Rohtak, March 28
While on the one hand the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is exhorting the bureaucracy to expeditiously identify schemes which can be financed by the Centre, the Haryana Social Welfare Department is all set to let central and state grants worth Rs 2 crore lapse on March 31.

These grants are meant for the non-government organisations (NGOs) engaged in the welfare of destitute children, women and the disabled.

According to sources the Social Welfare Ministry is sitting over files of NGOs seeking grants under various schemes despite efforts at the highest levels in the department to get the files cleared. Though normally these files should have been cleared by February end, these were delayed by a month because of the Model Code of Conduct which was in force due to elections in the state.

According to sources the ministry had last week cleared only the projects submitted by the various district Red Cross Societies and notably the NGOs in the chief minister’s home district – Rohtak. None of the cases pertaining to the NGOs of other districts has been cleared so far. In all these schemes are worth Rs 2 crore.

The Red Cross schemes mostly pertain to providing appliances and scholarships. But the schemes of the NGOs pertain to the welfare of destitute women, children and the disabled, including help in learning vocational trades to make them self reliant.

It is learnt that when the Commissioner (Social Welfare) approached the ministry for approval he was asked to “personally verify” the cases despite his plea that these cases had been cleared at three stages – by the District Welfare Officers, Deputy Commissioners and the Social Welfare Directorate. He also expressed his inability to personally verify these cases within the time period three days at his disposal.

The Commissioner is also reported to have pointed out that personal verification by him would be an unprecedented step because all procedures had been followed and the necessary verifications had been made at appropriate levels.

The sources said it was strange that while the minister wanted the NGOs’ representatives to meet her personally if they wanted the files cleared, no such verification or meeting was sought for the NOGs in the Chief Minister’s home district.

That is not the end of the story. The ministry is also sitting over schemes worth Rs 60.33 lakh for which the finance is to be provided by the Haryana Government itself. This amount too will lapse on March 31 if these cases are not cleared. Officials say the chances of clearance were almost nil since the ministry had not yet even approved the minutes of a meeting held on March 21 which had sanctioned schemes worth Rs 40 lakh.

The remaining schemes approved earlier in two meetings held on December 3, 2004 and March 5 last worth Rs 20.33 too had also not been cleared as yet by the minister’s office. The December 2004 meeting had cleared the schemes approved by the Deputy Commissioners concerned. These projects were again cleared in the meeting held on March 5. Most of these schemes involve grants for NGOs running orphanages, shelters for destitute women and vocational training for women.

The Social Welfare Minister, Ms Kartar Devi, however, was not available for comments.

Hisar, March 28
The Haryana Agriculture and Revenue Minister, Mr Surender Singh, has stated that the state government would not discriminate against any area on the distribution of canal water. He said extensive efforts would be made to ensure that canal water reaches the tail-ends.

The minister was addressing a gathering of farmers after inaugurating the two-day Kisan Mela of Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here today. He assured the farmers that the state government would purchase “each grain produced” by them.

Mr Surender Singh asserted that irrigation water and good quality seeds were the two basic requirements of the farmers. He admitted that the southern part of the state was reeling under an acute shortage of irrigation water as the level of underground water had sunk to as low as 1,000 feet.

Highlighting the theme of the Kisan Mela, the HAU Vice-Chancellor, Mr M.K. Miglani, observed that the farmers should adopt an integrated farming approach to ensure regular income. He said the university had diverted its focus to making the state farmers competitive in the WTO regime.

Earlier, the Director of Extension Education at HAU, Dr R.K. Malik, delivered the welcome address. Mr Surender Singh released three books on agriculture published by the university. The Agriculture Minister honoured three national awardee farmers, Randhir Singh, Kushal Pal Sirohi and Maniram Kadyan of Kaithal district. He also presented Dr Ram Dhan Singh Memorial Trust award to Phool Singh of Rohtak, Gursharan Singh of Sirsa, Mahavir Singh of Kaithal, Mahinder Singh of Hisar, Satpal Manjhu of Fatehabad and Mahabir Singh of Jind.

Rohtak, March 28
The newly-formed Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana is committed to restore freedom of Press in the state, Mr Shadi Lal Batra, local MLA and district Congress chief said here yesterday.

Responding to a charter of demands presented to him by the members of the Press Club, Rohtak, at a Meet-the-Press programme, he said the government would also frame a comprehensive media policy in consultation with media organisations.

He called upon the journalists to evolve and adopt a code of conduct and ethics for mediapersons to check falling standards in the media. He cited instances from the coverage of the recent Assembly elections and complained that the media had not acted responsibly and professionally.

He said the cases filed against scribes in different parts of the state during the Chautala regime would be examined and necessary steps would be taken to provide justice to the scribes who had been framed in these cases. The Chairman of the club, Mr Virender Singh Chauhan, had demanded immediate withdrawal of all false cases registered against the scribes in various parts of the state at the earliest.

Mr Batra said he would raise the issue of implementation of wage board’s recommendations for various categories of journalists by newspaper establishments in the Assembly and with the Chief Minister.

Speaking on the occasion, Vice- Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University, Dr R.S. Dhankar, said once the university was accorded the status of a Central university as promised by the Chief Minister.

