Patiala, June 18
For the second time in nine days, the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited has been compelled to use power purchased at higher rates from outside the state and shut its two thermal plant units.

On account of the sudden dip in power demand because of heavy rainfall, the power corporation closed one thermal unit at Ropar and one at the Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant at about 2.15 am today.

Confirming the development, Arun Verma, Director (Distribution), PSPCL, said that because of the storm and rainfall yesterday evening, as many as 500 feeders went of the circuit and there was a sudden load crash.

“Ludhiana, Faridkot, Bathinda, Tarn Taran and Ropar were the most affected places,” he added.

Verma added that since the frequency was very high and had the thermal units not been closed, it would have led to underdrawl of power, available with us at just 20-25 paise per unit. “Now the load has started building up and both the thermal units may be started tonight,” he said.

On June 9, PSPCL had closed seven units of its three thermal plants on account of reduced demand by consumers across all categories.

“The PSPCL has entered into power purchase pacts to ensure uninterrupted power supply in the state during summers. But because of the weather at this time of the year, the power demand is less compared to previous years. Also, if the corporation uses cheaper power from its own sources and surrenders the power purchased from outer sources, a penalty of 70 to 80 paisa per unit has to be paid to the companies with which the PSPCL had made the agreements,” claimed engineers stationed at the thermal plants.

Patiala, June 18
Entertaining a civil writ petition filed by a retired superintending engineer of the erstwhile Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB), Sukhninder Singh, in which the petitioner has challenged the power generation policy of the Punjab Government, the division bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice 
of motion to the Punjab Government, Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) and others for July 27.

According to the copy of the petition in possession of The Tribune, the power generation policy notified by the state government last year has several guidelines that are not in conformity with the National Tariff Policy framed under the Electricity Act 2003.

The petition reads that since the steps of implementation contained in the policy are in conflict with specific provisions of the National Tariff Policy, its proper implementation would be impossible.

In his petition, Sukhninder has prayed before the HC that the memorandum of understanding (MoU) route in the power generation policy for awarding power projects to private players would lead to an increase in tariff and that is not in public interest.

The petition also mentioned that even the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) had conveyed its reservations regarding the policy to the state government on September 17 last year.

Accepting the petition, the HC has issued a notice of motion to Punjab Government and PSPCL for July 27.

Ludhiana, June 18
Though West Bengal is the largest producer of paddy (15 million tonnes) in the country, its share in the nation’s food kitty is just about 3 per cent. Though Punjab has produced 11 per cent rice in the country, it has contributed the maximum i.e. 31 per cent.

In 2010-11, Punjab has put 8.63 million tonnes of rice in the central pool. A total of 28.17 million tonnes of rice has been procured by the Centre through different rice-producing states.

According to FCI data, Punjab has pooled maximum wheat and rice to the central pool.

After Punjab, Andhra Pradesh comes at number two with 21 per cent (5.89 million tonnes), Chhattisgarh pooled 3.34 million tonnes (13 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh contributed 8 per cent (2.34 million tonnes). Haryana and Tamil Nadu put in 6 per cent (1.69 million tonnes) and 4.5 per cent (1.29 million tonnes).

Expressing satisfaction over the large production of rice in Punjab, Dr MS Sidhu, Professor and Head, Department of Economics and Sociology, Punjab Agriculture University, said that Punjab farmers were filling lakhs of empty stomachs each year by contributing the maximum. But still 90 per cent of the wheat in Punjab was lying in the open.

"Though rice is kept inside the godowns, yet Punjab needs 7 million tonnes of storage capacity at the earliest to accommodate its total production of rice and wheat," said Dr Sidhu.

National total 28.17

The top six

Punjab 8.63

Andhra Pradesh 5.89

Chhattisgarh 3.34

Uttar Pradesh 2.34

Haryana 1.69

Tamil Nadu 1.29

All figures in million tonnes

Fatehgarh Sahib, June 18
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today called for setting up of a “genuine federal structure” in the country and demanded that the Constitution be amended to grant fiscal autonomy to the states.

“At present, the states are merely dignified municipalities that have virtually no powers to carry out developmental plans. They have to look upon the Centre for petty issues like construction of link roads and even to change the name of a village,” he said. Badal today presided over a Sangat Darshan wherein he distributed grants worth Rs 3.5 crore to 38 village panchayats of the Amloh block. He also laid the stone of a bus stand in Amloh and inaugurated a museum-cum-convention hall with library in the memory of late Jathedar Gurcharan Singh Tohra in Panjoli village.

