08012025-LT-01.qxd 1/8/2025 12:53 AM Page 1 c m y b Ludhiana tribune 5 HELD FOR BLACKMAILING PICK-UP VAN DRIVER They blackmailed victim after coercing him into a house, where they filmed obscene videos, extorted money. P3 » ROADWAYS STAFF CALL OFF STRIKE, TO MEET CM ON JAN 15 M AINLY CLEAR SKY MAX 14°C | MIN 9°C YESTERDAY MAX 15°C | MIN 10°C BULLET-PROOF GLASS, CCTV INSTALLED AT SALMAN’S HOUSE Strike, which was earlier announced for three days, till Wednesday, was called off on Tuesday. P3 FORECAST Salman Khan is not leaving any loose ends to ensure his safety from threats issued by Lawrence Bishnoi. P4 » SUNSET WEDNESDAY 5.39 PM SUNRISE THURSDAY 7:20 AM » WEDNESDAY | 8 JANUARY 2025 | LUDHIANA Civic body collects ~125 crore property tax, ~72 cr arrears due City to have woman Mayor, ruling party holds meeting MC chief orders recovery of arrears, warns of strict action against over 2.2L defaulters Ludhiana, January 7 The state government has reserved the post of Mayor in Ludhiana for a woman. Meanwhile, even after seventeen days since the Municipal Corporation elections were held, no party has been able to prove its majority. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) got the maximum of 41 seats, Congress secured 30, BJP won 19, SAD got two seats and three seats were won by Independents. State president of AAP Aman Arora on Tuesday held a meeting at Chandigarh in which all MLAs, along with the district president, were present and a strategy was planned to prove majority to form the House and get Mayor from their party elected. A discussion on finalising the name for the Mayor was also held on Tuesday but no final decision could be taken and now, the meeting would be convened again on Wednesday, said a senior AAP leader. It is expected that AAP will propose to form the House to Divisional Commissioner as it has highest number of winning candidates and will prove it in the first meeting of the MC House. The next step to elect the Mayor, now depends upon the number of members present in the House and cross-voting can also play an important role here. Cross-voting refers to a scenario where members of a political party or coalition Nitin Jain TELLING NUMBERS Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 7 The Municipal Corporation (MC) has collected Rs 125 crore property tax during the first three quarters of the 2024-25 fiscal, which was over 62 per cent of the target to earn Rs 200-crore revenue from the levy, officials have confirmed. Following the failure of defaulters to clear their dues, the civic body has launched a special drive to recover the arrears from those, who had not cleared their dues despite repeated notices and reminders. Besides levying penalty and interest, the MC will also attach and seal properties of major defaulters in case they fail to pay the arrears without any further delay. Taking serious note of the failure of the defaulters in paying the arrears, MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal has ordered recovery and enforcement officials to speed up the recovery. He has also warned the defaulters of strict action, which can also include attachment/ sealing of properties and penal proceedings. Dachalwal told The Tribune here on Tuesday that the civic body has received a sum of Rs 124.83 crore on account of property tax through 3,71,153 property returns filed from April 1 last to January 2. “It was 62.42 per cent of the amended budgetary provision of Rs 200 crore property tax collection for the current financial year,” he said. Total properties 4,68,141 Property tax returns filed 3,71,153 Property tax received 124,83,00,000 Defaulters 2,20,348 Arrears 72,43,00,000 Target 200,00,00,000 Residents pay property tax at the MC office in Ludhiana. He said as compared to this fiscal’s first three-quarter progress, the MC had collected Rs 121.75-crore property tax between April 1, 2023, and January 2, 2024. “It was Rs 3.08 crore less collection, accounting for 2.53 per cent less revenue than property tax collected during the corresponding period this fiscal,” the MC chief revealed. With this, the MC has created a record of sorts by collecting a sum of almost Rs 125 crore during the current fiscal’s first three quarters, which was the highest-ever collection during the corresponding period since 2013-14 when the levy was imposed in Ludhiana. The MC chief said the civic body has recorded highestever receipts during the current financial year’s first three quarters since the (Source: Municipal Corporation, amount in rupees, figures current fiscal till January 2) imposition of the levy in 2013, with over 3.71 lakh property owners paying the levy so far, which was over 79 per cent of the total 4,68,141 properties assessed across four zones in the MC limits. According to the year-wise property tax receipts, the MC had collected property tax amounting to Rs 138.03 crore in 2023-24, Rs 122.45 in 2022-23, Rs 92.84 crore in 2021-22, Rs 97.15 crore in 2020-21, Rs 84.25 crore in 2019-20, Rs 78.24 crore in 2018-19, Rs 70.4 crore in 2017-18, Rs 66.05 crore in 201617, Rs 69.44 crore in 2015-16, Rs 52.94 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 74.79 crore had been collected from property tax head during the financial year 2013-14. Pertinently, the MC had collected the revenue of Rs 715.21 crore from different heads during the financial CIVIC BODY CHIEF: REVENUE TO BOOST DEVELOPMENT “The record revenue collections under property tax and other heads in 2024-25 were made possible only due to voluntary deposits by residents/ tax payers and hard work by the civic officials concerned to ensure maximum recoveries. The more revenue collections will certainly help more development of the city as a major chunk would be spent on further