Chandigarh, July 20
The Haryana Government, which had earlier banned manufacturing and sale of plastic bags of all types, has now also banned the manufacturing and sale of various plastic articles like plates, cups, tumblers, spoons, forks and drinking straws in the state.

Earlier, the government had banned, besides plastic carry bags made from either recycled plastic or even virgin plastic, plastic containers made from recycled plastic.

According to a spokesman of the Environment Department, no person will manufacture, stock, distribute, sell or use plastic carry bags and (above-mentioned) plastic articles. No person will use containers made of recycled plastics for storing, carrying, dispensing or packing of foodstuffs.

However, any person may manufacture containers made of plastics subject to the condition that containers made of virgin plastic should be in natural shade or white and containers made of recycled plastic and used for purposes other than storing and packing foodstuffs, should be manufactured using pigments and colourants as per IS: 9833: 1981 entitled "List of pigments and colourants" for use in plastics in contact with foodstuffs, pharmaceuticals and drinking water.

Plastic, except carry bags, should be recylced strictly in accordance with the Bureau of Indian Standards specification; IS 14534: 1998 entitled "The Guidelines for Recycling of Plastics".

Littering of plastic articles, at public places such as parks, playgrounds, recreational places, tourist centres, religious places will not be permitted.

The Haryana State Pollution Control Board will be the prescribed authority for enforcement of the directions relating to manufacture and recycling of plastic products. The Municipal Commissioner or Chief Executive Officer of the Municipal Corporation or the municipality concerned will be the prescribed authority for the use, collection, segregation, transportation and disposal of plastic carry bags and containers. The Divisional Forest Officer will be the prescribed authority for enforcement of the provisions of these directions in national parks and wildlife sanctuaries in the state.

The spokesman said the Plastic Industry Association would, through its member units, undertake self-regulatory measures.

Mewat, July 20
Seeing, they say, is believing. A survey of educational facilities in the sleepy town of Nuh and its sleepier villages revealed quite a few startling facts, which indicate how dismal is the state of education in this part of the state.

If you want to have a sneak peek into the grim scenario, sample this: On way to Government Primary School at Palla village in the district, The Tribune team came across a group of young children returning from the school.

The students were stopped and asked in which class they studied. “Na pata” (don’t know) was the reply of two small girls, one of whom later said that she had just gone to fetch the schoolbag of her brother.

When asked whether any of them knew their class, several boys came forward. But only two or three of them were able to write their names in Hindi. The rest, mostly students of Class IV, couldn’t write their name in any language.

Abid, who was manning a small kiryana shop in the village, said he had passed Class V from the village school last year. On being told to write his name in English, he said he couldn’t. He, however, wrote his name in Hindi.

“They don’t know anything… they just cheat and pass their exams, and the teachers are more than happy — they don’t have to bother themselves,” quipped Rashid, a small-time labourer of the village.

A little later, we were at the school -- and its condition said it all. There were just two teachers; and the students sat amidst lots of dust and litter sans any fan.

“We had a ceiling fan earlier, but as rains came, water seeped through and damaged it,” explained Akhtar Hussain, the head teacher at the school.

On being questioned about the studies, Hussain said that there were 219 students at the school; and just two teachers (including himself) to teach them all subjects.

“Moreover, we have to handle lots of clerical, civil and administrative jobs, including managing the midday meals, as there is no clerk or any other official at the school,” he lamented. To manage things, they have roped in Neetu, a young teacher employed to educate small children in the village under the ‘Bachpanshala’ programme.

Rajesh Kumar and Mahender Singh, teachers at Government Middle School at Palri village in the district, admit that non-availability of special English teachers had been affecting the results and the outlook of the students.

They maintained that the management/administration of midday meals should be given to some private agency as had been done in some districts, to relive the schoolteachers of the charge.

Sher Mohammed, a prominent resident of Palri village, said the villagers had been making rounds of the Education Department officials for providing more teachers and staff, but there was still much to be desired.

A visit to other villages and schools showed a similar pattern, with shortage of teachers (especially English), poor infrastructure, lack of support staff and frequent additional duties (Census, elections et al.) of the schoolteachers being the major factors behind the scene.

“Now, only the poor people send their children to the government schools… those who can afford to pay the fees of private schools prefer these for their wards. Though the academic level of the private schools is also not up to the mark, but we hardly have any choice…” observes Yusuf Alia, an aware local resident.

He also feels that the evident deficiency in the teaching of English during the formative years of children will deny them an edge in this competitive era. But the moot question is: Are the policymakers listening?

Chandigarh, July 20
The long overdue and much-awaited appointments of chairpersons to boards and corporations in Haryana will have to wait until the Hisar byelection necessitated by the death of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal is over.

This decision to push the appointments further down the year was taken at the Haryana Congress co-ordination committee meeting held in Delhi, today, under the chairmanship of party in charge of Haryana affairs BK Hariprasad.

