OCTOBER 25

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EMPOWERED COMMITTEE APPROVES MEGA PROJECTS OF
RS. 2552.08 CRORE

BADAL ASKS CS TO HOLD MONTHLY MEETING OF
EMPOWERED COMMITTEE

DY.CM FOR POLICY ON MEGA SUGAR COMPLEXES

CHANDIGARH OCTOBER 25:
The Empowered Committee today approved seven mega manufacturing projects, four industrial parks, three hotel projects and a health tourism project with an investment of Rs.2552.08 crore which would generate direct and indirect employment of 25,343 persons.

Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office informed that empowered committee in its meeting held under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal approved seven mega manufacturing projects namely Amtek Railcar Industries Pvt. Ltd., Alliance Integrated Metaliks Ltd., Madhav Alloys Pvt. Ltd., Chadha Sugars Ltd., Nahar Spinning Mills Ltd., Max India Ltd. and Puneet Spintex Pvt. Ltd. of Rs.1551.47 crore, in district Fatehgarh Sahib, Patiala, Gurdapsur, Ludhiana, Malerkotla and Nawanshahr. Four industrial parks projects viz. Chandigarh Infrastructure Developers, Punnu Land Developers Pvt. Ltd., A consortium of Penguin Buildtech & Veer Colonizers & Builders Pvt. Ltd. and Taksonz Developers & Infrastructure Ltd. worth Rs.694 crore were also approved in district SAS Nagar Mohali, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Three hotel projects Inderprastha Machine Tolls Pvt. Ltd., Sanger Finlease Pvt. Ltd. and Silver Palm Hotel & Resorts Pvt. Ltd. in district Hoshiarpur, Amritsar and Muktsar with an investment of Rs. 201.61 crore and in addition one Mega project of Health Care and Medical Tourism Hospital to be set up by Fortis Health Care Ltd. in Ludhiana with investment of Rs.105 crore was also approved. Apart from this the empowered committee also gave go ahead to DLF India Ltd. to launch its housing projects till the final approval of the company's super mega project.

Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister asked the Chief Secretary to regularly hold the meeting of empowered committee every month so that all the pending issues related to requisite clearances could be finalized promptly. He also asked the Chief Secretary to streamline the procedure for the grant of incentives and concessions to the mega projects to ensure a level playing filed to all the entrepreneurs who intend to make investments in a big way.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chief Minister Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal also directed the Chief Secretary to evolve a comprehensive policy stipulating specific incentives/concessions for the mega sugar complexes to encourage the key-players in the sugar industry to set up such units in the state. He also suggested that the screening committee headed by Chief Secretary should meticulously study all the proposals on the mega projects with specific recommendations before putting to the empowered committee for its approval.

Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included Local Government Minister Mr. Manoranjan Kalia, Finance Mrs. Upinderjit Kaur, Food & Supplies Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Agriculture Minister Mr. Sucha Singh Langah, Tourism Minister Mr. Hira Singh Gabria and Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains. Besides, Chief Secretary Mr. S.C. Agrawal, Financial Commissioner Revenue Mrs. Romila Dubey, Principal Secretary Forests Mr. RC Nayyar, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. DS Guru, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce Mr. SS Channy, Financial Commissioner Development Mr. NS Kang, Principal Secretary Finance Mr. KBS Sidhu, Principal Secretary Irrigation & Power Mr. Arun Goyal, Principal Secretary Science & Technology Mr. Viswajit Khanna, Secretary Local Govt. Mr. SS Rajput, Secretary Medical Education & Research Ms. Anjali Bhawra, Managing Director Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Mr. S.K. Sandhu, Chief Administrator GMADA Mr. Vivek Partap Singh and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr. Gaggandip Singh Brar also attended the meeting.
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CENTRAL TEAM TO VISIT PUNJAB TOMORROW TO ASSESS DAMAGE CAUSED TO PADDY DUE TO RAIN AND HAILSTORM

CHANDIGARH OCTOBER 25:

Acting swiftly on the letter of Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar seeking relaxation in specification of discoloration and moisture content for paddy procurement by the FCI and state agencies, the Ministry of Food, GoI today decided to dispatch a special team of senior officers to Punjab tomorrow to assess the damaged caused to the paddy crop due to the inclement weather.

Disclosing this here today a spokesperson of the Chief Minister’s Office said that the Chief Minister’s personal intervention coupled with the efforts of Food & Civil Supplies Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon who called on the Union Agriculture Minister and senior officers of the Ministry of Foods at New Delhi this evening to apprise them about the present procurement status in the state and sought their prompt cooperation to bail out the beleaguered farmers in this hour of crisis.

The spokesperson further said that the special team would visit Ludhiana, Moga, Sangrur, Barnala and Mansa districts tomorrow to assess the damage caused to the paddy due to rain and hailstorm across the state on October 22.

