Chandigarh, December 29
In a major relief to those who had constructed their buildings along the scheduled roads in the state, the Haryana cabinet, which met here today under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, approved an amendment to the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Area Restrictions of Unregulated Development Act, 1963.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Hooda said the amendment would be incorporation through an ordinance, the draft of which would be sent to the Governor today. All those buildings, which were constructed within 100 metres on either side of the road reservation of a bypass and 30 metres on either side of a scheduled road before the date of issue of the ordinance, would not be demolished, provided their owners paid the prescribed fee.

The amendment would benefit 13,675 structures along the scheduled roads, 6,827 structures along national highways and 5,651 structures within the existing municipal limits.

The cabinet also approved a proposal to reduce rates of tax for private school buses. Now, private schools, which charge bus fare up to Rs 200 per child, will not have to pay any passenger tax on school buses and those which charge more than Rs 200 per child will have to pay tax at the rate of Rs 20 per seat instead of Rs 40 per seat. The loss in revenue on this account is estimated to be Rs 210 lakh in a year.

The cabinet advanced the date of the budget session of the assembly from February 6 to 2, 2009. It also decided to increase the direct recruitment quota for outstanding sportsperson to the post of DSP from the existing 3 per cent to 6 per cent. This quota shall be reserved for outstanding sportspersons of Haryana, who win Gold, Silver or Bronze medal in Olympic Games or those sportspersons who bring laurels to the country and the state. The cabinet decided to upgrade sub-tehsil Badhra to tehsil in Bhiwani district.

Rohtak, December 29
The Executive Council (EC) of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) has granted approval and affiliation to new educational institutions in the region. The announcement was made after its meeting here today. The move is likely to pave way for academic expansion of the varsity.

The meeting of the Executive Council held under the chairmanship of vice-chancellor granted provisional affiliation to 34 new colleges of education and an architecture institute, Gateway College of Architecture and Design, Sonepat.

The EC also granted provisional affiliation to newly established Government College for Women, Rewari, to run BA and BCom courses. It sanctioned provisional affiliation to Sharbati College of Nursing, Mohindergarh, for running BSc (nursing) course.

It okayed amendment to the ordinance of Bachelor of Library and Information Science and Masters of Library and Information Science courses.

The council approved the decision of promotion of 14 deputy superintendents to the post of superintendent and eight temporary promotions to the posts of deputy registrar/assistant registrar/private secretary.

The name of Dr VK Singh as director, University Institute of Engineering and Technology (UIET), and extension in assignment of Prof PV Gupta as consultant in UIET also received the approval and the amendment in university research scholarship rules involving hike in amount of university research scholarship(s).

In all, 32 out of 33 items placed in the meeting got the council’s nod.

Chandigarh, December 29
The veil of haziness over premature release of lifers has eventually been lifted.

A prisoner now has to undergo actual period of sentence he was required to under the policy in currency on the date of his conviction.

The Apex Court, in Mahender Singh’s case, has held the policy in currency on the date of conviction will govern a prisoner’s plea for premature release.

Armed with the orders, the Punjab and Haryana High Court is now directing the jail superintendents to unconditionally let go the lifers, seeking premature release, in accordance with the policy in force at the time of conviction, after verifying the averments on period of actual sentence undergone by them.

The development is significant as state-level committee in Haryana, set up to look into such matters, was in a large number of cases declining the plea for premature release.

It was relying on government instructions stating a life convict has to undergo 20 years actual, and 25 years total, sentence to be eligible for consideration for premature release.

It was not relying on Mahender Singh's case as a review petition against the judgment had been filed before the Apex Court.

Taking up a petition filed before the high court by Shamsher Singh against the State of Haryana, Justice Anand observed: The petitioner is undergoing life imprisonment following his conviction by the trial judge on October 5, 1996, in case dated March 25, 1995, under Section 302 of the Indian Penal Code.

Justice Anand added: “There is no controversy that a review plea filed by the State of Haryana in Mahender Singh’s case has been dismissed by the Apex Court.

“In Mahender Singh’s case, the Apex Court had held that the policy in currency on the date of conviction of a prisoner would govern consideration of a premature release plea.

The petitioner before this court was convicted on October 5, 1996. His case has to be governed by the policy in force on the date of his conviction.

