Faridabad, October 26
Development works in the areas falling under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) have taken a beating as the civic body has not cleared payments to private contractors.

The contractors, who had gone on strike for more than a month before the model code of conduct was enforced in view of the Assembly elections, to press for full and final payment of their dues, are showing reluctance to take up new works.

There are over 150 contractors associated with the MCF in its three zones. A majority of them feel that the civic body has let them down by not clearing their payments.

However, senior officials of the MCF say the process of clearing the payments is on and the dues of about 60 per cent of them have been settled. NK Katra, chief engineer, said there was a delay in making payments due to the enforcement of the model code of conduct. Regarding new development works, he said the corporation had decided to first get the pending projects completed.

Katra said there was a financial crunch on account of implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission report. Also, the new commissioner wanted to scrutinise the quality and status of the works done by the contractors before clearing the dues, he said, adding that the exercise was time consuming and the contractors refused to accept the new system of scrutiny.

However, Daya Nand, counicllor of ward no. 34 falling in the Ballabgarh zone, said till August, the MCF owed Rs 29 crore to the contractors. This included about Rs 6 crore due for the period December 2008 to March 31, 2009. Following an agitation by the contractors, the authorities agreed to clear previous dues, but only part payment was made, he added.

Daya Nand alleged that works on some projects had been stopped midway. These included the laying of sewerage pipes in Ballabgarh where roads were dug up at various places, he said, adding that residents were being put to a lot of hardships on account of dug-up roads. Similarly, various other pending works were adding to the woes of the residents, he said.

Rewari, October 26
With three consecutive wins each to their credit, two Congress candidates, Rao Dan Singh (Mahendragarh) and Anita Yadav (Ateli) have successfully scored a hat trick despite stiff opposition by their rivals.

While Dan Singh has secured his three successive victories from Mahendragarh, Anita Yadav has achieved it almost incredibly in her new Ateli segment where she was ‘transplanted’ by the party high command.

During these three consecutive Assembly elections of 2000, 2005 and 2009, Dan Singh was coincidentally pitted against his same old rival, Ram Bilas Sharma, a BJP stalwart, each time.

While he comfortably defeated Sharma with hefty margins of 38850 and 20654 votes in 2000 and 2005, respectively, this time his victory against his rival was a hard-fought won.

In the present Assembly poll, Dan Singh and Sharma polled 42286 and 36883 votes, respectively, with Dan Singh winning the seat with a narrow margin of 5453 votes.

Anita Yadav, a resident of Kosli and a former president of the Haryana Mahila Congress, contested the Assembly elections of 2000 and 2005 from Salhawas constituency and won by big margins of 12742 and 15779 votes.

Recently, due to delimitation, both Salhawas (Jhajjar district) and Jatusana (Rewari district) were abolished and with the merger of a sizeable chunk of villages of these two segments, a new Kosli constituency (Rewari district) was created.

This time, Anita Yadav, who was prepared to contest the poll from the Kosli segment, was, however, shifted to the Ateli constituency (Mahendragarh district) by the party high command.

Thus, initially the outsider’s tag attached to her, made the going highly tough for Anita in Ateli. However with the blessings of the Chief minister as well as her relentless amiable mingling with the people led to her speedy entrenchment among the electorate in Ateli.

To top it all, AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Ateli on October 10 eventually boosted her electoral fortunes to such an extent that she secured 24103 votes against her nearest rival of the BJP Santosh Yadav who polled 23130 votes, winning the seat with a narrow margin of 973 votes only.

Simultaneously, INLD stalwart and a scion of the Rampura House Rao Ajit Singh was placed third in the above contest.

Karnal, October 26
The dera factor and the issue of separate Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) have failed to impact the outcome of the Assembly elections in the Karnal and Kurukshetra parliamentary constituencies as in spite of the support extended to the Congress by the HSGPC and opposition of the dera to the INLD-SAD alliance, the Congress fared badly.

