PPCB not working to reduce pollution: Seechewal
Chandigarh, June 14
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) is not working to reduce pollution. Noted environmentalist and PPCB member for one year Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal stated this at a workshop on Religion and Environment organised here by Mahatma Gandhi State of Public Administration, Punjab.






Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal (left) at a workshop on ‘Religion and Environment’ in Chandigarh on Monday.Tribune photo: Manoj Mahajan

Chandigarh, June 14
Where there is a will there is a way. Punjab can reduce the area under paddy and arrest the fall in its groundwater; it only needs the political will to do so.

Sadly, this political will is lacking in this government as was the case with the previous Congress one, never mind the fact that diversification is a pet project of the successive Chief Ministers. Present Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is also “very concerned” about the need to diversify if his public speeches are any indicator. However, it is unfortunate that the government does not want to put its money where its mouth is.

The state needs to reduce the area under paddy from 26 lakh hectares at present to 16 lakh hectares, as recommended by the Johal Committee as well as Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). To do so, it needs to put more area under maize, pulses and oil seeds. This can be done only if farmers are given some incentive to diversify - meaning cold cash.

Simultaneously, the state can purchase both maize and pulses for which MSP exists through agencies like Markfed. Pulses, especially ‘moong’ makes particular sense because of its present high market cost of Rs 6,000 per quintal.

Experts say farmers would go in for ‘moongi’ cultivation, particularly in the Hoshiarpur-Gurdaspur belt where paddy yields are not high if procurement is assured.

New high yielding hybrid maize varieties can produce 4.5 to 5.5 tonnes per hectare in the kharif season, competing with rice production.

The former Vice-Chancellor of the PAU, Dr SS Johl, who had recommended a per acre compensation which he said could be shared by both the Centre and the state, says this would result in removing the “social cost” of producing paddy. The state spends Rs 5,000 to Rs 6,000 crore per annum to produce paddy.

Johl, who has been commissioned to suggest ways and means for an effective diversification twice in 1986 and 2002, says the inability of the state to achieve anything on this front is a policy failure. The economist calls for putting a price to water to ensure it is used rationally, saying years of free power have resulted in rampant misuse of this precious commodity in Punjab. Johl says once water is priced, the state can provide subsidy on water-saving devices.

Punjab State Farmers Commission Chairman Dr G S Kalkat feels maize and pulses can be the answer to the state’s diversification plan. He says in 1971, the area under maize was 6 lakh hectares. Right now, it is only 1.5 lakh hectares. Dr Kalkat says water requirements of both maize and pulses are only one sixth that of paddy. He says reducing the area under paddy would have to be made a reality, as the present rate of depletion of groundwater would render large parts of Central Punjab without water in another 10 years time.

However, it’s not only diversification, which needs to be done quickly. State Agriculture Director Dr DS Sidhu, when contacted for figures, admitted that part of them were on pro rata basis. He says it is also necessary to start the process of water auditing in the state.

Experts feel there is an urgency to subsidise products like laser levelers, which make irrigation much more efficient, on a larger scale rather than spending money on freebies. Money can also be spent on improving the potential of crops that are an alternative to paddy. Economist Dr Ranjit Singh Ghumman advocates the formation of a commodity fund for this purpose.

(Concluded)

Mohali, June 14
Students of Ludhiana have made a clean sweep in Class X results declared by the Punjab School Education Board (PSEB) today by bagging nine of the first 10 positions.

In the merit list of 403 students released by the board, students from Ludhiana have bagged 169 positions. Of these 75 per cent are girls. Leading the pack, Shilpa Garg and Pooja, both students of BCM Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, have bagged the first and third positions by securing 94.63 per cent and 94 per cent marks, respectively. Ankit Luthra of RS Model Senior Secondary School, Ludhiana, has secured the second position.

The chairman of the PSEB, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, said in the merit list of 403 students, 300 were girls.

While girls have done well this year, the overall pass percentage is 81.33 per cent for regular students and 70.41 per cent for private students. Of the total 3,60,310 students who appeared in the exams, only 2,80,851 could clear it. The overall pass percentage of regular students has dropped by 7 per cent. For private students, the pass percentage has also dropped by 7.23 per cent --- from 74.07 per cent (2009) to 66.84 per cent (2010).

Giving the state-level statistics, Dhillon said Barnala followed Ludhiana with 43 students on the merit list. Ferozepur, Gurdaspur and Sangrur have been placed at third, fourth and fifth positions, respectively.

