Thursday, September 24, 1998
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P U N J A B | |
Thursday, September 24, 1998 |
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 A view of the breach in the Sirhind canal due to heavy rain on Tuesday night near Chamkaur Sahib in Ropar district — A Tribune photo by Karam Singh.
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 No
funds for Novel
scheme for Plan
to raise MPs' fund Recognition
to five homoeopathic colleges |
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Paddy
procurement hit Rs
1 crore sales tax evasion detected Tohra
blamed for priests' infighting Village
school cries for maths teacher Varsity
Registrar summoned Rs
1.20 crore for welfare schemes Youth
Akali Dal dissolved |
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Badal, Tohra discuss clergy
issue CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Bugged by the squabblings of the Sikh high clergy, the two top Akali leaders, Chief Minister and Akali Dal President Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC president Gurcharan Singh Tohra, today discussed the current situation for two hours. But strangely there was no consensus as how to deal with the priests who, they thought, had certainly lowered the prestige of the Sikhs. Mr Badal, as sources pointed out, took his usual position — leaving religious affairs to his senior colleague Mr Tohra. It was a neutral stance and Mr Badal told Mr Tohra that he should deal with the situation. He had no hand in the appointments of the high priests and would like to keep away. But then it was pointed that the daily run of statements by Akal Takht chief Bhai Ranjit Singh, the intemperate language that he often used and the charges he had levelled against two of his colleagues, Prof Manjit Singh, Jathedar of Kesgarh Sahib at Anandpur Sahib, and Giani Kewal Singh, Jathedar of Takht Damdama Sahib at Talwandi Sabo, had lowered the prestige of the Sikhs. Currently no meeting of the five Sikh high priests was possible as Bhai Ranjit Singh had banned the entry of two of the high priests who had earlier decided not to attend the meetings. This was the first time that serious allegations of embezzlement of funds and amassing property had been made in such a manner. And the two high priests do not even talk to the Akal Takht chief. Other issues, discussed at today’s meeting related to the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar district in the proposed hill state of Uttaranchal. According to Akali Dal sources, the two leaders agreed that when the Uttaranchal Bill was brought forward in Parliament, the two Dal nominees in the Central Ministry would withdraw and Akali members would vote against the bill. But otherwise the Akali Dal would continue to support the Vajpayee Government. "We do not want the fall of the government. But then we cannot continue there also", was the comment by the two leaders. About the imposition of
central rule in Bihar and the use of Article 356 as
proposed by the Union Cabinet yesterday, the two leaders
had broad agreement that the Akali Dal should continue to
oppose such moves. But Mr Tohra as usual was more
strident and wanted that the party to take a clear stand. |
No funds for medical education CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — It is hard to believe that there is no "financial crisis" in Punjab. However one hard look at the ground realities belies that belief. Take for instance the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences coming up at Faridkot. For the current year the Finance Minister had announced a sum of Rs 5 crore for the university, the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and the College of Nursing at Faridkot. Till to-date not a penny has been released for the university. Against 157 acres to be acquired for the university campus only 35 acres have been taken possession of and compensation paid; around Rs 53 lakh. For the remaining 122 acres, there is no money. The work on the university is almost coming to a halt. Take the Punjab Institute of Medical Science coming up at Jalandhar. The former Prime Minister, Mr I.K. Gujral, gave Rs 25 crore. The state finds itself in a somewhat difficult financial situation. Consequently, now there is a move to have a tie-up between Punjab and Karnataka's Manipal Academy of Higher Education for seeing the institute come up. The collaborative MoU being worked out is expected to ensure finances anything upward of Rs 50 crore; land has already been acquired. These two institutions are supposed to be somewhat different from the traditional ones. To avoid duplicity and repetition, the university at Faridkot is slated to have study centres on population science, human resource development regarding doctors and paramedics, information technology in mediscience, health management systems etc. While on the subject of medical education and research, it is pertinent to mention about the plight of the existing government medical and dental colleges-cum-hospitals in the state. These are showing signs of fatigue, frustration and neglect. Financially these colleges and hospitals are totally broke. Imagine a State Government sparing just Rs 2.14 crore for the "improvement" of these in 1998-99, while it makes tall claims to set up "superspeciality" centres dealing with specific health problems like heart. For the second time, the Punjab state medical and