Jalandhar, June 12
To build a second fuel lifeline to the important Majha-Doaba region and industrial town of Ludhiana, the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) has approached the state government to acquire land for it to build a railway siding here. “We have moved the case in this regard through the local Deputy Commissioner to the state government,” said a senior official of the HPCL.

At present, all oil companies procure fuel -- petrol, diesel -- from the local oil depot of the Indian Oil to cater to the needs of their about 1,100 fuel pumps in the entire Majha-Doaba region comprising Nawanshahr, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Amritsar and Tarn Taran districts besides Ludhiana district which is a part of the Malwa region. The Indian Oil feeds its local depot through a dedicated pipeline and also through the rail oil tankers. The Indian Oil has its own railway siding for oil tankers. However, in case of scarce supply of fuel to the local depot of Indian Oil, the other companies such as HPCL, etc encounter problems.

The HPCL and other companies procure oil from the Indian Oil on barter system. That means the HPCL and other companies compensate the Indian Oil elsewhere in lieu of the fuel stock availed here. “In case of scarce supply, the Indian Oil prefers to cater to its fuel pumps first in the region and ignores other companies,” said a senior official of the HPCL, requesting not to be named. For instance, the Indian Oil today showed reluctance to give oil to some fuel pumps, which were franchisees of the HPCL. The Indian Oil has about 560 fuel pumps in this region.

“The alternative arrangement, for which we are trying, will be beneficial for the entire region,” said the HPCL official. “By having our own siding, it will become easy for us to procure oil from our sources through rail tankers,” he added.

“Moreover, we are also keen to expand our sales outlet network in the region because our refinery in partnership with Laxmi Mittal is coming up fast near Bathinda. From Bathinda refinery, the oil supply will reach here in four hours through rail network. “We have planned to set up 500 more fuel pumps in the region to boost the sale of the products to be produced at the Bathinda refinery. The Punjab government had assured to provide 500 sites at various places for installing fuel pumps,” the official added.

Returning to the rail sidings, the HPCL official said he had met the Deputy Commissioner, who had assured to do the needful soon. “Obviously, there will be great advantages of the second fuel lifeline proposed for the region by our company,” he added. “Dependence on Indian Oil will come down drastically.”

Jalandhar, June 12
Rice millers of Punjab and Haryana today joined hands to fight against what they described as highhandedness of the Food Corporation of India (FCI).

Hundreds of millers of both states today met at Sawhnewal to discuss various problems being faced by them because of the FCI and other government agencies.

President of the Haryana Rice Millers Association Azad Singh Rathi, chairman of the Punjab Rice Millers Association Telu Ram Garg, president of the Federation of All-India Rice Millers Associations Tarsem Saini,and several other rice millers from both states were present at the meeting.

They have urged the Centre to relax a ban on non-basmati rice as India has a far better stock of rice as compared to what it was two years ago, when the ban was imposed.

“We will not do custom milling during the next milling season, which will start in October, if the FCI and other government agencies did not change their attitude towards rice mills,” said Saini.

What has troubled millers most is the replacement of rice sought by the FCI in certain cases. “Some of the rice millers were asked to replace the rice that was accepted for the Central pool by the FCI after making all necessary quality checks and other inspections,” Saini added.

He said the FCI’s directive to certain millers to replace the rice, that was accepted months earlier for the Central pool, was “illegal and illogical”. “In fact, all this is done for resorting to corruption,” he said.

“While about 30 per cent of paddy procured is yet to be milled in Punjab and 10 per cent in Haryana, the new season of paddy transplantation has already started. Milling of paddy was delayed as the FCI had no covered space to store the rice,” millers alleged.

Due to high temperature in the region, paddy grains had dried. “While preparing rice from paddy at this stage has been causing high percentage of broken rice and discolouration”, said millers. “The FCI is responsible for the mess,” they alleged. While the total production of rice has been 604.28 millions, the available space for storage is only for 475 million tonnes of rice in the country. They have asked the government to hike their milling rates, which they wanted it to be linked with price index.

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 12
Environment friendly direct paddy sowing method is fast gaining popularity among farmers here as it saves time, money and also reduces number of labourers used for sowing paddy, thereby relieving the labour pangs.

It takes 3,500 liters of water to grow a kilogram of rice. With direct sowing almost 40 per cent water is saved. Last year farmers had a bitter experience with paddy transplanters as it reduced paddy yield. However, this time they have opted for multi-crop drill machines to grow paddy.

In this technique farmers need not stagnate water in fields for days together during transplantation. Instead the paddy seed is directly sown in the upper layer of soil without use of much water.

