Chandigarh, November 1
The 43rd Haryana Day was celebrated with zeal and enthusiasm at the Haryana Raj Bhawan here on Saturday. Governor A.R. Kidwai was the chief guest and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda presided over the function.

Kidwai said Haryana was one of the fastest growing economies and had the highest per capita income in the country. The 12th Finance Commission, Planning Commission and the Union Finance Ministry had commended its fiscal management.

Hooda said right from the beginning it was his dream that the state should lead in the country in every field of development and prosperity. He said his dream had been fulfilled to a great extent.

Three districts of Bhiwani, Jhajjar and Gurgaon, which had attained first three positions, respectively, in improving sex ratio during 2007, were given cash awards by Kidwai on the occasion.

Five artistes - Satya Narayan Vashisth, Prem Singh Dehati, Niranjan Singh, Mange Ram Khatri and Harvinder Rana - were honoured with the Devi Shankar Prabhakar Jan Sanchar and Lok Sanskriti awards. A cultural programme was also organised on the occasion.

SIRSA: Hundreds of schoolchildren and prominent persons of the town participated in a “run for fun” rally organised here on the occasion of Haryana Day here.

Deputy commissioner V. Umashankar flagged off the rally from the Town Park and it culminated at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Stadium.

FATEHABAD: Under a recently announced scheme of the state government, the district authorities distributed spectacles to senior citizens living below poverty line at Baropal village here on the occasion of the Haryana Day.

(Khera) Yamunanagar, November 1
Union minister of the state for housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja laid the foundation of a solid waste management project worth Rs 23 crore at Khera village in Jagadhri town here today. The project is aimed at providing clean environment to residents of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri town.

“The project to be built on 10-acre land is significant for these two towns in view of huge waste released from industries and bio-medical waste from hospitals. Both the towns have been generating around 100 tonnes of waste daily. At present, only 70 percent of the waste is being lifted by the municipal councils,” she said while addressing a gathering here.

“The projected is expected to complete by May 2009. The operation and maintenance of the solid waste management project will be taken care by the Delhi-based NBCC Company for 30 years. The project will facilitate people to have clean environment. Bins, containers, dumpers, tricycle and rickshaws will be used for collecting the garbage. Besides it, tipper trucks, dumper placer trucks, tractors with trolleys, pay loaders will be provided for transporting the garbage. It will also have bio-medical waste management, remediation and incineration facility” she added.

While talking about the central government schemes to uplift the poor sections and the Scheduled Castes, she said: “In a significant move for the development of the rural areas, the central government has decided to provide a grant of Rs 50 lakh to every village having 50 per cent of Scheduled Caste population for the development work.”

Others who spoke on the occasion include the parliamentary secretary Krishna Pandit and MLA, Jagadhri, Subhash Chowdhary.

Karnal, November 1
The Karnal district unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU) has threatened to gherao agricultural societies in case DAP fertilisers were not made available to farmers.

The union, at a meeting held here today, alleged that the societies were giving fertilisers to its members and not to other farmers. President of the Karnal district unit of the BKU Jay Kanwar said the societies were adopting discriminatory attitude towards non-member farmers. He added that if this was not stopped, the farmers would be left with no choice than to gherao the societies.

The BKU has also retreated its demand for withdrawal of export tax of Rs 8,000 per ton on basmati to ensure high returns to the growers.

The union said in spite of the fact that Haryana had made tremendous progress during the past 42 years, the farmers had not prospered in the same proportion.

The union described the decision to give bonus of Rs 50 per quintal on paddy as “too late, too little” and said it had not benefited farmers. The union also demanded that the minimum support price (MSP) should be declared before sowing so that the farmers could take appropriate decision about the area in which wheat would be sown.

In another significant decision, the union asked the government to give 100 sq yard plots to BPL from government land and not from land under panchayats.

Meanwhile, farmers at Gharonda held a demonstration at Anaj Mandi in protest against non-auction of paddy. The situation was defused following intervention of chairman of the Market Committee Sukhpal Sandh, who immediately ordered auction of paddy and assured that it would be held everyday.

Chandigarh, November 1
The late announcement of bonus on paddy, though welcome, poses its own problems, both for the buyer and the seller.

