Gurgaon, September 13
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government in the state has come under sharp criticism for amending the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, allegedly to suit the builders.

A new Section 9(A) has been added to the Act, as per which the state government can modify policy and procedures under the Act.

In a letter to the Haryana Governor, Jagannath Pahadia, the Joint Front of the Federation of Residents Welfare Associations (FORWA), Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC) and other residents welfare associations (RWAs) of Gurgaon has stated that the said amendment to the Act passed in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha recently, was against public interest.

The amendment comes at a time when a civil appeal (no. 550 of 2003, DLF Universal Limited versus State of Haryana and Director Town and Country Planning, Haryana), in which DLF Qutab Enclave Residents Welfare Association is also an interested party, is pending before the Supreme Court.

According to the letter, the points on which the apex court is expected to give its verdict are: Whether the private licensed builders can earn profit of more than 15 per cent from their projects; whether there should be a regulation on the rates charged by private builders; whether private licensed builders are bound to maintain colonies free of charge up to five years after obtaining final completion certificates; whether the builders can charge extension fees for non-construction on plots; and whether partial completion certificates should be given to builders by the Director, Town and Country Planning.

“With complete disregard to the above matter being pending before the Supreme Court, the Government of Haryana has rushed through with this amendment against public interest, and in order to favour the private builders. This is despite the fact that this case has been pending for the past seven years and the final hearing is about to take place,” the residents’ unions said.

They assert that the said amendment would cause annual losses running into hundreds of crores to the state exchequer from plotted areas, group housings and commercial complexes.

“By the passing of this Bill, there will be no regulation on the rates charged by private licensed builders and property prices (which are already exorbitant) will go out of reach of the common man.

The residents’ associations have urged the Governor to get the said Act withdrawn and a fresh Bill introduced during the next session of the Haryana Assembly with the necessary amendments.

Copies of this letter have also been sent to the President, the Chief Justice of India, the Haryana Assembly Speaker and Chief Minister, among others.

Rohtak, September 13
Polythene bags will not be allowed from October 2. Any shopkeeper found using or supplying polythene bags to consumers will have to pay a fine ranging from Rs 2,500 to Rs 5,000. Those found manufacturing polythene bags after October 2 will have to pay a fine of Rs 25,000.

Stating this here recently, the Deputy Commissioner said the ban had been announced as part of the government's policy to check the use of polythene in the state to contain pollution. He said polythene had been resulting in choking of drains and sewer lines. At a meeting with a delegation of traders, he sought their cooperation in implementing this drive. He said the use of plastic and thermocol for cups, plates and glasses had also been banned. He also exhorted residents to shun the use of polythene. — TNS

Jind, September 13
Impasse seems to continue over the death of Dalit youth last month at Nandgarh village in this district. While the panchayat convened recently failed to break the ice with members of the Dalit community staying away, the administration has stepped up efforts to resolve the issue.

The family of the victim is seeking a CBI probe into the death, claiming that it was a murder and not just a case of accident. Dalits of the village have also sought a government job for the widow of the deceased and compensa tion to the family, besides the arrest of the accused allegedly involved in the murder.

While the district police chief said that policemen had been posted at the house of kin of the victim in view of the threat to their lives and claims that the Dalit community had been the target of an unannounced social boycott, DC Abhay Singh said there had been no boycott of any community in the village so far. The body of Vijender had been found on August 1. Police investigation had failed to establish the claim of some persons that the youth had been murdered, said the DC, adding that the administration had no objection to any kind of probe and the authorities had been trying their best to resolve the issue. A delegation of Dalits met the CM recently and demanded a high- level probe, adequate compensation and a government job for the widow of the deceased. 

Faridabad, September 13
A delegation from South Korea recently visited the industrial hub here as part of its study programme to evaluate economic cooperation between the two countries and to have firsthand impression about the functioning of the industry in India.

The 17-member delegation, which represented trainees of the Korean Administrative Service, was led by Hong Ki Woong from Central Officials Training Institute, Ministry of Public Administration and Security, South Korea. The members of the delegation will later take up administrative assignments in their own country.

