Jhajjar, November 29
Though Haryana police has been trying hard to control crime by chalking out novel plans, it has so far failed to tighten noose around proclaimed offenders (POs) whose number is significantly going up. As per official records, as many as 3,807 POs across the state are out of police arrest, while the names of 62 POs are registered in the record of the Government Railway Police (GRP).

Considered to be highly sensitive in the matter of crime, the Rohtak Police Range covering five districts, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal, has 926 POs which have been raising question mark over the functioning of the police.

Interestingly, Palwal, the youngest district of the state, is on the top position with 791 POs, while Faridabad got second position in the tally with 478 POs followed by Hisar district with 367. Industrial town Panipat is not far behind with Hisar as it has 352 POs in its name. Fatehabad is the only district where the number of POs could not reach the double figure mark. Merely eight POs are in the account of this district.

Ashok Kadian, a senior advocate, said an accused who had been declared PO was equally treated as a culprit in the eyes of law as he opted to run out of the court proceedings in spite of facing it. In this situation, it was the accountability of the police to nab the PO for the disposal of the case, he added.

A senior police official said the police launched hunt to nab the POs, but it got failed to do so owing to lack of serious efforts as it had already so many other criminal cases to be sorted out after proper investigation. He attributed the problem to insufficient staff and said there was not enough staff to keep a tab on the activities of friends and kin of POs.

Gurgaon, November 29
These days, individuals as well as organisations widely use social networking sites such as Facebook, Orkut, Plaxo, Ibibo, Hi5 etc for keeping in touch with their dear ones, attracting business and socialising in general.

In a novel move, the Gurgaon traffic police (GTP) has started using popular networking site Facebook for a prompt two-way interaction with residents of Gurgaon, considering the lifestyle and requirements of the millennium city denizens.

The residents can not only get regular traffic and other updates from the police authorities, but they can also register their complaints and suggestions online.

“We take suitable action on the complaints and suggestions of the residents as well as commuters so as to regulate the flow of traffic to the best of our ability,” asserts DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora, who was instrumental in launching the idea.

Practically implementing the famous quote that every citizen is a cop without uniform, the GTP authorities have asked the residents and commuters to inform them in case they come across any violation of traffic safety rules.

According to Arora, the campaign got a good response and a number of residents not only lodged specific complaints regarding violations of rules, but also uploaded pictures of vehicles or persons violating the rules onto the site.

“On the basis of their complaints substantiated by the accompanying snaps, we have issued challans/notices to at least 35 violators, who include two police personnel,” says Arora, adding that driving licences of the habitual violators had been cancelled.

In another interesting initiative, the persons who appear in the challaning branch of the traffic police to pay the fine are compulsorily made to watch a film on traffic safety before they are let off.

Rewari, November 29
Senior police officials of the state as well as functionaries of the Road Safety Organisation (RSO), a social outfit, participated in a state-level traffic convention at Madhuban Police Lines in Karnal district recently.

The convention deliberated upon ways and means to minimise road accidents, which have been taking a heavy toll on human life in the state.

Shatrujit Kapur, IGP, telecommunication, was the chief guest. The convention was addressed by BS Sandhu, Additional IGP and Dr Rajshri Singh, Assistant IGP, traffic and highways. In his keynote address, Shatrujit expressed concern at the increasing incidents of fatal road accidents, which, he said, had been killing about 4,500 persons in the state annually.

He added it was agonising that accident victims mostly ranged between 20 and 50 years, depriving over 4,000 families of their lone bread earners.

He lamented that casualties in road accidents were much higher here as compared to western countries and it needed to be curtailed urgently.

The IGP said it was gratifying that the RSO, which was formed in October 2009, was doing a good job. Simultaneously, he wanted retired police personnel to be associated with the RSO to enhance its efficacy.

While stressing the need to follow traffic rules in letter and spirit to avert mishaps on highways, BS Sandhu said the traffic police was just engaged in regulating vehicular traffic whereas the RSO personnel were taking pains to make driving safer and hassle-free. He announced that a road safety week would be observed in Haryana from January 1 to 7 during which a comprehensive campaign to create awareness among road users would be launched in Karnal, Ambala, Faridabad and Rohtak districts.

Similarly, highlighting aims and objectives of the RSO, Rajshri Singh urged everyone to lend assistance to the police in reducing road disasters.

In the concluding session, DGP Ranjiv Dalal released a magazine on road safety while hopefully stating that it would provide useful tips to motorists and others.

