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Prolonged cold delays harvesting of wheat
Pb Govt flayed for not utilising Central grant
Two minors sustain burn injuries
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Sukhbir on thanksgiving tour tomorrow
NPCIL begins campaign to raise awareness on nuclear energy
Mansa prepares to tackle swine flu
Fazilka Rattan award bestowed on Dr Dhawan
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Prolonged cold delays harvesting of wheat
Bathinda, April 9 Baisakhi falls on April 14 but the ear heads of the wheat crop have not yet matured and as such, the harvesting shall have to be delayed by a couple of days. Normally, the farmers start coming to the markets to sell their wheat harvest by Baisakhi. The wheat crop in many areas around here was damaged due to the squall that hit last night. The revenue authorities have been asked to assess the loss to the farmers who were already suffering due to the delayed harvesting. It might take about seven to 10 days beyond Baisakhi for the farmers to harvest their crop, said GS Buttar, head of the Agronomy department in the Punjab Agricultural University (PAU). He said a bumper wheat crop was expected this time but the prolonged cold weather had delayed its harvest. The matured ear heads that turn into golden colour by this time are still green in certain areas of Bathinda, Muktsar, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Barnala, Mansa and Moga districts. Surinder Singh, a farmer near Makhu in Ferozepur, said it might take about 10 days for his crop to mature as a result of which sowing of cotton and paddy would be delayed. Moreover, the farmers in certain areas had delayed sowing of wheat as that crop also did not mature in time. The delay in harvest was also being attributed to the climate change being witnessed globally. Baisakhi is considered basically a festival of agriculture and harvesting particularly in the Northern India. Many folk-lore carry tales related to the festival that comes as a joy to the farmers after they have harvested and sold the crop. |
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Pb Govt flayed for not utilising Central grant
Sriganganagar, April 9 Speaking on the sidelines of a function at Tapovan here, he said, “In 2009, we had E-grade water and the situation is still grim. Electroplating industries had earlier been using cyanide in their units. Why is something not being done to counter-effect the large amount of cyanide that flows in various water bodies,” he asked. He said last year, the Central government had approved a `2,200-crore plan to promote water treatment plants in Punjab and had released the first instalment of `550 crore. The state government arranged land in Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Dasuya (Hoshiarpur) and Begowal but the work was going at snail’s pace. Eight municipal corporations/councils were identified that had failed to check the flow of contaminated water in rivers/canals. They had ignored the notices served by the PPCB for the past decade. Now, criminal cases will have to be filed against the executive heads of the civic bodies at Patiala, Pathankot, Gobindgarh, Phillaur etc to put them behind the bars for 4-6 years, he asserted, adding that they were accountable for solid and liquid waste being released untreated. Seechewal urged the Punjab Government to submit the utilisation certificate to the Centre so that the second instalment could be released. Notably, one plant had been proposed for Abohar for which the municipal council had offered land. Questioning the priority given to setting up reverse osmosis (RO) systems, the environmentalist said the state government should instead take stern measures to ensure supply of clean canal water. Former president of the Bar Association Inderjit Bishnoi said the region was facing the problems as water supply was routed through Punjab. |
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Two minors sustain burn injuries
Ferozepur, April 9 According to the information available, the house belongs to one Bhajan Singh, a labourer. Bhajan Singh said on the account of non-payment of the electricity bill, the power connection to his house had been snapped by the department due to which they were using an earthen lamp during night hours. He said yesterday, when his daughter Bimla (9) and son Sandeep (8) were trying to light the lamp, the oil canister suddenly fell from the hands of his daughter due to which fire broke out in his house. His both children got trapped in the fire. “When I heard their cries, I tried to rescue them but in the meantime they had received severe burn injuries,” Bhajan said. Later, the village residents brought all of them to the Civil Hospital for treatment. |
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Sukhbir on thanksgiving tour tomorrow
Mukstar, April 9 Sukhbir was elected as the legislator from the constituency for the second time in a row and recorded the highest winning margin in the recent elections. Charanjit Singh Brar, the OSD to the Deputy CM, said Sukhbir would go to Jalalabad on Wednesday, where he would hold four public rallies to express gratitude for their vote and support. “The rallies will be held at Arniwala, Chak Janisar, Jalalabad city and Ghubaiya,” said Charanjit Singh Brar, adding that the programme was cut short, as most of the people would be busy in harvesting the wheat crop. Meanwhile, accompanied by his wife and Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal, the Deputy CM arrived at his native village Badal from Delhi and after spending a few minutes there, he left for Chandigarh. He is expected to attend the oath-taking ceremony of 21 new Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPS) at Chappar
Chiri. |
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NPCIL begins campaign to raise awareness on nuclear energy
