Chandigarh, November 2
The Haryana Government has decided to move the Supreme Court against a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court quashing the categorisation of the Scheduled Castes into A and B blocks for reservation purposes.

The Scheduled Castes were divided into two categories by the state government in the mid-nineties following a persistent demand of non-Chamar members of the Scheduled Castes. Broadly, the Chamar members of the Scheduled Castes were put in the B block, while the others were in the A block. The 20 per cent reservation was equally divided between the two categories with a proviso that if suitable candidates were not available in a particular block, the posts could be filled by appointing candidates of the other block.

The categorisation had upset the Chamar community, while other members of the Scheduled Castes had welcomed it widely.

The categorisation was challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court by Mr Gaje Singh, a Chamar leader. The court recently struck down the categorisation mainly on the ground that the Supreme Court had held that there could be no reservation within reservation.

The A block Scheduled Castes had been demanding that the High Court judgement should be challenged by the state before the Supreme Court because the categorisation had helped them to a large extent and the fruits of reservation had started reaching them. Otherwise, the Chamars, they said, who were relatively well off, both economically and educationally, were cornering the benefits of reservation.

The Chief Secretary of Haryana had sought the opinion of the Advocate-General about the demand of the A category Scheduled Castes. The office of Advocate-General informed the state government a few days ago that the Additional Advocate-General, Mr Randhir Singh, who conducted the case on behalf of the state before the High Court, was of the opinion that it was a fit case for filing a special leave petition before the apex court.

Now the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has given his consent for filing an appeal before the Supreme Court.

In a joint statement issued by Mr M.L. Sarwan, Mr Banarsi Dass and Mr Nadar Chand Jalube, leaders of the Haryana Scheduled Castes(Block-A), have welcomed the decision of the state government.

The Dalit leaders, most of them retired government officers, have also welcomed the Supreme Court decision that on the pattern of the other backward classes, the creamy layer among the Scheduled Castes should also be denied the benefit of the reservation policy.

Rohtak, November 2
A judge has been in occupation of the entire first floor of the canal rest house here for the past more than three months.

While his plea is that he has no choice as his official residence has not been vacated by his predecessor, senior government officers and ministers continue to be turned away from the canal rest house because of non-availability of rooms.

The first floor has three air-conditioned rooms, including the Chief Minister’s suite which comprises a drawing room, a bedroom, a dressing room and a spacious toilet. Besides, there are two other VIP rooms on this floor.

According to sources, the judge came here on July 23 and was allotted two rooms on the first floor. Thereafter, whenever the rest house staff allotted a room on the first floor to any visiting dignitary the judge asked that the visiting officers be accommodated in one of the rooms on the ground floor since he was putting up on the first floor with his family.

Ever since he occupied the first floor the third room has been allotted only on three days, August 25, September 16 and October 29, causing loss to the Irrigation Department. On one occasion, a judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had to stay for a night in one of the rooms on the ground floor although protocol demanded that his junior occupying the CM suite should vacate it for his senior.

The unwelcome guest has paid Rs 1280 as rent for the two rooms for the period from July 23 to August 24. He also paid Rs 1,440 for the period from August 25 to September 30. All the rooms have air conditioners installed and the rent does not even cover the cost of electricity for lighting purposes.

The continued occupation has forced even the senior members of the CM’s staff to put up somewhere else whenever the Chief Minister visits his hometown which is quite often.

Official sources said normally a rest house room is allotted for three to five days. In exceptional cases the room may be allotted to a person after a break of a day or so. However, in no case can anyone occupy it for months together.

The town is woefully short of official rest house accommodation since the canal rest house is the only decent place which can accommodate visiting dignitaries. Other district towns like the neighbouring Hisar have several such rest houses which can accommodate many VIPs at a time.

After Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda became Chief Minister, the paucity of official accommodation for visiting government officers has been felt more acutely since this is Mr Hooda’s hometown.

Panipat, November 2
The heat generated by sealing in the national capital has reached the local blanket industry which was already in trouble due to labour problem during the past few months and the competition with the Ludhiana manufacturers. Most of the manufacturers were left with huge stocks at this time which otherwise used to be peak season.

“I have been left with more than 30 per cent of stocks this year. Earlier, I used to face difficulty in meeting the supply orders at this moment,” rued Mr Prem Chand Gupta, a manufacturer at Pachranga Bazar.

