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Civic bodies facing resource crunch
Rohtak, August 3
Municipal bodies all over Haryana are facing a severe resource crunch following the failure of the government to finalise fresh norms for house tax assessment.

Raise oilseeds output: ICAR chief
Hisar, August 3
By 2010, the total requirement of vegetable oils in the country is expected to be around 17.7 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 52 million tonnes of oilseeds. Due to the increase in population and improvement in standard of living of the people, the demand for vegetable oils is expected to grow at 5.5 to 6 per cent in the next eight to 10 years.

Dowry victim’s husband nabbed
Kaithal, August 3
The police has arrested the husband of a woman who succumbed to burn injuries at Keorak village on July 31. It is alleged that the woman was allegedly being tortured by her in-laws for dowry and she had ended her life by sprinkling kerosene and setting her-self afire.

Kurukshetra to be heritage destination
Chandigarh, August 3
The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, who is also the Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board, has directed that all religious places and historical sites falling within the state’s five districts connected with the Mahabharata should be developed for making Kurukshetra into an international heritage destination.

Family pension: equal rights to daughters
Chandigarh, August 3
The Haryana Government has decided to expand the scope of the Family Pension Scheme to confer equal beneficial rights on the daughters of deceased government employees. The pension benefit has also been extended to the widowed or divorced daughter for lifetime or until her remarriage.

Stories from Haryana towns falling in the National Capital Region are put in
Delhi & neighbourhood.

REGIONAL BRIEFS

YOUR TOWN

Ambala
Chandigarh
Hisar
Kaithal
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EARLIER STORIES

	Power board extends last date for VDS August 3, 2006
	Rains erode 50 acres in two villages August 2, 2006
	Plan to preserve historical sites August 1, 2006
	Hooda to be new Jat face of Congress? July 31, 2006
	Bhan helps SCs to stay put July 30, 2006
	Bank distributes Kisan Credit Cards worth Rs 1 cr July 29, 2006
	Admn gears up to tackle floods July 28, 2006
	Order to derecognise Gurgaon college July 27, 2006
	Devotees angry over sabha diktats July 26, 2006
	Prince physically fit, say doctors July 25, 2006

