Ferozepur, March 27
Advocating for strengthening public-private partnerships in every field of growth and development, the Punjab Governor and Administrator, Union Territory, Chandigarh, Gen. (Retd.) S.F. Rodrigues emphasised the need for formulating thoughtfully structured district-level action plans, with the focus on meeting the needs of people. 

He said that these programmes must have effective implementation and monitoring systems, which was the only way for improving service delivery systems and quality of life. 

Governor was accompanied by commissioner, B.S. Sudan, deputy commissioner Megh Raj, senior superintendent of police Dinesh Pratap besides, other senior civil and police officials.

Addressing social activists, NGOs, senior officers of the district administration, medical professionals, educationists and opinion leaders from different walks of life, here today, General Rodrigues said that after 60 years of Independence India was a new world and the other countries were looking towards our country.  We have, therefore, to reinvent ourselves and restructure our educational programmes to meet the growing needs of professionals in different fields to achieve the targeted growth rate in different sectors. 

He said that vast opportunities were available for all strata of society and the need was to remodel our capacities by reforming our procedures and practices.  We have to change our attitudes and mindset and actively involve ourselves in the fast changing socio-economic transformation process, he said. 

Emphasising the need of crop diversification and promoting agri-related professions like Diary farming, poultry and fisheries, General Rodrigues said that there was a major scope of Jatropha cultivation to act as a bio-fuel source and also for enhancing the production of maize and other income generating crops. He said that the installation of more processing plant needs to be given priority for processing milk products for value added practice.  

Expressing concern over the menace of drug addiction, child abuse, increase in maternal mortality rate and growing incidents of female foeticide, the Governor impressed upon the social activists and all the concerned individuals to launch a crusade against these social ills.

He said that the problems of drug abuse and other related issues had reached alarming proportions.

He appreciated the effort of the district administration for setting up the 15-bedded drug de-addiction centre.

The Governor said that in Chandigarh, we have created a strong and responsive network and started innovative programmes to tackle the problems of child abuse, checking their exploitation in different ways in our society and reduction in child and maternal mortality rate by institutionalising an effective mechanism. Social activists, philanthropists, NGOs, psychologists and medical professionals had been involved and assigned specific tasks to tackle different issues.

He emphasised that the model of these innovative schemes could be replicated in cities, towns and districts.

He said that the Chandigarh administration had also planned to set up a Street Children Home, a home for crippled and handicapped children and also a centre for mentally challenged children, to suitably empower them. He offered collaboration and assistance from Chandigarh administration for optimally utilising these programmes.

Accompanied by his wife, Jean Rodrigues, General Rodrigues went round the hospital wards, inquired about the well-being of patients and wished them speedy recovery. He also inaugurated blood donation camp in which about 140 people donated blood. He also inaugurated free eye-operation camp organised by the Bhartiya Vikas Parishad. 

S.S. Nannu, chief parliamentary secretary, Punjab highlighted the problem being faced by the residents of border district.

Barnala, March 27
Due to some technical difficulties, the Trident land issue could not be finalised today.

The Lok Adalat, which was in process for the last three days to announce the awards of the acquired land, was adjourned here today without announcing orders on the issue.

Additional session judge, Vivek Puri, in the capacity of the chairman of the Lok Adalat fixed April 5 as the next hearing of the court.

Meanwhile, the Bharatiya Kisan Union Ekta (Ugrahan) continued its agitation. Protestors blocked the traffic at Main Bus stand for one hour after the court was adjourned at 3.15 pm. They also staged demonstration at Bus stand chowk.

Joginder Singh Ugrahan said that a meeting of the union activists would be held in the evening. The next course of action would be decided in the meeting. Before staging a dharna, they held a protest march in the city raising anti-government and anti-Trident slogans in disciplined manner.

As many as 211 land owners filed total 75 cases of compensation against the acquired land before the court for the implementation of the Trident land agreement held between farmers and the state government.

Meanwhile, Trident representative made a reference before the court that their money which they had already paid to some farmers as loans against their land must be cleared first. 

Both BKU and Trident management were rigid on their stands first to clear their cases. But the state government could not reach final consensus on this reference. The additional session judge Vivek Puri instructed the tripartite to finalise their paper work and adjourned the Lok Adalat.

Deputy commissioner R.L.Mehta said that they were working on the issue. He hoped that by today evening, they would get the final agreement signed.

