Chandigarh, May 9
Power consumers in Haryana have been spared from additional financial burden after the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) acting upon the recommendation of the State government decided against raising the power tariff for all segments of consumers. But at the same time the commission came down heavily on different power suppliers in the State asking them to improve quality of service.

Talking to The Tribune, Chairman HERC, Bhaskar Chatterjee, said “the commission has finalised its annual revenue report for the year 2007-2008. The commission has decided not to raise power tariff during this period. The observations of the commission in the report do not affect the consumer directly, so they need not worry on account of higher power bills”.

In five different voluminous orders, three pertaining to annual revenue reports of power distributors and two to tariffs, the commission has ruled out any alteration or modifications. But at the same time the commission has made observations to bring in transparency and streamline the functioning of the power structure in the state.

The HVPNL had asked the commission to raise power tariff to make up for the uncovered revenue gap amounting to Rs 3116.15 million. But the commission in a detailed 51-page order decided again any power tariff hike.

In its directive to Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL), the commission asked it to make an earnest effort to implement the recommendations of the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and monitor its impact on overall efficiency of various units so as to bring them at norm with the national norms. This coupled with regular energy audits will make the corporation economically more viable.

Taking a serious view of the transit loss of coal, the commission directed the HPGCL to take adequate steps to bring down the transit losses of coal to acceptable limits. The commission also directed the corporation to appoint a coal agent on Punjab pattern with appropriate incentives and penalty to reduce transit loss of coal to the national non-pithead benchmark of 0.8 percent from the existing level of 3.5 to 4 per cent, which is an avoidable burden on electricity consumers of Haryana.

Various power distribution bodies have assured the commission that they are gearing up to bridge the gap between demand and availability of electricity in the state. The peak demand in Haryana is expected to rise to 6,989 MW by 2009-10 and 8,303 MW by 2011-12 from the present 4,951 MW assuming a growth rate of 9 per cent. However, at 14 per cent growth rate, the demand is estimated at 8,362 MW in 2009-10 and 10,867 MW by 2011-12.

Chandigarh, May 9
The controversy over the auction of 20 acre land in Hisar to the Jindals reached the precincts of the Raj Bhawan today. An INLD delegation led by its secretary-general Ajay Chautala submitted a memorandum to Governor A.R. Kidwai, demanding the cancellation of the auction and an inquiry into the circumstances under which it was held.

Later briefing newsmen, Chautala and former finance minister Sampat Singh appreciated Kidwai for his patient hearing and responsive attitude. They said Kidwai had promised to look into the matter and get it probed.

Chautala said land worth about Rs 500 crore was given for about Rs 4 crore in an auction in which only four trusts owned by the family of Navin Jindal, Congress MP from Kurukshetra, and Savitri Jindal, minister of state for urban development, participated. He said the land was transferred by the livestock farm to the State Agriculture Marketing Board for setting up vegetable, fodder, egg and fish markets. However, the board declared 20 acres as surplus after first declining the request of the Jindals to allot it them.

He said since a minister and a ruling party MLA were involved, it could be safely said it was a case of “the government grabbing the government land”.

It may be recalled that an auction of land at Gurgaon held during the INLD regime was cancelled after the Congress had raised a hue and cry about three years ago and submitted a similar memorandum to Kidwai.

Yamunanagar, May 9
Development in the state is limited to the Rohtak Lok Sabha constituency and Bhoopinder Singh Hooda seems to be the Chief Minister of Rohtak alone.

Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) secretary Satpal Kaushik alleged this in a letter which he shot off to the UPA chairperson and president of the Congress, requesting her to order an inquiry into the matter.

Kaushik urged Gandhi to intervene and end injustice and discrimination in the state.

The UPA chairperson was urged why the revenue of the state was being spent for development of Rohtak alone, which had caused feeling of despair and frustration in the rest of the state.

In the three-page letter (copy with The Tribune), Kaushik said agencies like PWD, panchayati raj, marketing board, HRDF, public health and departments of health, education and irrigation were spending 85 per cent budget on Rohtak. In an effort to develop Rohtak, the rest of the cities were being ignored, rued Kaushik.

He wrote that Hooda announced the opening of four institutions of higher education at Rohtak alone. A 50-bed hospital was being opened in a small village of Rohtak district while the condition of government hospitals in rest of the state was deplorable. While there was shortage of drinking water in rest of the state, government invested crores of rupees for setting up drainage system in Rohtak.

Kaushik pointed to the UPA chairperson that five overbridges and new roads were being constructed in Rohtak while the roads in the remaining part of the state were “extremely bad”.

He also alleged that two OSDs (one at Chandigarh and the other at Rohtak) had been appointed to develop the Rohtak constituency alone. He alleged that Rs 2,000 had been spent during the past two years to develop only Rohtak.

