Faridabad, September 24
Intense spells of rainfall in the district this monsoon have brought problems for the ruling Congress, as a huge damage has been caused to the roads due to the rainwater. This would definitely give its political opponents an election issue.

The government has visibly spent a large amount on repair of roads in the past five years, but the recent rain has literally washed away all the good work done on the roads, especially in the city and other urban centres. This is not to say that the government had no hand and the bad state should be attributed to the rain God.

The babudom in Faridabad, especially of the district administration, Municipal Corporation, HUDA and other agencies, played truant on the issue of desilting the major nullahs and exit points of storm water. As a result, the storm water accumulated on the roads for a long time; thus, damaging the bitumen. Also, the government machinery neglected a number of roads, it seems.

The public, in the hindsight, wonder why did the government lay stress only on patch works on the roads in the name of repairs. This, in the end, only brightened the faces of the contractors attached with the MC as shoddy and ad hoc works kept them employed.

The sorry plight of the roads in the district was egregious as state Minister for Local Bodies AC Chaudhary was an MLA from the district in the last Vidhan Sabha.

Although litany of roads come under the arc light because of their bad state, a few areas of the district, especially Faridabad city, could be mentioned for illustration. Roads in the parts of old Faridabad city, especially in the the so called posh areas of HUDA, are dotted with potted roads. The recent rainfall has played havoc on the roads creating crater-size holes. For example, the roads in most parts of Sectors 15, 12, 18, 19, 21, etc., are an eyesore and of much inconvenience to the public.

The roads near the Sun Flag and its thereabouts have gone for a six. About half a kilometre stretch of road connecting Thompson Press and Escorts near Sector 15 A provide an ugly scene on account of big holes on them. The road connecting the Delhi-Agra national highway passing through Faridabad and Khedki bridge has become a nightmare for the commuters. The dividing road of Sectors 16 and 17 and Sectors 17-18 have gone equally bad.

The major roads in the nearby Ballabgarh township also present uncharitable picture. The government agencies have contributed their part on the account of mismanagement. A number of roads were dug up recently for laying sewer lines in some areas of Ballabgarh. These dug up roads played a devil's role during the incessant rain recently on account of accumulation of storm water.

The moot question is why did the government agencies and officialdom conceptualised digging up roads to lay sewer lines just at the time and before the onset of monsoon. The rain certainly results in stoppages of work. In effect, there will be added costs and this will naturally allow more works to the contractors. A larger section of the public asserts it as a case of “mischievous” planning on the part of the authorities.

The same story is of the Samaipur road which falls under both the Assembly segments of NIT and Ballabarh. The road also connects to a Sectors 24,56, 58, and the industrial Sector of 25.

Ballabgarh-Malerna road is more than a 20-km stretch. A large number of areas of NIT and Ballabgarh Assembly segments lies across the road. This road remains in a bad state even when Local Bodies minister AC Chaudhary represented NIT Assembly constituency and one of the Parliamentary Secretaries of the last Vidhan Sabha, and Sharda Rathore represented the Ballabarh constiuency. The two leaders are yet again fielded by the Congress from the two Assembly segments.

Karnal, September 24
Strict vigil would be maintained along Haryana's borders with UP during the coming Assembly elections to thwart any attempt by anti-social elements and criminals to vitiate the election process.

"We are taking all possible measures to ensure a free and fair poll and the security forces would virtually seal the inter-state borders to bar the entry of anti-social elements till the election process is over", K.K. Rao, SP, Karnal said.

Karnal Deputy Commissioner J.S. Alhawat and SP K.K. Rao had already held a meeting of the supervisory officers of police stations of Muzaffarnagar an Saharanpur districts for "coordinated" action to check smuggling of liquor and weapons and infiltration of criminals from these UP districts.

The administration of border districts of both states had taken similar steps during the Lok Sabha poll also but the situation was little difficult for Haryana this time as the Assembly elections were not being held in UP.

