Ludhiana, April 17
The Ludhiana Municipal Corporation has warned all educational institutions to mend their ways or face action. The orders have been issued in view of increasing number of illegal parking of vehicles by students outside schools and colleges in the city.

Ever since the civic body launched its Android mobile phone application- LMC CRAMAT - it has received several complaints of such illegal parking outside educational institutions.

Besides, even the Punjab and Haryana High Court had pulled up the civic body regarding its failure to check illegal parking outside educational institutes.

To start with, the civic body's tehbazaari wing has given a day's time to schools for making sure no vehicles are parked outside their premises.

The MC officials today impounded 11 two-wheelers from outside Guru Nanak Public School in Sarabha Nagar.

Interestingly, a majority of the city schools don't allow their students to come to school on two-wheelers because they don't possess a valid driving licence due to the age factor. But the school authorities don't take any action when students park their vehicles along the school's boundary wall.

The MC had to face a students' ire when they impounded two-wheelers from outside BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School in Shastri Nagar on Monday.

MC's tehbazaari superintendent Naveen Malhotra said: "Orders have been sent to all schools. Even if any school is left, they should still not allow students to park vehicles because if we see any vehicle parked outside the school premises, we would impound it," stated Malhotra. He said similar directions would be sent to colleges and other educational institutions.

Ludhiana, April 17
Traders are facing a tough time as the new challan forms to be submitted along with the VAT return are not available either with the department or in the market.

The department has made certain changes in the challan forms from this quarter, but has failed to make them readily available even as the last date for filing of VAT return is April 22.

Earlier, two challan forms were to be submitted. But now, traders need to fill one form. Those who need to submit central sales tax have to submit a separate form, which too has been changed.

“I have filed my return online and went to the department’s office for submitting the challan form, but the officials did not accept the form saying the form has been changed. When I asked for the new form, the officials said they were yet to receive the forms. The last date for the submission of form is nearing, but the department is yet to receive the same,” said Tikal Raj, a trader.

Jatinder Khurana, a tax lawyer, said: “It always remains a problem with the department as it is in a habit of doing things at the last minute. Sometimes C forms are not available and now traders are not getting challan forms,” he added.

Another trader said the forms were not available either in the market or with the department.

Ludhiana, April 17
Think twice before organising a function or throwing a party as setting up of tents or canopies for the same will attract service tax.

A circular issued by the Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) reads: "Setting up of a pandal or a shamiana is a reasonably specialised job and is carried out by the supplier with the help of his labour. The service is generally coupled with other services like supply of crockery, furniture, sound system and lighting arrangements."

Effective possession and control over a pandal or a shamiana remains with the service provider even after the erection is complete and the specially made up space for temporary use handed over to the customer. Accordingly, the services provided by way of setting up of a pandal or a shamiana will attract service tax," the circular read

Service tax is levied at the rate of 12 per cent on all services except for those exempted or mentioned in the negative list. However, in case of certain services, abatement is given i.e. the tax is charged at lower rate.

Baljeet Singh, owner of a tent house said: "I was not aware that any such tax is levied on our services. We have landed in difficult situation as I don't know about maintaining the records."

Satish Gupta, another tent house owner, said it was a small-time business and service tax should not be levied on it. "Most of us will not be able to understand the complexities of the tax system," he added.

Ludhiana, April 17
Power supply in the city and in the central zone remained normal even as the power utility employees observed a day-long strike since last midnight.

Even as the activists of the Punjab State Electricity Board Employees' Federation (PSEBEF), which had given the call for the strike, claimed that the strike was total in all the four distribution circles falling in central zone, the senior officials of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) maintained that around 78 percent members of staff had not reported on duty.

PSPCL chief engineer, central zone, KL Sharma said normal power supply was maintained and almost all sub-stations remained operational as the junior engineers and their superior officials lent a helping hand. Most of the line faults and disturbed feeders were also attended to by the non-striking and contractual technical staff, he added.

Sharma claimed that cash counters and customer care centres of PSPCL at most of the division and sub division level offices remained fully or partly functional where payments of bills were received from consumers and other public dealing work was carried out.

"Power supply to more than a dozen villages around Alamgir on Ludhiana-Malerkotla Road was disrupted since 11 AM as the 66 KV sub station at Sarinh had developed a snag," Sharma said while ruling out the possibility of any mischief behind the incident. He said the technical staff and the officials were attending to the problem and fault in the the sub station would be rectified by the evening.

Activists of the PSEBEF and other trade union leaders said the strike was the manifestation of brewing resentment among the staff of the power utility who were fed up with the unfulfilled promises of the managements.

