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State’s two pet projects in legal tangle
16 years on, encroachments still exist on govt land |
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Hisar awaits electric crematorium
BRGF Scheme
MCF to get Rs 50 crore loan from Gurgaon MC
56 pc women in state suffer from anaemia: Study
NIFAA chief addresses conference on AIDS in Vienna
Pensioners to get smart cards
Schedule for revision of electoral rolls okayed
Varsity to update parents on wards’ performance
Hooda honours DAV regional director
Teachers against enhancing term of college governing bodies
Revised pay scales
Teachers’ retirement age
KU teachers to donate one-day salary
Loan norms for vehicles revised
NHAI urged to ensure safety on highway
Khol police station gets new building
Flood Remarks
Floods: Insured traders seek claims
Chinese units at power plant fail two trial runs
Karnal dentists launch website
Mining threatens wildlife
Letter
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State’s two pet projects in legal tangle
Chandigarh, July 26 Unfortunately, both of them have been held up because of legal disputes. While the canal issue has been taken to the Supreme Court by Punjab, the high court has been bogged down by the issue of jurisdiction over Chandigarh. Since Chandigarh is the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana, the Union Law Ministry is not able to find out a way which high court, that of Punjab or Haryana (if it comes into being), should have jurisdiction over the city beautiful. The ministry is not comfortable with the suggestion that both high courts can have jurisdiction over Chandigarh as advocated by those who are pleading for the separate high court for Haryana. A separate high court for Haryana at a place other than Chandigarh, too, is not a practical solution. Since Chandigarh is the seat of government for Haryana, the state high court must have jurisdiction over the city to make the government answerable to it. The state also does not want to have a high court outside Chandigarh as it feels it would weaken the state's claim over Chandigarh. Unmindful of these difficulties, Haryana has again asked the Centre to ensure that the state gets its own high court. The issue was raised by Haryana Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Randeep Singh Surjewala while speaking at the regional meeting of chief justices, state law ministers, state finance secretaries and state law secretaries, on the implementation of recommendations of the 13th Finance Commission for improvements in the delivery of justice in the National Capital yesterday. Surjewala suggested that the Punjab and Haryana High Court should be bifurcated into separate high courts for the two states by dividing the existing premises, judges and staff between Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 60:40, as was done for the civil secretariat and the Vidhan Sabha infrastructure. He said if a separate high court was not set up for Haryana, its people would be deprived of their constitutional right to have their own high court. Surjewala, himself a lawyer, said states, like Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand, which came into existence years after Haryana, had already set up their high courts. However, he did not offer a solution to the jurisdictional tangle.
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16 years on, encroachments still exist on govt land
Samalkha (Panipat), July 26 In a reply to an RTI application moved by social activist PP Kapoor, the Lokayukta quoted the official version of the HSAMB, which stated that a committee was constituted comprising district marketing enforcement officer and secretary-cum-executive officer of the market board under the chairmanship of executive engineer in 1994 to remove the encroachments. It said efforts were made to get the encroachment in the new grain market (NGM) removed, but there were no fruitful results due to the lackadaisical approach of the local administration. The board said June 21 was fixed for removing encroachments from the NGM, but due to insufficient police force it was postponed. Blaming the local police, the board said there was local hindrance in removing encroachments. It was learnt that after the formation of the said committee, as many as 21 executive engineers, 10 district marketing enforcement officers and 12 secretaries-cum-executive officers have remained posted here, but all failed to get the encroachments removed. It was in April that the Lokayukta had served the HSAMB with a six-page notice seeking clarification on the issue, following which this reply was filed by the board. The encroachers in the market are said to be politically connected and had been putting up strong resistance against any move to bring down the illegal constructions on the government land. The NGM had come up under a special World Bank scheme. Soon after the plots were allotted to commission agents, 6,562.65 square yards meant for roads were encroached upon by them by constructing concrete shops. According to the figures, the market price of the said land was calculated to be Rs 24.11 crore. The local market committee had even tried to pass a resolution to register the encroached land in the name of those who were occupying it, in lieu of the market prices. However, this move was thwarted as the land meant for roads and sewage could not be allotted to the commission agents as per the rules. According to the report prepared by the market committee, out of 151 shops that exist in the grain market, 109 had encroached upon the government land. Surprisingly, 16 years have passed after the constitution of a committee to vacate the government land, but the net result continues to be nil.
