Yamunanagar, July 29
The state has no solution to control the overflow of the Yamuna despite the fact that the discharge of water in the river from the Hathnikund barrage here causes much damage in the low-lying areas of Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat and also in Delhi during the monsoon almost every year.

There is no dam in the state or in the upstream in Himachal Pradesh that can store and control the heavy flow of the Yamuna. The Hathnikund barrage, about 45 km from here in the district, can only channelise the 
river water.

The water level of the Yamuna depends on the inflow of seasonal rivulets and tributaries of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, which converges in the Yamuna at the Hathnikund barrage. The water received at the barrage is released into two canals, Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) for Delhi and Eastern Yamuna Canal (EYC) from the barrage for UP, and also in downstream of the Yamuna for Haryana as per their shares, said officials sources in the Irrigation Department.

There is much need to find some solution to control Yamuna water to avoid flood-like situation in the low-lying areas situated in the state and also in Delhi. The situation is serious and requires a special attention of concerned state officials as in the past two years, people living in the low-lying areas of the state and also of Delhi had faced much damages. The water level of the Yamuna at the Hathnikund barrage had reached 4.25 lakh cusecs (over flood point) in 2008 and also in 2009 due to heavy rainfall.

The maximum water level of the Yamuna was recorded 7-lakh cusecs in 1978 when the overflow of the river had caused maximum damage in Haryana, UP and also in Delhi. Whenever the catchments areas of the river had witnessed heavy rainfall in the previous years, it led to the overflow of the Yamuna and damages, especially in 1988, 1995, 1998.

The Hathnikund barrage has 18 floodgates to channelise the water. Mini flood is declared in the district if the water level of the Yamuna crosses 70,000 cusecs at the barrage, while flood is declared when the water level crosses 3-lakh cusecs mark. If the water level of the Yamuna crosses 70,000 cusecs mark, then officials of the barrage even stop the release of water into the WYC and the EYC as the heavy flow of the Yamuna carries sand and stone that can choke the canal system. Then, all water received at the barrage is released into the downstream of the barrage in the Yamuna. Then, the overflow of water, through Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat, after three days reaches Delhi, revealed the officials.

The need to construct the Hathnikund barrage was felt after September 3, 1978, when the floods in the Yamuna had caused extensive damage to Tajewala Headworks and inundated vast areas of Haryana, UP and Delhi. The barrage was constructed 11 years ago to channelise the Yamuna water.

Kundli (Sonepat), July 29
The proposed Rajiv Gandhi Education City (RGEC) is all set to change educational scenario in the region, with a number of universities coming up on a sprawling 2,000 acre here.

The idea that had initially raised some eyebrows among the peasantry, following acquisition of farmers’ land, has finally started taking shape. Being developed in Sonipat-Kundli multi-functional urban complex, the RGEC is located on the NH1 and is in proximity to the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) western expressway.

The education city with its top-class infrastructure and support services has already attracted some of the best educational institutes of the world to open their campuses here and introduce frontier technologies devoted to research in the emerging areas of learning.

The objective of setting up the education city was to mould youth of the country in the framework of trade, commerce, IT, science, engineering, technology, medicine and bio-technology, so as to address the needs of the country’s growing human resource needs.

In all, 31 institutions had aspired to set up campuses here. Out of these, nine have already been allotted land here. These included Thapar University (62 acres), Manav Rachna International University (25 acres), International Foundation for Research and Education (25 acres), Birla Institute of Management Technology (7.38 acres), FORE School of Management (7.38 acres), Sonipat Hindu Educational and Charitable Society (7.38 acres), Karnatak Lingyat Educational Society (7.38 acres), Asian Education Society (3.82 acres) and Lala Nemi Chand Educational Trust (2.41 acres).

Though, initially the farmers whose land had been acquired to set up this city, held protests against the project, but eventually the matter was resolved by giving them adequate compensation.

The government had proposed to acquire 2,163 acre in Aswarpur, Bad Khalsa, Sevli, Patla, Jakholi, Khevra and Bada Makik villages of the district. With a view to expediting the development work of RGEC, the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had also set up offices of superintendent engineer and executive engineers here.

The government is spending more than Rs 90 crore on developing the basic infrastructure, including roads, laying of water supply and sewerage pipelines, construction of main clear-water storage tank of 17.18 lakh gallon capacity and providing sewer water disposal system.

