Faridabad, November 1
Owners of the dyeing and processing units in Faridabad find themselves cornered by the pollution norms on one hand and the coming up of residential colonies around their units on the other.

The problem has occasioned existential issue for them. They allege that the problem has assumed significance as the units fall in small and medium scale and are a source of bulk jobs.

The units act as feeders, especially to the Faridabad’s garment industry, which is export oriented. In a meeting with Dr AS Chahal, chairman, Haryana State Pollution Control Board (HSPCB), recently, office-bearers of the Faridabad Industries Association (FIA) raised problems of the units. The Faridabad Textiles Association has also been taking up the issue with the government from time to time, but to no avail. They have been urging that an exclusive zone be created for them so that they could shift their units there.

In the meeting, the FIA urged the HSPCB to provide a specified place for the units and where ample amount of water was provided. Also, a common effluent treatment plant should be established so as to take care of the pollution part. The FIA also bolstered the case of the units saying that they were also providing substantial revenue to the Haryana government.

According to Ravi Jindal, president of the Faridabad Textile Processors Association, about 90 units had shifted to Faridabad from Delhi in 2000 when the court asked them to disband themselves in the national capital on account of their pollutant nature. At that time, the areas did not have residential colonies, but now a number of residential localities have come up, including Sector 30, 31, 29 etc.

Although they had shifted base to Faridabad, they still provide service to the garment industry in Delhi, Noida and other areas of the National Capital Region.

The units are scattered in Faridabad, especially in DLF, Sector 27 A, B and C, Sectors 24 and 25. A lot residential clusters have came up around these units. There have been occasions when residents of the areas have objected to their functioning.

According to Jindal, in 2005, the state government had asked for affidavits from the units affirming that they were willing to shift. Even though the members submitted the affidavits, the government is yet to take any step.

The industry says that each of the units on an average provides jobs to at least 100 workers while some of the bigger units employ 300 workers each.

According to the industry, the units had to bear high operational cost as there is a shortage of water and they have to purchase water through tankers. Also, they have set up effluent treatment plants in their individual units. The FIA’s view was that the current scenario had made the units less competitive which was affecting the garment export business as a whole.

Chandigarh, November 1
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has issued orders for the delegation of powers to officers for sanction of load so that the cases relating to load, extension of load and reduction of load are scrutinized properly and overloading of the system could be avoided.

As per the delegation of powers for sanction of load, SDOs would be competent to sanction a load up to 50 KW, XEN up to CD of 250 KVA, Superintending Engineer up to CD of 500 KVA except for cases involving augmentation or creation of a transmission line, augmentation or erection of a power transformer and cases of augmentation of existing 11 KV feeders or bifurcation of feeders for which the relevant cases would be referred to the Superintending Engineer, Commercial.

The Chief Engineer would be competent to sanction a load up to CD of 1000 KVA except for cases involving augmentation or creation of a transmission line, augmentation or erection of a power transformer and cases of augmentation of existing 11 KV feeders or bifurcation of feeders for which the cases would be referred to Superintending Engineer, Commercial.

The General Manager, Commercial, with the approval of the Director, Operations, will be competent to sanction all cases above 1000 KVA and all cases involving augmentation or creation of a transmission line, augmentation, erection of a power transformer and cases of augmentation of existing 11 KV feeders and bifurcation of feeder for which the cases would be referred to the Superintending Engineer, Commercial. He would also be competent to sanction all cases where the load was required on 33-KV pressure.

Yamunanagar, November 1
The Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission has provided relief to Ram Udgar, a resident of Yamunanagar, in a case against the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam.

Ram Udgar had filed a complaint with the commission, saying that he had an electricity connection for which he had been depositing the bill regularly. However, nigam officials disconnected it claiming that he had defaulted in paying bills to the tune of Rs 47,045 and his premises was locked for a long time.

The commission ruled that neither the nigam is entitled to any surcharge nor it has any right to recover the bill amount of Rs 50,240 (including surcharge) due for the period from 2005 to 2009. However, the nigam can charge for the actual units consumed i.e. 2,773 units during January 2005 to December 2009, which comes out to Rs 10,758.

Jhajjar, November 1
The State Information Commissioner Haryana (SICH) has issued notices to the State Public Information officer (SPIO), the first appellate authority of the Director School Education (DSE), Haryana, and the SPIO of Utkarsh Society, Panchkula, for appearing before a Bench of the SICH on November 23 for allegedly delaying information sought by an applicant under the Right to Information (RTI) Act almost eight months back.

