Punjab: The week gone by

Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal promised to open up 3017 E-Gram centres and also approved designs for the construction work at 12 sports stadium in the state.

On the other hand, CM Parkash Singh Badal sanctioned money to carry on the developmental projects in rural and urban areas.

Further, Sajid Khan’s comment on Gatka performance by a child on reality show ‘India’s Got Talent Khoj 2’ angered the Sikh community.

Bharti Walmart, Aircel enter Punjab
Bharti Walmart opened its Best Price Modern Wholesale cash-and-carry store at Jalandhar. It is the third store in the state and in the country as well. The first store was opened in Amritsar in May 2009 and second in Zirakpur in April 2010.

Bharti Walmart is a 50:50 joint venture between Bharti Enterprises and U.S. based retailing giant Walmart Stores.

The 63,000 square feet store is likely to have nearly 5,400 items. Commodities ranging from fresh, frozen and chilled foods, fruits, vegetables, dry groceries to personal and home care, hotel and restaurant supplies, clothing, office supplies and other general merchandise items will be available at the stores in reasonable prices.

On the other hand, Aircel, the fifth largest service provider in India, launched its GSM (Global System for Mobile) mobile services in Punjab and became the eighth GSM provider in the state.

Aircel has decided to invest a whooping amount of 650 crore in Punjab, apart from Rs 350 crore invested earlier, by the end of 2011 in order to expand its GSM mobile services in the state.

Currently, Airtel is ruling the telecom market in Punjab, and is facing tough competition from Vodafone and Idea-Spice.

Sukhbir Singh Badal promises opening of 3017 E-Gram Centres and approves construction of 12 sports stadium
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal promised to open E-Gram centres at 12,800 villages in Punjab through a prestigious program worth Rs 91 crore.

The 3017 E-Gram centres, at each panchayat cluster, will be operational from December this year. Initially, the E-Gram will be set in 397 places by December, this year and will be extended to other areas till March, 2011.

Citizen services like issue of birth and death certificates, ration card, electricity bill, telephone bills, mobile bills and many more will be offered at these centres.

An order to upgrade 12 sports stadium to world class level, costing Rs 64.55 crore, was finally passed by Punjab government.

Sukhbir approved the conceptual designs of the proposed stadiums. The construction of sports stadium included construction of hockey stadium at Faridkot, overhaul of Hockey stadiums in Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar, and multipurpose stadiums in Jalandhar, Bathinda, Sangrur, Hohiarpur, Amrtisar, Mansa, Gurdaspur, Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

Deputy CM asked the Sports Secretary PS Aujla to monitor the construction work and handover the contracts to reputed international agencies.

Developmental projects approved by Badal
Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal sanctioned Rs 204.32 crore for various developmental projects to be undertaken in the urban and rural areas of all the assembly constituencies in Fatehgarh Sahib (Rs 142.67 crore) and Taran district (Rs 61.65 crore).

Further, a whooping amount of 134.60 crore was also sanctioned by Badal for various on-going projects in Shaheed Bhagat Singh (SBS) Nagar (25.90 crore), Jalandhar district (50.40 crore) and Hoshiarpur district (58.30 crore).

Besides, CM authorized Eco-technologist Dr Sandeep Joshi, director of Shrishti Eco-Research Institute (SERI), Pune, for cleaning up the Buddha Nullah Ecological Economical Restoration (NEER) project.

‘Green Bridge’, the latest biological technology, will be used to clean up the highly polluted Buddha Nullah. This latest technology will help in absorbing the pollutants from the Nullah and reduce the pollution level.

Badal has even asked to explore the possibility of channelization and elongation of the banks of Buddha Nullah.

Political developments
A rally was held at Sangrur district to pay tribute to the great martyr Shaheed Udham Singh on his 71 martyrdom anniversary.

While addressing public in the rally, Parkash Singh Badal appealed the people not to be misled by opposition, who deliberately want to take-over the control of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC).

Badal even asked the congress party not to interfere in the religious matters and not to keep an eye on the forthcoming general elections of SGPC.

Union State Minister for External Affairs and Patiala MP Preneet Kaur stated that India is keen on Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Makhdoom Qureshi’s visit to India. She even revealed India’s willingness to build trust between the two countries.

Jaswant Kaur, widow of former CM of Punjab Late Beant Singh, expired due to illness. Besides CM, the cremation ceremony was attended by other personalities like Local Government Minister Manoranjan Kalia, Health and Family Welfare Minister Laxmi Kanta Chawla and Transport Minister Master Mohan Lal.

Sajid Khan’s comments anger Sikhs
The television reality show ‘India’s Got Talent Khoj 2’ on Colors kicked off with controversy.

The comment by Sajid Khan, one of the three judges, on Manpreet Singh’s Gatka performance angered Sikhs. The comment not only hurt the Sikh sentiments, but offended the Gatka Federation of India (GFI) and Punjab Gatka Association (PGA).

Both the organizations are seeking apology from the channel and the show’s judge Sajid. They have also urged the Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh to take strict action.

Harsimrat Kaur Badal demands ‘special agricultural zone' status for Punjab
A special demand to declare Punjab a ‘special agricultural zone’ to ensure flood security was raised by Harsimrat Kaur Badal, a member of parliament in Bathinda constituency.

She also focused her discussion on the negligence of Punjab by the UPA government since last six years. A package to waive-off the accumulated debt, during nine years long president rule, was also discussed.

Harsimrat Badal also alleged that Punjab was facing various problems due to continuous negligence.

Besides, Harsimrat Badal even asked for reinvigoration of 150-years-old canal system in the state, as 20 percent water in the Punjab canal gets wasted due to leakage.

Power demand escalates in Punjab
Power cut seems to be a never-ending issue in the state. The power demand in Punjab escalated to nearly 1900 lakh units, as compared to the power availability of 1630 lakh units.

Consequently, the daily power shortage in state surged to 250 lakh units.

Currently, Punjab Powercom is drawing an excess power of 122 lakh units from the northern grid.