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Soil erosion by Sutlej poses threat to villages
Badal says Centre to blame for foodgrain storage crisis
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No ‘substance’ in reports on pesticide residue in Basmati
Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Death anniversary Sikh pilgrims attend a ceremony held to mark the 172nd death anniversary of Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Gurdwara Dehra Sahib in Lahore and (below) an inside view of the Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama in Amritsar. AFP/A Tribune photograph
Girls’ dropout rate 70 pc in Giani Zail Singh’s village
Pollution control board raids 105 brick kilns across state
No takers for para-clinical post-graduate courses
Despite stagnant demand, 19 engg colleges on anvil
No hike in bus fare: Govt
New policy for cultivation, marketing of vegetables
Staff crunch hits inspection of associate schools by PSEB
Protest in support of PRTC workers
PSEB engineers: Pvt firms exploiting power sector
DCs, SSPs to probe cases related to atrocities against SCs
Tripri CHC awaits inauguration
Insurance co told to pay Rs 5 lakh for misguiding customer
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Soil erosion by Sutlej poses threat to villages
Ferozepur, June 29 They rue that if corrective measures were not taken by the state government immediately, they would become landless as a large chunk of the land would be eroded within a few days. Sukhpal Singh Nannu, Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), who visited the affected villages, said continuous erosion of land in these villages would merge the main Sutlej with its creek and then the water would start hitting Dhussi bundh on the left side of the river. Nannu said that continuous erosion of the land had also started posing a threat to the dwellings of the residents of these four villages. He said at Kutabdin village, the distance between the bank of the Sutlej and the dwellings had reduced to a few dozen yards due to soil erosion. He said he would take up the matter with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon for the release of adequate funds so that studs could be set up at vulnerable points to check soil erosion immediately. Sanjeev Gupta, Executive Engineer, Drainage, who also took a round of these villages, said soil erosion was a natural phenomenon whenever the water flowed at a low level in the Sutlej. He said so far the situation was under control. The erosion would come to an end when the water level in the Sutlej increases. Gupta said that erosion had also been taking place as there was heavy deposit of silt towards the right bank of the Sutlej and hence, the water was hitting the river’s left bank. He said about 50,000 empty bags were required to erect studs at vulnerable points. He said he would take up the matter with the deputy commissioner to get funds for constructing the studs.
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Badal says Centre to blame for foodgrain storage crisis
Makhu (Ferozepur), June 29 “The country has been experiencing pseudo federal structure where mockery of democracy is being made by the Congress-led government at the Centre,” he said. One example, alleged he, was that the foodgrain-producing states were not being allowed to frame a policy for setting up silos and other godowns for storage despite the fact that stocks were rotting in the open. “Though I have met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and other Union ministers for allowing the Punjab Government to create its own storage facilities, these meetings failed to bring any relief to the state,” Badal pointed out. Moreover, the state governments were never consulted by the Centre whenever any hike in the prices of petroleum products, including diesel, LPG and kerosene, was made or whenever the minimum support price (MSP) of foodgrains was fixed and whenever development projects were sanctioned. “The hike made in the prices of petrol, diesel, gas and kerosene repeatedly ever since UPA-II came into power have exposed the hollowness behind the Congress’ slogan of ‘Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath’,” he said. The Centre, he alleged, was more concerned about the economics of oil companies than the basic needs of the poor people. Badal, who distributed Rs 17 crore to 115 panchayats of the area for execution of various developmental projects, said the state government had been taking adequate measures to strengthen the bundhs along the Sutlej and other rivers of Punjab to prevent floods.
Punjab bandh on July 4
Chandigarh: The SAD-BJP Core Committee on Wednesday called for a Punjab bandh on July 4 to protest against the “unbearable” hike in petroleum products by the Congress-led UPA Government. The bandh will be observed till 1 pm in the afternoon.
