Bathinda, April 8
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal today came out in support of Anna Hazare and urged the Congress-led UPA government to immediately convene a meeting of all parties and also NGOs and civil society to reach a consensus on formulating a mechanism to stem out corruption in public life.

Sukhbir, who was here to mobilise the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and BJP activists for the party’s rally at Talwandi Sabo on Baisakhi (April 14), stressed that the Centre should take an immediate initiative to sort out the issue as corruption had become a major menace under the Congress-led regime.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and the Congress leadership should read the writing on the wall that people would not accept the “tainted” government anymore.

He said the Punjab government had taken several steps to check corruption and would bring in the Right to Service Act within a month to make the officialdom answerable to the common people. Action under the provisions of the Act would be taken against any officer found guilty.

The Deputy CM accused the Central government of “intentionally” trying to create a crisis of food storage and carriage in Punjab at the time of procurement of the current wheat crop. It was being done keeping in mind the Assembly elections that were scheduled to be held in the state early next year, he alleged.

He said immediate arrangements were required to store 70 lakh tonne of grains in Punjab. Moreover, the grains procured earlier were also lying in the godowns. The wheat and rice procured by the FCI was rotting in open due to lack of storage space. The Ministry of Railways has also failed to provide bogies to lift the stocked grains to the needy states, he alleged.

Sukhbir said the Congress leadership in Punjab and the PPP leader Manpreet Singh Badal were frustrated because of the all-round development that was taking place in the state under the present SAD-BJP rule. They had nothing solid to criticise the government and as such were trying to mislead the people by raking up baseless issues, he said.

Referring to the Manpreet’s allegations of political vendetta against his supporters, Sukhbir alleged that the PPP leader was himself answerable to the people of Gidderbaha where he had unleashed a reign of terror when he was the finance minister during the last four years. He said the SAD-BJP government does not believe in vendetta but law of the land would take its own course.

He alleged that Manpreet had exposed his “double face” by announcing that people above 70 years of age should retire from politics and relatives should not be given political assignments and then declaring his aged father Gurdas Badal as the PPP candidate for the Lambi segment and his two other relatives for other constituencies.

Sukhbir said Bathinda was set to witness economic transformation with setting up of the Rs 10,000-crore textile hub, in which about 50,000 women would get employment. Moreover, the cotton growers would immensely benefit from it.

He said sufficient quantity of quality Bt cotton seed was available with the government agencies and the farmers should not panic. The civil airport would also be constructed soon, he said.

Sukhbir also addressed rallies at Bhuchho, Rampura and Maur. Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman, senior deputy mayor and BJP leader Tarsem Goyal and SAD leaders Sikendar Singh Malooka and Saroop Chand Singla were among those who accompanied Sukhbir.

Abohar/ Ferozepur, April 8
Candlelight processions were held by prominent writers, poets and stage artists at Abohar and Sriganganagar extending support to the anti-corruption crusade launched by social activist Anna 
Hazare.

The rally at Abohar was led by Dr BB Sharma, Regional Director, DAV Schools. Celebrity stage directors Prof. Gaurav Vij, Surinder Narula and Vikas Batra were joined by other artists as the rally originating from Shaheed Bhagat Singh Chowk passed through the main roads.

At Sriganganagar, the candlelight visit was led by prolific writers Prof Ali Mohammad Parihar, Tushar Kant Ghosh, Dr Sridhar Sharma, Dr Ajay Misra, Prof. HR Swami, Dr SM Lahiri and others. Another procession was led by veteran social activist BD Aggarwal from Mahabir Dal Mandir.

In Ferozepur, coming out in support of Anna Hazare, the People’s Party of Punjab (PPP) has demanded that the Lokpal Bill should be introduced in the coming session of Parliament in its original form as envisaged by the eminent legal luminaries like Santosh Hedge and Prashant Bushan.

Manpreet Badal who was here to attend a workers’ rally at the residence of Ratinder Singh Saiyanwala, said the movement initiated by Anna Hazare was an indication of brighter times to come. 

Gidderbaha, April 8
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal said the stretches of the Sirhind Feeder and the Rajasthan Feeder canals, passing through Punjab area, would be concrete lined at a cost of Rs 1441 crores to solve the problem of waterlogging in various parts of Muktsar, Ferozepur and Faridkot districts.