It may be recalled that Mr. Badal demanded that moisture specification should be increased from 17% to 20%, discoloration of paddy up to 10% and rice out turn ratio to be decreased from 67% to 60%.
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OBAMA MUST VISIT GOLDEN TEMPLE - HARSIMRAT IMPRESSES UPON ROBERT BLAKE
• SEEKS MICHELLE OBAMA VISIT TO BATHINDA TO WITNESS WOMEN EMPOWERMENT THROUGH NANHI CHHAN

Chandigarh, October 25: Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal, Member Parliament from Bathinda Constituency has impressed upon US Government not to abort the proposed visit of US President Barack Obama to Golden Temple, as sudden cancellation of his visit would send wrong message to the Sikh Community living all over the World.

The US Embassy had invited a group of MPs recently to have interaction to finalize the agenda of US President's visit to India. The MPs invited for the informal interaction with US officials, including Assistant Secretary of State (South Asia) Mr. Robert Blake and US Ambassador Mr. Timothy J. Roemer, included Harsimrat Kaur Badal (Shiromani Akali Dal), Balbir Punj and Anant Hegde (BJP), Manish Tiwari and Shruti Choudhary (Congress) and Jayant Choudhary (Rashtriya Lok Dal).

The Akali Dal MP impressed upon Mr. Robert Blake that international dignitaries including the Queen of England, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper have paid their obeisance at the Golden Temple without any security hassles and minor issues like observance of Sikh Maryada could be mutually sorted out at diplomatic level. She said that Sikhs constituted a sizeable part of US and Canada's NRI population and US President's visit to Golden Temple would further strengthen the secular image of President Barack Obama.
Mrs. Harsimrat Kaur Badal also impressed upon Mr. Robert Blake that the US First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama, should consider visiting the countryside in Bathinda district, to see the level of women’s empowerment, achieved through the Nanhi Chhan programme. She said that President Pratibha Patil had already supported the noble work initiated through this programme and US First Lady Mrs. Michelle Obama should lend her voice against the female foeticide endangering the society.

In the interaction Mrs. Badal also raised the question of increasing narcotic smuggling from Pakistan through international border along Punjab, ruining the lives of Punjabi youth. She said that US President Barack Obama must pressurize Pakistan to desist from patronizing narcotic smuggling because the end destination of all narcotic drugs was Western Countries including USA.
It may be added that Assistant Secretary of State (South Asia) Robert Blake and US Under- Secretary William Burns are in India to finalize the agenda for President Obama’s visit.
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Awareness and publicity against corruption

Chandigarh October 25

The Punjab Government directed to all its department to organised Vigilance Awareness week from October 25th, to November 1, 2010.
Disclosing this here today, a spokesman of the Punjab Government informed that the main focus in this period will be generation of awareness and publicity against corruption. The State Government asked all the media heads of the departments to display banners, posters etc. at prime location in their offices and organise seminars, debates/lectures on anti corruption topics amongst the employees and students.
The spokesman further said that the government directed to the departments publish special journals during this period.

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65.76 LAKH TONNES PADDY PROCURED IN PUNJAB`

Chandigarh, October 25: Government agencies and private millers procured more than 6576840 tonnes of Paddy till last evening.

A spokesman of Punjab Govt. said here today that out of total procurement in all the procurement centers of Punjab, Government agencies procured 6445591 tonnes (98%) whereas private traders procured 131249 tonnes (2%) of paddy. Till October 24, PUNGRAIN had procured 1856813 tonnes (28.8%) whereas MARKFED procured 1356491 tonnes (21%), PUNSUP procured 1544407 tonnes (24%), PSWC procured 799972 tonnes (12.4%) whereas PAIC was able to procure 850771 tonnes (9 %) of paddy.

The Central Government agency FCI had been able to procure 307137 tonnes (4.8%).

The spokesman added that District Ferozepur with 784405 tonnes of procurement was leading in procurement operations whereas district Patiala with 591438 tonnes of procurement was at second slot and District Jalandhar 581260 tonnes of procurement ranked at third position.

The State Government has set up almost 1700 procurement centers and activated its total machinery to ensure smooth procurement of paddy, the spokesman added.

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Court judgment in Sajjan case- HARSIMRAT DEMANDS CONG LEADER’S IMMEDIATE ARREST

Chandigarh, October 24
The Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, today demanded the immediate arrest of Sajjan Kumar, one of the main accused in the 1984 massacre of innocent Sikhs . " This is the only case in the history of the country where a man booked in a murder case is not arrested even 17 years after the FIRs were registered and the I.O., the SHO and even the DCP have signed the chargesheets against him., " said the Akali leader in a statement relased here. Sajjan Kumar is the principle accused in three separate murder cases.

