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Sarva Shiksha funds benefit NGOs, babus
Rohtak, September 18 With a view to bringing the school dropouts and other out-of-school children back to the mainstream education, there is a provision for establishing alternative innovative education centres and vocational education centres under the SSA. The persons or groups running these centres are provided a remuneration ranging from Rs 45,000 (for alternative innovative education centres) to Rs 60,000 (for vocational education centres) per centre. However, in reality, many such centres run only on paper. According to sources, the modus operandi adopted by these NGOs is simple. Every such NGO claims to be running numerous educational centres, on the basis of which it claims huge remuneration from the government under the SSA. The government officials dealing in SSA affairs reportedly get hefty kickbacks in return for sanctioning grants to these NGOs. The NGOs actually run far lesser number of educational centres than they claim to be running; and huge amounts of money are thus siphoned off. A few months ago, the district SSA authorities smelt misuse of government funds meant for the purpose. A little deeper probe established large-scale irregularities. Following this, the officials concerned tightened the noose around the NGOs found involved in siphoning off SSA funds. Not only were these NGOs denied any further payments, but recoveries of lakhs of rupees were also ordered against these. The NGOs found involved in the fraudulent practice include Manav Sewa Gram Udyog Sangh (run by Jasvir Singh Malik), Bharat Vikas Sangh (run by Yashwanti), Vats Education Society (run by Pankaj Sharma), Shiv Gorakhnath Education Society (run by Surender Kumar), and Jan Utthan Sangh (run by Rajpal Deswal). These NGOs had claimed a sum of nearly Rs 78 lakh as their remuneration, but they were given only about Rs 12 lakh by the local SSA authorities. The matter was brought to the notice of the state SSA authorities who were also urged to recover an amount of about Rs 10 lakh already given to two of these NGOs. On being questioned about the matter, Rohtak ADC-cum-SSA chairman P.C. Meena said following the detection of fraudulent practices of NGOs, their participation in the SSA scheme was discontinued. "In place of NGOs, we roped in the village and urban education committees to run small schools at brick-kilns and construction sites," he maintained, adding that B.Ed students were employed to teach the children at these schools. An effort was thus made to "cleanse the system". Nonetheless, the unearthing of the SSA scam in the district may just be the tip of the iceberg. In view of the huge funds allocated for the SSA in the entire country, the possibility of such NGO-official nexuses defrauding the exchequer elsewhere also cannot be ruled out.
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Power
Trade
Hisar, September 18 The move comes in the wake of serious concerns voiced by power deficit northern states, including Haryana, over profiteering by sellers when deficit states are under pressure to buy power at any rate to maintain supply. According to sources, most of the traded power is sourced from coal-based and hydropower plants, of which power production cost is not more than Rs 4 per unit. As against this, the deficit states are forced to buy power at Rs 6 to Rs 8 per unit most of the time. The sources said because of the rising prices due to profiteering, the average purchase price of short-term power for Haryana had increased from Rs 2.57 per unit in 2004-05 to Rs 6.55 per unit in 2007-08. This had put serious burden on power purchase costs in Haryana and other deficit states. For example, it is estimated that Punjab would spend 30 per cent of power purchase costs to buy 13 per cent energy in short-term purchase agreements during the current fiscal. The sources said one of the more plausible reasons for increase in the sale of price of electricity in the short-term was profiteering by the sellers in periods of increasing shortages. This had also enhanced the perverse incentive for distribution utilities of surplus states to cut down the supply to their own consumers and make money in short-term market. On the other hand, the increasing cost of short-term power purchase for a number of deficit states was creating financial difficulties for their distribution utilities and resulting in pressure to increase consumer tariffs. The CERC has powers to opt for regulatory intervention in terms of a cap on tariff for the sale of electricity in pursuance of an agreement for a period not exceeding one year with the sole objective of ensuring reasonable prices of electricity.
