Gurgaon, December 16
There’s a saying that it’s better to light a candle than to curse darkness. Hence, if the chaos on Gurgaon’s roads frustrates you and you strongly feel that some immediate action is required to improve traffic management, here is an opportunity to get actively involved in the city’s traffic management system.

The Gurgaon traffic police authorities have invited residents to become part of a team of traffic volunteers, being formed with support from members of public.

Owing to the acute shortage of manpower, the local police has decided to seek active support of local residents and make them partners in traffic management in response to public demand for action and improved conditions on Gurgaon roads.

“We are looking for volunteers willing to put in a minimum of 2 hours a week as per their convenience. With the efforts of traffic volunteers put together with our own staff, we will be able to achieve far greater results in our clampdown on traffic offenders,” said Gurgaon DCP (Traffic) Bharti Arora in a statement issued here yesterday.

She appealed to the people to come forward and help make Gurgaon a better city to live and commute in.

“We wish to target those who disobey red lights, block the flow of traffic by stopping in the wrong lane, use mobile phones while driving and violate other traffic rules and/or indulge in rash driving,” Arora said, adding that active help and support from the public could play a great role in effective implementation of traffic safety rules.

“If you think it is time to move on from being an armchair critic to making a real difference with some real and tangible contribution, this is the time to come forward,” she maintained.

The residents interested in serving as traffic volunteers can enrol themselves by sending an email at dcp.trafficggn@hry.nic.in or contact telephone no. 0124-2217015 or sms on 09219592195 by typing @GTP followed by their details.

Besides traffic volunteers, Arora has also appealed to the people that in case they witness any traffic offence and are in a position to photograph the same, they should e-mail the details of the vehicle number, venue and time of offence along with the photograph to dcp.trafficggn@hry.nic.in, upload on to the Gurgaon traffic police site on Facebook or send by post to the DCP Traffic office, Sector 51.

Panipat, December 16
In a move aimed at putting an end to the ongoing tussle between the authorities and local industrials over the shifting of units to the specially curved out part II of industrial sector 29, the government has approved supply of 17 cusecs of canal water for the industry in this sector.

The industrialists, who had been under fire from the district administration and the pollution control board for having failed to shift their units out of the city limits, had been maintaining that the sector lacked facilities and it was not possible to move there.

The announcement that vindicated the stand of the industrialists came from Cabinet Minister for Finance, Irrigation and Environment Ajay Yadav, who was here recently to preside over a special meeting with the industrialists.

During the meeting, the industrialists presented a charter to the minister, which also included a long pending demand of direct power supply to the units from Panipat Thermal Power Plant. The minister said he would take up the matter with the power minister and the chief minister to find a suitable solution.

The non-shifting of the units to the new sector had been creating a lot many environmental troubles for the city, which has already been facing acute pollution problem.

The industrialists had been ruing that the new sector lacked basic infrastructure while the authorities were of the view that the sector is fully equipped with power, sewage, water, roads and a treatment plant already in place to support manufacturing operations.

The industrialists and the authorities had even got entangled in a legal battle, with the latter moving the court against the date-bound notices served on them for shifting units. The court had ordered a stay on the shifting.

Yashpal Malik, president of the dyers association, had been claiming that the industrialists were ready to cooperate provided basic infrastructure was made available in the sector. He stated that dyeing units required more than 20 crore litres of water each day and so far not even a single drop of water had been made available in the sector. Besides, unavailability of power had also been another issue that had been delaying the development of the new sector.

Jhajjar, December 16
The chief coaches of the Indian Women and Men Kabaddi Teams, Sunil Dabas and Balwan Singh, the Dronacharya Award recipient, respectively, were honoured by Haryana Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal at her residence for winning gold medals in both categories of kabaddi in the recently held Asian Games.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister said both coaches had brought laurel not only to the state, but also to the country as their teams clinched gold medals in both categories by displaying marvellous performance.

“Coaches play a significant role in the performance of players as they not only provide a better training to make them technically sound, but also instill confidence among them for giving their best in contests,” said the Minister, adding that those players reached the height of success who were blessed with quality coaches.

Applauding the contribution made by both coaches of the kabaddi teams, she said coaches had yet again proved their skills by fulfilling the public and selectors’ expectation pinned before the commencement of the Games.

“The players of the state who have won medals in the Asian Games will be honoured with cash prizes as per the announcement made by the state government at a function to be organised on December 22 at Indradhanush Auditorium, Panchkula,” the Minister informed.