In a meeting presided over by Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal here, the joint core committee also decided to appeal the NDA leadership to launch a nationwide programme to expose the corrupt nexus between the UPA and oil companies, keeping in view the magnitude of the problem. It was also decided that a high-level delegation of all the MPs and MLAs of the SAD and the BJP will meet Governor of Punjab and hand over a memorandum in the name of President Pratibha Patil, demanding immediate roll back of petroleum prices. — TNS
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No ‘substance’ in reports on pesticide residue in Basmati
Jalandhar, June 29 Ravinder Singh Cheema, president of the Punjab Ahrtiya Association, said that last year’s substantial stock of basmati rice was lying with exporters in India. “Following reports in the media, which appeared to be motivated, that Indian and Pakistan Basmati rice had pesticide residue in excess, European and Middle East countries have become cautious with regard to the import of Basmati from both the countries,” said Cheema. “As a result of the last year’s stock lying with exporters, there would not be big demand for it during the coming harvesting season,” said Cheema. “Plus, there is no minimum support price for it. Farmers should keep these factors in mind,” he said. However, the Rice Exporters Association of India said that there was no problem related to its export and farmers should transplant it without any apprehension as it would fetch them a good price in the market. Vijay Setia, president of the association, said exporters were facing no problem regarding the export of Basmati rice. He said no country had banned the import of Basmati from India. Giving figures regarding its export, he said that 2.40 lakh and 2.63 lakh tonne of Basmati was exported in April and May respectively to Europe and the Middle East. Last year’s figures for the same period were 2.58 and 2.14 lakh tonne. The European market is sensitive to pesticides residue, but it had been accepting Indian Basmati rice without any big fuss. “As far export of Basmati is concerned, farmers should not worry in this regard in any manner and should transplant it without any hesitation,” he asserted. Balwinder Singh Sidhu, Director, Agriculture, said it was a fact that Basmati’s market was uncertain. “No one can predict if it will give a good return to farmers or not. Its price is determined by various factors in the international market,” he said. As far as residue of pesticides is concerned, he said that his department had got 60 samples of 1121 variety of Basmati tested last year. In all the samples, residue of pesticides was found well below the prescribed limit and not a single sample failed. The area under Basmati, which was only 1.5 lakh hectares about five years ago, is likely to go beyond 7 lakh hectares this year in Punjab. It is also transplanted in a substantial area in Haryana. Ravinder Cheema said that the PM should direct the officials concerned to counter the “motivated” reports regarding residue of pesticides in Indian Basmati rice.
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Maharaja Ranjit Singh’s Death anniversary Govt doing little to promote the place dedicated to the former Sikh ruler Perneet Singh Tribune News Service
Amritsar, June 29 Set up at a cost of Rs 5 crore at Ram Bagh Gardens, Maharaja's summer palace, here five years ago, the panorama has failed to attract visitors in the holy city, which is thronged by thousands of tourists round the year. Little has been done to promote the panorama which doesn't even have a signboard to indicate its presence in Ram Bagh Gardens. According to Raman Kumar, supervisor of the panorama, 300 to 400 visitors pay a visit to it daily while the number goes up to 1,000 on Sundays, which is not much vis-à-vis the heavy inflow of tourists in the holy city. This despite the fact it has a nominal fee of Rs 10 per visitor. The students are charged only Rs 5, while the group visits by the schools, for which they earlier used to charge Rs 2 per student, have now been exempted of any charge. The authorities didn't even bother to put up the panorama's signboards at key destinations like the Golden Temple, Guru Ramdas Jee International Airport, and the railway station so as to promote it among tourists. When The Tribune team visited the panorama today the visitors could be counted on fingers. Yogendra Shrivastava, a resident of Ujjain who was accompanied by his family members, said he came to know about it from the hotel where he was putting up. "It has been a wonderful experience and the authorities should make all the efforts to attract tourists to this place," he averred. The MC had also planned to set up a cafeteria and later a food street adjacent to the panorama, but both the proposals were shot down by the ASI, which is involved in restoration of the Maharaja's summer palace. The area identified for these proposals had adequate parking space too. On the other hand, MC Commissioner DPS Kharbanda said they has asked the schools to take children for a visit to the panorama to acquaint them with their cultural heritage, besides distributing well-designed brochures regarding it to the city hotels free of cost. He said they would be putting up five unipoles of the panorama at important places like the Golden Temple, Jallianwalla Bagh, Durgiana Temple, railway station and bus stand within a week.