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State power utilities wary as coal supply hit
Chandigarh, September 18 With the Faridabad gas-based power plant, too, facing a shortage of gas, the state government has now given a go ahead to run this 432 MW plant on the much expensive liquid gas like naptha. While one unit in this plant is not functioning because of technical snag, the other unit is now being run on liquid gas. Senior officials in the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGC) informed that officers of the rank of superintending engineers had been rushed to the flood-affected state of Bihar to ensure that there was no disruption in the supply of coal for thermal power plants in Panipat and Yamunanagar. "We have sufficient coal blocks at both thermal power plants, and we have also requested the coal ministry to ensure that the supply for the state is further improved," said financial commissioner, power, Ashok Lavasa. Though no unit in the state has closed because of the non-availability of coal, the thermal power plants in Panipat and Yamunanagar have buffer stocks for six days each. This is much below the advisory given by the Central Electricity Authority to maintain buffer coal stocks of 25 days in order to deal with any shortfall. Officials informed TNS that earlier this month the buffer stocks had almost reached a critical stage with stocks for just two days at Yamunanagar and three days at Panipat. It was only after the senior officials of the HPGC were rushed to Bihar that the situation has improved slightly. However, officials maintained that it could take minimum two months till they could maintain the minimum coal reserve of 25 days. It may be noted that as against a demand of 1050 lakh units
(LUs), the state has an availability of 850 LUs. Because of the 200 LUs shortfall, the state has been reeling under a power crisis. "There is also a problem of low frequency at the Northern Grid, leading to frequent outages. But we are still trying to get power through unscheduled interchange (UI), even as we have to pay anything between Rs 7- Rs 8 per unit for
overdrawls," said Lavasa.
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Fighting fire with a feeble force
Jind, September 18 With no proper infrastructure, the department has been crying for attention despite the fact that there is a sharp rise in the population as well as the risk of damage to human lives and property due to growing number of fire incidents. Crops and property worth several lakhs get damaged each year in such incidents. One could imagine the state of affairs of the department in the city, which has a population of about 1.5 lakh, when it is revealed that there is no space for fire tenders and staff. Office of the fire brigade came into being in 1975 and since then no proper plan came into force to ensure department’s development. The present building is in such a condition that it is risky to go near it. Due to this reason, fire tenders are parked in the open on the Safidon road and the staff has to take shelter under trees or tarpaulin sheets when there is rain or sun. One of the fire tender has already completed its life and needs to be dumped as per the norms, but due to non-availability of new ones, the department still uses it. It is claimed that life of a fire tender should not exceed 10 years. While three posts have been lying vacant, there are a total of 24 posts in the department that consists of one fire officer, two sub-officers, two leading and 14 firemen. Sources allege that the number of staff is less in view of the population and the nature of duties involved. Then Chief Minister of Haryana laid the foundation stone of new building in 2002, but the construction work is yet to begin. An amount of about Rs 21 lakh was sanctioned for the project, but it is learnt that only Rs 3 lakh have been spent and the remaining amount is still lying with Jind has a huge gas bottling plant besides several industrial and business units. The district has also emerged as a hub of poultry and cattle farming with hundreds of such enterprises existing in and around the city and its satellite towns. There were many fire incidents during the Rabi harvesting season this year in which standing crops worth over a crore were damaged. The local authorities depend upon the fire tenders of the neighbouring districts, including Hisar, Panipat, Karnal, Fatehabad and Kaithal. “The MC is responsible for the maintenance of the department. However, it has not been able to ensure basic amenities to the people,” alleges a local resident. He says residents prefer to approach the authorities rather than the council for redressal of their grievances regarding the civic amenities. The fire services at Safidon, Narwana, Julana and Uchana are also in a poor state with available tenders either been out of order or waiting for repairs or replacement.