Similar were the views of Mr Ashok Aggarwal, a manufacturer at Sanoli road. "We used to run our units 24 hours a day to meet the deadline during these months. But we have been left with 40 per cent of our production even as the factories were running at 50 per cent of their capacity," said Mr Aggarwal.

Stocks amounting to Rs 200 crore were lying in the godowns of manufacturers, who used to be coping with the rush of buyers, informed Mr Ramesh Bansal, president, Blanket Manufacturers Association.

More than 700 units situated in the city produce blankets worth at least Rs 4 crore every day, said Mr Bansal. Most of the manufacturers were left with the production of more than 45 days, added Mr Bansal.

Due to fear among the traders of New Delhi for the last many months, the wholesalers from the national capital were not buying product, said Mr Bansal, adding that they even did not have godowns to keep the goods as these had been sealed.

At least 10 per cent of total production of Panipat textile industry was purchased by the buyers from Delhi only.

Due to labour problem in local textile industry during the last few months, the manufacturers could not venture out for marketing of their product and the buyers from outside did not show interest in the market of Panipat because of uncertainty in local industry due to labour problem, said Mr Bansal pointing it as one of the reasons of slump in the local industry.

Moreover, buyers were preferring pollo blankets manufactured at Ludhiana in comparison with the shoddy, acrylic and hosiery blankets produced by the local industry, revealed Mr Bansal. The pollo blanket is more fine and attractive and the local industrialists were shy of taking risk to produce it as the manufacturing unit for it would cost in crores of rupees, said Mr Bansal.

The delay in the onset of winter has added to the woes of manufacturers as the buyers from southern states did not turn up till now, added the association president. 

Chandigarh, November 2
Inspite of imposing the highest licence fee and conversion charges within the country, thanks to the realty boom in National Capital Region (NCR), Haryana has decided to again increase these by another 5 per cent.

The government’s decision to hike the licence fee and conversion charges, during the recent Cabinet meeting, has invited ire from various sections of trade and commerce. Terming this hike as unjustified, the realtors and businessmen have said that inspite of adopting a pro-trade approach by bringing down the fee, the government is desisting investors to come to Haryana.

As of now, licence fee and conversion charges for commercial use of land, being levied in the controlled areas of Haryana vary from Rs 4. 56 crore per acre (in Hyper Potential zone of Gurgaon) to Rs 14 lakh per acre in the low potential zones like Mahendragarh and Sirsa. In Faridabad, Sonepat and Panchkula (high potential zones), the conversion charges and licence fee vary from Rs 2. 48 crore to 1. 32 crore, depending on the floor area ratio.

Though the notification for new (hiked) conversion charges and licence fee will be issued only later this month, the government has justified the 5 per cent hike on the pretext that it is commensurate with the prevailing real estate prices in the state.

The increase in rates of licence fees and conversion charges by 5 per cent has been affected only in hyper and high potential zones. In the medium and low potential towns no increase in licence fees or conversion charges will take place.

Mr Manbeer Chaudhary, President of the Federation of Hotel and Restaurant Association of India (FHRAI), while talking to TNS, said that the Union Ministry of Finance had proposed to grant an infrastructure status to the hotel industry, especially in Delhi and NCR region, in wake of the hotel room shortage for the 2010 Commonwealth Games. “Just like airports, roads and communication networks, hotels form an important part of infrastructure.

After realising this, the Union Government has agreed to grant us some concessions so that the room tariffs can be kept low. However, the Haryana Government has raised the conversion charges and licence fee, which is warding off the hospitality sector to invest in the state,” he added.

The FHRAI President said it was mainly the hospitality sector that was affected as they proposed to seek licences for setting shop along the national highways and Scheduled Roads.

But the conversion charges and licence fee for commercial use of land was several times higher than the conversion charges for residential, institutional, industrial or recreational use.

“We are now planning to take up this issue with the Haryana Chief Minister, during the 42nd Annual FHRAI convention, to be held at Chandigarh from November 10- 12,” said Mr Chaudhary.

Chandigarh, November 2
The Haryana State Agricultural Marketing Board has initiated a unique scheme to provide “desi wheat”, free from chemical fertilisers under the brand name of “Har Shakti”.

Presidents of Kisan Clubs of Rohtak, Panchkula and Faridabad have signed an agreement with the board, under which members of clubs would grow C-306 variety of wheat and supply it to consumers through the board.

