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NRIs may invest Rs 1,000 crore in Punjab
Chandigarh, January 15 “We have about 100 NRIs who are serious about investing in the state,” Mr N.S. Kalsi, Commissioner, NRI Affairs, Punjab, said towards the end of the Parvasi Punjabi Divas - 2006. Of the 365 delegates who attended the conclave, 253 were NRIs hailing from 13 countries. “The others are on the fence, either exploring possibilities or interested in the development of their native villages or communities,” he added. The two-day conclave was organised to explore business opportunities in the service industry, infrastructure development and to invite NRIs to invest in their home state. Mr Kalsi said to protect the interests of NRIs, four special NRI revenue courts had been established in the state. These would be located at Jalandhar, Moga, Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr. “The orders have been issued by the government though the postings are pending,” he said. “The courts are expected to be operational in about two weeks’ time,” he added. Stating that investments for infrastructure development in Punjab were evoking a lot of interest, the Commissioner said there had been suggestions from the participating delegates to prepare a list of priority projects and take them up with interested partners separately. The secretary-general of the International Punjabi Chamber for Service Industry, Major (Dr) Gulshan Sharma (retd), said the film industry in Mumbai was keen to venture in Punjab, with eminent Bollywood personalities coming on a common platform for the purpose. “The time has come for Punjabi music and entertainment to be an integral part of the entertainment industry,” he said. “What is now required,” he added, “is investment from NRIs to build infrastructure in the state for the purpose”. While computer animation is playing an increasingly important role in films, it was also revealed that the first completely animated Punjabi film is being produced in Mohali. The film and entertainment industry also generates employment for a large number of professionals and semi-skilled workers, which is one of the basic issues affecting the state, Dr Sharma said. In fact, at the Punjabi film festival scheduled to be held in September, a separate session was being organised for NRIs to discuss and negotiate investments and collaborations in the field, he added. An eminent NRI from Thailand suggested that Punjab could be a venue for shooting films produced in South-East Asia. A core group from Punjab could visit the region and explore the possibility. It was also stressed that the Punjab Government had to think and act realistically, keeping in line with emerging socio-economic trends. According to experts, a large chunk of investments flowing into India can come to Punjab, but is losing out to other states. The state government, instead of sitting here and awaiting investment, needs to be more active and reach out to prospective investors.
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Punjabi NRIs invest in promoting health, education
Chandigarh, January 15 Stating that the government has decided to give matching grant to the NRIs who decide to invest in various development projects in the state, Mr N.S. Kalsi, Commissioner, NRI Affairs, pointed out that the 43 projects that had been cleared were being funded jointly by the NRIs and the government. The NRI share of money was Rs 3.75 crore while the rest of the money was being given by the government. The largest of these was a Rs 4 crore project in Patiala where an NRI would be spending Rs 2 crore for the construction of an eye and general charitable hospital at Nabha. The largest number of projects had been cleared for district Nawanshahr. Out of the 36 projects worth Rs 3 crore, NRIs have taken up the construction of school buildings in Bhaura, Garh Padhana, Mahetpur, Simbal Majra and Karyam villages. Some NRIs have offered to construct stadiums in Rakkar Dhahan, Jhingan, Bharta Khurd and Daulatpur villages. Providing their native villages with public toilets, street lighting, sewerage pipes and septic tank facilities is next on the priority of the NRIs. Bhagran, Mehilpur Langeri and Jandiala villages in Hoshiarpur district and Nakodar Kuklar and Rurka Kalan villages in Jalandhar have been chosen for these projects. In Patiala, the NRIs have offered to construct a panchayat ghar in Kuka and a sports club in Rauni village. Interestingly, some NRIs have introduced modern techniques in their projects. An NRI has offered to clean the village pond using duckweed technology in Rakkar Dhahan while others would be providing solar-powered street lighting to Ghakkewal and Kangana Bet villages, all in Nawanshahr district. Mr Kalsi said the system of investment by the NRIs for development in the villages had been streamlined. Any project under the matching grant scheme can be proposed to the district NRI Committee for Development (DINRICD) headed by the Deputy Commissioner (DC). “For every project recommended by the committee, the DC has to, however, satisfy himself regarding the public utility of the project. The village panchayat also has to pass a resolution regarding the utility or need of the project and give an undertaking that they would be able to maintain and run the project,” said Mr Kalsi.
