Mehatpur (Jalandhar), September 25
Hundreds of acres, including standing crops in almost a dozen villages of Phillaur, Mehatpur and Sahkot blocks, were submerged in floodwater, following a 30-foot breach in dhusi bundh along the Sutlej, near here this evening.

Though senior functionaries of the district administration had been camping at the site throughout the day, the breach occurred on the bunch between Bute-Di-Channa and Bhodian village at about 6.30 pm after the officers had left the site. The district administration has sounded an alert in the villages and help has been sought from the Army.

Talking to the Tribune, Jalandhar Deputy Commissioner Priyank Bharti said the water had just started entering the fields, but may affect several villages. He said all arrangements for the resettlement and evacuation of the villagers have been made. The exact flood situation could not be told at this stage, he added.

Meanwhile, the vigilant villagers had informed the administration after they found the river cutting the dhusi Bundh in Bute-Di-Channa last night. Hundreds of villagers and the employees of different government departments swung into action and plugged the breach after a struggle of over 18 hours.

The villagers alleged that the officers at the spot ignored their requests for calling the Army in time. “The district administration did not even provide them required material for plugging the bundh,” they alleged. With the breach in the bundh, panic has prevailed among over 15 villages downstream and floodwater has even started entering the adjoining villages.

The breach plugging and rescue operation was badly hit, as there was no provision of light at the site. The panicky villagers have started moving to safer places with their valuables and live stock. 

Jalandhar, September 25
With the imposition of a ban on corporate SMS by the Indian Government, computer hackers have become active across the country, giving a boost to cyber crime.

The Union Government has issued directive to the mobile operators for blocking group messaging keeping in view the apex court’s verdict on the Ayodhya issue.

Hackers have been sending fake e-mails, generated for various banks with a form in attachment, to their customers. The fake e-mails are read as alerts from the respective banks in which the hackers claim that the ban period could be extended. “In view of the exigency, the banks Net Secure Code and transaction alert delivery has been affected,” the e-mails read.

The e-mails also read that till the Government of India permits restoration of the system, the banks my not be able to conduct internet banking transactions that use SMS for delivering the Net Secure Code. The hackers have also attached a form with the e-mail and asked the account holders to fill a form online so that the bank may verify the accounts after the ban lifts.

Experts say that after collecting the information regarding the account holders, the hackers may do huge transactions from their accounts and even sell their information to other cyber criminals.

Rishi Verma, a Jalandhar based executive of the Anti Hacking Anticipation Society, claimed that the hackers have sent a fake e-mail on behalf of Axis Bank to its customers. The hackers had asked the account holders to fill an online form asking for name, ID, password, transaction password, name of card, card type, debit/credit card no, expiry date, CVV code, ATMs PIN, date of birth, source of code and certain other details.

Verma claimed that details filled in the form directly go to the hackers through java script link, which they use in doing huge transactions from the banks.

Jalandhar city police, ADCP (Crime), Rajpal Sandhu said one should not disclose his ID and other details like password, bank accounts on the Internet. The RBI has already made public aware about the cyber crime.

Chandigarh, September 25
The Punjab Government spends anything between Rs 25 lakh to Rs 30 lakh for each day the Vidhan Sabha is in session. While this includes all incidental expenses involved in the session organising, a substantial amount of the total expenditure includes the travelling allowance (TA) and daily allowance (DA) paid to the MLAs for each day of the session.

Each member is entitled to a daily allowance of Rs 500 when the session is on and also of the days that he or she is travelling to Chandigarh for the session. Other than this, travelling allowance calculated on the basis of the kilometers travelled is given to all those members, who use private vehicles to travel to and from Chandigarh to attend the session.

Many of the members claim to use their private vehicles to come to attend the sessions, despite having their official chauffer-driven vehicles, whose use is, in any case, being paid by the government.

Interestingly the sessions of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha invariably begin on a weekend, when after a single day session the MLAs are expected to go back to their constituencies and gather again when the session resumes.

A “weekend beginning” of the session ensures that the members get DA and TA for the day before the single-day weekend session and the day after 
as well.

For instance, if a session, beginning on a Friday, the MLAs get TA and DA for Thursday, Friday and Saturday. In case, the session is to be held again on 
Monday the MLAs claim TA and DA for Sunday 
as well.

