Sirsa, June 18
Three years after Sirsa witnessed one of the worst floods, the authorities here seem ill-prepared to deal with any eventuality, even as the monsoon has started creating havoc in several parts of North India.

Several plans by the authorities to prevent floods seem to have gone astray, as a trip along the Ghaggar reveals that the situation on the ground is no better than what it was in 2010, when floods caused havoc in Sirsa.

Crops on over 60,000 acres were inundated by the floods in Sirsa in July 2010 and 4,300 tubewells were submerged under the water.

As many as 1.70 lakh bags of wheat belonging to Haryana State Warehousing Corporation (HSWC) were damaged at Bani village in Sirsa.

Post floods, the authorities made several plans to save Sirsa from floods, but a little has been done on the ground.

Soon after the floods, the district authorities prepared a comprehensive plan for Rs 273 crore, including widening of Ghaggar’s creek downstream of Ottu Weird to 200 feet, increasing the depth of river and strengthening of embankments from Nejadela Kalan near Sirsa to Musahibwala on the Punjab border.

However, the plan did not move beyond files.

Later, in February 2011, the authorities prepared another plan that included digging the creek of the Ghaggar to make it wider and deeper at a cost of Rs 25 crore, increasing the capacity of Rangoi Khrif Channel (RKC) at a cost of 6 crore, and the removal of unauthorised pipes endangering embankments of the river. However, very little has been done to avert the floods so far.

The digging of Ghaggar creek proved a non-starter. The capacity of Ottu Weir was 43,000 cusecs, while that of siphon under the Indira Gandhi Canal, where the Ghaggar makes its 
exit from Haryana to enter in Rajasthan is merely 16,000 cusecs.

Hence, the areas between Ottu Weir and the Rajasthan border are often flooded due to the lesser capacity of Ghaggar downstream of Ottu.

In May 2011, 30 engineers of the state Irrigation Department were suspended for irregularities in the work of digging of Ghaggar near Ottu Lake to increase its capacity from 2007 to 2011.

While an inquiry in this regard is still pending, the government has already reinstated them pending the probe.

Though the authorities claim that they are well prepared for the possible threat of floods, their preparations seem concentrated on rescue operations rather than prevention of floods.

Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Dr J Ganesan reviewed the preparedness of the authorities and travelled in a boat to see whether these were working well.

Ganesan said 11 boats and 5 motorboats had been kept ready for any eventuality.

He said the authorities had identified 15 flood-prone villages and appointed sector magistrates to oversee by dividing them into five sectors.

Sonepat, June 18
The district administration has got vacated three villages-Asadpur, Jajal and Manoli Tonki-- located along the Yamuna embankment. Temporary arrangements for stay has been made in the school buildings of the adjoining villages. Sonepat SDM Virender Lather and Gannaur SDM Regan Kumar were maintaining round-the-clock vigil on the Yamuna water level Sonepat MP Jitender Singh Malik and Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal along with the officers concerned inspected the 25-km-long Yamuna embankment .

Malik said he would meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and urge him to give compensation to the farmers whose crops had been damaged in Yamuna floods.

Superintendent Engineer of Irrigation department JS Rana said around 4.5 lakh cusecs of water was flowing in the Yamuna and there was no immediate threat at present.

Faridabad: Deputy Commissioner Balraj Singh, who is also the chairman of the district disaster management committee, has set up a control room in his office to monitor the flood situation. He said the Army had been kept on standby to deal with any eventuality. A senior officer said 20 villages, including Ismailpur, Chandpur and Chaisa, had been identified as sensitive. The authorities have already evacuated residents and animal stock from Basantpur and Ismailpur villages and shifted them to a relief camp at Basantpur.

JP Nadda

Badal as NDA convener a ‘conjecture’

There has been no talk yet within the BJP about Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal being appointed as NDA convener, Nadda said. The BJP alone could not take that decision which would be taken in consultation with its other alliance partners in the NDA. Though, there is no doubt that Badal is among the tallest leaders in the NDA, the decision to replace Sharad Yadav with Badal would be taken after taking SAD President Sukhbir Singh Badal into confidence. All reports about Badal emerging as the front-runner for the coveted position were only conjectures.

Yamunanagar/Ambala, June 18
The early arrival of the monsoon has led to a sudden decline in power demand in the state.

Sources said the demand for power was just 935 lakh units, which is less than half the demand registered in June every year. This has forced the Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) to shut down eight thermal units.

With the onset of paddy-sowing season, the demand for power rises steeply after June 15 when the farmers start drawing power to irrigate their fields. The sources said till a few days ago, the state’s power demand was hovering around 1,450 lakh units a day, which was expected to go up after June 15 and cross 1,700 lakh units.

However, the decline in temperatures following widespread rains in the northern parts of the state resulted in fall in demand.

