Respite for millers as govt waives interest clause
Jalandhar, October 10
Facing problems with regard to the lifting of paddy from various grain markets, especially in the Doaba and Majha regions, the Punjab Government today waived interest clause from the agreement signed with rice millers regarding the milling  of paddy.

Permanent Perishable Cargo Centre at Amritsar Airport
Centre releases Rs 18.25-cr grant
Amritsar, October 10
The Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under its Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana has released a grant of Rs 18.25 crore for setting up a permanent Perishable Cargo Centre at Rajasansi International Airport to provide an impetus to exports.

Chandigarh, October 10
There is an overall consensus among the farming community that if the Center makes an offer to Punjab on debt waiver, subject to certain conditions, it should not be dismissed summarily. A cross-section of farmers, who till their lands themselves, told The Tribune reporters that the state could not do away with subsides completely, but there was a need to work out a formula by which the subsidies go to the people who need them.

Pargat Singh of Pandori village, near Attari, is one of those farmers who feels that the state must be taken out of the debt trap, even if this means taking a harsh decision. Subsidies should be withdrawn from only those having more than five acres of land.

Rattan Singh Randhawa of Deo village in Amritsar district, however, feels differently. He says farming is no longer sustainable without subsidies. When the government has not framed any policy in respect of the price of the ultimate produce, how can it limit the subsidies when the input cost has shot up 32 times in comparison to the price of the produce which has been raised just seven times in 25 years?

Neela Singh, a farmer of Gehari Bhagi village in Bathinda district, said many farmers were ready to bear the extra burden of water and electricity bills, but the government must first ensure that the waiver would benefit those farmers, who were repaying the loan instalments regularly.

An octogenarian farmer from Mehta Village, Teja Singh, says if the government ensures proper supply of power and water to farmers, there will be no opposition to the collection of revised rates. The debt waiver sounds beneficial to the sate.

“If the imposition of water charges and reduction of subsidies on power bills are the pre-conditions to get the debt waiver, then the state government should introduce fiscal reforms, keeping the interests of small farmers in mind,” Jeet Singh of Birbehman village said.

Sukhraj Singh Maan of Maan village in Gurdaspur district has welcomed the offer saying that freebies should have stopped long ago. He added that farmers should instead be given quality and uninterrupted electricity supply.

JPS Gill, a farmer from Jaspal Bangar village in Ludhiana district, feels the scenario is unfavourable for the marginal farmers who depend on loans and subsidies.

Pavitar Pal Singh Pangli, a progressive farmer from Panglian village, opines that the agricultural community should not vote for subsidies and loans. "The Central and the state governments should make joint efforts towards sustainable growth of agriculture.

Patiala farmer Gurjant Singh told TNS that farmers were getting subsidy on fertilisers, which is being given by the Union Government to the companies. Now, power tariff will have to be paid for agricultural tube wells. If the Punjab Finance Minister, Manpreet Badal’s views on the matter are “anti-farmer”, it will further worsen the situation of the farmers in the state, who are already under a huge debt.

Another Patiala farmer, Gurmail Singh, is of the opinion that subsidies should continue. He said subsidies on urea, agriculture tools, underground pipes and power are a must because agriculture is no more a remunerative occupation. The Finance Minister should understand that farmers are facing a lot of problems already without subsidy on power being withdrawn.

(Inputs by Perneet Singh, Rajay Deep, Ravi Dhaliwal, Anshu Seth and Gagan K Teja)

Chandigarh, October 10
The Punjab’s farmer is barely able to balance the cost of cultivation with its returns. Will the withdrawal of subsidies on power mean his losing everything?

Till recently, Punjab’s farmers did not have to pay for electricity or water consumption. The cost of the power consumed by the farmers was borne by the state government.

The cultivation cost for the farmers, who have their own land to till, is almost half of what they get at the end as minimum support price (MSP) for the crop. For the farmers, who do not have their own land to till, the cost of cultivation is almost 85 per cent of what they get in return. In both the cases, it is presumed that the farmer is using his family labour for the crop production. In case of the landless farmers, the cost of renting the land adds to the cost of production.