She maintained that the government had been taking a number of steps to promote sports and those initiatives had started showing fruitful results. She expressed satisfaction that the chief coach of the kabaddi team (men), Balwan Singh, belonged to Haryana and eight players were from the state out of the 12 players in the team in the Games.

In the kabaddi team (women) also, two players were from the state and hoped that more players would be the part of the kabaddi team in future, Bhukkal added.

The coaches, Sunil Dabas and Balwan Singh, said both, men and women, teams had toiled hard before the Games for getting top position in the events. “Now, we are totally satisfied with the performance of the players in the Games and hope that they will continue such sort of performance in future as well,” they added.

Kaithal, December 16
Female foeticide is a curse for society as it causes imbalance in the male-female ratio which ultimately weakens the social fabric. This was stated by MP Naveen Jindal while addressing a public meeting in Siwan village, 10 km from here, recently.

Jindal said such an environment should be created where no one could think of indulging into female foeticide. He said if this tendency was not checked, it would have serious repercussions on society in the long run. Decreasing female population would give birth to a number of social evils like increase in rape cases, eve-teasing, etc.

He said besides government agencies, a number of social organisations and NGOs had realised the gravity of situation and have started taking initiative to check this evil. The MP exhorted the people to maintain sanitation in their neighbourhood in order to keep themselves away from diseases. He said defecation in the open should be checked and people should construct toilets in their homes.

He said government agencies and the OP Jindal Gramin Jan Kalyan Sansthan had motivated and helped the people to construct toilets in their dwelling units so that they could live with dignity.

He also spoke on drug addiction and cautioned the people not to allow youths to fall in the bad habit which had been weakening the roots of society. He said drug addicts should be sent to de-addiction centres run by the government and other social and voluntary organisations.

Jindal called upon the people to take benefits of various welfare schemes launched by the Centre and the state government. He said the administration should ensure that benefits of such schemes percolated to the targeted population which would bring drastic changes in the economic condition of the people.

Jindal announced grants worth lakhs of rupees for various development works in the area on public demand.

Former minister and DCC president Tejinder Pal Mann and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dillu Ram also addressed the meeting. Jindal was presented a robe of honour by the residents of the area.

Karnal, December 16
Karnal residents would not have anticipated that a local theater artist who created a stir by his solo performance in a play "Jhuthan" years back would make it to the big screen. Amitosh Nagpal has indeed done it.

Grown up in Karnal, city of legendry Karan, Amitosh, a passout of the National School of Drama (NSD), has played the role of Sonakshi Sinha's brother in "Dabang". The multi-faceted versatile theatre artist, who is not only an actor but also a lyricist, has been integral part of theater from 2001-2003.

His lyrics in Dibakar Banerji's film "Oye Lucky, Lucky Oye" was nominated for the national award. Credited with scripting some famous screen plays, Amitosh is concept writer for numerous advertisements of the National Stock Exchange (NSE) and had also penned a jingle for "Kurkure".

With more than 25 commercial advertisements, including famous ads of Bajaj XCD (Bike) and Sun TV (DTH) to his credit, the theatre artist-turned actor has also acted in TV "powder" with Yash Raj Films.

After passing out from the NSD in 2006, Anitosh played the lead role of Baiju in "Aao sathi sapna dekhein", a musical love story directed by Swanand Kirkire, which gave him a breakthrough and established him as an actor.

With numerous theatre performances like Nukkar Natak "Girgit" directed by K K Malik before joining the NSD and a role in Salman Rushdi's "Midnight Children" which was organized all over Europe and was a big success, Amitosh says that he was inspired by her mother, a retired school lecturer. "She cultivated the talent in me when I was young. People used to make fun of me whenever I expressed my desire to become an actor", says a candid Amitosh.

He attributes his first visible performance to "Dabang" and is excited about his forthcoming film "Phillum City" directed by Deven Khote and starring John Abraham. 

Kaithal, December 16
The purpose of lok adalats is to make available justice at doorsteps to litigants so that they can get speedy justice and get their cases settled with mutual consent.

This was stated by RS Baswana, district and sessions judge, and chairman, District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), while addressing litigants, advocates and villagers in Bata village of the district where a rural lok adalat was held recently.

Reetu YK Behal, ACJM, and civil judge, senior division, Kaithal, was also present in the lok adalat. As many as 35 out of the 65 cases were settled on the occasion.

