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Hooda govt’s populist measures hit power cos
Rai, Kundli farmers hold protest march
Sehwag’s high-end school: Jhajjar villagers feel cheated
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Rabra, Joli panchayats awarded for improving sex ratio
Rape case accused re-arrested
3 get RI for life in murder case
6,950 take UGC-NET in Kurukshetra
Dera holds sanitation drive
Judges visit old-age home
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Hooda govt’s populist measures hit power cos
Chandigarh, December 24 With two power distribution companies (discoms) - the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) - in the red on account of accumulated losses, loans and other liabilities amounting to Rs 16,000 crore, the Haryana Government is caught in a Catch-22 situation on the “unpopular” decision to hike electricity tariffs. Though the power utilities had already sent an SOS to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to hike the tariff, yet the state government seems to be fighting shy of affecting an immediate revision of the power rates as the decision may not go down well with farmers and poorer sections of society, who form a sizable vote bank of the Congress government in the state. “The revision of power tariff may be good economics, but bad politics. A hike in tariff, which already is one of the highest in the country, could annoy the common man already reeling under rising prices,” a senior government functionary told The Tribune while ruling out power tariff hike in the current financial year. In fact, populism seems to have bled the discoms white over the years. Out of the total projected revenue gap of Rs 7,755 crore for the two discoms for 2012-13, the approximate rural electrification (RE) component is pegged at Rs 3,421 crore for supply of subsided electricity to the farm sector. This coupled with mismanagement and inefficiency, including high aggregate technical and commercial losses (AT&C), were primarily to blame for the poor financial heath of the power utilities in the state. In the backdrop of the poor financial health of the power utilities, banks and leading agencies, specially the Power Finance Corporation and the Rural Electrification Corporation, had recently stopped fresh loans to them. While Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not take any concrete action on tariff hike, he did shoot off a letter to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to intervene in the matter. However, hike in power tariff is inevitable to improve the financial position of the power utilities in the long run. A moderate tariff hike, along with recovery of huge arrears, could go a long way in improving the financial health of the power distribution companies, the official said adding that the power tariff could be increased in the next financial year. Earlier, Power Minister Ajay Yadav had gone on record saying that the government would have to hike the power tariff for the discoms to tide over their financial crunch.
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Land Acquisition
Sonepat, December 24 Farmers of these villages, including Badhkhalsa, Badhmalik, Sevli, Aswarpur, Khewra, Patla, Jakholi, Shersa, Kundli, Garhi Kundli and Bahalgarh, have been staging a dharna for the past 2-3 months at three places - Biswan Meel, Badhkhalsa Chowk and at Kundli - demanding that either their land, acquired for setting up Rajiv Gandhi Education City near Rai and HSIIDC industrial complex at Kundli, be released or that their demands be accepted. The demands include payment for acquired land at market rate, government job to one member of the family, 20 per cent share of the affected farmer in the acquired land and increase in the royalty rates being paid by the government. Rajpal Sevli, convener of the samiti who was leading today’s protest march, alleged that the farmers had been agitating for past many months, but no one from the government had come to them to listen to their grievances and demands.
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Sehwag’s high-end school: Jhajjar villagers feel cheated
Jhajjar, December 24 However, as of now, the residents of Jhajjar town as well as nearby villages feel cheated by the cricketer, who, they allege, has breached their faith by keeping the fee structure much beyond the reach of the common people. In 2008, nearly 23 acres of prime land in Shilani Kesho village of the district was given on a 33-year lease to Sehwag’s Krishna Drishti Educational Society to set up the sports facility.
The dejected villagers alleged that merely to complete the formality, the school admitted a few students of Shilani Kesho village (which had given land to the society) and waived their tuition fee and other charges, while the residents of other nearby villages and towns were left high and dry. He has opened a shop in the name of starting an academy," lamented Jagdish, the sarpanch of Shilani Zalim village, whose views were endorsed by Jaibir, Randhir Singh and Satbir Singh of the village. Mehar Singh of Munimpur, another nearby village, said only a few local residents whose land had been acquired at high rates could afford to send their children to the school. School principal Arti Shrivastava first expressed her inability to answer questions on the very purpose of establishing the school and then scurried off from her office abruptly. Vishnu Mittal, the CEO of the school-cum-sports complex project, categorically stated that the management had invested a lot of money in school infrastructure and hence, the high fee and other charges could not be scaled down. Asked whether the exorbitant charges would not defeat the welfare motive for which the facility had been launched, Mittal categorically stated that they were not there for social service. "There are crores of child labourers and other poor children in the country; there would be thousands in Jhajjar. We are not here to serve their cause,” he said. On being pointed out that the school fee and other charges were a bit too high even for a Class-I officer, the CEO said if somebody could not afford to pay the school fees, it was not their problem.
