Amritsar, March 4
The SGPC today announced a financial aid of Rs 2 lakh each for the surviving families of the Hond-Chillar massacre besides allocating Rs 1 crore for the higher education of children of all affected families of 1984 riots.

Addressing a gathering, after the bhog of akhand path performed in the memory of those killed in Hond-Chillar, at the Golden Temple complex here, SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar said, “The proposal to allocate Rs 1 crore for higher education of children of all 1984-riot affected families, including the survivors of the Rewari massacre, has got the nod from the SGPC executive and we will facilitate the same for all those who approach us. We are also committed to fight a legal battle over the Rewari massacre to its logical end and will bear all expenses involved in it.” The SGPC has already allocated Rs 50 lakh for legal aid in the case.

Makkar sought a proper rehabilitation package for the survivors and restoration of their agricultural land which they reportedly sold off at throwaway prices. He also demanded that those guilty in the case should be identified and punished. He rejected the probe report into the massacre submitted by the Divisional Commissioner and renewed his demand for a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. He said a memorial would be raised at Hond-Chillar village in consultation with the surviving families.

The Akal Takht Jathedar, Giani Gurbachan Singh, gave siropas to the survivors of the carnage who came from Bathinda and Ludhiana to attend the bhog ceremony here. The Jathedar said the Haryana Government must bring to book all those who hatched this conspiracy. Dal Khalsa leader Kanwarpal Singh Bittu flayed the Centre and the Haryana Government and said their attitude on the issue did not indicate that justice would be done in the case. Damdami Taksal chief Harnam Singh Khalsa and Khalsa Action Committee Chairman Bhai Mohkam Singh were also present.

Meanwhile, SAD (Amritsar) president Simranjeet Singh Mann was not allowed to address the gathering by the SGPC which contended that it was a religious and not a political function. However, that didn’t stop Mann and he aired his views after the function got over. He flayed the Centre for “discriminating against Sikhs”, contending that while the guilty have been sentenced to death in Mumbai terror attack and Godhra tragedy, no one has been punished for the 1984 riots.

Mohali/Panchkula, March 4
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today reiterated the resolve of the SAD to continue its sustained struggle in every available democratic and judicial forum, till those responsible for the massacre of 32 Sikhs in Hond Chiller, Haryana, were put behind the bars. The SAD today also approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a judicial inquiry by a sitting high court judge in the planned conspiracy to eliminate the Sikh families and suppression of the case for 26 long years by the Congress government.

Offering ardas at Gurdwara Amb Sahib, Mohali, Sukhbir Badal said all members of the Sikh community all over the world were offering prayers, seeking peace for the departed souls of those killed in Hond Chiller.

The SAD president said the Congress kept on sitting on this issue till the Member Parliament, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, raised the issue on the floor of the House. He said that despite assurance of justice by the Leader of the House in Parliament, the government refused to arrest Sajjan for 25 days despite high court directions.

Meanwhile at Nadha Sahib Gurdwara, Badal today demanded a probe by a retired high court judge into the alleged massacre of innocent Sikhs in Rewari district of Haryana in 1984. He said the high court judge should be supported by the CBI so as to punish those who connived in the heinous act or abetted the crime. They must be brought to justice as per law. The Punjab CM said that the Congress-led government in the state had failed to probe the matter and was trying to shield those accused in the heinous crime. He said the community had lost faith in the Hooda government as justice still eluded the victims.

Chandigarh, March 4
In what apparently appeared as a score card of the SAD-BJP government of its performance since 2007, the Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil today reiterated the state government’s commitment “to continue its struggle to get brazen injustice done to its people on river waters and territorial issues vacated.”

The conventional Address before the start of the Budget session had the Governor on his feet for 87 minutes to read out perhaps one of the longest gubernatorial address in the recent times. He skipped several paragraphs from his 71-page printed Address that virtually covered the achievements of every administrative department.

The Address was not without its usual commotion as Avtar Singh Brar tried to interrupt the Governor when he was talking about the setting up of cancer diagnostic and treatment centres at Amritsar, Faridkot, Patiala and Bathinda, before all members of the Congress silently walked out of the House. Two Independents- Charanjit Channi and Madan Lal-also joined them.

Not only the former Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal and his two companions-Jagbir Singh Brar and Manjinder Singh Kang but the former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who were also conspicuous by their absence.

