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US to issue 10,000 visas to
Border farmers feel marginalised |
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Panel on Rent Control Act implementation
Birds prey on Pong Dam pearls, small fish
Contractual health workers intensify stir
Jalandhar Tragedy
Badal for transparency in atta-dal scheme
Water tanks for all villages
Farmers decry power tariff hike
Farmers oppose Haryana official as BBMB chief
Fortis doc down with swine flu
Lawyer’s death condoled
Benipal to oppose Bains’ bail plea
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US to issue 10,000 visas to investors every year
Jalandhar, September 8 K David Andersson, president, Whatcom Opportunities Regional Center (WORC), said he was in India to tap potential of the programme given the Punjabis’ interest to settle abroad. WORC has been designated by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) as a regional centre to participate in the EB-5 Immigrant Investor Pilot Programme. This designation enables foreign investors to apply for Green Cards on investing $5,00,000 in one of WORC's “retirement living” developments in Whatcom County, Washington. Kirpal Dhaliwal from Kapurthala is his first client from Punjab who has applied under the scheme and expects his case cleared. Andersson said there were no conditions of age, language or business experience. Applicants, however, must be accredited investors (net worth $1m) and the money from legal sources. Immigrant Investor funds invested in WORC will be used to develop and operate retirement facilities in Whatcom County, Washington. Retirement communities provide independent and assisted living accommodation to senior citizens. This industry in the US boasts of annual revenue of over $25 billion and has potential for growth: the number of people aged 65 and over in the US is expected to be double till 2030. “Our group will fill the market need in Whatcom County by developing and operating facilities for people requiring care and assistance in old age. An investor needs $5,00,000 ($40,000 syndication fee). The $5,00,000 investments are pooled and invested in a limited liability company that develops and operates retirement communities. They are at present investing Rs 7,750,000 in Cornell Commons, a retirement facility in Ferndale, Washington”. On profit-sharing, he said investors collectively shared 70 per cent of net business and rent income. However, after 60 months or removal of conditions, the investor may choose to withdraw from the investment under exit scenarios. Exit scenarios include selling to national-assisted living operator, selling real estate, or transferring ownership of residences to investors, he pointed out.
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Border farmers feel marginalised
Dauke (Amritsar), September 8 Farmers’ woes do not seemingly end up at this point. They virtually live at the mercy of overzealous BSF officials who, generally, do not adhere to stipulated timings (8 am to 6 pm) fixed by the BSF authorities for the opening of fencing gates to allow farmers to tend to their fields situated across the fencing. The gates are allegedly opened for just about five hours (between 10 am to 3 pm) and that too on alternate days at most of places. Though the farmers have raised their problems at different platforms, there has been no positive response so far. Their pleas to area leaders like MP Navjot Singh Sidhu and minister Gulzar Singh Ranike have fallen on deaf ears. “The leaders either don’t bother to come to our villages at all or they descend here only in poll season to seek votes. They have been making tall promises but none of these have been fulfilled by them till date. Sidhu had promised that he would help us get rid of our problems. But, after elections he, too, was nowhere to be seen,” said a group of farmers of this village led by Sarvan Singh. BSF IG (Punjab Frontier) Himmat Singh rubbished the allegations of the farmers saying, “I cannot comment on the issue of fencing gate timings. They are giving wrong information as most of people at Dauke village were indulging in smuggling. The state government has taken up the issue of compensation to farmers with the central government so we have nothing to do with it”. “Our fertile lands were acquired way back in 1947 when the zero line divided our farms and when the government had taken possession of a 12-ft-wide strip to enable forces to patrol along the zero line. We were promised compensation then,” said Kashmir Singh, a farmer. What pinches the farmers the most is the fact the Punjab government compensated farmers for their land acquired for setting up a cargo station at Attari border at a rate of Rs 35 lakh per acre while they have not got even a single penny for their land since 1947.