“On ascertainment of the correctness of the averment made by the petitioner the period of actual sentence undergone by him, the superintendent of the jail concerned, where the petitioner is presently lodged, shall unconditionally release him, forthwith”.

Before parting with the order, Justice Anand added: “In order to avoid any ambiguity, it is made clear that the petitioner shall be unconditionally released only if the superintendent of jail concerned finds that the petitioner - prisoner has indeed undergone the actual period of sentence which he was required to undergo under the policy in currency on the date of the conviction”.

Panchkula, December 29
The effects of global meltdown not only affected prominent sectors like the Information Technology and real estate in the country, it has also hit hard on health tourism, which was flourishing substantially in the country during recent years.

The number of footfalls of patients from abroad in the hospitals of tricity which had emerged as a major attraction among the foreigners as well as non resident Indians due to high quality treatment at affordable prices, have dwindled to at least 50 per cent.

Patients from other countries, including developed nations like the USA, UK and Canada, had been preferring to get the treatment in skin care, cosmetic surgery and heart diseases because of a huge difference in the cost.

The recession is not so visible in India as it is in the UK and USA and people have started postponing their visits even for treatment of their severe problems, said Dileep Shukla, an NRI from UK who was here to consult a dermatologist for his wife.

“One of my friends living in Swiss Cottage in London who planned to get his angiography and angioplasty, has already postponed it for the time being due to recession,” said Shukla, substantiating his point.

In fact, the cost-effective treatments had made many foreigners queuing up in the region since the past many years, said Dr Vikas Sharma, a consultant at National Skin Hospital, here at Mansa Devi Complex. But now the local medicos have started feeling the heat of recession in other countries too, he added.

“Till a couple of months ago, in addition to NRIs, at least four patients from countries like the USA and UK were visiting me every month for laser surgery, face lifting, hair removal or pigmentation,” claimed Dr Vikas, adding that “even now there is no let up in the visits by NRIs but the number of foreigners have reduced to half”.

Even number of inquiries from foreign patients have come to a standstill, he said.

The experience of Dr VD Singh, a who runs a cosmetic, reconstructive and laser surgery centre in Chandigarh, is no different.

“A good number of visitors from foreign lands were approaching me till the beginning of the year but the number has been reduced to around 50 per cent this month,” said Dr Singh.

Though a few private hospitals in the tricity did not prefer to divulge details in this regard, sources said the situation was no better with many of them as well.

Still the medicos are optimistic of recovering from the current situation very soon.

“There is a vast difference in the rates of the treatments offered in the West and that in India. In most cases, the same treatment offered in countries like the US or the UK cost 10 to 20 times more than what is being charged here,” says Dr Vikas.

While a single sitting in anti-ageing treatment costs Rs 2,000 in India on an average, it is available for Rs 50,000 in the US or the UK, said the dermatologist.

And pigmentation removal procedures available here at Rs 1,500 per sitting cost around Rs 40,000 per sitting in the western countries, he added. 

Gurgaon, December 29
The city, this year, may fall short of venues to celebrate the New Year as Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) has served notices to many well-known hotels and pubs.

These legal notices have been issued to all venues that have not paid the requisite music licence fee to play music at year-end bashes and action will be taken against them in case they fail to pay the fee.

CEO, PPL, Vipul Pradhan said: The music industry had been going through a very bad phase. Under the statutory sanction of Section 35 in the Copyright Act, playing commercial music without paying the requisite licence fee was an offence liable to contempt of court. Section 35 was the nemesis for all hotels in the city as it grants exclusivity to PPL to issue licences to hotels/pubs to play music during events/parties on their premises. The tariff for the same was calculated on the basis of the number of hours the music was to be played and the number of people expected to attend the party.

Sowmya Chowdhury, country head (events), PPL, said: “Musical nights and customised New Year packages are some of the most prolific means of revenue for pubs and hotels. A New Year’s bash cannot be imagined without music, yet when it comes to pay for commercial use of music, profit makers choose to evade the licence fee.”

The defaulters list includes some of the top venues like Ad Maker, Staying Alive, Addiction, Lovely Obsessions, Club Saffire, Bristol Hotel and several others, he affirmed and added that PPL had issued notices to all defaulting hotels and pubs of the key cities across the country.

Playing commercial music without paying a copyright licence fee was liable to contempt of court under Section 35 in the Copyright Act. To control the situation, this year, the PPL had expanded the operations to a national campaign in all major cities.

