Amritsar, December 12
The third time price hike of pouched milk effected by Milkfed authorities this year has hit the common man's budget adversely. People, who are already reeling under inflation, complain that they are already suffering due to high vegetable prices and the milk price hike will only add to their woes.

“As if inflation in essential commodities, especially vegetables, was not enough, the state government-run company has drastically affected the domestic budget,” remarked Hira Singh, a father of three children.

He said it was difficult to understand why the government did not contain prices of pouched milk by raising its production.

He recalled it was not long ago that the price of Verka cheese was raised from Rs 200 to Rs 225 a kg.

A senior citizen, BR Parinza, averred that when the government was providing various subsidies on cattle-rearing and aiding dairy farmers with methods to enhance milk production, its benefits must be percolated to normal families.

He added that this hike was blamed on the widening gap in the demand and supply, which meant the government’s policies could not achieve the desired results of increasing milk production.

Milkfed officials cited rise in the procurement prices as a reason behind the hike in retail prices. The company, which was paying procurement price of Rs 390 a kg for 1 kg fat, was now paying Rs 500 a kg for the same.

General Manager Verka milk plant Harminder Singh Sandhu said in order to curb the escalating losses following the hike in procurement price by Rs 20 per KG fat, it became necessary to pass on the hike to the consumers.

Hence, a hike of Rs 2 per liter has been affected on all of its three brands available in the local market, namely full cream (6 fat), standard fat (4.5 fat) and double toned milk (DTM) (1.5 fat).

Amritsar, December 12
Even as Jallianwalla Bagh Martyrs Memorial Civil Hospital has only six radiologists, the Health Department has failed to provide it with sufficient staff. The satellite hospitals in the district, too, do not have the facility to conduct X-ray and ultrasound tests.

The state government had initiated a policy to strengthen around 100 hospitals in the state. Whereas doctors from other stations were transferred, no measures were taken to rationalise the paramedical and the technical staff.

Even the Sub-divisional Civil Hospital at Ajnala does not have its X-ray machine in working order, but staff has been employed there.

The hospital staff said that being a district hospital, the Civil Hospital must have sufficient employees to cater to the needs of the general public. The visitors to the hospital, too, stated that if the government adopted rationalisation policy for doctors, it can adopt it for the other employees as well.

“The Civil Hospital should have enough employees to cater to the needs of the general public all through the day. If it does not have enough employees, it is the fault of the government,” said Avneet Singh, a visitor.

They stated that technicians who are working at hospitals where machines are not in a working condition could easily be transferred to the Civil Hospital to utilise their services.

Meanwhile, the Senior Medical Officer at Civil Hospital, Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon, said the hospital was visited by over 1,000 patients daily. The hospital needs more staff in each cadre so that better services can be provided to all patients, he added.

Amritsar, December 12
The district has only 34 beneficiaries of the Balri Suraksha Yojna under which girl children are given Rs 500 per month till they attain the age of 18, provided their parents go for permanent sterilisation measures.

The scheme was introduced to improve the condition of the girl child in society and to provide monetary help to the parents who are content with a girl child and do not aspire to give birth to a male child. The Deputy Medical Commissioner, Dr Prabhdeep Kaur, said that under this scheme, the girl child is given Rs 500 every month till she is 18. The money is transferred to the child’s account and it cannot be withdrawn before she is 18. She said the scheme was available to parents who had either one girl child or two girl children. So far the district had identified and benefited 34 families. To increase the level of awareness among people, the department had decided to hold a series of programmes to educate the public. “We have also decided to pay Rs 500 as honorarium to ASHA and other ground-level workers who motivate couples to go for permanent sterilisation,” she said, adding that Rs 500 would be paid to each case they would bring to the hospital.

Dr Prabhdeep said the scheme was for those couples only who did not have a male child. The Senior Medical Officer, Dr Balbir Singh Dhillon, said that though the figure of 34 was not too high, it indicated that at least a few families were content with girl children and did not wish for a male child as most others did. He said that it was a healthy sign as society was improving gradually which would bring a vast change in the condition of women in the country.

Amritsar, December 12
Farmer activists staged a protest outside the Deputy Commissioner's office under the leadership of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) against rising inflation, corruption and social inequality.