dental teachers went on strike last week in support of their demands in respect of pay scales, allowances and better service conditions; earlier they had gone on one-day "total" strike on August 30, 1996, which almost went unnoticed both by the media and the government. Since it is always the numbers game, the association was ignored with impunity because of its small cadre; 460-odd. No wonder the odds against it are many. This time when these teacher-doctors went on strike, the government rather than feeling concerned as to why an important segment of professionals have been forced to take such an extreme step, acted differently. Fed by the intelligence outfit it went about ordering "suspension" of some "leader" doctors and "transfer" of some others from Amritsar to Patiala and Faridkot. These teacher-doctors are only asking for pay scales and grades and allowances recommended by the University Grants Commission with certain modifications. Even in terms of teaching aids and facilities (equipment etc) the medical and dental colleges are inadequately equipped. Thanks to the lenient attitude of the Dental Council of India, which is not stingy on "norms" to be observed, in Punjab there is a shortage of 100 dental chairs in the colleges at Amritsar and Patiala, against the prescribed norms. The government has with it
a report of a committee of five doctors which was
constituted to find out "shortcomings" in
medical education. Submitted to the Minister on August
10, the same is still being processed. What ails the
medical institutions is known; so is the remedy. Only
money is the missing link. The committee has found fault
with the recruitment system of teachers and standards of
education. Its recommendations, if implemented, can
enable the colleges to do better. |
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Novel scheme for better
education BATHINDA: To arrest the falling standard of education in the government schools in this district due to lack of adequate staff, the district administration has launched a novel scheme. The district administration under the new scheme is filling all vacant posts in all government schools of the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr S.R. Ladhar, had constituted committees headed by the sub-divisional magistrates to select teachers against these vacancies. Mr Ladhar said teachers selected for primary schools would be paid Rs 800, for high schools Rs 1000 and for a senior secondary school Rs 1200 per month. He said efforts would be made to select teachers from the same village where the school was located in which the vacancy existed. Under this scheme, the first of its kind in the state, teachers selected in this way would be recruited for six months from September 1, 1998 to February 28, 1999. In case a new regular teacher is appointed by the state government against a vacant post where the temporary teacher had been appointed under this scheme, the services of the temporary teacher would be terminated. Mr Ladhar said 25 per cent of the salary of such teachers would be paid by the parents-teachers association, 25 per cent by the respective panchayat and the rest 50 per cent by the district administration through the district literacy mission. This district, which has a literacy rate of 43 per cent, has about 400 posts of principal, headmasters, teachers, lecturers and other categories lying vacant. Due to many vacancies in the government school, the standard of education in most of these schools has come down and parents and children are increasingly being drawn to private schools that are mushrooming in the lanes and bylanes of town and many villages of the district. Most private schools have turned into "teaching shops" as they have been set up merely to mint money and they also lack the infrastructure for imparting quality education. Mr Ladhar said it came to his notice that results of government schools had remained poor every year due to the numerous vacancies in these schools. After filling all vacancies in government schools, the head of any school would be held accountable for poor results. He said the performance of
each government school would be monitored regularly and
if any teacher or any other person was found negligent in
duty, action would be taken against him under the
departmental laws. The plan was to improve the standard
of education in government schools so as to check the
outflow of students to private schools and to make the
teachers more responsible. |
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Youth alleges sodomy by
policeman ROPAR, Sept 23 — A 20-year-old youth, a resident of Araipura village in Karnal district, was allegedly sodomised by a policeman about a week ago at the Railway police chowki at Kiratpur Sahib, 30 km from here. The victim was arrested on September 14 on the charge of having eight bottles of illicit liquor in his possession. He is now lodged in the Ropar sub-jail. In a representation to the jail authorities he has stated that on September 14, on his way to Naina Devi he alighted from a train at Anandpur Sahib railway station to partake langar at the gurdwara. But the police caught him there and brought him to the railway police chowki at Kiratpur Sahib. The victim has alleged he was beaten up during investigation and private parts of his body burnt with hot iron. Later, he was sodomised by a policeman. He has also alleged that the policeman snatched Rs 740 in his possession and threatened to shoot him if he told about the incident to the court. Sources say quick action was taken on the victim's representation and he was medically examined at the local Civil Hospital. It is reliably learnt that the report regarding injuries on his body support the allegations levelled by the victim. The sources also say that
