Chandigarh, July 1
Farmers from Punjab are set to descend on Chandigarh again after a gap of four years with the mainstream the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Rajewal) today announcing it would hold an indefinite dharna in the Union Territory from July 26.

The dharna follows a one-month ultimatum given by the organisation which demanded that Rs 800 crore received from the Centre following partial failure of the monsoon last year be distributed among farmers. It has also called for the immediate release of production bonus to farmers who are being asked to pay for electricity and revocation of the urban development cess levied recently.

The BKU (Rajewal) had earlier held a seven-day dharna in Sector 17 in 2006 that led to widespread inconvenience forcing the Chandigarh administration to ban all future dharnas in that sector. The organisation is, however, determined to hold a protest in the city centre only saying the alternative site in Sector 25 was not acceptable to it.

Besides the call for the indefinite protest in Chandigarh, BKU (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal disclosed after a meeting here today that farmers would also hold a protest outside the residence of Local Bodies Minister Manoranjan Kalia in Jalandhar on July 10. “We will declare the BJP anti-farmer on this day and launch an agitation against it,” he said, adding the saffron party was responsible for the reimposition of power tariff on farmers and also the urban development cess.

The launch of an agitation by the BKU (Rajewal), which had earlier supported the SAD-BJP government, is likely to embarrass the SAD, which has always called itself a pro-farmer party. The government is already facing a sustained agitation from a group of 17 farmers’ organisations on various issues, including power tariff reimposed on farmers.

The BKU (Rajewal) had earlier demanded that Rs 800 crore received from the Centre on account of drought relief last year be distributed among the farmers. The government has claimed that this money was given to the state power utility to compensate it for power purchased to rear the paddy crop. The farmers’ union has claimed that the productivity bonus promised to farmers should have been paid immediately after the procurement of the wheat crop from them. It has also claimed that farmers should not be taxed for urban development and that the cess on all crops should be withdrawn immediately.

Meanwhile, in a separate release, Prem Singh Bhangu of the Kirti Kisan Sabha said 17 farmers’ organisations, including the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan), and labourer unions would launch a joint campaign from July 11 to 25 in the state for the restoration of free power to tubewells and subsidy on electricity to Dalits and weaker sections of society. Bhangu said after the conclusion of the campaign, mass demonstrations would be held in front of the offices of Powercom all over the state to persuade farmers not to pay their tubewell bills.

Bassi Pathana, July 1
Recent census has recorded a fall in the population of Bassi Pathana pointing towards exodus due to lack of basic amenities. Municipal Council authorities and area residents rue lack of sewerage connections, electricity and pure water that force families to leave town.

Besides lack of sewerage connection in all wards of the town, people here had been demanding water supply and electricity for the past long time.

“Despite assurances by politicians who came here to collect votes and organise rallies, nothing has been done in this regard”, said Suresh, a resident of Giljian Wala Mohalla.

Officials in the municipal council revealed that the population of the town was 19,837 in year 2000; it had witnessed an increase of 1,813 people since 1990 when the population was recorded at 18,024. However in the recent census, the report of which was submitted around two months ago, the town witnessed a decrease of 113 people with a population of 19,724.

The area residents informed that the age-old practice of manual scavenging was on in this town just a while ago. The dry lavatories, constructed by some of the area residents were razed by the district administration and now they do not have toilet facility. Many of the area residents are using toilets of their neighbour and many empty places adjoining the city were now turning into sewerage ponds.

Even those who have toilets in their homes have dug septic tanks for disposal of the sewerage. These tanks are supposed to be cleaned manually after every three or four years which was quite a difficult task and was also very expensive.

Municipal Council president Kulbhushan Malhotra admitting the problem said people of the area have been leaving town due to lack of basic amenities and employment opportunities.

“Pending amount of Rs 46 lakhs with the electricity department was deposited few days ago and a new electricity connection to run a water pump was applied today”, said the MC president.