Baswana said people should make the maximum use of lok adalats to get their pending cases settled which saved their time, energy and money.

He said the DLSA was making efforts to make available free legal services to poor, widows and economically weaker sections of society.

He said everyone had a right to know for which offence one was being arrested and the concerned person had the right to see arrest warrant, if any, and take legal opinion from his lawyer.

Anyone arrested by the police had to be produced in the court within 24 hours of his arrest.

The district judge also expressed concern over foeticide and said people from all walks of life should join hands to eradicate this evil from society which had resulted in imbalance in the male-female ratio. He said women too have equal rights as men.

They had left their impact in every field and were making significant contribution in nation building.

Faridabad, December 16
Several employee unions relating to various departments of the government, boards, universities and urban local bodies have launched a mass mobilisation campaign in Faridabad and Palwal for the success of their proposed December 19 “Jail Bharo” agitation in Rohtak.

The employees, who have been agitating under the banner of the Sarva Karamchaari Sangh, Haryana, for a long time, are claimed to have resorted to the agitation to press for their demands.

Subhash Lamba, general secretary of the sangh, said the main grouse of the employees was the government’s faulty implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. The government had promised to follow the pattern of the Central government employees, but it has not done so, putting the state government employees at a loss ranging from Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, he added.

Also, the employees are against the government going ahead with notifying the public-private partnership (PPP) system in all departments relating to public welfare and utility services. According to employee leaders, this would deepen the practice of contract system of jobs. Moreover, the employees demand that all vacant class III and IV grade jobs should be filled through regular appointments. According to them, contractual employees were deprived of their rights and privileges.

The Sangh is also miffed at the government’s alleged “flip flop” on the demand for regularisation of jobs of all eligible employees in various departments, including ad hoc teachers. The government had constituted a high-powered committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary in August 2009 to decide on the issue, but it has not yet come out with the report.

The employees also demand medical cash loan and pension scheme for those appointed after January 2006 based on GDF. Presently, their pension scheme is based on EPF.

Chandigarh, December 16
A website (www.pppinharyana.gov.in) on public-private partnerships (PPP), giving details of various on-going projects in different sectors has been launched here.

Launching the website, Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said the primary objective of the website would be periodic monitoring of PPP projects in the state right from inception till their completion. The website would be user friendly with a provision for 'user login' which would enable the implementing departments or agencies of the state government to feed data relating to the PPP projects undertaken by them online in prescribed formats. The website is designed to generate various reports using this data at the click of a mouse for proper monitoring.

Giving details about the PPP initiatives in Haryana, Gulati said the PWD(B&R) had undertaken a project in the PPP mode for the Gurgaon-Faridabad and Ballabhgarh-Sohna roads. The project corridor provides major inter-state North-South connectivity between Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra to Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. This four-laned corridor also connects NH-8 at Kotputli to NH-10 at Rohtak.

The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation had undertaken the development of Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway (Western Peripheral Expressway) project in the PPP mode. On completion of the project, vehicular congestion in Delhi would be reduced to a large extent.

She said the Tourism Department had given five acres of land belonging to Food Craft Institute, Badkhal, to a private entrepreneur, Bharat Hotels Ltd., New Delhi, on lease for 33 years for setting up a hotel and hospitality management institute. Gulati said that Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) was executing the Jhajjar power transmission project in the PPP mode jointly with Jhajjar KT Transco, an SPV formed by Kalpataru Power Transmission, Mumbai, and Techno Electric and Engineering, Kolkata.

She said six projects worth Rs. 114.94 crore under the PPP mode had been completed and 21 PPP projects with estimated cost of about Rs 64336.58 crore were under implementation. As many as 34 PPP projects having an estimated cost of about Rs.2095.82 crore were in the pipeline.

Chandigarh, December 16
Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati has advised the district-evel officers to redress the grievances of people in a timebound manner so that the people do not have to approach courts unnecessarily.

She was presiding over the sixth divisional development review session of Rohtak division through video-conferencing at Chandigarh. Besides the Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries of all major departments, Commissioner of Rohtak division and the Deputy Commissioners of the districts under Rohtak division also participated in the meeting. The districts of Jhajjar, Karnal, Panipat, Rohtak and Sonepat fall in Rohtak division.

She said a litigation policy had been approved and advised the officers to follow the policy to prevent adding more cases to already huge pendency of court cases. Gulati also directed officers to review all the pending court cases and submit a report on such cases.

