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iraq imbroglio
Families meet Sushma Swaraj
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Reshuffle: Shanta holds talks with Rajnath Singh
Release Dalits held for Bhawanigarh clash: BSP
Captain backs separate panel for Haryana Sikhs
Roll back medical fee hike, says MP
Takht Kesgarh Sahib land row
GK Singh is Director General, School Education
Varsity regional centre in Muktsar in a shambles
Ease norms to fill BDS seats: Varsity
Enhance number of seats: Fazilka college to PU
Govt ranking for allotting business
Unusual love story: Lawyer weds addict
Govt laboratory messes up blood report
HC ex-Chief Justice SS Dewan dead
Nab real culprits in anti-drug drive: NAPA
Residents protest supply of contaminated water
Animals destroy crops, villagers meet MP
Veterinary hospitals have no facility to store vaccines
Maize to be grown on another 800 hectares in Sangrur
Garbage dumps surround schools in Abohar
Progressive farmers in Abohar grab Rajasthan CM Raje’s attention
Robbers strike in Sangrur village
Councillor, two others killed in accident
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iraq imbroglio
Jalandhar, June 29 Vinod Kumar of Phagwara said: "I paid $400 to a middleman to get back my passport from the company I worked for. My parents managed the money by borrowing from relatives and neighbours. No help has been provided by the government." He said though SAD MLA Pawan Kumar Tinnu had visited his home once and assured to help him, nothing had been done till date. Havildar (retd) Ranjit Singh of Gurdaspur, who gave Rs 2,700 to eight Punjabi youths to buy tickets to their hometowns as they were stuck at the Ahmadabad railway station after returning from Iraq last week, said: "Several people lauded my initiative, but I have not received a single call from any government official. I am not expecting any favour, but the government could have at least acknowledged my effort that motivated several others to help people in distress." Abhinav Trikha, Deputy Commissioner, Gurdaspur, said Ranjit singh had done a good job, but he failed to give a favourable reply on the efforts taken by the district administration to appreciate Ranjit Singh for his commendable work. "Our prime concern is to gather information about the youths stuck in Iraq. The appreciation calls will follow in due course of time," he said. Many others whose relatives are stuck in Iraq have also accused the government of not offering any help to them.
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Families meet Sushma Swaraj
Amritsar, June 29 The family members were, however, not satisfied with the repeated assurances. They said if their relatives were safe, the government should make some arrangement for a telephonic conversation with them. The kin of Amritsar and Gurdaspur youths who were allegedly kidnapped by militants today met External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj in New Delhi. The meeting lasted for over one-and-a-half hour till late in the evening. The families were accompanied by Rajya Sabha MP Naresh Gujral, SAD leader Balwant Singh Ramoowalia, DSGMC chief Manjit Singh GK and several local Akali leaders. Sarchand Singh, media adviser to Cabinet Minister Bikram Singh Majitha, who also accompanied the families, said the minister said she had earlier held a meeting with the ambassadors of gulf countries. She told them if stranded youths did not have any documents with them, they should be provided the same once they reached the relief camps in Iraq. He said Sushma told them that the government was in constant in touch with the Punjabi youths through the Indian Embassy. She said every possible step was being taken to rescue them safely, he added. The families have become restless after they were not getting any information about their relatives stranded in Iraq. The families urged the government to secure their early release. Gurpinder Kaur, a relative of a youth stuck in Iraq, expressed her dissatisfaction with the repeated assurances and said as per the MEA, the government did not have any direct contact with the Punjabi youths. "We are not satisfied with the assurances. We will decide our next course of action after meeting with other aggrieved families," she said.
