Chandigarh, February 16
The Comptroller and Auditor-General (CAG) has found the food and supplies department guilty of an injudicious decision to allow less out-turn ratio of rice on fair average quality paddy that resulted in undue favour to millers and a loss of Rs 36.47 lakh to the state exchequer.

The Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, food and supplies department, Haryana, defended the decision, stating (May 2008) that relaxation in paddy and rice was sought owing to untimely and unseasonal rains in the interest of farmers and grant of relaxation did not result in any undue benefit to the rice millers.

However, the reply was not convincing since the Government of India (GOI) had allowed the benefit of reduced out-turn ratio on the paddy procured under relaxed specifications (URS) only, whereas the state government procured FAQ paddy during the extended relaxed period on which the benefit was not admissible.

A report by the CAG states that the food and supplies department procures paddy as per specifications of the GOI for the central pool and provides the same to millers, who in turn deliver rice to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) at a fixed out-turn ratio of paddy.

The GOI conveyed ( on September 1, 2005) uniform specifications of paddy and rice for the kharif marketing seasons (KMS) 2005-06, which were circulated to procuring agencies by the director, food and supplies department, Haryana.

Before the commencement of procurement (from October 1, 2005), the state government approached the GOI in September for the grant of relaxation in specifications of paddy and rice and to lower the out-turn ratio of rice due to unprecedented and incessant rains during September 2005 to avoid distress sale of paddy by the farmers.

Pending the grant of relaxation in the specifications,the department started procuring paddy of the Fair Average Quality (FAQ) as per specifications. The GOI relaxed ( on October 6, 2005) the specifications of paddy for procurement from October 6 to 24, 2005 and directed the procuring agencies to stock and account for separately the stocks procured up to October 5, 2005 up to October 24, 2005 and thereafter. The state government again approached the GOI to extend the relaxation beyond October 24, 2005 to cover the entire period of KMS 2005-06.

The GOI decided (October 28, 2005) to extend the relaxation up to November 15, 2005 and to reduce the out-turn ratio to 66 per cent for paddy procured by state procuring agencies with the relaxed specifications.

On being further approached by the state government in November, the GOI also agreed to allow relaxation for the period from October 1 to 5 and further extended the relaxation up to November 30, 2005.

No such relaxation was admissible on FAQ paddy procured by procuring agencies as per standard specifications prescribed by the GOI, on which out-turn ratio of 67 per cent was to be obtained from the millers.

The financial burden on account of reduction in out-turn ratio was to be shared equally by the State government and GOI. The department had procured 68,950 metric tonne (MT) paddy of FAQ and 5,84,513 MT of paddy with relaxed specifications from October 1 to November 30, 2005.

The Audit observed (January 2008) that benefit of reduced out-turn ratio to millers was extended even on FAQ paddy (68,950 MT) along with paddy procured with relaxed specifications on the ground that Punjab had given this benefit.

The decision of the state government lacked justification as the department had procured paddy during October 1 to 5 and from November 16 to 30 as per specifications laid down by the GOI which had out-turn ratio of 67 per cent. This resulted in undue favour to the millers and loss to the state exchequer.

Jhajjar, February 16
In order to appoint micro observers in selected constituencies and polling stations during the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission of India (EC) has directed district election officers to take an advance inventory of the availability of staff of the Government of India and central public sector undertakings.

A communication in this regard has recently been sent to chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states and union territories in which they have been instructed to incorporate the state government staff members’ names along with all others required details in the randomisation database.

In its letter No. 464/INST/2008/EPS, the EC has stated: “The commission has been appointing micro observers in selected constituencies and polling stations depending on the availability of central staff and central public sector undertakings. In case of central staff not being available in adequate numbers, the Divisional Commissioner (if the DC system exists in a particular state) will coordinate and ensure that inter-district sharing of micro observers takes place and the DC will monitor this process.”

The EC has added that if the DC system does not exist, the CEO will coordinate and make sure that micro observers from the neighbouring districts or urban centres are diverted to the district not having central staff to be appointed as a micro observer.

Meanwhile, to avoid any puzzling situation during coming Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission (EC) has directed its state bodies to furnish comprehensive report of observer and returning officer (RO) concerned either jointly or separately in case the observer ordered to stop the process of counting.

