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pserc public hearing
Kisan union holds dharna, says govt failed to pay compensation to farmers
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Safai sewaks seek regular jobs
Badal Chowk to be inaugurated soon
Deadline for registration under Food Safety Act extended
World Radio Day celebrated
Women should play active role in shaping society, says Harsimrat Badal
Inter-school sports competitions held
BBK DAV win youth fest c’ship
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Farmers oppose hike in power rates
Residents say online facilities result in harassment for consumers; PSERC circulars not implemented Megha Mann Tribune News Service
Bathinda, February 13 Members of the PSERC, Virinder Singh and Gurinderjit Singh Ghuman, spoke to the representatives of various sections of society. Chairman of the PSERC, Romila Dubey, who was present at the last year’s meeting, could not attend this one. Though only a handful of people had turned up for the hearing, they ended up discussing more problems related to power and working of power companies rather than holding deliberations on tariff. Surplus power will
not decrease tariff
Farmer Shiv Charan Singh from Muktsar requested the commission members not to increase the tariff in the wake of commissioning of a private thermal plant at Banawali village in Mansa and subsequent government claims of being power surplus. The PSERC members said the state being power surplus will not have any effect on decreasing the rates of power units. “As per an agreement with the private power players, the state has to pay them Rs 1.35 paise per unit irrespective of whether they produce power or not. If we do not fulfill this condition, no private player will be ready to set up thermal plants here. Hence, we can’t afford to reduce the rates of power,” he said. Shiv Charan demanded that the government subsidy given to the PSPCL should directly be given to farmers. He said that power consumption in the agriculture sector in the months of April, October and November was nearly nil. As per information under the Right to Information Act in the year 2012-13, 2,000 MU (million units) were consumed in the agriculture sector during this period. Farmers require uninterrupted power supply in July and August paddy season and October and November during the wheat sowing season. He said a pilot project could be launched on metering the units given to farmers by fixing meters on tube wells. He demanded that the farmers be given 10,000 advanced units so that they don’t face any problems. He contested the PSPCL claim that each tubewell consumes 8,000 units per
year, which actually is 5,000 units. Industrialist Narayan Garg, district president of the Punjab Rice Millers Association, demanded that the government should notify the third party to get their power meters checked. Presently, the meters are checked by the PSPCL only. However, expressing surprise, the PSERC members said that a circular has been issued for setting up third party testing agencies, but the same seems to have neither been implemented nor conveyed to the consumers. Garg added that many industrialists wanted to get their meters tested from third party and not by the PSPCL. He also demanded that the lower-rung staff should be trained to implement the directions mentioned in the PSERC circulars. He demanded that since the rice milling industry was a seasonal one, it should not be charged throughout the year. At this, the PSERC members asked the rice millers to opt for either being a seasonal unit or a general industry. Garg called for a discussion with the stakeholders before taking any decision on it. He also demanded two or three rounds of interactions with the industry
in a year. Online facility a damp squib
Inderjit Singh, consumer of a non-resident service (NRS) meter, complained of online facilities of the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) harassing consumers instead of benefitting them. He has a load of 250 kW and had applied for another 100 kW through the online facility. The department charged him Rs 42,000 for the same which too was granted through an agent after paying him Rs 2,000. “After depositing the amount, I was asked to produce a number of documents, some of which were irrelevant for increasing my power load. Despite depositing my papers 15 days ago, I would get messages on my cell phone from the department to deposit the documents everyday. And I am yet to get any connection,” he said. He added that instead of mitigating the sufferings of the consumers, the online facility was adding to their woes. Former power
engineers’ proposal
