Sunday, September 12, 1999
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P U N J A B | |
Sunday, September 12, 1999 |
weather  spotlighttoday's calendar |
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Bhai
Ranjit Singh opposes change Bumper paddy crop likely |
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Man held
for filing false complaint 1 held after traders' protest over
thefts Mob attacks police post: 2 hurt "Umeed" to cover 570
villages NFL colony residents gherao MC
office PUTA to challenge govt decision 4 get life term for killing YC
worker VC stresses role of pure sciences GND University staff election S. S. Khaira |
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Sehajdari issue AMRITSAR, Sept 11 — Bhai Ranjit Singh, a former Jathedar Akal Takht today reiterated that he would withdraw his claim as ‘real Jathedar’ if the performance of the candidates of the ‘third front’ was worse than that of SAD-BJP candidates. Talking to the press at his residence here today Bhai Ranjit Singh however, claimed that the third front would win at least five seats in the state. To a question, the former Jathedar strongly opposed the draft notification of the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 in which Justice Harbans Singh (Retd) chief commissioner gurdwara elections had recommended omitting of the word ‘Sehajdari’. Bhai Ranjit Singh said that nobody had the right to change the age-old traditions and tenets of Sikhism. He further said that the definition of Sikh should not be changed although Sehajdaris should have equal rights of voting in SGPC general elections. However, Bhai Ranjit Singh supported Justice Harbans Singh (retd) on the issue of doing away with all kinds of reservations in the SGPC. It is pertinent to mention here that Justice Harbans Singh (retd), in his draft notification sent to the central government had opined that there should be no reservation in the SGPC so far as allocation of tickets for Shiromani Committee elections are concerned. He was also for doing away with reservation for women and scheduled castes on the plea that all ‘Amritdharis’ are equal in Sikhism. Elaborating, Bhai Ranjit Singh said even a Muslim could be a ‘Sehajdari’ if he believed in Sikh tenets. He said many Muslims and Hindus who stood by the Gurus at the time of crisis were ‘Sehajadaris’. Omitting the word ‘Sehajdari’ from the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925 would thus amount to changing the very definition of a Sikh and Sikh history. Replying another
question, Bhai Ranjit Singh supported yet Justice Harbans
Singh (Retd) on his ‘one man one post’
recommendation. Justice Harbans Singh had suggested in
his draft notification that any executive member of the
SGPC should cease to hold the post if he or she becomes
an MLA or MP and the chief and executive members should
work exclusively for promotion of the faith. |
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Bumper paddy crop likely CHANDIGARH, Sept 11 — In spite of deficient rain in a major part of the Malwa region, Punjab is all set to harvest a bumper paddy crop this year. A record paddy output of 128 lakh tonnes is expected in the state from 25.70 lakh hectares of the land under the crop. The area under the paddy crop has gone up to the tune of 1.5 lakh hectares this year as many farmers in the Malwa region preferred to transplant paddy crop than cotton, which suffered a setback due to pest attacks in recent years. "There was no adverse affect on the paddy crop because of deficient rain in the Malwa region," said Dr Balkarn Singh, Director, Agriculture, Punjab. The Malwa region has a good canal irrigation system apart from a large number of tubewells to nurture paddy crop, he added. The paddy crop, by and large, is free from attack of any disease in the state so far. Bacterial leaf blight had attacked it in certain parts, including Sangrur, Patiala and in the Baghapurana area, but there will not much loss of yield as the crop had already entered the maturing stage when attacked. Officials concerned said if the crop had been attacked in the early stages then the yield of paddy would have been affected in a big way. The attack of "tungru" disease had been witnessed in Gurdaspur district but it was controlled as officials in that area were alerted immediately after the transplantation of paddy. The area had witnessed the attack of the same disease last year. The harvesting of paddy has already started in certain parts of the state and in the third week of this month the paddy will start arriving in grain markets in a big way. Government procurement agencies have already started preparing themselves to enter the grain markets though no date has been fixed. A few days ago the Union Secretary of Food ministry paid a visit here to discuss the paddy procurement arrangements. According to informed sources, the Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal, had also discussed paddy procurement with