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Department expedites VAT refund
holi party
Better
jalandhar:
Slaughter houses |
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Sand transporters’ strike enters its sixth day
Applicants wait for hours at the DTO office
Flower show held
20 cases of cheating in PSEB class XII exams
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Department expedites VAT refund
Jalandhar, March 18 Nearly 415 firms which had applied for tax refund, even in January this year, have been paid their dues to the tune of Rs 25.40 crore. While an amount of Rs 6.23 crore has been paid to companies in Jalandhar-1, Rs 19.08 crore has gone to companies in Jalandhar-2. Rajpal Singh, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner of Jalandhar-2, said the department had refunded tax to the traders who had applied in the periods between December 31, 2013, and January 31, 2014. “Now the VAT refund of about 70 firms to the tune of near Rs 3 crore to Rs 4 crore is pending and the same will be credited into the traders' account before March 25,” he added. Asked if political pressure due to the upcoming elections was the cause of expediting the VAT refund, Rajpal denied the same and said it’s a routine process and department was doing its duty. Ravinder Dhir, a sports goods manufacturer who has been raising the issue of delay in VAT refunds, said, the speedy disbursal of VAT by the department was a clear result of the agitations by traders. “We have been holding protest for the past over one year against the delay in VAT refund. We had also met Dy CM Sukhbir on July 30 who had then promised to clear tax refund before September, but nothing was done later.” Dhir said after the elections were announced in Punjab, the department pulled up its socks and started clearing the backlog. The department is now working under pressure to woo the traders ahead of the Lok Sabha poll because traders are the party’s main vote bank. Earlier, local BJP leaders were not ready to listen to traders, but by clearing the VAT refund backlog, the government is trying to show local BJP leaders in good light, Dhir alleged. It has been observed that, in fact, all government offices have speeded up their works. The Jalandhar Development Authority has issued NOCs for regularisation to hundreds of applicants from illegal colonies in the last one month. The Food and Civil Supplies Department had made as many as 91,600 Blue Cards under the revised "atta-dal" scheme in just about four days. Even the Municipal Corporation officials had speeded up the allotment of relaying of roads. In just about 20 days' time ahead of the implementation of the election code on March 5, as many as 203 road works, worth Rs 59.84 crore, had been issued to the contractors. Following the unearthing of a scam of bogus VAT refund to the tune of several crores by 32 companies of Ludhiana and Mandi Gobindgarh, the Excise Department officials have been personally visiting each industry before paying the refund. The premises are being checked to see whether the products for which refund is being sought are being actually manufactured and the raw materials shown in the bills is actually procured. On September 19 last year, the Excise and Taxation Department officials had also conducted raids on the premises of six metal traders in Jalandhar. The two companies which were raided were Salasar Ispat and Sumesh Sales. In the course of investigations, the Excise Department had found that Salasar Ispat and Sumesh Sales were showing bogus purchase and submitting fake good receipts. “About 112 firms in Jalandhar had shown purchases from these firms, thereby bringing all of them under the scanner,” said sources in the department.
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2 hotel staff held for serving liquor to minors
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, March 18 The division No. 4 police station has booked the manager and staff under Sections 328 and 34 of the IPC and Section 68 of the Punjab Excise Act. In his complaint, the doctor said that his 16-year-old daughter was deliberately served soft drink laced with liquor by the staff and the host of the party. He alleged that the hotel staff had violated the Excise Act by serving liquor to the minors. He said he saw many other children vomiting after the party. He has sought the cancellation of the liquor licence of the hotel for the alleged violation. He has asked the police to take the CCTV footage of the day to establish the facts and arrest the wrongdoers. SHO Division No. 4 Sumit Sood said two persons Madan Singh and Bhairo Singh had been arrested in the case. “One of them is a bar captain and the other a waiter. We are still investigating the matter,” he said. Asked if he had got a footage of the recording, he said it had come in a sealed form and he had not seen it yet.
