Chandigarh, May 16
Five immigration agents were arrested here this evening along with 52 passports while illegally interviewing persons for recruitment in Arabian countries. Dhyan Singh of Hoshiarpur, Nand Lal of Ram Darbar, Jasbir Singh of Ropar, Anil Kumar of Daddu Majra and Tejpal of Khattal village in Panchkula were booked under Section 420 of the IPC before being arrested.
The police raided a place in Maloya after a local immigration agent, Bhupinder Singh, who is running B. S. Enterprises in Sector 42, complained that these persons were conducting interviewing for recruitment in Arabian countries without a licence and permission. Bhupinder Singh informed the police that Dhyan Singh and his accomplices had 17 passports and Rs 1.5 lakh in their possession. The police, however, could not recover the money.
The police asked the recruiting agents, who are authorised to carry on their operations in Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur, if they had any licence from the Labour Ministry to recruit people in Chandigarh and permission to conduct interviews in Maloya. The agents could not furnish any document to support their claim that they were legally recruiting people for assignments in Saudi Arabia. The police is planning to recover the money and the 17 passports. The police said the agents had called the labourers to Maloya for interview. However, the police reached before the labourers could appear for it.
According to the police, an agent, apart from having a licence to recruit people from a particular area, must also have permission to conduct interviews on particular days. The police said the agents used to charge around Rs 10,000 with the bio-data initially. The agents used to charge a candidate around Rs 60,000 for a job in Arabian countries.
July 18, 2011
11 booked for transferring land illegally
Ferozepur, July 17
Eleven persons were booked in two cases for getting ownership of forest land in the Makhu area of this district on the basis of bogus documents in the Makhu police station here today.
Acting on the complaints lodged by Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Ferozepur, two separate cases were registered against seven and four persons under Sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.
In the first case, seven persons - Kuldeep Singh, Ranjit Singh, Nishan Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Kashmir Singh, Daljit Singh and Surinder Singh took possession of about 80 kanals of forest land after getting its ownership transferred in their name by creating bogus documents.
The other case was registered against four persons - Amarinder Singh, Lakhmir Singh, Daljit Singh and Raunak Singh - in Makhu police station for their alleged involvement in getting about 108 kanals transferred in their name with fake papers. Both pieces of land are located in Gatti Hari Ke forest belt of this district.
Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that police authorities were investigating whether revenue officials were involved in this fraud or not. They were also trying to ascertain how many trees on the forest land had been felled by these miscreants.
In the past few years, the forest areas, which are under the occupation and ownership of the state Forest Department, have come under grave threat from unscrupulous elements as a large numbers of trees were being felled and encroachment on forest land was being done under political patronage.
Many persons had managed to get themselves registered as cultivators on the forest land in the official revenue records with the connivance of revenue officials in this district in the past.
Harsh Kumar, Conservator, Forest, Ferozepur, while admitting the threat to tree cover and forest land in the district, said that efforts were being made to protect these from unscrupulous elements.
Ludhiana or US, jail problems the same
Ludhiana, July 16
It may seem strange that even the most secured prisons in the United States and the Central Jail in Ludhiana have similar problems.
The modus operandi of sneaking a mobile phone or drugs inside jails is as prevalent in prisons in the USA as in India. And if you thought toothpaste and capsicum are used to transport drugs only into Punjab prisons, well think again, similar ways are being adopted in the US as well.
The Punjab Police is not the only one grappling with recidivist elements. The problem of habitual offenders is plaguing the US police as well.
These interesting facts came to light during a visit of a US delegation to Central Jail here today.
Michael C Walker, Associate Professor in John Jay College, New York, said, “Sneaking of drugs and mobile phones is a big problem in American prisons. That is why jail authorities in US prefer video conferencing. I am surprised a similar problem exists here as well.”
Similarly, inmates face tremendous social stigma as US society is reluctant to allow a person with a criminal past to enter into the mainstream. “That is why movements like Re-Enter were initiated in America, so that people start accepting such persons,” said Dr Maria Haberfeld, professor, John Jay College.