He also pointed that recently the government announced creation of 100 model villages in the state under panchayati raj scheme at a cost of Rs 100 crore but 70 per cent of the villages selected for the project fell in Rohtak.

Kaushik has urged Gandhi to initiate necessary steps to improve the deterorating state of affairs.

Yamunanagar, May 9
Thousands of members of the Sikh community, including women, reached the Kapal Mochan gurdwara in Bilaspur here to protest against the proposal of setting up of Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) today.

The rally jointly organised by the SGPC and SAD was to be addressed by Sukhbir Singh Badal but he could not reach the venue. The rally was addressed by SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, who warned the Congress government against its ‘'efforts to divide’' the Sikh community.

Later, while talking to mediapersons, Makkar said a world Sikh conference would be soon held at Kurukshetra against the proposal to set up separate committee for Haryana Sikhs. He also said a Guru Nanak university would be opened in Pakistan.

Makkar warned the Congress against interference into the religious matter of Sikhs and claimed that Haryana Sikhs have faith in the SGPC and they did not want separate panel for Haryana.

He said only handful of Sikhs were playing into the hands of the Congress and demanding separate panel for the state. He also announced the setting up of a sangeet academy and gurmat education center at Kapal Mochan. General secretary of SGPC Balwinder Singh Bhunder too warned the Congress to stay away from the religious affairs.

Senior vice-president of the SGPC Raghunath Sing Virk said that SGPC was the supreme body of Sikhs and represented the Sikhs all over the world. SGPC member Baldev Singh Kayampuri and Joginder Singh too addressed the gathering.

On the other hand, scores of members, who are in favour of separate panel and associated with Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prbandhak Committee (adhoc) (HSGPC), also held a march in support of their demand and burnt effigy of SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar and Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal in Yamunanagar. The members holding black flags were protesting against the rally by the SGPC at Kapal Mochan.

Members gathered at Gurdwara Singh Sabha in Model Town and took out a march till Fawara Chowk on railway road. Joga Singh, vice-president of the HSGPC advised Avtar Singh Makkar not “to disturb the peaceful” atmosphere in Haryana. State president of the committee Jagdish Singh Jhinda alleged that the SGPC was interfering in the religious matters of Haryana Sikhs.

Sirsa, May 9
So finally after 43 years, farmers of the district have reasons to smile as they are witnessing their dream turn into a reality, as the much-awaited excavation work of artificial Autu lake, which will provide water to thousands of people for irrigation purposes began at Rania here today. To be constructed at a cost of Rs 63 crore on 920 acres, the lake will have water storage capacity to irrigate 30000 acres agricultural land. Besides it, the lake would be developed as the tourist attraction, which will provide jobs to many in the region.

However, as the work started here the affected farmers of seven villages- Autu Nankpur, Abutgarh, Ghnoor, Chakkiyan, Chak Sahib and Chakjeeva were aggrieved- at the fact that they were not given the compensation for acquiring land. While staging dharna they have sought Chief Minister’s intervention to help them out by providing adequate compensation.

The idea to have lake here came after flood in Ghaggar caused massive destruction in the area in 1962. For the much ambitious project the irrigation department had sought clearance to acquire 920-acre land using the PP Act. But so far the irrigation department has managed to get clearance for 693 acres of Sirsa and Elannabad area after winning cases in the courts. While for the rest of 227 acres, the cases were still pending in the courts of Sirsa and Elannabad, said the officials.

As the work on the lake would complete, the irrigation department will be able to supply 620 cusecs of water to north Ghaggar canal, 706 cusecs to south Ghaggar, 547 cusecs to Shernawali parallel canal, Manglna canal 219 cusecs, Bani Shehdev canal 100 cusecs, Ksabva minor 91 cusecs, Baruwali Ghaggar canal 100 cusecs and 33 cusecs to Ghaggar Sukhchen canal, the officials added.

The lake would be completed in three phases. The project was given green light recently by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while announcing a Rs 63 crore grant for the project on February 25 in the Navyug rally held here. The first phase of the lake would be completed till July 15. So far an amount of Rs 13.50 crore has been released to complete the first phase of the lake, the Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Omashankar, told The Tribune. The work of the second phase will start after the monsoon. The detail investigation would be done to protect the rights of the deserving farmers. The locals too get much work during the excavation of the lake, he added.

Rohtak, May 9
Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here will forge international alliance to improve its academic standards, provide global exposure to the faculty and students and emerge as a centre of academic excellence.

This was stated by MDU VC R.S.Dhankar, who has recently returned from an official visit to Canada and the USA. He said during his visit, preliminary work for signing MoUs with several foreign universities had been done.

