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CCTV cameras left to rust at BMC Chowk
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63 issues to be discussed at MC House meeting
Attack on shopkeepers: Accused sent to 14-day judicial custody
MC asks DAVIET to pay
Rs 1.7 crore house tax
MC starts issuing computerised receipts to applicants at Suwidha Centre
13-member CII delegation leaves for five-day Pak tour
Demolition: Ekta Vihar residents seek time from MC
Santokh Singh and Khushwant Rai, both Class XI students of Police DAV Public School, show their model of a braille printer in Jalandhar on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh
Fashion show held at LPU
Miss Pooja appears before income tax authorities
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CCTV cameras left to rust at BMC Chowk
Jalandhar, December 11 The police seems to be hardly concerned about the security of the residents as not even a single CCTV camera is functional in the city, which has further boosted the morale of the criminals. The criminal are not only attacking general public and traders, but also police personnel. The recent incident in which armed assailants attacked a traders and some policemen at Bhagat Singh Chowk after their aides were restrained from teasing a girl shows the high level of confidence of miscreants and weakness of the police. Functioning of the city police further comes under a cloud with its traffic wing removing three cameras from the killer PAP Chowk in 2011, leaving the security of the road users at the mercy of the god. Ironically, the cameras were installed at the office of the Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic). After the media highlighted the issue, the police "concocted a story" of setting up a traffic control booth at the busy BMC Chowk and installed the cameras there. The cameras at the busy BMC Chowk have been waiting to be functional for the past over six months. Due to the callous attitude of the city police, these sophisticated cameras are left to rust. The Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), Sarabjit Singh, while talking to The Tribune a couple of months ago had claimed to set up a traffic control booth at the chowk. The police managed to erect a small cabin under the overbridge, but the authorities failed to install equipment like monitor, CPU, cables and UPS, besides providing other infrastructure to make the traffic booth functional. The DCP claims that the BMC traffic police booth would shortly be made functional as there were certain formalities left. He, however, claimed that the project of installing nearly 175 CCTVs in the city had been merged with the comprehensive traffic moveability plan to be taken up by the state government in the coming years. |
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63 issues to be discussed at MC House meeting
Jalandhar, December 11 The proposal is being mooted in the forthcoming MC meeting scheduled to be held on December 14. The meeting of
councillors, which will be the first one to be convened by new Mayor Sunil
Jyoti, will discuss 63 issues, circulated in the copy of agenda today. It has also been proposed to allow Rs 3 lakh per ward in the contingency plan for O&M works, including sewerage fault or manhole
covers. Jyoti, who perhaps aims to appease all the councillors cutting across party lines in the first go, has proposed that three contractors be assigned the job of patching of potholes in roads for different wards. Loan from Amritsar Improvement Trust
The fund-crunched MC has gone to the extent of proposing to take a loan to the tune of Rs 15 crore from the Amritsar Improvement Trust on 9 per cent interest. Citing reasons for the same, the Deputy Controller, Finance and Auditing, stated that payments of Rs 35 crore were due towards various contractors. He mentioned that an amount of Rs 17 crore had been recently taken on loan from the Local Bodies Department, of which
Rs 10 crore had been paid for the acquisition of the sewage treatment plant and Rs 7 crore
to contractors. Courier service for bill distribution
The MC has plans to rope in a courier company for Rs 13.5 lakh per annum for distribution of 2.7 lakh water supply and sewerage bills across the city round the year. The SE (O&M) said nearly 67,500 bills were to be distributed every three months, which could not be sometimes sent to consumers due to shortage of staff. Inter-locking tiles
Despite a ban on the use of inter-locking tiles issued by the state government, the MC has proceeded ahead with a proposal to call tenders to the tune of several crores of rupees for road-laying using the same material. Through the item number 36 of the agenda, the use of inter-locking tiles for road work in 18 colonies of the city, including Madhuban Colony, Khurla
Kingra, Dashmesh Nahar, Geeta Colony and other areas, has been proposed. F&CC
The whole focus of the ruling party in the upcoming House meeting will be on the appointment of two councillors in the most powerful Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC). Mayor Sunil Jyoti and councillor Ravi Mahendru had been councillor members of the committee for the last two terms of two and a half years each. Since Jyoti and Mahendru are from the opposite camps, it is yet to be seen whether Mahendru would be able to make it to the committee again this time. Agenda put on web portal
