Rohtak, August 12
With the Independence Day celebrations less than 72 hours away, security measures seems to have been left at the mercy of the Almighty.

Governor of Haryana JN Pahadia is slated to unfurl the National Flag in police grounds here on August 15.

The laxity in security could be seen at the university bypass, the main entry point to the city from New Delhi, where no police personnel was available this noon. The entry point was visited by The Tribune’s lensman at around 2.20 pm. He found that no cop was posted on duty there.

The point connects roads leading to Hisar, Jind and Panipat on its north and Jhajjar and Rewari towns on its south.

The private residence and the camp office of the Chief Minister is also just a couple of kilometre from this spot.

A similar situation was noticed at the newly constructed intersection near the bus stand, which leads to some of the newly developed sectors and the Gohana and Panipat roads here. No cop was found on duty there also.

The police checkpoint at the road leading to Sonepat district near Sectors 2 and 3 was also found unguarded. The Police Department had created several checkpoints in the city, but these spots were not manned round the clock due to various factors, including shortage of cops, said sources in the department.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner PC Meena has claimed in a press note that security has been stepped up in the city and the district in view of the Independence Day celebrations.

According to the authorities concerned, the police line grounds, where the main function would be held, had been declared highly sensitive.

The police had been carrying out a campaign to keep an eye on persons or vehicles entering or going out of the city. The house owners had also been asked to furnish details of tenants, said the Deputy Commissioner in a statement issued here today.

Chandigarh, August 12
Haryana has made emergency arrangements to buy 105 MW of power from other state electricity boards and private traders from tomorrow onwards.

In order to deal with the severe power shortage, the state will also purchase 400 MW of power through the India Energy Exchange (power exchange). Reeling under a power shortage, the state received a setback today after the Gujarat government took a drastic step to ban all power supply by its state electricity board as well as private traders in their state to other state governments.

Haryana was buying 250 MW of power from the Gujarat State Electricity Board and another 100 MW was to flow to Haryana through a private trader in Gujarat.

With this shortage of 250 MW and the outages in generating plants in Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, which has stopped inflow of 100 MW and 250 MW, respectively, the state is suddenly short of 500 MW of power.

“Thus, as an emergency measure to make up with this loss, we have decided to buy 30 MW from Assam, 50 MW from West Bengal and 25 MW from the Bhilai Steel Plant. We will also be trading actively on the power exchange and will be making day-ahead purchases of 400 MW daily to meet the power requirement,” said a senior official in the state power utilities.

“As against a demand of 1,240 lakh units a day, the power supply in Haryana is around 1,170 lakh units a day. Thus, power restrictions have been imposed on all categories of consumers - rural, urban, agriculture and industry. However, after buying this additional power we will be able to ensure eight hours of supply to agriculture, 13 hours to rural, 16 hours to industrial and 20 hours to urban domestic consumers,” he added.

Concerned over the power crisis in the state, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda too has written a letter to the Union Power Minister urging for an allocation of additional power for Haryana from the unallocated pool of the central generation. In response to the request, 87 MW was allotted to Haryana from the central pool, but the actual power coming to Haryana is only 40 MW.

The Chief Minister has again taken up the matter with the Union Power Minister, informing him that the monsoon situation in the state is grim. Any failure to supply adequate power for agriculture will have serious implications not only for farmers of Haryana, but also for the food security of the country. Thus, the Chief Minister has requested to allocate 400 MW of power out of the unallocated pool,” said a senior official.

He said as against a sum of Rs 947 crore reserved for buying power through long-term and short-term power purchase arrangements last year, the state would be spending Rs 1,997 crore between June and September this year.

Kurukshetra, August 12
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today hinted at fielding Agriculture Minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha from the Pehowa constituency as the Congress candidate for the coming Assembly elections and urged people to support him.

Earlier, the Chief Minister had reportedly announced the candidature of Anand Singh Dangi from the Meham constituency.

