Bathinda, October 13
A resident of Veer Colony is making the rounds of courts fighting a legal battle with the Powercom for the last five years. While he was refunded a sum of Rs 1.71 lakhs on the orders of the District Consumer Forum, the amount was taken back from him on the orders of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum. Another order passed by the Permanent Lok Adalat in Bathinda gave a judgment in his favour but he again lost the battle in the court.

The process of losing and wining is on ever since the applicant, 46-year-old Ashok Kumar was accused of stealing power from a meter installed outside his residence in Veer Colony.

A shopkeeper by profession, Ashok has been opposing the claims of the Powercom since 2009. He claims that the electricity meter, from which he was charged with pilfering power, is not registered in his name.

Apart from Rs 60,000 charged as compounding fee, a penalty of Rs 1.71 lakh was imposed on him. Fearing that the power connection might be snapped, he deposited the entire amount.

He, however, contested the case in the District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum which accepted his complaint in February 2012 and directed the Powercom to refund Rs 1.71 lakhs.

The applicant (Ashok Kumar) made an appeal in the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in Chandigarh wherein he also sought a refund of the compounding fee of Rs 60,000 as well.

The Powercom refunded the Rs 1.71 lakhs but also made an appeal before the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum against the District Forum's decision. In January 2014, the state commission refused to entertain the case on the pretext of a Supreme Court order and directed the applicant to file a case in the lower court.

"Then we again filed a case in the Permanent Lok Adalat in Bathinda which passed a judgment in our favour in July 2014. A review application by the Powercom, however, has reversed the orders of the Permanent Lok Adalat," said the complainant's lawyer Ramji Das Garg.

In its order, the Permanent Lok Adalat passed an order in favour of the Powercom which stated that in the interest of justice, equity and good conscience, the earlier order was liable to be reviewed as the same had been passed on the basis of alleged facts which were against the record. As such, the applicant was not entitled to a refund of Rs 60,000, as ordered by the Permanent Lok Adalat.

• A shopkeeper by profession, Ashok has been opposing the claims of the Powercom since 2009. He claims that the electricity meter, from which he was charged with pilfering power, is not registered in his name.

• Apart from Rs 60,000 charged as compounding fee, a penalty of Rs 1.71 lakh was imposed on him. Fearing that the power connection might be snapped, he deposited the entire amount.

Bathinda, October 13
With the paddy procurement in Bathinda district going on in full swing, the grain markets of the district have registered the arrival of 47,208 tonnes of paddy of which 38,395 tonnes has already been procured, till October 12. During the last season, a total of 81,5585 tonnes of paddy was procured and on the corresponding day last year, 50,934 tonnes of paddy was purchased.

Elaborating on the same, the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg, said six government procurment agencies and commission agents were buying paddy in the district. He said the procurement agencies have been directed to ensure that payments for the procured paddy are made as per the government guidelines.

He also took the opportunity to appeal to farmers to bring the produce after drying it properly so that they do not face any problem during procurement. He also appealed to the combine harvester owners to follow the ban imposed on using combine machines from 7 pm to 10 am so that the market gets the produce which has been dried and has proper moisture content.

The agencies were directed to ensure that farmers do not face any problems while marketing their produce. The agencies were also asked to ensure that the procured produce was lifted on time to create space for more produce bound for the market.

District Civil Supplies Controller, AP Singh, said till October 12 Pungrain had procured 5,117 tonnes of paddy, Markfed procured 8,459 tonnes, Punsup 8,234 tonnes, Punjab State Warehouse Corporation 4,044 tonnes, Punjab Agro 6,951 tonnes, the Food Corporation of India (FCI) 3,815 tonnes and commission agents had procured 1775 tonnes of paddy.

He added that on October 12, Pungrain procured 818 tonnes of paddy, Markfed procured 1,621 tonnes, Punsup procured 1,376 tonnes, Punjab State Warehouse Corporation procured 466 tonnes, Punjab Agro had procured 1606 tonnes and the Food Corporation of India (FCI) procured 868 tonnes.

He said 178 procurement centres have been set up in the district of which arrival and procurement has started in around 90 centres. At the remaining centers, arrival will soon start and so would the procurement.

