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June 22, 2012

10 booked for illegal mining in Ferozepur



Ferozepur, June 22
Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju, accompanied by Hardial Singh Mann, SSP, and officials of the Industry Department, raided various places where mining was being carried on in a clandestine fashion.
Raju said there were specific instructions from the Chief Minister to check illegal mining of minerals and sand. Hence, 10 persons had been booked following raids at various sites.
The DC said there were 57 authorised sand mines in the district. He instructed officials to provide basic facilities like shelter and drinking water to labourers working at places where mining was permitted.
He asked locals to pay contractors only at the rates approved by the government. “Fleecing will not be tolerated,” he warned.

Ferozepur, June 22
Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju, accompanied by Hardial Singh Mann, SSP, and officials of the Industry Department, raided various places where mining was being carried on in a clandestine fashion.
Raju said there were specific instructions from the Chief Minister to check illegal mining of minerals and sand. Hence, 10 persons had been booked following raids at various sites.
The DC said there were 57 authorised sand mines in the district. He instructed officials to provide basic facilities like shelter and drinking water to labourers working at places where mining was permitted.
He asked locals to pay contractors only at the rates approved by the government. “Fleecing will not be tolerated,” he warned.

SpiceJet to fly on Amritsar-Delhi route


Amritsar, June 22
Budget airline carrier SpiceJet is all set to start its flights from the Sri Guru Ramdas Ji International Airport on the Amritsar-Delhi route from next month. 
Already, the national carrier Air India and Jet Airways are flying 38 flights a week on this route. SpiceJet would fill the gap left by the exit of Kingfisher Airlines that had wound up its entire operations from Amritsar, with the withdrawal of its last Amritsar-Delhi flight on March 24.
Amritsar Airport Director Sunil Dutt said the Airports Authority of India (AAI) held a number of meetings with officials of the SpiceJet about the availability of this lucrative route.
Cash-strapped Kingfisher’s exit was a gain for the hapless Air India and Jet Airways as they recorded a rise of about 10 per cent in their occupancy.
SpiceJet supervisor Dhiraj Dua said though no date had been fixed, flights on the Amritsar-Delhi route would begin from next month. He said office space had been acquired at the Amritsar Airport.
At present, the national carrier is running two daily flights to Delhi besides four days a week Amritsar - Sharjah service with a halt in Delhi. Jet Airways is running two flights daily except Sunday.

Passport offices in seven cities to stay open this weekend


New Delhi, June 22
Stung by reports of delays in processing online passport applications, the government today announced that passport offices in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritsar will function normally tomorrow and on Sunday.

“In order to address the unprecedented demand for passport services during these months, the MEA has decided to open regional passport offices, including passport seva kendras (PSKs) under their jurisdiction on June 23 and 24” at these seven centres, an official statement here said.
At a media briefing, senior MEA officials said that 25,000 to 30,000 passport applications were proposed to be handled over the next two days at the PSKs in these seven centres.
The MEA also defended what it called the citizen-centric online application system and said it has successfully completed the setting up and operationalisation of 77 PSKs in the country.
The applications for all passport-related services “other than tatkal” shall be accepted during the 'Passport Mela', the officials said.
Based on its success, such ‘melas’ will be organised on a regular basis not only at these seven centres but at other places too.
Taking note of reports in the media about applicants being fleeced by touts and middlemen for uploading applications and arranging appointments, the ministry clarified that the appointment system has been introduced in keeping with the objective of making government services accessible to the common man through common service delivery outlets.
The process is aimed at ensuring efficiency, transparency and reliability of such services at affordable costs.
The MEA is also improving governance in passport offices by focusing on citizen-centricity, service orientation and transparency.
Clearing Backlog
* Delhi, Ghaziabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Lucknow and Amritsar passport offices to have working weekend
* 25,000 to 30,000 passport applications will be handled in these two days at the passport seva kendras in seven centres