following the medical examination the jail authorities
sent the case along with the medical report to the city
police station for further action, but the local police
returned the same on the ground that the case be sent to
the railway police authorities at Patiala. |
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Plan to raise MPs' fund to Rs 2
crore ROPAR, Sept 23 — The Central Government is considering a proposal to enhance the annual MPs' Local Area Development Fund amount from Rs 1 crore to Rs 2 crore to enable them to fulfil the development needs of their respective areas. This was announced by Mrs Satwinder Kaur Dhaliwal, MP from Ropar (Reserve) Lok Sabha constituency, while addressing a function organised to show 'the youth Parliament in action' at Sandhuan village, about 25 km from here, yesterday. The Lok Sabha constituencies covered vast areas which required huge funds to meet the needs of the voters. Therefore, most of the MPs favoured the proposal to enhance the fund amount. She hailed the organisers for holding 'mock Parliament' session, which would help in creating political awareness about the democrative system among the youth. The MP said she favour 33 per cent reservation for the women in Parliament. During the 'mock Parliament' session, the participants discussed the nuclear blasts at Pokhran, rising prices, adulteration, pollution, international relations and defence issues. Ms Kuljit Kaur was adjudged best questioner while Ms Geetika Sharma was declared the best replier. Mr Gopal Krishan was adjudged best debater. The best performance award was given to Mr Arun Parkash. Mrs Dhaliwal announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for Navodaya Vidyalaya. Presiding over the function, Mr K.S. Sidhu, Deputy Commissioner, who is also the Chairman of the vidyalaya, announced that a trophy in memory of late Rajinder Singh Dhaliwal, a former Punjab Minister, would be given to that Navodaya Vidyalaya in the state which performed well in various fields. He also announced a grant of Rs 25,000 for the Navodaya Vidyalaya here. Mr Parbodh Singh Salaria,
Deputy Director, Navodaya Vidyalaya; Mr Khushi Ram, ADC,
Ropar; and Mr P.S. Sangha, Principal of the school, also
spoke. |
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BBMB retired staff awaits
pension, dues NANGAL, Sept 23 — Choor Singh, a retired Class IV employee of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), comes daily to the pension office to enquire about his pension and dues. He stands before the officials concerned with his hands folded, only to be told that the BBMB has not yet received any information from the employees provident fund (EPF) of Punjab. Another employee, Labbu Ram died waiting for the dues he had saved all his life by doling out a part of his salary every month during his stint with the BBMB in the form of provident fund. This is the plight of 94 BBMB employees who were earlier covered under the Factories Act. Their posts were, however, made pensionable by the Government of India through a gazette notification on March 3, 1984. However, this concession of the government has proved to be a jinx for the unfortunate employees. Earlier, as they were classified as industrial workers, so, as per the Factories Act their provident fund, which was cut from their salary, and an equal amount given by the BBMB was deposited with the EPF, Punjab. When these posts of employees were made pensionable in 1989, the BBMB wrote to the EPF asking for the transfer on dues of these employees to back to it. The dues have still not been received by the BBMB. The BBMB, as a reprisal of not getting the money it had deposited with the EPF in the name of the employees, stopped the pension and other dues of the employees concerned. The plea for it is that he BBMB will will first retrieve the money it had given the EPF before clearing the dues the employees. With the BBMB not writing
to the Secretary, Labour, to get the dues back from the
EPF, it remains to be seen how long the beleaguered
employees will have suffer because of this bureaucratic
process. |
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Recognition to five homoeopathic
colleges LUDHIANA, Sept 23 — The Central Council of Homoeopathy has granted recognition to five homoeopathy colleges in Punjab and Chandigarh and allowed them to make admissions in degree courses. These are Sri Guru Nanak Dev Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, for two sessions (1998-99 and 1999-2000), Lord Mahavir Homoeopathic Medical College, Ludhiana, for one session (1998-99), Homoeopathic Medical College, Abohar, for two sessions (1998-99 and 1999-2000), Homoeopathic Medical College, Chandigarh, for one session (1998-99) and Homoeopathic Medical College, SAS Nagar, for one session (1998-99). Meanwhile, the Punjab State Homoeopathic Council has adopted a resolution demanding the appointment of a homoeopath as chairman of the council, in place of Dr Baljeet Singh, who was an allopath. Dr Paramjeet Singh Ranu, member, Central Council of Homoeopathy, who has been elected from Punjab, alleged in a statement issued here today that the appointment of an allopath as chairman of the council was a mockery of all homoeopaths. He alleged that although
