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On a loan-raising spree, MC draws Oppn flak
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As MC gears up to realise property tax, residents have mixed reaction to it
Amritsar, September 22 Even as the Municipal Corporation is gearing up to collect about Rs 50 crore as property tax in the first year of its imposition, residents have mixed feelings about the development. 18 held with drugs, liquor
Stubble burning goes on unabated in district
Family of man arrested with drugs alleges frame-up
Insurance firm asked to pay Rs 2.05 lakh
12 booked for assault, firing in air
2 kg of gold seized
Auditions held for “Mr Turban-2013” contest
Mohammad Rafi Society honours artistes
Relaxation, meditation techniques imparted through workshop
Cancer screening camp on Sept 28-29
BSP workers hold rally at Gol Bagh
Fake travel agents continue to cheat city residents
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On a loan-raising spree, MC draws Oppn flak
Amritsar, September 22 The Housing and Urban Development Corporation (HUDCO) has already given Rs 827 crore in advance to the Punjab Municipal Infrastructure Development Corporation (PMIDC) for providing quality civic amenities to the urban local bodies of Punjab. Out of this, the holy city received a loan of Rs 9.25 crore. This is to improve infrastructure facilities and help create durable public assets and quality-oriented services in cities and towns. The HUDCO has already given its consent for granting Rs 100 crore loan to the MC at 10.5 per cent interest rate. In September last year, the MC constituted its new house headed by Mayor BR Arora. He presented a budget of around Rs 300 crore for the year 2013-2014. But the civic body could not come out with any concrete policy measures to accumulate funds, which they claimed, would be ploughed back for providing ‘quality life’ to the residents. Congress councillor and leader of the opposition, Raj Kanwal Preet Pal Singh Lucky said out of the 300-crore budget, only Rs 180 crore would be consumed straightaway against the employees’ salaries per annum (the MC still owes arrears of Sixth Pay Commission amounting to Rs 40 crore to its employees). He said Rs 11.20 crore were required for the annual maintenance of vehicles and Rs 39.85 crore for committed expenses. This would amount to Rs 231.05 crore. “Now, they (MC) are left with just Rs 70 crore which would be used for carrying out development works. It is being anticipated that Rs 48 crore would be accumulated by selling the MC’s properties. While it the MC was expected to garner Rs 20 crore of which it could get only Rs 4 crore. How can one rely on such sources of income?” “The revenue generated from property tax too is not steady as the government had stalled the move citing its review. I fail to understand as to how they would pay back the loan. The MC has to pay back the funds amounting in crores (from 2015) that it had raised from a Japanese firm for undertaking sewerage augmentation and revamping projects of the city,” he added. District Congress chief and former Improvement Trust chairman Jugal Kishore said, “The MC already has to pay back Rs 30 crore to the Amritsar Improvement Trust. It is also planning to raise a loan of Rs 50 crore by mortgaging properties to Bank of India. Two months back, the MC had sold off its 4,067 square yards plot on Mall Road for Rs 14 crore. “Selling off properties is no solution. It is the government’s responsibility to arrange funds for the development works which was the main agenda of their poll manifesto”, he said. Jugal Kishore said he during his tenure had got executed development works worth crores in Transport Nagar and Jahajgarh, including revamping of sewerage, roads and parks. “The MC passed a resolution in October last year to take over these areas but later took a u-turn. On April 9, it (MC) took Rs 1.58 crore from the Improvement Trust for developing sewerage. But a dilapidated sewerage and broken roads speak volumes about what the work they have done.” “Residents are ruing that the government is transferring funds to other districts to carry out called development works whereas their own area is being taxed for it. The present government lacks vision and direction as has been proven by BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu,” he added. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora said, “We are selling only those properties which were lying idle or being encroached upon. It was better to put them in use for generating funds. It is true that the Rs 40-crore amount that we would have to bear by paying off the employees’ arrears will be a blow as the income generation sources have not expanded proportionately.” Municipal Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said, “We have expedited the process to generate the revenues and the collection from defaulters is reasonably good. As far as loan raising is concerned, we have already chalked out a plan to pay them back. Since the MC was grappling with cash crunch, it was the only way to start the pending projects or complete some of the works that were hanging in the balance for want of funds.”
