Jalandhar, May 8
Municipal Corporation, Jalandhar, (MCJ) was at the receiving end during the monthly Grievances Committee meeting here today.

Most of the issues that the MC officials countered were not on the agenda of the meeting. This reportedly led to much chaos, as the officials were not able to give satisfactory reply to the queries. The officials demanded that the queries should have been sent across to them through agenda in advance.

The MC members said that the newly-constructed roads in Fateh Nagar had been dug up by a telecom company that was to lay its cables. The members asked the Commissioner, Mr S.S. Johl, whether the company had taken prior permission from the corporation. The Commissioner came up with the easiest answer, as he said that he was not aware of the issue and he would have to check up the matter.

Mr Johl was once again in a piquant situation when Mr Manoj Arora, a representative of Mr Mahinder Singh Kaypee, Transport Minister and MLA from Jalandhar South, asked as to why the fancy street lamps installed recently along the road divider in Model Town were removed. The issue reportedly was discussed at a length without any logical conclusions to it.

The next question that the MC officials confronted pertained to the bad condition of Mithapur Road and the delay in its repair. The officials replied that the road repair work had begun and it would be completed in due course of time.

Mr Ashok Gupta, a Congress leader, raised the issue of parking problems outside marriage palaces on the GT Road. Ms Harsimarjot Kaur, member of Disciplinary Action Committee of the PPCC, asked the corporation officials as to why no corner of the city was clean, even as they had put up slogans, “Keep the city clean and green”, at a number of places here.

Mr Raj Kumar Gupta, MLA from Jalandhar Central, talked about the poor condition of Hoshiarpur Road from Lamba Pind to Jandu Singha. He said that the road fell in the constituency of Chaudhary Jagjit Singh and that it was ironical that he (Chaudhary Jagjit Singh) could not get it repaired, even though he was the Minister for Local Bodies. At this, the minister’s son, Mr Surinder Singh, President of Zila Parishad, said that the area did not fall in his constituency.

Mr R.S. Arneja, representative of Ms Gurkanwal Kaur, the Minister of State and MLA from Jalandhar Cantonment, raised the question over the bad civic amenities in Urban Estate. He questioned as to why the roads with big potholes had not been repaired. He also alleged that the PUDA officials had destroyed the extended green belts on the outer side of the houses and imposed fines on the residents to the tune of Rs 38,000 by pick and choose policy.

The meeting was chaired by Mr Ramesh Chander Dogra, Health Minister, Chairman of the committee, after a gap of two months. This was the first meeting of the committee chaired by Mr Anurag Verma, new Depuy Commissioner.

The monthly meeting of the Planning Board, which, too, is usually chaired by Mr Dogra on the same day was not held today, as the minister said that no funds had been received for action in the new financial year and the plans had been finalised for this month in advance during the previous meeting. 

Kapurthala, May 8
Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) and Bharatiya Janata Party staged a dharna in front of the district courts here today to protest against the “failure” of the Congress government on all fronts.

Bibi Jagir Kaur, MLA, Bholath and former President Shiromani Gurudwara Prabhandhak Committee, Ms Upinderjit Kaur, MLA, Sultanpur Lodhi and former cabinet minister, Mr Raghbir Singh, former cabinet minister, besides Mr Jarnail Singh Wahad, Mr Kulwant Singh Josan, both local Akali leaders and Mr Hira Lal Dhir, district president, BJP, and Mr Narottam Dev Ratti, a prominent BJP leader of the state, accused the Congress government of failing on all fronts to look after the interest of farmers, urbanites and poor people.

They also criticised the police for registering “false” cases against the local Akali leaders alleging that the cases were registered at the behest of Congress leaders. Later, they submitted a memorandum to Mr Bhawna Garg, ADC.

Chandigarh, May 8
While accusing the Opposition parties of trying to scuttle the mega projects approved by the Empowered Committee, Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, said the opposition leaders were trying to garner votes in the name of supporting farmers whose lands were being acquired for these projects.

The Chief Minister was addressing media persons at Mohali, after inaugurating the Fashion Technology Park. He accused his bete noire and President of the Shiromani Akali Dal, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, and Mr Sukhbir Badal of trying to stall the development of the state for their "political gains". Citing a case, he said the Rs 2000 crore expansion plan of Abhishek Group of Companies was being run down by politicians, even as most of the farmers had already accepted the renumeration. Capt Amarinder Singh said Mohali was going to be the hub of industrial revolution in Northern India in the near future. Most industrial houses from the country and abroad were looking at Mohali as their most favorite destination due to the congenial investment climate coupled with investor-friendly policies.

Referring to the industrial development in the state, Capt Amarinder Singh said 180 mega projects worth Rs 60000 crore had been approved by the empowered committee under his chairmanship and were under the various stages of implementation. He said initially these projects would generate employment potential for 12000 to 13000 persons that were likely to touch 20000 mark with the growth of ancillary units.

