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Students stand to lose year
Haryana clears plan outlay of Rs 3,000 cr
HPSC Act to be amended
Concern over poor fiscal health of power sector
Pollution high in crusher zones near Delhi: morcha
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Delhi metro rail up to Gurgaon
Abhey ‘exempted’ from attending moot court
Haryana MLAs to get secy allowance
Uttaranchal woos Haryana industrialists
BJP to contest all 3 byelections
Rs 1.6 lakh stolen from motor cycle tool box
Protest against police over alleged dowry death
2 die as car rams into tree
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Students stand to lose year
Rohtak, April 25 The problem is that in a classic example of putting the cart before the horse, Maharshi Dayanand University and Kurukshetra University are yet to approve the syllabi for these courses even though the students have completed the year-long studies. In some cases, the universities allowed the colleges to run the courses on provisional basis pending final approval by the university bodies. However, examinations have begun and the approvals are still awaited. The two universities have consequently failed to issue the datesheets for these examinations though these were supposed to be held along with the annual examinations for undergraduate courses. It is learnt that the universities woke up to the problem when anxious Principals took up the issue after they noticed that they had received neither the datesheets nor the question papers for such courses when annual examinations began early this month. University officials then asked them to send the syllabi for the courses introduced in their colleges. However, even after doing so the affected colleges have neither received the datesheets nor the question papers. Talking to The Tribune today, several Principals feared that if the examinations for these courses did not begin before the undergraduate examinations finished, students who had opted for these courses would go back to their homes without taking these examinations for which they toiled hard for the entire duration of the current academic session. They said only the brightest of the lot had taken up these courses since they were required to study for these simultaneously with their undergraduate examinations. They also had shelled out hefty fees for these courses in addition to the normal fees charged by the affiliated colleges. While introducing these courses, neither the UGC nor the universities concerned framed the syllabi. The colleges, which were given sanction to run these courses, were asked to frame their own syllabi. They did so after a lot of effort and appointed specialist guest faculty, where required, to teach the courses. The UGC conveyed the approval granted for the courses to the state government and the universities. Dr S.S. Goyal, Principal of Hindu College, Sonepat, one of the oldest institutions in the state, said the matter was brought to the notice of the Commissioner, Higher Education, Haryana, at a meeting he had with the Principals on April 8. He was also handed over a written representation in this regard. But, the government had yet to act. He said the issue was also discussed at a meeting of college Principals held here on April 12 with the MDU Vice-Chancellor. The Principals pointed out that once the UGC had sanctioned the courses and was funding these, colleges should not be required to seek NOCs from the government and the universities. An official of Kurukshetra University said the problem was created by the government directive to the university to hold examinations for colleges affiliated earlier to Chaudhry Devi Lal University, Sirsa. He said the examinations for add-on courses could not be held simultaneously with annual examinations as dates would have clashed. However, he failed to say why the syllabi had not yet been approved. Mr K.C. Dadwal, Registrar, MDU, said after the matter was raised at the Principals’ meeting, the university had asked the colleges to send the syllabi for approval. He said the matter would be amicably resolved within a fortnight. The main problem, he said, was that the university did not have boards for studies for subjects covered by these courses. Now the agencies had been identified and approval was expected shortly, he added. Included among these courses were: creative writing, journalism, mass communication and editing, counselling and guidance, nutrition and health, IT, bio-technology, environment and pollution education, photography, e-commerce, patent and cyber laws and taxation procedures. |
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Haryana clears plan outlay of Rs 3,000 cr
Chandigarh, April 25 The outlay of various departments were decided at a meeting which the Chief Minister held here today with senior officers of the Finance and Planning Departments. Focus has been kept on sectors like health, education, women and child development, welfare of the Scheduled Castes and backward classes and animal husbandry. A significant increase in outlay has also been made for infrastructure sectors like roads and bridges, power and public health. The social justice and empowerment sectors have been provided Rs 500 crore, the power sector Rs 445 crore, the Irrigation Department Rs 313 crore and the Public Health Department Rs 280 crore. Similarly, Rs 260 crore has been provided for roads and bridges, Rs 245 crore for education, Rs 95 crore for the Forest Department,
