J A L A N D H A R

Sidhu blames Cong for self-immolation incidents
Jalandhar, January 30
The self-immolation of Gopal Kashyap and Mela Ram, along with some unsuccessful immolation bids, figured prominently in the long speech BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu delivered today at a party rally here.

BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu (second from right) along with the party’s State President Avinash Rai Khanna (third from right) during a rally in Jalandhar on Monday. — Tribune photo by Pawan Sharma

Nadala Gram Vikas Sabha gets majority in panchayat byelections
Kapurthala, January 30
In the byelections of panchayats held in the district, the Gram Vikas Sabha of Nadala was able to secure the majority in the 12-member panchayat here yesterday.

Reaping rich dividends through fish farming
Hoshiarpur, January 30
At a time when not many farmers are going in for crop diversification, some young farmers from Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur have taken the plunge and are reaping benefits.

‘Need to tap tourism potential’
Phagwara, January 30
Punjab is looking for more joint ventures with private companies in an effort to tap the tourism potential of religious and heritage sites as well as rural areas, the state Tourism Director, Mr Jagjit Puri, said here today.

R. Sharma science city’s new director
Jalandhar, January 30
The former director of the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Mr R. Sharma, has been appointed the new Director of Pushpa Gujral Science City. He replaces Mr Bhagwant Singh, a PCS officer who is being promoted to the IAS rank.

Sidhu blames Cong for self-immolation incidents
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 30
The self-immolation of Gopal Kashyap and Mela Ram, along with some unsuccessful immolation bids, figured prominently in the long speech BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu delivered today at a party rally here.

Mr Sidhu who later also addressed media persons said that the suicides showed “an utter failure on the part of the government in solving the issues faced by the masses”.

The Member of Parliament from Amritsar blamed the Congress regime in the state for the spate of suicides by “harassed common men whose faith in the system had dwindled”.

Mr Sidhu said the suicides proved that the government had “failed in resolving the problems the common people were facing every day”. He alleged that it was driving people to take such extreme steps.

He also targeted the Capt Amarinder Singh government over the Special Economic Zone status issue. “The government is making statements about having brought mega projects worth Rs 1,600 crore to the state. But it has even failed to get a land procured for the SEZ.”

On the Kashipur episode in which hundreds of Sikh families were evicted from government land, Mr Sidhu said it was sad and added that he would raise the issue in the forthcoming session of Parliament.

The cricketer-turned-politician denied that there was any threat to the unity of the Akali Dal and the BJP in the state and said that the two parties would join hands to form the next government in Punjab.

The rally was also addressed by BJP State President Avinash Rai Khanna.

Nadala Gram Vikas Sabha gets majority
in panchayat byelections
Arun Sharma
Tribune News Service

Kapurthala, January 30
In the byelections of panchayats held in the district, the Gram Vikas Sabha of Nadala was able to secure the majority in the 12-member panchayat here yesterday.

The sarpanch, Ms Parveen Kumari, had already been elected unanimously last week.

According to information, a total of 3,803 votes were polled out of 5,555 votes in the village.

Fortytwo polled votes were found invalid after the polls, for which the results were declared yesterday night.

Twentyone candidates were in the fray. The winners are Mr Balram Singh Maan with 414 votes, Mr Gurdev Singh Dhillon with 313 votes, Mr Sanjeev Kumar Joshi with 298 votes, Mr Avtar Singh Multani with 294 votes, Mr Ram Singh with 286 votes, Ms Jaswinder Kaur Khakh with 283 votes, Ms Surjit Kaur Sahi with 225 votes, Ms Gurmit Kaur with 168 votes, Mr Mohinder Singh Sahota with 135 votes, Ms Sonia with 100 votes and Mr Kamaljeet Singh Sappal with 183 votes.

Mr Boota Singh Walia was elected as the sarpanch of Billpur village. He won by 84 votes.

The village panches, Harjit Singh Patwari, Kuldip Kaur, Balbir Kaur, Amarjeet Kaur and Sarabjit Kaur, were selected unanimously.

In Bakarpur village, Ms Harjinder Kaur was elected as the sarpanch after she was got 176 votes out of the total polled 180 votes.

