Amritsar, May 1
The joint rally of the CPI, CITU, AITUC and other trade unions today sought the revision of the minimum wage to Rs 5,000 per month in view of the spiralling inflation which had badly affected the common man.

The unions, while observing May Day today, launched a scathing attack on the economic policies of the UPA government which had resulted in a steep hike in prices and had broken the backbone of the poor labourer and the man on streets.

Joginder Dyal said the government was following the dictates of the World Bank and the WTO which was ruining the fundamentals of the Indian economy and were encouraging the large sector to dominate the economic scene of the country. He said the small scale industry was in a state of extinction and if corrective measures were not taken the industry, which was the mainstay of the labour, would collapse under the burden of the large and medium-scale industry.

He sought a special economic package to Punjab at par with the neighboring states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir and pointed out that the state industry here was unable to cop up with the incentives given to the neighboring states which had resulted in large-scale unemployment.

Dyal said the agrarian economy of the country was in a serious crisis due to the wrong policies of the government. He advocated more investment into the rural economy to uplift the agricultural sector and uplift the economic viability of the peasantry.

Meanwhile, district and session judge S.P. Bangar, speaking on the occasion of 122nd Labour Day, said the small industry labourers could also take free legal aid services and put up their cases in lok adalalts to avoid harassment due to their cases long pending in courts.

HOSHIARPUR: By disposing of 17,000 cases of labourers through labour lok adalats, the Punjab government has tried to provide quick justice to them. To solve problems relating to labourers and for settling pending cases, more lok adalats would be organised soon in the state.

This was stated by minister for labour Tiskhan Sud while addressing a function jointly organised by Reliance Industry and JCT Limited at Chohal, 8 km from here, on Thursday in connection with Labour Day.

The state government was ensuring to get reasonable wages provided to the labourers working in private industries along with proper health and education facilities not only to them but to their families too by their respective employers, said Sud.

He pleaded for cordial relations between labourers and the employers for their as well as the nation’s prosperity. Sud instructed managements of private industries to take proper steps for the safety of their workers by installing protection instruments and taking protection measures on the mill premises.

An exhibition relating to the safety of workers was organised on the occasion. The minister also felicitated four employees of Reliance Industry and eight of the JCT Mill for their commendable performance.

Deputy commissioner N.K. Wadhawan, SSP Sukhchain Singh Gill, vice-president of Reliance Industry Ashok Garg and unit head of the JCT D.S. Rathore also spoke on the occasion.

Jalandhar, May 1
Despite the unseasonal rain that damaged the wheat crop at many places, the district authorities are expecting a bumper crop this year.

The arrivals at mandis have picked up over the past few days and elaborate arrangements have been made for the farmers, including that of drinking water and public utilities. Dispute redress cells are also in place so that any grievance could be redressed on the spot.

Kapurthala deputy commissioner J.M. Balamurugan said the total procurement in the district was 2,79,198 MT till yesterday.

The district has 42 mandis and the procurement was being done by Markfed, Pungrain, Punjab Warehousing, Punsup, FCI and Punjab Agro, besides private parties.

So far, the figures for the agencies were Pungrain (49,061 MT), Markfed (54,645 MT), Punsup (56,921 MT), Punjab Warehousing (50,968 MT), Punjab Agro (26,530) and FCI (33,717 MT). The private players had purchased 2,502 MT, he said.

An estimated 3,20,000 MT of wheat is expected to be procured in the district during the season. This is 16 per cent above the arrivals last year, he added.

The DC said the dues of the farmers who had sold their produce till April 26 had been cleared. The remaining dues would be cleared in a day or two. The government to procure the wheat till date had spent Rs 222 crore, he added.

He said financial commissioner C.S. Srivastava also recently visited the mandis to oversee the procurement process.

Commenting on the slow lifting of the produce, district food and supplies controller Sukhdev Singh said they were facing a labour shortage since enough number of migrants had not arrived.

Hoshiarpur, May 1
The district administration has decided to take stringent action against all those farmers who have been setting stubble on fire after harvesting the wheat crop in their fields. This has resulted in hundreds of acres of the standing wheat crop in the adjoining fields to be reduced to ashes.

District magistrate N.K. Wadhawan had already banned the burning of stubble of wheat in the fields under section 144 of the CrPC in the district.

He had instructed the agriculture officers, subdivisional officers and police officers to register cases against all those farmers who had violated his orders.

Cases in some of the police stations had already been registered against some of the farmers who had burnt stubble after harvesting wheat crop in their fields.

Amritsar, May 1
Day before the last date for filing nominations for the panchayat and zila parishad elections, Congress leaders, led by former MLA Jasbir Singh Dimpa, today protested and raised slogans against Rayya BDPO Bikramjit Kalia for not issuing no-objection certificates (NOCs) to Congress workers required for filing nomination papers.

Dimpa accused the SAD and the BJP for using unethical and undemocratic means by pressurising the state machinery for not issuing NOCs and other required documents. He alleged that the BDPO was not issuing the documents to them.

However, Bikramjit Singh said that he had issued NOCs to all the candidates who had applied for documents.

Dimpa threatened that if the authorities failed to give NOCs to Congress candidates they would resort to blocking the GT Road on May 2 and the district administration would be responsible for it. He said they had given prior information to the district administration and the state election commission in this regard.

DC Kahan Singh Pannu in a press release said that it had been brought to his notice by the aspiring candidates that they were facing hardships in getting the NOCs. He said in view of this the state election commission had issued instructions that the candidates could now file an affidavit along with nomination papers with the returning officers (ROs) that they were not defaulter for non-payment of dues to the panchayat or panchayat samiti or zila parishad concerned.

State election commissioner (SEC) A.K. Dubey had stated that the nomination papers with affidavits would be sent to the BDPOs concerned who would have to inform the ROs within 24 hours, failing which it would be presumed that the candidates was not a defaulter.

Pannu said as per the directions of the election commissioner the counting of votes would be held on the next day of the polling ie May 14.

Amritsar, May 1
The following were elected office-bearers of the Punjab State Medical and Dental Teachers Association for 2008-09: patron - Dr Jagdish Gargi; president - Dr Amrik Singh Bhatia; senior vice-president - Dr Renu Saroa; vice-presidents - Dr B.S. Bal and Dr Sukhwinder Singh Soch; general secretary - Dr Dinesh Kumar; joint secretaries - Dr Karamjit Singh and Dr A.P. Kataria; organising secretary - Dr M.L. Gambhir; finance secretary - Dr Sham Sundar Deepti; and media secretary - Dr Shiv Charan. The executive members elected are Dr Nitirajan Singh, Dr Santokh Singh, Dr K.S. Sidhu, Dr R.S. Boparai, Dr Sujata Sharma, Dr Hakumat Rai Tejpal, Dr Jatinder Singh, Dr Surinder Bharti, Dr Jagdev Singh Kular, Dr R.S. Sidhu, Dr Sukhraj Kaur and Dr Ashok Duggal. Former president and general secretary, Dr A.S. Padda, and Dr Karan Sharma, respectively, have been co-opted as ex-officio members of the association. — OC