Meanwhile, the government has, under the river cleaning project, approved Rs 24 crore for underground pipe-network for distribution of treated water from STPs being established in 36 towns for irrigation purpose.

Moga, June 18
Water level in the Sutlej in Moga district is steadily rising due to copious rainfall in catchment areas of the river in Himachal Pradesh and intermittent downpour in lower areas in Punjab during the past couple of weeks.

A survey of the river belt in Sanghera, Madarpura, Mandir, Melak, Takhtuwala and other villages in the district brought to light that moong, maize and mint crops on hundreds of acres of cultivable land lying within the embankments of the river had got damaged.

It may be mentioned that a few years back the state government had allotted thousands of acres of land falling within the embankments of Sutlej in Ferozepur and Moga districts to those farmers who were tilling it for the past many decades without sensing the risk of life and property at the time of floods.

Jagir Singh, Nambardar of Madarpura village, said that his crop of moong got damaged a few days back when suddenly the water level rose and touched the embankments. Other farmers said they had not yet transplanted the paddy crop fearing the threat of flood, which may put them under financial stress.

The district administration has already sounded an alert and set up a flood control room at the district headquarters, besides appointing nodal officers at the sub-division and block levels. As many as 34 villages along the Sutlej had been identified as flood prone.

The district administration had also claimed that seven boats, three boat engines, a boat trailer, three engine stands, 40 life jackets, 36 tents and other relevant material had been made ready to meet any emergency. But, investigations made by The Tribune revealed that the administration has not purchased even a single tent during the current season and those kept for emergency were in a bad condition. They were purchased a couple of years back and were unfit for use. The boats too had not been tested and were insufficient to meet emergency situation like the one during the 2008 floods.

Jalandhar, June 18
Owing to nearly 3,500 vacant posts of teachers, the state government-aided schools, which are a backbone of the pre-college education in most of the big cities and towns, are facing a serious crisis.

Sources said that since 2006 the state government had not given its approval to fill the vacant posts in such schools. The state government's sanction has to be taken to fill the posts because 95 per cent of the total salary is paid by it to the teachers posted against approved posts. Some years ago, the state government had given approval to fill 444 posts.

There are 480 government-aided schools in the state. Of these, 400 are middle, high and senior secondary schools and the remaining are primary schools. Most of these schools are located in urban areas. For instance, there are about 22 schools in Ludhiana city, 20 in Jalandhar, 18 in Amritsar, seven each in Bathinda and Ropar town. Non-filling of the vacant posts would seriously impact the implementation of the Right to Education Act (REA) in the state.

Under this act, not more than 10 per cent posts of the total approved could be kept vacant in any of the government-aided or approved schools. That means, out of 10 approved posts only one post could be kept vacant. However, at present there are aided schools where about 50 per cent of the posts are vacant. Some of the primary schools are on the verge of closure due to this factor.

The other issue that is bothering the aided schools is with regard to the resuming of the pension. Sources said that on the intervention of the Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the case regarding the resumption of pension had now been sent to the Finance Department. Teachers and other employees who retired on May 31, 2003 or before, are getting pension. But the government terminated the pension scheme in case of those employees who retired from these schools after May 31, 2003.

"About 2,800 teachers and other employees have been waiting for the resumption of the pension scheme. About 100 employees have died after March 31, 2006, waiting for the pension," said a retired employee from an aided school here.

What has given some happiness to employees is that the state government has issued necessary letter to give revised pay scales on the pattern of their counterparts in government schools to teachers and other employees in aided schools. The number of such employees, who would get revised pay scales from January 1, 2006, is about 8,000. The arrears of revised pay would be given in installments. 

Jalandhar, June 18
It is ironical that while lakhs of rupees are being offered by various government agencies and private trusts as scholarships for poor students taking professional courses with the Punjab Technical University, none of its students in over 250 colleges have ever availed any benefit.

Call it lack of awareness on the part of the students or little effort by the university officials to popularise the schemes, none of the over 2.4 lakh students, enrolled through regular and distance education modes, have availed any of the grants that have ultimately lapsed over the past few years.

