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GOVERNANCE
Faridabad, April 3 The industrialisation in Faridabad that has brought the city among the top industrial cities in the country has its negative aspect as well. With the rise in the number of industrial units, there developed slums with numerous jhuggis and shanty dwellings all over the city, which are causing various civic problems besides acting as an eyesore. The state has promoted large-scale industrialisation here, but no one appeared to have given a serious thought to the residential aspect of the workers. According to many, the oblivious nature of the state and the industry with regard to the workers' residences was a vital historical miss. In the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad areas, unofficial reports put the number of industrial units of all sizes to about 30,000. About 1,600 of them come under the purview of large-scale units. There has been a great influx of workers from various parts of the country to this city over the past five decades. At present, there are about five lakh workers employed in organised as well as unorganised sectors. Initially, the workers pitched their tents wherever open space was available, which was aplenty till three decades back. Gradually, large swathes of slums sprung up in various parts of the city. The situation has now come to such a pass that many dub Faridabad as a city of slums. Right along the railway lines passing through the city and its surroundings, especially near railway stations and both sides of the Gurgaon and Agra canals, the areas are chock-a-block with slums. The sad part of the story is that a good number of first generation industrialists, who had got industrial plots inclusive of areas to set up residential accommodations for workers, did not abide by
the obligation. They had been allotted plots during the initial phase of industrialisation at subsidised rates. A case in point is East India Cotton Mills, which has winded up business and sold its property. It was a large unit and was allotted land inclusive of dwelling provisions for workers, but it did not provide residences to the workers and also sold this land to a private party after winding up the business. The state at no stage interceded on behalf of the workers.
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‘Crime-infested’ village in for image makeover
Jhajjar, April 3 Situated about 15 km from Bahadurgarh, the village has been infamous as a breeding ground of criminals. The rogue image, however, has taken a heavy toll on the social standing of the village
in the region as it is socially alienated and no other village wants to have any relations with any resident of Mandothi village. A retired Haryana government officer and a resident of the village, Bhoop Singh Dalal, says, “About 3,000 marriageable youths of the village are not finding any match just because the bad image of the village. We have problems even in marrying off our daughters, as people do not want to have relations in the village. We have poor rating in the society, which is evident when khap panchayats are organised. We are concerned about the next generation and have resolved to end this forgettable phase”. Dalal was speaking at the function in the village school, organised by the Jhajjar police to urge the people to stay away from criminal activities. A cultural troupe also gave massage of shunning crime and living a tension-free life through its song and dance items. The villagers definitely enjoyed the events and the seriousness was also visible on their faces, as the function appeared to have stirred up their sense of self-pride. In his address, the SP assured all kind of help for the village. “You people have realised the past mistakes and the elders should urge the youths not to stray in the world of crime”. He promised to consider sympathetically the cases against the youths who had been booked in various crimes provided they vowed to shun the old ways and decided to join the mainstream. The police also directed the villagers to form a peace committee that would try to bring the people from different camps on talking terms to end their rivalry. The police would also participate in the peace talks. Police sources said about 45 cases of murders were lodged in various police stations against the youths of this village. About 30 persons of this village had been killed in gang wars between various groups that were active in the village and many families had fled from here fearing their sons could fell in company of gangs. Hailing the role of the police, the villagers stated, “We have never seen such an initiative from the police. You have provided us an opportunity and we will not miss it at any cost”. They recalled that it had been a tradition among the youth to pursue a career in wrestling. However, in the early nineties, a tussle during the panchayat polls brought a big chunk of firearms, particularly country-made pistols in the village. That was
the inception of the criminalisation of the village, which has brought great deal of infamy to them. A police official informed that a huge cache of arms arrived in the village during the panchayat elections in 1992, as two candidates were engaged in close and tense fight for sarpanch’s post. The election started rivalry and two groups led by Fateh Singh and Hawa Singh, respectively, started striking at each other. Soon the saga of revenge killings began and the villagers gradually became so used to it that an incident of murder did not surprise them. Even an aged woman was beaten to death by some youths on the day of Holi when she objected to playing Holi in the street where cattle were tied. Entire village is affected by this revenge spree. “After each incident, the victim group named several persons of enemy group, including their supporters and sympathisers as accused while lodging an FIR to the police. In this way, the innocent families also found themselves dragged in the bloody affair,” informed Mir Singh, principal of a government school and a resident of the village.