Singhewala (Muktsar), March 27
To protest against the arrest of a 5-month-old girl along with her mother and 18 other women for their participation in the yesterday’s protest of farm workers, the landless peasants today showed black flags to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal when his caravan  reached this village for sangat darshan.

Holding silent protests in the form of black-flag marches in the villages of the CM’s Lambi constituency this morning, the protesters demanded the immediate release of 43 men and women, including some senior citizens, who had been arrested yesterday after they were lathi-charged by the police.

The arrested peasants had been on their way to Lambi to hold a peaceful protest march under the banner of Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union when they were halted, slapped and cane charged.

Today, a local court sent the 43 arrested activists to judicial remand till March 29 after the Lambi police registered two cases against them under sections 353 and186 of the IPC and sections 107 and 151 of the CrPC.

The police also picked up Khet Mazdoor Union activists Balwinder Singh Bittu and Kala Singh, whose wife, sister, mother and his five-month-old daughter were already in the prison along with others following the cane-charge yesterday. Balwinder and Kala were picked up for resisting the cops, who were forcing the villagers to remove the black flags atop their houses.

According to the police, the protesters had manhandled the cops and tore their uniforms when they were stopped from proceeding further to Lambi yesterday.

“These gatherings (sangat darshan) are meant to interact with people only and to resolve the issues pending for several decades,” said Badal, who addressed a gathering on the outskirts of this village where nearly 30 poor families showed him black flags from the rooftops.

The CM, who remained in the village for merely 10 minutes, however, skipped the specific demands of the protesting peasants, which mainly included the issuance of ‘blue cards’ to them under the atta-dal scheme and the allotment of plots as promised to them by the district administration last year.

The villages where the farm labourers carried out the black-flag marches included Killianwala, Sehra Khera, Khunan Khurd, Aulakh, Ram nagar and Saunke.   

Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union secretary Lacchhman Singh Sewewala said the government feared and apprehended a stronger protest in times to come which would eventually lead to a massive agitation for the proper implementation of the land reforms.

Mansa, March 27
Purchase of wheat in Mansa district would begin from April 1. For this purpose, altogether 110 purchase centres had been formed and all government purchasing agencies had been allotted markets.

Deputy commissioner S. S. Dhillon gave the information after the meeting of the heads of purchasing agencies. For the smooth purchasing of wheat, senior officers would be deputed as supervisors.

DC appealed to the farmers that they should bring clean wheat in the markets. District food & supply controller Captain H.S. Mokha said that needed material for the purchase of wheat had been provided to the agencies. He said that in the district one lakh and sixty thousand hectare area was covered under the crop of wheat which was two thousand hectare was more than the last year. He said that the Food Corporation of India would purchase 11 per cent, Markfed and Punsup each 22 per cent, warehouse 13 per cent and Punjab Agro Industry would purchase 10 per cent in this session.

Bathinda, March 27
The State Agriculture Department organised a day’s district-level farmers’ training camp at Kheti Bhawan, Dabwali Road here today. The camp aimed at educating the farmers on controlling the Mealy bug menace and sowing of paddy, oil seeds and maize. The function was presided over by Dr Surjit Singh Panjwa, joint director, Agriculture (I&P).

While addressing the farmers, he said, “This year, farmers would get ample supply of canal water to sow paddy, and appropriate arrangements are being made for the same.”

He also urged the farmers to keep the outer areas of their fields free from various weeds in order to control the Mealy bug.

Paramjit Singh Sandhu, chief agriculture officer, apprised the farmers of various ongoing agricultural schemes in the district. He said that under the National Food Security Mission, for seed replacement, 36,008.08 quintals of certified seed was distributed to the farmers, with Rs 500 in the form of subsidy. Sixty rotavators and 10 zero-tillage drill machines were given to farmers on subsidy. 

Bathinda, March 27
The stalemate between the Dera Sacha Sauda and Sikh followers does not seem to die down soon, as in a sequence of this controversy a brawl took place at Goniana, this evening.

Sources in the village said some sikh youths of the village alleged that the Ranjit Singh, a dera follower along with a number of is knownpeople was holding a naam charcha at his home near Gill Patti railway crossing. Following this information, Boota Singh, sarpanch of the village along with followers of Ek Noor Khalsa Fauj reached the spot and hurled stones over the house.

On the other side, police sources said as per the dera followers they were just holding a meeting to discuss some personal matter. But more than 50 sikhs came to their home and pelted stones caused injuries to some persons.

However, no police official was ready to confirm the facts. They were just replying that the matter was being discussed with senior police officials to register the case.

