The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Now, textbooks to be provided in govt schools at beginning of session
Ravinder Saini

Jhajjar, April 15
The state government has decided to make all text books available class-wise in all government schools across the state with the commencement of the new academic session in order to sort out grievances of availability of text books in the schools. Earlier, the books were used to be provided subject-wise resulting in an inordinate delay in their distribution.

Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal stated this while interacting with mediapersons after listening to public grievances at her residence here on Saturday.
“This new arrangement will facilitate easy and timely distribution of books in the government schools so as to redress the grievances of students who had to face difficulties in getting study material well in time,” said the minister, adding that now the students would also be provided with elementary and general science books and the class-wise distribution of books would directly benefit them as well.

Bhukkal said all text books for students of Classes I to VIII would soon be available as tenders for the same had already been invited. In reply to a question, she said under the Right to Education Act, measures had been taken to bring about qualitative improvement in the level of education in the state.

“The state government has made proper arrangements for providing training to teachers before their posting and during their service. Under this arrangement, various programmes like training, research, exchange and orientation are being carried out. Also, these programmes have been yielding positive results towards improvement in infrastructure of the schools,” said the minister.

In reply to another question, she said that during a meeting of the Central Advisory Board of Education, it was discussed that the period to implement the Right to Education Act should be increased which would help in further improving the academic atmosphere of schools.

“In the direction of bringing about a qualitative improvement in the school education, emphasis is being laid on National Vocational Education Framework, Job-Oriented and Skill Development, so that skilled manpower could be prepared for the country,” the minister added.

Exhorting the youth to explore employment opportunities other than in the government sector, Bhukkal said they should also make sincere efforts for self-employment with skill development.

Bhiwani's Tosham town to become tourist spot
Sushil Manav/TNS

Bhiwani, April 15
The historic town of Tosham in Bhiwani will soon emerge as a centre of tourist interest, as the Archive Department, Haryana, has initiated the process to bring out a booklet on its history and a photo gallery would also be set up there for tourists.

Dr Rajesh Srivastava, Joint Director, Archive Department, Hisar, recently led a team to sacred ponds and places of historical importance adjacent to the Baba Mungipa Dham in Tosham and gathered information of historic importance from there.

During the inspection of the site, the team found a rough sketch made on a stone, which indicated the life of the royal families that might be living there.

No such painting has been found in the area.

He said Tosham was considered as a sacred place associated with Baba Mungipa.

He said it was believed that there used to be a religious lady namely Chandrawal who meditated and became popular as Baba Mungipa.

There is a temple where she is believed to have meditated.The sacred ponds namely Giyarsia Kund, Kukkut Kund, Surya Kund, Indra Kund, Panchtirath Kund and Pari Kund attract visitors.

It is also believed that during their exile, the Pandavas stayed there for 13 days. There is also a place known as ‘Baradari’ that has 12 doors, thus indicating that it was being used by a King.

Battery-driven auto rickshaws change rickshaw-pullers' destiny
Sushil Manav/TNS

Battery-driven auto rickshaws parked in Sirsa. A Tribune photograph

Sirsa, April 15
Chander Bhan (55) has spent a better part of his life pulling rickshaw on Sirsa roads. For the past 40 years, Bhan had been sweating it out throughout the day and sometimes even during nights, and even then he was not able to make both ends meet. Till a few months ago, Bhan’s daily income was 100 to 150 a day and now with him getting older, it was hard for him to keep on pulling a rickshaw.

Any indisposition meant loss of bread for the entire family. However, a battery-driven auto rickshaw known as “Garud” provided to him by the Sirsa district administration has transformed Bhan’s life. With relatively much less manual work, Bhan is now able to earn between Rs 600 to Rs 700 in a day by plying the battery operated rickshaw.

Thanks to an innovative idea by Sirsa Deputy Commissioner Dr J Ganesan, the district administration has purchased 40 battery- driven auto-rickshaws for Rs 90,000 each and distributed these to poor rickshaw-pullers of Sirsa for plying.

