Panipat, December 27
The shortage of power being faced by the state has hit the local industry hard as the manufacturing cost of industrial goods has gone up by almost 30 per cent, reducing the profit margins. Besides, the frequent interruptions in the supply of electricity have impeded the production in all industries, making it difficult for them to meet production targets.

Despite tall claims by the power authorities, which have been ensuring quality supply of electricity for at least 17 hours a day, the power crisis has crippled more than 3,000 local SMEs and heavy industries, which have to rely on diesel gensets to keep the manufacturing operations on, thus increasing the cost of production.

According to official data, there are a total of 3,497 industrial units in the city with a capital investment of over Rs 30130.73 lakh. These industries provide employment to around 53,223 persons. These industries manufacture products, including handloom, powerloom products, shoddy and spinning cotton yarn, dyeing and processing units, agro-based industries, foundries, textile machinery, nuts and bolts which manufacture products worth Rs 96717.97 lakh. The annual export orders are also pegged at Rs 4,000 crore.

However, the industrialists here are finding it hard to meet the deadline of dispatching the orders that had been booked by them early this year as the production had been affected due to the erratic power supply. Main manufacturers rued that with the productions costs up by 30 per cent due to use of diesel gensets, all that they were saving this year was their credibility in the national and international markets.

The frequent outages not only impede the production, but also lead to machinery failures. The industrialists maintain that several machineries needed to go through a dry run before actual production each time these are started. “Half of the day and energy is wasted in dry runs while real production remains quite low,” said Ramesh Verma, president of Handloom Export Manufactures Association, who maintained that it was only for four hours a day that they received electricity and that also with recurrent outages.

President of the North India Yarn Manufacturers Association OP Mata said the local industry was already in trouble due to competitive markets and increased imports from China which at times costs half of what the local industries spend on producing the same good. He said in order to beat Chinese products in the national as well as the international markets, the manufacturers needed reliable 24-hour power supply.

The chief patron of the Panipat Export Association said it was not possible for the manufacturers to go on operating their units using diesel gensets. He said it was unbecoming of the state government that despite their depositing huge amounts for a power connection, the manufacturers were still without power.

Yashpal Malik, chairman of the Federation of Small-Scale Industries and Panipat Dyers Association, said four hours of power a day was inadequate to run machineries. He said despite repeated pleas made to the authorities concerned, both the power utilities and the state government have remained indifferent to the problems being faced by them.

According to the sources in the power utilities, the city of weavers, which has 70,259 consumers, needs more than 55 lakh units a day while the supply has remained less than 43 lakh units on any given day. Out of this, a major portion of is consumed by the domestic and agricultural connections while the power being supplied to industries remains quite low.

Hisar, December 27
The directive of the district police to taxi operators to seek identity proof of people hiring their taxis and to paste their photographs in a register has failed to serve its purpose.

Though the directive issued by invoking the provisions of Section 149 of the CrPC is meant to serve as a deterrent to crime, it cannot serve its purpose because most of the taxis available in the district are privately owned vehicles and are not actually registered as taxis.

It is extremely difficult for the police to identify which privately owned vehicles are operating as taxis even though hundreds of such vehicles are parked at unofficial taxi stands here and in other smaller towns of the district.

Only a small number of vehicles are registered as taxis. Most of these are owned by ex-servicemen after availing of bank loans provided under the resettlement of ex-servicemen schemes. At the most, the directive can be applied to such registered taxis.

Mohar Singh (not his real name), who operates a privately owned vehicle as a taxi, said the competition was so much that paying a higher road tax for registered taxis was not an option. Most of us, therefore, operate privately owned vehicles as taxis, he added.

Rajinder Singh, who operates a registered taxi, said most of the registered taxi operators had started implementing these directions. He said earlier two registered taxi owners had been maintaining a register, recording the names of addresses of those hiring their vehicles. But they were still not insisting on self-attested photocopies of ID proof and photographs.

Ashwin Shenvi, SP, says the idea is to provide for a deterrent as there were several instances when the driver of the taxi was robbed of the vehicle. There had also been cases in the past in which the drivers were killed.

He says the names of close relatives of travellers are needed so that they can be contacted in case of a mishap.

Hisar, December 27
The new traffic regulation system put in place has failed to check traffic jams at important points in the city.

The new system introduced yesterday concentrated mainly on the regulation of traffic on the Dabra Chowk crossing and the old city areas of Nagori Gate.

Under the new plan, the traffic police had introduced a one-way system at Nagori Gate and Parijat Chowk in the old city and Dabra Chowk in the peripheral area.

