The Tribune...Haryana

H A R Y A N A

Sunday, July 19, 1998

weather n spotlight
today's calendar

GJU institutes go
to MDU
ROHTAK, July 18 — Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU), Hisar, has been converted into a residential university and the institutes of technology, engineering, pharmacy and management affiliated to it have been transferred to Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak...

WB to release Rs 1,000 cr to Haryana soon
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The World Bank today assured the Haryana Government that the second installment amounting to Rs 1000 crore for the implementation of power sector reform project will be approved in the near future...

Brick-kilns sans chimneys a health risk
KAITHAL: A number of brick and charcoal manufacturing units within the municipal limits and on the outskirts of this town have become a big health hazard...

Haryana IYC presidentship: Chandra Mohan in race
GURGAON, July 18 — Hectic lobbying is afoot for appointment of the president of the Haryana unit of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC)...
18,000 acres to be under green cover
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — With virtually no space available in the plains, the Haryana Forest Department has decided to bring 18,000 acres of additional area under green cover during the current financial year...
'Compensate' farmers for damaged crops
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Congress MP and president of the Haryana Krishak Samaj, today accused the central and state governments of trying to cover up the magnitude of the tragedy caused by large-scale suicides by farmers due to indebtedness...
Poet Arshad dead
Man shot dead by brother
No meat, liquor at Delhi banquets
Irate mob blocks traffic

GJU institutes go to MDU
From Jatinder Sharma
Tribune News Service
ROHTAK, July 18 — Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU), Hisar, has been converted into a residential university and the institutes of technology, engineering, pharmacy and management affiliated to it have been transferred to Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.
The government vide a gazette notification dated July 15 has specified that Maharshi Dayanand University shall exercise its powers over colleges or institutions of general education, technology, engineering, pharmacy, management and medical education in the districts of Rohtak, Jhajjar, Mohindragarh, Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat, Bhiwani and Rewari, including the Regional Centre, Rewari, Medical College, Agroha, and various courses being run on the university campus.
Maharshi Dayanand University today deputed Dr Dalip Singh, Reader, Institution of Management Studies and Research, to take charge of admissions being conducted by GJU.
The notification, however, is silent on the future of the Engineering College, Hisar, thereby indicating that the government may be contemplating closure of this institute.
The government had earmarked 200 acres at Hisar for the engineering college set up in 1992. But no funds were allocated for this institute and its guest classes were held at the Regional Engineering College, Kurukshetra, and C.R. State College of Engineering, Murthal. The All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE), according to sources, had repeatedly warned that it would not grant permission for enrolment of students in this college from the next academic session if it failed to have its own campus.
Guru Jambheshwar University came into being on October 20, 1995, by an Act of the Haryana legislature . Institutes of technology, management, environment, pharmacy and energy in the state were then affiliated to it but on July 26, 1996, the government restricted its powers over the colleges and institutes situated in the districts of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Mahendragarh, Bhiwani, Hisar, Sirsa (including the postgraduate Regional Centre at Sirsa), Rohtak (excluding courses being run by M.D. University) and Rewari (excluding postgraduate Regional Centre at Rewari).
Vide notification issued on May 27, 1998, the institutions of technology, engineering, pharmacy and management situated in the districts of Fatehabad and Jhajjar also were brought under the jurisdiction of Guru Jambheshwar University. However, within less than two months of the order, these institutions situated in 11 districts have been taken away from GJU and affiliated with Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.
However, the Regional Centre at Sirsa will remain under the jurisdiction of Guru Jambheshwar University. Interestingly, the government has neither sanctioned any staff or course for this centre though it has spent over Rs 70 lakh on constructing its campus.
Kurukshetra University, too, stands to benefit from the latest government decision. If any institute of engineering, technology, pharmacy and management is set up in the districts of Hisar, Fatehabad and Sirsa, it will be affiliated with Kurukshetra University.
The Vice-Chancellor, Guru Jambheshwar University, Dr K.L. Johar, refused to comment on the government decision but said he would try to develop the residential university into a centre of academic excellence on the pattern of Pilani, Roorkee and Jawaharlal Nehru Universities.
He hoped that the government would give liberal grants for research activities in the field of science and technology.