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Traders clash with SGPC staff, 9 hurt
Amritsar, June 29 Sources said a dispute was pending before the court of the District Magistrate regarding three of the nine shops rented to a family of traders. The shops stood on SGPC land measuring 5,000 square yards at Baba Sahib Chowk. The other six traders had vacated the shops amicably. The SGPC intends to raise a serai on the vacated land. The trouble began when SGPC officials, accompanied by task force members, dismantled the vacated shops this afternoon
and a JCB machine damaged the roof of one of the disputed shops. During the clash, at least six SGPC officials, including SGPC assistant secretary Paramjit Singh, Lakhwinder Singh, Gurwinder Singh, Gurdeep Singh and Banta Singh, were injured. Three traders, Satbir Singh Bajaj and his sons Kanwardeep Singh and Jarnail Singh, were injured too. They were admitted to Guru Nanak Dev Hospital here. Talking to The Tribune, Satbir Singh alleged that the SGPC task force had deliberately damaged the roof of his shop. “When my sons objected, SGPC task force members attacked them with swords,” he said. “We had challenged the SGPC move to vacate the shops in court. The next date of hearing was July 1. We have lodged a police complaint and asked the Akal Takht chief to take action aginst the SGPC task force,” he said. But SGPC manager Partap Singh said the land belonged to the SGPC and the traders had signed an agreement with the SGPC to vacate the shops and shift to a new site near Gurdwara Ramsar Sahib. “The three shops were occupied by Satbir Singh, Santokh Singh and Mohan Singh. We tried to resolve the matter, but they did not respond. Kar sewa, for paving the way for a pilgrims’ inn, was on when Satbir Singh’s supporters started throwing stones at our workers. “Our task force retaliated and the matter was brought to the notice of the police,” he said.
The trigger
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Reshuffle: Shanta holds talks with Rajnath Singh
Chandigarh, June 29
When contacted, state BJP chief Kamal Sharma refused to say anything on the subject. After talks with Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and an ‘in-house’ discussion on the fact-finding report about the factors responsible for the SAD-BJP debacle in the Lok Sabha elections, Shanta Kumar had announced on June 25 that the BJP leadership would “decide everything within a week.” Sources within the party indicated that the BJP leadership could opt for a status quo to signal that all was well within the party or it could replace only two of the “utterly non-peforming” ministers. The SAD-BJP alliance had trailed in Bhagat Chuni Lal’s Jalandhar (South) constituency by about 21,000 votes and in Local Bodies Minister Anil Joshi’s Amritsar (Central) constituency by 18,000 votes. In Industry Minister Madan Mohan Mittal’s Anandpur Sahib constituency, the alliance had led by about 9,000 votes and in Health Minister Surjit Kumar Jiyani’s Fazilka constituency by about 10,000 votes. So, a section of the party leadership seems to be in favour of replacing Joshi and Bhagat Chuni Lal. Chief Parliamentary Secretary Som Parkash, former Punjab minister Manoranjan Kalia, Pathankot MLA Ashwani Sharma and Jalandhar legislator KD Bhandari are said to be among those eying a Cabinet berth. Som Parkash is a Dalit leader. A former IAS officer, he has ample experience in administrative matters. The likely options
In race for berth
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Release Dalits held for Bhawanigarh clash: BSP
Sangrur, June 29 Jandali said as Dalits of Balad Kalan village near Bhawanigarh had not been allowed to participate in the auction of land reserved for SCs, the auction should be cancelled. Besides, a case should be registered against the police personnel who had resorted to lathicharge on the protesters, he said, adding that the government should also pay compensation to all injured. Jandali also alleged the Punjab State Scheduled Caste Commission had not been working for protecting the interests of the Dalits as it had failed to act in this case.
The controversy An auction of 478 bighas of panchayat land of Balad Kalan village (reserved for SCs), was in progress when members of the Dalit community sought their participation in the auction and demanded that the auction price be kept low since they could not pay high rates. Their protest led to a clash (in pic) with police officials deputed to quell their agitation
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Captain backs separate panel for Haryana Sikhs
Patiala, June 29 He asked Badal as to how would a separate body for Haryana weaken the SGPC. Reacting to Badal's statement criticising him for his support to a separate body in Haryana, Capt Amarinder said Badal was trying to distort the facts as it was not the Congress that wanted a separate SGPC for Haryana, but the Sikhs of the state, who had the right to manage the affairs of their religious places instead of being "remote-controlled" by the Badals. He said the logic for a separate Haryana SGPC was similar as was argued by him (Badal) during the Punjabi suba movement. “If the Sikhs there want autonomy for running their gurdwaras what is wrong in that?" he asked.
