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July 31, 2011

Immigration Fraud

City couple booked for duping youth

Patiala, July 31
The city police has registered a case pertaining to cheating and conspiracy against a city-based travel agent husband-wife duo for duping a local resident of money to the tune of lakhs on the pretext of sending him abroad. While the Tripuri police has registered a case against the accused couple, it is yet to make arrests.
The police said the accused had been identified as Raspal Singh and his wife, Hardeep Kaur, who had allegedly duped a resident of Tripuri, Chirag Malhotra, of Rs 2,40,000 for sending him abroad. “However when the couple failed to send the victim abroad, he demanded his money back, following which accused started avoiding him,” said the police.
“While an FIR has been registered, the couple is on the run and yet to be arrested,” said the Tripuri police.

Liberia honours Jalandhar man


Chandigarh, July 31
India’s Honorary Consul General to Liberia, West Africa, Upjit Singh Sachdeva has been conferred with the “Knight Grand Commander”, Liberia’s highest award during 164th Independence day celebration. He belongs to Jalandhar.
Sachdeva has become the first Indian in African history to have been awarded the highest award by a sitting Liberian president since Liberia declared her Independence 164 years ago on July 26, 1847.
The award according to sources was presented to him by President of the Republic of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf for his outstanding contribution to the cause of the socio-economic development, recovery and reconstruction of Liberia after the civil war that ravaged the entire nation.
Earlier, he was honoured with the Parvasi Bhartiya Award by President Pratibha Patil for enhancing India's image globally during 3-day-long Pravasi Bharatiya Divas held at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, in January this year. Sachdeva was born in Jalandhar and graduated from the Guru Nanak Dev University in 1982. He migrated to Liberia and started his career in 1987. He was appointed as Honorary Counsel General of India in 1998. He formed his own company Jeety Trading Corporation, which rapidly transformed into a mega building material, which has been catering to the construction and household needs of entire Liberia and Sierra Leone.

Punjab to be covered under road safety project being run by the UNO

Mohali, July 31
All districts of Punjab would be covered under the Road Safety Project (RS -10) being run by the United Nations Organisation, said Satish Chandra, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, here on Friday. While addressing the participants at a high-level review meeting of the project, the Principal Secretary said presently Jalandhar had been identified for the implementation of this project on a pilot basis. Once the first phase ends in December, the project would be extended to the whole of Punjab.
He said the project had been initiated by the United Nations in collaboration with several international agencies. The project was being implemented in 10 different countries, including India. Two states, Punjab and Andhra Pradesh, were selected for this project.
He said the objective of the project was to strengthen the road safety mechanism and curtail roadside trauma cases by effective traffic management as well as improved infrastructure.
He said Punjab had achieved some success in tackling road trauma cases, but much more was still to be done. He lauded the role of ‘Dial-108 Emergency Response Services’ in handling road accidents. He, however, emphasised upon modern gadgets and equipment like speed radar and alcometer and assured that funds would not be any constraint in this regard.
The three trauma centres set up at Amritsar, Pathankot and Jalandhar were functioning well and another such centre would be set up at Khanna, he added.
ADGP (traffic) RP Singh emphasised on awareness about traffic rules and change in the mindset of people towards traffic norms. He said eight lakh challans for different traffic violations were issued during the past one year. The help of new technology like GPS system was being taken to curtail traffic violations and the aim was to reduce roadside trauma cases by half in the near future.
Dr Ashok Nayyar, Director of Health & Family Welfare-cum-Nodal Officer RS-10 Project, said that out of the various factors resulting in road traffic injuries, drunken driving and over speeding were identified for a detailed study.
The enforcement of the project would begin from August and the results would start emerging by the end of this year. He disclosed that the UNO had declared the 2011-20 decade as Global Road Safety Decade. He impressed upon the media to play a more proactive role in creating further awareness on road safety.

