Chandigarh, March 24
There is more than one political implication of the rally addressed by Chief Minister Bhoopinder Singh Hooda at Ambala to mark the Martyrdom Day of Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev yesterday. On the face of it, Hooda has been addressing rallies in various districts in the presence of local legislators but the one at Ambala in support of his friend, Venod Sharma, in the absence of Kumari Selja, MP from Ambala, indicates that all is not well in the state Congress despite the intervention of the party high command.

The political rally suggests that despite Congress president Sonia Gandhi holding talks with the party leadership and vice-president Rahul Gandhi openly rebuking anti-Hooda leaders, competitive politics remains dominant in the state.

Local legislator Venod Sharma organised the rally and took the opportunity to rebuke those who, he said, “were exploiting local sentiments in his constituency after coming from outside”.

Though Hooda only defended his stand on “equal development for every district”, his very reference to the issue suggests that he is not willing to let his detractors take it easy.

He refuted all allegations of unequal distribution of grants, saying that as Chief Minister he is morally bound to look after all regions.

The message is clear that despite all odds, the Chief Minister will not adopt a defensive posture. He has in a way challenged his main detractor, Selja, in her own area.

Though the Chief Minister did not say anything directly Vinod Sharma's remarks should be viewed as the Chief Minister's stand because the two are best “friends” apart from being colleagues.

Sharma spoke about the possibility of providing two lakh jobs to local population if the Industrial Model Township (IMT) were to be developed in the region.

But without naming Selja or any other politician, he said: “People from other districts have scuttled the project by sitting on dharnas and agitations in Ambala”.

He was referring to the agitation by people who were reported to be from Rewari and other parts of Haryana and had no stakes in the development of Ambala.

The Chief Minister has in the past announced that he was keen to set up two Industrial Model Townships (IMTs), one in his own home district of Rohtak and the other in Ambala.

The issue was hotly debated in previous sessions of the Vidhan Sabha but no concrete action had followed so far.

Though the rally was meant to commemorate the Martyrdom Day, it had sent out a very clear message to political detractors that the Hooda camp would not take any tirade against their leader lying down. 

Sonepat, March 24
A class X student of Mandori village was allegedly enticed and raped by Neeraj of Tihar

Khurd village for two days. However, the police yesterday arrested the accused acting on a complaint of the girl’s father,and restored the girl to her family members.

According to the complaint lodged on Thursday, the girl’s father stated that his daughter went to the village school for taking a paper but did not return home. He suspected the involvement of the accused.

The police got her medically examined in the local civil hospital which confirmed the girl's rape. The accused has been sent in judicial custody. 

Chandigarh, March 24
Paying Rs 1.5 per unit extra may save residents of Haryana, a state notorious for frequent and unscheduled power cuts, from load shedding in the coming summers. With the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) okaying the 24-hour power supply regime of the power discoms after paying the reliability charge, power cuts will be a thing of past in certain areas of the state.

The optional innovative scheme aimed at round-the-clock power supply will be introduced in independent feeders or any feeder where more than 50 per cent of the consumers will agree to pay the extra reliability charge, sources said.

For the implementation of the new scheme, the total transmission losses should be less than 15 per cent in case of the urban feeders and less than 6 per cent in case of the industrial feeders.

Earlier, the power discoms had petitioned the HERC for permission to start the new 24-hour power regime under various provisions of the Electricity Act, 2003, and the Natonal Tariff Policy. It was argued that the new regime would require the purchase of additional power from the open market at a price higher than the price at which long-term power procurement was done by the discoms. Even the cost of 10 per cent marginal long-term power purchased by the discoms in 2012-13 financial year was excess of Rs 5.30 per unit as against the average power purchase cost of about Rs 3.65 per unit.

Besides, in order to supply uninterrupted power to the consumers the discoms will have to make substantial capital investment for strengthening the distribution network so that the entire system can bear the additional load on the feeders, which will be kept energised at all times in a day,” the discoms had argued pleading for the levy of additional reliability charge at the rate of Rs 2.5 per unit.

However, the HERC, while approving a reliability charge at the rate of Rs 1.5 per unit, ordered that the consumers opting for the new regime will not have to pay the peak load exemption surcharge (PLEC).

To safeguard the interests of the consumer opting for the 24-hour power supply, the commission asserted that there could be more than 30 power shutdowns in a month. In case of availability of less than 90 per cent power, the discoms would compensate the power consumers. The new power regime would be in force till March 31, 2014.

Fatehabad, March 24
The Haryana Government today launched “Pravesh Utsav”, a drive to ensure 100 per cent enrolment of children in Class I and 100 per cent transition from Class V to Class VI, from Class VIII to Class IX and from Class X to Class XI.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda launched the drive at a state-level function organised at a government school in Tohana (Fatehabad) today.