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Dhuri legislator Khanna may take back resignation
Chandigarh, June 29 Khanna had resigned on May 14, two days ahead of the Lok Sabha election results, and had expressed his desire to quit politics. He told The Tribune today that Amarinder Singh had asked him to reconsider his decision. “I will meet him again within a week and inform him about my decision,” he said. There was speculation that Khanna, who is close to SAD president Sukhbir Badal, would join the SAD. But with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) sweeping the Sangrur parliamentary seat(Khanna’s Assembly segment Dhuri is in Sangrur), neither the Congress nor the SAD want a byelection in Dhuri. These parties fear that AAP may win the seat and enter state politics. Khanna had sent his resignation to the Speaker on May 14 and was to appear before the latter by May 30. He sought more time from the Speaker and was told to appear on June 12. However, till date, Khanna has not done so. Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, sitting Congress MLA Jeet Mohinder Singh Sidhu too had quit the party and joined the SAD. The 117-member Punjab Vidhan Sabha comprises 45 Congress members, 57 SAD members and 12 BJP
members besides three Independents.
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PPP dissolves all district units
Chandigarh, June 29 It announced that its alliance with the Congress would remain till the 2017 Assembly elections and decided not to field candidates for the byelections for the Patiala and Talwandi Sabo seats. But the party will field its candidates for the municipal elections scheduled to be held later this year. The committee decided to reconstitute the party’s organisational structure. Manpreet Badal, PPP president, said that the
PPP-Congress alliance had performed fairly well during the recent Lok Sabha elections. “We think the alliance will prove fruitful in the future too. “We have decided to reconstitute the party as many members performed exceptionally well during the Lok Sabha elections and they deserve to be given greater responsibility.” Manpreet said since the Patiala and Talwandi Sabo seats had been vacated by Congress leaders, the Congress must put up candidates for both the seats. “We will support any candidate put up by the congress, unless the new PPP office-bearers decide to stake claim to one of the seats,” he said. Thirtyfive of the 45 members of the central committee attended the meeting today. A party spokesman said the party had decided to hold district-level meetings to strengthen the party at the grassroots level. This would also help the party members to acquaint themselves with the various problems being faced by the people.
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Roll back medical fee hike, says MP
Patiala, June 29 In a statement issued here, he said the state government had increased enrolment fee by 50 per cent, air-conditioned room rent by 150 per cent, private ward fee by 50 per cent and operation charges by 33 per cent. "The government has also increased the rate of blood bottle from the existing Rs 200 to Rs 500," he said. Earlier in the day, AAP activists held "a thali march" against the recent hike in prices of essential food items.
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Takht Kesgarh Sahib land row
Ropar, June 29 Holding a press conference at Gurdwara Bhatha Sahib, Paramjit Singh Lakhewal and Diljeet Singh Bhinder, SGPC members from Ropar and Himachal Pradesh, respectively, said the task force was used to protect the property of the Takht. It
was Bhaini who tried to take possession of the gurdwara land and the task force only acted to thwart that attempt, they said. Yesterday, Bhaini held a press conference and alleged that he was in possession of the said land and the task force removed the construction raised by him on the spot using JCBs. Meanwhile, documents procured by The Tribune showed that Rajpal Singh of Kiratpur Sahib, who held the land in his name as a cultivator, had sold the entire chunk of 8 kanals (abadi deh) for Rs 12.5 lakh on November 15, 2011. Being abadi deh land, Rajpal was not shown as the owner of land in revenue records. Still, he sold the land to Bhaini preparing "mukhtiarnama" and "ikrarnama" separately to avoid the process of registering the property with the estate officer. Jagtar Singh Bhaini reaped rich dividend selling 2 kanal and 4 marla of the land within 10 months. On September 21, 2012, he sold nearly one-fourth of the land for Rs 1 crore and Rs 13 lakh through an agreement. Bhaini claimed he was the owner of said property as Rajpal had sold it to him. This was, however, the responsibility of Rajpal to purchase stamp papers for the registration of land, he said. "Moreover, I have already cancelled the sale of land and returned Rs 1.13 crore to the buyer," Bhaini said. Rajpal also denied that there was any foul play in the deal. He owned the land in his name and had the right to sell it, he claimed. Villagers blame Bhaini Residents of Bhaini village alleged SAD general council member Jagtar Singh Bhaini misappropriated the funds of the gram panchayat and tried to grab others' land. Holding a press conference at Anandpur Sahib, Gulzar Singh, Gurdev Singh, Kashmir Singh and some other residents demanded that Bhaini should be expelled from the SAD. Bhaini, however, alleged the allegations were politically motivated and that nothing was found against him in any inquiry.
