The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

	Grand welcome for state’s ‘maiden’ Drona awardee Sunit Dhawan Tribune News Service Gurgaon, September 3 Principal SS Bokan and Vice-Principal Vidya Gupta led the staff members and students of Dronacharya Government PG College here, in welcoming their college star Sunil Dabas, who has been honoured with the Dronacharya Award. Sunil, who heads the Department of Physical Education at the college, is also the chief coach of the Indian Women’s Kabaddi Team. The team coached by her has won six gold medals in reputed international events, including Asian Games-2010 and World Cup-2012. In view of her outstanding achievements and contribution to Indian women’s hockey, she was presented with the award by the President of India at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi on August 29. Sunil is Haryana’s first and India’s fourth woman coach to be given this award. She belongs to Mohammedpur Majra village in Jhajjar district of Haryana. Overwhelmed at the rousing reception ceremony organised at her college by her colleagues and students, Sunil said it was a dream come true for her and she could not ask for anything more. She attributed her success to persistent efforts, family support and blessings of the Almighty. “It’s an emotional moment for me ?and an inspiring one for the students, especially those who participate in sports activities,” she stated. Sunil has several research publications to her credit and has also submitted her PhD thesis on psycho-physical abilities of Indian female players. A gold-medalist in MA (Physical Education) herself, she has also participated in several national and international seminars on sports and physical education and presented her research papers there.
	Diabetes can be managed by taking right kind of food: Expert Sushil Manav/TNS Sirsa, September 3 With India having the highest number of diabetic patients in the world, the sugar disease is posing an enormous health problem in the country. While there are several factors responsible for this, experts in the field of food science and technology maintain that it has much to do with the food habits of Indians, who eat abundance of carbohydrates in their daily food. Dr Kanwaljit Singh Sandhu, an assistant professor of Food Science and Technology in Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa, said diabetes could be managed by taking the right kind of food. The International Diabetes Federation estimates reveal that the number of diabetic patients in India has more than doubled from 19 million in 1995 to 40.9 million in 2007. It is projected to increase to be 69.9 million by 2025. Currently, up to 11 per cent of India’s urban population and 3 per cent of rural population above the age of 15, have diabetes. The World Health Organisation estimates that mortality from diabetes and heart disease cost India about $210 billion every year and is expected to increase to $335 billion in the next 10 years. These estimates are based on lost productivity, resulting primarily from premature death. Various studies have shown that the high incidence of diabetes in India is mainly because of sedentary lifestyle, lack of physical activity, obesity, stress and consumption of diets rich in fat, sugar and calories. “Indians have the habit of taking enough quantities of carbohydrates having starch as their major component, which ultimately breaks into glucose. Hence, it important for diabetic patients to take foods that do not release glucose readily, but take some time to digest,” said Dr Sandhu, winner of the Young Scientist Award, 2008, by the Association of Food Scientists and Technologists India (AFSTI). In diabetic patients, the release of insulin needed for metabolism of the glucose is slow due to malfunctioning of the pancreas and hence, besides medical treatment, it is important to eat food that releases glucose slowly. Going by the time taken for breaking of starch into glucose, food can be divided into three categories, readily digestible that release glucose within 20 minutes, slowly digestible that take 20 to 120 minutes and the resistant starch that takes more than 120 minutes. He said for diabetic patients, leguminous food like pulses, which take enough time to digest and food rich in fibre contents like green salads, green vegetables and fruits like apple were considered better. He said parboiled rice, also called sella rice, and wheat flour without removal of bran was considered good for patients with diabetes. On the contrary, readily digestible food like rice, much cooked and highly processed food and refined cereals were contraindicated in patients with diabetes, Dr Sandhu added.
	Kanda brothers implicated me, says INLD activist Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Sirsa, September 3 Pradeep Godara, an INLD activist and a close associate of Ellenabad MLA Abhey Singh Chautala, who was booked by the Sirsa police for thrashing former minister Gopal Kanda’s supporter Ram Kumar Khaireka recently, has claimed that he had been falsely implicated in the case. Godara alleged he had been framed because the former minister and his brother had been served notices by the Supreme Court on his special leave petition (criminal) against them. “I can prove my presence in Panchkula at the time of the alleged attack, through video footage of a CCTV camera installed in a renowned 4-star hotel in Panchkula, where I checked in around noon while the FIR has been registered at 13:40 hours on that day,” Godara claimed in a representation to the Director-General of Police, Haryana. He said he remained in the hotel for the whole day and attended a wedding there at night. A copy of the representation has been sent to the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The police had booked Godara and five to six others under Sections 323, 148, 149 and 307 of the IPC and had confiscated a jeep, allegedly used in the crime, from the residence of former Rajya Sabha MP Vidya Beniwal. Khaireka was sitting in a shop with his son in Sirsa’s grain market when some persons armed with sticks attacked him, beating him up brutally. He had to be shifted to Jaipur with multiple injuries and fractures on his leg and arm. Godara alleged that he had been booked due to the fact that he had already filed a special leave petition (Criminal) No. 6216 of 2012 pending before the Honourable Supreme Court against Gopal Kanda and his brother Govind Kanda. He alleged that the latter used his close associate Ram Kumar as a complainant with the mala fide object to put pressure on him, though he was not even present in the town.
