Rohtak, October 6
Notwithstanding the Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll and a good rainfall this season, the power supply situation in the district and various parts of the state seems to have touched a new low. The huge difference in power availability and demand has resulted in almost eight to 10 hours of power cuts daily even in urban areas while the duration of cuts in rural areas has also doubled in the past about two weeks.

“It is perhaps one of the worst situations that is being faced by the residents here with the department officials passing the buck to the supply from the source. This has resulted in breakdowns of even invertors,” said Raj Singh Hooda, a local resident. The huge power cuts have also adversely affected other activities, including water supply and other commercial activities. “Though the officials blame it on the breakdowns in some of the power- generation plants, the residents here charge the government with diverting the power supply to Hisar, where the bypoll is scheduled to be held soon, claimed Vijay, another resident. He, however, said the reports from other districts, including Hisar, had also revealed a sharp increase in power cuts though the festive season had already begun.

“The short supply has started affecting adversely not only the daily routine of the people but also the agricultural and industrial production,” said a Professor of MD University.

According to sources in the department, the power generation in the state had slipped sharply due to shutdown of some of the units at Yamunanagar, Hisar and Panipat. The total availability of power from the sources within the state has gone down below 4,000 MW against a daily demand of 10,000 MW. The delay in production at Jharli plant and the breakdown at one of the units at Hisar has made the situation worse.

Hisar, October 6
Today was not just another day of campaigning for Kuldeep Bishnoi, the HJC- BJP nominee for the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. It was a solemn day for him as it marked his father, the late Bhajan Lal’s birth anniversary and his mother, Jasma Devi’s birthday.

The family, including Bishnois elder brother, Chander Mohan, and his sister, Roshni, got together at their home in Adampur. The entire family drove early in the morning to his father’s samadhi. After a prayer meeting the family offered floral tributes. The family also started construction of the boundary wall of Bhajan Lal’s final resting place.

Hisar LS seat
Name of Assembly constituency	Total No of voters
Uchana Kalan	1,67293
Adampur	1,34610
Uklana (SC)	1,57334
Narnaund	1,65242
Hansi	1,45314
Barwala	1,34296
Hisar	1,27570
Nalwa	1,31050
Bawani Khera (SC)	1,56662
Total	13,19371

Immediately after the ceremonies, Kuldeep Bishnoi was quick to get on the grind. He got into his SUV and started for Hisar where he had to address over 10 election meetings.

The cavalcade slowly winds its way to Anaj Mandi. He is garlanded profusely by supporters on arrival there. Especially composed raginis are blaring over the loudspeakers and slogan-shouting supporters add to the cacophony. Bishnoi bends to touch the knees of a few elderly persons who knew his father closely.

Formalities over, Bishnoi gets down to business immediately. He grabs the microphone and strikes an emotional chord. “You are all family members. So I need not recount what your very own Bhajan Lal clan has done for the area. All I am asking from you is an opportunity to try and bring back the good old days you all cherished. When my father was the Chief Minister, you used to just walk up to our residence and knock at the door to meet my late father at any time. That made you all an integral part of the government then.”

“But can you do so now? Can anyone of you go and knock at the doors of the Chautalas and Hoodas? Do you feel you are a part of the government now? If not, then let us get together and restore to Hisar its lost glory. If you elect me now your future is secured”, he says. A commotion follows and the audience raises the slogan ‘Bhajan Lal amar rahe’.

Convinced that he has struck an emotional chord, he launches a tirade against his opponents. He terms both INLD and the Congress as “political opportunists” who would forget and forsake Hisar if they get elected. The speech goes on for 10 minutes.

He is weighed against laddoos by residents of the area which are distrubted among all those present there.

Before leaving for the next stop, he has a tete-a-tete with supporters. He gives them some directions. As he approaches his SUV a few shopkeepers assure him that they will request others to vote for him. “Morcha sambhal ke rakho jab take ek ek vote na bhugat jaye. Yehi Bhajan Lal ji ko sahi shradhanjali hogi”, he says and departs quickly.

At the next venue, Rishi Nagar, the refrain of his speech is the same albeit he chooses different words. “ I have come to enquire about your welfare. I know all of you have been feeling so neglected over the past 15 years. But we are very close to regaining glory of Hisar. If you give me a helping hand, we will together restore Hisar’s chaudhar”, he says.

Once again, Bishnoi has to mount a scale for being weighed against laddoos. He meets some families in the area and seeks blessings. Some children want a photograph with him and he readily obliges. Holding one laddoo in hand, he leaves for the next meeting.

His third stop is an area with a sizeable Punjabi presence. So he tries his hand at Punjabi which doesn’t come to him as naturally as it did to his father. But he manages somehow. The audience clapped warmly whenever he spoke in Punjabi.

The act is enacted at over 10 places throughout the day. Kuldeep had been concentrating on the rural areas for the past two weeks. But each evening he made it a point to hold corner meetings at a couple of places in the city. Dasehra day was dedicated to his hometown exclusively.

Ambala, October 6
Industrialists of Ambala City and Ambala Cantonment are facing an acute power crisis. Ambala’s scientific goods industry having orders worth over Rs 1250 crore from domestic and export markets is facing a severe power crisis with the enforcement of a 10-hour daily supply schedule by the HVPN.

