‘Zero-sum game’ may drag down PSPCL
Chandigarh, October 8
The Punjab government may have played a zero-sum game by doing away with free power and introducing a productivity bonus as put by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. Free power was partially responsible for the fall of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and the zero-sum game is now dragging down the new electricity utility, the PSPCL.

Hoshiarpur, October 8
BJP Rajya Sabha member Avinash Rai Khanna was detained by the police while holding a rally adjacent to a FCI godown in the local grain market today to press the Centre to distribute foodgrains among the poor in the light of the apex court order.

As a part of the nationwide protests, this was the first agitation in the state led by Khanna. To prevent the leader from entering the godown, the police had made tight security arrangements at the venue.

However, after addressing the gathering, Khanna moved towards the godown to distribute foodgrains among the poor but was detained by the police just a few yards from a barricade set up by the police. Khanna, along with his supporters, was made to sit in a police vehicle and was taken to the Police Lines. However, after a brief conversation with protesters, SP Sukhwinder Singh let them off.

Khanna claimed that he had organised the agitation to press the Centre to comply with the Supreme Court order for free distribution of foodgrains stored in godowns among the poor.

While the percentage of people below poverty line had increased to 39 per cent from 27 per cent, the Centre had turned a blind eye to their problems, he added.

He said people who were living on footpaths, railway stations and bus stands were facing starvation while on the other hand, lakhs of tonnes of foodgrain were rotting in want of space and consumers. Meanwhile, fissures between Khanna and state Forest Minister Tiksan Sud came to the fore as none of Sud’s supporters participated in the protest.

Sud was of the view that such types of protests were against the ideology of the BJP. He said the Centre should frame a proper policy to distribute foodgrains among the poor through the public distribution system.

Chandigarh, October 8
The Punjab government may have played a zero-sum game by doing away with free power and introducing a productivity bonus as put by Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal. Free power was partially responsible for the fall of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) and the zero-sum game is now dragging down the new electricity utility, the PSPCL.

Agriculture subsidies are having an adverse impact on the PSPCL, as the state has burdened it with earlier loans and debts, many of which are due to the inability of the state to pay agriculture subsidies in cash.

The state electricity utility is now saddled with a total loan of Rs 18,000 crore, according to its official figures. The interest liability alone is around Rs 2,000 crore from around Rs 600 crore a few years back.

Immediately after the PSPCL was formed in April this year, the state instead of funding it so that it could start on a clean slate, adjusted the remaining outstanding loan of Rs 520 crore against payment due to it for supplying agriculture free of cost to farmers for April and May.

Earlier the government had adjusted Rs 1,362 crore against agriculture subsidy in 2008-09 and Rs 1,143 crore against subsidy in 2009-10.

These paper adjustments may well lead the PSPCL into a debt trap also. While engineers claim that the government has hoodwinked the electricity utility, they maintain the only way out is rationalising agriculture subsidies and improving internal efficiencies.

Even while little is being done on these fronts, the state’s subsidy bill is on the increase each year. Starting from Rs 2,600 crore three years back, it was Rs 3,114 crore last year.

The Centre under its proposal to halve the state’s debt from the present Rs 70,000 crore wants the state to reduce its subsidies. The agriculture subsidy, which is a major component of these subsidies, is proposed to be reduced to Rs 1,000 crore in a five-year period.

Reducing the number of beneficiaries by putting a ceiling of those eligible and making it applicable to small farmers only can achieve this goal. However, politics is coming in the way of this.

Finance Minister Manpreet Badal says his department can only make suggestions. The modalities have to be worked out by the ministry concerned (the CM is in charge of the power portfolio) and the conditions can even be negotiated with the Centre. “However this can happen only if Punjab wants it to happen”, he added. 

Chandigarh, October 8
The fight between the cousins in the state, which saw Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal playing a deft balancing game yesterday, was played out in the party forum today.

The ruling dispensation under Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal not only got one of the four legislators who supported state Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal to accuse Manpreet of anti-party activities, both also formed a disciplinary committee loaded against the Finance Minister. This despite the CM playing the balancing act yesterday by announcing that Manpreet had not committed any indiscipline but indirectly admonishing him later and banning everyone from raising any issue without the approval of the party.

The party chose to make Ajnala legislator Amarpal Singh Bony eat humble pie today for sitting with Manpreet during a press conference yesterday in which the latter had again questioned Sukhbir’s style of functioning.

Bony, who was brought to the SAD party office here by its official spokesman Dr Daljit Singh Cheema in the latter’s car, claimed that he had only gone to the Finance Minister’s house yesterday to inquire about his health.

Bony said, however, during the press conference, he realised that whatever was happening was not as per party discipline. Upon being questioned. he said he did not agree with Manpreet’s statement and went on to say that he would stand with Sukhbir Badal at all costs. Two other leaders, Mann Singh Garcha and former legislator Kushaldeep Singh Dhillon, also clarified that they had only gone to inquire about the Finance Minister’s health and had nothing to do with the press conference.

