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Farmers, state harden stance on central relief
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Power staff go on strike
 Patiala, September 21
On a call given by the PSEB Joint Forum, Punjab, thousands of non-gazetted employees of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) today remained on a statewide strike in protest against the failure of the state government to implement the decisions taken at the time of the unbundling of the PSEB into two power utilities in April this year. The employees will remain on strike till midnight. The agitating employees staged protest demonstrations across the state and claimed that their strike was near total. Members of the PSEB Joint Forum hold a protest in Patiala on Tuesday. Tribune photo: Rajesh Sachar
Punjab Roadways to hike fares
Vidhan Sabha Session
Encounter at Sanour, 3 ‘contract killers’ nabbed
Cong: Norms flouted while allotting plots
Over 100 Pak Hindu families hope to get Indian citizenship
Borlaug institute to be set up in state
Agri college to be opened at research station
Khaira releases ‘letter on Rs 800 crore’
Farmers to get ‘cultivation bonus’
Milkfed hikes market fee, upsets dairymen
Continue with removal of illegal hoardings, MC told
Tourism Plan
Tribune Impact
Infant dies after birth, family alleges negligence
No clue to face behind cyber mischief
3 of family die in roof collapse
Rise in illegal land deals worries Dera Bassi residents
THDC has utilised full storage capacity of Tehri Dam: AIPEF
HC: All Punjab govt employees covered under insurance plan
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Farmers, state harden stance on central relief
Chandigarh, September 21 While farmers have been consistently claiming that the money had been received for distribution among them, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal announced yesterday that the Centre had clarified through a letter that the money had been given for the state electricity utility only to compensate it for the power purchased by it. Farmers today charged the government with trying to propagate a falsehood and even alleged that the “letter” had been “managed”. They claimed that the government had changed tack while claiming that even Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had admitted that the money had been received for distribution among farmers. “Why did the state government form a committee to decide on the mechanism for the distribution of this money last month if the government was not clear on whether it was to be distributed among farmers?” says Omkar Singh Agaul of the BKU (Rajewal). The BKU (Rajewal) president Balbir Singh Rajewal is sitting on fast on the issue since yesterday at Mohali. The BKU (Rajewal) claims that it has resorted to this extreme step as it is convinced that the government does not want to give farmers their due. It has also demanded that the government make all correspondence with the Centre on the issue of relief public. The organisation says the initial letters written to the Centre had demanded relief for the farmers who had to spent money on diesel. The government had projected that the farming community had suffered a loss of Rs 3,500 crore. Sources claim the government is in a bind as it has tried to defuse the issue by first appointing a committee to look into it and now tried to brazen it out by claiming it is only following the directions of the Centre. The source of the problem is the free power subsidy given to farmers earlier. The government withdrew this facility more than six months ago due to the drain on its resources ( the subsidy amounted to more than Rs 2,800 crore last year) as well as pressure from the World Bank and lending agencies. It also agreed to return the amount collected on account of power back to the farmers as a productive bonus. This pay-back is supposed to be a bonus on foodgrain produce. However, years of popular subsidies have taken their toll. Only 50 per cent of the farmers have paid their power bills after the withdrawal of the subsidy. Against a due collection of Rs 300 crore during the past six months through three bill cycles, Powercom has collected only Rs 150 crore. This tardy collection makes it only more difficult for the government to extend any more concessions to farmers.
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Power staff go on strike
Patiala, September 21 The employees will remain on strike till midnight. The agitating employees staged protest demonstrations across the state and claimed that their strike was near total. Speaking to The Tribune, PSEB Joint Forum leaders Surinder Pehalwan, Manjit Chahal, Karamchand Bhardwaj and BS Sekhon claimed that 90 to 98 per cent employees remained on strike in Gurdaspur, Ludhiana, Khanna, Sangrur, Patiala, Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Ferozepur, Faridkot and other major districts of the state. “On April 16, when the PSEB was bifurcated, the state government had assured that a tripartite agreement will be signed to protect the service/working conditions in 10-day time. Besides, it was also announced that demands of employees pertaining to salaries, increments and promotions would be accepted in 30-day time. But, even after five-month time, the government has failed to fulfil its promise,” said Chahal and Bhardwaj. Contrary to the claims of employees, chairman-cum-MD of the PSPCL KD Chaudhry issued a statement, which read, “the PSPCL management thanks all PSPCL employees, who attended to their duties, despite the call for strike given by a section of PSPCL employees’ unions.” The agitating employees further said reports received till afternoon indicated that strike received a massive response, as the employees did not went to duty at thermal plants of Ropar, Bathinda and Lehra Mohabbat. Employees have threatened to intensify the agitation in the near future in case the government and the managements of the PSPCL and the PSTCL did not accept their demands. The PSEB Engineers’ Association has also condemned the non-fulfilment of the assurances given by the Chief Minister to engineers. “We have now, decided to hold zonal-level dharnas. Also, now our association will adopt policy of non-cooperation with the managements of both power corporations and the state government,” announced association president HS Bedi and general secretary Bhupinder Singh. However, KD Chaudhry claimed that the strike had virtually no impact in the PSPCL Secretariat and its other offices at Patiala as the attendance was full.
