Chandigarh, November 2
After giving a long rope to its “unfettered” babus, the Haryana government has finally decided to crack the whip, rein them in and teach them some etiquette.

With “poor showing” by officers happening more often than usual at the state functions organised at the Haryana Raj Bhawan, the government issued a circular to senior officers asking them to fall in line.

The circular issued by chief secretary Dharam Vir, a couple of days before the Haryana Day function slated for November 1, directed the officers to be present at the state functions.

It added that those unable to do so must seek prior permission or leave of absence from the host.

The circular made a difference to the gathering was evident in the number of bureaucrats who turned up for yesterday’s celebrations.

This was in contrast to their “minimal” attendance at Haryana Day functions in previous years where only a handful of officers, essentially the top brass in the government, showed up and others were allowed to play truant.

However, this time, too, there were many others who sought exemption on grounds of being out of station, of prior meetings, of field tours and other government functions in the field.

Though there were still many “absentees” despite the improved attendance, the chief secretary said the circular did have the desired effect and those who could not attend the function had informed the Raj Bhawan officials of their reasons.

Sources said officers “bunking” state functions was not only true for the Haryana Day celebrations but also for Teej celebrations and the prayer meeting held on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti in addition to other functions which the Haryana Governor and the Chief Minister might decide during the course of the year.

In fact, this issue assumes significance since a few officers had failed to show up for meetings chaired by the Governor of Haryana at the Raj Bhawan.

During the course of one such meeting, it was mentioned that the officers were taking their duties lightly and did not even care to inform the office of their non-availability.

Also, reported there was very poor attendance on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti. In this light, the government is learnt to have taken the decision to issue a circular to its officers.

So, while reformation of the babus has begun, the ministers are still out of the firing line and the government has not even given their absence a thought so far.

Though the government managed to bring its bureaucrats to Raj Bhawan for the celebrations, the ministers of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda cabinet were conspicuous by their absence at the function held to mark the state’s 43rd year.

It would be ensured that the electricity was available to the consumers as per
the schedule.

Sirsa, November 2
In a brazen display of insensitivity towards crimes against woman, the local police has allegedly branded a woman, who had levelled allegations of rape against her husband, as immoral and of easy virtue.

The police has so far not registered an FIR on the complaint of the woman, who had alleged that her husband Mukhtiar Singh, who had been living separately for the past eight months, forced entry into her house in the local Khairpur area in her absence by breaking open the locks on Thursday.

The woman has alleged that when she entered the house with her two children, she found Mukhtiar sitting in her room.

The locks of her cupboards and the locker were found broken and her gold ornaments as well as the registered sale deed of her house were not there. When she argued with her husband, he allegedly dragged her into a room and raped her, the woman said.

Surprisingly, all these allegations did not constitute any crime for the local police, which has neither registered an FIR nor has given any receipt of the application to her, though the police claims that it has started computerised system of registration of complaints and a receipt is issued to the complainants on the spot.

SHO Ajay Sharma had earlier said the Community Liaison Group (CLG) of the police would decide the matter on November 4.

Accusing the police of pressurising her to withdraw the complaint, the woman identified as Ramandeep said she had been living at her Khairpur residence with her daughter Amandeep (13) and son Harleen (6).

She alleged that Mukhtiar, who was earlier employed with some tractor agency, had been harassing her for dowry ever since their marriage.

“My father got a house here so that I can live with peace despite harassments by my husband, but Mukhtiar wanted the house to be transferred to his name,” she alleged.

“When I refused to transfer the house in his name, he left the house and since then I have been living on maintenance money given by my parents,” she added.

She alleged that her husband had made a similar attack on her on September 11 and when she went to the police post to register a complaint at 3 pm, she was taken to a hospital and that too by male constables.

“The police is hand in glove with my husband and wants to silence my voice by adopting dilatory tactics like decision by the CLG,” she alleged.

She said even courts take such cases with a lot of sensitivity and hold in camera proceedings, but the police had been pressurising her and lowering her dignity by deciding the complaint in full view of the panchayat.

The SHO said an entry of her complaint had been made in the DDR register, though no FIR has been registered. He said the police had been waiting for the DNA report before registering a case.

He said several persons, who came with Mukhtiar, had levelled allegations of immorality against the woman. He, however, admitted that the woman did not have a criminal record.

Gurgaon, November 2
Cotton bales were gutted in a fire in a godown at Jakum Pura here last night. Short circuit is said to be behind the incident.

The godown, namely Sheetla Enterprises, belonged to Gyan Chand. Fifteen fire tenders reached the spot immediately and controlled the fire in an hour.

Sources said three LPG cylinders lying on the roof of the godown, where employees had been staying, also busted in the fire.

No loss of life was reported, as people were able to get down in time. The loss was still being estimated till the time of filing this report.