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Girls’ dropout rate 70 pc in Giani Zail Singh’s village
Sandhwan (Faridkot), June 29
The village sarpanch, Sukhdev Singh, said although the district headquarters at Faridkot was just about 5 km away from here, the natives were not willing to send their daughters there for schooling beyond Class X. The village has a co-education high school, but most girls discontinue their study after the Class X as their parents do not allow them to go to the town that has Plus Two schools and a college, said village elders Gurcharan Singh and Gurmeet Singh. The high school should be upgraded to the secondary level, they demanded. The village folk give credit for development of the area to Giani Zail Singh, but point out that after his death the village has become orphaned. Neglect of the area was not only by the present SAD-BJP coalition government, the previous Congress governments also did not pay any attention to their problems after Giani Zail Singh strained his relations with the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in 1987 by refusing to give assent to the Indian Post Office (Amendment) Bill arming the government with powers to censor any personal mail. Sukhdev Singh said the village has been split into two panchayats because of the increasing population. The biggest problem was of waterlogging as the government has yet to lay a sewerage system here. The sewerage project for five villages of Faridkot, including Sandhwan, was sanctioned in 2004, but nothing has been done so far. The cotton yarn spinning mill sprawling over 30 acres set up during Giani Zail Singh's tenure employed about 2,100 men and women. It was shut in 1998 and transferred to a business tycoon, said the sarpanch. Gurcharan Singh pointed out that although the village is situated between Faridkot and Kotkapura towns on the highway but even private buses do not stop here to pick up the passengers and as such the railway station set up on the directions of Giani Zail Singh was a great relief to the common people as all passenger trains heading towards Bathinda, Ferozepur and Delhi stop here. The railways have rightly named the station as "Giani Zail Singh Sandhwan", Gurcharan Singh appreciated. Gurmeet Singh said it was during the Giani's tenure as Chief Minister that a post office, dispensary, veterinary hospital and a school were set up in the village. Gurnam Singh and Jaswant Kaur, who were the immediate neighbours of Giani Zail Singh when he lived in his old house where a tower and a photo museum have now been constructed in his memory, recalled that the Giani made a group of about 50 residents of the village stay in the Rashtrapati Bhavan when they visited New Delhi when he was the President.
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Pollution control board raids 105 brick kilns across state
Patiala, June 29 The action comes in wake of reports that owners of these brick kilns were not adhering to the air pollution norms. The Board acted on concrete information that many brick kilns were using non-pulverised coal and unauthorised fuel like rubber pieces. According to the information available at the PPCB head office in Patiala, Board Chairman KS Pannu had constituted 21 teams of Board officials to conduct raids. During the raids, samples of ash were collected and have been sent for analysis. The teams also checked whether the kilns were using pulverised coal, essential as per the code of practice. Furthermore, the greenbelt of sufficient width along the boundary of the kilns, which is mandatory as per law, was found missing in a majority of the kilns. Pannu said, “The brick kilns found guilty will be issued show-cause notice and action will be initiated against them.”
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No takers for para-clinical post-graduate courses
Patiala, June 29 Even after the second counseling, held yesterday, from a total number of 357 Notably, there are a total of seven government and private medical colleges in Punjab, which are affiliated with Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. These colleges include Government Medical College, Patiala; GMC, Amritsar; DMC, Ludhiana; GGS, Faridkot; SGRD, Amritsar; Adesh, Bathinda and Gian Sagar, Banur. The total number of seats for the PG courses (Clinical) is 242, while seats for the basic/para-clinical courses are 115. Though, a complete break-up of vacant seats in different medical colleges is yet not available, but highly placed sources in the Department of Medical Education and Research (DMER), Punjab, have confirmed that majority of the seats, which remained vacant, pertain to private colleges. “PG courses (Clinical) are the most sought after, but basic/para-clinical courses are not much in demand these days,” said a senior official of DMER, Punjab. Inquiries made by The Tribune, brought to light that another reason, because of which the seats remain unfilled was an increase in the annual fee from Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh by private colleges. “Besides MD Pharmacology, MD Anatomy and MD Physiology, other category of PG courses pertaining to para-clinical and basic sciences is not in much demand. It could be a possible reason for lack of response from candidates,” said Dr Darshan Sidhu, Registrar, Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot.