Sonepat, November 29
Gannaur town, subdivisional headquarter having population of around 50,000, is set to get rid of drinking water and sewerage problems as the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has made a provision of `38.15 crore for the purpose.

According to Ajit Joshi, deputy commissioner, the drinking water supply of Gannaur town is based on tubewells. But as per chemical analysis report, some parameters of tubewell water such as TDS, fluorides etc have exceeded the permissible limits rendering it unacceptable.

The necessity for preparing canal-based water supply scheme has arisen as due to scanty rainfall and heavy draw of water, the spring level of the area is going down day by day, the DC said and disclosed that the NCRPB had approved an estimate of over `27.73 crore for the construction of canal-based water works of 9 MLD. It included the land acquisition cost of `7.71 crore.

As many as four boosting stations are being constructed in various localities to boost the water pressure, the DC sais, adding that the works were likely to be completed by the end of this year.

He also informed that the NCRPB had sanctioned `15.08 crore for the construction of a 7 MLD-capacity sewage treatment plant and two pumping stations for the town. Approximately 31,556-m-long sewer lines of various sizes were being laid in the town and about 85 per cent of the population would be covered with sewerage facility after the completion of the project, he added.

Similarly, the DC said, the NCRPB had sanctioned over `8.29 crore for providing sewerage facility in the remaining approved colonies of Sonepat town. Besides, laying of 52,575-m-long sewer lines of various sizes and two sewage pumping stations were also being constructed, he added and claimed that 85 per cent of Sonepat population would be covered.

Kurukshetra, November 29
To check escaping of prisoners when they are under treatment, special wards will be built in the premises of such government hospitals where this facility is lacking in the state. This was stated by Haryana DGP Ranjeev Dalal after inspecting the concluding of commando training camp at police lines here recently.

Dalal said such special wards would be equipped with elaborate security arrangements so that none of the prisoners, including hardcore criminals, could escape. In reply to a question regarding the escape of a prisoner from the premises of LNJP Hospital here recently, he said four police personnel had been suspended and arrested for their negligence. In future, special conveyance with guards would be provided to carry prisoners to hospitals for treatment.

He informed that Rs 300 crore had been granted by HUDCO to the state police for the construction of quarters equipped with modern facilities for police personnel in all districts.

Talking about the upgrading of educational institutions run by Haryana police in the state, Dalal said several renowned educational organisations had sent their proposals to undertake these institutions and these proposals were under active consideration. Presently, DAV organisation was running police schools in Ambala, Hisar and Panipat, he added.

When asked how road accidents could be controlled, he said the number of vehicles was increasing day-by-day and the accident graph could only be lowered by widening roads and following traffic rules. IGP, Ambala range, KK Sandhu, District Police Chief Sultan Singh, DSP Mohinder Singh, DSP Rajesh Phogat and in charges of all police stations of the district were among those who were present on the occasion. Earlier, Sandhu inaugurated a newly constructed CIA staff building at Sector 8, Urban Estate, here, on the same day.

Talking to mediapersons, Sandhu said the police was being equipped with modern system and a computerised copy of FIR would be provided at all police stations in the state. He advised police personnel to settle pending cases at their earliest and behave politely with complainants visiting police stations. 

Fatehabad, November 29
Red Ribbon Express (RRE), the world's largest mass mobilisation campaign against HIV/AIDS, evoked a massive response during the train's two-day stopover at Jakhal railway station in Fatehabad from November 25 before it proceeded to Panipat at the fag end of its year-long journey covering 22 states of the country.

Over 24,000 visited the exhibition inside the train to acquire knowledge on the issues considered a taboo in the rural and semi-urban society of the district.

Among the visitors were elected members of the panchayats, accredited social health activists (ASHA), anganwadi workers, students, farmers, traders and people from almost all sections of society.

Sunita, an accredited social health activists (ASHA) from Kansala village, had brought 20 women from her village to see the exhibition

A group of students from Manohar Memorial College of Education, Fatehabad, reached Jakhal with their teachers and acquired knowledge about the deadly disease and ways of its prevention.

"Our students are future teachers. It is very important to make them aware of the issue so that they can spread awareness among their students in future," said Dr Mamta Chaudhary, principal of the college.

She said that the college organised seminars and workshops on HIV/AIDS on a regular basis to create awareness amongst the youths, the most targeted class.

Usha Dahiya, president of the District Women Congress, said she had accompanied volunteers of the party for attending an awareness session in the RRE so that they could educate party workers later.