The buyers of paddy are either government agencies or private millers. While the agencies buy paddy at the minimum support price (MSP), the millers purchase paddy at a price higher than the MSP.

For the past several years, the union government has been announcing bonus on paddy much later than the MSP. By the time the bonus is announced, a large quantity of paddy is already sold. Since a large number of growers bring their produce to the mandis, it becomes a problem to ensure that each of them gets bonus.

Last year, the Haryana food and supplies department released payment of levy rice and the milling charges to the millers only after they produced certificates from those growers from whom they had purchased paddy that they had received the amount of bonus.

The government agencies, on the other hand, paid the bonus amount to the commission agents through whom they had purchased paddy.

Though the department’s step ensured that most of the growers got the bonus, it posed problem for the millers, who found it tedious to locate and contact each and every grower. It is no secret that the entire bonus amount paid by the government agencies to the commission agents did not reach the growers. Only those growers, who were conscious of their rights or who made efforts to “persuade” the commission agents, could get the bonus.

Instead of increasing the MSP, the union government prefers the bonus route because it does not have to pay taxes and “aarahat” on the quantum of bonus, which it would have to otherwise pay on the price of paddy.

It is also no secret that many millers in connivance with the commission agents, get “bogus” bills for the paddy supposed to have been purchased by the government agencies and lifted by the millers. In such cases, either the bonus is pocketed solely by the commission agents or it is shared by the agents and the unscrupulous millers because the growers do not exist.

Trade sources reveal that the millers get “bogus” bills for two purposes. One, they get “working capital” from the agencies in the form of the cost of paddy without interest. Secondly, they are able to get a cut in the bonus.

The sources say to ensure that the bonus reaches each and every grower and to deny it to “undeserving” commission agents and millers, the department and the agencies should issue cheques of bonus amount directly in the name of the growers, instead of paying it to the commission agents. Punjab has already adopted this model.

The record of every grower who sells his paddy in the mandis is available with the government agencies. Therefore, there would not be any problem in issuing cheques in their names. Of course, it would entail additional paper work, but it would help the growers immensely.

Meanwhile, 29.37 lakh MTs of paddy has arrived in 180 mandis of the state so far which is 1.09 lakh more than the corresponding period of the previous year.

According to Deputy Chief Minister Chander Mohan, 28.28 lakh MTs of paddy had arrived in the mandis during the corresponding period last year. The traders had purchased 9.89 lakh MTs of non-levy paddy and 3 lakh  levy paddy.

Chandigarh, November 1
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that information under the Right to Information Act is to be supplied within the specified timeframe only if the record is available with the office.

The high court has also held Haryana state information commission’s order, imposing penalty on a public information officer, to be unsustainable in law. The Division Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia has further allowed the petition filed against the order by state public information officer-cum-HUDA estate officer S.P. Arora.

The petitioner had challenged the order dated August 23, 2007, whereby the commission had imposed a penalty of Rs.10, 000 for alleged lapse on his part. The amount was to be recovered in four monthly installments.

The commission had also imposed costs of Rs 2,000 for considerable harassment to a respondent, seeking information on a plot in Sector 8, Panchkula.

The application was received in the estate office on January 1, 2007, and information was sought on steps taken for the transfer of the plot in the name of applicant Rajiv Arora, and two others.

Taking up the matter, the Bench observed: “The sequence of events would show that the information was sought on January 29, 2007, when the file of the plot in question was lying with a bank.

“The file was received back on February 22, 2007, but again sent to the bank on March 13, 2007. The same was received on March 30, 2007, and information was supplied on April 10, 2007.

“The penalty can be imposed only, if there is no reasonable cause for not furnishing the information within the period of 30 days. The word reasonable has to be examined in the manner which a normal person would consider it to be reasonable.

“The right to seek information is not to be extended to the extent that even if the file is not available for the good reasons, still steps are required to be taken by the office to procure the file and to supply the information. The information is required to be supplied within 30 days only, if the record is available with the office.

Before parting with the order, the Bench added: “It appears the state information commission has made hill out of the mole…. We are of the opinion that the order of imposing penalty on the petitioner is not sustainable in law. Consequently, the writ petition is allowed. The impugned order passed by the state public information commission is set aside.”

Karnal, November 1
The Haryana Medical Representatives Association (HMRA) has urged the state government to bring sales promotion employees under section 2(J) of Industrial Disputes Act to arm them to fight for their rights.