About the plots given to the people under the Mahatma Gandhi Rashtriya Grameen Basti Yojna, she said that the people who had already been given the plots should now be urged to carry out construction on those plots. Gulati asked the officers to conduct regular checks on public utility services such as hospitals and educational institutions.

Chandigarh, December 16
Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd. (HPGCL) has decided to give a bonanza of incentives to its employees in recognition of the services rendered by them as also to inculcate a sense of belongingness to the organisation. These incentives include childcare leave (CCL), financial assistance to next of kin in case an employee dies while on duty and marriage advance.

Sanjeev Kaushal, managing director, HPGCL, said the Board of Directors has decided to allow CCL to women employees to enable them to take care of their children at the time of need whether bringing them up or in case of their needs like examination and sickness.

In line with the policy of the state government, the CCL might be granted for a maximum period of two years that is 730 days during the entire service of a woman employee for taking care of her two eldest children below the age of 18 years.

It has been decided that Rs 5 lakh would be given to the next of kin of a regular employee of HPGCL who passes away on duty. Recognising the importance of the services of contractually engaged persons, he added that Rs 2.50 lakh would be given to the next of kin of a contractual or outsourced employee working for HPGCL, who passes away while on duty.

He said the corporation had also decided to adopt the policy of the government regarding grant of advance to its employees for their own marriage. The advance was limited to Rs 1 lakh or 15 months’ pre-revised basic pay of the employee, whichever is less, he added.

Karnal, December 16
“Show concern, start bothering and protect the victims of despicable crime like human trafficking” was the message for 54 participants at the three-day workshop on “Combating Trafficking in Human Beings” held at the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban.

Representatives of departments like prosecution, police, health, women and child welfare, labour and NGOs from northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh (UT), Uttarakhand and Delhi attended the workshop organised by the Bureau of Police Research and Development to training and sensitisation about human rrafficking.

The participants were trained to work with more zeal and enthusiasm for preventing human trafficking in all forms as it completely violates the human dignity and the individual loses his health, wealth, liberty of life and his rights of safety against the violation.

The weaker sections of society like women and children were the main targets of this crime.

SN Vashisht, ADGP, crime, Haryana, nodal officer for the programme, said trafficking in human beings primarily and adversely affected the people in the lowest socio-economic group and the workshop was just a small beginning in rooting out of this social malady.

Sudhir Chowdhary, director, Haryana Police Academy, said the programme was designed with a view to striking a balance between theoretical and practical application in real situation. Trafficking in human being most lucrative, this business was spreading as an industry at an alarming speed, he cautioned.

Experts from different fields, including Dr PM Nair, IPS, ADGP (CRPF), New Delhi; NC Joshi, a former DGP, BPRD; Dr KP Singh; Dr Achal Bhagat, Apollo Hospital, New Delhi; and Dr Sunitha Krishnan, Prajawala, Hyderabad.

Arvind Jain, a Supreme Court advocate, and Ravikant Shrivastav, executive director, Shakti Vahini, updated the knowledge of participants with regard to legal provisions for investigation and prosecution, rescue and rehabilitation of the victims.

Ajay Maken, Union Minister of State for Home, who inaugurated the workshop, said human trafficking was a serious crime and the government was serious about combating this social malady and planned to establish a human trafficking unit in each district of the state.

Faridabad, December 16
A four-member high-powered committee constituted by the District Public Grievances and Redressal Committee in its report upheld a complaint regarding illegal occupation of forestland in Anangpur village, near here.

The report was recently placed before the committee in its meeting presided over by state Finance Minister Capt Ajay Yadav, who is chairman of the committee in the district.

Capt. Yadav ordered for immediate removal of the encroachments on the land as well as fencing of the area and for undertaking plantations in it. He also ordered for the registration of a case against the guilty, besides action against officials, if found guilty.

Earlier, a former sarpanch of Anangpur village and others had lodged a complaint regarding the grabbing of forestland measuring about 16 acres. The allegation was that the land mafia was disposing of land in parts. Some had even done illegal boring of tubewells on the land and were selling water to the public.

At the instance of the Finance Minister, a four-member committee headed by the additional deputy commissioner, Faridabad, and having the district forest officer, SDM, and MC joint commissioner as its members, was constituted to inquire into the case. The committee in its report upheld the complaint.