As of today, only two units - one at Panipat and another at Khedar - were operating. At Panipat thermal plant, five units, including unit number 6, 7, 2, 3 and 4 had been closed, while one unit each at Khedar and Yamunanagar had been shut down.

On the whole, power demand in the northern region has come down to 6,721 lakh units from 8,910 lakh units. There is no power shortage in most of the northern states except Uttar Pradesh.

Chandigarh, June 18
The INLD today submitted a memorandum to Governor Jagannath Pahadia, demanding a judicial probe by a sitting high court judge in the Hooda government's JBT teachers' recruitment scam in 2009 and registration of criminal cases against the accused .

State unit president Ashok Arora, who was leading the delegation, said the delegation also urged the Governor to direct the state government to take immediate steps to provide relief to flood-affected people in Yamunanagar, Panipat, Karnal, Sonepat and Palwal districts.

The INLD accused the Hooda government of a scam in JBT teachers' recruitment in 2009. The memorandum said the written test for recruitment took place on July 24, 2009. The government also took the fingerprints of all applicants. Following this, the Hooda government had issued directions to recruit 8,514 JBT teachers.

They said the then Directorate of Primary Education had issued directions to the Crime Branch to match the fingerprints of the selected candidates with those taken at the time of the examination. They alleged it was found that the fingerprints of hundreds of candidates were not matching, proving that the candidates who had been appointed had not taken the written examination. The INLD alleged that close relatives of influential people in the government were appointed.

Chandigarh, June 18
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said today that there would be no change in quantum of non-practising allowance (NPA) admissible to doctors. The Chief Minister, who presided over a meeting here, said the NPA would be admissible to doctors as per the existing practice.

Those present in the meeting included Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery, Principal Secretary(Health) Navraj Sandhu, among others.

Chandigarh, June 18
Alleging rampant human rights violation in jails across the state, an NGO has moved the Haryana Human Rights Commission for appropriate directions to the government.

In his petition, Viresh Shandilya, president of the Anti-terrorist Front, India, alleged that the inmates were living in “sub-human” conditions in jails with the authorities looking the other way.

About overcrowding in jails, the petition said nearly 40 inmates each were lodged in one room. And there was no separate jails for women prisoners. In fact, both men and women prisoners were taken to the court in same buses.

The quality of food needs much to be desired. While A diet of Rs 140 per prisoner was fixed, the quality of food, including the morning and evening tea and lunch (dal and five chappatis) and dinner (subzi and five chappatis, was substandard. It was only after inspections by inspecting Judges that good food was made available to the prisoners, the petition claimed.

While no filtered water was available to the inmates, insanitary conditions prevailed in certain jails on account of “open laterines”. Prisoners were not allowed to talk to their kin on the phone twice a week violating guidelines of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Chandigarh, June 18
Minister for Excise and Taxation Kiran Chaudhry today said new avenues of revenue generation would be explored with more effective enforcement of law and added that those who ought to pay tax but were neglected earlier, might now come into the ambit of tax.

She was addressing a state-level conference of Excise and Taxation Officers (ETOs). It is for the first time that any minister has had direct interaction with assessing authorities. Earlier, the ministers used to assess the tax collection with the Deputy Excise and Taxation (DETC)-level officers and that too at the fag-end of the financial year.

Chaudhry listened to the problems being faced by the assessing authorities in the collection of tax and assured to resolve those problems.

She said despite economic meltdown, the department has collected revenue of Rs 20,000 crore during 2012-13, which was 9.45 per cent higher than the previous year. She also directed the officers to clear the back log.

She asked the DETCs to present their reports on tax collection.

Rohtak, June 18
The campaign of the local police to curb traffic violations does not seem to have had an impact on autorickshaw drivers. Many of the estimated 12,000 vehicles plying here do not have a pollution fitness certificate.

“Autorickshaws have emerged as the main source of commuting in the absence of a proper local transport system and are having virtually a free run here,” claimed Yoginder Dahiya, social activist. He said the authorities concerned did not have in place a system or technique to check pollution even though most of these vehicles were using diesel and kerosene as fuel.

The police had failed to rein those in despite complaints of overcharging even though autorickshaws did not have meter or fare charts, claimed Sewak, local resident.

Police officials claimed that routine checking was being done and more than 65 autorickshaws found violating traffic norms were challaned in the last couple of days.

“The police has launched a drive to curb traffic violations and has issued challans to more than 600 vehicles in the last few days,” said a district police spokesperson.

The city bus service launched last year continues to remain skeletal with the number and frequency of buses being plied unable to meet the demand.

Chandigarh, June 18
As many as 26 candidates, who contested the elections held last month from the Municipal Council, Narwana, and the Municipal Committee, Safidon, have been disqualified for three years for not submitting their election expenditure statement.