The Chairman of the board, Mr Shadi Lal Batra; its Chief Administrator, Mrs Navraj Sandhu; and the Director, Agriculture, Mr R.K. Khullar, were also present when the agreement was signed.

Mr Batra said “desi wheat” grown by the farmers in this manner would be supplied to the contracted consumers at Rs 1660 per quintal during April-May, 2007.

The wheat would be home delivered to the contracted consumers in Mohali, Chandigarh, all the district headquarters of Haryana and Delhi.

The production of this wheat would be based on the demand received through the Kisan Clubs of Rohtak, Panchkula and Faridabad.

The board would procure the wheat from the grain markets nearest to the area of the farmers supplying the wheat. In case the production of wheat surpassed the demand of Kisan Clubs, then they would be free to sell it at their own level.

Mr Batra said the interested consumers could make a contract for the purchase of the wheat till November 7, after which the season for the sowing of such wheat would end. A number of consumers had already deposited Rs 100 per quintal as advance payment and the balance amount would be received at delivery.

He said after sowing the wheat, the clubs would provide the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the farmers to the board. Officials of the board or the Agriculture Department as well as the consumers can, at any time, visit the fields to inspect the crops.

It may be recalled that the Agriculture Department, with the assistance of the Panchkula district administration, had grown C-306 variety of wheat during 2005-06 and sold it to the contracted consumers at Mohali, Chandigarh and Panchkula at a rate of Rs 1300 per quintal.

Hisar, November 2
A bilateral exchange of students and collaboration in research has been agreed upon between Haryana Agricultural University (HAU) and Maryland University of America.

The areas of mutual cooperation and collaboration were identified and agreed upon by both sides and the proposal got final nod at a recent meeting of Haryana Governor and Chancellor of HAU, Dr A. R. Kidwai, and the President of Maryland University, Dr C. D. Mote, in New Delhi.

A five-member delegation of the Maryland University, headed by Dr Raymond J. Miller had also visited HAU on Monday to have final discussions and identifying areas of cooperation and collaboration.

It may be recalled that both the universities had inked an MoU for the bilateral exchange of students and faculty as well as cooperation in research and curriculum development in April last on the initiative of the Haryana Governor.

In a wrap-up meeting chaired by the Vice-Chancellor, Dr J. C. Katyal, both sides, in view of each others strengths, were hopeful of setting a milestone in agriculture and livestock development with the collaborative efforts.

Agreement was reached for exchange of students for training and research apart from developing vaccines for fatal diseases like bird flu, blue-tong and influenza of animals and poultry birds.

Dr Miler, however, proposed to start with exchange of at least two students doing internship in veterinary degree programme from February next. Besides, in view of the good work done at Maryland University on greenhouse gases, it was decided to send Ph.D students from HAU to USA for pursuing research on developing heat tolerant varieties of wheat for better productivity.

The extensive use of video conferencing was over emphasised to avoid frequent to and fro visits of the faculty.

The Vice-Chancellor, in his closing remarks, expressed gratitude towards his Maryland counterpart. He said it was exemplary that a sound workplan had been formulated in such a short period. He also stressed the need of curriculum development in view of market needs with mutual cooperation. Registrar, Dr R. S. Dalal, Deans of constituent colleges and scientists from fields identified for collaboration were also present.

Chandigarh, November 2
Rice millers in Haryana will go on strike from November 5 if their grievances are not taken care of by that date. Millers in Punjab and Chhattisgarh, other major contributors to the Central pool for the public distribution system, are already on strike. The main grievances of the millers in the three states are more or less common.

The president of the Haryana Rice Millers Association (HRMA), Mr Azad Singh Rathi, told TNS on the phone that the Food Corporation of India (FCI) was bent on “exploiting” the millers to improve its financial position. The FCI, he alleged, had arbitrarily decided to revert to the slab system of transportation charges payable to the millers for delivering rice to government godowns situated 8 km away. Earlier, the FCI used to pay the transportation charges fixed by either the Deputy Commissioner (DC rate) or equal to those paid by the corporation to its transport contractors.

The rates under the slab system were fixed in 1983 and have not been revised since then. Sources in the FCI concede that the millers’ demand for higher transportation cost is justified but, they say, the rates have to be revised by the head office.

