Chandigarh, March 23
With a sharp rise in the temperature, resulting in long power cuts, the Haryana power utilities feel constrained to meet the situation, having been let down by those with whom it had contracted to purchase power.

A couple of years ago, the utilities had entered into a power purchase agreement (PPA) with the Power Trading Corporation (PTC) for supply of 300 MW to Haryana after purchasing it from Unit II of Lanco’s Amarkantak project.

This power was to come to the state in September last.

However, Lanco, which has a history of going back on its commitments, has not been able to supply power to the PTC for onward transmission to Haryana so far.

Confirming the failure of Lanco in meeting its commitment, MD of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) Vijayendra Kumar said the PTC had informed the state power purchase centre that the Lanco project had been delayed “by an act of God”. Therefore, the promised power to Haryana would not flow in before July, 2010.

The plea of Lanco is that because of a severe earthquake in China some time ago, the manufacturing facility of its Chinese supplier had been damaged.

Moreover, because of the changed visa rules for Chinese nationals, engineers from that country could not come to India. These factors had delayed the project.

Vijayendra Kumar said the utilities were now studying what steps could be taken in terms of power purchase agreement viz a viz the PTC because the state had not entered into a direct contract with Lanco.

Lanco has already run into litigation with Madhya Pradesh, to which it was to supply power from the first unit of the Amarkantak project.

It is also in litigation with the Haryana Power Generation Corporation when it did not sign the purchase pact for 399 MW from its Orissa project.

To make matters worse, the Aravali Power Project being implemented by the NTPC in Jhajjar has also been delayed.

The project was started for supplying power to Delhi and Haryana in view of the Commonwealth Games.

None of its three units would start generation before the games.

Its first unit was to supply 250 MW to Haryana this April. Now, this would not be possible before October.

The second unit, which was to start generation in July, would be operationalised not before February next.

For the third unit, no date has been given. The project was being monitored at the highest level in the Union Ministry of Power. It seems, this summer will be gruelling hot for the Haryanavis.

Yamunanagar, March 23
The power scenario today further worsened in the state due to rise in consumption, triggered by an increase in the day temperature.

The state has been facing a shortage of 130 lakh units per day which has resulted in power cuts ranging between 12 and 14 hours in rural areas and eight and 10 hours in urban areas.

According to sources, the state gets 800 lakh units power supply from all sources, whereas the demand has touched 930 lakh units per day, Giving details, the sources said during peak load hours, the state had been facing a shortage of 812 MW. It’s just the beginning of summer and the power is likely to worsen, fear villagers.

Besides the rise in demand, less generation of power in thermal plants of the state has also led to power shortage. One unit (110 MW) of the super thermal plant in Panipat has been shut down due to technical reasons while unit-2 (300 MW) of the Yamunanagar thermal plant has been generating only 180 MW, the sources added.

Fatehabad, March 23
Tributes were paid to martyrs Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev on Martyrs Day here today.

A newly built martyrs’ memorial was inaugurated by deputy commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan. The memorial, constructed at a cost of Rs 15 lakh, stands near the main entrance of the local mini secretariat.

Kaanthan said the country owed its Independence to martyrs like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev. He warned that some anti-national forces were out to “snatch this freedom from us by trying to divide the country.”

Strengthening our democracy by rising above the caste, creed and religion would be the best tribute to the martyrs, Kaanthan added. Jagwant Singh Lamba, SP, JK Abhir, SDM, and several other officers of the district were present on the occasion. At Sirsa, the Deshbakt Yaadgar Samiti organised a seminar at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Park. Baldev Bakshi, president of the samiti, regretted that the common man was as underprivileged as he was at the time of Ind pendence.

“The martyrs laid down their lives in the hope that the plight of the common man would be improved, but successive governments have failed to translate the dreams of the martyrs into reality.”

Jagdish Chopra, state vice-president of the BJP, Ved Beniwal, patron of the state chapter of the Indian Medical Association, and Ramesh Mehta, a former president of the District Bar Association attended the function.