“Many farmers have opted for direct sowing this time as it requires lesser efforts and solves problem of labour shortage,” said chief agriculture officer (CAO) at Fatehgarh Sahib Sarabjit Kandhari.

The method also helps in checking depleting water table by saving up to 40 per cent water. Earlier, farmers used to shy away from using direct sowing method as often crop got affected with diseases.

Now they are advised to treat seeds with a mixture of recommended medicines before sowing. They have been advised to use nomigord, pendimethrin and few other medicines under guidance of agriculture experts.

Multi-drill machines can be used for sowing wheat, cereals and paddy. There are different iron plates in the machine, which are alternately used for sowing different crops. This machine is under trial and is not yet recommended by the Punjab Agriculture Department.

Area under paddy cultivation in Fatehgarh is 85,000 hectares since last two years and if direct sowing proves successful then it may increase in the coming years.

Jalandhar, June 12
After 30 years of service in the Punjab police, a former Deputy Superintendent of Police has been struggling to get justice from his own department for the past over three years.

The retired cop, Piara Singh, has been running from pillar to post, demanding action against two suspects who allegedly raped and murdered his teenaged daughter in May 2007 in Ropar.

Talking to The Tribune, Piara Singh, a resident of Kapurthala, lamented that his repeated representations to the top brass of the department, including the Director- General of Police (DGP), had failed to draw their attention.

Narrating the episode, Piara Singh and his wife, Jasbir Kaur, claimed that the Ropar police initiated inquest proceedings in the case without conducting investigations, even though it was a clear case of murder.

The couple had to approach the state Human Rights Commission to get an FIR registered in the case.

Interestingly, the police still registered a case under Section 306 of the IPC against two suspects instead of adding Sections 376, 302, 401, 120-B and 34 of the IPC, he pointed out.

The two suspects, residents of Ropar, were his daughter Kamaldeep Kaur’s classmates in Shalki Academy in Ropar, he alleged.

In a letter to the DGP, Jasbir Kaur alleged that one of the suspects had forced Kamaldeep Kaur to visit his place for getting her roll number slip. He had already snatched the roll number slip from her.

As she reached his place, the two suspects, the other one was already there, allegedly raped and murdered her. In an attempt to destroy the evidence, the duo also allegedly dumped the body in Bhakra Canal.

Since the suspects belonged to influential families of Ropar, their parents have been trying to save them. One of the suspects’ parents have managed to get his name dropped from the FIR while the other is still missing, Piara Singh claimed. The shattered couple complained that the police was trying to hush up the case as the post-mortem examination and examination of the vaginal swap were not done properly.

The couple has demanded a CBI inquiry into the case so that the culprits could be brought to book.

Bathinda, June 12
With society, including farmers, becoming sensitive towards the threat looming over ecology, net-house farming of vegetables has started gaining popularity in Malwa, which has otherwise earned notoriety for excessive use of pesticides, fast depletion of groundwater and extreme variation of climate.

Net-house farming is a concept introduced to shield crops from insect/pest attacks, with the allurement that the crop (vegetable) is pesticide-free and fetches better price. Further, it saves groundwater as drip irrigation inside the net house is very effective.

Moreover, it guards vegetables from extreme temperatures in both winter and summer.

The main crops cultivated under the net-house farming are capsicum, coriander, tomato, brinjal and hybrid seedless cucumber.

Because of its beneficial effects for farmers, consumers as well as for the environment, five farmers raised net houses on their land at Maesarkhana, Lakhi Jungle, Ghudda and Gumti Kalan villages of this district, on an experimental basis, during the past two years.

A net house in Maesarkhana village was found to be closed on all sides to check the pest attack. The double door net house was designed in such a scientific way that the outer door did not lead directly to the inner door.

Expressing satisfaction over the results of the scheme, owner of the farm Sukhvir Singh Sidhu said: “Adopting net-house farming has not only saved our expenses but also gives us vegetables free from harmful pesticides. People prefer pesiticide-free vegetables and crops.”

“We do not have to go to market to sell our vegetables. Instead, people come to us. The quality of vegetables is much better than the normal produce,” Sidhu said.

The technique is also being used to cultivate early vegetables, which starts providing income earlier than the vegetables sown in an open area. It proves beneficial for small farmers as they get higher yields and reap better profits.

The net house campaign in the state is being run as a joint venture by the Farmers’ Commission and the state Horticulture Department.

District Horticultural development officer Narenderjit Singh said: “Raising a net house farm is not very expensive as a net house over one kanal of land costs only Rs 1 lakh.”

