Bathinda, March 15
A training-cum-safety camp was organised at the local Sangam Hotel by the Indian Oil Corporation Ltd, for the sales area of Mansa, Faridkot, Muktsar and Bathinda.

Around 400 deliverymen, godown keepers, mechanics and showroom staff participated. Under the stewardship of Suresh Kumar (AM-LPG), the deliverymen were informed about their role in eliminating routine complaints. Training in safety measures was also imparted to the participants.

The best uniform/best deliverymen award went to Paramveer Gas Service, Bathinda, best godown to Malwa Gas, Kotkapura, best mechanic to Tongaria Indane, Mansa and best knowledge to operate fire extinguisher to Amanat Gas, Maur. In the end, Sukhminder Singh Laddi, proprietor of Paramveer Gas Service and president of All India LPG Federation, Bathinda zone and Tirath Ram Tongaria from Mansa, thanked the participants. — TNS

Bathinda, March 15
Under the leadership of state president of the Panchayat Secretary Union, Punjab Gurjiwan Singh Brar, employees of various Block Panchayat Samitis of the district, including Panchayat Secretaries, today staged a dharna outside the Mini-secretariat here and submitted a memorandum, enlisting their demands, to the Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) here.

These employees have been agitating in protest against the non-payment of salaries, ranging from four to six months to them. They have also been observing pen-down strike, ranging from four days to nine days, in different Block Panchayat Samitis, due to which the work of the Samitis have been affected adversely..

Earlier, they gathered at the office of local Block Panchayat Samiti and held a rally there. After that, they marched towards the Mini-secretariat, raising slogans in support of their demands and against the state government.

Talking to TNS here today, Gurjiwan Singh Brar said they had brought their problems to the notice of authorities concerned time and again but to no avail. Due to this, they had been compelled to stage dharnas, rallies and protest marches, besides the pen-down strike, he added.

He also said that the employees of the samitis, who had retired in the past, had also not got their pension so far, in some cases, even two years after their retirement.

He said the pen-down strike would remain continue. Besides, the union would also hold a rally in front of the office of the Director, Rural Development and Panchayat, Punjab, on March 22.

The demands of the agitating employees included payment of salaries for the past months upto February 2011, payment of salaries through treasuries in future, deposit pending contributory provident fund (CPF) amounts in the accounts of the employees along with interest, payment of arrears of their amounts to the retired employees. 

Ferozepur, March 15
Even as the heaps of garbage have started appearing in the city and other towns of this district due to ongoing strike of sweepers in the state, the residents along with the medical professional, working in the government-run health centres, fear outbreak of diseases, if corrective measures are not taken.

The breeding of mosquitoes had started on a large scale as garbage was littered in almost every nook and corner of the cities and towns of this district, claimed DP Godara, Civil Surgeon, Ferozepur.

He said that he had asked YK Gupta, District Health Officer (DHO) to keep a constant watch on the situation and take necessary steps.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that various towns of Ferozepur district, which were already facing problems on account of poor sewerage system, had become prone to various disease including gastroenteritis and malaria.

YK Gupta, DHO, said he had written to all the Municipal Committees of the district to carry out fogging in the residential areas under their jurisdiction to prevent breeding of mosquitoes. All the state government-run-health centres of district had been alerted to educate people to take extra care in such a situation.

A round of different towns of the district revealed that open drains had started overflowing. A number of streets had been covered with dirty water. Besides, sewerage system in different towns had started choking and garbage littered in nook and corners of almost all the towns had become a common scene.

Most of the towns of the Ferozepur district including Abohar, Fazilka, Guru Harsahai, Jalalabad, Ferozepur, Zira and Makhu had already been suffering on account of the alleged failure of the successive state government to provide basic amenities.

The lanes and bylanes of thickly populated areas of different towns had become out of bound for the residents. They have no option but to bear the foul smell emanating from their surroundings.

DC KK Yadav said medical teams had been set up. He said that whatever demands had been raised by the sweepers, could be met only by the state government.

Abohar, March 15
Punjab’s premier cooperative organisation Markfed has lost most of its regular customers after shifting of the retail outlet from the West Circular road to its storage bins, located on the outskirts of the sub-divisional town here.

Information gathered by The Tribune revealed that the retail sale outlet for domestic products had been functional for the past two decades near the old Market Committee complex, located close to the main branch of the Punjab National Bank and two cinema halls.

The retail outlet was shifted in December last to the Markfed storage bins, located in a desert area on the link road that connects Dhaani Latkan Singh with the Abohar-Hindumalkot road.

After that, the sales have nosedived to Rs 50,000 per month, sources confirmed. No woman could afford to visit the complex located far off even during the daytime, said Sunita, a housewife.

Sources in the Markfed said the retail sale outlet had to be shifted following expiry of the rent contract with the owner of the building. However, the state headquarters made no efforts to arrange another building on rent in the township, sources added.

