The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

	Milk rates up, residents down in dumps Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, March 10 The near 40 per cent hike in the price of milk by local dairy owners has aroused indignation among the city residents. “It’s a massive increase. The milk which was being sold at the rate of Rs 18 per litre till yesterday is now available at Rs 25,” said president of Hoshiarpur Vikas Manch Amarjit Singh, while talking to The Tribune. He alleged that majority of the dairy owners were selling milk made of milk powder. “Since the rate of dry, green fodder has not been increased, the hike in the milk rates was unjustified and unwanted. It would automatically lead to increase of rates of other dairy products, including curd, cheese and sweets,” he said, adding that the district authorities were not aware of the jacked-up rates. He urged the district administration to intervene immediately so that residents do not have to suffer. “If the administration fails to act in time, we would have no other option but to protest,” warned the manch chief. “The inflating grocery bills have already made our lives miserable. Now, the increase in the milk price would send the monthly budget for a toss,” said Manorma Mahindra and Shahi Ohri, both retired principals. Terming the hike as baseless, general secretary of the district Congress committee Rajnish Tandon urged the administration to do the needful. Deputy commissioner, Hoshiarpur, NK Wadhawan said he has already instructed the district food and supply controller to look into the matter and submit his report at the earliest. Necessary action would be taken after that, he added.
	Supplier of spurious milk arrested Batala, March 10 One Sukhdev Singh, alias Deba, of Dhol Pur village (Batala police district) was arrested by the district health officer Dr Parvesh Taneja while he was preparing artificial milk. Three quintals of artificial milk was recovered on the spot. Samples were taken on the spot by the team of the health department. The culprit was in this business for the last about ten years and used to supply the same to the milk plant at Gurdaspur. A case under various sections of IPC has been registered at police station Qila Lal Singh and further investigation is going on. — OC
	Sainik school alumni unhappy with ‘slim-down exercise’ Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 10 Nonplussed with the government move to reclaim 162 acres of land of the Jagatjit Palace building at Kapurthala, to convert it into a heritage hotel and confine the Sainik School to a 30-acre portion here, the students and staff of the school have geared up to oppose the proposal. Some of the alumni of the school, who are now either retired or still holding top positions in the defence forces, bureaucracy and even the private sector, have been raising various arguments against the move to get it reverted. The Saikapians have pointed out that while most states were opening up new Sainik Schools, the Punjab government seemed hell bent on ruining the one of its kind school that it had. “While Bihar and Karnataka have already opened their second Sainik schools, Haryana is mulling to open another one at Rewari. We wonder why the Punjab government is not realising the potential of the school that has produced more than 60 officers of the rank of Brigadiers, Major Generals and Lieutenant Generals,” they asked. Major Jagmohan Singh Nagpal (retired), alumnus of 1962 batch and general secretary of the Saikap Alumni Association rued that it was completely impossible to train the students for induction into the defence forces in a small campus of 30 acres. “A Sainik School has to have dormitories, staff colony, grounds for training in horse riding, drills, band and various sports activities. It will be completely impossible to have it all in a small area”, he lamented. He further added that most of the Sainik Schools were being run in areas from 150 acres to 500 acres so that all kinds of grooming activities could be conducted properly. He argued that this was not the only school being run in an old monument, there were other institutes including Khalsa College in Amritsar, Punjab Public School at Nabha and Sainik School Kunjpura that were being run in historic buildings and were very well-maintained. DGM of State Bank of Patiala, A D Singh, said it was quite unfortunate that the state government was commercialising a school that had won maximum number of trophies from the defence ministry for training middle class boys for recruitment to the defence forces. “Many passouts of this school have laid their lives for the country and now the politicians here want to sell of this place for profitable prepositions”, said the 1966-batch alumnus who has fond memories attached with the monumental pride. Bhupinder Singh, a local businessman and a passout, said he too did not like the proposal. “A school that has helped the nearly 6,000 middle class students rise straight up should not be dealt with like this”, he tried to make his point. The staff members too pointed out that this year 10 boys had passed NDA examination and 30 had gone through the UPSC. They said when Parkash Singh Badal, during the Congress regime, visited their campus and held a meeting with the staff in 2004 byelections, he had committed that he would support them against the government move then to shift the school to Anandpur Sahib.