Rs 82 crore for the Development and Panchayats Department, Rs 78 crore for the Transport Department and Rs. 75 crore for the Health
Department. Haryana’s plan for 2005-06 is likely to be discussed with the Planning Commission in the first week of May, when the Annual Plan will be finalised. A number of new schemes that have been formulated by various departments will also be launched in the next few months. Mr Hooda had earlier directed all departments to prepare their vision documents in line with the priorities of the government. The officers concerned were asked to review all plan schemes and prepare innovative ones so as to improve the functioning of their departments and
meet the aspirations of the people. |
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HPSC Act to be amended
Chandigarh, April 25 According to the proposed Haryana Public Service Commission (Additional Functions) Amendment Ordinance, 2005, recruitment to all posts carrying an initial pay of Rs 8,000 or above per month under boards or corporations would not be made through the commission. However, it would not apply to recruitment made for a period not exceeding six months and the recruitment of an Executive Officer of a municipal committee under the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973. The Cabinet felt that the provisions introduced in the Haryana Public Service Commission (Additional Functions) Act, 1974, through the Haryana Public Service Commission (Additional Functions) Amendment Act, 2004, were against the spirit of autonomy of boards and corporations. These provisions tend towards the centralisation of power for the selection of candidates for recruitment to various boards and corporations which is not a healthy practice in administration. The government also decided to do away with the provisions of the main Act of in 2004. It was decided that the powers which had been centralised should be decentralised and the boards and corporations under the government should have their own system of recruitment.
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Concern over poor fiscal health of power sector
Panchkula, April 25 The demand for electricity, especially in rural sector, is expected to go up again this year. Last year, the demand in the rural sector had gone up by 40 per cent. With various power generators, need for bringing in moolah for proper functioning of power sector is being felt. However, with non-payment of dues being reported from majority of rural areas in the state, the government is forced to think about new strategies for improving the financial health of this sector. Every year deficit in the power sector is increasing by Rs 400 crore. Haryana Power Utilities (HPU) has dues worth Rs 2516 crore pending from various categories of consumers — an increase of Rs 700 crore from October, 2004. Arrears worth almost Rs 1150 crore are pending from rural domestic consumers; Rs 377 crore as arrears from tubewell operators; Rs 289 crore from urban consumers; Rs 270 crore from industry, Rs 180 crore from non-domestic consumers and Rs 250 crore from various government offices. Major-Gen.B.S. Rathee(retd), Chairman of Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL), says that he is more concerned about non- recovery of dues from rural sector. "The industrial, urban and non-domestic consumer will pay its dues for fear of penalty. But recovery from the rural (domestic and agriculture) sector is on the decline. The problem of non- payment of dues was earlier prevalent in Bhiwani, Jind, Rohtak, Mahendragarh and parts of Hansi and Kaithal. But with almost no steps being taken against these defaulting rural consumers, others in rural areas of Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and parts of Kaithal district have taken a cue from them and stopped paying their monthly bills," he says. Though recovery of dues was initiated from all categories of consumers in August, 2004, except from the rural sector, recovery has been almost minimal during the past five months. With the state government having decided to ensure a 10-hour power supply at night, and four or six hours (on alternate days) supply during day time in the rural sector, this is only going to add up to the burden of the Utilities. Other than this, the Utilities is facing a cash deficit of Rs 700 crore, which is expected to go up to Rs 900 crore by the end of this year. The debt servicing (loans and interest on loans) alone amount to Rs 900 crore. Power theft accounts for almost 25 per cent losses in transmission, and power worth Rs 150 crore is lost to theft. The state government had recently formed a five-member committee under the chairmanship of Finance Minister, Mr Birinder Singh, to look into the fiscal health of the power sector and recovery of arrears. After the sudden demise of two members-Mr O P Jindal and Mr Surendra Singh, two other members-Mr Randeep Surjewala and Mr Phool Chand Mullana-have been recently inducted, and the first meeting of the committee will be held later this week. The power authorities are recommending High Voltage Distribution System (HVDS) of supply and using of conductors on transmission lines to control power theft. They are also recommending consumer indexing in rural areas to legalise drawing of power, and bifurcating agriculture and rural domestic feeders. |
