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Canal Water
Govt to open drugstores
Appoint chairman of wage board: Scribes
‘White paper’ sought on medical institute’s working
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Amendments to Punjab Excise Act hang fire
News Analysis
Biomass waste-based power plant
Seminar highlights media role
Jobless youth to launch nationwide struggle
Guest teachers hold a protest in Karnal on Sunday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar
LS Polls
Campaign against corrupt govt officials
2 substations opened
Man done to death by son
Shiv Khera’s party to contest LS polls
HJC secy resigns
INLD-BJP rally
postponed
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South Haryana will get its due, says CM
Shiv Sharma
Narnaul, January 18 Earlier, Hooda inaugurated a primary health centre constructed in the memory of Vaidya Matadin, father of a Supreme Court lawyer RN Mittal, in Brahmanwas village. The Chief Minister said the state government had decided to observe 2009 as farmer-labour year (mazdoor-kisan year). Hooda said the UPA government waived loans worth Rs 71,000 crore and 7.12 lakh farmers of Hayana were benefited of Rs 2,112 crore. In Haryana, he said the rate of interest on crop loans had been reduced to 7 per cent from 11 per cent. Reiterating his resolution to provide maximum facilities to farmers, he said he would continue his struggle to give due right to labourers. He said Mahendergarh district was considered as a backward area as it did not get a developmental leap as much it deserved during the past 40 years. His government during its three-and-a-half-year tenure tried its best to remove this disparity. Hooda said to give due share to each area of the state, Hansi-Butana link canal was constructed at a cost of Rs 350 crore, but some vested interests attempted to fulfill their political interest and put legal constraints. He said with the decision of the Supreme Court, the water of this link canal would reach till the tail end at Brahmanwas. Terming the “Janakarosh Yatra” as “Swarth Yatra”, he said it was being taken out in the wake of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister said the capacity of Jawahar Lal canal of Mahendergarh district had been raised from 1,500 cusecs to 2,200 cusecs and now it would be increased up to 2,500 cusecs. All pumps installed for lift irrigation were being repaired to provide ample water to the area. Hooda said his government had inherited the problem of electricity. However, the state government would commission one power plant each year to root out this problem and make the state self-sufficient in the field of power. The state government had formulated an ambitious project to generate 5,000 MW of additional electricity in the state. Hooda announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh each for 13 villages of Nalwati area and Rs 25 lakh each for Brahmanwas and Maukuta villages of the district. He also announced to construct a road from Brahmanwas village to Maukuta village and ordered to conduct a survey for constructing a canal to get irrigation water to Brahmanwas village. He also announced to give a sum of Rs 2.51 lakh for the library of Brahmanwas village. He also inaugurated the newly built Nijampur-Narnaul and Nijampur-Brahmanwash road.
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Govt to open drugstores
Chandigarh,
January 18 Adopting a Central government initiative, the Health
Department will now open drugstores for generic medicines called “Jan
Aushadhi Stores” at all district hospitals. To be open round the
clock, these stores will provide low-cost genuine drugs at rates five to
10 times lower than the market rate, bringing down the rates of
medicines substantially. Health Secretary Anuradha Gupta said under the scheme, the land and
premises were being provided by the state government while the venture
would be in collaboration with the Department of Pharmaceuticals,
Government of India, and the state Red Cross Society. “The medicines
will be supplied by the central public sector undertaking through Indian
Drug Pharmaceutical Limited (IDPL), which will act as a wholesaler and
retailer with regard to supply of medicines. Through this exercise, our
effort is to ensure that the common man gets quality medicines without
having to spend much,” she said. With the opening of these stores,
the department will wind up any chemist shops operating on the hospital
premises. Also, while the IDPL will supply about 102 essential drugs
manufactured by them, the rest of the requirement of drugs from among
the 328 medicines shortlisted as essential drugs by the department, will
be provided by the central public sector undertakings like Rajasthan
Chemicals, Hindustan Chemicals and Bengal Chemicals. District Red Cross
societies have been empowered to provide their list of drugs on the
basis of their requirement to the Jan Aushadhi Stores. This will not
only check the sale of spurious drugs but also ensure that rates of
drugs are not inflated and medicine is available to the common man.
