Jalandhar, June 1
In an open violation of the laid down norms that the panchayats could not lease the village common land for the non-agricultural purpose without prior permission of the government, the panchayat of Nangal Araiyaan village has allegedly leased six acres of the village common land for sand mining without taking government’s approval.

Worse still, the whole chunk of land was leased for the total amount of Rs 3.01 lakh (reserve price was fixed at Rs 2.9 lakh) against the prevailing market price of over Rs 1 lakh/acre/feet, alleged complainant Hariqbal Singh, resident of the village.

“As the panchayat had advertised to lease six acres for the earth excavation up to four feet depth, the total leasing cost should be around Rs 24-25 lakh,” he alleged here today.

As per the amendments made in the Punjab Village Common Land (Regulation) Rules 1964 by the Department of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, the state government has forbade the panchayats to lease the agricultural village common land for non-agricultural purposes without government’s consent, he added.

“Earlier, the auction for the said land was scheduled on May 3. However, due to some domestic reasons, the sarpanch and three panchayat members, who are hand in glove with sarpanch, did not turn up for the auction,” alleged Hariqbal.

“Later, the authorities had verbally informed us that the fresh auction would be held on May 18. However, on May 18, we got to know that the land had already been leased for the purpose of earth quarrying on May 14,” he alleged.

Later, after the complaint filed to ADC (Development), the Block Development Project Officer, Bhogpur, cancelled the auction on May 18. BDPO, Bhogpur, Sewa Singh was not available for his comments.

Sarpanch Asha Rani also could not be contacted. Surinder Pal, her husband, claimed that the issue had been raised only due to tussle between the two opposite groups in village. He added that the panchayat was ready to re-auction the land. He added that the land was leased for excavation as it was uneven.

Amritsar, June 1
Soon, people visiting Punjab would be able to avail guides, trained by the faculty of the Indian Institute of Travel and Tourism Management. The institute, run by the Ministry of Tourism, is providing guide training to 27 youths from Punjab, who would operate across the state.

The first batch was being trained in a private college on Ajnala road.

The free of cost training was made possible following the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the Punjab Heritage and Tourism Promotion Board (PHTPB) and the IITTM on December 11. Once finished with their training, these candidates would be issued licence by the PHTPB.

Amritsar Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu said the 25-day training would finish on June 10.

The students have been taken to tourist-interest sites in Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi, Noormahal, Hoshiarpur, Anandpur Sahib, Sirhind, Patiala and Malerkotla.

District Tourism Officer (DTO) Balraj Singh said at a time when the first batch was undergoing training, his office had received queries from 40 more youths to join the course.

As per the MoU, the IITTM was to carry out the entrance test to shortlist candidates for the course but being the maiden batch no test was conducted.

The DTO said keeping in view the demand of the course, the entrance test would be mandatory from next time. He said in the current batch only those candidates, who would pass a written test followed by a viva, would be issued licence.

Gurinder Singh Johal, who has been working as guide in the holy city for the past many years, said cooperation of the inhabitants of the city and quality infrastructure were vital for the tourism industry to flourish.

Nawanshahr, June 1
The real tribute to the martyrs would be to free the country from the clutches of poverty, illiteracy, unemployment, communalism and drug addiction, said Manpreet Singh Badal, president of Peoples’ Party of Punjab.

He spoke this while paying tributes to Mata Vidhyawati, mother of Shaheed Bhagat Singh, during a shradhanjali samaroh organised at Khatkar Kalan village to commemorate her death anniversary on Wednesday.

“The freedom fighters sacrificed their lives not only to force the Britishers to quit India but to bring in a change in the system of governance so that the independent India could be made free from the various ills,” said Manpreet.

He said though the country attained independence 64 years ago, the “Nizam” (British system of governance) had not been changed yet.

Terming the British system of governance as system meant to rule the slaves, Manpreet exhorted the people to come forward to evolve a system of governance meant for the independent country.

“The British laws and bureaucracy was aimed at to rule the country of slaves but now we are independent so such laws and attitude of the bureaucracy should be changed. The bureaucracy must be made ‘public servant’ in letter and spirit, if we really want to bring in a positive change in the system of governance, consequently fulfilling the dreams of the martyrs,” further said Manpreet.

Abhay Sandhu, nephew of Sardar Bhagat Singh, Bharat Bhushan Thapar, nephew of Sukhdev, Sardara Singh Johal, former vice-chancellor, Tirath Singh Chahal, Harbhajan Singh Bhangal, among others, also addressed the gathering.

Later talking to mediapersons, Manpreet claimed that the PPP had been receiving an overwhelming public response to the ongoing membership drive. So far, more than 9 lakh persons had become members of the newly constituted PPP.

Answering a query regarding the possibility of entering into any electoral alliance for the forthcoming assembly polls in the state, Manpreet said so far the PPP had been concentrating on the membership drive only.

Amritsar, June 1
To enforce the Punjab Plastic Carry Bags (Manufacture, Usage and Disposal) Control Act-2005 in the district, the special squad under the supervision of the Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu on Wednesday raided shops in markets to scrutinise the type of polythene bags being used.

The team confiscated mammoth amount of carry bags which did not comply with the prescribed standards. As per the Act, there is a blanket ban on polythene bags below 30 microns in width, having dimensions less than 8X12 inches or not complying with the specified colours.

If these orders are violated, the defaulters would be liable to bear the legal wrath, which specifies a fine of Rs 25,000 or five years of imprisonment or both.

Deputy Commissioner KS Pannu said the teams got activated today only after the lapse of the grace period granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as sought by the traders who were into this business. “The grace period lapsed today only. We have just warned the shopkeepers against using substandard plastic carry bags but next time, if they were found to be guilty, the prescribed action would taken against them as prescribed under the law”, he said.

Earlier, during a meeting conducted at the circuit house under the chairmanship of the DC, four teams consisting sub-divisional magistrates, tehsildaars, Naib tehsildaars and officials of the municipal corporation were formed to gauge the implementation of plastic bag control regulations.

The teams raided Baba Bakala, Rayya, Tangra, Khalchiyan, Beas, Mehta, Ajnala, Raja sansi, Ramdass areas besides local markets which included shops located at Majitha and Rattan Singh Chowk areas. 

Tarn Taran, June 1
As many as 50 employees and officials were found to be absent from their duties in the district here today. Satwant Singh Johal, Deputy Commissioner (DC), told mediapersons here today that in a surprise checking of the office of the Assistant Excise and Taxation Commissioner (AETC) by Bakhtawar Singh, SDM, the whole staff was found to be absent from the office.

The DC said the absent employees were Sushil Kumar, Excise Taxation Officer, Megha Singh and Harpreet Singh, both Inspectors, Jatinder Singh, Jaspal Singh and Angrej Singh, all clerks, Rajpal Singh, Satinderpal Kaur, Manpreet Kaur, Sherro and Sarabjit Kaur, the other employees. The DC said the Sub-centre, Dhunda, was found to be locked.

Inderjit Singh and Pargat Singh (Auditors) and other employees, namely Sarabjit Singh, Doly Mital and Mohinder Arora were found absent at the office of District Food Supply Controller (DFC) and Ranjit Singh, Baljit Singh and Kabal Singh, employees at the office of the Chief Agriculture Officer were found to be absent from their duties.

The DC said eight teams were formed to check attendance of the offices of the Departments of Excise and Taxation, Health, Veterinary, Food and Civil Supplies, Agriculture, Roadways and Powercom.

The DC said departmental action would be taken against the absent employees and officials.

Amritsar, June 1
To boost the fish farming culture in the state, the government has initiated to set up a state-of-the-art fish market in the Ghee mandi area here.

While laying the foundation stone of the fish market, Minister for Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Gulzar S. Ranike said the market, consisting 10 shops, would comply with international hygiene standards and would come into existence within six months. “This project, costing Rs 30-lakh, has been taken up in collaboration with the National Fisheries Development Board, Hyderabad. The shops would be offered on rent basis and the supporting infrastructure like power backup or deep freezers would be provided by the government,” he said.

Later, addressing those entrepreneurs who were already into the fish farming, the minister said Punjab occupies the top slot in the country in fish farming by producing 97,000 tonnes of fish.

“The motive behind establishing such international-standard fish markets in various parts of the state is to boost fish farming further,” he said.

In the wake of depleting land availability for traditional farming, the minister viewed that the fish farming would be a boon for the farmers and the government has announced a subsidy of around Rs 70,000 against an acre of land for establishing fish farming units. Besides this, the government was also opening up training centres for fish farming in different pockets of the state. According to an estimate, a farmer could obtain an income of around Rs 80,000 per annum through a pond built on an acre.

At present around 1,100 hectare area had been put under the fish farming in the state, which had generated jobs for about 50,000 people.