Now we are looking forward to the officials of Electricity Department for the functioning of tube well. He informed that the entire population would get benefit from this tube well after a long time.

The MC officials said they have written to the senior SAD leaders, district administrative officials to look into the problems, but to no avail. Even a proposal of toilets for public, after dry lavatories were razed by the administration, hangs fire for the past few months, rued the MC officials and area residents. 

Jalandhar/Pathankot, July 1
Guru Nanak Dev University has abolished all examination centres at SMDRSD College, Pathankot, for the next two years.The decision was taken at a recent meeting of the university Syndicate on an inquiry report submitted by the university flying squad regarding mass copying in the college.

In its report, the flying squad has said that the college violated the UMC ordinance of the Guru Nanak Dev University Calendar by indulging in mass copying while holding examinations of BA/BSc Part II (English compulsory) at Centre No. 2 on March 31.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Inderjit Singh, university Registrar, said the decision was taken by the Vice-Chancellor on April 1 and it was passed by the Syndicate members at its meeting. He claimed that the college had violated the ordinance in facilitating mass copying and rendering unfair assistance to examinees.

The official website of the university under its head “Syndicate proceedings, point no. 53” reads that after discussion, the Syndicate felt satisfied with the report (regarding mass copying at SMDRSD College, Pathankot) submitted by the flying squad.

A flying squad had conducted a raid at the college on March 31 and found large-scale mass copying going on at Centre No. 2. The squad had caught a number of students red-handed while copying. It had filed five unfair means cases in this connection.

Taking a serious note, the university had cancelled the papers conducted at Centre No. 2 of the college. The exam was later held on the Guru Nanak Dev University campus, Amritsar.

The university had earlier decided to slap a penalty of Rs 1,000 per student but the decision was later withdrawn, claimed Dr Inderjit Singh. The university had issued a strict warning to the college Principal, center superintendents and the supervisory staff to prevent mass copying in future. The centre superintendent was also replaced after the incident.

A university official, however, claimed that the decision was subject to the final orders that may be passed in a civil writ petition (Simrit Walia and other Vs GNDU and other ) pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The college Principal, Samnider Sharma, expressed ignorance about such a decision of the university. “The college has not received any correspondence from the university in this regards as yet,” Sharma claimed. 

Chandigarh, July 1
Members of the Punjab Legislative Assembly must have heaved a sigh of relief as their demand for a revision of their salaries, allowances and other facilities has been partially met with a revision of their travelling allowance.

Though a report of the General Purposes Committee of the House that made a series of recommendations has been pending before the government for technical reasons, Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon exercised his powers under Section 5 of the Punjab Legislative Assembly (Allowances of Members) Act, 1942, to double the travelling allowance from the existing Rs 6 per km to Rs 12 per km.

Interestingly, the amendments to the Act as proposed by the General Purposes Committee were to come up before the last Budget session but for “technical reasons” these could not be taken up. In fact, the issue has been pending for more than a year now.

The immediate provocation for revising the travelling allowance for road travel has probably been necessitated because of the recent hike in the prices of both petrol and diesel.

Even the General Purposes Committee had proposed the doubling of the travelling allowance for those legislators who travel by road.

The committee had also recommended major changes in the existing free travel facility for legislators. Against the previous ceiling of Rs 1.25 lakh a year for the reimbursement of expenses incurred on the purchase of petrol/diesel against the production of cash receipts, the committee had recommended doing away with the practice of production of such receipts. Now they would be required to make a statement that they had undertaken such journeys, both within or outside the country, by all available modes of travel --- road, rail or air. Further, they can travel in their own cars or the state car or even a taxi. And the limit, too, has been proposed to be raised to Rs 2 lakh a year.

The General Purposes Committee did not make any recommendation about the entitlement of diesel and petrol to each legislator. At present, a legislator can get 440 litres of diesel and 290 litres of petrol every month for use in his official vehicle. This is over and above the travel allowance for road travel.

