Faridabad, December 21
The ongoing industrialisation in the state, especially in the parts falling under the National Capital Region (NCR), appears to have indeed caught the imagination of the industrialised nations.

The industry in the region continues to make an impression on the investors from abroad and going by the general impression this positive drift would continue.
The profound statement of growth that the industry in the NCR area, especially in Faridabad and Gurgaon, is making has been due to the recent “technical collaboration” entered into by Paltech Cooling Towers and Equipment Limited, an indigenous firm in the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) group, and USA's CTD Incorporation.

Paltech Cooling Towers and Equipments Limited has a customer base in countries like Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Egypt and Libya.

The importance of the coming together of the Indian and the USA firm was such that the signing agreement between them, effected a few days ago, was held at the PHD House in New Delhi. The event was organised in partnership with the Indo American Chamber of Commerce, having headquarter in Delhi, and the NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry having its head quarters in the state.

Important dignitaries from both India and the USA, including Union Minister of State for Corporate Affairs Salman Khurshid, took part in the event.

Describing the significance of the event, a senior office-bearer of the NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry said it underlined the growing power of industry in the country, especially in the state. According to him, the event also has a symbolic value. When the entire global world was reeling under recession the industry here was keeping up its trend of resurgence and strength.

Chairman of the manufacturing forum of the NCR Chamber of Commerce and Industry Maj Gen SK Gupta (retd) said the industrialisation in Faridabd and Gurgaon will continue unabated and the investors from abroad would continue looking for avenues in the state. He added it would not be long when the manufacturing sector in the country, which appears to be lagging behind China in Asian, would soon catch up with it.

Jhajjar, December 21
With a view to ensuring sound health of children, the Haryana government has decided to launch the Indira Child Health Scheme at the school level across the state. Under the scheme, not only the health of all children studying in government schools will be checked up at regular interval by specialist doctors, but also they will be made aware about common diseases.

Geeta Bhukkal, Health, Education and Social Welfare Minister, disclosed this while interacting with mediapersons at her residence here on Sunday.

“Health card of each child will be prepared for carrying out his/her regular check-up and all details regarding his/her health will be mentioned in this card. If any child was found suffering from any kind of disease, proper treatment will be provided,” said the Minister.

Disclosing another decision taken by the government, Geeta said henceforth all children studying from class I to class VIII would be provided books free of cost.

“The scheme will come into force from the next academic session and free books will be provided to the children of all sections of society. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is of the opinion that no child in the state should remain deprived of education for the want of money,” she informed, adding that the government was taking all steps to ensure quality education to the children in government schools.

She maintained that efforts were also being made to provide sufficient furniture in all government schools. The amount of mid-day meal scheme had also been increased and the officers of the department concerned had been issued instructions not to compromise with the quality of mid-day meal, she added.

The Minister stated that SC student studying from class I to class XII were being given a scholarship ranging from Rs 100 to Rs 400 per month, besides giving them one-time allowance ranging from Rs 740 to Rs 1,450 annually.

Yamunanagar, December 21
With a view to keeping a vigil on the antisocial elements in the district, the police has involved local cable operators and their employees as resource persons. Besides, local community policing has also been introduced to prevent crime.

As employees of cables operators regularly visit different localities, they know about the people living there. Any cable operator's employee providing information about criminals or their activities will be awarded a cash prize of Rs 11,000 and a certificate, said SP Vikas Arora.

The SP said earlier local autorickshaw owners, shopkeepers and active social workers were involved in the policing scheme. With employees of operators regularly visiting houses of subscribers, they could help the police collect vital information.

Besides, people engaged in different fields have been recruited as a part of community policing to collect vital information for better policing in the district. 

Panipat, December 21
Bringing this industrial hub under the purview of the "Regional Plan--2021", the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has chosen Panipat as one of the 18 cities to have a special centre ensuring adequate infrastructure and employment avenues for people who come here from other states.