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Pollution high in crusher zones near Delhi: morcha
Chandigarh, April 25 The organising secretary of the Bandhua Mukti Morcha, Mr Ramesh Arya, alleged here today that the Haryana Pollution Control Board (HPCB) had failed to check pollution in the crusher zones of Pali and Mohabatabad villages in Faridabad district. Owing to the “extraordinarily high” level of pollution in the crusher zones, labourers working there were suffering from serious lung diseases. He said no worker could remain healthy after working in the zones for more than five years. The morcha is a Delhi-based organisation engaged in looking after the interests of bonded labourers working in various places
like quarries, mines and brick-kilns. Mr Arya alleged that officials of the HPCB had been issuing no-objection certificates (consent letters) to crusher owners without visiting the zones and without carrying out tests to determine the pollution levels in the past five years. He said a reputed Delhi-based pollution laboratory, which carried out pollution checks in the two crusher zones recently, found a highly abnormal level of pollutants there. Mr Arya claimed that according to the laboratory, the pollution level at Pali was 10,195 SPM, while in the Mohabatabad zone, the level was as high as 18,725 SPM. He said the normal level of pollution in a stone crusher zone should not exceed
500 SPM. He said such a high level of pollution in the crusher zones, which were merely at a distance of 15 km from the national Capital, was a clear indication that certain officials had been issuing certificates to the effect that the pollution level was under control on either “extraneous considerations” or due to the “pressure” of owners, many of whom were politically well-connected. Mr Arya accused certain officials of the HPCB of being in league with some owners of the stone crushers. He said whenever a state-level team checked the crushers, their owners, who were tipped about its visit beforehand, closed the crushers so that the team was kept in the dark about the real situation. He said when the crushers were operated during the day, their owners never visited the zone and the workers alone had to suffer the effects of the pollution. He said while the police was strict about checking vehicle pollution, it had not been acting against the crushers in a similar way. He urged the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to organise a surprise check of the crushers to safeguard the interests of the labourers. Mr Arya said that even the Forest Department, which identified that about 40 crushers had been installed on the land on which the department had planted trees under the Aravalli Project, had
not initiated any action against them. He said if the HPCB did not act to check pollution in the crusher zones, his organisation would take up the issue with the Central Pollution Control Board. |
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Delhi metro rail up to Gurgaon
Chandigarh, April 25 The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told newspersons after the Cabinet meeting that the 16-km metro link would be extended from Mehrauli in Delhi to IFFCO Chowk in Gurgaon. He said the Chairman-cum-Managing Director of Delhi Metro had promised him that the project would be completed by 2009. He said the Cabinet had also decided to get feasibiliy reports prepared for the Delhi-Faridabad, Delhi-Bahadurgarh and Delhi-Kundli Metro links. The issue was first discussed at a meeting held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister on April 19 last. It was decided that the Town and Country Planning Department would be the nodal department for Delhi Metro Rail Link to Gurgaon and the NCR region. The state government would convey its consent to the Union Ministry of Urban Development and approve the project in principle for extending the Delhi Metro Rail Link to IFFCO Chowk, Gurgaon. Mr Hooda said the matter would be pursued vigorously with the Delhi Government and the Centre for their consent to extend the Delhi Metro to the Delhi-Haryana border. He said a five-member sub-committee headed by himself had been constituted to find ways and means to generate resources in view of the disbanding of the Haryana Lottery Department. The sub-committee would have the Finance Minister, the Excise and Taxation Minister, the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Finance, and the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister as its members. The Cabinet today decided to ban the sale of all kinds of lotteries in the state, resulting in a loss of about Rs 29 crore to the state exchequer.