JP Aggarwal, vice-president of the Haryana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Ambala, said export orders worth Rs 30 crore from different countries had been lying pending owing to the power crisis.

As many as 40 exporters dealing in scientific goods in the town were facing the threat of cancellation of their letters of credit. Owing to frequent breakdowns and low voltage in both towns, scientific instruments industry was finding it difficult to meet deadlines.

Sources said some industrial organisations were using diesel generator sets even though it cost nearly four times as compared to electricity. Small units, however, could not afford it. Out of nearly 1100 units functioning in the town, more than 700 are tiny units working on a contract basis and can’t afford diesel generating sets.

A senior HVPN officer said power cuts on industry and agriculture had been imposed on the orders of the state government and supply would be increased when the situation improved. He said people should not use appliances like air-conditioners that consumed more power.

Karnal, October 6
Grappling with a low sex ratio especially in urban areas, the district administration has turned to social networking site options to rope in the youth in the awareness campaigns to save the girl child.

The Deputy Commissioner, Neelam P Kasni, who has started a sustained campaign to improve the female sex ratio, today launched an online community “Navya - the newgirl of newtime” on Facebook to attract the attention (especially of the youth) on the disastrous social fallout of a skewed sex ratio.

"The young generation spends a substantial amount of time on Facebook and other social networking websites and if the youth start taking interest in this issue, the awareness will be instant and a lot of positive suggestions will come,” she said while launching the web campaign.

According to the information available on the web, there are 13 million Facebook users from India and the idea behind the online campaign is to use the ‘addictiveness’ of web for spreading the social message and root out evils like female foeticide, dowry and crime against women.

The community will include a maximum number of web users and not only will the suggestions to fight female foeticide will be welcomed, the best suggestions will also be implemented in the district, Kasni said.

With the efforts of the administration, the monthly sex ratio rose from 795 in July to 924 in September in the rural areas but it increased marginally from 823 to 852 in the urban areas, indicating that female foeticide was more rampant in the urban areas where people were more aware, prompting the administration to explore the Facebook option.

The drive had been more successful in the rural areas where the overall sex ratio increased from 814 in July to 843 in September but the gender ratio improved marginally in the urban areas from 813 to 817 in two months.

Strict vigil on ultrasound centres, nukkar natak started by the Health Department with the help of the Suruvat samiti have been very effective in spreading awareness about the importance and need of the girl child.

On this occasion, over seven lakh people and 95 social, religious and political organisations responded to the call of the Deputy Commissioner to take oath to bat for the girl child on the sixth of every month.

Chandigarh, October 6
Those engaged in conducting survey for socio-economic and caste census in Haryana will be paid Rs 4,500 per enumeration block. As a surveyor is supposed to cover four blocks in a month, he or she will get Rs 18,000 for the survey in addition to his or her salary.

This was revealed in the video conference held by Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati with all Deputy Commissioners . The field survey for the census would be conducted during November. It is perhaps for the first time that a handsome amount is being paid as remuneration to the officials doing field survey.

The Chief Secretary laid thrust on imparting training to the surveyors. She said the Deputy Commissioners should try to appoint those employees as surveyors who had already done the job of census earlier because they were well aware of the process and needed less training. She said the guidelines about the survey and schedule of training had already been sent to the Deputy Commissioners by the Rural Development Department.

Gulati said a state-level committee to monitor the socio-economic and caste census had been formed under her chairmanship.

Assandh (Karnal), October 6
The police yesterday booked Anil Kumar, son of Jogi Ram of Kaul Khera village in the Assandh area for allegedly murdering Mahabir Singh and registered a case against him under Sections 302 and 201 of the IPC.

Sanjay, son of the deceased, Mahabir Singh, in his complaint alleged that the accused, Anil, who was working as a labourer, took Mahabir Singh along on the pretext of going to a mela (fair) at Gangatheri Popra on Tuesday evening.

When he did not return till late night, Sanjay enquired about him and he along with his uncle, Satbir, and cousin went to meet Anil where another person, Shyama, was also present and enquired from Anil about Mahabir.

Shyama said a quarrel took place in which Anil also received two-three slaps, but when Sanjay enquired about the incident, he was shocked to know that nothing like that had happened.

A large number of villagers then went to the fields to trace Mahabir and found his torn shirt and a pair of chapplas in Jitu Ram’s field while his body was hinged on a rod at Ram Mehar’s tubewell.

Hisar, October 6
The INLD today demanded action against certain employees of the Public Relations Department for organising a publicity campaign for the Congress.

In a complaint sent to the Chief Electoral Officer, election observer and the retruning officer of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat, the party alleged that PR officials from Chandigarh, Fatehabad, Bhiwani, Hisar and Gurgaon were issuing press releases and organising propaganda on behalf of Congress leaders, including the Chief Minister.

It added these employees kept changing their phone numbers frequently to avoid detection. Accusing the Congress of violating the code of conduct and misusing government resources for party propaganda it asked the poll officers to ensure that they were sent back to their places of posting and initiate departmental action against them.

Fatehabad, October 6
One person was killed and three others were injured when a bullock suddenly came in front of their motorbikes near the Bhuna Road bypass here last night.

The deceased, Shekhar (25), and the injured youths, Krishan, Sunil and Surender, worked at a liquor vend at Jandli Kalan and they were coming towards Fatehabad on two motorcycles to watch Ramlila, when they met with the accident.