The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	‘Inflation to move downhill’ Amarjit Thind Tribune News Service Jalandhar, May 9 Union minister of state for industry Dr Ashwani Kumar disclosed that the government had taken stringent measures as a result of which inflation would definitely come down within six to eight weeks from now. “We are seized of the problem and presently the top priority of the UPA government is to rein in the spiralling prices of all essential commodities,” he said while talking to mediapersons here today. He was here to participate in an interactive session with the representatives of sports goods and leather industry, which have been hit by hike in raw materials. The rise in prices was due to the hoarding by wholesalers. The gap between wholesalers and retailers needed to be bridged to control the price hike, he added. He disclosed that the Prime Minister and union finance minister had written to all Chief Ministers to launch an anti-hoarding drive to deal with the present situation effectively. They had been asked to pursue all measures to bring the hoarders to book. There was little that the government could do to control the inflation without the active cooperation of the industries. Even the entrepreneurs needed to realise that if they wanted to remain in competition they would have to adopt healthy trade practices. He warned the industrialists that if they did not cooperate with the government, then the government would be forced to revoke the Essential Commodities Act and other harsher laws. “We do not want to revert back to the Inspector Raj regime but the larger good of the country could not be ignored,” he pointed out. However, he said so far industry’s response was constructive and positive. They seemed to have taken the hint, he remarked. Appreciating the iron and steel industries’ endeavour to reduce the price of their commodities by Rs 4,000 per tonne, he said parleys were on with the cement industry. Hopefully, the talks would be fruitful, he added. Dr Ashwani Kumar also interacted with ndustrialists over lunch and assured them that their grievances would be solved.
	Seeks better market support Grant us SEZ status: Leather industry Jalandhar, May 9 Industrialists of the leather complex today demanded status of special economic zone (SEZ), deemed exporter status for indirect exports and setting up of a footwear design and development centre for the leather industry of the city. While justifying their demands, industrialists, at an interactive session with Union minister of state for industry Ashwani Kumar, said as the leather was one of the largest export-oriented commodities in India and 70 to 80 per cent of the production of leather was meant for direct or indirect export, and the Jalandhar leather complex, comprising hundreds of leather units, deserved the status of SEZ instead of spending huge funds for any new SEZ. Buttering their demand for the status of deemed exporter, industrialists said as the major produce of tanneries was being exported either directly or indirectly, the deemed exporters status should be given to the leather industry. The minister, who was handed over a memorandum of demand by the leather industry, said the Union government had already included the leather sector into the five thrust areas and accordingly efforts were being made to upgrade the skill and provide market support to the industry. — PTI
	‘Taboo’ couple commits suicide Hoshiarpur, May 9 Fearing a social backlash over their affair, a couple who eloped from their house on May 7 allegedly committed suicide last evening. The deceased have been identified as Jagir Masih (32) and his sister-in-law Venus (30), both residents of Bhattian Jattan village. According to sources, both were found wincing under a tree at Dadh Shangla village in Mukerian and were taken to the civil hospital by some passersby. The police said Jagir Masih and Venus were allegedly having an affair and eloped on Wednesday. However, fearing social resentment and family out cry forced them to take the extreme step. The police said no suicide note has been found and the bodies have been sent for thepost-mortem. — OC
	PO back in police net Phagwara, May 9 The police has arrested proclaimed offender (PO) Gurdip Singh, alias Harwinder Singh, alias Inda, of the local Satnampura, presently residing at Langeri village under Banga police station.Police sources said on Friday the PO was a hardened drug smuggler, a habitual absconder and wanted in several cases, including those registered under the NDPS Act for smuggling opium, poppy husk and for rioting. He had escaped from police custody more than once, the sources said. He was declared PO eight months back. He had dodged the police and escaped from Jalandhar bus stand on May 1 last year when a Kapurthala police party was taking him back to Kapurthala after presenting him in a court at Phagwara. He had escaped from the custody of the Patiala police party at Rajpura when he was being taken to Haryana in connection with a case in 2003. Besides these two cases, he had doged the police many times on the pretext of urinating while on the way to appear in court in cases registered against him, sources added. — PTI
	Jalandhar DC office violates RTI Act Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Jalandhar, May 9 In a violation of the Right to Information Act, the office of the deputy commissioner here has failed to respond to an application filed by a widow seeking information regarding instructions issued by the Punjab government for issuing legal heir certificates. The complainant, Asha Rani, a resident of Sansarpur village, had filed the application on March 13 specifically asking the officer for citing a reason for not issuing legal heir certificates to her and two children following the accidental death of her husband Parveen Kumar in Riyadh on March 25, 2007. She had even sought information about the present status of the case, reason for delay in deciding the matter and copy of the report of verification of legal heirs of Parveen Kumar submitted by the SDM on December 4, 2007. The widow, who had lost the sole breadwinner in the family, even asked for a copy of legal advice sent by the district attorney and details of disbursement of death compensation to legal heirs of persons who died in foreign countries from the Jalandhar DC to all SDMs of the district. She had moved the application through the district revenue officer-cum-state assistant public information officer. Even the officer has written to the district nazar branch of the DC office asking for information in a week’s time or be fully answerable to higher authorities. The widow has now lodged an appeal with the first appellate authority who is the commissioner of Jalandhar division. She has written that the statutory period of 30 days completed on April 12 but information has not been supplied to her even 57 days thereafter. She has said no courtesy was shown by the officers concerned to acknowledge reminders she had sent on April 2 and 11, which somehow indicated that either the information was being denied or withheld wilfully. She has written that since not providing an information and sitting over an application is a blatant violation of the act and defaulting officer can be penalised Rs 250 per day on account of refusal of information. Asha Rani resorted to the measure after she failed to receive any response from the deputy commissioner despite directions from the Punjab revenue department, Indian embassy in Riyadh and ministry of external affairs for issuing of legal heir certificate so that she could pursue the accidental death claim of her husband who died while on duty. Asha is yet to receive a cheque issued by the Riyadh-based company for salary dues of the deceased to the tune of Rs 3.07 lakh and has been lying with the DC, Ajit Singh Pannu, since the past eight months, again for the want of certificate which the DC has asked her to procure from the court.
	Security arrangements in place for poll: SSP Our Correspondent Batala, May 9 The block samitis and zila parishad elections will be conducted on May 12 from 8 am to 4 pm. Dr Naresh Arora, SSP, told mediapersons here today that security arrangements had been made for the elections. The Batala police district had been divided into five blocks, namely Batala, Quadian, Fatehgarh Churian, Sri Hargobindpur and Dera Baba Nanak. Four polling stations of Dhariwal block and 16 polling stations of Kahnuwan block were also included in the jurisdiction of the Batala police district. Block samiti and zila parishad members in whole Dera Baba Nanak block and in most of Fatehgarh Churian block had been elected unopposed, asserted Dr Arora. A deputy superintendent of police (DSP) had been made in charge of each block. As many as 2,090 police personnel had been deployed to conduct free and fair elections. 27 police parties would patrol the district round the clock from today. All gazetted officers and station house officers (SHOs) had been provided reserve force with law and order equipment. They would remain in the area of their responsibility and look into any law and order situations. He said all officers and in charges of patrolling parties would remain in contact with the Batala district control room by wireless sets and other means of communication. Anyone found breaking law and order would be strictly dealt with as per law, asserted Dr Arora.