Punjab to levy property tax, up electricity duty


Chandigarh, June 22
Soon after a tax-free Budget, the Punjab Government is set to impose three new taxes to reduce the state’s massive Rs 6,838 revenue deficit. The state must bring down its deficit by 100 per cent to Rs 3,123 crore for an Rs 1,482 crore grant from the 13th Finance Commission.
The state government will soon tax mobile phone operators for installing towers while the common man could have to pay enhanced electricity duty and property tax.
Though the final call would be taken after a meeting of the SAD and BJP, government sources said the exercise to impose the levies had begun.
The Punjab Government hopes to rake in Rs 100 crore by taxing cellphone operators Rs 1 lakh a year for each tower they erect in the state. There are an estimated 10,000 mobile towers in the state.
The state would generate an additional Rs 140 crore by increasing electricity duty from the present 13 per cent to 17 per cent. Currently, Punjab earns Rs 1,400 crore every year as electricity duty.
Property tax is proposed to be imposed on the Haryana pattern. This is essential to fulfill the criteria for getting grants under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.
Haryana has imposed property tax of Re 1 per square yard on houses up to 250 square yards and offers a 50 per cent concession to owners of self- occupied property.
Imposition of property tax will help urban local bodies become financially self-reliant. The 10 per cent of VAT collections given to local bodies will then be available with the state government for carrying out other development activities.
Even after Finance Minister Parminder Singh Dhindsa presented the Budget proposals for 2012-13, he had made it clear that it was not a tax-free Budget. He had said that the state needed to bring down its revenue deficit from the present 2.75 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (in 2011-12) to 1.2 per cent of GSDP by the end of this financial year. 
Three new taxes
* Punjab proposes to levy property tax on the Haryana pattern — Rs 1 per square yard on houses up to 250 square yards and 50% concession to owners of self-occupied property
* It is working to increase electricity duty from 13 per cent to 17 per cent, generating an additional `140 crore
* Mobile phone operators would have to pay Rs 1 lakh a year for each tower they erect in the state, bringing in Rs 100 crore for the government.

China urges Philippines to refrain from stirring public opinion


Map showing the disputed areas in the West Philippine Sea (south China Sea), including the Spratlys Islands and Scarborough Shoal. Courtesy:AFP

