AGRICULTURE

‘Over 32 lakh MT of paddy purchased in Punjab’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 3
About 32 lakh tonnes of paddy had been procured in the state till last evening out of which the government agencies had procured 25.84 lakh tonnes and millers 6.16 lakh tonnes. During the corresponding period last year, the total purchase was 17,14,694 tonnes and the government agencies had procured 9,91,265 tonnes.

This was stated by Dr G. Vajralingam, Director Food and Supplies, Punjab, who reviewed the procurement operations with the officials of the department and district managers of procurement agencies here last evening.

Earlier, he had visited the mandis of Patiala, Sangrur, Bathinda, Muktsar, Ferozepore and Moga. Various aspects of procurement, including availability of stock articles, labour, transport and storage space were discussed. He expressed his satisfaction over the smooth procurement going on in the district.

Giving details about the share of agencies in the procurement of paddy, he told that the Food and Supplies Department had procured 3,24,907 MT, Markfed 5,38,792 MT, PUNSUP 4,62,186 MT, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation 4,26,407 MT, Punjab Agro Industries Corporation 1,77,667 mt and FCI had purchased 6,54,876 MT.

During the current season, the government agencies in the state had procured almost three times more paddy as compared to last year, he added.

During his visit to the mandis, Dr Vajralingam conducted checking of commission agents and suspended licenses of 12 commission agents at Muktsar, two at Faridkot and two at Moga.

Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, disclosed that in this district 2,51,550 mt of paddy had been procured till date. Out of this government agencies have procured 2,21,631 mt and millers accounted for 29,919 MT.

The FCI led the tally with 66,765 MT, followed by PUNSUP with 42,999 MT, Markfed 35,138 MT, Punjab State Warehousing Corporation 29,576 MT, Food and Supplies Department 26,360 mt and Punjab Agro Industries Corporation 20,583 MT. Mr Sandhu further said that lifting was done almost on day to day basis. Only the day’s purchase remained in the mandis. Regarding payments, he disclosed that all the agencies had been directed to make payments within 48 hours.

A couple of days delay occurred only due to half yearly bank closing on September 29 and October 2 being national holiday. The payment position had improved with the farmers being paid within specified period, he claimed.

Arhtias threaten stir over non-payment of paddy dues
Tribune News Service

Khanna, October 3
The Arhtias Association of the Khanna mandi has alleged that the government agencies were delaying the payment of paddy already been procured here. Despite government’s claim of full payment within 72 hours of the auction, they alleged, not a single payment has been made by the Punsup officials and more than Rs 5 crore in the form of payments were pending with other agencies. The payments to the farmers have also been subsequently affected. The association has threatened the government that it would launch an agitation if the payments were not made by tomorrow.

Mr Sadhu Ram Nanda, president of the association, alleged that the Punjab Agro Industry has to pay over Rs 2.97 crore to the arhtias for the paddy, which has already been lifted by the agency. He said: ‘‘The Punsup has not made a single payment to the arhtias till today even after 10 days since the commencement of paddy procurement. Similarly, the Punjab Warehousing Corporation has cleared the payments for the paddy purchased till September 25 only’’.

A delegation of the arhtias met the manager of Punsup here today and demanded the payments. However, they alleged that they were just given assurances and not the cheques. Mr Sucha Singh, Manager, Punsup, when contacted, admitted that the payments had been delayed due to some unavoidable reasons. He said: ‘‘We have already cleared the cheques worth Rs 70 lakh for the paddy procured till September 24, and these would be given by tomorrow. The balance amount would be cleared in the next few days.’’

Incidentally, the auctions for about 8,000 tonnes of paddy was cancelled yesterday in the mandi after rainfall. The water had inundated some areas of the mandi and pumps had to be used to pump out the water. Farmers alleged that paddy worth lakhs of rupees was damaged due to non-arrangement of proper sheds. In fact there was no arrangement for tarpaulin in the Rahaon grain market.

