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Green Diwali drive gains momentum
Tribune Impact
From notoriety to fame, village comes a long way
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Paddy arrival picks up pace in Moga
Lakhowal firm on direct payment to farmers through cheques
Rail travel concession for scribes
Officials seize organic manure, three held
Sweet shop samples fail test
Seized food articles sent for test
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Green Diwali drive gains momentum
Bathinda, October 14 XEN Kulwant Singh said the aim was to control pollution levels. This was not a decision of the Board but he would do so at his own level, he pointed out. Apart from this, all schools, courts, historical monuments and hospitals have been declared silent zone and no one would be allowed to light a cracker within a 100 meter radius of it. The Pollution Control Board has dispatched instructions to all districts regarding measures to be taken to ensure a safe
Diwali. Charanjit Singh Nabha, the assistant scientific officer of the Board in
Patiala, today informed that anyone seen violating the instructions given in the letter sent to all districts would face action. "The Supreme Court had issued instructions on sound pollution in 2005 and these instructions would have to be followed. No crackers would be allowed from 10 pm to 6 am and the distance between the cracker and the source has to be of four meters. Air pollution would be monitored through the high volume sample device installed at the Milk Plant here on Dabwali road. There are various permissible limits of air pollution for different areas and the pollution limit would be monitored accordingly," Nabha
said. Diwali alone pollutes the air to a great extent which needs to be checked for which the Board has geared up. Several organizations have been spreading the message of celebrating a green Diwali which has yielded results. The Delhi Public School here today carried out a cycle rally with around 60 students and staff members to spread the message of celebrating a safe and green
Diwali. "We went on cycle from the Rose Garden to Goniana Road, Amrik Singh Road, Mall Road, Railway Station gate, Post Office Bazaar, Dhobi Bazaar, Hanuman Chowk and to the primary branch of the
DPS. It has been a tradition of this school to create awareness among the masses on an environment-friendly
Diwali," Arun Jee, principal of the school said. |
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Tribune Impact
Bathinda, October 14 Taking suo moto cognisance, the PSHRC authorities recorded it as complaint number 12719/2/2009 and called for a report from the state government through the Director, Health & Family Welfare, Punjab and Civil Surgeon, Bathinda. The four-member bench of the PSHRC has also asked the Principal Secretary, Health & Family Welfare, Punjab and Director, Health & Family Welfare, Punjab and Civil Surgeon, Bathinda to submit a detailed report on or before the next date of hearing, which has been fixed as December 17. When asked, Deputy Commissioner Bathinda, Rahul Tewari, said he was not aware about the PSHRC notice. "We too are helpless in such a situation as around 1200 cancer cases of the district were sent to the state government to seek grant from CM's relief fund. Despite all efforts, we could get only one grant of Rs 15 lakh in the past, which could cover only 100 patients. About 1100 cancer patients are still waiting for help from the state.” It has also been informed that the secretary, health department, has been collecting fresh details again, on the basis of which Member of Parliament from Bathinda, Harsirmrat Kaur Badal, has been seeking funds in Parliament. It may be mentioned that this newspaper had highlighted the pathetic condition of Malkana village, noted for its high cotton yield, as a typical instance of the desperate poverty amid the ostentatious wealth in one of the country's most prosperous states. Plagued by teeming squalor, lack of sanitation, contaminated water, endemic diseases and above all, official apathy, residents still manage to eke out a living here. Villagers said though the politicians had pledged to combat the epidemic form of cancer during the previous polls, it failed to take any effective steps in this regard. In the face of government apathy and their lack of means, many villagers are now taking recourse to 'black magic' in the hope it would help in ridding the village of the disease. |
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From notoriety to fame, village comes a long way
Bathinda, October 14 Just months ago, the residents of this village had earned an unsavoury reputation for stealing power and not paying their bills on time. So infamous had the village become that the power board authorities were not willing to touch the village with even a bargepole. After trying to reason with the villagers, PSEB officials got so tired that, at one stage, visits by officials to the village were kept to a bare minimum. However, the trend has been reversed with the PSEB now terming Pucca Kalan as a ‘model village’ because now residents have not only stopped pilfering power but they have also starting paying their dues on time. The turnaround is now complete. Earlier, nearly 300 odd households openly resorted to stealing power by using illegal connections, also called Kundi connections in local parlance. At that time, the PSEB calculated that out of the total power being supplied to the village, nearly 65 per cent was being pilfered due to which