Bathinda, October 13
After witnessing the delay over the decision by the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to purchase cotton- white gold--- farmers are now about to receive the payment for their sold crop.

On the one hand, the delay in making payments has been causing resentment among the farmers and on the other, it has been spoiling the fun and excitement of the festival season of the farmers as well as their arhtiyas.

According to information available, after entering 22 out of the total 41 cotton mandis of the state, the CCI has purchased about 2.42 lakh quintals of cotton till date. However, it has paid just Rs1.85 crore, which was the price of just 6551 quintals of cotton procured in the initial three days. For the rest-about 2.35 lakh quintals of cotton-not even a single penny has been released.

A group of farmers sitting in the cotton market, Bathinda, said, “Though we have sold the first yield of our crop, till now, the CCI has paid nothing. There are long lists of demands of family members, which we were supposed to meet but witnessing the present situation, we fear that this Diwali will bring no joy for us.”

“I had promised my daughter to present a two-wheeler this festival season but even after selling the yield of my nine acres of cotton field, I am still empty-handed,” rued Jagtar Singh.

Same is the situation with the arhtiyas, through whom the CCI is bound to pay the price to the farmers. Said one arhtiya, “If we receive payment then after deducting the amount as loan to the farmers, we too will get the money to pursue our dreams.”

The details collected from the cotton office, Punjab, stated that till Monday, about 8.30 lakh quintals of cotton had arrived in the markets throughout the state, which was around 12.8 per cent more than the previous years. Out of the total arrival, private buyers procured about 6.21 lakh quintals and the CCI had purchased about 2.09 lakh quintals. Out of the total, 1.5 lakh quintals of cotton was recorded as not having been lifted from the mandis.

Biggest among cotton mandis of the state, the Abohar main yard witnessed a total arrival of 1.26 lakh quintals out of which the CCI purchased 56,135 quintals.

Further, in Sardoolgarh, the CCI purchased 20,955 quintals, at Gidderbaha it was about 14,475 quintals, at Malout it was 16,575 quintals, at Fazilka 13,350 quintals and at Bathinda main yard, it has purchased 11,000 quintals.

When contacted, the state manger of the CCI, RC Sarkar said, “We are in the process of completing the formalities and releasing the payment. But being a lengthy process, only three days' payment could be made till date. Tomorrow again, a huge chunk of payment would be released.”

“We have been trying to manage the whole affair in an impartial way,” he added.

Fazilka, October 13
The issue of delay in making payment by Pungrain to arhtiyas of Fazilka and in turn to the farmers was raised during the visit of principal secretary to the chief minister of Punjab, Darbara Singh Guru to Fazilka today.

He was here to take stock of the procurement process of paddy and cotton in Fazilka, which is one of the largest cotton and paddy market of the northern India.

The issue was raised by the Kacha Arthtiya Association President Om Parkash Setia and others in the meeting with the principal secretary in the Market Committee office. The arhtiyas maintained that about Rs 8 crore was due towards the Pungrain.

Guru assured the arhtiyas and farmers that he was aware of the matter and has directed the concerned officials to pay the full amount of the purchased paddy within 48 hours. Guru inspected the procurement process and met the farmers, who had brought their crops in the grain market.

The Punjab government has the facility of cash credit limit of about Rs 12,528 crores with banks for making payment to farmers and to overcome financial hurdles regarding the payment of paddy, added principal secretary.

Deputy Commissioner Ferozepur KK Yadav, additional deputy commissioners Jaskiran Singh and Basant Garg, SDM Fazilka Pardeep Aggarwal, district food and supplied controller Sukhdev Singh, market committee chairman Ashok Jairath, councillor Davinder Sachdeva and other officers of procurement agencies were also present.

Later, speaking to The Tribune, DC KK Yadav said about 4,36,000 metric tonnes of paddy arrival has been recorded in the district out of which 3,92,000 metric tonnes of paddy has been purchased. About Rs 262 crores have been paid to the arhtiyas against the purchased paddy, he added. 

