Sirsa, November 24
The Haryana government has prepared a Rs 316 crore plan to provide infrastructure facilities to all government colleges of the state.

The plan has been sent to the central government for approval, which is expected soon.

Addressing students during the 23rd convocation function of Government National PG College here today, Haryana minister for education and transport Mange Ram Gupta said the government had decided to build auditoriums in all colleges that would be built in the state henceforth.

He said the state government had declared 30 colleges of the state as centres of excellence. Postgraduate and graduate degrees were conferred on 518 students of the college today. These included six MSc degrees, 46 MA, 77 BSc, 48 BCom and 341 BA degrees.

Former minister Jagdish Nehra presided over the convocation function. B.S. Agarwal, principal of the college, read the annual report of the college.

Earlier, addressing students in the college here, Gupta said the state government planned to introduce yoga education in schools and colleges and a committee under the chief secretary had been constituted for the purpose.

Emphasising the need for character building and discipline among students, he said yoga education would help in improving these two aspects in students.

“The state government has laid emphasis on providing quality education to children and it is with this in mind that a network of schools and colleges has been created,” the minister said.

“A revolution in education has swept the state with a number of technical, engineering and other colleges in place,” he added.

He said special emphasis was being laid on the education of girls in the state. “Women have been excelling in all fields like medicine, computers, army, air force, aviation and administration and have become economically strong and independent, which is a positive sign,” the minister said.

He announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for the college.

Principal Dr Vijaya Tomar welcomed Gupta to the college and informed him about the achievements of the college.

Chandigarh, November 24
Lesser-known-high-priced drugs often known as “propaganda” drugs have claimed their first “victims” in Haryana.

After repeated warning to doctors against prescribing these drugs, the health department through Bhiwani deputy commissioner has got police cases registered against three government doctors.

They have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act for “flouting departmental instructions” about prescribing generic medicines and “expensive drugs” when reputed company-made drugs are available at much lower rates.

The doctors, Dr Hari Singh Jhangra, Dr Mahesh Verma and Dr Shriram Siwatch, have been booked on the report of the drug control officer, Bhiwani. The report stated that the doctors had been prescribing medicines of lesser-known companies, which were available in the market at exorbitant prices for reasons best known to them. Based on these “findings”, the department, maintaining that it tantamount to fleecing patients and collusion among doctors, pharmaceutical companies and chemists, has termed it as corruption and booked the doctors under the Act.

Also, learning from this experience and prescriptions of the doctors booked, the health department has drawn up a list of frequently prescribed propaganda drugs, their prices and manufacturing units along with comparative rates of branded medicines.

“Most of these drugs are non-scheduled items or vitamins. While the former is not covered under the Drug Price Control Order, all vitamins are covered in the order and the prices are to be fixed by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA),” the report said.

In the light of these findings, the health department has decided to forward the details of all such drug manufacturers to the NPPA for taking appropriate action against the firms as also to approach the Himachal Pradesh government for carrying out checks in the Baddi-based pharma units.

“The department is taking a serious view of any malpractice and it is of greater concern when the poor patients are being fleeced in the name of prescriptions. However, there are only a few doctors doing so and we are hoping to rein them in with our initiatives,” says principal secretary, health, Anuradha Gupta.

To curb this tendency to prescribe drugs made by a “favoured few”, the department, in consultation with its doctors, has identified 328,11,298 drugs, covering all possible illnesses, for availability in the hospitals, the community health centres and the primary health centres in the state, respectively.

“We are decentralising medicine purchase and have revived the defunct district health societies under the deputy commissioners. These medicines will be available in hospitals free of cost from January next year,” Gupta added.

Meanwhile, unhappy with the registration of FIRs against the doctors, the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association led by Dr Vijay Dahiya has called an emergency meeting of all doctors to condemn the attitude of “certain bureaucratic forces that are bent upon labelling doctors as corrupt”. He said instead of lodging an FIR against some doctors of Bhiwani, departmental action should be initiated against them.

