Amritsar, August 31
Agitated over the doubling of luxury tax on hotels from 4 to 8 per cent, the Hotels and Restaurants Welfare Association has announced that its about 110 members would shut their hotels for indefinite strike from September 5.

President of the association Surinder Singh said spate of taxes have made the profession nonviable. He added that the hotels and lodges situated in the walled city are paying Rs 8,000 annually as conservancy tax, commercial sewerage tax, commercial water tax, commercial power bill, despite being announced an industry, sales tax, VAT, apart from other taxes.

Hoteliers rue that instead of extending any incentives to boost the industry, the hospitality sector has been burdened by imposing a slew of taxes by the Municipal Corporation, Health Department, state and Central governments.

Roughly a customer staying in a hotel and relishing food in the holy city has to shell out over 30 per cent in taxes to the Central and state governments. These taxes are luxury tax, service tax, VAT on food and additional tax on air-conditioned restaurants.

Amritsar Hotels and Restaurants Association (AHRA) president APS Chatha said AHRA’s national body, Federation of Hotels and Restaurants (FHRAI), had expressed its regrets over the hike in taxes to the SAD-BJP coalition government. He said a delegation of the state body of the association would meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Excise and Taxation Commissioner Venugopal on Monday.

He said the holy city had the maximum number of hotels, lodges and guest houses crossing the figure of 300 in the state. He said the government instead of finishing the projects to prolong the stay of tourists in the city was burdening the industry with new taxes.

He added that the projects like restoration of Qila Gobindgarh, Ram Bagh, summer palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, and others are running behind the schedule. No attempts were being made to popularise Pull Kanjari, heritage and Panj Sarovar walks.

Hotel Association Walled City chairman Satnam Singh Kanda said the statistics released by the Ministry of Tourism stated that the number of domestic tourists was 1.05 crore and foreign tourists 1.37 lakh during 2010 in Punjab. The next year (2011) the number of domestic tourists was 1.64 crore and foreign tourists 1.50 lakh. He added that it clearly indicated a surge of 55 per cent in the domestic and 10 per cent in the foreign tourists to the state in 2011 as compared to 2010. He claimed that majority of these tourists visited the city of the Golden Temple in Punjab.

He said the government must assist in developing the tourism industry as it provided employment to various sections of the society - rickshaw-pullers, taxi operators, tonga wallahs, shopkeepers and others.

Amritsar, August 31
Marriage palaces and resort owners in the city today condemned the state government for levying luxury tax but not incorporating them under the hospitality industry.

Amritsar Resorts and Farm Houses Association, General Secretary, AS Grewal said the Association flayed the doubling of luxury tax from four to eight per cent. Proprietors of marriage palaces and resorts are already a harried lot in view of the Punjab and Haryana High Court orders which led to closure of various marriage palaces in Patiala for violating norms.

The members of the Amritsar Marriage Palaces Association and Amritsar Resorts and Farm Houses Association appealed the state government to consider their case sympathetically on the ground that these marriage places and resorts came into existence when there was no mechanism by the government to approve them. They said they are paying all king of taxes, including luxury, excise, service, VAT, commercial house tax, commercial power connection and others but now all of a sudden were being categorised as illegal. They initiated the business when there were no rules like the Change of Land Use (CLU) and others.

The state government had asked to submit a report from all the deputy commissioners on the resorts or palaces functioning in their respective jurisdiction.

There are about 400 marriage palaces and resorts in and around the city but majority of them are functioning without any licence. In order to become valid, these commercial projects require the NOCs from seven to eight departments including the National Highway Authority of India, the Punjab Pollution Control Board, the forest department and the Municipal Corporation, said Grewal.

Both the associations sought single window system for the NOCs on the line of being devised for industry. He said imposition of CLU at this point of time would prove highly unviable as the CLU from a resort and marriage palace is charged at the rate of nearly Rs one crore per acre whereas the hotels pay CLU of about Rs 8 lakh.

Moreover, the marriage palaces and resorts are a seasonal business, he said.

Amritsar, August 31
When all her cries for help fell on deaf ears, she started her own struggle. But, when the family lost all hopes for their son taken captive by the Somalian pirates while on board MV Suez, an Egyptian vessel, Sampa Arya, a teacher from Haryana, finally lost her cool.

“I understood one thing early on, no one will fight your battles,” said the feisty lady, who ensured her husband’s safe return after struggling for over a year. She tried everything right from meeting government authorities, calling for help from PM, staging protests, candle light vigils at Jantar Mantar; but realized that there were only empty promises thrown her way.

“The government said they sympathised with me, but they did nothing to ensure the release of the captured sailors. The insensitivity shown towards the issue pushed me into regrets of being an Indian,” she said.

MV Suez was held hostage on August 2, 2010 and Sampa’s husband Ravindra Gulia was one of the six Indian nationals on board.

But her efforts finally paid when Pakistan’s Human Right Activist Ansar Burney came to help by generating a big share of the ransom amount to free the hostages. “I would always be indebted to him, for he has been an inspiration to initiate a campaign and help such families of the sailors held hostage who are still awaiting their safe return.” she said.

While she shared the pain and suffering her husband and her family endured during the past one year when he was under captivity, Sampa had a hint of sarcasm towards government’s lack of accountability. “How can you not get all worked up” when your husband is counting hours of his life? What is the point of being an Indian when our very own government simply turns a blind eye to our sufferings? Why is it that even after the ship was attacked again, the government was looking for others to try and save the sailors? The government couldn’t even promise me the safe return of my husband’ body in case he died under captivity. Isn’t it a let down?”

