Chandigarh, May 22
The recently sown cotton crop on around 37,000 hectares in Ferozepur and Muktsar districts has been destroyed following a freak hailstorm and rain two days earlier.

Reports received here by the Agriculture Department indicate the newly sown cotton crop has been partially damaged in Bathinda and Mansa districts. Around 7,000 hectares have been affected in Bathinda and 4,000 hectares in Mansa.

State Agriculture Director Dr BS Sidhu told The Tribune that around 70 per cent of the crop in affected areas would have to be sown again.

The cotton-sowing season is at its fag end with 85 per cent of the crop having been sown in around 6 lakh hectares in the state.

The freak weather also damaged the kinnow fruit in the Abohar-Balluana belt. Horticulture Department Joint Director Dr Gurkamal Singh said that at a few places, the damage was as much as 60 to 70 per cent with the fall of hailstones either resulting in dropping of the fruit or damaging it.

He added that the vegetable crop in Seeto Guno and Khuban villages near Balluana was also hit by the hailstorm.

Meanwhile, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today directed the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) to issue detailed instructions to the concerned Deputy Commissioners to immediately carry out girdawari in the areas lashed by rains and hailstorm to ascertain damage caused to cotton, fodder and kinnow crops on a priority basis. He said adequate compensation as per government norms would be given to the affected farmers.

The Chief Minister also condoled the death of five persons who were killed when lightning struck them on Saturday evening. He also announced an ex gratia grant of Rs 1 lakh each for the next of the kin of the deceased.

Abohar, May 22
The irrigation system in a major part of the Malwa region of Punjab nearly collapsed after squall accompanied by rain and hailstorm hit various districts late last evening.

Flow in most canals, distributaries and irrigation minors was affected at many places in Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa and Bathinda districts in the Malwa region bringing the supply to the agricultural and domestic sectors to a complete halt.

Official sources said that Bathinda distributary, Teona distributary, Behman distributary, Rai Ke feeder, Phul distributary, Pakka distributary, Kotla branch, Fazilka distributary, Lambi distributary, Malukpur distributary and Sukhchain distributary got breached after trees, uprooted by the strong winds, choked the flow of water yesterday evening.

The other irrigation channels which developed breaches included Bhagsar minor, Mollianwali minor, Punjaba minor, Ramsra minor, Aazamwala minor, Abohar minor, Daulatpura, Chappianwali minor, Doomwali minor and Mile 83 minor.

Officials of the Irrigation Department are been finding it difficult to reach the spots where these blockages and breaches had taken place as uprooted trees have also blocked the roads.

However, timely intervention by officials of the Irrigation Department prevented a breach in the Gang canal. Uprooted trees on the four bridges of the Gang canal were being cleared by the officials concerned.

Few thousand cusecs of water have been diverted to Pakistan from the Hussainiwala barrage. About 2,000 cusecs of water have been reduced in the Abohar canal and 1,500 cusecs in Ferozepur feeder canal.

Chandigarh, May 22
Social unrest against the location of liquor vends in both villages and urban colonies persists, even after 50 days of the start of the new financial year.

These “revenue-generating vends” are flowing havoc into their households, say angry residents, keeping security personnel on their toes for fear of a backlash.

As of today, 55 gram panchayats and 10-odd urban colonies have passed resolutions against allowing liquor vends in their localities. Sangrur tops the list with 44 gram panchayats refusing to allow vends in their villages. Patiala, Bathinda, Ropar, Hoshairpur, Barnala, Gurdaspur, Muktsar and Faridkot are the other districts where panchayats have expressed resentment against the allocation of liquor vends in their villages.

There have been a stream of protests in Ludhiana, Amritsar and Pathankot against the opening of vends in urban colonies. In Pathankot, Reva Sharma, wife of former Punjab Cabinet Minister Mohan Lal, led a protest by 150-odd women against a liquor vend at Simbal Chowk.