Karnal, November 24
Charity seems to have lost its meaning for the local Mahabir Dal Charitable Hospital with the management facing serious charges of irregularities and defeating the basic objective of providing treatment and medicines free of cost to the poor.

Allegations about commercialisation of the hospital had been pouring in for quite sometime but a criminal complaint filed by the India Rural Development Foundation in court has brought the allegations against the hospital and other deficiencies in public glare, raising concern among people.

The matter was hotly discussed at a meeting of the managing committee yesterday in which the rival group openly accused the management of violating various norms and procedures and acting in an arbitrary manner.

Members charged the chairman with concealing vital information even from executive committee members and misleading the public by claiming that the institution was not covered under the RTI Act.

President of the foundation Pradeep Chauhan and legal adviser Jitendra Rana had alleged in their criminal complaint that the charitable institution had deviated from its objective of providing treatment and medicines free of cost to poor patients by allegedly charging more than private hospitals.

Instead of getting medicines free of cost from the hospital, patients were forced to purchase medicines from adjoining chemists and some office-bearers and doctors of the hospital were receiving commission, the complaint said.

It further charged the hospital with conducting pre-natal sex determination tests clandestinely, reducing the hospital to a referral hospital and going ahead with illegal constructions without getting the building plans sanctioned.

Rana said he had asked for information from the president, Dr Rajiv Gupta, under the RTI Act but was told that the institution was not covered under the Act.

Former president and secretary of the hospital Satish Goel and Amit Gupta said the charges against the management had substance and admitted that vital information was being concealed even from the executive committee members.

Dr Rajiv Gupta, however, refuted the allegations.

Asked about the construction of new blocks without approval of building plans, he made a startling revelation that no building plan had been approved during the past 30 years. He even contested the claim of the rival group that land had been provided to the hospital at subsidised rates and said it was bought at the then prevailing market rate. 

Faridabad, November 24
The Haryana Employees Joint Action Committee is firm on holding its state-level November 30 rally in Rohtak to press for the immediate implementation of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission without “cutting the allowances they are getting”.

The Haryana government is said to be ready to implement the pay panel’s recommendations but reportedly wants to cut some of the allowances of the employees. The joint action committee, spearheading the agitation of the employees, is a representative body of the Haryana Sarva Karamchari Sangh and the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh.

Subhash Lamba, spokesperson for the Harayana Sarva Karamchari Sangh, said today that a delegaton of the joint action committee had already given the viewpoint of the employees to a special committee constituted by the government.

According to him, the employees will not allow “tampering with their allowances”. They want the immediate implementation of the pay panel’s recommendations. He warned that the employees were ready for confrontation with the government on their demands and they would intensify their struggle after the rally in case their demands were not met. They have, however, said the employees were ready for talks with the government.

According to leaders of the joint action committee, the other demands of the employees include stopping the practice of outsourcing and privatisation and filling about 1.5 lakh posts in various departments.

Chandigarh, November 24
President of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) Kuldeep Bishnoi has threatened to go on an indefinite fast if the government does not reduce the prices of petroleum products before December 10.

Talking to newsmen here today, Bishnoi said the UPA government had been increasing the prices of petroleum products on the pretext of rising global prices of crude oil. Now when the price of crude oil had come down drastically, the UPA government was not reducing the price of petrol and diesel.

He said in the past few days he must have written several letters to the Prime Minister and the union petroleum minister on the issue. But he had not received any reply from them. Therefore, he had decided to go on an indefinite fast outside Parliament House from December 10 if the government did not reduce the prices of petroleum products by then. He said the reduction in the domestic prices of petroleum products must be in consonance with the reduction in the global price of crude oil.

