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Paddy transplantation hit
Assault on Additional SE |
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PSEB staff manhandled by villagers
Cong wants Prez rule in state
Technology needed to boost litchi output
Tribune Impact
Swine flu: Govt may enforce Epidemic Diseases Act
Swine Flu
Attack on Tehsildar
Guv seeks report on tehsildar case
‘We’ll expose dirty land deals of ruling politicians’
MLA questions Gabria’s presence at Benipal’s office
Revenue officials go on strike
Panel on pay revision of contractual teachers
2 pilgrims die in accident
Information officers get show-cause notices
Kerosene ‘being sold’ on the black market
Docs seek allowances as per pay panel report
Punjab fails to act against polluting unit
Mattewal invites NRIs to invest in state
Vets defer dharna
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Paddy transplantation hit
Jalandhar, June 23 “Neither do we get adequate power supply to irrigate our paddy fields, nor do we get enough domestic power supply to sleep comfortably at night,” says Pargat Singh, a farmer of Kang Sahbu village, near Nakodar, 40 km from here. A scarcity of potable water is another problem being faced by people in rural areas. “Verbal duels among people over potable water have become a common sight these days,” said Dalvinder Singh, Sarpanch, Gohir village. “The PSEB as well as the state government have left us to the mercy of mosquitoes to feast on us,” adds Pargat Singh, showing insect bites on his arms and legs. Seasonal diseases such as fever, cough and throat infection have increased manifold owing to an inadequate power supply. At the receiving end is the Punjab government. People in urban areas, especially industrialists and traders, feel the state government is denying power to them to keep farmers happy. But farmers are also not satisfied. “Transplantation of paddy has been held up owing to an inadequate power supply. We get power just to irrigate three acres of paddy, which we have already planted,” Pargat said. Last year we did not face much difficulty as rain had started early, said Daljit Singh, another farmer from the same village. Reports of a delay in the arrival of rain by two weeks in this region have further scared farmers. “Rain can help a lot at this stage,” said Amrik Singh, another farmer from Pargat’s village. “We have prepared 10 acres for paddy, but have covered only four acres so far,” he added. Farmers said because of a low voltage, their power motors did not operate at full capacity, resulting in poor withdrawal of water from their bore wells. Devinder Singh of Gohir village said repeated trippings of power supply had become a big headache for farmers. “Sometimes the fault remained non-rectified for days together,” he added. “What makes life miserable most is the power cut shortly after midnight,” he said. “Cries of children become unbearable at night when power goes off”. “Our village is covered under the 24-hour domestic power supply scheme, but it is subjected to power cuts as any other village not covered under the scheme,” he said. Power lines had not been replaced for the past several years. “Owing to overloading of the distribution system, lines often got snapped,” he said. “Our power inverters and refrigerators have become useless. We do not get enough power to recharge inverters”, adds Mohinder Pal Singh of Gohir village. “I get many complaints regarding the shortage of potable water daily”, said Dalvinder Singh.
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Assault on Additional SE
Amritsar, June 23 PSEB Engineers Association joint secretary Jagjit Singh Suchu said no raids would be conducted from July 1 if the culprits were not nabbed by the police. The association alleged that unidentified persons had attacked the Additional SE at the behest of certain influential persons who were caught red-handed by the team headed by him. Though the police has arrested Harpreet Singh, an employee of the PSEB, on the basis of the complaint of the Additional SE, yet the association wants some outsiders involved in the attack to be arrested. The association said the Operation wing had detected theft of power in June to the tune of Rs 1.40 crore, whereas in April and May it was only Rs 1.10 crore in border zone The Enforcement wing also detected the power theft of Rs 1.21 crore during the same period, giving clear indication that there was rampant power theft in the region. A day before the attack, Additional SE Amrik Singh raided the premises of Baba Kumma Engineering College, near zero line, and found power theft to the tune of Rs 18.30 crore. The raiding party found that the college had tampered with the M&T seals fixed on the meter. However, while talking to The Tribune, Baba Narpinder Singh alleged that the PSEB had conducted raid due to political reasons since he had supported the Congress during the recently held Parliamentary elections. He refuted the charges that the college indulged in power theft. Similarly, the Enforcement wing detected power theft to the tune of Rs 6.24 lakh of an ice factory of Chheharta. Many notices were served on the defaulters, including a club running in the Summer Palace of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu had already revealed that the Additional SE became the target for being “honest, straightforward and strict”.
