Chandigarh, February 6
Haryana has not remained immune to the “unprecedented global economic meltdown” and it is feeling the impact of the economic slowdown. Acknowledging this bitter truth, Governor AR Kidwai said in his Address to the Assembly on the opening day of its Budget session here today that “we had to ensure” that the state was able to achieve a healthy rate of growth. He assured the members that the state government was determined to meet this challenge with greater vigour and renewed optimism.

The government was trying to speed up public spending to give a boost to the economy. The size of the Annual Plan for 2009-10 was being increased by 50.37 per cent from Rs 6,650 crore to Rs 10,000 crore.

The increase was mainly due to a higher allocation for the infrastructure sector. He expressed his satisfaction over the fact that the state had been steadily increasing the size of its annual plans during the past four years. When the present government assumed office in 2004-05, the size of the plan was Rs 2,236 crore. Now it was five times higher.

Opening his Address with tributes to veteran freedom fighter Ranbir Singh Hooda, Kidwai said his death was a great loss to the nation.

Perhaps, keeping in view the criticism by some quarters that the government was developing only certain areas of the state, Kidwai said the state had witnessed stable, non-discriminatory and progressive governance during the past four years.

He also reiterated the government’s customary “firm commitment” to get Haryana’s share in the Ravi-Beas waters through the SYL canal as it was making “concerted” efforts to get the matter expedited. For optimal utilisation and equitable distribution of canal water in the state, the Hansi-Butana link channel had been completed at a cost of Rs 392 crore. Now efforts were being made to resolve the legal issues for connecting it with the Bhakra Main Line.

He said the government had always looked after the interests of its employees. It had revised their pay scales, as a result of which the arrears from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2008, would entail a financial burden of Rs 4,350 crore during the current and next financial years.

Further, there would be an annual additional liability of Rs 2,200 crore on account of salary revision.

Three new medical colleges, including one exclusively for girls, would be opened and four research laboratories established. The colleges would be at Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat district and in Mewat district. The Employees State Insurance Corporation had also sanctioned a medical college in Faridabad.

The four new research laboratories to be set up next year were a molecular biology lab, a virus detection lab, a secondary metabolite lab and a plant tissue culture lab.

He said the government had also taken steps to ensure the uninterrupted and free supply of more than 300 essential medicines to all patients visiting government hospitals.

The Governor said the government had decided to celebrate 2009 as Kisan-Mazdoor Varsh to maximize agricultural production.

Kidwai read out only a part of his Address as he was finding it difficult to read it. He concluded his Address by saying that the rest should be taken as read.

Chandigarh, February 6
In a departure from the usual mud-slinging match between the government and the Opposition, it was a contemplative House that met at the Haryana Vidhan Sabha here today.

Instead of merely condoling the deaths of leaders and freedom fighters, the House deliberated on issues like moral values, promoting the politicians to rise above filthy lucre to become the voice of the masses.

In death, too, veteran freedom fighter Ch Ranbir Singh Hooda, taught a lesson or two to the members who paid rich tributes to him, recalling their myriad experiences with him, his simple ways and progressive ideology.

If Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala moved the obituary resolution stating that “the nation is poorer without him”, Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh suggested the setting up of an institution, named after the leader, to impart political training to promising youth desirous of joining politics. This proposal found support from various quarters. He added this institute should be set up on the pattern of a similar institute established in Andhra Pradesh.

In an obituary liberally peppered with his personal experiences of the “political leader who believed in politics of values”, Birender Singh said Hooda’s contribution in taking the freedom struggle to the villages could not be forgotten.

Earlier, Surjewala stated Hooda was an embodiment of sobriety and simplicity, honesty and humility and his life, an inspiring saga of selfless service, struggle and sacrifice.

A number of members, along with Speaker Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadian, were critical of the fact that the Indian National Lok Dal leaders, the biggest party in the Opposition, had chosen to stay away when the obituary references were taken up.

“After the Leader of the House, the leader of the Opposition party usually speaks on the resolutions. It is unfortunate that the INLD has stayed absent and will not speak on the passing away of a great freedom fighter,” Kadian maintained.

Even as most members attempted to leave the House after making their speeches, the Speaker restrained them from doing so, stating that the House owed it to those who laid down their lives to at least sit and listen to condolences.

