Chandigarh, December 8
As a major reform initiative, the state government has decided to hand over the distribution of electricity in Gurgaon and Panipat to private parties.

Giving the go-ahead to the power utilities in this regard today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda asked it to engage distribution franchisees for these towns through open bidding.

An official spokesman said the step would bring in efficiency in the private sector management without losing the ownership of assets.

The go-ahead came during the Chief Minister’s meeting with senior officials of the power sector to discuss an action plan for reducing transmission losses, checking power theft and streamlining distribution. The Financial Commissioner, Power, Madhusudan Prasad, said the distribution franchisee would help controll losses in these areas. There would be no retrenchment of employees.

The presentation was based on a study by a team of engineers from the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) after a visit to Bhiwandi in Maharashtra, where the experiment had been highly successful.

Hooda also reviewed the position of AT & C losses and directed both distribution companies, DHBVN and UHBVN, to launch a campaign to control losses.

Anurag Aggarwal, MD, DHBVN, said a drive had been launched in this regard on December 1 for urban and industrial areas and would now be extended to rural areas.Vijayendra Kumar, MD, UHBVN, said that feeder/ division /circle-wise targets had been fixed and officers would be held responsible for not meeting the targets.

Hooda directed the officers to bring down AT &C loss levels to 25 per cent by March 31 next. Firm action should be taken against those caught stealing power, he told the officers.

He instructed the Home Secretary and the DGP to provide police help to the power authorities.

The Chief Minister said incentives should be given to consumers opting for electricity meters. He appreciated the UHBVN for its “no metering, no transformer” policy. Also at the meeting were Power Minister Mahendra Pratap Singh, Principal Secretary to CM Chhatar Singh and Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati.

Sirsa, December 8
Haryana Minister of State for Home Gopal Kanda today asked INLD chief Om Parkash Chautala to stop his spiteful campaign against the Hooda government.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said Chautala should wait for the Ellenabad byelection to ascertain who was more popular, he or Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. “The elections gave a clear mandate to Hooda but those rejected by the people for the second time in a row are a frustrated lot and are making irresponsible and ridiculous statements,” Kanda said.

He alleged that Chautala and his family had always exploited the people of Sirsa and did not undertake any development in the area.

“Chief minister Hooda gave crores of rupees to the university named after Chaudhary Devi Lal despite the fact that the late Deputy PM had thrice contested against him. Also, the CM got this university recognition from the UGC,” Kanda said.He said the people of Sirsa had enabled members of the Chautala clan to rise to the offices of CM and Deputy PM , but they had done nothing for the people in return. Kanda said Chautala had hurt the sentiments of the people by quitting the Ellenabad seat and said as Chief Minister Chautala had not visited the town even once.

“It is an insult to Ellenabad voters that Chautala has preferred to represent Uchana Kalan from where he won with a margin of a mere 600 votes and disowned Ellenabad from where he won with a margin of 16,000 votes,” Kanda.

Sirsa, December 8
Addressing a convention of “unregistered doctors” at Mallekan village in the Ellenabad constituency today, Ajay Singh Chautala, secretary general of the INLD, said that his party would allow “unqualified doctors” to practise provided they have worked under a qualified doctor for a period of three years.

“Health services in Haryana have been paralysed and unregistered doctors, who have been providing necessary medical help to people in villages, are being harassed by the government,” Ajay Singh alleged. “The INLD will take up their problems in the assembly. We will insist that provided these practitioners undergo training under experienced doctors, they may be allowed to serve the people,” he said.

Gurgaon, December 8
The Gurgaon police today arrested senior RAW officer Nisha Bhatia, alias Nisha Priya Bhatia, on charges of beating up a colleague and his wife, and damaging property.

After her arrest, Bhatia, a director in the Cabinet Secretariat, was produced in a local court, which sent her in judicial custody for 14 days. Following this, she was sent to the Bhondsi prison.

Bhatia's colleague Sadanand and his wife had lodged a complaint against her on October 30, alleging that she came to their house, abused and manhandled them and damaged their car.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Gurgaon) Rakesh Arya said there were several other complaints against the officer, which necessitated her arrest. A case under Sections 323, 506, 427 and 452 of the IPC had been registered against her, he added.

Police officials had a tough time handling Bhatia as she refused to undergo a medical examination and follow their other directions.

Some time ago, Bhatia had lodged a complaint alleging sexual harassment by her Joint Secretary. The complaint was inquired into by a complaint committee constituted as per the guidelines of the Supreme Court. An external woman officer was also co-opted as per these guidelines.

