Chandigarh, July 14
Haryana has sought a change in the terms and conditions of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna (RGGVY) so that the stated objective of the scheme, “power to all”, can be achieved.

Under the scheme at present electricity connectivity is to be given to an un-electrified habitation having a population of 100 people. Haryana was the first state in the country to electrify all its villages many years before the Centre had even thought of rural electrification. In Haryana, only small rural pockets remain to be electrified. These pockets are so small that they do not fall in the eligibility criteria laid down in the RGGVY.

Therefore, the state wants that the condition of 100 persons should be reduced to 25 if the goal of “power to all” is to be achieved.

Haryana has also sought higher allocation of power from the central sector projects in view of the fact that the state does not have any natural resources like coal and gas.

Making this plea in the State Power Ministers’ conference in Delhi yesterday, State Power Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said the state should be allocated more power from the central sector projects, including mega power plants.

Yadav also urged the Union Power Ministry to allocate full requirement of 7.5 mmscmd gas for the proposed 1500 MW gas-based combined cycle power plant in Faridabad, “since most of the high growth NCR area falls in Haryana and there is no other peak load station in the state”.

The Centre has so allocated 2.8 mmscmd of gas for the plant, which would run only one unit of the plant.

Stressing the need for adequate supply of better quality coal for the recently commissioned thermal plant in Hisar, Yadav said future projects like the Yamunanagar extension unit and a new thermal plant in Sonipat were also awaiting coal linkage.

Yadav said steps like increasing its own generation, judicious banking of power and lower procurement from short-term sources had resulted in substantial savings for the power utilities. The non-procurement of power through short-term purchase alone had resulted in the saving of Rs 600 crore.

Yadav said the state government had decided in principle to involve panchayats in the collection of electricity bills in the rural areas. For checking of theft of power and water, special police stations were also to be set up shortly.

Gurgaon, July 14
With a view to providing birth and death certificates to the local residents in a smooth and hassle-free manner, the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) authorities have started issuing such certificates bearing digital signatures of the officials concerned.

Gurgaon municipal commissioner Sudhir Rajpal said here today that the managements of all hospitals in the municipal area had been directed to e-mail the details of the births to the municipal authorities. They are also required to send the e-mail addresses of the parents of the newborns.

“After getting the details, we prepare the birth certificates bearing digital signatures and send the same to the parents of the newborns or the hospital managements on their e-mail. They can then take a printout of the certificate, which would be valid as an original document,” said Rajpal.

The municipal commissioner said the parents who required birth certificates of their children born in or after 2001 could also get the new birth certificates by applying for the same online. They would have to deposit a nominal fee online through credit card, he added.

Thus, the persons requiring birth or death certificates will not have to make rounds of government/municipal offices for the purpose.

Meanwhile, Rajpal maintained that for proper disposal of garbage, efforts were being made to ensure that instead of dumping garbage at different points, it was sent to the solid waste treatment plant at Bandhwari village.

“As of now, nearly 350 tonnes of garbage is being sent to the plant daily while only 200 tonnes was being sent till a few months ago,” he said and added that the target was to send 600 tonnes of garbage to the plant daily.

The commissioner asserted that registration, regulation and photography of the trucks taking garbage to the plant had also been ensured and building owners and RWA representatives had been told to comply with the directions regarding proper disposal of garbage.

Chandigarh, July 14
Haryana will digitise and update the entire revenue record of the state by using high-resolution satellite imageries.

According to Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Mahender Pratap Singh, the main objective of the project is to develop a modern, comprehensive and transparent land record management system to implement the conclusive land titling system.

The project will be implemented through the Haryana Space Application Centre (HARSAC), Hisar, which is the nodal agency in the state for remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) related work.

All “mussavis” available at the district headquarters would be digitised in a GIS environment and the same would be updated by the respective village patwaris using “sajra” maps and other land records available with them. The updated maps would be geo referenced using the benchmark ground control points being identified and fixed in the entire state. Finally, a seamless database of the land records would be prepared for the entire state.

According to Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management, Raj Kumar, the geo referenced 0.5 metre resolution world view (WV) satellite data is being acquired for the entire state, which would be overlaid on the digitised cadastral maps used to correct inaccuracies in the data. This overlaying would also create the latest database about the land use, forestry, geomorphology, soil, water prospects, land degradation, etc. for each acre of land.