As many as 52 eminent companies in the field of Information Technology from India as well abroad have evinced keen interest to set up their industrial units at Moahli. Citing the example of Wipro, the Capt said there was some delay in the allotment of the land to Wipro due to the pending PIL in the court which had been now disposed of and the government would soon allot the requisite land to the Wipro to set up their unit. He said Satyam and Clariant would also soon join the bandwagon as they had already decided to make hefty investments in the IT sector.

Replying to another question on the sanction of environmental clearances to the mega projects, the Chief Minister said he had already written to Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Union Minister of Forests and Environment, Mr A.Raja separately to allow the State Government with the practice of issuing provisional NOCs for all projects of Rs 50 crore and more, but also enhance the limit of Rs 50 crore to at least Rs 250 crore. 

Chandigarh, May 8
Even as the Northern region sizzles at over 40°C Haryana and rural areas of Punjab are reeling under a severe power shortage. While Punjab is facing a shortfall of 1500 MW at peak hours, Haryana is facing a peak hour shortage of 400 MW-500 MW.

While Haryana has imposed power cuts for two to three hours on its urban and industrial consumers, Punjab has decided not to supply power to the farmers’ tubewells till June 10, so as to tide over the present crisis. The power supply to tubewells in farms will be resumed only after June 10, so as to facilitate Punjab farmers in sowing the paddy, informed senior officials of the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

Till yesterday, Punjab had imposed unscheduled cuts on urban and industrial consumers, and even imposed a compulsory weekly off on industry. But with their power purchase agreements with other power trading companies and state electricity boards in place, the cut on the urban and industrial consumers have been withdrawn, said the Member Distribution, PSEB, Mr H.S. Sekhon.

While there was relief for consumers in Punjab, the shut down of a 200 MW unit at Panipat, worsened the situation for consumers in the state today. The duration of the cuts was increased all over the state to deal with this shortage in supply. Officials in Haryana Power Utilities said that though the power purchase agreements for getting almost 600 MW are in place, the execeptional hike this year has led to the power crisis.

With the demand in the two states increasing by over 13 per cent this year, the Haryana Power Utilities and the Punjab State Electricity Board had not envisaged a severe shortfall in supply. Officials in the two states said they had planned for a hike of 8 per cent, but with the temperatures being so high, the demand had increased substantially. Yesterday, Haryana supplied 745 LUs of power, which has been the highest so far in this season, while Punjab supplied 1065 LUs.

Officials in the two states, while taking several internal administrative measures (installing capacitors on transmission lines, checking power thefts etc.), say that in the days to come the crisis would only worsen. With the farmers set to sow the paddy in their fields next month, the agriculture consumers will have to be supplied an assured eight hours of electricity, thus putting the burden on industrial and domestic consumers.

Phagwara, May 8
As city reels under long spells of power cuts, the widespread use of gensets has exposed the residents of Phagwara, especially children and elders, to respiratory infections. Doctors observe that respiratory diseases are on the rise in the city, which has a high incidence of asthma among the children and the middle-aged.

Though normally, the cases of allergies caused by multiple factors are seasonal and occur when pollution level goes up, the exposure of kids to this new form of pollutant has contributed in increasing the incidence of such diseases. Since the use of gensets has become a sort of compulsion, thousands of residents, especially those staying in congested areas, are exposed to this new menace.

“Keeping in view the convenience of public, we have no alternative but to use gensets, as power supply remains cut off for around four to five hours daily. And this has been going on for the past one week. The situation is almost the same in other residential areas and commercial establishments,” says a bank manager.

As per doctors’ observation, the use of gensets that emit pollutants has added a new contributory factor to the prevalence of respiratory diseases, if the number of patients coming to different city hospitals and clinics is any indication. “We are getting fairly frequent number of bronchial asthma and naso-bronchial allergy cases on daily basis,” says a doctor of a private hospital.

The doctors say that the frequent and longer power cuts and the consequent use of pollution-emitting gensets render the youngsters aged between 2 and 6 years more susceptible to allergies.

Though the common allergies include repeated sneezing, irritation in eyes, nose and throat, the long exposure to smoke emitted by gensets can have a trigger effect on asthmatic cases, the doctors say. There should be some kind of regulation to keep a check on the use of poor quality of gensets being used in commercial establishments. Besides, the cuts should be limited to mornings and evenings if the authorities concerned can help it, suggests a doctor.

It is pertinent to mention here that most of the banks and commercial establishments have allegedly encroached upon government land and put up gensets along the roadside, thus causing health hazards and noise pollution. These alleged encroachments also obstruct vehicular traffic.

“We do send our men to these banks and other commercial establishments to vacate the government land of gensets, but these reappear after some time. We are planning to serve them some legal notices,” Mr Malkiat Singh Ragbotra, Phagwara Nagar Council President, said.