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House tax burden to be minimal
9 yrs on, dairies yet to be shifted out
Power Pangs
Gramin Basti Yojana |
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CM inaugurates astroturf
Gorakhpur farmers oppose acquisition
BARC team visits Jhajjar villages
Hisar-Sirsa rail link survey under way
Free bus travel for women
HEALTH SCHEME
Solar lights for Sirsa streets
2 found murdered in Rohtak
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House tax burden to be minimal
“House tax will be levied after the four-member committee constituted for the purpose submits its report,” said the minister, who heads the committee. Talking to reporters after presiding over the monthly meeting of the district grievances committee here today, he said though Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda did not want to impose house tax on the people, the Union Government had asked the state government to make its urban local bodies economically self-reliant, due to which the move was necessitated. To a question, he said the franchisee system to be implemented in Gurgaon was aimed at giving the responsibility for ensuring quality power supply to consumers to a private player. “The ownership is not being transferred, so it cannot be termed as privatisation of the power utilities,” he said, adding that the control would be with the government and the tariff equal to that in other parts of the state. The franchisee system would have no effect on the services of the
employees of the nigam, he asserted. The minister disposed of 15 of the 18 complaints on the spot. Meanwhile, a delegation of the local residents, led by Gurgaon Citizens Council president RS Rathee, met the minister in charge of the district grievances committee and urged him to raise the level of the functioning of the panel. “We also gave a representation stating that the issues taken up at the meeting were largely of the subdivision level. We urged the minister that issues of greater concern should be taken up at meetings presided over by him,”
said Rathee. |
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9 yrs on, dairies yet to be shifted out
Panipat, August 17 Dairy owners allege that work on infrastructure development like provision for sewer lines, roads and streetlights has not yet been completed. Sources in the local civic body said in 2001 there were only 197 dairies in the city. The authorities had acquired land in Binjol village where 147 plots were carved out and 118 of these were allotted. However, not many shifted to the new site. In the meantime, the number of dairies in the city rose to over 500, which continue to pollute adjoining areas. Some dairies even dump solid waste in the two drains that carry the waste water from the city. This often leads to blocking of the drains, which renders the sewer system ineffective. A visit to some of the areas where dairies are located revealed that streets were dotted with dung. Residents of these areas say muck from dairies not only blocks sewers, but is also responsible for various health problems during the monsoon season. Narinder Singh, a local resident, said some dairy owners dumped dung directly into sewers after diluting it with water. Sometimes even jet pumps were used to make this process faster. Some others threw dung along the drains, which caused stench in the entire area. The NCR Planning Board had also sanctioned a scheme for shifting milk dairies in a number cities in the state, which included Rohtak, Sonepat, Gurgaon, Bahadurgarh and Panipat. The issue of failure to shift dairies had cost former
MC chief Vinod Vadehra his post. The sources said the authorities had set December 31, 2008, as the deadline for shifting the dairies to the new site, but till date nothing much had
happened. The MC has reportedly prepared a Rs 33 lakh plan for the upkeep of infrastructure at the site and work is likely to start soon. Meanwhile, the MC has set December 31 this year as the new deadline for shifting the dairies. |
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Power Pangs
Sirsa, August 17 The villagers are daggers drawn with the authorities since July 31 when three residents of Dhigtania were booked for manhandling an SDO of the DHBVN. Sat Pal, Ram Chander and Om Parkash were booked under Sections 332, 353, 186, 148 and 506 of the IPC. The villagers have been boycotting school, anganwadi and other government facilities since the past four days in protest against the police action. The villagers, who burnt effigies of the DC, announced that their agitation would continue till the cases were taken back. The authorities today claimed that panchayats of Chauburja, Rangri, Natar, Shahidanwali had passed a resolution announcing severing of ties with those holding the “mahapanchayat”. authorities also released copies of the resolution passed by these
panchayats. |
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Gramin Basti Yojana
Chandigarh, August 17 Sources in the Panchayat and Development Department maintain that of the 6,598 villages with families eligible under the scheme, suitable shamlat land is available in 5,001 village only. This will cover 4.21 lakh of the Scheduled Caste, Backward Class and below poverty line families who are eligible for the 100-yard plots announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s government in 2008 against a target population of nearly six lakh. For the rest, the officials in the department are working overtime to finalise a strategy for plot allotment. Pegging the “difficult pockets” at 1000, the department maintains there is little that can be done and there are only two options before the government, exchange of land in the village itself or land acquisition. Sources maintain that the department is busy reviving the scheme which had been in the cold storage for four months owing to panchayat elections. However, in the next four months, the department will have to deal with allotting land in the “difficult