“In the US, a majority of criminals become habitual offenders when they do not find jobs outside. I am impressed that the government here is running so many skill-training programmes for jail inmates. But in America, there are no such skill-training centres inside the jails. That is a major reason behind inmates becoming habitual offenders,” said Dr Maria. The US experts will file a report suggesting improvements in the present prison structure to the Punjab government.
It may seem strange that even the most secured prisons in the United States and the Central Jail in Ludhiana have similar problems.
The modus operandi of sneaking a mobile phone or drugs inside jails is as prevalent in prisons in the USA as in India. And if you thought toothpaste and capsicum are used to transport drugs only into Punjab prisons, well think again, similar ways are being adopted in the US as well.
The Punjab Police is not the only one grappling with recidivist elements. The problem of habitual offenders is plaguing the US police as well.
These interesting facts came to light during a visit of a US delegation to Central Jail here today.
Michael C Walker, Associate Professor in John Jay College, New York, said, “Sneaking of drugs and mobile phones is a big problem in American prisons. That is why jail authorities in US prefer video conferencing. I am surprised a similar problem exists here as well.”
Similarly, inmates face tremendous social stigma as US society is reluctant to allow a person with a criminal past to enter into the mainstream. “That is why movements like Re-Enter were initiated in America, so that people start accepting such persons,” said Dr Maria Haberfeld, professor, John Jay College.
“In the US, a majority of criminals become habitual offenders when they do not find jobs outside. I am impressed that the government here is running so many skill-training programmes for jail inmates. But in America, there are no such skill-training centres inside the jails. That is a major reason behind inmates becoming habitual offenders,” said Dr Maria. The US experts will file a report suggesting improvements in the present prison structure to the Punjab government.
Home buyers left in the lurch
Builders fail to give possession of homes in stipulated period
Chandigarh, July 18
Rising cost of construction material, sky rocketing interest rates on realtors and for home loans and a cautious approach by banks to finance these projects is keeping hundreds of prospective buyers from getting possession of their ‘dream homes’.
Contrary to the general opinion being created by the realtors about a new boom in the market, The Tribune has found that the genuine home buyers in this region have been hit hard by the lull in the real estate market. With most of the builders failing to give them possession of their homes, these buyers have been burdened with escalating home loan rates. On the other hand, most of the realtors, having made their profits by selling anything between 30-50 per cent of the project at exorbitant rates, have stopped construction at these project sites and re-invested the money in either enhancing their land banks, or ploughed money collected from one project into another.
Be it in Zirakpur, located on the outskirts of Chandigarh, or the financial capital of Punjab, Ludhiana, the slump in the real estate sector has started taking its toll. At most of these project sites, one is greeted by rows of unfinished concrete structures. In some projects, the external development work has just begun to take off, though the projects were announced and bookings were made almost four to five years back.
The Tribune has learnt that almost 40 per cent of projects in Zirakpur have put their construction on hold because of a cash crunch (mainly because funds from these projects have been diverted to buying land to launch the next phase of the project), and 90 per cent of those projects where construction is still on, are working on extended time lines.
Top executive with a leading multi-national company Dheeraj Gupta, who was supposed to get the possession of his apartment in Zirakpur in March this year, informed The Tribune that he was now feeling the pinch of paying a higher EMI instalment, even though he has not got possession of his apartment. “When I booked this apartment, I went into an agreement with the developer, according to which the developer is liable to pay me a penalty of Rs 5 per square feet (for the total area of the flat) in case he failed to give me possession in the time frame that was promised. I had already sold off the flat where I was living earlier and have now been forced to live on rent as I have not got the possession of the flat. This is not just true in my case, but for a large number of home buyers in Zirakpur, VIP Road, Peer Machalla, Dhakaula and Dhakoli, where possession has been delayed. A number of people have also taken these developers to the consumer court for failing to deliver the services,” he said.
In Ludhiana, the realtors have failed to give possession of the land/villas/ apartments in a majority of the projects that took off since 2005. Those in the real estate sector allege that many of these top real estate companies that launched housing projects at the peak of the boom have collected money from the investors here, but diverted it to their under-construction projects in bigger cities.
In Bathinda, which is the emerging boom town of Malwa region, illegal colonies have mushroomed and many people have invested their hard-earned money in buying land there, only to be deprived of electricity and water connections as these colonies have not been approved by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA).