There are about 40 educational plots with sizes ranging from 2.42 acres to 165.23 acres. Besides, provision for hostel, staff housing, hotels, multiplex, shopping arcades, medical centres, post offices and police station.

As per the plan, the city would also have a lake connected to concrete drains that would be useful in harvesting rain water. Brought up in a no-flood zone, the city would be developed as a centre of excellence for education in various fields. About 25 per cent of seats in various universities would be reserved for the students with Haryana domicile.

The project has definitely brought cheers for educationalists and those related to academics, as it is likely to go a long way in improving the educational standards of the country.

Hisar, July 29
Even though the newly constituted Haryana Farmers' Commission is yet to begin functioning, the decision to house its office inside the Haryana Agricultural University campus has stirred a controversy.

A section of the teaching community has voiced concern over the state government's decision. Their main plea is that the campus will become a centre of farmers' protests affecting teaching.

A senior HAUTA leader said the farming community was facing many problems and because of that it tended to hold protests very often. It was but natural that farmers would like to put their grievances before the commission. This would open floodgates for protestors, which, in turn, would affect academic atmosphere, he said.

However, others are of the view that there was absolutely no ground for any such fears. They maintain that the commission's mandate was to make farming a more productive and remunerative profession. So, there was no possibility of farmers holding protests on the campus as their day-to-day grievances had to be heard at the government level.

Those who back the government point of view also say that farmers normally hold protests to seek compensation for crop damage or to demand regular power supply. The commission, they say, is in no way concerned with these demands. Thus, it is preposterous to raise the bogey of the campus becoming a centre for farmers' protests, they opine.

This section of the faculty also maintains that for the commission to fulfil its mandate, close interaction with HAU research scientists was an absolute necessity. By locating the panel's office here, the government has kept the practicalities in mind.

Despite the discordant notes, it is unlikely that the government will locate the panel's offices elsewhere.

As yet, the varsity authorities have not earmarked any building to house the commission's office. However, efforts are on to find the most suitable accommodation keeping in mind the official status of both the Vice-Chancellor and the panel chief who is likely to hold Cabinet rank. HAU has many options to offer to the commission.

A final decision is likely to be taken after the panel chief, Dr R. S. Paroda, returns from abroad. He is expected to be here on August 5. As an old HAU hand, he must also be having an idea of the most suitable accommodation.

Officials said Dr Paroda commanded a lot of respect among the varsity community and he would take a decision to the satisfaction of all concerned.

Panipat, July 29
Residents of the city will soon be able to travel to the national capital without much delay as the state government has embarked upon an ambitious project of linking this industrial hub with Delhi through high-speed trains.

The state, which has so far failed to exploit its close proximity to Delhi, will have a dedicated corridor for high-speed trains that will link Panipat, Sonepat and Delhi.

Sources said this would result in huge revenue generation as local traders would be easily able to assess the capital and it would also boost real estate prices in the region.

During her recent visit to the city, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sharda Rathore had stated that the feasibility survey had been already completed by the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) for linking Panipat city with Delhi via Sonepat. The high-speed train would run on the dedicated corridor, the construction of which would be funded by the state government. This train service would be operated by the Indian Railways.

Rathore said the train would usher a new era of development and progress in the state.

The historic town of Panipat, which in the past was known as the gateway to Delhi, is situated about 129 km north of the capital and it takes about three hours to travel the distance by road.

Gurgaon, July 29
The development plan-2021 of the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex will be revised and now it will be prepared taking into consideration the proposed growth up to 2025.

Hence, the plan will now be called development plan for the Gurgaon-Manesar Urban Complex-2025.

A meeting for preparing the draft development plan was held recently under the chairmanship of local Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria. In the meeting, a District Planning Committee was formed under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner. All elected members of the local zila parishad were appointed members of this committee.

The Deputy Commissioner said taking the growing population into account, the state government had revised the density of the urban complexes. The draft development plan of Gurgaon would be prepared as per the new guidelines, taking the density of 120 persons per acre, while earlier, the density here was 100 persons per acre. He said the government had also decided to double the width of the sector roads. Now, the sector roads will be 60-metre wide, while the earlier width was 30 metres.