The auto-rickshaws have been purchased from the Backward Region Grants Fund (BRGF), a scheme for addressing regional imbalances in the backward districts of the country.

The authorities have charged merely Rs 10,000 per rickshaw as non-refundable security from the rickshaw-pullers for providing them “Garud” worth Rs 90,000 each.

The auto rickshaws are parked in a common place near the secretariat, where these auto drivers come to the shed in the morning, pick up the vehicle and then return these in the evening.

The battery-driven auto rickshaws have been given to four physically challenged persons who earlier used to drive manually driven rickshaws.

“We plan to purchase more such auto rickshaws to bring to an end the old tradition of a man pulling another man on paddled rickshaws,” said Genesan.

He said people from other towns of the district were also approaching him and requesting him to start such an initiative in their towns too.

Punjab National Bank has been financing this amount to the drivers.

Arrangements have been made for charging the batteries of these autos in a parking shed and an employee has been deployed for the purpose.

Only Rs 20 is charged from every driver for charging the battery. Minor repairs are also done at the shed itself.

Earlier, a trial of the auto was conducted in Sirsa where it was found that once charged completely, the "Garud" can run up to 90 km.

The auto rickshaw will have a capacity of carrying four persons and a red beep starts playing if an extra passenger is allowed to sit.

Even the auto-start facility will not work once an extra passenger is allowed.

The battery-driven auto rickshaws are not only eco-friendly, but they also help implementation of traffic rules in a better manner.

Paradigm-2013 leaves audience spellbound
Ravinder Saini

Jhajjar, April 15
Students of Engineering, Dental, Pharmacy, MBA and MCA courses displayed their performances in various cultural events during the two-day techno-cultural fest - Paradigm: 2013 organised by the Prabhu Dayal Memorial Religious and Educational Association at PDM Group of Institutes in Bahadurgarh town here recently.

Students not only enthralled the audience through their dance performances in the Punjabi, Haryanvi, Rajasthani, mix and remix categories, but also exhorted people to contribute in rooting out social evils through plays staged by them during the function.

Anil Rao, IGP, Rohtak Range, who was the chief guest in the closing ceremony of the festival, gave away prizes to the winners.

While speaking on the occasion, Rao called upon youth to ensure their valuable contribution in the direction of strengthening the social system, besides eliminating various social evils to maintain social harmony, peace and brotherhood among people.

“Future of every nation depends upon its youth as they possesses the ability to bring a revolutionary change in society, hence, youth should make their ample contribution for various social causes to keep the nation united and powerful,” the IGP said, adding that they must toil hard with dedication to achieve their goals instead of adopting “short cuts” to get success.

Terming the rising crime against women “unfortunate”, Rao said though the police was making all efforts to check criminal activities by embarking upon different strategies, people would also help the police in curbing the same.

Earlier, Bimla Prabhu, chairperson of the PDM group, while inaugurating the function, said this was a good platform for students to display their skills and to polish their talent for going ahead.

Rajesh Sood, director of the PDM group, said besides winning participants of the cultural festival, students of the PDM institutions, who grabbed positions in various programmes being run by Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, were also given cash prizes.

Don't be scared of ordeals, girl students told

Kurukshetra, April 15
The annual prize distribution function of Arya Kanya Mahavidayalya, Shahabad (M), 25 km from here, was held recently. Anil Dhantori, MLA, Shahabad (M) was the chief guest on the occasion.

While delivering the inaugural address, Dhantori called upon girl students to come forward and raise their voice against violence.

Dhantori advised them not to be scared of ordeals which come on their way while achieving their target. A person becomes successful when he overcomes these ordeals and achieves his goal.

He added that students could not achieve success without setting their goals in advance for which three things - planning, implementation and review - were necessary.

