Chandigarh, January 6
The Bhupinder Singh Hooda government seems to have found an antidote to battle the bankruptcy of its two power utilities - the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN).

Faced with massive accumulated losses, amounting to about Rs 16,000 crore, of its two power utilities, the state government is set to privatise power distribution in Gurgaon and Panipat.

“The privatisation of power supply in the two high revenue-generating areas will go a long way in gathering additional resources for the fund-starved distribution companies (discoms) which have recently sent an SOS to the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) to hike power tariff to bring them out of the red,” sources told The Tribune here today.

Gurgaon, which comes under the jurisdiction of DHBVN, contributed a monthly revenue of Rs 214 crore against a total revenue of Rs 450 crore of the company. On the other hand, Panipat generates a monthly revenue of Rs 35 crore out of the total Rs 315 crore revenue generated by the UHBVN.

Sources said the privatisation would help the state government in three ways. First, by bringing in more revenue for the state government, it would delay the unpopular decision of hiking the power tariff.

Secondly, the transmission and distribution losses, which are quite high in certain districts of the state, could be brought down through privatisation.

Thirdly, privatisation would help the state government recover revenue from consumers at a much faster rate. Currently, the arrears in a majority of areas are mounting and the state-controlled discoms have failed to realise them for years altogether on account of alleged patronage of the defaulters by vested interests, including elected representatives.

The sources said out of the total projected revenue gap of a massive Rs 7,755 crore for the two discoms for 2012-13, the approximate rural electrification component was pegged at Rs 3,421 crore for subsided power supply to the farm sector. Once the power supply gets outsourced, this figure would come down by a large extent.

Besides, privatisation will provide healthy competition to the state-controlled discoms, whose functioning has been marred by mismanagement, inefficiency and high-aggregate technical and commercial losses.

However, the decision to privatise power distribution may not go well with the powerful power unions in the state which have already opposed the move terming it as “anti-people and anti-consumer”.

How will privatisation help n It will bring in more revenue for the state government and thereby delay the unpopular decision of hiking the power tariff. n Transmission and distribution losses, which are quite high in certain districts, can be brought down through privatisation. n This move will help the state government recover dues from consumers at a much faster rate.

Fatehabad, January 6
Farmers of four villages in Ratia sub-division of this district are up in arms against the agriculture authorities here and some seed dealers of Ratia town after the wheat seeds supplied to them failed to germinate.

Accusing the dealers of having supplied spurious seeds to them, the farmers alleged that the agriculture authorities were hand in glove with the dealers.

After a series of meetings between the farmers and representatives of the dealers failed to reach any conclusion, agriculture authorities are contemplating initiating action against the dealers by sending them notices.

Farmers from Dadupur, Lalwaas, Shenal Dhani and Kanwalgarh alleged that as many as 13 of them purchased wheat seeds from three different dealers of Ratia and sowed it in their fields about 25 days back.

However, the seeds failed to germinate, alleged the agitating farmers Gurdial Singh, Sant Lal, Dalip Singh, Bajrang Dass, Balwant Rai, Mange Ram, Kulwant Singh and others.

The farmers, who staged a dharna yesterday, lifted it after the Agriculture Department assured them that suitable action would be initiated against the traders within two days.

However, the farmers are agitated and they have threatened to sit on dharna again from Saturday if the agriculture authorities failed to take action.

The farmers have been demanding Rs 15,000 per acre as compensation besides taking criminal action against the dealers.

The dealers, who are ready to reimburse the cost of seeds and fertilisers spent by the farmers, maintained that they were not at fault and the farmers should proceed against the manufacturer of seeds.

Meanwhile, BS Dalal, Deputy Director, Agriculture, Fatehabad, said the department had conducted a survey of 35 acres in Dadupur, Lalwas and Kanwalgarh and found that the crop loss was 90 per cent.

He said some other farmers were yet to furnish their bills and hence their lands could not be surveyed.

Dalal said that the firms - Annapurna Beej Bhandar, Swami Beej Bhandar and Virender Agriculture Stores that had supplied the seeds - had purchased it from a manufacturer Baliala in Punjab.

He said that if no compromise was reached between the farmers and the dealers by tomorrow, the department would start proceedings against the dealers by sending them notices.

He said the farmers could also approach the district consumer protection forum for compensation, if they so desired.

Gurgaon, January 6
A team of district officers led by Deputy Commissioner PC Meena yesterday raided a number of offices of property dealers in the district and handed over those indulging in developing/promoting illegal colonies to the police.

The Deputy Commissioner directed the police authorities to initiate action against such dealers after lodging FIRs against them.

Two dealers were nabbed with maps and site plans of the illegal colonies. The offices of some dealers being run without valid licences were also sealed on the spot.