Though the SICH had also directed the respondents to furnish the information to the applicant by October 30, but the authority concerned had not sent any information so far.

The applicant, Subhash, state coordinator of the Haryana Suchna Adhikar Kanoon, had said on February 15 that he had submitted an application seeking information from the Chief Secretary, Haryana, regarding the EDUSAT scheme.

He had sought information regarding the “Education through EDUSAT” scheme. He had asked that on the recommendation of which committee the scheme was launched, who were the members of the committee, what was the role of Utkarsh Society in the EDUSAT project, who were the office-bearers of the society and on what basis they had been running the scheme.

He had also questioned the configuration of various electronic equipments to be used for implementing the scheme and how much amount had been spent on the scheme till January 31, 2010, from the start of the scheme.

“I was surprised after going through a letter dated March 25, 2010, signed by the executive director of the Utkarsh Society, wherein it had been mentioned that since the information was very much in quantity, hence they would not be able to provide the record. Thus, you might study the record regarding the EDUSAT scheme at the office concerned in any working day,” said the applicant.

He added that the letter also imposed a condition that the applicant would have to tell about the purpose for which he wanted to get the information.

Moreover, the letter also informed that the information would not be made available in case the applicant was a researcher, he said.

Subhash said it had been made clear in the RTI Act that the applicant was not bound to disclose any reason for what he/she wanted to get the information. Despite the fact, the executive director had asked the purpose of getting the information from the applicant, he added.

In view the irresponsible attitude of the SPIO and the DSE, he had to file a complaint with the SICH, which had issued notices under Section 19(3) of the RTI Act to the SPIO, first appellate authority of the DSE, Haryana, and the SPIO of Utkarsh Society, Panchkula, for filing their reply on November 23 in this regard, Subhash added.

Sirsa, November 1
Gross irregularities in the execution of works of improvement of water supplies and sewer system under the economic stimulus package have landed three engineers of the Public Health Department here in the soup.

The state government has suspended one executive engineer and two sub-divisional officers of the Public Health Department for dereliction of duty.

An official spokesperson said here recently that taking a serious view of the irregularities, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had taken a stern action against the erring engineers.

The engineers, who have been placed under suspension under Rule 7 of the service rules, are XEN Vikram Singh and SDOs RP Makkar and Tarun Garg. Sirsa and Ellenabad are among 14 towns and cities of the state, where the state government announced the economic stimulus package for improvement of water supplies and sewer system.

The works for projects covered under the package should have been given to the contractors, who qualified as per the sizes of the work, but the engineers, instead, distributed a single work in to 71 works of Rs 5 lakh each to oblige smaller contractors, who otherwise were not entitled to apply.

The engineers, according to sources, not only flouted the government norms, but also compromised with the quality of works by giving big works to smaller contractors of their choice, ostensibly driven by ulterior motives.

Not only this, the engineers allegedly flouted rules regarding the allowance of minimum time to the contractors to submit their tenders with the department, allegedly to provide benefit to their chosen contractors.

The Chief Minister, the spokesperson said, had issued stern instructions to all senior functionaries to follow the prescribed norms while inviting tenders for various works.

Hooda has made it clear that those found guilty of dereliction of duty would invite stern action, added the spokesperson.

Karnal, November 1
Even after three decades of the construction of Karnal bypass, the main bus stand located on the old GT road in the most congested area of the town is yet to be shifted as the ambitious plan to have a modern bus stand has fallen prey to official apathy.

Long-distance buses prefer to skip Karnal which is the most centrally located town of Haryana, about 120 to 130 km from Delhi, Chandigarh, Patiala and Meerut and commuters have to go to the bypass for boarding a bus and are always at the mercy of drivers.

The buses never enter the bus stand and on several occasions, arrogant drivers and conductors don’t stop the bus to enable passengers to get down. Further, the buses are already over-crowded by the time they reach Karnal and passengers have to wait on the roadside for hours.

A proposal to construct a modern state-of-the-art bus stand on the NH-1 on a prime location, opposite the mini-secretariat, was mooted a few years ago, but it has remained a non-starter.

The then Transport Minister Ashok Arora had made an announcement in January 2004 that the new bus stand would be constructed by March, but it was not implemented and the work on the project has not commenced till date.

