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Badal for consensus against terror
Punjab chief minister Prakash Singh Badal laying the foundation stone of a sub-tehsil building at Talwandi Bhai in Ferozepur district on Sunday.
A Tribune photograph
Three killed as truck rams into bus carrying
pilgrims
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Industrialists not happy with govt policies, plan to shift base to other states
No respite from fog, intense chill
Preparations in full swing for CM visit
Multi-pronged strategy yielded results for Ferozepur cops
Adequate Rly staff at Fazilka sought
Centre dilly-dallying on terrorism, says Sukhbir
Squeeze on funds hampering work, alleges panchayat
Educational institutions join fight against cancer
101 stones laid since Feb, over 40 during this visit
Punjab and Sindh Bank wins men’s hockey tournament
District Congress president (Urban) Ashok Kumar speaking at the meeting on Sunday. Tribune photo: Malkiat Singh
Mohali surgeon’s two papers rated best
‘Cotton procurement till March 31’
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Badal for consensus against terror
Ferozepur, December 28Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called upon the union government to evolve a consensus against terrorism in the country and avoid walking into Pakistan’s trap of creating war hysteria.
Badal today addressed a series of public gatherings as part of his development tour at Talwandi Bhai, Ferozepur cantonment and Ferozepur city in this border district. Badal said: “Punjabis will fully support the nation to foil the nefarious designs of enemies engaged in disturbing our unity and integrity, but we must not allow Pakistan to paint us as the aggressors, especially when the whole world knows that the Mumbai terror strikes were a planned act of aggression against our country. Therefore, winning on diplomatic fronts is as important as winning on the war front”. Adding that the union government should give a special package for the border areas of the state to compensate the people who had been affected due to Indo-Pak wars since 1947. Grants for the cities and towns of the state under the Border Area Development Project needed to be enhanced, he added. Badal said the objective of his development tour was to disburse grants in a transparent manner. He gave a cheque for Rs 2 crore each to the Talwandi Bhai Municipal Council and Ferozepur Cantonment Board, Rs 3 crore to the local body of Ferozepur city. He announced a grant of Rs 1 crore for the Mudki MC, Rs 25 lakh for construction of a sub-tehsil complex at Talwandi Bhai and Rs 3 crore for various development projects and schemes in the villages of Talwandi Bhai. Besides, he announced a grant of Rs 42.05 crore for the construction of 21 km of new roads and repair of 139 km of roads in the Ferozepur cantonment assembly constituency. He announced upgrade of the mini-primary health centre to 25-bedded hospital at
Mudki. He gave a cheque for Rs 1 crore to the Commissioner, Ferozepur, division-cum-chairman of the Shaheed Bhagat Singh Memorial Committee, Hussainiwala, for the beautification of the memorial site. He conceded to extending the facility of bestowing property ownership rights to Talwandi Bhai residents, who had earlier been left out under this scheme, and a government college in the Ferozepur cantonment area. Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon urged the Chief Minister to allow the process of registration of immovable property transacted within the jurisdiction of Ferozepur cantonment and to do away with the practice of seeking no-objection certificate from board for registration purposes. Sidelights
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Three killed as truck rams into bus carrying
pilgrims
Bathinda, December 28 The bus carrying 40 devotees from Bathinda was moving towards Salasar on a pilgrimage, when it was hit by two trucks one after the other near Sardarshahar in Rajasthan. Of the three dead, two, namely Pawan Kumar Kansal (45) and Shabby Aggarwal (13), belonged to Bathinda, while one person was from Nabha, who had gone along with his relatives in the bus. According to information received, a group in the city, arranges the tour on the last Sunday of every month. This time too, the bus left with the pilgrim on Saturday at 9 pm from Kikkar Bazar in Bathinda. An eyewitness, Prem Garg, who sustained a leg fracture, told TNS that the bus was about to reach Sardarshahar at 5.30 am, when due to poor visibility, it veered off from the road. When the driver attempted to take the vehicle back on road, a speeding truck rammed into it. Due to the impact, the bus overturned. However, after this, all the passengers were safe and had sustained only minor injuries. But the worst was yet to come. During the rescue operation, another truck hit the vehicle, and the impact was so great that the bus was dragged a couple of yards. In that incident, three people lost their lives. A bus, which was also en route to Salasar, arrived there and helped in the rescue operation. People of nearby townships helped in taking the injured to the Saradarshahar hospital from where many were referred to Hisar, Bikaner and Hanumangarh. The cremation was performed here today. Family members informed that Pawan Kumar Kansal was survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter, while Shabby has a younger sister. Whiel recounting the incident, Love Sachdeva, another eyewitness, said
