Chandigarh, October 20
The BJP-INLD alliance in Haryana has received the first pinprick. The person who has decided to wear this cross is none other than leader of the BJP legislature party in the state Assembly Ram Kumar Gautam.

Gautam has written an open letter to BJP Prime Minister designate L.K. Advani to reconsider the party’s decision to align with the INLD as most of the party workers, party sympathisers and the general public of the state are opposed to this alliance.

Copies of the letter have been sent, among others, to BJP chief Rajnath Singh, organising secretary Ram Lal, former party chief Murlimanohar Joshi, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley, in charge of Haryana BJP Vijay Goel and many members of the BJP Parliamentary Board.

The rebel leader wrote to Advani that a big turnout at the Jind rally of the BJP a few months ago proved that the people of the state wanted the party to be a viable alternative to the Congress.

However, the party’s dismal performance in the three Assembly byelections convinced the high command that it had no support base in Haryana and must align with the INLD in order to win the maximum number of Lok Sabha seats in the state.

In his hard-hitting letter, Gautam attributed the party’s dismal performance in the byelections to deliberate selection of poor candidates by certain unscrupulous party leaders who were in league with former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal. If the party, he said, had fielded suitable candidates, its performance would have been better.

He said the BJP’s expectations to win a majority of the Lok Sabha seats in Haryana would not bear fruits because 90 per cent of the people of the state hate INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, which was evident from the fact that his party could win only nine seats in the last Assembly elections.

Continuing his diatribe against Chautala, Gautam said the INLD leader had insulted several BJP leaders, might it be Dr Mangal Sein or Sushma Swaraj, from time to time. During the 2000 Assembly elections, Chautala supported independent candidates in the constituencies from where the BJP was contesting.

Gautam said on one hand Advani declared that the BJP would not nominate any criminal in the elections, on the other the party was promoting a protector of criminals as the Chief Minister of Haryana, for which the people of the state would never forgive the BJP.

Bhiwani, October 20
The BJP and the INLD today claimed that the alliance would win all 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state.

Addressing a joint press conference at Devi Lal Sadan here with INLD state president Ashok Arora, BJP state president Atam Prakash Manchanda said the NDA would contest the coming Lok Sabha elections under the “dynamic” leadership of Lal Krishan Advani.

He said the people were ready to bid “adieu” to the Congress rule and vote for the NDA government.

He said the state government had not implemented any scheme in the interests of the common man and inflation was rising day by day. The scarcity of power and cooking gas had made life difficult.

BJP leaders Ram Bilas Sharma and Capt Abhimanyu said the alliance was “not of two parties but of two hearts”.

INLD state president Ashok Arora said the party had decided to join the NDA on the demand of the public. It was a pious alliance and the Congress had faced defeat whenever the INLD and the BJP contested elections jointly.

Terming the state government anti-people, Arora said during the INLD rule, Haryana was number one in per capita income in the country but it had slipped to the 18th place because of the “wrong policies” of the Congress government.

Chandigarh, October 20
Farmers in Haryana will continue to suffer losses in case of any vagaries of weather, as banks in Haryana have failed to implement the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme.

Though the state government has notified three crops - bajra, maize and arhar - under the NAIS, only two of the 185 nodal banks have come up to submit proposals for crop insurance to the Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AICI). This, in spite of the fact that it is obligatory for all banks to implement the scheme in notified areas, wherever the crops are grown.

The issue came up for discussion during the state-level bankers committee (SLBC) meeting for Haryana held here today.

When the implementation of NAIS in Haryana came up for discussion during the meeting, it was felt that the banks were not taking any interest in implementing the scheme.

Though advances made to the agriculture sector were Rs 13,444 crore, much less than the set target, banks were unwilling to increase their scale of finance towards this scheme.

Bankers, however, contended that the reason for the poor implementation of the scheme was that major crops grown in Haryana - paddy, basmati and wheat - are not covered under the scheme.

“Moreover, we do not even have the crop-wise record so as to see where these crops are grown, so that bank branches in these areas can be asked to implement the scheme,” said a senior banker from the State Bank of India.

Ashok Yadav, regional manager, AICI, said they had been repeatedly sending reminders to all Regional Rural Banks (RRBs), Cooperative Banks and Scheduled banks, urging them to insure all farmers who have availed seasonal agricultural operations loans (SAOL), as it was mandatory under this national scheme.

“This scheme is also applicable to those farmers who have not availed any loan under SAOL. These farmers can approach the bank branch located nearest to their land, and get the crop insurance done. But lack of initiative by banks has ensured that not many farmers are availing this insurance cover,” he said.

During the meeting, banks were also asked to improve their performance for loan disbursement in the agriculture sector.