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Hisar awaits electric crematorium
Hisar, July 26 Hisar has two main cremation grounds where the traditional wood pyre method is used for cremating the dead. While the main crematory is located behind the Main Bus Terminus, the other is located in Sector 13. The main crematory is spacious and has facilities for all-weather cremations under concrete sheds, besides a special ground for burying children. It has two halls, one of which has been recently rebuilt. However, the bodies continue to be cremated using wood. The facilities in the Sector 13 crematory are not comparable to the main one, but recent additions and improvements have given it a decent look. It has one hall for mourners. Earlier, the approach was through a narrow path along the canal. However, the main entrance now opens on a very wide road in the newly developed HUDA sector. Several social organisations have over the decades proposed to raise funds for an electric crematorium but their efforts have not borne fruit yet. The main hurdle is the traditional mindset of the town's residents. While there is no dearth of donations for improving facilities, there are no philanthropists willing to donate for an electric crematorium. A member of the panel that looks after the main crematory says the main problem is that donations for an electric crematorium are still not coming. "Individual families offer a few thousands to build a shed or provide some other facility in the crematory in memory of their dead, but these are too small to fund an electric crematorium." He says the mindset is another problem. "We are a very traditional community. Cremation in a furnace, be it electrical or gas powered, is still not acceptable to most of us. Even though wood scarcity and the pollution it causes do bother people but burning corpses by wood is still preferred", he says. However, the demand for an electric crematorium is gaining ground. Several public-spirited residents of the town have now decided to get together and canvass support. They also plan to rope in educated politicians in the project. But the cost factor too remains a big concern. An electric crematorium costs anywhere between Rs 80 lakh and Rs 1 crore. Unless the government steps in too, it will remain a far cry.
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Sirsa’s annual allocation up 50 pc
Sushil Manav Tribune News Service
Sirsa, July 26 Against the normal annual allocation of Rs 15.42 crore, the district is likely to get nearly Rs 22 crore in the current financial year. Sirsa, along with Mahendragarh district in the state, is among the 250 most backward districts of the country that receive grants under the BRGF. Incidentally, Sirsa’s selection among the most backward districts of the country during the NDA’s regime at the Centre and the INLD rule in Haryana, had invited criticism on the grounds that it was a politically motivated decision and that the district did not meet the three parameters of value of output per agriculture worker, agriculture wage rates and SC/ST population. In the sectoral allocation under the BRGF scheme for 2010-11, the authorities have proposed an expenditure of Rs 21.68 crore on various heads of development. The overall achievement of the district under the scheme has been excellent in the previous year. It was 100 per cent in sectors like construction of roads and city transport; 99.13 per cent in capacity building, 99 per cent in drinking water, 97 per cent in education, 95 per cent in child development and between 55 and 90 per cent in several other heads of development. “We plan to spend Rs 5 crore on agriculture and animal husbandry, Rs 6 crore on social justice, women and children, Rs 4.75 crore on infrastructure and basic minimum needs, Rs 3 crore on urban development, Rs 2 crore on literacy and education, Rs 50 lakh on village and cottage industry and Rs 43 lakh on health and medical care in the current fiscal,” said CG Rajini Kaanthan, Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa. The BRGF scheme, which provides better flexibility to the authorities in the matter of implementation, has proved a boon for this district. The development funds for the district are almost doubled as almost an equal amount of funds comes from the state government under the District Development Plan.
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MCF to get Rs 50 crore loan from Gurgaon MC
Faridabad, July 26 According to a source, the money will be released soon. As per the arrangement, the MCF will have to shell 8 per cent interest on the loan money. The principal amount will have to be returned by the MCF to its counterpart in Gurgaon after it received money from the National Capital Region Board. The board is to provide money under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission to upgrade infrastructure in the areas falling in the jurisdiction of the MCF. As per the decision of the government, the proposed amount to be received from the MCG will be spent on the ongoing projects, including sewerage and augmentation of water supply to the areas of the MCF which encompasses Faridabad and Ballabgarh.