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PSEB staff manhandled by villagers
Kapurthala, June 23 Baldev, his two sons and other associates, not only manhandled PSEB senior executive engineer (sub-urban division), Kapurthala, Avrinder Singh, SDO Darshan Singh and JE Amarjeet Singh, but also did not allow them to leave
the place for about one and a half hours. Avrinder said the Dhilwan police reached in time and rescued them. The PSEB officials had already informed the police before conducting raids in the area, he added. Avrinder said he had come to know about overloading problem at two feeders of Bhullar Bet and Nurpur. He, along with his two subordinates, decided to conduct a check in the area. On Monday, Baldev was found stealing power for his motor. He was operating a five-BHP motor illegally by connecting it directly to a mid span of low-tension wire. Meanwhile, Dhilwan SHO Gurmukh Singh said Baldev had been arrested and an FIR under sections 353, 186 and 379 of the IPC registered against him and other accused. The PSEB Engineers Association (North Zone), Jalandhar, has demanded other accused should also be arrested and section 420 of the IPC be included in the FIR against the
farmer as he had shown a fake document when they were checking the record of his
connection. Baldev was remanded in a 14-day judicial custody by a Kapurthala court today.
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Cong wants Prez rule in state
Chandigarh, June 23 Congress acting president Lal Singh, while addressing MLAs, MPs and other office-bearers, said his party would ask the Punjab Governor to recommend to the union government invoking of Article 356 of the Constitution and promulgate President’s rule as “Punjab has come on the verge of disintegration in view of a chaotic state of governance in the aftermath of the Vienna incident and subsequent acts like attack on a tehsildar by Akali workers in Ludhiana and cabinet boycott by the BJP”. Referring to the recent incidents in Ludhiana of an attack on an Executive Magistrate in his office by Akali councillors and roughing up of SAD minister by an Akali MLA in his official residence, Lal Singh said: “People are living in a reign of terror. Incidents such as beating up of an Additional Superintendent Engineer in Amritsar for being honest show that the government has become powerless”. The Congress leaders said SHOs were directly under the control of the Deputy Chief Minister and all channels of SPs, SSPs, IGs and DGPs had become redundant. Besides party MPs and MLAs, the meeting was attended and addressed by CLP Leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh. The Congress leaders also discussed the strategy to be adopted in the forthcoming Budget Session. It was largely felt that the party should not boycott the session under any pretext. Two resolutions, one on economic issues and the other on political failures of the SAD BJP government, were adopted at the meeting. The economic resolution of the party criticised the failures of the coalition to overcome the financial crunch facing the state. The Congress leaders apprehended that the government would either sell the government properties or would levy new taxes to meet the deficit of more than Rs 8,000 crore in the current year.
