Ludhiana, October 31
The house tax defaulters are all set to have sleepless nights ahead of Divali as the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation is starting an aggressive campaign for the recovery of outstanding dues from tomorrow.

The house tax defaulters owe a whopping Rs 160 crore to the civic body. However, the MC managed to recover around Rs 45 crore in the past few days, but residents till owe MC Rs 115 crore as house tax. Interestingly, some defaulters have not paid their house tax for the past over four years.

The campaign will start from tomorrow and will continue till November 9. The MC has formed four teams (zone-wise) and each zone will be headed by the Zonal Commissioner concerned.

Out of the four zones, Zone D tops the list when it comes to the pending house tax (Rs 46 crore), followed by Zone B, Zone C and Zone D. That’s why, the MC has decided to start the campaign from Zone.

Zone D consists of prominent markets such as Sarabha Nagar Market, Mall Road, Ghumar Mandi, Model Town, and more than half-a-dozen shopping malls-cum-multiplexes and it is learnt that there are several defaulters who owe more than Rs 1 crore each to the MC.

A senior MC official said some of the shopping malls owe crores of rupees as house tax. “A prominent shopping mall on Ferozepur Road octroi post owes around Rs 85 lakh, while another shopping mall near the Circuit House still owes around Rs 2.5 crore, even though they recently paid up Rs 80 lakh,” said the official.

The house tax defaulters in Zone A owed Rs 22 crore, out of which Rs 8 crore has been recovered. Similarly, the defaulters in Zone B owed Rs 44 crore out of which Rs 14 crore was recovered, defaulters in Zone C owed Rs 35 crore, out of which Rs 10 crore was recovered. MC is yet to collect Rs 46 crore as house tax from Zone D.

MC spokesperson Kamlesh Bansal said the aim of the special drive was to generate funds. “City residents should understand that development of the city can take place only if we have funds in our kitty. Besides, we don’t want to harass any person and all defaulters should pay the pending house tax themselves, else we would take strict action against them,” he said. 

Ludhiana, October 31
The health department has been facing an acute staff shortage. Sources said there were only two Food Safety Officers and one District Health Officer in the department. Whenever any VIP comes to the city, these officers are told to check the quality of food to be served to the VIP.

They have to deal with court cases and collect samples of eatables.

Recently, one of the Food Safety Officers from Ludhiana was transferred to Barnala. District Health Officer of Ludhiana Dr Kulwinder Singh said,"During festive season we need more staff to collect samples. Instead of putting in efforts to improve the situation, the authorities transferred the Food Safety Officer to Barnala."

An official of the health department said, "Ludhiana district has more than 30 lakh population which means at least four Food Safety Officers are needed to cater to it."

There is no Food Safety Officer at Barnala. The sources added,"As the person who was appointed at Barnala, did not show up, in order to fill the post, the official from the city had to be transferred." 

Samples collected

Health officials on Wednesday collected five samples of sweets from different shops in the city. District Health Officer Dr Kulwinder Singh said,''We collected samples of barfi and cham cham from Bangalo Sweets, Agar Nagar, barfi from Sukhdev Sweets, GT Road, Ludhiana, two samples of petha from Ranjna Petha Sweets, Sunet village."

Ludhiana, October 31
The traffic police cracked a whip on tipplers who have become a nuisance for residents visiting Sarabha Nagar Market and the Malhar Road area. The police challaned drunk drivers and a few were rounded up as they could not produce documents of vehicles.

A team led by ACP (Traffic) J Elanchezhian laid a naka on both sides of Malhar Road to check drunk drivers.

“Drunk driving would not be tolerated. It is leading several deaths in the state. The youths first consume liquor in the open which is a nuisance and also indulge in drunk driving that often results in an accident,” said the ACP (Traffic).

The action was taken following the order of Police Commissioner Ishwar Singh.

The liquor vends on this stretch have become a nuisance for residents of the area. Tipplers cannot get away so easily. Besides slapping a challan of Rs 2,000, the police called relatives of drunk drivers and it was after their assurance that the offenders would not indulge in drunk driving that they were let off. 

