Chandigarh, October 29
Relations between the Congress and its ally, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), have nosedived in Haryana. The development comes following criticism of president of the NCP Sharad Pawar by senior Haryana Congress leader Shamsher Singh Surjewala.

Surjewala is not just a Haryana MLA;he is also the chairman of the All-India Kisan-Khet Mazdoor Congress, a front organisation of the Congress. His word on the farmers’ plight is taken seriously by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. It was Surjewala who first raised the issue of farmers being driven to suicide by debt in Haryana in the early 2000s, when Sonia visited the state and met the families of farmers who had allegedly committed suicide.

The veteran leader, who started his political career as a Leftist, recently dubbed Pawar, who is also the union agriculture minister, “anti-farmer”. Surjewala had accused the Maratha leader of ignoring the interests of paddy growers, who should have been given Rs 1,000 per quintal as the minimum support price. He also flayed Pawar for not getting a package for the farmers of northern India on the pattern of what he got for the farmers of his home state and certain neighbouring states.

Reacting to Surjewala’s allegations, all-India chairman of the NCP Kisan Congress Ved Pal described these as “contradictory, politically motivated, sponsored and misconceived.” He said before accusing Pawar of being anti-north Indian farmers, Surjewala should have elucidated when he or the Haryana government sent a concrete proposal seeking a package for the debt-ridden farmers of the state to the union government and the union agriculture minister and what follow-up action was taken by him on that proposal. He said Surjewala should have also told the media when he sat in dharna in Delhi to demand an increase in the MSP of paddy like NSP workers did recently.

Ved Pal, who also belongs to Haryana, said it was wrong on the part of Surjewala to blame Pawar for the ban on the export of the PUSA 1121 variety of paddy as well as its status as non-basmati as this decision was taken by the commerce ministry and a committee of ministers. He said this showed Surjewala was not conversant with the procedures adopted by the union government while dealing with national issues.

The NCP leader said Pawar did not require a certificate from anybody, much less from Surjewala, that he was the Messiah of farmers. He alleged that Surjewala’s statement was an attempt of the Haryana Congress to malign the “pro-kisan” image of Pawar. He urged the Prime Minister to intervene and clarify the situation. 

Chandigarh, October 29
The Haryana State Information Commission has issued a notice to superintendent (confidential branch) of the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) for November 25 on a complaint filed by advocate H.C. Arora.

The complainant stated that he had sought action against the information officer and first appellate authority (secretary) of the HSSC for various irregular practices adopted by them.

Arora stated that he had sought information from the information officer of HSSC vide application dated May 30, wherein he had sought names, addresses and qualifications of all members of the HSSC.

Thereafter, he received an envelope containing a covering letter stating that the necessary information was enclosed therewith, but in fact, no information/documents were found in the envelope.

Subsequently, the complainant sent an appeal to the secretary of the HSSC seeking action against the officer as well as for seeking the requisite information. He also, particularly, stated in his appeal that he shall not be able to appear before the appellate authority.

The appellate authority sent a letter to the complainant asking him to appear personally on August 27, but he failed to do so.

Arora, thereupon, filed a complaint in the Haryana State Information Commission giving several other instances wherein the officer of HSSC had resorted to similar irregular and undesirable practices. Arora, therefore, prayed that the information commission take action against the officer and first appellate authority of the HSSC for repeatedly violating the orders, for giving conflicting information to different candidates and for sending empty envelopes for showing delayed receipt of applications under the RTI in their records. He also asked to take note of the harassment to the applicants by the appellate authority by not entertaining their authorised representatives and for not displaying the vital information on their official website.

Chandigarh, October 29
Finally, there’s a panacea for all government hospitals, crying for doctors, of Haryana. Plagued with a high attrition rate among doctors, the health department was forever chasing vacancies until recently.

Its latest doctor-recruitment drive has elicited tremendous response with the department receiving 1,750 applications against 620 posts it advertised in September. A total of 706 specialists have applied for the posts identified after a thorough examination of the availability of specialists within the cadre.

With interviews slated to begin by the first week of November, the department is hoping to have an additional 850 doctors in its fold and meet the shortfall.

