To avoid the recurrence of such breaches, the Haryana government referred the case to IIT Roorkee to solve the flood problem of Kaithal, which suggested that either steel sheet pile or toe wall below ground up to the scoured level to cut off the seepage line should be constructed.

Accordingly, the proposal was approved and tenders floated in the national-level media. There was no reaction either from Punjab or elsewhere till May 7, 2011.

Malik said Haryana officials were surprised when the Punjab government suddenly raised the issue of construction of a wall along the canal when there was no such development rather a concrete structure was being constructed up to the ground level to check seepage and damage to the existing bandh.

It seems that the profile of the work at the construction site was never inspected by any senior officer of Punjab before levelling the allegation.

Had anyone from the Punjab side inspected the site, the situation would not have arisen. Malik added that “we did not want to hide any thing hence all details of this project have been depicted on a sign board at the site”. 

Panipat, July 18
With no forest cover at all to over 4,158 hectares of trees, the district seems to have achieved the unachievable.

After being craved out of Karnal district in 1989, the district faced an uphill task of developing forest cover as it had no natural forests of its own. However, the district authorities took up the challenge and managed to spread a forest cover over 2.4 per cent of the total land available in the district.

Buoyed by the accomplishment, the authorities have now set a target to bring more than 10 per cent of the total land under the forest cover.

Speaking to The Tribune, deputy commissioner JS Ahlawat said developing a forest cover was all the more important in this industrial hub of the region to curtail the ever increasing problem of air pollution which was caused by a large number industries that operate in the district.

He said the authorities had now decided to plant over 16.75 lakh more saplings of trees on government land in various parts of the district. Out of these, around 4 lakh would be planted by the Forest Department and the task of planting the rest of the tress had been entrusted to various government departments. He said government departments had been asked to plant trees on whatever land was available to them.

Besides asking village panchayats, schools, irrigation department and other departments, the authorities have also decided to rope in the general public to achieve the target of spreading the green cover to over 10 per cent of the total land, the DC said.

Ahlawat said the Forest Department had set up a tree nursery at Binjol, Shodpur, Matlauda, Kukharana, Brahman Majra, Urlana, Ahar, Patti Kalyana, Bhapra, Chachpura and Mahila villages, where adequate number of saplings were available. He said the department was offering these free of cost to the people so that more and more green belts could be created.

The DC said the department had picked up special trees that were considered to be more environment-friendly and these were being promoted at the nurseries. 

Yamunanagar, July 18
Johari Singh, father of Sunita Singh, has urged the government to extend financial help to her daughter for being an outstanding sportsperson and appoint her to the post of DSP from the sports quota.

Johari, who works in the BSF, said while his colleagues were protecting Indian borders, her daughter had conquered the Mount Everest with the National Flag and BSF badge in her hands.

Ironically, Sunita has not been honoured by the BSF till date whereas the Gujjar Samaj of various places like Kurukshetra, Panchkula, Chandigarh and Delhi has already felicitated and helped her.

He informed that the state government provided Rs 3 lakh for mountaineering but Rewari district was a backward area and many talented sportspersons were deprived of such welfare schemes. He told that he had spent about Rs 25 lakh on her daughter's education and training so far.

Bhupinder Singh Jauhar, chairman of the Guru Nanak Khalsa Group of Institutions, Dr Verinder Kaur, principal of the college, and other faculty members congratulated Sunita on this glorious achievement and urged the state government to extend financial help to this outstanding sportsperson and appoint her to the post of DSP from the sports quota.

Dr Verinder Kaur, principal of the college, said the Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation, Government of Nepal, had organised this expedition and Sunita successfully climbed the 8,848-m-high Mount Everest under the leadership of Ken Noguchi of Japan and Dawa Steven Sherpa.

She said Sunita was fond of thrilling and adventurous games and qualified NCC-C certificate also. She took part in many mountaineering events covering Manali, Darjeeling, Nepal and many other parts of the country. She had also bagged gold medals in badminton and tennis.

Sunita belongs to Gurjar Majri village of Rewari district where daughters are not allowed to pursue higher education and are considered as ‘paraya dhan’.

Sunita said in the 14-member team of mountaineers, there were only two Indians and the rest were from the other countries. Sunita’s father works in the BSF which is a transferable job due to which she got an opportunity to attend 28 days basic training of trekking and mountaineering from a reputed Government Mountaineering and Allied Sports Institution.

This training opened the doors of success to her and now she is on the top of the world because of her parents, she added.

She fulfils all the eligibility criteria for this post and deserves to be recruited as DSP in view of her significant contribution to the field of sports.