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Legal protection for NRI investors mooted
Chandigarh, January 15 “We are inviting a lot of foreign-based people to invest here, but we seem to be ignoring the important aspect of catering for the legal redressal to the many problems faced by them,” Mr Anil Malhotra, a practising lawyer in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, said. “The solution to the problem lies in the proper implementation of the existing laws, framing of proper regulations, creation of family and fast-track courts and amendment of the existing legislation,” he added. Mr Malhotra said the registration of marriages must be made compulsory. This would ensure compliance of conditions of a valid marriage, provide proof of marriage and act as a deterrent for bigamous practices. Further, it should be made obligatory for an NRI spouse to give intimation of his registration of marriage to the embassy concerned or High Commission. In the area of inter-parental child abduction or removal of children to India from foreign jurisdictions against court orders, Mr Malhotra suggested that India must become a signatory to the Hague Convention on Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. He also said inter-country child adoption procedures must be simplified and a single uniform legislation must be provided for in matter of adoption of Indian children by NRIs. Earlier, several presentations were made by experts on agriculture, rural and community development. Stating that the development of agriculture was inextricably linked with the overall development of the society, Dr S.S. Johal, Deputy Chairman, Punjab Planning Board, said traditional methods of agriculture were unable to sustain the population and that the water level was going down alarmingly. In the session on aviation, tourism and hospitality, the Secretary-General of the World Travel Tourism Council, Mr Ashok Pahwa, said despite India having a variety of attractions, India’s share in world tourism arrivals was just 0.37 per cent. He said both public and private sectors should cooperate in developing tourism-related projects. Mr Pahwa said India needed 75, 000 more rooms to meet the growing demand for accommodation, adding that tourism had the capacity to generate a large number of hubs for investment. Earlier, in his presidential address, the Governor of Mizoram, Mr A.R. Kohli, said after information technology, biotechnology would be the fastest growing segment of the service industry in the country. He said in the next 10 years, India would be a leader in developing media, entertainment and event management, thereby creating a large number of jobs. Stressing that we should move from seeking charity towards creativity, the Governor said developing rural areas would give a fillip to the development of local arts and crafts, including jobs for women, besides checking migration of the youth to urban areas.
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CM harks back to defence varsity move
Patiala, January 15 Taking a dig at the Sports Ministry, while talking to newspersons after the ceremony, he said the National Institute of Sports at the Old Moti Bagh Palace was not functioning to capacity. The government was ready to provide another site to the NIS he added. He insisted that instead of using hundreds of acres for a few sporting activities, it could be put to better use by setting up a defence university. Mr Amarinder Singh’s statement on the proposal earlier had met with strong resistance from several quarters. Most sportspersons had expressed resentment and opposition to the idea of shifting the NIS from Patiala. Haryana too had jumped into the fray and had made it known that they too were desirous of setting the university and would give their neighbours a tough competition in the race. The Chief Minister paid homage to soldiers the Patiala State Forces and Black Elephant Division. The Black Elephant Division, the pride of the Indian Army, proved its mettle during ‘Operation Polo’ in Hyderabad in 1948, Indo-Pakistan War in 1965 and even during flood relief operation in Patiala district in 1993 and 2004. The division had the honour of capturing phillora during the 1965 war, after overwhelming the enemy in a fierce tank battle. The old war memorial was in the memory of the soldiers of the Patiala State Forces, which included 15 Punjab and 16 Punjab for their supreme sacrifice during the Afghan wars, World War-I and World War-II. The Army completed the new cenotaph in 35 days under the guidance of Major-Gen Chetinder Singh. Lt-Gen KDS Shekhawat, VSM and Major-Gen Chetinder Singh paid tributes to gallant soldiers by laying wreaths on the occasion. The ceremony was attended by many senior officials of civil administration and serving and retired Army officers.
