Hisar, May 14
About 25 per cent area of Gurgaon and Faridabad towns will be daily given 24-hour power supply. Consumers getting supply from 24 feeders in Gurgaon and 23 feeders in Faridabad have earned this reward under a new scheme for giving extra power to the feeders with low aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. One urban feeder each in Hisar and Sirsa also qualified for uninterrupted supply under the scheme.

Amit Agrawal, Managing Director, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), said here today that consumers connected to 405 independent, industrial and urban electricity feeders having low aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses would get 24 hour power supply and 37 rural domestic feeders would get four hours’ extra supply against the schedule of 19 hours for industries, 20 hours for urban and 12 hours for rural domestic consumers under the scheme.

Agrawal said 442 feeders, including 209 independent feeders, 147 industrial, 49 urban domestic and 37 rural domestic feeders, had qualified for extra power supply under a newly launched scheme as there was no theft of power or unauthorised extension of load and the consumers paid their electricity bills in time. The total number of qualifying feeders included 174 in the Faridabad operation circle , 152 in Gurgaon, 40 in Hisar, 38 in Narnaul, 35 in Sirsa, seven in Rewari and six feeders in Bhiwani. Under this scheme, the DHBVN had decided to reward its honest consumers by giving them better power supply.

To qualify for entitlement to extra power supply, an industrial feeder should have not more than 6 per cent AT&C losses, an urban feeder not more than 10 per cent , an independent feeder up to 3 per cent while a rural domestic supply (RDS) feeder will have to maintain AT&C losses up to 15 per cent.

The Managing Director said taking the AT&C losses as the key to operational performance, the DHBVN was making efforts to bring down these losses. Resultantly, the AT&C losses, which were about 44 per cent when the nigam came into being and 34.25 per cent in 2005-06, had come down to 24.7 per cent. To reduce technical losses, all overloaded and lengthier feeders were being bifurcated into feeders of proper load and length, distribution transformers having load more than 100 per cent of the capacity were being augmented on priority, LT portion of the distribution system was being minimised, the metering system was being strengthened and field officials had been directed to ensure timely and proper maintenance of the system.

Agrawal said targets had been given to field officials regarding collection of current revenue and arrears thereof for reducing commercial losses. Performance of targets was being monitored regularly. Besides, billing and collection services had been improved considerably. Besides regular checking, special campaigns against theft of power had also been launched.

Chandigarh, May 14
Worried over the huge transmission losses in the electricity sector in the state resulting in the two power utilities being in the red, the Haryana Government has adopted a carrot and stick policy while sanctioning new substations. From now onwards areas having over 40 per cent Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses will not get new substations.

Not only that, in areas having more than 40 per cent AT&C losses, the existing electricity infrastructure would not be augmented- a clear signal to the erring subdivisions to get their act together and reduce the transmission losses, a source said. “The management has decided that no proposal for augmentation or creation of a substation from 33 KV and above shall be processed in the areas having more than 40 per cent AT&C losses in the last financial year,” a circular from the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has said.

Against the backdrop of this decision, the proposal for the new substations shall be accompanied with a certificate mentioning that the AT&C losses in the last financial year were not more than 40 per cent for the areas concerned. “The actual AT&C losses recorded for that period shall also be submitted with the proposal supported by the documentary proof,” the circular said.

Giving the rationale behind the decision, a senior functionary of the state government asserted that the decision was taken with a view to punishing the areas, which were repeatedly performing badly as far as the transmission losses were concerned.

Due to the huge AT&C losses, Haryana’s two power utilities, the UHBVN and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), together faced accumulated losses of around Rs 16,000 crore. 

n Two power utilities' accumulated losses put at around `16,000 crore

n Revenue gap for financial year 2012-13 projected at `7,755 crore

Sirsa, May 14
With a view to improving the fertility of soil after ascertaining the minerals and micronutrients it lacks, the agriculture authorities have issued 16,000 soil health cards to farmers in Sirsa.

Samples of soil taken from the fields of 16,000 more farmers have been collected and the authorities hope to issue cards to them by next month.

“The agriculture department has set up a laboratory in the district where the soil is tested for NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium) culture,” said the Deputy Commissioner J Ganeshan.

Ashok Kumar Yadav, Director-General of Agriculture, said Haryana is the only state in the country to have issued soil health cards to its farmers and has soil fertility maps for its entire agriculture land.

“The soil fertility maps, which are global positioning system (GPS) enabled, are available on the website of the state Agriculture Department up to the village level,” Yadav added.

The department has utilised the services of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for this purpose.

The soil fertility maps describe the fertility condition of the given agricultural land and reveal deficiencies of minerals and micronutrients, if any.

“With the soil health card, a farmer can know the condition of his land and get a crop-specific prescription,” Yadav said.

The soil health cards not only describe the quantity of these minerals, including the deficiencies, if any, but also suggest the means to replenish these deficiencies.