There were a large number of Sikh votes in the 18 Assembly segments falling under these parliamentary constituencies, but the Congress could manage to win only five seats.

Sumita Singh of the Congress created a history by winning for the second time from Karnal as no sitting MLA had ever retained the seat. Her victory was being attributed to her personal contacts with voters and her clean image. She won in spite of tough opponents, Balvinder Singh Kalra, chairman Karnal Municipal Council, and Jai Prakash Gupta.

Women candidates fared badly in the region and against four women elected from Karnal district in 2005, Sumita Singh is the only woman to win the elections this time. While Rekha Rana of the INLD and Raj Rani Poonam of the Congress were denied ticket, former minister of state for cooperation Meena mandal, who had shifted to the Nilokheri (SC) constituency, lost by a huge margin of 14,723 votes.

The INLD also created history by winning the Gharaunda seat for the fourth time while party’s Ashok Kashyap finally recorded victory after a hat-trick of defeats from Indri.

The INLD candidate from Nilokheri, Mamu Ram Gonder, a new face, scored over Meena Mandal due to his clean image. He also got sympathy votes due to the death of his wife recently.

In the Lok Sabha poll, Congress MP Arvind Sharma had won from Karnal with a comfortable margin of 76,346 votes and secured lead in six out of the nine Assembly segments, but the Congress could win only two seats, that too with a slender margin.

Assandh, opened after 32 years, had a large number of potential candidates and eight candidates polled more that 13,000 votes and all 16 candidates, including the winner, failed to save their security deposit.

Even in the Kurukshetra parliamentary constituency, won by Navin Jindal (Congress) by a huge margin, the Congress could win only three out of nine Assembly seats, pointing towards the falling popularity graph of the party in a short span of five months.

Chandigarh, October 26
With the Hooda government enjoying only a wafer-thin majority in the 90-member House and facing its first challenge to prove its majority within a week, it needs to have a good parliamentary affairs minister.

In Haryana the parliamentary affairs portfolio has always been considered a mere formality, with the minister holding it having a limited role. Usually the task of a parliamentary affairs minister has been limited to moving various motions, more so pertaining to the suspension of opposition MLAs, who might be disturbing the proceedings of the House. With the ruling parties usually enjoying brute majorities and with the anti-defection law in place, there has been little need for floor management, which is one of the primary responsibilities of a parliamentary affairs minister.

However, the fact that the new government is dependent upon the support of seven Independent MLAs, has made the role of the Parliamentary Affairs Minister very important. He would have to ensure the presence of not only the MLAs of his own party but also of the supporting members in the House all the time. The Opposition, particularly the INLD, with its new-found strength, would leave no opportunity to embarrass the government.

It is for the first time after 1982 that the Haryana electorate has delivered a fractured verdict. Of course, during 1999, when Bansi Lal was heading the HVP-BJP government, it was asked to prove its majority on the floor by the Governor following the withdrawal of support first by the BJP and then because of defections by certain HVP MLAs. But that situation was not created by the electorate.

In his first term as Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda had Randeep Surjewala as his Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Surjewala, a practising advocate in the Punjab and Haryana High Court before he took up politics as full-time career, was aptly suitable for the job. With many of his colleagues not good orators or debaters, he had to often intervene in the debates to save his colleagues from embarrassment. He was never found wanting in answering queries of the Opposition or its criticism. His debating skills, acquired during the student life, came handy in the Vidhan Sabha.

Though he is yet to be sworn in as a minister, most likely it will be Surjewala who would informally perform the duties of the Parliamentary Affairs Minister in the crucial session of the Haryana Assembly starting on October 28.

Though the seven Independent MLAs have pledged their support to the Hooda government, yet all eyes, more so of the ruling party, would be on them during the session all the time.

Chautala, who sees an unexpected opportunity to rule the state once again, will spare no effort to wean away at least some of the Independent MLAs. He has already threatened that he would pull down the new government on the floor of the House. The Congress cannot take his threat lightly. He is desperate. He would not like to wait for another five years to get a chance to form the government.

