Patiala, June 1
Even as the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) has initiated a slew of steps to rein in the flow of effluents into the Budha Nullah, the drain continues to be a major contributor of pollution in the Sutlej.

According to PPCB statistics, the total discharge of sewage into the Budha Nullah is about 500 million litres a day (MLD). Though the concentration of heavy metals in the nullah has witnessed a considerable decrease in the last five years, the level of industrial effluents, particularly those from dyeing units, is much higher than the norms fixed by the PPCB.

Of the total 268 dyeing units in Ludhiana, 17 industries are large scale whereas 251 are in the medium and small-scale sector. All of them claim that they have installed individual effluent treatment plants, but the fact, it has been learnt, is that these plants do not meet the prescribed norms. And also, those in some units are non-operational.

That the discharge of industrial effluents into the nullah is contaminating the underground water, and polluting the river Sutlej too, has been highlighted time and again by state environmentalists, but the state government has failed to take adequate corrective measures. PPCB chairman Rajat Agarwal said that as far as domestic waste was concerned, the Ludhiana Municipal Corporation had installed three sewerage treatment plants — at Jamalpur village (48 MLD), Bhattian (111 MLD) and Balloke (152 MLD).

And for the dyeing units, he said, a common effluent treatment plant of 117-MLD capacity would be installed. “The draft of the detailed project report has already been discussed with the Punjab Dyers Association members….The statutory clearance for the plant is in final stages,” he added.

Patiala, June 1
Sutlej, the state’s major source of water, has been a victim of rapid industrialisation and the growing population.

It has been learnt that the PPCB has, in an internal assessment report, identified 28 sources polluting the river, majority of them being municipal corporations and other civic bodies that throw untreated waste. Industries, thermal plants and mills are the other culprits.

The PPCB took samples from many locations in the state and found that at majority of the places the water tested ‘D’ grade, thus unfit for human and animal consumption.

Sources said the PPCB secret report was prepared to study the sources of pollution and the impact of industrial and domestic waste being released into the Sutlej and the corrective steps that could be initiated. However, everyone was astonished to see the deteriorating water standard at almost various points, the sources said.

As per details, the Ropar Thermal Plant was releasing 1,836 million litres a day (MLD) quantity of effluents into the Sutlej whereas the count for the Ludhiana and Jalandhar municipal corporations was 500 MLD and 250 MLD, respectively. “The MCs of Makhu, Dharamkot, Zira, Talwandi Bhai and Moga are discharging their sewage through different drains in between Harike and Hussainiwala water headworks, therefore, the water quality has deteriorated from ‘B’ to ‘D’ there,” the document says.

Jaskaran Singh Sandhu, former chief engineer of Irrigation Department, said “all the council and corporation chiefs should be issued summons and booked as per law”. “As per norms, no one can throw anything into the rivers and if someone does it, it is illegal and an offence.”

The document reveals that 81 Jalandhar industrial units, including 51 of leather complex, have been discharging 1.35 MLD waste into the Kala Sanghian drain.

Karamjit Singh Jattana, a former forest official who has been working closely with environmentalist Balbir Singh Seechewal, said that people are dying of cancer and the assessment of rivers proves beyond doubt that the industrial and domestic pollution from all districts and towns is the major culprit. “The accountability of all officers should be fixed as to how this menace continued from so long,” he stated.

PPCB chairman Rajat Agarwal said the report aimed at identifying the sources polluting the Sutlej. “We have started challaning defaulters and fines worth lakhs have already been collected. In other cases, treatment plants have been established and are expected to start operating by the year-end; this would considerably reduce river pollution.” About untreated municipal waste, he said the matter had been brought to the notice of the authorities concerned.

Jalandhar, June 1
Farmers in the state are in a quandary with the state government asking them to avoid growing high-yield paddy varieties such as PAU 201, the per hectare yield of which was reported at 100 quintals in certain parts of the state last year.