Besides, the observer concerned will also have to report the matter to the EC immediately so that the EC could issue necessary directions regarding the matter after taking all material circumstances into account.

A communication in this regard has recently been sent to Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states and union territories in the country to make the ROs and other election related officers aware of the direction and its compliance.

In another letter issued to the CEOs, the EC also expressed concern over the functioning of presiding officers after the end of the polling process.

“The commission has received complaints in the past that some of the presiding officers do not close the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) by pressing the ‘Close Button’ after the end of poll for subsequent manipulation. This act of presiding officers leads to hamper the Commission’s endeavours of conducting free and fair poll,” said the EC, directing that the presiding officers would not only close the EVM by pressing ‘Close Button’ at the end of poll in presence of polling agents, but also draw a line after the last entry in Form 17A and record the signed statement with obtaining the signature of all polling agents.

Apart from this, the presiding officers will have to give one attested copy of Form 17C (account of votes recorded) at the end of the poll to the polling agents irrespective of their asking.

Yamunanagar, February 16
The number of migratory birds, which came here along the Yamuna from different countries, has reduced considerably due to lack of protection of their natural habitant in the wetland area here. A record 12000 birds of different species came here once. However, their number has considerably reduced now.

The reason for the decline is attributed to unfavorable conditions prevailing here. The river belt is in bad shape due to controlled mining in different places and other activities by locals in the birds’ natural habitant.

Moreover, there is no move to generate awareness among the locals about the protection of the birds. Neither the forest department nor the administration have done anything to protect their habitat.

Migratory birds of different species start arriving here from the mid- November and stay till March.They can be located in the 40- km stretch along the river. The birds species include ruddy shelducks, wigeon, barheaded geese, common poachard, common red shanks, green red shanks, common sandpiper, spotted sand piper, coot, and large cormorant. They come here from Siberia, Denmark, North of Europe, Holland and the cold areas of Pakistan, reveal ornithologists.

They also come to the Hathni Kund barrage, the Tajewala headworks and the Dadupur headworks.

“I have been tracing the migratory birds for the past 18 years. Once I recorded that the number of birds was more than 12,000 along the Yamuna river belt. I have been associated with national and international societies concerned with birds and sending bird records and data to these organisations. But due to the lack of protection of the wetland here, the number of birds progressively declined and this year too witnessed fewer migratory birds ”, said Dr Rajiv Kalsi, head of the zoology department of Mukand Lal National College.

“First of all, the natural habitant of the birds needs to be protected and then awareness should be generated among the villagers about their protection.Damages to the wetland are caused by uncontrolled mining and plying of tractor-trailers and trucks in the river carrying sand and earth,” he pointed out.

District forest officer R.S Dhankar, when contacted, said “we have not noticed mining in the Yamuna belt near the headworks in our area. Moreover, we have asked villagers to inform the department, if they find any dead bird there.Some migratory birds can be carriers of the bird flu virus”, he added.

When contacted,wildlife inspector (forest range) Shiv Singh Rawat said “we have witnessed fewer migratory birds this year”. He said the river belt in the wetland was not protected and they had no records of migratory birds.

Hisar, February 16
Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi is likely to shift to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat from Bhiwani in the next parliamentary elections, it is learnt.

Though he himself has not yet stated this publicly, senior party leaders say in private that the shift is imminent as his father former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s pocket borough - the Adampur assembly constituency of Hisar district - which earlier was part of the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat has now been included in the Hisar parliamentary constituency following the latest delimitation exercise.

Adampur has stood by the Bishnoi family for over four decades and Bhajan Lal had won from there in last year's byelection also caused by his expulsion from the state assembly after he joined the HJC.

The massive margin with which members of the Bishnoi family have won from Adampur in both Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in the past, make it imperative for the junior Bishnoi to shift to Hisar. Adampur margin can offset losses in other assembly constituencies included in the Hisar Lok Sabha seat.

The rural and urban units of the Hisar district HJC have already passed unanimous resolutions recommending Kuldeep Bishnoi's name for the Hisar seat in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. These were the first indications that Bishnoi was considering a constituency shift.

Another strong indication of the shift came when Kuldeep Bishnoi launched his “Kuldeep Chale Chaupal” campaign from Adampur itself. He has also toured several villages of Hisar as part of this campaign.

