Fatehabad, May 13
Former Chief Minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala today announced that his party would not allow the setting up of a nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad.

Chautala, who was here to address a meeting of party workers, said INLD workers would join Gorakhpur farmers to thwart every move to install the plant. If the government went ahead with its plan to set up the plant, it would have to do it over dead bodies of INLD workers, Chautala said.

When The Tribune drew his attention during a press conference that his father, Chaudhary Devi Lal, had supported this very project, Chautala claimed the former Deputy Prime Minister had demanded power plants and not atomic units. “Had he been interested in a nuclear power plant, our party would have gone for it in Yamunanagar as that plant was started by our government,” Chautala maintained.

The former Chief Minister alleged that the Hooda government had been uprooting farmers from their land to benefit big industrialists though it had failed in the face of stiff opposition by growers. He said land acquired for SEZs in the National Capital Region was a classical example where farmers have again started sowing crop on their land despite acquisition.

Taking a dig at the HJC and the BJP, Chautala said two minuses made a plus in algebra but not in politics. He said both the HJC as well as the BJP lacked people’s support but both parties have been talking of sharing power for two-and-a half years each after the assembly poll.

Chandigarh, May 13
The resources crunch has forced the Haryana Government to seek a revised funding pattern for two of its ambitious mega projects costing around Rs 6,300 crore from the Central Government.

The state government now wants that the funding pattern for the projects, two Metro links and the Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS), should be modified from 80:20 to 50:50. Since people from other parts of the country would also benefit from these two mega projects, the state government alone will not be in a position to fund these projects, a senior official said.

The official said the two Metro links from Badarpur to YMCA Chowk, Faridabad, and from Mundka to Bahadurgarh, would go a long way in taking care of the commuting needs of residents of the National Capital Region (NCR).While the Rs 2,494-crore 13.8-km Badarpur-Faridabad Metro link would cost Rs 1,557 crore to the Haryana Government, it would have to shell out Rs 789 crore for the Rs 1,916 crore 11.1-km Mundka-Bahadurgarh Metro link.

As far as the RRTS were concerned, the 180-km Delhi-Gurgaon-Rewari-Alwar would cost Rs 24,600 crore with Haryana’s share being Rs 1,684 crore. And with 111-km Delhi-Sonepat-Panipat costing around 16,552 crore, Haryana’s share would be Rs 2,194 crore. “The RRTS projects should be declared as national projects since Haryana will not be able to fund these projects as they are highly capital intensive,” the officer demanded.

Faridabad, May 13
The Sarpanch of Raipur Kalan village in this district was arrested on Friday night and kept in the lock-up for allegedly creating a ruckus at the Tigaon police station. He was released on bail this afternoon with support coming to him from the public.

Faridabad Police Commissioner Shatrujit Singh Kapur today ordered a probe into
the allegations against the SHO, Tigaon, Vikas Bhola, following a complaint against him by several sarpanches from the area. They were led by a local Congress leader, Lalit Nagar, who alleged that the SHO acted against the Raipur Kalan sarpanch, Dharam Singh, with an ulterior motive.

The sarpanches alleged that Dharam Singh had gone to the police station along with the residents of Tigaon village to effect a compromise between two parties in a case relating to a road accident.

A dumper had hit a Honda City in Tigaon village last night. The residents of the area and Dharam Singh, who were present at the spot at the time of the accident, had successfully effected a compromise between the two parties.

They alleged the police, which reached the spot later, took away the driver and the owner of the Honda City to the police station. Dharam Singh and resident of Tigaon followed them to the police station.

Lalit Nagar and the sarpanches complained to the police commissioner that the SHO did not appreciate the sarpanch’s persistence to broker a compromise between the two parties in the police station. They further alleged that he was beaten up in the lockup.

The ACP, Tigaon, Devender Kumar said the version of the accused SHO was that the sarpanch tried to instigate people in the police station. Hence, a case was registered against him, and his subsequent arrest.

The sarpanch was produced in a court yesterday which granted him regular bail.

