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It’s now or never for Bhajan Lal
Hisar, May 8 All major contenders for the seat are high-profile politicians who have been thrown into the ring by circumstance rather than choice. Former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who has represented this seat for nearly 40 years, is contesting the poll because of his expulsion from the Vidhan Sabha for floating a new political outfit headed by his son Kuldeep Bishnoi. The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) nominee former finance minister Sampat Singh is contesting on the diktat of party supreme Om Parkash Chautala who obviously did not want his son and Rajya Sabha member Ajay Chautala to contest this seat though it falls within Bhiwani parliamentary constituency which he represented in the last Lok Sabha. Although the justification given by INLD leaders is Sampat Singh was entrusted to contest against Bhajan Lal because he is well known in the area and is also a senior party leader, the fact remains that Sampat Singh has his eyes on the next Lok Sabha poll which he would like to contest from Hisar and in the new dispensation Adampur will be a part of the Hisar Lok Sabha constituency. Sampat Singh's original seat Bhattu Kalan will cease to exist before the next assembly poll after the fresh delimitation exercise. The Congress nominee Ranjit Singh is in the fray because of party leadership's will rather than his own. The Congress did not have a single leader in the area who could challenge Bhajan Lal's hold on the constituency. Otherwise, Ranjit Singh has never had anything to do with the constituency except that his father, the late Devi Lal, contested this seat and lost to Bhajan Lal years ago. The Bhartiya Janata Party's nominee Swami Raghvanand too is in the contest because he will be his party's likely choice for the Hisar Lok Sabha seat the next time round. He had unsuccessfully contested the seat in 1999 also. As for Adampur, he too has no link otherwise. Thus all the major contenders against Bhajan Lal are outsiders. Among them Sampat Singh is technically a "neighbour" having represented the adjoining Bhattu Kalan constituency several times. Politically too Sampat Singh can claim to be more technically correct opponent of Bhajan Lal as he had authored the memorandum on corruption charges against the latter in the early eighties which led to the Jaswant Singh panel probe in the charges. The lack of local candidates to oppose Bhajan Lal explains how the wily politician has ensured over the decades that there would be no alternative to him in the constituency. In this pursuit he either decimated budding leaders within his own party and opposing parties or won them over. The various avatars of the INLD propped up the late Nar Singh Bishnoi against Bhajan Lal for years. But the former ultimately crossed over to the Bhajan Lal camp. A former chairman of Haryana Public Service Commission, Gurmesh Bishnoi revolted against Bhajan Lal and tried to carve a political niche for himself in the area. His ambitions were crushed ruthlessly by Bhajan Lal and he returned to Bhajan Lal camp badly mauled. However, times have changed. Bhajan Lal has been out of power for 12 years now and is not in the pink of health. Yet, being a Bishnoi he knows the art of survival and will certainly give his opponents a run for their money no matter who wins this seat.
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Byelections: prestige of all parties at stake
Rohtak, May 8 The most interesting aspect of these byelections is that the prestige of not any one, but of all major political parties in the state is at stake. The bypoll mandate will be a sort of electors’ verdict on the functioning of the state government. So for the ruling Congress, it is an opportunity to get a seal of people’s acceptance. Personal visits by the Chief Minister, other ministers; MPs, MLAs and other senior party leaders to the constituencies indicate that the ruling Congress is not going to take the byelections casually. On the other hand, it’s a do-or-die battle for the newly floated Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), for which everything is at stake. This time, former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his suspended MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi are going to the voters to seek a mandate for them minus the Congress. The bypoll is certainly going to be a crucial milestone for the father-son duo and its outcome will decide the future of their new political outfit. It will also show the former CM and his son their individual standing in state politics. The prospect of the Janhit Congress getting the benefit of the anti-incumbency factor is the chief worry of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala’s
INLD. It is so because till now, barring the exception of the late Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party
(HVP), the Congress and the erstwhile Lok Dal have been the major political forces in the state. Thus, the anti-Congress sentiment nearly always got translated into a mandate in favour of the Lok
Dal. However, this time, the people who are not happy with the functioning of the Congress regime and do not want to side with
INLD, have another option in the form of Janhit Congress. More so, as all three seats on which byelections are being organised were held by Bhajan Lal and his staunch supporters. Seeing the sensitivity of the situation, the Janhit Congress has decided to field the same candidates from all three constituencies.The
BJP, CPM and CPI have also fielded their nominees in the byelections, perhaps to know where they stand. The byelections are being seen by all parties and political observers as a dress rehearsal of the next assembly elections. No wonder, the leaderships of all parties are leaving no stone unturned in ensuring the victory of their respective candidates. The intense heat notwithstanding, leaders of all hues are busy wooing the voters with all sorts of promises and assurances. While the electioneering is going to pick up in the days to come, a clearer picture of the electors’ mood is also expected to emerge as the battle draws nearer.
