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Yamunanagar Thermal Plant
Mid-day meals to be more nutritious
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Fee Hike
NREGA: 30 panchayats to get net connectivity
Banks charging higher interest from BPL families
Periphery Row: Kalka villagers meet CM
A development-oriented Budget: Sampat
Molestation Case
Vets on warpath for parity in pay grades
Stress on making community policing a success
Work on Sirsa N-plant to begin in 2012
Need for awareness in pest management
Centre urged to include OBCs in Women’s Bill
KU gets funds to develop research facility
Dr Yadav is chief of radiologist imaging association
Focus on students’ overall growth, teachers told
Spreading literacy among underprivileged
Villagers urged to conserve water
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Yamunanagar Thermal Plant Withdrawal of Gold Shield
sought Taking a serious note of violation in the completion of the project, the All-India Power Engineers Federation (AIPEF) has written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, demanding the withdrawal of Gold Shield which was awarded to Yamunanagar Thermal Plant by the Union Power Ministry recently for its early commissioning. The federation has also sent a copy of the
CAG report to the Prime Minister.
Yamunanagar, March 25 Even the HPGCL hasn’t been spared; the CAG report has found that it extended undue favour to Reliance by accepting it as a technically qualified EPC contractor for setting up the Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Plant (600 MW). The report further reveals that the company changed the collaborator after work was awarded to it, when there was no provision in the bid document for that. This resulted in delayed completion of the thermal plant and losses to the state to the tune of several crores. While the delay in commissioning of unit I was by more than one year, the commissioning of unit II was delayed by 361 days. This caused a generation loss of 4297.68 MU, leading to purchase of power at an extra cost of Rs 498.48 crore. The CAG further revealed an excess payment of advance of Rs 2.57 crore due to inconsistency in terms of contract, loss of interest of Rs 4.66 crore on release of ad-hoc advance without any provision in the contract and non-recovery of liquidated damages of Rs 55.86 crore. Providing details about the irregularities, the CAG report said the contract with REL provided that the units would be accepted for commercial operation on completion of continuous satisfactory trial operation for 14 days and the performance guarantee test. However, the prolonged trial runs resulted in excess consumption of fuel valuing Rs 104.86 crore. Since the test was not performed in 2008-09, the units were not taken over by HPGCL. If this is not enough, the CAG report pointed out that the delay in commissioning of dry fly ash system resulted in loss of a potential revenue of Rs 17.82 crore. Due to an excessive consumption of inputs as compared to contractors guaranteed parameters, the company suffered loss of Rs 67.46 crore. There was also an extra consumption of fuel oil valuing Rs 47.99 crore with reference to HERC norms. Extra coal of worth Rs 45.22 crore was also consumed as compared to contractors guaranteed parameters, the CAG report further highlighted.
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Mid-day meals to be more nutritious
Jhajjar, March 25 Decision to this effect has recently been taken by the state government, which will be implemented across the state from April 1. “As per the revised norms, the per day quantity of food grains for primary student will be 100 g and of upper primary, it will be 150 g per day. Similarly, the quantity of pulses per day for primary student will be 20 g and for upper primary 30 g. The quantity of vegetables, including leafy, will be 50 g per day for primary student and 75 g for upper primary. Likewise, the quantity of oil and fat for primary student will be 5 g per day and it will be 7.5 g per day for student of upper primary,” said Haryana Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal. She said the SHGs would be identified by a committee, headed by additional deputy commissioner (ADC) at the district level. Assistant project officer of the District Rural Development Agency or child development project officer and teacher, head teacher of the education department and block development officer would be the other members of the committee, who would organise meetings
at the block level to identify the SHGs. “Before assigning the task, the SHGs will be imparted training at the block level about nutrition facts, maintaining hygiene and records and accounts. The SHGs will not only procure items to be cooked but also ensure that the mid-day meal is served in time besides getting wheat and rice from Confed and store these in the school premises. They will arrange for fuel like cooking gas as well,” said the minister, adding that the teacher would also give each month’s funds to the SHGs in advance besides checking the quality of food being served to the students and make sure that students get mid-day meals regularly. Bhukkal maintained the SHGs would get Rs 1,000 for monthly honorarium of cook-cum-helper. As per the norms fixed by the Central government, one cook would be engaged for up to 25 students and two for students between 26 and 100. For additional, up to 100 students, there would be an additional cook-cum-helper. She informed that besides, the government had also revised the food norms and cooking cost under the National programme for mid-day meal in schools.
