Jalandhar, August 6
Starting an indefinite pen-down strike in their office, the Excise and Taxation Officers and inspectors today claimed that the traders who had lodged a two-hour protest outside their office yesterday were primarily those who had been nailed in their inquiries and had been now using ploy of levelling bogus complaints against them.

Even as the traders had yesterday claimed that the department had wrongly penalised the owner of Ghanaiya Lal Jai Narain Company Hanuman Singla, the excise officials on the other hand have alleged that the department had unearthed his bogus billing scam of Rs 14.61 lakh.

Major Amit Sareen, ETO, who has dealt with the case, said the Economic Intelligence wing of the department at Patiala had forwarded the case after finding him linked in the multi-crore VAT scandal of Moudgil Enterprises at Ludhiana. The ETO said Singla was also likely to face Rs 30-lakh penalty on account of a complaint of bogus purchases made by him from a fake company and claiming back the amount as the VAT refund.

Further, the officers have alleged that Gursharan Singh and Ravi Mahendru, who had yesterday lodged the protest too, had been found to be involved in unethical practices by the department. The department officials said they had locked the TIN number of a company Prestige Metal Works, owned by BJP councillor Mahendru, his brother Rakesh Mahendru and nephew Dinesh Mahendru.

Sareen said he had started assessment for the year 2009-10 under the Punjab VAT Act and Central Sale Tax Act since June 20, 2013 but no one from the company presented their purchase invoice books before the officers.

“We kept issuing notices but they did not furnish any reply. The company was also issued a penalty of Rs 7000 during the course of hearing after which the case was decided ex-parte and the TIN number locked on March 31. There has been immense political pressure on us to unlock the number but we have expressed our helplessness on the matter after which he too colluded with other traders,” said Surinder Singh Ruby, president of the ETO Association.

The officers said during assessment they had also found the sister concerns of the company Prestige Engineering, Citizen Steel and four other companies had been shown to be making purchases among themselves instead of drawing a proper production chain. Bogus bill claims worth Rs 80 lakh and Rs 62 lakh had been found from two companies.

Earlier, Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Sarojini Gautam Sharda had said that Gargip International, owned by another agitating trader Gursharan Singh, had made huge bogus purchases to the tune of Rs 13.30 crore from Sumesh Sales and Rs 38 lakh from Saslasar Ispat during the period 2012-13.

“After the investigations, VAT refund of Gargip to the tune of Rs 20,45,219 (July 1, 2012 to September 30, 2012), Rs 16,99,549 (October 1, 2012 to December 31, 2012) and Rs 27,39,013 (January 1, 2013 to March 31, 2013), had been rejected,” she had. 

Jalandhar, August 6
Courage was all that 40-year-old Rajinder Singh Rahelu, a Paralympics weightlifter, had to fight his own inabilities and emerge as a winner. His focus was clear and with all the training and hard work he clinched a silver medal in the Paralympics Weightlifting Competition at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games at Glasgow in Scotland.

Rahelu was affected by polio when he was 8 months old. On Tuesday, when he returned back after the historic feat, the whole village was there at the Phillaur railway station to receive the son of the soil.

"It is a dream homecoming but life was never that easy in all these years. I was the youngest amongst the five siblings. My parents used to drop me and pick up from school. Since my father was a band master and was very poor, he didn't even get me a tricycle," said Rahelu. He kept studying in the village school till Class VIII but had to leave his studies in between as his family was unable to drop him to school in the nearby village every day.

It was only when one of his friends Surinder Rana who was himself a weightlifter visited him one day and motivated him to take up power weightlifting as a profession. "I couldn't believe him. At that time, it appeared that he was just showing me a dream which will never get fulfilled but later when I picked up 70 kg of on the first day itself, I realised that it could well get materialised," said the 40-year-old Arjuna Awardee.

With just six months of rigorous practice, he was able to lift 115 kg. Later, there was no looking back for this determined and tough guy who went ahead to win a gold medal in the Asian Bench Press Championship at New Delhi in 2002, a Bronze Medal in the Paralympic games in Athens in 2004 and a silver medal in IWAS World games held at Taipei in 2007.

"I won my first medal at Punjab open meet in 1997. It was a wonderful experience and has indeed motivated me a lot for my future endeavors," said Rahelu. He was trained by Captain Piara Singh in his formative weightlifting career. He has been a national champion in his weight category for eight consecutive years, from 1998 to 2006.