Abohar, July 1
Cancer has spread its tentacles in Danngar Khera village on Abohar-Fazilka road. Eight persons have lost their lives in the past two months due to the disease while 12 more are battling for their lives.

Former sarpanch Khajan Chand said in the last three years, the disease had claimed about 40 lives in the village. He added that the patients had been getting treatment from Bikaner, Sriganganagar and Jaipur.

Sensing the gravity of situation, DP Godara, civil surgeon, Ferozepur, today sent a medical team led by Rakesh Arora, chief medical officer of Khui Khera Community Health Centre, to launch a door-to-door survey in the village.

Arora said the status of cancer in the village at the moment could not be measured. Copies of the medical prescriptions and reports of tests conducted on the 12 patients has been taken to study the same.

“We have taken samples of the drinking water and will take blood samples of the residents to ascertain that there was no other cancer patient in the village. The samples will be sent to Chandigarh for examination,” he pointed out.

He said the residents were consuming water from the water works as the underground water was unfit for human consumption. Vinod Kumar, a resident instrumental in taking up the matter with district health authorities, pointed out that most government dispensaries and health centres in rural areas of the region were without doctors.

Mukerian (Hoshiarpur), July 1
Two persons drowned when the truck they were travelling in plunged into the Mukerian Hydel Canal near Hazipur on the Mukerian-Talwar road today.The body of the driver, Jaswinder Singh alias Bittu, was fished out in the afternoon while the search was on to locate the same of Satbir Singh till late in the evening.

The ill-fated truck was loaded with steel sheets and was bound for Gagret industrial area in Una district from Ludhiana when the tragedy struck.

According to eyewitnesses, the driver of the truck lost control and the vehicle fell into the canal breaking railings of the canal bridge.

Police parties from Hazipur and Talwara reached the spot and swung into action.

An earthmover, a crane and a fire tender, which were pressed to service, failed to pull out the truck till noon, hence bigger machinery from Damtal near Pathankot had to be called in to execute the rescue operation.

Divers were also pressed into service to fish out the bodies. Local residents also joined the rescue operation.

The SDM and DSP, Mukerian, along with SP (HQ), Hoshiarpur, visited the site of the accident.

The truck was later pulled out at later in the evening. 

Ferozepur, July 1
Ramesh Kumar, a Congress worker, was allegedly picked up by the police, detained illegally without formal arrest for 48 hours and made to sit nude in the local Sadar police station lock-up. “I was set free only after policemen of Sadar police station got a green signal from an MLA of the SAD-BJP alliance. I was taken to the MLA’s house and freed when a close associate of the MLA asked the policemen to set me free,” he alleged.

“A false complaint was filed against me by my kin. I was picked up from my shop here on June 28 and freed on June 30 without registering any case against me and without making any formal arrest. During the night, I was forced to strip and put into the lock-up,” he alleged, adding that he had paid the price of contesting the block samiti elections as a Congress candidate.

“When I brought the matter before mediapersons, policemen started pressurising me to make a statement in their favour, failing which, I was threatened, I would be implicated in a false criminal case,” he alleged.

Gobinder Singh, SHO, Sadar police station, while denying the allegations said Kumar had concocted a story due to political considerations. He added that Kumar was called to the police station after a complaint was lodged against him by his kin, Jendo Bai, alleging that she had been beaten up by him. He said when the police was about to initiate legal action against Kumar, he approached the local MLA to reach a compromise. The police officials did not play any role in this.

SPS Parmar, SSP, said the matter had come to his notice and he had asked Harjit Singh Pannu, SP (D), to conduct a preliminary inquiry.

Chandigarh, July 1
A high-powered delegation led by Member Agriculture, Planning Commission, Dr Krishnaswami Kasturirangan, will hold a meeting with senior functionaries of the Punjab government tomorrrow to discuss the implementation of the report of the Technical Advisory Committee on Secondary Agriculture (TACSA). Punjab is the first state from where the 15-member delegation will start working out the implementation of the TACSA report.