Besides the preservation and permanence of records, the information could be used in land value assessment, field-level soil health cards, smartcards for farmers to facilitate e-governance and e-banking, settlement of compensation claim, land acquisition and rehabilitation, crop insurance, grant of agricultural subsidies, community or village resource centres, precision farming, etc. Under the project, old revenue documents like “missal hakiat”, field book and “jamabandi” would also be digitised.

Faridabad, July 14
The state Labour Department has decided to come down heavily on industrialists and other employers, including contractors, who have failed to ensure the norms for payment of wages to their employees and workers, especially the daily wagers.

A senior government functionary said Haryana’s Minister for Labour Shivcharan Lal Sharma was tipped to convene a meeting of the top brass of the department next week. The proposed meeting would take stock of the implementation of the government policies, keeping the employees and the workers’ interests in mind.

Indications are that the ministry will also review the work conditions in the factory and other premises in the interest of health and safety of workers.

Moreover, other aspects relating to their jobs, including ESI, leave and increments would also be looked into.

The minister was credited with the view that the employers were not much oriented towards the welfare of their employees. The minister received a memorandum on Sunday from the “All-Haryana Power Corporation Workers’ Union,” alleging that 12 computer operators working as daily wagers (physically challenged) in Narnaul circle were sacked by the contractor concerned because they demanded better wages and other benefits.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had accepted the demand for payment of wages through cheques at a public meeting here a few months ago.

An aide to the minister said although a number of employers had started paying wages through cheques , others were still paying “hide and seek” with regard to the new norms.

Sirsa, July 14
The authorities here have identified 24 boatmen and divers from different villages of Sirsa to train them with modern techniques in view of the possible threat of floods during this monsoon.

Instructors trained at Hathnikund Barrage and Kurukshetra will guide these divers and boatmen on the techniques.

DC Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, who addressed a meeting of these boatmen and divers recently, said the district authorities had 11 boats and five motorboats.

The boats will be available for villagers from Panihari, Farwahi, Budhabhana and some others for going across the Ghaggar, when the river is in spate. The authorities will pay an honorarium of Rs 1,000 per day to these divers and boatmen whenever their services are required. The authorities have set up five flood control rooms in the district.

OP Verma, district revenue officer, Sirsa has been appointed in charge of the main flood control room in Sirsa. Flood control rooms have also been set up at Rania, Ellenabad, Dabwali and in the office of the Executive Engineer, Sirsa Ghaggar Division. The authorities have set up a helpline 01666-248882 for people needing help during floods.

District information and public relation officer Satish Mehra has been assigned the task of disseminating timely information of the flood situation to the people.

Khyalia said the authorities had identified nearly 30 flood prone villages based in the last year’s experience. Fifteen of these are hypersensitive for floods.

The authorities have distributed flood prone villages into sectors for the purpose of better administration. The Ghaggar, too, has been divided into three sectors - one from Musahibwala to Ottu Weir, second from Ottu Weir to Jeewannagar Bridge and the third from Jeewannagar Bridge to Rajasthan border.

The DC said there was no immediate threat of floods from the Ghaggar, but the authorities had prepared well for the challenge.

Karnal, July 14
The 65-year-old judicial and revenue record of Karnal district, presently kept in old kachahari constructed during the British rule, will be relocated to a new building in the mini-secretariat complex soon.

The record will be maintained properly and preserved in a spacious basement of the mini-secretariat compelx, Phase-II, constructed at a cost of Rs 7.61 crore. The building was likely to be handed over to the DC office before October, an official of district development authority said.

Named after Karan, the legendry hero of Mahabharata, Karnal was made a district even before Independence. RLBV Bhagwan, EJ Stokes and RS Roshan Lal remained Deputy Commissioner from October 6, 1945, to June 21, 1948, and the record was being shifted from old-dilapidated building under Neelam Pradeep Kasani, who happened to be the 52nd Deputy Commissioner.

The new mini-secretariat complex in Sector 12 was constructed about 10 years ago but the record was not shifted to the new building. With the passage of time, the record had become more voluminous and the present space was not sufficient for proper maintenance of the records.