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Jatropha drives farmer crazy
Karnal, May 8 As it turned out for Vikas Sharma, the list of sites for jatropha plantations provided by Haryana’s forest department existed only on paper and there was no cultivation on ground. While his investment in the machinery has virtually gone down the drain, bio-diesel production has made way for a flour mill for him to “break even” and at least meet the power and labour expenses. “When the government first floated the scheme for bio-diesel production as a pilot project, we were very excited and decided to take the plunge right away. We were hoping it would be a lucrative investment since there was and continues to be so much talk of environment conservation. In fact, I was among the first few to volunteer for this project and set up a unit,” he recalls. Terming it as “bad investment,” Sharma says, “The government gave a subsidy of Rs 61,000, we bought our own plot and carried out construction, investing nearly Rs 15 lakh. We were hoping that once production starts, this bio-diesel would become a rage for all the advantages it offers over regular diesel.” The approved units were given specific sites where jatropha was grown by the forest department and the clients were asked to make raw material purchases from there after paying the labour charges et al. However, contrary to the enthusiasm of the clients and much to their shock, there were hardly any jatropha plantations at the sites specified. “The scheme came out in January 2006 and my unit was ready by December in the same year. The list supplied by the department about jatropha plantations had proved to be absolutely fake. So, I spent the entire 2007 running from pillar to post, asking the Haryana forest department to guide me about procurement of raw material,” he maintains.
Finally, unable to get the jatropha seed in Haryana, he knocked the doors of farmers in Uttar Pradesh. “We got the plant started and made bio-diesel which I used in my own vehicle. Besides being environment friendly, this bio-diesel improved the vehicle’s mileage and was absolutely carbon-free. However, importing raw material from UP worked out to be an expensive proposition,” Sharma explains. After struggling for one year to make headway, he gave up and decided to open a flour mill which would give enough money to fund the maintenance of the plot and plant. “We should have waited for some parties to test the waters first before investing our money,” he rues. The chief forest conservator, Dr JK Rawat, said the project could have been funded under a scheme of the national medicinal plant board. “Our department has never had anything to do with jatropha. We only give out plants to those wanting jatropha plantations,”
he claimed.