Former power engineers HS Khurmi and Baldev Singh introduced proposals to mitigate power theft like introducing time of day (TOD) tariff as well as voltage regulations limits as per the quality of supply. Khurmi said the present incentive in TOD tariff is only Re 1 per unit, which should be increased to 1.80 per unit as charges of hiring laboor for the night hours in the industry were more. He demanded that the TOD should be widely publicised and extended to all the categories of consumers. Baldev Singh demanded that voltage variation in urban and rural feeders should be allowed as plus 6 per cent on the higher side and minus 9 per cent on he lower side. He also said that the PSPCL should not charge for the augmentation of existing 11 kV feeders where voltage variation is already beyond prescribed limits. |
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Kisan union holds dharna, says govt failed to pay compensation to farmers
Bathinda, February 13 Joginder Singh, Major Singh, Gurpal Singh, Harbhagwan Singh, Harinder Kaur and Ram Singh were among other farmer leaders who spoke on the occasion. Farmers alleged that the state government had failed to pay Rs 2 lakh compensation to each of the family members of those farmers who committed suicide following debt. A large number of women also participated in the dharna and took out a protest march from various city areas. Farmer leader Ram Singh said the state government did not pay adequate compensation to those whose land was acquired to set up a thermal power plant in Gobindpura, Mansa. The farmers also announced their support to the EGS/AIE teachers, guest faculty lecturers, ETT, EGS, RMSA and the Unemployed Linemen Union. Farmers said they would not lift their dharna till all their demands are met by the state government. Meanwhile, commuters were a harried lot after hundreds of farmers occupied the road to lodge their protest. Commuters lamented that Bathinda had become the protest capital of Punjab as the traffic remained disrupted for four days after the strike by EGS/AIE teachers.
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Safai sewaks seek regular jobs
Bathinda, February 13 Addressing the rally, state convener of their union Kuldeep Kumar demanded that hiring contractual employees should be ended. He demanded regularisation of safai sewaks and the sewer men. State president of the union Prakash Chand said the solid waste management should be brought under the government’s ambit instead of privatising it. He said to increase the income of the MCB, a portion of the income from the VAT should be given to the corporations, councils and committees. The agitating employees also demanded promotions, which had been stopped due to one reason or the other. Not taking chances with the agitating employees, the district administration today fixed a meeting of the safai sewaks with the Chief Minister on March 8.
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Badal Chowk to be inaugurated soon
Bathinda, February 13 Funded by the Guru Gobind Singh Refinery Phulokhari, the roundabout has a lifesize statue of hands holding a baby and a woman with a green landscape in the background. The refinery has spent Rs 35 lakh on the project, which the Bathinda Development Authority (BDA) has executed. The project is part of the beautification drive that the BDA undertook wherein all the roundabouts of the city are being given a facelift. The decision on the agency that will maintain the project has not been taken as of now. “We will ask the refinery officials to maintain this project. If they can’t, the BDA will do it,” said BDA Chief Administrator Varinder Kumar Sharma. Chandigarh-based TF Architects Private Limited has designed the statue that will convey the message against female foeticide. In 2012, the BDA had held an open national competition wherein entries for designing roundabouts were invited from all over the country. Roundabouts at Bibiwala chowk, Rose Garden chowk, Bhai Kanhaiya chowk, ITI chowk, Fauji chowk, Badal chowk and Jassi Pau Wali chowk are being developed under the scheme. The BDA has written to the Ministry of Defence seeking a pair of Bofors guns and MIG fighter planes for the Fauji chowk which has a statue of Subedar Nand Singh.
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Deadline for registration under Food Safety Act extended
Bathinda, February 13 Not taking any chances of imposing the Act forcefully on the food business operators in an election year, the Central government has taken the step. The State Health Department has received a notification for the extension of the deadline that had expired on February 4. Implemented two years ago on August 5, the Act makes it mandatory for the food business operators to get licences or register with the Health Department on the basis of their annual turnover. It aims at not only bringing all the food operators under a single roof but also implement the consolidated rules and regulations on them. As per the Health Department figures, there are 5,000 businessmen who should get licences and around 65,000 small-time vendors who should get registered.