He said a draft development plan was being formulated for the new sectors from 58 to 115 to be developed in Gurgaon.

These sectors were at the planning stage and if any department required land in these sectors, they should contact the District Town Planner so that appropriate provisions could be made in the plan.

In the first phase, Sectors 58 to 67 will be developed and these will have 60-metre-wide sector roads. The state government has directed to inter-connect all those sector roads, which, as of now, end abruptly.

For inter-connectivity, six controlled areas have to be added therewith. To check encroachments beyond the connecting roads, the government has decided to develop a 50-metre-wide green belt along the roads and also to earmark 200-metre-wide strip as institutional belt.

The DC asked the District Town Planner to make sufficient provision for the parking of vehicles in the new sectors. "At the same time, while preparing the layout plan of the new sectors, special attention needs to be given to security, health and education. For this, the Town Planner should take the opinion of the local officials of the departments concerned," he said.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, July 29
Hoshiari Lal Sharma and Randhir Singh were recently unanimously re-elected presidents of the District Congress Committees of Sirsa and Fatehabad, respectively.

Anil Khod and Sampooran Singh have been elected senior vice-president and vice-president, respectively, for Sirsa district. Madan Bhambhu, Avtar Singh Suratia, Devi Lal, Ranjit Kaur Randhawa and Paramjit Kaur were elected general secretaries. Krishan Singla will be the treasurer.

Among the state delegates from Sirsa district, the names of Gobind Kanda, Lachhman Dass Arora, KV Singh, Jasbir Singh Riar, Ashok Tanwar, Jagdish Nehra, Malkiat Singh Khosa, Ranjit Singh, Sushil Indora, Bharat Singh Beniwal and Mani Ram Keharwala have been finalised.

Delegates for the HPCC from Fatehabad include Arvind Sharma, Jitender Singh Gillankhera, Jaipal Singh Lali, Atma Singh Gill, Paramvir Singh, Sharad Batra, Kulbir Beniwal, Dura Ram and Baldev Singh.

Among the block presidents elected in Sirsa are Bhupesh Mehta (Sirsa), Darbara Singh (Dabwali), Pawan Garg (Dabwali city), Jagdev Singh (Baragura), Gurmel Singh (Ellenabad), Niranjan Agarwal (Ellenabad city), Kehar Singh (Rania), Jagsir Singh Mithri (Odhan), Nathusari Chopta (Inder Singh Rajput) and Darshan Kumar (Kalanwali).

The block presidents in Fatehabad are Mukhtiar Singh Saddar (Fatehabad rural), Tek Chand Midha (Fatehabad urban), Kundan Lal (Rattia rural), Vinod Jain (Ratia urban), Ajaib Singh (Tohana rural), Bhagwan Dass Pahwa (Tohana urban), Ramesh Kumar (Bhattu Kalan), Dalbir Singh (Bhuna) and Bharat Bhushan (Jakhal).

Sonepat, July 29
Researches and ground-level practices have proved beyond doubt that the use of oxytocin is not at all effective in increasing the yield and size of fruits and vegetables, according to Dr MS Dahiya, senior scientist, in charge, Vegetable Research Scheme of Krishi Vigyan Kendra of Haryana Agriculture, Hisar University, at Jagdishpur near Sonepat.

Talking to The Tribune, he informed that there was a misconception among people, including farmers, about the use of oxytocin that it could increase the yield if injected into plant stem, fruit peduncle and small fruits.

In order to clear the misconception, the Kendra organised a seminar for the farmers on July 21 in which agriculture scientists, agriculture development officers, veterinarians and officers of the Horticulture Department also participated. Addressing the seminar, he said efforts were made to inject oxytocin in the vines of bottle guard; but not even a single drop of the vaccine could enter in any part of the vine.

For the satisfaction of farmers, vines were again inspected on July 22 and it was found that it had no affect on the vines of bottle guard and in other cucurbits, he claimed.

“From the experience, it was found that it was impossible to inject oxytocin solution into plant stems, peduncle and fruits. It was also found that 15 per cent plants wilted and about 20 per cent fruits became unmarketable when injected with oxytocin as compared to the non-injected plants and fruits,” he maintained and advised the farmers to follow scientific recommendations to increase the yield quantity and quality in vegetable crops.

