Jalandhar, July 27
Agitated members belonging to the Ravidass community burnt effigies of DSGMC president Paramjit Singh Sarna in different parts of the city for the consecutive second day today.

They were protesting against his reported statement in which he announced to provide legal and financial help to the accused in the Vienna firing incident that had occurred on May 24. Dera Sachkhand Ballan chief Sant Nirajan Dass was wounded, whereas his deputy Sant Ramanand succumbed to his injuries on May 25.

Meanwhile, taking a strong exception to Sarna’s statement, convenor of Shri Guru Ravidass Dharam Yudh Morcha Satish Bharti demanded his immediate arrest.

Chandigarh, July 27
Piqued by the central government’s “discriminatory” policies farmers in northern states have decided to hold a massive demonstration outside Parliament on September 3. The immediate provocation has been a task force set up to suggest ways and means of ridding farmers of loans from private moneylenders.

Punjab as well as some other states have not been represented in the task force, according to Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, president of the Bharti Kisan Union (BKU) and chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board.

The UPA government appears to have gone all out to raise the hackles of Punjab farmers, says Lakhowal. An unremunerative minimum support price for paddy and keeping Punjab out of the task force smack of a bias towards the state and its farmers, he added.

He stated national president, BKU, Mohinder Singh Tikait, has called a meeting of members from all over the country on August 11 in New Delhi to mobilise farmers from other northern states to join the September 3 protest.

Lakhowal said Punjab has the notorious distinction of having the highest per capita debt among farmers. Loan waiver schemes and now the task force have been so designed that the state’s farmers are either ignored or benefit the least.

A state that produces 40 to 50 per cent of foodgrains supplied to the central pool, got only Rs 1,100 crore out of a total countrywide debt waiver of Rs 75,000 crore. As of now, the total debt of Punjab farmers was Rs 35,000 crore of which Rs 22,000 crore was loans from state-owned banks with the rest being loans from private moneylenders including commission agents.

“The UPA government has done nothing to rid Punjab farmers of their mounting debt. It was the foremost reason for suicides continuing unabated among them,” he added.

“Since the central Agriculture Minister is from Maharashtra, all policies and programmes are designed to suit farmers of that state or of South India only. We’ll not tolerate this discrimination,” Lakhowal asserted.

The BKU has also appealed to all MPs to support the cause of Punjabi farmers and get the state a special relief package.

Lakhowal also deplored the UPA government’s decision to ban rice exports. “Whenever farmers are about to benefit from a rise in global foodgrain prices, the central government immediately slaps a blanket ban on exports,” he noted.

He observed private millers generally procure the rice variety Pusa 1121, a basmati variant, for export, but a ban imposed by the government would indirectly harm the interests of Punjabi farmers who grow this variety for better financial returns.

Assailing the UPA government for its “double standards”, Lakhowal said on the one hand the government was implementing the Pay Commission’s recommendations to “appease” employees while on the other it was “strangulating” the farming community. “Why is the government delaying implementation of the Swaminathan committee’s recommendations, according to which the MSP of paddy comes to Rs 1,500 a quintal. The main demand at the September 3 rally will be an MSP of Rs 1,500 for paddy”, he stated.

Jalalabad, July 27
In a bid to match a virtual blitzkrieg of the SAD in this constituency, the Congress is playing the Rai Sikh card by handing over much of its election campaign to Rai Sikh leaders, who are fanning out in the segment to woo the community in favour of the party.

The Congress has elevated five Rai Sikh leaders as secretaries in the Pradesh Congress in a bid to get the community behind the candidature of former minister Hans Raj Josan. Rai Sikhs constitute around 80,000 of the total 1.66-lakh voters in this segment. Those elevated as secretaries are Joginder Singh Kasam Ke, Dr Gurmeet Singh, Dr Roop Singh, Karnail Singh and Desa Singh.

Congress candidate Josan, who is from the Kamboj caste, is also actively wooing the Rai Sikh community and trying to weave a Rai-Kamboj alliance claiming both castes should unite against the big “sardars” in an apparent reference to SAD candidate and former Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal.

During election tours of border villages in the Rai Sikh belt, Josan has at least two Rai Sikh leaders speak before him. They include Joginder Singh Kasam Ke, who had garnering 15,000 to 18,000 votes as a BSP candidate in the past from this constituency.