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Jungle fires cause concern
Chandigarh, May 8 Since such fires are an annual feature, one would expect the forest department to be well prepared to meet such eventualities. However, the department was caught napping when the first major fire broke out a few days ago in the Morni Hills, though many describe it as an apology for the hill area. The department needed more than a nudge from its minister Kiran Choudhry to wake up from its slumber to extinguish the fire. Choudhry had gone to the Morni Hills to inspect a tourism project when she noticed the fire in the jungles. She also holds the portfolio of tourism. Energetic deputy commissioner of Panchkula, Rajender Kumar Kataria, rose to the occasion and mobilised the district machinery to control the fire, which had been raging for several days. No wonder, Choudhry was untiring in appreciating the zeal shown by Kataria. Just a couple of days later, another fire broke out near Pinjore, threatening students of a public school. The fire could be controlled with the help of the Army. Choudhry, a dynamic woman, convened a meeting of senior officers of Panchkula and Yamunanagar, the two districts where the state’s forest wealth is in abundance; the police and the forest department to discuss the problem of the forest fires and to chalk out an action plan to control them. Almost all the officers were of the view that one of the major causes of the forest fires is the deliberate irresponsibility or mischief on the part of villagers living in the vicinity of the forests. Since many of them use the forest area as the grazing grounds for their milch animals, they want to destroy the already dried grass in the forest area before the onset of the rainy season. The dry grass is destroyed so that fresh grass grows once the rains start. Since the forest areas and village lands co-exist side by side in Haryana, often wild animals prowl into villages and destroy the standing crops. To ward off these animals, villagers set on fire the dry grass in the forest areas. Due to high dry conditions, the fire, supposed to be controlled, often goes out of control. The officials were of the view that sometimes the villagers deliberately lit fire in the forests to encroach on them. Once the green cover adjoining the villages is finished due to the fires, the villagers extend their agriculture area into the forests. Some times, the officers felt, the villagers set the forests on fire out of resentment towards a forest official as such fires are a big source of harassment for these officials. However, no official admitted that certain fires can be the result of mischief on the part of a forest official, who may have to conceal some misdeeds. The meeting convened by the minister did serve the purpose of sending a message to the senior officers of the forest department that any negligence on their part in case of the forest fires would invite a censure, to put it mildly, from Choudhry and they should be better careful in future.
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Fighting odds to douse flames
Panipat, May 8 Manufactures in the country itself are producing all types of portable and mobile fire extinguishers, including water spray system, carbon dioxide extinguishers, dry powder fire extinguishers, mechanical foam fire extinguishers and halon-1211-BCF fire extinguishers that are suitable to tackle fire spread over different articles including petrol, chemicals woods and other such material. But the fire department is far from possessing any of these technologies and it continues to carry out its professional duties with the usual methods, even as the fast growing industrial city is coming up with new challenges for the fire fighters each day. The fire department at present has 12 fire engines including two water boozers of 25,000 liters capacity, two small water fire engines (SWFE) of 2,000 litres capacity, two rescue tenders, one FCTA and five water tenders. Sources in the department said despite their best efforts, certain obstacles made their work difficult, resulting in loss of life and property. If better equipment is made available, the chances of loss can be reduced to a certain extent. Updating and modernsation of existing fire engines can definitely go a long way in this regard, the sources said. The department is already planning to seek two more water boozers and two SWFE, keeping in view the growing incidents of fire that are reported in the city and adjoining areas. BD Ahuja, fire officer, said the proposal was at its initial stage and once approved by the senior authorities, the department would be in a better position to tackle any incident of fire. However, there have been instances when people accused the department of responding in a sluggish manner in case of fire. But the fire officer defended his department by claiming that department was informed about a fire incident only after the fire attained alarming
proportions. By that time the damage was already done and the people later blamed the department of being slow. Despite all the problems, the department was doing its bit to provide best services to the city residents, he claimed.
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New look for Ambala station
Ambala, May 8 Though less than two-decades old, (the division was set up on August 15, 1988), it has become a profitable one soon. During the financial year 2007-2008, on the commercial front, the division has earned 1205.45 crore as against the earnings of Rs 1113.16 crore during the financial year 2006-2007, thus registering an increase of
8.3 per cent. The division has also surpassed the earning target of Rs 1185.49 crore fixed by the headquarter and shown an increase of 1.7 per cent during the financial year 2007-2008. The growth of passenger traffic has been 15 per cent, while the operating ratio has been 76.37 per cent the lowest in the past 40 years. Meanwhile, 5.36 crore passengers were booked over the division as compared to 4.87 crore passengers booked during 2006-2007, thus registering an increase of 9.9 per cent. The given target of 5.32 crore passengers was also surpassed showing an increase of 0.8 per cent. Divulging these figures, HK Jaggi, divisional railway manager, informed the division was only doing better over the years and they had even received a congratulatory letter for the same from their headquarters. “Last year was also declared as the cleanliness year by the railways. Mechanized cleaning contracts have thus been finalised at major stations like Ambala Cantt, Saharanpur, Bathinda and Kalka to improve the cleanliness,” he stated. To provide better services 19 jan sadharan booking sewak, 20 ATMs, seen touch screens and coach guidance systems, etc have been made operational in the last year itself. To beef up security, close circuit cameras have been introduced at Ambala Cantt railway station, he stated. Installation of the same is also under progress at the Saharanpur, Chandigarh and Bathinda railway
stations. Giving further details, he informed that in an effort to provide better services to railway customers, the development of 20 freight handling terminals have been upgraded and at six terminals work is under progress.
