Ludhiana, February 11
Panic has gripped industrialists as the income tax department is conducting raids and surveys in and around the city to check tax evasion.

Late refunds and increase in VAT are already plaguing the industry and the raids have only added to the troubles of the industrialists.

In September, the Central Board of Direct Taxes forwarded 2,500 cases from the city to the IT department in Ludhiana. The cases were selected through a computer-assisted scrutiny system and the list sent by the board cannot be altered.

Every tax payer whose name is on the list would have to furnish extra information pertaining to the sources of income, investments, number of family members, home expenses, foreign tour, loans and gifts, besides movable and immovable property.

To avoid embarrassment, some industrialists have taken out jewellery and money from their bank lockers while the others are trying to find ways to know if their name figures on the list.

A source in the income tax department said owners of business establishments were anxious to know if their names were on the list. These things are confidential and only top officials were aware of it. But still frequent calls were made to enquire about it, he said.

Pardeep Kumar, an industrialist, said raids by the department had become a cause of concern for business houses. “We regularly pay tax, but have not received the refund for over a year now. On top of it, the department is conducting the raids,” he said.

It is learnt that the revenue collection by the department is not showing the desired results, which has further put pressure on the officials to conduct raids.

Ludhiana, February 11
Even though the Punjab State Electricity Board has imposed scheduled power cuts for four hours a day - two each in the morning and afternoon - on all mixed feeders in the state, the timing of the morning outage - from 7 am in some localities along Gill Road, has thrown the everyday lives of residents out of gear.

The local Environmental & Welfare Association has complained residents of New Janta Nagar, Simlapuri and several other localities, which lie in a semi-industrial, commercial and residential area, are “being discriminated against with respect to timings of the morning power cuts”.

In a communication to PSEB officials, association president Sher Singh said: “In most of the city’s residential localities the morning power cuts are imposed from 9 am to enable students, employees and other office goers to get ready. However, people living in several colonies along Gill Road are a harassed lot because, with the electricity going off, tubewells stop operating and water supply gets disrupted, with the result that most residents can’t even take a bath."

He alleged PSEB officials had changed the timings of the morning cuts in these localities under pressure from “certain industrial associations, which was arbitrary and absolutely unjustified”.

"Power cuts from 7 am onwards might suit industrial units as they can begin their first shift at 9 am, but the residents of localities along Gill Road have to face a lot inconvenience in the absence of electricity and water supply right at daybreak."

The association urged senior board officials to intervene and change the timings of the morning power cut. “These should be ideally imposed from 9 am or - at the most - from 8 am, so that residents have enough time for their morning chores and get ready to go to their places of work or study before both power and water supply goes off”, it added.

Ludhiana, February 11
Failure on the part of the department of health and family welfare to reconstitute the record of birth and death of the rural populace of the district, which was destroyed in fire in 1994, has become a nuisance for people who have to wait for months to get registration certificates.

The department maintains all records pertaining to deaths and births in the rural areas, but more than 90 per cent of the records were destroyed in the fire at the Civil Surgeon’s office, as a result the department was unable to issue registration certificates to people born before 1994.

Despite repeated visits to the Civil Surgeon’s office, people from villages are unsuccessful in getting the “non- availability” certificates, which have to be attached in place of the birth/death certificate.

Also, delay in the issuance of the non-availability certificate delays the process of inquiry followed by the report by the SDM, mandatory before the issuance of a new certificate.

Saroj, a resident of Phullanwal village, rued: “My brother was born in 1992 and the staff at the office tells me that they don’t have any record with them and ask me to come again.”

In another case, a boy from Lalton village has been waiting to get his birth registration certificate for the past year without which he can’t pursue a hospitality course in Canada.

Dr Daljit Singh, in charge of the birth and death registration wing at the Civil Surgeon’s office, said he was clearing 150-200 non-traceable records every day. “The only delay is in the cases with wrong names as we have to send the papers to the office of the director, health services, Punjab, and it takes two weeks for the whole process. As far as the fresh registrations are concerned, people get the certificates within a week,” he claimed.

Mullanpur Dakha, February 11
Teachers of GTB National Public Senior Secondary School here today refused to take classes protesting against the biased dismissal of their colleague.As many as 20 teachers of the Private Affiliated School Teachers Association demanded immediate removal of principal Gurpreet Kaur Dhillon, besides, unconditional reinstatement of suspended physical education instructor Sukhdev Singh and removal of charges from four other teachers chargesheeted earlier, including Daljit Kaur, Ajmer Singh, Kamalpreet Kaur and Bharat Bhushan.

