Bathinda, July 8
The Badal government's much-hyped Shagun scheme has apparently become non-functional nowadays as thousands of beneficiaries of the scheme have not been paid Shagun amounts by the government all over the state for the past about 14 months. For paying the amounts of the Shagun to the beneficiaries, the state government has not released funds, to the tune of crores, to the Welfare Department so far.

Sources said due to non-payment of the Shagun amount to the beneficiaries, hundreds or more cases of the scheme had accumulated almost in every district of the state till now.

So it seemed that the scheme now existed only on paper as the beneficiaries had not been paid the Shagun amount since May 2009. Some even said to the extent that the Badal government seemed to have "dumped" the scheme in one way or the other.

The beneficiaries are also unhappy with the state government over the non-payment of the Shagun for more than a year or months together as some of them have even stopped visiting the district welfare offices in their respective districts to know about the fresh status of the payment in their cases. It is also learnt that even in many cases, newly married girls have given birth to male or female child till now, but the receipt of the Shagun amount is still far away.

According to information, gathered by TNS from various sources in the Welfare Department, only in Bathinda district, more than 2300 beneficiaries of the scheme have been awaiting Shagun (Rs 15,000) for the period from May 2009 to March 2010 whereas in Mansa district, about 1,800 beneficiaries have been awaiting the Shagun amount. In Barnala district, about 1300 and in Moga district more than 1500 beneficiaries have been awaiting the Shagun amount. In Sangrur district, the number of the beneficiaries, who have not received the Shagun amount from May 2009 to March 2010, is said to be more than 2000.

Besides, in many districts of the state, the beneficiaries of the Shagun scheme have also not been paid the amount for the period from November 2006 to March 2007. It is stated that the amount had not been paid to the beneficiaries as a majority of the pending cases belonged to the period of Amarinder-led Congress government's regime.

Sources said the non-payment of the cases of the Shagun scheme showed that the financial health of the state was not good despite the claims of the state government's functionaries that there was no financial crisis in the state.

Bathinda, July 8
Under a scheme of the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, the below poverty line (BPL) families in the district will reportedly be released a one time grant for the release of new LPG connections. The scheme is being implemented under Rajiv Gandhi Gramin LPG Vitarak Yojna.

To implement the scheme, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of additional deputy commissioner (Development) C. Sibin here today. The ADC (D) asked the District Development and Panchayats Officer (DDPO) and the Block Development and Panchayats Officers (BDPOs) to prepare and finalise the lists of the BPL families and submit the same till July 26.

An official told this reporter that after the preparation of the lists, the same would be provided to the authorities of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Bathinda for implementing the scheme in a smooth manner. About 13,000 BPL families reside in rural areas of the Bathinda district.

As per information, an amount of Rs 1400 will be given by the oil marketing companies while an amount of Rs 1,570 will either be spent by the state government or the customer on one LPG unit. The main aim of the scheme is to ensure spread of usage of the LPG, in place of the kerosene and the firewood, in the rural/poor households.

In the scheme, it has been proposed that every BPL family, who opts for an LPG connection, may be provided with one-time financial assistance equal to security deposit of one LPG cylinder and one pressure regulator.

Sources said with the implementation of the scheme in the district, the BPL families, who had been cooking meals with the help of firewood or kerosene for the past many years, would also be able to have an LPG connection in their houses in the near future. Besides, they would also be in a position to boast that they had also the LPG connection though after waiting for a long period. 

Ferozepur, July 8
The Hari Ke bridge constructed over the confluence of rivers Sutlej and Beas has become a big nuisance for the motorists as deep potholes and cracks have developed on its upper layer, which has become a major source of road accidents and vehicles breakdown on it.

The Hari Ke bridge is the only link between the border districts of Tarn Taran and Amritsar on the one side of it and Ferozepur district on its other side. Thousands of vehicles pass over it daily. Official sources said premix carpeting of the bridge could not be carried out for the past many years for reasons best known to the authorities concerned despite the fact that this bridge was very important for the defence requirements of the country.

A section of people, who used to pass over this bridge frequently, said it took about 15-20 minutes for a vehicle to pass this bridge due to the presence of a huge number of potholes.

They said if the bridge was repaired, the vehicles would be able to cross it within minutes. Kulwinder Singh, SDO, Irrigation, Hari Ke wing, said though the bridge was strong and safe, the potholes and other cracks on its upper layer had been disturbing the smooth flow of traffic on it. He added that the irrigation department authorities had been writing continuously to the PWD (national highway wing) to carry out its repair immediately.

