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| Monday, June 26, 2000, Chandigarh, India    |
Badal embroiled in power crisis Free power, water to continue: CM Bajrang Dal to raise armed force Fertiliser price hike
unjustified: CM BKU condemns hike in fertiliser prices Of paddy fields, cops on wheels and mounted smugglers
Mahila Cong workers stage dharna |
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‘Empower’ states to ensure progress Sangrur to have transport nagar Guidelines for petrol stations GPF denied for 7 years PNFC workers gherao GM DCC opposes
govt move on hospital Pioneer operation replaces both knees War widow litigants to be given money Rural water
supply scheme inaugurated
Migrant workers
harassed: CPI
Teachers resent delay in pension FATEHGARH SAHIB, June 25 — The Punjab government is going to introduce computers in 700 senior secondary and middle schools from the current session. The contract to impart computer education has been given to a computer institution NIIT. A special fee of Rs 100 per month will be charged, out of which Rs 28 will be spent on the development of the school and the rest given to the institution. 
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Badal embroiled in power crisis CHANDIGARH, June 25 —The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, does not wish to withdraw the facility of free power to the farmers. He has also not made up his mind to levy electricity charges on those farmers who own more than seven and a half acres of land. According to some senior Ministers, Mr Badal feels strongly that such a facility was a small help to otherwise hard pressed farmers in Punjab.
Mr Badal's argument for free power to farmers was to help them tide
over the crisis. About helping the Punjab State Electricity Board to come out of the red, Mr Badal feels that other sections could bear a little more
burden. The Punjab Government should honour its commitment of paying for the loss due to free power to the farmers. The State, according to Finance Department, would pay Rs 200 crore this year. it may be recalled that the government had committed to pay Rs 226 crore each year in March 1997, but has not able to pay a paise so far. Until now, it owes the Board Rs 934 crore. The industrial sector has agreed to bear a burden of Rs 200 crore. The Board would generate or save Rs 175 crore and another Rs 200 crore would come to the Board from the State Government. In addition, the commercial and domestic consumers would bear some increase in power tariff. Earlier, a Cabinet sub- committee consisting of Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, Local Bodies Government Minister and Mr Balramji Das Tandon and others had recommended that the government should revise its earlier decision of free power . Later, the Power and Irrigation Minister, Mr Sikander Singh Maluka, had pleaded that those farmers who own more than 7.5 acres should pay for power. in political circles it was expected that since this argument came from a close confidant of Mr Badal, it has been floated to assess
reactions. Mr Badal would at least agree to this. but political compulsion weigh heavily on Mr Badal. The electricity board which has been eagerly looking forward to reforms and not necessarily privatisation, would this year have commercial loss of Rs 932.50 crore. If the Punjab Government has as per the Electricity Act of 1948 had allowed the Board to earn 3 per cent return on its investment, it would have added Rs 6000 during the last seven years alone. Meanwhile, the
PSEB Engineers Association has faxed a detailed note to the Chief Minister urging him to save the board from an utter collapse. The present policies of populism would lead to a situation prevailing in Orissa and Andhra Pradesh and finally the power rates would increase to Rs 7 per unit. The association has warned that this will be the last nail in the coffin of the PSEB and lead to speedy disintegration of the Board since this tariff hike would generate only Rs 250 crore additional revenue, whereas the PSEB is required to mobilise a minimum of Rs 800 crore pear year. PSEB's annual loss would be Rs 1100 crore. The Association has appealed that in case the government is unable to allow the PSEB to earn 3 per cent profit, then it should take up with the Minister of Coal, Government of India, to supply coal at 80per cent discount, and with Minister of Railways to give 80per cent discount in freight for coal and the NTPC charging at 20per cent of its normal power rates, to compensate the PSEB for giving 100 per cent free power to agriculture sector and other subsidised categories. In case the Punjab Government was unable to get these discounts then the alternative was for the Punjab Government to allow the PSEB to reduce its coal supply and energy purchase from the NTPC by 80 per cent which would lead to power cuts ranging from 12 to 18 hours per day. Punjab consumes 1000 lakh units per day, out of which 280 lakh units are purchased from the NTPC and other Central sector companies, and 470 lakh units from our thermal stations. Hence 75per cent of PSEB's power availability is from high-cost sources. In case the Punjab Government forces the PSEB to run at a loss, there would be no alternative except to cut down on coal supplies and power imports leading to unprecedented power cuts. The Association has cautioned that the PSEB cannot operate in isolation from the national economy and operation expenses for coal, freight and energy import have to be paid in hard cash with no margin for delay . Overall tariff increase of just 63 paise per unit (averaged over all categories of consumers including agriculture) would be equivalent to a 35 per cent rise with 65 per BHP for agriculture. This was all the more justified as normally the tariff revision is done after one or two years and the inflation has to be compensated which is in the range of 8 to 10 per cent per year. "Against the actual expenses of Rs 4725