improving basic civic amenities being provided to residents. Those who have not yet cleared their dues, are again issued notices, failing which stern penal action will be initiated against them,” said Aaditya Dachalwal, MC Commissioner. year 2023-24, which was, however, almost 9 per cent more than Rs 658.08 crore revenue receipts recorded in 2022-23. However, the last fiscal’s total revenue was over 18 per cent less than Rs 872.84 crore collection generated in 202122 and over 6 per cent less than Rs 764.19 crore total income logged in 2020-21. Moreover, the overall revenue receipts of 2023-24 had fallen a whopping 23 per cent short of the revised estimates of Rs 927 crore fixed in the Budget for the previous financial year. It was due to a shortfall in the collections from five of the total 13 revenue heads in Ludhiana, spread over 169 sq km area with an estimated population of 20 lakh. 4.68-L properties A total of 4,68,141 properties falling in the municipal limits are assessed to pay property tax. The MC had been sending reminders to owners of the defaulter property owners through public notices and personal messages on their registered mobile numbers to pay the levy. What helped A sustained campaign to collect taxes, motivating residents to pay levies, facilitating the collections through online platforms, keeping collection centres open even during public holidays and last but not the least, issuing stern warning to attach properties and initiate legal proceedings against defaulters had helped the civic body to achieve the record collections under property tax and other heads in the current financial year 2024-25. Manav Mander Tribune News Service AAP TO FINALISE NAME TODAY A discussion on finalising the name for the Mayor was also held on Tuesday but no final decision could be taken and now, the meeting would be convened again on Wednesday, said a senior AAP leader. vote against their party’s directives or candidate preference. What matters is not the overall majority but the number of votes secured by the mayoral candidate on the voting day. Since wives of both MLAs lost the elections, name of principal Inderjit Kaur, Nidhi Gupta and Amrit Varsha Rampal is now making the rounds for the post of Mayor. The names that have been making the rounds for the post of deputy mayor and senior deputy mayor are six-time councillor Rakesh Prashar and Aman Bagga. Candidates who get highest votes will be elected as mayor, the senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. A lot depends on how many members will be present on the voting day. Ex-officio members (MLAs) are also allowed to vote as per rules. The elections will be held by show of hands. There would be no election in case there is only one candidate proposed for the Mayor’s post but the poll would take place if there is over one candidate and the one getting highest votes would be declared the winner. It is not binding on all members that they must vote, it’s their choice and they can even opt out and cross voting can also be done. President of the District Congress Committee Sanjay Talwar said AAP had been exposed in front of everyone. “Everybody knows how they tried to get councillors to their side by hook or crook and now that nobody is ready to join the party, they will be relying on cross-voting,” Talwar said. “We never wanted AAP to form the House in the interests of the city. The Buddha Nullah is one of the major issues in the city and the state government has failed to do anything in this regard then, how will the local government be able to do something constructive in this regard,” he said. “Ludhiana is one of the major cities of the state and needs a mature and sensible MC House, which can look into issues faced by it. We were even ready to get into alliance with the BJP for the sake of Ludhiana but higher-ups of the BJP failed to understand the gravity of the situation,” Talwar said. BJP district president Rajneesh Dhiman, however, said the BJP was currently following the policy of wait and watch. “We will take any decision after consultation with the high command, once some step is taken by any political party. It is clear that alliance with the Congress or extending support to any Independent candidate is a complete no from our side,” he said. Minister visits Buddha Thieves decamp with 40-kg silver from temple Nullah, reviews kar sewa Tribune News Service Ludhiana, January 7 Local Government Minister Ravjot Singh inspected the kar sewa being spearheaded by environmentalist-turnedparliamentarian Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal to clean the Buddha Nullah near Gaughat Gurdwara here. He was accompanied by Municipal Corporation Commissioner Aaditya Dachewal and offficials of the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) and Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board. Rajya Sabha MP Seechewal complemented Ravjot for visiting the place three times in the past less than a fortnight to review the ongoing public service to clean and preserve the highly polluted Sutlej tributary and restore it to its erstwhile pristine state. He said the minister’s visits had made it clear that he was concerned about the environment and serious about steps being taken in this direction. Seechewal apprised the minister that 70 per cent of the work started for the alternative arrangement of the pumping station had been completed. “In the next few days, motors will be installed here and dirty water of the city will start reaching the treatment plant,” he said. Ravjot said the state government was committed to cleaning and preserving the Buddha Nullah and restoring the erstwhile state of the Buddha Dariya. Appreciating the kar sewa being spearheaded by Seechewal, he said the