Sonepat, November 26
Resentment prevails among paddy growers following considerable increase in the purchase price of sister varieties of Basmati in different grain markets of the district during the past one week.

The price hike has come when hardly any paddy is left in the fields. Farmers feel cheated by the alleged conspiracy of middlemen in markets.

According to reports available from the government department concerned, paddy growers were offered prices between Rs 2,100 and 2,250 per quintal for Basmati and its sister varieties on November 3 and it ranged between Rs 2,250 and Rs 2,750 up to November 13.

However, it was purchased by millers and exporters at rates up to Rs 3,400 on November 20 - an increase of about Rs 700 per quintal within a week’s period.

A number of farmers pointed out that paddy growers had brought their entire produce in the market by November 15 and there was hardly any increase in the purchase prices during the entire purchase season. They also alleged that the produce of a number of farmers was purchased without completing proper procedure of auctioning and farmers remained at the mercy of middlemen to sell their produce.

Vice-president of the All-India Kisan Sabha Shradha Nand Solanki said there was hardly any benefit of the recent hike in the prices of Basmati and its sister varieties to paddy growers as they had already sold their produce in the market.

“The hike will benefit the middlemen and consumers will ultimately suffer from the hike,” he said.

The total arrival of paddy in different grain markets had gone up to 1,34,115 million tonnes by November 22 and average daily arrival even these days was around 1,000 MT.

Ambala, November 26
The slow speed of construction work of Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex at Ambala City has disappointed players and sport lovers of the city. Around three years ago with the efforts of the local MLA, Venod Sharma, the state government had sanctioned this sports project for Ambala City. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had laid the foundation stone of the complex.

The provision of several indoor and outdoor games had been made in the complex plan. Besides cricket ground, gymnasium hall, badminton hall and a few other sports halls are to be constructed for indoor games.

A sports stadium, including a gymnasium hall and a swimming pool, is already existing in the War Heroes Memorial Stadium at Ambala Cantt. It was the one of the main reason that most of the sports tournaments of the district and state level are organised there. Sports lovers of Ambala City had been demanding for a sports stadium since long time. Two decades ago, the foundation stone of a sports stadium was laid opposite to the Bal Bhawan at Ambala City, but later the project was abandoned.

Players of the city were in a jubilant mood when the foundation stone of Rajiv Gandhi complex was laid, but the delay in its construction has brought a halt to their anticipation. Boundary wall of the sports complex has not been completed so far. The badminton hall, which was to be completed by July 2009, is still under construction. The sports complex falls in HUDA periphery and it is the duty of HUDA to gear up the construction work.

According to information, the construction work of the complex was delayed due to the shortage of funds. The grant, which was earlier made available to HUDA, is already utilised in the construction. It seems that it would take another one year to complete this complex.

Venod Sharma, re-elected MLA from Ambala City, is stated to be very close to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Residents of the city are hopeful that the MLA would arrange the required finance for the complex and it would be completed in all respects before the end of 2010.

Hisar, November 26
Haryana plans to set up add a 660-MW thermal unit to Deen Bandhu Chhottu Ram Thermal Power Plant, Yamunanagar, at a cost of Rs. 2600 crore to meet the increasing demand for power.

The cost will be lower because as it is an extension of the project, most of the infrastructure facilities like railway siding, raw water reservoir and land are available in the existing premises of power plant. The expansion of the Yamunanagar plant will go a long way in minimising the gap between demand and supply of power and consequently making Haryana self-reliant in power.

Niraj Gulati, Director, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam, said that since its creation Haryana had increased its own installed power generation capacity from 343 MW to about 4700 MW. The state would increase its generation capacity by 5000 MW in the next two or three years.

He said that since Haryana was helping the country in meeting the demand for agricultural produce by contributing significantly to the central foodgrains pool, it had been demanding an additional share in the ultra mega power projects' unallocated power.

He said that besides setting up thermal plants at Hisar and Jhajjar, the state planned to set up a 1500-MW gas-based generation plant in Faridabad for which it had sought allocation of natural gas. A 2800-MW nuclear power plant was also planned to be set up in Fatehabad.

