 |
|
|
PSEB may have to buy power at Rs 7 per unit
Fall in muskmelon prices causes loss to farmers
Ferozepore declared best railway division
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Youth found dead under mysterious circumstances
3 injured in road mishap
Suvidha camp at Bhandal Bet
|
|
PSEB may have to buy power at Rs 7 per unit
Phagwara, April 30 Sources said that during the coming paddy season, there would be acute shortage of power, and in order to minimise the power cuts, the Board might have to accept and purchase costly power. Normally, the PSEB avoids purchasing costly power. According to an estimate, this year’s total energy requirement would be 33,000 million units, out of which 7,000 million units would go for tubewell connections. The PSEB is expecting Rs 1,400 crore from the state government against the tubewell supply, but no one is hopeful that it would be released. Notably, just a few months back, the Punjab government had announced free power supply to the agriculture sector, but till day no order has been issued to the PSEB about this decision. So, the PSEB is getting Rs 60 per horse power from the agriculture connections that cost 58 paisa per unit. This high cost power tariff from the NTPC gas stations has become a benchmark for the fixing of power purchase through trading, which already has crossed Rs 5 per unit. The highest tariff that the PSEB is charging from industrial consumers is Rs 3.65 per unit. In this way, the cost of grid power at Rs 7 per unit cannot be fully recovered from the current tariff, and it would lead to a financial crunch for the Board. Notably, the capacity entitlement (share) of the PSEB from the NTPC stations is 15 to 16 per cent. The capacity of Anta Thermal Station near Kota is 419 MW, Ouraiya Gas Thermal Plant in Ittawa, Uttar Pradesh, is 662 MW, and generation capacity of Dadri Gas Thermal Plant near Ghaziabad is 830 MW. From all these stations, the PSEB would get less than 300 MW of power as its share, but these stations are operating at only 55 per cent capacity on gas firing, while the rest 45 per cent generating capacity is offered to states in northern region on liquid fuel firing that has generation cost from Rs 6.50 to Rs 7 per unit. This means that the PSEB would get 160 MW of power at normal rates, but around 140 MW of power would cost Rs 6.50 to Rs 7 per unit. |
|
Fall in muskmelon prices causes loss to farmers
Kapurthala, April 30 Though the muskmelon is available in the retail market at a price between Rs 10 and 15 per kilogram, but the fruit is being sold at around Rs 3 per kg in the wholesale market. However, the first few consignment of muskmelon from the district fetched Rs 65,000 for every 10 tonnes of the produce to the farmers. But later, the fruit was traded as low as at Rs 28,000 for 10 tonnes. The demand of superior quality was at Rs 35,000 for a consignment of 10 tonnes. Tony, a farmer of Madho Jhanda, informed that last year the early crop was sold as high as Rs 1,25,000 for the consignment of 10 tonnes. But this year, it did not touch even the mark of Rs 70,000, he added. Probing into the reasons behind the downfall in the prices within such a short duration of time, it was found that the inferior quality of the crop and the fall in the demand from Srinagar, the biggest buyer of the crop from Kapurthala, were the two main factors that led to situation. Sukhjit Singh, a farmer from Brindpur village who cultivated this fruit in 65 acres of his land, informed that the quality of the fruit remained inferior this season due to diseases that infected the crop. The buyer was also not available easily for the produce of this region this year, he added. Mr Surjit Singh Sandhu, a progressive farmer of the district and the chairman, Market Committee, Kapurthala, claimed that at least 25 per cent crop of the muskmelon had been affected in the region due to various diseases. Due to the diseases, the fruit was deformed and the netting on the fruit was also affected, he added. The crop sown in the early February was affected up to 50 per cent due to virus, while the crop sown after February 15 was damaged only up to 20 per cent. Most of the crop sown after March 15 in the district remained disease free, Mr Sandhu said.
|
|
Ferozepore declared best railway division
Phagwara, April 30 This was disclosed by Mr Dharam Singh, Divisional Railway Manager (DRM), Ferozepore, while talking to The Tribune here yesterday. Mr Dharam Singh said the Railway Week was celebrated in the month of April every year. “The celebrations end with an award giving ceremony in which the employees are honoured for their outstanding performance during the year,” he added. As many as 437 individual awards and 49 group awards amounting to Rs 2.11 lakh were given this time, he said. While referring to the achievements of the division here, the DRM revealed that passenger earnings had increased to Rs 492.85 crore this year, against Rs 455.22 crore last year. The total earning of the Ferozepore Division had also increased to Rs 1,522.80 crore, against Rs 1,494 crore during the last year, he disclosed.
|
|
Youth found dead under mysterious circumstances
Jalandhar, April 30 The youth, Bidhi Chand, a resident of Nai Abadi of Kot Sadique village, was found dead in the house of the woman, who had been arrested. Bidhi Chand was employed as a worker in a Leather Complex-based factory. According to the police, Sukhdev Raj, the brother of the deceased, alleged that the woman had illicit relations with his brother. He further alleged that the woman had invited Bidhi Chand to her house on Saturday evening. When Bidhi Chand did not return to his house, Sukhdev Raj went to woman’s house where he found the body of his brother lying, the police said. On the basis of the statement by Sukhdev Raj, the police has registered a case under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code against the woman. Later the woman was arrested. |
|
3 injured in road mishap
Phagwara, April 30 As per sources, Dharamjit along with his sister, Sonika, and mother, Kashmir, all residents of Nakodar, were coming to Phagwara on a motorcycle, when another motorcyclist tried to overtake them near Mallikpur village. This led to the collision between the vehicles, causing serious injuries to the trio. All the three had been admitted to the local Civil Hospital with serious injuries, the police said. |
|
Suvidha camp at Bhandal Bet
Kapurthala, April 30 Rana Gurjit Singh, local MP, inaugurated the camp. During the camp, the District Transport Office issued 225 new diving licenses on the spot, while the Rural Development and Panchayat Department renewed 108 yellow cards. Beside, 5 new forms were accepted for homes under Indira Awas Yojna, 150 new applications for pensions were attested, 215 old pensioners applications were verified, 16 new pensions were sanctioned, 55 certificates were issued for Schedule Castes and 88 certificates of backward classes were issued on the spot.
—TNS |
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Mailbag | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
