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Revised Pay
Assembly Poll
Low cotton production likely
Water woes deepen in state
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BJP parts ways with INLD
Dabwali Seat
Police prepared for early poll: Rai
Cong party of capitalists, says Chautala
Jagadhri-Kalesar road in bad shape
Pensioners allege discrimination
Admission deadline extended
7 booked for cheating, forgery
Kisan Rattan conferred on Jakhar
HJC ‘to contest’ 50 seats, BSP 40
ATM stolen in 6 minutes!
Mahant’s murder: Suspects rounded up
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Teachers hit out at govt
Tribune Reporters
Yamunanagar, August 23 Extending support to the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Association in its struggle for the total implementation of the UGC pay review recommendations, zonal secretary (North India) of the AIFUCTO Pawan Sharma said the restructuring of pay revision by the state government was not acceptable to the teachers of the state. Addressing a press conference here, he said as the UGC notification also emphasised that the states would have to accept the UGC recommendations as a composite scheme and a package, many states, including UP and Himachal Pradesh, had already implemented the UGC pay scales for the teachers. Sharma regretted the fact that it was for the first time in the history of the state that the teachers had to resort to agitation for the implementation of the UGC scales. He reiterated that the AIFUCTO would extend all possible support to the HFUCTO for the total implementation of the UGC notification in a uniform and simultaneous manner. JHAJJAR: After the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (HFUCTO) rejected the government notification on revised pay structure for teachers, the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers’ Association (MDUTA) has termed the notification as “blatant distortion” of the MHRD notification. The association also endorsed the HFUCTO’s decision of calling upon the teachers of the universities and colleges in the state to go on mass casual leave from August 25 to 27 to register their protest against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales as per the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD). Dr Vazir Nehra, president, MDUTA, said here on Sunday that it was a blatant distortion of the MHRD notification issued on December 31 last and that too after a delay of around eight months. Nehra added that it was also a breach of the assurance given by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda regarding the implementation of the MHRD notification in toto latest by August 12.
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Delimitation leaves leaders jittery
Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 23 For the first time, the Assembly elections in Haryana will be held according to the new boundaries carved out for constituencies following delimitation. With a changed profile of most Assembly seats, where new pockets have either been added or subtracted, leaders are apprehensive about which way the wind will blow. This element is bound to make the Assembly elections more colourful this year. While there are sitting legislators whose constituencies have changed demographically as also the voter profile, there are senior leaders, especially in the Congress, who will have to find new hunting grounds in the state, which seems to be burgeoning with leaders. The most prominent among the losers in this delimitation exercise has been Power Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, who has defeated Indian National Lok Dal supremo Om Prakash Chautala on two occasions from the Narwana seat, which has now been reserved for the Scheduled Castes. The Rori seat, which sent back Chautala as an MLA in the 11th state Assembly, considered a stronghold of the Chautala clan, has also been abolished. Chautala is expected to contest from the Dabwali constituency in Sirsa district which has been unreserved by the Delimitation Commission in its notification issued yesterday. Jundla, represented by Archaeology and Cooperation Minister Meena Mandal, too, has been abolished. Former Board of Control for Cricket in India chief and elder son of former Chief Minister Bansi Lal, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, too, is on a sticky wicket with the Mundhal Khurd segment in Bhiwani district, from where he reached the Haryana Assembly for the first time in 2005, having been abolished. The other seats which have been done away with are Rajaund, Chhachhrauli, Pai, Kailana, Jundla, Ghirai, Naggal, Sahlawas, Bhattu Kalan, Hasangarh, Jatusana, Darba Kalan, Taoru and Naultha and made way for new seats. While leaders of all these seats are already on the lookout for “safe bets”, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s aides and loyalists, who managed to “save” their seats from going under the knife, sure have reason to cheer as the state readies for an early poll. Though it was proposed to reserve the Beri Assembly seat, represented by Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadiyan, and the Meham seat, represented by Anand Singh Dangi, a Hooda loyalist, the proposal never saw the light of day. Palwal, represented by Karan Dalal, who remained in the spotlight for his expose of the Chautalas, too, “rescued” his constituency from reservation. Nilokheri and Shahbad, open to the general category till the last poll, have now been reserved.
