Chandigarh, February 18
The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) today imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh each on two power distribution companies, Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), for “misleading” the commission.

Further, the Managing-Directors of both companies were fined Rs 1 lakh each. They have been directed to pay the fine out of their own pocket.

The commission has decided to write to the Chief secretary to recover the amount from the salaries of the two officers.

At a public hearing, the two distribution companies presented the annual revenue report (ARR) for 2010-11, showing a revenue gap of Rs 5596.5 crore. Trouble arose over the inclusion of Rs 723 crore revenue gap for the years 2008-09 and 2009-10.

A member of the commission, TS Tewatia, pointed out that the HERC had already “settled” the revenue gap of 2008-09 and 2009-10 and that it could not be included in the ARR of 2010-11.

The MD of DHBVN, Anurag Aggarwal, speaking for the power utilities, tried to reason with the commission, stating that their appeal was pending.

At this, Tewatia asked the MD to abstain from “misguiding” the commission, adding that no such appeal was pending. He said the losses were not acceptable to the commission, thereby rejecting the contention of the distribution companies.

“The poor paying consumers can’t be penalised for the inefficiencies of the the power utilities,” Tewatia observed.

Tewatia said he thought it fit to slap Section 142/146 of the Electricity Act 2003 on the distribution companies and the two MDs, if his other colleagues in the commission agreed.

Rohtash Dhaiya, another member, extended support and a fine was imposed on the two distribution companies.

While Aggarwal was trying to justify the line losses, Tewatia pointed out that the DHBVN, in its report on January 31, 2009, had claimed that Pala and Nisha, two villages of Faridabad, had line losses of 97 per cent.

“The company has 70 feeders at a place where line losses are more than 90 per cent. You have all the paraphernalia to recover a bill for three pecent of the total power.”

The commission also raised questions on the lack of feedback on the segregation of domestic and agriculture feeders which had been announced with much aplomb by the government.

The members said short-term purchase of power was a “big scam” since power was bought at Rs 10 per unit when it was available in the market at Rs 2.42 per unit, adding that the matter was in the knowledge of the Chief Minister as also the Power Minister.

The commission ruled that short-term power could not be considered a part of fuel surcharge adjustment (FSA) as was being sought by the companies since this was only provided to accommodate hike in fuel prices, which included coal and oil.

Tewatia said the two companies had been functioning independently without seeking permission of the commission for fixing the rate for fisheries, horticulture, elementary schools or even in granting a discount where connections were in the name of women, as announced by the government.

“Where is the commission in all this? You went right ahead in implementing the government announcement without seeking our permission,” Tewatia said.

He raised questions over the working of the UHBVN , stating that when commission members had to wait for three months for getting a meter, the fate of the common man could be well imagined. Expressing displeasure over the working of the two companies, the chairman of the commission, Bhaskar Chatterjee, asked the MDs and the officials to go out in the field to assess the line losses. He asked them to hold public darbars. Earlier today, Congress MLA Sampat Singh who has been the single-most consistent voice against the companies, raised objections over the inclusion of the ARR of the two previous years in the revenue gaps being shown. Stating that he was not there as an MLA of a particular party, but as a consumer, he opposed the tariff hike and said fuel hike should be included in the ARR.

This was allowed by the commission. No leader from any of the Opposition parties were present. 

Rewari, February 18
A newly married woman was abducted on February 13 from Garhi Bolni village, near here. She was allegedly abducted by her former colleague, who took her to Alwar city in Rajasthan where she was kept in confinement and repeatedly raped for several days.

Subsequently, the woman somehow managed to reach Garhi Bolni yesterday. A complaint was filed following which the Kasaula police registered a case of abduction, wrongful confinement, rape and criminal intimidation under Sections 366, 342, 376 and 506 of the IPC as well as Section 3 of the SC/ST Act against the accused identified as Aziz, a resident of Mircholi village. The woman was also medically examined here yesterday.

The woman, a resident of Mahendragarh district, got married to a CRPF jawan of Garhi Bolni village three months ago.