“By December, the whole process will be complete and the chronic problem of non-availability of doctors in our system will be addressed to. With recruitment of doctors becoming an ongoing process, we are unlikely to face any crisis in future,” explains principal secretary, health, Anuradha Gupta.

However, the turnaround has not come overnight for the department, which carried out an exhaustive survey of specialists available with it. The gaps were worked out by finalising norms and posts were advertised speciality-wise unlike the previous practice of asking for MBBS doctors for the medical officer cadre without giving a thought to their specialisation.

“The Chief Minister approved the decision to take the recruitment process of doctors out of the hands of the Haryana Subordinate Selection Commission. We were suffering because the process of recruitment by the commission was a very long drawn one and by the time the interviews were held, most of the applicants had picked up jobs elsewhere,” Gupta said.

Besides, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had already committed to improve the salaries of doctors and bring these on par with salaries paid to doctors in Punjab.

A slew of incentives to doctors was also on offer under a new policy of the government wherein rural practice would be considerably rewarded.

The government had decided to pay a special incentive of Rs 5,000 per month to MBBS doctors serving in PHCs and CHCs. In case they serve in Mewat or Morni, they would receive a higher incentive of Rs 10,000. Doctors with diploma/PG qualifications in specialities of medicine, surgery, pediatrics, gynaecology, ortho and anaesthesia would receive a special incentive of Rs 15,000 per month while working in rural CHCs and Rs 25,000 per month if serving in Morni and Mewat.

“Another departure from the earlier practice will be that we will ask them for their station of posting at the time of recruitment so that they are given stations they are comfortable with. For doctors seeking rural postings, we will fix tenures for them so that they know exactly how long they are expected to be at such stations,” she adds.

Chandigarh, October 29
In view of the annual load growth of over 10 per cent in Karnal district, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) have made a comprehensive plan to strengthen the transmission and distribution system to meet the upcoming load requirements.

An official spokesman here today said a new 220 KV substation would be set up at Bastara village, having two transformers of 100 mega volt amperes each, to cater the need of paddy growing area.

The power utilities will construct two new substations at Sita Mai and Nadana villages. It has also been proposed to upgrade the existing 33 KV substations to 132 KV level at Nagla Megha, Bhadson, Staundi and Ramba.

Besides, the UHBVN plans to construct 33 KV substations at Dabarthala, Kaimla, Chochra, Kalram, Shahpur, Gullarpur, Barota, Raipur Jattan and Dadlana.

It has been decided to create the high voltage distribution system and aerial bunched cable-based system in seven residential colonies and 36 villages at a cost of over Rs 5.65 crore. This will minimise the damage to distribution transformers and give a new look to the areas concerned.

Referring to segregation of load on 11 KV feeders supplying power to domestic and tubewell consumers of rural areas under the Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojna, the spokesman said 108 feeders had been identified for the purpose in the first phase.

The work on these feeders was in progress and likely to be completed within next two months. Consumers of as many as 517 villages will be benefited by this scheme.

He said the nigam had targeted to release 670 new tubewell connections to the applicants during the current financial year. A system improvement action plan was being prepared to install new distribution transformers and replace the undersize conductor and cable as per technical requirements. — UNI

Chandigarh, October 29
To augment and modernise the existing fleet and infrastructure, Haryana Roadways has decided to purchase 1,000 new buses by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.

These buses will include Volvo, AC buses, CNG buses, Haryana Gaurav and semi-low floor buses.

While stating this here today, Haryana transport minister Mange Ram Gupta said that during the 11th Five Year Plan, special emphasis was being laid on the introduction of city bus services in cities like Gurgaon and Faridabad as well as at the district headquarters. To strengthen the urban bus services in the NCR and big cities, CNG and semi-low floor buses were being inducted.

Gupta said about 200 CNG buses had already been inducted into the fleet of Haryana Roadways. Apart from this, some modern bus stands and multi-model hubs were proposed to be constructed under public-private partnership at strategic points in the state.

During the current financial year, 40 semi-low floor buses had already been introduced in Gurgaon and Faridabad. Ten Volvo AC buses and 10 AC-CNG low-floor buses had been introduced on the Gurgaon-Delhi route. More CNG, Haryana Gaurav and normal buses were being purchased during the current financial year.

