Jalandhar, January 11
Chairman of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) Y.S. Ratra said today that the unbundling of the electricity board would benefit the state. “I am in favour of unbundling of the PSEB as it will enhance the efficiency and accountability of the electricity board,” he said.

“While the states like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan have successfully implemented the unbundling of the electricity board, due to some reasons it could not be implemented in Punjab. But once executed it will be in the benefit of consumers,” he added.

Ratra was in the city to inaugurate the first of its kind an automatic bill payment machine at the local Adarsh Nagar locality. While talking about the daily power cuts in the state, he said, “The consumers of Punjab will have to bear with the power cuts as the electricity board is already under debt. We don’t have any other option except for continuing with power cuts for more than five hours everyday. And this will follow in the upcoming summer season as well.”

Further talking about the status of the electricity board, the chairman maintained that owing to power shortage the state had purchased electricity from some states and now they are bound to return. The state had purchased electricity last year from Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, answering a query pertaining to the shortage of manpower in the electricity board, Ratra said, “With a view to enhance the efficiency of the PSEB we are in the process of recruiting as many as 450 SDOs, JEs and linemen. An advertisement in this regard will be out within some days and the recruitment will be done.”

He said, “The electricity board witnesses a power theft of approximately Rs 500 crore every year. However, efforts are on to control this menace.”

Jalandhar, January 11
A local judicial officer has allegedly embroiled into a controversy despite already having faced suspension once. This time, the officer is allegedly involved in a mobile theft case and that too of his colleague.

The involvement of the judicial officer came to the fore when Rashmi Sharma, a judicial magistrate, Jalandhar, lodged a complaint at police station division No. 4 regarding the theft of her mobile phone, almost four months ago. The mobile phone set is said to be quite costly.

In her complaint to the police, the complainant said someone picked up 
her mobile phone set from her chamber.

Taking a note of the ‘influential’ complainant, the police swung into action and finally succeeded in locating the position of the stolen mobile set.

The results were shocking as the investigating team lead by Manjit Singh, investigating officer of the case, found that the transmission towers of the telecommunication company showed the location of the stolen mobile within the judicial complex in the day time while the location was around the residential complex of the suspected judicial officer during the rest of the time.

During investigations, the police found that a judicial officer, who is also a colleague of the complainant, stole the mobile set, sources revealed.

SP (City-I), SK Kalia, however, said the investigations for establishing the theft charges on the judicial officer are on.

The SP said, “Since the mobile set disappeared from the complainant’s chamber, we are apprehending the involvement of certain judicial officer in the case. The picture would be clear in a day or two.” He said a case has been registered against some unidentified person under sections 380 of the IPC. 

Jalandhar, January 11
In what may be termed as Lohri gift, the District Congress Committee (DCC) distributed 1,100 blankets to the needy at a function held at District Congress Bhawan here today.

PPCC president Mohinder Singh Kaypee and leader of the opposition in the Punjab assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal attended the function on the request of DCC president Arun Walia and PPCC secretary Virendra Sharma.

Addressing the gathering, Kaypee and Bhattal said the SAD had come to power in Punjab in 2007 after making promise of providing atta-dal (flour and pulses) at cheaper rates to the poor, but earlier it could not fulfil its promise for several months and later Parkash Singh Badal-led government could not provide atta-dal at cheaper rates to the deserving persons.

Alleging nepotism in the SAD, Kaypee said the Badal government had allocated major portfolios to either his family members or close relatives.

Pointing out towards the ongoing power crisis in the state, Kaypee said the people of Punjab had to face acute shortage of power even in the winter season due to bad policies of the Badal government. Despite longer power cuts, the consumers had to pay more in the shape of bills as electricity was made costlier during the Badal government.

Claiming that the Congress was the only party who cared for the poor, he requested the public to vote and support the Congress during the coming Lok Sabha elections.

Rajinder Kaur Bhattal alleged that the Badal government was not using properly the funds provided by the UPA government for the state.

Congress working committee member Iqbal Singh, a former Punjab minister Jai Kishan Saini, DCC president Arun Walia, PPCC secretary Virendra Sharma and district Youth Congress (urban) president Kamaljeet Kaur Multani were present on the occasion.

Hoshiarpur, January 11
The formal inauguration of the mega project of Rayat-Bahra group’s education city here yesterday marked the beginning of an entirely new chapter in the field of education in the state as well as entire north India.

Located just three kilometers from here on the Chandigarh-Hoshiarpur highway, education city, the group’s most prestigious education campus, commenced with a number of courses in engineering, nano technology, pharmacy, management studies and education becoming functional right away.

The high profile inauguration of the education city by chief guest Dr KC Chakrabarty, chairman and managing director, Punjab National Bank, was graced by several top personalities of the region.

An enthusiastic gathering of faculty, students and mediapersons were accosted with the basic plan of the education city by vice chairman Gurvinder Singh.

Education city, in its first phase of commissioning forthwith, includes commencement of Rayat - Bahra Institute of Engineering and Nano Technology, Rayat- Bahra College of Engineering and Nano Technology for Women, an institute of pharmacy, an institute of management and a college of education.

The second phase, due to commence in July 2009, would see a dental college, a nursing college and a 100-bed hospital followed by a full fledged medical college offering MBBS degrees and an advanced hospital with 350 beds in 2010.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Chakrabarty expressed delight at the prospect of such huge investment and up-gradation prospects in the education sector.