Chandigarh, May 5
The search and seizure operations conducted by the Income Tax (I-T) Department on the premises of manufacturers of Gagan Vanaspati, Amrit Banaspati Group, yesterday yielded rich dividends, as the owners of this group and their sister concern, ABC Paper Ltd, made a voluntary surrender of concealed income to the tune of Rs 55 crore. Besides, the raids led to the seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs 5.15 crore.

The department had seized Rs 4.8 crore cash yesterday and Rs 35 lakh was recovered today. Talking to The Tribune, Deputy director (Investigation), Rajinder Kaur, said Amrit Banaspati surrendered Rs 40 crore and ADC Paper Ltd surrendered Rs 15 crore. She said they would have to pay 35 per cent tax on this unaccounted income till March 31, 2012.

The seven lockers, which had been sealed by the department yesterday, were located in Chandigarh, Rajpura and Gaziabad, said officials.

The raids, carried out by almost 200 personnel of the I-T Department on over 12 premises including the main plant of Gagan Vanaspati, located at Rajpura, Punjab and its offices and residential premises of owners in Gaziabad and Noida in UP and Hoshiarpur and Chandigarh.

The raids were conducted under the supervision of Director Investigation RK Goyal. A team led by Rajinder Kaur started the survey last morning, which concluded this evening.

According to information, Amrit Corporation, formerly known as Amrit Banaspati Co Ltd, is a public sector company, listed on the stock exchanges at Mumbai and Kanpur. They set up various ventures, including edible oils, writing and printing paper, dairy milk and milk products and real estate business.

Chandigarh, May 5
In the absence of any other ways to reduce the burgeoning bee population, employees of the municipal corporation have begun burning beehives in the city’s residential areas. A hive near the judges’ houses in Sector 24 was torched on Thursday.

Incidents of beehives being burnt also figured at a meeting of the MC’s sanitation committee last month and a team of the medical health officer’s department was said to be involved.

Said a Sector 24 resident, Abhimanyu Tewari: “Under section 11(L) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act killing of any animal is against the law, which also applies to bees. How can the MC burn honey bees during removal of the beehives? The civic body should adopt a more scientific process to get rid of the hives”.

Manjit Singh Chauhan, chairman of the sanitation committee, said: “For the past one month we’ve been receiving complaints from residents of beehives being burnt. At our next meeting I’ll take up the issue with the medical health officer and urge him to follow a proper process to destroy the beehives”.

Chandigarh, May 5
Putting the city’s ambitious metro rail project under the mass rapid transport system back on track, a team of the Delhi Metro Rail Corp (DMRC) on Thursday commenced preliminary work on the preparation of the detailed project report on its feasibility. A DMRC team, led by executive director SD Sharma, inspected various proposed corridors and alignments for the metro.

The Rs 15,000-crore project is aimed at easing traffic problems in the tricity and providing an affordable and faster means of transportation for commuters.

Earlier, at a meeting with UT finance secretary VK Singh and attended by senior Punjab and Haryana government officials, the team discussed various modalities for drawing up the project report, on the basis of which various stakeholders will be in a position to press for more funds from the central government.

Officials said the team’s visit was significant as it would go a long way in moving the project from the proposal to the concrete stage. “In fact, the site inspection and today’s meeting mark the beginning of the real work on the project,” said Singh.

In the project’s first phase, scheduled to be completed by 2014-15 at a cost of Rs 10,765 crore, two corridors --one from the Punjab & Haryana Civil Secretariat to Sector 75 in Mohali and the other from Sarangpur in Chandigarh to Sector 15, Panchkula - are being built.

Last January the UT administration and the Punjab and Haryana governments approved the terms of reference proposed by Rail India Technical & Economic Services (RITES).

Chandigarh, May 5
A lower court on Thursday allowed the application of the Chandigarh police seeking permission from the court to match voice samples of two suspects arrested for the murder of a five-year-old boy, Khushpreet Singh, with that of the child’s uncle to whom the ransom calls were made.