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Panel on Rent Control Act implementation
Chandigarh, September 8 The committee is expected to give a report by the end of the month following which the process of implementing the Act in the state will start. Sources said the constitution of the panel might be a “delaying tactics” of the government to avoid implementing the Act. The Punjab Rent Bill was passed by the Vidhan Sabha in April 1995 and it got the President’s assent in 1998, but even after more than a decade the Bill has not been notified by the government. The Bill regulates the landlord-tenant relationship, demarcates their rights and obligations and lays down grounds of eviction of tenants. The tenant lobby has been reportedly responsible for not allowing the Act to be notified all these years as the implementation of the Act is expected to hike rent. The government is said to be under pressure from the Union government to implement “In case the state wants the Centre to fund its schemes under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM), the state will have to implement the Act soon,” said a source. “Amendment of rent control laws is mandatory reform in the mission. States are expected to implement the reform in the mission period. It is believed existing rent control laws are in favour of the tenant. The objective of the reform of the Rent Control Act is to bring out amendments in existing provisions for balancing interests of landlords and tenants. Reform in the rent control laws is believed to improve housing situation in urban areas, lessen distortions in the market, and have beneficial impact on urban finances,” states the JNNURM brochure. The previous Congress government in the state headed by Capt Amarinder Singh had agreed to undertake reforms following which the money under the scheme was released by the Centre. Till now, the state has taken Rs 1,300-crore grants for development projects. However, the further funding will be allowed only after the state informs the Centre that the reforms are being carried out.
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Birds prey on Pong Dam pearls, small fish
Pong Dam, September 8 Claiming the disappearance of many species of small fish from Pong Dam in a couple of years, the Fisheries Department had attributed it to the arrival of birds. They had also claimed that a number of migratory birds arriving at the Pong Dam had risen, irrespective of the availability of the fish in the water body. Director-cum-Warden, Fisheries, BD Sharma had claimed that the fact came to light recently and the issue of “migratory birds preying on pearls in Pong Dam and other water bodies” would be taken up with officers of the Wildlife Department. Ashok Kumar Verma, Assistant Director, Fisheries, who was also holding the charge of Pong Dam, had claimed that migratory birds had been causing major setbacks to the Fisheries Department by eating up precious pearls and fish of small size for many years. SK Guleria, Divisional Forest Officer (DFO), Wildlife, Hamirpur, expressed ignorance on natural grey pearls in the Pong Dam reservoir. He, however, said the Fisheries Department had not commercialised pearl culture in the dam as yet. “If migratory birds were eating pearls, they might be preying on those exposed at the bed of the reservoir. No officer from the Fisheries Department has discussed the issue with us,” Guleria claimed. Tossing the ball to the court of the Fisheries Department, the DFO revealed that fish production had declined because of the mismanagement of the Fisheries authorities. They had put seedling of carnivore fish species in the dam. Moreover, the department was not putting sufficient fish seed in the water body even after receiving compensation which the Wildlife Department pays every year for putting extra seedlings. The department has been paying enough money to the Fisheries Department for it, so that the losses caused by the birds to them could be compensated.
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Contractual health workers intensify stir
Ludhiana, September 8 Out of 222 ANMs appointed on a one-year contract by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), 176 were relived on the pretext of “error” in a number of sanctioned posts. Multipurpose health workers are staging a protest in the front of the office of the Ludhiana Civil Surgeon since September 1, asking the departments concerned to reinstate them at the earliest. Taking a strong notice of the statement issued by the PCMS Association over the “scam” in their appointments, Sarabjit Kaur, convener, Contract Multipurpose Health Workers Union (female), Punjab, said, “The allegations are baseless as appointments of all 222 ANMs were made on the basis of merit. Moreover, girls/women appointed on a one-year contract are ready to work on a meagre salary of Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 per month”. Dr SP Sharma, the then Ludhiana Civil Surgeon, accused of having taken the money, denied the allegation.