Gulati said that power was an important component of infrastructure needed for boosting economic growth and transformation of socio-economic life of the people. Increasing consumption of electricity directly improved socio-economic status.

Samalkha, November 26
A local sanitation park, the first of its kind set up by the state government to promote its sanitation campaign, is fast catching the attention of a large number of NGOs and government agencies involved in getting the country rid of defecating in the open.

Brought up at a cost of Rs 11.5 lakh, the park has set a precedent for many who have been actively visiting this place to have an idea as to how proper sanitation can be provided to the rural and underdeveloped areas with minimal expenditure.

The park was inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here last June and since then it has attracted a large number of persons from different places.

Wazir Singh, chairman of the sanitation park committee, said so far a delegation of representatives from Pakistan sanitation programme committee, Indian representatives of the World Research Organisation, a sanitation delegation from Maharashtra and a number of representatives of civic bodies of other districts of the state had already visited the park to draw elaborate plans to set up similar parks in their areas.

He said the Maharashtra delegation had expressed its admiration over the manner in which the resources had been put to use at the park.

The park has put on display a model of toilet that can be constructed with less than Rs 700. Besides, there is also a separate provision at the park to convert cow dung into composite fertilisers. The park also uses water harvesting to collect rainwater that is used to irrigate plants grown on the premises.

Deputy commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said despite making best efforts and extending the sanitation programme over a large part of the district, there were some households which had remained bereft of the benefits of proper toilets. He said the administration was committed to ensure overall hygiene in the district and hard work was being put in to meet this challenge.

Meanwhile, as part of the “swachhta” week observed in the state from November 23 to 29, the administration undertook an awareness campaign in schools, both private and government. The sanitation week was marked by holding declamation contests, essay-writing, painting and poster-making competitions for children.

Rewari, November 26
Of late there has been a spurt in fraudulent property transactions as well as deceitful business deals in the district.

Besides, the perpetrators of these crooked deals have also made the economic cell of the police here work for extra hours under massive strain.

Sameer Kalra of the local Model Town colony paid Rs. 9 lakh in two instalments as earnest money to Dinesh Kumar and his wife, Savita Devi, following the execution of an agreement for the purchase of their residential plot in Shakti Nagar here in 2008.

Recently when Sameer insisted on registration of the sale deed of the above plot, he came to know that the couple had earlier secured a loan of over Rs. 6 lakh from ICICI Bank here after mortgaging the plot.

Thus when Sameer failed to get the registry of the plot executed in his favour, he filed a complaint following which the police registered a case against the couple.

In a second such case, Krishna Devi of Hailey Mandi town in Gurgaon district, recently sold her share of agricultural land measuring 24 kanals at Asiaki Gorawas village, 15 km from Rewari, to Rajpati Devi of Rohtak district for Rs. 57 lakh through Sunil Sharma and two others, all residents of Jhajjar district,

However, the trio allegedly grabbed the huge amount they had received from the purchaser, which was to be delivered to the landowner.

When Krishna Devi remained deprived of the sale proceeds of her land, she filed a complaint on November 12, 2009, following which the police registered a case against Rajpati Devi, Sunil Sharma, Jogender and Rajesh Sharma..

A third case pertains to cheating and forgery allegedly done by Ramesh Sethi of Jagadhari while doing business with the local Laxmi Trading Company from 2004 to 2009.

Virender Kumar Bhuraria, signatory and partner of the above company here, alleged that Ramesh Sethi continued to purchase tea from their company on the basis of forged documents.

Thus by presenting "forged" documents of his "fake" firm, Ramesh Sethi indulged in a VAT- related " fraud" amounting to about Rs. 21 lakh during the past five years, Buraria alleged.

When it came to the firm's knowledge, it filed a petition in the court of the Chief Judicial Magistrate who ordered the registration of a case against against Ramesh Sethi.

Meanwhile, the increasing frequency of stealing of buffaloes has virtually become a scourge for farmers in rural areas of the district.

Not a week passes when buffaloes are stolen by cattle lifters from one or the other village in the district. Residents have now started night patrolling in several villages as a preventive measure.

A deputation of Jatusana villagers met SP Rajender Singh Gahlot here on (November 21) and complained that owing to the Jatusana police's inept handling, cattle thieves managed to escape recently.