Sunita urged the people to provide the best possible education to their daughters so that they could get better opportunities for success. Sunita aims at eradicating child marriage and foeticide and she displayed this message at the Mount Everest peak.

Kalka, July 18
The Shiwalik Vikas Manch has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) in the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking shifting of the proposed toll plaza near Saket (Chandimandir).

Vijay Bansal, president of the manch, said in view of the four-laning of the Zirakpur-Parwanoo highway, the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) was going to construct a toll plaza on the NH-22 near Saket. It has been sought in the PIL that the proposed toll plaza should be bifurcated either to Baddi or Parwanoo at the border of Himachal Pradesh, as it would be an extra financial burden on the daily commuters of Kalka and Pinjore, besides creating a traffic hazard on the highway.

It has also been sought that the state government and the NHAI should immediately start the construction of Surajpur-Basaulan mini bypass as frequent traffic jams on the Pinjore-Nalagarh highway had already claimed several lives, but the NHAI authorities had become silent spectators on the issue.

The state government had already sanctioned this 7-km mini bypass and had acquired 250 acres. The NHAI was to construct this bypass, but it had not taken started the work till date. After the construction, the bypass would connect the NH-22 with the NH-21-A and would certainly help in smooth running of traffic in Pinjore. 

Rewari, July 18
Thousands of Vaish Samaj activists from Haryana and Delhi participated in a joint convention of the Vaish Samaj and Congress leaders, held under the auspices of the Agarwal Vaish Samaj (AVS) at Talkatora Stadium in Delhi recently.

While AICC general secretary and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh was the chief guest, Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Pawan Kumar Bansal presided over its proceedings.

Besides, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit was a distinguished guest and Girsih Sanghi, national president of the All India Vaish Mahasammelan was the main speaker .

Stating that economic prosperity was a genuine yardstick to measure the stoutness of a nation, Birender Singh asserted that the Vaish Samaj, which occupied a premier slot among various communities of the Indian society, had not only strengthened the Indian economy but also significantly contributed to India’s regeneration in the post-independence era.

He said while revenue emanating from the Vaish merchantry amply filled the coffers of the government, it was a matter of satisfaction that due to their effectual sponsorship, Delhi had now replaced Mumbai as the economic hub of the country as well.

Appreciating the newly awakened keenness among activists of the Vaish Samaj to gain entry into politics as well, the Congress leader advised the functionaries of the AVS to take a cue from the Jats to chalk out a phased programme to acquire ascendancy in politics.

Echoing similar sentiments, Dixit, Bansal and other prominent Congress leaders also emphasised the need for augmented participation of the Vaish Samaj in politics in the interest of the samaj and the nation.

Cautioning the mandarins of the ruling Congress against their lackadaisical approach in the matter of providing rightful patronage to the Vaish Samaj, Sanghi wanted them to ensure the samaj’s due representation in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls to seek a positive outcome in favour of the Congress.

Expressing satisfaction at the success of the convention, AVS chief Ashok Buwaniwala said things had now started moving in the right direction for the Vaish Samaj’s cherished ascendancy in politics as well.

Ambala, July 18
Union Minister Kumari Selja made an appeal to the members of the Youth Congress to come forward to boost the status of women at a seminar on women empowerment at Gola village near here recently.

She said the status of women had improved in the country over the years. Therefore, it was the duty of the government to give them education which would help in their empowerment. It was the duty of the government and the society to provide security to women against social evils, she added.

She said the state as well as the country would record progress only if women and youth came forward to end social evils like dowry system, female foeticide and violence against women. She expressed deep concern over the declining sex ratio in Haryana.

Coordinator of the seminar and Youth Congress national general secretary Paresh Dhanani declared Rahul Gandhi a ray of hope for the youth in the country.

He said the Youth Congress was devoted to the cause of women empowerment and was arranging seminars at the block and village levels across the country.

Dhanani said the Youth Congress would never support the acquisition of agricultural land for developing industry and would support Panjokhra farmers who had been agitating against the government’s decision to develop an IMT on their fertile land.

He added that the Youth Congress would not hesitate to move with the affected farmers to the court in case the government failed to revoke its decision. Dhanani said he had been deputed by Rahul Gandhi to meet protesting farmers of Ambala and submit a report.

Appreciating the role of the Youth Congress of the state against acquisition of agriculture land at Ambala, Dhanani said, “No doubt the land acquisition policy of the state government is good, but the Youth Congress will not tolerate injustice to the farmers at any cost.”