The TACSA report aims at value addition to agriculture produce that has nearly achieved its high point in terms of yields. The delegation will meet government functionaries of various departments, including Agriculture, Finance, Planning, Vice-Chancellors of the Punjab Agriculture University and Guru Angad Dev University of Animal Sciences besides about a dozen entrepreneurs to discuss the objectives of the report as well as seek their inputs.

Senior officials of the Punjab government said the team would explore possibilities that would help the secondary sector in Indian agriculture become comparable to the developed countries. This would be done by looking at avenues to bring transfer of needed technologies, possible collaborations and private cooperation in setting up of new ago-based industries.

Dr Kasturirangan, otherwise a space scientist who has been a member of the Rajya Sabha, has been entrusted with the task of promoting the secondary sector in agriculture by the use of scientific technology. The TACSA report was prepared by a US-based agriculture scientist of Indian origin and has been pending implementation since 2008.

The development of the secondary sector will look at value addition to Punjab’s main crops like wheat, rice and sugarcane. For example, it will look for ventures that can draw vitamins from grains, produce wheat germ, barn, enzymes and phyosterols from wheat, oil from rice barn, starch from sugarcane and milk and protein from soyabean.

The TACSA report had recommended creation of a centre of secondary sector of agriculture in the Planning Commission to coordinate the growth of this sector across the nation.

The Punjab government has also called entrepreneurs to meet with the Planning Commission team. These include people from agricultural sectors dealing with dairy, fisheries, meat processing, etc.

Patiala, July 1
Chief Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections, Justice (retd) HS Brar has expressed dissatisfaction over the sluggish pace of the preparation of the electoral rolls for the elections to the SGPC. While presiding over a meeting of seven Deputy Commissioners, coming under the jurisdiction of Patiala Division, and other senior officials at Mini Secretariat here today, Brar instructed the authorities to expedite the process.

“All DCs of Punjab must keep in mind that the date for the registration of the voters will not be extended by July 15 and they have to complete the process by the given deadline,” Brar said. Expressing discontentment over the slow pace of work, he cautioned the administrative authorities that no laxity on the part of any official/employee involved in the voter registration process would be tolerated and strict action would be recommended in case any official/employee failed to comply with the directions of the commission.

Brar also pulled up Mohali ADC Mohinder Singh Kainth, who was present on behalf of the Mohali DC, while stating, “It has come to my knowledge that in Mohali, only a single officer has been deputed by the administration for the registration of voters. This is extremely unfortunate.” He asked the officials to carry out preparations for the elections as per the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1925. He further stated that filling of Form Number 1, prescribed for registration in the voter list, was mandatory.

Interacting with the media, Brar said so far 37,000 forms had been received for the registration of voters. He said final publication of electoral rolls for the SGPC elections would be done on November 9, 2010. “Thereafter, the election will be conducted on the dates notified by the Central Government. It is expected that elections can be held by December-end or January next year,” he added.

Besides Patiala DC Deepinder Singh, Sangrur DC Harkesh Singh Sidhu, DC Fatehgarh Sahib Yashveer Mahajan, DC Ludhiana Rahul Tiwari, DC Ropar Amarjeet Singh Miglani, DC Barnala Arshdeep Singh and ADC Mohali Mohinder Singh Kainth attended the meeting.

Patiala, July 1
District Election Officer-cum-Patiala DC Deepinder Singh has instructed that one-week notice be given to voters whose names have to be deleted from rolls during preparation of electoral rolls for the SGPC election.

Deepinder Singh stated that during the door-to-door survey conducted by the administration employees, several reasons have been cited for the deletion of the votes of the existing voters. “Person concerned is living abroad, the house was found locked or has shifted to some other place. These are just some of the reasons that have come to light for the deletion of the votes,” he said, while addressing a meeting of the district administration officials at Mini Secretariat, here yesterday.