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Despite stagnant demand, 19 engg colleges on anvil
Chandigarh, June 29 Applications for the start of 19 engineering colleges are pending with the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), according to Suresh Kumar, Secretary, Technical Education. At present, there are 89 private engineering colleges and only five government engineering colleges in the state. The Punjab Technical University (PTU), Jalandhar, had to scrap the combined entrance test for 2011 because the number of aspirants was equal to the total number of seats available for admission. There are nearly 34,000 seats for various engineering disciplines in the state. Meanwhile, the Secretary, Technical Education, when asked about engineering colleges not following AICTE norms, said corrective action was being taken from time to time. He said the government was also in the process of initiating an academic audit of all the institutions to ensure they provided quality education. Technical Education Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani, when asked about the lack of action against private engineering colleges at an interaction before a function held to hand over appointment letters to 389 ITI instructors, said he had not received any complaint against any private institution. He said action could be taken only if there was a complaint. At the function, Jiyani said more ITI instructors would be given regular appointment once they completed three years in service. He also announced that 43 new ITIs and 250 skilled development centres would be established in the next six months besides filling posts of 680 instructors in ITIs. Jiyani said the government would also recruit 650 college teachers in keeping with a Cabinet decision to fill all vacant teaching positions. The minister said trades were also being introduced in polytechnics as per demand with 70 such trades being included last year. He also claimed that the placement figure in technical institutions had crossed the 20,000 mark.
Problem of Plenty
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At present, there are 89 private engineering colleges and only five government engineering colleges in the state. n
12 engineering colleges had become operational in the state last year n
In all, there are nearly 34,000 seats for various engineering disciplines in the state
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Chandigarh: Punjab Transport Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani on Wednesday ruled out any hike in bus fares in the state. When questioned on this issue here, the minister said the government was not proposing to hike bus fares at all. The Punjab State Roadways and the Pepsu Road Transport Corporation (PRTC) have recently proposed a hike of 3 paisa per km to a maximum of 6 paisa per km for super deluxe buses, following the hike in diesel rates. — TNS
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New policy for cultivation, marketing of vegetables
Chandigarh, June 29 He said the government would provide a subsidy of Rs 2 lakh for crop cultivation while 50 per cent subsidy would also be given on the processing equipments. Langah said the scheme would be introduced in five districts, including Ludhiana, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Jalandhar and Sangrur in the first phase, which would be further implemented across the state, while Ludhiana would be the centre of the scheme. He said the Government would also facilitate the farmers with the marketing facilities, so they could make the scheme a success without any obstacle. The Minister said the Government will give subsidies and grants to farmers on the basis of their cluster areas and groups. He said another subsidy of Rs 22,500 to 33,700 would be given for the cultivation of crop per hectare. He added that farmers could also get a subsidy of Rs 2.10 lakh for poly and net houses for vegetable cultivation and 50 per cent subsidy would also be given on 4,000 square metre area.
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Staff crunch hits inspection of associate schools by PSEB
Mohali, June 29 Carrying out inspection of the schools is mandatory as per the rules and regulations of the board. As a result, it has been decided to allow around 70,000 students of the associate schools to appear without the inspection of the schools. "The schools have been told that the inspection will be carried out later. The clause has been mentioned in the certification letter given to the schools," said a board official. The one-time certification has been granted under a set of conditions agreed to between the PSEB and the representatives of the private schools' association. Under pressure to honour the commitment of the Education Minister, the PSEB has decided to refer the matter of inspection to the state government. In a board meeting held today, the members agreed to request the state government to constitute a committee to carryout the inspection of the associate schools. Since the board staff is busy with the conduct of the semester exams twice in one year and with carrying of inspection of the schools applying for affiliation annually, it does not have requisite manpower to deal with the associate schools. As per the new decision of certifying the associate schools, the one-time membership fee for each of the associate school is Rs 20,000 and the annual continuation fee is Rs 5,000. On the contrary, the fee for regular affiliation is much more. Seeing the financial gain, around 1,000 schools that had regular affiliation for middle or tenth level from the PSEB, applied for the certification for the next higher classes, thereby saving considerable money that they would have to pay for regular affiliation.
