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Worsening power scenario leaves state in shock
...but 24X7 supply in poll-bound Dasuya
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Factory making tobacco sachets with guru’s photo raided in UP
Bathinda IG targeting PPP leaders: Manpreet
Canal case accused had killed another family in 2004: Police
IIT-Ropar, MIT tie-up on cards
Majithia: Exempt NRI remittances from service tax
Maha Vir Chakra awardee dead
HC: Trial court free to take decision in Amarinder case
Heroin worth Rs 55 cr seized
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Worsening power scenario leaves state in shock
Patiala, July 3 With the demand for power witnessing an unprecedented increase of 22 per cent, the state continues to reel under power crisis. It has been almost 10 days since the problem of power shortage aggravated. Now the situation has worsened further. Besides scheduled power cuts in the domestic sector and weekly offs on industrial units, the PSPCL is imposing unscheduled power cuts in the domestic sector. Farmers are also complaining that they are getting power supply for just three to four hours a day whereas the PSPCL had assured them of eight-hour supply. With rain eluding the state and the mercury soaring, people are struggling to beat the heat on account of the prevailing power crisis. Reports from various parts of the state reveal that four to six hours of unscheduled power cuts are being imposed in urban areas whereas people in rural areas are having sleepless nights because of power cuts for
10-12 hours.
Farmers stare at loss
The situation is worrying for the farming community which is in the process of transplanting paddy. "Farmers are being provided power for just three to four hours. With paddy sowing in progress, irrigating fields without adequate power supply will be difficult. If the situation does not improve, we will incur losses," claimed Jagtar Singh, a farmer of Ramnagar village. "A transformer in Lang village has not been operational for the past three days, but the authorities have not bothered to repair or replace it," said Balbir Singh. Dr Mangal Singh Sandhu, Director, Agriculture, Punjab, said: "As far as problems relating to technical snags in the network catering to agricultural pumpset (AP) category are concerned, the deputy commissioners of respective districts are supposed to take necessary action". Patiala Deputy Commissioner GK Singh said he had instructed the PSPCL officials to attend to the complaints of farmers on a priority.
Industry flays PSPCL
The industry is also facing the heat due to the prevailing situation. With a two-day weekly off imposed on most units, the industrial community is mincing no words to condemn the PSPCL. "The way power problem has aggravated makes it clear that planning for the summer season by the PSPCL is based on unauthentic calculations," said DS Chawla, an industrialist. Badish K Jindal, president, Federation of Punjab Small Industries Association, and Mahinder Gupta, president, Induction Furnaces Association, Mandi Gobindgarh, said: "With two weekly offs, the Punjab industry, which is already passing through a bad phase, is bound to suffer".
Expert speak
Bhupinder Singh, senior vice-president, PSEB Engineers' Association, said capacitors should be installed on agricultural pumpsets to reduce the load. "Shifting of metres outside the establishments should be accelerated as it will help prevent power theft," he said. Padamjit Singh, chairman, All-India Power Engineers Federation, said augmentation of the transmission and distribution system was a must. "For this, a capital expenditure plan has to be drawn up and submitted to the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission along with the aggregate revenue requirement (ARR). Augmentation is required on a planned and long-term basis to match capacity addition in generation". Blame it on grid constraints: Chaudhri Constraints on drawing power from the Northern Grid have worsened the situation, said KD Chaudhri, Chairman-cum-Managing Director, PSPCL, at a press conference here today. He said it was not possible to flow further power into the system. Admitting that the corporation had resorted to unscheduled power cuts, Chaudhri said: "Arrangements for the summer season were made keeping in mind that the monsoon would be normal. But due to severe dry weather, there is an unprecedented rise in the demand for power. On July 1, the state saw an all-time high demand for 2,244 lakh units (LU) whereas the PSPCL could provide 1,950 LU. Now, because of grid constraints, the corporation is not able to bridge the demand-supply gap of 300 LU," he said.
