Gurgaon, June 17
Various theme cities, including fashion city, film city and entertainment city, will be developed along the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Expressway, a portion of which will be opened on the coming Haryana Day on November 1.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda revealed this during his recent visit to the city.

The 135-km-long and 100-m-wide KMP expressway passes through six districts of Haryana, comprising Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Gurgaon, Mewat and Palwal. It will have a green belt of 100 m on both sides, besides a 100-m-wide orbital rail corridor towards Delhi.

The theme cities will be developed on 2-km-wide stretch of land earmarked for the project on either side of the KMP expressway.

Five theme cities - a fashion city, an entertainment city, a world trade centre, a leisure city and a retail merchandiser warehouse centre -have been proposed for Gurgaon in the plan.

Similarly, Sonepat district will have Rajiv Gandhi Education City and Sonepat-Kundli multifunctional urban complex, apart from an industrial modern township being planned by the HSIIDC for Kharkhauda.

Rohtak, which the state government proposes to develop as an education city, will have state-level institutes of fine arts, fashion design, film and television and professional studies for women.

Likewise, a cyber city, a bioscience city and a medi-city have been proposed for Jhajjar, a leather city for Mewat and a dry port city for Palwal.

The “global corridor” project is being prepared to establish sub-cities focusing on different specialised sectors of economy in a planned manner. Clusters of these sub-cities, located in the vicinity of the national capital, will be provided with world-class facilities that are expected to serve as catalysts of development involving private participation. 

Sirsa, June 17
The recent Panchayat elections in the state have again brought to the fore the issue of increasing role of money power in the democratic process.Allegations of the blatant misuse of money have been openly leveled at various places in these elections and liquor was freely served by several candidates to woo voters.

Earlier, the issue came to the fore during the parliamentary elections and again during the Assembly poll last year.

“Elections have become a costly affair and the expenditure on a particular election depends on several factors like the social configuration of the constituency and the person opposed to you,” says a senior leader.

He reveals that the expenditure of a candidate contesting a parliamentary seat can be anywhere between Rs 1 crore and Rs 150 crore, which, he claims, was spent by a senior political leader in his wife’s election in a neighbouring state in the last parliamentary elections.

For a politician contesting the Assembly poll, the expenditure can be anywhere between Rs 25 lakh and Rs 25 crore, again depending upon several factors, he adds.

“It is becoming almost impossible for the common man to contest elections in such circumstances and politics has become the field of those having black money,” opines Sampat Singh, a former minister and Congress MLA from Nalwa.

“It is not without reason that people from the business and industry, including builders and property dealers, are jumping into politics and making it big on the basis of their money power,” he reasons and adds that all political parties should evolve consensus on this issue so that politics does not become the exclusive domain of the rich and wealthy.

The Election Commission permits an expenditure of Rs 10 lakh for candidates contesting parliamentary poll and Rs 5 lakh for those contesting Assembly elections.

Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar feels that the upper limit of expenditure on elections, as fixed by the Election Commission was too low and should be revised to make it reasonable.

“With the limits fixed by the commission, it is not possible for anyone to contest poll and hence violation,” he says.

However, the rampant misuse of money power has been witnessed, perhaps, for the first time in panchayat poll. Even liquor was served plentifully during these elections.

“The sale of liquor registered an increase of almost 100 per cent during the municipal and panchayat poll in our area,” says a liquor contractor, who has L-1 license in Fatehabad.

“While country liquor and beer remained popular in villages during panchayat poll, different brands of cheap to medium range whisky was popular in towns,” he adds.

“Ever since the passage of the 73rd Amendment Act for panchayati raj institutions there has been a significant level of assertion by the marginalised classes of people and an equally strong endeavour by those who had exercised social hegemony in villages till then to stop these classes to exercise their rights,” says Inderjit Singh, state secretary of the CPM.

“The misuse of money power during the recent panchayat and municipal elections is merely a reflection of efforts made by socially and economically dominant classes to stop weaker sections of society to join politics,” he adds.

He, however, expresses confidence that money power would not be able to stop the political upsurge being witnessed in Dalits, poor and women, who now want their share in the decision-making process.

Rajpal said all feeders having more than 150 amperes load would be bifurcated to improve quality of power supply. During the process of bifurcation, complete system of the feeders would be renovated. All officers in the operations wing had been directed to conduct a survey for this purpose.

It was revealed in the review meeting that theft of electricity and unauthorised extension of load were the major reasons for overloading of the distribution system causing erratic supply. A massive campaign was required to check pilferage of electricity. During the last campaign, 4000 cases of theft of electricity were detected in the district.

Rajpal directed the officers to put in all-out efforts to improve the service and increase revenue realisation considerably.

Fatehabad, June 17
Two decades back, grape orchards were a common sight in Fatehabad. However, the grapes have virtually started turning sour for farmers due to several factors and now, only a few farmers are opting for it.Against over a several hundred hectares of land under grape cultivation, the crop is now seen on not more than 25 acres in the district.

Though those who have grape crops on their fields do not consider it a bad bargain at all, not many are now attracted towards this crop due to high initial investment.

“Grape farming is not a bad bargain today as it gives over Rs 1 lakh per acre,” says Rajiv Batra, who has grown grapes over five acres at Ahlisadar village. He says it is the initial investment that deters the farmers from growing grapes. A farmer needs to invest about Rs 1 lakh per acre on the construction of reinforced cement concrete (RCC) pillars at a distance of 20 ft each and also on the purchase of aluminum wire needed to bind grape plants.

Once the plants are sown, they start providing fruits from the fourth year onwards, but the best thing about this crop is that the farmers do not have to invest much after that barring irrigation of the fields in January every year.

The grapes plants provide fruits in June every year and after that the farmer can again afford to forget about the plants. No fertilisers or pesticides are required, he adds.

Batra informs that the area had a large number of growers in the past but slowly the farmers started opting for other crops. More crops and fewer purchasers was the prime reason.

Pre-monsoon showers may be beneficial for other crops, but these are harmful for grapes. This time too the farmers have lost almost 25 per cent of their crop owing to pre-monsoon showers, says Batra.

Ramesh Kumar, horticulture development officer, however, says the overall loss to the crop is not much as the area under cultivation of the crop has dwindled over the years in Fatehabad.

He says lack of marketing facilities and the absence of processing plants in the area were the reasons behind the farmers switching over to other crops.

Further, he says local grapes cannot compete with the fruit coming from Maharashtra in terms of quality.

Rewari, June 17
Shree Jee Entertainment, a rising feature film producer of the Rewari region, has now come out with an album of children’s carols titled “Bachha Party” whose recording was accomplished at Saraswati Studio in Delhi recently.

Audio CD of the album, containing 10 songs, all sung by a group of 12 child vocalists, would be formally released in the first week of July.

Furnishing the details in this regard at a press conference here recently, Vipin Suneja, a noted lyricist and music director of the region, said the 10 carols, all composed by him, were replete with children’s chaste and playful mischief. He also said the songs contain a fine depiction of children’s sentiments ventilated on the occasion of a birthday party, wedding celebrations, Holi festival, New Year day and other such festivities.

He further said after a thorough audition of about 60 child singers, in the age group of 8-16 years, 12 of them were selected for the purpose.

Subsequently, the selected child vocalists, namely Swati Bhardwaj, Kapil Kaushik, Rahul Kumar, Nishant Pathak, Vani Shekhawat, Divya Sharma, Sangeeta Rajawat, Shivangi Jain, Siddharth Bharati, Meenakshi Kaushik, all from various schools of the Rewari region, and Abdul Samar and Naman Sandooja, both from a public school of Gurgaon, went though a full-fledged one-month melodic training which was imparted by himself and his co-music director Shripati Singh Shekhawat.

Suneja further said the album, which was poles apart from his previous five other albums, was the first-of-its-kind in Haryana.

Rishi Singhal, proprietor of Shree Jee Entertainment, said they had made the above album with the main objective of providing a pedestal to talented child choristers of the region. He also said apart from an audio CD, they would soon bring out its video CD as well.

Chandigarh, June 17
While most of the politicians of Haryana are either maintaining silence or extending support to the khap panchayats, there are saner voices also in the state which do not mince words to oppose the diktat of these caste-based medieval organisations. These voices may be in a minority, but they are shrill enough to make their presence felt.

One such voice is of Jagmati Sangwan, president of the Haryana Unit of the All-India Democratic Women Association, who, along with her dedicated band of activists, has been leading the campaign against all illogical "farmaans" of the khap panchayats like ordering a couple, married for several years and even having children, to live like brother and sister. Such "farmaans" are issued by these panchayats because, according to them, one of the spouses belonged to a gotra, members of which stayed in the village concerned.