Ludhiana, October 31
Sleuths of the Income Tax Department today conducted raids on five premises of Palace Jewellers this morning. These included two business establishments and three residential premises.

Raids were conducted on the directions of HS Sohi, Director (Investigations), Income Tax and under the supervision of Additional Commissioner Munish Gupta.

The business premises of Palace Jewellers are located on College Road and the residential premises where raids were conducted are located at Dandi Swami, Tagore Nagar and Aggar Nagar.

The IT department sleuths checked the records in computers and bill books. The bank lockers were sealed and important papers were seized.

Meanwhile, surveys were also carried on five groups in the city. The IT department team from Range I conducted surveys on two groups in the city under the supervision of Additional Commissioner DS Brar. The surveys were conducted on Bhandari Hosiery Group on Rahon Road and Bestley Enterprises at Focal Point.

Besides, the Range V officials conducted survey on three groups, including RS Fasteners at Doraha, 
Kartar Agro Group on GT Road and Om Steels at Dhandari Kalan. 

Ludhiana, October 31
Bollywood and Hollywood stars are playing a big role on cracker boxes this year. Manufacturers have used pictures of Katrina Kaif, Riteish Deshmukh, Jackie Chan, Rani Mukherji and Bipasha Basu on cracker boxes to make them hotter.

Cracker boxes with pictures of Harry Potter and cartoon characters are favourites among children. “Though I check the quality of firecrackers before buying them, pictures of film stars do attract attention," said Subhash, a resident of Shimla Colony. "Rani Mukherji is my favourite actress and I bought a packet of crackers with her picture," he said.

Cracker sellers, too, are excited with the popularity of the packaging that is raking in the moolah. A cracker seller said: "People of all ages are attracted to the images on the packets. Children and youth are especially getting attracted to pictures of celebrities."

“The pictures of movie stars do make a difference in the sale,” said Sanjeev, a firecracker seller. As new crackers flood markets every season, pictures of familiar faces from the entertainment world give an instant identification to crackers, he said. 

Ludhiana, October 31
The Golden Jubilee Folk Festival was organised at Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) amidst great fanfare here today.

Myriad hues of culture were showcased by the participating teams from Guru Angad Dev Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (GADVASU); Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishwavidyalya, Palampur; Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar; and PAU.

The students presented glorious and rich cultural heritage of their respective states. Bollywood singer Labh Janjhua enthralled the audience with popular songs.

Ludhiana, October 31
It's Karva Chauth, the time of the year when women pray for the long life of their husbands. The festival is getting bigger and the popularity of the fest is surging in the city. Even young unmarried women, who are fairly westernised and otherwise do not believe in getting stuck in the rut of tradition, celebrate the festival following the traditions, all attired in the traditional dresses and get mehandi applied, observe the traditions associated with the festival.

Girls have different reasons to do so. Some girls find it interesting to apply mehandi on their palms.

"Applying mehandi on the day is different from applying on the other day. For me, Karva Chauth has become a mehandi festival, as all areas you visit, you'd see canopies and hands getting coloured with henna," says Deepti, a BA student.

Some of the girls go the whole hog and observe the traditional all-day fast observed by the married women.

"I feel that this is the festival of love between husband and wife and I prefer calling it Indian Valentine's Day, a symbol of conjugal love and respect for culture," says Sakshi, a resident. "And it is only better that we start celebrating the festival a little earlier before marriage, because after marriage, women in any case do celebrate the festival," says Priyanka, a student.

But preference among girls is a little different, as they want different mehandi designs. Anvita Chhatwal from a city-based beauty salon said, "Girls like to have different mehandi designs applied. While middle-aged women go for the traditional designs, girls prefer variations in design such as Arabic and Pakistani designs," she says. 

Ludhiana, October 31
The festive season has failed to bring cheer to sweets makers this year, courtesy a dip in number of marriages. They said earlier people in large numbers used to come to their shops, but this year only a few turned up for buying special Karva Chauth sweets.

Rachna Sharma, an astrologer, said,"As Venus is combust, people are avoiding tying the knot this year." While another city-based astrologer Tanya Pandit said, "Mars and Rahu are in conjunction, which means the year is not auspicious for exchanging vows."

