Yamunanagar, April 5
The decision by the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) to allow ‘compensatory tariff’ in addition to the current tariff for Adani Power’s 4,620 MW units at Mundra has come as a shock for Haryana power distribution companies (discoms) as well as consumers who are set to see soon another hike in power tariff.

Haryana had signed two power purchase agreements with Adani Power on August 7, 2008 for the supply of 1424 MW at levelised tariff of Rs 2.94/kWh. The state started getting a daily supply of about 1100 MW (264 lakh units) of power from the Mundra thermal plant in Gujarat two months back.

The CERC, while disposing of petition no. 155 filed by Adani Power for revising the power purchase agreements which the company had signed with Haryana and Gujarat discoms, observed that in view of the increased cost of imported coal, a “compensatory tariff’ was allowed for Adnai Power.

After hearing the contentions of all the parties, the CERC ordered that a committee to work out the exact quantum of “compensation” over the current tariff be constituted. The committee would comprise the Principal Secretary (Power), Gujarat, Managing Director of Gujarat Power utility, Principal Secretary (Power), Haryana and Managing Directors of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVNL) along with the Chairman of Adani Power Ltd or his nominee, an independent financial analyst of repute and an eminent banker of the commensurate level.

Sources in the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) said the utility had to shut down a number of its thermal units within the state during the winter season on account of reduced demand, while it was importing power from the Mundra thermal project in Gujarat in accordance with the power purchase agreement. As per the regulations, the HPGCL which had to incur fixed charges for shutting down its thermal units and now the discoms would also have to bear the burden of the ‘compensatory tariff’.

This would result in yet another hike in the power tariffs in Haryana after the recent hike announced by the Haryana Electricity Regulation Commission (HERC), the sources said.

Chandigarh, April 5
The realty bubble seems to be bursting in Haryana. Even as the “builder-friendly” Hooda government pats itself on the back for the unprecedented urban development across the state, the ongoing recession seems to have taken its toll on the realty sector in Haryana with a sharp decline in the number of change of land uses (CLUs) reported in the state in the last two years.

A look at the number of CLUs granted by the state government in recent years indicates that the government granted CLUs for 2,128 acres of land for residential, commercial and industrial projects in 2012 as compared to 2,341 acres in 2011.The figure for 2010 was 3,145 acres.

The year 2007 and 2008 was the boom period for the realty sector in the state. While the government granted CLUs for a maximum 3,851 acres of land in 2007, the figure came down to 3,361 acres in 2008, data with The Tribune shows.

Observers feel that the slowdown in the real estate sector is the result of the current recessionary phase. In fact, a substantial number of projects, which were started after obtaining the CLUs in 2007 and 2008 could not reach the completion phase, leading to a significant decline in the number of CLUs granted by the government.

The data showed that in 2004, only 692 acres of land was granted CLU. The figure went up to 1,476 in 2005 and 3,251 in 2006. In the election year of 2009, there was slowdown when the government granted CLU to 1,373 acres of land.

A senior government official asserted that the slowdown in the realty sector was inevitable as the ongoing projects were taking their own time reaching the completion period.

Meanwhile, Vijay Bansal, president of the Shivalik Vikas Manch, alleged that the grant of CLUs for nearly 22,000 acres of land showed that the government’s main objective was granting concessions to big realtors. “On the other hand, lakhs of persons residing outside the lal dora were still waiting for regularisation of their dwelling units,” Bansal alleged. 

Ambala, April 5
Following the rejection of Dharam Pal's mercy plea by President Pranab Mukherjee, the convict was today shifted to Ambala jail from the Rohtak for his execution.

Jail sources said that a letter related to the rejection of his mercy plea by the President had been received by the jail authorities. Dharam Pal was brought here amidst tight security and was straight sent to the condemn cell.

Meanwhile, the prime accused in the murder of MLA Relu Ram Punia — his daughter Sonia and her husband Sanjeev — were also shifted to the condemned cell as their mercy pleas were also rejected by the President.

The jail officials maintained that they had not yet received the execution warrants. However, the preparations for hanging of the accused had been initiated.

Former Haryana MLA Relu Ram Punia’s daughter Sonia would perhaps be the first woman in the country to be hanged after the hanging of Rattan Bai Jain, whose execution had taken place in New Delhi in 1955 for the murder of three girls by poisoning.

While Dharam Pal was awarded the death sentence by the Sessions Court of Sonepat, on May 5, 1997, for the murder of five persons in the village in 1993, Sonia and her husband Sanjeev had been awarded the death sentence for killing eight persons, including her MLA father, for inheriting family property in 2001. The death penalty of Sonia and her husband was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2007 for the gruesome murders over property dispute.

Dharam Pal had been sentenced to 10-year imprisonment for the rape of a village girl. After his release on parole in 1993, he along with his brother, Nirmal, murdered Neelam, her father Tale Ram, mother Krishna and brothers Teenu and Praveen.