A senior functionary of the PWD (national highway wing) said they had prepared an estimate to carry out the required repair of this bridge. However, by the time, all the formalities were completed, the road section from Amritsar to Bathinda, on which this bridge fell, was taken by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) under its command and hence, it could not be repaired.

He pointed out that the secretary and chief engineer, PWD, had taken up the matter with the NHAI for handing over the command to the PWD (national highway wing) again so that it could be repaired. He added that he hoped some positive outcome in a week. 

Bathinda, July 8
The government's appeal made to farmers for reducing the area under the water guzzling crop-- paddy--- has virtually fallen flat in the Malwa belt.

Going through the farmers' trend and comparing it with the previous season's statistics, the agriculture department sees hardly any change in the area covered under paddy plantation in the region.

During the last season, farmers in Bathinda district had covered 1.04 lakh hectare land under paddy plantation, while this year, they are now expecting paddy plantation in 1.02 lakh hectare, recording just a negligible difference.

Not much happy with the statistics, the Chief Agriculture Officer (Bathinda), Paramjeet Singh Sandhu said, “Through various means, we had urged farmers to show more interest in sowing cotton and other crops but due to some reasons, we could not succeed much in the attempt.”

However, Sandhu maintained that the exact figures would arrive only after a detailed survey that was scheduled to be conducted at the end of this month.

According to information collected through various sources, five varieties of paddy, namely, PR 118, PR 116, PUSA 44 and PR 111 dominated among others.

Though some of the farmers, even after witnessing a sour experience during the past season, opted for PAU 201 and PR 120 varieties of paddy but these were transplanted in scattered and small chunks of land.

Giving reasons for the decline of these varieties, some agriculture experts suggested that witnessing the sheller/millers' breakage complaint regarding PAU 201, the farmers had returned the seeds to the Punjab Agriculture University (PAU). The same was the case with PR 120, which the millers refused, terming it as a variety, which was yet to be notified.

Though the agriculture department claims that PUSA 1121 (Basmati) variety had witnessed a good response in plantation, experts suggest that fearing its fluctuating market price, farmers planted it in a lesser area than during the previous years.

Meanwhile, paddy planters also failed to show their presence this season as most of the cases filed last year regarding faulty planter machines were from this district. Though all 22 cases were settled after returning their invested amount along with a compensation of Rs 50,000 each, farmers did not opt to take risk again.

According to an unconfirmed report, there are only four-five planters in the whole district that too with the cooperative societies, while the district agriculture office has no such paddy planter.

However, in a new trend, the farmers in the district have conducted an experiment of direct sowing of paddy through drill machines. Though the area covered under direct sowing has been reported in just 300 hectares, the agriculture department sees it as a positive sign.

“We are providing proper assistance to farmers who opt for direct sowing because if they gain profit through this technique, it would motivate others to replicate it in the next season,” said Chief Agriculture Officer Parmajeet Sandhu.

Speaking about the benefits of direct sowing, Sandhu said it was a water saving method as it did not need flooding in the fields. It could also provide much relief to the farmers by avoiding labour pangs. At last, he claimed that the yield from direct sowing would remain same as in the traditional method of seedling transplantation.

Abohar, July 8
The cotton growers of Punjab have been facing different problems ever since the sowing season started in mid-April. Last month, the cotton plants came under the attack of Mealy bug.

Now, white fly and jassid has started attacking the growing plants in the entire cotton belts of Punjab comprising Ferozepur, Moga, Muktsar, Faridkot, Mansa, Bathinda, Barnala and Sangrur districts.

Earlier, the farmers could not sow cotton during its optimum sowing period falling between April 15 to May 15 due to acute shortage of canal water. When the canal water was made available to the farmers, unscrupulous traders created ‘artificial scarcity’ of the Bt cotton seeds and farmers were forced to buy the same at premium and that too with the recommendations of ‘influentials’ of this region.

“We have started spraying insecticides and pesticides to control the attack of white fly and jassid on cotton plants as if it is not controlled now,  it can be a big problem in the coming days and can cause irrevocable damages,” said Harpal Singh, a cotton grower.

Taranjeet Singh, another cotton grower said though they had sown the best quality of Bt cotton seeds, they were of the view that they would have to spend a lot of money for carrying out sprays of insecticides on cotton plants, which had come under attack by various insects and pests.

Information gathered by the TNS revealed that a section of agriculture officials, who participated in the state-level meeting held at Chandigarh recently, claimed that attack of white fly and jassid had not acquired menacing dimensions so far as it was below economic threshold level.