Hooda said the admission rate would be improved considerably during this 45-day campaign. Under the drive, it would be the joint responsibility of the sending and the receiving school (primary to middle and middle to high/senior secondary) to ensure that the children of Classes V, VIII or X enrol in the next class.

Each child admitted to a school would get an entitlement card called Shiksha Setu, which would give child’s entitlements ranging from physical and financial to the learning entitlements. The Shiksha Setu would also provide other relevant information relating to the school calendar, exams, parental duties etc.

Girls and children with special needs (CWSN) are the key targets to be addressed in this programme.

Jhajjar, March 24
Justice TS Thakur, Judge of the Supreme Court, said the Supreme Court had suggested the National Law Commission to fix the number of cases to be given to the judges so that a homogeneous policy could be evolved at national level.

Justice TS Thakur said this after laying the foundation stone of a Judicial Complex at Bhadurgarh town, here yesterday.

Paying rich tributes to great martyrs Bhagat Singh, Sukhdev and Rajguru, he said their martyrdom was to get justice from the British Government. He said the foundation of our society rests on justice. Even in the preamble of our Constitution, justice had been described necessary for freedom. There is not only political justice, but religious and economic justices also exist. The weaker sections of our society get equality only through justice, he added.

He said strong judicial system was mandatory to maintain peace in society. He said to strengthen the judicial system in the state, the Haryana Government has made concerted efforts to improve infrastructure of judicial complexes. He said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda himself being an advocate had always cooperated to improve the judicial system.

Those present on the occasion included Chief Justice Punjab and Haryana High Court Justice AK Sikri, Justice SK Mittal, Justice Jitendra Chauhan, Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg, Justice Paramjeet Singh Dhaliwal, Justice SP Bangar, Justice Inderjeet Singh and MP Deepender Singh Hooda.

Chandigarh, March 24
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today sought a white paper on the land released during Congress rule in the state. Terming the “change of land use” as the biggest scam, the AAP said the CAG too had raised serious questions in this regard.

Addressing a press conference here today, Yogendra Yadav, a national executive committee member, said the government should consider holding a discussion on the CAG report since serious doubts have been raised about acquisition and release of land and employment.

“A former Chief Minister may have gone to jail for the JBT recruitment scam in Haryana but it is a fact that the entire system works like that when it comes to employment irrespective of the party in power. The entire recruitment process has to be made transparent,” he said.

Stating that the organisational structure of the party had come up in almost all districts of Haryana, Yadav said the local unit was focusing on a number of issues from proper implementation of the Right to Education to highlighting land scams and regional imbalance in development.

Maintaining that the Deli assembly election later this year would be the first real test of the Aam Aadmi Party, an outcome of the disillusionment of the common man with the present-day politics, Yadav said his party aimed at providing 
an alternative.

“We want to offer clean politics to the common man who is frustrated with the working of successive governments. While Delhi will be our first battleground, we think Haryana is the next state that will test our strength,” he said.

Stating that issues like rapes, security of women were among other issues that the government needed to work on, Yadav said his party had chalked out a well-defined strategy. “Our foremost effort is to establish an organisational set up across the country. We have units in 325 districts. The second task is that of igniting a debate on crucial matters. The third and most important task is to keep agitations alive. We have not given up on the agitational course but are now also establishing ourselves as a party,” he claimed.

Bhiwani, March 24
Haryana Public Health Engineering and Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Choudhry said under a programme to improve the drinking water supply in the Bhiwani area, Rs 312 crore would be spent for building new waterworks and boosting stations and laying pipelines.

Addressing villagers after inaugurating the second boosting station in Dinod village yesterday, the minister said the water supply projects had been planned in a manner that there would be no scarcity of drinking water in the area for the next 40 years.

She said the boosting station had been set up at a cost of Rs 20 lakh and a third station was being constructed for the village. "I am not in politics for personal gains, but to serve people," said Choudhry. She said she had been making endeavours to improve the quality of services in the area.

The minister lauded the efforts of her MP daughter Shruti Choudhry and said she had been providing grants from from her MP Local Area Development Fund.

Faridabad, March 24
Residents yesterday blocked the Nayan Chowk on the Air Force Road in protest against police failure to arrest four men who forcibly entered a house and molested women members of a family. The miscreants also vandalised the house.

The irate residents lifted the blockade after half an hour following an assurance from the police of speedy action against the culprits. The victim's family and the residents alleged that the police was soft towards the culprits. According to them, the police rounded up two of the accused, but let them off soon.The police rebutted the allegation against it.

Rewari, March 24
The police has arrested Madan Lal Yadav (50), who allegedly made a bid to rape a 13-year-old girl, at Fatehpuri village on Thursday.

