Jalandhar, March 31
The Election Commission (EC) has allowed continuation of subsidy to the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) for supply of free power to farm sector and poor sections of society. The Punjab government had sought the permission of the EC in this respect. The commission has also allowed the charging of current tariff from various sections of society till new tariff order by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Authority.

The EC’s permission was required as free power is considered a concession by the government to certain sections of society.

The Punjab government gives subsidy of Rs 2,602 crore per annum to the PSEB for supply of free power to farm sector and poor sections of society. Of it, Rs 2,470 crore alone is given for free electricity to farm sector in the state.

On the basis of the tariff order of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Authority for 2008-09, the PSEB was allowed to provide the free power to the farm sector and poor sections till today March 31, 2009. From tomorrow, new tariff order is to become effective. However, the regulatory authority had not issued new tariff order for the next year (2009-10) due to legal hurdles. However, as the election code of conduct is in force in the state, any concession, period of which had ended, cannot be extended without the EC’s nod .

In fact, the regulatory authority had to delay processing of new tariff order for next year (2009-10) because the Punjab government and the PSEB had not provided it with the extension granted to the board for its unbundling. Owing to this, the PSEB’s legal status had become untenable forcing the regulatory authority to ask the PSEB to provide it with the letter extending its unbundling by the Union government.

Sources said the regulatory authority had also allowed the PSEB to continue charging current tariff from the power consumer till new tariff order by it for 2009-10. The new order is likely be issued in the first week of June.

Meanwhile, the state government has paid the entire subsidy amount for current year to the PSEB. The last instalment of Rs 114 crore was paid today, it is learnt.

Chandigarh, March 31
The Ministry of Finance has ordered re-demarcation of jurisdictions of three commissionerates in the Chandigarh central Excise Zone. The commissionerates with new jurisdictions will be effective from tomorrow.

DS Sra, Chief Commissioner, Chandigarh Central Excise Zone, says that reorganisation of commissionerates has been aimed to streamline the jurisdictions. For example, the Ludhiana Commissionerate will have the jurisdiction along the Grand Trunk Road.

The reorganisation of commissionerates has the clearance of the Central Board of Excise and Customs.

Earlier, besides Ludhiana, there were Commissionerates at Chandigarh and Jalandhar.

Now under the reorganised jurisdictions, the new Commissionerates will be Chandigarh-I and II and Ludhiana.

Chandigarh-I will have Chandigarh Service Tax division, Mandi Gobindgarh central excise division and Shimla (Himachal) central excise division. Its territorial jurisdiction will extend to Himachal Pradesh, union territory of Chandigarh and Fatehgarh Sahib district in Punjab, besides Mohali tehsil of Mohali district.

The Chandigarh-II will deal with central excise divisions of Patiala, Dera Bassi, Sangrur and Ropar. The Rail Majra central excise division in Phagwara now stands merged with Ropar division after reorganisation. Its territorial jurisdiction will be districts of Patiala, Rupnagar, Sangrur, Mansa, Barnala, Bathinda, Moga, Muktsar, Nawan Shahr and Mohali excluding Mohali tehsil. It will also have Samrala tehsil of Ludhiana district as its part.

The Ludhiana Commissionerate will deal with central excise divisions of Ludhiana-I and Ludhiana-II, besides Amritsar, Jalandhar and Phagwara. The territorial jurisdiction of the Ludhiana Commissionerate will now be extending to district of Ludhiana (excluding Samrala tehsil), Amritsar, Taran Tarn, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur.

The reorganised commissionerates shall start functioning from tomorrow, Sra added.

Bathinda, March 31
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal denied reports that steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal has threatened to pull out of the Bhatinda refinery project. Mittal, he told The Tribune, has merely asked for more incentives. The Rs 18,000-crore joint venture, he claimed, will be completed with collaboration from Mittal.

While officials of Guru Govind Singh Refinery Ltd. ( GGSRL), a joint venture of Hindustan Petroleum and Mittal Energy, were tight-lipped, reports in the media suggest that Mittal has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding incentives at par with those provided to Bharat Petroleum’s refinery in Madhya Pradesh.

