Ludhiana, October 6
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Anurag Verma, today visited a number of mandis to check paddy procurement operations.

Talking to mediapersons, he said the procurement operations were going on smoothly. Till date about 4.25 lakh MT of paddy had been purchased in the various mandis of the district. This constituted about 25 per cent of the total expected arrival. He said out of the total paddy purchased, 171477 MT, which accounts for 47 per cent had been purchased by the millers and 24,9467 had been purchased by government agencies.

The positive feature of the operation was that the millers were aggressively purchasing the paddy and they had purchased about 40 per cent of the total purchase i.e. about 1.70 lakh MT. He further stated that lifting of paddy from mandis was going on at a satisfactory pace. He said about 80 per cent of the purchased stock had been lifted from the mandis and barring a few exceptions, only the stock purchased during the last one and half days was lying in the mandis.

He said all agencies had received funds for making payment for the purchased stock and had started making their payments. Till date payments amounting to Rs 80 crore had been made.

Mr Anurag Verma further said the only major problem was that in anticipation of rains some of the farmers were bringing green and immature crop to the mandis. He appealed to the farmers not to harvest green and immature crop.

He stated that PUSA-44, which has been sown by most of the farmers, is a sturdy variety and does not flatten because of rains. By bringing immature crop, farmers will, on one hand, themselves suffer loss and on other hand will create problem for the procurement agencies, who will not be able to purchase the paddy below specification.

The Deputy Commissioner stated that he had amended his earlier order regarding a ban on harvesting of crop at night. Now no harvesting will be allowed between 7 p.m. and 10 a.m. Further even during the day time there will be a ban on harvesting of green crop.

Arhtiyas concerned have also been told to ask the farmers coming to their shops to desist from bringing immature crop for sale. Mr Verma directed the District Mandi Officer to inform arhtiyas in different Market Committees about this. In the mandis, the Deputy Commissioner asked the farmers about the procurement process, who told him that this time the yield of paddy was higher than that last year and there was no problem in selling the produce.

He visited the mandis of Koom Kalan, Machhiwara, Hedon Bet, Katani Kalan and Jandiali. He was accompanied by Mr Baldev Singh, Sub Divisional Magistrate, Samrala, Ms Simarjot Kaur, District Food & Civil Supplies Controller, District Mandi Officer and heads of various procurement agencies accompanied him.

Mr Verma further informed that he is daily holding a meeting with the district heads of all procurement agencies at 9.30 am in his camp office. If any farmers or arhtyias have any problem regarding the purchase of paddy then they can meet him and bring the problem to his notice.

Machhiwara: Mr Anurag Verma visited the grain market in Machhiwara today. During his visit to this fourth biggest grain market in Ludhiana district, Mr Verma found the mandi yard insufficient for the huge arrival of paddy. He asked the farmers to voice problems being faced by them but no farmer came forward to say anything.

Afterwards Mr Verma attended a press conference in the local market committee. Talking to Ludhiana Tribune Mr Verma said 4.25 MT of paddy had arrived till date in the 100 purchase centres in Ludhiana district. He said the arrival of paddy in the current season was likely to be 25 per cent more than that last year. ‘The huge arrival of paddy is a result of good crop’’, he said. The payment against the purchase of paddy is also being done promptly, he added.

Regarding the insufficient area of mandi yard in Machhiwara, Mr Verma said he would write to the marketing board authorities. He also visited the site of proposed extension of yard at Garhi Bet village.

When asked about the pitiable condition of Kisan Rest House, he took stock of the situation immediately and instructed the officials to get it repaired immediately. After this, Mr Verma paid a visit to the sub-purchase centre at Hedon Bet.

Ludhiana, October 6
A woman and her brother-in-law allegedly committed suicide today by jumping in front of a train near Jassian village on the Ludhiana-Jalandhar rail track, near here. The deceased were identified as 27-year-old Rakesh Kumar and Sunaina, residents of Durgapuri in the Haibowal area of Ludhiana.

The police said Rakesh married Sapna of Jalandhar five months ago, but he was reportedly in love with Sunaina, who was the daughter-in-law of his paternal aunt. It added that they went missing from their respective houses since last evening and their bodies were spotted by some villagers this morning.

Ms Sapna told mediapersons that although she was married for the past five months, Rakesh had not consummated their marriage and Sunaina used to call up her husband many times during the day. She said she suspected that Rakesh and Sunaina had illicit relations and she had brought the matter to the notice of her mother-in-law, who had asked her to keep mum about it. She claimed that the affair was one of the reasons for strained relations between she and her husband.

Sunaina is survived by two children and her husband Raj Kumar works in a hosiery firm. The police registered a case and sent the bodies for post-mortem examination.

Ludhiana, October 6
"The future of classical music is very bright in India. After the young people get tired of cultural pollution and pop music, they are going to come back to their roots and realise the worth classical music. That is going to happen shortly", said the distinguished leading vocalists Rajan and Sajan Mishra at a press conference here today.