the Central Council of Homoeopathy had granted
recognition to some of the colleges in the state. The
Chairman of the Punjab Homoeopathy Council had been
denying them permission for admissions to degree courses. |
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Paddy procurement hit CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — A huge quantity of harvested and standing paddy is perishing in Punjab due to continuing torrential rains which have slackened the procurement of the crop by less than half of what was targeted by the government till now. State Food and Civil Supplies Secretary R. Ram said so far only 8.84 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured against a target of 20 lakh tonnes. "Further, the unseasonal rains have severely hampered the procurement process,’’ he said. Food and Supplies Minister Madan Mohan Mittal had recently declared that the state was expecting to procure at least 120 lakh tonnes of paddy this season. Reports reaching here from Moga, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Bathinda said both standing and harvested paddy were decaying due to continuous rains in the districts for the past three days. In Moga, Deputy Commissioner Kulbir Singh, accompanied by officials of various procurement agencies, today visited various mandis to assess the loss and found most of them wearing a deserted look. The farmers were panicky that the entire paddy might become colourless and also feared reduction in yield. The Food and Supplies Secretary said till yesterday, 3.32 lakh tonnes of paddy was procured in Ferozepore, the district that has so far given the highest yield of the crop, followed by Amritsar (2.29 lakh tonnes). The procurement in Faridkot district was as low as 37,000 tonnes. Mr Ram said out of the total 8.84 lakh tonnes of the crop procured till now, the millers had purchased 7.12 lakh tonnes and the rest (1.72 lakh tonnes) was purchased by state procurement agencies and the Food Corporation of India (FCI). Punjab contributes 60 per cent of paddy to the central pool every year. Mr Ram said there was space problem in some mandis of the state as 10 lakh tonnes of the paddy procured last year was still stored in the state. He said the state government was convincing the Union Government to extend the date of levy-exempted paddy procurement up to September 30. This would encourage millers to purchase the crop at pace. The levy-exempted procurement was continuing in the state till September 15. The state government had also requested the Centre to exempt duties on the export of non-basmati rice and improve the milling rate, he said. Mr Ram said the Food and Supplies Department had urged the Agriculture Department to encourage farmers to sow paddy not earlier than the last week of June so that the procurement could be started a little late in the month of October. This would help both farmers and the procurement agencies with the possibility of rains remote in October, he said. The state government would encourage farmers to sow paddy a little late from next year onwards, he added. Kapurthala Food and Supplies Controller Bhupinder Pal Singh said 60,000- 70,000 paddy bags had been affected by the rains due to non-availability of tarpaulin. He advised the farmers to
dry the paddy before bringing it to the mandis as the
agencies would not accept paddy with more than 18 per
cent moisture. |
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3 dengue cases in Gurdaspur BATALA, Sept 23 (PTI) — At least three cases of dengue fever have been reported in Gurdaspur district today. The patients, including an MBBS doctor, got the infection from outside the state and all belonged to Gurdaspur town. Dr Ajaib Singh Sandhu,
Civil Surgeon, Gurdaspur, while confirming the dengue
cases said special attention had been given to infected
persons to avoid the spread of the disease. |
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Mohali
resident's complaint SAS NAGAR, Sept 23 — A resident of Phase VII here complained today that the area in front of his house had sunk, depriving him of entry to the building and damaging the foundation. Mr Upkar Singh (house no
182) said the sinking began on September 20 and the area,
with rain, had turned into a big depression. The danger
had been brought to the notice of the Public Health
department. However, officials of the sewerage and water
supply wings had merely blamed one another and done
precious little to redress his grievance. |
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Rs 1 crore sales tax evasion detected BATHINDA, Sept 23 — The local Excise and Sales Tax Department has detected the evasion of sales tax of more than Rs 1 crore. Mr Samarjit Singh, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, told TNS that during a special campaign against the tax evaders, a team of sales tax officials inspected a few business premises yesterday and detected the evasion. He said his department had
identified the tax evaders and was making efforts to
bring them in the tax net. He added that during a survey
in the recent past, about 133 business establishments had
been registered for sales tax. The department would earn
about Rs 35 lakh from these establishments, he added. |
