Budget session begins today; fresh taxes unlikely
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 3
The Budget session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha will begin tomorrow with the ruling SAD-BJP government presenting its last budget in this term of the Vidhan Sabha.

Hoping to make an impact in the house, the Congress has decided to make the session to end on March 25, a memorable one.

Since the elections in Punjab are due in February next year, it is expected that the budget will not impose any new taxes nor hope to make an effort at resource mobilisation.

The Budget session will open up with the address by the Governor Shivraj V Patil tomorrow.

Finance Minister Upinderjit Kaur will present the Budget for 2011-12 on March 14. The 117-member Assembly has 50 MLAs of SAD, 19 of its ally the BJP while the Congress has 43 legislators besides five Independents.

It is likely that former finance minister Manpreet Singh Badal, who has since quit the SAD, may not attend the session if he is not allotted an independent spot. Earlier, he had a seat in the first row of the treasury benches.

Since this is the last budget session in a pre-election year, the Opposition will try to make its presence felt by raising issues that its leaders say will aim at exposing the various failures of the state government.

Captain Amarinder Singh, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC), who returned to the house after getting his expulsion revoked by the Supreme Court, is likely to be the most active during the current session.

Congress leaders like Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Jassi Khangura have said they will put the state government on floor on issues like rise in Cancer cases in the state, alleged poor fiscal management besides the issue of political vendetta.

They are expected to raise issues like Akalis not doing much for the state except cashing in on Centrally-sponsored schemes, including Sarv Sikhsa Abhiyan, Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission and Rural Health Mission for political gains.

Chandigarh, March 3
Thousands of MBBS, MS, MD doctors (allopathic) face the threat of losing their licence to practice in the state, if they do not re-register themselves with the Punjab Medical Council (PMC) by the month-end. Subsequently, they will all have to upgrade their knowledge by getting at least 50 credit hours, every five years, by attending Continuing Medical Education (CME) programmes to remain in practice.

Punjab has taken a major plunge to curb quackery in the state by taking effective measures ahead of the Medical Council of India (MCI) or any other state. The state has brought into being the Punjab Medical Registration (Amendment) Act, 2010, that will ensure that only those medical practitioners, who have upgraded their skills and have re-registered themselves with the PMC will get a licence to practise.

The PMC has already issued notifications to all doctors to get themselves re-registered with the council by March 31, failing which they will be liable to face penal action. The MCI has also prepared a similar Act which is awaiting the nod of Parliament.

According to highly placed sources in the council, the state government has come down heavily on quacks to prevent them from practicing in the state. Anyone found guilty of quackery or practising medicine without a valid licence or state registration, if found guilty, could get a jail term of up to three years. It was earlier one year. The fine for violation has been increased from Rs 1,000 to Rs 10,000.

Even doctors who are registered outside Punjab will now have to shift their registration to the Punjab Medical Council. All doctors having post-graduate qualifications, too, will have to get themselves as specialists for that field.

A senior member of the council said, “The PMC at its meeting on February 12 at Punjab Bhawan, Chandigarh has decided to go the whole hog to ensure the implementation of the Punjab Medical Registration (Amendment) Act, 2010, that calls for re-registration. It has been decided to make March 31, 2011, as the last date of Registration. After that all others will be declared unregistered and their medical practice will be termed illegal.”

The PMC, which is the registering authority, does not know how many actual doctors are practising in Punjab. So far out of the 40,392 doctors on the council register, only 11,856 have renewed their registration. Only these 11,856 doctors are so far eligible for elections of the council that are now due soon.

All doctors who have left India for cushy jobs abroad and wish to return at some point will lose the right to practise till they re-register. Those who are in government job and have proceeded abroad will be the worst affected as they could also lose their jobs if they are not registered. Even doctors registered outside Punjab, but practising here will have to register themselves again in Punjab.

Dera Baba Nanak, March 3
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) will install two high-powered telescopes at ‘darshan sthal’ (viewing facility) near the Indo-Pak border here to facilitate ‘darshan’ of Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, Pakistan. It is situated at a distance of four and a half kms from here.

DSGMC President Paramjeet Singh Sarna announced this here today after laying the foundation stone of a ‘darshani gate’ to be built on an approach road leading to the ‘darshan sthal’. “We are in the processing of zeroing in on the most apt telescope which can provide devotees a clear view of the historic shrine across the border irrespective of weather conditions prevailing in the area. We are even ready to import these telescopes from a foreign country,” he said.

