Chandigarh, May 8
Haryana cities and towns will now become free from stray cattle, thereby improving traffic conditions and reducing cases of road accidents, dog bites and infectious disease. The presence of stray cattle on the roads will invoke a heavy fine and penalty for the owner under the Haryana Municipal (Registration and Proper Control of Stray Animals) bylaw which has been notified.

As per the amended by-law, the owner of every animal that enters the municipal limits will have to get the animal registered within one week, failing which a heavy fine will be invoked. Before registration, the owner will have to furnish a certificate procured from a veterinarian that the animal is free of disease. Each animal will then be given a token or branding to identify the animal and its owner.

To be renewed annually, the amended bylaw provides for heavy penalty if the registration is not renewed annually. Every Municipal Committee has been directed to construct a large cattle compound where the stray cattle will be brought and kept after being impounded. Any animal found on the roads without a branding or token will be taken to be stray and will be removed.

These bylaws will apply to animals that are brought to the MC area even for the purpose of display or competition. This means that all dog shows and circus animals will have to be registered in the host MCs.

The owners of animals have been cautioned against bringing their animals on the road without a muzzle and secure chain.

At the same time the amended bylaw has come down heavily on the owners of the animals also. If the owner of an animal is found to be in the wrong under the Prevention of Cruelty Act, he may be debarred from keeping an animal in future, permanently or for a specific period of time.

The law clearly provides for seizing of any animal found on the highways or public places. The owner will then have to pay a fine and seek the release within one week, filing which the committee will be at liberty to auction the animal.

The revenue collected by way of registration and renewal or penalty will be used to maintain the cattle ponds, for payment of compensation to victims of stray animals, payment of premium for third party insurance of registered animals and for the cost of identification and veterinary health care of stray animals.

The Municipal Committees have been directed to expend help to non-government organisations that are interested in setting up cattle ponds for old and infirm animals. The new legislations strictly prohibit and ban the transport of sick, old and infirm animals into the municipal limits.

The new bylaw has repealed the earlier Haryana Municipal Ownerless and Stray Cattle bylaws, 1976. This legislation his fixed April 1 as the last date for registration of the animal each year. Owners bringing in new animals into the committee limits will be given one week for getting them registered.

Chandigarh, May 8
Rare details of the First War of Independence are about to be made public. Buried in the archives , they have been dug out to bring forth sequences that played a pivotal role in shaping the War.

The effort made by the Haryana Archives Department is unique as it highlights the hitherto unknown events that marked the event. By way of a special exhibition, to open at Sinchai Bhavan, Sector 5, Panchkula on May 10 to commemorate 150 years of the War, the department will salute patriots who made the War special and secular.

Much of the material to be displayed relates to events that transpired in and around Delhi and Punjab areas - now in Haryana. It proves the occurrence of the War through carefully-chosen exhibits.

To begin with, it has a special exhibit pertaining to the Nawab of Ferozepur Shams-ud-din Khan whose contribution to the War is unknown but crucial. In 1836, he was hanged for the murder of William Fraser, the then Commissioner of Delhi. Taken from Gurgaon District Gazetteer of 1883, the information shows how Khan’s hanging set the tone for the War. Khan had murdered the commissioner for the latter’s undue interference in his family disputes.

Another exhibit pertains to the statement of fires at Ambala. It is a rare letter dated May 4, 1857 from Capt EWE Howard, cantonment joint magistrate, Ambala, to G.C Barnes, commissioner and superintendent, Cis-Sutlej states, reporting incidents of fire in Ambala due to the use of new cartridges at the Musketry deport at Ambala.

A proof of May 10 being the date of start of the War comes from a telegram dated May 10, 1857, from the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, to Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner, Punjab, reporting about the state of the 60th and 5th regiments, who took up the arms on the Parade Ground on the morning of May 10, 1857.

Another exhibit is dated May 11 - a telegraphic message from HW Barnard, Major- General, Delhi office, to Ambala office. This is about the killing of Europeans in 1857. Arranged chronologically, the exhibits include a letter dated June 5, 1857 from the officiating secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Punjab, to the secretary, Government of India, Foreign Department, confirming the shooting down of Wedderburn, Hisar's collector in 1857.

Another special exhibit is a letter taken from Delhi Division, General Department records, 1857, proving the murder of Clifford, a civil servant at Sohna.

The exhibition will also feature details of treasures found in Jhajjar fort on October 31, 1857, and a memorandum of intelligence dated November 24, 1857, containing information regarding the fight between Mewaties and the British at Roopraka.

A letter dated February 1, 1858, from the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, to Brig C.B, Steel, commanding officer, at Ambala is also interesting. It issues orders that natives should salute all Europeans in the Ambala cantonment.

