Thursday, December 9, 1999
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Thursday, December 9, 1999 |
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Experts against free
power FEROZEPORE, Dec 8 — While the ruling Akali Dal has yet to decide on whether to continue with the free power facility to farmers in the state, experts at the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra feel the policy should be scrapped to save the agriculture sector from more problems. Rs 31 crore more for Khalsa celebrations ROPAR, Dec 8 — The Union Government has released Rs 31 crore to the Punjab Government for Khalsa tercentenary celebrations. A draft of this amount was received by the state government from the Centre yesterday. |
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Bank arrests defaulting farmers BATHINDA, Dec 8 — The state Land Mortgage Bank authorities have started arresting farmers who have faulted in making payment of loans taken by them from the farm and the non-farm sectors. Terrain a problem in nabbing
ultras: Omar Jakhar
rues absence of agriculture policy House
panel visits Roadways depot Notice
to Punjab in land deals case Doctors,
dentists resent delay in release of scales Bhatia
decries wheat import Company
told to pay damages Strike
by GND varsity students Gang
of robbers busted CPI
leaders’ plea on sewerage Make
report public: PCCTU Seminar
on Sufi studies |
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Experts against free power FEROZEPORE, Dec 8 — While the ruling Akali Dal has yet to decide on whether to continue with the free power facility to farmers in the state, experts at the local Krishi Vigyan Kendra feel the policy should be scrapped to save the agriculture sector from more problems. Attributing the decline in the underground watertable and marginalisation of poor farmers to the policy “apparently aimed at favouring rich landlords, the experts warn that free power will have an adverse affect on the farming sector in Punjab. The experts told TNS that doing away with free power was imperative to save the farming sector from a more serious economic fallout. Pleading anonymity, the experts said free power had encouraged the farmers to use tubewells injudiciously with little care for the declining underground water. The problem is aggravated during the sowing of paddy when maximum water is used by farmers. Besides, the farmers are encouraged to go for the two-crop system. This further affects the fertility of land. While Punjab Agriculture University, of which the Vigyan Kendra is an extension, has been recommending judicious use of underground water, the free power policy has seen an unhealthy trend in this direction. “This has also encouraged the farmers, to sell water to their compatriots without tubewell connections”, an expert observed. Subsequent revenue loss to the state electricity board, the experts feel, has also resulted in a situation where the marginal farmer is unable to get tubewell or motor connection at subsidised rates. The electricity board is forced to impose inconsistent power cuts on this count. On the whole, the policy is aimed at favouring rich farmers with large land holdings. An indication to this effect available with the experts is that not many marginal farmers have motor connections to avail free of power. Mainly, rich landlords
have more number of motors in their fields and they sell
water at a price to poor cultivators. The policy is
apparently aimed at political advantage from affluent
landlords, the experts feel. |
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Rs 31 crore more for Khalsa
celebrations ROPAR, Dec 8 — The Union Government has released Rs 31 crore to the Punjab Government for Khalsa tercentenary celebrations. A draft of this amount was received by the state government from the Centre yesterday. The draft is issued in favour of the Punjab Chief Secretary. It is the second and final instalment of the total amount of Rs 50 crore which was earmarked for the Punjab Government by the Centre for holding tercentenary celebrations in the state. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, had announced a grant of Rs 100 crore for holding Khalsa tercentenary celebrations as National Committee for Khalsa Tercentenary Celebrations had decided in 1998 to organise the celebrations throughout the country. While the Centre decided to release Rs 50 crore to the Punjab Government for the purpose and a formal announcement was made by the Chairman of the Implementation Committee for Khalsa Tercentenary Celebrations, Mr Murli Manohar Joshi, at a meeting of the implementation Committee at New Delhi on December 31, 1998. Earlier, out of Rs 50 crore earmarked for the Punjab Government, only Rs 19 crore was released to the state by the Centre. The draft of Rs 19 crore was handed over to the Punjab Chief Minister and Vice-Chairman of the implementation committee, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, by Mr R.V. Vaidyanande Ayyar, the Union Secretary for Cultural Affairs, on February 24 last at a meeting of the