The security forces on either side of the border would keep a watch on all suspicious persons and also ensure that liquor or arms were not smuggled in the run-up to the poll and the borders would be sealed 48 hours before polling.

Rao said patrolling by the mounted police had already started along the border and rising waters of the Yamuna was an advantage for the police this time as few people would venture to swim their way to sneak into the state.

Random surprise checking had also been started and people had been asked to deposit their licensed arms in the respective police stations and a drive had been launched to seize unlicensed arms.

Smuggling of arms and liquor was as a perennial problem which keeps the police and security agencies on tenterhooks during the poll. The Karnal police had sought help from the UP police in nabbing 31 persons against whom non-bailable warrant were pending execution, seven parole jumpers, 40 proclaimed offenders and 260 bail jumpers. These persons ware suspected to be hiding in UP territory and could create trouble during the elections.

Chandigarh, September 24
The BJP, which is contesting the ensuing Haryana Assembly elections on its own, has planned a high-voltage campaign to woo voters. The party has to prove in these elections that not only it still retains pockets of influence in at least the urban areas of the state, but also that the party is not a loser by breaking its ties with the INLD.

There is an overwhelming majority in the state unit of the BJP, which feels that by reversing its earlier decision of going alone in the Haryana electoral battle and by aligning with the INLD during the last Lok Sabha elections, the BJP let down its urban voters, who continue to be wary of the INLD leadership. Now since the party has returned to its agenda of going alone in deference to the wishes of the state unit, the latter would like to prove its point by picking up a respectable number of seats.

The state leaders are being helped in their plans by the high command, which is taking steps to ensure that a galaxy of political and tinsel town stalwarts descends on the state to reach out to the electorate to motivate it to support the saffron party.

According to Haryana BJP state spokesperson Jagdish Chopra, several central party leaders and Chief Ministers of the BJP-ruled states will map the length and breadth of the state to seek votes for the party candidates. Accompanying them will be cine star Hema Malini, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, and actors Vinod Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Smriti Irani, who are associated with the BJP.

Among the national party leaders whose visits to Haryana have been planned are LK Advani, party President Rajnath Singh, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, deputy leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, party vice-president Shanta Kumar, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Shahnawaz Hussain and Dr Satyanarayan Jatia.

The Chief Ministers of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Karnataka will also campaign for the party candidates.

Chopra says besides the BJP Chief Ministers, ministers from the BJP-ruled states like Laxmi Kanta Chawla, Master Mohan Lal and Manoranjan Kalia from Punjab; and JP Nadda and Rajiv Bindal from Himachal Pradesh will also participate in the mass-contact programmes planned by the party even at the village level. Chopra says all these leaders will, by quoting examples of success from their states, tell the Haryana electorate what the good governance is.

Fatehabad, September 24
A keen contest is on the cards in the Fatehabad Assembly seat among the Congress, the INLD, the Haryana Janhit Congress, the BJP and a rebel Congressmen.

Dura Ram (Congress)

The Congress has nominated its sitting MLA and former parliamentary secretary Dura Ram from Fatehabad.

A nephew of former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, the Congress nominee won his first election in 2005 elections by defeating the INLD nominee Swatantar Bala Chaudhary.

Earlier, Dura Ram contested a bypoll in 2003, but lost to Chaudhary during the Om Parkash Chautala regime.

Dura Ram is keen to win the seat again, but his work has been made difficult by a Congress rebel Pahlad Singh Gillankhera, who has announced to contest the polls as independent.

Gillankhera, a close confident of Haryana Forest Minister Kiran Chaudhary, has alleged that the Congress had committed a breach of trust with him by denying him ticket. Gillankhera wields a lot of influence among local voters, particularly the Jats, and he also contested the 2003 bypoll from here on the Haryana Vikas Party ticket.

Swatantar Bala Chaudhary (INLD)

The INLD has nominated Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, who represented the state Assembly from 2003 to 2005.