operation of the pumping station would help in reducing pollution in the Sutlej tributary. He assured that panels and electricity connections provided by the administration for the work would be made available as soon as possible. Later, the minister and Seechewal were presented a demonstration by the officials concerned regarding the working of treatment plants of Ludhiana, which were facing major threat from cow dung being flushed from dairies and the untreated industrial waste. The minister issued strict instructions to the officials concerned to stop the flow of untreated water into the nullah. Both of them asked the officials to make the treatment plants efficient and take action against those damaging the machinery through illegal discharge into them. “The treatment plants had been set up with the help of public money and any damage to them will not be tolerated at any cost,” they asserted.— TNS Ludhiana, January 7 Thieves are on the prowl in Ludhiana as they struck at Prachin Sheetla Mata Mandir located in BRS Nagar here and decamped with silver ornaments weighing around 40 kg, including a gold nose ring, adorned on idols. While committing theft, thieves desecrated the idols. After the incident, the temple committee fumed over the incident and demanded immediate arrest of the suspects. The committee members had gathered at the temple and held a meeting in this regard. People who reached the temple after getting information about the incident raised concern over the poor law and order situation in the city. The incident came to light on Tuesday morning when SECOND MAJOR TEMPLE THEFT IN DIST The incident is second major temple theft in district, which is a challenge for the police. Past incident occurred on intervening night of August 14 and 15 in 2024 at Shiv temple in Khanna. Prachin Sheetla Mata Mandir at BRS Nagar, Ludhiana, where the theft occurred. HIMANSHU MAHAJAN the priest opened the temple. He was shocked to see the ransacked temple. Ashok Sachhar of the temple committee said the watchman also remains present in the area, still the thieves managed to commit the theft in the temple. “The miscreants decamped with jewellery weighing about 40 kg, the value of which is in several lakhs.” The priest, Darshan Parsad Shastri, said as per CCTV footage, two suspects entered the temple around 1.30 am and left after 90 minutes. ACP (West) Gurdev Singh said the police launched an Gang looting vehicles at gunpoint busted, 8 nabbed The suspects in Ludhiana police custody on Tuesday. ASHWANI DHIMAN Ludhiana, January 7 The Ludhiana police on Tuesday claimed to have busted a gang involved in looting vehicles at gunpoint and arrested eight of its members. They were identified as Danish Kumar of Zirakpur, Bindar Kumar of Abohar, Dildar Preet and Arandeep Singh of Zirakpur, Gurbhej Singh of Fazilka, Hardeep Singh of Moga, Ramsaver Tomar of Mohali and Sanjay Kumar of Salem Tabri. DCP (Investigation) Shubham Aggarwal, ADCP (Investigation) Amandeep Singh Brar, ADCP Pawanjit, ACP Gurdev Singh, Sarabha Nagar police station SHO Neeraj Chaudhary and other officials addressed the media in this regard on Tuesday. Aggarwal said a youth, along with his friends, was allegedly robbed of his Maruti Swift car and two mobilesby four unidentified persons at gunpoint near Rajguru Nagar on c m y b the night of December 30, when the victim, Aman Sharma, was returning home with his friends after attending a New Year’s party. Aman stopped near Senior Citizen Home, Rajguru Nagar, to check the tyre pressure following which, the four suspects came and one of them pointed a pistol at him and fled with the vehicle. He said the police carried out an investigation and managed to crack the case. With the arrest of eight suspects, six vehicles, Mahindra Scorpio, Hyundai Verna, Maruti Wagon R, Volkswagen Jetta, Toyota Etios and Maruti Swift, were recovered from them. The vehicles were taken away at gunpoint by the gang recently. Besides the vehicles, the police also recovered one pistol with six cartridges, one toy pistol, 20 mobiles and two laptops from them. — TNS investigation and the case would be cracked soon. Notably, the incident is the second major temple theft in the district, which is a challenge for the Ludhiana police. The past incident occurred on the intervening night of August 14 and 15 in the past year at the Shiv tem- ple in Khanna. Thieves had first removed silver ornaments from the lingam and uprooted it. They were captured in CCTV cameras while damaging the lingam by hitting it with an iron rod and hammer repeatedly. Later, they broke the lock and stole the crown of Lord Hanuman’s idol. They also stole gold and silver ornaments of other idols and fled the scene. The value of the stolen ornaments was said to be around Rs 20 lakh. The Khanna police, led by SSP Ashwini Gotyal, had solved the case within seven days. ~40L stolen from factory Ludhiana, January 7 A theft occurred at a local factory where miscreant(s) made off with Rs 40 lakh in cash. The incident occurred at Arisudana Industry Limited in Giaspura, here. According to Pradeep Singh Arora, factory’s chief financial officer, the suspect(s) entered the factory on the intervening night of January 5 and 6 by breaking locks and made their way to its office, from where they stole the money. The police registered a case against unidentified suspects on Monday. The CCTV footage from cameras installed inside and outside the factory was obtained, which shows a suspect entering its premises. The incident came to light when staff reached the factory in the morning. Following which, they informed the owner and the police. The police launched a probe to crack the case. The victim has appealed to the police to take swift action in the matter. — TNS