that due to dense fog, it was tough to signal to other vehicles plying on the road to avoid collision. The bus was hired from a private transporter of Abohar. |
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Industrialists not happy with govt policies, plan to shift base to other states
Bathinda, December 28 Industrialists allege that the policies of the previous NDA government and the present government are the main reasons responsible for the shift of the industry to the neighbouring states. They point out that it was only recently that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had assured a delegation of industrialists that special package of incentives would be given to Punjab on the pattern of the neighbouring states to boost the prospects of trade and commerce in the state. Nearly a dozen transformer-manufacturing units from Bathinda, Jalandhar, Amritsar and Ludhiana are already in the final stages of setting up their units in Haridwar in Uttarakhand and Nalagarh, Baddi, Barotiwala and Kala Amb in Himachal Pradesh. The units, which started moving gradually a year ago, will start production within a month's time. According to Parveen Mittal, president of the Transformer Manufacturers Association, Bathinda, about 15 industrialists of the transformer making units have purchased land in Haridwar and Baddi. Land prices there have started rising, following the visit of the Jalandhar, Bathinda and Ludhiana industrialists to these places. Mittal says the rise has been three times. "The Punjab government is not sympathetic to the problems of the industry and the burden of taxes is heavier in Punjab than in Uttarakhand, Maharashtra, Delhi and West Bengal. No state other than Punjab has levied entry tax. Besides, the labour in Punjab is costly and land prices in the state are also higher than those in the other states. However, the companies will keep original base in Bathinda, Ludhiana and Jalandhar," Mittal says. The incentives to Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand include exemption from paying income tax and excise duties for 10 years and concessions in sales tax. Local industrialists, particularly wire and transformer manufacturers, have shown interest in establishing units in Haridwar and Baddi and visited the states to hold discussions with the officials concerned. Krishan Kumar, another industrialist, says," The manufacturing industry is in the doldrums. We have witnessed a slowdown in the growth rate as compared to last year." He feels that with the opening up of the economy, more companies have entered the market and it has divided the demand, which earlier was handled by a few players only. "Big companies are in the process of reducing the prices. A small industrialist cannot afford do so. This, he says, "is killing the small scale units." Baddi has already come up as an industrial township close to Chandigarh. There are about 100 large-scale, medium-scale and small-scale industrial units in Baddi and Nalagarh is also coming up. The units at Baddi are of pharmaceutical, electrical and consumer goods. Raman Watts, president, Bathinda Chamber of Commerce and Industry, says that the state has not been able to formulate an industrial policy for the past seven years. Watts, voicing his resentment over the government ignoring the interests of industrialists of Punjab, said: "We have no option but to explore options elsewhere and set up new units in HP and Uttaranchal which are already enjoying the benefits of the lucrative economic packages announced by the government." The problems have also forced us to look for these options, he added. Another industrialist speaking on the condition of anonymity said: "How serious the Punjab Chief Minister is about the fate of the industry in the state can be gauged from the fact that he spent only 20 minutes in meeting with industrialists to discuss the industrial policy, in Chandigarh last month. He left the meeting, saying that he would be back in two hours. He did return, but the industrialists gained nothing from the meeting." Another top industrialist of the district said the chief minister did not seem concerned about the future of industry in Punjab. However, a spokesman of the industry department, when contacted, said the HP package had had no effect on the Punjab industries. Industry needed marketing, raw material and infrastructure that were not available in HP. He said Punjab's industrial policy would
be announced soon and the government was taking steps to revive sick industries. |
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No respite from fog, intense chill