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56 pc women in state suffer from anaemia: Study
Fatehabad, July 26 Earlier also, in a survey conducted in Government College for Women, only one out of 400 girls' hemoglobin were found to be normal as rest of them had mild to moderate anaemia. Three had hemoglobin level of 11 gm while the rest had hemoglobin level of 7 to 10 gm, which suggested that they were suffering from mild to moderate anaemia. However, according to the specifications of the World Health Organisation for India, an adolescent girl with hemoglobin of 12 gm or more is considered normal. "During my stint as a teacher in a womens college here, I found that a large number of girls suffered from low hemoglobin level and we introduced several measures for them in our college," said Jyoti, who along with another lecturer Jasbir Kaur looked after the women cell of the college. The situation is almost similar in other districts of the state, where adolescent girls were found anaemic during medical check-ups. The National Family Health Survey-III (2006) revealed that at all-India level, 55 per cent women were anaemic, however, in case of Haryana, it was 56 per cent. Even the measures taken by the government through its Indira Bal Swasthya Yojna had made a little difference. "Adolescence is a time of huge physical change and this is the time when there is a need for a special diet. Attention to the diet of women and girls is crucial as women suffering from anaemia are more likely to give birth to low weight babies and research shows that such babies are more prone to diseases throughout their life," says Dr Rajeshwari, an associate professor of Kurukshetra University. "In adolescence, girls start taking decision about their diet and physical activity. Yet, they should be told about the risks of anaemia so that they can judiciously decide on their dietary intake," she said. "A well balanced diet increases the resistance to fight infections and diseases. School and college girls are the best target group to spread such awareness," she added.
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NIFAA chief addresses conference on AIDS in Vienna
Karnal, July 26 Punnu, who is the only participant from Haryana to attend the conference, made a presentation at the conference on “Mission 2010” of NIFAA which covered four major social issues of female foeticide, dowry, drug addiction and HIV/AIDS, chosen in 2006 for creating awareness and sensitising people of Haryana. “Right here-Right now” is the theme of the conference, organised by International AIDS Society as a joint venture of IAS, UNAIDS, World Health Organisation, World YWCA and global network of people living with HIV/AIDS and supported by various important international organisations. The main focus of the conference was on “critical connection between human rights and HIV” as recent evidence had shown that stigma and discrimination were major barriers to HIV prevention and treatment, Punnu said, adding that AIDS 2010 was an opportunity to identify how human rights violations hampered effective programme implementation and to reexamine counterproductive drug policies that ignored such evidence. Punnu said as per statistics provided at the conference, HIV/AIDS scenario was frightening with 3.34 crore people living with HIV out of which 21 lakh are children, 50 lakh young people and 2.63 crore adult. As per the last survey conducted in 2008, as many as 1,200 children, 2,500 young people (age 15-24) and 3,700 adult are coming in contact with the disease every day and two million people dying due to HIV every year. In Asia, 4.7 million people are affected with AIDS, out of which 2.4 million are in India. Research shows that 80 per cent cases of HIV infection in India are due to heterosexual transmission and it is a matter of great concern that China is more populated country than India but has only seven lakh people recorded as HIV positive.
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Pensioners to get smart cards
Jind, July 26 There are a total 1.27 lakh persons, who have been getting pension in the district. A senior official of the state government said the process of preparation of the smart card had already been started and the work was likely to be completed by August-end. The Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) has been assigned the work of making the smart cards in the district. Claiming that the possession of a smart card would be mandatory in case the beneficiary had been receiving any kind of pension, Deputy Commissioner AS Yadav said the pension would be transferred automatically through the card to the bank account of the individual by the end of first week of each month. Admitting that there had been complaints of irregularities, he said the smart card would ensure that there were minimum complaints and delay in the disbursement of the pension. It has been found that pension had been sought or withdrawn in the name of dead or those who were not eligible. The process of preparation of the cards has been launched in Narwana, Uchana, Safidon and Pilukhera blocks of the district.
