The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Five-year-old girl abducted, rescued PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 A five-year-old girl was allegedly abducted by a Nihang Sikh from near Manjhi Sahib Diwan Hall in on the Golden Temple premises. Though the incident occurred on July 17, Gurmej Singh, father of the victim, reported the matter to the police only last evening after he failed to trace the girl. However, within 24 hours, after receiving the complaint, the police have recovered the girl and arrested the accused. Gurmej Singh along with his ailing wife and children Manpreet Singh (7) and Anmoljot Kaur (5) has been residing near Manjhi Sahib Diwan Hall complex for the past eight months. The family originally hailed from Gaunsapura village located in Batala (Gurdaspur) and belonged to a weaker section of society. Gurmej Singh stated to the police that the accused, identified as Prem Singh of Patti, Tarn Taran, was also living at the Manji Sahib Hall for the past 10 days and befriended the family. He also used to have meals with them at the langar hall. Gurmej Singh said on July 17 evening, he along with his wife and son, Manpreet, had gone to the langar hall for partaking of langar when the accused abducted his daughter. Parampal Singh, ADCP city-I, said that soon after receiving the complaint from the family, the police registered a case under Sections 363, 363-A and 365, IPC, against the suspect, Prem Singh, who was arrested from near the Tarn Taran bypass road. The police have also recovered the girl. The ADCP said further investigations were under progress to ascertain the reason behind the kidnapping. This is not the sole incident of its kind. On December 28, 2013, a one-year-old boy was abducted by an unidentified woman after his mother left him in her custody. In that case, too, the victim’s mother, a resident of Jhajjar in Haryana, lodged the complaint with the police 23 days after the incident. The complainant, Jyoti, told the police that she had been trying to locate the accused who had befriended her during her visit to the shrine. In June last year, a four-year-old boy, Gurmilap Singh, was abducted from the parikarma of the Darbar Sahib. He was, however, recovered a few days later near Gurdwara Shaheeda. The CCTV footage had recorded the whole incident. Police Commissioner Jatinder Singh Aulakh said that repeated incidents of abduction from the holy shrine were a cause for concern. But fortunately, we had managed to recover children and arrest the culprits in quite a few cases. “We will take up the matter with the SGPC, so that a mechanism could be evolved in order to avoid such incidents in future,” said Aulakh. Partap Singh, manager, Golden Temple, said that though they discouraged such people from staying on the Golden Temple premises for such a long period, this being a matter of faith and the fact that this is a religious place, we cannot force them to go away. It also becomes difficult as other devotees also object to any forceful action.
	Property tax Bill passed in Cabinet in new format Will be applicable after the Governor’s approval GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 Though the state government passed the Bill pertaining to fresh property tax norms in the Cabinet meeting held yesterday, the Bill will come into effect in the financial year 2014-2015. The authorities have said that those who didn’t clear their dues (applicable for 2013-2014), should deposit these according to the existing pattern before the August 31 deadline. However, defaulters in the city are not paying taxes in the confusion that they may benefit from implementation of the new norms, which are somewhat liberal. Sources said that the vacant plots and five- marla (125 sq yard) houses would be immune from paying the property tax. Also, the tax calculation under the new pattern has been made uniform and the collector rate parameter has been abolished, whereas the existing calculation formula is based only on the collector rate of the place concerned. This had invited criticism, as the taxes varied in nature in the case of same dimension of houses. Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora clarified that the new norm would be applicable only after it got approval from the Governor and a gazetted notification came into effect. “Till then, those who did not yet clear their dues would have to pay the taxes calculated according to the old pattern, which is on the existing collector-rate basis,” he said. “The confusion among the residents is self-made. It was a principle that when we had been realising property tax according to the old pattern and around 50 per cent of the residents had already paid their dues, how could a new policy be adopted for the rest,” he added. According to the existing pattern, for self-occupied houses, measuring up to 50 sq yards, a consolidated Rs 50 per year is being charged and for houses between 50 to 100 sq yards, there is an annual consolidated tax of Rs 150. The taxes applicable on the properties of bigger dimensions will be based on the collector rate. For the multi-storey buildings, the existing norms demand 100 per cent tax on the calculated value of property (according to collector rate) for ground floor; 75 per cent for upper ground floor and lower ground floor; 20 per cent for basement; 60 per cent for first and second floor each and 30 per cent for upper floors. Despite all efforts, the civic authorities could realise only around 40 per cent of the property tax, which amounts to around Rs 23 crore out of a set target of around Rs 50 crore. If the residents still fail to deposit their dues before the last date, they will be charged heavy penalty to the tune of 50 per cent along with the 18 per cent interest rate applicable from March 31 onwards.