Narinderpal Singh, president, Halwai Association, Punjab, said,"From April till October, no marriages were solemnised. The number of customers has also decreased. Usually, heavy rush is witnessed during Karva Chauth."

He said, "As the period between November 15 and December 15 is auspicious for solemnising marriages, we are expecting a brisk business."

A sweets maker said,"This has affected our business. The festive season this year has come in as a disappointment."

Ludhiana, October 31
Thinking of hosting an exhibition in the city? You may go forward with your plans but should not forget to pay tax to the excise and taxation department, otherwise you may land in trouble.

Organisers of an exhibition at Sutlej Club were hosting the event without paying tax to the department. Following a tip-off, the officials from the department reached the spot and were successful in collecting the tax amount from the organisers.

Anyone hosting an exhibition is considered as a casual dealer and has to get a temporary VAT number and submit the tax with the department for carrying sales.

"It is illegal to host an exhibition without paying tax. The organisers at Sutlej Club paid around Rs 70,000 as tax. It is advisable to inform the department and pay tax," added Harbir Singh, AETC.

"The festive season is on and we will be keeping a strict vigil on such exhibitions. Nobody will be spared. Earlier, we collected tax from the organisers who were hosting an exhibition at Hotel Park Plaza," said Kanwalpreet Brar, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner.

Ludhiana, October 31
The wholesale cracker traders at Dana Mandi have been asked to follow instructions, else they will not be allowed to sell their products to retailers/residents and their licence will be cancelled.

They have been given three days' time to fulfil all conditions. Assistant Commissioner Police (ACP) Swapan Sharma, who visited Dana Mandi along with the police officials, today made it clear that only the given allottees were allowed to sale the crackers and the allottees could not sublet their shops.

"Crackers worth crores of rupees have been stocked here. These are all explosives so we need to be very cautious while handling everything till Divali as a minor lapse can be life threatening", said Sharma while adding that fresh instructions had been issued to the traders and they needed to follow these.

Besides, two PCRs have permanently been deputed at the venue at designated places till Divali. All traders/shopkeepers have been provided the numbers of the SHOs, ACPs, fire-brigade's office and DCP's telephone numbers.

"An ambulance will be placed here till the sales are over (Divali) so that in case there is emergency, the injured can be taken to a hospital", said Sharma .

Ludhiana, October 31
The division of the processing fee under two different heads during the online filing of VAT returns has become a cause of concern for traders. The newly fixed processing fee of Rs 800 per annum has to be deposited by the traders with the VAT return of this quarter.

Those filing the return manually are filing the processing fee into the VAT account only but those filing the return online are filing it under the head "other charges". Once the taxpayer clicks on "other charges" and fills the amount of Rs 800, the amount gets divided into two different heads.

"Our main concern is that since we are filing the return online and the amount is being divided under two heads, we are worried that the department may raise questions tomorrow that we have not deposited the processing fee. While one of my acquaintances who is filing the return manually is filing the amount directly under the head "processing fee"," said Gurnam Singh, a trader. 

Ludhiana, October 31
TThe devastation caused by hurricane Sandy has left the NRIs from America in a state of shock. Away from home in their native village, New Jersey-based Harjeet Singh is surfing through news channels to get the latest update of the hurricane.

“The natural calamity has devastated almost everything. Though my home has received less damage as it is located nearly 40 miles away from the sea shore, my gas station has got completely destroyed as it is located near the coastline,” said Harjeet.

He was scheduled to return to the USA on November 2, but his flight was cancelled due to the massive strike of Hurricane, which led to evacuation of New York and led to the death of over 50 persons so far.

“I do not know when I will get the next flight. The mega-storm hit densely populated US East Coast covering seven states with fierce force plunging millions of homes into darkness and leaving New York Stock Exchange shut for two straight days for the first time since 1888. I had heard president Obama saying that the storm was not yet over. I am worried about my family,” said Harjeet Singh, a native of Rakba village near Mullapur.

Congress leader KK Bawa, who is also from Rakba village, said, “Around 220 families of the village are settled in America, out of which 50 are settled in New Jersey and New York.

