Bathinda, March 1
Arun Jaitley, general secretary of the BJP, today said that the Congress-led UPA government at the centre would not succeed in wiping off its non-governance of four years by having taken short-term measures in the budget to please the peasantry by announcing a loan waiver and announcing election eve sops for other sections of the society.

Jaitley, who was talking to media persons here, described the budgetary proposals as a “desperate effort to divert attention of the people from the sliding image of the UPA government.”

He said that during the past 18 months, the Congress has failed to win the assembly elections in any large state and such sops on the eve of the Lok Sabha elections would not reverse the trend. No dramatic change in the electoral trend was expected now, he said.

The BJP leader said that instead of addressing larger problems, Finance Minister P.Chidambram has provided temporary relief and also ignored the larger infrastructure. The thrust of the government should have been improvement of rural infrastructure, irrigation and cutting the input cost.

Being an economist, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has failed to address the issue of suicide by farmers, as the loan waiver scheme was a short-term measure. During the first four years of his regime, Manmohan Singh remained a silent spectator to the incidents of suicide by farmers and at the fag end of his term, a half-hearted effort has been made in this direction, Jaitley said.

He said no provision has been made in the budget to waive the agriculture loans. The public, cooperative and rural banks were not in a position to bear the burden of writing off these loans.

Jaitley said the BJP was ready to face the Lok Sabha elections any time.

“Our effort will be to further strengthen the anti-incumbency factor against the Congress. The NDA will also be strengthened to effectively fight the Congress during the next elections,” he said.

Bathinda, March 1
The Congress MLAs from Bathinda district called up a press meet here today to thank the UPA government for the “people-friendly” budget. But while hailing the Congress at the Centre, the legislators failed to come up with a plausible explanation as to why the party was lying dormant in Punjab.

They Congress legislators levelled alegations at the ruling SAD-BJP combine. But while replying to a query about the silence of the Congress in the state, they merely tried to pass the buck. The media persons were informed that the press conference would be attended by all the five Congress MLAs of the district. But at the venue, only Ajaib Singh Bhatti, MLA from Nathana, and Gurpreet Singh Kangar, MLA from Phul arrived. Makhan Singh, MLA from Pakka Kalan, reached only towards the fag end of the press meet.

District president, Congress (rural), Narender Bhalaria, who had organised the press meet, said, “It was a rural meeting, so we did not intimate Harmander Singh Jassi, MLA Bathinda.”

In his introductory address, Bhatti thanked at length the All India Congress Committee chief Sonia Gandhi and the UPA government for proposing Rs 60,000 crore as loan waiver for the debt-ridden farmers. Kangar followed suit.

When asked about the party’s alleged deep slumber, both the MLAs said, “Our party had decided to give the ruling party a year’s time to prove itself. And since they have failed, we are set to lodge our protest.”

To justify their walk-out from the Vidhan Sabha session on February 29, Bhatti said, “We had no choice as the Governor was speaking only in favour of the ruling SAD and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.”

When asked about the speech of the Punjab Governor, in which he had reportedly spoken of the negative aspects of the Congress, the MLAs parried the query with a one-liner, “We are not aware of the speech.”

The Congress leaders said that the party would raise its voice against the alleged monopoly of the Badal family in the private transport system of the state.

Lashing out at the state police, they alleged, “The ruling party is dictating terms to the police and the administration.” The MLAs were also ambivalent in their stance on the Dera Sacha Sauda issue.

Leaders of various political parties have started a sort of credit-claiming exercise for the budget tabled by Union Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday. While the Congressmen are claiming that it reflected the pro-farmer and pro-common man policy of the UPA government lead by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh , the Akalis are trying to steal the show by calling it an outcome of the pressure mounted by them at the Insaaf Rally in the national capital on Tuesday last. PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh, while calling it a historic budget, said that farmers would get relief from the waiver of loan amounting to over Rs 60,000 crore.

Gurnaib Brar, president Ferozepur DCC, said that the UPA government had taken an unprecedented step for the relief of farmers. Youth Congress leader Anumeet Sodhi said the budget reflected the vision of the UPA government. — OC

Tribune News Service
Chak Fateh Singh Wala (Bathinda), March 1“The proposed budget is vague and does not live up to the expectations. It is an attempt to mislead people. There is no specification for the farmers suffering with the debt taken from private parties,” alleged Ajit Singh Kohar, Punjab revenue minister, who was here on a private visit.

Replying to a query, Kohar said, “To make any correction in the records of the revenue department, apart from the sub-divisional magistrates, all tehsildars and naib-tehsildars would be empowered soon. The proposal is under consideration.”

About the transfer policy in the department, Kohar said, “As of now, no such policy has been introduced and it will take time for such a policy to see the light of the day. However, we have planned to execute the transfers in a particular month so that the people do not have to face much inconvenience.”