The officials of the market committee stated that 60,830 tonnes of paddy had been purchased by September 30, including 10,945 tonnes by FCI, 8,205 tonnes by Food and Supplies Department, 5,175 tonnes by Markfed, 7,370 tonnes by Punsup, 5,995 tonnes by Punjab Warehousing, 5,000 tonnes by Punjab Agro and 18,140 tonnes of paddy by private agencies.

The arhtias alleged that officials of the agencies cancelled yesterday’s auction and asked them to dry the paddy despite the fact that bidding had been made by them. They would have to spend extra labour and money to sell it again. They have urged the state government to intervene at the earliest else they would be forced to resort to agitation.

Arhtias seek Mittal’s intervention
Tribune News Service

Khanna, October 3
A delegation of the Arhtias Association of Khanna Mandi today met Mr Madan Mohan Mittal, Minister for Food and Supplies and urged him to instruct the agencies to expedite the payment of paddy that had been pending for the past many days. They alleged that despite the government’s claim about full payment within 72 hours of the auction, payments worth more than Rs 5 crore were pending, including Rs 1.70 crore towards the Punjab Agro Industries. The minister assured the arhtias that efforts would be made to expedite the payment process.

The arhtias had reportedly threatened the government yesterday that they would be forced to launch an agitation, including boycott of procurement, if the payments were not cleared by today. Consequently, the minister made a visit and tried to calm them down. Interestingly, the Punsup, which had not made a single payment by yesterday, cleared the payments worth Rs 70 lakh and the Punjab Agro also cleared the cheques worth more than Rs 1 crore.

Mr Sadhu Ram Nanda, president of the Arhtias Association, alleged that the Punjab Agro Industries had to pay Rs 1.70 crore to the arhtias for the paddy which had been already lifted by the agency. He said,‘‘ The Punsup has cleared the payments only up to September 24. The other agencies were also delaying the payments on one or other reason. ’’

Incidentally, the auctions for about 8,000 tonnes of paddy was cancelled on October 1 in the mandi after the rains. The water had accumulated in some areas of the mandi and pumps had to be used to pump out the water. Farmers alleged that paddy worth lakhs of rupees was damaged due to lack of proper arrangement of sheds and polythene cover.

Officials of the Market Committee disclosed that 69,380 tonnes of paddy had been purchased by October 2 in comparison to 74,080 tonnes on that day last year. Mr Jyoti Kamal, Secretary, Market Committee, disclosed that the delay in paddy transplantation in some areas and decline in yield per acre had affected the paddy procurement. However, the quality of paddy was relatively better as compared to the previous year. 

EDUCATION

Teachers threaten mass leave on Oct 5
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 3
To protest against the suspension of Mr Harbans Kaur, lecturer, Dev Samaj College for Women, Ferozepore, the Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union will go on a mass casual leave on October 5.

Stating this in a press note, Prof K.B.S. Sodhi, president of the union, said that the teachers would court arrest outside the residence of Mr Janmeja Singh Sekhon, Minister for Irrigation, by blocking traffic for his alleged support to Ms Madhu Prashar, principal of the Ferozepore college.

Prof Sodhi said that the decision was taken at a meeting outside the Senate Hall of Panjab University, Chandigarh, yesterday. He said that it was decided that the struggle would be intensified at two fronts — one at Chandigarh before the office of college managing committee, Dev Samaj Bhavan, and the second before the office of the Deputy Commissioner of Ferozepore.

He said the college teachers from various districts of Punjab would sit on dharna from October 8 to 18 at Chandigarh, while teachers from the Ferozepore colleges would hold protest dharnas outside the DC office the same dates.

However, the union members have appreciated the decision of the Vice-Chancellor, Dr K.N. Pathak, to constitute a committee to resolve the issue expeditiously. 

Quiz competition
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 3
Middle section students of Gupta Model High School, Club Road, participated in an inter-house quiz contest held here this evening.

