Jalandhar, January 20
Reacting against the issuance of chargsheets to 28 officials of the Excise and Taxation Department, the Excise and Taxation Officers Association Punjab today threatened to go on an indefinite strike in 10 days if their demands were not met.

The chargesheets were issued to them by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner regarding the non-detection of some bogus purchases shown by Ludhiana-based Modgill Enterprises.

The association had recently held an emergency meeting of excise and taxation officers and inspectors of the state, where they had termed the chargsheets "frivolous" and also lambasted the department for making "untimely" transfers of office-bearers.

The meeting termed the style of the Excise and Taxation Department "autocratic". It was also resolved to ask the government to withdraw the said chargesheets and adopt a proper procedure to inquire into the matter.

They also demanded that the vice-president and the secretary general of the association should be shifted to their previous postings.

They had also sought the intervention of the Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal in the matter.

The association members said they were not against action against those who had not been working at all, but had come in for the protection of those who had already scrutinised their cases and were in the process of issuing notices to the companies of their area which had aligned with Modgill Enterprises by showing bogus invoices.

On the last working day of the year, officers and inspectors of the department from across the state had taken mass casual leave to protest against the chargesheets issued to them by the Excise and Taxation Commissioner regarding the issue.

The Excise and Taxation Commissioner Anurag Verma had recently said that the case regarding the company had been sent for detection through our economic offences wing to 13 excise districts on October 8. "As many as 114 dealers had been found to have claimed input tax credit (ITC) to the tune of Rs 4.2 crore on purchases amounting to Rs 85.16 crore from Modgill Enterprises, whose TIN had been cancelled before purchases during January 1 to June 23. I had asked the officers to check the matter in their respective wards about two and a half months ago, but none of them reported back. So there has been a dereliction of duty and, hence, showcause notices were issued to them. I have introduced a foolproof system on computer using ETTSA gateway through which detections can be easily checked, but the staff has not been using it fully," Verma had recently said.

Jalandhar, January 20
The police is probing the call details in the double murder case of former terrorist Mahinder Singh Tittu and his paramour Sushil Joshi. The police had yesterday ruled out the possibility of the involvement of a third party in the murder.

Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) RPS Sandhu said during the call detail inquiries, the police found that the mobile phones of the two were active till 11 am and were switched off later.

“The two also had a talk before 11 am, but there was no record of any third party interaction with the deceased on January 18. We are sticking to our old theories of investigation of cross-firing and we will give push to further investigation only if some suspicion arises,” the ACP added.

Tittu and his paramour were found dead at the latter’s house in Azad Nagar on January 18. The two had received bullet injuries on their head.

Tittu was a history sheeter, as he was charged under TADA in 1991 after being found in the company of terrorists and possessing arms and ammunition by te city police. 

Jalandhar, January 20
Senior Deputy Mayor Kamaljit Singh Bhatia, who had taken a stand against Mayor Sunil Jyoti, over the issue of prevailing corruption in the building branch and tehbazari etc, finally came to the municipal office (MC) here today after four months.

Bhatia was accompanied by MLA Pargat Singh, Deputy Mayor Arvinder Oberoi, Chairman, District Planning Committee, Gurcharan Singh Channi, SGPC member Kulwant Singh Mannan, former Jalandhar Improvement Trust chairman Baljeet Singh Neelamahal and councillors Parminder Kaur Pannu, Gurmej Kaur, Raminder Kaur Dhindsa and Paramjit Singh Reru.

Even leaders from the BJP, including state vice-president Ravi Mahendru, from the opposite group of Sunil Jyoti, and Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha president Rajeev Dhingra came along with Bhatia.

Bhatia said he had been feeling quite ignored, but no longer. “Most of my issues are now being addressed, with the building branch officials now taking action by sealing and demolishing illegal buildings. Two ATPs have been withdrawn from the building branch. The house keeping contractor Raj Pal, whose employees threw garbage in my room, is being blacklisted,” he said, adding that 19 councillors of different parties stood by him to show their solidarity.

He said, “Since I cannot go back on development issues and the municipal corporation House meeting is scheduled to be held this week, I decided to change my stand and resume work.”

