Chandigarh, November 21
Haryana will soon have driving schools at Rohtak and Bahadurgarh.

A memorandum of understanding for the establishment of a state-of-the-art Road Safety Institute (driving training school) each at Rohtak and Bahadurgarh will be signed by the Haryana Transport Department and Maruti Udyog Ltd, Gurgaon, tomorrow.

Haryana loses nearly 2,500 lives annually in road accidents.

The proposed road safety institutes will help bring about a qualitative improvement in the skills of drivers and inject professionalism in them. The two complexes will be built on 10 acres each at Rohtak and Bahadurgarh. Each driving school will have classrooms, an auditorium, a library, an eye testing and health check-up room, a dispensary and a trainees’ hostel.

A long driving track with facilities like electronic signals, signboards, road markings and streetlights for night driving will be provided. Trained instructors will impart theoretical and practical training to drivers of all types of motor vehicles.

Every year about 3.14 lakh motor vehicles are registered in the state. At present there are in all 31.39 lakh motor vehicles (28.02 lakh non-transport vehicles plus 3.37 lakh transport vehicles) registered in the state. The road infrastructure has failed to keep pace with the increase in the number of vehicles. In the absence of adequate road space, the state is making an endeavour to ensure that motorists make use of it in a safe way so as to minimise fatal accidents.

An analysis of the accident data reveals that 83.5 per cent of these take place because of human failure, attributed to the drivers. Though the government has granted licences to 137 driving schools, most of these are not equipped with the facilities required under the Motor Vehicles Act. The five driving training schools being run by the state government in respect of heavy motor vehicles at Karnal, Murthal, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Hisar also do not have adequate infrastructure.

The new modern driving schools will have well-trained instructors for both men and women drivers. At these schools, world-class training will be provided. These will also conduct refresher courses for the drivers heavy motor vehicles and also for hazardous driving. Comprehensive theory and practical sessions will form part of the curriculum.

The total cost of setting up each school will be more than Rs 25 crore. At these schools, 1,024 drivers will be imparted training for three months. Besides, 10,000 drivers will get two days’ training and 4,000 drivers five days’ training annually.

Since there is a great demand for trained drivers in India and abroad, the new courses will provide unemployed youth of Haryana an opportunity to get jobs besides improving road safety in the state. 

Chandigarh, November 21
The Chief Administrator (CA) of the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUA) today informed the Punjab and Haryana High Court that a comprehensive policy for the allotment of plots to oustees in various parts of the state was being prepared.

Mr S.S. Dhillon, CA, provided this information during the hearing on a bunch of petitions filed by landowners whose land was acquired by HUDA for the development of residential and commercial areas in towns across the state. Mr Dhillon was present in the court during the hearing.

Among other things, the petitioners have prayed that directions should be issued to the Haryana Government and HUDA to compensate them adequately for land acquired for public purpose.

In one such petition, Panchkula resident Amar Singh has stated that his land was acquired for Sector 26 in Panchkula. Since he was informed that there was no land available for allotment to him under the oustees’ quota in Sector 26, he applied for the allotment of land in Sector 27. This application was turned down by HUDA on the plea that he could have been allotted land only in the sector for the development of which his land was acquired.

Oustees from various parts of the state have challenged the arbitrary and controversial land allotment policy meant for them. In most cases, citing the existing rules, the HUDA authorities had disallowed the claim of allotment of land of these persons.

Today, Mr Dhillon informed the court that the new policy on the allotment of plots to the oustees was under consideration and was likely to be formulated shortly.

He also brought to the court's notice various steps that had been taken by HUDA to consider the claims of the oustees. However, he sought more time to make a detailed statement in this regard.

On his request, the court adjourned the matter to November 29.

Yamunanagar, November 21
A clash was averted in the MLN College premises here when the Principal of the college caught a youth carrying a loaded pistol and his "accomplice" yesterday. A group of youths armed with a pistol and batons entered the college to take 'revenge' from a student.

The other members of the gang, however, escaped. The two youths, Rock and Satpal have been handed over to the police.

"I was told that few youths carrying arms were roaming in the campus and a fight was going to take place", said the Principal, Dr Ramesh Kumar. "When the group saw me they tried to flee but I caught hold of one of them and one more was held by another staff member", added the Principal.

Rocky and Satpal were taken to the Principal's office and the police was called in. The police seized the pistol with six bullets and took the two away. The pistol was licensed.

The Principal claimed that all of them, including the one who was to be 'beaten up' by the group, were outsiders. Rocky is a class XII drop out.

Hisar, November 21
The police today arrested three persons in connection with an attempt to get some shops forcibly vacated at Barwala here yesterday. The bid had sparked violent protests by traders, who torched a Scorpio and blocked the Chandigarh-Hisar national highway for several hours.

Apart from the arrest of three prime suspects in the case, SHO of the Barwala police station Vikramjit has been removed and shifted to the Police Lines. Two other policemen have been suspended, while a probe is on to ascertain their involvement in the case.