The NCRPB has notified a "Regional Plan--2021" for balanced development of the National Capital Region (NCR). The plan contains long-term measures, including development of 18 metro and regional centres. These centres would make certain the proper absorption of migrants coming to the NCR in search of good jobs.

The centre selected by the NCRPB would have better connectivity within the NCR which would promote redistribution of population and activities throughout the region. The plan also includes development of counter magnet areas (CMA) outside the NCR to absorb migratory flows meant for the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi. In Haryana Hisar has been chosen as a counter magnet area.

Besides Panipat, other places that have been selected to set up metro and regional centers are Bahadurgarh, Faridabad-Ballabgarh complex, Gurgaon-Manesar complex, Ghaziabad-Loni complex, NOIDA, Sonepat-Kundli complex, Panipat, Rohtak, Palwal, Rewari-Dharuhera-Bawal complex, Meerut, Hapur-Pilkhua complex, Greater NOIDA, Bulandshahr-Jhurja complex, Baghpat-Baraut complex, Alwar, Greater Bhiwadi and Shahjahanpur-Neemrana-Behror complex.

The plan has been chalked out especial to absorb migrant labourers who converge on the NCR. As per a report more than 22 lakh persons from various states had arrived in various cities in the NCR during 1991-2001. The pressure mounting on civic amenities in towns falling in the NCR due to a steep rise in the population has been under active consideration of the policy-makers which has led to the formation of the Regional Plan--2021.

Narwana, December 21
The organisation of the Youth Congress would be done in a manner that one does not require to queue up to seek ticket for elections to the state Assembly, parliamentary or any other posts in the constitutional set up. Instead, the selection of the candidates would take place on basis of experience and post held by one at various levels in the party. This was stated by Deepender Singh Hooda while speaking at a district-level meeting of the Youth Congress here recently.

Appealing youths to join the party, he said the new structure would take care of the interests of the youth and prepare them to lead at various political levels. He said the reigns of the party, especially the youth wing, was in the hands of Rahul Gandhi, who he claimed had been engaged in providing a new direction to the party and thousands of youths who had been actively involved in strengthening the party base across the country. He said the system would be such that it could nurture talent at various levels and any deserving leader would not be required to run here and there to seek a ticket at the time of elections.

Deepender said while the focus of the membership campaign was to seek the association of maximum number of youths hailing from backward classes and women. “Every member would have a role to play. Membership fee for new entrants has been kept at Rs 5 for candidates from backward and women category and Rs 15 for the general category youths. The age bracket for this drive would be between 18 and 35 and the last date would be December 31”.

Asserting that the state's coffers were full to the brim, the Finance Minister said development works would not be allowed to suffer owing to lack of funds.

He went on to say that while 40 per cent of the arrears of the enhanced emoluments of the government employees had already been paid, the second instalment of 30 per cent of the arrears would be released shortly.

Capt. Yadav asserted that development works in various parts of the state were being carried out in a most balanced way.

Reiterating the government's commitment to ensuring equitable distribution of available canal water, he assured that the peasantry in the Ahirwal region too would get its rightful share of the canal water.

He directed the officials concerned for speedy redressal of the problems of villagers. He also laid the foundation stones for a community centre at Dohki village, a Prajapat Dharamshala and a Panchayat Bhawan at Kakodia and an SC Chaupal at Dabri village.

Rohtak, December 21
V. Kamaraja, IG, Rohtak Range, has asked retired defence officers and ex-servicemen of the district to join hands to root out various social evils and offered help and cooperation in any campaign launched by ex-servicemen bodies in this direction.

Speaking at an interactive session with a group of ex-servicemen at his residence, he called upon them to take up various issues of social concern in the larger public interest.

Underlining the need for empowering women, the IG said that women were still an underprivileged lot and offered all help to women set up self-help groups to make them economically and socially independent.

Expressing concern about female feticide, he said it was time to take up corrective steps as society had already started feeling its ill-effect because many a youth in the rural areas were not able to find a bride and had been resorting to buying wives from outside the state.