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Technology needed to boost litchi output
Gurdaspur, June 23 Though locally produced litchi, which has been in great demand in European and Gulf countries, can be a huge foreign exchange earner for the country, the authorities seem to have turned a blind eye towards the problems being faced by litchi growers and have done nothing for its promotion so far. Continuous ignorance of the successive state governments towards the problems of litchi growers have started showing results, as a section of orchard owners have started uprooting their old orchards and shifting to paddy and wheat cultivation, which has become more profitable as compared to litchi cultivation. In absence of marketing arrangements of the state government, litchi growers have been disposing of their produce through local commission agents and thus have been earning not much. Apart from it, the growers would sit behind heaps of litchi on roadside and dispose of their produce to passersbys at throwaway prices. However, Director of the Horticulture, Punjab, Dr Baldev Singh said the state government had taken steps to set up a litchi zone in this district for its promotion. Nodal officer, Litchi Cultivation, Punjab, Dr Vipan Pathania said about 2,600 acres of area was under litchi cultivation in the district. In the past few years, most of the old orchard owners had uprooted their orchards and shifted to normal crops. About 30 acres of area under the litchi cultivation had been uprooted in this year, he added. He said the department had also suggested to the state government to provide compensation to litchi growers. President, Pathankot Fruit and Vegetable Cooperative Society, Rajiv Mahajan pointed out that in the international market the rate of litchi was Rs 800 per kg, whereas in India it was Rs 20 per kg. He said to save the horticulturist, export of litchi to international markets was the only option. He said the wastage of perishable litchi fruit to the tune of crores of rupees could be checked if facilities like cold storage (a refrigeration-cum-sulphuration plant), pre-cooling, storage, processing, packing, sulphuration and waxing chambers, besides fruit-reaping and fumigation units to preserve litchi, were set up in this area. Setting up of a litchi research centre, promotion of latest techniques of cultivation, better irrigation, sprinkling and reaping facilities coupled with uninterrupted power supply could boost the production and quality of fruit and, hence, the economy of small and marginal farmers of this border region, he added.
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Tribune Impact Bathinda, June 23 Vijay Goel, who runs the NGO, said today that financial aid started pouring on the very first day of the publication of the news report. Several readers contacted him appreciating the work his NGO was doing. Many others assured him of financial help for the NGO. Goel said several readers of the Internet edition of The Tribune have told him on the phone from abroad that they would be sending him aid regularly. They complimented The Tribune for publishing such reports, he said. Goel said Ved Parkash and Devinder Bansal donated Rs 11,000 and Rs 10,000 respectively. Other donors, including a doctor from Mansa who sent Rs 20,000, did not want their identity to be revealed. He said he was still receiving telephone calls from various parts of the country, including Chandigarh, Punjab, Haryana, Mumbai and Delhi, in this respect. Goel said: “It was for the first time during the 20 years of the existence of the NGO that he received such an overwhelming response from within the country and abroad”.
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Swine flu: Govt may enforce Epidemic Diseases Act
Pig farmers to be
relocated The Mandi Gobindgarh municipal council has earmarked an area for shifting pig farmers outside the town. According to council president Dharam Pal, Prem Nagar and Master Colony were the two colonies with the maximum number of piggeries that the MC members had unanimously decided to shift out at a recent meeting.
Mandi Gobindgarh/Ludhiana, June 23 Health officials in Mandi Gobindgarh (Fatehgarh district) said on condition of anonymity they faced resistance from family members of a resident who had been infected on account of his "isolation" in the Civil Hospital’s special ward. "We were even subjected to abusive language by the family members. Even relatives of other suspected cases who had accompanied the victim on a trip to the United States gave us a tough time," said one of the officials. According to the health officials some people suspected to have been infected with the disease had even travelled to places outside Mandi Gobindgarh ignoring their advice. Dr Deepak Bhatia, project coordinator of the integrated disease surveillance programme and the state nodal officer for swine flu, said enforcement of the Epidemic Diseases Act for the disease is under consideration. "We will take all necessary steps as prescribed in the act, if need be," he added. The act clearly mentions if the state government feels ordinary provisions of the law are insufficient to take effective measures to check the spread of an outbreak of a dangerous epidemic disease, it has the right to prescribe temporary regulations necessary to prevent the outbreak.
