Chandigarh, January 1
The Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, has asked the Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, Mr M. L. Tayal, to drop his name from the High- Powered Purchase Committee (HPPC) of the state government.

The Finance Minister, who is upset over the selection by the Chief Minister of Mr H. S. Chatha, Agriculture Minister, as the chairman of the HPPC, would have liked to step down from the committee. It is learnt that he asked Mr Tayal to drop him from the committee because he felt that his resignation could fuel a controversy.

Mr Chatha, who is junior to Mr Birender Singh in the order of precedence of the state government, was chosen to head the HPPC after Mr Venod Sharma relinquished the chairman’s post following his resignation from the Council of Ministers.

The Finance Minister has not attended any meeting of the HPPC held under the chairmanship of Mr Chatha. Prior to that Mr Birender Singh took considerable time to clear the file containing the proposal on the reconstituted HPPC.

The HPPC and the Special HPPC, respectively, carry out large purchases for government departments and public sector corporations. During the last regime in Haryana, the Chief Minister himself was the chairman of the two committees.

The present Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, decided to keep away from the purchase business and entrusted the responsibility to Mr Sharma, who was the seniormost minister in the Cabinet after the Chief Minister and the Deputy Chief Minister.

Traditionally, the Finance Minister has been a member of the two standing purchase committees. In 1991, when the high- powered committee made its beginning, the Finance Minister was its deputy chairman while the Chief Minister was the chairman.

Since there is no legislation regarding the standing purchase committees and these come into being through an executive order, reconstituting the committees will not entail any legislative amendment. The Principal Secretary, Finance Department, remains a member of both committees and he can monitor the purchases from his department’s perspective.

It is felt by some government observers that ideally the Industries Minister should be the chairman of the two committees since the Supplies and Disposals Directorate, the nodal agency for all government purchases, comes under the Industries Department. The Principal Secretary, Industries Department, notifies the committees. But no Industries Minister has ever headed the committees.

Chandigarh, January 1
A demand for the constitution of a human rights commission in Haryana found an echo at the launch of a new human rights organisation, the Global Human Rights Council(GHRC) here today.

Various speakers, including the Dean, University Instructions(DUI), Panjab University, Dr Veer Singh, said human rights commission was the need of the hour for the state for the redressal of the people's grievances.

"The people of Haryana are constrained to approach the National Human Rights Commission, New Delhi, for the redressal of their grievances which takes considerable time and financial burden on the people, particularly the poor people," Mr Arvind Thakur, chairman, said.

Mr Satish Bhardwaj, GHRC general secretary, alleged that the atrocities, tortures, cruelty on the people and highhandedness of the police was on the rise necessitating the setting up of the commission. The non-political body would strive to build a people's movement against the atrocities on the common man and lower sections of society, Mr Bhardwaj added.

The GHRC was committed to the protection of the human rights, fundamental rights and constitutional rights of the people, particularly underprivileged, its patron, Mr Anil Kaushik, said.

Despite having a progressive Constitution, an alert judiciary and active NGOs, more than 60 per cent people were fighting for justice against atrocities by the investigating and government agencies, the delegates highlighted.

Prominent among those present on the occasion included Mr Amar Singh Chahal, chairman for the Lawyers for Human Rights International, Anil Kaushik, chairperson of the All-India Human Rights Watch and Ms Pushpa Salaria, chairperson of the Human Rights Protection Forum.

Meanwhile, it was highlighted that the organisation with offices at Chandigarh and Shimla would collaborate with other organisations, including international bodies, working for the protection of human rights under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and various acts of the Government of India.

Chandigarh, January 1
A world scale petrochemical hub is being developed by the Haryana Government and the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) at Panipat. This will be set up over an area of 5000 acres, near the Panipat IOC Refinery.

Senior officials informed TNS that an area of 942 acres was already under acquisition for the project, near Baholi village. The project is to be set up through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), to be created jointly by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) and the IOC.

It is learnt that as part of IOC plans for diversification, a mega petrochemical complex based on naphtha as feedstock and comprising Naphtha Cracker/ associated units and downstream polymer/ chemical units is being commissioned at an estimated investment of Rs 11,000 crore. The naphtha cracker along with the polymer units is expected to go on stream during 2008-2009.

Since Polyester Staple Fibre (PSF), Polyester Filament Yarn (PFY) and Partially Oriented Yarn (POY) are generally used as ingredients of manufacturing textiles, mostly on polyester oriented garments, carpets and other domestic usable products, the availability of these would help in the growth of downstream petrochemical industry in the petrochemical hub. PET is typically used as an ingredient for the manufacture of bottle chips, which in-turn are converted to mineral water bottles, bottles for soft drinks and other bottles for storage of food products etc.

Even polymer products like LLDPE, HDPE and PP can be converted by end-processors to the various consumable items like packaging films, shopping bags, heavy duty sacks, lamination, canal lining and other agricultural uses, bottles and containers, wires and cables, items like overhead tanks, heavy duty crates, containers, bins, storage bins, woven sacks, fibrillated yarn, medical and hospital use products, blow moulded bottles, moulded industrial products, staple fibre, automotive industry (bumpers, inside furnishing of automobiles). These industries too can come up in the petrochemical hub.