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Fee Hike
Faridabad, March 25 Also, they want the government to accept the demand for the refund or readjustment of the balance of the amount which private schools had charged by “illegally” increasing the fees during the academic year 2009-2010. The Haryana School Abhibhavak Ekta Manch, which has been spearheading the agitation, will hold a meeting on March 28 to draw a road map for the fresh struggle. An office-bearer of the manch said neither the meeting of parents with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda nor the pleas to private schools’ management bore any fruit. Angst of the parents is justified as private schools raised the school fees exorbitantly last academic year in utter breach of the Punjab and Haryana High Court order which upheld the government’s decision to restrain the private schools from unilaterally increasing the fees. The schools allegedly raised the fees ranging from 30-45 per cent. Last year, the Commissioner-cum-Director General, School Education, Haryana, issued an order on July 6, directing the schools not to raise the tuition fees. The order particularly said that in case any school had to meet the additional expense on account of increased salaries of teachers, it must do so from its “surplus fund”. It also said if any school was constrained to increase the fees it could effect an hike only up to 20 per cent on the tuition fees prevailing in the academic year 2008-09. In that case, the school was required to submit the annual statement of its income and expenditure so that the truth about its financial status could be ascertained by the government. However, the private schools continued to raise the fees without any regard to the government’s order. There were cases when the parents and their wards were harassed by the school managements, including in Faridabad, when they insisted on paying as per the order of the Commissioner-cum-Director General.
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NREGA: 30 panchayats to get net connectivity
Sirsa, March 25 Sirsa has a target of spending Rs 31 crore under the rural guarantee scheme in the current financial year, but till date only Rs 20 crore have been spent. The district authorities are in a hurry to complete the targets and spend the remaining Rs 10 crore by March 31. Addressing a meeting of the panchayat representatives to review implementation of the scheme, Sirsa ADC Pankaj Chaudhary, who is also District Programme Coordinator, said 30 panchayats had so far been identified to have spent Rs 10 lakh or more under the scheme in the current financial year. All these panchayats would get computers, she added. “The target under the rural guarantee scheme was Rs 27 crore last year, but this time it has been increased to Rs 31 crore. We have assigned targets for each of the six administrative blocks of the district and hope to complete the target by March 31,” said Chaudhary. She said Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendras would be constructed in the administrative blocks of the district at cost of Rs 25 lakh each. The centres would also be set up at village level to enable the villagers get all kinds of information on the doorsteps. Sarpanchs from all 325 villages of the district and officers of panchayat and development department attended the meeting.
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Banks charging higher interest from BPL families
Yamunanagar, March 25 In a communication to Union Rural Development Minister Dr CP Joshi, Additional Deputy Commissioner Narender Singh complained that banks were charging 13.5 per cent or more interest rate on loans given to the BPL self-help groups while the bank can charge only 9 per cent interest from them. The ADC added that the second major concern was that the rate of interest was not being charged on the per capita basis. The bankers club the whole amount and charge interest on the whole of the loan advanced to the self-help groups. The ADC said another problem was that district coordinators and bank branch managers did not attend meetings regularly citing staff shortage as the reason. “Many times only district coordinators attend the block-level bankers committee meetings, which are supposed to be attended by branch managers. Talking to The Tribune, the ADC said the administration had made the BPL families to form self-help groups under various schemes to empower them economically. The letter has been sent to Dr Joshi expressing a need to devise a suitable system for pulling up the officials who were not showing interest and also charging high interest rate from the BPL families. Besides, Dr Joshi was also told about the non-involvement of the private sector banks in government programmes. Many private banks have opened in the district, but these banks are not participating in any government programmes while citing the reason that there was no instructions issued by the authority concerned on the matter, he added.