The judicial record from 1947 to 1987 and revenue record from 1945 till date, kept in the old building will be shifted to new location in next few months. Neelam Pradeep Kasani, Deputy Commissioner, said, “The new complex has been built over 1.25 acres and has three floors, besides, the basement where the record will be kept in 90 racks.” 

Ambala, July 14
BJP legislator Anil Vij said here that the district administration was harassing traders in Ambala Cantt by issuing notices to them to demolish their shops and commercial complexes.

During a campaign, Municipal Corporation employees cleared temporary encroachments from different areas of Ambala Sadar on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The announcements had been made regularly before the encroachment drive, officials said.

Vij said the occupants of these commercial premises had been running their businesses in these leasehold buildings for the past over five decades and paying lease rent regularly as fixed by the MC.

The BJP legislator warned that they would start a protest, along with occupants of these buildings, in case the district administration tries to harass them for which they were already paying scheduled lease rent regularly and could not be stated to have illegal encroachments.

On the other hand, Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Srow directed Municipal Corporation officials to get the roads cleared of all encroachments.

He suggested that the district administration should take traders into confidence and settle issues mutually. He further suggested the MC to sell these properties to possession holders on ownership basis at the appropriate price fixed by the government.

Ambala, July 14
BSNL Haryana has introduced a promotional scheme for providing broadband without landline connection.

According to the sources, this is basically for those customers who do not require landline telephone connection. In this new scheme, only the broadband plan will be charged and there will be no charge for landline telephone. The scheme will be applicable to all customers who desire to have broadband BBG 250 plan or above. The scheme will be offered to all customers for home and commercial use, which will be valid for 90 days up to September 12, 2011, the sources added.

Heavy Reduction on ISD call charges through Universal ITC Card by BSNL.

The BSNL has also slashed the ISD call charges for calls made from Universal India Telephone Cards (UITC) by more than 50 per cent. Sources said through the UITC scheme, calls to the US, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand and Malaysia would be charged at 3 paise per second instead of 6 paise per second.

A senior BSNL official said calls to the UK and Australia on fixed line would be charged at 3 paise per second instead of 13 paise per second. “Calls rates to Germany on fixed lines and Bangladesh have also been reduced from 14 paise per second to 3 paise per second. Similarly calls to china will now be charged at 3 paise per second instead of 17 paise per second”.

He said the UITCs could be purchased from customer service centres of BSNL and the offer was for a period of 90 days

Sonepat, July 14
Social activist TC Alakh has been unanimously re-elected as the chairman of the Haryana unit of the Youth Hostel Association of India in the elections held here recently.

The representatives of 15 districts of the state participated in the election. Other office-bearers elected are: PM Gaur as state president; Harish Mehta from Gurgaon, Baldeep Tandon from Panchkula and Sanjay Goyal from Bhiwani as the vice-presidents; Maninder Singh from Faridabad as secretary; and Nipun Jain from Panipat as treasurer.

Talking to mediapersons, Alakh, who is also the national vice-president of the association, said it was resolved to inspire the youth for undertaking educational, adventurous and entertaining tours in different parts of the country and abroad. The main objectives of the association were to get the youth acquainted with the social and cultural values of rural India and to strengthen among them the feelings of social amity, communal harmony and national integration.

Alakh said there were 4,000 members of the association in Haryana and the association also had wings in as many as 200 districts of 23 states. Being an international institution, the association had its units in 60 countries in the world, he added.

Gaur said the association would launch a special drive to involve maximum youths in the association's activities. 

Hisar, July 14
Lt Gen SK Singh, GOC-in-C South Western Command, inaugurated the DOT War Memorial at the Hisar Military Station recently.

Lt Gen Ashok Singh, GOC Strike -1, senior serving officers and veterans from nine districts of Haryana were present on the occasion. The inauguration was followed by a wreath-laying ceremony, wherein the GOC-in-C South Western Command and GOC Strike -1 paid tributes to the gallant soldiers who laid down their lives in the highest traditions of the Army.

This war memorial is dedicated to the martyrs of the DOT division of the Army, who made the sacrifice while in active service. Their names have been inscribed on the “Roll of Honour” at the war memorial. The war memorial is a noble initiative of the DOT division and the first of its kind in the military station.

The memorial is ringed by a manicured lawn. At the centre of the lawn stands a white marble pillar on a platform. Three black coloured statues of lancemen of different regiments of the Army, representing the combined arms synergy, are placed around the marble pillar.

