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Thursday,
January 23, 2003, Chandigarh, India  
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Plan to link 4 Haryana towns with metro SYL canal will be made: Bansi HVPN workers face axe Haryana gurdwara panel sought Funds collected for ex-PM of Fiji misused:
Hooda Govt-aided colleges to be audited |
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Thermal
plant commissioned
Haryana facing shortage of
power Erratic power supply irks
residents
KU to confer D.Litt
on Jagmohan Students resent
hostel fee hike
Urmila case handed
over to Rewari police 2 brothers get life term for
murder Woman among 6
injured in clash Inter-college competitions
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Plan to link 4 Haryana towns with metro Chandigarh, January 22 Official sources said the Union Railway Ministry had already agreed in principle for construction of the IRBT system from Daya Basti in Delhi up to the Gurgaon railway station which would link Gurgaon with the Delhi metro network. The state government had agreed to contribute Rs 38 crore as its share towards the rail wagons needed for this project, the sources said, adding that HUDA had volunteered to pay the sum as the system would primarily benefit residents of HUDA apartments. The remaining cost of the project would be borne by the Delhi Government, the Union Ministry of Urban Affairs and the Railway Ministry, the sources said and added that similar plans had also been proposed for linking up Faridabad, Bahadurgarh and Panipat towns with the metro network in Delhi. They added that the IRBT system was geared up to save daily commuters who had to travel between Delhi and the Haryana towns. The tickets issued in the buses, used for bringing passengers to railway stations centres would be valid for availing services of the rail network also, including the metro service, the sources said. The National Capital Region Planning Board
(NCRPB) had been asked by the state government to take up the matter with the Railway Ministry so that the IRBT system was extended to these three towns as well, they said. The sources added that following an order of the Supreme Court in December, 2001, sizeable commercial traffic had been diverted from Delhi to important roads of Haryana. In view of this development, the state government had also requested the NCRPB for four/six laning of National Highway No 71 (Rewari-Rohtak), NH 71A (Rohtak-Panipat) and NH 10 up to Counter Magnet Town, Hisar. Moreover, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways of the Union Government had been requested for the construction of elevated highways at Badarpur (near Faridabad) on NH-2, at Bahadurgarh on NH-10 and at Panipat on NH-1. The sources said the creation of infrastructure in the National Capital Region (NCR) would ultimately help reduce congestion of Delhi. It was learnt that till now the state government agencies like the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation, HUDA, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran NIgam etc had taken over Rs 619 crore as loans from the NCRPB for developing the area around Delhi. Even though the NCRPB recently reduced the rates of interest charged on various types of loans, the Haryana Government had asked it to provide more subsidy on development of infrastructural projects. |
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SYL canal will be made: Bansi Jind, January 22 He said he did not attend the all-party meeting convened by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Chief Minister of Haryana, recently on the issue because the Chief Minister was not serious about the construction of the canal. Mr Bansi Lal claimed that 95 per cent construction work of SYL was done while he was the Chief Minister. Mr Bansi Lal reiterated the Haryana Vikas Party would not have an electoral alliance with any party and would alone contest the next Assembly election. Later, Mr Bansi Lal addressed a public meeting at Julana village in this district where he alleged that the Chautala government was pursuing anti-people policies. |
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HVPN workers face axe Faridabad, January 22 The exact number of the workers facing the axe is yet to be ascertained. The authorities have directed the Superintending Engineers to award work for a circle as a whole or divisionwise, as per the feasibility. The department has asked the officers to award the work after the formalities and rules of the nigam and with approval of the directors only. It is stated that work through outside agencies or contractors should be started by the end of February. The All-Haryana Power Corporations Workers Union has opposed the move. A spokesperson for the union said here today that it was part of the retrenchment and privatisation policy of the state government. He said several hundred workers had initiated official proceedings in this connection. According to a letter (memo) No. Ch-137/PTW/G-113, dated December 12, issued by the Superintending Engineer (Administration), DHBVN, to various offices of the nigam, including that of the SE (Operations) here, the full-time directors of the DHBVN had decided that in future, the permission for engaging of part-time workers would not be granted. Presently, such jobs were being done by the part-time workers whose tenure was being extended the department for many years. The spokesman claimed that most of the part-time workers had been working for over 10 to 20 years. He alleged that the state government was following an anti-employee stance. He pointed out that the latest move was a violation of an understanding reached between the representatives of the government employees unions and the state authorities a few months ago. He said one of the demands was to stop retrenchment and adopt contractual system. He said the department required at least 16,000 more employees due to the increased load of work, adding that the government had been spending about Rs 700 crore on upgrading the power generation and supply network in the state, but had not paid any attention towards the inadequate manpower in the department. |
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Haryana gurdwara panel sought Kurukshetra, January 22 Stating this here today, a leader, Mr Didar Singh Kamboj, said a request to this effect was made to the government at a district-level conference of Sikhs held under the chairmanship of Mr Tara Singh Bachki, SGPC Member from Kurukshetra, at a gurdwara here on Monday. Mr Kamboj said while addressing the gathering, Mr Gurbhajan Singh Chahal and Mr Jarnail Singh Ajrana alleged that ever since the creation of Haryana, the Amritsar-based SGPC was discriminating against the Sikhs and their institutions in Haryana. The SGPC had not done anything for the development of Sikh religion and institutions in this state. Under the circumstances, Mr Kamboj said, the Sikh sangat of Haryana was left with no alternative, but to have their own gurdwara parbandhak committee. He urged the Haryana Government to get a legislation passed from the Haryana Legislative Assembly for the formation of a separate HSGPC, before Baisakhi by amending the Gurdwara Act, 1925, and States Reorganisation Act, 1996, and it approved from Parliament. Another leader, Mr Jagdish Singh Jhinda, informed that within a short period of one year, the movement for a separate HSGPC, had spread to the every nook and corner of Haryana. Appreciating the steps taken by the Haryana Government for the establishment of a separate Wakf Board for the development of Muslims in Haryana, on other hand, he lamented that the state government was not responsive to the aspirations of the Haryana Sikhs. |
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Funds collected for ex-PM of Fiji misused:
Hooda Chandigarh, January 22 In a press statement here, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, said in desperation, Mr Chautala had started giving contradictary statements on what happened to the funds. “One day he says that money collected for Mr Mahinder Chaudhary was Rs 1 crore and next day he says it was 2 crore”, Mr Hooda said. While stating that fund collection for Mr Chaudhary was actually an idea of Mr Hooda, the Congress leader alleged that the episode had exposed Mr Chautala’s habit of “misappropriation of public money”. Mr Hooda said if there was any legal impediment for handing over the money to Mr Chaudhary, as claimed by the Chief Minister, he should have told about this problem to people. Accusing Mr Chautala of playing with the sentiments of people, Mr Hooda stated that while Rs 13 crore was collected for helping the martyrs of the Kargil war, only Rs 8 crore had been given to the families of the soldiers. “The remaining amount is unaccounted for”, he alleged. He added that information about money collected for helping the Gujrat earthquake victims also had not been made public. Money was also being collected in the name of late Mr Devi Lal, he said. The Congress leader expressed surprise over the BJP’s silence at the Mahinder Chaudhary controversy. The BJP could not gather the courage to ask the Chief Minister about what he had done with funds collected in name of Mr Chaudhary, the Kargil martyrs, the Devi Lal Trust and Gujarat earthquake. In a related statement, Mr Krishan Murti Hooda, spokesman for the HPCC, alleged that Mr Chautala was misleading the people on the issue of the funds collected for deposed Indian origin Prime Minister of Fiji. |
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Govt-aided colleges to be audited Yamunanagar, January 22 He said that the government was entitled to know how much money was being collected by way of funds, fees and donation. The Commissioner asked all the private-owned management colleges that they should utilise their finances in more efficient manner and resort to grant-in-aid to only to the extent they are deficit. Mr Dhanpat Singh stated that the government had introduced the grant-in-aid process in 1973 when only 22 per cent amount was being given to the colleges. He said that there were 56 government colleges and 118 private colleges in the state. He stated Rs 82 crore was being given annually as grant. A deputation of the Yamunanagar Industries Association led by Mr Ramesh Goyal, president, met Mr Dhanpat Singh and demanded that education courses should be such having linkage with education so that employment problem can be solved to some extent. |
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Thermal
plant commissioned Yamunanagar, January 22 Addressing a seminar on the “Impact of Pollution” on environment after commissioning the Yamunanagar Thermal Power Plant” here last afternoon, Mr Bains said the plant would be based on coal. The department had taken necessary steps to ensure environment balances was maintained. Mr I.K. Kohli, Chief Engineer, Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd said the plant would be setup over 1107 acre. Mr Kohli further said that in the first phase two units of 250 MW each would be installed. |
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Now buy railway ticket sitting at home Ambala, January 22 The Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) has decided to extend its facility of courier delivery of tickets booked on the Internet to Chandigarh. The facility would ensure that the residents of Chandigarh who use the IRCTC’s website to book their tickets would not have to stand in long queues. A senior Railways official said that Chandigarh residents can get courier delivery of the tickets booked on the IRCTC Internet site. “This facility will be introduced from tomorrow and Chandigarh residents will find it very convenient to buy and get delivery of ticket sitting at home,” he said. The IRCTC has developed the system using the “Broad vision suite of e-commerce software products”. The front-end system is integrated with the Indian Railways Passenger Reservations System in collaboration with the Centre for Railway Information Systems, which maintains the passenger reservation system,” he said. The IRCTC site for online booking is www-irctc.co.in. To book a ticket, a customer has to register on the site — registration is free — and after logging in, the customer can undertake transactions. The services offered are booking tickets by any train in any class from any station served by the train, subject to distance restrictions, against general and women’s quota. Senior citizens’ concession and concessional fare for children can be availed of. “The payment is by credit card. Credit card information is encrypted and totally secure. The information travels to the electronic payment gateway which processes it and on the confirmation of payment, the ticket is booked and details given to the customer. The credit card details are not stored in the IRCTC’s database.” Currently, courier delivery for tickets booked on the IRCTC website is taking place at 10 places. Chandigarh will be the 11th major city which will be added to the courier delivery list this week. The courier delivery is already available at Delhi NCR region, Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Hyderabad, Secunderabad, Pune, Ahmedabad and Baroda. At present, no personal collection facility is available at any location other than New Delhi. In addition to the railway fare, for booking through the Internet, the customer pays a service charge of Rs 30 per ticket for sleeper class/ordinary chair car and Rs 50 per ticket for upper classes. The service charge is not dependent on the number of passenger on a ticket, it is the same regardless of the number of passenger on the ticket. For credit card usage, a charge of 1.8 per cent on the value of the transaction will be levied by the credit card issuing bank. For cancellation, the passenger has to approach any PRS counter where a cancellation ticket shall be given. There will be no cash refund. The refund will be electronically processed through the payment gateway and appear as credit in the credit card bill of the customer. The service charge of the IRCTC is not refundable.
Payment of power bills at POs
Electricity bills can now be deposited through post offices. This facility will be provided to the consumers of Ambala, Sonepat and Hisar operational circle with effect from February 2003, a press note said. Ms Meenaksi Anand Chaudhary, Chairperson, Haryana Power Utilities, said 55 branches of different banks in the state had been authorised to collect the payment of these bills. The UHBVN and the DHBVN would also provide drop-box facilities at the cash collection centres. The consumers can make the payment through cheques for which they will not have to wait in a queue. The Nigam has also introduced a token system for the payment of bills at the cash collection centres. She said rehabilitation work of 211 overloaded 11 kv feeders was in progress. About 89 such 11 kv feeders had already been rehabilitated and segregated into 247 feeders improving the voltage and continuity of power supply. Ms Chaudhary said about 15,000 distribution transformers had been installed in the state during the period between April and December 2002. With the installation of the new distribution transformers, there has been a significant reduction in the burn out rate of the distribution transformers. Efforts are being made to bring it down further by 2 per cent during the current year. She said computerised complaint recording system was being installed at all district headquarters. With this system, the consumer will be able to lodge their complaints round-the-clock and it would be possible to monitor the time taken by the complaint staff in attending to the consumer complaints.