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Headmaster on leave: one school, one admission
Chandigarh, April 25 And, it is not as if there are no takers for the seats in this school from among children in the adjoining villages. On the contrary, interested students are being turned away by the teachers for want of a "head" who has to sign forms to admit students. Besides, students seeking admission elsewhere are repeatedly doing the rounds for their school-leaving certificate but to no avail. With the headmaster, Mr Ram Chander Sharma, on leave since April 8, all office work, including admissions, has come to a virtual standstill. The seniormost teacher, Ms Tripta Devi, assigned duty as in charge only since April 8, has refused to take over the reins of the school in the absence of the Headmaster. "We are not puppets in the hands of the headmaster. I used to be in charge when he joined as Headmaster in November, 2003. He made a junior male teacher, Mr Satpal, as the in charge. As a last order before proceeding on leave recently, Mr Sharma left a note, saying that I was the in charge. I noted it under protest and will not discharge any of the duties," she says. However, the problem dates back to the time after Mr Sharma took over. "Trouble started when he began calling up Ms Tripta Devi for days on end asking her to mark his attendance while he stayed away from school. She would fill in the fact that a phone message had been received from the Headmaster, stating he would be on duty out of school," recalls Ms Swadesh Khatri. Later, women teachers claim that the months which saw maximum absence of Mr Sharma from the school went missing from the register. Ms Tripta Devi was blamed for the lapse since the register remained in her custody. She was stripped of her powers as in change and the duty was handed over to Mr Satpal, the maths teacher. This led to division in the faculty. The men and women in the staff ganged up against each other. Only recently, the Headmaster "discovered" that the attendance sheet for February had again gone "missing" and in the first week of April, decided to revert to the old order of Ms Tripta Devi as in charge. "In October last, he even slapped one of us. We reported the incident to the police after which the Headmaster tendered a written apology. He abuses us all the time and we have brought his conduct to the notice of the top officials. The department doesn't seem bothered. The Headmaster, Mr Sharma, said he was being victimised by the women staff. "They have their own petty interests and blackmail all headmasters. They have a strong union since they have been together for many years now. They are just a mischiveous lot. I have to stay out of school since I have the added responsibility of getting a new building and toilets made under special funds sanctioned to schools," he held. |
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Abhey ‘exempted’ from attending moot court
Sirsa, April 25 This seems to be the case with the officials concerned either passing the buck or avoiding talking to The Tribune over the issue. Inquiries made by The Tribune revealed that the department had exempted Abhey from attending court visits and moot court, the mandatory academic exercise for Law students. Sources on the campus criticised the officials concerned for adopting a lenient attitude towards him. Repeated attempts to contact the officiating Vice-Chancellor and Commissioner (Hisar Division), Mr R.R. Fuliya, at his Hisar office and Guru Jambeshwar University (GJU), proved futile. Dr M. C. Garg, Chairman of the department, refused to divulge any details regarding exemption to Abhey. “You better approach the PRO or the in charge of the department for any answer in this regard as I am not supposed to pass on any information to the media,” said Dr Garg. Mr J. S. Jakhar, in charge of the department, avoided the answer by saying that he was just a lecturer and held no other official charge. Mr Sewa Singh Bajwa, Public Relations Officer, said Dr Garg was not ready to furnish any details regarding Abhey’s admission. |
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Haryana MLAs to get secy allowance
Chandigarh, April 25 The Cabinet decided to promulgate an Ordinance to amend the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Allowances and Pension of Members) Act, 1975. With this amendment, an MLA would get secretary allowance of Rs 5,000 per month. However, an MLA holding the office of Chief Minister or Deputy Chief Minister or Minister, Deputy Minister or Speaker or Deputy Speaker or Chief Parliamentary Secretary or Parliamentary Secretary and retaining Special Assistant (Personal) would not be paid such a allowance. The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, told newspersons after the meeting that the allowance would not be paid in cash to the MLAs. It would be paid directly to the person employed as secretary by an MLA.
