Chandigarh, December 15
As many as 23 industrialists based in Haryana were conferred the ‘Udyog Ratna’ by Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister of Haryana, on behalf of the Progress, Harmony and Development Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) at Hotel Mountview here today.

The award carries a trophy and a citation which is given in recognition of outstanding contribution towards economic and other industrial development in the state. Haryana is among the last on a list of the chamber itinerary for conferring the awards in recognition of good work as majority of other states have already been completed as part of the centenary celebrations of the chamber.

The awardees include Atlas Cycle (Haryana), DLF Universal Ltd, Enkay (India), Flextronics Software Systems, GE Capital International Services, Havell’s India Ltd, Hero Honda Motors, Hindustan Tin Works, Hindustan sanitary Ltd, Hyderabad Industries Ltd, Indian Oil Corporation, Jay Bharat Maruti Ltd, Liberty Shoes Ltd, LT Overseas Ltd, LPS Ltd, Mahajan Overseas Private Ltd, the Malt Company, Maruti Udyog Ltd, Orient Craft Ltd, Pearl Global Ltd, Jindal Stainless Ltd and the Saraswati Industrial Syndicate.

Mr Hooda said “the present state Congress government came to power in June, 2005, and we introduced the new Industrial Policy. It had the specific purpose of being transparent and efficient and during this short period we have received concrete proposals to the tune of about Rs 7,000 crore.”

Mr Hooda said” the recent MoU signed by the government of Haryana with the reliance Industries demonstrates the faith that the private sector today has. At least 34 projects with an investment of more than Rs 30 crore have been initiated and at least 29 NRIs have shown their willingness to come and invest in the state.”

Addressing a press conference earlier, Mr K.N. Memani, president of the PHDCCI, said the state needed a regional planning board for achieving a sustained yearly growth. The average growth rate of 4.7 per cent in Haryana was abysmally low for the state recorded in 1992-2002.

Highlighting the major areas for accelerating the growth of the state, Mr Memani said there was a need for developing economic hubs backed by world class infrastructure for newer industries to come in. The government should lay emphasis on growth of services such as IT, super-speciality hospitals, technical and higher education and tourism, besides certain others.

He said there were 15 SEZs in the country and the Haryana Government should make all efforts to get one functional at the earliest.

Chandigarh, December 15
The Health Department of Haryana today got a dressing down in the state Assembly from unexpected quarters. Ms Kiran Chaudhary, ruling party MLA from Tosham, pulled up the department for the pitiable condition of government hospitals and health centres in Bhiwani district.

Her call-attention notice on the issue was admitted by the Speaker and Ms Chaudhary had quite a few words to say to the Health Minister, Ms Kartar Devi, about the health sector, touted to be a priority area of the state government. “I visited various government hospitals in Tosham, Bawani Khera, Bhiwani and other areas of the district. These are in awful shape. The sanitary conditions are so bad that the less said about it the better”, Ms Chaudhary said.

She added that the hospitals had various pieces of equipment for diagnosis but these seldom worked. There was a racket between hospital staff members and private operators, she alleged. Equipment were not used deliberately to force patients to go to private operators for expensive tests.

In her reply, Ms Kartar Devi said when any hospital employee was found to be in league with private operators, the strictest punishment was meted out to the offender. She added that some of the equipment might be found out of order in the hospitals, but most of the machines normally worked. Ms Chaudhary shot back saying that patients could substantially benefit only if they could get such tests done in hospitals which were very expensive if carried out in a private clinic. It was these machines which were kept idle in hospitals so that patients went outside to get the tests done, she said.

Ms Chaudhary also brought to the Health Minister’s notice the shortage of doctors, paramedical staff and medicines in hospitals. The common man, who could not afford to get treatment in the private health sector, was the worst sufferer, she said.

Chandigarh, December 15
Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, Transport Minister of Haryana, today said that maxi cabs would be soon given relief by the state government in the matter of taxation and fines. He added that a policy regarding the relief was being worked out.

The Transport Minister was responding to a question asked by Mr Naresh Yadav, Independent MLA from Ateli, during question hour in the Assembly here. Replying to an INLD legislator, Mr Sita Ram’s supplementary question on withdrawing the bus service between Chandigarh and Dabwali, Mr Surjewala said buses belonging to a particular family had been stopped from plying between the two centres.

