Jalandhar, October 16
Owners of hundreds of small and medium industrial units in the industrial zone, Jalandhar, are holding back their expansion plans for the past couple of years as the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) had failed to set up a 66-kv substation sought by over 800 industrialists of Focal Points, Gadaipur, Bulandpur and Randhawa-Masandaan.

Not only expansion of industrial units but even the setting up of scores of new units is being blocked due to the apathy of the PSPCL officials.

Although the industrialists were ready to provide a piece of land for setting a substation, the officials concerned have failed to entertain their demand.

Talking to The Tribune, Narinder Singh Saggu, president, Jalandhar Industrial Focal Point (Extension) Association, said as the capacity of the existing substation had saturated, they were not in a position to install even a small electricity run device in their units.

“The government wants us to bring down the level of pollutants generated by the industry. However, in the absence of optimum power supply, how can industrialists shift from fuel run (coal, oil) to power-run machines,” he added.

He said they had been taking up the issue with the officials for the past two years but to no avail. “We also met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in this regard around two years back,” he said.

N.K. Gandhi, Superintending Engineer, PSPCL, Jalandhar Circle, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

However, a senior official, who did not wish to be named, said though the proposal to set up 66-kv grid has been cleared by the PSPCL, the issue of the required land, which is to be made arranged by the Punjab Small Industries and Export Corporation (PSIEC), was pending.

The land offered by industrialists could not be used as it fell under the green category, he added.

Hoshiarpur, October 16
MP from Hoshiarpur Santosh Chaudhary condemned the SAD-BJP government of Punjab for allegedly misusing the funds being given by the Central Government for its sponsored schemes for the benefit of the poor in the state.

Addressing mediapersons here yesterday, Chaudhary said the Central Government was providing crores of rupees to Punjab for its 10 sponsored schemes to benefit the public.

But instead of spending the amount under these schemes, the state government was using the same for its internal purposes and was wrongly propagating the claims about using them for the development of the state.

Giving an example of the implementation of MGNREGA, she said on April 1, 2010, the district had received Rs 12,36,32,000 under the MGNREGA scheme, of which the administration allegedly sent back Rs 7 crore to the state government in four instalments at its behest.

As many as 68,026 job cards had been prepared in the district and 68,966 job cards had been issued against them. Employment to 15,095 card holders had only been provided up to September 29, 2010. No unemployment allowance had been given to any of the unemployed card holders.

In Harsi Pind of Tanda block, a pond had been got dug up with a JCB machine and its boundary wall had been constructed by migrant labourers, whereas it was shown that the work had been conducted by job card holders.

She alleged that the money meant for poor villagers for construction of houses under the Indira Awas Scheme was being given to those persons who already had pucca houses.

She said she would soon submit her report in this connection to the departments concerned of the Central Government for necessary action.

Phagwara, October 16
Supporters of village panch Rashpal Singh demonstrated and blocked road traffic near Palahi village in protest against the alleged manhandling of the panch by the husband of the sarpanch at a meeting of the panchayat today.

The protesters alleged that the panch was slapped by Gurminder Singh, husband of sarpanch Charanjit Kaur after some altercation. The blockade was lifted after half an hour on the intervention of Sadar SHO Ravinder Singh.