Chandigarh, July 29
While the revival of the south-west monsoon has been a welcome sign for farming sector, many areas, especially those situated along rivers and canals, are facing the threat of flooding.

Last night, in some pockets of the Anandpur Sahib belt, swelling rainwater had residents climb electric and telephone poles for safety before they could be rescued late at night. The situation is no better in most of other flood-prone areas. Though each district has some boats for use in exigencies, these are either not well maintained or are too inadequate. Most of the boats have not been tested before the start of the monsoon season and as such are not reliable for rescue operations.

Some of the canals though are not flowing to their capacity, wild growth, uprooted trees and branches enhance the chances of blockades and thus floods.

Though there is a practice of patrolling along the banks of important rivers and canals during the monsoon season, no such activity was visible anywhere in the region. Government agencies are claiming setting up of control rooms and keeping a watch on discharges in the canals and rivers, but incessant rain in certain pockets are creating a deluge-like situation.

Farm experts are hopeful that with the revival of the south-west monsoon, paddy transplantation, though delayed, may help in normal yield of the crop, provided monsoon remains active and vigorous for the remaining part of the season. A few more good spells of rain and the states will hit their targets, they add.

Moga: Rain has lashed the entire Moga district in the past 24 hours bringing. Jugraj Singh, a farmer of Raoke Kalan village, said the widespread rain had reduced his expenses on diesel. “Rainwater is sufficient enough in my fields and I do not need to irrigate my paddy crop for a few days.”

Experts said a couple of showers in the next fortnight would see flourishing cotton crop. Meanwhile, the work on strengthening the embankments of Sutlej was going on at a rapid pace.

Toll four in Hoshiarpur

Hoshiarpur: Heavy rain claimed two lives in the city and its adjoining areas last evening.

Deputy Commissioner, Hoshiarpur, Megh Raj said Manraj Singh, alias Mani, of Malmazara village, was washed away in floodwaters in the Mehalnwali choe and Balbir Singh of Mohalla Mugalpura here was killed when the wall of his house caved in. The body of Manraj was yet to be recovered. The death toll due to rain has risen to four.

The DC said two persons had earlier been washed away in the floods. An ex gratia of Rs 1 lakh each to the families of all victims would be given.

Farmers drained water from their fields into the Rajiv Gandhi Kandi canal at Bassi Ghulam Hussain and Bajwara villages last night. However, they were told to stop draining water into the canal. Arrangements were being made to drain water from the canal to prevent floods.

A number of villages had been marooned in Mahilpur block last evening. According to official sources, Ajnoha, Pajora and Mahlan Baltoian villages were inundated due to breaches in Bist Doab canal at Ajnoha, Mananhana and Pajora this afternoon.

Meanwhile, residents of Mohalla Sunder Nagar held a protest in front of the mini-secretariat against the district administration for not taking any action to save their houses from flood.

(With inputs from Kulwinder Sandhu and Ravinder Sud) 

Chandigarh, July 29
The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) today in consultation with partner states reduced the discharge of water from Bhakra Dam and stopped all releases from Pong Dam in a bid to expedite the filling of dams, which had been heavily depleted in May in anticipation of rains which never came.

A technical committee meeting was held here, in which representatives from Punjab and Haryana also took part, and they decided to bring down the discharge from the present 28,000 cusecs daily from Bhakra to 21,000 cusecs. As of today, the discharge was reduced to 25,000 cusecs, but this will be reduced further. Water discharge from Pong Dam, which was around 5,000 cusecs daily, has been stopped completely.

Sources said the widespread rain in Punjab was responsible for the reduced discharge from both dams. The levels in both dams are rising with the level at Bhakra increasing by 3 ft yesterday itself with inflows being recorded at 40,000 cusecs. At Pong Dam the level increased by 5 ft yesterday with heavy inflows of 60,000 cusecs.

