B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

Parimal piles up in Fazilka
Fazilka, October 3
The parimal variety of paddy has started piling up in the Fazilka grain market as the government procurement could not begin following strike by the purchase inspectors of all the procuring agencies. Although private traders have made some purchases, they are also reluctant to purchase the paddy due to the high moisture content.

The grain market in Fazilka is full of paddy scattered by the farmers for drying. Photo: Praful Chander Nagpal

Price of LPG cylinders witnesses another hike Faridkot, October 3 Over a week after the LPG rates witnessed an increase of over 100 per cent in the open market, various LPG marketing companies have again hiked the rate. If last week, the rate of an LPG cylinder (14.2 kg) for domestic consumption after the prescribed and restricted supply of subsidized six cylinders per annum was Rs 806 per cylinder, this rate has been increased to Rs 935 per cylinder on October 1.

LPG price has been hiked again by the agencies.

Moga mishap toll rises to seven
Moga, October 3
Two more persons who were seriously injured in the road crash on Tuesday night at Moga succumbed to their injuries taking the total toll to seven. Tarsem Singh, 32, his six-day-old baby girl, mother-in-law Piar Kaur (62), brother-in-law Gurjant Singh and a canter driver Amandeep Singh had died on the spot.

Two killed as bus rams into bike
Muktsar, October 3
A woman, who was in the family way, was killed along with her father-in-law while her husband sustained multiple injuries when the motorcycle they were riding, collided head-on with a private bus near Kabarwala village on the Malout-Abohar highway this morning.

Mansa police foils bid to smuggle drugs Poppy husk worth Rs 10 lakh seized Bathinda, October 3 The Mansa police today recovered eight quintals of poppy husk worth about Rs ten lakh and arrested two residents of Bhiwani when they were trying to smuggle the booty into Punjab. An improvised cavity in a canter was used to store the poppy husk. A Tribune photograph

12 acquitted of killing Dalit youth
Moga, October 3
The additional district and sessions judge of Moga, Harpal Singh, has acquitted 12 persons from the charge of murdering a Dalit youth and declared one of the alleged accused as a proclaimed offender, here on Wednesday.

Bar members meet Law Minister
Moga, October 3
A seven-member delegation of the district bar associations of Punjab met Union Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khursheed in the presence of the Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Preneet Kaur at New Delhi today demanding to abolish the evening courts and stop functioning of the courts at the district headquarters and sub-divisional levels on Saturdays.

Parimal piles up in Fazilka
Buyers cautious because of high moisture content in this variety of paddy
Praful Chander Nagpal

Fazilka, October 3
The parimal variety of paddy has started piling up in the Fazilka grain market as the government procurement could not begin following strike by the purchase inspectors of all the procuring agencies.

Although private traders have made some purchases, they are also reluctant to purchase the paddy due to the high moisture content.

The arrival of paddy has, however, started picking up. The grain market is full of paddy spread by the farmers for drying.

As per the market committee sources, nearly 71,000 bags (each weighing 35 kg) of paddy have already arrived in Fazilka market and its 27 purchase centres. Of this, nearly 23,000 bags have been purchased by the private traders.

The farmers are getting remunerative price for the parimal variety of paddy being purchased by the traders and rice mill owners. They have so far purchased paddy at a rate ranging between Rs 1,325 to Rs 1,376 per quintal. The minimum support price (MSP) of this variety is Rs 1,280 per quintal.

"We are making the purchase cautiously due to the high moisture content," said Lovely Kathpal, a rice mill owner. "The officials of the market committee have been deployed at all entry points of the grain market along with moisture meters to assess the moisture content in the paddy. If the moisture is found to be higher than the permissible limit of 17 per cent, then the tractor-trolley loaded with paddy is returned," said Salod Kumar, secretary, Market Committee, Fazilka.

"I have been camping in the market for the last three days awaiting procurement. The government should make some alternative arrangements if the procurement staff has proceeded on strike," said a farmer, Sham Lal of village Lalowali.

Notably, the government agencies make bulk purchase of the parimal variety of paddy for the central pool. Of the total 1,90,312 quintals of parimal variety that arrived last year, 1,83,207 quintals was procured by the government agencies and only the remaining 7,105 quintals was purchased by the private traders. As to when the strike of the purchase inspectors would end is still not clear to the farmers arriving at the mandi.

paddy points

• According to sources in the market committee, nearly 71,000 bags of paddy have already arrived in Fazilka markets.
• Traders and private mill owners have so far purchased paddy at a price ranging between Rs 1,325 to Rs 1,376 per quintal.
• The minimum support price (MSP) of the parimal variety is Rs 1280 per quintal.
• If the moisture content in the paddy is found to be higher than the permissible limit of 17 per cent, the produce is returned.

Price of LPG cylinders witnesses another hike
Balwant Garg
Tribune News Service

Faridkot, October 3
Over a week after the LPG rates witnessed an increase of over 100 per cent in the open market, various LPG marketing companies have again hiked the rate. If last week, the rate of an LPG cylinder (14.2 kg) for domestic consumption after the prescribed and restricted supply of subsidized six cylinders per annum was Rs 806 per cylinder, this rate has been increased to Rs 935 per cylinder on October 1.

If last week, the rate of non-domestic exempt categories like defence, hospitals, gurudwaras, mid-day meal scheme in school, was increased from Rs 422 per cylinder to Rs 1,031 per cylinder, the rate of these cylinders have once again been revised to Rs 1,181.50 per cylinder from October 1.

Last week, the price of the LPG cylinder (19 kg) for commercial use, like in dhabas, hotels, restaurants or industrial purposes were announced at Rs 1,505. Now, the rate for these categories has also been increased to Rs 1,706 per cylinder.