However, it led to traffic jams in Rajguru Market and also Dabra Chowk.

While the introduction of one-way traffic flow system at Parijat Chowk eased traffic, the absence of such a system in Rajguru Market, the city’s busiest shopping area, created chaos.

The traffic lights at Nagori Gate led to hundreds of vehicles queuing up at Parijat Chowk on one side and Talaki Gate on the other.

At Dabra Chowk, the U-turn provided to facilitate one-way traffic led to traffic jams because of vehicles coming from Delhi Road. Traffic policemen tried hard to clear the road but motorists were greatly inconvenienced.

Several attempts have been made by the authorities to ease traffic congestion in the city during the past more than a year. However, none of these have succeeded because the infrastructure required was never built.

Chandigarh, December 27
Haryana wants the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) to fund various projects relating to water supply, solid waste management, roads and improvement of streetlights in 26 towns falling in the NCR sub-region of the state.

The state government, which prepared development plans for these towns, has estimated that the financial gap to meet the present infrastructure deficit in these towns to the tune of about Rs 2800 crore.

The plea to the NCRPB for funding was made by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while he was speaking at a workshop on “Strategies for Development of Metro Centres/Regional Centres/Counter-Magnet Areas in NCR” in Delhi today.

Referring to two important projects of Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), Delhi- Gurgaon- Rewari-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat, Hooda requested the Union Ministry of Urban Development to implement these projects as national projects and provide 100 per cent funding for them. The cost of the Delhi-Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar corridor alone worked out to Rs.25150 crore (including land cost) for a stretch of 158 km. The Haryana Government with its limited resources would not be able to bear such costs, he added.

He said the Haryana Government had also taken a very bold initiative of the development of an intra-city Metro system in Gurgaon in the PPP mode. The project was likely to be commissioned by March 2013. The concessionaire had not only born the entire cost, he was also sharing revenue with the state government.

The state government had also made special efforts to develop the transport infrastructure, both through MRTS and improved road connectivity, between the National Capital Territory of Delhi and the adjoining towns in Haryana.

The extention of Delhi Metro from Badarpur to YMCA Chowk, Faridabad had also been approved by the Union Government and was likely to become operational by August, 2014 at a total cost of Rs. 2494 crore. Out of this, Rs.1588.6 crore would be borne by the state government.

Hooda said the state government was keen to extend the Delhi Metro from Mundka (Delhi) to City Park of Bahadurgarh in Haryana. The state also had a plan to connect the Sonipat-Kundli multi-functional urban complex with Delhi Metro. But the DMRCL had found the project as unviable.

Pointing out the significance of improvement of road connectivity between Delhi and CNCR towns, Hooda said a high-power committee constituted by the Prime Minister under the chairmanship of member-secretary, Planning Commission, had endorsed the need for creation of these links. He said these links could not be developed until and unless the Delhi Development Authority made necessary provisions in the Zonal Development Plans.

He strongly pleaded that for major projects, support in the form of grant-in-aid should be provided by the NCR Planning Board. Some of the projects in Haryana requiring financial support included projects of metro connectivity, orbital rail project, additional road links between Delhi and Haryana, and affordable housing. He said since power was also critical infrastructure, the board should provide long-term soft loans for power projects at par with other basic infrastructure projects.

Hisar, December 27
Sub zero-temperatures were recorded in several places in the district last night due to western disturbances and heavy snowfall in the hilly areas.

In Hisar City, the mercury fell to below zero degree which could cause damage to the crops. A thin covering of ice was noticed in irrigated fields in most of the villages of the district this morning.

Reports received here from Siwani, about 30 km from here, said more than one sapling planted by the Forest Department was damaged because of the extreme cold conditions. The department had planted over two lakh saplings in an area of 528 acres.

The local Met office said the sub-zero temperatures and fog could continue throughout the week. It predicted that icy cold winds would blow in the area over the next few days. The disturbances in the west could also lead to overcast conditions.

The acute shortage of power has further worsened the situation. The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has been supplying power every alternative hour. The power crisis has been deepened by the closure of both generating units at the Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant at Khedar village near here.

Chandigarh, December 27
In a significant ruling, the Haryana State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (HSCDRC) has held that it is not necessary that every compensation claim case on account of alleged medical negligence must be referred to experts for evidence. The Bench headed by Justice R S Madan, president, pronounced the order on an appeal filed by the Civil Hospital, Tohana against an order of the District Consumer Redressal Forum, Fatehabad, which granted a compensation of Rs 60,000 to Neelam for deficient treatment by Dr Asha Kiran Bhutani during her delivery when she gave birth to a baby girl.

