Patiala, January 12
Lakhs of power consumers in Punjab need not panic over the much-publicised directions of the Punjab State Electricity Regulation Commission (PSERC) that they will have to deposit their bills in advance under the advance consumption deposit (ACD) system, as the board has seemingly deferred the implementation of the new system.

The total number of power connections in Punjab, including tubewell connections, is around 62 lakh. Of these, more than 52 lakh are in the domestic, industrial and agricultural sectors, who are paying their bills post power consumption.

The system is in place there for decades. But the PSERC had created ripples by stipulating recently that all these consumers would have to deposit their bills in advance under the newly devised advance consumption deposit (ACD) scheme.

As per the PSERC electricity supply code and related matter regulations-2007, all consumers are required to maintain with the board an amount equal to the consumption charges for three months where, bi-monthly billing is applicable. It was for two months in case of monthly billing.

This had created a panic among consumers and the PSERC step had invoked wide-ranging criticism of a cross section of people in the state. So much so, that Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had to come out with a clarification by stating that the government had nothing to do with the proposed new system and that it was devised by the PSERC.

Badal had also made an effort to pacify agitating consumers by saying that he was going to take up the matter with the PSERC.

But what might be seen as a big relief for the power consumers, even if for a short period in the near future, is that the PSEB has deferred the implementation of the proposed new advance bill system, atleast for the time being.

PSEB chairman Y.S Ratra said it had wrongly been projected that the PSEB would implement the new regulation from January 1.

He clarified that as per clause 16.1 of the regulation, the review of security for the existing consumers will be undertaken by the board within 12 months after the issue of tariff order for 2008-09.

In simple words, board sources said, it implied that the consumers need not worry about the implementation of the new much-despised scheme till atleast March 2009.

Ropar, January 12
The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) is planning to use underwater cameras to monitor the condition of the Bhakra mainline canal.

Chairman of the BBMB U.C. Mishra in an exclusive interview with The Tribune said the Bhakra mainline canal was being used without any closure for the past 50 years. Ideally, the irrigation canals were closed every alternate year for repairs.

However, since the Bhakra mainline was the main source of irrigation in Punjab and Haryana, it had not been closed.

In the recent past, the Railways had also demanded the closure of the canal to monitor the condition of the pillars in the canal supporting their bridges.

However, the canal could not be closed due to the persistent demand of water by the partner states.

To solve the problem, the BBMB is planning to adopt the latest technology in which underwater cameras can be used for detecting the condition of the canal. By adopting the technology, the canal can be repaired by stopping water in it for a very short time.

The BBMB is also hiring consultants for the job, the chairman said.

He also said the power generating turbines in various projects of the BBMB had also outlived their life. The BBMB was planning to either change their damaged parts or to get them renovated.

The work for renovation and modernisation of left wing turbines of the Bhakra Dam had been allotted to Sumotomo Company of Japan.

The company, besides renovating the turbines, would also increase their generation capacity from 108 MW to 126 MW.

When asked about the lease issue that had become bone of contention between the traders of Nangal and the BBMB, the chairman said he was ready for talks on the issue.

He, however, lamented the agitation path adopted by the traders. He said the BBMB was ready to solve the problem, but would not succumb to pressure tactics being adopted by them.

He also said many traders’ had raised illegal multi-storyed unsafe buildings in the BBMB market due to which they were forced to start legal proceedings against them.

A few of the illegal occupants of the BBMB land moved the Supreme Court that ruled against the traders and ordered the removal of the illegal buildings.

In 1995, the BBMB offered regularisation of lease to the traders at rates fixed by the deputy commissioner, Ropar.

However, at that time none of the traders came forward. “Now, I have referred the matter to a committee of three chief engineers who will look for a solution to the problem,” he said.

The traders of Nangal for first time since the formation of town in 1955 had observed a complete bandh a few days ago to protest against the BBMB’s move to evict them from the places where they had been doing business for more than 50 years.

Chandigarh, January 12
On the sixth Parvasi Punjabi Diwas today, Punjab talked big on employment generation. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal declared 2008 as the year of employability in the state. But as he listed, his government’s efforts to ensure work for four lakh unemployed in Punjab, one wondered what the talk was all about. So did some NRIs in the gathering, who felt:

While the CM, after inaugurating the event at Hotel Mountview, urged the diaspora to adopt some of his Adasrh Schools and contribute in education improvement in Punjab, some NRIs were honest enough to admit that no one will come back for charity alone. “We want business opportunity. We have been asking for effective single-window system and concrete agenda,” said S.S. Chawla, fifth generation NRI from Thailand, who has been investing in China where projects roll easily. Over Punjab, he prefers Haryana.

