Hisar, August 17
The US space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has warned that if Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan and Delhi do not take measures to ensure sustainable groundwater usage, consequences for the 114 million residents of the region may include a collapse of agricultural output and severe shortage of potable water.

The findings are based on NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE). The twin satellites of GRACE can sense tiny changes in Earth’s gravity field and associated mass distribution, including water masses stored above or below the Earth’s surface. 

According to NASA hydrologist Matt Rodell, groundwater in these states has been disappearing very rapidly. “It is being pumped and consumed by human activities, principally to irrigate cropland, faster than the aquifers can be replenished by natural processes”.

The study said Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Punjab had all the ingredients for groundwater depletion. Their staggering population growth, rapid economic development and water-hungry farms account for about 95 per cent of groundwater use in the region.

NASA hydrologists found that groundwater levels had been declining by an average of one metre every three years (one feet per year). More than 109 cubic km (26 cubic miles) of groundwater disappeared between 2002 and 2008, double the capacity of India's largest surface water reservoir, the Upper Wainganga.

The findings, which have been posted on NASA’s website, paint a dim picture for agriculture and availability of drinking water in these states if the present trend continued. It says, “Groundwater comes from the natural percolation of precipitation and other surface waters down through Earth’s soil and rock, accumulating in aquifers, cavities and layers of porous rock, gravel, sand, or clay. In some of these subterranean reservoirs, water may be thousands to millions of years old; in others, water levels decline and rise again naturally each year”.

Groundwater levels do not respond to changes in weather as rapidly as lakes, streams, and rivers do. So when groundwater is pumped for irrigation or other uses, recharge to the original levels can take months or years. Changes in underground water masses affect gravity enough to provide a signal, such that changes in gravity can be translated into a measurement of an equivalent change in water, it added.

Rodell and his team members are of the view that while they do not know the absolute volume of water in the Northern Indian aquifers, but GRACE provided strong evidence that current rates of water extraction are not sustainable. “The region has become dependent on irrigation to maximise agricultural productivity, so we could be looking at more than a water crisis,” the hydrologists said.

Chandigarh, August 17
If one has to point out one act of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government in Haryana which has not gone down well with the masses is the allotment of HUDA plots to MLAs and MPs. On the issue, the government finds itself on a slippery wicket.

The decision has not pleased anyone, except the intended beneficiaries. Even though the Opposition is yet to make an issue of the allotment, the public is aghast at the shameless manner in which its elected representatives have sought to enrich themselves to the tune of crores of rupees. The justification being offered by the legislators for this enrichment is that they do not have a place to stay in Chandigarh or nearby when they come to attend the Assembly sessions or meetings of various committees of the Vidhan Sabha, which are normally held every week. The justification is just not tenable.

There is a row of flats exclusively marked for MLAs. Those who are not allotted the flats, have a well-furnished hostel to stay.The number of Assembly sessions as well as the sittings of the House is constantly decreasing every year. The meetings of various committees have become more of a source of income for the MLAs, who fail to make it to the Cabinet, than a serious business. Many MLAs just come to the Assembly and mark their attendance. For them, the meeting is over with the submission of TA bills.

Further, how these outgoing members can be so sure that the voters would elect them again. The allotment is simple and pure gratification of the legislators by the government.

The allotment of plots to the legislators is virtually a revival of the discretionary quota, which remained in vogue till 1996. After the courts objected to it and asked the government to make guidelines for the quota, no Chief Minister, may it be Bansi Lal or even Om Prakash Chautala, revived it. Last year, the Hooda government revived the discretionary quota after framing a policy, with which no one found any fault, because the intended beneficiaries were persons who had excelled in their respective fields.

The INLD government had obliged its MLAs by asking them to form a cooperative society and allotting land in the prime sector of Gurgaon to it for flats. A couple of years ago, the Hooda government did not pick and choose the MLAs to be obliged. It asked them to form cooperative societies and apply for group housing plots when HUDA launched a scheme for general public also. Of course, like certain other groups, a reservation was made for the legislators’ societies. But the location of the land was decided by a draw of lots.

However, the government decided to allot independent plots to the legislators as they were not happy with the group housing scheme, which would have given them only flats.

Faridabad, August 17
Residents of 30 villages whose land has been acquired by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and whose area is now under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) are feeling neglected due to the non-provision of civic amenities.