The Faridabad Industry Association (FIA) facilitated the visit at the request of the Embassy of South Korea. According to an FIA official, the delegation visited only Faridabad in Haryana for their study, which was an honour.

The delegates visited Escorts Agri Machinery Plant of Escorts Ltd. They visited the tractor assembly plant. Later, they visited Indo Autotech Ltd. At both places, officials of the units briefed the delegates on several aspects of functioning of the units. The delegates were visibly impressed by the environmental concerns displayed by the managements of the two firms as well as the managerial practices followed by them, especially towards the welfare of workers.

During their visit to the tractor plant, the delegation members were curious as to why the firm did not export tractors to countries in South Asia. Escorts exports tractors to African countries. On this, Sheilenda Aggarwal, CEO of Escorts Agri Machinery Plant, informed that the tractors manufactured by them suited the topography of African countries. 

Chandigarh, September 13
The Haryana government has transferred 12 IAS officers and one HCS officer with immediate effect. PK Gupta, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Technical Education and Industrial Training Department, has been posted as Director-General, Haryana Institute of Public Administration (HIPA), Gurgaon.

He will also continue to look after his present assignment. Rajni Sekhri Sibal, Director, HIPA, Gurgaon, becomes its Executive Director.

Anil Kumar Kumar, Commissioner, Ambala Division, Ambala, has been posted as Special Secretary, Housing Department, in addition to his present posting. Ankur Gupta, MD, HARTRON, has been posted as Director and Special Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment, relieving Anand Mohan Sharan.

Ashok Khemka, Officer on Special Duty, Planning Board, Special Secretary, Administrative Reforms Department, and Member-Secretary, State Administrative Reforms Commission, has been posted as Special Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology Department, and Director, Electronics and Information Technology.

Sandeep Garg, Director, Science and Technology, has been posted as Special Secretary, Home-I Department. SK Goyal, Special Secretary, Home-I Department has been posted as Director, Development and Panchayats.

Anurag Agarwal, Special Secretary, Personnel, Training, Vigilance and Parliamentary Affairs Departments, Director, Training (Ex-officio) and Inquiry Officer, Vigilance, will also work as Director, Science and Technology.

Subhash Chandra, Joint Secretary, Home-II Department, and Joint Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections, Haryana, has been posted as Director, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, and MD, Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation, and MD, Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections Kalyan Nigam.

OP Sheoran, Director and Joint Secretary, Industries and Commerce and Mines and Geology, MD, Haryana State Small Industries and Export Corporation, MD, Haryana, Handloom and Handicrafts Corpn, Managing Director, Haryana Tanneries Ltd, Jind, and Joint Secretary, Housing, has been posted as Director and Joint Secretary, Rural Development, vice Satyaprakash TL, who will now look after the assignments held earlier by Sheoran.

Pradeep Kasni, Joint Secretary, Animal Husbandry, will also work as Joint Secretary, Home-II, and Joint Commissioner, Gurdwara Elections, Haryana.

Hardeep Singh, Deputy Secretary, Planning Department, has been posted as Additional Director and Deputy Secretary, Women and Child Development. The posting orders of Sarita Malik will be issued separately.

Rewari, September 13
A free medical camp organised by the Janata Kalyan Samiti (JKS), a voluntary organization of the Ahirwal region, at the samiti’s school in Shakti Nagar here recently.

As many as 145 patients from various parts of the region were examined for ailments of heart, brain, obesity and diabetes by a team of specialists from Medanata the Medicity, Gurgaon.

The maladies were diagnosed with the assistance of ultra modern machines.

The district police chief K Venkat Ramana, who interacted with the patients and doctors, said such a medical camp could be of great advantage to policemen who had to work frequently under mental strain caused by their onerous duties.

Samiti chairman RN Mahlawat extended whole-hearted cooperation in organising such a medical camp at the Police Lines next month.

Ambala, September 13
The names of 50 members comprising two rescue teams will be forwarded to the Army Headquarters for to entered in the bravery list.

