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CM, Dera truce?
State to introduce LED lighting in 5 cities
UPA’s claim on poverty alleviation hollow: Sidhu
Memorial for 1984 Martyrs
Beware, toxins in your plate |
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Packaged milk is slow poison, says report
PFC Loans
Revenue officials welcome FC’s assurance
One Rank, One Pension
Sulabh to clean Rajindra Hospital loos
NGO to protest against
proposed thermal plant
A file photo of Jaypee Cement plant situated at
the border of Punjab-Himachal Pradesh in Bagheri village.
State to tap young talent
MPLAD Funds
PSEB extends date for admissions to class XI
Foetus in infant’s stomach
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CM, Dera truce?
Teona Pujarian (Talwandi Sabo), May 23 Though the Dera followers claimed that the congregation was organised with the prior permission of the administration, none of the officials concerned admitted this. Talwandi Sabo SDM Jora Singh categorically denied granting permission for the congregation. He said: “I am not even aware whether the Dera followers held their religious congregation in the village”. DSP Surinder Pal Singh said: “Sensing the gravity of the ongoing Dera-Sikh tension, the police had taken some precautionary measures under which cops were deployed outside the school where the event was held”. “We performed the responsibility of maintaining law and order, but we neither granted permission and nor we were responsible for granting permission to use the school premises,” he added. Despite repeated efforts, director general of school education, Punjab, Krishan Kumar could not be contacted. However, his subordinates, on the condition of anonymity, said the Education Department had asked the DCs not to allow such events in school premises. Baljinder Singh, lambardar of the village, said there was marked improvement in the situation as the naamcharcha went off peacefully in the village that is near Takht Damdama Sahib in Talwandi Sabo where five Jathedars had issued a “hukumnama” against the dera on May 16, 2007. During earlier congregations, the police had to set up several barriers to prevent activists of radical Sikh organisations from reaching there, but this time no barrier was established as followers from 30 adjoining villages participated in the naamcharcha, he said. Interestingly, while the dera followers were busy in the naamcharcha here, various Sikh hardliner organisations led by SAD (Panch Pradhani) were engaged in dispatching from Takht Damdama Sahib their 62nd jatha towards the state dera headquarters at Salabatpura in support of their demand for shutting the deras. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had reportedly been making efforts to patch up with the Dera Sacha Sauda during the last Lok Sabha elections when his daughter-in-law Harsimrat Kaur Badal was in the fray for the Bathinda seat. The initiative is said to have worked as she secured an overwhelming majority of votes in the rural areas of the constituency. Now that the Assembly elections in the state are scheduled in 2012, Badal’s effort is expected to bring the Dera followers on his side as the SAD had suffered a jolt in the Malwa region during the last elections in 2007.
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State to introduce LED lighting in 5 cities
Chandigarh, May 23 LED lighting is being taken up as a pilot project in the cities of Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar, Patiala and Bathinda. Powercom and Punjab Energy Development Agency
(PEDA) are involving a private player to bear the cost of the project. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told TNS that the project, which would result in energy-saving of 300 mega watt annually, would pay for itself. The private player will trade the carbon credits (value put on reducing greenhouse gas emissions) he gets for establishing the project. All street lighting and government lighting in the cities will be replaced with LED technology under the project. The Deputy Chief Minister said simultaneously conventional lighting would be replaced with CFL all over the state by March 2011. He said the project would start in a few months with the Bureau of Energy registering Powercom for the project last week. He said CFL tubes worth Rs 110 per tube would be provided to consumers at Rs 15 per tube. He said private players would bear the remaining cost and would be at liberty to trade the carbon credits they get for the venture. Punjab is expected to save 500 mw annually by shifting to CFL technology. A sixteen volt CFL tube gives as much illumination as a 40 volt conventional tube. Similarly a 4 volt LED light gives the same illumination as a 40 volt tube. Wherever CFL is replaced by LED lighting in major cities, the CFLs will be transferred to municipal towns. Powercom Director K D Choudhary said other steps being taken to save power included shifting meters out of houses, shifting to high-voltage distribution system for transmission of power and changing capacitors. He said these measures, which would cost the state Rs 650 crore, would result in energy saving of 300 MW annually. The government aims to close the demand-supply gap through these measures by next year. Sukhbir Badal said Powercom had been asked to work towards the goal of making the state power-cut free as far as domestic supply was concerned by next year. He said farmers would also get an assured eight hour continuous supply of power and industry would face only one compulsory weekly off.
