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Glaring gap in railway maintenance
Badal: Centre eroding federal structure
Votes of Cong supporters being deleted: Capt
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Young councillor not in poll race
Government aims to bring 20,000 more traders under VAT category
Depot owners refuse
to lift ‘substandard black’ Punsup wheat
Contractors to maintain roads for five years
Only 15 cadets of Sainik School made it to NDA in three years
Officials flout service rules
Zaffarwal to stay away from protest rally
Rescue debt-ridden farmers: BKU
Inquiry headed by Ladhar may be withdrawn
7,127 appear in MET statewide
12.8 m tonnes of wheat procured
1.5 quintals of ‘bhang’ recovered
Runaway convict dies in mishap
Prostitution racket busted, 12 arrested
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Glaring gap in railway maintenance
A rail track was laid between Fazilka and Abohar at a cost of Rs 214.80 crore. The work on the 42-km stretch was completed in March last year. More than a year down the line, no train has been started on the route, mainly because the newly constructed track has got damaged extensively at a few places.
But surprisingly, the Railways time table shows two trains running on the "complete" track from Ferozepur to Sriganganagar (Rajasthan) via Fazilka and Bathinda to Fazilka via Abohar. The Railway Ministry, in its two preceding budgets of 2011-12 and 2012-13, had declared to introduce express trains on these two routes. The trains are running, but only on paper. The worst-damaged patch is near model railway station of Khui Khera village where the track has been laid at a raised level of 15 feet. The pebbles and other material that formed the base of the track have eroded, thus exposing the bottom of the rails. Not only that, poor upkeep has resulted in doors and windows of newly constructed offices being stolen or damaged. Taps fitted on water pedestals on railway platforms are missing. The structures too have been damaged. Manual hand pumps are dry and their handles are missing. "The inability of the Railways to post the desired 150 staff members at these newly constructed offices and manned railway crossings is to be blamed for the pathetic condition of the new track," said Northern Railway Passengers' Samiti president Dr Amar Lal Baghla. Perturbed over the delay in running trains on the track, a group of residents have been staging a sit-in at Abohar railway station since the past fortnight. Fazilka residents too are angry over the delay. "We will stage a protest from June 1 onwards at the local railway station. If the authorities do no budge, we will launch a "rail roko" agitation on June 15," said Fazilka Beopar Mandal president Ashok Gulbadhar. Ferozepur Divisional Rail Manager NK Goyal, who visited Fazilka and Abohar railway stations today to take stock of the situation, said, "The train shall start running on the track by July 31 and all arrangements would be made by then." Once operational, the border area from Jammu to Jaisalmer (Rajastjan) would be directly connected through the rail network, which would benefit defence forces as well.
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Badal: Centre eroding federal structure
Jalandhar, May 27 Badal said the state was being deprived of its legitimate share in revenue collection. Hence, development in the state was suffering. The Chief Minister alleged that the federal structure of the country, as enshrined in the Constitution, was getting eroded by the day. “In spite of the enormous contribution of the state in making the country food surplus, successive Central Governments have meted out a step-motherly treatment to Punjab. “It is ironic that the diligent farmers of the state feeding the whole country are reeling under a debt of more then Rs 32,000 crore,” the Chief Minister said. He was addressing a gathering on the 24th death anniversary of Sant Avtar Singh Seechewal at Seechewal village. “Congress-led Central Governments have been framing policies in such a way as to deny Punjab any benefits. On account of these discriminatory policies, industry and agriculture in the state are on the brink of a disaster. “This year too Punjab has had a bumper wheat crop but the Centre has not made adequate arrangements for lifting and storing foodgrain. This is despite the fact that I had personally requested the Centre to look into the matter,” Badal said. He said “over-centralisation” had reduced the states to beggars when it came to seeking central funds and precious time was lost in seeking approvals for development projects. He said the Centre should give a free hand to states to formulate policies according to the needs of their people. The Chief Minister said the recent petrol price hike would further increase the prices of essential commodities. Accompanied by Cabinet Minister Ajit Singh Kohar, Nakodar legislator Gurpartap Singh Wadala and Special Principal Secretary KJS Cheema, the Chief Minister reiterated that the Centre should give Punjab an economic package. Environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal honoured the CM with a siropa and a
momento.