Brig AK Jha told mediapersons that both teams from Kharga Engineer Regiment and 65 Engineer Bridge Regiment, which saved the lives of about 10 persons in the flooded Markanda and Ghaggar rivers on September 8, would be awarded on January 26 or August 15.

Despite efforts of the civil administration, six persons-- Ram Kumar, Bablu, Rinka, Summy, Singram and Ravi-- who had taken refuge on a tree since 4 p.m.on September 8 could not be evacuated.It was then that Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Srow called in the Army for the job.

Brig Jha said an Army rescue team headed by Col Mukesh reached the site and rescued the marooned people one by one after a two-hour operation.

Besides safeguaring the territorial integrity of the country against external aggression, it is also often required to assist the civil administration during internal security disturbances and in organising relief operations during natural calamities like floods and earthquakes.

Fatehabad, September 13
The Vocabooster, an innovative programme started by the Commerce Department of Manohar Memorial Postgraduate College here, has proved a boon for students.

A brainchild of Sanjeev Trikha, head of the Commerce Department of the college, has been helping students and teachers improve their vocabulary in English language, usage of words with their different annotations and their diction.

The department has set up two exhibit boards in its corridor - one named Vocabooster and the other Quest Zone.

“I display 10 tricky words taken from that particular day’s The Tribune newspaper soon after arriving in the department. Students and teachers crossing through the walkway stop in front of the board and note down these words in their notebooks. Later, they discuss these words, including their different usages and right pronunciations,” said Trikha about the idea behind his novel initiative.

The words are later replaced the next day with 10 new words taken from that day’s newspaper.

On the second board named Quest Zone, common terms and abbreviations used in commerce and industry are displayed for the benefit of students.

“Abbreviations commonly used in budget, financial matters, stock exchange and corporate industry are useful for students of commerce. We replace the terms so displayed after a week, so that students can thrash out their meanings in group discussions during their free time,” said Trikha.

He said he started this programme a year ago when he took over as head of the Commerce Department in the college. Nupur, a student, tells she has benefited a lot from the programme. “Besides preparing for our university examinations, most of us have to study hard for cracking competitions like CAT. The programme launched by the department has been helping us a lot in our endeavour,” said students Dheeraj, Khwab and Teena.

Ambala, September 13
A meeting of the newly elected members of the Association of Education College (self-financing) of Haryana was held at PKR Jain College of Education at Ambala City on Saturday.

The meeting was attended by office-bearers of the managing committees of Tulsi College of Education, Sardari Lal College of Education, Surya College of Education, Lord Kishna College of Education, Mata Shanti Devi College of Education, Maa Bala Sundri College of Education and Birkha Ram College of Education.

Ajay Chahar, who chaired the meeting, said that Kurukshetra University Vice-Chancellor had agreed to the proposal for refunding to the colleges the admission fees submitted by the candidates to the university. The colleges shall submit the list of admitted candidates to the university and the university would refund the amount within five days.

Ajay Chahar said the VC had also okayed the proposal that one selection committee would be valid for the selection of professors, readers and lecturers in B.Ed. colleges.

The association accepted Bharat Bhushan Jain's proposal for organising a combined blood donation camp every year in November in every district.

Sonepat, September 13
Haryana, the land of great saints and where the Vedas, Geeta and the Mahabharta were authored, is the cradle of creative literature and culture. Unfortunately, the ancient literature and culture has remained neglected.

Since the inception of the state in 1966, the successive governments tried to preserve its cultural heritage, most efforts either remained on papers or could not be implemented properly due to one reason or the other.

However, some social workers and authors have been coming forward to discover and preserve the culture and literature of the state and Dr Sant Ram Deswal, associate professor, CRA College, here, is one of them. He has so far authored six books on folk culture and literature of Haryana.

Recently, he has decided to author a book on the lives and works of great seers, especially saint Nishchal Dass, the world famous “advaitvadi” saint and poet, who hailed from Kidholi village in Kharkhoda block of Sonepat district.

Dr Deswal said, “We know that ‘Vichar Sagar’, the famous book of saint Nishchal Dass, was praised by Swami Vivekananda in Chicago (US). He described it to be the best book of the 19th century. Prof Manoranjan Gupta, a renowned freedom fighter, had also praised the saint’s another book, “Vriti Prabhakar”. However, the great saint has been completely forgotten even by the natives of his village”.

