Chandigarh, January 17
The Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister (PSCM), a key bureaucrat of Haryana, will tone up his watch over government affairs involving the Chief Minister.

A circular, issued by the Haryana Chief Minister’s secretariat, says the PSCM must figure in the picture at the very outset when any department wants to hold a meeting with the Chief Minister.

It asked the administrative secretaries to send agenda notes of all meetings to be held by their departments with the Chief Minister to the PSCM well in advance.

The system followed all these years was that departments presented their agendas in advance to the particular officer in the Chief Minister’s secretariat who had been entrusted with the department. There are five officers attached with the Chief Minister at present, including the PSCM, and each of them has been assigned certain departments to look after.

For instance, the Additional PSCM (APSCM), Mr Chhattar Singh’s charges include supervising the Town and Country Planning and Agriculture Departments. The agenda of the meetings of these two departments as well as other departments assigned to him are sent to him in advance. Mr R. D. Sheokand, APSCM-II, looks after the Urban Development, Public Health and other departments while Mr K .V. Singh, OSD to the Chief Minister, has been entrusted with Social Justice and Empowerment, Health, etc. Mr M. S. Chopra, OSD-II, looks after the Education and Technical Education Departments.

The PSCM, Mr M. L. Tayal, too, has been allocated various important departments, including Power and Environment. The agenda of the meetings of the departments assigned to him arrive at his desk first.

While the PSCM may be attending the meetings taken by the Chief Minister of other departments also, the familiarity of an officer with the issues of a department assigned to him is respected and it is left to him to consult the PSCM on any issue before a meeting is to be held with the Chief Minister.

Addressed to all Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries / Commissioners and Secretaries to the Government of Haryana, the circular (dated January 15) mentions the PSCM’s inevitable presence at all meetings held under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister.

It says that “it has generally been observed that the copies of notices/agenda of the meetings are not supplied to his office. They are, therefore, requested to supply a copy of the notices/agenda of the meetings to be held under the chairmanship of the CM to the office of the PSCM, invariably, in future well in time”.

Chandigarh, January 17
The Haryana Town and Country Planning Department has laid thrust on development plans for small towns to ensure their integrated growth and check the trend of migration of people to big towns.

While approving the development plans for Rewari, Assandh, Safidon, Ratia and Indri, with a projected population and growth by 2021, Mr Hooda laid stress on the provision of wider green belts along the canals passing through these towns to keep the water bodies and the nearby environment clean.

In the development plan of Rewari, a total of 39 sectors were proposed, out of which 21 would be residential, three industrial and the rest kept for other purposes. The development plan for Assandh was approved by reserving 269 acres for industrial development. The state government has already declared this town as industrially backward.

In the case of Indri, which has also been declared as an industrially backward area, 122 acres was provided for industrial development.

The development plans for Safidon and Ratia were also approved. Various aspects of modern towns, including residential, commercial, industrial, transport and communication, public utility and open spaces and green belts, were incorporated in the plans. The new features of these plans will be the provision of wider roads and service lanes along the main highways abutting the town.

The committee approved three new projects of construction of multistoreyed houses for the rehabilitation of slum dwellers in the urban estate of Panchkula at an estimated cost of Rs 45.40 crore. These units would be constructed by HUDA under a scheme known as Ashiana. Each dwelling unit would cost Rs 1.89 lakh. Such low-cost dwelling units would also be constructed in cities like Gurgaon and Faridabad and other towns in a phased manner.

The other projects approved at the meeting included the widening of a 6 km-long stretch of National Highway no.10 from near Kharawar village to near the JLN canal in Rohtak at a cost of Rs 20 crore. Another project costing Rs 30.25 crore for the construction of an railway overbridge on the Rohtak-Panipat railway line along the 60 mt wide outer road under construction was also approved. The project is likely to be completed in 15 months.

Kaithal, January 17
A large number of residents of colonies along the Kaithal-Jind road bypass, which is part of Sector 18, have been living in fear of demolition of their houses by HUDA officials.

The demolition squad comprising the DTP, Executive Magistrate and heavy police force yesterday gave an ultimatum to the residents to vacate their premises to avoid loss of their belongings.

The officials faced some protest by local residents who alleged that the land had been exempted by the government. Hence their houses should not be demolished.

Rajinder Sharma showed a letter written by CA, HUDA, Panchkula, to the Administrator, HUDA, Hisar, in which it has been pointed that the government had taken a decision to exempt the houses constructed along the Kaithal-Jind road bypass as these are out of the green belt . He said these instructions had been issued when the matter was taken up with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the official concerned by Mr Naveen Jindal, MP.

Mr Sharma and a large number of women present on the site said they had constructed their houses by investing their whole savings and if the authorities went on with the demolition drive, they would suffer huge losses and mental and physical agony.

Deputy Commissioner Rajinder Kataria said the administration was not prejudiced against any one and the Town Planning department had been instructed to carry out its drive keeping in view the government policy and departmental instructions .

In the meanwhile, the District Town Planner, accompanied by the Executive Magistrate and heavy police force continued its demolition drive against illegal constructions on the outskirts of the town on Kaithal-Karnal road and Ambala-Jind road for the second consecutive day today. 