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...but 24X7 supply in poll-bound Dasuya
Dasuya (Hoshiarpur), July 3 A top PSPCL functionary confirmed that this had been done considering that the entire Punjab Cabinet would be camping in Dasuya till July 11. With scores of top politicians, including Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his predecessor Capt Amarinder Singh, expected to visit the town in the next few days, the PSPCL authorities are leaving no stone unturned to make their political masters happy. The CM has already visited the town once and the local BJP leadership has lined up a series of meetings to be addressed by him in the next few days. BJP national general secretary JP Nadda and former Himachal Pradesh CM Shanta Kumar would also address rallies from tomorrow. Cabinet Ministers Bikramjit Singh Majithia and Gulzar Singh Ranike addressed gatherings today while Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal and several of his cabinet colleagues are expected to hold the fort from tomorrow. In contrast, the neighbouring cities of Gurdaspur and Hoshiarpur continue to reel under scheduled and non-scheduled cuts. Barnala MLA Kewal Dhillon, who is the Congress’s canvassing in-charge for Dasuya, claimed that providing round-the-clock power by the SAD-BJP government was only a political gimmick. “What about other cities in Punjab where power is being given only for four to five hours a day? This is paddy transplantation season, but farmers are not being given the promised eight-hour supply. This is just an illusion and the Dasuya people know that things will be back to square one once the elections are over,” he said.
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Waterlogging may jeopardise food grain production: Expert
Chandigarh, July 3 The state's central region, including Moga, Ludhiana and parts of Sangrur and Jalandhar districts, is regarded as the food bowl of Punjab. What could be worrying for the state is that the central expert group, which visited waterlogged areas of the state yesterday, feels that there is a little bit of evidence that the movement of saline water into central Punjab had already started. Shah said saline water ingress into Moga had started and that it needed to be tackled immediately. Shah said the movement of saline water was possible through aquifers, especially because the water table in south-west Punjab comprising Muktsar, Faridkot and Ferozepur districts was high whereas it had fallen drastically in central Punjab. He said since aquifers in alluvial soils were continuous in action, saline and polluted water could start entering aquifers in central Punjab. He said the centre had devised a programme for aquifer mapping for the entire country, but Punjab's case would be taken up in the first phase on a priority. The Planning Commission member said the team led by him had toured waterlogged areas and had also inspected sub-surface drainage projects initiated by the state government. He said these could only achieve limited success as seepage from the Rajasthan and Sirhind canals continued to take place. Shah said he would work with the Planning Commission for release of funds for certain requests made by the state government, besides initiating work on brining seepage from canals under control. He said the state had demanded Rs 180 crore for lining of the Sirhind and Rajasthan canals. Earlier, the central team, led by Shah, met Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. The CM stressed the need for central assistance for tacking waterlogging. Punjab State Farmers' Commission chairman Dr GS Kalkat raised other issues, including crop diversification. ‘Charge canal water’ The central team that visited waterlogged areas in Punjab has stressed the need to charge canal water, which is supplied free of cost to farmers in the state. Planning Commission member Mihir Shah (left) said if the state did not charge irrigation water, it may lead to a drinking water crisis.
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Prolonged dry spell hits paddy transplantation
Chandigarh, July 3 "Paddy transplantation has slowed in the state because of the continuing dry weather. Moreover, the cost of cultivation and transplantation of paddy has also gone up tremendously because of the heat wave," said Agriculture Department Director Mangal Singh Sandhu. So far, paddy has been transplanted on 14.5 lakh hectares as compared to last year's figure of 17 lakh hectares till July 3. The delay in monsoon has particularly affected marginal and small farmers, most of whom do not own tube wells. They either depend on canal irrigation or on other farmers from whom they buy tube well water. "In case the entire targeted area is not covered under paddy, farmers will be advised to sow pulses, maize and toria in the remaining parts," said Sandhu. “We have fixed a target to transplant paddy, including basmati, on 27.80 lakh hectares this year. We are hopeful of achieving this target provided there is good rainfall in next few weeks," said Sandhu. This year, area under basmati cultivation would increase by 50,000 hectares. It was 7.50 lakh hectares in 2011. Basmati could be transplanted till July-end. Direct-sowing campaign The Agriculture Department on Tuesday launched a statewide campaign for direct sowing of paddy. "The adoption of direct sowing by farmers will save them Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000 an acre," said Agriculture Department Director Mangal Singh Sandhu.