Both dams, however, have a lot of catching up to do, due to the heavy depletion in May when the Indian Meterological Department predicted a normal monsoon. The part failure of the monsoon had resulted in an alarming situation with the BBMB reducing discharge from the dam in July.

However, with rain continuing, the inflows are expected to be heavy for a few more days and the BBMB is expecting the level to reach 1,625 ft by the end of the filling period till September 20.

UC Misra, Chairman, BBMB, said the level at both dams would become comfortable if the present weather conditions continued for some time. He said due to heavy rain in the plains the release from both dams had been decreased and could be decreased further depending on the ground conditions. The Chairman said the matter would be reviewed after August 10, when the water requirement for the paddy crop would also reduce.

Vinod Choudhary, Punjab Chief Engineer (Canals), said presently water was needed for Basmati rice variety, which had been planted late due to part failure of the monsoon. He said in case of reduction in demand the discharge from the Bhakra could be reduced further. Choudhary said the BBMB management had agreed to the proposal to allow states to draw water according to their crop patterns within their individual share.

Amritsar, July 29
The Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) has announced that it will welcome BJP MP Navjot Singh Sidhu into the Congress fold if he so desired.

President of the PPCC Mohinder Singh Kaypee and Leader of the opposition in the assembly Rajinder Kaur Bhattal made this offer to Sidhu today, while accompanying general secretary of the AICC Mohsina Kidwai, president of the All-India Mahila Congress Prabha Thakur and president of the Punjab Mahila Congress Ratna at a press conference.

Kidwai alleged the SAD-BJP combine in the state was abusing official machinery to gain victory in the assembly byelections.

The Parkash Singh Badal government was promoting an unhealthy democracy by filing fabricated cases against Congress workers. The UPA government was extending all central schemes to the Punjab government like any other Congress-governed state. However, the Badal government was not implementing these schemes earnestly, she added.

She said at this juncture there was no plan to tinker with the PPCC and it was functioning smoothly under Kaypee. “In case there is any change it will be taken up only after the byelections,” she said.

Nushera Majja Singh (Gurdaspur): Both Kidwai and Bhattal, along with Kaypee, addressed a series of rallies in favour of party candidate Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa, who has been contesting from the Kahnuwan assembly seat.

Kidwai urged people to vote for the Congress candidate to bring an end to the atrocities being committed on them by the Badal regime.

Dera Bassi, July 29
Punjab is heading for bad days as the law and order situation has deteriorated during the Akali government. This was stated by former Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh at a press conference here today.

The former CM, who was here to address the rallies of Congress candidate Deepinder Singh, said the killing of dera sacha sauda follower at Mansa and the attack on an RSS activist in Patiala during the last two days itself speaks about the law and order situation. The SAD government had disturbed the social fabric by inciting violence.

Lashing out the senior Badal, he said the state government was itself responsible for poor power situation. While open trading of power was available in the country, the state had no funds to buy power. It was selling the assets of its boards and corporations to pay for the expenditure to run the governments.

“The Centre has given 100 mw power to the state in form of its share in a drought-like situation. The basic trading for power has to be done by the state with its funds. The economy of the state in dire strait and the industry was running away,” said the former CM.

On the issue of electronic voting machine (EVM), he said the polling should be done by the traditional method of ballot measures, as the there were enough software available to tamper with the machines.

On being asked about the absence of senior Congress leaders during the campaign for the byelection at Banur, Jalalabad and Kahnuwan assembly segments, he denied that there was any difference between the senior leaders.

Preneet Kaur, the Minister of State for External Affairs and MP, who was accompanying the former CM, said the party would win the Banur seat. 

Kahnuwan (Gurdaspur), July 29
Campaigning for the bypoll of this assembly segment, that falls in one of the most backward border districts of Punjab, has become aggressive.

Sewa Singh Sekhwan, SAD-BJP alliance candidate, and Fateh Jang Singh Bajwa, Congress candidate, who have emerged main players out of total five candidates, have been trying to reach out to about 1.25 lakh voters of this assembly segment by all means, including door-to-door campaigning and corner meetings and roadside rallies. The assembly segment is spread over 103 villages, a significant section of it is situated alongside the Beas.