He further said they would also construct a ‘langar’ hall and a small ‘sarai’ (inn) where pilgrims could also stay overnight, adding that the number of rooms in the ‘sarai’ would depend on the permission from the BSF authorities. “These facilities will provide the much-needed succour to the pilgrims in inclement weather conditions,” he said.

Sarna said they would also be carrying out the expansion of the existing canteen at the ‘darshan sthal’ besides doing landscaping of the area around it. He said the construction of the ‘darshani gate’, the ‘langar’ hall and the ‘sarai’ would be done by Baba Jagtar Singh Kar Sewawale and the work would be completed in the next six months.

On Sikhs’ long-pending demand for a corridor between Dera Baba Nanak and Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib, Sarna said: “Today by initiating these measures, I have taken a step forward towards the corridor and I hope to see it turning into a reality over the next couple of years.”

He said he would meet Union Minister of State for External Affairs Preneet Kaur and demand that the corridor issue be made a part of the agenda in the next Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan.

Meanwhile, IG (BSF), Punjab Frontier, Himmat Singh said they were extending all possible help to facilitate ‘darshan’ to devotees. “We regulate the rush of devotees so that there is no stampede and also provide them binoculars to catch a clear view of the shrine,” he added.

Hussainiwala (Ferozepur), March 3
The Border Security Force (BSF) authorities have sounded an alert at the joint checkposts of Hussainiwala, Sadiqi and Wagah to prevent incidents such as a Pakistan Ranger and a BSF jawan assaulting each other, which took place here during the Retreat ceremony yesterday.

Himmat Singh, Inspector General (IG), BSF, Punjab frontiers, said the incident was a localised one and was solved on the spot by the officers of BSF and Pakistan rangers after holding a meeting after the incident.

The jawans and the officers deployed on the joint checkposts have been alerted to prevent any misadventure on part of the Pakistan Rangers.

Sources said after a Pakistan Ranger and a BSF jawan were going to their respective territories after the flag lowering ceremony, they elbowed each other resulting in the incident.

The officers present on the spot brought the situation under control. The officers of Pakistan Rangers and the BSF also held a meeting to defuse the situation.

Himmat Singh said officers of Pakistan Rangers and the BSF also briefed their respective troops to keep calm and not repeat such incidents. It was a momentary incident and hence had been dealt accordingly by the officers of both sides, he said. In past three years, he had never heard of such incident, he said.

On the other hand, a senior functionary of BSF pleading anonymity said Pakistan rangers were frustrated over the fact that the BSF troops, deployed alongside 553- kilometre long Indo-Pak border in Punjab, had been thwarting attempts of Pakistan-based agencies to push narcotics, fake Indian currency notes, weapons and men from across the border towards the Indian side for past many months.

He said such an incident had not even taken place during the Kargil conflict. However, at that time, both Pakistan Rangers and BSF jawans, who took part in Retreat ceremony, were given weapons without cartridges.

A section of BSF officials feel such incident could also upset the move initiated by the BSF and Pakistan Rangers authorities few years ago for softening of aggressive posturing by the border guards of both sides at the ceremonial Retreat at the Wagah and Hussainiwala JCP.

Jalandhar, March 3
Former Finance Minister Manpreet Badal has postponed the launch of his new political outfit at Khatkar Kalan to March 27. Earlier, the announcement of the party was fixed for March 23, the martyrdom day of Shaheed Bhagat Singh.

Manpreet said since the SAD and the Congress would also be holding parallel rallies that day, it would have resulted in chaos besides causing inconvenience to commuters, farmers and members of his new party.

The announcement is expected to take the wind out of sails of the Congress and the SAD, which were making every effort to outnumber Manpreet’s supporters.

Having a dig at his political opponents, Manpreet said unlike the Akalis and the Congress, he did not want to indulge in tokenism by hosting an event that was reduced to a show of strength and failed to redress aspirations of the masses. He said: “Launching our party from Khatkar Kalan is a symbolic gesture as those who join us on that day will pledge to fulfil the vision of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, which has been ignored by all parties for the past over 80 years.”

“Nevertheless, I, along with members of my core group and kin of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, will pay our tributes at Hussaniwala on March 23. Efforts are afoot to locate Rajguru’s descendants in Maharashtra,” he added.

Manpreet further said it was too early to think about alliances, but they were consolidating on expanding their base. He also castigated the government for the sale of Bt cotton seeds on the black market in the Malwa belt.

Farmers were flocking to Gujarat to procure seeds of a dubious quality, which would affect yield harming both the state and farmers, he added.