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Four
killed as
bus rams into truck FEROZEPORE, Sept 23 — Four persons were killed and seven injured when a Punjab Roadways bus of the Nangal depot rammed into the rear of a truck on the Ferozepore-Fazilka road near Lalchian village, today. The local Civil Surgeon, Dr V.K. Bassi said three persons, the bus driver, the truck owner, who could not be identified and Ravinder Kaur, died on the spot. A passenger, Suman of Fazilka, succumbed to her injuries at the local Civil Hospital. Dr Bassi said the injured had been identified as Sajan Kumar, Rakesh Kumar and Vijay Kumar ( all residents of Fazilka), Suresh Kumar (a resident of Bhanam village in Ropar district), Jugal Kishore (Ladhuke village) and Bal Mukand. The seventh injured, Mohan Singh, had been transferred to an Amritsar hospital as his condition was serious. The accident occurred
around 0500 hours. The truck had halted on the road as a
fallen tree trunk was blocking its path, the sources
said. |
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Baba
Farid panel honours DC FARIDKOT, Sept 23 — In connection with the aagman purab celebrations of Sufi Saint Baba Sheikh Farid, the management committee of Tilla Baba Farid organised a communal harmony procession today to mark the concluding day function. In spite of inclement weather a large number of people attended the function. The procession which started from gurdwara Baba Farid terminated at Gurdwara Godri Sahib, 4 km away from the town. Speaking at the congregation, Dr L.S. Chawla, vice-chancellor, Baba Farid Medical and Health Sciences University, here appealed to the state government to celebrate the function at national level to promote the teachings of Sufi Saint. The committee honoured four dignitaries, including the local Deputy Commissioner and Dr Chawla. Meanwhile, frequent rain
for the past fours days has hit the normal life in the
town. Many areas, including Clock Tower, Bank Square,
Talwandi road, besides, colonies Bhan Singh and Sanjay
Nagar remained inaccessible. The rain also affected the
aagman purab celebrations which started a week ago. Major
functions and cultural activities had to be restricted to
the Tara Palace hall following a knee-deep water in the
Nehru stadium yesterday. |
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Bhardwaj
heads PPCC cell CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — Capt Amarinder Singh, president of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee, has appointed Mr R.R. Bhardwaj, a retired IAS officer of the Punjab cadre, as Chairman of the Economic and Planning Cell set up by the party. The cell is a unit of
technocrats and experts of economy and planning. The cell
will formulate its plan for "Punjab 2000-2025". |
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Village school cries for maths
teacher KHARAR, Sept 23 — The Sarpanch and 92 residents of nearby Gharuan village, in a letter sent to the Punjab Chief Minister yesterday, have alleged that though there are 350 students in Government Senior Secondary School at the village, there was no mathematics teacher. The villagers and the panchayat have already contacted senior officers, but no action has been taken in this connection. Because of this, 30 students out of a total 33 failed in mathematics in the matric examination this year. They have demanded that a
maths teacher should be sent soon and action taken
against the officer responsible for the lapse. |
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Drive
to collect sales tax PATIALA, Sept 23 — The Punjab Excise and Taxation Department has started a consumer awareness drive in order to collect taxes. Addressing a press conference here yesterday, Capt Amarjit Singh Kaleka, Additional Excise and Taxation Officer, said tax collection in Punjab had been less as compared to other states. He said lack of awareness among consumers and misinformation by traders had resulted decline in tax collection. The department has decided
to pay a cash reward to those providing information on
tax evasion by any trader or shopkeeper and the name of
the informer will be kept a secret, he added. |
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Tohra blamed for priests'
infighting LUDHIANA, Sept 23 — The Sikh Students Federation leaders, Mr Rajinder Singh Mehta and Mr Amarjit Singh Chawla, today held the SGPC chief, Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra, responsible for the growing infighting among Sikh head priests and demanded his resignation. Talking to newsmen here, the two SSF leaders said although the head priests had been at war with each for the past few months, Mr Tohra had done little to resolve the situation. On the contrary, he had been doing everything possible to complicate matters by allowing them to drift. They said Mr Tohra had already done a great damage to the Sikhs and it was high time he quit the scene. JALANDHAR: Mr Kuldeep Singh Wadala, president of the Akali Dal (Democratic) said here on Wednesday that controversy involving the Sikh clergy was degrading for the Panth. He held the Chief Minister, Mr Prakash Singh Badal and SGPC President Gurcharan Singh Tohra responsible for the situation. Addressing a press conference, here he alleged that since 1980 morcha, the Panthic affairs had been deterioting, and unprecedented personal attacks and allegations were surfacing in the media everyday. He said the Chief Minister