He advocated proper education for everyone. NGOs and self-help groups should come together to help people find self-employment at various levels as unemployment had been forcing many youths to take to crime.

Earlier, ex-servicemen asked the IG to strengthen the traffic police network to enforce discipline on the road. The IG promised to improve the things within a fortnight.

Under the Swaran Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojna, he said Rs 22.38 lakh had been spent on giving subsidy on loans to 54 beneficiaries, including nine SC families and eight women, and on training 322 persons, including 267 SC members.

About various welfare and development schemes being implemented by the District Roral Development Agency, he said about Rs 17 crore had already been spent on these schemes by November-end during the current financial year. The major spending included Rs 343.49 lakh on the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme, Rs 408.52 lakh on the Accelerated Rural Water Supply Scheme, Rs 322.59 lakh on the TSC, Rs 258.70 lalk on the Sarv Shiksha Abhiyan , Rs 221.94 lakh on the Indira Awas Yojna and Rs 66.57 lakh on Swaran Jayanti Gram Yojgar Yojna.

Ajit Joshi said the first installment of Rs 1 crore under the MP Local Area Development Fund had already been received and would be spent on the recommendation of local MP Jitender Singh Malik.

Q: What do you do to de-stress yourself?

A: Spend time with my children aged between five and 12 years. Time permitting, I also go for a morning walk and do yoga.

Q: What are your favourite leisure activities?

Ans. Listening to soft music and reading biographies of great men.

Q: What do you always carry?

A: A bag containing important papers, phone numbers of all my officers and my prayer book.

Q: Anything you learnt from your parents that you would like to share?

A: My father was in the IAF while my mother has an army background. They have brought a lot of discipline into my life, which is standing me in good stead. Also, my father was inclined towards social service, which I, too, have picked up.

Q: Who are your closest friends and what do they do?

A: My husband is my closest friend. I discuss everything with him. Other than him, I have no friends.

Q: What is the job that you have valued the most and found most rewarding?

A: Effective implementation of pro-people policies is the most rewarding job. With a pro-people government in the state, we have framed many people-centric policies. However, these are no good if the benefit does not reach the common man.

Q: Are you a good leader or a good follower?

A: I am a good follower.

Q: Do you come up with ideas or allow others to ideate?

A: I have my own ideas on policies and implementation. However, I think that team discussions only better ideas, which is why viewpoints are welcome.

Q: Do you consider yourself a fast or a slow learner?

A: I'm a fast learner and I owe it to my vocation as a lawyer.

Q: Do you set goals for yourself and your departments?

A: Yes, because without goals there is no barometer for achievement.

Q: How do you divide your working hours?

A: There is hardly time I can call my own because of meetings with the public, office schedules and programmes taking most of it.

Q: Who is the first person you consult in the departments?

A: I have a very heavy portfolio which involves public dealing. So, for a query on any issue, I contact the Commissioner first

Q: How well do you know your departments?

A: I have been involved with work pertaining to my departments as an MLA also. I have studied in most of the universities of Haryana and I am aware of the practical difficulties that come in the way of effective implementation of policies. I have been chairperson of the SC/BC cell also and have had practical involvement in the field of health also.

Q: What difference would you like to make in 2010?

A: My priority will be children. We plan to roll out the Indira Bal Swasthya Yojna on Republic Day. I have instructed my staff that there should be no compromise on the quality of education in government schools and, in my opinion, it is high time we thought of teacher training as well.

Q: Between your youth and now, what are the changes you have seen in Haryana?

A: There is a lot of difference in terms of development. The road network has improved substantially and transportaion is no longer a problem. As children, Haryana's only culture was agriculture. However, we can now boast of big names in education, improved infrastructure in health, roads connecting villages to cities and enough power to light up homes.

Q: What are the three most serious challenges the state will face during the next five years?