The PPL’s team of vigilance would visit all venues and would stop the party if found guilty,” Chowdhury added.

“Each year, pubs/hotels rake in revenues with customised New Year packages ranging from Rs 1,500 to Rs 20,000 but refuse to pay the nominal tariff of Rs 40,000 onwards to PPL,” he said. The DJs too would not be spared if they continue to play music without paying the licence fee, he added.

Sirsa, December 29
The authorities have decided to divert the traffic coming from Delhi and going towards Dabwali on the National Highway No. 10 on two alternative routes in view of the ongoing construction of the railway overbridge in the town. The authorities are in the process of testing stress on some pillars constructed for the purpose of the bridge and the actual work will begin in January.

Deputy commissioner SK Goyal today convened a meeting of engineers of all departments associated with the construction work for better coordination of the work.

SDM Harish Bhatia and members of the local monitoring committee - Pawan Vaidwala, Arun Mehta, Surinder Bhatia, Hoshiari Lal Sharma, Veer Bhan Mehta, Anand Biyani, Pankaj Khemka, Hira Lal Sharma, Surenider Vaidwala and Vikramjit Singh - were present at the meeting.

Goyal sought suggestions of the members of the monitoring committee on the issue of smooth flow of traffic and then decided to divert the traffic coming from Delhi and going towards Dabwali through two alternative routes.

“The authorities have decided to divert the traffic through the Vaidwala-Nejakhera-Handikhera-Jhompra-Dabwali road and also through the HUDA Chowk-Chatarpatti-mini bypass-Dabwali road,” the deputy commissioner said.

Yamunanagar, December 29
“Everyone must stand to contribute something positive back to society. This was also advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, who said if someone had any special quality, then it should be used for the betterment of society,” said the director of “Gandhi My Father”, Feroz Abbas Khan, here this evening.

Khan, who has been with the theatre for the past two decades, was addressing a gathering on the closing ceremony of the state International Film Festival at the DAV College for Girls.

“The cinema has become second religion for people. Therefore, cinema should record what is happening in society,” he added. He said quality cinema could reach people only by organising such festivals.

In a move to uplift the talented youth, he said: “I along with some people will soon start an institute where talented youth, who do not have resources, will be trained in acting and direction.”

Principal of the college Sushma Arya said it was a dream to organise a film festival. Despite all odds, the festival received an overwhelming response. Students from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Delhi got a chance to view international movies and interact with the eminent directors, film critics and writers.

Director of the film festival Ajit Rai said from next year, the film festival would be of 10 days instead of six days. A special screening of Haryanvi movie “Chandrawal” was organised for the section. Another movie, which was screened on the last day of the festival, was “Trisha”, a movie-based on the life of an honest person who gets involved into tricky circumstances of life.

Kurukshetra, December 29
A car thief fired upon a constable on duty at the gate of Adarsh Thana on the Kurukshetra University campus here last night, injuring the constable.

According to an FIR, a car (HR 30-0083) was stolen from near the Dukh Bhanjan temple here last night following which a message was transmitted alerting police personnel to set up barricades to nab the culprit.

However, when the car thief saw some police personnel on the university campus, where he had reached after stealing the car, he diverted the car to another road, but due to darkness and thick fog, he found himself in front of Adarsh Thana.

Constable Amrik Singh questioned him, following which the thief ran away, abandoning the stolen car. Amrik Singh chased the thief, who then fired upon him. Amrik Singh sustained injury on his chest and was admitted to LNJP Hospital, where he is stated to be out of danger.

Panipat, December 29
Two persons were killed while one sustained serious injuries in separate mishaps in the district over the past 24 hours.

One person lost his life while repairing a generator at a petrol station on the Sanoli road. The deceased has been identified as Sandeep, son of Jaipal and resident of Uchana Samana village in Karnal district. Sandeep was wearing a loose blanket while repairing the generator and as soon as it started working, his blanket got stuck in the generator belt and he was pulled towards the generator that crushed his head. In another incident, the cleaner of a truck was killed when the vehicle rammed into a stationary truck parked on the NH-1 near Pattikalyana in the district. The accident was reportedly caused due to a thick cover of fog. The cleaner has been identified as Shadik of UP. The driver of the truck, Asghar of Gharikalan village, sustained serious injuries.