A railway spokesperson said that on Thursday night it was informed that there was a call by BKU Doaba Unit to sit on a dharma to demand for a hike in MSP of sugar cane and for clearance of dues. Since this morning they have been sitting on the NH near gate S 70 near Dhanowali between Jalandhar- Chaheru section.

He said that a total of 107 trains got affected as of Saturday morning due to the protest causing a nuisance to commuters.

Railways cancelled 50 trains, diverted 18, short term 36 and some others, said railway spokesperson.

Punjab police have also diverted various routes in Jalandhar, Kartarpur and Phagwara as farmers blocked Amritsar-Jalandhar highway.

Doaba Kisan Sangharsh Committee had announced to start an indefinite protest from Friday across Punjab by blocking national highways and railway tracks two days back.

Following this, Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday announced a hike of Rs. 15 per quintal in the State Agreed Price (SAP) of all sugarcane varieties for the crushing season, 2021-22.

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With this decision, the SAP of sugarcane has gone up from Rs.310 to Rs.325 for early variety, Rs.300 to Rs.315 for mid variety and Rs.295 to Rs.310 per quintal for late maturing variety.

Pertinently, for the ensuing crushing year 2021-22, approximately area of 1.10 lakh hectares is under the sugarcane crop across the state out of which about 660 lakh quintals of sugarcane would be crushed by the sugar mills. With the increase of sugarcane rate the farmers of Punjab would get benefit of about Rs. 230 crore more from the previous year. Besides this, on the demand of the Punjab Cane growers the rate of sugarcane variety Co-0238 would also be purchased Rs 325 per quintal.

Chairing a meeting of Sugarcane Control Board here through video conferencing, the Chief Minister also constituted a Cane Development Group headed by the Cooperation Minister Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa besides other members including CMD Rana Sugars Rana Gurjit Singh, Chairman Punjab State Farmers’ Commission Ajay Vir Jakhar, Cane Commissioner Gurvinder Singh and Director PAU Sugar Research Centre, Kapurthala Dr. Gulzar Singh. The group has been mandated to find ways and means to enhance the production of sugarcane and promotion of advanced cultivation technologies so as to ensure remarkable improvement in sugar recovery.

Pointing out further, the Chief Minister asked the Agriculture Department to work closely with farmers for brining far more area under sugarcane so as to improve the viability of sugar mills besides giving push to state government’s ambitious program of crop diversification.

The sugarcane is an important crop of the state as its supports 16 sugar mills of which nine are in cooperative sector. The cane crushing capacity of these mills is 56,000 tons of sugar per day and if run at full, capacity, these mills can crush sugarcane from an area of 125 lakh hectares, where as the present area is 0.93 lakh hectares. The sugarcane crop creates tremendous job potential with employment in rural areas both for harvesting and processing.

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As per the records, out of total 2.33 lakh applicants, 1.02 lakh females ( about 44%) had applied for the patwari post in the state.

The recruitment process for the post is underway and the Services Selection Board (SSB) had conducted a written test on August 8 and the result is likely to be announced on Wednesday while the recruitment process for the second phase will be held soon.

The state government is conducting this Patwari exam after four years.

The data states the highest number of applications were received from Patiala as  21, 567 people applied for this government post followed by Sangrur 19, 974, Bathinda 18, 126 applications and with 17625applications  Fazilka stood 4th while 12, 336 applications came from Mansa district.

In the Doaba region, the highest 7141 applications were received from the Jalandhar district. Similarly, 2183 people applied from Kapurthala and 2667 from SBS Nagar district for the post.

As per the government records, there were around 200 contenders for each post as against 1152 posts over 2.33 lakh applications were received by the department, indicating a craze for government’s job among Punjabis.

Astonishingly, even the mandatory qualification was the only graduation for this post, applications were M.phil, PhD, postgraduates and other higher qualification students.

From 2.33 applicants, over 1.71 candidates had appeared for written examinations at 550 centres across the state last week. The exam was in multiple-choice questions format and there will be negative marking.

SSB Chairman Raman Behal said that now the department would hold the second test for shortlisted 11,520 candidates.