A: (a) Power: Though our government has taken some very crucial steps in augmenting power supply by setting up new plants, the challenge will come from the ever-increasing demand for electricity. 

(b) Unemployment: Unemployment with the rising number of educated youth needs to be handled effectively. For this, we will require more resources.

(c) Drinking water: The problem of providing pure and safe drinking water continues to exist in some pockets of the state whereas water for irrigation, too, seems insufficient to cater to the requirement.

Q: What are the handicaps under which your own departments work?

A: Management of funds is the biggest handicap. Lots of funds are available for various projects that lie untapped or unutilised. I'm not satisfied with the mid-day meal scheme. We are working on a scheme to provide separate kitchens in schools.

Q: Are your departments overstaffed or understaffed?

A: The situation varies from department to department. In education, we are overstaffed while we need more staff in the social welfare sector.

Q: What kind of people will your departments require during the next five years?

A: We need specialists and super-specialists for the health sector, we need field staff in the social sector and good teachers for education.

Q: What did your departments achieve during the past five years?

A: The government has given a lot of priority to health, education and the social sector in its last term and the focus, in this tenure, continues to be on the same sectors. We started scholarships for girl students, free medicines and surgery packages in government hospitals, increased the old-age pension as also pensions for widows, dwarfs, raised the funds under the Vivah Shagun Yojna and took a number of steps to raise the standard of backward sections of society. The list is endless if we go by the main schemes in these sectors.

Q: Should the Anti-Defection Act be made more stringent?

A: The Anti-Defection Act in its present form is fine.

Q: If defection by 1/3rd of the members is unlawful and immoral, why should defection by 2/3rd of the members be deemed acceptable?

A: When 2/3rd members decide to switch sides, it means that they don't have confidence in the party leadership. I don't see any problem in allowing a majority to switch sides.

Panipat, December 21
In order to ease out the traffic movement in the city, the local civic body has decided to get tough with encroachers.

SK Vats, executive officer (EO) of the MC, said the municipal authorities were already carrying out extensive anti-encroachment drives. He said shopkeepers in various markets had been asked not to place their goods outside the shops which resulted in shrinking of roads and eventually became traffic bottlenecks.

He said the district administration had decided to confiscate goods placed on roads. The EO said the authorities had already taken action against shopkeepers on the Sanoli Road, Railway Road, Asand Road and few other markets. He added that the anti-encroachment drive would continue in the city.

Vats said people should cooperate with the authorities in the drive so that their traffic problems could be sorted out. “The general public always remains at the receiving end due to the encroachments,” he said.

Besides, to bring down the pollution level in the city, the ban on polythene bags was being implemented strictly and action had already been taken against a number of erring shopkeepers. 

Sonepat, December 21
Vishnu Dutt, the third generation of the famous folk singer of Haryana, Surya Kavi Pandit Lakhmi Chand, took over the command of the convention of the “Haryanavi Saang” at a ceremony of “Dishori Kaaj” organised at Janti Kalan, the native village of Lakhmi Chand, in the memory of his son Tule Ram on December 13.

Thousands of people from Haryana, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan and Punjab of different caste and communities, including the pradhans of various khaps and gotras and leaders of various political parties, reached at the village to pay homage to Lakhmi Chand and Tule Ram. Ram Karan Solanki, pradhan of 360 Palam Khap, was the chief guest on the occasion.

Besides the pradhans of various khaps and gotras, former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, Karnal MP Dr Arvind Sharma, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bisnoi, working president of the HPCC and MLA Kuldeep Sharma, Rai MLA Jai Tirth, and several other heads of various social organisations attended the ceremony and participated in the “rasam pagri” of Vishnu.

The occasion was marked by the arrival of khap pradhans with riding on the back of elephants and horses and presentation of the compositions of Lakhmi Chand by his last surviving pupil Jahoor Mir, along with noted Haryanavi folk singers Vishnu Dutt, Master Satbir Bhainswal, Ranbir Barwasni, Prem Dehati, Som Vir, Gulab, Jyoti and others.

