Saturday, March 25, 2017

Organic Farming in Anganwari Fazilka

Neki Ki Diwar by Fazilka Red Cross

Friday, March 24, 2017

Punjab’s Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal pays homage to martyrs at Hussainiwala

Announces Rs 4-crore grant for the upkeep and beautification of the memorial where Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were cremated
Written by Raakhi Jagga | Ludhiana | Published:March 24, 2017 4:37 am
Punjab news, Manpreet Singh Badal, Hussainiwala, Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, India news, National news, National news, latest news, India news, National news,
State's Finance Minister Manpreet Badal pays tribute to martyrs at Hussainiwala in Ferozepur Thursday. Gurmeet Singh

Punjab's Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal Thursday visited the National Martyrs Memorial at Hussainiwala in the border district of Ferozepur to pay tribute to martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev who were cremated here on March 23, 1931.

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This was Badal's first official function after taking charge as minister in the new Congress government.

The minister announced Rs 4-crore grant for the upkeep and beautification of the memorial, along with the border areas. "The state government will also be organising a state-level function to commemorate Baisakhi at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13 this year," he said. "I am aware of the problem of unemployment in this area. I had promised during my election campaign to bring industry in Punjab. We will open industrial units in border areas of Punjab to generate employment opportunities," Badal said.

Relatives of Bhagat Singh and Sukhdev, who stay in Punjab, were not present at the function at Hussainiwala. Tribhubhavan Thaper, a relative of Sukhdev, told The Indian Express said, "We got an invitation for Khatkar Kalan function about 10 days back from the CM's office and hence we planned to go there. Invitation from Hussainiwala came only two days back. Though the CM did not come to Khatkar Kalan, we have given a memorandum to cabinet minister Rana Gurjit Singh who has sought 15 days to get our pending demands met."

Earlier, Fazilka SSP Ketan Patil came to Hussainiwala leading a bicycle rally 1,400 cyclists from Fazilka to pay tribute to the martyrs. Patil said it was a way of the district administration to inculcate patriotism among masses, besides giving them a message about healthy living. Local MLA Parminder Pinki was also present on the occasion apart from other Congress MLAs of Ferozepur district. Former state BJP chief Kamal Sharma, who belongs to Ferozepur city, also paid homage to martyrs.

Demand of relatives

Relatives of Sukhdev reminded Badal that the promise of Rs 1 crore grant for the upkeep of the martyer's house in Ludhiana that he made in 2007 as the then finance minister was yet to be met. The minister promised to fulfill the demand.

They also said that the UPA government had sanctioned Rs 81 lakh in 2012, of which only Rs 5 lakh had been spent on the upkeep of Sukhdev's house and asked Badal to find details about the unspent money lying with the previous state government. Ashok Thaper, a relative of Sukhdev, said, "We will meet Rana Gurjit Singh whom we submitted memorandum after a fortnight again. We have demanded from the government that a chapter be introduced in history books for all national-level martyrs."

http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/ludhiana/punjabs-finance-minister-manpreet-singh-badal-pays-homage-to-martyrs-at-hussainiwala-4582964/

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Rai Sikh support, ‘Congress wave’ helped youngest MLA

Ajay Sura| TNN | Updated: Mar 12, 2017, 09.00 AM IST
FAZILKA: Davinder Singh Ghubaya, 25, has become the youngest legislator in the Punjab state assembly by defeating his nearest rival, cabinet minister Surjit Jyani of BJP, by a thin margin of 265 votes in Fazilka constituency.

Son of SAD rebel leader and Ferozepur MP Sher Singh Ghubaya, Davinder was studying MA (economics integrated course) at Panjab University, Chandigarh, when his father managed to get a Congress ticket for him from Fazilka. The two factors that helped Ghubaya win the election are -- support from the Rai Sikh community, which comprises 52,000 of the total 1.63 lakh votes in Fazilka and the Congress wave in the state.

