Fatehabad, December 25
The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and Sirsa MP, Dr Ashok Tanwar, sees a move to destabilise India and its economy by certain forces under the garb of the movement in the name of Jan Lokpal Bill.

Speaking at the annual function of the local MSD Springbells Public School here today, Tanwar urged intellectuals to “see through” the game plan of these forces, who, he alleged, had already done a lot of damage to the country’s economy.

The AICC secretary said that at a time, when funds from all over the world were flowing towards India, certain forces created an atmosphere that sent a message that all Indians were corrupt.

He said all this had been done at the instance of certain forces, who did not want India to emerge as a strong nation.

Launching a sarcastic attack on the social activist, Anna Hazare, and his team members, Tanwar said five people had begun to assume that they were the only knowledgeable persons in this country and the rest all were “ganwar” (illiterates).

The MP said the Opposition, which did not have any issue against the UPA government, had also begun to use this issue, though their tone, he said, was different inside and outside Parliament.

“While in Parliament, leaders of these political parties vouch for the supremacy of the House, when they are outside, they change their tone,” Tanwar alleged.

The AICC secretary said the media had an equal role in playing up this issue out of proportion and leaders of the Opposition parties vied with one another to speak on this issue because of the media glare they got.

Tanwar called upon people particularly the intellectuals to watch the debate on the Lokpal in Parliament and see for themselves, how effective was the legislation proposed by the government.

The MP also castigated the Opposition for delaying the introduction of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail, which, he said, could have benefited the farming community a lot.

“They can only delay it but cannot stop it, as the FDI in retail is inevitable,” Tanwar maintained. The CPS, Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, was also present in the function.

Earlier, distributing cheques of compensation for loss of crop due to last year’s rains to 858 farmers at Rupana Bishnoian in Sirsa, Tanwar said Rajiv Gandhi Information Centres would be set up at a cost of Rs 12.50 crore in villages of the district. 

Sirsa, December 25
The district authorities’ claims of providing night shelters to homeless people during chilly nights proved empty, when a 40-year-old man was found dead in a chowk in the town this morning.

The victim, a sadhu, perhaps slept in the open at the local Balmiki Chowk for want of a roof to sleep under, and the chilling cold is believed to have claimed his life.

Doctors in the General Hospital confirmed that the sadhu had died of cold.

Those living in the vicinity said the sadhu used to beg eatables from the nearby houses and spent his nights in the open.

The police said the identity of the victim had not yet been established.

The police said a public announcement in the area, where the body was found, was being made to identify the victim.

Meanwhile, the body has been kept in the mortuary.

Only three days ago, a man had died due to cold in Mela Ground on the Begu road.

The authorities had recently claimed that pursuant to the directions of the Supreme Court, they had been running three night shelters in the town and the construction of their own building for this purpose was in progress.

The SDM Roshan Lal had claimed that they had found only 11 homeless persons in the town, who, he maintained, did not live permanently in Sirsa, but kept moving and slept on the railway platform, whenever they came to Sirsa.

The homeless, he had claimed, were being provided a roof during the chilly nights. 

Panipat, December 25
The Shunglu Committee, which was set up in July, 2010, by the Planning Commission has submitted its report in which the Haryana power sector losses of five years have been pegged at Rs 4,520 crore.

The report stated that in case of Haryana, power purchased in five years was Rs 36,616 crore, which formed revenue expenditure of Rs 45,073 crore. The per unit power supply cost was Rs 4.79 per unit against realisation of Rs 4.31 per unit. While, the revenue receipts during this same period were of Rs 40,553 crore.

The committee, which had been constituted to recommend measure that could be initiated to improve the financial health of the power companies stated that power sector reforms in general and effectiveness of the state regulatory commissions in particular should be assigned priority. The high-level panel, which was headed by VK Shunglu claimed that the Electricity Act, 2003, envisaged the separation of generation, transmission and distribution for reforms in the power sector had succeeded in unbundling the power boards but the separation of boards into three utilities was not in substance.