Ferozepur, October 13
The Punjab government was making all out efforts to ensure smooth procurement, immediate lifting and timely payments in all the 1,630 procurement centres of the state, stated Darbara Singh Guru, principal secretary to CM, while speaking to the media persons after conducting a surprise checking of the grain markets in Ferozepur cantonment, Guruharsahai, Jalalabad and Fazilka today. He was accompanied by DC KK Yadav, Basant Garg ADC Development, Jaskiran Singh ADC, Gurtej Singh SDM besides heads of various procurement agencies.

Guru said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal was monitoring the procurement process on a daily basis. He said the entire state has been divided into six sectors, and every sector was being looked after by the senior IAS officer. He informed till date, 23.75 MT paddy has been procured throughout the state, against 26 MT paddy, which has arrived in the procurement centres, adding that the payments were being made within 48 hours. 

Mansa, October 13
Punjabi University’s ‘Regional Youth Festival’ of Mansa zone concluded on Monday evening at the National College, Bhikhi. Teams of 35 colleges belonging to Mansa, Bathinda, Sangrur and Barnala participated in this festival. SD College Barnala bagged the overall trophy while Gurunanak College Budhlada and LBS Arya women College Barnala stood second and third, respectively.

In Bhangra, the team of SD College Barnala was first while Gurugobind Singh College Sanghera (Barnala) came second. SD College Barnala secured the first position in skits while Gurunanak College Budhlada stood second.

In Lokgeet competition, Gurunanak College Budhlada stood first and Punjabi University Neighbour Campus stood second. The teams of SD College Barnala and Gurunanak College Budhlada obtained first and second position in folk orchestra.

Meanwhile, chief guest SAD general secretary Balwinder Singh Bhunder distributed prizes to the winners and also announced 
Rs 300,000 for the National College Bhikhi from the Chief Minister's quota. Ex-MLA Harbant Singh Datewas presided over the function. Dr Satish Verma, director of the Youth Welfare Department of Punjabi University Patiala also distributed prizes.

Punjabi actress Nirmal Rishi and comedian Ranbir Rana presented different items on the occasion.

Bathinda, October 13
The hours-long power cuts during this paddy season, apparently 
benefitted the thieves it seems as they succeeded in stealing about 121 transformers in the Malwa region of Punjab.

Though the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) officials have been doing their best to apply pressure on the state police to nab the miscreants, the exercise has proved to be futile till date.

According a details collected from the office of the PSEB (west zone), the PSEB sustained a loss of about Rs 42.64 lakh only through the lost transformers during this paddy season.

It has also been informed that during the previous season, the loss was calculated at Rs 20.94 lakh, almost half of this season.

About Bathinda and Mansa districts, sources informed that graph of transformer thefts in these two districts also recorded a noticeable hike. Earlier, the PSEB had lost seven transformers but this time, they got a shock with the theft of 25 transformers. The loss has been calculated at Rs 9.38 lakh.

The home district of chief minister Parkash Singh Badal-Muktsar-which also comes under the PSEB (west zone) is also under the scanner. Sources said that during the previous season, the PSEB had to face a loss of only four transformers but this season, the thieves managed to steal about 14 transformers from there. The officials calculated the total loss at Rs 5.20 lakh.

When contacted, Superintending Engineer, PSEB, Jarnail Singh said, “Most of the transformers were stolen during the night with miscreants taking advantage of the shutdown of supply from those feeders at that time. All such cases were immediately reported to the police and new transformers have been installed at all points.”

Moga, October 13
Officials and employees of the agriculture department have gone on an indefinite strike in the state from Tuesday onwards by suspending all the official works in protest against the lacklustre attitude of the politicians of the ruling parties and the police authorities in checking the sale of spurious pesticides, fertilisers and other chemical farm inputs.

Thousands of officials/employees of the agriculture department came out of their offices at all the district headquarters in the state and held protest rallies outside the offices of the district magistrates. In the Malwa belt, the protest rallies were held at Moga, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Muktsar, Barnala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Mansa, Ludhiana and other districts.

Dr Gurdev Singh Gill, joint director of the Agriculture Department and chairman of the Agriculture Technocrats Action Committee of the state while speaking to The Tribune alleged that widespread political interference in routine work of the official machinery is prevalent in the state.