The tough man's struggle for economic sustainability came as late as 2010, when, after several pleas, the Punjab government finally decided to employ him as a coach. He now works as a weightlifting Coach with the Punjab Sports department and also provides training to differently-able weight lifters in his academy in Gohawar village near Goraya. Rahelu is married to Jaswinder Kaur and has a six years old daughter Ridhima. 

Jalandhar, August 6
After the tragic incident near the Gohir village last year, the District Administration had sought the details of the school transport of all private (and even government schools) in the district. A year passed and the issue wasn't heard of again.

Woken up by the tragic death of a little boy, who was crushed under the school bus of a local school, the district authorities are making a second bid at collecting the transport details of all schools across the district. As it turns out - even today the District Education Department (or the administration) doesn't have even school emails, the number of buses or drivers etc. of schools.

So yet gain, school administrations have been asked to submit details of the vehicles being used by them in an affidavit to be submitted to the education department tomorrow.

Notably, if the submission of the affidavit is strictly abided by, then schools will no longer be able to hire contractual vehicles to ferry their students, nor allow any three-wheeler (whether owned by them or not) for the transportation of their wards.

A meeting on the issue shall be held tomorrow, in the afternoon a seminar on traffic awareness shall be held - attended by the Deputy Commissioner, Police Commissioner, District Education officers among other officials - in which principals of all schools have been asked to come.

Jalandhar, August 6
The Vice-Chairman of National Commission for SC, Dr Raj Kumar Verka, today met the family of the manager of the State Bank of India Jagir Chand, who had recently collapsed and died during his retirement party on the bank premises.

The wife of the deceased manager Mahindra Devi and his son Jatin met Dr Verka. She said her husband, who had recently undergone a bypass surgery was being allegedly harassed and humiliated by the bank officials for the past 13 years.

"There were two charge sheets served against my husband in loan cases for which he was being asked to pay Rs 5 lakh each just in nick of time before his retirement was due. He was being told to arrange money anyhow by either selling gold or borrowing the amount from friends. His medical claim, LTC claim and even salary for July has been withheld by the bank," she said. She expressed her grouse claiming that the source of income for the family was over after her husband's death.

Jagir Chand had died a tragic death delivering his speech at his retirement party. Even as everyone from his family had gone to attend the gala function, they were in for a major shock as he died there and then. The police have already registered a case under Section 306 of the IPC against AGM SK Verma.

Dr Verka said a complaint of the deceased regarding his alleged harassment was pending with him for the past two and a half years. He said that he would summon the bank CMD and bring it on fast track to provide justice to the family.

Verma, when contacted, said that his bank DGM has come yesterday and met the Police Commissioner with regard to the case. "We have no dues payable to the family and have nothing personal against him," he said. 

Jalandhar, August 6
The city police today arrested the son of Dakha SHO while he was reportedly consuming heroin in his car at the Model Town market here.

Amrik Singh, son of SHO Harbhajan Singh, residing at Model Town here, was booked by the Division Number 6 police. Deputy Commissioner of Police has confirmed his arrest. SHO Division Number 6 said the police officials reportedly made out the same from the smoke emanating from the car. Following this, the police checked the vehicle and recovered heroin from his possession. He was then booked under Section 27 of the NDPS Act. —TNS

Jalandhar, August 6
Yesterday’s rainfall in the district is believed to have been a boon for the paddy farmers since the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has failed to provide eight-hour power supply to the farmers, despite state government’s directions to do so.

The farmers in the region have completed the paddy transplantation but they have been facing a hard time to save their paddy and maize crops due to inadequate power supply and deficient rainfall.

Farmers say they hardly get five-hour regular power supply.

A farmer from Nahal village, Mohinder Singh, said he had around 10 acre under maize and paddy crop. It had been very difficult to water the crops with short supply of power, he added.

The paddy crop needs water every day. “My fields badly needed rainfall as they were on the verge of drying up. Definitely it will affect the yield too,” he said.

A farmer from Chak Chela village in Nakodar tehsil, Sulakhan Singh, has almost the same story. Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, he said when it rains, the power supply improves for a while.

“We have been getting five to six-hour irregular power supply, which is not sufficient to nurture my 13 acre paddy and 10 acre maize fields. As it was predicted that the region would receive less than average rainfall, the PSPCL should have made arrangements to provide us with more power,” he added.

PSPCL deputy chief engineer, Gopal Sharma, said power supply was decreased to six hours from eight in some areas. Apart from this, there was some problem with the feeder that caused interruption in supply but it was compensated the next day, he added.