MANILA, Philippines—China has urged the Philippines to refrain from making remarks that will influence public opinion about the ongoing dispute over the Scarborough Shoal.
In a statement posted on the Chinese government’s website, Hong Lei, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, disapproved of President Benigno Aquino’s statements to the press on Wednesday that a military plane would fly over the shoal once the weather cleared and he would order government vessels back there if Chinese ships were still the area.
“China hopes the Philippine side will do more to help the development of bilateral ties and refrain from stirring public opinion, so as to safeguard the recovery of bilateral ties,” the report quoted Hong as saying.
Hong claimed that “the Philippine warships’ harassment of Chinese fishermen in early April single-handedly caused the tension in the area. He added the Philippines’ tough, high-profile stance on the issue continued to heighten tensions after the incident.
But the tensions have eased recently, and the two sides are making efforts to repair bilateral relations, he said.
Sought for comment, Raul Hernandez, Department of Foreign Affairs spokesperson, said:
“We have been trying to de-escalate the tension in the area that’s why we urge our Chinese friends to refrain from making any comment that would tend to re-escalate the tension. Our goal is to deescalate the tension and be able to talk about the issue of Bajo de Masinloc in a diplomatic and peaceful manner.”
Located 220 kilometers west Zambales, Scarborough Shoal is within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone recognized under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos).
But China insists it owns nearly the entire South China Sea, which Manila calls West Philippine Sea, and claims Scarborough Shoal, which it calls Huangyan Island.
The Philippine Navy caught Chinese fishermen poaching sharks and collecting rare clams and corals inside the shoal’s lagoon on April 8. Chinese government vessels came to the poachers’ rescue, blocking Philippine vessels to prevent their arrest.
The Philippine and Chinese vessels faced off with each other at the shoal for more than two months until tensions eased last Friday after diplomats from both countries agreed to pull back.
President Aquino ordered a Philippine Coast Guard patrol vessel and a Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources survey ship home last Friday night to take shelter from the approaching Typhoon “Butchoy.” China, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, had committed to remove its vessels, too.
But this week, Philippine officials said half-a-dozen Chinese government vessels and 30 fishing boats remained at the shoal.
Hernandez said the Philippines would continue to pursue its legal track in order to resolve the territorial dispute.
“We believe the legal track is the way forward in this issue as this would enable us to resolve this in a more durable and permanent manner. We are still preparing to pursue this legal track through a dispute settlement mechanism under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos),” he told reporters.
Hernandez said they have yet to verify if China had already pulled out its vessels from the lagoon. He said an aircraft has yet to conduct a fly-by in the area to determine if there are still fishing boats inside the lagoon.
“The last count of ships at Bajo de Masinloc was on June 19. There were six government ships outside the lagoon and around 30 fishing vessels inside,” he said.
China, according to the Department of Foreign Affairs, withdrew two government vessels during the weekend.
The Chinese Ministry of Transport announced late last week that more than 20 fishing boats in the shoal’s lagoon were being called home because of bad weather.
Despite statements from China that it had no plans of leaving the shoal, the DFA had insisted that talks were going on for the withdrawal of the Chinese government vessels that were positioned outside the lagoon.
The United States on Thursday called on the Philippines and China to sit down and find a peaceful solution to their territorial dispute in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea).
US Ambassador Harry Tomas Jr. in a news forum said Washington “has been very clear on our commitment to support a resolution of these claims in a peaceful manner at the negotiating table.”
The DFA said Thomas’ remarks were a reiteration of the US government’s expression of support for the Philippines on the West Philippine Sea issue.
“During the 2+2 meeting in Washington, (US) Secretary (of State Hillary) Clinton expressed deep concern about what was happening in the West Philippine Sea and stated that the US has been plain and consistent in asking China to clarify its motivation and interest in the region,” Hernandez said.
Hernandez added that Clinton also urged all parties to ”subscribe to a rules-based approach in resolving competing claims in maritime areas through peaceful, collaborative, multilateral and diplomatic processes within the framework of international law, including as reflected in Unclos.”
“This is the same position that the Philippines has repeatedly conveyed to China,” Hernandez stressed.

Refugee health cuts protest cuts off Health Minister announcement


An announcement by Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver was interrupted Friday by a doctor and a med student protesting the government's cuts to a refugee health program.
Oliver was at the Toronto General Hospital Friday morning to announce federal funding for medical isotopes research.
As he started his remarks, Dr. Chris Keefer, a family medicine doctor who works at the Brampton Civic Hospital, interrupted him to take issue with the Harper government's cuts to the interim federal health program, which pays for supplementary health benefits when refugees first arrive in Canada.
The program covers medical expenses such as dental care and prescriptions most Canadians must pay for themselves or get covered by supplementary insurance coverage. Immigration Minister Jason Kenney (as well as Oliver today, when challenged by Dr. Keefer) has defended the cuts as a way to level the playing field with the health care Canadians receive from their provinces and territories.
The government also believes cutting access to supplementary health care removes an incentive for failed refugee claimants to remain in Canada. It expects the cuts to save about $100 million over the next five years.
Keefer and Oliver exchanged strong words, and then when Keefer would not stop talking or back down, Oliver sat down.
The host of the event ended the announcement prematurely, but not before Faria Kamal, a first-year medical student from the University of Toronto, also stood to loudly denounced the cuts.
Eventually, Oliver and other officials left the room and started over again at another location with the isotopes announcement.
As he left, Oliver told the audience and reporters that the views Keefer and Kamal were expressing were false.
Keefer told reporters afterward that he believes inadequate health care for refugees will result in more of them turning up in hospital emergency rooms in more advanced states of medical distress, at potentially higher cost to the health care system.
Kamal, whose parents came from Bangladesh, said that she was there on behalf of the group Health for All, which includes medical professionals, students and activists from the immigrant community. The group organized Monday's national day of action to raise awareness of the cuts, and promises to disrupt more public events with Conservative cabinet ministers in the days to come.
The cuts to the interim federal health program are included in the omnibus budget legislation which is currently prioritized for passage in the Senate before the summer recess.