Bathinda, December 28 Like on Saturday morning, the residents also faced inconvenience as the visibility was almost zero till late in the morning. The rail and road movement, in the region, again remained disrupted in the morning due to fog. Besides, the downward trend of mercury also continued as it dipped further to a record 5.5 degree Celsius at 7 am, one degree less than yesterday, as per the Agro-met advisory services, PAU Regional Station, Bathinda. The maximum temperature also witnessed a fall and settled at 17.0 degree Celsius, 2.5 degree less than Saturday. It may be recalled that December 26 was the coldest day of the season so far for Bathinda when mercury touched 4 degree Celsius. Vehicles moved at a snail's pace with headlights on also on Sunday morning till late. The condition improved in the afternoon when the fog began descending. The city, however, felt some respite in the evening as the condition remained fog-free at about 7 pm. Rail services in the region were hit with many trains running behind schedule by one to two hours. It may be mentioned that predicting the weather condition for the Bathinda region, the IMD, Chandigarh, had on Friday said that foggy condition might continue for the next two to three days in the region. The temperature might also experience decline. |
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Preparations in full swing for CM visit
Fazilka, December 28 The party leaders and workers are excited with speculation of development bonanza for this town and surrounding border villages. Chief minister is likely to address a public gathering and would attend sangat darshan at local grain market in December 30. The DC and the SSP have already made two brief visits to Fazilka. The DC also held meetings with MLAs and senior ruling party leaders in connection with the CM's visit. State BJP vice-president and local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani expressed hopes that the CM would offer adequate sops to his constituency. Jyani said that the CM was expected to announce huge grants for development of urban and rural areas. He said that Badal was likely to release grant of Rs 4 crore for development of villages under Fazilka constituency. Besides, another Rs 3 crore shall be released for all round development of Fazilka town. Jyani said that among the major demands proposed to be highlighted before the CM was concerning the Canal-based drinking water project with perennial canal to ensure uninterrupted canal water supply to the project. Beside, granting district headquarter status for Fazilka would be raised. Addition of PG classes for different subjects in local Government M.R. College and filling up of the large number of vacancies of lecturers in the college were some of the demands to be raised during the CM's visit. Socio-political organisations are also gearing up for presenting charters of demands at the sangat
darshan. |
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Looking back at year 2008 Anirudh Gupta
Ferozepur, December 28 The police not only arrested several wanted criminals and proclaimed offenders but it also succeeded in busting more than 25 gangs involved in robberies, drug peddling, thefts and other criminal activities. Over and above, huge quantum of contraband and narcotics were also seized by its men during various search and seizures undertaken during this year. According to the sources in the department, altogether 995 persons were arrested under Excise Act, 561 persons arrested under NDPS Act, 46 persons under Arms act and 667 persons were apprehended under gambling Act alone. While the large number of persons arrested in various crimes during this year speaks volumes of the success achieved by the force, at the same time it also indicates the steep rise in the crime graph and growing drift of the youths towards drugs and anti social adventurism. If we talk about drugs and other psychotropic substances, almost 50 kgs of heroin costing Rs 50 crore in the international market besides 175 kg of opium, 4995 kg of poppy husk, 2.554 kg smack, 4.25 kg charas and over two lakh spurious tablets, injections and syrups have been recovered by the police till date. More than 500 cases were registered under NDPS Act alone. The illicit liquor brewing which the border villages of this border district are infamous for also saw over 9,00 cases being registered. The police recovered more than 8,000 litres of illicit liquor and 22,716 kg lahan ( another form of illicit liquor) during various raids conducted during the year. Another alarming fact witnessed during the year was the recovery of huge quantity of arms and ammunition, which fuelled speculations about the attempts being made by the anti-national forces to revive insurgency in this border state. The police recovered five AK-56 sophisticated rifles with 27 magazines, six guns, and 42 small firearms besides 1,027 cartridges during various incidents during the year. If the number of persons arrested and amount recovered under gambling Act are any indication, the gambling also seems to be on the rise in this district as 519 cases were registered under Act and an amount of Rs 34 lakh recovered from the arrested persons. When contacted, senior superintendent of police Dinesh Pratap said that the police had launched multi-pronged strategy against the criminals during the current year due to which large number of seizures could be made.
