Tribune Impact
Dumping of toxic industrial ash in rural belt
DC directs PPCB to investigate matter
Amritsar, April 29
Awakening to the grave issue of dumping of highly toxic industrial ash in the rural belt as highlighted in The Tribune columns, Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu today held meeting with Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) authorities and directed to investigate the problem.

Garbage dumping blues for residents
Pathankot, April 29
“If you cannot dump it on your own land, dump it on land belonging to others.” This seems to be the message of the Pathankot Municipal Council, as it has started dumping garbage on the prime land owned by some residents after a councillor, in whose ward the MC’s garbage site fell, allegedly forced the authorities to scout for a new site.

Chandigarh, April 29
Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal’s inquiry into the alleged irregularities in the selection of doctors by the Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) ends up being rather one sided.

As part of his inquiry, the Chief Secretary took on record a set of detailed comments by PPSC chairman Sanjit Sinha but failed to take into account the version of even a single rejected candidate.

Aggarwal’s report quotes Sinha’s justification time and again but often fails to go beyond it or to even attempt an analysis of the comments offered by Sinha. No effort was made by the Chief Secretary to call upon any of the victims to hear their side of the story that might have countered Sinha’s comments.

“We have no problem with the Chief Secretary having taken on record Sinha’s letter. The chairman of the PPSC has the right to put across his point of view. But what about our point of view? He did not call any one of us to hear the other side of the story. The report is a straight attempt to protect Sinha. In fact it seems like a handy document to bail out the PPSC,” said Dr Vikram Singh, member of the Doctors Justice League.

“This is no inquiry at all. It is an apologetic defence of the allegations. Where is the inquiry? What new fact did Aggarwal find? We all knew that non-meritorious students were chosen. We all knew that 50 per cent marks for the interview were very high,” added Dr Harinder Sekhon.

Having stated that the selections are not liable to be quashed merely on the ground that 50 per cent marks have been allotted for the interview, the Chief Secretary did not bother to go into the “quality” of these interviews. “Had he called the rejected candidates, we would have told him the frivolous questions we were asked and how interviews ended in less than a minute,” Said Dr Deepinder singh.

Aggarwal also chose to ignore a detailed memorandum submitted by advocate HC Arora, an RTI activist. Arora had gathered information about the selections and had come out with several startling observations, which he brought to the Chief Secretary’s notice during the course of the inquiry.

The memorandum included documents, which showed among other things, how certain candidates were allowed to attach certificates for social work even after the interviews were over.

Turning a blind eye to these “proofs”, Aggarwal in his report simply states that the chairman of the commission has denied these allegations and “it appears difficult to sustain this allegation.”

Aggarwal also fails to find out why the PPSC did not disclose the selection criteria till the end of the interview. “The response of the PPSC on this issue is to be obtained. However, in reply to one of the applications for seeking information under RTI by one of the candidates, the commission has replied that criteria has been kept secret till the interviews are over and that the criteria cannot be disclosed before declaration of the results,” is all that Aggarwal has to say in his report on this.

It remains a mystery as to how this response by the commission could have been accepted by Aggarwal. Even at face value, it only betrays the utter arbitrariness shown by the commission.

“The report only serves to reveal the bureaucratic nexus where one IAS officer comes to the rescue of another,” added Dr Vikram Singh. 

Chandigarh, April 29
More investment in distribution of drinking water in the urban areas, bringing in a water audit system, making rainwater harvesting mandatory, reviving ponds and wells and removing the scarcity in “non-revenue” water for the poor are among the solutions to address drinking water shortage in Punjab and Haryana.

First and foremost, there is a feeling that municipalities need to distribute water in a better manner and also take into account the poor by ensuring the adequate supply of non-revenue water among them.

Speaking about the situation in Punjab and Haryana, Dr Sudhirender Sharma of the Ecological Foundation says that municipalities were not geared up for efficient water distribution. He said low water prices had resulted in accumulation of losses and distribution systems were not being maintained and now were being leased out to private parties.

Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal said major amount should be invested to ensure smooth drinking water supply in towns and cities. He said in case of Punjab, even the Rs 1,200-crore World Bank aided scheme had not achieved the desired result due to slow implementation.

He claimed that the state had achieved part-success by establishing reverse osmosis plants in the Malwa belt where groundwater quality was very poor and such plants would come up in 1,000 villages.

Magsaysay award winner Rajender Singh said storm water and waste water should not be allowed to mix and that waste water could be treated and used for agriculture and horticulture purposes. He also stressed a water audit system
for cities, towns and even individual houses.

There are also demands for making water harvesting mandatory in the urban areas and reviving wells and ponds in the rural areas. Kheti Virasat Mission head Umendra Dutt said rooftop harvesting could be done easily in the urban areas and this could meet emergency demands of people in case of sudden disconnection of piped water. At present, rainwater harvesting was mandatory only for commercial properties.

There is also a demand to address the needs of people, who consumer “non revenue” water. Dr Sudhirender says that these are the people, who are usually accused of pilfering water and even damaging lines. He says there is a need to increase non-revenue water supply in areas where water scarcity is acute.

Rajinder Singh says Punjab also needs to realise that it can no longer afford the luxury of the encouraging industry that is water intensive in nature and also causes water pollution. Distillery and big pharmaceutical companies fall in this category.

“Such industry should be discouraged in future and existing units should be made to conform to the required standards in reality”, he added. 

Amritsar, April 29
Awakening to the grave issue of dumping of highly toxic industrial ash in the rural belt as highlighted in The Tribune columns, Deputy Commissioner Kahan Singh Pannu today held meeting with Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) authorities and directed to investigate the problem.

It is pertinent to mention here that the issue was highlighted in The Tribune columns on April 29. The highly toxic industrial ash is being dumped alongside the roads in the rural belt in a clandestine manner.

“We will definitely not allow any industrial units to play with the environment, for which the administration has initiated a number of steps. The industrial units will also be taken to task and will be asked to follow the stipulated norms laid by PPCB,” said Pannu.

Meanwhile, the Mission Agaaz, an NGO, today shot a letter to DC urging him to issue strict instructions to the erring industrial units for stopping illegal dumping of the industrial ash that is high in sulphur dioxide in the rural belt giving scant regards to the established rules. It also pleaded to made adequate arrangements for excavating the fly ash already dumped on the roadside of the Muradpura village, situated on the Fatehgarh Churian road.

“The district administration should be aware of the sarpanches of the villages, so that no water body can be obliterated by toxic ash or by any other substance,” said Gurbhej Singh, general-secretary of the organisation. “Since the matter is of immense importance being directly related to the health of individuals, the soil and the environment, it is prayed that the action should be taken without any delay,” he added.

Expressing concern, he pointed out that already a study conducted by PGI, Chandigarh, and Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, has indicated that there was an increase in fluoride content in the subsoil water, the health of the individual was being affected and changes in genes have already started occurring.

Barehanded handling and unauthorised transport of this toxic ash was also an offence that needs to be curbed immediately, as the open transport of the toxic ash in trucks and trolleys has adverse impact on the environment and on the children studying schools in the affected region, he added.

Pathankot, April 29
“If you cannot dump it on your own land, dump it on land belonging to others.” This seems to be the message of the Pathankot Municipal Council, as it has started dumping garbage on the prime land owned by some residents after a councillor, in whose ward the MC’s garbage site fell, allegedly forced the authorities to scout for a new site.

The MC had acquired 56 kanals of land near Rara village in 2003 and till February this year, the council was dumping garbage in that area. But the councillor forced the council to shift dumping operations elsewhere. Left with no option, the MC deemed it fit to throw the garbage on the land belonging to one of the residents, Baldev Raj Kalra of Nehru chowk. Kalra also owns orchards near the dumping site and has claimed that they are getting affected.