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Periphery Row: Kalka villagers meet CM
Kalka, March 25 Sandeep Sharma, block Congress spokesman, said the delegation also gave a memorandum to Hooda where it had been interpreted that 52 villages which fall under the revenue estate of Kalka had been wrongfully included in the list of New Capital (Periphery) Haryana Control Act 1971. A public notice, dated 24-10-1994, issued by the commissioner, Punjab Housing Development Board, under section 3 of the Act 1952, notified names of villages of UT Chandigarh, Punjab and Haryana, under the periphery control area by name and Hud Bast Nos. around 10 miles from the outer boundary of Union Territory of Chandigarh, that 102 villages in Revenue Estate of Kalka tehsil are mentioned in the said notification with names and Hud Bast Nos. But out of 154 villages, 52 villages of Kalka are not mentioned in the said notification which clearly indicates that these villages do not exist in the old list of controlled area which is having a distance of more than 20 km from the outer boundary of Chandigarh and only 102 villages of Kalka are mentioned under the control area (10 miles) in the old list and not the 154 villages as notified in 1972. The restriction of 10 miles cannot be removed by the department without a law passed by the state Assembly. It was also mentioned in the memorandum that in 1918, the abadi area of the villages located in Kalka was demarcated as per provisions of the Punjab Settlement Manual, 1918, for a limited period of 30 years. Consequently, the abadi area of the villages was due for demarcation in 1948, 1978 and then in 2008, but it has not been carried out by the department till date as per the Punjab New Capital (Periphery) Act, 1971, as amended up to 2003 (Haryana Act No. 22 of 2003) notified on 15-10-2003. The delegation urged the CM to issue directive to delete the names and Hud Bast Nos. of 52 villages of Kalka tehsil wrongly included in the list of villages under periphery around Chandigarh.
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A development-oriented Budget: Sampat
Sirsa, March 25 Talking to mediapersons here, Sampat Singh claimed that the government had laid emphasis on basic infrastructural development in the
Budget. Development works like power, water supplies, sanitation, road network, public works, irrigation, industries, transport, agriculture and allied sectors, rural development, panchayats and urban development had been thoroughly addressed in the Budget, he said. He said public welfare sectors like schools and higher education, technical and vocational education, health and social welfare, too, had been given prominence in the Budget. “For the first time in the state, a policy has been introduced to engage NGOs as development partners in the state so as to reduce delivery cost, proper identification of beneficiaries, flexibility of approach, greater communication and participation,” he claimed. Besides, a policy on the public-private participation in government projects had been introduced to ensure participation of the private sector in the improvement of infrastructure, he added. He said an outlay of Rs 2,500 crore had been made for the next five years under the Rajiv Gandhi Urban Development Mission, which would ensure improvement in urban housing, slum development, water supplies, drainage,
sewerage and solid waste management. A stimulus package of Rs 713 crore had been made to upgrade six district hospitals to the level of multi-speciality hospitals and improvement in the condition of others. He said three medical colleges - one at Karnal, another at Khanpur Kalan (Sonepat) and the third in the Mewat region had been announced in the Budget.
