Gurgaon, February 23
The civil lines police station of Gurgaon, equipped with modern hi-tech facilities, is all set to function as a paperless police station. The local police authorities claim that this is the first paperless police station in the country. As of now, the paperless police station is ready but awaits a formal inauguration.

"This police station, modernised at a cost of nearly Rs 50 lakh, will provide single-window service for all police related works," said the then police commissioner Mohinder Lal, while showing the police station to mediapersons here recently.

This police station has a high-tech complaint room where a person could register FIR and get its printout bearing a reference number for future use. The station has a public block where anyone could seek information regarding the status of his complaint, arms license application or services like passport verification etc. The station also has a living area to provide better work atmosphere and facilities to the policemen on duty.

Lal told the reporters that of the 23 police stations here, seven had been modernised. In the first phase, the police stations of old Gurgaon, DLF Sector 29, Sadar, City, Civil Lines, Sector 56 and Manesar have been made high-tech, he said, adding that the other remaining police stations would be modernised in two phases.

The police commissioner said if a police official does not register a complaint, the aggrieved person could SMS it to 0124-100 or lodge it on the Gurgaon police website www.gurgaonpolice.net "Such complaints would automatically come into the knowledge of the senior officials," he added.

Panipat, February 23
The district administration has stepped up efforts for the complete implementation of the ban on smoking.

A special committee under the chairmanship of deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya has been constituted to ensure that the ban was enforced in its true sense. Besides, the district Red Cross has been asked to hold special rehabilitation camps to help people quit smoking.

The DC said the idea was to implement the ban with the active participation of the general public. The administration had decided to bring awareness about smoking so that people give up the habit on their own. He said rehabilitation camps would enroll 20 persons at a time, who would be assisted by experts to adopt a healthier lifestyle. The experts would also use psychological techniques to exhort participants to quit smoking, he said.

The administration had already enforced the ban in all government offices of the district and the heads of all departments had been asked to make certain that there was no laxity in the implementation of the ban. All educational institutions in the district had been asked to make sure that there were no booths selling tobacco or other related products within an area of 100 yards from their institutions. In case, any one was found violating these norms, strict action would be taken against the guilty, Dahiya said. 

Rohtak, February 23
Keeping in view the requirements of the present times, Mahrshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, has announced the start of new courses from the coming academic session 2009-2010.

Courses like masters of finance and control (MFC), masters of pharmacy in pharmacognosy, pharmacology and pharmacoinformatics, MPhil (physical education), Mtech (computer science), MSc (operation research) and PG diploma course in journalism and mass communication, PG diploma in electronic media (radio and TV), PG diploma in public relations and corporate communication would be introduced.

Plans are afoot to introduce courses in microbiology and MTech (computer science engineering, mechanical engineering, electronics and communication engineering and bio-technology) from the next session. Plans are also under way for the establishment of a new department of library and information sciences and setting up of Choudhary Ranbir Singh chair to promote higher studies and research, a spokesperson of the MDU said.

Notably, the university had also introduced a string of new courses during the current academic session (2008-2009). These included the five- year integrated courses MCom (hons), the five-year integrated MBA, MSc (hons), MSc (mathematics) (hons), PG diploma in retail management, BBA (hospitality management), BSc (hons) chemistry, master of Pharmacy (pharmaceutical chemistry), PG diploma in remote sensing, MPhil music (vocal and instrumental), MPhil (journalism and mass communication) and a six-year master of visual arts programme. In another major academic development during the current academic session, the semester system with a provision of 20 per cent internal assessment in postgraduate courses had been introduced in the varsity.

Recently, five major development works have been initiated at an overall cost of Rs 67 crore. These include a new building for the university institute of engineering and technology (UIET), pharmaceutical sciences extension block, biosciences block, student's activity centre and Kailash boys hostel. Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda laid the foundation stone of these five projects. New buildings for the institute of hotel and tourism management, advance centre for biotechnology, technology-park and two hostels, one for boys and one for girls are coming up fast. Another major development has been the inauguration of the campuswide area network, an integrated intercom telephony and Internet service, making MDU as a WI-FI campus.

Overall, there seems to be a positive buzz on the campus. Efforts have been made to positively change the academic ambience of the University.