The state of Haryana through the SMO,Tohana, had challenged the verdict on the ground that the complainant did not provide any expert evidence to prove the alleged medical negligence.

In its ruling, the commission quoted a Supreme Court judgement which observed that "a higher degree of negligence has always been demanded in order to establish a criminal offence than is sufficient to create civil liability."

The commission held that the entire evidence available on the record was sufficient to hold Dr Bhutani guilty of medical negligence and deficiency in service. In the instant case, the fact that the expert evidence has not been produced, is hardly of any significance in view of the observation made by the Supreme Court, it was observed.

The same judgement also held that the hospital was vicariously liable for the negligence by its doctors.Where a doctor is held guilty, its employer hospital is jointly and severally liable to pay the compensation granted by the consumer forum.

Welcoming the decision, Pankaj Chandgothia, president of the Consumer Courts Bar Association, hoped that it would go a long way in furthering the consumer rights of medical negligence victims.

Hisar, December 27
A relative calm prevailed in Haryana in 2011 in so far as the activities of khap panchayats are concerned. Although the khaps did try to interfere in a few marriages this year, too, yet their leadership chose not to take a strident stand.

There are several reasons for this. First, the attention of the Jat community remained focussed on the pro-reservation agitation this year. Secondly, the sentencing of khap leaders in the Manoj-Babli murder case had the desired effect on khap leaders. Thirdly, the apex court ruling directing deputy commissioners and SPs to check honour killings effectively also made a big difference.

Jagmati Sangwan of Rohtak, who has been spearheading a campaign against honour killings and the role of khaps in such crimes, said the emergence of honour killings as a subject of national debate during the past year helped isolate khaps. The debate helped create awareness on the issue of inter-caste marriages and same gotra marriages which forced the hands of khap leaders.

Sangwan said after the apex court ruling on the issue, she found the administrative machinery more responsive whenever the khap diktats were brought to its notice. She said the pro-reservation stir provided politically ambitious members of the community an alternative platform to try and fulfil their ambitions. Earlier, they used the khaps for this purpose.

The reservation stir kept the community leadership busy for several months from March this year to September when the stir was suspended till February 2012. During these six months, the khap panchayats, too, chose to be less strident so as not to incur the wrath of the rest of the communities which had opposed the blocking of rail tracks and roads during the stir.

Besides, the Punjab and Haryana High Court took a serious view of the community members blocking the railway tracks and highways and ultimately ordered the police and the administration to remove the mobs. This had a salutary effect on the khap leaders and they showed more restraint.

The sentencing of khap leaders in the infamous Manoj-Babli murder case in March 2010, too, made a difference. A Karnal court sentenced the five perpetrators to death. The khap head who had ordered the killings but did not take part in murders received a life sentence, and the driver involved in the abduction was sentenced to a seven-year prison term.

This was the first time that a court handed out such a stringent punishment in an honour-killing case in the country. The decision successfully reined in khap leaders who till then enjoyed immunity for their actions.

The most notable instance of khap interference this year involved the marriage of Neelam Sharma, an Indian Foreign Service officer posted in the Indian consulate in Moscow, to Kuldeep Yadav an IAS officer then posted as Additional District Magistrate in Godhra in Rajasthan.

Neelam hails from Patharwali village in Bhiwani district. A khap panchayat opposed the marriage on the ground that it was an inter-caste alliance. Police protection was provided to the family of the bride-to-be. However, saner village elders successfully prevailed on the khap leadership not to oppose the marriage of a girl who had brought pride to her state. Eventually, the marriage had to be celebrated outside the bride’s ancestral village.

In April this year, a khap opposed the marriage of Krishan, a resident of Shera village of Panipat district, to Ramandeep, a resident of Sanch village of Kaithal district. Just five days after their marriage, the khap panchayat of Shera village directed them to end their marriage as they were from the same gotra. However, the police acted quickly and the matter was amicably resolved.

In July last, cinema owners in Haryana refused to screen a movie “Khap” starring Om Puri, Mohnish Bahl, Govind Namdev and Uvika Chaudhary. The movie was based on the role of khaps in honour killings. Several khaps opposed the release of the film in Haryana and the cinema owners refused to screen it.

Ambala, December 27
“Farmers across the country are going to stage a protest on January 5 on a call given by the National BKU president and it will continue till farmers get relief in getting proper price of their crops as per the Swaminathan Commission Report,” said Gurnam Singh, BKU Haryana president.

Gurnam Singh said in view of constantly slashing prices of potatoes, the state government would make available subsidy on the freight incurred for potato export and reduce market fee from 4 to 2 per cent in the vegetable markets in the state with immediate effect. Farmers are angry with Rs 1.5 per kg price of potatoes and are considering burning the crop in the district.

