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MC ‘delivers’ garbage gift to dutiful officer
Diversification Woes
Load Trouble |
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Activists burn CM’s effigy
Father-son duo held for kidnapping minor girl
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MC ‘delivers’ garbage gift to dutiful officer
Jalandhar, April 29 Mohan Singh Sohal, the forest range officer, had to bear the brunt for the same as he alleged heaps of foul-smelling garbage was thrown in front of his forest colony house-cum-office at Kadupur on the Kapurthala-Kartarpur road, at the behest of the administration this evening. He said he was returning from duty at the Dhilwan depot today when he saw heaps of animal waste, dirty linen and sewage waste lying right at the entrance of his office and house gates. The range officer said he could relate the incidence to his recent action against the erring MC officials as he had received calls from SDM Gurpreet Singh Khaira for revoking the challan and returning the trolley impounded by him during a surprise check on April 24. Sohal alleged that since the MC officials did not have any site for dumping the solid waste, they had been using the protected forest land, especially along the Kanjli road near octroi post and other roadsides in the district. He said several trees and saplings were dying due to the toxic waste. The range officer said recently he had also noted that MC employees were setting off the fresh waste on fire after throwing it in the protected forest areas, which further posed a serious threat to the forest area. “We have had to rush to such sites a number of times to extinguish the fire as even tall trees face a serious risk. The forest cover in the district is barely 0.24 per cent of the total area, almost negligible as against the standard 33 per cent. If the officials continue to do so, it can prove to be detrimental,” he added. He said he had even issued a notice to the municipal council, Kapurthala, asking the officials to look in for another site before April 25. He had received a tip-off on April 23 that the MC employees were coming with a trolley loaded for throwing the waste. “We rushed there but could not catch the defaulters. But the next day, we managed to confiscate a trolley. The men ran away leaving behind their slippers and other equipment. We seized the machinery under section 32 of the Indian Forest Act, 1927,” he said. The police is yet to register a case in this connection. SDM Khaira, when contacted, said he was only tying to intervene, urging both the government departments to resolve the matter. “I have told the executive officer of the MC to look for some alternate site for disposal,” he said. He rubbished charges levelled against him by the range officer. |
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Diversification Woes
Jalandhar, April 29 The agricultural authorities revealed that hundreds of farmers in the Doaba region were facing hardships due to power. These farmers had no option but to irrigate their fields with the help of tractors and gensets which adds to the cost of production. The issue was recently raised by the potato and sunflower growers but elicited no response from the state government. Talking to The Tribune, progressive farmer Kanwaljit Singh of Kapurthala said potato, sunflower, mentha, muskmelons and vegetables cultivated on hundreds of hectares in Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur, Nawanshahr and Jalandhar districts were drying up. He said power was the main reason behind it. “If we are not given additional power we would be left with no option but to plough our fields,” he pointed out. The statistics revealed that an area of 4,000 hectares in Jalandhar, 8,800 hectares in Nawanshahr, 13,000 hectares in Kapurthala and 24,000 hectares in Hoshiarpur were under vegetable cultivation. Similarly, the area under maize and sunflower cultivation was 70,000 hectares and 8,000 hectares, respectively in Hoshiarpur. Besides, 20,000 hectares was under maize in Nawanshahr, while the figures for sunflower were 1,500 hectares. In Jalandhar and Kapurthala, the area under maize cultivation was 13,000 hectares and 4,000 hectares, respectively. The figures for sunflower cultivation were 3,500 hectares in Kapurthala and 9,000 hectares in Jalandhar. Jasjit Singh of Bilga village said the government had not cared to categorise them separately from the farmers who were into the wheat-paddy cycle. He said, “We should be treated separately because we followed the government’s advice and opted for other crops”. But now farmers like him were being subjected to a step-motherly treatment, he alleged. “We get just two to three hours power supply every alternate day and that too at odd hours in night. How can we irrigate 40 acres of sunflower with such a meager supply,” he questioned. Other progressive farmers like him too agreed that the situation warranted a policy statement from the government. Jaswinder Singh Sangha of the Jalandhar Potato Growers Association said the PSEB should supply six hours of uninterrupted power supply so that more farmers were encouraged to diversify. In addition to this, canal network in Doaba region should be revamped so that farmers can get water for irrigation, he added. Meanwhile, PSEB officials said the state was facing a power crunch and the board was not in position to fulfil farmers demand. Officials of the agriculture department said drip irrigation was the only viable alternative and farmers should adopt it since the government was providing 75 per cent subsidy on it. |
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Load Trouble
Hoshiarpur, April 29 In his complaint Amarjit had asked the district
consumers forum to nullify the board’s demand of Rs 55,140 as bill. He said he had a 1.3 KW line and the bill was not based on the actual consumption. The Punjab State Electricity Board authorities, however, took the plea that the meter was found OK as per the report of ME lab and the complainant was liable to pay the amount. The district consumers forum held that the lab report produced by the PSEB cannot be termed as complete because it neither had consumer’s signature nor the board produced affidavit of the ME lab SDO. It maintained that the PSEB failed to produce sufficient evidence like whether meter was removed, sealed and packed in the presence of the complainant or his representative. |
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Activists burn CM’s effigy
Nawanshahr, April 29 Municipal council president Narinder Ghai, general secretary of the Kandi Area Sangharsh Committee Mahan Singh Rouri, Dilbagh Chand of the BSP (Ambedkar), Bhupinder of the CPI, Nirmal Ghumman of the Punjab Kisan Sabha, Malkiat Singh of the Khet Mazdoor Sabha, Beopar Mandal president Illy Jain, Truck Union prsideent Nand Lal, Youth Congress leader Happy Ran and Block Congress president Surinder Shindi, among others, addressed the
dharna. — OC |
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Father-son duo held for kidnapping minor girl
Batala, April 29 On the complaint of Nirmal Singh, father of the girl, a police party, headed by SHO Narinder Singh of Quilla Lal Singh, reached a gurdwara at Mehma Chack, where the minor was to be married to Sukhwinder Singh. The police party arrested the bridegroom and his father and handed over the girl to her parents after registering a criminal
case. |
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