the power board was losing revenue. Admitted a senior engineer, “ We have framed rules and use technology to curb power theft. But people of Pucca Kalan village were quick to find loopholes in their attempt to steal power. They used to be a step ahead of our theft detection system and the vigilance authorities. In such a scenario, we took the decision to install meters outside the premises of houses due to which villagers could not resort to using illegal connections.” “The meters were not easy to install as we faced opposition from the irate villagers. However, once things fell in place, kundi connections simply disappeared,” he added. There are nearly 1300 consumers in the village and now the PSEB gets an additional Rs 5.50 lakh from the village as residents pay their bills on time. Said a PSEB official, “Earlier, residents had a free run which has now been stopped. Earlier, there was a consumer who had been caught four times for using an illegal connection. However, the same consumer, after his meter was installed outside his house, pays his bills on time and talk of using illegal connections has just faded away.” Power to the village, which was ranked number 1 in PSEB west division in power theft, is supplied from the Pucca Kalan 66 KV sub-station through 11 KV lines. It was in July this year that work to install meters outside the premises of houses was undertaken. Sources disclose that the PSEB spent nearly 18 lakhs on this project and now the results are flowing in. “ We have decided to call the village a model village. Now we have received 200 applications from consumers for new power connections. We have also decided to follow the same model in other villages falling under the jurisdiction of Pucca Kalan sub-station.” An elated Hardeep Singh Sidhu, senior executive engineer said, "We had to work hard to make it a model village. Things have changed now and people do not steal power using illegal connections. The kundi has been thrown out of the window by the villagers." Said Swaranjit Singh, a resident of the village who is also the chairman of Block Samiti, “ PSEB officials have done a wonderful job. Now the quality of power that we get has also improved and there is little or no voltage fluctuation.” |
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Paddy arrival picks up pace in Moga
Moga, October 14 He came to visit the grain markets and review the ongoing process of purchase of paddy in the Moga district. Adding that 98 per cent of the total arrival of paddy was purchased by the government procurement agencies, he said there was a little bit of problem with the humidity content, due to which, there was a gap of about two per cent between arrival and purchase of paddy. He said the permissible limit of humidity content was 17 per cent but some of the farmers were bringing paddy with 19 per cent to 21 per cent of humidity content, which delays the process of purchase by the government agencies. Ferozepur district with 4,50,635 MT of paddy purchase was leading in procurement operations while Muktsar district stood second at 3,27,265 MT of paddy procurement, he said. In Faridkot district, 2,61,261 MT of paddy was procured till Tuesday evening. Lakhowal said the state government had set up 1,600 procurement centres and activated its total machinery to ensure smooth procurement of paddy. “I have constituted special teams to monitor the process of purchase and redress the problems of the farmers if any,” he claimed. In reply to a question, he admitted that there were problems in the purchase of PAU-201 variety of paddy at many places in the state. However, it would be solved in the coming two days. “The millers are not willing to lift this variety due to its brownish colour, which they say requires extra labour on polishing and leaves more breakage during the milling process,” he said. However, he claimed that this variety of paddy had proved economically more beneficial for the farmers as its yield per acre was more than other normal varieties being sown in the state. Meanwhile, 1.53-lakh MT of paddy had arrived in the grain markets in the Moga district till Tuesday evening, out of which, 1.42-lakh MT had been purchased by the government agencies and private traders. |
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Lakhowal firm on direct payment to farmers through cheques Ajmer Singh Lakhowal, chairman of the Punjab Mandi Board said he favoured direct payment to the farmers through cheques of their produce by bringing to an end the present system of mediation of the commission agents. “We, in a meeting of the board of directors of the Mandi Board, had already passed a resolution to stop the present system of mediation of the commission agents in the procurement process and strongly favour direct payment to the farmers,” he said. Adding that the recent notification issued by the state government to continue with the process of the commission agents was not in the interest of the farmers, Lakhowal said that he was hopeful that the Punjab and High Court would annul this notification keeping in view of the farmers' interests. — TNS
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Rail travel concession for scribes
