Barodap (Sonepat), December 28
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today announced that the state government would pay yearly compensation of Rs 10,000 per acre to all gram panchayats whose land was being acquired by the government for giving 100 square yard plots free of cost to people of weaker sections of society under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna.

Hooda announced this at a public rally that was organised in this constituency, which is considered to be the stronghold of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) since long. It was for the first time after this constituency was de-reserved that Hooda held a public meeting here. The rally also coincided with the 123rd foundation day of the Indian National Congress (INC).

Addressing a gathering, the Chief Minister also announced to allocate special development grants for all villages in Barodap Block. He said every panchayat of large and small villages in the block would be given grants of Rs 50 lakh and Rs 25 lakh, respectively, to give a fillip to development activities in these villages that had remained neglected during the rule of other governments in the state.

Reiterating his commitment to commission at least one power-generating unit every year, the CM said the government was working to ensure that 20 to 22 hours of power supply was made available daily across the state within the next two years.

He said the 600 MW unit of Yamunanager thermal plant had already been commissioned and the 1,200 MW Khedar unit and 1,500 MW unit of Jharli would be commissioned by 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Hooda said the foundation stone of 1,320 MW Jhajjar power plant would be laid on January 10. He said with the commissioning of these units, the power blues of the state would be put to an end once and for all.

Highlighting various welfare and development schemes launched by the state government during his tenure, the CM said while formulating these schemes, the policy makers had made sure that every section of society, including farmers, women, school children, weaker sections, shopkeepers, was benefited.

He said the government was now giving priority to generate more employment for the state youth particularly in the industrial sector.

HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana said the alliance between the INLD and the BJP was not a “gathbandhan” but a “Lathbandhan” that aimed at looting the state with their lies. He said the recent incident of the brutal murder of an engineer in Uttar Pradesh had exposed the style of functioning of the BSP government.

He said the people should not get carried away with the false promises made by opposition parties. MP Deepender Singh Hooda said the alliance between the INLD and the BJP had been formed not to serve the people but to meet the vested interests of some politicians.

Working president of the HPCC Kuldeep Sharma, chief parliamentary secretary Ramesh Kaushik, parliamentary secretary Anil Thakkat, MLAs Jitender Malik, Jagbir Singh Malik, Bachhan Singh Arya, Sher Singh and Sukhbir Singh Farmana, vice-chairperson of the Haryana Women Commission Chander Prabha, AICC member Sumitra Chauhana and several other congress leaders addressed the rally.

Earlier, the CM laid the foundation stone of a 33 Kv power substation at Sikanderpur Majra and announced development grant of Rs 25 lakh each for Sikanderpur Majra and Bali Brahmanan villages.

The CM also inaugurated a newly constructed ITI at Butana village. He laid the foundation stone of a 50-bedded hospital in Gohana, which he said would be upgraded to a 100-bedded hospital.

Jhajjar, December 28
Taking note of a news item published in The Tribune, the district administration has finally decided to provide 10 acres to the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN), New Delhi, for establishing a yoga and naturopathy institute with 100-bedded research hospital in the district.

A communication in this regard has recently been sent to the director of the CCRYN with details of two proposed sites for setting up the institute.

The sites identified for the institute are located in Machhrauli and Kiloi villages in the district. Now, it depends upon the authorities of the CCRYN that which site they select for the project.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Nitin Yadav said: “I have so far not received any communication regarding the setting up of the yoga research institute from the CCRYN. I made an inquiry about it after going through the news item in this regard and initiated a process to identify the appropriate site for the purpose.”

The sites in Machhrauli and Kiloi villages had been found suitable for establishing the institute after visiting several other sites in the district.

As any government land, according to the new rules, could not be provided free of cost to any institution, hence a few necessary conditions had been laid before handing over the land concerned to the CCRYN, maintained Yadav.

The issue had been highlighted in these columns of The Tribune in which it was revealed that a project to establish the Central Research Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy with 100-bedded research hospital in Jhajjar district had reached on the verge of being withdrawn, owing to the “apathetic” attitude of the district administration. The district administration had failed to provide 10 acres to the CCRYN free of cost even after one and a half years.