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Vidhan Sabha Session
Chandigarh, September 21 The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) has identified three major issues to take on the government and will project itself as a spokesperson for farmers, something done by the SAD in the past. Though the Vidhan Sabha will be in session from September 24 to October 1, the actual sittings will be confined to five only. After obituary references on September 24, the House will adjourn till September 27 afternoon. Several new Bills are expedited to be tabled in the House. On Wednesday, when the House meets at 2 pm, it will look at some more legislative business. The second last day, September 30, will see non-official business and again before being adjourned sine die, the House will see some legislative business. It is expected to witness a lot of walkouts and heated debate during zero hours. The Congress is working out a strategy to corner the government on the issues of law and order and the non-disbursement of Rs 800 crore received from the Centre. There is also a move to embarrass the government on the issue of a charge sheet framed against Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon. But one of the highlights of the 10th session of the 13th Vidhan Sabha would be the return of Capt Amarinder Singh to the House after he was expelled on the recommendation of a Vidhan Sabha Committee. Amarinder’s expulsion from the House has been set aside by the Supreme Court. Amarinder also confirmed that he would be present in the House this session, adding that he had made a representation to the Speaker to allow him to bring a Calling Attention Motion on the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. The Bills that are likely to be tabled in the House include the Punjab Prevention of Human Trafficking Bill-2010; a Bill for amending Sections 153-A, 295 A of the IPC and 438 of the CrPC; Punjab VAT (Fourth Amendment) Ordinance, 2010 (Punjab Ordinance No 7 of 2010) and the Punjab Entertainments Duty (Amendment) Ordinance, 2010 (Punjab Ordinance No.6 of 2010), Punjab Prevention of Damage to Public and Private Property Bill-2010, Punjab Special Security Group Bill, 2010, amending Sections 19(1) and 20(1) of the Punjab Advocates Welfare Fund Act, 2002, the Chitkara University Bill 2010, amendments in the provision of the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets Act, 1961, and a Bill approving the hike in salaries and perks of legislators.
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Encounter at Sanour, 3 ‘contract killers’ nabbed Patiala, September 21 Two of the accused, identified as Palwinder Singh Pinda and Varinder Singh (alias Binda), sustained bullet injuries in the encounter and were admitted to Government Rajindra Hospital for the treatment. The police also seized arms and cash from the accused. “The third accused has been identified as Surinderpal Singh Sodhi. All accused are residents of Jalandhar,” said SSP Gurpreeet Singh Gill. During preliminary questioning, it came to light that the accused had already been booked by the police in different cases in the past and their names figured in the “wanted” list of the Jalandhar police. “The accused murdered an NRI, Mahinderjit Singh of Behram Shrishta village, Jalandhar, on September 7. The murder was committed as a contract killing deal for which the accused were paid Rs 25 lakh,” the SSP added. During questioning, the accused confessed that they were involved in contract killings, he added. The encounter reportedly took place at Sanour, near Patiala, around 9.30 am. Acting on a tip-off, a team of the CIA staff, led by Inspector Jassa Singh, set up a naka at Gole Chowk of Sanour. “The police personnel spotted a black Zen car (PB 08 AY 9313). They signalled the driver to stop the vehicle, but he didn’t follow the order. Instead, the persons sitting in the car opened fire at the police,” the SSP said. In retaliation, the police also fired at the accused, resulting in injuries to two of them. The policemen finally managed to apprehend all three accused. A .32 bore revolver, a .38 bore revolver, six mobile phones and Rs 1 lakh in cash were seized from their possession. A case under Sections 307 and 34 of the IPC and Section 25 of the Arms Act has been registered at the Patiala Sadar police station.
