M A I L B A G

Making orange revolution successful

In Punjab, plans are afoot for a large-scale citrus plantation, using planting material developed from imported germ plasm, for an “Orange Revolution”. The implementing agencies should keep in mind the causes of “citrus decline” earlier. Citrus in general and its varieties respond differently under varying conditions of soil, ground water behaviour and environment.

Development of different citrus-specific and even variety, specie-specific regions in the state is, therefore, paramount. This will boost output and profitability through region-specific management of crop, soil health, water, pesticides, energy, different cultural practices and other harvest and post-harvest handling, processing and marketing operations.

Suitability of the sites for citrus plantation must be ascertained within each region, village and farm. The sites become unsuitable when the root-zone (profile) soil is coarse, saline, alkali or poorly permeable. Saline irrigation water is unsuitable. The farmers should not go in for citrus plantation in unsuitable sites.

Dr M.S. BAJWA,

Former Professor (PAU), Ludhiana

Follow-up action

The Centre has now constituted two committees on the 1984 riots. However, much more needs to be done to assuage the feelings of the Sikhs. The Centre should give full compensation to the victims or their kin for the properties burnt or looted, provide employment to at least one member from each family by exonerating the age limit, wherever needed, and giving accommodation to the victims. These steps need to be taken within a timeframe.

Meanwhile, the police should accept fresh FIRs. The guilty must be booked at any cost. Those police officers, serving or retired, who failed to perform their duties should be booked for abetting the killers.

Maj NARINDER SINGH JALLO (retd), Mohali

PM Left at heart?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is not a Communist, but at heart he must be one, because he is a Sikh. Sikhism teaches humility, equality, distributive justice (sharing of day’s hard-earned money with others, particularly with the poor), working for everyone’s welfare without caste-creed distinction, helping and protecting the needy and the oppressed even at the cost of self-sacrifice, being truthful, fearless and patriotic to the hilt.

There is a lot of similarity between the Communist ideology and the Sikh philosophy of life. Our brothers in the Left parties should extend their whole-hearted support to Dr Manmohan Singh as he is trying to do good for the country. He will never betray the poor. The economist and the social scientist in him are on the right course.

Air Vice-Marshal KULDEEP SINGH (retd), Mohali

Shahpurkandi dam

Amazingly, the Punjab government is not serious about the construction of the Shahpurkandi dam. Work should have been started after its foundation stone was laid by the then Prime Minister P.V. Narasimha Rao in May 1995. The water which has gone waste to Pakistan recently during the running of all the four power houses of the Ranjit Sagar Dam to full capacity, could have been utilised properly through the balancing reservoir of SPK Dam.

Because of long delay in the project execution, the dam’s cost (168 MW installed capacity) is escalating day by day. The authorities should execute this project soon in public interest either by an Indian private construction company or by the Punjab Irrigation Department.

RABINDRA PANDEY, Beas Dam