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Fresh taxes must for growth: CM
PCC meeting warns rebels
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Foreign Minister-level talks will help improve ties: Bashir
Mining mafia buries all norms in Hoshiarpur
Amarinder working against state’s interests: Sukhbir
Moga rice mills fail to meet deadline
In 14 months, Rs 45.10 cr
released as cancer relief
Bathinda failed to use 90% of cancer grant
Transfer case outside state, Capt to HC
More land for Ludhiana airport runway
Rural development director accused of corruption
VAT refunds delayed, traders allege official apathy
Activist kills himself, blames Mohali family
Two years on, no headway in murder case Fatehgarh Sahib, September 3 The murder case of Devinder Singh Jugnu whose mutilated body was fished out from the Sirhind canal near Rajpura in 2010 is proving a hard nut to crack as the police has so far failed to nab the accused.
Homeless Dalits protest in Lambi village
A day after Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal ended his Sangat Darshan in his home constituency Lambi, over a 100 poor homeless Dalit families assembled in Singhewala village of his constituency to register their protest over the delay in giving them five marlas of land for the construction of a house.
Audit report indicts Ahluwalia
Expedite drinking water project, Rajpura MC told
Police recovers poppy husk from driver
Canadian held with Rs 15-crore cocaine
6 drug smugglers held
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Fresh taxes must for growth: CM
Jalandhar, September 3 Talking to mediapersons at Garcha village in Nawanshahr after attending the first death anniversary of former MLA Jatinder Singh Kariha, Badal said, "The state is treading on an unprecedented development path, an exercise that requires massive funding. As Punjab has limited resources, the state people’s cooperation in terms of taxation is the need of the hour to sustain the tempo of progress." Badal said key areas of development in the coming years would be health, education and infrastructure. The Chief Minister said the money collected from taxes would be duly utilised by the state government for upgrading facilities. He claimed "levying of new taxes was a mere rationalisation of taxes so as to generate more revenue for ensuring the welfare of the people". Earlier, Badal paid tributes to Jatinder Singh Kariha and recalled him as a leading figure of the Punjab Co-operative Movement. He said it was due to his efforts that the Co-operative Sugar Mill and Co-operative Bank had excelled in Nawanshahr. Badal also announced that a meeting would soon be convened to chalk out a developmental plan for the area in consultation with MLA Satinder Kaur Kariha.
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PCC meeting warns rebels
Chandigarh, September 3 More than 20 of the total 28 district presidents are learnt to have attended the meeting. Among the 46 party MLAs, 29 were present and so were 42 of the 68 defeated candidates. Besides other things, the meeting passed a unanimous resolution, asking the rebels to desist from “anti-party” activities and seeking action against those publicly flouting the authority of the PCC president. The Amarinder camp appears to have adopted a two- pronged strategy. On the one hand, it has enlisted the support of a majority of party MLAs, district presidents and defeated candidates and on the other has started reaching out to the people by holding rallies. The Amarinder camp appears to be buoyed over, what it claims, the success of the party programmes at Patti in Tarn Taran on Sunday and at
Morinda.
Capt does not rule out pact with PPP
Morinda, September 3 He was addressing a meeting of party workers here. Speaking to the media on the issue, he said: "Anything is possible in politics." However, his appeal to various opposition parties was not aimed at a political alliance but a front against the “anti-people” policies of the state government. In the same breath, he remarked: “Anything can happen in politics.” He said he had spoken to Manpreet on the proposed mass protest against the government. He said he had also approached BSP state president Avtar Singh Karimpuri and CPI state secretary Joginder Dayal on the issue.