The newly nominated secretaries point out that Josan may not be from their community but he was part of the social fabric of the area. They also claim that once the Jalalabad seat goes into the hands of an influential person like Sukhbir it would be very difficult to dislodge him.

Rai Sikh leaders, including Dr Gurmeet Singh, are also targeting Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaiya, who vacated the seat after his election to Parliament. They claim that the community had not given any power of attorney to Ghubaiya to hand over the seat to Sukhbir. “The seat should have gone to a member of our community”, they claim.

The leaders are also telling their brethren that the Congress has promised to allocate three tickets to Rai Sikhs in the next assembly elections.

Congress candidate Hans Raj Josan claims he can still do a Shibu Soren and defeat Sukhbir though the dice is loaded against him. Addressing election meetings, he claims he is a poor man (despite owning a flourishing rice mill) who has grown up in a village in the constituency and knows their problems and has already addressed many during his stint in power.

His supporters are also building up his man of the masses image with party general secretary Parminder Singh saying, “You can haul up Josan whenever you want, but how will a poor man ever reach Sukhbir ?”

Bhai Rupa (Bathinda), July 27
When Kiranjeet Kaur was born at Bhai Rupa village in Bathinda district 20 years ago, her family, particularly her parents, were dismayed. She is their third daughter.

Today, seeing her on TV screen march in front of Home Minister P Chidambaram as part of the first batch of women constables of the BSF, the parents are now over the moon, offering sweets to all those who are coming to congratulate them over the success of their daughter.

Kiranjeet, who belongs to Malwa, a region which has gained a bad name for registering high incidence of female foeticide cases, is among the 178 girls who have been inducted into the BSF.

Talking to The Tribune over the phone from the training camp at Kharkan in Hoshiarpur, Kiranjeet said: “I am a tomboy kind of sportsperson. People in the village used to object to my dresses. It was my father, who stood by me, resulting in what I am today”.

Kiranjeet left the village when she was in class IX and joined Nehru Garden School, Jalandhar, where she got admission through sports quota. She got selected in state’s sports wing and then joined Khalsa College, Jalandhar. As of now, she has passed BA part II.

A cheerful Kiranjeet said: “I am here for 36-week rigorous training. We have to adhere to strict punctuality and we have a fixed schedule for all activities in the camp. After rising at 4 am, everything runs as per slated time-frame.”

“I had set a goal in my life to prove wrong all those who used to say that girls could not measure up to boys. Here, during training, the BSF does not differentiate between a boy and a girl. I believe that whosoever has come to know about the first women constables batch of the BSF will have got a befitting reply to his prejudices,” said a spirited Kiran.

Her elder sister, Veer Pal Kaur, who is doing a course in fashion designing, said: “All those who had objected to her dreams are now calling up to congratulate them on her success”.

“My grandmother told us that when she was born everybody at home was depressed as our parents already had two daughters. But now, all think she has made the village proud,” said an emotional Veer Pal.

Maghar Singh, her father, said: “She is what she wanted to be, through her own efforts”.

Kahnuwan (Gurdaspur),July 27
Even as candidates of the SAD and the Congress, who have emerged principal contestants out of total five candidates in the fray for byelection of this assembly segment, have been doing aggressive campaigning, most voters have been maintaining silence over their choice of candidates by not coming forward in support of any candidate.

The practice of implicating voters into false criminal cases due to their allegiance to a particular party, which has been prominent in the past elections in this area, seems to have generated a fear among the electorate.

Unlike the previous assembly elections in 2007, “flag war” has been missing in this predominantly rural constituency, which is yet to see the era of development despite producing ministers since 1992.

In the last assembly elections, a major section of electorate have expressed their choice and support for the candidates of the SAD and the Congress by putting flags on the rooftops of their houses and business establishments. However, in the current elections, flags of political parties have become a rare sight in the area.

On the other hand, the candidates have preferred to mobilise support for themselves by holding small corner meetings, reaching out to the voters at their doorstep and holding meetings with representatives of different religious communities.

There is a direct battle between Sewa Singh Sekhwan of the SAD-BJP alliance and Fathe Jung Singh Bajwa of the Congress. Campaigning by other three candidates, Kushpal Singh, Avtar Singh and Surinder Singh, are yet to become noticeable.

For mobilising support for Sekhwan, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal have been touring every nook and corner of the constituency. Party president Sukhbir Badal has visited the area twice.