the Prime Minister, Mr A.B. Vajpayee, and requested him to ask the FCI to gear up its official machinery for procurement at the earliest as there will be bumper paddy crop this year. The cotton crop is also by and large, free from the attack of pests so far. At Certain places the attack of American boll worm has been witnessed in the past few days. Officials concerned said dry weather in the Malwa belt had helped in keeping the pest attack under check in the cotton belt. If the weather remained dry in the coming weeks, cotton yield was expected to go up this year as compared to last year. Dr Balkarn Singh said in fact rain at this stage would be harmful both for cotton and paddy crops. It would be better if the weather remained dry in the state. The paddy crop has already matured in a large area of the state and the cotton crop was nearing the fruiting stage. Only sugarcane crop could stand to benefit by rain at this stage, he added. Meanwhile, according to information available from the local Regional met office, the overall rainfall in Punjab was 426 mm, at least 5 per cent above the normal rainfall which in Punjab's case is 406 mm. While Ropar district had excess rain to the tune of 33 per cent., Amritsar, Ferozepore, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Patiala had normal rainfall. The cotton-growing part of the Malwa belt comprising Bathinda, Faridkot, Muktsar, Moga, Mansa and Sangrur districts had deficient rain this year up to September 8 as per data tabulated by the department authorities. About 20 per cent to 50 per cent less rain than normal is called as deficient rainfall. A major part of Haryana witnessed deficient rain this year up to September 8 while there was excess rainfall in Ambala, Gurgaon and Rewari districts. Sirsa, Faridabad and Kaithal districts had normal rainfall. There was deficient rainfall in Bhiwani, Hisar, Jind, Karnal, Mohindergarh, Rohtak, Sonepat, Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar and Panipat districts. Delhi also had deficient rain while in case of Chandigarh it was normal. In Himachal, Kulu and Mandi districts had excess rain while Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Kangra, Kinnaur, Shimla and Solan had normal rainfall. In Chamba, Sirmaur and Una districts rain was deficient. However, overall rain pattern in Haryana was recorded at 355 mm, nearly 19 per cent less than the normal 437 mm in this case. In Himachal the rainfall was 830 mm against the normal figure of 814 mm. Officials in the Meteorological department told TNS that there was no sign of withdrawal of monsoon from this region so far. It is likely to continue for a week or so as depression formed in the north of Bay of Bengal in recent days is expected to move, prolonging the monsoon for a week or so in the region. Otherwise in normal
circumstances, the monsoon starts withdrawing from the
Rajasthan area first in the first week of September and
by September 10 it withdraws from the Punjab region as
well. |
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Farmers told to use organic
manures LUDHIANA, Sept 11 — Dr G.S. Kalkat, Vice-Chancellor, Punjab Agriculture University, has expressed concern over the deteriorating economic condition of farmers in spite of the spectacular increase in agricultural production as a result of the efforts of the farmers and scientists. Such increase has no parallel in any other part of the world, he says. Addressing farmers on the occasion of a Kisan mela organised by the university at the Regional Research Station at Ballowal Saunkhri in Nawanshahr district, he said the declining size of farm holdings was the major cause of financial bankruptcy of the farmers. He emphasised the need for the conservation of natural resources like soil and water and protection of environment. The over exploitation of these resources had resulted in the deterioration of soil and depletion of ground water. He suggested the increased use of organic manures and bio-fertilisers instead of dependence on chemical fertilisers. Dr Kirpal Singh Aulakh, Director, Research of the university, said the university had released a new wheat variety PBW 396 which gave a yield of 36 quintals per hectare under barani conditions and was also highly resistant to diseases. This variety was specially suited for the Kandi area. Dr Jaspinder Singh Kolar, Director, Extension Education, stressed the importance of timely sowing and judicious use of pesticides in order to minimise the cost of production. He suggested that the farmers should purchase a book on rabi crops which had been printed by the university to give detailed guidelines for the successful cultivation of these crops. Dr Sukhdev Singh, a member of the board of management of the university, advised the farmers to adopt subsidiary occupations like dairy farming poultry farming, mushroom growing etc to supplement their income from crops. The main features of the
mela were an agro-industrial exhibition. A