pockets”. The department is planning to write to the Deputy Commissioners of these 1000 villages to explore the possibility of facilitating exchange of land within the village to allot plots near the abadi area. “Our first effort will be to urge villagers to willingly exchange land in the abadi area for a piece of land at a distance within the same village so that these families can be accommodated in the abadi areas. “In case that is not possible, the government will have to acquire land. Given the ‘problem pockets’, the cost of acquisition alone could turn out to be over Rs 700 crore, making the scheme a very expensive proposition,” an official said. er, the government will have to take a call on this shortly because it cannot afford to back out of this scheme on account of land non-availability at this juncture. The department, after doing some spade work on the possibility of land exchange, has realised that it may not fructify in more than a handful of villages, implying thereby that the government will have to go in for acquisition. Sources claim that though the scheme will end up as a drain on the state exchequer, the government stands committed to fulfilling its promise of plot allotment to eligible families. The scheme was launched in February 2008 while the allotment process began in October that year. As many as six lakh families were found eligible for the 100-yard residential plots where the government has promised to provide basic infrastructure, including paved streets with drains, drinking water and electricity poles. |
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Uprooted families won’t budge from mini secretariat
Hisar, August 17 They say they were invited to settle by the village elders in the late fifties. These families remained in the village for a few days and braved it out in the rains without a roof over their heads. Their children have stopped going to school since the demolition. The families are now seeking allocation of plots in the village. They say their forefathers made the mistake of not getting the land registered in their names before building pucca houses. They do not want to repeat that mistake. Several social and political organisations have backed their demand. Rajya Sabha member Ranbir Prajapat of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has assured them that he would raise their demand in the Upper House of
Parliament. |
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CM inaugurates astroturf
Sonepat, August 17 He said this while addressing students and teachers of Motilal Nehru School of Sports (MNSS) in Rai here after inaugurating an astroturf and spectators’ gallery in the hockey complex of the school. “There is no dearth of talent in our state, but there is a need to identify promising players at a young age and train them scientifically,” he said, adding that under the sports talent hunt programme, 1,606 promising players were being given scholarships and training. For promotion of sports in rural areas, the CM said stadiums were being constructed at village, block and district levels under the Rajiv Gandhi sports stadium programme. Stadiums were being constructed in 171 villages of the state and out of these, construction of 69 stadia had already been completed, he added. Hooda claimed that the budget for promotion of sports had been doubled and the number of sports nurseries had been increased to 46 in the state and these nurseries were providing accommodation, meals and training free of cost to more than 1,000 players. He announced that winners of gold, silver and bronze medals in the Commonwealth Games would be rewarded with cash incentives of Rs 7 lakh, 5 lakh and 3 lakh, respectively. Director and principal of the sports school Capt VK Verma (retd) listed the achievements of the school. The occasion was marked by a friendly hockey match between the MNSS and Kings College, London (UK), in which the school team defeated the college team by 3-0. The team had come from the UK for practice and training in the school. |
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Gorakhpur farmers oppose acquisition
Fatehabad, August 17 Hundreds of farmers met District Revenue Officer Om Prakash Verma today and submitted a memorandum asking the authorities to acquire alternative land for the plant. The villagers, whose land has come under this notification, have started filing individual objections with the authorities. They held a meeting in the village chaupal yesterday and decided to oppose the government move, threatening suicide if the government did not budge. The villagers constituted a committee with Hans Raj Siwach as president and Om Parkash Nain secretary and decided to fight for every inch of their land. The stste government had recently issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act-1894 for acquisition of 1,313 acres of the village for the plant. Besides this, the government plans to acquire four acres under Kajalheri village contiguous with the Gorakhpur land and 185 acres for to be used as residential area. Earlier, the nuclear thermal plant was to come up at Kumharia. However, a team from the NPCIL visited the area for selection of site and picked the land in Gorakhpur because of its strategic location and proximity to the Fatehabad branch of the Bhakra canal. “We are not going to part with our agriculture land at any cost,” declared Dana Ram, a farmer, whose 52 acres fall under the land selected for acquisition. He said the government should keep the interests of the farmers in mind before taking any such decision. “Where will we go if we are deprived of our land,” he asked. Krishan Swaroop, district president of the Akhil Bharatiya Kisan Sabha, said their organisation would support the cause of the farmers. The Kisan Sabha wanted the government to compensate the farmers by allotting them alternative land. He said the land for which the notification had been issued was amongst the most fertile in the state and money could not compensate for the loss suffered by the farmers. |