Addressing the protesters, CPMs state secretary Mangat Ram Pasla said solution to all problems of the general public lay in setting up a socialist economy in the country. He said capitalists were ruling the country in the present scenario, adding that they were not concerned with the well being of a majority of the population of the country.

Activists' association leader Gurnam Singh Daud said because of the current policies of the Centre and the state government, the conditions of landless labourers and factory workers have worsened during recent years.

He said the government was bent on withdrawing social security schemes from the poor, adding that farmers in the state were indebted to the tune of Rs 39,000 crore and the government must follow economic policies which could reduce this burden.

Amritsar, December 12
The Amritsar rural police today cracked the sensational robbery case in which a money exchanger, identified as Gurdial Singh, was injured and looted of nearly Rs 20 lakh by unidentified robbers a couple of days ago.

The police arrested five persons in this connection and recovered a sharp-edged weapon used in the crime and Rs 4.25 lakh in Indian currency besides foreign currency and gold jewellery from their possession.

Among those arrested include an employee of the money exchanger identified as Ravinder Singh who has been working with the victim for the past eight years and knew about his movements.

The others who were arrested include Ravinders Singh's brother, Davinder Singh, Partap Singh of Danyal village in Rayya, Pritpal Singh of Rampur Bhootwind (Tarn Taran) and Gurinder Singh of Nagoke village. Their sixth accomplice, identified as Shinder Singh of Lakhpur (Nawanshehar), was still at large and raids are being conducted to arrest him.

Gurpreet Singh Gill, SSP, Amritsar rural police, at a press conference here today, stated that during the preliminary probe, the police suspected the role of an insider in the crime and later zeroed in on Ravinder Singh.

Investigations showed that the gang had been planning to rob Gurdial Singh for the past 15 days and Ravinder Singh was giving all the inputs regarding his movements to Partap Singh and his accomplices.

"It was Ravinder Singh who gave the information to Partap Singh about the huge money Gurdial Singh was carrying besides gold jewellery. He also told him that the victim was not carrying his licensed pistol following which they executed the plan," said the SSP. The police recovered the foreign currency worth Rs 8 lakh and gold jewellery worth Rs 4 lakh besides Indian currency to the tune of Rs 4.25 lakh from their possession.

Amritsar, December 12
The police have arrested a notorious criminal, identified as Lakhwinder Singh, alias Lakha of Kammoke village, and seized 1 kg narcotic powder, a pistol and seven cartridges from his possession.

SSP Amritsar (Rural) Gurpreet Singh Gill shows the foreign currency seized from the nabbed criminal in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Sameer Sehgal

He was wanted in a number of criminal cases registered in Amritsar and neighbouring districts.

Gurpreet Singh Gill, SSP, Amritsar rural police, said Lakhwinder Singh had formed a gang which committed a number of lootings in various parts of the rural belt.

In May, he along with his accomplices, including Jagtar Singh of Haripura, Jagjit Singh of Sathiala, Tarsem Singh of Khurmania, Manmohan Singh of Loharka and Gurjinder Singh of Kammoke, had looted Rs 20.64 lakh from a woman identified as Gurdip Kaur. While Jagjit, Tarsem, Manmohan and Gurjinder had already been arrested, Jagtar and Lakhwinder were missing.

Similarly, he had robbed a Jalandhar resident, Umod Kumar, of Rs 2.78 lakh along with another gang, including Joga Singh of Moha and Tarsem Singh of Khurmania in the Kathunangal area in 2008.

In 2009, the Jalandhar police had seized fake currency to the tune of Rs 8.64 lakh from his possession.

Besides, the SSP said he was wanted in an attempt to murder besides cases of robbery, eve teasing and molestation registered in Amritsar rural police district in the past five years.

Amritsar, December 12
Employees working under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) today held a demonstration outside the ADC (Development) office regarding their demands, including hike in salaries.

The employees alleged that they had not received their salaries for the past five months. They were recruited by the state government on contract basis in 2007 in order to implement the scheme.

While demanding regularisation of their jobs, they also sought increase in their salaries.

“For the past six years, we have been doing our work honestly and diligently,” said Harinder Pal Singh, district president of MGNREGA Contract Employees Union. He added despite all this, they were not given any increment or any other benefit given to regular government employees.

Harinder said a contract employee was getting Rs 133 to Rs 252 per day while people who got jobs under the said scheme were getting Rs 184 to Rs 282 as their daily wages.