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Votes of Cong supporters being deleted: Capt
Chandigarh, May 27 In a statement, he said he had received scores of complaints from party contestants, saying wherever the Akalis felt the Congress was in a stronger position, they were getting the votes of Congress supporters deleted. “The Akalis knowing well that they are losing in all four municipal corporations are now trying to win the elections by other means, which we won’t allow at any cost”, he asserted. “Let me make it clear to all those officials who are being partisan that we will ensure that law catches up with them and they account for their acts of omission and commission”, Amarinder warned. He said in Ludhiana alone hundreds of votes of Congress supporters were missing from the voters’ list. In cases where the votes of candidates needed to be transferred from one ward to another, the election officials were not cooperating. The PCC president said the candidates were provided with the voters’ lists only yesterday so that they were not able to get corrections done, if need be.
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Young councillor not in poll race
Amritsar, May 27 The BJP had made Bhawna (21), then a graduate student, as its candidate from Ward No. 61 here. The media had branded her as a youth icon and her victory was hailed by the young and old alike. Even as the people were surprised when she was allotted the BJP ticket then, they are even more baffled to see her withdraw from active politics. Bhawna said she was not in the race for the ticket this time. "We had decided that my father would contest the elections this time. I will campaign for him". out from politics? n
Bhawna (21), then a graduate student, was the BJP candidate from Ward No. 61 n
The media had branded her as a youth icon n
Her victory was hailed by the young and old alike
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Government aims to bring 20,000 more traders under VAT category
Chandigarh, May 27 All traders and businessmen across the state with an annual turnover of over Rs 5 lakh, who have not registered themselves with the Excise and Taxation Department, will now be charged VAT. Currently, a survey is on across the state to identify such traders and businessmen. Once the survey is over in June, the government hopes to add 15,000-20,000 traders who will be liable to pay tax. Saddled with a huge debt burden and a poor tax to GSDP ratio, this is the first time that the SAD-BJP government in the state is looking at increasing its revenue. Over the past few years, the government has drawn flak from almost all quarters for its poor tax to GSDP ratio of 8-8.5 per cent, which is much lower than most other states. But sources in the state government say that considering the huge pay and pension liabilities as well as the social security pension bill of the state government, the government is now serious about increasing the revenue. However, this will mainly be done through ensuring better tax compliance. Excise and Taxation Commissioner A Venu Prasad said their department was now conducting a survey to assess all those traders on whom VAT was applicable. “There are 2.21 lakh traders/businessmen registered with us for VAT. But, 1.60 lakh traders are actively contributing to VAT, mainly because others have either changed professions or shut down businesses. As we look at increasing the VAT net, we are specifically looking at new businesses that have come up in newly established colonies and smaller towns,” he said. Venu Prasad said against the total VAT collection of Rs 12,200 crore in the last fiscal, they were looking at increasing the VAT collections to Rs 15,000 in 2012-13. “Apart from increasing the tax net, we are also looking at checking tax evasion, which will help us achieve a growth of 22-23 per cent,” he said. Raising revenue n
Traders with annual turnover of Rs 5 lakh and not registered with Excise Dept will be charged VAT n
The move comes as the government has been drawing flak for its poor tax to GSDP ratio of 8-8.5% — lower than several states n By widening its VAT net, the government hopes to achieve 22-23% growth
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Depot owners refuse
to lift ‘substandard black’ Punsup wheat
Muktsar, May 27 PUNSUP is the government agency that provides foodgrain and other essential commodities to weaker sections of the society at subsidised rates under the Public Distribution System (PDS). The depot holders claimed the government was charging full rates from them to lift "rotten" grain, which had to be further supplied to below poverty line (BPL) families. "Besides, the officials are charging Rs 3.5 per bag as loading charges, all against the rules," a depot holder said. Gidderbaha Ration Depot Holders Union (Rural) president Sadhu Ram Batra said, "The wheat being supplied to us was found to be black and not even fit to be consumed by animals." PUNSUP district manager Jaspal Singh said, "We have stopped the supply from one of our godowns situated on Bathinda road in Gidderbaha, from where the complaint had come. In rest of the godowns, the quality of wheat is up to the mark." He claimed the wheat got damaged because the official deployed there to take care of the wheat failed to do his job properly. "It happened before my joining here as the district manager. But, we have issued him a show cause notice in this regard," he said.
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Contractors to maintain roads for five years
Chandigarh, May 27 Till now, there was no onus on contractors for maintaining link roads. Under the new system, a part of dues would remain with the state and would be released only after a five-year roadworthiness certification. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal said plans had been prepared for augmenting the road network in the state. He said e-tendering had been initiated to make the system transparent.The rates at which road contracts were being awarded had come down by 30 per cent already. While some work had already been done on the Shambhu-Jalandhar six-laning, the Jalandhar -Amritsar four-laning and the Ropar to Doraha four-laning had been completed. Other projects like the Pathankot-Amritsar road were underway. The state had issued a letter of intent for Rs 2,000 crore for the Zirakpur-Patiala- Bathinda highway while alignment had been finalised for the Amritsar-Ganganagar and Hoshiarpur-Jalandhar-Moga-Barnala -Sangrur highways. Ten roads were being allotted on a build, operate and transfer basis. The Ropar-Chamkaur Sahib-Neelon, the Morinda-Kurali-Siswan, the Batala- Mehta-Beas and the Kotkapura-Muktsar roads had been allotted to private players. The aim was to ensure that after three years, there was no major road in Punjab that was not a dual carriageway.