Meanwhile, he also decried an arbitrary practice being adopted by district magistrates of imposing Section 144 of the CrPC to “please their political masters wherever his rallies were scheduled”. “I will challenge this in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as it is an attempt to muzzle our right to free speech, he said.

Jalandhar, March 3
Revealing his strategy during the Assembly session, former state Finance Minister Manpreet Badal said here today that he would not sit on the Treasury benches and would rather prefer to stay away from the House during the Budget session starting from March 4.

“I have decided that I will not attend the Budget session at all in case the Speaker did not allot a separate seat for me in the House since I am an independent legislator after my expulsion from the SAD. I have nothing to do with the Treasury benches now,” he said.

Asked whether he would make a written request to the Speaker for the allotment of a seat away from the treasury benches, Manpreet said it was now a well-known fact that he was no longer a member of the SAD and hence enjoyed a status of an independent MLA.

When questioned about the stand to be taken by his two MLA colleagues, Jagbir Brar and Manjinder Kang, on this issue, he said it was for them to decide.

Brar said he and Kang had not decided so far but would do so when they met. Nevertheless, Manpreet said Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon’s statement, in which he had talked about taking a strict action if the MLA violated the party whip, came as a big surprise to him. The Speaker did not have any party affiliations and was an independent officer of the House. He should not have made such observations in the media till he got any complaint with regard to the violation of the whip.

Manpreet and his two MLA colleagues also did not attend a party meeting held in Chandigarh prior to the beginning of the session today. Later in the evening, he also addressed a rally in Phagwara that was largely attended.

Amritsar, March 3
Rodents, responsible for destroying up to 3 per cent crop in the fields and over 11 per cent in the storage bins of the state, have become a nightmare for the authorities.

Despite several campaigns by experts of the state agricultural department and Punjab Agricultural University (PAU), the problem continues to grow.

According to the Chief Agriculture Officer, Dr Paramjeet Singh Sandhu, rodents would destroy 15 lakh tonne of crop in Punjab every year. They destroy 6 lakh tonne of wheat, 3.96 lakh tonne of rice and 4.20 lakh tonne of sugarcane, either by eating the stem of the crop or contaminating it with their faeces, urine and fur in the godowns.

Amritsar, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala, Nawanshehr and Jalandhar were the worst-hit regions in Punjab where wheat, sugarcane and maize are the major crops.

“If it is not wheat, it would be other crops. Unless there is a state-level drive involving panchayati raj institutions and farmers on individual levels, no results can be expected,” Dr Sandhu said.

The Amritsar chapter of the PAU has organised a special drive under the Farm Advisory Service Scheme in Kotli Sakka, Ummarpurs and Galab of Ajnala block.

Dr Paramjit Singh, in-charge of the scheme in Amritsar said, “We have initiated this campaign on the same pattern. We distributed at least 25 gm of Zinc Phosphide packets each to the farmers,” he said.

Dr Inderjit Singh, agriculture officer, blamed disturbance in biological control process as another reason for the menace. “There is no check on poaching of wild cats found in Punjab fields. It is the only animal whose sole target is the rodents,” he said.

He said, “All preventive measures should be taken during the pre-sowing flood irrigation procedure, especially for the wheat crop.

Patiala, March 3
Meharban Singh Dhaliwal has scripted a success story by growing vegetables using the poly greenhouse method of cultivation. Under the National Horticulture Mission, Dhaliwal has successfully set up a poly greenhouse in Saholi village, Nabha block of Patiala district. Owner of Dhaliwal Farms (Saholi), Dhaliwal took the initiative to grow vegetables like capsicum, tomatoes, green chillies, seedless cucumber, using the technique of the poly greenhouse or poly-tunnel. Notably, in the poly greenhouse, the requisite temperature and a conducive environment is created for the plants for their better growth.

“I get approximately Rs 70,000-80,000 per acre from cultivation of vegetables such as tomatoes, green chillies, seedless cucumber and long gourd and Rs 4-5 lakh an acre from capsicums that are grown using poly green house, which is very effective to protect the crop from frost and cold from December to its flowering stage in February,” said Dhaliwal. Impressed with the success of Dhaliwal, Patiala Deputy Commissioner, Dipinder Singh, himself went to see the poly greenhouse at Saholi village, yesterday.