Jalandhar, January 20
The city police has claimed to have busted a gang of thieves and nabbed two persons in this connection. The arrested gang members confessed to having committed a theft at a jewellery shop in Ashok Vihar on January 9.

The police also recovered 1 kg of silver ornaments, 3 tola gold, a Maruti car, two bikes, a mobile phone and 425 gm of intoxicant powder from them. The accused have been identified as Sukhdev, alias Beeru, of Jamalke village in Fazilka and Parkash Harjan of Makhu.

During interrogation, the accused admitted that they had committed a burglary at Muskan Jewellers on January 9 from where they had decamped with gold and silver worth near Rs 12 lakh, the police said.

The police revealed that the accused had already sold the remaining ornaments and was interrogating them to get identification details of those persons who had bought the stolen ornaments.

The accused Sukhdev had also committed a burglary at a grocery store five years ago, and in 2004, he had also stolen a scooter from Kala Sanghia, adding that even the recovered car and two bikes were recently stolen by the accused.

Jalandhar, January 20
Residents of the housing colonies located along the Mithapur road are facing hardships in absence of the basic civic amenities for the past many years.

The area residents are complaining absence of basic civic amenities like water scarcity, pucca roads, street lights, sewerage system, water pipe lines, dispensaries, regular city bus service and frequent police patrolling.

Office-bearers of the New Raja Garden Welfare Society have written to the area MLA Pragat Singh and sought his attention on the issue.

Society president Rajiv Kalia said, “The problems are being faced by the residents for the past many years and representations to the official concerned have failed to draw their attention. The damaged and ‘kucha’ roads were proving fatal to the commuters.”

Rajeev Pal Aggarwal, general secretary of the society, complained that in absence on sewerage system and storm-water drains, the areas flood even after light showers, thus, putting general public to a great inconvenience.

“In absence of street light, thieves and anti-social elements remain active. A number of snatching and eve-teasing incidents have occurred in the past,” said MS Sidhu of Mithapur locality.

There is no city bus service to the area and the residents have to take auto rickshaws or other mode of transpiration to reach the city. 

Jalandhar January 20
In a mysterious death of septuagenarian woman Polo Rani Bawa two months ago, deceased's USA-based daughter has demanded action against her brother-in-law who also resides in the USA, for orchestrating criminal conspiracy to kill her.

Deceased's daughter Manpreet Bawa has also filed a complaint with the Jalandhar Police Commissioner who has further marked inquiry to ACP Manpreet Singh.The incident occurred on November 14, when she was found dead under mysterious circumstances at her residence on the Link road. She was living alone. Bawa said her mother was found dead under mysterious circumstances. They were considering her death to be natural. She was cremated without getting her postmortem conducted. During the inqvestigation, they had come to know that her brother-in-law had visited her place before she was found dead.While suspecting her brother-in-law's role in the crime, Bawa revealed that she had also filed complaint to ACP Manpreet on December 13 but till date police has not registered any case.

ACP Manpreet Singh said the police have recorded the statement of deceased's daughter and inquiry was under way.—TNS

Phagwara, January 20
A Pakistani national, Surjit Singh (52), fell off the Amritsar-bound train at the Phagwara railway station last night.

The deceased was going to Amritsar along with his family when he got down from the train at a platform to buy some eatable. In the meanwhile, the train started moving and while trying to board the train he fell down and sustained injuries. Later, he succumbed to his injuries.

The railway police have registered a case and sent the body to the local Civil Hospital for postmortem. 

Jalandhar, January 20
On the second day of the pulse polio vaccination drive, the district health officials today administered vaccine drops to 80,064 children of 0 to 5 years of age.

The department officials said that 1,204 teams of health workers visited 1, 72,634 houses in rural areas while 918 teams visited 1, 28,428 houses in the urban areas of the district. 

Jalandhar, January 20
Across the city there is one common chant regarding public toilets set up by the government, residents say they are neither safe nor fit for women. Unkempt and home to anti-social elements, residents say these toilets are more of defacement to the city than a facility.

A view of the public toilets near the BMC Chowk. Tribune photos: Malkiat Singh

There are only 12 toilets for over 15 lakh residents of the city and even though 17 are to be added soon to the list, there is an acute crisis, especially in bazaars.

While the MC officials say that there are 12 toilets in the city, they are grossly understaffed to deal with the inflow of visitors. Officials at the Sulabh International say there are about seven to eight people working in the toilets. In most of these, personnel were absent when The Tribune team visited.

Lack of proper upkeep, electricity and water supply at some of the toilets has caused residents to shy away from using them. At majority of the places, men are more comfortable using the outer wall than the inside. Tons of garbage dumped around almost all of these toilets has only added to the problem.

While the MC officials claim that lack of residents' co-operation, theft of fixtures and irate opposition at many of the toilet sites have left little choices for the administration, residents in turn allege that the administration's lack of intent to maintain and clean these toilets regularly and to dig out apt spots to set up toilets are the part of the problem.

However, more willingness by the administration to maintain sanitary conditions and co-operation by residents many of whom themselves need a lesson in civil behaviour when it comes to using public property, is somewhere that the answer to this trying situation lies in.

"The government makes lot of promises about toilets but the one at the Alaska chowk is in a horrendous state. Outside, it is full of garbage and inside there is no water. If one can't even wash their hands what is the use of setting up a toilet? I spoke to many people and they say none of the women even come to this toilet because there is no water and that side is actually being used a storage space. Stove, utensils, sacks of wood shavings occupy space at the other side. This toilet is supposedly renovated just recently. So if the renovated ones are so bad one can well imagine the state of the old toilets in the city. I am a city resident what will residents from outside the city do in the event of an emergency,” said Madan Lal, a city resident.

"For years the shopkeepers and passersby in the bazaar areas have languished without any public toilets. For parking, one can go to the civil hospital but those in need to use a toilet dirty street corner, dumps or secluded spots. It is pathetic. I have my home in the bazaar and we get a number of dire requests every day from passersby needing to use the toilet. Sometimes they are so frequent that we have to turn them away in frustration. Residents have to cope with the inflow of toilet queries in the absence of arrangements from the administration. It is gross negligence on the part of the authorities,” said Ashwini Nirmohi, a resident of the Shiekhan Bazaar area.

"The state of the toilets in the area is pathetic. What if women want to use one? They can't. The toilets are of no use to commuters and people visiting the market. The toilet on the end of the bus stand road has been causing accidents. Everyday there is some or the other incident. The people in the market have even written to the Police Station near the bus stand to either get the toilet demolished or to make a new one but nothing has been done. Our requests have gone unanswered. Addicts and people who collect garbage sit at the toilet and smoke. In the winters things are still fine while in summers all day through bad smell emanates from the place. It is a sore issue for the people of the market and sometimes the conditions are so bad we fear disease will spread. The government needs to address it,” said Harjit Singh, who runs a taxi stand near the bus stand.

"Outside all the toilets in the city there is a hideous garbage dump. It is nothing short of an invitation to diseases. Whenever we try finding for a person to note the problems affecting residents, we can't find any person. Across these toilets, there might be a couple of personnel on duty but the staff present is too less. Then, if something gets stolen the administration blames residents. If proper sweepers and caretakers are deputed and work effectively managed then none of the problems will arise,” said Karan, a resident who is a regular commuter near the bus stand area.

"One often has the need to use a toilet. Across various areas in the city, similar problems are hounding toilets. The government makes toilets but forgets about them. Most of them are in such a bad state that people prefer a wall or a dump to them. Men might still manage with some difficulty but for women using a public toilet is next to inviting infection. At most of the toilets doors, windows and fixtures are broken. The lack of proper cover causes inhibitions among women and even if they us it, they risk catching a hideous infection. At most of these places, despite lack of facilities money is being charged. While at many places there are no caretakers for upkeeps, and infrastructure is in disarray. In any case a guard present charges Rs 5 to 10 which is way more than fixed prices. Why would residents pay so much for such dirty toilets? The government is clearly oblivious to residents' needs,” said Rajkumar Dogra, a local resident.

“While the toilets inside the bus stand are fine, none of the toilets on the road are good. Most of the other in the area, be it bus stand, BMC Chowk or all the way to the post office, the toilets have been reduced to being places to store garbage. Doors and windows are broken, fixtures missing. In some of them the tiles are new but the seats broken. This is a problem that affects all residents.,” said Inderjit Singh, a resident who passes by the bus stand road on a regular basis.