"Despite having accepted almost all the pending demands in principle, the managements of PSPCL and PSTCL have failed to take steps to provide security of service, better working conditions, removal of anomalies in pay scales, making provisions for promotion channels, recruitment on compassionate grounds and revision of allowances," the union leaders alleged while also serving an ultimatum to the authorities that agitating employees will further intensify the struggle if justice was not dispensed to them.

Ludhiana, April 17
With the ongoing Navratras, religious spirit has engulfed the city. Jeans has replaced “ghagra choli” while "dandiya" and "garba" has taken over salsa and belly dance. Instead of clubs people are seen rushing towards the temples and “dandiya” nights. Decked up with lights and flowers, temples are wearing a distinct look. Devotees throng the temples early in the morning to offer prayers.

Restaurants have set up separate kitchens for Navratras where food is prepared without onion and garlic. Almost every restaurant in the city is offering “Navratra thali” and people observing a fast can be seen savouring the special food prepared from "sabudana" and "kuttu" flour.

Apart from the city restaurants, the departmental stores are also keeping special food articles prepared specially for the festivities. Kittu flour, specially prepared “namkeen” and chips, special rice and groundnuts have made their way into the shelves of every departmental store. The “satvik” food articles are in great demand these days.

"This is the most auspicious time to fast. Every year, I keep fasts. During this time, I love to munch on special potato chips and dishes prepared from the special flour. At least, once, I go to a nearby restaurant to relish the special navratra food," said Himani, a city resident.While some devotes will be doing “kanjak pooja” on “ashtmi” others will be doing it on “navmi”.

"It gives me immense pleasure when I keep fast and later do “kanjak pooja” and offer food and gifts to small girls. I will be holding the “kanjak pooja” tomorrow," added Reena, another city resident from Aggar Nagar.

Ludhiana, April 17
As the world celebrates Heritage Day on Thursday, the Museum of Rural Life of Punjab on the Punjab Agricultural University campus is in a state of neglect.

With the passage of time, termite has eaten up wooden windows. All articles depicting rich cultural heritage of Punjab are covered with dust. This is despite of the fact that renowned scientist Swaminathan had sanctioned a hefty amount for the upkeep of the museum.

The lack of interest on the part of the PAU authorities is visible as the antiques and valuable articles are gathering dust. Most of these articles were donated by the people across the Punjab. Indeed, the museum is still an attraction for students and visitors.

The museum was set up under the guidance of an art connoisseur and former Vice-Chancellor of the PAU Dr Mohinder Singh Randhawa in 1974 with an aim to preserve the rich heritage of rural Punjab. The museum was inaugurated by eminent author and journalist Khushwant Singh.

"The authorities should take care of the museum as it is a unique place in the state where culture and heritage of ancient Punjab is preserved. It depicts the evolution of agriculture and self-explanatory replica of social life of rural Punjab. Moreover, the tourism department should add this museum to its list," said Janmeja Singh Johl, a cultural activist from the city.

Dr Neelam Grewal, dean, Home science College, PAU, and in charge of the museum said: "I cannot disclose anything about the funds which were announced by Swaminathan as it is the internal matter of the university. Things are improving gradually. We have initiated steps to control termite in the building."

Ludhiana, April 17
Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari has asked officials of various departments to be present in offices from 9 am to 5 pm, particularly on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Cracking a whip against those who remain absent from duty between 9 am and 10 am on working days, Tiwari said this would not be tolerated and severest possible action would be taken against such officials.

Chairing a meeting to review development works going on in the district at Bachat Bhawan today, Tiwari pulled up as many as 24 officials (one by one), who were found absent from duty on different working days, and said next time, show-cause notices would be served on them.

He asked the representatives from various departments to clear the pending cases at the earliest . Around 72 cases (a majority pertaining to character verification) have been pending with the Commissioner's office. Tiwari asked the representatives to clear those at the earliest as some of them had been pending since May 2011.

Besides, the Deputy Commissioner said about 24,639 beneficiaries had benefited under different MNREGA schemes and about Rs 20.64 lakh had been spent on these schemes in the district. With this, Ludhiana district had come at the number one position in Punjab in providing work and wages to the poor and needy. He appreciated Dr Rishipal Singh, ADC (D), for doing excellent work in this direction. Asking the officials of the Municipal Corporation to be cautious in summer, Tiwari said the department should ensure that safe drinking water is provided to the residents.

He asked the officials to speed up development works, so that the tasks were accomplished within a stipulated time.

He said under the National Health Insurance Scheme, smart cards were made of about 14,500 families, under which the families could avail of free treatment up to Rs 30,000 (per year) for the next three years. The meeting was attended by Neeru Katyal, ADC (G), Dr Rishipal Singh, ADC (D), SDM (West) and SDM (East).