The overall pass percentage of girls is 83.11 per cent and for boys it is 78.19 per cent. The pass percentage for English, maths and science is 78.72 per cent, 74.21 per cent and 92.90 per cent, respectively. The chairman said there were 400 cases of result late (RL).

The result gazette will be available on the board’s website after 6 am tomorrow. The detailed result, merit list and pass percentage of candidates can be obtained from the website www.pseb.ac.in.

Ludhiana, June 14
With the arrest of 13 persons today, the city police has busted the biggest intra- state gang of bookies running illegal trade of single-digit lottery - Darra Satta - in over 10 states.

Besides, the police has also recovered over Rs 1.16 crore cash, 34 mobile phones, laptops, and computers from the possession of the accused.

The racket, which started nearly three years ago, was operating in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Delhi, Uttrakhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Punjab and Chandigarh.

According to the police, four persons - Amarnath Bajaj of Ludhiana, Roshan Lal Verma of Delhi, Yogeshwar Dyal Pandit of Gurgaon and Rajiv Anand alias Raju of Panchkula - were spinning the whole trade that involved over 1,000 persons working as agents and sub-agents.

According to DCP Parmod Ban it was for the first time that the police has managed to nab the kingpins of the racket.

Five special investigation teams of the Ludhiana police headed by two ADCPs - Harsh Bansal and Varinder Brar - simultaneously raided places in Ludhiana, Zirakpur, Gurgaon, Chandigarh and Delhi and nabbed the accused.

Ban said the racket was being run on the lines of government lotteries. The police is also suspecting that some terrorist outfit might be funding the illegal trade. He said: “We are probing whether the accused have made any Hawala transactions."

During the interrogation the accused said they hired around 350 agents operating in different states and these agents further hired sub-agents.

The accused have been booked under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120B of the IPC.

Chandigarh, June 14
The Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB) is not working to reduce pollution. Noted environmentalist and PPCB member for one year Sant Balbir Singh Seechewal stated this at a workshop on Religion and Environment organised here by Mahatma Gandhi State of Public Administration, Punjab.

Seechewal later even displayed samples of water taken from the Beas when it enters Punjab and that from the Kala Sangha drain near Jalandhar. He said he had been telling the PPCB authorities to take required action to stop release of the effluents into the Kala Sangha drain in Jalandhar and the Budha Nala in Ludhiana, but to no avail.

Seechewal went on to claim that there was a nexus between the municipal corporation authorities and the industry, which was releasing the effluents without check into the water bodies. He claimed that the common treatment plan (CTP) needed at Dasuya was delayed due to issues of high projected cost of Rs seven crore, but that his organisation had established a temporary CTP at a cost of Rs 17 lakh only, which was giving good results.

Patiala, June 14
State Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia said today that the government would do away with the system of procuring no objection certificates (NOC) from the municipal body for various types of constructed buildings across the state.

Talking to The Tribune, the minister said the process to abolish the system had begun and a formal notification would be issued soon. He said one of the reasons behind the decision was an undue delay, which people were facing in obtaining an NOC from civic bodies.

Under the prevailing system, after the construction of a building (residential/commercial/other), it is mandatory for the owner to procure an NOC from the civic body. The system is in place to ensure that no constructed building comes up in deviation from the sanctioned building plan because there have been thousands of cases, wherein commercial and residential buildings had come up in the violation of the building bye-laws. A few years ago, NOC was made a mandatory document for getting power connection.

Kalia said, “After having discussions on this issue, we have decided to abolish the system of obtaining an NOC. Under the present system, obtaining an NOC is a lengthy process. Before issuing an NOC, officials are supposed to check pendency of dues and many other things, following which consumers face hurdles especially in getting connection for different utility services.”

When asked whether this decision would encourage violators to indulge in unauthorised constructions besides violating the building norms and deviating from sanctioned plan, Kalia defended his decision stating that they had only removed one check from those making any sort of building. “It is correct that problem of building bye-laws violations exist but it is the primary duty of municipal bodies to ensure that no unauthorised construction comes up. Hence, one check is till there”, he said, adding that their decision was aimed at ensuring that people did not face any kind of harassment.

Meanwhile, the development seems to have not gone down well with the state municipal authorities, the majority of whom feels that this decision will lead to widespread violations and loss of revenue to the municipal bodies.