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Swine Flu
Mandi Gobindgarh, June 23 Accustomed to high standard of living, family members of the 15-year-old patient refused to get him admitted in “dingy” rooms of the hospital building. The family kept on insisting that they would take their son to a private hospital, which is plush with comforts. “We had to work really hard to pursue the family that in cases of such ailments like swine flu, patient has to be quarantined and thoroughly checked. These facilities are available only at civil hospital and it was a serious issue,” disclosed the health officials here. They added even Fatehgarh Sahib Deputy Commissioner had to intervene in the issue. When patient’s parents refused to budge from their decision, health authorities pleaded DC to intervene. “The family members insisted that their son couldn’t live without an air conditioner. We had no option but to install an AC. Child was admitted at the newly constructed isolation ward of hospital,” added the officials. While some officials said the health department had few spare ACs lying in store, others say that patient’s family arranged the one for their child. Patient’s parents also demanded complete sanitation for their son. Thus, the room, where patient is admitted, too is extra cleaned by the class IV employees of the hospital. Health authorities have now urged government to evoke the Epidemic Act during such situations. “Patients should not be allowed to move at their own will and must be quarantined during epidemics so that the ailment could be cured properly,” said District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Jagpal Singh. He said the act exists for past many years. But the need of hour is to implement it strictly so that patients can be easily admitted. “Patients from lower economic strata of society readily get admit, while it is Herculean task to admit the high end ones. They find civil hospitals an alien place,” said an official.
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Attack on Tehsildar
Ludhiana, June 23 The police had raided the house of Bains in the morning. His elder brother and SGPC member Balwinder Singh Bains was detained for harbouring Simarjit, who was wanted in a criminal case. Later in the evening, Bains reached the Sadar police station and courted arrest in the presence of his supporters. His supporters started gathering at a religious place in the Shimlapuri area in the noon. Later, they held a protest in front of the office of the DC. The arrest of Bains was one of the main demands of the joint action committee formed to seek justice for Major GS Benipal, Tehsildar. Bains, who is also a youth Akali leader, is considered close to SAD supremo and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal. Another accused and councillor Kamaljit Singh Karwal has already been arrested. Yesterday, Major Benipal had amended his statement to the police and stated that Bains had hit him with a stick. Karwal complains of
liver ailment SAD councillor and accused in the tehsildar assault case Kamaljit singh Karwal complained of a liver ailment in police custody at Sadar police station here late last night. Doctors from the Civil Hospital were rushed to the police station to examine him. He was, however, not shifted to the hospital as directed by Duty Magistrate JPS
Wehnipal.
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Guv seeks report on tehsildar case
Ludhiana, June 23 Sources close to the government told The Tribune that the state had now got down to draw up the report in a jiffy and senior administrative officials in the city are at it Only yesterday the Punjab State Human Rights Commission too had sought a report on the assault on the tehsildar from the government after being informed about of the incident, which had invited criticism from
all quarters. Meanwhile, the police has set up a special investigation team that would investigate the entire matter. The team will comprise Jalandhar SP-D PS Parmar, Phillaur DSP Sandeep Sharma and DSP (rural) Parampal Singh. Ludhiana Range DIG Sharad Satya Chauhan, who will supervise the investigations, said the team had already begun probing the case, adding no one would be spared and all the suspects named in the FIR would
be arrested. Meanwhile Vigilance ADGP Sumedh Singh Saini today visited the tehsildar who is recuperating at DMC Hospital here. He also noted down several important clues furnished by Benipal about the fake stamp paper racket. Benipal told The Tribune he had narrated the entire incident to Saini starting from his catching hold of fake stamp papers to the assault perpetrated on him. ‘‘I told him I had written to the DC six times about a possible threat to my life. No action however was taken. It’s shocking nobody paid any attention to my letters”, he added.
