AGRICULTURE

Principal Secretary visits mandis
Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, October 7
Mr P. Ram, Principal Secretary, Food and Supplies, Punjab, visited Samrala, Doraha, Payal and Maloud mandis of Ludhiana district today. He was accompanied by Mr S.R. Kaler, ADC, Ludhiana, Mr Parveen Vij, DFSC, Ludhiana, and other senior officers of the district.

According to an official press note, Mr Ram interacted with farmers in all mandis, who expressed their satisfaction over the arrangements made by the agencies for purchases and day-to-day lifting of food grains from the mandis. He emphasised on the functioning of the dispute settlement committees in mandis. He instructed the procurement agencies that the names and addresses of the members of the committee should be promptly displayed in the mandis.

He appreciated that farmers were not using combine harvestors during night which had helped them bring dry grain to mandis. He interacted with the arhtiyas and directed them to use only power cleaners for cleaning the paddy and make more arrangements for generators also. He disclosed that till date 4796558 MT of paddy had been procured in the state out of which millers had purchased only 836793 MT, government agencies namely the Food and Supply Department had purchased 4,98,122 MT; Markfed 8,07,91 MT; PUNSUP 710191 MT; PSWC 657794 MT; PAIC 275559 MT; and FCI 1010161 MT. Last year till date 2864823 MT paddy had been procured in the state. This year 1931335 MT more paddy had been purchased as compared to last year.

Mr S.K. Sandhu, Deputy Commissioner, Ludhiana, disclosed that in Ludhiana district 443519 MT paddy had been purchased till date. Out of this the Food and Supply Department had purchased 47366 MT; Markfed 61965 MT; PUNSUP 80398 MT; PSWC 55140 MT; and PAIC 32824 MT paddy. Last year the government agencies had purchased 79 per cent of the arrivals till date, whereas this year government agencies had purchased 91 per cent of the arrivals, which showed that farmers had got higher benefit.

He further stated that he had directed the SDMs to make daily visits to the mandis and ensured that all arrangements are foolproof. All procurement agencies had been directed for earlier purchase and prompt lifting and payment to the farmers. He advised the farmers to contract his office, in case of any difficulty.

EDUCATION

Stage events feature at ‘Koshish-2001’
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
‘Koshish-2001’, an inter-class cultural festival, continued for the second day at the Punjab College of Technical Education (PCTE) yesterday. The function started with stage events, mono acting and mimicry at 9 a.m. Other events like mime, Indian solo song, orchestra, turn coat, mock press conference, face painting etc were also held. The festival started on September 29 with Fine Arts events like sketching, cartooning and photography. More than 80 per cent students of the college are participating in the festival. All students from MBA, MCA, BBA and BCA are taking part in the events.

Over 20 students from various classes participated in the photography competition. Participants were required to take photographs during the entire festival week and submit their 10 best photographs. Students showed keen interest in face paining competition.

In quiz competition, Gautam and Deepak from BBA (final year) got the first prize. Nitin and Parteek from MBA (first year) won the second prize. MCA (first year) students enthralled the audience with their excellent performance in India group dance and won the first prize. Girls from MBA (final year) performed bhangra and bagged the second prize, whereas the third prizes went to MBA (first year) students. In dumb charades, students from MBA (final year) won the first and second prize.

In mime, MBA (final year) performed brilliantly on the theme of injustice on women in the society and won first prize. BBA (final year) students won the second prize and BCA (first year) Section B students won the third prize.

Dr K.N.S. Kang informed that the overall trophy would be given to the best performer in the evening at the prize distribution function. Apart from this, university position holders will also be awarded.

COURTS

Forum asks Concorde to pay compensation
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 7
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed Concorde company to pay Rs 7,000 as compensation on account of deficiency in services to Mr Ravinder Pal Singh Deol, who is proprietor of the Deol Cement Depot and Building Material Store. The forum has further directed to pay Rs 500 as cost of litigation to the consumer.

According to the complaint, Mr Deol had purchased a Sumo Spacio (PB10-UT-3929) from the company on May 31, 2000, for business purposes. He stated before the forum that the said vehicle developed some faults right from the day one of its purchase. After that the consumer went to the authorised dealer of the company for service which kept his vehicle for seven days for checking up but due to non-availability of the spare parts, the defects could not be removed, he added.

The consumer disclosed that the vehicle again started giving trouble and when he took it to the service centre, it was kept for 25 days. Even after waiting for such a long period, the defect in the vehicle could not be removed properly and it again started giving trouble, he added. It was alleged that there was clear deficiency in services since the company could not remove the fault even after keeping the vehicle for four weeks.

The company pleaded that the complainant had purchased the vehicle for business purpose. So he was not consumer. The respondent admitted the purchase of vehicle and its registration number as disclosed by the complainant. It was further stated that the vehicle had to be brought to service station after every 4,000 km by the complaint was careless. It was alleged by the company that the complainant did not adhere to the schedule of getting vehicle serviced.

The respondent denied that the vehicle had developed faults from the day one of purchase. It was further stated that the in October, 2000, the vehicle was struck into fourth gear and the complainant had left the vehicle for removing the fault which was caused due to mishandling of the vehicle by him. The respondent disclosed that the complainant had given certificate of satisfaction on November 11, 2000, and again on November 29, 2000. The vehicle was never retained unnecessarily and there was no deficiency in services, it added.

The forum observed that the objection raised by the respondent that the complainant was not a consumer, was not sustainable as the vehicle was not used as taxi. The forum stated that according to the job cards produced, the vehicle was once kept for a period of seven days and 10 days respectively for the jobs which required less time. The forum held that keeping vehicles for such a long period was a clear deficiency in services and directed the company to pay Rs 7,000 as compensation for that.