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Low cotton production likely
Sirsa, August 23 “The arrival of the early-sown crop has just begun and it will remain a low-key affair till the second week of September, when we expect a heavy arrival of cotton,” said Gurpreet Nagpal of Royal Cotgin and general secretary of the Sirsa Cotton Association. Cotton brokers, who purchase cotton for big industries like Vardhman Group and Nahar Group, maintain that the total production of cotton is likely to remain lower this time as compared to last year. “Though the total area of cultivation under cotton in Haryana this year is more - 5.10 lakh hectares as against 4.17 lakh hectares last year - the yield is likely to remain poor this time due to shortage of rain,” said a broker in the Sirsa grain market. “About 16 lakh bales of cotton were produced in Haryana last year, but this time the figure is likely to go down by 5 to 7 per cent despite increase in area under cultivation by 20 per cent,” he added. Nagpal said the cotton yield was 25 to 28 quintals per hectares last year but this time it was unlikely to cross 22 quintals per hectare. Sushil Mittal, president of the Haryana Cotton Ginning Association and owner of Aditya Cotton Mills, Sirsa, said the standing cotton crop in most parts of Haryana had not been able to gain its usual height this year due to rain shortage. “In most parts of the district, the crop stands 3-4 feet. In some others, it has not been able to touch three feet even, while last year the average height of cotton crop was 5 feet,” added Mittal. As less cotton will arrive during the next one week, almost all cotton ginners are expected to start ginning operations on or around September 1. |
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Water woes deepen in state
Chandigarh, August 23 Though the water table has shown a marginal rise in a few areas, the increase is limited to districts plagued with saline water. According to the information gathered by the Department of Agriculture, Haryana, from all over the districts, the water table in Mahendragarh is down by 2.94 metre while Faridabad is a close second with a fall of 2.49 metre. The underground water level in Yamunanagar too has declined by 2.39 metre. As many as 18 out of 21 districts in the state have reported a further decline in the water table this year. However, compared to the base year data of June 1974, while the total decline in water level on an average has been 6.47 metres, Mahendragarh is down by nearly 28 metres from 16.11 m to 44.02 m this year. Sonepat has shown a minimum decline of 0.12 m over last year while the water table in Bhiwani has fallen by 0.54 m as compared to the data of 1974. Sources say in a state that is deficit in water, the density of tubewells is one big factor. From merely 27,000 in 1966 when Haryana was carved out, the number of tubewells has now increased to 6.6 lakh. Mahendragarh, with its hard, rocky surface, has a recharge problem. The four districts of Hisar, Jhajjar, Rohtak and Rewari have shown a very marginal increase from last year, varying between 0.01 m to 0.22 m. However, compared to the base year data, Jhajjar has shown a minimum rise of 1.12 m and Hisar has shown an increase of 8.11 m along. Explains Director, Agriculture, Anil Malik: “A fall in the water table by 0.5 m is not a good sign. This only means that the recharge of ground water is not happening at the pace it is being depleted and rapid urbanisation is taking a toll on the level. The problem is more acute in paddy-cultivating areas and the lack of storage of rain water is contributing to the constant dip in the water table.” To address these problems, the department has introduced a water-harvesting scheme at high subsidy and a Bill on Water Management to have a comprehensive strategy is in the making. The hydrologist with the Agriculture Department, Sanjeev Chadha, explains the rise in water table in some areas. “The canal network feed to fields in areas where the ground water is saline. This, over the years, has led to an increase in the water table of all such districts like Hisar and Sirsa. This rise in water table is nothing to be enthused about,” he said. HUDA has made it mandatory for new constructions to have rain-water harvesting systems in place.
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BJP parts ways with INLD Chandigarh, August 23 Though official announcement is yet to be made, party sources say the decision to contest the Assembly elections without the alliance with the INLD was taken at the three-day chintan baithak of the BJP held in Shimla last week. The first indication that the BJP may break its ties with the INLD came on August 16 when the state unit was told to identify likely candidates for all 90 Assembly constituencies, notwithstanding the party’s alliance with the INLD. Two-member teams were sent to each district to identify the candidates within two days. The process was completed on August 19, the day the chintan baithak began. The sources say official announcement in this regard will be made by the BJP in charge of Haryana affairs Vijay Goel here tomorrow. When the BJP had entered into an alliance with the INLD before the Lok Sabha elections, the state unit had vehemently opposed it. But its objections were overruled by the high command. The alliance did not work from day one as BJP workers did not accept it from their heart. They were not willing to forgive the INLD leadership for the shabby treatment meted out to them when the INLD was in power in the state. It is not known if the BJP will contest the Assembly elections on its own or find another partner. If it goes for another partner, it could be the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) of Kuldeep Bishnoi. Though the HJC has an alliance with the BSP, there are reports that the relations between the two are not smooth.
