On the directions of the Chief Minister S Parkash Singh Badal , Mr. RI Singh the Chief Secretary Punjab has deputed seniors from the state headquarters to supervise the ongoing procurement operations in Punjab .
Disclosing this here today a spokesman of the Punjab Government said that districts have been assigned to individual officers for this purpose. Mr. P. Ram has been given Amritsar and Tarn Taran, Mr. Vijay Kain- Ropar and Mohali, Mr. S.C. Aggarwal- Jallandhar and Kapurthala, Mr. D.S.Jaspal- Faridkot and Muktsar, Mr.  B.K. Srivastava- Hoshiarpur and Nawan Shahr, Mr. G.S Sandhu- Barnala and Sangrur,Ms. Kusumjit Sidhu- Patiala, Mr. D.S..Bains- Bathinda and Mansa, Mr. R.C. Nayyar-Ferozepur, Dr. Swaran Singh-Moga, Mr. N.S.Kang- Fatehgarh Sahib, Mr. D.P.Reddy –Gurdaspur and Mr. Arun Goel- Ludhiana.
The officers have been requested to undertake extensive tours of the mandis. All issues relating to procurement of paddy would be supervised by them within the assigned districts, added the spokesman.

Punjab Government has announced the programme for unfurling the National Flag and taking salute on the Independence Day the 15th August, 2008.
Punjab Chief Minister S. Parkash Singh Badal  will unfurl National Flag in a state level function at Ludhiana on 15th August, 2008.
Whereas Speaker Punjab Vidhan Sabha S. Nirmal Singh Kahlon will unfurl the National Flag at Gurdaspur, Mr. Manoranjan Kalia Local Government and Industries Minister at Amritsar, S. Ranjit Singh Brahampura Rural Development and Panchayat Minister at Tarn Taran, Capt. Kanwaljit Singh Co-operation Minister at Patiala, Mr. Manpreet Singh Badal Finance Minister at Jalandhar, Sh. Tikshan Sud Medical Education and Research Minister at Hoshiarpur, Dr. Upinderjit Kaur Education Minister at Ferozepur, S. Adesh Partap Singh Kairon Food & Civil Supplies Minister at S.A.S Nagar, Mrs. Lakshmi Kanta Chawla Health Minster Punjab at Fatehgarh Sahib, S. Ajit Singh Kohar Revenue Minister at Nawanshahr, Master Mohan Lal Transport Minister at Barnala, S. Gulzar Singh Ranike Animal Husbandry Minister at Mansa, S. Parminder Singh Dhindsa PWD (B&R) Minister at Faridkot, Ch. Swarna Ram Social Security Minister at Kapurthala, S. Sucha Singh Langah Agriculture Minister at Mukatsar, S. Janmeja Singh Sekhon Irrigation Minister Bathinda, Mr. Hira Singh Gabbria Tourism and Cultural Affairs Minister at Sangrur, S. Bikram Singh Majithia Information & Public Relations Minister at Ropar,
Similarly Deputy Speaker and Chief Parliamentary Secretaries will unfurl National Flag as follows, Sh. Satpal Gosain Deputy Speaker at Moga, Sh. Jagdish Sahni at Batala, Harish Rai Dhanda at Malerkotla, Sh. Sarwan Singh Phillaur at Phillaur, Sh. Jagdeep Singh Nakai At Rampura Phul, S. Sheetal Singh at Bagha Purana, Smt. Mohinder Kaur Josh at Dasuya, Sh. Arunesh Shakar at Mukerian, S.Bikramjit Singh Khalsa at Khanna, S. Sher Singh Ghubiaya at Abohar, Sh. Avinash Chander at Jagraon, S.Sukhpal Singh at Zira, Sh. Raj Kumar Khurana at Rajpura, Sh. Desh Raj Dhugga at Garhshankar and Sh. Nand Lal at Pathankot.

Punjab Legal Services Authority has issued schedule of Quarterly Lok Adalats and Special Lok Adalats to be held in all over Punjab for the period from July to September, 2008.
Stating this here today, a spokesman of the Punjab Government said that Lok Adalats would be held at Mansa, Sardulgarh, Budhlada on 26.7.2008; Hoshiarpur, Garshankar, Dasuya, Amritsar, Patti, Ajnala, Baba Bakala, Tarn-Taran on 02-08-2008; Labour Court, Bathinda on 8-8-2008; Kapurthala, Sultanpur Lodhi, Phagwara, Faridkot, Moga, Muktsar, Malout, Gidderbaha on 9-8-2008; Bathinda, Talwandi Sabo, Rampura Phul, Fatehgarh Sahib, Amloh on 16-8-08; Ropar, Mohali, Anandpur Sahib, Kharar on 23-8-08; Labour Court Amritsar on 29-8-08; Jalandhar, Nawanshahr, Nakodar, Phillour, Balachaur, Labour Court Jalandhar on 30-8-08; Labour Court Gurdaspur on 5-9-08; Gurdaspur, Batala, Pathankot on 6-9-08; Ludhiana, Jagraon, Khanna, Samrala, Labour Court Ludhiana on 13-9-08; Sangrur, Munak, Barnala, Malerkotla, Dhuri, Sunam, Ferozpur, Abohar, Fazilka, Zira, Jalalabad West on 20-9-08 and Patiala, Rajpura, Nabha, Samana, Labour Court Patiala on 27-9-08.
The Spokesman further said that Special Lok Adalats would be held for all types of Civil & Criminal Cases at Ropar on 23-8-08; Jalandhar on 30-8-08; Ludhiana on 13-9-08 and Patiala on 27-9-08. Adding further he said that the main objective of the Lok Adalats was to dispose of litigation on the spot and make it hassle free. It also saved the precious time and money spent on the litigating by public.     The spokesman said that this authority was constituted on 20-2-1998 and since then till date, the Authority has organized 4653 Lok Adalats in which 6,94,016 cases were taken up, out of which 3,83,363 cases were mutually settled and the parties were awarded compensation to the tune of Rs.1114, 45,23,921. He further said that from 1998 to the financial year 2007-08 legal aid was provided to 31,278 persons which includes 3846 persons belonging to ST/SC community, 15693 persons in custody, 3879 women and children and 7860 poor persons.

