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Governance
Rohtak, April 17 Apart from the excessive time being consumed in the execution of developmental projects, there are quite a few indications of substandard construction work being done and public money wasted, given the unprofessional working style of the contractors engaged for the job(s). The tardy execution of developmental projects in the town is in sharp contrast to the development works in progress in Delhi and Panipat, and herein lies the reason behind the visible difference. While the massive Metro rail project in Delhi and huge flyover in Panipat (much bigger than those under construction in Rohtak) have been entrusted to competent professionals, projects in Rohtak have been handed over to inexperienced agencies lacking professional expertise in handling these. Why such incompetent persons were handed over such big projects is a big question in itself.
As all major projects have been over-delayed and patience of the local residents running out, it is high time that some accountability be fixed to ascertain who is to blame for people’s predicament. As of now, the main road passing through the town from the Delhi bypass chowk to Shantmai chowk is in a pathetic shape. The road from the Chhotu Ram chowk to Ambedkar chowk, which was closed for construction work months ago, is yet to be opened. Thanks to the slackness of contractors, daily commuters have no option but to move on the same rough roads through numerous traffic bottlenecks amidst loads of dust. In short, commuting within the town has become a terrible experience for the local residents, who are fed up with the execution of works. The shopkeepers of the areas where flyovers are being constructed have their own set of woes. Their businesses have been seriously affected; and so is trade in general. Add to it the long traffic jams frequently witnessed on the alternative routes provided the commuters to complete the picture. To give the local authorities their due, some tasks have been accomplished as well. These include the bypass road to Jhajjar, circular roads connecting the main Delhi-Hisar road to Panipat road and some internal roads have been done well. Many more ambitious projects are in the pipeline. With less than two years’ time left for the Hooda regime, the people are becoming apprehensive about the completion of the ongoing projects. Perhaps the ruling family wants that the projects should be finished just before the elections so that they can reap full benefit thereon. But they should understand that once the electors have made up their mind, it is quite difficult to change it in the nick of time.
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Sanitation drive to provide jobs to rural women
Fatehabad, April 17 From the routine task of constructing toilets in villages, the DRDA has now taken up some innovative schemes like imparting training of the manufacturing and marketing of sanitary napkins to rural women and installing insinuators for biodegradable wastes. Career Development Opportunity and Training (C-DOT), a Madurai-based organisation, has been training a team of 36 dedicated motivators selected by the authorities under the campaign at the local Patwar Bhawan. The motivators, after they complete their 20-day training towards the end of this month, will in turn provide training to self-help groups (SHG) of women. The SHGs are groups of 10 or more women set up to pursue a small business activity with the financial assistance from the
DRDA. K. Sathiesh Kumar, chief executive officer of C-DOT, informed The Tribune that his team of trainers, which included programme officer R. Deepa, trainers Habeeba Beebi and Uma and programme coordinator Suresh Kumar, had been training these motivators in manufacturing sanitary napkins on an indigenous plant. The napkins, Habeeba Beebi informed, were better than commercial napkins as these were devoid of any chemical content. They are also imparting training in the marketing and finance management aspects of the business. Besides sanitary napkins, the trainers of the C-DOT have been training the motivators on the construction of “leech pits” for latrines in villages. “Leech-pits” are much smaller in size than the normal pits dug by villagers in this part of the state for the construction of latrines in their houses. In these “leech-pits,” the human excreta is reduced to one-sixth by decomposition and hence these pits, though smaller in size, last a longer period. Abhilasha, a motivator for Fatehabad town, said after going through the training sessions, she had learnt how important her work was as she would be working towards creating awareness for cleanliness and also training the villagers the methods to keep them and their surroundings clean. Vijay
Khayal, Monika, Amarjit Kaur, Jagdish, Ajay, Kamlesh, Jyoti, Narinder Pal Kaur and Paramjit Kaur said they were happy to be part of a campaign. ADC Rjnikanthan informed that the authorities had sent a proposal of declaring 202 out of 240 villages of the district as “nirmal grams” as targets of the campaign had been reached in those villages.
