Bathinda, December 13
The joint action committee of residents of the town formed against air pollution being caused by the thermal power house of the PSEB here has decided to file a petition on the issue in the High Court as the authorities concerned have failed to check the emission of ash that is playing with the health of people.

Leaders of the committee were annoyed over the failure of the PSEB to meet its commitment of renovating the units that were emitting ash. The PSEB had fixed several deadlines for accomplishing the task but has failed to meet them.

MM Behal, convenor of the committee, told the TNS today that the only option left before them was to approach the High Court in the matter.

Behal claimed that the PSEB had earlier told the committee in November last year that the renovation and modernisation of the units III and IV would be completed by May this year. However, another commitment was made in October this year that the job was expected to be taken in hand by early December when the unit IV would be modernised and after its stabilisation, work on the unit III would begin.

However, sources in the PSEB pointed out that the work might not start soon as the BHEL, the company that has been assigned the job of renovation and modernisation, has yet to finalise the contracts.

It is worth mentioning that the issue was brought to the notice of Jairam Ramesh when he visited here a few months ago in his capacity as power minister.

Residents of the town were now growing restive, as the level of air pollution has increased due to the winter.

Behal pointed out that a committee of doctors in various specialties in its January 2006 report had warned that ENT, respiratory and skin diseases were increasing in the town due to the air pollution caused by the thermal station. This had also become a source of tuberculosis, the report said.

Committee activists said that while delivering speeches at the Copenhagen summit against climate change, the government functionaries should have kept in mind the emissions by the thermal power projects in the country and particularly the one here.

Deputy Commissioner Rahul Tewari said that deputations of people had been complaining of air pollution in the town. He took up the matter with the PSEB at his level and urged them to rectify the menace. 

Bathinda, December 13
The Health Department’s residential colony located near the Civil Hospital is ‘terminally sick’. Wraiths seem to reside in the dilapidated structures of the colony which was constructed 34 years ago with the sole intention of providing houses to staff of the Health Department.

A visit to the colony revealed that every second house was in an utterly dilapidated condition with roofs of some structures, particularly those meant for class IV employees, threatening to fall off any time. Plasters peeling off from walls, electricity wires going haywire and iron rods poking out of roofs tell a shocking tale of apathy and neglect.

An inmate revealed that repairs were undertaken about 10 years ago but the endeavour was so weak in its execution that Health Department officials do not deem it fit to stay there.

There are 20 double-storied flats meant for class IV employees and barring a couple, all are lying vacant. People staying there disclosed that despite innumerable requests to the civil surgeon and the district administration, little is being done to alleviate their sufferings.

Said chowkidar Teg Bahadur, “We have strictly instructed our children not to play on the roofs lest they fall off. I live on the ground floor and it has been ages since I went to the second floor. We are getting proper water and electricity supplies but the structures over the years, sans any regular repairs, have weakened so much that we fear we may get buried someday. I have written to the authorities on many occasions, yet no action has been taken to improve our living conditions.”

If flats for class IV employees narrate a pathetic tale, the position is no better in and around houses constructed for staff nurses, drivers and doctors. Houses and flats meant for classes I, II and III officials have not been occupied for past so many years.

Interestingly, the much-hyped super-speciality cancer hospital is coming up adjacent to the colony and construction work is in full swing.

In flats meant for staff nurses, there were no covers for water tanks. “This is an open invitation to mosquito breeding. It’s double whammy for us. On the one hand, we are living in an insecure environment while on the other, we have to bear the brunt of the water-borne diseases,” said an inmate.

Said civil surgeon Neelam Bajaj, “We have prepared an estimate for the repair work and sent it to the Punjab Health Systems Corporation. The local Municipal Corporation will also be involved in the repair work. The moment we get funds, the dilapidated structures will be repaired.”

Chandigarh, December 13
Jails in Punjab are all set to turn prisoner friendly. It may send surprise bells ringing, but the jails will now have PCOs for the inmates to make calls and de-addiction centres for getting rid of dependence on narcotics. Efforts are also on for decongesting the jails by constructing new prisons in the state.

A third eye will keep a watch on the prisoners, with the jail authorities planning to install close circuit television cameras for effective surveillance.

The steps being taken by the state were brought to the notice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently. The Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal is currently hearing a petition on conditions prevailing in Bathinda jail. In the affidavit placed before the Bench, principal secretary, department of home affairs and justice, AR Talwar said the PCOs would prevent the use of mobile phones by the jail inmates. The facility would be provided in all the jails; and to begin with a PCO had been only recently been installed at the Ludhiana central jail.

Simultaneously, the feasibility of installing jammers was also being explored for blocking the mobile signal. Not refuting categorically the allegations on the use of narcotics in the jails, Talwar asserted the director-general of Punjab police has asked the superintendents of the jails to be more vigilant for preventing the use of drugs; and the issue of establishing de-addition centers within the jails was being examined.