Interestingly, even the Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah could not attend the Governor’s Address that at best was attended by 92 of the 117 members of the House.

After the walkout by the Congress MLAs, only 58 legislators remained present for the remainder of the sitting.

Focusing on the coming Assembly elections, the Governor’s Address so drafted to sing praises for the Government saying the “State stands on the doorstep of unrivalled progress, development and prosperity. The momentum of growth is with us. For the first time in decades, Punjabis look forward to their future with reviewed confidence and a realistic hope. The days of despair and cynicism are over.

“The treasure of wisdom of generations of saints, seers, statesmen, heroes and martyrs is with us. And with the benefit of this, my government has put youth at the centre of its new vision and the youth is ready to take us forward from here.

“I have no doubt that the vision of a new, confident and progressive Punjab will receive a wholehearted mandate in the future too,” the Governor said in his Address that started with Centre bashing.

“The state has been subjected to gross injustice and discrimination on religious, political, economic and geographical matters. Vast Punjabi-speaking areas, including Chandigarh, were wilfully kept out of the state in total defiance of all precedents and principles of natural justice. Similarly, the state was denied its legal rights over river waters, again in violation of the well established precedents and the nationally and internationally accepted Riparian principles,” Patil said.

In his address he also spoke about the “injustice on religious issues” saying that attempts had been made to undermine the elected religious Parliament of the Sikhs, the SGPC. It also had a dig at the Centre by saying that the policy makers had been spreading the impression that Punjab was lagging behind other states like Haryana in economic prosperity while on the other hand enumeration of the BPL families in the state has been calculated to deny our state central grants in this regard. “The prosperous state of Haryana has over 15 lakh BPL families while the figure for Punjab has been put at 4.44lakh,” Patil said in his Address.

Investment in power sector, revival of Bathinda refinery, proposal to introduce the Right to Service Act, employment generation for thousands of unemployed youth, thrust on education and health care, encouragement to sports, reforms in governance and efforts to revive and rejuvenate the state agriculture have also been amply highlighted in the address. It also talked about revamping of the canal network in the state, unbundling of the Punjab State Electricity Board, improvement and strengthening of state and national highways, emphasis on improved air connectivity and starting of new universities, colleges and Indian School of Business were the other highlights of the Address.

Chandigarh, March 4
Fifty minutes into the anti-Centre bashing of Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil in his inaugural Address of the Budget Session, the Congress staged a walkout in protest.

By the time the Congress legislators realised the Governor was criticising the UPA Government led by Dr Manmohan Singh for its anti-Punjab stand, the Governor had almost finished half his speech.

Patil, himself a lifetime Congressman, was appointed Governor of Punjab last year. As a constitutional obligation the Governor has to read out a speech that is given to him by the government in power, highlighting its vision, policies and programmes. Since Punjab has the SAD-BJP coalition in power, which was part of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), the speech read out by the governor blamed the UPA for most ills here.

The Congress legislators remained mute spectators till the Governor Patil read out nearly 12 pages from his 67 page speech. In these 12 pages he referred to how Punjab had achieved a growth rate of 8.8 per cent, surpassing national average of 7.4 per cent.

Patil went on to attack the UPA saying, “In the name of grand theories of fiscal management and growth priorities, governments (read UPA) have been abdicating their moral and constitutional responsibility of sharing the burden (pointing out inflation) of the people.”

After Patil had called for a genuine recasting of the Constitution to make it truly federal giving greater fiscal autonomy to states and levelled several allegation of discrimination against Punjab, Avtar Brar of the Congress go up and asked Patil if he meant what he was saying. “We had decided that we will not disturb (read as you are our party colleague) you, but your utterances are mere lies, so we will have to leave,” he said before everyone on the Congress benches walked out.

Patil said Punjab had been made a subject to calculated discrimination and injustice in the economic sphere by the Centre. He said the Centre was unnecessarily trying to interfere in the religious issues by trying to undermine the “elected religious Parliament of the Sikhs -the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandak Committee”.

The entire address was telecast live by Doordarshan. Both Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh and Deputy Chief Minister Manpreet Singh Badal were absent from the house on the first day of the 11th Session of the 13th Vidhan Sabha.

Patil rebutted almost every allegation that is made by the Congress in its rallies against the state government.

At the same time he devoted over 50 pages highlighting the achievements of the present government.

