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Punjab gets 50K applications for liquor vends, draw today
Get cracking on drug menace, Punjab told
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Man gets life sentence for killing trader
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Punjab gets 50K applications for liquor vends, draw today
Patiala, March 27 Sources said that the state government had collected Rs 145 crore through application fees. "This is refundable. It is Rs 30 crore more than what it was during the last financial year," said an official of the Excise and Taxation Department. The official confirmed that for nearly 7,000 liquor vends, including Indian Made Liquor and Punjab Made Liquor (PML), over 50,000 applications were received till Monday. "A draw of lots would be held on Wednesday to allot vends for the next financial year," he said. Official records of the Excise Department states that the maximum number of applications were received in Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Mansa and Ferozepur districts. "These districts had the maximum applicants with many turning up till yesterday," he said. Recently, the Cabinet also approved the excise policy for 2012-13 with an increase of Rs 570 crore over the last year. The excise revenue will touch Rs.3,638.40 crore at the end of March 2013 against the expected excise collection of Rs 3,068 crore for 2011-12. The Cabinet had also decided that an amount of Rs 105 crore out of the total excise collection would be treated as dedicated fund for the Education and the Sports Departments. "By this calculation, the money for the two disciplines has already been earned through application fees alone", said another. The license fee on the PML and the IMFL has been increased by Rs 17 per bottle, while the quota for the current year has been increased by 5.5 percent over the last year. To promote lighter drinks, the maximum retail sale price of light and strong beer has also been fixed at Rs 70 and Rs 75 per bottle. Excise and Taxation Commissioner A Venu Prasad said the interest shown by applicants was enormous. "The fee per application was approximately Rs 12,000, but it did not deter individuals to stake claim for vends", he stated.
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Get cracking on drug menace, Punjab told
Chandigarh, March 27 The directions are significant as estimates suggest approximately 70 per cent of young Punjabi men are hooked on drugs or alcohol. Reports by the United Nations Development Programme and other agencies, in fact, indicate around 73.5 per cent of Punjab’s youth is addicted to drugs sold at a price as low as Rs 25 per dose. Rampant unemployment amongst the youth leading to a deprived psychological state is cited as one of the reasons behind the menace of drugs in cities like Jalandhar, Patiala, Bathinda and Amritsar. The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by Balkar Singh for directions to the State of Punjab and other respondents “to devise a policy for putting an end to the use of narcotics by the youth”. The petitioner had suggested the arresting of end users and “getting leads through them for arresting and prosecuting the chain of suppliers”. Taking up the matter, the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover asserted: “Whenever a violation arises out of use or possession of narcotics, the relevant provisions of law would step in and the offender will have to be dealt with in accordance with law.” “If there is any specific instance where the law is not being enforced in the required manner, the court would certainly intervene. However, the broad and omnibus prayer as made in the writ petition cannot be an appropriate subject matter of judicial consideration”. Disposing of the PIL, the Bench added: “We, therefore, decline to entertain this public interest litigation any further. Instead, we dispose of the same by directing the law enforcement agencies to maintain a strict vigil in the matter of possession and/or use of narcotics in any form and deal with all offender(s) promptly in accordance with the provisions of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985, or any other law for the time being in force”. |
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Man gets life sentence for killing trader
Ludhiana, March 27 A fine of Rs 15,000 was also imposed on the accused. The court had declined the plea of leniency raised by the accused. Prosecution said that the accused had killed Gupta in order to snatch Rs 4.35 lakh he was carrying. The victim was coming back to Mandi Gobindgarh after collecting payments from shopkeepers in Jalandhar on August 6, 2008. The victim had hired the accused’s car to return to Mandi Gobindgarh. With an intention to snatch money, the accused killed Gupta by piercing a needle-shaped 'sua' meant for cutting ice into his neck. The police arrested the accused from near Amaltas Hotel while searching for a suitable place to dump the body. After seeing the police, the accused tried to run away, but his car could not mover further after hitting an electric pole. A case under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC was registered against the accused on August 6, 2008 at the Salem Tabri police station. |
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The response to the liquor vends in the state has crossed all earlier limits. The Excise and Taxation Department had received more than 50,000 applications for allotment of liquor vends.