Making the copy of the agenda of the MC meeting public, the authorities have this time put it on the web portal,
www.mcjalandhar.in. The access to the copy will help the residents propose any recommendations and suggestions through their area
councillors. |
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Attack on shopkeepers: Accused sent to 14-day judicial custody
Jalandhar, December 11 As a result, the court remanded all the 10
accused arrested in the case, in 14-day judicial custody. Terming the
failure of the city commissionerate in seeking police remand of the
accused as sheer negligence, an advocate Ashok Sharma said, "The
police should have requested the court for getting the police remand of
the accused for interrogated them for the recovery of the weapons and
for arresting the absconding accused." The advocate said,
"This is beyond any reasoning why the city commissionerate did not
seek police remand of the accused in an attempt-to-murder case,
registered under Section 307 of the IPC, whereas it generally requests
the court for police remand in less serious cases." Meanwhile, the
Punjab Press Club flayed the city commissionerate for its failure to
seek police remand of the accused. In an emergency meeting of the club,
headed by its president Major Singh, the journalists said the police had
adopted lackadaisical attitude in handling this serious case at the
behest of an Akali leader. Later, mediapersons carried out a protest
march from the Punjab Press Club to Commissioner of Police Gaurav
Yadav's residence. Yadav assured them that the commissionerate would try
to get their police remand soon. He also promise that the charge-sheet
against the accused would be present in the court at the earliest. The
ADCP, Navjot Mahal, would look into the lapses by policemen in handling
the case, he added. Meanwhile, the Punjab Press Club decided to shift
seriously injured Malhotra from the Civil Hospital to a private hospital
for his better treatment. A decision to honour Malhotra for his
exemplary bravery was also taken in the meeting. In the meantime, ADCP
Navjot Mahal said weapons, including baseball bats, hockey sticks and
knuckles, used in the attack, had been recovered. However, no sword used
in the attack could be recovered so far. Kalia visits Civil Hospital
Meanwhile a large number of persons, including former Local Bodies Minister and BJP MLA Manoranjan Kalia, Chief Parliamentary Secretary KD Bhandari, former minister Avtar Henry and Regional Passport Officer Perneet Singh, visited the Civil Hospital to inquire about Malhotra's health. Terming the incident as unfortunate, Kalia praised Malhotra for his exemplary bravery. He said the police should have reached the crime site early. Isolated incident
Responding to a query regarding beating up of a TV reporter, who was trying to protect a girl from being molested by eve-teasers, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, during his visit to Bholath in Kapurthala district, termed it as an isolated incident. |
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MC asks DAVIET to pay
Rs 1.7 crore house tax
Jalandhar, December 11 The MC authorities had issued a notice to the college management under Section 103 of the Punjab Municipal Corporation Act-1976 to appear for the matter in July last year. Principal of the college AL Sangal said he had gone to the office on the date given at that time, but the officials were not available then. “We had again been given a notice to appear yesterday, but I was away to Chandigarh and so we came today. We have put in our request that being a non-profitable educational institute, we be exempted from the tax. The MC officials are yet to decide on the matter,” said the principal. He added that the notice did not mention the amount to be levied. Mayor Sunil Jyoti said, “We will check as to how other educational institutes are paying. Accordingly, we will ask the DAVIET authorities as well to pay up.” An RTI activist, Ajay Sehgal, who has been pursuing the case, said since the institute had not paid up since 2001, the dues would have added up to at least Rs 10 crore now. On the issue of non-profit organisation, he said, “It is a sheer misconception. If there is any exemption, how come the Apeejay authorities have paid Rs 1.58 lakh.” From November 15 this year onwards, none of the educational institutes will be exempted from the property tax. The new policy entails levying amount on all institutes, hospitals, government offices and even vacant plots. |
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Birth/death registration Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, December 11 The system has been put on a trial run for about 20 days and the applicants are being issued receipts on the pattern similar to that in Suwidha Centre of the tehsil complex. The receipt mentions the token number, name of the applicant, father's name, address, document sought, amount received and even the tentative date on which the document would be delivered. The MC is also in the process of putting barricades at the windows to ensure that the queues are properly formed. The authorities have also planned putting up a token number display so that the applicants need not stand for long in the queue. "They can remain seated till their token number is displayed. Iron chairs for the comfort of applicants have already been put up in the centre. Mayor Sunil Jyoti had last month visited Suwidha Centre and recommended certain improvisations in the system. These included provision of toilets and drinking water. The MC has connected Suwidha Centre located at the basement with an upper floor from the rear of the building to provide access to the utilities. A proposal to set up a small kiosk for refreshments for visitors has already been mooted. 250 applications daily