Call for protest
Chandigarh, September 3 The Pradesh Congress chief, Amarinder singh, has given a call to leaders of all Opposition parties to join him in a dharna against the state government. Amarinder has personally reached out to all important opposition leaders on the issue. He has spoken to senior CPI leader Dr Joginder Dayal, Sanjha Morcha chairman Manpreet Badal, BSP chief Avtar Singh Karimpuri and Baldev Singh Mann, a close associate of former Chief Minister Surjit Singh Barnala. It seems amarinder is preparing for a bigger political battle against the government. When approached, Dr Dayal said the Sanjha Morcha would stay united and its constituents would take a decision on Amarinder’s appeal after assessing the current political situation. Sanjha Morcha, he said, was already in a combative mood, he said. Karimpuri said a decision on a political tie-up or collaboration with any political party was taken by the BSP high command alone. He said his party would hold a dharna against the SAD-BJP Government and the UPA Government at the Centre at Chandigarh on September 10. He said both the governments had burdened the common man with taxes.
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Foreign Minister-level talks will help improve ties: Bashir
Amritsar, September 3 Addressing mediapersons after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple along with his family, Bashir said they expect that September 8 talks between Indian Foreign Minister SM Krishna and Pakistan Foreign Minister Heena Rabbani Khar will help in improving the bilateral ties between the two countries. Replying to a media query on the 26/11 probe, Bashir said the talks in this regard were on at various levels between the two governments to resolve the issue. "We are also affected by terrorism and we need to work together find a solution to the scourge." He said Pakistan was dealing with the menace of terrorism with the sincerity. He stressed on the need to make joint efforts while having pragmatic cooperation so as to curb terrorism. He said the peace-loving people on both the sides of the border want to get rid of this menace. Later, Bashir and his family also partook 'langar' at the shrine before proceeding to Wagah border for crossing over to Pakistan.
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Mining mafia buries all norms in Hoshiarpur
Handowal-Riali (Hoshiarpur), September 2 The mafia has not only opened illegal sub-vend but has also put up unauthorised toll barriers, which is causing losses to the exchequers of both Punjab and Himachal. The contractors have made all arrangements for their workforce and truckers who frequent the area from far-flung places for sand, gravel and crushed stone. Liquor vends have been set up at makeshift huts, which is illegal as there is no provision for opening sub-vends under the Excise Act. Hoshiarpur Excise and Taxation Officer (ETO) AS Kang feigned ignorance about the setting up of an illegal extension counter of the liquor vend in Handowal village. "Nobody is allowed to set up a sub-vend. In case it has been set up, the liquor contractor concerned will be challaned," he said. An unauthorised toll tax barrier has also come up in Riali village, which falls under the Excise and Taxation Department, Kandwal (Himachal). The contractor to whom the toll barrier at Bella Thakuran was allotted is learnt to have set up a tin shack in Riali village on a road leading to Handowal village in Punjab and has started collecting tax from vehicles plying on the temporary link road. Kandwal ETO Tek Chand said he had called a meeting of the toll-tax contractors to know the exact position as there were similar complaints against them, too. Sulakhan Singh Jaggi, state president of the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Mahasabha youth wing, alleged the mafia was into all kinds of illegal activities. He claimed residents of 24 villages in the border area had even launched a protest against the plying of sand or gravel-loaded heavy vehicles on their village link roads, but the government was not ready to address their grievances. "This clearly indicates the involvement of politicians," he said. Surinder Singh, a resident of Chakk-Meerpur, alleged that the owners of stone crushers set up on the river bed had been charging exorbitantly for sand and gravel from their customers and giving receipts of lesser amount.
