J A L A N D H A R    E D I T I O N

DFSC turns blind eye to misuse of domestic LPG cylinders
Gurdaspur, June 5
The District Food and Supplies authority has turned a blind eye to the extensive misuse of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes. The use of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes is banned but marriage palaces, hotels and dhabha’s are explicitly going against the norms by using domestic cylinders instead of using commercial ones.

Farmers stage dharna in front of DC office
Tarn Taran, 5 June
Activists of 17 farmers-Mazdoor organisations staged a dharna infront of the office of Deputy Commissioner for hours together here today.
Farmer and labour organisations stage a dharna in front of the DC office in Tarn Taran on Tuesday. A Tribune photograph

Educationist honoured in Mauritius
Batala, June 5
Thakur Ghanshyam Singh of Fatehgarh Churian has been awarded HIND RATTAN award in an International Conference on celebrating the global Indian on 29th of May 2012 in Port Louis, Mauritius.




Thakur Ghanshyam Singh gets the Hind Rattan award at Port Louis in Mauritius. A Tribune photograph

5 arrested for immoral trafficking
Pathankot, June, 5
The police arrested five persons, including three women, from a dhaba on charges of immoral trafficking.

Ending a prolonged dry spell, rain lashes Jalandhar and surrounding areas on Tuesday evening, bringing a much-needed respite to the residents from the heatwave. Photo: Sarabjit Singh

DFSC turns blind eye to misuse of domestic LPG cylinders
Ravi Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, June 5
The District Food and Supplies authority has turned a blind eye to the extensive misuse of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes. The use of domestic cylinders for commercial purposes is banned but marriage palaces, hotels and dhabha’s are explicitly going against the norms by using domestic cylinders instead of using commercial ones.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) officials, who oversees the working of all the four gas agencies located in the city, are aghast at the development which they say creates shortage. It puts the residents to inconvenience, they said.

Sources revealed that there are nearly 40,000 connections in the town out of which a whopping 5,000 odd are being used for commercial purposes.

JP Lalial, Manager LPG (Sales), IOC, who is in charge of Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur districts, claims that the situation is deteriorating in the city with every passing day as more and more commercial establishments are opting to use the domestic LPG cylinder.

The situation of Pathankot is better as raids were conducted last year following which a certain fear exists among the owners of commercial establishments.

These cylinders are also being used to cook mid-day meals at various government schools and anganwadi centres, but IOC officials point out that both these ventures come under exempted categories.

“However, how can marriage palace owners and hoteliers use these cylinders when they do not fall under the exempted category?” asked a senior IOC official.

A senior official claimed that he would soon file an application under the RTI Act with the Food and Civil Supplies Department asking for details about the number of cylinders seized and number of FIRs registered against erring users in the last ten years.

Sources say that the Department will be caught slumbering if such a query is filed.

However, owners of hotels have a different story to tell. Romesh Mahajan, owner of a local hotel, claimed, “A domestic LPG cylinder weighing 14.5 kg costs Rs 450. However, the commercial cylinder that we have to use weighing 19 kg comes at a cost of Rs 1,870. A big difference of Rs 1,420 per cylinder for just 5 kg of gas is unbearable. The rates of commercial cylinders should be reduced; otherwise the household LPG container will always be misused for commercial purposes.”

The DFSC BS Dhillon could not be contacted.

Farmers stage dharna in front of DC office
Our Correspondent

Tarn Taran, 5 June
Activists of 17 farmers-Mazdoor organisations staged a dharna infront of the office of Deputy Commissioner for hours together here today. The dharna was against the state government for not implementing the accepted demands of the farmers and the other labour class.

Sawinder Sigh Chutala, Kanwalpreet Pannu and other leaders of various organisations stressed for the strengthening of the canal water system to make sure that water reaches to all the parts. The leaders also stressed on making the Public Distribution System (PDS) more efficient so that the food grains are accessible to the weaker sections of the people on cheaper rates. 

Educationist honoured in Mauritius
Our Correspondent

Batala, June 5
Thakur Ghanshyam Singh of Fatehgarh Churian has been awarded HIND RATTAN award in an International Conference on celebrating the global Indian on 29th of May 2012 in Port Louis, Mauritius.

The award was presented by Mr Aneerood Jugan Nath, the honourable president of Mauritius.

The award presentation ceremony was attended by Mr TP Sitharam, the Indian Ambassador in Mauritius, Mr KV Rajan, former Indian ambassador to Nepal, Mr Daneelal Seewoo, former Mauritius ambassador to India and many intellectuals from India and different countries of the world.

The award was presented to the educationist far his extra-ordinary contribution towards imparting education to the girl students while sitting in a semi-rural remote area.

Prior to this he has already been presented Rajiv Gandhi Shiromani Award, Indira Gandhi Sadbhavna Award and Shiksha Rattan Award at the National level in India.

Principal Ghanshyam Singh on his arrival at Fatehgarh Churian here today was welcomed by the students and teachers of the small town. 

5 arrested for immoral trafficking
Our Correspondent

Pathankot, June, 5
The police arrested five persons, including three women, from a dhaba on charges of immoral trafficking.

The DSP Prabhjot Singh Virk said Mandeep Kumar Sharma a resident of Sujanpur had been allegedly running a flesh trade in his dhaba (Star Vaishno Dhaba) located at Jalandhar-Jammu highway for the past few months.

Acting on a tip off, a police party led by SHO Ashwani Kumar raided the dhaba and arrested Mandeep Sharma, Robin Singh, Pooja Devi of Jammu, and Komal and Sandip Kaur, both of Sailli Kullian locality, Pathankot.

They all were charged under the sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Immoral Trafficking Prevention Act. All the accused were later produced in a court here, DSP said.