The government has issued advertisements in various newspapers directing them to desist from sowing PAU 201 and various hybrid varieties. There is a sort of a ban on the sale of seed of the high-yield varieties in the state. Hence, farmers have been forced to procure the seed from neighbouring Haryana.

Most hybrid varieties not only give a high yield but are of short duration and consume less water compared to non-hybrid varieties. Farmers say most hybrid varieties are sown in July and mature in 100-105 days whereas other varieties take about 130 days to mature and have to be sown in the second week of June.

Official sources said the farmers had been told not to sow the PAU 201 variety because the FCI, which has near monopoly on the rice market in the state, had refused to lift it from the mills during 2009-10 and 2010-11. Likewise, it was reluctant to procure rice of hybrid varieties.

Haryana has a better market mechanism compared to Punjab. In Haryana, traders also purchase hybrid and other varieties in large quantities for sale in the market.

Traders avoid the paddy market in Punjab because of the high taxes on the purchase of foodgrain. A trader has to pay about 14.5 per cent as tax, including the market fee and VAT, for every quintal of paddy purchased.

New Delhi, June 1
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said today that the Centre was yet to access the activities of 27 persons on the Sikh blacklist and the list was being reviewed.

Just two weeks ago, the ministry had deleted the names of 142 Sikhs from the list. All the 169 persons on the list were those accused of terrorist acts during the period of militancy in Punjab, from 1978 to 1995. All have been living abroad.

Asked as to what was the criteria applied while deleting the names, Chidambaram said: “ The severity of the crime is one aspect. We do not know what these 27 persons have been doing in the recent past”.

The removal of 142 Sikhs from the blacklist is seen as a major sop by the Congress. The Home Ministry’s move has been hailed by Sikhs across the world.

Workers prepare the new venue for the bhog ceremony of Surinder Kaur Badal, at the grain market in Malout on Wednesday. A Tribune photograph

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Chandigarh, June 1
Senior Forest Department official RR Kakkar has reiterated his allegations of corruption against a senior BJP leader and former Forest Minister, saying he took money for transfers. He also said over two lakh trees had been felled in Punjab and instead of taking action against the guilty, the politicians were targeting him.

Kakkar, Additional Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Development), charged the Punjab Government with overlooking the squandering of grant by the World Bank and the Japan Bank for planting trees.

“There are only 10 to 15 per cent of saplings on ground. No one is bothered to find out what happened to the remaining saplings - were they ever purchased or was the grant money pocketed?”. He demanded a probe into the matter.

Refuting the allegations by BJP leaders Rajinder Bhandari and Tiksan Sud against him, Kakkar said these politicians were upset with him for exposing corrupt practices in the department. He said he would take legal recourse in the matter.

Kakkar said a Vigilance Inquiry was ordered against the Forest Department staff in Hoshiarpur district in 2006 when he was District Forest Officer (DFO) there. After nine months, he was exonerated with inquiry officer HS Gujral appreciating his role as DFO.

Kakkar claimed that he had audio-video proof on not only the illicit felling of trees, but also the minister seeking money for transfers.

The Punjab Government has clarified that no communication had been received from the Centre about the rejection of its demand for waiver of the State’s debt.

Reacting to an editorial entitled “Debt waiver talk, again” the State’s Secretary, Expenditure said a committee headed by the Union Expenditure Secretary to which Punjab had represented its case, was to submit its report by August-end 2010. However, a copy of its report had not been furnished to it, despite reminders.

The Central policy of providing tax holiday to industrial units in HP, J&K, and Uttarakhand had caused de-industrialisation in the state with several manufacturing units migrating to these neighbouring “tax havens.”

Budhlada (Mansa), June 1
Revenue officials have decided to go on mass leave tomorrow to lodge their protest against the alleged implication of local tehsildar Kala Ram Kansal in a criminal case.