“Of this, 40 per cent is borne by the Farmers’ Commission as subsidy. Among other measures, net- house farming is very effective in preventing social-cum-ecological strife,” Singh added.

Fazilka, June 12
Even as Gurbachan Singh, a sepoy in the CRPF and a resident of Teja Rawela village of this subdivision, died about four years ago, his family members are yet to come to terms with his death, as they are still unaware of the cause of it.

What has continuously been disturbing them is the fact that CRPF officials, who brought his body from UP, did not allow them to see his face before he was cremated in his village.

“We approached UP Chief Minister Mayawati, a section of senior functionaries of the CRPF, including its Director-General, for knowing the cause behind the death of Gurbachan in the past four years, but without any success,” said Harbhajan Singh, brother of Gurbachan Singh.

He said they were disappointed over the fact that why the authorities had been meting out such “maltreatment” to them.

Gurbachan was posted in the Gurma area of Sonbadar district of UP when the news about his death was given to his wife Jaswinder Kaur over the phone from the CRPF office on November 19, 2006. On November 22, CRPF personnel brought the body to the village at the dead of night. It cremated next morning without showing his face to anyone and CRPF officials went back after completing formalities in the local police station in connection with his cremation.

“Though we kept on asking them that how Gurbachan had died, they did not bother to reply,” said Harbhajan, adding that even clothes and other belonging of Gurbachan were given to them many years after his death. Gurbachan is survived by his wife and four children.

Though pension is being given to his wife, she is yet to get the insurance money of Gurbachan. Moreover, the state government has also not given any grant to family members of the deceased, which it would give to next kin of the deceased of paramilitary forces.

Harbhajan Singh a high-level probe must be ordered to solve the mystery behind the death of his brother.

Chandigarh, June 12
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today cleared a proposal of Rs 72.37 crore to provide state-of-the-art infrastructure, including 100 per cent drinking water and sewerage facilities, in five religious towns of Punjab --- Baba Bakala in Amritsar district, Khadoor Sahib, Goindwal Sahib and Chola Sahib in Tarn Taran district and Kiratpur Sahib in Rupnagar district.

A decision to this effect was taken at a high-level meeting chaired by Badal at his residence this morning.

It was informed at the meeting that out of Rs 72.37 crore, Rs 28.25 crore would be spent on sewerage schemes and Rs 8.30 crore on water supply to be undertaken by the Water Supply and Sanitation Department.

Besides, Rs 35.82 crore had been earmarked for internal infrastructure in these towns. Of which Rs 6.76 crore would be spent on international drainage and renovation of ponds, Rs 1.44 crore on the development of parks, Rs 2.05 crore on street lighting, Rs 17.34 crore on concrete paving of internal roads and Rs 8.24 crore on white washing and painting of walls.

The Chief Minister directed the Principal Secretaries, local government and water supply, to personally oversee the quality of development works executed in these religious towns. The Chief Minister was apprised that the entire development works in these towns would be completed by September 2011.

Amritsar, June 12
As many as 22 candidates, who had cleared the entrance test for PhD (Education) held by Guru Nanak Dev (GND) University about a year ago, are a harassed lot.

These 22 candidates had passed the entrance test held on August 8, 2009, and the result was declared on December 25.

However, these candidates are worried over the line printed on their pass certificate that “validity of the certificate is for the session 2009-2010”. Only those students who had done MEd had appeared in the examination.

Students said they had approached the senior functionaries of the university for a scheduled start of the department, but could never get a plausible response.

Registrar of the university Inderjit Singh said the Education Department was yet to be set up in the university. For the purpose, applications had been invited for the posts of three lecturers, a Professor and two Readers.

He said in case the department would not start functioning this year, then these students would have to re-appear for the entrance test the next year.

Chandigarh, June 12
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today approved a plan of Rs 106 crore to open nine new veterinary polyclinics, 70 tehsil and block level veterinary hospitals and dispensaries, 22 and 45 mobile vans at the district and tehsil levels besides the renovation of 507 hospitals and 568 veterinary dispensaries in the state.

Reviewing the functioning of the Animal Husbandry Department, Badal sanctioned Rs 62.97 crore for the construction of nine polyclinics at Fatehgarh Sahib, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Tarn Taran, Mohali, Nawanshahr, Amritsar and Moga. It was informed at a meeting that these polyclinics would be made functional by the next year and orders for the equipment to be installed there had been placed with the reputed firms.

An amount of Rs 29.51 crore had been earmarked to provide state-of-the-art equipment in about 1,000 dispensaries at the tehsil and block levels. Likewise, Rs 22.58 crore had been provided for the renovation of the buildings of 449 veterinary hospitals and 568 dispensaries.