The first such store will be inaugurated in Gurgaon on February 4 by
Union Minister of Chemicals, Fertilisers and Steel Ram Vilas Paswan, and
gradually opened in other districts also. While Panchkula will have the
second such store in the state, the scheme will be rolled out in all
districts by February 28. |
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Appoint chairman of wage board: Scribes
Sirsa, January 18 The meeting was held in Tarkeshwar Dham situated on the Rania road here. Condemning the alleged lackadaisical attitude of the central government on the issue, the union said the government had made no serious efforts to appoint the new chairman of the board after Justice K Narayana Kurup (retd) submitted his resignation in May 2008. The union also demanded a review of the concept of part-time journalists. The impact of global meltdown on the media industry was also discussed at length. Expressing concern over shelving of media houses’ expansion plan due to meltdown, members of the union asked the government to ensure that the media industry was not hit by the new economic phenomenon. The union also rejected any kind of censure on the television reporting in the wake of controversy over the live coverage of 26/11 Mumbai attacks and said self-regulatory exercises would suffice. The union passed resolutions in this regard during the business session. President of the NUJ PK Roy, former president NK Trikha, general-secretary Atam Deep, vice-president Jatinder Awasthi, secretary of the NUJ Bhupender Dharmani, president of the Chandigarh Union of Journalists Haresh Vashisht, Rajender Prabhu and GK Mohanti, founder members of the NUJ, participated in the deliberations. KV Singh, OSD to the Chief Minister, was the chief guest, while Sunita Setia, chairperson of the Improvement Trust, presided over the meeting. Haryanvi songs by Karamveer Fauji, play “Gadhe Ki Barat” by Vishva Deepak Trikha, choreography on female foeticide by Shilpa Verma’s Parivartan and choreography on “Bachpan” by Sanjeev Shad were the main attractions. |
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‘White paper’ sought on medical institute’s working
Karnal, January 18 They also threatened to move court or approach the Union Home Minister to seek a CBI probe into the affairs of the institution. President of the HSGPC (ad hoc) Jagdish Singh Jinda said a preliminary inquiry into the functioning of the SGPC-controlled trust, managing the affairs of the institution, revealed glaring irregularities and even the lease deed of the land in favour of the SGPC suffered from legal infirmities. Alleging that the SGPC devised a novel modus operandi to grab 25 acres belonging to Shahbad gurdwara, Jinda said the local Gurdwara Managing Committee was dissolved by the SGPC and a receiver was appointed to look after the affairs of the trust. The receiver was supposed to function as a caretaker but he overstepped his jurisdiction and leased the land worth Rs 75 crore to the SGPC for a period of 100 years and the latter constituted a trust to open a medical college, he claimed. It was a glaring example of how the SGPC was trying to grab the property of Haryana gurdwaras and stalling all moves for a separate SGPC for the state, he said, adding that the trust was headed by none else than Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who was neither a functionary of the SGPC nor belonged to Haryana. Normally, all such trusts were headed by functionaries of the local gurdwara but in this case a major departure was made by the SGPC, which exposed its sinister designs, he maintained. Jinda said a director was appointed on December 8, 2005, for the proposed medical college even before the preliminary requirements were met and during the past three years, lakhs had been paid towards salaries without any work. The institute had not yet applied for permission to open the medical college and get the nod from the Medical Council of India, but the “surplus” staff was in place and paid regularly. Charging the SGPC of spending gurdwara funds in a reckless manner, Jinda said the director had been staying in the SGPC rest house in Chandigarh and using the vehicle of the institute for travelling. The HSGPC (ad hoc) was also inquiring into the allegations of misuse of money in construction of buildings and other activities, he added.
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Amendments to Punjab Excise Act hang fire Panchkula, January 18 It has been proposed to confer power on the public prosecutor to compound excise cases and to reduce the amount of composition fee and to ocnfer discretionary power on the judicial magistrate in this regard for effective and expeditious disposal of cases under the Act. During the meeting of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA) held recently, it was pointed out that despite letters and reminders sent to all district and sessions judges and district legal services authorities to send in their suggestions and recommendations, these where
still awaited. The last such reminder was sent by HSLSA on November 17, 2008. A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Justice AK Goel of the Punjab and Haryana High Court on August July 14, 2007, where the proposed amendments to the Act were discussed. Thereafter, in September the HSLSA sent a resume of the said meeting to the advocate general, excise and taxation commissioner and the director,
prosecution department for information and necessary action. In the meeting it had been suggested that Section 61 of Sub Section (1) of the Act may be appropriately amended, power may be conferred on the public prosecutor in charge of the case to enter into composition with the accused and the amount of minimum penalty payable on composition of the offence may be appropriately reduced or left to the discretion of the judicial officer. As no action taken report was received for the excise and taxation commissioner, a letter was again sent to him by the HSLSA. However, no report has been received by HSLSA from him so far. In its meeting on July 10, 2008, the committee also thought it appropriate to seek suggestions from all district and sessions judges, chairmen of
district legal services authorities and other judicial officers. Consequently, HSLSA sent a letter to the said judicial officers on July 14, 2008. Reminders
followed this letter.
