The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Atwal raises inflation concern Tribune Reporters Hoshiarpur, April 7 Lok Sabha deputy speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal has expressed deep anxiety over the increasing prices of essential commodities which have made common man extremely worried. Talking to mediapersons at Tanda, Atwal said the UPA government should take the opposition in confidence and immediately start a joint campaign to bring the inflation down. Besides, it should take strict action against black marketers and hoarders. The deputy speaker said, “Food is the basic need of every human being and it should be made available to everyone on reasonable rates. This would not only decrease the crime graph but would also bring peace.” Pointing out the declining standard of education in Punjab, Atwal said adarsh and model schools would help to provide education to the rural poor students. It would help them to compete with their counterparts in private model schools. The deputy speaker said he was a true soldier of the Shiromani Akali Dal and would contest the forthcoming parliamentary elections on the will of his party. Earlier, Charanjit Singh Atwal inaugurated a machines installed at a dental hospital in Dera Baba Balwant Singh, Darapur. He said he was not in a position to give any grant to the hospital from his MPLAD fund. However, he would request his colleague MP Avinash Rai Khanna or the state government to provide Rs 2 lakh to the institution. BJP women wing protests Jalandhar The BJP’s women wing staged a protest against the UPA government for its failure to check price rise of essential commodities by banging empty utensils outside the deputy commissioner’s office here on Monday. The protest march started from BMC Chowk and culminated at the district administrative complex. District president Kamaljit Gill said the price of wheat flour had increased from Rs 10 during the NDA rule to Rs 16 per kg now. Similarly, the prices of pulses have gone up from Rs 24 to Rs 60, milk from Rs 14 to Rs 24 and petrol from Rs 33 to Rs 48. She said it had become almost impossible for most households to meet day-to-day expenses.
	Property Case Police accused of shielding its men Tribune News Service Kapurthala, April 7 The district police has been accused of trying to shield two of its men, who, along with two other persons were booked on kidnapping, forgery and house-grab charges on Thursday evening. Demanding immediate arrest of the accused police personnel, Pendu Mazdoor Union state president Tarsem Peter on Monday said khaki atrocities would not be tolerated. The FIR was registered against Gurdial Singh of Ahmedpur Channa village and his three sons - Sultanpur Lodhi DSP’s reader Karnail Singh, constable Jaswant Singh and Kali - under sections 365, 420, 323, 448, 427, 511, 120 B and 506 of the IPC at Sultanpur Lodhi police station on the complaint of Inderjeet Kaur of same village. Inderjeet alleged that the accused had illegally taken possession of her seven-marla house after forcibly removing the family. The complainant stated that her husband Harjinder Singh had borrowed nearly Rs 1.5 lakh from Gurdial Singh, who is his relative, some time back. As Gurdial was putting pressure on them to return the amount, they decided to mortgage their house to Kewal Singh of Mothanwali village to borrow around Rs 3 lakh to repay the loan, she added. However, when Harjinder was discussing the loan terms with Kewal in March this year, Karnail and Jaswant Singh stopped the former and forced him to sign some documents which said they had paid him Rs 4.5 lakh, the woman further alleged. Subsequently, Karnail, with the connivance of Mothanwali police post personnel, forcibly took possession of their house while her husband was illegally detained at the police post, she alleged.
	Employer’s Apathy Death in Saudi Arabia: Family gets body after two months Parmod Bharti Nawanshahr, April 7 It was only after a two-month-long traumatic experience that the family of Balram Singh (41), who died in Saudi Arabia on February 14, succeeded in getting his body. Balram was cremated at his village Sauna on Sunday. Bikar Singh, Baldev Singh, Darshan Singh, Balbir Singh, father and relatives of the deceased, said though Balram had been working as a labourer under the sponsorship of Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co. Ltd, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, they got no official information regarding the tragedy from the company. A few other Punjabi labourers there were the ones who informed them. Earlier, they got information that Balram had received serious injuries on his head as a steel base had fallen on him while he was at work. Later, they got unofficial information about his death, they said, adding that they had to undergo a lot of mental agony as they had to make strenuous efforts to verify the authenticity of the scattered information from unofficial sources. “We did not know what to do to bring the body of Balram from Saudi Arabia. After running from pillar to post for about a month, we were advised to contact Hesham Younes, insurance manager of Gulf Consolidated Contractors Co. Ltd., said family members. On March 29, an application was faxed to Hesham Younes by Bikram Singh, father of Balram, urging him to arrange to send the body of Balram home. In response to the application, the body of Balram was repatriated. The family members received the body at Amritsar airport on Saturday evening and cremated it at Sauna on Sunday. While expressing anguish over the apathetic attitude of the Saudi Arabia-based company, the family members of the deceased said they were yet to get the insurance claim, provident fund, etc. The central government should take up the issue with the foreign countries so that the Indian nationals working abroad should not suffer due to the apathetic attitude of foreign companies.