But one should not underrate the Congress also in proving its majority in the legislature. Old-timers must not have forgotten how the Congress did so when Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister in the first half of the nineties. Even in the recent memory, the events of July, 2008, when Manmohan Singh faced the trust vote in the Lok Sabha are still fresh in public memory.

Ambala, October 26
Congress candidate from Ambala City and former Union Minister Venod Sharma repeated the victory with record margin in the Assembly elections.

This time, he won with the margin of 35,550 votes while last time the margin was 35,316. Moreover, he upheld his lead in all nine rounds over his nearest rival, Akali Dal nominee Charnjit Kaur Malor. Except a few booths, he was ahead. He has registered the victory with the highest margin in the northern district of the state.

After the delimitation, around 90 villages of Naggal were included in the Ambala City constituency and the number of voters was also increased from 1.10 lakh to 1.87 lakh. During campaigning, Sharma banked upon development works while opposition candidates raised issues like price hike and power shortage.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his son and Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal campaigned widely in favour of their party candidate in the city and adjoining villages.

A large number of Punjab Akali Dal MLAs and a few minister also camped in this constituency for two weeks to influence voters, especially the Sikh who have the strength of around 40,000 in the constituency. However, all these efforts failed to make any dent in the Congress vote bank.

The Akali candidate bagged 35,316 votes while Venod Sharma got 69,435. The BJP, which has won this seat for six times in the past, could not perform well. The BSP's performance was also not up to the mark.

Sharma, who is known to be close to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had spent around Rs 400 crore in various development works in the city during the last four-and-a-half years for which he has been rewarded.

After the victory, he said it was the victory of the people of this constituency who had voted for development. He said he would try his best to complete the remaining projects which remained pending due to one or other reasons in his last tenure.

Fatehabad, October 26
Luck smiled on Prahlad Singh Gillankhera after a lot of struggle, but the victory in these elections is a sweet reward for all those efforts he made in the last 25 years.

Gillankhera defeated Dura Ram of the Congress by a margin of 2,802 votes.

Gillankhera got 48,637 votes against 45,835 votes to Dura Ram, while Swatantar Bala Chaudhary of the INLD got 37,536 votes.

Grandson of Fatehabad’s first MLA Chaudhary Ganga Ram, who won this seat in 1952, Gillankhera had to wait for long to revive his grandfather’s political legacy. Unfortunately for Gillankhera, his father Ram Chander died, when he was only seven. So, it fell upon the young Gillankhera, the only son of his father, to carry forward his grandfather’s political legacy.

However, Gillankhera performed the task entrusted upon him scrupulously.

A Punjab University graduate, Gillankhera made his first forays into politics, when he was elected the chairman of the Block Samiti, Fatehabad, in 1985 despite opposition of the then Chief Minister Bhajan Lal.

Related to former Lok Sabha Speaker Balram Jakhar, Gillankhera has always remained loyal to the family of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal in the Congress and was among the founder members of the Haryana Vikas Party (HVP).

Considered among the close confidants of Bansi Lal and his son Surender Singh, he was fielded twice from Darba Kalan in 1996 and 2000 on the HVP ticket, but without success.

While, Gillankhera lost by a margin of 194 votes in 1996, he was the only HVP candidates in the area to have fared relatively well in 2000, when a strong Chautala wave was blowing across Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar.

When Fatehabad was to go for a bypoll in 2003 after the sudden death of it’s the then MLA Leela Krishan Chaudhary, Gillankhera was fielded as the HVP candidate from here.

However, he again lost the election to Swatantar Bala Chaudhary of the INLD.

Gillankhera was a strong contender for the ticket in 2005, however Bhajan Lal, who was then president of the HPCC, gave ticket to his nephew Dura Ram.

Knowing well that the elections were being contested on a strong anti-Chautla and pro-Congress wave, Gillankhera extended his support to Dura Ram.

But, this time again, Gillankhera lost the battle for the ticket to Dura Ram.

However, this time he had announced well in advance that he would contest the polls, come what may.