At a meeting held here today, the association regretted that in spite of repeated requests to the union government, the demand had not been accepted and medical representatives (MRs) were facing numerous problems.

The association argued that MRs were being victimised and harassed by way of transfers and termination and it would be easier for them to seek justice if sales promotion employees were covered under the Industrial Disputes Act.

Also pleading for fixation of minimum wages for MRs, taking into account the increase in the price index and inflation, the association said MRs should be given the status of “workmen” on the pattern of West Bengal.

Addressing the meeting, general secretary of the HMRA Pravesh Gaba said a tripartite meeting of the union labour ministry, the labour union and representatives of MRs’ associations was held on September 24 to discuss the legal issues pertaining to MRs.

Gaba said a state-level conference of MRs would be held in Rohtak on November 16 to discuss their problems and chalk out the future course of action.

The association also expressed concern over spurious drugs and said the drugs coming to Haryana without proper bills should not be allowed to be sold in the state and should be banned by the drug controller.

Sirsa, November 1
The Community Liaison Group (CLG), a group of prominent persons of the town to help the police solve inter-personal disputes, will now look into the atypical issue of woman accusing her husband of raping her, and the husband levelling charges of immorality against her at the local Khairpur area.

A piquant situation had developed at the local city police station on Thursday, when a woman came there to lodge an FIR for rape against her husband Malkiat Singh.

However, many residents of the Khairpur Mohalla, where the woman lives, came to the police station in support of the husband. The residents alleged that the woman had made their life miserable due to her immoral activities and anyone who spoke against her was targeted by the woman.

“I got the house constructed from my income, but I purchased the plot on my wife’s name. Now, she has thrown me out of the house,” Malkiat Singh alleged.

Caught in the allegations and counter-allegations of the two sides, the police made entries of the allegations of both sides in to the daily diary register (DDR) and sent the woman for medical examinations.

“The police has got the blood samples of the couple for the DNA test,” the SHO of the city police station said, adding that the police will register an FIR after getting the reports of the tests. Meanwhile, a number of residents from the Khairpur Mohalla met deputy commissioner V. Umashankar in support of the husband today. The DC has asked the SHO to look in to the matter.

The SHO has called a meeting of the CLG in the city police station on Tuesday.

Fatehabad, November 1
Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Lal Chand today ordered the police to book a local quack for causing the death of a woman by negligently giving a wrong injection to her.

Victim Surjit Kaur’s husband Joginder Singh had filed a criminal complaint in the court in this regard.

The complaint said Surjit Kaur (45) was taken to the quack, Mukesh Monga, on October 21 after complaint of fever. Monga, who allegedly did not posses any degree to practise medicine, gave some injection to the woman, after which the spot of injection started turning blue.

When Joginder went to Monga again, he assured that there was nothing wrong and gave another injection to the woman.

The condition of the woman started deteriorating after the second injection.

When Joginder got his wife examined from a specialist, he was told that she had developed septic and needed surgery.

The woman was rushed to a private hospital at Hisar, where she died on October 24. 

Gurgaon, November 1
A team of the health department today sealed an ultrasound machine at Sriram Memorial Hospital in Sikanderpur for alleged violation of the PNDT Act. With this, the number of ultrasound machines sealed recently in the district has increased to three. Two machines were sealed  during October.

The raiding team constituted by the civil surgeon, Dr S.S. Dalal, who is appropriate authority under the Act, comprised the deputy civil surgeon, Dr K.S. Rao, and drug control officer Rakesh Dahiya. Three types of omissions and commissions were alleged at the centre.

Dr Rao said proper record of the patients coming to the centre for ultrasound was not being maintained, which was a gross violation of the provisions of the Act. Form-F, in which information about the patient is filled, was not according to the format prescribed in the Act and the hospital had “illegally” devised its own format.

As per the Act, the operator at the ultrasound centre has to first fill up the details about the patient before doing his or her ultrasonography. According to the health authorities, even getting the name of hospital printed on top of Form-F amounts to violation of the Act.

“Moreover, the operator at the ultrasound centre was not the same person whose name was mentioned by the hospital in the record submitted to the Advisory Committee constituted for the implementation of the PNDT Act in the district,” said Dr Rao.

