The Tribune – Badal meets PM on SGPC

New Delhi, March 20. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Home Minister P Chidambram here today seeking immediate convening of a session of the SGPC.

The SGPC budget is to be passed before March 31 and the session has to be convened in consultation with the Home Ministry.

Badal said both the Prime Minister and Home Minister had promised to look into the matter. He also made it clear that his party was opposed to the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre. (TNS)

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120321/main5.htm

The Tribune – Hang Beant killer, says Chandigarh court

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, March 20. After the Patiala Central Jail authorities returned the execution warrants to hang Beant Singh assassin Balwant Singh, a Chandigarh court today resent his warrants to the jail, stating that Balwant be hanged on March 31 itself as the order to execute his hanging has been upheld by the High Court.

The Court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Shalini Nagpal today resent the execution warrants to Patiala jail to hang Balwant Singh on March 31 at 9 am. The same orders were earlier sent on March 10.

Jail authorities had returned the death warrant of the Chandigarh court pleading its inability to hang him, since the case, in which the Sikh hardliner has been awarded death sentence, belongs to Chandigarh.

While sending the warrants back, jail authorities through a letter pleaded that since the bomb blast that killed Beant Singh on August 31, 1995, in which Balwant was the back-up bomber, had occurred at the Punjab Civil Secretariat in Chandigarh and the trial of that case was also carried out in Chandigarh, there was no point in hanging him in Patiala jail.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120321/main4.htm

The Hindu – KKNPP operation resumes

P. Sudhakar

Kudankulam 20 March 20 2012. For the first time after nearly five-and-a-half months, the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) received its optimum strength of around 950 technical and non-technical personnel and 100 Russian technocrats on Tuesday morning when operations were revived following the State Cabinet resolution on early commissioning of the plant on Monday.

However, the final touches to the first of the two 1,000 MWe reactors of the KKNPP and completion of work in the second unit can be carried out only after contract labourers, mostly from north India, return. They had threatened to leave Kudankulam and the neighbouring villages for good after the anti-KKNPP struggle started.

“Though the unexpected stalling of construction activities was quite painful for me at a time when we were eagerly awaiting the commissioning of the plant, I am elated now, as I’m boarding our bus to reach the KKNPP site after a long gap of nearly six months,” said V. Shanmuganathan, an engineer attached to the electrical section. As the Cabinet resolution cleared the final hurdle in the resumption of work at KKNPP, around 300 workers were sent inside the plant amidst tight security for the night shift on Monday.

Since anti-nuke activists, who were highly agitated over the change in the State government’s stance, were in no mood to allow the technicians from going in, the KKNPP administration transported around 950 personnel on Tuesday by buses that left Anu Vijay Township at 5.30 a.m. Around 100 Russian technicians, who have been deployed at by Atomstroyexports, the supplier of the 1,000 MWe VVER reactors, also went in.

“I have worked in several nuclear power projects across the country and stayed near project sites along with my family members. However, none of us have suffered any health-related issues all these years. Now we’re returning to work after all hurdles have been cleared finally,” said a visibly elated K. Baiju of the mechanical section.

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3016454.ece?homepage=true

15 January 2012 – Winter Walk around Sint-Truiden

Sunday the 15th of January was a wonderful clear winter day and I decided that instead of sitting in the Gurdwara I should go for a long walk around the south side of Sint-Truiden

Sint-Truiden, Naamsesteenweg
Very nice house just south of the N3 ‘bypass’

Sint-Truiden, Naamsesteenweg
Kringloopwinkel (Recycle shop) from where I got most of my furniture

Sint-Truiden, Naamsesteenweg

 Sint-Truiden, Naamsesteenweg
Just north of Bevingen

Sint-Truiden, Bevingen-Centrum 
Just off the Naamstesteenweg

To see more Belgium (mostly Limburg) pictures :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/12445197@N05/sets/72157622046344528/

More Belgium pictures to follow
Harjinder Singh
Man in Blue

The Tribune – Sikh clergy calls meeting of all outfits on March 23

Perneet Singh, Tribune News Service

Amritsar, March 20. In a significant move, the Sikh high priests today called an emergency meeting of all religious, social and political organisations on March 23 to evolve a consensus on how to save former Chief Minister Beant Singh’s assassin Balwant Singh Rajoana from gallows.

Akal Takht Jathedar Giani Gurbachan Singh announced the decision after a meeting of the Sikh clergy at the Akal Takht Secretariat here today.

Addressing mediapersons, the Jathedar said, “We urge all religious, social, and political organisations, besides Taksals and sects, to send in their suggestions to us in writing through their representatives to the Akal Takht before 11 am on March 23.

Subsequently, the Sikh high priests will hold a meeting with the representatives of these outfits at Teja Singh Samundari Hall and announce the decision of the Sikh community after deliberating on the suggestions received from various quarters.” He said these organisations could also seek opinion of legal experts at their own level and suggest the legal recourse that may be adopted  the Sri Akal Takht.

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120321/punjab.htm#7

Dawn – World Bank approves $1 billion for projects in Pakistan

Washington, 21 March 2012. The World Bank said on Tuesday it would fund two projects totaling $1.09 billion, in energy and irrigation, aimed at supporting Pakistan’s growth agenda for reducing poverty.

The World Bank’s executive board approved the projects on Tuesday, the development lender said in a statement.

The $840 million Tarbela IV Extension Hydropower Project will add power generation capacity of 1,410 megawatts, contributing a crucial source of electricity for the economic growth and development of Pakistan, the World Bank said.

Only 15 per cent of Pakistan’s vast hydropower potential has been developed, the Bank noted.

The Tarbela IV Extension Hydropower Project will use the existing dam, tunnel, roads and transmission line for generating additional electricity in summer months when demand for electricity and river flows are high, it added.

“The beauty of this project is that it will help Pakistan reduce the gap between supply and demand of electricity by maximizing the benefits of existing infrastructure of Tarbela Dam without requiring any land acquisition or relocation of population,” Rachid Benmessaoud, World Bank country director for Pakistan, said in the statement.

“The direct beneficiaries will be millions of energy users, including industry, households and farmers who would get more electricity at a lower cost and suffer fewer blackouts.”

The $250 million Punjab Irrigated Agriculture Productivity Improvement Program Project is aimed at getting maximum productivity out of irrigation water by weaning farmers away from the traditional and “wasteful” flood irrigation, the Bank said.

The project will emphasize more modern methods like drip and sprinkler irrigation systems, which in turn will encourage crop diversification, it said.

The hydropower project includes a $400 million, 21-year loan from the Bank’s International Bank of Reconstruction and Development that includes a grace period of six years.

The remaining $440 million of the Tarbela project and $250 million for the irrigation project are credits from the International Development Association, the World Bank’s concessionary lending arm.

These 25-year loans have a 1.25 per cent interest rate and a five-year grace period, the Bank said.

http://www.dawn.com/2012/03/21/world-bank-approves-1-bn-for-projects-in-pakistan.html