The ownership, maintenance financial wellbeing was so interlinked that it could not be said separate in any real sense of word. The committee said the second set of reforms in form of open access in its broadest sense remained a dead letter. Moreover, emergence of the truly autonomous State Load Despatch Centres (SLDCs) was still in its infancy.

The report suggests that in case of all states, including Haryana, the power regulators should play a major role in the financial stability of restructured Discoms. Regulators must ensure that entire validated costs of distribution companies get recovered.

Regulators would allow distribution companies to pass on the entire burden to consumers to help them come out of annual losses. In yet another recommendation that vindicated the demand being put up by state power engineers, the committee said the chairman of Discoms should have tenure of 3 to 5 years and should come from a professional background or exclusive IAS. Besides, two non-executive independent directors from power sector should also be there on Discoms board, the report stated.

The report on financial heath of utilities states the total state government loans on utilities were Rs 24,079 crore and other loans were Rs 1,60,662 crore. The liabilities of utilities were Rs 1,53,356 crore.

Gurgaon, December 25
The Gurgaon Traffic Police has chalked out an elaborate plan to maintain road safety and keep Christmas and New Year revellers in check.

“This time of the year is quite dicey when there is dense fog; while on the other hand, the spirit of celebration is high and many people drive in an inebriated condition, which can be risky for the revellers as well as others on the road,” said Bharti Arora, DC (Traffic).

Arora said the Gurgaon Traffic Police had launched a drive to check drunken driving, which was part of a multi-pronged strategy to ensure the safety of public.

Apart from the drive against tipsy drivers, the Traffic Police authorities have started a campaign to install reflectors on the vehicles so as to prevent road accidents on foggy days.

They have also urged the officials concerned of the other government departments to install reflectors on the dividers for the convenience of commuters driving in foggy weather.

“With a view to initiate a positive thought process in the minds of residents, especially commuters, we are also distributing pamphlets, which contain questions regarding our actual contribution towards maintaining road safety,” the DCP said.

In a novel move, Arora has also appealed to residents to drive safe and observe traffic rules to ensure road safety as their New Year resolution. She also plans to organise a ceremony in this regard.

The Traffic Police personnel have also been making violators take a solemn oath of obeying traffic rules by placing their hands on the scriptures of their respective religions. 

Rohtak, December 25
The Nagrik Samaj, a body of local residents, has termed the Lokpal Bill as weak and short of expectations.

On the one hand, the 116th Constitution Amendment Bill moved by the government promises an "autonomous and independent" Lokpal, on the other hand, the Lokpal Bill does not give the Lokpal a free hand in appointing its secretary, director of inquiry and director of prosecution, said a spokesperson of the samaj. He said the Lokpal would only be able to "receive" a complaint of corruption and pass it on to the government agencies to conduct a preliminary inquiry into it. For detailed investigations the Lokpal would have to go to the government agency and here the problem of effectiveness of this office gets exposed.

According to Prof Rajinder Chaudhary, Coordinator of the programme, the challenge was not only to get a strong and effective Lokpal pending since 1963 but also to make people aware that the movement required their support at this juncture to pressure the government to take proper action on the issue. — TNS

Chandigarh December 25
Haryana State Cooperative Apex Bank Limited (HARCO Bank) has enhanced the maximum credit limit of rural artisans and petty shopkeepers members of primary agricultural credit societies from Rs 25,000 to Rs 35,000.

According to a press note, percentage of recoveries at apex bank level during the year 2010-11 was 99.94 per cent as compared to 99.93 per cent during the year 2009-10. The bank earned profits of Rs 5.01 crore during the year 2010-11 after wiping out losses of Rs 17.94 crore during the year 2009-10.

Meanwhile, the central cooperative banks in the state have disbursed short and medium term loans amounting to Rs 3509.38 crore to farmers for various purposes from January to November this year. 