Bishnoi said at the current international price of crude oil, the domestic oil companies were making a profit of about Rs 10 per litre of petrol and Re 1 on per litre of diesel. He said if the government reduced the tax burden on petroleum products, it could also reduce the prices of kerosene and cooking gas without increasing its subsidy budget.

Answering a question, Bishnoi said he would personally like to contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Bhiwani, from where he was elected in 2004 on the Congress ticket. But the final decision would be taken by the parliamentary board of his party. The board would meet in Delhi tomorrow to discuss the names of the party candidates for all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. He said the names of the candidates might be announced at the proposed “Vishwas rally” of the party to be held in Bhiwani on December 2 to mark the first anniversary of the party.

He claimed that his Bhiwani rally would be bigger than the rallies addressed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP leader L.K. Advani and former Chief Minister and INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala in the state this year. Bishnoi said certain important leaders of other parties were likely to join the HJC at the Bhiwani rally. He also claimed that at least three Congress MLAs were in touch with him. However, he refused to name them.

Ruling out the possibility of an alliance with any party, Bishnoi said: “Alliances are made by weak persons or political parties. The HJC is the strongest party in the state today and it does not need an alliance with any party.”

He ridiculed a report that the HJC could merge with the Congress in the wake of AICC treasurer Moti Lal Vora being made in charge of party affairs in Haryana. He said the Congress would merge with the HJC and not vice versa. He said politics all over the world had undergone a change and people wanted fresh faces as their leaders. Only the HJC, he said, had a fresh face in him to offer to the people of the state as a “clean and responsive” alternative to all parties. 

Chandigarh , November 24
Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited has finalised the allotment of built-up flatted factories to entrepreneurs in the Industrial Estate, Faridabad.

Stating this today, Rajeev Arora, managing director of the corporation, said the flatted factories had been constructed in view of the persistent demand of small-scale units through the Faridabad Industries Association for providing a built-up area of 700 to 800 sq ft.

The corporation thereafter selected a suitable site in the Industrial Estate, Sector 59, Faridabad, and decided to construct flatted factories in keeping with their requirements.

The project involved the optimum utilisation of land by providing infrastructure in the shape of multistoreyed buildings for industrial units.

Eligible projects to be set up in the flatted factories included those related to light engineering, information technology, printing presses and garment manufacture.

The flatted factories are being constructed on 4,273 sq m for 40 units of 77 sq m (828.52 sq ft) each. The expected capital expenditure on the project has been pegged at Rs 5.56 crore with a grant of Rs 4 crore from the state government.

The corporation had invited applications in June. It received more than 50 applications against 40 units. Construction work is at an advanced stage and is likely to be completed by February next year. — UNI 

Hisar, November 24
The Haryana State Seed Producers Association has sought government intervention to save the seed industry from the ongoing crisis by providing it a “'level-playing field vis-a-vis government agencies in the state”.

In a memorandum to union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the association has sought introduction of the subsidy system in Haryana as is being followed in Punjab and Rajasthan.

“Private producers are meeting 75 per cent of the total requirement of seeds in the state and now due to NAFED providing seeds at subsidised rates, the 
existence of this industry is in danger,'' association president Ravindra Gupta said.

Gupta said in Rajasthan and Punjab, the state governments had safeguarded the interests of seed producers by using the subsidy money to maintain a balance between farmers and seed producers but in Haryana “an imbalance has been created for which NAFED is responsible”.

The association has informed the government that in the same state two agencies of the government, namely Haryana Seed Development Corporation and HAFED were selling seeds of wheat at different rates with a difference of Rs 455 and creating problems for the farmers as well as seed producers.

Last year, the government had helped the seed producers through special grants but this year no relief has been given to the seed producers, he rued.

“If such a situation continues, the seed industry will collapse and within one year the shortage of seeds will reach such a level that it will be difficult to overcome it even through heavy imports,” he cautioned.