The team, including DCP (HQ) Dr Abhey Singh Rao, SDM (Gurgaon-North) Satender Singh Duhan, SDM (Gurgaon-South) Captain Manoj and DTP (Enforcement) Dilbagh Singh, raided the offices of property dealers on the Gurgaon-Alwar road, Maruti Kunj road, Bhondsi, Naya Gaon, Garhi Harsaru, Hayatpur-Garhi road, Gopalpur, Basai and Sector 10 in Gurgaon.

Some property dealers fled their shops on seeing the cavalcade approaching, even leaving their vehicles behind. An under-construction office of a dealer on the Maruti Kunj road was demolished on the spot.

The team inspected the offices and seized the documents, maps and site plans, etc.

In Naya Gaon village, the villagers apprised the team about an unauthorised colony being developed in four acres of land meant for a village temple. The Deputy Commissioner directed the SDM (Gurgaon-South) to get the entry to the site blocked immediately and get the accused arrested after registering a case against them.

Unauthorised colonies were also found near Garhi Harsaru village and in Gopalpur village. The squad of DTP (Enforcement) was directed to demolish the office and dismantle the roads.

Hisar, January 6
The Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the BJP have set up a 10-member coordination committee to jointly plan their political strategy.

According to a press note issued here today, the panel will work under the supervision of the HJC chief, Kuldeep Bishnoi, MP, and Dr Harshvardhan, BJP legislator from Delhi, who is in charge of Haryana affairs.

The committee is headed by former MP Dharampal Singh Malik. From the BJP former Haryana minister Ram Bilas Sharma will be its convener. Organising secretary of the BJP Suresh Bhatt will be its ex-officio member.

Former Haryana BJP chief Ganeshi Lal and national organising secretary of the BJP, Capt Abhimanyu, will also be members of the panel.

The panel will meet at Chandigarh on January 24 to plan its strategy. The meeting will also be attended by the chiefs of all district-level units of both parties.

The press note said the panel was formed at a meeting in New Delhi last evening. The meeting thanked the people for their support to both parties in the recent byelections to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

Gurgaon, January 6
District Magistrate PC Meena has cancelled the no-objection certificates (NOCs) issued to the owners of 10 petrol stations located in the district. These NOCs were issued conditionally between January 2000 and May 2005.

The petrol stations whose conditional NOCs have been cancelled by the District Magistrate include eight petrol stations of Indian Oil Corporation and one each of Bharat Petroleum and Essar Oil Limited.

The petrol stations include Essar filling station at Bhora Kalan village; Bharat Petroleum station at Sector 14 in Gurgaon; Indian Oil Corporation petrol station at Sohna Chowk, Sohna; retail outlet at Narsinghpur village on NH-8; and petrol stations at Sidhrawali village on NH-8; at Alipur village on Gurgaon-Sohna road; at Sidhrawali village on the left side on NH-8 while going from Delhi to Jaipur; at Farukhnagar on state highway-15-A; at Manesar village; and the petrol station located opposite the new courts on Sohna Road in Gurgaon.

These oil companies were issued show-cause notices several times and had been asked to fulfil the requisite conditions within 60 days, but most of these did not respond.

The petrol station owners did not take the NOCs from the National Highways Authority of India, Ministry of Environment and Forests, PWD and Fire Department.

The companies were given opportunities of personal hearing also, but most of these did not send their representatives for personal hearing either.

The owners of a couple of petrol stations maintained that they had applied for obtaining the requisite NOC from the department concerned and should be given more time.

Now, the companies operating these retail outlets will have to apply afresh to obtain the NOCs. Till then, they will have to stop operating these outlets.

The District Magistrate has written to the oil companies to take action accordingly.

Karnal, January 6
Thousands of people braved intense cold and foggy conditions in the morning to keep date with the "mass pledge" programme organised across the district to "save the girl child".

The Deputy Commissioner, Neelam P Kasani started the mass pledge programme on September 6 last year and made it a monthly affair to renew the pledge on the sixth of every month. She herself administered the oath to the people at Chaar Khamba chowk and went to several other places, including Assandh and Doon International School, where she was presented the "Haryana gaurav" (Pride of Haryana) award for her spirited campaign to save the girl child and improve the female sex ratio.

The people clad in heavy woollens gathered at various places in spite of cold and took the oath.

Kasani said it was not merely a campaign but a resolve to correct the sex ratio and said the campaign would continue till the number of boys and girls were equal.

The efforts made so far have starting showing positive results and the number of girls per 1000 boys was increasing with each passing day.

Hisar, January 6
The weather is likely to be unstable up to January 10 and foggy and misty conditions in the mornings and evenings are likely to prevail in Haryana during the next two days.

While stating this today, a spokesman of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University said here today that the scientists of the university had advised the farmers in the state to undertake agricultural activities in accordance with the likely weather conditions.