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UPA’s claim on poverty alleviation hollow: Sidhu
Jalandhar, May 23 Urging the Union Government to hold a debate on the Tendulkar Committee report, Sidhu said the government was avoiding the discussion as the panel had belied claims made by the Centre with regards to the 8-9 per cent growth in the country during the past many years. Quoting the report, Sidhu said the committee had found that 37.2 per cent people in the country were poverty stricken. The Tendulkar Committee had found 41.8 per cent poverty head count in rural areas and 25.7 per cent in urban areas. The World Bank has also estimated that of the total population of India, 41.6 per cent is poor if one considers international poverty measuring parameters. The Arjun Sengupta report says the number of the poor, who earn below Rs 20 per day, was 60.5 per cent. However, the figure in rural areas is above 70 per cent. Sidhu said all identified under below poverty line by the Sengupta panel should be issued blue cards and provided with adequate social and food security cover. He said it had been proved that National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme had failed to resolved the problem of poverty in the country. The Centre should not only restructuring its poverty measuring methodology but also change it.
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Dal Khalsa to hold sit-in protest
Neeraj Bagga Tribune News Service
Amritsar, May 23 The decision was taken here today after a marathon meeting of the party’s working committee. President of the Dal Khalsa HS Dhami said this would also be a way to express solidarity to the “martyrs of faith”. He added that they could drop their scheduled protest if the SGPC announced to build the memorial by June 1. Besides, he said, a senior leader of the party, Satnam Singh Paonta Sahib, who had served life imprisonment in a Pakistani jail for hijacking a plane to protest against the arrest of Sant Jarnail Singh Bhinderanwale in 1981, would observe a fast for 72 hours, starting with the aforementioned protest period. He said the agitation was to remind the SGPC of its resolution passed in an executive meeting on February 20, 2002, to raise the memorial. He said the group would also participate in a week-long Genocide Remembrance March to be organised by the SAD (Panch Pardhani) from June 1.
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Beware, toxins in your plate
Banur, May 23
The primary source of surface water is a 150-km long rivulet that flows from Mohali to Ratia in Haryana before emptying into the Ghaggar. “Most of the farmers here use the rivulet’s water that is laced with intoxicants to irrigate their fields,” said Manohar, former sarpanch of Kalouli village in Banur. He said continuous discharge of sewerage and industrial waste into the seasonal rivulet, which originates from Chandigarh, provides ample water for irrigation round the clock. “The rivulet has enabled irrigation in large areas. Instead of using deep submersible pumps to draw underground water, we simply use a tractor or engine to pump out water that is released in fields through several kilometre-long pipes,” said Sulakhan, a farmer in Banur. He said farmers resorted to using sewerage water in view of power cuts and lack of groundwater. Some agriculture experts say sewerage water, without heavy metals and toxic waste of industrial units, is good for soil productivity. However, farmers should not use this water to grow vegetables as it may also be laced with toxic waste released by industrial units. Besides seasonal crops, farmers also grow vegetables and fruits over more than 200 acres. Vegetables like cauliflower, ladyfinger, potatoes and chilly, are being grown using this water. “Despite repeated requests to shun this practice, farmers continue to do so,” said Agriculture Development Officer in Banur, Amaninder Singh Mann. He said gallons of such water were used for agriculture purposes everyday and advised that farmers must adopt some mechanism to get the water treated or tested before using it. “Farmers feel that waste water from nullahs is a valuable source as it reduces cost of farming to a great extent. Besides this water is available round the clock”, said Chief Agriculture Officer, Patiala, Subhash Chander Khurana. He added that farmers are always advised not to use sewage water without getting it tested from labs but they keep on using it to increase crop yield and to reduce fertilisers’ expenses. Continuous use of such water could lead to soil sickness, groundwater contamination as well as health hazards for the consumers. Chief Agriculture Officer, Fatehgarh Sahib, Sarabjit Kandhari, added that continuous intake of untreated sewerage-irrigated vegetables may give rise to various ailments, including cancer. He said leafy vegetables, including cabbage and spinach, grow well in sewerage water but possibility of germ infestation increases in such untreated water. Senior Environment Engineer of Punjab Pollution Control Board Karunesh Garg said fresh instructions have been passed to factories situated beside the rivulet to reduce their level of discharge.