	Computer-controlled dairy comes up in Hisar village Raman Mohan/TNS Hisar, September 3 A state-of-the-art fully automatic computer-controlled dairy has come up at Sehrawa village of the district. The village had earlier earned the distinction of becoming the largest producer of strawberries in the state. The dairy has been established by Dalbir Singh, a Delhi-based chartered accountant, who hails from this village. Set up in five acres, the dairy has the capacity to hold 2,000 heads of cattle. Initially, however, it has begun operations with 200 holstein friesian cows. Dr D, Muruganandam, manager of the dairy, said a microchip had been implanted in each cow. It keeps track of the animal’s entire lifetime. The chip records the time of milking, quantity of milk yielded, vaccinations, illnesses, medicines given, DNA profile, quality of milk, milk floret and electrical conductivity. The chip can predict any possible illnesses in the cow so that vaccinations or preventive treatment can be given. All the cows are milked by a machine imported from Germany at a cost Rs 90 lakh. The machine milks each animal and then carries the milk to a chilling plant for storage at 4 degree Celsius. The milking machine takes 12 seconds to milk a cow and then it separates from the animal’s body ruling out the possibility of excess milking which could be detrimental to the health of the animal. The animals are fed by an automatic machine called Total Mixer Ration (TMR) imported from Sweden. Fodder, minerals and other elements of feed are added to the machine’s tank after which the machine mixes the ingredients and feeds it to the animals in the required quantities. The entire dairy can be controlled from the manager’s office through a computer. Dalbir Singh said the dairy was a Greenfield project where all the waste and byproducts were used up. The dung was used to produce bio-gas which was used in staff quarters and to generate enough power to meet the dairy’s requirements for 10 hours a day. When more animals were added to the herd gradually, the power would be sufficient to meet the entire requirement of the village. The slurry is converted to vermin-compost which is used in the dairies fodder section and landscaped garden. He said another batch of 200 cows would join the herd shortly. When the dairy reached its full capacity of 2,000 animals, the unit would produce many types of processed cheese, cottage cheese, milk products, ghee and butter.
	Rohtak maths wizard wins silver medal in UK Bhanu P Lohumi/TNS Karnal, September 3 A maths wizard from Haryana, Dr Amit Garg, has brought laurels to the country and the state by winning the silver medal at ‘Mental Calculation World Championship’ held in London, United Kingdom. His key competitors in the field of mental calculation or mathematics included internationally recognised Gert Mittring (Germany), George Lane (England), Andrew Robertshaw (Wales), Willem Bouman (Netherlands). The gold medal was won by Dr Mittring of Germany while Dr Garg of India and Robertshaw of Wales got the silver and the bronze medals respectively. Winning the silver medal in such a competition was indeed a rare feat as the gold medal winner Dr Mittring is a maths genius with two PhDs and holds many recognised world records in mathematics. He is known for extracting the 98789th root from a million digit number and extracting the 13th root of 100 digit numbers in a few seconds in front of European TV Channels. Bouman, a maths genius from Netherlands, is the world record holder for dividing a 10-digit number by a five-digit number 10 times in 367 seconds, but Dr Garg broke this world record on March 15, 2012, by solving it in 345 seconds. This year, the MCWC was held on August 22 for three-and-a-half-hour single session among Mind Sports Olympiad (MSO) events held in London from August 17. Born at Rohtak, Dr Garg is the son of a retired Subdivisional Officer, Ram Niwas Garg, at MITC. He did his schooling and college from Jind, Karnal and Hisar. His parents belong to Dhola village (Jind) and Thurana (Hisar) but moved to Noida in 2001. He completed BTech in Mechanical Engineering from IIT Delhi in 1999, MS in Industrial Engineering in 2001 and a PhD in Operations Research from Case Western Reserve University in 2007.