crore, the Punjab Government was to compensate Rs 934 crore (i.e. only 20%) while actual compensation has been NIL. Now a compensation of Rs 200 crore is being promised while the PSEB would be incurring a further expenditure of Rs 6 crore per day for giving free power to tubewells," the association said. The PSEB Engineers Association has stressed that since the Constitution and Parliament are the supreme in this country, the Government of Punjab did not have the jurisdiction or authority to override or violate the statutory provision of 3per cent return which is mandatory as per Section 59 of the Electricity (Supply) Act, 1948. The Association cautioned the government against shortsighted populist policies at the cost of the PSEB which would surely lead to dismantling and privatisation of the Board as in case of
Orissa, AP, UP, Haryana, Karnataka and now Rajasthan. The Association queried the Government how it could follow one extreme policy of free power while ignoring the long term repercussions of privatisation. This will lead to steep hike in power tariff .The Association feared power could be so costly as to make its use prohibitive in
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Free power, water to continue: CM HOSHIARPUR, June 25 — The facility of free electricity and water supply to the farmers will continue in Punjab as the state Cabinet has not taken any decision to roll it back. This was disclosed by Mr Parkash Singh Badal, Chief Minister, Punjab, while talking to mediapersons at Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College for Women at Dasuya, 40 km from here this afternoon. When asked that on one hand the government was enhancing taxes and proposed to increase power tariff further in urban areas whereas it was giving free electricity and water to the farmers in rural areas, Mr Badal said there was no difference between the urban and rural areas. But the agriculture sector being the core sector needed special incentives. Almost all industrial units were totally dependent on this sector.
Agriculture was on the mercy of nature and was thus less profitable. Special incentives were required to boost up the farmers’ morale. He justified the recent increase in sales tax and proposed enhancement in power tariff. Replying to a question regarding recent mass transfers of doctors and para-medical staff and their stay, the Chief Minister said that Health Minister was in the process of finalising this matter. Replying to another question regarding the proposed strike by the brick-kiln owners from July 1 against the recent increase in sales tax and royalty on bricks, he said that this decision was taken by the state Cabinet to increase the income of state exchequer. Brick-kiln owners should realise the economic position of state. Developmental works could only be carried out if the government earned regular income from taxes. Referring to the expulsion of five leaders of Youth Akali Dal from the party by Mr Amrik Singh Aliwal, president of the Dal, Mr Badal said that he would soon constitute a committee to look into this matter. He said that state government would construct bus stands in all towns of the state in near future. Earlier, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, inaugurated the Department of Computer Sciences at Guru Teg Bahadur Khalsa College for Women. The management of the college urged the Chief Minister to provide a 95 per cent grant to the college for the salaries of teaching and non-teaching staff as it was duly affiliated to the Punjab School Education Board and Panjab University, Chandigarh. The college was started in 1976 and was imparting job-oriented education to the girl students of the rural area especially Kandi of this backward district. There are more than 700 students in this college. The management had decided to start the postgraduation classes in the college from the ensuing academic session. Later Mr Badal at a function at Guru Teg Bahadur Sugar Mill at Randhawa distributed arrears of Rs 2.72 crore to the farmers. It is worth mentioning here that Rs 15.72 crore had to be paid by the North Land Sugar Mill to 12,500 families of farmers for their supply of sugar-cane to the mill in 1994-95 and 1995-96. The mill was sold. On the persuasion of Mr Iqbal Singh Sidhu Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, the state government had already paid an arrear of Rs 13 crore. Mr Gurdev Singh Badal, Agriculture Minister, Mr Balbir Singh Miani, State Minister for Medical Higher Education, Mr Iqbal Singh, Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, Mr Sohan Singh Bodal and Mr Aruenesh Shakar, both MLAs, Mr Kamal Chaudhry, former MP and many others also addressed the gathering. Bajrang Dal to raise armed force JALANDHAR June 25 —Taking terrorism as the biggest threat to the country, the Bajrang Dal is planning to counter it by raising an armed force by the name of “Rashtriya Suraksha Samiti” in the country. Apart from asanas, yoga and other physical and mental exercises, the volunteers of the samiti would also be imparted training in martial arts and handling of arms. The objective of the samiti to be set up at state, district and village level is to wipe out terrorist forces, funded, aided and abetted by Pakistan’s ISI and some North-East-based Christian organisations. The samitis would work under the baton of the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad leadership which feel that for achieving success in it aims the samiti would be made to act as a bridge between society and the security forces. According to it, the security forces are not incompetent but often lack public support towards this end. The Bajrang Dal has already been running such training camps all over the country since 1991, the stress of which had been on physical and mental exercise of volunteers, but not on arms training. The first such state-level camp where volunteers were given training in judo and arms handling concluded at Devi Talalb Mandir here today. The force volunteers, according to Dr Surinder Kumar Jain, the national convener of the Bajrang Dal, who had supervised the camp, would be given all types of physical and mental training to develop a sense of self confidence and prepare them for launching