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December, 2008

 

PEDA RECEIVES NATIONAL ENERGY CONSERVATION AWARD

Chandigarh, December 16:

Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA) has been conferred the National Energy Conservation Award 2008. Mr..Balour Singh, Director, PEDA on behalf of Minister for Science, Technology, Environment and Non-Conventional Energy, Sh.Bikram Singh Majithia received this prestigious award from Union Minister for Power, Sh.Sushil Kumar Shinde on the occasion of National Energy Conservation Day function held at New Delhi yesterday evening.

Disclosing this here today Mr.Bikram Singh Majithia Minister for Science, Technology, Environment and Non-Conventional Energy, said that this award was in recognition of pioneering work being done by Punjab in the field of energy conservation. He appreciated the efforts of Chief Executive, Officers and Staff Members of PEDA for implementation of energy conservation measures and energy efficiency programme in the State.

He informed that Demonstration Projects for Energy Efficiency Improvements in Government Buildings, Municipal Street Lighting / small & medium industries and Water Pumping have been taken up and are being implemented by the concerned Department/Industry through Energy Service Companies. In this novel financial model evolved by PEDA, the Energy Service Companies will invest their own funds and provide efficient technology for the lighting, air conditioning, water pumping etc and recover their investment from the savings that will accrue in the electricity bills. The pay back period of such projects would be about 3 to 5 years depending upon the level of energy consumption and technology selected.

Sh.T P S Sidhu, Chief Executive, PEDA informed that workshop-cum-interactive meetings have been held with the senior officers of PWD (B&R) and Municipal Corporations of Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana , Patiala and Bathinda who are implementing the demonstration energy efficiency projects in this sector. Technical experts from USAID and Econoler, Canada had participated in these workshops and presented case studies of successful projects implemented through ESCO at the International level, notably, Mr.Jalel from Econoler, Canada and Dr.Archana Walia, Dr.Satish Kumar from USAID. Sh.Sidhu also mentioned that State Level Energy Conservation Day will be celebrated at Amritsar in the last week of December.


No compromise with quality- Manoranjan Kalia

Chandigarh, December 16, 2008

Department of Local Government Punjab has suspended Mr. Rakesh Sharma SDO and Mr. Rakesh Singla JE of Municipal Corporation Ludhiana in their bid to influence the test results in their favour.

In line with the initiative of the Punjab government to weed out corruption for the system, a team of vigilance cell of the Local Government along with the faculty of Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh headed by Mr. A.K. Prabhkar, Chief Vigilance Officer, Local Government Punjab inspected development worked executed by Municipal Corporation Ludhiana on the orders of Mr. Manoranjan Kalia, Local Government Minister. Gill road, Hambran road, Dhandran road, Manav Gram Kochar Market to Pakhowal road and Namdhari Smarak to Civil Hospital Isa Nagri Pulley road were checked by the team. A total of 9 samples were taken for testing by the Punjab Engineering College faculty under the supervision of the vigilance cell officials. Meanwhile, Mr. Rakesh Sharma, SDO and Mr. Rakesh Singla JE approached the PEC faculty for favorable results.

Mr. Kalia has taken a very serious note of the misconduct on the part of the officials and has suspended both the officials and blacklisted the contractor on the recommendations of the Chief Vigilance Officer. Payment for the work done has been ordered to be withheld. Meanwhile, test results of the nine samples are expected shortly.


PUNJAB INVITES SUGGESTIONS FOR EXCISE POLICY-2009-10

CHANDIGARH, DECEMBER 16, 2008

The Punjab Government today invited suggestions, comments and feedback from the general public for Excise Policy for the year 2009-10.

According to an official spokesman Excise and Taxation Department has started the work for formulating Excise Policy and would like to invite suggestions/feedback from the people on this. He said that desirous persons can send their suggestions /feedback either in writing or by e-mail or in person to Mr. A.Venu Prasad, IAS, Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Bhupindra Road Patiala by 31st December, 2008. The suggestions could be mailed at E-mail:etcpb@yahoo.com or faxed at 0175-2213006 or 0175-2308001.


DALIP SINGH PANDHI ASSUMES OFFICE AS MEMBER SC COMMISSION

Chandigarh, December 16, 2008

S.Dalip Singh Pandhi, Former Minister assumed charge of office as Non-Official Member of Punjab State Scheduled Caste Commission, here today. After assuming charge, he appealed to people belonging to scheduled caste to bring their complaint direct to him on just plain paper and no affidavit was required for it. He said that their genuine complaints would be redressed at the earliest. He said welfare schemes and facilities would reach upto the beneficiary without any delay.


 

BADAL WRITES TO UNION MINISTER OF TEXTILES TO DO AWAY WITH THE CONDITION OF REVENUE RECORD FOR COTTON PROCUREMENT

CHANDIGARH DECEMBER 16, 2008

The Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today urged the Union Minister of Textiles Mr. Shankersinh Vaghela and sought his personal intervention to immediately direct the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI) to continue procurement of cotton without insisting upon production of revenue record and instead accept the certificate issued by village Sarpanch/Agriculture Produce Market Committee (APMC) certifying the prospective seller to be a actual farmer.

