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Illegal construction in
PUDA-approved pvt colony
Work on region’s first model rly station gathers steam
Bathinda thermal plant running out of coal
Day after drug seizure in jail, govt suspends 3 employees |
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State on major afforestation drive, to plant 4 cr saplings
Two arrested for fraudulent land deal
Clerk suspended for fraud
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Illegal construction in
PUDA-approved pvt colony
Kotkapura (Faridkot), February 8 Residents say the action is retaliatory as they had raised their voice against illegal construction and the alleged sale of a public park in the PUDA approved private residential colony. After the residents complained, the PUDA pledged 12 plots of the coloniser and warned him of forfeiting his bank guarantee if the services were not restored. But the situation has not improved since January 28 when the residents first unravelled the illegalities. Anil Kumar Garg, additional chief administrator, PUDA, said after receiving the complaints from the residents, the coloniser was issued a warning. "If the services are not restored in the coming days, besides imposing financial penalties, legal action would be taken," he said. Nand Kishore, the president of the Arvind Nagar Welfare Colony, said the residents started facing the antagonistic behaviour of the coloniser after they started raising objections against illegal construction in the colony, sale of public parks and arbitrary changes in the size of PUDA-approved plots in the colony. In utter violation of the drawings approved by the PUDA for Arvind Nagar, the coloniser sold more than the authorised portion, even a public park, showing it as a residential plot, alleged Nand Kishore. Pawan Singla, the coloniser, accused the residents of making false complaints against him. "Lodging one complaint after the other, some of the residents keep harassing me," he said. The residents of the colony also accused the PUDA officials of allegedly conniving with the coloniser and not taking any action against him. As the PUDA officials were not taking any concrete action against the coloniser, some time back, the residents filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. "By covering the open space under some plots, the coloniser illegally altered and increased the size of these plots and decreased the open space in the colony. This is a violation of the letter of intent (LOI) signed between the PUDA and the coloniser," alleged Kuljit Sehgal, vice-president of the Arvind Nagar Welfare Colony. Even an 11-feet-wide water channel, which is a government property, was included in the colony area and sold off illegally," alleged Nand Kishore. "After spending our hard-earned money, we built houses in the colony but have been denied even the drinking water and streetlights. Now, we have no other option but to start a public agitation to draw the attention of the authorities concerned towards our problem," said Nand Kishore. |
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Work on region’s first model rly station gathers steam
Abohar, February 8 Since the main platform did not meet the specifications and was a mute witness to commuters getting injured grievously while boarding the trains or alighting from them, the NGOs and public representatives had been urging the railway to reconstruct it and raise its level. Former chairman of the Railway Board Ashok Bhatnagar had realized the gravity of the situation during his visits. The matter was also raised by former Lok Sabha
Speaker Bal Ram Jakhar and Member of Rajya Sabha Virendra Kataria. The work got a boost when the Minister of State for Railways KH Muniyappa visited Abohar last year to inaugurate the much awaited Abohar-Fazilka rail link. The railway also plans to make major changes in the existing sheds besides renovating the administrative block, waiting rooms and providing state-of-the-art facilities. Abohar becomes the first in the old Ferozepur district to have a model railway station. Congress Legislative Party (CLP) leader Sunil Jakhar and former MP Virendra Kataria had recently met Railway Minister Pawan Bansal to list before him the demands for improving rail services for which his predecessors had given a nod. Jakhar took up the issue of building another railway overbridge on the Sriganganagar road and underpass with Bansal and Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal also. Following this, the authorities have conducted a final survey for both the projects and hope that the required funds would be made available to ensure their completion during the coming financial year. |
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Bathinda thermal plant running out of coal
Patiala, February 8 As per the latest report of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), coal stock at Guru Nanak Dev Thermal Plant, Bathinda, is enough to keep the plant going for just a week, and the stock at Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat Thermal plants is enough for 10 and 13 days. In case coal stock at a thermal plant is not enough to run it for a week, it will then figure in the critical category, as per the CEA standards. The normative requirement of coal stock for Bathinda, Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant is 30, 25 and 30 days. Normative requirement is the level of reserve stock that needs to be maintained by any thermal plant to keep the generation going. The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has its own captive Pachwara mines in Jharkhand. Panem is the joint venture of PSPCL and Eastern Minerals and Trading Agency. PSPCL gets six rakes from Panem on a daily basis but presently it has been getting five rakes (each having about 3800-tonnes of coal). Sources said since Panem had already excavated more coal in the first 10 months of the current fiscal, the company had to reduce coal excavation for the next two months. PSPCL generation wing authorities said because of low power demand, two units each of 210-MW capacity at Ropar thermal plant and one thermal unit of 110-MW capacity at the Bathinda thermal plant had been shut down. Another unit of the 110-MW capacity at the Bathinda thermal plant is already not functioning on account of renovation. “As of now, less coal is required so there is no need to panic,” said PSPCL Director (Generation) GS Chhabra. He said PSPCL had already made a request to Coal India Limited (CIL) to step up coal supply. It is learnt that a separate team of PSPCL officials had recently visited South Eastern Coalfields Limited (SECL) headquarters in Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh and Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) headquarters in Ranchi, Jharkhand. Both SECL and CCL are subsidiaries of CIL. The team had held discussions with the SECL and CCL authorities pertaining to the coal supply issue and had requested them to ensure that Punjab got sufficient coal on a daily basis. Alarming figures *