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Woman dies; blames husband, mother-in-law
Bipin Bhardwaj Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, September 8 Binder had set herself and her two children afire in her house at Guru Nanakpura Mohalla (West) allegedly over a dispute with her husband Ashwani Kumar and mother-in-law Surjit Kaur. In her dying declaration, Binder claimed that Ashwani and Surjit Kaur had been assaulting her for a long time as she was objecting to her husband’s illicit relations with another woman. SHO Harinder Singh said Binder stated: “On Monday, when Ashwani returned home after meeting the woman, I objected to it. He and my mother-in-law assaulted me following which I went into my room. After some time, Ashwani brought a can of kerosene and asked me to end life with the children as he would not stop meeting the woman. That forced me to take the drastic step”. Meanwhile, the bodies were handed over to Binder’s parents after postmortem examinations. Ashwani has absconded while his mother Surjit Kaur has been arrested in a case under Sections 306 and 504, IPC. The police has rounded up Binder’s father-in-law Jeet Ram for questioning.
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Badal for transparency in atta-dal scheme
Chandigarh, September 8 Showing concern over the fraudulent cases of fake beneficiaries under these schemes, Badal asked the Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to verify such fraudulent cases so that their names could be deleted from the list of the eligible beneficiaries and genuine persons could be incorporated. He was presiding over a high-level meeting of all DCs at Punjab Bhawan here this evening. The Jalandhar DC informed that 3,500 cases of old-age pensions had been detected where the beneficiaries who had died but the pension in their names was still being withdrawn.
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Water tanks for all villages
Chandigarh, September 8 He said due to rotational closure of canals for repair or any other reason, every village should have storage capacity equivalent to 15 days usage of the villages. The department was asked to upgrade the capacity of the tank wherever required. It was informed at the meeting that a RO system was already working successfully in 327 villages of eight districts.
— TNS
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Farmers decry power tariff hike
Chandigarh, September 8 Engineers association’s president HS Bedi said the tariff hike took into consideration the financial position of the board as well as the need to take steps to reduce the revenue gap.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal alleged the PSERC had rewarded inefficiency and corruption in the PSEB and burdened the common man by its order. He claimed the PSERC had neither taken into account the management practises being followed by the PSEB in its order nor the various petitions filed before it by farmer organisations as well as the industry. Kirti Kisan Union president Prem Singh Bhangu also condemned the tariff hike, saying both urban and rural consumers, who were already finding it difficult to pay the present tariff, had been burdened further.
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Farmers oppose Haryana official as BBMB chief
Ludhiana, September 8 Criticising the appointment of an official from Haryana as the officiating chairman of the BBMB, Bharati Kisan Union (BKU) president Ajmer Singh Lakhowal said yesterday that it was unfair on the part of the Central government to give the reins of the BBMB to someone from Haryana. “We demand that the board be dissolved and the management of the BBMB be handed over to Punjab,” Lakhowal said. Lakhowal alleged that this had been done to ensure an easy victory for the Congress in the coming Vidhan Sabha elections in Haryana.
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Fortis doc down with swine flu
Chandigarh, September 8 “The doctor has been isolated in the hospital itself and is under treatment,” said Dr Deepak Bhatia, the nodal officer of the pandemic in the state. He added the total number of confirmed swine flu patients in Punjab has now gone up to 28. He added that over 50 contacts of the said doctors have been listed out and are being contacted by the health teams of the state for starting prophylaxis treatment.
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Lawyer’s death condoled
Chandigarh, September 8 Bala (70) was on a private visit to Canada, where he died of a sudden heart attack. He had earlier also worked for the Punjab Irrigation Department. He is survived by his wife, two sons and a daughter. According to family sources, the bhog ceremony will take place on Sunday (September 13) at Gurdwara in Phase IV, Mohali.
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Benipal to oppose Bains’ bail plea
Ludhiana, September 8 The tehsildar, Major Gurjinder Singh Benipal (retd), said today that he would argue the case himself in the court tomorrow. Bains’ plea, along with those of six others, would come up for hearing in a local court tomorrow. “I will be there with my lawyer and will oppose the bail application. I do not care whether SIT opposes it or not,” said Major Benipal. Stating that he had lost faith in the Punjab police and was only trusting the judiciary, he added he would leave no stone unturned and argue the plea. “If I feel the police is not playing a fair part, I will go up to the High Court. I have to get justice,” he said. All 18 revenue officials posted in the district would proceed on mass protest leave and remain present during the hearing.
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