and Mr Gurcharan Singh Tohra should not take any sides. |
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Varsity Registrar summoned CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — A Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court comprising Chief Justice Arun B. Saharya and Mr Justice H.S. Bedi, directed the Registrar of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, to appear in person on September 28 and show cause why action should not be taken against the University for ignoring the notice of the court. The notice was earlier issued to the Vice-Chancellor and the Coordinator of the B.Ed. joint entrance test for September 21, 1998, on a writ petition filed by Mr Jiwan Kumar, a candidate for admission to B.Ed. course. The petitioner stated that he appeared for the admission test and sought admission under reserved category as his father was working in D.M. College of Education, Moga. He secured 58 p.c. marks. However, the coordinator and Dean of Student Welfare declared the petitioner as ineligible for admission under the reserved category on the ground that his father was not an employee of the education institute at the time of counselling, as he had retired. The petitioner, however, claimed that the action of the respondents was illegal as the eligibility of the candidate was to be adjudged at the time of last date of submitting the application and not at any subsequent date. As per the reports the
notices were allegedly served on the respondents on
September 15. However, no one appeared for the respondent
either on September, 21 and 22 in court. |
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"People
being misled on vaccine" HOSHIARPUR, Sept 23 — The Punjab Civil Medical Services (PCMS) Association, at its meeting held here today, sought action against those misleading people on Hepatitis-B and motivating them to get their wards in public/model schools immunised against this disease on exorbitant rates. It is worth mentioning here that at present two types of Hepatitis-B vaccines are available in the market plasma-derived and genetically engineered recombinant vaccines. Both types are safe and highly effective. The cost of genetically engineered 0.5 ml. vaccine varies from Rs 140-Rs 272. However, one of the pharmaceutical concern supplies 1 ml. of Hepatitis-B vaccine at the cost or Rs 190 and it can be given to two children below 10. Thus, a child can be vaccinated for Rs 100, whereas in many schools those under 10 are being vaccinated with the genetically engineered vaccine at a cost of Rs 150. The association urged the
government to include the Hepatitis-B vaccine in its
expanded immunisation programme. The Viral Prevention
Board and World Health Organisation have already
recommended universal immunisation for prevention of this
disease. |
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Punjab
pensioners
threaten stir GURDASPUR, Sept 23 — The Punjab Pensioners and Employees Welfare Union has filed a suit in the court of the Judicial Magistrate here seeking directions to the state government to pay its members arrears due since January 1, 1996. The union's district unit president, Mr S.S. Jaspal, said a deputation earlier met the District Treasury Officer and requested him to make payment of the arrears owing to enhanced pension. However, Mr Jaspal claimed, the officer refused to pay the arrears on the plea that he had verbal orders from higher authorities not to do so. The union had decided to
sit on indefinite dharna if the arrears were not paid
along with their pension for the current month by
September 28, he added. |
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Rs 1.20 crore for welfare
schemes ROPAR, Sept 23 — The state government has earmarked funds worth Rs 1.20 crore for various schemes of the Social Welfare Department during the current financial year. Stating this at a function at Behrampur Bet village, 15 km from here last evening, Ms Jagir Kaur, Minister for Social Security, Women and Children Welfare, Punjab, said more than five lakh persons would be benefited under these schemes. The minister said the government had allotted Rs 1.67 crore for the old-age pension scheme to Ropar district in the first quarter of this financial year. It would benefit 40,000 persons with 25,350 now pensioners enrolled this year. Ms Jagir Kaur said the Punjab Government was the only are in the country which had provided welfare facilities to its people like free bus travel facility to the elderly, old-age pension and the "shagun scheme". The minister gave sanction
letters for pension to 72 men and four widows. She also
announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh for the development of the
village. |
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Call
off stir, Mittal urges rice millers LUDHIANA, Sept 23 — Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Punjab Minister for Food and Civil Supplies, yesterday appealed to rice millers in the state to immediately call off their indefinite strike. Talking to TNS here, he said the state government had already taken up their demands with the Government of India. Some of these had been conceded and a few others were under sympathetic consideration. "The government is always willing to look into their grievances and examine their legitimate demands. The millers have, therefore, no reason to go on strike," he said. Mr Mittal said the Punjab Government had already recommended to the Centre that the rice shelled for export should be exempted from levy. Similarly, no market fee and sales tax would be charged on rice and paddy meant for exports. The state government had also urged the Government of India to increase the milling charges and there were indications that the Centre would order a substantial hike. The state government, he