MDU Vice-Chancellor RP Hooda has been keen to provide cutting-edge knowledge to the students of the University so that they could be successful in every walk of life.

Sonepat, February 23
A district-level painting competition among school students of the distrct at the Motilal Nehru School of Sports at Rai in Sonepat recently proved to be a rare one as 11, 772 students from as many as 640 schools of the district participated in the competition.

Thousands of students reached the school and their sitting arrangements were made at different venues in the school premises. The competition was held in three categories, first for the students up to fifth class, second for the sixth to eighth class students and third category for the students of the ninth to senior secondary classes.

As many as 99 students were picked up for prizes by a four member team of the judges, including former director of fine arts department in MDU, Rohtak, Ram Mehar Singh Malik, senior artist Bhagwan Singh Ahlawat, Baljit Singh of Government Girls College Rohtak and Dev Raj Dahiya of ML Senior Secondary School, Narela in Delhi.

Addressing the students, the DC said the main aim for organising such a competition was to create awareness of art and cultural history of the country among the students. He opined," The students are the future of our country and if they become aware about our history, culture and social values, they will certainly become the most responsive citizens of the society."

He exhorted the teachers and parents to make their students and children aware about the culture of the country and remarked that a country is recognised by her culture and society. 

Sirsa, February 23
In the campus interviews held for students of engineering, four multinational companies conducted interviews in the local JCD College of engineering in the JCD Vidyapeeth, Sirsa, recently. Companies conducted interviews for the students of MTech as well as MCA.

Students from 18 colleges of Haryana, Punjab, Delhi and UP, participated in this recruitment drive, according to director general of the vidyapeeth Kuldeep Singh Dhindsa.

Dhindsa welcomed M Chakarvarti, Rama Krishana, HR and technical executives of DTL, Geethika and Sita Ram senior HR executives of Itech, as well as delegates from other reputed companies, students and parents to the mega placement drive. 35 students got selected in DTL and I-Tech solutions after preliminary test, group discussion and final interview. Registrar KK Sirohi, CEO RS Tada, MD Radhey Shayam, Principal of the college Vineet Goel was present.

Sonepat,February 23
The Chief Minister’s announcement to form a committee which will give its recommendations for the regularisation of unauthorised colonies in the state has come as a relief for thousands of residents of around 16 such areas which have come into existence around Sonepat during the past about 15 years.

Hundreds of women,residents of Fauzi Colony between Sector 15 and the Murthal Road, gathered and thanked the Chief Minister. They said they were discriminated against five years ago when other unauthorised colonies were regularised.

" Now, we believe we will also become residents of the municipal council”, they said and added they had fought a legal battle up to the Supreme Court for 13 years to save their dwellings from acquisition by the Haryana Urban Development Authority.

Though the residents had won the case in 2001, the colony which is inhabited by serving and retired defence personnel had so far been deprived of sewerage and drinking water facilities.Representatives of the Residents Welfare Association submitted a memorandum to Naib Tehsildar Hari Om Atri for forwarding it to the Chief Minister, demanding the regularisation of the colony and basic facilities.

Residents of other such colonies like Dahiya Colony, Rishi Colony Extension and Indian Colony Extension also heaved a sigh of relief at the move of the government. A large number of them work in Delhi and are daily commuters.

Earlier, the colonies were regularised on the basis of the population and 69 of them where the population was more than 50 per cent were regularised by the government. But, the localities with less than 50 per cent population were not regularised.

However, the government had recently increased the municipal area limits and most of the unauthorised colonies had come within the municipal limits.

Sonepat, February 23
A number of projects are in the pipeline and a few of them are being implemented to provide various kinds of facilities for the transporters and other vehicle users in this busy stretch of the National Capital Region (NCR) in Sonepat. These include an auto market on the Bahalgarh road, a transport nagar near the kundli border on the GT road, four-laning of the Sonepat-Murthal road.

The state government has approved the demarcation layout plan of an auto market to be developed in HUDA's sector 3 between Sonepat and Bahalgarh on the Delhi road. The market will be developed in an area of 17.5 acre, which will touch the Bahalgarh road on the northern side and a proposed bypass on the south-western side. Five years earlier, it was planned to develop the market in the eight acre area, but keeping in view the growing demand of more and better markets, repair and other facilities, the area was increased to 17.5 acre.