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Adequate Rly staff at Fazilka sought
Fazilka, December 28 This causes revenue loss of several thousands of rupees daily to the railways. The main reason is inadequate booking staff and non-opening of booking counters for sufficient period due to alleged shortage of booking staff. There is a total chaos at the time of departure of the trains from Fazilka and hundreds of passengers are harassed a lot everyday. The issue of necessity of adequate booking staff and opening of the booking windows for longer periods prior to departure of trains has been demanded several times by the residents of Fazilka town, and different consumer bodies but to no avail. It is well in the knowledge of the railway authorities too, who apparently have turned a blind eye for their alleged vested interests. The town people allege large-scale corruption as the core issue. In all the seven trains, which leave from Fazilka for Muktsar, Kotkapura, Bathinda, Sirsa, Rewari, Ferozepur, Ludhiana. A very panicky situation is witnessed daily at the time of departure of the two trains simultaneously at 11 am. At this time one of the train leaves on Fazilka-Ferozepur section while another one leaves on Fazilka-Kotkapura section. Hundreds of passengers throng the booking windows for tickets. Many of them reach the booking windows more than half an hour before the departure time of the train for buying tickets. Since the number of passengers increases, there is absolute hustle and bustle when the train approaches. As the train is flagged off and it whistles to take off, a sea of "ticketless" passengers rush to both the platforms to board the slowly moving trains. The pickpockets, anti-social elements have a hay day at this movement. The main reason for this situation is that there is only one booking clerk posted at the railway station for distribution of tickets. According to Consumer Association president Harmit Singh and general secretary Om Parkash Sharma, three sanctioned posts of booking clerks and one post of supervisor have been lying vacant for a pretty long period. Besides, the booking window was not opened in advance to felicitate distribution of tickets ahead of the departure time of trains. According to an estimate the revenue loss is assessed to the tune of about Rs 3 lakhs per month. The Consumer
Association has demanded the railway minister Laloo Parsad Yadav, general manager, Northern Railway, New Delhi, to take immediate steps for the appointment of more booking clerks, opening of additional booking windows for adequate time to prevent huge revenue loss to the
railway and redress the grievance of the passengers, who are a harassed lot for no
fault of theirs. |
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Centre dilly-dallying on terrorism, says Sukhbir
Bathinda, December 28 Speaking to the media here, Sukhbir Badal said, "The Union government is
indifferent towards its responsibility of maintaining the dignity of the nation
and in finding an absolute way to check regular disturbances created by foreign
elements." In the context of tension prevailing at the LoC, Sukhbir Badal said, "Whenever such a situation arises, the Centre calls for an all party meeting which proves to be meaningless. I have attended a number of such meetings but at those meetings, I could not find anything except for tea, pakoras and food." Speaking of global meltdown, he said the economic collapse showed that the Central government was running on ventilator. It should take immediate action to stabilise the decline in economic conditions. “The meagre reduction of half per cent in interest rate is just a dollop. It should be slashed to 4-5 per cent if the government wants to save its people from the economic doom," he added. Hailing the state government for achieving 34 per cent growth in VAT collection, he said, "It is an achievement of the Punjab government in a situation where there are many states whose graph has fallen.” When asked about any attempt at a patch-up among the allies, the BJP and the National Conference in J&K, in case of a hung assembly there, he parried the query saying, "I am not in a position to make such important statements." When some media persons apprised him of the allegations against the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials related to ‘mismanagement’ of projects, he assured that a survey of all projects in question would be undertaken. About the assignments to landscapists for beautification of cities, he said, "Contract for two cities have reached the final stages. The rest too would be taken up soon." Sukhbir Badal is here in the city on a four-day visit to lay foundation stones for various projects including one for railway overbridge at Badal road and a reverse osmosis plant. He also attended the Bhog ceremony of Ramayan Path, held in a temple near the main post office. |
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Squeeze on funds hampering work, alleges panchayat
Bathinda, December 28 According to sources, a five-member committee was constituted by the Akali Dal to carry out development works in the village. Gurcharan Singh Aulakh, an Akali Dal village-level leader said, "We have formed a five-member committee and it will look after the village's development." The present panchayat and Congress members protested this decision of the Akali Dal members. Sources stated that Rs 2.5 lakh was granted to the newly-formed committee. The sarpanch said, "We are a complete panchayat and we should have been given the funds by the ruling government. Rather than helping us, a new committee was formed which also got the funds. We will protest the decision and would not let the committee carry out any work. We were given a grant by the Central government of Rs 1.5 lakh. We used it for repairing roads in the village. If we would have got the grant then the work carried out would have been for the benefit of the village. Other villages have already got grants upto Rs 5 lakh whereas we are still waiting for it." District youth wing president of Congress Lakhwinder Singh said, "We don't support this decision of the Akali Dal and we would not let the committee do anything which should be done by the panchayat. We would discuss the matter with Congress members and take the matter even to the higher level if needed." The panchayat said it felt that it was receiving step-motherly treatment by the present government because it is the only Congress panchayat in the region.
