Bathinda, January 24
Punjab has just 2.5 per cent area of the total agricultural land in India and it consumes nearly 18 per cent of the pesticides in the country. Significantly, Malwa, the cotton belt of the state, has the highest pesticide consumption density in the country.

The cotton belt comprises nearly 15 per cent of the area of Punjab and it consumes nearly 70 per cent of the pesticides in the state, thus making the equation more dangerous.

The agrochemicals and pesticides in particular are not only impacting the ecology and environmental health of Punjab, but are also taking away economic self-reliance of the farmers in the state.

On an average, annual expenditure on chemical inputs in the state is Rs 5,000 per acre whereas farmers in the Malwa region are spending Rs 7,000 per acre in normal conditions. There is a rough estimate that every village is spending a large sum of money - from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 6 crore - on purchasing agrochemicals, depending upon the area of cultivation and cropping pattern.

According to a report submitted by the Kheti Virasat Mission (KVM) to the Punjab State Farmers Commission, Punjab is seated on a volcano of environmental health disaster waiting to erupt.

Taking a strong exception to the views of the Farmers Commission that organic farming does not lead to high crop yields and is not in the interests of the food security of the country, the commission in its report regretted that agrochemical-centric agriculture has taken a centre stage in the country's planning and perception and Punjab has become most vital component of this chemical-based agriculture system.

Consumption of pesiticides in India has increased from 154 MT in 1953-54 to 73,000 MT in 1994-95. Similar patterns were followed in Punjab, which became the biggest consumer of technical grade pesticides in the country. Punjab has highest per hectare usage of pesticides (923 grams) and chemical fertilisers (192.5 kg) in India.

According to a Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) study done by Professor Sukhpal Singh and others, Punjab farmers are spending 44.1 per cent of total loans on agri-inputs and 12 per cent on farm machinery. It clearly indicates that the use of chemicals and mechanisation of agriculture have pushed most of the farmers into a debt trap, which leads to the exodus and displacement of farmers and ultimately creating the circumstances for suicides.

Bathinda, January 24
On conclusion of her two-day mass contact campaign here today, Surinder Kaur Badal, wife of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal, listed the achievements of the SAD-BJP coalition government and said that development projects worth over Rs 1,500 crore had been initiated in Bathinda and Mansa districts during the past two years.

She addressed gatherings in five municipal wards and listened to the problems of the people, who mostly complained about the problem of fly ash generated by the thermal power project, long power cuts, shortage of drinking water and insanitation.

She said a sum of Rs 200 crore had been provided to the town area committees in the two districts for undertaking projects beneficial to the rural people. Steps have been taken to provide potable water, streetlights, sewerage and sanitation in these areas.

Surinder Kaur said special attention was being given towards development of weaker sections of the society. The aim of the Badal-led government was to steer Punjab to the top position among all states, she said.

She said Parkash Singh Badal had maintained personal contact with the masses by organising "Sangat Darshan" programmes throughout the state.

Apart from the SAD leaders, Chiranji Lal Garg and Sarup Chand Singla, Mayor Baljeet Singh Bir Behman and BJP leaders Narinder Mittal, district president of the party, Tarsem Goyal, senior deputy mayor, and G. Mangat, deputy mayor, accompanied her during the tour.

Bathinda, January 24
Sivian village near Bathinda, which was identified by a foundation, along with NABARD for converting into a model village recently, is not getting drinking water for over fortnight now. Villagers are undergoing hardships without water and are blaming the government for not providing them with basic necessities to sustain life.

Sources said the villagers are not getting water because the starter which pumps water to the village got burnt some days back and since then the condition is lying without any repair from the administration’s side. Villagers said they have to either walk for 2.5 km to get water or use the standing water lying in water works’ tank in the village but even this water would exhaust soon said the villagers.

“There is a water tap around 2.5 km away from the village where water is coming and women from our village have no choice except walking the distance and fetch water on their heads for doing house chores daily,” a villager said.

Villagers were angry about authorities getting media publicity about converting Sivian into a model village and going away without doing anything. “We do not want any development seminars or meetings in which development planning is done. We want basic necessities to be provided to us,” another villager said.

Sources also said water bill worth Rs 5 lakh is to be paid by the village but villagers are not paying it. Answering this the villagers said there were many illegal water connections running in the village where undisrupted water supply is there but genuine connections have either little or no water supply and this was the reason why villagers were not paying the pending bill.