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‘We’ll expose dirty land deals of ruling politicians’
Gurdaspur, June 23 They claimed what had triggered a wave of fear among them was the fact that instead of taking action against the assailants the SAD-BJP government was “allowing its goons to threaten them” to withdraw their agitation launched after the attack on tehsildar GS Benipal. Talking to TNS, Punjab Revenue Officers Association general secretary Subash Padam alleged while the “goons” of the ruling SAD party were being given “VVVIP treatment” by the authorities concerned, pressure was being put on the revenue officials to stop their agitation or face “dire consequences”. Their family members were not able to lead a normal life as they were under constant threat of suffering physical harm from the “goons” and “there was no one to save them”. Padam said the association had however decided to “face the situation bravely”, adding it had also contemplated exposing the “illegal land deals of such goons” in public.
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MLA questions Gabria’s presence at Benipal’s office
Chandigarh, June 23 Talking to The Tribune, Mohindra said the tehsildar was instrumental in exposing a fake stamp paper scam and it does not appear normal for a cabinet rank minister to visit a tehsildar unless he was seeking some “undue favour”. “Therefore, there is a need for a thorough probe to find out what was the minister doing in the office of a revenue official”.
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Revenue officials go on strike
Sangrur, June 23 The protesters were demanding the arrest of all those persons, who had made a murderous attack on Benipal, under the National Security Act (NSA), so that no person could dare take such a step in future. They also asked the government to ensure the safety of revenue officers. They said the strike would continue till the government arrested the accused. According to information, due to the strike by tehsildars and naib tehsildars, the district has been losing revenue worth Rs 30 lakh daily on account of the non-registration of sale deeds of properties. If the strike continues even only for a week, the district will have to lose revenue at least worth Rs 1.50 crore.
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Finally, NH-95 gets PWD’s attention
Kharar, June 23 Reflectors and cat eyes have been installed at the stretch after Commissioner of Patiala Jasbir Singh Bir reprimanded officials during a meeting held on June 5. Reflectors have been installed at various points near Bhago Majra, Khanpur village and other points. These reflectors have made it easier for drivers to locate the sharp bend near Khanpur during night hours. “Public works officials have written to me stating that forest department be asked to clear the vegetation. I am looking into the matter,” said Bir. For a long-term strategy, this intersection must be redesigned as per prescribed lengths given in the Indian Roads Congress guidelines. Bir said he was seeking an explanation from officials asking that why wasn’t the intersection initially designed as per guidelines. Earlier, the department had conducted road safety audit of Khanpur intersection, National Highway 95, wherein auditors had suggested steps to be taken to minimise accidents and subsequent loss of lives. The report observes that Punjab accounted an estimated 3,333 fatal road accidents last year road. On an average, one person is killed in road accidents after every 2.5 hours in Punjab. On recommendations of the Punjab Traffic Police, Road Safety Audit (RSA) of Khanpur intersection on NH-95 was selected up on priority basis. Report stated that mainly head-tail collision accidents are reported at this stretch. The major cause of accidents at this intersection is over speeding of vehicles. It was found vehicle, especially cars approaching from Ludhiana side to intersection are at 13 per cent higher average speed than vehicle coming from Chandigarh side. The long-term solution to problem is four laning of NH 95 which lies pending in government files.
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Panel on pay revision of contractual teachers
Chandigarh, June 23 Education Minister Dr Upinderjit Kaur stated that the teachers were recruited as teaching fellows in elementary directorate and secondary directorate as educational service providers in this year on contractual basis. The matter was placed before the recent cabinet meeting that approved the suggestions, which were fully endorsed by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also. During deliberations the CM constituted a sub-committee to consider the recommendations of the 5th Pay Commission for fixation of salaries to these teachers, she said. The minister added that the Education Department would recruit about 11,000 more teachers in the next month on the same wages to be fixed by this cabinet sub-committee. She said after these recruitments the department would be able to provide the teachers in all schools.
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2 pilgrims die in accident
Sangrur, June 23 In charge of Mehlan police post Pritpal Singh said in the accident Gurbachan Singh (40) and his wife Narinder Kaur (35) were killed on the spot, while their son Manavjit Singh (7) sustained serious injuries. Manavjit had been admitted to the Sangrur Civil Hospital. Pritpal said the accident took place when the family had been going to their village Paind (near Patran) after paying obeisance at Gurdwara Gursagar at Mastuana Sahib (near
Sangrur).