The public sector banks, regional rural banks and cooperative banks have failed to achieve their targets - mainly because they were busy in implementing the agriculture debt waiver and debt relief scheme.

The bankers assured the SLBC that credit flow to agriculture sector would improve in the third and fourth quarter of the year.

Chandigarh, October 20
As the price of crude oil is falling in the international market, Indian oil companies are revising the price of bitumen upward every fortnight, putting the contractors engaged in the construction of roads in a spot.

Since bitumen is the major component in road construction, many contractors, who were awarded contracts on the basis of the bitumen prices prevailing a year ago, are facing bankruptcy.

In one year, the prices have more than doubled. A number of the contractors have left the projects half-complete. The public works department has initiated penal action against them, but the contractors say they are helpless.

According to president of the Haryana Hot-Mix Plant Contractors Association K.C. Mittal, the price of 80/100 grade of bitumen on October 1, 2007, was Rs 22,907 per metric tonne, while that of 60/70 grade was Rs 24,712 (ex-Panipat refinery). Now the prices of the two grades are Rs 42,565 and Rs 43,517 per metric tonne (as on October 16, 2008).

Mittal says since the crude oil prices have now come down by almost 50 per cent, the oil companies should have reduced the prices of bitumen. But unfortunately, he says, the companies are still increasing the bitumen prices.

He points out that the crude price was $147 per barrel on July 11 last and the prices of the two grades of bitumen on that day were Rs 33,200 per metric tonne and Rs 34,295 per metric tonne, respectively.

Since then the crude price has fallen to $71 per barrel but the bitumen prices have been increased to Rs 42,565 per tonne and Rs 43,517 per tonne, respectively. He fails to understand the justification of this increase in the bitumen prices.

Mittal says last year the Haryana government had agreed to give price escalation of bitumen to its contractors provided they completed the project within the allotted time. This facility not only ensured the timely completion of the projects but also saved the contractors from financial losses.

However, this facility is not available in the contracts allotted under the Prime Minister Gramin Sadak Yojna (PMGSY) and the projects funded by the union ministry of surface transport as these contracts are governed by the central government’s guidelines. The state authorities say they cannot help the contractors as they have to function within the ambit of the central government’s guidelines.

Projects worth Rs 465 crore have been sanctioned for Haryana under the PMGSY and worth about Rs 80 crore by the ministry of surface transport this year. Because of the spiralling bitumen prices, work on the rural roads has slowed down.

Sources say so far only about Rs 150 crore has been spent on these projects whereas about 75 per cent of the sanctioned amount should have been spent by this time of the year. The contractors say because of the spiralling prices of bitumen, they have to compromise with the quality in order to cut their losses.

The contractors want that the state government should pay them the increased cost of bitumen under the PMGSY also so that the projects could be completed in time.

They say since the roads under this scheme serve the rural areas, the government, which claims to be pro-ruralites and pro-farmers, should divert some funds from the Haryana Rural Development Fund to off set the spiralling cost of bitumen.

Ambala, October 20
Hearing on the bail application of Dr Serj, Manoj and Jagdish, accused in the kidney scam, was adjourned today following the suspension of work in the Ambala courts. Special Judge of the CBI Court, Haryana, A.K. Verma fixed November 6 for the next hearing.

The arguments on framing charges against the nine accused in the kidney scam could not be carried out today. All accused - Dr Amit, Dr Jeevan, Dr K.K. Aggarwal, Dr Serj, Dr Upender, Linda, Jagdish, Manoj and Gyassuddin - were present in the court.

The CBI has already filed a chargesheet against the accused in this case. The arguments on framing charges against the accused is yet to begin. The accused are lodged in Ambala Central Jail for the past six months.

Chandigarh, October 20
The fate of candidates, who had applied for 1,983 posts of physical training instructor (PTI) on the basis of an advertisement issued by the Haryana Staff Selection Commission, will remain in sealed cover - at least for the time being.

Taking up a petition filed by Naresh Kumari and two other candidates declared ineligible by the commission as their results were declared after the last date for submitting the applications, a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed that the result of the interviews carried out for filling the posts of PTI would be kept in a sealed cover.

The Bench of Justice Mehtab Singh Gill and Justice Augustine George Masih also directed the commission, the State of Haryana, the Director-General of Schools and other respondents, to interview the petitioners provisionally.

They were, however, asked to keep the result in a sealed cover and produce it before the court as and when they were directed to do so.

Issuing a notice of motion to the respondents on their petition, the Bench also fixed January 28, 2009, as the next date of hearing in the matter. In their petition, Naresh Kumari and other candidates had sought directions to the respondents to consider them eligible for the post of PTI.

