Nawanshahr, October 5
Though different procurement agencies have called off their strike and have entered in the mandis for paddy procurement, but the heavy rain on Sunday in the area has hampered the smooth procurement of paddy at different mandis in the district.

When this correspondent visited the local Grain Market, the labourers were busy drying up the paddy brought for sale by farmers. So far, 8,096 quintals of paddy have arrived at different procurement centres falling under the jurisdiction of three market committees - Nawanshahr, Banga and Balachaur - in the district.

Out of which, 2,273 quintals of unsold and 1,594 quintals of “unlifted” paddy is lying at various procurement centres due to the rain. So far, PunGrain has purchased 1,960 quintals, FCI 245, Markfed 831, PUNSUP 1,326, Warehousing Corporation 674, Agro 738 and private buyers 49 qunitals of paddy.

Rewal Singh of Shahabpur village, Jaswinder Singh of Gujjarpur village and Santokh Singh of Musapur village, while talking to The Tribune, expressed satisfaction over the procurement arrangements at the mandi. When asked to comment on the row over the issue of payment to farmers through cheques, the farmers said the mutual trust between the farmers and the commission agents was the basis of the trade. “The farmers want quick payment for their crops and the commission agents are concerned about the realisation of the dues from the farmers. If both the farmers and the commission agents have trust in each other and are fair in their dealings, then there is absolutely no problems, whatsoever arrangement the government has made to appease both the communities by adopting a middle path of making payments by cheques to the farmers through the commission agents,” said the farmers.

The same views, by and large, were echoed by Bakhtawer Singh, president of the district unit of Arhtiyas (commission agents), Malwinder Singh and Rakesh Ohri.

“They have been standing with the farmers through their thick and thin. Due to their long trade and social association, the farmers have been reposing faith in them and are in favour of continuing this relationship,” they said.

Dinesh Chopra, president of the district unit of the Rice Millers Association, attributed the strike by the rice millers to the alleged non-cooperative attitude of the Congress-led UPA government in New Delhi towards the SAD-BJP government in Punjab. “The demands of the rice millers are mainly concerned with the Centre Government, but it has been showing lack of interest in solving the problem to ensure smooth procurement of paddy in the state,” lamented Chopra.

“Besides, as the most of the officials of the different procurement agencies are on the brink of their retirement, hence they are exhibiting a great caution in paddy procurement to avoid any hassles in the fag end of their service tenure,” remarked a commission agent, while lamenting that even the state government had been showing lack of will power in ensuring smooth paddy procurement.

Amritsar, October 5
Bikram Singh Majithia, former cabinet minister and patron of the Youth Akali Dal said Manjit Singh Manna could be sacked from primary membership of the Shiromani Akali Dal if the charges of land grabbing and fraud levelled against him are proved in the court of law.

Talking to the selected media on the sidelines of a special function organised for handing over the chairmanship of district planning committee to Veer Singh Lopoke here today, he pointed out that nobody was above law and every body was bound to abide by it.

It is evident to mention here that the controversy had erupted when the SSP had refused to meet Manna in connection with the cases registered against Manna saying that he would not entertain any person facing criminal offences.

The SSP was also backed by State Health Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla, who had asked the Chief Minister to take action against him as she was also approached by a number of shopkeepers alleging that they were defrauded by Manna and his accomplices.

Meanwhile, Majithia revealed that Police Suvidha (assistance) booths would be opened in every district of the state in order to provide all facilities like attesting passports, arms license verification, renewal of arms license, police clearance certificates etc on a single window. These booths would be established in civil areas separately from other existing police stations.

He said the work of setting up these centres would be completed till Baisakhi.

He said for bringing in more administrative reforms, the Citizen Centering Municipal Act would be implemented in all municipal corporations for better coordination among people and government.

Hoshiarpur, October 5
He went for his history compartment examination, was allowed to appear after a lot of trouble but as he was attempting the questions, he was told that he could not give the examination as he had got “compartment in English” and not history.

This is the sad tale of Ankush, a student of BA final year in Panjab University (PU).

A resident of Hariana town, Ankush had gone through a lot of hassle during the last two months.