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Road damage? Mobile help is on the way
Chandigarh, April 17 Recently launched by the PWD (B&R) minister, Capt Ajay Yadav, the mobile maintenance van consists of a bitumen-heating unit, an aggregate heating unit and a
storage bin. K.K. Jalan, secretary of the department, says the required aggregates and bitumen are loaded in the mobile unit at the store, heated an hour before the patchwork operation starts. “It takes one hour to achieve the required temperature of the bitumen and aggregate which can be spread with sliding arrangement fitted with the mixing pan. This is an eco-friendly system, which causes less pollution, saves wastage of bitumen and bajri. It is easy to handle and has a number of other advantages besides speeding up the process of carrying out patchwork,” he states. The department has arranged for skilled labour and provided them gloves, fire extinguishers and sand buckets on the van to prevent any fire accidents. The labour has been directed to ensure that burners should not be in use while shifting the mobile highway maintenance van from one road to another. While one van was launched in Chandigarh, all five mechanical divisions have been asked to fabricate the mobile highway maintenance vans in their respective workshops. The mechanical wing is hopeful of fabricating 15 such vans
each month. “The cost of each van comes to Rs 60,000 to the department and there is a requirement of nearly 40 vans to be given to each division for carrying out patchwork,” he states. With the availability of these vans, the department is hopeful of addressing any road damage, however small, at the earliest. Sources say earlier, slightly damaged roads are hardly taken notice of since it involves a tedious exercise of setting up the entire paraphernalia of road repair. However, with this latest acquisition, even slightly damaged roads can be repaired with utmost ease and minimum inconvenience to the public and the
department.
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Adampur Bypoll
Hisar, April 17 The seat has been vacated due to the expulsion of Bhajan Lal from the Vidhan Sabha after his son Kuldeep Bishnoi floated a new political party. Two other seats Indri and Gohana will also go to the polls along with Adampur. A look at Adampur’s electoral history shows that since 1968 Bhajan Lal has been elected from this seat eight times. He was the Congress nominee seven times out of the eight. However, in the 1977 elections he was put up by the then Janata Party. In 1987, Bhajan Lal’s wife Jasma Devi won this seat on Congress ticket. During these 40 years, no party has been able to find a candidate who could pose him a serious challenge. Even in 1987 when there was a strong pro Devi Lal wave, Bhajan Lal’s wife won this seat comfortably by a margin of 10,000 votes defeating Dharampal Singh, who now again is a staunch supporter of the former Chief Minister. Several senior leaders of different parties have been pitted against Bhajan Lal in the past. Surender Singh of the Haryana Vikas Party contested against him in 1996, but lost by a margin of 20,000 votes. Former Haryana BJP chief Ganeshi Lal lost to Bhajan Lal in the 2000 election by a margin of 46,000 votes. Records also show that only twice in 40 years the main opponents of Bhajan Lal were able to cross the 20,000-vote mark. In 1996, Surender Singh of the HVP polled 34,000 votes and in 1987, Dharampal Singh polled 31,000 votes. In the rest of the seven contests, Bhajan lal’s opponents never touched even the figure of 20,000. In 1972, Devi Lal, who contested as an independent, polled just 17,000 votes against 28,000 polled by Bhajan Lal. Several Congressmen have been active in the constituency since 2005 after Bhupinder Singh Hooda became Chief Minister. Hari Singh, a former controversial political aide of Om Parkash Chautala, and currently HPCC organising secretary is one of them. He contested against Bhajan Lal in 1991 and lost by 32,000 votes. Another aspirant is Ram Avatar Nalwa whom Hooda had been promoting since 2005. A political novice, Nalwa appears hardly the kind that can pose a challenge to Bhajan
Lal. Veer Singh Dalal too is actively lobbying for the Congress ticket, but he also falls in the same category as Nalwa. The name of Ranjit Singh, deputy chairman of the Haryana Planning Board, and a son of Devi Lal, is also doing the rounds. However, party sources said unless he was compelled by the high command, he would not like to contest from Adampur for obvious reasons. Congress MLA from Bhattu Kalan Kulvir Singh Beniwal is said to be seeking the ticket for his wife. Beniwal had won the Bhattu Kalan seat in 2005 with Bhajan Lal’s active support. Under these circumstances, how serious a challenge his wife can pose to Bhajan Lal and that too in Adampur remains to be seen.
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Evening college for women in Yamunanagar
Yamunanagar, April 17 The target group is the working class.
The opening of an evening college Dr Sushma Arya, principal of the college, informed that her college had got the sanction to start regular evening classes, which would start from the next academic session. Initially, 290 seats would be available in eight disciplines, she added. The aim behind starting evening classes is to encourage further studies among the working youth. To begin with, postgraduate diplomas and certificate programmes will be started. In
Yamunanagar, more than 5,000 women are working in government and private establishments and an evening college will be of great help to these women to add to their academic qualification. Dr Arya said they were also making efforts to open an evening college for boys. “But for that we need permission from the department of higher education, Kurukshetra University, and our own management.”