In an attempt to decongest the jails, Talwar said the state was actively pursuing construction of new prisons. As of now, the process of setting up two new jails at Faridkot and Kapurthala was in advance stages. The feasibility of filling up 24 posts of assistant superintendents was also being explored.

The police had previously admitted mobile phones were indeed being used in jails by the inmates "at times for planning crimes and other dubious activities", though their number was not sizeable. But had added the law was silent on the use of mobile by inmates.

Bathinda, December 13
The district magistrate has sanctioned Rs 1.06 lakh as a compensation to 11 persons belonging to the Scheduled Caste community in the cases registered against high-caste persons in different police stations for allegedly using objectionable caste-based remarks against them. These cases were registered in the district from 2005 to March 2009 under “The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989”.

A district-level vigilance and monitoring committee, constituted under the SCs/STs Act, had approved the amount of relief/compensation during a meeting held recently. The district administration would now distribute the cheques of the relief amount to the affected persons.

District welfare officer Sardool Singh Sidhu told this reporter that the 11 affected persons would get relief/compensation of either Rs 6,250 or Rs 18,750. He added that the Bathinda district was, perhaps, first district in the state to sanction relief amount almost in all cases. The cheques of the relief amount would be sent to the affected persons in a week or so, he said.

The names of the affected members of the SC community along with the relief amount are Swaranjit Kaur from Bhagwanpura village (Rs 18,750), Kuldip Kaur from Balaharr Vinjhu village ( Rs 18,750), Kulwinder Kaur from Ghuman Kalan village (Rs 18,750), Jagsir Singh from Bathinda (Rs 6,250), Raj Singh from Jassi Pau Wali village (Rs 6,250), Nek Singh from Mansa Kalan village (Rs 6,250), Guriqbal Singh from Bathinda (Rs 6,250), Harinderpal Singh from Bathinda (Rs 6,250), Jagraj Singh from Kharak Singh Wala village (Rs 6,250), Murti Kaur from Bhucho Khurd village (Rs 6,250) and Raju from Dhelwan village (Rs 6,250). 

Bathinda, December 13
Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) authorities accompanied by black commandoes/policemen razed about 20 huts built by rag pickers on a land encroached upon near Mela Ram Hospital road here today. However, on seeing sick people inside, two huts were spared on humanitarian ground.

After the demolition, household commodities of the dwellers were seen scattered while the dwellers were found busy rebuilding their huts with the old material.

Vinod Kumar, a resident of one of these hutments, said that earlier, the authorities had told them to shift before the Holi festival, but today they turned up out of the blue and demolished their huts without any notice.

Kanta Rani, another resident, was more vocal. She said they would not leave the place at any cost till they got an alternative place to live. She said they could even sacrifice their lives if need be.

After razing about 20 huts, the BMC authorities headed towards another site situated on the Goniana road near three cinemas to remove the encroachments on the land where over 100 huts have been built by the dwellers in the past years.

However, the BMC officers and employees, led by superintending engineer (SE) of the BMC BD Singla, avoided to confront the dwellers and tried to persuade them to leave the place amicably. But the dwellers were not in a mood to oblige them, due to which tension gripped the area for some time.

Later, the BMC authorities found a middle way. They succeeded in getting from dwellers in writing that they would leave the place as and when the administration would provide them with an alternative place for living.

Hari Ke Pattan (Ferozepur), December 13
Hari Ke wetland, which came into existence in 1952 after the construction of a barrage on the confluence of Sutlej and Beas rivers and was subsequently declared a bird sanctuary in 1982, has come under severe threat from the encroache

About 898 acres of sanctuary land is under the illegal occupation of encroachers, who have been carrying out agricultural operations over the same for the past many years. Some of the encroachers have been using diesel operated tubewell motors to draw underground water from the deep borewell, dug up by them over the same pieces of land.

"About 30 per cent of original wet area of the sanctuary has already disappeared due to siltation. The growth of hyacinths has been eating up other vitals of the sanctuary. The encroachment of land of sanctuary has added up the problems," pointed out one of the officials of state wildlife department.

Though they had been trying to stop the encroachers from expanding their illegal operations, sometimes they had to face attack from these unscrupulous elements, who were being supported by influential persons.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that lengthy procedures of the courts of law to get the encroachments removed had also been causing embarrassment to the department officials.

Information revealed that about 21 civil suits had been instituted in different courts of law located in Sultanpur Lodhi town of Kapurthala district, Patti in Tarn Taran district and Zira in Ferozepur district to get 898 acres of land vacated. Some of these suits were nine to ten years old.

