Chandigarh, January 11
The written word carries weight and Congress men in Haryana seem to have discovered its benefits recently. That’s probably why the second term of the Congress rule in Haryana has ushered in a new trend in communication-letters.

The issue of lop-sided development seems to have been carried forward from the government’s previous term with the state’s Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and former Minister and MLA of Tosham Kiran Choudhry upset over the “poor cousin” tag for their constituencies and districts.

After expressing his “reservation” on the land acquisition move in Rewari and backing the cause of the aggrieved farmers in a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda a fortnight back, Yadav is learnt to have sent yet another letter to the CM-this time for a university in his home district.

Unhappy with the “inequitable distribution” of universities in Haryana over the past many years, sources said this second missive has dwelt at length on the need for a university in Rewari, a demand raised at a rally addressed by Hooda in the district in the recent past.

Stating that the existing post-graduate regional centre in the district should be upgraded to a university, sources said Yadav had listed the concentration of universities in a few districts, with particular emphasis on Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat. Mentioning that Rohtak had two universities and the prestigious IIM was also coming up there, the letter says Sonepat and Jhajjar had been lucky in getting an education city, two universities and an AIIMS institute. It goes on to state that the central university at Mahendragarh was at the far end of the district and would serve little purpose.

Hence, a university in Rewari was a must. Districts represented by Chief Ministers have always been lucky with Hisar now having three universities, the latest one being set up for veterinary sciences. Sirsa, too, has a university. Kiran Choudhry too, has been demanding a sports university for Bhiwani and has met the Congress top brass in Delhi in this regard along with her daughter, Shruti, who is an MP.

In a separate letter, Choudhry, upset over the “inaction” on upgradation of schools in her district, is learnt to have written a letter to Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal.

Choudhry had, in the Budget session of 2010, sought to know from the minister why the upgradation of schools had been hanging fire.To this, Bhukkal had said that the department was in the process of finalising a policy for upgradation of schools and the demand would be met if the schools met the requirements laid down by the new policy.

The policy was approved in September last year. Choudhry, through her letter, has sought to know why the schools in her district continued to await upgradation.

She is learnt to have written letters to other ministers as well on the status of pending projects in her district.

Karnal, January 11
The state government has formulated Rs 6,000 crore schemes for the development of urban and rural areas of the state.

This was stated by Chief Minister BS Hooda at an interactive session with elected representatives of the Urban Local Bodies and the Panchayati Raj Institutions organised by the Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission here today.

He said schemes worth Rs 2,500 crore had been prepared for the development of urban areas under the Rajiv Gandhi urban mission, while schemes involving an estimated cost of Rs 3,500 crore had been prepared for rural areas.

He said the schemes would be implemented in a phased manner and every year schemes worth Rs 500 crore would be implemented in urban areas while the annual allocation for the rural areas would be Rs 1,000 crore.

Laying stress on the need for decentralisation of financial and administration power to strengthen democracy at the grass roots and speed up development, he said former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi realised this and brought 73rd and 74th constitutional amendment for devolution of powers to PRIs and urban local bodies.

Hooda said the primary function of the urban local bodies and the PRIs was to take the benefits of development to the people. He also underlined the need to augment resources at the local level and said a novel participatory scheme, “Rajiv Gandhi Shari Partnership Scheme” has been launched, under which the government would give a matching grant of 60 per cent and the remaining 40 per cent resource would have to be generated by the local body.

Hooda said to ensure smooth functioning of the local bodies, Rule 72 of rule of business for the municipal bodies had been amended to increase the duration for bringing no-confidence motion against the president or the vice-president from six moths to one year.

Hooda said the third State Finance Commission (SFC) had been set up and the second SFC had recommended Rs 76 crore for the local bodies with an exception that wards with bigger population would be given Rs 1 crore each and the allocation on this count would be Rs 144 crore.

The participants were informed that the government had already devolved powers to the local bodies and the PRI with respect to 10 departments, including health, public health, irrigation, agriculture, animal husbandry, child and women development, food and supply, education, forest and social development.

