Chandigarh, November 26
In less than 24 hours, Haryana minister of state for tourism and forests Kiran Choudhry got back the environment portfolio, raising many eyebrows in political circles of the state.

She was divested of the portfolio yesterday by Governor A.R. Kidwai on the advice of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Sources say the Chief Minister had retained the environment department with himself so that he could personally supervise the state Pollution Control Board, about the functioning of which Choudhry had many complaints. In fact, there is a running feud between her and chairman of the board A.S. Chehal.

The sources say the decision to take away the environment department from Choudhry was taken by Hooda last week. But the notification could be issued only yesterday because of certain engagements of the Governor.

However, after the notification was issued, it was pointed out to Hooda that the decision might send a wrong message at a time when the Congress was facing elections in six states. Hooda readily agreed to restore the portfolio to Choudhry, as he said it was not a matter of personal prestige with him.

The sources say Hooda had communicated to the Governor last evening itself that Choudhry should be allowed to retain the environment department. Since Kidwai was in Delhi last evening, the revised notification was issued only today.

Choudhry, who was in Bhiwani today, from where she is claiming the Congress ticket for her daughter, Shruti, for the Lok Sabha elections, made light of the whole issue.

She reportedly told newsmen there that the allocation of portfolios was the prerogative of the Chief Minister. She said she came to know that the portfolio had been taken from her only after reading newspapers today. She said within a couple of hours, she received the new notification, restoring the portfolio to her.

Though it is not known who pointed out to Hooda the political implications for the party before the assembly elections in six states, the sources say certainly the person who did so was not AICC president Sonia Gandhi.

Sirsa, November 26
The union government has planned to spend a sum of Rs 50,000 crore in the country under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission, out of which Rs 600 crore will be spent in Haryana alone.

This was stated by union minister of state for housing and urban poverty alleviation Kumari Selja while talking to mediapersons here today.

She said work would be done on two different projects, the urban poor fund and the low poor budget, under the mission.

“Under the urban poor fund, 63 cities and towns of the country have been selected. Faridabad and Panchkula are the two cities of Haryana that have been included in the urban poor fund. All medium and small towns have been included in the low poor budget scheme,” Selja said.

“The Centre has directed all state governments to set up urban poor funds (UPF) in their respective states and give 20 to 25 per cent reservation to economically weaker sections of society in these UPFs,” she added.

Sejla said the list of people living below poverty line (BPL) in Haryana would be soon finalised by the government and claims and objections would be decided along with that. She maintained that no eligible person would be left out of the BPL list and no ineligible would be included.

Replying to a question on women reservation, Selja said the Congress was the only party that had given due representation to women in the party.

She said former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi took the initiative in this direction by implementing 30 per cent reservation in panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) and now thousands of women share power with men in these institutions.

Setting all speculation regarding her constituency in the coming parliamentary elections to rest, she said: “I represent the Ambala parliamentary seat in the Lok Sabha at present and I will contest the next elections from there only.”

Former minister Jagdish Nehra and district president of the Congress Hoshiari Lal Sharma were also present on the occasion.

Fatehabad, November 26
The death of two persons in a day in Fatehabad town due to dengue has sent shock waves among residents.

The “lackadaisical attitude” of the health authorities in dealing with dengue, chikungunia and viral fever has caused a lot of resentment among the residents.

Seema Batra, principal of a local convent school, died of suspected dengue last evening. She was getting treatment at a private hospital in Hisar, where she was admitted after she developed symptoms of dengue.

Kuldeep Makkar, a clerk in the office of the local deputy commissioner, also died of suspected dengue last night.

He was also suffering from fever and low platelet count for some days. He was shifted to Agroha Medical College, where he died last night. The bodies of both victims arrived in the local cremation ground almost at the same time causing anguish among friends and relatives of the two victims.

Deputy commissioner J.S. Ahlawat and city magistrate Satish Jain were among those who attended the cremation.

The civil surgeon, Dr J.K. Bishnoi, however, denied that the deaths had been caused by dengue.

“None of the two patients had got themselves tested in our hospitals. How can we say they suffered from dengue? There was no evidence of the spread of dengue in the town,” he told The Tribune.

Dengue had claimed over 10 lives in Tohana town of this district in July and August, but the health authorities kept on maintaining that these were not cases of dengue.

It was only when the health authorities from the headquarters in Panchkula rushed to Tohana and got a vector survey conducted by experts that the authorities accepted the fact. The vector survey had found larvae and insects of aedes mosquitoes, responsible for the spread of dengue, from several parts of the Tohana town and had established the fact that the town was under attack from the dengue.

The Tribune had carried a story on the spread of chikungunia and viral fever in Fatehabad and Sirsa towns in these columns on November 23 but there seems to be no urgency on the part of health authorities to check the menace.

Karnal, November 26
The Haryana traffic police is all set to launch a pilot Road Safety Management System (RSMS) to reduce accidents and make highways safer for traffic and pedestrians.