question-answer session between farmers and experts,
field demonstrations and an animal welfare camp were also
organised. |
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Man held for filing false
complaint LUDHIANA, Sept 11 — The police has solved a robbery case in less than three days. Parveen Kumar of Chaura Bazar had in a complaint to the police, said he was robbed of Rs 3,95,000 when he was coming from a bank on his scooter on September 8. He said two men had thrown chilly powder in his eyes. The police grew suspicious because the powder was found in his hair and there was no trace of it on his face. Inquiries revealed that no such occurrence had been witnessed by shopkeepers. Investigation revealed that the complainant, in connivance with two others-Anoop Singh of Dana Mandi Dhaliwal and Balraj of Manohar Nagar, had fabricated the story. It is reported that Parveen Kumar had defrauded his employers in a woollen mills where he had been working for the past 20 years. The entire amount has
been recovered from the accused who have been arrested. |
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1 held after traders'
protest over thefts MAUR MANDI ( Bathinda), Sept 11 — Even as this small town has witnessed about 15 thefts in the past one-and-a half months, the local police has neither registered any FIR nor arrested any one in this connection. Interestingly, the police swung into action only yesterday when the shopkeepers of the town kept their business establishment closed for two hours and held a rally to protest against the negligent attitude of the local police. After this the police arrested one person in this connection last night. Mr Kaur Singh, Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), police station, Maur Mandi told TNS that the residents in whose houses and business establishments, the thefts were reported were not willing to register case and that is why no FIR had been registered so far regarding any theft case. However, he admitted that some persons had submitted applications to the police for necessary action following thefts in their houses or business establishments. He added that the arrested person had confessed his involvement in more than 10 cases of thefts. Mr Saraswati Dass, local
BJP leader, who participated in the rally told TNS that
the DSP, Mr Darshan Singh Sandu, had assured the
residents that the thefts would be traced and he had also
advised the residents to be more alert about strangers
roaming in the town. |
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Mob attacks police post: 2
hurt PHILLAUR, Sept 11 — A head constable of the local police Kulwinder Singh and a Home Guard jawan Harnek Singh posted at nearby Gannapind police post sustained injuries when a mob of villagers attacked the post with stones, lathis and hockey sticks early this morning. The injured were admitted to the local Civil Hospital, where the condition of both was said to be out of danger. The attackers came in different vehicles and tried to get two alleged detainees, Chhinda and Bholi of Aurr village forcibly released from the post. But police officials said that these two had absconded and were wanted in a case in which two of their accomplices, Tejpaul and Jeet Ram had already been arrested and 11 bags of poppy husks were seized from them. On the other hand attackers, who came along with a warrant officer, claimed that Bholi and Chhinda were illegally detained by the Ganna Pind police. The Phillaur police has
registered a case under Sections 307, 452, 148, 149, 353,
186, IPC, but no arrest has been made so far. |
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"Umeed" to cover 570 villages CHANDIGARH, Sept 11 — The Chairman of the "Umeed" Khanna Foundation, Mr Arvind Khanna, said here today that he was a social worker first and a politician later. He said the workers of his foundations might be having different political ideologies but the Foundation did not have any political affiliation. He said he would prefer to leave politics in case his political carrier became a hindrance in his social service or in the smooth functioning of the Foundation which at present provides free medical facilities in about 520 villages in and around Sangrur district. Such free service would be increased to 570 villages by October this year and sub-office at Barnala and Malerkotla would be set up to provide better free medical services. Advisory committees were also being set up at the village level to help the people in solving their problems. Refuting the allegation that he had started free medical services with the objective of contesting from Sangrur, Mr Khanna said his only motive was to provide free health services to the people of the area. Many new projects had
been planned by the Foundation. These include opening of
tailoring centres to help women to earn more, computer
education in countryside, literacy programme and helping
people in availing old-age pension. He said eminent eye