Ludhiana, April 17
Soon after the Commissioner of Police suspended three policemen, including Daba SHO Jatinderjit Singh for dereliction of duty and arrested three men for thrashing a woman in full public view, the agitating residents of Prem Vihar Colony near Dhandari village today staged protest and blocked National Highway- I near Sherpur Chowk here this evening.

Over 100 residents squatted on the road and condemned the police action. They claimed that three men, including Manoj Kumar, Rahul and Kalu had been ‘wrongly’ booked by the police for thrashing a woman.

Chandan Kumar, Manoj's friend, who was leading the agitating residents said, "The police has scene one side of the coin before registering the case. Rita is already involved in an assault case. First, the goons hired by Rita assaulted Manoj and other residents of the locality and when Rita was being assaulted then someone from her group recorded the incident on the mobile phone and circulated the MMS. Then police did not ask Rita as what kind of monetary dispute she has with Manoj. The realty is different then it appears in the video clipping," said Chandan Kumar.

The agitating residents demanded that the Police Commissioner should revoke his orders.

Ludhiana, April 17
Former Heath Minister Satpal Gosain today raised his voice against selling sand on the black market.

While addressing a press conference here today, Gosain said that he raised the same issue during the "Chintan Shivir" of the Akali Dal at Goa, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal responded to his concern.

Interestingly, without naming anyone, Gosain alleged that tractor-trailer owners were responsible for selling sand on the black market. He denied involvement of any politician or government functionaries in the matter. On being asked whether the claims of the Congress were true that Akali leaders were involved in the issue? Gosain said," I don't know who is involved in this. Whenever I will get to know, I will definitely tell the media".

He said that he had also raised issues like pending development projects, increase in widow pension and payment of dues to beneficiaries of Shagun Scheme, in Goa, during the Chintin Shivir.

Ludhiana, April 17
Corruption charges, against officials and staff at the Sub-Registrar offices in the city, refuse to die down. In yet another incident, at the Sub-Registrar office, Jamalpur, some visitors raised slogans against the Patwari today, as the latter allegedly demanded money for providing the mutation papers to the visitors.

According to available information, since it was a routine work, the visitors asked the Patwari to provide the paper, who allegedly demanded money, following which an argument ensued between the visitors and the Patwari.

When asked, The SDM (East), Ajay Sood, said that a minor incident took place at the Jamalpur office and he had asked the Tehsildar concerned to probe the matter and provide details.

Jagraon, April 17
Members of the Commission Agents' Association today met Jagraon DSP Surinder Kumar.

They said theft of grain from godowns was on the rise.

President of the association Surjit Singh Kaler said due to the thefts, they had been incurring losses.

The members urged the police to keep a vigil on such activities.

They said a gang of grain thieves has been active in the area for long and the miscreants have executed several thefts in the area.

Members of the Jagraon Rice Millers' Association had held a meeting with the police officers in February and submitted a memorandum to the officers, demanding action against the gang.

The members of the Commission Agents' Association said the miscreants stole grain from the stores of rice millers, godowns of commission agents and trucks.

They said some of them were hardcore criminals who often kept sharp-edged weapons with them.

"Whenever guards try to stop them from stealing the grain, they threaten them. They have even attacked and injured some of our guards and employees," said a member. After listening to the grievances of the commission agents, DSP Surinder Kumar assured them of enhancing the vigil so that theft incidents did not take place.

He asked the commission agents to be vigilant and cooperate with the police to sort out the problem. Later, the members of the delegation also held a meeting with Jagraon MLA SR Kaler and raised the same issue. Office-bearers of the association, including Raj Kumar Bhalla, Paramjit Singh, Amrit Lal Mittal and several others, were also present.

Sudhar, April 17
The police has booked unidentified persons under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC for killing a mason of Halwara village and trying to destroy his body.

The body of the victim, identified as 40-year-old Harjinder Singh, was found under a heap of garbage in dry drain near Buraj Littan this afternoon.

Investigations by a police team led by SHO, Sudhar, Rajesh Sharma revealed that the victim had disappeared under mysterious circumstances after leaving his home at 7 pm on Tuesday. His cellphone was found switched off when his wife Manjit Kaur tried to contact him.

Failing to find any clue about Harjinder, Manjit Kaur informed the police. She later identified the body.

Ludhiana, April 17
As many as 50 chemist shops in the city were raided today by nine joint teams of the Health and Police Departments. The joint campaign against illegal drugs started yesterday in the district on the direction of the Commissioner of Police Ludhiana, Ishwar Singh, and the Civil Surgeon, Ludhiana Dr Subhash Batta.

Dinesh Gupta, Zonal Licensing Authority (Drugs), Ludhiana, said, "Today’s teams consisted of nine drug inspectors. We also included Manpreet Kaur and Sonia Guota, two drug inspectors from Moga, while Karuna Gupta and Santosh Jindal from Sangrur and Rupinder Kaur from Malerkota. The four drug inspectors were from Ludhiana".

