Chandigarh, October 15
In a development that would go a long way in checking ruling party leaders announcing populist measures the Finance Department has directed against starting any new project without its fresh approval.

In its directive dated October 14 on “prioritisation of Plan expenditure in the current financial year(2013-14)”, the department said the Plan funds provided in the Budget would be used only for completion of the ongoing projects. “The new projects included proposed projects for which budgetary provisions existed and for which administrative sanction had been made. However, these also included projects for which no expenditure has been made,” the instructions said.

These would also include the projects for which tenders have been received but work is yet to be awarded. “These instructions will also apply to the purchase of land on a commercial basis from the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) or any other agency of the state,” the department instructions asserted.

Moreover, under the centrally sponsored schemes, the state’s share shall be released only after the actual receipt of the Central share. However, this condition will not apply to those schemes in which it is mandatory for the state to incur expenditure of its share before the release of the Centre's.

On the diversion of funds, the department said the diversion of funds from one scheme to another could be allowed for ongoing works by the Planning/Finance Department on a case-to-case basis.The diversion could not be allowed in the salary and wage schemes, the instructions said.

However, if any new project is to be started in public interest, the department concerned would have to send a self-contained proposal to the Planning Department for granting relaxation of these instructions which would be granted on a case-to-case basis.

Directives on new projects No project to be started before fresh approval from the Finance Department No commercial purchase of land from HUDA allowed Funds under Plan Budget to be used for ongoing projects Finance/Planning Departments to have discretion on diversion of funds

Karnal/Panipat, October 15
Launching the Vijay Abhiyan Yatra, BJP and HJC leaders today dubbed the Hooda government as most corrupt.

State BJP chief Ram Bilas Sharma, who had a brief halt in Karnal while on his way to join the yatra at Assandh, said a “thorough inquiry” would be ordered into all CLU (change of land use) cases and those flouting the laws would be booked if the BJP-HJC alliance came to power.

“Corruption has become synonymous with the Congress and Hooda's nine-year regime would be remembered as the darkest period in the history of Haryana with atrocities on Dalits, insecurity among women, oppression of farmers counted as the main achievements”, he said

Farmers had been rendered landless on the pretext of development and special economic zonez (SEZ) aimed at benefitting big industrial houses while nothing was done for farmers and underprivileged sections of society, the BJP leader said.

Having a dig on Hooda, the state BJP president said he was heading a government with 10 out of 40 MLAs facing criminal charges and two former ministers, Gopal Kanda,and OPJain, arrested for heinous crimes. At the same time, honest officers like Ashok Khemka, who exposed the Vadra-DLF land deals, were being hounded, he added.

About division in the BJP on Narender Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, he said : “Modi is the BJP's unanimous choice and the Rewari rally is an example of his mass appeal”.

Setting at rest speculation about a possible alliance between the BJP and the INLD, Sharma said both the Congress and the INLD were equally corrupt.

“There are no differences between the BJP and the HJC on seat sharing and the final list of candidates would be released soon after the elections are notified”, the BJP leader emphasised.

Meanwhile, HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi whose Vijay Abhiyan Yatra reached Panipat today said that the Hooda government had brought the state under a debt of Rs 7,000 crore. The BJP-HJC government, Bishnoi said, would seek details of this amount when returned to power.

He said the yatra was aimed at reaching out to the people in all areas of the state. Moreover, the response to the rally would be the benchmark for judging the popularity of leaders necessary for the selection of candidates.

Chandigarh, October 15
A high-level committee headed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today cleared the names of former bureaucrat Samir Mathur and journalists Yoginder Gupta and Hemant Attri for appointment as State Information Commissioners (SICs).

Besides Hooda, the meeting was attended by Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal. Leader of Opposition Om Prakash Chautala, who is also a member of the committee, was conspicuous by his absence as he is jail for his involvement in the JBT recruitment scam. The SICs are appointed by Haryana Governor on the recommendation of the committee.

Earlier, a search committee headed by Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery and comprising Finance Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary Sarban Singh and Lt-Gen DDS Sandhu (retd), Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, had recommended nine names to the committee.

Besides, Chief Information Commissioner Naresh Gulati, a former IAS officer, the State Information Commission has seven SICs, including Urvashi Gulati, Sajjan Singh, Samir Mathur, all former bureaucrats, PR Meena, a former IPS officer, Maj-Gen Jagbir Singh Kundu, and Yoginder Gupta and Hemant Attri, journalists.