	Panchayat poll ‘likely’ around May 15 Our Correspondent Batala, April 7 Ranjit Singh Brahmpura, Punjab village development and panchayat minister, stated here today that panchayat elections in the state were likely to be held around May 15. While addressing a press conference, he avoided a query regarding granting of more powers to panchayats saying that the panchayats were already enjoying good status and enough powers. He also addressed a SAD-BJP workers’ rally. He said the Congress government during its regime had spent only 5 per cent of the grants out of Rs 1,400 crore given by the central government under the Bharat Nirman Yojna. He said the officials and leaders who had usurped the village grants under the Bharat Nirman Yojna would be booked. Brahmpura stated that 10,000 acres of panchayat land had been got vacated from the land mafia. Jagdish Sawhney, chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab, Lakhbir Singh Lodinangal, MLA, Quadian, Gurpartap Singh Khushalpur and many other political leaders addressed the rally. Brahmpura and Sawhney announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh each for the development of Batala Club.
	Full Steam Four coaches a day, RCF’s on a roll Dharmendra Joshi Tribune News Service Kapurthala, April 7 The last financial year brought cheers to the Rail Coach Factory (RCF), Kapurthala, as it succeeded in manufacturing more than four coaches a day. According to the data, the RCF had achieved a record production of 1,480 coaches in 2007-08 which is the highest production by it since its inception in 1987. The RCF, which manufactures almost 50 per cent of the coach fleet of the Indian Railways, built 34 different types of coaches last year. It also constructed 133 coaches for eight “Garib Raths” and 96 stainless steel coaches for Rajdhani Expresses. Besides, the credit for manufacturing 16 coaches of the Science Express too goes to the factory. The RCF had set a target of building 1,550 coaches for the current financial year, the sources said. If you think the RCF had achieved the target at the cost of safety, you are wrong. The coaches manufactured last year were improved from the point of safety as the feature of crashworthy was introduced in them. These coaches are capable of absorbing high impact energy in non-passenger area at its ends and the RCF had produced 108 such coaches during 2007-08. According to sources, the stainless steel coaches being produced by the RCF are based on German technology and due to cost limitations they were used in Shatabdi and Rajdhani Expresses only. However, the RCF had developed an in-house low cost variant of the stainless steel coach which cuts the cost by about 40 per cent of the German design. The sources said, “The trials of this prototype have been successful and now it has been planned to manufacture 100 such coaches.” They also plan to switch over the entire production to this type of coaches in the near future, sources added. They said the low cost variant shall have exteriors similar to Rajdhani Expresses and the coaches shall be provided with air spring suspension for better ride quality. These coaches shall have approximately 10 per cent enhanced sitting capacity. The sources said the RCF would set up a wheel assembly shop at a cost of Rs 68 crore. In addition, expansion of the existing shell and new paint shop worth Rs 55 crore was also on cards. In order to augment the design capabilities, the RCF is also setting up a “centre for excellence in design” with an investment of Rs 10 crore and the projects were likely to be completed during the current financial year.
	’84 riot victims told to appear before SDM Jalandhar, April 7 Subdivisional magistrate-II AS Prabhakar on Monday said those 1984 riot affected families which possessed original documents pertaining to their residential proofs could now appear in person for further investigation at his office. In a press note issued here, Prabhakar said the families should possess complete original documents for the period from November 1, 1984, to December 11, 1985. Keeping in mind the long-pending demands of the victims, the district authorities have decided to investigate the cases again. — TNS