The court allowed matching of voice samples of Sukhdev Singh alias Sukha and his brother Gurvinder Singh with the recorded conversation of both suspects and Sukhwinder Singh, Khushpreet’s uncle, at the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Sector 36.

In its application the police had stated the three recorded conversations of the eleven between the suspects and Sukhwinder had been recovered from a mobile set of a police official. The rest of the eight conversations were deleted due to negligence of the police’s cyber cell as they took two telephone numbers on parallel on the same cellphone of the station house officer. As a result some conversations could not be recorded.

The three recorded conversations have been deposited with CFSL experts.

Mohali, May 5
In the last five years, several chunks of undulating eco-fragile Shivalik Hills in Chandigarh’s periphery were ruthlessly levelled to make roads accessible to farmhouses. Waking up to the reality, the Punjab Forest Department has detected around 2,500 violations of the Punjab Land Preservation Act 1900 in Nadha, Karoran, Perch and other nearby villages. So far, 1,120 violators (including some high ups) have also been identified.

In most of the cases, the hillocks have been levelled or trees have been damaged. The violation is separate from the rampant practise of sand quarrying in Chandigarh’s periphery.

The violations have come under focus after the Punjab and Haryana High Court started monitoring the case pertaining to properties located in the city’s periphery being grabbed and violations on forestland. In the last one-year, 916 cases have been registered against violators under the Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1,900, by the Forest Department.

A senior official said the cases were being take up in the courts as the revenue records of all the violators were being checked. Investigations by the Forest department in the entire business of carving out farmhouse sites in the hills in Majri block has revealed that over 40 sites measuring between half-an-acre to three acres were sold to non-locals.

Last year, the Tribune had highlighted the manner in which hillocks is spread over 1,500 acres of common village land in Majri block spread over five major villages - Bhagindi, Gurdha, Kasauli, Jyanti Majri and Karaundewala that were closed under the Indian Forest act, 1927, Forest Control Act 1980, and the Punjab Land Preservation Act 1900 were levelled. 

Chandigarh, May 5
The Centre of Advanced Study (CAS) in Paleontology and Himalayan Geology in Panjab University has lost its “advanced” status since March 31 and is now merely functioning as the department of geology.

The coveted centre of research in the university was established way back in 1968 and its works have been quoted in leading academic journals all over the world.

Blame it on the ongoing tussle among faculty members or the laxity of PU officials, the “status”, which epitomised the University Grant Commission’s (UGC) recognition of the contribution of the university’s department for the past 48 years, was lost as the varsity failed to reapply for the extension.

“The department has nurtured many scientists who were acclaimed internationally for their contribution in the field of geology. The UGC gave the CAS status to recognise those efforts. The status was valid till March 31. The university, on behalf of the department, was required to reapply for its renewal in November or December, but everybody was busy fighting over some torn posters, toilets etc,” revealed a university official.

When contacted, ‘former’ chairperson of the department Gurtek Singh Gill refused to comment on the matter, saying he was no longer the chairperson.

A faculty member, on condition of anonymity, said ,“Why are you creating an issue? It is a normal procedure and we will apply now and get a renewal within three days.”

The Department of Geology was established in the PU in the year 1958 and was recognised for its contribution by the UGC, which raised the status of the department to CAS in 1963. Ever since, the department has been getting funding under the SAP-CAS programme of the UGC. The CAS status was last renewed in April 2006 and was valid till March 31 this year.

“I am not aware about it, but will surely inquire into the matter and if there is any lapse, would get it immediately rectified,” said Vice-Chancellor, RC Sobti.

Chandigarh, May 5
A PGI study portraying the poor conditions at Sri Sai Baba Old-Age Home in Sector 30 seems to be the tip of the iceberg. A realty check by a Tribune team at the old-age home run found appalling conditions in the three-storeyed building.

While the old-age home was without a security guard, a solitary social worker at the front office on the ground floor was least bothered about the entry of strangers to the building. Surprisingly, no ramp or elevator has been provided in the building, which is against norms laid down for such old age homes.

A majority of the rooms in the building have been lying unoccupied for years. One can only spot dust, cobwebs and broken furniture in the rooms. The common bathroom on the first floor has been rendered useless. The cupboards meant for storing ration in the kitchen are stinking with rodent droppings.