Sources point out that, while the DA bill for the 117 MLAs is almost Rs 60,000 a day, the TA bill can range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 1,20,000 per MLA per day.

In case, the sessions were to begin on Monday and continue for a week, the state can save lakhs that go into the MLA’s pockets as payment of DA and TA for travelling to and fro during the weekends. The sources further point out that despite the fact that each MLA in the state has been provided with a chauffer-driven vehicle that is to be used for official purposes, several of them claim to come to Chandigarh to attend the session in 
private cars.

The claim forms submitted by many of the MLA’s show that they have used private vehicles to travel and hence are entitled to the reimbursement. And since all this is being paid from the taxpayer’s pocket, it seems no one is really bothered to bring in cost-effective methods to hold the session.

Amritsar, September 25
The Punjab Public Service Commission (PPSC) will hold the preliminary examination of the Punjab State Civil Services Combined Competitive Examination on November 28, said its newly appointed member, Hardeep Singh Grewal.

He was here today along with his wife, Sarbjit Kaur, to pay obeisance at the Golden Temple after being appointed member of the PPSC on August 26. His appointment swelled the total number of members, which cannot exceed more than seven, of the PPSC to six.

His was the third appointment to the commission by the SAD-BJP coalition government. The other two members appointed by the Parkash Singh Badal government were Dalbir Singh Mahal and Anil Sarin.

The previous Congress government had appointed Ravinder Kaur, Satwant Singh Mohi and Brig DS Grewal (retd) to the PPSC, which is headed by its Chairman, Sanjit Kumar Sinha. Out of them Mohi, Brigadier Grewal and Sinha would retire next year.

Grewal, who recently took voluntary retirement from the PCS (Judiciary) after having served for nearly 15 years, admitted that the working of the commission had been controversial for a long time but now onwards the emphasis would be on bringing about more transparency. He added that dynamic mechanisms would be evolved and implemented so that meritorious students should join the state civil services for running the government efficiently. 

Sangrur, September 25
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (DCDRF), Sangrur, has ordered Kingfisher Airlines Limited, Bangalore and Mumbai, to pay a consolidated amount of Rs 30,000 to Ashish Garg, an architect of Sangrur, for deficiency in service.

In his complaint to the DCDRF, Garg had said that he had decided to go to Mumbai and Goa for honeymoon and booked two air tickets from Chandigarh to Mumbai in flight IT-600 of Kingfisher Airlines. The status of their tickets was confirmed for departure from Chandigarh on January 5.

They then booked their railway tickets from Mumbai to Goa for January 8 after paying Rs 7,267. When the couple arrived in Chandigarh on January 4 for boarding their flight, Garg received an SMS that the scheduled flight has been cancelled that caused them a lot of mental tension and harassment.

Garg said the charges of the air ticket were refunded after deducting an amount of Rs 500. However, he contended deficiency in service and unfair trade practice on part of the airlines. The Kingfisher contended the cancellation of flight to bad weather, but failed to produce any evidence in this regard.

Forum president MD Sharma and member Harvinder Lal Sharma observed, “The agony and harassment that was caused to the couple can be better imagined than explained.” The “cruelty and impropriety, constituting not only deficiency in service, but also unfair trade practice on the part of the airlines, especially when newly wed couple lost charm of their honeymoon trip, a dream of every newly wed couple, which was obviously an agonising experience for them, which perhaps they will not be able to forget,” the forum observed.

Muktsar, September 25
Expressing his feelings through a love letter to a girl cost a boy of Sukhna Ablu village of this district heavily. Infuriated over the boy’s act, girls’ relatives killed his grandfather and injured other family members severely, besides setting a portion of their house on fire.

It is learnt that a youth of this village had some liking for a girl. A few days back, he handed over a proposal letter to the girl, when she was on her way to her home. Irked over his gesture, the girl lodged a complaint with her family.

Taking serious notice of the boy’s gesture, her family members had a quarrel with the boy’s family. However, with the intervention of some villagers and the village panchayat, boy’s kin apologised in the public and matter was somehow settled.

Despite this, the girl’s kin could not keep their minds clear of grudges and kept on expressing their intention to take revenge from the boy’s family some day, the villagers informed.

