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Teleconferencing among MCs soon
Jalandhar, June 10
The Local Bodies Department is planning to start teleconferencing service for quick and easy communication among officials of the six municipal corporations of the state and secretariat at Chandigarh soon.

HDFC Bank asked to pay up
Nawanshahr, June 10
The District Consumer Redressal Forum in two separate orders passed on Tuesday disposed of two separate complaints filed by an NRI Vipan Kumar, resident of Chokeran village, Jalandhar district, against the local branch of HDFC Bank accusing the bank of investing the amount of his NRI FDRs in Aviva Life Insurance without his consent thus breaching the trust as well as causing him harassment due to deficiency in service.

Kerosene Pilferage
Licences of six ration depots cancelled
Jalandhar, June 10
The Food and Civil Supplies Department has cancelled the licences of six ration depots in the district after complaints of kerosene pilferage were reported. This was disclosed by Revenue Minister Ajit Singh Kohar during the meeting of the Grievances Committee at the Deputy Commissioner office here today.

BKU-Rajewal rejects hike in MSP for paddy, cotton
Jalandhar, June 10
The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Rajewal has rejected the hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and cotton announced by the Central Government. The government has hiked the MSP of paddy by Rs 80 and that of cotton by Rs 300.

Rs 1.5 lakh snatched from woman
Phagwara, June 10
Three armed motorcycle-borne robbers snatched a purse from an NRI woman, Daljit Kaur, near Akal Stadium today. The woman was coming after withdrawing the amount from a bank along with her employee Kamal on a motorcycle, when the motorcycle-borne robbers snatched her purse containing Rs 1.5 lakh and sped away.