Sangwan, who is also the director of the Women Studies Centre, MDU, Rohtak, opposes the demand of the khaps for an amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act to ban the same gotra marriage. She says the demand violates one's right to marry of one's own volition. In a democratic set up, no one can dictate terms to others to whom he should marry or not.

Now, one more person has joined the campaign against the khap panchayats. Ved Prakash Vidrohi, president of an NGO Grammen Bharat, has alleged that the so-called sarv khap panchayats are adopting double standard while taking illogical decisions.

He said these khaps had one rule for poor and another for high and mighty. He said when someone belonging to the higher strata of society violated the norms laid down by these khaps, the self-styled guardians of social norms turned a blind eye. But if a similar transgression was made by a poor person, leaders of the khap panchayats raised a hue and cry and issued totally illogical and illegal "farmaans" like asking the couple to leave the village or ordering a social boycott of the family.

Vidrohi said the sarv khap panchayats did not utter a word when somebody from an influential family was involved in these kinds of marriages. He said in Chautala, the native village of INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala, a large number of marriages had been solemnised within the same village. But the panchayats did not object to these marriages because the village belonged to former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal. He said khap leaders had no moral right to preach when their conduct was not creditable.

Chandigarh, June 17
The Haryana government has notified the date-sheet for various departmental examinations to held from June 21 to June 25 at Lajpat Rai Bhawan, Chandigarh.

A spokesman of the Central Committee of Examinations said the examinations would be conducted in two shifts, from 10 am to 1 pm and from 2 pm to 5 pm. For assistant commissioners, extra assistant commissioners and for the post of EACs, criminal law (first paper) would be held in the first shift and civil law in the second shift on June 21. On June 22, criminal law (second paper) and financial rules would be held in the first and second shifts, respectively. Similarly, criminal law (third paper, including jails) would be held in first shift and revenue law (first paper) in the second shift on June 23.

The examination of local funds would be held on June 24 in first shift and revenue law (second paper) in second shift, whereas the Hindi language examination would be held in the first shift on June 25. The IPS officers would also appear in the Hindi language exam the same day.

For civil judges and candidates for posts of civil judge, the accounts examination would be held on June 21 in the second shift and that of civil law and criminal law on June 22 in the first and second shifts, respectively. The revenue law (first paper) exam would be held in the first shift on June 23 and revenue law (second paper) and constitutional law in the first and second shifts, respectively, on June 24.

The criminal law (first paper) and civil law exam for tehsildars would be held on June 21, in the first and second shifts, respectively. The criminal law (second paper) and financial rules paper would be in the first and second shifts on June 22. The criminal law (third paper, excluding jails) and revenue law (first paper) would be held in the first and second shifts on June 23.

Likewise, local funds and revenue law (second paper) exams would be held on June 24 and patwari's mensuration and Urdu exams would be held in the first and second shifts,respectively, on June 25.

The forest law exam and land revenue would be held on June 21 in the first and second shifts, respectively. The papers of procedure and accounts would be held in first shift on June 22, and that of Hindi in second shift on the same day. For animal husbandry and dairy development, the examination of accounts and departmental rules would be held on June 21 in the first and second shifts, respectively.

For the Jails Department, the examination of subject-1 (Punjab jails manual without appendices) and subject-II (Punjab jails manual with appendices and other matters) would be held in the first and second shifts on June 23, whereas that of subject-III (criminal law) and subject-IV (financial rules) would be held on June 24, in the first and second shifts, respectively.

For block development and panchayat officers, the exams of group-I (paper-A) would be held in the first shift on June 21, and group-I (paper-B) in the first shift on June 22, group-II (budget and accounts) on June 23, in the first shift and group-III (statutory acts and rules) on June 24, in the first shift.

For SDOs, Panchayati Raj Department, (engineering groups) exams of PWD specifications would be held on June 21, in the second shift, design exams on June 22, in the second shift and the manual of orders, accounts and office procedure exams, would be held in the second shift on June 23.

The maintenance of T&P earth moving and road making machinery exams would be held on June 24 in the second shift and estimating exams on June 25 in the second shift. The examination of account and departmental rules for the Wild Life Preservation Department would be held in the first shift on June 21.

The examination of election laws (for assistant or election kanungos) and administrative accounts rules (for assistant or election kanungos) for the Election Department would be held on June 21, in the first and second shifts, respectively. The election law for (JSS, ST, clerks, moharris) of the same department would be held on June 25.

