Chandigarh, July 18
The Punjab and Haryana High Court directions to HUDA not to issue construction licences in Gurgaon without obtaining an undertaking from builders that groundwater would not be used for construction and also to identify the source of water they would use for construction has created a strange situation.

HUDA, which has been issued these directions, does not have the authority to issue licences for construction. The Town and Country Planning Department (TCPD), which issues such licences, has not been given these directions by the court.

The government will clarify the situation before the High Court on July 31, when the case comes up for hearing.

HUDA only sanctions building plans in respect of plots allotted by it. Official sources say the possession of plots is offered only after HUDA has completed arrangements for water supply. It has no power to sanction building plans in respect of licensed colonies, i.e. colonies developed by private builders. In respect of such colonies, the building plans are sanctioned by the TCPD, which also grants licences for these colonies.

SS Dhillon, Principal Secretary, TCPD, says a condition is laid down while sanctioning the building plan that until HUDA makes arrangements for water supply, the builder would make his own arrangements for water. The builder may bring water in tankers or may make use of an already drilled borewell on his land. But he cannot dig a fresh borewell.

Of course, the court has now directed that a builder must also identify his source of water to check exploitation of groundwater.

Asserting that there was no need to panic over the court directions, Dhillon said the government would inform the court on the next date of hearing about the arrangements being made to increase water supply in Gurgaon.

He said additional water would be carried to Gurgaon through the newly constructed NCR channel completed at a cost of about Rs 325 crore. Water would start flowing through this channel within a couple of months. The channel can carry 500 cusecs, but about 150 cusecs of water would be initially released to meet the demand of Gurgaon. Moreover, untreated water could be given from the NCR channel for construction purposes also. 

Gurgaon, July 18
The High Court’s order against issuing construction permits to builders unless they submit an undertaking not to draw groundwater has come as a jolt to real estate developers as well as investors.

The builders who have applied for the requisite permissions for their construction projects are apprehensive.

Buyers are anxious that it would further delay the construction projects . They are also concerned that the delay would escalate cost of the projects.

“The government and the HUDA authorities are aware that the Central Groundwater Authority (CGWA) and the High Court have barred the digging of borewells in the entire Gurgaon district without permission, which is quite hard to obtain. They also know that any construction activity cannot be carried out without adequate supply of water, which is often ensured by way of illegal boring. Still, they are giving licences to builders, leaving the common man to bear the brunt,” said a real estate broker-cum-market observer.

Meanwhile, industry body Assocham has maintained that the HC order would hurt investment in Haryana.

“Our study showed that 50 per cent of investments in Haryana were in the realty sector as on December, 2011. This investment was largely driven by a construction boom in Gurgaonl. With a halt to the construction sector, the investment in the state will be drastically reduced,” said Assocham secretary-general DS Rawat. He said of the total investment of Rs 4.98 lakh crore in Haryana as on December, 2011, the real estate sector accounted for Rs 2.48 lakh crore.

Hisar, July 18
The row over the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad district and the controversy over the quality of equipment used in the Yamunanagar thermal power plant took an interesting turn today with former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ran Singh Maan claiming that the Chinese equipment for the Yamunanagar plant had been ordered by the Om Parkash Chautala government.

Quoting official files, Maan said at a news conference here today that while the Chautala clan was crying itself hoarse about the poor quality of the Yamuna Nagar plant, the fact was that the purchase of Chinese equipment was cleared by none other than Om Parkash Chautala as Chief Minister.

The state high-powered purchase committee headed by Chautala himself cleared every aspect of the project, he said.

Accusing the Chautalas of spreading canards about power projects, he said their opposition to the nuclear power plant was politically motivated as it was Devi Lal who had mooted the proposal for a nuclear plant at Fatehabad when he was the Chief Minister.

Chandigarh, July 18
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved the creation of a separate cadre of public health professionals with multi-disciplinary education for better management of government hospitals and has given direction for setting up a public health institute at PGIMS, Rohtak.

Hooda was presiding over the 5th meeting of the State Health Mission. He said there was a need for bringing more efficiency in the management of government hospitals and this was the factor differentiating the government hospitals from private hospitals.

Hooda said the establishment of a separate institute with hospital and health management syllabus at PGIMS, Rohtak, would prepare the cadre of public health professionals with multi-disciplinary education.

The Chief Minister also directed the authorities for creating a separate cadre for Mewat to remove the shortage of medical practitioners there. — TNS

Chandigarh, July 18
The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) being developed at an estimated cost of over $100 billion across six states in the country will be high on the agenda of a high-level meeting between Union Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textiles Anand Sharma and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here tomorrow.

“The meeting, which will be held in the backdrop of the emergence of Haryana as a favourite destination of major corporates, assumes importance as the DMIC envisaged doubling of employment potential within five years, tripling of industrial output and quadrupling exports from the region,” sources said here today.

Besides the DMIC, other issues pertaining to other industrial projects would also be taken up with a high-level delegation from the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, a senior government functionary said.

Sharma, who will be in Chandigarh tomorrow, will have wide-ranging talks, first with Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, before meeting Hooda. Besides the industrial issues, Sharma will ascertain the views of both the chief ministers on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the multi-brand retail sector.

Rohtak, July 18
Visitors to the complexes of the Haryana Tourism were at their receiving end today due to the one-day statewide strike by the staff of the department in protest against non-acceptance of their demands. The call for strike was given by the Haryana Tourism Employees Union.