Haryana will be the second state after Kerala to launch the project. IBS Software will develop a software on the RSMS to identify problems and establish goals for road safety.

The Bureau of Police Research and Development, Government of India, selected Haryana for the project as it was the only state which readily provided data on accidents, challans and first aid during the current year and also the map of traffic police stations.

The state also furnished detailed information about the achievements and sobriety check-up points and the accident format supplied to the traffic police stations to enable them to proceed with the next stage of operations, said Rajpal Singh, assistant IG (traffic and highways), Karnal.

The Haryana police has already provided the required data to IBM Software which has assured to provide the accident analysis and the RSMS after a week and also agreed to give a live demonstration anytime after the first week of December.

Rajpal Singh said this software would go a long way in reducing road accidents. Haryana had initiated several measures to check accidents during the past eight years and as a result the number of accidents on highways had come down to 1,553 this year as compared to 1,976 last year.

To provide immediate medical aid to accident victims, six more ambulances had been procured and the total number would reach 28 by the end of this month, he said.

Chandigarh, November 26
The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited (HSIIDC) is all set to launch its third Industrial Model Township (IMT) in Faridabad. A team of officers from HSIIDC led by commissioner and secretary, industries, Y.S. Malik, managing director, HSIIDC, Rajeev Arora and senior functionaries of the corporation conducted a survey of the area today to finalise the layout of the IMT in Faridabad.

Arora said the proposed project was intended to be developed to capitalise on the opportunities that were likely to be thrown open by the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor being developed along the Dedicated Freight Corridor alignment from Delhi to Mumbai.

The corporation has also finalised the infrastructure planning for the IMT, which is being set up as a part of the commitment by the Chief Minister to the industrialists of Faridabad in August 2005, where he had announced the setting up of an IMT here on lines of IMT, Manesar. The IMT is expected to revive the old industrial glory of the city.

The proposed project is being developed over 1,750 acres, which is in possession of the corporation. After the flatted factories complex in Faridabad, IMT will be a much larger township for entrepreneurs who require industrial land for expansion and diversification. The physical possession of the land has been taken over by the corporation and the planning and development of the basic infrastructure of this IMT is being taken up immediately.

The infrastructure at the IMT will include facilities such as roads, water supply, sewers, drainage, common effluent treatment plant and water treatment plant. Besides, electrification network consisting of 132/66 kV substation, HT/LT lines through underground cables and independent cable system, horticulture work, entry gate and boundary wall shall also be provided.

In addition to this, HSIIDC is also setting up IMTs at Rohtak and Kharkhoda (Sonepat). This is being done to boost the industrial development in the state. The concept of the industrial model township all over the world encompasses an integrated approach wherein the industrial, commercial, residential and institutional sites are blended together for operational convenience and promoting walk-to-work-culture.

The infrastructure in the proposed IMTs shall be at par with the international standards to facilitate the setting up of industrial units by MNCs and reputed industrial houses. The IMT in Rohtak shall be provided with additional linkages with the KMP Expressway, area of special economic zone in Jhajjar district and the upcoming industrial centres like Kharkhoda.

The land for the IMT at Kharkhoda has been identified and the acquisition process has already being initiated by the corporation. — UNI

Rohtak, November 26
Ranbir Singh, the only surviving member of the Constituent Assembly of India, celebrated his 95th birthday here today.

Father of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Ch Ranbir Singh wished the people of the state prosperity on the occasion. He had served the Constituent Assembly, Constituent Legislative Assembly, Provisional Parliament, Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha and assemblies of Punjab and Haryana and was imprisoned several times. He went to eight different jails, four of which are now in Pakistan and the rest of them in India.

Blessing his son, who greeted him on his birthday, Ch Singh advised the Chief Minister to continue to follow traditions of his family and the Congress to serve the state and society.

He recalled the historic moment of dedication of the Bhakra Nangal Dam to the people by late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru in Nangal when he was irrigation and power minister of Punjab. Hooda assured his father of the commitment of the state government to realise dreams of the people of Haryana. He told his father that with his blessings he would soon succeed in bringing Bhakra waters to the fields of Haryana through Hansi-Butana link canal. — UNI

Rewari, November 26
The Red Ribbon Express arrived at the railway station here this morning.

Besides senior officials of the district and the health department, hundreds of residents turned up on its arrival here.

Irrigation and PWD minister Ajay Singh Yadav exhorted people to keenly watch its exhibits on AIDS control and get acquainted with preventive measures.

He also flagged off a team of the Red Ribbon Express which went to villages to spread awareness among residents about the dreaded disease.

Deputy commissioner Chander Prakash said the train would stop here till tomorrow and the teams would cover 48 selected villages of the district in two days.

Bathinda, November 26
For the convenience of rail passengers, the Railways have introduced a Passenger Coach Guidance (PCG) system at Ambala railway station, which is the first-ever in Indian Railways.