The House spent nearly three hours on paying tributes after which the Speaker decided that the condolences of the remaining speakers would be put on record due to paucity of time. He adjourned the House till February 10.

Others who were paid tributes in the Vidhan Sabha included late President of India Dr R Venkataraman, late Prime Minister Vishwanath Pratap Singh, late Minister Tayyab Hussain, late Minister of State Kapoor Chand Sharma, late MLA Manphool Singh, freedom fighters and martyrs of Haryana, victims of bomb blasts in Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Assam, Tripura and Manipur, victims of Chamunda Devi Temple tragedy and those of Mumbai attacks.

Panchkula, February 6
The Haryana Finance Department has observed that a large number of administrative departments are not following the restructuring and right-sizing exercise, finalised earlier to bring in economy in expenditure.

A communiqué issued by the Financial Commissioner to all commissioners and administrative secretaries last week asking for strict compliance with the norms, states that instances have come to the notice of the Finance Department that proposals were being sent to the department for revival of posts on which there was a ban on further recruitment or promotions.

Pointing out that the restructuring finalisation was a comprehensive exercise and the departments were fully involved and their views duly considered, the communiqué states that such proposals were a departure from the agreed outcome of the said exercise.

The exercise of restructuring involved complete re-engineering in the matters of pattern of staffing in different departments and, given the merits and limitations prevailing at that time, considered the most optimum model.

Though the existing pattern prevailing at the time was taken as the basis to initiate the exercise, what finally emerged was not subject to any further co-relations with existing patterns or job requirements.

The earlier staffing pattern was made “completely extinct”.

“Therefore, the posts were not made to discontinue or kept in abeyance, but were simply made to extinct without any assumption of revival in future,” the communiqué states.

“Such posts which were found not justified to continue, simply do not exist altogether, eliminating any possibility of their revivals, least of all to be inducted as fresh sanction,” the communiqué adds.

The Haryana government had gone in to right-size its departments a few years ago to check the spiralling expenditure on salaries and pensions as well as operational running costs.

Detailed guidelines were then issued to all administrative secretaries with directions to formulate restructuring proposals regarding their respective departments.

Two high-powered committees had been constituted by the department to consider and decide the restructuring proposals.

Chandigarh, February 6
Will they or will they not? This question is rocking Haryana politics these days with reference to a possible alliance between Mayawati’s BSP and Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC). The question has assumed importance after the alliance between the BJP and the INLD.

Though Bishnoi has gone on record several times that his party would not enter into any electoral alliance, sources in his party claim otherwise in private. On the other hand BSP leaders see no possibility of the alliance.

HJC supporters say their leader is in touch with Mayawati through certain UP BSP leaders and there is a high possibility of the alliance between the two parties in Haryana. A section of the media yesterday reported their claims.

BSP general secretary in charge of party affairs in Haryana Mann Singh Manhera reacted sharply to the report and described it as “sponsored by the HJC to check the mass exodus in its ranks.” He said the BSP would never enter into an alliance with any party, not to speak of the HJC.

Manhera said his party did not trust Bishnoi, who first described Mayawati as the most suitable leader to become the Prime Minister. But during the trust vote sought by the Manmohan Singh government in July last, Bishnoi sided with BJP leader LK Advani. It was only after the BSP tied up with the INLD in Haryana that Bishnoi again started looking towards the BSP.

The BSP leader claimed that 80 per cent of the HJC workers were in touch with him and his colleagues, while the rest were looking for greener pastures in other parties. He said Bishnoi was trying to befool his “restless” workers by sponsoring reports about the possibility of an alliance between the HJC and the BSP.

Manhera said the BSP had already declared its candidates for nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. For the remaining seat of Sirsa also, the party had identified its candidate, whose name had been recommended to the party supremo. A formal announcement would be made soon.

He said only if Bishnoi and his father Bhajan Lal dissolved their party and became members of the BSP, the latter could talk to them.

Haryana BSP president Prakash Bharati also endorsed the views of Manhera when he said that the BSP would never join hands with a person whose father had tried to divide the Scheduled Castes when he was the Chief Minister of the state.

During Bhajan Lal’s tenure the Scheduled Castes were divided into “A” and “B” categories for giving the benefits of reservation. This step was never liked by the dominant “B” category Scheduled Castes.

