Hisar, November 4
While both the Congress and the INLD can gloat over the success of their respective rallies on Haryana Day, the fact remains that none of these will impact the current political scene in the state.

The Congress show was more of a sporting event than a political rally. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda tried to project the glorious performances by state’s sportspersons as a result of his new sports policy. This is at best only partially true.

On the other hand, the INLD only reminded its supporters that their party had no choice as yet but to struggle to get past the Congress in the next Assembly polls. INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala had nothing fresh to offer by way of a political agenda.

As a result, political parties continue to be in a state of flux. The Congress remains a divided house. The INLD has no clue to how to capitalise on its significant gains in the last Assembly poll. The BJP is in a state of disarray and the Haryana Janhit Party is still nursing its wounds following the desertion of its five legislators.

In public perception, the Congress remains a strife-torn party with too many leaders harbouring personal ambitions. Since the last Assembly polls, the Congress has not organised a single big political rally where all senior leaders could be seen together. The “Chak De Haryana - Chak De India” rally was no exception.

Surprisingly, despite all this the party has not yet framed any strategy to set its house in order. As a result, even though it retains its support base in the Deswali Jat belt, it is losing ground in districts like Hisar, Fatehabad, Bhiwani and Sirsa.

The INLD, despite the electoral gains, has yet to regain its losses in the Deswali Jat belt, which is crucial for the party to be swept to power in the next poll. However, it has improved its base in the Bagri Jat belt at the cost of the Congress.

The BJP does not have a leader of good political standing. The party has been reduced to a paper tiger with its second rung leaders issuing political statements to the media now and then. Its base has shrunk over a period.

Kuldeep Bishnoi failed to keep his flock of legislators with him. The HJC has been reduced to a one-man show. Bishnoi is as clueless about the future as the other parties.

In this situation, political rallies appear to be serving no purpose at all.

Panipat, November 4
Considering the demand of various industrial associations for liberalising the procedure of energy consumption during peak load hours, the UHBVN has simplified the existing norms.

Arun Kumar, managing director, UHBVN, said for availing the exemption during peak load hours, charges of Rs 2 per unit extra up to 50 per cent of the sanctioned contract demand would be levied. In case the consumer exceeds the above limit, the entire consumption would be charged at Rs 4 per unit extra over and above the normal tariff. The new procedure was being implemented as per directions issued by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC).

The facility would be available to high-tension (HT) industrial consumers who would have to submit their option in the subdivisional office, which would be considered to have been allowed from the date of its submission. There would be no need for taking approval from any other authority of the nigam, the MD said.

In case an HT industrial consumer did not submit his option to the respective SDO, he would be allowed to avail 10 per cent of the contract demand during peak load hours and the consumption recorded during this period would be subject to an additional charge of Rs 2 per unit extra over and above the normal tariff. If the consumption exceeds the permitted limit, the entire consumption during peak load hours would be charged at Rs 4 per unit extra.

The MD clarified that special dispensation would be available to such consumers only who were working on a continuous operation basis in three shifts. The consumers, who had already been allowed special dispensation would not be required to apply again. The nigam would reserve its right of withdrawal of special dispensation in the case of system constraints. All other low-tension and high-tension industrial consumers where the day facility of recording consumption during peak load hours was not available, would not be allowed to run their industries during peak load hours, he added.

Kaithal, Novemebr 4
Amneet P Kumar, Deputy Commissioner (DC), Kaithal, celebrated Divali with the children of the Child Welfare Centre run by the Child Welfare Council here yesterday. The centre imparts education to children who collect waste paper and help augment their families’ income.

She shared her experiences with the children and distributed sweets and crackers among them. “The future of these children is bright and we can hone their hidden talents by giving them proper education and guidance,” she said.

The DC said it was a matter of great satisfaction for the administration that while efforts were being made in getting these children to lead normal lives by educating them, they were also being exposed to cultural programmes by the zila parishad. She suggested these children should be weaned away from the job of collecting waste paper and be rehabilitated in places where they could make a decent living. With this in mind, they were being trained to make paper bags. “This will help combat the problem caused by use of polythene bags and make the environment clean,” She added.

The DC also directed the Officer, Child Welfare Centre, to remain in touch with these children and provide proper direction to their lives. She also said celebrating festivals like Divali with these children would help them lead normal lives.

Rewari, November 4
In the men’s World Bodybuilding Championship that concluded at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh recently, Indian athletes Jitender Dhillon from Haryana and A Bobby Singh from Assam bagged gold medals while Pradeep Kumar from Punjab won a bronze medal.

Besides, Daljeet Singh of the Punjab Police and Rakesh Gupta from Rewari acquired fourth and fifth positions, respectively, in the individual categories.

The overall championship went to gold medallist Daniel Toah of Hungary whose performance in the 100 kg plus category was adjudged the best.

As many as 200 athletes from 43 countries participated in the championship that was sponsored by the World Bodybuilding and Physique Sports Federation (WBPSF) and held under the auspices of the Indian Bodybuilding Federation (IBBF).

Addressing a press conference here recently, IBBF general secretary Amit Swami said it was a matter of pride that two Indian athletes had won gold medals in the World Bodybuilding Championship after 23 years.

He recalled that Prem Chand Dogra, an Indian athlete, had won a gold medal in the World Bodybuilding Championship held at Brisbane in 1988.

Stating that Haryanvi athlete Jitender Dhillon had brought laurels to the state, he urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to appoint him as a DSP in the Haryana Police and present cash reward to him as well.

He urged Union Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports MS Gill to consider the names of the two Indian gold medallists for granting Arjuna Awards.