Bathinda, October 14 With the implementation of the scheme, the previous scheme of using concession coupons would not be required for concession purpose as now an identity card (I-card) would be issued to every accredited media person for the availing the same facility, said senior divisional commercial manager, Ambala, Karan Singh. Singh said that the scheme would be valid in all trains, including Rajdhani Express and Shatabadi Express, except Garib Rath. He added that the same concession would be extended to the spouse of the accredited press correspondent while travelling with him /her. The concession is not valid in case of season tickets, circular journey tickets and tickets for local, suburban and passengers trains. Singh said that a self-attested photo would be affixed on the I-card which would be issued by the chief booking supervisors of the receiving station or nearby the workplace of the concerned media persons. In Ambala division only, 1,000 such I-card are being issued at the different stations of the division, Singh said, adding that only accredited media persons having certificates issued by the relevant authority like DPRO or others will be issued these I-cards. I-card, which will bear a 10-digit code, for example - NRBTI00001- will be valid for two years from the date of issuance. The particulars of the I-card issued would be incorporated in the concerned software. Refund will be granted at the station in accordance with refund rules. |
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Officials seize organic manure, three held
Moga, October 14 Reacting to secret information, an enforcement team of the agriculture department conducted a raid at Baghapurana and recovered 200 bags of unauthorised organic manure, loaded in a canter bearing registration number RJ-13G-5090, which had come from Ladwa in Kurukshetra district of Haryana. The team comprising chief agriculture officer Dr Palwinder Singh Aulakh, agriculture development officers Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar and Dr Rashpal Singh called the local police on the spot. The police took into custody the canter loaded with 200 bags of the organic manure and arrested three persons Milkh Raj, Surjit Kumar and Sohan Lal, all residents of Ganganagar (Rajasthan). A criminal case under section 420 of the IPC, section 7, 19 of the Fertiliser Control Order- 1985 and section 7 of the Essential Commodities Act- 1955, had been lodged against them in the Baghapurana police station. The samples of the seized material had been taken
and sent to a government laboratory for chemical examination. The arrested persons revealed that they had brought the manure from M/s Attry (G) Agri-Industries Ltd. based at Ladwa in Kurukshetra district of Haryana. However, they could not produce valid permission of the state government to manufacture and sell organic manure of this firm. Meanwhile, the agriculture department has appealed to the farmers to be cautious while purchasing fertilisers, pesticides or any other agricultural inputs from those companies, who come to their doorstep for marketing the products. |
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Sweet shop samples fail test
Bathinda, October 14 Samples taken from Bikaner Mishthan Bhandar near Ghode Wala Chowk this month have failed the tests conducted by the health department, the District Health Officer, Bathinda, today informed. “We had sent the samples of Bikaner Mishthan Bhandar for test on October 2 and the results show that these samples failed the test. We had seized two quintals of khoya from the retailer which will now be destroyed. We informed the owner of the shop, Mohan Lal, about the samples having failed the test and he told us to destroy the stock we had seized,” Dr DP Sekhon added. Dr Sekhon said that under the Prevention of Food Adulteration Act, the health authorities can launch a case against the accused in the court directly and the court then decides on conviction. A three-year imprisonment and fine of up to Rs 10,000 can be awarded to the accused. “No FIR needs to be registered by the health authorities as we can directly file a case in the court,” he said. The owner of the shop Mohan Lal could not be contacted despite repeated attempts. However, Karan, a staff who works at the Bikaner Mishthan Bhandar, said he was not aware about the development. Apart from this, the health department team had also inspected a cold storage at Rampura Phul, Nathana and Goniana Mandi yesterday following a tip-off and around one quintal and 20 kg of spurious sweets were destroyed today after the health team conducted raids at Sangat, Rama Mandi, Maur and Talwandi Sabo. |
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Seized food articles sent for test
Fazilka, October 14 The patisa belongs to a Ladhuka-based sweet seller was concealed in an automobile agency in village Ladhuka, 14 kilometers from here. It is stated that the patisas was secured from a sweet seller of Radha Swami Locality of Fazilka on Tuesday night. Assistant civil surgeon Dr DP Godara and medical officer Dr NK Sethi also joined the raid. Besides, Dr Kumar on a tip-off also conducted raid at the Rajindra Milk and Ghee Dairy in Salemshah Bazaar and took the sample of one quintal ghee. He also sealed the seized ghee. Dr Dalip Kumar after conducting raids while speaking to The Tribune said all the seized samples, taken from different shops, have been sent to Chandigarh through a special messenger. If these are found fit for human consumption, the food articles seized would be released for sale. However, if these are found to be of sub-standard quality or adulterated, the owner would be booked under the law. Civil Surgeon cautioned the sweet sellers that to maintain the standard of the food articles, the raid campaign would be continued in future as well. |
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