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Schedule for revision of electoral rolls okayed
Chandigarh, July 26 According to Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Sumita Misra, the draft electoral rolls will be published in all districts, except Gurgaon, on July 31. Claims and objections can be filed from August 1 to August 16. August 7, 8 and 14 will be special campaign dates for receiving claims and objections at all designated locations. The claims and objections will be disposed by August 24. The supplements of additions, deletions and corrections and master pages for printing additional copies will be prepared by September 9. Additional copies for publication of the final rolls will be printed by September 11 and copies of final rolls will be distributed to Election Returning Officers (EROs) for publication by September 13. The electoral rolls would be finally published on September 15. Misra said a door-to-door survey for verification of particulars of existing centres on Unicode converted database in Gurgaon district would be done up to July 31. Corrections required on the basis of survey report and preparation and printing of master copy for draft publication would be carried out on August 10. Draft publication of E-rolls would be got done on August 17. Claims and objections would be filed from August 17 to September 1. She said special campaign dates for receiving claims and objections at all designated locations would be August 21, 22, 28 and 29. Disposal of claims and objections would be got done on September 8. The final publication of electoral rolls would be done on September 15.
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Varsity to update parents on wards’ performance
Sonepat, July 26 This was disclosed by HS
Chahal, vice-chancellor of the university, while addressing the heads of departments and faculties on the occasion of commencing the fourth academic session of the university, recently. Claiming that the university had taken rapid strides in a brief period of just three years of its existence, Chahal informed that along with commencing UGC courses, postgraduate courses in the university had increased from four to 16. The number of faculties had also been increased from 70 to 110, he said and announced that efforts were being made to add 50 more faculty members soon. Besides, the university had obtained the membership of the British Council and American Library, New Delhi, he
added. Chahal directed the heads of departments to take all necessary steps for improving laboratory facilities and appoint an in charge in each laboratory for better care and maintenance. He also claimed that there was not even a single case of ragging in the university in the last two
years. RK Arora, registrar of the university, informed that as per the report of the director of Technical Education,
Haryana, Murthal university was adjudged the second best among the 141 technical institutes in Haryana.
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Hooda honours DAV regional director
Panipat, July 26 The award was presented to him at a ceremony held at the Chief Minister’s residence recently. Dr Vidyarthi has authored two books “Arya Samaj Ka Itihas” and “DAV Ke Swatantrata Senani”. The Chief Minister said publication of such books was the need of hour to inspire modern youths and instill a feeling of patriotism in them. While speaking on the occasion, Dr Vidyarthi said his book “DAV Ke Swatantrata Senani” was a detailed account of those students of DAV institutions who had contributed towards the freedom movement. He said the other book dealt with the impact of Arya Samaj on social and religious structure of the state and the history of the growth of Arya Samaj in Haryana. The DAV director has already written 12 different books based on the theme of religion and Indian culture. Besides working as an administrator as well as academician, Dr Vidyarthi has been active in the field of social work. He has also worked for the cause of social welfare and eradication of social evils like dowry and female foeticide besides organising mass marriages of more than 700 poor and needy girls.
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Teachers against enhancing term of college governing bodies
Kaithal, July 26 HCTA general secretary Dr Rajbir Parashar said here that any move to enhance the period of governing bodies would destroy this system of higher education, as it would lead to arbitrariness and corruption of various sorts. Dr Parashar categorically stated that the functioning of governing bodies needs to be democratised for the welfare of students, teachers and employees at large. The Association of Governing Bodies is learnt to have represented to the state government to enhance their tenure from the present three years to five years. Higher Education Commissioner,
Haryana, in a letter written to HCTA president Dr UV Singh, had sought the opinion of the teachers' organisation on this issue. Dr Parashar has urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to intervene personally to resolve all pending issues of the government-aided colleges, including a comprehensive notification on UGC scales at the state level as UGC guidelines/regulations have been
finalised. Dr Singh said here that the revision of pension and gratuity for the teachers who have retired on or after January 2006 is causing immense mental agony to the concerned section of teachers. Dr Singh alleged that the act of withholding the benefits of retired teachers is a major proof of insensitivity towards the senior section of teachers. He said such issues were being kept pending at the official level in the Finance Department without reason. The HCTA has also resented that the government is not deducting the PF of teachers recruited in aided colleges in the recent years. He said this discrimination against young teachers of aided colleges is an issue of major concern for the teachers at large. He also drew the attention of the government towards the anomalies in the service conditions of the women teachers/employees of government-aided private colleges of the state. Miscarriage or abortion leave is already implemented in all government departments, including government colleges and universities, but women teachers/employees are denied of it in aided colleges. Even the state government through its notified ‘Child Care Leave’ has yet to be implemented in the government-aided colleges of Haryana also.