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In poll year, state to regularise encroachments along roads
Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service
Gurgaon, January 18 The state government recently amended Sections 3 and 6 of the Punjab Scheduled Roads and Controlled Areas Restriction of Unregulated Development Act, 1963 (Act No. 41 of 1963) in the name of “providing relief to the public at large”. The said Act restricted the erection of structures within 30 metres of the scheduled roads and 100 metres along the bypasses. The Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has been monitoring the case in CWP No. 4559 of 2007, had directed the state authorities to take action in this regard in orders dated March 13 and August 18, 2008. However, instead of taking action as per the high court’s orders, the government amended the aforesaid Sections of the Act by way of promulgation of an ordinance a few months ahead of the parliamentary elections. A meeting under the chairmanship of the state Financial Commissioner, Town and Country Planning, was held to discuss the matter on January 1, 2009. The director, Town and Country Planning, Haryana, informed the meeting that the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI), the PWD (B & R) and DTPs had detected a large number of unauthorised constructions along the scheduled roads and bypasses in the state. “Action against the unauthorised constructions has caused panic among the affected persons and representations have been received in this regard,” the official informed the meeting, adding that the government now “intends to provide relief to the public at large” and “has decided to regularise the unauthorised constructions along the scheduled roads/bypasses on payment of the prescribed fee”. Following the meeting and after getting approval from the authorities concerned, the said Sections of the Act were amended by way of promulgation of ordinance in this regard by the Governor of Haryana on January 3. Soon after, the director of the Town and Country Planning Department shot off letters to all senior town planners and district town planners in the state, informing them of the move and asking them to carry out a survey to identify all such constructions along the scheduled roads/bypasses and get these videogrpahed. The letter, a copy of which is in possession of The Tribune, maintains that January 3, 2009, has been fixed as the cut-off date. “The details/policy for regularisation of such buildings is being worked out. However, in the meantime, it is necessary to freeze the constructions raised till January 3,” it adds. As of now, survey and videography to identify the unauthorised constructions existing before the cut-off date is in full swing in the entire state. Call it the Haryana government’s New Year gift to the encroachers or attribute it to election-year pressure, but this move definitely raises a pertinent question that why the state’s “welfare” schemes often tend to benefit the defaulters or violators of rules, and not the law-abiding residents?
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Biomass waste-based power plant
Chandigarh, January 18 With the installation of this project, the firm could generate high-quality continuous steam for its process plant and for generation of 2 MW required for the industry. Bharat Starch Industries was earlier using the steam purchased from Ballarpur Industries for its processing requirements and for electricity it was dependent on the grid and generating sets running on diesel, which was proving to be very costly. She said biomass cogeneration was the most economically viable and proven technology to fulfil the thermal and electric requirements of industries. Misra said HAREDA was promoting this technology among the industries by creating awareness by organising seminars and workshops. HAREDA was also promoting biomass power projects for generation of power for which the state had notified an attractive tariff for purchase of power i.e. Rs 4.08 per unit, which was the highest in the country. As many as 21 such projects of 189 MW were in various stages of implementation in the state. |
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Seminar highlights media role
Yamunanagar, January 18 This was stated by chairman of the Department of Mass Communication, Kurukshetra, BK Kuthiala while addressing a seminar organised by the Panchanand Research Institute, Chandigarh, at Guru Nanak Khalsa College (GNKC) here today. Highlighting the shortcomings of the media, especially electronic, Kuthiala, who is also the director of the central committee of Panchanand, said: “It’s not that everyone is doing responsible journalism.” Forming the Yamunanagar unit of Panchanand, he said it’s high time that people should respond to the media coverage. People should write to editors, send SMS or call when they feel strongly about anything. The role of Panchanand was to make people aware of the media coverage and the way they can create awareness among the society, he added. Former editor of the Dainik Tribune Radhe Sham Sharma said Panchanand helped people of different domain to unite together to discuss important issues and create mass awareness. |
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Jobless youth to launch nationwide struggle