Pipli (Kurukshetra), February 6
Traffic on the GT road (NH-1) came to a stand still on the Kurukshetra-Shahbad stretch as “janakrosh padyatra” undertaken by Ajay Chautala reached here today.

The padyatra in its 23rd day covered the stretch from Kurukshetra to Shahbad today.

Traffic on the one side of the highway was blocked as a large number of supporters lined the highway to catch a glimpse of Chautala.

Adding drama to the yatra was a chopper showering flowers on the padyatra, hovering low on the highway much to the delight of INLD supporters.

Traffic was jammed for over three hours as the padyatra moved at a snail’s pace due to the huge crowd on the street.

Drums, bhangra troupe, cartoon characters and even singers entertained the crowd waiting on the NH-1 to garland and encourage Ajay Chautala on his padyatra. Makeshift stages were set up at every few kilometres for Chautala to address his followers.

In over 500-odd km that the padyatra had covered, this was the first occasion that the yatra ventured on the national highway. “There was no other option. Inconvenience to common man was not our intention,” stated a senior functionary of the party.

Terming the padyatra an even bigger success than he had imagined, Chautala said he was overwhelmed by the response.

“The padyatra has taught me that we are nothing. People who vote for us have made us. I got an opportunity to visit huts of poor, which I may not have had otherwise,” he added.

“Everyday, at the end of the padyatra, I send a question to the current government regarding the state of affairs and I want my answers,” he said.

Chautala said he had found that unemployment was the biggest problem of the poor, following the problem of electricity and water. The padyatra had ensured that both the BJP and the INLD cadre worked together that would make the alliance stronger.

Welcoming the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s interim order and observations regarding the “patent abuse of power and illegality” in land release method of the notified land by the Haryana government, he demanded the resignation of the Chief Minister.

Top government functionaries had been usurping precious farmers’ land after issuing government acquisition notices.

“The voice of the people is what matters in the end and I am doing what I should be doing, reaching out to the people,” he said.

Chandigarh, February 6
The Cabinet approval to upgrade Pt BD Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), Rohtak, is unprecedented in a way. The proposal was not part of the note, which was prepared and put before the Cabinet by the Union Health Ministry.

The approval came only after a hectic lobbying by certain Haryana leaders.

According to sources, a few days ago, the Haryana government came to know about a proposal of the Union Health Ministry to upgrade five medical colleges and hospitals in the country to provide medicare facilities on par with those available in the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi. The institutes were to be upgraded under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojna.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda immediately wrote to Union Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss to include the Rohtak PGIMS among the institutes to be upgraded under the scheme.

Rohtak MP Deepender Hooda also met Ramadoss and urged him to accept the request of the state government. However, by then the ministry had already finalised the note to be put up before the Cabinet. Though Ramadoss was sympathetic towards Deepender’s demand, he pointed out that it would take almost a month to prepare a fresh Cabinet note (such is the bureaucratic process in the Centre).

The Union Ministry wanted to push through the proposal at the earliest in view of the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and the Parliament session.

The original proposal had the names of Government Medical College, Amritsar in Punjab, and Government Medical College, Tanda in Himachal Pradesh, but none in Haryana.

Deepender immediately got in touch with Union Law and Justice Minister Hans Raj Bhardwaj and Foreign Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee. They promised to espouse his cause in the Cabinet.

When the proposal came before the Cabinet yesterday, Bhardwaj pressed for the inclusion of the Rohtak PGIMS in the upgrade scheme. Mukherjee, who was presiding over the meeting in the absence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is convalescing these days, also supported Bhardwaj. Ramadoss, who was already committed to Deepender, immediately agreed.

Under the scheme, the Central government would contribute Rs 125 crore and the state government would pay a minimum of Rs 25 crore to upgrade the Rohtak PGIMS, which would benefit not only the people of Haryana but also of the adjoining areas of Rajasthan.

Deepender, while thanking Mukherjee, Bhardwaj and Ramadoss, said the Haryana government had already offered 250 to 350 acres to the Central government to set up an extension of the Delhi AIIMS at Badsa village in Jhajjar district. A team of officers of the Union Health Ministry had already inspected the site.