Hisar SSP Arshinder Singh Chawla visited the township and went to the hospital to meet traders injured in the scuffle. He assured them and other residents that no forcible eviction would be allowed to take place.

Talking to The Tribune, Mr Chawla said all three main accused, including Ram Kumar of Panihari village, Raj Kumar, a property dealer, and Satyawan, alias Sattar, of Kheri Lohchab village, had been arrested.

The SSP, however, refuted the claim that a red light was fixed atop the Scorpio vehicle that was torched by the angry traders. "It only had a speaker and a Congress flag, but there was no red light,” he maintained.

Several tenants had been occupying five shops near the old bus stand here for the past around 30 years. They had been paying rent to one Nirnajan Singh. However, years later, it was found that the land on which the shops were located actually belonged to the Barwala Municipal Committee. Following this, the matter went to a court.

Meanwhile, Ram Kumar, Raj Kumar and Satyawan approached Niranjan Singh and "purchased" the plot, including the shops, at a price considerably lower than the prevailing market price.

Since there was a dispute over the land ownership and the occupants (tenants) were not willing to vacate the premises, Nirnajan sold the land at a lower price. The trio, hoping to earn a handsome amount in the bargain, began efforts to get the possession of the land and succeeded in getting two shops vacated.

It was when they reached the site to get the third shop vacated that the trouble began. The remaining tenants sensed that they would also have to vacate their premises if the trio was able to get the possession of the third shop. Hence, the traders opposed the move to get the shop vacated. They chased away the "intruders" and set on fire their vehicle.

Rohtak, November 21
Former Finance Minister and senior Indian National Lok Dal leader Sampat Singh today accused the Congress government of ignoring infrastructure development in the state.

Talking to newsmen here, he said the failure to strengthen infrastructure was weakening the economy and causing unemployment to rise. He said the government was only misleading the public.

Mr Sampat Singh said strengthening irrigation, power, road and transport systems alone could bring in investment which, in turn, could improve income levels and create jobs. However, the government had failed to even maintain basic infrastructure, he said.

Referring to the SYL Canal, he said no case was pending in any court now and despite the apex court orders, the Centre was not taking up its completion. Punjab’s action in striking down all inter-state agreements on water was not applicable on Haryana and therefore there was no hitch in completing the canal.

Talking about the Rs 270-crore Hansi-Butana Multipurpose Link Channel, he said the INLD was not opposed to it. He said his party was even prepared to ask its workers to perform kar seva for the channel provided the government got the necessary approvals from Punjab, Rajasthan, Centre and the Bhakra Beas Management Board for puncturing the BML Canal which had inter-state ramifications.

He said instead of wasting this huge amount the government could have strengthened the existing irrigation network by augmenting the capacity of canals.

The former minister said no power project would come up before the next Assembly poll since no work had begun on any project. Only the Yamunanagar plant would be completed but that project was launched during the INLD rule. He said only MOUs had been signed by the government but no project had taken off yet. Likewise, he said the government had failed to strengthen the distribution and transmission systems.

Mr Sampat Singh said the government was not strengthening the road network. Haryana was contributing Rs 700 crore per year to the Centre as fuel surcharge but in return it was getting just Rs 100 crore for strengthening and widening link and district roads. No effort had been made to secure more funds.

Work on the Kundli Expressway had also not begun because of which heavy traffic which had been banned in Delhi was passing through Haryana putting great pressure on rural roads. Only patchwork had been done on the Jalandhar-Bawal National Highway.

He said the government had ignored transport sector too. No new services had been introduced except for Volvo buses on some routes which were not meant for the common man. People were forced to rely on illegally plying jeeps which had turned highways into killer roads.

He said the agriculture sector too was in poor shape. There was paucity of power, water and inputs like DAP.

He said only the real estate sector was booming but the government had nothing to do with that as it was because of the state’s location around Delhi. But this boom did not generate employment although it contributed revenue.

He said the economy would only grow when new investments were made in the industrial sector which alone could generate employment.

Panchkula, November 21
Haryana Dairy Development Cooperative Federation Limited (HDDCF) has got a sanction worth Rs 67.12 crore for projects from the state and the central governments and schemes worth Rs 36 crore are under the consideration of the Government of India.

This was stated by the Managing Director, HDDCF, Mr Devinder Singh, while addressing mediapersons here today. He also announced the launch of 14 new milk-based products to be unveiled by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, at a function on November 23.

"We have been on the job for over six months now. The latest addition to our list of products is traditional Haryanavi sweet, including Gohana jaleb, malai barfi and Haryanavi ladoo, while other new products include pizza spread and kheer among others. With the introduction of these products, our cooperative will market nearly 60 products in all," he said.