Harjeet said his wife Kamaldeep Kaur is also stuck along with his two children Ashpreet Kaur (16) and Taqdeer Singh (13). His brother Bahadur Singh and mother Surjit Kaur too are stuck due to the storm.

Ludhiana, October 31
After a very long time, the residents will get an opportunity to own their residential flats at an affordable price, that too in the posh residential colony - Dugri - developed by the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA).

GLADA has made a public offer for allotment of 217 four-storeyed 2BHK apartments in Dugri, Phase II, under a self-financing scheme. The offer will open on November 1, 2012 and will remain open till November 30, 2012.

According to GLADA officials, each flat with a covered area of 535 square feet will have one drawing room, two bed rooms, one kitchen, one WC, one bath room and a stilt parking. The flats on the ground floor will have a price tag of Rs 15.30 lakh while those on first, second and third floors are being offered for Rs 12.75 lakh, Rs 11,85,750 and Rs 11,09,250 respectively.

As per the terms and conditions of allotment, the applicants will have to pay 10 per cent of the cost of the flat (Rs 1.53 lakh) as earnest money in the form of a bank draft payable to The Estate Officer, GLADA, Ludhiana, at the time of application irrespective of the floor option.

The balance amount towards the cost of flat will be payable in two instalments within 120 days of the issuing of letter of intent/allocation with the first instalments being due in 60 days.

The officials said the detailed brochure-cum-application forms can be obtained from designated branches of HDFC Bank, Punjab National Bank and the State Bank of Patiala on payment of Rs 100 (Rs 125 by post). The applications, complete in all respects, along with the earnest money, will have to be submitted through any of the designated banks. No application submitted in person or sent by post to the GLADA office will be entertained and all such applications will be outrightly rejected, the officials stated.

Ludhiana, October 31
One-and-a-half year old girl Mahi, daughter of Raju and Shanno of Mohalla Habib Ganj, Amarpura, Ludhiana, is under treatment at Christian Medical College and Hospital. She is suffering from sepsis with pus all over the heart.

She needs intensive medical care, which is very costly and her parents unable to support her treatment.

Her father Raju is a cobbler at a bus stand and the only earning member of the family. His monthly income is approximately Rs 2,500 per month. The family needs financial help for her treatment.

The hospital release said, "Patient is in dire need of financial help and any assistance provided will be appreciated. Donations may be made in the name of CMC, Ludhiana Society, with "for Baby Mahi" written at the back and sent to the Department of Cardio Vascular Surgery, first floor, Ward 14, Room 2201 in CMC & H, Phone:0161-2660022."

Ludhiana, October 31
Forty days after the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation was formed and the newly elected councillors were sworn in, the Finance and Contract Committee (F&CC), which is the most powerful committee of the civic body, will have its first meeting tomorrow. This meeting will be held at the Mayor’s Camp office adjoining Rose Garden, here tomorrow.

The last F&CC meeting was held on August 29, few days before the term of the previous House ended (on September 7).

A finance and contract committee is the most empowered committee in any municipal corporation as it consists of the Mayor, Senior Deputy Mayor, Deputy Mayor, two other members. The MC Commissioner is also the ex-officio member of the F&CC. Any development work that is to be carried in the city, it has to be passed and cleared by the F&CC. And if the F&CC refuses to clear any file concerning development works, it cannot take place.

At present, the F&CC consists of only three members, which include Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria, Senior Deputy Mayor Sunita Aggarwal and Deputy Mayor Ripu Daman Sharma. The remaining two members are yet to be nominated as several councillors are lobbying hard for these posts.

In the previous MC House, the F&CC consisted of the then Mayor Hakam Singh Giaspura, the then Senior Deputy Mayor Parveen Bansal, the then Deputy Mayor Sunita Aggarwal, Simarjit Singh Bains (who is now MLA from Atam Nagar) and councillor Pal Singh Grewal.

While speaking to The Tribune, Gohalwaria informed that in tomorrow’s F&CC meeting, development works that required immediate attention would be cleared. “Besides, some of those projects that has to be cleared and sent to either state or the Central government will also be cleared so that we can carry out comprehensive development of the city,” stated Gohalwaria.