Speaking after the meeting, Hariprasad said the byelection had gained precedence over everything else. “The appointments will be made eventually. However, for now, the byelection is on our minds. No discussion took place on the party candidate and the members have decided to leave this decision entirely to UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi,” he said.

Maintaining that the members also deliberated on better co-ordination between the Congress Legislature Party and the Pradesh Congress Committee, he said no discussion on the issue of a replacement for HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana took place at the meeting. Mullana’s term as president expired over a year back and talk of a replacement has been doing the rounds for some time.

“Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and PCC president Mullana are holding meetings in constituencies and districts as per our plan,” he said on being asked why the party was slow in implementing his directions of holding meetings of workers and redressing grievances of the people. Hariprasad added that a major part of the meeting was devoted to assessing the implementation of the flagship programmes of the UPA government in the state and members were keen that the programmes be taken up in their constituencies.

“The members also raised a demand for more funds to undertake development works in their constituencies. Besides this, the land acquisition Bill of the Centre was taken up for discussion. We have asked the committee to alter it according to their needs before implementing it in the state since needs across states will vary,” he held. Hariprasad emphasised that “discordant issues” were neither raised by any member nor discussed. “These were the only issues taken up at the meeting,” he claimed.

The meeting, chaired by Hariprasad, was attended by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, MP Birender Singh, Union minister and Haryana MP Selja, MP Ram Prakash, Haryana’s Power Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and PCC president Phool Chand Mullana.

Rohtak, July 20
The local police has arrested 12 persons in connection with the alleged intimidation and social boycott of two families at Shimli village in the district over the issue of the marriage of a couple recently. The couple has already left the village.

The case was booked after a complaint was lodged by Sulochana Devi, a resident of the village, who alleged that the marriage of her younger brother with a girl of the village had led the kin of the girl and other villagers to hold a panchayat and announce the boycott of her family and that of a neighbour for helping the couple to marry.

Claiming that the marriage had the consent of the boy and the girl who were adults, she said the the villagers had no legal right to announce the social boycott. Sulochana also alleged intimidation by some persons of the village.

The incident occurred a week ago when the boy, who hailed from Chichhana village but was residing with his sister Sulochana at Shimli, eloped with a girl living in the neighbourhood and married her. As the news spread in the village about their marriage, a panchayat was held, which announced the boycott of the families of Sulochana and her neighbour after they were accused of helping the couple get married.

The boy’s family registered a complaint with the police against the panchayat members, alleging that they were being intimidated and expressed fear for their lives after the panchayat diktat.

The police has registered a case against 12 persons of the village, including the girl’s father and arrested all of them. The arrested are the girl’s father Sajjan Singh, Balwan Singh, Bijender Singh, Meer Singh, Shilak Ram, Net Ram, Mahender, Krishan, Dilbagh, Ramnath, Ramkishan and Dalip Singh, said district police chief Satish Balan.

Panipat, July 20
Senior officials of the state crime branch, which was recently handed over the investigations into the mysterious death of Karam Singh, former sarpanch of Kambopura village, today questioned former Minister for Transportation and Tourism Om Prakash Jain for over two hours at its headquarters in Panchkula.

Jain was handed over a 40-point questionnaire the day before yesterday and had been asked to join the investigations by appearing before the special team investigating the murder, which is headed by ADGP Shard Kumar.

A source privy to the investigation confided with The Tribune that Jain had been asked to bring along his bank statements which he produced before the investigating officials.

Jain reached the headquarters of the crime branch at around 11 am and stayed there till 1.30 pm. Besides, the bank statements, which could be used to ascertain the income of the former minister, Jain was also asked questions related to the allegations that had been levelled against him by Karam Singh, in a letter sent to the Chief Minister and the senior functionaries of the Karnal district, the day before he was allegedly murdered, the sources said. He was also asked about his whereabouts on July 7, the day the body of the former sarpanch was found and whether he knew the deceased.

Jain’s name had cropped up in the case along with the name of Zile Ram Sharma, former chief parliamentary secretary. Subsequently, the two had to resign from their respective posts.

In a complaint sent to the Chief Minister, Karam Singh had alleged that he had paid the two MLAs Rs 12.5 lakh to get three of his relatives into government jobs. As the two failed to get them the jobs, he started demanding his money back, but his pleas were turned down. Following this, he was killed, allegedly by the MLA’s men.

Meanwhile, it was learnt that after appearing before the investigating team, Jain went to Chandigarh to meet some top shots in the state government and stayed there till late in the evening.

Panipat, July 20
With the Union government sanctioning Rs 237.5-crore project to provide adequate drinking water in this industrial hub of the region, residents will soon get rid of the acute water shortage being faced by them in various blocks of the city.