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Only 15 cadets of Sainik School made it to NDA in three years
Only 15 cadets of Sainik School, Kapurthala, have made it to the National Defence Academy in the past three years — Five in 2009, four in 2010 and six in 2011. Most cadets do well in the written examination conducted by the UPSC but fail in the interview conducted by various Service Selection Boards (SSBs). Hence, School principal Col Sudhanshu Arya started taking special classes for improving their communication skills soon after he joined the school in March. He told The Tribune: “We are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that the maximum number of cadets are able to join the NDA. As most of them have poor communication skills because of their rural background, we have started special classes for them. “These are held for 610 cadets every week after the Wednesday assembly. Special classes for the plus one and plus two cadets are held daily from 8.30 pm to 10 pm. “With a number of career options available now, the craze to join the armed forces is on the decline. This too is one of the reasons for the decreasing number of cadets joining the NDA,” he explained. Housed in the magnificent palace of the erstwhile Maharaja of Kapurthala amid lush green surroundings over an area of 198 acres, this school was considered one of the best among the 24 Sainik Schools in the country. Established on July 8, 1961, it was inaugurated by the then Defence Minister VK Krishna Menon and the then Punjab Chief Minister Partap Singh Kairon. This lone Sainik School in Punjab has sent over 700 cadets to the NDA. More than 25 Generals in the Indian Army figure on the school’s alumni list and most have bagged gallantry awards for heroic deeds. Some of the prominent school alumni are Lt Gen AC Suneja, Lt Gen Gurdeep Singh, Lt Gen Digvijay Singh Thakur, Air Marshal Anil Chopra, Air Marshal Parminder Singh Gill, Maj Gen IP Singh, Maj Gen Baldeep Singh, Maj Gen Rajiv Sachdev, Brigadier MPS Bajwa, IPS officer Sukhchain Singh Gill (now Bathinda SSP), PPS officer Rajpal Singh Sandhu (now Batala SSP) and former Punjab Advocate- General HS Mattewal. The school celebrated its Golden Jubilee last year. To a query regarding the ragging of cadet Lovepreet Singh three years ago, Col Arya said steps had been taken to ensure that such an incident did not recur. He said the schoolbuilding had been renovated and a sum of Rs 2 crore had been provided for it by the Centre and the state. Yet a lot of work was still required to be done. “We have written to the Indian National Trust for Arts and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) for preparing an estimate for the renovation work after conducting a survey,” Col Arya added.
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Officials flout service rules
Patiala, May 27 The practice may create a law and order problem and cost the state dear in case of a natural disaster or any other emergency situation. Investigations by TNS reveal that many officers use government vehicles to travel to their homes in other districts to spend a night there and reach their office in the morning. Such officers usually arrive late in the office. A couple of senior IPS officers based in Patiala and posted in Chandigarh and other districts, follow this up-down schedule. Some officials of the Public Relations Department, a few DSP-ranked officers, some chief engineers, XEN-level officials and some administrative officers have been travelling out of their districts without taking permission from their seniors. A DSP posted in Khanna reaches his home in Patiala every second day in the evening and leaves the next day at around 9 am. When the matter was brought to the notice of Khanna SSP, he said that the DSP was permitted to visit his home occasionally, but not everyday. “In many cases, senior officials are aware of their juniors leaving their station, but the practice continues,” claimed a retired chief engineer. Following a report in this regard in these columns on January 2, the state government had issued an advisory to all heads of the departments, boards and corporations to check this practice. “Strict action will be taken against those officials who leave their station as it was a clear violation of the election code as well,” it read. Sources said no action had been initiated against anyone till date. Despite the government sending reminders urging officers to restrain from leaving their posting district, only a few fell in line. Under the Punjab Civil Services Rules, even on casual and quarantine leave, no government employee may leave their station of posting at night.
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Zaffarwal to stay away from protest rally
Gurdaspur, May 27 The BKI chief was taken into preventive custody just before violence rocked the city in the last week of March following which curfew had to be clamped in the town. Zaffarwal claimed only members of the deceased's family would assemble at Kahnuwan Chowk tomorrow from where they would proceed to the Deputy Commissioner's (DC) office to hand over a memorandum. But the police is leaving nothing to chance. RS Brar, SSP, today led a flag march in the town. Seeking a CBI probe, Gurcharanjit Singh, Jaspal's father, said he did not believe in the two inquiries being held to ascertain the cause of his son's death.
