Khatkar Kalan, March 11
Even as various political parties will be spending huge funds to hold their rallies on the occasion of the martyrdom day of Bhagat Singh here, a library at the memorial site here has been lying closed for the past seven months owing to the non-payment of wages to the librarians.

None of the political leaders who have been turning up time and again at the site ensuring the best location and arrangements for their functions have paid a heed to check the condition of the library, which was opened just two years back for dissemination of the Shaheed-e-Azam’s ideology among the masses.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had landed his chopper at the site almost a week back to check the rally site himself, but he failed to pay attention to this more genuine aspect. Nearly 2,600 books in the library have been simply gathering dust for there has been no caretaker ever since.

The residents of Khatkar Kalan and surrounding villages who often make it to the garden around the library during their morning and evening walks said, “There is no point in having made the building when we do not have access to the literature kept here. There is no provision of any newspapers or journals either.”

Kashmira Singh, a resident, said, “No membership cards have been made and no books have been ever issued to anyone for reading at their leisure. Even the garden around it is devoid of flowers in the spring season. The fountains have also not been functioning for the past few months.”

Sarpanch Gurmail Virdi said he had brought the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) in this regard. The DC, Shruti Singh, when contacted, assigned reasons, “Initially, there were two librarians. A trust had taken the responsibility of maintenance of the library. There was a dispute among the members after which they stopped making payments.”

“I have called a meeting for the purpose in a few days. We are also going to advertise the posts of librarian and gardener. The library will be opened before March 23,” she assured.

Hoshiarpur, March 11
On the fifth day of their indefinite strike, agitating employees of the Municipal Council, led by their leaders Ravinder Thakur, Yashpal, Joginder Singh Saini and Kewal Lal Heer, took out a protest march in the main bazaars of the town today in support of their various demands, including to forming of permanent pension fund for providing monthly pensions to the retired employees regularly, regularising the services of ad hoc employees and making fresh recruitment in municipal corporations and councils to fill all vacant posts.

They were carrying placards and banners relating to their demands.

Later, they burnt an effigy of Punjab Local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia at Sessions Chowk here.

According to chairman of the Municipal Employees Ministerial Staff Union Ravinder Thakur, the Nagar Council Sangharsh Committee, consisting nine members from the municipal technical employees, safai karamcharis, fire brigade employees and ministerial staff, had been constituted to further intensify the agitation.

The ongoing strike has deteriorated the sanitary conditions in the town. Heaps of garbage are piling in various localities and drain water was overflowing on the roads in various bazaars and lanes in the town.

Executive Officer of the Municipal Council Surinder Nath Aggarwal said the district administration were pursuing the local striking employees, especially safai sewaks to lift the heaps of garbage piling at various places in the town.

Keeping in view the serious threat to the health of the inhabitants, Deputy Commissioner Dharam Dutt Tarnach appealed to the striking employees to restore the civic amenities to avoid any inconvenience to the people.

Phagwara: Striking employees belonging to various municipal committees today held a noisy demonstration and burnt an effigy of Punjab Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia here on the fifth day of their indefinite strike today.

Municipal employees’ union leaders, belonging to the Joint Action Committee, threatened to intensify their stir if their long-pending demands were not accepted soon.

Addressing the protesters, union leaders Surjit Kaur, Jagtar Singh, Jyoti Bhaghania, Ashok Joga and Rajesh Sahni alleged that nothing had been initiated by the state government, despite their statewide struggle and the entire municipal works lying paralysed.

Their major demands included regularisation of ad hoc municipal employees, implementation of the Minimum Wages Act on safai karamcharis and implementation of the recommendations of the Pay Commission.

Reports of strike were also received from Goraya, Phillaur, Noormahal and Nakodar.

Hoshiarpur, March 11
The district consumer forum, comprising president P.D. Goel and member Vandna Chaudhary, has accepted the complaint of Shami Arora, son of Gurcharan Dass, resident of the local Naloyian bypass, against Ludhiana

Beverages Pvt Ltd and directed the latter to pay Rs 5,000 to the complainant by way of compensation and litigation costs within one month.

Shami had filed a complaint against the local firm M.G. Khullar Traders and Ludhiana Beverages Pvt Ltd that on October 16, 2010, he purchased two crates of Limca bottles for a family function. After consuming Limca one of his family friends developed stomachache and started vomiting. Some other guests also complained of bitter taste of Limca. When he checked the remaining filled bottles, he saw a piece of blade, marked “Zorrrik”, in 300 ml sealed bottle of Limca.

The opposite parties, M.G. Khular Traders and Ludhiana Beverages Pvt Ltd in their reply pleaded that beverages are bottled in most sophisticated modern and automatic plant with strict quality checks, thus there is no possibility of any foreign material in the bottle as alleged. They saidt the alleged bottle must had been spuriously filled or tampered with by the complainant by removing the cork and putting the extraneous material in it as he wanted to become the dealer of Ludhiana Beverages, for which they did not agree. — OC

Nawanshahr, March 11
Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) organised a regional kisan mela at the Regional Research Station for Kandi Area at Ballowal Saunkhri in the district today.

Chaudhary Nand Lal, Chief Parliamentary Secretary, exhorted the farmers to take advantage of the latest scientific techniques being provided to them by PAU at their doorstep by organising such melas. The Regional Research Station for Kandi Area had been proving a boon for the farmers by developing need-based technologies for the Kandi area, he added.

Dr Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, said as the most of the Kandi area in the state had been facing scarcity of water, its judicious use was a must. The PAU scientists had been laying focus on technologies for the water-use efficiency crops for the Kandi area. He advised the farmers to go for the cultivation of fruit crops like mango, galgal, citrus, guava, ber, amla, etc, for which the latest technologies had been evolved by the PAU keeping in view the needs of the Kandi region. Dr. B.S. Ahluwalia, a former student of PAU and internationally acclaimed scientist from Vienna, Austria, was the special guest at the mela. Sharing his experiences, Dr Ahluwalia said the setting up of the school of biotechnology and school of information technology at PAU would boost the biotech research. While advising the farmers of the Kandi area to go for the cultivation of amla, jatropha, olive and aloe vera, he urged the state government to encourage processing industrial units for these crops.

Dr S.S. Johal, Director, Research, Dr Jagtar Singh Dhiman, Additional Director, Communication, Dr M.S. Gill, Director, Extension Education, Mohamad Tayyab, SDM, Balachaur, and Dr S.C. Sharma, Director, Regional Research Station for Kandi Area, also addressed the gathering.

The dignitaries and farmers were shown field demonstrations and exhibitions depicting latest technologies developed by different departments. The queries of farmers were addressed by PAU experts. The stalls by self-help groups of different Krishi Vighyan Kendras and Punjab Kisan Clubs attracted the attention of the farmers. A skit was presented by students of the Gursewa Indtitute of Nursing, Panam.