Recently, Haryana Roadways had won the Transport Minster's Trophy as well as a cash award of Rs 3 lakh for the lowest rate of accidents during 2005-06 and 2006-07 among all state road transport undertakings in the country.

Chandigarh, October 29
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would inaugurate five mega projects in Rohtak tomorrow. Besides, he would lay the foundation stones of four projects, an official spokesman said today.

The Chief Minister would inaugurate the Rs 1.50 crore newly constructed community hall building at Adarsh Nagar, Rohtak. Four wedding functions could simultaneously be organised in this community hall. The fare of community hall had been fixed Rs 11,000 only.

The Chief Minister would also inaugurate the Gymkhana Club building, which was constructed by Haryana Urban Development Authority on 6.27 acres in Sector 4, Rohtak.

The Chief Minister would also inaugurate 132 kV substation in Jassia village in Rohtak district, which had been set up at a cost of about Rs 9 crore. He would inaugurate the community health centre in Chiri village in the district and additional block of Canal Rest House, Rohtak.

The Chief Minister would lay the foundation stone of three-storeyed ITI building to be set up on 15 acres in Rohtak. A sum of about Rs 42.75 crore would be spent on the building construction.

Besides, he would lay the foundation stone of Athletics stadium in Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Rohtak. Hooda would also lay the foundation stone of Sanskriti School building in Sanghi village and Regional Recruitment Centre in Rohtak. — UNI

Jhajjar, October 29
While exhorting the people to make their children yoga-conscious to ensure their all round development, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been stressing to set up a yoga university in the state.

A proposed developmental project of establishing a Central Research Institute of Yoga And Naturopathy with about 100-bedded research hospital in Jhajjar district is on the verge of being withdrawn, owing to “apathetic” attitude of the district 
administration.

The district administration failed to provide 10 acres of land free of cost to the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy (CCRYN) even after one and a half years. It is the foremost reason which forced the CCRYN to review the place for yoga research hospital and to shift this project to another state.

Interestingly, the CCRYN officials made several attempts to initiate the work on the project with the help of the district administration during that period, but the council found it hard to get any positive response from the administration.

According to information, the CCRYN, an autonomous body under the Department of AYUSH, Union Ministry of Health, had proposed the Jhajjar administration to establish the Central Research Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy in December 2006.

Working on scientific lines in yoga and naturopathy and to undertake any education, training and research, the CCRYN was to invest about 11 crores for the preparation of infrastructure of the Centre.

But, for the success of this project, the CCRYN required free land of about 10 acres so that the Government of India might accord its financial concurrent by February 2007.

Sources said after getting offer of this proposed development plan, the Jhajjar administration did not pay any heed to go ahead with the project despite repeatedly attempts made by the CCRYN officers, seeking required land for initiating the project.

“Keeping the non-cooperative attitude of the district administration in view, we are going to withdraw our proposal to establish a Central Research Institute of Yoga and Naturopathy in Jhajjar district and are planning to approach other states for it,” director of the CCRYN B.T. Chidananda Murthy said.

The sources added that Om Prakash Kadyan, member of the District Public Relation And Grievances Committee, had also made representation to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker and Congress MLA from  Beri Assembly constituency of Jhajjar district,  Dr Raghubir Singh Kadian, demanding free land of about 10 acres for establishing 100-bedded yoga research centre and hospital here, but  to no avail.

The Jhajjar deputy commissioner Nitin Yadav could not be contacted  for his comments  on the issue despite repeated attempts.

Yamunanagar, October 29
Fire broke out at six different places in the district destroying property worth several lakhs of rupees on Diwali night yesterday.

No loss of life was reported in the incidents. A major fire broke out at a healthcare centre near Bhai Kanhaiya Chowk.

Property worth Rs 2 lakh was said to have been damaged in the fire. The fire is believed to have broken out due to the bursting of crackers nearby. Fire engines took over two hours to control the flames, police sources said. Five minor incidents of fire were also reported in the district.

Hisar, October 29
Media mogul Subhash Chandra Goenka has said Zee Television is planning a 24-hour English news channel.

Goenka, who hails from here, was in town to celebrate Diwali with his father, noted social worker Nand Kishore Goenka.