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Protest in support of PRTC workers
Patiala, June 29 Addressing the activists, president of the manch Bhagmal Rana said, “The contractual PRTC workers have been protesting against the PRTC management since long and the manch supports their demands. The government should reinstate the suspended workers of the union and should scrap the outsourcing system making all these employees regular. They must also stop the cost cutting on one pretext or the other. The government should immediately release the arrested leaders and workers as it is really unjust to suppress their protest.” “Instead of accepting the genuine demands of the union, the management was trying to crush the agitation. The managing directors and general managers of the PRTC were visiting the jails to break the unity of the workers, but they will not succeed,” said secretary general of the manch Germanjit Singh. Meawhile, 15 more employees were arrested today. — TNS
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PSEB engineers: Pvt firms exploiting power sector
Ropar, June 29 Two hundred fifty engineers working at the Ropar Thermal Plant, Mohali and Ropar distribution circles and BBMB’s other offices at Chandigarh participated in the meeting. President HS Bedi said the SAD-BJP Government has handed over all the future thermal plants to the private sector, thereby monopolising the power generation. “All the states are investing 20 per cent equity from the resources of the state government (not the generating company). But Punjab is the only state that dreams of becoming power surplus without investing even a penny in any project. Uttar Pradesh is adding 1,500 MW under the state sector, Rajasthan has already commissioned 1,289 MW under it in the last four years and is likely to add another 2,360 MW with government finances. Punjab is the only state in the country that has not planned even one MW under the state sector,” said the engineers. Association general secretary Bhupinder Singh said the association would soon issue a white paper on lopsided policy of the Punjab Government to handover all its future generation plants to the private sector, that, too, through a non-transparent MoU route rather than adopting international competitive bidding. Engineers said while the government was promoting private players, it had barred the state agencies from setting up the new plants. The PSPCL had proposed to set up 1,320 MW thermal power plant under the state sector near Mukerian, however, the state government had delayed granting the approval. The PSPCL is meeting 52 per cent of demand of its consumers from own generation and rest from the central sector allocation and power purchase from the private players. With commissioning of the new plants under the private sector, without any addition in the generation under the state sector, share of own generation will go down to less than 19 per cent. “This will be inadequate to run the grid operations in an economical manner,” they pointed out. The aim of the policy to remove the barriers for setting up new generation plants under the Electricity Act-2003 was to create healthy competition between the private and public sector plants to increase efficiency, thus lowering the power cost. However, the private sector is being allowed to take over the generation business by eliminating the state participation in the new projects, which will increase the cost in the coming years, leading to sharp rise in the tariff. The engineers have threatened to resume agitation in case approval was unnecessarily delayed for the Mukerian plan and the future course of action would be announced at the zonal meeting at Bathinda on July 9.
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DCs, SSPs to probe cases related to atrocities against SCs
Mohali, June 29 This was stated by chairman of the Punjab State Scheduled Castes Commission Niranjan Singh here today. Niranjan, who presided over a meeting of the senior district officials at the Municipal Bhawan, said an inquiry in any case related to atrocities to the SCs would be probed by an official not less than the rank of a DSP. “The commission has received 3,350 complaints, out of which 1,427 were linked to the atrocities. The main aim of the commission was to ensure that no atrocities were done with the people belonging to the Scheduled Caste and they are given full justice. The commission will also implement various schemes of the government that are formulated for the welfare of this section of the society,” he said. The chairman also listened to the problems of the people and directed the officials concerned to look into the matter and
report back. Making a complaint to the chairman of the commission, the Residents Social and Welfare Association, Sector 70, alleged that former municipal councillor from Sector 70 Baljit Kaur Purkhalvi tried to create a division among the residents of the area on the basis of caste, which could create a law-and-order problem.They demanded action against Baljit. Meanwhile, husband of the former councillor Shamsher Singh Purkhalvi staged a protest outside the Municipal Bhawan for not being invited to the meeting. He raised slogans against the commission and alleged it protected the interests only of rich people and not that of the poor. He was finally called to the meeting hall. Heated arguments between Purkhalvi and the Sector 70 residents took place in the presence of the chairman.