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Teachers demand all benefits
Geetanjali Gayatri Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 26 This decision was taken at a meeting of representatives of teachers from all universities of Haryana - Guru Jambheshwar University, Hisar; Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra; MDU, Rohtak; BPS Mahila Vishwavidlaya, Khanpur Kalan, Sonepat ; CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar; Ch. Devi Lal University, Sirsa; and Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal; - held at MDU, Rohtak. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Dr Somvir Singh Rathi, president, MD University Teachers’ Association (MDUTA). He said the government had implemented the revised pay scales for the university and college teachers in September,= 2009, but the pay scales were not completely in accordance with the recommendations of the UGC/MHRD. Rathi said the teachers had launched a statewide agitation for implementation of the Pixth Pay Commission recommendations in September 2009 and the agitation was withdrawn on the assurance of the Chief Minister that all benefits would be given as per UGC/MHRD notification. However, even after nine months, the teachers were awaiting these benefits, he asserted. Dr Parmesh Kumar, secretary, KUTA, said the MHRD had directed the education secretaries of all states to implement the revised pay scales for teachers as a composite scheme, including the age of superannuation for “in-class teaching” as 65 years as was recommended by the MHRD in its earlier notification. At the meeting, FEDHUTA was formally constituted by nominating Dr Rathi and Dr Kumar as working president and secretary, respectively. The president and secretary of various teachers’ associations of universities will act as members of the executive committee of FEDHUTA. The federation has been formed to raise issues of the teachers in a more effective and coherent manner. Prof Nafa Singh stated that the main issues raised at the meeting included advance increments for higher qualifications like MPhil, MTech, PhD and LLM; entry-level pay of directly recruited professors and readers and equivalent cadres recruited on or after January 1, 2006; re-designation of readers and lecturers in selection grade as associate professor after completion of three years of service among others.
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Teachers’ retirement age
Kurukshetra, July 26 Clarifying his earlier statement on the issue, a university spokesman said General Sandhu had only appreciated that retired teachers were a pool of talent which was already being tapped by the system by hiring them and his views were not expressed in proper context. The VC said a committee had been appointed by the state government to look into the overall recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission in this regard.
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KU teachers to donate one-day salary
Kurukshetra, July 26 Dr Parmesh Kumar, secretary,
KUTA, said as a token of contribution all 446 teachers of the university would contribute their one-day salary.
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Loan norms for vehicles revised
Chandigarh, July 26 An official spokesman said that now any employee irrespective of his pay scale or pay band would be eligible to take advance for purchase of motorcycle or scooter, moped or even bicycle. For the purchase of a motorcar, the loan would now be admissible to the employees drawing a revised pay of Rs.18,000 and above in any pay band. The limit of advance would be 20 months' pay subject to a ceiling of Rs 6.50 lakh or the actual price of the motorcar, whichever is less. For motorcycle and scooter, the employees drawing pay in any pay band would be eligible for this advance.
