Panipat, January 23
The revised prices of coal announced by Coal India from January 1 are most likely to increase the generation cost of power in the state by 40 to 65 paisa per unit.

According to highly placed sources in Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) limited, the daily coal requirement of the utility was 44500 million tonnes (MT). The daily coal consumption at the Panipat, Yamunanagar and Khedar thermal power plants was 21000 MT, 7800 MT and 15700 MT, respectively.

The sources said with a 40 to 50 per cent hike in coal prices but transportation charges remaining fixed, the overall increase in the price of coal would be around 20 to 25 per cent.

The officials said a 12 per cent rise in coal prices would hike the generation cost by 40 paise per unit while a 20 per cent increase would lead to a hike of up to 65 paise per unit.

The officials said at present coal costs Rs 1.75 per unit. The power utilities would be left with no other option but to pass the increase in the cost of generation to the consumers.

Since January 1, Coal India has started pricing coal based on its gross calorific value (heat produced by burning). Earlier, the prices were fixed based on moisture and ash content present in coal. This had also increased the number of coal categories from seven to 17, the sources said.

Coal would now be sold in 17 price brands starting from the variety that produces 2,200 kilo calories to the one that produces 7,000 kilo calories. There are 15 other price bands, each at an incremental rise of 300 kilo calories.

Hisar, January 23
The plot holders of HUDA’s Sector 15 here have been rattled by a court order enhancing the rate of compensation to the owners whose land had been acquired for the sector by Rs 365 per square yard.

The order comes 33 years after HUDA acquired the land. The court has directed HUDA to pay interest to the owners for the period. HUDA has served notices on the plot holders, asking them to pay up the enhanced price.

HUDA had acquired 141 acres in 1979 to establish the sector. It paid landowners at the rate of Rs 9 per square yard. The landowners went to the court protesting the low rate offered for their land. In 1985 the court enhanced the compensation to Rs 11.25 per square yard.

One of them was an influential doctor who had to part with one acre of his land. The court ordered in 1991 that he be paid Rs 400 per square yard because the land was commercial.

The matter reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court which in 2001 changed the lower court’s order and ruled that all landowners be paid at the rate of Rs 23 per square yard.

The landowners went to the Supreme Court in 2004 which referred the case to the lower court for consideration of fresh evidence. The lower court sent the case back to the high court with fresh evidence in 2008. It was reverted to the lower court in 2009.

In March last year, the court determined the rate of enhancement for the doctor’s land at Rs 365 per square yard. Thereafter, on January 3 the court ruled that all landowners be paid at the rate Rs 365 per square yard.

It is estimated that after the calculation of interest for 33 years, the effective rate will come to about Rs 5000 per square yard. This means that the owner of a 500 square yard plot will have to shell out Rs 25 lakh more.

The plot holders have constituted a panel to challenge the order.

Faridabad, January 23
The state government is contemplating regularisation of 66 unapproved colonies in Faridabad and a favourable decision on them was likely by March end. The government will notify its decision through a gazette notification.

The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) has sent the case of the eligible colonies to the state government.

As per the Cabinet’s decision only those colonies, which came into existence before June 30, 2009, will be considered.

The other condition is that there must be at least 50 per cent constructions on the total land in the colony concerned. The portions in the colony falling under the overhead high-tension wires, and those belonging to the Defence and Forest Departments will be excluded from the proposed notification.

Also, the areas under the process of acquisition by the government will be left out. The MCF shortlisted the colonies after conducting their physical survey with the help of a private agency.

Breakup of the colonies selected for consideration is: 30 are in the Old Faridabad-zone of the MCF, 26 in the Ballabgarh-zone and 10 in the NIT-zone.

The colonies in the Old Faridabad-zone include Ajronda extended Abadi, the Bharat Colony, Anangur Dairy, Bhoor Colony-extension, Baselwa Colony-extension, Budena extended Abadi, Mewla Maharajpur-extension, Numberdar Colony, Om Enclave, Power House Colony and Rao Sultan Singh Colony. Ankhir village-Extension, Dabua Colony-extension-II, Gazipur Colony, Nangla Enclave Part-II and Navada-extension are some of the colonies in the NIT-zone.

The colonies in Ballabgarh-zone include the Krishna Colony, a number of habitations falling in the Adarsh Nagar area, Bhagat Singh Colony, Navlu Colony and the Sanjay Colony. Official sources say the total number of approved colonies in the jurisdiction of the MCF will have become 141 after the government okayed the case of the new bunch of unauthorised ones.

Chandigarh, January 23
A non-government organisation headed by a former spokesman of the Haryana Congress has indirectly opposed the inclusion of the Jats in the category of the other backward classes (OBC) for the purposes of reservation in jobs and educational institutions.

The president of the Gramin Bharat, Ved Prakash Vidrohi, a close associate of Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, has written to the Chairman of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission, Justice KC Gupta (retd), urging him to collect data about the educational status and its share in the government jobs before including any caste in the category of the OBC.

Pointing out that according to the Constitution, only those castes could be included in the category of the OBC, which were socially and educationally backward, Vidrohi claimed that in Haryana a particular caste, which was not backward in any manner, wanted to be included in the OBC category “on the basis of its numerical and political strength”.

Admitting that every caste had a right to stake its claim for the inclusion in the OBC category, Vidrohi said it would be better to ascertain if that caste was really backward by taking into account the data about the educational, economic and social status of that caste.

Vidrohi also urged the commission to make the data public so that it could be debated. He said it was necessary to collect the date as suggested by him to ensure that there would be no injustice towards the castes who were already in the OBC category.

Rohtak, January 23
An educated girl is the cornerstone of any civilised society. Girls represent the qualities of compassion and affection and society exists on their stregth. This was stated by the vice-president of the Haryana Child Welfare Council, Asha Hooda, at a function organised on the theme of “Female Foeticide Awareness” at Tagore Auditorium on the MDU campus.

Speaking as the chief guest on the occasion, Hooda gave a clarion call to stop foeticide and establish a balanced society where there was no gender discrimination and which provided an equal opportunity in all spheres to both the genders.

In her address, Hooda said families especially the women must realise their potential
and power. She said girls should be given proper education so that they can empower themselves and emerge as independent individuals who could make and decide their destiny themselves and do not become dependent on others, though inculcation of moral, social and family values was a must for everyone.

Hisar, January 23
Tributes were paid to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary here today.

ADC Ashok Kumar Meena and SDM Amardeep jain garlanded the life-size statue of Netaji at Camp Chowk.

Residents pay tributes to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose on his birth anniversary in Karnal on Monday. Tribune photo: Ravi Kumar

Meena said Netaji had devoted his life to the struggle for independence of India and he had dreamt that every citizen should reap the benefits of being a citizen of a free republic.

SDM Amardeep Jain said every Indian should do his or her best to safeguard the independence and integrity of the country. A united India could become a world power in the next few years as the economy was growing despite the global slowdown.

The function was attended by several freedom fighters and associates of Netaji from the Indian National Army.

Tributes to Netaji were also paid at a function held at the Congress Bhawan here.

Karnal: The All-India Eklavya Public Welfare Society celebrated Netaji’s birth anniversary by distributing woollen clothes among poor and destitute people, shivering under biting cold wave conditions outside the Sanatan Dharam temple here.

"The society believed that serving the poor and the needy was the biggest service to mankind and there could be no better tribute to Netaji".

The Akhil Bhartiya Pratima Raksha Samman samiti and the Netaji Subhash Market Association garlanded the Netaji’s statue at Committee Chowk. Reports on tributes to Netaji were also received from Kurukshetra, Bhiwani, Sonepat

Sirsa: Air Commodore SP Singh, Air Officer Commanding of the Air Force station, Sirsa, led members of various social organisations and others in paying rich tributes to Netaji Subhas Chander Bose.

Air Commodore SP Singh garlanded a Netaji’s statue at Subhash Chowk, a roundabout named after him.

Among those present at the function were 90-year-old fighter Bhagu Ram Poopawas, a member of the Azad Hind Fauj, and freedom fighters Reshma Rani Khairakan and Kamlesh Rani.

Chandigarh, January 23
Gurgaon, Haryana’s millennium city, emerged as the state’s crime capital in 2011. With the highest number of heinous crime cases, including murders, kidnappings, rapes and dacoities and robberies, Gurgaon district toppled Hisar to emerge as the most crime-prone district in the state last year.

With 89 murders in 2011, up from 85 in 2010, Gurgaon also reported 91 dacoities and robberies. Besides, Gurgaon also reported the highest number of dowry deaths at 25. The number of rape cases (39) and kidnappings (50) was also one of the highest in the state.

Rohtak, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s home district, was second reporting 78 murders, 47 kidnappings, 57 rapes and 65 dacoities and robberies. Sonepat with 78 murders, 54 kidnappings, 27 rapes and 46 dacoities and robberies also had substantial crime cases.

Of the total number of 7,632 cases, Gurgaon reported the maximum cases, including 3,345 thefts last year. The district was also miles ahead of other districts in accident cases with 971 mishaps, including 421 fatal ones. As many as 462 persons died in road accidents while 754 were injured.

Hisar, which led with 91 murders, 85 kidnappings, 25 rapes, and 56 dacoities and robberies in 2010 reported fewer murders (73). Though the number of rapes cases jumped to 36 in Hisar last year, cases of kidnappings (83) and dacoities and robberies (53) registered a marginal decline.

Though Faridabad reported 60 cases of murder, the district reported the highest number of rapes (46) and kidnappings (105). Panchkula reported 17 murders, 15 rapes, 15 kidnappings and 14 decoities and robberies. An analysis by a senior police official said a large-scale urbanisation and property disputes were the major reasons for a spurt in crime in the districts falling in the NCR bordering Delhi.

Fatehabad, January 23
Nine members of a family, including five children, were killed when their Hyundai Verna car collided head-on with a truck near Gillankhera village on the Sirsa-Fatehabad road around 7 am today.

All occupants of the car, including two men, two women and five children, died on the spot.

The victims, Surinder (35) and Jitender (32), two sons of senior Dera Sacha Sauda functionary Narsi Dass Goyal, their wives Sangita and Saroj and five children of the two couples - Kashish, Ayush, Simran, Shruti and Astha - were returning from the Dera Sacha Sauda in Sirsa after attending a congregation last evening. The victims’ car collided with the truck while overtaking a vehicle.

The police revealed that the victim, Jitender, was driving the vehicle at a high speed and hit the incoming truck while overtaking a vehicle near a small bridge.

The speed of the truck too was very high and it dragged the car to quite a distance.

The accident was so fierce that the police and passersby took more than an hour to extricate the bodies from the mangled remains of the car with the help of gas cutters.

Traffic was disrupted on the highway for over an hour with both vehicles blocking the road.

Satinder Kumar Gupta, SP, and Shamsher Singh Dahiya, DSP (Headquarters), rushed to the accident site immediately and later accompanied ML Kaushik, DC, to the General Hospital to console Narsi Dass Goyal.

Later, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, former Parliamentary Secretary Dura Ram, Commissioner, Hisar Division MP Bansal; IG, Hisar Range, AS Chawla; also visited the hospital and attended the victims’ cremation.

A pall of gloom descended on the town immediately after the news spread.

Traders in the grain market closed their shops as a mark of respect to the deceased. The two schools, where the five children studied, also remained closed . 

Rohtak, January 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has imposed costs of Rs 20,000 on the Health Department for "deliberate" delay to issue a no-objection certificate (NOC) to an HCMS doctor for getting admission to the MD course of Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences.

While the fine will have to be deposited with the State Legal Services Authority , Haryana, within one month, the court has ordered the recovery of the said amount from the officials responsible for delaying the NOC.

This decision comes in response to a petition filed by Dr Deepak Singh (HCMS), who had applied for admission to the MD (radiodiagnosis) course of the health university last year.

Though he secured the first position in the merit list, he was not granted admission as the Health University claimed that he had not obtained the NOC from the Health Department, his employer.

While the petitioner approached the department, the NOC was denied to him on the ground that disciplinary proceedings have been proposed against him.

As no chargesheet was issued, he approached the court through a writ petition.

The petitioner was, however, permitted to appear in counselling on a provisional basis at the intervention of the court when the petition came up for hearing on February 28 last year.

The petitioner appeared in the counselling and was admitted provisionally but formal admission could not be granted to him as the NOC was still not issued on certain grounds. The case remained pending in the court.

Ultimately, the Health Department decided on December 27, 2011, to file the proposed disciplinary proceedings against the petitioner after which the NOC was finally issued by the office of the Director-General, Health Services, Haryana, on January 1 this year.

But the court in its January 16 order observed that the department should be penalised for the delay in taking its decision, may be intentionally, to harm the petitioner’s interest.

Keeping in view the conduct of the state of Haryana, costs of Rs 20,000 are imposed on the respondent, states the order. 

Jind, January 23
The controversy over the death of two teenaged schoolgirls recently in a road accident here fails to die in view of the continuous protest against the alleged police action. A delegation of local residents, including kin of the victims, submitted a memorandum to police officials seeking registration of a case and arrest of the two youths who they claimed had been responsible for the accident that resulted in the death of the two girls on January 19.

Pradip Singh Gill, maternal uncle of one of the victims identified as Shikha, said in view of the poor and aimless investigation into the case, local residents including a former MLA Surajbhan Kajal met the DSP, who had been in charge of the probe, to seek a progress into the matter.The police so far had been non-cooperative, he added.

Alleging that one of the accused had been son of a police official, he claimed that the police was perhaps trying to circumvent and hush up the matter in view of the fact. He said both youths who had been moving on a bike adjacent to girls had been identified and their names had been given to the police, but claimed that the police had not been interested in taking any action against the accused. The delegation told the police that one of the accused and his family had even approached the girls’ families to seek pardon.