She was elected to the state Assembly in 2003 in a bypoll necessitated due to the death of her father-in-law Leela Krishan Chaudhary. She, however, lost the seat to Dura Ram in 2005 and would try to regain the seat again.

Bhisham Pitameh (BJP)

Bhisham Pitameh, the candidate fielded by the BJP, was seeking the Congress ticket till a day before the BJP nominated him.

The BJP nominee is a former sales tax officer and joined the Congress after his retirement earlier this year.

Pahlad Singh (Independent)

The Haryana Janhit Party, which had been trying to poach on Congress rebel Pahlad Singh Gillankhera till Thursday morning, was zeroing on former MLA Ran Singh Beniwal and Balwan Singh Daulatpuria as its candidate.

The elections promise a multi-corner contest as the BSP is yet to field its candidate.

Karnal, September 24
The Kalpana Chawla Medical College Nirman Committee (KCMCNC), a platform of NGOs and other social and cultural organisations to press the demand for establishing a medical college in the memory of Kalpana Chawla, has decided to start hunger strike in front of Deputy Commissioner’s office from September 18 to September 25, coinciding with dates for filing 
of nominations.

Kalpana Chawala, the great Indian American astronaut who hailed from Karnal, had died in Colombia crash on February 1, 2003. All the political parties have been demanding for setting up a medical college in Karnal on her name. However, even after seven years nothing concrete has been done in this direction.

Karnal-based NGO, NIFFA, which took the initiative to launch a mass movement to pressurise the government to fulfil its promise, associated various social, cultural and educational organisations to make it a public issue and ask the candidates of all parties entering the fray from Karnal to publicly announce their stand on the issue.

Pritpal Singh Pannu,convenor, KCMCNC, said the decision to start hunger strike during the nominations was aimed at highlighting the demand and also to expose how the political parties had dithered on the issue. The movement was non-political and prestige issue for people of Karnal but it would be certainly become an issue during the polls, he added.

The committee had already drawn an elaborate programme of collecting five lakh signatures in support of medical college and also form a 20-km human on seventh death anniversary of Kalpana Chawala falling on February 1, 2010.

Former Union Health Minister CP Thakur had announced to set up Kalpana Chawala Memorial Medical College in Karnal at the condolence meeting on February 9, 2003, in presence of the then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and Union Minister of State for Home ID Swami.

The same promise was repeated by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Panipat while laying the foundation stone of a flyover on April 5, 2008, and again at Hissar on May 19, 2008.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also made a similar promise during the inauguration of Kalpana Chawla Planetarium at Kurukshetra on April 24, 2007, Punnu recalled.

He said the committee was determined to pursue each and every prospective candidate from all five Assembly seats of Karnal to include this long-pending demand in their election manifesto.

Five members of different social organisations and people from different Assembly constituencies will take part in a hunger strike. Candidates from all the political parties would be invited to the venue of hunger strike to make their stand clear on the issue.

The committee has sought support of all social, business, educational, sports and other non-political organisations for the cause and asked them to register their name with committee office for participation in the strike.

Faridabad, September 24
If the delimitation changed the demographic profile of the Faridabad parliamentary constituency and reduced its geographical expanse, it has effected drastic changes in its Assembly segments.The old order has changed giving place to new in terms of new caste and group equations in almost all Assembly segments. Before the delimitation, Faridabad constituency comprised of the entire areas of Faridabad district, part of Gurgaon district and Mewat district (carved out from the areas of Gurgaon district). The Assembly segments of Nuh, Ferozepur Jhirka and Taoru of Mewat district were seceded from the Faridabad constituency, reducing the Meo Muslim effect in it.

In the new order of things, the Faridabad parliamentary constituency consists of the areas of only Faridabad and Palwal district. The two districts had NIT, Mewla Maharajpur, Ballabgarh (Faridabad district), Palwal, Hassanpur (reserved) and Hathin in Palwal district before the delimitation.