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HC advice ignored: kabootarbazi on
Chandigarh, January 15 These travel agents, the Bench remarked during the preliminary hearing on a suo motu petition on the basis of a news report published in The Tribune which highlighted the harassment and travails of about 40 Punjabi youths struck in Kuwait after being ditched by the travel agents, have been getting away with their crimes with impunity. However, none of this would have probably happened, had the governments of Punjab, Haryana and the UT Administration simply read the suggestions made by Mr Justice Amar Dutt of the High Court while dealing with a bunch matter concerning travel agents accused of taking gullible families for a ride. Disposing of the writs, Mr Justice Dutt, in his judgement dated April 28, 2003, asked the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Haryana and UT Administrator to “give a serious thought to looking after the interest of poor prospective NRIs rather than confining their concerns to those well-settled migrants who have already made a fortune abroad”. This, the Judge observed, would help avoid a repeated of the infamous Malta Boat Tragedy. Over 300 persons, including 141 from Punjab, had drowned in the sea on December 25, 1996 when the boat they were traveling on capsized near Sicily (Italy). The Indians who died were mostly those who were being taken, illegally, to Italy by unscrupulous travel agents for better-paying jobs. In his suggestions, Mr Justice Dutt asked the governments to create awareness among the masses “about the pitfalls that await them while trying to migrate from the country through dubious means offered by unauthorised agents”. He also suggested that steps must be taken to educate the masses about the job prospects abroad. This must be done in consultation with the Union ministries of External Affairs and Labour. Another important suggestion was to make available to the demands sent by various countries for skilled and unskilled labour and to regulate the recruitment by foreign companies and governments so as to prevent the middlemen from making unwarranted profits. However, while it has taken the Haryana government almost two years to announce the constitution of the Haryana Overseas Placement Assistance Society for helping aspirants from the state in overseas placements, Punjab has gotten away with simple lip service. In their various press meets and public interfaces, senior Punjab functionaries, including Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh have asked the people looking to get jobs abroad or migrate to other countries to be cautious and vigilant. Apart from that, little has been done to prevent the gullible public from being taken for a ride. In the meantime, cases of innocent youths being smuggled abroad, mostly through circuitous routes, and being dumped there without travel documents and any source of income are still rising in Punjab.
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Five drug units leave Punjab, head for HP
Chandigarh, January 15 “All our efforts to convince both the Punjab Government and the Union Government to save the small-scale drug industry have been in vain,” says Mr Jagdeep Singh, president, Punjab Drug Manufacturers Association. “I have been sending letters, representations and fax messages to all concerned in an endeavour to stall this flight of industry from Punjab to hill states. It all started in January last year when the Government of India came out with a notification to levy Central excise on maximum retail price (MRP) of the drug,” says Mr Singh, maintaining that this notification, instead of increasing revenue has intriguingly cut down the collection. The MRP-based excise on drugs was levied on January 7 last year so as to get rid of evaluation disputes. “This step caused massive migration to tax exempt areas of Himachal, Uttaranchal and J and K. Apart from the various large units that had already set up their shops in the hill states to benefit from tax holiday announced in 2002, certain small-scale industrial (SSI) units engaged in pharmaceuticals also migrated to the hill states to become medium or large units overnight as they started manufacturing for pharmaceutical giants under contract manufacturing,” says Mr Singh. “It means there will not be much left to evaluate for the Union Government, what to talk of evaluation disputes. It is hard to believe that this was not visualised when MRP-based excise was notified,” rues Mr Singh. He reveals that certain units, including Torque
Pharmaceuticals and Uniroyal Pharmaceuticals (Dera Bassi), Brooks Pharma and Mefro Pharma, (Mohali) and
B.M. Pharma (Chandigarh), are moving to Himachal. “These five units alone shall be clearing goods to the tune of at least Rs 200 crore at ex-factory value, which shall be about Rs 500 crore calculated under 40 per cent abatement. The Centre shall lose a revenue of Rs 70 crore from these five units alone. This is only a sample as there are many more that have decided to move to exempt areas and are in production now. There will be a loss of a minimum of Rs 1000 crore in revenue in 2006-07 at this rate, besides encouraging the flight of industry from states like Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh,” asserts Mr Singh. He regrets that no respite has been provided to the existing SSI units despite the Prime Minister appointed Task Force (under Dr Pronab Sen) recommendations duly approved by the ministry and sent for implementation to the Revenue Department in October 2005. The Task Force has also clearly highlighted the problem of level playing field not available to SSIs which are suffering a disparity despite being a huge employer. Besides, the Task Force apprehended that quality of medicines will suffer and cause revenue loss. There are speculations that amendments will be effected in the Budget, feels Mr Jagdeep Singh. But by that time small-scale drug industry will have vanished from Punjab and Haryana.