Sources said prior to her marriage, she lived with her maternal uncle at Tapokara town of Alwar district where she taught in a school in which Aziz too worked as a teacher. Sources further said after her marriage in Garhi Bolni, Aziz frequently visited Garhi Bolni where his relative worked as a junk dealer.

Thus he maintained a secret liaison with his former colleague with whom he eloped on February 13. 

New Delhi, February 18
Ruling out the possibility of involving miners in the restoration of the forest cover devastated by mining activities in the Aravalli region, the Supreme Court today directed the Haryana government to submit a comprehensive rehabilitation plan within four weeks.

“That stage is over long ago,” a Bench headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan retorted when counsel for miners suggested that they be allowed to carry out the restoration work under the supervision of the state government and the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest.

Even as the CJI made the oral remark, another judge, Justice Aftab Alam, agreed with him, stating that the court had banned mining activities in the Aravalli hills only because of the indiscriminate mining carried out by those involved in the business without any concern for the forest cover, environment and ecology.

Posting the next hearing for March 12, the Forest Bench, which included Justice SH Kapadia, made it clear that there was no question of the apex court lifting the ban on mining in the ecologically sensitive Aravalli region in the absence of a “roadmap for a comprehensive rehabilitation package”.

Piecemeal solutions were not acceptable to the court, the Bench said.

The court also asked the Haryana government to identify the mining leases, which had to be terminated for undertaking rehabilitation work.

The court rejected a proposal by senior counsel KK Venugopal, who appeared for some minors, that the government had sufficient powers to visit and conduct surveys at any mining site even without cancelling the leases. Smooth reclamation work was not possible without cancelling the lease agreements, the Bench felt. The state government also agreed to identify within four weeks the locations where mining of minor minerals would be allowed over an area of 600 hectares in Faridabad. The state counsel said the government had decided to continue the ban on mining for another 10 years and would permit such activities only in areas approved by the Supreme Court.

The Supreme Court had re-imposed the blanket ban on mining last year, but later agreed to allow mining in 600 hectares in Faridabad and 1,500 hectares in Gurgaon and Mewat regions in view of the minor minerals required for building projects and road construction activities.

The court also clarified that there would be no change in its earlier order that 10 per cent of the revenue generated through auctioning of mining leases would go into a fund meant for restoration work. 

Jind, February 18
The first three-storeyed police station equipped with modern gadgets was inaugurated by the IG (Hisar Range) here this morning. Built on 859 square yards, a sum of Rs 75 lakh has been spent on the building with over a dozen rooms.

The police station here had been functioning from a dharamshala after its building was declared unsafe in 2008.

The IG claimed that the new building would inspire the employees of the department to work with greater zeal.

He appealed to the residents to come forward to help the police to check crime without fear or hesitation.

Claiming that the state government was committed to improving basic infrastructure, he said the department had constructed 5,300 houses for police personnel and 65 police stations across the state now functioned from new buildings.

A new police training centre was coming up at Sunarian village in Rohtak district on the pattern of Madhuban in Karnal.

Multi-storeyed buildings to house police headquarters were also being built in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Panchkula and Sonepat.

Meanwhile, the police authorities have issued identity cards to 61 persons working as “road safety organisers.”

They will be helping the local police in implementing traffic rules on city roads and at the same time provide a feedback on commuters’ problems from time to time, said an official. 

Karnal, February 18
An eminent economist and chairman of the Department of Economics in Kurukshetra University, Prof MM Goel, today made a forceful plea for enhancing the defence budget in view of increased internal and external security threat and raising the income tax limit in the Budget for 2010-11.

Speaking on “Wishful thinking of the middle class for the Union Budget 2010-11” at Government Postgraduate College here, he suggested enlarging the domain of defence activities by including agriculture, industry, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and making five-year military service compulsory for the youth.

While the internal security threat had aggravated due to growing terrorism, for which unemployment was largely responsible, unsustainable agriculture was leading to suicide by farmers, he observed.

Maintaining that there was a strong case for raising the income tax exemption limit by linking it to the consumer price index for industrial workers which was the basis for determining the additional dearness allowance (ADA), he said at least the ADA should be exempted from income tax as it was not an income but compensation for inflation.

Further, there was no logic and rationale to tax the house rent allowance received by employees owning their houses and taxing the fixed medical allowance for preventive, promotive and curative health care was totally unjustified, he added.

