Chandigarh, March 11
Haryana Speaker Harmohinder Singh Chatha today left the House in a huff.

It was the rarest of the rare incidents for the Haryana Assembly when a presiding officer felt so offended by the behaviour of members, both of the ruling party and the Opposition, that he had to withdraw from the House.

A visibly angry Speaker adjourned the House for 30 minutes while walking out.

He was upset at certain ruling party MLAs repeatedly interrupting Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala, while he spoke on the Budget. Chautala, too, seemed to enjoy provoking Congress benches by repeatedly deviating from the debate and levelling allegations against Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh and his government even as Chatha repeatedly urged him not to do so.

After the House re-assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and Chautala assured Chatha of good conduct.

Despite the assurances, the situation remained more or less unchanged.

Chautala was called by the Speaker to speak after Congress member Raghubir Singh Kadian opened the debate. Normally, the debate on the Budget is opened by the Leader of the Opposition. Right from the beginning Chautala set the stage for noisy scenes describing the Hooda government as a minority government.

Congress members led by Surjewala were immediately up on their feet. Surjewala reminded Chautala that during the elections to the boards of two universities last evening, the ruling party candidates had secured 53 votes against 36 votes polled by the Opposition INLD nominee. This was proof enough that the government enjoyed majority.

The INLD leader said debt burden had risen under the Congress rule. If loan had been taken for developing the state, it could have been justified.

But the state of development was such that the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) had not carved a single residential sector in the past five years, he said. Surjewala and other Congress members again contradicted him by reading out figures.

Chautala wanted the government to issue a white paper on special economic zones, which, he alleged, were an instrument to help builders and defraud farmers of their valuable land.

He said sometime back he had written a letter to Hooda in response to which the latter likened him to “a blind man groping in a dark room in search of black cat, which is not there.”

To this, Chautala evoked laughter in the House, saying that he could not speak in Hooda’s language.

Kishan Pal Gurjar of the BJP said when Manmohan Singh became Prime Minister, people had great expectations from him. When Capt Ajay Singh Yadav became Finance Minister, there were no such expectations from him. And truly, he had presented a disappointing Budget.

He urged the government to ensure that costly land of panchayats was not exchanged with inferior land to benefit builders. He lauded Congress legislator Dharam Pal for preventing one such exchange.

Even as Sampat Singh of the Congress was defending the Budget, the House was adjourned . 

Chandigarh, March 11
The treasury benches and those of the Opposition have agreed to disagree. That’s obvious as they take on each other during the Budget session.

However, there’s unspoken unanimity between them on another front --- young MLAs of both sides, mostly first-timers, remain tongue-tied. Mute spectators to the developments as they unfold, these newcomers are always present but hardly ever heard. It is the veterans of the two main political parties, the Congress and the INLD, who call the shots. Parliamentary Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala usually holds the fort for the government. Other familiar faces include Congress working president Kuldeep Sharma, Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukal and Anita Yadav, four-time MLA.

From among the INLD members, party supremo Om Prakash Chautala is the main face of the party though the treasury benches often accuse his two sons, Ajay and Abhey, of giving a running commentary in the House.

Rampal Majra and Bishen Singh Saini sometimes chip in with a rebuke or two.

Beyond that, it’s virtually a mob which rises and sits down with the Chautalas. In the BJP, Anil Vijh and party president Krishan Pal Gurjar do the talking.

The newcomers, especially youngsters, who have been in the spotlight for changing the face of the Haryana Assembly, are hardly ever heard. “We are still learners,” they argue. Meanwhile, during today’s question hour, Health Minister Geeta Bhukal admitted that ventilators were lying unutilised in a room at the district hospital in Karnal since 2002.

Sumita Singh wanted an inquiry into why the equipment was bought and the guilty punished. Kiran Choudhry said such inquiries should time-bound. Ram Pal Majra (INLD) brought in a call attention motion on inadequate supply of fertiliser. He said the government had failed to arrange for the same and the farmers feared loss to their crops.

Paramvir Singh, Agriculture Minister, denied the same.

On the lighter side ...

n Public Health Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala was flooded with questions on water scarcity. Quipped the Speaker:“Is he carrying a map in his pocket so that he can reply here and now? He’s not even carrying a computer to check the status of water in any village you name.”

n A reply in the negative by Geeta Bhukal on a veterinary hospital prompted a member to say: “Kabhi haan bhi bol diya karo.”

Chandigarh, March 11
Even as the Haryana government needs to exercise caution on its expenditure so as to reduce its fiscal deficit, the subsidy bill of the government has gone up by almost Rs 150 crore this year. This even as all categories of consumers, including agriculture consumers, continue to face power shortage.