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Rescue debt-ridden farmers: BKU
Chandigarh, May 27 The state assembly should unanimously adopt the Punjab Farm Credit Relief Bill which had been hanging fire for long. The government should also initiate steps to get loan waiver for the farm sector and initiate moves to create employment opportunities and arrange for better education and health facilities on the other. Prof Gian Singh, an economist from Punjabi University, said going by the latest studies, farmers were incurring losses at the rate of Rs 415 per quintal on wheat. He said the government must completely waive the farmers' debt and arrange for loan at a lower rate of interest. BKU president Pishaura Singh said protests would be launched to press the state government to adopt the relief bill in the coming session of the assembly.
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Inquiry headed by Ladhar may be withdrawn
Jalandhar, May 27 Patiala Divisional Commissioner S.R. Ladhar is holding additional charge of Jalandhar in the absence of Anurag Verma, Jalandhar divisional commissioner, who is on leave for training. Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has directed Chief Secretary Rakesh Singh to proceed as per law against Ladhar for allegedly charging arbitration fee from landowners while deciding their land (along the highways) acquisition compensation disputes. Ladhar allegedly charged such a ‘fee’ from thousands of landowners while deciding their compensation disputes against the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI). There have been a spurt in complaints against Ladhar following the Chief Minister’s decision to initiate action in the case. If these allegations stick, then the government may be forced to withdraw the inquiry in the Shital Fibres building collapse case, which Ladhar is heading, it is learnt. At least 24 labourers were buried alive and over 60 rescued from the site of the factory collapse. The Chief Minister had announced three inquiries to investigate the disaster. These were marked to the Jalandhar Divisional Commissioner Anurag Verma, Additional Deputy Commissioner of city Police Navjot Singh Mahal and Lt. Gen BS Dhaliwal (Retd), technical adviser to the Punjab Government.
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7,127 appear in MET statewide
Jalandhar, May 27 The entrance test was held for admission to MBA and MCA in five universities of the state including Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala, Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, Punjab Technical University and Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University, Fatehgarh Sahib. Of the total candidates, 4,197 appeared for MBA and 3,432 for MCA. There were over 500 of the total examinees who appeared for both the courses. Earlier, 8,107 candidates had deposited the fee and got themselves registered for the test, said Dr Buta Singh, chief coordinator.
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12.8 m tonnes of wheat procured
Chandigarh, May 27 Out of the total procurement of 12.8 million tonnes of wheat, the government agencies procured 12.7 million tonnes of wheat so far whereas private traders procured 2,141 tonnes of wheat. Till May 25, Punsup procured 28,95,804 tonnes (22.59%), Markfed procured 28,18,686 tonnes (21.99%). Pungrain had procured 21,83,464 tonnes (17.04%), PSWC procured 14,56,501 tonnes (11.36%), whereas PAIC was able to procure 14,42,891 tonnes (11.26%) of wheat. The Food Corporation of India (FCI) had been able to procure 19,21,034 tonnes (14.99%).
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1.5 quintals of ‘bhang’ recovered
Moga, May 27 SSP Surjit Singh Grewal said the police recovered the 'bhang' from the possession of five persons at Baghapurana grain market today. "We have arrested Rinku Singh, Makhan Lal, Shambu Kumar, Satnam Singh and Ram Murti in this regard and registered a criminal case under sections 20, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act," he said. Besides, 48 boxes of illicit liquor, 250 gm of smack and intoxicating drugs were also seized over the past 24 hours in Moga district in separate incidents. — TNS
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Runaway convict dies in mishap
Faridkot, May 27 The police has booked four persons, including three policemen, on the charge of dereliction of duty and helping a prisoner escape. Sources said the deceased had escaped from police custody near Talwandi Bhai in Faridkot while he was being brought back from Nawanshahr. He had been taken there for a hearing in another case. Gurjinder Singh was handcuffed when the Haryana Roadways bus crushed him to death.
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Prostitution racket busted, 12 arrested
Patiala, May 27 “Following the directions of Patiala SSP Gurpreet Singh Gill, we have stepped up vigil to ensure that activities like immoral trafficking should be checked. Acting on a tip-off, we conducted the raid,” he said. A case has been registered against all the accused under Section 3/4/5 of the Immoral Trafficking Act, 1956. All the accused were produced in a local court today and have been sent to judicial custody.
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Kapurthala, May 27