The layout plan of the market comprises of 13 halls for building the body of the vehicles, 25 repair and service stations, 50 service shops and around 250 spare part shops. As all the facilities will be provided within a specified area for the convenience of the vehicle users, this auto market will attract the business activities of the Kashmiri gate auto market in Delhi. As this market will be located hardly a few kilometers from the GT road, it will also cater to the requirements of the vehicles plying in the large numbers on the GT road.

Confirming that the layout plan of the market has already been approved, SDM Amarjit Singh Maan, who is also the estate officer, HUDA, informed that the date for auctioning of the sites in the market would be announced soon.

The Sonepat-Murthal two-lane road is being widened to four-lane on war footing at an estimated cost of Rs 26 crore. This road, like the Bahalgarh road, is the main connecting road to the GT road and the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal. It is likely to be completed within six months.

To overcome the growing problem of parking of the heavy vehicles plying on the GT road, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), after consultation with the district administration authorities, has decided to develop a transport nagar near the Kundli border for solving the parking problems. The main idea behind developing the transport nagar was to reduce the incidents of accidents on the GT road because of the parking of the heavy vehicles on the corners of the GT road due to one reason or the other. 

Gurgaon, February 23
Sarthak, one of the country’s celebrated artists, acclaimed for his contemporary paintings, displayed his latest collection of paintings, “Nandi (bull) Series” here recently. The series included paintings on Rajasthan, Sundarban, mythology, tribals etc.

The artist has tried to capture the various forms of “Nandi”, the chariot of Lord Shiva, the symbol of power, in the series which is meticulously done over a period of two years. "Various features of ‘Nandi’ inspired me to work on the theme and I have tried to capture its various moods and forms," says the artist.

Sarthak has a great love for Indian mythology and its people. He finds his subjects during his visits to various places, particularly the rural and natural forest areas, and captures them on the canvas. In his vignettes, the power of linear lines - both stated and unstated, enhance the spiritual nature of the holy souls.

Sarthak’s designs and paintings on various themes carry the insights of his artistic journey. He reveals his reflections in oil, water, charcoal, ink, each medium brilliantly indicating the contentment, exhilaration, tranquillity and mystical musical notes, flowing through each of his canvas.

Sarthak says, "As art has no inhibitions and is free from boundaries, the beginning of every canvas is a world yet untouched - that is what makes it the most powerfully emotive and proficient medium to convey perceptions and experiences of life”.

He has been intensely passionate about art since his early teens and has honed the fundamentals of fine art with perseverance over several years. Sarthak has been painting on a variety of themes for more than 15 years.

Through his commendable series of contemporary work on Rajasthan, tribals, mythology, Mother Teresa and fishermen (ink & water, charcoal and oil) etc., he brings to us the artistic interpretation of his most intimate feelings on the true essence of the country, but each of his works also have a global message, a global appeal - they appeal to the human spirit of the world.

Sarthak does not see himself as a creator but rather an interpreter of God's creations and endeavours to bring this insight to all.

He has several solo and group exhibitions to his credit and his works have drawn appreciation from noted art critics, the department of culture, Sahitya Kala Parishad, Embassy of France etc.

Sirsa, February 23
An 18-member delegation from Ukraine visited the local Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal (JCD) Vidyapeeth recently.

The delegation that had come here under a cultural exchange programme, included Jenna Carr, daughter of the Ukraine Prime Minister, her husband, Sean Carr, and Mykola Timoshenko, deputy speaker of the country.

Dr Kuldeep Singh Dhindsa, director-general of the JCD Vidyapeeth welcomed the guests.

Later, a cultural programme was organised. Abhay Singh Chautala, vice- president of the Indian Olympic Association presided over the function.

"I liked the Haryanvi culture,particularly the dialect of the local people, and also their hospitality," Jenna told mediapersons.

"India is a country of diverse cultures and languages. We came to this country as we wanted to get an idea of India's culture, civilisation, education and technology," she added.

Abhay informed the guests about the culture of Haryanavi people.

Dr Dhindsa said in his address that India and Ukraine had many things in common and Haryana had much in common with Ukraine.