Sekhwan has tasted defeat at the hands of Partap Singh Bajwa, Congress candidate in 2007 and 2002 assembly elections consecutively. Partap Singh Bajwa, along with Congress MLAs and former ministers, has been holding small corner meetings instead of big rallies.

Amritsar, July 27
Kulwinder Singh of class V of the Government Elementary School, Bal Bawa border village in Ajnala subdivision, cannot read even a word from his textbook in Punjabi.

The poor state of education in border schools came to light when Deputy Commissioner Kahn Singh Pannu visited here on Saturday. The visit showed deficiencies and problems on the implementation of schemes.

Pannu asked two Additional Deputy Commissioners, four SDMs (Baba Bakala, Ajnala, Amritsar-I and Amritsar-II), eight BDPOs and one DDPO to monitor spending of grants paid to villages under central schemes. Every official will visit four villages a 
week. There are 800 villages in the district. The promotion of Kulwinder to class V reflects the poor quality of teaching.

A teacher was seen taking two classes III and IV at the same time. Two teachers were appointed six months ago, the strength rose to three. The school building is sans boundary wall, two toilets without water, a hand pump when there are 87 students. Classes were held in the verandah as classrooms are without fans.

Village resident Amarjit Kaur, also president, Mahila Mandal, said the panchayat did not take her into confidence for spending Rs 50,000 grant for Mahila Mandal. The panchayat officials said utensils were purchased with the grant.

Mahinder Kaur, another resident, rued her widow pension was cancelled after a month of its start in September 2001. She does not know when her husband died, but stresses it was 30 years ago. The village has 50 pensioners.

Village roads do not have trees and paths on sides. The Deputy Commissioner directed the panchayat to lay kutcha paths on both sides of the roads to avoid mishaps.

The district administration did not build water tank for the village residents did not pay Rs 400 per family and Rs 200 for SC/ST families. Underground water was found to be contaminated. The building of veterinary dispensary appears to have been built recently, but the pharmacist has been on leave for a month . A peon runs it. It seems the hospital has not been visited for long as 2-ft-high grass has grown there.

Panchayat of Baath village gave 10 kanals to government elementary school for tilling. The village does not have playground. Pannu asked the panchayat to convert the land into a playground in three months. Later, he visited Bhoe Wala border village.

Bathinda, July 27
The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) report on uranium in Faridkot and Amritsar areas is being opposed by experts of the state. The BARC team had taken samples of water, soil, vegetation and hair of children to detect the uranium and the report states the level of uranium was not alarming.

Dr GS Dhillon, former Chief Engineer, Irrigation Department and Director, Irrigation Research Institute, Amritsar, for 14 years, said uranium was high due to fly ash from two thermal power plants in Bathinda and Lehra Mohabbat.

“Coal has natural uranium and when burnt it vapourises and gets deposited on fly ash coming from thermal plants. A pond is used to extract uranium from fly ash. China is doing it. The two ponds at the thermal plants here are not controlled properly it seems. So uranium concentration here is high,” Dr Dhillon said.

He said Bengal had three power plants and uranium concentration in plant area was high. When it was detected, the government shut the plants were shut till way to control uranium level was found.

Dr Surinder Singh, Professor, Department of Physics, Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, said the BARC did not take samples from across the state and saying that water of the state did not have alarming levels of uranium was wrong. Acceptable limit of uranium according to the World Health Organisation is 15 micro grams per litre, and the BARC has reported 224 micro grams in some samples.

“The state government had got samples tested for uranium in Chandigarh too and high level of uranium was detected. There are no fixed limits of uranium in soil and air as these have natural uranium, but high level in water affects crops too. I feel the BARC report is an eyewash. We have started investigation into this,” Dr Surinder Singh added.

To control uranium concentration in Punjab, Dr Dhillon said the PSEB should be involved and fly ash ponds regulated.

SK Malhotra, Head, Public Awareness Division, BARC, said today the BARC had plan to examine ground water in Punjab and Punjab was not the only state with high uranium concentration in India.

Sangrur, July 27
In a major development in the local BJP politics, a senior leader of the BJP, KK Maudgil, who was recently appointed chairman of the Sangrur Improvement Trust (IT) by the state government from the BJP quota, today announced his resignation from the post of the chairman of the IT.