	Civic bodies facing resource crunch Raman Mohan Tribune News Service Rohtak, August 3 Municipal bodies all over Haryana are facing a severe resource crunch following the failure of the government to finalise fresh norms for house tax assessment. In view of the delay in the finalisation of norms, municipal bodies have been unable to collect house tax which is used to fund several major development projects in their respective areas. According to sources the house tax bills are usually sent by the end of April every year and collections begin to pour in from May onwards. However, no bills could be issued this year in the absence of new norms. The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had last year directed that the tax be assessed only after new norms were finalised. The earlier norms devised by the then Om Parkash Chautala government had evoked sharp reaction among the public and the Congress had opposed these norms. However, not much progress has been made in this direction so far. The issue was last discussed at a meeting the Local Bodies Minister Savitri Jindal had with municipal officials at Hisar on May 5. It is learnt that at this meeting the officials were asked to wait for the finalisation of house tax policy by the government and till then the municipalities were directed to concentrate on collection of house tax arrears. However, barring towns like Rohtak, the recovery of arrears has been very tardy leading to a resource crunch especially among municipalities of smaller towns. Ajit Singh, Executive Officer, Rohtak, said of the total arrears of Rs 1.24 crore, the authorities had recovered Rs 37.40 lakh by July 31. The Deputy Commissioner had approved recovery of arrears from 74 defaulters as land revenue. Under this law the properties of the defaulters can be auctioned and taken over. It is learnt that development projects in smaller towns had come to a halt because of the resource crunch. The payments to contractors had been pending and therefore no new tenders were being floated. House tax on an average accounts for 20 to 25 per cent of the income of municipal bodies. The amount of collection varies from one to three crore a year depending on the size of the town. According to sources the municipal bodies collect about 70 to 75 per cent of their targeted house tax collection. For instance, in Rohtak, during the 2005-06 fiscal Rs 2.36 crore were collected against a target of Rs 3.5 crore. The sources said the main problem in finalising the new norms was the valuation of properties at collector rates. The house tax assessments were made in 2001 at the then prevailing collector rates of land. Since then these rates have been revised every year. So if the fresh assessment is made on the current collector rates, the house tax liability is expected to go up several times. This could lead to a public uproar.
	Raise oilseeds output: ICAR chief Tribune News Service Hisar, August 3 By 2010, the total requirement of vegetable oils in the country is expected to be around 17.7 million tonnes, which is equivalent to 52 million tonnes of oilseeds. Due to the increase in population and improvement in standard of living of the people, the demand for vegetable oils is expected to grow at 5.5 to 6 per cent in the next eight to 10 years. Agricultural scientists have to play a role in meeting the growing demand. This was stated by the Director-General of the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), Dr Mangla Rai, after inaugurating the 13th annual rapeseed-mustard research workers’ group meeting at Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) here yesterday. Nearly 200 agricultural scientists working on rapeseed and mustard crops at various research centres and agricultural universities across the country are taking part in this meeting. Dr Rai observed that though the farm scientists had done a great job in oilseeds production, yet the country would remain dependant on the import of vegetable oils like palm oil if oilseed production did not increase further. He pointed out that during 2001-2005, the annual compound growth rate of rapeseed-mustard production in the country was 18.9 per cent, which was the highest as compared to cereals and pulses. Despite this, the country was still importing nearly 40 per cent of the domestic edible oils need, he added. To improve the situation, the ICAR chief exhorted the scientists to critically analyse the factors affecting the productivity level and exploit the untapped reservoir through technology dissemination, focused research programmes, market surveillance and value addition. Dr Rai further expressed concern upon the declining soil fertility and degeneration of useful soil micro-flora due to the excessive use of various agrochemicals like insecticides and herbicides. To tackle these problems, he expressed the need of inter-disciplinary researches involving scientists from other disciplines. He also urged the scientists to prepare effective work-plans for the ensuing 11th Five Year Plan. Addressing the gathering, the HAU Vice-Chancellor, Dr J.C. Katyal, revealed that India was the third largest vegetable oil economy in the world after the USA and China. He said rapeseed and mustard crops occupied a prestigious position and ranked second after groundnut both in area and production. Referring to the quantum jump achieved in rapeseed and mustard production in Haryana, the Vice-Chancellor said the high yielding and disease-resistant varieties of these crops, coupled with the application of latest technologies and good support prices, the state had achieved around 16 quintals per hectare yield, which was the highest in the country. The ADG, ICAR, Dr V.D. Patil, lauded the research work being carried out on rapeseed and mustard crops. The Director of National Research Centre on Rapeseed-Mustard, Dr Arvind Kumar, presented research highlights of the All-India Coordinated Project on Rapeseed and Mustard during 2005-2006. Earlier, the HAU Director of Research, Dr B.S. Chhillar, noted in the opening remarks that the uncertainty of weather was the major cause of low production of these crops. The Dean of the College of Agriculture, Dr D.C. Gupta, and Head of Oilseed Section, Dr Dhiraj Singh, also addressed the gathering. Four books on rapeseed and mustard crops were also released on this occasion.
