Karnal, January 20
Taking a serious note of complaints regarding overcharging and other alleged malpractices by pollution check centres at petrol pumps, the district administration has warned the erring dealers of stringent action in case they failed to properly run the centres.

During checks conducted at over six centres by the administration, several deficiencies and malpractices were detected, besides cases of overcharging have also come to notice.

The Karnal SP has asked the filling station concerned to scrupulously avoid overcharging and only charge the rates fixed by the government. He also asked the dealers to display the government rates and properly conduct the pollution check.

He directed the dealers to rectify the faults and remove the irregularities within a week failing which they would responsible for any lapse. The pollution check should be done properly and in case any polluting vehicle was issued the pollution under control certificate, the dealer concerned would be held responsible, he added.

During the random surprise check, malpractices like issuance of certificates without testing, same code being used at three different locations, testing machines not available at the time of inspection, extension pipe of petrol testing machine not connected and diesel testing machine and extension pipe of petrol testing not available at the time of inspection were detected.

The fee prescribed by the government for fitness certification and PUC is Rs 150 for heavy commercial vehicles, Rs 100 for medium motor vehicles and Rs 50 for light motor vehicles while PUC certification fee for private LMV is Rs 25.

Gurgaon, January 20
The recent suggestions given by Haryana Finance and Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on land acquisition and the former’s appreciation of Gujarat’s agriculture policy have created ripples in the superficially stable political atmosphere of south Haryana.

Capt Yadav’s move may or may not be indicative of his cozying up to disgruntled Congressmen of Haryana, but it has certainly brought the differences among members of the Hooda Cabinet to the fore.

Though rampant factionalism in the ruling party now seems to have become an accepted norm akin to corruption in government offices, yet eruption of this curious chink at the helm of state affairs has attracted the attention of political pundits.

As far as the political horizon of south Haryana is concerned, Capt Yadav and sitting Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjeet are prominent Congress leaders of the Ahirwal belt.

Now, while Rao Inderjeet lost his berth in Union Ministry after being elected to the Lok Sabha in the last elections, Capt Yadav emerged stronger as he was not only elected to the State Assembly for the sixth time, but also got the most significant portfolio of finance as the Chief Minister’s senior-most Cabinet colleague.

The Captain got yet another shot in the arm when his son, Chiranjiv Rao, became president of the state unit of the Youth Congress. According to sources, Rao junior is now said to be in the inner circle of Rahul Gandhi, the current mentor of the party’s youth brigade.

This, coupled with Capt Yadav’s proximity with the Congress high command, has set off a sort of threat perception in the rival camp. Political observers point out it was in this backdrop that certain Congress members and office-bearers of the Gurgaon unit sought Capt Yadav’s ouster after his aforesaid remarks appeared in the Press.

However, the minister’s supporters have backed him and ridiculed the demand for his ouster.

Hisar, January 20
Forced by intense competition, mobile phone service providers are resorting to malpractices to dupe unwary prepaid customers.

Throwing the “do not disturb (DND)” norms to the wind, these companies have now begun sending unsolicited and undesirable push messages to customers for which they deduct one rupee from the balance amount for receiving such a message.

Although prepaid customers get a notification of the deduction of the amount from their balance immediately after sending an SMS or making a call, no such message is displayed on the customers’ handset after a push message is received and the amount deducted. Thus it is only after several days that the customer notices the dwindling balance.

WAP (wireless application protocol) push messages are specially formated SMS text messages that display an alert on your mobile phone. They give you the option of connecting directly to a website via the mobile phone’s WAP browser, rather than having to type in a web address (URL). WAP push messages are referred to by different names on certain types of phones.

The most common alternative names for WAP push messages depending on the brand of your handset are: service message, browser message, WAP alert, simply WAP or WAP message.

Customers complain that service providers do not stop these messages for several days even after complaints are registered. Although the customer care telecallers promise to stop the service immediately, this does not usually happen. The most common excuses given are lack of contact details. By the time these messages are stopped, a customer on an average has lost around Rs 50. No refunds are given.

Shivani, a prepaid customer of a reputed telecom firm, said she kept receiving these messages from the company’s live service for more than a month. “Besides being unsolicited, the push messages pointed to a pornographic site which was a huge embarrassment. On top of that I was being charged for the messages, she added.

Dhiren Gupta, another prepaid customer, said these companies were duping customers who opted for Internet service monthly package on their mobile phones. “Even after purchasing a monthly package for Rs 98, the company kept deducting from my balance every time I connected to the Net. When I complained, I was told to delete the company’s default access point from my handset to avoid the charges”, he said.

Interestingly, the service provider automatically creates access points in most compatible handsets when its SIM is inserted for the first time. They never bother to inform the customer that they will continue to pay for the Net services, till they change their access points in the handset.