Referring to the incident of checking of the premises of M/s. Ajnala Kheti Stores, last month, he said the owners of this firm were selling unauthorised pesticides, fertilisers and other chemical farm inputs but even as the raiding team of the department asked the police to take against them, the police authorities probably under pressure of the ruling party politicians were hesitant to take legal action against the firm. “This firm did not have valid licence to sell pesticides, fertilisers and other chemical farm inputs,” he claimed.

Dr Gill said the agriculture minister had categorically given directions to him to constitute teams and check pesticide, fertiliser and seeds sellers but when the drive was launched in this regard in Amritsar, Taran Taran and Gurdaspur districts, political pressure started mounting on the official machinery not to take action against some particular firms.

“We have decided not to do any work of quality control, crop cutting experiments, organise farmers' training camps and all other official works until legal action is taken against the owners of M/s. Ajnala Kheti Stores and political interference is stopped in the official works,” Dr Gill added.

Perturbed over the irresponsible attitude of politicians, Dr Rashpal Singh Khosa, president of the Plant Doctors' Association of the Moga district said it was a sorry state of affairs that the ruling party politicians were interfering in the routine work of the department and protecting the unauthorised sellers of pesticides and fertilisers.

Dr Palwinder Singh Aulakh chairman and Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar press secretary of the district unit of the association said they had given a memorandum to the district magistrate to be forwarded to the chief minister demanding a legal action against the owners of the said firm. 

Bathinda, October 13
As the festival season nearing its peak, shops in Bathinda and its adjoining areas have come up with many attractive offers which are sometimes found difficult by the prospective buyers to understand and occasionally also triggers a row between the traders and buyers.

The traders, however, say there is nothing hidden in the price cut and is actually advantageous to customers.

"A 50 per cent + 40 per cent are not, in fact, a 90 per cent," said an official of a garment outlet. Unravelling the riddle, the official explained, "For example, you buy a trouser at the maximum retail price (MRP) i.e. Rs 1,000, which comes under above-mentioned offer. It means you would be given 50 per cent discount on Rs 1,000 and 40 percent on remaining amount." "It means, 50 per cent of Rs 1,000 i.e. Rs 500 and 40 per cent on the remaining Rs 500. Thus the trouser will cost you only Rs 300," he said, adding that so at the end you get 70 per cent of discount.

When asked if damaged or inferior items are sold for a discount, the official denied and said the offers were aimed at clearing the stock and increasing sales.

The officials added, “Ensuring footfalls during festive season has never been easy for shop owners in the present cut-throat competitive era. These offers are just to attract buyers." The discount offer depends upon the company's policy, he added.

Another shop owner, whose tag to woo buyer is ‘Upto to 60 %’ explained the meaning of it. “Upto means, first, the discounts will vary from item to item. It also means that the show owner is not giving similar discount on every item and there may also be some items which do not come under offer, most importantly, maximum discount is of 50 per cent or 60, whatever the shop claims," the owner explained.

As far as the tag ‘Flat’ is concerned, a trader said, “Flat means, the shop will give identical discount on every item like Flat 50 % means, you will be given 50 per cent discount on any item you buy from a particular shop."

Now the offer like ‘Buy 1 get 3’. It means, when you buy a shirt at Rs 2,500 you could choose another two shirts of similar price range. In other words, items of Rs 7,500 may be bought for only Rs 2,500,” the owner of another leading garment shop here said.

There are variations in such offer, he said, adding that one could also buy only one item under the ‘Buy 1 Get 3 offer’, the company will give discount accordingly. 

Bathinda, October 13
Taking strict action against a businessman for not complying with the conviction orders, the District Consumer Redressal Forum (DCRF) today issued warrants for his two months' imprisonment.

According to information available, one Narinder Singh of computer hardware shop, Nobel Informatique, was accused in a complaint filed with the DCRF by one Gurvinder Singh regarding the sale of a faulty printer.