Faridkot, April 9 NPCIL officials interacted with students and faculty members of engineering colleges and educational institutions in the area with an aim to dispel the ‘myths and misconceptions’ about the nuclear power and allay fears of the risk involved in its generation. The area is known for increasing number of thermal plants that continue to emit sulphur dioxide and coal ash in large quantity. The officials said the nuclear energy was not only clean and cost-effective but was significant considering India’s future energy needs. “Since the availability of fossil fuel (like coal) is limited, other sources of energy (nuclear) need to be encouraged,” said Sanjay Kaumar Gumasta, additional chief engineer and project manager with the NPCIL, while addressing the students and faculty members of the Adesh Engineering and Technology College, Faridkot. Discussing the cost of nuclear energy vis-a-vis thermal, hydroelectric and solar powers, Gumasta said nuclear energy was the most cost-effective and caused no pollution. Presently, nuclear reactors provide 14 per cent of the total electricity generation in the world and at the same time, avoid release of about 2.9 billon tonnes of carbon dioxide, said Gumasta. Gumasta preferred to avoid commenting on the Punjab Government’s inclination towards setting up coal-based thermal power plants so as to make the state ‘power surplus’ in the coming years. However, he said nuclear energy was the only option for a state to become self-sufficient in power. Gumasta pointed out that the third-generation nuclear reactors were much safer than their predecessors, as they lengthen the amount of reaction time in a situation like the one occurred at Fukushima over a year ago. Even as Gumasta said the major reactor accident in nuclear plants was one in million, Dr Amar Singh Azad, a senior doctor and environmentalist, while quoting a Greenpeace study, said the frequency had been one meltdown every decade, on an average. “Fukushima also showed how quickly the multiple barriers, which were to prevent a large release of radioactivity, had failed,” the environmentalist added. |
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Mansa prepares to tackle swine flu
Mansa, April 9 During the meeting, the Civil Surgeon directed the SMOs to prepare special wards for swine flu cases in their respective blocks. He said each ward should have at least five beds. Besides, the suspected swine flu cases should be given treatment in the light of symptoms of the disease. The Civil Surgeon directed the SMOs that in the case of a suspected swine flu patient, they have to send the sample of the throat swab of the suspected patient to the PGIMER at Chandigarh for test. He also asked them not to commit any negligence in this regard. Further, Surila told them to create awareness among the masses in their respective blocks about the swine flu through the mass media wing. |
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Fazilka Rattan award bestowed on Dr Dhawan
Fazilka, April 9 A Noel Deerr Award-recipient and agricultural scientist Dr Ashok Dhawan of Fazilka was conferred the “Fazilka Rattan” award. Dr Dhawan, a former director of the Regional Research Station, Agriculture University, Hisar, was conferred the award for his research on Sugarcane. Former President of India Dr APJ Abdul Kalam had presented the Noel Deerr Award to Dr Dhawan during the inaugural ceremony of the annual convention of the Sugar Technologists Association of India (STAI) held in Udaipur on August 26, 2009. The last night of the heritage festival was dedicated to the youth empowerment and nine youngsters from the district were honoured on the occasion. The festival was organised by the Graduates Welfare Association, Fazilka (GWAF), in association with the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Board. A Fazilka resident Pankaj Verma, who is posted as judicial magistrate at Barnala, was presented the Fazilka Youth Icon Award. A road safety expert and GWAF general secretary Navdeep Asija was conferred the “Son of Fazilka” award. Awaz-e-Punjab Gurnam Bullar, a renowned musician Pardeep Sran and all-rounder musical performer and in-charge of the Ibadat Musical Group Harsh Dimpu, radiologist and singer Dr Vivek Kareer and engineer Nitin Setia were among those honoured. The chief guest of the programme, Fazilka MLA and Forest Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani, Fazilka ADC Charandev Singh Maan, District Education Officer Sandeep Dhuria, GWAF patron Dr Bhupinder Singh and president of the association Umesh Chander Kukkar gave away the awards. “Aam Aadmi”, a drama presented by the members of the Creative Art Group of Abohar highlighted the problem of inflation. The drama, a satire on politicians who use the common man for their vested interests, won applause from the audience in a jam-packed Partap Bagh, the venue of the festival. Members of the Shan-e-Khalsa Gatka Academy, Fazilka, demonstrated their martial skills on the concluding night. The Crime Prevention Group, Fazilka, organised a body-building show. |
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The farming community in Punjab and particularly in the largest Malwa region of the state would have this time to go without performing the age-old practice of harvesting their wheat crop by Baisakhi.
Noted environmentalist and Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) member Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal has pointed out that the quality of water has not improved in Punjab in the past six years.
Over a year after the Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan that left people over the world thinking how safe the nuclear energy is, the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd
(NPCIL) has started a campaign in the region to create awareness about the safety of nuclear plants and the economic value of nuclear energy.