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Youths get training in flood relief
Kurukshetra, April 17 He said the state government had made elaborate arrangements for flood relief during the ensuing rainy season. A large number of drains had been constructed to check water logging, he added. Bhoria, who also gave away prizes to the winners various competitions organised during the camp, informed that state government had provided 39 engine-operated boats, 350 boats and 1,500 lifesaving jackets while 900 persons had been trained to save people from such disasters and make relief approachable to the victims. He also called upon the trainers to train local people so that timely help could be provided during emergencies. Deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal said available resources should be used properly at the time of disaster and helping people in difficulty was the best service to humanity. A cultural programme was also presented by students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School, Thanesar, and Geeta Girls Senior Secondary School, Kurukshetra. Sadar kanoongo Shyam Lal presented a poem on female foeticide. Karnal deputy commissioner B.S. Malik, Kaithal deputy commissioner Vikas Gupta, Ambala deputy commissioner Mohammad Shayeen, and Kurukshetra additional deputy commissioner Sumedha Kataria were among those present on the occasion. Results of the various competitions: Rowing: Darshan Singh (Jhajjar) 1, Rakesh (Kurukshetra) 2, and Sanjeev Kumar (Kurukshetra) 3; Swimming: Vijender (Sonepat) 1, Mahinder (Faridabad) 2, and Virender (Sonepat) 3; First-aid: M.C. Dhiman (Karnal) 1, Randhir Singh (Sonepat) 2, Manoj Kumar (Ambala) 3; swimming aid: Naresh Kumar (Sonepat) 1, Ran Singh (Rewari) 2, Rajesh Kumar (headquarters) 3. Winner of Shri Jagpal Singh Memorial Trophy: Darshan Singh (Jhajjar); Shri Jatinder Singh Memorial Trophy: Vijender Singh (Sonepat); and Shri Nayab Singh Memorial Trophy: Naresh Kumar (Sonepat). Among others who were given prizes included chief trainer Bhagat Singh, Mahavir Singh, Jai Singh, Prem Singh, Satpal, Mukesh, Balkar Singh, Jai Bhagwan, Jagdish, Raj Kumar, Jogander, Rakesh, Rajender Saini, Rajender Hooda and Pankaj Kumar.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, April 17 The panel comprises R.P. Chandra (1984 batch), Ram Niwas (1985 batch), R.R. Jowel (1986 batch) and Anil Kumar (1988 batch). The inclusion of four names in the panel has surprised many. Normally, such panels comprise of three names. Though government sources claim that the panel has been drawn up on the basis of merit alone, the general perception among the bureaucrats is that it is the "BSP factor" which influenced the constitution of the panel. While one officer belongs to a backward class, other three are from SC category. Before this panel, Haryana had sent a panel of three IAS officers to the UT. The officers recommended by the state government were Jyoti Arora, Roshan Lal and R.K. Khullar. While the UT administration recommended Arora for the post of home secretary, the union home minister favoured
Khullar. The issue went to the Prime Minister, who rejected the entire panel on the ground that two officers on the panel had indulged in lobbying. The "guilty" officers were not identified. Haryana was asked to send a fresh panel. The inclusion of four names in the new panel gives an impression that lobbying in this case started at the initial stage itself. The bureaucracy thinks the chances of one of the officers on the panel making to the prestigious post as bleak. One senior officer said the Prime Minister rejected the previous panel on the plea that two officers had indulged in lobbying. The new panel can also be rejected on the same ground. The sources deny that the four names in the panel are the result of any lobbying. They say merit-wise no officer can be excluded and, therefore, the Chief Minister desired that the state should recommend the names of all four officers who were desirous of going on deputation to the UT. Ever since the UT came into existence, the post of home secretary is reserved for a Haryana-cadre officer while that of finance secretary for a Punjab-cadre IAS officer. Over the years the IAS officers have started lobbying at various stages for the home secretary's post. They not only take the help of their senior colleagues posted in the state and the centre, but also do not hesitate in paying obeisance to politicians of various hues in the pursuit of their goal. The game has become so murky over the years that many IAS officers do not want their name to be sponsored for the UT post.