The district has already overexploited the underground water due to the rapid increase in population. There are around 150 tube wells in the city which pump out more than 50 million litres of water each day, which is around 30 million litres per day short of meeting the demands of the city. There are over 300 km of pipelines that supply water within the city to around 27,887 registered connections.

However, with the city expanding and the underground water being declared unfit for human consumption due to industrial activities in certain blocks, the city has been facing a crisis over water supply.

Deputy Commissioner J S Ahlawat said the administration had already identified an eight-acre piece of land between the Jind railway line and the two parallel canals passing through the city where the project would be set up.

He said this canal-based project would set up a water-treatment plant with the latest filtration technology. Under the project, the city would be divided into 18 zones with each having its own supply network. The main supply would be drawn from the two canals and a huge reservoir would also be constructed to serve as a back-up.

Initially, one of the zones would be selected where water would be supplied 24 hours a day.

If the authorities are successful in this trial, the facility would be extended to the other zones.

Ahlawat said the system would be able to draw water from both canals and even if the supply of water goes down in any one of them, the other would be able to support the water supply in the city.

Under the project, all water pipelines in the city would be replaced, and 12 underground water tanks and six overhead water tanks would also be constructed.

Sirsa, July 20
Residents of the local Rangri Road today held a demonstration and blocked vehicular traffic on the road against the poor sewerage system in their area. Residents, mostly shopkeepers on both sides of Rangri Road, alleged that they had lodged their complaint with the Public Health authorities a number of times, but to no avail.

“There are 200 to 250 shops on this road, but all of us have lost our business due to a slack attitude of the authorities. Stagnant, filthy water makes it impossible for people to walk on the road,” alleged a shopkeeper, Sanjay Saini.

Kalu Ram, a trader, said that it became difficult for shopkeepers to sit in their shops as foul smell permeated the air throughout the day.

Residents alleged that due to the stagnant, soiled water, mosquitoes, flies and other insect had made their lives miserable.

Jagdish Jangra, Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department, however, maintained that Rangri Road was a low-lying area.

Chandigarh, July 20
With the sustainability of an ever-burgeoning population in terms of food availability likely to pose a challenge in the coming times, the role of e-agriculture in transferring technology for enhancement of food production could offer possible solutions.

Before leaving for a four-nation tour to participate in the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association’s annual conference, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Sharma said, “I am particularly keen to attend the plenary session dedicated to e-agriculture simply because we are an agricultural state and an agricultural country which supports 17 per cent of the world population.

“We are looking at studying the options available for enhancement of agriculture through improved information and communication exchange, especially e-agriculture that involves everything from evaluation to study of markets. Also, we are looking at a national agriculture research system which will help connect the 108 national agriculture research institutes, 50 universities and all other institutions to facilitate exchange of information,” he said.

This, among other crucial issues like climate change, parliamentary reforms and raising the benchmark of debate and Commonwealth initiatives in handling migration issues, will form the core of the eight-day conference which will get underway in London on July 21.

“Since these issues concern everybody, we will try to take them up during the monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha

A number of plenary sessions are slated and workshops will also form a part of this conference and it will be spread over Austria, Italy and Spain and ends on July 28.

While Sharma will travel to all four nations, two observers nominated by him, Deputy Speaker Akram Khan and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Surjewala, will also participate in the first leg of the conference.

Chandigarh, July 20
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has reserved orders on MLA Kuldeep Bishnoi’s plea against the defection of five MLAs.

The orders were reserved by the Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Gurdev Singh after hearing arguments on a day-to-day basis for nearly three days.

The “defecting” MLAs -- Satpal Sangwan, Vinod Bhyana, Narender Singh, Zileram and Dharam Singh -- had joined the Congress in November 2009.

The matter was placed before the Division Bench after the Single Judge’s order fixing a four-month deadline for Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker to decide Bishnoi’s plea was challenged.

The Single Judge had also ruled that judicial intervention in the matter was justified. “It can be concluded that the substantive right of the petitioner -- Kuldeep Bishnoi -- to have his lis (dispute) decided is being defeated by the procedural facet of extension of time to file replies by respondent MLAs.

“Consequently, this Court is of the considered opinion that the present is a case where judicial intervention is justified even during the trial of the petitions, filed by the petitioner, and issue a direction to respondent Speaker to decide the petitions within a fixed time frame”.

Less than three months after the Single Judge’s judgment, the Division Bench stayed the operation of the orders. A battery of lawyers representing the Speaker, and the five MLAs, told the Court that every possible endeavour “shall be made” to dispose of the disqualification petitions as expeditiously as possible.

The MLAs have been arguing in their petition that the Single Judge “has gone wrong and has decided the case against the mandate of the Apex Court, when he said because some adjournments were granted, judicial interference by the High Court is justified.

“There was no inordinate delay before the Speaker. The judgment is a nullity and deserves to be declared contrary to the judgment of the Apex Court”.