Bathinda, October 13
In order to keep a check on the illegal sale of medicines without permission or licence, the Bathinda district health authorities comprising the drug inspector and other officials today conducted a raid in private medical shops and found medicines worth Rs 85,000 known as habit-forming drugs being sold illegally. 

A private medical shop was raided and the department found that the shopkeeper had no bills of sale and purchase of the habit-forming medicines. Drug inspector, Pradeep Sharma, said, “On instructions of the Chief Medical Officer-cum-Civil Surgeon, Bathinda, we conducted raids on medical shops as a matter of routine and found that a private medical shop, Raman Medicos in Bathinda, was selling habit-forming drugs without any sale purchase records and he also failed to produce the bills of purchased medicines.”

“Action according to law would be taken against the medicine shop owner. There are clear-cut instructions to all the medical shop owners about the sale and purchase records of drugs. The habit-forming drugs estimated to be worth Rs 85,000 have been recovered and seized and taken into custody by the department,” added Sharma.

A number of other medical shops were also raided on Monday by the district Health Department. — TNS

Bathinda, October 13
Guru Kashi University (GKU), Talwandi Sabo, has introduced two tropical varieties of apple-- 'Anna' and 'Dorset'. The saplings have been supplied by the NEAUVA plantation free of cost to the GKU in public interest.

These varieties have been tested since January 2014. Till date, the performance of the varieties at the GKU research farm has been good and there is no sign of the leaf getting scorched and nutrient deficiency symptoms. The performance of the plantation is being studied with the help of solar radiation resource assessment-cum-advance metrology lab in association with the MNRE, Government of India.

Dr BS Chahal, coordinator of the project, said apple is a premier table fruit and Indian states like Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have achieved distinction in the cultivation of the fruit.

But these states could not meet the growing demand for apple in the Indian markets, he said, and added that apple cultivation from the lower hills has shifted to the higher hills because of the rise in temperature.

The Indian Government has also stepped up efforts to save the apple economy and low chilling varieties have been introduced which are suitable not only for the lower hills but also for the plains; where apple is traditionally not grown. 

These varieties require low chilling hours (less than 300 hours) as compared with the traditional varieties which have a high chilling requirement between 800-1500 hours.

Dr NS Malhi, Vice-Chancellor, GKU, appreciated the efforts of the Dean, Agriculture, Dr Ajmer Singh Sidhu and Dr Bhagwant Singh Chahal (horticulturist) for the project. This will bring about a revolution in fruit cultivation in Punjab, he added.

Sukhraj Singh Sidhu, managing director, GKU, lauded the efforts of agricultural scientists and stated that the production of tropical apple in this belt will definitely have a positive effect on the economic aspects of the state. This will also help in meeting the requirement for apples in the country.

Bathinda, October 13
The Punjab Dairy Board has launched a scheme to empower women with dairy farming practices. Under the scheme, women are encouraged to open dairies thereby raising the standard and quality of dairy farming.

Elaborating on the selection criteria, Deputy Director, Dairy, Bathinda, Karnail Singh, stated that any woman who is a resident of the state, has passed matriculation, is married, is aged between 20 to 25 years and has security to pledge towards bank while borrowing the loan, is eligible to be covered under the scheme.

The interested beneficiaries can submit their applications by October 22 at the office of Deputy Director, Dairy, Bathinda, room No. 301 E to 302 E on any working day.

After being selected, the beneficiary would be given two weeks of training and 50 per cent subsidy for opening farm consisting of milk yielding cattle, cattle feed, fodder harvester and bulk milk chilling centres etc.

Bathinda, October 13
With the pictures of their late husbands, fathers, and brothers or sons in their hands, a number of women and elderly men and women staged a protest in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office in Bathinda. They, the protestors, are relatives of small and marginal farmers who had committed suicides following unable to pay the debt and the losses in farming.

“My only son committed suicide following the debt but he has left behind his wife and two children including a daughter” said a sixty-year-old mother of late farmer Gurjivan Singh of village Sivian in Bathinda. “The government should have provided us immediately the compensation so that we could have provided a shop to my daughter in law in same village whereas now she had to work as a labourer at the farm of village landlord.”

A mother of two girls and four sons, Veerpal Kaur of Kalalwala, first witnessed death of her father-in-law and then mother in law with cancer that cost her family too expensive for treatment of both. However later her husband a small farmer started working as a labourer in Haryana but committed suicide on April 26 last year following a heavy financial debt of private lenders and land owners. “I have been working as a maid in houses of villagers and feeding my children. The future of my children is in the dark and the state government had not even helped us of a penny. We are waiting for the money meant under compensation to us as that could help us to marry my daughters.”