‘Talking of SPICMACAY’, a society that promotes art and culture among school and college children, Rajan said, "We have been associated with this organisation for the past 26 years and it is doing a wonderful job of spreading our traditional performing arts among the youth. Already we can see perceptible difference in big cities. More and more youngsters are coming to our concerts. That makes it evident that young persons are appreciating classical music."

Rajan further said, "Mostly people have a misconception that classical music is very difficult to understand but music has no language. Music has a universal language or else how does one explain the response of foreigners to Indian classical music. Do the youngsters understand pop music? They just know that they have to move their limbs. Our meditation and yoga are becoming so popular all over the world even though it has been commercialised. Similarly if classical music is commercialised, it does not matter. Out of its popularity many new artists will be born. What our young students need is listening exposure?’’

Both the brothers said no other music has such rich history as Indian music. We have preserved our music for thousands of years. Raaga malkauns, raaga todi are still alive . We can play as long as six hours. Generally the people of Maharashtra, Gujarat and Punjab are excellent listeners. We never know which raaga we are going to play but we do keep in mind what time we are performing and choose the raaga accordingly. We are always improvising. That is the beauty of Indian classical music - it is not bound."

Asked if they have different or same tabla players all the time, they said they have to use different players. The brothers have sung in two films ‘Tere Naam’ and ‘Sur Sangam’.

Mr Navin Talwar, president of SPIC MACAY Ludhiana chapter, told the media SPIC MACAY will organise a winter convention ‘Virasaat 2004’ from December 21 to 23 in Delhi Public School, South City. SPIC MACAY had organised a winter convention two years ago and as many as 600 students had attended it. Mr Naveen said for the first time this year rural students will also attend the convention.

Ms Manveen of Amritsar chapter said they had traced the Manganiyars, a singing tribe of Rajasthan with their unique traditional instruments and during the convention they would be holding a World Manganiar Fair, a unique thing. She said since the borders between two counties are allowing people to cross over, some Pakistani artists are definitely going to be invited. The Winter Convention will bring plethota of artists and it will certainly be a memorable experience. 

Ludhiana, October 6
Ludhiana is all set to be the first city in the country to have Level-IV disposal of the bio-medical waste. It will be harmless and has already been adopted in the advanced countries. While a number of cities in the country are planning to introduce this technology, Ludhiana may end up to be the first in launching it.

According to Mr SK Sharma, the Commissioner, Ludhiana Municipal Corporation, the MC is already holding negotiations with a Uruguay-based environmental consultancy firm. The negotiations are already in the advanced stage. A delegation from the Uruguay embassy was here today to discuss modalities with the senior officials of the corporation. He pointed out, the MC, Ludhiana, was the first corporation in the country to introduce the state of art technology plant for the massive biomedical waste generated here. However, so far it is the Level-III technology only which is used use here. He said, Ludhiana will again be the first city in the country to introduce advanced disposal of bio-medical waste.

The Level-III biomedical waste disposal, Mr Sharma said, involves incineration, shredding and deep burial only, the Level-IV technology, which is quite advanced involved autoclaving and final disposal in the 'landfill'. It hardly leaves any trace of the waste in the soil. While there are certain toxic emissions in the Level-III technology, in the Level-IV technology the "zero" toxicity level are achieved, the commissioner disclosed.

Mr Sharma revealed that the Level-IV technology is approved by the World Bank. However, he added, it was yet to be found out whether the bank would provide any sort of assistance in terms of loan for launching this technology in Ludhiana. He said, this technological upgradation would be first of its kind in the country.

Explaining the technique, Mr Rogelia Garmendia, a senior official of the Uruguay Consultancy said that in this treatment the waste is exported to a high temperature and pressure. He said, saturated stem is injected into the autoclave after the air is exhausted and kept at 152 degree C during 30 minutes at a high pressure. The treated waste is reduced in volume up to 40 per cent and as a result solid waste obtained has no infectious potential and it could disposed in a landfill for urban waste.

The sterilsation process begins after the carts are introduced into the autoclave, the door is closed and the process started. Each stage of the process like, air exhaust, steam inflow, sterilsation for 30 minutes at 152 degree C, steam exhaust, drying process and equalising pressures. The carts are then taken to the dumper and the waste is transported by truck to the landfill without any health hazards possible in the Level-III technology.

Doraha, October 6
A tumour weighing 9 kg was removed from the stomach of a 21- year-old woman at Kular Hospital, Bija, on Monday.

This successful but risky surgery was performed by Dr Kuldip Singh Kular, surgeon, and Dr Harkiran Kular, gynaecologist, who said the most difficult part of the operation was the isolation of the tumour from the uterus to which this was attached. As the woman wanted to bear a child, the uterus had to be preserved. The tumour weighed 9 kg and was removed intact.

The doctors said the patient , a resident of Kotla Masood village in Fatehgarh Sahib district, had been admitted to the hospital after she complained of severe pain in the stomach. On scanning, a large-sized tumour was detected. "The patient now feels relieved and will be discharged in the next few days," Dr Kular added.

Ludhiana, October 6
The Swami Vivekananda Study Circle celebrated the 111th anniversary of Swami Vivekananda’s address in Chicago at the Government College for Boys here today.