A senior officer said, “Work is progressing and the project will be completed in stipulated time frame of March 2011. Fabrication of tanks, which form about 50 per cent of the project, is progressing as per schedule”.

A visit to the project site showed civil, mechanical and electrical works have been accelerated following two recent visits of Chief Secretary Ramesh Inder Singh who settled some problems of execution of the project on the spot. The joint venture has spent more than Rs 4,500 crore so far and also placed orders for machinery and equipment worth about Rs 11,000 crore, he said during his visit last month.

Two contractors have been given job of laying the 1,012-km-long cross-country crude oil pipeline between Mundra (Gujarat) and here with single-point mooring and crude terminal at Mundra. Contract has been awarded for captive power plant of 153 MW and 702-tonne steam generation to BHEL with 30 months’ schedule.

However, residents of neighbouring villages are apprehensive about the fate of GGSRL that over the years has come to be known as “jinxed”. The project, announced in 1995, got delayed due to political changes. The fate of the project changed with every new government in the state. Then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee finally laid its foundation stone in March 1998. But work on the project did not take off as the Congress came to power. Initially, the project was the baby of Hindustan Petroleum; Mittal joined two years ago.

It was believed the jinx had broken with Mittal acquiring 49 per cent stake in the project in March 2007, but a new controversy has put a question mark. The coming of Mittal had pushed up land price in neighbouring villages of Punjab and Haryana and job avenues also opened in the area. Mittal’s letter has created scare in the villages of Ramsra, Rama Mandi, Phulohari and Rattangarh (in Punjab) and Desu, Kalianwali, Dabwali and Narang (in Haryana) that were providing labour and whose economy was linked with the project.

Experts believe having suffered huge losses due to international meltdown, Mittal might be trying to find an escape route to avoid further loss.

Seeking concessions for the project is not new, then Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had asked the Centre to bear the cost of the GGSRL to make it viable. He had said if the refinery needed tax concession, to ensure its viability, then the Centre should forgo part of its earning rather expect Punjab to bear the cost. The HPCL, which was at that time implementing the project, was finding the refinery unviable without major sales tax relief of 600 crore per annum for 15 years.

Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, for whom the stakes are high as he has been describing the refinery as major achievement of the government, said Mittal had simply asked for incentives and was unlikely to pull out on the issue.

Ludhiana, March 31
Yet another deadline has meant nothing for the local dyeing units polluting the Buddha Nullah as they have failed to upgrade their effluent treatment plants (ETPs). Earlier, the Punjab Pollution Control Board had directed them to follow the orders in this regard till March 31.

Trying to find another excuse for their failure to meet the board’s deadline, the Tajpur Road Dyeing and Industries Association moved a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court this month. The association of the unit owners today wrote letters to the PPCB and the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), stating that the matter was subjudice now and requested the departments to maintain a status quo till any further orders were passed by the High Court. Besides, in a letter to the Chief Engineer (central), (PSEB), Ludhiana, the association has requested the board not to disconnect their electrical connections.

Association’s general secretary Bobby Jindal had claimed that a common effluent treatment plant could be set up at a cost of Rs 15 crore and the dyers had collected Rs 3.5 crore till March 30 for the purpose. Out of Rs 15 crore, Rs 7 crore would be given by the state and the central governments as subsidies.

Federation of Dyeing Factories Association’s spokesperson VK Goyal said: “The dyers had met PPCB officials in January and had given an understanding that by May 31, the dyers would surely achieve zero-discharge levels.” Supporting the Tajpur dyeing association’s plan to have a common effluent treatment plant, he said the idea was surely in the interest of the industry. However, he claimed that the dyeing industry was committed to abiding by the PPCB directions.

Notably, on February 13 this year the PPCB had directed the dyeing unit to install additional ETPs till March 31, failing which action under Section 41 of the Water Act would be taken. These directions were given after power supply to 55 dyeing units was disconnected on February 7. However, the power supply to these units was restored after almost a week following political interventions.

Talking to The Tribune, PPCB chief Yogesh Goel said: “I would not like to comment as the matter is subjudice”. However, he added neither the High Court’s direction of the attainment of zero-discharge levels by May 31 was revised nor board’s notice to the units to upgrade effluent treatment plants by March 31 was changed.