In a fit of rage, girl’s father Baldev Singh, her brother Gurmeet Singh, along with other family members, namely Veera Singh, Mander Singh, Dharminder Singh, Varinder Singh and Jagjit Singh entered the boy’s house on Thursday late night and brutally assaulted the male members present there. They hit the boy’s grandfather Mohan Singh hard and set his room on fire.

Meanwhile, on seeing a number of villagers assembled there, the accused fled the spot. Observing the elderly Mohan Singh and others injured severely, the villagers rushed them to civil hospital, Gidderbaha. However, Mohan succumbed to the injuries on Friday.

Acting upon the complaint of the father of the boy, Gurdeep Singh, the Kotbhai police booked all accused under Section 302, 452, 436, 323, 148 and 149 of the IPC.

Confirming the facts, the investigation officer, Bhupinder Singh, the SHO Kotbhai said, “A case has been registered against the accused and raids are being conducted to nab them soon.”

Jalandhar, September 25
Eminent academician and scientist Dr Jai Rup Singh, Vice-Chancellor of Central University of Punjab, has urged Punjab Chief Secretary SC Aggarwal to give serious thought to the proposal submitted by Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar KS Pannu to ban the burning of paddy and wheat residue in the state.

Pannu had recently submitted a draft of the Bill proposing the state government to enact a law to ban the same.

“It is the right time that we take effective steps to stem this (residue burning) practice so that we leave a healthy place for our children to live,“ said Dr Jai Rup Singh in his letter to Aggarwal.

“I am convinced that Pannu’s proposal is in the interest of the people, both farmers and non-farmers,” the VC said.

Vice-Chancellor of Guru Nanak Dev University Prof AS Brar has also recommended enacting of the law.

“Timely legislative measures need to be taken to prevent farmers from burning the crop residue,” said Brar in his letter addressed to Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal.

Earlier, Dr GS Kalkat, chairman of the Punjab Farmers’ Commission, and Baba Sewa Singh, an environmentalist, had also urged the government to frame the law.

Sources said Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had discussed the issue with the Chief Secretary and other officials concerned . Officials are keen to enact the law.

Even the Punjab Pollution Control Board, which was asked to comment on Pannu’s draft, has favoured the legal support in form of some law.

Environmentalist Baba Balbir Singh Seechewal, has also urged the government to ban the same.

Ludhiana, September 25
While Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal is talking of sending state farmers to Brazil, a South African university is keen to adopt the model of Punjab Agricultural University (PAU) to raise agricultural production and alleviate poverty.

Walter Sisulu University (WSU) of South Africa has invited Dr Manjit Singh Kang, Vice-Chancellor, PAU, to deliver the keynote address at the annual 
rural development conference of the university being held from September 28 to October 5.

Prof Marcus Malusi Balintulo, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, WSU, has in a letter to Dr Kang stated that the planning committee of the 6th annual rural development conference has reached the consensus that the rural development model of Punjab, be made one of the major focus area of the conference.

A high-level team of the WSU had invited the team of the PAU in April and studied the structure of this university and was impressed with the contribution the PAU had made in the development of state agriculture.

Sangrur, September 25
Unlike the common notion that government hospitals lack proper infrastructure, the haemodialysis unit in the Sangrur District Hospital is proving to be a boon for patients, especially the poor.

In fact, the health authorities at Sangrur District Hospital take pride in running this dialysis unit, which according to them caters to patients from the entire Malwa region and also the neighbouring districts of Sangrur. They say that 30 per cent of the dialysis of the entire Punjab is being done in the unit and the number of patients is increasing every year after the unit started in February last year.

“The response to the dialysis unit in our hospital has been phenomenal. Whereas last year till December 31, we did dialysis of 251 patients, this year the number till August 31 has been 250. We are expecting around 200 patients more till December 31 this year. Patients from as far as Hisar, Jind, Patiala, Ludhiana and Barnala come for dialysis here” says senior medical officer (SMO), in charge, district hospital, Sangrur, Dr HS Bali.

“We are doing dialysis for free for a many poor patients (for BPL patients it is totally free of cost), government servants (retired ones also) and ex-servicemen. For others the fee is Rs 750 per dialysis.”

Dr Rahul, who is also member of the technical evaluation committee for haemodialysis said the unit has two dialysis machines costing Rs 12.22 lakh that were donated by MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa and a reverse osmosis machine costing Rs 2.75 lakh.