any onslaught against anti-national forces in the hour of need. “We know that hearts and not arms fight, but we think that arms training is necessary to counter any anti-national force and to instil a sense of confidence among the youth as well ,” said an enthusiastic Dr Jain while clarifying that volunteers were only being taught how to aim with the help of air guns. Though the RSS has also been imparting physical training and “lathi training” to its volunteers for long, the Bajrang Dal is the only frontal Hindu organisation which has switched over to training in arms and is aiming to enroll all of its 6.5 lakh members across the country as members of its proposed samiti, it was learnt. Dr Jain said the worst-ever threat being faced by the country was the one posed by terrorism which, according to him, was being abetted by Pakistan’s ISI and in the north-eastern part of the country by some Christian organisations. “I believe that the country cannot develop till the menace of terrorism is not eliminated,” said Dr Jain. He said the ISI was in league with some Christian organisations and was funding them to spread its wings to that part of the country with active cooperation of the drug mafia. It was a known fact by now and had also been discussed in detail in a book written by Mr Baljit Rai, a former Director-General of the Assam Police, said Dr Jain. Asked whether blaming Christians for terrorist activities was not amounting to a threat to the secular fabric of the country, Dr Jain said it was a fact and nobody could deny it,” Moreover, if secularism means appeasement of the minorities, we don’t accord recognition to such an arrangement,” said Dr Jain, who alleged that the Punjab government was also busy appeasing the minorities, particularly Christians. |
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Fertiliser price hike
unjustified: CM BATHINDA, June 25 — The Chief Minister of Punjab, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, said today that the hike in the prices of fertiliser by the Centre was unjustified. Mr Badal, who was here to make a survey of the losses suffered by farmers of certain villages of this district due to canal breaches, while reacting to the hike made in fertiliser prices, said the hike would further ruin the financial condition of farmers already burdened by heavy debts. Mr Badal while talking to mediapersons said the Punjab government as well as the SAD would lodge a protest with Centre and would press it to withdraw the hike. He, however, declined to disclose the mode of protest. Mr Badal pointed out that the Centre should give concessions to the farmer’s instead of increasing the prices of fertilisers. He said if farmers, financial
condition was affected, then it would have a fatal impact on the industry and trade of the country. The Chief Minister said his party had always advocated for more powers to the state so that developments could be carried out without any hurdle and according to the needs of people. He added that the SAD was the first party in the country which had raised the matter of adopting true federal set up in the country. Mr Badal pointed out that the state was facing acute shortage of space for storing foodgrains at present and foodgrain stock had even been damaged. He added that he had urged the Union Food Minister, Mr Shanta Kumar, to make arrangements for shifting the foodgrains to other states for storing. The chief minister said the free electricity and water facility to the farmers would not withdrawn and added that in number of other countries too farmers were being given number of facilities free of cost. In answer to a question, he said the SGPC had raised the matter of jathas’ visit to Pakistan with the Central Government. Mr Badal while talking to farmers who had suffered heavy losses due to breach in the Bathinda branch of Sirhind Canal, said each farmer would be given a compensation of Rs 1,500 per acre and added that an inquiry would be held to find out the reason for delay in draining out water from the fields. |
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BKU condemns hike in fertiliser prices SAMRALA, June 25 — Mr Balbir Singh Rajewal, general secretary of the Bharati Kisan Union, talking to mediapersons here today at the local civil rest house, condemned the increase in the prices of phosphate fertilisers by 7 per cent and potash by 15 per cent. Mr Rajewal said the Union Government was crushing the farmers by increasing the prices of agricultural inputs on the one hand and by fixing un-rumunerative prices on the other. He said the developed countries had not brought down subsidies in agriculture sector in spite of the GATT Agreement whereas the Indian Government had taken anti-farmer decisions for petty gains. While talking about the import of milk and milk products Mr Rajewal said, “It is part of a deep-rooted conspiracy to cheat the milk producers”. He claimed that in fact no milk or milk products had entered the Indian market but a systematic campaign was on to bring down the milk prices with such rumours. Mr Rajewal said Punjab produces 2.5 crore litres of milk daily and as a result of these rumours about imported milk the milk producers had suffered a loss of Rs 5 crore per day and a total of Rs 300 crore during the past two months while no benefit had been given to the consumers. Mr Rajewal said the price of desi ghee had been brought down systematically resulting in a loss of about Rs 10 crore to the milk plants of the state. Despite that the milkmen and milk plants gained by more than Rs 290 crore. Mr Rajewal alleged that the government was also a party to this conspiracy. |
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Of paddy fields, cops on wheels and mounted smugglers PATIALA, June 25 — Gypsies, motor cycles and the combined force of five police stations of the district were pitted against five drug smugglers riding with their contraband goods on horseback in a wild goose chase over tens of kilometers across paddy fields of nearby villages before the smugglers were nabbed yesterday evening and more than 200 kg of poppy husk was seized from them. The smugglers did not give in without a fight. One police personnel was attacked with a kirpan and is presently admitted to the Government Rajindra Hospital. In a melee in a paddy field before they were overpowered by the police force a mare was also hurt by a blow from a sharp-edged weapon which police sources said was meant for one of their men but hit the mare