After visiting the poly greenhouse, Dipinder, while addressing a gathering of farmers said, “Farmers should diversify from the traditional wheat-rice cultivation. Besides cultivation of vegetables, the farmers should also diversify towards dairy farming.” Talking about the poly greenhouse developed by Dhaliwal, the deputy commissioner said this technique was good for cultivating vegetables. “Less fertilisers and pesticides are required, if the crops are grown in a customised environment in the poly greenhouse,” he added.

Dipinder has also instructed officials of the Agriculture Department to make the farmers aware about the latest techniques of farming, including the poly greenhouse technology. “Seminars should be organised to spread awareness about the innovative farming techniques for a better yield of the crops,” he told the Agriculture Department officials.

Shimrewala (Faridkot), March 3
Twelve-year-old Herculean Singh of Shimrewala village sits on a computer to do his school projects and also play video games everyday after returning from the school. The village is situated 22 km away from Faridkot in a remote rural area.

Many of his friends who go to English-medium schools at Faridkot also have personal computers, thanks to the legacy of education his forefathers brought from the erstwhile princely state of Bahawalpur and the Raje Jung area of Lahore district (now in Pakistan) during the Partition.

Bearing pains of the Partition, as many as 22 Jat Sikh families had migrated from Pakistan to the erstwhile princely state of Faridkot and got settled here in this dusty village. The unique quality of these families was that as many 10 persons were graduates and an equal number of them were either FA (Prep/10+2) or matriculates. Among the graduates were Balihar Singh, Surjit Singh Nambardar, Hazura Singh, Udham Singh, Jeet Singh and others. Udham Singh was a judicial officer and retired as a District and Sessions Judge from Patiala.

Besides this, the family of Baba Kharak Singh, a decorated soldier of Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s army, also migrated here. A ‘gagar’ (utensil) presented to this brave soldier by the Maharaja has still been preserved by his family in this village.

The rich heritage of education that the ancestors brought to this village is still alive. The residents of this village have set a role model for the entire Punjab and the nation by achieving the target of 100 per cent literacy.

They have also put an end to gender disparity and adopted family, which has improved their socio-economic status unlike the people of other villages in the state. “The average landholding of the original inhabitants of this village is between 20 and 30 acres per family”, said Dheerinder Kaur Brar, sarpanch of this village, who herself is a graduate. Only a few families who came here in the past two decades have lesser landholdings, she added.

Herculean Singh’s father Mohkam Singh after doing his graduation carried out a literacy campaign in this village as a coordinator in the late 1990s. He, along with his friends, used to carry out a ‘jago’ every night to inspire a few illiterate persons to learn read and write, which brought results.

He said: “My father Darshan Singh was the block primary education officer, also a coordinator of the literacy programme in this block, who helped and encouraged me a lot to complete this task”, he said. The only problem of the villagers is that it does not have a high school.

Abohar, March 3
A two-day census carried out by the state Wildlife Department authorities in Asia’s biggest open black buck sanctuary in the subdivision, concluded here this evening. The census has produced encouraging results for those who are involved in the conservation of wildlife and the environment.

The census result has revealed that the population of black bucks, which was given the honour of the state animal in 1989 and which is the only antelope confined to the Indian subcontinent, has increased manifold in the past about 12 years and thus there is no threat to its existence.

Official sources said the census had revealed that the population of black bucks had gone up to 4,300 as compared to 3,000 counted in this sanctuary in the census carried out in 1998.

Sources said that the census had counted 1,812 black bucks (male), 2,120 (female) and 368 offspring in the sanctuary area spread over Raipur, Dutara Wali, Sardarpur, Khairpur, Sukhchain, Seeto Guno, Mehrana, Bazidpur, Himmatpura, Bishanpura, Rampur, Narainpura and Rajan Wali villages of Abohar subdivision. Sanjeev Tiwari, district forest officer (wildlife), Ferozepur, who supervised the census operations, said that 5,557 blue bulls, another protected animal, were also counted during the census in the sanctuary area. As many as 121 peacocks were also counted during the census.

“Other protected animals, including jackals, black partridges and hare, were also found in large numbers in the sanctuary area,” he said, adding that 428 black bucks, 454 blue bulls and seven peacocks of both sexes were found in Gumjal, Panniwala Haripura and Diwan Khera villages of the subdivision, where the Punjab Government had planned to set up two community reserves for black bucks.

Ludhiana, March 3
As many as 12 million people suffer from epilepsy in India out of which four million have lost all hope of leading a normal life as drugs are ineffective in their case. The “Ketogenic diet” has worked wonders on epileptic children and adults across India, who have completed a five-year course have become seizure-free and are off drugs,” said Dr Janak Nathan, a leading neurologist from Mumbai. Hewas here to deliver a special lecture on ‘Ketogenic diet and its role in controlling epilepsy’ during a conference organised by DMCH.