“The department officials have been advising the farmers to contact in case of any problem. They would advise them as to how and when they should carry out the spray of insecticides,” pointed out Baldev Singh Kahlon, deputy director, state agriculture department, Punjab.

Sukhdev Singh Chahal, chief agriculture officer (CAO), Ferozepur, said the farmers must not get panicky as it was controllable. He said the farmers must take care of the fact that they must not kill the friendly insects by carrying out spray of insecticides in an irrational way. The officials claimed that with the beginning of rains in this region, the white fly and jassid would disappear on its own. 

Moga, July 8
The state government has suspended the manufacturing licence of the JP Herbal Pharmacy, a Moga-based herbal drugs manufacturing company, on the allegations of mixing steroids and other allopathic chemical compositions in the herbal drugs.

An FIR under various sections was registered against the JP Herbal Pharmacy and M/s Nalini Ayurvedic (Nagpur) including unknown public servants by the CBI at Nagpur in May, this year.

The owner of this pharmacy Gurbachan Singh and one of his distributor Navin Gadekar were arrested by the CBI on the charges of manufacturing and distributing sub-standard herbal drugs. Both of them were presently out on bail granted by the CBI court, Nagpur.

Talking to The Tribune, Dr Rakesh Sharma, director of the Ayurveda department of Punjab, confirmed that the licence has been suspended and further action for its cancellation was in progress. “We have got two reports of a drug control laboratory of Maharashtra, which contained steroids and other chemical compositions and failed to meet the standards,” he said.

In reply to a question, he said a report in this regard has also been sent to the Drug Controller of India, Dr Surinder Singh, for necessary action at the level of the union government.

A few samples of the drugs manufactured by this company were taken by the CBI at Bhandara and other towns of the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra, which were found adulterated and spurious by the State Drug Control Laboratory of Aurangabad (Maharashtra). Besides the steroids, other chemical compositions of tannins, resines, alkaloids, sodium and chlorides were found in them, on the basis of which, a criminal case was registered by the CBI against this company. Interestingly, contrary to the findings of the Aurangabad laboratory, steroids were not found in the three samples of the herbal drugs manufactured by this company taken by the drug inspector of Moga Balram Luthra on December 11, 2009.

It has undoubtedly raised question marks on the credibility of the drug authorities of the Punjab government.

Manoj Pangarkar, Additional Superintendent of Police (ASP) of the CBI, who is investigating the case, while talking to The Tribune said the test reports of the fresh samples taken by them on May 17-18 were still awaited and if chemical compositions were found in them, the agency may arrest a few officials of the drug controller’s office of Punjab. “We have all the options open under the Prevention of Corruption Act and investigation is still in progress,” he added.

The ASP did not rule out the possibility of the presence of a large-scale syndicate in the business of producing sub-standard drugs. 

Barnala, July 8
Computer science and its allied subject information technology is emerging as a favourite subject among the students, opting for graduation and  post-graduation in Barnala  district.

Latest trend suggested by the data of admission in the two main colleges, Sanatan Dharam (SD) College and Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Mahila Arya Mahila (LBS) College, indicates that most of the students are opting for computer science and information technology. Besides, commerce stream, which witnessed a decline, is also reviving.

The admission figures gathered by The Tribune from the SD College suggests that a total of 118 students took admission in the first year of the Bachelor in Computer Sciences (BCA) last year while the number this year during the ten days since the beginning of admission has gone up to 84. The admission would end on July 12.

In the same college as against 427 candidates, who registered themselves for Arts stream last year, the numbers of students opting for the same course is 108 till now.

“Students are opting for computer science and information technology as it has good job prospects. The Punjab government has put a condition that the candidates, applying from clerical to official level job, should have 120 hours of computer training,” said Dr MLBansal, principal of the SD College.

Dildeepak Kaur, a student, who had come from Bugra village in Dhuri for admission in MSc (IT), said computer science and information technolgy has good job prospects. Figures from the LBS College too indicated inclination of the students for computer science and information technology. 

Fazilka, July 8
The enraged villagers of half dozen villages have demanded to transfer the staff of the Government Senior Secondary School of the border village Karnikhera. The sarpanches and member (panchayat) of about half a dozen villagers in a special convened meeting have demanded the education department shift the entire staff members of the school except principal as they have failed to teach the students properly. Due to this, the result of the students has been poor, they alleged.

