22032021-LT-01.qxd 3/22/2021 12:46 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana TRIBUNE KAKKAR SISTERS’ SONG SHINES ON GLOBAL BILLBOARD CHARTS PAGE 3 Nari song is dedicated to the millions of teenage girls who feel obliged to behave in a certain way. FORECAST CLOUDY SKY RUBINA BACK ON THE SETS OF SHAKTI… ASTITVA KE EHSAAS KII PAGE 3 NATASHA JOINS HUSBAND VARUN DHAWAN ON SHOOT Rubina Dilaik, winner of Bigg Boss 14, is now set to return to the popular show on Colors as it takes a new turn. MAX 28°C | MIN 19°C | YESTERDAY MAX 31°C | MIN 17°C SUNSET MONDAY 6:39 PM PAGE 4 Varun is shooting for his upcoming movie Bhediya in Arunachal and he has now been joined by his wife. SUNRISE TUESDAY 6:26 AM MONDAY | 22 MARCH 2021 | LUDHIANA Shopkeeper booked in sexual harassment case 8 deaths, 330 positive Tribune News Service Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 21 The Jagraon police registered a case against a man on the charges of sexually harassing a woman today. The accused has been identified as Surinderpal Singh of Guru Teg Bahadur Nagar, Jagraon. He runs Kaler Auto Scooter Bazaar and deals in sale and purchase of used vehicles. The complainant, a resident of Kamalpura village, told the police that she had purchased a scooter from the accused. “The shop owner did not tell me that the loan amount was still unpaid on the scooter,” the complainant said. “I asked him to return my money. He called me to a place in Jagraon and tried to sexually exploit me,” the complainant added. Ludhiana, March 21 Today, 330 persons tested positive for Covid while eight lost their lives to the virus in the district. The total number of positive cases from the district have now reached 30,725 while 1,083 persons have lost their lives so far since March 2020. Those who tested positive today include a policeman, four health workers, two preoperative cases, three teachers, an employee of a school and 10 students. The three teachers who tested positive today belong to GGN Khalsa College, Civil Lines, GSSS, Dhadahoor and GSSS, Libra. The students who tested positive today include a student from GNE College, one student from Sacred Heart School, BRS Nagar, four students from GSSS, Chak Kalan, and four students from GSSS Multipurpose School. An employee of the GHS, Hissowal, has also tested positive. The majority of those who lost their lives today belong to rural areas. Of the eight deceased persons, seven belong to rural areas that included Bhamaddi, Shahpur Payal village, Sahjimajra village, Bhutta village, Jawaddi and two from Samrala. A patient was from BRS Nagar. Except for one patient, all others were WILL RAISE MATTER BEFORE CM: MLA P2 ■ It has been 20 days since the city police booked BJP leader Satish Nagar in the drug haul case but the police are still tightlipped about the role of the leader in the case. Three more people — Anup Sharma, Hemant and Rajinder — have been booked in the case. 10 students, four health workers among infected Several passengers were seen sans a mask at the railway station in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO: HIMANSHU MAHAJAN Violations despite surge in Covid cases Nikhil Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Ludhiana, March 21 Despite police claims that markets and public places are being strictly monitored in their jurisdiction to curb the spread of Covid-19, people can be seen flouting norms blatantly, especially during daytime. Markets witness a huge rush of commuters during the daytime, with social-distancing norms nowhere in place. Even during the curfew hours, some ice-cream parlours and eateries attend to customers in the presence of police personnel patrolling the area. A cop stops commuters wtihout wearing a mask in Ludhiana. The Covid-19 norms are being violated at various places in the city, with people in markets in Haibowal, Gill Road area, Jalandhar bypass, Basti Jodhewal, Samrala chowk not adhering to social distancing norm and roaming without face masks. A similar situation was observed in markets in the old city area — Clock Tower, Property tax: Wrong assessment, ‘conniving’ employees main factors behind poor recovery MC has collected ~85 crore against targeted collection of ~130 cr Kuldip Bhatia Ludhiana, March 21 The Municipal Corporation top brass has lost no time in patting themselves on their backs for recovery of Rs 1 crore as part of arrears towards property tax from the company operating the general bus stand here recently. Of the total unpaid amount of around Rs 9 crore, the MC was able to recover only Rs 1 crore. The MC authorities have conveniently chosen not to fix the responsibility of staff and officials entrusted with the task of assessment and recovery of taxes. As per the data made available by the MC against the targeted collection of Rs 130 crore