Dharamkot (Moga), October 2
Residents and shopkeepers of this dusty town in the district observed a complete bandh and staged 
a protest against the administration, particularly the police, for ineffective measures being taken to control the rising crime graph in the area.

The shopkeepers shut down their business premises and carried out a protest march on the streets of the town along with the local residents. The shops remained closed throughout the day on Friday.

They also staged a protest outside the residence of Sheetal Singh, chief parliamentary secretary of the state, who belongs to this town and raised slogans against him for incapability of the state government to control the soaring graph of crime. The protesters alleged that anti-social elements were being patronised by the leaders of the ruling parties and the police. As such, no action was being taken against them.

"The political interference should be stopped in the normal functioning of the civil administration and the police to clean the system," the protesters demanded the state government.

Adding that in a single night on Thursday, as many as five incidents of burglaries, were reported in the town. The agitated people further alleged that during the past few months, the incidents of crime had increased in the area and the police authorities had almost failed to tackle the deteriorating situation.

As per the details available, 40 batteries were stolen from the shop of Hardip Batteries, spares parts worth Rs 10,000 from the shop of Kamboj Oil Store, many batteries worth Rs 1.25 lakh from Sukha Batteries and scrap of Rs 20,000 from Mithu Batteries.

The locks of the shop of one Gurmit Singh were also found broken on Friday morning. However, there was no loss to property reported to the police. 

Mansa, October 2
Mansa police booked the additional district attorney (ADA), Sangrur, along with his wife and son on the charges of criminal trespass and committing theft.

According to the information available, advocate Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal, accused the ADA Balveer Singh Latala, his wife Karamjeet Kaur and son Rashpal Singh of unlawfully demolishing the boundary wall of a plot owned by him, in an attempt to take illegal possession.

He added that the accused had also stolen a gate installed there.

Accusing further, Dhaliwal alleged that the Latala family had indulged in a similar activity in the past also, for which he had lodged a complaint with the then SSP Mansa, Manminder Singh and police had recorded the statements.

In the police statement, Dhaliwal added that he stayed at Chandigarh and the plot was being taken care of by his elderly parents and a brother, who were settled at Mansa.

Pleading for providing security to the lives of his family members along with protection of property, Dhaliwal accused the Latala family of harassing them.

Reacting to the complaint, Mansa city police registered a case against accused family under sections 452, 447, 431, 379, 201 and 34 of the IPC.

Meanwhile, repeated attempts to contact the additional district attorney Latala over the phone proved to be futile.

Moga, October 2
The direct sowing of paddy initiated by the agriculture department during this year’s kharif season on an experimental basis, on the demonstration plots in as many as 60 villages of the Moga district, has shown positive results of production at par with the traditional practice of paddy transplantation saplings.

The initiative was taken up across the state with the motive to prevent the unnecessary wastage of the underground water resources in the state.

In the recent years, the underground water level has declined at a rapid pace due to the traditional practice of transplantation of paddy that consumes more water.

Dr Palwinder Singh Aulakh, chief agriculture development officer, claimed that the mature crop of paddy standing in the fields, waiting for harvest in the next couple of days, indicates a good yield as per the eye-witnesses as compared to the normal crop sown with the traditional practice of transplantation of saplings.

He said the quality of grains remained unaffected even as less quantity of water was used in direct sowing. “We have proved through the demonstration plots of direct sowing of paddy that 30 to 35 per cent water is saved through this practice,” he added.

It may be mentioned that the underground water level in Punjab is declining on an average at the rate of 74 cm per year. The problem is more severe in the Moga district with water level declining to more than 25 metres in four out of the five blocks.

Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, agriculture development officer, said the direct sowing of paddy also increases the income of farmers also.

Though there were some problems of germination and weed infestation in direct sowing of paddy during this year’s kharif season as the technique of direct sowing was new and the farmers were not used to it. However, these would be removed in the next paddy season, claimed Dr Brar.

Meanwhile, this correspondent visited a demonstration plot at village Talwandi Bhagerian near here. Baldev Singh, a farmer, who introduced this technique, said by adopting this technique, he had saved at least 35 per cent of water. He irrigated the demonstration plot for 15 times only as compared to his other plots that were irrigated for 35 to 40 times. 

Fazilka, October 2
Normal life in Fazilka remained hit throughout the day on Friday following disruption in power supply due to breakdown in the 66 KV grid in Karnikhera here. The power supply restored after 10 hours at 9.30 pm.

Resentment prevailed in entire Fazilka as residents and business community got another blow after a few hour when inverters and generators stopped working.

Residents and traders rued that their daily routine was thrown out of gear due to the daylong power disruption as home appliances and water pumps work on electricity.

According to sources, following the information about the power breakdown, the XEN line transmission started repair work at 1 pm.

