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Revenue collection on stamp duty dips
Kabaddi Cup has served little pupose: RTI activist
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HC stays selection process for govt jobs
Malwinder welcome to discuss any problem: Sukhbir
Cancer Survey Badal recalls Gujral’s swift loan waiver
Transmission losses decline
PSPCL chairman to appear before CERC on December 18
Thinners, nail paint remover banned
SGPC condemns arrest of Sikh jatha in Uttarakhand
460 boxes of liquor confiscated in Rajpura
4 police officers acquitted in fake encounter case
26 get life term for double murder
4 held with cocaine worth Rs 10 crore
PYC chief, 10 arrested for creating ruckus at hospital
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Revenue collection on stamp duty dips
Chandigarh, November 30 Going by the fact that five per cent of the price quoted for land registration is deposited as stamp duty, the net value of property affected is at least Rs 1,760 crore. NS Kang, Financial Commissioner (Revenue), said the Punjab Government had collected Rs 1,694 crore so far this financial year as compared to Rs 1,778 crore during the corresponding period last fiscal. “The collections are way short of the projected figures,” he said. The collection of Rs 1,694 crore revenue was less than half the projected figure of Rs 3,535 crore for the entire fiscal. Amritsar district has collected Rs 164 crore against the projected target of Rs 295 crore for the entire year, while Bathinda has collected Rs 61.34 crore against the projected figure of Rs 115 crore. Ludhiana recorded the highest collection of Rs 300 crore against the expected figure of Rs 590 crore. Ferozepur has recorded the lowest collection of Rs 21 crore. Mohali, which was projected to collect the highest figure of Rs 600 crore because of its large-scale construction activity, has managed to rake in just Rs 229 crore. “The figures do not reflect the actual effect of slowdown because the land is always registered at a price far lower than the actual rates. This means the stamp duty collection figures show only the tip of the actual property figures that have been affected.” Mandip Dhillon from the Dera Bassi tehsil said: “Realty has recorded a slowdown. Things had only picked up during Divali.” Another senior official said: “Slowdown may not be the right word to associate with the phenomenon. A sizeable chunk of property is bought only for the sake of investment and there are no signs of any distress selling as yet.”
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Kabaddi Cup has served little pupose: RTI activist
Ropar, November 30 Though crores of rupees have been spent on international tournaments, there are only 11 kabaddi coaches in 21 districts of the state. There is not a single stadium of international standards for kabaddi in the state. Ropar-based RTI activist Paramjit Singh Pamma, at a a press conference here, said that the state government had spent Rs 15.56 crore on arrangements for the World Kabaddi Cup last year. Out of this sum, Rs 5.67 crore were spent on cultural programmes alone. While a sum of Rs 11.85 lakh was spent on singers for entertaining audiences, the remaining sum of Rs 5.56 crore was spent on cultural programmes and the event manangement company. This information had been procured through an application filed under the RTI Act, said Pamma. He said spending such huge sums was sheer misuse of government money as well as the contributions made by private companies for the event. A whopping Rs 77.63 lakh had been spent on transportation, he said. “When more than 50 per cent districts do not have coaches for the game, spending crores on entertainments during such tournaments will serve no purpose other than bringing popularity to the organisers,” said the RTI activist.