The residents allege there are inadequate sewer pipelines and lack of parks. A few years ago, about 30 villages were brought under the jurisdiction of the MCF after the civic body was formed. It was hoped that they would be better administered since they were to pay several taxes.

However, the residents of the villages, including Fatehpur Chandela, Mewla Maharajput, Anhir, Anangpur, Anangpur Dairy, Ismailpur, Lakarpur, Gajipur, Nangla Gurjarana, Dabua, Saharan, Munjesar, Daulatabad Ajronda, Jhar Setli and Sihi now find themselves sandwiched between two residential sectors of HUDA.

The sectors have been carved out after acquiring agricultural land.

As per norms, the state government sets up the Village Development Fund (VDF) by taking a portion of the amount from the villages who get compensation following the acquisition of their land. The amount in the VDF is to be used for the development of the villages. The residents of the villages, however, alleged that the fund was not used in a proper manner. The projects set up in the villages were either not supervised properly, resulting in shoddy works or there were cost overruns on account of stoppages midway in the construction work.

Ram Kumar, a resident of Ankhir village, cited the case of laying of sewerage lines.The work started about nine years ago. The cost was about Rs 20 lakh and it was nearly completed about two years ago. However,the only glitch is that the main pipe from the village has to be connected to the sewerage pipe of sector 21-D, which was laid by HUDA by acquiring the land. Due to this, the sullage of the villages,particularly during the rainy season, remains stagnant on the roads and makes life miserable.He alleged that several representations to HUDA officials had not yielded any results.

Except for a few, almost the entire agriculture land of the villages, now under the MCF jurisdiction, has been acquired by government agencies.Benam Chandela of Fatehput Chandela village alleged that there was not even a park for children. 

Sirsa/Fatehabad, August 17
Sirsa topped in production while Fatehabad topped in the yield per hectare of wheat during 2008-09 as per the final estimates of the area, average, yield and production of rabi crops.

Sirsa with a production of 13,94,000 tonnes topped the table in the state in the matter of wheat production during the current year.

Hisar with 10,77,000 tonnes achieved the second place, while Jind (10,30,000 tonnes) and Fatehabad (9,52,000 tonnes) are the other districts having a good production of wheat.

Panchkula with 39,000 tonnes was at the bottom of the table in the matter of wheat production.

Though Sirsa remained at the top in the matter of total wheat production, it was Fatehabad district, which recorded the best yield with the production of 5,120 kg of the crop per hectare.

Palwal with a yield of 5,014 kg per hectare was at the second place, while Sirsa with a yield of 4,996 kg per hectare was third in the matter of yield, according to the figures of the Agriculture Department.

Panchkula with a yield of 2,626 kg per hectare was again at the bottom of the table.

Sirsa topped in the state in terms of the maximum area under the wheat cultivation during 2008-09 with wheat crop being grown on 2,79,000 hectares.

Hisar with 2,23,000 hectares under wheat cultivation was at the second place, while Jind with 2,15,000 hectares under wheat cultivation was at the third place.

Fatehabad with 1,86,000 hectares under wheat cultivation was at the fourth place.

In Panchkula district, only 15,000 hectares had been kept under wheat cultivation and it remained at the bottom of the table in this aspect too.

Bhiwani was on the top in gram production by producing 84,000 tonnes.

Hisar with 19,000 tonnes and Mohindergarh with 12,000 tonnes were some other districts, where grams were produced to noteworthy extent.

Sirsa also topped in barley production by producing 46,000 tonnes of it.

Bhiwani with 40,000 tonnes, Hisar with 32,000 tonnes and Fatehabad with 21,000 tonnes were the other district that produced a considerable amount of the crop.

Bhiwani topped in the production of rabi oilseed by producing 2,14,000 tonnes, while Hisar with 90,000 tonnes was at the second place.

Fatehabad district had the unique distinction of coming at the top position in the matter of average yield per hectare in wheat and barley at 5,120 kg and 4,220 kg per hectare, respectively.

Rohtak had the best yield of gram at 1,434 kg per hectare, while Palwal had the distinction of having the best yield of rabi oilseed at 2,003 kg per hectare.

Panchkula, August 17
The restored Morni Fort will give a boost to eco-tourism, initiated in the state last year. Minister of State for Forests and Tourism Kiran Choudhary recently inaugurated the fort, which earlier housed a pheasant breeding centre.