Rewari, October 26
The Ahirwal region comprises 11 Assembly segments of Bawal, Rewari, Kosli ( Rewari district), Narnaul, Mahendragarh, Ateli, Nangal Chaudhary (Mahendragarh district), and Pataudi, Gurgaon, Sohna and Badshahpur (Gurgaon district),all of them Ahir-dominated constituencies.

In sharp contrast to the previous 2005 Assembly elections, the INLD, which had drawn a blank in 2005, has this time not only emerged stronger but also as a potential challenger to the Congress in the region.

This time the Congress has come out victorious in the six segments of Rewari, Kosli, Ateli, Mahendergarh, Sohna and Badshahpur. While the INLD has wrested the three seats of Nangal Chaudhary, Bawal and Pataudi, the HJC and an Independent candidate have won the Narnaul and Gurgaon seats, respectively.

Thus with the capture of three of the 11 seats as well as a display of competitive prowess in three others, the INLD has excelled all its counterparts of the opposition which too were in the poll fray here.

Barring the HJC with its lone victory in Narnaul, the other two main opposition parties, the BJP and the BSP, have both come a cropper.

Among the three INLD winners, Ganga Ram, who polled 49,323 votes, has wrested the Pataudi (reserve) seat from Congress candidate Bhupinder Chaudhary (24576 votes).

Rameshwar Dayal(58418 votes) too has defeated his old Congress rival Shakuntala Bhagwaria ( 36390 votes) in the Bawal (reserve) constituency while the Nangal Chaudhary seat has been captured by Rao Bahadur Singh (32984 votes ) who has trounced his nearest Congress rival Radhe Shyam Sharma(21321 votes).

Thus by winning both reserved seats in the Ahirwal region, the INLD has virtually given a shattering blow to the Congress which has been consistently harping that it is a greater champion of the cause of the Dalits.

Among these three INLD heroes, Rameshwar Dayal, who has scored a thumping victory in Bawal by trouncing the four time-winner Congress leader Shakuntala Bhagwaria, needs special mention here. Rameshwar Dayal, who has routed seasoned Congress leader Shakuntala Bhagwaria, is now being aptly described as a ‘giant killer’ by the people here.

Yamunanagar, October 26
The BSP has caused much damage to the Congress as it not only grabbed one seat from the Congress, but also reduced its vote bank in the other three Assembly segments in the district this time.

Akram Khan of the BSP has won the elections from the Jagadhri Assembly segment by defeating Congress sitting MLA Subhash Chowdhary, while in the other three segments, the BSP managed to get respectable votes much more than the previous elections.

The gain in the BSP vote bank is considered to be a dent in the Congress vote bank. The BSP has gained much more votes in the Radaur Assembly segment this time. In the Radaur Assembly segment, INLD nominee BL Saini won the elections by 4,397 votes by defeating Congress nominee Suresh Kumar, while Ashwani Kumar of the BSP has secured the third position by getting 16,698 votes. In the last Assembly elections in 2005, BSP candidate Attar Singh from the Radaur Assembly segment got only 4,281 votes.

Similarly, in the Sadhaura Assembly segment, BSP nominee Ravi Bhushan stood third by getting 24,183 votes, while in the last Assembly elections, BSP nominee Lal Chand got only 11,464 votes. In the Sadhaura Assembly segment, Congress nominee Rajpal won the elections from Sadhaura by a margin of 8,613 votes by defeating INLD sitting MLA Balwant Singh.

Even in the Yamunanagar Assembly segment, BSP candidate Roshan Lal has secured 9,702 votes, while in the last Assembly elections, BSP candidate Nand Lal got 6,435 votes. In Yamunanagar, INLD candidate Dilbag Singh won the elections by a margin of 13,573 votes by defeating Congress nominee Devinder Chawla. While in Jagadhri, BSP candidate Akram Khan defeated Congress sitting MLA Subhash Chowdhary by a margin of 4,344 votes.