Gurgaon, October 15
To curb construction activities in the prohibited zone of 900-metre radius around the local ammunition depot, the authorities have decided to step up their efforts against the violators. A joint meeting of the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) and the local Air Force Station authorities organised at the MCG office here recently was told that 68 police cases had been registered under Section 188 of the IPC for violation of the orders issued under Section 144 of the CrPC this year. Arrests have also been made in 40 such cases.

Gurgaon Municipal Commissioner PC Meena maintained that FIRs would be registered immediately on receiving complaints regarding the unauthorised construction in the prohibited zone. Usha, ACP (Headquarters), who was present at the meeting, was directed to ensure compliance of orders.

Meena said while the police would register cases against the violators, the MCG officials would demolish the structures raised in violation of the orders. He asked the officials concerned to ensure that the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court regarding maintenance of status quo in the prohibited zone of 900 metres were followed in letter and spirit.

The meeting was also told that the MCG had erected pillars along the boundary of the restricted zone to make the people aware that construction activities were prohibited in the area.

Meena further informed the meeting that the MCG had been taking satellite images of the houses already constructed in the restricted zone so that these could be compared with similar images taken afterwards to analyse the number of constructions that took place in this period.

He said though many teams of engineers had been deputed to check unauthorised construction activities under the supervision of Joint Municipal Commissioners as well as SDMs, the Air Force authorities should also keep a watch on the restricted zone through their cameras.

Wing Commander DS Chahal, Chief Administrative Officer of the local Air Force Station, appreciated the efforts of the MCG authorities as well as the district administration.

Sonepat, October 15
After receiving complaints of negligence in cleaning in Ward 6 of the town, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Chander Shekhar today directed the Executive Engineer (EO) of the local Municipal Council to terminate the contract of the safai contractor.

The direction was given by the DC after inspecting the cleanliness in different residential colonies of the Ward this morning. He also asked the EO to take action against the safai karamcharis who were not performing their duties properly.

Regarding narrow sewer pipelines in the localities resulting in overflowing, the DC said an estimate of Rs 4.86 crore had been sent to the government for sanction to replace the existing pipelines with wider ones. The work would be started soon after getting the approval, he assured.

Residents also lodged complaints about loose electricity wires, distribution of PDS ration and activities of some anti-social elements indulging in gambling near the railway track.

Chandigarh, October 15
Bonding over a luncheon meeting, Haryana Congress MLAs today assured their host, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, of making the party's November 10 Haryana Shakti Rally at Gohana a thumping success.

Hooda organised a lunch at Haryana Niwas and followed it up with his appeal to make the Gohana rally the “biggest Haryana has ever seen”.

Sources said while Congressmen were assigned duties for the rally, they were asked to launch an intensive mass contact programme in their respective constituencies to muster support for the rally.

Though MLAs owing allegiance to the “detractor” group in the Congress, Rajpal Bhukri and Naresh Selvel, both Selja loyalists, did not show up, Ministers HS Chatha and Kiran Choudhry also “skipped the meeting on account of ill-health”. Panipat MLA Balbir Pal Shah, who had created a flutter by submitting his resignation to Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Sharma a couple of months ago, was also conspicuous by his absence. Food and Supplies Minister Mahender Pratap also didn’t show up.

Power Minister Capt Ajay Yadav, one of the last few to arrive at the meeting well past the lunch, was also one of the firsts to leave the venue “on account of a previous engagement”.

Sources attributed his late arrival and hurried departure to his gradually growing proximity to the detractor camp once again.

All those present at the meeting assured Hooda of getting anywhere between 5,000 to 25,000 people for the rally.

State Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana and Hooda’s confidant and Congress MLA Venod Sharma said the MLAs had been asked to go back to their constituencies with the idea of propagating the various public welfare schemes of the state and Central government and urge the people to express their support to the party by turning up for the rally in large numbers.

Later, the Chief Minister, accompanied by PWD Minister Randeep Surjewala and MLA BB Batra, told mediapersons that the meeting was centred around the rally for which lakhs would show up at Gohana. While ruling out any factionalism in the party, he said the Congress was united and would present a united front at the rally as well.

“I have asked the MLAs to whip up support for the rally to make it one of the biggest Haryana has ever seen. The turnout at the rally will create a record of sorts. They have accepted the challenge. As is customary, certain announcements in public interests will be made at the rally while we will also put forth the roadmap of development,” he said, adding that so far no Central leader had been approached to address the rally.

Jind, October 15
While the state government had recently issued orders to close down those private schools which were unauthorised and functioning without proper infrastructure, several government schools are also in pathetic conditions and crying for attention. Nearly 50-year-old Government High School on the premises of the local railway junction is one of them.