from property tax, the total collection till now is around Rs 85 crore (a shortfall of around 35 per cent). On one hand, the civic administration continues to cry over lack of resources and funds for the execution of development works in the city and on the other, poor track record of recovery of taxes and user charges as well as the mess created by field staff (inspectors) in wrong assessment of property tax has been making a big dent in tax receipts of the MC. “Rather than praising self over the collection of a fraction of the total arrears from the bus stand company, the MC authorities ought to introspect and take a realistic stand to haul up staff and officials for their failure to recover due tax on time and let the arrears mount,” says Gurdeep Singh Gosha, Youth Akali Dal president. Sources in the MC disclosed that a recent inspection by the MC authorities into the assessment of property tax had led to startling revelations and big lapses on the part of field staff as the assessing officials had shown undue favour to tax payers by way of under-valuation of rental income and less area of commercial and industrial properties, overlooking actual rental income of property owners from their tenants. This has caused huge revenue losses to the MC. To make matters worse, the assessed property tax was also not being recovered in an effective manner and a long rope was being given to defaulters, asserted sources, adding that the practice of drastically reducing tax liability by fudging the data and official records was another factor leading to poor recovery of tax. Moreover, the MC field staff was not putting in efforts to recover property tax from government offices who had huge arrears, as there were no chances of making any ‘easy’ money for themselves, said the sources. Railway Road, Chaura Bazaar, Gurh Mandi, Kesar Ganj Mandi, Saban Baazaar, Pindi street and Daresi. Even at bus stops, many people were seen without face masks and not maintaining social distancing. Several ice-cream parlours and liquor vends in the city have been completely ignoring curfew hours and are attending customers after 9 pm. A famous ice- cream shop at Fountain Chowk is among the violators. Police vehicles often cross Fountain Chowk but no action has been taken against the violators. Ludhiana, March 21 Punjab Minister for Food, Supplies and Consumer Affairs Bharat Bhushan Ashu today inaugurated the Rs 6.84 crore road recarpeting project on Hambran Road and two blocks in the Maharaishi Valmiki Nagar colony of the Ludhiana Improvement Trust (LIT) here. He was accompanied by Mayor Balkar Singh Sandhu, LIT chairman Raman Balasubramanium, councillor of Ward No. 73 Seema Kapoor and PPCC Secretary Sunil Datt. Speaking on the occasion, the minister claimed that the government, along with Congress-led civic body in the industrial capital of the state, was committed to provide all basic Kuldip Bhatia ‘OFFICIALS CONNIVING WITH HOUSE OWNER’ Ludhiana, March 21 Known for closing its eyes to blatant violations of building norms and illegal change of land use in most of its colonies, the Greater Ludhiana Area Development Authority (GLADA) has again been caught on the wrong foot for its failure to take any action against the allottee of a residential house at Urban Estate, Phase I, in Jamalpur, from where a fullfledged hospital is being run by the owner. In a complaint to GLADA chief administrator and other officials concerned, a resident of Basant Avenue, Dugri, Sukhbir Singh Sekhon, has asserted that as Complaianant Sukhbir Singh Sekhon alleged that field staff and officials concerned were well aware of violations and might be conniving with the owner of the house. c m y b ❞ COVID-19 CONTROL ROOM ■ For Home Isolation: 78147-64759 ■ For Ambulance Problem: 78143-63850 ■ For Hospital Problem: COVID-19 FIGURES SAMPLES POSITIVE ACTIVE DEATHS 7,46,081 30,725 1,946 181 1,083 62849-12553 ■ For General Problem: 62845-31852 Weblink where residents can check real time status of vacant and filled beds in all hospitals: https://ludhiana.nic.in/notice/covid-19bed-status-in-ludhiana-district hypertensive and diabetic. “Now the Covid wave is more active in villages and people in rural areas need to be careful. The problem is that rural people visit hospitals late and when they come, they are in a serious condition due to which they lose their lives. Anybody who is experiencing even mild symptoms of the virus should consult a doctor,” said Dr Bishav Mohan, senior cardiologist at the Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, who is also a member of the Covid-19 task force formed by the state government. Today, the total active patients were 1,946 while 333 Our Correspondent Punjab Minister Bharat Bhushan Ashu inaugurates a road recarpeting project on Hambran Road in Ludhiana. TRIBUNE PHOTO