Shingara Singh Mann, District President, BKU (Bhartiya Kisan Union) Ekta Ugrahan, said, “The government had failed to keep its word of providing compensation to affected families of farmers who had committed suicide in the last many years. Only during the elections the promises are made and nothing on the ground is done for farmers. We had staged protest today and the protest would be intensified soon if the government fails to fulfill the demands of farmers and provide compensation to affected families. The Central government has released funds for farmers but the state government is not distributing it among the farmers. For a long time, the district collectors had not released the amount of compensation to the affected families of victim farmers whereas earlier, they use to claim the faults and error made by the clerks in mentioning the names of victim farmers.”

Bathinda, October 13
A play “Yudh te Budh” by the artists of Dr Sahib Singh’s theatre team was played at the Balwant Gargi Open Air Theatre in the Rose Garden, Bathinda, on the fifth day of Natyam’s Fourth Theatre Festival. Today, Latif Ahmad, DTO, Bathinda, was the chief guest and AP Singh and Dr Davinder Singh Mann were the special guests to watch the play at the Balwant Gargi Open Air Theatre.

The play 'Yudh te Budh' is all about the insurgency in kashmir and the youths joining groups of militants as an outcome of unemployment in the valley— Jammu and Kashmir. The message of people living there in abject poverty as the root cause for insurgency and other such problems is shown in the play that is written and directed by Dr Sahib Singh from Mohali. Dr Sahib Singh is a well- known writer and director of plays.

Artists Vinod Kumar, Rajinder Kaur played the role of parents whereas Mandeep, Pahul and Arshika played the role of Kashmiri young children. Baninder Bani and Manu acted as Army men in the play.

Many personalities promised yesterday to help the Natyam group economically do the theatre activities regularly. People from Muktsar and Dabwali are especially coming daily to watch the plays. On October 14, Vimal Midda's team from Abohar will stage “Bapu Jamme Char Nikamme” from 7.15 pm onwards. — TNS

Bathinda, October 13
The Bathinda District Congress Committee leaders and workers today threatened to intensify their stir against the police department and the state government in case their demand pertaining to the transfer of SHO Canal Colony police station. The protestors also submitted a memorandum of demands with the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Bathinda, Dr Basant Garg.

Alleging that the Police Department was taking their demand lightly, the protestors stated that since the SHO was a public servant, he should have conducted himself well instead of misbehaving with the Congress leaders and workers.

They added that on the first day of their dharna, they had given the Police Department time till October 14 to order the transfer of SHO, Gurpreet Singh. They further stated that if the Police Department failed to keep the deadline, they would be left with no option but to intensify their stir to lay bare the fact that the police were working on the behest of the state government.

“We have been demanding that the SHO of the Canal colony police station be transferred since he had misbehaved with the Bathinda District Congress Committee president, Mohan Lal Jhumba, but the same has not been done over the past six days. We have been camping outside the police station as a mark of protest but the police department has not taken any action,” said the protestors.

They also added that since they were sure that the Police Department will not heed their demands, they were getting ready to intensify their stir and let the common man join their protest.

Bathinda, October 13
Demanding that the case registered against the circle secretary of the All-India GDS Union be cancelled and the female stenographer, who had registered a case be transferred, the Rural Postal Department employees today held a dharna outside the Main Post Office in Bathinda today.

Addressing the gathering, divisional secretary of the union, Balwinder Kaur Khara, stated that the Rural Postal Department employees have always worked to the best of their capabilities. She added that despite the fact that the employees were working on meager salaries and still working hard, the department had always dealt with them in a step-motherly manner.

She further stated that the circle secretary of the All-India GDS Union had gone to Balwinder Kaur to apprise her of the problems being faced by the Rural Postal Department employees but instead of listening to the demands, she accused him of misbehaving with her following which the circle secretary was suspended from duty.

They added that if the suspended, the circle secretary of the union was not reinstated into the department till October 20, employees of the Rural Postal Department from the entire state will stage protests. They further stated that if the reinstature is not done till November 10, the employees will launch a state-wide strike. — TNS