Chandigarh, March 31
Akali stalwart Kanwaljit Singh’s tragic end may make the passing on of the Chief Minister’s baton from the father to the son easier, but it is unlikely to benefit the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) in the coming elections and it will not finish off the late leader’s group in the party.

It has been widely believed that Capt Kanwaljit Singh alone could stave off the final ascension of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal to the Chief Minister’s post and many feel his group definitely delayed this. Even though the late leader had been severely undermined in his own constituency of Banur recently, his moral hold over the party was always firm. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal understood this and ironically was the one who always placated Kanwaljit, even going to his residence to do so to ensure that he did not feel undermined by Sukhbir.

Kanwaljit was from the Surjit Singh Barnala group and had been given the responsibility of the Home Department by the latter in 1985. He continued to remain loyal to Barnala till his last days and it was not uncommon for visiting newsmen to hear him talking to Barnala whom he always addressed as “sir”. Besides, he was close to Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura and together formed a formidable group in the SAD, which did not command the allegiance of many legislators, but had strong cells in every district of the state.

Political observers feel that Brahmpura may now emerge as the leader of this informal group in the party as Kanwaljit’s son Jasjit Singh Bunny is still a novice in politics. They say Kanwaljit’s accident is in all probability a freak accident, but a few unexplained factors will only fuel the “anti-Sukhbir” sentiment among his supporters and become the rallying point for the group.

It is also felt that there will not be any political gain for the SAD in the Patiala constituency following Kanwaljit’s death. This is because SAD candidate Prem Singh Chandumajra was expelled from the party at Kanwaljit’s insistence after the latter accused him of being responsible for his loss in the 2004 parliamentary elections. Chandumajra was, however, reinducted into the party by Sukhbir, who is also responsible for giving him party ticket despite Kanwaljit’s opposition.

The SAD, particularly the Chief Minister who has lost a friend who could call a spade a spade on his face, is, however, expected to mitigate the loss by giving due importance to Kanwaljit’s family. His son Bunny is expected to fill in his father’s shoes in Banur. However, it will be difficult to fill the vacuum caused by the death of the think-tank and strategist who was the rallying point for all men of reason in the SAD.

Chandigarh, March 31
Leaders of the cooperative movement have mourned the untimely death of Capt Kanwaljit Singh, who, they recalled, had injected new life into village level cooperative societies.

Relegated to being just fertilizer-distribution agencies, these societies now rent out farm equipment, collectively bargain for better credit schemes, offer health insurance to members at minimal cost and even sell mobile phones.

“In the past two years there has been a sea-change in what we thought a cooperative society could do. Now societies take loans, buy farm equipment and lease it out to members for use. Every farmer can afford the rental and even marginal farmers get to use happy seeders, laser levelers and tractors,” recalled VK Bhalla , OSD to the late minister.

“The village level cooperative society model of Punjab is one which can be replicated in other states. It met with astounding success here and can change the lives of millions of farmers across the country,” said KK Ravindran, managing director of the National Cooperative Agriculture Rural Development Bank’s Federation, who had come all the way from Mumbai to attend the minister’s funeral here.

Captain Kanwaljit’s untimely death is a body blow to the cooperative movement in the state. Most of the cooperative federations were running in losses when he took over.

“But he changed it all. His efforts had just begun to bear fruit. Government sugar mills were re-opened, saving the livelihood of hundreds of employees. Milkfed and Markfed were spruced up and encouraged to look at international markets for their flagship brands Verka and Sohna,” said Bhalla.

On December 29, 2008 Captain Singh announced that 2009 would be observed as the year of the cooperative movement. “He wanted to give complete autonomy to cooperative societies and we were in the process of amending various legislations to decentralise power from the bureaucracy to the stake holders,” added Bhalla. The minister had also been demanding better deals from credit institutions. He organized a national conference of state cooperative ministers last month.

Dr Bijender Singh Chairman NAFED and president of the national federation of state cooperative Banks, GH Amin President of the National Cooperative Union of India (NCUI) were among the several representatives of the cooperative world who expressed deep shock at Captain Kanwaljit’s death.