According to his father Varinder Kumar, Ankush got compartment in the history in his final year exam. He submitted his forms to the PU for clearing the compartment in September 2009 for which the date of examination was fixed on October 3. When Ankush did not receive his roll number from the university till October 2, he approached the Principal of the GGDSD College Hariana and somehow managed to get the 
roll number 12505000145 through the PU website.

But when the next day he went to the examination centre, Government College, Hoshiarpur, to appear for the exam, he was surprised to note that his roll number was missing from the notice board. After showing the attested copy from the Principal of GGDSD College Hariana, of his roll number, he was allowed to appear in the exam.

And when he was attempting the questions, at about 9:50 am, a clerk of the centre came and instructed him to handover the question paper and answer book on the plea that according to the university record, he had got compartment in the English and could only appear for the exam of English paper. Despite his arguments, the authorities of the examination centre did not allow him to complete the paper.

Disappointed, Ankush came to his house and in the evening at about 3.30 pm, he got his above said roll number from the PU through post in which it was mentioned that he had to appear in the English paper to get his compartment cleared.

His father said due to the negligence of the university staff concerned, his son not only faced harassment but also a year of his got wasted.

Varinder Kumar demanded stern action against the staff for their negligence and compensation to his son failing which he would knock the door of the court for justice.

The father has written to the PU Vice-Chancellor protesting the injustice meted out to his son.

Batala, October 5
The police has succeeded in arresting a suspect and recovered Rs 23 lakh stolen from the main branch of the State Bank of Patiala, Shashtri Nagar, here on October 3 within a few hours of the theft.

SSP Dinesh Pratap Singh said this while addressing a press conference here on Monday. He said on October 3 a bag containing the money was stolen from the bank when Hardeep Singh, head cashier of the bank went to call a guard of the bank after placing the bag on a chair.

A case was registered and investigation initiated by the city police station SHO. An identity card and some other documents were recovered from the bank area, which were found to be of Hem Raj, resident of Kalanour and an employee of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

During investigation made from the relatives of Hem Raj, it was revealed that Hem Raj had left for Ludhiana with his wife Nidhi on a motorcycle.

Police parties were formed to chase him. The registration number of the motorcycle was also intimated to the Ludhiana police. Various nakas were erected by the Ludhiana police. Hem Raj was stopped by the DSP (Rural), Ludhiana, during a naka at Toll Plaza, Jalandhar Road, Ludhiana.

Meanwhile, the Batala police also reached there. During his search the bag containing Rs 22.66 lakh was recovered.

Hoshiarpur, October 5
Aanganwari worker Pooja and her husband Sanjiv Kumar of Mehangrowal village made every effort to collect Rs 1.5 lakh for the heart surgery of their one-year-old son Aryaman, who has developed a large perimembranous ventricular septal defect in his heart, but all of their attempts went in vain.

Pooja, who has also one 7-year-old son and a three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, has been working as an Aanganwari worker in the village on a nominal salary whereas her husband, who was working in a private factory, is idle these days following his road accident.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Pooja said Aryaman was under the treatment of PGI cardiologists in Chandigarh who had advised her to get done his heart surgery, which would require Rs 1.5 lakh. The date for the operation was fixed for October 23.

The couple now awaits good Samaritans to save their son. They have appealed to the people to provide financial help to save the life of Aryaman.

Pathankot, October 5
The drivers of two trucks were killed and a cleaner sustained injuries in a road accident on the Pathankot-Amritsar road near Sarna, 7 km from here, today.

According to the police, the trucks collided head on resulting in the death of the drivers of both the trucks, identified as Malkiat Singh, resident of Bagga village in Hoshiarpur district, and Surinder Singh, resident of Meenkot Kalan in Amritsar district.

The police said Malkiat Singh was going to Pathankot from Gurdaspur when he lost control over the vehicle due to bursting of a tyre of his truck and his truck collided head on with the truck being driven by Surinder Singh coming from the opposite side.

The cleaner of one of the trucks, Tara Chand, resident of Burj village, was admitted to the Civil Hospital. The bodies of the drivers had been sent for the post-mortem to the Civil Hospital. A case was registered.