He added that initially the dialysis unit run by Dr Neelam Bajaj (civil surgeon) in two shifts of six hours each had a staff (trained from PGI, Chandigarh), comprising a doctor, a laboratory technician and a staff nurse, but since the rush of patients is so large that the hospital authorities had to train another doctor, a LT and a staff nurse to cater for the rush.

Salochna Rani, whose husband Suresh Kumar, had come for dialysis said, “The rate per dialysis in private hospitals is quite high as compared to the rate at the hospital. So, we prefer to come to this unit. The other best thing about this dialysis unit is that the staff here is quite friendly.”

Whereas the rate per dialysis, excluding the visibly poor patients, BPL, government officials, ex-servicemen, pensioners, in the hospital is Rs 750, the rate outside in the only private hospital offering this service varies from Rs 1,200 to Rs 2,000 (during night hours the rate is quite high).

Jalandhar, September 25
With rapid increase in the area under its cultivation, the banana farming has been adopted across the state. The crop is not only being preferred as an alternative by the progressive farmers but this has also initiated to play an important role in the crop diversification in the state.

While farmers of Ludhiana, Moga, Sangrur, Bathinda, part of Ropar and Faridkot districts have taken the banana farming in a big way, the Amritsar Deputy Commissioner (DC) has been motivating farmers to go for banana cultivation and say “bye to traditional wheat and rice crops”.

Private firms have also tied up with farmers for contract farming of the sweet crop. The firms have been lifting the produce straight from fields.

After inclusion of this crop in the National Horticulture Mission, the sweetness of this fruit is likely to be more for state farmers.

Farmers would be getting more subsidy for its plants, for irrigation by the drip system and setting up of ripening chambers.

For Punjab, Grand Naine is a recommended variety of this shallow-rooted plant that tastes sweeter than the banana produced in the Southern states provided the bunch is ripened with suggested methods and technology.

Talking to the Tribune, Dr Bhagwant Singh Chahil, consultant, Punjab State Farmers Commission, said the present cover under the banana farming is over 450 acres in the state and is expected to increase in the coming years.

The banana cultivation, started in 2006 in Punjab, could help in giving a flip to the socio-economic 
status of farmers as the income generated from this fruit crop is more than 
double the income from wheat and paddy crops in a year, he added.

Scientists at Punjab Agricultural University are providing the most suitable tissue-cultured plants to farmers, as farming of this particular plant is highly profitable. The commission has also recogonised five private firms that have been providing tissue-cultured plants at the cost of Rs 15.50 per plant to farmers, claimed Dr Chahil.

The plantation has been enveloped in such a way that a farmer could harvest his crop during the festival season (September till December) and get maximum price of the produce. At present, the annual consumption of banana is Rs 600 crore in the state, he claimed.

Kulwaran Singh, a progressive farmer of Mahlian village, near Kartarpur in Jalandhar, who has planted 2,700 plants over 2 acres on trial basis last year, claimed that the banana farming require much labour in the first year. Moreover, the plants were partially damaged by frost in the winter.

He, however, was much happy relating to his power bill as banana crop requires less water than paddy, wheat and other crops.

Bathinda, September 25
The brick-kiln owners from all parts of the state along with their workers will hold a protest next month in Chandigarh, if the problems being faced by the brick-kiln industry in the state are not resolved soon.

Before that the state-level association leaders, along with district presidents, will meet Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in a week to get their problems resolved at the state as well as at the Centre level.

This was announced here today by state president of the Punjab Brick Kiln Owners’ Association Kuldip Singh Makkar, while attending a state-level meeting of the association here, in which hundreds of brick-kiln owners, including state-level office-bearers, district presidents and general secretaries of the association, took part.

Their main demands include stoppage of “misuse” of the Bonded Labour Act in the state by the so called labourer leaders, due to which brick-kiln owners suffer losses worth lakhs of rupees, amendment in the notification of the Mining Act, abolition of entry tax on coal.

Makkar also said the association would not allow functioning at the brick-kilns throughout the state till the acceptance of their demands.

Patiala, September 25
The Punjab State Transmission Corporation Limited (PSTCL) has abolished the posts of Chief Engineer (Sub-Station), Chief Engineer (Transmission), Superintending Engineer (Technical) attached to member transmission, Deputy Chief Engineer working as OSD to PSTCL CMD, Superintending Engineer (Planning) and Superintending Engineer (Civil).