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Amarinder working against state’s interests: Sukhbir
Bathinda, September 3 He said despite Amarinder hobnobbing with the PPP chief Manpreet Badal for a pre-electoral alliance for the Lok Sabha poll, the SAD-BJP combine would win all 13 seats in Punjab. More than 1,000 Congress workers had joined the SAD at Rampura on Saturday. Among those who joined the SAD today was Raj Kumar Garg, former president of the Bhucho Municipal Council and president of the local Congress. Sukhbir lashed out at Amarinder and Manpreet, accusing them of working against the interests of Punjab. He said Amarinder was trying to retain the post of PPCC chief by making baseless noises against the SAD-BJP coalition government. He said fresh taxes in Punjab had been imposed under pressure from the Congress-led UPA Government to help the state get central funds worth Rs 1,100 crore. He alleged that Manpreet as Finance Minister had been pleading for ending farm subsidies and other welfare schemes.” He is now shedding crocodile tears on rationalisation of taxes.” Sukhbir said the government had taken several steps to check smuggling of narcotics through the border with Pakistan. He said during the past few months, more than 265 kg of heroine had been seized in the state against the total seizure of 500 kg in the rest of the country. This amply showed that the Punjab Police has intensified its war against the drug mafia. More in SAD fold Amritsar: Punjab Revenue Minister Bikram Singh Majithia, welcoming 115 families into the SAD fold at Talwandi Khumman village, said Pradesh Congress chief Capt Amarinder Singh and his party would fail in his campaign against the SAD-BJP Government. Riddled with factionalism, the Congress in Punjab was on the verge of collapsing, he claimed. “Now when senior Congress leaders have raised their voice against Amarinder’s failures and demanded his replacement from the post of PCC chief, the latter has resorted to a new political stunt by appealing to other parties to unite against SAD-BJP Government,” he said. The people of the state had already rejected Amarinder and PPP chief Manpreet Badal, he added.
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Moga rice mills fail to meet deadline
Moga, September 3 The Area Manager of FCI, Satnam Singh, and the District Food and Civil Supplies Controller, Dr Sona Thind, said a total of 7.36 lakh metric tonnes of rice was to be delivered by about 300 rice mills of the district to the central pool but they had so far delivered only 6.2 lakh metric tonnes rice. Earlier, the Centre used to extend the deadline for custom milling till September 30. But, no such indications had been received so far, the officials said. Officials said the Union Government had twice extended the time period for custom milling of paddy procured by various agencies, but still the mills could not complete the job in time. The rice millers, however, alleged that the FCI did not have adequate storage space “due to which the paddy was milled slowly”. The FCI official said that the agency at present had storage space for 10,000 metric tonnes and extra space for 25,000 metric tonnes would be made available in the next few days as the movement of foodgrain was in progress. Sources, however, said paddy worth crores of rupees stored by state procurement agencies was reportedly missing from the rice mills in the district. Last year as well, the millers had failed to deliver 2 lakh metric tonnes of rice in time to the FCI. The backlog of the year 2010 continued even after the procurement of the 2011 crop. From the 2011 stock, the millers first completed the backlog of the year 2010 and now they were again facing shortage of paddy and were looking forward at the fresh crop, the arrival of which was expected from the first week of October. A few mill owners were even buying cheaper varieties of rice, including ‘masoori’, ‘kinky’, ‘nakku’ and ‘sella’, in other states to make up for the shortage, sources said. These varieties would then be mixed with the local varieties of milled rice and handed over to the FCI in the central pool, they said. The entire paddy that is procured in Punjab is sent to private millers for cleaning, shelling and polishing of grains and the millers return finished products back to the FCI in the central pool.
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In 14 months, Rs 45.10 cr
released as cancer relief
Sangrur, September 3 Data maintained under the Chief Minister’s Cancer Relief Fund Scheme revealed that Sangrur district has hundreds of cancer patients. Since the inception of the scheme in July last year, 283 cancer patients from the district were given financial assistance worth Rs 2.77 crore (up to August 21 this year). The relief was directly given to hospitals where patients were undergoing treatment. As many as 305 cancer patients from various parts of Sangrur have so far applied for cancer relief. Of them, 283 patients had already been given relief while 12 cases had been sent by the district health authorities to the Cancer Control Cell, Chandigarh, for grant of relief. The rest were being processed at the district level.
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Bathinda failed to use 90% of cancer grant
Bathinda, September 3 A total of Rs 30 lakh was received by the district administration from the Chief Minister’s Cancer Relief Fund under a special scheme, but only Rs 3.80 lakh was distributed among the patients. Under the scheme, Rs 1.5 lakh is given to each cancer patient. The data was made public under the Right to Information Act by the state government. It said a few cheques could not be distributed as the patients who had claimed relief had died. In 2010, the district administration’s performance was much better. It managed to distribute Rs 5 lakh of the Rs 6 lakh cancer relief grant. But, it again was a poor show in 2009, with just Rs 7.07 lakh of the received Rs 25 lakh grant being utilised. Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said he would seek a report on the usage of funds as it pertained to the tenure of his predecessors.