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Hooda on inauguration spree
Rohtak, December 24 He said, “Haryana has already taken the lead with around 400 new higher and professional institutions in the state in the past six years, providing an additional 1.24 lakh seats for students in various graduate and post-graduate courses in this period.” Hooda’s visit to the district today was a hectic affair as he was a chief guest at 13 programmes. These included inauguration of 11 projects worth over Rs 60 crore. The CM inaugurated a 132 KV substation at the Chaudhary Ranbir Singh IMT and the extension block of the mini-secretariat here constructed at a cost of Rs 11.46 crore. He also inaugurated a irrigation office building and the Army recruitment office. The inauguration spree started at around 10.15 am and went beyond 5.30 pm. The other buildings or projects that were inaugurated by the CM included the post-graduate block at the local Vaish College; auditorium and stadium at the Gaur Brahmin educational institutions and the Jat Bhawan building in Sector 1. He was also the chief guest at the functions organised by the Guar Brahmin College and the reception at the IMA house here before leaving for Delhi in the evening. The cost of the new block of the mini-secretariat is about Rs 22.91 crore, while the building of the Irrigation Department has been built at a cost of Rs 7.9 crore. An amount of Rs 19.48 crore has been spent on the construction of the Army recruitment office, said the officials concerned.
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Rabra, Joli panchayats awarded for improving sex ratio
Speaking on the occasion, Chauhan said female foeticide was a social evil that had to be eradicated at all levels. “Imbalance in sex ratio leads to creation of other social problems including the involvement of youths in criminal activities,” he said and exhorted the panchayat representatives to devote their energy in improving sex ratio in their villages. Speaking on the occasion, Civil Surgeon Dr Ramesh Sethi said that in the 2009 sex ratio, the number of girls in Rabra and Joli villages was 711 and 685 respectively. However, with the joint efforts of the villagers and Health Department officials, the sex ratio of the girls increased to 1,212 in Rabra village and to 1,062 in Joli village during 2010, he added. There were 59 ultrasound centres in the district and these were ordered to properly maintain their record for the whole year, he said. He added that efforts were being made to create awareness among the people against sex determination and female foeticide. Besides senior doctors of the Health Department in the district including Dr JS Punia, Dr BR Jawa, Dr Jagbir Singh, Dr Jai Kishor, Dr Kapil Jain, Dr Shyam Lal, Dr Mahender Singh, Dr Neeraj Singla, Dr CP Arora, representatives of panchayats and the field staff of the Health Department were present at the programme.
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Rape case accused re-arrested
Rewari, December 24 It is noteworthy that when the court of the then Additional Sessions Judge Dharambir Singh had awarded the duo a sentence of 10-year rigorous imprisonment each holding them guilty in this case of rape on November 19, 2001, they had filed a petition in the HC challenging the verdict of the trial court. Consequently, they were granted bail during the pendency of their petition in the HC. However, their petition was recently dismissed by the HC, which also directed the district police to re-arrest them.
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3 get RI for life in murder case
Fatehabad, December 24 Ranjit Singh worked at the fields of Binder Kaur’s husband, Bhajan Singh ,where he and Sukhchain Singh developed illicit relations with the woman. When Bhajan came to know of it, he terminated the services of Ranjit Singh. The trio killed Bhajan in his sleep with a sword in 2009. — TNS
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6,950 take UGC-NET in Kurukshetra
Kurukshetra, December 24 Professor Brajesh Sawhney, spokesperson of the university, said 6,950 candidates took the exam at 30 examination centres. Proper arrangements were made to provide directions to the different examination centres on the KU campus. As many as 30 observers, 30 centre superintendents and 450 invigilators were appointed by the UGC, which ensured smooth and fair conduct of the test while proper security arrangements were made by the district police, he added. KU Academic Affairs Dean Professor Girish Chopra along with Controllers of Examination YP Gosawmi and Dr Hukam Singh visited all examination centres and ensured the smooth conduct of the exam. |
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Sirsa, December 24 Dera spokesperson Aditya Insan claimed that over one lakh people participated in the drive. Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh inaugurated the drive this morning by cleaning a road with a broom at the Laal Batti Chowk. The dera chief said the purpose of the campaign was to create awareness on sanitation and cleanliness. The dera followers had divided the entire town in eight zones and 31 wards and teams coming from the different areas of Punjab, Haryana and other states were assigned duties of particular zones and wards. Hundreds of Dera followers carrying brooms and waste trolleys could be noticed in all corners of the town. — TNS
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Even the lease amount of Rs 3 lakh per acre fixed by the village panchayat was reduced to Rs 51,000 per acre by the state government. The society, however, made its intentions and priorities quite clear by establishing a high-end international school several months before the much-publicised sports facility. The school, named Sehwag International School and located on the Jhajjar-Gurgaon road, charges exorbitant fees — to the tune of Rs 3 lakh a year from boarding students and Rs 2 lakh from day scholars — which most local residents find far too unaffordable.
Sonepat, December 24