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Information officers get show-cause notices
Chandigarh, June 23 Information Commissioner Surinder Singh has issued two separate show cause notices to the PIOs directing them to show cause as to why penalty at the rate of Rs 250 per day be not imposed upon them under Section 20 of the RTI Act for delay in supplying the information to HC Arora, advocate of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The commission added that the supply of information has been delayed due to the casual approach adopted by the public authority and further directed the PIOs to show cause as to why suitable compensation be not awarded to the appellant under Section 19 (8) (b) of the RTI Act for the detriment and loss suffered by him on account of delay in the supply of the information. The PIO has been directed to file an affidavit showing cause as above within 15 days. In his application, Arora had requested the PIO to supply him the copies of TA Bills and tour reports submitted by Principal Secretary RPS Pawar for travelling to places outside Punjab. In another application, Arora had sought details about the official appointments fixed by Pawar during the previous 30 days, along with the names, profession/vocation/designation, if any, and also whether regret letters were sent in advance to the persons concerned wherever the appointments were cancelled. The PIO did not give any reply nor any information to Arora within specified period of 30 days and the appellate authority also did not respond to the appeal filed by Arora.
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Kerosene ‘being sold’ on the black market
Nangal, June 23 In a letter shot off to the Chief Minister of the state, Ramesh Chand, a resident of Kathera village has alleged kerosene oil was illegally being supplied to double bottling centre (DBC) connection holders. Earlier too, similar complaints were made to the department, wherein an inquiry was also ordered. During the inquiry, the strength of cardholders having DBC connections in Kathera and Barari villages was checked. “It was found that most of cardholders have DBC connections. According to the Central government, consumers having DBC connections should not be issued subsidised kerosene oil; therefore, allocation against their cards was stopped. The allocation of kerosene oil to these two villages was reduced from earlier 2,600 litres per month to mere 210 litres per month,” he said. However, despite this, in March this year the allocation of quantity of kerosene for these villages have been increased from this 210 litres to 1,000 litres without any change in number of cardholders for these villages.
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Docs seek allowances as per pay panel report
Patiala, June 23 According to Dr DS Bhullar, chairman of the in service doctors wing of IMA, Punjab, the NPA is part of the pay for all purposes and should be given from the date from which the revised scales are being implemented for the state government employees as per the pay commission report. The state government has not till date issued a notification for the allowances to be given its employees along with the revised pay scales.
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Punjab fails to act against polluting unit
Dera Bassi, June 23 This shows how serious is the Punjab government which is yet to wake up from a deep slumber as it has failed to take any strict action against the environment polluting units in the state. The environment policies of the successive state governments, too, need to be blamed along with the politicians’ lack of will to address the issue. General manager of the waste management project Col SJS Sandhu (retd) said, “The facility of disposing of hazardous waste is being used by only 375 units, although the project has a capacity of storing 35,000 metric tonne of waste.” He added treatment storage disposal facility available with them was much more than what was being received by them. Interestingly, scientists working with the project at Nimbua village revealed that the waste received by them is very toxic with high quantities of sulphates, nitrates, lead, nickel and chromium. But where’s the waste of the other industries going still remains a mystery.
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Mattewal invites NRIs to invest in state
Chandigarh, June 23 He was speaking at a function organised to honour him at Gurdwara Amrit Parchar Dharmik Diwan, (UK), Bradford. Mattewal was honoured on behalf of the followers of Mann Sant Baba Jeet Singh Maharaj of Nirmal Kutia Johlan in Jalandhar district.
— TNS
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Vets defer dharna
Chandigarh, June 23 A meeting of the association was held today with the minister in which Director, Animal Husbandry, Baljit Singh Sidhu was also present.
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