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Transfer case outside state, Capt to HC
Chandigarh, September 3 In his petition, Capt Amarinder Singh said that he was booked in a corruption case for allegedly releasing 32 acres of the Amritsar Improvement Trust. The proceedings in the case, registered on September 11, 2008, were going on before the Mohali Special Judge (Vigilance). The job of a public prosecutor was to assist the court and to inform it if any guidelines were being violated. But the public prosecutor was under the administrative control of the state Home Department that was headed by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal. Referring to the earlier cases, Capt Amarinder Singh said in view of the political rivalry between the two families, the trial could not be held in a fair manner as the public prosecutor might follow the dictates of the state government and could not be presumed to be impartial. The petition also stated that the case was the outcome of a resolution passed by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha, based on report of a committee comprising Vidhan Sabha members of the Shiromani Akali Dal. This resolution had been termed invalid by the Supreme Court. The petitioner further stated that the power centre was the same today and would hound the political opponent.
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More land for Ludhiana airport runway
Chandigarh, September 3 In another important development, the government has written to the Ministry of Defence seeking permission for allowing civil flights from the Adampur Air Force station. The Department of Civil Aviation has decided to commence international flights from the Mohali airport from November 2014. A senior official said a detailed map of various aviation projects had been prepared. Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry has given clearance for flights from Bathinda. These are scheduled to commence later this month. The ground work for Delhi-Amritsar-Chandigarh flights has begun following discussions with the Religare group, sources said. The Ludhiana airport seems to be the government’s top priority. After the earlier attempts at having airports at Halwara and Ladowal in Ludhiana district, the government has finally decided on Sahnewal. Work on the Greenfield International Airport, Machhiwara, is held up for the time being. More aviation projects on the government list include a flying club at Faridkot and a helipad in Muktsar. The government has also decided on a helipad at Mullanpur near Chandigarh. Land for the same is yet to be identified by GMADA in consultation with the Ministry for Civil Aviation.
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Rural development director accused of corruption
Mohali, September 3 Mohali Additional Deputy Commissioner and president of the Rural Development Officers Association Pardip Singh Kaleka alleged Multani was involved in “corrupt practices” as he was issuing orders in favour of private parties while dealing with cases involving “shamlat” land worth crores. Most of the cases involved prime land in Mohali, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur and Fatehgarh Sahib districts. “All officials are fed up with his ways. We held a meeting of senior officials, including deputy directors, district development panchayat officers and block develoment panchayat officers, today and decided to go on a protest leave for at least one week. It will be extended if no action is taken against Multani,” said Kaleka. JP Singla, Deputy Director, said over 100 appeal cases regarding ownership of “shamlat” land in various villages were disposed of by Multani in just one year, most of them in favour of private parties. “Such cases are crucial as the ownership of common land worth crores is at stake. Speedy decisions in such matters raise doubts”, Singla said. The officials alleged after passing the order, Multani directed his subordinates to file an appeal against his decision to keep himself on the safe side. They said this way he (Multani) was making them scapegoats and even taking departmental actions against some officials. The officials have demanded a high-level inquiry into the case. “We will hold a meeting of all DPDOs, BDPOs and other senior officials in Ludhiana tomorrow to discuss the next action,” said Kaleka. Multani, however, refuted the allegations. He said there was nothing wrong in disposing of cases speedily. “The ministry concerned is being apprised of every decision. We are determined to remove encroachments on panchayat land. I have nothing personal against anybody. I am taking action against those officials who are not performing their duties efficiently,” said Multani. Rural Development Minister Surjit Singh Rakhra said he was not aware of officials going on a protest leave. “I will talk to them and listen to their grievance,” he added.