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Photo exhibition inaugurated
Fatehabad, August 23 The five-day exhibition has been organised by the Haryana Kala Sanskriti Manch and prominent persons like Dev Raj Batra, Subhash Sharma, DK Kaushik, Tek Chand Midha, Mamta Chaudhary, NS Komal, Randhir Matana, Sudama Shashtri and AP Mehta were present. “An artist has the ability to show us in a magnified manner, the things we see in our day-to-day life but fail to notice,” Rai said after inaugurating the exhibition. Kadian, he said, had made an effort to link us with our age-old culture and tradition through his photography. He said photography was an art that showed us places where we were not able to reach ourselves. The exhibition, meanwhile, attracted a number of visitors today. Photographs of Kadian exhibit Haryanvi culture. These depict common people of Haryana working in fields, playing cards beside a village pond, women making cow-dung cakes or children playing with clay. Kadian is a schoolteacher, who has been pursuing photography as a hobby for the past 17 years. He is a good painter also and his book, “Haryana Ki Sanskritik Dharohar”, won him the Haryana Sahitya Akademi Award last year.
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Gadrana stakes claim to Cong ticket
Sushil Manav Tribune News Service
Sirsa, August 23 Dabwali is important for both the ruling Congress as well as the INLD. Being the home constituency of Om Prakash Chautala - his native village Chautala falls under it - and a traditional stronghold of his party, the INLD supremo in most likely to contest from here. However, having defeated the INLD, though by a slander margin of 3,533 votes in the parliamentary elections, Congress leaders, too, are in high spirits. The INLD has won this seat four times in the past five elections held on this seat. Sita Ram of the INLD won the seat in 2001 and 2005, while his father Mani Ram of the INLD won the seat in 1987 and 1996. Santosh Sarwan of the Congress won the seat in 1991. The seat, till recently reserved for the Scheduled Castes, has now been made general in the delimitation. Kuldeep Singh Gadrana, a youth leader of the Congress, today organised a “Punjabi and yuva sammelan” in the town as a show of strength to the party leadership. Addressing the sammelan, Gadrana claimed that the seat was dominated by Punjabi-speaking people and staked his claim to the Congress ticket from Dabwali. Jaswant Singh Brar, chairman, Market Committee, Dabwali, Partap Singh Chautala, a brother of the INLD supremo, and Harnek Singh, vice-president of the Municipal Committee, Dabwali, addressed the sammelan in support of Gadrana. KV Singh, a former OSD to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has also staked his claim to the Congress ticket from Dabwali. Earlier, Ajay Singh Chautala, INLD leader and Rajya Sabha member, covered 60 villages of the Dabwali Assembly seat during his three-day tour this week. Addressing rural meetings, Chautala called upon people to “bring the power centre of Haryana” to their constituency and vote for the INLD in the forthcoming elections. “You have borne the brunt of ill-governance during the past five years. Now, give us a chance and we will repay by undoing the official neglect suffered by you in these five years,” Ajay Singh said in his meetings. Ravi Chautala, a son of Partap Singh Chautala, is also a claimant for the Congress ticket from Dabwali.