“As all the employees of the union took part in the strike and sat on dharna outside the complexes, the department lost revenue of around Rs 50 lakh today on account of the strike,” said a union spokesperson.

The work at all 43 tourist complexes and 14 petrol pumps operated by the department reportedly came to a standstill. The spokesman said the demands included regularisation of the ad hoc staff, revision of various financial benefits, recruitment against the vacant posts and scrapping of the privatisation or the outsourcing policy. 

Panchkula, July 18
The CBI today produced the 10 accused, including prime accused Jaswanti Devi, in the Rohtak Apna Ghar sex scandal in the Panchkula special CBI court.

As the CBI failed to produce the case dairies related to accused Satish Kumar, Jai Bhagwan and Bhim Singh Ranga which are required for seeking police remand, the court directed the CBI to produce these three accused tomorrow along with the related case documents. The court sent the remaining seven accused in 14-day judicial custody.

Earlier, the CBI sought the police remand of three accused to recover laptops and other related documents from them.

Talking to reporters outside the court complex, the NGO shelter home manager, Jaswanti Devi, said she was innocent and would come out clean. She added she had full faith in the CBI .

The shelter home landed in a controversy when a team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) raided it on May 9 and rescued its inmates.

Rohtak: The CBI on Wednesday shifted the 10 accused in the infamous Apna Ghar case from the local jail to Panchkula . An eight-member CBI team had arrived here on July 13 after it took over the probe from the SIT of the Haryana Police.

While a CBI Inspector-General revealed that the team had interrogated several officials, including members of the SIT after taking custody of all relevant records and documents pertaining to the case, the 10 accused, including Jaswanti Devi, Simi, Jaibhagwan, Satish, Jaswant, Veena, Sheela, Bhim Singh Ranga, Chand and Sonu - were taken on production warrants before they were shifted to Panchkula.

As many as 103 inmates, mostly women and children, have now been shifted to various places.

Chandigarh, July 18
The Haryana Government has issued transfers and posting order of four IAS officers with immediate effect.

Ashok Khemka has been posted as Director General, Consolidation of Holdings, Director General, Land Records, Special Collector and Special Land Acquisition Officer (LAO).

AK Singh, Director General and Special Secretary, Agriculture Department, has been posted as Managing Director, Agro Industries Corporation, in addition to his present duties during the leave period of Vijayendra Kumar.

Pradeep Kasni has been posted as Chief Executive, Khadi and Village Industries Board, against a vacant post. Nitin Kumar Yadav has been posted as Director Supplies and Disposals. He has also been posted as the Managing Director, HARTRON, Joint Secretary and Director, Electronics and Information Technology Department. 

Fatehabad, July 18
Women wielding lathis stood guard throughout the day on their land as the district authorities initiated a survey of crops, trees, tubewells and other structures on the land acquired for nuclear power plant in Gorakhpur today.

Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, was also present with other farmers.

“Farmers and women from their families have been standing here since 8 am without any food or water. They are determined to sacrifice their lives but will not part with their land,” said Siwach.

The survey team, however, did not go towards Gorakhpur and instead completed the survey of over 185 acres of land of Badopal village situated at a little distance from the place where the villagers guarded entry to their village.

The authorities claimed that the survey work in Badopal had been completed today.

Some officials of the Revenue Department, who had visited Gorakhpur village for survey of crops on June 27, were roughed up by the farmers and taken hostage for several hours.

The survey is done for identifying crops, trees and other fixtures on the acquired land so that the compensation could also be given to the farmers.

Chandigarh, July 18
The drive to register childcare institutions (CCIs) in Haryana is beginning to boomerang. With the deadline of July 20 set by the Women and Child Development (WCD) Department for registering all such homes approaching fast, their owners seem to prefer closing them down rather than coming within the ambit of state monitoring.

Sources said the Women and Child Development Department had received information that eight such homes had either expressed their intention to close down or had already downed their shutters. The real problem is the increasing number of inmates needing accommodation.

While two such homes have already been closed down in Kurukshetra, another home has been closed in Panipat while four other homes were in the process of winding up. The department said that children had been handed back to their parents while other orphans were adjusted elsewhere.

The department will face a crisis with all the government-run childcare institutions already packed to capacity and private-run homes unwilling to accept new inmates. 
In Kurukshetra, two homes have handed over 25 inmates to their parents while an orphan child has been sent to another childcare home. These homes have been closed down to avoid registration. 

Gurwinder Kaur, programme Officer, WCD Department, Kurukshetra, said two more homes had expressed the desire to close down rather than register with the department.

“We are trying to convince them to keep running the homes because there is no place to accommodate the inmates in any of the existing homes. If such closures keep happening, where will we house those children who cannot be handed over to their parents? We are hopeful of bringing them around to our point of view soon,” Kaur said. Similarly, children were handed over to their parents after one such home closed down in Panipat. 

Sources revealed that a few homes in Hisar too wanted to close down. The registration has been made mandatory under the provisions of the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act (JJ Act) which now is being implemented stringently by the Haryana government following the Apna Ghar episode.

Sumita Misra, Director-General, WCD Department, said while there could be no compromise on registration of the CCIs, the move was not aimed at harassing the home owners. 

“In fact, realising that funds could be a problem for these homes, we are not only willing to provide some financial assistance but also asked the deputy commissioners to involve the community in lending support to these homes,” Misra said.

While the number of such homes is pegged at 109 according to a survey by the government, the exact number will be ascertained once the deadline for registration ends.