Insiders said these companies were earning lakhs per day through these dubious methods. A former senior executive of a telecom company said: “When you consider the huge size of their customer base, you can imagine how much they earn even if they short-changed a fraction of the customer base every day”, he added.

Companies, on the other hand, blame the customers. They say that while fiddling with the handsets customers inadvertently subscribe to a service for which they are charged. Former employees, however, maintain these methods are employed deliberately.

Panipat, January 20
To maintain proper record of energy consumption in the rural areas and improve the distribution system, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has come up with a scheme to encourage the farmers to install their own meters for tubewell connections that get supply through unmetered connections. In lieu of this, the farmers would be entitled to get their power load regularised without paying any penalty.

There are a large number of agricultural consumers in the state which get supply through unmetered connections and are charged a flat rate by the power utility. As no meters are installed, farmers sometimes install motors that exceed the approved power load, which affects the overall distribution system. By encouraging them to install meters and regularise loads, the nigam would be able to bring about more efficiency in its services in the rural areas.

The latest proposal is being implemented under the voluntary disclosure of load scheme (VDS) for agricultural tubewell connections and is being introduced first in Panipat, Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Jind districts. Later, it would also be implemented in other districts, said Arun Kumar, managing director of the power utility.

He said besides, the nigam had also decided to extend the last date of the VDS for domestic, non-domestic and industrial category consumers for 15 days in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Jind districts. The scheme would now be available till January 31.

Kumar said the nigam would regularise the unauthorised load of applicants for which the procedure had been simplified. The consumers desirous of declaring their domestic or non-domestic loads would file a simple application and agreement form with details of power load and there would be no need to submit any affidavits. Besides, there would be no need to submit a test report for an extension of load up to 20 KW.

This scheme would also be available for the consumers who had applied for the extension of load and their cases were still under process, the MD added.

Kaithal, January 20
Preparations for the Republic Day function are in full swing and the team of officials under the guidance of deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar has selected the teams which will perform in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who will hoist the National Flag in the Jat College ground here on January 26.

The students of various schools of the district here yesterday presented their cultural items before deputy commissioner Amneet P. Kumar, Rajeev Rattan SDM Guhla, Hawa Singh SDM Kaithal, Amit Panwar DPRO, Sadhu Ram DEO Berwal, and Asha Setia PO ICDS.

Addressing the participants in the programme, SDM Rajeev Rattan said as only limited teams have to perform in the programme, all could not be selected. However, he appreciated the efforts of all students and asked them to put hard labour in future.

Meanwhile, keeping in mind that the Chief Minister will be the chief guest on the R-Day, the administration has started giving a facelift to the town. The roads are being repaired and all electric poles on the main roads are being repainted. On the directions of the DC, the Municipal Council has launched a cleanliness campaign in the town.

On the instructions of SP Simardeep Singh, the police has launched a special drive against traffic violators and encroachers. The residents of the town are expecting some important announcement from the Chief Minister in the function as a New Year gift.

Kalka, January 20
The Community Health Centre (CHC)-cum-Civil Hospital, Kalka, which was upgraded to IPHC Hospital three years ago and had been awarded for the best hospital in Panchkula district in the second quarter of 2008, is now going to get the status of Subdivision-Level Hospital soon.

Official sources of the Haryana Health Department revealed that the process of upgrading the hospital is in pipeline and after that, the hospital would be converted into 50-bed hospital and patients would get more facilities. At present, the hospital has 30 beds.

The sources further added that the hospital would soon have its own separate building of the Casualty Department. The construction work of the building is in full swing. Under the project, a mini operation theatre is also being constructed.

The sources further added that a waiting hall, doctors' room, six-bed casualty, registration room and nursing room is being constructed on the ground floor and on the first floor there would be a provision of four private rooms.

Notably, the Health Department had already sanctioned the Casualty Department in the hospital and four doctors, one nursing sister, four staff nurses, four class-four employees and four sweepers have already been deputed in the hospital, but the project of the construction of casualty building was hanging fire for the past more than three years. The project would cost Rs 40 lakh and its construction is expected to be completed by March 2011.

Ambala, January 20
A five-day faculty development programme organised by various industry experts at SRM Global College, Bhurewal, concluded recently.

The basic objective of the programme was to apprise faculty members of technical and professional institutes of new developments in teaching techniques.

The programme was designed by Pathbreakers Communications, Noida; Mind Roots Trainers, Chandigarh; TRINITi Centre for Learning, Chandigarh; Future Weavers, Delhi; and Alpha Mindz, Pune. Besides, Ula Razmuk, a specialist in human resource management from Poznan University of Economics, Poland, also conducted valuable sessions. Some of the topics discussed included improving work culture for continual growth, quality assurance in technical education, developing interpersonal skills, IQ development techniques, preparing students for industry readiness etc.