	PFC cancels auction of property in Ranjit Avenue Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 The Punjab Finance Corporation (PFC) has cancelled the auction of its property in the posh Ranjit Avenue area. The auction, which was well advertised in the dailies, including the leading ones in the region, was scheduled to take place today. It was called off after not a single bidder turned up, stated sources in the PFC. PFC divisional manager Prabhat Garg, who also holds charge of Amritsar, did not confirm the reason for calling off the auction at the eleventh hour. The PFC invited bids for its erstwhile local office here, spread on 10,346 sq feet area (907.50 sq yards) at a reserve price of Rs 11.48 crore. Its premises have already been vacated as the five-member staff, including three officials and two Class IV employees, have been shifted to Jalandhar. Now, the Jalandhar office looks after the Amritsar area. Officials of the PFC claimed that it assisted more than 18,000 units with a total financial assistance of more than Rs1,400 crore and generated employment for more than two lakh persons. One of the leading city industrialists, Raman Gupta, said local industrialists would suffer because they would have to travel to Jalandhar for any work with the PFC. He said the PFC, established with the objective of granting loans for the establishment of new industrial concerns, modernisation, expansion or diversification of existing activities, had been suffering from lack of professionalism since its inception in 1953. Envisaged as a premier institution to perform the role of a development bank in the state, it failed to achieve its objective. From its very inception, the PFC’s working was ‘guided’ and ‘influenced’ by political objectives and marred by political interference. The body remained a tool to conform to the whims and fancies of political masters. Hence, it never acted as a professional body assisting industrialists to modernise their set-ups and augment these. Meanwhile, a lukewarm response of buyers to commercial properties continues in this border town. It has been witnessing recession in commercial properties for the past few years. This auction underscored the fact that the negative sentiment over commercial properties is still continuing. A reading of recent auctions of residential and commercial plots carried out by the Amritsar Improvement Trust indicated that the demand for housing in quality localities is on the rise but buyers for expensive commercial properties still remain elusive. The AIT had not found any taker for its Shri Gian Chand Kharbanda Complex scheme near the Golden Temple. The complex houses a shopping plaza, shops, an office, a hotel and a restaurant. The reserve price of the complex was kept at Rs 15 crore. Of the five SCOs that went up on sale under the Ajnala Road (District Shopping Centre) scheme, only three were procured at about Rs 96,000 per square yard each, Rs 6,000 above the reserve price. All these SCOs are 363 square yards each.
	‘Masarrat Sarhadon Paar’ speaks of love across border Neha Saini Tribune news service Amritsar, July 23 A chance encounter sometimes becomes a reason for our life’s biggest moments to happen and achieve big dreams. Similarly, Dr Manjit S Bal, head and assistant professor of the Department of Pathology, Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, has an interesting story to share and inspire. So he made a film based on his experience. His maiden production, a Punjabi feature film titled “Masarrat Sarhadon Paar” (Happiness across the border) is based on a real life experience that inspired him to write a short story. “I went to Lahore in 1980 with a religious delegation. During the visit I met a young man, who shared his love story with me. Apparently, he had fallen for an Indian girl from Agra, who was visiting Pakistan with her family. Their courtship continued through letters, but the couple could not get married. This inspired me to write a short story, which was published in 2010 and later on I developed it into a feature film,” says Bal. The film, he says is not for commercial purpose, but “It’s an alternative form of cinema, for selective audience,” says the Amritsar-bred doctor and film maker. He has already screened the film in Chandigarh, Patiala and Amritsar. His maiden attempt at presenting his passion on screen has received mixed reviews, though he believes that for an Indie movie it’s a good response. “Independent movies, especially in regional cinema, are not commercially viable. I didn’t expect the film to be liked by masses and so I have not set any high goals. I just wanted to share my story,” says the professor. The two-hour duration film is directed by Som Sahota and has new pair actor Yasmin Arora and Harminder Khanna in the lead. Bal says he tried getting in touch with the guy over the years, but he was not be found. “I even visited his family in Lahore years later, but they told me that he had shifted to Dubai.” Turning his passion for story telling into a feature film wasn’t easy for Bal. He had limited resources, including man power. “Well, my better half came to my rescue there. She had saved some money over these years and so she financed my work. As for my contribution, I have written story, screenplay and lyrics for the film,” said the assistant professor. He planned to travel to the festival circuit with his film, as he feels that is the right way to market his film. “I am leaving for Canada and the USA for a tour with my film. Some people have also invited me for special shows. The film strikes the right chord with people from both sides. It’s not political in nature, instead a simple, true love story that presents a point of view from both sides,” says Bal.