In this predominantly rural constituency, where the agriculture is main occupation and educational institutions, health facilities and potable water supply is almost non-existent, Christians, who roughly comprise 22 per cent of the electorate, have become a deciding factor.

Though Jat Sikhs are main component of the population of the entire district and of this assembly segment constituting 48 per cent of the electorate, the voting pattern of the Christians is likely to decide the fate of Sekhwan and Bajwa. Jat Sikhs votes are nearly divided between the two contestants. The other castes, including Brahamins, Khatris and Aroras, constitute about 24 per cent of the electorate. The population of SCs is about 6 per cent in this segment.

Both the SAD and the Congress have been trying to woo Christians. In 2002 assembly elections, while the SAD nominated Munwar Massih, a Christian from Gurdaspur segment, the Congress nominated Salamat Massih, another Christian, from the Dhariwal segment.

However, a sizable section of Christians is not happy over the alliance of the SAD with the BJP, for the BJP is considered a party, which does not represent the feelings of minority communities.

Jalandhar, July 29
The Lok Bhalai Party (LBP) has reiterated that the Manmohan Singh-led United Progressive (UPA) government should issue police clearance certificates to 5,000 Punjabi youths residing in Spain for regular immigration there.

Party chief Balwant Singh Ramoowalia said if these police clearance certificates were not issued to these Punjabis, they would either be put behind bars or deported to India. The families of most of these Punjabis had taken loan to send them abroad and they reached Spain after facing hardships, he said, adding if now the Spanish government had agreed to regularise their immigration, the Union government should provide them with PCCs at the earliest.

Ramoowalia said other countries like Pakistan had already been issuing PCCs to their nationals living in Spain.

Earlier in the day, the family members of these Punjabi youths under the aegis of the LBP staged a dharna outside regional passport office in Jalandhar in support of their demand of PCCs.

Later Ramoowalia also submitted a memorandum to the Regional Passport Officer (RPO) Jalandhar for the Union Minister of External Affairs urging him to take up with the Union Home Minister issuance of PCCs to 5,000 Indians residing in Spain. He has also sent a similar request to the Prime Minister urging him to intervene in the matter.

One of the protesters Milkha Singh of Gurdaspur said his son Hardip Singh had gone to Spain 10 years back. Now the government there had decided to regularise his immigration, so the Union government should issue them PCCs at the earliest, he added.

Other persons whose children have been stranded in Spain echoed his views. 

Chandigarh, July 29
Three days of heavy rain have lent a fresh lease of life to farmers in many parts of the state. After having ploughed their parched fields, many farmers today undertook the opportunity to plant Basmati afresh in their flooded fields. According to reports from several parts of the state, farmers are paying three times the normal cost to labourers to complete paddy transplantation before the rainwater submerges.

The labourers from outside Punjab, who were finding it hard to survive on account of little work and were ready to work for anything between Rs 800 to Rs 900 to undertake paddy transplantation per acre, are now demanding up to Rs 2,000, which the farmers in Patiala, Ropar, Ludhiana, Fatehgarh Sahib and other areas are readily paying.

Those who could not afford Rs 400 per day on diesel to irrigate their fields in the absence of power, let their crop die and ploughed their fields to plant pulses, vegetables and less water intensive crops, Ravail Singh of Samrala said.

On an average, most farmers, who have managed to preserve their paddy, have so far spent about Rs 5,000 to Rs 7,000 per acre in addition to the farm inputs that are normally required. It is, therefore, not surprising that they are demanding at least Rs 1,500 per quintal as the minimum support price for paddy. “With the ‘theka’ (rent) per acre varying between Rs 20,000 and Rs 25,000 per acre, those who have leased the land at these rates will be in debt if the MSP is not raised,” Ravail said.

