Jalandhar, August 2
Holding the Congress-led state and Central government responsible for the plight of farmers in Punjab, BJP MP from Amritsar Navjot Singh Sidhu, today alleged that both the governments were “doing nothing to improve the financial condition of the farmers”.

He also accused the Centre and the state of fudging figures of wheat production in Punjab, “so that wheat can be imported from abroad on the basis of false data, showing that wheat production has decreased in Punjab”.

Addressing mediapersons here, Mr Sidhu alleged that farmers were at the receiving end as both the Central and state governments had been “meting out a step-motherly treatment to them”.

“We have several instances to prove that people at the helm of affairs are not sincere about taking farmers and people of Punjab out of the debt trap,” he alleged.

“Though the Union Minister for Agriculture, Mr Sharad Pawar, has been making efforts to waive loans of Maharashtra farmers due to political compulsions, but nothing of that sort is being done for Punjab farmers. The Centre has been trying to project that it is going to help the Punjab farmers, but the fact is it is planning to extend more loans to the farmers so that it can earn more money in the shape of interests,” Mr Sidhu alleged. “The plight of farmers can be judged from the fact that all the small farmers with less than two-and-a-half acres of land are burdened with an average loan of Rs 41,000 per acre. Such loans, in case of people having land holdings ranging between two-and-a-half acres and five acres, is roughly Rs 35,000,” he said.

He alleged that the Centre was “discriminating against Punjab in more than one way”.

“Firstly, the farmers here are getting lesser Minimum Support Price (MSP) on crops compared to other states. Secondly, they are devoid of any financial assistance, whereas relief is being liberally doled out to their counterparts in other states. The growth rate of agriculture has slipped even further,” he alleged.

Kapurthala, August 2
Members of the Technical Employees Associations of Railways (TEAR) at Rail Coach Factory (RCF) today held a demonstration outside the RCF gate here demanding immediate polls of the Karamchari Cooperative and Thrift and Credit Society.

Zonal secretary of TEAR Sarabjeet Singh alleged that the administration had failed to declare new date due to pressure from a Congress leader.

Addressing the employees, he said if the elections were not held immediately, they would launch an agitation.

Later, they submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh, requesting him to ensure early elections. — TNS

Kapurthala, August 2
President of India APJ Abdul Kalam is likely to visit Sultanpur Lodhi on August 17. He will inspect the cleanliness drive of the holy rivulet Kali Bein.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Raminder Singh said Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, the environmentalist involved in the cleaning of the rivulet, had received a faxed message from Rashtrapati Bhawan about the President’s proposed visit.

However, the deputy commissioner said he had not received any official information about the visit. Though he added that when he contacted the President’s secretary, he was told that the programme was “almost final and official information will be sent within a day or two”.

When contacted, Baba Seechewal confirmed about the message regarding President Kalam’s visit to the sub-division on August 17.

Meanwhile, the deputy commissioner today held a meeting with Baba Seechewal at Sultanpur Lodhi to make the arrangements for the President’s visit. Plans for an aerial survey of the Kali Bein by the President were also reportedly discussed.

The president is coming to Sultanpur Lodhi on an invitation from Baba Seechewal. He had extended the invitation to the President during their meeting at Rashtrapati Bhawan on April 21 last year.

Baba Seechewal, who took up the cudgels to clean up the Kali Bein with the community participation in July 2000, has succeeded in cleaning the rivulet of pollutants up to 170 km. The President’s had visited the town of Kapurthala on March 23 to inaugurate the Pushpa Gujral Science City.

Jalandhar, August 2
Is the Jalandhar Police dilly-dallying the arrest as many as nine persons, including five Revenue Department officials, who are allegedly involved in the transfer of a Model Town-based land worth Rs 7-8 crore through fudging of revenue records in 2000?

Veteran journalist and a resident of Sarsvati Vihar, Mr Joginder Pal Verma, had complained to the Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner on June 22 that his ancestral land measuring 5 kanals and five marlas had been transferred in the name of four persons by the Revenue Department officials “by tampering with the records and through four separate mutations.” Mr Verma had also alleged that though one of his paternal uncles, Mr Krishan Kumar, had been shown as present during the execution of one of deeds in 1995, but the fact was that “he died about 27 years back”.

On the basis of the complaint and an enquiry ordered by the DC, the police had booked two tehsildars, a patwari, two kanungos, and four other persons in this regard.

“The bail application of the revenue officials has also been cancelled by the court, but the police is not arresting them, probably under heavy political pressure. I have to run from pillar to post to get justice,” Mr Verma alleged.

When contacted, the SSP, Mr Ishwar Singh, assured that he would look into the matter. “Actually, the case has been shifted to the Crime Branch of the Punjab Police and now the Crime Branch is investigating it instead of the Jalandhar police,” he said.

Phagwara, August 2
Tuberculosis patients who earlier used to do a vanishing act after availing medical treatment will now be e-monitored.

Launching an ambitious project to keep tab on TB patients moving to other states, Punjab’s Tuberculosis Centre has now been linked online to four states where patients are either referred out or transferred.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr R.L. Goyal, TB Officer, Punjab, said, “We were facing major problems in tracking patients who used to move out of the state after availing the direct observation treatment for TB. These patients showed their inability to continue the treatment here and went back to where they came from— mainly UP, Bihar, Himachal Pradesh and Haryana.”

Now the apathetic attitude of doctors monitoring TB in these states is likely to improve, hope Punjab health officials, since it has now become mandatory for the state TB officers to submit a report on such patients to the Central TB Division (CTD). A website has been evolved by the CTD, which is linked to all four states to monitor this “migrating and travelling” population.

“The main problem with TB patients is that the treatment requires long-term medication. A large number of patients default on this, making themselves vulnerable to developing multi-drug resistance,” Dr Goyal added.