	10-year-old kid on fast Family ordered to pack up ‘show’ Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 10 Acting tough against the family of a 10-year-old kid, who has been sitting on a fast in the support of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev since yesterday, the district administration directed the family to pack up the “show” and warned that strict action would be taken against such families, provoking their children to perform such acts. Devyansh, a school-going kid, caught attention of the media when he started his “fast against corruption and black money” at his residence in the Central Town locality here yesterday. Terming the act a mere tactics to gain “fake publicity”, Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said inciting kids to sit on a fast was an act of human rights violation. “Children are not conscious about the socio-political affairs and without provocation, they cannot take decision to sit on a fast of their own. Such acts are the fallout of parents’ desire to grab wide attention and publicity,” said the DC.
	Teleconferencing among MCs soon Deepkamal Kaur Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 10 The Local Bodies Department is planning to start teleconferencing service for quick and easy communication among officials of the six municipal corporations of the state and secretariat at Chandigarh soon. While the idea is to save time and energy of the officials used in commuting to and fro Chandigarh almost every other day for discussions on various issues, the move is also aimed at assuring more availability of the officials to the masses for handling their day-to-day civic problems. The department has tied up with a private firm, Tulip Telecom, based at Bangalore, for inter-linking of the MC offices and connectivity with the offices of Deputy Director, Regional, at Ferozepur and Principal Secretary, Local Bodies, at Chandigarh. The company would install the equipment and ensure smooth conduct of conferencing for a period of five years. The offices at all the linked-up eight locations, however, would have to collectively shell out an amount of Rs 4 lakh as quarterly charges to the company. A.S. Dhaliwal, SE, Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, said the equipment, including a 52-inch LCD TV enabled with 1 MB bandwidth and a camera, would be installed in the committee hall adjoining the office of the Mayor around next week. He said the conferencing was likely to be operational by June end. He added that the company would have to bear deduction in the charges for every fault and breakdown during the conferencing. Dedicated power backup through UPS or other devices, however, would have to be arranged by the offices on their own. Commissioner Viney Bublani said certain officials complained that it took them almost the whole day to go to Chandigarh for a discussion that lasted for just 15 minutes. Video conferencing would make working far easier, he said appreciating the move. He added that for certain very important matters, a visit to Chandigarh would still be required.
	HDFC Bank asked to pay up Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, June 10 The District Consumer Redressal Forum in two separate orders passed on Tuesday disposed of two separate complaints filed by an NRI Vipan Kumar, resident of Chokeran village, Jalandhar district, against the local branch of HDFC Bank accusing the bank of investing the amount of his NRI FDRs in Aviva Life Insurance without his consent thus breaching the trust as well as causing him harassment due to deficiency in service. The forum has directed the bank to refund the entire amount of 38000.39 Canadian dollars and 17928.60 US dollars to the complainant along with interest at 6 per cent per annum from the date when the amount has been transferred till the entire amount is paid. The forum has also directed the bank to pay a compensation of Rs 20,000 in each case to the complainant within one month. In his complaints, Vipan Kumar had stated that he had deposited 68,000.39 Canadian dollars and 17,928.60 US dollars in the bank for converting the same into NRI FDRs on April 25, 2007. The maturity date was April 26, 2008. On September 20, 2007, he had withdrawn 30,000 Canadian dollars from his account, thus the remaining amount was 38,000.39 Canadian dollars. When he came to India, he approached the bank for the payment of the FDR amounts, but the bank neither made the payment, nor issued him the renewal of FDRs. Then, he served a legal notice on the bank on September 9, 2010, but no reply was received. But the bank informed him that his amount had been invested with Aviva Life Insurance. He was also informed on telephone to pay Rs 44 lakh to Aviva life Insurance in order to revive the policy, which had lapsed. The bank, while strongly contesting the charges levelled by the complainant, said the transfer of the amount was made by the bank strictly as per the instructions of the complainant. He had signed the complete form of insurance policy-cum-investment plan. L.N. Sharma and V.K. Khanna, president and member of the District Consumer Redressal Forum, heard the pleas of both the parties and after perusal of the record put before the court found that HDFC Bank had failed to produce any consent letter or withdrawal voucher signed by the complainant. Hence, they reached at the conclusion that the bank had transferred the hard-earned money of the consumer without his consent. “This is indeed not only gross and glaring deficiency in service on the part of the bank officials, but also cheating and unfair trade practice,” said the forum, adding that the serious lapse on the part of the bank needed to be probed by some competent authority.
	Kerosene Pilferage Licences of six ration depots cancelled Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 10 The Food and Civil Supplies Department has cancelled the licences of six ration depots in the district after complaints of kerosene pilferage were reported. This was disclosed by Revenue Minister Ajit Singh Kohar during the meeting of the Grievances Committee at the Deputy Commissioner office here today. Kohar said besides the cancellation of licences, a fine of Rs 31,000 has also been imposed on the kerosene depot holders. The minister said ration depots across the state receive stock of kerosene on the 5th of every month and it is mandatory that the kerosene is distributed among the consumers between the 6th and 10th of every month. “The food and civil supplies officials should implement this in letter and spirit and ensure that the consumers can avail themselves of its benefits,” he added. Further Kohar said the Drainage Department should strengthen the Dhussi Bundh on the Sutlej ahead of the approaching monsoon season. The minister expressed concern over the laying of water pipes in the Dhussi Bundh by farmers and said these should be closed immediately. “It was due to this reason that villages surrounding the Sutlej had witnessed floods leading to loss of property and crops,” he maintained. Meanwhile, he also assured that 217 vacancies of teacher in different government schools would be filled during the ongoing summer vacations. Kohar also directed Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti to take action against the absentee member officials of the Grievances Committee.
	BKU-Rajewal rejects hike in MSP for paddy, cotton Tribune News Service Jalandhar, June 10 The Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU)-Rajewal has rejected the hike in the minimum support price (MSP) of paddy and cotton announced by the Central Government. The government has hiked the MSP of paddy by Rs 80 and that of cotton by Rs 300. President of the BKU-Rajewal Balbir Singh Rajewal said the Central Government had played a cruel joke on the farmers in the state. “Last year the Central Government had fixed the paddy MSP at Rs 1,000 per quintal. Even the Central Government had stated that there has been an increase of 64 per cent in the prices of agriculture inputs. Keeping in mind this factor the hike in the MSP for paddy and cotton should have been Rs 640 and Rs 1,920 respectively,” he said. He said last year the cotton MSP was fixed at Rs 5,000 per quintal and this time it would be just Rs 3,300. He added that the BKU would fight for the rights of the farmers in the state.
	Rs 1.5 lakh snatched from woman Our Correspondent Phagwara, June 10 Three armed motorcycle-borne robbers snatched a purse from an NRI woman, Daljit Kaur, near Akal Stadium today. The woman was coming after withdrawing the amount from a bank along with her employee Kamal on a motorcycle, when the motorcycle-borne robbers snatched her purse containing Rs 1.5 lakh and sped away. The Satnampura police has been informed. The police is investigating the matter. In another incident, some unidentified robbers snatched a purse containing Rs 3,000 and a mobile phone from a woman near Mansa Devi Nagar here today.