Dr OP Arya, Civil Surgeon, Fatehabad, said 319 samples of blood were tested for HIV/AIDS in the RRE out of which two were found positive.

The highlight of the campaign was a young HIV-infected couple, which told people that it was leading normal life even after the infection.

Volunteers of the Nehru Yuva Kendra (NYC) played a vital role in bringing villagers to the RRE. Satiish Sharma, coordinator of the NYC, Hisar-Fatehabad, said several of his volunteers had visited villages to spread message about the campaign.

Sonepat, November 29
The Sonepat Cooperative Sugar Mill is likely to crush 23 lakh quintals of sugarcane during this season and it will be more than two-and-a-half times in comparison to last season’s crushing of 9,61 lakh quintals. This was stated by Ajit Joshi, deputy commissioner, while inaugurating the crushing process at the mill recently.

The DC, who is also the chairman of the mill, asked the mill authorities to use the latest technology in crushing and suggested that cane growers could be provided with latest machines either on hire or on loan basis to boost sugarcane production.

With the cooperation from the Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, and its regional sugarcane research centre in Karnal, farmers should also be encouraged to crop new varieties of sugarcane for taking maximum output of this cash crop, he added.

The DC exhorted the farmers to opt for diversification of their cropping pattern and lay stress on cash crops like sugarcane, vegetables, oil seeds and pulses. The gtate government had been paying the highest procurement price for sugarcane in the country and the farmers should take benefit of this by increasing production, he added.

Virender Lather, managing director of the mill, informed that the mill had made a provision of over Rs 2 crore under cane development scheme and out of it, over Rs 1,66 crore would be advanced to farmers as interest-free loan and Rs 34.54 lakh would be spent as grant on cane development works.

ML Sharma, cane manager, informed that the crushing period was likely to long for more than four months against 61 days last season.

Panipat, November 29
With the Petroleum and Natural Gas Regulatory Board (PNGRB) inviting bids for piped gas in eight cities, including the industrial city of Panipat, the residents here are likely to get piped cooking gas directly to their homes with the gas distribution (CGD) system.

After Sonepat, where the CGD is all set to become operational by January next year, Panipat would be the second city in the state that would have the latest distribution system. The last date for submitting the bids is December 3. At present, only about half a million people in the country get piped gas, which is about 30 per cent cheaper than the traditional cooking fuel.

Earlier, similar projects were given a go ahead by the regulatory board at Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, Kota in Rajasthan, Meerut in Uttar Pradesh, Firozabad in UP and Vadodara in Gujarat along with Sonepat. Most of these projects were awarded to GAIL Gas, a subsidiary of GAIL India Ltd.

Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, the Indian Oil Corporation, Essar Oil, Great Eastern Energy Corporation Ltd, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation and BG India are some of the other companies that have submitted bids to set up CDG in these cities.

The average cost of setting up a city gas distribution network is around Rs 300-Rs400 crore. The government’s target is to roll out networks in about 200 cities over the next five years. This would involve an investment of over Rs 60,000 crore. The government plans to extend the reach of city gas to 20 million households over the next few years.

CGD, a fairly new concept, is already gripping the attention of many in the city as a number of residents in Sonepat have shown keenness in getting a direct to home gas connection. Gas supplied through the CGD would not only cost less, but would also get the residents rid of waiting for LPG cylinders, which generally takes a few days to be delivered at homes.

Along with Panipat, residents of Ludhiana and Jalandhar (Punjab), Panipat (Haryana), Asansol-Durgapur region (Bengal), Jamnagar district, Kutch (east), Kutch (west) and Bhavnagar district in Gujarat would also benefit from this move.

Jhajjar, November 29
The Rohtak Range Police has come up with a novel idea to improve quality, integrity and standard of investigation process of criminal cases, besides instilling confidence among people towards police functioning.

Under the plan, an investigation enabling team (IET) with six police officials of different ranks has been formed at district level of the range covering Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal districts.

The team will not only review all sensitive criminal cases in-depth by visiting police stations and posts of their respective district but also issue necessary guidelines to investigative officials (IOs) if it finds any foul play and wrong doing in the investigation process so that guilty persons could not manage to save them from punishment.

V. Kamaraja, IGP of Rohtak Range, disclosed that this while speaking to mediapersons here recently. He said the main motive behind the formation of the team was to bring accuracy, consistency and quality in the investigation process so that persons indulged in crime could be sent behind the bars.