Yamunanagar, October 26
The Congress and the BJP have faired poorly, while the INLD and the BSP have gained in the Assembly elections this time in comparison to the previous Assembly elections in the district.

Out of the four Assembly segments, the INLD won two seats, including the important Yamunanagar seat, while the BSP managed to win another important Assembly segment, Jagadhri, and also increased its vote bank in the other three Assembly segments. However, the Congress has managed to win only one seat out of the four this time, while the BJP has not been able to win even a single seat.

In the last elections, the Congress had won two Assembly segments, Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. In the last five Assembly elections, the Congress had emerged winner three times, including the last two elections, consecutively, while the BJP won twice from the Yamunanagar Assembly segment. The Congress has suffered a major setback this time as INLD candidate Dilbag Singh has won the elections by defeating Devinder Chawla of the Congress from Yamunanagar. However, the Congress’ defeat is a gain for the INLD as for the first time its candidate has been elected from the Yamunanagar Assembly segment.

Similarly, in another important Assembly segment, the Congress suffered a big loss as BSP candidate Akram Khan has emerged winner by defeating Congress sitting MLA Subhash Chowdhary in Jagadhri. In the last five Assembly elections of the Jagadhri Assembly segment, Brij Mohan of the BJP had won in 1987, Om Parkash Sharma of the HVP in 1991, Subhash Chowdhary in 1996 as the HVP nominee, BL Saini of the BSP in 2000, and Subhash Chowdhary again as the Congress nominee in 2005.

While in the Radaur Assembly segment, which is considered to be the INLD stronghold, the INLD candidate has emerged winner consecutively for the third time. BL Saini has won the elections by defeating Congress candidate Suresh Kumar. In the last five elections of Radaur, the INLD had won in 2000 and 2005, while the SAP 
in 1996, the HVP in 1991 and the BJP in 1987.

While the Congress managed to break the INLD stronghold in Sadhaura, Congress nominee Rajpal won the elections by defeating INLD stalwart Balwant Singh. Balwant had won twice in 2000 and 2005 on the INLD ticket from the Sadhaura Assembly segment.

Karnal, October 26
The urgent need to tap unexploited potential of the Indian dairy sector to boost exports of milk and milk products was stressed at a conference organised here by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) in collaboration with the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI).

In the wake of the media hype about spurious milk and milk products, the conference also discussed in detail quality control and safety issues.

Experts, policy makers and corporate leaders called for training of dairy farmers in the unorganised sector, impetus to research and extension for livestock development, focus on research and development (R & D) for commercialisation of indigenous dairy products and strategy for promotion of dairy exports.

The participants underlined the need for promoting investment in quality control and developing scalable efficient technologies for the unorganised sector to address the key issues of low productivity of milch animals, lack of quality control and monitoring mechanisms across the supply chain, confronting the system.

Dr M L Madan, Vice-Chancellor, UP PDU Veterinary University, Mathura, a former DDG (Animal Science), Indian Council of Agricultural Research, highlighted the necessity to upgrade the technology to cash in on the tremendous opportunity available in the dairy sector. “We have to make an integrated and innovative approach as dairy farming in India is an essential part of ecosystem and family”, he added.

Addressing the concerns of the industry, Dr Madan said: We need to focus on the nutrition of the animals to ensure the quality of milk as there is immense potential in genetics which can be leveraged by investing more in R and D”.

Dr A K Srivastava, conference chairman and Director, NDRI, in his keynote address on the ‘Road Map for Dairy Industry’ said that it should be a matter of concern that India, in spite of being the largest milk producer in the world, has a share of just 2 per cent in exports.

Describing “low farm gate prices as compared to other milk-producing countries and locational advantage to serve milk-deficit areas in neighboring countries” as two distinct competitive advantages, Srivastava expressed concern that India had not been able to capitalise on these advantages due to low quality and hygiene standards, lack of experience in marketing products in the international market and limited surplus for exports due to a significant increase in consumption in the domestic market.