Chandigarh, May 13
In Haryana, six government procuring agencies have procured highest ever 83.25 lakh metric tonnes of wheat till yesterday and farmers have been paid Rs 10,697 crore for their produce.

The Haryana Government had set up 374 procurement centres to ensure smooth and hassle-free procurement of wheat. The previous record of the state was 69.28 lakh metric tonnes of wheat during the last procurement season.

A spokesman of the Haryana Food and Supplies Department said over 83,25,781 metric tonnes of wheat had been arrived in Haryana Mandis till yesterday, out of which 463 metric tonnes of wheat has been purchased by traders and remaining all had been purchased by the six government agencies. The wheat procurement in the state was still progressing, major portion of which was being procured by six government agencies, he added.

He said over 23.16 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been purchased by the Food and Supplies Department and over 29.75 lakh metric tonnes by HAFED. CONFED purchased 5.10 lakh metric tonnes of wheat, Haryana Warehousing Corporation 7.88 lakh metric tonnes, Haryana Agro Industries Corporation 8.07 lakh metric tonnes and the Food Corporation of India procured over 9.26 lakh metric tonnes of wheat.

He said out of all districts, Sirsa district procured maximum amount of wheat that is 10.03 lakh metric tonnes followed by Karnal which procured 8.87 lakh metric tonnes and Fatehabad which procured 7.80 lakh metric tonnes of wheat.

New Delhi, May 13
When Nisha Yadav, 34, turned up in the court of a magistrate to oppose the bail plea of an accused in the rape of minor girls at a Gurgaon shelter home, the onlookers were surprised. Who would, after all, hire a lawyer to be a witness in a case involving sexual abuse of children?

"I am not afraid of speaking the truth. I will do everything in my power to secure justice for these children. God knows for how long they have been enduring these odds. We know of their sexual abuse as a recent occurrence. But who knows how long this has been going on?" says Nisha Yadav, the schoolteacher who blew the lid off the sexual abuse of minor girls at Superna Ka Angan, a children's shelter home located in Gurgaon's Wazirabad village.

Had it not been for her watchful eyes, no one would have known of what the children were suffering. It was Nisha, the class teacher of a seven-year-old girl from the home, who took the trouble of finding out why the child scribbled the most bizarre things in her notebook.

"This is not the first time we have produced evidence of children being violated at this particular shelter home. Last year too, a minor girl's cheeks were found to be badly bruised and bitten. When we enquired, she blamed the home's cook-cum-caretaker Raju for her brutalisation. We took up the issue with Superna Sethi, owner of the home who promised to sack Raju. We found that Raju had never been sacked," Nisha told The Tribune in an interview.

She has already given a statement before the magistrate and recounted her experiences with children from this home. She has listed instances to point out that the shelter owner knew of children's exploitation at the complex she owned.

"Children have told us that they often complained to the owner who did nothing," says Nisha.

She has statements from children alleging that the owner used to force them to "spend time with Raju".

"He worked both at the shelter home and the residence of the owner," Nisha has said in her statements.

On how she managed to unravel the truth, she says, "It was a difficult task because the kids were literally terrorised. Even after last year's instance with one child, we kept asking the others if they were fine. They always said yes. They never told us that Raju was still around. But some girls were always sad."

Finally, last week, fresh evidence surfaced of continuing sexual abuse of children at the home. "I took the school principal in confidence and three teachers sat together to talk to three minor girls out of whom rape of two has been confirmed by medical reports. We told them to treat us as their mothers and speak the truth. They revealed everything, including how Raju made clips of some girls. We immediately approached the police," says Nisha, who has been teaching at Government Girls Primary School, Wazirabad, since 2004. The school is located in the vicinity of Superna Ka Angan.

Horrified by the developments, Nisha has now hired a lawyer to present as a prosecution witness in the case, which represents a deeper rot in a system that treats child protection as a low-priority area.

"I want the owner of the shelter home to endure the same suffering as the children. She knew what was happening but turned a blind eye. I will oppose her bail to the end," says Nisha, a mother of two minor children.

Rohtak, May 13
The police has registered a case of cheating and intimidation against three revenue officials and the Manager of a local branch of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC) in connection with a case of cheating.

The accused include the Tehsildar of Meham. No arrest has been made in the case.

The case has been registered under various sections on the directions of a court at Meham.

The court orders followed a complaint lodged by Sandeep Kumar of Sishar Meham village of the district. He has complained that the suspects, in a conspiracy, had diverted an amount of Rs 6 lakh in the form of a loan from the account of his kisan credit card issued by the local branch of the OBC in a wrongful manner and without his knowledge.

He told the court that when he protested he was threatened with dire consequences. The booked persons have been identified as Raj Singh, Tehsildar, Jagdish Malhotra, bank manager, Vinod, Patwari, and Azad Singh, lambardar.

Sirsa, May 13
For bringing transparency in the developmental works initiated in the rural areas, the authorities in Sirsa have introduced e-panchayat system under which record of the funds spent on various developmental works have been made online.

Three softwares, Panchayati Raj Institution Accounting Software (PRIASoft), NTP Software and NPP Software, have been installed in the systems of the Block Development and Panchayat offices in the district for this purpose. “We have directed the officials of the Panchayat and Development Department to keep the records of the expenditure updated through the e-Panchayat system so that anyone could see the details from anywhere,” said Deputy Commissioner J Ganeshan.

“Through these softwares, the details of the funds incurred under the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Indira Awas Yojna and various other schemes are uploaded in the system,” he added. As the expenditures are uploaded immediately on the software, it leaves little scope for manipulations at later stages.

The system would not only bring transparency in development works but also ensure better monitoring as senior officials would constantly have all updates on works and the funds spent. The DC said directions had been issued to the implementing agencies to send utilisation certificates and status reports on the works.

The move, however, has not enthused some local residents, who feel the system may not work for long. “When the government does not update their websites, how can one hope that the expenditure spent on development schemes will be updated regularly,” said Rajat, a software expert.

Chandigarh, May 13
Retired officers of the Central Civil Services can now get their annual confidential performance report after retirement. The government has decided to hand over the annual confidential report (ACR) or the annual performance assessment report (APAR) to retired persons on completion of retention period of two years, if it gets specific written request for the same.

In a letter issued to all IAS officers of the state by the Chief Secretary’s Office, reference of a letter issued by the Ministry of Personnel, Public Grievances and Pension Department of Personnel and Training, Government of India, had been given which states that after a period of retention of ACR or APAR dossier for two years, if a specific written request is received from the retired officer concerned to this effect, the same may be provided to him.

However, if any disciplinary proceedings were pending in finalisation in respect of the officer at the time of his retirement, the period of two years would count from the date of issue of final orders in the disciplinary proceedings. 

Chandigarh, May 13
The state Health Department has felicitated seven Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) officials here for their "outstanding" services in checking the use of nicotine at various hookah bars in the state.

Senior Drug Control Officers, Adarsh Goyal and Manmohan Taneja, and Drug Control Officers Pooja Chaudhary, Rajnesh Kumar, Naripan Goyal, Rakesh Dahiya and Gurcharan Singh, were felicitated by Haryana Health Minister Rao Narender Singh, a government spokesman said today.

The Health Department had recently launched a campaign to check the use of nicotine in hookah bars. The FDA team collected a number of flavouring substances from hookah bars in Panchkula and Gurgaon and sent them for lab tests. The reports confirmed the use of nicotine at hookah bars in both districts.

Congratulating the FDA officials, the minister said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had appreciated the campaign initiated by the state to control drug addiction. — PTI

Chandigarh, May 13
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has approved to cover the mineral grinding and pulverising units of Mahendragarh district or those situated elsewhere in the state under consent management. The board also issued new guidelines regarding abatement of pollution in mineral grinding or pulverising units and pollution-control measures required to be adopted by these units.

The guidelines would be made applicable for new grinding units and not applicable for the existing units. However, guidelines in respect of pollution-control measures, tree plantation and general conditions would be applicable for all grinding and pulverising units.

As per the guidelines for abatement of pollution in mineral grinding or pulverising units, the mineral grinding unit can be established on a plot of land either allotted any state agency in notified industrial area or land owned by the proponent and duly converted by the competent authority for industrial use.

In case the land has not been converted for industrial use, the project proponent must obtain permission from the local bodies. The proposed site or land for establishing mineral grinding units should be such that the nearest point of boundary of the land is not located within 100 metres from the centre of national or state highway. Also, the minimum area of land for establishing a mineral grinding unit should be such that after establishing plant and machinery and having supplied space for material stock and movement of vehicles, there is enough space all around for planting at least two rows of plants along the periphery.

The pollution-control measures to be adopted by mineral grinding units are that all jaw crushers, pulverisers and granulators are installed inside enclosures. The enclosures around jaw crushers, pulverisers, granulators must be rigid and fitted with self-closing doors and close-fitting entrances and exists. Where conveyors pass through the enclosures, flexible covers must be installed at entries and exists of the conveyors to the enclosure. Outlets of pulverisers must be attached to pulse jet type fabric bag filters.

All rotary screens must be totally enclosed in housing. Screen houses must be rigid and reasonably dust tight. For conserving environment from adverse effect of emissions, the industry must ensure that minimum 33 per cent of the land on which industry is established or proposed to be established is covered by plantation. At least two rows of tall trees of suitable species are planted along the boundary on all sides and such plantation should be carried out within a minimum width of 10 metres. If the soil is not fit for plantation, the project proponent will impost soil and ensure that saplings with minimum height of 5 feet are planted.

A signboard showing the name, address and capacity of the industry should be displayed at the entrance of the site. In case the industry intends to use groundwater more than 25 kilolitres per day, the industry must obtain prior permission from the competent authority for withdrawal of groundwater.

Kurukshetra, May 13
Two transformer thieves and one buyer of stolen transformer coil have been arrested by the CIA staff of the Kurukshetra police.

At a press conference here on Friday, district police chief Rakesh Kumar Arya said the arrested persons had been identified as Sandeep, alias Sanju, and Rahul Kumar, both residents of Silliklan village in Yamunanagar district. They were arrested on a tip-off near Pipli Chowk, about 5 km from here, a couple of days ago while they were selling copper wire.

Nine cases of theft had been solved and the police had recovered six transformers, Rs 1.8 lakh in cash and copper and iron wires from their possession, he added.

Arya said the arrested persons had told the police that they had stolen the transformers from Gajlana, Badtaoli, Sadhour, Ramnagar, Ghrarsi, Sanwla, Kamouda and Ramgarh villages. They also told the police that they had sold some of the stolen goods to Deepak Aggarwal, a resident of Saini Vihar, Baltana, Mohali, Punjab. Deepak has also been arrested along with the stolen copper wire, Arya added.

The police had arrested Rohit, near the Indri Chowk, Ladwa, along with copper wire and a motorcycle for allegedly stealing a transformer from Guda village. His accomplice, Rihaj Haidar Ali, a resident of Indri in Karnal district, had also been arrested.

Fatehabad, May 13
MDAV Senior Secondary School, Bhattu Kalan, Fatehabad, held competitions among women and entertainments activities to mark Mother’s Day today.

Juhi Meena, wife of Deputy Commissioner Ashok Meena (since posted to Bhiwani), was the chief guest while Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate- cum-secretary, District Legal Service Authority, presided over the function.

The function witnessed games like tug-of-war, one-minute shows and ‘Bindi Lagao’ competition among mothers of schoolchildren.

A skit and a musical play presented by students portrayed vividly the importance of mother in one’s life and the acts showed how some people start ignoring their mothers once they grow up.

In her address, Juhi Meena said people often failed to understand their mothers throughout their lives.

She said mothers always cared for their children howsoever they treated her because the welfare of their children was supreme for them .

