Bathinda, June 14
The area under paddy crop is likely to come down in major part of the Malwa region of Punjab in the current season and farmers are switching to cotton. Subsequently, the water table, which has gone down considerably in the area in the past few years, is likely to witness a rise. Besides, there is a possibility of reduction in the total dissolved solid (TDS) content of the groundwater.

Information gathered by TNS revealed that area under cotton crop has witnessed an increase of about 87,000 hectares this season. About 5.70 lakh hectares had been brought under cotton this year as compared to the last year’s 4.83 lakh hectares.

In eight districts of the Malwa region, namely Bathinda, Mansa, Faridkot, Ferozepur, Moga, Muktsar, Barnala and Sangrur, which constitutes the cotton belt of Punjab, about 67,000 hectares of area would be brought out of paddy cultivation this Kharif season.

In Muktsar district, about 20,000 hectares has been brought out of paddy cultivation while Mansa district has witnessed an increase of about 18,000 hectares under cotton crop. The area under paddy has gone down in other six districts of the region also.

Since the raw cotton fetched unprecedented high prices in domestic and international markets in the recently concluded cotton trading season, a large section of paddy growers has switched to cotton this year.

Due to intensive cultivation of paddy in various districts of Malwa region, which were once dotted with huge sand dunes, the level of groundwater has been falling at alarming rate. The situation in certain pockets of the region reached a point where farmers were forced to install deep tube-well motors to draw groundwater for irrigation purposes. Even the quality of groundwater deteriorated to a level that it became unfit even for agricultural use.

Paramjit Singh Sandhu, Chief Agriculture Officer, Bathinda, said officials had been collecting per monsoon data in connection with the level of groundwater. He added that there were indications that it had started going up in certain pockets, which was a good sign.

Bathinda, June 14
The clearance by the Punjab Government for setting up a textile park in the Malwa region is expected to revive the economy of this cotton rich region in the south of the state that had been shattered in the 1990s by the Mealy Bug that destroyed the crop for several years.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today cleared the plan to set up the park over an area of 1700 acres in the cotton growing districts of Bathinda, Ferozepur and Mansa.

The cotton growing farmers and also the ginning and other cotton mills in the Malwa region had suffered unsustainable loss for about ten years between 1992 to 2002 when the farm scientists failed to weed away the Mealy Bug that destroyed the cotton crop.

Several ginning and cotton mills were shut during the period because of huge loss incurred by them.

The Mealy Bug brought misery for the farmers and a maximum number of incidents of suicide by farmers were reported during the period. The area under cotton cultivation decreased considerably as the farmers switched over to paddy and other crops that were alien to the Malwa region.

With the introduction of the Bt.Cotton, the farmers once again got an opportunity to smile as the yield and also the area under cotton cultivation gradually started increasing. During the last cotton season the price of raw cotton skyrocketed to around Rs.7200 per quintal and it was a windfall for the growers. The year before the price increased and touched Rs.5000 per quintal, said Ashok Dhunikey, a leading cotton trader of the town.

With the hopes of the cotton trade further picking up, more and more farmers were reverting to the traditional crop in the area.

Sukhbir Singh had recently said that the Punjab government has received several proposals from international brands in textiles for setting up their units in the Malwa region.This would generate about 70,000 jobs in the area.

It is worth mentioning that a large number of ginning and cotton yarn manufacturing units in Gidderbaha, Malout, Muktsar, Bathinda, Abohar and Fazilka had shut down due to the turmoil created by the Mealy Bug.

Bathinda, June 14
To celebrate the World Blood Donors Day today, the United Welfare Society, a local NGO, along with several social and voluntary organisations took out an impressive ‘Kafla Khoondanian Da’ (caravan of blood donors) through the city.

The event aimed at further promoting the blood donation movement by way of propagating a message “Donate blood to save precious lives”.

Additional deputy commissioner (Development) C. Sibin flagged off the caravan outside the Government Rajindra College here this afternoon. Led by a band group of the Punjab Police, it passed through Mehna Chowk, Arya Samaj Chowk, Kikar Bazaar, Sadar Bazaar and Dhobi Bazaar before reaching the Public Library where a function was organised to honour the members of NGOs participating in the event.

Students of Swami Vivekananda Girls College here, a number of vehicles carrying banners and flags, a group of pedestrians including youths wearing white gowns bearing blood donation slogans and health officials were part of the caravan. Pamphlets related to blood donation were distributed on the way.

The president of the United Welfare Society, Vijay Bhatt, said they always saluted donors as their contribution to blood donation movement was appreciable. People should donate blood for thalassaemia-affected kids, he added.

President of Sahara Jan Sewa Vijay Goyal, an activist of Tarksheel Society Ram Singh Nirman, principal of Swami Vivekananda Girls College Raj Gupta, Jagdish Singh Ghai and Ashok Kumar Dhunike attended the event. Meanwhile, the local Blood Bank today organised a blood donation camp at the Civil Hospital here. As many as 38 persons donated blood at the camp which was inaugurated by SMO Dr Jarnail Singh. Deputy medical commissioner Dr Vinod Garg was also present. 

Bathinda, June 14
The Punjab and Haryana High Court, in accordance with the direction of the Supreme Court of India, is going to establish an Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) centre at every district and sessions court across the state.

Taking the direction in its letter and spirit, the officials of the Punjab Legal Services Authority (PLSA) have started conducting a district-wise survey to find suitable buildings, which it has been made mandatory to be located adjacent to the main complex of the district courts.

As per the information, the ADR centre is an institution which gives options to the parties to settle their issues out of court and is aimed at settling disputes in an amicable manner. It is free from strict procedural formalities.

Following the three basic methods to resolve the issues between the parties—arbitration, conciliation and mediation—each ADR centre will have well trained staff to deal with the cases. Besides, every ADR centre will have a front office to receive the aggrieved parties in a polite manner.

The Permanent Lok Adalat will also be one of the basic components of the ADR centre.

The staff working under the PLSA, to provide assistance and free legal aid to the deserving ones, will also be available at each centre. Once the ADR centres start functioning, people from weaker sections will get a great relief from the unwanted physical and monetary harassment that the legal process entails.

All pre-litigative cases relating to the public utility services (PUSs) including transport, postal, telegraph or telephone services, supply of power, light or water, system of public conservancy or sanitation, service in hospital or dispensary, insurance services, banking, housing and finance services, will also be decided at the ADR centres.

Munish Singal, member secretary of the PLSA, who was here today to find a suitable location for the establishment of the ADR centre, while speaking to The Tribune, informed that each ADR centre would have retainer lawyers and para-legal volunteers

The retainer lawyers may be appointed from the retired judges and the practising advocates with impeccable credentials.

Terming the para-legal volunteers as the back-bone of the ADR centres, the member secretary said they might be commoners but having the caliber to encourage people to go to the ADR centre rather than directly involving themselves into the traditional judicial system.

Accompanied by the district and sessions judge SK Aggarwal, who is also the chairman of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), the member secretary (PLSA) Munish Singal took a round of the judicial complex, Bathinda, and asked the staff of the PWD (B&R) to submit a report about the best suitable location.

Replying to a query, Singal informed that the union government had sanctioned an amount of Rs one crore for the establishment of each ADR centre.