Chandigarh, December 11
The year 2006 began with the inclusion of three women ministers in the Haryana Cabinet and announcement of an all-girls university in the state. Now, towards the year-end, the government has decided on a bonanza for women employees.

In its latest move to benefit women employees in government departments, the Haryana is working out a scheme to extend maternity leave from six months to five years on half pay.

Under the scheme, the employee would be allowed to extend maternity leave beyond six months. "They will work for half a day at half the salary. They will be allowed from one to five years’ half-day, half-pay leave, depending on their need. They will also be allowed to choose their work hours," said Mr Prem Prashant, Chief Secretary, Haryana.

While the women will get half the salary, the remaining will be used to employ staff on a contract basis. "These employees will substitute for the employees on leave," he explained.

The Hooda government has already implemented 33 per cent reservation for women in teaching jobs, a two per cent waiver in stamp duty if property is transferred in the name of woman, concessions in electricity bill and quota for women in houses constructed by the housing board.

Maintaining that there were about 20 per cent women in government service, Mr Prashant stated that the scheme would not put additional burden on the state exchequer since the amount would be adjusted in the salary itself.

"We will be able to implement this scheme in case of all women employees without having to bear any additional expenses. The scheme has been drafted to accommodate regular and contractual employees within the same salary. We have picked up this model from European countries,’’ he added.

Hisar, December 11
The Haryana government is acquiring only that land of farmers for special economic zones (SEZs) where underground water is saline and availability of canal water is low. Fertile land will not be acquired for the purpose.

Residents of villages of which 60 per cent or more land is acquired for development of SEZs will be rehabilitated by the state government.

All facilities like schools and hospitals will be provided for the rehabilitated.

One member of each family whose land has been acquired for SEZs will be given a job in some industrial unit established in that zone. This was stated by chief parliamentary secretary Dharambir Singh while talking to mediapersons at the PWD rest house here today.

In response to a question, he asserted that the government had increased the price of land acquired for SEZs by 8 or 9 times than that offered during the previous regime.

“The government is paying Rs 23 lakh per acre to farmers”, he said, adding that less than 1 per cent of agricultural land would be used for setting up SEZs.

Earlier, addressing a meeting of party workers, he disclosed that the state government was considering a plan to engage cleanliness workers in villages.

“With a view to maintaining good hygiene in rural areas, the government is mulling a move to engage cleanliness workers at its own expenditure”, he added. He revealed that all villages would get Rs 10 lakh each for getting streets cemented. The amount would be provided to the villages by March 31, 2007, he said.

Yamunanagar, December 11
Demanding compensation for the family of a fellow labourer who died at the construction site of the Deenbandhu Chhottu Ram Thermal Power Plant here, more than 6,000 labourers today halted all construction activity and went home. It is for the first time in the history of the thermal plant that work remained suspended for the whole day.

On the other hand, Reliance Energy Limited (REL), which is bringing up the plant, said to mourn the death of the labourer the day was declared as a “paid holiday” and that was why no construction activity today. REL said that a compensation of Rs 1 lakh had been given to the family of the deceased.

The trouble started in the morning when labourers gathered outside the administrative office of the plant and started demanding compensation for the family of Ramesh Chander Meena (25), who died yesterday afternoon after slipping at the construction site. Preliminary investigations have revealed that accident took place because his safety belt either broke off or got unfastened.

The agitated labourers also insisted that the body of Ramesh should be brought to the site before being sent to his native place in Dosa district of Rajasthan. A group of labourers also did not let any vehicle move out of the thermal plant site and chased vehicles which tried to move out.

It was the presence of senior officials of REL and Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL), the principal agency behind the plant, and the police that no untoward incidence took place.

Kurukshetra, December 11
In the golden jubilee year of Kurukshetra University, the vice-chancellor, Prof R.P. Hooda, has allowed students who want to clear or improve their marks in any one paper of the undergraduate, postgraduate, B.Tech. or diploma courses (except medical), and those who had availed all chances or had exhausted the period for the clearance or improvement of marks between April and May,1995, or afterwards an additional one-time golden chance.

The controller of examinations, Dr Hukam Singh, said as per the notification issued by the university, students would be allowed to appear according to the syllabus of 2001-02 or the current academic year.

The last date for the submission of the examination forms along with attested copies of the certificates and fee of Rs 2,000 was December 28.

The candidates could also submit their forms by January 31, 2007, along with a fee of Rs 5,000.

Admission forms would not be accepted after the above-stated dates, he added.

The examination of these candidates would be held between April and May, 2007, along with usual examinations of above-stated courses, he added.

Rohtak, December 11
The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) today accused the Vice-Chancellor of subverting the role of the academic council by bringing on agenda items for its meetings at the last minute, thus preventing members from applying their mind to important items.