Karnal, April 5
Leading a crusade against corruption, social activist Anna Hazare today promised to give a corruption-free country in a year and exhorted people to strive for “change in the system” as a “change in the government” was not the solution for the ills faced by the country.

“Sacrifice one year for the movement and I would give you a corruption-free nation in which the aam aadmi would be heard and given justice,” he said while speaking at “Harmony 2013 cultural extravaganza” here. He added that a “change in the system and not the government” could solve the problems.

Gurgaon, April 5
A local court today remanded city businessman Anil Kumar Singh in judicial custody for allegedly raping his daughter. He was arrested late last night on after his daughter, a class XII student at a local school, lodged a complaint. Her medical examination confirmed rape.

The girl had fainted in the school yesterday. The teacher present there called in a counsellor and took the girl to the principal.

Gurgaon, April 5
The Gurgaon police today arrested three employees of a local pub for allegedly molesting a female colleague. The victim, a resident of Ardee City, is an employee of a pub located in a mall on the Sohna Road.

In a complaint registered with Sadar police station, the victim alleged that her colleagues Rakesh, Pritam and Ajit had been teasing and molesting her.

She claimed that she has been working in her pub for the past few months and the trio had been harassing her ever since.

She alleged things had gone out of hand in the last two days.

The victim alleged that she tried to reason out with her colleagues, but they threatened her and forced her to approach the police. 

Chandigarh, April 5
The Power Department's decision to introduce a new power distribution regime for group housing societies, residential colonies of employers and commercial-cum-residential complexes of developers through a single-point bulk power supply may run into rough weather due to stiff opposition from group housing societies.

In fact, the joint action committee of the Group Housing Societies, Panchkula, in a memorandum to the chairman of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has demanded the cancellation of the "ill-conceived" and "unconstitutional order" with immediate effect.

Claiming that there was no pilferage in the group housing societies as alleged by the Power Department, the memorandum stated the allegations were challenging the integrity of thousands of members of the societies, who were high-ranking officers of the Central and state governments, public sector undertakings (PSUs) and professionals from different walks of life. "The decision to start a single-point power supply was the result of the failure of the Power Department staff to check theft and to cut down transmission losses," it stated.

SK Aggarwal, general secretary of the committee, said the power meters were centrally located in the societies and were easily accessible. "All the power consumers have to be equally treated by the state government and the decision to start a single-point power supply cannot be imposed on the societies," he said.

Moreover, he said, flat occupants and a society are two independent consumers with distinct legal entities. "Security was deposited by every consumer separately and not collectively for one power meter," the memorandum stated, adding that the basic purpose of a single-point meter was to "pass on the inefficiency of the Power Department staff to the managements of societies".

In January this year, the HERC had finalised the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (Single Point Supply to Employers' Colonies, Group Housing Societies and Residential or Commercial-cum-Residential Complexes of Developers) Regulations, 2013. Under the new regime, the group housing societies and the employers' complexes were to install a single electricity meter for power distribution with individual consumers having sub-meters.

The decision was taken as officials of power distribution companies did not have free and unhindered access to these gated complexes manned by security personnel. Due to the restricted access, officials could not take effective steps to reduce commercial losses, which ultimately results in a higher tariff and affects the interests of honest consumers. Besides, there are frequent complaints from residents of harassment by power distribution company employees in connection with meter reading, billing and payment of bills, it was argued in the memorandum. 

Sirsa, April 5
With Haryana also following in the footsteps of Punjab by banning the screening of film “Sadda Haq”, the controversial film on the Khalistani movement could not be screened here on its release today.

The film produced by actor-producer Kuljinder Sidhu was to run two shows at Om Cine Garden Multiplex here. Earlier, the DGP in a letter addressed to all Commissioners of Police, Deputy Commissioners and SPs in Haryana communicated the state government’s decision to ban the film.

Karnal/Kurukshetra, April 5
Aman Chima was elected president of the District Bar Association, Kurukshetra, defeating his nearest rival Subash Sharma by 158 votes. Chima polled 339 votes against 181 polled by his rival.

Ajay Taneja defeated his nearest rival Amit Kumar Sharma by 20 votes for the post of vice-president while Joginder Singh won the post of secretary defeating his nearest rival Saurabh Dutt Sharma by 42 votes and Satish Kumar was elected as the treasurer by defeating Lalit Mohan, returning officer A.K.Kaushik said.

Meanwhile, Chand Vir Madan was elected president of Karnal District Bar Association, defeating his nearest rival Raj Kumar Chauhan by 26 votes. Gurpreet Singh, Arun Gorsi and Vishal were elected vice-president, joint secretary and general secretary, respectively.

