Amritsar, November 30
Mystery shrouds the death of 10-year-old Namita Kalia, a resident of Cheema Bath village, who allegedly committed suicide by jumping from the fourth floor of the school.

Though the police has initiated action under Section 174 of the CrPC, no arrest has been made so far.

The incident occurred at Sacred Heart Convent School on the GT Road near Beas. The police recovered a ‘suicide note’ from her bag which said that she was upset as her mother had scolded her over some issue. However, the parents of the victim denied that it was written by her. She was a student of Class V in the school.

A teacher of the school said as soon as the fifth period was over, Namita rushed towards the roof of the school. The teacher in the class tried to stop her by sending some children behind her. However, she reportedly bolted the door and jumped from the fourth floor of the school. She was rushed to a hospital where she was declared brought dead.

Preet Paul Singh Virk, Senior Superintendent of Police, Amritsar Rural Police, said a suicide note was recovered from her bag which hinted that she might have taken this extreme step as her mother chided her over some issue.

“This is very upsetting trend considering the age of the girl. Nobody could imagine that a 10-year-old girl committed suicide,” he pointed out.

The school management has dismissed the role of any of its employees or teacher in the case.

Virk said the though the police has initiated action under Criminal Procedure Code, the investigation would be continued and necessary action would be taken after the completion of the inquiry.

This is very upsetting trend considering the age of the girl. Nobody could imagine that a 10-year-old girl committed suicide. We have initiated action under the CrPC. The investigation will continue and necessary action will be taken after the completion of inquiry.

— Preet Paul Singh Virk, SSP

Amritsar, November 30
In yet another incident of gang war inside the high-security Amritsar Central Jail, members of Likhari and Cobra gangs clashed on Friday leaving two members injured.

The Likhari gang was headed by Ankur Likhari and the Cobra gang was led by Sanjiv Babba. Ankur Likhari and Ranbir Rana of the Cobra gang sustained minor injuries in the brawl.

Sources said an alert was sounded in the jail immediately after the two gangs entered into fist fighting. The fight reportedly broke out after members of the gangs stared at each other in an aggressive way.

The incident took place when Ankur Likhari along with his associates Prince and Tejbir Bhola was coming out of the gymnasium located in the jail premises after a routine physical exercise in the morning. Sanjiv Babba along with his companions Jasbir Singh and Ranbir Rana was standing outside the gymnasium.

As soon as members of both gangs looked at each other, a verbal duel started between them which turned ugly turn when both groups physically assaulted each other.

RK Sharma, Deputy Superintendent, Amritsar Central Jail, said nobody was injured seriously as the members of both gangs were soon arrested by the jail staff.

They were kept in separate barracks and were not allowed to come out of their barracks for the whole day, it is learnt.

Amritsar, November 30
A Chheharta-based woman today accused her husband and in-laws of trying to kill her by pouring acid on her body.

In her complaint to the police, Inderjit Kaur, a resident of Kartar Nagar area in Chheharta, told the police that her husband Ravinder Singh had illicit relations with another woman and wanted to get married with that woman. Hence, he wanted to eliminate her first.

Though no arrest has been made so far, the Chheharta police has registered a case under Sections 307, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

Those booked are identified as Inderjit’s husband Ravinder Singh, his father Lakhbir Singh, mother Satya, brother Gurpreet Singh and his wife Balwinder Kaur, brother Harpreet Singh and his wife Gurmeet Kaur, all residents of Kartar Nagar.

Inderjit Kaur alleged that she got married to Ravinder Singh in 1997 and had three children. She alleged Ravinder developed illicit relations with a dancer and wanted to marry her. On Thursday, the accused came to her house and started beating her with an intention to kill her. She alleged the accused threw acid on her, but she somehow managed to escape.

“In order to save myself, I went to the washroom, bolted the door from inside and raised an alarm,” said Inderjit. Listening to her screams, the neighbours and residents of the locality gathered outside her house. Seeing this, the accused fled, she said.