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Assembly Byelections
Rohtak, April 3 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and BSP chief Mayawati set the ball rolling by publicly announcing in Haryana that the state would have a non-Jat Chief Minister after the next elections. As Mayawati succeeded in striking a chord with the members of the non-Jat communities with her sweeping statement, its effect was more than evident in the Congress leadership’s choice for Rajya Sabha candidates. How successful is the BSP leader’s new “social engineering” formula in Haryana remains to be seen, but her remarks have surely triggered a debate. More recently, INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala claimed that he had always backed Punjabis during his tenure. His stance assumes significance in view of the fact that his party has always relied on support of the farming community. Nonetheless, it is not for nothing that both main political forces of the state - the Congress and the INLD - are wooing the non-Jat electors. After all, the Haryana Janhit Congress, which is also emerging as a political force, heavily depends on its non-Jat support base. Its comparatively small vote share in the state notwithstanding, the BJP has also been largely known to be a party of the urban voters. All in all, however hard the leaders of political parties may deny the existence of the caste factor in the state, they know that striking a balance between the Jat and non-Jat voters is going to be an acid test for them.
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Sonepat level crossing bane of commuters
Sonepat, April 3 The local residents have been demanding the construction of a railway overbridge for long, but to no avail. Even if several political leaders had also extended their support to the demand, the successive state governments paid no heed to the problem and it continues to linger on for years. Pankaj Kumar, a resident of the Gohana road, who had to cross this track daily to go to office, says, “I deem myself lucky on the day when I found the barricades open. But the fact is that I did not find myself lucky most of the times. So I have changed the route and now always travel via bus stand road to avoid the jam”. The residents complain that out of 24 hours, the barrier remained closed for a minimum of 12 hours that leads to jam on both sides. “The Delhi-Ambala track is very busy as about 200 passengers and goods trains, cross over daily. On many occasions, the crossing remains closed for up to 30 minutes at one go,” rues Krishan Lal, a local shopkeeper. Entire vehicular traffic coming from Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and from the local bus stand has to cross through this point for going to Gohana, Jind and the interior areas of the district. The rapid increase in the number of private vehicles and commercial modes of transportation like rickshaw and three-wheelers in the town have been compounding the problem day by day and the police authorities are forced to deploy a significant number of traffic personnel to man the traffic at this crossing. The demand for an over bridge remained unfulfilled because of various reasons, including opposition by a section of the people whose business activities are likely to be affected after the construction of the bridge. However, officials of local PWD office here say the department has engaged a private company for preparing a blueprint of the bridge, which they will submit soon. The authorities have also demanded a budget allocation of Rs 5 crore for the project. The Railways had given in-principle approval about six years ago and after some delays, the state government had agreed to share the half of the total cost of the project.
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Man’s body donated for research
Fatehabad, April 3 Murari Lal Munjal, a local resident, who died recently, had executed a will during his lifetime that his body should be donated to the medical college for research. Deceased’s son Kulbhushan Munjal, who is a bank manager, acted upon the will of his father and handed over the body to the institute authorities. Kulbhushan said his father, who studied science during his youth, wanted that his body should not be cremated, as that would be of no use for the society. The institute director said it was the first incident that some one had come forward to donate his body. He said medical colleges were facing scarcity of human corpses and they had to depend on unclaimed bodies.
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80 pc of rickshaws ply illegally
Hisar, April 3 The three-wheeled cycle rickshaws are one of the oldest means of local transport in the urban areas for decades. Over the years, the horse-pulled tongas, which were the rickshaw's closest competitors, vanished from the roads. But the rickshaw somehow continues to survive the onslaught of three-wheelers and other means of public transport. The humble rickshaw still is the first choice for shorter distances. The three-wheelers or other means of public transport drop passengers at predetermined points on main arteries whereas the rickshaw can go up to the commuters' doorstep. That is the rickshaw's USP. Under the law, a commercially plying rickshaw has to be painted red while a privately owned has to be painted white. It is hard to find red rickshaws these days and the white rickshaws have not been seen on the roads for more than five decades. All rickshaws are supposed to have reflectors at the back and a headlight in front. A bell or a horn and a rear-view mirror are mandatory. No rickshaw carries a headlight these days. The kerosene fired small lamps that once were a standard fixture on rickshaws decades ago are no longer available. Even the dry battery powered specially designed torches for cycles and rickshaws are not available. Inquiries reveal that municipal bodies are issuing licences for rickshaws and its pullers without implementing the relevant byelaws. The number of licences issued by the municipal bodies has seen a rise of 100 licences more than the previous year. The authorities have been issuing licences without making any effort to ascertain the actual number of rickshaws plying in the town which is generally four to five times the number of licenced rickshaws. The municipal officials are also supposed to fix the rates for different distances. This has not been done anywhere in the state for decades now. In most cases, they were not even aware that they were supposed to fix the rates. As per law, a rickshaw can carry only two passengers and 20 kg of luggage. However, this rule is followed more in its breach than observance. Often rickshaws carry around 12 schoolchildren at a time by fixing additional wooden planks illegally. The use of rickshaws for carrying goods is prohibited. But about half the rickshaws are engaged in carrying goods rather than passengers. Rickshwas, these days, are owned by businessmen even though licences can only be issued to owners. That is one reason why a majority of rickshaws are plying illegally. The pullers are mostly migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Even the rickshaw-pullers are unaware that they need to be medically examined every year and their antecedents have to be verified by the police. They are also unaware that they have to wear a navy blue uniform to ply their vehicle.