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GK Singh is Director General, School Education
Chandigarh, June 29 The officials were among eight IAS officers who were transferred today. The list includes two officials, GK Singh and Indu Malhotra, transferred out during the Lok Sabha elections by the state election commission. Indu Malhotra has been posted as Commissioner, Patiala MC. Rakesh Verma, Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training, gets the charge of Secretary-Medical Education and Research; Kahan Singh Pannu, MD, Punjab Agro and Secretary, Sports, of Secretary, Irrigation; Deepinder Singh, Secretary, Mandi Board, of MD, Warehousing Corporation; APS Virk, Additional Director and Special Secretary, Civil Aviation, of Director, Land Records; and Ashwani Kumar, Special Principal Secretary to Deputy CM, of State Transport Commissioner. The government appointed Dilbagh Hussain as Chairman, Muslim Welfare and Development Board, Surinder Singh Pehalwan, Chairman, Punjab Mulaazam Bhalai Board, and Surinder Kaur Dyaal, Member, Punjab State Subordinate Services Selection Board. — TNS
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Varsity regional centre in Muktsar in a shambles
Muktsar, June 29 Before the PURC was set up, the SGPC ran a school here. A number of youths, who turn up at the centre from Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh to take admission, complain about the poor upkeep of the building. The centre offers educational courses like LLB, MCA, MPhil (Punjabi) and postgraduate degrees in Punjabi, English, economics and political science, catering to nearly 450 students. The staff at the centre said a new building would be constructed on government college premises in the next three years. The building would be built on five acres. "Till the new building is constructed, some makeshift arrangement should be made to avoid any untoward incident," they said. Prof PS Dhingra, Director, PURC, Muktsar, said, "It will take some time to construct the new building as it is difficult to get funds. However, the university has sanctioned Rs 13 lakh for the repair of the current building. The renovation will begin after the monsoons."
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Ease norms to fill BDS seats: Varsity
Faridkot, June 29 The dental colleges, mainly the private ones, are not finding adequate number of eligible candidates with minimum prescribed marks. Only those candidates are eligible who have obtained a minimum of 50 per cent marks (45 per cent for handicaps and 40 per cent for SC/BCs) in the All India Pre-Medical Entrance Test (AIPMET). About 1,100 students from Punjab obtained the minimum prescribed marks. Since most of these eligible candidates opted for MBBS, there is a shortage of candidates for BDS course. Sat Pal Singh, Deputy Registrar, BFUHS, said the medical university had written to the state government for relaxation in eligibility criteria. Of the total 900 BDS seats in 11 dental colleges in Punjab, BFUHS was able to fill 384 seats in the first round of counselling that ended on June 25. Some of these dental colleges, having 100 seats each, could get only a couple of students so far. Only two government dental colleges have got good response. While all 40 seats of Government Dental College, Patiala, were filled, Government Dental College, Amritsar, has just five (SC category) vacant seats. A private dental college in Muktsar, having 100 seats, got only two candidates so far. Similar is the situation in private dental colleges in Patiala, Dera Bassi, Ferozepur, Faridkot and Sunam. There are three other dental colleges in Punjab, two in Mohali and one in Bathinda, each having 100 seats. While the Mohali colleges are waiting for renewal of permission from the DCI to make admissions, the Bathinda college is under a private university and is filling seats on its own. The wide difference in the fee in government and private dental colleges is the main reason for the students opting for government colleges. While the one-year fee in a government dental college is Rs 26,250, it is Rs 1,65,000 for a government quota seat and Rs 2,20,000 for a management quota seat in private colleges. Poor response
The reason
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Enhance number of seats: Fazilka college to PU
Fazilka, June 29 A large number of students are expected to apply in the next two days till July 2, the last date of filling forms. The long-pending demand of the college to enhance the number of seats has not been approved by Panjab University. Since this is the only government college in the area offering courses in humanities, the number of admission seekers is high. A number of those who fail to get admission are forced to opt for private colleges that charge a hefty fee. Sources said the university had refused to enhance the number of seats as the Punjab Government had failed to provide additional infrastructure in the college. Of the total 20 sanctioned posts of lecturer, 16 have been lying vacant since long. The college has been managing its affairs with the help of the guest faculty. Sandeep Dhuria, Syndicate member, Panjab University, who is also District Education Officer, Fazilka, said efforts were on to get more seats sanctioned for the college.