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Better
jalandhar:
Slaughter houses Aparna Banerji Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, March 18 Lack of hygiene is only the smallest charge against these establishments. A legal abattoir is still a distant reality. Illegal meat shops
Veterinary Officer Dr Jatinder Bedi said since none of the meat shops had bothered to get licences from the authorities, all the meat shops running in the district were illegal. A long back, some checks regarding the quality of meat being sold at the shops might have been held. The perpetual intent of owners not to adhere to laws is evident and the threat by some have totally ceased the inspections. The culling of one animal in front of the other causes the secretion of adrenalin in the animal witnessing the culling. This secretion is unhealthy for those consuming the animal, but the practice as we all know, continues unabated. Especially, at the roadside kiosks ‘of which hundreds are there in the city’, all sorts of sanitation, hygiene and animal laws are being violated. Water by litres — is required both to feed to animals and to ensure drainage. But that too is not being ensured. Some of the meat shops even don’t ensure the removal of the blood from the animal. The blood disposed of is also done irresponsibly causing gross violation of health and hygiene in surrounding areas. Above all, a very important aspect is the rights of vegetarians who hate the presence of meat and meat disposals around them are also being disregarded totally. Pathetic condition of shops
I know of several shops where meat is being kept in pathetic conditions said a resident Umesh Dada. It is kept on a dirty board which ‘at least by the looks of it’ doesn’t seem to have been washed in ages. In the regular shops, owners don’t even bother to wear gloves. There are only a couple of high-end outlets in the city where packaged or imported meat is sold, which can still be trusted. Friends have also told of experiences where chicken bought by them didn’t taste like it. There should be stringent guidelines in quality and in hygiene. The common man is ending up eating refuse and duplicated meat. Stench of dumped refuse
I am a vegetarian and the number of stretches in the city - where the stench of refuse dumped by meat shops makes lives difficult - has constantly been on the rise, said a resident Vini. There are at least two to three places, which we regularly come across while commuting, where the stench is like a dead person. The stray animal population concentration also increases in such areas making the already difficult circumstances more unlivable. Dumps near houses
Animal disposal surfaces at dumps near our home at regular intervals said Harpreet Singh Sangha. A very foul stench emanates from the dumps and they play home to dogs and scavengers. It is a huge eyesore for both the passersby and residents for homes nearby, especially the vegetarians. The authorities never do anything about the issue, Once in a while, the dumps are cleaned up but the problem soon returns. It has made the lives of residents hell-like. Bones near houses
I’m a vegetarian but dumps where chopped animal refuse is dumped is a pain in the neck for vegetarians and non-vegetarians alike, said Asha Midha. The dog population in the area has increased and nights are marked by aggressive barking of animals. People are scared of dogs. The refuse decomposes and residents live under a threat of various diseases. At times, domestic animals are seen carrying bones or dirty animal waste. One fails to understand why meat shops can’t dump their wastes in a more disciplined manner. Mandeep Bakshi, president, BJP Gau Sewa Prakosht, Punjab, said the state government had not done anything about the growing problem of cattle meat making its way out of the state or the animals being killed in the state for meat purposes despite repeated requests, complaints and incidents of truck full of cattle being caught a number of times. For two years, the Gau Sewa Board did not function properly. Recently a commission was constituted, which too is hardly functioning. As many as 1,70,000 acres of land originally meant for grazing cattle in the state lies illegally encroached upon. After the elections, we plan to hold dharnas on the issue. The problem of illegal meat shops, police inaction and lack of any action against encroachers are linked. It’s time the government acted. Encroachments
Nirmal Kumar, president, District Gau Sewa Board, said the butcher houses encroach on land near residential areas and do not leave it later on. Animal refuse and wastes and illegal occupation of this land has caused problems for people over this land but the government does not initiate any efforts to free it despite complaints. Animals are ferried in trucks and culled in our own city but everyone stays quiet about it. We know of cases where offenders have themselves admitted to killing cattle but the police still did not do anything about the matter. Authorities constantly remain in denial on the matter of cattle killings taking place within their jurisdiction, especially in rural areas. |
