Dung cakes in demand as LPG gets costlier

Abohar: With gas cylinders becoming dearer, the demand for cow dung cakes has increased last week. There prevails a century-old practice of preparing and pasting cow dung cakes on mud walls in rural areas as well as in the less-developed colonies in towns. However, urban women are gradually shunning this practice as the new generation doesn’t approve of defacing boundary walls of houses. Gaushala president Faquir Chand Goyal and secretary Rakesh Kalani have resolved to address the problem. The management has decided to prepare such cakes and offer the same for sale at an affordable price. “We will prefer to use cow dung cakes on Holi (March 28), as timber has also become dear,” said Dropati, one of the buyers. The urban populace said the price of 14.2 kg liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) refill had been increased six times from December, 2020. It now costs Rs 819, they said.

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Health scheme benefits Fatehgarh villager

Fatehgarh Sahib: The Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana proved to be a boon for Avtar Singh, a resident of Dhianu Majra village, a needy, who had been suffering from knee pain for a long time. The doctors had advised knee replacement, which was expensive at private hospitals. An NGO took up his case with MLA Kuljit Singh Nagra and he was covered under the Sarbat Sehat Bima Yojana of the state. He was admitted to the Civil Hospital, Fatehgarh Sahib, where a team of doctors, led by Dr Tripatjot Singh Randhawa and Dr Gagandeep Singh, performed the operation free of cost. The MLA also arranged camps in villages to prepare smart health cards. More than 1.5 lakh health cards have been issued in the district.

‘No check’ on rural development funds

Pathankot: The process of monitoring of central government’s rural development funds in Pathankot district has ‘gone kaput’. These funds, sent by the Ministry of Rural Development, for the development and upkeep of village infrastructure, are monitored by a committee called District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA), headed by MP Sunny Deol. The ongoing farm protests have ensured it will be a long time before the MP decides to touch down his parliamentary constituency. In the absence of meetings of DISHA, little is known about the coming of funds and their use. Deol’s predecessor Sunil Jakhar used to regularly preside over DISHA meetings. So was the case with Jakhar’s predecessor Vinod Khanna. So, whenever the MP comes, he has to make sure he makes up for the lost time.

‘Kisan Hut’ to boost sale of organic produce

Faridkot: To enhance farmers’ income and provide fresh fruit and vegetables to consumers, Agriculture Technology Management Agency (ATMA), a wing of the Department of Agriculture, has started a ‘ATMA Kisan Hut’ at Circular Road here, where growers reached with fresh produce to sell them at a price lower than the market rate.

Aman Keshav, district in charge of ATMA, said it served as a platform for producers and buyers to sell and purchase food items, two days a week.

(Contributed by Raj Sadosh, Surinder Bhardwaj, Ravi Dhaliwal and Balwant Garg )