The Democratic Youth Federation of India also held a function to pay respect to the martyrs.

Tapas Sinha, national secretary of the federation, said that Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev sacrificed their lives not only for India’s freedom but also to ameliorate the plight of the poor people.

Karnal, March 23
The selection of 29 dental surgeons by the Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) without holding any written test and assigning 60 per cent marks for personal interview has raised many an eyebrow.

The commission deemed it fit not to hold a written test and earmarked 40 per cent marks for academic merit and 60 per cent marks for interview, for which there was no provision of videorecording.

In order to limit subjectivity in the selection of candidates for various posts, the Supreme Court had, in a case, ruled that the marks in personal interview should not be more than 20 per cent of the marks obtained in the written test but to circumvent the ruling, the HPSC chose not to hold the test at all. There were about 1,100 candidates for the posts.

The list of selected candidates, which the HPSC and the Department of Health were hesitant to make public, includes a majority of those belonging to Rohtak district while a large number of selected candidates are kin of VVIPs, according to sources.

The rejected candidates have questioned the criteria adopted for selection, which, they say, is not fair and objective.

Intriguingly, the commission advertised 104 posts of dental surgeon on July 23, 2009, just two days after the declaration of the results of the interview.

The rejected candidates who applied for the posts had to again shell out money for the application form and it caused a lot of harassment to candidates coming from far-off places. To add to their miseries, the commission postponed the screening test slated for December 27 and 24 more posts were added, apparently to make some more candidates “eligible”.

The commission did not even respond promptly to an RTI query and the reply came after five months. In the reply, only roll numbers of the selected candidates and the criteria for selection were given.

The commission asked the RTI applicant to get the names from the Health Department, which also dithered and did not disclose the names of the selected candidates.

Sirsa, March 23
Government schools where 10 or more students opt for Punjabi will have the services of a Punjabi teacher from the coming academic session. Talking to mediapersons at the pre-wedding bash of the son of his former aide KV Singh in Dabwali today, Hooda said the government had accorded the status of second language to Punjabi and it would do whatever necessary to honour its word.

To a question on power scarcity, he said the government was providing power to its people by purchasing it at Rs 8 to Rs 8.50 per unit from other states.“Work on some new thermal plants is on and soon the people will start getting power for 20 to 22 hours a day,” he claimed.

The government had made foolproof arrangements for the procurement of wheat and the farmers would not have any problem selling their crop.

The government, he maintained, was setting up four new medical colleges in Karnal, Khanpur Kalan, Faridabad and Mewat to improve healthcare facilities. He lashed out at the Opposition leaders, especially Indian National Lok Dal chief Om Prakash Chautala for failing to play a responsible role in the legislative assembly.

He said that was why three breach of privilege motions were adopted by the House against Chautala A large number of people, primarily politicians, bureaucrats and Congress workers, attended the pre-wedding bash.

Chandigarh, March 23
Air Vice Marshal Arup Raha has been appointed Senior Air Staff Officer, Western Air Command (WAC) in New Delhi on promotion to the rank of Air Marshal. He was serving as Air Officer Commanding (AOC), Advance Headquarters, WAC, at Chandimandir, maintaining the operational link between the Army and the Air Force in the Western Sector.

He was given a warm farewell at the Headquarters, Western Command, today.

He expressed his satisfaction on the substantial progress made towards joint operations during his tenure as AOC.

Manesar, March 23
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda inaugurated the state’s first housing complex for industrial labourers in Sector 8 of IMT here today.

The housing complex has been developed on five acres of land by the Haryana State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) at a cost of Rs 7.64 crore.

The four-storey complex has 36 dormitories (each having a capacity of 12 beds), apart from 192 independent dwelling units (each having a room with an attached kitchen and a bathroom). The single dwelling unit is priced at Rs 3.80 lakh each while the dormitory unit costs Rs.15 lakh each. This is the first housing complex for industrial labourers of its kind and has been developed in Gurgaon as a pilot project.

