Jalandhar, June 2
The proposed hike in the petrol and diesel prices withstanding, over 150 petrol pumps of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) have almost gone dry with supplies to these filling stations dwindling in the past one week.

The HPCL dealers allege that the supply has been curtailed “in an effort to hoard and gain” from the impending price hike.

They have threatened to launch an agitation in front of the Indian Oil Corporation’s (IOC) Suchi Pind terminal in case normal supplies to their outlets were not restored by Monday. IOC is responsible for ensuring supplies of petroleum products to HPCL through a mutual “Hospitality Arrangement”.

Meanwhile, anguished over the situation, nearly 180 HPCL dealers from districts of Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Bathinda, Moga and Ferozepore, have reportedly urged the Prime Minister, the Union Finance Minister and the Chief Minister to intervene in the matter.

The absence of petrol and diesel is causing inconvenience to rural residents. They say that they have to travel to far away places to fetch oil. Their problems have compounded with nearly 70 per cent of the HPCL outlets situated in rural or semi-urban areas and the pump-to-pump distance being considerable.

A filling station owner in Adampur Doab, Mr Monty Sehgal, said, “We have been getting 30 to 40 per cent of the normal supplies for about a week now. If we need 40 tankers, we are usually provided with not more than 10. But today, no tanker came to the many of the filling stations, including mine”.

Members of the Hindustan Petroleum Dealers’ Association, Mr Davinder Singh, Mr Major Singh, Mr R.S. Gill, Mr Deepak Kesar and Mr A.P. Singh said it was ironical that IOC outlets had stocks more than their storage capacity, whereas HPCL outlets were getting nothing.

The association members, along with HPCL’s Chief Regional Manager, Mr Jaspal Saini, have taken up the matter with the IOC’s Terminal Manager. They said the manager had assured them that something would be done within the next two days.

When contacted, Mr Saini said, “The problem is there. I’m discussing it with the IOC authorities.”

Meanwhile, the association, in a memorandum, has urged the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas that dealers of all three public sector oil companies should get equal supplies. 

Jalandhar, June 2
The Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh here today said his government was considering waiving the Rs 24000-crore loan of farmers in the state. He added that the farmers owed nearly half of that amount to commission agents.

Speaking on the allegations of granting “free” land to the Reliance Group at Mohali, the CM said the land was not given for free.

“All farmers, except two, have accepted the compensation for their land that group has acquired,” he added.

He denied that the state government was acting as a “facilitator” in the acquisition process.

The Chief Minister said the group, led by Mr Anil Ambani, would also set up a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) and as many as 34 hyper malls and 70 super malls in the state. “All these proposed projects will be cleared within 10 days,” he added.

He said that though the Tatas were not setting up a car unit in Punjab, he hoped that the auto major could set up a truck manufacturing unit in the state. “I’m going to meet Mr Rattan Tata (Chairman of the Tata Group) soon to discuss the matter,” the CM added.

Captain Amarinder Singh was accompanied by Punjab ministers Avtaar Henry and Chaudhary Jagjit Singh.

Hamira (Kapurthala), June 2
Hundreds of residents from Hamira and its adjoining villages today took out a procession protesting against the alleged pollution of water and air in their area.

The agitated villagers, after the procession, assembled at the gate of Jagatjit Industries Limited (JIL) and raised slogans against the management, accusing it of polluting their area by discharging the factory effluents in the 66 acres of land near the village.

Later, they blocked the Sultanpur Lodhi road for about half-an-hour in front of the office of the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh, and submitted a memorandum to him. They also demanded that the daily wagers from the adjoining villages working in the factory be regularised.

Talking to the Tribune, Mr Joginder Singh Maan and Subedar Sullakhan Singh of the Balmiki Mazhabi Sikh Morcha, Punjab, said that due to the effluents stored by the factory in the 66 acres of land near the village, the underground water was getting contaminated. They added that majority of the people from the area consumed the water in the absence of any drinking water supply scheme. They alleged this had resulted in the rise in the cases of diseases like asthma, TB and other gastro ailments.

As the factory continuously released ash through its chimney, many residents had suffered eye-injuries, while skin allergies were also reported in the area, the leaders further alleged.

Meanwhile, Mr J.K. Sharma, the company’s deputy general manager (environment), claimed that there was no pollution in the area due to the operations of factory.

“We have installed a plant at a cost of Rs 37 crore, and we are spending Rs 3 crore annually to control the water pollution in the area,” he said.

“ To bring pollution from the factory within permissible limits, JIL has installed an air pollution control device spending lakhs of rupees, ” Mr Sharma added.

Jalandhar, June 2
With the arrest of two labourers working in the city’s Loha Market, the police today claimed to have solved the two-day old Shanti Devi murder case.

The police has also recovered the murder weapon— two “Gatras” (a religious symbol worn by Sikhs), a revolver belonging to the victim’s husband, a knife, cash amounting to Rs 27,000 and gold ornaments from the residence of the accused. The motive behind the murder was robbery, the police said, adding that the victim probably knew one of the assailants.

The 65-year-old wife of an iron dealer Inder Raj Aggarwal was stabbed to death in her bedroom at her Tanda Road residence on the morning of May 31.

The accused, in their late twenties, were Ajay Kumar and Jai Prakash, both residents of Gaunda district in UP, SP City (I) Surinder Kumar Kalia said.

Phagwara, June 2
A team of doctors, led by Dr Joginder Singh and Dr Rajiv Gupta, have reportedly removed a tumour weighing nearly 4 kg from the stomach of a woman at the Civil Hospital here.

Family members of the patient, Vimla, a resident of Uchcha village, said she had been suffering from severe pain in her stomach for quite some time. She was operated upon by the doctors on Thursday morning. Her condition is said to stable. — TNS