Patiala : More than 13,000 farmers who had applied for power connections for tube wells in the general category till March 1990 may be given connections by the end of March next by the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB).

The farmers had applied for connections and had also got test reports with the PSEB by the end of March in 1990.

But the PSEB did not release connections as it was not in a position to bear the load due to power shortage.

Nalas (Rajpura): Following agitation by villagers in Nabha, now residents of over seven villages near Rajpura are up in arms against the government's plan to procure around 1,000 acres of fertile land for the 1,320 MV Rajpura Thermal Power Project (RTPP) near Nalas.

The villagers demand is to be paid at par with the Jheurheri villagers, who received compensation after their land was acquired for an international airport near Mohali.

Retail balm
Calcutta, Aug. 13: Farmers in Bengal will be told of the benefits of food retail in a language they understand and by voices they are familiar with.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce is holding a three-day event called the Second Green Revolution Summit that will be addressed by politicians like chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee and Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar.

At least 6,500 farmers and agri-traders from Bengal alone are expected to participate in the meeting scheduled from September 24 to 26 at Science City.

Punjab Government plans 75 projects at Rs.25,000 crore

CHANDIGARH: The Punjab Government has chalked out an ambitious plan to implement over 75 projects, including expressways, flying clubs, super-speciality hospitals, ring roads and five-star hotels, on which approximately Rs.25,000 crore would be spent.

Manjit Kaur could hardly have believed it but she has been cured of a two-decade-old list of ailments. Her cure has come neither through a doctor nor a stack of pills, but instead from a community-based safe drinking water project commissioned in her native Muktsar district, Punjab, four months ago.

Now Kaur, 45, is among the first in queue to fetch a 20-litre can of treated water in her village twice a day. It was contaminated water that gave her joint pains and bleeding gums. Now that the water is clean, Kaur's health is reviving.

Varinder Singh
Tribune News Service

Patiala, July 24
Prolonged power cuts have made life of urban and rural people miserable and the Punjab State Electricity Board (PSEB) has been blaming shutting down of three National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) plants for bad power position in the state.

Ludhiana, Illegal bird trade is going on in the city in the garb of exotic bird trade. The business not only violates the Wildlife Protection Act but also poses a threat of bird flu as birds which are often transported from West Bengal, may carry the virus from there and spread it to those in the state.

Experts claim that most of the exotic birds are brought to the city from Burdman in West Bengal where bird flu has already spread. If this process goes on unchecked, poultry in Punjab is also at risk.

Fatehgarh Sahib (Punjab): The Bharatiya Janata Party may be opposing the confidence motion moved by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the Lok Sabha over the nuclear deal, but its Punjab unit is very much in favour of setting up an atomic power plant in the State.

Speaking to media persons at Mandi Gobindgarh after participating in a State-level meeting on Monday, State BJP chief Rajinder Bhandari said: "There is an urgent need for setting up a nuclear power plant in the State to make Punjab free from power shortage.'

Vikas Sharma / Ludhiana July 21, 2008, 0:24 IST

The lab will provide a push to textile units in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir as they will not have to depend on faraway facilties for reports.

The in-principle nod by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) to the proposal for setting up a textile testing laboratory in Ludhiana has pleased the members of the Textile Professional's Association (TPA).

The opening of laboratory will benefit more than 1,000 textile units.