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Police prepared for early poll: Rai
Sirsa, August 23 Rai, who was here to inaugurate the new building of the Sadar police station in Dabwali today, said 33 new police stations would be set up in Haryana to improve the law and order situation. Earlier, interacting with elected representatives of village panchayats in the police station, Rai said public cooperation was important for keeping crime under control. He said the police had taken several steps to curb trafficking of poppy husk and other narcotics in the district and properties of several traffickers had been seized and frozen under 68 F (1) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. “Women can play an important role in controlling the menace of drugs as they are the first and the worst to suffer from the ill-effects of drug addiction,” he said. Anant Kumar Dhull, Inspector-General of Police, Hisar Range, Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, Deputy Commissioner, and Subhash Yadav, SP, Sirsa, were present on this occasion. |
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Cong party of capitalists, says Chautala
Rewari, August 23 Welcoming them into the party fold, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala assured them that they would be given due respect in the party. With these inductions, the INLD has emerged stronger in the Kosli segment of Rewari district and the damage caused by the recent desertion of its district INLD chief Jagdish Yadav and his supporters has been almost covered. Describing the Congress as a party of capitalists, Chautala said 176 out of 206 Congress MPs were multi-millionaires. He exhorted people to oust the Congress at the hustings if they wanted to get rid of inflation and its other allied menaces. Chautala alleged that the Hooda government had ruined the state by following their one-point programme of amassing wealth through corrupt practices during its four-and-a-half-year tenure. He urged the people to vote for the INLD in the Assembly elections if they wanted to save Haryana from further ruination. Later, talking to mediapersons, Chatuala said modalities regarding the allocation of seats as well as selection of candidates of the INLD-BJP alliance would be finalised by August 31. Rao Ajit Singh, state vice-president of the INLD, and other prominent local leaders also addressed the convention. |
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Jagadhri-Kalesar road in bad shape
Yamunanagar, August 23 The deplorable state of both highways has been attributed to heavy vehicles, including trucks ferrying sand and stones from mining sites in Chhachhroli and Khijrabad, plying on them. The trucks are grossly overloaded, sometimes carrying materials thrice their capacity, in the absence of proper checks. Besides raw material and products of industries, hundreds of commuters, Over 2,000 heavy vehicles besides hundreds of commuters use the national highway every day. Both roads have become accident prone, particularly for those driving cars and two-wheelers, due to lack of maintenance and periodic recarpeting. Locals complain though the matter has been taken up with government officials as well as the district’s political leaders it has not yielded any results so far. Also, attempts by the district administration to get the National Highway Authority of India to repair NH-73A have proved. Work is yet to start despite many assurances given by senior NHAI functionaries to deputy commissioner Amit Kumar Agarwal, said official sources. When contacted NHAI executive engineer Ramesh Kumar Goyal said the contract for maintenance of the national highway has been awarded after inviting tenders. “Due to shortage of raw materials and difficulties in getting the forest department’s nod to cut trees the repair work hasn’t yet begun but will commence soon”, he added. |
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Pensioners allege discrimination
Fatehabad, August 23 The government has sanctioned the revision of pension in cases occurring on or after January 1, 2006. The pensioners maintain that according to a government notification dated November 30, 2007, the employees were entitled to pension on the basis of average emoluments drawn by them during the last 10 months prior to their retirement or death. However, those who retired or died between January 1, 2006, and September 30, 2006, would not be able to get full benefits of the pension revision because the government would not be taking into consideration the average of 10 months’ salary in their case as it would not consider anything before January 1, 2006. The pensioners maintain that such a situation arose at the time of the implementation of the fifth pay panel report too but at that time the government later gave 40 per cent weightage to those retiring between January 1, 1996, and September 30, 1996. The pensioners have demanded similar benefits to those who retired between January 1, 2006, and September 30, 2006. |
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Admission deadline extended
Rohtak, August 23 The university has authorised the principals of affiliated colleges to make admissions on vacant seats up to August 31 with a late fee of Rs 1,000. Meanwhile, counselling for admission to a few vacant seats of MBA (Business Economics) will be held on August 26 at 12 noon. Besides, MDU has announced to take stringent action against institutions charging exorbitant fee from the students in the DEd course. According to the government’s notification, the prescribed total fee is Rs 18,400 for the DEd course. This fee is to be collected in four installments and realised through commercial banks. The fee to be charged for the course include Rs 3,600 as tuition fee and Rs 4,000 as annual charges. Rs 3,600 will be charged as second installment from October 1 to 10. Third installment of Rs 3,600 has to be made between January 1 and January 10, 2010, and fourth installment of Rs 3,600 will be charged up to April 10, 2010. |
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7 booked for cheating, forgery
Rewari, August 23 The seven have been identified as Alberd Singh, a resident of Aligarh town of Uttar Pradesh, Subhash Chand, Usha Yadav, wife of Rohit Yadav of Gurgaon, Shell Narang, daughter of Kapil Dev Arora of New Delhi, Bhagwati, wife of Sule Ram of New Delhi, Lal Chand Nambardar of Rewari and Virender Singh of Pataudi town of Gurgaon district. A case has been registered against them on a complaint made to Deputy Commissioner TL Satya Prakash by Suresh Kumar, secretary of the Delhi Diocese Trust Association, New Delhi. The complainant alleged that Alberd Singh deceitfully sold 1,129 square yards of the compound of the local Christian Church as well as its 10 shops comprising an area of 288 square yards to Usha Yadav, Shell Narang and Bhgawati through Subhash Chand for a total amount of Rs 462,81,000 recently. The registry of the sale deeds of the above property of the church was executed in the tehsil office here on July 27 while a total amount of Rs 13,14,100 by way of stamp duty was paid to the exchequer. Alberd Singh allegedly sold the above property of the church as an “authorised person” of the secretary of the Delhi Diocese Trust Association whereas the secretary of the association in his above complaint clearly stated that the association had never authorised Alberd Singh or any other person for the above purpose. ASI Daya Nand, in charge of the economic cell of the Police Department here, was now investigating the matter.
