Bathinda, November 11
Involving schoolchildren in collecting recycled polythene bags from lanes and by-lanes of the town has become an annual ritual that has failed to check the damage to ecology.

Instead of taking serious steps to implement the ban on use of recycled polythene, this year too, on the Childrens' Day on November 14, the district administration and the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) have chosen to involve students for this work.

Perhaps under the political influence and fear of adverse fallout of taking action against those defying the ban, the authorities, particularly in the districts falling in the Malwa belt, have turned a blind eye towards them.

Reports of large scale use of recycled polythene have come from not only Bathinda, but also from Moga, Ferozepur, Mansa, Faridkot, Barnala and parts of Rajasthan falling in the Malwa belt.

The district authorities here as well in other areas, instead of taking cognizance of violation of law, have resorted to the practice of only refreshing the ban order by simply issuing the instructions quarterly to meet the legal requirements.

The high volume of polythene flowing in the drains was frequently choking the sewerage system of the towns. The sewerage system in the main town of Bathinda fails even after a drizzle resulting in the flooding of streets.

Teachers of certain leading institutions during a recent meeting with Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tiwari are learnt to have advised him to take strict action against those using recycled polythene.

Some of them are learnt to have urged him to follow the steps that have been taken in Himachal Pradesh and tourist spots of Jammu and Kashmir to implement the countrywide ban on recycled polythene to prevent further degradation of environment here.

While the authorities in Punjab have so far failed to implement the earlier ban on recycled polythene, the ministry of environment and forests is planning to make the law more stringent. The ministry recently invited objections to its move of banning, among other things, use of carry bags or containers made of plastic for storing, carrying dispensing or packaging foodstuffs.

There is also a move to ban polythene bags less than 12x18 inches in size and less than 40 microns in thickness.

Bathinda, November 11
The popular Punjabi delights dal makhni and matter paneer would soon burn a larger hole in your pocket as dhaba owners and restaurants are set to make their menus dearer by 15 to 20 per cent.

Seeing the spiralling prices of various commodities, dhabas across the city have been left with no other option but to make the food costlier.

Raj Kumar who has been running Mohit dhaba for the past 15 years near the railway station said , "We might lose our clientele but to earn profit, it has become necessary to administer a price hike. Last month only, we had increased the prices by Rs 5 to Rs 10 per dish but this time, it might be more."

Making food dearer comes with vegetables, pulses and other commodities getting costlier. Pulses have become Rs 20 to Rs 30 costly per kg and vegetables have gone beyond the reach of a commoner.

Another noted restaurant of the city, Pizzano, would also make you shell out more to bite into a sizzling pizza or your favorite butter chicken because they would cost more after about a fortnight.

"We have been sticking to the old prices for long now and with things getting costly, we would increase the prices soon. A lot goes into serving food. Employing staff, managing a space, buying bulk of vegetables and other commodities daily needs money which is getting difficult to make with skyrocketing prices," Kanwal Gupta from Pizzano said.

The main reason however cited for this price rise was onions and potatoes. It was predicted that the two basic vegetables would roll back to their normal prices but it has been more than a month and situation has failed to improve.

Moga, November 11
Police was allegedly trying to protect the main accused in the case of the murder of a Dalit youth Jeewan Singh, who was murdered after a row over loud music at village Chuhar Chak in the Moga district, last week.

Anguished over the role of the police, various local organisations decided to hold a protest rally outside the Mehna police station demanding the arrest of the culprits.

The leaders of labour unions and youth organisations had alleged that the police was trying to protect the main accused by not arresting him and pressurising family members for a compromise. Kuldip Kaur, mother of the murdered youth, has demanded from the state government to intervene into the matter and direct the local police to investigate the case properly and arrest the main culprit instead of deviating from the facts and evidences.

She has stated that a villager Gopi belonging to a rich family used to play vulgar songs at very high volume on his tractor and pass through their street daily in the evening. Her son objected to it but he was killed over this petty issue, she said.

She alleged that on November 4, Gopi called his cousin Dhanna Singh, a powerful man of the village. “Both of them came to our house looking for Jeewan, who was not at home at that time. They again came in the evening and started firing at Jeewan, who was in the market,” she added. Jeewan died on-the-spot while three others sustained injuries in the shoot-out.

It may be mentioned that the police had arrested three people in this case but the main accused Dhanna Singh was still at large and eluding arrest. “He has runaway from home and we are trying our level best to nab him,” claimed a senior official of the police.

Meanwhile, Dalip Singh Pandhi, a member of the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission, has expressed concern over the growing atrocities on Dalits in the state and biased role of the investigating agencies (police) in probing such incidents.

Moga, November 11
Agriculture experts have asked the farmers to go in for germination test of wheat seed to assess seed quality, viability and to predict performance of the seed and seedling in the field.

In the recent years, there were reports that poor storage and preservation of wheat seed reserved from the previous year's home grown crop had resulted to lesser germination forcing the agriculture department to educate the farmers on germination test before sowing the crop.

The germination test could be performed at home at least one week before sowing of the crop. It is very simple and by assessing the seed quality one could increase the production up to 10 per cent without any extra cost.