The officer was given several opportunities to present her case, but she refused to cooperate with the committee. The committee completed the inquiry on May 19, 2008, and found that her allegations could not be substantiated.

Moreover, the committee found that her behaviour on a number of occasions appeared to indicate a “disturbed state of mind” and recommended medical counselling. The findings were communicated to the competent authority in the government.

Meanwhile, Bhatia went to the PMO and allegedly attempted to commit suicide by consuming poison there. She was immediately shifted to a hospital for medical care and her family was informed about the incident.

Meanwhile, a number of complaints were received against Bhatia from different officers of her organisation. These range from alleged insubordination, misbehaviour, abuse of authority and so on. In view of these complaints of misconduct, a preliminary inquiry was ordered on August 8, 2008.

Chandigarh, December 8
People from several villages and a residential colony in Faridabad district today staged a protest at the Sector 25 rally ground here against the Haryana government for “unlawful” declaration of thousands of acres owned by them as forest area.

Alleging that the authorities concerned had embezzled European Union funds to the tune of Rs 300 crore meant for afforestation of Aravali Hills, the villagers claimed that not a single tree had been planted in the area.

The protesters, hailing from the Anangpur area, along with villagers from Mewla Maharajpur, Ankhir, Manga and plot owners of Kant Enclave, assembled at the rally ground and raised slogans against the state government.

Talking to TNS, Brig AK Maini (retd) said since private parties owned a majority of the land, the government would have had to pay handsome amounts to gain the same. Interestingly, the Forest Department came out with a scheme called ‘Rehabilitation of Common Land’ to show some plantation work on panchayat land even as all gram panchayats were abolished through a notification in 1972.

Amrit Singh, a former sarpanch of Anandpur village, alleged that in order to justify their expenditure worth Rs 306.2 crore, the Forest Department conveniently declared the private land in the region as forest area. Without seeking or looking into any further clarifications the matter was agreed to in the court of law.

Jind, December 8
Studies at Government Middle School in Darholi village was disrupted for about 90 minutes this morning after local residents locked the school gate in protest against alleged encroachment.

The lock was removed on the intervention of naib tehsildar who assured that the problem would be solved soon.

The protesting villagers told the official that certain persons had been carrying out activities on the school premises with a view to encroaching land meant for activities like sports. They claimed that even as the matter had been raised with the school authorities, the activities had been going on without any check. It is alleged that the school land is being used for keeping cattle.

In another incident, students from Alewa village in the district blocked the road connecting Jind with Kaithal this morning. They were angry with Roadways buses for not halting at the village bus shelter in the village. The protest led to a traffic jam for about 30 minutes.

The villagers say that with most buses not halting in the village, their children faced great difficulty in reaching schools and colleges.

Karnal, December 8
Another Karnal resident succumbed to swine flu in the PGI, Chandigarh, yesterday, raising the death toll due to swine flu in the district to three.

The victim, Ruchi, was a resident of Sector 8 in Karnal. She was taken to the Civil Hospital here after she complained of fever five days ago. Doctors advised her to go to the PGI, Chandigarh, for treatment where she tested positive for H1N1. Due to late diagnosis of swine flu, the doctors failed to save her and she died at the PGI last night.

However, health officer PR Purithi said the case was not in his knowledge and if the deceased died due to swine flu, samples of the relatives would be taken and sent for examination to ensure that H1N1 symptoms were not present in them.

Meanwhile, 11 more samples were sent for examination today.

Chandigarh, December 8
The Army Service Corps (ASC), the oldest logistic component of the Indian Army, celebrated its 249th anniversary at Western Command Headquarters in Chandimandir today.

A wreath was laid at the Veer Smriti war memorial on behalf of all ranks of the corps by Maj Gen Kamal Mohey, head of the ASC branch at Command Headquarters. Several other functions, including a bara khana for the troops and a social get-together for serving and retired officers, were also organised.

In his message, GOC- in--Chief, Western Command Lt Gen SR Ghosh, extended his greetings to all ranks, civilian employees, their families and veterans of the corps.

Sirsa, December 8
A car driver took away a woman, who was injured after the car knocked her down, on the pretext of admitting her to a hospital and threw her away behind bushes near Nanheri in Fatehabad district.

The police recovered the body of the victim today and has traced the car, bearing Punjab registration, to a villager from Jamalpur in Fatehabad.

The victim, Ram Murti (45), was hit by a Tata Indica car near Maujukhera village in this district on December 6, when she was coming to Sirsa.