HJC insiders say Bhajan Lal has already indicated that he will like to contest the Lok Sabha seat. Kuldeep Bishnoi had reacted to his father's statement in this regard, saying the veteran leader was free to contest from any of the 10 seats.

Bhajan Lal has represented the Karnal and Faridabad Lok Sabha seats in the past. However, insiders say if Kuldeep decides to shift to Hisar his father may contest from Bhiwani seat which has been re-christened as Bhiwani-Mahendragarh parliamentary constituency after delimitation.

The duo could be formidable contenders from these seats as Bhajan Lal commands much political clout in his home district of Hisar.

As for Kuldeep Bishnoi he had won the Bhiwani seat defeating Ajay Singh Chautala, a son of INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala, and Surender Singh, a son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal in 2004.

Bhajan Lal can give his opponents a run for their money should he try his luck from
Karnal too.

Hisar, February 16
The state government has not yet implemented instructions issued by its finance department in 1998 to remove the discrepancies in the pay scales by providing the benefit of Assured Career Progression (ACP) to those employees who had not been given any promotion.

Sushil Rajpal, secretary, Haryana Private Colleges Non-Teaching Employees Association, said here that even though the government was in the process of implementing the sixth pay panel award, non-teaching employees of private colleges in Haryana were still struggling to get the benefit of the fifth pay panel.

He said the scheme detailed in the 1998 notification was devised to give service benefit to those employees who had no chance of any promotion during their whole career. He said the association had urged the Chief Minister to remove this anomaly by granting ACP to the non-teaching employees working in the non-government colleges of the state.

Without implementing the 1998 instructions, the non-teaching employees of affiliated colleges would not gain from the sixth pay panel award.

Rajpal said non-teaching employees had always been paid salary and allowances on a par with their counterparts in government colleges. In these colleges majority of employees retired on the same posts to which they were appointed. Most of them were on the verge of retirement and had been awaiting the benefit of ACP for the past more than 12 years.

Sirsa, February 16
Sirsa town has been virtually divided into two spheres for the past two months due to the ongoing work on the railway overbridge (ROB) on the Sirsa-Dabwali road and poor traffic management.

One part of the town towards Hisar that has district courts, mini-secretariat, police lines, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, JCD Vidyapeeth and some other government offices remains disconnected from other parts of the town for better part of the day due to traffic congestion and long durations of closure of railway crossings.

Important places like the Dera Sacha Sauda, CMK College, grain market, general hospital, Government Polytechnic, Industrial Training Institute, a majority of private hospitals, almost all major markets, the city police station and all prime localities of the town are located in the other part of the town.

The main railway crossing on the Hisar-Dabwali road remains crowded with labour and construction material due to the construction works on the ROB and the other two crossings near Chatargarh Patti and the old tehsil road are unable to take the traffic load.

Long queues of vehicles can be seen on both sides of all three railway crossings of the town during their closure. The crossings remain closed for 15 to 20 minutes but 20 to 30 minutes are required to clear the traffic on both sides of the crossings due to poor traffic management.

Locals said it was easier to reach a place like the mini-secretariat from Fatehabad town, 45 km away than from the city police station or C Block, which was just 2 km away.

The Sirsa Citizen Welfare Forum has recently written to the chairman of the Railway Board, New Delhi, the general manager of the northwestern Railways, Jaipur, and the Superintendent of Police, Sirsa, to draw their attention towards the problem.

“We have requested the chairman of the Railway Board, New Delhi, KC Jena, to revert some of the goods trains to other routes, which were recently put on this route after strengthening of the railway track. The trains can be put on these lines again when the work on the ROB is over,” says advocate RSD Bansal, president of the Sirsa Citizen Welfare Forum.

“To mitigate the problem, the railway authorities should also provide double-lifting barrier on the mini-bypass near Chatargarh Patti in place of the single-lifting barrier,” added Ravi Parkash Jindal, general secretary of the forum.

The forum has also drawn the attention of SP Subhash Yadav towards the traffic blockade on the Dabwali-Rania road due to the parking of cement-loaded trailers on the road throughout the day.

“Ten to 12 trailers of cement arrive daily and instead of de-loading these in the godown, these are directly supplied to retailers on the road. The retailers too come with their tractor-trailers congesting the road throughout the day,” said Bansal.