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World Radio Day celebrated
Bathinda, February 13 The evening phone-in live programme, Sham Suhani, was dedicated to this day and listeners and callers were asked to give suggestions to improve the quality of programmes to make it more relevant to the concerns of a common man. While addressing the listeners in the programme, head of AIR, FM, Bathinda, Rajeev K Arora, said some people presume that the AIR stations were just a spokesperson of the government, which is wrong. The stations enjoy the same rights which have been ensured by the freedom of speech and expression and there is no interference of the government or any other agency in the functioning of the AIR stations. Apart from this, deliberations were held on ways to improve the quality of content to realise the motto of the AIR: “education, information and entertainment”. Many issues relating to technical aspects were also discussed in the presence of the engineering staff of this station. Engineering head, AIR Bathinda Biju PL, Kulbir Singh Sodhi, senior technician Tirath Singh and staff members were also present on the occasion. Rajiv Arora added that following a request from the Spanish Radio Academy, the Unesco’s executive board approved observation of the World Radio Day on February 13, to mark the the day that the United Nations established its independent radio station on February 13, 1946.
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Women should play active role in shaping society, says Harsimrat Badal
Bathinda, February 13
She distributed 78 sewing machines to the women of Burj Kahan Singh Wala village , Gobindpura, Kalyan Sukha, Lehra Bega and Burj Dalla who are learning sewing and stitching under the Nanhi Chhan campaign. She said women should be economically independent. “Women should be trained to earn their own money so that she is not completely dependant on her husband. The aim of teaching them stitching and sewing is to ensure that they contribute to the economic affairs of the family and hence, are high stake holders,” she said. During the function, she also listened to the problems of the local residents. ADC Sonali Giri, SAD youth leader Lakhbir Singh, Sukhman Sidhu, Jagsir Kalia, Balkar Singh, Om Prakash Sharma and others were also present.
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Inter-school sports competitions held
Bathinda, February 13 In the song contest, Government Senior Secondary School, Mehma Sarja and Government Senior Secondry School, Kotfatta, bagged the first two positions. In the kavishri contest, Government High School, Jaurkian, and Government High School, Nathpura, bagged the first two positions. In the turban tying competition for senior category, Sahebjit Singh and Gurkirat Singh bagged the first two places. In the junior category, Gurjot Singh and Gulab Singh bagged the first and second positions respectively. In the costume competition, senior category, Jagsir Singh and Navdeep Singh got the first and second spot. In the junior category, Sumanjit and Kanwaldeep were adjudged first and second. Harwinder Singh Khalsa, chairman of the Malwa Heritage Foundation, said the aim of the mela was to bring the residents of Punjab closer to the culture of the state. He also shared that the inaugural procession of the mela would start from the Hajiratan gurdwara and will go around the city before reaching Jaipalgarh village. He also added that for the first time, the panchayat of the Nainuana village will also take part in the procession. He said a play “Khudkhusi De Mod Te” would be staged at the Jaipalgarh village today evening.
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BBK DAV win youth fest c’ship
Amritsar, February 13 As many as 200 students from various universities participated in the mega event. A team of 14 students from the college participated in various categories. Gayatri Talwar, a college student, won the first prize in poetry and fancy dress, besides second in mono acting. Another student Hargun Kaur won first prize in western vocal solo, classical vocal solo, second in folk song and third in bhajan. Drishti Mishri won the Ghoomar Queen prize. Arshdeep Kaur and Mahima Uppal bagged the third prize in folk dance solo and mehndi, respectively. Gayatri and Jyotpreet Kaur were also awarded for their outstanding performance in theatre. Principal Neelam Kamra met the team and applauded their performance at the event.
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Public hearing of the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission (PSERC) convened for fixing power tariff for the year 2014-15 today turned out to be a hotbed of discussion.
Members and workers of the Kisan Khet Mazdoor Union today staged a dharna and held a protest march in
Bathinda.
Bathinda, February 13
Badal Chowk, which will be named as Nanhi Chhan Chowk on the lines of the Nanhi Chhan campaign run by Bathinda MP Harsimrat
Badal, will be inaugurated next week.