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Cong: Norms flouted while allotting plots Mohali, September 21 At least 14 prime industrial plots of 2,500 sq yard each were carved out for certain persons in 2008 when the land in question was under stay via an order of the Supreme Court, Sidhu alleged while addressing mediapersons here. Showing documents, he said he was going to raise the issue in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha session. He said he would be seeking reply as to how the plots were carved out at nominal rate of Rs 2,700 per sq The 14 acres of land allotted to individuals was surrendered by ICICI Paints. Moreover, no construction had been raised on these plots and some of them had been sold further. Citing provisions under the Industries Department policy on the allotment of land for industrial parks, agro parks and IT parks, Sidhu claimed the mandatory policy of 60 per cent industrial, 30 per cent residential and 10 per cent commercial allotment had not been followed. As under the off-the-shelf scheme, only 30 per cent of the total plots could be offered, provided the land was free from litigation, he pointed out. Talking in the context of allotment of 70 acres of land (recently freed from litigation) in Industrial Area, Phase VIII-B here to IT companies, he said there was apprehension that the Industries Department was going to follow the policy of allotting the sites to well-connected persons. The department should give open advertisement in national papers and invite entrepreneurs to set up their units. The policy on proportionate ratio of commercial, industrial and residential plots should be followed, he demanded. Sidhu claimed that certain highly placed persons in the ruling government were already eyeing the plots that would allegedly be allotted through a backdoor policy. Baldev Singh Sekhon, an entrepreneur who was also present at the press conference, said the allotment of plots below two acres of land were within the purview of the secretary of the department concerned. The MLA said he would seek a thorough probe into the allotment of plots under the scheme.
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Over 100 Pak Hindu families hope to get Indian citizenship
Jalandhar, September 21 The Union Home Ministry reportedly submitted an affidavit in the Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday stating that the cases of 67 Pakistani Hindus, who are living in Jalandhar, have been recommended for granting the Indian citizenship to the authorities concerned and the cases of other 52 persons are under process. The ministry further stated that it had taken up the cases of 17 families to grant the Indian citizenship. The affidavit was submitted to the Double Bench by Under Secretary of the ministry SP Mandal in response to a PIL petition. For the past three years, several families, who came here from Pakistan about a decade ago and settled in Jalandhar and Amritsar, have been approaching the state and the Union governments to seek the Indian citizenship. Though the exact number is not available, sources said the number of Pakistani Hindus living here would be in the range of 500 and almost an equal number of families were living in Amritsar. “Here also, we are called Pakistanis. Many of us came here a decade ago from the Sialkot region of Pakistan. Some of us got married here and have children,” said Ashok Kumar, whose mother and some members of the family are still in Pakistan. He said most of the emigrant families had applied repeatedly to seek the citizenship, but their cases were rejected on one pretext or the other. “We were told to bring the valid passport and visa issued by the Pakistan Government. But our passports and visas expired long ago and the Pakistan Embassy in Delhi refused to issue us fresh passports and told us to return to Pakistan to get them issued”, he added.
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Borlaug institute to be set up in state
Ludhiana, September 21 According to information received by Dr Darshan Singh former Dean, Postgraduate studies, Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), a joint declaration of intent was signed at the CIMMYT headquarters between Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar and director-general of the CIMMYT, Mexico, on September 6 during the visit of the Indian delegation to the CIMMYT. Director-General of the ICAR Dr S Ayyapan was also present on the occasion. A high-level team of the Centre for International Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMY), headed by Dr Lumpkin and comprising his deputy director-general Dr Ferguson had visited the Ladowal farm of the Punjab Government to inspect the site for the establishment of the institute on August The high-level team of Punjab was headed by Manpreet Singh Badal to present the case of the state for the establishment of the institute at Ladowal. Under the agreement, the state government has to provide 500 acres for the establishment of the institute and the CIMMYT will spend a sum of Rs 500 crore for the same. When contacted by The Tribune, NS Kang, Financial Commissioner (development), Punjab, said they had not received any official communication so far in this regard. Dr Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, while welcoming the decision of the CIMMYT said this was a good news. He said Dr SK Dutta, deputy director- general, ICAR (crops), who was in Ludhiana last month to participate in a four-day wheat workshop had also indicated that the Borlaug institute was being set up at Ladowal.