The CM also approved a sum of Rs 15 crore to modernise the Punjab Veterinary Vaccine Institute at Ludhiana, of which Rs 8 crore would be spent on the building and Rs 7 crore on equipment. Similarly, Rs 4.51 and Rs 6.57 crore had been sanctioned for 22 and 45 mobile veterinary vans at the district and tehsil levels. A sum of Rs 3.50 crore had been provided for setting up of feed testing laboratory at Verka with ultra-modern facilities first of its kind in the north region.

Sangrur, June 12
With the authorities failing to improve the drainage system here, the monsoon is again set to flood almost all colonies in the town this year. Not only in Sangrur, as the municipal authorities fail to make repairs of drains and clean them, in the adjoining township of Malerkotla also, the locals are expecting that water will accumulate in the majority of areas in the old city.

Residents complained that in the Sangrur township, the areas where the water accumulates include Mubarak Mahal, Slum Basti, Shekhupura Basti, Kaula Park, Prem Basti, Nabha Gate, bus stand, Mata Rani Street, Magazine Mohalla and Guru Nanak Pura. They added that in Sunder Basti area the condition was so worse during monsoons that the authorities had to call the fire brigade last year to pump out water.

“In majority of areas in Sangrur, the condition of drains is very poor and the municipal authorities have failed to improve these even as they spend huge funds on papers for the same,” a resident said.

Even the nullahs have a large amount of garbage accumulated in them and the authorities failed to clean them.

The authorities have failed to improve the sewerage system and also drainage of the town”, says Rajinder Singh, a resident of Sunder Basti.

“Last year, water got accumulated in our area during one night during monsoons. At that time we had to stay on the roofs of our houses for many days. We lived in fear of being washed away by floods,” another resident said.

However, Harbans Lal, president of the Sangrur Municipal Council, told The Tribune that they get the sewerage system and drains cleaned frequently.

Meanwhile, residents of the Malerkotla township also complained that water gets accumulated in majority of areas of the old town as well as in the new colonies during monsoons.

“On the Kamal Cinema road and in the Jama Masjid area of the township, the problem is very acute. In other areas also, water gets accumulated during monsoons”, Shakeel Rana, another resident, said.

Ludhiana, June 12
The state will not face heavy power cuts this year as the restructured Punjab State PowerCom Limited has made adequate arrangements to meet the power needs of the farm sector and urban areas. Urban areas will face power cut only for two hours daily as eight-hour power supply is given to tube wells for facilitating paddy transplantation in the state from today.

KD Chaudhary, CMD, Punjab State Powercom Limited, told the Tribune that PowerCom had made arrangements to meet the power requirements from June to August. PowerCom would purchased power from the central sector. As many as 602 million units of power would be purchased in June and 1,253 million units in July.

They would have availability of power to the tune of 3,500 million units all three months from all sources. Chaudhary said besides, the PowerCom would also purchase power worth Rs 1,800 crore under the short-term measures during these months.

Rajpura, June 12
Residents of Rajpura have been drinking dirty water for the past few days, as rainwater has entered into the Municipal Council reservoirs through a temporary drain that connects the reservoirs to a canal.

A 40-year-old pipeline that previously used to carry water from the canal to the reservoirs got damaged a few days ago. Following this, a temporary pipeline was being used for the purpose. However, three days back, rainwater somehow seeped into the pipeline, hence, contaminating the entire water supply. While efforts were being made to lay down a new pipe, residents in almost all localities have been getting muddy water since then.

Council president Parveen Chhabra assured that the problem would be sorted out within a day or two. He said dirty water had entered into the water tanks through the temporary pipe and efforts were on to empty out the tanks.

The Municipal Council has also urged area residents over the public announcement systems to keep all water taps open so that muddy water that entered into the MC water tanks could drain out.

Chandigarh, June 12
The RTI Activists Federation has demanded the revocation of procedural regulations framed by the Punjab State Information Commission.

Advocate H.C. Arora and state president of the federation has written to Chief Information Commissioner Ramesh Inder Singh to withdraw the regulations as these were resulting in harassment of information seeker-appellants.

“The first-time appellants particularly are facing undue harassment as these regulations are not at all publicised except on the official website of the State Information Commission. Nothing appeared in newspapers before introducing these regulations and their appeals/complaints are being returned to them with cyclostyled list of “objections” resulting into delay in registration of their appeals/complaints,” he wrote.