The staff on duty said there were nearly 250 applications daily on an average,
which included those for birth or death registration, late entry and duplicate copies. The total number of applications received this year has already crossed 90,000 mark and is likely to touch the 1 lakh figure by the year end. |
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13-member CII delegation leaves for five-day Pak tour
Amritsar, December 11 The Indian delegation would hold businessmen to businessmen meetings with members of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Subsequently, they would hold similar meetings with members of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pakistan Business Council and Federation of the Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Heading the delegation, Rajan Bedi, a leading importer and exporter, said the Indo-Pak trade is anticipated to increase from US dollar 2.7 billion to USD 5.50 billion by 2013-2014. He said India and Pakistan need to move towards FDI and joint ventures as these are the vital modes of deepening economic cooperation between the two countries. He said keeping in view the domestic situation in Pakistan, there is greater chances of Pakistan investment coming to India than Indian investment flowing there. He said there is a need to streamline the business visa regime, long-term multiple entry business visas without police reporting and city restriction. He stressed the need to open up newer routes to boost bilateral trade.
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Demolition: Ekta Vihar residents seek time from MC
Jalandhar, December 11 Commissioner, MC, Viney Bublani is facing contempt of court over the issue. The court had order the demolition as per the demarcation done by the revenue officials. The MC on the request of the residents had got done another demarcation, the report of which is still awaited. The road, which is actually 27-foot wide on record, is now just 24-foot wide. The residents, however, are giving the argument that they have registries done by revenue officials of their entire property. "How come the officials did not realise their mistake then?" asked Manish Makkar and Jatin
Makkar, residents of the colony. Giving them a hearing, Mayor Sunil Jyoti sent them to the Deputy Commissioner as he said he was to go by the demarcation. |
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Police DAV Public School students develop low-cost braille printer
Jalandhar, December 11 The project of Class XI students of the school - Santokh Singh and Khushwant Rai - is the only one from Punjab and among 111 projects from across the country which was shortlisted by the Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS), a research-based platform of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Intel. The students were invited for a national-level exhibition held in Delhi from November 28 to December 2. The projects were selected by a panel of 20 judges. Santokh Singh and Khushwant Rai bagged the second position and a silver medal for the project. The students and their guide Anuj Sharma said the printer, which was easy on pocket, could be installed in various institutions for visually challenged persons, government offices as well as private institutions. |
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Fashion show held at LPU
Jalandhar, December 11 The evening also witnessed a warm spectacular musical ramp show with exquisite performances. Britain-born actress Mandy Takhar, singers Madan Maddi and Surkhaab Maan (Kade taan has bol ve, tera naa fame) and music director G Sonu added glamour and lustre to the show. Starting with the "Sufiana" round, the other five rounds were titled "Indo-western", "Innovative", "Anarkali", "Western" and "Office wear". The "Innovative" round earned much applause as the students revealed their creative power with the use of casual material. Students also presented scintillating bhangra and compelled the spectators to dancewith them. |
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Miss Pooja appears before income tax authorities
Jalandhar, December 11 The Income Tax Department had conducted raids on the houses, offices and other business establishments of Miss Pooja and other Punjabi film personalities. She was asked to appear in person and file her reply after the income tax sleuths conducted raids on her residence in Rajpura and booking officer (for programmes) in Jalandhar on December 5. The sleuths had also raided the offices and premises of Gippy and Diljit Dosanjh, besides the offices and residences of two Punjabi producing firms.
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