It is learnt that the hike in power subsidy bill has led to a hike in the total subsidy bill of the state government. As against the power subsidy bill of Rs 2,778.43 crore for this fiscal, the Finance Minister, Capt Ajay Yadav, has earmarked Rs 2,900 crore for the coming fiscal. This, in turn, has led to the total subsidy bill of the government to go up from Rs 3,055.61 crore to Rs 3,200 crore.

The fiscal deficit in Haryana is estimated to shoot up to a whopping Rs 8,815.64 crore, an increase of Rs 258.24 crore over the current fiscal. Last year, the government had treaded cautiously and worked at bringing down the total subsidy bill of the state from Rs 3,264.67 crore in 2008-09 to Rs 3,055.61 crore for 2009-10. Though financial prudence demanded that the government try to rein in its subsidy component, not much seems to have been done on this front in the Budget 2010-11.

For the past few years, Haryana pays the highest power subsidy to the farm sector in the country - almost equivalent to Punjab, where power is provided free of cost to farmers. This in spite of the fact that Haryana, unlike Punjab, does not dole out free power to farmers, but subsidises it at 25 paisa per unit.

The Finance Minister, when asked on why the loss-making power distribution companies were getting a larger share of the subsidy pie this year, said the government had already asked the power distribution companies - the UHBVN and the DHBVN - to pull up their socks. “Both distribution companies have been told to curtail their line losses and encourage energy audit in the agriculture sector.

The segregation of agriculture feeders from rural domestic and industrial feeders, too, will have to be paced up by the companies so that their losses can be brought down,” he said.

Chandigarh, March 11
The closure of sand and boulder quarries in Haryana has started having its toll on construction projects in Delhi, witnessing feverish construction activity because of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games and the metro.

The prices of stone aggregate and sand have shot up by 40 per cent since February 28, when mining in the state was stopped. Though mining in Gurgaon, Mewat and Faridabad districts in the National Capital Region (NCR) was banned long ago, Haryana along with Alwar district of Rajasthan continued to be major suppliers of aggregate to Delhi.

While the Supreme Court had ordered the closure of mining in Tijara tehsil in Alwar district sometime ago, in Haryana it was stopped on the expiry of the concession period granted by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on February 28. Sources say Delhi is now dependent for its needs on Haridwar in Uttarakhand, Saharanpur in UP and Rajasthan areas beyond Jaipur.

Interestingly, despite the 2006 notification of the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests (MEOF), which made prior environment clearance for minor minerals, quarrying of these in these states is continuing unabated. Sources say in these states, the governments have leased out areas less than 5 hectares for mining.

In Rajasthan, the leased areas are as small as a hectare, making a mockery of environment concerns. The MOEF notification is applicable on quarries of more than 5 hectares.

The prices of aggregate around Panchkula have also started going up. So far, these have registered an increase of about 10 per cent. Crusher owners say this increase is due to “shifting charges” which refer to the expense incurred by crusher owners to move raw material stored by them away from their crushers.

Learning a lesson from what had occurred in May last, when all mining came to a sudden halt following the orders of the High Court, lease-holders as well as crusher owners in Haryana have piled up huge stocks this time. There were apprehensions if the environment impact assessment report (EIAR) could be approved before February 28. The process is lengthy.

Many enterprising lease-holders and crusher owners have hired land to stock raw material. At certain places, the stored boulders have taken the shape of small hillocks, sources say.

The lease holders say they have not committed any illegality in storing the material on which they have already paid royalty to the state.

— To be concluded

Panipat, March 11
With the delay in the formation of a separate body for managing the affairs of the Sikh religious places in Haryana, the state is losing around Rs 100 crore each year, which is generated from all sources of income of the gurdwaras as this amount goes into the coffers of the SGPC.

Revealing this here yesterday, working president of the Haryana SGPC (ad hoc), Didar Singh Nalvi said with the delay the ad hoc panel was also losing prime pieces of land that belong to the gurdwaras as these were being transferred in the names of trusts by the SGPC. He claimed that once converted into the trusts, the separate body (when formed in Haryana) would not be able to claim these properties.

He alleged that this was a deliberate attempt by the SGPC, which was aware of the fact that sooner or later a separate body would be formed in Haryana, to grab the prime pieces of property belonging to the gurdwaras. He said the SGPC had already formed trusts to take over gurdwaras properties at Shahbad Markhanda, Karnal, Sirsa and Kaithal.

Expressing faith in the intentions of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Nalvi said though Hooda was in favour of a separate SGPC for the state, the delay in taking concrete measures could prove detrimental to the interests of Sikhs of the state.

He said that as per the Punjab Reorganisation Act,1966, it was the Constitutional right of the Sikhs to have a separate managing committee to run affairs of gurdwaras located in the state. 

Chandigarh, March 11
In a decision which may provide succour to employees suffering due to official delays and red-tape, the Chandigarh Bench of the Armed Forces Tribunal has directed the Ministry of Defence to re-fix the notional pension of an Army Medical Corps (AMC) officer who could not be promoted in time to the rank of Colonel due to delay in the implementation of the AV Singh Committee report.