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Akal Takht summons Chief Khalsa Diwan secretary
Amritsar, January 15 In a letter written to Mr Ankhi, Jathedar Vedanti has alleged that he (Mr Ankhi) had violated the edict by issuing advertisement to a daily Punjabi, published from Chandigarh, whose editor had been excommunicated from the Sikh Panth . However, Mr Ankhi said that being a humble Sikh, he would appear before the Sikh clergy to clarify his position. He, however, clarified that the CKD had not issued any advertisement to the daily newspaper. He claimed that the newspaper had published the advertisement on its own without seeking permission and hence no payment was made to the paper. Mr Ankhi said he would write a letter to Jathedar Vedanti tomorrow to clarify his position. However, sources in the Akal Takht secretariat said that the crucial meeting of the Sikh clergy, proposed to be held on January 17, would also discuss the links of Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and Capt Kanwaljit Singh, both former Akali ministers, with the daily Spokesman . Meanwhile, a five-member committee of the American Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (AGPC) would meet the Sikh high priests tomorrow to submit a representation for taking strict action as per the Sikh traditions against Baba Daljit Singh Chicago, chief of Gurdwara Gurjot Parkash, Chicago, who has been facing charges of moral turpitude. The AGPC would seek the excommunication of Baba Chicago on this issue. Mr Kulwant Singh Hundal, an executive member of the AGPC, while talking to The Tribune here today said that other members of the delegation include Mr Prabhjot Singh Bansi, Mr Gurmukh Singh, Mr Darshan Singh Braj. Mr Satnam Singh would urge Jathedar Vedanti not to visit foreign countries on the tickets provided by “non-accredited Sants” like Baba Chicago . They would also urge Jathedar Vedanti not to interfere in the affairs of Gurdwaras of foreign countries by taking up “small issues”. The Sikh clergy should intervene in Panthic matters only, he said.
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SGPC, DSGMC in ‘dharm parchar’ race
Amritsar, January 15 After learning that the Dharm Parchar Committee (DPC) had reached Takht Damdama Sahib to launch ‘dharm parchar’ last week, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar rushed to the Takht to launch an ‘amrit parchar’ movement to meet the target of administering ‘amrit’ to 1.25 lakh persons in the state within a year. The SGPC seemed to be on the defensive even as the DSGMC announced its decision to reach Amritsar to launch the second phase of the ‘dharm parchar’ in the last week of January. The DSGMC had decided to give free education in its schools to wards of Army deserters who had left their barracks in protest against Operation Bluestar in
June 1984. The DSGMC had also decided to give free education in its engineering and information technology colleges to five wards of Army deserters. DSGMC chief Harwinder Singh Sarna and his predecessor Paramjit Singh Sarna said the DSGMC had covered 30 villages in Bathinda under the ‘kesh sambal’ campaign and would cover more than 50 per cent villages of Punjab by the end of this year. The DSGMC chief alleged that Damdama Sahib Jathedar Balwant Singh Nandgarh had created hurdles for the DPC team during the ‘dharm parchar’ drive. When contacted, the Jathedar said the team had been accommodated properly at the ‘serai’ of Damdama Sahib and served ‘langar’ everyday.
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Ganga Singh Dhillon wants to settle in India
Amritsar, January 15 Mr Bajaj alleged that Mr Badal a ‘Dhillon’ himself, wanted to help Ganga Singh Dhillon to settle in India. Mr Mann alleged that Mrs Surinder Kaur Badal, wife of SAD chief had a ‘secret meeting’ with Mr Dhillon during her visit to Pakistan. Mr Mann further alleged that Mr Dhillon also wanted to use good offices of Chief Minister, Amarinder Singh in this connection. He alleged that Mr Amarinder Singh was nominated a member of the International Gurdwara Advisory Committee, constituted by the Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee at the behest of Mr Dhillon.
— TNS
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Kanshi's kin to continue battle against Maya
Ropar, January 15 They complained that Kanshi Ram's appearance in Mayawati's birthday function was enough proof that he could have attended the funeral on December 24 but Maywati did not make arrangement to brought him here due to political reasons. The kin of Kanshi Ram remained glued to television throughout the day to see him. They had not been allowed to meet him for long so they just stuck to the television to see Kanshi Ram, the kin said. “My mother's last wish was to meet Kanshi Ram. Despite our best efforts, we were not allowed to meet him for so long, said Dalwara Singh a brother of Kanshi Ram, in a village Khawaspura.