He further said that drugs were seized from seven shops. 99 bottles of cough syrup were seized from Vishal Medical Hall, Pindi Street, 200 capsules of parvonspas from R Medicos, Shimlapuri, and Happy Medico, Shimlapuri, 200 tablets of lomofin from Sant Medicos of Grewal market. While Sai Medical Hall, Prem Nagar, and Dhanjan Medicos of Sodhi Market could not produce medical bills of some drugs which were not habit forming."

Batta warned that strict action would be taken against the violators.

Gupta said 21 chemist shops were raided yesterday, out of which notices would be issued to 15 shop owners tomorrow. Seized articles will be produced in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Ludhiana, and further action will be taken against them."

Ludhiana, April 17
The city police nabbed a couple and seized 5 kg of poppy husk from their possession.

The accused identified as Bubly and his wife Charno were nabbed from the Sadar area here today. Giving details about the couple's arrest,Amandeep Barar, SHO, Sadar, said that the accused were nabbed following a tip off. The accused were carry contraband in a gunny bag.

The police found their activities suspicious and nabbed them.

Ludhiana, April 17
The star cast of the upcoming Punjabi movie, “Bikkar Bai”, was in the city. Protagonists of the movie, Jassi Jasraj, Shahbaz Khan, Bobby Sandhu and Kanwalpreet Kaur along with producer Sandeep Bansal, were present on the occasion.

Sandhu, who has also written the screenplay of the movie, apart from acting, said that the roles in the movie had been tailored for actors, rather than fitting them into different pre-written characters, he said.

Ludhiana, April 17
The police has nabbed three persons and recovered poppy husk from them. The accused have been identified as Jiwan Singh, a resident of Dulon Kalan, Gurchet Singh, a resident of Bhutta village, and Baldev Singh of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar, Daba.

The police recovered 4.5 kg of poppy husk from Jiwan Singh’s possession. From Gurchet Singh, it recovered 14 kg of poppy husk and 2 kg of husk was recovered from Baldev Singh.

Jagraon, April 17
The police has arrested two persons and recovered 35 kg of poppy husk from them.

The accused identified as Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sukhi, a resident of Kalsian village, and Tarsem Singh, a resident of Lakha village near Jagraon, were arrested from different locations.

In charge of the crime investigation agency (CIA) staff Prem Singh said the first accused Sukhwinder Singh, alias Sukhi, was arrested from the outskirts of Aligarh village.

During search, 20 kg of poppy husk was recovered from his possession.

The second accused, Tarsem Singh, was arrested from Lakha village following a tip-off. The police recovered 15 kg of poppy husk from him.

The police said Tarsem was out on bail.

Jagraon, April 17
Two youths were killed in a road accident that took place at Alighar village near Jagraon on the Ludhiana-Ferozepur highway on Monday.

The youths, hailing from Gure village, were on their way home, when a Punjab Roadways bus coming from the opposite direction collided head-on with the motorcycle. The two were rushed to a hospital where doctors declared them brought dead. The deceased identified as Sandeep Singh and Sukhdeep Singh were in their twenties. Sandeep Singh was doing a diploma in automobile engineering while Sukhdeep Singh was pursuing graduation.

Grief-stricken family members of the deceased were inconsolable when the bodies were brought to the village after post-mortem.

The bus driver managed to flee the spot. A case has been registered.

Ludhiana, April 17
District Transport Officer Anil Kumar Garg has asked the school managements to complete papers of their buses/school vans and keep those in the vehicles so that students do not face harassment.

Garg said, "We are going to check the vehicles from now on. Drivers/managements will be penalised if they don't have complete documents. We have already impounded 15 buses of Greenland School. Today we checked the vehicles of DPS School. The drive will continue. Overloading of buses will also be checked," said the DTO.

Ludhiana, April 17
A week-long athletics meet, organised by the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) Employees Union and the PAU Fourth Class Workers Union, concluded here today.

Senior officials of the PAU unfurled the university flag. In his inaugural remarks, the chief guest, Dr PK Khanna, Registrar, PAU, said that the spirit of sportsmanship was vital as it taught self-discipline. He exhorted the non-teaching employees to continue taking part in sports activities as they were essential to develop a constructive attitude towards life. The guest of honour, AC Rana, Comptroller, PAU, said that active participation in sports events helped in enhancing the personality. Earlier, Shiv Kumar, president, PAU Fourth Class Workers Union, welcomed the dignitaries, the PAU faculty and the non-teaching employees. Paramjit S Gill, president of the PAU Employees Union, proposed the vote of thanks and exhorted sportspersons to compete in true sportsman spirit.