The Sirsa Citizen Welfare Forum has requested the police to take suitable action in this matter so that the problem of traffic jams could be solved.

Gurgaon, February 16
The Shri Mata Sheetla Devi Shrine Board (SMSDSB) has decided to raise the salaries of temple staff. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the board here.

The meeting, held under the chairmanship of Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Deepti Umashankar, who is also the Chief Administrator of the board, unanimously decided to almost double the salaries of the employees serving at the temple .

After the hike, the salaries of the temple employees have almost been doubled. The hike will have financial implications of Rs 57,925 per month as the board will have to spend Rs 3,09,708 per month on salaries against the earlier expenses of Rs 2,51,783. The meeting was informed that the temple employees had been given dearness allowance twice during the last year. A salary hike of Rs 1,200 to each employee was given in July, 2007.

The Deputy Commissioner disclosed that the state government had sanctioned 40 posts for the temple and a case to regularise these employees as per an announcement of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had been sent to the state authorities. The tenure of the contractual employees was also extended for another three months.

Umashankar asked the CEO of the temple to prepare a rescue emergency plan and conduct a mock drill to see the preparedness for meeting any eventuality during the fair scheduled to be held from March 10.

A proposal of starting a "Kanyadaan" package of household items worth Rs 21,000 at the time of marriage of daughters of poor widows was also approved at the meeting. This proposal was made at the behest of the Deputy Commissioner, who asserted that the temple board should also contribute for some social cause.

Fatehabad, February 16
The Navyug Nirman, an NGO headed by Kunal Bhadoo, son-in-law of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, started a campaign of replacing incandescent electric bulbs with compact fluorescent lamps (CFL) in the local Shakti Nagar locality recently.

Bhadoo visited the houses and thatched huts of the locality, which is inhabited mostly by the poorest of the poor.

The NGO has been taking up social activities like replacement of bulbs with CFLs, cleanliness drive, tree plantation, installation of reflectors behind slow- moving vehicles like tractor-trailer and camel carts and other such activities for the last one year in the district and its villages.

During his campaigns, Bhadoo, a graduate from the London School of Economics, has been seen doing manual labour like painting of buildings, leveling of land or repairing of the roads. He has been nursing the Fatehabad Assembly constituency since he started visiting here after the ‘vikas rally’ of Hooda in January 2008.

Although he denies that he has any political ambitions and the drive is philanthropic in nature, some of the workers do not hide the fact that he aspires to make a political future from Fatehabad. With the parliamentary elections drawing near, some aspirants for the Congress ticket have also started accompanying him.

Sunita Duggal, an income tax officer at Gurgaon and an aspirant for the Congress ticket from the Sirsa parliamentary constituency, also accompanied him during his campaign.

When contacted, Bhadoo said he had been educated in London, where social service had been a way of life for many people and considered it as a service to the nation.

He said he had been inspired a lot by reading Mahatma Gandhi and maintained that there was no political agenda behind his social work.

Kaithal, February 16
All-India Kisan - Khet Majdoor Congress president and Kaithal MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala has welcomed the state government’s announcement that lands of those farmers who fail to repay bank loans will not be auctioned.

He also appreciated the government decision that against three acres, only one-acre land will be mortgaged by banks while advancing loans for purchase of tractors.

While addressing mediapersons here,Surjewala said these decisions would provide great relief to the farmers who always remained under mental strain after raising loans from banks.

The veteran leader who had been raising his voice for the cause of farmers and poor sections of the society also expressed concern over the poor quality of seed and pesticides supplied to farmers.

He said during the past years some farmers had suffered huge financial losses on account of crop failure as a result of poor quality of seeds, pesticides and other agriculture inputs.

He said the government should amend the existing laws and make provision of stringent punishment to those who supply poor quality agriculture inputs. He said government officials conniving with such unscrupulous suppliers should also be strictly dealt with.

He also urged the government to make a policy for providing space to rehriwalas and those who earned their livelihood by selling goods on footpaths in municipal areas. Kavi Raj Sharma, DCC president, Dilbagh Mor, organising secretary, HPCC, Surinder Ranjha, vice-president, local Municipal council, were among those present.

Hisar, February 16
An international conference on “Changing Environmental Trends and Sustainable Development” held at Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology here has recommended that the philosophy of sustainable development be incorporated in the Indian education system.

