In brief

PSEB Schools’ Association threatens to protest shifting of exam centres
A general meeting of the members of the Association of Punjab School Education Board and Affiliated Schools,was held under the presidentship of Rajinder Sharma on Thursday. All members condemned the decision of board authorities regarding shifting of examination centres. Sharma said many students came from rural areas and if the centres were shifted,it would cause huge inconvenience to the students. He said if the students will have to go to another centres for semester examination,it will also be a burden on financial resources of the parents. He said if the Board did not reconsider its decision,they will be forced to constitute a committee to protest against the Board. Members of the PTA and parents have also assured the association of their full support. The members have also decided to meet the chief minister and the education minister to sort out the problem.

Sugar auction: Food dept earns Rs 3 crore
The third sugar auction on Thursday proved to be a yet another stressful task for authorities of Food and Civil Supplies. There were hardly 42 bidders who had to be persuaded to lift the stock. After two tea breaks of half an hour each and a one hour lunch break,only 11,500 quintals of 60,500 quintals could be auctioned. The entire stock was sold at Rs 2,705 per quintals against the reserve price of Rs 2,700 per quintals. This earned the department Rs 3.11 crore and a profit of Rs 10,000 only. However,Rs 2,705 per quintal was the last price given and that too after a lot of convincing by the officials.
This can be a fallout of the low market price of wholesale sugar,which has come down to Rs 2,900 per quintal. The rest of the stock,50,000 quintals,is yet to be auctioned. The department wants to sell it off it to be sold out before the onset of monsoons as the sugar is already having moisture in the bags which can hence increase further and the stock will be useless otherwise. DC Rahul Tiwari said,“Market price will be re-studied and accordingly auction date will be announced for the coming week.”