While her husband still recovers from the inhumane experience, she knows that there are more Ravindars’ still in need of rescue. “There are as many as 250 ships held captive by the Somalian pirates and more than 70 Indian sailors in need of help. The government doesn’t want to pay ransom for the captives as it would be ‘unconstitutional’ and encourage more such acts, but at least it can send the money as a humanitarian aid to ensure the sailors do not get killed. Moreover, there is no government policy to deal with international piracy and no channel through which any kind of monetary aid could be sent even by those who want to help,” said Sampa.

Her effort has come in a way of Sailor’s Relief Fund, a registered organization headed by Sampa, which generates funds to help out families of the captured sailors. “Some families do not even know if their loved ones are still alive or where they can get help,” she said. She is being a helping hand in providing legal and basic information to the families and fight for them.

Sampa was in Amritsar on the invitation of Akhil Bhartiya Human Rights organisation and will be going to Pakistan under a peace initiative to join hands with the Pakistani and Indian humanitarians who want to join hands for the cause.

Amritsar, August 31
Industrialists of the holy city are perturbed at the Border Range office of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL or PowerCom) pressing upon them to clear their power dues in two equal instalments, which is in violation of the PSPCL headquarters’ order to deposit the same in eight equal instalments.

An industrialist, Kamal Dalmia, said the industrialists were being penalised twice without any reason. Earlier, the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC), in its order dated July 16, had revised the power tariff for the year 2012-2013 retrospectively from April 1, 2012, which he termed unjust. Now, the Chief Engineer’s office of the PSPCL (Border Range) has asked them to deposit the power arrears in two equal instalments. Dalmia said the notice violated the written instructions of the PSPCL’s Chief Engineer (Commercial) to all Chief Engineers of the power corporation to recover these arrears on account of revision of power tariff in eight equal instalments every month from August onward.

He said Rs 10 lakh power arrear got accumulated for his two yarn-related units during these four months, following 12 per cent power hike. He said the PSPCL officials must realise that it was difficult to arrange the huge sum in a short time. He added that he had already sold off the entire material produced during those four months and many orders were placed much earlier. However, he could not recover the increased cost from his customers as it would erode their trust in him.

He said the members of the Focal Point Industries Association had decided to submit a covering letter under protest along with the power arrears for which the deadline was on September 3. He added that a supplementary bill was issued recently to intimate submission of arrears.

President of the Bal Kalan Industrial Welfare Association Sundeep Khosla said the association filed a civil writ petition against the PSPCL and others in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August 28 against the order of recovering the revised power tariff retrospectively.

He said there were nearly 50 members in his association and collectively their power arrears crossed Rs 1crore and the total arrear of the entire industries in the city would be in several crores of rupees. He said the order for recovery of the power tariff retrospectively caused undue hardships to the small-scale industries, as the industries had determined the rates of their products by keeping into consideration the manufacturing costs, which included the electricity expenses. He stated that the order resulted in financial loss to the members of the association.

When contacted, Chief Engineer (Border Range) Sudeep Singh Sandhu accepted that the supplementary bills instructing industrialists to pay the power arrears in two equal instalments had been issued. After getting it confirmed from his office regarding the orders of the PSPCL’s Chief Engineer (Commercial) he accepted the anomaly and added that the arrears would be accepted in eight equal instalments.

Amritsar, August 31
The moral police had struck yet again, this time forcing a girl from Jalandhar to end her life by jumping in front of a train. The Jalandhar traffic police earned itself strong criticism when overzealous cops decided to take on moral policing, causing harassment to young Shivali and her friend.

Hounded by the cops, who allegedly humiliated the girl in a full media glare, Shivali committed suicide barely half an hour later.

This is not the first incident of moral policing being forced on the young and going by the likes of such cops, probably won’t be the last one either. But the incident has sparked off strong reactions from all corners of society, especially the youth. Since the media too is a party to this tragic incident, the question of “When is enough?” rises again.

The incident is condemning, shocking at the most. Why anyone should be allowed to preach what’s right or wrong, especially when it’s not their job to do so? I think what we need from them is a normal policing and not moral policing, a housewife.~

— Ramninder Kaur Kukreja, housewife

The traffic police should stick to their job and not try to violate anybody’s personal space. At most issue a challan, but calling on media and creating a drama out of a girl’s life had its toll. The guilty should be punished and the point should be made that no such incident takes place in the future.~

— Sumedha Khanna, teacher, Sprindales School

The concept of moral policing is a sham. How are our morals reflected in what we wear, eat, drink or go? If the girl was accompanied with a guy, that doesn’t necessarily means anybody should humiliate them publicly. Also, if any laws were violated, the police should have taken an action and gone by the books. But taking the role not asked or required from them has resulted in an untimely death. As for the media responsibility, I think the news should be reported and not used for sensanalism. It is very sad incident.~

— Anuj Teji, journalism student, DAV College

The incident reflects on the rogue mentality of our law enforcement, who thinks they have the right to mug anybody in the name of moral policing. It is outrageous that a girl is drived to commit suicide for no crime. And the media present there should have stopped the police from harassing the couple, instead they turned spectator. There is a growing number of youngsters falling prey to such forced, unrequired moral policing and if not checked, it could lead to a social outrage.~

— Ridhima Kalsi, student of sociology, GNDU