Sunil Arya of SRM Global Group said the teachers and lecturers were required to learn and implement latest teaching methodologies in their work culture and SRM Global would continue with these development activities for faculty and students. Roshan Lal Jindal, CMD, SRM Global Group, said to keep pace with the changes in education trends, a need had been felt for faculty development. He said SRM Global Group was committed to provide quality education.

Ambala, January 20
The “Equality House” of Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala City, organised an environment awareness programme recently. The students presented a series of items, including poems, speeches and a play based on the theme “Join Hands to Save Earth”.

Vivek Kohli, principal of the college, introduced and welcomed the guests on the occasion. BD Thapar of National Awareness Forum spoke on the rights and duties of Indian citizens. An open session on the theme “Rights and Duties” was held in which 23 students of B.Ed. and M.Ed. participated and gave their views regarding the duties to be performed and rights to be claimed. In this session, Diqvijay Pandey of B.Ed. stood first and Jyoti of M.Ed. grabbed the second position. The third prize was won by Parveen of B.Ed.

KD Jha, principal, DAV College, Naneola, cited many examples from Indian literature to highlight the duties and rights of the citizens. Somdev Bhardwaj of Vigyan Bharti spoke on the ways and means to conserve energy. Neelam Luthra, associate professor of the college, coordinated the programme and gave her views on the importance of the conservation of personal and natural energy. Sheetal Batra and Prof Deepika Gupta contributed significantly for making the function a success. — OC

Rewari, January 20
The Dakshin Haryana Vikas Lok Manch (DHVLM) has sent a communication to Pratibha Patil, the President of India, urging her to issue a directive to the Haryana government to start the construction work of the Central University at Mahendragarh and also appoint a pro-vice-chancellor.

Copies of the communication have also been sent to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal and others.

The DHVLM pointed out that the construction work of the university had been pending since February 25, 2009, when its foundation stone was laid by the then HRD Minister Arjun Singh.

Prof Ranbir Singh Yadav, general secretary of DHVLM, said it was agonising that while the construction work of the remaining 15 central universities in various parts of the country was in progress, it was only Mahendragarh, one of the most backward regions of the country, where not a brick had been laid in the past two years.

Mentioning about the appointment of Dr MC Sharma as vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Yadav said unfortunately, he was suffering from a serious ailment that had severely restricted his presence even at the provisional headquarters of the university at Narnaul, about 35 km from the site of the university in Mahendragarh.

Thus, there was an urgent need for the appointment of a pro-vice-chancellor who could supervise and conduct the work of the university proficiently, he added.

Rewari, January 20
To achieve effectual political ascendancy of the Vaish Samaj in Haryana, the Agarwal Vaish Samaj (AVS), a premier socio-political organisation of the Vaish community, has identified 32 of the 90 Assembly segments where the number of Vaish Samaj voters is over 10,000 each.

Furnishing details in this regard, AVS chief Ashok Buwaniwala said the constituencies included Sirsa, Jind, Hisar, Kaithal, Bhiwani, Panipat, Panchkula, Ambala City, Karnal and Faridabad.

He said while 25 of these 32 segments were general (unreserved), the remaining seven constituencies were reserved where Vaish Samaj electorate could play a decisive role.

As far as the general constituencies were concerned, 10,000 electors of the Vaish community in each one of them, when their votes were polled collectively, could positively clinch a win for their adopted candidate at the hustings.

Emphasising the urgency of augmenting effectual participation of the Vaish Samaj in politics at various levels, which, he said, was a sine qua non for its all-purpose ascendancy, Buwaniwala explained that the AVS would now mainly focus its attention on these selected segments.

Stating that notwithstanding the Vaish Samaj’s notable contribution made to the development and progress of the country in almost all vital spheres, Buwaniwala lamented that the Vaish community had persistently suffered from political oversight by the successive governments.

Asserting that the AVS had recently launched a comprehensive campaign for the political resurgence of the Samaj, he spoke about specific projects initiated to prepare youth to shoulder the onerous responsibility.

While a state-level youth convention would be held in Hisar on March 6, commissionerate-level training camps would be held in Ambala, Rohtak, Hisar and Gurgaon where noted sociologists would impart tips to the participants for the requisite modernisation of the Samaj, added Buwaniwala.

Sonepat, January 20
Students of Geeta Vidya Mandir held a seven-day NSS camp at Fazilpur village here. The students left an everlasting impression on villagers, particularly on youth and women, by making them aware of social issues like foeticide, traffic rule violations, women education, domestic violence, gender equality, water conservation and dowry system.