“Under the prevailing system, if a building owner deviates from the sanctioned building plan or indulges in any other violation, it used to get exposed during physical verification before issuing an NOC.

Besides initiating action against non-compoundable structures, the civic body also used to get revenue in form of the composition fee for compoundable structures. Also, it is practically not possible to keep an eye on all underconstruction buildings. We don’t think that doing away with NOC would be wise step”, said several municipal officials.

Ropar, June 14
About 150 ETT teachers today staged a dharna on the Sutlej bridge connecting Ropar with Nawanshahr, Jalandhar and Nangal wherein they held hundreds of commuters at ransom, who had to travel 50 km extra to reach their destinations.

The teachers sat on the dharna in the middle of bridge at around 1.30 pm and refused to listen to the administration officials, including the DC and the SSP. They demanded immediate meeting with the Chief Minister, release of teachers lodged in Ferozepur jail, immediate joining letters to unemployed ETT teachers without conducting test and prohibiting recruitment of those teachers who had degrees from outside Punjab.

As the police geared up after traffic chaos on the bridge, around 13 teachers climbed up the iron pillars of the bridge and threatened to commit suicide. The police swung into action and immediately called up divers. The teachers also threatened to set themselves on fire.

The commuters were harried lot and took longer routes to reach at their destinations. People coming towards Chandigarh from Jalandhar were diverted from Nawashehar to Machchiwara and Doraha and those going to Jalandhar were diverted from Ropar to Anandpur Sahib and Jhacho.

Those who reached Ropar from Jalandhar and Nawanshahr had to park their vehicles near the bridge and walk to their places in Ropar city.

“Since we are not aware of the diverted route it may take more than two hours extra to reach our destination,” said an elderly couple on their way to Jalandhar from Chandigarh.

The commuters also demanded stringent action against the agitators.

Meanwhile, the agitating teachers were still on dharna till the filing of the report.

Mohali, June 14
Criticism in the media over giving wrong awards to students in recently declared PSEB Class XII results has not gone down well with the board authorities.

Reacting to news reports on the issue, the chairman of the PSEB, Dr Dalbir Singh Dhillon, said today that the issue had been blown out of proportion by “vested interests” of some people in the board. “Do not discredit the board. It’s not so bad. Compare the results of other state boards,” the chairman said.

He claimed that only 73 cases of mistakes had been detected. Stating that the number of applications coming for re-checking would never cross the figure of previous years, he said in many cases, candidates had been shown their answersheets.

No mistakes were found in the results of Mohali, Barnala and Gurdaspur verified by the board, he added.

However, he admitted that computer firms, which had been given the job of posting awards in mathematics, had erred. “A strict action will be taken against firms following findings of the inquiry. Evaluators will also be questioned,” he said.

The chairman added that he would reach back to mediapersons after all re-checking applications were dealt with.

Bathinda, June 14
Faced with problem of circulation of fake currency in the region, many traders in the Malwa belt of the state have acquired machines to detect counterfeit notes, which might cause loss to them, besides landing them in trouble.

There is scare among businessmen, following repeated reports of the fake currency smuggled from Pakistan being seized by the security forces and the police. The traders and employees of petrol filling stations were cautious while accepting high denomination currency as several incidents of customers passing on counterfeit money have come to light particularly here.

Manager of the Patanjali Sewa Ashram, which has a daily high volume of money transaction out of sale of Ayurvedic medicines, KK Chhabra said he has acquired the machine to check currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination. He has clientele, particularly from the Bathinda, Mansa and Muktsar districts. He said at times he had detected counterfeit notes brought by his customers.

Many small shopkeepers try detecting fake currency with naked eyes, while those with high turnover have acquired machines for this purpose.

The BSF particularly in the Ferozepur and Fazilka areas has seized many consignments of counterfeit currency, while these were being smuggled from Pakistan.

Abohar, June 14
Sahin (name changed) and his younger brother Rohit (name changed) of Khubban village of this subdivision have been suffering from neurological disorders since their birth.

A high concentration of heavy metals and radioactive substances found present in their bodies during medical tests in international laboratories has given a strong indication that they could die any time as mix toxicity has drastically reduced their lifespans. While Sahin is 12-year-old, Rohit is yet to complete six.

Manish Kumar (name changed) of Abohar town, who is a neurological disorder patient, was found suffering from this ailment due to mix toxicity. How long this 23-year-old old youth will survive nobody can predict.