In several areas, the protests turned into a show of strength between those opposing the vends and the police. In Bathinda and Sangrur, there have been violent clashes between the police and the protesters.

In Bathinda, public resentment against liquor vends in urban colonies spilled on to the streets at Amarpura Bast, Gopal Nagar and Arjun Nagar. Harsimrat Badal, wife of the Deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, represents this district in the Lok Sabha. In rural Bathinda, Selbrah, Phallad and Pakka Kalan have witnessed strong protests.

Revenue from excise, after VAT is the second major source of revenue for the state government. “The government has done precious little to redress three of the state’s major problems - suicide by farmers, the growing incidence of cancer and drug abuse - that have been wreaking havoc with the state economy,” said sarpanch Gurmukh Singh.

“Excise revenue may be important for undertaking development, but social well being of the people cannot be ignored,” he said.

For the past some years, awareness on the menace of drug abuse has been growing. Punjab Youth Congress chief Ravneet Singh Bittu undertook a seven-day fast in Ludhiana, forcing the government to announce a drug control board in the state.

“The government seems to have double standards. On the one hand it says it wants to curtail the growing number of addicts and on the other has increased the number of liquor vends from 5,652 in 2005-06 to 7,256 this year,” says Bittu. The number of bars in public places has gone up from 325 in 2009-10 to 353 this year.

Inputs from Chander Parkash (Bathinda), Ravi Dhaliwal(Gurdaspur), Neeraj Bagga (Amritsar), Aman Sood (Patiala), Rajaydeep (Bathinda), Shariq Majeed (Sangrur), Amaninder Pal (Jalandhar) Manav Mandher (Ludhiana), Gurdeep Mann (Fatehgarh Sahib) and Megha Mann (Kharar).

(To be concluded)

Mohali, May 22
Several officials of the Rural Development and Panchayats Department, Punjab, who were put up as prosecution witnesses by the Punjab Vigilance in the corruption case against Vidhan Sabha Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon could be in trouble.

They have confessed to the court that they made the illegal appointments on their own and were not asked by the former minister to do so.

The Vigilance had prosecuted Kahlon for allegedly making illegal recruitments during his tenure as Rural Development and Panchayat Department Minister during the previous Akali Government.

The Mohali Special Court acquitted Kahlon with a majority of 45 prosecution witnesses resiling from their statements made to the Investigating Officer (IO), Surinder Pal Singh, under Section 161 of the CrPC.

The court while pointing out that the better option would have been to prosecute the District Development and Panchayat Officers (DDPOs) for the illegal appointments, observed that it was desirable that the Vigilance examined if making these appointments illegally amounted to commission of offence and if so, prosecution proceedings be launched against them.

The court observation could create trouble for the government as it could have to order action against the DDPOs who have confessed to making the appointments. On the basis of the statements made by the prosecution witnesses, the court pointed out that the sequence of events indicated that a recruitment scam was on in various offices under the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats and the DDPOs had maden “back-door entries” and then forwarded the cases to the head offices for ex-post-facto sanction.

Questioning the probe by the IO, the court observed that: “If the court finds that investigations into the case have not been conducted properly and the court is not in a position to rely on the record prepared by the IO, the witnesses should not be prosecuted merely for resiling from the statement made under Section 161 of the CrPC as it is fraught with danger, of leading to gross injustice”.

Jalandhar, May 22
Two Congress MLAs, Sukhpal Singh Khaira and Surinderpal Singh Sibia, have hit back at Lal Singh, vice-president and in charge of the PPCC office, for allegedly leaking to the media the show-cause notices issued to them.

Party insiders said the MLAs have submitted a complaint against Lal Singh to Gulchain Singh Charak, in charge of the party affairs in Punjab.

Sources in the AICC said the MLAs have said since the notices were issued by Lal Singh, he alone was aware of the matter. They have urged Charak to issue a notice to Lal Singh, asking for his explanation.