said, also wanted the Centre to undertake a study with
regard to the yield of paddy. He was of the view that it
was not possible to have 67 kg of rice from a tonne of
paddy. It was subject to change because of climatic
conditions. |
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Petrol
dealers' strike on October 8 AMRITSAR, Sept 23 — Petrol dealers of the country will observe one-day token strike on October 8 to mount pressure on oil companies and the Central Government to release their commission being held back for the last two years. The president of the Punjab Petroleum Dealers Association, Mr J.P. Khanna addressing a press conference here today said that the dealers were not left with any choice but to resort to agitation as their long-pending demands were being overlooked by the government. Mr Khanna said the All-India Petrol Traders Federation at its recent meeting held in Mumbai had decided to close operation throughout the country for a day as according to their president, Mr David Mooken, oil companies had held back the payment of commission of 17400 dealers of approximately over Rs 1000 crore. All four oil companies — Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum, Hindustan Petroleum and the IBP — in an agreement signed on July 3, 1996, had decided to hike the payment of commission from Rs 7 per kiloliter to Rs 40 per kiloliter for petrol and diesel but the payment was not forthcoming. Mr Khanna said the dealers felt aggrieved over the recent formulations of guidelines which were "totally discriminatory." He said the petroleum dealers were not consulted while framing the rules for marketing. The federation would oppose these guidelines. The association president was critical of the oil companies for delivering oil products at different temperature and not following the rules for supplies. He said dealers were losing on account of evaporation due to difference in the temperatures. The association also
condemned the "unreasonable" attitude of state
government in not releasing the payment on time. |
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Lathi
charge on students JALANDHAR, Sept 23 — The police resorted to a lathi charge to disperse more than 400 students of Punjab Technical University who tried to block traffic at the Biddipur railway crossing here today. A number of students received minor injuries but no one was seriously hurt. The students were
agitating against the cumulative percentage aggregate
marks (CPAM) rule which, they said, had affected 80 per
cent students in the first and third semesters. |
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Youth Akali Dal dissolved LUDHIANA, Sept 23 — Mr Amrik Aliwal, MP, and President of the Youth Akali Dal, today announced the dissolution of the party in the state due to "infighting and anti-party activities" by certain elements. Addressing a press conference here, Mr Aliwal said all party state and district units and its office-bearers would cease to exist with immediate effect. A large number of "opportunistic elements" had joined the Youth Akali Dal after the Dal came to power in the state. They had come to the Youth Akali Dal not out of any conviction but in their search for loaves and fishes of office, he said. The affairs of the party
would now be conducted by a 21-member working committee.
Members of the committee include Mr Niracharan Singh
Brar, Mr Harmeet Singh Daduwal, Mr Gurinder Pal Singh
Dhanola, Mr Kiranvir Singh Kang, Mr Karnail Singh
Panjoli, Mr Saranjit Singh Dhillon, Mr Jugrajpal Singh
Sahi, Mr Balraj Singh Bhunder and Mr Ravi Kiran Singh
Kahlon. |
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77 NCC cadets
honoured CHANDIGARH, Sept 23 — The Punjab Governor, Lt Gen B.K.N. Chhibber (Retd), today underlined the need for inculcating soldierly qualities amongst the youth, equipping them to face the challenges of the 21st century. Addressing NCC cadets at a state-level function organised at Punjab Raj Bhavan to honour cadets who had participated in the Republic Day parade at New Delhi, the Governor said that during the past 50 years many weaknesses had crept into our system. "It is imperative for all of us to focus on character building of youth to usher in an era of resurgence in India". The Minister for Higher Education Mr Manjit Singh Calcutta, exhorted the youth to protect the martial traditions of Punjab. Mr Rakesh Singh, Secretary, Higher Education, spoke about the achievements of the National Cadet Corps while Mr Kashmir Singh Gill, DPI, Colleges, apprised the Governor about the difficulties faced by the NCC wing. Earlier, 50 cadets from Punjab and 27 from Chandigarh were honoured. Punjab had bagged five gold, four silver and two bronze medals this year. Mr Amandeep Singh Channa, College of Veterinary Science, Ludhiana, won three gold and one bronze medal. The cadets displayed their
skills of remote control navigation and aero-modelling on
the occasion. |
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