Experts thus feel that withdrawal of subsidy would mean making agriculture a non-profitable venture for the marginal farmers and the landless farmers. But there are others who differ. “In case, the farmer is not given free power, its cost will be added to the cost of the production and that in turn becomes a ground enough for the state to demand an increase in the MSP from the Centre. It is important for the Government of India to ensure that the Punjab’s farmers continue to contribute to the Central pool and it will be in their interest to increase the MSP,” said a senior official of the Agriculture Department.

There are almost 1.9 lakh farmers, who use tube wells in the state. The government has recently imposed a fixed bill of Rs 50 per BHP per month on the farmers for use of the tube wells. Following this move, it is probably for the first time that state’s subsidy bill went down from where it stood last year. With the regular increase in power tariff, the subsidy burden on the state has increased from Rs 790 crore in 2004 to Rs 2,800 crore in 2009. In 2010, however, this has come down to Rs 2,700 crore.

Under tremendous pressure from the farmer unions, whatever the state gained from the savings on subsidies, it gave back to the farmers in form of the productivity bonus. 

Chandigarh, October 9
Industry in Punjab has progressed only because of individual enterprise. With the state government failing to provide any support to the hundreds of thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the state, including infrastructure support, there has been little industrialisation in the state during the past two decades.

While subsidies to the farm sector have remained on the priority list of all political parties, the industry has been left to fend for itself. Add to it the tax concessions granted to the neighbouring hill states of Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, which saw a huge shift of industry to these states, it made industrial investment in Punjab economically unviable. As a result, no major industry has come up in the state during the past decade. Even the existing small and medium industrial units in the state have been expanding their operations only outside the state.

In fact other than the Rail Coach Factory at Kapurthala, there is no large industry that the state can boast of. The only other large industry, Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Bathinda, being set up at an estimated cost of Rs 18,900 crore, too, is coming up only riding high on the huge tax concessions being granted to it by the state government.

This is exactly the reason that the industry in Punjab has failed to grow. The only concessions granted to the industrial sector have been restricted to projects being set up under the Mega Projects Policy, and now for the IT industry. This means that concessions like change in land use charges, exemption from stamp duty, five-year exemption from electricity duty, levy of external development charges (EDC) on actual basis et al, are restricted only to those units that are making an investment of over Rs 100 crore (Rs 25 crore in case of the IT industry and agro-based industry).

However, the over two lakh SMEs that are present in the state have not been granted any concessions. Other than the capital subsidy scheme of the Punjab government, which was floated for all new industrial units being set up in the state in the 1990s, these units have been functioning without any government support. And even while these SMEs withstand power shortage, these are contributing almost 80 per cent of the total industrial contribution of the state.

But in spite of this lack of support from the government, the industry is keen on the state government accepting the introduction of CLU charges and property tax, suggested by the Finance Minister as part of the debt- waiver package. “We don’t mind paying more taxes to the state, provided we are getting matching facilities from the government. If the money collected from the industry is used to improve the industrial infrastructure, we have no objection to the levying of CLU on us,” says RS Sachdeva, co-chairman of the Punjab Committee of PHD Chamber.

Jalandhar, October 10
Facing problems with regard to the lifting of paddy from various grain markets, especially in the Doaba and Majha regions, the Punjab Government today waived interest clause from the agreement signed with rice millers regarding the milling 
of paddy.

For a delay in the milling of paddy, millers were supposed to pay interest on the value of paddy. However, opposing the interest clause, millers had been arguing that the milling was delayed because of lack of roofed space with the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to stack rice prepared from paddy.

After preparing rice, millers deposit it with the FCI for the Central pool. The other argument of millers was that owing to lack of space for stacking of rice, the FCI reject rice on one pretext or the other to deliberately delay its acceptance for the Central pool. At various places, millers had refused to get the procured paddy stacked on the premises of their mills.