Directions were also sought to the state and others for quashing the action of the respondent authorities, whereby they were declared ineligible on the ground that their result had been declared on September 29, 2006.

Going into the background of the matter, the petitioners had contended that the commission had advertised 1,983 posts of the instructors; and the last date for the submission of the application forms was August 21, 2006.

Appearing before the Bench, the counsel for the petitioners contended that in an attempt to avoid any sort of delay on their part, confidential result was submitted to the commission though the university.

Chandigarh, October 20
Even as mega projects, special economic zones (SEZs), malls and multiplexes have put Haryana areas in the NCR region miles ahead, the rest of the state unfortunately lags behind in basic civic amenities, including health care, education, sewage and garbage disposal.

Haryana can be safely divided into five regions on the basis of development it has recorded ever since the reorganisation of the state.

The towns and cities that fall along the National Highway No. 1, areas that fall in the National Capital Region, towns and cities of past and present chief ministers, besides Panchkula. The rest of the state stands neglected virtually in every possible aspect of development.

Let us talk about infrastructure development. Major projects in hand under the Public-Private Partnership in the state include construction of four/six lane stretch of the Delhi-Haryana border to Rohtak section of the National Highway No. 10. This includes construction of the Bahadurgarh and Rohtak bypasses.

The second major project is four-laning of the Rohtak-Hisar section of the National Highway-10. Six-laning of the Gurgaon-Kotputli-Jaipur section of the National Highway-8 and development of eastern peripheral expressway on the National Highway-2 that links Haryana with UP. None of this major road infrastructure development has anything to do with Haryana that borders Punjab or even Himachal Pradesh.

Bansi Lal, Bhajan Lal, Devi Lal, Om Parkash Chautala and now Bhupinder Singh Hooda are among some of the strongest chief ministers the state has produced during the past 42 years. Naturally, the districts and towns represented by them either in the state legislature or Parliament got special attention.

Rail connectivity of Bhiwani witnessed phenomenal growth when Bansi Lal was the union railway minister. The same cannot be said of some other Haryana towns that have been crying for better rail connectivity.

If one compares the basic civic infrastructure in Bhiwani, Hisar, Sirsa or Rohtak with the rest of the state, it certainly draws a better grade. So poor was drainage in Rohtak that it used to get flooded even after moderate showers.

Similar problems experienced by people in other parts of the state, however, remain unresolved even till now. There are some areas that are chronically flooded prone. Little has been done to rid them of the waterlogging problem.

Come to the health care. Except for the Rohtak PGI and some private sector superspecialty hospitals in Faridabad and Gugaon, facilities of secondary and tertiary medicare in most parts of the state are far from adequate. At times, it is curse to fall sick in areas like Jind, Mahendragarh or Jhajjar.

The successive state governments have failed to persuade private health care giants like Fortis, Apollo and others to set up superspecialty units in areas other than those in the NCR or the Chandigarh peripheral areas.

Coming to the towns and cities along the National Highway No. 1 or the Grand Trunk Road, they have been served well.

Before Gurgaon came up, the state government had initially focused on the development of Faridabad, which not only got special treatment, but also one of two new cricket stadia the state built. Besides, Faridabad also got a new golf course. Panchkula got the other one.

But if one looks at other districts in the state, none have facilities that can be compared with those available in Faridabad, Panchkula or Gurgaon.

(To be concluded)

Karnal, October 20
Taking strong exception to the reported statements of Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal that a sub-committee or a board would be constituted for Haryana gurdwaras, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (ad hoc) has said making such statements even before the formal negotiations have started was unethical and wrong.

The HSGPC, which held a meeting here today under the chairmanship of Jagdeesh Singh Jinda, in a resolution said such “irresponsible” statements were aimed at misguiding Haryana Sikhs.

The resolution further said the action programme to take over the management of gurdwaras in the state was postponed on the request of jathedars and Badal, but Sikhs in the state were prepared to make any sacrifice for their cause.

Briefing mediapersons after the meeting, Jinda said: “The Sikh sangat is not after any post and will neither bow down before anyone nor let down the Haryana Sikhs.” Badal could scare Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by his utterance, which resembled his tone of 1984 statements, but not the Sikhs of Haryana, he added.

The HSGPC had given a 30-day ultimatum to the SGPC for a separate gurdwara committee, but deferred the action plan to forcibly take over the management of gurdwaras in the state on the appeal of jathedars of the Akal Takht and the Punjab Chief Minister.

The HSGPC leaders also agreed to some negotiated settlement on the issue and the tension was diffused.