“These buses were registered in Rajasthan and were plying in Haryana without paying taxes. Everyone knows which family owns these buses. These have been stopped from plying and it is going to remain so”, Mr Surjewala said. While the Speaker moved to the next question, Mr Sita Ram was heard grumbling that his question was about the withdrawal of the Haryana Roadways service.

In his written reply to a question asked by an Independent MLA, Mr Tejendra Pal Singh Mann, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said 822 applications for electricity connections for tubewells were pending in Kaithal district despite the applicants having made full payment.

The connections were likely to be released within three months, the reply said.

This prompted Mr Ram Kumar Gautam, leader of the two-member BJP group, to criticise the government on the issue of the severe shortage of power in the state. “The power availability scene in the state is dismal.

The supply has almost come to zero”, the BJP legislator said. He remarked that the government was probably planning to provide electricity connections to tubewells after the paddy sowing season was over.

The remark provoked laughter on the Opposition Benches. Captain Yadav decided to take the BJP legislator to task. “ The BJP’s performance in future elections is going to be worse than the two seats it has managed to bag this time”, the Revenue Minister said.

He added that units at the Panipat thermal plant had faulty designs and needed repair. Once the units were repaired, the power situation in the state would improve, he said.

Replying to Mr Ram Kumar Gautam’s question on the shortage of pipes, Mr Surjewala, who is also the Public Health Minister, said Dalits were systematically deprived by the previous INLD regime of the opportunity of getting water connections.

Mr Surjewala announced that the government had formulated a pilot project to supply drinking water to villages.

Answering a question asked by the Tosham MLA, Ms Kiran Chaudhary, the Chief Minister stated in a written reply that irregularities had been detected in the recruitment of two inspectors of police, 819 constables and 124 Class IV employees of the police by the previous government.

Rohtak, December 15
Thousands of students enrolled with the Directorate of Distance Education of Maharshi Dayanand University here are in a quandary as they are yet to receive the course study material although half the academic session is over.

They have been making rounds of the MDU Study Centres all over the country and also of the directorate here but their efforts have not borne fruit. The university officials say the material will be made available in January next.

It is learnt that a row over payment to the publisher with whom MDU had signed a memorandum to supply the material is responsible for the delay. The memorandum had been signed by then Vice-Chancellor Maj Gen (retd) Bhim Singh Suhag during the Chautala regime. Several eye brows had been raised at the time of signing of the memorandum.

Trouble arose when the publishers forwarded a bill for Rs 85 lakh for payment to the university a few months ago. The authorities refused to pay it saying the rate of 38 paise per page was fixed for getting the material prepared and printed. Once this had been done, the publisher should have handed over the CD containing the material to MDU as it had the copyright for the material.

The publisher first refused to hand over the CD but later relented. The directorate then wanted the MDU Printing Press to print the material but it pleaded that because of other pending jobs it could not execute such a huge printing job.

Dr Nasib Singh Gill, Director of Distance Education, however, said the row with the publisher was not responsible for the delay. He claimed that the Executive Council of the university had, through a resolution, directed that the study material be printed at the university press. Following this it took some time to procure the CD from the publisher.

Dr Gill said the university had procured two new offset printing machines and one of these had already been commissioned. He hoped to supply the material by January end.

Karnal, December 15
Residents of Shahpur village on the Gohana-Panipat road in Panipat district blocked National Highway 71-A to press their demand for replacing the three burnt transformers in the village.

The villagers blocked the Panipat-Rohtak highway from noon to 2.30 pm. Long queues of vehicles were seen on both sides of the road during the blockade.

A large number of police personnel reached the spot to avoid any untoward incident. DSP of Samalkha P.S. Sheokand tried to persuade the villagers to lift the blockage but they continued the blockage till the arrival of UHBVN Executive Engineer B.S. Dahiya who assured them to replace the faulty transformers.

The agitated villagers of Mehrana and Israna had also blocked the national highway on Tuesday to lodge their protest against unscheduled power cuts.

Ambala, December 15
A group of pensioners led by Mr Mukand Sethi submitted a memorandum to the City Magistrate to press for their various demands.

Mr Sudarshan Kumar Chopra, senior vice-president of the pensioners forum, demanded that the pensioners of Haryana Government should be given facilities which are being accorded to the pensioners of Punjab Government.

Mr Chopra said facilities like LTC, 5 per cent enhancement for those to those who complete 65 years, 10 per cent enhancement for those who complete 75 years, issuing senior citizens identity card and preferred check up of senior citizens at government hospitals should be granted to the Haryana pensioners.