Assistant Sub-Inspector Sarwan Singh has been deputed as the investigating officer. He said he is inquiring into the case and action would be taken accordingly.

Amritsar, November 30
Non-release of a tender for the demolition of the offices of District Court Complex has raised many eyebrows.

The District Administrative Complex (DAC) and Police Commissionerate Complex (PCC) would come up at the demolished sites at a cost Rs 78 crore.

While the demolition is going on in full swing, contractors and Congress leaders have cried foul over the process.

The Public Works Department (PWD) claimed to have followed proper rules in allotting tenders to construct the two complexes.

Dharam Singh Thekedar, Director, Amritsar Co-operative Labour and Construction Union, said it was strange that the demolition had been initiated on a tender called for construction.

He said this move contradicts the government's policy of providing employment to a maximum number of people.

"Having been in the trade for decades, I know that contractors for demolition of a building and setting up a structure are different," he said. There are contractors who specialises in a particular task. He said the officials ignored it intentionally. He said these days soil, bricks, wooden doors, windows and logs are easily sold in the market. He said many small-time contractors dealing in the demolition of buildings were looking for the release of tenders for the task.

However, they were demoralised after finding that that separate tender for demolition was not issued and the same company engaged in the construction was demolishing the offices.

He said materials like bricks, wood, iron, electrical fittings worth over Rs 1 crore could be sold at a good value.

Opposition leader in the MC House and Congress councillor Gurinder Singh Rishi alleged that it seemed that norms were violated to make way for the construction of new administrative complex.

He blamed that no bid was invited for the demolition work and it was allotted to the constructing firm.

Jasbir Singh Sodhi, Executive Engineer, PWD, who is looking after the construction of the new complexes, said no norm was violated while allotting the tender for construction of the complexes. He accepted that no separate tender for demolition of the buildings in the court complex was called, but said the private concern was only dismantling the buildings and stacking the materials retrieved from the site.

He said the PWD reserved the rights either to auction the material or give it to the same firm. He said it was not compulsory to release a separate tender for demolition ahead of the tender for construction.

SPCA and Forest officials release Rock Eagle Owl at a forest area in Ajnala. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

After the publication of a report in these columns, the rescued bird was identified as Rock Eagle Owl, also called Indian Eagle Owl and Bubo Bengalensis, by Dr Sandeep K Jain, member of the Animal Welfare Board of India and also member of the Punjab State Board for Wildlife.

Dr Sandeep K Jain said it was a species of large horned owl found in South Asia. "And these are found in hilly and rocky scrub forests and love to live at high trees," he added.

Through the law prohibits its capture, poaching of the bird continues. It is priced at Rs two lakh in the underground market.

Amritsar, November 30
Seizure of 17 parcels containing grocery items without bills from the Golden Temple Mail by the Excise and Taxation Department recently has again raised the issue of evasion of taxes by traders.

Many city traders resort to evasion of taxes to maximise their profits by reducing their investment cost and then sell the same at a high price in the retail market.

Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner-cum-Deputy Director Investigation PS Randhawa said despite a limited staff, his officials managed to increase the revenue from penalties and fines as compared to the previous year. The department earned revenue of Rs 2 crore from April to November 2011. While the figure stood at Rs 2.84 crore in the corresponding period this year.

He said a majority of the goods being supplied here by trains were readymade garments, hosiery, grocery items (all of these products attract 5 per cent VAT), electronics (on which tax varies from 5.5 per cent to 12.5 per cent) and footwear (which attracts 12.50 per cent VAT).

He said sleuths of this department seized a majority of this merchandise during the raids. “A penalty to the tune of 50 per cent of the value of the consignment seized would be imposed on traders,” he added.

He said without a bill, consignments are transported through bogeys, which are leased out by the Railways for a certain period. This is also called small luggage parcel, commonly known as SLR.