Six more departments, including ayurveda, horticulture, rural development, non-conventional sources of energy and transport, are suggested to be brought under the control of the PRIs and changes have been indicated for health and primary education.

The Chief Minister also visited Dera Kar Seva on the occasion of Prakash Utsav (birth anniversary) of Guru Gobind Singh. Hooda was honoured with a saropa and a sword as a gesture of thanks for allotment of 2,000 sq yards adjoining the gurdwra to Dera Kar Seva.

Jind, January 11
Though the authorities do not lose an occasion to tomtom Haryana’s achievements at various fronts, residents of Igrah village in Jind district have been bartering foodgrain to get potable water.

Located 15 km from the district headquarters, the village is the ancestral village of a former MLA. Yet its populace continues to face an acute shortage of drinking water, said Vinod Kumar.

A canal-based water supply scheme announced several years back was yet to take off. He claimed that about 60 per cent of the population (8,865) was still dependent on the age-old system of hiring members of a community to fetch water from the two wells on the outskirts of the village. The rest got their supply from submersible pumps and hand pumps installed at their houses or on common village land.

Sources said a pipeline laid in the village to provide connections to households had became defunct due to various factors, including construction of concrete pavements.

“We have been giving foodgrain to women for fetching water from the wells,” said Subhash, whose wive is the village sarpanch.

The problem cropped up eight years back when supply from the neighbouring Bibipur village was halted due to technical reasons, he said. “From where will the water ome if the two wells get dried up in the near future,” asked another worried resident Sunil.

A scheme was reportedly launched about two years back to augment the capacity of waterworks in the village but it was yet to yield results. Said 55-year-old Krishna Devi: “The village has been facing water crisis for years. The situation has remained unchanged since 40 years when I first arrived in the village.”

The womenfolk have to fetch water in pitchers from the two wells twice a day. The depleting water level in these wells has further aggravated the problem.

Chandigarh, January 11
The written word carries weight and Congress men in Haryana seem to have discovered its benefits recently. That’s probably why the second term of the Congress rule in Haryana has ushered in a new trend in communication-letters.

The issue of lop-sided development seems to have been carried forward from the government’s previous term with the state’s Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and former Minister and MLA of Tosham Kiran Choudhry upset over the “poor cousin” tag for their constituencies and districts.

After expressing his “reservation” on the land acquisition move in Rewari and backing the cause of the aggrieved farmers in a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda a fortnight back, Yadav is learnt to have sent yet another letter to the CM-this time for a university in his home district.

Unhappy with the “inequitable distribution” of universities in Haryana over the past many years, sources said this second missive has dwelt at length on the need for a university in Rewari, a demand raised at a rally addressed by Hooda in the district in the recent past.

Stating that the existing post-graduate regional centre in the district should be upgraded to a university, sources said Yadav had listed the concentration of universities in a few districts, with particular emphasis on Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonepat. Mentioning that Rohtak had two universities and the prestigious IIM was also coming up there, the letter says Sonepat and Jhajjar had been lucky in getting an education city, two universities and an AIIMS institute. It goes on to state that the central university at Mahendragarh was at the far end of the district and would serve little purpose. Hence, a university in Rewari was a must.

Districts represented by Chief Ministers have always been lucky with Hisar now having three universities, the latest one being set up for veterinary sciences. Sirsa, too, has a university.

Kiran Choudhry too, has been demanding a sports university for Bhiwani and has met the Congress top brass in Delhi in this regard along with her daughter, Shruti, who is an MP.

In a separate letter, Choudhry, upset over the “inaction” on upgradation of schools in her district, is learnt to have written a letter to Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal.

Choudhry had, in the Budget session of 2010, sought to know from the minister why the upgradation of schools had been hanging fire.To this, Bhukkal had said that the department was in the process of finalising a policy for upgradation of schools and the demand would be met if the schools met the requirements laid down by the new policy.

The policy was approved in September last year. Choudhry, through her letter, has sought to know why the schools in her district continued to await upgradation.

She is learnt to have written letters to other ministers as well on the status of pending projects in her district.

