Jalandhar: Despite Punjab being asked by the Central Ground Water Board (CGWB) to decrease at least 10 lakh hectare under water-guzzling paddy in state and use the same for maize cultivation, the government has been unable to do so in the past three years. This year’s target area under maize cultivation is 1.50-lakh hectare — same as set by the state agriculture department for the year 2011.

Three years after over a lakh trees were axed and nearly two lakh plants uprooted for widening of the National Highway-I, Punjab is finding it hard to meet its afforestation target due to paucity of forestland. So much so that the state Forest Department was now planting saplings on common village land and in educational institutes.

Jalandhar: The border areas of Punjab are all set to go solar as the Punjab Energy Development Authority is planning to install a large number of solar-powered streetlights and water heating systems in public buildings in border areas of Gurdaspur, Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur districts.

Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal on Thursday shot off a letter to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar asking him to allot more mega food parks in the state to provide impetus to agro-processing sector and benefit the farmers. The mega food parks, a flagship programme of the Ministry of Food Processing Industries, aims at boosting growth of food processing industry through facilitating establishment of food processing infrastructure backed by supply chain.

The next time you plug your mobile charger into a socket on a train, it might be powered by solar energy. With two solar-powered coaches on the Pathankot-Jogindernagar narrow gauge line set to complete a successful trial run of a year this July, a proposal has been mooted for the experiment to be extended to all coaches on narrow gauge trains in Northern Railway.

The roofs of the coaches are equipped with solar panels. One was developed at Pathankot and the other at Kalka. Fans, lights and electrical points for charging mobiles or laptops on these coaches run on solar energy.

In a bid to check the theft of canal water, the Punjab Cabinet today approved amendments to Section 70 of the Northern India Canal and Drainage Act, 1873, to make it far more stringent and punitive. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Council of Ministers under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal. A spokesperson said that under the amended Act, the amount of fine for canal water theft had been enhanced from the earlier Rs 1,000 to a minimum Rs 5,000 and maximum Rs 50,000 or imprisonment up to six months or both.

A cross section of people concerned about the power tariff hike being considered by the Punjab State Electricity Regulatory Commission, met its chairperson Romila Dubey in Jalandhar on Wednesday. Dubey has been attending meetings such as this one with different sections of society to learn the people’s view before taking a final decision on the hike.

Fund shortage and lack of concern, or at times will, on the part of the government were among the hurdles in the setting up of sewage treatment plants. Certain environmentally critical steps seen as ‘farmer unfriendly’ were also avoided. The Planning Commission, which is keen to include environmental performance as a parameter in the criteria for the allocation of Central assistance, devised a model last year to build an Environmental Performance Index of various states. Punjab was down at the 27th spot, barely escaping being the bottom of the pile.

Potato growers in the state, managed to repeat the feat they pulled off in 2001 by dumping their produce on roads in Jalandhar on Thursday even as Punjab Deputy Chief Minister was in the city at the same time. The farmers dumped about 5,000 to 6,000 quintals of potato on the road leading up to Jalandhar after police stepped in and prevented a large number of potato-filled trolleys from entering the city. Farmers, however, have threatened to intensify their agitation if the state government does not come to their aid.

Irregular supply of raw material, financial crunch, delayed clearances key hurdles