In a press release issued here, the MDUTA chief, Dr Rajinder Chaudhary, said the initial agenda for the meeting held on Saturday last had only 24 items but just a day before the meeting 16 more items were added. Most of the members received the supplementary agenda at the meeting itself. Therefore, they had no time to apply their mind to these issues running into more than 100 pages.

As a result the authorities succeeded in seeking the council’s approval on many important issues without giving the members an opportunity to consider the ramifications.

He said item 37 of the supplementary agenda involved granting permanent recognition to certain professional colleges. On the recommendation of the state government a three-member panel finalised the norms for permanent recognition at a very short notice on November 29. These norms were inadequate and no detailed guidelines for evaluation were prescribed. On the basis of these norms, 17 courses for eight colleges were evaluated by December 6. The next day the committee considered these.

Dr Chaudhary said had the members been given time to go through the 44 pages pertaining to this item, they would have objected to these incomplete reports three of which do not even mention the course for which the inspection was done. In fact even the committee did not make any recommendations and merely forwarded these reports to the VC who, in turn, passed them on to the council at the last minute for its approval.

He said MDUTA had been raising these issues with the VC, the Chancellor and the Chief Minister. But there had been no response from any of them. He appealed to the intellectuals to come forward to stop this mockery of university bodies and higher education.

Chandigarh, December 11
The Haryana Agriculture University (CCSHAU), Hisar, and the University of Maryland, USA, College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, will conduct joint research for developing vaccine to combat poultry diseases Bird flu and New Castle.

Speaking at a press conference, the Minister for Economic Development, Government of Prince George County, Ms Patricia Hayers-Parker, said here today that the patent of the vaccine developed through this research would be held by the universities and the company that agreed for mass production of the vaccine.

The university had earlier signed an MoU with the University of Maryland on research and training. A group of scientists from the US university visited Hisar to develop a workplan covering animal biotechnology, plant biotechnology, horticulture and curriculum development.

Ms Hayers-Parker said a final review meeting was held with the Haryana Governor yesterday to discuss various aspects of business development between Maryland and Haryana and tap trade and commercial opportunities, she said.

Fatehabad, December 11
Mr Sampat Singh, a former minister, yesterday termed as unjustified and untimely the hike in power tariff in the name of fuel surcharge arrears. The state government, on the recommendations of the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission, had recently announced the hike in the power tariff for various categories of consumers from 13 to 40 paise.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, the INLD leader said the state government had increased the power tariff at a time when prices of the fuel had gone down all over the world. He said the government had not only hiked the tariff for the current financial year, it had also paved the way for its automatic increase to 12 per cent per year for the next three years by announcing multi-year tariff policy.

He further added that the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission was yet to announce the usual annual tariff. Mr Sampat Singh said on one hand the government was trying to get credit for agricultural power bills worth Rs 1,600 crore, while on the other hand poor farmers and consumers were being burdened with unjustified hike in the power tariff.

Chandigarh, December 11
The Haryana Governor, Dr A.R.Kidwai, will honour war widows and gallantry award recipients of Rewari, Gurgaon, Mohendragarh and Mewat districts at the Vijay Diwas function to be held on December 15 at Rao Tula Ram Stadium, Rewari.

The Vijay Diwas function was organised in memory of the historic victory of the Indian Army in the 1971 Indo-Pak War. — TNS

Rohtak, December 11
Congress MP Deepender Singh Hooda will be accorded a civic reception here on December 16 for bringing in Central development projects worth Rs 2,800 crore for the Rohtak Lok Sabha seat during the first year of his tenure, local Congress legislator Shadi Lal Batra said here today.

He said all Congress MLAs, representing the Assembly segments falling in the Rohtak parliamentary constituency, would honour Mr Hooda for ushering in development in this area. All elected representatives, including members of the local bodies and panchayati raj institutions, would attend the ceremony.

Jhajjar, December 11
One person was killed and three others were injured when a truck rammed into their car parked near the Mini-Secretariat on Gurgaon Road here last night.

The deceased, Gajraj Singh, a constable in the Delhi police, along with others was going back to Kapashera after attending a marriage at Khatiwas village.

However, when their car was parked on the outskirts of the town, a truck coming from behind hit it. While Gajraj died on the spot, three others, Jagbir, Vijay and Rajender, were injured. They have been admitted to hospital.

A case has been registered against the truck driver in this connection.

Panipat, December 11
A 16-year-old youth of Geeta Colony was found dead after he chased thieves here late last night. According to information, Amol, a student of Delhi Public School, Panipat, got up when his neighbours raised the alarm that two suspects were tampering with the car of his father parked in front of his home. Later the body of Amol, who chased the fleeing suspects, was found in a street.

The police has registered a case under Sections 379 and 511, IPC and sent the body for a post-mortem examination.