|
|
|
|
Byelections
Hisar, May 29 While the Congress can gloat over the victory in two segments - Gohana and Indri - but the fact remains that it has ended up with one legislator less. The Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) has opened its account in the assembly with Bhajan Lal's victory from
Adampur.
While Congress victories in Gohana and Indri and Bhajan Lal's victory in Adampur were a foregone conclusion, what political parties were waiting to know is which of them would end up at the second spot in these elections. This is where the voters have confused politicos.
The INLD found this spot in Gohana, the HJC bagged it in Indri and the Congress in Adampur. Under the circumstances, there is no clear verdict on which party is ranked next to the ruling Congress at present. Realising that the byelections are mostly won by the ruling party, the INLD leadership was gambling on finding at least the second spot in the three constituencies. That would have helped it project itself as the party most likely to win the 2010 assembly poll. These hopes have been shattered despite fielding political heavyweights in the byelections. The HJC always knew it would win in Adampur easily. So, as far as Gohana and Indri were concerned, the party chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, MP, was hoping his nominees would end up just behind the Congress. But this happened only in Indri where Rakesh Kamboj ended up around 5000 votes behind Congress nominee Bhim Sen Mehta. Thus, the HJC also failed in its attempt to project itself as a strong contender for forming the government after the next assembly polls. Bishnoi will now have to work harder to realise his chief ministerial ambitions. Even though the Congress was quick to publicly celebrate the dual victory, it has to face the bitter truth that the anti-incumbency factor is strongly at work. More than the party's image, it was the state machinery and political power that ensured the two victories. Bereft of that, the results could well have been different. The byelections have also made it clear that the INLD and the HJC are still far from hoping to capture power the next time round on their own strength. Although, Kuldeep Bishnoi ruled out any alliance after his father's election earlier this week, this brave talk is just for public consumption. He is too pragmatic to nurse such hopes. The earlier both INLD and BJP choose their partners, the better.
|
|
Molecule to combat malaria
Rohtak, May 29 Currently working in the advanced field of mosquito-parasite interaction biology, Dr Dixit has underlined in his research study that the spread of malarial parasite can be checked through genetic engineering. The study, published in the April issue of international research journal “Acta Tropica”, suggests that genetically manipulating the production of defensin protein in Anopheles
stephensi, the major vector of plasmodium in urban India, may make the mosquito resistant to the parasite and unable to transmit it. Dr Dixit belongs to Dungerwas, a small village in Rewari district, and is an alumnus of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU). During his Ph.D, Dixit worked on a major research project of understanding the molecular biology of the salivary gland of A. stephensi, an important malaria vector. In collaboration with NCCS and National Institute of Malaria Research, Delhi, Dr Dixit identified a novel molecule that can be an anti-malarial target. After this two-year training, he wants to return to his roots. “ I would like to share my research experiences with young researchers working in the field in my country,” he
maintains.
|
|
Governance
Yamunanagar, May 29 This is not all. As many 136 primary schools of the total 615 do not have septic tanks and students have to run to nearby fields to defect. A senior official in the district administration, however, claimed there was portable water and proper latrines in almost all the schools. When contacted, an executive engineer of the department, Prem Singh said the process of laying pipelines in the schools, which wasleft midway, was on. As per information available, there was no water supply in 161 primary schools, including that of Tibriya, Khilawala, Baagpat, and Rampur
Khurd. Interestingly, the department has made a tubewell in the premises of primary school located in Ganol village of Chhachhrouli block but the department forgot to lay a pipeline for the school students. Students of schools, where potable water is available, too are facing problems. Water taps run only when there is power and it is a common knowledge that rural areas face long power cuts in the state. These schools have been provided with water storage tanks but because of low water pressure, these tanks more or less remain empty. The executive engineer said villagers too were responsible for low water pressure in schools as they do not bother to turn off water taps. The deputy commissioner, Nitin Kumar Yadav, had stressed upon the need of hygiene in schools while launching a campaign to de-worm primary school children, a few days back. He said a survey revealed that a large number of students of government primary schools were suffering from anemia and were infected with worms because of lack of hygiene. The district rural development agency has also started a Total Sanitation Campaign in villages of the district. Sources said under the SSA, a project to build three septic tanks in schools was started, but the project was not very successful. It has also been observed that students of schools, where there are septic tanks, too relive themselves in open because of water problem.
|
|
Need for courses in manuscriptology stressed
Kurukshetra, May 29 This was suggested in the concluding session of a 21-day national workshop on Manuscriptology and Paleography, jointly sponsored by the National Mission for Manuscripts (NMM) IGNCA and Kurukshetra University (KU) at the MRC, Jawahar Lal Nehru Library, KU, here recently. The workshop also suggested the university should launch basic certificate and advance diploma courses in manuscriptology and paleography, which could attract students from disciplines like languages, social sciences and musicology. Prof.