Ketogenic diet is a high-fat and low in carbohydrate, which is highly individualised as per the BMI of the person to whom it is given.

Having received training from Dr John Freeman of John Hopkins Hospital in UK in 1996, Dr Nathan trained 24 teams of doctors and dieticians in various Indian hospitals in cities like Ludhiana, Chandigarh, Indore, Kolkata, Vellore, Hydrabad, Bangalore, Pune and Mumbai.

“The diet started by Dr Freeman was English and could not be used in India thus we changed it as per Indian diet making it cost effective for the millions of epileptics living in our country,” said Dr Nathan.

“We have made 100 Indian recipes that include Indian snacks and main course like bhel puri, chaat papri, special rice, dal and dalia wherein the amount of protein, fat and carbohydrate are decided as per the requirement of epileptic patients,” Dr Nathan said.

He said Ketogenic diet was elemental in creating anti-epileptic substances in the body adding, “There are no side effects of the diet as despite being high on fats it did not result in extra weight as it was given in the required portions.” As many as 250 epilepsy patients in India between the age of two months and 56 years who were put on Ketogenic diet for 3-5 years have been reported 90 per cent seizure free. Dr Nathan said, “Most importantly, epilepsy patients who have completed the course of Ketogenic diet for five years are off drugs and students have returned to their schools while the adults have started working, which is like a dream come true for them, their families as well as the neurologists.”

Bathinda, March 3
The Union Government has selected seven districts of the region for the ‘Saakshar Bharat Mission-2012’.

The scheme of the Department of School Education and Literacy aims to check illiteracy in the Malwa region of Punjab. The districts are Bathinda, Mansa, Muktsar, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Barnala and Sangrur. The scheme aims to educate 8.07 lakh illiterate adults in the age group of 15 years and above before March 31, 2012.

The scheme will first concentrate on rural areas with its focus on literacy among women belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, minority communities and other unprivileged groups in the rural areas. The district administration and block-level officials have been given key roles in implementing and monitoring the programme and the mission will be implemented through gram panchayats at the grassroots level.

Patiala, March 3
Rural veterinary officers working on a contractual basis under the Zila Parishad, Patiala, staged a protest outside the Patiala Zila Parishad Complex, Sirhind Road, here today. The protesters were demanding the regularisation of the services of all RVOs working on contract in rural veterinary dispensaries across the state.

The protesters warned of intensifying the agitation if the state government failed to fulfil their demand for the regularisation of services.

The district president of Rural Veterinary Officer’s Association (RVOA), Punjab, Dr Sukhwinder Singh, said it was a matter of extreme dismay that despite their numerous requests, the Punjab Government is not paying any attention towards their demand for regularisation of service. — TNS

Bahadurpur (Ropar), March 3
Bahadurpur village, a hamlet of 75 households in Ropar is clean, has underground sewerage system, a separate rainwater drainage system and an upcoming biogas plant.

Thanks to the vision of NRI Dilwar Singh and his family, the village situated on the banks of the Sutlej River, underwent this makeover 18 months ago.

The Union Ministry of Rural Development has nominated village for the Nirmal Gram Puraskar. The award would be conferred to the villagers in April in Rajasthan.

Dilwar runs a transport company in Dubai and during a visit to Italy he decided to rebuild the narrow and sludge filled streets of his village. “My idea was to create an ideal village with all modern civic amenities. Unconditional support from the villagers helped me achieve that objective,” he says.

Sarpanch Ajmer Singh says when the work began, villagers willingly knocked down the walls of their houses to pave the way for wider streets. Except for two cattle yards, all other yards have been moved to the periphery of the village.

Even the sewerage pipes have been dumped into three acres of village land from where the water collected is distributed for village farmers to cultivate their lands.

“We don’t want to pollute the Sutlej River with sewage and hence decided to use fallow land for the purpose,” Dilwar added.

After laying sewers, separate rainwater pipes were laid and subsequently the widened streets were cemented. The village well has been covered and now a fountain is being erected over it to beautify the central place of the village.

Villagers collectively spent Rs 32 lakh so far on the project. “The trick is to keep everyone together. We had around 100 labourers doing the construction work. Villagers prepared meals and tea for labourers,” added villager Sital Singh.

A biogas plant is being built, which would be run using cattle waste, he said.