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Minister visits his constituency
Appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries |
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fazilka heritage festival
Woman drowns while saving her son
Now, minor students can open savings bank account: PNB official
200 bales of cotton stalk gutted
480 kg poppy husk seized
‘Run for Fun’ on World Health Day
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Minister visits his constituency
Bathinda, April 7 The minister said this while on a tour of his Maur constituency. The minister visited villages including Chotian, Bugran, Burj Mansa, Gill Kalan and Kararwala. Sekhon said that the measure was expected to boost irrigation facilities in the state besides solving the problem of drinking water shortage. Speaking while on tour, the minister reiterated that a master plan for irrigation would be chalked out within 90 days and efforts would be made to bring canal irrigation to all agricultural land. Even the uncommanded areas would also be brought under command irrigation, he emphasized. The commanded areas are those that are irrigated using canal water and uncommanded areas are those that do not have access to canal water and are irrigated using other means of irrigation such as tubewell. “For this, the patwaris would visit every village and the villagers can give their applications to the patwaris or respective area irrigation XENs,” he added. Sekhon said his priority was to develop the Maur constituency in the best possible manner. He spoke to the villagers about their problems and directed the officials to redress the grievances. |
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Appointment of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries
Abohar, April 7 By raising an army of CPSs, the ruling coalition was set to cause an unwanted financial burden on the already empty coffers of the state. He said the mass appointments reflect the holiday mood of the ruling alliance that was apparently blowing the precious resources of the state on entertaining its MLAs. The Finance Minister (FM) of the state had admitted on the floor of the House (Vidhan Sabha) that a whopping
Rs 2,000 crore remained unpaid by the district treasury offices. The FM had also hinted at the poor state of financial affairs. Burdening the exchequer with an army of CPSs only exposed how concerned the state government was towards setting right the financial mess in the state, CLP leader Jakhar observed. He said, “It is probably for the first time in the history of the country that you have CPS enjoying more facilities than the cabinet ministers of the state, and ironically, will be paid for practically doing nothing as powers are vested with the cabinet ministers. It is a fit case for the judiciary to take a suo-moto cognizance and impose restrictions on the number of CPSs a state government can have. Significantly, the facilities of car, office, staff and recreation of this ‘idle’ army of CPSs will be billed to the state exchequer,” he remarked. Jakhar reminded Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that Punjab had a huge debt assessed at `130 lakh crore and the SAD-BJP government had taxed people to their limits. “It is criminal to waste even a single paisa on such indulgences when common man in the state is gasping for a bit of relief from the state taxes. The Congress party condemns the mass appointment of CPSs and hopes the ruling SAD-BJP alliance reconsiders the decision,” he said. The mass appointments reflect the holiday mood of the ruling alliance that is apparently blowing away the precious resources of the state on entertaining its MLAs. Burdening the exchequer with an army of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries only exposes how concerned the state government is towards cleaning the financial mess in the state. — Sunil
Jakhar, Leader of the Opposition |
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fazilka heritage festival
Fazilka, April 7 The night was dedicated to Padma Bhushan late Kanwar Surinder Singh Bedi, a bureaucrat, and Fazilka-born Padma Shri Pushpa Hans. Padma Shri Hans, a heartthrob of millions of cinema fans in the 40s and the 50s, had acted in movies and also did playback singing. Hans contributed immensely to the cause of Punjabi folk and classical music. She was conferred the Padma Shri in 2007. Fazilka’s son late Kanwar Surinder Singh Bedi was awarded the Padma awards twice, Padma Shri in 1966 and the Padma Bhushan in 1972, for playing an important role as the Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar during the two wars against Pakistan. Besides, the organisers of the festival, the Graduate Welfare Association, Fazilka, (GWAF), honoured the chief guest at the programme on the second night, the Fazilka MLA and Forest Minister Surjit Kumar Jyani, for his key contribution towards raising the status of Fazilka sub-division to that of district headquarters, six months back. Further, members of the Sanjha Morcha, including Sushil Gumber, Raj Kishore Kalra, Satish Dhingra, Shakti Singh and others, who led the agitation for Fazilka’s district status, were also felicitated. On the occasion, internationally famous Krishan Shant Guru Ji played guitar and his son Harsh Shant performed on tabla. Jhoomar dance performance enthralled the audience. Members of the Abohar-based theatre group, the Aks, staged a drama ‘Vaapsi’ (return) with the theme of quitting drugs. GWAF general secretary Navdeep Asija said the Sunday night would be dedicated to the youth who bought laurels to this town, including magistrate Pankaj Verma, radiologist and singer Dr Vivek Kareer, Awaz-e-Punjab award recipient Gurnam Bhullar, the Voice of Punjab award winner Pardeep Sran, the Samsung Award of the year winner Nitin Setia and agricultural scientist Dr Ashok Dhawan. |
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Woman drowns while saving her son