	Haryana institutes nutrition awards Tribune News service Chandigarh, September 3 With a view to checking malnourishment among children, the Haryana Government has instituted nutrition awards at district level. While stating this here yesterday, an official spokesman said under the scheme, three best performing districts in the area of checking malnutrition among children were being given cash awards of Rs two lakh, Rs one lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively. He said under the Supplementary Nutrition Programme, the state government has increased the rate of supplementary nutrition being provided to women and children. Now it was being given at a rate of Rs 5 per mother and per adolescent girl, Rs 4 per child and Rs 6 per malnourished child. These rates were the highest in the country. He said now, self-help groups of women and mothers had been given the responsibility to prepare nutritious food for the beneficiaries of the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) programme. These groups work under the supervision of village-level sub-committees. Under this programme, employment opportunities had been provided to 75,000 women. He said the ICDS programme had been decentralised and made community driven. The state government has set up village-level sub-committees of women to facilitate implementation of programmes pertaining to development of women and children. He said about 6,157 village committees had so far been constituted. He said the government had also increased honorarium being given to anganwadi workers and the retirement age of anganwadi workers and helpers had been increased from 58 years to 60 years. He said the state government had formed a rural registered NGO known as “Sakshar Mahila Samooh” (SMS) that was a group of educated women in every village to lend necessary resource support to the gram panchayat and its subcommittee for an effective discharge of the functions assigned to them. He said so far, about 6,000 ‘Shakshar Mahila Samoohs’ had been registered. There was also a provision to give Rs 5,000 to each such samooh for its awareness activities and other expenditures, he added.
	Seminar on global financial crisis Our Correspondent Ambala, September 3 A seminar on “Management of Global Financial Crisis” was organised at DAV College (Lahore) in Ambala City recently. Dr MM Goel, professor of economics, and dean, faculty of social sciences, Kurukshetra University, said good governance (SMART & SIMPLE Model) at all levels of operation in the economy was needed to minimise the impact of the new economic reality of the global financial crisis. Dr MR Gupta, principal of the college, introduced and welcomed Prof Goel. “To make the impact of global financial crisis less painful on any economy, we should adopt holistic, comprehensive and systematic (HCS) approach in place of ad hoc crisis management,” Prof Goel said. To save the economy from the fiscal crisis of today, it would be relevant to adopt the canons of public expenditure advocated by Dr Ambedkar in terms of faithfulness to the intentions of the will of the people, wisdom of professionals and economy in execution of the schemes for the people, he added. While identifying the root causes of the present financial crisis, he pointed out the attitude of US household to ‘live for today because tomorrow never comes’ which encouraged them to live beyond their means. The saving rate had been declining to negative, he added.
	Bhukkal inaugurates college building Our Correspondent Rewari, September 3 Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal inaugurated a newly constructed building of the Savitri Bai Phule Government College for Women in Sector 18 here recently. Addressing the gathering, Bhukkal urged parents to give their daughters higher education as it was the key to success in life as well as to the emergence of a progressive society. Bhukkal asserted that the commencement of a government college at Kosli and initiation of several new courses at the Post Graduate Regional Centre, Mirpur, was proving conducive to the local youth. The Right to Education Act had opened up new vistas for children of the economically weaker sections of society in the domain of education, she said. Responding to certain demands put forward by the authorities, she said the construction of a multi-purpose hall in the college would be expedited. Power, Forest and Environment Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who presided over the proceedings, announced a financial assistance of Rs 2 lakh to the college.