Insiders said the government could not decide whether to construct the bus stand in the state sector or through the BOT (build, operate and transfer) mode and the project was embroiled in official quagmire.

The officials are aware that Karnal is the only town on the NH-1 without a bus stand.

They, however, maintain that a modern bus stand at Karnal on the foreign pattern with all modern facilities was on the anvil. The foundation stone of the proposed bus stand was likely to be laid in December this year.

The administration approval from the government had been received for the mega project, which would be the first-of-its-kind in the state, matching the bus stands in advanced foreign countries.

The cost of the project has multiplied during the past one decade and finally the project has reached the stage for calling tenders, thanks to the government apathy and indifference.

The other locations that have been selected include Panchkula, Manesar, Bahadurgarh, Faridabad (NIT), Faridabad (Ballabhgarh), Yamunanagar, Rohtak, Gurgaon (near Rajiv Chowk), Gurgaon (existing bus stand), Gurgaon (Sector 29), Faridabad (Sector 12), Palwal, Bawal, Sonipat, Kundli and Panipat.

Kaithal, November 1
Residents of the town and hundreds of commuters have been facing hardships due to the inordinate delay in the completion of the under-construction railway over bridge on the Kaithal-Jind level crossing here.

As this project falls in the busiest commercial area, it has affected the normal business activity. Due to the construction of huge pillars and scattered construction material, traffic in the number of roads in the vicinity of the project remains adversely affected. All this has become a nuisance for those carrying on their business activities and road users who get stuck in frequent traffic jams.

The work on the project, costing about Rs 27 crore, was started in 2006 after Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda laid the foundation stone. The project, which is expected to solve the problem of frequent traffic jams due to the closure of railway crossing, was expected to be completed in one-and-half-year time, but now it is more than four years and there seemed to be no possibility of its completion soon.

PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, also the local MLA, who was making all-out efforts to ensure its speedy completion, had announced in August that the bridge would be completed by September end. But when mediapersons went to the site a few days ago, it came to notice that only about 70 per cent of the work has been completed and it may take a couple of months more to complete.

Despite best efforts of political leadership and department engineers, the work could not pick up speed as the construction company, which had been initially allotted the work, left the job in-between after few months.

The PWD levied heavy penalties on the construction company for alleged violation of the terms of the contract and recovered the penalty amount by auctioning construction material and some machinery of the company. Later, the work was allotted to a Mann construction company and it was expected that the project would be completed expeditiously, but due to various factors, the work could not be carried on speedily.

The length of the ROB is about 1 km, out of which the work on about 32m has been completed by the Railways. Concrete slab had to be laid on 31 spans of 19m each, but slab on only 17 spans had been laid and shuttering for rest was being done. The delayed construction and scattered construction material has added to the woes of the people and it has adversely affected business activity of the entire area.

Superintending engineer PB Gupta and XEN PC Virdi said due to the Supreme Court’s restrictions on stone quarrying, the supply of construction material from stone crushers could not be maintained.

Various other factors also slowed down the work and delayed the project. However, now the speed of the work has picked up and hopefully the construction would be completed by December end, Gupta added.

Badhra (Bhiwani), November 1
The Gurukul system, a tradition continuing since the ancient ages, has played a vital role in keeping the vedic culture alive and children who are educated through such system enlighten the society with their knowledge.

This was stated by Governor Jagannath Pahadia at the 25th annual convocation of Kanya Gurukul, Panchganva, near Badhra recently.

He stated that in our vedic culture proper emphasis was given on women education and such Gurukuls were a live example of it. Maharishi Dayanand Saraswati had also played an important role in educating women by establishing Gurukuls in different parts of the country and such women were contributing successfully to the nation building, he added.

Pahadia said the recent Commonwealth Games had proved the mettle of our daughters, adding that people should consider “gau sewa” as their prime duty.

Former Lt Governor Chandrawati, former Chief Minister Hukam Singh, ex-MLA Ranbir Singh Mahendra also spoke on the occasion, while former minister Ram Bhajan Agarwal, ex-MLA Shashi Parmar and Gurukul president Sumer Singh were also present.

Rewari, November 1
Activists of voluntary organisations and citizens from various walks of life participated in a “Progressive Citizens’ Conference” held under the auspices of the Rewari district unit of the “Kashmir Bachao Manch” (KBM-Save Kashmir Front) to commemorate the 63rd anniversary of the Jammu and Kashmir’s accession to India in Yadav Samaroh Sthal complex here recently.