In Dalla village, near Sultanpur Lodhi, Mr Baldev Singh, who was elected as a member of the panchayat, defeated his nearest rival Malkit Singh by 429 votes.

Mr Baldev Singh secured 589 votes.

Reaping rich dividends through fish farming
Bipin Bhardwaj
Tribune News Service

Hoshiarpur, January 30
At a time when not many farmers are going in for crop diversification, some young farmers from Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur have taken the plunge and are reaping benefits.

Mr Sukhdeep Singh Bajwa and Mr Khushwant Singh Cheema, progressive farmers from Kadian town in Gurdaspur, and Chhangla village near Dasuya in Hoshiarpur, respectively, have converted acres of their landholdings into fish farms.

They took to pisciculture in a small way about 10 years ago, and are today among the biggest private fish producers of the state.

Mr Bajwa, a former honorary wildlife warden, Gurdaspur, and Mr Cheema switched over to fish farming when they failed to get adequate returns from their landholdings.

Mr Cheema shifted to pisciculture from dairy farming after he failed to get remunerative prices for his produce in the market.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Bajwa, who set a record by producing 50 quintals of fish in an acre last year, criticised the state government for not providing the required help to the farmers willing to go for crop diversification (especially fish farming).

The government had failed to provide good quality fish-seed to the farmers, he alleged.

“My fish farm has been producing over 30,000 kg of fish annually. My income is over Rs 7.5 lakh per annum,” claimed Mr Cheema.

He revealed that he had opted for fish farming in over 16 acres of agricultural land in a low-lying area. “As the returns from other crops like paddy and wheat were very low, I found the land fit for fish farming,” he added.

Both these pisciculture experts said their expenditures on fertilizers had been reduced by half ever since they had taken to fish farming. Irrigating fields with the manure-enriched fish-pond-water was quite economical, they added.

They said the government should give free electricity to the farmers who had taken to fish farming. They also demanded government help in marketing of the produce.

 Mr Raj Kumar, Assistant Director, Fisheries, claimed that fish culture was being done in 310 fish-ponds (83 private and rest on panchayati land) in Hoshiarpur. The department had brought a total of 380 hectares of land under the fish farming in the district in the last 15 years, he added.

The Chief Executive Officer of Fish Farmers’ Development Agency, Hoshiarpur, Mr Indervir Sharma, claimed that the integrated fish-farming had also started attracting the farmers in the district.

Under this scheme, the farmers could multiply their returns manifolds by going forfish-duck, fish-poultry, and fish-pig combinations.

‘Need to tap tourism potential’
Our Correspondent

Phagwara, January 30
Punjab is looking for more joint ventures with private companies in an effort to tap the tourism potential of religious and heritage sites as well as rural areas, the state Tourism Director, Mr Jagjit Puri, said here today. “It is a matter of pride that the Golden Temple is attracting more tourists than Taj Mahal.”

Mr Puri was addressing a gathering after inaugurating a hotel that is a venture of the Punjab Tourism Department Corporation (PTDC). The hotel is targeted at the NRIs of Doaba.

He said that with the roping in of private players into the sector, the PTDC, which had incurred losses till December 2004, was now running in profit.

Mr Puri added that the eligibility conditions for projects related to tourism and hotels had been simplified and special incentives were also being given. “All new tourism projects costing above Rs 5 crore will be put up on case-to-case basis for special concession to the Empowered Committee headed by the Chief Secretary.”

The director said Punjab had more than 90 heritage sites, out of which they had only been able to sell a few to the tourists. “Across the state, 17 fairs and many festivals are held annually, but very few international or domestic tourists know about these. Like Rajasthan, we have to prepare a strategy to popularise our fairs.”

R. Sharma science city’s new director
Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, January 30
The former director of the Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Mr R. Sharma, has been appointed the new Director of Pushpa Gujral Science City. He replaces Mr Bhagwant Singh, a PCS officer who is being promoted to the IAS rank.

Mr Sharma, who retired from the post of the NIT director recently, joined his new assignment today. The post was advertised through the office of the Director General, Pushpa Gujral Science City.

The assignment is contract based. The science city is a joint venture of the state and the Central government.