	Land for graveyards, leasing properties Wakf Board frames foolproof policies Manish Sirhindi Tribune News Service Ambala, September 3 The Haryana Wakf Board has framed foolproof policies for reservation of land for graveyards and leasing its properties across the state to ensure that the board’s land was not encroached upon by unscrupulous persons as had happened before. Stating this here, chief executive officer of the board Dr Parvez Ahmad said getting encroachments removed from the land belonging to the Wakf Board was still a challenge and despite various measures taken by them, there were still a large number of properties that were under illegal possession of individuals and some of the government departments also. While hailing the move of the state government to notify Wakf Rules-2012 in conformity with the Wakf Act of 1995 which made it mandatory for the government departments, which were occupying board lands, to become lessees of the board. He also appreciated the government for writing to all the DCs and SDMs of the state to sanction mutations of Wakf properties which were still pending, in the board’s favour. Ahmad said the government had already issued directions to all SDMs of the state not to deposit Chakota money from the defaulter Pattedars in the treasury. The move to set up Wakf Tribunals at the district headquarters for expeditious disposal of litigations concerning Wakf properties and appointment of divisional commissioners as survey commissioners would go a long way in ensuring that the properties owned by the board were not grabbed by individuals, he said. He said the decision of the government to bring Wakf properties within the ambit of the Public Premises Act for removal of encroachments was yet another commendable move. However, the board needed to be careful in future to guard its properties against encroachers for which new policies of reservation of land for graveyards and leasing out properties was a must. The CEO said that since 2003, when the HWB was established, it had been able to recover as many as 609 encroached Wakf properties through courts of law or by way of compromise. He said that during 2011-12, as many as 23 mosques were got vacated from unauthorised possession and restored to their original use. The CEO also informed that during the year under review, the board had implemented a scheme of empowerment of Muslim women in rural areas of foothills of Shivalik in Yamunanagar district. Till date the board spent a sum of Rs 16.76 lakh on this project. He said during the past five years, new properties numbering 400 worth around Rs 137.26 crore were traced out in the ongoing survey conducted in eight districts of the State, which include Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonepat, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Yamuna Nagar, Ambala and Sirsa. He said in the remaining districts survey work was in progress.
	development of Shivalik area Haryana spends Rs 2,800 crore Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 3 With a view to ensuring overall development of area falling under the jurisdiction of the Shivalik Development Board, the Haryana Government has so far spent about Rs 2,800 crore on various development works through various departments. This was stated by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while presiding over the 19th meeting of Governing Body of Shivalik Development Board here today. To ensure integrated development of the Shivalik area, Hooda directed the board to revise the duration of the proposed project of Rs 647.28 crore from 15 to 10 years. The Chief Minister directed the authorities to earmark adequate funds for irrigation and soil conservation for the project. This project would also cover the areas of forest, agriculture and horticulture, public health, Public Works (Building and Roads), education, Panchayati Raj and rural energy. It was informed in the meeting that during the last three years, the state government has approved a sum of Rs 46 crore for the construction of bridges in the Shivalik region. The construction work of these bridges was in progress. It was also informed in the meeting that funds under the Shivalik Development Plan would be supplemented with Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA) and all the projects would be implemented through the panchayats only for proper utilisation of funds. The technical support and supervision would be provided by the departments concerned.
	Concrete-covered drain a distant dream Satish Seth Kaithal, September 3 The ‘dream’ project of local MLA and Public Works and Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala to provide a concrete covered drain at a cost of Rs 6.80 crore in place of the old drain in the town seems to have fallen flat before becoming functional. It is due to the ‘lack’ of proper planning and flaws in the execution of the project. However, the residents feel that the money spent on the project may go waste. The Public Health Department failed to check the inflow of cow dung from dairies in the immediate vicinity and silt from municipal drains which had completely choked the drain, they said. The department also failed to foresee the dangers of removing the old drain which had protected the town from floods in the past many years, the residents said. A major concern of the local residents was that the small drain would not be able to carry the entire waste of the localities. They were also concerned about the cleaning of the drain. The inquiries made from the officials of the Public Health and Engineering Department revealed that in the first phase, 11,000 ft of the drain was constructed at a cost of Rs 3.60 crore and the remaining portion would be completed when the funds, amounting to Rs 3.20 crore, would be received from the government. Residents said during the construction, water was not sprayed on the concrete structure which would ultimately reduce the lifespan of the project. Meanwhile, it has also come to light that lakhs of cubic feet of soil had been lifted by many persons causing a huge loss to the government exchequer but no action had reportedly been initiated by any government department against it.
	MoD not implementing armed forces tribunals’ orders BS Malik Sonepat, September 3 Though the Centre has taken an appropriate decision to establish the Armed Forces Tribunal and grievances cells at various levels in the Army, the Ministry of Defence has not been implementing orders passed by the tribunals. “The decision would go a long way in redressal of genuine problems of the serving and retired armed forces personnel, if implemented in the right spirit, “said Maj Baldev Singh Budhwar (retd), a victim of the non-implementation of the orders passed by the Armed Forces Tribunal by the Ministry of Defence. While talking to The Tribune, he said that the Ministry of Defence is implementing only 10 per cent of the orders given in favour of defence personnel while the remaining 90 per cent have been neglected. “The grievance cells will definitely help in preventing cases of indiscipline among the personnel, like the ones that happened in Leh and Sambha recently,” Budhwar said. The ministry had refused to implement one such decision of April 20, 2011 given by the Chandigarh tribunal with regard to re-fixation of his pension as guaranteed by the 6th Central Pay Commission (CPC). “The established policy as per the directions of the Supreme Court is that any person holding junior rank at the time of retirement can not be given higher pension,” he added. “In this case, a Subedar Major and honorary Lieutenant/Captain will get more pension than a permanent commissioned officer upto the rank of Major after implementation of 6th CPC,” he said and added that this point had been amplified during the hearing of the case. The public prosecutor should have brought out the policy under reference, if any, to the notice of the tribunal, he explained. The tribunal had given 4 months’ time to implement its April-2011 judgment. The Ministry of Defence informed after a lapse of one year that they are contemplating making an appeal to the Supreme Court against the judgment of the tribunal. Similar are the cases of SS Matharu and VK Jain, both retired Squadron Leaders from the Indian Air Force, a rank equivalent to a Major in the Indian Army. The respective tribunals had given decisions in their favour with regard to re-fixation of their pensions as guaranteed by 6th CPC; but have not been implemented by the Ministry of Defence.