This was the foremost reason that forced the CCRYN to review the place for the yoga research hospital and to shift this project to another state. Interestingly, the CCRYN officials had made several attempts to initiate the work on the project with the help of the district administration during that period but the council found it hard to get any positive response from the administration.

The CCRYN, an autonomous body under the Department of Ayush, Union Ministry of Health, had proposed the Jhajjar administration to establish the Central Research Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy in December 2006.

Working on scientific lines in yoga and naturopathy and to undertake any education, training and research, the CCRYN was to invest about 11 crores for the preparation of infrastructure of the centre. However, for the success of this project, the CCRYN required 10 acres free of cost so that the Government of India might accord its financial concurrent by February 2007.

After getting offer of the proposed development plan, the Jhajjar administration did not pay any heed to go ahead with the project despite repeated attempts made by the CCRYN officers seeking required land for initiating the project.

Rewari, December 28
Former chairman of the Rewari District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum OP Chopra, who had been remanded in 14-day judicial custody by the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate in a case of corruption, was granted a day’s interim relief for today by the court.

He was granted relief following an application of reprieve filed by him. Consequently, Chopra went in police custody to Narwana, where he would join his son’s marriage today. Subsequently, he would be brought back by the police to Rewari where he would be put into judicial custody again.

When Ajay Kumar, an alleged middleman of Chopra, was caught red-handed by a vigilance team while accepting a bribe of Rs 60,000 from Arvind Yadav, proprietor of Arvind Yadav Hospital here on June 21, 2007, a case under Sections 7, 8, 13, 49 and 88 of the Prevention of Corruption Act was registered in this regard.

While Ajay was arrested, Chopra, who had reportedly been playing a game of truancy even after his retirement to avert apprehension, was arrested by the police from Narwana on December 20.

Later, he was produced before the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate, who sent him in judicial custody for 14 days.

Yamunanagar, December 28
Indian cinema is facing the heat of global economic crisis. Corporate productions and individual production houses have cut down their budget by 40 per cent.

Eminent film critic Ajay Brahmataj said this while commenting on the changing scenario of Hindi cinema and its effect and role in society on the fifth day of the International Film Festival at DAV College for Girls here this evening.

He said the industry was no longer making films for the masses. The focus has shifted to metro and foreign locales.

He further said such festivals helped the people to differentiate between good and bad cinema.

After watching quality cinema, people realise the kind of cinema they had been watching so far.

“Paid preview shows help producers to earn profit. Tickets of such shows are four times the actual rate. He cited the example of “Ghajini”, which has already earned Rs 7 crore with approximately 650 paid preview shows,” he added.

He said the movies had great impact on society. It could impart moral values, ethics, and education and also spread social message. However, these days most of the production houses had been concentrating on profit.

Therefore, they had been making movies keeping in view a particular kind of audience and not for masses. “Cinema helps in regulating behaviour in family as well as society,” he added.

In the first session, French movie “Breathless”, directed by Jean-Luc Godard, a renowned New Wave film-maker, was screened. The film has its own ideology.

In the evening session, Charlie Chaplin’s movie, “The Modern Times” was screened. This film of 1936 comically dramatises the cruelties of modernisation.

Feroz Abbas Khan’s “Gandhi My Father” was also screened. The film is based on the stressful relations of Mahatma Gandhi and his son Harilal.

Yamunanagar, December 28
Regional cinema is prospering in other states, but Haryanvi cinema hardly exists now due to lack of policy, help and subsidy or incentive by the state government. 

“The state government should constitute a committee to frame a policy for the growth of Haryanvi cinema,” said director, youth and cultural affairs, Kurukshetra University, Anoop Lather here today.

He was addressing a gathering on the fifth day of the International Film Festival at the DAV College for Girls here this evening.

Expressing concern over the neglect of Haryanvi cinema, he said the state government should go through the facilities and incentives being offered for regional cinema in other states and then frame a policy for Haryanvi cinema.

