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Farmers advised to keep an eye on their crops
Lakhowal seeks relief package
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Addicts willing to kick drugs but shortage of psychiatrists a major hurdle
Court decision may spell relief for Sukhbir in 10-yr-old case
Manpreet to hold protest in Bathinda on Aug 8
Missing Army jawan found
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Farmers advised to keep an eye on their crops
Moga, August 3 Chief Agriculture Officer of Moga Dr Harpreet Singh, while over presiding over a meeting of the advisory unit on pest surveillance, said there are indications of sheath blight attack on the paddy crop in some villages. "The farmers should spray insecticides as per the advice of the agriculture scientists," he said. Dr KB Singh, Deputy Director, Krishi Vigyan Kendra, said there are chances of stem borers in which larvae bores into the stems of young plants and produces dead hearts besides leaf folders, in which the larvae of this insect fold the leaves, eat out the green tissues and produce white streaks. They said that in the early transplanted crop, drying of leaves due to bacterial leaf blight disease may be noticed and spray with any chemical would not be helpful in controlling the disease. The agro-scientists also asked the farmers that if they had missed the plantation of basmati, they could now opt for cultivating maize, moong, bajra and green fodder, which could be sown till the 15th of this month. It may be mentioned that as much as 5000 hectares of land has been left out for cultivation of basmati in the district due to the continuous dry spell and lack of irrigation facilities. Meanwhile, the local administration was yet to order 'girdawari' to assess the loss of crop if any to the farmers due to the dry spell in the district which has experienced deficient rains. |
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Lakhowal seeks relief package
Lakhowal, while addressing the media in Bathinda today, said he is trying to meet the Prime Minister over the issue to demand a Rs 2500 crore special package for Punjab which is battling adversity due to the deficit monsoon. He said that apart from the repairs of the broken roads, the government has also decided to compensate the family members of the farmers who committed suicide due to financial losses. The Mandi Board Chairman also termed the 17 kisan unions in the state as good for nothing and alleged that the members of these unions raise issues that are not good for the farmers. |
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Addicts willing to kick drugs but shortage of psychiatrists a major hurdle
Muktsar, August 3 Here, as many as 1,190 drug addicts have shown their willingness to kick the habit but the shortage of psychiatrists in the civil hospitals is proving to be a major hurdle in it. There is just one psychiatrist in the entire Muktsar district, who is deployed at the Civil Hospital, Malout, where the psychiatry department has the capacity to cater to 10-15 addicts at a time. In this situation, the police are in a fix as to where the rest of the addicts should be admitted so that they can also come out of this vicious cycle. In its ongoing drive against the use of drugs, the district police, with the help of Dr Rashmi Chawla, the lone government psychiatrist, have even changed the lives of some addicts. But the problem has arisen after a large number of addicts showed readiness to kick the habit. SSP, Muktsar, Inder Mohan Singh said, "After involving some rural medical practitioners, chemists, members of panchayats and prominent persons in villages and towns, we have prepared a list of 1,190 drug addicts who have agreed to receive treatment at the de-addiction centres. But we are facing an altogether different problem-the district health authorities have just one doctor, which is not enough to handle so many cases alone." "Now, I have decided to take up the matter with the senior officials to find a solution to it," said the SSP. The SSP said there are a total of ten police stations in the district and each police station has submitted a detailed report of drug addicts, ready to quit drugs, in their respective areas. When contacted, Chief Medical Officer (CMO), Dr Sukhpal Singh, admitted there was an acute shortage of staff. "Presently, we have just one psychiatrist deployed at Malout who mostly sees the patients suffering from mental disorders. She visits other government hospitals whenever any need arises." It may be mentioned that because of this shortage of staff, the de-addiction centre at Civil Hospital, Muktsar, is also lying closed. The situation is almost similar at Gidderbaha, where only three doctors are running the entire hospital. Presently, the police has admitted some addicts to the Civil Hospital in Malout and Badal, said DSP, Malout, Mukhwinder Singh, who had taken the initiative of launching the de-addiction drive. "The results are positive as the psychiatrist is doing her best. But with the increase in the number of addicts keen to leave the habit, there is a need for more psychiatrists as the job can't be handled by one person alone," said Mukhwinder Singh. |
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Court decision may spell relief for Sukhbir in 10-yr-old case
Faridkot, August 3 On Friday, the court did not discharge Sukhbir Badal as legal proceedings in the case relating to him were stayed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. But with the discharge of the four accused in a similar case, it is expected that in the coming days, the state government would move a similar application for the discharge of the Deputy CM. In a case relating to an alleged incident of violence in 1999, during the parliamentary elections, Naresh Kumar Sehgal and his father Bihar Lal Sehgal, residents of Kotkapura, had approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court, demanding the registration of a criminal case against Sukhbir Singh Badal and others for an alleged attempt to kill them. Following the orders of the High Court, a case under Sections 307/382/323/148, 149 of the IPC was registered at Kotkapura on June 21, 2002. There were four incidents in this FIR and Sukhbir Badal was accused in one of these incidents. During the trial of this case, while the state presented a challan in three cases, in Sukhbir's incident, the challan was not produced. Rather, the state wanted the discharge of the SAD (B) president. Challenging the discharge, Naresh Sehgal approached the HC and the court had stayed