When the deputy commissioner K.K. Yadav was apprised about the problems he had assured that the repair work would be hastened to restore the normalcy.

President of the Fazilka, Beopar Mandal, Ashok Gulbadhar, criticised the administration and the department concerned for taking so much time in fixing the problem which had ‘paralysed’ the town for entire day.

Irate over delay on the part of PSEB in fixing the problem, a section of residents stage protest at the complaint office of PSEB situated at the Raja Cinema road here late in the evening. The agitators also damaged telephone and chairs at the office, sources said. 

Bathinda, October 2
Responding to the protests of farmers, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) has entered the market. However, in what came as a shock to the farmers, the minimum support price (MSP) has been fixed the same as during the previous year, i.e., Rs 2700-2800 per quintal, depending on the moisture content in the crop.

Interestingly, this season, the CCI will purchase the cotton in Haryana at Rs 2750, which is a hike of Rs100 over the previous rate, while in Rajasthan, a hike of Rs 50 has been recorded as the MSP has been fixed at Rs 2750 per quintal.

Though the CCI entered the market on Thursday, it has been procuring the crop at a snail’s pace. In the initial two days, it purchased only about 825 quintals of cotton from three mandis namely, Bathinda, Fazilka and Gidderbaha.

According to information available, the CCI had been delaying the process willfully as the cotton had moisture beyond its specifications.

The details stated that more than one lakh quintal of cotton had reached the markets of Bathinda district but the CCI had purchased only about 400 quintal, that too, just to formally inaugurate the procurement process.

It may be mentioned that the state has a total of 40 cotton mandis but the CCI has selected only 25 of them. Further the CCI has announced the beginning of purchase only in six markets of the state, which caters to the modernised ginning and pressing units.

The CCI has been building pressure on the ginning and pressing millers to get their factories equipped with all desired fire-fighting equipment to avert any accident.

Issuing an ultimatum to all deputy commissioners concerned, the CCI has clearly stated that it had assessed the requirement for about 170 ginning mills to process the procured cotton but except for 13, the rest were not equipped with modern safety measure. Till they meet this requirement, the CCI would not hire such unit. All these 13 units are located in six districts.

To discuss the issue, a meeting between the Deputy Commissioner, Bathinda and the CCI staff has been arranged for tomorrow.

When contacted, the state manger of the CCI, RC Sarkar said, “To make the season accident-free, we have urged all the DCs to force the ginners to adhere to our long pending demands and comply with the terms, otherwise we will have to limit the purchase.”

“Moreover, at present the main hurdle in procurement is the high level of moisture content. We urge the cultivators to bring the crop after the moisture comes within the prescribed specifications,” he added.

Bathinda/Ferozepur,October 2
Congress MLA from Nathana Ajaib Singh Bhatti has criticised the SAD-BJP government for its alleged failure in solving the problems of people.

Bhatti alleged that the Chief Minister and the Education Minister had not been able to improve the educational scenario in the state with schools and colleges lacking infrastructure. There were inadequate teachers and buildings of educational institutions were in poor shape, he pointed out.

Bhatti also criticised the government for making people suffer due to prolonged spells of power cuts and alleged that the Badal government had failed on all fronts.

Meanwhile, PPCC general secretary Parminder Singh Pinki today accused the SAD-BJP leadership of trying to implicate Congress workers in false cases.

While charging the local BJP legislator and chief parliamentary secretary Sukhpal Singh Nannu of allegedly misusing the police force to harass Congress workers, Pinki said that yesterday night, Jagir Singh, sarpanch of Aku Masteke village, was allegedly taken away by the police on instructions of Nannu. Pinki said he contacted senior police officials in Chandigarh and subsequently got Jagir Singh released.

Pinki further said that due to bickering amidst local SAD-BJP leaders, the development of the area had taken a backseat. He said the post of the president of the Municipal Council was lying vacant due to internal strife in the BJP due to which the local residents were bearing the brunt.

Pinki also alleged that the police was dancing to the tunes of the SAD-BJP leadership. He added that the police should play a non-partisan role and ensure peace and communal harmony in the state.

Chandigarh, October 2
The Army has changed the pattern and manner of wearing badges issued for commendations awarded by Chief of the Army Staff and officers of the rank of Army Commanders and equivalent to military personnel.

According to policy directives issued by Army headquarters, only two types of badges would be worn and not more than one each for commendation by the Chief.

Stars embossed on the badge would denote additional commendations issued by an officer of the same rank. A maximum of three stars would be permitted on each badge. Earlier, a separate badge would be worn on the flap of the left breast pocket for each commendation awarded to an individual. A commendation is recognition of services rendered by an individual and its award is the prerogative of the Army Commander.

The Army has also changed the nomenclature of the Army Commander’s commendation. These would now be referred to as Army Commendation instead of the earlier GOC-in-C’s Commendation or VCOAS’s commendation (vice chief).