Dr SL Goswami, Joint Director Research, NDRI referred to successful cloning of buffalo and hoped that the new hand-guided cloning technology would lead to a new era in fast multiplication of elite germplasm to meet the challenge of increasing demand of milk.

Raman Saluja, past chairman of the CII Haryana State Council, stated that exports of dairy products had been growing at the rate of 25 per cent per annum in terms of quantity and 28 per cent in terms of value since 2001 but there was huge potential for processing and value addition of milk products for exports.

The conference was well attended by over 100 representatives from academia, industry, institutions and the government.

Kurukshetra, October 26
Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industries (HCCI) president OP Khurana has demanded modification in the Factory Act, the Labour Act and the Health and Safety Act.

Khurana says when any official wants to visit the industry, he should provide information at least three to four days in advance, either by telephone or by letter.

First inspection should be advisory in nature and the visiting officer should point out the deficiencies and must give at least one month time to remove them. No notice should be issued in the first visit. Nature of offence should be changed and it should be converted into civil offence from the existing criminal offence. Besides, members from the HCCI should be included in the advisory committee, he adds.

He further says after issuance of notice, if any industry fails to remove the deficiencies pointed out then dispute should be settled by the advisory committee or industrial associations. It should be mandatory for an inspector to give copy of notice to the industry immediately when authorised person from the industry signs the notice.

Micro small medium entrepreneurs (MSME) should be exempted from the Building and Other Construction Workers' (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Act, 1996, the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Act, 1996, and the Building and Other Construction Workers' Welfare Cess Rules, 1998.

The HCCI wants that draft on general sales tax (GST) should be sent to it and industrial associations in advance for comments and suggestions by the finance ministry. The central sales tax (CST) should be brought down to one per cent immediately and should be brought to zero per cent from April 2010 by the government.

It is very surprising that small users, such as atta-chakki, tokka machine and small-scale units and farmers, are paying VAT at 12.5 per cent and big units using motors above 25 hp are being charged 4 per cent. It should be reduced to 4 per cent for all type of motors.

Presently, the manufacturing units which are making sales up to Rs 1.50 crore, are exempted from excise duty. Keeping in view the present economic scenario, this limit should be revised upward to Rs 5 crore in order to boost small-scale industries.

Khurana has alleged the industries are facing great problem with unscheduled power cuts and irregular supply of power, which hampers production and increases production cost. So the electricity department should plan in such a way that regular power supply could be ensured, demands Khurana.

Meanwhile, HCCI, general secretary, Dr Narinderpal Gupta informs that the state government shall provide financial incentive for promotion of energy audit in private, government, semi-government, industrial, institutional and commercial buildings. Under the scheme, financial assistance at 5 per cent of the investment grade energy audit cost, with maximum limit of Rs 50,000 will be granted provided they (consumers) undertake to implement the energy audit report.

Dabwali (Sirsa), October 26
“Vocational, technical and higher education programmes have aggravated the problem of unemployment rather than solving it and it is high time that inconsistencies between educational goals, actual policies and resources are removed so that India can witness a sustainable human development”.

This was stated by MM Goel, professor and chairman, Department of Economics, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, while delivering a guest lecture on “Excellence Model for Teachers in a Changing Economic Scenario” at the Bhagwan Shri Krishan College of Education here recently.

Goel said in order to ground the educational programmes in the labour market realities, there was an urgent need of the data to develop occupational analysis with forecasting coupled with appropriate institutional mode of delivery.

“It is essential for manpower planning because vocational, higher and technical education programmes have not only failed to tackle the problem of educated unemployment, but also aggravated it as the rates of unemployment have a tendency to rise sharply with every increase in the level of education,” he said.

Advocating the reduction of gap between intellectuals and politicians in power to ensure good governance in all sectors of the economy, including education, Goel said there should be teacher’s constituency in the Parliament as well as state Assemblies.

Goel justified more public sector allocation for opening more educational institutions of higher learning in the rural areas to reduce the critical gap in terms of availability of opportunity of higher education between the rural and the urban areas in India.