In reply to a question here today, Maudgil said he had resigned from the post as he was feeling suffocation nowadays due to the impression given by his opposite group to the press that he had been made the chairman out of turn as he had close relations with in charge of the Punjab BJP affairs, Balbir Punj. He also said he had given resignation on his own and no one, including the party high command, had put pressure on him for tendering resignation.

Maudgil also said he had sent his resignation to state BJP president Rajinder Bhandhari as this was the proper channel to resign. He said he had also informed the party high command about his decision. He said he was a dedicated worker, so he would continue to work with dedication for the party in future also.

From the very first day, Maudgil’s appointment as the chairman of the Sangrur IT was being opposed by a section of the district unit of the BJP by saying that the party had appointed such a person as chairman of the IT, against whom the district unit had already demanded disciplinary action on account of his (Maudgil) alleged anti-party activities.

Chandigarh, July 27
The Punjab Labour Commissioner has informed all Deputy Commissioners in the state that it is mandatory to treat the minimum wages fixed for agricultural workers as the wage applicable under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA).

The commissioner has pointed out that the minimum wage of agricultural workers had been fixed at Rs 129 as on September, 2008. This has since gone up to Rs 133 as on March, 2009.

Centre for Indian Trade Union (CITU) general secretary Raghunath Singh, while talking to The Tribune said despite directions from the Labour Commissioner, the DCs as well as the Finance Department was talking about giving Rs 123 per day for work done under the NREGA scheme.

The CITU leader also claimed that not even one person in the state had got the full 100 days’ employment available under the scheme. He also claimed that the scheme had been politicised and that nothing was being done to check the preparation of false musters in the state.

CITU, which had organised a workshop on NREGA here today, saw union workers speaking about the “indifferent” implementation of the scheme in Punjab. Jit Singh, former sarpanch of Alike village in Bathinda district, said the government was still to conduct a survey of eligible beneficiaries. He claimed against 60 lakh likely beneficiaries, only about four lakh had been able to take advantage of the scheme.

Others, including Charanjit Singh Poohla of Tarn Taran and Gurdev Singh Baghi of Ropar, said a separate department be given the duty to implement the scheme, adding that the Rural Development Department was unable to provide efficient service to beneficiaries.

They alleged that there was pressure from mill and factory owners to ensure the scheme failed in Punjab because the labour rates were increasing due to its implementation. Speakers said facilities like water; first aid and shade for children of working mothers were not being made available at work sites.

Ludhiana, July 27
To put their share in cleaning Buddha Nullah, the Independent Monitoring Committee made surprise visits to Berry Scientific Dyers, Tajpur Road, and Sacchi Processors, Focal Point, here today and took samples for an independent testing to find out the level of achievement of standards prescribed by the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).

The committee has been constituted by the Federation of Dyeing Factories Associations, Ludhiana, to help control pollution by textile dyeing units.

The panel, headed by former director, Local Bodies, SP Karkara inspected effluent treatment plants being operated by the two units. The results of the samples taken will be known after one week.

The committee checked in detail the quantity of production of end products by the units, consumption of water, installation of electrical motors, consumption of electricity, use of dyes and chemicals, use of effluent treatment materials, quantity of effluent discharge authorised by the PPCB and the actual quantity of treated effluent being discharged by the units.

Committee members informed that representatives of the units showed interest in advice given by them for further improvements.

VK Goyal, general secretary of the federation, appreciated the manner in which the panel carried out visits to the units, collected samples and advised further measures to improve their performance.

He hoped that surprise monitoring by the committee would improve the pollution control by the textile dyeing units and generate awareness among the units.

Jalandhar, July 27
Showing its generosity, the Punjab government has reportedly earmarked Rs 1 crore to tame and impart good manners to “criminal monkeys,” but it has brought down the budget allocation from Rs 1.25 crore last year to Rs 1 crore this year to facilitate the visit of students to the Pushpa Gujral Science City, near here.

The government has shown more concern towards “criminal monkeys” and less inclination to inculcate a scientific temper in students by encouraging them to repeatedly visit Science City which has an impressive campus.

There are about 16 lakh students in government schools in the state. Last year, more than 50,000 students visited Science City, which amounts to only about 2,500 students from each district. The government should have doubled the budget allocation for the current fiscal year to facilitate more students to visit Science City this year. In fact, there should have been a budget allocation for students from private schools because the government has a responsibility towards such students as well.