On the first day of the camp on January 10, as many as 50 NSS volunteers along with college NCC officer Dr Neeraj conducted a socio-economic survey of the village and listed issues which were required to be raised among the people of the village. During the remaining six days, the volunteers gave maximum stress on motivating the villagers towards these issues by taking out rallies and organising cultural activities like skits, songs, painting competitions etc. Maximum participation of women from the village was ensured.

The camp was also utilised for creating awareness among the youth regarding compliance of traffic rules. SHO Ram Kumar told them that traffic rule violations were dangerous for human life and invite heavy penalties. A “sadak suraksha rally” was also taken out in the village.

The concluding day was marked by a cultural competition and activities like slogan writing on environment issues and the winners were given prizes by zila parishad member Sandeep Rana.

Neeraj, a student of B.Sc final year, was adjudged the best volunteer of the camp.

Thanking the college authorities and NSS volunteers, sarpanch Bijender Singh said the volunteers had made the villagers aware of various social evils.

Dr Jyoti Juneja, college principal, said the camp was aimed at highlighting social evils prevalent in society and making villagers aware of them, besides exhorting them to work for the eradication of those evils.

Hisar, January 20
Brian Dawson, Executive Director, Round Square International, has said that the next generation of school students would not merely be educated but also talented and better citizens.

Interacting with students of the local Vidya Devi Jindal School for Girls, Dawson said that schooling had changed and stress was now on making students better and informed citizens who cherished democratic values.

Round Square International is an organisation of schools active in 23 countries. It has over 80 prestigious schools as members. Its philosophy is encapsulated in the word IDEALS in which I stands for internationalism, D for democracy, E for environment, A for adventure, L for leadership and S for service.

It aims at developing the educational, physical, cultural and philosophical attributes of school students to make them responsible individuals.

He said his organisation laid great stress on inculcating democratic and social values in the younger generation. The member schools regularly sent their students to other schools for interaction so that they could appreciate the cultural values of other communities.

Dawson asked girls not to underestimate themselves and shun the notion that as women they could not bring about changes in society. Democracy, he said, was not limited to voting rights but that it had larger connotations, including the ability to put their point of view across and appreciate the views of others.

He said breaking own boundaries was boldness, putting across one's views at home was leadership and sanitation was protection of environment. That is how the younger generation could inculcate these qualities.

Principal Gunmeet Bindra said the school planned to observe April 22 as World Earth Day. A six-day in-house round square conference would be organised from that day.

The students presented a cultural programme on the occasion.

Sonepat, January 20
Kiyoshi Ojke, managing director, Yakult Danone India, claimed that Yakult Danone, India's first state-of-the-art Indian factory at Sonepat, had received the hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP), a method to prevent unsafe food, accreditation from SGS International for maintaining food safety standards during its manufacturing in the unit.

Talking to the media recently at the unit premises, Ojke said Yakult was a probiotic health drink that contains more than 6.5 billion beneficial bacteria.

"We have 20 manufacturing plants globally and most of them have received the HACCP accreditation," he said and added that Yakult was sold in 32 countries and was consumed by around 30 million people daily.

While the growth rate of probiotic drinks stood at 20 per cent at present, he said a recent consumer research by Nielsen shows that probiotic awareness in metros is growing fast. In Delhi, the probiotic awareness is around 48 per cent and in Mumbai it is 20 per cent. The study also revealed that Yakult's awareness in Delhi is 48 per cent and in Mumbai it is 37 per cent.

He pointed out that the growing concern among the consumers about the safety of food was one of the greatest challenges being faced by the food industry today. The Food and Agriculture Organisation and the WHO of the UN had established the Codex Alimentarius Commission and published the Codex standards to formalise the world-wide approach to ensure safe food, he recalled.

Sonepat,January 20
Pankaj Mittal, Vice-chancellor (VC) of Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan, near here, inaugurated a two-day national seminar on “Women Empowerment in India: Truth or Still a Distant Dream” organised by BPS Memorial Girls’ College yesterday. Pro Vice-chancellor Balbir Kaur presided over the function.

The VC asserted the importance of “Three Es” in women’s lives: Education, Empowerment and Employment. She emphasized that India had recognised the importance of equal treatment to women and hence had

undertaken many pilot projects to ensure women’s empowerment.

The PVC underscored the equality of man and woman but pointed out that society had made gender-based discrimination relegating women to the lowest rung of the social order. “ Education can and has raised her status by making her aware of her rights, she said and broached the issue of crimes against women and the social reaction to it .

Convener of the seminar Sushma Joshi asserted that intention,initiative and implementation were the key ingredients to women’s empowerment.

Delegates from Haryana, Punjab and Delhi would present papers on different issues pertaining to women’s empowerment during the seminar, sponsored by the Higher Education Commissioner.