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Tripri CHC awaits inauguration
Patiala, June 29 Even the doctors have been appointed for this centre, but the department is clueless as to when the CHC will be inaugurated. This is one of the most-awaited projects in the area as the population of Tripri alone is nearly 1.5 lakh. The area residents have to travel to far-off health centres in the city to avail the medical facilities. Sources informed that the government was planning to inaugurate this CHC, community marriage palace near the Animal Husbandry Department at Tripri and the new road from Tripri water tank to Ratan Nagar on the same date and was waiting for the completion of all the three projects. “We have filled in three posts of specialist doctors and have an MBBS doctor working in the Tripri dispensary. Other posts will be filled soon,” said Patiala civil surgeon Dr Jatinder Kaur.
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Insurance co told to pay Rs 5 lakh for misguiding customer
Fatehgarh Sahib, June 29 Forum president Shashi Prabha Aggarwal and members Sher Singh Sidhu and Veena Chahal announced the decision. Complainant Sarabjit Singh said he purchased a policy from Kotak Life Insurance through its official agent Jatinder Singh. Jatinder told him about a policy, which entailed Rs 5.5 lakh in five yearly installments with Rs 5 lakh in first year, Rs 20,000 in second year and Rs 10,000 each in next three years. Sarabjit alleged that the agent, despite promise, did not provide him original policy despite pursuing matter persistently for many months. He then met officials of the company, which demanded an affidavit-cum-indemnity bond to procure original or duplicate policy papers. He was surprised to see the papers, which contrary to the promise by the agent, stated that he was supposed to pay Rs 5 lakh every year for five years. He contacted the company officials denied helping him, saying that as he had signed the documents before availing the policy. The officials also reminded him of not availing the 15-day free-look period, wherein one could seek cancellation of the policy in case of disagreement. Sarabjit’s counsel HS Tiwana said the company’s agent misled Sarabjit by not informing the terms and conditions of the policy. The agent even got the signatures on the papers on which the conditions were unclear and instead persuaded his client to purchase a policy on verbal assurances. The agent also deprived the complainant of the original policy papers to keep him unaware, he said. “We informed the forum that as per the documents signed by the company, annual income of the complainant is not more than Rs 4 lakh, but even than they sold him a policy where he was supposed to pay Rs 5 lakh every year,” said Tiwana. We also submitted a copy of an FIR lodged against the insurance company and many of its employees in another cheating case at a police station at Mohali, said the counsel.
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The residents of various villages located on the left bank of the Sutlej in the district are in a state of fear as the river water, though flowing at a low level, has started eroding the soil aggressively.
Jalandhar,
June 29
Amritsar,
June 29
In this village of Giani Zail Singh, the first Punjabi to become the President of India, the dropout rate of girls after the high school level is about 70 per cent as its residents are afraid of sending their daughters for further study to the neighbouring towns because of reports of rising crime graph. During his stint as Chief Minister of Punjab, Giani Zail Singh strived to make Faridkot area a hub of education.
Addressing mediapersons on the sidelines of a Sangat Darshan programme here, Badal alleged that the Centre had been encroaching upon the autonomy that the states were already enjoying.
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Maharaja Ranjit Singh Panorama has recreated the life of the legendary Maharaja 
n The main panorama hall has around 400-foot painting of overlapping digital images joined seamlessly by a digital process depicting six major battles won by Maharaja Ranjit Singh
The tower housing a photo museum constructed in the former President’s memory