He added that the regulations had violated the letter and spirit of the Right to Information Act. “The spirit of the Act has been to provide information to the citizens. A recent letter of the Union Ministry of Personnel clarifying that postage is not to be charged by PIOs for furnishing the information to the applicants is a pointer towards the philosophy behind the Act.

“A vast percentage of appellants don’t understand English and the regulations have not been published in Punjabi even on the official website of the commission, before enforcement, and not even till now,” wrote Arora.

Chandigarh, June 12
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear that the state of Punjab is not justified in recovering “excess amount” from Punjab Public Service Commission’s two former members.

The state had earlier claimed that erroneous interpretation of rules had resulted in over payment to ex-members, Major-Gen GS Riar and Lt-Gen Surjit Singh.

Taking up the facts from Major-General Riar’s petition, the Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh observed: “At the time when this writ petition was filed, the petitioner was working as PPSC member. Before his appointment on November 29, 2001, he was working in the Indian Army and had retired as a Major-General on November 27, 2001.... “On an audit objection, pay of the petitioner was re-fixed vide impugned order dated August 19, 2004, and it was further ordered that the excess amount paid to him earlier be recovered.”

Quoting the high court’s earlier order of February 4, the Bench asserted: “The issue involved in the present writ petition essentially consists of erroneous interpretation of the rules….

“The question of recovery of erroneous payment made to the employees has already been settled by a Full Bench judgment of this Court in Budh Ram and others versus State of Haryana and others and other connected petitions decided on May 22, 2009…

“We are, prima-facie, of the view that the full Bench judgment fully covers the issue of recovery of erroneous payment already made…. Since, the question of recovery of erroneous payment has already been settled by this Court in Budh Ram's case, the question of reduction in emoluments could be settled by the State in accordance with the rules and regulations governing the service conditions of the petitioner….”

As the case came up again, the Bench finally disposed of the matter by ruling: “We are of the opinion that the case of the petitioner is squarely covered by the ratio of the judgment of a Full Bench of this Court in Budh Ram’s case.

“The authorities are not justified in making any recovery of the excess amount from the petitioner. However, it is made clear that if any of the petitioners in these petitions, after passing of the impugned order, had drawn salary more than the reduced pay scale, he is bound to refund the excess amount to the respondents”.

Jalandhar, June 12
The police today claimed to have arrested a person for allegedly trafficking 1 kg of heroin worth Rs 1 crore in the international market.

Acting on a tip-off, the suspected drug peddler, Pawan Kumar of Rajnagar, was nabbed by a police party near Leather Complex. The police also seized 1 kg of heroin from his possession, which he was carrying in a plastic bag.

Interestingly, the police declared the confiscated substance as heroin without getting any laboratory confirmation test.

Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police (ADCP) Sarabjit Singh said during questioning, Pawan admitted to have been working for Jaswinder Singh, alias Jassi, of Raja Garden locality here. Jassi is a son of former SP Narinder Singh and was reportedly involved in the trade for quite some time, the ADCP added.

Pawan came in Jassi’s contact nearly four months ago. Jassi had given a mobile number to Pawan and asked him to deliver the consignment only if that person picked up the call and fixed the place for delivery. Jassi had even given an amount of Rs 30,000 to Pawan for safe and assured delivery.

The ADCP said the seized drug had been sent to a Chandigarh-based laborarty for testing and a case under the NDPA Act had been registered against Pawan Kumar at Bawa Basti Kher police station. The police has also laid a trap to nab Jassi.

Amritsar, June 12
The interrogation of dreaded terrorist Bakhshish Singh today led to the arrest of another suspect, allegedly involved in the mobile blast case in the Sultanwind area on May 2.

The suspect identified as Pradeep Singh, a resident of Krishna Nagar, had allegedly planted a mobile bomb at the designated place.

Bakhshish, who was arrested by the special operation cell on May 10, was brought on production warrant by the Sultanwind police after he was remanded in judicial custody by the Court on June 10.

“Pradeep Singh had arranged the mobile phone, two bottles filled with petrol and a bicycle used in the blast,” said Commissioner of Police Varinder Kumar said the detonator attached with the device was assembled by Bakhshish Singh. Pradeep’s name had figured in the interrogation of the dreaded terrorist who had planted the explosive device to create terror among the public.

Further investigations were in progress, he added.

A major tragedy was averted in the wee hours on May 2, when the mobile phone placed in a bag, also containing two petrol-filled glass bottles and wires, exploded in the Sultanwind area that left the area chowkidar injured.

A case under Sections 3, 4 of the Explosives Act, Section 307 of the IPC and Sections 17, 18, 19, 20 of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 had been registered at Sultanwind police station in this regard.