With these new revised rates, there is no major difference in the LPG rates for commercial and non-domestic but exempted categories. If for commercial use, the LPG rate per kg is now Rs 89.78, for exempted categories like gurudwaras, hospitals and schools, the LPG is available at the rate of Rs 83.20 per kg.

With the new rates, after the domestic consumer use six LPG cylinders per annum at Rs 29.71 per kg, they will have to pay at the rate of Rs 65.84 for every extra kg of LPG.

Moreover, these rates are effective only for the month of October and will be revised in November as these rates are connected with the international price of crude oil, said a senior functionary in Indian Oil.

To ensure that the gas agencies do not hold the stock to sell it at an increased price, the LPG marketing companies have started demanding the closing and opening stock every morning and evening.

Moga mishap toll rises to seven
Tribune News Service

Moga, October 3
Two more persons who were seriously injured in the road crash on Tuesday night at Moga succumbed to their injuries taking the total toll to seven. Tarsem Singh, 32, his six-day-old baby girl, mother-in-law Piar Kaur (62), brother-in-law Gurjant Singh and a canter driver Amandeep Singh had died on the spot.

Tarsem's another three-year-old child, father-in-law Gurdev Singh and wife Paramdip Kaur (27) were referred to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital at Faridkot for treatment where Gurdev and the child succumbed to their injuries. The injured woman was still critical.

It may be mentioned that eight persons of a family were travelling on a 'Peter Rehra', an illegal means of transport, when a canter coming from the opposite direction hit them on the Kotkapura road on Tuesday night.

DM Arshdeep Singh Thind and SSP Surjit Singh Grewal met the kin of the deceased and expressed their condolence. The bodies were returned to the family after the postmortem today.

Two killed as bus rams into bike
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, October 3
A woman, who was in the family way, was killed along with her father-in-law while her husband sustained multiple injuries when the motorcycle they were riding, collided head-on with a private bus near Kabarwala village on the Malout-Abohar highway this morning.

The mishap took place when they were going from Abohar to Bathinda.

While the woman, identified as Pinki (22), died on the spot, her father-in-law Parmod Lal (54) died before reaching the hospital.

Her husband Jayant Kumar was rushed to a hospital, where his condition was said to be critical. The three belonged to Guru Gobind Nagari in Abohar and were going to Bathinda for Pinki's medical examination.

Sources said Pinki's father-in-law was in a private job at Bathinda and used to travel by bus.

"But today, he also opted to go with his son and daughter-in-law on the motorcycle, which met with an accident," claimed sources.

Meanwhile, the Kabarwala police registered a case under various sections of the IPC against the bus driver and started a hunt to nab him.

In another incident, the police today seized four tractor-trolleys loaded with timber being allegedly smuggled to Haryana without paying the tax at Mandi Killianwali barrier on the Punjab-Haryana border.

The wood was being smuggled through various escape routes. The seized goods were handed over to the Excise and Taxation department for further action. The excise department has already been raising the issue of tax evasion by the traders.

Mansa police foils bid to smuggle drugs
Poppy husk worth Rs 10 lakh seized
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, October 3
The Mansa police today recovered eight quintals of poppy husk worth about Rs ten lakh and arrested two residents of Bhiwani when they were trying to smuggle the booty into Punjab.

SSP Narendra Bhargav said the accused used an improvised storage cavity in a canter where they stacked seven quintals of poppy husk. Along with the truck, the police recovered a Ford Fiesta car also in which the accused had stacked one quintal of poppy husk.

The SSP said the canter was quite new and had travelled 2500 kms only. The police got a tip-off about the smuggling attempt after which a police party led by DSP Balwinder Singh and SI Harwinder Singh intercepted the smugglers at Khanouri on the Punjab-Haryana border. The accused were identified as Deepak alias Deepu and Sunil Kumar. The police was conducting raids to nab their four accomplices.

12 acquitted of killing Dalit youth

Moga, October 3
The additional district and sessions judge of Moga, Harpal Singh, has acquitted 12 persons from the charge of murdering a Dalit youth and declared one of the alleged accused as a proclaimed offender, here on Wednesday.

These persons were allegedly accused by the police of murdering a 22-year-old Dalit youth, identified as Gurjant Singh of the local Indira Colony. He was working with a labour contractor in the local manufacturing unit of Nestle, the world's premier food processing industry. Gurjant was shot dead by unidentified car-borne miscreants while he was coming out of the factory on February 14 this year.

As per the case file, Anil Kumar, Dilsher Singh, Kulwinder Singh, Surinder Khanna, Satnam Singh, Amit Kumar and seven others were allegedly accused of murdering the youth but the police failed to investigate the case properly, which led to the acquittal. One of the accused, Charanjit Singh, did not turn up for the trial due to which he was declared a proclaimed offender by the court. — TNS

Bar members meet Law Minister
Kulwinder Sandhu
Tribune News Service

Moga, October 3
A seven-member delegation of the district bar associations of Punjab met Union Minister of Law and Justice Salman Khursheed in the presence of the Union Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Preneet Kaur at New Delhi today demanding to abolish the evening courts and stop functioning of the courts at the district headquarters and sub-divisional levels on Saturdays.

Advocate Sunil Garg, convener of the delegation, claimed the Law Minister has agreed in principle to declare Saturday as a non-working day in the district and lower courts on the pattern of the high courts.

"The Law Minister has assured to send an order in writing from his office regarding a holiday on Saturdays to the Chief Justice of Punjab and Haryana High Court by the end of this week for compliance," Garg further claimed.

Adding that the meeting lasted for more than half an hour, he said the Law Minister has also agreed to reconsider the union government's decision on evening courts. "Instead of it, he has stressed upon the need to change the timings of the district and lower courts from 9 am in the morning," Garg said.