Chandigarh, October 2
Dengue is spreading its tentacles in Haryana with 383 confirmed cases reported so far as compared to just 87 cases in the corresponding period last year. Gurgaon has accounted for 166 cases.

Official sources said improper water management, storage of stagnant rainwater, unplanned construction activities and lifestyle changes are some of the major factors responsible for proliferation of mosquito breeding sites and spread of dengue.

Narender Arora, Director-General (Health services), said a video conference on dengue was held at the state headquarters to take stock of the situation and issue necessary instructions to the field units. This fatal disease could be checked by preventing mosquito breeding in water stagnating in pits and low-lying areas.

It was decided to intensify fogging operations along with anti-larval operations and reserve wards for management of dengue patients. All drugs or medicines and equipment along with physicians and paramedical staff be made available in district, sub-district hospitals. It was also decided that adequate availability of platelets count for dengue patients should also be ensured.

Meanwhile, one death due to dengue has been reported from Sonepat district , the sources said, adding that the disease was spreading to other areas.

The field units were asked to ask people to drain out water from air coolers once a week. Moreover, people should tightly close lids of overhead water tanks to prevent mosquitoes from enter the tanks. They were also advised not to let water stagnate in their houses and surrounding areas.

People had also been advised not to let water overflow ibecause it got accumulated in pits and low-lying areas, leading to breeding of mosquitoes.They should not throw unused tyres, plastic bottles and other containers in the open as these containers acted as breeding sources for mosquitoes.

Palwal, October 2
Lending voice to the BJP refrain against the Congress leadership for Rahul Gandhi’s diatribe against the UPA government’s controversial Ordinance which sought to avert the disqualification of convicted legislators, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari said the Prime Minister’s position had been compromised irreparably by his party.

Addressing a public meeting here, Gadkari said never since Independence had the office of Prime Minister been denigrated as much as during Manmohan Singh’s tenure.

“Rahul Gandhi publicly ridiculing the Ordinance as nonsense, which should be torn and thrown away, is an open rebuke to the Union Cabinet, especially the Prime Minister,” Gadkari said. He demanded that Manmohan Singh should resign immediately in wake of the public humiliation by the party vice-president.

He alleged that the UPA government was being run by Sonia Gandhi and her son Rahul Gandhi. He also alleged that the UPA government had been apathetic to the farming community. He said farmers had been pushed into penury on account of its faulty policies, which compelled them to commit suicide.

He said the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had a better track record than the UPA rule. He claimed that 1,70,000 villages were connected by road during the NDA regime.

He charged the UPA government with mishandling the economy and attributed the spiralling inflation and devaluation of the rupee to it. He added that BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi would be the Prime Minister after the next general election.

Badopal (Fatehabad), October 2
Member of Parliament, environmentalist and animal rights activist Maneka Gandhi wants the upcoming nuclear power project at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad to be scrapped. She also wants the 185-odd acres acquired by Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) for its residential colony to be declared a conservation reserve for blackbucks inhabiting the area.

Maneka Gandhi, who heads the NGO People for Animals (PFA), came to Badopal, where activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Jeev Raksha Bishnoi Sabha (ABJRBS) had been on a dharna for the last 88 days, seeking action against the NPCIL officials responsible for the death of seven blackbucks, control of the population of stray dogs which chased and killed the animals and setting up of a wildlife sanctuary.

"The site for the proposed nuclear power project is in a densely populated area and too close to the national capital. This can cause havoc and affect lakhs of people if there is any leak in the plant," Maneka Gandhi cautioned. Expressing concern over the death of blackbucks at the site where the NPCIL erected a fencing, she castigated the district administration for its failure to save wildlife, which was fast facing extinction.

"After reading news reports on the death of blackbucks and incidents of stray dogs chasing those, I spoke to the District Magistrate and sent my teams for the sterilisation of 2,000 stray dogs in the area. Sterilised dogs neither chase other animals, nor bite. Due to lack of interest of the authorities and local residents, my team had to return in a month after performing barely 200 operations," she lamented. She added that members of her team had vowed never to visit Fatehabad again.

Maneka Gandhi expressed the desire to set up a veterinary college in the area and offered her support if the Bishnoi community came forward as it would be helpful in safeguarding injured animals. She came down heavily on the Haryana Police and alleged that animal smugglers had made Haryana a transit point due to rampant corruption in the state police. "I sent a decoy vehicle with animals and drivers had to bribe police personnel at 14 points in Haryana," she alleged.

Renuka Bishnoi, MLA from Adampur, accompanied her. Renuka Bishnoi said she would carry forward Maneka Gandhi's programmes in Haryana. Former Parliamentary Secretary Dura Ram, ABJRBS president Rameshwar and secretary Krishan Lal Kakar and PFA district president Vinod Karwasara were present.

Karnal, October 2
With eyes set on the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda went on an inauguration spree during a one-day tour of Karnal yesterday.

He unveiled a Rs 100-crore plan to further strengthen the power transmission and distribution system in Karnal district, inaugurated a new office building of Vidyut Nigam, announced the release of domestic and tubewell connections, setting up of additional distribution transformers, 50 per cent concession of aged people in Roadways buses, construction of old age homes and laid the foundation stone of a 655-m overbridge on the Karnal-Munak road.

