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Dealers overcharge for seeds
Two NC posts still vacant
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Four accomplices of Bheora held
Shortage of staff mars functioning of ITIs
SC commission hears complaints
Protest against power cuts
Cooperative Bank may regularise over 100 employees
Girl dies in road mishap
New sewerage system inaugurated
Youth’s body found
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Dealers overcharge for seeds
Kapurthala, April 10 The dealers are allegedly selling seeds of the Namdhari variety at nearly Rs 13,000 per kg since last month. “The same variety was freely available in the market for Rs 8,600 per kg in January,” Mr Surjit Singh Sandhu, a progressive farmer in the region and Chairman of the Market Committee, Kapurthala, said. After inquiries, the price of the early variety of melon called Kesar was found to be Rs 9,600 per kg in January. But by the end of March, the rates of the same variety rose up to Rs 11,000 per kg. “The dealers are not issuing cash memos against the purchase of seeds”, Mr Nirmal Singh, a farmer in Brindpur village near here, alleged. He claimed that the practice, on for years now, was used to evade VAT and litigation by the dealers. One dealer alone reportedly sold 50 quintals of seed in the region. Mr Sandhu said, “Most of the seed companies are based in Bangalore. In case of any complaint, it is not possible for the farmer to pursue litigation in Bangalore. The conditions on the seed packets mention that all disputes are for jurisdiction in Bangalore only. The local dealers cannot be implicated in any case in the absence of receipts.” He cited the example of one Kuldeep Singh, a farmer from Brindpur, who had grown melon in his 120-acre land, but suffered huge losses because of substandard seed quality. “He could not claim any damages from the seed company.” The district has the biggest melon market in Asia. Two varieties of melon — Kesar and Naamdhari — are grown here. The farmers start cultivating Kesar, the early variety that needs lesser temperature, from the beginning of March and start harvesting the crop by the last week of April. Most of this produce goes to Jammu and Kashmir. But as soon as the Naamdhari variety arrives in the market, the demand for Kesar depletes. Namdhari is sweeter and takes up to 70 days for ripening. The melons of Kapurthala also finds their way to Delhi, Haryana, some parts of Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The melon yield per acre in the region is between 60 and 80 quintals. A few farmers are experimenting with a Taiwanese variety of melon. Popularly known as Shardha in the district. Last year, three farmers, including Mr Sandhu, successfully cultivated this variety and reportedly earned huge profits. |
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Two NC posts still vacant
Phagwara, April 10 Though the former DC had fixed the election dates four times earlier— on September 9 and 15, October 14 and November 14 last year—the polls had to be postponed due to reported political pressures. Nine months after the term of two vice-presidents expired, the Congress has failed to agree upon new candidates forcing the elections to be postponed four times. Block Congress Committee, Phagwara had empowered the local MLA, Mr Joginder singh Mann to choose candidates for the election, the MLA has reportedly not put forward any names. Earlier, Congress was divided in different groups, one led by Mr Mann, the second by the former Chairman of the Improvement Trust, Mr Harjit Singh Parmar, and the third headed by the present trust Chairman, Mr Balvir Raja Sodhi. |
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Four accomplices of Bheora held
Jalandhar, April 10 Those arrested have been booked on charges of sheltering the terrorists, including Babbar Khalsa International’s India operations chief, Paramjit Singh Bheora, who had fled from the Burail Jail at Chandigarh in 2004. According to SP City (I), Dr Surinder Kumar Kalia, the accused have been identified as one Bhupinder Singh, a religious preacher, one Mahinder Singh, his wife, Amarjit Kaur, and one Satwant Singh. A case under Sections 212 and 216 of the IPC have been registered against them. In a joint operation of the CIA staff and a police team from the division number 8 police station, Bhupinder Singh, Mahinder Singh and Amarjit Kaur, were arrested from Lamba village, while Satwant Singh was apprehended from Reru village, the SP added. As per sources, Mahinder Singh had earlier served a jail term under the National Security Act for his alleged involvement in anti-national activities. The search operation for the accused was launched by the police after Paramjit Singh Bheora revealed the Hawala link of the terrorists in Jalandhar, which led to the arrest of Bheora’s main accomplice, Hardeep Singh.
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Shortage of staff mars functioning of ITIs
Phagwara, April 10 According to information, around 873 posts of instructors out of a total of 1,570 in the institutes are vacant. Only 697 instructors have been deputed to impart training to more than 11,150 students in the state. An ITI instructor here rued that though the government was claiming from time to time for Self-Employment Schemes for the unemployed, nothing practical was done to fill up the vacant posts to provide training to 13,968 more students. He claimed that 50 posts of group instructors were also lying vacant. It was learnt that the previous state government headed by Chief Minister, Beant Singh, had announced the setting up of 34 new ITIs in rural areas of the state, but only four of these had been opened till date. Meanwhile, president of the ITI Employees Union State, Mr Sohan Singh, alleged that the state government had failed to initiate upgradation of six ITIs under a Central government plan to upgrade 500 ITIs in the country. The scheme had been implemented in states like Haryana, but could not materialise in Punjab, he added. The union demanded that the vacant posts be filled up.