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Turning vision into reality
Fatehabad, April 17 Gurpreet, son of Mota Singh, a former mayor of the Leamington Spa and councillor of William Shakespeare’s Warwickshire county council for 24 years, was fondly called Gilly Mundy by his friends. Mota Singh, son of a Sikh farmer from Buwan Kothi village in this district, went to England for higher studies in 1963. He settled there and went on to get elected to coveted posts like county councilor, deputy mayor and mayor. Though born in England, Gilly had great love for India where his forefathers were born and worked. When Gilly married Debbie, an Italian in 2005, he chose his ancestral Buwan Kothi village for ceremonies and the couple remained here for a few days after marriage. While in village, Gilly observed that the education facilities available to the children were abysmal and he thought of opening a community school where the best of educational facilities could be provided preferably free of cost or at nominal cost. He set up Buwan Kothi International Trust in England and started collecting donations from friends and well-wishers for the realisation of his dream. But the destiny had something other in store for him. When his father Mota Singh was busy discussing his project with the authorities in Fatehabad, Gilly died of brain hemorrhage in England on March 17, 2007, at the age of 36. Gilly worked for a charity, Inquest, which fought for the cause of families of those who died in police custody, and was a very popular figure in England. Even in death, he contributed to the society by donating his 13 body organs Gilly’s death was an unfathomable loss to Mota Singh, but instead of spending the rest of his life in gloom, he thought of completing the unaccomplished task of his son and put in all his efforts and resources for it. Mota Singh was able to get his son’s dream project inaugurated at Leherian village, a place near Buwan Kothi, on March 17, 2008, exactly a year after Gilly’s death so that children could take their first lessons in this school from April 1, the start of a new session. “We never dreamed that the school would be ready on the first anniversary of my son’s death. We cannot explain the loss suffered by the family due to Gilly’s death, but the way things are happening is a great consolation,” says Mota Singh, who along with his daughter-in-law and Gilly’s widow Debbie and their friend Margaret Margrave, a trustee of the Buwan Kothi International Trust, have been personally visiting adjoining villages to convince poor parents to send their children to Gilly Mundy Community School and avail of the free teaching facility. “The smile on the faces of these small children provides great comfort when I am lost in the memories of my late husband,” says Debbie. Mota Singh is also constructing a community centre in the vicinity of the school. The community centre will have a community hall, a library and an information centre for the benefit of farmers and children. He says that Gilly’s old friends have been collecting enough money in England to ensure that his dream project comes of good. Sheila Alone, a lady in her forties, ran in the London Marathon on April 13 to collect donations for the project while 40 friends of Gilly would organise a cycle march from the Oxford to Gilly’s birthplace Leamington Spa on July 20 to raise funds for the project.
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Shifting of dairies
Yamunanagar, April 17 As of now only four dairies have been shifted out of Jagadhri municipal limits while not a single dairy owner has agreed to shift his business to Yamunanagar dairy complexes. The administration and municipal committees of the two towns have made repeated efforts and even issued notices to the dairy owners to shift to the designated dairy complexes. However, the owners have been refusing to shift on the grounds that basic amenities are not in place at these complexes. The administration had given ultimatum to the dairy owners of the two towns However, only 17 dairy owners from Yamunanagar took the possession of plots. Sources say the administration may resort to comprehensive action against the dairy owners, including the cancellation of allotment
of plots. The Jagadhri MC has issued notices to about 24 owners who do not have plots at the complex to shift their businesses out of the MC limits. Action will be initiated against them if they will continue operate from within the MC limits, says Darshan Lal Khera, chairman of the MC. About three years ago, the two MCs had acquired land for dairy complexes. The Jagadhri MC had acquired land in Kail village while Yamunanagar MC acquired land in Aurangabad, Dadwa and Shadipur villages. As many as 150 plots have been carved at the Jagadhri complex and 550 plots at Yamunanagar complex. Beant Singh, president of the Yamunangar Dairy Association, says the deputy commissioner has issued instructions to officials concerned to provide basic infrastructure at the complexes, but no work has been started there and hence it is difficult to shift dairies.
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Now, grow mushrooms round the year
Sonepat, April 17 Besides growing button mushroom during peak winter season, they can cultivate milky mushroom in summer and the new variety during other periods say March-April and July to November. Oyster, as claimed by scientists of the R&D wing of the Haryana Agro Industries Corporation (HAIC), will generate more income in comparison to other varieties. Because of various advantages like proximity to Delhi for marketing and being the leading mushroom-growing district in the country for the past six years, Sonepat has been chosen as one of the main areas in the state for popularising the cultivation of this new variety. Farmers in the district so far have been concentrating on growing button (white) mushroom that is considered a seasonal crop. At present, button mushroom growth in the district is around 90 per cent of the total production while the rest 10 per cent consists of milky mushroom. Hardly one or two farmers grow Oyster that is considered to be very profitable The R&D of the HAIC at Murthal has developed this variety with the aim to supplement the income of the farmers. Listing various benefits of the Oyster, chief coordinator of the centre Ajai Yadav says its compost gets ready within 2-3 days whereas the preparation of compost for button mushroom takes 20 to 25 days. Moreover, the average yield from the sub-state bags of milky and Oyster mushroom is 70 to 80 per cent of the total sub-state bags in comparison to 20 per cent yield in case of white button mushroom. “We are trying to make mushroom cultivation a round-the-year vegetable crop in Haryana as the growth of white button mushroom requires 16 to 18 degree centigrade temperature whereas the milky and Oyster can be grown in the temperature between 20 to 40 and 20 to 30 degrees, respectively,” he says, adding, “Now, the farmers need not to dismantle their mushroom growing sheds after winter season”. The new variety starts giving yield just after 25 days as its leafs are plucked for sun drying and the powder of the dried leafs is sold in retail market at the price of around Rs 50 per 50 g , Dr Yadav says and informs that the powder is used in chocolate, biscuits, soups, papad etc. In order to make a good beginning for the cultivation of this new variety, the centre had imparted training to 871 farmers last year by arranging 23
programmes. “We have prepared 60 tonne of spans and 500 tonne sub-state bags of the variety for giving to the farmers at subsidised rates,” he adds.