	Prisoner escapes from local court Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 A prisoner lodged in Amritsar Central Jail escaped after outsmarting three Punjab policemen who were escorting him to a local court. The accused has been identified as Pathan Singh, who was lodged in the jail in two cases under the NDPS Act. He was produced before the court of Additional Sessions Judge KK Goyal. According to information, he dodged the police party from the court premises soon after the court deferred the hearing for a next date. As the police team was going to put the handcuffs on the accused, he pushed the policemen and fled from the court premises, taking advantage of a huge crowd in the complex. The police has registered a case under Sections 223 and 224, IPC, against Head Constable Bua Singh besides the accused, Pathan Singh. The role of other two constables is under examination, police officials said. Superintendent, Amritsar Central Jail, RK Sharma said that the inmate was a notorious criminal and had attempted to escape on an earlier occasion, too. “We had written in his warrants that extra vigil has to be exercised in his case, as he had attempted to escape earlier also,” he said.
	‘Marriage’ with NRI girl Immigrant consultant among two booked for cheating PK Jaiswar Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 ‘Foreign’ dreams turned out to be a nightmare for a local resident who was duped by a few persons on the pretext of marrying him to an NRI girl. The victim, Rajbir Singh of Anmol enclave, Mahal village, fell into the trap after seeing a matrimonial advertisement in a Punjabi vernacular daily. He said that in the advertisement, the accused said that they wanted a groom belonging to Jat Sikh family, who had cleared the IELTS. He said that he called the accused, who belonged to Ferozepur, on the number given in the advertisement. The accused were identified as Sarabjit Singh of Gill Patti village, Bathinda, and Gurpreet Singh, DS immigration consultant of Ferozepur. Rajbir Singh said that on January 12 he met them and they showed him pictures of the girl, her ration card and promised him to get him settled in Australia after solemnising his marriage with the girl. He said they demanded Rs 10 lakh from him. On February 10, he gave them Rs 5 lakh and the remaining Rs 5 lakh on February 20 after entering into a fake marriage with Narinder Kaur to apply for spouse visa. He said that the accused neither sent him to Australia nor returned the money to him. Dilbagh Singh, investigating officer, said that a case under Sections 420 and 120-B, IPC, had been registered against the accused. He said investigations were under progress while no arrest had been made so far.