Taking exception to the Markfed decision, Pramil Kalani, president, Arhtia Association, Sat Pal Khariwal, chairman, Consumers Movement and Hanuman Dass Goyal, member of the national working committee of Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat today faxed memorandums to the Markfed chairman and cooperatives minister to take steps to open the sale outlet in the old town area at once.

Barnala, March 15
While holding the Puducherry-based firm France Beta Nature Pvt Ltd. responsible for allegedly cheating a consumer by selling him fake slimming medicines, the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum bench comprising its president Sanjeev Sharma and members JS Sidhu and Ravinder Jeet Kaur have imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on it.

As per the complaint lodged by the consumer Paramjeet Singh, on October 4, 2010, he bought slimming capsules after reading an advertisement in a newspaper that the medicine can burn fat within 30 days and if it fails to do so, the consumer will get the money back. Out of the said amount, Rs 25,000 will be given to the consumer while the rest of the money will be deposited with the Consumer Legal Fund.

Abohar, March 15
Even when the chronic sewer problem of the sub-divisional town was prominently raised in the Punjab Vidhan Sabha by legislator Sunil Jakhar and CM Parkash Singh Badal assured of paying attention on a priority basis, substantial relief appears to be a distant dream, citizens here feel.

Meanwhile, the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board has warned that it will relinquish the charge of the sewerage and water supply system, if the local Municipal Council fails in paying dues, running into several crores by March 31.

A sum of Rs 2 crore is to be paid to the Powercom against electricity charges. Scores of farmers had blocked the flow of sewage from the main disposal works to their fields, spread on both sides of the 2.5 kilometre long sewerage channel.

They had recently approached the court, which granted a stay order in their favour, sources said.

The administration had in the recent past thrice opened the blockade to save the town but now feels helpless.

The Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, which looks after the maintenance of the drinking water supply and disposal of sewerage water, had started disposing of dirty water to the vacant areas owned by the Industrial Focal Point as all makeshift storage tanks were already overflowing.

Water was today found inundating residential areas including Indira Nagari that had elected the present president of the Abohar Municipal Council.

During a visit, some residents said handpumps too were delivering contaminated water. The road that connects the town to Shivpuri (main cremation ground) is also under knee-deep water.

Abohar, March 15
No Purchase Day was observed by the Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat while a seminar was organised by the Consumers Movement on the World Consumer Day here.

A Panchayat team led by Hanuman Dass Goyal and Ashok Garg addressed corner meeting at Sadar Bazaar Chowk to apprise the consumers as to how they were being cheated under the pretext of MRP. They alleged that some of the manufacturers of medicines had printed MRP ten times the actual price on the packs.

Pardeep Garg cautioned the consumers against malpractices being adopted by clever marketing companies. They advised the consumers to bid adieu to unnecessary purchases to combat the skyrocketing prices. During a seminar organised by the Consumers Movement, its chairman Sat Pal Khariwal was joined by Ashwani Kumar, advocate, Vijay Golcha and Rajesh Gupta in raising their voice against exploitation of consumers by black marketeers, hoarders and profiteers.

Bathinda, March 15
Advocate Rajan Garg was today declared the new president of the District Bar Association (DBA), Bathinda, for the year 2011-12 by the Returning Officer (RO) for the elections Bharpur Singh Khatra.

Khatra said there were two candidates for the post of president, Bikramjit Singh Bhullar and Rajan Garg. He said as Bhullar had become member of the DBA on January 14, 2009, so as per its Constitution, he did not fulfil the condition for the election of the president. So, his nomination papers had been rejected. On the other hand, the nomination papers of Rajan Garg were found to be in order, he added.

The RO also declared Harinder Singh Aklia as treasurer of the DBA saying he had received only one nomination form for the post of treasurer, that of Aklia. Finding no opposition to his candidature, he declared Aklia as treasurer, he added. — TNS

Fazilka, March 15
Surinder Kumar Ahuja, a leading farmer and horticulturist of this region, has been selected for the Chief Minister Award for agriculture for his contribution for increasing farm yield and conservation of environment by developing new techniques in the agriculture operation.

Ahuja would get the award on March 17 at a function at the campus of the Punjab Agriculture University, Ludhiana.

Ahuja, managing director of a leading Agriculture service company, Zimindara Farmsolutions, has been adopting new technologies in the agriculture operations for the past many decades. He made a large section of farmers increase the yield of crops, being grown by them in their respective fields.

He was one among those pioneers of water conservation, who adopted laser land levelling and use of tensio metres to irrigate crops as and when required. He also adopted the technology connected with rice transplanters and direct seeding in paddy cultivation.

By adopting the technology like turbo happy seeder, starting the concept of using rice straw as mulch and concept of making rice straw bales after stopping the farmers it, Ahuja has also initiated a number of steps to protect the environmental degradation. The credit for starting of micro-irrigation techniques like drip irrigation systems for growing horticulture crops like Guava and Citrus even under adverse conditions when the required water is not available in the region also goes to him.