Gurgaon, August 20
The Haryana government will soon declare a renewable energy power policy for the state which will facilitate power producers to set up their projects, according to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He further announced that the government had decided to set up an international Rajiv Gandhi Footbal Academy, the first of its kind in Bhondsi village, near here.

Mr Hooda, who laid the foundation stone of “Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Park” in Sector 29 here, said at a public function that the government had decided to provide “Rajiv Gandhi scholarships” to 50,000 students in government schools.

On the function organised to commemorate the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, he also launched a website of the Renewable Energy Department, Haryana. Prizes were given to the panchayats for their participation in the renewable energy programmes. The first prize of Rs 2 lakh for 2000-2002 was given to the village panchayat, Simha Mahendergarh district, and for 2002-04,was the prize went to the village panchayat, Mathana, Kurukshetra district. Mr Hooda emphasised the need for promotion and adoption of renewable energy technologies for a sustainable future.

It had taken many steps to promote renewable energy programme and had undertaken an ambitious rural village electrification programme for the remote and unelectrified areas. The state had made mandatory the use of solar water heating systems in buildings where hot water was required.

He said the state generated only about 4,000 MGW, whereas the consumption was about 8,000 MGW. In such a situation the state had to purchase power from outside sources. In case of unforeseen snags in the northern grid, the areas of the state faced problems, he added. According to him, the state has decided to increase the state’s generation by about 3,000 MGW in coming three years.

He reiterated that the government had decided to set up a nodal authority for integrated development of Gurgaon, on the pattern of the Delhi Development Authority (DDA). Soon, Gurgaon would witness a high rate of development and growth. Also, the government planned to set up “global corridor” along the proposed Palwal-Kundli express way.

The Rajiv Gandhi Akshay Urja Park,for which the foundation stone was laid be set up on 1.6 acres at a cost of about Rs 1.25 crore with the partial financial assistance from the Union Ministry of Non-Conventional Energy Sources. It will act as an education facility about the renewable energy technologies. The salient feature of the energy park will that its buildings will be constructed on the concepts of energy efficiency and solar passive architecture.

SONEPAT: Dr Sanjay Singh, general secretary of the AICC, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, working president of the HPCC and state Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Sharma election in charge of the state Congress and MLAs Dharampal Singh Malik, Ramesh Kaushik and Sukhbir Farmana and HPCC general secretary Sumitra Chauhan paid homage to the late Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi on his 61st birth anniversary at a seminar organised here today.

Dr Singh said Rajiv Gandhi gave a new direction to the socioeconomic and political life of the people, particularly youths and women.

Mr Surjewala said Rajiv Gandhi ensured maximum participation of the youth in national affairs by lowering the minimum age limit of a voter from 21 to 18 years and by bringing amendments in the Constitution for 30 per cent participation of women in panchayati raj institutions. He disclosed that to fulfil the dreams of Rajiv Gandhi, UPA government at the Centre had earmarked Rs 40,000 crore for Rozgar Guarantee Programme and Rs 10,000 crore for education for the rural masses.

Chandigarh, August 20
The Haryana Government has removed a senior IAS officer from an assignment given to him after his retirement allegedly for behaving in an “unofficer-like” manner.

According to informed sources, the officer, Mr Sunil Ahuja, who was appointed Adviser to the Chief Minister on the development of the National Capital Region for six months after he retired as the Chief Secretary of the state on June 30, was given the marching orders yesterday.

The sources say the officer had been making too many demands on the government as well as its officers right from day one of his new assignment. The proverbial last straw was the “highly objectionable” behaviour of the officer with his personal staff a couple of days ago.

The sources say the officer allegedly brandished a firearm and threatened to kill his personal staff. It is believed that the officer got angry when the personal staff failed to contact a state government official on the phone. The official had reportedly switched off his mobile phone after repeated calls from the former Chief Secretary.

The matter was reported by the personal staff to senior officers of the Haryana Government, who immediately informed the Chief Minister. It was decided to give the marching orders to the former Chief Secretary.

Initially, Mr Ahuja was appointed adviser to the government, but he insisted that he should be designated as adviser to the Chief Minister. Then he started making other demands like a Sonata car, Rs 5 crore at his disposal and a ministerial bungalow in Panchkula for his office. The sources say he would often ring up senior officers and complain to them about trivial matters like the failure of the newspaper vendor to deliver the papers or the safai karamchari absenting himself from duty.

Mr Ahuja could not be contacted for comments.

Ambala, August 20
Mr Rajnath Singh, general secretary, BJP, today urged the Union Government. to call back the Governors of Jharkhand and Bihar as they are not working according to the constitutional guidelines. Mr Rajnath Singh along with senior leaders of the party, Ms Uma Bharti, Mr. Shah Nawaz Khan, and JD(U) leader, Nitish Kumar broke their journey at Ambala Cantt while going towards Punjab to attend a function in the memory of Sant Longowal.

Replying to a question, he said the BJP was a disciplined political party and it did not split even a single time whereas the Congress had split a number of times. Asked to comment on the recent statement of Mr Madan Lal Khurana, he said the matter of Maharashtra would be amicably resolved soon.

Criticising the Employment Guarantee Bill, he said it would not help generate employment in the country. He alleged that the UPA government had been adopting cheap tactics to have political gain. He said inflation rate had gone up during the UPA government. He stressed that the Congress MP’s, whose names figured in the Nanavati Commission Report should resign from the Parliament.

The JD(U) senior leader, Mr Nitish Kumar, said the Governor of Bihar, Mr Buta Singh, was not delivering his constitutional duties in a fair way. He demanded the removal of Mr Buta Singh. He said the NDA would form its government in Bihar in the forthcoming Assembly elections.

The former MP of Ambala, Mr Ratan Lal Kataria, welcomed the BJP and the JD(U) leaders at the Ambala Cantt Railway Station.

Chandigarh, August 20
The Haryana Health Department will launch a special programme to deworm children studying in primary schools in the state.

This was stated by Ms Urvashi Gulati, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health and Medical Education, while addressing a conference of civil surgeons of Rohtak and Gurgaon divisions here today. She said the programme would be launched on the pattern of the pulse polio programme.

She said each child would be administered a dose of Albendazole by the teacher on the school premises. The dose would be repeated after a month. The civil surgeons had been asked to prepare an action plan for the programme.

Ms Gulati added that the government had increased the plan allocation of the Health Department by 66 per cent.

Karnal, August 20
Two persons were killed in separate incidents in the district.

According to information, Raghubir alias Bittu (29) of Gharaunda ended his life by hanging himself with a ceiling fan. His father Mohan Lal noticed the incident early today and informed the police.

The cause of his committing suicide could not be known. The deceased was married and had two daughters.

In another case, Vinod Kumar of Shiv Colony here was killed on the spot when his scooter was hit by a truck near a dhaba here today. The police has booked driver of the truck Ahjaj Ahmed of Mangalpura village in Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir.

Sonepat, August 20
A party of the Government Railway Police (GRP) conducted a raid on 2925 up Pashchim Express at the railway station here today and seized a bag containing 29.6 kg poppy husk from one of the compartments of the train.

According to a report, the police arrested Hardesh, a resident of Gwalior, in this connection. A case under the NDPS Act has been registered against him.