Chandigarh, March 4
“We have been without food, water and money for the past three days and do not know when we will be evacuated from here,” says a group of Indian workers stranded at Seerat in Libya, ruing that “ship or aircraft promised to us by the Indian embassy failed to arrive there today to aggravate their misery and suffering”.

Talking to The Tribune over the telephone, Sukhvinder Singh, who hails from Ludhiana, says that since Monday, the company for which they are working has discontinued the supply of food and even water to their camp. The cooks have stopped working in protest against non-payment of their wages. Kitchens have been shut.

Indian workers also complain that they have not been paid any salaries or overtime for the past several months. “I and my colleagues have not been paid our salaries or overtime for six months now. We are now penniless and without food. We are left to ourselves in this grim situation where locals are preying on us,” adds Sukhwinder Singh.

“We have been trying to get in touch with the Indian embassy but no help is coming from there. We are more worried because some of Indian workers have been robbed of their money and even mobile phones.

“Some of the local people have been armed to their teeth. Some of them were misusing their weapons in looting and robbing workers from overseas. Some of Indian workers from our camp tried to go to Tripoli. They were stopped on the way and all their belongings, including money, mobile phones and personal belongings were taken away,” adds Sukhwinder Singh.

Rana of Kapurthala maintained that the Indian embassy had promised to evacuate them today.

“Seerat is a port and is about 600 km from Tripoli. Now all roads to Tripoli are blocked and we cannot go there.”

“Most of us work for DS Company. The company officials asked all employees to deposit all their money by promising to pay us in India in Indian currency. “It is not safe to carry any money on our person here as there are numerous check points where militia and security forces conduct thorough searches and take away all money and even mobile handsets,” adds Rana. Balkrishan from Nawanshahr says that not only workers of DS Company but also Indians working for other companies like Gulf, Al Jhuma, J& P and System were in the same mess.

Balkrishan, Sukhwinder and Rana maintain that the number of Indian workers waiting for evacuation may exceed 2,000. “We are desperate to get out and feel safe,” he said.

Chandigarh, March 4
Lack of coordination in the Punjab Congress legislature party (CLP) led to confusion among its members who first sat absolutely quietly listening to the Governor’s address and then in a knee-jerk reaction belatedly decided to boycott the address on the first day of the Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha.

Members said the meeting of the CLP, which was held after the boycott of the Governor’s address after listening to it for more than 45 minutes, could have been held earlier to form the party’s strategy.

It was decided in the meeting that the CLP leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal would give a reply on behalf of the party on the Governor’s address and that Pradesh Congress President Amarinder Singh would speak on the budget. Other speakers are yet to be decided.

MLA Sukhpal Singh Khaira said he had rung up the CLP leader in the morning to ask about the party’s strategy and had been told that the party did not want to create any disturbance. However, midway through the address, the Congress legislators started getting restless and it was then that the CLP leader took the reaction of some of the legislators and gave an indication to senior leader Avtar Singh Brar to stand up and speak out the party’s mind on the issue. Brar said even though the party members wanted to listen to the address their patience ran out due to the blatant lies contained in it. However, the subsequent walkout was without the customary sloganeering.

Meanwhile, the party’s strategy is likely to be fine tuned at a dinner being hosted by Amarinder Singh for all CLP members on March 7. He could not attend today’s session because his mother Rajmata Mohinder Kaur is unwell.

The Congress is likely to take up the law and order issue in the Budget Session. It will claim that political interference has paralysed police functioning. The state’s financial position as well as credit being taken by the state government for central flagship programmes is also likely to figure in the discussion.

Abohar legislator Sunil Jakhar said he would demand a white paper on the Bathinda refinery and ask the government to come clean with the concessions it proposed to give to the refinery as well as the benefit to the state exchequer from the project. He said he would also demand a discussion on why the state government had rejected the Centre’s offer for a debt waiver, which led to former Finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal’s exit from the ministry.

Chandigarh, March 4
The Shiromani Akali Dal-BJP Government today almost spelt out its election manifesto for the next general elections due in 2012 in the garb of the Governor’s Address. The SAD has been reiterating its resolve to continue with various subsidies and schemes for the backward classes and the needy and highlighted that it would continue harping on its agenda of development.

Governor Shivraj Patil did not mince words as he said, “I have no doubt that the vision of a new, confident and progressive Punjab will receive a whole hearted mandate in the future also”. Thereby the Governor also gave the SAD-BJP alliance a mandate, much before the next poll.