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Haryana facing shortage of
power Chandigarh, January 22 A spokesman for the Haryana power utilities said here today that due to various factors, the availability of power to the state had been reduced to the extent of 90 lakh to 100 lakh units per day. He said the power generated from the Rihand super thermal power station of 2,000 MW of the National Thermal Power Corporation was transmitted to the northern grid through the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) bi-pole line of the Powergrid Corporation of India between Rihand and Dadri. The line also facilitated transmission of power from the eastern region to the northern region. However, due to a breakdown in one of the bi-poles of this line, the power supply to the northern region had been badly affected. The power supply in Haryana was further affected due to the shutdown of one 143-MW turbine of the Faridabad gas-based power station due to periodical maintenance. The situation, the spokesman said, had been further complicated due to frequent breakdowns on the 400 KV and 220KV lines because of the continuing dense fog. This had resulted in the loss of generation from the state’s own thermal stations. The spokesman said while part of the shortage in the power availability was being overcome by drawing excess power from the northern grid, still it had become necessary to regulate and restrict power supply to various categories of consumers. He said the situation was likely to improve by the last week of this month when the Faridabad gas turbine would start generating power. By that time, he hoped, the HVDC line would also be restored. |
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Erratic power supply irks
residents Fatehabad, January 22 The problem of poor power supply in the area started with the advent of winter. Initially, there were one or two power cuts of half an hour to two hours’ duration each every day. But now things have come to such a pass that it has become difficult to count and remember the number of power cuts. Mr C. B. Gaba, Sub Divisional Officer (Operations) of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, admitted that almost 10 to 12 power cuts were being imposed daily for the past some days. He said the DHBVN authorities here were not responsible for the power cuts. Mr Gaba attributed the situation to a snag in the fifth unit of the Panipat Thermal Plant. Water supply becomes the first casualty when power cuts are imposed. With the poor state of power supply it has become difficult for the residents to get sufficient supply of water. With the annual examinations nearing students find it hard to concentrate on their studies as the power plays hide and seek at night. Several representations have been made to the authorities concerned on this issue but to no avail. |
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KU to confer D.Litt
on Jagmohan Karnal, January 22 Mr R.S. Chaudhary, Vice-Chancellor of the university said today that the degree would be conferred at the annual convocation of the varsity scheduled to be held on February 4. The degree was being conferred on Mr Jagmohan for his services to preserve the cultural heritage of India. Mr Jagmohan has initiated steps for the upkeep of historical places and heritage of the country as Union Tourism Minister. It includes a facelift of Kurukshetra and the Teerathas connected with the Mahabharata war and provision of amenities for pilgrims visiting the Vaishno Devi shrine. The convocation will be held in Srimad Bhagwad Auditorium of the university. Kurukshetra, January 22 Talking to mediapersons in the evening, Jaagrook Chhatra Morcha leader Yaachna alleged that eight girls and two boys of hostels were beaten up by the police and rounded up today when they were going to attend the demonstration. |
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Urmila case handed
over to Rewari police Kaithal, January 22 According to police sources the Kaithal S.P., Mr A.S. Chawla, briefed the Rewari S.P., Mr Haneef Qureshi, on the telephone about the case. The case took a new turn when Surjeet Kaur in Narnaul told the Kaithal police party that Urmila was not her daughter and she was coming to Kaithal to clear the matter. |
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2 brothers get life term for
murder Fatehabad, January 22 Jagat Paul and Mohinder, both brothers and residents of Chapla Mori village in this district, were convicted of killing their cousin Om Parkash by strangulating him with a pillow while the victim was under treatment in the local general hospital on November 1, 2000. The Judge acquitted the parents of the accused, giving them benefit of the doubt. |
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Woman among 6
injured in clash Sirsa, January 22
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Inter-college competitions Ambala, January 22 Dr D.P. Asija, Principal, Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, was the chief guest. Dr Asija called upon the youth to excel in their fields of interest. The SD College Principal, Dr Desh Bandhu, said such competitions enhance over-all personality of the students and help them in their all-round development. Nearly 100 participants from all over Haryana participated. In quiz competition, Mamta Gangwar and Shweta Aggarwal of SD College, Ambala Cantonment, won the first prize. Chandeep Passi and Rahul Singla of Dyal Singh College, Karnal, won the second prize, while Naveen and Rajneesh of DAV College, Ambala City, won the third prize. In power point presentation, Raghav Sharma and Ashish Kapoor of SD College, Ambala Cantonment won the first prize, while Debjinjan and Prashant of MLN College, Yamunanagar, stood second, Abha and Ritika Tyal of DAV College for Girls, Yamunanagar, were third. In declamation contest, Rubi Mittal of DAV College for Girls, Yamunanagar, was first, Pooja Kaushik as second and Nidhi Jain of Dev Samaj College, Ambala City, was third. Mohit of MLN College, Yamunanagar, won the consolation prize. In on-the-spot software development, Vichal Verma and Siddhartha of MLN College, Yamunanagar, stood first. In second position were Sugandha Aggarwal and Vaishali Gupta of DAV College for Girls, Yamunanagar, and third prize winners were Pooja Chaudhary and Neeru Chaudhary of Dyal Singh College, Karnal. |
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