Chandigarh, April 13
Haryana has obtained the approval of the union ministry of agro and rural industries for setting up four rural industrial clusters under the national programme on rural industrialisation.

Industries minister Lachhman Dass Arora said the clusters would be set up at Ismailabad in Kurukshetra district, Farukhnagar in Gurgaon district, Odhi in Rewari district and Tallot in Mahendragarh district.

He said a juti manufaturing cluster would be set up at Ismailabad, a jute and cane furniture manufacturing unit at Farukhnagar, a leather footwear manufacturing unit at Odhi and an embroidery frame manufacturing unit at Tallot.

Arora said the clusters would create job opportunities for the rural youth. He said the areas of the clusters had been identified keeping in view the geographical location, concentration of industry and the growth potential.

The state government had sent proposals to the centre for seeking assistance under the scheme on the recommendations of district-level committees headed by the deputy commissioners, he said.

He said the union ministry of commerce and industry had approved two clusters for the upgradation of the physical infrastructure. These clusters were at Panipat for the textile industry and Faridabad for light engineering.

Arora said the state government had also decided to take up the upgradation of five other clusters with the central government.

These were a scientific instrument manufacturing cluster at Ambala, the metal industry at Jagadhri, agricultural implement manufacturing units at Karnal, the pharmaceutical industry at Sonepat and agri chemical and industrial chemical manufacturing units at Bahadurgarh.

The state government was also planning to set up a footwear park at Bahadurgarh for the development of the footwear industry cluster, he added. 

Karnal, April 13
Even as the much-publicised concept of the state government to impart education in the English medium in Government Model Sanskriti Senior Secondary Schools is yet to take off, teachers posted at different schools in the state have started getting their appointments cancelled.

Teachers have strongly objected to political interference in cancelling the transfer orders of those recently posted at the sanskriti schools. They said this trend, if not checked immediately, might jeopardize the ambitious project.

Officials confirmed that several ministers and MLAs are “approaching” the education department for the cancellation of transfer orders of several teachers. Several teachers have reportedly shown unwillingness to join the schools located in villages.

Meanwhile, officials maintained that the scheme of English medium schools had received an overwhelming response in all districts.

The state education department had entrusted the job of recommending the names of teachers capable of teaching in English medium to the DEOs and principals of the sanskriti schools. The “capable” teachers of the same district were to fill posts in the sanskriti schools.

Authorities in several districts had shortlisted the younger lot of teachers having relevant experience in teaching English.

As a number of the senior teachers were matriculates and had later got higher degrees through correspondence, the department favoured those who had attended college.

But investigations revealed that owing to political pressure the department has started cancelling the transfer orders.

Sources in the education department feel disheartened due to the undue political interference in the project.

The Finance Commissioner, Education, R.S Gujral was not available for comments.

A principal, who did not want to be quoted, said if the department agreed to transfer teachers then others would follow suit thus crashing the scheme before it took off.

As all sanskriti schools, except for five districts including Panchkula, Gurgaon, Panipat, Sirsa and Mahendragarh, are located in the rural areas, teachers are not keen to join them.

Sources admit that a number of teachers are also lobbying to get transferred to Panchkula and Gurgaon. Reported assurance by the department of “no-transfer for five years”has also encouraged the teachers to list their priority for urban schools.

Yamunanagar, April 13
A member of the Haryana Pardesh Congress Committee (HPCC) has shot off a letter to the Chief Minister voicing his concern over bad condition of roads in the district and asked for his intervention in improving the roads.

In the letter, Satpal Kaushik has complained that despite being Yamunanagar an industrial hub of the state no government agency was taking interest in developing roads in the district. He alleged that the government was apathetic to the northern part of the state and hence people were suffering.

Kaushik said Yamunanagar-Jagadhri bypass project was in pipeline but the government was yet to give its approval for the same.

According to him, the district was the only district in the state where there was no bypass and hence congestion on roads. He complained that marketing board has not allocated any funds for construction of new roads or repair during the past two years.