He said according to the forecast made by the Agro Met Department of the university, the sky might be overcast on January 7 and 8 and scattered rainfall was possible in several areas of Haryana. The maximum temperature was likely to be between 18 and 21 degrees Celsius and the minimum between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius.

He said the farmers should irrigate their wheat crop necessarily and pick out the weeds from wheat crop. There might be an incidence of white blight and alternaria blight on mustard crop and if it happened, the farmers should spray fungicide recommended by the university to save their crops, he added.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, January 6
Flouting the state government’s orders regarding the closure of all schools from January 5 to 16, a number of schools remained open forcing little kids to shiver in extreme cold conditions in Sirsa and Fatehabad today.

The authorities in Fatehabad said that action would soon be initiated against the erring schools.

In view of the fog and cold wave in the area, the state government had yesterday ordered the closure of all government, private and aided schools from January 5 to 16.

However, a majority of private schools in Sirsa and Fatehabad flouted these orders and kept their schools open.

It was quite foggy and the sky remained overcast throughout the day. Light showers were also experienced in the morning.

SDM Baljit Singh, who visited several schools in Fatehabad, sought their explanation in this regard. He later said that legal action would be initiated against the owners.

Reports of opening of schools were also received from Ratia in Fatehabad and Rania in Sirsa.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner, Fatehabad, ML Kaushik today ordered a change in the timings of anganwadis in view of the cold weather conditions.

The anganwadis, which earlier opened from 8.45 am to 12.45 pm, will now open at 10 am and close at 1 pm, a spokesperson said.

Panipat, January 6
In order to prevent enforcement officials of HUDA from demolishing their house, four members of a family attempted suicide by consuming some poisonous substance in Sector 12 here today. They were taken to the local Civil Hospital where their condition was stated to be out of danger.

Rameshwar Saini’s family had been living in a house which they referred to as ‘dera’. It was constructed on two plots in Sector 12 here. As HUDA authorities reached there and initiated the demolition drive, Rameshwar along with his wife, Vidya Devi, daughter, Poonam, and niece, Deepa, consumed some poisonous substance. Following this the HUDA officials suspended the demolition drive.

It was learnt that Rameshwar owned a piece of agricultural land that had been acquired by HUDA to crave out new residential sectors in the city. Rameshwar claimed that after his land was acquired, former Chief Minister Bansi Lal allotted him a piece of land to construct his ‘dera’ in Sector 12. He said after HUDA authorities served him with a notice to vacate the land, he moved court and the matter was still pending. He claimed that the court had stayed any move by HUDA authorities to pull down his establishment.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner JS Ahlawat said the piece of land belonged to HUDA and the authorities had gone to reclaim the land which belonged to the department. He denied that there was any legal stay against demolition of the building, claiming that the authorities had proceeded in accordance with law.

The HUDA officials maintained that they had served the family with several notices before proceeding with the demolition drive.

Kurukshetra, January 6
Taking a serious note of the Virender murder case, Ranjeev Dalal, Haryana DGP, has declared a reward of Rs 3 lakh on four proclaimed offenders.

Parul Kush, district police chief, said some persons had shot dead Virender of Kakdod village on Kurukshetra University campus on October 17 last year. She said Vijay of Kheri Sherkhan district, Kaithal, Rajesh of Bibipur village, Jind district, and Naresh Kumar of Sarehara district, Hisar, had already been arrested while four others were still absconding.

As per the DGP’s orders, whosoever will inform about the whereabouts of these proclaimed offenders or will help in arresting them, will be rewarded accordingly and the informer’s name will be kept secret, she added.

Giving details about the rewards, she said Rs 1 lakh each had been announced on Ajay and Virender as well as Rs 50,000 each had been announced on Ashok Kumar and Vikas. The photos of Ajay and Virender had also been released by the police.

Karnal, January 6
Enraged by the refusal of the authorities to close the institution due to extreme cold conditions, students of the local Industrial Training Institute (ITI) yesterday went on rampage, pelting stones on the cops and blocking the road near the ITI Chowk.

The protesting students ransacked the women PCR and overturned it and a woman cop was seriously hurt in the incident. The police tried to disperse the mob but the students turned violent and cleared the road only after the cops resorted to mild cane charge.

The national highway number 1 remained blocked for nearly one hour and hundreds of vehicles were stranded on both sides of the road and sensing that the situation was taking an ugly turn, Prem Sagar, the vice-principal of the ITI, closed the institution till January 9.

The students were adamant and not prepared to listen to any argument and were pacified only after the forced closure of the institute.

The demand to close the ITI was prompted by the decision of the district administration to close all schools in the districts till January 16 and the ITI students wanted the same pattern to be followed for them.