B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Barnala court acquits CPI-ML, MMM workers
Barnala, October 4
Eleven leaders and workers of the CPI-ML (Liberation) and the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (MMM) Punjab, who were facing trial in a local court in a case registered against them at the Tapa police station, were acquitted by the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Parshant Verma today.

Footwear dealers claim hike in VAT will be rolled back
Fazilka, October 4
The state government has reportedly succumbed to the pressure of footwear dealers and decided to revoke the enhanced VAT on shoes.

ASI nabbed taking bribe
Faridkot, October 4
The vigilance department nabbed an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police in Faridkot while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a victim in a criminal assault case today.

170 litres of PDS kerosene seized
Abohar, October 4
A team from the Food and Civil Supplies Department led by inspector Vikas Batra broke the seals put by the local police at a fair price shop located opposite the new grain market here and seized 170 litres of kerosene.

LPG supplier booked for stealing gas
Muktsar, October 4
The city police today booked an LPG supplier for allegedly stealing gas from the cylinders.

Despite ban, sale of gutkha continues
Muktsar, October 4
Despite a ban imposed by the state government, the sale of tobacco products like pan masala and gutka continues unhindered in Muktsar thanks to the indifference of the authorities concerned.

Barnala court acquits CPI-ML, MMM workers
Decision hailed, CPl-ML say police had registered ‘false case’
Sushil Goyal
Tribune News Service

Barnala, October 4
Eleven leaders and workers of the CPI-ML (Liberation) and the Mazdoor Mukti Morcha (MMM) Punjab, who were facing trial in a local court in a case registered against them at the Tapa police station, were acquitted by the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Parshant Verma today.

The case was registered against them on January 5, 2007 by the police under Sections 143, 147, 148, 149, 153, 188 and 447 of the IPC.

As per information provided by a defence counsel, there were several charges against these leaders and workers, including the one that they were not allowing the villagers to throw the dead animals at the 'Hadda Rori" of Daraj and Daraka villages in Tapa. They had taken the land of the "Hadda Rori" in their possession. Besides, they had also raised slogans against the government.

The case was registered against them during an agitation launched by the CPI ML (Liberation) and the MMM to get the "Hadda Rori" (place where bones or carcass of the dead animals are stored) shifted from near the houses of Dalit labourers to another place.

The 11 persons, who were acquitted by the court, included Labh Singh Akalia, Iqbal Kaur Udasi, Gurpreet Singh Rureke and Kanwaljit Singh Chandigarh.

Member of the state secretariat of the CPI-ML (Liberation) Kanwaljit Singh Chandigarh said the acquittal of the 11 workers by the court had proved that the Punjab Police had been registering "false cases" against the leaders and activists belonging to the labour class, including leaders of the CPI ML (Liberation) and the MMM, under pressure from influential persons. He asked the state government to withdraw all such cases, registered against the labourers and their leaders.

Footwear dealers claim hike in VAT will be rolled back
Our Correspondent

Fazilka, October 4
The state government has reportedly succumbed to the pressure of footwear dealers and decided to revoke the enhanced VAT on shoes.

A delegation of the Shoe Association, Punjab, led by Biru Sachdeva and Davinder Manchanda, presidents of the Shoe Merchant Association in Ludhiana and Jalandhar, respectively, and the president of the Fazilka Shoe Association Ashok Gulbadhar met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa at Chandigarh along with Fazilka MLA and Cabinet Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani recently and reiterated their demand to withdraw the VAT on shoes below the price of Rs 1,000.

Ashok Gulbadhar, president, Shoe Association, Fazilka, after returning from Chandigarh, said the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister immediately asked the Excise and Taxation Commissioner A Venugopal to slash the enhanced VAT from 12 per cent to 5 per cent on the footwear priced below Rs 1,000.

Notably, about four months back, the state government had increased the tax on low priced footwear. Enraged over the decision, the footwear dealers had initiated an agitation, gone on strike and blocked highways last month in the state.