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Molestation Case
Fatehabad, March 25 The mahasangh, which is an association of government teachers affiliated to the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh and the Haryana Educational Ministerial Staff Association, has demanded the arrest of the accused teachers. Their leaders met Tohana DSP Shiv Charan in this regard. The police had booked two schoolteachers Dharmender Dhanda and Raj Singh for outraging the modesty of a woman peon during examinations of the Haryana School Education Board at Kudni village recently. The District Education Officer HS Chhokar, however, said the initial inquiries had revealed that rivalry between warring groups of teachers was behind the complaints against the teachers. The victim had alleged in her complaint to the police that the accused were doing examination duties in the village government school, where she worked as a peon. The teachers alleged that the complainant called him in a room for serving water and molested her. The police has registered a case under Sections 34, 354 and 506 of the IPC but no arrest has been made yet in this regard. In a separate representation, the complainant had also alleged that the accused consumed liquor during an educational tour of girls to Wagah Border on February 23 and misbehaved with girl students. Dhanda, however, had denied all allegations levelled against him and the other teacher and alleged that the complainant was caught supplying slips to the examinees for copying and her entry was banned to the examination centre. Dhanda is district president of an association of teachers affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh and the association came out openly in his support demanding withdrawal of criminal case registered against the two teachers.
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Vets on warpath for parity in pay grades
Karnal, March 25 The Haryana State Veterinary Association was sore that the parity in pay scales of veterinary and civil doctors which existed till February 20 last year had been disturbed and the pay grades and grade pay of veterinary doctors had been lowered as compared to civil doctors in the revised pay grades. The anomalies committee did precious little to undo the injustice and the association has given a call for mass casual leave on April 15 next, if the grievances were not redressed. Dr. Rajbir Chahal, president of the association, said a memorandum had been submitted to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, urging him to accept the legitimate demand of the association and in case, there was no positive response, veterinary doctors would go on mass casual leave on April 15 and chalk out the future course of action on April 18. He said the association had urged the Chief Minister to accept the demand for grade pay of Rs 7,600 to subdivisional animal husbandry officer, Rs 8,700 to deputy director and equivalent posts, Rs 10,000 to joint director and equivalent and Rs 12,000 to director general to restore parity with HCMS doctors. The veterinary doctors were getting NPA (non-practicing allowance) and other allowances on a par with civil doctors at the Centre and in neighbouring states of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, but the Haryana government had downgraded their scales. The association expressed concern over stagnation in veterinary doctor’s cadre and maintained that the doctors were not getting promotion even after 30 years. Moreover, this period was expected to further increase and 90 per cent of veterinary doctors, who had no chance of promotion, would retire as veterinary surgeon in case ACP (assured career promotion) was not granted to them. The association pointed that the vets were also exposed to various diseases due to the nature of work and more prone to risks like threat to life and limbs and deserved better treatment by the government.
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Stress on making community policing a success
Karnal, March 25 The participants, who included senior serving and retired police officers from different states, human rights activists, advocates, social scientists and historians stressed the need for sensitisation and paradigm shift in training for taking the concept of community policing forward. Around 16 members of the programme under the Police Station Madhuban attached to the HPA also participated in the discussions and shared their experience of new approach to policing. DGP RS Dalal said the main hurdle in desired servicing of the public by the police was the old mindset and arrogant behaviour of the latter which was at the bottom of poor policing. He said the police services were also not showing signs of proactively making any effort to get out of this mindset. However, new approaches were being tried out to engage all police personnel in efforts to change things for their own sake and the society at large, he added. Sankar Sen, former DG, National Human Rights Commission, and now a senior fellow at the ISS, New Delhi, said police training should be oriented to respect human rights and dignity of people. MK Devarajan, DG (training), Rajasthan, gave a glimpse of the national scenario while JK Tripathi, Tamil Nadu IG, shared successful experiments from his state. NC Joshi, former DG, Bureau of Police Research and Development, reiterated salient features of the programme and emphasised how it was in the interest of police personnel to involve the community in their day-to-day work. He emphasised that it would not only reduce their burden and make their job easier, but also enhance their self-esteem and prestige in society, ultimately enabling then to erase the negative image of the police from the minds of the people. Sankar Sen recounted experiences of police organisations of other countries in the field of community policing. He lauded the participation of local community members from nearby villages in the deliberations, who were quite vocal in expressing their feelings about the police. About 35 SPs and DSPs from different parts of Haryana and other states like Rajasthan, Punjab, Chandigarh and Uttar Pradesh who participated in deliberations on the various aspects of community policing found the seminar very useful for working out the basics of the programme in their respective areas.