Earlier in 2000, when the MC had no earmarked land to dump garbage, Kalra had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. At that time too, the MC thought it prudent to throw garbage on land belonging to Kalra. But the MC counsel informed the court that they had got “cleared the disputed place” following which the court disposed of Kalra’s petition. Simultaneously, the court directed the Punjab Pollution Control Board to monitor the situation after every six months. Kalra’s son, Dr Arvind Kalra, claimed that the board had failed to monitor the situation.

However, MC sanitary inspector Sarup Singh showed documents to prove that land was purchased in 2003 and the garbage was being thrown there. Officials claimed that the garbage was dumped at the council’s site till February when some vested interests managed to bully the council into throwing it elsewhere.

Dera Bassi, April 29
Upbeat about the Supreme Court’s recent verdict that quashed the expulsion of former Punjab Chief Minister and Congress leader Amarinder Singh from the state assembly over a land scam, senior party leaders have demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon on moral grounds.

District Congress president and MLA Balbir Singh Sidhu, MLA Ajit Inder Singh Moffar, MLA Mangat Rai Bansal, among others, welcomed the apex court’s decision and termed it a historic verdict in favour of democracy from which the “SAD- BJP government should learn a lesson”.

Amarinder Singh’s expulsion was the result of political vendetta adopted by the ruling state government, they added.

Notably, Amarinder Singh was expelled from the 13th state assembly on September 10, 2008, for breach of privilege after a resolution was passed on the basis of the report of a special committee appointed by the assembly on alleged irregularities. 

Nangal, April 29
The Nangal Municipal Council is all set to have a new treatment plant to meet with requirements of those areas that are dumping their sewage into the Sutlej thereby polluting it.

From the chungi No. 1 area, the polluted water falls into nullah and further mingles with the Sutlej dumping muck even in the national notified Nangal wetland.

Areas like Rajnagar, Railway Road, Indira Nagar and Sharma Store have been dumping sewage in the Sutlej in absence of a proper sewage treatment plant. The city has a plant with capacity of 8 million liters/day situated at Naya Nangal, but it does not cater to the needs of the aforesaid areas.

Municipal engineer, MC Nangal, HD Mehta said the plant was coming up at a cost of Rs 5 crore. For this, the MC had acquired land for Rs 19.60 lakh of Barari’s village cremation ground.

“We have already acquired three acres. Also, Rs 5 crore have been deposited with the executing agency of the Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board,” he said.

With a capacity of treating five million liters/day of sewage, the plant will come up on latest activated sludge technology.

This technology scores over conventional technology in many ways, thereby making residual water more fit for irrigation purposes. This is known to be environment-friendly, where in no foul smell is emitted in conventional plants. The plant uses bacteria for aeration, which otherwise is not used in conventional plants.

XEN, Punjab Water Supply and Sewerage Board, Resham Lal said tenders for the construction of new sewage plant were floated a few days ago. “Work would be allotted in next two months and plant would be commissioned in about an year,” he added.

Chandigarh, April 29
Gurcharan Singh Tohra never lived to see the outcome of his case.

Twentysix years after he moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the “Terrorist-Affected Area (Special Courts) Act”, his petition was disposed of as infructuous.

Tohra remained the SGPC head for a record 27 years. Considered one of the most influential and controversial Sikh leaders of the 20th century, Tohra died of a heart attack in Delhi on March 31, 2004, at the age of 79.

As the matter came up for hearing this morning, a five-Judge Bench, comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice Jasbir Singh, Justice Ranjit Singh and Justice Alok Singh, disposed of his petition as the Act was no longer in force.

Tohra, along with Akali leader Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, had filed the petition in 1984 during his confinement at Jodhpur jail under the National Security Act. Other Akali leaders, too, had filed a similar petition. All petitions were disposed of by the Bench with the same order.

Tohra had challenged the vires of the Act on the ground that it was against Article 14, 19 and 21. Elaborating, he had added terms like “terrorist” were vague. He had further added: The Central Government could constitute a special court, “even outside the place, which had been declared as terrorist-affected area”.