amenities, good urban infrastructure and other facilities to residents. He also spoke about var- Years on, no action has been taken by authorities against property owner The house at Urban Estate in Jamalpur. TRIBUNE PHOTO The second wave can also be handled easily if we keep our mask on and follow social distancing and wash our hands regularly. Sukhjeevan Kakkar, CIVIL SURGEON persons were home quarantined. As many as 17 patients were on ventilator support of which six belong to Ludhiana district while the remaining are from other districts. So far, 7,46,081 samples have been collected and 3,923 were taken today and reports of 536 are awaited. Civil Surgeon Sukhjeevan Kakkar said only public could end the pandemic. The government could only help but the main contribution has to be made by the public. “The second wave can also be handled easily if we keep our mask on and follow social distancing and wash our hands regularly,” he said. ~6.84-crore recarpeting project opened GLADA colony: House converted into hospital per information provided by the GLADA authorities under the Right to Information Act, the said house/plot was allotted for residential purpose but for the past many years a hospital was being run from its premises. “Commercial use of a house or plot allotted for residential purpose cannot be used for any other (including commercial/institutional) purpose as per terms and conditions of the allotment/sale letter. Violation of these terms and conditions render the allotted can The ❝Only the publicmainend the pandemic.to ofgovernment can only help; the contribution has the people. property for cancellation of the allotment as per rules and regulations governing allotment by PUDA/GLADA,” said the complainant. Citing information provided under the RTI Act by GLADA Public Information Officercum-ATP Gagandeep Singh through an affidavit dated March 4, 2021, Sekhon said it was stated by GLADA that the owner of the property (plot no 567) in Urban Estate, Phase I, Jamalpur, was neither issued any NOC for commercial use nor any notice by the authorities. The owner had not obtained any approval for the commercial use of the house. The complainant said as per his knowledge, the hospital had a domestic electricity connection and also, the user charges (water and sewerage) were also being paid by the consumer on domestic rates, thereby causing a loss of revenue to the government. Alleging that field staff and officials concerned were well aware of the violations and might be conniving with the house owner, Sekhon urged senior officials to hold a probe into the matter and take action as per law against the violator for the commercial use of the residential property. ious major undergoing development projects under the Smart City Mission while asserting that once the projects were completed, the city would become a better place to live in. The Mayor said the stretch of Hambran Road from Dandi Swami Gaushala (near dairy complex) to Haibowal Chowk would be reconstructed at a cost of around Rs 4 crore and interlocking tiles would be laid all along on the pavement at an expenditure of Rs 2.27 crore. The roads/streets in F block and Z block of Maharishi Valmiki Nagar would be recarpeted at an estimated cost of Rs 39 lakh and Rs 18 lakh, respectively, said LIT chairman Raman Balasubramanium. Sunil Kapoor, Sandeep Salwan, Aruna Puri, Pinki Kad, Satish Thamman and Rajiv Kapila wer among those others present. Ex-sarpanch’s arrest sought in rape case Ludhiana, March 21 Allegations of rape were levelled against a former Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) sarpanch of Gill village here, Baljit Singh, alias Shamsher Singh. Sitting sarpanch of the Congress Mika Gill while addressing mediapersons at the Circuit House here said today that an FIR was registered against Baljit at the Dehlon police station but the police have failed to nab the accused despite repeated requests. Mika alleged that former sarpanch Baljit had illicit relations with a widow schoolteacher, whom he had taken to various places such as Dharamsala, McLeodganj and other places for committing rape. He alleged that the man was having an illicit relationship with the teacher for four years and he had also made an obscene video of the victim. He continued to physically exploit and blackmail her using the video. The accused had promised the victim that he would marry her but he refused later. The sarpanch said the accused had raped the woman at a hotel in Chandigarh after giving her a sedative-laced drink. He had also made a video of the act. After four years of exploitation, the victim gave a complaint to the Ludhiana Police Commissioner, following which an FIR was lodged on March 12. Mika said if the police fail to arrest the accused, they would move the HC against the police. — TNS