Jalandhar, January 13
With over 3,000 rice millers on hunger strike since January 7, in protest against the wrong policies of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) regarding the customised milling of government paddy, the state is incurring huge losses.

The strike is going to affect the milling of 120 lakh metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs 17,000 crore, lying in the inclement weather.

If the strike continues, it may cause a national loss of several thousand crores, alleged rice millers.

Punjab Rice Millers Association president Tarsem Lal flayed the FCI policy announced on January 7, regarding imposition of a quality cut of Rs 15 per quintal on 4 percent damage, 3 per cent discolouration and 25 percent broken rice, to be given to FCI on the milling of government paddy.

The millers are demanding the waiving of the conditions of the quality cut and fixing of the length of broken rice (4.5mm) as the paddy had been damaged during the rains in the procurement season, they said, adding that it was for the first time that the quality cut had been imposed on the millers for milling the government paddy.

Tarsem Lal said the millers have brought it to the notice of the Punjab Food and Civil Supplies Minister Adesh Partap Singh, who is going to Delhi shortly to meet the Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to apprise him of the problems of rice millers and the serious concern of the state government over the issue.

Punjab Rice Millers Association president further stated that rice millers had milled merely seven lakh metric tones of paddy out of the total purchase of 125 lakh metric tonnes of paddy during this season.

Tarsem Lal said more than three months had passed after the procurement season and only three months were left for the milling of government paddy till March this year. There would be a sudden change after March in temperatures, which could damage the entire stock of paddy lying in the open, resulting in a national loss of Rs 16,000 to 17,000 crore, he added.

The Punjab Rice Millers Association president further said millers would suffer heavy losses if they mill the paddy on these specifications.

The union government was seemingly not serious about the paddy production of Punjab as other states had now started producing paddy, he alleged.

Tarsem Lal warned that the agitation would be intensified if the FCI did not fulfill their genuine demands.

Hoshiarpur, January 13
Harmanpreet Singh, an undertrial prisoner of the Hoshiarpur District Jail, escaped from the district courts complex here while he was being produced in a court here today.

He was arrested on June 1, 2010, under Sections 307, 148 and 149 of the IPC and Sections 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act by the Sadar police.

SP (D) Randhir Singh Uppal said Harmanpreet requested accompanying police constable Sucha Singh to allow him to go to the toilet. When Sucha was taking handcuffed Harmanpreet to an abandoned site of the complex, a black coloured Scorpio jeep with three occupants suddenly appeared before them and Harmanpreet brike free and immediately got on to the moving jeep. Within seconds, the jeep disappeared from the scene.

The police chased the vehicle after getting information about the incident. At Kotla Gaunspur, the driver of the jeep lost control due to which it rammed into the parapet of a culvert. All occupants, including Harmanpreet, succeeded in escaping.

The police took the jeep in custody. SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said the constable had been suspended for negligence. The police cordoned off the area and a manhunt was launched to arrest the prisoner and his accomplices. A case had also been registered.

Jalandhar, January 13
To restrain Gurmukh Singh, an NRI son of a political leader, from fleeing the country, the city police has sounded an alert at all national and international airports.

Canadian NRI Gurmukh Singh is a son of Jasbir Singh Rode, a former Jathedar and close associate of the Chief Minister. He had allegedly attacked Tarun Sharma, a cloth merchant, with a baseball bat in the Model Town market on January 6 and fled. Sharma was seriously injured in the incident and is in a coma.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Harpreet Singh Benipal, who is also the investigating officer in the case, admitted that the police had failed to get any clue about Gurmukh Singh’s whereabouts. The victim’s family alleged that the police had slowed down investigations to help the accused escape the country. “Being a son of a political leader, Gurmukh Singh enjoys political patronage and may fly back to Canada,” said the victim’s cousin Vijay Kumar.