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Packaged milk is slow poison, says report
Ludhiana, May 23 The reports, brought out by a city-based NGO, shows the presence of Total Plate Count (TPC) in the range of 10 lakh CFU per mg to 6.60 crore CFU per mg in the samples as against the laid down standards on milk purity which say that TPC should be 30,000 CFU per mg. If this is found to be 50,000 CFU per mg, the milk is said to be unfit for human consumption. As for colliform count, according to the prescribed standard, it should be 10 CFU per mg, whereas they test reports shows the presence of colliform between 60 CFU per mg to 7 lakh per mg. The milk samples, brought from various stores across Ludhiana by members of Consumer Protection Forum (CPF), a local NGO, were sent to Swiss-based SGS India Lab in Gurgaon under prescribed conditions. Talking about the shocking revelation, president of the CPF Rajeev Tandon said, “Normally, dairy farmers draw out milk from cattle around 4 am. The milk is then collected from various dairy farms and sent to chilling centers in non-refrigerated vehicles, which takes around 5-6 hours. The long transition period leads to production of harmful bacteria in the milk”. The NGO has demanded from the government measures to ensure hygienic milk to consumers. The activists today held a protest rally in the city to press for their demand.
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106 former soldiers in debt trap
Kanchan Vasdev tribune News Service
Ludhiana, May 23 Though the PFC had announced in 2004 that their interests would be waived, these exservicemen, most of them in the twilight of their lives, are still grappling with the problem as the loan has been compounded to a whopping Rs 75.47 crore. The ex-servicemen, of which 30 have passed away, had borrowed the money from the PFC after 1987 under the government’s self- employment scheme for them. As they defaulted on paying the amount, the interest was compounded annually and they are now in the debt trap. Several of these debt-ridden ex-servicemen had fought the 1962 China war, 1965 and 1971 Indo-Pakistan wars and many were decorated. But as they could not pay back the loaned amount, their vehicles, bought under the scheme and properties pledged, were recovered and subsequently auctioned. Despite Colonel Chanan Singh Dhillon (retd), president of the Ex-Servicemen League, Punjab and Chandigarh, taking up their cases at several platforms, nothing came of it. ‘‘The PFC had advanced loans of Rs 3.55 crore to 106 ESMs, of which Rs 2.99 crore were paid back and Rs 56 was the outstanding amount. As 30 of them died, with Rs 22 lakh outstanding against them, only Rs 34 lakh needs to be waived. But the PFC is calculating the pending amount to be Rs 75.74 crore.” He added as a last ditch effort, the DG (Resettlement), Ministry of Defense, has now asked the director, Sainik Welfare, Punjab, to take up the matter with the state Department of Industries and Commerce.
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Revenue officials welcome FC’s assurance
Jalandhar, May 23 Ram Singh and JC Parinda, president and general secretary of the outfit, respectively, said Financial Commissioner (Revenue) Romilla Dubey had called a deputation of revenue officers to consider their demands that had not been redressed for past many years. They said their main demand was that the nomination system of absorbing them in civil services should be scrapped. Presently, they have to be nominated by their department to get into the civil services unlike other state cadres where the officers were selected by their respective departmental promotion committees (DPCs) on seniority-cum-merit basis. This demand has been accepted in-principle by the Financial Commissioner (Revenue), who told them that the file had been sent to the Personnel Department for necessary action. Their other demands include bringing them under the purview of the Judges Protection Act, 1985; convening of DPCs at regular intervals; time bound promotions of tehsildars/ naib tehsildars; increase in the prestige of the post of district revenue officers; relieving them from the duty of debt recovery of other departments; separate vehicles for officers; and repair of dilapidated buildings of the Revenue Department.
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Ex-servicemen hold rally in Sangrur
Tribune News Service
Sangrur, May 23 They held a “Wangaar rally”, a call for which was given by the national president of the ex-servicemen wing of the SAD, Colonel Pratap Inder Singh Phulka (retd). Addressing delegates from six states - J&K, HP, Haryana, Delhi, UP and Rajasthan, Phulka appealed to all organisations to unite and fight the battle. He said the rally was organised in the aftermath of the reply given by Deputy Defence Minister MM Palam Raju to a question raised by MPs in the Lok Sabha on April 19 this year. He had said no to the demand of one rank, one pension for ex-servicemen. Speakers of ex-servicemen organisations appreciated the SAD for passing a political resolution on May 20 in Chandigarh supporting the demand of one rank, one pension and lashed out at the Centre for “cheating” ex-servicemen. Ex-servicemen of various umbrella organisations pledged unity for this cause and vote en masse for political parties supporting their demands. To press for the demand, delegates of various ex-servicemen organisations said they would submit a memorandum with 1 lakh signatures in blood to the President. President of the district wing Col Surjeet Singh Cheema (retd) thanked ex-servicemen from all six neighbouring state for joining the movement to express solidarity for a common cause.
