Amritsar, May 29
Black marketing of the domestic LPG goes unchecked in the holy city and consumers could be seen making a beeline and waiting for hours to get gas refills. Owner of the dhabas, tea stalls and restaurants were using the domestic LPG which was much cheaper than the commercial cooking gas.

Residents were facing a shortage of gas cylinders and use of domestic gas for commercial purposes had aggravated the problem. Commercial establishments like vendors at the railway station and bus stand, dhabawalas, tea stalls, rehriwalas and sweet shop owners could be seen using the domestic gas without any fear. 

The modus operandi of the violators is that they are keeping the commercial cylinders along with the domestic ones to escape the wrath of the authorities.

As per the norms, the commercial establishments were required to use the gas cylinders having a capacity of 20 kg. The cost of each cylinders was around Rs 700, whereas the domestic gas containing 14 kg was available at Rs 325.

Cylinders were being sold at Rs 450 in black market by the people who were hand in glove with various gas agencies. In the case of any emergency, the black marketeers charge Rs 600.

The demand for the LPG increased manifold mostly during the winter season. The household cylinders were being used in four-wheelers, including cars, which had further worsened the situation. Though the police had launched a campaign several times to challan the violators for using the domestic cylinders, the practice still goes on. 

The District and Food Supplies Department had conducted raids at the railway station, bus stand, dhabas, and tea stalls but there was no effect as the authorities only seized the cylinders.

District Food and Civil Supply Officer Dr Anjuman Bhaskar said the department conducted raids time to time to check such illegal activity. She said the department had not such information and therefore, she would depute teams to check this menace. 

Gurdaspur, May 29
A deputation of the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) would call on Prime Minister Dr Mammohan Singh for securing a corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib located in Pakistan, said SGPC President Avtar Singh.

He was presiding over a prize distribution function to felicitate winners of the fourth annual religious test held by local SGPC member Amrik Singh Shahpur Goraya at Dera Baba Nanak, near here, today.

Avtar Singh said the SGPC had started work on five degree colleges this year and opened nine schools last year. Agreeing to the demand of Amrik Singh and Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon, he said a religious teacher would be provided in each school of the assembly segment. He added the expenditure on the salaries of these teachers would be borne by the SGPC.

He said the government had granted permission for four-laning the road from Dera Baba Nanak to Kartarpur Sahib and Dera Baba Nanak to Sultanpur Lodhi, which would be named as Guru Nanak Marg.

Earlier, he inaugurated a receptacle with one lakh-litre water capacity and construction of a road to Dera Sahib Gurdwara in Dera Baba Nanak.

Amritsar, May 29
In the absence of any marketing facility about 50,000 artisans making nose pins, which are being sold not only in the country but across the world, have not been able to promote their business.

About 80 per cent of the total supply of nose pins made of gold, silver and copper in the world was being produced here and almost every household in the market near Gurdwara Shaheedan was engaged in this business.

However, due to government apathy the trade has failed to flourish these hapless craftsmen could be seen making both ends meet with just earning through labour charges.

All the nose pins were being made by hand and no machinery was involved in the process. Leave aside the export price of the nose pins, these artisans are even ignorant about the market value of their product as all the profit is being shared by the middlemen and the retailers. 

The importers of the product from foreign countries directly contact them and after paying the labour charges take the product to their countries.

All-India Swarnkar Sangh President Jagjeet Sehdev, talking to Amritsar Plus, said that the condition of the market, which was established before the partition of the country, had not changed. Everyone in the market was engaged in preparing nose pins.

He said buyers from various parts of the country came to purchase the specially designed nose pins. He said that some of the artisans went to other markets to sell their product but could not make profit as they were illiterate.

Sehdev said they had submitted a charter of demands to the state government for allotting them plots at a centralised place but had not received any response. He said the present market was far away and no tourist was able to visit it. He said the government was charging tax from them but had failed to remove their grievances.

Ayush, an artisan, said as he had been engaged in producing nose pin since his childhood, he left his education after matriculation to help his parents. He said the government should offer a special scheme for educating them in marketing their product themselves to enhance their earnings. 

Amritsar, May 29
The Punjab Subordinate Services Federation, headed by Jarmanjit Singh, today alleged that Parminder Singh, a teacher posted at a government elementary school in Loharawala village in Rayya, was allegedly manhandled by several residents of the village on the school premises.

Jarmanjit, in a press release issued, today alleged that Parminder had complained to Block Development and Panchayat Officer against some persons who had allegedly grabbed the Panchayat land adjoining the school.

Agitated over this, the accused, he alleged, came to the school and manhandled him by raising baseless issues. He alleged even the police in Rayya failed to take action against the accused even after the complaints.

He said as the matter involved attack on a teacher on school premises, the DSP, who was deputed to probe, sent SHO Beas police station to investigate into the matter.