Most farmers are now planting Pusa 1121, which has been accorded the status of Basmati rice. This variety of paddy requires less water compared to other varieties taking between 135 and 150 days to mature.

Besides paying labourers Rs 2,000 per acre for transplantation, the farmers need about 10 or 15 litres of diesel per day to irrigate one-acre field. With the arhtiyas (commission agents) continuing their strike, there is not enough money available to farmers.

Farmers feel they will be able to recover their cost if the rain gods continue to be benevolent. “All we want is that the government should compensate us for the additional diesel we have had to use to keep the paddy alive”.

Jalandhar, July 29
With power cuts having been reduced following rain for one week, officials demand the old office hours in government offices be restored.

Most officials say while the clerical staff leave office by 1.30 pm, they have to work for longer hours to clear files and attend visitors.

In the absence of dealing clerks, it becomes difficult for them to find certain important files and documents needed. “We cannot detain staff nor can we leave early for it would lead to backlog,” they said.

Since many officials in the district hold dual or triple charge, they say they have to hop from one office to the other in the stipulated time or else the work suffers.

Harbir Singh, Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner, is also the Estate Officer and Additional Chief Administrator of PUDA. He says, “As all offices are supposed to be closed after 1.30 pm, I have never been able to leave for home before 6 pm. At times, when there are excise raids, it is 10 pm or even more”.

Manpreet Singh Badal, Language Department officer, who holds the additional charge of Assistant Commissioner grievances, was in his office at 4.30 pm today. He said, “Our department had organised a poetry recitation function this morning in a school. I was there till the afternoon. I could not attend either of the two offices till 12 noon. When I came back at that time, there were people waiting who had been called for hearing today. I could not check office files and dak through the day, which I have been doing now”.

Registrar, PTU, Sarojini Gautam Sharda said: “The current office hours are too short for us to finish work. The restoration of old timings may help as then our supporting staff will be around assisting us with paper work and movement of files”.

Patiala, July 29
Even as the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) is fast heading towards its unbundling owing to central deadline of September 15, the board has managed to increase its income by a neat Rs 478 crore this year.

At the same time, the board has worked harder towards decreasing its expenses by Rs 272 crore. This way, the PSEB’s fiscal position has improved by a whopping Rs 750 crore as compared to its position during the year 2007-08. It is a different matter that the board is facing a huge shortage of over 27,000 officials as it has failed to effect any recruitment drive during past 12 years.

The board’s revenue generation would have been more than Rs 1,000 crore if it had not been made to shell out Rs 275 crore due to increased fuel prices. Mainly, the board used coal as fuel in all of its thermal plants even as oil was also put to use for firing of these plants at the initial stages of generation, sources said.

Unaudited annual fiscal results of the PSEB revealed that the board’s financial position showed improvement due to increased efficiency, increased sale of power, and close monitoring of every activity by the management, said PSEB Chairman HS Brar.

Board authorities said the increased sale of power, in other words, meant that connections had increased in the state. Thus consumption of more power within the state and not the sale of power to other states.

Brar further said the board’s transmission and distribution losses have also been reduced to 19.9 per cent during 2008-09 as compared to 22.53 per cent during the previous year. He further informed that the board was making every effort to bring these losses down to the level of 15 per cent in next two to three years. 

Jalandhar, July 29
Five members of a family, including two children, were killed in an accident at Golian village in Garh-shankar this evening.

Ashwini Kumar

The deceased were Ashwini Kumar (31), who worked in the rotary department of The Tribune Press in Chandigarh, his son Tikshan, his mother Ram Pyari (55), sister-in-law Rajni and her son Rishwi.

The Maruti car, in which they were travelling back from a marriage in Hariana Bhungan village in Hoshiarpur to their home at Zirakpur, hit a eucalyptus tree.

Ashwini died at Raja Diagnostic Centre, a private hospital in Nawanshahr. His wife Simran was in a serious condition.