Lather had been nominated in India Today (Hindi edition) in its 20th anniversary issue among the 20 persons of India who had worked hard for the promotion of the Haryanvi culture.

He had played an important role in Haryana renewed film, Chandrawal, in 1982 and also played a lead role in another Haryanvi film “Lado Basanti” in 1985.

“On the national platform, no one is aware of the existence of Haryanvi cinema. Now, the production of Haryanvi movies has been reduced to being negligible. However, there was a time when Haryanvi cinema used to flourish like other regional cinemas. However, unfortunately, Haryana cinema has diminished,” he said while talking to The Tribune.

Talking about Haryanvi cinema, he said: “Chandrawal was the leading film amongst all films that came up in Haryana. It created history in many ways. The film had celebrated golden jubilee not only in Haryana, but also in adjoining states. At the box-office, the film broke all records of the contemporary film industry. It also celebrated golden jubilees in Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan. It demarcated a territory for Haryanvi movies by crossing the boundaries of the state.”

“Interestingly, Chandrawal was not the first Haryanvi movie. There were three to four other movies which came before its release. However, they couldn’t make any mark,” he added. Some other notable movies were “Laddo Basanti”, “Laddo Bahurani” and “Jar-Joru-Jamin”.

Faridabad, December 28
Factionalism in the local unit of the Congress came out in the open today when senior leaders of the party openly alleged that a state leader had been running a parallel Congress organisation.

Satish Daggar, Gyan Chand Ahuja and Phool Chand Bhadana - all organising secretaries of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), alleged in a meeting of the Faridabad unit of the party that Gulshan Bagga, another organising secretary of the HPCC, was running a parallel Congress.

Incidentally, Bagga was earlier the president of the Faridabad unit of the party and was elevated to the post of organising secretary at the state level after BR Ojha, who earlier owed allegiance to former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal changed his loyalty towards Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

All four organising secretaries in question are from Faridabad. Ojha, who presided over the meeting, promised the agitated leaders to take up the issue with the Chief Minister and president of the HPCC Phool Chand Mullana.

The meeting was organised in connection with the celebrations of the foundation day of the Congress. Several leaders of the Congress also alleged that elected party representatives like MLAs and the MP from Faridabad did not attend functions organised by the district unit of the party.

Ojha listed out the development works done by the present Congress government in the state particularly in Faridabad.

Earlier, district leaders welcomed the yatra taken out by the Haryana unit of the Congress Sewa Dal. The yatra, which commenced from the Congress national headquarters in Delhi, will go to different places in south Haryana and conclude in Gurgaon on January 2.

The yatra is being organised with a view to highlight development works done by the Congress government in the state.

Faridabad, December 28
The Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) will organise a convention of Jats in Jhajjar on Janauary 9, according to party national general secretary and in charge of Haryana affairs Man Singh Manhera.

Addressing a public meeting of the BSP organised here today by Sukhvir Singh (Lala) in connection with the party’s public mobilisation campaign in the Faridabad parliamentary constituency, Manhera said the convention in Jhajjar was being held by the party to rope in the farming community of the state and check the “dominance of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda”.

Manhera alleged that the ruling Congress, the INLD and the BJP had not measured up to the expectations of poor sections of society and had only exploited them for electoral gains.

He was particularly critical of the Congress, alleging that it had done little for the development of the state and the poor.

He alleged that there were irregularities in the BPL lists prepared by the government. He said if the BSP came to power in Haryana, it would provide three acres on lease to the poor sections of society.

He said his party would field nominees in all 90 assembly segments in Haryana in the next assembly elections.

Chetan Sharma, BSP nominee from the Faridabad parliamentary constituency and former cricketer, said he was getting an enthusiastic response from the people during his tour programmes here.

Manhera announced the BSP’s decision to appoint Sukhvir Singh as head of the kisan cell of the Faridabad district unit of his party.