Tohra had asserted he was being proceeded against in a case registered for murder, attempt to murder and other offences under Sections 121-A, 122, 123, 124-A, 153-A, 153-B, 333, 307 and 302 of the IPC, the Arms Act and the Explosive Substances Act.

He had expressed apprehension that a special court for trial of their case would be constituted in Rajasthan. If they were to be tried by a special court in Jodhpur, they would not have the advantage of discussing the case with legal adviser, before facing the trial, he said. 

Jalandhar, April 29
With other five states also in the race, Punjab is trying hard to press the authorities to set up the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA) at Laddowal farm, near Ludhiana.

The institute is to be set up by the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Centre (Mexico), which is otherwise popular as CIMMYT. Norman Borlaug, known as father of green revolution across the globe, passed away last year. The BISA is a tribute to him.

A high-level team, led by Dr Ronnie Coffman, director of the international programme of CIMMYT, today visited the Punjab Agricultural University to have assessment with regard to state’s claim to set up BISA. Other members of the team are director (maize), Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), Sai Dass, coordinator of CIMMYT for South Asia Raj Gupta and secretary of the ICAR Rajiv M Rishi.

Director agriculture, Punjab, Balwinder Singh Sidhu, who has been appointed as a nodal officer by the state government for the BISA project, today conducted the team to the university. Sidhu said the state government had offered 200 hectares of land at Laddowal to set up the BISA. It was one of the conditions laid by the CIMMYT authorities.

“As the state is keen to lead the country for second green revolution, which is need of the hour to ensure better food security, the setting up of BISA in the state will be most appropriate decision of the Centre,” said Balwinder. He said BISA would work to further improve upon the research initiatives taken by Borlaug in the field of wheat and maize. He said BISA would give a boost to research on new varieties of wheat and maize. Other states in the race are Maharashtra, UP, Rajasthan, MP and Uttaranchal. Following a tie up among the six states, the Centre has set up a team to assess the claims of all these states with regard to the setting up of BISA. Coffman was made leader of the team, as the project is to be funded by the CIMMYT.

Punjab has argued that its scientists such as DS Athwal worked along with Borlaug for several years to usher in green revolution in the country in 1960s. Borlaug had a special attachment with Punjab, as it was the state where agriculture scientists worked at a rapid speed on Mexican dwarf varieties of wheat to test their suitability to local conditions. 

Ludhiana, April 29
With the withdrawal of PAU-201 variety of paddy, the efforts of the state government to save underground water have come to square one, as farmers are now choosing PUSA-44, a variety that consumes more water and takes 16 more days (than 201) to mature.

Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) has been discouraging farmers from choosing this variety for over a decade now, as it consumes 4,000 litres of water for every one quintal of paddy. The consumption was more than any other crop grown on earth.

The fact that the farmers had selected PUSA-44 this season came to light during a farmers’ training camp held at the local agriculture office today. The farmers from different parts of the state said they would go in for PUSA-44, as it was a tried and tested variety that could be easily procured.

Surjit Singh, a farmer from Rangiwal village, said he liked the 201 variety very much. But if the government could not stand by it, why should they think about anything. ‘‘We cannot think of any other variety. We have to go in for 44. We have already purchased the seed, ’’ he said.

Another farmer, Sukhpal Singh of Issewal village said the farmers had no option. ‘‘Everybody knows that this consumes more water than any other variety. The level of groundwater will be lowered further now, ’’ he said.

Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, who addressed the farmers at the camp, blamed the Centre for banning PAU-201. Replying to the question of popularity of 44, he said the FCI created problems and the state government had to ban the cultivation of 201 in the state. ‘‘Otherwise this was a good variety that could have saved lots of water, ’’ he said.

Meanwhile, PAU scientists have stated that the 44 variety would spell doom for the state. ‘‘The scenario is dismal. If the farmers are not stopped, we will have to pay through our nose. The state will become a desert sooner than later,’’ they said, requesting anonymity.