A case against Kansal and Bholi Ram, a petition writer, was registered on the complaint of Moti Ram after Mansa DC Ravinder Singh intervened in the matter.

Moti Ram alleged that Bholi Ram had taken money from him to bribe Kansal for registration of land transfer. The revenue officials, who held an emergency meeting today, passed a resolution, saying they would not attend office tomorrow as a mark of protest against the registration of a “false” case against Kansal.

Amritsar, June 1
Activists of 17 farmer and labour unions today launched a three-day dharna in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s Office here in support of their demands.

Addressing the protesters, Jamhoori Kisan Sabha leader Ratan Singh Randhawa demanded that the state government should waive off the debt of farmers and labourers, besides stopping the auction of property and arrests being made in this connection.

Demanding a compensation of Rs 5 lakh and a government job to the next of the kin of the farmers committing suicide, Randhawa said: “The homeless farm labourers should be allotted 10 marla plots as well as grants to construct houses.”

The farmer leaders alleged that the state government had framed “black laws” over the last couple of years to “suppress” the movements of farmers, labourers, employees, youth and women.

Jalandhar, June 1
To assist students and parents in choosing a college ahead of B.Tech admissions, Punjab Technical University (PTU) is coming up with an information booklet mentioning the ranking of various colleges on the basis of their academic, placement and admission records, faculty and infrastructure.

The university has roped in a private company, NetIIT, for rating each of these aspects and making a comparative analysis of the colleges. The maximum weightage of 35 per cent will be given for academic performance, 25 per cent to the faculty, 15 per cent each to admissions and placements and 10 per cent to infrastructure. Vice Chancellor Dr Rajneesh Arora said the booklet would evaluate 45 colleges established before 2006 on the basis of their self-declaration. He said the booklet would be available by June 10 when online choice filling would be launched.

The VC released a list of top 10 colleges on the basis of their overall performance. Guru Nanak Dev Engineering College, Ludhiana, Chandigarh Engineering College, Landran, Shaheed Udham Singh College, Tangori, Rayat Bahra Institute, Kharar, and RIMT, Mandi Gobindgarh, are among the top 10.

The top five colleges as per their academic performance are GNDEC, DAV Institute of Engineering and Technology , Jalandhar, CEC, Shaheed Bhagat Singh College, Ferozepur, and Malout Institute, Malout. Other aspects of evaluation include faculty qualification, student-teacher ratio, actual admission vs sanctioned intake, student-classroom ratio, number of labs and number of accessible computers.

The VC said that from next year the ranking would be done after comparing the colleges stream-wise. Ranking would also be done for other courses, including B.Pharma, B. Arch, MBA and MCA. He announced that seven colleges including DAVIET, Ferozepur College of Engineering, Ludhiana College of Engineering, St Soldier Institute, Jalandhar, CT Institute, Jalandhar, Global Institute Amritsar and Indo-Soviet College, Moga, had surrendered 50 per cent management seats for counselling through PTU. Last year only 80 per cent of sanctioned seats could be filled.

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 1
LPG consumers need not wait for 21 days to get their gas cylinders refilled or booked. Usually gas agencies tell the consumers that a cylinder can be re-filled or booked only after 21 days.

IndianOil Corporation (IOC) in a reply to an RTI query by a resident of Bassi Pathana has stated that there was no such time period restriction on refilling or booking of LPG cylinders for domestic purposes. However, LPG is delivered to customer based on the waiting list, stock availability and refill backlog with the distributor, it said.

On whether there is any VIP quota fixed by the oil company on the distribution of LPG cylinders, IOC replied in negative. The RTI applicant, Ashok Kumar Tulani, however, alleged that usually gas agencies bend rules in refilling gas cylinders in bulk to accommodate VIP customers.