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Educational institutions join fight against cancer
Hanumangarh/Abohar, December 28 The students and the teachers of the Nehru Memorial Children Senior Secondary School in Hanumangarh recently presented Rs 50,000 cheque to the representatives of the NGO. So far students of a dozen schools have collected and donated money for the noble cause.
GCCI was raised and registered as a trust on March 6, 1998 by late Major General R.S. Pannu who dedicated his life to the service of humanity. He is remembered as a legendry and a philanthropist for his services as Director General of Help Age India for over 12 years. After sudden demise of Maj Gen Pannu on October 9, 2004, Inderjit Kaur Pannu, who was already a trustee, took over as chairperson and managing trustee of
GCCI, to continue accomplishment of his mission and vision. GCCI uses some of the alumni as resource persons to train other medical staff in the country. The motivated trainees in turn move back into their hospitals in different parts of the country for effective cancer care. The campaign gained momentum when in this part of Rajasthan, 15 volunteers undertook an 'Auto Rickshaw Rally' in 2004 and raised funds with a target of funding 4-5 rickshaw teams each with a nurse and driver. They drove 500 miles through the rugged terrain of Rajasthan and its busy towns in order to make delivery to
GCCI. GCCI spokesman said cancer had become one of the ten leading causes of death in India. It is estimated that there are nearly 1.5-2 million cancer cases at any given point of time. Over 9 lakh new cases of cancer and approximately 4.5 lakh deaths occur annually due to cancer that is 50 individuals die every one hour and 100 new cases get added in one hour. Nearly, 15 lakh patients require facilities for diagnosis, treatment and follow up at a given time. Cancers namely those of oral and lungs in males, and cervix and breast in females account for over 50 per cent of all cancer deaths in India. |
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101 stones laid since Feb, over 40 during this visit
Bathinda, December 28 It has been learnt that since February this year, 101 foundation stones, at the cost of an estimated Rs 294.51 crore, had already been laid by the SAD-BJP leaders for various development projects in the area. The details exclude the current four-day visit of SAD (B) chief Sukhbir Badal, during which he is scheduled to lay around 46 new foundation stones in the district. In just 10 months, 150 foundation stones have been laid. The sheer number of foundation stones being laid has also raised questions about the prospects and viability of the projects. Sukhbir Badal himself, at today's press meet, accepted that of the total projects, only 32 (at a cost of Rs 27.84 crore) have been completed. Giving details, he mentioned that there were 22 projects (Rs 143.01 crore) for which only tenders have been finalised but work is yet to start. In the list, six foundation stones (Rs 44.30 crore) were those projects for which neither the tenders had been opened nor the work had been started. When asked about the details of Sukhbir Badal's ongoing tour, officials said that in four days, he would lay the foundation stones for projects estimated at around Rs 210 crore. In the list, sources said it is mentioned that for Rampura Phul, there is Rs 70 crore worth projects, for Bathinda Rs 90 crore and for Joga and Talwandi Sabo Rs 25 crore each. It may be mentioned that around 23 foundation stones were laid in a day this year on February 18. Out of this, 14 were just for one road revamping project. Last year, the foundation stone for the international cricket stadium was laid on December 8 by CM Parkash Singh Badal himself. But the stone is still standing alone while project files languish somewhere in the labyrinth of babudom.