Gurgaon, November 2
According to the directions of the Central Election Commission, 418 officials from Haryana will be deputed on election duty to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections to the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly.

Of these, 308 employees are from Gurgaon division. These officials were imparted training for conducting polling using electronic voting machines (EVMs) at Dronacharya Government College here on Friday.

The remaining 110 employees are being trained in Hisar. Haryana government employees who know Urdu have been deputed for poll duty in Jammu and Kashmir.

The largest number of employees - 299 - are from Nuh (Mewat) district alone. Besides, two are from Gurgaon district, six from Faridabad and one from Rewari district. Most of these employees are from the revenue, fisheries and education departments.

SDM, Gurgaon (I), J.S.Sangwan, while inaugurating the first training session, said the Election Commission had shown faith in the employees of Haryana and expressed the hope that they would ensure the conduct of a free and fair poll in Jammu and Kashmir.

Tehsildar (Elections) Rajendra Dahiya told the employees about the method of conducting polling through EVMs. The second rehearsal of these employees would be held on November 3 at the same venue.

Ajay Yadav from the election office, Gurgaon, Daya Chand, election kanungo from Mewat, Ram Niwas, election kanungo from Faridabad, and Ajit Singh, district education officer, Mewat, were also present.

Chandigarh, November 2
Leader of the Haryana BJP legislature party Ram Kumar Gautam has described the claims of leaders of his own party as well as of the INLD that yesterday’s NDA rally at Sonepat was a grand success, as “false”.

Gautam, who is a staunch opponent of the alliance, told The Tribune on the telephone that the rally, at best, was an INLD show, in which the participation of grassroots BJP workers was negligible.

Describing the rally as a “flop show”, the rebel BJP leader said by abstaining from the rally, the BJP workers had conveyed a very strong message to their leaders that their attempt to impose INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala as the next Chief Minister of Haryana was not acceptable to them.

He said on behalf of the Haryana BJP only those “rootless” leaders were present in the rally, who hoped to become members of Parliament by the INLD support.

“Their hope will not materialise because this unholy alliance would not win even a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections. The people of the state do not want a repeat of the dark days of the INLD regime, when criminals ruled the roost and there was no safety of property and life,” Gautam added.

He said the negligible presence of the BJP workers at the rally should be an eye-opener for the party high command, which should reconsider its decision to go with the INLD in the Lok Sabha elections.

Gautam said it was strange that BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani, who had appealed in Faridabad five years ago not to vote for Chautala, was now finding every quality in the INLD leader.

He said certain BJP leaders were trying to placate the workers who were opposed to the alliance by saying that the tie-up was only for the Lok Sabha elections and not for the Vidhan Sabha elections.

Gautam alleged that these leaders were only befooling the workers because Advani, BJP chief Rajnath Singh and Haryana party president Atam Prakash Manchanda had categorically stated that the chief ministerial candidate of the alliance would be Chautala.

Gautam expressed the confidence that the RSS, which was keeping an eye on the BJP affairs in the state, would appreciate the sentiments of the party workers and compel the leadership to review the alliance with the INLD.

Congress spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi as well as Haryana Janhit Congress spokesman Satpal Kaushik have also described the rally as a “great failure”.

Meanwhile, in a joint statement issued here today, secretary-general of the INLD Ajay Singh Chautala, Haryana INLD chief Ashok Arora and BJP state chief Manchanda thanked their party workers for making the rally a “grand success”, despite being asked to organise it at a short notice during the festival season.

He alleged that as a result of lack of control over the administration by Hooda, the bureaucracy had become unresponsive to the people’s aspirations.

Chandigarh, November 2
Under its ongoing programme of ensuring better services to consumers, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam will provide a mobile van at each district headquarters in its command area by the end of this month.

It will help in attending to consumer complaints promptly. The facility of mobile van will be available round the clock.

An official spokesman said here today that it had been planned to provide a fully equipped mobile van in Panchkula during the first week of November.

Such vans would be provided in Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jind and Jhajjar districts by the end of November. These vans will be controlled by executive engineers of the areas concerned.

He said instructions had been issued to field officers to immediately set up bijli suvidha kendras (BSKs) at each district headquarters with a common telephone number for all the BSKs.

The nigam had earmarked Rs 4 crore for setting up BSKs during the current fiscal. Initially, electricity complaints would be registered at these kendras and the staff of the areas concerned would be deputed to attend to the complaints.

The nigam would also explore the possibility of converting some of the BSKs into large call centres for handling complaints pertaining to outages and commercial matters too.

In addition the tripping on 11 kV feeders affecting continuity of power supply and increase in line losses would be intimated by the field staff to the SDO if its duration was more than 30 minutes and to the executive engineer concerned if the duration exceeded 60 minutes.

Similarly, every tripping of more than 90 minutes would be reported to the SE and above two hours to the chief engineer concerned.