A sarv dharam conference was organised. Dr A.A. Siddiqui, DGP, was the chief guest.

Various speakers, including Ms Kuldip Kaur, Dr S.D. Joshi, Dr Vinod Taneja from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, Dr Aziz Abbas, Rev Ramlal and Dr Mulkraj Jain, expressed their views.

The founder president of the circle, Mr J.B. Goyal, said: “Each religion teaches us to love and respect all religions”.

Among others present on the occasion were Mr S.T.S. Bakshi, Dr A.K. Jain, Mr D.P. Grover, Prof Vijay Asdhir, Mr Vishrul Sharma, Mr P.R. Talwar and Ms Kusum Sharma.

Ludhiana, October 6
Ms Suman Bhagat, Minister for Health, Jammu and Kashmir, today said that the health sector in her state had been the worst hit due to militancy. There was need to bring about reforms in the sector.

Ms Bhagat, who was here on a private visit, said she had recently been given charge of the Health Ministry after her predecessor was elected to Parliament. She maintained that the government led by Mufti Mohd Sayeed was addressing the basic concerns of people in the state.

She said that over the past several years most of the welfare schemes of the state had gone haywire. Health and education had been hit the most. She said there was no dearth of funds for welfare schemes.

The Health Minister said that during the regime led by Dr Farooq Abdulah not much was done for the people’s welfare and funds were either misused or not utilised. She said after the takeover of the Congress-PDP government, every body had heaved a sigh of relief. The grievances of people were being redressed in a serious manner.

Doraha, October 6
Eight office-bearers of the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union will observe a one-day fast in front of DET office in Chandigarh on October 7.

In a joint statement made to the Press, Prof. R.S Brar, co-president, PCCTU, and Prof Parminder Singh, area secretary, Panjab University, said a total of eight office-bearers, including Prof S.S Hundal, president, PCCTU, Prof R.S Brar, co -president, Dr Jagwant Singh, general secretary, Prof H.S Walia, vice-president, Dr Jaswant Singh, finance secretary, Prof Parminder Singh, Prof Aminderpal Singh, Punjabi University, area secretary, Dr Kulwant Singh, GNDU, area secretary, will observe a one-day fast in protest against the non-release of the arrears and salary bills worth Rs 33 crore, including a sum of Rs 14.4 crore in the form of salary arrears and another 18.68 crore as the salary bill of the second quarter. The office-bearers rued the fact that the state government was treating teachers in a step motherly fashion and Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal, Minister for Higher Education, had ignored their genuine demands. They said they were given a false assurance by her on September 16.

Ludhiana, October 6
The Guru Ram Dass Sevak Sabha will celebrate the birth anniversary of Guru Ram Dass on October 9 and 10 at Gurdwara Shri Guru Kalgidhar Singh Sabha here. Prabhat pheris will be taken out till October 9 and a katha darbar will be held at the gurdwara on October 9.

A nagar kirtan will be taken out from the gurdwara on October 10. A kavi darbar will be held at the gurdwara the same day. A quiz will be organised the same night and winners will be honoured.

Ludhiana, October 6
A majority of steel manufacturers have taken back the reduction in steel prices. The steel manufacturers had earlier agreed to sell steel at reduced prices till March 2005. Alleging this, the Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Punjab) said here yesterday that despite the Prime Minister's appeal to steel manufacturers to reduce rates in order to curb inflation, manufacturers have taken back the reduction.

"Tata took the lead and announced a reduction of Rs 2,000 per metric tonne till March 2005. Other steel producers, including SAIL, had also affected reduction ranging between Rs 500 and Rs 1,000. Unfortunately, the producers, except Tata, have increased the rates to their original level," said Mr P.D.Sharma, president, Apex Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He said SAIL had increased the rates of hot tolled coils by Rs 400 per metric tonne on September 1 and Rs 600 on October 1, 2004. "The Prime Minister's appeal has not been taken seriously by the public sector steel plant," he said.

Steel has a weight of 3.64 in while sale price index (WPI), which makes it the main price mover in inflation index. During 2003-04, a RBI report had mentioned that steel had led to a 34.2 per cent increase in inflation. This year, steel has witnessed an increase of 42.3 per cent, he said, adding, "this increase would affect the entire economy".

The chamber also condemned incentive in the form of DEPB being given for steel export despite shortage of steel in the country. "The government took no time in reducing DEPB on textile but it is silent on steel".

According to the chamber, the impression that steel prices in India were lesser than global prices was a false impression. As per London Metal Bulletin (for August 2004) the price of hot rolled coil was $468 in South Korea and $510 in Japan against $560- $620 (ex-plant) in India, he said.

Mr Sharma said the construction industry was also suffering due to unprecedented hike in steel prices. "Several major and minor projects have suffered and contractors are preferring to quit the projects instead of paying penalty for withdrawal," he said.

Ludhiana, October 6
Airtel India today announced the launch of its Virtual Calling Card (VCC) in Punjab, through which the company also slashed ISD and STD rates.

The pre-paid VCC offers savings up to 65 per cent on the usual ISD calling bills.

A company note also stated that customers using long-distance calling cards are not required to pay any security deposit and processing fee.