accidentally. Following the chase one mare also dropped dead of a suspected heart attack brought about by extreme exhaustion. She was also worn out as the smuggler who was riding her replaced her leather rein with a rope when the rein broke away during the chase. The five smugglers who were arrested belong to Daban Kheri and other villages situated on the border with Patiala in Kaithal district of Haryana. The paddy fields which are presently virtually inundated with water proved to be the nemesis for the smugglers. Their mares found it difficult to negotiate them and became exhausted by the effort. Ironically, it was the paddy fields which had heightened smuggling activity. Sources said there was presently more demand for poppy husk as farmers encouraged labourers employed in transplanting paddy to take to drugs so that they could work in a frenzied manner. Talking to the smugglers at the police lines in Patiala, it was revealed that they had slipped into Patiala district early yesterday morning and were in the process of selling their contraband goods when the chase started. All the smugglers who have been arrested except one were the owners of their mares and had brought poppy husk to be sold in this district at Rs 40 per kg from Haryana. They were selling it at Rs 300 per kg in the district. One of the smugglers, Harinder Singh, said he was acting as a courier for a flat rate of Rs 1,000 for the trip. Giving details of the chase, district police chief Harpreet Singh Sidhu said the police force first formed a loose cordon when news was received that some persons were selling poppy husk on horseback at Banera village in Nabha
He said besides Patiala DSP (Rural ) Jagjit Singh Gill and Nabha DSP Gurbachan Singh, force of police stations of Sadar, Patiala, Sadar, Nabha, Kotwali, Nabha and the Bhadson police station participated in the chase which lasted for more than five hours. He said the injured police personnel Jagtar Singh would be given an appropriate honour for his courage shown in the operation. Five bags of poppy husk which dangle in the shape of a saddle on both sides of the horse weighing around 200 kg have been recovered from the smugglers, besides five sharp-edged weapons. Cases under Section 307 (for attacking police personnel) and the NDPS Act have been registered against the five smugglers identified as Ajaib Singh, Devinder Singh alias pappu and Mahinder Singh, all from Daban Kheri village of Kaithal district and Gulab Singh and Mahinder Singh of Seon Majra and Chaan Chak villages of Kaithal district, respectively. |
Mahila Cong workers stage dharna PATIALA, June 25 — Workers of the District Mahila Congress staged a dharna at Tripuri in protest against the rising inflation , corruption and unemployment in the state. Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, president of the Punjab Mahila Congress, while addressing the party workers said that ever since the SAD-BJP combine had come to power in the state there had been a steep rise in corruption and inflation. She alleged that there were hundreds of cases of old-age pension not being disbursed. The president of the District Mahila Congress, Ms Krishna Dahri, said that women related crimes were also on the rise. She added that because of the wrong policies of the government the state treasury was empty due to which the government was not in a position to pay salaries to its employees. She said that the people were fed up with the government and this could be reflected from the results of the recently held municipal council elections where the Congress had made a strong dent in the Akali vote bank. |
‘Empower’ states to ensure progress FATEHGARH SAHIB, June 25 — The Finance Minister, Capt Kanwaljit Singh, while addressing a gathering at Matthi village said today that no state could make complete development and progress unless it enjoyed full financial and political powers and rights. He said at present 30 per cent share of the amount collected by the state governments from the various sources was taken away by the Centre and 70 per cent of the amount was given as loan to that state at an interest rate of 12.5 per cent, due to which all states in the country were facing financial crisis. Earlier, the minister laid the foundation stone of a link road at the village. He said the Central Government enjoys full powers and the rights of the state governments are at its mercy and the states have to approach the Centre even, for minor matters. Thus, even though all development and financial plans are chalked out by the state government yet they are cleared and implemented by the central government. He said the Akalis were likely to organise dharnas in order to get powers for the states. He said due to increasing pressure of the SAD the Centre had constituted a three-member committee to study this demand and other political parties were also supporting this demand of the SAD. Lashing out at the previous Congress government, Kanwaljit Singh alleged that the Congress government was responsible for the poor economic state of Punjab and the coffers of the state treasury were empty when Akalis formed the government. He said within a span of two years they had put the economy back on the rails. He said the Congress did not have any welfare programme on its agenda because of infighting in the party. He said from September 1 to 7 the foundation stones of four major projects in the state were laid these included railway overbridge at Sirhind town, four laning of Patiala-Chandigarh road, bridge at Macchiwara and a bridge over Sutlej near Jagraon and all these projects would be completed by December 2001. He announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh each for drains, streets and for school building at the village. Mr R.S. Cheema, former minister, Jathedar Swarn Singh Chanarthal, district president of the Akali Dal, Mandeep Singh, former chairman, also addressed the gathering. |