	Migrants from Pakistan Sirsa MP lauds Punjabi community Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Sirsa, September 3 The All-India Congress Committee (AICC) secretary and Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar recently lauded the Punjabi community that migrated from Pakistan at the time of Partition in 1947 and said by sheer hard work of its members, the community had been able to carve a niche for themselves in society. Tanwar was speaking at a function organised by the Multan Sabha and Multani Dharamshala at Sirsa recently. He said the members of the Punjabi community had reached top positions in various fields of life in a span of a few decades. He said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who too migrated from Pakistan, was a good example of the rise of the community. Tanwar announced a grant of Rs 11 lakh for the construction of Multan Dharamshala in Sirsa. Chander Shekhar Mehta, a senior member of the Multan Sabha and a former district governor of the Lions Club, said the Multan Sabha had been active in Sirsa since early 60s. Those who were present on the occasion included Congress block president Bhupesh Mehta, Veer Bhan Mehta, district president of the Haryana Janhit Congress, Pradeep Mehta, a former president of the District Consumer Forum, Ramesh Mehta, president of the District Bar Association, Gurdial Mehta, a former president of the Sirsa Grain Market Vyapar Mandal, Arun Mehta, secretary of the sabha and editor of Samarghash, and Dr RK Mehta, a surgeon. Children presented song and dance performances on the occasion.
	Nutrition Week Malnutrition can be ‘reduced’ by creating awareness Tribune News Service Chandigarh, September 3 The Haryana Government has formed the State Nutrition Council and Haryana State Executive Committee to implement the Draft State Nutrition Policy. While stating this at the commencement of National Nutrition Week, Sumita Misra, Director General of the Women and Child Development Department, Haryana, said the National Nutrition Week aimed at creating awareness among the public, especially mothers and adolescent girls regarding the problem of malnutrition, hygiene and deficiency of micronutrients. Misra said the theme of the week for this year selected by the Government of India is “Nutrition Awareness - Key to Healthy Nation”. She said malnutrition in women, girls and children could be reduced by creating awareness about proper nutrition, balanced diet, protein and calorie-rich foods. She said only by providing sprouted pulses, whole grains, milk, eggs and vegetables, many deficiency diseases like night blindness, scurvy and anaemia could be prevented. She said directions had been issued to all field programme officers to celebrate the National Nutrition Week in a benefiting manner with special focus on the theme of the year.
	SBI holds pensioners’ meet Our Correspondent Kurukshetra, September 3 The State Bank of India (SBI), Thanesar Branch, organised a pensioners’ meet here recently in which former employees of the SBI and pensioners of other departments participated. The meeting was presided over by Kailash Chand, chief manager, SBI, Thanesar Branch. In the meeting, pensioners were apprised about various schemes and services, including housing loan, car loan, business loan and pension loan, etc, offered by the bank. They pensioners were also told about the alternate banking channels like Internet banking, mobile banking and use of ATM cards. Further, they were also requested to complete their “know your customer” norms.