HDFC Bank told to compensate complainant

Chandigarh, July 31
The State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has directed HDFC Bank Ltd to pay Rs 25,000 as compensation to Parvesh Gupta, a resident of Sector 51.
Earlier, Gupta had filed a complaint in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, which had directed the respondent to refund the foreclosure charges of Rs 10,113, along with a compensation of Rs 10,000 to the complainant, for the harassment caused to him due to loss of documents, as well as Rs 2,500 as cost of litigation.
However, feeling aggrieved over the meagre compensation awarded by the district forum, Gupta moved the State Commission.
The counsel for the complainant submitted that respondents had not handed over original allotment letter or a certified copy to his client. He further submitted that the complainant had to suffer a lot of physical harassment, mental agony and inconvenience, for a number of years, on account of loss of his original allotment letter, which was submitted by him, before Centurion Bank, which was later merged with HDFC Bank Ltd. He further submitted that it was the duty of the respondents to handover either the original document or the certified/duplicate copy to his client.
On the other hand, the counsel for the respondents, argued that the respondents tried to get a duplicate allotment letter prepared from the Chandigarh Housing Board, but the relevant file was found to have been lost. He said, in case, the complainant produced the original receipts, regarding the payments made by him, to the Housing Board, his file could be traced and revived, and duplicate allotment letter would be supplied to him. He further submitted that the compensation of Rs 10,000 awarded by the District Forum was fair and reasonable.
While enhancing the compensation to Rs 25,00,0 State Commission president Justice Sham Sunder and Member Neena Sandhu observed that it was due to the negligence on the part of the opposite parties that the original allotment letter, which was deposited by the complainant was lost. The complainant had to furnish another security, by way of pledging his LIC policy of Rs 2,00,000 with the respondents, for no fault of his. One can well imagine the condition of a person, whose original allotment letter regarding the allotment of house, was lost by the opposite party, on account of the acts of the respondents.

City colleges have no provision for parking

Chandigarh, July 31
With the new academic session beginning in city colleges, swanky cars parked haphazardly outside the campus are giving the authorities jitters.
An exponential increase in the number of cars being brought to colleges by students, who are barely out of school, and a dearth of space for student cars has aggravated the menace.
At the peak college hours, traffic jams on roads leading to DAV College, Sector 10, or Sector 32, where GGDSD College, St Anne’s Convent School, Government Model Senior Secondary School, Regional Institute of English (RIE) and State Institute of Education are located, are a common sight.“Parking menace outside colleges is on an all time high. With the UT administration failing to tide over the problem, the situation is going to turn from bad to worse,” said a government college official.
Barring certain government colleges, which have provided sufficient space to students for parking their cars, it is strange how certain private colleges have been adding more units and courses without making any parking arrangements. The traffic police, on the other hand, said the problem can be solved by creating more awareness among students about car-pooling.
“The parking crunch has always persisted. We have also written to colleges to make a list of students possessing vehicles. There is not much that the colleges can do with the limited infrastructure. However, the emphases must be on creating awareness among students on car-pooling. The traffic police, at its own level has launched awareness campaigns in colleges and will continue to do so in future,” said Vijay Kumar, DSP (traffic), UT.
Incidentally, despite traffic awareness drives being carried out in various schools and colleges, car-pooling in not being campaigned actively by the authorities of private or government colleges.