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BARC team visits Jhajjar villages
Bahadugarh (Jhajjar), August 17 During its daylong visit, the committee held discussions with local officials over land acquisition. Under the plan, the Centre is to be established on 290 acres but the land provided by panchayats of both villages measures only 253 acres. Hence, the committee visited the sites to choose another chunk of land for acquisition.Bahadurgarh SDM Nar Hari Bangar said the committee talked about private constructions that have come on the land acquired for the centre. “The committee wishes to make symmetry of the acquired land before initiating construction works at both sites because some chunks of land have been left unacquired during the first round of the acquirement process due to technical reasons. “Now, the matter has been discussed with the committee and it will be sorted out soon,” said the SDM, adding that the administration would initiate the process of acquiring the required land at the earliest. He informed that the Centre would be set up at 125 acres while 80 acres would be kept for residential plots. The project would take time of minimum three years to complete. “Four research schools will be established to carry out research in the field of nuclear security, radiological conservation and use of radiostopes techniques,” said
Bangar. |
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Hisar-Sirsa rail link survey under way
Hisar, August 17 An official spokesperson said here today that during the survey data regarding population of various places along the proposed track would be collected. It would take into account the current modes of transport available in these places and the fares being charged for the same. Besides, the agricultural production in the area would be considered to determine where foodgrains could be transported for storage. The survey would also focus on industrial units located in the area and the likely income to the Railways from freight. Places of tourist interest, religious places and other cultural aspects would also be covered. The spokesperson said the survey team would seek the help of the district administration in completing its task. The report would be submitted to the Railways for action. People of the area have been demanding that these two tracks be laid to improve rail facility in the area. Both Hisar and Sirsa are poorly connected by rail. |
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Free bus travel for women
Chandigarh, August 17 A report from Faridabad said the Labour Department is enforcing rules which make it mandatory for employers to provide security at workplaces to women employees as well as during their travel between home and office, according to state Labour Commissioner Satwanti Ahlawat. The Labour Commissioner, who presided over a meeting of the executive committee of the Haryana Safety Council here today, said the department was taking strict measures to check employment of child labour. |
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HEALTH SCHEME
Chief guest Sukhbir Singh Kataria, who unfurled the Triclour, said under the project students, who suffer from any kind of health disorder, were motivated to take benefit of free-of-cost medical check-up camps. It is reported that hundreds of children have been benefited by the scheme in the district in the past year. The DC received the commendation certificate from the chief guest. However, the functioning of the Civil Hospital here has come under a scanner and criticism from certain quarters following deaths of newborn babies and their mothers in the hospital in the past one year. The district authorities had to set up an inquiry panel to probe the allegations of irregularities and dereliction of duty on part of certain doctors after the death of a woman, who had delivered a baby in the civil hospital. The probe report is still to be made public. |
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Solar lights for Sirsa streets
Chandigarh, August 17 Haryana Power and Renewable Energy Minister Mahender Partap Singh said Haryana Renewable Energy Development Agency (HAREDA) had prepared and got sanctioned a special Rs 12.65 crore project from the Union Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) for installing 6,660 solar photovoltaic (SPV) street lighting systems in 333 villages of Sirsa district. As many as 20 SPV street lighting systems would be installed in each village. The project would not only help in meeting the power requirements during the power cuts, but would also create awareness among the public of generation of power through solar photovoltaic technology, he added. The minister said under the project, SPV street lighting systems consisting of 74W module, 12 V, 75 Ah battery and 11W CFLs would be installed. These systems would work from dusk to dawn. The complete system, including battery, would be warranted for two years. Thereafter, the systems would be governed by three years’ comprehensive maintenance contract. |
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2 found murdered in Rohtak
Rohtak, August 17 The incident came to light today when the police recovered his body. He was allegedly killed in the presence of his 10-year-old son. The victim’s son, Manish, who was asleep near his father, told the police that he could identify the persons who had entered the house and killed his father. He said his mother had gone to a relative’s place at that time. The police collected the fingerprints from the spot today. In another incident, Om Prakash (62), a resident of Sundana village, was found murdered here yesterday. His body bore strangulation marks and was found lying in an open plot of land near his house. The victim had gone to sleep there on Sunday, but was found murdered the next morning. |
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Gurgaon, August 17
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