Bathinda, May 23
The recently sown cotton crop in Punjab has suffered varying degrees of damages on more than two lakh acres of land after untimely rain, hailstorm and squall hit the region on May 21, according to the initial estimates worked out by the field staff of the state agriculture department till date.

“It is not the final figure of the area where cotton crop has suffered damages. The chief agriculture officers of cotton producing districts of Punjab have been asked to work out the total loss so far, at the earliest,” pointed out Jasvir Singh, Deputy Director, Cotton, Department of Agriculture, Punjab.

He said cotton crop on about 1.15 lakh acres had been damaged completely and the affected farmers would have to sow again. The magnitude of loss on about 95,000 acres varied from moderate to severe.

He said state agriculture authorities had arranged for certified Bt cotton seeds for the farmers whose cotton crop had suffered complete damages and were willing to re-sow the same crop.

“The sale of Bt cotton seeds has been continuing for the past few weeks. The state agriculture authorities have arranged for about 30 lakh packets of Bt cotton seeds as it is expected that about six lakh hectares will come under cotton cultivation this season,” he claimed.

The squall accompanied by heavy rains and hailstorms flattened the cotton crop in Ferozepur, Muktsar, Mansa, Bathinda and some parts of other districts of Punjab on Friday evening.

A large section of cotton growers have suffered losses of Rs 4,000 to Rs 5,000 per acre on account of complete damage of crop.

Notably, cotton growers had purchased expensive BT cotton seeds, burnt fuel using tractors to cultivate their fields twice or thrice and to draw water through tubewell motors to irrigate the fields.

The growers said they feared that delay in sowing would adversely affect cotton yield besides making it prone to diseases.

Meanwhile, Balluana MLA Gurtej Singh and Sanjeev Godara, political advisor, SAD (B), who toured the affected areas, demanded that the affected farmers must be compensated without any delay for the losses suffered by them.

Bathinda, May 23
The general house meeting of the Municipal Corporation, Bathinda (BMC), today started about 40 minutes behind schedule. Immediately after, it turned noisy with some councillors staging walkouts and alleging that the corporation was not being run in a public-friendly manner.

Among the first ones who staged walkout in protest were Deputy Mayor Gurinder Pal Kaur Mangat, who belongs to BJP, and her party colleague Basant Bhatia. Before leaving, they alleged that even after being a part of the ruling alliance, they had no say in the functioning of the BMC.

Besides, they lamented that BMC officials took them so casually that many of their works-related demands were not even listed on the agenda.

Bhatia also threatened the Mayor that if the works of his ward were not started within 10 days, he along with residents would stage a dharna in the BMC compound. Minutes later, Congress councillors airing the similar grievance also opted to walk out.

It was an agenda item related to the appointment of a woman advocate as law officer of the BMC, which was opposed by Jagroop Gill, leader of the Congress councillors. The advocate was nominated by a SAD leader.

He said others should also be given opportunity and subsequently, the appointment should be made on merit.

However, when the agenda item was passed without even considering his objection, they all left the house in protest. While moving out of the house, Gill tore the agenda list into pieces and flung it at Mayor Baljeet Singh Birbehman.

Earlier, in the Zero hour discussion, two issues - scarcity of potable water supply and cleanliness - rocked the house. Almost every councillor narrated his/her bitter experiences while facing people whom they represent but fail to provide with basic amenities.

Among others, various senior Akali councillors also expressed annoyance at the Mayor and BMC Commissioner Umashakar Gupta for the poor state of affairs.

Some of the SAD councillors did not mind asking Birbehman, "If the officials keep on taking us for granted, how will we seek votes in the coming Assembly polls?"

Ironically, the Senior Deputy Mayor said the BMC officials did not even take him in confidence before putting any item on the agenda.

Taking a cue from the issue, many councillors, including Rajan Garg and Bhupinder Singh Bhullar, termed it as an embarrassment for the whole house and demanded a 10-member agenda committee should be formed. However, no decision was taken in this regard.

Among others, Krishan Kumar Garg, Dr Raj Kumar Sood, Rajinder Kaur Brar, Khem Singh Makkar, Makhan Singh, Rajan Garg, Baljeet Singh Raju Sra, Mithu Ram Gupta, Shanti Jindal and Mandeep Agrohia raised questions.

During the meeting, it also came to light that 12.5 acres of land that the BMC had auctioned recently was found to be 11.62 acre as the remaining area was encroached upon by four persons, including the owners of the Bathinda Chemical Limited. The house decided to hand over the land (in possession) to the winning bidder and start a move to remove the encroachment.

Among other agenda items, installation of GPS system on the BMC vehicles and a loan of Rs 40 crore for laying sewerage were passed amid controversies. For want of consensus, few items were kept pending.

Bathinda, May 23
Accusing the government of not meeting their demand for the arrest of those who allegedly assaulted the farmers and farm labourers of Kotda Kodian Wala village and shifting a liquor vend out of the village, three farmers and farm labourers' unions today jointly announced to gherao the residence of Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jagdeep Singh Nakai on May 27 at village Rampura.

The farmers and farm labourers were allegedly assaulted by the staff of the liquor contractor for lodging protest against the opening of liquor vend in the village on May 12, after they submitted a memorandum to Bathinda MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal during her visit to the village.

The village comes under the Joga Legislative Assembly in Bathinda district that is represented by Nakai and the protesters openly accuse him of being behind the incident.

Forming a united front, leaders of the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Sidhupur), the Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta-Ugrahan) and the Punjab Khet Mazdoor Union today accused the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal and the district administration of patronising the liquor contractors. They alleged that even after being well aware of the incident, the police remained a mute spectator initially.

"Though the case was lodged, it proved to be only eyewash, as the police made no effort to arrest the accused, who are moving freely," alleged Shingara Singh Mann, district president of the BKU (Ekta-Ugrahan).

The union leaders had earlier gheraoed the Balianwali police for three consecutive days and finally succumbing to the pressure, the district administration had assured to arrest the accused along with a promise of shifting the vend out of the village.

However, the farmers' group today claimed that the police and the civil administration ditched them.

The farmer leaders said, "If the two demands were not met within two days, we will lodge a massive demonstration outside Nakai's residence. The struggle will continue till the demands were accepted."

Jagdeep Singh Nakai, when contacted, refuted the allegation and claimed that he had no role in the incident.

Bathinda, May 23
On the orders of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the district administration today distributed a financial aid of Rs 5.10 lakh among the families of those who were killed or injured in the district due to lightning or squall that occurred on May 21.

According to Deputy Commissioner S. Karuna Raju, the families of those who were killed have been given financial aid of Rs 1 lakh each while Rs 10,000 had been given to an injured girl, Arshita, of Paras Ram Nagar here.

Compensation was given to the bereaved families of Shivraj Singh (48) of Bambiha village, Kesho Rani (60) of Aklia Kalan village, Kuldip Singh (14) of Nahian Wala village Alam Khatun (14) of Paras Ram Nagar, Bathinda, and Raja Ram of Paras Ram Nagar, Bathinda.

Bathinda, May 23
Congress leaders and workers held protests and burnt effigies of former forest minister Tikshan Sood, who has been accused of corruption by an officer of the Forest Department, in Bathinda and Muktsar today.

Presently, Sood holds the portfolio of local bodies and industry in the state cabinet.

In Muktsar, Congresspersons, led by district president Gurdas Girdhar, held a demonstration and demanded a CBI inquiry into the charges levelled against Sood. Besides, they also demanded his dismissal from the cabinet. They raised slogans against the government also. Later, they submitted a memorandum to the district administration for forwarding the same to the Punjab Governor. Those present during the protest included Harcharan Singh Sotha, Sant Singh Brar, Karanveer Singh Brar, Mool Chand Rupana and Narinder Singh Kauni.

Led by Bathinda district president (Urban) Ashok Kumar and district president (Rural) Narinder Singh Bhuleria, the Congresspersons gathered at the Congress Bhawan here today and later, marched upto the Fire Brigade Chowk where they burnt Sood’s effigy.

Besides Sood’s dismissal from the cabinet, they also demanded that CM Parkash Singh Badal should resign on moral grounds.

Among those who took part in the protest at Bathinda were district president of Mahila Congress Mohinder Kaur Rani, district president of Youth Congress Lakhwinder Singh Lakha, Avtar Singh, Navdeep Jeeda, Ashu Thakur, Rajinder Bagla, Rajinder Goldy, Rupinder Bindra and Kuljit Gogi.

Abohar, May 23
The Powercom has started accepting the actual electricity charges ignoring the advance consumption deposit (ACD) that had been mentioned on the bills and triggered resentment across the state.

Till the weekend, the sub-divisional offices have been insisting that ACD, as mentioned on the bills, must be paid along with the monthly/bi-monthly consumption charges. The change has been effected following clarification issued by the Powercom chairman KD Chaudhary on Sunday.

The sub-divisional authorities have been directed to follow the verbal instructions received telephonically. The whistleblower Sunil Jakhar (MLA) said Powercom chairman has asked the sub-divisional offices to collect ACD only from large-scale industrial consumers in six equal monthly installments. The Powercom had burdened the consumers with Rs 1300 crore apparently to clear its debts. Hundreds of consumers had deposited the ACD also even when some of them had to borrow money or dispose of valuables since consumption charges alone were not accepted. The affected consumers included BPL families, which had been offered free supply up to 200 units and were gifted CFL lamps also as populist measure.

Such consumers were slapped ACD up to Rs 3000. The legislator said the SAD-BJP alliance had promised a moon to industrialists before contesting the last Assembly elections but wrong policies later forced many to shift their industries to other states, new ventures were not promoted. Now, the large-scale industrial consumers would have to pay Rs 1000 crore as ACD as per the fresh instructions as well.

While demanding an apology from the Powercom chairman for harassing thousands of domestic/commercial consumers, Jakhar reiterated resolve to file PIL in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on June 2 to seek refund of the ACD that had been recovered arbitrarily during the past four weeks. He regretted that most of the consumers were given just four days notice to pay the bills along with the ACD.

Abohar, May 23
The body of Sunil Kumar, who was reported missing for the past four days, has been found in a sub-canal near village Dharampura, 10 kilometres from here. Nar Seva Narayan Seva (NGO) volunteers shifted the body to the civil hospital for postmortem.

Preliminary inquiries indicated that the victim was suffering from tuberculosis since long. His mother Paramjit, sister Seema Rani, brothers, Pardeep Kumar and Amit Kumar too suffered from the same disease.

The family was disappointment as they were unable to do any job to make both ends meet. Doctors in the TB wing of the civil hospital confirmed that the victim was under treatment as outdoor patient and added that the family had not been able to observe precautions as advised to TB patients and lived in the same room.

Meanwhile, body of Raj Kumar (42) of Nai Abadi locality has also been recovered from Maujgarh headworks near Khuyian Malkan village. He along with Ravi Kumar had drowned as the Innova car by which they were travelling fell in Bhakra canal system on Friday. The body of Ravi Kumar was earlier recovered.

Girl ends life: A girl ended her life here today after learning that she had not been able to clear the class XII exam, result of which was declared by the Central Board of Secondary Education. The GRP reportedly found the body at the rail track and also recovered the marks sheet that indicated that the deceased, who was studying in the DAV School here, could hardly get E grade in Business Studies and Accountancy subjects.

Her parents, who reside in the new Suraj Nagari locality, accepted the body after the post mortem at the civil hospital.

Sriganganagar, May 23
The district police that stormed Sikligar Mohalla in ward number 9 here today recovered mechanical gadgets, which are used for manufacturing illegal firearms. There were reports that the persons involved in fake arms licences scam and sale of fraudulently stamped arms in Punjab had deep-rooted connections here.

The fake arms licences scam that surfaced in the district collectorate here a few years back was still under investigation by the Central and state agencies, sources said. The force drawn from the district police lines was led by additional SP Sandeep Chauhan, DSPs Rajinder Singh and Kesari Chand Jandu while five SHOs headed different teams in the search operation that lasted for three hours.

Handy metal detectors were also used to scan the houses besides fields located near the colony. Earlier, the police had nabbed persons from Punjab while they were purchasing illegal revolvers/pistols from residents of this locality.

Ferozepur, May 23
High velocity winds followed by strong currents of rains that lashed the region on Saturday has wrecked havoc in the border town.

Even after 48 hours, the power supply to majority of the town has not been resumed though the PSPCL men have been on their toes working round-the-clock to resume it.

GS Dhaliwal, SE, PSPCL, said the power supply to the city area should be restored by late evening. However, it might take more time to restore the power supply in the rural areas.

Cantonment Sanitary superintendent VK Soni said hundreds of trees have fallen due to strong windstorm, adding that his men have been working overnight to remove the trees from various roads, military units and bungalows to clear the passages. 

Bathinda, May 23
Members of the district unit of NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) Staff Union, led by its president Sukhpreet Singh, today staged a dharna outside the office of the additional deputy commissioner (Development) on the premises of Zila Parishad Complex here. They were protesting to compel the authorities concerned to accept their demands, including enhancement in salaries.

Sukhpreet said the NREGA staff was getting meagre wages at the time of high inflation.

Their other demands were issuance of salaries on the third of every month, monthly medical allowance, scrapping of condition related to work target for NREGA staff and renewal of contract of the staff for 2011-12 at the earliest. — TNS

Bathinda, May 23
To spread information on various new techniques to conserve water and other agricultural expenses, the Agriculture Department held a district-level farmers' training camp at Kheti Bhawan here today.

Hundreds of farmers attended the camp and listened to the suggestions given by the agro-experts. Besides, the farmers also came across a section of self-help groups, who had set up their stalls to motivate others to join hands and earn profits.

The department also appreciated various progressive farmers of the district.

The camp was inaugurated by the ADC (D) C Sibin, while it was presided over by Joint Director, Agriculture (Expansion and training), Gursewak Singh Sandhu. — TNS