Assandh (Karnal), March 26
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced developmental schemes worth over Rs 100 crore for Assandh, sending right signals to local Congressmen that Zile Ram Sharma, who was elected to the Vidhan Sabha on the HJC ticket and later defected to the Congress, was the tallest party leader from the area.

Zile Ram, against whom a petition under the anti-defection law is pending with the Vidhan Sabha Speaker, also proved his support by arranging a massive rally.

Assandh had seen a bitter multi-cornered contest in the last elections and the going was so tough that even the winning candidate could not save his deposits!

The announcements made by Hooda at the behest of Zile Ram also indicated that the Congress is simultaneously preparing for fresh elections in case the defectors are “disqualified” under the provisions of the anti-defection law.

The massive turnout at the “Vikas Rally” and the praise showered on Zile Ram by the Chief Minister clearly indicated that political equations are changing in Assandh.

Addressing the rally, the Chief Minister announced a stimulus package of Rs 42 crore for sewerage and water supply for Assandh town, ITI, veterinary hospital, extension of the New Grain Market, construction of a new road around Assandh town, one more 33 kVA substation and Rs 5 crore for the Assandh Assembly constituency for repairs of streets and drains.

Referring to chronic power shortage, Hooda said a number of power projects were under execution and the people would get uninterrupted power supply for 20 to 22 hours a day once these projects were commissioned.

Asserting that the Congress believed in development, Hooda said his government had changed the meaning of politics and made it synonymous with development and welfare of people.

In an oblique reference to previous non-Congress governments, Hooda said they only looted the state after coming to power. He expressed gratitude to Sonia Gandhi for reposing faith in him and giving him another opportunity to serve the people. Overwhelmed with the public support and mammoth participation in the rally, Hooda congratulated the people for the successful rally. “I have attended many rallies in Assandh but have not seen any rally of this magnitude,” he said.

Two silver crowns were presented to the Chief Minister on the occasion, which he humbly returned to Zile Ram, and asked him to hand over the gifts to a local socio-religious institution.

HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, local MP Arvind Sharma, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal, PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, former minister Vinod Sharma, Sumita Singh, MLA, and Political Adviser to the Chief Minister Virender Singh also spoke on the occasion.

Yamunanagar, March 26
Expectant women and patients belonging to BPL families of the district will be provided free-of-cost food in hospitals.

This unique scheme, which will be run by the district Red Cross Society in collaboration with the district health department, was today inaugurated by Additional Principal Secretary of the state Anuradha Gupta here.

Under the scheme, free-of-cost lunch and dinner will be provided to patients of BPL families and delivery cases.

After the success of the scheme here, it would be implemented in all districts of the state within this year, said Anuradha Gupta after inaugurating the scheme in the Civil Hospital here.

“We are dedicated to uplift the poor sections of society by launching various schemes. Yamunanagar district has been chosen first to launch the scheme as much of social work through Red Cross Society has already been done by the district administration, especially in the area of blood donation. Deputy Commissioner Amit Kumar Aggarwal has assured the successful implementation of the scheme in the district, she added.

She said emergency free-of cost ambulance services had already been provided in all health centres and general hospitals in the district for needy persons especially for roadside accident victims, expectant women and other emergencies.

Highlighting works that led the state government to launch such scheme first in the district, the Deputy Commissioner said they had already been providing medicines at much cheaper rate to BPL families and had opened Jan Aushdhi Medical Store in the Civil Hospital. For the benefit of needy persons, the district Red Cross Society had also started issuing blood without replacement from the government blood bank. 

Chandigarh, March 26
Hopes of an early relaxation of the ban on mining in Haryana are fast fading.

Miners were hopeful that the legal tangle, due to which the mining has come to a halt in the state, would be resolved soon or the courts might grant the government some more time to obtain environment clearance so that the development projects were not hit. The case was fixed in the Supreme Court for March 19 and in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for today. However, last week the apex court Bench, which deals with the cases related to environment, did not meet. The “Green Bench” sits every Friday.

It was expected that the court would take up the case today. However, it was not listed in the court agenda for today. Counsel for the state government mentioned the case before the Chief Justice this morning and urged the court to take up the case today. However, the court did not agree. When counsel pleaded with the court to take up the case next week, the judges reportedly told him that they would hear the case on its turn.

In the High Court also, the Bench, before which the case was to come up, did not meet today. Otherwise also, the High Court had told the parties that it would hear the case in the light of the decision of the apex court, which is hearing a petition filed by a Gurgaon resident that the High Court had no power to allow mining without prior environment clearance.

Therefore, till the Supreme Court decides that petition, the High Court would not take up the case. Meanwhile, it is learnt that the stock of the grit and sand, which had been stored by the miners and crusher owners, is fast depleting. At best, sources in the trade say, it would last for a month only. 

Panipat, March 26
A two-day seminar on “Teacher preparation for inclusive education” began today at the Bhagat Phool Singh College of Education which was chaired by Prof RP Bhamba, former Vice-Chancellor of Panjab University, Chandigarh.

Dr Pankaj Mittal, Vice-Chancellor of Bhagat Phool Singh Women University, presided over the function which was attended among others by the Registrar, heads of various departments and principals of various institutions of the university.

In his address, Professor Bhamba said people with so-called “inabilities” actually failed to realise that they were vested with many abilities. He said men like Soordas, Stephen Hawking, Einstein and Satish Gujral were examples of people who could not be said to be suffering from inabilities. Rather they had more abilities than “normal” people.