Taking a serious note, the district police chief ordered a departmental inquiry by the Kosli DSP against the police personnel concerned.

The villagers said six buffaloes had been stolen from Fatehpuri village during the past one month.

Gurgaon, November 26
Gurgaon municipal commissioner Rajesh Khullar has dedicated a rainwater-harvesting project to the residents at Hope Apartments in Sector 15 (part-II) here.

The project, which has the potential to harvest 75 lakh litres of rainwater annually, has been completed by Coca-Cola India and Enrich Agro Foods, the authorised franchise bottler of Coca-Cola in India in partnership with FORCE, an NGO, and the Residents Welfare Association (RWA) of Hope Apartments.

Lee Winfield, group director of Eurasia and Africa chapters of Coca-Cola, besides Ashok Vashisht, vice-phesident, RWA, Hope Apartments, Jyoti Sharma, president, FORCE, were also present.

Khullar appreciated the initiatives taken by the corporate sector and NGOs in checking the decline of the water table, which was a matter of concern for all.

He called for more such private-public partnership programmes to ensure eco-sustainability.

Lee Winfield said: “Water management remains a priority at Coca-Cola, where we pursue a 3R programme of Reduce, Recycle, and Replenish as our mantra for water conservation. Water conservation and environment management today require a participative and collaborative approach”.

“It is important that each member of society contributes in his/her own way towards the cause of environment sustainability.”

According to a recent study carried out by the Gurgaon administration, excessive drawing of groundwater has led to the water table receding by almost six metres in the past two years.

Fatehabad, November 26
The Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER), an organisation working in the field of enhancement of the quality of elementary education all over the country, conducted a survey covering villages of Fatehabad district recently.

Students of the NSS wing of the local Manohar Memorial Postgraduate College, Fatehabad, were associated with the survey in the nearby 30 villages and got the first-hand experience by interacting with villagers and their children, including teachers of schools, said Dr DK Kaushik, principal of the college.

Earlier, a basic training camp imparting knowledge of various ways and methods for conduction survey was organised in the college campus.

The main aim of the ASER was to collect information about reading and writing skills in the students of elementary education in the nearby villages of Fatehabad.

The survey report was presented to Himmat Singh, executive officer, ASER representative.

The students expressed their experiences in the meeting with the representatives of the ASER. They were of the opinion that there was a need for qualitative improvement among students for elementary education.

The principal thanked the ASER representatives for giving the opportunity to the students for the survey and said such survey helped the government for taking decision in the right direction.

Certificates were presented to NSS volunteers in the presence of programme officers Dr Robin Anand and Prof Pratibha Makhija of the NSS units of boys and girls, respectively, of the college.

Chandigarh, November 26
When his other colleagues are learning the ropes in their new ministries, Randeep Singh Surjewala has drawn up a roadmap for the PWD (B and R) and Public Heath under his wings. He also holds the portfolios of Water Supply and Sanitation, Parliamentary Affairs, Electronics and Information Technology, Science and Technology

"The government is committed to creating good infrastructure given the fact that the PWD (B and R) has the highest budget allocation. "With the manifesto as our yardstick, I have set some targets, including widening district roads to 10 meters and roads connecting three or more villages to 5.5 m. We will take up the case of widening national highways with the Centre," he says.

Both departments have been told to introduce e-tendering in projects and the initiative is likely to take off soon. With zero tolerance for substandard work, Surjewala has decided to get even with the contractors who wash their hands off every work once it is handed over to the department concerned.

"We have introduced a five-year maintenance clause for all road projects just like the one we have in Public Heath where every sewage treatment plant is allotted to contractors with the five-year maintenance rider. Though this is likely to push up costs slightly, it's worth it. We have enhanced the defect liability of roads from three to six years and are keen on bringing up more bypasses since traffic cannot continue to flow through cities," he explains.

All mining roads are in bad shape. We want these to be constructed on a BOT basis where a toll can be levied. We are exploring the possibility of a waiver for cars and tractors on all mining roads while commercial vehicles will continue to be charged, Surjewala discloses, adding that the first BOT project, the Gurgaon-Faridabad road and the Ballabhgarh-Pali-Dhauj mining roads, is under way.