Illegal PG accommodation in Chandigarh Part-II

Chandigarh and its satellite towns have become an educational hub, where students stay during the course of their studies. Besides educational institutions, there are information technology companies, which employ a large number of executives. But unfortunately, educational institutions, including Panjab University and colleges, have insufficient space to accommodate all students in hostels.
This has led to the need for paying guest (PG) accommodation. To supplement their income, several house owners are renting out their accommodation to paying guests. However, a number of these house owners tend to fleece students by charging exorbitantly. Apparently, they are not paying the charges due to the administration.
The administration needs to get in place certain rules and be strict on the ground. There should be rules on registration with the administration, commercial electricity and water charges and other miscellaneous needs, owners being liable for law and order problem on their premises, reporting of credentials of tenants to the police by house owners, lists of all occupants being displayed at a prominent place and regular police visits.
SK Khosla, Chandigarh
Night shelters
Since Chandigarh is an educational hub, with scores of academic and professional colleges, there are thousands of students who come from outside cities and states for studying here. So, they need some sort of accommodation. Not all students get the facilities of hostels as these are in limited number. Rents are too high. Thus, students seek PG facilities, which are also lower.
There are some greedy people who offer PG accommodation at higher rates to these helpless students. The raid one one such building at Sector 35 the other day shows how unscrupulous persons violate all building laws to accommodate five students per room to amass money. This is really an act to be condemned by all. But the students have no alternative.
The UT administration should keep this aspect in mind and build some ‘raen baseras’ (night shelters) or construct hostles for such students at nominal rates so that students coming from outside do not suffer for want of accommodation. Simply challaning owners who offer PG facilities to students in the city is not the final solution.
RK Kapoor, Chandigarh
Register with MC
There are very simple ways to deal with the present PG problem in Chandigarh. With the kind of incomes generated from the concept, PG accommodation owners should own up some responsibilities too. All PG accommodation should be registered with the MC on payment of a an annual fee of Rs 24,000 per year. The MC should also earn as PG accommodation owners are charging upto Rs 4,000 per month per person.
The next step should be informing the police station of the sector with details of every PG, with credentials. This will help in tackling the social security problem in the city. Last but not least, it is better for the administration to use this situation to its advantage and provide more working men’s and women’s hostels.
Prashant S Kumar, Chandigarh
Plan more hostels
Chandigarh has emerged a major hub of educational, commercial and IT activities. This growth needs supporting infrastructure, particularly in the field of accommodation, for which Chandigarh does not have adequate space. The concept of PG accommodation has had an impact, not merely in Chandigarh, but also in adjoining towns of Mohali and Panchkula.
The government needs to plan for providing more hostels and accommodation for students at the earliest. Unlicensed accommodation should not be allowed at any cost and the administration needs to set more examples, like the recent sealing of a house at Sector 35.
SS Arora, Mohali
Owners in a spin
The Chandigarh administration has taken the right decision to seal PG accommodation in the city. The accommodation is given to students and working women. Thousands of paying guests are staying in the city without registration. One of the main conditions for registration of PG accommodation in residential areas should be that there is no building bylaw violations in the premises after grant of completion certificate.
The PG accommodation owners advertise their accommodation in newspapers, with contact numbers. Students have to face a number of difficulties, such as water problems, overcrowding and high charges per bed. Owners should be penalised for violating building bylaws.
Owners are now caught in a web over providing details on their property to the authorities. They have breached building bylaws, constructed rooms and made big business. The authorities should make enquiries for running PG accommodation in residential premises. There is an immediate need to check the practice of the outsiders being charged huge amounts.
ML Garg, Chandigarh
open house response'
The Chandigarh administration sealed a paying guest accommodation at Sector 35 past week. At least 40 paying guests were crowded in eight rooms on upper floors. While getting accommodation in the city has become an ordeal for outsiders, particularly students, paying guest accommodation owners are minting money by overcrowding their residential quarters. Write to openhouse@tribunemail.com about the problems faced in getting accommodation in the city and alternative solutions for providing residential quarters for the burgeoning population of students and professionals from outside the city.