As a measure of “further exploitation” of the millers, the president of the Punjab Rice Millers Association, Mr Tarsem Saini, alleged the FCI had asked the miller this year to deliver the rice to its godowns situated at the railheads. Earlier the FCI itself took the rice to the railheads or paid the transportation cost to the millers. Now, in order to improve its financial position, the FCI has issued new instructions.

In Haryana there are eight major stations where there is no railhead, though a large quantity of rice is supplied to the FCI from here. The millers have to take rice to railheads, situated several kilometres away from their stations.

The FCI has reduced the size of the consignment of rice accepted at its godowns from 250 (25 MT) quintals to 200 (20 MT) quintals. The vice-president of the HRMA, Mr Jewel Singla, says this has increased the transportation cost of the millers, who have to now pay 20 per cent extra to FCI officials as bribe. (In the FCI “bribe rates” are fixed on the basis of consignments.) Though the size of the consignment has been reduced, officials are not willing to reduce “charges” accordingly.

Mr Singla says since the Supreme Court has prohibited the carriage of more than 9 MT in a truck, the consignment size should be increased to 27 MT so that it becomes equivalent to three truckloads.

The millers are also agitating against an increase in the quantity of polish. They say the FCI’s decision will result in a reduction in the nutritional value of the rice, which is eaten by members of the weaker sections of society. They say there is no satisfactory test to check rice polish. The FCI staff arbitrarily decide if the rice has been polished to the required extent or not. The millers say more the rice is polished, the more it will be susceptible to breakage.

The immediate cause which has provoked the Haryana millers to adopt the agitational path is an order issued by the FCI last evening by which the use of gunny bags with markings of government agencies on them has been banned. So far, the millers were free to use any type of gunny bag — printed or unprinted. Following last evening’s order the price of unprinted bags in the local market has jumped by Rs 5 each.

The FCI sources say the use of printed gunny bags has been banned because millers were using old bags.

Mr Rathi said 1 per cent concession available to the millers on account of paddy getting dry should be based on the rate of levy rice paid by the FCI and not on the paddy rate. Mr Saini demanded that the maximum limit of permissible damaged rice should be raised from 3 per cent to last year’s level of 4 per cent. He also demanded that the Punjab Government should withdraw the recovery notices issued to the millers on account of the difference in the price of gunny bags supplied to the letter in the past eight years.

Chandigarh, November 2
The Haryana Government has decided to amend the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependents of Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006, to cover Class I and II employees.

Announcing this here today, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said these rules were aimed at assisting the family of a deceased or missing government employee in tiding over a situation resulting from the loss of the breadwinner.

Mr Hooda said under these rules, on the death of any government employee, his family would continue to get a sum equal to the pay and allowances that were last drawn by the deceased employee for 15 years from the date of his death, if he, at the time of his death, had not attained the age of 35 years.

Similarly, this benefit would be provided for 12 years or till the date the employee would have retired, whichever was less, if the employee at the time of his death was between 35 years and 48 years of age. Also, a similar benefit would be provided for seven years or till the date the employee would have retired, whichever was less, if the employee had attained the age of 48 years.

He said earlier only Class III and Class IV employees had been covered under these rules.

Chandigarh, November 2
The Haryana Government today issued the transfer and posting orders of 17 IAS officers.

Mr Ramendra Jakhu, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Transport, will also look after the Civil Aviation Department.

Mrs Manju Gupta, Special Secretary, Irrigation, will also be the Administrator, Command Area Development Authority.

Mr Roshan Lal, awaiting orders of posting, has been posted as Director and Special Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment and Welfare of SCs and BCs.

Mr R.P. Chander, M D, Haryana Seeds Development Corporation, has been posted as Special Secretary, Home-II, and Joint Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections.

Mr S.K. Monga, Director and Special Secretary, Food and Supplies, will also be the MD, State Federation of Consumers Cooperative Wholesale Stores (Confed).

Mr P.K.Das, MD, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, will also work as the Director and Special Secretary, Haryana Renewable Energy Sources, Special Secretary, Power, and Director, Power Reforms, vice Mrs Sumita Misra, who goes as Special Secretary, Home, to relieve Mrs Keshni Anand Arora of the additional charge. Mrs Arora is the Secretary, Tourism.

Mr R.K. Khullar, Director and Special Secretary, Agriculture, has also been appointed M.D., Seeds Development Corporation, vice Mr R.P. Chander.