	Van Mahotsav celebrated Ambala, September 3 Around 1000 saplings were planted in MM University, Saddopur, close to Ambala City, on the occasion of Van Mahotsav. Commissioner, Ambala Division, RP Gupta, was the chief guest. The function was organised by the NSS unit of the university. While addressing the students, Gupta said trees alter the environment in which we live by moderating the climate, improving air quality, conserving water and harbouring wildlife. Besides, trees help to keep the environment clean and the air fresh. They also prevent global warming, he said. Vice-Chancellor of the university SP Gupta also highlighted the importance of trees and asked the students to preserve all plants which were being planted on the occasion. The Director of the university, Dr AK Goel, congratulated the NSS unit for organising the Van Mahotsav. It would add to the greenery on the university campus, he added. — OC
	19th state-level Youth Festival concludes Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Sirsa, September 3 The 19th state-level Youth Festival concluded in Sirsa’s CMK National PG College today, where Hardeep Kumar, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary of the Sports and Youth Affairs Department, gave away the prizes to the winnders. Faridabad was adjudged as first, Kaithal second and Jhajjar third in drama competition. In classical music singing Hindustani competition, Karnal stood first, Gurgaon second and Palwal third. Similarly, in classical music singing Karnataki competition, Mahendergarh won the first position. In sitar competition, Faridabad stood first, Karnal and Bhiwani stood second and third respectively. In flute competition, Ambala won first position, whereas Gurgaon and Sirsa bagged second and third positions respectively. In harmonium, Rohtak stood first, Sonepat second and Panipat third whereas in guitar, Gurgaon stood first and Rothak and Sirsa stood second and third respectively. Similarly, in folk song competition, district Kaithal bagged first position, Fatehabad bagged second position and Rohtak and Mahendergarh stood third. In Manipuri dance, Narnaul bagged first position, Kaithal and Jind bagged second and third position respectively whereas in Odisi dance, Faridabad stood first, Sonepat and Kaithal stood second and third respectively. In Bharatnatyam, Panchkula stood first, Yamunanagar second and Panipat third, whereas in Kathak, Palwal stood first, Faridabad and Kurukshetra stood second and third respectively. Similarly, in Kuchipudi dance, Panchkula stood first, Yamunanagar and Narnaul stood second and third respectively whereas in folk dance, Rohtak bagged first position and Kaithal and Sirsa bagged second and third positions respectively. In debate competition, Gurgaon, Panipat and Sonepat stood first, second and third respectively. Hardeep Kumar announced that new competitions would be added in the next state-level Youth Festival so as to ensure participation of more artistes and prize money given to the participants would also be increased. The participants bagging first position would be sent to the National- Level Youth Festival which would be held between January 12 and 16, 2013, in Patna.
	Helen Keller Institute in need of aid Sushil Manav Tribune News Service Sirsa, September 3 The Helen Keller Institute for Visually Impaired Persons set up by the authorities a few years ago is crying for financial help from philanthropists and NGOs, as the authorities are finding it hard to meet its recurring monthly expenses. The authorities had set up the institute for the benefit of visually impaired persons in 2009 by spending Rs 50 lakh from the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) Scheme. Later, the authorities spent Rs 50 lakh more to construct a hostel on the first floor. Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, who inaugurated the hostel building recently, announced a grant of Rs 2 lakh from his MPLAD funds. The MP had given a grant of Rs 3 lakh to the institute a few months ago. “We have provided the best of infrastructure in the institute,” said Deputy Commissioner J Ganesan, who is also the chairman of the institute. He said the institute had a computer lab with systems having speaking software for persons with visual impairment. The vocational centre of the institute has a unit for manufacturing paper files, paper plates and bowls. The files prepared by the centre are used at the e-Disha centre of the district for applications for driving licenses and vehicle registration. Suraj Kumar, principal of the institute, said, “We also have Taylor Frame and Abacus System for teaching mathematics to visually impaired persons”. The institute also runs an extension counter for the products of the National Institute of Visually Handicapped (NIVH), Dehradun, which include sticks and other instruments used by the visually impaired persons. However, the biggest problem before the authorities is that they find it hard to meet the monthly recurring expenditure of the institute, which is nearly Rs 2 lakh per month. It includes salary of the teachers and other staff, electricity charges and other expenses. The district administration collects nearly Rs 80,000 per month for the institute from applicants of driving licenses and vehicle registration by way of fees. Sanjeev Jain, secretary of the institute, said the food for the students comes from the Langar Sewa Samiti. Jain has appealed to the local philanthropists and NGOs to donate liberally to the institute for its proper functioning.