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Work on Sirsa N-plant to begin in 2012
Fatehabad, March 25 A team of senior officers of the NPICL was recently in the district to do the spadework like earmarking the land to be acquired for the project, examining revenue records and allaying fears of locals regarding the plant. The team, led by Sudhender Thakur, executive director of the NPCIL, allayed the fears of people on the security aspect, saying that operations in the nuclear plants were safer than the ones in others as there were several checks at each level. Thakur said till date, 342 accidents were reported in coal-based plants, 883 in hydro-based plants and 85 in gas-based plants but no accident had ever been reported in a nuclear plant in India so far. "The Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, an authority with judicial powers, regulates the safe use of nuclear material and leaves no scope for complacency at any level," he added. He said the manner in which the country's coal reserves were depleting, these were not going to last more than 50 to 60 years. While 700 tonnes of coal was required to generate 10 lakh units of power, only 27 kg of uranium is sufficient for it.
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Need for awareness in pest management
Fatehabad, March 25 Farmers often make imprudent use of pesticide and depend largely on the counsel given by dealers, who have their own interests, while giving any advice. Pest management is still lower at the domestic level as a large majority of people thinks that they have no option but to live with creatures like pests, cockroaches, rodents, lizards and insects. At the most, people have started thinking of getting their timber treated for termites during their construction activities so that their hard-earned money is not eaten away by bugs. Though there are hundreds of people dealing in pest management at the domestic level across the country, there are very few who are authorised. The Integrated Pest Solution Association (IPSA), a body of authorised pest control personnel, claimed that there were hardly 10 authorised parties in Haryana and less than 350 in the country. The IPSA organised its three-day national conference at Chandigarh from March 13 to March 15, where PS Chandurkar, plant protection adviser, Government of India, was the chief guest. “The role played by the pest control services is very important,” said Arun Thakur, national president, IPSA, while talking to mediapersons at the Fatehabad office of Bhawani Thakur, chairman, of the IPSA’s pest control committee. “Global warming is creating a lot of upheavals in the present living systems and hence vector borne diseases are also showing signs of outburst. The recent outbreaks of chikunguniya, dengue and malaria in some parts of the country are testimony to this,” Thakur said and stressed the need for greater awareness among people towards the pest management.
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Centre urged to include OBCs in Women’s Bill
Kurukshetra, March 25 Explaining the party’s opposition to the Bill, he said, “In 1950, the Backward Classes, comprising 52 per cent of the population, were not provided reservations in the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas like the SCs/STs. Now the Women’s Reservation Bill in its present form has nothing for the Backward Classes.” He alleged, “There is every likelihood that the constituencies from where candidates of Backward Classes presently win or have the potential to win will be reserved for women from rich and upper castes. The Bill, in present form, will also open the back door for criminals and tainted politicians to manoeuvre the seat in favour of their wives, etc.,” he added. Urging all the major political parties to make appropriate amendments to the Bill, Dhiman asserted this was the right time and opportunity when the Centre could undo the injustice done to the Backward Classes in 1950 by providing constitutional reservation to men and women of Backward Classes of the country.