He regretted the comments made by the Opposition saying Rahul Gandhi was playing politics to attract vote bank for the coming elections in UP. Youth Congress state president Chiranjiv Rao and LS constituency president Himmat Singh were also present on the occasion. Later, all the Youth Congress leaders met Panjokhra farmers sitting on a hunger strike for the last several days and assured them support.

Ambala, July 18
Union Minister Kumari Selja recently inaugurated the 17th branch of Corporation Bank in Haryana along with an ATM facility for the convenience of the people at Nicholson Road, Ambala Cantt.

She said banks played an important role in strengthening the financial status of the country and “we should whole-heartedly extend support to all beneficial schemes for the financially weaker sections and farmers as declared by the government”.

Selja also made an appeal to the banks to assist the scientific instrument industry of Ambala.

YS Jain, general manager of Corporation Bank, said there were about 1,370 branches of the bank in the country, which started functioning in 1906. He lauded the efforts of the staff and officers and said the bank was doing a business of Rs 2,823 crore annually through its 75 branches in Haryana, HP and Chandigarh under the regional office of Chandigarh.

Deputy general manager BS Kartikain and branch manager Dharminder Kumar were also present on this occasion.

Sonepat, July 18
The Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, hosted a meeting of Vice-Chancellors (VCs) of the state universities recently at the university premises for the first time to have discussions on common issues like common calendar, vacation, flagship departments, research fund, fund allocation, admissions, common entrance test, attendance and networking of resources.

RP Hooda, VC, MDU, Rohtak; DDS Sandhu, VC, Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; KC Bhardwaj, VC, CDLU, Sirsa; Pankaj Mittal, VC, BPS Mahila Viswavidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan; ML Ranga, VC, GJU Science and Technology, Hisar; Mohinder Kumar, VC, YMCA University of Science and Technology, Faridabad; and HS Chahal, VC of the host university were present. RK Arora, Registrar of Murthal University was also present in the meeting.

There was consensus on the need for a review of the admission process and calendar of the universities and it was agreed that the admission process should be completed by July 30 so that the universities could start the new session on time, latest by the first week of August every year. The VCs also agreed that every university should bring out flagship departments which could help raise additional funds to meet infrastructural needs. In the same context, arrangements can be made in the public-private-partnership mode adding to mutual benefits.

There was general consensus that a research fund should be built up by each university and the proposals to generate this fund could be submitted to the government since there was no funding agency like CSIR, DST and UGC at the state level. The idea of matching grant by the state could also be explored.

As for fund allocation, the VCs agreed that the government be requested to release funds under plan and non-plan heads on quarterly basis expeditiously and the younger universities should get higher allocations of funds to meet their infrastructural requirements. Having a common entrance test for PG academic programmes was also unanimously agreed upon to avoid clashes in dates and financial stress to students.

Finally, the issue of autonomous colleges was discussed. Though the scheme of autonomous colleges was launched by the UGC 15 years ago, colleges in north India have not yet taken advantage of this. The scheme is beneficial since it allows colleges to gain enhanced funding, with greater academic autonomy enabling them to use innovative methods and update curricula on a regular basis. The VCs agreed that good colleges should ask for autonomy and additional funding taking advantages leading to improving quality of education provided.

Another measure accepted was mutual recognition of course work to allow mobility of students who would gain academic acumen. Consensus was also achieved on movement of students, especially research scholars, and faculty would certainly benefit in areas of laboratories, library, equipment, workshop etc. It was also desired that recommendations be sent to the Higher Education Council and the government for taking decisions in the matter. 

Rewari, July 18
Three students of senior secondary classes in Government Senior Secondary School, Jharoda (near Kosli), have been selected for coaching in boxing at the SAI (Sports Authority of India) Institute of Hisar.

The selected students--Mamata Yadav, Suman Yadav and Priti Yadav-- will simultaneously pursue further studies there.

Virender Singh Yadav, principal of the school, informed that while aspiring pugilists from various parts of the state had participated in the state-level trials for the selection held at Hisar in March, these students were selected on the basis of their performance. Felicitating the students on their achievement, the principal and staff of the school wished them a bright career in pugilism.

Yamunanagar, July 18
“With the pace of life becoming faster and stress levels increasing both at home and workplace, more and more youngsters are getting affected with heart diseases. This is a major cause for concern and it is now even more important for all of us to understand risk factors and take immediate steps to lead a healthy life,” said Dr GS Kalra while addressing participants at a heart check-up camp.

The camp was organised by the Punjabi Mahasabha, Haryana, at SP Hospital in Jagadhari recently which was inaugurated by Ashok Mehta, president of the Punjabi Mahasabha, Haryana, and former information commissioner.