“It is painful to note that his haveli and personal belongings, such as clothes, wooden footwear, ‘kamandal’ and golden ‘taraju’ are in bad condition. Manuscripts of his six unpublished books are nowhere to be seen,” he added.

Dr Deswal recently approached the Haryana Sahitya Academy and a function was organised at Kidholi village to celebrate the anniversary of the saint with the help of The Saint Nishchal Dass International Mission, Delhi, headed by Bhup Singh Dahiya, a native of the village.

Jaiveer Balmiki, chief parliamentary secretary (CPS), was the chief guest on the occasion while Dr Mukta, director, Haryana Sahitya Academy, presided over.

A charter of nine demands was handed over by Dr Deswal to the CPS who promised to take up these demands with the Chief Minister. The demands included a government school and a road from Khurrampur Mor to Kidholi to be named after saint Nishchal Dass; setting up a “shodh peeth” at MDU and KU in his name; introducing him in the syllabus of all state universities; declaring his haveli as a heritage monument and establishing a museum in it; publishing saint’s manuscripts; taking over all his belongings and establishing an award in his name by the Haryana Sahitya Academy.

Karnal, September 13
A 39-member mountaineering team of Sainik School Kunjpura (SSK) has left for an expedition to an unnamed virgin peak (21,770 ft) in Uttarakhand.

The team consisting of four teachers and 35 students and led by ace mountaineer JS Gulia, would return on October 5 after trudging in the high mountain areas for 27 days.

Flagging off the expedition, Brig Ranjeet Singh, inspecting officer of Sainik Schools Society, Ministry of Defence, said the team would set up three camps en route and the first major camp would be at an altitude of 14,500 ft where the members would be imparted training in snow and ice crafting, glacier walking, step making, crampon walking, front-point climbing and route opening. Two more such camps would be set up from southwest ridge of the peak before making the final assault.

Col Arun Dutta, principal, SSK, said such adventure activities are integral part of power-packed training imparted to students and was aimed at inculcating team spirit and leadership qualities among them. The team members would also interact with people en route to create awareness about keeping the mountains clean and pollution-free, he added.

The SSK expeditions had earlier scaled Stok Kangri peak (6,183 m) and two unnamed peaks (6,640 m and 6,250 m) in the Rupshu valley of Leh in 1998 and 2006, Manali Peak (5,669 m) in2003 and Deo Tibbal peak (6,001 m) in 2003 and again in 2008, he informed.

Rohtak, September 13
The UN has invited Prof Santosh Nandal of the Department of Economics, MDU, Rohtak, to present a research paper on ‘Gender dimensions of the global crisis and their impact on poverty’ during an expert group meeting on ‘Poverty Eradication’, from September 15 to 17 at the United Nations Conference Centre, Addis Ababa.

This expert group meeting was being organised as part of the preparations for the 49th session of the Commission for Social Development at the UN headquarters in New York from February 2 to 11 next year.

The UN has designated 10 experts from Asia, Latin America, North America, Europe and Central Asia for this meeting. Prof Santosh Nandal will represent India. Earlier, she has also presented research papers in international conferences held in Los Angeles (USA), Oxford (UK), Sydney (Australia) and Turin (Italy).

Karnal, September 13
Yet another budding sports star from the state is looking towards the government for support as financial constraints are coming her way in honing her talent to excel at national and international levels.

Thirteen-year-old Cheshta Mundeja recently bagged two gold medals in the state-level road race and ring race-2 in the 45th State-level Sports Championship organised by the Education Department recently.

Cheshta, who also won a silver medal at the national level in Skating Games organised by the Roller Skating Federation, is unable to bear the cost of her skating kit which includes dress code, practice fee and travelling allowances and cost which works out around Rs 50,000. Her father is an employee in Punjab National Bank, who got the job under the physically disabled quota and has meagre resources to bear the expenses.

She has been urging the state government to increase the incentives given to sportspersons, especially in games like skating and boxing in which huge expenses are incurred during preparation, practice and purchase of equipments, but so far there has been no encouraging response.