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Govt ranking for allotting business
Chandigarh, June 29 The country's top lenders like State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India and IDBI Bank have failed to make it to the list of top 10 banks to be considered by state government departments, boards and corporations for maintaining their accounts running into hundreds of crores. Interestingly, Punjab National Bank, which is the lead bank in Punjab, has managed to secure just the ninth position while HDFC Bank, which had secured the top position in the government's ranking in June last year and then vanished from the list in December, has again made its entry at number 10 (in the latest ranking). The ranking is done by the state's Institutional Finance and Banking Department, based on the banks' performance in respect of national goals set out by the Reserve Bank of India. Officials in the department say the ranking is done based on how each bank operating in Punjab had performed in advancing loans for priority sector, agriculture, weaker sections and based on each banks' credit deposit ratio in the state and its NPAs. However, over the past few months, banks operating in the state have been voicing their concerns over the method adopted by the government for ranking them and allotting business. The issue has also been raised in the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC) meetings. Banks have been demanding that each bank's network or branches in the state and its total business in the state should be considered. They have also sought that large or commercial banks should be ranked separately from the cooperative or small banks as the latter do not have sizeable branch network. The latest ranking of all scheduled commercial banks, including private and regional rural banks, has been done based on their performance as on March 31, 2014. This means that all state government deposits, running into hundreds of crores, will be made in these banks. All advances, departmental payments, salaries and pension too would go through these banks, based on their ranking. As per this ranking, Punjab State Cooperative Bank has got the top position, followed by Axis Bank and Malwa Grameen Bank. Satluj Grameen Bank is at the sixth position. The other banks are Allahabad Bank (4th), Corporation Bank (5th), Canara Bank (7th), Bank of India (8th), followed by PNB and HDFC Bank respectively. Money matters
Banks’ concerns
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Unusual love story: Lawyer weds addict
Jalandhar, June 29 “I never thought my life would turn so beautiful. I met Mahi (Harshdeep) during a court hearing. It was love at first sight. But I was hesitant to approach her as I was on drugs at that time,” said Amandeep who took to drugs after his family business suffered heavy losses. “To win her over, I finally decided to quit drugs,” said Amandeep. Asked about her unusual decision to marry an addict, Harshdeep replied: “I was attracted by his simplicity and I decided to support him in his war against drugs and married him.” She said her parents were initially reluctant to accept Amandeep but agreed to the marriage after much persuasion. The couple now plans to launch a crusade against drugs with the help of a few close friends. “It is important that parents do not quarrel in the presence of their children who may take to drugs out of sheer dejection,” said Amandeep.
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Govt laboratory messes up blood report
Bathinda, June 29 The doctor’s report, in possession of The Tribune, reveals that a private pathologist found the government lab’s blood group report to be incorrect. Hardeep Kaur of Nathana, was admitted to the hospital on June 28 with fever. The pathologists there said her blood group was AB-positive. The family came to the blood bank to get blood of that group. The authorities there cross-examined the sample with the blood report of the patient and found the blood groups to be different. Dr Satish Goyal, SMO, civil hospital, said, “There might have been some lapse. This is the reason why we get the tests conducted at private labs.” Vini Mahajan, Principal Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, said she was yet to receive any complaint.
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HC ex-Chief Justice SS Dewan dead
Chandigarh, June 29 Chief Justice Dewan, 86, was elevated as the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 24, 1989. He remained on the post till December 31, 1989. He was perhaps, the first judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court to be administered oath as the Chief Justice on the high court premises. Customarily, the Chief Justice is administered oath at the Governor House. But in a first, the then Punjab Governor, Siddhartha Shankar Ray, came to the high court for administering oath to him. Otherwise also, Chief Justice Dewan was known for his acumen in dealing with criminal cases. His elder daughter Joshita said Chief Justice Dewan passed away in the wee hours at his Sector 11 residence after a brief illness. Describing him as "very active, disciplined and a great family man", his younger daughter Sabina said he was an avid lawn tennis player; and in fact enjoyed playing the game for no less than 52 years. His cremation at the Sector 25 grounds in the afternoon was attended not just by his family and close friends, but also by retired and sitting judges of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, including Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, Justice Hemant Gupta, Justice Mahesh Grover, Justice GS Sandhawalia, Justice Daya Chaudhary and Justice Ritu Bahri. Former Chief Justice of the Allahabad High Court Justice SS Sodhi also paid homage to the departed soul. Joshita said kirtan and antim ardas would be held at the Sector 11 gurdwara on Wednesday.