“Our effort is to make the division one of the best and the effort is on,” states
Jaggi.
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Food for thought
Ambala, May 8 The word dhaba shouldn’t put you off as there is no compromise on the nutrition value, and the flavour is as good as of home made food. Just sit there, relax, drink a glass of cold water and order a thali, in which you will get two seasonal sabzis, dal, a good quantity of salad and chapattis, all for just Rs. 18. Unbelievable it may sound but true. This city's food point is around six decades old but still retains its old style and ambience. The most fulfilling thing about this place is that you can ask for chapattis and dal for as many as times as you want. Waiters keep indulging and serving you till you get up from your table. At any other eating joint a simple lunch or dinner would cost you Rs. 60 to Rs. 250 per thali. This excludes extra helpings and you have to pay extra money for all those additional servings. The aromatic magic of dal-roti of this small dhabha also reached to the Chief Minister's house. Bhupinder Singh Hooda, CM, Haryana could not resist the temptation of visiting this place to have his lunch recently. So much so, eminent traders, government employees, students also come here to relish food, rickety table and chairs being no deterrent. The unique point of the eating joint is cooking gas is not used for preparing meals. Generally wood is used for the purpose. “The chapattis are fried up on the wooden coal to make themcrisper,” says one of the employees. The dhaba came up in the year 1947 and was started by pandit Ram Kishan. That was the time when each meal cost mere six aanas. Today, Satya Pal Sharma runs the place. “Till 1980 there were limited dhabas in the city. Though the city is dotted with many eating joints, I am glad we still people coming from far flung places in the city to relish our food,” Sharma quips. So next time you want to have traditional home cooked food, you know where to head to.
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Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, May 8 First, the reshuffle was planned immediately after the conclusion of the budget session of the assembly in the last week of March. Officers used to keep waiting till late night in the first two weeks for the expected reshuffle, which never took place. Then the model code of conduct came into force when the Election Commission announced the dates for three assembly byelections caused by the disqualification of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his two colleagues Dharam Pal Malik and Rakesh Kamboj from the membership of the assembly on grounds of defection. Many officers, who were apprehensive of being shifted to insignificant posts, heaved a sigh of relief at getting at least temporary reprieve. However, those who were expecting good postings after the reshuffle were disappointed. Now the administrative reshuffle is not expected before the first week of next month. It is learnt that a senior IAS officer of the Haryana cadre, N. Bala Baskar of the 1975 batch, who had gone to the central deputation in September last, is returning back to his home state much before the completion of his tenure of deputation. He has reportedly opted out of the deputation because if he stays in the centre, he is likely to incur financial loss after the implementation of the sixth pay commission. Another senior IAS officer of Haryana, P.K. Chaudhery of the 1977 batch is likely to move to the centre anytime now. Recently, Dalip Singh of the 1982 batch, went on the central deputation. There are unconfirmed reports that Ashok Lavasa of the 1980 batch and his batch mate Chhatar Singh may also proceed on the central deputation, though the state government has given additional assignments in Delhi, perhaps so that they are not tempted by the national capital and remain serving their parent state. Union minister of state for company affairs, Prem Gupta, who belongs to Gurgaon, seems to have some special affinity with the Haryana cadre IAS officers. It is learnt that he wants Ajit Mohan Sharan of the 1979 batch as replacement of Yudhvir Singh Malik of the 1983 batch. Malik was prematurely recalled by the Haryana government as his services were required in the Chief Minister's office (CMO). Interestingly, though he has been posted as special secretary to the Chief Minister, he is yet to be allotted work in the CMO. Malik has also been made secretary, forests and environment. His assignment in the CMO is additional. Another brilliant IAS officer of the 1986 batch Sanjeev Kaushal will return to the state after completing his central deputation next month. The state stands to gain immensely if it taps Kaushal's brilliance properly. Meanwhile, principal secretary to the Chief Minister, M.L. Tayal, principal secretary, food and supplies L. S. M. Salins and managing director, Haryana Warehousing Corporation R.K. Ranga, all of the 1976 batch, are likely to get the chief secretary's grade soon. Similarly, D.S. Dhesi and K.K. Jalan, both of the 1982 batch, are expected to be promoted as financial commissioners soon.