Thirdly, it has been alleged that there were no referral slips of the patients referred to the centre for ultrasound. As per the Act, it is mandatory for the centre to keep all referral slips of the patients who come to the centre for ultrasound.

The ultrasound centre sealed today was initially checked by Dr R.K. Gaur on October 22 during routine inspection and he found violation of the PNDT Act at the centre.

A show-cause notice was then served on the hospital. The centre owner(s) filed a reply, which was not found satisfactory by the authorities concerned. Following this, the two-member team inspected the  centre today.

According to official sources, the penalty for violation will be decided by the appropriate authority after giving opportunity of personal hearing to the centre owner(s).

The health department had sealed two ultrasound centres at Rama Hospital and Nursing Home, Khandsa road, and Arora laboratories, New Anaj Mandi, Sohna, which were found violating the provisions of the Act.

Jhajjar, November 1
A lineman was electrocuted in Hasanpur village on the Jhajjar-Kosli road while he was repairing a fault on an electric pole here today. The victim has been identified as Gugan Singh, a resident of Babra village in the district.

His body lay hanging from the electricity pole for over an hour, but no electricity department official tried to bring it down. Later, a junior engineer and an operator were placed under suspension in this connection.

As the news spread in Babra village, residents blocked the Jhajjar-Kosli road for about one and a half hours in protest against the “careless working” of the electricity department.

The incident occurred when Gugan Singh, along with Somdutt, had gone to Hasanpur village for repairing a fault in the morning. This pole was about 20-foot high.

While Gugan Singh died of electrocution, Somdutt, a labourer, sustained burn injuries. He was rushed to a hospital where his condition was stated to be out of danger.

Though officials of the police and the electricity departments immediately reached the spot, they failed to pull down the body from the pole.

Executive engineer of the electricity department A.K.Garg suspended junior engineer N.K. Rao and operator Naresh on a charge of negligence.

“The matter will be investigated thoroughly and official action would be taken against those found guilty,” said Garg.

Chandigarh, November 1
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced a major concession to private schools and an incentive to guest lecturers on the occasion of Haryana Day, at a felicitation function organised by private schools at Jind.

Hooda said the private schools which were charging bus fare up to Rs 200 per child would not have to pay any tax on school buses and those which were charging more than Rs 200 per child would have to pay tax at the rate of Rs 20 per seat instead of Rs 40 per seat.

The Chief Minister also announced that the honorarium of the guest lecturers would be increased from Rs 100 per hour to Rs 123 per period and monthly honorarium from Rs 1,000 to Rs 3,000.

He said district-level committees would be constituted under the chairmanship of DCs to deal with the applications of those private schools which were functioning before March 31, 2007, and which had applied for recognition by April 10, 2007. Earlier, such cases used to be disposed of at the state headquarters.

Hooda said the Haryana Education Rules-2003, which were enacted by the previous government and which contained such conditions as were difficult to be fulfilled by most of the private schools, had been amended by the present government providing great relief to these schools. Under the amended rules, the requirement of minimum land for primary schools had been reduced from half acre to 500 sq metres for a single-storeyed building and to 350 sq metres for a double-storeyed building. For middle schools, it had been reduced from one acre to 800 sq metres for a single-storeyed building and to 600 sq metres for a double-storeyed building. Similarly, the land requirement had been reduced correspondingly for secondary schools. Stressing the need for quality education, Hooda said about 1.5 lakh residents of Delhi worked in Gurgaon to serve in BPOs and MNCs and the youth of Haryana were not getting jobs in these organisations due to lack of quality education. Only those countries, which provided quality education to their children, would progress in this era of globalisation. 

Fatehabad, November 1
“Forty families of the country have control over assets worth Rs 14 lakh crore, while 86 crore people comprising 77 per cent of the country’s population live on a meagre income of Rs 20 per person per day.”

This was stated by Surinder Malik, state general secretary of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), while inaugurating the biennial state-level convention of the Forest Department Labour Union here today. He said it was ironical that on the one hand four of the 10 richest persons of the globe belonged to India and on the other labourers were being exploited with impunity in the country.

Malik claimed that it was due to the tough postures adopted by the Left parties during the past four years on the issue of privatisation of banks and the insurance sector that India’s economy had survived the worst meltdown on the world.