When contacted, the 11 inmates had their own problems to narrate. There is no backup in case of power failure at the home for elderly. The rooms have solid wood doors but no windows or door with iron net so that there can be cross ventilation when the door is closed.

“Whenever there is power failure in the night during summers, it is double whammy for the inmates,” said one of them. “You open the door for fresh air and swarms of mosquitoes enter to make our lives miserable,” he said.

The management has turned a blind eye to the problems of inmates, alleged another inmate. Everything in the old age home, including food and electricity, is procured with the money of inmates, he said. Even the bill for repair work in the rooms has to be footed by them.

When contacted, convener of the samiti Brijender Bhardwaj denied that the inmates had been facing difficulty in the home. He conceded that there was shortage of manpower because of which the admission of new inmates had been restricted.

Chandigarh, May 5
The UT adinistration fetched Rs 4.93 crore in the second bid for 11 liquor vends out of the remaining 27 at the Deputy Commissioner’s office here today.

In the first bidding on April 25, the administration netted Rs 127.67 crore from 190 vends. The fate of the remaining 16 vends will be decided later.

Now, the total revenue earned by the administration from 201 liquor licences has reached Rs 132.6 crore, which is Rs 72.5 crore more than the last year’s revenue of Rs 60.10 crore.

The 27 sites, three Indian-made foreign liquor (IMFL) and 24 country liquor, had not found any takers at the first auction. The three IMFL sites today yielded Rs 2.05 crore and eight country liquor sites fetched Rs 2.8 crore.

The IMFL site at the Modern Housing Complex got the maximum bid of Rs 76.25 crore whereas the sites at Industrial Area, Phase II and the Sector 34 market fetched Rs 72.91 lakh and Rs 51.40 lakh, respectively. Out of the country liquor sites, the Mani Majra site attracted the maximum bid of Rs 41.50 lakh.

Still 16 such sites, all of country liquor, have not been auctioned.

“We will make one more attempt by inviting tenders to allot these sites,” said Naresh Dubey, UT Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner. 

Chandigarh, May 5
To commemorate 250 years of its existence, 1 Parachute Regiment (Special Forces), one of the oldest units of the Army, is undertaking a mountaineering expedition to Mount Bhagirathi-II in Garhwal.

The 20-member team led by Maj SS Rajpurohit was flagged off by the GOC-in-C Western Command, Lt Gen SR Gosh from, Chandimandir today. He presented a symbolic ice axe bearing the Tricolour along with the ensigns of the Indian Army, Western Command and 1 Para, to the team leader. The team members received training in two phases at the Army Mountaineering Institute and Siachin Base Camp in two phases.

Mount Bhagirathi-II is one of the peak of Bhagirathi Parwat located in Garhwal Hills about 30 kms from Gangotri. It is a group of three peaks out of which Bhagirathi-II stands at a height of 6,512 meters. Bhagirathi Parwat stands at and dominates the end of the valley up to Gaumukh, which is end of the Gangotri Glacier and source of river Ganga. The upper part of river Ganga is also called Bhagirathi.

The team will take 23 days to scale the peak. The summit is planned from May 21 to 23. The total distance from Nahan, the unit’s location, to Bhagirathi is 383 km. 

Zirakpur, May 5
The Zirakpur Municipal Council apparently has misplaced priorities and has somewhere lost its true purpose. Though on one hand, the council has set up sheds for parking its vehicles and machineries but on the other here are no sheds to protect the passengers disembarking from public transport vehicles.

It is mentioned here that in the absence of a bus shelter, passengers are forced to get buses from the roadside on the highways, putting them to inconvenience during the scorching heat of summer and rain. This has also led to many road accidents, as there is total chaos on roads.

However, sources in the MC office revealed that the sheds were established to park the machinery and vehicles, including tractor trolley, fogging machine, water tankers and other machineries at Punjab Water Supply office on the Old Kalka road. The sources said the engineering department had also set up the sheds and vehicles would be parked after the work of grilling the boundary walls was completed. Interestingly, it was found that private vehicles and auto-rickshaws were parked under these sheds.

