Gurgaon, June 28
The manner in which the state government is spending the money collected for the welfare of construction labourers suggests a large-scale bungling in the allocation of funds.

Under the Workers’ Welfare Cess Act, 1996, all employers, including public sector undertakings, are liable to pay 1 per cent of the cost of construction (excluding the cost of land) incurred on the project.

As per its own admission in response to an RTI query, the government has collected more than Rs 400 crore as cess meant for the welfare of construction labourers. However, a miniscule portion of this amount has been spent on the welfare of workers.

Labour Department offices at district headquarters notwithstanding, 19 NGOs were roped in for registration of labourers and given Rs 25.14 lakh for their services.

Curiously, more than half of the said amount was given to four NGOs of Sonepat district alone. One of these NGOs, engaged for workers’ registration at Sonepat, got Rs 10.41 lakh. The other NGOs of Sonepat were employed for Rohtak, Jhajjar and Panipat districts.

“In response to my RTI query on the profiles/experience of the NGOs selected for the job, the authorities maintained that the relevant file was destroyed in fire,” said Subhash, state coordinator of the Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch.

Moreover, while the department/board concerned states that nearly 6,000 labourers had benefited from the scheme, it has not been able to provide district-wise lists of beneficiaries/labourers registered under the scheme.

It is pertinent to mention here that even the Comptroller and Auditor-General of India (CAG) had slammed the Haryana Government for not spending the funds meant for the welfare of building and other construction workers.

As per a recent CAG report, the Haryana Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board had received Rs 383.70 crore from government departments and public sector undertakings as proceeds of cess from 2007 to February, 2011.

However, the department spent only Rs 5.62 crore on welfare schemes while the balance amount of Rs 376.98 crore, besides interest of Rs 17.24 crore earned on bank deposits during 2007-10, was lying unutilised.

The amount so collected was to be spent for the welfare of construction workers under schemes on maternity benefits, pension, advances for purchase of construction of houses, disability pension, loans for tools, payment of funeral assistance, death benefits, medical assistance, financial assistance for education and marriage of children etc.

The construction workers who registered themselves were required to contribute Rs 5 per month per head to become eligible for availing these benefits.

Chandigarh, June 28
The state Irrigation and Revenue Departments have the dubious distinction of having the largest number of vigilance inquiries pending against its gazetted officials. The two departments accounted for about 40 per cent of the 95 pending vigilance inquiries.

While the Irrigation Department has the highest number of 21 vigilance probes pending against its gazetted officers, the Revenue Department is close behind with 17. Dalbir Singh, a former Chief Engineer of the Irrigation Department, has three inquiries pending against him. In the Revenue Department, inquiries have been pending against either tehsildars or naib tehsildars, according to a status report prepared by the Chief Secretary’s office.

Sources said the inquiries against the delinquent officers had been entrusted to serving and retired IAS, IPS and HCS officers and retired judges. In a majority of the cases, the inquiries are taking time as serving officers were to perform their normal duties as well.

The report indicated that the PWD (Building and Roads) also has 12 inquiries pending against its staffers while the Animal Husbandry Department accounted for 10.

The department-wise list showed that the Social Welfare Department has seven pending probes, followed by the police with six inquiries, all against DSPs. The Technical Education and Food and Supplies Departments have five pending inquiries each.

The Prosecution and Agriculture Departments have three pending inquiries each, while the Jail Department has two pending probes. The Departments of Health, Public Health and Forests have one pending inquiry each.

Sirsa, June 28
With the power crisis worsening due to the shutdown of a 600-MW unit at the Khedar power plant, Hisar, last evening, protests were witnessed at more than 12 places in Sirsa and Fatehabad this morning and the day before.

Irate residents held demonstrations at Sirsa town, Sikanderpur and Ding, where farmers from Moriwala, Vaidwala, Phoolkan, Chattargarh Patti, Dhani Majra, Dhani Khuwali, Ding road and Bagguwali expressed their anger against the worsening power situation.

In Fatehabad, residents blocked traffic at Ghaggar bridge in Ratia, gheraoed DHBVN officials in Ratia and raised slogans against the authorities.

Villagers from Rattangarh, Boda, Baliala, Mirana and Platan held a demonstration at the Ratia powerhouse .

RK Jain, Superintending Engineer, DHBVN, Sirsa, said the crisis was likely to continue for a day.

Poles uprooted

Fatehabad: Hundreds of trees and electric poles were uprooted as a windstorm followed by heavy rain lashed the Ratia area of Fatehabad on Thursday afternoon.

The windstorm, which hit the area around 2.30 pm, caused a lot of devastation.

Panipat, June 28
Gangsters attacked a police team and managed to whisk away an undertrial facing a murder charge near the Hathwala village bus stop this afternoon.

The gangsters first snatched the rifles and a pistol of the ASI and two constables accompanying Vikram, a 22-year-old final year B.Tech student, who hailed from Dhollu village in Fatehabad district, and attacked them with these weapons. The accused was being escorted back to the Hisar jail.

Eyewitnesses said eight gangsters came on three motorcycles and threw chilly powder into the eyes of the policemen before thrashing them and snatching their weapons. They even fired a few shots in the air before fleeing the crime scene along with Vikram. The gangsters also took away a carbine loaded with 20 bullets from the police team.

Chandigarh, June 28
The Haryana Government’s action of asking academic organisations and centres to deposit a security of Rs 750 lakh to safeguard the interests of students has found favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

The government had on June 13 issued a letter allowing some institutions to admit students provisionally for the academic session 2012-14, subject to the removal of deficiencies noticed by a committee during inspections. The amount was directed to be deposited to look after the interests of students in case the deficiencies were not removed.

Taking up a petition filed by the KVM Art & Craft Institute Justice Paramjeet Singh asserted that the condition apparently was reasonable because the students’ studies would be hampered if the deficiencies were not removed.