committee held at Anandpur Sahib. Confirming the receipt of a draft of Rs 31 crore for the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations, the Chief Executive Officer of the Anandpur Sahib Foundation, Mrs Vini Mahajan talking to The Tribune today on the phone said the amount of Rs 31 crore would be spent on the construction of Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex at Anandpur Sahib, and the concluding ceremonies of the Khalsa tercentenary celebrations to be held in April next year. Mrs Mahajan in reply to a question said the state government had so far released Rs 13.50 crore to the Anandpur Sahib Foundation which had already been spent by the foundation on the construction of Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex and the tercentenary celebrations held in April this year. When asked about the remaining amount of Rs 5.50 crore, out Rs 19 crore provided by the Centre as first instalment, Mrs Mahajan said the state government had spent crores of rupees on the development projects at Anandpur Sahib and around the holy city in the past several months. In reply to a question
whether the state government will hand over this amount
(Rs 31 crore) to the Anandpur Sahib Foundation, Mrs
Mahajan said she did not know about this at this
juncture. However, the foundation would seek to get it
from the government for the smooth functioning of
construction work at the Khalsa Heritage Memorial Complex
and holding of concluding ceremonies of the tercentenary
celebrations, she added. |
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Row over school land PATHANKOT: A row over a school land has been given political colour following an altercation between the Principal of the local Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Mrs Rewa Sharma, and Mr Sukhdev Wadhera, a hotelier. Mrs Rewa Sharma is the wife of the Punjab Forest Minister, Mr Mohan Lal, who is also a BJP leader while Mr Wadhera has been a Congress supporter. The tussle between the school Principal and the hotelier has been going on for the past many years over a piece of land measuring 13 marlas. This is a prime piece of land situated in the Post Office Chowk near the heart of the town. Mrs Sharma has claimed that this land was the property of the school and was being used for holding classes in the open and for a cycle stand. She said the school authorities had all powers to utilise this land. The trouble arose when sewerage works was in progress on the land and Mr Wadhera tried to obstruct the work being carried out to connect the sewerage pipes with the main pipes. Over 1,000 school teachers drawn from nearly all the local schools protested at the hotelier’s alleged move to grab the school land which has been evaluated at over Rs 1 crore. The teachers took out a protest march and held a rally also, condemning the act of the hotelier. The teachers also submitted a memorandum to the local administration demanding strict action against the hotelier who forced the development work being carried out in the school for the benefit of over 2,500 girls students and 100 teachers to be abandoned. On the other hand, Mr Wadhera claims that the piece of land was his ancestral property and the Principal wanted to encroach upon the land at the behest of her politician-husband who is also a Cabinet Minister in the SAD-BJP Government. Mr Mohan Lal while
contesting the claim of the hotelier said the land was
the property of the school and had been used by the
school for the past 50 years. He said that he would raise
the issue with the Chief Minister. |
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Bank arrests defaulting
farmers BATHINDA, Dec 8 — The state Land Mortgage Bank authorities have started arresting farmers who have faulted in making payment of loans taken by them from the farm and the non-farm sectors. Official sources said the Land Mortgage Bank authorities were arresting those farmers who had not paid loan instalments for the past three years in the first phase. The sources said in Bathinda district alone more than 20 farmers had been arrested so far while arrest warrants against 500 farmers had been issued. The sources said if the bank authorities did not take any action in this current financial year to recover the defaulted amount from the farmers, the bank would start showing losses in its balance-sheets. The sources said in Bathinda district alone more than Rs 2.5 crore was due as recovery from the farmers as capital amount. More than Rs 50 lakh was to be recovered in the shape of interest on the loan. There were at least 2500 defaulters in this district. Mr Nand Singh Sidhu, Manager, local Land Mortgage Bank, told TNS that if the bank authorities did not recover the defaulted amount then it would not be able to advance loans to needy farmers next year. Moreover, there would be a cut on the capital amount of the bank. He pointed out that in the past two years, no defaulting farmer had been pressed for depositing the instalment as the state government had issued instructions to go slow on loan recovery as the crop had not been too good. But this year the crop had been good and the farmers were in a position to pay their instalments. He said most defaulters had taken loan from the non-farm sector. He said farmers were being arrested after following due procedure. He pointed out that if
