Heavy rainfall in the second week of October has badly damaged paddy, cotton and Maize crops. The rainfall is reported to be the heaviest in the month of October for the past 30 years,
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The Punjab Chief Minister has ruled out outsiders inclusion in the Cabinet. Only those Hindus who had been either elected on the Akali ticket or had been supported by his party in the recent elections to the State Assembly will be considered for a berth in the Council of Ministers.
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The Prime Minister Mr. Rajiv Gandhi has said that the central government would not make any comprises to release Sikhs who had been charged with waging war against the state by indulging in acts such as the shooting at the army.
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The Punjab Chief Minister has urged the Central govt. to suitably amend the terms of reference of the Mathew commission to keep
them in tune with the provision of the RajivLongowal accord.
Mr. HS. Deol a former member of the Punjab Public Service Commission has been appointed Administrative member of the Punjab State Electricity Board. The post had been lying vacant after the resignation of Mr. Jagmeet Singh Brar.
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The Punjab govt. has demoted 125 Junior Civil engineers (civil) who were promoted three years ago.
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Differences have arisen between Mr. Surjit Singh Barnala, Punjab Chief Minister and Mr. Amarinder Singh, agriculture Minister over the political appointment of Mr. Tota Singh Jathedar Jaindpur Dist: Akali unit as chairman of the Punjab State Agricultural Marketing Board.
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Mr. Sukhwant Singha former national and police games hammer throw champion died at the age of 33 in a motorcycle accident near his village Baam on Abohar Muktsar road. He had won the hammer throw event in the All India Police games at Jullundur with 62. 48 meters. The Punjab govt. is understood to have asked the Centre to reimburse it to the tune of Rs 40 crores said to have been spent on the deployment of security forces in the state to maintain peace and order and crush terrorism during Presidents’ rule. The amount spent by the Centre’s is twice as larger as the total amount spent by the Punjab govt. on the maintenance of law and order in any year since the reorganization of the state in Nov. 1966. The Punjab’s economy is in shambles and the treasury reported to be virtually empty.
Seven elected members of the Lok Sahba have sought clarification about the kind of relationship they are expected to maintain with the union minister for agriculture who was excommunicated from the Panthic fold a few months ago. The Hukamnama declaring him ‘Tankhayia’ was issued by the Sikh Priests.
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The procumbent price for the common variety of Paddy has been raised from Rs 137 to Rs 142 per quintal for the 198586 marketing season. The support price for jowar, Bajra, maize and ragi will be B 13 of per quintal. The minimum support price for Arhar, moong, and urd has been fixed at Rs 300 per quintal an increase of Rs 25/.
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The former Punjab Chief Minister Darbara Singh may be axed from the Congress working committee due to his misreading of the Punjab situation when he was Punjab Chief Minister. This had led to the govt. to pursue a policy of confrontation with the Akalis thereby alienating an overwhelming majority of Sikhs.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 1, 1985