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Planners for development authority for Amritsar
Amritsar, January 15 The JNNUR Mission aims to reshaping major cities as envisaged by the Prime Minister, should also be extended to rural areas. Rakesh Pandey, Minister for Science and Technology and Industrial Training, Punjab stated the while presiding over the session here today at Guru Nanak Dev University. The Congress was organized by Institute of Town Planners India (ITPI), New Delhi hosted by the Guru Ramdas School of Planning of University in collaboration with Ministry of Urban Development sponsored by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Development, Government of Punjab, Housing and Urban Development Corporation, New Delhi, Delhi Development Authority, Town Planning Department, Government of Punjab; Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority; Amritsar Municipal Corporation and Amritsar Improvement Trust. Mr Pandey said that mission would play a catalytic role in Urban Development besides paving the way for urban bodies to get investment in developing infrastructure, which would improve their financial condition. Mission laid special emphasis on provision of basic services to urban poor that would help economic development in country. While implementing the various developmental schemes, Mr. Pandey said that conservation and character of city should be kept in tact and utilize available natural resources. This would check exodus to cities from villages, by providing modern facilities like IT, Transport, Telecommunication, Sewerage. Mr. Pandey giving an instance said Ludhiana was an industrial hub was facing problems due to increasing population and migrant labour. Before making plans for development the population should take into account, he said. Mr KS Kang
Commissioner (municipal corporation, Amritsar) MCA said that recommending 20 per cent contribution for different projects by local bodies lamented that from where this contribution would come when they are already financially starved. He pointed out that the Mission did not address anything on migratory labour and informal sector. Mr Dharam Singh, Chief Town Planner, Punjab honoured Mr Pandey. The two workshops held, were chaired by Prof E.F.N. Ribeiro and Dr A.N. Sachithanandan both former Presidents, ITPI. Dr. Subramanium, Dr. S.P. Bansal, Dr. S.R. Shukla, Dr Ashok Kumar, Mr Chetan Vaidya, Prof. N.N. Sastri, Mr. V.K. Bugga, Ms Uma Adusumilli, Mr B.K. Jain also gave their presentations.
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New Durgiana Temple panel takes charge
Amritsar, January 15 Talking to The Tribune, Mr Surinder Arjun, president, DTC, said the persons who did not attend the regular meetings and failed to deposit their dues (membership fee) now ceased to be members of the executive body of the temple. Earlier, Mr Arjun himself had resigned as secretary, Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (Intellectual Cell) in protest against the non-cooperation of his party in installation of ‘eternal jyoti’, brought from the Jawalamukhi temple. The step against the dozen executive members seems to have been taken on similar lines . However, Mr Kalia told TNS that the BJP did not recognise Mr Arjun as president of the DTC as he had taken over the management with support of the police, a few months after installation of the Congress Government in the state. He said being senior vice-president of the DTC, he was legally the President after the death of Mr Gopi Chand Bhatia, who had passed away recently. He warned all those who had been extending support to the present DTC of legal action. Mr Arjun said among those who ceased to be members of the DMC were Mr Darshan Seth, Mr Ram Lubhaya Kapur, Mr Jagan Nath Arora, Mr Banarsi Dass of Sewa Bharti, Mr Vijay Kumar Khanna, Mr Brij Lal Bhatia, Mr Raj Kumar Kapur, Mr Anil Kumar, Mr Dharmvir and Mr Harnam Dass. Mr Arjun claimed that as per the constitution of the
DTC, all these persons ceased to be members of the temple committee. He said with approval of the general body attended by at least 40 members, religious activities would be carried out without any ‘political hurdles’. He said new office-bearers, including two vice-presidents, had been inducted while some of the executive members of the previous DTC had been retained. They are Mr Padam Menon, advocate, and Mr Devki Nandan Sachdeva (both vice-presidents) while Mr Pyare Lal Seth has been retained as third vice-president. Mr R.D. Kapur (secretary), Mr Bal Krishan Anand and Mr MC. Duggal (both joint secretaries), Mr Parshotam Lal (assistant secretary), Mr Kewal Krishan Montgomery (treasurer), Mr Mohan Lal Mehra (RSS) special secretary, and Mr Rajinder Bhalla (retained as general secretary), have been nominated in the new committee.
