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Asian Voice - Saturday 8th May 2010
Midland Voice
Contact: Dhiren on 07970 911 386 or dhiren.katwa@abplgroup.com Dee Katwa News in Brief Council chiefs take taxpayers for painful Solicitor nabbed over waste ride in name of equality Birmingham solicitor Peter Chahal has received a court bill of £2,590 after waste from him firm was found dumped in two Dudley streets. Chahal, 41, of Peter Chahal Solicitors, admitted not disposing of his waste correctly, Dudley magistrates heard.
Council chiefs in Birmingham are preparing to appeal after solicitor Stefan Cross last week won a major legal battle by exposing the local authority’s discriminatory wage structure. And how the city’s top equality tsar is being sued for racial discrimination. More than 4,000 female workers took cashstrapped Birmingham City Council to an employment tribunal claiming they should be paid the same as men for doing the same job. During the seven-week hearing the tribunal heard how a man doing the same pay graded job as a woman could earn four times more than her. All the women were employed in traditionally female-dominated roles, such as cleaning, care and catering, as well as administration. The tribunal’s judgement upheld the women’s complaints and means the council could be forced to pay up to £100,000 to each
claimant made up of backdated salary and interest from the year 2000. The claims stemmed from the introduction of a Single Status agreement aimed at removing wage differentials between men and women. The tribunal heard how a female cleaner on Grade 1 received £11,577 – the same grade as a street sweeper. But the sweeper actually earned £32,000 because of bonuses and overtime. Paul Savage, from Stefan Cross Solicitors, which represented almost 900 of the women, brought test claims for equal pay based on 49 different job groups within the coun-
Lunch with religious leader
Under pressure: Alan Rudge
Promoting equality, he says: Mashuq Ally
cil. Last Friday, the legal firm took out a full-page advertisement in the Birmingham Mail inviting all of the council’s 25,000 non-schools employees to get in touch. Drop-in meetings are planned in venues across the city, where the no-win-no-fee firm of solicitors will be on hand to give free advice. If a further 20,000 women from the 57,000strong workforce – of
which around a quarter are from ethnic minority communities – come forward and lodge claims, the bill could rise to £1 billion. Councillor Alan Rudge, the cabinet member for equalities and human resources, said he would be consulting lawyers before deciding whether to appeal against the tribunal judgement. Continued on page 11
Kids centre marks 1st birthday
New book on rising Indians
South Yardley Children’s Centre has celebrated its first birthday. Youngsters were entertained by bouncy castles, DJs and a magician, while parents were given the chance to relax with reflexology, mehndi and head and foot massage. The Centre is one of five in Birmingham run by Barnardo’s, the kids charity. Photo: Barnardo’s regional director, Sam Monaghan with centre supporters.
Vikas Pota smiled for the camera, as did Mr C Gururaj Rao, the Indian government’s advocate in Birmingham, as the pair officially launched Vikas’s new book, India Inc, last Thursday, as part of a seminar. The seminar, titled Successful Entrepreneurship during Difficult Times, was hosted by the impeccably modest Professor Pawan Budhwar, pictured, of Aston India Foundation at Aston University, in conjunction with accountancy firm Deloitte. In his book, Vikas, MD of public relations consultancy Saffron Chase, profiles India’s top ten entrepreneurs, all men bar one. Other speakers included Richard Edwards, senior partner at Deloitte, who proudly added that all ten entrepreneurs were clients of his firm; and Stephen Kingan, CEO of Nexor, a leading provider of information assurance solutions to defence and government agencies. Another speaker, 28-year-old Nirmal Chhabria of Niva Global Services was absent due to ill health. Vikas, bless him, thinks I should be voted ‘Gujarati of the Year’. He is more deserving, I would say, of this title given his raft of achievements since I first met him at Aston University almost a decade ago. Don’t you agree Vikas?
Most powerful politician - Clegg While the Lib-Dems denounce the voting system as unfair, isn’t it ironic that this Thursday Nick Clegg could poll fewer votes than either Labour or the Tories and still end up as the most powerful politician in Britain?