The allotment of dormitories and dwelling units has been made to industries on a “deferred-payment scheme”, wherein the applicant is supposed to pay 10 per cent with the application, 15 per cent after the allotment and the remaining 75 per cent in five equated half-yearly instalments with nominal interest.

Seeing the good response to the pilot project, the HSIIDC has decided to replicate this in six other industrial estates, namely, IMT-Rohtak, IMT-Faridabad, IMT-Manesar Phase-II, Industrial Estate-Kundli, Industrial Estate-Rai and Industrial Estate-Barhi.

A total investment of Rs 100 crore has been estimated in these complexes. The state will contribute Rs 25 crore in the above projects under the Economic Stimulus Package.

Jind, March 23
At least 11 bonded labourers were rescued from a brick-kiln near Dahola village in Jind district this morning on the directions of the High Court which had appointed a warrant officer to supervise the operation carried out with the help of the local police.

All rescued workers left for their native village in Uttar Pradesh.

A petition was filed in the High Court by one Saranjit of Baghpat in UP, alleging that several persons from his village employed as labourers by a brick-kiln were being kept as bonded labourers for the past several months. Their plight was pathetic.

The owner of the kiln had been denying them proper wages and they were not being allowed to leave the kiln.

The police raided the kiln and rescued all of them.

The police has been directed to take suitable legal action against the accused.

Sirsa, March 23
An open Army recruitment rally will be organised at Bhagat Singh Stadium, Sirsa, from April 7 to 13.

On April 7, wards of serving Army personnel, ex-servicemen, war widows, NCC certificate holders, and those belonging to the “Sikh Mazbi-Ramdasiya” communities of Hisar, Jind, Fatehabad and Sirsa districts could take part in this rally for the post of soldier, general duties, said an official spokesperson here recently.

Candidates of Jind and Hisar districts could also take part on April 8 and 9, respectively.

Candidates from Fatehabad and Sirsa districts would be recruited on April 10 for the post of soldier, general duties.

Candidates of Hisar and Fatehabad districts would be recruited for the post of soldier (clerk) and storekeeper (technical) and candidates from Sirsa and Jind districts would be recruited on April 12.

Leftout candidates would be recruited on April 13, said the spokesperson.

Fatehabad, March 23
An unsavoury scene was witnessed in the office of Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan today, when a woman accused the district police, including the SP, of connivance with the accused in the abduction of her minor daughter.

She also threatened to commit suicide in case justice was not provided to her daughter.

Accusing the district police of pressuring her minor daughter, who was kidnapped on March 5 and recovered on March 11, the woman alleged that the police wanted to save the accused, Satish Kumar, and others due to extraneous reasons.

A case of kidnapping was registered against Satish and four members of his family and the police claimed to have recovered the girl six days after her disappearance.

Her mother alleged that while the girl was handed over to the police by the accused under pressure, the police had been claiming that she was recovered from Delhi.

She alleged that the police pressured her to give a statement in favour of the accused and sent her to Nari Niketan.

Later, the girl was restored to her parents after she filed a petition before the court in this regard and revealed the whole story as to how she was kidnapped and raped by the accused.

The mother alleged that she met the SP in this connection, but he, too, allegedly “favoured” his subordinates. The Deputy Commissioner got the statement of the woman recorded and sent it to the IG, Hisar Range, for action.

However, SP Jagwant Singh Lamba maintained that the police investigation was fair and alleged that the woman wanted four innocent family members of the accused Satish (now under custody) to be arrested.

Rewari, March 23
Anil (10), son of Ashok Kumar, and three-month-old Pankaj, son of Rama Nand, were killed while 20 other passengers were injured when a pick-up in which they were travelling reportedly overturned on the Garhi Bolni-Rewari road, near Bolni village, today.

The mishap took place when they were going to Bolni village to pay their obeisance at the shrine of Sati Mata in Bolni village, 12 km from here.

The police has registered a case of mortal negligence against pick-up driver Bijender, who reportedly absconded after receiving first aid treatment at a local hospital.