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Uttaranchal woos Haryana industrialists
Sonepat, April 25 Disclosing this, Mr Dhirendra Pratap, Uttaranchal minister, told mediapersons here today that the hill state was rapidly developing under the leadership of Congress leader N.D. Tiwari. He appealed to the entrepreneurs of Haryana to help the Uttaranchal Government in its industrial development. Mr Pratap, who was an AICC observer in Haryana during the recent Assembly elections, felt that the election of Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda as Chief Minister, was a wise decision of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. Mr Hooda had shown his capabilities
as a selfless worker of the party, he said. He lauded the role of Mr Bansi Lal in developing Haryana as a modern state. |
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BJP to contest all 3 byelections
Hisar, April 25 Addressing a news conference here today, Haryana BJP spokesperson Sarvadanand Arya said the party would play its role as an opposition party. The BJP would go it alone in these byelections, he added. The INLD has stated that if the family members of Om Prakash Jindal or Surender Singh contested the byelections, the party would not field its candidates. |
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Rs 1.6 lakh stolen from motor cycle tool box
Panipat, April 25 According to information, Satish, working with Amit Transports on Jatal Road here, withdrew the amount from the Sector 11 branch of Indian Overseas Bank (IOB) and put the money in the dickey of his motor cycle and locked it. He went to Andhra Bank situated near the IOB after parking the motor cycle outside the bank to encash a cheque for Rs 10,000. When he returned, he found the dickey broken and the money stolen. The matter was reported to the police. Several police personnel, including the DSP, Headquarters, Mr O.P. Narwal, the DSP, City, Mr Shiv Dayal, and the CIA in charge, Mr Baljinder Singh, reached the spot. An FIR under the relevant sections has been registered. |
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Protest against police over alleged dowry death
Ambala, April 25 Sonia, who was residing in Chota Baazar, who had sustained burn injuries died on April 16. While her in-laws claimed that it was an accident, the family members of Sonia alleged that she was done to death following the dowry demand. A number of relatives of Sonia held a demonstration at Kotwali police station in Ambala city. They demanded that the police should arrest all in-laws of Sonia. They raised slogans against the police and said that the role of the police was far from satisfactory. The family members stated that six persons must be immediately arrested by the police. The police claims to have detained Sonia’s husband, her mother-in-law and her husband’s aunt. The demonstration by the family members of Sonia lasted for about two hours. After holding the demonstration at the police station, they then held out a procession through the area to highlight their plight.
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2 die as car rams into tree
Hisar, April 25 The injured have been admitted to a local hospital. The bodies of the deceased have been handed over to their family members after a post-mortem examination. Veerbhan, along with his family members, was coming to Hisar to see some relative when the mishap took place.The driver reportedly lost control over the car. |
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IAF officer booked for suicide bid
Panipat, April 25 Police sources said an FIR under Sections 309 of the IPC and 25, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act was registered against him on the statement of Jagminder of the same village. Sandeep has been admitted to a private hospital in Panipat. He tried to commit suicide by shooting himself with a country-made pistol on the roof of Baldev Dharamshala, near Samalkha bus stand. |
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Jawan commits suicide
Ambala, April 25 Mallappa reportedly ate some poisonous substance at his Regiment Bazar residence at about 8 a.m. He was rushed to Military Hospital where he died last night. The reason for taking this extreme step is not yet known. His body was sent to Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantonment for post mortem today.
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Cable controversy ends
Panipat, April 25 An agreement between Siti Cable Network Limited and Maa Cable Communication was executed on March 24 this year under which the latter was authorised to use the running cable network, head end, studio and office premises for providing cable service in Panipat.
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Chandigarh, April 25