Ludhiana, October 31
Relatives of Rahul Saini, who allegedly killed his wife in Mohali, are in a state of shock. Jyoti Kiran, sister of Rahul, and her husband are allegedly on the run ever since the incident took place.

The focus was shifted to Jyoti after it came to light that five-year-old son of Rahul was at Jyoti house in Moti Nagar.

Jyoti Kiran’s husband’s sister-in-law Simi said that the couple did not return to the house ever since the murder incident came to light.

She further claimed that Rahul did not leave his five -year-old son with Jyoti.

“I did not see Rahul’s son at the house, rather I was shocked when I came to know about the murder of Harpreet Kaur, aka Seema. I came to know that Seema’s body was decomposed,” said Simi.

She further added she had a cordial relation with his sister-in-law Jyoti. Simi said she had no clue what was going on in Jyoti’s family.

“Jyoti is working at an industrial unit. She returns home in the evening. Due to her busy schedule we hardly get to speak to one another. The news of the murder has come as a shock. I did not know that things were that bad,” said Simi.

She was reluctant to give the mobile number of her brother-in-law and Jyoti.

“I fear that the Mohali police will visit our house,” said worried-looking Simi.

Ludhiana, October 31
Two MC employees were found absent from duty when Mayor Harcharan Singh Gohalwaria conducted a surprise check in the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation's Zone D building located in Sarabha Nagar, here today. This is the second consecutive checking of MC offices by the Mayor, with the earlier one being in the MC's Zone C office yesterday.

During the checking, the Mayor was surprised to see that an employee had left his attendance register empty, which he suspected that he would have filled tomorrow. This particular empty space has been marked by the Mayor and he has ordered that the matter be thoroughly checked.

The Mayor also found that another official hardly visited the Zone D office and his attendance was being marked by some other employee.

While speaking to The Tribune, Inderjit Singh Gill, advisor to Gohalwaria said to check absenteeism amongst MC employees was one of the main focus areas of the Mayor. "The MC employees who don't take their duty seriously should understand that even if one person is missing from his seat, it affects the entire office functioning. During the checking thisevening, two MC employees were found absent, while some of them were in the field. To find a permanent solution to the problem of absenteeism, we are going to start bio-metric attendance system in the MC very soon," he said.

Jagraon, October 31
An unidentified person snatched gold earrings of an elderly woman here today. The incident took place at Pratap Nagar in the afternoon. The victim has been identified as Vazira Rani.

Vazira Rani was reportedly standing outside her residence when a person snatched the earrings she was wearing. The accused fled from the spot with his accomplice who was waiting for him on a motorcycle at a distance.

Vazira Rani said the total weight of the earrings was 10 grams.

Mohali, October 31
The local police today arrested Neelam Saini, mother of Rahul Saini, who had allegedly murdered his wife Harpreet Kaur alias Seema by strangulating her at their residence in Phase X on Sunday and fled along with their five-year-old son.

The father of the deceased, Davinder Singh, alleged in his complaint that Neelam Saini was a party to the murder. “She used to harass my daughter for dowry,” alleged Davinder in his complaint.

The accused Rahul Saini, who is still at large, had dropped his son Karanveer with Neelam Saini at her residence in Ludhiana before going in hiding.

Though the police had rounded up Neelam and the younger brother of the accused, Pankaj, last night, they could not recover the child. “We were told that she (Neelam) had left Karanveer with the accused’s sister, also staying in Moti Nagar, Ludhiana. But when we went there, the house was found locked,” said SP (City) Swarndeep Singh.

Talking to the Chandigarh Tribune, Swarndeep Singh said that Neelam has been arrested on the basis of Davinder’s complaint.

When asked whether or not the motive behind the murder was established, SP Swarndeep Singh said that the accused indulged in bad habits and was an alcoholic. He was unemployed, while the house was being run by the deceased’s income as she worked in a private firm. “Probably the couple had fights over money, but the real picture would only be out after Rahul's arrest," said SP Swarndeep Singh. He also said that the police was trying to locate Karanveer as he might be the only eyewitness to the crime.

The police has handed over Seema’s body to her family after conducting the postmortem.

“The report confirmed that she had been strangulated to death,” said DSP RS Sohal, adding that police parties have been dispatched to various places to search for Rahul Saini.