Faridabad, June 17
The district authorities have started preparing plans to deal with floods in this district.

As per the guidelines every district prepares a “flood control measure order” each year based on their specific geographical location and demography. The document is sent to the state government before the onset of the monsoon. DRO sources said the new order would be sent to the government shortly. The document mentions the measures taken and logistics available with the district to deal with floods.

Under the flood-control measures, a central control room will be set up in the office of the Deputy Commissioner. Control rooms will also be set up in the SDM offices at the subdivisional level.

Among others, the district has six boats, one for Faridabad subdivision and five for Ballabgarh. It has got 34 life-saving jackets, among others, as par of the crisis-management logistics.

Sirsa, June 17
Chaudhary Devi Lal University vice-chancellor ML Ranga has said the university would be developed as centre of excellence soon. Talking to mediapersons here, the vice-chancellor said he had discussed several university projects with MP Ashok Tanwar, who visited the university yesterday.

He said a project for setting up Dr Ambedkar Hostel on the campus with 100-room capacity was being sent to the central government for approval.

Another proposal for constructing a hostel for working women would also be submitted, he added.

“A guidance and employment bureau will also be set up in the university so that students can get career-related guidance,” Dr Ranga said. The vice-chancellor also announced that new courses would soon be added to the University Centre for Distance Learning to meet the demand of students.

Yamunanagar, June 17
Satellite images of Kalesar forest will help the Forest Department to evaluate the exact damage caused by devastating fire in three different incidents last month in Kalesar forest here. The satellite images of fire in the forest were captured by the Forest Survey of India, an organisation under the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and the District Forest Department expects to receive the images within this week.

The need of these images was also felt as forest officials said villagers set fire in different places of the forest area on May 21 that caused damage to 40 hectares land. Besides in earlier two incidents, the fire caused damage to 31 hectares land. As a result, acting on the complaint of the Forest Department, the police recently registered a case against four local villagers.

Kalesar forest is spread in over 28,584 acres. The forest is a habitat of leopard, bear, chital, sambar, wild goat, deer and several other birds. Expensive khair trees are also spread in over 5,000 acres. So far in the past three-four years, the fire has caused damages to total 481 hectares land.

While in three different incidents of fire in the last month, the Forest Department has estimated rough damages to around 71 hectares land. The exact spread of fire and damages will be revealed after the evaluation of satellite images, said forest officials.

"Every year during summers, the fire, due to different reasons, causes damages to forest area. The extent of the burned areas is required by forest officials to assess damages and ecological impacts and to monitor land cover changes. Besides, accurate assessment through satellite images helps in evaluating the effectiveness of measures taken to rehabilitate the fire-damaged area," district forest officer Rajesh Gulia said. These images will also help us to set the target for intensive plantation to cover the forest area damaged by the fire, he further added.

Rohtak, June 17
Is an office-bearer of the youth wing of the ruling party authorised to use the official machinery to further the political interest of any individual or organisation? The answer is no, but such a development has taken place here in which the official machinery meant for publicising government policies and programmes was allegedly used by certain newly elected office-bearers of the youth Congress.

Some mediapersons here were amazed when a call was made from the local office of the District Public Relations Office (DPRO) recently that a press conference was being organised by an elected office-bearer of the youth Congress at Tilyar lake here. The DPRO later gave a full coverage to the event and issued a detailed press release with a photograph of the event.

While this has irked many, it is being asked if any office-bearer of a wing of the ruling party was authorised to use the official machinery to publicise his or her policy or programme. The DPRO is meant to cover events of the state government and publicise its policies and programmes.

While Congress spokesperson Ved Prakash Vidrohi claimed that there were no clear-cut guidelines, any political leader or activist must avoid using the official machinery when the matter was purely political. He added that only the spokesperson or the president of the ruling party was formally authorised to publicise the policies and programmes of the government and their party through the official machinery.

Deputy commissioner PC Meena claimed that this development had not been in his knowledge and he did not have any information about the calls made from the office of the DPRO regarding the press conference of any office-bearer of the ruling party. Describing it as an unauthorised activity, he said he would enquire the matter.

Rewari, June 17
A mega medical camp was held by the Rewari district unit of the ABVP at Bal Bhavan here recently. About 720 patients, who came from various parts of the Ahirwal region, were examined by a team of specialists from Shri Guru Gobind Singh Medical College and Hospital, Bhurera, 35 km from Rewari in Gurgaon district.