Secretary of the state Food and Supplies Department DS Grewal said today that the issue with regard to the interest clause had been resolved. He said the state government had given exemptions to millers from the same. “We have also taken up the issue of space required to stack rice with the Centre”, said Grewal.

However, some officials of government procurement agencies said rice millers had been using various modes of protest to secure various benefits from the government. “Millers of the Doaba and Majha regions are unhappy because they are not being treated on a par with millers of the Malwa region in case of specifications of rice. They have been urging the government that they should be allowed the same percentage of damage and discoloration that had been allowed in case of millers of the Malwa region,” said an official.

Already, over 18 lakh MT of paddy has arrived in various grain markets of the state. The government was procuring most of the paddy. The daily arrival of paddy has gone up to 3 lakh MT in the state, which means the next two weeks will be crucial for all concerned with regard to the procurement of paddy and clearing grain markets of procured stock. The harvesting of paddy is in full swing in all regions of the state.

As far as the yield of paddy is concerned, there are mixed reports. Farmers said yield was less by 2-3 quintal per acre in some parts of the Malwa region. However, it is relatively better in the Doaba region. 

Amritsar, October 10
The Ministry of Agriculture’s Department of Agriculture and Cooperation under its Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana has released a grant of Rs 18.25 crore for setting up a permanent Perishable Cargo Centre at Rajasansi International Airport to provide an impetus to exports.

General Manager, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Limited, Pardeep Sharma, confirming the development, said his department had received the papers recently.

At present, export of baby corns, snow peas, sugar snap, okra and other vegetables from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh to Europe is being handled by temporary Perishable Cargo Centre, which kicked off its operations in July 2006. Its present capacity of handling 80 tonnes of fresh produce every day will double with the establishment of the new centre.

That it took over four years for the Central Government to release the grant for the ambitious project has once again exposed its tardy pace of functioning. Former Chief Minister Amarinder Singh had made the announcement that the Central Government had earmarked Rs 18.25 crore for the construction of the permanent perishable cargo, while inaugurating the temporary perishable cargo here on July 28, 2006.

Built with an investment of Rs 2 crore and spread over an area of 6,500 square metres, the entire operations of the temporary cargo are being handled manually. It consumes more than three hours in loading, unloading, scanning, customs clearance and stuffing the goods in cold storages. There is invariably the risk of perishables getting spoilt in the process.

The temporary cargo is equipped to maintain temperatures from two to 10 degree Celsius in its six chambers, including four for storage. It has got only two X-ray machines and six employees to run its affairs.

Meanwhile, setting up of the state-of-the-art permanent cargo complex will transform the manual system into an automatic and digital system with bar codes on the cargo boxes that will be read by computerised scanners and the required information will be passed on to the customs staff.

With a proposed capacity of 200 tonnes per day, the Permanent Perishable Cargo Centre was to come up next to the Air Cargo Complex.

Chief Executive Officer, Council for Value- Added Horticulture (CVAH), Sanjay Sen Budhiraj said once the orders were implemented on the ground, he would accept the Airport Authority of India (AAI)’s offer of 10,000 square metres of land to establish the new perishable cargo on a token amount of Re 1 per year for a period of seven years.

Earlier, the offer was made in 2007. However, it was not accepted by the CVAH on the ground that the actual work was yet to take off. 

Fazilka, October 10
Life came to a standstill here today following a complete bandh observed by various organisations along with residents of neighbouring villages to press the state government to accord district status to Fazilka, which was a divisional town during the pre-Partition era.

Sentiments of people connected with the demand of according district status to Fazilka also compelled BJP MLA Surjeet Jiyani and his arch rival and former Congress MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa to share a common platform today. Both these leaders sat side by side at a dharna staged on the national highway number 10 (Ferozepur-Delhi road) at Malout Chowk here for hours.

However, some of the leaders, who addressed the rally, tried to drive political mileage out of their speeches by making veiled attacks on their political opponents.