Kaithal, January 17
Residents of the local Arjan Nagar locality, including women belonging to the Bairagi community, held a procession at the Pehowa Chowk crossing here today and blocked traffic for about half an hour . They were protesting against an incident in the morning in which a youth of their community was attacked with sharp-edged weapons by a group of anti-social elements. The youth, Mohinder, was seriously injured and had been admitted to the Civil Hospital here .

On getting information about the demonstration, Mr Badri Parshad, DSP, reached the spot and talked to the protestors . He assured them that action would be taken against the guilty, following which the demonstrators withdrew from the spot .

Earlier, the demonstrators said they were feeling insecure as the police had not arrested the miscreants who had attacked and injured one Bhagwan Dass of their community last Saturday . The same persons had today injured Mohinder . They wanted the arrest of all accused . They said they were in possession of about 10 acres land in the vicinity if Shani Mandir in the Patti Afgan area and the assailants wanted to dispossess them from this land which was in their possession for generations . They wanted to frighten them and had started targeting youth of their community . Meanwhile, the SSP, Mr Navdeep Singh Virk, has issued directions to the staff of the city police station to arrest all accused involved in the incidents.

Bhiwani, January 17
With the serving of a recovery notice, local cable operators, who are freely using electricity poles for their cable programmes transmission, are in a mess. The Bhiwani Municipal Council, which sent the recovery notice of Rs 1.60 crore on Tuesday, has asked the union to reply within a week of receiving the notice. Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam also had served such a notice to the cable operators recently.

According to sources, the council has asked the Bhiwani Cable Operator Union to deposit Rs 1.60 crore for using electricity poles for transmission purposes for the past six years . The council has about 15,000 electricity poles in the streets and main roads. It recently conducted a survey to know about the used poles. Taking a serious note, the council fixed Rs 250 as charges per pole per annum. Summing up these charges for the past six years it comes to Rs 1.60 crore.

Cable operators have their network in about 200 villages, besides Bhiwani town, and they have allegedly been using electricity and telephone poles for transmission purposes. The Electricity and Telephone Departments face problems when cable operators climb up the poles without informing the department concerned and cut down or disturb the power or telephone supply.

The sources said the Nigam had taken a serious note of such complaints and served a notice to the cable operators. Municipal Council chairman Nand Lal Chawla has also confirmed the information.

Karnal, January 17
A government-aided orphanage at Phusgarh village near here has enrolled two Bangla-speaking teenage girls without getting their medical examination done as required under the rules. Now there are reports that they were pregnant when brought to the orphanage.

Moreover, owing to the apathy of the district administration and the orphanage authorities, these illiterate girls have now started losing hope of going back to their homes.

As they cannot understand Hindi, district officials and the orphanage authorities are finding it difficult to communicate with them.

Sumitra, a resident of the Jawalbhang area on the West Bengal-Bihar border, was admitted to the orphanage following intervention by the SDM, Assandh. Mugusona, alias Mukesh, was brought here by the panchayat of Hathlana village in Karnal.

Admitting his fault in not getting a pregnancy test conducted on the girls, Father P.R. Nath, founder of the orphanage, said he admitted the two after certain district officials insisted for the same. Later, he said, the maid at the orphanage informed him about their “probable pregnancy”. He, however, admitted that no pregnancy test was conducted on them even thereafter.

Talking to The Tribune through two Karnal-based interpreters, Mugusona, alias Mukesh, said she was three-month pregnant. She said she was “sold” for Rs 8,000 by her father to one Shukla of Sonepat district. She gave birth to a son, Mohit, five months ago. She became pregnant again. Although she came from a Muslim family, she was given a Hindu name, Mukesh, after the “marriage”.

She was sent to the orphanage by the panchayat of Hathlana village on December 28 last. She was allegedly found “roaming around in the village”. She said her “mother-in-law” used to beat her up. One day, she was turned out of the house. She showed injury marks on her left leg. She said she wanted to return to her parents house at Paanpari in West Bengal.

Sumitra is mentally unstable. She was brought to the orphanage on November 3 following orders by the SDM, Assandh. The authorities did not produce any mandatory medical test report in her case too. She suffers fits and is also undergoing psychiatric treatment. The orphanage management suspects she is pregnant, but no test has been conducted to ascertain the status. She ran away from her home following some domestic problem. She said her father had remarried and stopped paying attention to his four daughters and a son.

Ambala, January 17
Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhey Chautala today criticised Bhupinder Singh Hooda government for its failures on various fronts.

Mr Chautala led a demonstration against the government in Ambala City. The demonstration was preceded by a public meeting near Vijay Cinema in which a large number of INLD activists participated.

Mr Chautala along with other INLD leaders later submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Mr R.P. Bharadwaj. The memorandum was addressed to the Governor of Haryana.

He pointed out that SEZ was going to have an adverse impact in rural areas. He said the allocation of 1,400 acres to Reliance for SEZ was leading to a financial loss. He said the market value of the land was running into several thousand crores. The land which had been earmarked was agricultural land and the agricultural produce in the state would be hit.