The officer who retired in the rank of Lieut-Colonel, will now be entitled to pension and associated benefits of a Colonel.

The AV Singh committee report had reduced the time-frame for promotions and was implemented on December 16, 2004.

The implementation of the recommendations for AMC officers, however, was delayed due to internal differences regarding the length of service to be prescribed for promotion to the rank of Colonel.

The implementation letter for the AMC was finally issued in November 2005 with retrospective effect from December 16, 2004, and all officers who had completed 24 years service were retrospectively promoted as Colonel.

The petitioner, AK Kalia, a resident of Panchkula, had in the meanwhile retired in the rank of Lieut-Colonel in July 2005, but was later retrospectively promoted to the rank of Colonel from December 16, 2004.

The officer however, was not re-called to serve till July 31, 2007, that is till the age of 58 years as prescribed for the rank of Col in the AMC, due to the reason that the gazette notification of the retrospective promotion had not yet been published. 

Karnal, March 11
Former President Dr APJ Kalam will deliver the convocation address at the eighth convocation of National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here on Saturday.

The function will be presided over by Dr S Ayyappan, secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, Dr AK Srivastav, Director and Vice-Chancellor of the university, said.

Dr Srivastava said a total of 147 students would be given degrees. He further said these included 26 girls and nine foreign students. Four students would be awarded Director’s gold medals and merit certificates while six students would be awarded the Best Thesis Award, including three each for Masters and Doctoral thesis.

He said a galaxy of vice-chancellors and other dignitaries from different parts of the country would participate in the programme.

The NDRI attained the status of deemed university in 1989 and besides carrying out research, it is running Bachelor of Technology, Masters of Technology, Masters of Veterinary Science, Masters of Science and Doctor of Philosophy courses in the faculty of dairying on its campus in Karnal and Bengaluru. 

Sirsa, March 11
All high and senior secondary schools of Haryana will receive funds for minor repairs, lab equipments and consumable, books and periodical and water and electricity charges under the recently introduced Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA).

The Ministry of Human Resources Development had released funds for the preparatory activities for the implementation of the RMSA programme in Haryana for 2009-10 in January this year.

Each of the 3,118 schools of Haryana will receive Rs 25,000 towards minor repairs, which is to be used for blackboards, school building, electric wiring and installation, school furniture and fixtures, toilet repairs and maintenance, whitewashing of the building, repair of school gate, levelling of playgrounds and sanitary fittings.

A further sum of Rs 40,000 each is being released to these schools towards the annual school grant (Rs 25,000 for lab equipments and chemicals, Rs 10,000 for books and periodicals and Rs 5,000 for water and electricity bills).

Sanctioning the grant for the RMSA, the ministry has imposed certain conditions that the funds must be utilised by March 31, 2010.

With only 11 days left for the deadline - the schools will close for vacations on March 22 - the education authorities at the district level and heads of the school are in a hurry to utilise the funds, which most of the schools are yet to receive.

Bhiwani with maximum number of schools (303) is at the top among 21 districts of Haryana to receive Rs 121.2 lakh towards the annual school grant and Rs 75.75 lakh towards minor repairs.

Panchkula with only 57 schools gets Rs 22.8 lakh towards the annual school grant and Rs 14.25 lakh towards minor repairs.

Sirsa and Fatehabad with 208 and 138 schools, respectively, get Rs 70.80 lakh and 55.20 lakh, respectively, towards the annual school grant and Rs 44.25 lakh and Rs 34.50 lakh, respectively, towards minor repairs.

While releasing the funds for the RMSA, the ministry has imposed several other conditions too, which include these funds should be kept in a separate bank account and the funds should not be used for purchase of vehicles.

The accounts maintained under this head would be open to audit from the Comptroller and Auditor General of India, said the communication of the ministry.

Ambala, March 11
The Haryana chapter of Spic SME Pharma Industries Confederation India has demanded that central excise exemption on small-scale industries, which is presently Rs 1.5 crore for all types of industry, should be increased to Rs 5 crore in case of pharma industry.

Vinod Gupta, president of the Haryana chapter of the Spic SME Pharma Industries Confederation India, said here recently they had submitted a memorandum to Union Minister for Housing, Urban Poverty Alleviation and Tourism, Kumari Selja, highlighting the woes of Haryana pharma SMEs and the available excise sops to the pharma industry in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

He said the confederation had pointed out that the pharma industry could not be bracketed with other industries, which were neither regulated nor under price control.

The memorandum said while calculating excise, abatement of 60 per cent should be stipulated instead of 35 per cent allowed at present, so as to remove anomalies of maximum retail price (MRP) excise.

The confederation also demanded that the central excise might be levied on contract manufacturing in excise-free zones of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand so that thousands of traders and doctors who were sourcing medicines with high MRP from these states were checked and government gets revenue.