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Writers concerned over vulgarity in songs
Fatehgarh Sahib, January 15 Mr Inderjit Hasanpuri, president of the Kendri Likhari Sabha, presided over the seminar while Mr Amarjeet Singh Cheema, president, All-India Gandhi Vichar Manch, was the chief guest. Speakers expressed concern over growing vulgarity in the videos of Punjabi songs. They said to gain cheap popularity and make easy money, upcoming singers presented young girls in scanty clothes in their video albums. They said these singers were not only diluting the Punjabi culture but were also exploiting the young girls with the promise of making them actresses. A number of Punjabi songs being broadcast on various TV channels were so vulgar that one could not watch them while sitting with members of one’s family. The speakers urged the upcoming writers and poets not to write vulgar songs having double meaning. Mr A.S. Cheema appreciated the efforts of the sabha in raising a voice against the menace. He donated Rs 5,100 to the sabha. Dr Harchand Singh Sirhindi, Dr Surjeet Singh Brar, Santosh Verma, Sohan Singh Peerjain and Inderjit Hasanpuri also addressed the seminar.
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Five killed in road mishaps
Sangrur, January 15 According to the Sunam police two scooter-borne persons, Satnam Singh of Shafipur village and Ranjit Singh, alias Bagga of Khagh village (Patran), were killed when a Tata tempo hit their scooter near Sheron village. In another mishap, two minor girls, Soni (8) and Manpreet (6), died when the scooter, they were riding, fell into a ‘Rajwaha’ (drain) near a bridge on Loha Kherra road. The scooter was driven by their father when the mishap occurred. However, the father was saved by the villagers. The Longowal police said the affected party had declined to get a case registered in this regard. As per Bhawanigarh police, in a road mishap Jagga Singh of Phaguwala village was killed and one injured. Jagga Singh was talking to some one when a car hit him and the other person. Later Jagga Singh succumbed to his injuries.
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Kharar resident killed in accident
Kharar, January 15 Lakhvinder Singh, a 23-year-old resident of Kharar was killed and his friend Devinder Singh injured when the two were hit by a truck near Balongi here last night. Eyewitnesses told the police that they two were crossing the truck when it suddenly turned right and hit. Lakhvinder and Devinder were seriously injured. They were rushed to Kharar civil hospital from where they were shifted to the PGI. Lakhvinder died at PGI last night while Devinder is still admitted there. Lakhvinder had been married less than a month ago. In another accident that took place near the Kharar bus stand, two occupants of a Maruti car were hit by a truck from the opposite direction. Manjit Singh and Birinder Singh were injured and taken to the Kharar Civil Hospital.
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Chemists allege police highhandedness
Sangrur, January 15 The members were speaking during a drug awareness programme organised by the Sunam Chemists and Druggists Association at Sunam, 13 km from here, last night. The members assured that the chemists would not sell drugs without the prescription of the doctor to check the misuse of medicines. Mr Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Sangrur MP, was the guest of honour while Mr Surjeet Mehta, president of the Punjab Chemists Association (PCA), presided over the programme. Addressing the gathering Mr Mehta said chemists were feeling humiliated in the regime of the Amarinder government as the police was continuously harassing them. Mr Dhindsa assured the chemists that he would raise the issue in the Lok Sabha.
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SGPC forms Kendri Shatabdi Committee
Amritsar, January 15 The first meeting of the committee has been called here on January 25. According to an SGPC press note here today, the following will be the members of the committee: jathedars of all five Takhts, head-granthi of Sri Darbar Sahib, president of the Shiromani Akali Dal Parkash Singh Badal, all former SGPC presidents, including Jathedar Jagdev Singh Talwandi, Bibi Jagir Kaur, Prof Kirpal Singh Badunger and Mr Kabul Singh, and Chairman of the National Minority Commission Tarlochan Singh.
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Maghi festival celebrated
Nabha, January 15 The function started with Shabad-Tu Mera Rakha by Sukhwant Lovely. Songs related to Lohri were presented Thereafter Gagandeep Khanna presented songs from her album. Perminder prince sang-Ek Tara Wajda Ve…. and Pakistan’s folk song-Bol Mitti Dea Bawea…. Singers Gurpreet Goldy and Major Birdhwali also sang Punjabi folk Boliyan. Congress leader Paramjit Singh Khatra presented a cheques of Rs 21000/- to members of the press club. Punjabi song writer Swarn Sibia was also present.