Sources say the matter seems to have some connection with the tussle between Punjab’s two power utilities, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and the PSTCL.

Recently, the PSTCL had demanded that operation of all 568 66-KV grid substations, which make up the largest chunk of the system, should be transferred to it. At the time of division of work after the unbundling of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) on April 16 this year, 66 and 33-KV substations were transferred to the PSPCL.

PSPCL CMD KD Chaudhri and PSTCL CMD Anurag Agarwal could not be contacted for comments on the issue despite repeated attempts.

Meanwhile, the PSEB Engineers’ Association has condemned the decision of abolishing the posts and announced in case the PSTCL management failed to withdraw the decision, the engineers would launch an agitation.

“The distribution of functions between the PSPCL and the PSTCL, along with officers and staff, was made as per the decision of the Cabinet at the time of unbundling of the PSEB and duly notified by the state government through a transfer scheme. It is beyond the powers of even the board of directors of these power utilities to make any changes in the decisions of the Cabinet,” claimed association president HS Bedi.

Association general secretary Bhupinder Singh said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal should intervene in the matter and issue instructions for the withdrawal of the orders abolishing posts of six senior engineers of the PSTCL.

Patiala, September 25
In order to spread awareness among the Punjabi youth to join the Army, a cycle rally of 15 Gentlemen Cadets of the Indian Military Academy, Dehradun, under the headship of Major PS Bajwa reached Patiala yesterday.

The rally took off on September 19 and after covering various districts of Punjab, the rally reached at Patiala School for Deaf and Blind, being run by the Society for Welfare of Handicap in Saifdipur village.

Major Bajwa said the main objective behind taking out the rally was to exhort youth to join the Army.

He said earlier there was a great enthusiasm among people to join the Army, adding that, “We want to tell the youth that they can serve the nation by joining the Army and they will get better salaries and facilities than the civil services”. 

Patiala, September 25
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal has called upon the youth to work with full commitment for ending the problems of unemployment, illiteracy, corruption and poverty, so that India can progress and become number one country in the world. Manpreet made these remarks, while speaking at the prize distribution function of a three-day kabaddi tournament held at Tohra village here yesterday evening. He exhorted the youth to take oath on September 28, birth anniversary of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, that they would work with dedication to eradicate social evils from the society.

He said the youth should fight away the menace of drug addiction. “They are the future of this country and we have to ensure that their energy is utilised positively and for the development of the nation,” he said. The best way to keep the youth away from drug addiction was to engage them in various sports activities, he added.

He also said the Sports Policy formulated by the state government would help bring talented youth from rural and urban areas of the state to the centre stage.

Chandigarh, September 25
Jas Simran Kaur Sooch would have missed a chance of getting into a medical college because of an apparent flaw in the system, which prohibits the revaluation of answersheets.

She had cleared the entrance examination for admission to the MBBS course, but found herself short of minimum qualifying marks. With no provision for revaluation, she moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The final outcome has now brought to the fore the need for giving students a second chance.

Deepening the contours of justice to prevent the student from missing a chance of getting into the medical college, the HC had directed the “Council for Indian School Certificate Examination” and other respondents to re-evaluate her answersheets. The results have proved heartening. Her marks have registered an increase; and Justice Ranjit Singh has directed the declaration of her new result.

Justice Ranjit Singh has clarified that the directions on re-evaluation were issued in the peculiar facts and circumstances of the case and by no way can be used as precedent by the students to their advantage.

Justice Ranjit Singh had earlier prescribed: “Though there is no provision for re-evaluation, considering the peculiar features of this case, where the petitioner is missing a chance by a fraction and act of minor error can prove fatal, I would opt for directions to the board to re-evaluate the answersheets of physics, chemistry and biology of the petitioner as an exceptional measure.”

A student of Amritsar Sacred Heart Senior Secondary School, she had moved the court “when she found she would be rendered ineligible for admission to the MBBS course, as she was falling short of marks by a fraction of percentage - 0.7 per cent”.

Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “Unfortunately, she is falling short of 50 per cent marks - the minimum requirement. The petitioner has secured only 43.3 per cent marks in the subjects…. Obviously, one or two marks would see her through and, thus, her entire life would change”.