Three students represented each of the three teams. Ramanpreet, Ravideep and Jaspreet represented the Rohini house team, Ratika, Gaganpreet and Sunny formed the Bhaskar house team and Amanjot, Esha, and Manpreet Singh represented Aryabhatta team. Students were asked questions based on current affairs, science and history. Mr Manan Gupta, teacher, conducted the quiz contest.

A short cultural programme was also held which began with Saraswati Vandana, followed by dance items on songs, ‘Coco jumbo’ and ‘Mein nikla gaddi le ke’. Besides, a new college auditorium was also inaugurated in the name of Mr Surinder Gupta, founder principal of the quiz.

Mr Chander Shekhar, IG, Police, gave prizes to the winners of quiz. Ms Simmi Gupta, principal, appreciated the efforts of the students. 

COURTS

Forum penalises PSEB for wrong billing
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 3
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has quashed a demand of Rs 23,135 by Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) from Ms Manjit Kaur, a resident of Abdulapur Basti. The forum directed the PSEB to refund the amount deposited against the said demand along with the interest at the rate of 12 per cent per annum from the date of recovery till actual refund.

The forum has also directed to pay Rs 700 to the consumer as the cost of litigation. Moreover, the PSEB is directed to restore the electricity connection within three days of receipt of the order.

According to the complaint, Ms Manjit Kaur received a bill of Rs 25,512 in which Rs 23,512 was added on account of outstanding electricity charged. Ms Manjit Kaur stated before the forum that she was a consumer of the electricity connection with meter No. 34/1179-H while the outstanding electricity charges were included in the bill issued on account of electricity recorded by meter No. 29/0131.

Ms Manjit Kaur pointed out that how could she be charged for the electricity consumption recorded by electric meter installed in the name of Mr Jaswinder Singh, who was a separate consumer. She said her power connection was disconnected for non-payment of the bill.

She demanded from the forum to quash the said demand.

The PSEB pleaded that earlier the meter No. 29/0121 was installed on the premises of the complainant and it was permanently disconnected on February 6, 2000. The board stated that at the time of removal of the meter, the concerned Junior Engineer had remarked on the permanent disconnection order that the amount outstanding be recovered from the account of the complainant.

The respondent further disclosed that both the electric connections were installed on the same premises and the complainant was bound to pay the said amount. It stated that the demand had been rightly raised and the complaint was liable to be quashed.

The forum observed that the amount outstanding against the connection of Mr Jaswinder Singh was added to the complainant’s bill. The forum stated that as per the rules, the PSEB could not add the amount of another connection in the bill of another consumer. The forum held that the said amount had been illegally added to the account of consumer and quashed the demand of the amount by the PSEB. 

Manch to stage Punjabi play from October 7
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 3
The Ludhiana Kala Manch will celebrate its silver jubilee with the production of Kuknus Marda Nahin on October 7 and 8.

The manch’s productions over the years include Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler, Major Isshak Mohd’s Musalli, Paritosh Gargi’s Chhaleda, Asquar Wazahat’s, Inna Di Awaz, Rana Jang Bahadur’s Bodi Wala Tara, and Dr S.N. Sewak’s Farhad, Jaal, Janam Din and Sukraat.

Kuknus Marda Nahin deals with the life and strength of legendary folkhero, Dulha Bhatti, who has become an integral part of Punjabi cultural consciousness.

It employs classical, folk and modern techniques to build the theme and artistically combines musical and dramatic elements. It involves elaborate stage design and special light and sound effects. It has a cast of about 30 characters, which gives it an epic dimension.

The play will be staged in the open air theatre of Punjabi Bhavan on October 7 and in the Government College for Women on October 8. It has been written and directed by Dr S.N. Sewak, a retired Professor of English in the field of Punjabi theatre.

The guests during these productions will be Dr Amrik Singh Pooni, President, Punjabi Sahitya Akademi, Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Mr Raminder Singh, Additional Commissioner, Municipal Corporation, and Dr K.S. Aulakh, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Agricultural University.