Ramakrishnamacharyulu, vice chancellor, Jagadguru Ramanandacharya, Rajasthan Sanskrit Vishvavidyalya, Jaipur, who has contributed significantly in the field of Computational Sanskrit at IIT Kanpur and Hyderabad, in his address as chief guest, shed new lights on the multi-aspect scientific and intellectual contributions of ancient and medieval India upto recent times and stressed upon the valuable manuscripts which have been the sole repository of this knowledge heritage both sacred and profane. Earlier, Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor, Prof. R.P.Bajpai, in his inaugural address, stressed upon looking into our indigenous sciences and culture in the folios of the manuscripts and bring them back into limelight for improving the standards of life. Forty-two delegates from different universities and institutions spanning over seven states, joined the workshop as participants and 20 scholars acted as resource persons to inform, teach and enlighten the participants.
|
|
Double-deckers cause double trouble
Karnal, May 29 Though the Haryana highway police had alerted various district authorities but hardly any visible action has been initiated against the highway nuisance. Scores of the trucks and canters carrying pilgrims to J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, are converted into double-deckers by fixing wooden planks in the vehicles to accommodate more people. Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that the overloaded trucks largely affect various stretches, particularly different highways leading to Sirsa and NH-1. Besides ferrying pilgrims, these commercial vehicles are also commonly used as passenger vehicles in the state. AIG (NH Police), Rajpal Singh informed TNS that every year scores of persons are killed due to overcrowding such trucks. Terming it as a serious problem, Singh informed various district authorities had been repeatedly urged to take serious note of the problem. "Use of goods vehicles for the transportation of pilgrims is not only illegal but hazardous also," he pointed out. Sources revealed these trucks also carry other supplies like cooking utensils and cooking gas cylinders thereby posing a grave risk to innocent lives on road. A large number of people are killed evey year due to irresponsible and negligent driving and overloaded vehicles have emerged as one of the major reasons. According to the officials, taking a serious view of the practice is in the interest of the safety of the pilgrims. Last year, Uttarakhand Chief Minister, BC
Khanduri, had objected to the trend. He had reportedly urged various states not to allow such illegal convertible double-decker trucks to ferry pilgrims.
|
|
Creativity at its best
Fatehabad, May 29 'Kala Surabhi', a book on fine arts authored by him, is now prescribed for diploma and certificate courses in many technical boards. Rajesh is at present working as an instructor of fine arts in Manohar Memorial College,
Fatehabad. Born in a family of carpenters, Rajesh saw his father carve timber into
state-of-the- The urge of doing something creative started from the childhood and he started dabbling with waste household items. Soon he carved a niche for himself in the field of fine art and while pursuing his graduation course, he had already established himself as a professional artist in his hometown Barwala. Later, he did his MA in fine arts from the Jiwaji University, Gwalior, arts and crafts drawing teachers' course from industries department, Haryana, painters' diploma from the ITI, drawing and painting course from the Ravinder Bharti University, Kolkata. Among his best creations is a 20 feet high and 50 feet wide dinosaur made of waste blades. “I used as many as one lakh blades for making this dinosaur,” he claimed. This was first exhibited at Hisar last year and now this has been included in this years' edition of the Limca Book of Records. Now, the artist has made a small replica of the original dinosaur to be set up in the local college.
The replica is 10 feet high and 10 feet wide and Rajesh has used ten thousand used blades for the same. Earlier, the artist set up a replica of Taj Mahal by using waste flex board as the base and waste crockery, wool, paper and other things for designing the artifact, when vote for Taj campaign was in progress throughout the country. Mamata Chaudhary, principal of the MM College of Education, said she was proud to have Rajesh Kumar among the college faculty. The awards bagged by Rajesh Kumar include the All India gold medal in painting, best artist award in the All India young artists camp at Drass in Kargil, best artist award in the 7th national youth festival 2002 at Hisar, best artist in 8th national youth festival 2003 at Kanyakumari, best artist award in 11th national youth festival 2008 Patna, to name a few. He idolizes Padamshree Ram V Sutar, who recently prepared the worlds largest rath made of metal at
Kurukshetra.