A senior administration official, on request of anonymity, expounds the craze for this post among youngsters, “Many consider this a lucrative post as the concerned officer has access to revenue records and people pay a hefty amount to make corrections in land records especially in rural areas.”

Meanwhile, if selected, a newly recruited will get Rs 5,000 as a stipend for18-month training and later the person would get Rs 20,000 for the first three years

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The duo, operating on the directions of UK-based terrorist Gurpreet Singh Khalsa alias Gurpreet, were nabbed from Amritsar, and had been tasked with retrieving a weapons consignment sent from across the border, according to DGP Dinkar Gupta. The consignment was most likely delivered in the border area around Attari-Jhabal Road some days ago, he said, adding that Gurpreet was also involved in the Shingar Bomb case Ludhiana.

DGP said that in view of the large number of intel inputs indicating plans by Pak ISI and terrorist elements based abroad, who are working in close collaboration with the ISI, to carry out an attack in India on or around Independence Day, Punjab Police had made extensive security arrangements at the borders. Special security checkpoints were set up and patrolling was intensified 24X7.

During checking at one such naka around midnight between August 15 & 16, two mobike riders were stopped by police personnel deployed at a check-point near Adda Khalsa by PS Gharinda, (Amritsar-Rural).

The cops found the duo suspicious as they could neither explain their presence at the late hour nor produce any valid document pertaining to the ownership of vehicle. The body search of pillion rider Amritpal Singh s/o Karnail Singh led to the recovery of 1 Pistol (9 mm), 1 magazine and 7 live cartridges, said the DGP. The bike was being driven by Sammy s/o Ranjinder Singh of Sultanwind, Amritsar.

In total, 2 Hand-grenades, 2 Pistols (9 mm), 4 magazines and 20 bullets have been seized, the spokesperson said. An FIR no.187 dated 16.8.2021 u/s 25/27 Arms Act 1959 and 3,4,5 of Explosive Substance (Amendment) Act 2001, has been registered at Police Station Gharinda, Amritsar, the spokesperson added.

Last week, CM had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi last week and sought 25 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) along with anti-drone gadgets for the Border Security Force (BSF) for protection from Pak-backed terror forces.

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Jalandhar: A joint teams of police and army officials on the eve of Independence Day conducted intensive checking at all prominent places to ensure foolproof security cover in the city.

Assistant Commissioner of Police Subash Arora said that in the wake of Independence Day event on August 15, Commissionerate Police with collaboration with army officials have checked all prominent points in the city. Anti sabotage teams of both sides conducted checking at Railway Station, Bus Stand, Guru Gobind Singh Stadium, Circuit House, Rainik Bazaar, Shri Devi Talab Mandir, and other places. He stated that the army teams were led by Lieutenant GS Pasricha.

During the checking in public places, the officials also sensitized people and shopkeepers to remain vigil of any kind of suspicious activities and inform police immediately, if they found anything unusual. The teams also urged people to stay away from unclaimed articles and share such information with the police department so that such items could be screened at the earliest.

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Reviewing the state’s preparation an imminent third wave, Captain Amarinder directed the Health Department to undertake priority sentinel testing for OPD/IPD patients at Government and private hospitals, travellers at entry points, Government offices, industries and labour colonies, staff at marriage palaces, restaurants, pubs, bars, gyms etc. Based on this, Districts should formulate strategies for micro-containment zones, he said, noting with satisfaction that GIS based surveillance and prevention tool, with an auto trigger mechanism for localised restrictions, is now live in all Districts and will help guide local restrictions, if needed.

The Covid Paediatric Ward at Civil Hospital, Ludhiana, has 5 Paediatric Intensive Care Units (PICUs) & 08 Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MISC) beds. The advanced ultra-modern PICUs are comparable with the best in the country, said the Chief Minister, thanking Vijay Munjal of Hero Ecotech Ltd,  Ludhiana, and Dr. Bishav Mohan from DMC&H, for donating equipment worth Rs. 20 lacs.  The doctors and nurses have been trained with the help of Dr. Bishav Mohan.