Another common way to evade taxes is to send the material in the cargo on a luggage ticket, where the sender pays the charge of the ticket of an adult. He said a railway parcel is another popular option among the law evaders.

He said the Railways is not concerned with bills of these merchandise. But the department has conveyed their administrators to ensure that cargos being transported in trains must carry addresses of consignee and consigner besides tax index number (TIN).

A number of traders in connivance with officials of the department concerned evade entry tax on merchandise being brought from outside Punjab. It is alleged that the people unload the packets and bundles of consignments at a rail crossing when the train slows down before reaching the railway station.

Amritsar, November 30
Activists of the Kirty Kisan Union held a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner's office here today. The activists demanded that all institutional and non-institutional loans of the farmers having less than five acres of land should be waived.

The farmers demanded that the government should consolidate land holdings of small farmers to make agriculture more viable for them.

Datar Singh, vice-president of the union, said the government should make arrangements for deeper public tubewells to supply water for irrigation. He said the government should also open agricultural equipment banks in rural areas so that costly equipment could be provided to poor farmers.

The union submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. The others present on the occasion included Sukhraj Singh Chinna, Parshotam Singh Gehri, Prabhjit Singh, Baldev Singh Sandhu, Satnam Singh Jhander and Major Singh.

Amritsar, November 30
A 21-day refresher course in ‘Computer Science, Electronics and Information Technology’ was inaugurated in the Academic Staff College of the Guru Nanak Dev University on Thursday. As many as 25 teachers are participating in this refresher course.

Prof MS Hundal, Dean, College Development Council, threw light on the revolutionary developments in the field of computer sciences, electronics and information technology in the past five decades.

He exhorted the participants to keep themselves abreast with these changes in order to cater to the demands and aspirations of the society at large. Prof TS Banipal, Director, Academic Staff College, briefed the participants about the aims and objectives of the college.

Dr Mohan Kumar, Deputy Director, conducted the proceedings.

Dr RS Virk, course coordinator, gave details about the thrust area of this refresher course. Meanwhile, another 3-week refresher course in material sciences (physics, chemistry and engineering applications) was also launched by Prof AK Thukral, Director, Research, GNDU.

Amritsar, November 30
The Scholastic group of Holy Heart School started a pragramme themed ‘One Nation Reading Together’ to mark International Reading Day today. School principal Vikram Seth said students from all classes took a pledge to read.

Also, students of Spring Dale Senior School spent around 30 minutes reading as a pleasurable and enriching experience to mark the International Reading Day. A reading pledge, written by famous writer Ruskin Bond, was read out in the school.

Amritsar, November 30
Students of various nursing institutes apart from ASHA workers and health department employees today conducted rehearsal for the door-to-door cancer survey campaign slated to begin from December 1.

During the rehearsal, students, ASHA workers and health department employees conducted mock drills at several areas in the district.

Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra said as many as 824 villages in the district would be covered during the two-week campaign, starting from December 1 till December 15. He said 1,123 ASHA workers, 55 ASHA facilitators, 272 ANMs, 179 male workers and 75 supervisors would conduct the survey in the rural areas.

He said in urban areas, 1,600 nursing students and 81 ANMs would conduct the survey. He said the teams would identify cancer patients during the campaign.

He said wherever necessary, patients would be guided on the treatments available and other facilities provided by the government. He requested the general public to cooperate with the visiting teams and provide them all the information required.

Amritsar, November 30
The Animal Husbandry Department, Punjab, would organise two-day animal fair near Vallah from December 13. Sandeep Rishi, ADC (development), said the fair would witness various competitions including milking of milch animals, horse dances and wild dogs race. Cash prizes to the tune of Rs 5.50 lakh would be distributed in these contests.

He was presiding over a meeting with various officials of animal husbandry department to take stock of the preparation regarding the fair. He said the first prize winner would be given Rs 10,000 cash. He said the agriculture and various other departments would also hold exhibitions on this occasion.