the bank did not recover Rs 2.5 crore from the
defaulters, branches of the bank in this district would
suffer a loss of Rs 1 crore each. |
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Terrain a problem in nabbing
ultras: Omar JALANDHAR, Dec 8 — A comparison between terrorism in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir is odious but it may have been better if militancy in the hill-state had been tackled the Punjab way. Stating this at a press conference here today, Mr Omar Farooq Abdullah, Union Minister of State for Commerce and Industries, said the major difference between the nature of turmoil in the two states was that of terrain. “While the security forces found little difficulty in tracking down and nabbing militants in the plains of Punjab, the difficult terrain in Jammu and Kashmir provided shelter to them”, he observed. Mr Omar Abdullah said another difference was that employment opportunities were provided to the youth by the government by setting up big industries in Punjab, whereas there had been no such initiative in the hill state. Denying that the Army was running the show in the valley, Mr Omar Abdullah said there was “perfect” coordination between the Army authorities and the civil administration and both were working in the same direction — to restore the faith of people in the law and to eliminate militancy. He hoped that the militancy would be controlled more effectively in the winter spell as snow had led to the closure of several passes. Seeking and economic package for his home-state, Mr Omar Abdullah said this was the need of the hour as the economy of the hill-state had crashed due to prolonged militancy and the “indifferent” attitude of the Centre in the past. “They should have come forward with a loan waiver as had been done in the case of Punjab,” he said. He demanded that heavy
industry should be set up in Jammu and Kashmir so that
people had more avenues of employment which would go a
long way in solving the problem of militancy. |
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Jakhar rues absence of
agriculture policy ABOHAR, Dec 8 — The NDA-led Union Government seems determined to ruin the farmers who are considered the backbone of the country’s economy. Stating this, Mr Bal Ram Jakhar, former Union Agriculture Minister and one of the founders of the Bharat Krishak Samaj, said at his residence at Panjkosi village, near here, today that even after 52 years of Independence we had not been able to formulate a national agriculture policy. Leaders of the present government talked much about swadeshi but he wondered why sugar was imported from Pakistan when our own mills had plenty of stocks in their godowns. Mr Jakhar said it was equally surprising that the government had not been able to exhaust thousands of bags of wheat stored in the godowns of official purchasing agencies for the past three years but the government allowed import of wheat too. Now finally cotton growers had been stabbed in the back by the NDA government by allowing import of cotton from Pakistan and other countries. The narma cotton rates had thus come down by Rs 400 to 500 per quintal. The former Lok Sabha Speaker said the policies adopted by the Union Government regarding import of produce available in plenty in the country were proving fatal for the farmers. He regretted that the fate of paddy and sugarcane growers in Punjab was alarming. He had been told by scores of farmers on his arrival here yesterday that they had to pay gratification up to Rs 40 per bag to facilitate procurement of paddy by the government agencies in Punjab. Mr Jakhar said these agencies were aware they had to purchase grains every year but each time scarcity of gunny bags was created. Besides inadequate arrangements for lifting of the bags from the grain yards obviously to indulge in loot and plunder of the farmers. Mr Jakhar relying on the tall claims made by the SAD leaders farmers in Abohar, Fazilka and Jalalabad subdivisions had increased the area of cultivation for sugarcane from 21,000 acres to 42,000 acres so that the Fazilka co-op sugar mills could utilise its crushing capacity. But the state government had delayed crushing of sugarcane by two months. Mr Jakhar said it was unfortunate that 80 per cent population lived in villages and depended on agriculture yet scores of farmers had to commit suicide in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh as they were unable to repay bank loans and debts of the commission agents due to crop damage and unremunerative prices. The leaders who had been
burning cotton on the pretext of lower rates had not
bothered to spare time to understand and solve the real
problems of the farmer. While driving in Punjab one could
see distress sale of tractors by farmers in every town.