In another query about Cheema Gas Service, Bassi Pathana, the oil company stated that the agency was an urban category distributor and its area of operation was within municipal limits. The distributor cannot issue new gas domestic connections outside municipal limits of Bassi Pathana unless authorised by the company itself. The reply stated that the agency had 15,557 domestic customers as on March 31 this year. According to Tulani, Bassi Pathana has a population of nearly 19,000 and number of ration cards holders is mere 6,432.

Parveen Kumar, manager of Cheema Gas Agency, said the agency had issued gas connections to those residing outside municipal limits. “In fact, number of connections issued in rural area is more than the urban areas,” he said. He pointed out that IndianOil Corporation had earlier allowed issuing connections in rural areas also, but the practice has been stopped for the last few months.

Tulani also inquired into the action taken against the use of domestic LPG cylinders for commercial purposes. In its reply, the Food and Supplies Department stated that on January 19 five cylinders were confiscated from different hotels and dhabas in Bassi Pathana during a raid conducted by the Assistant Food Supplies Officer. The cylinders were later returned to the gas agency.

Ropar, June 1
The district Red Cross Society has launched a membership drive aiming to make more people join the NGO and help with the developmental works in the district.

During the general body meeting held on April 27, it was decided that every member should convince at least five persons to join the Red Cross. The administration hopes to collect fees from the members and raise funds for the construction of an old age home and a children’s home. While life association is free, patron fees is Rs 1 lakh, vice-patron fees is Rs 50,000, life membership fees is Rs 5,000, institutional fees is Rs 2,000 and annual membership is Rs 500.DC GK Singh said: “We need young and old alike to join us. While the old ones can be great think tanks, the younger ones can implement the former’s ideas.” “We need people with invigorated enthusiasm, energy and time to serve,” he added. — TNS

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 1
The district consumer dispute redressal forum has imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh on Punjab and Sind Bank for not releasing the title deed of a house despite paying back the loan amount by a resident of Mandi Gobindgarh.

Forum president Shashi Prabha Aggarwal and members Sher Singh Sidhu and Veena Chahal pronounced the decision.

Laxmi Devi Gupta had lodged a complaint with the forum wherein she stated that the bank had not return the title deed of her house mortgaged to secure loan though she had paid the loan amount.

Laxmi’s husband Narinder Kumar had taken loan for business in 2001 in the name of Mahawar Agencies. The firm, however, remained closed for many years. The family had to mortgage their house to pay back the loan amount.

Instead of returning the title deed, the bank initiated action against them by pasting a public notice on their property despite the fact that they had paid off the loan. Narinder’s family members said he died in January 2007 of brain hemorrhage allegedly due to litigation and humiliation caused due pasting of public notice on their property.

In their reply, bank officials said Narinder Kumar had deposited Rs 2.65 lakh, but the amount of interest was not paid.

The bank manager had inadvertently issued no dues certificate and when the remaining amount was demanded from the borrower and the guarantor, they failed to repay the interest. Later, the complainants had requested the bank that a rebate be granted to them and as a result they deposited Rs 5,000 as full and final settlement.

The consumer dispute redressal forum dismissed the bank’s claims and imposed a penalty of Rs 2 lakh and Rs 5,000 as litigation charges. 

Patiala, June 1
Notwithstanding the rules and regulations mentioned in the Municipal Corporation building by-laws, private health clinics and nursing homes are fast mushrooming in the residential areas of the city. The hospitals that have come up in the residential areas are in violation of the Land Use Policy and have left the residents high and dry on account of the parking and traffic chaos. The Municipal Corporation authorities have also failed to take any action against the violators.

Many city residents have complained that people visiting these hospitals park their vehicles in front of their houses. “People visiting these hospitals park their vehicles right in front of our houses and we then end up parking our vehicles further away from our homes,” said Ravi, a resident of Tripri.

Municipal Commissioner Manjeet Singh Narang said it was an illegal practice, but the authorities could not help it as the citizens get the building plan passed for a house and later start using the same as private hospital or nursing home.