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Nab real culprits in anti-drug drive: NAPA
Phagwara, June 29 Chahal said the government should create more jobs for the unemployed youths and drug dealers should be put behind
the bars. “The government is treating drug addicts as criminals. The drive against drug menace is welcome, but the government is going soft on real culprits. Instead of imprisoning addicts who are the victims of misfortune, the government should crack down on the drug mafia,” he added.
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Residents protest supply of contaminated water
Bathinda, June 29 The residents today held a meeting and decided
to take up the issue with the authorities. Sewage water was contaminating drinking water in the area, they alleged. "We have brought the issue to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner, the Municipal Commissioner, the Assistant Commissioner and Bathinda MLA Sarup Chand Singla, but to no avail," said Sukhdarshan Singh, a resident of Natha Singh Wali street. They were getting contaminated water for the past over one month, he said. The residents raised slogans against the authorities and threatened to launch a massive stir if the officials concerned failed to ensure supply of clean drinking water within two or three days.
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Animals destroy crops, villagers meet MP
Ropar, June 29 A delegation of Mailkpur, Kwaspura and Chandpur villagers met him in this regard today. The residents said the land near their villages was acquired for setting up a hydel project in 1989. As the project could not take off due to a controversy over the SYL canal, the land was left abandoned. A number of wild animals, including wild pigs and blue bulls, have found shelter in the wild growth that had come up on the abandoned land, they said. These animals destroy crops in the night, causing huge losses to farmers, they said. Chandumajra said he would take up the issue with the state government and the Centre. As an immediate step, he would try to get the area fenced, he said.
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Veterinary hospitals have no facility to store vaccines
Chandigarh, June 29 A large number of these hospitals are without any building, said veterinary doctors who did not want to be identified. Only 390 of these hospitals have the requisite staff. The rest have been rendered virtually non-functional. “There are no tables, chairs, almirahs or fans or coolers. Washroom facilities, particularly for women, are appalling. In several cases hospital land is being tilled by private parties who have the backing of sarpanches,” a doctor said. Another doctor said: “The Centre has started a special programme to vaccinate cattle against a certain disease so that exports are not affected. But most of the hospitals have no refrigerator to store the vaccine.” When contacted, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Sikander Singh Maluka said: “We have been meeting groups of veterinary doctors. Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has been apprised of various problems faced by them. Certain grievances appear genuine and will be dealt with at the earliest”. The state government had not been able to avail of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) schemes for upgrading hospitals. Also, questions are being raised regarding the quality of medicines supplied. Reliable sources said the biggest reason for the pitiable state of affairs was that Additional DCs, who had been given the charge of the Veterinary Department, rarely looked into the department functioning. Veterinary doctors were recruited in hospitals on a contract basis in 2006 on a lumpsum Rs 21,000/per unit. The doctors kept Rs 15,000 as salary and distributed the remaining amount among the staff members of his unit. Doctors in this category say that the government is yet to honour its election promise of paying them on a par with doctors in the Animal Husbandry Department. Maluka said the matter was being looked into.
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Maize to be grown on another 800 hectares in Sangrur
Sangrur, June 29 During last kharif season, the area under maize in the district was 1,700 hectares. In 2012-13, area under maize was just 500 hectares. District agriculture authorities are of the view that farmers may prefer sowing maize instead of paddy if the minimum support price (MSP) of maize is remunerative. Sangrur Chief Agriculture Officer (CAO) Dr Rajinder Singh Sohi said the state Department of Agriculture had provided the maize seed to the farmers at a subsidy of 50 per cent. The seed was being sold at the block level offices of the
Agriculture Department in Sangrur, Bhawanigarh, Sunam, Lehra,
Malerkotla, Ahmedgarh and Dhuri, he said. Moreover, the area under cotton is also set to increase by 1,500 hectares; and area under moongi to increase by 700 hectares. Thus, crops other than paddy will be cultivated on a total of 3,000 hectares this kharif season. In the last kharif season, area under cotton was 12,000 hectares and under moongi only 300 hectares.