Yadav, whose one day-police remand expired yesterday, was again produced in a local court, which remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

Sources said Yadav, who was reportedly in a state of inebriation, intruded his neighbour’s house, overpowered the girl, who was alone in the house, and made a bid to rape her. However, the girl raised an alarm and some neighbours rushed to her rescue after which Yadav managed to flee. But while fleeing, Yadav took away the girl’s mobile phone with him.

Later, the girl disclosed the incident to her family. The girl's grandfather filed a complaint following which the police registered a case of criminal trespass, attempt to rape, theft and apprehended the accused. Yadav was produced in a local court, which remanded him to one-day police custody. 

Karnal, March 24
It was a rare spectacle as a sea of followers of the Dera Sacha Sauda emerged at Karnal for participating in the 18th Cleanliness Earth Campaign here, which was completed in 2 hours and 30 minutes.

The massive cleanliness drive by the dera was not only unprecedented and unheard in the history of this part of Haryana, but the people might not have seen such a huge army of volunteers even during the epic war of Mahabharata in the town named after legendry hero Karan.

Dera Chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh launched the drive in the early hours of the morning by sweeping a road at the Committee Chowk and the volunteers swarmed the entire town with people of all hues turning into scavengers to clean the town.

The volunteers were present in every nook and corner of the town and within minutes, heaps of garbage and dirt collected by the volunteers were seen in every area of the town. The huge quantity of garbage collected by the volunteers during the drive put a big question that what the local administration and the Karnal Municipal Corporation had been doing to maintain proper sanitary condition in the town.

Kaithal, March 24
Farmers should use organic manures in place of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and follow crop diversification to maintain soil fertility, said PWD and Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala while inaugurating the two-day north-west region state-level Krishi Mela at the Police Lines ground yesterday.

“The farmers of Haryana are hardworking and progressive. They try to get maximum yield from crops by adopting latest techniques and scientific methods. Some of them had even received national awards by inventing new methods of agriculture,” he said.

He said the Rice Research Centre at Kaul in Kaithal district had been inventing new varieties of paddy. Surjewala advised agricultural scientists to provide timely information to farmers on the latest methods of sowing crops so that they can get maximum yield by using less water.

He appreciated the district administration for launching a night camping programme in villages. He motivated the farmers to conserve water, maintain sanitation and work for eradication of social evils prevailing in society.

The minister had reviewed the exhibition stalls set up by agriculture and horticulture centres, sugar mill, IFFCO, DRDA and various other departments.

Deputy commissioner Chander Shekhar highlighted the aim of organising Krishi Mela in the area. Devinder Singh, joint director agriculture, said the mela would be beneficial for the farmers of the adjoining districts.

SP Kuldeep Singh Yadav, ADC Dinesh Singh Yadav, SDM Hawa Singh, City Magistrate Pooja Chawaria, DDPO Rajesh Khoth, DRO Rajbir Dhiman and Deputy director agriculture Surinder Yadav were present on the occasion.

Yamunanagar/Ambala, March 24
The Haryana discoms have bagged the ‘B’ grade in the first integrated rating for the state power distribution utilities conducted by the Union Ministry of Power to ascertain the operational and financial performance capabilities of the utilities across the country.

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) were placed at the 21st and 23rd positions, respectively, in the list of 39 state-run discoms.

Scores were assigned on the basis of absolute and relative improvement in operational and financial performance parameters. The financial performance parameters carried the maximum weightage of about 60 per cent. The efficient regulatory practices were the second most important factor, holding a weightage of 15 per cent. The other parameters accounted for the balance 25 per cent.

The UHBVN, which is responsible for the distribution and retail supply of electricity to 26,00,000 consumers, has been placed at the 21st position. The Government of Haryana holds 61.6 per cent shares in the UHBVNL, while the remaining are held by Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Ltd (HVPNL).

On the positive side, transmission and distribution (AT&C) losses of the UHBVN were registered at 25.71 per cent for the financial year 2012, enabling the utility to register an improvement over the previous years. The overall consumer metering was around 94 per cent in north Haryana. The areas of concern for the UHBVN were low-cost coverage ratio of 69 per cent and 73 per cent in the financial years 2012 and 2011, respectively.

The DHBVN, which caters to around 24,00,000 customers, showed strength by recording the AT&C losses at 26.72 per cent and 97 per cent consumers getting metered supply. The areas of concerns were low-cost coverage ratio of 78 per cent and 77 per cent in financial years 2012 and 2011, respectively.

As per the rating, both the utilities had a weak financial risk profile attributable to continuous losses, negative net worth and weak debt coverage indicators. Low fixed asset creation with most of the debt utilised towards working capital financing and low collection efficiency with high receivables over the years were the other areas of concern as per report

In comparison, all four discoms of Gujarat scored more than 80 per cent scores and were graded ‘A+’ for very high operational and financial performance.

According to the sources in the discoms, the ratings of discoms would be made an annual feature to determine long-term sustainable practices to improve their financial health.