B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Vacant seats in medical, dental colleges
Parents allege seats come with price tag
Faridkot, September 13
Because of the confusion over the filling up of 46 vacant NRI quota MBBS and 175 BDS seats in private medical and dental colleges of Punjab, a large number of parents of the students, who had scored more than 530 marks in the PMET-2012, today thronged Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), demanding that the university authorities to stop the ‘open sale’ of MBBS seats by some agents on behalf of private colleges.

Pvt colleges rue exodus of students
Ferozepur, September 13
The row over the filling of management and NRI quota seats in the private medical and dental colleges of the state seems far from settled with both the state government and the association of private unaided medical and dental colleges seemingly at loggerheads.

Now, computer fee on land registration hiked
Moga, September 13
After imposing many fresh taxes in the aftermath of the budget session, the cash-strapped Punjab government has now increased the computer fee being charged for the computerised registration of land deeds.

Vacant seats in medical, dental colleges
Parents allege seats come with price tag
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, September 13
Because of the confusion over the filling up of 46 vacant NRI quota MBBS and 175 BDS seats in private medical and dental colleges of Punjab, a large number of parents of the students, who had scored more than 530 marks in the PMET-2012, today thronged Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), demanding that the university authorities to stop the ‘open sale’ of MBBS seats by some agents on behalf of private colleges.

But much to their dismay, the VC Dr SS Gill had already left to meet the Chief Minister to find a way out of the crisis that has created a stand-off between the university and the private medical colleges over the filling of these vacant seats.

The BFUHS has so far received 14 applications and counselling to fill these seats would start on Friday.

After the university fills all these seats, while the remaining 10 vacant MBBS seats in three Government Colleges would also be filled by the university under the general category open merit, the 39 vacant seats in private medical colleges would be filled by the colleges on their own, thus creating chances of open sale of these seats, feared the parents.

Sources in the BFUHS revealed that during a meeting with the VC, the CM today asked him to keep a check on the open sale of medical seats.

“We will make sure that admission to all medical and dental colleges shall be granted only on the basis of merit in the PMET conducted by the BFUHS,” said the vice-chancellor Dr SS Gill.

However, the parents alleged that the price tag for these 39 MBBS and 175 BDS vacant seats is already ranging between Rs 40 lakh-Rs 50 lakh for MBBS and Rs 7 lakh-Rs 15 lakh for a BDS seat, depending on the eminence of the college.

There is also a lot of bargaining, depending upon the status of the college, the parents alleged.

Pvt colleges rue exodus of students
Anirudh Gupta

Ferozepur, September 13
The row over the filling of management and NRI quota seats in the private medical and dental colleges of the state seems far from settled with both the state government and the association of private unaided medical and dental colleges seemingly at loggerheads.

The association of these private medical and dental colleges is demanding that the counselling for the management quota seats should be conducted by the respective institutions as per the provisions of the Punjab Private Health Sciences Educational Institution Act 2006 and the subsequent notifications of the state government in this regard.

Dr Kamal Baghi, president of the private medical and dental colleges association, said due to the delay in the counselling which is held by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS), many students have taken admission in MBBS and BDS courses in other colleges outside the state while the colleges in Punjab were affected due to the vacant seats.

Dr Baghi said as per the guidelines of Medical Council of India (MCI) and the Dental Council of India (DCI), the session in medical and dental colleges should start by the first week of August. However, till date, the second round of counselling has not been held due to which more than 50 per cent seats in these colleges remain unfilled.

He also demanded that around 2,800 students having less than 50 per cent percent score in the PMET who had applied to the BFUHS for counseling should be allowed to apply for admission in the private colleges. 

Now, computer fee on land registration hiked
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, September 13
After imposing many fresh taxes in the aftermath of the budget session, the cash-strapped Punjab government has now increased the computer fee being charged for the computerised registration of land deeds.

The Director of Land Records, Jalandhar, has issued the orders in this regard on September 5 vide letter number 11029. The order came into force from September 12 onwards, confirmed Balraj Kaur Grewal, District Revenue Officer, Moga.

The order has been dispatched to the revenue officials at all the district and sub-divisional headquarters for implementation, she said.

As per the fresh orders, the computer fee has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs 3,000 for the registration of land valued between Rs 10 lakh to Rs 30 lakh and Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for registration of land valued at more than Rs 30 lakh.

Similarly, the computer fee on land leased out to bank for getting loan has been increased to Rs 1,000 from the Rs 500 previously charged.

The state government has hiked the computer fee to construct and improve the infrastructural facilities at the work stations of patwaris at the district and sub-divisional levels.