Diversification push
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Garbage dumps surround schools in Abohar
Abohar, June 29 Large garbage dumps can be seen outside DAV Mahatma Gandhi Middle School in Arya Nagar and RSD Girls School near JP Park in Nai Abadi. Local residents have even complained of skin problems due to the lack of hygiene. Most of the schools in Nanak Nagari and Gobind Nagari remained surrounded by overflowing sewage. "The pollution caused by garbage dumps and the overflowing sewage also makes it difficult to prepare midday meals in a cleaner environment," said a member of the Midday Meals Workers Union. The union at a meeting in Nehru Park here had reiterated their demand for a cleaner environment. Consumer Movement chairman Satpal Khariwal said though a contractor based in Bathinda had been engaged to lift garbage using tractor-trailers and JCB machines, over 1.75 lakh residents had got no relief. An NGO member said that thousands of people travel on Railway Roads, but the drains remain filled with silt and roads littered with waste. He demanded that all
the dumps be cleared before the schools reopened on Tuesday.
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Progressive farmers in Abohar grab Rajasthan CM Raje’s attention
Abohar, June 29 Raje was told by agriculturists that the bumper crop in watermelon had led to lower retail prices of Rs 10 per kg. Agriculturists said even families below poverty line could afford to buy watermelons in Hanumangarh, Sriganganagar and neighbouring areas, including Abohar and Fazilka, in the scorching heat. Watermelon is thought to have originated in southern Africa, where it is found growing in the wild. The watermelon family, Cucurbitaceous, was originally found in southern Africa. Khushal Singh told Raje that he had adopted drip irrigation, plastic mulch technique and developed huge water storage tank. He said he was able to build the facilities due to the subsidies offered by the state. He said, "Watermelon farming can be a good proposition. Precision farming, drip irrigation system and improved varieties will help farmers to attain economic gain in the region. We are getting almost seven times of what we had invested in cultivation practices," he said. In the same village, another progressive farmer Ram Avtar Singh Shekhawat has installed solar photovoltaic system (PV system) which is an arrangement of components designed to supply usable electric power for a variety of purposes, using the Sun as the power source. The system can comfortably run 18 fountains, besides meeting domestic requirements, Shekhawat said. He has equipped solar panels with auto tracking system which moves after each 20 minutes to draw optimum energy. He has emerged a successful grower of groundnuts, grams and wheat crop. Raje said such farmers in a sleepy village would become role models for others in the desert state.
Setting an example
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Robbers strike in Sangrur village
Sangrur, June 29 Gurpreet Singh Dhindsa, DSP, Sangrur, said the robbers decamped with 120 gm of gold ornaments and
Rs 30,000 in cash.
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Councillor, two others killed in accident
Patiala, June 29 Others killed in the accident were SAD worker Amarjit Singh and Surinder Singh. Baljeet Singh was admitted to a hospital with serious injuries. The four friends were on their way to Barog for two-day vacation when their car skidded off the road yesterday. The deceased were cremated in Patiala on Sunday afternoon.
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Exposing tall claims of the Punjab Government of helping Punjabis stuck in Iraq, those returned home from the strife-torn country alleged the government did not provide any help.
Commenting on the issue of Balad Kalan village's Panchayat land (reserved for
SCs), state president of the BSP Parkash Singh Jandali today asked the Punjab Government to cancel the case registered against Dalits at the Bhawanigarh police station following a clash between protesters and policemen. He sought the release of 41 Dalit protesters who were sent to judicial custody yesterday.
MP Dharamvir Gandhi has demanded that the recent hike in fee payable at government hospitals and dispensaries should be rolled back immediately. He also demanded that all medical tests should be free for the poor.
The building of Panjab University Regional Centre (PURC) located on Tibbi Sahib Road here is in a poor condition. Set up in 1998, the building has been declared unsafe by the Maintenance Department of the university. The roofs of some of the classrooms have even collapsed, other rooms leak, while the inside of the building is in a poor state.
Before the PURC was set up, the SGPC ran a school here. A number of youths, who turn up at the centre from
Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Chandigarh to take admission, complain about the poor upkeep of the building.
Jalandhar, June 29
Residents of Natha Singh Wali street, Mehna Mohalla and few other localities are up in arms against supply of contaminated water in their areas.
Most of the 592 veterinary hospitals under the Department of Rural Development and Panchayats do not have refrigerators to store drugs and vaccine. The financially well-off Department of Animal Husbandry had transferred these financially sick hospitals to the zila parishads in 2011.
Though the state Education Department had convened meetings of school heads at the district level last week to ensure school premises were cleaned before the summer vacation ended, the Municipal Council has not removed the garbage dumps from outside some institutions.
Khushal Singh's success story in watermelon farming in Seruna village has grabbed the attention of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra
Raje. On her way back from Hanumangarh yesterday, she halted at the village, 47 km from
Loonkaransar.
