The Tribune, Chandigarh, India - Himachal Pradesh Edition

	Checks ignite trouble for LPG team Ravinder Sud Hoshiarpur, February 20 A day after the orders were issued by deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan to check the misuse of domestic cooking gas by commercial establishments, a team of the district food and civil supplies department, led by district coordinator LPG (cooking gas) Vijay Kansal, was allegedly manhandled by the staff of Swaran Farms marriage palace, situated near the bypass on the Hoshiarpur-Chandigarh road. When the team members entered the premises of the palace to check misuse of LPG cylinders, they were not allowed to carry out the inspection despite repeated requests. Vijay Kansal told mediapersons that on the instructions of the DC, he, along with the district food and supplies officer, three assistant food and supplies officers, a squad of department inspectors and three police constables, had gone to the marriage palace for carrying out inspection, but when they disclosed their identity and the purpose of their visit, the staff there allegedly pushed them out of the complex and manhandled them. Later, the team went to Maharaja marriage palace and seized two domestic LPG cylinders. The staff members of the marriage palace informed the owners who immediately reached there. The team members left the venue to avoid being further manhandled. Earlier, the team had seized five domestic cylinders from the canteen of the mini-secretariat. Kansal said he had reported the incident to the DC and sought registration of a case against the owners and staff of marriage palaces. When conatcted, DC said the alleged accused would be booked for manhandling government officials and creating hurdles in their functioning. Owner of Swaran Farms Amrik Singh said a marriage party was going on when the members of the team entered the premises. “When enquired they did not disclose their identity, so the staff did not allow them to conduct checks,” he said, adding that no official was manhandled.
	CM fails to keep date with Guru Ravidass followers Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 20 Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today failed to keep a date with Guru Ravidass followers for taking part in a procession to mark the birth anniversary of the saint here today. While the Chief Minister was scheduled to visit Guru Ravidass Dham at Bootan Mandi at 10.30 am, everyone was kept waiting till a message was received that his visit had been cancelled. Local leaders then decided to themselves lead the procession. An Akali-BJP group, comprising Phillaur MP Charanjit Atwal, chief parliamentary secretary Avinash Chander, local bodies minister Manoranjan Kalia, MLAs Rajinder Bhandari, Bhagat Chunni Lal and mayor Rakesh Rathour, led the procession from Bootan Mandi. Another group, led by former Congress minister Chaudhary Jagjit Singh, former mayor Surinder Mahey and Santosh Chaudhary, started from Guru Ravidass Bhawan on Link Road after holding a flag ceremony there. Both groups merged with the Chaudhary group taking a lead by crossing from the wrong side. Devotees turned up in large numbers to take part in the procession, chanting hymns in jathas moving on trolleys. They passed through Ambedkar Chowk, Nakodar Chowk, Jyoti Chowk, Company Bagh, Milap Chowk, Phagwara Gate, Bhagat Singh Chowk, Adda Hoshiarpur, Valmiki Gate, Patel Chowk and back towards Guru Ravi Dass Dham. As the procession slowly passed from the important intersections across the city, the traffic got blocked for over an hour causing much inconvenience to the commuters. School uses and vans ferrying children back home too remained stuck up for a long time. Amritsar: A shobha yatra was taken out to mark the 631st birth anniversary of Guru Ravidass. The yatra started from Guru Ravidass temple at East Mohan Nagar and culminated at Guru Ravidass temple at Bhushanpura locality here today. The yatra passed through various markets of the city. Shavet Malik, mayor, Anil Joshi, MLA, Sohan Lal Amrohi, district president of the Guru Ravidass Sabha, and Ajit Singh Bhatia, councillor of the area, also participated in the yatra.