He said higher education should be treated as a highly valuable service that has a price tag and not a heavily subsidised commodity.

To keep the higher education within the reach of poor aspirants, Goel made a case for effective monitoring and regulation of the private sector through appropriate policy measures.

Yamunanagar, October 26
The poor condition of roads and neglect of the area on the development front hit the Congress in three Assembly segments, out of four, in the district. The party lost elections in Yamunanagar, Jagadhri and Radaur where the residents have been complaining of poor roads for a long time, but the government didn’t take the issue seriously and gave opposition parties an issue to hit at it.

Roads which are in pitiable condition include NH-73A from Jagadhri to Poanta Sahib, Shahranpur-Yamunanagar-Kurukshetra state highway, internal roads in Chhachhrauli, Yamunanagar, Jagadhri and Radaur. At many places in these areas, roads have completely disappeared. However, various protests by residents failed to evoke a strong response from the ruling Congress government.

Even in the urban areas of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri, the internal roads are not maintained properly. Besides, no special initiative was taken for the development of the segment.

Ironically, while the Congress was seeking votes in the name of development, people of the district were angry at the non-development in the area. There was a strong anti-incumbency factor in these three segments, which gave ample chance to the INLD and the BSP to woo voters. The INLD managed to win two seats, Yamunanagar and Radaur, while the BSP won the Jagadhri segment.

Besides roads, paucity of water in the rural areas in Chhachhrauli and Radaur were the main issues.

During campaigning, Congress candidates admitted that much work needed to be done and sought votes to carry out development of the neglected areas. In the Yamunanagar assembly segment, the Congress did try to pacify people by not giving ticket to sitting MLA Dr Krishna Pandit, but it also did not work, and Congress nominee Devinder Chawla lost the elections.

Panipat, October 26
Bhagat Phool Singh Women University has started its first orientation programme for assistant professors of various colleges and universities. The programme will continue till November 22.

The programme was inaugurated by Prof Ved Parkash, vice-chairman, UGC, at a function attended by vice-chancellor of the university Pankaj Mittal, registrar Balbir Kaur and deans of various faculties.

In his keynote address, Prof Parkash emphasised on quality education, connecting education to society and certain approaches to achieve success in life.

Dr Mittal expressed happiness at the new endeavor of the university and promised that the Academic Staff College would ensure achievement of all goals set by the UGC regarding orientation programmes.

Director of the ASC Sanket Vij emphasised that this beginning would soon be complemented with refresher courses for specific subjects.

Prof Ranbir Singh, vice-chancellor, National Law University, New Delhi, delivered a lecture on learning about teaching and suggested various techniques to effective teaching and supplemented it with his personal experiences.

Gurgaon, October 26
The School of Energy Management at the Management Development Institute (MDI) organised a roundtable conference on “Power Trading in India - The Way Forward” on the MDI campus here recently.

The conference, attended by experts from the power sector, was chaired by Tantra Narayan Thakur, CMD, Power Trading Corporation (PTC) of India.

In his address, Thakur underlined the need to encourage investments in the power sector and create a power market. “We also require a regulator to establish a well-defined power policy with regard to various modes of trading like unscheduled interchange, bilateral trade and trade through exchanges,” he asserted.

Earlier, Dr Atmanand, dean of executive postgraduate programmes at the MDI, welcomed the participants and initiated the proceedings of the conference.

Akhilesh Avasthi, vice-president (marketing) of Indian Energy Exchange, the country’s first energy exchange, briefed the participants about its establishment, progress and success.

“Firstly, the power exchange provided a platform for the power generators producing below 20 MW of electricity to trade it, which was not viable earlier. Secondly, the exchange played a key role in standardising the power trading business in the country,” he pointed out.

Mahesh Vipradas, head (regulatory office), Suzlon Energy, expressed the concern of the renewable energy generators wanting to participate in the power-trading process.

Rakesh Mahajan, director, Lanco Infratech, raised the sensitive issue of accountability of regulators in the power sector.