Jhajjar: Ajit Solanki has been elected president of the Jhajjar Bar Association. Lalit Mohan Saini, Varun Grewal and Dheeraj Kaushik succeeded to clinch the victory on the posts of vice-president, secretary and joint secretary, respectively.

Sirsa: Daljit Singh Sran was today elected president of District Bar Association, Sirsa. He defeated Sanjay Goyal by one vote.

Amit Ganeriwala defeated Satbir Godara by 28 votes for the post of secretary, while Jyoti Verma defeated Jyoti Sethi by 309 votes to become joint secretary of the association.

Surender Singh Kathuria has already been elected vice-president of the District Bar Association unopposed. 

Rohtak, April 5
As Baba Banda Bahadur was a symbol of both devotion and strength, his life has been a continuous source of inspiration for society which provides inner strength to fight the evil forces, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while flagging of a chetna yatra launched by the Dera Baba Banda Bahadur here to mark the completion of 300 years of Dera Baba Banda Bahadur, established at Riyasi in Jammu-Kashmir, where he passed last years of his life.

Earlier, Hooda went to the dera at Rohtak, where he was welcomed by Baba Jatinderpal Singh Sodhi and others. He said the government had established a Chair in Kurukshetra University in the name of Baba Banda Bahadur, which would do research in different aspects of the saint's life. He wished all success to the yatra.

The Yatra consists of a tableau having weapons, clothings and other articles used by Baba Banda Bahadur.

The yatra will reach Dera Baba Banda Bahadur Riyasi (Jammu and Kashmir) on April 11 after passing through various places of Haryana, Punjab, Himachal and Jammu Kashmir.

Chandigarh, April 5
Members of the Consumer Grievances Redressal Forum (CGRF) of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) will tour the area under their jurisdiction for 12 days this month to hear the grievances of consumers.

Stating this here today, a spokesman of the nigam said the proceedings of the CGRF would be held at Yamunanagar on April 8, Karnal on April 9 and 29 and Kaithal on April 11 and 26. They will also visit Jhajjar, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jind and Panipat on April 10, 12, 15, 17, 18, 22 and 23, respectively. The CGRF shall take all grievances of consumers like billing problems, voltage complaints, problems in metering, disconnection and reconnection of power supply, interruptions, failure of power supply, efficiency, safety, reliability and non-compliance of Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission orders.

Kaithal, April 5
Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar provided callipers, crutches and Jaipur feet to 67 needy persons in the Multispeciality Hospital here today.

These aids were provided by the Bhagwan Mahaveer Sahayta Samiti, Ambala, run by the Durga Charan Bankwala Foundation at the initiative of Dr Raj Aggarwal, an America-based NRI. Dr Raj Aggarwal contacted the deputy commissioner after reading about his village night camp programmes through the internet edition of The Tribune. He visited Kaithal on February 23 when a mega corrective surgery camp was held in the Multispeciality Hospital in which 100 surgeries were conducted by a team led by Dr S.S. Sangwan, Vice-Chancellor of the PGIMS, Rohtak.

After getting information through district administration large number of persons had turned up. As many as 465 persons were selected for the aids. While 67 were provided aids today, and rest would be provided soon.

Chandigarh, April 5
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has extended up to June 30 the one-time settlement scheme of the Haryana State Cooperative Housing Federation to waive 75 per cent of the penal interest of all those loanees who had deposited the loans in lumpsum and 25 per cent of the penal interest by December 31, 2012.

Haryana Cooperation Minister Satpal Sangwan said that those who intended to avail the scheme should deposit the balance loan and interest as on November 30, 2011, to the date of payment with a 25 per cent penal interest.

More information about the scheme could be had from the Primary Cooperative House Construction Committee, the Development Officer of the Housing Federation, and Assistant Registrar, Cooperative Societies, or the office of the Housing Federation, Panchkula.

Chandigarh, April 5
Roshan Lal Arya, president of the Haryana Vanchit Varg Sangarsh Samiti, today demanded a rollback of the power tariff and transport tax hike in Haryana.

In a statement issued here today, Arya alleged that the Hooda Government was putting extra burden on honest power consumers by arbitrarily hiking the power tariff frequently. After the presentation of a “tax-free” Budget , the government was resorting to backdoor taxation.

Arya, whose organization recently tied up with Gurgaon MP Inderjit Singh’s Haryana Insaaf Manch, said the samiti would organise a statewide campaign against the “anti-people” policies of the Hooda Government.

Chandigarh, April 5
About 1,500 drivers will soon be recruited to expand the fleet of Haryana Roadways from 3,850 buses to 4500.

Arun Kumar, Director General(Transport), said a proficiency test would be conducted between April 15 and May 31 at Panchkula, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Murthal , Gurgaon, Rohtak, Bhiwani, Hisar, Rewari and Jhajjar.

The test would take place on all working days except on holidays, Saturdays and Sundays.