Madan Lal Kapoor Appointed
Chairman Small Traders Board
Chandigarh, August 25, 2008
Mr. Madan Lal Kapoor today assumed charge of office as Chairman
of Small Traders Board in the presence of Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal,
President SAD and Member Parliament in Punjab Agro Industries
Corporation addressing Traders, Mr. Badal said that newly appointed
Chairman Mr. Kapoor would visit all districts of the State and
would collect your problems in writing which would be solved at
the earliest. He said that the Small Traders Board would work
as bridge between the Government and the Traders. He said Mr.
Kapoor would get status of Cabinet Minister.
Mr. Madan Lal Kapoor thanked Mr. Sukhbir Singh Badal for fulfilling
the promise made during elections that Traders Community would
get due representation.
Prominent amongst others who were present on the occasion included
Mr. H.S Bains, Media Advisor/Chief Minister, Mr. Gurmeet Singh
Joura, Member Vigilance and Monitoring Committee, Mr. B.P Chandan,
Vice Chairman Small Traders Board, Mr. Sarup Chand Singla.
BADAL ANNOUNCES TO EXTEND THE DATE OF
ADVANCE TAX PAYMENT BY BUS OPERATORS
CHANDIGARH AUGUST 25, 2008
In a significant decision to give major relief to the private
bus operators in the state, the Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash
Singh Badal today announced to extend the date for the payment
of advance tax made by the bus operators from 15th of every month
to the end of the month.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting with the representatives
of the Punjab Motor Union presided by Mr. Badal here this evening.
Taking part in the deliberations, the Chief Minister assured
the delegation of Punjab Motor Union led by Chief Parliamentary
Secretary Excise & Taxation and its Acting President Jagdish
Sawhney that all the issues raised by the union including reduction
in the special road tax & adda fee, equal frequency, simplification
and rationalization of payment of road tax, rectification of permit
fee from Rs.5000 per year to Rs.5000 per five years as decided
in the Cabinet, reduction in toll tax and uniformity in the time
table.
The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Transport to
convene a meeting of the senior officers from the departments
of local government, finance, transport and the representatives
of the Punjab Motor Union to thrash out the above raised issue
meticulously so that a final decision could be taken at the later
stage. He assured of a sympathetic view of their genuine demands
as he realized the hardships faced by them in view of the steep
hike in the prices of diesel recently.
Prominent amongst others who were present in the meeting included
Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, State Transport
Commissioner R.Venkta Ratnam, Director Transport Mandeep Singh
and the Secretaries of Regional Transport Authority of Jalandhar,
Ferozepur and Patiala.
BADAL ASKS CIVIL AND ARMY AUTHORITIES
TO CHALK OUT A JOINT ACTION PLAN TO COMBAT NATURAL CALAMITIES
CHANDIGARH AUGUST 25, 2008
Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal today called upon
the Civil and Army authorities to embark upon an ambitious joint
action plan to combat any sort of eventuality arising out of the
natural calamities in the state.
Addressing a galaxy of Defence and Civilian Officers at Civil
Military Liaison Conference organized by Western Command here
at Chandi Mandir headquarters, Mr. Badal asked both the Civil
and Army authorities to work out modalities in accordance with
the disaster management plan of the State. He highly appreciated
the role of Army in extending timely and all out support and cooperation
to the civil administration to control the menace of recent floods
in the state. Mr. Badal emphasized the need to further boost the
efforts of coordination between the Army and civil administration
to effectively manage the natural calamities.
Responding to the various issues raised by the Army authorities,
the Chief Minister said that the state government had agreed in
principle to approve payment of the difference of scholarship
by the Ministry of Defence and that offered by the state. He also
said that the road link between Air Force Station Chandigarh and
Air Force Station High Grounds would be metalled by the Punjab
Mandi Board within this year. He also mentioned necessary instructions
had already been issued by the state government for co-opting
army representatives as special invitees for district planning
committees of the four border districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran,
Ferozepur and Gurdaspur. He further said that the drainage wing
of the state irrigation department had been directed to complete
all the pending construction works of Dhussi Bundh on top priority.
Regarding the construction of cunette in Chakki River near Pathankot,
Mr. Badal pointed out that nearly Rs.1.6 crore had been released
by the state government and the work was in progress.
To another demand raised by Army authorities for civil sewage
disposal facility at Air Force Station Pathankot, Mr. Badal said
that the work on this project would be taken up under the scheme
of Urban Infrastructure Development of Small & Medium Towns
(UIDSMT), funds for which had already been released to the Municipal
Committee Pathankot. Mr. Badal also informed in the meeting that
the stamp duty and registration charges worth more than Rs.1 crore
for the Army Institute of law (AIL), Mohali have been waived off
in the Cabinet. Moreover, the land cost of AIL had also been reduced
to its previous decided amount of Rs.2 crore instead of Rs.4 crore.
