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Cotton sowing delayed, may fail to meet target
Fazilka Municipal Council hogs limelight for wrong reasons
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Census assignment to teachers
Birds find saviour in scouts and guides
Consumer forum awards jail term to LIC officials
New school building inaugurated
Science exhibition
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Cotton sowing delayed, may fail to meet target
Abohar, May 5 It has triggered fear among the agriculture department authorities that the state might again fail to meet the target of the area to be brought under cotton. The authorities also feared that though they have decided to divert a significant area, which was under paddy cultivation last year, to other less water consuming crops including cotton this year, they would not be achieving their mission. "Last year, only 5.11 lakh hectares of the area can be brought under cotton cultivation despite the fact that the state agriculture department authorities fixed 5.5 lakh hectares of area as target to be brought under cotton cultivation. Though the target remain unchanged this year, whether it will be achieved or not can't be predicted at this stage," pointed out Jasbir Singh Bains, Deputy Director (Cotton), Punjab. Though sowing has started picking up now and it is hoped that by May 15, about 80 per cent of the targeted area would be brought under cotton. If the canal water is made available to the farmers in sufficient quantity, they would be able to meet the target of the area by extending the sowing of cotton till May 30, he added. Kirpal Singh, a farmer, said he could sow only three acres out of his seven acres of land with cotton till today as canal water was available in less quantity as the minors and distributaries were running much below their respective capacities. The problem of canal water was worst in villages which were located at the tail-end of distributaries and there were some villages in various pockets of Ferozepur, Mansa and Bathinda districts where cotton sowing is yet to take off, said another grower, Sukhbir Singh. Information gathered by TNS revealed that the irrigation department authorities released water in those canals, distributaries and minors, which had been catering to the cotton belt spread over Bathinda, Muktsar, Mansa, Ferozepur, Moga, Faridkot, Sangrur and Barnala districts on April 20 despite the fact that the agriculture department authorities requested them to release the same on April 10. |
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Fazilka Municipal Council hogs limelight for wrong reasons
Fazilka, May 5 A senior municipal councillor alleged that these tenders were floated on February 11 this year and received despite the local bodies authorities having specially asked the MC authorities not to do so. Even execution of some works was allowed to start by a section of contractors without opening the same. Taking serious note of this allegation, C. Roul, Principal Secretary, Local Self-government, Punjab, has ordered an inquiry into the same and asked Jaskiran Singh, Deputy Director, Local Bodies, Ferozepur, to conduct the same: "We will not spare any one who is found involved in this kind of bungling," pointed out Roul while talking to TNS today. "I have summoned the record of the MC. The inquiry has been started and it will be completed at the earliest," said Jaskiran Singh. A controversy surfaced in connection with the floating of tenders of some specific works much after the execution of the same. Though MC authorities denied having done such a thing, verbal complaints were received by the higher local bodies department in that connection. Even a section of people, who were directly or indirectly connected with MC matters, lodged verbal complaints to state local bodies authorities that some favourites of those, who matter most in the corridors of power, had been allotted the execution of various development works, without floating tenders for inviting the bids for the same. While Anil Kumar Sethi, president, MC denied the allegations that tenders were floated after the execution of different works, Tilak Raj Verma, Executive Officer (EO), said that payment to those civil works contractors, who had executed certain works without the prior permission and work order of the MC authorities, would not be made. Satinder Singh Savi, former vice-president, MC, while alleging that this thing had brought a bad name to the local MC, demanded that criminal proceedings must be launched against those officials of the MC and civil works contractors, who were involved in this scam, running into lakhs of rupees. He demanded that fresh tenders by fulfilling all the requirements must be floated and all the contractors must be allowed to participate in the same for competitive bidding. He added that he had been raising his voice against corruption as per the direction of his leader Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister, Punjab. |
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Fateh March accorded warm welcome
Ferozepur, May 5 The Fateh March is being taken out to mark the occasion connected with the tercentenary celebrations of victory achieved by Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in one of the famous battles he fought with the enemies of Sikhs. The March would conclude at Fatehgarh Sahib on May 14 where a big function would be held. People along with Punjab irrigation minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon showered petals when the palanquin carrying the copy of Guru Granth Sahib touched the boundary of this district. Not only this, the people scrambled to pay their obeisance before Guru Granth Sahib. Sekhon, who also paid obeisance, also honoured the five beloved leading the procession, with Siropas. People cutting across the religious lines had organised langar and set up stalls of cold and sweet water alongside the roads from where the procession passed before it entered into Moga district. |
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Relay fast participation plan of Anganwari workers foiled
Fazilka, May 5 They were to move in different vehicles including buses to participate in relay fast at village
Badal. They held a protest dharna at park, raised slogans against Chief Minister and Punjab government. As they were about to leave for Badal village, Fazilka police led by DSP Karamjit Singh and SHO Police stations of Sadar and City laid siege on both the gates of Pratap Bagh. The Anganwari workers and helpers tried to cross the police barrier but police party over powered them and forcibly stopped them from doing so. The police confined the Anganwari workers in the park and they were not allowed to come out till evening. Their dharna ended at 4 pm. Anganwari Workers Union president Reshma Rani, vice-president Sheela Rani, Rajwant Kaur, Amarjit Kaur, Sita Rani, Shimla Rani and others while expressing their anguish over their "captivity" rued that they would leave no stone unturned to get their demands accepted. They said that in the era of democracy the voice of the people could not be censored. Their main demands are an increase in honorarium, reservation for Anganwari workers for ETT teachers’ posts and to provide infrastructure in Anganwari