	Farmers stage protest outside DC office Express their resentment against the Central and state government for neglecting border areas GS Paul Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 Anguished farmers, whose land is located along the fence of the India-Pakistan border, staged a protest outside the DC office over the problems being faced by them in tilling their fields and lack of civic amenities in the border belt. They submitted a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister expressing their resentment against the Central as well as state government in neglecting the interest of the border areas in the annual budget. Hundreds of farmers under the banner of the Border Area Sangharsh Committee complained of stiff restrictions enforced by the BSF on their land. They alleged that farmers have to face harassment at the hands of the BSF and the Police Department at the time of getting identity cards and entering the fence gates to go to their fields. Similarly, the contraband items thrown from across the border into the fields should not be labelled as the land holder’s personal belonging as is usually done by the police in most of the cases, they said. The BSF uses an 11-ft wide path on the zero line for patrolling, but to date, no compensation has been given to the landholders. Similarly, border outposts have been set up by the BSF at certain points but the landholders have not been compensated, they alleged. They demanded the fencing gates to be opened from sunrise to sunset, the border belt to be restricted to 8-km, and 212 villages on the border line be classified as ‘A’ class villages. They also asked the government to pay non-productivity compensation of Rs 15,000 per acre to farmers who have their land beyond the border fence. They demanded that a border area vikas board should be constituted so that the development funds should be spent only for the 8-km belt area. General secretary of the committee, Rattan Singh Randhawa, said earlier, the area within 8 km from the international boundary line were considered as the border belt, but now it has been extended up to 16 km. “The border belt has been extended for no valid reasons except political interests. Residents living in the 8 km area don’t even get basic facilities like clean drinking water, proper toilets and sanitation, quality education, health and power facilities. Even the compensation package of Rs 3,000 per acre announced by the state government before the elections has yet not been paid to the residents of Daoke and Dhanoya Khurd,” he said. Committee president Arsal Singh Sandhu said, “The funds meant for the border area development should entirely be spent within the 8-km belt. In the absence of any opportunities, more than 70 per cent of the residents are hooked to drugs,” he said. Their other demands included funds to be generated at the Centre as well as state level for revival of canal water distributaries, power for agriculture purpose, revamping medical, educational and employment avenues, simplifying procedure of issuing ID cards, reservation in admissions to ITIs, MBBS and engineering courses, besides job quota in the Army and the paramilitary police forces.
	Jail inmates clash: FIR registered Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 Following a recent clash between two jail inmates, the Amritsar jail authorities have booked an undertrial Amarjit Singh for allegedly assaulting Balbir Singh. An old enmity has been stated to be cause behind the scuffle. It has been learnt that Amarjit had sharpened a spoon to make it a sharp-edged weapon with which he attacked Balbir on Monday evening. Balbir had received injuries on his face, neck and other parts of the body, before the other inmates intervened and saved him. Balbir was referred to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital by the jail medical officer. At present, his condition is stated to be normal. Jail superintendent RK Sharma said an FIR was lodged at the Cantonment police station today and further investigation was on. Officials said both were known to each other. While Amarjit was lodged in the jail under Section 21, 61 and 85 of the NDPS Act on June 20, Balbir was lodged on July 19 along with some of his accomplices after expiry of the Islamabad police remand. ASI Amrik Singh of the Islamabad police station said Balbir, along with eight others, were wanted in an old case by the Islamabad police. An FIR dated July 18, under Sections 452, 364, 506, 148 and 149 of the Indian Penal Code and 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against them. They had reportedly kidnapped a person living in their neighbourhood. The police intervened and arrested them. After police remand, they were all lodged in Barrack no 2. It has been learnt that Amarjit was known to Balbir and went to barrack no 2 to attack Balbir. The relatives of Balbir, apprehending that he may be killed by his rivals, have sought protection for him. Sharma said special vigil was being kept on both the inmates and their accomplices.
	BSF restarts drug de-addiction awareness campaign Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 The Border Security Force (BSF) has restarted its drug de-addiction awareness campaign in border villages. Under the programme, the 67th battalion of the BSF today held an awareness camp at Dug Toot village located near the Indo-Pak border. DIG, BSF, Amritsar sector, MF Farooqui, presided over the programme while sarpanchs, panchs and residents of different villages participated in it. SAI creations, a theatre group, staged a play to create awareness on the issue. Farooqui called upon the elderly people of the village to join hands with the BSF to weed out the menace from society. He said people of Punjab had sacrificed their lives for the betterment of the country and the state. But, unfortunately, the youth of this border state have fallen in the deadly trap of drug abuse. He pointed out that BSF is trying its best to curb smuggling of narcotics, counterfeit currency and arms by anti-national elements from the other side of the border. In order to completely root out the problem, people will have to come forward and help the force, he said. Sarpanchs and panchs appreciated the campaign. They promised to provide all help to the BSF. A brainchild of MF Farooqui, the campaign was launched in October last year. The BSF helped more than 100 youths to get treatment from Swami Vivekanand De-addiction Centre at Government Medical College. However, the BSF halted the campaign for a brief period following the crackdown against drug traffickers by the Punjab Police.