Inaugurating the new building of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), Hooda said a Rs 100-crore plan, envisaging the construction of 10 sub-stations and capacity augmentation of 20 sub-stations to strengthen the power distribution system had been approved for Karnal district.

The plan is a part of the Rs 2,000-crore project of Haryana power discoms to strengthen the power distribution system to ensure reliable power supply.

Hooda said being a predominant paddy-growing area, Karnal district had been given special attention in strengthening the power infrastructure and a plan to set up a 220-kV sub-station at Moondh and nine 33-kV sub-stations at Hansi Road, Karnal, Rasoolpur, Pichaulia, Darar, Sonkara, Gagsina, Gunyana, Sidpur and Newal had been approved.

Disclosing that 9,620 electricity connections had been given free of cost to people below the poverty line, under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen

The Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a railway overbridge at Gogripur crossing on the Karnal-Munak road, to be constructed at a cost of Rs 31.73 crore in two years. The construction of the 655-m overbridge, with a width of 9.6 m, would be completed by July 2015.

Residents of seven villages, including Gogripur, Badota, Samalakha, Bijna, Satondi, Gagsina and Munak, would be directly benefited by this overbridge.

Sonepat, October 2
Hundreds of mid-day meal workers led by their district president Kamlesh Panchal and secretary Meena Sain took out a protest march in the town today in support of their demands.

They handed over a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar, who assured them that their demands would be forwarded to the higher authorities.

Their main demands include regularisation of service, regular payment of monthly remuneration, implementation of labour laws and arrangements for liquefied petroleum gas and regular supply of rations.

They were accompanied by senior functionaries of CITU and the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, who extended their support to the mid-day meal workers.

Chandigarh, October 2
The Haryana Government has decided to appoint retired teachers on a contract basis to meet the shortage of teachers in its schools, said Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal here today.

She said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had already accorded approval for empanelment of retired teachers up to 65 years of age. The recruitment process of teachers being sub-judice, the services of retired teachers would be sought for making alternative arrangements. Apart from this, the government had also decided not to retire teachers in the mid-academic session.

Bhukkal said textbooks had been supplied in most of the government schools. The firms allotted short-term tenders had started the delivery of textbooks. All students would get textbooks within two days, she added.

Rewari, October 2
The Khol police has arrested Sanjay Yadav (28) on the charge killing his father Dharambir Yadav (62) at Dhawana village, about 35 km from Rewari, yesterday.

The accused was today produced before the Duty Magistrate, who remanded him in judicial custody. The police earlier registered a case of murder against Sanjay on a complaint filed by his mother Savitri Devi.

She stated that she and her husband had been living at their farmhouse where her son Sanjay came yesterday and sought division of agricultural land.

She said when Dharambir tried to skirt the issue, Sanjay got infuriated and hit him on the head with an iron pipe, killing him on the spot.

Chandigarh, October 2
Rich tributes were paid to Mahatma Gandhi and former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri on their birth anniversaries as functions were organised at several places in Haryana today to commemorate their memory. Governor Jagannath Pahadia paid rich tributes to both Mahatma Gandhi and Shastri at the state-level function organised at Haryana Raj Bhawan here.

Pahadia cautioned against violence and tendency of discrimination prevailing in the entire world. He said there had also been instances of communalism, corruption and gimmicks to grab power. Thus, the path of non-violence and truth shown by Mahatma Gandhi was needed for the entire humanity.

Pahadia said Mahatma Gandhi proved that violence and war were no solution to any problem. He said Mahatma Gandhi showed the path of non-violence not only to the Indians, but also to the entire humanity. Mahatma Gandhi had dreamt of a prosperous India and wanted peace in the world.

Pahadia said Lal Bahadur Shastri symbolised simplicity, honesty, patriotism and dedication to duty.

A ‘sarv dharam prathna sabha’ was also organised. Favourite ‘bhajans’ of Mahatma Gandhi were also recited by artistes of the Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department.

Earlier, the Governor and many others paid floral tributes to the great leaders.

Chandigarh, October 2
The government has constituted a seven-member committee headed by the Special Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, to finalise the criteria for finalisation of the seniority of officers in the Faridabad Municipal Corporation and other municipal corporations.

A spokesman of the Urban Local Bodies Department said other members of the committee included Additional Director, Urban Local Bodies; Joint Secretary Urban Local Bodies; Assistant Director (Election), Urban Local Bodies; Chief Town Planner, Urban Local Bodies; Chief Accounts Officer or Accounts Officer, office of Director, Urban Local Bodies, among others. The committee would finalise its recommendations within two weeks.

Sirsa, October 2
After Bhupinder Singh Hooda's rally in the INLD bastion of Kharia in the Rania Assembly constituency on September 29, the Chief Minister's son and Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda will address a meeting at INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala's ancestral village.

Deepender will lay the foundation stone of a 33-KV power substation and address people at Chautala village in the Dabwali Assembly constituency of Sirsa on October 12. KV Singh, Officer on Special Duty (Media) to Chief Minister, today said Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar would preside over the function.

On October 16, Power Minister Capt Ajay Singh will lay the foundation stone of a power substation at Chormar in Sirsa and Tanwar will preside over the function.