Gurgaon, November 24
Remember the last time you wanted to take a road accident victim to hospital, but decided to look the other way considering legal hassles? You do not have to face this dilemma anymore, if in Gurgaon.

In fact, good Samaritans who bring accident victims to hospital will not only be allowed to leave after furnishing some basic details, but will also get a cash reward of Rs 1,000 for the noble deed.

The Gurgaon police has issued instructions to the officials concerned in this regard.

“It was observed that most of the passers-by avoided helping accident victims due to the apprehension of getting entangled in legal hassles…hence, we decided to simplify the medico-legal procedure, apart from introducing cash incentive for the helping hands,” said Bharti Arora, DCP (Traffic), Gurgaon.

Talking to The Tribune here today, the DCP maintained that the move was a step towards effective implementation of a Supreme Court ruling, which said saving a mishap victim was the first and foremost duty.

The Gurgaon Traffic Police also observed the UN Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims, which falls on the third Sunday of November, in a novel way.

“Schoolchildren were asked to present flowers to the commuters, especially those violating traffic rules, with a view to sensitising them towards road safety,” Arora asserted, adding that 25 local schools were roped in for the purpose.

The children were also asked to make posters to convey the message of road safety to prevent mishaps. Messages from the selected posters are being displayed on hoardings across the city, besides awarding the best ones. The DCP further disclosed that police officials had been told to visit the families of road mishap victims and help them in all possible ways in coordination with the civil administration.

Kurukshetra, November 24
Cracking the whip on erring educational and professional institutions for not adhering to the prescribed norms and statutory guidelines, Kurukshetra University yesterday issued a show-cause notice to eight institutions asking them why action should not be initiated against them.

The disaffiliation process was initiated on the basis of inspection conducted in accordance with 500-point scale based on human resource positions (part-A) and physical infrastructure and other facilities (part-B) in the institute and the institutes that scored less than 50 per cent were singled out for further action.

In an effort to improve the quality and standard of education provided by self-financing colleges, KU Vice-Chancellor Lt Gen DDS Sandhu (retd) has evolved a mechanism to check the academic, infrastructure and administrative strength of self-financing colleges provisionally affiliated to it.

The mechanism provided for constitution of inspection committees, which inspected 48 self-financing affiliated colleges in 2010 in accordance with a prescribed inspection pro forma. Eight colleges/institutes got less than 50 per cent score, a university spokesman said.

The academicians have welcomed the step, observing that it will yield desirable results in reining defaulting institutions and stopping teaching shops if the follow-up action is perused sincerely.

The executive council of KU had taken a decision on March 27, 2008, that colleges, which would score less than 50 per cent, would be disaffiliated.

These colleges and institutes are provisionally affiliated and have been asked to remove the deficiencies within two months and ensure that proper infrastructure facilities and staff was in position before the inspection.

The institutes which have been issued show-cause notice include Atmanand Jain Institute of Management and Technology, Ambala City, Shreepati Institute of Technical Institute, Khora Kheri, Fatehabad, Ch Devi Lal Institute of Management Studies, Boriagarh and Jagadhri, SD Institute of Management and Technology, Jagadhri, Institute of Management and Technology, Chacchrauli, Amrit Institutes of Management Shahpur, Chacchrauli Road, Yamunanagar, Pran Nath Pranami Institute of Management and Technology, Rajgarh Road, Hisar, and Universal Institute of Technology, Hansi, Hisar.

Fatehabad, November 24
The ongoing agitation of the Gorakhpur farmers against the acquisition of their agriculture lands for the proposed nuclear plant of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) entered its 100th day today. Farmers have been sitting on dharna outside the mini-secretariat for the past 100 days.

Even, the inclement weathers like rains and advent of cold have not been able to dampen their spirits.

The Kisan Sangharsh Samiti headed by Hans Raj Siwach today reiterated its resolve to continue its struggle against the proposed plant.

Addressing agitating farmers today, Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, state vice-president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, Haryana, said it was unfortunate that in a democratic country like India, farmers have been sitting on “dharna” on the roadside for the past 100 days, but the government had not found it necessary to speak to them.

He alleged that the Land Acquisition Laws in the country were colonial and needed immediate revamp due to their draconian nature.

“We have been maintaining from the very beginning that the state government should not acquire fertile lands of the farmers for projects like this,” Gorakhpuria said.