District president Vishal Bhatia said as many as 300 patients were examined by a team of doctors from Fortis Hospital, Mohali, led by Dr GS Kalra DM (cardiologist) with the help of staff of SP Hospital. ECGs and eco tests were also performed and blood pressure of all patients was checked on the occasion.

During the camp, people were apprised of various heart diseases, their cure, treatment and ways to prevent them.

Dr GS Kalra, director, cardiologist, Fortis Hospital, Mohali, made it clear that heart attack often started with mild symptoms which might not be painful. Pressure, fullness, squeezing or pain in the centre of the chest and pain spreading to shoulders, neck or arms, sweating or shortness of breath were the most common symptoms of heart attack.

Speaking on the occasion, Ashok Mehta, president, and Surinder Juneja, general secretary, said the Mahasabha had been holding free health camps for the past one-and-a-half year. “Since there are a large number of poor patients, we are planning to distribute free of cost medicines to them at such camps,” he added.

Panipat, July 18
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has sought the intervention of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in resolving their long pending issues. They have alleged that the management of the power utilities had paid no heed to their demands.

Shailendra Dubey, secretary general of the association, said the association had written to the Chief Minister lamenting that despite repeated requests their demands had not been accepted which had caused widespread resentment among the power engineers across the state.

The engineers' body already served a 45-day notice on June 24 on the authorities to fulfill their demands or face statewide protests. They had been demanding parity in the pay scales of assistant engineers (AE) working in discoms and that of the state engineers. Though the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) has granted a pay scale of Rs 14,880 to the AEs, the other three utilities have so far denied the same scale to the AEs.

The association has been maintaining that the AEs of the neighbouring states were better placed in terms of pay scales as they drew initial salary of Rs 14,880 with grade pay of Rs 5,400, which was not the case in Haryana.

Dubey said an AE with 11 years of service was getting the pay scale of 15600-39100 with 6400 grade pay which was less than the salary of an accounts officer with the same experience.

Besides, the engineers are also demanding restructuring of discoms which is due for the past decade. He said the number of consumers had increased manifold and there was a dire need to create new divisions, circles and zones to maintain better consumer service. Many posts of directors in discoms were lying vacant which should also be filled, he said.

In the letter sent to the Chief Minister, the association stated that it had been resolved to launch an agitation in case their demands were not fulfilled.

The secretary general said the AIPEF had requests Hooda to use his office so that their issues were resolved and a confrontation was avoided. 

Chandigarh, July 18
Haryana chief secretary Urvashi Gulati has allotted districts to administrative secretaries to supervise and monitor pension related work, as directed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

At a recent meeting of deputy commissioners and SPs, the Chief Minister had taken a serious note of the delay in the disbursement of old-age allowance and had directed that beneficiaries must be given interest in pending cases.

He had also directed that pension related work be supervised at the level of the administrative secretaries.

The chief secretary has assigned Karnal district to Krishna Mohan, Sirsa to Manik B. Sonawane, Panipat to SC Chaudhry, Yamunanagar to Shakuntala Jhakhu, Jind to Ramendra Jhakhu, Mahendragarh to Maha Singh, Faridabad to PK Gupta, Sonepat to KK Jalan, Bhiwani to Rajan Gupta, Mewat to Sarban Singh, Kurukshetra to Navraj Sandhu, Hisar to Roshan Lal, Fatehahbad to Hardeep Kumar, Kaithal to SS Parsad, Palwal to RP Chander, Rohtak to YS Malik, Jhajjar to SS Dhillon, Panchkula to SK Gulati, Gurgaon to Surina Rajan, Ambala to Dhanpat Singh and Rewari to Vijay Vardhan.

The chief secretary had also directed them to visit the districts under their charge at least twice a month.

Sirsa, July 18
Facing criticism from the opposition parties as well as the beneficiaries for failure to streamline the distribution of social security pension, the district authorities have now announced several steps for improving the situation. The steps include updating the list of people eligible for old age, widow, destitute women, differently abled person pensions and other social security grants and uploading this on the official website of the district www.sirsa.gov.in.