Yamunanagar, February 18
Expressing anguish over the “indifferent” attitude of officials of the Food Corporation of India (FCI) and the “slow procurement” of rice, millers in the district today observed a protest and stopped delivery of rice to the FCI.

Rice millers of the Haryana State Millers Association gathered at Manakpur and decided not to supply rice to the FCI throughout the state if FCI officials in Yamunanagar did not make proper arrangements to procure rice from millers and did not change their attitude within three days.

Speaking to The Tribune, president of the Haryana Rice Millers Association Azad Singh Rathi alleged that while in other districts 40 to 50 per cent rice had been supplied to the FCI by millers, due to the “careless” attitude of FCI officials in Yamunanagar, the FCI had purchased only 10 to 15 per cent of the total stock in the district.

He said ideally FCI officials were required to clear 8,100 quintals of rice every day in Yamunanagar.

However, due to poor arrangements and slow procurement process, the officials had not been able to clear even half the target.

Moreover, the FCI did not have proper place to store the rice.

As a result, the rice millers in the district had suffered a lot.

“We have served three days’ ultimatum on the the manager of the FCI here to improve the situation. Otherwise we will not deliver rice to the FCI throughout the state,” he added.

Fatehabad, February 18
The functioning of the local general hospital came under scanner after kin of accident victims today alleged that doctors left the profusely bleeding patients at the God’s mercy and were more interested in the paper work when the victims were shifted here yesterday.

Three persons had died when the vehicle they were travelling in collided against a Haryana Roadways bus near the local Police Lines.

While two persons had died here, another victim identified as Kiran died after reaching a private hospital in Hisar.

“Had the doctors on duty in the general hospital attended to the victims in time and taken measures to stop their bleeding, the damage could have been minimised,” alleged Parmeshwar Singh, whose wife Sona Devi had died on the spot.

“When the injured were brought to the hospital last evening, the doctors on duty ignored our request of providing medical aid to the victims and rather concentrated on completing medico-legal formalities,” he added.

He alleged that the doctors failed to move even when they drew their attention towards the deteriorating condition of Kiran, who was bleeding profusely, and eventually asked them to shift the patients to Hisar, where Kiran died.

He alleged that no doctor was available when they arrived and it took much time to locate the doctor on duty.

Even when the doctor arrived, basic facilities like blood were not available, he added.

The Senior Medical Officer, in charge of the general hospital, Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj, however, denied the allegations and maintained that the condition of the victims was already very bad when they arrived in the hospital.

He claimed that the victims were referred to Hisar after dressing their wounds.

He alleged that windowpanes of some OPD rooms of the hospital were broken by some unidentified persons yesterday evening.

Dr Kamboj said though the exact identity of persons doing this mischief was not known, but they were linked to the accident victims.

Rohtak, February 18
Dr Jyoti Raheja, a graduate from the Dental College here, has stood first in the All-India MDS (Masters) entrance test. At least 12 other students from the college have also been declared successful in the exam.

The college is affiliated to Pandit BD Sharma University of Health Sciences here. According to university officials, the other students successful in the are:

Deepika Aggarwal, Shipra, Radhika Lekhi, Monika Kamboj, Anuj Parashar, Sandeep Ghatal, Nitish Kalra and Sounvik. Vice Chancellor Dr SS Sangwan and principal of the Dental College Dr Sanjay Tiwari have congratulated them on their achievement. — TNS

Sirsa, February 18
The district authorities today launched the online registration of shops and business establishments in Sirsa district under the Shops and Commercial Establishments Act 1958.

Owners of shops and business establishments in Sirsa shall now be able to keep their establishments open on Sunday and at odd hours after getting those registered online.

“Section 13 of the Punjab Shops and Commercial Establishments Act, 1958, provide for compulsory registration and once registered, the owners shall be exempted from Section 9 and 10 of the said Act, which provide for opening and closing hours and a close day in a week, respectively,” said Deputy Commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia.

“However, the employers will have to provide a weekly off and stick to eight working hours in a day for their employees,” he added. Fifteen business establishments opted for online registration today.