The District Election Officer asked the employees and officials involved in the process of the preparation of the electoral rolls that in all such above mentioned cases, a one-week notice should be given to all voters after July 16, whose names have to be deleted from the electoral rolls.

He also instructed the officials and the election tehsildar to ensure that there was no flaw in the new electoral rolls being prepared.

Ludhiana, July 1
In violation of the Biomedical Waste(Management & Handling) Rules, the civil hospitals in the state are disposing of biomedical waste in the open, thereby subjecting the people to "health hazards".Also, the annual reports submitted by the civil hospitals in Bathinda, Mansa, Ludhiana, Moga, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Sangrur and Faridkot do not have complete records of the waste generated in the past 10 years.

It is mandatory for the hospitals to maintain and send a detailed record of the waste generated under various categories, including non-infectious, infectious, non-infectious sharp, infectious sharp and anatomical waste, to the Punjab Pollution Control Board (PPCB).

The Anti-Corruption and Crime Investigating Cell, an NGO, in information procured under the RTI Act states that the civil hospitals in the above districts have failed to give complete records of the segregated waste to the PPCB.

Rohit Sabharwal, president of the NGO, said, "The hospital heads have not even approached the PPCB for renewal of their authorisations, mandatory for every healthcare institution generating biomedical waste."

Advocate Surabh Gupta, the legal adviser to the Anti-Corruption and Crime Investigating Cell said the matter would be taken up in the court to safeguard the interests of the general public. The PPCB had recently refused authorisation to the Lord Mahavira Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, and is under the process of registering a criminal case against the hospital and the Senior Medical Officer there under Section 5 of the Environmental Protection Act.

The then senior environmental engineer, PPCB, Ludhiana, SP Garg, had told The Tribune that the hospital was using a handcart to throw biomedical waste outside the hospital and the plastic from it was being sold in the scrap market. The biomedical waste, if not disposed of properly, transmits infections, particularly HIV, Hepatitis B and C and tetanus, to the people who handle it or come in contact with it.

Principal Secretary Health, Punjab, Satish Chandra, said, "I had reviewed the biomedical waste disposal regulations, which are not being followed in the civil hospitals across the state and have issued instructions to maintain a proper record of the "waste generated" and "waste disposed of". The hospitals have been asked to emphasise upon the segregation of the biomedical waste as per the norms laid down in the Biomedical Waste (Management & Handling) Rules and have been asked to keep the waste baskets in every area where the waste is generated. 

Patiala, July 1
World Journalism Council has invited Professor Dr Navjit Singh Johal to take part in second World Journalism Education Congress, which will be held in South Africa from July 5 to 7.

Dr Johal is presently head, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication and Dean, Faculty of Education and Information Science at Punjabi University, Patiala.

The title of this year’s event is “Journalism Education in an age of Radical Change”. The event will serve as a unique global forum for exchanging contemporary experiences about journalism and its education worldwide.

In addition to interaction with well-known media educators from all over the world, the participants will get a chance to listen to Nobel Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A former Fulbright scholar, Dr Johal would express his views on Indian mediascape and the changing status of media education in India.— TNS

Chandigarh, July 1 
Foodgrain procurement agencies’ employees today claimed that the wheat procurement done during the run- up to the last parliamentary elections was coming back to haunt them with a large number of employees facing recovery cases.

The employees belonging to Punsup, Markfed, Punjab Agro and Warehousing Corporation, who held a dharna here, claimed that they were forced to procure wheat with excess moisture content on the eve of the elections. 

Now, they claimed, the Food and Civil Supplies Department was opening cases against them due to reduction in the weight of wheat in their custody. Punjab Foodgrain Agencies Coordination Committee president Bhupinder Singh said the Food and Civil Supplies Department had formed a three-member committee three months ago to resolve this issue but the committee chairman was yet to call a meeting.