The later three teachers were chargesheeted as punishment to taking up the case of temporary teachers Happreet Kaur and Baljeet Kaur with the management to give them the status of permanent teacher as claimed by them. The teacher blamed the principal for her rigid attitude who even refused to talk to the management on the issue.

However, the principal said the suspension of the teacher was ordered by her after consulting the management as Sukhdev did not attend the class adjusted with him as the class teacher of Class V was required to complete the formalities of submitting the forms of Class V board exam. Though the last day of submitting the forms is February 15, considering the three holidays he had asked the teacher to finish their work by today.

"The forms could not be submitted today and in case the teachers do not call of their stir, the forms won’t be submitted by February 15 and the one year of Class V students will be spoilt,” said the principal.

Terming this protest as conspiracy against her, the principal said some outsiders were instigating the teachers for their ulterior motives.

She said medical camp organised by doctors of Ludhiana Medicity Hospital under the banner of Global Cancer Concern of India scheduled for February 13 has been postponed due to the agitation.

The principal also complained to the SHO Dakha and SSP Ludhiana (rural) complaining that some miscreants had pelted stones at her house last night to pressurise her. SI Swaran Singh said investigations were on. 

Doraha, February 11
An inter-house fancy dress competition was organised by the students of Green Grove School here today.The first round was the junior’s round that brought doctors, soldiers, flower sellers, spidermen and beautiful fairies with magical wands striding the stage. Millanveer of Gandhi House as Ravan and Karanveer Kaur of Tagore House as princess, both from Class V, got first prize. 

Arshdeep Mankoo from Class IV B of Tilak House as traditional Jat Sikh got second position. Jaskamal of Class IV B from Tilak House as Indian soldier and Damanpreet of Class III A from Tagore House as banjaran got III prize. Tejdeep of Class IV B from Gandhi House as flower girl and Heman of Class IVA from Nehru House as Rapunzil were given consolation prizes.

The seniors fascinated the audience with their catwalk on the ramp. The characters ranged from traditional bridegrooms, Sikh Soldiers to modern teacher. Sandeep Singh, Ravinder Kaur and Jaspreet adjudged the performance of the students. The participants were graded on the basis of their attire, presentation, dialogues and facial expressions.

In seniors, Sukhneer of Class IX from Gandhi House as Sikh Bride bagged the first prize. Tanveer of Class VIII from Nehru House depicting Surinder Badal and Snehjot of Class VII from Tilak House as Vanraj were collectively declared second while Purnoor of Class IX From Gandhi House as a Christian nun got the third position.

Ludhiana, February 11
"Big spurt in food prices during 2008 was a wake up call for agricultural scientists, ministers of agriculture and policy makers."These views were expressed by world food prize laureate Dr Gurdev Singh Khush during the alumni meet of College of Agricuture, Punjab Agriculture University, here today.

He said: "World agriculture is at the crossroads. After enjoying food security during the Green Revolution era, world's ability to feed itself is again in debate."

"Price of corn and wheat doubled and that of rice tripled in the international markets, resulting in rapid price increases in domestic markets. One billion of the world's poor who spend 50-60 per cent of their earnings on food were most affected," said Dr Khush.

Dr Khush said with the rising population, demand for food would continue to increase to feed additional population.

Tracing the development, Dr Khush said world food production increased rapidly during Green Revolution era. For example, rice and wheat increased at an annual rate of 2.3 per cent during 1970-1990 and 1.7 per cent during 1990-2000. The rate of growth now is less than one per cent. Thus, the rate of food grain production is lower than the rate of population increase, he observed.

To make up the shortfall, the food grains were being withdrawn from the food stock reserves. The food grain stocks, which stood at 160 million tons at the turn of the century, were now less than 100 million tons, he added.

Increasing demand and lower supply for water, reduced irrigation efficiency, erratic weather, rising global temperatures, etc have affected the crop yields and productivity adversely. He emphasised that efforts should be to increase the yield potential of these food security crops through conventional and biotechnology approaches.

He suggested that site-specific nutrient management should be adopted rather than blanket fertiliser applications. Crops should be bred for nitrogen use efficiency.

Asia's vast irrigation systems, which account for 70 per cent of the world's irrigated lands, should be revitalised. Ancient techniques of rainwater harvesting should be revived and 21st century technologies of sprinkler and drip irrigation should be promoted.