As per the CEA standards, if a thermal plant does not have enough coal stock to run it for a week, it will figure in the critical category *
The normative requirement of coal stock for Bathinda, Ropar and Lehra Mohabbat Thermal Plant is 30, 25 and 30 days. The normative requirement is the level of reserve stock that needs to be maintained by any plant |
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Day after drug seizure in jail, govt suspends 3 employees
Fazilka, February 8 "The DIG (jails) has suspended Des Raj, head warden, Sukhwinder Singh and Karamjit Singh, both barrack guards," said Deputy Superintendent of Police (sub-jail), Fazilka, BS Ghuman. The names of the these employees figured in the FIR registered with the police last night regarding seizure of narcotics, a mobile, sharp-edged weapons, cash, cigarettes and other banned material. The search was conducted by a team of civil and police officials led by Fazilka Additional Deputy Commissioner Charandev Singh Maan. Sources said the Deputy Commissioner, Fazilka, through a report sent to the Principal Secretary (home) and the Director General of Police (jails) had recommended that the entire jail staff should be shifted as it was not possible to push narcotics and banned items into the jail without the employees’ connivance. The DC also observed in the report: “It seems that no laws are followed inside the jail, hence disciplinary action be taken against the erring officials.” Ironically, the local police is reportedly trying to underplay the matter and registered an FIR against one inmate Charanjit Singh, a resident of Bahawala, Fazilka, under Sections 15 and 18 of the NDPS Act. It has been mentioned in the FIR that 200 gm of poppy husk was recovered from his possession during the search. Apart from 20 gm of opium seized from the ventilator of barrack number 4, the team seized a mobile phone from inmate Anil Kumar, an amount of Rs 6,000 from Rohtash Chaudhary, resident of Sirsa, Rs 3,800 from Sunil Kumar, Rs 2,000 from Inderjit, Rs 1,000 from Sanjay Pal and Rs 780 from Parminder. Nine razors, a scissor, two lighters, ‘biris’, cigarettes, earphone and a box of blades were also recovered. Despite the recoveries, no immediate action was taken against these inmates on the pretext that an inquiry was being conducted, sources said. |
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State on major afforestation drive, to plant 4 cr saplings
Ferozepur, February 8 Dubbed as a major initiative by the department in decades, the aim therein is to plant these saplings by June next year as part of the ongoing Green Punjab Mission. Nurseries have already come across the 15 forest divisions across the state and learning from the not too successful experiments in the past on similar lines, efforts are afoot to ensure survival of all the saplings this time. The required infrastructure too is in place. Sources said Punjab's forest cover, at just 6 per cent, was the lowest in the country, the national average being 15 per cent. According to experts, the ideal forest is 33 per cent of the country's land mass. Taking corrective steps to double the cover here is a step in the right direction and would go a long way in improving the environmental health of the state, it has been maintained. Large scale deforestation, often in connivance with officials, political patronage and encroachments are the major stumbling blocks in implementation of such programmes. Farmers living adjacent to forest areas are encouraged to cultivate their land for a fraction of the prevailing market price by junior forest officials, sources said. Such offenders manage to get away because of lax laws and perennial staff shortage compounded by lack of equipment and infrastructure. The magnitude of the problem can be gauged from the fact that the forest guards, the front line of defence against encroachers and illegal loggers, have to patrol over 200 km of forest area each within their divisions using their own vehicles and that too without proper back-up and in absence of arms or wireless sets. There have been numerous instances when the forest mafia fired at staff, forcing the latter to back away, they pointed out. Dr SK Tewari, Divisional Forest Officer, Ferozepur, admitted to lack of staff but said they were doing their best with the resources at hand. The department has recruited over 500 guards recently and this will go a long way in stopping the encroachers and loggers. Steps are also being taken by the department to provide effective patrolling facilities for the ground staff. He added that another problem pertains to non-incorporation of various government notifications earmarking department land in the local revenue records. This leads to a lot of foul play, with the revenue officials changing the ownership of the land in favour of private persons. "I have written to the Deputy Commissioner to get the records rectified so that action can be taken against such offenders," he said. |
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Two arrested for fraudulent land deal
Bathinda, February 8 The accused, Major Singh and Darshan Singh of Khiala Malakpur, had sold the land belonging to their mother’s share of property with the help of the two women. A case in this connection has been registered against the accused under Sections 419, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC at the Bhikhi police station. As per the complaint in the case, the accused got the land sold with the help of a few other persons, including the two women. The police said the matter was being investigated and efforts would be made to get the properties purchased through unfair means, seized through the court. |
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Clerk suspended for fraud
Bathinda, February 8 Dhaka said that a written communique had been sent to the Deputy Commissioner, Amritsar, for further police action against the clerk. |
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The Mansa police today arrested two persons for selling a piece of land by roping in two women who posed themselves as the mothers of the two accused.
The police also recovered the material worth Rs 56 lakh from the possession of the accused.
The accused, Major Singh and Darshan Singh of Khiala Malakpur, had sold the land belonging to their mother’s share of property with the help of the two women.
