Bathinda, March 17
A war veteran, Major-General (retd) JS Herr, says that the Punjab government should organise training courses at district level to prepare the youth for entry to the Indian Military Academy (IMA) and the National Defence Academy (NDA).

Herr was reacting to the Punjab budgetary proposal of granting Rs 1 lakh per year of training to those cadets who get admitted to the IMA or the NDA.

Having actively participated in the two wars with Pakistan in 1965 and 1971, Herr said each District Sainik Welfare Board (DSWB) should run courses to prepare students for the IMA and NDA examinations. Admission for the course should be based on merit and a talent hunt should be launched for the purpose.

“Just giving them an incentive after admission to the IMA or the NDA was not enough as most of the aspirants do not have money to pay fee for coaching for the entrance examination,” he pointed out.

For training the aspirants, the DSWBs should involve those ex-servicemen who while in the Army were posted in the selection board and various training institutes.

He said the DSWB at Bathinda was for the past two years organising classes to prepare students for IMA and NDA examinations. However, these should be run on professional lines.

Appreciating the proposal to enhance the allowance of all war decorated soldier by 40 per cent, Herr said it was encouraging that the Punjab government has remembered its soldiers in the budget.

The government should ensure that the benefits reached all categories of decorated soldiers, he added.

Bathinda, March 17
Chairman of the District Planning Committee (DPC) Sikander Singh Maluka has ordered issuance of show-cause notices to three senior officials who were absent at the meeting of the committee held here on Tuesday.

Taking a serious note, the chairman ordered the officer concerned to issue show-cause notices to the Civil Surgeon, the Superintending Engineer (PWD B&R) and the Executive Engineer (XEN), Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Bhagta, to explain why they remained absent at the 
meeting.

Meanwhile, during the meeting, the XEN of the Water Supply and Sanitation Department (Rural Water Supply) said the work on the installation of 78 reverse osmosis (RO) systems in the district had already been completed while 20 more RO systems would be installed by the end of March this year.

It was also informed that the boundary walls of 43 RO systems had already been constructed while constructon was in progress for some RO systems. The meeting ordered the commissioner of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) and the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) to install grills around the RO systems in the city where boundary walls could not be constructed.

The meeting also ordered the district programme officer to monitor the less attendance of children in the anganwari centres. Besides, the deputy commissioner ordered the programme officer to maintain an attendance register and a movement register at every anganwari centre. The SDMs and the BDPOs were asked to check the attendance of the children in the anganwari centres of their respective areas.

The meeting was also informed that the receipt of utilisation certificates of Rs 5.87 crore, released by the district planning and development board during past three years, was pending.

Bathinda, March 17
The general house of the Bathinda Municipal Corporation (BMC) today passed a budget of Rs 61.17 crore for the financial year 2010-11.

Though the budget witnessed a smooth approval, it failed to bring hope for the development of the city.

It also exposed that due to poor income generating sources of the BMC, it would be a challenge for the officials concerned to meet even unavoidable expenses.

In spite of this, the councillors jointly sought an enhancement in their honorarium to Rs 5 lakh per month from Rs 3 lakh. It will be passed in the next meeting and later, forwarded to the state government for approval.

As per the details of the budget, about 45 per cent of the budget, which amounts to Rs 27.49 crores, has been earmarked for establishment expenses and 3 per cent (Rs 1.75 core) has been proposed for contingency expenses.

The remaining 52 per cent (Rs 31.93 crores) have been allocated for maintenance and development purposes, most of which will go for committed maintenance purposes like Rs 5 core for water supply, Rs 6 crore for sewerage, Rs 45 lakh for parks and Rs 50 lakh for streetlight maintenance.

There are some other committed expenses like Rs 2 crore for repayment of loans, Rs 2.5 crore for streetlight electricity bills, Rs 1 crore for sanitation and equipment and Rs 50 lakh for building and maintenance of records.

Besides, the BMC has some non-committed jobs worth Rs 13.15 crore, which will include repair of roads, public toilets, solid waste, slum area, streetlight, park, water supply and sewerage, drain.

Significantly, the BMC, which earned only Rs 1 crore from water and sewerage bills till January 31, 2009 against the expected income of Rs 4 crore (planned in 2009-10), has now set a goal to recover more than Rs 6 crore.

The BMC is expecting VAT to be a major source of income with Rs 39.36 crores. It is also hopeful of earning Rs 4.66 crore from house tax and Rs 2.40 crore by way of octroi.

The state budget has drawn a mixed reaction as The Tribune spoke to people representing a cross-section of society