Mr Rajiv Arora, Managing Director of the HSIIDC, informed TNS that the potential investment in the downstream industries could be around of Rs15,000 crores. “This is apart from the investment being made by IOCL for mega petrochemical complex. Huge manpower ranging from 10,000 to 20,000 will be required during the construction activities, which may span over a decade or so. In addition, such magnitude of investment in downstream industries will also open up major opportunities for development in infrastructure and peripheral facilities in the state, leading to development of major vendors for supply and contracts. It is estimated that infrastructure development worth around Rs 2000 crores can be affected," he said.

He added that with an investment of around Rs15,000 crore in downstream petrochemical and end-products, industries are likely to experience an annual turnover of around Rs12,500 crore leading to increase in tax revenue of the state.

The state government also proposes to give major incentives for setting up units at the proposed petrochemicals hub like Interest-free loan quantified at 50 per cent of the tax paid on the sale of goods produced by industrial units under the Haryana Value-Added Tax (VAT) for seven years from the start of the commercial production; exemption from Local Area Development Tax and exemption from electricity duty.

Chandigarh, January 1
The Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) in Haryana are in for a facelift with the state government announcing that it will spend Rs 10 crore on the repair and maintenance of buildings.

A special drive will shortly be launched to identify and prioritise the sequence in which the repair work will be carried out.

According to the Haryana Industries Minister, Mr Lachhman Das Arora, the drive has been planned with the help of the state Public Works (Building and Roads) Department.

He said the ITIs located at Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Karnal, Ambala city, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Narwana, Sirsa, Hisar and Rewari would be upgraded as centres of excellence during the current financial year.

He also said that Rs 14.60 crore was spent last year for providing modern equipment and machinery to ITI students.

The minister said a number of new trades were being started at these ITIs, including production and manufacturing, leather goods and footwear, instrumentation, automobiles and refrigeration and air-conditioning. 

Ambala, January 1
“We need to create greater awareness among common people against female foeticide so that the sex imbalance in the society can be corrected,” D.S. Jaspal observed here on Sunday.

Dr Dalbir Singh Jaspal, state patron, Indian Medical Association — Haryana, was honoured with ‘Community Service Award’ at the All India national conference of the Indian Medical Association held at Patna earlier this week.

Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, Dr D.S. Jaspal said awareness generation would not only ensure that female foeticide did not take place, it would also lead towards the development of a balanced society in which women are at par with men. “Sex determination tests must be brought to a halt so that it does not lead to female infanticide,” he stated.

Dr Jaspal said award had been conferred upon him for creating awareness against sex determination and female foeticide as well as for HIV/AIDS awareness programmes. Dr Jaspal was awarded the Dr C.L. Jhaveri National Family Planning award in 2001, Dr C.S. Thakur Memorial National Award in 2004 and Dr M.G. Bhinde Memorial Award last year.

He said the key health issues of global concern include HIV/AIDS and female foeticide. “Health organisations alone cannot fight this problem and the common men must extend a hand towards solving these issues.”

Kurukshetra, January 1
The Congress President, Mrs Sonia Gandhi, is responsible for not providing the Satluj- Yamuna Link (SYL) canal’s water to the state. The Punjab Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh, cannot dare to get the water agreement between Haryana and Punjab cancelled without her permission.

Alleging this at a press conference held here today, the INLD state president and former Haryana Transport Minister, Mr Ashok Arora, said at present no SYL-related case was pending in any court and the Supreme Court had already given its verdict regarding SYL canal water in favour of the state but the Congress does not intend to provide its water to Haryana.

He said the Central Water Commission had already specified that to bring SYL canal water to Haryana, the Punjab would have to get permission from the Bhakhra-Beas Management Board.

In reply to a question, Mr Arora said to uproot the Congress from Punjab, the INLD would support the SAD(B) and the BJP candidates during the ensuing Punjab Vidhan Sabha Assembly elections.

He informed that the INLD had decided to organise demonstrations at district level in the state from January 9 to 17 in protest against SEZ, deteriorating law and order, sealing and dearness allowances. 

Bhiwani, January 1
Former Minister Bir Singh died here last night following a brief illness. He was 80. His last rites were performed today.

Haryana Chief Parliamentary Secretary Dharmbir Singh, MLA Shiv Shankar Bhardwaj, Congress leaders Dr M.L. Sharma, Sohan Lal Makkad, HPCC general secretary Sandip Singh, SDM Y.C. Bhardwaj on behalf of the district administration, INLD leader Ashok Dhankmahoo, BJP district president Rishi Prakash Sharma, Narender Sharma, Dr J.B.Gupta, Dr Hemant, Dr Ramesh Dhankar were present among others.

Thakur Bir Singh started his political life in 1977. During the Emergency he was among others who were put behind the bars under MISA. He became MLA from Bhiwani in 1977 and remained Cooperative Minister during the Devi Lal government. Later, he was appointed chairman of the Board of School Education, Haryana. Besides, political leader a being he was a leading lawyer and member of the Bar Association, Bhiwani.