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Jhajjar on the fast lane
Jhajjar, September 18 Earthwork of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway passing through the district has reached its final stage. The project is being executed by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC). On the completion of the super highway, local traders would get help in their businesses due to easy accessibility to the national capital region (NCR), especially Sonepat, Delhi and Gurgaon. Commencing with the industrial estate of Kundli in Sonepat, the 135-km long super highway would cross Jhajjar, covering Mandothi, Silodi, Daboda, Bupniya, Dulhera, Majra, Badli, Dariya Pur, Langarpur, Deverkhana, Ismailapur and Mundaheri villages. According to the sources, flyovers would be constructed on the Jhajjar-Bhadurgarh and Dhansa-Badli roads as well as on the national highway-10 in order to make travel easy. There would neither be any U-turn nor any speed-breaker on this long highway. Several specially designed subways would be built under this road for bystanders and animals. Disclosing the proposed draft plan, AGM in charge of this project G.R. Saraswat said as many as 37 flyovers of various sizes would The sources said this super highway would work as a connecting link between the national highways no. 1, 8, 10 and 2. It may be pertinent to mention here that three mega projects of electricity generation, the Gandhi super thermal power project and thermal plant of Haryana Vidhut Utpadan Nigam with the capacity of 1,500 MW and 1,320 MW, respectively, and Reliance Haryana special economic zone’s 2,100 MW gas-based power plant at the Pahsour village in this district has brought the district on the development map of the state.
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Big stink in Gurgaon
Chandigarh, September 18 The rally is part of the ongoing protest by corporate honchos, chief executive officers (CEOs), professionals, traders and businessmen against massive quantities of garbage dumped illegally in their neighbourhood. One of the organisers of the protest, Vishal Nayar says the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and several other civic and private agencies dump over 325 metric tone, almost 40 to 60 trucks a day, of untreated garbage near blocks G, E and several other blocks of DLF City Phase-I, Silver Oak Apartments, Central Court Apartments, prestigious DLF-Aralias and Magnolias areas. The garbage dump is also located within 300 metre of the golf course. Parts of DLF phase IV where important institutions like Shri Ram School and Windsor Court are situated are also affected. Another resident Ambika Agarwal says the stench, rodents and insects emanate from this dump and make life hell for the people living around. It is home to life-threatening diseases like plague, dengue, malaria and several other diseases, besides being a source of water contamination and air pollution. Ashok Gupta says for almost a year, the residents have been writing to HUDA requesting authorities to stop dumping garbage at these sites. They have also approached the environment protection control agency (EPCA), a committee formed by the Supreme Court to monitor pollution in the NCR. However, he complains that the HUDA authorities flatly refused to entertain their request to dump the garbage at the legally earmarked site at Bandhwari. Nayar alleges that HUDA continues to snowball the issue due to political compulsions. The HUDA authorities take the excuse that permission has been obtained from the panchayat of Chakkarpur village for legal dumping of garbage, he claims. He says if the practice is not stopped immediately another Surat is in the making on the doorsteps of the national capital. Bandhwari has over 40 acre of land and can be easily converted to a dumping site. Moreover, the authorities have obtained all necessary clearances. The crusaders against the dumping site have started a website and have distributed over 10,000 pamphlets in the
neighbourhood. Also joining the rally are vendors of Plaza Market and Shopping Mall who are all fed up with the stench and the flies that make their wares less appealing and difficult for them to sit.
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Delay in road work irks
villagers
Fatehabad, September 18 The road has long been sanctioned by the government and even the tenders were issued in July 2007, but the residents have been waiting for the start of construction of the road. Mulakh Raj Mehta, a senior advocate, informed Haryana Plus that due to the efforts of the former agriculture minister, the state government okayed the project. The road was to be constructed by the Haryana Marketing Board, which is under the agriculture minister. However, the project was put on the backburner after the death of the minister in a plane crash. Finally, the sanction came on June 12, 2007 and subsequently tenders were invited and sanctioned in July 2007. But even after one year, no work has been started. Several prominent residents of the two villages have now written to the Chief Minister with the copies to the Minister for Forests Kiran
Chaudhary, Parliamentary Secretary Dura Ram, Chief Administrator and Chief Engineer of the Haryana State Marketing Board for early start of the project.