In a letter to the Union Minister of Textiles, Mr. Badal pointed out that the insistence of CCI to supply a copy of the revenue record at the time of procurement by the prospective seller corroborating that the crop had actually been grown by him, was badly hampering the procurement of cotton. The Chief Minister mentioned that the procedure to produce revenue record was not merely cumbersome but was also causing lot of harassment to the farmers of the State. "In fact, farmers have resorted to the path of agitation in some places because of the delay in Cotton procurement. While we appreciate the Corporation's concern to ensure that only genuine farmers are allowed to sell to it, yet it is felt that this objective can be achieved in ways other than insisting upon the revenue record e.g. a certificate by the village Sarpanch / APMC certifying the prospective seller to be a actual farmer", asserted Mr. Badal.

Mr.Badal however, appreciated the CCI which had already lifted the bulk of cotton procured in Punjab but at the same time he emphasized the need to maintain the tempo of procurement particularly by the end of season as it seemed to be tapering off due to the issue of revenue record to be produced by the prospective sellers.


 

EMPOWERED COMMITTEE APPROVES 11 NEW MEGA PROJECTS WORTH RS. 2815.06 CRORE

CHANDIGARH DECEMBER 16, 2008

The Empowered Committee under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today approved 11 new Mega Projects to be set up in Punjab with an investment of about Rs.2815.06 crore with an employment potential of about 20465 persons.

Giving the details Chief minister's Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains said that these approved projects included; three manufacturing projects viz. Tayal Energy Limited (Rs.507.98 crore) at Goindwal Sahib in district Tarn Taran, Wazir Singh Yarns Private Limited (Rs.31.49 crore) at village Bhalla Pind in Amritsar district and Merial India Private Limited (Rs.250 crore) at village Sambhalheri in SAS Nagar district with a total investment of Rs.789.47 crore thereby generating total employment potential of 1155 persons.

Mr.Bains further said that the 5 Multiplex/Hotel projects approved included a multiplex to be developed by Best Infrastructure (India) Private Limited (297.14 crore) at Bathinda and another by Necia Builders & Developers Private Limited (Rs.349.46 crore) near International Airport Amritsar and three Hotel projects of Piccadily Hotels Private Limited (Rs.155 crore) at Ludhiana and Cargo Motors Private Limited (Rs.90 crore) at Jalandhar and Hotel Alstonia - unit of Nijar Hotels (Rs.11.07 crore) at Amritsar with an total investment of Rs.902.67 crore had also been approved with an employment generation capacity of 14510 jobs. Besides, one mega project of retail chain in service sector namely Metro Cash & Carry India Private Limited with its two centers in Ludhiana, one each in Mohali, Zirakpur, Jalandhar and Amritsar (Rs.900 crore) with employment generation of 2700 jobs.

The empowered committee also approved an Agro based Industrial project namely Bhagwati Lacto Vegetarian Exports Private Limited at Ferozepur Cantt with an investment of Rs.32.92 crore having employment potential of 500 persons.

The Committee also granted clearances to a mega housing township project to be developed by DSK Realtors Private Limited near International Airport at Amritsar over an area of 100 acres at an investment of Rs.190 crore with an employment generation of 1500 persons.
The Empowered Committee had so far approved 32 projects in its various meetings with total investment of about Rs.33,103.91 crore. The projects sanctioned so far were coming up in the districts of Nawanshehar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Bathinda, Sangrur, Ferozepur, Faridkot, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran and Mohali districts and were under various stages of implementation.

With the approval of 11 new Mega Projects total number of approved projects had now gone up to 43 with the total investment of Rs.35918.97 crore, Mr.Bains added.

Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included; Local Government Minister Mr. Manoranjan Kalia, Food & Supplies Minister Mr. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon, Agriculture Minister Mr. Sucha Singh Langah, Forest Minister Mr. Tikshan Sud, Tourism Minister Mr. Hira Singh Gabria, Revenue Minister Mr.Ajit Singh Kohar, Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal, Irrigation Minister Mr. Janmejha Singh Sekhon, Media Advisor Mr. Harcharan Bains. Besides, Chief Secretary Mr. R.I. Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr.D.S.Guru, Principal Secretary Finance Mr.SC Aggarwal, Financial Commissioner Development Mr.NS Kang, Principal Secretary Industries & Commerce Mr. S.S.Channey, Principal Secretary Transport Mr. DS Jaspal, Principal Secretary Tourism Mrs. Gitika Kalha, Secretary PWD (B&R) Mr. Kulbir Singh, Secretary Housing & Urban Development Mr.Arun Goyal, Managing Director Punjab Agro Industries Corporation Mr. S.K.Sandhu and Director Industries Mr. VK Janjua and Chief Administrator GAMADA Mr.Vikas Partap Singh and Chief Administrator PUDA Som Nath and Additional Principal Secretary to Chief Minister Mr.AK Mahajan.

 

 

 

 

Daily Punjab press release