“The problem is prevalent in all districts of Punjab but nothing much can be done as there is no ruling in this regard. The government should form a strict policy to check these unauthorised hospitals and order registration of all such units. It will not only generate more revenue for the state, but also help people know as to which hospitals are legal and which were not,” he added.

Mohali, June 1
In an embarrassment to the Punjab Vigilance Bureau (VB), Mohali Special Judge Rajinder Aggarwal yesterday declined the request by the VB to discharge five close aides of the Badals who had been declared proclaimed offenders (PO) during a hearing on the disproportionate assets case against the Badals.

After the acquittal of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his family members in October 2010, the VB in an application moved earlier this month had sought the discharge of the five POs on the basis of facts relating to the acquittal of the Badals.

The proclaimed offenders are - Kanwaljit Singh of Wimpy International and a personal friend of the Badals; Hardeep Singh, a former Officer on Special Duty to Parkash Singh Badal; Krishan Kumar, personal assistant to Sukhbir Singh Badal and two others Ashism Kapoor and Pinky Grover.

While declining the plea of the VB, the Special Judge said that the case against the proclaimed offenders shall be dealt with as and when they are brought before the court.

During the last hearing on the application, the court had summoned the complainant in the case Balwant Singh, who had said that he had no objection to the POs being discharged.

Earlier, Balwant Singh, in his complaint, had stated that the Punjab Chief Minister has amassed huge assets in connivance with family members and friends.

The court has also observed that the VB had made no efforts to arrest the POs and produce them before the court.

While acquitting the Badals, the court had observed that it was an exceptional case wherein not only the complainant and the material witnesses, but also the senior vigilance officers who investigated the case have not supported the prosecution.

The investigating officer in the case SSP Surinder Pal Singh had deviated from the contents of the challan presented in the court. None of the material witnesses had supported the case of the prosecution.

The court had ordered the prosecution of the investigating officer SSP Vigilance Surinder Pal Singh and Supervisory Officer DIG BK Uppal for perjury and misconduct as they had fabricated false evidence and harassed various government officers while recording their statements under threat. After granting bail to both the officials, the proceedings of the case are being held.

Moga, June 1
As many as 14 acres of land worth about Rs 3 crore belonging to an NRI has been allegedly sold fraudulently by some persons in connivance with the revenue authorities at Rania village in Nihalsinghwala sub-division of the Moga district.

The police had registered a criminal case under Section 420, 406, 419, 465, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC against nine persons leaving aside the revenue authorities. The SSP has asked the SP (D) to conduct investigation in this case. As per the details available, the owner of the land, Nirmal Singh, was in Italy when his land measuring 14 acres was sold back home by one of his relatives, Swaran Singh, of Bhai Randhir Singh Nagar, Ludhiana, who was given the general power of attorney to take care of the land.

Interestingly, when the NRI came back home a few months back, he found that the revenue records were fraudulently changed by the person holding the power of attorney who sold this land to some persons. The NRI, Nirmal Singh, alleged that Swaran Singh along with a few others fraudulently got executed two sale deeds in 2009 and 2010 without his knowledge and consent by forging and fabricating the general power of attorney.

Besides the main accused, Swaran Singh, the police has booked his wife Sukhjeet Kaur after having found in a formal inquiry that she was also hand in glove in the fraud. The others booked include Mohammad Akbar, Roshan Singh Nambardar, Sanjeev Kumar, Mahinder Singh (all from Ludhiana) and Ajaib Singh Nambardar, Sukhmandar Singh and Resham Singh resident (all from Moga).

The police in its preliminary inquiry found that sub-registrar and other revenue authorities did not verify the antecedents of land holders and confirm the genuineness of the power of attorneys. Besides, the genuine general power of attorney given by the NRI, another power of attorney was made by the alleged accused persons to sell the land. In the preliminary inquiry, it has also come to light that this disputed land has twice been sold by the fraudsters. A local court has now ordered the revenue authorities to endorse this land to prevent it from further sale.