“These include two Canadian universities - Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, and Brock University, St Catherine City - and two US universities - Bowie State University (State of Maryland, the USA) and the University of Massachusetts,” he said.

Prof Dhankar said these four universities had agreed in principle to sign MoUs with the MDU for joint academic collaboration. Faculty and students’ exchange, joint executive development programme and joint research would form part of the collaborative linkages with these foreign varsities, he added.

During his visit, the vice-chancellor also visited York University in Canada, and University of Washington, University of California, Los Angeles, and Stanford University in the USA. He exchanged academic notes with the senior functionaries of these elite academic institutions and explored the possibilities for academic and research cooperation.

Prof Dhankar said during his tenure, the MDU had signed MoUs with the University of Central Lancashire, Preston (UK) and leading scientific research organisation Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute (CEERI), Pilani, in November, 2006.

Chandigarh, May 9
Taking war against summer paddy head-on, both Punjab and Haryana have launched special awareness campaigns to check sowing of summer paddy, saathi, by the farmers. Weaning away farmers from this crop will not only improve soil health, but also stem the depletion of ground water table caused by its sowing.

Officials in agriculture departments of the two states informed TNS that they were engaged in creating a people's movement against the cultivation of saathi. Over the past two months, awareness campaigns have been launched in various villages, where farmers are being convinced to pledge against sowing of saathi, and replenishing the soil with nutrients to prepare it for the paddy crop, by planting green manuring crops like dhaincha or summer moong.

While Haryana has successfully managed to reduce the area under summer paddy in the past two years, Punjab claims that they are organising seminars for farmers in all districts, Director, Agriculture, B S Sidhu, informed TNS that they were distributing free seeds of dhaincha, worth Rs 10 lakh to those farmers who were willing to replace saathi with this green manuring crop.

Even as Punjab is still creating awareness, neighbouring Haryana has done exceptionally well in weaning away farmers from summer paddy. Across the districts of Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and parts of Fatehabad and Yamunanagar, the agriculture department has managed to reduce the area under saathi from 16, 500 hectares in 2005 to 1249 hectares last year. Said additional director, Agriculture, B S Duggal, “This year, our effort is to reduce the area under this crop to a negligible level.Farmers are being convinced to pledge against sowing of saathi, by telling them that this crop will harm the mother earth.

Some farmers who had last year resolved not to sow the crops are being used as our brand ambassadors, who are spreading word against saathi. This farmer-to-farmer interaction has led to more and more people deciding against the summer paddy,” he said.

The Haryana Agriculture Department is now distributing free seeds of dhaincha for about 52,000 hectares of area. “Each year, we will be covering at least 50,000 hectares of area under dhaincha crop.

Being leguminous, Dhaincha fixes nitrogen from the air into the soil, and its leaves, being rich in nutrient, if buried in the fields also improve soil health. The summer paddy fetches farmers Rs 10,000 per acre.

Panchkula, May 9
The Haryana State Property Dealers Welfare Association has demanded that the state government should reduce the stamp duty from 6 per cent to 5 per cent on the pattern of the Chandigarh administration, in a letter written to the Chief Minister.

Suresh Aggarwal, president of the association, said the Panchkula administration had imposed 2 per cent cess as municipal cess on stamp duty, which further increased the stamp duty up to 8 per cent, causing huge burden on buyers.

“The buyers have to pay 8 per cent of the collector rate. The association has demanded immediate withdrawal of 2 per cent cess. The Chandigarh administration has not imposed any such cess on stamp duty, though there is municipal corporation in Chandigarh,” he said.

This higher rate compelled hundreds of buyers to devise means to evade stamp duty. The association has already raised this issue before the Panchkula deputy commissioner. The lowering of the stamp duty would bring more revenue to the administration/state as this would encourage buyers.

He further stated that the government of India had been advocating a uniform stamp duty regime that is 5 per cent all over the country for growth in the real estate sector. 

The Panchkula administration has imposed a 2 per cent cess as municipal cess on stamp duty, which further increases the stamp duty up to 8 per cent, causing huge burden on property buyers.

Chandigarh, May 10
The Haryana Government’s ambitious EDUSAT transmission seems to have a knack for running into trouble despite the fact that the Education Department is working against odds to take to every school.

After having worked overtime to get organised for transmission to about 7000 schools, finalising equipment and even getting schools “electrically charged” to receive the transmission, the department is facing a new problem---that of theft of expensive equipment.

The theft of cameras, projectors, handicams, computer monitors and other equipment has been reported from schools of Chhachhrauli (Yamunanagar), Lakhan Majra (Rohtak), Jatwara (Sonepat), Gangwa (Hisar) much to the shock of the department. “The availability of quality education at their doorstep should have made the villagers more involved with the security of the equipment. However, from whatever information we have gathered, we have found that the villagers themselves are involved in the thefts. The village watchman didn’t want additional responsibility and nobody helped matters,” an officer said.