	Agriculture varsity develops new wheat varieties Tribune News Service Hisar, September 3 Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University has developed two improved varieties of wheat suitable for cultivation in north-western plain and peninsular zones of the country. Apart from high yield, these varieties also possess good quality, high protein content and resistance against several diseases. A university spokesman said here recently that the scientists of the university had developed WH 1105 variety of normal wheat and WHD 948 of durum wheat for irrigated and timely sown conditions. He said the new varieties were high-yielding and rich in quality and nutritional parameters compared to earlier varieties. He said variety WH 1105 possessed protein content as high as 12.4 per cent. He said at the All-India Wheat and Barley Research Workers Meet held recently at Durgapur (Rajasthan), the Central Variety Identification Committee under the chairmanship of Dr SK Datta, Deputy Director General (Crop Sciences), ICAR, had identified variety WH 1105 for commercial cultivation in the north-western plain zone of the country comprising Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, UP, Jammu region of J&K and the foothills of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Likewise, another variety WHD 948 had been identified for cultivation in peninsular zone consisting of Maharashtra and Karnataka. Highlighting other characteristic features of these varieties, he said WH 1105, which possessed high-yield potential (71.6 q/ha), was semi-dwarf and took 144 days to mature, five days earlier than varieties HD 2967 and DPW 621-50. It exhibited excellent resistance to yellow and brown rusts, flag smut, leaf bright and powdery mildew diseases, he said. He said durum wheat variety WHD 948 had wide adaptability and yield potential of 69.5 quintals per hectare. It matured in 109 days. He said this variety was resistant to Karnal bunt, rusts, foot rot, flag smut, loose smut, leaf blight and powdery mildew diseases, besides possessing good pasta-making quality.
	POLICE COMMISSIONERATE IN AMBALA Residents of rural areas bereft of benefits Subhash Chauhan Ambala, September 3 Despite getting a police commissionerate in the district, the residents of the rural areas of Ambala somehow seem to have remained bereft of its benefits as the department is yet to set up an office for the Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP)(rural). Earlier, the department had thought of setting up the office of the DCP either in Naraingarh or the Saha segment of the district. However, in the absence of a regular office till date, the DCP continues to work from the district headquarters, making it difficult for the locals to approach the senior authorities of the department directly. Many people seeking police help have to travel long distances to have an audience with the DCP. The idea behind setting up a commissionerate at Ambala was to deliver immediate police assistance to people, but this very objective has not been achieved, said Ashok Rana, a former sarpanch and a resident of Samlehri village of the district. With the setting up of a police commissionerate in Ambala, the department had appointed a separate DCP for the rural areas of the district. The appointee was supposed to have an office in a rural area of the district where people could meet the official directly without any hassles. But even after eight months of getting a commissionerate, the benefits of the new system have so far been eluding the residents of the rural areas. While speaking to The Tribune, sarpanches of many villages stated that despite having a DCP, they were still unable to get in touch with senior officials of the department as they all had their offices at the district headquarters. Residents of various divisions said that people residing in the rural areas were still not able to avail the services of the officials concerned. They alleged that they did not know whom to approach for help. Rajbeer Barara, INLD legislator from Mullana constituency, said the government seemed to have taken a hasty decision to appoint a separate DCP for rural areas, without having adequate staff and infrastructure while social activist Tarun Kaushal said that services of an efficient IPS officer were being wasted due to wrong policies. HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana said the matter would be taken up with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and DGP Haryana Ranjeev Dalal for an early redressal.
	DELAY IN CONSTRUCTION OF EXPRESSWAY Rs 18-cr penalty on executing company BS Malik Sonepat, September 3 The Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has imposed a penalty of Rs 18 crore on DS Construction Company for delaying the construction of the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway by three years from the scheduled completion time of the project. The company has reportedly not responded to the penalty notices so far. The project was taken up in 2004 on the direction of the Supreme Court while disposing of a PIL regarding decongestion of Delhi from increasing vehicular traffic. According to the terms and conditions, the company was to complete this build, operate and transfer (BOT) project by 2009 at an estimated cost of Rs 2,000 crore. Official sources in the HSIIDC said that the financial constraints of the construction company were reported to be the main reason behind this delay in construction, though around 70 per cent of the construction work had already been completed. According to the chief engineer of the HSIIDC, HS Raheja, the company had delayed the completion by three years and notices of penalty of Rs 18 crore, at the rate of Rs six crore per year, had already been sent to the company. “The HSIIDC will not remain quiet and further action will be taken after receiving a reply from the company,” he added. In order to give some momentum to the construction activities, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had inspected the progress twice during the past three years, but there had hardly been any acceleration in the construction project.