While prominent businessman Ajay Mittal presided over the conference, Prof DP Bhardwaj, state chief of the KBM, accorded a warm welcome to participants. The conference was prominently addressed by Bhupinder Yadav, an apex court advocate, as well as Sudhir Kumar, state joint chief of the RSS.

Stating that while the Union government liberally dished out fabulous grants of Rs 71,000 crore to the J&K government during the decade from 1990 to 2000 and had still been consistently bearing almost 75 per cent of the total expenses of the state government, they ruefully pointed out that in spite of such munificent financial assistance, separatists and other such elements were bent upon secession of Kashmir from India.

They further said it was all more agonising that while such secessionist forces were virtually receiving pats from ruling bosses, people, having a patriotic and nationalistic bent of mind, were being persistently disparaged.

Describing the reported appearance of the name of the RSS leader Indresh Kumar in the charge sheet of the 2007 Ajmer blast as an attempt to denigrate the RSS, they called upon the people to come forward to frustrate the nefarious designs of separatists in Kashmir. Janardhan Sharma, Rewari city RSS chief, thanked the guests and the participants.

Sirsa, November 1
The ongoing one-upmanship between local MLA and Haryana Minister Gopal Kanda and his younger brother Gobind Kanda on one hand and INLD’s local leadership on the other over the new auto market has taken a new turn.

Kanda brothers have succeeded in getting the development works of the much delayed auto market here transferred from the INLD-ruled Municipal Council to the Improvement Trust governed by the SDM.

In his orders issued on October 26, the director, urban local bodies, said, “The Haryana government has decided to hand over the development related works of the auto market to the Improvement Trust, Sirsa. The decision has been taken due to special circumstances in this case”.

The order further said for spending money on the development related works, a committee headed by the DC had been constituted.

The local SDM, the executive officer (EO) of the MC and the president of the auto market have been nominated in the committee.

Acting upon the orders of the director, urban local bodies, Haryana, CG Rajini Kaanthan, deputy commissioner, on Wednesday wrote to the president as well as the EO to hand over all records, assets and liabilities of the auto market to the Improvement Trust.

The INLD has cried foul on the new development and has alleged that the move was an attempt to starve the MC run by party’s supporters.

“The orders smack discrimination and have been taken due to political motives. We are taking legal advice and will challenge these orders in the court,” said Padam Jain, district president of the INLD.

The MC carved out the auto market on 52 acres of land in 1982 and later, allotted 1,255 plots of shops to auto dealers and mechanics on no profit, no loss basis in 1984.

However, the project was beset by legal wrangles from the very beginning as several auto dealers approached the court alleging discrimination and some landowners alleged low compensation for their land. Since then the issue has been hanging fire to legal injunctions.

Reconciliation efforts by Kanda brothers helped in the resolution of the issue as the last litigants withdrew their cases a few days ago.

“We had to get the development activities transferred from the MC to the Improvement Trust, as the INLD did not take any interest in this issue when they were in power in 1987 and 2000,” alleged Gobind Kanda, a state delegate for the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee.

Padam Jain, on the other hand, alleged the development works had been withdrawn from the council to starve the urban body, which was to get funds in the shape of transfer fees and development charges.

He maintained that whatever development had been done in the market so far, it was done during the regime of Om Parkash Chautala. 

Bhiwani, November 1
Addressing a press conference here recently, Confed chairman and Haryana Beopar Mandal state president Bajrang Das Garg demanded opening of stone crushers for completion of development works already in progress. More than 900 stone crushers have been closed following orders of the apex court.

Garg said with the closure of stone crushers and with the increase in rates of concrete, bajri and crusher, the construction works had been badly affected. “It has become very difficult to bear the cost of basic construction material and a poor man cannot even think of constructing his one-room house,” said Garg, adding that the closure of crushers was also causing loss of revenue to the state government. The chairman stated that he would soon meet the Chief Minister and the Union minister urging them to appeal to the court for showing some leniency in this matter as the closure of crushers had left lakhs of people jobless and were on the verge of starvation.

Bhiwani, November 1
Lashing out at the indifferent attitude of the district administration towards the development of the city, local legislator Ghanshyam Saraf has alleged that allocated works worth crores are either half done or mired in scams.

