Chandigarh, April 22
Peeved at the inordinate delay by the Supreme Court in deciding the Presidential reference on the Termination of Agreements Act passed by the Punjab Assembly, the Haryana Government has sought intervention of Union Minister for Water Resources Salman Khurshid in the issue.

The Punjab Assembly had passed the controversial Act in 2004 when the Congress ruled the state so that the construction of the SYL canal could not be completed as ordered by the Supreme Court. Following a representation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi by party MPs from Haryana, among others, the matter was referred by the President to the Supreme Court to decide on the constitutional validity of the Punjab Act. The apex court is yet to pronounce its verdict.

Haryana is worried over the delay because the construction of the SYL canal, which is the lifeline of the state, has also been held up.

Haryana Irrigation Minister Ajay Singh Yadav urged Khurshid to take up the issue with the Attorney-General of India, who, in turn, should request the apex court for an early decision. Yadav pointed out to Khurshid that this was perhaps the only Presidential reference, which had not been decided by the Supreme Court for more than seven years.

He also attached a list of Presidential references made to the Supreme Court since 1951, which, he said, had been decided by the apex court in year in which these references were made.

Yadav regretted that the matter was not being listed despite being mentioned several times by the Haryana Government in all these years. He said an application was also filed in this regard in August, 2010. “It gives us a feeling that the Government of India has not followed up the matter with the Supreme Court,” he added.

He said the issue was very important for Haryana, especially for the southern part of the state, which was deprived of water due to the non-completion of the SYL canal by Punjab. Yadav also expressed the hope that the early decision on the Presidential reference by the Supreme Court would also help resolve the Hansi-Butana canal issue.

It may be recalled that the Hansi-Butana canal has not been able to work because of a stay order by the apex court. 

Sirsa, April 22
Standing crops on several acres got burnt in fires in different villages of Sirsa and Fatehabad district in the past 24 hours.

Wheat crop on two acres got destroyed at Rajpura village in Sirsa today.

Sahjinder Singh, husband of the village sarpanch, whose crop got destroyed in a fire, said the incident occurred due to short circuit in the overhead wires.

He alleged that he had lost crops worth Rs 70,000 in the fire. He said he informed the fire services at Kalanwali and Sirsa, but they took more than two hours to reach the village.

In Surera village, standing crops on seven acres got burnt due to a fire last night. The fire spread in the fields due to blowing of strong breeze.

In Fatehabad district, wheat crops on two acres each at Hinjrawan Kalan and Jandwala Jatan villages got destroyed, while wheat stubble was burnt on 4.5 acres in Barseen.

Wheat stubble on over 40 acres and wheat on 7 acres in three villages in Fatehabad got burnt in a fire. Fire struck in Neemri, Hadoli and Aherawan villages resulting in loss of wheat and stubble.

JIND: Even as the district authorities have imposed a ban on the burning of crop stubble and waste in the fields where harvesting is in progress, wheat crop in Dumarkha, Singhana, Dadrath and Dalamwala villages got burnt due to fire on Thursday night. Fire tenders were pressed into service to douse the fire.

While it is claimed that fire in the fields at Dumarkha village started with sparking from the high voltage power lines passing from there, the cause of the fire at other spots has not been ascertained yet. Blowing of high-speed winds in the region helped the fire engulf more areas, said an official for the department.

Meanwhile, the total arrival of wheat in various mandis in the district crossed 3.68 lakh metric tonnes on Thursday. 

Chandigarh, April 22
Wheat arrivals in Haryana’s mandis have picked up as over 3.72 lakh metric tonnes of the harvested grain arrived yesterday. The total arrivals have crossed the 33.30 lakh metric tonne mark.

According to official sources, over 33.29 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been purchased by the six government procurement agencies at the minimum support price and 1,053 metric tonnes of wheat by traders.

Over 10.82 lakh metric tonnes of wheat has been purchased by HAFED, over 8.54 lakh metric tonnes by the Food and Supplies Department, over 5.28 lakh metric tonnes by the FCI, over 3.25 lakh metric tonnes by the Agro-Industries Corporation, over 3.09 lakh metric tonnes by the Haryana Warehousing Corporation and over 2.27 lakh metric tonnes by CONFED. 

Kunjpura (Karnal) April 22
The NCC will concentrate on the youth in the Maoist-affected areas, Jammu and Kashmir and the North-East to wean them away from separatist and disruptive forces under its expansion plan to increase the cadet strength from 13 lakh to 15 lakh.

Lt-Gen PS Bhalla, Director-General, NCC, told The Tribune that “we plan to set up 60 more units, 10 coming up during the current year, to increase the number of units from 777 to 837 and the cadet strength to 15 lakh.”

Observing that anti-national elements like terrorists and extremists catch the youth at a very young age and motivate them to indulge in disruptive activities, Gen Bhalla said “if we adopt the same strategy and motivate the youth to serve the national interest, unrest in several parts of the country could be arrested”.

Referring to the strength of women cadets in the NCC, he said they constituted 24.2 per cent at present which would be raised to 30 per cent within five years. Of the 10 units to be raised this year, six would be women NCC units.

Training more girls would help eradicate social evils like dowry and female foeticide, he said, adding that the NCC would adopt 1000 villages and educate rural people about state and central policies and issues like environment, sanitation and health-related problems.