Expressing deep concern at the declining sex ratio in the country, particularly in Haryana, Harish Gupta, CJM, said killing female foetus in the womb was a serious crime and attracted stern punishment.

He showed a video clipping exhibiting how girls were not being allowed to come in this world.

Gupta also spoke about free legal aid facilities available to senior citizens, women and several other underprivileged classes of society.

Jhajjar, May 13
Haryana Education, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal said a proposal for the recruitment of 895 Assistant Professors in government colleges had recently been sent to the Haryana Public Service Commissioner (HPSC). Besides, the process to recruit 140 lecturers in the college cadre had already been set in motion.

Iinteracting with mediapersons after listening to public grievances here today, she said the state government was celebrating 2012 as The Year of Youth and many schemes had been embarked upon for their welfare “Under thes schemes, private, self-financed and government colleges are being opened to provide quality education. The government wants to develop Haryana as a hub of education and many reputed education institutions are coming up in the Rajiv Gandhi Education City. A Teachers Training Institute is being opened at village Silani in Jhajjar district,” said the minister.

Bhukkal said the number of students taking admission to schools was continuously increasing while the drop-out rate was declining. The campaign for providing education to the girl-child was also yielding positive results. About alleged sexual abuse of girls, children and women inmates of ‘Apna Ghar’ shelter house in Rohtak, Bhukkal said those found guilty of irregularities in non-government voluntary organisations would be severely punished.

Earlier, she directed the administrative officers to accelerate the pace of redressing public grievances.

Hisar, May 13
Deputy Commissioner Amit Aggarwal has appointed a panel headed by District Development and Panchayat Officer Sumit Kumar to check the records and functioning of all the NGOs operating in this district.

The panel includes Amardeep Jain, SDM, Hisar, Mahavir Prasad, SDM, Hansi, Sushila Rawal, District Programme Officer, and Somya, District Child Protection Officer.

The panel visited the premises of the Krishan Pranami Bal Sewa Ashram, Radha Kishan Education Society, Jeewan Jyoti Foundation, Jal Kalyan Society, Royal Foundation of India, Unique Welfare Society, Yuva Kranti Mission, Indian Dance Research Centre and the Holy Mind Education Society.

The team met the girls and boys associated with these NGOs and questioned them regarding any problems they were facing there.

The exercise has been taken up in the wake of the reported exploitation of girls by the head of an NGO at Rohtak.

Aggarwal said the records of all the NGOs would be checked on a regular basis.

Hisar, May 13
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has declared Haryana Agricultural University's regional research station, Karnal, as the best centre in the country for its significant achievements in maize research.

This is the second such achievement of the university as its bajra research. Sentre won a similar award recently.

Lauding maize scientists of the university, KS. Khokhar, Vice-Chancellor, said the contribution of the regional research station in increasing maize production in the country was noteworthy. He said this centre had developed and released 13 single cross maize hybrids a majority of which had been recommended for cultivation at the national level. He said hybrid HM-4 developed by this centre was the best in the country for baby corn cultivation. Likewise, hybrid HSC-1 of this centre was the first sweet corn hybrid developed by the public sector and released at the national level.

Khikhar said that this centre had also developed over 500 inbred lines of maize and identified a large number of sources of resistance to various biotic (pest and diseases), abiotic (drought, cold, water) stresses and other desirable traits.

Sirsa, May 13
District Welfare Officer of Sirsa Sumitra Mehta has invited the wrath of the judiciary for not cooperating in a campaign of the Haryana Legal Services Authority.

Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate and Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority, has served her a show-cause notice asking her why a recommendation for seeking department action and stopping her salary not be made for the lapse.

“As per the quarterly schedule of the National Plan of Action 2011-12, legal literacy classes for women in small groups with the assistance of the DWO are being held in Sirsa. Being the DWO, you were appointed assisting officer with advocate Jyoti Verma for legal awareness classes,” the notice said.

The notice said the DWO was informed through a letter. Mehta said she was busy.