Townsfolk and activists of various social, voluntary, farmers, labourers, business, employees and industrialists organisations, who have been participating in the second phase of the agitation launched by the Sanjha Morcha about 55 days ago, also stopped rail traffic on the Ferozepur-Fazilka rail section.

Members of local Bar Association, led by its president Shushil Gumber, who have been carrying out the agitation, were mobilising people to make the bandh forceful so that the government could accept their demand.

President of the Beopar Mandal Ashok Gulbhadar said it had been decided to give an ultimatum of 10 days to the government to accord district status to Fazilka. If it failed to do so, the town would witness 72-hour long bandh, he added.

Gumber said fast would continue adding that people had been enlisting their names for the same. The movement for getting district status had gained such a momentum that leaders of various political parties had been coming forward in hordes to join the same.

Congress MLA Mohinder Kumar Rinwa said if the government held a referendum to know feelings of residents of Fazilka and its neighbouring towns and villages, it would come to know that these people could make any sacrifice for getting district status for Fazilka. BJP MLA Surjeet Jiyani said he would abide by the decision of the Sanjha Morcha and would be happy to perform any task, which would be assigned to him by it. Jiyani said he was ready to sit on fast for getting the district status for Fazilka.

Fazilka, October 10
The rally was organised on the 55th day of the agitation that began on August 15. It started at 10.10 am keeping in view that the calendar date 10.10.10 would be auspicious for the acceptance of their demand for district status to Fazilka.

Different speakers, including three-time former MLA of Jalalabad Mehtab Singh, SGPC executive member Suba Singh, PPCC secretary Davinder Sachdeva, PPCC former general secretary Jaspinder Singh Jakhar, SAD circle president Charan Singh, Block Congress Committee designated president Surinder Kalra MC, Municipal Council president Anil Sethi, Improvement Trust chairman Mohinder Pratap Dhingra, Zila Parishad vice-chairman Prem Kularia, Social Welfare Society president Raj Kishore Kalra, BJP Mandal president Jagdish Setia, CPI leader Shakti Singh and Fazilka Vikas Manch president Baljinder Singh, were among those who addressed the rally and vociferously demanded district headquarter status for Fazilka maintaining that it would minimize the tardy journey of over 150 km to Ferozepur for residents of different rural areas of Fazilka and Abohar sub-divisions. This is longest district of Punjab they maintained. 

Besides, they maintained that the town is the most suitable place geographically as it is equidistant, 32 km from both Jalalabad and Abohar. Sanjha Morcha convener Sushil Gumber said the agitation would be intensified. He asked the volunteers willing to participate in fast-unto-death to deposit their affidavits, for acceptance of the demand in the third phase of the agitation. He declared that the relay fast dharna would continue till further decision. 

Earlier, curfew like situation prevailed even in the adjoining mandis of Ladhuka, Roranwali and Arniwala where shops remained closed. The Ferozepur bound 3 FF train was halted at Malout chowk railway crossing by the protesters.  Beopar Mandal president Ashok Gulbadhar and general secretary Satish Kumar Dhingra said the Beopar Mandal would not allow any bus to ply nor any train to run from Fazilka if the demand was not fulfilled within the stipulated period. (See also P4)

Patiala, October 10
The PSEB Engineers’ Association has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal stating that the decision of the government to sign Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) to set up a 2,640 MW coal-based power project at Gidderbaha at Rs 15,000 crore has been taken in haste and non-transparent manner.

Association president HS Bedi, in a letter to the CM, has demanded for scrapping of this MoU and to assign the project to the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) for execution under state sector. The association has announced that if required they would launch an agitation on this crucial issue.

The association representatives pointed out in the letter that while the state government was claiming that Punjab would get 50 per cent power from Gidderbaha Thermal Project (GTP), whereas in the MoU, it has been mentioned that proposal will be subject to the final approval of the Centre. “The power will be sold to the state at the rates approved by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission and it is an established fact that power from plants established on MoU basis is costlier than that awarded through competitive bidding,” mentioned the letter, a copy of which is with The Tribune.

