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Man booked for hurting cop
Arora nominated as mayors’ council secy
Out of 400 illegal colonies, 245 have been regularised
Taxes on hotels threaten tourism
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BSP takes out protest march
No breakthrough in bid to loot bank case
‘sin tax’ on tobacco products
BJP denies Cong charges against Joshi
Teachers get training in disaster management
Varsity dept celebrates annual day
Students begin interaction with nature
Human Rights body comes to rescue of helpless youth
Judo championship |
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Man booked for hurting cop
Amritsar, February 7 He said when he asked him to produce the documents, Ashwani Kumar, the driver of the car, instead of showing the papers accelerated in order to escape from the scene. However, Resham Singh, the constable, caught the car by its side mirror. Even then Ashwani Kumar, a resident of the Ravi Dass road, Guru Bazaar, did not stop the car and dragged the cop to some distance. On seeing this, his friend, who was sitting along with him, stopped the car using hand brakes. Due to this, Resham Singh’s uniform was torn and he sustained bruises. In the meanwhile, more cops reached the spot and caught hold of the accused who is a BA final-year student. The Civil Lines police have registered a case under Sections 279, 186, IPC, and 177, Motor Vehicles Act, in this regard. Ashwani Kumar was later released on bail.
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Arora nominated as mayors’ council secy Amritsar, February 7 A communication to this effect has been received by the Mayor’s Office, here, yesterday. Mayor Arora said it would be a good chance to deliberate over various public-centric issues during the meetings of the council that was scheduled from time to time. “I take this opportunity as a learning experience. It would enable us to get aware of certain things and discuss issues being faced by mayors of other places. Besides, I can be a part of the discussions about issues to be taken up with the state and Central governments as well,” he added. — TNS
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Out of 400 illegal colonies, 245 have been regularised
Amritsar, February 7 It was the third time that the government extended the deadline to accept the applications for regularisation with enhanced fine. It’s before the deadline had ended on November 5 and it was extended up to November 15. As per the regularisation policy unveiled last year, the deadline was to end on October 7, 45 days after the notification of the policy. The enhanced fine for illegal colonies is 25 per cent and for plots it is 10 per cent. After the conclusion of the extended deadline, the fine will gallop to 50 per cent for unapproved colonies and 20 per cent for plots. In the district, the Municipal Corporation is collecting the regularisation fee from the public in its jurisdiction and the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) is doing the same from the natives in the rest of the district. There are about 405 illegal localities in the city. Of these, 242 illegal colonies are under the Municipal Corporation (MC) and 167 under the ADA. On behalf of the MC, the Municipal Town Planning Department collected over Rs 22 crore from 75 colonies other than plot holders. On the other hand, the Amritsar Development Authority (ADA) garnered Rs 17.65 crore from 170 colonies and 6,000 plot holders till today. As per the Regularization of Unapproved Colonies Act, specially constituted committees under all these authorities will start working once the extended date for accepting the applications with enhanced fee will culminate, in this case now March 15.
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Taxes on hotels threaten tourism
Amritsar, February 7
The office-bearers of the association pointed out that the tourism industry like other industries was on decline. APS Chatha, president of the local Hotel and Restaurant Association, pointed out that tourism was an important and integral part of the economy of the holy city. He said the hotel business had been suffering huge losses during the past several years due to natural calamities in Leh and then in Uttarakhand in addition to the global economic slowdown. “The hotels are selling rooms at more than 50 per cent discount while taxation is one of the highest in the country,” Chatha pointed out. All kinds of taxes, including luxury tax, service tax, VAT and a host of other municipal and administrative taxes are being imposed on the hotel industry. Some of these taxes are unjust and not applicable. Moreover, there is a case of double taxation also, he rued. “We are already paying 8 per cent luxury tax and 5.42 service tax on the rooms (total 15.42 per cent). Besides food and beverage attracts a service tax of 4.94 per cent and VAT at the rate of 14.30 per cent (total -- 19.24 per cent). Banquets attracts a service tax of 8.65 per cent and VAT at the rate of 14.30 per cent (total 22.95 per cent), he added. “Instead of allowing some relaxations to hotels and allied sectors, we are being further burdened by imposition of taxes under the garb of beautification of the city by the Municipal Corporation,” he alleged. The hotel owners pointed out that due to lack of support from the administration, tourism industry had continuously been on the decline. They said a majority of the projects which could contribute towards attracting more tourists to the holy city were either delayed or still wating to be operational. These include Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama, Gobindgarh Fort, Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, Ram Tirath, Harike Wetland etc. They said if the government failed to take necessary steps to promote tourism, like many other industrial units, the tourism industry would also die in the near future.