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As MC gears up to realise property tax, residents have mixed reaction to it
Amritsar, September 22 Harpinder Singh Walia, a real estate agent, said the imposition of property tax was fine as far as those owning more than one property were brought under its net. He said people residing in spacious bungalows could be also taxed. However, tax must be brought down for those who earmark a major portion of their residence for greenery. The ordinance approved by the Governor amended the Punjab Municipal Act, 1911, and Punjab Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, to provide for imposition of house tax. The ordinances are likely to be replaced by regular act in the next session of the Punjab legislative assembly. House tax will augment the resources of local bodies and will also pave the way for release of Rs 1,146 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). Even as the move to impose property tax was taken by the Punjab cabinet to fit in the bracket for getting funds to the tune of over Rs 3,000 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission, thereby mending the dilapidated fiscal health of local bodies in different districts, urban residents feel that it is an improper step to put additional burden on them while exempting the rural residents. Officials said the Punjab government had introduced the Property Tax Bill after releasing notification on November 15, 2012 and gave its nod to all civic bodies of the state to implement it with immediate effect. The term property tax would replace the prevailing house tax with effect from April 1, 2013. For determining the unit value of the building for each zone in a municipal area, a valuation committee, under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioner, would consider the prevalent price of land, cost of construction and rental values. The other members of the panel would be the MP, a representative from MLA’s side, MC Commissioner and the city Mayor.Gunbir Singh of CII advocated levying of tax on residents owning more than one property. He said as far as charging Rs 50 per annum on houses measuring 50 square yards, Rs 150 per annum on houses measuring 100 yards it was welcomed. However, the government must levy house tax on those who own more than one house. Mirudala Bhawrdwaj, an educationist, said in developed nations like Australia where population was much less than its mass area, the governments offer subsidies to its citizens upon constructing first house. However, in a country like India where population explosion has overburdened its resources property taxes are understandable and its relevance is felt when we crib for omission of basic amenities. It has been learnt that no tax would apply to buildings and land used exclusively for religious purposes, cremation or burial grounds, gaushalas, stray animal care centres, historical and heritage buildings, scientific and cultural organisations, charitable and philanthropic organisations.
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18 held with drugs, liquor
Amritsar, September 22 The police nabbed Resham Singh of Indira Colony, Majitha Road with 170 gm of charas. Others arrested include Charanjit Singh of Sunder Nagar (150 gm narcotic powder), Davinderpal Singh of Ghaa Mandi (400 capsules), Rahul Sethi of Chowk Pasian (15 gm heroin), Amarjit Singh of Noordi Bazaar (100 capsules), Nishan Singh of Nariangarh (10 gm heroin), Harshvaid of Mulechak (190 capsules), Joga Singh and Pagga Singh of Anngarh (500 capsules), Kanwaljit Singh of Sharma Colony, Gurwinder Singh of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar (200 gm narcotic powder and 5 gm heroin), Rahul Kumar of Guru Gobind Singh Nagar (100gm) and Mandeep Sharma of Kale (5gm smack). The city police also arrested Tarsem Singh of Mulechak village with illicit liquor. The Amritsar rural police arrested Jagjit Singh of Raipur Kalan with 50 gm narcotic powder, Gursahib Singh of Jania village (600 gm), Sajjan Singh of Chhan Kalan (1,200 tablets) and Jagdish Singh of Kot Khera with 80 tablets of habit-forming drugs.
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Stubble burning goes on unabated in district
Amritsar, September 22 Even if the police registers a case against the violators, it has failed to stop farmers from burning stubble in absence of a concrete follow-up action. Technical measures such as rotavator, zero-till drill, baler machines, shredders or happy seeder machines provide alternatives to eliminate the crop refuse but they are expensive. The government is required to take steps to make such machines available to the farmers at cheap rates. "We condemn the practice of burning crop residue. But farmers too have no other viable choice. Despite knowing the fact that the fire would damage the fertility quotient of land, they adopt this unhealthy practice. Moreover, how can those who are already under debt be expected to pay the price of destroying the waste? It is the government which should formulate and grant subsidies, long-term loans and encourage manufacturers of such machines to make them affordable. Only then a solution can be expected," said Rattan Singh Randhawa, spokesperson of Jamhoori Kissan Sabha. Stubble burning not only leads to pollution but also causes breathing problems, especially to asthma patients. Due to massive air pollution, birds and animals also perish in such fires. Land fertility also decreases due to heat generated by the fire that penetrates into the soil up to one centimetre, said Dr Inderjeet Singh, an agriculture department official. Every after harvesting season, hospitals here get more patients with chest-related problems as the smoke leads to asphyxia or asthma. BJP's state vice-president Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina, himself a farmer, said that putting a blanket ban may not lead to desired results. Instead, a mechanism should be devised to persuade farmers to stop burning the waste by transforming it into some profitable raw material, he added. Chhina said that the government must initiate to set up the cardboard, paper and packaging industry units in the rural areas so that they get cheap raw material in the form of crop waste. "With this, not only the stubble would become a saleable and profitable commodity, the industry will also be benefited especially under the circumstances when there is a ban on tree cutting and this industry is facing shortage of raw material. Once the crop waste is turned into a profitable item, the farmers would not take the extreme and convenient way of burning the stubbles in the fields.' he said.