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KU gets funds to develop research facility
Kurukshetra, March 25 Lt Gen (Dr) DDS Sandhu, vice-chancellor, said: “This is for the first time that a national facility has been sanctioned for the university. Even at the national level, facilities in different research areas have been given to select institutes and universities.” Prof Nand Lal, dean, facility of science, and dean, research and development, said the facility was an outcome of the research work started in mid-60s by late KK Nagpaul in the physics department of the university. During the early sixties, the fission track etch technique laboratory was started at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, to study the radiation history of extra-terrestrial materials like meteorites. Around the same time, a similar lab was started in the physics department of the university to investigate thermal and exhumation history of terrestrial materials. With the passage of time, this laboratory became a big research group of the country. The group has already published about 200 research papers in journals of international repute. Twenty students have already completed their Ph.D from this laboratory, he added. Dr Patel said: “Fission track analysis has become a unique tool in hydrocarbon exploration as well. There are many such labs in Europe and the US. However, in India, the lab at KU is the only lab doing
such work. Researchers from other institutes and universities will also be using this facility for the analysis of their geological specimens in collaboration with our group”.
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Dr Yadav is chief of radiologist imaging association
Jhajjar, March 25 The election was held during the IRIA’s annual conference at the PGIMS, Rohtak, recently. Association’s spokesperson said Dr Arun Nanda had been elected as vice-president, Dr Sarita Maggu as secretary, Dr Ravi Kumar as joint secretary and Dr Jyotsna Sen, Dr Ashok Chauhan, Dr Anand Goyal and Dr Ashok Gupta had been designated as central representatives. Besides, Dr Sunil Malik, Dr Raminder Rana, Dr Adrash Aggarwal and Dr Vishal would hold the post of state representatives while Dr Sandeep Maken (Rohtak), Dr SS Sharma (Narnaul), Dr Urmila Yadav (Rewari), Dr Nalin Sharma (Kaithal), Dr Vinay Chaudhary (Yamunanager), Dr GS Arora (Karnal), Dr Arun Gera (Sonepat), Dr Parshotam Bansal (Panipat), Dr SP Verma (Gurgaon), Dr NC Gauba (Bhiwani), Dr SS Punia (Ambala), Dr Neelam Gupta (Jind), Dr Lazya Ram (Kurukshetra), Dr SB Gandhi (Jhajjar), Dr Rajiv Rajvanshi (Hisar), Dr RS Bugalia (Fatehabad), Dr Rajeev Kapoor (Panchkula) and Dr Sanjeev Kaushal (Sirsa) would be the district representatives of the association, the spokesperson informed.
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Lions Club honours parents having only daughters
Hisar, March 25 Club officials said such felicitations would be an annual feature of the club activities. An exhibition of newspaper and magazine clippings on women empowerment issues put up by the club on this occasion proved to be a big draw. The clippings have been collected by two young girls, Juhi and Gimpy, daughters of the local social activist Surinder Chhinda. These girls had lost their mother a few years ago. Since they had no brother, they acted as pallbearers and performed the last rites of their mother. They have been collecting clippings on women related issues from various newspapers and magazines since then. These were put on display in the function for the first time. The two girls and their father were also felicitated by the club. A Meerut-based activist, Dr Ram Kumar Gupta, and Dr Vandana Pandey of Guru Jambheshwar University were the key speakers. Pandey said women must realise their own potential and strive to maintain their individual identity. She said it was important that women became self-reliant and be able to protect their own rights. She was of the view that there was no need for reservations based on caste basis within the ambit of the Women Reservation Bill. Gupta said knowingly or unknowingly women were still mot viewed as equals in Indian society. They were always viewed as weak and less capable compared to men. To change this mentality, women must struggle and change the society’s outlook. He said it was a fallacy created by men to exercise control over women, but the time had changed and women were now proving to be even better than men in almost all fields.
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Focus on students’ overall growth, teachers told
Panipat, March 25 Under a scheme of the Ministry of Human Resource and Development, a series of such seminars is being organised by the CBSE across the country. During the seminar, the teachers were motivated to impart quality education to the pupils and focus on their all-round development. Regional director of DAV Public Schools, Panipat zone, D Vidyarthi said there was a need to move towards the continuous and comprehensive evaluation which would assess the students’ performance not only on the basis of academic performance, but on the basis of their participation in sports
and co-curricular activities also. Dr DR Yadav, joint secretary of the CBSE, Panchkula zone, also elaborated the new scheme of evaluation being introduced which he said would be a more comprehensive system to ascertain students’ performances on the whole. He said that the present system of assessment only focused on marks obtained in exams, which had a limited perspective. The new system would also help in bring down the pressure on the students and help them in having a healthier mind.