In his keynote address, Prof CL Anand said there was a need to reorient the curriculum and merge “special education with normal education”. He said teachers should be oriented to incorporate techniques for training students with special abilities in a classroom having both types of learners.

Dr Pankaj Mittal said inclusive education was a fast-emerging trend in education today and efforts were needed to make it a part of the mainstream education, given the importance of imparting education to all. She said the Department of Education was the first in the university to get a grant for imparting inclusive education.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the university said during the two-day event, educational experts from across the country would discuss various issues related to inclusive education.Organising secretary of the seminar Yogesh said there was need for training people with special abilities for which new ways were required.

The Dean, Education, Dr Sandeep Berwal, said the university wanted to be a role model in education for which inclusive education was being incorporated as an integral part.

New Delhi, March 26
The Panchkula-Yamunanagar-Paonta Sahib stretch is being developed as the mega tourism circuit. The project had been prioritised by state governments for central financial assistance that could go up to Rs 50 crore, sources in the Tourism Ministry said.

Earlier, the ministry had identified 29 destinations and circuits, including Panipat-Kurukshetra-Pinjore, for development through mega projects on the basis of footfalls and future potential in consultation with the state governments concerned.

Officials said the proposal for developing new sites on the basis of future tourism potential of Panchkula, Yamunanagar and Paonta Sahib in Sirmaur districts was to ensure that the impact of tourism development could be felt in other areas apart from usual sites in the region.

A deliberate attempt was made to not include Kurukshetra and Surajkund and cities like Chandigarh, Gurgaon, Shimla and Manali areas that are already well developed and exist on the tourist map of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

The project entails creating a package of projects and schemes to improve the presentation of sites in identified destinations in the three districts and augment available tourist infrastructure near the sites to enhance tourists’ experience.

While Haryana and Himachal primarily have agrarian-based economies, the last decade has also seen the emergence of manufacturing and service sectors. Volatility in economy has shown the need to exploit other sectors as well, officials say.

“Haryana and Himachal Pradesh have a rich mix of cultural and natural sites. However, it is unfortunate that some of sites have not been developed and have therefore not been able to attract tourists in large numbers. Tourism as a sector can contribute significantly towards the overall development of Yamunanagar, Panchkula and Sirmaur districts,” they added.

As per the note prepared by the ministry, Yamunanagar and Panchkula have pristine unspoilt natural beauty that can be exploited. Both districts are endowed with hills, rivers and other natural assets that are prerequisites for developing tourist destinations. The district has excellent linkages with national Capital Delhi and state capital Chandigarh.

Adi Badri, Bilaspur and Kapalmochan in Yamunanagar districts are places of religious significance as well as natural beauty. These sites have so far been developed for domestic tourists but attempts to market them as international destinations have not been explored.

Yamunanagar also has historical heritage in terms of ancient settlements like Chaneti, Sugh, Buria and Chichraulu, which have so far remained unexplored and neglected. 

Sirsa, March 26
A joint team of the police and the Drugs Control Department today raided an unlicensed unit situated on the Kanganpur road in this town and seized huge quantities of fake drugs used for bodybuilding, enhancing sexual performance, slimming and intoxication.

The police has arrested Raj Kumar Soni, who is alleged to have been running the factory.

Sources said the police received a tip-off that fake medicines, bodybuilding powders and other items, purported to have been imported from abroad, were packed, sealed and labelled in the unit at night.

When the team, comprising Amit Beniwal, in charge of the IG’s special staff, Hans Raj, SHO of the City police station, Jatinder Kumar, SHO of the Sadar police station, and Rajnish Dhaliwal, District Drugs Control Officer, raided the factory, it found the unit locked.

When team members opened the unit, they found a huge cache of drugs, purportedly manufactured outside the country.

The police also seized unlabelled boxes of drugs and a large number of unused labels of leading companies. The police said all activities in the factory were performed during night time and the main gates of the unit were kept locked at that time so that outsiders could not get an idea about what was going on inside.

The police said the entire process of seizure and registering of an FIR would take some more time as the quantity of the products was huge.

Panipat, March 26
The police has made yet another arrest in the case pertaining to alleged extortion by cops. A city jeweller, Satish Verma, who was allegedly acting as a tout for the accused cops by gathering information for them, has been arrested. The jeweller was produced before a local court today, which sent him on police remand till March 31.

Meanwhile, the local court also extended the police remand of suspended ASP Ashok Sheoran till March 30.

Sources said the police had picked up Satish Verma a few days ago and had detained him for questioning after the accused cops told the interrogators that they used to get information from Verma regarding the targets that they could identify to extort money.

It is believed that Verma had asked the cops to target the stockbroker (from whom they allegedly extorted Rs 6 lakh) and jeweller (from whom an attempt was made to extort Rs 10 lakh) on March 10.

Verma owns a jewellery shop in the Halwai Hatta area of the city and used to collect information for the cops.

Meanwhile, the police sought permission from the court to place Ashok Sheoran under a brain-mapping or narcoanalysis test. However, after Sheoran refused to undergo any such test in the courtroom, the court denied permission. The police is now planning to move the Punjab and Haryana High Court to seek permission for such a test. 

Non-compliance of the high court orders on the filing of an affidavit has placed Thanesar block development panchayat officer in dock. Justice K Kannan today directed the issuance of his arrest warrants for ensuring his appearance in the court on April 8. 

The directions were issued after counsel for Haryana said affidavit directed to be filed could not be submitted following BDPO Partap Singh’s failure to turn up despite communications. The petition has been filed by Bahri village sarpanch Raj Kumar.