In Public Health, a ministry he held in his last term as well, phase I of the Rajiv Gandhi drinking water scheme for Mewat has been on completion handed over for third party assessment while the second phase is likely to be operational by January 31 next year.

"Also, we want 100 per cent sewerage coverage in big and small towns and create sewage treatment plants so that sub-soil water does not get contaminated. A stimulus package for the same has already been announced for the non-NCR towns. We will be taking up 17 such towns in the first round," he states.

Yamunanagar, November 26
The single window system has been set up to facilitate the industry of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri towns for getting NOC for pollution. In this system, a district-level committee has been constituted which is headed by the deputy commissioner, while all other required officials of various departments, including electricity, municipal town and country planning, are also a part of the committee, said DB Batra, regional officer of the Haryana State Pollution Control Board, here recently.

“The system will help the industry to get the clearance from various departments at one platform only,” he added while addressing the members of the Yamunanagar - Jagadhri Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He also explained the necessity of following pollution laws rigorously as well as he also gave a brief account of all changes in these laws that took place recently.

While clarifying recent changes in pollution laws, he said: “Noise pollution created by industrial units falls under the jurisdiction of the state Pollution Department, while checking noise pollution in the residential areas is the responsibility of the SDM concerned and similarly, noise pollution from traffic is the responsibility of the Police Department”.

However, Samira Saluja, president of the Yamunanagar - Jagadhri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said keeping in view the country’s largest plywood industry and a major metal industry in the district, we had been following all norms. She said small and medium industry had to be given some relaxation in comparison to the large industry.

“Even sometimes, restrictions discourse people to start small venture or small industry which is essential these days. Professionals should be promoted by the government to start their own small industry,” she added.

Bhupender Singh, environment engineer with the Pollution Department, explained the members of the chambers of various industries about four categories of industries, which had been divided on the basis of the level of pollution and the requirement of the board.

He imparted information about the air and noise level which was required to be maintained. He also explained requirements and plans of the government to improve sewerage and sanitation system in industrial towns.

Kurukshetra, November 26
The Department of Tourism and Hotel Management of Kurukshetra University, in collaboration with the Haryana Tourism, organised a seminar on “export of tourism services” at Indian International Trade Fair at Pragati Maidan in New Delhi recently.

The theme has a justification in the context of economic recession on the one hand and the expansion of the Indian tourism industry on the other.

Chief guest Inder Sharma emphasised on the growing importance and scope of the tourism industry at the global level particularly for the growth of inbound tourism. He also commented on the increasing competitive capabilities of the Indian tourism industry and made an appeal to people associated with it to collaborate with the government to take full advantage of the provisions and opportunities of export of tourism services.

The key speaker, Ghulam Nakshaband, director emeritus of Le Passage India, explained at length trends and patterns in international tourism and shared his views on opportunities and advantages for Indian tourism industry. He identified future markets mainly in the Far East which can provide rich dividends to the Indian industry, if handled professionally and pragmatically. He also suggested an increase in the number of familiarisation trips for foreign travel agencies to come to India and sell Indian goods in their respective markets. This was the way to become more competitive, he added.

Prem Subramaniam, adviser CSR, IDFC, observed that the industry-institution relations held the key for drawing benefits of changing trends in the world tourism market. He said there was a need to improve tourism infrastructure and legislation to capitalise on favourable global climate, particularly inbound tourism. He also called upon the industry to acquire a competitive edge to succeed.

Another personality from the industry, GVR Shastry expressed his views on the application of technology, mainly to cater to tech savvy tourists. Customers’ needs can be better satisfied with the use of technology, he added.

Prof Manjula Chaudhary, chairperson, Department of Tourism and Hotel Management, KU, welcomed the dignitaries and participants. She apprised the audience of the significance of the seminar and gave a view of tourism trends in the country.

Prof SS Boora of the department extended a vote of thanks.

Jhajjar, November 26
Vibrant and well-managed presentation of Hindi play ‘Andhayug’ staged by the Sargam Theatrical Group at Panchayat Bhawan here recently not only succeeded in depicting various social evils prevailing in society but also spreading a massage among masses for coming forward to stamp out these evils posing a constant threat to brotherhood and social harmony.

Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner, Nitin Yadav, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said such activities were necessary to give a fillip to cultural activities and to promote growing artistes.

He praised the artistes for doing justice with their roles

Dr Anand Sharma, director of the Sargam Theatrical Group, said “Andhayug written by Dharamvir Bharti is a mythological play based on the aftermath of the historical Mahabharata war. It is not merely a mythological drama; it does a lot of social, political and psychological commentary as well. The ultimate theme of the play is sin, punishment and redemption.”

The main roles of Lord Krishna and Gandhari were played by Alkesh Dalal and Meenu, respectively, while Ajay Bhatia, Ajay Sharma, Arun Kumar, Ajay Khatri, Sachin Indora, Kamal were in other roles.

Gurgaon, November 26
To honour students of various professional courses for their excellent performance, city-based Ansal Institute of Technology, (AIT) organised an award function here recently.

Sandeep Paul, vice-consul, US Embassy, was the chief guest.

He gave away awards to meritorious students for their excellent academic performance and also released a biannual magazine, Spectrum.

Paul spoke about various issues relating to education and advised the students about its importance in ones life. “In tough times, when everything else perishes, education always remains intact with the individual,” he said and advised students to have free exchange of ideas with their teachers.

Prof. MP Singh, Director, AIT, affirmed that they had a proposal of one-to-one student exchange programme with Valparaiso University, a private university in Chicago, which has a great scope of promoting exchanges between the two sides.

He said an MBA programme for executives from multinational companies was also proposed to be started in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, where executives would go for a two-week certification programme in international marketing and business strategies. Similarly, a one-year UCLA certification on management of entertainment with a possibility of three-month internship in a Hollywood studio was also proposed to be started, he added.

Yamunanagar, November 26
In view of increasing unemployment, the country should produce more job creators instead of job seekers and to do that there was a need to develop entrepreneurial skills among management students. There is a strong case for generalisation of management education instead of specialisation, which requires remedial steps to face challenges of an era of continuous change in business environment. Change is the law of nature.

This was stated by Dr MM Goel, chairman of the Department of Economics, Kurukshetra University, here.

Recalling the success story of late OP Jindal - terming him a self-made industrialist and man of steel - Goel urged the Haryana government to include Jindal’s success story in courses of study for entrepreneurship at the graduate level. His hard work would prove as a major source of motivation for students, he added.

Addressing management students at Shree Siddhivinayak Group in Bilaspur on “Excellence models for entrepreneurs in post reform era”, he further said to solve the problem of unemployment, the only solution was to develop entrepreneurship at small levels and self-employment opportunities.

Director of the institute Dr RS Wadhawan said the main objective of entrepreneurial development programmes was to provide necessary guidance. He also laid stress on enhancement of entrepreneurial skills of students.

Hisar, November 26
The first unit of 600 MW Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Project coming up at Khedar near here is likely to be synchronised next month and it will start commercial generation within the next two months, Lt-Gen OS Lohchab (retd), chairman, Haryana Power Transmission and Distribution Corporations, said here.

Lohchab said the second unit of similar capacity would be synchronised in February next year. With the commissioning of both units, Haryana would add 288 lakh units daily to its installed generation capacity.

He said the first unit of 500 MW capacity of the 1500 MW thermal power plant under construction in Jhajjar was likely to come on bars by December 2010 and the rest two units of 500 MW each would start generation after a gap of three months.

Haryana would get 750 MW power from this thermal project. Yet another thermal project of 1320 MW capacity was under construction in the private sector in Jhajjar district which would start generation in 2012. Haryana would get 90 per cent of the power generated from this project, he added.

He said a massive campaign was on to strengthen power transmission and distribution system in the state. It was a policy decision of the distribution corporations to promote high voltage distribution system and minimise the length of low voltage distribution lines.

Lohchab said the system was being strengthened under schemes of the World Bank, Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme, Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yajna of the Central government, National Capital Regional Development Schemes and different plans of the state. The World Bank had sanctioned Rs 1,650 crore for construction of 400 KV, 220 KV, 132 KV and 66 KV substations at different places in the state.