Mr M. Ramsekhar, Transport Commissioner, and Adviser and Special Secretary, Civil Aviation, will also work as Special Secretary, Transport Department, vice Mr Sant Kumar.

Mr Anil Kumar, Director and Special Secretary, Urban Development, has also been given the charge of Project Director, Swaran Jayanti Shehri Rozgar Yojna, Urban Development Department and the State Urban Development Society.

Mr Arun Kumar, Director, Industrial Training and Vocational Education, has also been given the charge of Special Secretary, Technical Education, vice Mr Sant Kumar. Mr Krishan Kumar, awaiting posting orders, has been appointed Director, Employment, against a vacant post.

Mr Ankur Gupta, Project Director, Prathmik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, has been appointed Special Secretary, Health.

Mr Raja Sekhar Vundru, awaiting posting orders, has been posted as State Project Director, Prathmik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad, vice Mr Gupta.

Mr Sant Kumar, Special Secretary,Technical Education and Transport, goes as such to the Public Works(B&R) and Architectural Departments.

Mr R.S. Doon, Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak, has been appointed as Joint Secretary, Land Use Board, in addition to his present duties, against a vacant post.

Mr Rajbir Singh, Joint Secretary, Forests, has been transferred as such to the Industries and Commerce and Mines and Geology Departments.

Kapal Mochan (Bilaspur), November 2
All roads were leading towards Kapal Mochan, Bilaspur, 28 km from Yamunanagar, where the annual Kapal Mochan Mela began today. Thousands of people from Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttranchal took dip in three sarovars — Rin Mochan, Kapal Mochan and Surajkund.

The Commissioner, Ambala range, Dr Mahvir Singh, opened the mela.

Over the years the mela has become a representation of Hindu-Sikh unity. The mela is held each year on the occasion of Kartik Purnema.

Pilgrims paid obeisance at gurdwaras, gau-bacha temple and other religious places. The main snan (bath) would be held on the night of November 5.

Chandigarh, November 2
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, yesterday announced that a state-level award of Rs 20 lakh would be given to a panchayat which would fulfil three criteria laid down by the government concerning the development of the village. The second and third awards would be of Rs 15 lakh and 10 lakh respectively.

Mr Hooda made this announcement while addressing members of the panchayati raj institutions of Bhiwani district under the ‘Seedha Samvad programme held here. The three criteria would be a toilet in every house, payment of full electricity bills of all residents and proper cleanliness in the village.

Referring to the SYL canal, Mr Hooda said if Devi Lal and the BJP had not opposed the Rajiv-Longowal accord, the canal would have been completed long ago.

Ambala, November 2
There is palpable tension among the family members of Yugam Chopra, a medical student who was kidnapped in Bangalore, as there has been no communication from the kidnappers since yesterday.

The lack of telephone calls from the kidnappers, specially after the other medical student Bhupinder, who was let off early in the morning of October 31, is adding to the anxiety of the family members of Yugam in Ambala Cantonment.

Anxious family members, friends and acquaintances of the Chopra family are praying hard for the early release of Yugam Chopra. Yugam is a fourth year student of medicine at a college located on the Bangalore-Mangalore highway. He was kidnapped in the night of October 26.

Yugam’s father, Dr Vinay Chopra, had rushed to Bangalore on learning about the kidnapping.

Former Indian Medical Association president Dr DS Jaspal has strongly condemned the kidnapping of medical student Yugam Chopra in Bangalore. “This is a very serious issue. The authorities concerned must take stringent measures to ensure the safety of Yugam. The medical student must be freed promptly,” he said.

Dr Jaspal opined that the kidnapping of the two medical students from Haryana in Bangalore has raised several questions regarding the security of the medical students from North India. “A large number of students from North India are studying in Karnataka and it is a matter of deep concern for all of us,” he stated.

Indian Medical Association, Ambala Cantonment and Ambala City chapters are holding meetings with regard to the kidnapping of Yugam Chopra. The doctors here have expressed concern over the kidnapping and they have sought early release of Yugam.

A group of advocates from the Bar Association, Ambala, submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr OP Langyan, seeking his help in Yugam Chopra’s kidnapping case.

The memorandum states “the people of Ambala in general and the aggrieved family in particular are feeling shocked and agitated over this incident.” The deputation of advocates sought the Deputy Commissioner’s help in persuading the authorities concerned to make all out efforts for securing the release of Yugam Chopra.