While hearing grievances of local residents at his office, Saraf said the state government had turned a deaf ear towards the problems of Bhiwani.

Saraf claimed that the Tosham road flyover was still incomplete while all main roads were in poor state. “The Public Works Department has not maintained these roads since the end of rainy season and the general public is at the receiving end”.

Even the construction of dividers at the main circular road had been left half way, he said, adding that from the Dinod Gate to railway flyover and Meham Gate to Agarsein Chowk, dividers had not been constructed.

Saraf alleged that though the department had raised dividers, the work for erecting poles and sodium lights was still pending. Besides main road, internal roads were in pathetic shape.— OC

Hisar, November 1
Expressing concern over the increasing use of rotavator machine in sowing of wheat, scientists of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCS HAU), Hisar, have exhorted the farmers not to use this machine.

The university scientists are of the opinion that the machine should be used to mix dhaincha crop into soil as green manure. But with the continuous use of this machine, the soil starts getting harder, which is not proper for the deposition of wheat seed and growth of the crop.

According to Dr R.P. Narwal, Research Director of the university, wheat sowing with zero-tillage machine is the most simple and resource conservation technique, which is being widely used in Haryana, Punjab, UP, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Delhi over the past one decade. As per a survey conducted in 2007-08, wheat crop was sown by using zero-tillage machine over 15 lakh acres in Haryana and 50 lakh acres in India. But over the plast two or three years, the area under zero-tillage machine had decreased with the increased use of rotavator machines, which is a matter of concern.

He says the zero-tillage technique is cost-effective and saved time and money of the farmers. The use of this technique decreases the incidence of mundsi weed to 30 to 40 per cent. What is most important is that with the use of this technique, the residues of the earlier crop go into the soil, which increases the fertility of the soil.

Hisar, November 1
Haryana Agricultural University Vice-Chancellor KS Khokhar has underlined the need for encouraging the use of bio-pesticides for pest control.

Inaugurating a three-day conference of entomologists here recently, he said indiscriminate use of pesticides over the past 40 years had created innumerable problems, including killing of wildlife, pollution, toxic residues in food, development of pest resistance and health hazards.

He said indiscriminate use of pesticides was also responsible for eliminating natural enemies from many crop eco systems since less than 1 per cent of pesticides applied to crop reached the target pest while 99 per cent reached non-target sectors.

He urged bio-pesticide experts to evolve eco-friendly alternatives for control of insects and pests.

Advocating implementation of integrated pest management (IPM) with emphasis on bio-pesticides and non-chemical methods of pest management, the Vice-Chancellor emphasised that the time, quantity and methodology of the use of pesticides be regulated and funding doubled by all nations.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research Deputy Director-General (Education), Dr Arvind Kumar, said though chemical pesticides had helped increase foodgrain production in a big way, yet we were unable to get rid of the insect-pests that were causing losses to crops.

Pointing out that indiscriminate and excessive use of chemical pesticides had led to several environmental and health-related problems, he said the insect-pests alone caused a loss of nearly $15 billion every year to the country.

Nearly 200 entomologists from across the country and abroad are attending the conference being organised by the Society of Biopesticide Sciences, India, and the Department of Entomology of HAU.

Kurukshetra, November 1
A rural postal insurance fair was organised by the Postal Department, Kurukshetra division, here on October 22.

According to JK Gulati, Superintendent of Post Offices, Kurukshetra division, 14 postal employees, including officers, were honoured for excellence in rural postal life insurance while 12 others were honoured for doing excellent work in during a savings bank fair last month where more than 100,000 savings accounts were opened . 

Fatehabad, November 1
A meeting of intellectuals for launching the ‘Shiksha Bachao’ (Save Education Campaign) was held at Patwar Bhawan here recently where several teachers, employees, advocates and social activists participated.

They expressed their concern at the mushrooming private schools and colleges in the country. Speakers said earlier, private providers in the field of education worked sincerely to impart education to all sections of society without any profit motive, but now moneymaking had become their sole object.

Most of the speakers emphasised the need for improving the poor state of academic affairs in government schools.

During the last two decades, several private schools had come up in Fatehabad city, whereas the number of government schools had remained the same.

The government schools always suffered from shortage of staff and a few of them were located in congested areas.

Such schools must be shifted from the densely populated areas because children do not have open space to play and study.