Dean (Student Affairs), PTU, Dr AP Singh, said that not even a single student had ever approached him for availing any scholarship. He said that efforts were being made to reach out to the meritorious, poor students by giving details of each scheme on the official website.

About six schemes are readily available, three of them being offered by the state Welfare Department, including the one for students from minority groups (Sikhs and Christians) with annual family income of less than Rs 2 lakh and minimum 50 per cent marks in previous year. Another scheme is for SC/ST students with family income of less than Rs 1 lakh.

Even the physically challenged students are covered in a scheme wherein they can get fee waiver of Rs 10,000 per annum in addition to a scholarship of Rs 700 for a day-scholar and Rs 1,000 for a hosteller.

Chandigarh-based Guru Harkrishan Educational Society too has offered scholarship for students scoring a minimum of 60 per cent in previous examination and whose parents’ annual income is less than Rs 10,000 per month (excluding house rent and medical allowances). The scholarship offered includes minimum 25 per cent of tuition fee, not exceeding Rs 600 per month.

Besides, there is a scheme wherein meritorious girls from minorities can avail Maulana Azad National Scholarship for Students, offered by the Union Ministry of Minority Affairs.

Of the six schemes readily available, three are being offered by the state Welfare Department

One is for students from minority groups (Sikhs and Christians); eligibility: family income less than Rs 2 lakh, 50% marks in previous year

Another scheme is for SC/ST students; eligibility: income less than Rs 1 lakh

Physically challenged students too can avail fee waiver of Rs 10,000 per annum in addition to a monthly scholarship

Ludhiana, June 18
Taking a cue from Bollywood’s ‘Gandhigiri’ medium of protest, the residents of Jodhan village here have decided to hold the ‘bhog’ ceremony of a peepal tree, whose felling they were protesting, on June 21.

Also, the villagers have invited all environmentalists and tree lovers to attend the bhog, to be held at the village’s grain market.

The tree was felled by the village panchayat on June 12 and that too in the presence of district administration officials.

Surjit Singh, ex-sarpanch of Jodhan village, said, “The tree was not cut but ‘murdered’. That’s why we decided to hold a bhog in its memory. On one hand, the government is launching tree plantation drives such as the Nanhi Chhan and on the other side, trees are being felled in the name of development."

The panchayat had passed a resolution to fell the peepal tree, situated on the Dolon-Jodhan road, along with a few others of eucalyptus. An advertisement, too, was carried out in a newspaper. The eucalyptus trees were specifically mentioned, but the peepal tree was shown as miscellaneous in the ad.

Surjit alleged that the panchayat knew that if they mentioned the peepal tree, they might have to face protests.

Sarpanch Jagdev Singh, however, claims to have got all clearances from the departments concerned before getting the tree axed.

“As the tree was a big obstacle on the main road, we forwarded our application to cut it to the district administration officials who, in turn, got the required green signal from the forest department. Finally, the tree was cut. We didn’t break any law,” Jagdev said.

Surjit, however, said the tree, about 40 years old, was standing five to six feet away from the road.

Bathinda, June 18
A large number of delegates and members of the General Categories Welfare Federation, Punjab, staged a state-level dharna outside the Mini-Secretariat here today to get the orders of the courts on reservations implemented.

The protesters also levelled allegations against the state government and alleged that the employees belonging to the SC category were being promoted in excess to their quota.

Chief organiser of the federation Shyam Lal Sharma said the Supreme Court in M. Nagraj versus Union of India case had clearly ordered that the caste-based promotions could only be done if the government was able to prove the backwardness of the employee and that there was a dire need of promoting the said employee on the basis of the caste-based quota.

State president of the federation Nirmal Singh alleged that though the Punjab Government was discriminating against the employees of the general categories in every department. He said, “At present, 280 Scheduled Caste category-related school principals were working against their quota of 138. The School Education Department is also considering to promoting 265 more principals, of which 211 belonged to the reserved categories.”

Patiala, June 18
The Patiala cops “forcefully” arrested the protesting contractual employees of the PRTC yesterday night. These employees had been protesting against the PRTC management since the last five days outside the Patiala bus stand.

According to information, a team of 200 cops reached the dharna site and arrested state president of the Contract PRTC Workers Union (Azaad) Jasmer Singh, who was sitting on an indefinite hunger strike since June 15. When the protesters objected to the arrest, the cops arrested 91 more employees. The cops also allegedly uprooted the tents.