Fundraising Fire Chief Vijith Randeniya, pictured, West Midlands’ Chief Fire Officer, was welcomed with pats on the back from colleagues and well-wishers as he returned from Mount Snowdon which he climbed for charity. Vij, the UK’s highest-ranking Asian fire officer, supported by around 30 firefighters, conquered the 1,085-metre Welsh peak in two hours and 40 minutes using a new state-of-the-art breathing apparatus system, the Draeger PSS 7000. Their efforts raised more than £5,500 for the Help for Heroes and Fire-fighters Charity.
Lie cost jail sentence Medical administrator Iqbal Hussain has been jailed for three months for giving his brother’s name when he was stopped by police while driving. Hussain, 24, of Small Heath, Birmingham, who worked at the city’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital at the time, but has since been made redundant, pleaded guilty at Warwick Crown Court to two charges of perverting the course of justice.
Ambulance bill West Midlands Ambulance Service has spent more than £2.6 million on private ambulance crews in six months because of a shortage of paramedics in the region. Three private firms worked 2,734 shifts between October 1, 2009 and March 31, to provide 16 ambulance teams to attend 999 calls in the West Midlands, a Freedom of Information request has revealed.
Accountant murdered A well-known Birmingham accountant, Vijay Kumar Thaper, has been murdered. Mr Thaper, 61, owner of Thaper & Co chartered accountants of Handsworth, is believed to have suffered two broken legs after he was attacked in the street outside his Bloxwich home on January 13 this year. But six weeks later, on March 8, a blood infection set in and Mr Thaper died, leading police to launch a murder inquiry. A forensic examination showed the clotting to have been caused by the attack. Two men were arrested after the initial assault but were later released.
The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Rt Rev Dr Rowan Williams, will this Thursday meet with leading ambassadors from the UK’s Dawoodi Bohra, a generally law-abiding Gujarati Muslim community. The special lunch, in London, has been organised by the president and trustees of Anjuman-e-Burhani London.
Liquids ban to end Liquids will be allowed in air passengers’ hand luggage by April 2013.The ban has been in place since 2006. Technology capable of detecting liquid explosives must be installed by April 29, 2013 at the latest, the European commission has warned airports.
Honorary title Lord Tarsem King of West Bromwich has been made a Freedom of the Borough – the highest award that a council can bestow. Lord King, pictured, who became a life peer in 1999, served as a councillor from 1979 to 2007. During that time he was Labour leader of Sandwell Council and then served for a year as mayor. I’m still, years on, having prompted him several times, trying to find out what exactly he does, particularly for youth, other than present gifts, repeat speeches, enjoy prestigious dinners and get photographed. Does anybody know?
Bust woman faked document Birmingham carer Nabila Fazal who had declared herself bankrupt because of student loans forged documents to try to open a bank account for a business venture, Warwick Crown Court heard. Fazal, 27, of Russell Road, Hall Green, pleaded guilty to two charges of using a false document with intent to deceive. She was sentenced to four months in prison suspended for two years, with 12 months supervision.
GP struck off Dr Sulieman Al Hourani, a surgeon from Jordan, who was supposed to take out a cyst on a patient’s right testis but instead removed the whole testicle has been struck off. The man, known only as patient A, went into Fairfield Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester, for the operation in September 2007.
Sikh tycoon to acquire poultry firm Two Sisters, the food group based in West Bromwich is about to become a £1 billion-a-year business with the takeover of Storteboom, a poultry company based in The Netherlands. The acquisition is by Wolverhampton-born Ranjit Singh Boparan, 43, pictured, one of the UK’s most successful self-made entrepreneurs. According to The Sunday Times Rich List, he and his wife, Baljinder, are worth around £110 million.
Sporty granddad, 72, awarded
A strong-willed Sikh athlete, Jhalman Singh, from Sutton Coldfield in Birmingham, has been crowned the first Midlands Sikh Sports Personality of the Year. Originally from the Punjab, the retired engineer is in training for another athletics competition in Oxford on May 23.