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Now, scientific training programme for cops
Rohtak, September 18 The training programme is aimed at improving the functioning of the police investigators, apart from getting better results, especially in cases of heinous crimes. A workshop on scientific approach in crime investigation was recently organised at Meham police station with the help of mobile forensic science unit based in the district. “Scientific investigations have assumed importance owing to the increasing instances of witnesses turning hostile due to monetary considerations, threats from the accused, social pressure or other such factors,” said Rohtak range IGP V.Kamaraja, adding that the ultimate result was the declining rate of conviction. Talking to Haryana Plus here today, Kamaraja pointed out that in many cases, the conventional techniques of crime investigation also added to the problem. “It is high time that the police force adopts a scientific approach in functioning,” he asserted. The IGP said extensive scientific and behavioural training would be provided to all police officials of Rohtak range. The drive has already been launched in Rohtak district, while Sonepat, Panipat, Jhajjar and Karnal would also be covered Kamaraja disclosed that the proper method of collection of physical evidence, preservation of the scene of crime and forwarding pieces of evidences to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) formed part of the training programme. “Besides, the dos and don’ts to be followed by the investigating officials at the spot of occurrence of crime before the arrival of the forensic team will also be explained to them,” he maintained. Hoardings displaying tips on the modern and scientific methods of crime investigation would also be installed at all the police stations in the range.
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‘Onus on media to transform society’
Sirsa, September 18 Amitabh Dhillon, SP, Sirsa, Bhupender Dharmani, secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Dig Vijay Singh Chautala, chairman of the JCD National Cricket Academy, Sanjay Rathi, president of the Haryana Union of Journalists, Baljit Singh, general secretary, Gajender Singh, district president of the HUJ, Gulab Singh of the Electronic Media Association, and Satish Mehra, district public relation officer were among those present. Umashankar said journalists should keep the law, order and security of the state in mind while filing their news. He said the journalists should exercise their right to information for having access to information related to the authorities. Terming journalism as a tool for transforming the society, he said the journalists should raise social issues through their mighty pen so that social ills could be eliminated and problems of the society could come to the fore for the authorities to take cognisance of these. Director of the Mass Communication and Media Studies Institute of the Kurukshetra University B.K. Kuthiala said there was a big difference between the journalism that existed before and after the Independence. He said this sector had thrown up a plethora of opportunities before youths now and it was no more a mission than an industry. “With a growth rate of 61 per cent, media today is the fastest growing industry,” he said. Media and Internet world would need the largest number of workforce of all industries in future. He said expectations of a large number of people were attached with the media because people believe what media said. “People’s faith in the media can be gauged from the fact that it is called the forth pillar of democracy,” said Prof B. K. Kuthiala. He said media people had to work under a great deal of hardships and most of the time they were underpaid. Terming the media policy framed by the state government as a revolutionary step, Kuthiala said the government had visualised the problems of the journalists better than others. Dhillon said the journalists should work fearlessly and provide a new direction to the society through their writings. He said this was an era of advertisement and media publicity, and the journalists should give positive publicity to those who deserve it. Bhupender Dharmani demanded setting up of a media council so that media graduates could get themselves registered with it before starting their career.
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Zonal Youth Fest
Jhajjar, September 18 A communication has recently been sent to the authorities of all colleges of eight districts i.e. Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Rewari, Mahendergarh, Faridabad and Gurgaon, falling under the jurisdiction of MDU in this regard. According to sources, due to the combined debate competition in both languages, there was always a scope of partiality in the results. The winner of the debate competition is declared by a panel of judges comprising three members of different subjects on the basis of scores obtained by the participants. Sources reveal that there had been several examples in the past when the members of the judges’ panel favoured the participants of their subject by giving them maximum marks. It is due to this reason that the MDU has decided to conduct separate debate contests. Prior to this, the MDU Youth Welfare Committee had also contemplated on this issue at its meeting. The committee was also of the view that the contests should be organised in separate languages both Hindi and English so that the possibility of partiality could be prevented. Apart from this, the committee also decided to introduce poem recitation (English) contest from this year. At present, poem recitation contests in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and Haryanavi languages are being conducted in the youth festival. “These new items have been included with a view to develop the communication skills of the students,” said Jagbir Rathi, director, youth welfare, adding that the separate debate contest would not only enhance the confidence of English medium students but also end the possibility of discrimination.