“All block development and panchayat officers, executive officers of the municipal councils and secretaries of the municipal committees have been directed to prepare lists of all fresh applications for different social security pensions within one week and submit to the social welfare department for further action at that level,” said deputy commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia. The government, he said, had simplified format for applying social security pensions to bring about transparency in the system and to provide benefits to all eligible people. He said while new applications for old-age pension would be accepted from October this year, forms for all other social security pensions, including those for widows, destitute women, physically differently abled persons and Ladli social security grants were being accepted by the authorities. He said Sirsa was leading other districts of Haryana in opening of accounts and preparation of smart cards for the beneficiaries of old-age pension with a performance of 91.6 per cent. The district authorities, it may be recalled, have been drawing flak for their failure to ensure distribution of social security pensions in time. The INLD recently organised a rally of senior citizens and served a two-month memorandum to the authorities. It had threatened to paralyse traffic in the district, in case the authorities failed to streamline the distribution of pension in two months. Senior citizens and other beneficiaries of social security pensions have been organising demonstration at various places in the district, alleging that their arrears for three to four months were still unpaid. — TNS

Panipat, July 18
The ACK Media, entertainment and education company for children, has launched the “Amar Chitra Katha Scholarships” in memory of Anant Pai, the founding editor of the series.

A spokesperson for the company said the scholarship had been launched on a national scale which would cover more than 70 cities and was open to children between the age of 10 and 15. The scholarship, which will be an annual event from this year, is unique in two ways - it is designed to appeal to a broad range of children - not just the academically inclined. And the awardees will be free to pursue their interests without restrictions.

The scholarship was also designed to increase the awareness of the younger generation about the Indian culture, continuing Pai’s lifelong mission. Scholarship forms have been made available free of cost at all Big Bazaar stores across India from July 14 to August 7 and online www.amarchitrakatha.com/scholarships.

Participants may also send in their responses via a unique SMS platform created for this initiative. Participation in the scholarship has no restrictions other than age and nationality. The scholarship evaluation is based on a written quiz on India. The quiz has both multiple choice and long form questions. The quiz will be evaluated by a panel of three eminent judges, the spokesperson said.

The scholarship would be announced in a grand finale on the Children’s Day. The national winner will get a scholarship of Rs 11 lakh. There will be 71 city winners who will each get a scholarship of Rs 25,000. Besides, there would be 144 city runners-up, who would get scholarships worth Rs 5,000 in kind. In addition, seven special metro winner scholarships worth Rs 50,000 would be given. Also, 10 winners, who would sent entries though SMS, would get scholarships worth Rs 15,000 in cash.

The initiative was designed in a way that a child in every participating city had an opportunity to win a scholarship.

At the launch, Samir Patil, CEO of ACK Media, said: “We are keen on expanding the interest of the next generation in Indian heroes and culture. Without our exclusive tie-up with Big Bazaar and the months of joint planning with Ashni and her team, we would not have been able to launch the scholarship at this scale”.

Faridabad, July 18
With the advent of the monsoon, the Health Department has taken a slew of measures to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes and subsequently thwart the occurrence of malaria and dengue in the area.

Dr Om Prakash Mehta, district malaria officer and principal medical officer of BK Hospital, claimed that it was on account of the measures taken by his department that prevented eruption of any dengue case so far this year. Since January, only eight cases were tested positive for malaria.

The department claims that the number of cases of dengue and malaria has decreased in past three years. Mehta claimed that position in Faridabad with regard to malaria and dengue was better than the bordering districts of Gurgaon, Noida and Delhi in the NCR, although Faridabad faced more challenges as compared to other cities in the NCR on account of presence of a large number of slums.

The department claims that an “anti-larva” campaign in this district was launched last month. It includes efforts to increase awareness among the people by educating them on preventing breeding of mosquitoes, and dos and don’ts to scotch any possibility of occurrence of the diseases. Public places and academic institutions have been chosen as the focus areas to spread the awareness.

As part of surveillance activities, workers of the department have been deputed to spray temephos and use MLO, an anti-larva oil injected in accumulated water, to prevent mosquito breeding. Mehta said the department would indulge in fogging of pyrethrum spray at public places from August, the time most susceptible to mosquito breeding and occurrence of the two diseases.

Rewari, July 18
The Municipal Council has constructed an enclosure for stray cattle at the Jhajjar road here. It was formally inaugurated by TK Sharma, Commissioner of the Gurgaon division, here recently.

Speaking on the occasion, the Commissioner warned cattle owners that if they did not exercise proper check on the movement of their cattle and still allowed them to roam freely at the public places, their cattle would be put in the enclosure by the municipal authorities.

He further said while this exercise would provide relief to the citizens from the stray cattle menace, the cattle owners too would have to pay penalty while seeking the delivery of their detained cattle from the enclosure.

Simultaneously, he directed municipal officials to enlarge the cattle shed and make adequate arrangements for water and fodder for the confined cattle as well.

Deputy commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi and other senior officials of the district and the municipal council were also present on the occasion.