In this connection, a farmers’ delegation met Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda who assured all help to the potato growers to liquidate their potato crop by the State Marketing Board at reasonable rates. Hooda admitted that potato crop is causing loss to farmers every year due to bumper crop production.

According to information, on the direction of the Chief Minister, Marketing Board CMEO Jaswant Singh Rana, ZMEO Nar Singh Jony and DMEO Kurukshetra Nihal Singh and Raj Kumar Tyagi of Bhartiya Walmart Company had a meeting at Shahabad grain market with BKU members to discuss the varieties and the rates assuring to develop sources of requirement of potatoes in the state.

Jind, December 27
While traditional form of agriculture being the mainstay of the majority of farmers in the region, the term organic farming, which had been in books only has taken a practical shape in the fields of Sajjan Sharma of Bahbalpur village in the district. The technique has not only proved quite a success in various aspects but has also generated a sharp interest among fellow farmers who take out time to visit his farm.

“Though the organic farming has been defined as the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm, several persons who have visited my fields have got inspired and have promised to take a leaf to promote this technique in view of the various problems and issues,” says Sajjan, who has put the technique into practice in several acres of land. He says while use of fertilisers and pesticides was being minimised, it excludes or strictly limits the use of manufactured (synthetic) fertilisers, pesticides (which include herbicides, insecticides and fungicides), plant growth regulators such as hormones, livestock antibiotics, food additives and genetically-modified organisms.

The crops that were being grown here include wheat, vegetables and fruits, whose demand had been soaring by each passing year. The awareness level of people about the overdose of chemicals and pesticides has improved and it was the reason that he decided to adopt a new technique, though there had been some problems at initial level, which include setting up of a polyhouse, arranging drip irrigation scheme for several fields, setting up the infrastructure for manufacture of compost manure in the field and employing more persons to look after the specialised work. As many as 12 units of compost manure have been set up here. Admitting that he had to invest more in developing the facilities, he said he had to suffer some losses due to increased cost of production and lack of customers who could buy the produce at right time.

He said he took up this project a couple of years back and was looking to expand this technique as he was still dependent on traditional inputs and methods as the complete changeover might take some more time. But the methods had already started attracting the attention of people from neighboring villages who keep on visiting the fields and the polyhouse to experience the change. Stating that wheat, capsicum, tomato, potato and ladyfinger were among some of the crops, which were being grown in this manner at present, he vows not to resort to chemical fertilisers and pesticides in order to avoid the danger posed by such products. While he prefers to keep the figure of total produce and the overall profits so far as secret, he said he wanted to maximise the area of the organic farming, as it was going to prove beneficial in the long run.

Rohtak, December 27
A sit-in protest by Anna Hazare in support of a strong Lokpal Bill at Mumbai, has found a large number of supporters in the city here also. Around hundred residents sat on a dharna at the Mansarovar Park here as a part of a three-day protest programme here today.

They denounced the government’s stand on the issue and claimed that they stood behind the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill mooted by Hazare to curb the corruption.

Addressing the gathering, various speakers condemned the alleged linger-on policy of the government and the dilly-dallying attitude of the authorities concerned to accept the demand, raised by the civil society. Alleging that the government and those who were in power had been deliberately delaying the matter, they claimed that movement launched in this connection had resulted in more awareness among the common people for the need of measures like the Lokpal Bill to curb the corruption at various places.

Activists of the Senior Citizen Council, Bhrastachar Mukti Morcha, Haryana Insaf Society, Democratic Forum, Janhit Sangharsh Samiti, Bhootpurva Sainik Bhrastachar Virodhi Manch and the Bhootpurva Nausainik Kalyan Manch took part in the protest.

Kurukshetra: To support Anna Hazare’s three-day hunger strike in protest against not passing the proposed Jan Lokpal Bill, representatives of various social, religious, educational, traders, employees, farmers and students organisations demonstrated and staged a dharna in front of the mini-secretariat here today.

The protesters alleged that on the one hand the government’s representatives have said they were committed to pass the Lokpal Bill but on the other hand they were adopting delay tactics to pass a strong Jan Lokpal Bill. If they will have to go a jail, they would not hesitate to do so, they added.

Rewari, December 27
Thieves, who broke into a computer lab of Government Senior Secondary School of Lilodh village on the night of December 21, decamped with 7 LCDs worth Rs 35,000.

Following a complaint lodged by the Principal Sunil Kumar on Monday, the police has registered a case of burglary in this regard.