EDUCATION

ISAE holds meeting
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, March 2 — The Punjab chapter of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers (ISAE) organised its annual meeting in the Jacob Assembly Hall of the College of Agricultural Engineering, Punjab Agricultural University, here today.

During the programme, a business meet-cum-seminar was held on ‘Problems and prospects of briquetting industry’. Mr Chiranji Lal Garg, Minister of Science and Technology, and Mr Jagdish Singh Garcha, Minister of Technical Education and Industrial Training, Punjab, participated in the programme.

The ministers said that they would look into the problems related to the industry. They appreciated the efforts of the society and the Briquetting Manufacturers Association in taking up the issue of disposal of paddy straw from the farms in economically viable manner.

Dr I.K. Garg, Dr Surendra Singh, Dr D.S. Taneja and Mr Baldev Singh, all members of the society, were awarded commendation medals in their respective areas related to agricultural engineering. Dr S.R. Verma and Dr S.D. Khepar, both ex-Deans, were also honoured during this function for their contribution to the profession.

Dr S.S. Ahuja, chairman of the society, read the report of the society and highlighted the issue of briquetting. He also pleaded for incentive and subsidy to this programme so that, in future, it could help the state economy by providing economic gains to the farmers along with creating more than 10,000 technical jobs in the rural area. He mentioned that paddy straw if utilised for briquette making would prove and a boon for the farmers and society by removing problems of pollution.

Dr H.S. Sekhon, Dean of the college, welcomed the chief guest and gave slogan ‘Don’t burn to earn’ and pleaded for the promotion of briquetting industry to save environment. Mr B. S. Bathal, joint director (engineering), highlighted the need for improving the lot of this industry so that waste could be utilised for gainful purposes, particularly in the brick kiln industry.

‘Tap non-conventional energy sources’
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, March 2 — Dr K.S. Aulakh, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, PAU, has said in order to meet the rising energy demands in future, India needed to tap non-conventional energy sources and briquette biomass could go a long way in solving the energy problems. This technology had added advantage of being eco-friendly as it utilised the agricultural waste, which otherwise would cause pollution, he remarked.

Dr Aulakh was addressing a gathering of scientists and industrialists during a seminar on “Problems and prospects of briquette industry”. He further said the technology of this kind had more importance for Punjab, which did not have conventional resources of fuels like coal, crude oil and nuclear energy. On the other hand, Punjab had abundant supply of paddy and wheat straw which could be utilised by briquette industry to produce eco-friendly fuel. Scientists and engineers should make efforts to develop technologies by which straw can be used as a useful fuel for industry, he observed.

Dr Aulakh urged the government institutions to establish more briquette plants which could greatly help to meet the fuel shortages and at the same time protect our forest cover and provide additional employment opportunities in rural areas. He also remarked that Punjab had about 15 million tonnes of available crop residues, of which only 90,000 tonnes was presently being utilised to produced briquette biomass. He asked the state government to formulate policies and programmes to harness the potential in biomass energy.

On this occasion, Dr B.S. Panesar, Director, School of Energy Studies, PAU, said Punjab every year produced around 10 million tonnes of paddy straw which was wasted by burning. “Not only we waste the important elements by burning, we also pollute the atmosphere at the same time,” he said. All this biomass could be converted into briquette biomass fuel worth Rs 400 crore, he added.

The seminar was jointly organised by the Punjab Agro-Waste Fuel Briquetters Association, the PAU, and the Punjab Chapter of the Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers. 

PAU employees hold rally
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, March 2 — The Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) employees held a rally in front of the administrative complex here today in support of their outstanding demands and served ultimatum to the PAU administration to immediately concede to their demands otherwise the employees would resort to agitation.

According to the PAU Employees United Front president, Mr Avtar Singh Deol, the pending demands included regularisation of strike period, restoration of secretariat pattern, revision of scales of lab attendants, removal of anomalies in G-4, creation of superintendent grade II posts, special allowance of Rs 80 to the clerks, steno typists and other grade C employees and waving the condition of qualification and good CRs for the grant of certain benefits.

Annual function of school
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, March 2 — Nearly 200 students of CFC Public School, Gurdev Nagar, were given prizes at an annual function held here on Friday. These included students who had secured more than 85 per cent marks in the previous session. Besides, prizes were also given to the students for their performance in sports and co-curricular activities.

A short cultural programme was also organised which began with prayer. Group dances were presented by tiny tots.

Mela at gurdwara
From Our Correspondent

SAHNEWAL, March 2 — The annual mela on the birth anniversary of Shromani Bhagat Dhanna is being held from March 1 to 4 at Gurdwara Somasar Sahib, Tibba. A religious diwan was conducted after the bhog of Akhand Path on March 1. Sant Baba Ranjit Singh Gujjarwal and Sant Baba Dalwara Singh Malowal organised the diwans.

On March 2, Sant Niranjan Singh Jawadi Kalan and Bhai Manjit Singh from Mumbai, held the religious diwans. On March 3, a dhadi kavi darbar would be organised by Giani Tarlochan Singh Bhammadi and Giani Dya Singh Dilbar. On the concluding day, a grand nagar kirtan would be taken out through nearby villages. 

COURTS

Telecom dept told to pay Rs 4,000
From Our Correspondent

LUDHIANA, March 2 — The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Telecom Department to pay Rs 4,000 along with the cost of litigation to Mr Surinder Singh on account of deficiency in service. The forum further directed the department to provide a telephone connection to the complainant at the earliest possible.

Mr Surinder Singh, a resident of Madhuban Enclave, had applied for a telephone connection on March 7, 2000, and deposited Rs 3000 for the same. The complainant stated: “He is an advocate and as such he had applied for the connection on a priority basis. The complainant further stated that the department had issued him a demand notice on March 13, 2000, but inspite of repeated requests the telephone was not installed”.

The department pleaded that the complainant had applied for a new telephone connection in the general category and not in a special category as alleged by him. The respondent admitted that the waiting list number BRS/Genl/11384 was allotted to the complainant on March 7, 2000. The complainant maintained that the advice note issued on March 7 was received back from the SDO concerned with the remark that pillar 63 was totally non-functional. The opposite party stated that the complainant was informed by the department through a letter on April 1, 2000, but the letter was received back undelivered. The department stated that since the area was not technically feasible as such the telephone could not be provided.

The forum observed that as per the rules the department the feasibility of the area had to be seen before issuing of the advice note, and if the area was not feasible the department was not expected to issue the advice note. The forum further stated: “As per the document provided by the department the area was not feasible on May 29, August 25, and December 27, 2000, and there is no evidence that the area was not feasible earlier to May 29, 2000. The forum pointed out that if the area became non-feasible on May, 29, 2000, then the telephone could be provided to the complainant earlier to that when the advice note was issued. The forum held that there was clear deficiency on the part of the department”.