Her grandfather P. Mundeja, a moving spirit and motivation behind her success at this tender age, is also anxious about her future and feels that any discouragement at this stage due to any reason will seal her fate and she will not be able to keep up the winning spree in competitive sport.

“The announcement made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during the Haryana Olympics Association Games at Rohtak to increase the amount of cash prizes given to sportspersons kindled some hopes, but it has not been implemented so far,” he rued.

Chasing a dream of becoming a pilot and making her parents proud of her achievements, Cheshta, with varied interests and hobbies like reading, skating, playing badminton and painting, emerged as a state-level sportsperson at the age of 11. She is among 1,606 players from the entire state honoured by the Chief Minister under the programme “Play for India Talent Hunt” organised by the Haryana government.

Her coach Jitesh Kapoor is also concerned about the continuation of her coaching and feels that financial constraints shall not come in the way of promising sportsperson like Cheshta preparing for the forthcoming National-level Championship 2010 to be held in December in Delhi.

“It is a sad commentary on situation in a state like Haryana claiming to be number 1 which has jobs for outstanding sportspersons but is not willing to provide monetary aid to promising kids like Cheshta to enable her to make a mark at the international level,” her grandfather added.

Sonepat, September 13
After 14 years, sportspersons from universities will get an opportunity to show their talent in the World Universities Sports Meet to be held in Italy from September 30 to October 2.

Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak, and Kurukshetra University (KU), Kurukshetra, will send as many as 12 wrestlers to participate in a training camp at ANCP University, Gwalior, from September 12 to 26.

The authorities from the All India Universities Sports Council have sent letters to all universities in the country for sending national level sportspersons to participate in the training camp.

According to Raj Kumar Hooda, secretary of the Haryana Wrestling Association, Haryana wrestlers had bagged maximum medals in the All India University Sports Championship held in Meerut and on the basis of that performance, 10 wrestlers from MDU and two from KU will join the training camp at Gwalior.

MDU wrestlers (girls): Sudesh (48 kg), Babita (51 kg), Priyanka (55 kg), Geeta (59 kg), Sakshi (63 kg), and Suman Kundu (69 kg). Boys: Kuldeep (55 kg), Sandeep (66 kg), Kulbir (74 kg), and Praveen (84 kg).

KU wrestlers: Kumari Anmol (72 kg) and Pradeep (96 kg).

Though after a lot of dilly-dallying, the Hooda government has constituted a Police Complaint Authority (PCA), the same, being a single-member body comprising a retired IAS officer, shows the state’s complete disobedience to the historic SC directions on providing a mechanism for police accountability. Actually, various provisions in Haryana Police Act, 2007 (HPA) itself circumvent the SC directions on police reforms in letter and in spirit. Whereas the apex court had directed in clear terms the constitution of a two-tier PCA both at the district and state levels with the former being competent to look into complaints against policemen up to the rank of DSP and the latter for police officers of SP and above, Section 59 of the HPA mandates the establishment of merely a state-level PCA while regarding the district-level authority, section 68 of the Act merely provides for notifying the same as and when required. Moreover, when the directions of the apex court were clear and unambiguous that these authorities should be headed only by retired district judge/ former SC/HC judge at the district and state levels, respectively, and comprise other members from different fields which were to be duly selected from a panel prepared, the HPA provides for only a one-man state-level PCA that can even be headed by a retired civil servant or a criminal lawyer.

Apart from not assigning full powers to the authority as directed by the SC, the HPA also does not regard the recommendations of the PCA as binding upon the state government in complete default with the SC directives. In recent times, a large number of shameful incidents of police high-handedness have happened in the state right from the rape of hapless women victims in police stations to extortion by policemen. After media hype, certain incidents are though referred to the CBI but that doesn’t redresses the malady. Much worse, the state government is adamant on not setting up State Human Rights Commission owing to reasons best known to it. The Chief Minister should rectify all prevailing anomalies in the HPA vis-à-vis SC directions on police reforms.

HEMANT KUMAR, Ambala City

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