Chandigarh, December 28
The Haryana Congress can’t seem to get its house in order. In over a month since the Election Commission issued instructions to all political parties on appointing booth-level agents for “correction” of electoral rolls, the party remains undecided about “its men”.

Sources said the Election Commission, on November 18, issued instructions to all major political parties in the state to appoint agents at the booth level to scan voters’ lists and point out the “errors” that might have crept in.

The state election commission forwarded this letter to the parties within a couple of days. Subsequently, the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) wrote to its District Congress Committee (DCC) presidents to be present for a meeting on December 3. At this meeting, the DCCs were instructed to identify booth-level agents and submit their lists at the earliest.

However, unhappy with the slow pace of progress in the job on hand, which comes with a January 10, 2009, deadline, the office of the AICC general secretary and in charge of Haryana affairs, wrote another letter on similar lines to the DCCs informing them of the task ahead.

Now, Moti Lal Vora, in charge of the Haryana Congress, is convening a meeting of the party executive on December 30 to settle the issue of appointing booth-level agents. While the DCCs had been asked to hasten the process of appointment of such agents, the sources said they were taking their own sweet time which was not palatable to the party high command.

Since they themselves were not fighting elections, they were in no hurry. However, this is a very important assignment since it means identifying each and every booth and getting the voters’ list sanitised.

“In fact, Haryana should have taken a cue from Punjab which has given this assignment to its sitting MLAs and defeated candidates in every assembly seat instead of the DCCs. This way, those fighting the elections will ensure that no fake votes make it to the draft electoral list,” a Congress worker said.

The HPCC, however, is not convinced that there has been any delay in the execution of the orders on the appointment of agents.

“We acted swiftly and instructed our DCCs. There is no delay on our part and we are ready. However, only after the Election Commission appoints its booth-level officers will our men lodge their complaints. Till then, we are helpless. The meeting slated for December 30 is only a stock-taking exercise on the issue but has nothing to do with slow progress,” justifies working president of the HPCC Kuldeep Sharma.

Interestingly, the HPCC has invited all Members of Parliament (MPs) for the meeting as well. It is learnt that Vora, who convened a meeting of all MPs yesterday in Delhi to discuss the changed profile of constituencies, has already “exempted” them from making an appearance.

Moreover, this is the first project in the northern region to be awarded the mega project status with attached benefits under the mega project policy of the Centre.

With the commissioning of these two units, the state will be able to provide an additional 288 lakh units per day to its consumers.

Chandigarh, December 28
The Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) is well on its way to welcome the New Year by breaking all previous records of generation.

The corporation achieved a record generation of 480.98 lakh units of electricity at a plant load factor (PLF) of 93.17 per cent in a single day yesterday, which is the highest-ever daily generation since its formation.

Sanjeev Kaushal, MD of the corporation, said here today that the HPGCL had bettered its own record of power generation of 479.94 lakh units at a PLF of 92.74 per cent achieved on December 12 by generating around 1 lakh more units of electricity in a single day.

He added that the Panipat thermal plant-2 had been giving excellent performance and had achieved a PLF of 101.79 per cent on this day.

He said the four 110-MW units of the Panipat thermal plant-1 were commissioned during 1979 to 1987 and had already been in operation for a period varying between 21 years and 28 years.

The designed life of a power station was considered to be around 25 years. Due to the dedicated efforts of the engineers at the Panipat thermal power station and stable and efficient operations, these old units were giving good performance and had achieved a PLF of 84.39 per cent on this day.

Overall, plant load factor of all the power generating units at Panipat thermal plant was 96.16 per cent.

He added that another record had been established at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Project, Yamunanagar, as its 300 MW unit-1 had been in continuous operation for the past 50 days achieving an average PLF of 99 per cent.

He said the 2x300 MW power plant was moving fast towards stabilisation and had achieved a generation of 145.14 lakh units of electricity at an overall PLF of 100.79 per cent on this day.

Referring to the timely maintenance of thermal generating units, he said the HPGCL had planned to carry out the preventive maintenance and overhauling of all units for which a time schedule had been finalised in order to ensure availability of electricity during the peak winter season.

