Panipat, January 12
India would become the third largest economic power in the world by touching the growth rate of 10 per cent by the end of the next decade. This was claimed by Union Finance Minister P.Chidambaram here today.

The Finance Minister was speaking at a function organised to dedicate the Panipat Refinery Expansion unit to the nation. The Panipat Refinery of the Indian Oil Corporation has doubled its capacity from 6 million tonnes to 12 million tonnes per annum by spending Rs 4,300 crore.

"The country had been achieving eight per cent growth rate for the past four years and in case this rate of growth was maintained till 2010 and increased to nine per cent and then 10 per cent by year 2020 India would become a major economic force", the Finance Minister said.

Revealing that the country would have to import 75 per cent of its requirement of oil in the near future, Mr Chidambaram called upon the refinery officers to concentrate on cost cutting to compete in the universal market and maintain the balance with imports of oil by exporting petro products.

"Oil is one of the largest resources on which the world economy depends and two thirds of our requirement in it is being imported which is likely to reach upto 75 per cent in the near future", said the Finance Minister adding the "country is emerging as one of the biggest oil refining countries in the world and we could take advantage of exporting petro products.

"A policy would be formulated to grant infrastructure status to gas pipelines as is accorded to roads and railways for rapid growth of piped natural gas supply to the major cities in the country," announced the Finance Minister.

Earlier, while speaking on the occasion Mr Murli Deora, Union Minister for Petroleum and Natural Gas, said the combined capacity of 19 refineries in the country had been raised to 149 million per annum and the country was in a strong position in this regard.

A total of 31 discoveries were made in the country by oil companies, informed the Petroleum Minister adding that in future exploration blocks would be offered to Haryana also.

The major secondary units envisaged in the expansion include Hydrocracking unit, and hydrogen generation units with delayed coking unit, diesel hydro treating unit, sulphur block and other associated auxiliary facilities. For supply of crude oil for the expansion units, the Kandla-Panipat product pipeline has been converted to crude oil service also, informed Mr Deora.

Mr Dinsha Patel, Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas, Dr Arvind Sharma, MP, Karnal, Mr M.S Shrinivasan, petroleum secretary and Chairman of Indian Oil Corporation Mr Sarthak Behuria also spoke on the occasion. 

Panipat, January 12
The Chief Minister of Haryana, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said today that the state government would provide interest-free loans to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) and those willing to invest in the petrochemical hub coming up at Panipat. He said this while dedicating the Panipat Refinery Expansion unit to the nation. The units set up in the hub would be exempted from the local Area Development Tax and payment of electricity duty for five years, he added.

The hub proposed to be jointly set up by the Indian Oil Corporation and the HSIIDC would attract an investment worth Rs 15,000 crore in the downstream industry of refinery and provide employment to 20,000 persons, the Chief Minister claimed.

In addition to this, the state has received investment proposals worth Rs 43,000 crore from both domestic and international sources. Out of this the state has already received Foreign Direct Investment worth Rs 8100 crore so far, he claimed.

While describing the Rehabilitation and Relocation Policy 2006 the Chief Minister said the developers were required to provide built-up houses or residential plots for such villagers whose total or more than 25 per cent land was acquired.

Sirsa, January 12
Negligence on the part of the civil hospital authorities here resulted in the exchange of two dead bodies after a postmortem examination yesterday.

The family of one of the deceased who hailed from Rohtak, was surprised when on reaching home they found that the body that they had brought was that of someone else. They came back here and brought the matter to the notice of the hospital authorities.

According to the police, school-teacher Gopal Shastri hailing from Rohtak, who was posted in a village of this district died of cardiac arrest on Wednesday last. The body of the teacher was brought to the civil hospital for a postmortem examination on the same day.

The postmortem was conducted yesterday and a body wrapped in white cloth was handed over to relatives of the deceased who had come from Rohtak.

The relatives took the body that was handed over to them home, only to discover that they had brought a stranger’s body.

The aggrieved family members came back with the body and handed it over to the hospital. They were, however, relieved when they discovered the body of their relative lying in the hospital and collected it.

The body of the stranger was of a ‘sadhu’ who had died due to cold. It was then handed over to the Municipal Council for cremation. — UNI

Hisar, January 12
As part of the Army's drive to showcase its achievements in various spheres to the people, the DOT Division launched an exhibition titled "Know Your Army" at Mahabir Stadium here today.

The four-day exhibition was inaugurated by Brig S.S. Ahlawat, Station Commander, Hisar Military Station. The Hisar Deputy Commissioner, Ms Deepti Umashankar, also visited the exhibition.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Brig Ahlawat said the exhibition had been organised with a two-fold purpose of getting closer to the people in general and motivating bright youth to join the Army.

The exhibition has on display some of the finest and latest equipment possessed by the Army. A number of visitors, including school and college students, viewed T-72 tanks, Bofors guns, BMP combat vehicles and a mobile medical operation theatre.

An exhibition of photographs depicting the Army's exploits during the wars of 1948, 1962, 1965, 1971 and the Kargil operations.

A section of the photo exhibition has been dedicated to the counter-terrorist operations conducted by the Army in Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East. — TNS

Ambala, January 12
Haryana Governor Dr A.R. Kidwai observed today Urdu originated in India and developed in Haryana and Punjab region.

Dr Kidwai was speaking at a seminar on the services rendered to Urdu literature by noted Urdu poet Daag Dehlvi at Kumari Rukmani Devi Memorial Hall, Ambala Cantt, today. Rotary Club of Ambala along with Haryana Urdu Academy organised the seminar.

He said Urdu was a popular language and backbone of Shaiyiri. He hoped that the language would flourish in the years to come. He noted that most of the Urdu poets belonged to Haryana. He pointed out that the first Urdu dictionary was written in Haryana at Hansi. He said that famous Urdu poet Halli belonged to Panipat.

Dr Kidwai appreciated the efforts of Rotary Club of Ambala for creating cordial relations between different countries since Rotary Club was an international organisation. He released two books on the occasion. The books released were ‘Jamuna Tat’ and ‘Nakushe Daag’.

Haryana Education Minister Phool Chand Mullana said Urdu language was the language of ‘adab’. He said that Daag belonged to Haryana and his real name was Mirza.

Mr Khalique Anjum delivered the keynote addressed and said Urdu poet Daag was a philosopher and he promoted Urdu through usage of simple words. Haryana Urdu Academy secretary K.L. Zakir said Indo-Pak mushaira would be held later this year in Ambala.