Official sources said that there were four persons, who had encroached upon about 471 acres of land. Another two individuals had managed to illegally occupy about 141 acres. About seven individuals had been occupying land ranging from ten acres to 40 acres. Two other individuals had been occupying 45 acres of land each.

A senior functionary of the wildlife department said that due to encroachment, the unscrupulous elements used to make attempts to indulge in illegal fishing, which was a serious matter.

RK Luna, chief conservator, wildlife, Punjab, when contacted, said that efforts were on to get a decision in the civil suits at the earliest so that the encroached land could be used for sanctuary.

Abohar, December 13
Two persons were killed while seven sustained injuries in different road mishaps here, sources said.

As per the information available, an Indica car that was returning to village Rajanwali of this sub-division from Dabwali reportedly collided with one Bolero jeep during an overtake bid between village Sardarpura-Khairpur on the Seetogunno-Abohar road late on Saturday night resulting in death of Indica driver Kaur Singh immediately while all other occupants including Har Gobind Singh and Surinder Singh were seriously injured. They were returning after attending a marriage function at Dabwali.

On the other hand, Savitri Devi and her son who were returning by the Bolero vehicle after attending a Bhog ceremony of their kin sustained injuries. Some farmers, who were irrigating the fields rushed in and shifted the victims to the Nehru Memorial Civil Hospital here.

One Sunny (8), son of a migrant gardener, residing in Indira Nagari locality here, died as the Activa two-wheeler that he was pillion riding was reportedly hit by a tractor-trailer on the railway goods shed link road on Sunday afternoon.

Akash (14), son of private school owner Sham Lal Arora, who was driving the two-wheeler was injured seriously and has been referred to Sriganganagar, sources said. The driver of the tractor escaped leaving behind the vehicle. 

Sriganganagar/Abohar, December 13
The Youth Welfare Federation (YWF), a wing of the Dera Sacha Sauda, on Sunday carried welfare activities in all the towns of Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar districts during the morning assemblies, informed state coordinator Lakhjit Singh.

He said the YWF members had already been asked to conduct special survey to identify the families, who had been living below the poverty line. Today, the BPL families were provided ration kits matching their monthly need whereas woolens were distributed among the students.

Bhangra artist Bhola Kulehari had performed various programmes of bhangra and gidha at national and international level.He had promoted Punjabi culture in nearly 23 countries and different cities of India through his art.He recently visited Russia with President Pratibha Patil and performed bhangra and gidha during the programmes that were orgainised by the Indian ministry of culture.

The bhangra artist, 52 years old, started performing programmes nearly 33 years ago. He had learnt this art from famous bhangra artist Bhadur Ram Sunami. Till now, he has staged different types of bhangra and gidha in 23 countries including America, German, Russia, Malaysia, Singhapure and Burma.

During the important programs in India, people watched his art during the Afro-Asian Games at Hyderabad in 2003, Baisakhi programme of DD National, Mahila Utsav Festival at Lucknow on March 7, 2002, World Newspaper conference at Hyderabad in 2009 and Indo- Pak Games at Patiala during 2004.

By virtue of his hard work and interest he attained the heights in his art. He said though his staged programmes at the national and international level but no government official had honoured him till now. ‘Sanjhi Kheti’ movie which was shown by the public relations department at villages nearly 35 years back had created deep interest in him for gidha and bhangra.

— Parmod Mehta

The students of the Inter-National Institute of Fashion Designing (INIFD) showcased their exemplary skill as well as imaginational heights by converting the waste material into beautiful showpieces during the 4-day exhibition that was organised at Mukherjee Nagar in Sriganganagar. It was inaugurated by Rajasthan minister, Gurmeet Singh Kunnar for agricultural marketing. Not only Kunnar and the dignitaries who accompanied him but hundred of other visitors including members of an NGO 'Jago Behano Jago Manch' also felt amazed over the technique adopted by the students in utilising the things that are normally thrown in the dustbin and finally damaged at the dumping centre or sold to junk collectors for a few rupee.

Director Parul Bhatia said she had picked up the idea from Padamshree Nek Chand's Rock Garden creations during her visit to Chandigarh where she was to be honoured by a celebrity Italian designer for contribution in fashion designing.

On return to her hometown, she trained the students on making the best use of the waste material.

The visitors especially appreciated knitting of designer peedhi (stole) using colored jute thread, vegetable printing on fabrics, colouring of small sewerage pipes to make out of an eye-catching piece for the drawing room, bouquets made by using cotton wood sticks and a lot of other wall decoration pieces prepared by putting pieces of cloth besides lamps, flowerpots. Members of the self-help groups formed by women in rural as well as urban areas were inspired during the exhibition to adopt such measures to earn money besides carrying on the existing job of preparing snacks and sweets.