Ram Karan Solank, pradhan, Palam - 360, said they would meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to demand the opening of a sangeet academy at the village and the Janti Kalan-Kundli Road to be named after Lakhmi Chand.

Vishnu promised that he would continue the ‘Saang’ convention of his grandfather Lakhmi Chand and father Tule Ram.

“Lakhmi Chand (1903-1945) in his 42 years of age earned the name in Indian music and popularised Haryanavi folk in the country,” he added.

Colonel Jagmohan (retd), president of the Kisan Mazdoor Vikas Samiti, demanded that Lakhmi Chand should be honoured with the Rashtra Kavi Award and the representatives of the samiti would meet the Chief Minister in this regard. He also opined that a memorial should be set up in memory of this Haryanavi folk singer as he belonged to every caste and religion.

Kaithal, December 21
One-day national workshop on “Advances in Mechanical Engineering (AME-2009)” was organised by the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Haryana College of Technology & Management (HCTM), Kaithal, recently.

Some eminent personalities in the field of mechanical engineering notably Dr TP Singh, director, Guljar Group, Khanna (Punjab), Dr Ajay Batish, Professor, Thapar University, Patiala (Punjab), Dr Arun Lall, Professor, Punjab Engineering College (PEC), Chandigarh, and Dr Rajesh Kumar, Professor, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering & Technology (SLIET), Longowal (Punjab), were present during the workshop.

Chief guest Dr TP Singh inaugurated the workshop. He delivered a lecture on “Total Quality Management” and explained how the field of mechanical engineering has transformed. He further advised the faculty to indulge in more research and development activities and bring laurels to the institute.

Dr DP Gupta, principal of the college, while thanking the participants, listed the salient features of the HCTM group of Institutes.

Dr Ajay spoke on the topic of the design of experiments and effects of different variables on experimental outcomes.

Dr Arun delivered a lecture on “Trends in CAD/CAM/CAE”. He further stressed on the need of using CAD/CAM by aspiring engineers as it would result in enhanced productivity for the industries.

Prof RP Singh, convener, welcomed the chief guest and presented the vote of thanks.

Over a hundred academicians from different engineering institutes were present in the workshop. In the end, Prof Raj Kumar thanked all faculty members and students present on the occasion. Faculty members Sanjeev Sharma, Sushil Mittal, Munish Mehta, Manpreet Bains, Rupesh Gupta, Janender Kumar, Saurabh Mittal and Vikas Sharma were among those who participated in the workshop.

Kalka, December 21
The Senior Citizens Association of Kalka recently observed the Pensioners Day in Railway Community Hall here recently. The programme was presided over by SS Nanda, president of the association.

Informing this, BL Kalra, general-secretary of the association, said around 250 senior citizens attended the programme in which various problems being faced by them were discussed in the meeting.

While speaking on the occasion, SS Nanda, Joginder Pal Sood and Jai Gopal Kohli said all retired Railway employees since the past couple of months were facing a lot of inconvenience in receiving their pensions as the pension pay orders issued by the DRM Office, Ambala, have not been received by the retired employees till date despite the repeated requests.

They also resented that the District Administration was also making delay in issuing of identity cards to the senior citizens of Kalka. They alleged that they had also been facing inconvenience in receiving their LPG cylinders as Indane Gas Agency, Kalka, books their cylinders after 21 days of the last delivery and makes next delivery after 27 days of the booking date of 21 days, which takes total 48 days for the next delivery.

They further alleged that they had also been deprived of kerosene oil by the Department of Food and Supply. More than 10 per cent of the senior citizens could not cast their vote in the last state Assembly elections and the Lok Sabha elections as their names were missing from the voters list, they added.

Karnal, December 21
Jaibir Singh Virk, an advocate from Kurukshetra, and Charankamal Singh of Jagroan in Ludhiana, have explored cold deserts of Spiti in Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal on motor cycles.

