The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Excessive charges at Suvidha Centres BJP’s legal cell writes to Badal, Kalia Riva Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 12 The legal cell of the local unit of the BJP submitted a letter to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia protesting against the “excessive and unnecessary charges” being levied upon the general public. The Punjab Government has established Suvidha Centres throughout the state where the works of different departments are being carried out under a single roof to help the public. But the various fees being charged at these centres are much higher than those of the government. “Convenience charges are actually causing great inconvenience to the public,” said Raj Kumar Bhalla, president of the cell. The preview of these centres was being widened with each passing day. With more services being brought under these centres, undue delay and harassment to public were happening, he said. “Recently, the Deputy Commissioner ordered for the registration of marriages through Suvidha Centres. This was previously done by the Registrar of Marriages with a fee of Rs 115. But now a fee of Rs 615 is being charged at the centres for the same purpose,” said Bhalla. Similarly, while the government fee for the application of arms licence is Rs 100, the Suvidha Center charges Rs 500. While the government charges no fee for NOC certificate for petrol pumps, permission for circus/fair, unmarried certificate and countersigning of documents, the Suvidha Centrer charges Rs 1,000, 200 and 100 each, respectively. As per information received through the RTI, Jalandhar Suvidha Center’s income for the month of October was Rs 6,88,694, whereas its total expenditure for the same month was Rs 3,33,636. Its income was almost double the expense. “The centre has been established for the welfare of the public and not to earn income for the government. In fact, the government should finance these service centres and relieve people from this financial burden,” added Bhalla. He also slammed the convenience centres for delaying the work process.
	Rs 1 lakh, laptop stolen from car Our Correspondents Hoshiarpur, December 12 Thieves stole a bag containing Rs 1 lakh and a laptop from the car of a Manager, Reliance Life Insurance Company, Gurdev Singh Saini, parked outside the local branch of HDFC Bank on the Sutehri road today. According to police sources, Gurdev Singh went to the HDFC Bank branch for withdrawing money after parking the car containing the bag and laptop outside the branch. When he returned from the bank, he found a windowpane of the car broken and the bag containing cash and laptop missing. In another theft case, thieves broke opened the locks of a stationery shops, Raghunath Dass and Sons, situated in Vakilan Bazar here and decamped with Rs 1,000. 3 jewellery snatchers held Nawanshahr: Rakesh Aggarwal, SSP, while addressing mediapersons here today said the police had busted a gang of gold jewellery snatchers by arresting three persons, including two women, namely Geju, Palo and Nirpinder Singh of Rotichhana village, near Nabha in Patiala district, at a police naka at the Punia railway crossing, near Banga, on Friday. Giving details, Aggarwal said Joginder Kaur, resident of Sector 46 D, Chandigarh, had lodged a complaint at Banga police station on Thursday that when she was waiting for a bus for Jhikka village at Banga Bus Stand at about 12.30 pm, the two women and a boy sitting in a Maruti Car came out of the car and snatched her gold chain weighing about 3 tolas and fled away in the car. The police immediately sprung into action and DSP(D) Satinderpal Singh and SHO, Banga, Rajwinder Singh put up nakas to nab the miscreants. The police succeeded in nabbing them at a police naka and recovered the snatched gold chain of Joginder Kaur. Vehicle thieves’ gang busted Nawanshahr: The police claimed to have busted an inter-state gang of vehicle thieves by arresting two of its members, identified as Sardul Chand, alias Sonu, resident of Pharala village in the district, and Amit Kumar, alias Kaka, resident of Aman Nagar, Jalandhar. While two of its members, Vijay Kumar, resident of Bhagat Singh Chowk, Jalandhar, and Anil Kumar of Pharala village in the district absconded. Giving details, the SSP, Rakesh Aggarwal, at a press meeting here today said the Behram police had got a specific information that a gang was active in Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Shahid Bhagat Singh Nagar districts in Punjab and in the neighbouring Himachal Pardesh. The gang members were not only lifting vehicles by preparing their duplicate keys, but also selling them by preparing fake documents. On the basis of the information, the police had registered a case under on December 8 at Behram police station and started keeping a vigil. During a naka near Jasso Mazara village, a police party, led by Behram SHO Purshottam Lal, succeeded in busting the gang when two of its members were nabbed along with a stolen motorcycle. During interrogation, the gang members confessed to have committed crime of stealing vehicles and as per the information provided by them the police recovered eight more stolen motorcycles from them. Besides, as per the information provided by the nabbed gang members about their two more