Moga, April 29
Controversies continue to haunt the Moga police as it fired shots at a youth this afternoon, who had recently come from Canada, allegedly without giving any warning when he was sitting with his girlfriend in a jeep on a roadside near Daudhar village.

The injured youth, identified as Budh Singh and originally resident of Machike village of this district, was immediately rushed to Dayanand Medical College and Hospital in Ludhiana where his condition was said to be stable, said family members of the victim.

SSP of Moga Sneh Deep Sharma said he had asked the SP (D) Gurmail Singh to visit the spot and inquire the incident.

The SP (D) said as per the preliminary inquiry conducted by him, one of the constables had mistakenly shot at the jeep from the back as the police had secret information that some suspected hardcore criminals had been roaming on the Moga-Barnala road for the past couple of days possessing arms.

Adding that the police was on a hunt for the criminals, who had murdered a sarpanch and his associate at Daudhar village a few days back, he said special teams of the police from Moga, Barnala, Faridkot and Jagraon were constituted to nab them.

The SP said as per the statements given by the police party, a warning was given to those sitting in the jeep and adequate time was given to them to come out of it.

Since the cops feared that there could be suspected criminals in the jeep, one of them, in a bid to fire in the air, mistakenly shot at the jeep when the youth tried to run away from the spot.

He said the police had written the sequence of the incident in the daily register and further investigations were in progress. “We will take action after the inquiry is completed”, he said.

Meanwhile, Nirmal Singh and Bhupinder Singh, both brothers of the injured youth, alleged that the police did not give any warning to them before firing.

“They have fired three shots at the jeep and one of shot struck the shoulder of my brother after passing through the driver’s seat”, they said. They demanded a stern action against the cops involved in the incident.

Chandigarh, April 29
The Punjab government will issue appointment letters to the newly selected 7,654 teachers within a week. Besides, admission date has also been extended from April 26th to May 15th for all classes in the schools of the state.

Education and Languages Minister, Punjab, Dr Upinderjit Kaur disclosed this in a meeting with CEOs and DEOs held here today.

She informed that the recruitment process for the selection of the teachers had already been completed and screening process for verification of their certificates was under completion.

“The officers have been directed to post these teachers to the border/ kandi/ bet areas and rural schools having shortage of teachers on priority basis,” she added.

To increase the enrolment in the schools, the minister directed the field officers to motivate the parents to admit their wards in the government schools.

She categorically stated that the rationalisation process would be initiated during the month of June on the basis of enrolment of students up to May 15.

Patiala, April 29
The Central Government has de-centralised the payment system for mid-day meal scheme. Now, District Education Officers will pay contractors directly on monthly basis.

Director General of School Education Krishan Kumar said the money had already been given to the DEOs and the department would ensure that the payment was made in time.

He said the contractors would submit the bills of foodgrains that were lifted for the month to DEOs within 15 days, the payment for which would be made within the next 15 days.

Bathinda, April 29
Two persons were arrested for assaulting and snatching the camera of a Tribune lensman Pawan Sharma when he was taking photographs of an under-construction super-speciality hospital on the premises of the Civil Hospital here this evening.

Sharma said, “I was clicking photographs of the under-construction Max super-speciality cancer hospital when three persons, including a security guard, pounced on me and snatched my camera. Before I could utter a word, they started hurling abuses and threatened me”.

“Despite my explanation, they thrashed me. Taking me in illegal confinement, one of them threatened to kill and bury me in the foundations of the structure,” alleged Pawan Sharma.

Taking action on the complaint, the Kotwali police lodged a case against the three accused under Sections 382, 342, 506, 323 and 34 of the IPC.

Later, the police arrested two of the accused, namely Lalit Verma, a project engineer of construction company Ahuja Builders, and official of Bulls Eye Security Sunil Kumar.

SHO Kotwali Amarjit Singh said, “We have arrested two accused, while efforts are on to nab their accomplice.” Further, he said the raiding party recovered the camera from the possession of the culprits.