As per this schedule the planned overhauling of 250-MW unit-8 had been completed on December 26. The unit was performing well and had generated 57.74 lakh units of power yesterday at a PLF of 96.23 per cent.

Kaithal, December 28
Four unidentified youths looted Rs 2.50 lakh at gunpoint from a wholesale dealer’s shop in Pundri town, 15 km from here, in this district late last evening. They fled after the robbery.

The Pundri police has registered a case under sections 392, 506 and 34 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act against the four.

SP Sultan Singh told mediapersons that teams had been constituted to nab the culprits. Sat Pal Chugh, a partner in Sat Pal Gaurav Kumar Ghee and Sugar Wholesale Dealers, has lodged a complaint with the police that while he was counting cash at his shop at about 7 pm, two youths, in the 22-25 age group, entered his shop while two others waited outside.

They pointed a pistol on his head and asked him to hand over the cash following which they snatched the cash from him and also took away the cash lying in his cash box and fled. Kuldip Singh, DSP, and Dalel Singh, SHO, Pundri, visited the site after the incident.

The incident has left the business community in Pundri insecure. It has demanded the immediate arrest of the culprits and effective police patrolling to ensure safety.

Kasan (Manesar), December 28
A mega mahapanchayat was organised under the leadership of former sarpanch Gajraj Singh Chauhan here today. It was arranged by the Haryana Pardesh Congress (I) Committee.

Spokesman for the Haryana Pardesh Congress (I) Committee advocate Khajan Singh was the chief guest.

He listened to the grievances of villagers and promised to solve them as soon as possible. Many other members of the party also shared views with villagers.

Kurukshetra December 28
Addressing a state-level “Saini Sammelan”, at Theme Park here today, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala demanded issuance of White Paper by the Congress detailing its deeds during its four-year regime so that people should know about the work done by the party.

The sammelan jointly organised by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Chautala alleged that the Congress was the feeder of capitalists and it had nothing to do with the poor.

There was a need to change the system, which would be changed only if the INLD came to power otherwise welfare of the downtrodden was impossible.

He further alleged that the Congress had been uprooting farmers by creating SEZs on one hand and was snatching bread and butter of small shopkeepers by allowing the construction of malls on the other hand.

He urged upon the people to uproot the Congress in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections, which were likely to be held after about three months.

State president of the BJP Aatam Prakash Manchanda claimed that the NDA would win on all 10 seats in Haryana in the ensuing Lok Sabha elections and LK Advani would be the next Prime Minister of India.

State president of the INLD and former Haryana Transport Minister Ashok Arora said Haryana was number one in development during the INLD tenure but now it was number one in crime.

Fatehabad, December 28
The Rashtriya Janhit Party (RJP) of former Haryana bureaucrat Kripa Ram Punia is trying hard to establish itself among the Dalits, the poor and the downtrodden in Haryana before Mayawati’s social engineering makes its impact in the state.

It was in this context that the party organised a rally in the local vegetable market today. The party had named the rally as “mahasammelan” and besides Punia, party executive president Rajinder Sharma, general secretary Sunil Bargujjar, Swaran Singh Barwal, national president of the Rai Sikh Sabha, Mamta Kataria, state president of the women’s wing, and Kulwant Singh Sawna, district president of the RJP, addressed the rally.

Gulbahar Singh Retole, a son of Harminder Singh, a former minister in the Bansi Lal cabinet, also addressed the rally.

He, however later told mediapersons that he had not joined the RJP and had come here to welcome Kripa Ram Punia, who was a good friend of his late father.

Addressing the rally, Punia said the RJP would provide a new direction to the polity of the country.

“Our aim is to provide economic and social independence to the poor and the downtrodden,” Punia said.

“We will provide employment to every educated youth so that they can earn up to Rs 10,000 per month,” he added.

He announced that his party, if voted to power, would provide wheat at Rs 2 per kg to the poor till the government provided regular employment to a member of each such family. Punia also announced to provide power for 18 hours in a day.