Fatehabad, February 6
After the war of words between rival factions of the Haryana Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (ad hoc) and also between HSGPC (ad hoc) president Jagdish Singh Jhinda and SAD leader Joginder Singh Aherwan, the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) chief, Jathedar Avtar Singh Makkar, today joined the spat over the "shukrana yatra".

Talking to mediapersons in Kamana village in this district , Makkar said the "shukrana yatra" was nothing but a ploy of the Congress government to divide the Sikhs.

Makkar, who was the chief guest at a shaheedi samagam held in the village gurdwara to remember the martyrs of the famous battle of Muktsar fought by Guru Gobind Singh, said the Sikhs would not allow that to happen and a separate SGPC for Haryana would not be allowed at any cost.

He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh knew Sikh history well and that was the reason he intervened and stopped the misadventure of the Haryana Government in that direction.

The SGPC chief alleged that Jhinda had organised the "shukrana yatra" to please the Congress government in Haryana before the parliamentary elections.

"The Sikhs understand the gambit of the Congress as well as its stooges like Jhinda and they will not tolerate anything imposed on them against their wishes," Makkar said.

HSGPC (ad hoc) president Jhinda, however, reiterated his stand that his committee would take over the seva of gurdwaras in Haryana if their demand for a separate committee was not met till the parliamentary elections.

Talking to mediapersons at Ratia today, Jhinda alleged that the SAD was not opposing the "shukrana yatra" but humanity.

Sirsa, February 6
The police has made elaborate security arrangements for the questioning of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh by a team of the Punjab police from Bathinda here tomorrow.

The questioning is to be held in the office of the Superintendent of Police in the local police lines.

The Bathinda police will question him regarding a case registered against him for hurting the sentiments of the Sikhs by imitating Guru Gobind Singh, which had led to the flaring up of communal passions in the area in May 2007.

The Bathinda police had registered a case against the dera chief under Section 295-A of the IPC on May 20, 2007. The dera chief is on interim bail in that case and the Punjab and Haryana High Court had asked him to join the investigations as and when required by the Punjab police.

The police has so far grilled the dera chief 11 times in this case. Last time, he was grilled on December 3, 2008, in Chandigarh.

The police, according to sources, had deployed around 350 policemen for tomorrow’s questioning. The police officials will be deployed at various places starting from the headquarters of the dera to the police lines.

Spokesman for the Dera Sacha Sauda, Pawan Insan, however, said they had urged their followers to avoid going towards the police lines tomorrow.

Insan alleged that the Punjab police had been harassing the dera chief by questioning him time and again.

Sonepat, February 6
A process server in the Gannaur judicial court, Ved Prakash, committed suicide by setting himself on fire in the courtroom of the Subdivisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) here today. His body has been sent to the Civil Hospital here for a postmortem and the police has registered a case against the SDJM.

Ved Prakash, in a suicide note as well as in writing on a wall of the courtroom, has allegedly blamed SDJM Raj Kumar Jain for “torturing” him to take this extreme step.

Prakash reached the court before normal hours and after entering the courtroom, he asked a safai karamchari to leave the room. No sooner, the safai karamchari left the room, Prakash bolted the room from inside and set himself on fire. Seeing the smoke coming out of the room, people broke open the door of the room. However, the Prakash had died.

A three-page suicide note, purportedly written by him to the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was recovered from his bag.

In the suicide note, he had narrated different incidents of alleged torture by the SDJM and demanded an inquiry into the allegations.

District and Sessions Judge (DSJ) Virender Singh and DSP Banwari Lal reached on the spot. The DSJ assured the family of the victim that justice would be done in the case.

SHO Sultan Singh said after preliminary investigations, a case under Section 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC had been registered against the SDJM. However, no arrest had been made so far.

Sonepat, February 6
Shopkeepers of the local Geeta Bhawan Chowk today closed their shops in protest against the registration of a false case against a tyre shop owner, Satish Arya, and allegedly keeping him in illegal confinement before producing him in court. The traffic on the busy road of the market remained blocked for around an hour.

The police had registered a case against Arya on a complaint by R Narain, who had alleged that Arya had beaten him up and threatened to kill him. He was arrested yesterday and was produced in the court today.

However, state media in charge of the BJP Rajiv Jain has alleged that Arya was arrested on a false complaint and demanded cancellation of the case.