He also cautioned that this misconception and false propaganda was against the interest of vegetable growers and it should be challenged firmly.

While referring to the indiscriminate use of oxytocin in milch cattle, Dr Dahiya warned that the studies had proved that oxytocin intake was not only injurious to human lives, who consume it through milk, but also detrimental to the health of animals.

Faridabad, July 29
The much-expected new industrial policy of the state is expected to be announced before the Independence Day. According to YS Malik, financial commissioner and principal secretary, Industry, Haryana, the proposed policy is being given final touches.

The industry here, as in other parts of the state, has been waiting keenly for the announcement of the policy, which was to be made public in February-March.

One of the major issues that the industry here is concerned is whether the government would make some amendments to the single window system implemented in its present form.

The Faridabad Industry Association in its 57th Annual General Meeting held last month, in which Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati was the chief guest, had observed that the single window system had not been able to meet the requirements for which it was established and urged the government for its review. It stressed that the system should be applicable only for new industries and the existing ones should continue to get their licences directly from the departments concerned. The committees at the state and the district level, constituted under an Act passed by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, need to be more independent of the existing administrative structure with overriding power.

The Association also urged that the committees in the district should be raised to deal with investments up to Rs 50 crore instead of the present Rs five crore.

The industry here has some reasons for their present reservations against the implementation of the single window system. As per the arrangement worked out in the existing industrial policy, the committee at the district level was institutionalised as a body with concerned deputy commissioners as their heads. The committees have representatives from various departments relating to industry. As per the arrangement, the concerned departments related to industry were to devolve/delegate their powers to the committee. In Faridabad only, the local unit of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board delegated its power to the committee. Consequently, the industrial units were back to square one, running from one department to another to solve their problems which was contrary to the concept of the single window system.

According to sources in the government, the Industry Department was trying to evolve a system which would facilitate more coordination between various departments relating to industry so that the problems faced by units, both substantive and procedural, are solved under one roof.

The sources further said the policy might not root for the departments delegating their powers to the committees in the new policy. However, an alternative arrangement for more coordinated and integrated approach among the departments to provide solutions to the problems of industry was a strong possibility.

Sonepat, July 29
With the fixing of August 3 as the date for holding elections to the posts of chairman and vice-chairman of the Zila Parishad, political activities have gained momentum to muster support of a majority of the Zila Parishad members.

There are 24 elected members of the Zila Parishad in the district with most of them affiliated either with the Congress or the INLD. The undecided election for the posts of chairperson of the Sonepat Municipal Council when the Congress and INLD-supported BJP councilors were tied at 16 each after the rejection of one vote, have boosted the morale of the low-lying INLD to try its luck to capture Zila Parishad posts.

According to INLD sources, nine party workers were elected as the Zila Parishad members while five other members had also promised to support the party candidates. A meeting of these five members has already been arranged with party supremo Om Prakash Chautala. The BJP leadership in the district had also been extending its support to the INLD.

A senior INLD leader said that the names for these posts would be finalised by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala. On the other hand, the Congress leadership which suffered moral humiliation in the election to posts in the Sonepat Municipal Council, also reportedly does not want to let the Zila Parishad posts slip away from its hands.

The candidates for the ZP posts would be finalised by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Rewari, July 29
With an extra judicial confession of his own crime as well as consequential arrest of the deceased Sheetal Yadav’s husband Sachin Yadav, the mystery behind the gruesome murder of Sheetal Yadav, whose bizarre disappearance from her parental house in Sector 3 here on July 16 had been puzzling her kith and kin, has now been fairly resolved.

It is something astounding that just to conceal his own offence, Sachin, who himself is the killer of his wife, continued to extend his assistance to his in-laws in the week-long search operation carried out to trace the whereabouts of missing Sheetal.

However, when the Model Town police zeroed in on him following a telephonic call made by him (Sachin) on the cellphone of Sheetal’s sister on July 24, Sachin resorted to an extra judicial confession of his own crime and then surrendered himself to the Model Town police here on July 25.

At his demarcation, the police then recovered the decomposed body of Sheetal from a well at Gheelawas village of Pataudi tehsil of Gurgaon district, 12 km from here, today. The body was sent to PGIMS, Rohtak, for postmortem examination.