Consequently, while the transportation of equipment has been stalled for the time being, the department has got busy with yet another task of recruiting chowkidars for its safe custody. This has not only pushed back the plan of taking EDUSAT to all primary schools by May 1 but has also brought in additional workload.

Initially, the department proposed the hiring of private security guards for the primary schools which was shot down after which the process of recruiting chowkidars for primary schools was initiated.

“Since senior secondary schools have chowkidars at their disposal, we have completed the process of installing equipment in primary schools located at the same premises. However, the process has been stalled in primary schools till the recruitment is through,” an officer said.

While the department gears up to deal with this new problem to spread the roots of “quality education” all through the state, the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, will formally inaugurate the transmission on May 19 at Khadera village in Hisar.

The EDUSAT transmission was started last year to senior secondary classes and government colleges. The classes were extended after the session to prepare the students for the All-India Engineering Entrance Examination (AIEEE).

This session the plan was to bring “quality education” to the students of primary classes as well and, based on last year’s experience, the department had prepared lessons in English and Hindi in keeping with the demand. While LCD screens were selected for transmission to secondary schools, primary schools would have a 29 inch television for the lessons. Besides, teacher training would also be conducted through EDUSAT. 

Sonepat, May 9
In an unsuccessful attempt to rob a trader near Gohana railway station late last night, two motor cycle-borne armed miscreants fired at and injured him seriously before leaving behind their countrymade pistol.

The trader, Vijay Mittal, was referred to PGIMS, Rohtak, by doctors of the Gohana civil hospital. The police seized the pistol and registered a case.

According to information, Vijay Mittal hired an autorickshaw to reach his residence at Jind road after his return from Delhi. However, as reported by Mittal, the driver diverted the route towards railway station, saying that he might get some passengers for the Jind road.

When Vijay Mittal reached near the residence of former chairman of Gohana municipality Om Prakash Gupta, two miscreants on a motorcycle tried to snatch a briefcase from him. However, when Mittal resisted their attempt, the miscreant fired at his leg. Hearing the sound of fire, a number of people came out from their houses. But they managed to sped away leaving behind the revolver.

Rewari, May 9
With the arrest of a woman, Sushma Yadav (20), and her paramour, Prem Yadav, the police has claimed to have solved the blind murder of a taxi driver, Hans Raj Yadav, a resident of Pahrazwas village near here, whose body was recovered by the Bhiwadi police from Milakpur village near Bhiwadi on April 24.

Both Sushma and Prem were today produced in the court of the chief judicial magistrate Ajay Tewatia, who remanded them in the police custody till May 11.

The police has also seized a jeep (HR 47 T 0106) of taxi driver Hans Raj Yadav as well as the string with which Hans Raj was strangled by the accused.

Their other two accomplices, Raju Rajput of Farukhabad district of Uttar Pradesh and Dharambir of Mangalwa village of the Bansur area of Rajasthan, were still at large.

The SSP told a press conference here today that Sushma, a married daughter of Dharambir Yadav of Kanwali village, 30 km from Rewari, had been living separately from her husband. Meanwhile, Prem, a resident of Siha village near Kanwali, had developed illicit relations with Sushma and the duo was living together at Manesar, near Gurgaon, where they worked in a private company.

Whenever, they went home, they hired the jeep of Hans Raj Yadav, who was a friend of Prem Yadav. Thus Hans Raj too developed intimacy with Sushma.

Recently, when Hans Raj asked Sushma to snap her ties with Prem, she divulged the matter to Prem following which the duo conspired to eliminate Hans Raj. They allegedly hired the services of Raju Rajput and Dharambir to execute the conspiracy. Consequently on April 22, they reportedly hired Hans Raj’s jeep from Jhajjar Chowk here and then went to Milakpur, 25 km from here, where Raju and Dharambir joined them.

However, just before they started for Milakpur, Hans Raj had telephonically informed jeep owner Gulab Singh Yadav that he was going to Milakpur and would be back by night.

Then they all went to Baba Mohan Ram’s kholi (the holyshrine of the saint Baba Mohan Ram which lies on the hilly region of Milakpur ) where Hans Raj was allegedly strangulated and the body was thrown in the hilly area. Thereafter, the miscreants fled with the jeep as well as his belongings.

Consequently, the Rewari police registered a case of murder and robbery and then the investigation of the case was handed over to a high-level team, headed by ASP Ved Prakash Godara and DSP (HQ) Balwan Singjh Rana, who achieved a breakthrough with the arrest of Sushma and Prem yesterday.