For quite some time the print media has been publishing tales of misery caused by high prevalence of cancer cases in the Bathinda district of Punjab. Cancer appears to have

Bathinda: Following the protest call given earlier, hundreds of cotton farmers assembled under the joint banner of six farmers

by G. S. Dhillon

After facing an environmental threat from the two thermal plants, the Bathinda area will have to cope with the adverse effects of the proposed oil refinery being set up by HPCL-Mittal Energy Ltd. The refinery may start by 2011. The two thermal plants, to be operational in two-three years, will use 77,585 tonnes of coal daily.

Capt Amarjeet Kumar, director general of Suraksha, an NGO of Chandigarh, held a seminar on environment protection at Bathinda Municipal Corporation premises, here today.

Jalandhar: The Punjab government has been urged to set up a commission to find out the cancer-causing agents in the Malwa region where many persons have died due to this disease.

As the Punjab government has failed to set up any medical commission to find out why cancer has become a major killer and what is leading to its spread, especially in the Malwa region, experts continue to differ on the cancer-causing agents there.

Experts rule out harm to health
The much-awaited report filed by the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, has ruled out any possible danger to the health of people staying in Punjab due to the presence of uranium.

Falling water table in the state has been forcing farmers to go for deeper submersible tube wells with cemented structures at the base. Though found in select areas of Bathinda and Mansa districts, where water table has gone below 300 feet, experts feel other areas will also have to have deep tube wells very soon.

This year the cotton yield of Punjab is expected to be marginally higher at 607 kg per hectare compared to last year

Iqbal Singh sits in grief beside the paddy plants that have completely dried in his field at Amirgarh village. A drought-like situation has arisen because of no rain and massive power cuts.
A farmer sits at his paddy field which has dried up owing to no electricity and no rains at Amargarh village in Bathinda on Saturday.

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