Kapurthala, March 22
Jalandhar would soon have an Indian Institute of Science (IIS).

Chief Minister of Punjab, Capt Amarinder Singh, said the new institute would be created for “better synergy and coordination with Punjab Technical University (PTU) in order to raise the standard of technical education in the state”.

He was addressing a gathering of PTU students and dignitaries from the area.

Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the PTU building on the Jalandhar-Kapurthala Road near the Pushpa Gujral Science City.

He expressed his concern over the lack of basic amenities in the schools in Punjab. “The world is developing at a fast pace and it’s our responsibility to provide appropriate infrastructure to our students.”

Capt Amarinder Singh said it was shameful that “we cannot even provide drinking water, electric fans and benches to the schools”.

He said that 6,200 schools in the state would be equipped with computers by the end of the next year. “Out of this, 1,300 schools already got computers last year and a target of 1,800 more schools has been fixed for this year. About 3,200 schools will be equipped with computers by next year.”

He attributed the nine-year delay in the construction of the PTU building to the poor economic condition of the state.

“For the past four years, the government was busy tackling financial burdens. But we have been successful in our efforts. Tax servicing was reduced and wage bills were brought down from 118 per cent to 62 per cent.”

Captain Amarinder Singh claimed that the state had been able to attract an investment of up to Rs 57,000 crore in the past 13 months and the figure was expected to touch the mark of Rs 1 lakh crore by the end of this year. “This will create at least one lakh jobs in the state.”

Also present on the occasion was the Deputy Chief Minister, Ms Rajinder Kaur Bhattal.

She said that the PTU’s administration block, with a three-storey building, would be completed in 10 months and a seven-storey building comprising the academic block, residential blocks and other infrastructure, like sports facilities and technology parks, would be completed in the next 18 months.

She added that the total cost of the PTU project was Rs 35 crore, out of which, Rs 5 crore was contributed by NRI steel magnate, Lord Swraj Paul.

Ms Bhattal said the new building would be earthquake-resistant and would be equipped with a rain harvesting and energy conservation system.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament from Jalandhar, Rana Gurjit Singh, who was present on the occasion, demanded the four laning of the Kapurthala-Jalandhar road.

Others present at the function were Maharaja of Kapurthala, Brigadier (retd) Sukhjit Singh, Punjab Ministers, Chaudhry Jagjit Singh, Mr Avtar Henry and Mr Mohinder Singh Kaypee, MLAs, Mr Joginder Singh Mann and Mr Kanwaljit Singh Lalli, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Samir Kumar, and SSP, Mr Rajiv Ahir.

Vice-Chancellor of PTU, Dr S.K. Salwan, read the out welcome note.

Phagwara, March 22
The Phagwara Nagar Council today passed its annual budget of about Rs 12.21 crore for the 2006-2007 financial year. 

The proposals in the budget include a plan to privatise streetlights supply in the town, acquisition of a new fire tender and two tractors at the cost of Rs 25 lakh, setting up of a Suwidha Centre and computerisation of the Nagar Council’s office, also likely to cost Rs 25 lakh.

The council spent 62 per cent of the total expenditure (Rs 7.55 crore) on various works, including the maintenance of streetlights, repair of the roads and the drainage system.                     

Talking to media persons, Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbotra, the Nagar Council President, said the civic body had decided to introduce a scheme of collecting garbage from the doorsteps of the residents of the town.

On the maintenance works to be undertaken in the fiscal year 2006-2007, Mr Ragbotra said the Nagar Council would be spending Rs 1.20 crore on streetlights, Rs 1.08 crore for the supply of safe drinking water, Rs 1.20 crore on drainage system and Rs 13 lakh to Mohalla Sanitation Committees.

The council has shown a proposed expenditure of Rs 7.55 crore (62 per cent of the total expenditure) for the overall development of the town.                     

Though the budget meeting concluded smoothly, a BJP councilor, Mr Rakesh Duggal, raised some objections on the council’s expenditure details and insufficient recovery of house tax.