For the first time the SAD has gone a step further in demanding a stronger federal setup in the country by demanding “a genuine recasting of the Constitution to make it truly federal giving greater fiscal autonomy to states”. The party has justified this by saying that “strong states mean strong India”. But it added that “unfortunately, there has been a progressive erosion of the state’s rights, especially with regard to devolution of funds from the central taxes”.

Punjab has been demanding for itself and for other states at least 50 percent share in the central taxes. The party manifesto will obviously include the quote from Governor’s address to say, “formula prepared by the government of India have always punished efficiency and placed a premium on backwardness, creating an unhealthy stake in non-performance”.

Further, the party manifesto is also expected to pick up the governor’s lines saying, “The state has been subjected to calculated discrimination and injustice in economic sphere. Punjab has suffered due to Centre’s high-handedness in devolution of funds. One example is that the policy makers have been spreading the impression of Punjab lagging behind other states like Haryana in economic prosperity. But the “prosperous state” of Haryana has over 15 lakhs BPL families while the figure in Punjab has been put at 4.44 lakh”.

Also the SAD has advised the Centre not to interfere in the issues of the Sikhs and elections of the SGPC saying, “These ill-advised moves are fraught with danger and are an invitation to religious and social discontent”.

Further the reverence to the “revolutionary Right to Service Act” and the amendment to the East Punjab Rent Restriction Act 1949 to protect the urban NRIs that figures in the speech will also find mention in the manifesto and list of achievements of the SAD-BJP Government.

Dalam (Amritsar), March 4
An agitated mob here today torched three private buses after two persons were crushed to death by a bus belonging to the transport company reportedly being run by relatives of the Punjab Assembly Speaker, Nirmal Singh Kahlon.

The victims, identified as Kashmir Singh (30) and Harpreet Singh (24), both residents of the nearby Bhalapind village, met with the accident at 8.15 am on their way to Amritsar. The speeding bus first hit a school van and then rammed into a two-wheeler. The riders on the two-wheeler died on the spot while the bus driver sped away.

As the news of the mishap spread like a wildfire, people started gathering on the spot. They went berserk and torched a bus (PB-02-AC-9933), coming from the Amritsar side. The mob burnt two more buses at Bhalapind village and Kukrawala, close to this village, where the incident took place. All shops and filling stations from Rajasansi to Bhalapind were closed fearing a rampage.

The Amritsar rural police had a tough time in controlling the mob which also damaged two police vehicles. The police urged the traders to close their establishments as a precautionary measure. Tension continued to prevail till the afternoon when the bodies were sent for a post-mortem examination. Earlier, members of the family and other people did not allow the police team to lift the bodies until an FIR was lodged against the bus driver.

Gurmeet Singh Chauhan, SSP, Amritsar rural police, said a case under Section 304, 427, IPC, had been registered against the driver of the bus, who was identified as Karaj Singh on the statement of Prem Singh, an uncle of the deceased, Harpreet Singh. He said the situation was under control and investigations had been started.

Ferozepur, March 4
As many as six persons, including four women, were killed on the spot while 25 others were injured as a speeding mini bus collided head on with a loaded truck near Khai Mehal Singh Wala village on the Ferozepur-Fazilka Road in the morning today.

The deceased include the drivers of the two vehicles, Kewal Singh and Vijay Kumar, Harbans Kaur and her daughter Devinder Kaur, Kanta Rani and Simarjit Kaur.

The bus, which was packed beyond its capacity, fell into a ditch while the front and the middle portion of the truck, which was loaded with bags, got crushed in the accident.

Deputy Commissioner KK Yadav, SSP Kaustab Sharma, rushed to the spot. The dead bodies have been shifted to local Civil Hospital.

Yadav said the injured, who had been admitted in different hospitals, would be treated free of cost. He said three injured, whose condition was critical, had been shifted to bigger hospitals in other towns.

Residents belonging to various villages located near the site of the accident, highway patrol team and BSF personnel shifted the injured to various hospitals in Ferozepur town as well as the cantonment area.

DSP Jasbir Singh said the accident took place when the driver of the bus Kewal Singh, who was attending a call on his cell phone and had loud music playing inside the bus, hit the bus against the truck moving from Ferozepur to Fazilka. The bus was on way to Ferozepur from Jang village. There was low visibility due to fog, he said.