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BSP takes out protest march
Amritsar, February 7 The BSP leaders, led by Pardeep Singh Walia and Ravinder Hans, organisation secretary, submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner to be forwarded to the Governor. The BSP activists also raised slogans against the government. They opposed the imposition of the property tax while stating that it was an extra burden on residents of the holy city and it should be immediately withdrawn. They also criticised the government for its failure to curb drug trafficking. They said the politico-drug nexus had been ruling the roost while the youths of the state were ruined due to the peril. They also condemned the government for its failure in containing the sand mafia and providing sand at cheaper rates to residents. Their other demands include reduction in power rates and scholarships for SC/ST, backward classes communities and BPL families.
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No breakthrough in bid to loot bank case
Amritsar, February 7 However, the security officials said providing security around banks and its ATMs was the liability of respective bank managements only and the GNDU security wing share no responsibility in it, yet the instance put a question mark over the security aspect of the campus. It was on February 4, that some unidentified persons tried to barge into the Punjab and Sind Bank branch located on university campus and they were almost got into the bank building till they accidentally entangled with
live electricity wires hanging over the ventilation pane and ultimately had to give up. The police’s sniffer dog squad too pointed towards the same theory as it led the investigating team towards the locations on campus only. There are two branches of Punjab and Sind Bank and the State Bank of Patiala (SBoP) at the Arts Block. Besides, there are three ATMs - one belonging to Punjab and Sind Bank and one each
of the SBI and the SBoP located on the university premises. Punjab and Sind Bank has deputed a guard
at its ATM, while the other two ATMs are without any guard. GNDU security in charge Col Harbans Singh said despite repeated communication to the bank managements and the police over the matter, no efforts were made to provide security cover to the bank and the ATMs. “The bank authorities have turned a blind eye to this lapse despite our repeated communication to them. We share no liability to provide security cover to the banks or its ATMs because it comes under the ambit of respective bank managements. I have sent them communication in this regard
many a time, but they never bothered to respond,” he said. About the recent foiled robbery bid, Colonel Harbans said the visit to the site and the preliminary investigations indicated that no outsider could dare to make such an attempt. It appeared to be a well-planned move. “The unidentified robbers reached the ventilation window with the help of a ladder and tried to cut the grill. It appeared that they must have changed their plan after getting electric shock while cutting the grill from the bunch of wires hanging there,” he said, while confirming that the police dog squad too took the investigating team towards the building of the health centre and then to the construction department located just near the crime scene. Investigation by the police was on but no arrest could be made so far,” he said.
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NGOs delegation meets Akal Takht Jathedar
Tribune news Service
Amritsar, February 7 They said it would only encourage people to consume tobacco products as it would become easily available to them. They urged the Akal Takht Jathedar to issue a Hukumnama asking people to put a blanket ban on the consumption of tobacco products and make Punjab a tobacco-free state. Giani Kewal Singh, Dr Prahlad Duggal, patron, Punjab, Voice of Tobacco Victims’; Dr Ramandeep Singh Bhullar, Deepak Babbar and Gurbhej Singh of Mission Aagaaz were among the part of the delegation. They demanded for the rolling back of government decision on the decrease in VAT on cigarettes, raising of "sin tax" on tobacco products, blanket ban on gutka and to impose a ban on flavoured tobacco in the state. Giani Gurbachan Singh assured the NGOs of all possible help. He said there could not be a fight against cancer without fighting against tobacco. The Jathedar assured the delegation that he would write to the President, SGPC, to communicate with the Punjab Government against the decision.
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BJP denies Cong charges against Joshi
Amritsar, February 7 "During the 2012 Assembly elections Joshi has only one vote and that was from his present constituency of the Amritsar North,” said Maini. Maini said the two advocates were misguiding the Election Commission, besides media and public, in order to defame the Cabinet Minister for their vested interests. While producing the documents and voters lists, he pointed out that Joshi’s vote was struck off in the supplementary voters list after amendment in 2008. He alleged that two advocates and Congress leaders were giving the old voters lists in order to misguide the Election Commission. However, he refused to comment on the "dual votes" of Minister’s family. Congress leader and advocate Sandeep Gorsi had filed a complaint before the Election Commission of India against the Punjab minister while showing the voters lists of two constituencies in Amritsar on which names of Joshi and his family members featured. Gorsi along with another advocate Vaneet Mahajan had accused Joshi for aiding his family in two districts of Amritsar and Tarn Taran. Yesterday, Rintu, who had unsuccessfully contested opposite Joshi from the Amritsar North constituency, had accused the minister of getting thousands of fake votes registered by using his clout.