The eight-day "peace" adventure from Kurukshetra to tribal valleys, covering 1800 km on bikes in rough, rugged and inhospitable terrain with altitude ranging from 1000 feet to 15,000 feet and that too without any logistic support was no mean task for the two daredevils.

The time chosen for the expedition made the adventure more risky and perilous as the minimum temperature stayed between -5°C and -10°C. Moreover, the high mountain passes were officially closed for vehicular traffic.

Jaibir Singh, a Limca Book Record holder for tractor expedition to Ladakh and Charan Kamal Singh, a graphic designer in Advocate Newspaper Australia and also holding the Limca Book Records holder to cover 3227 km stretch to Ladakh in 2007 on a 133cc motor cycle, set out for expedition from Kurukshetra on November 25 and reached Manali the same evening.

They started their onward journey from Manali to Gramphoo next day and reached the Kunzam pass located at an altitude of 4,558 mts on November 27 in freezing cold wave conditions.

This pass, 60 km from Gramphoo on the Gramphoo-Kaza- Sumdo road, is the gateway to the Spiti valley and separates the twin tribal valleys of Lahaul and Spiti. They explored the first inhabitated Losar Village (3,900 mt) and reached the highest village of Kibber (14,000 ft) for onward journey to Hikkim, Langza, Demul, Komic, Gette on November 28.

Gette village, a short distance from Kaza, is the second highest village in the world with a height of 4270 m, famous for breeding surefoot Spiti horses and trade with the nomadic Changpas of Ladakh in exchange for valuable pashmina wool.

The riders visited the famous Kye monastery (13,500 ft), the largest in the valley, holding a powerful sway over the most populous part of the valley around Kaza and reached Dhankar lake on November 29. The fort of Dhankar now lies in ruins, but still is a place worthy visiting.

The expedition had night stay at Kungri Monastery in land-locked Pin valley, famous for its internationally recognised Chaumurti horses sold in Rampur-Bushahar during the Lavi fair

The expedition visited Kaurik on the Tibet border and reached Nako, famous for its natural lake at an altitude of 10,000 ft. The two left for Rohroo the next day.

In the final leg, the expedition reached Rohroo on December 1 and left for Manali to reach Kurukshetra via Chandigarh on December 2.

Sirsa, December 21
The Haryana government is spending Rs 56.48 crore during the current financial year to promote sports in the state. The amount is 10 times as much as the annual sports budget of the previous government.

Gopal Kanda, State Minister for Home, Industries and Sports, stated this while addressing students after inaugurating the annual athletics meet of GRG National Girls Senior Secondary School, Sirsa, recently.

He said the government was determined to promote sporting activities on a large scale in the state.

The amount of the prize given to sportspersons wining gold, silver and bronze medals in the national games had been increased to Rs 3 lakh, Rs 2 lakh and Rs 1 lakh, respectively. Earlier, they were given Rs 51,000, Rs 31,000 and Rs 11,000, respectively.

Rajiv Gandhi Sports Stadia were also being constructed in 171 villages to promote sports in the rural areas. The Arjun awardees and Dronacharya awardees were being given an honorarium of Rs 5,000 per month.

AstroTurf had been laid at Shahbad and it was being laid in Shaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium, Sirsa, at a cost of Rs 4 crore, he added.

Kanda said as many as 1,500 skilled development centres would be opened in the state for all-round development of the youth.

A number of health schemes for the youth had also been implemented by the government.

In the interest of the youth, gram panchayats would be given more financial powers so that more amount could be spent on providing sports facilities in the villages. Earlier, Parveen Baghla, chairman of the Sirsa Education Society that runs the school, welcomed the minister.

Anju Sharma, principal of the school, read the annual report of the school.

Students presented a myriad of cultural activities on the occasion. Gobind Kanda, a Congress leader and younger brother of the Minister, Shilpa Verma, president of the District Mahila Congress, Bhagirath Gupta, RD Garg and Naurang Singh, secretary of the society, were present on the occasion.