Jalandhar, April 23
The decision of the state government to allow the owners of 5-marla houses in the city exemption from paying any water charges does not go down well with environmentalists and social observers here.

They are of the opinion that giving any freebies, especially water, can be detrimental to the environment. “Water is priceless. Unfortunately, we are not realising its worth,” Lakhbir Singh, president of NGO Pahal, echoed his sentiments.

“If the supply is metered and users know that they would be charged for every trickle that flows down, only then they can understand its actual value. Given free, half the population in the state is using it indiscriminately. This can have serious aftermaths. They say that Punjab will be a desert state in two to three decades but going by the trend, it seems that the critical situation is not far,” he said.

Anoop Watts of the Jalandhar Citizens Welfare Council commented, “Freebie policies do not actually benefit those for whom these are actually meant. There will be many who would unduly take advantage of the scheme. The scheme, if at all is to be offered, should only be extended to BPL families who actually deserve it.

The yardstick needs correction in context with the present times. Anyone who owns a house in the city, may be less than an area of 5 marlas, does not actually need any exemptions. A marla land in the city in posh area like Model Town is worth anything between Rs 10 lakh and Rs 15 lakh.”

He further raised his voice on the matter saying, “We are heading towards a serious water crisis. The time is not far off when water will become dearer than milk or even fuel. Only then people will start realising the value of the thirst-quenching and body purifying fluid.”

Jalandhar, April 23
The existing education system cannot develop without research and development.It is imperative that universities focus on the promotion of research activities and linkages with various industries to provide quality human resources.

These thoughts were expressed by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil at the seventh convocation of Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology (NIT) here today.

Addressing students, the Governor emphasised on developing technologies rather than using the existing ones for future development.

Developed nations look forward to the most appropriate technologies for development, therefore students should know how to develop their capabilities to carry out advanced research works, he said.

“As a nation rather than a developing one, we have been importing advanced technologies in this era of globalisation. There is a big scope to develop appropriate technologies which are required for agriculture, irrigation, industry and electronic gadgets. Students should use their potential for research work in these fields,” he maintained.

As many as 477 students were awarded degrees, which included 384 students of B. Tech, 60 of M. Tech, 28 of MSc and five PhD students. The gold medals were given to 18 students in the discipline of B. Tech, M. Tech and MSc.

NIT Director Prof Moin Uddin read out the annual report and said that 46 students had qualified in GATE while six students qualified in CAT this year. He mentioned that final-year students of the institute received 279 job offers this year with a highest package of Rs 11 lakh per annum from the Power Grid Corporation of India.

Hoshiarpur, April 23
Presiding over a meeting of the Public Health Department Advisory Committee, Deputy Commissioner Megh Raj appealed to the members to motivate people in their villages to get water supply connection from government tubewells for getting potable water as the government tubewells were deeply sunk. The water supplied by deep tubewells was hygienic and potable for human consumption as compared with the water from the hand pumps, etc.

He further appealed to them to also motivate the people to deposit their water or electric bills so that proper maintenance of government tubewells could be done. He asked the members to encourage people to construct latrines in their houses to maintain environment pollution free.

Meetings of 12 district advisory committees of the public health, cooperative, police, health, welfare, education, revenue, basic infrastructure and municipal amenities, food and supplies, electricity and excise and taxation departments were held to review the progress of various ongoing schemes at the mini-secretariat today.

One of the members said the water of a pond of Moonak Kakan village was overflowing and causing inconvenience to the inhabitants. The DC instructed the officials to pump out the water and use it for irrigation purposes.

Regarding a complaint of leakage of water from supply pipes at Talwandi Dadian, he instructed the Executive Engineer of the of the area to provide the maximum connections for reducing the leakage. He also instructed to distribute folders regarding nirmal water supply through NREGA workers. Addressing the meeting of the Police Department committee, SSP Rakesh Aggarwal said it was the general opinion of the public to appoint a chowkidar in each village of the district for “theekari pehra”.