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Punjab and Sindh Bank wins men’s hockey tournament
Moga, December 28 The winner's team defeated Baba Nagan Das Academy, Sangrur 4-2 in penalty shoot out that were awarded by the referee after both the teams failed to score in the stipulated 70 minutes. In the women's category, Kairon Academy defeated Takhanwad Academy by 6-1. As many as eight teams in the men's category and four teams in the women's category had participated in this tournament. Inderjit Kaushik sessions' judge (retired) while giving the trophies to the winning teams appealed to the young sports lovers to ensure more participation in such events. Senior SAD leader Jathedar Tota Singh who was also present on the occasion announced a grant of Rs two lakh to the organiser on behalf of Janmeja Singh Sekhon, irrigation minister, who could not turn up in the closing ceremony due to busy schedule. Sat Pal Gosain, deputy speaker of the state legislative assembly, Vijay Sathi, general secretary of the state unit of Congress, Barjinder Singh Brar, president of the local municipal council and many other local leaders and officials of the district administration were also present during the closing ceremony.
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Congmen celebrate party’s foundation day
Bathinda, December 28 Presiding over the function, district Congress president Ashok Kumar said that on December 28 in 1885, the Congress was founded to serve the society. Senior Congress leaders, including KK. Agarwal, Tahal Singh Sandhu and others, took part in the
function. Speaking on the occasion, Congress workers remembered the role of Congress leaders, including Mahatma Gandhi, Jawahar Lal Nehru, Sardar Ballav Bhai Patel, Sarojini Naidu, Lala Lajpat Rai and others, in the independence of the country. They said that the country made a great stride under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi. Posing faith in party president, Sonia Gandhi, Congress workers said the party would perform well in the coming elections. K.K. Agarwal said that Congress was a secular party and works for the interests of everyone, especially the downtrodden. |
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ASICON 2008
Ludhiana, December 28 The research papers were received from all over the world. Dr Garg's papers are on the treatment of piles by non-operative painless method and of new keyhole(laparoscopic) surgery for treating hernia. The other papers rated the best include : 'At risk group approach in breast cancer' by Dr Saumik Chatterjee and Dr Dipentra Sarkar, Kolkatta; 'Tunica vaginalis pedicled wrap Urethroplastt for Hypospadias Repair- An Institutional Experience' by Dr Vinitha Nair, Dr Murali A, Dr Arun Mohan and Prof R Hema, Bhopal; 'Quality of life: A study on patients of Carcinoma Breast and its Pitfalls in our Society' by Dr Maj A K Shah and Dr Col LS Vohra, Bangalore; 'Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumours : Our Experience' by Dr Maj Prashant Kumar, Dr Sqn Ldr Amit Agarwal, Dr Maj A K Shah, Dr Lt Col RPS Gambhir, Dr Lt Col A Galagali and Dr Col R Chaudhry, AFMC Pune.
— TNS
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‘Cotton procurement till March 31’
Mansa, December 28 They said that the state government had earlier announced that the two per cent tax would be abolished but no such step was taken in this regard. It may be mentioned that the CCI has been paying two per cent extra cess on cotton at the time of purchasing unlike other state as Haryana. CCI officials added that procuring process would continue till March 31. |
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Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has called upon the union government to evolve a consensus against terrorism in the country and avoid walking into Pakistan’s trap of creating war hysteria.
Sukhbir Singh Badal, SAD (B) chief, today alleged that the Union government was only "dilly-dallying" while dealing with the frequent terror attacks in the country.
Speaking to the media here, Sukhbir Badal said, "The Union government is indifferent towards its responsibility of maintaining the dignity of the nation and in finding an absolute way to check regular disturbances created by foreign elements."
