MLAs, DCs told to monitor paddy procurement

Badal said the interests of the farmers should be fully protected and they must be ensured remunerative prices. “No leniency at any level would be tolerated and the official machinery engaged in the procurement should be further geared up,” he said adding the paddy brought to the market should be purchased the same day. Food and Supplies Minister Madan Mohan Mittal said the Food Corporation of India and the Punsup officials were directed to speed up the operations in certain areas from where complaints had been received.

He said it was for the first time that the bags were being marked with trade marks of the commission agents and mechanical cleaners had been made compulsory.

He said the paddy damaged beyond specifications could not be purchased though all out efforts were being made to help the farmers. He clarified only the damaged or discoloured paddy was being purchased at the lower rate and there was no distress sale of paddy as such.

He said the farmers wanted reasonable price for the substandard paddy and the officials were helping them. He described the agitations against Bharti Kisan Union in some areas as politically motivated.

Patiala: The managing director of Punjab markfed Gurinderjit Singh today visited various mandis around Patiala including Bhunerheri Balbehra, Seel, Chapper, Samana.He was accompanied by many other senior officials of the including district manager Barinder Singh.

Meanwhile, a regional meeting of Punjab State Electricity Board Engineers Association was held here to protest against the alleged indifferent attitude of the Board towards the engineers who were being taken for granted and discriminated against, a release of the association issued here on Monday said.

While the board had created as many as 2,100 posts of subordinate categories, the distribution engineers were manning excessive workloads and were thus unable to bring about improvement in consumer service and in system operations. In the Ranjit Sagar Dam project, four posts of AEs were vacant and the Board had taken no steps to train the engineers for operations of the power house scheduled to run in May 1999.

The release said the operation engineers were required to be posted a minimum one year in advance so that they could get associated with the testing and commissioning activity.

The association regretted that the Board was being dominated by bureaucratic and clerical lobbies while the voice of engineers was not being heard.It association demanded that the PSEB management function on technical lines instead of trying to apply clerical yardsticks. Even the Ropar Thermal Plant had not been spared, with 26 posts of AEs vacant.