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Sangrur to have transport nagar SANGRUR, June 25 — The town is all set to have a transport nagar with acquisition of 23.66 acre, finalisation of scheme and readiness of map. The transport nagar would be located on the Tunga-Kularan road near the existing truck union office here. The land for the transport nagar has been acquired by the local Improvement Trust at a cost of Rs 4 crore while about Rs 6 crore will be spent on providing essential facilities in the nagar which include water supply, sewerage, street lighting, footpaths, roads and parking sites etc. Out of 23.66 acre, an area of 12 acre has been earmarked for footpaths, roads and parking sites to accommodate the trucks which are now parked on only 2 acre and also in different parts of the town. In the transport nagar scheme, there is a provision to have vehicles’ body building plots, spare parts shops, booking agencies, vehicles’ washing sites, repair shops, denting and painting shops, vehicles’ sale agencies and sites for a bank, a post office and a petrol pump, besides sites for other public interest institutions. The proposed transport nagar is near to the grain market, fruits and vegetable market and the railway station. The approach to it is from the Uppali-Chatha road. Talking to TNS here today, Mr Nanak Chand Kalra, Chairman of the Local Improvement Trust, said the trust authorities were forwarding ahead for starting work on the transport nagar to execute the scheme as soon as possible. Mr Kalra said besides the transport nagar, the trust had also drawn up a 12-acre Daggi area development scheme on Tung-Kularan and Mahalan road for residential and commercial purposes. This scheme would be an opportunity for the residents to beautify the town. In this scheme, there would be 128 plots for middle and upper middle class people and multi-storey flats for lower income persons also. There would also be a commercial complex and a hotel site, he added. The trust has also decided to work on four more residential schemes. The schemes are on Nankana Sahib road, on Dhuri road near railway level crossing, on Tunga-Kularan road and on Uppelichatha road in between Improvement Trust’s 12 acre residential scheme and 23.66 acre transport nagar scheme. Mr Kalra disclosed that the trust also wanted to have two commercial schemes in the heart of the town. The first scheme would cover the Bombay Ghar while the second scheme would cover the land of irrigation office near Sunami Gate. Another scheme of the trust, at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Market outside Sunami Gate,
was also coming up as a commercial complex with all modern facilities, the Chairman added. |
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Guidelines for petrol stations SAS NAGAR, June 25 — On the insistence of the Union Ministry of Urban Transport ,the Punjab Government has come out with fresh guidelines for setting up of petrol and diesel filling stations along the national highways, scheduled roads and within urban estates . The guidelines conform to the prescribed norms of the Indian Road Congress (IRC). The ministry in a communication to the State Government has pointed out that a number of the filling stations did not conform to the " recommendations of location and layout of roadside motor fuel filling and motor fuel filling -cum-service stations" as specified by the IRC. It has observed that while setting up the filling stations no approval was sought from the road authority concerned and the pumps were energised by the oil companies just on the basis of a No-Objection Certificate (NOC) from the district licencing authority. The ministry officials said in the past it had been observed that the District Magistrate did not consult the road authority concerned while giving the NOC . Now the Surface Transport department has also written to the Petroleum and Natural Gas department and to the oil companies to ask allottees of filling stations to seek approval from the road authority concerned. The issue was taken up after the Director General (Road Development), Union Ministry of Surface Transport, wrote a letter to the officials of the State Government dealing with the national highways. Recently a meeting between the officials of the Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL), Town Planning Department of Punjab and the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA) was held at Chandigarh. The guidelines formulated by PUDA would also be applicable within the colonies and urban estates developed or approved by it. Sources in the government said the Town Planning Department had fixed the parametres of the filling
station's structure. It has been stated that no building would be constructed without the approval of the site and building plans from the authority concerned. Prohibiting use of the site for any other purpose and providing space for storage and sale of eatables, soft drinks and gifts has also been specified. However, the total built up area for the convenient store should not exceed 10 per cent of the total covered area of the filling station. Permission for use of road berms in front and on sides for landscaping has been allowed. All cases pertaining to remodelling of existing filing stations or filling-cum-service stations where the site fell short of the stipulated specifications would be examined within the overall framework of the general guidelines. However, PUDA has said that the guidelines regarding the location, entry and exit, distance of the fuel pump from the carriageway and the buffer strips fixed by the ministry would have to be
met by the allottee. The main focus was to minimise interference to the normal flow of traffic on the road by the vehicles entering or leaving the filling stations. In case of the outlets with multiple facilities on the national highways, State highways and other important roads separate guidelines on the basis of instructions issued by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas were being framed. |