specialist Daniel, who is at present working as Director,
CMC Ludhiana, would join Khanna Foundation in January
next year. |
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NFL colony residents gherao
MC office NANGAL, Sept 11 — Residents of the Naya Nangal colony and members of various unions of NFL gheraoed the office of the local municipal council, here today. They were protesting against the ‘pathetic’ condition of NFL colony. Mr Ashok Bali president of INTUC, NFL unit, speaking on the occasion, accused the local municipal council of neglecting the Naya Nangal colony. Mrs Prakash Kaur, municipal councillor from Naya Nangal, said the council was neither repairing roads in the colony nor cutting bushes and congress grass which had become nuisance. A few women of the colony sat on a dharna in front of the municipal council office. The president of the
municipal council, however, said the Municipal council
was responsible for maintenance of only the main roads in
the colony. The inner roads and cleanliness of the colony
was the responsibility of the NFL management. However,
the council will undertake the task as and when funds are
available. |
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PUTA to challenge govt
decision PATIALA, Sept 11 — The Punjabi University Teachers Association (PUTA) has decided to challenge the decision of the state government not to implement the UGC notification in toto in court. Disclosing this here today, PUTA President Surinder Singh Khaira said an emergency meeting of the association executive had taken a decision to this effect today. Mr Khaira said the
meeting, which was held to discuss the implementation of
the UGC notification regarding pay revision of university
teachers, felt concerned at the dilution of the
notification by the state government. |
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4 get life term for
killing YC worker KAPURTHALA, Sept 11 — The Sessions Judge, Mr Baldev Singh sentenced four persons to life imprisonment yesterday. The four — Sukhjit Singh and Gurpreet Singh, both residents of Sangojla village, Palwinder Singh and Charanjit Singh, both residents of Bhandal Bet village, were convicted on the charge of killing Pargan Singh, a Youth Congress worker of Bhandal Bet village. The judge also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on each of the convicts and in the event of default of fine, the convicts would have to undergo further imprisonment of three months. However, the judge
acquitted four other persons — Hardev Singh,
Sukhjinder Singh, Sukhwinder Singh and Narinder Singh. |
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VC stresses role of pure
sciences PATIALA, Sept 11 — Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Dr Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia today said radiation physics had developed as a viable scientific discipline whose increasing use had been realised in agriculture, power, medicine and industry. Delivering the presidential address at the sixth symposium on radiation physics at the campus here, Dr Ahluwalia said there was a dire need to concentrate on pure sciences as it was the fundamental basis of any scientific progress. Dr B.S. Ghuman,
president ISRP (Patiala chapter) in his paper said that
the only viable alternative source of energy was nuclear
energy. |
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GND University staff
election AMRITSAR, Sept 11 — The group led by Mr Suwinderjit Singh made a clean sweep in the annual elections to Guru Nanak Dev University (Non-Teaching) Employees Association by winning all five posts of office-bearers and nine seats of executive members out of 10. The lone seat of executive went to the Randhawa group. Mr Suwinderjit Singh won the post of president defeating Mr Sukhwinder Singh Randhawa with a margin of 156 votes. Mr Suwinderjit Singh secured 813 votes, while Mr Randhawa got 657 votes. The post of the vice-president went to Mr Puran Chand. He defeated Mr Santokh Singh and another Independent candidate, Mr Gulzari Lal. In a straight fight for the post of secretary Mr Daljit Singh defeated Mr Ramesh Sharma. Mr Vinod Soni was elected treasurer.He defeated Mr Sham Mohan. The following were
declared elected to the executive. Mr Amarjit Singh, Mrs
Harjit Kaur, Mr Baldev Singh Gill, Mr Ajmer Singh, Mr
Gopal Singh, Mr Tarlok Singh, Mr Satpal, Mr Harbans
Singh, Mr Pritam Singh and Mr Iqbal Singh Bhullar. |
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S. S. Khaira PATIALA, Sept 11 — Punjabi University Vice-Chancellor Jasbir Singh Ahluwalia has appointed Mr S.S. Khaira of the Punjabi Planning and Development Department as Director of the Audio Visual Research Centre. Earlier, Mr Khaira was
holding additional charge of the centre. He has about 15
books to his credit and is also the founder-editor of a
scientific journal, "Vigyan de Naksh",
published by the university for the past 30 years. |
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