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Family of man arrested with drugs alleges frame-up
Amritsar, September 22 The family members of the victim released the CCTV footage of the incident, recorded in a petrol pump, to the media and urged the city police to cancel the case and initiate action against the guilty cops. Commissioner of Police (CP) Jatinder Singh Aulakh has marked an inquiry into the case. The victim's kin showed a CCTV footage pointing out that it was a deep-rooted conspiracy involving several policemen who themselves planted the contraband in his (victim) scooter when he was filling petrol at a fuel station. They later arrested him on charges of possessing 10 gm heroin. Maninder Kaur, the victim's mother, said Sarabjit worked as a tubewell operator with the Municipal Corporation and he was deputed at Ranjit Avenue area. "The CCTV footage clearly shows that how some people hid the narcotics in his scooter when he had gone to washroom. After this, four policemen in civvies headed by ASI Kuldeep Singh arrested him," she said. Among the accused policemen are ASI Kuldeep Singh, head constable Prem Singh, Jaskaran Singh and Sandeep Singh. She further alleged that the family was not allowed to meet the victim for over a week. She came to know about the whole instance after they met him in jail, adding that he was subjected to mental torture there also.
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Insurance firm asked to pay Rs 2.05 lakh
Amritsar, September 22 Earlier, Yogesh Kumar Sharma, a resident of Aman Avenue, had filed a complaint against the United India Insurance Company Limited stating that he had bought a medical insurance policy for his family. He alleged that as he fell ill during the period of the policy he was admitted to a private hospital where he spent Rs 2,30,040 on his treatment. He alleged that the policy had insured cashless hospitalisation but the company did pay only Rs 24,700 and he had to pay the balance amount of Rs 2,05,340 from his own pocket. The company in its reply stated that due to oversight treated as if the policy was for Rs 50,000 inadvertently and settled the claim at Rs 24,700. The company further stated that on the approach of the complainant, the matter was under consideration. However, during the pendency of the complaint, the opposite party repudiated the claim on the ground that the complainant had a history of hypertension for five years. The forum observed that the evidence produced on record by the opposite party totally makes the position of the opposite party controversial. At one point of time, they have stated that complainant had a history of hypertension for five years, as such as per the terms and conditions of the policy the whole claim of the complainant is to be rejected. But, the opposite party could not produce any evidence to prove that complainant had pre existing disease of hypertension for the past five years. It stated that the opposite party has wrongly repudiated the remaining claim of the complainant of Rs 2,05,340.
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12 booked for assault, firing in air
Amritsar, September 22 The victim, Baarinder Singh, a resident of Uttam Nagar, Sultanwind road, stated to the police that the accused Karabir Singh, a resident of New Azad Nagar area, came with his two accomplices on a motorcycle and entered in a clash with him. He said as the public gathered at the spot, they fled from the place while threatening them to teach him a lesson. He alleged that after sometime the accused along with over dozen persons armed with blunt weapons attacked him. They brutally thrashed him and fired five gun shots in air to intimidate the people who tried to rescue him. The accused later fled again and threatened to murder him. The B-division police official said a case under Sections 336 (endangering life or personal safety of others), 148 and 149 of the IPC and 25/27/54/59 of the Arms Act has been registered against the accused. He said the basic reason behind the incident was that the accused used to tease the victim’s niece and he had objected to this. He said raids were being conducted to nab the culprits.
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2 kg of gold seized
Amritsar, September 22 They could not produce any documents regarding the gold material. Dharminder Kalyan, SHO GRP police station, said the gold was seized during checking at the railway station. The duo had come through Howrah mail train which arrived at 9.30 am. He said both the accused and confiscated gold has been handed over to the Excise and Taxation Department for further necessary action.
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Auditions held for “Mr Turban-2013” contest
Amritsar, September 22 The event witnessed a heavy participation from across Punjab, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana in its previous installments and this time the organisers promise bigger and better things. “We started this initiative to make youngsters realise what it means to wear a turban and make them fully aware of their religion,” said Rashpal Singh Baagi, president, Baba Deep Singh Federation. The contest is open for all age groups with the finale having three categories divided according to the age groups- Group A (19-28 years), Group B (13-18 years) and Group C (6-12 years). The contestants are judged on the basis of their looks, talent and their knowledge of Sikh religion. The federation has been actively holding social awareness activities in schools and colleges throughout Punjab to discourage youngsters from cutting their hair and beard. The winner will also get a chance to star in a film. “It’s like a regular talent pageant, only with an aim to promote cultural heritage,” said Baagi. The contestants too came out in full strength to showcase their skills, proving their worth at the coveted title. Sunday afternoon witnessed the contestants fighting and entertaining the judges simultaneously with the display of their talent at the competition, right from thumping to the beats of dhol performing bhangra to impressing with the vocal chords. Apart from the fact that “Mr Turban” is a talent grooming competition, it comes with a mission attached to it. Baagi said, “A lot of Sikh youth are detaching them from the religion and shedding off their turban and other symbols of identity. We started this programme to inspire them, make a point that the cultural and religious identities are nothing to be ashamed off. Especially, for those who think that their turban is an obstacle in the way of making it big in the tinsel town. And look today how Bollywood has Sikh characters and turbaned heroes making Rs 100 crore films at the box office. Our youth has really started to understand the point being made.”