Likewise, a sum of Rs.2.69 crore of octroi earlier charged as
additional duty by the state government has been reimbursed to
Jalandhar and Ferozepur cantonments. A sum of Rs.96 lac had been
released for restoration of Jagatjit Palace, Kapurthala and Rs.1.32
crore for the construction of additional hostel in the Sainik
School there, added Mr.Badal.
The state government had also directed the PUDA to issue necessary
directions for permission to run CSD canteen for ex-servicemen
at Mohali till the establishment of Zila Sainik Bhawan in sector
64 (Phase X) Mohali. The work relating to the fly over, by-pass
and four lanning of NH-64 at Bathinda Military Station were already
in advanced state of planning.
On the occasion, the Chief Minister presented a cheque of Rs.5
lac to the GOC-in-C Western Command Lt. Gen.TK Sapru as one time
grant to Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre, Mohali for the repair
of wheelchairs, prosthetics and other implements.
Meanwhile, Director General of Punjab Police NPS Aulakh made
a detailed presentation on the internal security plan of the state.
Speaking on the occasion, GOC-in-C Western Command Lt. Gen.TK
Sapru complimented the Chief Minister for the prompt resolution
of the pending issues through taking personal initiative. He assured
Mr. Badal on behalf of Western Command to extend full cooperation
to the civil administration in fighting natural calamities in
future too. He hoped for a further better understanding and cooperation
besides the need for a coordinated approach between the civil
and military authorities in the larger interest of the society.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Cooperation
& Defence Minister Capt. Kanwaljit Singh, Chief Secretary
RI Singh, Principal Secretary to Chief Minister DS Guru, Principal
Secretary Home Dr.BC Gupta, Principal Secretary Defence Services
AR Talwar, Principal Secretary Irrigation & Power Suresh Kumar
and Principal Secretary PWD (B&R) Kulbir Singh.
SPECIAL LOK ADALATS IN SIX DISTRICTS FROM
30TH AUGUST
Chandigarh August 25, 2008
The Punjab Legal Services Authority (PLSA) would organize six
special Lok Adalats in six districts in the state
till November 29, 2008 for all types of civil and criminal cases.
Disclosing this here today Mr. G.S. Bakshi Member Secretary,
PLSA said that the special Lok Adalats provides good opportunities
for litigants to dispose off their old cases by amicable settlements.
The award passed in the Lok Adalat would be final and no appeal
lies against the awards pronounced by these Adalats.
Giving schedule of special Lok Adalats to be organized in the
various districts, he added that a special Lok Adalat would be
held at Jalandhar on 30th August, at Ludhiana on September 13th,
Patiala 27th September, Amritsar 25th October, Kapurthala 15th
November, and Hoshiarpur on 29th November 2008.
He disclosed that since the authority was constituted in February
1998, the PLSA had organized 4797 Lok Adalats up to June, 2008.
In these Lok Adalats, 7,04,064 cases were taken up, out of which
3,88,728 cases were settled by way of compromise and the litigant
parties were awarded compensation to the tune of Rs. 1135,14,69,756/-.
He further stated that during the period from 1998 to June 2008,
the PLSA had also provided free legal aid to 32,200 persons that
include 3914 SC/STs, 16302 jail inmates, 4017 women and children
and 7967 poor persons.
BADAL ASKS CENTRAL TEAM TO VIEW PUNJAB'S
CASE ON FLOOD RELIEF IN DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE REVISED FLOOD DAMAGE
ESTIMATED AT RS.945 CRORE
CHANDIGARH AUGUST 25, 2008
Punjab Chief Minister Mr. Parkash Singh Badal called upon the
5-member Central team to recommend the state's case for flood
relief to the Ministry of Home on the basis of revised norms because
the nature and quantum of damage caused to crops and property
was absolutely different from the loss suffered on this account
by other states during the recent floods.
Presiding over a high level meeting here on Sunday late evening
to review the progress of relief measures undertaken on war footing
in different parts of the flood affected areas in wake of the
Central team's visit and its impression about the fury of floods
and subsequent damage in terms of crops, property and loss of
human lives, Mr. Badal urged the members of the team to take a
considerate view of the situation to bail out the beleaguered
families who had been worst hit by the recent floods. He asked
them to project the state's case entirely in a different perspective
because the paddy crop which was near the ripening stage had been
completely vanished. He said that the affected farmers in such
cases could be compensated only with the revised norms of relief
because the existing norm of relief @ Rs.4000 per hectare was
nothing but a cruel joke with them.
Terming this amount too meager, Mr. Badal said that the farmers
had to spend about Rs.25000 per hectare on inputs only and they
had already spent more than 60% of this amount on raising the
crop at this stage. In the light of this, the existing rate of
relief needed to be revised upwardly to at least Rs.15,000 per
hectare. Likewise, the Chief Minister also urged the Centre to
revise the existing upper ceiling of Rs.2000 per family in case
of the washed away/fully damaged/severely damaged and loss of
clothing, utensils or house hold goods should be raised to a minimum
of Rs.50,000 per family. Similarly, the norms of fodder/feed concentrate
should also be revised to Rs.50 and Rs.25 from Rs.20 and Rs.10
per day for large and small animals respectively.