The agriculture department has initiated a campaign to show this technique in the nearby villages of this town. Such demonstration has been organised in the government seed farm at Raonta village, besides, Charik, Rode, Kahan Singh Wala, Kokri Phoola Singh and few other villages.

Dr Jaswinder Singh Brar, agriculture development officer, said factors that could affect the performance of seed in germination include diseased seed, old seed, mechanically damaged seed, seed stored under high moisture and excessive heating of seed during storage or drying.

He said, “In most cases a seed treatment will improve germination of seed only if the poor quality is due to seed-borne disease.”

He said a home test could be performed by counting out 200 seeds and placing them in a wet jute bag. Place another wet jute bag on it to conserve moisture and store in a warm location out of direct sunlight.

After five or six days, count the number of germinated seeds that have both an intact root and shoot. He said this would give the grower an estimate of the percentage of germination. “It is important to choose random seeds from the entire seed lot and conduct at least 200 seed counts.”

If germination was found below 85 per cent, it becomes important to increase the seeding rate to compensate. However, seeding any wheat with a germination test below 80 per cent could not be recommended for sowing because it may reduce the yield of the crop. Dr Rashpal Singh, another expert, working as agriculture development officer here, has also stressed upon the need of fungicide seed treatment.

He said a number of fungicides were available for use as seed treatment fungicides on wheat. These seed treatment fungicides protect germinating seed and young seedlings from seed borne and soil borne diseases.

Adding that seed treatment fungicides could not improve germination of seed partially spoiled by environmental factors, he said correct assessment of the cause of poor seed quality or poor germination rates was the first step in deciding, if a seed treatment fungicide was necessary.

Bathinda, November 11
Chairman of Punjab Small Traders Board Madan Lal Kapoor held a meeting with the representatives of trader organisations from Mansa, Bathinda and Faridkot, and excise and taxation authorities at the Circuit House here today.

In the meeting, he heard the problems and grievances of the traders and assured them that after holding such meetings in other cities of the state, he would present their problems and grievances before the Chief Minister and the Excise and Taxation Minister to find out a suitable solution to the same.

Among others who took part in the meeting included T.L. Jindal, Gurtej Singh, P.S. Sekhon, Darbara Singh and Jaspal Garg, all deputy excise and taxation commissioners; and Rajinder Kumar Raju, president of Beopar Mandal, Bathinda.

In the meeting, the excise and taxation officials asked the traders that if any Excise and Taxation Inspector committed injustice to any of them then he should contact them immediately. They also asked the businessmen not to cooperate with the trader from whom the excise and taxation authorities seized commodities without bill. They also asked the traders to submit a list of 10 traders so that a representative of the traders could be involved at the time of valuation of the seized commodities.

On the other hand, the traders demanded exemption in e-filing of VAT return for small traders by saying that it should be left to the small trader whether he wanted to file VAT return through e-filing or by visiting the office of the excise and taxation department. They also urged the excise and taxation authorities to evaluate the seized commodities in the light of original bill of the commodities. They also sought abolition of tax on sugar and marble.

Mansa, November 11
As cotton prices are coming down, farmers have also started demanding the restarting of cotton procurement by the Cotton Corporation of India.

According to the information from Cotton and Mandi Officials, during the last month cotton was procured at the rate of over Rs 3000 by private traders but during the last few days prices of cotton had come down to Rs 2800. The CCI had closed its purchasing due to high rates that were being provided by private traders than the MSP of Rs 2800.

Cotton officials further added that nearly 19 lakhs quintal of cotton had arrived in the markets of state out of which CCI had purchased 4,52,831 quintal and private traders procured over 14 lakhs quintal till now.

Meanwhile, leaders of Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ugrahan) Mahinder Singh Ramana and Bhola Singh has raised the demand of starting the procurement of cotton by CCI to ensure full MSP of Rs 2800 to cotton growers because rates provided by private traders have been coming down in the market.

Purchasing by CCI was necessary to ensure the MSP to farmers. State head of CCI RC Sarkar said the agency was present in the state markets and would restart the cotton procurement to provide MSP to farmers but prices which are being provided by private firms are still above MSP.

Bathinda, November 11
Some Panthic organisations today asked the Punjab Government to impose a ban on a state-level function, to be organised by the Dera Sacha Sauda on November 15 at Salabatpura. They also condemned the state government for allegedly giving permission to the dera to organise the function at Salabatpura.

In a press note, issued by the spokesman of the Khalsa Action Committee Gurdeep Singh here today, the Panthic leaders have also appealed to Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht, Jathedar of Sri Damdama Sahib and president of Sant Samaj to lead the Panth to stop the holding of this function. The leaders have also appealed to the Sikh organisations and leaders of all religions to cooperate for stopping this function.

Bathinda, November 11
Experts urged the authorities to take stringent steps against farmers indulging in the straw burning.

Gurminder Singh Pitho, an advocate and a member of the Environment Awareness Organisation, an NGO working against the menace, said that offenders should be booked under section 31-A of the Air Act-1981 (Prevention of Pollution), section 15 of the Environment Act (Protection) and section 4 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act-1984.

Pitho added that India should follow the example of Japan where bio-mass power generation plants were established for a cluster of ten villages. In this way, he said, residue, which now is burnt, could be used for producing fuel for these power plants. — OC