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Clean Fatehabad a far cry
Fatehabad, May 8 Heaps of garbage lying in grounds, on the roadside, in public parks and in the streets, is a common sight here. Pigs and stray animals, roaming around these heaps in hope of finding some food, make the things worse. The municipal authorities do not pay heed to the crying problems of residents regarding sanitation of their surroundings. Safai karamcharis of the municipal committee are a rare sight on the roads or in localities. Shortage of safai karamcharis is often cited as the reason for the problem. The situation is comparatively better in posh localities like the Model Town, but the things are in a very bad shape in areas like Ashok Nagar, Basti Bhiwan, Bighar road, Jagjivan Pura and Guru Nanak Pura. Even in colonies like Model Town, heaps of waste could be seen scattered here and there in the vacant plots of the residential cum commercial area. Owing to an apathetic attitude of the authorities, slums have mushroomed in this area, where all kinds of criminal activities breed with impunity. Residents have lodged several complaints with the authorities to remove these slums but no action has ever been taken. Residents allege that some of these slums have turned into hub of anti social elements, but the police has not been taking any action as some lower rung officials of the police are hand in gloves in these illicit activities. Traffic conditions of the Fatehabad town too are in bad shape. Though the district police observed a traffic week recently, but its activities were limited to completing its targets for challan of vehicles. Residents feel that the police could have organised some seminars during this week to make people aware of traffic rules. Stray animals are a common sight on the national highway where speedy vehicles pass throughout the day. Earlier, a local NGO, Gau Raksha Samiti, had taken an initiative to catch these stray cows and keep them in a cow shelter situated on the local Bighar road, but the move has failed now due to lack of response from the authorities. The stray animals not only prove perilous for the speedy vehicles these sometimes injure pedestrians too. Residents feel it is high time the authorities wake up and take steps to improve the sanitary conditions in the town or else they will have to take up cudgels against the authorities.
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Central status for KU demanded
Kurukshetra, May 8 Stating this in a signed statement released by Dr. JB Goyal, UCG Emeritus Fellow, (retd.), professor and chairman, department of Hindi and dean, faculty of Arts and Languages, KU, former chairman, Board of School Education, Haryana, said Kurukshetra is the most revered mythological holy place in India. Presently, the university has eleven faculties, 43 departments, imparting instructions in about 80 courses. Besides conventional courses, the university has taken up studies in several new generation scientific, technical and job-oriented professional courses. There are 6,300 campus students and 600 research scholars. 215 colleges with enrolment of over 1,60,000 students are also affiliated to this university. In addition, instructions in about 45 courses is being imparted through Distance Education Programme. Meanwhile, the memorandum regarding designating KU as a Central University, have also been forwarded to the Governor, CM and education minister, added Dr Goyal.