accomplices, the police has recovered a computer, printer, scanner, cameras, 42 fake rubber seals of officials of different government departments, 25 fake registration copies, eight fake driving licences, four fake voter identity cards, 15 fake insurance certificates, three fake pollution safety certificates, four fake birth and death certificates and 10 fake academic certificates from their residence in Jalandhar, further disclosed the SSP. One nabbed Phagwara: The police has arrested a local resident Rajinder Kumar and recovered 400 intoxicants from his possession, said DSP HPS Khakh. Rs 70,000 stolen Phagwara: Some miscreants took away cash worth Rs 70,000 from the dicky of a scooter of a trader Beant Singh, a resident of the local Urban Estate in local Banga road on Thursday night. The victim parked the scooter on the roadside for some purchase and found the dicky of the scooter broken and the cash missing. Police has registered a case. Villager held with pistol Phillaur: The police has arrested a villager, Navtej Singh, and recovered a .315-bore pistol and three live cartridges from him near Apra village in the subdivision on Friday night, said Phillaur DSP Kamaljit Singh Dhillon. Youth held for injuring 3 in hospital Phagwara: The police has arrested a youth, Gurdip Singh, alias Deepa, resident of Jagatpur Jattan village under sections 186, 353, 427, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC and sections 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Punjab Medical Services Protection Act for attacking and seriously wounding three other villagers at the Civil Hospital and ransacking the emergency room of the hospital on December 10. DSP H.K.S. Khakh said today that raids were on to nab his other accomplices.
	Council for Leather Exports opens office in Jalandhar Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 12 Chairman of Council for Leather Exports, Habib Hussain, today inaugurated the council’s extension office in Jalandhar. The office will not only disseminate the various policies and programmes of the central government, but will also issue the registration-cum-membership certificates, the export performance and import certificates under three per cent duty free import scheme. The city was reportedly chosen for the purpose since Punjab is significantly contributing to the development of the leather industry in the state and Jalandhar its major center. “The exports from the Punjab leather sector have increased from Rs 138.17 crore in 2007-2008 to Rs 208-22 crore in 2008-2009, which is a good sign, considering the adverse effects of the global financial crisis,” said Hussain. Jalandhar alone has registered an exports value of Rs 187.27 crore, thereby having a share of about 90 per cent of the total export from the Punjab leather sector. “The leather industry is passing through a crisis. The export in the second half of the year fell by 13.53 per cent when compared to the positive growth of 15.75 per cent, achieved in the first half of 2008-09. “The current year has been witnessing a further decline in exports, with the exports during April-October 2009 declining by 17.29 per cent to US 1,878.41 million dollars, from a value of US 2,271.13 million dollars in the same months in 2008. We may be heading for a significant reduction of 15-20 per cent in exports this year,” informed Habib Hussain.
	Signature campaign against Op Green Hunt Tribune News Service Jalandhar, December 12 Lok Morcha and Inqilabi Kendar Punjab today released a letter to the press signed by nearly 400 intellectuals, writers, journalists, former bureaucrats and trade union activists across the world against the recent move of the Central Government to deploy central paramilitary forces in the tribal areas of India. While expressing their concern over the recently launched “Operation Green Hunt”, the group of intellectuals asserted in the letter that the use of central paramilitary forces in the tribal areas of Chhattishgarh, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Orissa, West Bengal and Andhra Pradesh will result in the loss of thousands of lives and loss of livelihood of tens of thousands of people. “Areas where the government is planning to organise an onslaught are rich in natural resources. The truth is that the government is trying to make these areas secure and favorable for the establishment of special economic zones and other development projects, as the local tribal population has continually been opposing these projects,” reads the press release.
	Sikhya volunteers block traffic Kapurthala, December 12 Sikhya volunteers blocked vehicular traffic by staging a dharna in the middle of road near Shiv Mandir Chowk here today. They were protesting against the relieving of the volunteers by the Education Department. The dharna was lifted following assurance by the district administration for fixing an appointment with the Education Minister to redress their grievances. Earlier, they held a rally at the Shalamar Bagh and took out a protest march in the bazaars raising slogans against the Education Department and district administration. Criticising Education Minister Dr Upinderjeet Kaur for relieving the volunteers despite her assurance that no volunteer would be relieved, the sikhya volunteers demanded that the relieved volunteers be reinstated. — TNS