Love for kabaddi a costly affair
No fireworks
Bathinda: There will be no display of fireworks at the inauguration of the 3rd World Cup Kabaddi championship here tomorrow in view of the death of former Prime Minister IK Gujral. Sources said it was not possible to cancel or postpone the inauguration as most teams from abroad had already reached Punjab but the celebrations had been scaled down. — TNS Viewers dismayed Muktsar: People who have subscribed to the DD Direct Plus (DTH) satellite service will be unable to watch the live telecast of matches of the third World Kabaddi Cup starting in Bathinda on Saturday as the organisers of the prestigious cup have given the telecast rights to a private channel. — TNS
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HC stays selection process for govt jobs
Chandigarh, November 30 The directions by a Full Bench of the High Court came on a petition filed by Lakhvir Singh and other petitioners against the State of Punjab and another respondent, through counsel Navdeep Monga. “Since the selection process is said to be ongoing, we deem it appropriate to stay the selection process to await the judgement of the Full Bench, the arguments of which have been concluded separately,” the Judges ruled. The Full Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Ajay Tewari and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina is already hearing a bunch of more than 10 petitions on the issue, including a petition filed by Abhishek Rishi against the State of Punjab and other respondents. Advocates DS Patwalia and Salil Sabhlok have also been appointed as amicus curiae in the case. Taking up the petitions, the Full Bench on a previous date of hearing, had asked the Punjab State to furnish the budgetary allocation to the rural schools. A Division Bench had earlier ruled against providing bonus marks to students of rural areas in job selections. With this, the High Court had made a clear-cut departure from the opinion expressed earlier by another Bench in the Sudesh Rani versus State of Punjab case. The ruling by then Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh had come on 27 petitions filed by Sudesh Rani and others. The then petitioners had alleged the weightage ran contrary to the provisions of Articles 14 and 16 of the Constitution of India and as such could not be sustained. Taking a contrary view a petition on teachers’ selection, a vacation Bench had asserted: “In Sudesh Rani’s case, a Division Bench of this Court had noticed the contention of the then Advocate-General. It was further submitted that due to terrorism in Punjab, rural areas were the worse-affected as most of the terrorist activities had taken place in the rural areas of the state and rural education centres were the epicentre from where the terrorists exploited the youths for their motives…. With all humility at our command, we are unable to subscribe to this conclusion and express our doubts”.
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Malwinder welcome to discuss any problem: Sukhbir
Bathinda, November 30 Malwinder had joined the SAD just before the assembly elections following a dispute with Amarinder over the allocation of the Congress ticket to Raninder Singh for the Samana seat. "In case Malwinder has any grievance, he can directly discuss the issue with either the Chief Minister or me as he is an honourable member of the SAD," Sukhbir said. Speaking to mediapersons, the Deputy CM accused the Centre of delaying the opening of the Bathinda airport. He alleged that several letters to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry on the issue had fallen on deaf ears. He said the Punjab Government had slashed the VAT on aviation fuel for flights to Bathinda to 5 per cent from 30 per cent. Lambi (Muktsar): Talking to mediapersons in Tappa Khera village on the sidelines of the concluding day of his Sangat Darshan programme in the Lambi assembly, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal reiterated his party's opposition to FDI in retail. He described the Centre's move as anti-trader and anti-farmer. “The SAD can’t remain a mute spectator to the move which is aimed at benefiting multi- national companies and ruining small traders and farmers." He termed the Centre's move as "suicidal". The Chief Minister welcomed 46 Congress families from Khuddian village, 35 from Adhanian and 90 from Deon Khera, into the party fold. He handed over placement letters to students of the State Institute of Automotive and Driving School,
Mahuana.
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Cancer Survey
Sangrur, November 30 They have taken the step in protest against a meager payment of Rs 200 each to ASHA workers for conducting the survey in around 200 houses. ASHA Workers Union district president Saroj Rani said over 900 workers in the district would boycott the survey till the government accepted their demand of paying Rs 100 per day to each worker. She said the payment of Rs 200 to each worker for conducting the survey across 200 houses was a cruel joke as only 10 to 15 houses could be surveyed in a day. She added that they had submitted a memorandum to the district health authorities in this regard. In the memorandum, they have demanded Rs 100 per day to each worker, failing which they would boycott the survey. Dr Surinder Singla, district project coordinator, said they had forwarded the memorandum to the Director, Health and Family Welfare, Punjab, seeking directions in this regard as they did not have powers to enhance the amount.