The ward has ECHO & Cardiology backup from DMC&H. Dr. Rupesh Aggarwal (Singapore) for Project O2 with Zeiss, India, donated 5 PICU beds. Other infrastructure facilities were provided by the Punjab Government. The Chief Minister announced that the government would be augmenting the PICU and level 2 paediatric beds capacity in all 23 Districts and 4 GMCHs to 1,104 paediatric beds.

The PSA Oxygen plants in Ludhiana inaugurated by the Chief Minister include 1000 LPM each at ESI Hospital and Civil Hospital, and 500 LPM at Urban Health Centre, Vardhman. He also inaugurated a 2000 litre PSA plant, sponsored by SPS Oberoi, at  Baba Farid MCH Faridkot

Captain Amarinder said a total of 76  PSA Plants (41 GoI supported and 35 donor supported) are being installed in the State, with  48832 LPM oxygen generation capacity. With installation of these plants, the State’s dependency on oxygen supply from outside Punjab will substantially reduce, he said, adding that preparations were on to augment the oxygen capacity to 560 MT, including 235 MT of LMO and around 328 MT from PSA plants, ASUs and Oxygen Concentrators. This includes 50 MT oxygen for non COVID emergency situations, in order to ensure that non Covid patients do not suffer, he added. At the peak of second wave, Punjab was utilising about 308 MT Oxygen.

CM also asked the Health and Medical Education departments to speed up augmentation of the health infrastructure and medical supplies to deal with the the third wave of COVID-19. The State Government would be spending more than Rs.1000 Crore in the current year for this purpose, under the Emergency COVID response package-II (ECRP), Fifteenth Finance Commission Grant, Disaster Management Fund.

The 15th Finance Commission has recommended Rs 2130.71 crore for the state of Punjab as Health grants with Rural and Urban components. Rs. 401 Crore has been sanctioned for the State in the current year.  The grant shall be utilized for strengthening of urban and rural health infrastructure, including provision of 63 Diagnostic tests at PHC level and 14 at Sub centres level, CM added.

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Chandigarh: Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Saturday ordered mandatory full Covid vaccination or negative RTPCR report for all those entering the state from Monday, with strict monitoring particularly of those coming from Himachal Pradesh and Jammu, which are showing increased positivity.

Amid reports of Covid cases in schools, the Chief Minister has also directed that only fully vaccinated teaching and non-teaching staff, or those recently recovered from Covid, should physically teach in schools and colleges, with online learning option to remain available to all children.

He further ordered prioritisation of teachers and non-teaching staff for vaccination, with special camps to be held to ensure that all are covered with the first dose within this month and those due for the 2nd dose to be also prioritised. Health Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu suggested reducing the gap between the two doses to prioritise second dose for teachers and other school staff.

The directives came at a Covid review meeting chaired by Captain Amarinder Singh, who expressed concern about the positivity in Himachal Pradesh and other parts of the country, which has caused positivity in Punjab to also increase marginally to 0.2% in the last week, with RO going up to 1.05%. The Cambridge study has also predicted that cases are likely to double in the next 64 days, he warned, announcing new restrictions in addition to those already in force.

The Chief Minister has ordered at least 10000 test samples of students and staff from schools to be undertaken every day. Districts/cities where positivity is above 0.2 % have been asked to shut down physical education for Classes 4 and below until the situation improves.

The rule on full vaccination or negative RTPCR report will apply to all those entering Punjab by road, rail or air, announced the Chief Minister, adding that if a person is found to not have

either of these, RAT testing shall be mandatory, unless he/she has recently recovered from Covid.

On schools, which have recently reopened for certain classes in the state, the Chief Minister said while there were some reports of high positivity in schools, the fact was that intensive testing had shown that the positivity amongst school students is 0.1 % against overall positivity of 0.2 % in the past one week. Since 9th August, 41 students and 1 staff member in government schools have tested positive.

Calling for strict vigil, he directed the concerned departments to ensure that only fully vaccinated teaching as well as non-teaching staff shall physically teach in schools and colleges. In case the whole teaching staff is not fully vaccinated, those who are fully vaccinated can attend to the students in the school and virtual classes can be taken by teachers who are not fully vaccinated. The number of students should be suitably curtailed if enough fully vaccinated teachers are not available, ordered the Chief Minister, directing schools to allow seating of only one child per bench.