Residents rue there is no designated place for people to wait for buses, those wanting to leave the township do not know where to look for buses. They allege that the council has spent money to set up the sheds for their vehicles but the council officials have no mercy for the passengers who keep waiting for buses in the scorching sun.

“I everyday travel to Ambala from Zirakpur. There is no specific place for the bus to stop therefore there is utter confusion everyday. You can also find people jostling with each other while boarding a bus,” said Rohit Sharma, a resident of Zirakpur.

Simran, an MBA student of Chandigarh-based College, said, “The MC is wasting public money on various places that are of no use to the common man”. She adds further that the MC should work towards providing basic amenities to residents of the area on a priority basis.

While talking to The Tribune Mohali Deputy Commissioner Varun Runjam stated that the district would construct bus shelters as per capacity in Zirakpur. “We are looking for a congestion-free site for the construction of a bus stand”, he added.

Mohali, May 5
With no power cuts being imposed by Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd so far this summer, residents of the town are a happier lot.

Though minor disruptions and power shutdowns for small periods are witnessed, residents are not bothered about these, as they do not have to sweat it out for long hours as was the case last year and even before that.

Sukhminder Singh Barnala, former municipal councillor living in Phase XI, said Mohali was having wonderful days, as the position of power and water in the town was satisfactory. He had not received any complaints from residents in this regard. He wondered how could the town get adequate power this year when residents faced long cuts last year due to the power shortage. “With the Assembly elections nearing, may be the government is treading with caution,” he added.

Varinder Kumar, a shopkeeper in Phase V, said the area was not facing any power cuts at present. Minor disruptions were noticed, but these were nothing as compared to what residents faced in summers over the past many years.

Power was shutdown in Phase VII today on account of maintenance work. A shopkeeper of the area said this was not a regular feature and power position was satisfactory.

However, power cuts were imposed by the power corporation in March this year even when the temperature had not risen much. These cuts lasted only for a few days after which the position became satisfactory. 

Mohali, May 5
The Mohali district administration has asked civic bodies, zila parishads and panchayats in the district to strictly implement the ban imposed on the use of polythene bags.

They have been asked to ensure that polythene bags of less than 30 microns are not used by shopkeepers and others. Only bags made of virgin plastic can be used.

Letters were sent to all these bodies about 10 days ago and as the authorities concerned failed to receive any response from them in connection with the ban, reminders were sent recently, asking these bodies to inform the district administration what action had been taken by them to implement the ban orders.

Mohinder Singh Kainth, Additional Deputy Commissioner, said letters were sent to civic bodies and others on April 20, asking them to implement the ban on the use of polythene bags.

A response was received only from the civic body of Zirakpur, which had stated that it had got the public informed about the ban through announcements.

As no response was received from any other body, reminders were sent recently, asking them to report back regarding the action taken in this regard.

He said a semi-official letter was received from Vishawjeet Khanna, secretary , department of technology and environment, asking the Deputy Commissioner to implement the ban orders in the district.

Complying with the orders of the higher authorities, letters were sent to local bodies to ensure that ban on use of polythene bags was strictly enforced.

Kainth further said he had held a meeting with shopkeepers of the town earlier, asking them to stop the use of polythene bags.

The shopkeepers had asked for one month’s time in this regard. It would now be seen whether they were able to act in accordance with the ban orders, failing which action would be taken against them, added Kainth.

The Punjab Government decided on April 15 to strictly implement the Punjab Plastic Bags (Manufacture, Usage and Disposal) Control Act, prohibiting the manufacture, disposal and use of polythene bags from May 1. Polythene bags had been banned in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh.

Mohali, May 5
The Confederation of Punjab Excise and Taxation Employees today gave an ultimatum to the Punjab Government to transfer the vigilance officials behind the alleged suicide of Excise and Taxation Officer Ranjit Singh.

Jaskarn Singh Brar, KS Dhalwal and Harjot Bedi- members of the confederation said following a meeting it had been decided that they would wait till May 10 following which the excise department ( including the staff at the Information Collection Centres) in the entire state would go on indefinite strike.