The sources said the MLAs had alleged that a former MLA from Sangrur close to Lal Singh had contacted some mediapersons to give them copies of the notices.

The MLAs have sought action against Lal Singh for violating the party discipline. Charak, however, said he had not seen the complaint yet.

Asked if a vice-president could issue show-cause notices to MLAs, he said he was not clear on the matter. “In case of any violation of the party constitution, appropriate action would be initiated. I’m confident of resolving all issues shortly”, he added.

When approached, Khaira refused to comment on the issue. “I will neither confirm nor deny it because I am not supposed to discuss party matters in the media”, he maintained.

Confirming that he had received a copy of the notice, he said he was preparing a reply.

Amritsar, May 22
The Khalsa College management has issued show-cause notices to 41 teachers who participated in the ongoing hunger chain strike being observed to protest the proposed conversion of the institute into a private university. The management claims the staff participated in the dharna after submitting casual leaves citing some “urgent/personal” work.

Stating their conduct as “violation of the relevant conduct rules, besides being an anti-establishment activity”, the notices, signed by the principals of three Khalsa Society-run institutions, demanded the “violators” to give a written explanation within two days to evade action.

It has been learnt that 31 teachers from Khalsa College, six from Khalsa College for Women and four from Khalsa College of Education have received the notices. Women’s college principal Sukhbir Kaur Mahal said the notices had been issued as these teachers went on leave without getting official sanction for it.

Amritsar, May 22
Mukhtiar Singh Asal, Chairman, International Sikh Council (ISC), today claimed that the foreign ministry of the Iraq government has agreed to let a Sikh jatha visit the 15th century Baba Nanak Maqam gurdwara, related to the first Sikh master Guru Nanak Dev.

The shrine situated in Baghdad was damaged during a military attack on Iraq in 2003. It was constructed by Mohammad Pasha Amoot, follower of a Muslim saint Pir Bakol, at the time of Guru Nanak’s visit to Baghdad on his way back from Mecca and Medina in 927 AH (1520-1AD).

Asal met Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh and Shiromani Committee president Avtar Singh in this regard. He said he got an invitation from Labid Abawl, Foreign Minister of Iraq, on May 17.

Talking to The Tribune after paying obeisance at the Golden Temple, he said that the jatha would take up the issue of renovation of the gurdwara in Baghdad besides renewing its relationship with the Iraq government.

He said that the ISC had been taking up the issue of the renovation of the Sikh shrine for the past 21 years with the Iraq government.

There are only two rooms in the name of the gurdwara and one of the rooms contains the dargahs of two Muslim saints,” said Mukhtiar.

The ISC Chairman said that a five or 11 member jatha would visit Baghdad within a month. He said that he had informed the Akal Takht Jathedar and SGPC president in this regard.

SGPC president Avtar Singh said that the SGPC had also taken up the issue with the Iraq government and assured that the Shiromani committee would extend all cooperation for the renovation of the shrine.

Amritsar, May 22
A 20-year-old Ludhiana girl, allegedly kept in illegal detention by a head constable of the Galliara police post in a Golden Temple sarai was rescued by mediapersons in the evening today.

They then brought the matter to the notice of senior police officials. Satpal Joshi, ADCP, reached the spot and announced the suspension of suspect head constable (munshi) Nirmal Singh who has fled. The girl from Chhapar village had run away from home as her family members were forcing her to marry. She reached Golden Temple yesterday evening.

“Instead of helping me, the accused head constable beat me up and detained me in a room,” she alleged.

Meanwhile, Nirmal Singh denied the allegations saying he had informed the family members of the girl who had been coming to take her. He said as the girl was not a criminal, they could not keep her in the police station and on humanitarian grounds he urged the authorities concerned to keep her in the sarai till her family arrives.

Chandigarh, May 22
PPCC president Capt Amarinder Singh today asked the Akali-BJP government in the state to explain why petrol in Punjab was the costliest in the country. He asked the government to reduce the VAT on petrol so that the prices were brought down to bring these on a par with the neighbouring states.

In a statement issued here, Amarinder Singh said the taxes imposed on petrol was 32.75 per cent in Punjab compared to 20.5 per cent in Haryana, 24 per cent in Himachal Pradesh and 22 per cent in Chandigarh.

The former Chief Minister said the state government should reduce the taxes and provide relief to the people.

Phagwara: Addressing a press conference here on Sunday, Bholath Congress MLA and Sukhpal Singh Khaira, alleged the state government was pursuing vendetta politics. He said the VB in Punjab had lost credibility and was working like a private army of the Badals. It had first ensured the collapse of corruption cases against the Badals and Speaker Nirmal Singh Kahlon and was now on a witchhunt.

In a statement here, he said these consumers would have to deposit the ACD in six equal monthly installments as per the directions of the State Electricity Regulatory Commission. — TNS

Wadala-Khurd (Kapurthala), May 22
After establishing its monopoly in the electronic goods market in India, China is all set to make inroads into the agricultural fields of Punjab. The farmers of the region have of late been using muskmelon and watermelon seed imported from China.

Paramjit Singh, a farmer, says the new varieties require less water and pesticides. Besides, there are less prone to diseases, he claimed.

Though the seed costs around Rs 28,000 a kg, the yield is more and sweeter too, another farmer Jagir Singh said. “Chinese muskmelons and watermelons can remain unperished for 20 to 25 days post-harvest and can be transported overseas as well,” he claimed.

Having sown muskmelon seed on 60 acres of land and watermelon on 30 acres, Jagir Singh says a Delhi-based private company that provided him the seed had assured him of lifting his produce too. The agency, said he, had agreed to purchase muskmelon and watermelon at Rs 10 and Rs 5 a kg, respectively.

“Earlier, I used to sow Hara Madhu, Swarna, Naam Dhari, Kesar, Kundan and Glory varieties of muskmelon. But I had to face a lot of problems for their marketing as the crops used to perish within 10 to 12 days,” Jagir Singh said.

Dr Daljit Singh, a retired professor of Punjab Agriculture University under whose guidance the crop has been grown, says the seed is recognised by the Union Government and Maharashtra has adopted it in a big way.

Sikander Pal, MD of the seed-providing company, claimed that Chandra (muskmelon) and Varun, Meera and Karishna (watermelon) varieties have been cultivated on over 100 acres of land in Kapurthala and Amritsar districts for the first time on a trial basis. The seeds, says he, are in high demand in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Dr Satbir Singh, Deputy Director of Horticulture, said the Punjab Government only recommends those varieties that the PAU notifies after various tests. “We assist the farmers who opt for hybrid seeds supplied by private companies if their results are good.”

Ludhiana, May 22
Panic stricken Rural Medical Officers (RMOs), who by “mistake of the state government” became victims of the Punjab Civil Services Regularisation (Rationalisation of Certain Condition of Services) Act- 2011, have decided to meet Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal before the Cabinet meeting scheduled to take place on May 25.

The decision was taken in a state body meeting of the Rural Medical Services Association (RMSA) held here today at Rajkhbagh under the presidentship of Dr Aslam Parvez.

Parvez said, “We want that the Cabinet should give us justice as we do not come under the Punjab Civil Service Regularisation Act- 2011. In case the government fails to give us justice, there will be mass protests and resignations by the RMOs.”

Organising secretary Dr Anand Malhotra, “There are 1,186 doctors appointed as RMOs on contract basis in 2006 by the then Congress Government for catering to more than 15,000 villages of the state. Around 200 vacancies are still laying vacant in the rural areas. These doctors used to get Rs 22,000 per month in 2006. But their salaries were revised in 2010 and thus, each doctor started getting Rs 27,000 per month. But the present government took a decision in the Cabinet on March 9 this year that the services of these doctors will be regularised from May 1 and thus, these doctors will be able to get Rs 43,000 per month salary. The notification was also issued in this regard on April 25 by the state government. But simultaneously, it passed the Punjab Civil Service Regularisation Act (Rationalisation of certain condition of services)-2011 and all of us were covered under this Act and were paid only Rs 15,600 basic salary, which is a blunder as we do not come under it.”

The Joint Council of Trade Unions has also come to the rescue of these RMOs. In the statement released today, General Secretary of the Joint Council of Trade Unions DP Maur warned that according to this Act, which is going to affect all the newly appointed employees in the state, an employee will be entitled to receive all inclusive fixed monthly emoluments equal to the minimum of the pay band of the post to which he is appointed, but he shall not be entitled to receive the grade pay if any attached to the post.

The Act has termed three years period commencing from the date of appointment as the period of induction which is extendable up to five years. Under clause 8, the Act further provides that the service rendered during the period of induction shall not be counted either notionally or otherwise for any purpose what so ever.

Meanwhile, about 100 doctors from all the districts of the state reached Ludhiana on buses for the state body meeting of the RMSA.

Patiala, May 22
Despite repeated attempts by the Patiala MC to check various temporary encroachments, shopkeepers in different areas of Patiala still set up their extension counters and other stalls on road.

The practice goes unchecked as the MC does not take any strict action against the defaulters. To add to the misery of city residents, rehris and vehicles parked in the middle of the road occupy most of the road, making it difficult for people to cross the road.

This practice is very common in many main markets of the city, including Tripri, Gurh Mandi, Dharampura. Paramjeet Singh, a resident of Tripri, said, “Almost all the shops have set their extension counters on the road, making the area even more congested.”

“Lack of parking space is another reason people park their vehicles on road itself. Though the MC has on and off warned these shopkeepers to stop this practice, but to no avail. If the MC cannot do anything about the parking, they must at least take some strict action against encroachers.” Similar is the condition of the Dharampura Bazaar, which is one of the biggest markets of Patiala. “Roadside vendors are a major problem in the area. Mehndi artists also lay their stools on the road,” added Charanjit.

Municipal Commissioner Manjit Singh Narang said the drive to check this practice was on. “We have already taken action against defaulters in the Leela Bhawan Market and the surrounding areas. The area is devoid of all these things now. We will soon cover other areas as well,” he added.

Patiala, May 22
The Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) has nominated Retired Resident Audit Officer Kuldeep Singh Grewal, as an independent member of the forum for the Redressal of Grievances of the Consumers.

As per the copy of the orders issued by the PSERC secretary on May 20, Grewal’s appointment would be for one year. Notably, Grewal has done his post graduation from the Punjabi University. 

Patiala, May 22
A few days after the seizure of 25-kg opium from the city, the city police today claimed to have made a similar recovery. A constable of the Rajasthan police has been taken into custody after the recovery of 6-kg opium from his possession. The police has registered a case under the NDPS Act at the Bakhshiwal police station and further investigation is on in this matter.

According to Patiala SP(d) Harbhajan Singh, the accused has been identified as Ganpat Ram, a constable with the Rajasthan police, who was rounded at a naka laid near the Bakhshiwal police station.

“The accused was walking with a bag in his hand and turned back when he saw a police naka. However, the police team followed him and he was rounded up,” said the SP.

The police said during a search six-kg opium wax was recovered from the accused. “The accused accepted that he had been smuggling opium earlier as well in Punjab and other northern states and this consignment was also marked for a smuggler “Though the chances of links between the two recoveries made in the past four days are less, but we are probing the entire contraband route in detail to reach a conclusion,” said the police.

A senior police officer told TNS, that preliminary investigations in the recent cases have revealed that due to excess production of opium in the neighbouring state of Rajasthan, numerous smugglers try to smuggle the same to other parts of the country to make easy money.