For their part, K.S. Thakral, entrepreneur from Singapore, and A.S. Marwaha, NRI from the USA, made no major announcements, though they gave company on the dais to Punjab chief secretary R.I. Singh, secretary, Employment, Punjab, N.S. Kalsi and former Mizoram Governor A.R. Kohli, who is patron of the International Punjabi Chamber for Service Industry (IPCSI). The IPCSI organised today’s event with the Institute of Tourism and Future Management Trends (ITFT).

Badal spoke of Punjab’s plans to tie up with 18 industries to run skill development centres. Larsen and Toubro, he said, had made a commitment to train youth in construction. Other big players expected were the HPCL, Punjab Tractors and Airtel, said Kalsi. Punjab has plans to upgrade 20 ITIs in partnership with the industry.

Sharda Prasad from the Ministry of Labour told The Tribune that 72 per cent registrants with employment exchanges had no skills.

On employment generation in Punjab, main agenda for the day, no big commitments came, though the agenda was set. Gulshan Sharma of ITFT for his part felt Punjab needed to boost tie-ups with Central Asia to improve employment markets. That explained Uzbekistan’s participation in the conference. There were, however, few big NRI players, with a potential to advance Punjab’s employability aim for 2008. 

Chandigarh, January 12
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has endorsed the union government’s decision on the report of the Delimitation Commission to redraw the parliamentary constituencies in the country except Jharkhand and four north-eastern states.

The report that was submitted by the commission was awaiting nod of the union government.

Badal said the SAD-BJP combine would not be affected by the redrawn parliamentary constituencies. It was good the union government had decided to implement the report of the commission, he said.

With the implementation of the report, Badal family, that has been contesting Lok Sabha elections from Faridkot constituency, will have to switch over the Bathinda constituency.

Badal’s son Sukhbir Singh had been elected from Faridkot constituency a number of times.

At present, Bathinda is reserve constituency. However, when report is implemented, Bathinda will become general constituency and Faridkot reserve constituency.

Lambi Assembly constituency, from which Badal has been elected several times, will become part of the Bathinda Lok Sabha constituency with the implementation of the report. Earlier, Lambi was part of the Faridkot Lok Sabha constituency.

For some months, Sukhbir has been concentrating on Bathinda areas. He has been talking about making Bathinda most modern region in the state.Recently, he got the foundation stone of a cricket stadium of international standard laid at Bathinda.

Obviously, the Badal family is that soon it would have to shift from Faridkot to Bathinda for contesting the Lok Sabha elections and it had started preparing accordingly in advance by taking important decisions with regard to the development of Bathinda area.

Chandigarh, January 12
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to tell the French government to ensure that there was no violation of human rights against the Indians, especially Punjabis and the Sikhs, in that country.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh said cases of racial discrimination against the Indians, in general, and Punjabis and the Sikhs, in particular, had been on the rise.

In his letter, Badal spoke about several recent incidents of racial discrimination in France, pointing out especially case of ban on turban in educational institutions in that country. He urged Dr Manmohan Singh to take up the issue with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, who would be visiting India on January 26.

Sangrur, January 12
The Punjab government has recently released Rs 19.74 crore for the Shagun scheme, of which Rs 61 lakh has been given to Sangrur district, Rs 30 lakh to Barnala district, Rs 114 lakh to Patiala district and Rs 94 lakh to Mansa district.

This was stated here yesterday by director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Punjab, Husan Lal after a meeting of district welfare officers of Sangrur, Barnala, Mansa and Patiala districts, which was convened by him here to review the performance of various welfare schemes.

The director further said Sangrur district had sanctioned 409 applications of the Shagun scheme while Mansa and Patiala districts had sanctioned 627 and 731 applications, respectively. 

Chandigarh, January 12
Probably tired of attending to requests seeking transfers to choicest postings, instructions have been issued in Punjab to ban the transfers of school teachers. Policemen seeking transfers will now have to route their request through their immediate bosses and will have to do so in person.

Ten months after the SAD-BJP combine came to power, officials say this was waiting to happen. In certain departments, it seemed, seeking a transfer was the only work that employees had on their minds. Things had reached such a level that teachers were requesting for transfers even now when the annual school examination were to start in the next few weeks. Last week, the government issued instructions, saying that no request of transfer of a teacher would be entertained till the academic session was over.

Sources in education sector said in case of teachers, transfers were carried out in the past few months and some of the teachers who had been comfortably ensconced in schools nearer to their homes had been shifted. Now these teachers wanted to come back.

The sources in the government said the situation of transfers seekers was such that the departments of school education, police and health were deluged with requests in the past 10 months.

In the Police Department DGP N.P.S. Aulakh issued a letter a few days back that any policeman seeking transfer would have to first approach his immediate boss i.e. the SSP or the commandant of the battalion. This means a recommendation of a powerful person will have to be backed by a recommendation made from the filed units. Police officials said discipline in the force was suffering due to this.

Amritsar, January 12
In the first-ever case of plagiarism on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus, two research scholars enrolled in the Department of Commerce and Business Management for PhD have been found guilty of “copying their synopses from other sources and claiming it to be their own.”