“In Sirsa, we have found deficiency of sulphur and iron in the paddy belt, while deficiency of potassium is common in the sandy soil,” said Amardeep Kuleria, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Sirsa.

He said the department had set a target for the plantation of paddy on 60,000 hectares.

Kuleria advised the farmers to prepare their nurseries for “Muchhal” paddy after May 15 and for other varieties in the first week of June.

Sirsa, May 14
The Indian National Lok Dal will support APJ Abdul Kalam for President if any major political party promoted his name for the post.

Addressing mediapersons here today, INLD supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala said his party was not averse to supporting even the UPA in case the Congress announced Kalam as its candidate for the post.

Chuatala was here in connection with his district-level meeting for the ongoing membership drive of the INLD.

Describing the power situation in Haryana as grim, the former chief minister alleged that people had been facing prolonged power cuts though summer was yet to arrive and the sowing season was almost a month away.

Later, addressing INLD workers, Chautala exhorted them to add committed workers to the party cadre. 

Chandigarh, May 14
The state government has promoted three IAS in the supertime scale, five IAS officers as joint secretaries and eight IAS officers in the junior administrative grade from January 1.

Three IAS officers who have been promoted in the supertime scale are YS Khyalia, Neelam P. Kasni and Shyamal Misra. Those who have been promoted as joint secretary are Panchkula DC Ashima Brar, CG Rajini Kaanthan, DC, Rewari, and Gurgaon DC Phool Chand Meena, A. Sreenivas and Ambala DC Shekhar Vidyarthi.

Those who are promoted in the junior administrative grade are Hisar DC Amit Kumar Agarwal, Jhajjar DC Ajit Balaji Joshi, RS Kharb, Mewat DC WS Goyat, Vikas Yadav, Balraj Singh, Ashok Sangwan and IC Sangwan.

The government has also issued the posting orders of two IAS officers. Rajiv Arora, MD, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and the Haryana Financial Corporation, has been given additional charge as MD, Haryana Mass Rapid Transport Corporation.

Amneet P. Kumar, Executive Director, Haryana Institute of Public Administration, Gurgaon, has been posted as Joint Secretary, Secretariat Establishment and Monitoring and Coordination Departments, relieving A. Sreenivas of the said charge. 

Chandigarh, May 14
Scheduled Caste (SC) students studying in technical education institutions in Haryana will get scholarships under a special scheme floated by the state government.

The scholarship money will be credited to their bank accounts as the state government has decided to transfer the funds electronically. An official spokesman said the new system of transfer of funds would benefit students in a big way. It would also help in timely disbursement of funds to beneficiaries.

In addition, two new disbursing centres had been started for timely disbursement of financial assistance under the scheme with effect from 2012-13. These centres would be functional at Government Polytechnic, Manesar and Narwana. Manesar centre would cover technical institutional falling in Gurgaon and Mewat whereas Nawana centre would cover Jind.

Nine disbursing centres were already functional in the state, he added. 

Faridabad, May 14
Nurses of the two superspeciality hospitals here, the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences and the QRG Central Hospital, continued with their agitation for the eighth day today to press for higher salary package and better working condition.

Nurses said they would intensify their protest if the managements of the two hospitals did not accept their demands. The nurses have decided to form a Joint Action Committee to spearhead the agitation.

Meanwhile, Delhi-based NGOs, which have espoused the cause of nurses alleged that the managements of the two hospitals were resorting to intimidatory tactics against nurses to quell the agitation.

Sirsa, May 14
Chief Judicial Magistrate Harish Gupta today visited Disha, a centre for special children, here, to inspect the conditions under which inmates are kept and the facilities being provided to them.

The judge, who is also secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA) at Sirsa and Fatehabad, distributed sweets and fruits to the children and interacted with them.

He spoke to the director of Disha, Geeta Kathuria, regarding the rehabilitation schemes for children.

“The DLSA provides legal aid to differently abled persons free of cost,” Gupta said. He said the differently abled persons are exempt from court fees and other expenditures incurred while pursuing a case.

He said he would inspect the centre regularly. 

Sonepat, May 14
Naveen of Bapdoda village in Jhajjar district, died on the spot and three others were seriously injured when two trucks collided head on near Mahra village on the Rohtak-Gohana-Panipat national highway today.

The injured - Bittu of Bapoli in Panipat district, Samrat of Podia and Munish of Baproda - were taken to the Civil Hospital, Gohana, by the police and the doctors referred them to PGIMS Rohtak.

The police has registered a case in the Sadar police station, Gohana.

The accident took place when a Haryana Roadways bus going from Rithal village in Rohtak district to Chandigarh was overtaking a truck on way to Panipat.

Another truck coming from the opposite direction suddenly appeared in front of the bus on a turning. The bus driver reportedly took a sharp right turn to avoid a collision with the truck and took the bus to a kuccha road. It resulted in a head-on collision between the two trucks.