Environment experts from various countries who attended the three-day meet unanimously recommended that unless the education system and the media collectively helped promote environmental conservation as part of the Indian lifestyle, sustainable development could not be achieved.

The experts were of the view that the new and clean technologies would be developed keeping them user- friendly and cost effective. Besides, all efforts should be made to ensure that these were adopted by the society.

Phillips R. McKnight, an American expert on environmental law, said meaningful environmental conservation was possible only when there was a strong political will and social commitment to do so. Without these two pre-requisites, no law could check degradation of the environment.

German environment expert Elizabeth L Eckardt said in a democracy of the size of India, political parties should include environmental issues in their agenda as well as manifestoes. There could be no better service to the nation than this, she added.

Russ Schnell, deputy director, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA, emphasised that significant political and economic transformation were necessary to check greenhouse gases from depleting the ozone layer. Otherwise, the average global temperature could rise by 8 °C, he warned.

Japanese scientist Murahara of Tokai University, who had patented more than 100 environment related inventions, said offshore electrolysis plants could prove effective in handling energy crisis and global warming.

Sirsa, February 16
"As swimming cannot be learnt merely by reading a book on swimming and one cannot become a good driver just by mugging up a book on driving, journalism too cannot be mastered simply by mustering bookish knowledge."

Former director, News, Doordarshan Hisar, Ajit Singh said this during an interactive session with students of journalism here in Chaudhary Devi Lal University. Virender Singh Chauhan, chairperson, department of mass communication, presided over.

Ajit Singh said that in this age of convergence of technology, students of media must acquaint themselves with the latest developments in technology.

Without this, one could not make a career in media. He said to become a good journalist one must strive to be a good writer and one who was not a voracious reader was least likely to be a good writer.

He congratulated the department for its various innovative projects for hands on training of journalism and said that the first Community Radio Station of Haryana coming up in the Media Centre of the department would prove extremely beneficial for the students of mass communication.

Gurgaon, February 16
The emphasis in the state budget on infrastructure, education and healthcare, considered as the pillars of every economy, would act as catalyst in harnessing the overall pace of growth of the industry and the economy of the state.

This was stated by chairman of the state council of the CII Raman Saluja in a statement issued here recently.

Saluja appreciated the state Finance Minister for introducing the special economic stimulus package proposing to spend Rs 1,500 crore during the next two years by undertaking the projects in various infrastructure sectors across the state.

In view of the slowdown in the economy, he appreciated that the state government has decided to increase public expenditure dedicated to strengthening the infrastructure by focusing on construction activities that would create additional job opportunities.

He said the industry was pleased as substantial allocation of funds was made to the key sectors such as power, roads and transport, urban development, irrigation, public health engineering, social welfare, rural development, health, agriculture and women and child development.

Vice-chairman of the council NK Minda said the allocation of Rs 427.71 crore for the agriculture and allied sector and introduction of the livestock insurance scheme as a pilot project in 5 districts was a substantial step towards the uplift of the agriculture sector. He also welcomed that the VAT rate on diesel has been reduced from 12 per cent to 8.8 per cent.

Gurgaon, February 16
The first Annual Inter-School Soccer Championship 2009, organised by the Columbia Asia Hospital, Palam Vihar, drew to a thrilling finish on the grounds of the Tau Devilal Stadium here on Sunday.

Sri Ram School, DLF, won the match by 1-0. The finals were kicked off by Kapil Garg, general manager, Columbia Asia Hospital.

Commenting on the tournament, coach of the winning team Keshav said, “It is commendable that the hospital has taken such a keen interest in promoting football and tournaments like this play crucial role in nurturing young talent. While academics are important, but it is well known that sports contributes to the overall development of the children.”

The semi-finals were played between Sri Ram School & Rotary Public School and Blue Bells Pubic School Sector-10 & Sri Ram School, Aravali. The winning team took home the Columbia Asia rolling trophy.

The tournament was kicked off on February 7 and a total of 24 schools from Gurgaon and Dwarka participated in the tournament.

The tournament is in line with the hospital’s mission to promote preventive healthcare and its tradition to organise soccer tournament for children across Asia.

Dr Garg said, “We are extremely happy with the enthusiastic response to the tournament. This is the first time that we are conducting the soccer tournament in Gurgaon and it is heartening to see the response of the schools and the players.”