Bathinda, January 14
Paying heed to the woes of Bathinda residents, the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) authorities today initiated the renovation of Units III and IV of local Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant (GNDTP), a major source of air pollution in the city.

Engineers of the Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL) have formally launched the dismantling of the Unit III with a target to complete its overhauling in nine months.

According to information collected from the PSEB authorities, during the process, boilers, turbines and coal mills would totally be replaced with new ones. The process would cost about Rs 465 crore to the PSEB.

However, the authorities claimed that once the renovation was completed, pollution would come under specified limits. In addition, the generation capacity of both the units would also increase to 120 MW each, which is about 110 MW at present.

Sources in the GNDTP informed that all four units of the plant had completed their lives, but about three years ago, Units I and II had been renovated by installing electrostatic precipitators thereby extending their running lives.

The remaining two units, number III (commissioned in 1978) and IV, had been considered as major sources of pollution in and around the city. Resultantly, people were falling prey not only to respiratory problems but to skin and eye infections also.

Irked over this, activists of the joint action committee (JAC) had lodged various protests and submitted memorandum to the senior authorities of the district administration. Meanwhile, the JAC had also filed a writ petition in the Punjab & Haryana High Court, which is still pending.

The authorities concerned had kept on delaying the issue floating one or another excuse. Earlier, it was said that due to power crisis in the state, the PSEB could not afford to shut down the units. Later, the authorities started passing the buck to the BHEL authorities, accusing them of delaying the work.

Following several complaints, Member of Parliament Harsimrat Kaur Badal shot a letter to Union Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh pointing out the menace, which had been making the ruling leaders to face public outrage.

Elated over the development, convener of the JAC MM Behal said, “It is a welcome step, which would provide relief to Bathinda residents.”

He demanded that the renovation of both the units should be completed without any break in proceedings.

Bathinda, January 14
To give imputes to skill development and vocational training, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called upon the industrial and construction sector to initiate joint ventures with the Punjab government to set up skill development training centres that would prepare semi-literate youth for gainful employment.

Badal was formally inaugurating the Construction Skill Training Institute (CSTI) that has been set up in a joint collaboration with the Punjab government and the Larsen & Toubro Ltd. (L&T) at a cost of Rs 8 crore in Abulkhurana village near Lambi in Muktsar district.

Badal lamented that the poor rural youth had been grossly neglected in the process of national development despite their tremendous potential. Expressing deep concern over the problem of unemployment that was growing at an alarming rate, the CM urged the Centre to prepare a multi-pronged strategy in consultation with state governments to tackle poverty and unemployment effectively. He called upon the unemployed youth to acquire technical skills to earn their livelihood in a dignified manner rather than sitting idle. He called upon the youth to bring a perceptible change in their mindset towards white-collared jobs, especially the government jobs, as the state government was unable to provide these to the entire unemployed youth due to financial constraints.

Reiterating the commitment of the SAD-BJP government to impart vocational training to the unemployed youth so as to enable them to get suitable employment not only within the country but overseas also, Badal said the state government had already set up the department of employment generation to check the problem of unemployment in a result-oriented manner and had successfully launched skill development programme in collaboration with prominent industrial houses.

Speaking on the occasion, joint general manager of L&T RK Aggarwal said the advanced welding shop set up at Abulkhurana was second in the country that was equipped with ultra modern and advanced technology, following the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela. He said the L&T would soon set up more such institutes in the state on the same pattern.

Principal of the institute RD Parsad said the institute had so far imparted training to 156 youth, of whom 105 had been absorbed in various industrial and construction activities. As many as 81 trained youth have been employed in the Guru Gobind Singh Oil Refinery here.

He said 10 youth had been selected for employment in Oman.

Abohar, January 14
True to the fears repeatedly expressed by the Akhil Bhartiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha, hunters have again become active in the wildlife sanctuary area in this sub-division. Notably, Abohar sub-division is also known for the largest open wildlife sanctuary that once had more than 3,000 blackbucks.

Sabha vice-president, Ramesh Bishnoi, confirmed on Thursday evening that horns of two deer were found when employees of the wildlife department, Kulwant Singh and Ruhbash Singh, visited the protracted area located in between Rajanwali and Dutaranwali villages today.

As per the preliminary reports, one Mani Ram had informed the Sabha members on Saturday that he heard six gunshots at about 11 pm on Friday.

As he switched on the torch, some persons were noticed transporting bodies of deer but their exact number could not be known due to dense fog.

The Sabha had immediately brought it to the notice of the officials concerned but none bothered to investigate.