Harsimrat Kaur' was reacting to a Delhi court judegment yesterday in which the court paved the way for initiation of criminal proceeding against Sajjan Kumar in a case relating to the 1984 killing of thousands of innocent Sikhs by rejecting the plea of the Delhi Police for clubbing with the on-going trial in another case pertaining to the carnage.

“Why this extraordinary keen-ness on the part of the Delhi police not to have an independent and separate trial against Sajjan, as directed by the court.. What are the police and the Congress governements trying to hide and why these dilatory tactics?” she asked.

In a statement released here this afternoon, Ms. Badal also asked well meaning and right thinking persons in the country to speak against the Congress efforts to sabotage judicial verdict against Sajjan Kumar, accused of provoking, initiating and taking part in the most heinous massacre since 1947. “Having paid lip-service to morality by refusing a ticket to Sajjan Kumar in the last elections under public pressure, the Congress was pulling all stops now to save him. For the achievement of this goal, the party and its governments in Delhi and at the centre had been trying to interfere with justice through delaying executive tactics.

The Akali MP further said that the 1984 massacre and the stubborn efforts of successive governments to shield and even reward its leaders known to be responsible for the shocking sequence of events from October 31 evening to the end of the first week of November that year “ were a blot on the face of the country in the comity of nations. Does it not prick the conscience of anyone in the Congress, especially those belonging to Punjab and the Sikh community, that those guilty of the country’s worst ever massacre of innocents were sought to be put on pedestals by the ruling party? she said .

Harsimrat however said that she and her party, along with other right thinking persons and parties in the country, will continue their fight for justice for the innocent victims of the anti-Sikh carnage.
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PADDY PROCUREMENT: Badal seeks PM's intervention in relaxation of norms

Warns against "serious law and order problem' if no remedial measures taken

CHANDIGARH OCTOBER 24:

Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today sought direct and immediate intervention of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh for relaxations in the specifications regarding discoloration and moisture content for procurement of paddy by the FCI and state agencies in the current season. The Chief Minister said that failure to take immediate corrective and remedial action could lead to serious law and order problem in the days ahead.

Mr. Badal has also written to the Union Agriculture Minister Mr. Sharad Pawar saying that the centre must keep in mind that the paddy has been affected for reasons beyond the farmers’ control.
In a statement here, the Chief Minister said “We need to come to the aid of the beleaguered farmer who sweats and toils for the national security. The farmer has stood by the country in its hour of food crisis. Now, it the turn of the country’s government to stand by the self-effacing farmer in this hour of difficulty”.
In separate letters to the Prime Minister and the Union Minister for Agriculture Mr. Sharad Pawar, the Chief Minister said that the moisture specification should be increased from 17% to 20%, discoloration of paddy up to 10% and rice out turn ratio to be decreased from 67% to 60%.

The Chief Minister also apprised Dr. Manmohan Singh and Mr. Pawar that PUSA-44 variety of paddy had just started arriving in the grain markets of the Sate and would be coming in heavy quantities now. In view of the norms on discoloration and moisture content, FCI and government Agencies were finding it difficult to procure. In addition, there had been rains in many parts of the State along with hailstorm on October 22, 2010 which had affected all varieties of paddy in terms of moisture content and appearance. In these circumstances, relaxation in moisture content and rice out turn ratio was required to be made forthwith.
Mr. Badal pointed out that the PUSA-44 variety of paddy as approved by Govt. of India was sown on an area of about 7 lac hectares in Punjab, production of which is likely to be of the order of 50 lac MT. This variety of paddy takes about 125/130 days for maturing as against other varieties which take about 105/110 days for the same. This variety thus matures 15/20 days later than the other varieties. Unfortunately, there had been rains in Punjab at the time when the grain of PUSA-44 variety was at pre-mature stage this year. This coupled with cloudiness had resulted in damage to the paddy by way of some blackening. This variety of paddy had just started maturing but because of low temperature weather conditions and high humidity at maturity stage, the moisture was much more than the specification of 17%.

The Chief Minister further mentioned that 1/3rd of the total expected arrival i.e. 50 lac MT of paddy of PUSA-44 variety, out of about 150 lac MT of total paddy would be arriving in the Punjab grain markets now. As it had already started arriving in the mandis, immediate decision on top priority was required to be taken as otherwise it would lead to glut in the grain markets and consequent harassment of the farmers on account of non purchase of this variety. This, in turn, may lead to serious law & order problem. In fact, some of the Kisan Unions had already given immediate call for ‘rasta and road roko’ and also for ‘rail roko’ for October 29th, 2010.
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The Congress party severely criticizes the Punjab govt. for its miserable failure to procure the paddy crop in the state.

Sukhpal Singh Khaira,
MLA, Bholath

Presently all three tiers, the farmers, commission agents and rice millers involved in producing paddy and lifting of paddy are in utter distress. Reports of protests and Dharna’s are pouring in from all over the state. The farmers are being forced to sell their hard earned paddy crop in distress sale well below the MSP being offered by the govt.