the proceedings in the trial court. The trial in three other cases is proceeding in the court of the JMIC in Faridkot. A month back, on June 29, Principal Secretary, Home Affairs and Law Department, Punjab Government, vide his letter No. 2277, dated 29-6-2012, advised the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP Faridkot for withdrawal of the prosecution in the State versus Daljit Kumar, one of the four cases. On the basis of the Principal Secretary's recommendations, the district attorney, Faridkot, moved an application under Section 321 of the CrPC in the court of JMIC, demanding the discharge of all the four accused in the State versus Daljit Kumar case, one of the four cases. While deciding this application today, Madan Lal, JMIC, allowed the application and ordered the discharge of all the four accused. Opposing the discharge of the accused, Naresh Seghal said the application under Section 321 CrPC is filed under the rarest of rare circumstances when the proceeding with the trial in a criminal case is a threat to social harmony and law and order. But in the present case, the withdrawal of the case was in no way related to social harmony or a threat to law and order. "This is a misuse of Section 321 of the CrPC," said Naresh Seghal and the state government has plans of using the same section with a similar yardstick to seek the discharge of Sukhbir Badal in the coming days, he alleged. As Sehgal was demanding police security, fearing threat to his life, so a day before the Principal Secretary, Home, advised for the discharge of the accused, on June 28, the ADGP (Security) Punjab passed an order to provide a government Gypsy, a driver, security guards and 580 litres of petrol per month to Naresh Sehgal. Naresh Sehgal said though he was satisfied with the police security provided to him and his family members, he never agreed to the discharge of the accused in a serious crime which they had committed ten year back. "During this legal battle, my father, a complainant, died under mysterious circumstances and my family was under acute pressure to withdraw the cases," he said. |
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ROB demand gains momentum in Abohar
Abohar, August 3 Notably, the first RoB was sanctioned in 2006 by the state government headed by Captain Amarinder Singh and funds were contributed by the Infrastructure Development Board with the Central Government's assistance. The RoB on the college road, forming part of the Abohar-Hanumangarh section of the state, highway was completed at a cost of Rs 18 crore in 2010. During the recent visit of the Minister of State for Railways KH Muniyappa, the demand for another overbridge on the Abohar-Sriganganagar section was prominently voiced by former MP Virendra Kataria and CLP leader Sunil Jakhar through a memorandum submitted on the occasion. The memorandum, signed by representatives of a dozen NGOs, was also submitted by India against Corruption, an outfit of the Anna Hazare movement. Later, Sunil Jakhar, who accompanied the minister in his special train to New Delhi, explained that the railway crossing on Sriganganagar road has to be closed for 15 minutes each when 26 trains pass through the track. Hundreds of students and teachers are among those who are held up. Some of them have to face action by the GRP/RPF for violating the rules since they are in a hurry. The public representatives sought to explain that Abohar has been graded as junction. Its old platform will have to be raised as its low level causes casualties. More trains are to be introduced on the Abohar-Fazilka and the Abohar-Sriganganagar section. This will lead to closing the main railway crossing for 30 times a day. They suggested that the railways should also plan setting up a washing line near the railway goods yard as a visionary step to meet the future needs. It is learnt that the railways indicated that the state government will have to move a proposal for the overbridge on the basis of cost sharing. Sources said the Public Works Department had initiated a survey for another railway overbridge but the colonisers who fear it might affect them adversely might get it stonewalled the way transporters had done in the case of the Abohar-Fazilka rail link. |
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Moga’s mosaic artist makes a mark
Moga, August 3 Sandhu was born at Marhana village in Patti sub-division of Amritsar (now in Taran Taran district) but his family shifted to Moga when he was a toddler. He did his schooling at the Arya Model School, here. He became a successful sculptor and a painter earning recognition but left the country and migrated to the US in 1985 at a time when militancy was at its peak. Sandhu never gave up his passion for art. "I work on mosaics at my shop when the business is down but when I begin my art work, I don't stop and love to do it for hours continuously," he said while talking to The Tribune over the phone. A couple of years back when he visited Moga, his home town, he made the portrait of the famous Sufi poet and Saint Baba Farid, which has now been placed in a museum at Faridkot. "I am planning to make large pieces of mosaic of Mother Teresa and President Barack Obama and the Sikh gurus in the near future," he said. "I am proud to be the lone Sikh artist to get accolades in the US for making mosaics," he said. Sandhu, who has held many exhibitions of his art in India and the US, is presently working on making the mosaic of the Golden Temple, which he hopes to exhibit at the gurudwara museum. |
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Manpreet to hold protest in Bathinda on Aug 8
Gidderbaha, August 3 He said the Sanjha Morcha would be organizing protests at all district headquarters in Punjab against the hike in electricity tariff, shortage of electricity and additional levy on power in the state.
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Abohar, August 3 SHO Mool Singh said the jawan has been hospitalized. This brings to an end the search for him around Patiala and Ambala as he had drawn Rs 1,500 from his savings account while operating an ATM at Patiala late last month. His images were reportedly recorded in the CCTV. It will take some time to unfold the mystery as to how he had gone missing, the GRP said. As per the available information, Hardeep Singh, 24, had left Alwar on July 17, for Jaipur. His mobile phone gave a "switched-off" response after July 18. Later, his kin joined the Army in the search operation. — OC |
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Bathinda, August 3