Prior to this by way of confession, Sachin reportedly told the police that he had thrown Sheetal’s body into the well after he strangulated her to death at Gheelawas village on July 16.

He also told the police that as he was skeptical about his wife’s extra-marital affair, he strangulated her.

Sheetal, daughter of Raj Singh Yadav, a resident of Sector 3 here, got married to Sachin, a native of the Najafgarh area of Delhi and now residing at Sector 10 in Gurgaon and employed as a computer engineer in a private company in Gurgaon, in 2009.

Sheetal was pregnant and was pursuing her diploma in electrical engineering from a private institute at Loharu in Bhiwani district.

Sources said recently when she came to Rewari, she was secretly contacted by her husband on July 16, who then took her to Gheelawas village where she was strangulated to death following which the body was thrown into the well.

Thus, when Sheetal’s whereabouts remained untraceable, her mother, Kailsah Devi, filed a complaint on July 17 following which the Model Town police registered a case of disappearance of Sheetal.

However, when the beans were now spilled by the accused himself, the police registered a case of murder and destruction of the evidence of the offence against the accused, Sachin, who was arrested on July 25.

Fatehabad, July 29
The tornado that was witnessed in Ahlisadar village of this district last week was of low intensity, as it did not cause any harm to the life and property. Climatic experts and geographers maintain that tornados can sometimes be very dangerous and result in heavy fatalities.

Surender Paul, director of the Indian Meteorological Department’s Chandigarh unit, who visited the site two days after its occurrence, said tornados were common in American planes only, where incidents of damage had often been reported.

However, there are some incidents of this region too where this weather phenomenon has caused much damage to the life and property.

“As many as 215 people lost their lives when a tornado hit Calcutta on April 8, 1838, and 139 people were killed in Assam on April 19, 1963, due to this weather phenomenon,” informed Paul.

He added that 28 fatalities and injuries to 700 people were witnesses on March 17, 1978, due to a tornado in the National Capital. As many as 145 fatalities were witnessed in West Bengal on April 9, 1993, and again 160 fatalities and injuries to 2,000 people occurred in West Bengal and Orissa on March 24, 1998.

Tornado struck at Bahawalpur in Pakistan on March 28, 2003, when three persons lost their lives, while more recently, 20 people died and 200 others were injured when a tornado hit Orissa on March 31, 2009.

Ludhiana in Punjab also witnessed tornados in 1975 and 2007, but fortunately no damage was done to people’s lives, though damage to property was reported in 2007.

“Tornado is a meteorological disaster weather phenomena emanated from vertically growing clouds due to intense low pressure in the area associated with upper air cyclonic circulation. Funnel of clouds descend to ground dissociating with downpour, strong wind lighting and thunder which is quite damaging and same leads to causalities,” describes Paul.

Dr Mahabir Jaglan, associate professor and chairperson of the Geography Department, Kurukshetra University, who teaches climatology, however, says tornados may not necessarily be disastrous and the damage caused by these depends upon its intensity.

“In America, tornados cause much damage as they are normally of high intensity. They sustain for longer period and cover longer areas. While, in India, particularly in the north, tornados have been found to be of much weaker intensity,” he added.

Dr Jaglan informed that there are two scales to measure the intensity of tornados. The Fujita Scale and the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale rate tornadoes by damage caused.

An EF0 tornado probably damage trees but not substantial structures; whereas an EF5 tornado rips buildings off their foundations and can deform large skyscrapers. The similar TORRO scale ranges from a T0 for extremely weak tornadoes to T11 for the most powerful known tornadoes, Dr Jaglan added.

Karnal, July 29
The decision of the Haryana Development and Panchayat Departments to designate sarpanch as the SPIO under the Right to Information (RTI) Act has not worked out. Relevant information asked by the applicants was not being supplied and a large number of sarpanches are facing action.

As per information provided by the state information commissioner, 35 appeals have been instituted and 11 complaints have been filed against sarpanches and five sarpanches in the capacity of the SPIO have been penalised under the Act by the commission. The information procured by RTI activist Rajesh Sharma also revealed that sarpanch of Rampur Thedi, on whom a penalty of Rs 15,000 was imposed, had already deposited the money on December 29, 2009.