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Sand transporters’ strike enters its sixth day
Jalandhar, March 18 The transporters are agitating against the district administration for awarding the rate contract to a single company only. The administration, in order to bring the sand prices under control, has fixed the transportation charges for the Buta Mandi unloading point. On Tuesday, the transporters threatened to block the GT road by parking their trucks on it if the administration did not call off the contract. “The administration has awarded the contract without floating the tender. This is illegal. Due to this, more than 1,000 families comprising around 45,000 people will get affected. They have snatched our parking sites as well and are not allowing us to operate from the specified unloading points,” said Vishnu Joshi, president, Truck Operator Sabha, Jalandhar. Varun Roojam, Deputy Commissioner, Jalandar, said 11 points had been selected in the district to unload the sand. “Earlier, these transporters were charging anything between Rs 30,000 and Rs 40,000 per truck of sand. Now, we have fixed the rate for one unloading point located at Buta Mandi at only Rs 2,200 per truck. This is on a trial basis and if we get success, we may fix the rate for the remaining points as well. This would slash the prices of sand drastically which was increased artificially by some miscreants for the past so many years,” said Roojam. He also said that it was not a tender and only a rate contract that was awarded after calling for applications in the leading newspapers.
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Applicants wait for hours at the DTO office
Jalandhar, March 18 Five of the eight clerks had reportedly gone to various courts for their appearance in pending litigations. As a result, the counters for the delivery of licences and registration certificates remained closed. While DTO Jaswant Singh Dhillon was not available for comments, a supervisor said there was staff shortage in the office. Against 13 posts, there were just eight persons in the office, of whom four often had to remain away for court work, he said.
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Flower show held
Jalandhar, March 18 The event is being held in Jawahar Garden for over 70 years. The annual flower show has inspired the residents of the Cantonment and Jalandhar City to take greater interest in flowers and environment. This year, about 200 varieties of flowers came for display in the competition. Various flowers like foliage plant, potted flower, cut flower, flower arrangement etc were displayed during the flower show. The garden show was divided into two groups. The first group was open for all, whereas the second group was open for the serving soldiers. Garden from various educational institutions of Jalandhar, individual and public garden, terrace gardens and Regimental gardens participated in this competition. On-the-spot rangoli and painting competition for the children was also organised on the occasion. The children displayed tremendous enthusiasm, talent and innovation during the competition. In addition to individual prizes, rolling trophies were also awarded for the best maintained institutional garden, best maintained roundabout, best maintained private garden and best maintained arboricultural project. The competition also tested the skills of ladies and participants in the on-the-spot flower arrangement and cut flower competition. |
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20 cases of cheating in PSEB class XII exams
Jalandhar, March 18 Notably, all these are unfair means cases (UMCs). In total, 13 cheating cases have been caught during the Punjabi and English exams. As many as seven cases have been caught during the first exam — General English — held on March 1 and 6 during the elective Punjabi exam held on March 13. The latest to surface is the one during the physical education and sports exam at the Government Senior Secondary School Gandhi Camp. Of the six caught during the Elective Punjabi exam, three were caught from the centre at Government Senior Secondary School Lambra, two from the Government Senior Secondary School Khambra and one from the centre at Government High School, Shankar. Among other exams, the rest were four cases caught during the physics, business studies (II), political science exams held on March 5. One of the cases was from the centres at Government Senior Secondary Schools, Hazara and Adampur (Boys), while two students were caught cheating at the centre of Government Senior Secondary School, Rurka Kalan. Two students were also caught cheating during the history exam on March 10. The students were caught at the centre of Government Senior Secondary School, Mulewal Khehra. While all the said students were nabbed by the visiting teams of the flying squad lead by the DEO (Secondary) and District Science Supervisor, the students caught during the physical education exam today were nabbed by the district science supervisor.
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Jalandhar, March 18