Hisar, January 18 Chief of the sangathan Rajinder Sharma here today said the youth of the country felt cheated as the present political system had failed to put good education, economic development, cultural and social system in place. He said while unemployment rose continuously, political parties kept projecting a rosy picture for the youth. The parties had failed to deliver their promises and the situation had reached a point of no return. Criticising the Congress government in Haryana, he said his organisation had supported the Congress before the elections as the party had promised to end unemployment in the state. However, during the past four years nothing had been done to solve the problem. The educated youth were dismayed by rampant corruption, favouritism and nepotism in recruitments. Sharma said his organisation would not align with any political party in future and would launch its struggle with the help of like-minded organisations in the country. He said in the first instance, the sangathan would create its units in all villages in Haryana. |
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Guest teachers block traffic
Karnal, January 18 The protesters, who marched to the house of local MP Arvind Sharma raising slogans in favour of their demands, were enraged when they were informed that Sharma was not at home. They decided to burn an effigy of Sharma, but the situation was salvaged as he arrived just before the effigy was burnt. He listened to the demands of guest teachers and informed that he had already taken up their demand for regularisation with the government and assured that he would pursue their demand. Later, state president of the Guest Teachers Association Arun Malik and Karnal district president Manoj Kumar said they would continue their protests till the government accepted their demand for regularisation. They also hinted at intensifying the agitation and said the government should settle the long and pending demand before the Lok Sabha elections. |
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LS Polls
Rewari, January 18 Addressing a press conference here last night, he said the Rewari constituency, from where he had won five assembly elections from 1989 to 2005 in a row, had now been included in the Gurgaon parliamentary constituency. Secondly, he was an ex-serviceman while the Gurgaon constituency too was teeming with ex-servicemen, he added. He exuded confidence that if he was given the ticket, his performance at the hustings would be brighter in comparison to that of other aspirants.
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Campaign against corrupt govt officials
Hisar, January 18 The decision was taken at a meeting of mandal supporters under the chairmanship of Bajrang Das Garg, president of the mandal and chairman of Haryana CONFED. Garg said a few officials were trying to browbeat the business community even as the state government was putting in special efforts to boost trade and commerce in
Haryana.
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2 substations opened
Kaithal, January 18 Addressing people on the occasion, the minister said with the installation of these substations, thousands of power consumers of 12 villages would benefit. Surjewala said the government had taken a number of steps to strengthen the power infrastructure. He also highlighted various other welfare schemes introduced by the government. He said 200-litre water tanks and free water connections were being provided to SC families. Shamsher Singh Surjewala, MLA, Kaithal, Kalayat MLA Geeta Bhukkal and Tejinder Singh Mann, MLA,Pai, also spoke on the occasion.
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Man done to death by son
Rewari, January 18 Later, Lal Singh also made a bid to end his life by reportedly consuming poison. He was admitted to a private hospital here where his condition has been stated to be stable. The Kosli police has registered two criminal cases in this regard - a case of murder against Lal Singh and his son Mahender Singh Yadav and another case of attempt to commit suicide against Lal Singh. Sources said Deep Chand, an ex-serviceman, was a pensioner and also owned a piece of agricultural land. He had recently started living with his younger son, Gajraj Singh Yadav, after leaving Lal Singh’s residence. This move had irked Lal Singh, who allegedly murdered him. |
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Shiv Khera’s party to contest LS polls
Karnal, January 18 Announcing this here today, general secretary of the party Tejinder Pal Tyagi said the polarisation of society on political lines had compelled the party to enter electoral politics. Tyagi said the party had already set up units in 18 states and the executive committee of the Haryana unit was constituted today. He said 13 district units in Haryana had also been constituted and NK Aggarwal had been appointed president of the state unit. |
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HJC secy resigns
Kaithal, January 18 Talking to mediapersons here today, Pundir, who hails from Fatehpur (Pundri) in Kaithal district, said he had sent his resignation to the president of the party. He said he had joined the party with high hopes from its president, but his experience of over a year with the party showed this the party “has been functioning in an undemocratic way and Bishnoi never consults other office-bearers on major decisions”. He alleged that Bishnoi was surrounded by sycophants. He said he felt humiliated and suffocated in the HJC and his conscience did not allow him to continue in the party any more. |
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INLD-BJP rally
postponed
Sirsa, January 18 BJP President Rajnath Singh and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala were to address this rally. However, the INLD today announced that the rally had been postponed due to rain. Padam Jain, district president of the INLD, confirmed that the rally had been postponed. The new date, he said, would be announced later. |
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2 killed in accident
Fatehabad, January 18 |
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