Panchkula, March 28
Come April, and the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) is all set to rake in moolah by holding draw of lots for residential plots and auction of commercial property in various urban estates of Haryana. Draw of lots of residential plots and auctions of commercial sites at Ambala, Jagadhri, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Panipat and Panchkula will begin from April 11 onwards. A decision to this effect was taken during a meeting of Estate Officers of these urban estates with the Administrator, Panchkula Circle, Ms Neelam P Kasni, here today.

The tentative date for draw of lots for 1236 residential plots in Sector 32 Part I, and Sector 34 in the Ambala Cantt. area has been fixed as April 11, while the auction of commercial sites in Kurukshetra has been fixed as April 18. Almost 17,500 persons have applied for the plots at Ambala. The draw of lots for 164 residential plots at Shahabad is also scheduled in the third week of April.

The draw of lots for residential plots in Sector 18 and 15 of Jagadhri was put on hold in the wake of the model code of conduct for the general election. HUDA had also decided to hold the auction of almost 100 commercial sites in various sectors of Panchkula in January. This auction, too, was cancelled till the time the election process was on.

Mrs Kasni said the process of auction of commercial sites and draw of plots in urban estates under Panchkula circle - would be complete by mid- May. As many as 18 residential plots in Sector 18, and 35 plots in Sector 15 of Jagadhari were offered under this housing scheme, and 1161 applications were received by HUDA for plots.

Over 2,000 applicants invested Rs 10.103 crore with HUDA for allotment of these plots at Jagadhri. However, HUDA failed to hold the draw of lots - earlier because the number of applications from oustees for 10 marla plots in Sector 18 were the same as the total number of plots on offer, and later because of the model code of conduct. HUDA yielded a profit of Rs 81 lakh as interest on the earnest money deposited by applicants, till March 7, 2005- when the draw of lots was finally held- after almost one year since the housing scheme was floated. The unsuccessful applicants are now crying foul, and demanding that HUDA pay the interest on the earnest money deposited.

Gurgaon, March 28
The Haryana Government has directed the administration and the police here to submit a plan in a month’s time for the modernisation of the police force of the district. The plan must incorporate a report about the status of the pending criminal cases and also the reason for an increase in the crime rate in Gurgaon.

The direction was given by the Financial Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Home, Haryana, Mr Prem Prashant, during his meeting with the heads of the district administration and the police force here. Mr Prashant convened the meeting to review the law and order situation. The Commissioner, Gurgaon Division, Mr Avtar Singh, and the Inspector-General of Police of this range, Mrs Deepa Mehta, also took part in the meeting.

The need for modernisation of the police force in Gurgaon is understood to have got the nod of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The effort to modernise and expand the force is in view of the growing profile of Gurgaon city.

Mr Prashant said in the meeting that it was the directive of the Chief Minister that a sustained campaign be launched against anti-social elements.

His thrust was on pro-active and preventive measures on the part of the police so that criminals were identified and put behind bars even before they committed crimes. He also directed that all the pending cases of crime be solved within three months.

In another significant development, the government directed the district police that cases registered against individuals on account of political prejudices should be reinvestigated and withdrawn if there was no merit in the them.

With regard to modernisation and expansion of the police force and the logistics, the government was studying the feasibility of a forming an anti-theft cell, anti-mining police task force and a special cell to check cyber crimes on the pattern of the National Capital Territory of Delhi. Mr Prashant made it clear that as Gurgaon was near to Delhi, the occurrence of crime here was a bad advertisement for Haryana and had repercussions on the entire state.

Giving her inputs at the meeting, Mrs Deepa Mehta suggested that all officers up to the post of the DSPs be provided with mobile phones and lap tops so that the speed of communication was increased.

The district police chief, Mr Yogender Nehra, suggested setting up of at least six more police stations and increasing the number of PCRs from 13 to 30. He also made a strong case for increasing the manpower in the district police force.

The local Deputy Commissioner, Mr Sudir Rajpal suggested that the existing police stations be made multistoreyed in view of the scenario after 10 years when the city would develop into a full-fledged metro.

Sonepat March 28
Armed robbers entered a house in Gohana late last night and looted Rs 1.20 lakh cash, a gold ring and ear-rings. They also thereatend the house owner to be ready to pay ransom also in the near future. The police has registered a case under Sections 458 and 380 of the IPC.

According to reports three armed robbers forcibly entered the house of Ratan Lal Goyal at midnight when Ratan Lal’s son Naresh opened the door to go to the bathroom.

Threatening the entire family dire consequences, they removed cash worth Rs 1.20 lakh from the almirah and also snatched ear-rings from Naresh’s wife and a ring from Ratan Lal.

Panipat, March 28
An infant suffering from diarrhoea was admitted to Bhim Sen Sachar hospital here on Monday. The condition of the two-year-old infant, Rajesh, son of Surender of Bishan Swarup Colony, is reportedly stable now.

Senior Medical Superintendent, Dr Raj Kumar, told

The Tribune that there was nothing to worry as there was remote possibility of spreading the disease in this season.

Dr. JP Saluja, who has been treating the infant, said that the present case was related to infected diarrhoea and the condition of the patient was normal now.