Abohar, April 7 It is learnt that Shaunki Ram of Usmankhera village located on the Abohar-Sriganganagar road, along with his wife Peelo Rani, daughter Soma Rani, sons Jagsir and Ranveer was camping in village 36-RB (Padampur) for the past few days. He was employed to harvest wheat in the fields owned by one Tarsem Singh. This morning, he took Soma to a physician for check-up, as she was unwell. In their absence, Peelo Bai asked her elder son Jagsir to collect water from the tank as she was cooking meals. Within a few minutes, she heard Jagsir crying for help as he had slipped into the tank. Peelo Bai rushed and jumped into the tank to save her son. Meanwhile, the younger son Ranveer (7) raised an alarm. Some farm workers rushed to help but could rescue only Jagsir. By then, Peelo Bai had drowned. Jagsir has been hospitalised at Padampur. Doctors said his condition was stable. —
OC |
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Now, minor students can open savings bank account: PNB official
Abohar, April 7 Speaking as chief guest at the prize distribution function of 60-year-old Government Primary School at Dangarkhera village near here, the deputy general manager of the bank said teachers could avail of an overdraft on savings bank account equalling their monthly salary. Terms had been liberalised to sanction car and home loans at concessional rate of interest for them and the limit for educational loan had been raised to `20 lakh. While pursuing the corporate social responsibilities, the bank today offered utility items to the school and religious places in the village that had attracted global attention for high incidence of cancer due to polluted environment and contaminated water. Circle chief manager BS Gupta, former SDM BL Sikka and other dignitaries joined the DGM in awarding prizes to students for outstanding achievements in academics and environment preservation schemes. |
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200 bales of cotton stalk gutted
Abohar, April 7 Fire brigade officer Gopal Saini confirmed that it took more than two hours for six fire tenders to extinguish the fire. As the stacks were lying in an open space, soaring mercury was believed to be the cause of fire, preliminary investigation suggested. Temperature was recorded at 38 degrees centigrade in the region. Fire tenders from neighbouring district town Sriganganagar were also pressed into service. |
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Ferozepur DC pays surprise visit to Civil Hospital
Ferozepur, April 7 During his visit, the DC found the telemedicine system, which was introduced to link the hospital with other tertiary healthcare centres like the PGIMER at Chandigarh and government hospitals in Patiala, Amritsar and Faridkot, out of order. The system was introduced so that the local doctors could consult medical specialists and other senior doctors in case of any medical complication and provide immediate relief to the patient. It was also noticed that the cell count machine and biochemistry analyser were also out of order. The DC instructed the senior medical officer (SMO) Dr JS Sandhu to get all the machines repaired at the earliest. The DC visited various wards in the hospital and listened to the patients. He also met the patients brought here from the Central Jail. On a female patient’s complaint, the DC directed the hospital staff to ensure her proper treatment. Taking cognisance of the littered surroundings of the hospital, the DC directed the SMO to dispose of the useless and wasteful material at and around the hospital to maintain hygiene. The DC visited the drug store and instructed the staff to ensure availability of life saving drugs. Meanwhile, the doctors said owing to scarcity of manpower and resources, they were themselves feeling helpless. Another doctor said the laparoscopic gadgets were also not being used due to non-availability of skilled staff. The relatives of patients demanded a parking facility at the hospital. |
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Sriganganagar, April 7 DSP Pawan Meena confirmed that the persons travelling by the SUV had left it near Purabsar on Pallu-Rawatsar section of the mega highway after the mishap. No document was found during the search. The occupants of the SUV might have removed the vehicle’s registration number plate before leaving, the police believed. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against unidentified persons. The vehicle and bags carrying poppy husk has been seized. — OC |
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‘Run for Fun’ on World Health Day
Ferozepur, April 7 Scores of Army personnel and their families besides civil dignitaries gathered on the Mall to participate in the event flagged off by Major-General RK Sharma, the GOC of the division. The entire stretch of the road from the sessions court to the Golden Arrow Ecological Park wore a festive look. The run culminated at the golf club where a poster exhibition was put up to highlight the lifestyle diseases. Addressing the participants, the GOC emphasised upon the importance of regular exercise and exhorted people to maintain a healthy lifestyle for a long life and general well-being. Later, a symposium was organised at the Mamdot Hall of the division to spread awareness on various measures needed to remain disease-free in the later stage of life. Specialists in diabetes, heart diseases, arthritis, cancer, eye and psychology discussed various problems one faces in one’s old age. Besides, a panel discussion on ageing and fitness was also held. Army authorities also organised a free medical camp at the Cantonment General Hospital. |
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Punjab Irrigation Minister Janmeja Singh Sekhon today said the government was serious about tackling the problem of groundwater depletion in the state and was planning to start recharging projects to raise the level of sub-soil water.
While lambasting the ruling SAD-BJP alliance over the appointment of 21 Chief Parliamentary Secretaries (CPSs), the Leader of the Opposition, Sunil Jakhar, said here today austerity seemed to be the last thing on the mind of the ‘insensitive’ government in the state.
Abohar, April 7