Speaking to TNS, Bedi said the allocation of GTP to NTPC would further reduce the state sector share in the total power generation capacity. The state has direct control on only 3,620-MW, which is 52 per cent of the total present power generation capacity of 6,900 MW.

“By awarding 2,640 MW Gidderbaha Thermal Project to the NTPC, the share of the state sector in total power generation capacity will be reduced to 19 per cent,” he claimed, while adding that in case of execution of the project under state sector, 100 per cent power generated from GTP would be earmarked for the state.

Association General Secretary Bhupinder Singh pointed out that almost all progressive states in the country were executing power generation plants by investing equity from its resources. “Under state sector, Maharashtra has planned power generation capacity enhancement by 7,800 MW, Andhra Pradesh (11,000 MW), Rajasthan (8,000 MW), Haryana (1,710 MW), Gujarat (1,700 MW) and Karnataka (5,900 MW), but unfortunately the state has no plan for setting up the power generation plants under the state sector,” he said.

Chandigarh, October 10
The state of Punjab’s action of restricting the salaries of employees at 75 per cent of the net profit of cooperative agricultural service societies has not found favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Disposing of a bunch of eight petitions filed by the Jullundur District Co-operative Agricultural Service Societies Employees Union and others, a Division Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice AN Jindal has directed the state and other respondents to “pay the petitioners salary in accordance with the post held by them”.

The Bench also directed: “Those who have retired, they should be paid their dues in accordance with the rules applicable to them by giving them the benefit of re-fixation of their pay in accordance with the prevalent rules. The needful shall be done within a period of three months from the date of receipt of a copy of this order”.

The Bench observed: “The petitioner Union has sought quashing of letters dated April 22,1999, December 3,1998, June 3, 1999, and May 18, 1999, on the ground that the service conditions regarding grant of pay scales and other service benefits of the employees working in the societies in the state have been changed in an illegal, arbitrary and mala fide manner, which is contrary to the Punjab State Co-operative Agricultural Service Societies Service Rules, 1997.

In its detailed order, the Bench ruled: “The Registrar issued a series of letters containing the instructions by linking the pay of the employees of the Society to the profit earned by them…. Any instruction issued or rule made to the detriment of employees and against their interests causing loss of salary would be considered arbitrary and such a action can be taken only as a measure of punishment”.

The Bench asserted: “We are of the view that incorporation of rule restricting the payment of salary to the employees of the society to 75 per cent of net profit is absolutely without any justification and cannot be sustained in the eyes of law.

“Accordingly, such an amendment cannot meet the approval of Article 14 of the Constitution. On that score also,the amendment is liable to be set aside”.

Amritsar, October 10
The SAD 1920 headed by Ravi Inder Singh today suggested that a religious and panthic personality should be nominated as the SGPC president, rather than holding elections for the plum post.

The president should be elected unanimously by all panthic organisations and sabha societies, while the polls should be held for electing the SGPC members. He expressed these views after party’s working committee meeting here today.

Later addressing the media, he pointed out that this would not only stem the problem of corruption, but also help in bringing the true panthic leaders forward.

The SAD 1920 president urged the Gurdwara election commissioner to extend a month period for filing objections in the voters list. “The parties were not given enough time for raising objections,” said Ravi Inder, while threatening that his party would be forced to launch an agitation if the Gurdwara commission failed to extend the time. He alleged that the ruling party submitted fake voter forms during the past two days of submitting the voters’ list.

He said a four-member committee has been constituted for holding talks with the like-minded organisations in view of the ensuing SGPC elections to be held by early next year. Talking about the recent row between Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal and Finance Minister Manpreet Badal over the issue of conditional waiver of Rs 35,000 crore offered by Centre, he said it was the internal squabble between the Badal clan and it has nothing to do with the state.

Ravi Inder also raised objections over the raising of a memorial in memory of legendary Sikh general Baba Banda Singh Bahadur in Chappar Chiri by claiming that it has not been designed according to the Sikh traditions, while its architecture was also not having any connection with the Sikhism.

