M A I L B A G

HUDA should resume vacant plots

HUDA is the creation of the Haryana Assembly to give service to the poor by acquiring land and allotting the same to the needy at “no profit, no loss” after its development. Panchkula urban estate came into existence in 1968. The plots were allotted to the needy with the condition to construct them within the specified period. HUDA didn’t bother to resume the vacant plots. Rather the Administration gave extension to the plot holders after charging the extension fee for the maintenance of the vacant plots.

The plots which are lying vacant in the developed sectors are either with the property dealers or with the financiers for the purpose of earning profit by way of resale. More than 40 years have elapsed and now the prices are touching the sky and beyond the reach of the common man.

HUDA should follow the Chandigarh Administration where they have decided to discontinue the grant of extension of time for the construction of buildings. The move is aimed at curbing the large-scale speculation in the real estate market.

Disaster management

The northern region of the country has been rocked by the earthquakes recently and there has been widespread damage in Jammu and Kashmir. The UPA government has declared it a national disaster. In the wake of this, the UPA government needs to table the National Disaster Management Bill in the winter session of Parliament.

However, the Bill would prove to be effective only if it is able to invoke people’s cooperation in the relief measures. The Bill must address the key issues of relief, rehabilitation and financing of these operations.

Close cooperation of governments at all levels, international institutions, people, NGOs, etc. is required to make disaster management effective.

At present, only a few states have the state level disaster management authority. More state-need to follow suit.

S.P. SUKHIJA,
Panchkula

Labour reforms

If we want to compete globally and to achieve 10 to 12 per cent growth rate, it is imperative to change labour laws. For labour reforms we must study the reforms in China. India is getting only 1/10th of China’s FDI. In India MNCs hesitate to invest due to complicated and investory unfriendly laws. Recent strike at Honda in Haryana shook the confidence of foreign investors.

In China there is no labourer trade union, or minimum wages act. There is no fixation of hours for women. There is accountability for less production. Workers can be terminated without any enquiry. Government rules and regulations are relaxed.

Deepak Saraf,
Rampura Phul

Rural jobs

Puran Singh’s “How to make the rural job guarantee plan effective” (October 13) is instructive because, given the poor results on the ground with at least seven rural employment generation schemes of the past which are subsumed in this August 2005 National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREG) Act, we must ensure that the Ministry of Rural Development and the Panchayati Raj Ministry work in tandem to train the panchayat members.

It is they who will administer the Act, hopefully without contractors and corruption and, with the Right to Information Act available from October 12, with “real” muster-rolls and budgeting to create “real” assets.

Actually, Assistant Professor Puran Singh of the Haryana Institute of Rural Development, Nilokheri (Karnal) should remember the enormous political capital invested in the Act by the UPA government, and especially by the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, who intervened in the debate on this issue is one of her rare parliamentary speeches in the 14th Lok Sabha, while Rural Development Minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh was piloting it, to unanimous approval, in both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

VINOD CHOWDHURY,
Delhi