“It was taken care of that the basic structure of the fort is not changed, and the department was successful in providing an appropriate façade at a cost of Rs 32 lakh granted by the Central government,” said MP Sharma, district forest officer, eco-tourism, Panchkula.

Brick powder added with lime powder and fly ash was used in mason works as the same material was used in its construction to raise its walls up to 10 ft high. The fort was built in such a way that the air passing through wends carved out in its domes help in keeping the temperature down during summers. However, modern fittings have been used in bathrooms so that tourists do not face any problems while staying there. Arrangements have been made for the stay of three families in the fort, which would help revive tourism in the Morni hills.

The place can be an attraction for corporate meetings and family functions as it is situated at a hilltop surrounded by pine trees in the midst of Morni town.

The fort was taken into possession by the forest department in 1977 from the descendants of Zafar Ali, a nawab from the region who got the fort from the British empire for helping them during a mutiny in 1816 AD. The fort had turned into ruins. The forest department then started using it as a pheasant breeding centre till 2006 when the Forest Minister ordered the shifting of the breeding centre out of fort so that its glory could be restored.

Ambala, August 17
Big players in the hospitality sector are setting up their units in Ambala City. During the past few years, around six such hotels have come into existence.

Recently, a hotel, Grand Pacific Retreat, was opened close to state’s border with Punjab on the Ambala-Chandigarh highway. It has bar, fast food and dinning facilities, and offers high-class accommodation. It claims to provide a contemporary and creative hospitality experience.

Ambala City has great potential for the hotel industry. The city has one of the biggest wholesale cloth markets in the northern region where representatives of various cloth mills of Surat, Mumbai, Bangalore, and Lucknow and other stations come everyday to book orders. They usually spend two to three days to cover the entire market. Thus, occupancy in most of the hotels remains full most of the time.

The industrial towns of Lalru and Derabasi are also providing business to the city hotels. Executives and senior officers of corporate houses visiting these towns prefer to stay in Ambala instead of Chandigarh, as it is cheaper to stay in this city in comparison to Chandigarh. A suit of standard class is available between Rs 800 and 2,000 in the city whereas in Chandigarh, the rates are almost double.

Trilok Singh, owner of Grand Pacific Retreat, said Ambala City had huge potential for the hotel industry, provided the hotels maintain their standard. He said there was a proposal to set up an SEZ in the city, which would further raise the demand for lodging and boarding facilities in the city.

Pawan Aggarwal, owner of AP Regency, is of the view that Ambala is an ideal place for the hotel industry. “It is located strategically as the Ambala-Chandigarh national highway, Ambala-Hisar state highway and the Ambala-Delhi national highway pass through this city”.

He said, “Fortunately, Union Tourism Minister Selja represents the Ambala constituency and we hope that she would promote this industry in a big way in the city”.

Rohtak, August 17
The standoff between the parents association and the education department over the fee hike in schools is not showing any signs of ending.

A recent order of the apex court regarding the fee hike and the role of the state government in this matter has fuelled the campaign launched by certain organisations for action against the offending schools. Though the state government has allowed a maximum of 20 per cent hike in its recent order, some of the parents associations have pressed up their demand for immediate action in this regard.

“The state government has been sitting on its own order of restraining the private schools from indiscriminately hiking the fee and has failed to take even five weeks after the Commissioner and Director- General, School Education , Haryana had issued directions”, observed , Subhash Lamba, spokesperson of the Haryana Abhibhawak Ekta Manch, a body representing the interests of the parents of the students.

Claming that a majority of the schools operating from the land allotted by the state government at subsidised rates had failed to respond to the orders, he said it had put a question mark on the sincerity and authority of the state government in getting implemented its directions and exposed the ‘high-handedness’ of the school managements.

Welcoming a recent judgement of the Supreme Court, he said their demand which was being raised for the past several years for reining in the private schools not following the rules stood vindicated.

It may be recalled that the private schools had hiked the fees this year on a pretext of meeting the teachers’ pay hike in view of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission. Though the schools claim that the hike was justified as they had no extra resources or funds to meet such expenditures, the parents’ bodies of school students, including the Abhibhawak Ekta Manch, had raised their voice stating that the fee hike was exorbitant.

Sirsa, August 17
The state government has earmarked Rs 4.16 crore for the implementation of “Surakshit Bhavishya Yojana” for the welfare of anganwadi workers and helpers in the state for the current financial year.