Dr Khush said efforts should be made to initiate germplasm evaluation and crop improvement to develop varieties, which were least affected with the rise in temperature due to global warming.

Crop varieties with drought and submergence tolerance should be developed for changing rainfall patterns caused by global warming, he added.

Recent breakthroughs in molecular biology and biotechnology have provided new techniques of marker aided selection and genetic engineering to solve old problems of plant breeding, he said. "For example, little progress has been made in developing crops for drought tolerance. However, new techniques hold great promise for developing drought tolerant crops," he said.

Dr Khush said use of food grains to produce bio-fuels should be curtailed, but instead innovative technologies to produce bio-fuels from bio-mass should be developed.

Ludhiana, February 11
As the tension is brewing over the screening of Shah Rukh Khan’s movie in ‘My Name Is Khan’ in some parts of the country, the city police is also taking preventive steps to deal with any kind of eventuality.

Besides, the multiplex and cinema authorities are also taking preventive steps to keep hooligans at bay.

While the police has stated the situation was under control, the multiplex and PVR authorities have been asked to tighten up security in order to keep the Sainiks away from the spot.

The movie is slated to be released tomorrow. “Though, the city has not witnessed any protest, like it has been observed in Mumbai and Delhi, but still we are on toes and strict instruction have been issued to security guards not to allow any unscrupulous elements inside the mall,” said the authorities of West End Mall.

The SHO Sarabha Nagar and SHO Division No. 5 have been told to deploy extra force outside cinema halls, where the movie will be screened tomorrow.

Besides deploying extra personnel, barricades would also be installed on the roads leading to multiplex.

The leader of Shiv Sena Hindustan, who hogged ‘notoriety’ for opposing the peaceful Sikh protest on November 5 has also opposed the Shiv Sena’s move of protesting against the screening the movie. “We are not goons like our namesakes. We are living in democracy and everyone has a right to express his or her views. Violence and use of muscle power is not the right way to lodge protest,” said the leader and further added that recently his party workers burnt an effigy of Shiv Sena supreme in Jalandhar and supported the screening of the film.

On the other hand Prof KBS Sodhi has termed the ongoing controversy as a promotional gimmick.

“Nowadays, every filmmaker is quoting controversy and such situation is created for promoting the movie. For example, the argument between Chaten Bhagat and Amir Khan resulted in the popularity of their recently released movie ‘3- idiots’. Similarly, the latest controversy surrounding Shah Rukh Khan’s starrier ‘My Name Is Khan’ could also be a promotion tactic, if it is so, I do not think it is a healthy trend,” he added.

SSP SS Gill while downplaying the situation said there was no need to panic and police was on alert to tackle any kind of eventuality. Further, who so ever would try to take law in its hands would be taken to task.

Ludhiana, February 11
The District Youth Congress has made scathing attack on the SAD-BJP government in Punjab for what it termed as failure on economic front, denial of employment opportunities to the educated youth and repression against teachers, who were agitating to achieve justice.

Addressing a meeting of party workers at the Dugri road here last evening, its president Dimple Rana alleged that the desperate government, having failed on all fronts, had turned Punjab into a “police state” with reign of terror being let loose against all those who raise their voice against injustice.

“The self-immolation of teacher in Kapurthala earlier this week is a blot on the face of the ruling coalition and the education minister ought to quit on moral grounds,” he demanded.

He said the law and order situation was going from bad to worse with each passing day and the law enforcement machinery (read the police) either looking the other way, or else, abetting the perpetration of criminal acts.

Rana exhorted the ranks of the party to reach out to the masses, especially the poor and the oppressed sections to mobilise them in favour of the Congress and expose the real face of the government, which had failed to provide even the basic infrastructure and amenities like electricity, roads and water supply to the people.

“Be prepared to teach the ruling coalition a lesson in the coming elections and rid the state from utter mis-governance,” he told party workers.

Mullanpur Dakha, February 10
The Humbran police appears to be acting strangely in delaying registration of a case of theft even though the victim provided it with sufficient evidence - a still photograph as well as a video recording. Interestingly the suspects, a woman and a child, attended the wedding ceremony of a resident of Birmi village near here, posing as relatives.

The bride, Amanpreet Kaur, is a niece of Gurpal Singh, former sarpanch of the village. The wedding was held on February 5 at a banquet hall in Ludhiana but the family members decided the ‘doli’ would depart from their house in Birmi.