	Dowry victim’s husband nabbed Our Correspondent Kaithal, August 3 The police has arrested the husband of a woman who succumbed to burn injuries at Keorak village on July 31. It is alleged that the woman was allegedly being tortured by her in-laws for dowry and she had ended her life by sprinkling kerosene and setting her-self afire. Accused Zile Singh was remanded in judicial custody here yesterday. SSP Navdeep Singh Virk said Rekha, a daughter of Jagdish Chander, a conductor in Delhi Transport Corporation, was married to Zile Singh of Keorak village of this district. The parents of the girl gave sufficient items in dowry at the time of the marriage. But Zile Singh, his mother and sister always accused the victim of bringing insufficient dowry and thrashed her a number of times. The girl, who was expecting an issue, informed her parents about the treatment being meted out to her by her in- laws following which her father sent Rs 20,000 in cash through his son and promised to pay more after the delivery of the child . According to a complaint of the father of the victim, Rekha gave birth to a son and they gave Rs 50,000 and some jewellery. But they allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh for the purchase of a plot and went on harassing her. On July 31, a resident of Keorak informed the father of Rekha on the telephone that her daughter had ended her life. The parents of the victim rushed to Keorak after getting information about this tragedy. The police after autopsy registered a case under Section 304-B and 34, IPC. Zile Singh has been arrested and the police is in search of the remaining culprits who forced Rekha to end her life.
	Kurukshetra to be heritage destination Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 3 The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R. Kidwai, who is also the Chairman of the Kurukshetra Development Board, has directed that all religious places and historical sites falling within the state’s five districts connected with the Mahabharata should be developed for making Kurukshetra into an international heritage destination. Presiding over a meeting to discuss the development of places of pilgrimage situated within 48 “kos” of “Kurukshetra Bhoomi” here today, Dr Kidwai said a master plan should be prepared for the development of these “tirthas” on a short and long-term basis. Voluntary organisations and the temple trusts should also be involved in the development of the “tirthas”. He said satellite imagery of the lost Sarswati river should be studied and the areas demarcated in consultation with the Indian Space Research Organisation and the Oil and Natural Gas Commission. Dr Kidwai said the sculptures of the historical period recovered from these sites should be registered and preserved in a museum. He also directed that each district should prepare a write-up giving the historical background of the respective holy sites. It was suggested that a programme to train local guides should be initiated by the Deputy Commissioner of Kurukshetra.
	Family pension: equal rights to daughters Tribune News Service Chandigarh, August 3 The Haryana Government has decided to expand the scope of the Family Pension Scheme to confer equal beneficial rights on the daughters of deceased government employees. The pension benefit has also been extended to the widowed or divorced daughter for lifetime or until her remarriage. An official said here today that a number of amendments had been made to the rules governing the Family Pension Scheme, 1964, which would be enforced immediately for the benefit of the wards, dependents of all employees and retirees who were governed by this scheme in such a way as to make them equal beneficiaries under the scheme. He said while giving equality to the daughters, the family pension had been made admissible to children in their order of birth, thus scrapping the rule that it was first admissible to the son only. The elder of the children, be it girl or boy, would be entitled to family pension. He said as per the amendments the parents who were wholly dependent on the government employee when he or she was alive, would also be eligible for family pension provided the deceased employee had not left a widow or a child.
	Two brothers hacked to death Tribune News Service Sirsa, August 3 Four persons, including two brothers, were hacked to death in Chautala village under Dabwali subdivision of the district in the wee hours yesterday. The police has registered cases in this regard but no arrest has been made so far. Several persons armed with sharp-edged weapons raided the house of Om Prakash and attacked him with sharp-edged weapons while he was asleep. When his brother Puran Chand came to save him, he was also assaulted. Both brothers later succumbed to their injuries. A case under Sections 302, 307, 148, 149 and 452 of the IPC has been registered against six persons in this regard. Of these, four belong to Chautala village, while one belongs to Lohgadh and one to Kharian. Meanwhile, the bodies of two youths of the same village were found in a park of the village last morning. A case has been registered.
	Woman robbed of cash, jewellery Our Correspondent Ambala, August 3 Two motorcycle-borne youths robbed a woman of cash and jewellery in Jaggi Colony here this noon. According to information, Bala Devi was alone in the house when the incident occurred. Around 2.30 noon, two youths entered the house and asked Bala Devi to hand over cash and jewellery to them. When the woman resisted, the youths manhandled her. They took away gold her earrings, a ring and Rs 10,000 in cash. The police registered a case in this regard.