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Car thefts on a high in millennium city
Gurgaon, May 8 "We have asked the local civic body to provide more parking lots as the number of the existing ones are woefully inadequate to park the burgeoning population of vehicles in the city," said Satheesh Balan, DCP (East), when asked about the measures required to curb the menace. He sought to justify the need for more space saying that most of the thefts reported in his police district showed the vehicles were stolen when parked at unauthorized roadside places. The number of thefts that have taken place outside the owners' residences are not than the 5 per cent of the total cases, he added. Time will tell if this measure would serve as an effective deterrent for the criminals with professional expertise who, according to the police, come mainly from neighbouring, Dehli, UP and southern most area of Mewat area in Haryana. Hopefully, it should as the increase in the rate of vehicle thefts has become a menace in the city where the number of new vehicles is almost doubled every year. In absence of adequate number of parking lots, the chances of vehicles getting stolen increases. More so because it comes in way of the effective police vigil, observed the officials. Since January this year, around 550 cases have been reported from different parts of the city. It would, however, be unfair not to mention that around 30 per cent of them have been recovered so far. The stolen vehicles range from two-wheelers to high-end car models. In the police district East alone, around 200 vehicles were reported stolen that showed an increase from around 150 in the corresponding months last year. And this has happened despite the special police teams in place at the police station, CIA and police district levels. Understandably, there can be no excuse for the police in creating an atmosphere that could frustrate the theft plans of the criminals. At the same time, it may seem a far cry given the non-availability of facilities in terms of the latest surveillance and tracking gadgets required by the force under the modern policing. Do then the vehicle owners need to be more careful? The answer may partly be affirmative. "In number of cases, we have seen that the owners leave their vehicles unlocked or with ignition on. This provides a perfect chance to a criminal to get away with the vehicle," added
Balan.
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Citizen’s Grievance
Toll tax barriers, set up to collect the ‘toll tax’ from the highways users, have started telling upon the health of the Indian economy in different ways directly or indirectly. Long queues with started engines are often seen at such ‘toll tax barriers’. Situation is worse during the peak hours. Take for example, the toll tax barrier set up at NH-8 near Gurgaon. A vehicle has to wait for 15-20 minutes in long queues with engines start. It not only causes a huge wastage of diesel and petrol leading to environmental pollution, but also wastage of time.
Puran Singh,
Nilokheri Regional benches of High Court Whenever the issue of constituting separate High Court for Haryana is raised, it is soon given a diplomatic burial . It is often contended that by establishing new High Court for Haryana, the claim of the state over Chandigarh would get weakened. Amidst all this there can be a please-all solution i.e. by constituting regional benches of Punjab and Haryana High Court at a couple of places in Haryana. The same idea can also be adopted for state of Punjab. Hemant Kumar,
Ambala City Readers, write in Send in write-ups, not exceeding 200 words, to Haryana Plus, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh. E-mail:
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Movie of the week
Producer: Ravi Chopra Bhoothnath will be released today at Suncity - Hisar, Fun Multiplex - Panipat, Fun Multiplex - Amaba City, PVR MGF, PVR Europa, PVR Sahara, SRS Omaxe Mall, DTCC, DTMM (all Gurgaon), PVR Crown Plaza, SRS, SRS Pristine Mall, Pyramid Saimira, Inox Leisure (all Fariadabad), Radhika Rewari, Cinemax - Panipat, Naaz - Palwal. What to watch out for: Vivek Sharma's direction, 40 minutes special effects, Amitabh Bachchan's hip-hop song for composers Vishal-Shekhar and child artist Aman Siddiqui acting. Jimmy
Producer: Mithun Chakraborty Jimmy will be released today at SRS, Pyramid, Inox Leisure, Pristine, (all Faridabad), Inox, PVR, City Centre, PVR MGF (all Gurgaon), Fun Multiplex Ambala City, Fun Multiplex Panipat. What to watch out for: Mithun Chakraborty's 6-feet 2 inches dashing son Mimoh Chakraborty, foot-tapping music score. — Dharam Pal
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