Captain Amarinder said parents of school going children should also be encouraged to immediately get vaccinated in order to enable the physical learning in schools without any interruptions.

Even as he expressed satisfaction over commencement of operations at the Whole Genome Sequencing Lab at GMCH Patiala in association with PATH, with none of the 8 samples tested there so far showing only delta variant, the Chief Minister noted that the month wise whole genome sequencing sent to NCDC has shown that the Delta variant remains predominant. Beginning today, 92 samples will be every three weeks for genome sequencing. The process for inclusion of VRDL Patiala in INSACOG (Indian SARS-CoV-2 Consortium on Genomics) was on, the meeting was informed.

CM further noted that post Covid care was now available at all GMCHs and District Hospitals. The meeting was informed that Mucormycosis cases have come down substantially and only 1 case was reported last week as opposed to 6 in the previous week. Due disability benefits as per the eligibility are being provided to patients.

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Fatehgarh Sahib: In a tragic incident, one person died and around 12 labourers sustained serious injuries in a blast at an iron furnace in Mandi Gobindgarh town of Fatehgarh Sahib District Friday.

Following the information of blast, local administration and fire brigade department launched an intensive rescue operation and four persons stated to be critical. They have been admitted at Dayanand Medical College and Hospital (DMCH), Ludhiana for treatment.

There were around 16-20 labourers on the spot and some were discharged after first aid from Civil Hospital, Khanna.

The incident happened in the iron furnace of Punjab Steel Forging & Agro Industries Limited here and preliminary investigation indicates that the incident occurred after a sudden boil in the iron furnace following which the melted iron spilled out and labourers got burn injuries, police said.

“Labourers were working in the night shift and incident occurred between 3-4am on Friday,” SSP Fatehgarh Sahib Amneet Kondal told media.

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On Thursday, clamouring for an immediate ban on unabated drug peddling in the village, Kaur joined a protest in the village against the local administration’s alleged inaction against the drug peddlers as she pleaded that her both drug-addicted sons yesterday even sold the wheat from house to buy drugs.

“The administration and police are not doing anything. I am even requesting the police to arrest my both sons in any case. I feel, this was the only option left now to prevent them from buying drugs by selling our household goods,” said a crestfallen Kaur.

Eventually, this is not the only story of Kamaljeet but there are several mothers and families in the village, who are suffering from drug menace, and cordoned off the main road of the village leading to an ‘infamous street’ to eradicate drug menace from the village.

The villagers have also installed a hoarding at the entry point of this street, which reads, ‘Gali Vich Chhita Bechana-Lain Jana Manna Hai’ (Buying and Selling drugs are prohibited in this street).

Inhabitants of the village alleged that out of over 30 houses located in this street, around 7 are in the nefarious business of drug peddling. It has been 8 days since they cordoned off the village, said locals.

Villagers identified 17 drug peddlers

“We have identified 17 persons, who are allegedly selling drugs in the street and this list has also been shared with the local police station on various occasions in the past but to no avail, said Gurdarshan Singh (73), retired sub-inspector from CRPF.

He said this illegal practice of drug peddling has worsened here in the past 2 years. “Now residents of the village have decided to end this illegal practice on our own to save a coming generation from this menace,” he added.

Another resident, Resham Singh (45), said, “Last year, I found that my son started taking drugs and he was buying them from our neighbours. Therefore, I had to shift him to Daroli Bhai village with my relatives. I am not allowing him to visit his village. Now we have cordoned off the road and are not allowing anyone to buy drugs.”

Mandeep Kaur (57), said, “I am living in this street and it was impossible to pass from this street as it remained crammed with parked vehicles of drug addicts. Therefore last year I along with dozens of women went to the local police station to seek help, but nothing happened.”

Charanjeet Kaur, sarpanch of the village, said, “We all want to eradicate drug menace from the village. Around 12 persons, who lived around that street, had reportedly died of drug addiction in the last two years.”

Meanwhile, the heavy police force was present in the village on Thursday to pacify the protestors assuring concrete action into the matter.

Harmanbir Singh Gill, SSP Moga said that he has asked SP (detective) to look into villagers’ allegations.

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