|
|
Inside Babudom
Chandigarh, May 29 Holding the charge of ADC, Jhajjar, before his new assignment, 2003-batch Joshi is credited with pioneering the concept of “bhatta shalas”, a project for imparting education to children of labourers working in brick-kilns, initiating environment-conservation projects and adult education programmes. This posting is the beginning and more changes are likely in the coming weeks with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda hinting at an administrative reshuffle as well. With two officers, DC Sonepat, DPS Nagal, and DC Panipat Mohinder Kumar, getting into suppertime scale, a couple of vacancies, too, are in the offing and it remains to be seen which of the two groups within the IAS, the direct officers or those promoted from the state civil services, bag the seats. Though the contest for one-upmanship is forever open between the two groups, the direct officers have gradually taken over control as heads of districts in the state. At present, they are in charge in three-fourth of the districts, heading 15 out of 20 districts in the state. This, however, is in complete contrast to the situation during the previous regime when Om Prakash Chautala was the Chief Minister. During his tenure, nearly two-thirds of the districts, including Faridabad and Gurgaon, rested with the promoted officers, a fact rued by the direct officers. Though this situation continued all through the Chautala regime, the Hooda government, too, initially, had 13 promoted officers heading the districts including RP Bhardwaj who was made DC,
Gurgaon. However, the trend has reversed and direct officers are again in control in the districts. Whether it is 2002 batch dynamic Mohd Shayin, who managed the explosive Narwana election where the then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was pitted against power minister Randeep Surjewala, now posted as DC Ambala, or TL Satyaprakash, who was relegated to the secretariat during the Chautala term, the direct officers are definitely in control. Some 1993-batch officers, too, are continuing as DCs in the district. This
does not mean that the promoted officers are in any way less capable. In fact, known to have a sharper “political acumen”, DPS Nagal and RS Doon are holding fort in politically sensitive districts of Sonepat and Rohtak respectively. In fact, senior officers opine that a balance should be struck between the direct and promoted officers to have a mix of dynamism and experience. For now, the scales are heavily tilted in favour of the direct officers.
|
|
Farmers blamed for fire
Karnal, May 29 Recent visits by The Tribune team in districts of Karnal, Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Panipat found that farmers were setting ablaze their crop residue in the fields. Even as the farmers admit that burning causes pollution, they believed it to be an easier way to prepare the fields for next crop. But the villagers strongly objected to it as it causes irreparable loss to the fertile soil. “Every year, after the harvest seasons, lives of humans and animals remain at stake due to unchecked large scale burning of straws,” rued a progressive farmer in Kurukshetra district. Another villager in Karnal district said certain zamindars play foul and term it as accidental fires to avoid any action. "There are several instances in the district where false stories were narrated by the farmers in the vernacular media. Even the district administration takes no cognisance of the visibly blacken fields in different districts," he complained. Interestingly, no case of loss to the standing crop was reported from the area. Officials said even as the messages on the ill-effects of straw burning were spread every year, the inflexible farmers continue with the highly objectionable practice. Sources admit it was difficult to initiate any action as the accused had already gained public sympathy claiming it as "losses" due to accidental fires. Officials strongly refute the claims that overhead electricity lines were solely responsible for the field fires.
|
|
Fire safety standards need a boost
Hisar, May 29 Only one fire engine is new, the other two are 30 years old vehicles. The fire station needs 10 more new fire engines, but officials said they had no idea when these would be purchased. The old vehicles are of limited use only as these develop mechanical snags very often.
The delay in purchasing new fire engines is all the more surprising since the municipal council now charges a fee for providing fire services as part of house tax. The fire station also does not have its own workshop although fire safety laws require that each station should have a workshop for maintaining its vehicles as well as other fire fighting equipment. Though municipal laws require fire hydrants with round-the-clock supply of water be installed at short distances all over the town, there is not a single hydrant in the town. While no new hydrants have been installed for decades, the old ones have been buried under roads. The sole hydrant in the fire station is of limited use because it cannot be operated during power cuts. There is no generator at the fire station for running the hydrant in the absence of power supply. The fire engines have to be sent to nearby canals or water works reservoirs for refilling. This can delay fire fighting by hours. Most of the canals are on the outskirts of the city and water works reservoirs are also located far away. There are only six drivers for four vehicles. There are 13 firemen against 60 posts. Of these five are working in the office of the municipal council as clerks. There has been no recruitment of staff for the fire station for several years. During this period many employees have retired. Fire brigade officials say they face public ire because they are ill equipped. But, so far they have been handling emergencies through sheer grit and tactfulness. They say it is very difficult for them to operate in burning fields as the old vehicles get stuck in the middle of fields. Although the number of high-rise buildings in the town is going up, the fire station has not been equipped to handle fires in tall buildings. There is no plan yet to acquire a suitable fire engine for the purpose. For the time being the firemen use aluminum ladders only.