A spokesman for the Haryana Women and Child Development Department said under this scheme, Rs 100 were being invested with the Life Insurance Corporation of India every month for each of those anganwadi workers and helpers who had completed one year of their service on January 1, 2008. This included Rs 83 in the form of savings and Rs 17 as risk premium.

He said there was a provision to give Rs 50,000 on the sudden death of an anganwadi worker or helper in terms of insurance cover. The accumulated amount of savings that is Rs 83 per month was being deposited every year and given to the beneficiary with interest on her retirement.

He said the scheme came into being from January 1, 2008, and had benefited 16,249 anganwadi workers and 16,200 helpers to the tune of Rs 97.35 lakh in 2007-08.

He said during 2008-09, over Rs 4.10 crore were spent for the welfare of 17,444 anganwadi workers, including workers of mini anganwadi centers, and 17,192 helpers.

It may be recalled that the retirement age of anganwadi workers and helpers had been increased from 58 to 60 years.

“The government has also enhanced their honorarium. Now, each worker gets an honorarium of Rs 1,500 per month. Similarly, helpers and workers of mini anganwadi centres are paid an honorarium of Rs 750 per month with effect from January 1, 2009. This honorarium is equal to the honorarium being given by the Central government,” said the spokesperson.

Panipat, August 17
In yet another step forward towards promoting social welfare schemes, the Haryana government has embarked upon an ambitious project to fund NGOs engaged in looking after orphan and otherwise deserted children in the state.

Speaking to The Tribune, deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said the main aim of the project was to encourage the NGOs to work for the welfare of children so that the childhood of a large number of neglected children could be saved.

According to social activists, many children without families were being subjected to inhuman treatment and some were even being exploited by industrialists and small-time entrepreneurs. Such children were not only denied their fundamental rights of education, health and good life, but also they had to fend against the social injustice inflicted upon them.

Dahiya said under the project, an earnest effort would be made by the NGOs to bring these children back to the mainstream by providing them with quality education, place to live, clothes and other fundamental facilities. The project would be sponsored by the government. However, 10 per cent of the total expenditure would have to be borne by the NGO itself. Children under the age of 18, who do not have a family-support system, would be considered eligible to be adopted under the scheme.

The NGOs that would come forward to work under the project would be asked to make arrangements to provide the required services for child rehabilitation. Dahiya said besides providing children with traditional education, an attempt would be made to impart vocational training to make them self-reliant. Each NGO would be allowed to adopt 25 children at a time.

He said the NGOs that were interested in joining the project could file an application with the district administration or the Social Welfare Department.

Hisar, August 17
“Mumbai dabbawalas owed their success to a three-point formula, discipline, code of conduct and hard work,” Dr Pawan G. Agrawal, chief executive officer, Mumbai Dabbawalas Association, said here recently.

Interacting with MBA students of the Haryana School of Business of the Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, he said the only thing that differentiated the Mumbai dabbawalas from the other organisations was the importance they attached to customer satisfaction.

He said without any technological backup and logistical support, the dabbawalas functioned all through the day with utmost precision.

He said the organisation was the only one in India and second in the world to have earned Six Sigma rating.

“A majority of the dabbawalas are illiterate and sorting is based on the colour coding of handles and tiffin covers.

This has hardly changed since the first tiffin was delivered in 1890,” he added.

The Mumbai dabbawalas is a 119-year-old organisation of men who collect lunch boxes from the homes of Mumbai’s office-goers every weekday, deliver them to their workplaces and collect the empty “dabbas” to be returned to their homes.

There are approximately 5,000 illiterate and semi-literate men and four women in the organisation. They handle close to 2,00,000 “dabbas” daily.

The organisation received ISO 9001 accreditation in 2000 and they make only one error in 16 million transactions, thus earning Six Sigma certification from Forbes Magazine in 1998.

Vice-Chancellor Devinder Dayal Singh Sandhu said hard work, honesty and diligence was the only way to success and the dabbawalas had proved this.

Fatehabad, August 17
Haryana Vikas Yatra, a publicity campaign of the Information and Public Relations Department for highlighting the achievements of the Hooda government, has been attracting the attention of villagers in the district.

Publicity vans carrying plasma televisions, projectors and “bhajan” parties first take rounds of the villages and inform the residents about their arrival and the place and time of holding their programmes.