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NHAI urged to ensure safety on highway
Karnal, July 26 He said it had been observed that the local people were facing problems while crossing roads at intersections on the highway, leading to increase in number of accidents as the flyovers’ construction was in process at several points, especially the chowks.He said keeping in view the fact that a large number of schools and colleges were located across the national highway, it becomes imperative that men should be deployed on both sides of the roads, besides installing blink lights at chowks to enable people to move freely without any traffic hazard. Boards cautioning people about ‘work in progress’ should be displayed prominently, so that vehicles could slow down, Arya said, adding that zebra crossings should be made for pedestrians. Meanwhile, the SP has also directed the toll plaza authorities to ensure smooth traffic movements at the toll. The directions came in the wake of public complaints of traffic jams and undue delay in clearing the traffic at the toll, resulting in frequent jams. The SP told the authorities to engage competent, active and experienced people at cash counter and security duty. All lanes should be opened 24/7 to reduce chaos during the busy hours, he added. The toll authorities have been told to ensure that the CCTV cameras are working properly and the recordings are preserved for the maximum duration. Not more than five vehicles should be lined up at one lane for faster movement of traffic and vehicles should not be allowed to be parked on tea-stalls near the toll. Earlier, as per the directions of the Haryana Legal Services Authority, Chandigarh, a free legal advice centre has been made functional at the office of Women Protection Officer. The centre would provide free legal consultation to women, handicapped, poor and Scheduled Castes.
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Khol police station gets new building
Rewari, July 26 It has been constructed at a cost of Rs 35 lakh by the Haryana Police Housing Corporation. Addressing the gathering, the ADGP said the new complexes of about 36 new police stations in
Manesar, Palwal, Rohtak, Mewat and other areas of the state would also be built at a cost of Rs 300
crore. Stating that while police commissionerates had already been set up in Gurgaon and
Faridabad, he said the establishment of one such commissionerate in Rewari was under the active consideration of the state government as well. Mentioning about the rise in criminal activities in certain areas of the state, Sandhu said while lure of easy money and glamour of such affluence was goading youngsters and jobless youths in particular into the domain of delinquency, the police administration too was resolutely combating such offensive repugnance with new techniques and devices of encountering criminals.
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Yadav has a dig at Capt Amarinder
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, July 26 Earlier, it was Haryana Congress president Phool Chand Mullana, who had condemned Capt Amarinder Singh, now it is Haryana Irrigation Minister Ajay Singh Yadav joined the issue with his colleague from Punjab. Yadav said Capt Amarinder Singh’s statement was aimed at getting the sympathy of the people of Punjab at the cost of the people of Haryana. He said the Hansi-Butana canal was constructed keeping in view the people’s interest and that it would provide irrigation and potable water to 16 of the 21 districts in the state. Having a dig at Capt Amarinder Singh, Yadav said the former Punjab Chief Minister was responsible for the Punjab Termination of Agreement Act, 2004, with the help of the Akalis. He described Capt Amarinder Singh’s assertion that 40 siphons should have been constructed under the Hansi-Butana canal as “irrelevant”. The main reason behind the floods in Punjab, Yadav said, was that the under-passes, which were to be constructed at Khnori village and on the Titana-Samana road, could not be constructed by the Akali government. Yadav suggested that officers of both states should work jointly to solve the problem amicably.
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Floods: Insured traders seek claims
Ambala, July 26 Surveyors have already started visiting the premises of insured clients for conducting a survey of damaged goods and taking photographs. Dealers whose purchase documents have also been destroyed in floods may have to suffer inconvenience in getting claim. Nevertheless, insurance officials are working till late in the night for settling claims expeditiously. On the other hand, a large number of traders dealing in footwear and readymade garments, whose stocks were uninsured, have been selling their goods at heavy discounts. One can find heavy rush of people at these shops as people have started visiting the town from distant places to buy stocks affected by floodwater at throwaway prices.
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Chinese units at power plant fail two trial runs
Panipat, July 26 The federation lamented that the new power plant could not be commissioned as per the schedule declared by the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) and the Haryana Chief Minster. The unit 1 was to achieve commercial operation by May 7 and the second unit was to commence operation on coal firing by May 10. Both these targets could not be achieved. Padamjit Singh, chairman of the AIPEF, said before a generator was put to commercial use, it was required to undergo a full load trial run for 14 days out of which 72 hours should be at 100 per cent load. He said the first unit had been put through two trial runs, both of which had proved unsuccessful. The first trial run started on June 11 and ended on June 28. However, during this period the unit could not achieve a generation beyond 440 MW. The 600 MW units with auxiliary consumption of 6 per cent could give net generation of 564 MW against which only 440 MW could be achieved. During the trial run period between July 4 and 14, the average net MW generation was 433 MW on July 9, 404 MW on July 10, 371 MW on July 11, 417 MW on July 12 and 451 MW on July13. Singh said these figures could not be sustained on July 14 and the unit tripped at 0630 hours, indicating that the trial run had failed. During this trial run the unit could achieve 561 MW for only 12 hours as against the required full load period of 72 hours. Further, the trial run was for only 10 days as against the required 14 days, he said. The chairman of the federation said the unit was still not in a position to commence commercial operations and the second unit was yet to be put under trial run. He said the two 300 MW units of the Rosa Thermal Station of Reliance Power in Uttar Pradesh had been put to commercial use within 2.5 months of their synchronisation. However, the units at the RGTPS, which were synchronised in December last, were yet to achieve the stage of commercial operations.