Chandigarh, July 18
Rising cost of construction material, sky rocketing interest rates on realtors and for home loans and a cautious approach by banks to finance these projects is keeping hundreds of prospective buyers from getting possession of their ‘dream homes’.
Contrary to the general opinion being created by the realtors about a new boom in the market, The Tribune has found that the genuine home buyers in this region have been hit hard by the lull in the real estate market. With most of the builders failing to give them possession of their homes, these buyers have been burdened with escalating home loan rates. On the other hand, most of the realtors, having made their profits by selling anything between 30-50 per cent of the project at exorbitant rates, have stopped construction at these project sites and re-invested the money in either enhancing their land banks, or ploughed money collected from one project into another.
Be it in Zirakpur, located on the outskirts of Chandigarh, or the financial capital of Punjab, Ludhiana, the slump in the real estate sector has started taking its toll. At most of these project sites, one is greeted by rows of unfinished concrete structures. In some projects, the external development work has just begun to take off, though the projects were announced and bookings were made almost four to five years back.
The Tribune has learnt that almost 40 per cent of projects in Zirakpur have put their construction on hold because of a cash crunch (mainly because funds from these projects have been diverted to buying land to launch the next phase of the project), and 90 per cent of those projects where construction is still on, are working on extended time lines.
Top executive with a leading multi-national company Dheeraj Gupta, who was supposed to get the possession of his apartment in Zirakpur in March this year, informed The Tribune that he was now feeling the pinch of paying a higher EMI instalment, even though he has not got possession of his apartment. “When I booked this apartment, I went into an agreement with the developer, according to which the developer is liable to pay me a penalty of Rs 5 per square feet (for the total area of the flat) in case he failed to give me possession in the time frame that was promised. I had already sold off the flat where I was living earlier and have now been forced to live on rent as I have not got the possession of the flat. This is not just true in my case, but for a large number of home buyers in Zirakpur, VIP Road, Peer Machalla, Dhakaula and Dhakoli, where possession has been delayed. A number of people have also taken these developers to the consumer court for failing to deliver the services,” he said.
In Ludhiana, the realtors have failed to give possession of the land/villas/ apartments in a majority of the projects that took off since 2005. Those in the real estate sector allege that many of these top real estate companies that launched housing projects at the peak of the boom have collected money from the investors here, but diverted it to their under-construction projects in bigger cities.
In Bathinda, which is the emerging boom town of Malwa region, illegal colonies have mushroomed and many people have invested their hard-earned money in buying land there, only to be deprived of electricity and water connections as these colonies have not been approved by the Punjab Urban Development Authority (PUDA).
NRIs’ hand in drug trafficking exposed
Jalandhar, July 18
Recent investigations by the Jalandhar (Rural) police has revealed that a good number of NRI-sponsored youth festivals, sports events and charity shows in Punjab are being used as a cover to smuggle narcotics to foreign shores.
The revelation has been made by Harjinder Singh, who, along with his sister, was caught carrying 1.5 kg of a highly refined derivative of heroin on July 2. The recovered contraband, nicknamed “ICE”, is worth Rs 15 crore in the market, said a police officer.
For the past few years, the drug was procured by notorious drug traffickers lodged in various Indian prisons through their contacts in neighbouring countries. The consignments would be delivered to them by separate “carriers”.
During police remand, Harjinder reportedly confessed to receiving orders from NRI customers well in advance of sports or charity events hosted by them. Code words like “shirts-blazers”, “chakla belna” and “portraits” were used to indicate the drug quantity, he said.
“The consignments are delivered to NRIs in the collar and cuffs of shirts/blazers. Another method is to pack it in thick wooden photo frames,” said the officer.
“Such drugs cannot be scanned by X-rays at airports. By packing the consignments in bulky luggage bags, the smugglers also escape being caught by sniffer dogs.”
PK Tikoo, Assistant Commissioner, Customs and incharge of the anti-smuggling wing at the Amritsar International Airport, said:
“Powdered drugs can’t be detected by scanners. Smart packing techniques help the smugglers to dodge the sniffer dogs too. Without intelligence inputs, most traffickers usually manage to get through,” said Tikoo.
It has been revealed that Harjinder is merely a link in a chain of modules operating in the state.