	White fury: Milkmen protest against Army, disrupt traffic Deepkamal Kaur/TNS Jalandhar, February 20 Over 100 milkmen from the Sansarpur village checkpost side, supplying milk to civil and defence families residing in the Jalandhar cantonment area, held a dharna on Wednesday, protesting against the alleged high-handedness of the Army officials in creating hassles for them by not issuing security passes. Milkmen from Sansarpur, Jandiali, Shamsher, Samrai, Chachowal and Kangniwal villages got agitated after they had a minor altercation with the Army personnel deployed at the checkpost while entering early this morning for regular milk supply. Since the milkmen were without valid passes, they were stopped by the military security personnel for checking purposes. At this, other milkmen too joined in, alleging that they had to undergo a rigorous process for getting the passes made. “They consume hell of our time and are not ready to get it done at one go,” the milkmen alleged. Some of them said they had to cross the barricade more than five times a day since they were residing in the cantonment, had dairies outside and had to come back to the cantonment again for the supply. They alleged that they were stopped every time, pestered and enquired about for a long time during each transit. The milkmen were joined in by Akali MLA Jagbir Brar, who then reportedly had even a heated exchange with an Army official at the checkpost. While some milkmen stayed back at the checkpost in protest, blocking the entry and exit of all Army and civil vehicles, another group went ahead with the MLA simultaneously blocking the traffic at Rama Mandi Chowk across the GT Road. Brar and the milkmen raised slogans against the sub-area commander Brig B.B. Patil, demanding his transfer. According to Army sources, the official is about to be relieved soon and are simply waiting for the new commander to join. The Army officials alleged that the MLA was simply trying to gain mileage owing to forthcoming cantonment board elections. An official at checkpost No 5 said milkmen often misbehaved with the jawans at the post who were otherwise simply doing their duty. Defence PRO Naresh Vig denied allegations regarding any hassles in getting the passes made. “All they need to do is get a document for authenticity and a picture. The pass can then be collected in a day or two,” he said.
	Mukerian man hacked to death Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service Hoshiarpur, February 20 A Mukerian-based chemist was hacked to death by some unidentified persons and his body was later allegedly dumped near a link road leading to Tanda Ram Sahai village, around 5 km from the township late last night. The victim, identified as Dilbagh Singh (35), was running a medical store opposite Mukerian paper mill on the Jalandhar-Jammu highway. According to the family, Dilbag received a phone call after reaching home on Tuesday and left for collecting some amount he had pooled in a scheme. He even called up his wife Balbir Kaur after getting the money (Rs 1.25 lakh). Balbir said subsequent attempts to contact her husband failed and the latter did not turn up till late at night. At his family got anxious and the police was informed. The cops later found the body dumped on the village link road. It bore severe head injury marks likely to have been inflicted by some sharp-edged weapons. Dilbag’s mobile phone, sans the SIM card, was also recovered from the spot. The police suspects that the man was done to death at a different location and later his body was dumped in the village vicinity. Sources revealed cops have rounded up certain suspects. Senior police officials, including Hoshiarpur SSP Sukh Chain Singh and Mukerian DSP Naresh Kumar Dogra visited the crime scene. Talking to the Tribune, the SSP said the blind murder would be solved shortly. A case under sections 302, 382 and 34 of the IPC has been registered at Mukerian police station on the complaint of Balbir Kaur.
	Principals demand professors’ scale Our Correspondent Nawanshahr, February 20 The Association of Principals of Non-Government Colleges (GNDU, Amritsar) has condemned the Punjab government’s decision not to allow recruitment against vacant posts under the grant-in-aid scheme and denial of professor's scale to the principals of these colleges. Association general secretary Jaspal Singh Randhawa, in a press release issued here on Tuesday, said more than 1,100 posts of the teaching and non-teaching staff were lying vacant in the privately managed government-aided colleges since October 2004 in the state. Though about four months ago, education minister Upinderjit Kaur and finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal had assured the association that the ban on recruitment would be lifted, allocation of amount of grant-in-aid enhanced and the professors’ scale granted to the principals of the aided colleges on par with their counterparts in government colleges, but nothing has been done to fulfil the promises. "Keeping in view the prevailing situation, the general body of the association will meet on February 28 to chalk out the future course of action," said Randhawa.
	‘Castiest’ comment: Youth Cong leader held Tribune News Service Jalandhar, February 20 Local Youth Congress leader Karnail Singh Bhatia has been arrested under the SC/ST Act for allegedly making remarks against a Dalit. Confirming this, SP (city I) S.K. Kalia said Madan Lal of the Kot Ram Dass locality submitted a written complaint in which he alleged that Bhatia had made remarks against his caste. Lal had some property dispute with Bhatia owing to which Bhatia commented against his caste when he had gone to his plot situated in JP Nagar. An FIR under relevant sections of the Prevention of Cruelty against SC/ST Act and section 506 of the IPC has been registered against him at police station number five.