The employees, who have been agitating under the banner of MGNREGA Contract Employees Union, Punjab, pointed out that as per the Labour Act 1970, the contract employees should be given salaries at par with regular employees, but their pay structure was in violation of the act.

They urged the Punjab Government and the district administration to end the exploitation of the employees and to regularise their jobs. They also sought immediate release of their salaries.

Earlier, they submitted a memorandum of their demands to the deputy commissioner office in this connection.

Amritsar, December 12
The Municipal Corporation (MC) is likely to once again jump the deadline of December 15 for the launch of the city bus service, a much-awaited project, which has been hanging fire for the last six years.

The Amritsar Tribune team today visited the city bus stand and found the workers engaged in raising a platform for washing buses while another group of labourers was found laying sewage lines on the approaching road to the bus stand.

MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said the City Bus Service would start operation before the end of this year. He said infrastructure and laying work was in full swing and the buses were ready in the yards of their companies.

He added the first fleet of the buses would arrive as soon as complete infrastructure was ready.

Amritsar Improvement Trust (AIT) chairman Sandeep Rishi said that tender for road construction had been allotted to a city-based private concern. He added that since winters had intensified, premix carpeting (PC) would be carried out later while the rest of the road laying process would be taken up next week.

Rishi said barring one, all other obstructions including a porch of SSP (rural) office and couple of trees have been removed to widen the road to 60 feet. He added soon the last obstruction- a room of the SSP office would be demolished in a couple of days.

A resident of the area, Jaspinder Singh, said the entry road from the GT road had been lying kutcha for the past one year. He recalled that after years of request, the road was eventually laid about two years ago. Less than a year after its laying, it was dug up to replace the faulty sewage. Since then, it had been lying in that condition and clouds of dust rise following the passage of any vehicle.

Notably, the MC incorporated a company named as Amritsar City Transport Service Ltd (ACTSL), which has been referred to as "authority” to run the local mass transport service. The mandate is to introduce this service on its own, operate and maintain.

There will be a total of 150 buses to be introduced in a phased manner; 30 low-floor AC, 25 semi-low floor non-AC, 70 midi-buses standard non-AC, 29 midi-buses AC.

The MC received Rs 11.66 crore, including Rs 8.33 crore from the Centre under JNNURM programme, and Rs 3.33 crore from the state for this project. The MC has also spent over Rs 7.28 lakh on consultancy and Rs 12.57 lakh on advertisements.

Amritsar, December 12
In its ongoing drive to strengthen the beat patrolling system in the city, police officials held another police-public meeting near Shivala Bhaian here this evening, which was presided over by Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (city-II), Amrik Singh Pawar.

ADCP (City-II) Amrik Singh Pawar along with other police officials hold a meeting regarding beat patrolling system with the residents in Amritsar on Thursday. Photo: Vishal Kumar

The police officials introduced the respective beat patrolling officers to the area representatives and told them about the work which would be done by the officer.

The beat-foot patrolling system was introduced in the city recently in order to curb the rising crime rate. The step was also aimed to improve cordial relations with the public and for better policing, besides strengthening the surveillance network.

Pawar, while addressing the people said the beat official of the respective area would interact with the residents of the area and gather details of the owners and tenants living in the locality. He said he would also prepare a data of the anti-social elements of his respective area, which would help the department in solving crime cases.

He encouraged the residents to contact the concerned beat official in case of any law and order problem in their area.

“The beat officer would first try to handle the problem at his own level and in case he could not solve the problem, he would seek the help of the SHO or any other senior police official,” he said.

It is pertinent to mention here that the whole city has been divided into 97 police beats, which will have 194 constables and 74 officials. They will maintain the records of banks, educational institutes, ATMs, dhabas and hotels, and the problems being faced by the people.

They are provided with special badges, handcuffs and batons, besides a booklet of rules which they will have to follow during any untoward incident in their respective areas.

Amritsar, December 12
Guru Nanak Dev University Officers' Association election for the academic year 2013-14 will be held on December 17. As per the calendar of the university, Dr Jaspal Singh of the Department of Laws from the university has been nominated as the returning officer.

Dr Jaspal Singh said members from GNDU campus, Amritsar; GNDU regional campus, Jalandhar; GNDU regional campus, Gurdaspur; GNDU College, Jalandhar and ASSM College, Mukandpur, would cast their vote here as per the schedule. — TNS