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Pulse Polio drive
Fatehgarh Sahib, January 15 They inspected various camps set up for
Pulse Polio in the district. Traffic police also joined hands. They stopped vehicles on GT Road, Sirhind, to administer polio drops to children travelling in buses and cars. While talking to The Tribune, Dr Harcharn Singh, said that to make this campaign a success, the health department had set up 276 polio sewa camps to administer polio drops to 70,000 children below five year of age. Besides, five mobile teams administered polio drops in remote rural and slum areas. He said that 107 villages were identified where special teams were sent to ensure that no child remains without polio drops. In the next two days, teams would go from door to door to ensure that the
remaining children may be given the drops.
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Army mela ends
Amritsar, January 15 The tanks drew attention of men women and children getting a chance to get inside the machinery. Various stalls put up for games, eating and the dance troupe provided entertainment and a chance to the Army personnel and the civilians to mingle. Brig Ajay Mehta highlighted contribution of the people of the Amritsar city in the defence of the nation and thanked all of them over the overwhelming response for making the Army mela a success.
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Talwandi hospitalised
Ludhiana, January 15
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Punjab Agro to promote kabli chana
Chandigarh, January 15 To mark a beginning towards promoting its largescale cultivation, 540 acres in nine districts of Punjab are being brought under kabli chana cultivation. These include 80 acres each in Sangrur, Ferozepore, Mansa and Bathinda districts, 60 acres each in Muktsar, Moga and Faridkot districts and 20 acres each in Ropar and Ludhiana districts. Kabli chana requires no irrigation or nitrogenous fertilisers and is yet another step away from the wheat-paddy cycle and will help in saving water resources and improving soil health. According to Mr. S.S. Kathunangal, Chairman, Punjab Agri Exports Corporation Ltd., (Pagrexco), “We are promoting the cultivation of the Mexican chickpea, which is the large-seeded variety and requires 100 to 110 days to reach maturity. The sowing period of kabli chana is October to November while the harvesting period is March and April.” “By encouraging farmers to grow the protein-rich kabli chana, we are not only contributing to human health but also soil health as the crop will fix atmospheric nitrogen. Another thrust area that will also be of immense benefit to farmers is exports,” says Mr Himmat Singh, Managing Director, Punjab Agro, “Kabli chana is in great demand in North America, Europe and the Middle-East for chickpea salad, soup, flour etc. We intend to earn foreign exchange through exports and have signed an MoD with Glencore Grain India Limited.” Glencore India is part of Glencore, a Swiss company which has a global network of 60 subsidiary offices and independent agents in over 50
countries. It is assisting Punjab Agro in promoting the cultivation of kabli
chana. The buy-back price per quintal of kabli chana has been fixed at market price (which is generally between Rs 2,500 and Rs 2,700 per quintal ) plus Rs 200 per quintal to the farmers for seed multiplication.
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Camp on dairy farming from today
Fatehgarh Sahib, January 15 According to a press release issued by Mr Jasbir Singh, Deputy Director Dairy Department, to make the unemployed youths self sufficient, the department would provide training to unemployed youths in dairy farming. Dairy the 15-day training they would be trained to look after cattle, increase milk output, preparing different items from milk, marketing and other skills. He said that those eligible must be primary pass between 18 to 50 age group. After training, they would be issued certificate and the department would also ensure loans by purchase of cattle. That loans for cattle shed, milking machine and for other equipments will also be provided. He urged the youths to get themselves registered in his office to avail of the opportunity to start their own business.
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Major booked for seeking dowry
Amritsar, January 15 SP (City) Harmanbir Singh Gill in his report found the Major and the members guilty of demanding dowry of Rs 1.50 lakh. The other accused include Joginder Singh his daughter and son Roji and Gurcharan Singh, respectively, and Bhola all residents of Indra Colony, Mustafabad here. A case under Sections 406, 498A of the IPC has been registered. Ms Rubbal lodged a complaint against her husband on August 10, 2004. She was allegedly thrown out of house on July 6 previous year.
— OC
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Business delegation reaches Pak
Amritsar, January 15 The leader of the delegation, Mr Sanjiv Bawa, Chief general manager, before crossing over to Pakistan, told The Tribune that the delegation would hold dialogue with their counterparts in Pakistan during their five-day tour of that country. He said that the majority of the members represent steel products and machine tools from Batala, Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana.
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