Phillaur, April 25
Former minister Chaudhary Santokh Singh has taken serious notice of misusing the national emblems on wheat bags used by government agencies and described it as an insult to the emblems and the nation as well.

After visiting mandis of Phillaur, Goraya, Pasla, Rurrka Kalan, Partappura, Mao Sahib and Bandhala, Santokh Singh here today urged Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil to get those booked who were involved in the act of insulting the national emblems, which could be seen on wheat bags in several mandis.

The former minister said the national emblem could not be misused at any cost and guilty should be punished. He said the Emblems and Names (Prevention of Improper Use) Act, 1950, clearly prohibited the improper use of certain emblems and names for business purposes.

He alleged that lakhs of tonnes of wheat was lying in the different mandis unlifted. He further alleged that no monitoring was being done by the officials properly to ensure the timely lifting of the produce. Farmers were not getting payments for their wheat.

Jalandhar, April 25
Punjab Agro Foodgrains Corporation (PAFC) Limited has procured 9.12 lakh metric tonnes (MT) of wheat till April 23 from various mandis in the state and would procure another 10.35 lakh MT in the coming days to meet its target.

PAFC Chairman Randhir Singh Rakhra, who was in the city to inspect the mandis in the district, said more than 1.4 lakh MT had been procured in Patiala, followed by more than 80,000 MT in Sangrur, 57,000 MT at Ludhiana and 34, 000 MT in Jalandhar.

Rakhra said he had visited 115 out of 183 mandis in the state to check the procurement process. The requisite arrangements were in place to facilitate the procurement, he added. The state government was also ensuring that the dues of the farmers were cleared within 48 hours.

He alleged that the Centre was responsible for non-lifting of the earlier stocks from the state godowns resulting in a severe shortage of covered space to store the newly procured grains.

A proposal to start gas agencies in rural areas of the state was also under active consideration of the corporation, he added.

Jalandhar, April 25
Taking strong exception to the steep hike in power tariff, the Congress, the CPM and the Bhartaiya Gaon Taj (BGT) Dal have demanded its immediate rollback.

In separate statements, former minister and Congress leader Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, CPM Punjab secretary Mangat Ram Pasla and of BGT Dal president Baba Balkar Singh said all the categories of power consumers would suffer due to the steep hike in power tariff.

Pasla said the Badal government imposed a new burden of Rs 950 crore on the people by hiking the power tariff.

Merely 10 days ago, the state government had issued misleading advertisements in almost all newspapers claiming that there would be no increase in electricity rates after the unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

On the contrary, the state government had not only increased the power rates but had also withdrawn subsidised electricity to Dalits, below poverty line (BPL) cardholders and peasants, he added.

In this way, Parkash Singh Badal-led SAD-BJP government betrayed the masses and added to their burden as they were already reeling under the unprecedented price hike of essential commodities, he said.

Pasla urged the people to unitedly lodge a protest against the anti-public policies of the Badal government. He criticised the Dr Manmohan Singh-led UPA government for the steep hike in the prices of essential commodities and for increasing the rates of petroleum products.

Pathankot, April 25
More than 35 owners of luxury cars and other vehicles in and around the town have eagerly been waiting for an appointment with the SDM-cum-Registration Authority for the past over four months for the auction of fancy numbers. They have already submitted the documents of their vehicles.

Fancy numbers for vehicles in the new series (PB-35-L) from 0001 to 0010 had already been auctioned but some numbers of two, three and four digits are yet to be auctioned.

The last auction took place in January and after this the auction was cancelled by the SDM for three times in four months (January16, March 25 and April 16).

The vehicle owners who had applied for the two, three and four digit fancy numbers are finding themselves in a quandary and will have to think twice before moving out of the town to avoid their vehicles being challaned by the transport authorities and the district traffic police and outside the state in the absence of registration numbers.

The period of one month of temporary registration number allotted to their vehicles has also lapsed following which neither the police nor the transport authorities have listened to their problems.

SDM Sukhmandar Singh said the auction would be held next month.