Badal distributed a grant of over Rs 2 crores for various development projects in eight villages of the assembly segment during his Sangat Darshan function.

He said efforts are on to strengthen and brick line other canals of Punjab so that availability of water could be ensured to farmers having their landholding at tail-ends.

Badal held a series of Sangat Darshan at villages Samagh, Maniawala, Duhewala, Gilzewala, Chak Gilzewala, Sheikh, Madhir, Khunan Khurd and Gidderbaha for the first time in the assembly segment after its representative and former finance minister parted company with the party.

He said the Congress-led UPA government had again been showing its anti-farmer and anti-farmer mindset by not increasing the minimum support price (MSP) of wheat while the prices of essential commodities had spiked in an unprecedented way in the past few years.

Badal, who laid the foundation stone of many other projects in different parts of Gidderbaha assembly segment, demanded that the UPA government must fix the MSP of foodgrains including wheat by working it out on the basis of the cost of the agricultural inputs.

He was accompanied by Harpreet Singh, MLA, Malout, Gora Singh and Navtej Singh Kauni, both senior members of the SGPC. He entertained every demand put before him by the residents of the villages at Sangat Darshan.

Besides sanctioning funds for different projects, he also extended financial help for those who were suffering from different ailments.

Badal also urged the state government officials to ensure that all the development projects are completed within their stipulated time. He directed the officials to serve people and redress their grievances without any delay.

Fazilka, April 8
The officials of the local Food and Supplied Department have impounded over five dozens of domestic LPG cylinders, which were being used for commercial purposes.Three teams comprising five members each, led by the District Food and Supplies officer (DFSO) ML Nagpal, Additional DFSO Himanshu Kukkar, inspector Subhash Chander, Sandeep Chhabra, Surinder Kumar and others conducted raids at different commercial establishments of eatables, hoteliers, sweet-sellers, tea-stall owners and some goldsmith in different markets and localities of the town and impounded over five dozen domestic LPG cylinders from them.

Nagpal said the report of misusing the domestic purpose LPG cylinders have been sent to the higher authorities for further action against the shopkeepers.

Notably, the LPG consumers have been continuously complaining the shortage of the LPG for domestic use. Following repeated complaints, the department had to swing into action.

Mansa, April 8
Nearly 17 of the health staff working under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) in Sardoolgarh sub-division today fell ill after they were allegedly administered a purgative in the tea that was offered by the senior medical officer of the Civil Hospital there. The employees who fell ill accused the SMO Dr Manjeet Singh Dhaliwal of playing mischief with them to sabotage the pen-down strike, which they were holding since April 5 outside the Primary Health Centre (PHC), Sardoolgarh.

The Civil Surgeon rushed the district health officer to the spot. He collected the throat swab of all, including the SMO in question, to ascertain the cause of the incident. Meanwhile, the police also reached there and recorded the statements and initiated inquest proceedings.

District general secretary of the NRHM Employees Union, Ravinder Kumar alleged the SMO offered them cups of tea allegedly laced with the purgative at the meeting after which they fell ill. The SMO could not be contacted for his version. However, Civil Surgeon Dr Prit Pal Singh refuted the allegations saying it was a “cheap stunt by the protesters for publicity.” 

Moga, April 8
The Union Government has so far not decided to give an extra incentive of Rs 20 per quintal to the farmers, who directly bring their wheat produce in the state-of-the-art silo store house built by the Adani Group, a scientific storage facility, about 12-km from the district headquarters of Moga on the Ferozepur road.

While talking to The Tribune, the District Manager of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) KD Jain said the regional office of the food agency had already sent a recommendation to the Union Government through its head-office but they have not yet received any response in this regard.

He said out of the total of two lakh metric tonnes capacity, the FCI had already made a space of 50,000 lakh metric tonnes available in the silo for the current procurement season. As much as 1.5 lakh metric tonnes of wheat procured during the last two years is lying stored, here. He said the proposal of special incentive of Rs 20 per quintal to the farmers for bringing their crop to the silo, base depot, is to encourage direct procurement of the crop from the wheat growers.