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GPF denied for 7 years ROPAR, June 25 — Ramesh Chander, a store keeper in Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) who retired in October 1993, after a service of about 33 years, died six years later without setting sight on a sum of Rs 1 lakh deposited in his general provident fund. His widow, Satya Devi is continuing the crusade of her husband to get his GPF says her family has suffered due to the apathy of officials of the BBMB and AG Punjab. Mr Ramesh Chander started service as a storekeeper in BBMB, at Sundernagar and deductions from his salary for GPF started in October, 1969. Another Ramesh Chander, a sotrekeeper of the Haryana cadre was employed at BBMB Sundernagar. Officials of the AG Punjab clubbed both these Ram Chanders as one allocated them the same GPF number and GPF deductions from the salaries of both were deposited in the same account number, till December 1983, when the Ram Chander of the Punjab cadre was transferred to Nangal. His GPF account number was then transferred to Chief Engineer Irrigation Works Punjab and he was allocated another GPF number, Proj. Pb/3432 where the deductions from his salary continued to be deposited, till his retirement. When Mr Ramesh Chander asked for his dues after retirement, he was told he had no GPF account number and the account number he claimed was his had been shifted to AG Haryana at the request of another person who had withdrawn the money. It was the beginning of an ordeal never ended till his death. Sources here blame the AG Punjab and BBMB officials for the problem. They say that as per rules the AG Punjab’s office has to give the statement of the money deposited in the GPF account of each employee annually. However, Mr Ramesh Chander was never given any statement in spite of his serving legal notice on the concerned authorities. Similarly drawing and dispersing officer (DDO) in BBMB are
required to make sure money deducted from the salaries of employees working under him was deposited in their accounts. Officials of the Chief Engineer Irrigation Works Punjab, in a letter to the BBMB have admitted they have the GPF of Mr Ramesh Chander deposited with them after 1983. However, they are now demanding that the BBMB authorities should give in writing that the deceased was not allocated a GPF account number, before the funds are released. The BBMB authorities refuse to do this, caught up in this bureaucratic tangle Mr Ramesh Chander died without treatment for want of funds and now his family does not have money to plead their case in court. |
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PNFC workers gherao GM ROPAR, June 25 — Workers of Punjab National Fertilisers and Chemicals (PNFC) Limited gheraoed their General Manager last evening. The gherao which started at about 7 pm ended at about 2 am today after the intervention of the district administration and an assurance from the Managing Director of the PNFC. The workers and their families, including women and children, blocked the passage to the administrative office of the PNFC and raised slogans against the Punjab Government. The SDM of Anandpur Sahib and police officials failed to pacify the workers till late in night. Finally the Deputy Commissioner of Ropar and the MD of the PNFC managed to pacify the protesters. The Deputy Commissioner assured the leader of workers on phone that he would plead their case with the government and the MD of the PNFC gave the workers meeting time for Monday. The workers of the PNFC have not been getting wages since September, 1999. However, immediate provocation for this agitation by workers came last evening, when they were told that the PSIDC had rejected the proposal to give a loan of Rs 10,000 each to the workers. The decision was taken at a board meeting held yesterday. Earlier, in May this year, the PSIDC, a major shareholder in PNFC, had decided to grant a loan of Rs 10,000 to each worker of the PNFC, till they were granted the retrenchment benefits. The PNFC has ceased production since past two years. The BIFR has directed its closure. The case of PNFC closure is lying pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the non-acceptance of summons by the PSIDC Chairman has delayed the decision of the high court. The workers, however, allege that they are being harassed in order to benefit some higher officials. They alleged that the PSIDC Managing Director, who is also acting as the MD of PNFC, was drawing Rs 40,000 per month from the PNFC fund, whereas the workers were on the verge of starvation due to the non-payment of salaries for the past 10 months. |
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DCC opposes
govt move on hospital AMRITSAR, June 25 — The District Congress Committee (DCC) has opposed the purported move of the state government to handover the government hospital land to PUDA. It said the move was a clear pointer towards state bankruptcy. The land, as claimed by Mr Jugal Kishore, President, DCC, was donated to the government by social worker Ram Lal Seth after whom the Ram Lal Free ENT and Eye Hospital has been named. Regretting that a donated piece of land which had been reposed in good faith to the government by the donor was not being put to charitable use as visualised by Ram Lal but was being sold as residential plots thus defeating the purpose of the donation. On the other hand, the government, he said, had adopted an anti-poor policy by increasing the rates in government hospitals. Mr Jugal suggested that the present government, instead of pursuing policies detrimental to the poor, should concentrate on curbing rampant corruption, giving pensions due to old persons, terrorist victims and other beneficiary schemes. Pioneer operation replaces both knees PATIALA, June 25 — The world has undergone a sea change for 62-year-old Amar Kaur of Ambala. From a life of complete immobility since the last eleven months, she will