Mohali, July 31
Due to lack of co-ordination between the district administration, the police and the Greater Mohali Area Development Authority (GMADA), the business of unregistered paying guest (PG) accommodation is thriving here.
The police and the GMADA estate office work in isolation while checking PG accommodation here. As a result, efforts by the estate officer to seek an undertaking from operators of 126 illegal PG houses to shut their activity or get it registered has failed to make an impact.
Explaining the flaw, sources said the police were carrying out the verification of occupants in PG accommodation, but failed to check the number of PGs.
As a result, the estate officer has no clue about the number of persons staying as PGs and had to rely on rent deed agreements produced by landlords.
In many cases, landlords make rent deed agreements to camouflage their illegal activity. Police officials stated that GMADA should write to the police to seek information.
In the past, the estate office had found 126 unregistered PGs. “To physically verify undertakings given by property owners, we are carrying out a survey of the town again,” said GMADA estate officer Balbir Singh.

Illegal PG accommodation in Chandigarh

Fear of crackdown prompts landlords to act Ask paying guests to fill in verification forms to avoid action
Chandigarh, July 30
The fear of crackdown by the UT administration as part of their intensive campaign against landlords illegally renting out their premises to paying guests (PGs) in the city has forced them to get verification forms filled by the occupants.
Sahil Chauhan, a postgraduate student at Panjab University, who resides as a PG in Sector 15, says he has been asked to fill the verification form by his landlord.
“In fact all students residing in my PG accommodation have been asked to furnish their details at the earliest or else we will have to vacate the accommodation,” Chauhan adds.
Manipal Singh, another PG resident in Sector 22, says he has been residing in the same accommodation for the past two years. All these years, he claims, he has never been asked to fill a verification form. However, all of a sudden, his landlord has now asked him to fill out the verification form.
A landlord running a PG in Sector 34, praying anonymity, says he has distributed verification forms among his PG residents and asked them to deposit them by the first week of August.
“In the wake of the UT administration’s campaign to verify PGs in the city, most landlords offering PG accommodations in our sectors have also started asking the occupants to give their details,” says a PG owner.
“It is becoming difficult to rent a PG accommodation in the city as landlords have now begun making detailed enquiries before offering a PG. It has been almost 10 days now since I started hunting for a decent PG accommodation. But I have failed to find one,” says Rohit Singh, who works with a multi-national company.
In some sectors, landlords have decided to offer the accommodation only to families and not students.
During a recent meeting, the UT administration and the police had also decided to start a verification drive in various sectors and penalise landlords who failed to get a prior verification of their paying guests done.
Hub of students staying as PGs
Much of the city’s student community living as PGs is concentrated in Sectors 8, 10, 11, 15, 16, 19, 20, 21, 22, 27, 32, 33, 34 and 35. Apprehending crackdown, landlords in some sectors have decided to offer their accommodations only to families and not students.

Indian American groups seek relief on foreign bank accounts

IANS | Jul 30, 2011, 08.36PM IST
WASHINGTON: Several Indian American civic and professional groups have sought President Barack Obama's intervention in a joint campaign seeking relief on penalties stipulated by US tax ruleson foreign bank accounts.

The July 19 letter to Obama by the Global Organization of People of Indian Origin (GOPIO), National Federation of Indian American Association (NFIA), American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI) and Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) follows a similar plea from GOPIO to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The letter expresses the community's concern that new US immigrants of Indian origin "are facing unfair and unprecedented penalties for failure to disclose and do tax filing of foreign bank accountsby August 31. Copies of the letter were also sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Geithner.

The joint letter affirmed the community's recognition of the necessity for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to take needed actions and enact rules to track money flowing to terrorists, drug transaction and money laundering in safe havens outside the United States.

However, the groups urged the IRS to review and reconsider the rules towards "more practical and prudent application."

The IRS announced Feb 8 a special voluntary disclosure initiative designed to bring offshore money back into the US tax system that will be available through August.

Among other things, the Indian community has requested that stipulated 25 percent Foreign Bank and Financial Accounts (FBAR) penalty on assets of law abiding citizens be eliminated and the IRS deadline for voluntary disclosure be extended to Dec 31, 2012.

The groups have also asked the government to publicise the amnesty programme in ethnic newspapers and other community media in multiple languages, as well through print, radio and television media interviews.