B A T H I N D A    E D I T I O N

10 MW biomass plant inaugurated
Bathinda, July 31
A 10 MW biomass power plant, set up at a cost of Rs 80 crore at Khokar Khurd village in Mansa district, was made operational today. Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Non-Conventional Energy Minister Bikram Majithia inaugurated the plant, whose capacity would be doubled to 20 MW within a few months. 

Live bomb found 
Ferozepur, July 31
An old live bomb was found in the fields owned by a farmer Jagir Singh in Sahan Ke Hitar village under the Mamdot police station here today. The bomb was found while the farmer was digging a piece of the land for irrigation purposes.

Polluted water results in death of fish
Abohar, July 31
Hundreds of fish have been found dead in a pond in Faujuwala village in neighbouring Sriganganagar district. Earlier, a similar situation had developed in Daulatpura village of Abohar sub-division. Preliminary inquiries indicated that supply of contaminated canal water was responsible for such deaths.

8-hr-long power cut leaves residents high and dry
Muktsar, July 31
Due to a snag in the power grid at Moga, the city witnessed nearly eight-hour-long power cut today, which left the residents sweating in the sultry heat the whole day.

1,700 prisoners get access to potable water
Ferozepur, July 31
Over 1,700 prisoners lodged in the local Central Jail will now have access to clean drinking water facility following the installation of an RO plant. The RO plant, which is the result of the efforts made by social activist SPS Oberoi, was commissioned here today by Deputy Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang.

Garg criticises Industries Minister Anil Joshi
Bathinda, July 31
Former minister and president of the Aggarwal Sabha, Punjab, Chirangi Lal Garg today criticised the Industries Minister Anil Joshi for stating that the Beopar Mandals were mere agents of the bureaucracy in response to the traders’ protest against new taxes and tax collection system.— TNS 

10 MW biomass plant inaugurated
Jupinderjit Singh
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, July 31
A 10 MW biomass power plant, set up at a cost of Rs 80 crore at Khokar Khurd village in Mansa district, was made operational today. Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Non-Conventional Energy Minister Bikram Majithia inaugurated the plant, whose capacity would be doubled to 20 MW within a few months. The plant mainly uses paddy straw as fuel instead of coal. It has started supplying 10 MW power to the Mansa power sub-station from today after its trial run for the past few weeks.

The plant aims at clean and green energy generation. The plant management will buy paddy straw at the rate of Rs 700 to Rs 1,000 per tonne from farmers.

Majithia said abundant availability of farm residue like paddy straw and cotton and mustard stalk offered a huge opportunity to set up at least 600 MW of biomass power plants.

He alleged the Centre was not encouraging such projects in the state, besides delaying environment clearance for sand mining which was causing a gap in its demand and supply. “This has led to a manifold rise in the rates of sand. Similarly, the Centre is delaying most projects meant for Punjab,” he alleged.

Harsimrat Kaur said she would raise a demand for maximum subsidy for solar powered tube-wells in Parliament.

Live bomb found 
Our Correspondent

Ferozepur, July 31
An old live bomb was found in the fields owned by a farmer Jagir Singh in Sahan Ke Hitar village under the Mamdot police station here today. The bomb was found while the farmer was digging a piece of the land for irrigation purposes.

Gurbinder Singh, SHO, Mamdot, who along with a police team rushed to the spot, said the area had been cordoned off and the Army authorities had been asked to send a bomb disposal squad to defuse it.

Earlier, when Jagir was working in his fields today in the morning, he stumbled across a bomb-like object after which he hurriedly informed the village Sarpanch Kishan Lal Narang. Thereafter, the police was called which covered the bomb with sand bags.

SHO Gurbinder Singh said the bomb probably had been lying underneath the fields since the 1965 or 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. The SHO said the firing pin and the shell of the bomb was rusted. He added that only the ballistic experts would be able to give technical specifications about the type of the bomb.

It is pertinent to mention that on a number of occasions earlier, such bombs have been found in the villages situated along the Indo-Pakistan border in the area. Even during the Kargil conflict, when both the armies were eyeball to eyeball along the border, the defence authorities had planted mines in the fields which were later removed after the situation normalised. 

Polluted water results in death of fish
Our correspondent

Abohar, July 31
Hundreds of fish have been found dead in a pond in Faujuwala village in neighbouring Sriganganagar district. Earlier, a similar situation had developed in Daulatpura village of Abohar sub-division. Preliminary inquiries indicated that supply of contaminated canal water was responsible for such deaths.

Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and Bhartiya Kisan Sangh had raised their voice over the pollution in the water but the authorities did nothing to get it checked, the NGO resented. Environmentalists, Hanuman Bishnoi and Sahib Ram Bishnoi, said the total number of fish found dead in Faujuwala village exceeded 500. They denied that water in the pond was stinking for the last few days.

In Daulatpura village of Abohar, some recently elected members of the panchayat arranged a JCB machine to clear the pond that had been abandoned for three weeks after the death of hundreds of fish last month. 

8-hr-long power cut leaves residents high and dry
Tribune News Service

Muktsar, July 31
Due to a snag in the power grid at Moga, the city witnessed nearly eight-hour-long power cut today, which left the residents sweating in the sultry heat the whole day.

The power went off at 10:15 am and was restored only after 5:50 pm. People from all walks of the life, especially the children and elderly, were seen affected.

The inverters installed at the shops and houses also stopped working after almost four hours and thereafter, people were left with no other option but to sit and wait for the resumption of power supply. The power complaint centres were also flooded with the inquiry calls by consumers.

Dilbar Singh, Deputy Chief Engineer, PSPCL, Muktsar, said, "There was some problem in the supply from the power grid at Moga and we were told of restoration about 5 pm."

"Under the Muktsar circle, Muktsar, Fazilka and Abohar towns were mainly affected. But the power supply was almost normal in Malout and Gidderbaha," he added.

Sushma Baghla, a housewife, said, "The power cut threw normal life out of gear for the whole day. No work could be done. Not even a single drop of cold water was available at the house, as the refrigerator was not working."

Similarly, another woman, Sudesh Rani, said, "It was a bad start to the day with neither power nor water available at the house.The water taps soon went dry and we had to bring water from the hand pump. The children were mainly affected as the temperature was also soaring and the televisions remained switched off."

Raman Kumar, a shopkeeper, said, "The business was also affected due to the power outage. Our business runs on computer, but the batteries also did not last after 2 pm."

Some residents said that on other days too, the unscheduled power cuts had made life miserable for the residents.

1,700 prisoners get access to potable water

Ferozepur, July 31
Over 1,700 prisoners lodged in the local Central Jail will now have access to clean drinking water facility following the installation of an RO plant. The RO plant, which is the result of the efforts made by social activist SPS Oberoi, was commissioned here today by Deputy Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang.

Narang lauded the efforts of the NGO Sarbat Ka Bhala which is being patronised by Oberoi for providing much needed facilities to the prisoners and undertrials lodged in various jails of the state.

Oberoi said till date, the NGO has installed 10 RO plants in various jails in Patiala, Sangrur, Ludhiana and Ferozepur. He said the had also set up daycare and crèche facilities for the infants and little children of the women prisoners in various jails. He said toilets have also been provided in various jails. — OC