NEW POLICE DISTRICT JALANDHAR (RURAL) CREATED OWNERSHIP RIGHTS OF EVACUEE LANDS LAW ON COMMUNAL ACTIVITIES TO BE MADE MORE STRINGENT

CHANDIGARH NOVEBER 11, 2009

The Council of Ministers today approved the creation of new Police District Jalandhar (Rural) comprising the sub divisions of Nakodar, Shahkot and Phillaur.

A decision to this effect was taken in the meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal here at Punjab Bhawan this evening.

Giving details of the meeting, Chief Minister’s Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains said that the Council of Ministers also approved the amendment in the policy pertaining to disposal of rural evacuee land by transfer on the basis of continuous cultivation and possession to its currently unauthorized occupants. As per the amended conditions, continuous undisputed cultivating possession of eligible applicants should be established in the revenue record from the crop of Kharif 2004 for the transfer of land. Doubtful and tempered entries of Khasra Girdawari should be ignored. Likewise, the condition pertaining to deposit of rent by eligible person for the period of possession at a rate of Rs.250 per acre per crop should also be removed.

The Council of Ministers also approved the proposal to amend Section 153-A and Section 295-A of Indian Penal Code to make the law more stringent to ensure exemplary punishment to all those who flare up communal tension and exploit religious sentiments of the people thereby vitiating the peaceful atmosphere of communal harmony and amity in the society.
The Council of Ministers also reviewed the ongoing procurement operations of paddy and expressed satisfaction over smooth and hassle free lifting of procurement so far and hoped it would cross the target of 140 lac MT.

The Council of Ministers also gave nod to the draft of the revised rates of court fee and decided to carryout the revision of these rates through issue of an Ordinance to be prepared by department of Legal & Legislative Affairs and to be finally got approved at the level of the Chief Minister by the Revenue and Rehabilitation department.
The Council of Ministers also gave ex-post facto approval to charge stamp duty in case of allotment of immovable property made by Government/Semi Government Organization on the original allotment price.
The Council of Ministers also approved the acquisition of land for the construction of Sub Divisional Complex at Shahkot in Jalandhar district.

The Council of Ministers also approved the draft of Constitution (One Hundred and Ninth Amendment) Bill to be moved in the ensuing session of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha for ratification.

YOUNG AND DEDICATED FACES TO GET CHANCE IN SGPC ELECTIONS-SUKHBIR

Chandigarh November 10

Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal, Deputy Chief Minister and President Shiromani Akali Dal today indicated that young and dedicated faces would get a chance in the elections to the general house of Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee.
Informally talking to media after laying the foundation stone of various development projects here today, Mr. Badal said that India demographically has more than 60% population in the young bracket and it was imperative for the party to give due representation to the young faces in the forthcoming elections for the general house of SGPC. He said that final decision of tickets for SGPC elections would be taken by the working committee of the party.

The Deputy Chief Minister said that SAD-BJP government has put the road construction work on fast track and over 800 kilometer National and State Highways would be four/six lanned at the combined cost of Rs. 5000 Crore in next two years. He said that these ambitious road projects include Six laning of Shambu border to Jalandhar and four laning of Amritsar–Attari Border, Kurali–Kiratpur Sahib, Ludhiana-Malerkotla, Kharar-Banur, Zirakpur–Patiala, Patiala–Bathinda, Kharar–Ludhiana, Ludhiana–Talwandi, Jalandhar–Dhilwan section, Amritsar–Pathankot, Morinda–Kurali–Siswan T.Junction, Siswan-T.Junction to Mullanpur Garibdass, Ropar–Phagwara.

Focusing on development of roads in the border areas including Jalalabad area Mr. Badal said that a grand road upgradation programme has been launched under which upgrade 36 roads in the border districts, covering a length of 500 kilometers would be upgraded at an overall expenditure of Rs. 235 crore.

When asked about unsavory incident of slapping of Samajwadi Party MLA in Maharashtra Assembly for taking oath in Hindi, Mr. Badal commented that it is a sad incident and such incidents were not acceptable in Indian democracy.
Reiterating his commitment to develop the border city of Jalalabad as a model city, the Deputy Chief Minister today initiated various development projects to the tune of Rs. 15 Crore for city as well as for adjoining villages. Mr. Badal announced that safe drinking water and world class sanitation facilities would be provided to every house hold of city besides other civic amenities including quality roads till December 2010. He also assured to provide funds for the construction of an ultra modern Municipal Council office and setting up the facility of fire brigade.