Watching the situation slipping out of their hands, the employees started raising slogans against the PRTC management and the Punjab Government, which continued for almost two hours in the night. The police later sent Jasmer to the Rajindra Hospital, Patiala, for treatment, where his condition is said to be stable.

In the wake of the protest, assistant managing director of the PRTC Parneet Shergill held a meeting with the representatives, but they could not reach any consensus as the management showed inability to regularise the staff, stating that it was not in the PRTC’s hands.

As the meeting did not prove fruitful, the protesters than started gathering at the Gurdwara Dukhnivaran Sahib and decided to shift the venue of the hunger strike to the DC office and make Jagtar Singh Faridkot, an employee, sit on dharna instead of Jasmer Singh, but the cops reached the spot and did not allow them to move towards the DC office.

Patiala SP Narender Kaushal said the protesters had been sent to jail and the police has arrested 10 more employees, who would also be sent to jail tomorrow after their court appearance. Meanwhile, union’s finance secretary Narinder Singh informed that the president had not broken his fast till now.

Chhat (Banur), June 18
Hatching of 16 ghariyal eggs at the Chhatbir has made the zoo officials vigilant this time. They are trying their best to save all the 16 broods of the critically endangered species. Last year, the authorities drew flak following the death of 12 newborn ghariyals under mysterious circumstances within three months of their birth.

Sixteen healthy ghariyal broods have emerged in the past two days and are successfully separated from the adults. They are now being kept under surveillance in a separate enclosure.

“Learning from the previous years’ mistakes, we have immediately separated the newborns and fixed a net over the pond,” said a zookeeper.

Though a ghariyal mother hides the eggs under sand during 80 to 90 days of the incubation period, the newborn creeps into water within a day or two and then it becomes difficult to get them out.

“We have shifted all the 16 newborns to the adjoining pond, as the male ghariyal used to eat the newborns or they get crushed under the big ones,” said a zoo official.

A month back, the zookeepers realised that a female ghariyal had laid eggs as it got protective and not allowed anyone to come close. The zoo authorities soon began preparations and got a nearby pond cleaned to shift the offspring of the reptile.

The eggs are considered the largest of the crocodilian species, weigh around 150 gm and take 80 to 90 days to hatch with similar period of gestation and mating. The authorities are now trying to feed fish and other insects to the newborns.

Zoo field director Basanta Raj Kumar admitted that 16 healthy reptiles were born. “We have deployed round-the-clock doctors and extra zookeepers to keep a close watch this time. We will try our best to save all the newborns,” he said.

Meanwhile, ghariyal or Gavialis gangeticus is categorised as critically endangered specie under the Schedule 1 of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act-1972. The reptiles fear danger from poachers for their valuable skin and male snouts, which are considered to be aphrodisiac. A male ghariyal may reach up to 15 to 20 feet and are identified by a bulging growth on tip of their snout. Its eggs are also collected for medicinal purposes.

Amritsar, June 18
Music, especially classical, can play a pivotal role in restoring peace between India and Pakistan as both countries have the same culture and musical tradition.

This was stated by Karachi-based classical singer Ustad Naseeruddin Saami, who returned to his native country through Attari-Wagah land route here today, after finishing a month-long visit to India.

He was here to participate in the national convention of SPIC MACAY (Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture among Youth) held at Ravenshaw University, Cuttack.

Interacting with The Tribune before proceeding to Attari, Saami, a legendary Khayal vocalist, pointed out that music has the power to bring the people of two neighbouring countries closer.

He said that the government of both nations should ease visa restrictions. “That will enable the people and artistes of India and Pakistan to interact and understand each other,” he said.

Though noisy Western music is getting popular with the younger generation, classical music still holding its ground in Pakistan. “In fact, classical music has become more popular in the past decade,” he added.

Patiala, June 18
Amarjeet Kaur (40) died and four others were taken ill after drinking water from a pitcher at Dandrala Dhindsa village here today. According to sources, Mandeep Singh (23), Satvir (16) and Sonu (23) have been shifted to the general ward of the hospital, Sagar Singh (45) is still admitted in the ICU.

Brother-in-law of the deceased said, “All of them drank water from the pitcher and fell ill within minutes. The doctors in Nabha referred them to the Rajindra Hospital. We are waiting for the reports to find out the exact reason behind this.” — TNS