While stating this here yesterday, State Election Commissioner Dharam Vir said these candidates had not even bothered to file reply of the show-cause notice issued to them.

He said the results of the elections of the Municipal Council, Narwana and the Municipal Committee, Safidon, were declared on May 20, 2010, the same day of elections. As per the Haryana Municipal Election Expenditure (Maintenance and Submission of Accounts) order, 2006, every contesting candidate has to file his or her account of election expenses within 30 days after the declaration of the results. Seven candidates of the Municipal Council, Narwana, and 19 candidates of the Municipal Committee, Safidon, have neither submitted their election expenditure statement nor bothered to file reply of the show-cause notice issued to them and thus, they have been disqualified for three years.

Hisar, June 18
The next of kin of the six migrant labourers from Bihar, who lost their lives working in a guar gum factory at Hindwan in Hisar yesterday, will get a compensation of nearly Rs 5 lakh each.

Factory owner Neeraj Bansal today deposited a cheque of Rs 31 lakh (approximately) towards compensation for the death of the six labourers, said Ashok Nain, Deputy Director (Safety and Health), Labour Department, Hisar.

The compensation was computed as per the provisions of the Workman Compensation Act depending on the respective age of the victims.

“In normal procedure, the victims’ legal heirs file a case in the department, which is often contested by the owners. But taking this as a special case, where the victims are from Bihar and it will be difficult for them to pursue the legal battle, we pressurised the factory owner to deposit the money with the department,” said Nain.

The authorities sent the bodies of the victims to Khajaria district of Bihar last night and the vehicle carrying the bodies is likely to reach there tonight.

“The compensation money is lying with us and it will be handed over to legal heirs of the victims after verification of their credentials,” Nain added.

Meanwhile, the Labour Department has also initiated an inquiry to find out the irregularities committed by the factory owner.

The BJP human rights cell has taken up the matter with the NHRC. Sending a clipping of the news item ‘Six labourers buried alive in Hisar village’, RP Malhotra, state convener of the BJP human rights cell, has sought a stern action against the authorities for allowing a factory to run in gross violation of building norms and demanded a suitable compensation for the victims’ kin.

Sonepat, June 18
Three children aged between six and seven years and residents of Orangabad district in Bihar drowned in a pond at Barota village in Sonepat district today.

The deceased have been identified as Rahul, Kamini and Nandni.

Their bodies were recovered by the villagers after another child, Rohit, who saw them drowning, informed the family members about the incident. The bodies were taken to the Civil Hospital by the police.

The family members of the deceased had been temporarily staying at Barota village.

The deceased had gone to take a bath in the pond.

Chandigarh, June 18
The Haryana Government has decided to provide free treatment to hepatitis-C patients belonging to the Scheduled Castes and those living Below Poverty Line (BPL) in Fatehabad, Jind and Kaithal districts.

Stating this here today, an official spokesman said Rs 4.64 crore has been earmarked to provide this facility. He said a modern laboratory was being set up at Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, for which the government has provided a sum of Rs 1.78 crore.

He said a large number of hepatitis-C patients were detected in Ratia subdivision of Fatehabad district. Around 2.18 lakh persons were screened under a survey during the year 2012 in Ratia, including 78 villages, 17 wards and three colonies. As many as 7,533 samples were collected during the survey out of which 1,630 cases were found positive, including 692 women and 938 men. He said most of the patients were in the age group of 10 to 60 years and only 9 of them were below 10 years of age.

He said a similar survey was also conducted in Jind and Kaithal districts this year. The survey in Durana village of Jind district was conducted in February 2013, in which around 6,000 persons were covered and 207 samples were collected, out of which 89 cases were found positive.

Chandigarh, June 18
The government has recommended to the Central Government the names of two girls, an institution and an individual for National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement, National Award for Child Welfare and Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award, respectively.

A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the state-level screening committee held under the chairmanship of Haryana Women and Child Development Minister Geeta Bhukkal here today.

Those who have been recommended included Sarita, a resident of Bhiwani and Harman, a resident of Panipat, for National Child Award for Exceptional Achievement.

An institution, SOS Children Village, Faridabad, has been recommended for National Award for Child Welfare, and Ved Prakash, a resident of Narnaul, has been recommended for Rajiv Gandhi Manav Seva Award.

Rewari, June 18
On the complaint of a woman Jyoti (24), the police has registered a case of dowry and causing abortion against her husband Sunil Kumar, father-in-law Satpal, mother-in-law Sunita Devi and two others, all residents of the Rohini area of Delhi.

Besides, the police has also registered a case of molestation against Jyoti’s grand father-in-law Ram Lal.

She alleged that her grand father-in-law several times made a bid to outrage her modesty.