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College teachers seek medical facilities
Chandigarh, September 18 The government-aided private colleges are those institutions that are paid 95 per cent of their deficit by the state government. Even salary of the teachers of these colleges is secured by the government. These teachers are demanding medical security by way of reimbursement of expenses incurred by them on treatment of major diseases. General secretary of the Haryana college teachers association (HCTA) Rajbir Parashar, says the government is sympathetic towards the problems faced by the teaching community. However, there are still certain pending problems that need immediate attention of the government, he says. Parashar says the teachers of the government-aided private colleges contribute immensely to the growth and expansion of higher education in the state. They also suffer health hazards like any other section of society or government employees, but they do not have any medical security. The HCTA has urged chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to formulate a comprehensive medical scheme with reimbursement of the cost of treatment on major diseases as its structural feature. Parashar says in the states like Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Kerala the staff of the government-aided colleges are covered by a comprehensive medical security scheme with the provision of reimbursement of medical expenses. The association also wants the facility of leave encashment for the staff of these institutions. This facility is available in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Other demands of the HCTA include the basic pay of Rs 14,940 to college librarians and raising the retirement age limit to 62 years as recommended by the University Grants Commission
(UGC).
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IOC's naphtha project to be functional by next year
Panipat, September 18 The director said the work on the cracker was in full swing and once completed it would be producing raw material for polymer and fertilisers. He said the IOC was also increasing the refinery capacity from 12 to 15 million metric tonnes per annum (MMTPA) and this would also be completed by December next year. This would enable the refinery to produce more petrochemical products. Initially, the refinery was set up here in 1998 with a capacity of six MMTPA, which was increased to 12 MMTPA in June 2006, and this was the second expansion of the refinery, he said. The director said the company was investing Rs 806 crore in expanding the refining capacity that would also make the unit capable of producing Euro-III and Euro-IV petrol and diesel. Besides, the complex would enable the company produce paraxylene and PTA that are used in making polyester staple fibre and polyester filament yarn and other resins. Bankapur said naphtha cracker project was progressing towards completion and it was being considered to be a major achievement of the corporation. He said with the capacity expansion of the refinery, it would become one of the most advance refineries of the IOC that would meet all petrochemicals requirements of the northwestern region of the country. He said with the increase in capacity of its refineries, the IOC's total refining capacity would go up to 81.4 MMTPA, which at present was 60.2 MMTPA. He added that IOC was and would remain in a position of meeting the ever-increasing fuel requirements of the country.
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BPL Row
Yamunanagar, September 18 As many as 2134 claims and representations have been received in the district in the past two months. These claims have been sent to the senior officials of the district and all HCS officers who have been allotted one block each to supervise and coordinate the task. “No undeserved person can get place in the BPL list and no deserving person should be left out which is the spirit of the scheme. The state government has instructed the deputy commissioners and the additional deputy commissioners to dispose of the complaints, claims and representations from those who want to get their names included in the list by October 15,” said ADC Narender Singh. He said in the district a total of 1,58,731 families had been living in rural areas. As per the list finalized, there are 41,298 families with five points and 54,330 with six points who have been found eligible for the BPL status.
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Movie this week
Producers: UTV Motion Pictures
Director: Shyam Benegal Cast: Shreyas Talpade, Amrita Rao, Ila Arun, Rajeshwari Sachdev, Ravi Kissen What to watch out for: A different subject, Shyam Benegal’s direction and stars performance.
Saas Bahu Aur Sensex
Producer: Jayshree Makhija Director:
Shona Urvashi Cast: Kirron Kher, Farooque Shaikh, Tanushree Dutta, Masumeh Makhija, Littete Dubey Music: Blaaze, Bipin Panchal, Randolph Warner Bros first Hindi film ‘Saas Bahu Aur Sensex’ also opens today at DT City Centre, DT Mega Mall, PVR MGF, PVR Ambience (Gurgaon), INOX Leisure-Faridabad, SRS Cinema-Faridabad. What to watch out for: unique story and novel treatment, Shona Urvashi’s direction plus lead stars power packed performance.
— Dharam Pal
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Shyam Benegal’s first fun film Welcome to Sajjanpur opens today at Fun-Ambala City, Fun-Panipat, DT City Centre, DT Mega Mall, PVR MGF, PVR Sahara, PVR Ambience, SRS OMAX, Adlabs (All Gurgaon), SRS crown Plaza, INOX, Cinemax, Movie Time City Mall, Movie Manthan Mall (All Faridabad), Suraj-Panchkula, Cine Garden-Sirsa, Sun City – Hisar.