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| Sunday,
April 1, 2001, Chandigarh, India |
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Aulakh to stress on
austerity Ludhiana, March 31 In an interview with Ludhiana Tribune, Dr Aulakh said his top priority would be to give a new direction to the research in the university to make it helpful to the farmers to meet the impending challenges of the WTO. He said he would specially concenterate on revival of cotton crop in the state, besides emphasising on floriculture and horticulture. Dr Aulakh gave an open invitation to all the university employees, especially those opposing his appointment, to sit together for the redressal of their grievances so that the university could concenterate on the progress of agriculture in the state. He also proposed to give a clarion call to its employees to start practising austerity measures. Dr Aulakh said the austerity measures were the need of the hour as the university was facing a deficit of Rs 22 crore in the budget for the current year. He said among the areas which he had identified for immediate attention were electricity consumption. He said the electricity bill of the university during the last six months had amounted to Rs 1 crore. He claimed that he had got one of the two airconditioners removed from the Vice-Chancellor’s office. Another area which he was very particular about was ensuring the punctuality and regularity of the employees. “I had received many complaints and also had observed myself that not many varsity employees were punctual. So I will ensure that this habit is eliminated,” Dr Aulakh said. He added that he would encourage the scientists of PAU to visit the fields for the benefit of the farmers. He felt that the practical aspect of a problem was different from the theoretical one. “Visits of these scientists mean that they will get to know more about the problems faced by the farming community”. Dr Aulakh, said he would try that the farmers were provided with seeds that would ensure better yield. He said he would revive the cotton crop during his tenure as its production had gone down during the last few years. He said that earlier the state used to produce 25 lakh bails of cotton every year but it has come down to 7 to 8 lakh bails per year now. He said he would try to encourage the farmers to reduce the area of cultivation under paddy. “We are planning to encourage the farmers to cultivate soyabean from now and transfer one -third of area under paddy cultivation to soyabean. This will help solve their problems.” said Dr Aulakh. “Another major problem that is being faced by the state agriculture is overmechanisation. There are four lakh tractors in the state and a farmer having 10 acres is buying a tractor. This is wastage and increases the cost of production. To compete in the international market, we need to reduce the cost of production,” Dr Aulakh added. About the atmosphere in the varsity, he said he would try to observe transparency in his functioning and satisfy all the employees. He said the university was like a family to him and he would do anything rational to keep his members happy. He also said the varsity would aim to produce such graduates who would be self-employed and would employ others. He said many fields needed to be explored which could provide employment to scores of young agricultured graduates.
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Workshop on bee-keeping
over Ludhiana, March 31 Trainees were acquainted with the latest techniques used in bee breeding, artificial insemination of queens for stock improvement, mass queen rearing, royal jelly production and other bee products. Management of various diseases and natural enemies of bees were also stressed upon. During the course participants also visited Dr Y.S. Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan, and CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, to make them abreast of research activities carried out in these universities. Dr Darshan Singh, Course Director, and Head, Department of Entomology, informed that the programme was held under the National Agricultural Technology Project of the ICAR exclusively for the scientists engaged in beekeeping research from various state agricultural universities.
Participating in the concluding function, Dr M.S. Tiwana, Additional Director of Research, exhorted the scientists to diversify the beekeeping and appreciated the research conducted by Dr G.S. Gatoria and his team. |
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250 students
get prizes Ludhiana, March 31 A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion. The programme was also organised on the occasion. |
Consumer Forum needs
amenities Ludhiana, March 31 The Forum has an annual grant of Rs 15,28,725, out of which Rs 13,60,000 is spent on salaries. A fund of Rs 43,000 (office expense), for paying telephone bills, electricity bills, postage and stationery. From this fund officials are supposed to buy curtains, crockery and other knick-knacks. But the fund is insufficient for paying even telephone and electricity bills. The office needs almirahs for files. But due shortage of funds, more almirahs cannot be bought. Rain water splashes into the office through pane-less windows. The maintenance of the building is the responsibility of the Zila Parishad. Once parishad staff fixed panes in the windows of high officials, and left out the main hall, where most of the staff works. During the summer taps on the second floor go dry. About the water available here one of the officials said, “Sahib, ek baar yahan ka paani peekar bahut din tak aspatal ka pani thoda peena hai (once you drink water from here and then you have to drink water in the hospital for many days).”
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PSEB told to compensate
for inflated bill Ludhiana, March 31 According to the compliant, Ms Balwant Kaur paid the bill for Rs 2,562 for the period from November 25, 1999 to January 25, 2000. But her electricity connection was disconnected on March 22, 2000, without any notice to her. The complainant stated that she had given a telegram to the SDO concerned and had even sent a registered notice to the board for the restoration of the electricity connection. However, the connection was restored after about three days, She added. The complainant stated that she was shocked when she received a bill for Rs 57,884 on April 24, 2000. The complainant stated that she had submitted an application to amend the bill and issue a new bill as she was not liable to pay the outstanding amount as shown in the bill. It was alleged that the complainant approached and requested the officials concerned but nobody listened to her. The board pleaded that the amount was wrongly debited in the account of the complainant because both the meters were installed in the same premises. The respondent stated that the mistake was rectified on the representation made by the complainant, in the bill issued on April 17, 2000. The board, however, denied that the connection of the complainant was ever disconnected. The forum observed that the amount was wrongly added in the bill of the complainant and further stated that as per the bill issued to the complainant on January 16, 2001, the respondent had again added an amount of Rs 67,671 on account of arrears. The forum observed that in spite of the fact that the amount is not recoverable the same had again been added to the bill of the complainant. The forum held that there was clear deficiency in services on the part of the PSEB and accordingly the forum directed the board to pay a compensation of Rs 4,000 to the complainant. |
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