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Agri college to be opened at research station
Gurdaspur, September 21 This was stated by Punjab Agriculture Minister Sucha Singh Langah, who was the chief guest as the curtains came down on the centenary celebrations of the research station today. Langah said the state government had given its nod to the agriculture college project and funds had been earmarked for the purpose. Infrastructure at the existing Institute of Agriculture, which was running a certificate course in agriculture, would be upgraded to make way for the college. —
TNS
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Khaira releases ‘letter on Rs 800 crore’
Chandigarh, September 21 Khaira has said the statement of Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal regarding directions issued by the Union Government was only an attempt to hoodwink the farmers of Punjab demanding this package. He has released a letter sent to him by Namo Narayan Meena, Minister of State for Finance, Government of India, with regard to the disbursal of Rs 800 crore. The last para of the letter states that “you will agree that putting conditions on the utilisation of compensation amount would not be appropriate.” Khaira has asked if the Union Government did not put any condition such as passing the package to farmers, the Punjab Government was misleading the farmers. He has further said, “Make the letter public wherein it is directed to give Rs 800 crore to the Punjab State Electricity Corporation. In case Sukhbir Badal fails to provide this letter it would be amply clear that he is lying to prevent passing this Rs 800 crore to the farmers. Hence, he must apologise to the farmers of Punjab for denying them their due right”.
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Farmers to get ‘cultivation bonus’
Ludhiana, September 21 Lakhowal was addressing a gathering of farmers today in Chuanta village of Ludhiana district. The BKU (Lakhowal) president further said that the state government had received Rs 800 crore as the compensation amount for the power purchased in 2009 due to rain failure, which will be distributed to state farmers at every cost. Taking up the cause of farmers struggling to sustain in agriculture, Lakhowal called upon the state government to enact a law to curtail the practices of landlords confiscating lands of poor farmers under the garb of power of attorney and promissory notes. The provisions for the same are already given in the Sir Chotu Ram’s Punjab Relief Of Indebtedness Act, 1934, Lakhowal said. “Every family of farmers which suffered on account of a death due to debt should be given immediate compensation of Rs 2 lakh," he added. Meanwhile, Pavittar Pal Singh Pangli, president of the PAU Kisan Club, demanded drought relief for farmers for 2009, adding that the state had earned more than Rs 900 crore from market fees and other cesses.
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Milkfed hikes market fee, upsets dairymen
Chandigarh, September 21 “We are baffled as the state has been doing everything contrary to its public pronouncements of encouraging dairy farming. By levying 3 per cent market fee on maize, 5 per cent entry fee on milk cakes and reducing the procurement price of milk by Rs 10 per kg fat, the government wanted to suffocate the dairy industry,” says Daljit Singh Sadarpura, association president. The new levies and taxes would make the cattle feed costlier by a minimum of Rs 1 a kg. “And what could be the justification for Milkfed to raise the market price of all types of milk last week while reducing the procurement price. It has started giving confusing signals to both consumers and dairy farmers,” said Sadarpura holding that a delegation of the association would shortly meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal before launching an agitation from Ludhiana and spreading it across the state. Ludhiana Milk Plant, he says, receives only 1.8 lakh litres of milk everyday against its capacity of 4 lakh litres. Cutting down of the procurement price would force farmers to think of alternate sources of supplying their produce. Why should a dairy farmer sells his milk to Milkfed? asks Sadarpura maintaining that besides new levies and taxes, the prices of diesel, wheat straw, green fodder and other cattle feed inputs have been going up day by day. The cost of milk production has been going up. Instead of offering farmers remunerative prices, Milkfed has been playing a cruel joke on them. He said the association had been one of the major sources of supply of milk to plants of Milkfed. The state must clarify its stand whether it wants to encourage dairy farming or discourage this sector coming up with the participation of promising young progressive farmers. Sadarpura wants the government to reverse the decision of reducing the procurement prices of milk.
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Continue with removal of illegal hoardings, MC told
Chandigarh, September 21 The Division Bench of Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari also directed it to maintain “records of collection of fine, if any, and imposition of taxes etc., as per the byelaws of the MC”. Disposing of a petition filed by the “Anti- Corruption and Crime Investigation Cell”, the Bench has also asked the MC to “supply information to the interested parties under the Right to Information Act, as and when sought”. In the petition filed in public interest, the organisation had earlier “raised the issues of illegal hoarding and collection of fee” by the MC. As the case came up for hearing, the Bench was informed that a “separate advertisement wing has been set up in all four zonal offices of the MC, which is headed by a superintendent”. The corporation added: “It is, however, a matter of fact that companies/individual do display illegal hoarding and attempts are foiled by the checking staff”.