Seema’s cremation took place today afternoon and was attended by her parents and relatives.

The police said that Neelam Saini would be produced in the court tomorrow.

Doraha, October 31
Doraha Public School won three of the four titles in the two-day Ludhiana East Sahodaya Inter-School Basketball Tournament hosted by Doraha Public School(DOPS).

Around 10 schools participated in the tournament and competed in under-14 and under-19 boys and girls categories. Doraha Public School were the winners in under-14 girls and under-19 boys and girls groups. The under-14 boys’ title was won by Garden Valley International School, Machhiwara. Medals and trophies were presented by Sukhpal Singh, Chairman, Doraha Group ofInstitutes.

Results

Under-14 (Girls ): DOPS (b) Garden Valley International 35-14. Third position was bagged by Mehta Gurukul School, Doraha.

Under 14 (Boys): Garden Valley International (b) DOPS 48-10. Third position was bagged by Gobindgarh Public School.

Under-19 (Girls ): DOPS (b) Tagore International Senior Secondary School, Sahnewal 26-10. Mehta Gurukul School, Doraha bagged the third position by beating Ryan International School, Ludhiana 6-2.

Under-19 (Boys) DOPS( b): Sant Kirpal Singh Sewa Panthi Senior Secondary School, Neelon 42-22. For the third position Radha Vatika Senior Secondary School, Khanna beat Tagore International Senior Secondary School, Sahnewal 23-12.

Ludhiana, October 31
Abhiraj Chawla along with the father-son duo of Sanjeev Vohra and Aditya Vohra hogged limelight in the Sports Carnival organised for the members as well as their dependants at the Sutlej Club that concluded here yesterday.

Abhiraj bagged top honours in bench press, biceps and arm wrestling events to prove his mettle. He also finished as first
runners up in the running on jogger.

Sanjeev and Aditya Vohra stamped their superiority over others in badminton. Former national shuttler and billiards player, Sanjeev Vohra came out triumphant in the men's doubles category.

Sanjeev, paired with Anil Goel got the better of Onkar Singh Birdi and Raghav Aggarwal to fetch the title. He also finished among position holders in the mixed doubles as well as officers doubles event.

While, Aditya Vohra followed in his father's footsteps, clinching a title. He won the title in the U-15 doubles event in association with Digjit Singh Jaggi.

Aditya fought valiantly in the singles final, but lost it by a whisker and had to be content with runners up trophy. He was also declared the most promising player.

Rahul Tiwari and MF Farooqui, Deputy Commissioner and DIG, respectively distributed the prizes.

Final results

Chess (sub-junior): Ankur Singla 1, Pratham Arora 2;

(Junior): Sushant Manuja 1, and Rahat Khanna 2;

(Senior): VM Verma 1 and Dr LD Singla 2.

Bench press (below 45): Abhiraj Chawla 1 and Simarjeet Nota 2;

Biceps: Abhiraj Chawla 1 and Simrjeet Nota 2.

Bench press (above 45): TS Thapar 1 and KP Mohindra 2;

Biceps: TS Thapar 1 and KP Mohindra 2.

Arm wrestling: Abhiraj Chawla 1 and Vaneet Randev 2;

Running on jogger (above 45): Parul Gupta 1 and KP Mohindra 2.

Running on jogger (women): Manju Ohri 1 and Meenu Thapar 2;

50m race (boys): Ritvik 1 and Harman 2;

50m race (women): Simmi Malhotra 1 and Monika 2.

Badminton (boys U-10 singles): Jasmehar Singh Virdi 1 and Rajveer Singh Khurana 2;

(U-10 doubles): Jasmehar Singh and Harsh Sethi 1, Kartik Randev and Rhohit Randev 2.

Squash (boys U-10): Vidhansh Jain 1 and Aditya Jain 2;

(U-19): Pranav Dawar 1 and Navdeep Singh 2.

Table tennis (U-12): Bikramjit Singh 1, Sanshary Bhambi 2;

U-17: Vinayak Moudgil 1 and Akshay Jain 2;

(U-19): Anmol Sood 1 and Vinayak Moudgil 2.