University sources said Balwinder Singh has written a letter to the dean, academic affairs, contesting the charge of plagiarism against the two research scholars. “The two students are not plagiarists as they have duly cleared research fellowship tests and their research papers have been published in reputed journals. Cancellation of the synopses is not the right solution. I have scanned other synopsis cleared by the Research Degree Board and to my surprise these synopses have committed the same lapses to a greater extent,” reads the letter.

Sangrur, January 12
Under a Central government scheme involving post-matric scholarships for students belonging to minority communities, the department of welfare of Scheduled Castes and backward classes, Punjab, will provide scholarships to 6,100 students, including more than 1,800 girls, of minority communities for the year 2007-08.

Husan Lal, director, Department of Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Punjab, today said that to get the scholarship, the income of the family of a student should not exceed Rs 2 lakh per annum. The main aim of this scheme was to give scholarship to the meritorious students of economically weaker sections of minority communities. The selected students would be given scholarships from this year. It was expected that the government would have to pay about Rs 6 crore to 6,100 students as scholarships.

Stating about another scheme, Husan Lal said the Central government had launched a new scheme “Babu Jagjiwan Ram Chhatrawas Yojna” for constructing hostels for the SC students, studying in schools, colleges, technical/medical institutions, and universities.

The director further said that the department of welfare of SC and BC, Punjab, had written to the DPI (colleges), Punjab; DPI (schools), Punjab; director, technical education, Punjab; director, medical and research, Punjab, and registrars of all universities of the state to send their proposals regarding the construction of hostels for SC boys and SC girls in their respective educational institutions. After receiving proposals, the same would be sent to the Government of India for the release of funds.

Chandigarh, January 12
“Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), which has got a lot of credit for a green revolution in the country, should now be prepared to share the blame for the crisis being faced by the state on the agriculture front,” said Dr Devinder Sharma, a Delhi-based food and agriculture policy analyst.

Why was PAU silent with regard to suicides by farmers, environmental and health crisis created by the over use of pesticides and other agriculture-related social and economic issues, asked Dr Sharma, speaking on behalf of the Kheti Virasat Mission. Has PAU held any convention on these issues? It would have to change its model of agriculture. It would have to tell farmers that use of pesticides and chemical based fertilizers would have to be stopped to save Punjab from further sinking into environmental and health crisis, he added. The reckless use of pesticides and fertilizers had to be stopped and ecological farming would have to be promoted, he said.

He said farmers should be conscious with regard to the promotion of floriculture, which he described as a dirtiest form of agriculture, by Holland-based companies in Punjab, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and other parts of the country. In Holland the authorities concerned were discouraging floriculture and it was being shifted to countries like India with a view to importing the same, he said.

Floriculture had become bane for that country because farmers were using pesticides to grow flowers recklessly and at one stage the use of pesticides in that country had touched the 700 kg per hectare mark. However, now Holland had adopted a policy of low external inputs sustained assessment( LEISA) to continuously monitor the use of pesticides on various crops, he added.

In Punjab, pesticides were being found in foodgrains, vegetables, drinking water, buffalo milk and other edible stuff, Dr Sharma asserted. Cancer, which was earlier confined to the Malwa belt, was now being detected in a large number of people in the Majha and Doaba regions also. Vouching for organic farming, Dr Sharma said farmers should revert to natural farming that used to be practiced 60-70 years ago.

Dr Sharma had come here accompanied by Kheti Virasat Mission activists including, Umendera Dutt and Dr Amar Singh Azad. Dr Dutt said environmental crisis should be made part of syllabus and students should be imparted education with regard to harms caused by use of pesticides to grow various crops.

Muktsar, January 12
With agriculture no more remunerative for the poor farmers, and a few jobs for the unemployed youth, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today appealed to both these aggrieved lots to adopt dairy farming, with the promise that the state government would provide subsidy in this regard.

"Dairy farming, poultry, fisheries, piggery farm and keeping of good breeds of horses and dogs are the alternative for the unemployed youth and the farmers with less land holdings to become self-employed and self-reliant," the Chief Minister said while speaking at the first state-level animal fair, which was organised by the administration on the occasion of Maghi Mela here.

He suggested the small dairy owners to collectively form a group of at least 10 milk-yielding livestock and avail opportunity to get the subsidy and other financial assistance for which the state government was committed.

Lok Sabha member Sukhbir Badal said that this fair would now become an annual feature at the beginning of the Maghi Mela here, and for this, the government would make efforts to popularise the event at the national level.

He also announced that the cash prizes worth Rs 25 lakh, which were distributed among the winners at today's event, would be doubled at the next year's event.

He said that two semen banks would be established, each at Nabha and Ropar, and Rs 30 crore would be invested to establish five hi-tech polyclinics at Amritsar, Jalandhar, Kaparthala, Fatehgarh Sahib and Mohali to facilitate animal breeders.