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VAT refunds delayed, traders allege official apathy
Chandigarh, September 3 Businessmen across the state have rued that while staff crunch and unnecessary paperwork demanded by the department is delaying their refunds, the department is going all out to put more cases under scrutiny. They claimed that cases of almost 12 per cent of the total VAT assessees were under scrutiny of a handful of excise officials. This, they alleged, was becoming a breeding ground for corruption, especially when self-assessment was allowed under the Punjab VAT Act 2005. The traders also alleged that the bogus billing scam was casting a shadow on release of VAT refunds. The department had detected a number of cases where certain assessees were involved in notional sale (trade shown only in account books with no actual sale) for claiming VAT refunds. In other cases, VAT numbers of firms that had closed down were being misused to file returns. Badish Jindal, president of the Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association (FOPSIA), said VAT refunds worth hundreds of crores were pending with the state government. “For every VAT refund, the assessee is being subjected to scrutiny even after the routine procedure. This is delaying the refund cases beyond the stipulated time of 60 months,” he rued. He said the federation had now approached the Chief Minister, seeking an early redressal of their complaints. Excise officials admitted that VAT refunds worth Rs 230 crore were pending with them. Excise and Taxation Commissioner A. Venu Prasad said a majority of the refunds were those where they had a 30-day time period left for disbursement. He, however, denied that the routine work of the department was getting affected due to a shortage of staff.
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Activist kills himself, blames Mohali family
Abohar, September 3 His wife Radha told the police that his husband had gone to drop their daughter Nagma at the local bus stand at 3.40 am, but instead of returning home, he went to the canal and committed suicide. She said they had married their daughter to a Mohali businessman on July 28, 2009. She claimed that Rs 25 lakh was spent on the wedding that included gifting of an Alto car. Radha alleged Nagma’s in-laws kept harassing her for dowry. They deserted her last year and she had been doing a job in Chandigarh to sustain herself, she added. The suicide note reads, “I am unable to bear it any more; they (Nagma’s in-laws) are responsible for my death”. Chhabra (62) had served as chairman of the Abohar Cooperative Marketing Society after retiring as its general manager. He was also secretary in the managing committees of Swami Lal Thakkar Charitable Trust and RSD Girls Middle School.
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Two years on, no headway in murder case
Fatehgarh Sahib, September 3 For Jaswant Kaur (67), victim’s mother, there is no ray of hope as the police is yet to find any vital lead in the case. She had even approached the President of India, Prime Minister, Chief Minister and senior police officers of the state, but nothing has been done so far. The police had earlier presumed that Jugnu might have committed suicide, but the post-mortem report revealed that there were injury marks on his head, shoulder and other body parts. The police had registered a case of murder on September 26, 2010. Jaswant Singh, victim’s uncle, said despite their meeting senior police officers, nothing concrete had been done. He said the case which was initially being investigated by the CIA Sirhind, was transferred to Mohali police which constituted a special investigating team (SIT) to probe the matter. However, the case was again transferred to the Sirhind police in June this year. SSP Hardyal Singh Mann said an SIT had been constituted, which was carrying out the investigations. He said they were yet to get any leads in the case. Jaswant said they had requested the police to get the call details of the Jugnu’s mobile phone as the main accused had called him when Jugnu along with his friends was drinking at a roadside dhaba.
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Homeless Dalits protest in Lambi village
Lambi (Muktsar),
September 2 "Before the assembly elections in the state, the leaders promised us well-furnished 5-marla constructed houses if we vote for them. But over six months down the line, we are still seeking shelter in dharmshalas and Panchayat Ghars or pitching tents under the open sky," said the members of many such families who came from Singhewala, Fatuhiwala, Mithri, Ghaghar, Mehna, Killianwali, Kakhawali, Khudi and even Badal village. "Because we have no political patronage, the village panchayats ignore our request to allot us five marla from the village common land. We have approached the senior officials in Muktsar for the allotment of the land so that we could construct our house. But the authorities asked us to take up the matter with the village panchayat," said Bhora Ram, who is living with his eight-member family in a tent in an open space in Singhewala village.