Emphasising the need to regulate the regulators in the energy sector, Mahajan maintained a uniform energy policy was the need of the day. He also aired the concerns of the power generators.

TR Dhaka, a former member of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC), observed that the regulators should ensure that the interests of the consumers were safeguarded.

The conference focused on various aspects of power trading from the perspective of the power trader, regulator, generator, promoter and consumer.

The central theme of the discussion was devising ways and means for creating an environment to enhance power trading in the country and addressing the policy issues embedded therein. Technical, political, legal and socio-economic issues pertaining to power trading in India were also discussed.

Executives working in power sector from Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Haryana and NDPL, besides private sector organisations like L&T, OIC, Maruti, HAL, Clark Energy, Satyam, Infosys, Asian Paints, Reliance Energy, Jindal Industries, DVC, Ansaldo, BSES and Datagen participated.

Sonepat, October 26
Bal Gram at Rai, a residential institute for orphans and destitute children, not only brings up children but also helps them shape their career.

Three girls - Sapna, Monee and Arti - all inmates of the gram, have excelled in their respective fields.

Sapna, who was born on March 26, 1987, was brought here when she was one day old. She has passed BSc (medical science) from Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, as a student of local Hindu Girls College by securing 83 per cent marks. Earlier, she scored 72 per cent marks in matriculation and 68 per cent in the senior secondary examinations.

“I want to qualify for the civil services and serve society,” she says, adding that on the initiative of Sonepat deputy commissioner Ajit Joshi, she has been receiving postal coaching from a reputed coaching institute of Delhi.

Arti, who got fourth position in MDU Rohtak in BSc (home science)-II examination this year, is now a student of final year of local Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College. A resident of Bahu Akbarpurpur village in Rohtak district, she was admitted to Bal Gram at the age of nine after her father’s death. She wants to become a dietician to guide people about their food habits. Her hobbies are singing and dancing. She was rewarded as the best student of Bal Gram recently.

Monee was born in Saidpur village in the district and was admitted to Bal Gram in 1993 after she lost her father. She as a student of Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College passed BSc (home science) II examination and stood ninth in the university. Her hobbies are reading books and dancing. She got the second best student award of Bal Gram. Monee wants to complete her Masters degree in social works and do social welfare jobs.

According to these girls, Bal Gram is a holy place for destitute children. They are all praise for Bal Gram director and staff. They also opine that various facilities like computers should be provided at Bal Gram.

Ambala, October 26
Upset with the indifference of the district administration a resident of Ambala City is now planning to approach the court and file his grievances in form of a PIL.

Tarlochan Singh, a resident of Ambala City, has been trying to draw the attention of the district officials to the problem of the Railway overbridge at Ambala City.

The bridge, which is now a lifeline connecting the traffic further to Hisar, has been repaired recently after a portion of its road gave away.

Singh in his complaint to the administration has demanded thorough repair work to be undertaken in place of cosmetic repair.

Singh in his complain states that the bridge was inaugurated in January 1979 by Chaudhari Devi Lal and the work was completed on it in 1980 when it was opened to vehicular traffic. According to Singh the bridge at that time was constructed for lighter vehicles, but today heavy trucks and cars ply on it.

"The bridge was designed for lighter vehicles, however within 30 years the traffic has increased manifolds. However, no efforts have been made to maintain or repair the bridge," states Singh. He claimed that on earlier two occasions a portion of the road on the bridge broke and had to be repaired. "This is not for the first time that this repair work has been undertaken, even on an earlier occasion twice the bridge has been repaired. However, if the administration will look beyond the road they will see that its very foundation is shaking," states Singh.

Singh further states that the bridge which at one time used to have street lights now remains in dark. "In 1980, electricity poles were installed on the bridge, which had around 28 street lights on it. However, none of the tube lights function now. The poles have never been painted and 10 of them are uprooted now."

Singh, son of a freedom fighter Baba Jodh Singh, hopes that the administration would take notice of the condition of the bridge.