Punjab’s dream of having a full fledged passport office in the holy city of Amritsar became a reality with the Union Minister for External Affairs, Mr Pranab Mukherjee inaugurating the facility here this afternoon.
The Punjab Chief Minister, Mr Parkash Singh Badal who had been pressing for a Regional Passport Office, along with a visa centre here was also present on the occasion. Later, talking to media persons, Mr. Badal expressed the hope that the Centre would take up with its counterparts in other countries especially Pakistan, Afganistan, Iran, The Middle East and West Asian Countries, Europe, The USA, Australia and New Zealand the issue of opening visa centres here. This he said, has become necessary in view of the high volume of traffic to these countries from the belt which Amritsar Passport Office will cater to. He said that the opening of the new Passport Office at Amritsar would fulfill the aspiration of the people in the districts of Amritsar, Tarn Taran, Gurdaspur, Faridkot, Ferozepur and Muktsar in having an exclusive passport facility of their own. The Amritsar Passport Office is equipped with the latest IT technology including the facility to issue a computer-generated receipt to the applicants on submission of an application. The receipt will facilitate tracking of the status of the application on the internet. The Office is fully air-conditioned to ensure comfort of the passport seeking public. The Office will start functioning from Monday. Mr. Amar Jit Singh will be the first Passport Officer here.
During 2007, the Regional Passport Office in Chandigarh and the Passport Office in Jalandhar together issued over 3,50,000 passports to applicants from Punjab. In the first five months of this year, about 35000 passports have already been issued to the people of the six districts that will be covered by the Amritsar Passport Office. By the end of 2008, the number of applications received by the Amritsar Office is likely to reach around 1, 00,000. To cope with the annual demand of nearly 1.5 to 2 lac passsports, the Amritsar Office will also have, attached to it, six District Passport Cells and nine Speed Post Centres that collect passport applications.
Addressing the gathering at the function, Mr.Pranab Mukherjee said that about 50 lakh passports were issued last year all over India by the Central Passport Organization, compared to 22 lakhs, seven years ago. The total demand for passport is expected to grow to over 80 lakhs in 2010. The Minister explained the various steps taken by the Ministry of External Affairs to simplify the passport issuance system and make it applicant-friendly. The simplified system seeks to balance the needs of security with those of citizens’ comfort.
The Minister of External Affairs said that while the Amritsar Passport Office will greatly facilitate employment opportunities abroad for people in the region, it is important not to lose sight of the fact that there are a number of unscrupulous agents who exploit innocent people by giving false hopes of lucrative employment abroad. He assured the Chief Minister of his full cooperation to the efforts of the Government of Punjab in taking action against such activities.
The Minister of External Affairs said that his Ministry has already initiated the Passport Seva Project for introducing better and latest IT solutions, further simplification of procedures and reducing paper work to the barest minimum, with a view to maximizing the comfort levels of passport applicants and achieving the best international standards. The project, which is expected to be implemented in a time frame of 19 months, will result in the issue of passports within three days and in cases which require police verification, within three days after the completion of the verification process. Tatkal passports will be issued on the day of submission of the application. The Passport Seva Project envisages opening of 68 Passport Facilitation Centres all over the country, where the non-sovereign functions, involved in the passport issuance process, will be performed by a service provider to be selected through an open bidding process. Police verification will be expedited through electronic linkage of the Passport Facilitation Centres with the police authorities in State Capitals. This centre would also start issuing e-passports, also known as biometric passports, in the diplomatic category, said he. Issue of e-passports in the official passport category will also commence soon. The Ministry of External Affairs has drawn up a programme for the full roll out of e-passports in the ordinary passport category by September, 2009. The e-passports will be much safer against forgeries and will facilitate their movement through the border points equipped with e-passport reading facilities. With the National Launch of e-passports in New Delhi on June 25 by the President of India, India has become the first major developing country to issue such passports.