be completely mobile after four weeks with the successful replacement of both her knees in a pioneering operation in the local Amar Hospital here. Amar Kaur, who had been suffering from chronic osteoarthritis, had severe pain in both her knees since the last seven to eight years. She had been rendered completely immobile since the last eleven months. Today Dr P Suryanarayan, a Senior Consultant and orthopaedic surgeon at the Madras Institute of Orthopaedics and Trauma, conducted a three-hour-long operation to replace both the knees of Amar Kaur. Following the operation, Dr Suryanarayan said the patient would be able to stand up on her own after six days and would be mobile after four weeks. The patient had been referred to the surgeon Dr Gurdeep Singh who advised her to go for replacement of both knees. Dr Suryanarayan had come to Patiala on the request on Amar Hospital and also delivered a special lecture on ‘’Evolution of Knee Replacement’’ on the invitation of the Patiala branch of the Indian Medical Association ( IMA). Earlier while delivering his lecture, Dr Suryanarayan said the replacement was based on the low friction principle in which the body fluids acted as lubricants. He said high density polyurethane and titanium besides other materials were used to craft the artificial knee. He said the cost of operating one knee was about Rs 1 lakh. He said the biggest worry in the operation was the risk of the patient catching some infection and precautions had to be taken against this. Otherwise the entire procedure had become standardised and the success rate was more than 90 per cent. Speaking about when the knee replacement operation should be conducted, the doctor said it could be done in case of rheumatoid arthritis in any age. He said in case of osteoarthritis usually doctors tried to prolong the operation as long as possible and did it only when the patient crossed her/his fifties. He said the follow-up was done after one month , then after six months and then every year. He said the knees were able to last for about 15 years. He said though it was not possible to squat after the operation. The flexibility of the knees was adequate for normal activity.
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War widow litigants to be given money PATIALA, June 25 — The Punjab Directorate of Sainik Welfare has recommended to the Punjab Government to give money equivalent to the value of land which had been given to widows of the 1965 and 1971 conflicts, but which they had not been able to take possession of till now. Talking to newsmen here today, the Sainik Welfare Director, Brig (retd) Kuldeep Singh Kahlon said there were 22 war widows who had not been able to take possession of ten acres which had been given to them following the death of their husbands in battle. He said presently cases regarding these pieces of land were going on in various courts. He added that the Sainik Welfare Directorate had recommended to the state government to give these widows money equivalent to the present value of the land which had been allotted to them and the report was under consideration of the government. Brigadier Kahlon said the state government had extended various benefits to families of martyrs and disabled soldiers. There had been 128 casualties in Kargil and 181 soldiers had been wounded. Ex-gratia grant of Rs 2 lakh each had been disbursed in 125 cases, while partial payments had been made in the other three cases. He said three wounded soldiers had been paid Rs 3.5 lakh, according to their disability. The Director said 15 next of kin of the martyrs had been allotted flats and plots by the Punjab Urban Development Authority ( PUDA ) . He said payment of Rs 5 lakh cash grant in lieu of plots had been made in 104 cases and government jobs had been provided to 70 dependants. Disclosing the other decisions taken by the government , he said it had been decided that serving defence personnel would be given additional time for completion of construction equal to the total period spent by them in non-family stations. He said the PUDA had also extended the existing quota from one per cent to two per cent for allotment of plots and houses to gallantry award winners. He said a circular had also been issued by the Chief Secretary to all heads of departments to ensure proper courtesy was paid to dependants of martyrs and their personal problems were attended to on a priority basis . He said dependants would also be invited to all important district-level functions.
Rural water
supply scheme inaugurated PATIALA, June 25 — People of the villages should come forward in a big way to help the government to successfully execute and implement development works started by it. This was stated by Raja Narinder Singh, Minister for Public Health and Civil Aviation, after inaugurating a rural water supply scheme at Ghamroda village in Nabha subdivision, near here, today. Speaking on the occasion, he said the government was doing everything possible for the uplift of the rural masses and urged the rural youth to take up technical education so that they might be in a position to prosper economically by gaining self-employment. Raja Narinder Singh said since the water table in the state was diminishing rapidly, the only way by which the people in villages could get safe drinking water was through the rural water supply schemes initiated by the government. He added that out of 889 villages in this district which were facing an acute shortage of drinking water, 780 would get safe drinking water by the year end, thereby benefiting nearly 7.70 lakh people. He said the government was initially covering villages where the problem of safe drinking water was acute and added that rural water supply schemes would be launched in other villages in the next financial year. Raja Narinder Singh disbursed a grant of Rs 40.28 Lakh among the panchayats of 43 villages. He also gave a grant of Rs 20,000 for the renovation of the village dharmshala and said whatever amount the people collected for development of the village, the government would chip in with a matching amount.