Antim Ardas : The bhog of Sri Akand Path Sahib in the memory Capt Kanwaljit Singh will be held at village Chhat on the Zirakpur-Banur road on April 5. Antim Ardas in the memory of departed leader will also be held at the village at 1pm on the same day. Recitation of Gurbani kirtan will be performed from 12 noon to 1 pm at the same venue.

Sangrur, March 31
Suggesting election reforms in a hand bill, circulated among local masses by an NGO, Scientific Awareness and Social Welfare Forum, here, the Union government has been asked to add a new button in the electronic voting machine (EVM), giving voters a right to reject all candidates if they do not like them and do not want to elect any of them as their representative in the elections from their respective constituencies.

Talking to this reporter, president of the NGO AS Mann said though there was a provision in the election rules, with regard to not casting of vote by a voter by way of filling a form, with this provision one had to expose himself, which was against the secret ballot paper system. He further said after the addition of a new button in the EVM, if more than 50 per cent voters would reject all candidates, then the political parties would have to field candidates with a clean image, in place of fielding candidates with corrupt and criminal background.

The NGO has also suggested another election reform by saying that all expenditure on the elections should be borne by the state government. Speeches by the candidates should be delivered at some specific places. Besides this, an affidavit should be taken from the parties for the implementation of their respective manifestoes in letter and spirit, as now parties make several promises, but do not fulfill the same.

The NGO has also suggested retirement age for the politicians.

Chandigarh, March 31
Capt Kanwaljit Singh’s tragic death is not a lone case of a politician losing life to a road accident due to frenzied travelling that marks election and pre-election campaigning.

In January 2007, in the run-up to the Punjab assembly elections, CPI candidate from Valtoha (Amritsar) Kulwinder Singh died following a road accident. His vehicle reportedly collided with a mini-bus near Patti. He was returning to Valtoha from Tarn Taran where the scrutiny of nomination papers was taking place.

The same year, Janak Raj Sharma, Congress candidate from Bajpur in Uttarakhand, too, died in a road accident on the eve of the polling day.

Just two days ago, Telugu film actor and star campaigner of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), junior NTR suffered multiple injuries in an accident in Andhra Pradesh. The Tata Safari he was travelling in turned turtle and hit a tree. Junior NTR, grandson of legendary actor NT Rama Rao, was driving the vehicle on the way back to Hyderabad after attending a campaigning programme.

In early 2007, Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik was injured in a road accident while four others, including two of his security personnel, were seriously injured when they were going to Jatni in a private car to campaign for his party candidates in the panchayat elections.

In April 2004, former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi was critically injured when he was going for an early morning poll meeting during his campaign tour of the Mahasamund Lok Sabha constituency. The vehicle, he was travelling in, hit a tree. Jogi’s gunmen, too, like Capt Kanwaljit’s, were travelling in a gypsy a little ahead of the vehicle when the accident took place.

Other than candidates and politicians who end up being on the road for most of the day during elections, officials on poll duties, too, are rushing from one place to another and are equally vulnerable.

In early 2007, 13 government employees died in a road accident in Jharkhand when they were going to Palamau to prepare for the LS byelections. The employees, most of them school teachers, were going from Garwah district to Palamau where the by-poll was to be held. The bus in which they were travelling plunged into a river while crossing a bridge.

Ludhiana, March 31
Sukhdeep Singh (Roll No. 5170399), student of Kindergarten Senior Secondary School, Makhu (Ferozepur), has stood first in the class V examination securing 449 marks out of 500. The results were declared today by the Punjab Education Department.

Ankush (600930115)of SS DAV Senior Secondary School, Awankha, Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Simerpreet Kaur (600930215), Gobind Public High School, Dinanagar (Gurdaspur), Mehakpreet Kaur (600310841) of Shri Guru Nanak Dev Public Senior Secondary School, Jaurian (Gurdaspur) and Aditya Bansal (18131) of Shri Vidya Mandir, Talwara Old (Hoshiarpur) have been bracketed second securing 446 marks each.

Anmol Sharda (18057), student of GPS Talwara Sector 2 Block (Talwara), has secured 445 marks with the third position.

The pass percentage of the result is 88.59. A total of 4,28,561 students appeared in the examination out of which 3,79,675 have cleared it. The examination was conducted by the Director General, School Education, Punjab, under the supervision of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan wing.