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Sulabh to clean Rajindra Hospital loos
Patiala, May 23 Citing details, Medical Superintendent of Rajindra hospital KD Singh said the authorities had signed a one-year contract with
Sulabh. “It would be extended later. The drive will be monitored by three persons in three different groups. AK Jha has been made the overall in charge of the entire process, whereas SF Raj has been made the supervisor,” he added. Two more supervisors will ensure efficient working. The first group under Subodh Jha will look after the toilets of Emergency, Children Ward, Cancer Department and teaching classrooms. RP Singh will monitor the cleaning of general wards and Kameshwar Singh will supervise the work of Nursing Hostel toilets. Notably, the hospital authorities have also decided to appoint guards to beef up security. Principal of Medical College Dr Surinder Singh informed that appointments would be made within two weeks. It will help tackle the problem of theft and indiscipline at the hospital, said authorities. Recently, two split ACs were stolen from the Cancer Department.
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NGO to protest against proposed thermal plant
Anandpur Sahib, May 23 Addressing mediapersons here, Himparivesh activist Jagjit Singh Dukhia said this would be the first-ever thermal plant in state. “Himachal has been harnessing its rich water resources for hydro power. Repeatedly, our ministers have assured that state has capacity to it increase its power production by manifold to meet with rising demand for power. In such a scenario, thermal power plant is an unhealthy option,” he said. Dukhia added that the NGO would give a tough fight and is totally against the thermal power plant. Earlier, too, the same cement plant has proposed setting up 30 MW thermal plant. The HP Pollution Control Board had held a public hearing that raised voice against the thermal power plant. “The HPPCB had then sent detailed report to the Ministry of Environment and Forests, which
cancelled 30 MW thermal plant. Now, as per rules, a public hearing and opinion is not needed for 10 MW plant,” added another activist
Bal Krishan.
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State to tap young talent
Chandigarh, May 23 The state is set to launch a unique programme to identify brilliant students and provide them free coaching and guidance so that they can choose their career depending on their interest and aptitude. “We have asked the Vice-Chancellors of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, and Punjabi University, Patiala, to organise free counselling camps at educational institutes," Badal said. “They will guide the students who have passed Class X with first division and will help them in choosing the right career option,” he said, adding: “Besides counselling camps, these varsities will also establish a special cell in every college of the state to provide guidance right at the door step of students. They will give them required training and help them to discover their innate abilities and talent.” Badal has also asked the state education department to identify at least one ideal school in each block for selected brilliant students.
— IANS
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Sangrur govt schools to get RO systems
Chandigarh, May 23 Singla today said he would provide funds for establishing RO systems in all schools that had strength of over 500 students in his constituency. He said he was taking up this project following complaints that many children were falling ill due to water-borne diseases in Sangrur. He said there was a high fluoride content in some areas, which was also resulting in long-term problems for the children. He said he would also provide funds for medical camps for children first in all towns and then through mass medical camps in which NGOs would also be roped in. Other measures for schoolchildren included running of computer labs in schools through solar energy. — TNS
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PSEB extends date for admissions to class XI
Patiala, May 23 Dhillon informed that the board had extended the date to facilitate students who might have missed the earlier deadline. He also informed that from this year the board would begin semester system. First semester exams would be conducted in September. Marks for attendance, home work and tests will also be included in internal assessment.
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Foetus in infant’s stomach
Anandpur Sahib, May 23 When the baby was born she had a swelling in her stomach that looked like a tumour. The doctors referred the child to the PGI, Chandigarh. A team of three doctors removed 500 gm foetus from the child’s stomach. Dr Mani Gupta, one of the doctor who operated upon the baby, said. “This happens when a woman conceives and certain cells in the fertilised egg become over active”.
— TNS
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BJP national secretary and MP Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday blasted the UPA Government for its claims with regard to poverty alleviation and development of the nation. Sidhu said poverty could not be reduced by having lunch or staying for a night in a hut of a poor Dalit family. He was referring to Rahul Gandhi's visits to the Dalit families in the countryside.
NGO
Himparivesh’s activists will stage a dharna outside the Jaypee Cement plant
situated in Bagheri village protesting against the proposed 10 MW thermal power
plant. While the activists are gearing up for protest, Himachal Pradesh chief
minister Prem Kumar Dhumal today said the state government had no qualms over
setting up of this thermal power plant.