Karamjit Kaur of Ferozepur district, Manisha Bansal of Muktsar and Nipon Kumar of Abohar are mentally retarded because their bodies have been plagued by a high concentration of heavy metals since their births.

The president of Baba Farid Centre for Special Children, an NGO, and its technical adviser Amar Singh Ajad said these startling revelations were made during the study of hair of about 149 mentally retarded and neurological disorder patients done in over two years by the NGO with the help of German-based Dr Karen, specialist (medical toxicology).

“Environmental toxicity is taking toll on the human race in Punjab. If corrective steps were not taken, the state is going to invite a disaster,” they claimed, adding that it had spread to neighbouring states of Rajasthan and Haryana.

“For the past few years, radioactive pollution has increased in Punjab due to industrial waste, pesticides and fluoride contents of underground water. The mix toxicity is causing premature deaths,” they claimed. Of 140 persons, a high-level concentration than the normal level of uranium has been found in 87 per cent, strontium in 78 per cent, lead in 43 per cent, manganese in 87 per cent, iron in 72 per cent, cadmium in 13 per cent, aluminium in 81 per cent and barium in 32 per cent. Contents of about 36 minerals and metals were found in their bodies.

Interestingly, arsenic was not found in anyone. The concentration of lead was found 84 parts per million (PPM) against the normal level of three PPM.

“Whole spectrum of neurological disorders from learning disabilities to severe mental retardation and from pains to physical handicap is on the rise. Kidney, liver, skin, muscular-skeletal, eye and ENT diseases are becoming highly prevalent,” they said.

The study had also revealed that tumours, cysts and cancers are markedly increasing. Diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, asthma and allergies were becoming common. 

Chandigarh, June 14
The Punjab School Education Department has thrown 26 schoolteachers out of their job for having produced forged certificates to be appointed as teachers.

The Mohali police has registered an FIR against five of these teachers and the registration of a case against another 21 is expected this week.

These teachers are among 490 teachers recruited on contract under the Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan in May this year. All these teachers were given appointment letters and majority of them had joined the schools they were posted in. However, when the verification of the certificates attached by these teachers was being carried out, it was found that some of them had cleverly changed the marks they had scored during their graduation and postgraduation by overwriting on scanned copies of their original certificates.

“These candidates then submitted the coloured scanned copy of their original certificate to the department. If one compared the original with the scanned copy, one can make out that there is difference between the two, but if only the scanned copy is seen it looks like original,” said the Director-General (School Education), DGSE, Punjab, Krishan Kumar. The department had advertised the posts in January this year and the application forms were to be submitted online. The merit list was prepared on the basis of the marks obtained by the candidates in their graduation and BEd. Out of the 490 selected candidates, 386 had joined.

“During the scrutiny of the documents of the selected candidates, we got suspicious when we saw five candidates from the same village in Muktsar having been selected together. We also found a common pattern in their certificates,” said Krishan. The DGSE office informed the Mohali police and an FIR was lodged against the five teachers from Muktsar. “However, despite the fact that the FIR was lodged on May 25, no one has been arrested by the police,” he added.

Chandigarh, June 14
Within a fortnight of the start of registration of voters for the coming SGPC elections, serious objections have been raised over errors in the voter registration form.

Manjit Singh Calcutta, former Chief Secretary and currently a member of the SGPC, has termed the membership form as erroneous, incomplete and violative of the basic Sikh religious tenets.

“ The SGPC is a statutory body that administers the Sikh shrines”, says Calcutta, holding that the first and foremost mandatory provision qualifying a Sikh according to the Sikh religious code of conduct and clauses 9 and 10 of Section 2 of the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925, is one who faithfully believes in one immortal God; the 10 Gurus from Guru Nanak Dev to Guru Gobind Singh; Guru Granth Sahib; and one who does not owe allegiance to any other religion or any personal Guru.

He says the omission of this qualifying condition from the form is a grave error. Further, he says, the disqualification clause mentioned in para C of the form is also incomplete. It mentions the prohibition of smoking as a qualifying clause. “Tobacco is today consumed in many forms like gutka, pan masala, zarda and kheni. The stipulation in accordance with the Sikh codes cannot be confined to smoking only. “Rather anybody taking tobacco in any form is a ‘patit’ and stands disqualified from registration as a voter,” asserts Calcutta.