The Deputy Chief Minister informed that he had already initiated the construction of 60 water works in Jalalabad constituency and expressed confidence that these projects would be accomplished within next 6 months, thereby providing safe drinking water to thousands of villagers. Earlier he laid the foundation stones of three water works worth Rs. 1 Crore at Basti Kamre Wala, Kotu Wala and Chak Chhapri wala villages.

On this Occasion Mr. Badal hold a Sangat Darshan at local Community Centre to listen to the grievances besides seeking the suggestions of elected representatives of Local Bodies to ensure the overall development of Jalalabad constituency and directed the concerned officers to redress all the grievances at the earliest.

Later on Mr. Badal also hold a Sangat Darshan at village Jaimalwala in which 30 Panchayats of nearby villages were provided development grants to execute development works. Mr. Badal assured on the occasion that there would be no paucity of funds for any development activity but he urged the villagers to keep vigil on the execution of various projects so that every penny invested by state government brought desired results.

Prominent amongst others who were accompanying Mr. Badal included Mr. Sher Singh Ghubaya, MP, Mr. Gurtej Singh Ghuriana, MLA, Mr. Hari Singh Jeera, former Minister, Mr. Paramjit Singh Sandhu, former MLA and Mr. Shinderpal Verma, President Municipal Council Jalalabad.

CM ASKS ADANI GROUP TO SET UP COLD CHAIN IN PUNJAB

CHANDIGARH NOVEMBER 10, 2009

Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today offered the Adani Group to set up a cold chain in the state to ensure quality marketing of fruits especially the kinnows in the domestic as well as international market.

Taking part in the deliberations after a detailed presentation made by Director of Adani Group Mr. Pranav Adani here at Punjab Bhawan this morning, Mr. Badal said that Punjab was the biggest kinnow producing state in the country and had a tremendous export potential in the world market. He hoped that with the setting up cold chain, the prospects for export of kinnow would increase manifold because of its increased self life along with other facilities of in house waxing and grading. He said that our farmers had to sell their produce of kinnow often in distress below the market price even in the domestic markets due to apprehension of its rotting for the want of proper cold chains. He assured of all support and cooperation to the Adani group for setting up the cold chain to ensure better marketing of kinnow besides its value addition in the form of juices and other beverages. He also asked the Adani group to visit the kinnow juicing plants at Abohar and Hoshiarpur to study the ways and means for their modernization and expansion to ensure quality production of juices in the internationally market.

The Chief Minister also appreciated the concept of Silos for the storage of food grains and asked the Adani group to work out modalities for setting up of silos in the state.

Interacting with the team of Adani group, Food & Supplies Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon said that the state government was seriously contemplating to set up silos in the state to reduce the heavy losses incurred on the damaged food grains stored in the conventional godowns due to the vagaries of nature. He said that the state government had already taken up the case for silos with the Planning Commission and referred the same to a special team constituted for this purpose.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included State Farmers Commission Chairman Mr. GS Kalkat, Secretary Mandi Board Mr. AS Miglani, Principal Secretary Industries Mr. SS Channy, MD Punjab Agro Mr. SK Sandhu, MD Markfed Mr. Sarabjit Singh, MD Punsup Mr. DS Grewal and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar, besides CEO Mr. Atul Chaturvedi and President Corporate Affairs Puneet Saran of Adani Group.

CHANDIGARH, NOVEMBER 10

With a view to operationalized 5267 and 1220 new Aganwari / Mini Aganwari Centres respectively in the state, the Punjab government has decided to recruit 6487 Aganwari Workers and 5267 Aganwari Helpers till November 30,2009.
Disclosing this here today Social Security and Women & Child Development Minister Punjab Chowdhary Swarana Ram said that guidelines for the recruitment have already been issued to the concerned authorities.

Interested candidates are advised to send their application to the concerned village Panchayat/Municipal Council/Corporation or direct to the concerned Block Child Development Project Officer upto November 12, 2009. Applicant must be resident of the concerned village and have age between 18 to 44 years, he added.

PUNJAB DAY CELEBRATES ON NOVEMBER 25 AT TRADE FAIR

CHANDIGARH, NOVEMBER 10:

The Punjab Day would be celebrated on November 25 at the 29th India International Trade Fair (IITF) being organized at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi from November 14 to 27, 2009.

Disclosing this here today, Mr. Manoranjan Kalia Industry and Commerce Minister, Punjab, said that Punjab Pavilion was being set up at IITF venue by the Punjab Small Industries Export Corporation under the aegis of Industry Department Punjab.