Mr Chautala said the government had failed to look after the interests of the farmers. He stated that the farmers were not getting pesticides and urea on time and the farmers were forced to pay a high price so that they could take care of their crops. He alleged that some persons were selling essential farm items on black market.

He said after the Congress came to power, there had been complete poor governance in the state. The power production had been adversely affected and whatever power was being produced, it was being sent to Delhi. He said the residents of Haryana were being forced to live in darkness.

Mr Chautala observed that the farmers in Haryana were dependent on ground water and if there was no availability of power, then it would hit the agricultural produce. He said lack of proper management led to the closure of thermal plants and it had in turn affected the farmers as well as the industries. He said the people were now coming onto streets over this matter.

He stated that law and order situation was deteriorating. He said statistics showed that there were frequent criminal incidents like murder, dacoity, theft, rape and ransom. He said the incidents were being reported from all parts of the state.

Chandigarh, January 17
The Haryana Agriculture Department has decided to give 25 per cent subsidy to farmers who would purchase certified cotton seed during the next financial year.

The Director of the department, Mr R.K. Khullar, said here today that the decision was taken as part of the work plan of the cotton crop 2006-07. He said so far the department used to give a subsidy of Rs 20 per kg to the Haryana Seed Development Corporation, Haryana Agriculture University, the National Seed Corporation, IFFCO and the Central Seed Farm for purchasing the HS-6, H-1117, H-1098, HD-123, H-1226, HD-324, CISA-310, HHH-223, HHH-287, AAH-1 certified varieties of cotton seed.

Now the government had decided to give 25 per cent subsidy on the market rate of cotton seed. He said the decision had been taken to speed up the use of certified cotton seed.

He said for getting this benefit the farmers should apply to the Deputy Director(Agriculture) concerned with proof of purchase of the certified cotton seed. Farmers who purchased the certified seeds during kharif 2006 would get a subsidy of Rs 20 per kg and for this they should apply to the Deputy Director concerned before January 30, 2007. 

Sirsa, January 17
The National Scheduled Caste Financial Development Corporation has selected Sirsa district for the implementation of the District Credit Scheme for Scheduled Caste (SC) residents. Loan support of Rs 1 crore will be provided under the scheme, which is aimed at improving the living standard of SC residents.

This was disclosed by the Sirsa Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Umashankar, while addressing a gathering at an awareness camp.

The camp was organised by the National Scheduled Caste Financial Development Corporation in association with the Haryana Scheduled Castes Financial Development Corporation.

The Deputy Commissioner said the national credit scheme was implemented in those districts of the state in which the number of SC families was more than 25 per cent. “The scheme was implemented in Fatehabad district last year, while Sirsa has been chosen this time,” he added.

The DC said there was also a provision to give subsidy under the scheme. The loan would be given at 6 per cent per annum interest, he added.

The Deputy Manager of the national corporation, Mr V.P. Singh, spoke about various schemes being run by the corporation.

He said the corporation had approved schemes worth Rs 41 crore, of which Rs 27 crore had been provided for different districts of Haryana.

Mr Mahendra Singh of the state corporation said the scheme would be launched in Ambala district next year. He said around 3.39 lakh SC families had received loans worth Rs 282 crore through the corporation.

Sonepat, January 17
A drug-addict son, Satpal, allegedly killed his father, Ram Dhari, with an axe in their house in Balraj Colony on Maham Road in Gohana town yesterday following the father’s refusal to pay Rs 5,000 to the accused.

On the complaint of victim’s nephew, Ishwar, the police has registered a case of murder against Satpal and arrested him.

According to the complaint, Ram Dhari, an ex-serviceman and originally a resident of Shamri village, had settled at Gohana to provide better education to his children. However, Satpal, who is the only son of Ram Dhari, became a drug addict.

Though the accused was married and has a three-year-old son, his wife lives at her parents’ house after a quarrel between them.

On Monday night, Satpal demanded Rs 5,000 from his father who, according to the complaint, declined to give money. Annoyed over the father’s refusal, Satpal allegedly attacked his father with an axe, killing him on the spot 
on Tuesday.

After receiving information the police reached on the spot and arrested the accused.

Fatehabad, January 17
Duty Magistrate Ritu Y.K. Bahl today remanded Sham Lal, a junior engineer (JE) with the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN), in judicial custody till January 31 for demanding bribe from a local lawyer for replacing his burnt electricity meter.

The JE was caught red-handed by the district police last evening while accepting the bribe in his office in the city subdivision of the DHBVN.

According to reports, the advocate had gone to the office of the DHBVN yesterday morning for getting his meter replaced of his Sector 3 residence. In absence of the Sub-Divisional Officer, the advocate met the JE for the same. He allegedly demanded Rs 1,000 for getting the work done, to which the advocate expressed helplessness to pay the money on the spot.

The JE got the meter replaced and started demanding money by calling on the mobile phone of the advocate.

The advocate brought the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner.

A team was constituted and as soon as the complainant handed over the bribe money to the accused at his Bhattu Road office, a person accompanying him signalled the waiting police party, which arrested him.