"Ukraine is traditionally an agricultural area. It grows wheat, maize, buckwheat and other corn, red and green vegetables, all kind of fruit, melon and berries. Similar is the case with India which is also an agricultural economy. Ukraine is one of the world's main centres of sugar production and so is Haryana," Dhindsa said.

He said Indians and Ukrainians both shared a passion for dance and music. Classical dance, in particular, was an exquisite artistic experience. Folk dances, too, had a special appeal, both in India and Ukraine. 

Hisar, February 23
Government veterinarians are miffed over the government’s failure to restore absolute pay parity between them and medicos.

Dr R. K. Rohilla,president of the Hisar district unit of the Haryana State Veterinary Association, said here that parity between veterinarians and doctors in all respects was the essence of recommendations made by the 6th Pay Commission.

However, the government had diluted the recommendations by depriving veterinarians of the benefit of assured career progression (ACP). While medicos had been given this benefit at three stages, veterinarians had been deprived of the same.

Medicos were now entitled to ACP after putting in five, 10 and 15 years’ service. Besides, medicos with postgraduate qualification were given six advance increments. This too had not been sanctioned for veterinarians.

Rohilla said all along veterinarians had been placed on a par with medicos in every respect. While implementing the recommendations of the 5th pay panel the government had upheld this parity. However, this had been disturbed while implementing the recommendations of the 6th pay panel.

He said the veterinarians had been given 25 per cent of basic pay as non-practising allowance on intervention of the Chief Minister himself. However, the differences in ACP still remained.

He appealed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to restore absolute parity between veterinarians and medicos. 

Rohtak, February 23
The announcement of further revision and hike of the old-age pension to Rs 500 and Rs 700 respectively by the state government recently appears to be a clever political move with a view to strengthen the support base of the ruling party among the elderly residents. This section has been lured by the opposition leaders, who have been promising that the pension would be hiked if they come to power.

This is perhaps the first time that the issue of old-age pension has acquired such an importance in the political circles, especially in view of the ensuing elections. This facility had been started for the first time during the Devi Lal regime in late 1980s. Later, it was revised two times in the past decade.

The Chief Minister seems to have been prompted to take this decision in wake of the demise of his father and veteran parliamentarian, Ranbir Singh Hooda. This move is likely to give sleepless nights to the opposition parties and their leaders in the state, who have been perhaps banking upon the idea of old-age pension.

The announcement to hike this pension to Rs 700 per month, however, comes with a rider. It would be given to those who have been drawing pension for the past at least 10 years or more.

However, the decision to hike the pension at a rate of Rs 50 each year for those drawing Rs 500, has also come as shot in the arm of the ruling party, as the scope of criticism from the opposition quarters has shrinked due to facility of a permanent annual hike, said a political observer. Political workers of the Congress have already put up hoardings and banners with the slogans like ‘Kar di mauj budape mein, 500 rupey lifafe mein’.

This move had been a proof of the clever strategy of the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said a local Congress leader. He claimed that the government has done better than what they had promised before elections.’

The hefty increase of Rs 400 in the monthly pension has been a welcome surprise for the old-age people in the state, claimed Jage Ram, a resident of Bahu Akbarpur village in the district. He said though the decision may have been taken with the view of coming elections, he said it was the people who were ultimately to be benefited. Surti Ram of the same village said this pension meant a lot for them. "It was the best time for the revision of the pension as the present amount was meagre.”

The political observers also feel that this populist decision was a yet another attempt to penetrate into the traditional Lok Dal support-bank. “Being a Jat himself, Hooda first brought the Jats closer to the Congress on the plank of Chaudhar. Now, his move to increase the old-age pension has snatched an issue from INLD, an observer stated.

Chandigarh, February 23
National spokesman for the Indian National Lok Dal Sampat Singh has urged the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to reject the projected annual revenue requirement (ARR) of the state power utilities as the “burden of their inefficiency, mismanagement and corruption cannot be allowed to pass on honest consumers”.