A young woman who posed as a relative remained at the wedding ceremony all throughout the day, accompanied by a child. At the time when guests were departing she reportedly stole Rs 1.5 lakh in cash from the handbag of the bride’s mother, Pardeep Kaur after opening the bag’s zipper.

Interestingly, the act was recorded by the camera of a photographer was making a videographing the ceremony. The victim reported the matter at the Humbran police station on Februrary 6 itself after procuring copies of a photograph and a video clip from the cameraman. However, the police has yet not decided whether to take any action on the complaint or not.

Even though five days have gone by Humbran SHO Jaswinder Singh has not filed any case against the suspects. Today when this reporter tried to get his version, Jaswinder tried to dismiss the incident by describing it as a “petty” one. However, later he said: “We have received a complaint on the matter and investigations are on. A case will be registered after verifying all the facts”. 

Ludhiana, February 11
A good Samaritan yesterday returned Rs 50,000 belonging to a woman. Ashok Kumar, an accountant, who lives in housing board colony in BRS Nagar set an example for others when he informed the police about a packet containing Rs 50,000 that he had found lying on the road near the Bharat Nagar Chowk.

The money belonged to Lovtinder Kaur of police colony. Lovtinder said the packet, containing currency notes of Rs 500 denomination, had fallen from her purse while she was shopping yesterday afternoon.

She immediately informed the police as soon as she came to know the loss of the money. The control room police further alerted the Division No. 5 police. Meanwhile, the police received a message from Ashok that he had found the packet. The cops reached the spot and took the money. Later, the money was handed over to the woman. 

Ludhiana, February 11
While the local industry is reeling under acute labour crisis the archaic law that stops women from working during the night shifts has compounded the problem further. As women comprise 50 per cent of workforce available, if allowed to work at night can keep the several industrial units working during night. Numerous units have closed operations at night owing to the labour shortage post violence.

The women are not allowed to work in night shifts under the Section 66 of the Factories Act. An amendment permitted women to work between 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. in several sectors, including the special economic zone, IT sector and textiles but not in factories.

Fearing a decline in production due to the labour shortage, the industry, in its SOS call to the Prime Minister has sought an immediate amendment in the Act.

SP Oswal, Managing Director, Vardhman Industries, who was recently awarded Padma Bhushan, said a delegation of industrialists from the city had met the Prime Minister in New Delhi recently. He said Punjab accounted for Rs 17,000 crores worth of industrial production, which represented about 7 per cent of the national industrial production of approximately Rs 2,40,000 crores.

Ludhiana, February 11
The district administration has asked all supervisory officials and government employees to gear up for the forthcoming “Census 2011” operations, which are to commence from May.

In order to review the arrangements and take stock of the preparedness, Deputy Commissioner Vikas Garg convened a meeting with officials to be deployed for the purpose, at Bachat Bhawan here today. He asked them to perform their duty with diligence and dedication.

Madhav Sham, deputy director, census, Punjab, Harbans Singh, in charge of the district, all sub-divisional magistrates and tehsildars attended the meeting.

Dwelling upon the operations, Madhav Sham said the work would be carried out in two phases. In the first phase, house listing operation would be conducted from May 1 to June 15, 2010 which would be followed by house-to-house census from February 9, to February 28, 2011.

A special revision round of census would be taken up from March 1 to 5, 2011.

He said deputy commissioners of the respective districts would be designated as principal census officers, while commissioners of municipal corporations would act in the similar capacity within the city limits.

Additional deputy commissioners would act as district census officers, SDMs as sub-divisional census officers, executive officers of nagar councils as town census officers and tehsildars as charge census officers.

In the district, the census operations would be carried out under the supervision of Additional Deputy Commissioner Kuldeep Singh.

The deputy director of census asked tehsildars to submit complete lists of villages under their jurisdiction to the state census office within two days so that field staff and supervisory officers from amongst teachers, government officials and employees could be appointed for smooth conduct of the census operations.

Ludhiana, February 11
The local police busted a gang of vehicle lifters and arrested its three members here today.The accused have been identified as Rahul Kumar, alias Rohit, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, Gagandeep, alias Jagga, and Ravi Kumar, both from Shimplapuri.They were arrested during a routine checking of vehicles from Gyaspura road.DSP Joginder Singh said the police had received a tip-of that the three were travelling in an auto-rickshaw near Gyaspura and were planning to commit another theft.

The police laid a trap and signalled the auto-rickshaw to pull over. Instead to stopping the vehicle, the accused tried to speed away. The police nabbed the three after a chase.