The association had impressed upon the Chief Minister the need for taking immediate remedial steps and told him that otherwise the quality of seeds was certainly going to fall, Gupta said. — UNI 

Karnal, November 24
Dairy farmers from Bihar are becoming technology savvy and more and more of them are coming to the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here for training in the latest dairy techniques.

Dairy farmers had been imparted week-long training in 11 groups of 30 each and a plan has been drawn up to train 300 more farmers in groups of 30 in the coming months.

These farmers, on return to their state after training, will also act as guides and trainers for other farmers in their respective areas and help increase milk production.

The group of 330 dairy farmers hailing from different districts of Bihar were sponsored by the Directorate for Dairy Development and dairy cooperative societies in Bihar.The second group of 300 farmers, expected to reach here shortly, has been sponsored by the Bihar State Cooperative Milk Producers Federation, Patna.

Addressing the trainees at the valedictory function of the 11th programme organised at the Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) of the NDRI, Dr R.P. Singh, executive secretary of the All- India Agricultural Universities Association, emphasised that farm families in the country, irrespective of the region, should come forward to enhance productivity and profitability by integrating different enterprises.

He said there was urgent need for the dissemination of technologies for increasing milk production among dairy farmers at a faster pace, as had been done in the case of crop production.

Dr A.K. Srivastava, director, NDRI, advised the farmers not to make use of oxytocin, a practice adopted for quick milk production. It should be used sparingly under emergency conditions when essentially required for the treatment of dairy animals.

He further said the consumers of milk should not panic about the use of oxytocin by some dairy farmers as it gets denatured after the boiling of milk and does not cause harm.

He made a strong plea to the dairy farmers to improve their herd productivity by adopting various technologies of breed improvement, scientific feeding, shelter management, clean milk production and proper healthcare of their dairy animals.

Dr Dalip K. Gosain, head of the KVK, said the kendra organised two programmes on scientific dairy farming during the week in which 60 dairy farmers, 30 each from Chapra and Patna district of Bihar, were imparted training. 

Kaithal, November 24
Despite tall claims made by the power board authorities to generate record power in the recent past, there seems to be no end to the woes of the consumers, who continue to suffer.

Consumers had a sigh of relief when the authorities withdrew the power cuts for a fortnight during October end. However, their pleasure was short-lived as the cuts are back again. Long and unscheduled power cuts have adversely affected life here and in other parts of the district. Consumers have been facing power crisis owing to irregular supply.

Representatives of industries, farmers, domestic and commercial consumers blamed the power board authorities for the prevailing situation.

Though power consumption has reduced considerably with the onset of winter season, consumers have not got rid of power cuts. Secretary of the HCCI, Kaithal chapter, Anand Khurania said it was unfortunate that power rates were being raised but power supply was not being made regular. Unscheduled and unannounced power cuts had made the life difficult for the people.

Power consumers alleged that despite the announcement of the government that the power situation would improve after the commissioning of Yamunanagar thermal power station, power supply had not been made regular.

XEN, UHBVN, S.K. Bansal said though more power was available now, they still have to impose cuts on some occasions as per the directions of the authorities. He said on sometimes they have to impose local cuts for line repairs.

Rohtak, November 24
Three youths received bullet injuries when some persons opened fire on them over a land dispute in Kharawar village in the district this evening. The condition of two of them is reported to be critical. The victims have been admitted to the PGIMS here. This is second such incident over a land dispute in the past month. Two women had been gunned down in Karor village in the district on Diwali by some persons, most of them residents of the same village.

The police has registered a case against in connection with today’s incident. No arrest has been made so far.

The incident took place around 5 pm today when some members of a family, on the way home from fields, were intercepted by some armed youths riding motorcycles. They pulled out revolvers and opened fire on them, resulting in injuries to three of them, identified as Devender, Varun and Amit. Devender and Varun are brothers, while Amit is their cousin.

In a complaint lodged with the police, the main accused in the case has been stated to be Sandeep, son of Atma Ram, a resident of the same village. It is learnt that Sandeep and his family had some dispute over some land with Devender’s family and there was enmity between the two families.

