozepore.

The decision comes at a time when the cantonment board elections are round the corner. Considering this as a positive move, traders maintain that the decision has virtually rekindled their hopes as they have been harassed every now and then in the name of octroi.

Talking to The Tribune, Jalandhar cantonment MLA Jagbir Brar said it was a long-pending demand of the traders to abolish octroi and finally with the intervention of the state government a resolution had been passed. “Octroi has remained a big issue with the traders. Keeping this demand in mind, the Assembly has passed the Municipal Fund (Amendment) Act, 2008, so that a provision could be made in the Punjab Municipal Fund, 2006, to compensate the cantonment boards of Jalandhar and Ferozepore for the loss of revenue on account of abolition of octroi.”

The president of the Akhil Bharatiya Vyapar Maha Sangh (India), a Jalandhar cantonment traders’ organisation, Prof Ajay Kumar Gupta, said, “It has been more then eight years since the traders of the cantonment have been facing problems pertaining to octroi. Though we held a meeting with the then cantonment MLA Gurkanwal Kaur, civil member Rajender Joshi and defence minister A.K. Anthony in Delhi and it was decided that a bill would be passed. However, due to the Assembly elections nothing materialised.” “It was also decided that the loss of octroi to the Centre would be incurred by the state government. Recently Jagbir Brar raised this issue once again and finally this step has been taken,” he said.

When contacted, Rajender Joshi said, “So far as the implementation is concerned we have not received any formal orders from the 
ministry of defence.”

Hoshiarpur, March 28
In a major development in the Jalandhar SDO murder case, the district police brought the three accused, Prince, Ashok and Vipan from Mumbai on production warrants.

SDO Sukhdev Singh was working with the public health department in Jalandhar and was found murdered in a khud near Chohal village on February 27. His wife Gurmit had alleged that Prince along with his accomplices had strangled her husband and dumped his body. She alleged that the accused had decamped with jewellery, Rs 4,000 and Maruti car of her husband.

Giving details, SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill said during investigations, it emerged that Ashok and Vipan were involved in the murder and the trio had been absconding since then.

He said a special team led by SP (D) Sushil Kumar was constituted which kept the accused houses under surveillance and came to know about them. The trio was arrested by the Bakhroli police, Mumbai.

The SSP said the trio’s interrogation revealed that Prince’s father Saleem was working as a peon in the deceased’s office. Prince won Sukhdev’s trust and came to know that the office chest keys in which money was kept remained with the SDO.

On the day of incident, Sukhdev withdrew cash from the bank and kept in the office chest in the presence of Prince. The accused called his accomplices. The trio took Sukhdev Singh to an ahata where they had liquor. Later, they strangled the SDO and removed all valuables from his person and dumped the body. On the next morning, the trio stole Rs 2.30 lakh from the chest and left for Mumbai. — OC

Jalandhar, March 28
The state government is hopeful that the Centre would soon release a sum of Rs 140 crore to revamp the facilities and infrastructure in Sultanpur Lodhi, the place where Guru Nanak attained enlightenment.

Talking to The Tribune, education minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur, who received the Gurutaa Gurgaddi Yatra at Dadwindi, near Kapurthala, said the existing facilities needed to be upgraded in view of the importance of the city and also to promote religious tourism.

“We are sure that the Centre would allot us the money under the urban renewal mission. A high-powered meeting in this context will be chaired by the union urban development minister Jaipal Reddy in Delhi on Monday,” she added.

In addition to this, the government has sent another proposal of Rs 113 crore to the state government wherein more facilities and infrastructure could be created in and around the city. This was done since the Centre had already approved the schemes of seven other important religious cities in the country.

In case of Nanded, where Takht Sachkhand Sahib is located, the money has already been spent to create additional infrastructure facilities in the city. If approval is granted, we will fulfill the needs of the city for another 20 years, the minister added.

Earlier, accompanied by hundreds of devotees, Upinderjit welcomed the yatra and presented siropas to the Panj pyaras, leading the march. A contingent of the Punjab Police presented a guard of honour on the occasion. 

Jalandhar, March 28
The revenue department of the Punjab government has directed the deputy commissioner to issue a heirship certificate to a Sansarpur-based widow, denied by him earlier, so that she could pursue the accidental death claim of her husband who died while on duty in Riyadh last year.

The widow, Asha Rani (49), is yet to receive a cheque for Rs 3.07 already lying with DC Ajit Singh Pannu for the past six months, again for the want of certificate which the DC has asked her to procure from the court.

The Tribune had carried the news report on March 2 highlighting the plight of the widow, Asha Rani, whose husband Parveen Kumar had died on March 25, 2007.

The widow today received a copy of the memorandum issued to the DC from the state government. The memorandum has asked the DC to issue the certificate and pass on the information in this regard to the office so that the ministry of external affairs could be informed about the same.

The action from the state government comes following a complaint on the issue lodged by the widow with the MEA. A section officer from the ministry of external affairs had then asked the chief secretary, Punjab, to investigate the complaint against the DC levelled by the aggrieved and sent him back the report.

“Death compensation cases in Saudi Arabia have a limitation clause and are proceeded in a time-bound manner,” he had written expressing urgency.

The widow, who has no other source of income since then, said she had given several representations to the DC in this regard but she was being told that the legal heir certificate should come from the civil court.

The district attorney, too, has reportedly, in a letter to the DC, opined that the collector, Jalandhar, was a competent authority for issuing certificate.

Pannu, however, has remained adamant saying, “Whenever a case that pertains to matter related to foreign comes across, it is the civil court that has to issue the certificate.”

Jalandhar, March 28
“The prosecuting agencies in the state will not be able take the disproportionate assets case against Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and his family members to its logical end and the case should be shifted to another state.”

Bholath MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said he, along with three other legislators, had filed a petition in the Supreme Court in the context. “We have prayed that it was not possible to conduct a free trial against the CM, his wife Surinder Kaur and son Sukhbir Badal, who is also Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president, to a court outside Punjab.”

“Free and fair trial is not possible here as the Chief Minister also holds the portfolio of home minister and is using his power to browbeat the witnesses in the case,” he alleged.

Demanding a retrial in the case, he urged the high court to take a suo moto notice since 58 of the 138 witnesses, had already turned hostile. “Everyone knows what is happening and how the trial will proceed if the case is tried in Mohali,” he pointed out.

In the petition, the other MLAs, Jeet Mohinder Singh, Mangat Ram Bansal and Gurpreet Singh Khangar, had also demanded a stay on the proceedings in the trial court till the matter was decided by the Supreme Court and a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) into the remaining part of the investigations in the case was completed.

Demanding resignation of Punjab attorney general Hardev Singh Mattewal, Khaira alleged that AG, who is the head of prosecution, would not be able to do justice with his job as earlier he was the Badal family’s defence counsel.