centres. |
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Census assignment to teachers
Abohar, May 5 Rallies were being taken out in some areas after garlanding the newly admitted children besides offering sweets and promising free stationery. But the parents and their wards who visited schools in rural areas for admission were disappointed as teachers were not found there. One Prabhu Ram from Tibbi tehsil informed this correspondent today there was only one teacher each in the government primary school in village 4KSP, 9KSP and 6 KSP but all have been sent to carry out Census. Intriguingly, the education department had not bothered to make alternative arrangements. Even the non-teaching staff was not deployed in most of one-teacher schools to admit the children. Meanwhile, the Democratic Teachers Front today organised a dharna near the sub-divisional complex at Abohar to express anguish over deploying most of the teachers on Census duty. District Ferozepur president Sushil Dhawan and block president Bhagwant Bhateja strongly criticized the education minister for not speaking to officials concerned well before the schedule of assigning non-teaching duties to thousands of teachers who had been working hard to increase the number of students besides improving the level of education in government schools. |
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Birds find saviour in scouts and guides
Sriganganagar/Abohar, May 5 The campaign spearheaded by former Hanumangarh DC Naveen Jindal three years back has been revived not only in the twin districts of Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar but also in other regions of the state. The Rajasthan Scouts and Guides has been joined by Dr Nagender Singh Scout Guides Venture Club, based at Doongarpur in fixing “parindas” (earthen pots) on trees in temple complexes besides state government offices and educational institutions, environmentalist Kamlesh Sharma informed today. Fifty-one pots were provided by the Boston Computers and Pankaj Arts on Day-1. The Venture Club donated 200 pots. Assistant Scout Commissioner Manohar Lal Ahari and circle officer Chhail Bihari Sharma motivated the people to save precious birds by filling the pots daily besides providing pure feed to ensure their safety. A group of volunteers, led by Deeksha, of the Navyuvak Sangharsh Samiti based at Tibbi in Hanumangarh district not only visited the rare thick green belt but also fixed “parindas” in the police station besides educational institutions. The police cops vowed to serve water and cereals to the birds daily before heading for field duty. The district education officers in Hanumangarh and Sriganganagar have advised the heads of the schools to get such pots fixed on each tree before the beginning of the summer vacations and instruct the class IV employees besides the teaching staff on makeshift duty that fresh water is filled daily. Janak Raj Pareek, former principal of the Gyan Jyoti School in the border town of Srikaranpur said students too had been keen to maintain the water pots during the vacations. |
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Gameplex comes to city
Bathinda, May 5 Zapak Gameplex is the first of its kind large format, high broadband connectivity, organised gaming café chain in the country. Bathinda Gameplex has a seating capacity of 20 and is spread over an area of 600 square feet. The interiors of the Gameplex are made in sync with the dynamics of the gaming culture. These games include Counter Strike, Age of Empire, FIFA ’07, Need For Speed, etc., which are available exclusively with Zapak in India. As per the company, Bathinda has considerable number of tech and gaming enthusiasts and it falls in the top 30 cities for Zapak.com and has over 1 lakh gamers registered on the portal till date from the city. It was only logical to open a Zapak Gameplex in Bathinda to provide the gamers of the city with the best gaming experience. Speaking at the launch function, Rajiv Singh Sawhney, Business Head, Zapak - Gameplex said, “We will host regular tournaments which will help bring out the gaming skills of the youth in Bathinda and will give them a chance to win cash prizes too.” He claimed that gaming buffs would experience virtual gaming would at the Gameplex. Abhishek Sood, franchise owner, Bathinda said, “Zapak Gameplex offers world class gaming experience to the gamers in the country and it was a great opportunity to bring this experience to Bathinda.”
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Consumer forum awards jail term to LIC officials
Barnala, May 5 As per a complaint, Amarjeet Singh and his wife Manmohan Kaur had said that they had bought two policies of one lakh each and two policies of two lakhs each from the LIC. They had added that without their consent the LIC authorities had converted these from fund growth fund to Band fund forcing the couple to lodge a complaint against the LIC to DCDRF Sangrur. The complainant said that they had lodged a complaint against LIC with DCDRF Sangrur on January 8, 2008 which on August 8, 2008 had ordered the LIC to convert the policies into fund growth fund. They added that following the directions of district consumer redressal forum, Sangrur, LIC authorities filed an appeal before State Consumer Dispute Redressal Commissioner, Chandigarh, which dismissed the appeal on March 2, 2009. The complainants further said that despite the dismissal of the appeal, LIC authorities did not gave them the desired benefits. They added that since they were not given the desired benefits by the LIC, they lodged a complaint against the corporation with District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum, Barnala. Acting on the complaint, District Consumer Dispute Redressal Forum today sentenced Senior Divisional Manager of LIC and Barnala Branch Manager to one year’s imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 for not complying with the orders of the consumer forum. |
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New school building inaugurated
Abohar, May 5 Addressing a gathering after inaugurating the new building of government primary school in Dhaani Latkan, located on the outskirts of this sub-divisional town on Wednesday, he lambasted the SAD-BJP alliance for backtracking from all the prime commitments made in its manifesto during the 2007 Vidhan Sabha elections. |
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Science exhibition
Hanumangarh/Abohar, May 5 Interestingly, the parents of some of the award money recipients had got the photos of their children in regional newspapers with compliments as paid advertisements. Principal Duli Chand Sharma said action will be recommended against 79 students who abstained. |
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