Nawanshahr, June 4
A large number of people gathered at Saini Palace, Balachaur, today to express anguish over the alleged lathi-charge on hundreds of protesters, who were demanding the immediate arrest of the accused in 
the Sandeep murder case on Tuesday.

Raising slogans against the police, the irate mob attacked the officials and damaged the government vehicle of Balachaur SDM Manmohan Singh Kang, who also received injuries in the incident. SP(HQ) Jagtar Singh Kainth and Balachaur tehsildar Rajiv Paul also had to face the wrath of agitators.

Sensing trouble, the district top brass, including deputy commissioner, Jalandhar, Ajit Singh Pannu, who has additional charge of the Nawanshahr district, DIG, Jalandhar range, Narinder Pal Singh, ADC, Dr. Amarpal Singh and SSP Shashi Prabha Dwivedi, rushed to the spot. A marathon meeting was held with the action committee members, who were assured of prompt action in the case. The committee has decided to hold its meeting again on Friday to chalk out further course of action, if the police fails to meet their demand.

An uneasy calm prevails in the area. Notably, three years ago the administration had to impose curfew in Balachaur after widespread protests against a youth’s death in police custody.

Hoshiarpur, June 4
The central government today announced a steep hike in domestic fuel prices, effective from midnight tonight. The price of petrol has been hiked by Rs 5 per litre, while the price of diesel has gone up by Rs 3. Domestic LPG will now cost Rs 50 more per cylinder.

Representatives of all political, social and religious organisations criticised the UPA government’s announcement saying the move is ‘suicidal’.

Slamming the government for effecting "steep hike" in fuel prices, former BJP chief and MP, Punjab, Avinash Rai Khanna bemoaned that the decision would put "unjustified burden" on people who are already suffering from the steep hike in the prices of all essential commodities.

Blaming the Congress-led UPA government for increasing prices without taking into account the interests of common people, particularly farmers, Khanna said instead of increasing the prices, the government could easily have reduced its duties to balance the hike in crude oil prices.

Dubbing the price hike of petrol, diesel and LPG as an "onslaught" on the people, former principal of the Government College, Pojewal, Manorma Mohindra demanded a roll-back of the decision.

Senior state BJP leader and minister for medical education and research, Punjab, Tikshan Sud alleged that by increasing the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG, the UPA government has fulfilled the agenda of multinational companies like Reliance and Craine India, mortgaging the Indian economy in their hands.

The common man is already reeling under the pressure of unprecedented price rise with inflation touching an all time high but Dr Manmohan Singh has dealt with another deathly blow to the common man by steeply hiking the rates of petroleum products.

Seeking the resignation of the PM and finance minister P Chidambram for failing to rein in inflation, Sud said time has come that the UPA government should seek fresh mandate from the people of India.

Jalandhar, June 4
A day after Rs 37 lakh were looted from a bank van in Amritsar, the district police has asked officials of all the prominent banks in the city to be vigilant against the anti-social elements.

A special meeting of the representatives of all the prominent government and private banks was called at Police Lines here today. SSP Arpit Shukla directed the bank managers and security officers to take some necessary steps to ensure safety of the branches.

“It has come to light that in some banks security guards were doubling as peons. It poses a major threat to the security. Banks should do away with this practice,” said the SSP.

The SSP further directed the representatives of the banks to check the weapons of the guards. “Usually the guns misfire in case of emergency as it happened in Amritsar on Tuesday,” said Shukla.

The district police chief also asked all the banks to install Close Circuit Television (CCTV) cameras with the recording facility of minimum thirty hours.

SP City I SK Kalia was also present in the meeting, which was attended by over 80 representatives of different banks of the city.

Soon after the meeting, Kalia told The Tribune that the representatives of the banks were also told to keep an eye on suspicious elements, especially those who visit banks without any work.

The banks were also told to inform the police in advance about heavy transactions in order to avert any possible robbery, he added.

In case of emergency, the banks may contact SHO concerned or police control room at 9915716100 or 9915716200, he added.

Jalandhar, June 4
Punjab state electricity board (PSEB) has made foolproof arrangements for the supply of uninterrupted power to farmers for at least eight hours during the paddy season. HS Brar, member, distribution, PSEB, said to ensure adequate supply the board has streamlined its resources and would avail power under the banking arrangement with other states, including Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Jammu and Kashmir.

Brar was in the city on Wednesday to review the arrangements. PSEB has entered into agreements for banking arrangement and it has been proposed to avail 1,719 million units (MUs) during the paddy season out of an anticipated requirement of 25,300 MUs during the six-month long paddy season, he revealed. The board has already banked 300 MUs in advance from other states and after adjusting this advance, the banking would return 1,419 MUs during the next winter season. Power will also be purchased through traders to meet the demand and for which agreements have been signed with private power generation companies, he added.

An agreement has also been signed with HP for taking power under banking and purchase etc and it has been proposed to procure 2,360 MUs of power under this arrangement. Last year 2,634 MUs were procured under such kind of trading, he added. “We will also ensure uninterrupted power supply to the domestic sector, especially during night, and this was the first time the board has set up a website to provide quicker and reliable information to its consumers regarding scheduled power cuts,” said Brar.

Regarding the confusion over the Own Your Tubewell (OYT) connection scheme, Brar clarified that it was noticed that some of the board officials were misguiding the farmers for purchasing of transformers and to protect the farmers from such kind of harassment, the scheme has been suspended temporarily.

Hoshiarpur, June 4
One person died on the spot while two were injured in an accident here today.

The deceased, Happy and the injured persons identified as Dharampal and his son Talwinder Singh, all of Mohanewal, met with the accident when their scooter (PB-24-2138) collided head-on with a Punjab roadways bus (PB-07R-9956) at Garhshankar today. The injured Dharampal and Talwinder Singh were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Garhshankar from where the former was referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

According to police sources, the occupants of the scooter were going to the divisional courts, Garhshankar, while the bus was bound for Chandigarh from Hoshiarpur.