— Raj Sadosh

Seven decades old, famous and historical clock tower of Fazilka, the photograph of which adorns the State Art Gallery at Chandigarh, is being renovated these days.

The clock tower was built by philanthropist Shoepat Rai Periwal family, who was also the former municipal council president. It was named after his forefather Ram Narain Periwal.

The tower is famous for its masonry and has a similar tower which looks like its twin in Layallpur in Pakistan.

For the past some time, vendors and rehriwalas had surrounded the base of the clock tower.

The vendors and other nearby shopkeepers threw some garbage and used its boundary as an open levorotary. This had given a bad look to the clock tower.

The necessity of restoring its old glory was being felt for long. Ultimately, local MLA Surjit Kumar Jyani took the initiative of restoring the glory of famous clock tower.

He took up the matter with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal during his visit here some time back and got an amount of Rs 25 lakh sanctioned for its renovation. Now, the council has started its renovation work. The old paint which has become loose is being scrapped. Necessary repair is being carried out.

According to MC president, Anil Kumar Sethi, the entire floor would be re-laid.

The entrance would be rebuilt. Ornamental plants would be planted in the internal boundary along with the fountains. The council has also decided to remove all encroachments. The vendors would be provided with alternative place.

— Praful Chander Nagpal

Mansa, December 13
A district committee meeting of the Bhartiya Kissan Union (Ugrahan) was held today in Mansa for the preparation of dharna which would be organised in front of the Punjab Agriculture Development Bank, Mansa, on December 21 against the arrest of farmers regarding the returning of loan.

After the meeting, district president of union, Ram Singh Bhaini Bagha said all office-bearers of the outfit including Inderjit Singh Jhabbar and Mahinder Singh Romana participated in the meeting and discussed the problems of farmers.

He informed that the dharna would be held on the state-level call of union. Farmers related demands such as rejection of arrest warrants of farmers regarding debt, releasing arrested farmers and loan waiver for farmers would be raised during the dharna.

Though farmers had ensured food security in the country but the government did not take any steps to solve the problems of farmers, he said.

Families of those farmers, who had committed suicide under the burden of debt, could not get compensation till yet from government, he added.

Abohar, December 13
Multimillion-crore measures to combat high incidence of cancer in Punjab notwithstanding, the SAD-BJP alliance government has willfully made cigarette and beeri cheaper compared to the neighbouring states. Intriguingly, sugar and pulses cost more in the state due to anomalous tax structure than the neighbouring areas of Rajasthan and Haryana.

Sources pointed out that the state government had imposed 12 per cent value added tax (VAT) on cigarette and beeri besides other tobacco products while in Rajasthan 20 per cent VAT is charged on the same products. Residents of the villages, falling in Sriganganagar and Hanumangarh districts of Rajasthan, prefer to step in the neighboring villages of Abohar sub-division during the morning walk to buy tobacco products at much cheaper rates. This has boosted the sales around the inter-state border.

Consumer Movement chairman, Sat Pal Khariwal and Hanuman Dass Goyal, executive member of the Akhil Bhartiya Grahak Panchayat, said Punjab is the only state that had imposed four per cent entry tax on sugar.

District Youth Congress president Sandeep Jakhar said the alliance government had issued blue cards that carried pictures of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his close relative, who served as minister for food and supplies departments.

The cards were to ensure supply of atta (flour) and daal (pulses) at cheaper rates but the government itself made pulses costlier by charging four per cent VAT on these whereas in the neighbouring states only one per cent VAT was applicable.

Area under sugarcane has come down by more than 50 per cent during the past decade. The cooperative sugar mills at Bodiwala Peetha village near here has got just 365 hectare of sugarcane area. How we can expect improvement in sugar prices, he asked? 

Abohar, December 13
The Bhartiya Kisan Union Ekta Sidhpur would expose the state government over false claims on waiving off loans of small farmers, during its state-level meeting, scheduled for December 16, district president Uday Singh Ghuriana said on Sunday.

He said that the Punjab Agricultural Development Bank had released loan of Rs 45000 each to them a few years back for installing tubewells. Both had alleged in the complaints lodged with the BKU that middlemen pocketed off Rs 10,000 for getting the loan sanctioned. Both had repaid more than Rs 8000 each but the bank officials asked them recently that the debts had mounted up to Rs 1.64 lakh due to high rate of interest and penalties imposed thereof in each case.

Ghuriana said that he had accompanied the farmers to the local branch of the bank on Saturday and showed the officials a copy of the announcement made through the newspapers by the government last year claiming that loans of small farmers, by holding up to five acre of land, had been written off but the officials asserted they could only offer one-time settlement by recovering 50 per cent of the due loan amount, it comes to more than 80,000 in each case.