WB to release Rs 1,000 cr to Haryana soon
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — The World Bank today assured the Haryana Government that the second installment amounting to Rs 1000 crore for the implementation of power sector reform project will be approved in the near future.
This assurance was given by Mr Alastair Mckechnie, Director, The Energy Sector Division, South Asia Region, World Bank at a meeting held with the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, here. Mr Mckechnie also congratulated Mr Bansi Lal on having taken effective steps to reform the power sector in Haryana. He also appreciated his pioneering role in electrifying the entire state way back in 1970 and expressed confidence that the reform project would be implemented with the same zeal.
Mr Bansi Lal said that the works being undertaken with the first installment of World Bank loan of Rs 240 crore would be completed well before the scheduled date. He said more than 80 per cent of the works would be completed by March next.
The second instalment of the loan is aimed at transmitting and distributing the additional 1200 MW power which will be generated in the state by March 2000. A list of projects to be undertaken with this instalment of Rs 1000 crore was finalised on July 13 during the visit of a Project Preparation Mission of the World Bank headed by Mr D. Mostefai to Chandigarh.
Among others who attended the meeting were the Haryana Minister of State for Power, Mr Attar Singh Saini, Financial Commissioner and Secretary, Power, Mr S.Y. Quaraishi and Chairman, HSEB, Mr Ranjit Issar.

Brick-kilns sans chimneys a health risk
From Satish Seth
KAITHAL: A number of brick and charcoal manufacturing units within the municipal limits and on the outskirts of this town have become a big health hazard.
Brick kilns situated on hillocks or panjawas use dry garbage, left-overs of animal fodder, wheat and paddy straw and other waste materials like polythene, paper and dirty cloth to bake the bricks.
These units do not have any chimneys to allow the smoke to be emitted from a height and hence the untreated smoke, carrying harmful gases, pollutes the atmosphere and becomes a big health hazard for people living near them. Many affected persons complain of respiratory problems and cases of asthma are on the increase day by day, as strong winds carry the smoke to far-off places, forcing people to inhale the smoke unknowingly and this even affects their eyes at times. Brick units are located at Chandana Gate, Partap Gate, Siwan Gate and Keorak Gate.
The charcoal manufacturing units are located on the banks of Bidhikiar, and near Ambakeshwar Basti. These units burn thousands of quintals of firewood to prepare the charcoal from wood waste. The state Pollution Control Board and the district authorities have neither cared to initiate any move to shift such units away from the town nor acted to ensure that the units do not pollute the atmosphere.
Industrial units and a large number of vehicles plying on town roads emit dark black smoke containing harmful gases. The industrial units do not follow the guidelines given by the Pollution Control Board and as a result, many residential areas are affected. People living near industrial areas complain that their country-yards and roofs are covered with black dust particles. Similarly heavy as well as light vehicles are not properly maintained by owners and drivers. A large number of trucks, tractors and Haryana Roadways buses continue to ply on the road belching out smoke which became unbearable for the public.
It seems that the laws formulated by the state legislature are being violated with impunity and the action taken by the Pollution Control Board is just on paper. Pollution of the air has started to play havoc with the lives of the residents, and if this tendency is allowed to continue there is a likelihood that more and more people would face a risk to their health and lives as well.

Haryana IYC presidentship: Chandra Mohan
in race
Tribune News Service
GURGAON, July 18 — Hectic lobbying is afoot for appointment of the president of the Haryana unit of the Indian Youth Congress (IYC).
With the Congress making every bid to stage a comeback at the Centre and the states, its frontal organisations, especially the youth wing, have come to assume special importance.
According to sources in the Haryana Congress, the state president of the party, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, recently held talks with the general secretary of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) and incharge of Haryana affairs, Mrs Meira Kumar, and the president of the IYC, Mr Manish Tewari, on the issue.
The race for the appointment began after an observer of the IYC visited the state and talked to all sections of the youth wing of the party to prepare a panel of names for consideration for appointment to the post.
The state president of the party, Mr Hooda, the former Chief Minister of the state, Mr Bhajan Lal, and the former president of the HPCC, Mr Birender Singh, are lobbying hard for their nominees. Mr Bhajan Lal has assured his support to party MLAs Rao Narender Singh and Randip Surjewala (son of the party MP, Mr S.S. Surjewala).
However, Mr Bhajan Lal is also said to be lobbying for his son, Mr Chandra Mohan, who is an MLA. Mr Bhajan Lal has unsuccessfully tried for his appointment to the post in the past. Mr Chandra Mohan took a delegation of supporters to the president of the Congress, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, yesterday, to plead his case.
Mr Hooda said scanning for a meritorious candidate was in the process and he was not interested in any individual candidate. However, Mr Manish Tewari would discuss the panel of names prepared by the IYC for the appointment.
Talking to TNS, Mr Birender Singh said he was opposed to sons of senior leaders of the party being appointed to the post. He is said to have met Mr Tewari a few days ago to impress upon him that there were many dedicated activists and youth leaders who could help rejuvenate the party.
Mr Birender Singh’s stand, however, is attributed to his known differences with Congress MP, S.S. Surjewala. Both are from the same district.
Also, Mr Birender Singh is reluctant to place his bet on Mr Chandra Mohan as the central leadership of the party could have reservations on his candidature.
While Mr Bhajan Lal is an MP, his younger son, Mr Kuldip Singh, is an MLA from Adampur. There are many in the party who say that the latter has a soft corner for Rao Narender Singh.
The president of the state unit of the NSUI, Mr Sandip Singh and former office-bearers of the state unit of the IYC Ajay Sharma and Rajiv Ahuja are also contenders for the post.

