The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

EDUCATION

PAU seeks Rs 17.35 cr aid
K. S. Chawla

Ludhiana, October 11
The Punjab Agricultural University authorities have urged the Punjab Government to release the grant worth Rs 17.35 crore to the university.

In a letter to the state government, the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Dr K. S. Aulakh, has stated that the additional sum of Rs 17.35 crore has been calculated on the basis of the expenditure incurred from March to July 2001, and the anticipated expenditure from August, 2001 to February, 2002.

The authorities have explained that the grant for the current financial year has been sanctioned on the basis of actual monthly salary of September 1999 and not September 2000 as was evident from the memo of sanctioning grant of Rs 63.63 crore through revised estimates of 1999-2000 and the budget estimates of 2000-2001. The same grant has been sanctioned for the year 2001-2002. The total amount from January to July, 2001 works out to Rs 16.09 crore. However, the actual expenditure under salary of staff and other committed liability from March to July, 2001 and the anticipated expenditure for the period August 2001 to February 2002 works out to Rs 16.35 crore. Interest of Rs 1 crore has to be paid to the employees due to the non-deposit of CPF and GPF in their respective accounts.

The Vice-Chancellor has also called upon the state government to release a grant of Rs 2 crore for the employees of the Ladowal Seed Farm who have been absorbed in the PAU after the transfer of the seed farm land to the University. Earlier, as many as 179 employees of the seed farm were transferred to the Punjab Land Reclamation and Development Corporation but the corporation had failed to pay the salaries to them and the Chief Minister had ordered their absorption in the PAU. The employees have been getting their salary from the university since May last. The monthly bill comes to Rs 1.5 crore . The state government has not yet released promised funds of Rs 5 crore for the construction of residential buildings and laboratories at Ladowal in lieu of the land given to PIMS at Jalandhar for the sugarcane farm.

Impact of WTO discussed
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 11
A lecture on ‘Impact of WTO on agriculture’ was organised at Gujranwala Guru Nanak Khalsa College, here today.

Talking to students of M. Com and MBA, Dr S.S. Johl, a renowned economist and former Vice-Chancellor of Punjabi University, Patiala, said several implications of WTO still needed to be studied. He said following its implementation, 3 per cent of the produce of a country would have to be kept open in the international market. Dr Johl told the students that to make their products more competitive, the governments would have to give various kinds of subsidies to their farmers. He said agricultural subsidies were of three types namely red box, green box and blue box. He said red box subsidy was the one in which the governments reduce the cost of production by giving subsidy to the farmers in the form of cheap electricity, water, fertilisers and pesticides. He said when the cost of production was reduced, the farmers were able to sell it at low price. However, this practice was considered unfair as per the rules of WTO, said Dr Johl.

Regarding the green box subsidy, Dr Johl said it was environment friendly. He said farmers were given some dues for keeping a part of their land vacant so that the it is able to replenish its nutrients for the next season. Under the blue box subsidy, the farmers were given benefits to fall short of production. He said this type of subsidy was still debatable and questionable.

Regarding the various issues still under consideration, Dr Johl said it was being decided that not only the produce but also the process of production would have to be patented. Besides, he said that removal of several restrictions on tariff was being sought.

Dr Johl blamed the Indian Government for not being considerate to its farmers. He said there was no pre-planning and no special schemes were mooted for them. He said the government only aims at reducing the cost of pesticides and fertilisers, however, much more was required to be done for them.

Prof G.S. Dua, in charge of the GGN Institute of Management and Technology, and Prof Kuldip Singh, Principal of the college, were also present, among others.

WTC attacks dominate exhibition at KVM
Our Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 11
The theme of terrorist attacks in the USA last month dominated the two-day annual exhibition at Kundan Vidya Mandir, here today.

Students from Class Nursery to XII demonstrated over 500 working and non-working models. But all eyes were on the model by Chetan and Arun of Class IX placed outside the school auditorium, in which two towers of the World Trade Center were set up and two aeroplanes were crashed into them.

The theme of terrorist attack was also prominent in the poster-making section in which students had made caricatures of Osama bin Laden and Omar Mullah, scenes of burning of the twin towers and counter attack on the Taliban. Other posters carried the message of ending the war to save humanity.

The exhibition was divided into seven sections. In the discoveries and inventions section, Girish Sharma and Adamya Rath of Class IV demonstrated the development of airways through models of Mirage 2000, MiG 29 and SAB 29. Models on discoveries of hunting tools, harpoon, seed germination, nitrogen and water power and inventions of weaving, mud house, windmills, sledge and wheel were exhibited. Vibhushit Kaul of Class V demonstrated the cultivation of mushroom.

In the same section, Gagandeep, Sahib, Navdeep and Kiran of Class VI made models of the Qutab Minar, the Taj Mahal and the Tomb of Sher Shah. Komal of the same class depicted her collection of Harappan jewellery made from bones, teeth, metal, woods, terracota and shells. Pratap Kamal Singh of Class VII displayed his coin collection, including those from Denmark, England, the USA, Russia, pre-Independence time of India as well as the one released on tercentenary of Khalsa.