|
|
Drive to make city garbage-free
Ambala, May 29 Despite many improvement schemes, the situation has become grave in the last several years. No proper drainage system has been planned for the city so far. Heaps of garbage and filth can be seen everywhere in the city. The drainages generally remain choked and have become the breeding centres for the mosquitoes. Even posh colonies like the HUDA sectors and Model Town, are also not sanitised in a proper way. During the summer and rainy seasons, few areas of the city come in the grip of jaundice and dehydration every year. Last year two persons had lost their lives due to infectivity of jaundice in Baldevnagar area, which is represented by the chairman of the municipal council. Municipal council does not have even sufficient sweepers and the paraphernalia used in the sanitation work. Recently, around three-dozen sweepers were engaged on temporary basis but the situation remained unchanged. The existence of dairies in the residential area of the city is one of the main reasons behind the griminess. Although the state government had already provided sufficient funds and land for the shifting of those dairies out side the urban area, the council has bitterly failed to implement it. The construction of the waste management project at village Patvi, close to Ambala city is almost complete. After it is operational, the garbage and other waste material of the city and cantonment area would be transported there and it would definitely grant some relief to the citizens. With the efforts of local MLA Vinod Sharma, the sewerage work has started in the outer part of the city. It would also help to keep the city clean. The chairman of municipal council, Harish Sashan said the local residents had encroached the drainages and it caused great obstruction to desilt those. However, the council had made special provision in the current budget for the sanitation, he added.
|
|
Movie of the week
"Woodstock Villa", a compelling film from director Hansal Mehta about swiftly changing moralities in today's world will be released today at SRS-Faridabad, SRS Pristine Mall-Faridabad, SRS Shubham Tower- Faridabad, INOX Lesire Ltd- Faridabad, PVR Crown- Faridabad, PVR MGF- Gurgaon, PVR Sahara- Gurgaon, SRS Omaxe- Gurgaon, DT- Gurgaon. What to watch out for: Actor Anupam Kher and Kiron Kher's son Sikander Kher, debutant actress Neha Oberoi, chilling and shocking thriller and Hansal Mehta's direction. Hanstey Hanstey Producer: Ashutosh Bajpai, Shiv Ram Kumar "Hanstey Hanstey" will release today at SRS- Faridabad, SRS Pristine Mall - Faridabad, SRS Shubham Tower - Faridabad, INOX Leisure Ltd - Faridabad, PVR Crown Plaza - Faridabad, PVR MGF- Gurgaon, PVR Sahara- Gurgaon, SRS Omaxe - Gurgaon, DT - Gurgaon, Sun City - Hissar. What do watch out for : A perfect comedy, lead stars performance and excellent direction by
Ramanjit Juneja.
|
|
Citizens’ Grievances
The level crossing on Shahabad-Nalvi road remains closed for most part of the day, resulting long traffic jams and a lot of inconvenience to public. Situated on the right bank of the Markanda river, this barrier divides the Shahabad constituency in two parts. Tractor-trolleys and trucks, loaded with grains, sugarcane and other farm products, can be seen waiting long to have a clearance from here.
Besides this, thousand of students, farmers, patients, traders and other commuters from the area also come to Shahabad daily. The residents of the constituency have been demanding the construction of a flyover for long but to no avail. Neither ex-MP Kailasho Saini during her tenure nor sitting MP Naveen Jindal had ever taken any steps to solve this problem. However, the villagers suggest a temporary solution. They feel as the river remains dry most of year, so the construction of a subway for light vehicles, beneath the Markanda railway bridge, can also solve the problem to some extent. Surinder Pal Singh Wadhawan,
Shahabad Markanda Parking woes
Parking situation in Ambala Cantt down town area comprising Bajaja Bazaar, Sadar Bazaar etc. is always chaotic. The administration has drawn a yellow line and has asked the vehicle owners to park their vehicls inside this line. But there is no one to guide them or to make this fact understood to the shopkeepers who block the space inside the line, either by extending their shops, or by deliberately parking their vehicles in a haphazard way in order to prevent others from parking their vehicles. Rakesh Chaudhry,
Ambala Cantt Readers, write in
Send in write-ups, not exceeding 200 words, to Haryana Plus, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh. E-mail: adalat@tribunemail.com
|
|
|
||
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | Suggestion | E-mail | |
Producer: Sanjay Dutt, Sanjay Gupta