According to informed sources, Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa and Forest Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani requested the Badals to accede to the genuine demand of the footwear dealers.

"The government will soon issue a notification regarding the reduced tax on shoes," claimed Jyani. 

ASI nabbed taking bribe
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 4
The vigilance department nabbed an assistant sub-inspector (ASI) of police in Faridkot while accepting a bribe of Rs 20,000 from a victim in a criminal assault case today.

It is alleged that the ASI, Baldev Singh, posted at the Sadar police station in Faridkot, demanded Rs 50,000 in bribe from Jalore Singh, a farmer of Jhotiwala village to make addition of offences in his FIR against the accused.

In a case of physical assault, though Jalore Singh had received minor injuries, to increase the severity of this case, the ASI offered to add Section 295 of the IPC (outraging religious feelings by pulling his beard) in the FIR against the accused.

As this is a non-bailable offence, so the ASI demanded Rs 50,000 for making this addition in the FIR and later, agreed to do the job for Rs 20,000.

After a complaint to the vigilance department by Jalore Singh, the ASI was caught red-handed today.

170 litres of PDS kerosene seized
Our Correspondent

Abohar, October 4
A team from the Food and Civil Supplies Department led by inspector Vikas Batra broke the seals put by the local police at a fair price shop located opposite the new grain market here and seized 170 litres of kerosene.

As per the available information, the police had sealed the shop licensed to one Rajesh Babbar and impounded the truck that was to be used allegedly for siphoning off the kerosene supplied to the licensee for distribution to the BPL car holders. Raids were conducted at the house of the licensee but nothing incriminating was found, sources added.

Meanwhile, in another incident, the police arrested Ram Pratap, a registered medical practitioner of village Dangarkhera near here, under Sections 307 and 324 of the IPC for attacking a minor boy, Jagdeepak, of the Government Seed Farm colony.

The police said the medico attacked the boy without any provocation as he was accompanying his father Swaran Singh to purchase bakery items from a shop located near the sub-divisional police complex at Malout chowk here on the national highway.

The culprit fled after the incident. The boy is recovering at the civil hospital where he was admitted after the assault.

LPG supplier booked for stealing gas
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, October 4
The city police today booked an LPG supplier for allegedly stealing gas from the cylinders.

Acting upon a tip-off, the police conducted a raid at a godown located on Malout road and found Ravinder Kumar alias Pawan stealing the gas there. The police seized 24 cylinders along with the equipment used to steal the gas from the spot, but the accused managed to flee.

Investigating Officer Surinder Singh said, "When we entered the godown, the accused was stealing the gas but he ran away."

A case under sections 379 and 420 of the IPC has been registered at the Muktsar city police station in this regard.

Despite ban, sale of gutkha continues
Archit Watts/TNS

Muktsar, October 4
Despite a ban imposed by the state government, the sale of tobacco products like pan masala and gutka continues unhindered in Muktsar thanks to the indifference of the authorities concerned.

A mere visit to the market reveals that the sale of tobacco products is still on at almost all kiosks and shops. Though the sellers have not displayed the products openly, yet if somebody demands it from them, they easily provide the banned tobacco products.

A vendor selling such products on the Bathinda road said, "If I do not sell these products, then how will I feed my family? I am not forcing anyone to buy. I only give if someone asks for it. The day the government issued the order banning these items, I removed these products from display."

When contacted, Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr Charanjeet Singh Brar said, "We have conducted raids at a number of kiosks to keep a check on the sale of such products. Even the banned tobacco products were destroyed some time ago and at that time, the sellers had said they would discontinue the sale of such products." However, on being asked about the number of challans issued after the ban was imposed, the CMO failed to give a reply.

It may be mentioned here that the state government, stating that the chewing of gutka, pan masala and other tobacco products was a health hazard and responsible for cancer, especially of the mouth and throat, had ordered a ban on the sale, storage, manufacture and distribution of tobacco products in the state in August.