18,000 acres to be under green cover
By U.K. Bhanot
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — With virtually no space available in the plains, the Haryana Forest Department has decided to bring 18,000 acres of additional area under green cover during the current financial year.
The Forest Department will plant two crore more saplings of various varieties of trees under the community forestry project to further increase people's participation in the afforestation programme. It is with people's participation that the state has been able to increase its forest cover from 3.38 per cent at the time of the reorganisation of Punjab to over 8 per cent now. This is against the national average of 23 per cent of the total geographical area. Although some kind of forest cover exists over 19 per cent of the land but real and meaningful forest cover extends to only 11 per cent of the area in the country, according to the State of Forest Report.
Under its community forestry project, the State Government will spend Rs 10 crore to be received from the European Economic Union which will extend an assistance of Rs 126 crore to Haryana over the next nine years.
The Minister of State for Forest, Mr Jagdish Yadav, who holds independent charge, says farmer friendly varieties of trees would be planted in order to bring more area under green cover so that the measure will not only improve the environment but also the development of the villages covered under the scheme. Plantations will be done in consultation with farmers. Unlike in the past, he says, farmers who had grown poplars and eucalyptus trees were now gaining substantially. He says the farmers who have been assisted in planting of eucalyptus clones which give three times greater production than the earlier varieties have naturally gained more. In view of the new plywood and paper manufacturing units in the state there is considerable demand for such trees. In fact as unlike in the past, the manufacturers of paper and plywood are now bringing the raw material wood from Uttar Pradesh in the absence of adequate availability in the state.
In the first phase, says Mr Yadav, the community forestry project will cover 300 villages which have already been identified in Ambala, Yamunanagar, Hisar, Bhiwani and Rewari divisions of the Forest Department to secure greater participation of the farmers over panchayat and private land. Income from the trees would be by and large spent on the development of villages in which trees are being planted. Besides the farmers get free fodder and grass for their cattle.
Only those villages have been selected which have more than 50 acres of panchayat land available for afforestation. Apart from this, the minister asserts, there is no other consideration in selection of villages. Nearly 78 per cent of the expenditure being incurred under the new community forestry project will be met by the EEC and the rest of the 22 per cent by the State Government.
The divisional headquarter at Bhiwani will also serve monitoring and evaluation purposes of the project while the division at Hisar will serve publicity and extension needs.
Each Scheduled Caste family will be offered five saplings of fruit trees free of cost.
Earlier, he says the Government of India had assisted in the joint forestry management scheme which helped in the protection of trees and production of wood by the farmers. Sixtyeight village committees were set up under this project which was implemented mainly in the Pinjore-Morni area under the Aravali project, he says committees were set up in all 292 villages covered under the project.
While the basic object of the joint forest management is to tie the economic interest of the villagers with the forest catchments, efforts are made by the forest department to involve local communities in the management of entire forest resources and combating and controlling land degradation for which the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has awarded a certificate of appreciation under the saving the dry land programme.
In order to save the farmers from exploitation by middle man, says Mr Yadav, the Haryana Forest Development Corporation will provide support price for trees which they are ready to sell. This has been possible only because a number of wood based industries have come up all over the state.