Fatehabad, April 13
Following the publication of reports of sale and circulation of pornographic CDs in the district, the police today conducted raids on mobile and CD shops in different parts of the district.

The police confiscated three laptops, a large number of memory chips and compact discs and arrested four persons in this connection.

Some more arrests are expected as the police is still going through the seized material.

Report of sale and circulation of pornographic CDs featuring a college girl from some town of this district had appeared in a vernacular daily today.

Though the police maintained that it had not received any complaint from anyone in this regard so far, raids were conducted in different parts of the district to locate the CD.

SP Saurabh Singh informed mediapersons that the police had found large quantity of pornographic material from a local shop, R.K Stickers, and arrested its owner Rakesh Kumar and his three workers Vipin, Harbhajan and Vinod under Sections 420 and 294 of the IPC and various provisions of the IT and Copyright Acts.

He said porn CDs and memory chips and laptops with porno material had also been seized from some other shops and the police was examining the material.

The SP, however, said the vernacular daily report regarding the sale of porn CDs of a girl from this district was totally unfounded as no such CD had been found anywhere during raids.

Ambala, April 13
Agni-III, intermediate range ballistic missile, which was successfully test-fired yesterday, has a critical component manufactured by a local firm.

Vaiseshika Electron Devices, located at Industrial Estate, Ambala cantt, commissioned the force caliberation system, which is crucial in testing, evaluation and caliberation of load cells in the missile. The load cell is a sensor, which is used to check and evaluate the thrust of the missile at the time of its launch.

Dr Anil Jain, president of the firm, said they had installed and commissioned “a 250-tonne Morehouse universal caliberating machine along with three proving rings of capacities 5 tonne, 50 tonne and 250 tonne.” The Morehouse load cell caliberation system was installed at the static test bed facility of the project at Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh.

“Our engineers had installed and commissioned the complete caliberation machine at the site over a period of one year. The machine can make all measurements with a precision of 99.975 per cent,” he added.

Jain pointed out that the manufacturing and production of the system, along with the accessories, involved multilateral technical collaboration with the Morehouse Instrument Co., York, the United States. The tension tie-bars for the load cells had been indigenously designed and fabricated by Mukand Limited, Mumbai, with the help of Vaiseshika technical consultancy.

Vaiseshika had installed and commissioned the Morehouse load cell caliberation system at the Defence Research and Development Organisation, Hyderabad, Vikram Sarabhai Space Research Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, and High Energy Material Research Laboratory, Pune.

The company has established an ISO 17025:2005 compliant meteorology laboratory at Ambala cantt. It is recognised by the national accreditation board for testing and caliberation laboratories, department of science and technology, Jain added.

Panipat, April 13
Three armed robbers today struck at the Oriental Bank of Commerce branch in Manana village, near here. However, the loss not much as the robbers decamped with just Rs 5,375 after one of them sensed danger and alerted his ‘friends’.

According to sources, the robbers entered the bank premises at about 1 pm and took positions at the cash counter, manager's chamber and the main gate. They asked those present inside not to raise an alarm and started collecting money from the cash counter. However, the robber standing guard at the gate sensed "some danger" and asked his companions to rush out. Soon all three fled from on their motorcycle. — TNS

Rohtak, April 13
A case of fraud has been registered against office-bearers of the All-India Bank Employees' Thrift and Credit Society on the charge of embezzling crores of rupees of depositors.

A complaint in this regard had been lodged at the monthly meeting of the district public relations and grievances committee held here yesterday.

In the complaint, Subhash Sehgal and Gulsahn Juneja had alleged that they had deposited money with the society."However, society president Navneet Dua and Wazir Sindhwani had fled the city after selling off their property," they maintained.

The complainants had requested for the registration of a case against the society office-bearers. The police officials present at the meeting confirmed that the complaint was true. "A case had been registered against the accused under Sections 406, 409, 420 and 506 of the IPC and further investigations are on in this regard," they maintained.

A resident of Sugar Mill Colony, Ajay Hooda, had complained that the level of the road constructed from Bhiwani "chungi" to Jhajjar "chungi" was not appropriate.