When the minister was asked about the long-pending Intkaals, he said, “Initiating a scheme to accomplish the incomplete Intkaals, the department has achieved a smart result, but for the rest, the deputy commissioners have been ordered to submit a report.”

“The whole revenue department will be computerised within ten months,” said Kohar.

However, the minister evaded a query regarding the low computer-literacy among the department’s junior officials.

Accepting the prevalence of corruption in the department, Kohar said, “As the department was facing serious allegations, I am endeavouring to get rid of this menace.”

When the minister was apprised of the setback to the revenue department due to the sale and purchase of properties on the basis of earnest money only, he assured of taking rigid steps saying that within months, a new policy would be launched to stop such activity.

“Wherever the collector rates are more than the market rate, the deputy commissioners would be ordered to file a report and the matter would be discussed,” he said.

After the press meet, the minister attended a prize distribution ceremony of a three-day sports meet at Lehra Mohabbat village. Kohar was accompanied by Inderjit Singh Bhai Ka, Gura Singh Tungwali, in-charge SAD Nathana, Dial Singh Sodhi, district president BJP (rural), Sukhdev Singh Bahia and Sunil Bitta.

Bathinda, March 1
With the cotton production across the state showing a downward trend, estimated at almost four lakh bales, the 6,557 farmers of 70 villages in this cotton belt have a reason to smile for. These villages have been adopted under the ‘Village Cluster Adoption Programme’ (VCAP) for cotton production and the farmers here villages have harvested a bumper cotton crop of 823 kg per hectare as against the state average of 598.

“It is 37 per cent more than the state average. Besides, the yield has shown a growth of 9.7 per cent against last year’s 750 kg per hectare,” informed S.P. Oswal, chairman of the Vardhman Group. The group has itself adopted villages under the programme.

The VCAP includes a consortium of various companies, banks and government bodies like the Vardhman Group, the Nahar Group, the Trident Group, the JCT Group, the GPI Textiles Limited, State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of India, Canara Bank, Punjab National Bank, the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana, and the Department of Agriculture, Punjab.

“The programme was started in 2003 by adopting a village ‘Nava Pind’. In 2004, (10 villages), in 2005 (25 villages), in 2006 (50 villages) and in 2007, 70 villages were adopted under the programme. This season, our consortium is planning to adopt 100 villages in this famous cotton belt of the state,” informed Oswal.

Even former president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam visited one of the adopted villages, Gehri Buttar, on December 10, 2005. Oswal further informed, “Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was so much impressed with the project that he urged the consortium to adopt the Lambi block also. So we adopted 35 villages in the block. The redeeming feature of this project is that the village adopted once is not repeated next year. The philosophy behind is that there is no point lighting the lamps that are already lit.”

A cotton expert, while speaking on the probable reasons for the poor yield of cotton this year, said, “First and foremost is the attack of Mealy bug which has resulted in a loss to the tune of 8-9 per cent this year. Then, waterlogging in 30,000 hectares of land in Muktsar and some areas of Ferozepur and sowing of spurious Bt cotton seeds (about 48 to 50 per cent of the cultivated area) are also reasons for it .”

Bathinda, March 1
The social evil of begging is common to all parts of India and Bathinda is no exception. The beggars are seen at all locations like railway station, temples and markets.

While some disabled persons resort to begging as they are unable to earn their living due to physical limitations, but a large number of able-bodied persons have made it a profession.

The situation is becoming worse as more and more beggars from the neighbouring states of Haryana and Rajasthan are steadily pouring into the town.

Realising that the situation is getting out of hand, authorities have finally decided to bring the beggars into the mainstream. The government is planning to create avenues of employment for them.

Moga, March 1
As many as 22 persons sustained injuries when a mini-bus turned turtle near the Teachers’ Colony here today.    

The mini-bus was trying to avoid collision with a speeding car which suddenly appeared from one of the streets on the main road, sources said, adding that the driver of the bus, which was packed to its capacity, lost control over the vehicle. The injured passengers inside the bus started shouting for help. Residents from the adjoining areas rushed to the spot to rescue the passengers. They called the police, volunteers from the Red Cross, Sahara Society and a hospital. The two NGOs pressed in their volunteers to rescue passengers from the bus. Unable to open the door, the volunteers had to break open window panes to bring out the injured. They, along with the police, rushed them to the Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital.

According to the hospital staff, the condition of two of the injured were critical while others with minor injuries had been released from the hospital after first aid.

The mini-bus belongs to the local Gharu Private Transport Company. The mini-bus was returning from Sarai Naga village of Muktsar to Faridkot.

Earlier, a private transport bus had turned turtle near the sugar mill resulting in the death of a scooter rider and injuries to 10 persons on February 11.