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Tourism Plan
Chandigarh, September 21 Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal gave his approval to the demonstration projects as well as the Tourism Development Master Plan following a presentation by Hans Carl Jacobsen and Dr Harsh Verma, international consultants of the United Nations World Tourism Organisation, here last night. The meeting, which was also attended by Tourism Minister Hira Singh Gabria, also approved the draft tourism bill that would be enacted after approval. The bill includes a comprehensive hotel policy with the objective of focusing on development incentives on high quality accommodation. Detailed guidelines for establishing and promoting bed and breakfast and tented schemes are also part of the tourism master plan. The scheme of farm tourism is also part of the policy. Patiala would be projected as a cultural heritage destination with a system of heritage trails. Sultanpur Lodhi would be put on the global tourist circuit as a religious and cultural heritage destination as “the birthplace of Sikhism”. The main bazar of Sultanpur Lodhi would be the spine of the heritage trail. It is proposed to convert Quila Sarai into a heritage resort. Similarly, in Kapurthala Jagatjit Palace, Gol Kothi, Camera Bagh, Darbar Hall, Baggi Khana Complex, Ghanta Ghar, Panch Mandir, Jalau Khana, Shalimar Bagh and the Royal Tombs would give tourists a “royal experience.” Ropar would be projected as a natural historical as well as cultural destination by promoting five star eco lodges and health and wellness activities in the wetland area.
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Tribune Impact Patiala, September 21 Speaking to The Tribune, Dipinder said, “It was really shocking to know that Gurbhajan has been living in such a condition for the past so many years.” He further said that after reading the story, he had directed the authorities of the district administration to ensure that Gurbhajan was freed from the house and admitted in some old age home. “The newspaper report mentioned that neighbours of Gurbhajan have requested the police to allow them to shift Gurbhajan to an old age home. But there is no need for that as the administration would do the needful on humanitarian grounds”, he added.
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Infant dies after birth, family alleges negligence Kharar, September 21 In a complaint to the Kharar police, Subedar Gurcharan Singh, a resident of Ranjit Nagar said that his daughter Jagjit Kaur, who was married at Pinjore, had come to his place. Pregnant Jagjit was brought to civil hospital on September 20 at 7 am when she started feeling uncomfortable. Gurcharan alleged that for the whole day neither nurses nor doctors took care of her daughter. Thereafter, Jagjit was wheeled into labour-room by a midwife. At around 3 am, the family members heard cries of a baby twice. The midwife came out of the room and went to summon nurse Paramjit Kaur, who was allegedly asleep in her room. Nurse Paramjit Kaur then told family members that the child had passed away. Gurcharan had demanded registration of a criminal case against Paramjit Kaur for death due to negligence. Meanwhile SMO Dr SPS Dhillon said that the aggrieved family met him but did not lodge any formal complaint. He said that the umbilical cord of baby had got twisted around its neck six times. He said while the patient was admitted to hospital in the morning, she suddenly went into labour at around 2:30 am. It was a full-term baby. He added that the nurse Paramjit Kaur claimed to have gone twice to attend the patient. Similarly on September 12, an expecting mother Hardip Kaur from Kharar was taken to civil hospital Kharar. Her mother-in-law said that after administering medicines, the hospital staff sent her daughter-in-law back home. Later at night, Ranjit went into labour pain. Civil hospital Kharar staff told her family that it was a breech baby and was referred to Government Hospital sector 16 Chandigarh. A baby girl was born, who later died on September 16. Her family too has alleged the nursing staff of being negligent of their duties.
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No clue to face behind cyber mischief Patiala, September 21 It only became clear that e-mail was fictitious and handiwork of some wrong element, when the reporters contacted Preneet. Speaking to The Tribune, Preneet said, “Neither I have issued any such statement nor authorised anyone to issue press statement on my behalf.” She disassociated herself from the contents of the e-mail. Interestingly, couple of hours after receiving the first statement, the reporters also received another e-mail with a slug, “Reissue” in which it was stated that Preneet had said the Canadian government sought India’s help to check the abuse of immigration from Punjab to Canada with no mention of the earlier mail on new policy.