In fact only the FCI the centre sponsored agency is going ahead with purchase as well as lifting of paddy, while the state agencies such as Markfed, Pungrain, Punsup etc have ditched the farmers in their hour of crises.
The state govt. although well informed of the impending storage crises in the state did nothing to resolve the issue with commission agents and rice millers. The junior Badal has infact spent the last full month conspiring against his rebellious cousin Manpreet Badal leaving the farmers in a lurch.

Mandi’s of state are full with paddy stock giving sleepless nights to the farmers in the state. It is saddening to note that the Akali Dal which claims itself to be the sole representative of the farmers has stabbed them in the back and has failed to come to their rescue.

As we are aware the agrarian economy of the state is already in shambles with a staggering debt of over Rs. 35,000 crores on the farmers forcing them to commit suicides in large numbers but the so called farmer friendly Akali govt. has nothing to offer.

The Congress party castigates the failure of the SAD-BJP govt. to make appropriate arrangements for procurement of paddy despite being warned early.

I on my part as President District Congress Committee Kapurthala give an ultimatum of 3 days to the govt. to immediately lift the paddy crop in the state or else the Congress party will stage a ‘Dharna’ to protest the gross failure of the govt. in Kapurthala district shortly.
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Congress leader Sajjan Kumar case as a "clear and well deserved rebuff"

Chandigarh October 24 - The Shiromani Akali Dal MP from Bathinda, Ms.Harsimrat Kaur Badal, today described a Delhi court's judgment in Congress leader Sajjan Kumar case as a "clear and well deserved rebuff" to the efforts of the Congress governments in Delhi and at the centre to scuttle the trial proceedings against the accused.

Ms. Harsimrat Kaur's was reacting to a Delhi court judegment yesterday in which the court paved the way for initiation of criminal proceeding against Sajjan Kumar in a case relating to the 1984 killing of thousands of innocent Sikhs by rejecting the plea of the Delhi Police for clubbing with the on-going trial in another case pertaining to the carnage.

“Why this extraordinary anxiety and keen-ness on the part of the Delhi police not to have an independent and separate trial against Sajjan, as directed by the court.. What are the police and the Congress governments trying to hide and why these dilatory tactics?” she asked. in a statement released here this afternoon .
Ms. Badal also asked well meaning and right thinking persons in the country to speak against the Congress efforts to sabotage judicial verdict against Sajjan Kumar, accused of provoking, initiating and taking part in the most heinous massacre since 1947. “Having paid lip-service to morality by refusing a ticket to Sajjan Kumar in the last elections under public pressure, the Congress was pulling all stops now to save him. For the achievement of this goal, the party and its governments in Delhi and at the centre had been trying to interfere with justice through delaying executive tactics.

The Akali MP further said that the 1984 massacre and the stubborn efforts of successive governments to shield and even reward its leaders known to be responsible for the shocking sequence of events from October 31 evening to the end of the first week of November that year “ were a blot on the face of the country in the comity of nations. Does it not prick the conscience of anyone in the Congress, especially those belonging to Punjab and the Sikh community, that those guilty of the country’s worst ever massacre of innocents were sought to be put on pedestals by the ruling party? And what an irony that the head of the government in the country also belongs to the community that has helplessly and unsuccessfully sought justice for the past 26 years.!” she said .

Ms.Harsimrat however said that she and her party, along with other right thinking persons and parties in the country, will continue their fight for justice for the innocent victims of the anti-Sikh carnage.

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Shiromani Akali Dal to hold brain storming session in every district – Sukhbir
Punjab to focus on economic agenda

Jalandhar October 23:

Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal Deputy Chief Minister today said that Shiromani Akali Dal would hold a brain storming session in every district soon and he would personally solicited feedback from the party cadre to strengthen the party. Taking to media men here today informally Mr. Badal said that than focus of this whole exercise was to rejuvenate party cadre to take the message of development initiatives of SAD BJP Government to every home and give feedback, if any on people’s perception to improve governance.
The Deputy Chief Minister said that is has been decided that the meeting or core committee of the party and all organizational bodies, would meet at least once, in a quarter to discuss the emerging challenges before party and strategy to deal with such challenges.

When asked about future agenda of the government Mr. Badal said that SAD BJP Government was moving with a focused approach on economic agenda by strengthening infrastructure such as roads, power, Air Connectivity in the state so as to attract industrial investment in the state. He said that infrastructure projects including Roads, ROBs , Thermal Plants have started culminating into completion now, putting the congress party in tizzy.

Answering a query regarding his agenda for the new responsibility of public relations department Mr. Badal said that the working of Public Relations Department would be streamlined to make it techno savvy to meet the new emerging challenges in the field of media.