This was contrary to the claims of prosperity in the
state. Punjab was earlier known for the highest per
capita income but the SAD misrule had made it the highest
per capita debited state in the country. |
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House panel visits Roadways
depot JALANDHAR, Dec 8 — The 13-member budgetary committee set up by the Punjab Vidhan Sabha to look into the utilisation of funds by Punjab Roadways inspected the two depots of Punjab Roadways here today. Talking to mediapersons after a meeting of the committee here today, Mr Natha Singh Dalam, chairman of the committee, said before finalising its report, the committee would take views of different sections associated with Punjab Roadways and would discuss their problems and suggestions put forth by them. He said the objective of the committee was to inquire whether funds were being utilised properly by the Roadways or not. He said the committee would also go into details of facilities being provided to passengers at different bus stands in the state. The Punjab Roadways Employees Union has expressed the apprehension that they may be retrenched and that the committee is studying the financial implications of such an exercise. Mr Harbhajan Singh, press secretary, alleged that a top-heavy bureaucracy had led to the financial mess in the Roadways. Mr Dalam, however, said
the issue of retrenchment of employees did not fall under
the purview of the committee which would give suggestions
to the government regarding possibilities of improvement
in the working of the Roadways. |
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Notice to Punjab in land deals
case CHANDIGARH, Dec 8 — Mr Gurbaksh Singh Dhillon of Naya Gaon village (Ropar) today filed a civil writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking a direction that a copy of the reasoned order passed by the Lok Pal, on the basis of which he closed a complaint filed against a Congress leader and a former Minister Jagmohan Singh Kang, be supplied to him, a Bench comprising Mr Justice G.S. Singhvi and Mr Justice N.K. Sud, today issued notice of motion to the state of Punjab, the Lok Pal and Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, former Revenue Minister, for February 12, 2000. It was alleged in the petition that Mr Jagmohan Singh Kang, secured land deals in Naya Gaon, Mullanpur Garibdas and Rattanpur villages in Ropar district worth crores of rupees in the name of his close associates as benami and in the name of his brother, Mr Jagjit Singh Kang. The petitioner made a complaint in May, 1996 before the Lok Pal that Mr Kang being Revenue Minister took advantage of his position and secured undue gains for himself and his family and acquired property disproportionate to his known sources of income. It was proved on record by producing witnesses and documentary evidence to some real or benami persons and later on transferred to Mr Kang's brother as well as other relatives. Counsel for the petitioner contended that despite all the allegations were fully proved on record but the Lok Pal's office informed the petitioner that allegations made in the complaint had not been substantiated and the case had been closed. The petitioner's request for supply of the order passed by the Lok Pal, was also declined. Counsel contended that the decision of the Lok Pal conveyed to the petitioner was no decision in the eyes of law. He submitted that as per Section 12 of the Punjab Lok Pal Act, if the Lok Pal dismissed the complaint after preliminary scrutiny then he has to record his reason for the same but in the present case after preliminary inquiry Lok Pal had not done so. Lensman's slapping case adjourned In the petitions filed by Mr Ajay Verma a press photographer of a news paper Desh Sewak, and another correspondent against Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal, Akali Dal candidate from the Faridkot constituency, Mr H.S. Mattewal, Punjab Advocate-General, appearing for the respondent contended that Mr Ajay Verma in his original complaint had not taken the stand which he had ultimately taken in his petition. His petition was completely at variance with his earlier complaints recorded in D D Rs registered at the Kotkapura (City) police station. Mr Mattewal was arguing before Mr Justice T.H.B. Chalapathi of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The petitions have sought CBI inquiry into the alleged incident. Mr Mattewal told the court that in the earlier reports, it was mentioned that during the violence an Akali sympathiser's car was damaged and he was taking the photograph, when his camera was lost. He argued that in such a situation when a car of Akali worker was damaged there was no provocation for Mr Sukhbir Singh to slap or snatch the camera of the complainant. The case has been