During interrogation, the accused revealed that they had stashed stolen vehicles at different locations.

The police later recovered seven stolen motor cycles and three scooters from different locations.

The DSP said the gang had been active in different parts of the city for the past few months.

He added that the accused were drug addicts and used to steal vehicles to purchase contraband.

Jagraon, February 11
The vigilance team of Ludhiana yesterday arrested a Punsup inspector red-handed while taking bribe from a commission agent of Hathoor.

The commission agent, Joginder Singh Kaler, had complained to the vigilance bureau that inspector Vijay Jain had demanded Rs 10,000 from him to settle his case of shortage of paddy procured by his department this season.

The department had withheld his payment of Rs 74,000 on the plea of shortage. The deal was settled at Rs 6,000 after negotiation.

The inspector was called to Bhandari Rice Mill here to deliver the payment.

Soon after Joginder Singh handed over the amount of Rs 6,000 to the inspector, vigilance sleuths led by DSP Gurcharan Singh swooped down on him and arrested him with the money. 

Mandi Ahmedgarh, February 11
Years after the Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government to constitute a committee to discuss ways and means for tackling problems arising out of stray animals; no organised move has been launched to keep a check on those wandering in and around the highways and link roads.

The menace has emerged one of the severest causes of road accidents that have already claimed hundreds of lives in this part of Malwa belt.

Location of ‘hadda roris’ (dumps of dead cattle and animals), ‘dhabhas’, religious places and garbage dumps near the highways has complicated the problem further.

Terming the road accidents as a blot on the national and state economy besides being hazardous for human life, residents of the area have urged the government to direct officials concerned to ensure commuters’ safety by keeping roads free from stray animals in general and dogs in particular.

Swelling number of fatal accidents on almost all highways and roads of the region has failed to move the state government.

Perusal of records with insurance companies and police stations of the area showed that more than 80 per cent accidents were caused due to sudden appearance of a stray dog or animal on the road. Carcasses of dogs lying on the roads, which had come the wheels of passing vehicles, endorse it.

Investigations further revealed that the stretches where ‘hadda roris’, ‘dhabhas’ or religious places were situated were proving to be virtual death traps for commuters. Large groups of robust canines devouring flesh from skeletons of cattle dumped in ‘hada roris’ were proving more dangerous for passers by and occupants of vehicles passing through the area.

In some case sudden appearance of a dog or a cattle had resulted in overturning and collision of numerous vehicles in an accident.

This besides claiming human lives took heavy toll on the national economy.

A few years ago the Punjab and Haryana High Court had directed the state government to constitute a committee to suggest ways and means to tackle problems arising out of stray animals.

Though a few civic bodies had tried to check the growth of stray dogs and cattle no steps were taken to free the roads from this menace.

Ludhiana, February 11
Deadlock continued between lawyers and judiciary over the opening of evening courts in the city in spite of the intervention of Justice Ashutosh Mohantta, a judge of Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Justice Mohantta, administrative judge of Ludhiana district, today came to the city and held a meeting with the office-bearers of the District Bar Association and senior lawyers. He tried to persuade the legal fraternity not to oppose the setting up of evening courts.

He tried to convince lawyers that initially the High Court had decided to set up one evening court for disposing of traffic challans, shop Act and factory Act challan cases alone.

He also assured that in future, if any other category of cases were put up before the evening court, it would be only be done with the consent and concurrence of the DBA. He also gave the offer of changing the time of evening court from 6 pm to 8 pm.

The meeting was attended by District and Sessions Judge SP Bangarh, DBA president Naval Kishore Chhibber, vice-president ND Chopra, secretary Gurpreet Singh Virk, finance secretary Varinderjit Singh Randhawa, joint secretary Jaspreet Singh Jassowal, senior lawyers and other office-bearers of the DBA.

The DBA president expressed his inability to give consent without the decision of the general house. Following Justice Mohantta’s insistence, a meeting of the general house was convened this afternoon.

During the general house, the members expressed apprehension that initially the High Court was confining the scope of evening court to disposing of traffic challans, shop and factory Act challan cases but once the court was set up another category of cases would be put up before the same court. Senior lawyer Sukhpat Rai Wadhera conveyed the feelings of the general house to Justice Mohantta with a copy of resolution.

In the resolution, DBA members requested withdrawal of decision to set up evening court. They also requested for making some other arrangements to tackle the backlog of pending cases during normal hours. Women lawyers opposed the move with the plea that it would not be safe for them to attend the court till late evening.