“The team comprising an inspector as chief, two sub-inspectors (SIs) and assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) each and a senior scientific assistant will discuss various aspects of cases with the IO concerned after studying them thoroughly. It will also correct the discrepancies committed by the IO during the investigation,” informed the IGP.

By doing this, the team would be able to mount necessary pressure on the IOs for carrying out fair and accurate investigation. Thereafter, the possibility of any foul play in the investigation would automatically remove, he maintained.

“This is the consequence of falling standards of the police investigation that accused of many heinous crime cases go unpunished following lack of evidences and delicate investigation. Therefore, there is a need to strengthen the investigation process in an efficient manner,” said Kamaraja, adding that when the investigation would be conducted through scientific method it would not be easy for accused to give the police a slip.

Formation of the IET would turn out to be supportive in bringing a change in the police image, besides instilling confidence among the people towards police working, the IGP hoped.

Sonepat, November 29
An awareness seminar on the promotion of EUREPGAP standards (now known as GLOBALGAP) standards was organised at Manoli village recently by the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industries (FICCI). Around 80 progressive farmers growing vegetables like sweet corn, baby corn, mushroom, chilli, capsicum, brinjal, tomato etc from the village attended the seminar, which was inaugurated by Dr BS Yadav of the National Horticulture Mission (NHM).

Dr Yadav stressed on cooperation between the NHM and FICCI in promoting the EUREPGAP (GLOBALGAP) standards in the state. The Haryana wing of the NHM was offering grant of Rs 5 lakh per cluster for 50 hectares land under EUREPGAP.

He also informed that EUREPGAP was an initiative of agricultural producers and major retail chains belonging to the European Retail Parties (EUREP), which is an association of 118 major growers, exporters and importers of food products in Europe. “They work for global partnership to ensure safe and sustainable agriculture and have developed a set of standards called EUREPGAP, which incorporates the concept of globally accepted good agricultural practices (GAP) within the framework of commercial agricultural production for the long-term improvement and sustainability,” he said.

Dr Sanjeevan Bajaj, chief executive officer, FICCI Quality Forum, highlighted the importance of projects undertaken by FICCI to promote good agricultural practices in different parts of the country. She also spoke on various aspects of the EUREPGAP project, currently undertaken by FICCI with assistance from Royal Norwegian Embassy.

Arvind Pratap Singh, project executive, EUREPGAP, gave a technical presentation on EUREPGAP standards and its implementation methodology and certification process. He spoke on the current status of exports of Indian horticultural produce and the importance of standards and control points, its compliance criterion and its implementation methodology.

Kurukshetra, November 29
Some miscreants have cut a peepal tree, whose sapling was brought from Bodh Gaya in Bihar and was planted by former Prime Minister Gulzari Lal Nanda near the sacred Sannihit Sarovar here. The incident took place on the intervening night of November 26 and 27.

The cutting of the rest part of the tree was stopped after the intervention of Ashok Sharma and Pramod Kaushik, both social workers, Naresh Bharadwaj, Green Earth NGO member, and Naresh Mahajan, Shiv Sena district president, who later informed deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal.

A police team was sent to apprehend the miscreants, but they managed to escape. Later, Ram Lal, forest guard, noted the statements of eyewitnesses and assured of legal action against the accused. — OC

Khialiya himself has been in the forefront of blood donation in the country and has several national awards for his efforts.

Sunil Lamba, chairman of the college governing body, said the record created was a feather in the cap of the institution, especially as the camp had been organised to mark the birthday of the great philanthropist, late Chhaju Ram, after whom the college had been named.

Students of the Jat educational institutions of the city presented a cultural show on the occasion. 

Kurukshetra, November 29
A workshop on “acquiring teaching skills in classroom” sponsored by UGC was organised at I.G.N. College, Ladwa, 25 km from here, recently.

Dr VP Vedalankar, a writer and former professor at DAV College, Ambala City, and Dr SN Dhawan, a former professor from Kurukshetra University, addressed teachers having less than five years of experience to equip them with better pedagogical skills to make teaching work more effective, productive and interesting.

Drawing upon his reserves of vast and rich teaching experience spanning 35 years, Dr Vedalankar emphasised that in order to carry out effective teaching in the classroom and to create and sustain the interest of students, a teacher must adopt innovative and inventive approach laced with ingenuity and improvisation.

Dr Vedalankar said not only should the teacher be well-versed in his subject, he should have insatiable passion for infinite knowledge of diversified nature. “If teaching is pursued by blending the spirit of vocation and avocation, it will definitely yield marvelous results”.