Talking to The Tribune, he said there was a demand for an English news channel from the Zee group and hopefully the channel would be launched shortly.

He said Zee News had already launched a special news channel for Chhatisgarh called Chhatisgarh Chaubis Ghante. A similar channel for Uttar Pradesh would be launched shortly as part of his group’s expansion plans.

Goenka said his group was also mulling an exclusive channel for Haryana if the feasibility study showed that there was a need for a niche news channel for the state.

The Zee group chairman said when initially Zee News started using Hinglish, there was a lot of opposition to the move. Viewers sent mails objecting to the use of a mixture of Hindi and English languages.

He said this was a deliberate move to tone down opposition to Hindi in southern states. It paid off in a big way and now every news channel was using Hinglish to grab viewer attention in these states.

Talking about cricket, he said too much money to the players did create problems for the game. He was of the view that money must be paid to cricketers but up a certain extent only. Beyond a limit, it could affect the game. It may be recalled that his group organises the Indian Cricket League.

Goenka said Raj Thackeray was trying to take the place of Bal Thackeray in Maharashtra politics. He described Raj’s anti-north Indian campaign as a “political gimmick”.

He said the media was also responsible for flaring up this campaign by giving too much importance to Raj Thackeray's campaign in the initial stages

Sirsa, October 29
The All-India Students Federation (AISF) will gherao Parliament House on November 14 in protest against “commercialisation of education” in the country.

A member of the National Council of the AISF and the convener of the Haryana state unit of the AISF, Roshan Suchan, here today said students from all over the country would participate in the protest.

Suchan alleged that the central government and governments of various states had taken steps towards privatising education in the recent past and big business sharks had taken control of the education business.

“Corporate houses, liquor mafia and all other unscrupulous elements in collusion with political parties in power have opened shops to fleece poor students,” the AISF leader alleged.

He alleged that it was a conspiracy to allow capitalists to swell their coffers at the cost of poor masses. “Some of those foreign universities that have been operating in India have either been banned or are unrecognised in their own countries,” Suchan alleged.

Sonepat, October 29
Concerted efforts are being made by the NDA partners-BJP and the INLD to make the November 1 Sonepat rally a success.

The rally will be addressed by BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani and party president Rajnath Singh, besides INLD chief and former Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala.

Other leaders who are likely to participate in the rally include Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav, BJP sources said here today.

The leaders of the alliance partners would announce their joint strategy for the coming Lok Sabha elections at the rally, the sources said.

Kishan Singh Sangwan, the lone MP of the BJP from Haryana, who earlier had reservations on his party and the INLD once again shaking hands, called on Chautala at his residence in Delhi yesterday and discussed aspects of holding the rally at Sonepat. Chautala will address a party workers meeting here tomorrow in a bid to ensure the success of the rally. — PTI

Fatehabad, October 29
A pall of gloom descended on Ratia town of the district as the news of the death of Manjit Singh, a pilot working with the Punjab government, reached here today.

Manjit Singh, who was among the two pilots killed in the plane crash near Ludhiana this morning, was the son of Baba Buta Singh, senior state-level leader of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) and a prominent figure of Ratia town.

Manjit Singh (43) completed his commercial pilot course from the USA and settled there till he joined the services of the Punjab government as pilot in its official plane two months ago, said a family source.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters. Manjit Singh had talked to his father just before taking off from Chandigarh this morning and within minutes the family received the news of his death in the plane crash. Cremation will be held in Ratia tomorrow at 10 am.

Faridabad, October 29
The police today nabbed three persons in connection with the murder of a youth of Chandhut village, 30 km from here. The youth’s body was found in a gutter of Sanjay Colony here yesterday.

The deceased identified as Keshav Pal had been missing since October 21 after he had collected Rs 15,000 from a person in Munjesar, near here, in connection with his buffalo’s sale.

Keshav Pal did not return to his village, following which his relatives inquired about him. Later, they came to know that three other persons, close to him, had accompanied him to Munjesar. His body was found in a gutter in Sanjay Colony yesterday.

The police zeroed in on three persons who had accompanied him to Munjesar. The police said the three arrested had confessed that they had murdered Keshav Pal.

The police said it had not yet completed its investigation. It had constituted teams to probe into the matter.