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Teachers get training in disaster management
Amritsar, February 7 During the training programme, a mock drill exercise was also organised to impart training to the faculty and students of various educational institutes. Sukhwinder Singh, Principal of DIET, said a series of training programmes were organised to train around 500 teachers from 200 schools falling in the district.
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Varsity dept celebrates annual day
Amritsar, February 7 Dr Harpal Singh Buttar, adjunct professor, University of Ottawa, Canada, and visiting professor to the university, was the chief guest. He delivered a lecture on “Influence of dietary interventions and lifestyle modifications in the prevention of cardio-metabolic disorders”. Dr Subheet Kumar Jain, Head, department of pharmaceutical sciences presided over the function. Neena Bedi, assistant professor in the department proposed a vote of thanks. This year, Prof Harpal Singh Buttar Best Thesis Award for session 2012-13 was awarded to toppers of four specialisations of the MPharmacy course, being run by the department. The award included a citation, certificate and a cash award of Rs 5,000. Various events, including poster-making, rangoli and debates were also organised to mark the occasion. Later, certificates were distributed among winners.
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Students begin interaction with nature
Amritsar, February 7 The programme is a conjoined activity with EcoAmritsar wherein pledges are taken by children to save water, conserve energy and serve environment. Eco Clubs are being formed in schools, and the institutions encouraged to engage in milestone progression towards becoming "Green Schools". WWF has appointed a permanent representative, Puneet Watts, in Amritsar to give impetus to its programmes. Today's activity included film screenings on the animal wealth of India, sensitisation of children to banned animal products, as also animated movies and nature screenings. Cedar Spring High School participated in the endeavour and appreciated the excitement and pledges taken by the children. WWF, Punjab, Chairperson, Gunbir Singh said, "Children are the future and the natural inheritors of this planet.”
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Human Rights body comes to rescue of helpless youth Amritsar, February 7 It was only after some residents of the area approached the Akhil Bhartiya Human Rights Welfare Association, he was shifted from the place. Dr Vaneet Sareen, state chief of the association, along with his team, reached the spot today and got him admitted to the All-India Pingalwara Institute, located on GT Road. “As per residents of the Guru Ram Das Nagar, the youth, aged between 20 and 22 years, was found loitering in the cremation ground. He was mentally upset and could hardly tell about his credentials. Ultimately, we took him to the Pingalwara institute where he was handed over to its coordinator Darshan Singh Bawa,” he added. — TNS
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GNDU win five positions
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, February 7 As many as 400 women players from different parts of the country are participating in this championship. Today, in the 44-kg weight category, Pallavi of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, got the first position; Rukhsar Khan of LNIPE, Gwalior, got the second position; Poorva Mathew Leena from Mumbai and Rekha Gulia from the CDLU, Sirsa, was bracketed third. In the 48-kg weight category, Nippu Jamwal of GND University was the first; Ashwathy PR from University of Calicut got the second position; Anjali from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Anupal from Panjabi University, Patiala, were third. In the 52-kg weight category, Pooja of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, remained the first, Sanas Priyanka Sunil Dakshata from Mumbai University was second; Neha Thakur from Delhi University and Ankita from CDLU, Sirsa was, third. In the 70-kg weight category, Ritu from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, remained first; Navdeep Kaur, Punjabi University, Patiala, got the second position; Sunanda from Mumbai University and Naveen from MDU, Rohtak, were bracketed third. In the 78-kg weight category, Sukhpal Kaur from the GNDU Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar remained first; Rekha from Punjabi University, Patiala got second position; Manpreet from CDLU Sirsa and M. Sarjubala Devi from Manipur University got bracketed third position. In the open-weight category, Rekha from Punjabi University, Patiala, got the first position; Shweta Thakur from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, was second; Uman from Panjab University, Chandigarh, and Mukesh from MDU, Rohtak, was bracketed third.
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Amritsar, February 7
Though a bid to loot a bank’s extension branch on GNDU campus a few days ago saw no breakthrough till date, university security officers believe that some internal persons might be involved in it.
Amritsar, February 7