Talking to TNS over phone from Ambala, R.K. Saxena, assistant divisional railway manager (ADRM), Ambala division, said the exact compositions of incoming and outgoing trains are fed into a computer and alternating display made on the platforms, indicating the train number as well as coach number. Now, one could identify the exact location from where one would board the train or from where one would receive one’s friends/relatives. It is proposed to extend this facility to other major stations, including Bathinda, Chandigarh and Saharanpur railway stations, very shortly.

Saxena said the division had taken steps to improve passenger amenities. Steps would be taken to improve the parcel traffic. The Railways have plans to introduce high capacity parcel vans and exclusive parcel express trains, depending on the demand of parcel traffic from the division.

He pointed out that frequent “rail roko” agitations were causing inconvenience to passengers as well as the Railways. To monitor and control the anti-social activities at railway stations, the Railways would install CCTV cameras at all ‘A’ class railway stations of the division, he added.

Gurgaon, November 26
The district administration has issued notices to cable operators in the district for violation of the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act - 1995 and directed them to strictly comply with the Act.

Referring to the decision given by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the case CWP No. 3688/2008- Satellite TV Channels Association Vs State of Punjab and others, Gurgaon (north) SDM J.S. Sangwan has issued notices to all cable operators functioning in Gurgaon to follow the Act, failing which they would have to face action as per provisions of the Act.

In the notices served to the cable operators, the SDM has stated that relaying of news and advertisement strips on the local cable channels was in contravention of the Cable Act and these should be stopped with immediate effect.

As per the notice, every cable operator should be registered from the competent authority under Section 2(A)II for relaying programmes received through satellite. The licence obtained after registration should be displayed in front of the office of the cable operator.

The SDM has directed the cable operators to produce the licence obtained by them in his office, otherwise legal action would be initiated against them after confiscating the equipment.

As per the provisions of the Act, it is mandatory for the cable operators to telecast a regional Doordarshan channel, in addition to the two Doordarshan channels on prime band.

This means that the cable operators in Gurgaon will now have to telecast Doordarshan Hisar Channel on prime band, it being the only regional channel of Haryana.

According to Section 6 of the Act, the programmes relayed through the cable should confirm with the programme code and the cable operator should publish the number of customers and rates charged from them for showing programmes on cable network.

Not only this, the cable operators are required to maintain proper record of the programmes shown by them in a register, which should be kept safe at least for a year.

There are rules for advertisement on cable TV channels, which state that the advertisement should not be mixed with any other programme and it should be clearly distinguishable.

This means that the use of lower part of the screen to carry static or moving captions alongside the programme is illegal and in contravention of Section 10 of the Advertising Code.

The advertisement carried in the cable service should not offend morality, decency and religious sentiments of the subscribers. In the advertisement code under Section 7 of the Act, the subsection 3 of the code states that "No advertisement shall be permitted, the objects whereof are wholly and mainly of a religious or political nature; advertisements must not be directed towards any religious or political end".

But it is seen that the cable operators violate these provisions of the Act with impunity. Hence, the district administration has taken steps to make the cable TV operators abide by the Act.

Ambala, November 26
A labourer working at a farm of a local MLA murdered his six-year-old daughter and injured his wife in a fit of rage here today. The reason for his action is not yet known. His wife, Kamla, who was seriously injured, has been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, from the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt.

According to the police, 33-year-old Dilranjan, a resident of Jharkhand, worked as a labourer at Hazara Singh farms, which belonged to MLA Nirmal Singh of Naggal.

Sources said first he tried to attack another labourer, Meghnath (35), who worked and lived on the farm premises, with an axe this morning. When Meghnath escaped, he in a fit of rage clubbed his daughter, who came in his way, and also his wife, who tried to stop him.

Rewari, November 26
A 27-year-old man identified as Pawan Kumar reportedly committed suicide by hanging himself in Bas village, 25 km from here, last night. He is survived by his wife and three children.

While the police after holding an inquest under Section 174 of the CrPC treated it as a case of suicidal death, Pawan’s elder brother, Ram Chander, today alleged that Pawan took the extreme step fearing police torture. SHO Tilak Raj said the GRP recovered the body of a young man, Suresh Kumar of Bhakli village, on July 9 from the outer premises of the Kosli railway station, following which Suresh’s father Chiranji Lal filed a complaint on July 24 suspecting foul play in his son’s death.

Consequently, the GRP had registered a case of murder under Section 302 of the IPC against unknown persons. On November 17, when Chiranji Lal told the GRP that Pawan took away Suresh’s bag on July 9 some time before his demise, Chander and Om Prakash, former sarpanch of Bas village, were asked to bring Pawan to the GRP station here on November 26 for interrogation in this regard. Simultaneously, Chiranji Lal too was directed to be present on the occasion.

The SHO further firmly denied that Pawan was tortured when he along with others had come to the GRP station here earlier on November 23 for interrogation.