He also stressed the need to build moral and spiritual character of the students so that they might not grow into egoistic and self-centric human beings but play a role in ridding the body politic of the country of various ills such as corruption, criminality, violence etc. The teacher’s own conduct and character should be reflective of his own impeccable integrity, sincerity, punctuality, commitment, deep insight into human psychology and his unflinching loyalty to the institution, society and the country,” he added.

Dr Dhawan lamented and deplored the declining standards of research work at the university level and conducting of practical in science subjects. He asked the teachers to tell the students that “they are very precious persons. They are created for a purpose. They must not indulge in destructive activities”. Every effort of the teacher should aim at producing students with positive outlook and only then can the society be benefited, he added.

Another speaker, Prof RL Goel also touched upon the role of a teacher as facilitator, interpreter and simplifier of abstruse vague, complex and jargon-ridden bookish knowledge.

Earlier, in his inaugural speech, college principal NK Nagpal welcomed the guests and exhorted the teachers to play their multi-pronged role with dedication and passion to maintain the glorious status of the teacher in society. Pawan Garg, president of the college governing body, presented mementoes to the guests and thanked them for making the workshop a rewarding, stimulating and fruitful experience.

Dr Sandeep Bansal, workshop organising secretary, coordinated the proceedings. 

Kurukshetra November 29
Markanda National College, Shahabad-Markanda, organised an inter-class declamation contest in memory of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar in collaboration with the Ambedkar Study Centre, Kurukshetra University .

Speakers spoke on diverse topics related to Bharat Ratna BR Ambedkar such as "social ideas of Ambedkar," "Ambedkar's role in the emancipation of depressed castes," "Economic thoughts of Ambedkar," "Ambedkar's contribution in the making of Indian Constitution," "Ambedkar and Women Emancipation" etc.

Dr Ram Bhagat Langyan, IAS (retd) and chairman of the Ambedkar Study Centre, presided over the funcation. He gave a lucid talk on "Ambedkar's life and teachings." He told students to go through the works of Ambedkar, know his contribution and follow his teachings.

Dr SK Chahal, Associate Professor of Modern History, Kurukshetra University, who was the guest of honour, spoke about Ambedkar's contribution to social, economic and political spheres and his role in nation building.

Dr Vinay Malhotra, Principal of the college, said such events reminded the younger generation about the contribution and teachings of great leaders.

Dr Langyan gave away cash prizes to the following winners: Neeraj(B.Com II) first prize; Ritu(MA I) and Jayant(BA III) second prize; and Puneet and Tilak Raj (B.Com II) third prize.

Ambala, November 29
Students of Mind Tree Public School enthralled the audience with their performance during their annual show ‘Songs and Rhymes Day’ here.

The programme commenced with a prayer song followed by a variety of fun-filled activities. The play ‘Andher Nagri Chaupat Raja’ was greatly applauded by the audience. It was an amalgamation of music, dance, rhymes and songs where the toddlers gave their best .

‘Mere Desh Ki Dharti’ displayed self-confidence, enthusiasm, depth of understanding and boldness of the young ones. The major attraction of the show was ‘qawwali’.

The students also presented several pariotic songs. A folk dance displayed the varied Indian cultrure.

School principal Sudha Mathur maintained that such programmes not only gave a boost to the hidden talents of kids but also sensitized them about the culture and traditions of the country. 

Rewari, November 29
A five-member team of Indian sailors comprising Balraj, Balkrishna Helegaonkar, Atool Singh, Farokh Tarapore and Shekhar Singh Yadav, won silver medal in the Open Match Racing Team event in the Asian Games at Shanwei Water Sports Centre in China on November 21. The Indian sailors finished second behind Japan, while the bronze went to South Korea.

This is a matter of pride for the people here that Balraj, son of Bhoop Singh, hails from Parkhotampur village of Rewari district. Balraj (33), now a medical assistant in the Indian Navy, joined the Navy in February, 1996. Felicitating him on his achievement, HPCC spokesperson Ved Prakash Vidrohi said he has not only put his little-known hamlet Parkhotampur on the international map, but has also brought laurels to the state.

Asserting that this achievement was more brighter in view of the dire lack of sports facilities in Rewari, Vidrohi urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to provide requisite infrastructure and other allied sports facilities here to enable talented sportspersons of the region to bring more laurels to the country in prospective international sports competitions.