The FCI officials maintained that if the farmers around the radius of 20-km of base depot in the Moga district bring their crop directly to the storage facility, there is a saving of Rs 40 per quintal on procurement cost including ‘arhtiya’ commission, handling and transportation charges, which is the basic reason behind the proposal of incentive.

The Union Government paid Rs 19.17 per quintal in addition to the MSP of the crop to the Moga farmers in the year 2008-09 but did not pay the incentives for the marketing season of 2009-10 and 2010-11. The District Food and Supply controller of Moga Baljinder Singh said a total of 6.65 lakh metric tonnes of wheat is likely to arrive in the grain markets, this year. The silo has a total storage capacity of 2.0 lakh metric tonnes, of which, only 50,000 metric tonnes space is available for the season. The state government has allocated a target of 1.72 lakh metric tonnes for the purchase of wheat to the FCI in the district as against the preparations of 1.40 lakh metric tonnes. Rest of the arrival will be purchased by the state agencies and private purchasers.

The FCI officials said there is space crunch to store the grains but the district administration assured that the state government will facilitate the procurement agencies to arrange space.

Faridkot DC Balwinder S. Multani held a meeting of the officials of the procurement agencies, transporters and commission agents on Thursday. He visited many grain markets on Friday to review the procurement process. He said 64 purchase centres have been set up and procurement agencies and have been asked to lift the grain within 72 hours of its arrival in the market. “Payments will be made to the farmers within 48 hours of the purchase,” he said. — TNS

Bathinda/Abohar, April 8
Even as cotton sowing season is to begin on April 15, a large number of farmers of the Malwa region have started scrambling for getting sufficient stock of Bt cotton seeds to meet their requirements.The situation has reached a point where the local Markfed authorities were left with no other option but to deploy policemen in large numbers to avoid any untoward incident at its distribution centre, today. Yesterday, a section of the farmers engaged in a scuffle at its distribution centre.

Having undergone a bitter experience when unscrupulous traders fleeced them by selling Bt cotton seeds at premium by creating an artificial scarcity, the cotton growers of the Malwa region are making attempts to collect enough quantity of Bt cotton seeds to avoid any problem this season.

The state agriculture department has already brought the supply and distribution of Bt-cotton seeds manufacturing companies to its Punjab-based dealers under cyber surveillance. The authorities have also made arrangements for 25 lakh packets of Bt cotton seeds against the requirement of 22 lakh packets in Punjab for this sowing season.

Long queues of farmers were seen today at the distribution centre of Markfed in Bathinda, at shops of private seeds dealers in the towns of Muktsar, Ferozepur and other cotton producing districts of Punjab. A significant section of farmers have also been using good offices of senior civil and police functionaries to get BT cotton seeds.

Manjeet Singh Brar, district manager, Markfed, Bathinda, said distribution of Bt cotton seeds had been made smooth and rational. Every farmer would have to come to distribution centre with the identity proof in shape of his ration card to get 10 packets of Bt cotton seeds. He said Bt cotton seeds were being distributed to farmers through village level cooperative societies. The cash sale of Bt cotton seeds was being done at distribution centre of Markfed.

However, a section of the farmers alleged that Markfed officials had been giving Bt cotton seeds in huge quantity to influential persons under political pressure while they were made to wait for hours.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal, when contacted, said fleecing of farmers on account of selling Bt cotton seeds to them at premium would not be tolerated. Sukhbir said that instructions had been passed on to officials concerned to deal with such traders firmly.

Bathinda, April 8
Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal today laid the foundation stone of ‘Sirki Bazar’s sewerage project’ here to provide relief to the residents and shopkeepers of this low-lying area, in which water accumulates in a big way during the rains.

Under the project, an 1,180-meter-long pipe with a 30-inch diameter will be laid at a cost of Rs 1.75 crore from the temporary disposal point (near Gaushala) to the grain market here. The project is being funded by the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) while the work will be executed by the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board.

The project is expected to be completed in six months.

Among those present on the occasion were Mayor Baljeet Singh Beer Behman, senior deputy mayor Tarsem Goyal and commissioner of the BMC Uma Shanker Gupta.

Sukhbir Badal was to lay the foundation stone of a multi-crore modern hockey stadium also at the Government Rajindra College here today, but the ceremony was deferred thereby leaving useless all the arrangements made by the authorities of the Punjab Mandi Board, the executing agency for the construction of the stadium.