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ATMA helps farmers realise dreams
Chandigarh, April 3 The ATMA project, which was implemented in six districts, has now been extended to the remaining 14 districts of the state during the current financial year. It aims at bringing co-ordination and integrated approach among various line departments, research organisations, NGOs and agencies associated with the agriculture development. Farmers' advisory committees, comprising of 12 to 15 farmers, are constituted at the divisional level as autonomous institution under the project to provide flexible working environment involving all stakeholders in planning and implementation of extension activities. It caters to activities in agriculture and allied sectors adopting a farming system approach and the convergence of the programmes of related departments. Financial assistance is also being provided to farmers for extension activities in agriculture and allied sectors such as dairy, poultry and fisheries. Under the project, farmers are awarded at state, district and division levels for their outstanding work and are taken on exposure tour to other areas. Chaudhary Tem Singh, a model farmer from Pali, Hisar, Pawan Saini of Hansi, Vinod Beniwal of Hisar, are among the progressive farmers of Haryana who have adopted new technologies in their farming activities and diversifying their cropping pattern. Chaudhary Tem Singh's life has always revolved around farming which he found rewarding too. Due to hard work of all 65 years of life, his 15 acres has admirably responded to his labour and yielded enough, including opportunities of higher education to his children. Quick to adapt new technologies, he was the first person of his area to make use of ridger seeder in the cultivation of cotton. A member of the governing body of ATMA of the district, he is of the opinion that ATMA has been the best thing that has happened to the farmers. Possessing only seven acres of land, Pawan Saini of Hansi is today dreaming big. When a campaign was launched to promote chilies, after the constitution of ATMA, he followed a strategy which put his land to optimum use. The high yielding seeds for chilly have made the crop profitable for the farmers. Each plant yields 6-7 pickings of about 2.5 kg each and is sold in the market for anything between Rs 5-25 per kg. He cultivates two crops a year and in between he also grows coriander, bitter gourd and other seasonal vegetables. He aspires to become a leading mushroom grower now.
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Drive against polythene
Karnal, April 3 Deputy commissioner B.S. Malik, who is the motivating force behind this cleanliness drive in the state, says principals of various schools will be asked to give names of the students participating in the social campaigns. Besides issuing certificates, the students will be honoured at various public functions for promoting message against plastic through eco clubs or by other means. Known as the "weekend drive" in Karnal, the awareness programme was started in December 2006. It has already covered a major part of the district. During the drive, senior administrative officials, social organisations and residents team up to pick up littered plastic waste in the selected areas. Besides lifting waste from open drains, streets, parks etc, the teams also visit apni mandis to spread the message. Each weekend, jute bags are also distributed among market-goers to shun the use of polythene. Following hesitation in initial days, the residents are now coming ahead and willingly join the weekend drives in their respective localities, says Malik. Officials have been assigned beats to carry out the cleanliness drive on every Saturday and Sunday morning. The deputy commissioner admits that it is a challenge to motivate people to discard polythene completely but he adds that the society has to fight collectively to free itself from the ill effects caused by the plastics. "It is just an act of social responsibility where people are encouraged to play down on the use of polythene. Interestingly, the rural pollution is showing keen interest in understanding the significance of the drive against their counterparts in the urban areas of the district," he said. Urbanites are more dependent on sweepers to make their surroundings clean whereas villagers do not hesitate over the issue. In such matters children may play a vital role to motivate their families against the menace, he adds.