It may be mentioned that the Punjab Government had hiked the collector rates by 20 per cent to 30 per cent in April this year to raise its revenue from the real estate sector. The government levies the stamp duty at a rate of 6 per cent in the rural and 8 per cent in the urban areas.

Besides, the state cabinet had also recently decided to levy social infrastructure cess for health and education at the rate of one per cent on property transactions, besides raising the ceiling of registration fee from Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh.

Meanwhile, it has been learnt that the revenue department has decided to hold a special meeting next week to have a re-look at the decision of holding back the registration of land deals in the urban areas. The move was aimed at keeping a check on the mushrooming illegal colonies. 

Pay More

From September 12 onwards, the computer  fee for the registration of  land valued between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 30 lakh has been increased from Rs 2,000 to Rs3,000.

It has been increased from Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for registration of land valued at over Rs30 lakh.

Similarly, the computer fee on land leased out to bank for getting loan has been increased to Rs 1,000 from the Rs 500 previously charged. 

Muktsar dist sees 183 cases, 212 arrests under NDPS Act
Archit Watts
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, September 13
As the police force from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan met today at Badal village to chalk out a plan to deal with the menace of drugs and smuggling of narcotics, the official figures of the Punjab Police suggest that Muktsar, which shares its boundary with Haryana and Rajasthan, provides the easiest route to the smugglers to run their illicit trade.

In the past over eight months, till September 10 this year, as many as 212 persons have been arrested and 183 cases registered under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act in Muktsar district alone. This in itself suggests that the district is more prone to the smuggling of contrabands.

As per the official figures, Muktsar city police station topped in registering cases against the addicts and smugglers, where 46 people were arrested in 42 cases.

At Lambi police station, 42 persons were arrested and 36 cases were registered. At Malout city police station, 27 persons were arrested in 18 cases registered.

Similarly, at Kabarwala police station, 23 persons were arrested in 19 cases registered. At Gidderbaha police station, 21 persons were arrested in 20 cases.

At Muktsar Sadar police station, 14 persons were arrested in 11 cases. At Malout Sadar police station, 14 people were arrested in 14 cases. At Kot Bhai police station, 13 people were arrested in 12 cases registered.

At Bariwala police station, 10 people were arrested in nine cases registered. At Lakhewali police station, two persons were arrested in the same number of cases registered.

 It may be mentioned here that not only men, even some women work as couriers to smuggle the narcotics from one state to the other. 

City leads

The Muktsar city police station topped in registering cases against the addicts and smugglers. As many as 46 persons have been arrested in 42 cases.

Slapgate
Ultrasound centre in-charge arrested
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 13
Dr Pramod Bedi, the in-charge of the Bedi Ultrasound Centre in Sriganganagar, has been arrested. He has been charged with slapping SDM Parkash Rajpurohit, an IAS trainee. Rajpurohit headed the sub-divisional committee constituted under the PNDT Act.

The team, during an inspection at a centre located near near Sukhadia Circle, had asked Dr Bedi to explain why some columns in Form F had been left blank while conducting the ultrasound test of a patient.

Dr Bedi had allegedly lost his temper, slapped the SDM, pushed other officials and fled.

The Jawahar Nagar police had registered a case against the doctor. As his house remained closed, the police succeeded in nabbing him reportedly from his farm house at Suratgarh.

While the government employees had staged a stir for the arrest of the doctor, the local unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) warned that all ultrasound centres would be closed indefinitely if the doctors were harassed over minor lapses.

Schoolboy goes missing in Fazilka

Fazilka, September 13
A student of the local Amrit Model School has been missing since September 10.

According to Ram Chand, a resident of the local Radha Swami Colony, his son Shobit (9) had gone to appear in a nursery class test in his school but did not return home after the school was over.

Notably, the school is a stone’s throw away from the residence of Shobit. “After the test, Shobit was directed by the school teacher to bring fees for the test and he left the school as usual,” said the principal of the school, Sunita Babbar.

However, he did not reach his residence. Shobit, stated to be mentally challenged is speech-impaired too. But he used to go to school by himself. Ram Chand searched for him but to no avail and the matter was reported to the police.

SP (Headquarters) Balbir Singh said: “We have launched a search operation on the basis of some information in the area of Dhanak Mohalla and around grain market and would find the boy soon.”

Two-year-old drowns in tank in Abohar
Our Correspondent

Abohar, September 13
A child, Harsh, aged over two years, drowned in the water tank inside his grandparents’ house in Kasera Nagari here late last evening.

He was born eight years after his parents’ marriage.

In another incident, an unidentified youth was run over by a train near the Panjkosi railway station on the Abohar-Sriganganagar section today.

The body has been shifted to the Civil Hospital here for autopsy.