The hint was given by the Chief Minister while addressing a “gramin vikas rally” organised by Chatha in Sarsa village in the Pehowa Assembly constituency, 15 km from here, today.

The Chief Minister urged the people to return the Congress to power to ensure all-round development of the area. He announced a grant of Rs 50 lakh for the development of Sarsa village.

The Chief Minister said a number of schemes had been implemented for the welfare of all sections of society. He highlighted some of these schemes.

Hooda said the black law of arresting farmers for not repaying cooperative loans had been abolished. In the future, the land of farmers would not be auctioned for the recovery of cooperative loans, he added.

The Chief Minister accepted the demands for the construction of roads from Sarsa to Chandoli and Sarsa to Garhi Singha and upgrading the veterinary dispensary to a hospital.

Regarding the demand for upgrading the High School, Sarsa, and the girls’ school, he assured that if these schools fulfilled all norms, these would be upgraded from the next academic session.

Chandigarh, August 12
The Samast Haryana Janhit Congress, a breakaway group of the Haryana Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi, merged with the Haryana Congress here today.

The merger was announced by its president Subhash Batra and senior leader Krishan Murti Hooda in the presence of Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The function to mark the merger was scheduled for 4-30 pm but was delayed because Hooda reached only at 6-15 pm after touring the Pehowa Assembly constituency in Kurukshetra district. Before Hooda’s arrival Batra and Krishan Murti filled the membership forms of the Congress along with several supporters. Mullana admitted them to the party.

Welcoming them to the Congress, both Hooda and Mullana assured them that they would be given due respect in the party.

A group of HJC workers led by Ashok Gupta also joined the Congress.

Nirmla Rathee, vice-president of the women’s wing of the INLD, also joined the Congress today.

Sirsa, August 12
The district unit of the All-India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) today held a demonstration against the alleged anti-farmer policies of the government and demanded drought-hit district status for Sirsa.

Activists of the AIKS assembled in the local Tau Devi Lal Park, where Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, state vice-president, Harpal Singh, state secretary, and Pahlad Singh Bharukhera, district president of the AIKS, addressed them.

Gorakhpuria alleged that the government had not yet declared Sirsa a drought-hit district although the shortage of rainfall had been 88 per cent in the area.

He demanded relief to the farmers after declaring the district as drought-hit.

The AIKS leader also criticised the new parameters of relief, whereby the state government has made only two slabs of 51 to 75 per cent and 76 to 100 per cent of crop loss by deleting the lowest slab of 26 to 50 per cent from the earlier three slabs.

Gorakhpuria also demanded that the minimum rate of relief, which had been lowered from Rs 5,000 per acre to Rs 3,000 per acre, should be raised again.

He also demanded 50 per cent subsidy to farmers on diesel for the running of tubewells. Harpal Singh demanded that the minimum wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme should be raised from Rs 148 per day to Rs 200 per day and the work guarantee should also be increased to 200 days in a year from 100 days due to the drought situation.

The AIKS activists also submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Singh Khyalia in which, among the above demands, they sought the strengthening of the public distribution system and the payment for agricultural produce direct to the farmers.

Gorakhpuria said the AIKS would organise a dharna in front of the office of the Divisional Commissioner at Hisar on September 1 in which workers from Sirsa, Fatehabad, Jind, Bhiwani and Hisar would participate. 

Rohtak, August 12
The Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS) here is in for a massive upgradation programme under the Prime Minister Swasthya Yojna.

A technical committee deputed by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare visited the PGIMS today and approved some new projects and schemes. These included the setting up of a new Regional Institute of Ophthalmology costing about Rs 35 crore . The 11-member team also sanctioned machinery and infrastructure in various departments costing around Rs 75 crore. The Union Government had announced funds of around Rs 125 crore for the PGIMS for its upgradation.The state government is also likely to contribute from its kitty towards this process.

The PGIMS is the largest government hospital in the state at present.

The committee was headed by Dr A.K. Gupta, Medical Superintendent, PGIMER, Chandigarh.

