CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Tuesday claimed to have launched

faced with increasing scientific evidence of pesticides-induced health disorders, the Punjab government has decided to begin a cancer registry programme. Adding to numerous health studies, two

The Rs 18,900-crore Guru Gobind Singh Refineries Ltd (GGSRL) being commissioned at Bathinda by a HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd JV is expected to kick-off by 2011. According to GGSRL managing director B S Sant, the project, which will make Bathinda one of the major petrochemical hubs in Asia, is expected to get operational by 2011.

Forests, fields are all vulnerable

The groundwater reserves are depleting at an alarming rate in Punjab besides a serious decline in the quality of water at many places due to overuse of the available resources, says a study. Out of a total of 137 blocks covered under the study, only 25 have been found safe with 103 of them being overexploited, five being critical and four in a semi-critical state, says a study conducted by the Water Resources and Environment Directorate, Punjab Irrigation Department.

The commissioning of Bathinda's Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, whose letter of intent was issued nearly 15 years ago, is still five months away, but it is already embroiled in a controversy.