In another related development, Sukhbir indicated that he might take it upon himself to tighten the screws on his cousin Manpreet by announcing the formation of a five-member committee headed by senior leader and minister Ranjit Singh Brahmpura.

The chairman of the committee as well as its other members, Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa, Gurdev Singh Badal, Tota Singh and Balwinder Singh Bhunder, had all roundly condemned Manpreet’s utterances at the PAC meeting and had demanded that strict disciplinary action should be taken against him.

Manpreet Badal when questioned about the day’s developments appeared unfazed. He said he had no intention of collecting any legislators around him. “Bony is a good boy and friend”, he said, adding the MLA must be under tremendous pressure from his father (Khadoor Sahib MP Rattan Singh Ajnala) and the party to make such a statement.

When questioned about the formation of the disciplinary committee, he said there was no need to fear it. “I am among the senior most legislators of the party, as I have won four times in a row”, he added.

Chandigarh, October 8
Punjab Finance Minister Manpreet Badal today said the loan that was to be waived by the Centre was not the one which Punjab had incurred during the days of militancy in the state.

Reacting to the press statement issued by Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal last evening where the CM had stated that the debt waiver matter had been taken up by him with the Government of India as this debt was raised by the state government “during the period of militancy”, the Finance Minister said the militancy loan had already been written off and was not outstanding against the state anymore.

In fact the CM’s statement came as a surprise to many this morning especially when Parkash Singh Badal had himself had got the militancy- term loan written off by the Centre when IK Gujral was the Prime Minister in 1997. A joint rally was held in Amritsar where Gujral made this statement in Badal’s presence.

It was considered by Badal one of the biggest achievements of his government. He, however, threw the loan waiver hat again into the political ring, and got former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to also publicly announce the same loan waiver again.

The loan amounted to Rs 8,200 crore and Punjab had already paid Rs 2,100 crore by the time these statements became an administrative reality.

The saga of the militancy loan does not end here. While Punjab stopped paying anything on account of this loan since then, it continued to show as an entry in the accounts books at the Centre. The entry was finally written off in 2004 during the Captain Amarinder Singh’s regime in Punjab. He, too, went to town taking credit for the same debt’s waiver!

In fact Parkash Singh Badal, then in the Opposition, vehemently refuted Amarinder’s claims and was at pains to tell the public that it was he who had got the loan waived and it’s only the entry which had been written off.

“What we have tried to impress upon the Centre now is that we had already paid Rs 2,100 to them when the loan was written off. That was 10 years ago. Now the notional value of Rs 2,100 crore is about Rs 10,000 crore and that is what will go into putting together the loan waiver package amounting to over Rs 30000 crore,” said Manpreet. 

Jalandhar, October 8
Taking a clear stand on the Centre’s offer to waive Punjab’s debt to the tune of Rs 35,000 crore, the BJP today said that the state government should examine the offer and come out with a solution so that the conditions attached to the offer did not put any unnecessary burden by way of taxes and levies on the common man in the state.

“Our party wants that Punjab’s debt burden should be lightened without putting an unnecessary burden on the masses,” said Ashwani Sharma, President of the state unit of the BJP.

Amritsar, October 8
The SGPC is planning to set up a printing facility for Guru Granth Sahib in the US and it will be sending SGPC secretary Joginder Singh there next month to conduct a feasibility study in this regard.

Talking to The Tribune here today, SGPC chief Avtar Singh said Gurdwara Sahib Charlotte in North Carolina province of the US had passed a resolution, offering 2.5 acres of land to the SGPC for setting up the facility. “We are keen on establishing a facility for the publication of Guru Granth Sahib abroad and we will definitely look into the viability of the project at Charlotte,” he added. Joginder Singh will leave for the US in the second week of November.

The SGPC has the exclusive and legal rights for publication of Guru Granth Sahib worldwide. Following requests from Sikhs settled abroad for allowing publication of Guru Granth Sahib there, the SGPC had taken a decision to permit this some time back. 

Chandigarh, October 8
Allowing a petition filed by Dr Paramjeet Singh Rano of Ludhiana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered that he would continue as “a validly elected member of the Central Council of Homoeopathy till the expiry of his term.”

Justice Surya Kant also ruled that his alleged resignation had been improperly accepted.

In his petition, Dr Rano had sought the quashing of orders passed in August 2008 by the council’s executive committee “whereby his alleged resignation as elected member was accepted”.

Justice Surya Kant asserted: “It appears that the petitioner could not maintain cordial working rapport with the president and other office-bearers of the Central Council”.

On June 21, 2008, he sent his resignation from the post of member in protest to the secretary, Department of Indian System of Medicine and Homoeopathy, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union of India. But on August 7, 2008, he again addressed a communication to the secretary for the withdrawal.

As the Central Council had already accepted his resignation vide order dated August 29, 2008, his legal notice did not find favour with it.

Justice Surya Kant ruled: “The petitioner did not address his resignation to the president of the Central Council, nor he ever sent its copy to the president. Similarly, the president of the Central Council could have accepted the petitioner’s alleged resignation only after confirmation from the member concerned”. Concededly, no such confirmation has been taken and both the conditions were not complied with. — TNS

Ludhiana, October 8
Alcoholics are more likely to contact HIV than the general people as is evident from their history. Such people have tendency towards high-risk sexual behaviours, including multiple sex partners, unprotected intercourse and exchange of sex for money and drugs.