Fatehabad, December 25
A farmer sitting on a dharna in front of the local mini-secretariat against the acquisition of his land for the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village was taken seriously ill due to the severe cold conditions last night.

The farmer, Parkash Siwach (66), was sleeping under the tent set up by the agitators outside the mini-secretariat last night, when he complained of severe pain in the chest.

He was rushed to the General Hospital, from where he was sent home after giving him medicines this morning.

He was again rushed to a local physician, who later referred him to Hisar looking in at his condition.

The physician, Dr Viney Singla, said the patient had the history of a heart attack in the past and his present condition indicated that the pain was related to a heart problem, which might have worsened due to the cold.

The farmers agitating against acquisition of their lands against the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Plant have been sitting on a dharna outside the mini-secretariat for the past 499 days now.

The farmers have been braving hostile weather and have been sleeping under a tent in these chilly nights.

Three farmers – Bhagi Ram, Ram Kumar and Ishwar Siwach – have so far lost their lives during the agitation.

Bhagi Ram had died due to cold on the eve of New Year last year and the farmers had blocked the National Highway, placing his body on the road.

Later, the farmers had also refused to cremate Ishwar Siwach’s body for three days in September this year, before a Team Anna member Prashant Bhushan persuaded them to relent.

The worsening of Parkash Siwach’s condition has caused fresh worries for the authorities, as any eventuality could escalate the farmers’ agitation.

Sirsa, December 25
Under a special drive the district police and the Road Safety Organisations (RSO), Sirsa, installed reflectors on vehicles in and around Sirsa town.

Devender Yadav, SP, inaugurated the drive by installing reflectors on vehicles near Laal Batti Chowk here. The police also distributed pamphlets on road safety during the drive.

He also appealed to people to drive slow during the foggy conditions and also use reflectors and yellow headlights while driving. He said the district police would observe “Road Safety Week” from January 1 to January 7 to educate people about traffic rules.

Meanwhile, some vehicle owners accused the police of forcible collection of money in the name of the drive. “The police charged Rs 40 per reflector, which is available in the market for Rs 10,” alleged a car owner.

Vehicle owners maintained that the reflectors were meant for tractors, carts or other vehicles, but the police forced all vehicle owners to “purchase” their reflectors.

The Traffic Police, however, maintained that only the actual cost of the reflectors was charged.

Chandigarh, December 25
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has issued guidelines for providing services to domestic consumers in a time-bound manner. For prompt delivery, applicants would be provided a single window service at the subdivision. The consumer clerk would act as single window.

All formalities pertaining to the new connection would be completed by the consumer clerk and the consumer would not be required to go to any other section in the subdivision.

As and when the National Informatics Centre launches the web-based software for monitoring the new connection process, the computerised receipt of application would be given to the applicant. Till then, manual receipt would be given.

A spokesman of the nigam said the simplified application and agreement form would be used for release of domestic connections.

The consumer could also download the form from the website of the UHBVN. The consumer clerk would assist the consumer in filling the form and only the complete form along with all documents would be accepted by the consumer clerk.

The consumer clerk and office of subdivisional officer would always have the updated data of Low Tension (LT) system so that connection could be released to small domestic consumers up to 10 KW load without consuming time in assessing the feasibility of releasing the connection.

The spokesman said the subdivision should always maintain the minimum one-month quantity of tested metres for meeting the requirement of new connections.

In case the tested metres were not available in the subdivision, the tested metres should got deposited from the consumers at the time of applying.

On the deposit of all charges, documents and the tested metre, the service connection order should be issued by the next working day and the connection should be released within seven days of issue of service connection order. 

Yamunanagar, December 25
The non-teaching employees of the government-aided privately-managed colleges of the state have demanded the regularisation of their services.