He said out of 60 units, 50 would be for the Army and five each for the Navy and the IAF. Two units would be raised in Haryana, increasing the number of NCC units in the state to 18.

Replying to a question about making NCC compulsory, Gen Bhalla said:‘‘I will very much like the NCC to be made compulsory but this would need a gigantic infrastructure”.

Sirsa, April 22
Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government of betraying the trust of people by imposing house tax on them.

Talking to mediapersons at his residence here today, Chautala alleged that the Hooda government had come to power by promising people that his government would relieve them of house tax.

However, by burdening them with the house tax again, the government, he said, had proved that it had no concern for people or their problems.

“When the INLD left the reins in 2005, the total cumulative debt on the government since 1966 was Rs 23,000 crore. The figure has now reached a staggering Rs 52,000 crore and the government has been left with no option but to take debts and impose new taxes for payment of interest on the amount,” the former Chief Minister maintained.

Charging the state government of indulging in shady land deals, Chautala alleged that private builders were being provided benefits at the expense of the state exchequer.

“The government acquired 350 acres for carving out a residential sector of HUDA in Sirsa, but later gave 45 acres out of this to a private builder,” Chautala alleged.

Downplaying the recent people’s movement on the Lokpal Bill, Chautala said the Bill was unlikely to make any difference even if passed by Parliament. He said implementation of laws was in the hands of the ruling party, which he alleged was the mother of all corruptions.

Panchkula, April 22
Hundreds of members of the Haryana University and College Teachers’ Organisations (HFUCTO) staged a mass dharna here today in protest against the unjustified delay in the notification of HRD/UGC pay scales and regulations.

Dr Pradeep Chauhan, President, Haryana University and College Teachers’ Organisations (HFUCTO), said the comprehensive notification as per UGC regulations-2010 has been held hostage by the bureaucracy despite several assurances given by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Alleging that the state government was violating the HRD/UGC recommendations, Chauhan said this violation was evident in the recent circulars issued by the Department of Higher Education regarding stay hours, work load, status of librarians as non-teaching staff, selection criteria for principals and erosion of university autonomy in the name of academic reforms.

He expressed resentment over the delay in notifying the new pay scales.

Earlier, Rajinder Kumar, president of the Haryana Government College Teachers’ Association (HGCTA), alleged that the bureaucracy was changing the UGC recommendations in such a manner so as to distort HRD/UGC norms.

Vazir Singh Nehra, vice-president of AIFUCTO, called upon the state government to strengthen the autonomy of state universities through the proposed notification as per UGC regulations released in June last year. 

Sirsa, April 22
A crime and criminal tracking network system (CCTNS) will be set up in all police stations of the Hisar range to keep a tab on crimes and criminals.

Anant Kumar Dhull, IG, Hisar range, inaugurated the system in Sirsa yesterday. The system aims at creating a comprehensive and integrated system for enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of policing by adopting the principal of e-governance and creation of a nationwide IT-enabled system for investigation of crime and detection of criminals.

A presentation of the system was made in the presence of DSPs and SHOs of the district. Dhull said cops would be trained for using the system before it was put to use in the range. Under this system, all police stations coming under a district would be interconnected through the system, which in turn would be linked to the Police Headquarters at Panchkula.

The names, addresses, signatures and fingerprints of all criminals arrested anywhere in the state would be available on the system. 

Karnal, April 22
Lt-Gen PS Bhalla, Director-General, NCC, today flagged off a nine-day golden jubilee cycle rally” of students of Sainik School,Kunjpura, which aimed at promoting brotherhood and peaceful co-existence.

The cycle rallysts comprising NCC cadets of Class X and XI were carrying placards to spread awareness about social issues like female foeticide, protecting environment, corruption and water harvesting. The cycle rally would visit each rural school on the way and encourage youth to join the NCC and armed forces.

The rally, undertaken simultaneously by two teams, would cover a distance of 718 Km and culminate at Sainik School, Kunjpura on April 30. One team will start the cycle rally from Sirsa and cover Fatehbad, Hisar, Narnaud, Jind, Kaithal and, Kurukshetra while the second team would commence the race from Narnaul and cover Mahendragarh, Loharu, Bhiwani, Rohtak, Sonepat and Panipat before converging at the Sainik School, Kunjpura. 

Ambala, April 22
The reduction of central sales tax from 4 per cent to 2 per cent has provided relief to the business community to a large extent. Now, the Haryana Pradesh Veopar Mandal has demanded the abolition of the central sales tax.

Addressing a press conference here today, state president of the Pradesh Veopar Mandal and chairman of Confed, Haryana, Bajrang Dass Garg said the imposition of GST would further facilitate the business community.

Garg said industry was the backbone of every state, which provided prosperity, employment opportunities and sources of revenue to the government.

He said nearly 70 per cent people earn their livelihood through industries in the state.

He said the veopar mandal had been trying its best to make industrial loans available at the reduced rate of 6 per cent interest to enable small scale and newly set up industries to grow.

Garg said attractive packages, including rebate in excise and sales tax offered by the union government to industry in neighbouring states of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, had severely affected industry in Haryana and Punjab.