The committee also approved 64 slice CT scan machines for the institution and high- end 4-D doppler machines to improve radio diagnostic facilities. It sanctioned the purchase of hi-tech machinery and equipment for the upgradation of all super specialties, diagnostic and laboratory services costing about Rs 75 crore. 

Kurukshetra, August 12
Girls staying in Kurukshetra University hostels under the banner of the Students Federation of India took out a procession on the university campus and demonstrated in front of the office of the vice-chancellor here today in protest against the provision of bunk beds in the girls’ hostels.

The university administration has taken a decision to install bunk beds in the girls’ hostels so that a maximum number of girl students can get the hostel facility.

The girls alleged that when they were getting ready to take out the procession, the district administration locked the main gate of the hostel. However, the girls managed to come out by forcibly breaking the lock of the gate.

Meanwhile, a university spokesman said: “There has been a significant increase in the number of girls taking admission in various departments and institutes in the university. In some of the departments, the number of girls admitted is about 75 per cent of the total strength. For example, the department of mathematics has 117 girls out of a total 150, chemistry has 95 out of 140 and the physics department has 91 girls out of 120 students.”

He said the number of seats in various programmes and courses in the university had also been doubled, which had resulted into a great rush for admissions in hostels. “The university administration has taken all possible measures to accommodate all girl students in its on-campus hostels. There are 11 women hostels in the university and another one will be ready soon,” he added.

He further said the rules for providing the hostel facility were strictly followed whereby the students living in the radius of 20 km from the university were not given the hostel facility. Besides, on the basis of undertaking given by parents regarding temporary adjustment of their wards in hostels, the university administration had adjusted more than one girl in a room and also arranged bunk beds.

Chandigarh, August 12
The Haryana Government has made it mandatory for wholesalers and retailers to declare the stocks of various commodities with them to prevent the hoarding of essential commodities and ensure their better supply in the market.

A spokesman of the Food and Supplies Department said here today that the minimum limits for the declaration of stocks had been prescribed and these orders would be applicable to wholesalers and retailers of essential commodities such as wheat, rice, pulses, edible oils and oilseeds.

He said wheat dealers, including wholesalers, retailers, distributing agents, selling agents or such persons having stocks of wheat in excess of 1,000 quintals, would have to declare their stocks. Registered roller flour mill owners having stocks of wheat more than their two-month grinding capacity would also have to declare their stocks.

The grinding capacity of a roller flour mill would be reckoned by the respective District Magistrate or District Food and Supplies Controller after taking into account the actual grinding of wheat in the preceding six months.

Similarly, rice dealers or such persons having stocks of more than 250 quintals and retailers having stocks of more than 25 quintals would have to declare their stocks. Dal mill owners having stocks in excess of 100 quintals, pulses dealers or such persons having stocks in excess of 50 quintals and retailers having stocks in excess of 25 quintals would have to declare their stocks.

Edible oil or edible oilseeds dealers or such persons who have stocks of more than 100 quintals and retailers who have stocks of more than 50 quintals would also have to declare their stocks.

Panipat, August 12
The mortal remains of 18-year-old Naveen, who was stabbed to death allegedly by one of his teammates in Chennai on Sunday night, were consigned to the flames in his native Budsham village today. The body of the victim was brought here late last night and the arrangements for it were made by the Sports Authority of India. The body was brought to the New Delhi domestic airport on a special plane and later taken to Budsham village.

The funeral was attended by a large number of SAI officials from the SAI centre in Sonepat, from where Naveen, along with a 12-member kabaddi squad, had gone to Chennai to participate in the All-India SAI Inter-Regional Kabaddi Tournament.

There he was allegedly stabbed by one of his teammates, Sumit, a resident of the same village, after the two got into a confrontation over sleeping near a pedestal fan.

Naveen’s parents, brother and other relatives were inconsolable.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the whereabouts of Sumit, who had called up his parents on Sunday night after the stabbing incident, are still unknown.