While all patients were given medicines free of cost, over 200 of them were asked to go in for operations for various serious diseases.

Varun Chaudhary, state convener of the ABVP, said that all 113 patients, who turned up for operations, were taken to the above hospital at Bhurera where they were operated upon for cataract, gallstone, uterus and other complicated ailments. All operations were performed free of charge.

Gurgaon, June 17
A training programme for realtors organised by REDCO Institute of Real Estate Management (RIRM) under the public-private partnership (PPP) model commenced at the DLF City Club in Phase IV here recently.

It was inaugurated by Gurgaon deputy commissioner Rajender Kataria, who is also the chief patron of the RIRM. Nearly 40 professionals are participating in the first batch of this six-day training session.

The participants include builders, brokers, property dealers and agents and the 44-hour training programme focuses on real estate industry markets and practices, urban and environment planning, laws and regulation, property management, planning and development and finance and investment, etc.

After lighting the traditional lamp, Kataria expressed hope that the training would give a fair knowledge of relevant provisions of law to the people involved in the property trade. He observed that the feedback of the participants would help in improving the course content.

The DC pointed out that with the active support of the Real Estate Development Council (REDCO), Haryana, the administration could register more than 500 realtors in the district, whereas just nearly 100 realtors were registered in the rest of the state.

“While the state authorities are trying to replicate the Gurgaon model in the other districts, it should be clearly understood that efforts by the government departments alone are not enough and private organisations like REDCO are needed to be roped in to convince their members and other fellow realtors that they can win credibility into their dealings by getting themselves registered,” he observed.

This would also bring transparency in their business, Kataria said, adding that the names of registered realtors were put on the official website of the state government for five years, which would give a boost to their business.

RIRM chairman Col Prithvi Nath and REDCO president Arun Anand maintained that this course would be useful for the realtors as the content was well researched and comprehensive.

District revenue officer PD Sharma, Association of Certified Realtors of India (ACRI) president Narender Dhingra and RIRM director-general Prof MR Kulkarni were also present.

Hisar, June 17
A woman has been running from pillar to post for the past 14 years to get a plot allotted to her in Gurgaon under the Chief Minister’s discretionary quota in 1996.

Saroj Sharma whose husband SD Sharma, who was then posted as Assistant Private Secretary to the then Union Home Minister SB Chavan in Delhi was allotted a 10 marla plot (No. 3176, Sector 46) in Gurgaon under the Chief Minister’s discretionary quota on the recommendation of Chavan.

The Haryana Urban development Authority (HUDA) sent her a letter on December 29, 1995, asking her to furnish an affidavit as it was considering allotting her a plot in Sector 46 of Gurgaon. She complied with the directions following which she was sent a letter, asking her to deposit Rs 79,200 following which a formal letter of allotment for plot No 3176 measuring 10 marlas would be issued.

Sharma deposited Rs 79,200 as 25 per cent of the total cost of the plot on February 9, 1996. It later turned out that HUDA had allotted the same plot to another applicant also.

Sharma asked HUDA to allot her another plot in lieu of the original plot. Even as her request was pending, the Punjab and Haryana High Court cancelled all plots allotted under the CM’s discretionary quota.

Following the decision, HUDA cancelled the allotment and refunded her deposit. But, later on the apex court modified the decision and restored plots given under the discretionary quota prior to the cut off date of April 23, 1996. However, HUDA continued to dither on the issue.

Sharma then filed a writ petition in the apex court, which disposed it of last year, saying that no ground for intervention was made out. However, the judges stated in their order that since the plot was cancelled for no fault of hers, they hoped that HUDA would take appropriate steps to allot an alternative plot.

HUDA has, however, refused to allot a plot, saying that the apex court had ruled that there was no ground for interference. 

Kaithal, June 17
As many as seven persons had been arrested by the police for opening liquor vends despite a ban imposed by the District Administration during the counting of votes for Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samiti elections here recently.

A police spokesman said five liquor vends at various places in the district were found open despite the ban. Sub-inspector Sube Singh of Titram police post found liquor vend at Deoban T-point open. Satyavan of Ghogrian and Ramesh of Uchana, partners in the vend, and two others, Ashok Kumar a driver and Suresh Kumar liquor vend employee, were arrested by the police and booked under the Excise Act and the IPC.

Vikram in Mani Ratnam’s “Raavan”

— Dharam Pal