Chandigarh, January 11
Urmila’s means of subsistence disappeared some 22 years ago when her husband went missing. Her husband, Ishwar Singh, was eventually declared “dead” by a civil court six years ago.

After endless paper work, appending signatures and a long journey through the corridors of justice, she still found herself empty-handed. She was told point blank that Ishwar Singh was not a regular employee. Hence, the family was not entitled to any benefits.

She finally saw light at the other end of the tinnel when a Division Bench called for some “out of the box” solution to her misery. She saw the flicker of hope die out as the state failed to come up with anything ingenious. But that did not prevent the Division Bench from giving justice to her. In less than a year, the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Ritu Bahri went deep into the rules for providing her relief. After more than two decades of struggle, the Bench granted her an ex-gratia grant of Rs 2.5 lakh and other benefits.

Taking up her appeal against Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited, the Bench observed: that Ishwar Singh was promoted as assistant fitter on a work- charged basis on May 1, 1982, but went missing and a DDR was lodged on January 21, 1989. As no retirement benefits or ex-gratia was paid, Urmila filed a civil suit. The suit and the appeal were both dismissed. Acting on her second appeal, the High Court in August 2007 gave her the liberty to file a representation before the authorities concerned. It, too, was rejected on November 12, 2007.

Referring to a 1988 policy, the Bench added: “The board had abolished the practice of engaging workmen on work-charged basis with immediate effect. The existing work-charged staff was to be adjusted against vacancies in different categories by constituting a screening committee…. It was obligatory on the part of the respondents to treat Ishwar Singh as regularised either against the post of T-Mate or Assistant Fitter.

Yamunanagar, January 11
The Yamunanagar police is caught in a piquant situation. Sanjay, a local resident, has re-married and sought police protection on the basis of court orders. The police is examining the possibility of registering a case against him as he has yet to divorce his first wife.

Sanjay’s son from his first marriage, Vishal, was granted protection by court after he married a girl against the wishes of his parents six months back. Now, Sanjay has married Anita, a resident of village Rajaund in Kaithal, and secured police protection. There was high drama outside the office of Yamunanagar SP yesterday when Sanjay reached there with his second wife, seeking protection on the basis of the court orders. His mother Jagatwati, first wife Salochna and Vishal also reached there and so did the parents of the second wife. They demanded action against Sanjay for bigamy. The district police was placed in a predicament as it could neither defy the court orders, nor overlook the fact that Sanjay was on the wrong side of the law. Highly placed sources. however, said that the matter was being examined and action would be taken accordingly.

Sirsa, January 11
Alcoholics Anonymous today administered a pledge against consumption of liquor to GRP personnel here today. Head Constable Rajesh Kumar, working at the GRP police station in Ambala, administered the oath.

He said he had become an alcoholic. “The addiction could have spelled ruin for me and my family, but an incident changed my life,” he said.

During his posting at Madhuban, he was caught in a drunken state by ADGP VN Roy during a parade.

“He could have thrown me out of the force immediately, but he gave me a chance to reform myself.” He said was a changed man now and liquor held no temptation for him.

A year after the incident, the IG, KK Mishra, had asked him to spread the message among other policemen addicted to the bottle. Alcoholics Anonymous comprises men and women who have overcome liquor addiction. It has branches in 160 countries and has been working for the past 70 years.

Chandigarh, January 11
Haryana will present a vision paper to Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who has convened a meeting of Finance Ministers of all states and union territories in Delhi on January 19 as part of pre-Budget consultations.

State Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said here today that the main thrust of the paper would be agriculture and development of infrastructure.

He would hold intensive discussion with the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Finance, and other senior officers on January 17 regarding the matter.

He said the focus of the meeting with the Union Minister would be macro-economic and fiscal policy issues that required policy attention in the short term. He said such consultations would prove extremely useful. The challenges for sustaining growth and development process would also be discussed with Mukherjee. Yadav said the plan Budget of the state for the current financial year was Rs 18,260 crore as against Rs 2108 crore in 2004-05.