Stating this here today, Sunder Lal Nagar, former general secretary of Haryana Private Colleges’ Non-Teaching Employees Union, said this was in accordance with the state government policy in respect of other employees. He said in the government-aided colleges of the state, the employees who had put in 10 to 15 years of service were still waiting for regularisation of their services.

Moreover, they were being paid paltry salary with which they were unable to meet their kitchen expenses and provide good education to their children. He rued that till date no government of the relevant time had ever taken note of the hardships of the non-teaching staff of these colleges, which was discrimination with them.

These employees were deeply piqued since subsequent governments have turned their deaf ear to their problems faced by these hapless workers. Nagar appealed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to personally intervene in this matter and get the services of ad hoc, contract, daily wages and part-time college employees regularised.

He reminded the present government that depending upon the teaching workload, the lecturers were recruited by the government from time to time but employees like clerks, peons, attendants, library attendants, laboratory assistants, security staff, watchmen, storekeepers and supporting staff were not recruited on the government’s scale or on the government-aided posts and left to the mercy of the managements of the colleges concerned.

The management of the colleges was also facing hardships in paying a huge amount as salaries to these employees. He urged the authorities of colleges, universities, the University Grants Commission and the Director of Higher Education (Haryana) to make tangible efforts to intervene and help in implementation. 

Sonepat, December 25
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda paid rich tributes to veteran Congress leader late Pandit Chiranji Lal Sharma at a ‘Rasam Satarveen’ programme organised near Hotel Kuber on the GT Road today.

The CM said the demise of Sharma was an end to a political era and he would always be remembered for his principles. “Pandit ji was an able administrator, true congress leader, dedicated social worker, renowned legal expert and a man of the masses,” he said.

His son, Kuldeep Sharma, Speaker of the Haryana Assembly, said the family would follow the path shown by Pandit ji.

Ministers Rao Narender Singh and Gopal Kanda, MPs Jitender Singh Malik, Shadi Lal Batra, Arvind Sharma, Dr Ram Prakash and Deepender Singh Hooda, Deputy Speaker Akram Khan, CPS Jaiveer Singh, MLAs Jagbir Singh Malik, Jai Tirth, Sri Krishan Hooda, Vinod Sharma, BB Batra, OP Jain, Zile Ram Sharma, Sampat Singh, Naresh, Aftab Ahmad and other former ministers and MLAs paid their tributes.

Chandigarh, December 25
The state government has formulated a policy for compromise settlement of loss accounts of the Haryana Financial Corporation (HFC).

According to an official spokesman, the policy would cover all accounts or borrowers of the HFC, which have become loss assets up to March 31, 2008, irrespective of the date of sanction of loan. The settlement scheme would be non-discriminatory and therefore the amount would be linked with the personal properties (not mortgaged) of the borrowers or guarantors available or attached by the collectors.

This policy would not cover cases where the corporation had approved settlement under any of the ongoing scheme or previous settlement schemes of the corporation and settlement has not been cancelled till June 30, 2011. The policy would also cover cases pertaining to lease finance, bridge loans, working capital term loans or working capital loans and soft loan cases, he added.

He said all loan accounts, which had been categorised as “loss account” up to March 31, 2008, meaning that the securities pledged to the corporation both primary and collateral had been disposed off and the agreement to sell stands executed or 100 per cent of sale amount stands received by the corporation in the process of its recovery by the corporation were eligible under the scheme.

The borrowers can submit their applications by March 31, 2012, he added.

Yamunanagar, December 25
The Yamunanagar CIA staff claims to have arrested three members of a notorious gang and recovered a sword, iron rods and other weapons from them.

Phool Chand, in charge, CIA staff, said here today that after receiving a tip-off, a police party conducted a raid at a deserted place near the flyover at Yamunanagar bypass last evening, where the gang members were planning a dacoity.

The police overpowered the accused, identified as Pappu, a resident of Laxmi Nagar, Monu, a resident of Hari Nagar, and Madan, a resident of Ashok Vihar in Yamunanagar. — TNS