	Hike in electricity duty needs to be condemned. Instead of lending support to the dwindling industries, the finance minister imposed a fresh burden of 3 per cent electricity duty. Everywhere else, industry forms the backbone of a state but in Punjab, the government does nothing to support it—neither through adequate power supply nor any policy. — Kailash Garg, owner of a ginning and pressing mill
	The most dismal part of the budget is the hike in electricity bills. With the prices of essential commodities already skyrocketing and fuel becoming costly, the rise in power bills will only make the family budget crumble under the burden. — Santosh Kapoor, housewife
	The allocation of Rs 355 crores for primary education is appreciable. The 25 per cent rise in education expenditure for opening 21 model schools and 13 degree colleges is also praiseworthy. The budget has doubled the outlay on higher education from Rs 25 crores to Rs 51 crores. The annual grant for three state universities has been increased from Rs 63.67 crore in 2009-10 to Rs 77.75 crores in 2010-11, but it is not sufficient due to the rise in inflation at 9 per cent during the current year. — DK Madaan, principal, Pbi University, Maur campus, Bathinda
	The state government announced nothing from its own schemes. The funds announced for education sector are to be derived from the Central government schemes. Moreover, the finance minister should have focussed on improving the infrastructure and overcoming the shortage of faculty rather than announcing new colleges and schools. — Prof (retd) NK Gosain
	In the Punjab budget, special announcements could have been made for student scholarships. Moreover, the FM remained silent about filling up teachers’ vacancies, which is directly affecting our studies. — Gagan Deep Kaur, BA-II student, Government Rajindra College
	Rs 1 lakh to each candidate every year till the completion of IMA/NDA courses is an appreciable step of the Punjab government as it will attract students who instead opt for engineering and medical professions. They will be motivated to join defence services. — Risaldar Mukhtiar Singh, coordinator, NDA pre-training coaching classes

Fazilka, March 17
Mehak Chaudhary, daughter of Dr Hans Raj has brought laurels to Fazilka. She topped Rajasthan University in the MBBS final year, the result of which was declared on Tuesday.

A student of Sardar Patel Medical College, Bikaner (Rajsthan), Mehak Chaudhury stood first in the university. She always stood first right from te first standard to MBBS final year. She secured the third position in the Punjab pre-medical entrance test. She was declared the best student of the university in the year 2009.

Ferozepur, March 17
For the third consecutive day, members of the Dalit community continued their protest against the government to support their demands for allotment of five marla plots to those whose houses have been demolished by the MC authorities.

The Dalit Welfare Sabha members who have been on a relay hunger strike outside the office of the Deputy Commissioner (DC) also blocked the traffic on the main Ferozepur-Moga highway today and raised slogans against the government. SDM Rajiv Prashar and DSP PS Parmar reached the spot and assured them of timely action, following which the blockade was lifted.

Bagga Singh, president, Dalit Welfare Sabha, alleged that the government was not concerned about the welfare of the Dalits adding that they were not even getting any benefit from the welfare schemes.

Kewal Krishan said the members of their community, working in rice mills, brick kilns, grain markets were not getting the due remuneration according to Minimum Wages Act and daily allowance fixed by the DC.

Abohar, March 17
Hundreds of NREGA workers participated in a rally at the Nehru Park here today to express resentment over denial of job work by the authorities.

Later, they marched in procession to the office of the BDPO located near the sub-divisional complex, staged dharna and shouted slogans against the state government.

While addressing the protesters, NREGA Rozgar Workers Union leaders said they were guaranteed 100 days job work but most of them were not even provided 30 days work even when a few days were left out of the financial year.

The Block Development and Panchayat Officers (BDPOs) had asked them to report for work on March 15 to clean sub-canals but none of the officials turned up at the sites. They have now been informed that the project has been postponed for a week or so.

Abohar, March 17
The staff of the irrigation department was left high and dry as scores of farmers led by firebrand BJP leader Vijay Luxmi Bhadoo, chairperson of the Punjab Women and Child Development Board, stormed the office of the executive engineer in the canal colony complex here and virtually gheraoed him.

Bhadoo alleged that the irrigation officials had been victimising the farmers of the tail-end villages to illegally benefit the Akali jathedars. The share of the Lambi sub-canal was being diverted to the Lalbai sub-canal under dictates from the CM house, she alleged.

As XEN Vijay Pal Singh Mann sought to express his helplessness, she talked to the chief engineer Amarjit Singh over phone in the presence of media persons and expressed anguish over the wrong distribution of canal water.

However, he visibly switched off the phone without giving a proper hearing. She contacted superintending engineer PS Bhogal and warned of spearheading unprecedented agitation if water was not made available to them. Later, she made a phone call to the CM but was informed that the CM was having a siesta.

XEN Vijay Pal Singh Mann later said that Rs 10 lakh had been released to the sarpanch of village Shergarh to get the tail-end portion of the sub-canal cleaned but he has not got the work done so far. Bhadoo said it is not our duty to tame the sarpanch.

Abohar, March 17
Former PPCC president Virendra Kataria has lodged a strong protest with the Railway Board chairman SS Khurana over withdrawal of the new AC chaircar coach from the 2481/2482 Sriganganagar-Bathinda-Delhi intercity express train.

In a memorandum faxed to the chairman today, the former MP regretted that the new AC chaircar coach has now been withdrawn. The same old coach with damaged chairs has been attached to the train.

Ferozepur, March 17
The local police reportedly recovered 5.5 lakhs intoxicating tablets from Manoj Kumar, who was arrested from the Zira gate area of this town late last night.

Narinder Singh, SHO, city police station, said that Manoj was transporting the tablets packed in five boxes in a car. He was signalled to stop at a checkpoint and during a search five boxes comprising Finotil tablets were recovered. A case in this connection had been registered under the NDPS Act against Manoj in the city police station.

Abohar: A woman allegedly involved in retail selling of smack was arrested again by a police party led by SHO Veer Singh. Luxmi Devi of Nai Abadi locality was arrested under the NDPS Act on recovery of 15 gm smack, sources said.