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SC commission hears complaints
Kapurthala, April 10 Mr Niranjan Singh along with other members of the commission, Mr B.R. Banga, Mr Kewal Singh and Ms Neelam Sahota, were here today to discuss with the district administration and the nominees of the SCs the problems being faced by them. The commission was set up by the Punjab government to protect the civil as well as human rights of the SCs in the state. The commission keeps a check on the excesses and atrocities committed against them in the state and ensures that action is taken by the authorities concerned. “In these cases, the enquiry should be conducted by an officer of a rank not lower than a DSP,” the commission’s Chairman said. He said the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP should spare time to separately listen to the problems of the SCs in the district. Mr Niranjan Singh added that the basic purpose of setting up of the commission was to ensure that no excesses or atrocities were committed on the basis of caste and religion. He said the commission ensured that there was no boycott of the SCs by the people from the higher castes in the state and that the reservation policy was being implemented properly. “As a substantial amount of fund is already being provided to the district administration, the victims should be compensated immediately in case of material or financial loss”, the chairman added. The nominees of the SCs in the district, Mr Prem Adia and Mr Kulwant Bhandari, complained to the commission that no official action had been taken on their repeated requests to the authorities concerned regarding a review in the old-age pension scheme for some people from the SC category. The chairman instructed the administration to review the cases and take action within a fortnight. Mr Ram Sharan of Mansoorwal village, Ms Nirmal Kaur from Ibrahimwal village, Mr Mangal Singh from Sidhwan Dona, Mr Sohan Lal and Jaswant Singh from Mannan Dona village also lodged their complaints with the commission alleging repression by higher castes. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh and the SSP, Mr Rajiv Ahir, assured the chairman that the interests of the community would be safeguarded in the district and immediate action would be taken in case a complaint comes in. The cases of old age and disabled pensions were being reviewed by the commission, the chairman said. The commission also reviewed cases of financial grants to the schemes being implemented for the SCs and the cases pertaining to destitute women and children.
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Road show to highlight foreign exchange services
Jalandhar, April 10 Mr Motwani was in the city to launch a 15-day road show by the bank. Addressing mediapersons here, he said the road show would go to 40 villages of Punjab, inhabited mostly by NRIs. Mr Motwani said the road show would highlight the latest guidelines of the Reserve Bank of India on liberalisation of foreign exchange policy and advantages of buying and selling foreign currencies, travellers cheques, international credit cards and receiving remittances in a safer way. Though the head of the bank’s Foreign Exchange Services did not specify the business volume of the bank for such services, he said that of the total 241 branches of the bank, 33 were exclusively catering to foreign exchange services. He added that there were 15 such exclusive branches in Punjab alone. Mr Motwani said the bank was dealing in currencies of more than 100 countries and was in a position to provide the best rates for foreign currencies, travellers cheques and international credit cards to foreign tourists and NRI’s visiting India.
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Protest against power cuts
Jalandhar, April 10 Mr Ravinder Dhir, president of the cell, demanded that at least 12 hours of uninterrupted power supply be ensured in the city, so that the industry could plan its production schedule. The members of the cell also demanded that the government should shut down all ACs in the government offices and the VIP bungalows to save power. |
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Cooperative Bank may regularise over 100 employees
Jalandhar, April 10 Mr Dutta urged partymen to resign from the twin posts they were holding, following the one-man one-post principle. The Cooperative Bank is organising a special “Loan Mela” in Basti Danishmandan here to distribute loans of over Rs 463 lakh in 868 cases. Mr Dutta said under the NFS scheme, Rs 53.74 lakh would be given to 195 beneficiaries in advance. Of the total amount earmarked for disbursal, Rs 37.73 lakh would be given to 67 beneficiaries under loans for vehicles scheme, and Rs 14.42 lakh as loans on two-wheelers for farmers.
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Girl dies in road mishap
Jalandhar, April 10 |
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New sewerage system inaugurated
Phagwara, April 10 Addressing the villagers, Mr Mann said the NRIs had contributed Rs 26 lakh towards this project, while the state government would provide Rs 24 lakh for the system. He added that the new technology, introduced for the first time in any village, would ensure that the sewerage system did not get choked. The Punjab government had decided to introduce this new project in other villages of the state also, added Mr Mann. He also announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the new sewerage system.
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Youth’s body found
Jalandhar, April 10 |
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