Usually, the place selected for the programme is chaupal or any other common place.

An official of the PR department informs the villagers about the yatra and its objectives and also what they are about to perform. A one-hour film depicting the achievements of the Hooda government is then shown.

The “bhajan” parties then convey the development activities through raginis and songs. Six advertisement films like “Number One Haryana” are also shown to the villagers and after that the yatra moves on to the next village. Publicity material of the government is also distributed.

The yatra started in Fatehabad district on August 9 when parliamentary secretary Dura Ram flagged off six publicity vehicles from the Panchayat Bhawan, Fatehabad.

The campaign would last till August 25, but in Fatehabad district all 265 villages and dhanis would be covered by August 23.

At a time when people of the state are reeling under acute power shortage, the Yatra has been trying to convey to them that the government has been making allout efforts to generate more power for the future.

Besides, 35 large-size hoardings have been installed in various parts of the district, all depicting achievements of the Hooda government.

While villagers, particularly children, have been enjoying the yatra programmes, the opposition, particularly the INLD, has criticised the move stating it to be a burden on the state exchequer. The party has described it as shameful and against ethics.

“The government has no right to drain out crores of rupees to promote the petty political interests of the Congress. It is people’s money and the INLD cannot tolerate its misuse,” the INLD said in a release.

Sonepat, August 17
The regional centre of the Sports Authority of India (SAI) in Sonepat has played a key role in bringing Haryana at the centre stage of sports in general and in kabaddi, wrestling, hockey and boxing in particular, during the last one decade.

At present, the centre is imparting training to 1,561 sportspersons of national and international levels in its various sports training centres (STCs) located in Hisar, Bhiwani, Kurukshetra, Sonepat etc.

The centre is a training hub for holding national wrestling coaching camp for men for the Commonwealth Games. Presently, 88 Commonwealth hopefuls for wrestling in Greco Roman and free style are being trained at the centre.

Besides STCs where about 700 sportspersons are getting training in various games, including athletics, boxing, wrestling, volleyball, kabaddi, hockey, cycling, judo table tennis, handball, basketball and football, the regional centre has opened extension centres at DAV Girls College, Yamunanagar, and Anant Ram Janta College, Kaul, for volleyball trainees; MLN College, Yamunagar, for Hockey trainees; Bhawan Vidayalya, Panchkula, for table tennis trainees; SD College, Panipat, for Kabaddi trainees; and Gurukul, Kurukshetra, for football trainees.

The regional centre is also sponsoring the training of 124 wrestlers in three akharas, Nidani in Jind district, Kharkhoda in Sonepat district and Chhara in Jhajjar district.

There are also two centres of excellence, one in Hisar for 15 trainees in boxing and second in Sonepat for 20 trainees of kabaddi and 14 trainees of boxing. MNSS, Rai, is the only national sports training centre for athletics, gymnastics and swimming.

International boxers like Vijender Singh, Jitender, Akhil Kumar and Dinesh Kumar, who put up a good show in Olympics 2008 with Vijender winning a bronze medal, are all products of the regional centre. India won the Asian Championship under the captainship of Dinesh Kumar, a trainee of the centre of excellence in Sonepat.

There are three hockey turfs in Sonepat, Shahbad Markanda and MNSS, Rai, in Haryana, and the facility has been of great help to budding hockey players.

Karnal, August 17
Finally, the grit, determination, hard work and patience of Anil Kumar, a heavyweight judo player from Haryana, has paid off. After having represented India in national and international judo competitions 23 times, the 30-year- old Haryana police Inspector won the silver medal in the first Asian Martial Arts Championship which concluded in Bangkok recently.

It was the first-ever individual silver for India in an Asian championship in judo in the heavyweight category and Anil vied with 1350 participants from 40 countries to reach the top two in a thrilling climax.

Even after winning 11 gold, six silver and six bronze medals in national and international competitions, he has no airs of being a champion and still considers himself a “struggling” sportsman.

His humble background did not dampen his spirits and he overcame all obstacles to emerge as the unchallenged heavyweight judo champion in the country. “My financial condition was not sound enough to buy a vehicle and I used to walk 2 km from my home to reach the main road and get a tempo to catch a train”, says Anil.