adjourned to December 13. |
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Doctors, dentists resent delay
in release of scales AMRITSAR, Dec 8 — The Panjab Medical and Dental Teachers Association today expressed their deep anguish over the delay tactics adopted by the government in releasing the revised pay scales as per the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations. A spokesman of the association while talking to The Tribune here today pointed out a meeting fixed for yesterday with the Chief Secretary and the Finance Secretary to clear their new scales was postponed and another meeting had now been fixed for tomorrow. The doctors added that the government had been creating hurdles to release their scales on one pretext or another and asserted that in case there was no positive outcome in the meeting tomorrow. They would be either be forced to continue with the total boycott the examinations or may quit “en masse”. The spokesman however clarified that all medical teachers today took the practical examinations and would also do so tomorrow but the remaining papers would entirely depend on the outcome of talks with the senior government functionaries. The association had been
fighting for the new pay scales during the last two years
and felt let down as the senior government officials had
been equating the scale on the basis of UGC grades which
had excluded the medical and dental college teachers from
its recommendations. But he added that the government had
been insisting on revising the scale on the UGC pattern,
while ignoring the recommendations of the Fifth Pay
Commission. |
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Bhatia decries wheat import AMRITSAR, Dec 8 — Import of wheat has created a problem for the country while huge stocks of wheat were already in the states of Punjab and Haryana. Former Minister for External Affairs R.L. Bhatia in a press note here yesterday pointed that while large wheat stocks already rotting in godowns and were not being released when flour mills were facing virtual closure due to a big difference in the price of wheat imported from Australia by southern states. As offtake of wheat was considerably low by the flour mills which had resulted losses as storage cost works out to Rs 1400 per quintal a year and foodgrain had filled all godowns. Although, the Centre had not taken any step to help Punjab state to lift the stocks and make the storage available for coming paddy, rice and wheat crop. Mr Bhatia claimed that huge loss had been caused and national wealth was being wasted due to lack of vision on the part of the government besides blocking of the capital. The grain would unfit for human consumption if it remained stored in godowns for longer period. He urged the government
to stop import of wheat and let its stocks be utilised to
save farmers and the industry. |
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Company told to pay damages PATIALA, Dec 8 — The District Consumer Redressal Forum has directed an air-conditioner manufacturing company and its dealer to pay a compensation of Rs 1000 to a consumer and replace faulty parts of an air-conditioner. Mr G.S. Khurana, president, and Mr Parduman Bhutani, member of the forum, directed Feeders Lloyds Corporation Ltd, Chandigarh, and National Agencies, Sheranwala Gate here to replace within three weeks the compressor and fan motor of an air-conditioner bought by Mr O.P. Gupta. According to a copy of the order received here yesterday, Mr O.P. Gupta had moved the forum seeking the replacement of the air-conditioner which had not been functioning properly ever since it was purchased. He also demanded compensation for deficiency in service. Ruling out complete
replacement, the forum found evidence of manufacturing
defects. It also accepted the plea of deficiency in
service and ordered the dealers and manufacturers to
ensure proper functioning of air-conditioner. An
additional Rs 500 was also be given to the consumer for
recovering the cost. |