Sampat Singh said since the figures did not justify the projected ARRs for 2009-10, the HERC should ask the utilities to draw fresh ARRs based on facts. He said the power availability in 2009-10 would be just 8 per cent more and cost would be double as compared to 2008-09. He said for 2009-10, the utilities had proposed a subsidy of Rs 9,180 crore for rural energy as against Rs 2,360 crore last year, an unjustified four-fold increase. He alleged that this was to cover up corruption and inefficiency under the guise of the rural sector.

The INLD leader said the distributions companies proposed to supply power to un-metered tubewells for 7.09 hours per day and to metered tubewells for 5.70 hours per day. He wondered how could a tubewell be operated for 365 days. The regulatory measures issued by the companies in January last showed that the running schedule of the agriculture or rural feeders would be just 5 hours a day.

He said even after huge expenditure to augment the distribution and transmission systems, no results had been shown. More than 100 feeders in Rohtak, Jhajjar, Jind, Kaithal, Bhiwani and part of Hisar circles showed line losses of more than 90 per cent. The HPGCL, which generated 13,287 million units in 2008-09 would be generating only 12,472 MU in 2009-10. Due to less generation by HPGCL, it would buy power through short-term measures, where 2,950 MU would cost Rs 5.90 per unit and unscheduled 1,400 MU Rs 5.45 per unit. 

Gurgaon, February 23
The Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH) has proposed a unique “heritage walk” around Farrukhnagar, a heritage township of the district.

INTACH Convener Nandita Lahiri has submitted the novel proposal to Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Deepti Umashankar during her recent visit to the township. "A number of historical monuments are situated at close distances in Farrukhnagar," Lahiri said. “If a heritage walk is developed to connect these, it could be a good attraction for the tourists,” she added.

The Deputy Commissioner assured her of favourable consideration to the proposal. She asked the INTACH convener to take up restoration work of the historical "chattri" situated on the Jhajjar road. The "chhatri" bears beautiful wall paintings and writings.

The front and rear sides of the Delhi gate here have been recently repaired by the INTACH at a cost of Rs 5.50 lakh. Of the said amount, Rs 4 lakh were provided from the MP local area development fund.

MP and Union Minister of State for Defence Production Rao Inderjit Singh inaugurated the renovated Delhi gate recently. Now, the INTACH has prepared an estimate of Rs 15 lakh for the repair of the inner part of the Delhi gate.

Umashankar visited the famous Sheesh Mahal, on which restoration work by the archaeological department is in progress. The "mahal" also has a memorial dedicated to the martyrs of 1857 on its premises. Later, the Deputy Commissioner visited the Sita-Ram Mandir that serves the purpose of a Temple as well as a Gurdwara, though its structure resembles that of a mosque.

She also went around the Farrukhnagar gate and "bawari". It is said in ancient times, the queen used to come to this "bawari" for taking bath from Sheesh Mahal through a tunnel. As of now, the tunnel has been closed.

Chandigarh, February 23
The union ministry of power has approved projects worth Rs 77.59 crore for 20 towns in the command area of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam to reform and modernise the power distribution system under the Restructured-Accelerated Power Development and Reforms Programme (R-APDRP).

A spokesman for the nigam said here today that the steering committee in its ninth meeting held under the chairmanship of union power secretary in Delhi had approved the projects for Panchkula, Kalka, Ambala City, Yamunanagar and Jagadhri, Thanesar, Shahabad, Cheeka, Kaithal, Karnal, Gharaunda, Gohana, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Narwana and Jind. Earlier, the projects were approved for Ambala Cantt, Panipat, Sonipat and Pehowa in the eighth steering committee meeting recently.

He said the state was the first to get these projects. Under the project work, consumer indexing, geographic information system, metering of distribution transformers and feeders would be undertaken. The project would also cover asset mapping of the entire distribution network comprising 11 KV feeders, distribution transformers, low-tension lines, poles and other distribution network equipment of these towns.

The works under the project would be completed within next three years. The main focus would be on reducing the aggregated technical and commercial losses and improve the quality of power supply through information technology plan.

He also said the project approved by the ministry included setting up of a disaster recovery centre (DRC) in Panchkula for which Rs 28.23 crore had been sanctioned. It would not only go a long way in bringing down the aggregated technical and commercial losses but also minimise breakdowns and interruptions. The consumers would be benefited by way of better service and there would be increase in revenue as well.