Deputy Commissioner Dr S Karuna Raju said the ceremony had been deferred for some days due to hectic schedule of the Deputy CM in the area today. He added that the foundation stone would be laid during this month.

Bathinda, April 8
Amid the “fake pilots” scandal that has rocked the country, the Punjab government has identified a 30-acre piece of land near Talwandi Sabo in the Bathinda district to establish a world-class flying academy.

This would be the first flying academy in the Malwa region of the state and would be equipped with latest gadgets and aircraft. At present, there are four flying clubs at Patiala, Amritsar, Ludhiana and Jalandhar. The latter two are, however, shut for want of instructors and supporting staff.

The proceedings to acquire the land in the Behman Jassa village would begin shortly as the owners were willing to offer their lands for the purpose. Deputy Commissioner S Karuna Raju visited the village yesterday to personally examine the land.

The state government has also initiated proceedings to acquire the non-operational airstrip of the erstwhile ruler of Faridkot for establishing a flying club. The airstrip and the hangar in the outskirts of the Faridkot town are in possession of a trust.

Bathinda, April 8
The recently conducted test for the regular recruitment of Ayurveda medical officers (AMOs) of Punjab has come under the scanner with a number of allegations regarding the irregularities in the examination flying thick and fast.

A group of BAMS doctors, who appeared in the exam that was conducted by the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences (BFUHS) on April 3 at Chandigarh, today alleged that there were many errors in the question papers, including misprinting and wrong choice of answers.

In a letter to the Chief Minister of Punjab, the Health Minister, the Director of Ayurveda, the Vice-chancellor of the BFUHS and other officials of the Health Department, the candidates demanded that the exam should be cancelled and conducted again in a fair manner.

Providing a copy of the complaint to The Tribune, the candidates claimed that immediately after finding that the question paper was full of mistakes, they brought it into the notice of the BFUHS authorities present at the examination centre.

“After changing their statements regarding corrections, negative marking and answering format for the OMR sheets a number of times, some corrections were made but that too only in a few examination rooms, while the rest of the candidates were kept in the dark,” they alleged.

They claimed, “Admitting the mistake in the question paper, extra time was given to the candidates but only in some examination rooms. A majority of candidates were deprived of the extra time and were forced to submit their answer sheets at the end of the stipulated two hours.”

“Some of us were told by the authorities to mark the right answer after making corrections and cross the wrong one, which cannot otherwise be done in the OMR answer sheets,” they claimed.

The Director, Ayurveda, Punjab, Dr Rakesh Sharma, speaking over the phone, said, “The controversy is in my knowledge but as the state government had appointed the BFUHS as an agency to conduct the test, it is their responsibility to find out a solution.”

The Vice-chancellor of the BFUHS, Dr SS Gill, said, “Immediately after we learnt about the errors, a committee was formed to look into it and give its decision. Going by the decision of the committee, all questions in which the errors were reported, were checked manually. Moreover, the questions which had only the wrong options as answers were treated as deleted.”

Terming the demand for cancellation of the exam as unwanted, the VC said, “Only after getting satisfied with the process, the results were sent to the state government in a sealed manner.”

Mehta (Bathinda), April 8
A handicapped labourer, Bohad Singh of Mehta village in the district, got buried while repairing a nearly 25-feet deep borewell. However, he was pulled out alive within an hour by launching rescue operation.

Meanwhile, the Sangat police booked the owner of the land where the incident took place for carrying out the repair work of borewell without taking permission from the administration.

Angrej Singh had hired Bohad Singh (40) to repair a borewell on his agricultural land. Bohad Singh, who was handicapped in one of his arms, was coming out of the borewell when the earth caved in. He was nearly 10-feet deep and his neck was out of the mud. Hearing his cries, Angrej Singh and some villagers assembled there and initiated a rescue operation. Activists of the Sahara Jan Seva and district officials, including SDM KPS Mahi and secretary of the District Red Cross Society JR Goyal, equipped with a JCB machine and team of doctors reached the spot. With the help of tractors and JCB machine, the rescue team succeeded in pulling out the labourer alive.