The confederation, however, expressed satisfaction with the probe being carried out to look in to the circumstances leading to the death of the ETO. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 5
The admiration and compelling charm of legendary Punjabi poet Shiv Kumar Batalvi’s poetry is still alive.

Many leading cultural organisations hold annual programmes in memory of the great poet. Punjab Sangeet Natak Akademi, in association with the SBI and Haryana Punjabi Sahit Akademy is paying a musical tribute to the immortal voice of Punjab on May 7 at Randhawa auditorium

in a specially designed programme “ Yadan De Patan” by composer Varinder Bachan. The Pracheen Kala Kendra will present a musical soiree of Shiv Batalvi songs titled “ Eh mera geet kisey nahin gaana ” by well-known artistes on May 14 at their kendra in Sector 71, Mohali.

Meanwhile, the Senior Citizens Association, chapter VI, will pay a musical tribute at a function on May 6 at Guru Nanak Public School-37 auditorium, while the Kayanaat Arts will remember the poet at NITE complex -42.

Mohali, May 5
Negligence on part of the Mohali municipal corporation employees while catching a stray bull nearly cost a scooterist his life here today.

The scootersist V Gulati received head injuries after being hit by the bull that escaped the trap laid by the MC employees in a residential area of Phase IX here. The scooterist was rushed to Silver Oak Hospital.

The residents of the area lamented that the MC employees, instead of the taking the injured to the hospital, ran away from the spot. While carrying out such a drive in a busy area, mandatory precautions should be observed, said residents of the area.

Chandigarh, May 5
The Vishvakarma Sabha, Chandigarh, on Thursday celebrated the ‘jayanties’ of great personalities, including Jassa Singh Ramgarhia, a great warrior, and Giani Zail Singh, former President of India.

Chandigarh, May 5
Just like the last year, the CBSE board results will set new precedents this year as well. For the first time in the last decade, the board will be declaring Class X board and school conducted exam result before Class XII result, while Class X result is expected to be out on May 16, Class XII result may be announced on May 23.

According to sources, Class X result will be declared ahead of Class XII because of the drastic fall in the number of students appearing for Class X board exam. It has come down by 65 per cent this year.

While over 16,000 city students appeared for Class X exam from the city, over 18,000 appeared for Class XII exams. These results are also unique in the sense that it is for the first time that over 6,000 students have opted out of board examination and will be evaluated on the basis of school-conducted exam.

“Class X boards have been the first academic milestone of students’ lives for decades now and this was the first phase of doing away with the stress, anxiety and marks-based hierarchy attached with exams. This year has been stress free for students and we expect good results. Though only 6,000 city students have opted for school exams, it is surely a good step.We collected data forwarded by schools and looked for discrepancies. Now, we are nearly ready with the results. We would be declaring the results in the middle of this month,” said a CBSE official from Delhi.

There will be no difference in the final certificate to be issued by the CBSE in May, 2011. The board is planning to introduce a descriptive scorecard, to be issued by schools, for those who opt for the CCE. But the board itself will issue all certificates.

Chandigarh, May 5
Will the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination, scheduled for May 11, to be more difficult than the one conducted on May 1, around 2,500 city students, who have been left perturbed by this question ever since the rescheduling of AIEEE, can now relax.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has set up an expert committee to prepare a question paper for engineering test rescheduled for May 11. The panel will ensure that the difficulty level of the exam paper is at par with the test conducted on May 1.

“We always keep in mind that the difficulty level is never affected. Reacting to apprehensions of parents we have set up an expert committee to look into the matter so that candidates do not feel privileged or victimised,” said a senior CBSE official from Delhi.

Over 6,000 city students faced a harrowing time on May 1 when the AIEEE was delayed for three hours after its question paper was reportedly leaked in Uttar Pradesh.

While the board immediately got into a damage control exercise and the paper was conducted, over 2,500 candidates could not write the test as either their centres were booked for Armed Force Medical Exam (AFMC), which was held on the same day, or they themselves were appearing for it.