Jalandhar, April 25
Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) president Balwant Singh Ramoowalia said today that he was hopeful of a positive response from the UAE authorities in the case of 17 Punjabi youths facing death row there. The UAE authorities were moving in a positive direction, which had rekindled the hopes of the families of the Punjabi youths back home.

A delegation of the LBP recently went to UAE to meet the Punjabi youths and stayed there for five days. During their stay, Ramoowalia along with his party men also met the four Indians who were reportedly injured in a clash along with the Pakistani national, who was killed in the incident.

He discussed the proceedings of the case of the Punjabi youths with the Indian Ambassador, Consulate General, Professors of Shariyat and representatives of Shariyat courts. “We also met some influential people at Sharjah who assured us of some positive move in this direction soon,” he added.

Ramoowalia said Amarjeet Singh, a resident of Pandori Khurd village, near Hoshiarpur, and Sachin Sharma of Mahal village, near Goraya, were not in the list of the 17 Punjabis on death row. “However, the names of Harjinder Singh of Phagwara and Ram Singh of Kanwan village in Amritsar have been included in the list for killing a Pakistani national. They are behind the bars in UAE,” he said.

He said this was a humane initiative to save humanity and they proceeding cautiously in the case. Even the UAE Embassy in Delhi also assured them of a fair trail in the case. He said the death row was an issue between two nations, India and Dubai, therefore they needed to have only one “nodal authority” to plead the case. “Being a sensitive issue it should be dealt with extra caution. Hence, only Indian Ambassador should act as a nodal authority as a mediating agency,” he added.

Ramoowalia along with the delegation also met the Islamic bodies to discuss the intricacies of the Shariat law. He was accompanied by Avtar Singh Mullanpuri and Amrik Singh Varpal during the visit to UAE.

Amritsar, April 25
Due to lack of awareness about the benefits reserved under the various government schemes for the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes, people belonging to these categories remain devoid of their rights.

Minister for Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Gulzar Singh Ranike stated this at the state-level seminar focusing on untouchability held at Attari yesterday.

Elaborating the government endeavour to bring the reserve category people to the mainstream, Ranike said the government had enhanced home grants from Rs 20,000 to Rs 50,000 and had waived loans amounting to Rs 14 crore being extended to over 26,000 beneficiaries.

“Besides pre-matric scholarships to deserving students and incentives to those with interest in sports, the government has made special provisions for unemployed persons by giving them training in driving and other jobs to make them self-reliant under various employment schemes,” said Ranike.

Apart from this, under the PCR Act, 1955, the state government had initiated to eradicate untouchability by organising inter-caste marriages. An amount of Rs 25,000 per couple would be given under this scheme and another Rs 15,000 to each panchayat which helped in the eradication of untouchability by way of organising community kitchens and seminars in their respective villages.

Meanwhile, Ranike distributed cheques worth Rs 15 lakh among 27 beneficiaries and granted Rs 17,500 each for the construction of cemented houses, besides giving cheques worth Rs 10 lakh to sarpanches of various villages for development works.

Pathankot, April 25
The police has busted a four-member gang of cheats, including a woman, with the arrest of one of the accused here.

The gang used to dupe unemployed youths of the area, pocketing lakhs of rupees, on the pretext of finding them jobs in government or semi-government departments.

SHO Dev Dutt Sharma said Ujjagar Singh of Kesal village complained to the police that the gang had taken Rs 6 lakh (Rs 2 lakh each from Baljit Singh, Ujjagar Singh and Joginder Pal) to get them appointed in a government department.

He further alleged that after receiving the money, all three candidates were given letters of appointment in the Pathankot Municipal Council.

When the candidates reached the council office and produced their letters, they were told by the authorities that the letters were fake. The authorities also said no such letters had been issued by the authorities.

The complainants approached the police. A case was registered against all the four accused identified as Manju Kumari, Chhottu Ram, both residents of Silver Estate, Pathankot, Sheela of Lamini village and Jagdev Singh of Akhrota village, under sections 420, 465, 467, 468 and 120-B of the IPC.

The SHO said the police has arrested Jagdev Singh while the three others had absconded.