He has also questioned why there is no provision for an affidavit swearing that the information given by the voter is true. Further, the provision for the identification of the signature and stamp of the officer accepting the forms is also missing.

The surname bestowed by the Guru on all Sikhs --- “Singh” for male and “Kaur” for female - is also missing from the voter form.

A photo identity card of the voter, he says, should be a must for free, fair and transparent elections. Any enumeration on the basis of caste, says Calcutta, is taboo in the Sikh Panth. The rights of the weaker and backward sections are protected completely under the Sikh Gurdwara Act. Any enumeration on the basis of Manu’s caste system is anathema to the Sikh religion.

Demanding the withdrawal of the voter form, he asserts it is violative of the Sikh ideology as well as the Sikh Gurdwara Act. “The silence of the SGPC on this vital issue is intriguing. We appeal to the Gurdwara Election Commission to withdraw these forms immediately. In case no rectifying action for these grave errors is taken, we will be free to take legal recourse,” he adds.

Chandigarh June 14
The Punjab Government has authorised the heads of various departments to act as watch guards to prevent the violation of Section 25 of the Cigarettes and other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003. This will include taking action against those smoking in public places, imposing a fine and even arresting a violator.

In fact, the state government, keeping in line with Section 4 of the Act that says “no smoking in public places”, has notified that all heads of department, executive magistrates, assistant labour commissioners, all gazetted officers of the state and Central Government of equitant rank and above in autonomous organisations and public sector undertakings will be authorised to take punitive measures under the law.

Further, the state government has authorised all commissioners, executive officers of municipal corporations and municipal councils of the local government; principals, headmasters / headmistresses and others heads of educational institutes of the state; additional directors, joint directors, deputy, assistant directors of Health Services / Family Welfare / ESI / Research and Medical Education/ Homoeopathic and Ayurvedic, to act as watch dogs to enforce the act.

The act also mandates that no person shall sell, offer for sale, or permit the sale of, cigarettes or any other tobacco product to any person who is under 18 years of age, and in an area within a radius of 100 yards of any educational institution. After the notification all these officials will be empowered to take action against whoever contravenes the provisions of Section 4 and shall be punishable with fine which may extend to Rs 200. An offence under this section is compoundable and is to be tried summarily in accordance with the procedure provided for summary trials in the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 (2 of 1974).

Besides,the government has also empowered inspectors of Central Excise, Income Tax, Customs, Sales Tax, Transport and above, Station Masters, Assistant Station Masters, Station Head, Station in charge, postmasters, airport managers, officers of the Airport Authority of India and officers of all scheduled airlines, Director, Medical Superintendents, Senior Medical Officers and Medical Officers (in charge of health institutions), Nodal Officers and Programme Coordinator, State Tobacco Control Cell, Assistant Civil Surgeons, Assistant Drug Controller ( Licensing Authority ) , District Health Officers, Drug Inspectors and Food Inspectors to prevent violations under Section 4.

Chandigarh, June 14
The Patiala illegal detention case is getting murkier by the day.The Punjab police has registered a case against the relatives of the “detainee” soon after he was released.

Sanjeev Kumar Khanna, a jeweller of Saharanpur, had alleged that his former driver Nasim Ahmed had stolen jewellery from his shop. An FIR was registered at Fatehgarh Sahib on June 8 for an incident that allegedly took place at Saharanpur.

Already, the functioning of the Punjab police is under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner after Nasim Ahmed of Saharanpur district, working for a jeweller there, was arrested near CIA staff office, Patiala.

It is believed the Punjab Police could not have proceeded against Ahmed as he was not a resident of the state, and the alleged offence of theft too had taken place in Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh.

Ordering judicial probe into the incident, Justice Ranjit Singh had last week held the Patiala CIA staff prima facie guilty of acting beyond jurisdiction in the case. Justice Ranjit Singh had ruled: “It would clearly show that the police has acted beyond jurisdiction to deal with a person from Saharanpur for which the police would not have the jurisdiction to investigate or even register the complaint. Apparently, some person at the CIA staff has done so on being approached by the employer.”

Relatives of Ahmed - Mohammad Younis, Mohammad Arif and Saleem Ahmad - have now claimed implication. The three had accompanied the warrant officer from the high court to the CIA staff office, Patiala, on May 28 in search of Ahmed. In a representation to the DGP through their counsel and Punjab’s former additional advocate-general Harpreet Sandhu, they have now sought quashing of the FIR.