According to Ghubaya's birth certificate, he was born on December 13, 1991, and had become eligible to contest just before the nominations for the assembly polls were filed. After polling, he had also joined the university to complete his final semester examinations.

Youngest of four siblings, Davinder gives credit to "Guru's blessings" and the support by people, especially from his community, for the victory.

He also claimed that people had taken revenge for the SAD "ignoring and maltreating" his father. "People of the constituency knew who wanted to finish us and understood their design. Our victory is a slap on them (family detractors)," Davinder told TOI while coming out of the counting station in Fazilka on Saturday.

Davinder said apart from politics, he was interested in cricket. Before joining his supporters for a road show in Fazilka city on Saturday, Davinder said his focus would be on developing infrastructure for industries in the border area and to develop more educational institutions.

His elder brother, Ravinder, who is an IIT graduate and preparing for UPSC examinations, said Davinder was asked to contest because he had been active in the constituency for the last seven years with his father. Davinder's two sisters are graduates in law.

'Dream' of gangster Rocky's sister unfulfilled

Rajdeep Kaur, an independent candidate and sister of slain gangster-turned-politician Rocky, lost from Fazilka seat. Though she gave a tough contest to Ghubaya and Jyani in the initial rounds of counting, she finished third by the last round.

Rocky was gunned down near Solan in Himachal Pradesh in April last year. He was facing several cases in Punjab and neighbouring states at the time of his death. Rocky had contested the 2012 assembly elections and lost to BJP's Jyani by a margin of around 1,600 votes. After his death, Rajdeep, 36, had announced to contest polls to fulfil her brother's "dream". She polled 38,135 votes, while Ghubaya got 39,276 and Jyani 39,011.

Friday, March 10, 2017

Tech way to make crash probe smooth ride for cops

Chandigarh
Punjab First State In The Country To Start Road Safety Investigation Units, Says Traffic Adviser Asija

Punjab will probably become the first state in the country to introduce scientific procedures to investigate traffic accidents, replacing the obsolete ways of analyzing the accident site. The first round of `Road Crash Investigator and Road Safety Auditor Training' for traffic police personnel is on at Maharaja Ranjit Singh Punjab Police Academy in Phillaur.

The new elements being taught in the training will help the police give a fair deal to two drivers involved in an accident, and this will rule out the general tendency to blame the bigger vehicle. The use of technology will also ensure that the survey of the accident site is completed fast, so that the area is cleared for traffic to continue flowing.

Punjab traffic adviser Navdeep Asija said Punjab was the first state in the country to start road safety crash investigation units in each district. "New features, such as use of global positioning system (GPS) for recording the exact location of the accident spot, the nature of scratch marks on the road -to establish whether the driver applied brakes and tried to steer away the vehicle -will be added.

Weather conditions at the time of the accident will also be taken into account," he said.

Apart from being helpful in investigating human error, the analysis of the accident site will also be used to make changes in road engineering and envi ronment, and also vehicle design for prevention of ac cidents. The system is likely to be launched in Ludhiana and Mohali shortly, he said. As of now, only five cities in the country -like Kolkata and Coimbatore -are using this scientific accident investigation system.

"DGP Suresh Arora and ADGP Traffic MK Tiwari were convinced about the concept and pushed it," said a Punjab police official.

Meanwhile, unlike other states like Haryana -where the state has decided to transfer almost half the funds raised from compoundable traffic challans for this fund -Punjab has limited the amount of the fund.

Some states have also charged a nominal cess on every liquor bottle sold in the state. Had these two measures been included in the plan, Punjab could have raised around Rs50 crore annually.

The training involves post-crash management, technology in traffic, vehicle safety standard, forensic evidence collection, crash investigation, and road safety audit.

The state government had already prepared its Road Safety Policy that also highlighted the need for setting up of Road Safety Research and Development Centre, along with Road Safety Laboratory, in collaboration with the state's engineering and medical colleges.

Punjab ADGP (traffic) MK Tiwari was not available for comments.