HKS Khakh, DSP, said more facts were expected to emerge following further investigations.
Gorkhas get more autonomy in Bengal
Pintail Village (Sukna), July 18
Ending two decades of uncertainty in the Darjeeling hills, a historic tripartite agreement for a new council with more powers was signed today even as the West Bengal government ruled out any division of the state.
Ending two decades of uncertainty in the Darjeeling hills, a historic tripartite agreement for a new council with more powers was signed today even as the West Bengal government ruled out any division of the state.
The agreement for Gorkhaland Territorial Administration (GTA) was signed at 3.40 pm in the presence of Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha president Bimal Gurung here, about 8 km from Siliguri. The CPI(M) and other Left parties boycotted the function. A 48-hour bandh was observed in the adjoining Terai and Dooars in the plains against the signing.
The pact was signed by West Bengal Home Secretary GD Gautama, Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary KK Pathak and GJM general secretary Roshan Giri here, about 8 km from Siliguri.
The new autonomous, 50-member elected hill council will have more administrative and financial powers to independently run the three hill sub-divisions of Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling as compared to its former avatar, the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, formed in the late 1980s. While 45 members will be elected, the remaining five will be nominated by the government. Election will be held in six months.
The GTA will get 60-odd different government departments, including finance, health, land reform, food and agriculture, electricity, irrigation and waterways and tourism. However, the Home Department (police) will not be under its control. “Everything that concerns the people is given to you,” said Chidambaram.
There will be a direct flow of funds from New Delhi to the GTA for development works. Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has already sanctioned Rs 600 crore as special assistance for Darjeeling. Banerjee also assured a complete economic package to the GTA, which, she said, would function within West Bengal.
Though the GJM’s demand for a separate state and inclusion of added areas in the ‘mouzas’ in the plains in Dooars and Terai areas has not been met, the government has agreed to consider the demand for inclusion of larger areas in their jurisdiction. A nine-member committee will look into the matter. A discordant note was struck by Bimal Gurung's wife Asha just before the signing saying that she was happy at the inclusion of the word 'Gorkhaland' in the GTA agreement and the 'ultimate aim' was to achieve a Gorkhaland state.
However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who kept her pledge to resolve the Darjeeling hill crisis within three months of coming to power, said there was no question of bifurcating West Bengal. Banerjee said the new memorandum of agreement sought to confer to the GTA maximum possible administrative autonomy within the constitutional framework and within various state and central acts.
After the agreement was signed, both Chidambaram and Banerjee expressed satisfaction that after two decades of negotiations, the Darjeeling impasse would be settled. Describing the occasion as ‘historic,’ Chidambaram said the Centre and the state government would fully back the GTA. “Both the Government of West Bengal and the Government of India will stand by you and hold your hand. The task before you is stupendous. There will be many hurdles, but there is no hurdle that cannot be solved through dialogue, determination and spirit of give and take,” he said.
Lashing out at the CPM and some regional outfits for objecting to the nomenclature of the GTA, Banerjee said, “They are indulging in politics over the name. They are indulging in false propaganda to create confusion among the people. They could not do anything (to resolve the Darjeeling problem) in the last 35 years. Let us do our work.”
Without naming the CPM, she said, “They are trying to pit Bengalis against the hill people. But this will not happen. We will remain together. Darjeeling is not outside Bengal.”
Welcoming the agreement, Gurung congratulated Banerjee for her sincerity and honesty in redressing the hill people’s legitimate demands. “The agreement marks a turning point. We hope that our demand for some ‘mouzas’ in the plains would also be fulfilled,” he said.
Slamming the Left government for doing nothing to develop the hills over the past 34 years, Gurung said that had the agreement materialised earlier, many lives would not have been lost. The CPM and several social organisations protested against the accord and said that by signing in the agreement both Chidambaram and Banerjee had sold themselves to the GJM. “It is virtually another partition of Bengal and will encourage other separatists organisations to demand separate states,” said Opposition leader Suryakanto Mishra, who boycotted the function.
The Amra Bangali, Jana Jagaran and Jaja Chetana, backed by the Adivasi Bikash Parishad, has called for a 48-hour bandh in the Terai and Dooars in the plains area against the signing of the treaty.
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