It would be mandatory to report trippings of more than three hours duration to director, technical, and the MD along with reasons and efforts made to restore the supply. These steps would help provide better services to the consumers, he added.

Jhajjar, November 2
While a mysterious disease has destroyed standing paddy crop in several districts of the state, farmer Kuldeep Singh Ambawat’s paddy crop spread over two acres in Balam village in Rohtak district is free from attack of any disease and growing as usual.

This is neither a miracle nor an exception. It is the result of the seed varieties of paddy developed by national award winner Prakash Raghuvanshi of Varanasi (UP).

The seed variety has not only proved helpful in saving the paddy crop from the mysterious disease, but has also increased the paddy production.

Ambawat’s paddy crop is the sole exception in the district having reached harvesting despite the outbreak of various unpredicted diseases, which have damaged the paddy crop at a large scale in the state.

This standing paddy crop due to its special features has become the attraction for farmers and research subject for agriculture experts.

Farmers and agriculture experts have been visiting the village and examining the standing crop for the past several days.

Ambawat maintained that he got seeds free of cost from Sristi Gyan Kendra, a Rohtak-based voluntary organisation.

This seed variety had been developed by visually challenged Prakash Singh Raghuvanshi, a small-time farmer of Varanasi. Raghuvanshi was also honoured by the then President, Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, with a national award under the National Innovation Foundation for his unique high-yielding disease-resistant varieties of paddy and wheat, he added.

“Farmers should adopt self-developed seeds and manure instead of depending upon external agencies like private companies for basic farm inputs,” Ambawat said, adding that seeds were produced in farmers’ fields and not in any factory or laboratory.

Meanwhile, executive officer of Sristi Gyan Kendra, Rohtak, Kamal Jeet, who provided paddy seeds to Ambawat, said these crops were class apart from the ones farmers had been using in the fields since long.

“Crop varieties developed by Raghuvanshi are also popular in Kaithal, Kurukshetra and Rohtak,” Kamal Jeet claimed.

Jhajjar, November 2
Education is the key to development, and it is the only way to ensure women’s equal participation in every sphere of the development process.

It creates choices and opportunities, leading to their empowerment. It is the only way to make our life happier and healthier. Hence, society will have to stress on girls’ education for overall development.

This was stated by Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) chairman B.B. Batra while addressing a gathering at a prize distribution and felicitation function organised by the Saini Education Society, Rohtak, today.

“We need to sensitise people about the benefits of girls’ education and try to change the prevailing mindset, which is adverse to the development of the girl child,” said Batra.

Appreciating the efforts of the management of the Saini Education Society for creating awareness among people regarding girls’ education, he said these efforts would bear fruit in the future. Vijay Saini, president of the society, threw light on the progress made by the society.

Batra gave away the prizes to students of Saini schools who brought laurels to the society in different fields. Members of the governing body of the society were also felicitated by Batra.

Kapoor Singh was going to Jhajjar from his village. The police has registered separate cases in this regard.

In addition to it, the written comments filed by the department were also misleading. No personal hearing would be given by the first appellate authority on the plea moved by Arora seeking information.

Yamunanagar, November 2
Managing director of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Ltd Sanjeev Kaushal has directed chief engineers and other senior officials of the 600 MW Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Project (DCRTPP) to take all necessary steps to complete the process of Performance Guarantee Test (PGT) of unit-1 and unit-2 of 300 MW each as early as possible.

Although engineers and employees of the HPGCL have been handling day-to-day operations and maintenance of unit-I since April 14 and unit-2 since June 24, the HPGCL has not taken over the control of the thermal plant as per the contractual provisions yet.

Only after the completion of the PGT of unit-1 and unit-2 will the HPGCL be able to take over the charge of the thermal plant.

Besides, while convening the meeting of senior officials of the thermal plant, Kaushal said the thermal power project was “galloping steadily” towards stabilisation. The power plant was giving excellent performance.

During October, it has achieved an overall monthly plant load factor of 89 per cent, which is comparable to the best-performing power plants in the country.

Giving details of the power generated, he said here recently that the power plant had achieved a record generation of 146.29 lakh units in a single day on October 24 at a plant load factor of 101.59 per cent, which was the highest ever since its commissioning.

The power plant had improved its own record of power generation of 144.37 lakh units at a plant load factor of 100.26 per cent achieved on October 19.

Divulging details of the power station, he said the DCRTPP, Yamunanagar, was the first power project in the state to be awarded to a private engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contractor (M/s Reliance Energy Limited).

He said the plant was constructed at a very low EPC cost of Rs 3.49 crore per MW that was lower than the EPC cost of many contemporary projects of similar capacity.

The first unit of this project was commissioned in a record period of 27 months, which was the lowest for any coal-based greenfield project in the country.

The consistency in performance of the power station would be ensured for which all possible efforts were being made.