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Doc who administers overdose of literature
Chandigarh, April 17 Credited with 14 publications, almost all winning prestigious awards or monetary grants and sculpted in all genres of literature in four languages, Dr Shyam was an ideal choice for the coveted Pandit Lakhmi Chand Puruskar -2007 for folk literature, which carries cash prize of Rs 50,000. Haling from a sleepy village of Sanghi, Dr Shyam obtained his MBBS degree from Government Medical College, Rohtak, in 1970. Bestowed with FCGP fellowship, he is presently pursuing LLB at the age of 60 plus. He inherited his love for literature from the family tradition. He recalls with pride donating Sanskrit manuscripts of his forefathers worth over Rs 1 crore to Dharohar museum in Kurukshetra recently. However, his dormant obsession blossomed with inspiration from his Punjabi schoolteacher Dyal Chand Miglani who used to teach most of the poems by singing in perfect rhythm. "He admired my poetic potential when I scripted a poem at the age of 11 and duly encouraged I never looked back and sculpted 14 books while 16 are ready for publication," claims Dr Shyam while sharing his literary voyage with The Tribune. Most of my works has been translated into Bangla, Telugu, Oriya, and Punjabi, he adds. "Besides ably discharging my responsibilities as a government medical officer and later at my nursing home which won me many decorations, I kept pursuing my literary infatuation with zeal. My profession provided ample opportunities to feel and analyze the psyche and emotional expressions of the patients in utter distress and joyous moods which found reflection in my writings making these close to the pulse and heartbeat of my imagined characters". "Though an adequate patronage is extended by all four government academies for the propagation and promotion of literature, there exists a scope for improvement. Besides a single state academy with four wings for different languages could have been an ideal institute," suggests the medico litterateur.
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Free books for 1.15 lakh schoolchildren
Kaithal, April 17 This was stated by deputy commissioner Vikas Gupta while speaking at a function organised under the SSA at Panchayat Bhawan here recently. ADC Ramesh Verma and other district officials were present on the
occasion. Gupta said as many as 1.15 lakh students studying in government schools of this district would be provided free text books during the current academic session for which Rs 2.12 crore had been provided. He said under the programme three new primary schools would be started and 29 primary schools would be upgraded to high-school level. More facilities would be added to the existing schools during 2008-09, he added. As many as 75 special students were provided artificial limbs and representatives of six gram shiksha samitis and selected principals from six blocks of this district were honoured on the occasion. ADC Ramesh Verma, incharge of the SSA in the district, talked about the progress of the programme and said their main target was to ensure the enrolment of all eligible children in schools. DEO Harcharan Singh and district primary education officer Sadhu Ram also spoke on this occasion.
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Citizens’ Grievances
In the HCS (Judicial) recruitment carried out by a special selection committee constituted by Haryana government early this year, out of the total 54 vacancies, 13 were reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates of Haryana, which included nine actual and five anticipated vacancies. In the final result declared by Punjab and Haryana High Court, 30 from general category, six from the backward classes and only five candidates from the SC category were declared successful. But after a period of two months, the state government appointed eight general candidates to the posts reserved for SCs. The vacancies for SCs can't be transferred to general candidates. Now a days, when central and other state governments are carrying out special recruitment drives for SC/ST candidates, the move of Haryana government is deplorable and condemnable. Ram Pal Chatwal,
Kurukshetra II The recent HCS (Judicial) recruitment has betrayed the SC candidates of the state like me in such a manner that the vacancies exclusively meant for us have been transferred to general and backward caste candidates. This is unconstitutional, illegal and contrary to the government's own instructions which clearly stipulate that in case of non-availability of suitable SC candidates, the posts should be re-advertised twice and only after exhausting all these measures, they can be transferred to the general pool. Geeta Sarwal,
Sonepat
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