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Strike by GND varsity students AMRITSAR, Dec 8 — Students of the various departments of Guru Nanak Dev University here went on a strike against alleged hike in tuition fees today and blocked traffic on the GT Road for an hour. Talking to the Tribune Dr Satinder Singh, Dean Academic Affairs of the university, denied and proposed hike in the fee and added that the representatives of the students who made an representation were clearly told that there was neither any move to raise the fee structure nor there was any proposal to do so. Later, the striking students dispersed. The Dean, however,
added, the confusion regarding the 50 per cent marks each
for internal assessment and the written for the B. Tech
class which had to be calculated individually or on
aggregate basis needed to be sorted out. He claimed that
the campus was peaceful and the students were busy in
their terminal and semester tests. |
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Gang of robbers busted BARNALA, Dec 8 — The police busted a gang of robbers and extortionists numbering seven responsible for various incidents of robbery and extortion in Sherpur and Raikot regions. Disclosing this here in his office today (Wednesday), Ishwar Singh Senior Superintendent Police (SSP) of Barnala Police District revealed that seven-man gang was busted by Sherpur police on December 3, after it had robbed a retired teacher Basant Kumar and his wife Promila Devi of Sherpur of Rs 2.24 lakh a gold chain, two gold bangles and a pair of gold ear-rings at pistol point. The SSP informed Gurbinder Singh alias Binder, Avtar Singh alias Tari, Gurbinder Singh alias Kala, Major Singh, Resham Kumar alias Yeesha, Amarjit Singh alias Ranta and Ranjit Singh all seven members of robbers gang were arrested and a case under Sections 395/397 IPC 25/54/59 Act was registered at Police Station Sherpur. The police recovered
from robbers gang a gold chain, two gold bangles, one
pair of ear-rings, cash worth Rs. 82,300, one pistol 315
bore and live cartridges following their arrest. |
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CPI leaders’ plea on
sewerage BATHINDA, Dec 8 — Mr Joginder Bhasin, former secretary, CPI, Punjab, Mr Jagdish Singh Ghai, secretary, Bathinda city unit, and Mr Jagmohan Kaushal, chairman, trade unions have urged the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, to hand over the construction and maintenance of sewerage to municipal councils. In a joint press note issued here, they demanded that all improvement Trusts should be brought under the control of the municipal councils and municipal corporations for efficiency in the development of the urban areas. They said the Punjab Government should make efforts to check the menace of fly ash in the city which was badly affecting the health of people and agriculture production. Roads and streetlights in the city should be repaired. They also demanded that
the bus stand should be shifted as it would cause
inconvenience to the public. |
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Make report public: PCCTU JALANDHAR, Dec 8 — The Punjab and Chandigarh College Teachers Union (PCCTU) has demanded that the Amrik Singh Committee’s report on revamping the education system should be made public. In a press note issued here yesterday Dr V.K. Tewari, general secretary of the PCCTU, ridiculed a statement of the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal at Narangwal that the report would be implemented after due discussions. The state government had
thrown all norms to winds while appointing the committee.
He said the anti-employee and anti-college findings of
the committee would be strongly opposed if the government
tried to implement these through backdoor. |
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Seminar on Sufi studies JAHAN KHELAN (Hoshiarpur), Dec 8 — The second national seminar on Sufi studies was inaugurated by Mr Sarabjit Singh, Director-General of Punjab Police, at Police Recruits Training Centre here today. Speaking on the occasion he said Sufi thought had special relevance in police functioning as the police was a protector of human values and rights. Eminent scholar Gopi Chand Narang delivered the keynote address. Mr A.A. Siddiqui, Director, Punjab Police Academy, Phillaur highlighted the relevance of the Sufi thought. Prof Prem Kumar Nazar stressed the need to establish a centre for Sufi studies. Other scholars who
participated in the seminar included Khawaja Hasan Nizami
Sani, Prof Akhtar-ul-Waseh, Dr Gurnam Kaur Bedi and Dr
S.N. Sewak. |
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