At that time, the DCRF passed an order in favour of the complainant, but the convicted person did not comply with the orders of the DCRF issued on April 21, this year, wherein the accused was ordered to refund a sum of Rs 3850, being the price of printer sold to the complainant and a sum of Rs 400 paid by him to his representative for installation thereof along with the interest. The convicted person was also asked to pay the amount for causing mental tension and the cost of complaint filed.

On receipt of the complaint, a show-cause notice was also issued to the opposite party but the convicted person did not appear before the forum and as such, ex-parte proceeding was taken up against him.

In the details of the order issued today, the quorum of the forum mentioned that the accused not only avoided contesting the allegations raised against him in the main complaint but he also did not care to enquire about the proceedings initiated against him.

"He further appeared to have shown no concern and passive attitude in complying with the order of the forum when he was issued a show-cause notice, which was received by him in person (dasti). Therefore, we are satisfied that this Forum has discharged its obligation and provided the opposite party adequate opportunity to defend himself," the quorum of the DCRF mentioned in the copy of order.

"Taking into consideration all pros and cons, facts and circumstances and the adamant attitude of the opposite party, we proceed to sentence the opposite party to undergo simple imprisonment for two months and also to pay a fine of Rs 10,000. In case of default, the opposite party shall further undergo imprisonment for a period of three months," the order mentioned.

Confirming the facts, the president of the DCRF, George said, "We have issued arrest warrants on the guilty shopkeepers to the SSP and the Superintendant of Central Jail, Bathinda."

Bathinda, October 13
With the Punjabi University, Patiala, not declaring the syllabus of various graduate level courses on time, students seem to be unaware about what to write in the house tests which are about a month away.

Every year, the story almost remains the same with the university not announcing the syllabus on time.

Devinder Kaur Mann, principal of the local Khalsa College, stated that the syllabus is decided very late. "We began taking classes in mid July but we did not actually know what changes would be incorporated in the syllabus this year. There are books containing syllabus details of every graduation level course and every year, these books are sent late. With the house tests approaching, students get stressed as they learn that some of what they have studied till now, is no longer a part of their syllabus," she added.

Teachers have to depend on reference books at the beginning of the session as the

textbooks based on the syllabus also get delayed.

"The answer given by the university authorities when asked about the syllabus is that it is being printed and would be sent to the colleges soon," Mann said.

Syllabus of BCA and BBA part II arrived last week only. "When we went to the college, we were told that the textbooks would arrive soon but we kept waiting for almost a month. I do not know how but the guides were available in the market. We had to resort to the guides. After the syllabus was declared, I matched the guides with it and found that the guides had been updated which means that guide publishers have information about the changes in syllabus while the colleges do not know about it," said Payal Gupta, a student from the Government Rajindra College here.

Chapters get deleted and added which is not known at the beginning of the academic session because the university holds meeting to decide the syllabus only in July and that is when the session also starts. The whole procedure of deciding the syllabus and printing takes more than a month.

"Students have started coming to us to ask what to prepare for the house tests but we actually do not know what to tell them because whatever we teach them, almost half of it gets changed leading to sheer wastage of time and uncertainty among the students," Prof NK Gosain from the DAV College, here said.

Bathinda, October 13
On the third day of the Punjabi University Inter-College Hockey (Girls) Championship being organized by the local DAV College at the Sports Stadium, the hosts defeated Government College of Physical Education, Patiala, 4-0. Chief guest Prof. NK Gosain, officiating principal, DAV College, Bathinda, presented the trophy to winners. The chief guest was presented a memento by Prof PK verma, head, department of physical education, university representatives and others.

The final selection of the Punjabi University Hockey (Girls) team for the training camp was done on the occasion.

This team shall participate in the inter-varsity matches to be held at GNDU, Amritsar.

Bathinda, October 13
Kotwali police arrested one Karyana store owner for illegally possessing huge quantity of firecrackers from Shakti Nagar locality here today.

SHO Gurjeet Singh Romana said that the accused Surinder Kumar had stored huge quantity of firecrackers worth Rs 2.60 lakh at his house. Police nabbed the accused and took the firecrackers in its custody.

Romana added the quantity was so huge that police had to engage many vehicles to transport the same to police station.

The accused has been booked under section 3/4 of the Explosives Act and section 188 of the IPC. — TNS