The speakers said the Right to Education Bill, 2010, had further opened the door for foreign investment and such universities could prove to be harmful and expensive leaving the common man hopeless.

With ever-increasing fees in private schools and colleges, large sections of people would be deprived of quality education, they opined.

The meeting decided to constitute a 21-member Organising Committee (OC) with Devi Lal, an advocate, as its convener and Dharmender as its co-convener.

The meeting was presided over by Dr Raj Bahadur Yadav.

The OC members elected a five-member core committee, including Om Prakash Chaubara, Mohan Lal Narang, Dr RB Yadav, Ram Singh Dudi and Ramesh Jandali.

The convener informed on behalf of the OC that a convention with the theme of ‘Shiksha Bachao’ would be held on November 17.

Ambala, November 1
Indian players, especially from Haryana, have given an excellent performance in the recently held Commonwealth Games. India has a great potential in every field that can only be achieved through hard work and dedication.

This was stated by Union Minister of Tourism Kumari Selja at the annual day function of Chaman Vatika Public School here recently. She was the chief guest at the function.

While addressing the students, she said they should work hard to achieve their goal, adding that she was happy to see that most of the students had participated in various cultural activities. She asked them to pay regards to their teachers and parents.

The programme started with lighting of lamp and Saraswati Vandana. On the occasion, students presented a medley of songs. Cultural programmes like World of Love, Sankat Mochan and Makhan Chor, presented by junior students, left a notable impression on the audience.

Other programmes, including carnival, mystic dance and Shiv Stuti were also held. Students showed their calibre not only in the cultural items, but also in the activities related to sports like skating and yoga.

The mega-event of the evening was ‘Discovery of India’ programme, that depicted the prehistoric, post-historic events and turmoil experienced by Indians during the freedom struggle. It also conveyed the message of global peace and harmony.

Rajender Nath, chairman of the school, said the student of the school had achieved top positions in academic as well as in sports and cultural fields also. He said the school had provided every possible opportunity to its students for their all round development. Director of the school, Nisha Jain, and principal Karnel Singh also addressed the students. 

Hisar, November 1
Hisar district’s biggest-ever blood donation camp was organised at Haryana Agricultural University’s Indira Gandhi auditorium in which a record 1713 units of blood were collected in a single day.

The camp was organised jointly by the district administration, Haryana Agricultural University, Indian Medical Association, Haryana State Blood Transfusion Council, Nehru Yuva Kendra, Caterer Association, Rotary Club, educational institutions and panchayati raj institutions.

A day before the camp, a workshop on blood donation was organised. It was attended by over 2000 volunteers from all over the district. The local student community responded in a positive manner. Doctors and experts associated with blood transfusion from different parts of the country addressed the participants.

The experts clarified most of the misconceptions about blood donation. They explained in great detail the benefits of blood donation and the ways in which donated blood could save thousands of lives.

Deputy Commissioner Yudhvir Singh Khialiya, the man behind the campsaid the participants in the workshop were so motivated that they handed over their donation pledges to the organisers immediately after the workshop ended.

Teams of doctors and paramedics had come from Patiala, Rohtak, Delhi, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Agroha. The collected blood was shared by all organisations that had come here to collect blood.

A poster competition was organised as part of the camp. The Cultural Department of the state government presented a programme based on blood donation movement.

Khialiya said more such camps were on the anvil. 

Karnal, November 1
Kurukshetra House lifted the trophy and Chillianwala House finished runners-up in the sub-junior category while Thaneshwal House bagged the first position and Kurukshetra House was runners-up at the three-day annual athletic meet of Sainik School, Kunjpura, which concluded here.

Amit Beniwal, who shattered his own record of last year in 5000-m race, was adjudged the best athlete in the senior category while Rohit was adjudged best in the sub-junior category.

Kurukshetra University Vice-chancellor DDS Sandhu, who was the chief guest on the occasion, exhorted the Sainik School students to keep fit and healthy as they were the feeder to the defence forces.

A cultural extravaganza showcasing yoga, bhangra, aerobics, skipping, karate etc was also presented on the occasion. A live performance by the School band was the highlight of the show.

Meanwhile, Sainik School, Kunjpuraalso organized a poster-making and slogan-writing competition, debate in Hindi and English, marathon, talent hunt night and quiz to mark the golden jubilee celebrations of the school.