Chandigarh: With milk products worth about Rs 225 crore lying with Milkfed, it has requested Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal to ask the Centre to allow it to export certain milk products, it is learnt. During the past few months, Milkfed prepared 6,000 tonnes of dry milk powder of which about 2,000 tonnes is surplus. “I have told the CM that milk plants in the state will suffer losses if denied the export of dry milk powder”, said Parminder Singh Chalaki, chairman of the Mohali milk plant.

In April 2011, 20 farmers from Dhira Patra, Bukan Khanwala, Jhok Hari Har, Basti Natheshah and Sade ke Rahela villages of Ferozepur district in Punjab joined hands for group farming. They contributed Rs 60,000 each and formed Dhira Patra farmer help society. Fifteen more joined them soon. A little more than a year down the line, the group is farming on about 10,000 acres of land in this part of Punjab.

The Punjab government is spending Rs.36 billion to upgrade irrigation system for promotion of agriculture sector in the Punjab, Irrigation officials said.

They added that under the programme drip and sprinkle irrigation would be installed on 1.20 lakh acres of land. In addition, 9,000 water courses would be improved across the Punjab and 3,000 laser land levelers would be provided on subsidy basis, they said.

Chandigarh: Consumers in Punjab will have to shell out more than the Rs 7.50 per litre hike in petrol prices. Because of the high taxes imposed by Punjab on petrol, it will now cost Rs 8.19 per litre more. With the hike, petrol in Punjab will be the second most expensive in the country after Karnataka. It will now cost Rs 80.65 per litre as compared to Rs 81.07 per litre in Bangalaore. This is because the state government imposes heavy taxes on petrol, that is almost 31.25 per cent of the petrol cost.

Fazilka: The sarpanch of Harnam Chand village is a man shattered. He and his six brothers own 50 acres of land in Shajrana village which has turned barren. Reduced to penury, the family has been forced to take land on contract to earn a livelihood. There was time when the family would cultivate cotton on their land and earn more than Rs 6,000 per acre, producing over 30 monds of cotton per acre.

Chandigarh: A senior official of the Chandigarh Administration on Monday urged the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) to draft an industrial policy for the city. Stating that the Draft Industrial Policy 2009 had become old, Home Secretary-cum-Industries Secretary Anil Kumar further said that the time was ripe for a fresh policy draft. “ Let us focus on a few key areas and draft a policy to give vision and guidance to the industry in Chandigarh.

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.

Certain amendments have been proposed to the new Punjab Environmental Protection (Amendment) Act, 2012, the other day.

Secretary (Environment) Iqbal Saeed Wahla chaired a meeting at EPD office and presented the proposals to the media and experts on environment.

Mr Saeed said the proposals would be forwarded to the law department after holding a few brainstorming sessions with all the stakeholders.

For combating the menace of child labour, Punjab Labour and Human Resource Department has approved a 5-year project 'Combating worst form of child labour'; it is being implemented in four districts of the province (Jhang, Layyah, Jehlum and Chakwal). Punjab Labour and Human Resource Secretary Hassan Iqbal disclosed this during a meeting with the District Co-ordination Officers (DCOs) of the respective districts here on Tuesday, disclosed an official.
He said the Punjab government is focused and committed to eradicate the child labour from the province.

Power sector losses are accumulating as states continue to follow a cautious and staggered approach on tariff hikes despite the hefty increase in electricity purchase costs in recent years.

Rajasthan needs to hike its electricity tariff by 80%, Madhya Pradesh 65%, Tamil Nadu 55%, Punjab 24% and Haryana 15% to bridge revenue gaps of their discoms, according to credit ratings agency Icra.