MR Ranga, state information commissioner, observed that designating sarpanch as the SPIO was not proper and urged the principal secretary (the Development and Panchayat Departments) to review the decision taken in this regard on June 4 and instead designate only the departmental officers as the SPIO. The commission sent the first letter on July 15, 2008, followed by two reminders on August 29, 2008, and December 15, 2008, but the department did not deem it necessary to respond and the state information commission (SIC) was now convening a meeting of officers of the departments.

The SIC had no plausible explanation that under what rules, sarpanch had been designated as the SPIO and observed that though it is a hypothetical question and the SPIO of commission need not reply but still it is informed that the Union Government time and again insisted to give more powers to the PRIs. Probably, keeping in view these facts the government decided to designate sarpanch as the SPIO.

The SIC had also held a meeting on appointment of the first Appellate Authority, the SPIO and the ASPIO and decided that sarpanch being non-official members might not be able to take punitive action under Section 20 of the RTI Act and this may impede the implementation of decisions of the SIC. The SIC conveyed the decision to the principal secretary (Development and Panchayat Departments) vide its letter on August 29, 2009, for taking “appropriate further action” but noting concrete was done.

Since Chandigarh is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, the Union Law Ministry is not able to find out a way which high court, that of Punjab or Haryana (if it comes into being), should have jurisdiction over the city beautiful. The ministry is not comfortable with the suggestion that both high courts can have jurisdiction over Chandigarh as advocated by those who are pleading for the separate high court for Haryana.

A separate high court for Haryana at a place other than Chandigarh, too, is not a practical solution.

Yamunanagar, July 29
A documentary film “Dhammachhetra - The lost land of Buddha” made by city-based documentary filmmaker Sidhartha will be telecast on DD-India, a channel of Doordarshan.

The documentary depicts historical monuments related to Buddha and the existence of Buddhism some 2,300 years ago in different parts of the state. It will be telecast on August 6. The 24-minute documentary in English is dedicated to all people, who lost their lives in the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Sidhartha, the directer and producer of the film, is also the president of the Buddhist Forum and has launched a campaign to protect the monuments of the state.

Giving details about the film, Sidhartha said, “The film depicts that some 2,300 years ago, the present Haryana was an important place, where Buddhism had flourished to its maximum. This is evident from ancient scriptures that reveals that Buddha himself had visited the state and had laid the foundation for Buddhism,” he said.

It was believed that the Buddhism existed in Haryana till 12th century AD, but the present excavation of Buddhist monuments in the state, like stupa’s, monasteries, idols, painted grey ware suggested that people here practiced Buddhism till 14 century AD, he added.

The basic idea behind the movie was to create awareness about the monuments at the national and international level. Many of the monuments were still in a much neglected state, he said.

“We have depicted in the film all monuments related to Buddha, which are situated in different parts of the state, including Adi Badri, Chaneti, Agroha, Asandh and Kurukshetra,” he added.

“I had earlier made a documentary film “Ramayan aur Ramsethu” in 2007. After getting the certification from the Central Board of Film Certification, New Delhi, for the film, I submitted it with DD-India about a month ago.

However, DD-India’s deputy director Shahnaz Yusufzai recently sent a letter to me providing details about the telecast schedule of the film,” he added.

Chandigarh, July 29
The government has set up the Haryana Academy of History and Culture (HAHC) to promote specialised research relating to the state’s history, heritage and analyse the contribution of its people in the freedom struggle. It is headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The HAHC will conduct meticulous field work to unearth and understand the past and the present content of the history and culture of the state. It will also document, compile and publish books, monographs, reports, journals, papers etc. relating to Haryana’s history, besides setting up a specialised and multifaceted library and repository of records concerning the state.

Presiding over the first meeting of the governing body of the HAHC here recently, Hooda said the academy would assess and analyse the heroic struggle waged by the Haryanavis during the freedom movement. It would also weigh and vet their contribution to various aspects of national life.

Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal and Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati would be the senior vice-chairperson and vice-chairperson of the academy, respectively.

The Secretaries, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Education, Finance, Archives and Archeology Departments and Vice-Chancellors of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak; and Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, would be its ex-officio members.

Prof K.C. Yadav has been appointed its Director and member-secretary. The academy would also have 10 non-official members.