• Tuesday’s rainfall in the district is believed to have been a boon for the paddy farmers since the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has failed to provide eight-hour power supply to the farmers
• The farmers in the region have been facing a hard time to save their paddy and maize crops due to inadequate power supply and deficient rainfall

Kapurthala, August 6
Tension prevailed in Mohalla Mehtabgarh here as members of the Valmiki community gathered to demand the arrest of two persons for their alleged remarks against their religious guru.

A timely intervention by the police and an effort made by SAD leader and Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans to pacify the protestors helped to save the situation.

SP Gursewak Singh Brar and DSP BIS Kahlon remained vigilant in the area. The police had to resort to lathi-charge to disperse the protestors earlier on July 30. 

Jalandhar, August 6
“It was my brother who dragged me to the court when I married against the wishes of my family. Although, I was 23-year-old at that time, he quoted my age as 14 years to the police. He had not kept his promise to protect me. I am still waiting for the day I will meet him after getting released from here,” said 16-year-old Kavita (name changed) from Tarn Taran.

Presently, in her 8th month of pregnancy, she is lodged at the district observation home in Gandhi Vanita Ashram for marrying when she was a minor. Besides Kavita, around 117 more girls are also lodged here in various cases by the district administration.

“My brother never came to meet me. He never called to ask about my well-being. But despite being abandoned by my family from the last two years, I still remember and cherish the time I spent with my brother. We used to celebrate all the festivals together. Although, we were very poor, being together during all good and hard times was a great feeling!” recalls another girl.

She informed that she had gone into depression many times thinking about leading a lonely life without her family.

Most of these girls are being lodged here for marrying against the wishes of their parents. Even the colourful ‘suhaag chura’ donned on their arms failed to add colours to their lives.

“The life here is pathetic. With no recreational programme, no interaction with the outside world, life seems to be hell here. I was a very bubbly girl but now with this gloom overpowering my mind, I may never be able to revive back to my original self again in this life,” says another girl from Gurdaspur.

Some of them are lodged here for being orphans while others were abandoned by their families willfully. They have been lodged at the three observation homes in Gandhi Vanita Ashram for years but till date, they have never seen any brother coming to meet and rescue them.

Even the district administration did nothing to bridge the gap between the girls and their families by allowing them to write letters or sending rakhis to their homes.

“Since they are all undertrials, they are not allowed to write letters or to make phone calls even to their family members,” informed an official from the observation home.

“The festival holds no special significance for us and is just another day in our gloomy lives. As we are not allowed to write letters and go out, we cannot buy rakhis to send them to our homes. We have requested the staff members many times to provide us with rakhis or to allow us to call back home on festival days but in vain. Even the dreaded killers lodged in various jails have the right to send letters, why not us?” asked another girl.

However, Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav said there was no such rule that prohibits them to send rakhis to their homes. “Since most of them are undertrials, they cannot go out but I will ensure that they get rakhis and writing material on the premises. They are free to communicate with their families not only on festivals but on all other days as well,” said Yadav.

With the district administration losing their handcuffs a little and making the staff aware about the norms laid down by the judiciary, many more knots of sibling love are expected to be tied this Raksha Bandhan. 

Jalandhar, August 6
Maharaja Ranjit Singh (GNDU) Regional Campus, Jalandhar, has got a good response from students for the MA Punjabi course this year.

As per information gathered from the MA Punjabi Department, as many as 22 students against the 25 available seats have already completed the required formalities and the university is expecting three more students to come soon.

Interestingly, the university had withdrawn the MA Punjabi course on the campus last year, which was resumed following severe criticism from quarters.

Students of the MA Punjabi course were forced to move to the GNDU main campus in Amritsar after the course was withdrawn from the Jalandhar campus.

The MA Punjabi course was earlier withdrawn in 2005 but was resumed in 2010 following an agitation from the department faculty. The MA English course had also been withdrawn and has not been resumed as yet.

In order to promote the Punjabi language, the university has decided that it will not charge any tuition fee from the students under MA and M Phil Punjabi courses. This way the students will get benefits of around Rs 12,000 per year.

Talking to Jalandhar Tribune, Prof SS Sangha, head of Punjabi Department, GNDU Regional Campus, said Vice Chancellor Ajaib Singh Brar had ordered to restart MA Punjabi on the Jalandhar campus after witnessing harsh criticism from various organisations and media reports.

He said observing the strength of students, two-part time assistant professors had been recruited.

“We have been getting a very good response this year. It has happened for the first time in the history of the Department,” added Prof Sangha.