* The General Secretary of the Punjab Vidhan Sabha expressed concern over the fall in the prices of cotton, the cotton prices ranged between Rs, 350 and Rs. 370 which is Rs. 50 to Rs. 70 less than the support prices.

* The Punjab State unit of the BJP today announced the with drawl of its conditional support to the Barnala Government for its “failure” to contain violence.

* According to official estimates of the Food Corporation of India. Punjab promises to produce 85 lakh tones of paddy this year against 81 lakh tonnes last year. The prices obtained by farmers were anywhere between Rs, 148 per quintal of common variety and Rs. 172 per quintal of super fine variety spurting above the support prices of Rs. 146 and Rs. 154 per quintal for common and superfine variety respectively

* The Lok Sabha on Nov. 5, passed the Estate Duty (Amendment) bill seeking to abolish Estate duty also in respect of agricultural lands on the death of a person in Punjab and Tripura and take the state along with the others.

* Leaders of the major opposition parties in Parliament took exception to Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi remarks that the Gorkha land agitation was not antinational adding that the “provocative” comments of ’Mr. Gandhi would have serious Consequences,

* Fear and a sense of insecurity haunt the employees of the State Bank of India branch at Talwara in Hoshiarpur District which was the scene of a docoity on Oct. 30, ‘when they took away about Rs. 22 lakhs.

* Mr. Beant Singh, President of the Punjab Pradesh Congress (I) committee said at Patiala that the Barnala Government was the most corrupt and that money changed hands in case of appointments and transfers. It had failed to lessen “bitterness” between Hindus and Sikhs and could not contain the violence. He said it would be “unfortunate” to field Mr. Gurcharan Singh Tohra for the President ship of the S.G.P.C.

* The credit for developing the surgery department of the Christian Medical College and hospital at Ludhiana into one of the best in the country goes to Dr. F.C. Eggleston who headed it for 20 long years before his elevation as tor of the C.M.C. in 1982.

* The Punjab University has decided to give provisional affiliation to the government college, Ludhiana for conducting the three year LLB Course.

* The Punjab Transport Minister suspended the Director of Transport for his alleged involvement in the much published uniform scandal.

 * Punjab’s Minister of State for Home, has claimed that the crime rate in Punjab continued to be the lowest in the country. He regretted that certain quarters were depicting on exaggerated and grim picture of the situation in the State.

 * The Punjab Governor, Mr. SS. Ray, underlined the need for abolishing the court fee in the country. He was inaugurating at Chandigarh’s legal aid center.

* Baba Joginder Singh, the acting President of the United Akali Dal, has warned the police and Mr. J.F. Ribeiro in particular to stop the repression let loose on Sikh youths. He alleged that Sikh youths were being killed in fake encounters.

 * Huge stocks of paddy worth several crores of rupees lying in the open in several towns of Farid kot district particularly Moga and Baghapurana for the past about one month have been rotting. ‘There are no government processing agencies and the growers are at the mercy of millers. Over 33,000 bags of paddy worth about Rupees 50 lakhs lying in the open in Davlatpura Nawan village in Faridkot district have gone waste ‘owing to the “inefficiency” of the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board offices. * Mr. Sarbjit Singh Sohal, member Presidium, Mr, Satinder Singh Bhola and Mr. Maninder Singh Secretary, A.I.SS.F. (Manjit Singh) have urged human rights organizations to hold inquiry into the “fake encounters” in Punjab. They alleged that Sikh youths were taken out of prisons and shot dead. They held Punjab Governor, the Chief Minister and the Punjab Police Chief responsible for these crimes.

Article extracted from this publication >> November 21, 1986