	Death of Woman during Delivery Hospital told to pay Rs 9 lakh as relief to victim’s family Manish Sirhindi /TNS Yamunanagar, September 3 The district Consumer Protection Forum has directed a local hospital to pay Rs 9.11 lakh as relief to husband and minor daughter of a woman, who had died after delivery due to post operative complications because of the negligence of doctors. As per the documents of the forum, Kuldeep and his daughter Ritu, both residents of Karera Khurd village of the district, had approached the forum with a complaint against Masih Hospital alleging that Kuldeep’s wife Geeta, who had delivered a child at the hospital on December 16, 2007, had died due to negligence on part of the doctors who failed to treat her for septic that she developed after the operation. Geeta had to undergo a Caesarean operation as normal delivery was not possible. Even as she gave birth to a healthy child, her condition started to deteriorate as he developed some post operative complications which the doctors at the hospital could not diagnose properly. On December 24, 2007, she was referred to Government Medical College and Hospital, Sector-32, Chandigarh, where she died on December 28, 2007. The postmortem of her body confirmed that the cause of the death was puerperal sepsis as she suffered from septic. However, the doctors alleged that the complainants had filed the case just to harass, defame and extort money by abusing the processes and provisions of the Consumer Protection Act and they had administered proper treatment to the woman as per the medical procedures that had to be followed. However, the forum after hearing arguments of both the sides and going through the documents put on record, concluded that as per the report of PGI, Chandigarh, Geeta was suffering from renal and liver functional impairment with frank pus on tapping caused due to septic. The forum stated that a doctor could be held guilty of medical negligence when he falls short of reasonable standard of medical care. In this case, Geeta was not diagnosed property for the septic, which had spread in her body and ultimately resulted in her death. In the verdict pronounced, Dina Nath Arora, member president of the District Consumer Disputes, directed the hospital to pay Rs 9,11,000 to Kuldeep and his minor girl, Ritu. The forum stated that out of the said amount, Rs 5,00,000 be deposited in one of the nationalised banks in the name of Ritu, till she attains the age of 18. Out of the remaining amount, Rs 2,00,000 be given to Kuldeep and remaining amount of Rs 2,11,000 be kept as fixed deposit for a period of three years and the same be released to him after maturity.
	DHBVN starts voluntary disclosure scheme for farmers Tribune News Service Hisar, September 3 Farmers who have diverted their existing electricity connection to a new borewell, after failure of the original bore, without intimating the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, can get the supply regularised under the voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) launched by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam. A spokesman of the DHBVN said here recently that consumers who had extended existing electricity supply to new bore in case of bore failure might intimate the office of the AGM, Operations, concerned voluntarily under the VDS. In such cases no case of unauthorised drawal of electricity or theft of electricity would be framed against them and the supply to the new bore would be regularised as per the existing instructions of the nigam. He said under the VDS, the unauthorised extension or diversion of load was being regularised by the DHBVN without imposing any penalty. The scheme was most beneficial for tube well owners. Farmers were compelled to install motors of higher capacity as underground water table was going down. It was against the rules to increase load without informing the nigam and if detected, it invited a heavy penalty. Keeping in view their genuine compulsion, the DHBVN had given a chance to declare the unauthorised load and get regularised without paying any penalty. He said the extension of load on tube wells, declared under the VDS would be regularised with existing system and if the existing system could not take up the additional load declared by the consumer, then the existing equipment would be augmented by the nigam, at its own cost. The spokesman said the DHBVN had launched the scheme for all domestic, non-domestic, agriculture and industrial consumers in rural as well as urban areas to declare their unauthorised extension of load voluntarily without paying any penalty.
	Seminar on career opportunities Our Correspondent Kurukshetra, September 3 A seminar on “The Finest Career Opportunities” was held at Gita Niketan Awasiya Vidyalaya here recently. Key speaker General PK Saighal addressed the gathering of parents, teachers and students in two sessions. After his retirement from the Army as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in 2002, General Saighal has been counselling scholars about numerous career opportunities in the country and abroad. He acquainted the audience with the new and upcoming fields in science, commerce and humanities like nanotechnology, robotic sciences, marine technology, retailing, food processing and operational research analyst. He said there were more than 5,500 areas where students could find bright careers.
	Breast cancer is curable if detected early: Expert Ravinder Saini Jhajjar, September 3 One out of every 20 women in the country is prone to breast cancer, but they should not panic, as it is fully curable if detected at an early stage. This was stated by Dr Sarupa Mitra, a cancer expert with Rajeev Gandhi Cancer Hospital, Delhi, while addressing a gathering of women during an awareness and breast cancer check-up camp held at Civil Hospital here recently. The camp was organised under joint aegis of Rajeev Gandhi Cancer Hospital and Reliance Haryana SEZ Limited in order to make women aware about breast cancer, besides motivating them for regular check-ups. “A sharp rise in the cases of breast cancer has been reported during the past decade. It is curable if detected early. Hence women should get their regular check-ups done for the early detection of the disease,” she said.