Sources said though the government had allocated Rs 1.25 crore the last year, the amount had not been paid as yet to the state Education Department. The grant had lapsed because the students’ visits were arranged at the fag end of the last fiscal year and the department was unable to submit bills in time, it is learnt.

Students need to repeat visits to Science City after two or three years because it continues to evolve as new features are added to it every year.

Sangrur, July 27
Tata Motors’ world’s cheapest car, Nano, was today delivered to Jagsir Singh, an agriculturist from Bir Kalan village, near Sunam, at Goyal Motors on the Sangrur-Patiala road here. This is the first Nano car delivered in Sangrur and Barnala districts.

General Manager (Sales), Goyal Motors, Patiala, Sanjay Kumar Khosla handed over the car keys to Jagsir, who had come with his son Saurabhdeep Singh.

Jagsir told The Tribune that he had booked the car on the last day of the booking in the end of May.

He said he had spent Rs 1.18 lakh on the car while about Rs 12,000 had been spent on other things, like insurance and accessories.

He said he received a message on his mobile phone about a fortnight ago that he had got a Nano car in the draw of lots.

Patiala, July 27
The Patiala Municipal Corporation is working on an ambitious project to supply canal water for drinking in the city. The corporation is already in touch with the district administration on this project.

Municipal Corporation Commissioner MS Narang told The Tribune here yesterday that he would shortly meet Deputy Commissioner Deepinder Singh to discuss the implementation of the canal water supply for drinking purpose.

Narang said the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board had seven years back prepared a project report for supply of canal water for drinking. At that time the approximate expenditure on the project was estimated to be Rs 150 crore.

However, the project report was kept pending and the Municipal Corporation decided to make the supply of tubewell water for drinking. The number of tubewells, which was 90 during the previous Congress regime, has gone up to 150 now. Residents alleged that drinking water supplied from the tubewells was often impure and contaminated.

Sources in the Municipal Corporation said the corporation not in a position to implement the project on account of paucity of funds. They said 90 per cent of the revenue of the civic body was spent on the establishment charges.

In Rajpura, canal water from the Bhakra is being supplied for drinking. In Patiala itself the Cantonment on the Sangrur road is getting water supply from the Bhakra after it spent only Rs 25 crore to install a water treatment plant. The city already has water pipes laid all across, which are interlinked, they added.

The experts said supply of canal water would end the problem of dependence on tubewells. Many tubewells had been going dry on account of falling groundwater level.

They further said the treated canal water would be a better and healthy option for the city residents.

Chandigarh, July 27
It may send shock waves, but the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) is annually spending Rs 3 crore on meter readers and bill distributors engaged on contract basis. To make the matters worse, the hiring process is not transparent.

But all this may soon be transmitted to the past, with the Punjab and Haryana High Court decrying the practice of hiring manpower on contract basis.

Taking up a public interest litigation by Paramjeet Singh, Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia have asserted: “The board has introduced a system of engaging such manpower on contract basis and incurring crores of rupees expenditure annually on the same.

What is disturbing, however, is that board has not at any stage prescribed any transparent procedure or norms for making such appointments. All that has been referred to us is an order dated July 10 in which instructions for a transparent procedure to be adopted for engaging meter readers and bill distributors have been issued.”

“We are, however, totally dissatisfied with the steps taken by the board in the matter of regulating engagement of manpower on contractual basis and the process by which such engagement is made. In the ordinary course, we would have issued appropriate direction to the board not to continue with the procedure of appointing meter readers and bill distributors.

“But having regard to the fact that the state government has themselves directed a review of the manpower requirement, we see no reason why the government should not undertake such a review and stipulate proper procedures and norms that are transparent and objective in nature to ensure that the process for appointment of meter readers and bill distributors is not vitiated by extraneous and corrupt motives that are more often that not bred in such situations on account of the arbitrary powers enjoyed by those who are authorised to make such selections.”

The bench also directed: “The state government shall review the issue regarding the ban on engagement of manpower required by the PSEB. In case it comes to the conclusion that the ban deserves to be continued, and contractual appointments allowed to be made, it shall prescribe proper procedures and norms for engagement of those ready and willing to work on contractual basis as meter readers and bill distributors.”

“We further direct that the entire process of review and streamlining the procedure and prescription of norms for engagement of contractual employees shall be initiated and concluded expeditiously but not later than three months, ” the bench added.