Swami was also honoured with the Prestigious Achievement Medal by the WBPSF for his meritorious services for the promotion of the bodybuilding sports in the country.

Kaithal, November 4
“Four armed miscreants have looted Rs 10 lakh from a businessman of Jind and fled towards Kaithal in a Santro car”. This message was flashed to all SHOs in the district and all police posts were put on high alert to nab the “culprits”.

Simar Deep Singh, Kaithal SP, personally monitored a successful police operation, which was part of a mock drill kept secret and in which a large police force led by two DSPs surrounded the place where “criminals” had taken shelter. After a brief encounter, the police overpowered the “criminals” and recovered the “booty”.

During the exercise, the SP informed Nripjeet Singh, DSP AEC, and Ravinder Tomar, DSP HQ, about the incident and asked them to rush towards an unoccupied hospital building on the Kaithal-Jind road bypass here where the “criminals” had reportedly taken shelter. The SP had also issued directions to the police officials that the “criminals” be overpowered without causing any physical harm to them.

A police team led by the two DSPs reached the spot within minutes and started its operation. A large number of passersby stopped on to see the outcome of the police action. The police force moved towards the “criminals” (policemen in civil dress) where they were hiding and challenged them to either surrender or face consequences. Fearing police action, they surrendered.

However, the police officials leading the operation heaved a sigh of relief when they came to know that it was a mock exercise planned by the SP, who has recently taken charge as district police chief.

The SP reportedly kept the whole exercise a secret and no other district official had any inkling about it. The police officials and jawans later said they had learnt a lot from this exercise.

Rohtak, November 4
“India can well become a permanent member of the UN Security Council if it strives continuously with efforts in all relevant directions and aspects. We shall not depend on any other country for achieving the target and should not wait for any generosity from any powerful nation in this regard, as India is well capable of providing leadership to the world”.

This was stated by Prof Gurdip Singh Bahri, dean of the Law Department of Delhi University, while speaking as the chief guest at a function held at the Department of Law of MDU here recently.

Addressing students and faculty of the department at the inauguration of the inter- college quiz competition, Prof Bahri touched some of the important national and international subjects, including India’s move to get permanent membership of the Security Council, the UN body. He said this move could be successful if the country continues to make strenuous efforts with all those concerned and tries to make it an issue of importance at relevant platforms without waiting for any substantial help from any quarter.

Stating that the recent election of India to the Security Council with 187 votes had been an example of how India was capable of become a world leader as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s role had been commendable in solving a tangle between the US and China over the upcoming summit on environmental issues.

He said perhaps this has made the US President to propose the name of India as non- permanent member of the council recently. Recalling the humiliation faced by the country in the 1992 election of the non-permanent member due to India backing Iran, he said the scenario had changed drastically with India taking a lead role on various international matters and it well deserved the permanent membership of the council now. But claimed that it ought to be taken up in a concerted manner and said India’s claim to get this seat was most judicious and appropriate due to the country emerging as a powerful force at various fronts in the recent years. Speaking on the issue of environment, he said it was the right of every human being to get a clean environment and people from all over the world would have to strive dedicatedly.

Jind, November 4
Jind is all set to get at least three new stadiums and a swimming pool in near future. These will come under the approval given by the state government to develop and improve sports infrastructure in the district. According to the authorities concerned, the swimming pool will be constructed at a cost of about Rs 2.94 crore by the Public Works Department, for which a final sanction was likely to be given by the head office at Chandigarh.

This project was announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda during his visit to the district a few months ago. The work on construction of a new stadium at Safidon town of the district will also be taken up soon. This will entail a budget of about Rs 92.14 lakh for which a clearance has been given by the government recently. It is revealed that while the work has already been started on this stadium, the administration has also taken up the construction of another stadium at Danoda village of the district. The third such facility will come up at Haat College in the district where a stadium named as Rajiv Gandhi Rural Sports Stadium will come up soon. The authorities have made available required land to the Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board to take up the construction of the stadium. The government has also cleared the proposal of providing boxing ring and wrestling shed in Navdeep Stadium at Narwana town of the district. The facility of badminton court will also be improved with the provision of false ceiling and a skating rink in the stadium. An amount of over Rs 17.46 lakh was likely to be spent on overall renovation and creation of sitting facility in the stadium.

Meanwhile, the district authorities have also announced to take up development works worth about Rs 4.8 crore during the present financial period. The funds have been released by the government under the Haryana Rural Development Fund for as many as 19 projects in the district. The works to be done under this scheme include augmentation of water supply, streetlights, construction of drains and roads in various parts of the district. While the three of the schemes announced by the CM during his past visit had been completed, work on the remaining five projects is going on, it is added.

Chandigarh, November 4
The Haryana BJP has condemned the naming of RSS leader Indresh in the charge sheet filed by the ATS in the Ajmer bomb blast case. In a statement issued here recently, media in charge of the party Rajiv Jain said the charge sheet was keeping in line with the Congress policy of Muslim appeasement and an attempt to woo Muslim voters in the Bihar Assembly elections. Jain said Indresh formed the Rasthriya Muslim Sangh in 1970 to bring the community on the national front. Therefore, it was ridiculous to say that such a man would be involved in a bomb blast on a Muslim dargah.

The BJP leader said the judgment of the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court in the Ayodhya case had unnerved the Congress, which felt that it would not get the Muslim votes in Bihar. Therefore, it had implicated the RSS leaders and workers in the Ajmer Sharif bomb blast case.

He said while the Centre had not dared so far to register a criminal case against Kashmiri separatist leader Ali Shah Geelani for his anti-national utterances, it had implicated the nationalist leader in a false case. — TNS