Rohtak, May 8
A division-level meeting to review the IT-related projects of five districts was organised under the chairmanship of Rohtak divisional commissioner N.C.Wadhwa here today.

The director and special secretary, Haryana Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Anurag Rastogi, besides the state informatics officer, NIC, Haryana, the DCs of Rohtak, Sonipat, Panipat and Jhajjar and district revenue officer of Karnal attended the meeting.The commissioner said the government planned to set up 267 rural common service centres (CSCs), covering all 1,369 villages of the Rohtak division. In addition, there would be 12 CSCs at district headquarters and 13 CSCs in urban areas of the division.

Explaining the concept of the CSCs, Wadhwa said these, like information kiosks, being established at the village level. These centres were being developed on the pattern of e-Disha centres. “At the CSCs, the villagers will be able to access any information pertaining to their land and revenue records, BPL surveys, voter lists and other such things for which they have to go to the district headquarters,” the commissioner maintained.

He further stated that certified printouts of land records and other documents required by the villagers would also be made available at the centres.

The government has signed the master service agreement with the consortium of Comat Technologies and Hughes Communications. The roll-out of all 292 CSCs has to be completed within one year from the date of signing of the master service agreement, which was April 17, 2007.

Bhiwani, May 8
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) plans to strengthen power transmission and distribution system in this district at a cost of Rs 125 crore.

The nigam will construct 17 new substations for various levels and augment capacity of 12 existing substations. The new substations include a 220 KV substation at Isharwal and a 132 KV substation at Haluwas to be constructed by the Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam. The DHBVN would construct 15 substations of 33KV capacity at Siswala, Budhera, Mandola, Pichopa, Pataudi, Kakroli, Chhapar, Singhani, Kari-Dharni, Baralu, Alampur, Bapora, Hasan, Kheri Batar and Chahar-Kalan.

According to senior nigam engineers, it is planned to rehabilitate 61 overloaded and lengthier feeders by dividing each feeder into two or three feeders of proper load and length. To ensure regular and uninterrupted power supply during fixed hours to the agriculture sector and the domestic sector in rural areas of the district, domestic and agriculture load of 61 feeders of 11KV level would be segregated at a cost of Rs 34 crore. The work is likely to be completed by the end of this year.

The DHBVN plans to install 3000 new distribution transformers in the district and augment capacity of 400 existing transformers. During the past two years, it has added 2229 distribution transformers to the network. It plans to add 16 km of power distribution lines. All villages in the district will be provided high voltage distribution system (HVDS) or low voltage distribution system (LVDS) so as to provide uninterrupted supply at better voltage level.

During the past two years, the DHBVN set up four 33 KV substations at Chang, Khanak, Nandha, and Serla villages and augmented capacity of 10 existing substations of different capacities, boosting transmission system capacity by 77 MVA. 

Ambala, May 8
The Haryana government is committed to curb the menace of foeticide for improving the declining sex ratio in Ambala district, which is 780:1000 at present, under the programme National Rural Health Mission. This was stated here today by civil surgeon V.K. Sharma.

He said a special mobile team of three doctors had been constituted under the guidance of director health services Dr Neelkanth Sharma. The team would be equipped with latest medical equipments along with a dental doctor, medical officer, an ayurvedic specialist. The team would hold camps for free medical check-up as well.

Dr Sharma said it was resolved that a team of senior medical officers, who had already been assigned the duty to keep a check on ultrasound centres falling under their respective areas, would conduct raids regularly to put a tab on sex determination tests.

Ambala, May 8
The Federation of Welfare Societies today demanded the rectification of the faulty drainage system in the Mahesh Nagar area.

The federation pointed out that flooding took place in the area during excessive rainfall. It said 10 large and 78 small drains terminate in a single drain which caused flooding on the roads. The issue had been pending since 1991, it added.

Members of the federation said time and again they had made representation to the authorities concerned but to no avail even though assurances were given about this matter.

Yamunanagar, May 8
Acting president of the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) Sukhbir Badal will address a rally at the Kapalmochan gurdwara in Bilaspur here tomorrow to protest the proposal to set up separate gurdwara prabandhak committee for Haryana. SAD has alleged that the Congress government in the state was trying to divide the Sikh community.

On the other hand, activists of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) (ad hoc) will also hold a march in Yamunanagar to protest the arrival of Sukhbir Badal. The HSGPC is striving for separate prabandhak committee for Haryana Sikhs.

SGPC member Baldev Kyampuri said the Congress government was trying to divide the Sikh community. He said there was no need of the separate panel for Haryana as the SGPC was the supreme body of Sikhs. Members of

the SGPC were engaged in public interaction to make the rally a success.

HSGPC district president Karmvir Singh Sasoli said HSGPC members would show black flags and burn effigy of Badal and SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar.