Sirsa, December 4
The Indian Youth Congress’ much publicised internal poll process to churn out young leaders has been set into motion in Haryana.

The IYC president and Sirsa MP, accompanied by KJ Rao, a former consultant to the Election Commission of India and now general secretary of the Foundation of Advanced Management of Elections (FAME), an NGO headed by former Chief Election Commissioners JM Lyngdoh, TS Krishnamurthy and Gopalaswami, launched the membership drive at Congress Bhawan here today.

Major Gen (retd) SP Jhingan, treasurer of FAME, was also present. FAME has been given the task of supervising, auditing and advising the IYC on its organisational polls throughout the country and to help AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi in bringing forward the best leadership.

The word of FAME observers will be final in case of any dispute during the election process. The IYC has formally entered into an MoU with the NGO for these elections.

“The membership drive for enrolling the youth aged between 18 and 35 has been started throughout the state and will continue till December 31,” said Ashok Tanwar while talking to The Tribune.

“Once the drive is completed, work on entry of data, preparation of voter lists, scrutiny and nominations will be taken up.

“The election will be held for all panchayat committees first, then for assembly constituency committees, Lok Sabha constituency committees and finally the state committee,” Tanwar explained.

The IYC had done away with the old organisational structure of block, district and state-level committees.

He said the IYC would reach out to the youth from all strata of society so that the best possible leadership could come to the fore.

“The drive will be all-inclusive with reservation for women, SCs and OBCs,” he said.

Elections will be held for five members for each of the 6,155 panchayat committees and 10 delegates from each of the 90 assembly seats.

“These delegates will contest elections for the Lok Sabha and state elections and can even go up to the national level in the organisational setup,” Tanwar said.

Rahul Gandhi is scheduled to visit the state during the drive, though the exact dates for his visit have not yet been declared.

“The membership drive has been completed in Punjab, Gujarat, Daman Diu, Tripura, Chennai, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu and it will soon be concluded in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh,” the IYC president added.

Rohtak, December 4
The INLD’s victory in the recently held assembly elections was not just by chance or fluke, but had been a result of hardwork and resentment towards the functioning of the present government in the past four and a half years.

This has been stated by publicity secretary of the INLD Rajkumar Ridau while reacting to a statement of Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda about the election results recently.

Ridau claimed that the INLD’s victory on 32 seats was not by chance as stated by Hooda recently.

He said Deepender’s entry and his election as MP seemed to be an example of fluke as he was born with a silver spoon.

He said Deepender should not forget that his entry into politics was very easy as his father was a powerful figure in the Congress and close to Congress leader Sonia Gandhi.

Stating that the INLD is a party with strong grassroots and has nearly upstaged the Congress’ cart in the state, he said the ruling party had lost its base in several pockets and no reason to dishonour the sentiments and mandate given by the people of Haryana by giving such irresponsible statement.

The INLD leader asked the government to focus on fulfilling the promises made by it before the elections and improve the functioning of the government on various fronts, including power and water supply and employment to the youth of the state.

Alleging that the law and order situation has deteriorated in the country, the INLD demanded a strict action against erring officials.

Chandigarh, December 4
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has urged the Chairman and Managing Director, Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL), Dr SK Jain, to fast track pre-project activities and completing 4x700 MW nuclear power project in a shorter time frame.

Hooda made the request when he met senior officers of the NPCIL and the Department of Atomic Energy in Delhi today after they visited the project site.

Hooda expressed the commitment of the state government to complete all pre-project activities required for the project expeditiously.

He said since Haryana would be providing land and water for the project, the state would plead for 100 per cent share of power generated from it. The NPCIL authorities assured the Chief Minister of its support for maximising allocation of power to the state.

Hooda also stressed that the first uncultivable land should be acquired for the project and the actual commencement of construction of its reactor should be advanced by 2010-11.

He said he would take up the matter with Union Minister of Power Sushil Kumar Shinde for allocation of the entire power generated from the project to Haryana.

It may be pointed out that the pre-project activity was scheduled to be completed by 2010-11or early 2012 and the construction of the first and the second units was to be started by March 2012.

He said the Haryana Atomic Power Project (HAPP) could also include the name of Gorakhpur village from where most of the land required for the project would be acquired.

He said the township required for the employees of the project could also be located near Gorakhpur, for which the NPCIL and the state authorities could jointly finalise the site.

Jain assured Hooda that the NPCIL would execute the construction works on the project at an accelerated pace.

He said the work of area identification would be completed by next week and the construction works on the plant would be completed in two phases at the earliest.

He said a school, ITI and a township would also be set up near the plant for the benefit of the people of the area.

He said the NPCIL would also conduct special tours for sarpanches, villagers and government officers to the sites of the already set up nuclear power plants in the country to clear their apprehensions, if any, regarding the functioning of nuclear power projects. 

Palwal, December 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda urged here today upon one and all, especially farmers, to give momentum to the co-operative movement in the state.

Addressing a public meeting on the occasion of the 44th annual Co-operative Day at a state-level function, Hooda said the co-operative movement was important, especially, from farmers’ point of view.

He said in view of shrinkage in land holding and increase in the prices of agricultural implements, the avocation of farming was turning out to be a tough proposition.

Hence, sharing of burden and role performances of all players become important to produce the synergetic effect for mutual benefit and interests.

Co-operative ventures will act as leverage for all giving scope for lateral advantages and profits. The present practise and the returns on farming was linear in nature on account of lack of co-operative spirit in the field of agriculture.

He further said the co-operative movement was required not only in the field of agriculture, but also in allied activities. The concept has to be expanded in practise in all kindred fields, including dairies.

He further identified his present and preceding Congress government with farmers saying that the INLD government had only given Rs 160 crore as compensation to farmers for their agricultural land acquired for setting up the Kundali-Manesar-Palawal (KMP) express highway project. But his government raised the compensation to Rs 610 crore. It had no obligation to do so as the INLD government had acquired the land and it was accountable to farmers.

The Congress government headed by him was attuned to farmers and that was the reason why it stood on the side of farmers, he added.

Lands of thousands of farmers of Palwal, Mewat, Sonipat, Gurgaon and Jhajhar districts had been acquired for setting up of the KMP project. 

Rohtak, December 4
A joint deputation of the state unit of the CPI(M) and CPI today submitted a memoranda to CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda urging for urgent measures to check rising prices.

The CPI(M) state secretary Inderjit Singh said that the decision to observe December 4 as Warning Day was taken at a joint meeting on November 29.

The parties have conveyed resentment over the government’s alleged callous approach towards the unprecedented prise rise. Singh criticised Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for losing his temper over the issue while replying to supplementary questions in the Rajya Sabha recently.

He called it as a brazen example of the unsatisfactory functioning of the government machinery regarding such an important issue.

Both the Left parties declared their plans to observe weeklong protests from December 7 to 14, and protests and demonstrations at all district headquarters on December 28 and 29, respectively, in support of their demands, including action against hoarders.

Chandigarh, December 4
The government has constituted a seven-member committee to frame a policy to provide reservation in direct recruitment to physically challenged persons in the services of Group ‘A’, ‘B’, ‘C’ and ‘D’.

An official spokesman said here today that the committee would suggest modalities to provide reservations to physically challenged persons in terms of Section 33 of The Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights, and Full Participation Act, 1995, in the services of the Haryana Civil Services (Executive and Allied), Police, Home Guards, Fire Services and Health Department and Drivers and Conductors.

The Chief Secretary would be the chairperson of the committee while Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Home; Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Health; Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Social Welfare Department; Legal Remembrancer and Secretary, Law and Legislative Department; Special and Joint Secretary, Political Services Department; and Joint Secretary, General Administration Department, would be its members. — TNS

Ambala, December 4
Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati presented Bhagwad Gita to Sourabh Sharma, a meritorious student of Ambala Cantt who could not continue his higher studies due to financial constraints.