'Compensate' farmers for damaged crops
Tribune News Service
CHANDIGARH, July 18 — Mr Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Congress MP and president of the Haryana Krishak Samaj, today accused the central and state governments of trying to cover up the magnitude of the tragedy caused by large-scale suicides by farmers due to indebtedness.
Talking to newspersons here Mr Surjewala said the Haryana Government should immediately ask Haryana Agriculture University, Hisar, to conduct a sample survey of the state's villages in this regard because a sample survey conducted by workers of the Krishak Samaj in about half a dozen villages in Jind district, a relatively prosperous district, had revealed that an estimated 20,000 farmers might have committed suicide due to indebtedness in the entire state in the past two or three years.
Releasing the results of the survey Mr Surjewala said the interest rate should be reduced to 6 per cent, the present law authorising cooperative banks to detain defaulting farmers for 40 days should be scrapped, the authority of the nationalised banks to sell the land of farmers should be withdrawn and compensation to farmers for their damaged crops and as well as to the dependents of those farmers who committed suicide should be paid.
Mr Surjewala said a one-day dharna and fast would be organised outside the Haryana Assembly on July 27. In this symbolic protest, 1,001 farmers would participate.
He said the Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, had approved the agitation programme of the Krishak Samaj, which would include a national-level demonstration outside Parliament on July 28.
Coming down heavily on the HLDR president, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Surjewala said the farmer would not be able to fight against the HVP-BJP government because he had taken the help of these parties to get his father, Mr Devi Lal, a widely respected leader, elected to the Rajya Sabha. This move had exposed Mr Chautala as the "most opportunistic and clanist political person".

Poet Arshad dead
From Our Correspondent
YAMUNANAGAR, July 18 — Arshad Jallalabadi, a renowned Urdu poet died here following a cardiac arrest. He was 61. Author of two books — "Aaina-o-Akas" and "Razam-o-Azam" his poetry was acclaimed by poets like Kaifi Azmi, Ali Sardar Jafri, Bashir Badar and Pt Mela Ram Wafa among others.
He was also a Radio and TV artist. Mohindra Kapoor and Asha Bhonsle rendered their voice to some of his gazhals and geets.
His book, 'Razam-o-Azam", was recommended to be translated in Russian. He was also given place in the "Who is Who" of Indian writers (1983) published by Sahitya Akademi.
It has been proposed by the local literary associations that Haryana Sahitya Akademi and Haryana Urdu Academy should publish his remaining work.

Man shot dead by brother
From Our Correspondent
ROHTAK, July 18 — A resident of Makrauli Kalan village in this district was shot dead allegedly by his brother this morning.
According to police sources, the deceased has been identified as Dayanand and he was shot over a property dispute. The victim died on the spot. The police has registered a case against the accused Satyawan on a complaint lodged by the victim’s father.
While the body was sent for a post mortem, no arrest has been made so far.

No meat, liquor at Delhi banquets
From Our Correspondent
REWARI, July 18 — Chief Minister Sahib Singh Verma has stated that meat and wine will not be served in any official banquet in Delhi.
He made this announcement at an anti-meat export rally here on Thursday.
He said apologies would be tendered to Heads of State and other foreign dignitaries partaking in the banquet for not serving meat and wine.
He reiterated that as per his earlier statement at a rally held on the Red Fort grounds in November last year, his government would not allow meat export and the erection of mechanised slaughter houses in Delhi.
In response to an appeal made earlier by Mr Nirmal Kumar Gangwal, national convener of the All-India Anti-Meat Export Council, the Chief Minister said he would talk with Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee about a total ban on the export of meat throughout the country.
Mr Gangwal said 120 retired engineers and doctors would launch a countrywide "satyagrah" in November in support of a total ban on meat export.

Irate mob blocks traffic
From Our Correspondent
YAMUNANAGAR, July 18 — An irate mob blocked the Delhi-Saharanpur road here for about three hours today due to an accident at Damla village, 10 km from here, which claimed the life of a pilgrim carrying "kavad" from Hardwar to his native place, Kaithal.
On hearing news of the incident, thousands of "kavad" pilgrims assembled at the village. They found that the body of the victim could not be taken out from under the truck which had crushed the victim. This irritated the "kavad" team and the villagers present on the site.
They protested against the reported inability of the administration to remove the body even after three hours of the accident. The police resorted to a lathi charge to disburse the mob.
Mr Sheel Madhur, Superintendent of Police, informed that a private crane was arranged to extricate the body. The body was later sent to the local Civil Hospital for post-mortem, he added.