	Desperate Measure Bawa murder case: Cash reward announced Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 10 Over two months after the high-profile murder of KMV college principal Rita Bawa, the district police announced a cash reward of Rs 1 lakh to the person who would provide information which would help them solve the mystery behind the blind murders. In a press note issued here on Monday, SSP Arpit Shukla stated that the identity of the informer would be kept confidential. The information might be provided to DIG NP Singh on his telephone number (0181) 2261230, 2262152, the SSP on number 9915716001, SP City I SK Kalia on his number 9915716005, SP detective PS Parmar 9915716003, DSP City I Mukhwinder Singh 9915716007 or SHO police division number eight Balbir Singh on his mobile number 9915716008. Interestingly, the announcement of cash reward is contradictory to the statement made by DGP NPS Aulakh in Kapurthala on Saturday, which appeared in a section of the media on Sunday. The DGPs’ report claimed on Saturday that the mystery behind KMV principal’s murder case would be solved soon as the police had got some vital clues. Rita Bawa was found killed at her official residence in the college campus along with her confidant cook Kishore Mandal and two security gaurds Tarsem Lal and Shamsheedin around midnight on January five. An FIR under sections 302 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code was registered at concerned police station number eight on January 6.
	Kanshi b’day: BSP readies for big bash Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 10 Elaborate preparations are underway by the state unit of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) for the birth anniversary celebrations of their founder Kanshi Ram on March 15 at Desh Bhagat Yaadgar Hall here. Addressing mediapersons, Avtar Singh Karimpuri, state chief of the party, said cadres from all over the state would take part in the celebrations. National general secretary Narinder Kashyap would be the chief guest. He said the Dalits were being targeted by the present regime and many welfare schemes had been discontinued. Officers from their community were being victimised and false cases were being foisted on them. In many cases they had been suspended, he alleged. Even though the farmers’ debt had been waived, no concern was shown to the unskilled and landless labourers, petty shopkeepers and hawkers. They continued to live a sub-human existence with no hope of a helping hand from the government, he pointed out. Others present on the occasion included M.P. Singh Goraya, Sukhwinder Singh Kotli, P.D. Shant, Raj Kumar Hans and Ram Sarup Saroye.
	Winds of change blow in backward Kandi Our Correspondent Hoshiarpur, March 10 In addition to the welfare of its 732 employees, the manufacturing division of the Reliance Industries Limited, Chohal (Hoshiarpur), is also doing commendable service for the uplift of downtrodden in eight remote villages of the nearby Kandi area. The division has adopted Mangowal Nari village for its overall development and to make women self-sufficient by helping them earn their livelihood in respected manners. President of the division Dipankar Gangopadhyay told The Tribune that the unit had won the Kirat Veer award, Par Excellent award, Safety award and many others at the international, national and state levels for various achievements. Briefing about the welfare schemes started for the benefit of people of the backward area around the mill premises, Gangopadhyay said six-month free stitching courses for women of Mangowal Nari village and Kotla Gonspur were organised for which 20 stitching machines were provided. The management had introduced a Shagun scheme. Rs 10,000 each were paid to four village girls on their marriage in the current financial year. Eleven medical check-up camps, including dental, were arranged in which 759 patients were examined and free medicines were given to the needy in the village. An eye check-up camp was also organised in which 51 patients were treated and provided free medicines and spectacles. Uniforms, shoes, bags, books, notebooks and stationery articles were given to all schoolchildren of the adopted village. An HSE awareness and medical check-up camps in eight surrounding villages of the division were organised in which more than 2,500 patients were examined and free medicines given to them. The division was providing round-the-clock free ambulance service for the accident victims of the area, on account of which 57 lives were saved.
	CPM workers flay attack on headquarters Tribune News Service Jalandhar, March 10 CPM’s state unit has condemned the attack of the right wing RSS workers on its headquarters in New Delhi. Mangat Ram Pasla, secretary of the outfit, said the attackers injured many party workers and damaged its property. He said they were stoking the fires of communalism in the country which was a dangerous trend. He pointed out that Bal Thackeray and his nephew Raj were spreading regional chauvinism which would have serious repercussions elsewhere in the country. Mangat Ram Pasla also demanded an immediate arrest of the accused.