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Factory making tobacco sachets with guru’s photo raided in UP
Chandigarh, July 3 Sources in the Punjab Police said the factory owner had been asked to recall all pouches carrying the guru's photo and told not to manufacture such pouches again. Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order), Punjab, SK Sharma said he had contacted ADGP (CID and Crime) PK Srivastava and explained that sentiments of the Sikhs had been hurt by the use of the guru's photo on tobacco sachets. Sharma said following this, the Banda police raided the premises of Kumar Traders. He said all such sachets lying in the factory had been destroyed. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar had yesterday written to Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav demanding action against the manufacturer. Makkar had demanded that the company should be banned from making such a product and that it should be brought to book for hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community.
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Bathinda IG targeting PPP leaders: Manpreet
Chandigarh, July 3 Addressing a press conference here today, party chief Manpreet Badal claimed that Jain, who is posted at Bathinda, was "acting at SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal's behest to force PPP leaders to join the Akali Dal". The PPP leader, who was accompanied by the party's Budhlada candidate Ranjit Kaur Bhatti and Bhucho candidate Harvinder Kaur Laddi, alleged that "both these candidates are being intimidated by Jain". He claimed that the police officer had called Bhatti to his residence and told her that her husband Sukhdev Singh Bhatti, a Superintendent of Police, would be posted as an SSP if she deserted the PPP. Similarly, Laddi had been offered membership of the SC/ST Commission, he alleged. Manpreet claimed that Jain had posted pliable inspectors at Bathinda to ensure the victory of Harsimrat Badal from the parliamentary constituency in the next Lok Sabha elections. He said his party would file a criminal complaint against Jain and if no action was taken, he would move the court. Though Manpreet said his candidature from Bathinda was uncertain, sources said the PPP chief could contest from Bathinda in league with the Congress. The PPP had got 1.60 lakh votes from the constituency in the last assembly elections and would be a formidable opposition to the SAD in case the Congress left them the seat. The protest against the Bathinda IG could be seen in this context. The IG did not respond when called and SMSed to obtain his version.
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Canal case accused had killed another family in 2004: Police
The SSP, who is supervising the investigation, said during his interrogation, Khushwinder revealed that he had also pushed another family into the canal. He admitted to having adopted the same modus operandi. He had taken the family of Kulwant Singh, a landlord-cum-businessman of Nogawan village near Bassi Pathana, to the canal on the pretext of helping them get rid of evil spirits and then pushed the entire family into the canal. On June 4, 2004, Kulwant Singh (40), his wife Harjit Kaur (38), his daughter Ramandeep Kaur (15) and son Avrinder Singh (14) had disappeared under mysterious circumstances. Kulwant Singh used to run a rice mill and was also working as a commission agent at Sanghol town. He had sold his land and was to visit a gurdwara at Poanta Sahib, but his car was recovered from the outskirts of Suhavi village near the house of accused Khushwinder Singh. His elder brother Kulwinder Singh was working as an accountant with Kulwant Singh. The police had recovered the shoes of Kulwant Singh from the canal. The bodies of Kulwant Singh and his daughter were recovered, whereas that of his wife and son could not be traced. The police had registered a case and questioned their several friends, relatives and other persons linked to them but they had been unable to solve the mystery. The SSP said in July 2007, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had handed over the case to the CBI and teams of the CBI and the SIT investigated the case and interrogated several persons, including the brother of the accused, but ultimately filed an untraced report in the trial court. SSP Sidhu said as the case was handed over to the CBI, he had written to the police headquarters to inform and share information with the agency about the developments in the Nogawan family killing case. Sources said a special CBI team today interrogated Khushwinder Singh regarding his role in the Nogawan family killing case to which he had admitted his involvement.