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Ambala grain market to have new address
Ambala, April 3 The demand for a new grain market has been pending for the past many years. The current market is spread over one acre in the middle of Ambala Cantt and has always been a reason of complaint for the local residents. Many residents have been complaining of breathing problems due to husk while many others even reportedly become asthmatic, claims local MLA D.K. Bansal. "I raised the issue in the Vidhan Sabha many times and also brought this to the notice of the authorities, but a deaf ear was turned to it. Now, something will be done about it," he states. The present grain market, which has been in place since Independence, poses a huge traffic problem, particularly during the procurement season when the farmers bring their produce to the market for selling as it is situated in the middle of the cantonment market. Market committee members state that they had made a demand to shift the grain market numerous times, but nothing concrete was done even if few sites had been shortlisted. But finally the efforts bore results and the market will be shifted to Bohawa village, they say. The new grain market is being looked as a modern market equipped with all facilities like sheds, platforms etc. Balwant Singh, secretary, market committee, states that they followed a fixed pattern on the grain market and will be implementing it there too. The committee members are also looking at more trade to come their way at the new location. With the new grain market being situated on the GT Road, they expect more farmers to bring their produce for selling. Presently, there are 42 licensed commission agents operating at the grain market here. The number, Balwant Singh hopes will increase.
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Traffic mess in Ambala City
Ambala, April 3 The bus stand road is the worst affected where traffic moves at snail's pace at most part of the day. The local and general bus stands are located side by side, which is also one of the factors of commotion on this road. The general bus stand, which has been running under a tin shed for the past three years, even lacks proper roads and sheds. The buses coming from Hisar, Bhiwani and Chandigarh sides generally drop the passengers on the road outside the bus stand. Three-wheelers parked near the bus stand are another type of traffic
hazard. It seems that there is no end to the traffic problem here until a new bus stand is constructed. It is to be mentioned that the present bus stand was dismantled around three years back as it was declared unsafe. Since then, this district level bus stand has been running under a tin shed where even the basic facilities are not available for the passengers. Interestingly, the department could not finalise the site for the construction of a new bus stand for the past three years. The traffic also remains disrupt on the wholesale cloth market road. However, the cloth market association has engaged their private security guards to manage the traffic in a better way. Last year, the police administration had demarked yellow line out side the shops on the main road so that the shopkeepers may not encroach upon the road, but it could not continue for long. The Aggarsen chowk over bridge located on the Ambala-Hisar road needs to be widened at the earliest. The bridge that was constructed a decade back is now inadequate to take up heavy traffic load. Hence, the traffic remains jam for hours on this bridge, as the local and highway vehicles have no other alternative but to cross through this bridge. The residents are of the view that the number of traffic police should be enhanced and they should be deployed on every prominent roundabout so that in case of any blockade the traffic could be restored without any delay.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, April 3 Many of Anil Kumar's peers are not even able to remember where he is posted these days. He is at present posted as MD, Confed. The post does not fall in the category of jobs considered as good assignments. Apparently, the coterie around Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had made sure that Anil Kumar did not get anything better. The IAS officer, who happens to be a Dalit, expected a better deal during the Hooda regime. But this was not to be. The IAS officer, who was present at the hotel where Hooda was given reception before being sworn in as the Chief Minister at the Raj Bhavan, earned the wrath of Chautala because he had refused to entertain the INLD's request for recounting of votes for the Rohtak Lok sabha seat where INLD patriarch Devi Lal lost to Hooda by a small margin. Being the deputy commissioner of Rohtak, Anil Kumar was the returning officer for the seat. Chautala, who is never ready to forget to settle scores on such matters, started hounding the IAS officer after he became the Chief Minister. He got the Vigilance Bureau to register a case against the IAS officer for alleged misappropriation of funds during his tenure as the Rohtak DC. Anil Kumar was put under suspension. The IAS officer fought against the charge and got clean chits from all forums, including the SC/ST Commission and the court. The INLD regime was forced to reinstate him. Though his promotion was held up. None of the other IAS officers of Haryana had openly come out in his support at that time because it would have made Chautala angry. But, at least they empathised with Kumar. Colleagues' attitude to Anil Kumar dramatically changed after Hooda became the Chief Minister. They sensed that having stood by Hooda's election from Rohtak earlier and then paying the price for it during the Chautala regime, Anil Kumar might be rewarded by Hooda with a decent job. Jealous bureaucrats started circulating murky rumours against Anil Kumar and he once again found himself with various ordinary assignments. When Anil Kumar was fighting his battle against Chautala, he never lost his confidence because he knew that he could not be held guilty under cooked up charges. But now he looks sad. How can anybody fight against
rumours?