Villagers said the panchayat would soon hold a meting and take the matter to relevant authorities.

Lehra Mohabbat (Bathinda), January 24
On the occasion of the golden jubilee of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) on February 1, the Board is hopeful of getting charge of Unit IV of the Guru Hargobind Thermal Power Plant (GHTP) located at Lehra Mohabbat. It is at present being run by the BHEL on a trial basis.

According to highly placed sources, deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is being expected to perform the honours.

G.S. Sran, member, generation, who was here on an official visit, confirmed it. Sran also said that in comparison to 2007, GHTP had produced more power and earned profit.

Giving details, he said that in comparison to the previous year, the two units of stage-I of the plant produced 515 lakh more units in 2008 and enabled the PSEB to gain a profit of Rs 18 crore.

Sran said the unit III of stage-II has produced 11,487 lakh units from February till date, while unit IV generated 3,134 lakh units since October.

He said the repair of unit-I of the Guru Gobind Singh Super thermal Plant, Ropar, will be completed in just 30 days, which normally takes 38 days.

Bathinda, January 24
To press for their demands, unemployed veterinary pharmacists sat on a chain hunger strike as their protest entered 10th day today. One of the affected persons, Gurpreet Singh from Patiala, had been sitting on fast-unto- death since Friday.

The agitating pharmacists were demanding that the ban on recruitments by the Punjab government should be lifted without any further delay.

Ravinder Singh Pheruman, president of the union, said the SAD-BJP government had backtracked on the promises made in its election manifesto to give them jobs on a regular basis.

“But instead of filling up the vacancies, a ban was clamped on recruitment,” alleged the veterinary pharmacists.

Talking to the TNS, they alleged that around 1,000 posts were lying vacant and they were yet to get jobs.

The protesters have been braving the vagaries of the weather in front of the mini-secretariat for 10 days now.

Gurpreet said they had full support of their families and villagers. He said they had called upon all unemployed youth, including computer and B Ed teachers of Punjab, to join the stir.

They also threatened to commit self-immolation if their demands were not accepted.

Bathinda, January 24
The toll free number 1091, an initiative of the district administration to check female foeticide under the aegis of the PNDT cell, has been waiting to ring for the past one year.

As per information received, the toll free number was created in 2006, alluring informers with promises of cash rewards. Under the scheme, the deputy commissioner, who is the president of the PNDT cell and the Civil Surgeon, who is the district appropriate authority, had announced that anyone, who would inform about a case of female foeticide, would get a cash reward of Rs 5,100. Further, if someone gives first-hand information about any case of pregnancy, the person would be entitled to a reward of Rs 100.

Ironically, the scheme could run well only in the year that it was launched and started losing its sheen thereafter. As per the details mentioned in the register of the PNDT cell, it could receive only a few calls in year 2007 and the last call of the year was received on November 19, 2007. Further, after seven months, the phone rang again on June 13, 2008. After that, the authorities are still waiting for the next call.

On being asked, an official of the department said the publicity material was printed in adequate numbers but due to some inter-departmental problem, neither the stickers nor the posters were pasted at public places nor any official took interest in the scheme.

When contacted, the assistant project officer, Sadhu Ram Kusla, said, “We were very hopeful about the scheme but lack of official interest robbed it off its sheen. From November 6, 2007, no meeting of the PNDT cell could take place, due to which the youth clubs, which were associated to promote the scheme, too, started losing their interest.”

Ferozpur, January 24
Farmers under the banner of the Border Area Sangharsh Committee called on the Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram in New Delhi on Thursday and apprised him about the problems being faced by them.

Karan Singh Dhaliwal, general secretary of the organisation said on Friday that farmers having land holdings across the fencing once again reiterated their demand to rearrange the fencing which has eaten into a major chunk of agricultural land.

Dhaliwal said that as per the committee constituted under S.L. Kapoor, the then Chief Secretary Punjab, in the year 1990 to oversee the fencing along the IB, it was decided that the fencing should be installed within 50 to 150 metres of the IB, however at some place like Gajniwala and Dona Telumal, the fencing is as far as upto 3 kms from the zero line due to which lot of land has been rendered useless.

Dhaliwal said that they have also demanded compensation at the rate of Rs 5,000 per acre. Himmat Singh, IG, BSF, Punjab Frontier said survey has already begun to identify the points where the distance between the fencing and IB was more than required.