One of the oldest schools in the district, this school has no room for holding classes at present, making the students to squat in the open throughout the year despite. “The school, which has nearly 400 students, has been functioning from a rented accommodation owned by the Indian Railways since its inception in the early fifties,” said a faculty member.

He said though it was one of the oldest schools, the state government had not cared to provide it its own building to it so that the students could get facilities at par with other schools. Sources said the school had only three proper rooms at its disposal which were being used as principal room, staff room and laboratory-cum computer room, while there was no room for the students and classes were held in the open or in a small verandah available.

“The state government and the Education Department must take steps to improve the condition of its own schools than to ensure the closure of private schools,’’ said Harish Garg, a local resident.

District Education Officer (DEO) Dilbagh Singh admitted shortage of rooms in the school. Claiming that there were five to six rooms, he said none of the room was able to adjust more than 20 students at one time while the average strength of a class was over 40. Revealing that the department was paying a rent of Rs 8,000 per month for this building to the Railways, he said his office had taken up the demand of shifting the school to a nearby primary school.

Chandigarh, October 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has ordered a special "girdawari" to assess the damage caused by the rains to crops in the state. All the Deputy Commissioners have been directed that a special "girdawari" be conducted and the report be sent to the Government.

Since the normal "girdawari" is in progress in the state, the Deputy Commissioners have been directed to ensure that such damages are reported in it too. — TNS

Gurgaon, October 15
A ban on groundwater extraction has failed to lessen the woes of the millennium city that battles an alarming depletion of 1.12 m per year and may go dry by 2030.

"Things are going out of hand and Gurgaon requires a separate Jal Board. Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) alone cannot handle all things and water crisis needs separate attention. A present, we are somehow managing things but cannot go for long and it’s high time that we have a separate Jal Board or the city will surely go dry in next decade. We have a canal, a sewage treatment plant as well as a policy of zero discharge in new sectors but that is not enough. I have communicated to the authorities concerned for the separate Jal Board,” said HUDA Administrator Praveen Kumar.

Groundwater accounts for around 70 per cent of Gurgaon's water supply. The Punjab and Haryana High Court had banned digging of borewells and groundwater extraction in 2007.

Gurgaon had over 30,000 tubewells drawing an estimated 70-230 million litres of groundwater per day in 2011. By 2021, with an estimated population of 3.7 million, the water demand would go up to 666 million litres per day, according to a Centre for Science and Environment study.

Similar findings were highlighted by a study conducted recently by a team of experts from Delhi's Jamia Milia Islamia University.

“Gurgaon has no natural source of water. Ideally, we are supposed to extract only 70 per cent of the net availability. Each year in Gurgaon, around 300 per cent of what is available is being extracted, a lot of it illegally. A five to six feet annual decline will make the city thirsty and dry in no time, said Dr Gauhar Mahmood, a professor in the Department of Civil Engineering and who led the research study.

Gurgaon, October 15
The millennium city of Gurgaon is lagging behind in registration of eligible persons as voters. The population-voter ratio of Gurgaon district is 436 as against the ratio of 554 in the state.

Presently, a special supplementary revision of voters’ list is going on in the district which is scheduled to be completed by October 25, but it is not getting a good response from the people.

The lukewarm response to the ongoing revision work is indicated by the fact that so far, only about 22,000 applications for registration of new voters have been received in all four Assembly segments of the district.

The figures received from the District Election office states that the projected population of the four Assembly segments in January 2014 will be around 20,44,912 and the number of voters on September 6, 2013, was 8,91,165. So, going by the population-voter ratio of the state, still there is shortfall of nearly 3,10,000 persons who are yet to apply for becoming voters.

Hence, as per the official estimates, only about 15 per cent persons have applied for registering themselves as voters so far.

The voters, who have shifted from some other place, can submit form for inclusion of their names in the voters’ list. If any voter’s name is missing from the draft voters’ list, he or she should apply again for adding his or her name to the list.

Rewari, October 15
The Mahendragarh sadar police arrested 25-year-old Dinesh for allegedly raping a married woman (30) intermittently at Khudana village of Mahendragarh district for the past 18 months.

Earlier, on a complaint filed by the woman, the police had registered a case of rape, obscenity, criminal intimidation and under the Information Technology Act against the accused.

Jhajjar, October 15
A youth was hacked to death by assailants in the Modern Industrial Estate (MIE) area in Bahadurgarh, located on the Delhi- Haryana border, here today. The body, which is yet to be identified, was found in a pit near a park.

The Bahadurgarh police has registered a case of murder. The incident came to light when a shopkeeper spotted the body near the shopping complex of part-I of the MIE. He immediately informed the police. The body was sent to the Civil Hospital for a post-mortem.