After the publication of the news report in The Tribune two days ago, the Chief Secretary had directed the Ambala administration to provide all possible financial assistance to the student. Later, GMN College, Ambala Cantt, gave him admission in BCA and announced to bear all his educational expenses.

Gulati had come to Ambala City to attend a divisional-level meeting of senior officers to assess the development works of the division.

She met Sourabh Sharma and asked him to face life boldly and to read the Bhagwad Gita to find a solution to his problems.

She also gave the holy book to principal of GMN College RR Malik and thanked him for bearing the financial responsibility of Sourabh Sharma. She said society should come forward to support those meritorious students who could not continue their studies due to their financial constraints.

Addressing the meeting, she said Haryana had made adequate arrangements to deal with swine flu.

Yamunanagar, December 4
The state government has decided to take strict action against cable operators showing unauthorised TV channels, which are not conducive for the security of the state.

Taking serious note of the violations by many cable operators, the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Home Department, today directed all Deputy Commissioners, SPs and the Commissioner of Police of Gurgaon and Faridabad to take action against the cable operators telecasting such unauthorised channels in the state.

“It has come to the notice of the state government that the cable operators at many places in the state have been downlinking and re-transmitting TV channels which are not approved by the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The content of these unauthorised channels may not be conducive to the security,” the Financial Commissioner said in a communication to all district magistrates and the SPs.

The Financial Commissioner said under Section 11 of the Cable Television Networks (regulation) Act, 1995, the authorities concerned which are the District Magistrates and the Police Commissioners of local areas were competent authorities to take action against the cable operators who had been broadcasting unauthorised channels.

“It is therefore requested that appropriate action may be taken against the cable operators to curb re-transmission of all non-approved channels being shown across the state,” he added. 

Jind, December 4
In a drive on road safety, the district transport authorities today impounded 35 vehicles from various parts of the district for overloading.

“Nearly all vehicles that were impounded were carrying bags of paddy and wheat more than the allowed weight,” claimed transport officials.

The overloaded vehicles are not only prone to accidents but have been causing a loss to the exchequer in some way or the other. Officials say a large number of vehicles/transport companies have been violating norms regarding carriage. Many have no permit for plying on the road.

These include hundreds of private jeeps and maxi cabs which carry passengers illegally. The overloading of passengers has been a problem that has remained unaddressed so far.

In the absence of proper services by the transport department and inadequate number of Roadways buses, commuters were forced to take the service of private vehicles, putting their lives to risk. There have been several incidents of clash between the commuters, especially students, and the Roadways staff as buses seldom halt on rural routes.

Rohtak, December 4
The police has arrested four youths, one of them enrolled in a polytechnic in Bhiwani, for alleged involvement in at least 25 incidents of crime, including looting, in several districts.

The police has announced to reward the informers as well as thepolicemen who nabbed them last night.

SSP Anil Kumar Rao said the arrested had been identified as Parvesh Kumar, Anil, Pardeep and Sonu from Rithal village. Pravesh is enrolled in BA through Distance Education of MDU.

Four firearms and two motorcycles were recovered from their possession after a brief encounter last night. The arrests are likely to solve as many as 25 cases.

Kaithal, December 4
The police has arrested Joginder, husband of Kavita, who died of burn injuries as she was allegedly set afire after sprinkling kerosene oil on November 27. The accused was produced in a local court today who sent to judicial custody till December 18.

Kavita had alleged that she was constantly tortured by her husband, his father and mother. On November 27, her husband and mother-in-law set her afire. — OC

Kaithal, December 4
The district police has arrested an accused from Punjab who allegedly duped an unemployed rural youth of Rs 8 lakh by promising to send him to Greece on a work permit. The police produced the accused in a local court and obtained his remand till December 7.

SSP Sandeep Khirwar said here today that Malkit Singh, resident of Bhuna village had alleged that he being unemployed sought the help of Rajpal of Hemu Majra posted as a teacher in Kangthli school to get some job. Raj Pal told him that his brother-in-law Rakesh Lalka was posted as loan manager in SBI, Madhor branch in Nabha Tehsil, who could send him to a foreign country. — OC