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Migrant workers harassed: CPI AMRITSAR, June 25 — The district council of the CPI has alleged that migrant workers from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar are being harassed by the state police at the behest of the SAD-BJP government in Punjab. The district council in a statement issued here today expressed concern over the fact that the state police had blamed migrant labourers for the increase in the crime rate and had put into effect its declared policy to deprive these workers of their voting right. It said the police had been turning a blind eye to incidents of robbing of these workers in trains. At certain places in Jalandhar and Gurdaspur migrant labourers are being taken to police stations for the verification of their antecedents. The district council observed that the state government was violating the provisions of the Constitution by denying guarantee and safety of life and property to these workers. The council viewed that although these workers were rendering great help to the state both in industry and agriculture sectors still they were being mercilessly exploited by industrialists as well as rich farmers. The council challenged the state government to bring out details of the incidents of crime in the past one year and claimed that these would prove that most of the crimes of murder, rape and dacoity are committed by the criminal elements in society. |
Teachers resent delay in pension LUDHIANA, June 25 — The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union, representing teachers in various non-government colleges in the state, is sore over the delay by the government in implementing the pension and gratuity scheme in non-government colleges. The Punjab Government had passed a Bill and also issued the final notification on April 26, 1999, under the title — Punjab Affliliated Colleges Security of Services Amendment Act 1999, thereby introducing pension and gratuity scheme in non-government colleges. However, the scheme is yet to be implemented by the state government. About 700 employees of these colleges, who retired during the last one year, have been facing acute hardships due to the delay in the implementation. Mr K.B.S. Sodhi, president, Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers’ Union said, it was after a long struggle the Punjab Government had decided to legislate an Act providing for pension and gratuity benefits to teachers in the non-government colleges in the state, in lieu of contributory provident fund (CPF). The teachers of non-government colleges have other grievances as well. They have been demanding representations in the Senate and Syndicate of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Punjabi University, Patiala, and democratisation of university bodies. Justifying the case, Dr Sodhi pointed out that the members of Syndicate and Senate of these universities were nominated by the Governor in his capacity as the Chancellor. Both of these universities were affiliated universities and drew about 80 per cent of their student strength from non-government colleges only and earned a considerable revenue from these colleges on account of examination fee and various other funds, including the endowment fund from different colleges. However, there was no representation given to the teachers of these colleges in these decision making bodies. The teachers of these colleges were yet to get the arrears of the revised pay scales from January 1, 1996 to January 1, 1999 whereas employees all over the country had got the same much earlier. The teachers had been holding the state government responsible for the same. They were planning to hold protest demonstrations to get their demands conceded. The teachers had decided to shift the venue of the action plan from Chandigarh to Delhi. Mr Sodhi also recommended that DPE’s should be given designation of lecturer in physical education as in its absence they felt disparity with others. In another recommendation to Punjab Human Rights Commission, he emphasised that it should intervene and get the violation of human rights corrected. Meanwhile, the teachers will hold a meeting on June 27 with the Principal Secretary, Mr G.P.S. Sahi (Ministry of Higher Education). They will also conduct a meeting of executive committee on July 7. A proposal had been also made to organise a parade of retired teachers in the constituencies for not implementing the
scheme. |
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700 schools to get computers FATEHGARH SAHIB, June 25 — The Punjab government is going to introduce computers in 700 senior secondary and middle schools from the current session. The contract to impart computer education has been given to a computer institution NIIT. A special fee of Rs 100 per month will be charged, out of which Rs 28 will be spent on the development of the school and the rest given to the institution. The whole infrastructure will be provided by the institution. This was announced by Mr R.S. Sandhu, Secretary, Education, while addressing the valedictory function of a summer camp being organised by Saffron City Public School here today. More than 400 students from the district participated in the camp. Mr Sandhu said the scenario at the world level was changing fast. The globalisation and explosion in Information Technology had affected our life. If we did not keep pace with it, we would lag behind. He said keeping this in mind and to prepare our younger generation to compete at the world level, computer education had been introduced as an optional subject, but the government was thinking to make it a compulsory subject. He said the government had also initiated a debate whether what we were teaching in our school was rational? The government was also going to change the
curriculum and it would be made according to the present requirement. Guidance was being taken from the NCERT, he added. He said the government had decided to spend Rs 12 lakh per constituency to provide better infrastructure in primary schools. Promotions and new recruitments were being done so that there would be no shortage of staff in the government schools. Addressing the function, Mr B.S. Sudan, Deputy Commissioner, urged the managements of public schools not to commercialise education. He urged them to adopt poor and needy students. He said government schools were not up to expectations though the staff was getting good salary. Something was lacking with them which compelled students to go to public schools, where parents had to spend a lot of money. Mr Jagjit Singh Ghungarana, Chairman, Punjab Agro Industry, Amrit Kaur Guram, Director, Schools. Mr Jaspreet Kaur, Principal, Mr S.S Kahlon, Chairman of the school, Mr H.S. Bhular, DEO, also addressed the function. |
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