“On many occasions, I missed the train and had to test my sprint skills, but the daily struggle did not end there. After leaving the train, I had to board bus to reach the Nehru Stadium, Delhi, for practice and this daily routine was exhausting”, recalls Anil. But his journey from Bahadurgarh, a nondescript town of Haryana to Bangkok would always remain fresh in his mind, he adds with a sense of satisfaction.

Indebted to his coach, Rameshwar Dutt, for his continued guidance and support, Anil says that “he instilled confidence in me that I could do it and I am very happy to have done it”. He also gives credit of his success to his elder brother who even gave share of his diet and other family members who stood by him.

Acknowledging his latest accomplishment, Haryana DGP Ranjeev Dalal honoured him at the passing out parade of the 71st training course for jawans and gave him a cash award of Rs 11,000.

Before joining the Haryana police, Anil was working with the ITBP as Inspector, but due to the urge to serve the state, he agreed to join as Sub- Inspector in 2008 under the sports quota policy and was recently promoted Inspector after he brought laurels to the state by winning the gold medal in the senior national judo championship in Lucknow.

Holding the record as the national champion for the last more than 5 years, Anil Kumar is preparing to get the gold medal at the Commonwealth Games in 2010.

Karnal, August 17
Noted film director and actor of yesteryear Manoj Kumar has been selected for Pandit Jasraj Samman (2007-08), an award instituted by the Haryana Institute of Fine Arts (HIFA), while 10 achievers, including Kurukshetra MP Navin Jindal and classical singer Pandit Tejpal Singh, have been chosen for Karamyogi Samman.

The names of Tehalka journalist Tarun Tejpal and music director Jatin Pandit figure among those selected for Karambhoomi Samman along with eight other awardees. The awards are given for unparalleled achievement in the diverse area of visual and performing arts in promoting local art and artists.

Pandit Jasraj Samman carries a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, a personal diploma and “angvastram” and is given to a person hailing from Haryana for his lifetime achievement in any field. Similarly, Karamyogi Samman conferred annually on 10 persons, carries a cash prize of Rs 31,000, personal diploma and “angvastram” while Karambhoomi Samman is given to 10 young achievers below the age of 50 years. It carries a cash prize of Rs 11,000 each.

The awards have been instituted by HIFA to recognise and honour the Haryanavis who have contributed immensely for the promotion of art and culture of the state and the uplift of mankind, but their exemplary feat had gone unnoticed.

The awards will be presented by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also chief patron of HIFA, at NDRI auditorium, here, on August 19.

Besides Pandit Tejpal Singh, the Karamyogi Samman would be given to noted cinematographer Man Mohan Singh for cinema, Devendra Raj Thakur for theatre, Dr Suraj Bhan for archaeology, Munshi Ram Jogi for folk music, Shobha Ram Prajapati for handicraft, RS Bhatia for tourism, Jasbir Singh Dhull in agriculture, Navin Jindal for young achiever and Aparna Trust in NGO category.

Those selected for Karambhoomi Samman included Deepa Malik, a differently abled girl who has six national records to her credit in games for special children, Shyam Sunder for social service, Inderpal Kohal, who was given national award for designing the refrigerator “Surahi” in 1997, for handicraft, Niranjan Shah for folk music, Sanjay Kumar for fine arts, Vijay Sharma of Dainik Tribune for media, Sanjeev Lakhanpal for theatre and Ashwani Chowdhari, who won the national award for first Haryanavi film, “Lado”, for cinema.

Tarun Tejpal, who caused a stir through Tehalka expose and rated among 50 most powerful editors by Asia Week, is another big name in list of selected awardees in the media category.

HIFA secretary Piyush Kumar said it was regrettable that a large number of achievers and people with exceptional talents from the state had ended up as unnoticed and unsung heroes and this year also, except for Manoj Kumar, who was recently given the Dada Sahib Phalke Award, the other 20 awardees were little known.

Jind, August 17
The state government has decided to create big lakes and also renovate the old ones to provide irrigation facilities to farmers during adverse situations.

This was announced by state Finance Mminister Birender Singh while addressing public meetings at some villages recently.

A target has been set to irrigate about 20,000 acres in the state by these lakes.

He said one lake would provide irrigation facilities to two to three acres and the government was making all efforts to provide irrigation facilities to every inch of land in the state.

To achieve this objective, a network of canals was being laid in the state, including the Hansi Butana link channel, he added. — PTI