Explaining that there is a budget provision of Rs 9.85 crore for clean milk production scheme, the Managing Director added that the federation was establishing bulk milk coolers in milk-rich areas where farmers would be trained by providing chemicals and utensils for clean milk production.

He said Rs 25.64 crore would be spent on milkotester, road milk tankers, refrigerated vans, society strengthening, man-power development, technical inputs and for the ice cream plant at Kurukshetra. He said to overcome the cash losses of milk union at Hisar, Jind, Kurukshetra and Karnal there would be a budget provision of Rs 9.88 crore.

Stating that the capacity of the Rohtak Milk Plant would be enhanced from 2 lakh to the 4 lakh litres per day by spending Rs 19 crore, Mr Devinder Singh said in a period of 10 months, HDDCF had made an average sale of 3.2 lakh litres per day. The combined profit of milk unions and federation had also registered a growth of 90 percent ( Rs. 1.6 crore).

Mr Devinder Singh said that this increase in procurement of milk had been due to policy initiatives taken by the federation and introduction of a number of schemes like White Card Scheme and Insurance Scheme. He said about 4,500 societies had been functioning and about one lakh pourers were supplying milk to HDDFC. He revealed that HDDCF had given employment to the rural youth by making them a resource person in the areas where cooperatives were not functional.

Holding that the distribution channel was of utmost importance in any business, he disclosed that the federation planned to add 100 milk booths during the current year to boost the marketing efforts of which 13 booths are being opened in Chandigarh.

Hisar, November 21
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has introduced the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) for the declaration of unauthorised extension of load with immediate effect. The scheme will remain in force till December 15.

The scheme was meant for domestic, non-domestic and agricultural consumers in rural as well as urban areas.

Unauthorised extension of load was liable for penalty at the rate of Rs 1,500 per BHP for flat rate tubewell and at Rs 1,000 per BHP in case of tubewells having meters.

Ambala, November 21
Two youths tied a woman with rope and took away cash and jewellery kept at her home at Tepla village this afternoon.

The incident took place at Tepla village when Mrs Kulwinder Kaur was alone at her residence. Two youths came to seek donation. Mrs Kulwinder Kaur turned them away. She came inside the house and locked the main door. However, the youths scaled the boundary wall and entered the house.

Thereafter, the duo caught hold of Mrs Kulwinder Kaur and placed a handkerchief on her face. Mrs Kulwinder Kaur began to lose consciousness. The youths kept on asking for the keys of the locker.

A little later, the youths began to sift through her belongings and found the key with which they opened the locker. They took away Jewellery and some cash. They escaped after jumping off the roof top.

When Mrs Kulwinder Kaur’s daughter Sumanpreet Kaur, who is a teacher, returned from school around 2 p.m., she found that though the door was locked from inside, there was no response. After much effort, she entered the house and found her mother tied with ropes.

Police officials from Saha police station reached the spot on learning about the incident. Investigations are being carried out.

Ambala, November 21
The Army symphonic band concert was held at the Kharga auditorium in Ambala cantonment this evening.

A symphonic band comprising 60 musicians from the Kumaon Regimental Centre and the 14 Gorkha Training Centre under the baton of Lt-Col Noel Andrew, Inspector of Army Band, enthralled the audience with their music.

The band presented a wide repertoire, including Western and Hindustani classical music along with patriotic tunes. Western numbers like Fanfare and Soliloquy, Light Cavalry, Spanish Gypsy Dance and Marietta Polka were played by the band. Also evergreen Indian songs like “Sare Jahan Se Achha” was appreciated by the audience.

The perfect harmony of notes left the audience spellbound. Tunes from Indian folk and popular Bollywood numbers were liked.

Lt-Col Noel Andrew, who was the principal conductor of the band, holds the credit of conducting the world’s largest mass band display with 4,459 musicians in December 1997 on the occasion of Vijay Divas. The event has found a place in the Guinness Book of World Record.

Ambala, November 21
The State Vigilance Bureau, Ambala, has arrested a Head Constable and a constable of Sahjadpur police station for taking bribe from the son of a teacher.

According to information, a teacher of Sahjadpur, Saroj Bala, had filed a complaint with the DIG of the Bureau, Mr M.S. Ahlawat, that the Head Constable at Sahjadpur police station, Muni Ram, and constable Mange Ram had been threatening that they would implicate his son Munish in some case if they were not paid Rs 2000 as bribe.

The DIG constituted a reading party under the supervision of Inspector Ved Parkash and ASI Rajender Kumar. The Naib Tehsildar, Ambala, Mr Partap Singh, was included as an Executive Magistrate in the team.

Mr Allahavat said the police officials had fixed the place of Sahjadpur bus stand for taking the bribe money. This evening, when Mange Ram was taking the money from Saroj Bala, the raiding party nabbed him. Later the Bureau arrested Head Constable Mange Ram too.

A case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against the two police officials was registered. During the past three months the Bureau 
had arrested six government officials on the bribe charge.