He said when Avtar Singh Bath, district president of Government Teacher Union, along with a deputation reached the police chowki Rayya, the accused, who had attacked the teacher were already present there. The SHO said he was investigating into the allegations and anything would be said after investigations were complete.

Amritsar, May 29
Demanding a high-level judicial probe by a sitting judge, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) spokesman Sukhpal Singh Khaira said at a press conference here today that the state government had failed to curb violence following the Vienna incident and added that there was a deep-rooted conspiracy in creating a wedge in society.

Khaira, terming the incident as most unfortunate, said there was a total collapse of law and order in Punjab. “When the Deputy Commissioner of Kapurthala and the Inspector-General of Police, Jalandhar Zone, were not secure what would be the fate of the common man,” he questioned. 

He said responsibility should be fixed somewhere, otherwise a group of people of a community would disturb the peace in future. He said for three days there was a complete failure of the system. 

He said as per the CII assessment, public property worth Rs 7,000 crore was damaged in the state, while the Assocham had estimated an industrial loss of Rs 500 crore due to street protests and bandhs in Punjab.

Amritsar, May 29
Taking up a noble cause of providing education and uplifting the life of poor children, the State Bank of India, Amritsar Cant Branch, has adopted as many as 14 students of Nishkam Seva Public School, being run by Sardara Singh, a social activist.

The school provides education to children of ragpickers living on the streets. The bank give Rs 5,000 annually each to the girl students for their fees, books and uniforms.

Sardara Singh, who has dedicated his post-retirement life to the cause of educating children of slum dwellers near railway lines just close to Civil Surgeons office, praised the step taken by one of the leading banks of the country.

The school is being run on the monetary help from various NGOs and eminent citizens of the city, which Sarada said had provided him enough “fuel” to fight more vigorously to run 
the institution.

S.K. Gupta, chief manager SBI, Cant Branch, said as part of a noble cause towards the lower strata of society and to generate awareness about the role of education in making the children a part of mainstream, the bank has given financial assistance to each students for fees, books/stationary and uniforms which would be continued up to class XII.

Last year the bank has adopted seven students and number has doubled this year. He said their endeavor was to adopt 25 children by the next year.

Sardara said even though the promises made by several political leaders were still to be materialized, it has not demoralized him. He is striving heard to meet his resolve of getting more and more funds to uplift the most neglected section of society through free education.

Amritsar, May 29
The Guru Nanak Dev University has invited applications for admission to BTech (Sugar and Alcohol Technology) and MSc Nano Science and Technology courses on prescribed forms available in the university prospectus for the session 2009-10. 

Dr Raghbir Singh, Dean, Academic Affairs, said the candidates having appeared/passed 10+2 (non-medical) with at least 50 per cent marks are eligible for four-year BTech (sugar and alcohol technology - semester system) while the candidates having passed BSc with at least 50 per cent marks with physics and mathematics as compulsory subjects are eligible for admission to two year MSc nano science and technology (semester system).

He said the aspirants could submit their admission forms for BTech (Sugar and Alcohol Technology) latest by June 19 and an entrance test would be held on June 26 in the Department of Applied Chemical Sciences and Technology.

Similarly, he said, the admission would be done to M.Sc Nano Science and Technology on the basis of an all-India Entrance Test to be conducted by the university on July 3 for which, the candidates would have to deposit their admission forms latest by June 26 in the Department of Applied Physics.

He said each student admitted to M.Sc Nano Science and Technology would get a scholarship of Rs 3000 per month and an annual contingency of Rs 10,000. For more details, the students can access the university website www.gndu.ac.in or go through the university prospectus, he added.

They appealed to all the citizens to respect the sacrifice of their religious heads and leaders and tread the path of peace and harmony so that the country could march ahead on all the fronts of development. Everybody must understand that no religion preaches violence and everybody on earth should live in peace and harmony. There are many other serious issues that require collective attention of the people, they added. — TNS

Amritsar, May 29
President Dr S.S. Dhillon and vice-presidents Dr Jaipal Singh and Dr Ronki Ram of the Punjab Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (PFUCTO) in a joint statement issued here today urged Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to implement the UGC pay scales and other service conditions for the university and college teachers as agreed at a meeting on February 13.

The leaders said they failed to understand the delay in the implementation of the UGC recommendations when 80 per cent of the burden for five years from January 1, 2006, was to be met by the Central Government.

They said the delay in implementing the recommendations was now unjustifiable when the government had already accepted the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission for the state employees.

The non-implementation of the UGC recommendations was creating unrest among the university and college teachers which would eventually get reflected in an agitation.

District Guidance Officers of Tarn Taran and Amritsar Gursewak Singh and Inderjeet Kaur, would organise the programme. Jaswant Rai, District Employment Officer and Vikramjeet Singh, District Coordinator of Nehru Yuva Kendra and principal of Basic Health Welfare College, would deliver lectures. — OC