Finally, the state headquarters of the wild- life department was approached resulting in the visit of the two employees today. The incident has been recorded in the daily diary report without identifying the culprits/suspects, sources said.

Notably, the Sabha had sent half a dozen representations to the state government during the last year informing that stray dogs and hunters had started chasing deer as well as blackbucks in the wildlife sanctuary spread over 33 villages of the region.

Forest minister Teekshan Sood was informed during his maiden visit to the sub-division that the department here had no means of transportation for patrolling as auction of the outlived vehicles had not been permitted by the authorities concerned for more than a decade.

Sood, when countered by the scribes at the canal rest house here, had diplomatically stated that “efforts to revamp the department are in the pipeline” but nothing has come out even after a year.

Meanwhile, the killings of deer have sent a shockwave in the region especially among the Bishnoi community that is known for protecting animals and trees. 

Ferozepur, January 14
In a special search operation, the sleuths belonging to 43 battalion, the BSF seized Fake Indian Currency Notes (FICN) worth Rs five lakhs in an area between the fencing and the Indo-Pakistan border near the border outpost New Gajniwala.

The DIG (BSF), Rajesh Gupta said the special operation was carried out following an intelligence input regarding attempts being made to smuggle the FICN through the international border. Gupta said that the fake currency notes were wrapped in form of eight packets with adhesive tapes and kept in a polythene bag buried under the ground, which bears the name of a Lahore-based shoe company.

The DIG said the fake currency were in denomination of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, adding that two packets of Rs 1000 notes (199) and six packets of Rs 500 notes (596) were seized amounting to a total of Rs 4,97,000.

Gupta said that the strategy was 'conceal and clear', as the FICN consignment was supposed to be retrieved by the Indian counterparts after being concealed in the undulated and uncultivated area near the border pillar 214/4 close to the BOP New Gajniwala.

According to the BSF sources, the smugglers had kept an empty tobacco pouch on this location so that the retrievers could identify the place that was around 100 mts inside the IB and 50 mts from the fencing

Earlier, the Punjab Police team had recovered fake currency worth Rs 50,000 from the area close to the border and this is the second instance to recover fake currency.

Mansa, January 14
A youth was allegedly murdered in Jhanda Kalan village on Wednesday night due to controversy over Lohri celebrations. As per the details, some youths of the Jhanda Kalan village assembled to celebrate Lohri where they reportedly had a fight over some issue.

During this, Baljeet Singh of Jhanda Kalan village, was killed by another youth reportedly with a sword on the spot. Police said some youths had collected money for Lohri. They had a fight among themselves which resulted in the killing of the youth.

SHO, Sardulgarh, Darshan Singh, said police had registered a case against Gurpreet Singh , Gurjit Singh and their father Sulakhan Singh, all residents of the Jhanda Kalan village under section s 302,307,34 of the IPC. All the accused are still absconding. Efforts are on to arrest the accused, he said. — OC 

Chauke (Bathinda), January 14
Jeond defeated Burj Hari village in the only Kabaddi match (60-kg category) played on the inaugural day of the 17th Rural Sports Championship and Kabaddi tournament being organised at Chauke village today.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and chief parliamentary secretary Jagdeep Singh Nakai inaugurated the event organised by the Shaheed Baba Maha Singh Youth Welfare and Sports Club in collaboration with the Jawahar Youth Club, the gram panchayat and the IFFCO.

Speaking on the occasion, Sukhbir Badal announced that the state government would soon come up with its new sports policy that would focus on the promotion of state players to international level. “Under the new policy, we have been extending all facilities to the players, including training, coach, stadium, infrastructure, diet, prizes and equipment,” he said.

Sukhbir said the construction of two sports centre equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and various stadiums at village and state level were also under process.

Flaying the Union Sports Ministry for its alleged ignorant attitude towards the Hockey India, Sukhbir said it was a matter of shame that world cup players had to lodge protest to get the facilities. He also announced that the state government would organise the Kabaddi World Cup in March.

The winner would get a reward of Rs one crore while the runner-up would get Rs 51 lakh and the team clinching the third place would get Rs 25 lakh.

Earlier, Sukhbir inaugurated the newly-constructed building of the Government Senior Secondary School. He maintained that to provide better facilities to students, buildings of 351 schools throughout the state were constructed at a total cost of Rs16 crore under the NABARD 13 scheme.

Meanwhile, renowned Punjabi singer Balkar Singh Sidhu enthralled the audience, with one of his hit songs “Tu Meri Khand Mishri…” making everyone dance to dhol beats. During his performance, he categorically attacked the social evils, which was well received by the audience.