Block Samiti member Pardeep Muthianwali, other village representatives Parkash Rani, Madan Lal, Narayan Ram, Sunil Kumar, Sultan Ram, Mangal Singh, Jagdish Kumar, Resham Singh, Dalip Singh, Jaswant Singh and others have alleged that the result of the examination of this session was not up to the mark.

The villagers staged a protest before the main gate of the school last year. They rued that there was no desired improvement in the functioning of the teachers this year as well.

The panchayat representative, through a memorandum to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Education Minister Unpinderjit Kaur, have demanded that the entire staff except principal whose work and conduct is satisfactory, should be changed and dedicated teachers should be posted here to provide qualitative education to the students.

They have warned that if the government does not transfer the staff of the school and appoint good teachers here within a month, they would launch an agitation.

However, while clarifying his stand of poor result of the school, the present incumbent, principal Lachhman Ram Kamboj said in recent years, students ‘keen for education’ were not enrolled. Due to this, the result has remained poor, the principal added. 

Bathinda, July 8
As part of nationwide celebrations to commemorate the centenary of Corps of Signals - Corps of Signals will be completing the hundred years of its raising on February 15, 2011, the Bathinda Military Station witnessed a scintillating performance of the talent of teams of the corps on Thursday.

The event also coincided with Raising Day celebrations of the Chetak Corps. The GOC of the Chetak Corps, chairperson Chetak FWO and many serving and retired officers, other ranks, ex-servicemen, civilians and their families witnessed the action. 

Bathinda, July 8
Two labourers were electrocuted at two different sites in the city during the last 24 hours.

One Satinder Kumar (20) was reportedly electrocuted while doing a welding job at an under-construction shopping mall, located opposite the thermal lakes on Goniana road, late last evening. In another incident, one Afzal (25) of Saharanpur (UP) suffered electric shock at the under-construction railway underbridge, located near the railway station here, this afternoon.

Eyewitnesses informed that Afzal met with the accident, when the iron bar he was holding, reportedly touched an electric cable crossing overhead. — TNS

Fazilka, July 9
Enraged over the alleged murder of a seven-year-old minor girl, hundreds of persons including women staged a protest along with the girl’s body before the Sadar police station in Fazilka today in the evening. As per the details, Rinku (7), a resident of tehsil Mirzewala in district Sriganganagar, had come to village Kheowali of this sub-division to stay with her maternal family.

On June 5, she had gone to bring some eatables from a shop in the village. Rinku did not return home till late in the evening. On search, a seriously injured Rinku was found from a deserted house in the village at 8 pm. She was first shifted to a private hospital in Sriganganagar but following deterioration in her condition, she was referred to PGIMR Chandigarh where she succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday. The Sadar police had registered a case under section 307 (attempt to murder) against unidentified persons on June 5. Rinku’s kin have alleged that police did not take any effective step to find the suspects of the assault on Rinku in the last more than one month.

Enraged over the alleged dilly-dallying of the police, hundreds of persons including women staged a demonstration before the Sadar police station. They also kept the body of Rinku before the police station and raised slogans against the Police and the state government. They have demanded that the police should act promptly to nab the culprits. A large number of residents from Sriganganagar district also participated in the dharna. The Sadar police station in-charge Baljit Singh told this correspondent that section 302 has been added to the FIR registered earlier. He expressed the hope that police would be able to solve the mystery behind the girl’s soon. 

Bathinda, July 8
The district police booked four persons including three of a family, in two different cases of duping two persons in the name of sending them abroad.

In one of the cases, Jagsir Singh of village Phule Wala alleged that Sukhdev Singh, his two sons, namely, Hardeep Singh and Jagdeep Singh, along with one Mahinder Singh, all residents of village Ghandabana located in the district, duped him of Rs 10 lakh.

He claimed that the accused had sent his brother Makhan Singh to Italy with an assurance of providing a job with a monthly salary of Rs 70,000. But reaching there, he got no job and kept asking for money from home.

Stating further, the complainant Jagsir Singh said he asked the accused a number of times to fulfill their promise as in the absence of job. But they kept delaying and later stopped paying heed to his request. Meanwhile, his brother's visa expired and he started living there in a secret manner to avoid police action.

Irked over the problem, Jagsir lodged case with Phul police but fearing action, the accused offered him to settle the matter by returning the amount and calling Makhan back from Italy. After he returned, the accused flatly refused to return the money.

Finding himself duped, Jagsir again urged the police to take up the matter and after thorough investigation, Phul police booked the accused under sections 420 and 34 of the IPC.

Meanwhile, a similar complaint was lodged against the same persons by Karam Singh of Phule Wala village.