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Audit report indicts Ahluwalia Fatehgarh Sahib, September 3 The SGPC will submit the report to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 5. Ahluwalia, who was suspended in July on the charges of embezzlement, has accused Makkar of coercing him into justifying 92 illegal appointments made in 2011 when he (Ahluwalia) was on medical leave.
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Expedite drinking water project, Rajpura MC told
Chandigarh, September 3 For the purpose, the tubewell water supply system is being replaced by canal water supply system; and Rs 1 crore has already been sanctioned for laying a pipeline to bring canal water up to the Sewerage Treatment Plant. The directions came on a petition filed by Abhinav Oberoi against the State of Punjab through Secretary, Health, and other respondents. By filing the petition in public interest, Oberoi had sought issuance of directions “for cleaning water in the treatment plant to supply it to the residents of Rajpura”. After issuance of notice of motion, replies were filed by the respondents. On going through the replies, the High Court noticed that drinking water was not available to the residents of Focal Point and Kot Rajpura area. During the course of hearing, the Municipal Council Executive Officer placed before the court a scheme, to be executed by the Punjab Water Works and Sewerage Board, for replacing tubewell water supply system with canal water supply. On a previous date of hearing, it was brought to the court’s notice that a formal permission from the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was required for laying the pipeline under the NH-1. Counsel for Punjab Water Works and Sewerage Board told the court that the proposal to lay the pipeline was resubmitted to the NHAI. Counsel appearing for the NHAI, on the other hand, assured the court that the necessary action would be taken. The counsel then told the court that formal approval letter to lay the pipeline under the NH-1 would be issued.
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Police recovers poppy husk from driver
Amritsar, September
3 The Chattiwind police has registered a case against him under the NDPS Act. The case has been clubbed with the earlier one registered under Section 304 against him. The police thoroughly searched the truck today on the orders of Daburji Assistant Sub-Inspector Balwinder Singh and found 500 gm of poppy husk concealed in a packet under the driver’s seat. The Station House officer of the Chattiwind police station, Kamaljit Singh, said: “It could not be ascertained if he was under the influence of any such intoxicant when his truck hit the auto. Unlike alcohol, traces of such substances seldom appear in the medical examination.” Meanwhile, the bodies of 13-year old Mandeep and his five-year-old sister Sukhdeep Kaur were handed over to their family members after a post-mortem examination.
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Canadian held with Rs 15-crore cocaine
Jalandhar, September 3 Identified as John Mensa of Mchurchy in Brampton, the accused reportedly bought the contraband from St Martin village in Canada and brought it to India after dodging the security at various airports, including in Holland. An accomplice of Mensa, Satnam Singh (alias Sattu), a Non-Resident Indian of Canada who had been residing in Kala Bakra village near Bhogpur, however, managed to escape. The police claimed it could be one of the largest recoveries of cocaine in Doaba region in the recent past. An SUV (PB65-D-7080) being used by the duo for allegedly supplying the consignment in Kartarpur area was also seized. Senior Superintendent of Police Yurinder Singh Hayer said the arrest was made during a ‘naka’ laid after a tip-off at Kandhala Guru village. He claimed the duo had been running an international drug smuggling racket and used to smuggle heroin from India to Canada and cocaine vice versa.
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6 drug smugglers held
Patiala, September 3 In the first case, Nabha Gate resident Ankit Kumar was arrested with 15 grams of smack. The Bakhsiwal police arrested Chidder Singh with 2 kg of poppy husk and in another case, Charno of Rohti Channa village was held with 1 kg of poppy husk. The Julka police arrested three Haryana residents, Kuldeep Singh, Makhan Singh and Satish Kumar and recovered 1 kg of opium from their possession.
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Handowal-Riali (Hoshiarpur), September 2
Bathinda, September 3
Recent studies on cancer prevalence showed that the disease no more was restricted to a particular district or region of Punjab, but had spread to almost every district of the state.