Police sources said Sandeep was involved in a murder case and was at large since January.

Sonepat, November 24
Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram had worked for establishing communal harmony when communal forces were active during the pre-independence years in the country.

This was stated by Haryana Speaker Raghubir Singh Kasian while addressing the “First Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Memorial Lecture” at the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, today.

Kadian said to achieve the mission of communal harmony, he made the poor peasantry from every section and religion of society as the medium and succeeded in his efforts.

“As he was born and brought up in a society of mixed culture, he knew very well that the uplift of the farming community was not possible without communal harmony and social amity,” Kadian added.

Kadian said Sir Chhotu Ram worked not only for the well-being of the farming community, but also concentrated on promotion of education for the rural youth and extended his help in opening a number of educational institutions in the area.

Kadian announced a grant of Rs 1.50 lakh for the university’s library from his discretionary fund.

Vice-chancellor of the university H.S.Chahal, registrar R.K. Arora and dean (academics) D.P. Tiwari also listed the contribution of Sir Chhotu Ram to the uplift of society.

Chandigarh, November 24
Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai today urged journalists to analyse all fields in which the state had made tremendous progress and in which aspects the state was lagging behind so that strenuous efforts could be made to make Haryana number one in all spheres.

Kidwai was speaking at a function to mark the 57th death anniversary of freedom fighter Lala Desh Bandhu Gupta at Raj Bhawan here. The function was organised by the Yuva Netritav Jyoti Institute of Panipat.

Kidwai said during the freedom struggle, two newspapers, National Call and Tej, were very popular and the circulation of Tej was the highest. The contribution of Gupta could not be forgotten. He said Gupta had also worked in close association of former Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru and former President Rajender Prasad in motivating the youth through his patriotic poems, literature and creative writings.

He asserted that those communities, which had forgotten their ancestors, could not progress. He reminded that the contribution of brave soldiers of the state should not be forgotten.

Lauding the efforts of the state government in making all-around development of the state during the past three and a half years, the Governor said the budget of the state was 25 per cent to 30 per cent surplus and it had increased two-third fold. He said last year the national GDP was 9.4 per cent while the growth of Haryana was 10.46 per cent. He maintained that the growth rate of the agriculture sector in the state had been 4.6 per cent annual and hoped that the state would maintain its pace of development in future too.

The Governor and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda released four souvenirs about the life and deeds of Gupta. They also honoured eminent personalities of the state, which had made great contribution to the field of education, literature and social service.

Hooda said it was a coincidence that the birthday of Chhotu Ram, Guru Teg Bahadur’s martyrdom and the 57th death anniversary of Gupta, who hailed from Panipat, fell today. He said Gupta was a great freedom fighter and had made great contribution during the freedom struggle. Gupta had also made a lot of suggestions when the Indian Constitution was being drafted. He reminded that his father Ranbir Singh and Gupta remained in jail together three times.

Hooda said during the freedom struggle Raja Nahar Singh, nawab of Farukh Nagar, and Rao Tula Ram had contributed a lot. The government was collecting the history of great martyrs and patriots so that it could be compiled in a book under the guidance of the Governor.

President of the Yuva Netritav Jyoti Narender Kumar Upmanyu urged the Chief Minister to name Government College, Panipat, and bus stand there after Gupta.

A special Desh Bandhu award was given to the only surviving member of the Constituent Assembly Ranbir Singh. The award on his behalf was received by the Chief Minister. Another special award on behalf of the Yuva Netritav Jyoti was also given to Hooda for his contribution in the development of the state.

The others who had got the award included Ashok Malik, assistant editor, Dainik Tribune; Pritpal Singh Pannu, chairman, Niffa; Desh Bandhu Nirmohi, director, Haryana Sahitya Akademi; Aasutosh Gautam of Karnal and Ramesh Saini.