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Bidhikayar pond gets new look
Kaithal, August 23 Power, Public Health and Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Haryana, Randeep Singh Surjewala inaugurated the project on Friday evening in the presence of local MLA and his father Shamsher Singh Surjewala. Randeep Singh said Bidhikayar pond had always remained a major tourist attraction because of its link with the history of the town. The devotees used to take a dip in the pond long ago. However, the condition of the pond started deteriorating when residents started putting drain water into the pond. Gradually, stink started emanating from the tank and it became a source of nuisance for visitors to the adjoining Jawahar Park. The minister said spread over 28 acres the lake would be filled with canal water through an underground pipeline. The arrangements had been made to replace stored water with fresh water periodically to check the growth of wild grass and weeds. Shamsher Singh Surjewala said when he got elected from Kaithal during the last Assembly elections, he had decided to get this pond renovated. He said the construction works on the children park towards the south of Bidhikayar tank was also on and it would be ready for use in the coming few months. |
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Kisan Rattan conferred on Jakhar
Rewari, August 23 The award was conferred on Jakhar in appreciation of his outstanding services rendered to the Indian peasantry on the occasion of his 87th birthday at his residence in New Delhi today. State president of the BKS Thakur Attar Lal and other functionaries presented the award as well as a turban to
Jakhar. Thakur Attar Lal said the Indian peasantry would remain grateful to him for his valuable services. Jakhar said being a farmer’s son he was well conversant with their problems and by implementing policies conducive to the peasantry he had simply discharged his responsibilities. He urged the peasantry to continue their dedicated work for the progress of the country. |
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HJC ‘to contest’ 50 seats, BSP 40
Sonepat, August 23 Talking to mediapersons here, Kamboj said the process for releasing the election manifesto of the party and the selection of candidates would be finalised within a week. He criticised the Hooda government for its “failure” to control the law and order situation as well as to protect the interests of farmers and the common man, and demanded a compensation of Rs 20,000 per acre for farmers whose crops had been damaged in the drought-like situation. Earlier, Kamboj addressed a party workers’ meeting and expressed the hope that HJC supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi would be the next Chief Minister of Haryana. |
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ATM stolen in 6 minutes!
Sonepat, August 23 The CCTV footage of the ATM cabin shows that the miscreants had covered their faces and they completed the entire exercise in six minutes around 3 am. Bank officials revealed that the last withdrawal from the ATM was of Rs 3,000 at 9.56 pm on Thursday night and an amount of Rs 9,02,400 was the balance in the machine, when the miscreants took it away. |
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Mahant’s murder: Suspects rounded up
Yamunanagar, August 23 The
mahant, Bal Mukund Dass, was found murdered in his room on the temple premises in Basatiynawala village in Bilaspur town yesterday. The police had registered a case against 19 persons on a complaint of Vijay
Dass, a student of the victim. DSP Mukesh Kumar, who is investigating the case, said the police had visited the scene of crime again and also questioned some persons in connection with the case. |
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The condition of two major highways passing through the district has steadily deteriorated over the years to the extent that large stretches have now become completely
unmotorable. A 15 km stretch on the 40 km leg of the NH-73A between Jagadhri and Kalesar national park has virtually disappeared, while potholes and craters that have surfaced on the Saharanpur-Kurukshetra highway are posing serious risks for commuters.
Bidhikayar pond gets new look