Panipat, January 11
In an attempt to curtail losses bring incurred by Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) due to power thefts, the officials concerned undertook an extensive campaign and conducted raids on 19,280 premises and imposed penalties of Rs 29.24 crore during the past nine months.

Last year, the nigam had detected only 8,623 cases and imposed penalties of Rs 12.40 crore.

The nigam also recorded a marked increase in collections and reduction in distribution losses with aggregated technical and commercial losses during the current financial year. The collection efficiency went up to 1.42 per cent, which was 89.62 per cent till October. Last year, it was 88.02 per cent during the corresponding period from April to October.

The distribution losses also came down from 27.43 per cent to 24.86 per cent and the reduction in aggregated technical and commercial losses was registered at 32.66 per cent as compared to last year’s 36.13 per cent.

Besides, the nigam replaced 48,450 defected meters from April to November during the current fiscal as compared to 45,642 meters last year.

The nigam also disconnected 2.91 lakh power connections permanently and special enforcement teams checked 20,167 consumer premises.

Faridabad, January 11
The Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) today razed more than 250 jhuggis and four shops that had come up in the green belt of Sector 4(R) in Ballabgarh.

The demolition staff faced stiff resistance from the owners of the structures who pelted the police with stones. At least sixa police personnel,including the local SHO, received minor injuries, said sources.

The mob dispersed only when the police resorted to mild force. Estate Officer of HUDA Arvind Malan said action would be taken against those who had attacked the officials.The operation was carried out on a court directive. The residents of Sector 4(R) had held a demonstration on the court premises against the illegal constructions.The matter had been pending in court for two decades. The Residents Welfare Assoction of Sector 4(R) had moved the court and procured orders for contempt of court against the authorities for not acting against the encroachers. The matter was said to be listed for hearing in the Punjab and Haryana High court. More than 100 police personnel accompanied the demolition squad. Four JCBs were pressed into service.The operation continued till late in the evening.

Sirsa, January 11
A team of the Haryana State Cooperative Supplies and Marketing Federation (HAFED) today started verification of wheat stocks in the agency’s storehouses in Ellenabad town of the district.

The team led by Karnail Singh Lathar, Additional General Manager (Systems) of HAFED, reached Ellenabad and started the verification of stocks.

Ellenabad is one of the biggest centres of wheat storage of HAFED in the district, where about 14 lakh bags are stacked at two different locations.

The agency has 6.75 lakh bags that it purchased in 2009 and over 7 lakh bags, which it bought in 2010. The bags are stacked in a storehouse belonging to HAFED and on a private plinth hired by it.

Though the agency has storage centres at Dabwali, Sirsa, Ding and Rania, the need to verify stocks in Ellenabad was necessitated, according to Lathar, because some stocks were shifted from there for supply to the FCI in December last year.

The investigating party of the HAFED believes that it is normally convenient for unscrupulous elements in the agency to pilfer foodgrains from a storehouse where the movement of wheat bags has taken place recently.

Meanwhile, the officials completed the verification of stocks at the Kalanwali warehouse today. AS many as 12 officials were on the task. It is believed that a conclusion on whether there had been any pilferage would be drawn soon.

Sonepat, January 11
Two drug traffickers - Charanjit and Balbir of Goria village in Punjab - were sentenced to 14 years of imprisonment and fined Rs 1 lakh each by Additional District and Sessions Judge Sanjiv Kumar Aggarwal. In case of default of payment of fine, them would have to undergo imprisonment for six months more.

In October 2008, the Rai police seized 1,200 kg of “Churapost” from a vegetable-loaded canter on the GT Road. Driver Charanjit and conductor of the canter Balbir were arrested and a case was registered.

Meanwhile, a case of misappropriation of property and cheating has been registered against NRI Rajvant Singh Sandhu here on the complaint of Ajai of Rohat village here.

Ajai alleged that Sandhu took Rs 15 lakh from him on the promise of arranging a job for him in England. Ajai said he took the money more than a year ago, but Sandhu neither arranged a job for him nor returned the money despite giving repeated calls. — OC