Sonepat, April 13
Thousands of residents of Kasanda, Kasandi, Bajana Kalan, Bajana Khurd, Bali Kutubpur and Pugthala villages in the district continue to become victims of chemically polluted water due to the apathetic attitude of the district administration for the past two years.

The uninterrupted flow of the contaminated water in the ponds of these villages through drain No. 4 has been proving harmful for the fauna and flora of the villages. The water in the ponds, according to villagers, was proving a death-trap for the fish.

The water,which is oily and blackish in colour, has reportedly been causing skin diseases even if it is used only for washing hands and feet.People do not take their animals in the ponds and entry to the ponds has been totally banned for the children.

The panchayats of these villages had approached the authorities several times for the redressal of their grievances, but no remedial steps have been taken so far.

A number of residents of Kasanda and Kasandi villages pointed out that ponds were filled with the chemically polluted water and it had started contaminating the sub-soil water also. "Yellowish water is coming out from hand pumps and tubewells in some of the areas," they said.

Executive engineer of the pollution control board R.K. Sharma informed that the polluted water was being released by industrial units on the outskirts of Panipat and a report was sent to the headquarters for necessary action.The zila parishad authorities also sought the report about this water and it was informed that this water was unfit for any consumption.

When contacted, DC D.P.S. Nagal informed that executive engineers of the pollution control board in Sonepat and Panipat had already surveyed the areas and this problem most probably would be solved within 10 to 12 days.

Kaithal, April 13
Two persons were allegedly beaten up by a police party of Sadar police station here on Wednesday night.

They were reportedly kept in the lockup the whole night and later challaned under Section 109 of the IPC. The victims alleged that the police gave them severe beating.

The victims, Vijay Kumar (32), resident of Silla Khera village, and Jora Singh, son of Rai Singh of Sind tehsil, got a medical legal report (MLR) from a hospital this evening, which showed long red swollen parts.

The victims alleged that a police party, headed by ASI Parma Nand, picked them from the tubewell of Vijay in the village and took them to the police station where they were allegedly beaten up.

Chandigarh, April 13
The state government has decided to rename the Haryana Shram Mahila Puraskar as the Haryana Shram Virangana Puraskar.

This was announced here today at a meeting chaired by state labour and employment minister Birender Singh. He said a two-day state-level sports meet for labourers would be organised at Faridabad which would conclude on May Day.

While giving details of the awards to be given to the winners at the sports meet, the minister said the first prize, the Mukhyamantri Shram Ratan Puraskar, would be of Rs 1 lakh; two second prizes under the title of Haryana Shram Bhushan Puraskar would be of Rs 50,000 each; and 20 third prizes under the name of the Haryana Shram Veer Puraskar would be of Rs 20,000 each. Both men and women were eligible to get these awards, he added.

The minister said the government had also enhanced the one-time annual scholarship amount to be given to wards of workers. A student of class IX who secured 50 to 60 per cent marks would get Rs 2,000, 60 to 75 per cent Rs 3,000 and 75 per cent or more Rs 4,000. Students of class X would get Rs 2,000, Rs 3,000 and Rs 4,000, respectively, for similar percentages and class XI and XII students in the same percentage group would get Rs 2,500, Rs 3,500 and Rs 4,500 for similar percentages.

Likewise, the scholarship amounts for college students and those enrolled in medical and engineering courses had also been increased. 

Kurukshetra, April 13
As many as 12 complaints were settled on the spot at a district public relations and grievances redressal monthly committee meeting held under the chairmanship of Randip Singh Surjewala, Haryana health minister, on the premises of Panchayat Bhavan here yesterday.

Surjewala urged the officers to adopt positive attitude while redressing public grievances. He said besides redressing individual complaints they should give priority to the redressal of collective problems related to common people. He asked them to submit their respective departments' monthly progress report before this meeting every month.

While welcoming Surjewala, DC T.K Sharma assured him that the officers would leave no stone unturned for the redressal of the complaints. He also directed the officers to be sensitive in redressing public grievances. — OC