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Karnal dentists launch website
Karnal, July 26 Dr Sunil
Chandra, president, IDA, Karnal, said the association had been organising free dental check-up camps and over 10,000 persons had benefited from these camps. Continued dental education
(CDE) programmes are being organised regularly to keep doctors abreast with latest trends and innovations in dental health The IDA,
Karnal, was also publishing its monthly newsletter.
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Mining threatens wildlife
Yamunanagar, July 26 The situation has deteriorated to the extend that 60 per cent of the wetland areas in the district has already been damaged due to uncontrolled mining which has resulted in the decline of bird and fish population. There is an urgent need to take action as there are 270 bird species dependent on the wetlands and forest areas in the district. A visit to different wetland areas revealed that despite a ban, unscientific mining at a depth of 5-20 m in riverbed and on its banks has raised a question mark on the survival of wetlands situated upstream and downstream the river near Hathni Kund, Tajewala headworks, Dadupur headworks, near Kalesar and also in Khijrabad and Jatlana. The mining mafia has been using JCB machines and tractor-trailers in the wetland areas, which is proving disastrous. The functioning of around 120 stone crushers near the Yamuna, near Kalesar forest and on the other side of the river, which falls in Saharanpur district of Uttar Pardesh, has been further aggravating the situation. Following much disturbance, wild animals from Kalesar National Park are straying into nearby places of the forest areas. Dr Rajiv Kalsi, assistant professor in the Zoology Department of a local college, said around 60 per cent of the wetland had already been destroyed due large-scale mining that had been going on for the past many years. As a result, bird population had been declining significantly even as some birds, including Khalij pheasant, were on the verge of extinction, he added.
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Letter
Although the Hooda Government has been constantly announcing its commitment to taking education to every nook and corner of the state, it has so far failed to frame a foolproof and rational policy for appointment of schoolteachers. In 2005, it devised a novel way of appointing "Guest Teachers" to cope with the acute shortage of teachers. Needless to say these ad hoc appointees was not selected in an open and transparent manner and serious question marks were raised over the process carried out for it. Then in 2008, the government introduced School Teachers Eligibility Test (STET) as a mandatory requirement for appointment as a regular schoolteacher in the state.
Thousands of teaching aspirants, of which a large chunk are currently unemployed/underemployed, have cleared this test which has been held thrice in the past couple of years but they are still waiting for getting appointment. On the contrary, though the 14000-odd guest teachers were originally hired on a period basis, the nature of their appointment was subsequently changed to contractual along with grant of other attractive sops by the Chief Minister in early 2009, perhaps with an eye on the early Assembly elections. They were even exempted from clearing STET, besides given additional weightage of maximum 24 marks in an advertisement for recruitment of school lecturers in July, 2009. The High Court this April has quashed this privilege for guest teachers against whom some aggrieved have even moved the Supreme Court. There are three groups of candidates- one working as guest teachers, those who have cleared STET and finally who fall in neither of the previous two categories. Each wants to pip the others in the game. Hooda happily declared on July 1 that Haryana ranked fourth on the all-India ranking on Educational Development Index (EDI) but he must realise the school teachers' recruitment policy so far remained in a mess. 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,
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Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) BS Sandhu inaugurated the newly constructed building of the Khol police station of the district, 28 km from here, recently.
It has been constructed at a cost of Rs 35 lakh by the Haryana Police Housing Corporation.