It would also be ensured that the power was generated at minimum cost and maximum efficiency for which all technical requirements will be fulfilled.

The HPGCL generating units had helped minimise the state's dependence on other power supplying agencies.

It also helped in less over-drawls from the northern grid, for which the state had to pay a higher cost, he further added.

Yamunanagar, November 2
Alleging that political parties still ignored the Saini community in the state, state president of the Saini Samaj Ekta Manch (SSEM) Anil Saini today said they had decided to activate members of the community to get equal representation in the coming Lok Sabha and the next Vidhan Sabha elections.

They had decided to organise Rajnaitik Chetna Rally on HUDA grounds in Jind on November 23 to mobilise members of the community, he added.

Addressing a gathering at “Saini chetna sammelan” at Punjabi dharamshala in Jagadhri here, Saini said despite the fact that the Saini community comprised 12.5 per cent of the total population in the state, they did not have even a single representative in the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha.

Stressing need for getting representation on the political front, he further said out of 90 Assembly seats in the state, 25 assembly areas were such where the Saini community played a major role on deciding the fate of the candidate.

The sammelan was jointly organised by the Saini Sabha, Yamunanagar, Jagadhri and Kapal Mochan.

A powerful quake that rocked the Balochistan province of Pakistan on October 29 claimed over 300 lives. Strong aftershocks rattled the region last week. — PTI

Kurukshetra, November 2
As many as 254 pending cases, including 196 mutation cases of 17 villages, were settled at the 17th rural lok adalat organised by the District Legal Services Authority in Saanwla village, 8 km from here, today.

It was presided over by Additional District and Sessions Judge L.N. Jindal. Jindal called upon the rural gathering to settle their disputes amicably at panchayat level instead of going to court or to the police for settlement.

Rural lok adalat was such a platform, which played an important role in maintaining brotherhood in villages. Cases were settled with mutual consent of both the parties, he added.

Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority-cum- Chief Judicial Magistrate N.K. Singhal said cases were settled at people’s doorsteps through rural lok adalats.

Persons, whose income was less than Rs 50,000 per annum, were eligible for free of cost legal assistance by the authority.

So far, 1,351 cases had been settled in 16 rural lok adalats while 29,230 cases had been settled in 111 lok adalats held so far. A sum of Rs 15 crore had been compensated in 2,289 cases of claim, added Singhal.

Today’s rural lok adalat proved a boon for Tek Ram, a resident of Ramgarh village, whose land was mortgaged against a sum of Rs 25,000 for the past 25 years.

Singhal motivated late Ved Prakash’s heirs to release the piece of land against the cash payment of Rs 15,000 and the rest of Rs 10,000 later.

Cases of 17 villages comprising Saanwla, Masana, Doodhla, Morthala, Pratapgarh, Ratandera, Kheri Markanda, Amargarh, Manjhara, Sirsla, Sirsma, Kanipla, Isargarh, Ramgarh, Dheerpur, Haripur and Barhaan were settled in the lok adalat.

Faridabad, November 2
A large number of activists and supporters of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and its front organisations today staged a dharna at Old Faridabad Chowk on the Delhi-Mathura national highway in protest against the recent serial bomb blasts that rocked several parts of the country.

The protesters had covered their mouths with black cloth as a symbol of protest against some parties who were allegedly silent in their condemnation of the perpetrators of the blasts.

They alleged that the UPA government had failed to take stern action against the culprits who were being sponsored by the ISI.

Addressing the protesters on the occasion, organisation secretary of the northern region unit of the VHP Kailash Singal alleged that fundamentalist groups who wanted to weaken the integrity of the country were being encouraged on account of the “support” being provided to them by the “so-called secularist” brigade of the country.

On Pragya Thakur, who has been accused of the Malegaon blasts, he said she and the other accused could not be described as militants.

He said they were sick of the way the union government and “pseudo-secularists” were trying to prevent Afzal Guru from being hanged in connection with the attack on Parliament. The VHP said the UPA was pushing “people to the corner.”

Referring to the recent serial blasts in Assam, he said it had now come to light that a fundamentalist group from Bangladesh was responsible.

He alleged that the union government was doing little to stop large-scale influx of people from Bangladesh into the country.

Fatehabad, November 2
Dura Ram, parliamentary secretary, Haryana, today distributed cheques for construction of houses to BPL families under the Indira Awas Yojna.

As many as 87 families were provided grant of Rs 25,000 each for the construction of their houses.

Speaking on the occasion, Dura Ram said the number of families getting benefits under the BPL category was 8.75 lakh in the district during the INLD regime, but the present Hooda government had given the BPL status to 13 lakh families.

Anil Bishnoi, block and panchayat development officer, said any family living below the poverty line could get a grant under the Indira Awas Yojna provided the family owned a plot for the construction of the house.