Chhapar Chiri (Mohali), October 10
In the run-up to the grand preparations coinciding with yesterday’s stone laying of the Fateh Minar (Chappar Chiri War Memorial) by Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, the entire state machinery had been camping in the village, but nobody bothered to spruce up the premises of Government Middle School, Chhapar Chiri Khurd.

Located a few metres away from the site of the War Memorial (being built at a cost of Rs 47 crore to commemorate the historic battle that Baba Banda Singh Bahadur and his soldiers fought here to defeat the army of Sirhind governor Wazir Khan), the school’s premises are in deplorable condition.

Yesterday, a Tribune team found that a major portion of the school compound was filled with stagnating water. The urinals were in a poor state and no effort had been made to raise the ground level of the school compound. In May this year, when the tercentenary celebrations of the victory of Sirhind began in the village, the construction of the school building was still on.

“Since May, a number of senior government officials have been visiting the village regarding the memorial, but no one has bothered to spruce up the premises of the two government schools at Chhapar Chiri Kalan and Chhapar Chiri Khurd. Also, there is no dispensary in the two villages that have perhaps the largest concentration of soldiers in the Army. The only contribution to the development of village has been a new road from Mohali city,” said a resident.

The plight of the common man in the predominantly Dalit-populated village has also failed to catch attention of the government. There have been complaints of rainwater being blocked due to encroachments in the village.

“A historic village should be treated like this. Every government building in the village should reflect the importance attached with the place,” said residents of the village.

Zora Singh, a former sarpanch of Chhapar Chiri Khurd, added that the village was still awaiting tubewell connection. He pointed that in 1988, the village was adjudged as the best village in Ropar district. 

Fatehgarh Sahib, October 10
Following reports of adulteration in sweets in various parts of the city, health department officials today said measures had been initiated in this regard and special teams would be formed to nab culprits involved in smuggling of adulterated khoya. Some sweetmeat makers in various parts of the district have been using adulterated khoya in view of ongoing festive season.

“Special teams will be formed and people would be made aware of the adulteration. Besides our sources, we will urge common people to bring into their notice about such malpractices adopted by unscrupulous elements”, said the Chief Medical Officer Dr Davinder Singh.

The health department officials said adulterated khoya was smuggled from Uttar Pradesh and its nearby areas through trains and buses. “We will form special teams with the help of local area residents to keep a check on such deliveries round the clock”, said the officials. They added that inspection of sweet shops would also be intensified due to the festive season.

Dera Bassi, October 10
Seven thousand quintals of paddy are lying unsold in the grain markets of Dera Bassi and Lalru. Higher than permissible moisture content in the paddy, say officials, have kept the buyers away. While some government agencies like Markfed and Punjab Agro have started their procurement, bigger agencies like the Food Corporation of India (FCI) have been missing so far.

Farmers have waited, in some cases, for as many as seven days for buyers who have failed to turn up. Sukhpal Singh at Lalru grain market is one of them lamenting their plight. Rattan Singh, Balbeer Singh, Molk Ram and others have also been waiting for buyers for over five days but without any luck.

They complained that government officials are pointing out minor defects in their crop as ground for not buying. The absence of rice mills and shellers in the area has also adversely affected procurement in the area, they added. Commission agents are also a harassed lot due to slow procurement.

The District Mandi Officer, Narinder Singh Tiwana, pleaded helplessness in view of the high moisture content in the paddy. 

Patiala, October 10
In order to encourage government school students to take up education more seriously, the State Institute of Science Education, a unit of SCERT, Punjab, will conduct Punjab State Talent Search Examination-2010 for Class VIII and Class X.

According to Dr Prabhsimran Kaur, Patiala district Science Supervisor, the last date for submission of forms for this examination is October 29 whereas the test will be conducted on January 16, 2011.

She said the test was aimed at rewarding intelligent students and also motivating them to continue the good work by giving them scholarships. The SCERT has also divided the number of scholarships per district.