A T-55 tank and a TOPAZ OT-62 amphibious vehicle, which have been the mainstay of the DOT division in the past, have been placed on either side of the war memorial as war trophies. The war memorial commemorates the spirit of the “DOT Yodha” and the operational focus symbolised by the Dot-On-Target formation sign engraved on a marble top placed over the main pillar. Flagpoles and a tricolour for the memorial have been contributed by the Flag Foundation of India, Hisar.

The memorial is an epitome of valour of the DOT division. It will remind the troops of their glorious past and continue to inspire future generations to devote themselves selflessly in the service of the nation.

Chandigarh, July 14
The implementation of the Rashtriya Swasthaya Bima Yojna (RSBY) has brought laurels to the state at the national and international levels.

While Haryana got commendation certificates from the Government of India during the national conferences here in July, 2010, and at Raipur in May. High-level delegations from Nigeria and Bangladesh visited the state and appreciated the performance of the scheme in Haryana. The scheme was been implemented with a view to providing health insurance cover to BPL workers in the unorganised sector and their families.

This was revealed at a meeting of DCs and SPs here recently.

The meeting was informed that the Central Government and the Railway Ministry had decided to cover licensed vendors, porters, hawkers of the Railways under the RSBY scheme in a phased manner. Haryana is the first state to have implemented this extended scheme in nine districts in the first phase. 

Rewari, July 14
The birth anniversary of Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, founder of the erstwhile Bharatiya Jan Sangh, now the BJP, was observed as Prerna Diwas (a day of motivation) by BJP activists here recently.

Paying tributes to Dr Mukherjee, district BJP president Laxman Singh Yadav recalled his supreme sacrifice that had paved the way for liberation of Jammu and Kashmir from the then existing autonomous regime vis-à-vis its full-fledged accession to the Indian Republic.

Highlighting Dr Mukherjee’s political compulsions-cum-maneuvering that eventually led to the formation of the Bharatiya Jan Sangh in 1951, former state BJP chief Om Prakash Grover asserted that his noble ideals of patriotism and nationalism were being devoutly pursued by the BJP.

Ambala, July 14
A local court has ordered police protection for a newly married couple, who got married against the wishes of their families.

According to sources, Ajit Singh Maan, a resident of BC Bazar Ambala Cantt, and Gayatri, his classmate, were in love and wanted to marry each other against the wishes of their families.

The couple got married on June 17 at Arya Samaj temple in Ambala Cantt and decided to file a petition in the court after repeatedly receiving threats from the girl’s family.

The local court ordered the police to provide protection for the couple. The police sources said the couple had been provided security at the special lodge in the Police Lines complex till July 30.

According to information, Ajit Singh Maan was doing BTech from Chennai University. He fell in love with a classmate, Gayatri of Chennai, during his study. The couple got married on June 17 against the wishes of their parents and on getting threats, they sought help of the court for their security.

Meanwhile, another newly-wed couple sought protection from the court as their parents were not happy over their marriage.

According to information, Ravi Kumar, a cable operator and resident of Banarsi Dass Floor Mills, Ambala Cantt, fell in love with Shikha Rawat, a resident of the same colony who is working with a private firm. The couple got married at the Sanatan Dharam temple in Mathura Nagri, Ambala City, on July 1.

The court has directed the police to provide protection for them at the shelter house in the Police Lines, Ambala City, till July 27.

Karnal, July 14
Crime against women is on the rise in Haryana with a significant increase in cases of dowry deaths, rape and atrocities on women. But a disturbing feature of the rise in the crime graph was that the NCR districts of Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonepat with a high literacy rate of 84, 83 and 80.8 per cent, respectively, counted for a much higher number of dowry deaths as compared to the backward districts like Mewat and Fatehabad with low literacy rates of 56 and 59 per cent, respectively.

The crime data accessed by The Tribune revealed that dowry deaths were more in districts with a high literacy rate, indicating that greed for dowry was more among the educated and the well-to- do families as compared to the rural and less literate areas, dominated by Khaps. A large number of cases were not even reported or registered due to the “apathy” of the police or the reluctance of members of the family to report the matter to the police.