Today’s meeting of the HSGPC was very significant as it raised suspicion over the intentions of the SGPC and the Punjab Chief Minister and unless efforts were made to iron out the differences, the talks between the SGPC and the HSGPC might not bear fruits, political observers said.

Rohtak, October 20
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) has accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress regime in the state of making a mockery of the education system by allowing free mushrooming of professional educational institutions in Haryana.

Addressing a news conference here yesterday, former state minister and HJC spokesperson Subhash Batra alleged that the Chief Minister was obliging his close acquaintances by allowing them to open professional colleges.

“After dotting the state with BEd colleges, Hooda is now distributing polytechnics among his near and dear ones,” Batra said.

He pointed out that while doing so, the state authorities conveniently forgot what purpose would be served by these colleges unless there were matching employment opportunities.

Terming the recent tie-up between the BJP and the INLD an “unholy alliance”, the former minister said INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala, who used to claim that the UNPA would provide an alternative to the UPA and the NDA, had himself joined the NDA.

Meanwhile, in a statement issued here, another former minister and HJC vice-president Krishan Murti Hooda said after having failed to provide timely relief to pest-hit paddy growers of the state, Hooda should step down as Chief Minister.

He demanded that immediate measures be taken to prevent the standing paddy crop from perishing and bail out the farmers whose crop had been destroyed by the unprecedented pest attack.

Later, the labourers were sent to Panipat by another train. No case had been
registered. — PTI

Chandigarh, October 20
The Haryana police will organise the 49th police commemoration parade 
at the Panchkula Police Lines tomorrow.

Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai will pay homage to the martyrs of the Indian Police on the occasion, said a police spokesman.

He said till August 31, at least 700 Indian police personnel had laid down their lives while fighting lawbreakers in various parts of the country.

Out of these, three martyrs — ASI Narender Singh, head constable Sarjent Singh and constable Umar Mohmmad — were from the Haryana police, who laid down their lives while maintaining law and order in the state.

Jhajjar, October 20
Now, students of distance education, Maharshi Dayanand University, need not go to the university to seek admissions or get results.

The directorate of distance education (DDE) of the university has drawn a comprehensive plan to develop an online system for students.

The online system will be helpful for those students who reside at distant places and are not able to visit the university every time to complete their courses.

The vice-chancellor of MDU has recently approved this plan and the online system will start working from January next.

“After establishing of the online system, students will not only be able to take admission and submit their fees online through internet banking, credit card, ATM and cash coupons, but will also get their study material and roll number slips for examination,” director of DDE Narender Garg said, adding that the detail mark copy (DMC) of every student would be available on the DDE website so that students could use it whenever required.

Sources said the existing system of the DDE was quite arduous, expensive and time consuming. It required involvement of a number of employees. Since the DDE was one of the most important bodies of the university, the administration felt that it must follow those practices, which were not only competitive but also conformed to international standards.

With a view to working on this planning, a committee was constituted under the chairmanship of Prof Surender Kumar, dean, academic affairs, by the vice-chancellor.

After deliberations on various aspects of the plan, the committee recommended that all operations of the DDE must be fully mechanised and computerised by adopting the online system.

It said some specialised and experienced agencies, which rendered such type of services for distance education programmes, should be engaged for the purpose.

Panipat, October 20
The district administration launched a special drive to rid the city of polythene bags and improve cleanliness here today.

The administration has roped in various voluntary, social and business organisations to make the drive a success.

Deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said the aim was to make the city polythene free by the end of December.

The administration had made an appeal to the local residents to stop the use of polythene bags so that the eco-health of the city could be put back on the track.

Speical instructions had been issued to officials of the local civic body to stop the sale and use of polythene bags from today onwards.

These officials had been asked to take action against violators as per the provisions of the Haryana Non-Biodegradable Control Act, if necessary.

Anyone found violating the act could face imprisonment up to one month or be fined up to Rs 5,000.

Kurukshetra, October 20
Under the banner of the Haryana Engineers Association (HEA), a convention of engineers of Haryana drawn from various departments, boards and corporations, was held here last evening.

Prem Singh, chief engineer, marketing board, Haryana, was elected as patron while Chaman Lal, chief engineer, PWD, B&R, Haryana, was declared elected as president.

Addressing the convention, HEA president Chaman Lal exhorted the engineers to work with devotion to contribute to the development of society and the nation.

The convention also focused on the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendations in Haryana in particular reference to the engineers.

The association resolved to submit a memorandum to the government for various demands such as class I status to all assistant engineers, continuation of an extension of time scale to engineers of the remaining departments and implementation of time scale for engineers of some boards and corporations who are deprived of it.

The association also demanded inclusion of engineers in the pay revision committee. About 500 engineers attended the convention.