Amritsar, August 18
At a time when the Amritsar Municipal Corporation’s house tax wing is planning to tighten the noose around defaulters, the big shopping malls that owe house tax amounting to crores of rupees have managed to escape the MC’s scrutiny.

The house tax wing which was to recover at least Rs 18.5 crore till March 31 was at least Rs 4 crore behind the target.

Similar, was the case with the Water Supply wing which is behind target by about Rs 1.7 crore, sources said.

It is estimated that the MC, already going through a severe fund crunch, could earn Rs 10 crore more in taxes if it gets serious about tax collection.

At present there are over 15 malls, which owed huge amount in terms of house tax and CLU (change of land use) charges, estimated to be between Rs 4 to 5 crore per annum. The MC had been unable to realise the dues as it lacks records relating to malls.

Though the house tax wing has collected Rs 1.10 crore from Alpha One Mall, the MC did not possess tax records of Celebration Mall on Batala Road; Central Mall, Alantra Mall, JK Towers and Croma Mall, all located on the Mall Road, the sources said. Owners of these malls earn in crores by leasing out their property to multinational firms and franchisees, but these don’t pay the taxes.

It has been learnt that among the defaulters, one of the renowned hotelier in Ranjit Avenue had a tax liability of around Rs 10 lakh. He even issued a cheque of Rs 5 lakh to the MC team when it had gone to seal the hotel in April, but later the cheque was dishonoured by the bank later on. A councillor, who was a member in the house tax recovery committee, said he was always discouraged whenever he sought details of the taxes due against the big giant houses in the city. “Whenever, I tried to intervene, the authorities always gave lame excuses,” he said.

official speak
No individual or organisation will be exempted. There were some lacunas through which many used to find an escape route, but we have now plugged these holes. It is for the first time, that we have drafted a programme under which the superintendent concerned, under whose jurisdiction a particular mall or any such defaulter establishments fall, will be answerable. I can assure that within a short timeframe, all will be liable to pay the house tax. There is absolutely no question of any leniency or discrimination on our part
— Pardeep Sabharwal, Additional Commissioner

Amritsar, August 18
The Civil Lines police has booked four members of a gang, including two policemen and a woman, for allegedly extorting money from people visiting the city. Sources claimed the police has arrested two members of the gang, and the remaining are absconding. The police has not confirmed the arrests yet. The gang was active near the railway station area.

The accused include Karam Singh alias Kala of Aulakh village, Paramjit Singh, a head constable posted at Faizpura, head constable Palwinder Singh, posted at Durgiana Temple and an unidentified woman. A case under section 384, 429, 120 B of the IPC has been registered in this regard.

About the modus operendi of the accused, the police said the woman member of the gang used to allure the victims coming out of the railway station late in the night and take them to a secluded place on a rickshaw where the two policemen waited for them. Another gang member Karam Singh was the rickshaw puller.

“The two policemen ‘raided’ the area and caught the victim with their woman accomplice. They then threatened to take them to the police station. When the victims pleaded they extorted money from them,” a senior police official said on the condition of anonymity.

Investigations have reveraled that the accused had looted Rs 3,000 from a Qadian resident on August 15. They had robbed another unidentified person by taking them to the Company Bagh from the railway station.

Investigating officer Harjit Singh said raids were on to nab the culprits after registration of the case.

Amritsar, August 18
The Government Railway Police has arrested two persons from Amritsar and Beas railway stations for allegedly possessing more than 11 kg of chura post. The accused have been identified as Neeraj and Gian of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The accused had brought the consignment from MP.

SHO GRP police station, Dharminder Kalyan said Neeraj was arrested during checking of the second class waiting room at the railway station. The accused said the consignment was given to them by an unidentified person who had promised them to pay them Rs 500 each.

Amritsar, August 18
As many as two mobile phones and 200 gram of narcotic powder were seized from Sukhwinder Singh of Karampura, Navi Abadi and Jagjit Singh of Dhuno Dhai Wala (Chohla Sahib), both undertrials are lodged at the Amritsar Central Jail today.

BS Gill, Superintendent Jail, in his complaint lodged with the police said during a routine check the jail staff seized a mobile phone from Sukhwinder and another mobile phone and 200 gram of narcotic powder from the possession of Jagjit Singh.

The accused have been booked under Section 420 IPC, 42 of Prisoners Act and the NDPS Act in separate cases. The jail authorities have written to the government several times to set up mobile signal jammer inside the jail premises, but to no avail.

Amritsar, August 18
The CIA staff has arrested two persons in separate cases while one of their accomplices fled the spot. Tirath Nath of Anngarh area was arrested with 500 gram narcotic powder.

In another case the police has arrested Gursewak Singh of Shaheed Udham Singh Nagar while his accomplice Raju of Kot Mahan Singh fled the spot.

The accused were allegedly involved in snatching of gold jewellery and purses from various parts of the city.

On a tip off the CIA staff intercepted Gursewak Singh near Nagar Nigam Colony.

The accused were on their way to sell gold jewellery snatched by them. They claimed that more recoveries are likely to be made. The police has recovered a stolen motorcycle and a gold chain from the possession of the accused.

Amritsar, August 19
Taking a step towards making the holy city tobacco free, the government decision to declare Amritsar a ‘smoke-free’ district has received mixed response from residents. The decision that came into effect on Independence Day is the first in the government’s endeavour to make Amritsar tobacco free. Amritsar figures among the cities having the highest number of tobacco users in the country.

While the decision came after conducting opinion polls and survey to verify the compliance of the Cigarettes & Other Tobacco Products Act, 2003, there are doubts over its implementation. While the informational posters and no-smoking banners are in place all over the city, residents are not satisfied with the half-hearted attempt.

“It’s good that the authorities have finally felt the need for such an initiative, but it was hyped as a tobacco-free campaign. Checking smoking in public places is fine, but what about the sale and purchase of other tobacco products. It would have been better if tobacco products would have been banned altogether,” said Chanpreet Singh, a businessman from the city.

The fact that the decision was based on a report filed by the PGIMER officials stating the absence of active smoking in 95 per cent of the public places in the city has little influence on its implementation. “The move is appreciable, but I wish it doesn’t prove to be an eyewash. The user percentage of tobacco products is very high in the city and also the callous attitude of the authorities concerned adds to the problem. Challans would not help until we change the ‘I-give-a damn’ attitude of the users as well as an active awareness campaign from the authorities,” says Dipak Babbar, a social activist.

Agreeing to the point is Gurbhej Singh, general secretary, Mission Aghaaz, who has sent a draft to the Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Department of Health, Punjab, Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, requesting a blanket ban on tobacco products in the city.

“In the recent past, several institutions and eating joints were fined for not displaying the posters of ‘Smoke Free Zone’ but the hawkers, shopkeepers, panwalas are still operating in the way they used to be. Youngsters and elders can be spotted smoking and chewing tobacco easily in all parts of the city. The government needs to formulate effective policy to ban production and sale of tobacco products in the state.

In Chandigarh, India’s first smoke-free city, 58 per cent users quit after reading and seeking health warnings. There is a need to strictly implement the law and bring the 
violators to book,” says Gurbhej.

But amidst doubts and concerns over the issue, officiating Civil Surgeon Dr HS Ghai is hopeful that the decision would be effective in curbing the tobacco use in the city. “Challan books have been issued to all departments concerned, with instructions of regular checking at public places for offenders.

Posters citing the ban have been placed across the city, especially within 100-metre distance of all schools and colleges and telephone numbers given in case of reporting any violation. But it’s too early to comment on the implementation procedure as it is a slow and continuous process.”

There are some hopefuls, who think it would make the city and its residents a bit healthier. “It’s a positive move that will help check growing health concerns among citizens. Smoking is the most common form of tobacco intake and I wish a ban on liquor too comes along,” said Dr Mugdha Tapdiya, consultant internal medicine, Fortis Escort.

Amritsar, August 18
With several airline companies launching services from Amritsar, the international airport here has recorded a surge in domestic connectivity.

The airport is catering to as many as 455 flights (232 international and 223 domestic flights).

Flights to Srinagar and Chandigarh from Amritsar were introduced last month. The number of flights to the national capital has also increased.

Budget airline carrier SpiceJet commenced a four-day-a-week to and fro service between Amritsar and Srinagar. It also introduced twice-a-day flight between Amritsar and Delhi last month which took the total number of flights on Amritsar-Delhi route to 52 per week. Already, Air India and Jet Airways were running 38 flights on this route every week.

The Jet Airways introduced Mumbai-New Delhi-Amritsar flight in March connecting the holy city with financial capital of the country. The link boosted religious tourism as pilgrims could go to destinations like Nanded and Shirdi, both located close to Mumbai. Besides, a large number of residents from the region visit Mumbai, Goa and Gujarat for tourism, sightseeing and business purposes.

Even as the airport commands the peak-hour handling capacity of 1,200 passengers and annual handling capacity of 14.6 lakh passengers, it receives only eight lakh passengers annually. Gradual increase in domestic flights is expected to add to the flow of passengers.

Dr AL Adlakha, a resident of Race Course road, said restoration of popular Amritsar-Srinagar flight after decades was a laudable move and would rejuvenate the tourism and trade links between the valley and the holy city.

Airport director Sunil Dutt said the Airport Authority of India was offering quality infrastructure and amenities to attract the best of airlines.

He said many airlines were exploring the business advantage of air connectivity on international routes to Australia, New Zealand and the US. He said Australia and New Zealand could be connected via Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, which will connect the border city with the East Asian countries.

The vantage geographical location of Singapore made it an ideal transit point to link Amritsar by air with Australia, the US and New Zealand.

Airport director Suneel Dutt said hiked prices of air turbine fuel (ATF) would be applicable to all airlines across the country, but those operating from the Amritsar airport would benefit as the VAT on ATF is very low.

He said the Punjab government had reduced VAT on ATF for Sri Guru Ramdas International Airport from 22 per cent to 4 per cent. He said this was the major reason behind arrival of domestic airlines here and the inducement would continue to work as VAT on ATF is still less as compared to Delhi.

Bhanwar Singh Chouhan, manager, business, Mantra airline, which recently launched Amritsar-Chandigarh-Amritsar flight, said so far the airline has no plan to hike airfare.

Amritsar, August 18
Dr Navjot Kaur Sidhu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, met Education Minister Sikandar Singh Malooka taking up matters pertaining to various schools falling in her Amritsar East constituency.

She handed over him proposals to upgrade Government Elementary School, Rasulpur Sohi, and Government High School, Vallah. She also asked the minister to run Government Senior Secondary School (Girls), Shivala Bhaiyan, in double shift.

She said the Education Minister assured her that both schools would be upgraded shortly. He also issued instructions to the District Education Officer to make necessary arrangements to run Government Senior Secondary School (Girls) Shivala Bhaiyan in double shift. She also discussed about the provision of free laptops to Class XI and XII students of government schools as promised by SAD election manifesto.

Amritsar, August 18
All private hospitals and practitioners would now have to inform the local health authorities, including the District TB Officer, about tuberculosis patients visiting their establishments.

A notification regarding this has been issued by the health department to all hospitals and private clinics here recently. District TB Officer Dr Naresh Chawla said the step had been taken to acquire an accurate data and record of TB patients who have been undergoing treatment or suspected to be suffering from the disease.

“Early diagnosis and complete treatment of TB is a major step towards its prevention and control strategy. However, inappropriate diagnosis and irregular or incomplete treatment with anti-TB drugs have been leading to complications, besides spreading the disease and emergence of drug resistant TB,” said Dr Chawla.

Therefore in order to ensure proper diagnosis of the disease, case management, reduce TB transmission and address the problems of emergence and spread of drug resistant TB, it is essential to have complete information of all TB cases, he said.

The recent notification, issued by Civil Surgeon Dr HS Ghai, has made it mandatory for all the healthcare providing establishments to notify TB patients to the health authorities while pointing out that the disease continue to be a major public health problem accounting for substantial morbidity and mortality in the country.

Amritsar, August 18
Medtronic, a leading medical technology and devices company, today organised a continuous medical education (CME) programme on ‘Cardiac and vascular disease intervention in aortic aneurysm and peripheral artery disease’ in coordination with with the Physician Forum of Amritsar.

The programme offered exclusive educational sessions on interventional treatment therapies for aortic aneurysm and peripheral vascular disease patients to local physicians attending the programme.

Dr Rajiv Parakh, chairman, Division of Endovascular and Vascular Sciences, Medanta-The Medicity, Gurgaon, talked about interventional treatment therapy available for thoracic and abdominal aortic aneurysms. Dr Tarun Grover, consultant and vascular and endovascular surgeon, Division of Endovascular and Vascular Surgery, Medanta, spoke about diabetic foot and peripheral vascular diseases among diabetic patients. Both specialists addressed the gathering of 50 local physicians. — TNS

Amritsar, August 18
As many as 130 research papers on subjects like communication technology, computational techniques and security advances were presented in the two-day national conference on ‘Research and Innovation in Engineering and Technology (RIET-12)’.

The conference, organised by the Departments of Electronics and Communications Engineering; and Electrical and Electronics Engineering of Amritsar College of Engineering and Technology (ACET), concluded today.

It focused on innovative future developments in the area of electronics and computer technology. — TNS