He said a case under Sections 304, 427, 337, 338 and 279 of the IPC was registered against Kewal Singh, the driver of bus, on the basis of a statement of Narinder Pal, a resident of Jang village.

The injured include Narinder Pal, Paramjit Kaur, Jasbir Singh, Mukhtiar Singh, Jashpreet Kaur, Lovepreet, Balraj Singh, Baldev Singh, Kailasho Rani, Kuldeep Singh, Vansh, Devinder Singh, Surjan Singh, Malkit Singh, Jaswant Singh, Sarwanjit Singh, Jyoti, Gurwinderjit Kaur and Kurpinder Singh.

Patiala, March 4
Delivering the inaugural address at the international conference on peace, security and economic development in South Asia here today, eminent economist and the Director General of CRRID Prof Sucha Singh Gill said inclusive growth was necessary but not a sufficient condition for peace and security. “This is because along with economic justice, issues like equity among persons with difference of language, cast, creed, religion, race, region and gender gain equal importance,” he said.

The three-day international conference began this morning at the Senate Hall of Punjabi University, Patiala.

Though the countries of South Asia had embarked on the path of regional cooperation by establishing South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) in 1984 but it could not become a tool of regional integration among South Asian countries. “We need to learn a lesson from Europe and ASEAN countries to shed enmity and hangover from the past to look forward to develop cooperation to ensure peace and security in the region for prosperity,” said Sucha Singh.

Dr Jaspal Singh, vice-chancellor of the University, said the conference must come out with recommendations to be sent to the authorities concerned in the South Asian countries. Dr Swaran Singh read the keynote address on behalf of Prof E Sridharan, Academic Director, University of Pennsylvania, Institute for the Advanced Study of India, New Delhi. Chairing the session on the Role of Media in Building Peace, veteran journalist Gobind Thukral said a large section of the media had been happy in promoting conflict not only among countries but even within countries such as the negative role played by some sections of the media in Punjab. Baljit Singh Mann also read out a paper.

Ludhiana, March 4
Justice MM Kumar of the Punjab and Haryana High Court after inspecting the local central and women’s jail today said, “Bad conditions prevail in Ludhiana Central Jail for inmates.”

Irked over finding utensils especially stainless steel milk cans in the corners of different barracks, the judge said with this the possibility of smuggling narcotics in the jail could not be ruled out. Moreover, these utensils could prove to be dangerous, as it could be used by the jail inmates during a fight with each other. He directed the jail authorities not to allow any inmate to keep utensils.

He was irked with the conditions of washrooms especially on 3rd and 4th floor in jail, which were unhygienic. He heard the grievances of the inmates. Finding a ceiling fan on a lower height, he instructed the jail authorities to remove the fan and put it on such a height so that no jail inmate could commit suicide by hanging from the fan.

Justice Kumar was astonished to see that no thermometer and blood pressure-checking equipment was available in the OPD of the jail. However, jail authorities made an excuse that the same has been sent to check a patient. He instructed to have one set of such equipment always available in the OPD too.

Talking to the Tribune, Justice Kumar said for 2,400 jail inmates, there was presently only one doctor available. From this we can very well imagine the plight of the inmates. Prisoners fundamental right of having a congenial atmosphere should not be denied, he said. He was not happy with the functioning of Borstal jail too. He also checked the food provided to the inmates. He got the chapattis weighed that were made for the inmates.

Patiala, March 4
The Patiala Municipal Corporation (MC) house today passed the budget estimate for the coming fiscal year (2011-12). As per the information, for 2011-12, income target of Rs 94.92 crore has been fixed in the budget.

Providing a relief to the city residents, the MC has not proposed any increase in the present taxes and has also not imposed any other new tax in the proposed budget. Presiding over the special budget meeting held at corporation office, here today, Mayor Ajit Pal Singh Kohli tabled the budget before the house. As per the proposed budget, the expenditure on the establishment branch and contingency has been earmarked as Rs 41.80 crore and Rs 1.95 crore, respectively. The total capital expenditure on development has been kept Rs 50.41 crore.