In the science section, students had made models of nerve cell, plant cell, circulatory system, hearing system, digestive system and liver cells. Working models included those on breath force by Rancy and Himani of Class XI, adulteration by Ritika Sood and Rohi of Class X and moisture reduction equipment by Ravi Karan Sehgal of Class XI.

Members of the eco-club made various utility items from the waste materials. Paper bags and bread flowers by Sakshi Gupta of Class XI won everyone’s fancy. Yammi of Class IX made soft toys of cotton and wall hangings.

In audio-visual aid section, use of television, VCDs and VCRs was explained by Roohi and Devika and use of graphics, charts and maps was demonstrated by Neeraj and Kunal of Class IX. Besides, utility of overhead projectors, slide projectors and epidiascope was also explained. Mohit Jindal of Class XII displayed the various webpages of his official site of KVM.

In photography section, post card collections on various monuments was displayed by Neha and Mohit of Class X. Photographs during various school trips taken by school students were also exhibited.

In the gardening session, students exhibited the use of various agricultural tools, manures, pesticides, making of moss sticks, bonsai and grafting technique. A variety of palms, cactus and citrus fruits were also exhibited in the section.

In the art and craft section, various oil, water, fabric, glass, emboss and tin foil paintings were displayed. Posters carrying various messages were also displayed. Pots painted and then decorated with chips, clay structures, mirrors, rope and greeting card cuttings were also exhibited. In the home science section, students demonstrated the techniques of napkin folding, vegetable printing, pizza, sand painting and salad dressing.

Mr B.S. Sandhu, Income Tax Commissioner, was the chief guest. Dr Lajpat Rai, trustee, Mr Prem Aggarwal, manager, and Ms I. Kumar, Principal, appreciated the efforts of the students.

COURTS

3 witnesses turn hostile
Sunil Jain murder case
A Correspondent

Ludhiana, October 11
The murder case of industrialist Sunil Jain took a curious turn today with three main witnesses of the prosecution turning hostile and denying everything they had reportedly told to the police earlier. The case came up for hearing in the court of the Additional Sessions Judge, Mr A K Sharma.

Sunil Jain was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in his car near Dhandari Kalan railway station on December 23, 1999.

His brother Anil Jain alias Mikki is the prime accused in the murder case, who is facing charges under section 302 of the IPC and the case is registered in the police station Focal Point. He was later released on bail.

The case was registered on the statement of Rima Jain, wife of the deceased. During her statement recorded in the court yesterday, she reiterated her allegation levelled in the FIR blaming her brother-in-law Mikki for the murder.

Rima Jain submitted before the court that considerable pressure was being mounted on her to withdraw the case. She was allegedly being threatened. A number of cases including one under Section 307 was also got registered against her. However, the FIR was subsequently quashed since there was no substance in it.

Although there were no eye witnesses in the case, the main prosecution witnesses, including Lal Chand, Devinder Grewal and Ram Sharma retracted their earlier statements .

Forum directs PSEB to pay fine
Kamal Kishore Shankar

Ludhiana, October 11
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum has directed the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) to pay Rs 20,000 as compensation for deficiency in service to Mr Hardev Singh, a resident of Shimla Puri. The forum has also directed the PSEB to restore the electricity connection of the consumer within 10 days of the date of order and to pay Rs 500 as cost of litigation to him.

According to the complaint, Mr Hardev Singh had been running a small industry of fitter with a small power load and the factory was the only source of his livelihood. He stated before the forum that he had received a notice on July 7, 1999 mentioning that he had given a false affidavit about the residential status of colony and had not submitted a no objection certificate (NOC) from the Punjab Pollution Control Board.

He met the board officials and also wrote a letter to PSEB to explain that he had not given any affidavit in this regard and thus there was no question of giving a false affidavit. Moreover, he had submitted the NOC to operate the unit from Punjab Pollution Control Board on May 18, 1998. The consumer disclosed that the said electricity connection had been released only after the completion of all formalities.

It was alleged that the electricity connection was disconnected on July 24, 1999, in undue haste without affording any opportunity to him to present his case. It was further alleged that it was illegal to disconnect the electricity connection when the PSEB had received the NOC from the Pollution Control Board. The consumer stated that there was clear deficiency in services on the part of the PSEB to disconnect the electricity connection as it was an act against the rules of PSEB.

The PSEB pleaded that one Mr Gurcharanjit Singh had filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that certain consumers had filed false affidavits in respect to NOC from Punjab Pollution Control Board and that was why the electricity connection of the consumer was disconnected on July 24, 1999.

The respondent stated that a notice was issued to the complainant before 15 days of disconnection. It was further stated that the matter was sent to the Legal Cell, Patiala, for advice and in the mean time, period of one year from disconnection elapsed. After that the respondent had been advised to make fresh application for taking the connection but the he did not do so.

The forum observed that the respondent had illegally disconnected the connection of the consumer and instead of rectifying the mistake by restoring the electricity connection as soon as possible, it advised the consumer to move a fresh application for electricity connection. The forum further stated that advising the consumer to move fresh application for new connection was an illegal act on the part of the PSEB.