He said that the theme of the Fair was 'Export of Services' and Punjab Pavilion would highlight this aspect of Punjab besides the rich cultural heritage and modern trends of the state. The exhibitions of various departments would be an added attraction. Department of Information Technology, Education, Science and Technology and Punjab State Electricity Board would be the main departments to highlight the theme of fair, he added.

CHANDIGARH NOVEMBER 10:

The Punjab Government would soon set up an Education and Knowledge Commission to make quality education accessible to the people across the state to impart both quality school and higher education aimed at achieving excellence in the pursuit of research and technological upgradation of international standards to enable our students to compete globally.
An assurance to this effect was given by Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal to the delegation of Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Prishad (ABVP) which called on him here this morning regarding their demands.

Responding to their demands regarding implementation of uniform fee structure in all the universities of the state and to conduct elections of student council, the Chief Minister assured the delegation that he would soon convene a meeting of the all the vice chancellors of the universities to immediately resolve these issues.

Mr. Badal also asked them to give their valuable inputs to the state government to make education system far more reformative and result-oriented. He said that the state government had already taken some path breaking decisions like setting up of Adarsh schools to impart quality education free of cost to the bright students besides securing two prestigious universities from GoI, a Central University at Bathinda and another World Class University at Amritsar to give a further fillip to the higher education. Likewise an IIT at Ropar would also boost the prospects of IIT aspirants and students who passed out from this prestigious institute in getting better job opportunities.

The delegation also raised the issue of capitation fee being charged by the private technical institutions for courses like B.Tech, MBA and B.ed with the Chief Minister and sought it should be immediately done away as some prestigious technical institutions like Chitkara had already set up an example by doing so. This step would not only encourage the poor students to avail an opportunity to seek higher and technical education with in their means but also boost the image of these institutes in real terms by giving admissions to the deserving and bright students.

The delegation was led by its President Mr. Vipan Satia and Secretary Sunil Rana and accompanied by Medical Education & Forest Minister Mr. Tikshan Sud and General Secretary Punjab Unit of BJP Mr. Kamal Sharma. Special Secretary Education Mr. RL Mehta and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar were also present in the meeting.

130.17 LAKH TONNES PADDY PROCURED IN PUNJAB

Chandigarh, November 10:

Government agencies and private millers procured more than 130.17 lakh tonnes of Paddy till last evening as compared to 127.38 lakh tones upto November 9,2008.

Out of total procurement of 130.17 lakh tonnes of paddy in all the procurement centers of Punjab, Government agencies procured 127.71 lakh tonnes of paddy (98.0%) till date whereas private traders procured 2.55 lakh tonnes (2.0%) of paddy. Till November 09, PUNGRAIN had procured 37.80 lakh tonnes (29.6%) whereas MARKFED procured 26.27 lakh tonnes (20.6%). PUNSUP procured 29.44 lakh tonnes (23.1%), PSWC procured 15.59 lakh tonnes (12.2%) whereas PAIC was able to procure 12.20 lakh tonnes (9.6 %) of paddy whereas the Central Government agency FCI had procured 6.28 lakh tonnes (4.9%).

The spokesman added that District Ludhiana with 14.93 lakh tonnes of procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas district Sangrur with 14.86 lakh tonnes of procurement was at second slot and District Patiala 12.92 lakh tonnes of procurement ranked at third position.

The State Government has set up 1600 procurement centres and activated its total machinery to ensure smooth procurement of paddy, the spokesman added.

EDUCATION MINISTER UPINDERJIT KAUR CONDOLES
THE DEATH OF T R SHARMA

Chandigarh, November 10: The Education and Languages Minister Punjab, Dr. Upinderjit Kaur today expressed her deep sense of shock and sorrow over the sad demise of noted educationist and prolific writer Mr T.R Sharma.

In a condolence message Dr. Upinderjit Kaur condoled that in the death of Mr T.R Sharma, Punjab as well as literary world has lost a distinguished writer, and critic, whose writings gave it a new identity in the field of education and a social purpose. She described Sharma as an able educationist and good administrator and a torchbearer of writing with a constructive approach and vision, who has left an elegant mark on the world around him. He was indeed a great inspiring writer with good heart, she said.”

She further added that the demise of this noted educationist was an irreparable loss to the Nation. He would be ever remembered by one and all in recognizing his immense talents as a, writer, humanist, and above all as a fine human being, she said.”

The Education Minister expressed heartfelt sympathy with the bereaved family and prayed to the Almighty to give strength and courage to bear this irreparable loss and grant peace to the departed soul.