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Badal recalls Gujral’s swift loan waiver Badal, who air-dashed to Delhi to pay his condolences to the family, said Gujral was among the greatest champions of peace and friendly relations between India and Pakistan. Badal said that the people of Punjab will never forget the daring and decisive role played by Gujral in helping his state get rid of the crippling special term loan of Rs 8,500 crore which the state had incurred in fighting the nation's battle during the days of militancy. “The memory of the moments in which IK Gujral as Prime Minister waived the entire loan with just a mild but firm stroke of his pen is still etched deep in my mind. We took 21 most-difficult issues of the state to Gujral and he took just 11 minutes to solve all those and to issue clear orders then and there. This was one of the happiest moments in my public and personal life and a great moment for Punjab,” said Badal. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal in a condolence message said Gujral was the first Punjabi Prime Minister and would be dearly remembered by the people of Punjab for waiving the loan during his term and sanctioning Pushpa Gujral Science City for the state. Pradesh Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh said the former Prime Minister would be remembered for the Gujral Doctrine which was aimed at strengthening relations with neighbouring countries. “The country will miss a great visionary,” he said in the message.
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Transmission losses decline
Patiala, November 30 He was here at the inauguration of the ‘Energy Conservation Fortnight’ which is being observed jointly by the Punjab Energy Development Authority (PEDA) and Punjab Power Corporation throughout the state. Since over 11 lakh agricultural pumpsets in the state do not have meters, of the 76 lakh power consumers in the state, only 65 lakh have meters. Chaudhri said that areas, where the meters have been shifted out of the consumers’ premises, have witnessed fewer trippings and the number of cases when transformers have burnt has gone down. “As many as 53,000 distribution transformers have been deloaded and before the next paddy season, all the distribution transformers will be deloaded to ensure uninterrupted power supply to electricity consumers of the state in summer next year,” he said. Chaudhri also said that because of the steps taken by the Power Corporation, the Transmission and Distribution losses had come down from 18 per cent to 17.4 per cent and PSPCL was now aiming at bringing it down to 15 per cent in the next couple of years. He further said that Power Corporation had already been making efforts through advertisements in print and electronic media to make the common man aware about the benefits of energy conservation. “We have distributed 15 lakh CFLs at a subsidised rate in some parts of the state to replace the ordinary incandescent lamps under the Bachat Lamp Yojna scheme and will soon cover the whole of Punjab,” he added.
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PSPCL chairman to appear before CERC on December 18
Patiala, November 30 “The action of PSPCL has created impediments in the operation of the commercial mechanism of the NRLDC,” stated the Commission. — TNS
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Thinners, nail paint remover banned
Moga, November 30 A notification in this regard has been issued by the Health and Family Welfare Department. The government has directed the District Magistrates, Senior Superintendents of Police and civil surgeons to takeaction against whosoever is found selling these products. There are reports that these products are widely misused by children, particularly street children. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on July 17, 2012, directed the states of Punjab and Haryana and the Chandigarh Administration to take remedial steps to rehabilitate the abusers of these products by taking them to de-addiction centres
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SGPC condemns arrest of Sikh jatha in Uttarakhand
Fatehgarh Sahib, November 30 Makkar said that the people as well as the state government had not denied that Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru, had visited the place at Har-ki-Pauri where a gurdwara was established around 450 years ago. He said that their main demand was that the shrine be rebuilt keeping in view the sentiments of the Sikhs living there. The SGPC chief said that he would soon seek an appointment with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna to resolve the issue. He said he would also involve the local community leaders including local MLA Harbhajan Singh Cheema in the talks so that the shrine could be rebuilt as early as possible.