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Spreading literacy among underprivileged
Kurukshetra, March 25 Walking on the above mentioned path is DAV Centenary Public School, Pehowa, which has taken an oath to give education to children from the weaker section of society. The motto of Arya Samaj also propagates what the school is trying to achieve here: “To eliminate illiteracy and to spread literacy”. “The school has adopted 31 children of slum areas to make them literate. A van has also been deployed to provide pick-and-drop facility to the children. Most of them lived in open and never went to any school,” says school Principal NC Bindal. However, the future of all these children seems to be in safe hands with the school taking upon itself to shape their life. From providing uniforms to educational material, the school is ensuring that the children are not deprived of anything so that they can study properly. The school has also entered into an arrangement with Government Primary Health Centre, Pehowa, for their regular health check up. “In just six months, the children have shown a drastic improvement in their mannerism and thinking process. They are very interested in studying and eagerly wait for the school bus to come to pick them up. Not only they are able to read and write, they are growing in confidence too,” avers Bindal.
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School celebrates annual day
Kurukshetra, March 25 The chief guest inaugurated the newly constructed academic block of the school. The programme was started by lighting the traditional lamp by the chief guest. Students presented Bhangra, Western, Fusion and other folk dances. Bindal presented the annual report and highlighted the achievements and new projects initiated by the school. On behalf of the local managing committee, school chairman SD Murar thanked the guests.
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Villagers urged to conserve water
Kurukshetra, March 25 Apart from institute’s director Prof Smita Chaudhry, Prof Brij Gopal, Prof K. S. Rao and Dr Deblina Ghosh (National Institute of Ecology) were the main coordinators of the programme. The event started with a rally which covered almost entire village. The students raised slogans like “save water, save tomorrow” and “water is life” in order to send a message regarding water conservation and creating awareness. The students and staff members also apprised villagers of facts regarding groundwater depletion and how simple measure can be taken to conserve water in day-to-day life.
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Expedite elections to new MCs The Hooda Government has finally notified the constitution of seven new Municipal Corporations (MCs), increasing their total tally in the state to nine. Haryana has thus surpassed Punjab, which has got only five such large municipal bodies. But the question d is that if the government was so determined to establish these new MCs, why did it issued a notification only at the eleventh hour when the elections to erstwhile municipal councils/committees and panchayati raj bodies situated within the limits of such new bodies were due? With the latest decision, the exercise of demarcation of limits and delimitation of wards would begin afresh which means further delay in the holding of civic elections. In October, 2006, a Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in Re: Kishan Singh Tomar Vs MC, Ahmedabad made it clear to all the States and Union Territories that local body elections must be completed before the expiry of the duration of the five year period. The Bench said:"the State Election Commission shall complete the election before the expiry of the duration of five years and not yield to situations that may be created by vested interests to postpone elections from being held within the stipulated time." Now it would be wise if the Hooda government expedites the whole process and ensures timely elections to these new bodies considering the fact that even after two years of notification, the Gurgaon MC elections are yet to be held. The delegation of charge of MCs to IAS and HCS officers for a long period goes against the spirit of the Constitution (74 th Amendment) Act, 1992, which recognised municipal government as the third tier of government and mandated governance of local bodies by duly elected representatives. The inordinate delay would remind one of the pre-1992 era when the state-appointed Administrators used to rule municipal bodies. HEMANT KUMAR Readers are invited to write to us. Send your mail, in not more than 200 words, at haryana@tribuneindia.com or write in at: Letters, Haryana Plus, The Tribune, Sector 29, Chandigarh-160030.
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