Mr. Badal informed the Central team the damaged so far assessed
by the various government agencies was now estimated at Rs.945
crore against the earlier tentative damage of Rs.530.36 crore,
with a substantial damage caused to crops (Rs.344 crore) over
172269 acres, Irrigation/Drainage infrastructure (Rs.448 crore),
house property (Rs.27.61 crore) roads and buildings (Rs.116 crore)
and miscellaneous (Rs.10 crore) including loss of human lives,
livestock and other infrastructure like water supply & sanitation,
power, panchayats and rural development. He said that he had already
pleaded thecase with the Union Home Minister Mr.Shivraj Patil
during his recent meeting in Delhi. He said that Mr. Patil also
assured of fulsome support to the state in this hour of crisis
after the visit of central team to the flood affected areas in
Punjab.
Taking part in the discussions, the team leader Joint Secretary
Disaster management Prabhanshu Kamal asked the Punjab government
to submit a detailed project report for the construction of concrete
structured Dhusi Bundh with the provision of floodgates in order
to strengthen the embankments of Satluj to avoid floods in future.
He assured Mr. Badal that the team had a ring side view of the
situation after one to one interaction with the members of the
flood affected families besides the farmers and would recommend
the Ministry to take stock of the flood situation in the state
from a different angle, being an agrarian one.
Later, Mr. Badal asked the Chief Secretary to depute special
medical teams in full strength to combat with any eventuality
arising out of the likely spread of water born diseases, once
the water level started receding. He said that the entire medical
and para-medical staff in these flood affected areas should be
geared up to effectively control the situation. The Chief Minister
also ruled out the possibility of girdawari as ordered earlier
because the crop damage in the flood affected area was almost
100% and there was hardly any need of gridawari to assess the
extent of damage caused to these crops.
Prominent amongst others who attended the meeting included Media
Advisor to Chief Minister Harcharan Bains, Chief Secretary RI
Singh, Financial Commissioner Revenue Romila Dubey, Financial
Commissioner Development RS Sandhu, Principal Secretary Irrigation
& Power Suresh Kumar besides the other members of the Central
team.
NANHI CHHAAN TO BE LAUNCHED ON 27th AUGUST
To focus on protecting Girl Child and Environment
Chandigarh /Amritsar August 24, 2008
Though both mother and trees nurture the families and planet
respectively without any reciprocity, it is indeed paradoxical
that today there is a critical need to protect the both our Environment
and the Girl Child. This unique relationship between the Girl
Child and Environment is sought to be buttressed through a novel
experiment involving the State Government, SGPC and a Impact Projects
Pvt. Limited, a corporate house.
Under the proposed project aptly entitled Nanhi Chhaan, aimed
at generating awareness regarding preserving against female foeticide
and declining tree cover in Punjab, saplings along with water
of the holy Sarovar would be distributed from the premises of
Sri Harmandar Sahib in Amritsar.
The initiative is the brainchild of S. Harpal Singh, among the
country's foremost corporate leaders and Chairman of Ranbaxy Laboratories
and Impact Projects. According to him, saplings not only of the
plants and of trees mentioned in the "Bani" such as
Neem and Ber would be given but also others species, which are
suitable for the environment. By giving divine blessing to the
planting of trees, it is felt that Environment Protection will
get the desired boost and add to its contemporary relevance and
importance.
Punjab's Environment and Non Conventional Energy Minister S.
Bikram Singh Majithia who has been the prime mover behind the
initiative, highlights the importance accorded to women in our
scriptures and appreciated the sensitivity and social responsibility
of S. Harpal Singh and the Ranbaxy Group.
The Nanhi Chhaan project recognizes the strong parallel in the
bonds between the mother and child on the one hand and trees and
the Earth on the other. So these two ideas are brought together
and saplings acquired from the Sri Harmandir Sahib ji (or from
any other Gurudwara in control of SGPC) be planted at home either
by a bride who comes into her new home or by the mother who gives
birth to a girl child or by daughters. This would add a new dimension
to the concept of Sewa, which is a cornerstone of the Sikh faith,
by involving the community in protection of the Girl Child and
the Environment.
To address both these issues in a synergistic manner, the project
Nanhi Chhaan would be launched by Smt. Harsimrat Badal from the
Galliara of Darbar Sahib on 27th August evening by giving away
plant saplings to visitors to the holy shrine. The sapling 'Buta
Prasad' would be taken home by ladies, daughters and daughter-in-laws
for plantation and protection with a reverence befitting the importance
that environment protection should hold in our heart and minds.
S. Sukhbir Singh Badal, MP and President SAD, S. Bikram Singh
Majithia Environment and Non-Conventional Energy Minister Punjab,
S. Avtar Singh Makkar SGPC President and S. Harpal Singh, Chairman
of the Impact Projects Pvt. Limited would be the main dignitaries
to grace the function. DC Amritsar KS Pannu has worked to coordinate
the project between the SGPC and the corporate house.