He announced that the farmers would continue their agitation till the government conceded to their demands.

Hans Raj Siwach, President of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, maintained that the Gorakhpur farmers would not yield an inch of their fertile land for the nuclear plant.

The nuclear power plant would not only uproot the farmers, but would also have dangerous consequences for people living in its vicinity.

“If the government continued with its designs to build the plant despite our resistance, it can go ahead with its plan on our bodies,” Siwach warned.

The state government had issued a notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 for acquisition of 1,313 acres 5 kanals and 13 marlas of the village for the plant in August.

The farmers, whose lands were sought to be acquired, met the authorities to register their protest first and then decided to sit on dharna outside the mini-secretariat, when they did not get any concrete assurance from the authorities.

Phapharana (Assandh), November 24
The sugarcane crushing season commenced at Phapharana Sugar Mill here today with a target to crush 25 lakh quintals of cane against only 3.6 lakh quintals curshed last year.

To woo farmers to sell their sugarcane to cooperative mills in the state, the government had recently increased the state advised price (SAP) for sugarcane to Rs 220 per quintal for early varieties and to Rs 215 and Rs 210 per quintal for middle and late varieties.

The SAP of the sugarcane crushing season that ended in September 2010 was Rs 185, Rs 180 and Rs 175 per quintal for the early, middle and late verities of sugarcane.

Farmers would get the payment for their produce within 24 hours through HDFC Bank, and Hafed, the main procurement agency, would arrange funds on its own to make timely payment, Anil Malik, Managing Director (Hafed), said while commencing the crushing season.

Director of the mill RK Singh said interest-free loans would be made available to farmers for purchasing seed for sowing sugarcane and those using trench and automatic cane planter for sowing would be given a subsidy of Rs 500 per acre and 10 per cent subsidy on fertilisers and medicines.

Rewari, November 24
The mortal remains of Flt Lt Akash Yadav (26) were consigned to the flames with full military honours at his native town, Kosli, 35 km from Rewari, today.

He had died in an Mi-17 helicopter crash in Arunachal Pradesh on November 19. Besides Flt Lt Akash Yadav, 11 other IAF personnel had also lost their lives in the air crash.

His body was brought to Kosli today in an IAF vehicle. His wife, Neha Jaiswal, also a Flight Lieutenant, and several IAF officers placed wreaths on the pyre, which was lit by his cousin, Deepak Yadav.

A police contingent reversed its arms as a mark of respect to the departed soul. — OC

Chandigarh, November 24
The ban on mining has started taking a heavy toll on the development of the state.Not only private citizens are finding it hard to get construction material like sand and stones, even the government projects are getting delayed because of non-availability of these materials.

Contractors, who had entered into agreements with various departments of the state to execute projects like roads, bridges and buildings before the ban on mining came into force, are at their wits end. The rates of the construction material have gone through the roof in the past few months.

They had signed the agreements on the basis of the then prevailing rates, giving some allowance for escalation. But now the high rates have rendered their contracts unviable.

Before the ban came into force in the end of February, many contractors had stockpiled the construction material in large quantities. Same was the case with stone crushers. They had hoped that the ban, imposed by the courts, would last only for a few months.

Therefore, initially the ban did not hit them hard. They had not anticipated that the ban would continue for so long. Still there is no hope for early resumption of mining. The case is pending before the Supreme Court, which may not hear it till January next.

Many contractors have stopped work on their projects, citing non-availability of the construction material as the reason. They say so far they had been bringing the construction material from neighbouring states but the recent stringent action against the overloading of vehicles had made the import of the material unviable. For the same reason there are not many takers for new contracts. Even the roads, which were damaged by the heavy floods this year, are not being repaired. The Haryana Hot Mix Plant Association has written to the Chief Minister and other authorities that unless the government gives them some concession in view of the high cost of the construction material, they will not be able to continue work on various projects.

The association wants, among other things, an escalation of rates of the construction material. It also wants that no penal action should be taken against those contractors who fail to execute the projects within contractual time frame.

Sonepat: Pramod, a Junior Engineer (JE) in the Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam at Gannaur, was caught by a Vigilance team of the Rohtak Police Range while taking a bribe of Rs 15,000 from Deepak, a farmhouse owner, on Tuesday.

The JE was arrested and a case registered against him at the Gannaur police station. He was produced in a court today, which remanded him in judicial custody. — OC