Now, the six segments have been increased to nine by permutation and combination of their areas. Four new Assembly segments namely, Badkal, Faridabad (89), Prithla and Tigaon, have come into being. In the delimitation exercise, Mewla Maharajpur has been disbanded and Hassanpur has acquired a new nomenclature as Hodal. The areas of liquidated Mewla Maharajpur have helped in creating some of the new Assembly segments.

Badkal has been created by carving out the areas from disbanded Mewla Maharajpur and some portion of the NIT. Faridabad (89) totally consists of the areas of Mewla Maharajpur. Prithla has about 80 per cent of its areas from the earlier Ballabgarh Assembly constituency, about 15 per cent of Palwal and five per cent of the NIT Assembly segment. Tigaon Assembly's major portion consists of the areas of Mewla Maharajpur and about 15 villages seceded from Ballabgarh.

The NIT Assembly has undergone a major transformation. Only half of its earlier areas remain in the wake of permutation in the delimitation. The balance has been met by bringing some areas of Mewla Maharajpur in its fold.

Ballabgarh is now its reduced self. Only a SJM colony of the town has been added to it. In any case, the township of Ballabgarh has expanded in the past few years and the population is somewhat balanced even if some of its villages have been shifted from it.

Palwal has also undergone change with a good chunk of its areas being shifted to Hodal (earlier known as Hassanpur). Hodal by and large remains the old Hassanpur. Hathin also remains in its earlier form except for cosmetic changes.

Another salient feature of the delimitation is that while earlier there was only one Assembly segment of the NIT which was considered an urban seat, now there is a change with Badkal, Faridabad (89), Ballabgarh and Palwal Assembly seats assuming totally urban character. 

Kaithal, September 24
After getting reports about prevailing poor sanitary conditions in the town, deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar, accompanied by Ramesh Verma, ADC, and SK Goel, executive officer, Kaithal Municipal Council, had a round of different places in the town recently and directed municipal staff to improve the sanitary conditions in the town.

She expressed her concern over the poor sanitation at various places and asked the executive officer to arrange for the cleaning of heaps of garbage lying at certain points.

She issued directions to ensure the cleanliness of roads and removal of encroachments by shopkeepers outside the shops. She also took notice of the presence of some units which were making coal from wood and polluting the environment on the Chhatrawas road. She asked for the issuance of notices to the owners of such units.

During her visit, she went to the Ba-Bapu Chhatrawas road, Nirwania building area, Bhagat Singh Chowk, Partap Gate, Mata Gate, Siwan Gate, Ambedkar Chowk and some other areas. She also asked council officials to take steps to ensure that pigs were not allowed to roam on the streets of the town and busy roads. She also inspected various ongoing development schemes and the points which were launched under the beautification drive in the town.

She also directed to give a facelift to Dussehra ground and reconstruct the road from Mata Gate to the Siwan road which was lying in a bad shape.

Whatever may the outcome of this surprise visit by the head of the district administration, but the residents, who saw the deputy commissioner in action, felt relieved and hoped that they might get rid of the prevailing poor sanitary conditions.

Fatehabad, September 24
Dandiya, the usual dance performed during Navratras, has no more remained the exclusive dance of Gujarat now. People, especially women, all over are fascinated by dandiya and have been organising dance programmes during the Navratras everywhere.

The local Saraswati Dance Academy organised a programme “Ek Sham Dandiya Ke Naam” in the local Sobh Raj Batra Dharamshala recently.

Jasvir Kaur Virk, wife of district and sessions Judge RS Virk, was the chief guest, while Hema Bindu, wife of SP Dr CS Rao, was the special guest.

Several prominent women of the town like former MLA Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, Ramita Batra, Veena Bhayana, Rozy Mehtani, Dr Anjana Dawra, Roopali Mehtani and Suman Mehta were among the women who played dandiya on the occasion.

A variety of cultural programmes were also organised on the occasion.