Yamunanagar, January 1
A Jagadhri resident has taken up the “responsibility” of cleaning Ved Vayas Sarovar in Bilaspur block here. The bed of the sarovar spread over several acres has become a grazing ground for stray cattle and pigs.

As per mythology, Maharshi Ved Vayas had composed epic the Ramayana on the banks of the sarovar in Satyug. Last year the district administration started kar seva for cleaning the sarovar but it was not filled with water.

The resident, who wished not to be identified said he would bear all the cost of cleaning and try to involve villagers in the cleaning. A decade ago, the Shivalik Vikas Board (a government organisation) sanctioned Rs 14 lakh for the upkeep of the sarovar. But because of apathy of the district administration only Rs 1 lakh was released and the remaining amount lapsed.

The village panchayat too does not have grants for the sarovar, said Mr Mukesh Garg, sarpanch of Bilaspur village. A committee was formed for the upkeep of the sarovar but it too has no funds. The Deputy Commissioner was not available for comments. 

Ambala, January 1
The ambitious project to shift out dairies from Ambala Cantt seems to be facing an unforeseen hurdle.

The shifting out of dairies is proving to be an uphill task since any tract of land earmarked for the dairies’ site is ultimately being found to be ‘unsuitable’ for one reason or the other. The dairies are proposed to be shifted out of Ambala Cantt to provide improved sanitation conditions in the area.

In the latest instance, land is now going to be acquired in Bada village for shifting out the dairies. The move to acquire land in Bada village has been necessitated by the fact that the piece of land earlier earmarked in Ugada Bada village is required for residential purposes.

The Executive Officer, Municipal Council, Ambala Sadar, Mr K.K. Jain, said 11.5 acres was now going to be acquired in Bada village. “The fresh piece of land is located adjoining the area which had earlier been earmarked for shifting out of the dairies,” he said.

He said the process for acquiring the land would start soon and a notification in this regard was going to be issued in the next couple of days. “This tract of land has private ownership while the earlier land was panchayati land,” he said.

Interestingly, two years back the dairies were to be shifted out to a land located in Kardhan village. During that time the INLD was in power and the then Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, had even laid the foundation stone for the dairies with much fanfare.

However, the effort came to a nought. The land meant for dairies in Kardhan village was now being used for cultivation purposes and the project was shifted to Ugada Bada village where the latest hurdle had forced the Municipal Council to look for alternative land in Bada village.

That is not all. The dairy owners had strongly protested the move to shift them towards Ugada Bada village as the road to the village passes through the Cantonment area. Due to the stringent security measures, the dairy owners had expressed their apprehension of facing problems while traversing through the area.

It was only on the insistence of the dairy owners that the administration was forced to look for other sites. A site at Sarsehri was proposed. The benefit of the area was that it was located closer to the Jagadhri road and they did not have to face any hindrance. But that too did not materialise, as there was a dispute over panchayati land. Ultimately, Kardhan village was selected for the site.

The dairy owners had made it clear that they were not keen to move far from the Ambala cantonment area. They stated that it would be difficult if they had to travel long distances to reach homes and dairy shops in the Sadar area.

Led by Mr Hira Lal Yadav, the dairy owners had demanded that they should be allocated a suitable site where all facilities were provided. They seem to be back to square one, as they now have to shift to Bada village, which they had initially rejected.

Bhiwani, January 1
More than 3000 BSNL telephones went dead following disconnection of phone lines due to theft of cables from several points in the city five days back. The department has lodged an FIR but the culprits have yet to be nabbed.

It took the thieves about two to three hours to commit the theft on the main Circular Road, where the police claims that it carries out regular patrolling during night hours, but, surprisingly, the police PCR could not catch the culprits.

BSNL authorities have also failed to restore phone services so far. Higher telecom authorities, reportedly, sent the required cables and asked the local authorities to restore phone services at the earliest. Till Saturday last, connections to about 100 subscribers were restored but due to water in the underground cable, they got disconnected the very next day.

The Sub Divisional Officer (phones) Rajpal claimed today that the services would be restored within the next two days.

Hisar, January 1
The police has arrested two persons for kidnapping Ram Kishan of Prabhuwala village in the district. The Uklana police registered a case on the complaint of Ram Kishan’s brother Satbir. The kidnapped person has been rescued and some property dispute is said to be behind the episode.

According to police sources, some relatives of Ram Kishan had got him kidnapped with the help of Dharmender and Shamsher of Jind, both of whom have been arrested. They were today produced in a local court, which sent them in police custody for three days.

Meanwhile, two persons, Ishtak and Ismail, who were arrested in connection with a theft of telephone cable from Rajgarh Road here, have also been remanded in police custody for two days. They were arrested by the CIA wing of the district police.

The police has arrested five persons on charge of liquor smuggling and seized 54 bottles of country-made liquor from their possession. The arrested persons include Rohtash Kumar, Satnam Singh Arora, Sunny Kumar, Subhash and Prem Singh. Two other persons, Mohan Lal and Balraj have been arrested on charge of keeping pistols illegally. Two pistols have also been seized from their possession. Mukesh of Vikas Nagar locality in Hansi township has been arrested on charge of stealing a mobile phone handset.