	District wins award for best electoral awareness campaign Amritsar, July 23 The district has been selected for carrying out the best electoral awareness campaign for the Lok Sabha elections by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The ECI has invited Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat to give a presentation on the electoral awareness campaign on July 25 in Chandigarh. Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, had earlier forwarded the name of the deputy commissioner to the ECI. While Deputy Commissioner Ravi Bhagat will be the only one from Punjab to present the details of the campaign, many district heads from Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal and Jammu and Kashmir will also present their works. The DC-cum-District Election Officer, Ravi Bhagat, said besides holding awareness programmes at schools, colleges and localities, they had used street plays, publicity vans and even helicopters to create awareness. The local administration had also organised a marathon in which people from different age groups, professions and sections of society had participated. Bhagat said during 2014 elections, a 29 per cent increase in women voters exercising their right was observed in comparison to 2009 elections. — TNS
	Mayor directs officials to address civic issues Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 In a meeting held between Mayor Bakshi Ram Arora and councillors today, it was highlighted that ward number 41 to 45 faced problems related to defunct tube wells, chocked sewerage system, lack of streetlights and sanitation. Ward number 41 councillor’s husband Pritpal Singh said at least four tube wells in the area had outlived their lives and need instant attention. He also complained about the inadequate street lights and sanitary staff. He demanded at least six safai sewaks for the ward. The SDO (Operation and Maintenance) endorsed that the tube wells in the area were lying defunct. He said new bores for tube wells had been made and work to install motors would be done soon. The wiring for the street lights needed replacement, he added. Ward no 42 councillor Manmohan Singh said the tube well motors in his ward too needed to be installed. He said sewerage system remained block and clean drinking water was not available. “The sewerage pipes from Circular Road to Gilwali Gate are blocked for want of cleaning. Even as 18 sewer men have been deputed in my area, they seldom do their duties. At least, 100 streetlight points in my ward have been lying defunct for long,” he said. Ward number 43 councillor complained of broken underground sewerage pipes and massive encroachments. “The encroachments are so many that the 60-ft wide road from Bhagtanwala Gate to Gate Hakima has been reduced to just 8-ft. The rest of the area on both the sides has been encroached by vegetable vendors,” he said. Ward number 44 councillor Chander Shekhar said sewerage pipes have been damaged at many places in his area. He suggested to impose heavy penalty on those who steal power from the street light points. Ward number 45 councillor Rakesh Vaid said garbage was not lifted regularly and safai karamcharis do not come for their duty regularly. The mayor immediately issued directions to address the problems within a week and submit the progress report to him.
	Health Department decides to shift staff from satellite hospital Manmeet Singh Gill Tribune News Service Amritsar, July 23 The Health Department has decided to shift the staff of Bhai Sahib Singh Satellite Hospital near Fatahpur to Municipality Hospital, Dhab Khatika, as it has not found an alternative place to run the satellite hospital. The decision to shift the hospital was taken around six months ago as the place where the hospital is situated has come under the plan of the upcoming prison near Fatahpur. The Fatahpur panchayat members had earlier agreed to provide land for the hospital, but they failed to do so. The village panchayat had also agreed to provide an alternative building for the hospital till the time new building is constructed. As the existing building is proposed to be raged and the department has not yet got any alternative plot, it has been decided to shift the staff from there. Residents of the villages near Fatahpur will have to suffer as they will have to cover a long distance to reach the government health institution. Residents had earlier demanded from the government to construct the new hospital at any place near the existing building. As the construction of the prison is going on at a fast pace and earth has been dug around the satellite hospital for laying of sewerage pipes, the staff claimed that the building had become unsafe for working. The Municipality Hospital, Dhab Khatika, on the other hand, has a spacious building. So, the department has planned to shift the staff to the new place to strengthen the services over there. Civil Surgeon Dr Rajiv Bhalla said, “The decision to shift the staff to the nearest possible place was taken keeping in mind the services for the residents of the area around the satellite hospital.” He said the staff and machinery would soon be shifted. As the building is the property of the Municipal Corporation, the district administration has also written to the MC to allow the satellite hospital to operate from there, said Dr Bhalla.