Out of the total 27 councillors, only two — Ms Anita Kaura (Congress) and Mr Arun Khosla (BJP)— were absent from the budget meeting of the Nagar Council.  

Phagwara, March 22
On an average, seven persons lose their lives in road accidents in Punjab every day and around 2,500 every year.

According to a study conducted by the Central Road Research Institute (CRRI), roughly Rs 50,000 million is lost in road accidents every year. If this amount was saved, it could have built a 7,000 km-long, six-lane national highway in the country, an official of CRRI, said.

According to an analysis carried out by officials of the Punjab Ministry of State for Road Transport on the basis of an all-India road accidents data, the driver’s fault accounted for 83.5 per cent of the mishaps.

Other factors contributing to road accidents were mechanical defects (3 per cent), pedestrians (2.3 per cent), passengers (2.4 per cent), bad roads (1.1 per cent), bad weather (0.9 per cent) and other causes (6.2 per cent) like cattle, fallen trees, road blockage, sudden stoppage of vehicles, absence of rear reflectors, non-functioning signals and absence of road signals.

As per the CRRI study, almost 40 per cent of the accidents and 48 per cent of the deaths occur on the national highways.

In urban areas, 75 per cent road fatalities involve pedestrians (including homeless, curb-side residents) and bicyclists, most of whom (mostly men below 45 years of age) are from the economically-backward section.

Mr Sukhpal Singh, in-charge of the traffic wing of the Phagwara police, said that in order to save precious lives, there was an urgent need to start teaching traffic rules and regulations from the middle standard in the schools. “No person should be allowed to drive a vehicle without licence, he said.

He further disclosed that there were some unnoticed factors responsible for the increasing accident rates. “Take for example the misuse of pressure horns and the race among buses for more passengers,” he said.

For the record, use of pressure horns has been banned owing to the disturbance these cause to vehicle drivers.

“Private vehicles and corporation-run buses create problems on many ocassions. If we try to take action against them for traffic rule violations, they make it a prestige issue and protest,” he added.

Kapurthala, March 22
Agricultural experts here believe that this season the wheat yield from the district may register an increase of up to 11 per cent even though the area under the crop has been reduced.

However, they add that the arrival of wheat in the grain markets of the district is expected to be delayed by a week in comparison to last year due to incessant rains in the region last week and the subsequent decline in the temperatures.

According to information, wheat was sown on 1,12,000 hectares of land in the current season. Last year, it was 1,15,000 hectares.

A total of 46,0000 metric tonne of wheat was produced by the farmers of the district last year, while the yield this season is expected to touch the mark of 5,10,000 metric tonne.

In 2005, the yield of the crop in the region was affected by rains and high velocity winds in March resulting in losses to the farmers, officials at the District Agriculture Office said. Moreover, the farmers had to face a shortage of the fertilizer, DAP, last year, they added.

But this year, the officials claimed, the supply of the fertilizer remained better compared to last season.

Dr Manohar Singh, Chief Agriculture Officer, Kapurthala, said, “The area under wheat cultivation had been reduced owing to the diversification policies of the state government under which the farmers were exhorted to shift to the cultivation of cash crops. “In the 3,000 hectares of land under wheat cultivation in the district last year, the farmers opted to grow potatoes in 1,000 hectares and mustard in 600 hectares. Green vegetables were grown on the remaining 1,400 hectares,” the Chief Agriculture Officer said.

He added that last year, wheat had started arriving in the markets of the district by April 10, but this year, the arrivals were not expected to start before April 15. 

Phagwara, March 22
Two persons sustained serious injuries in a clash over a land dispute at nearby Ranipur village here yesterday night.

According to reports received today, the injured were identified as one Amarjit and one Bahadur Singh, both residents of Ranipur village.

The duo was admitted to the local Civil Hospital.

Amarjit, who was undergoing treatment at the hospital, claimed that he had purchased seven kanals of land from Bahadur Singh. But Bahadur Singh was not giving him possession of the land, Amarjit alleged.

However, Bahadur Singh denied the allegations and held Amarjit responsible for the scuffle and for inflicting injuries on him.