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Mohammad Rafi Society honours artistes
Amritsar, September 22 National SC/ST Commission Vice-President Raj Kumar Verka gave away the prizes to playback singers Anupama Deshpande and Shahid Malya, both from Bombay, comedian Jaswinder Bhalla, music director Kuljit Singh, Darshan Kumar, director of T-series, folk singer Sudesh Kumari and philanthropist SPS Oberoi and Gurjit Singh as best anchor. It may be mentioned here that Rafi was born in Kotla Sultan village, about 30 kms from Amritsar on December 24, 1924, and died of a heart attack in Mumbai on July 31, 1980. Rafi, who began singing by chanting the notes that a fakir sung in his village, went on to lend his voice to Bollywood megastars, including Amitabh Bachchan, Shammi Kapoor, Dharmendra and Dev Anand in his career as a successful playback artist.
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Relaxation, meditation techniques imparted through workshop
Amritsar, September 22 The workshop was conducted by Professor EV Swaminathan, motivator and counsellor from Mumbai, who is a trainer at the IIT’s and IIM’s. Children were taught special techniques of relaxation, meditation and visualisation to enhance their memory and concentration power. As many as, 500 parents and children attended the workshop. Short videos were shown to inspire children and make them have a vision and purpose. The parents were taught to hone the creative instincts of their children and proper explanations must be given to their questions. Swaminathan said a training workshop for principals and teachers was being organised at the Bhavans SL Public School on September 23 which was open to all the educationists. — TNS
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Cancer screening camp on Sept 28-29
Amritsar, September 22 Civil Surgeon Dr Yash Mitra said the screening camp would be free for around 7,000 suspected cancer patients identified by the department previous year. The Health Department had conducted a door-to-door cancer survey campaign previous year to assess the number of cancer patients in the district, Dr Yash Mitra said the camp would be organised as a part of the cancer diagnosis and treatment campaign initiated by the state government last year. He said the cancer treatment experts from the entire country would be diagnosing the patients during the camp. District Nodal Officer for the program of cancer eradication Dr Ranjit Singh Buttar said the camp would be beneficial for the patients who were kept in the category of suspected cases during the phase II for the state level programme. He said the patients would be given free state -of art diagnosis and treatment facilities during the camp.
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BSP workers hold rally at Gol Bagh
Amritsar, September 22 He said UPA’s policies were anti-poor and anti-nation. He said the government had imposed various taxes on the poor people which they were not able to pay. He said, “Change is the need of the hour.” Talking about the role of BSP in national politics, Kashyap said BSP would emerge as a king-maker if not a king itself. He said the UPA government had failed to safeguard the rights of the down trodden and backward sections of the society.
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Fake travel agents continue to cheat city residents
Amritsar, September 22 Dalwinder Singh, a resident of Chougwan Rupowali village, lodged a complaint with the Chheharta police station that Joga Singh of an insurance company and his son Ranjit Singh duped him of Rs 16 lakh. He alleged that the accused took the money from him besides his passport on the pretext of sending him to Germany. He said however, the accused neither sent him abroad nor did he return his cash. In a similar instance, Monish Kumar, a resident of Sharma Colony, located on Tarn Taran road, was defrauded by three Jalandhar residents on the pretext of sending him to a foreign country. He said Vishal, a resident of Adampura, Jalandhar, his wife Seema and Makhan Singh of Mithapur, Jalandhar, duped him of Rs 3 lakh. The accused had opened an office in Jalandhar where he had approached him. He said the culprits had promised to send him to Singapore after procuring visa. However, before he could understand their nefarious intensions, the accused fled away after shutting down the office. The police authorities said cases under Sections 420, 120-B of the IPC and 24 of the Immigration act have been registered against all the accused in both the cases for allegedly defrauding residents while no arrest has been made so far.
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With no viable alternatives to destroy crop residue in place, farmers here are resorting to stubble burning, little realising its repercussions.
Even if the police registers a case against the violators, it has failed to stop farmers from burning stubble in absence of a concrete follow-up action.
The family of a local resident has alleged that he was implicated by the Civil Lines police in a case of possessing narcotics a few days ago.
The family members of the victim released the CCTV footage of the incident, recorded in a petrol pump, to the media and urged the city police to cancel the case and initiate action against the guilty cops.