The above facts were revealed in a recent study done by Dr Rupesh Chaudhry, assistant professor of psychiatry and Dr BP Mishra, professor of clinical psychology, at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, Ludhiana.

The study was recently presented in the second International Conference of Alcohol and HIV at New Delhi and was appreciated by the experts from across the world. The experts felt that the findings could play an important role in policy making for eradication of alcohol-abuse.

Having conducted a clinical study on 50 alcoholics, who had come to the Psychiatry Department at DMCH in the past six months, Dr Chaudhary and Dr Mishra concluded that majority was vulnerable and fearful of their sexual efficacy.

“The subjects revealed that they indulged in unprotected sex more often so as to prove their competence to themselves and their partners,” disclosed Mishra.

“The main aim of the study is to emphasise the importance of having a psychological management facility at the de-addiction centres run by the Centre as alcoholics reflect low frustration tolerance, expedients, feel few obligations and aggressive with suspicious traits,” he added.

“Most of alcoholics in the case studies had a similar thought process as they termed alcohol consumption as a habit and not an addiction. Their behavioural pattern pointed towards the borderline personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder which makes it mandatory for the de-addiction centres to go in for rehabilitation after detoxification of the alcoholics,” observed Chaudhary.

Negative thinking, intrusive thoughts and impulses were common in all alcoholics that added to the apprehension of their sexual efficacy. These personalities were more prone to impulsive sexual indulgence leading towards STD, revealed the study.

Patiala, October 8
The industries operating from the focal point area have accused the Patiala Municipal Corporation authorities of imposing exorbitant house tax. Claiming that the civic body has increased the house tax almost five times, most of the industrialists have criticised the move terming it as anti-industry. The industrialists have said in case corporation fails to review the decision to increase the house tax, they would be forced to approach the senior government functionaries.

Speaking to The Tribune, general secretary of the Focal Point Industries Association (regd) Ashwani Kumar said earlier annual house tax varying from Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 was being levied on an industrial unit operating from 500 square yard area. “But from this year, the Patiala MC has sent house tax bills to the tune of Rs 28,000 for 500 square yards industrial plot, which is totally unjustified,” he rued.

Association president Gurpreet Singh said as many as 400 industrial units in the Focal Point area would be directly affected with the decision to increase the house tax. “We are ready for an increase in the annual house tax, but it should not be five times of what we were paying earlier,” he said.

“Notwithstanding the fact that land value of the plots in the Patiala Focal Point are much less than other cities of Punjab, Patiala MC was already charging more house tax from the industries of Focal Point, in comparison to the other corporations of the state,” he said, while adding that civic body has taken an extremely wrong decision to increase the house tax drastically.

“The Patiala MC has decided to impose so much burden on the industrialists by increasing the house tax,” said association chairman Paramjit Singh. The association representatives have urged the MC authorities to review its decision. — TNS

Patiala, October 8
Two reports with contradictory findings on the quality of potable water have left residents of Arnetu, a village under Pattran sub-division of the district, bewildered. While the Punjab State Pollution Control Board found the drinking water available to them unfit for human consumption, the Primary Health Centre in its report to the Civil Surgeon claimed that there was nothing wrong in the four samples that were tested.

People have been complaining that women in the village, which is close to the river Ghaggar, have been giving birth to babies with deformities. The number of babies with hearing impairment and even mental retardation is abnormally high, claimed the Sarpanch Gurbux Ram who suspects that this may have something to do with the quality of water.

But while the health department has not carried out any study, the PPCB report procured by an NGO, Sankalp, under the RTI Act clearly mentions that the water flowing in Ghaggar is polluted due to industrial waste.

The Board collected samples to test the quality of both groundwater and the river-water and found that concentration of ‘Total Dissolved Solids’ and the level of BOD ( Biochemical Oxygen Demand) was far beyond permissible limits. While the TDS was found to be 894 mg/lt, the BOD was found to be 14 mg/lt against the maximum permissible limit of 3 mg/lt.

The Health Department’s report , officials claimed, is based on study of samples taken from the village Gurudwara and three schools in the village. The villagers question the finding and say that all the four sources are away from the village and no villager accompanied the health department team which collected the samples. 

Patiala, October 8
The Punjabi University, Patiala has announced a cash award of Rs 2 lakh for Gagandeep Kaur, the first woman archer from Punjab to get a bronze medal in the Commonwealth Games. She was also part of the Indian team that won the gold in the compound round event.

The Vice-Chancellor, Dr Jaspal Singh, and Rajkumar Sharma, Director Sports, congratulated the archer from Patiala, who is a student at the Akal Academy of Physical Education, Mastuana Sahib.

Gagandeep told The Tribune over the phone that she was at a loss for words. “For the last two years we have been practising for this day and finally our hard work has paid off. I am thankful to the university and my parents for supporting me,” she said.