The number of reported dowry death cases increased from 269 in 2009 to 286 in 2011 while 101 cases were registered till June 4 this year. Gurgaon reported 24 dowry deaths in 2009, 22 in 2010 and 10 such cases till June 4. Sonepat and Faridabad, bordering the national capital, reported the highest number of 26 and 25 cases,respectively, in 2010 while Panipat and Rohtak counted for 19 and 18 dowry deaths, respectively, in 2010. Even during the current year, 10 dowry deaths were reported in Mahendragarh and eight each in Karnal and Sonepat.

However, the largely urban district of Panchkula, with a literacy rate of 83.4 per cent, was an aberration with just one case reported in 2009 and 2010 and none in 2011. On the contrary, minimum dowry deaths were reported in Yamunanagar (2), Mewat and Kurukshetra (five each) in 2009 as well as 2010. Mewat and Fatehabad reported only five dowry deaths each while Yamunanagar reported six.

The data accessed by The Tribune revealed that in the case of general crime against women, the situation was no better and the number of cases increased from 2,615 in 2009 to 2,720 in 2010 while the number was 1,051 for 2011 (till June 4). Hisar, Karnal and Faridabad districts had earned notoriety for a high number of cases of crime against women with Hisar reporting the highest number of 261 cases in 2010, 208 in 2010 and 103 during the current year while Karnal was on the top with 225 cases in 2009 and 231 cases in 2010.

Faridabad reported 224 cases in 2010 and 76 cases in 2011 (till June 4) while Kaithal counted for 187 cases in 2009 and Ambala was in the second place during 2011 with 79 reported cases.

A minimum number of cases of crime against women were registered in Rewari (55), followed by Mahendragarh (58) and Panchkula (72) in 2009 while Bhiwani with 64 cases was at the bottom in 2010, followed by Rewari (71) and Kurukshetra and Fatehabad (79 each). During the current year (till June 4), a minimum number of 27 cases were registered in Palwal, followed by Mahendragarh (32) and Jind and Fatehabad (33 each).

Richa Tanwar, Director, Women’s Study Research Centre, Kurukshetra University, attributed the high incidence of crime against women in the urban areas to the “unending want of a human being”. She said the NCR region was more prone to shopping malls and other kind of exposures where human wants had no ends, there was a rat race for money and the tendency of getting easy money to fulfil desires prompted such activities in the educated families.

Gurgaon, July 14
After having observed a special service week for senior citizens from June 20 to 24 at its Gurgaon office, the Income Tax Department is now observing another special service week for women and differently able persons from July 11 to 15.

Additional Income Tax Commissioner DS Kalyan said the move was aimed at facilitating the target groups in filing their income tax returns in the newly notified forms to prevent excessive rush of residents coming to file their returns in the second fortnight of July close to the last date of filing returns, to receive and redress the refund-related grievances and encourage the viewing of tax credit statement online by the assesses.

A help desk has been set up to assist the women and differently abled persons in the filing of returns and solving their refund grievances. Besides officials of the Income Tax Department, volunteers from the Gurgaon branch of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) are also helping the visitors.

Faridabad, July 14
The ruling Congress in Haryana got a shot in the arm recently when Rahul Gandhi made a laudatory reference to the Congress’ land acquisition policy, but the opposition parties continued to belittle the party’s performance and have decided to take it head on.

The scion of the Gandhi family alluded to Haryana’s “laudable” land acquisition policy during the course of the yatra he undertook against the Mayawati-led BSP government in UP, demanding a higher compensation to the farmers against the acquisition of their land.

The principal Opposition party in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, the INLD, the arch rival of the Congress, which is in the midst of organising meetings of the party’s Scheduled Castes and other cells at the Assembly constituency level throughout the state, will finalise its strategy to escalate its ‘turf war’ with the ruling party.

The state unit of the BJP claimed that it was preparing a “charge sheet” against the government that would cover its “faulty” land acquisition policy. Meanwhile, the Haryana Janhit Congress was in the midst of strengthening its youth wing.

The Congress was, however, unfazed by the political calisthenics of its opponents. Senior Congress leaders asserted that while their opponents had to still work hard to establish their credibility among the masses, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s leadership in Haryana and Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi’s leadership at the national level had already placed the party way ahead of its rivals.

Also, the announcement of withdrawal of VAT from kerosene by the Haryana government in the wake of the last hike in the prices of petroleum products had provided fresh ammunition to the Congress workers to take on a strident opposition.