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3 of family die in roof collapse Patiala, September 21 Angan Lal, his wife Kamla, their daughters Pinki and Kunti and son Girish had migrated from Nagrian village of Uttar Pradesh to Bassi Arkh village in Punjab five months ago. Angan Lal was a street vendor and used to stay in the old house of late Sikander Singh, a landlord of the village. Villagers started the rescue work immediately. On removing debris, they found that Angal Lal, Kamla and Pinki had already died, while Kunti and Garish were still alive.
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Rise in illegal land deals worries Dera Bassi residents Dera Bassi, September 21 Congress leaders Rakesh sharma and Harbhajan singh said that increasing trend of illegal deals of land was the result of corruption and high-handedness in which concerned officials and some leaders of ruling party were involved. They demanded a probe by some independent agency of these cases. CPI Leader Jaspal singh dappar alleged that officials of revenue department do not conduct proper verification of witnesses and owners of land at the time of sale/purchase of land. Some poor people had lost their land due to increasing trend of illegal sale/purchase of land. He demanded proper verification of witnesses and owners of land at the time of registrations Meanwhile,tehsildar Gurmander singh said that problem of illegal sale/purchase of land had arisen because some witnesses were having illegal identity cards that could not be identified easly. In this regard steps were being taken as they had recommended for registering a case against a nambardar and a panchyat member.
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THDC has utilised full storage capacity of Tehri Dam: AIPEF Patiala, September 21 In a representation to the Power Secretary, Union Government, AIPEF chairman Padamjit Singh has stated that apart from Bhakra, in case of Pong Dam, the FRL is 1400ft and filling upto 1395ft or 1397ft feet is considered reasonable. But the BBMB has restricted the level to 1394.5ft. Notably, a few days back, AIPEF had sent a letter to the Union Minister of Power SK Shinde against the decision of BBMB to restrict reservoir level of Bhakra upto 1680ft and to open floodgates thereafter. “Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) has utilized the full-storage capacity of Tehri Dam. As against the FRL of 2722.41ft, THDC has achieved filling upto 2721.13ft”, mentioned the letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune. Padamjit said that this data made it amply clear that Tehri project utilised the storage capacity almost to the FRL, whereas BBMB kept artificially low limits, resulting in higher spillage. “In case of Tehri project, the revenue realisation is by THDC on the energy sold and thus THDC has utilized the storage capacity of the dam. In contrast, in BBMB the commercial impact of spillage loss is on the partner states and not on BBMB. This is one factor due to which BBMB did not fully utilize the storage capacity”, Padamjit pointed out.
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HC: All Punjab govt employees covered under insurance plan Chandigarh, September 21 The Division Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Ritu Bahri has asserted that the scheme “in clear words stipulates that it would be compulsory for all employees who enter Punjab Government service after it is notified. Meaning thereby, those employees who entered the Punjab Government service after October 2, 1982, were compulsorily covered under the scheme and automatically enrolled the moment they are appointed to the service”. Referring to the scheme’s sub-clause, the Bench said: “Those already in the Punjab Government service on the date the scheme was notified had an option to opt out of the scheme by September 30, 1982. It further stipulated that those employees who do not opt out of the scheme by the said date would be deemed to have become members of the scheme from the date it came into force.” The judgment, jointly penned down by Justice Kumar and Justice Bahri, says: “When there is nothing in writing given by an employee opting out of the scheme, such an employee would be deemed to be covered by the scheme. It was the duty of the head of the office to notify the scheme to every individual employee and to obtain their signatures in token thereof.” The ruling came in connection with a petition filed by Saroj Garg against the state of Punjab and another respondent.
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With the arrest of three persons following a daylight encounter, the Patiala police today claimed to have busted a gang of contract killers. Those arrested were reportedly also involved in various other criminal activities, including robbery incidents.
Two of the accused, identified as Palwinder Singh Pinda and Varinder Singh (alias Binda), sustained bullet injuries in the encounter and were admitted to Government Rajindra Hospital for the treatment.
Mohali, September 21
Jalandhar, September 21
The CIMMYT, Mexico, is learnt to have decided to set up Borlaug Institute for South Asia at Ladowal farm, near
Ludhiana, with two satellite stations at Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Pusa (Bihar). The institute is being set up in memory of Dr
Borlaug, father of Mexican Wheats, as a tribute to his contribution in wiping out hunger in the world.
Taking cognizance of the news appearing in these columns today regarding Octogenarian Gurbhajan Singh, who is locked alone in a house in Mooran Wali Gali, Patiala, for the past five years, Patiala Deputy Commissioner Dipinder Singh said he had issued instructions for getting Gurbhajan shifted from the house to an old age home.