Speaking to The Tribune, Kohli termed the budget as a development oriented. “Funds to the tune of 54 per cent of the total budget have been earmarked for undertaking development works in the 50 municipal wards of Patiala.” He also said till January 31, 2011, the Patiala MC had generated revenue of Rs 47.40 crore, while adding that he is hopeful that by March 31, 2011, civic body would achieve the 100 per cent income target set in the budget for 2010-11

Meanwhile, for the coming fiscal year the main revenue generation will be from Octroi/share of VAT (Rs 23.50 crore), house tax (Rs 12 crore) and water supply and sewerage (Rs 9 crore).

Apart from this, the proposed income from some other account heads mentioned in the budget includes Octroi on electricity (Rs 3.35 crore), Advertisement Tax (Rs 1.25 crore), sale of property (Rs 20 crore) and Additional Excise Duty (Rs 5.5 crore).

Patiala, March 4
The Sikh Students Federation (SSF) has reiterated its demand that the SAD-BJP government should amend the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act (PTAA) 2004, to abrogate its Section 5.

Stating that the Section 5 of the Act guarantees that the existing allocation of water of Sutlej, Ravi and Beas rivers, to Haryana and Rajasthan will be protected even after the Act came into being; SSF president Paramjit Singh Gazi said, “The Section 5 fully protects the current utilisation of water by the neighbouring states through the existing canal systems.

Hence, the purpose of the Act stands defeated by insertion of Section 5.”

SSF leaders have demanded that the government should amend PTAA (2004) to delete the Section 5 and assert Punjab’s inherent right to control and use its natural resource - river water, to save the state from apparent eco-disaster.

Notably, the Act had annulled the December 31, 1981, agreement between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, signed by the three Chief Ministers concerned, in the presence of the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, and also all other agreements relating to the water of the Ravi and the Beas.

The PTAA 2004 was passed by the Punjab Assembly on July 12, 2004. Stating that the Section 5 of PTAA (2004) was passed unanimously by the Congress and the SAD-BJP in the Punjab Assembly, Gazi said, “Since the adoption of the Section 5 of PTAA (2004), illegal allocation of Punjab’s river water to non-riparian states has received the stamp of the Punjab Assembly.”

He said in its 2007 Punjab Assembly election manifesto, SAD had promised if the SAD-BJP came to power, they will terminate the Section 5. “But unfortunately, even after four years, the SAD-BJP government has not fulfilled its promise,” he rued. The SSF has now demanded that the SAD-BJP government should take steps to terminate Section 5 of PTAA during the current Assembly session.

Fatehgarh Sahib, March 4
Shortage of labourers during wheat harvesting season has forced farmers to adopt a proactive approach, and those opting manual harvesting this time, have already begun outsourcing labourers a month ahead of harvesting season.

“In view of last year’s labour pangs and high fodder prices, many farmers will opt for manual harvesting this time. Since good quantity fodder is extracted from wheat plants with manual harvesting it requires a large number of labourers to harvest wheat crop,” said farmer Paramjit, who had grown wheat in seven acres besides three acres of cereals. Another Ramanjit from Bassi Pathana said in view of last year’s labour crunch, farmers had a tough time in harvesting wheat crop amidst scorching heat. Last year most of the farmers opted to harvest wheat with combine machines instead of manual harvesting, which has led to rise in fodder prices. Ramanjit has already given Rs 1,000 to labour contractor, who promised to harvest his five acres wheat crop next month. “Last year labourers charged Rs 1,800 for an acre but this time they will increase the amount with Rs 200 or so,” he said.

Meanwhile, the farmers’ body Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal said the farmers should not set a trend of booking labourers as earlier rice millers used to give away Rs 10,000 to Rs 50,000 and even more but labourers after pocketing money never turned up. Rajewal admitted panic among Punjab farmers due to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme under which labourers earn handsomely in their native villages.

Manhera Jattan (Fatehgarh Sahib), March 4
In a bid to provide pure drinking water, the Department of Water Supply and Sanitation has provided 24 hours drinking water in nine villages of Fatehgarh Sahib. Under the World Bank project, 92 households out of 98 are getting treated drinking water in this village.

Usually, the water is treated with chlorination but here villagers are getting water treated with silver-ionization as well. The silver-ionization technique makes water completely fit for human consumption. Officials said , “There are 452 villages in Fatehgarh Sahib and out of these 13 are yet to get the water supply.” RP Gupta, executive engineer, said so far work in nine villages out of 14 villages had been finished and the rest would be completed before July. The department officials said the government had provided water connections in 439 villages out of 452 but many of them were still not getting pure water and the World Bank project might fill the void in those villages.