Bathinda, March 27
The state government is keenly taking steps to increase the number of Dolphins at Harike Wetland and promote the place as an Eco Tourism Centre. This was informed by Balbir Singh, divisional forest officer, Ferozepur Range, who visited the city for a one-day workshop organised by the State Forest and Wild Life Preservation Department today. The Wetland has so far been famous as a winter habitat of migratory waterfowl.

One of the major concerns to preserve the Dolphins is the increasing quantum of toxic material found in Sutlej river. “Intensive agriculture in the catchment area along with the excessive use of pesticides and chemical fertilisers, flushing of sewage and industrial effluents in the rivers has deteriorated the quality of water in the lake. Monitoring of water quality in the Satluj by the Punjab Pollution Control Board over the years has indicated the presence of higher concentration of heavy metals, pesticides and coliform bacteria,” Balbir informed.

“Now, the Board would set up 3-4 monitoring units along the Sutlej, which would continuously monitor the pollution levels in its water. Measures would also be taken to stop the contamination of waters with plastics, pesticides, heavy metals and other agricultural and industrial pollutants,” he added.

The State Science and Technology department is also bringing up a project for the preservation of Dolphins at the Harike. “A meeting for the project was held on Wednesday. In this project, we would identify the habitat of these fishes and would also make sure to curb the illegal activities of poaching and fishing in the wetland,” the divisional forest officer said.

More than 210 avian species have been recorded at one time or another in Harike and twenty-six fish species are found with high density in some areas of Harike waters.

Muktsar, March 27
The domestic violence against women begins while she is in her mother’s womb itself. It is in the form of a silent murder, female foeticide. With this grave matter of concern looming large in Punjab, the academicians and other social scientists deliberated on several aspects of the domestic violence against women at a seminar held at Guru Nanak Girls College here on Wednesday.

Two women kidnapped every 30 minutes, 80 per cent of the dowry deaths occurring amongst the middle and upper classes and 300 abortions after every 1000 pregnancies were some of the findings highlighted at the symposium which was chaired by senior IAS officer Krishan Kumar, Director General, School Education, and Director, Sarv Sikhya Abhiyan, Punjab.

Kumar said the biggest hitch in the society while dealing with the victimisation of women was that women were being taken as a commodity even by the civic society.

Terming the female foeticide as “silent murders”, he stated that the prevailing legal system, including the Domestic Violence Act, 2005, had by and large failed to contain the atrocities on women.

Social scientist Kesar Singh from the Chandigarh-based Centre for Research in Rural and Industrial Development (CRRID) was of the opinion that globalisation and the liberalisation that was intruding the Asian society had boomeranged as the woman had become a commodity for the market forces. Even the social values complying with the work culture had been at the receiving end, he added.

Are we giving healthy mothers to society? Raising this query, Kesar said the abortion itself made the woman physically weak. “Technology has rather become hostile to women where the ultrasound machines and other inventions are being hazardously misused against them,” he said.

Deliberating on the protection of women through the Domestic Violence Act, Nisha Sharma of the Department of Political Science at the Panjab Unversity’s Regional Centre here explained the Act’s clauses dealing with verbal, sexual and economic abuse. She said there was a need to popularise the provisions of the Act.

Replying to a query, Dr Mahesh Sharma of the Panjab University’s Department of History said that even the vedic scriptures were written by the men in the ancient period and that aspect, of course, was still shadowing the society where the women were regarded as inferior to men at several religious rituals.

Bathinda, March 27
A day-long workshop on Forest and Wild Life Preservation was organised by Wild Life and Extension Division, Ferozepur, at Forest Division Campus here today.

Dr S.P. Anandh Kumar, deputy chief wild life warden, Punjab, and DFO, Bathinda, inaugurated the workshop. Gurmeet Singh, deputy chief wild life warden, Punjab, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Discussions were held on the need for preserving forests and wild life, and aviation influenza in migratory birds and others. Various experts discussed the measures that can be taken to check any outbreak of Bird Flu.

A team of experts from Punjab Agricultural University explained various techniques of plantations and treatments of plants thereby guarding them against various insects and other common diseases. Officials from forest and wild life department gave details of various activities that are going on for the development and upliftment of flora and fauna in the state. Gurmeet stressed upon the need to save forests and wild life for the very existence of mankind.

Balbir Singh, DFO, Ferozepur, Jagdip Singh, wild life officer and others were also present on the occasion.