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IIT-Ropar, MIT tie-up on cards
New Delhi, July 3 He said he had been told by the MIT that it would soon depute a team of senior staff to work out the modalities between the two institutes. Ashwani Kumar had a meeting with senior faculty and deans of the MIT management, including Provost Claude R. Canizares, for a possible collaborative and consultancy venture. "The idea is to ask the MIT to advice and mentor the newly established IIT at Ropar so that it could become a centre of excellence in science and technology related education in Punjab." Science and Technology Secretary Dr Ramasami, who is the chairperson of the Board of Directors of IIT-Ropar, has already written to Provost Canizares to speed up the move. Ashwami Kumar said, "Once it is done, it will change the scenario of education in Punjab." Meanwhile, the Minister said a high-level expert group constituted by the Planning Commission was currently on a visit to Punjab. "It will shortly give a report on waterlogging, depletion of groundwater level and lack of availability of drinking water in various districts of Punjab," said the Minister. Also, four projects involving an expenditure of approximately Rs 5.43 crore have been identified for additional funding in the border district of Gurdaspur by the Central Government under the Border Area Development Programme. “This will benefit villages located near the Indo-Pak border in Dinanagar, Fatehgarh Churian and Dera Baba Nanak blocks of the district,” said the Minister.
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Woman delivers baby with two heads
Muktsar, July 3 Payal had just had one ultrasound during her pregnancy period. She was told that since two heads were visible, she would give birth to twins. The baby was born in the morning and immediately shifted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Rajindera Hospital as his condition turned critical. Dr Rajinder Bansal, the attending physician, told The Tribune: "When doctors scanned the expectant mother, they realised that the baby had two heads and a normal birth would be risky. So they performed a caesarean. Now our aim is to save the baby, who is having some breathing problem. The baby did not even cry after his birth". Dr Bansal said: "We can't conduct a surgery to remove a head. We are not sure which brain is functioning or whether both are working? This is a rare case". Payal said: "We don't have enough money for the baby's treatment. We can only pray for his survival".
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Majithia: Exempt NRI remittances from service tax
Amritsar, July 3 The NRI Affairs Minister said the UPA Government “in frustration to free itself from policy paralysis had moved the clock of economic reforms in reverse by taking such decisions, which would put a stop on inflow of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)” and affect the country’s economic growth.
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Maha Vir Chakra awardee dead
Patiala, July 3
He is survived by his wife Gurmeet Kaur and two sons Mittarpal Singh, a cycling coach at Punjabi University, Patiala, and Charanjeet Singh, Forest Range Officer. Mittarpal and Charanjeet lit the pyre and a large number of army officers, district officials and relatives paid floral tributes to the heroic soul.
— TNS
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HC: Trial court free to take decision in Amarinder case
Amarinder had filed a petition in 2009 for quashing an FIR registered under Sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC at Vigilance Bureau police station in Mohali. As the case came up for hearing today, the High Court made it clear that the petition’s pendency would not hamper the issue of consideration of charges by the trial court. It would, as such, be open to the trial court either to discharge the petitioner or frame charges, subject to the final adjudication of the present petition case. The case would now come up for hearing on August 16. Amarinder was booked by the Punjab Vigilance Bureau on September 11, 2008, at the police station, Vigilance Bureau, Mohali, under Sections 420, 458, 467, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 7 and 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. In 2009, he moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, seeking directions to quash the FIR registered against him.
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GPF scam: 3 more accused identified
Nawanshahr, July 3 Earlier, the police had registered a case against 16 persons, including eight police personnel, under sections 420, 465, 467, 468, 471, 409 and 120 B of the IPC. Eight employees have been arrested and recoveries worth Rs 4 crore made from the accused. SP (D) Dharam Singh Uppal said the police had seized cash amounting to Rs 21 lakh, three cars, gold ornaments and registration deeds of properties. About the modus operandi of the accused, Uppal said head constables Satvinder Kumar, Tirath Singh, Gurdip Singh, Bahadur Singh and Lal Chand used to prepare fake bills of Police Department employees. He said the accused, in connivance with district treasury employees late Narinder Singh Babbar, Kishan Chand and Rajesh Kumar used to get cheques issued, which were remitted into bank accounts of their associates.
The case file
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Heroin worth Rs 55 cr seized
Amritsar, July 3 SSOC AIG S. Boopathi said a police party led by Inspector Harvinder Pal Singh arrested the trio from Ram Tirath road following a tip-off. Initially, they recovered 1 kg of heroin, the fake currency (of Rs 500 denomination) and a pistol (made in Italy) along with five cartridges. Subsequently, they were interrogated and it came to light that they had been indulging in cross-border smuggling. They also revealed that they had recently procured a huge consignment from Pakistan, which they had concealed in Indian territory near the border fence.
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Fatehgarh Sahib, July 3
Chandigarh, July 3