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Free plots: Scheme may miss deadline
Jind, April 3 The authorities may miss the deadline given by the state government to identify land and the beneficiaries thereof, who were asked to provide the plots by mid of this year. The government has issued formal orders to allot free residential plots to BPL families, including those hailing from the Scheduled Caste category, about two months back with a time schedule. But the authorities concerned are still to come out with the finalised list of the BPL families, whose last date was fixed in January end after the removal of all anomalies. The last date for accepting the applications was March 31. The final list of plot holders was likely to be made out by the end of June this year. Meanwhile, the size of each plot will be 100 sq yd and these would be carved out from the village land and where it was not available the authorities concerned would acquire private land to develop such residential plots in each village. It may be recalled that there had been large scale protests and demonstrations over the alleged irregularities in the BPL lists prepared this year and the state government had to succumb to the demand of a review of these lists. Though the final list was still awaited, the total number of beneficiaries could be around 63,000 in the district.
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Villagers join hands to protest non-development
Yamunanagar, April 3 The area residents had been demanding the repair of the road for quite sometime now. Numerous villages fall along the road and it is the lifeline of the area. The villagers want the road to be repaired before the onset of monsoons, as the road becomes inaccessible during rainy season. They say there is an immediate need to repair the road and check overloaded trucks originating from the mining area of the Yamuna riverbed. Hundreds of overloaded trucks ply on the road each day. The authorities admit that the road is in its present condition mainly because of overloaded trucks. Several fatal accidents have also been reported here in the past. Fed up with the callousness of the authorities towards the demand, numerous agitations, including road blockades and representations to the administration, have been held in the past, but to no avail. The area residents held the panchayat to chalk out a strategy so that the road could be built. "It has been decided that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be approached and apprised of the plight of the villagers," said Shyam Singh Lakkar, under whose leadership the panchayat was held. The villagers also complain that the area has been neglected in the government's development plans. In this panchayat, too, speakers asked the government to develop the area or else transfer it to the adjoining Himachal Pradesh so that people could get jobs besides regular supply of power and water. It is to be mentioned here that the Ghaar Sangharsh Samiti had launched an agitation in the Sadhoura area to demand development or else shifting the area to Himachal Pradesh. The samiti drew a strong support from the general public and the agitation spread to the Chhachhrouli area as well.
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Citizens’ Grievances
The latest move of the state government of reviving the post of pro vice-chancellor in the state's four universities, Kurukshetra, Rohtak, Sirsa and Khanpur Kalan, is unwarranted and unwanted. The rationale behind the move is the increasing workload of VCs. However, the move may prove to be counter productive because of the fact that often pro-VCs tend to act as anti-VCs resulting in the creation of two parallel power centres, making the academic platform a political arena. A pro-VC normally presumes himself as VC-in-waiting. Most of the 40-odd universities in the country have abolished these posts. The Hooda government, too, should reconsider this decision in the larger interest of sparing sector higher education from politics.
Hemant Kumar,
Ambala City Traffic mess Traffic situation in and around Mahesh Nagar, Ambala Cantt, is worsening because of over-speeding vehicles, haphazard parking, rash driving and illegal plying of three-wheelers. The T-point on the Dayal Bagh road in Mahesh Nagar is a highly accident-prone area especially for children and the elderly. It requires speed barriers on all three connected roads. On the verge of this T-point, there stand few half built shops which as per common knowledge are subject to demolition referring court verdict. An initiative from the administration is awaited in this regard as it could provide a clear visibility from all three sides. Three-wheelers are another nuisance on roads and should be banned, particularly on the main Brahm Kumari Chowk. Rakesh Chaudhry,
Ambala Cantt Exemption sought Relaxation in fitness level was not given to ex-servicemen candidates who appeared in the physical test for selection in the Haryana police. The physical test for the posts of sub-inspector was held recently. Only the candidates between the age group of 40-45 years were eligible. However, the required standards fixed for the physical fitness test were the same as meant for the age group of 21-23 years. Due to this, most of the ex-servicemen could not qualify the test. Surinder Pal Singh Wadhawan,
Shahabad Markanda
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