Meanwhile, three of the total 19 complaints, which came up for hearing in the meeting, were resolved on the spot. One of the demands in the form of a complaint was for setting up of a police PCR exclusively for old age persons on the pattern of a separate PCR provided for women. It was agreed in the meeting to nominate a police official as a nodal officer for the project and set up a PCR for old age persons.

The observations made by the ministers in the cases put up for consideration ranged from the need for better policing in the city and for better treatment of complainants visiting police stations to providing momentum to development projects.

Rohtak, December 16
The residents’ welfare associations of all five developed sectors of HUDA here have set up a joint body for the first time. Named as the Federation of the Residents Welfare Association of HUDA Sectors, this body will look after the overall welfare and coordinate the efforts to get resolved various problems and issues concerning the residents of these sectors.

Claiming this, spokesperson for the federation said Col RS Suhag (retd) had been elected as the president of the body at a meeting held here recently. Lamenting that there had been strings of common issues regarding basic amenities that were yet to be addressed, he said the residents, especially senior citizens, were concerned about the safety aspect as there had been a spurt in the incidents like thefts and snatching in these sectors due to lack of proper vigil by the police authorities.

Claiming that this platform would be used to take up various issues, Colonel Suhag said the residents of nearly all sectors had been under a feeling of being residing in an area which had not been having proper link with the rest of the city due to poor local transportation.

He said while the district authorities ought to launch a non-polluting local bus service connecting all sectors, measures should also be taken to ensure following of the traffic rules in order to check the incidents of rash driving and traffic violations in and around the sectors.

The federation would submit a memorandum of its demands to the authorities soon, he added.

Sonepat, December 16
Dr KK Khandelwal, additional principal secretary to the Haryana Chief Minister, has urged the teachers to become a model guide for students and torchbearer of society in order to achieve the goals of education. “Teachers should not take their profession as only a means of earning bread and butter,” he added.

Dr Khandelwal was addressing the participants at the inaugural session of the month-long sixth orientation programme organised at Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan, under the aegis of the Academic Staff College of University Grant Commission on December 13.

There was a need of great teachers like Swami Vivekananda to eradicate evils from society, he said and added that the qualities of a teacher had always been the inspiring and motivational force for students in shaping their career.

“In order to make students a guiding force of future, it is the need of the hour that first of all teachers have to be the best human beings as well as example in themselves for society and the student community,” he opined.

In her welcome address, Dr Pankaj Mittal, vice-chancellor of the university, praised Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for giving priority to women education by opening a women university and a women medical college at Khanpur Kalan.

Balbir Kaur, pro-vice-chancellor, hoped that the programme would benefit the participants who would utilise it in shaping the career of students.

Dr Sanket Vij listed the activities of the UGC’s Academic Staff College and the objectives of organising such programmes.

As many as 35 assistant professors from different colleges under MDU Rohtak, JCDM College of Engineering, Sirsa, DCRUST, Murthal, Ramjas College of Nattika in Kerala, GMN College of Ambala, IB College of Panipat, TITS, Bhiwani, Government First Grade Bangru, Tirupati, Bangalore, Punjab University, Chandigarh, are participating in the programme.

Sonepat, December 16
In recognition of mutual benefits derived from scholarly interactions, the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology (DCRUST), Murthal, signed an MoU with the Tampere University of Technology, Finland, here recently.

The aim is to establish specific educational relations and cooperation between the two participating institutions in order to promote academic linkages and enrich the understanding of the culture of the two countries.

The MOU, signed by RK Arora, registrar, DCRUST, and Prof Meticarp from Tampere University, will facilitate an exchange between faculty members to promote collaborative research, other educational developments and to further mutual understanding.

The faculty members can also give a series of lectures for periods of time ranging from a week to a semester. The agreement also has the provision for a mutual exchange of two students per academic year.

HS Chahal, vice-chancellor of the university, gave a detailed presentation about the university, explaining the vision, mission, infrastructure and other facilities, programmes being run, research funding available etc. This was a good beginning which would further pave the way for collaborations with other universities of international repute, he added.

Prof Meticarp said Tampere University was the second largest university of Finland with student strength of around 12,500. “The university offers UG and PG degrees in all engineering streams, biotechnology, microbiology and other medical fields,” he said and added that it already had collaboration with at least 250 universities worldwide.

Prof Meticarp, an eminent researcher in the field of biotechnology, from the international division of Tampere University, was accompanied by Prof Brad from the University of Rhodes, South Africa, and Prof RC Kuhad from the University of Delhi, South Campus.