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460 boxes of liquor confiscated in Rajpura
Patiala, November 30 Brar said Rajpura was used as a transit point to smuggle liquor to various destinations in the north. “Since the liquor rates in Chandigarh are low, smugglers try to evade taxes and smuggle liquor from Chandigarh,” he said. — TNS
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4 police officers acquitted in fake encounter case
Chandigarh, November 30 The court acquitted the SP, Fatehgarh Sahib, Balwant Singh, the then DSP Jaspal Singh, SI Darshan Singh (now retired) and the then Ropar SHO Arvinder Bir Singh under Sections 302, 364 and 120-B of the IPC. It awarded the ‘benefit of doubt’ to these officers with the prosecution failing to establish the crime motive. Kulwant Singh, a Ropar-based advocate, was allegedly kidnapped and murdered along with his wife and year-old son on January 25, 1993. The police officials, who have now been acquitted, implicated Harpreet Singh, a Ropar resident, in the case. This raised a storm of protest from lawyers in the state. A CBI inquiry was ordered by the Supreme Court that found that Harpreet Singh had been falsely implicated by the police officers. They were then booked under Sections 120B, 193, 194, 211, 218 of the IPC. In 2000, the CBI filed a charge sheet, accusing the police officials of murdering Kulwant Singh and his family members and implicating Harpreet Singh in the case. In 2002, the court sentenced Arvinder Bir Singh, then Ropar SHO, to 10 years’ imprisonment for fabricating false evidence. The appeal in this case is pending before the High Court. Timeline January 25, 1993: Advocate Kulwant Singh goes missing 1993: Supreme Cort directs CBI to hold inquire after protests by advocates 1995: CBI says no murder offence is made against Harpreet Singh 2000: CBI submits a charge sheet against the four police officials, accused them of murdering Kulwant Singh and his family members 2002: CBI sentences SHO Arvinder Bir Singh for fabricatng official record. Three others acquitted Nov 30, 2012: Court acquits all four police officers
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26 get life term for double murder
Amritsar, November 30 In 2007, two brothers, Kewal Singh and Saroop Singh, were killed over a property dispute. Additional Sessions Judge PP Singh acquitted 12 others named in the FIR. The 12 belonged to the family of the deceased. Saroop and Kewal were killed while six others were injured in an exchange of fire between two factions. A case was later registered at the Rajasansi police station.
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4 held with cocaine worth Rs 10 crore
Jalandhar, November 30 The four have been identified as Des Raj, alias Vicky, Raj Kumar, alias Raja, both residents of Bhatia village, near Phillaur; Kuldip Singh and Jaspreet Singh, residents of Daduwal village. Senior Superintendent of Police Yurinder Singh Hayer said the Kartarpur police station in charge had received a tip off that a group of four smugglers was headed to Hoshiarpur to drop a consignment. A police team led by SSP (Detective) Rajinder Singh set up a checkpoint near the Kartarpur railway station. The police stopped a Ford Endeavor (PB10 CC 0014) and seized the contraband upon search. Police officials claimed that the consignment was brought from Colombia. Further interrogation of the accused would be done to bust the supply line. “We will look into the supply line and the links of these peddlers with those living abroad,” a police official said. A case under Sections 21, 61 and 85, NDPS Act, has been registered against the accused at the Kartarpur police station.
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PYC chief, 10 arrested for creating ruckus at hospital
Jalandhar, November 30 The PYC members had converged on the hospital to replace Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal’s pictures with those of the Prime Minister on Ambulance 108 introduced by the state government under the National Rural Health Mission scheme of the Central Government. Led by PYC president Vikram Chaudhary, the activists intercepted an ambulance carrying a patient near the hospital entrance. They forced its driver and the health team deployed in the vehicle to dump the patient. The health team later sped away, leaving the patient on the ground. The PYU members later created a ruckus for over 30 minutes near the Trauma Centre, as they raised anti-government slogans, putting patients and their attendants to inconvenience. Amid the melee, certain pictures of the Prime Minister were ripped apart. ADCP (Headquarters) Navjot Singh Mahal along with the ACP later arrived at the scene and restored order. The police then shifted all ambulances to nearby police stations. The police arrested Vikram Chaudhary and 10 others on charges under Sections 107 and 151 of the IPC and took them to the New Baradari police station. They were released on bail by the Deputy Commissioner of Police in the afternoon. Chaudhary denied stopping any ambulance carrying patients. He said Youth Congress activists had been advised not to stop any ambulance carrying patients across the state. “The ambulance service has been introduced under a scheme introduced by the UPA government and the state government is misleading the general public by claiming it to be a scheme of the SAD-BJP government. We want the pictures of the Punjab Chief Minister replaced with those of the Prime Minister,” he claimed. Sangrur: Members of the Youth Congress staged a dharna in front of the police station at Lehragaga, 40 km from here, today.
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Amritsar, November 30
Jalandhar, November 30
Chandigarh, November 30