He honoured Geeta Sharma, a non-teaching staff, for completing her 25 years of service in the college. Daler Singh, football coach, and Gurnam Singh, athletics coach, were also honoured. The best student and best singer award was given to Seema (BA III) while versatile student, best orator and best in essay writing awards were given to Anjali (BSc III non-medical). Neha Gupta (BSc III) and Jaspreet (MA Economics) got prizes for excellent performance in the field of academics. — OC

Workshop on Finance Investments Education
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, April 15
A one-day workshop on ‘Finance Investments Education’ was organised by the Department of Zoology, Kurukshetra University (KU), recently. The workshop was inaugurated by Prof Girish Chopra, Dean of Academic Affairs, KU.

Pramod Gupta, resource person from the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI), delivered the lecture and talked about various types of financial investments.

Gupta discussed topics like financial planning, inflation, risk vs returns, investment strategies, time value of money, grievance-handling procedures and protection against fraud schemes.

Prof AS Yadav, Dr Anita Bhatnagar, Dr Anil Kumar, Dr Deepak Rai and Dr Jitender Bhardwaj were among those present on the occasion.

Another couple falls victim to cops' high-handedness
Tribune News Service

Sirsa, April 15
The police is often accused of being soft on offenders of crime against women while it is seen on the offensive against young boys and girls talking to each other at public places.

The latest such incident took place at the Town Park of the town recently. A police party from the Sirsa city police station caught a young couple in the park. First, the police quizzed them about the motive of their sitting together in the park and then took them to the police station.

The couple kept on pleading that they were engaged and their wedding was fixed for the next month, but their requests failed to move the police.

Another youth, the boy’s friend who had come with him and was standing nearby, was beaten up by the police. The police threatened to put him behind the bars. A large number of passersby witnessed the police action but the couple had to suffer a lot of embarrassment and humiliation. Later, the police took them to the police station, where parents of the couple were summoned.

Meanwhile, the parents told the police that their marriage had been fixed for the next month and they had already started preparations of their wedding. It was only after the boy’s parents said that he had come to the town to meet his fiancée, the police allowed the couple to leave.

It is not for the first time that the police has shown such a callous attitude towards youngsters. Last month, the police had taken a boy and a girl into custody. The police humiliated the young children and took them to the HUDA police post, where they were quizzed.

“Instances of such nature are abound. The city police has “picked up” school, college or university students and taken them to the police station in the name of moral policing in the recent days.

The poor children call up their friends to contribute funds for paying to the police, so that their parents do not come to know of their situation,” alleged an assistant professor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University.

Raj Shri Singh, Senior Superintendent of Police, Sirsa, admitted that the conduct of police could not be justified. She assured that she would look into the matter and take suitable action against the guilty.

Girls get tips on self-defence
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, April 15
The physical education department and women cell of Arya Kanya Mahavidyalaya, Shahabad (M), organised a workshop on self-defence on its premises recently. The workshop was organised in collaboration with the Naveen Jindal Foundation

Patrick Moore, an Australian and a martial art expert, during his keynote address focused on the empowerment of women. He said self-defence was an act of depending totally upon the situation and girls should face every situation with boldness and courage.

While demonstrating some steps of martial arts, he said they should always stand straight with strong stomach and relaxed shoulders, revealing their inner strength and confidence, and they should not look like victims. They should speak up against the violence and their voice should be strong.

He said girls should always be alert and have guts to speak out. He said girls should also understand the psychology of their boyfriends. "Girls should not consider themselves as weak part of society an should have self-confidence," he added.

"If any girl becomes the victim of stalking, she should ask for the police protection immediately," he said. He said that the purpose of the workshop was to empower women by challenging popular myths about violence and sharing practical strategies to prevent violence against women.

He also gave tips on boxing and karate. Earlier, college principal Dr Bharti Bhandhu welcomed the guest on the occasion.

Centre to set up storage silos in state for bulk storage of grains
Satish Seth

Kaithal , April 15
The Central Government has decided to set up storage silos of three lakh metric tones (MT) capacity in the state for bulk storage of grains. These storage silos, each of 50,000-MT capacity, would be set up in Rohtak, Jind, Sonipat, Karnal, Sirsa and Kurukshetra in order to prevent damage of wheat lying in the open and to maintain their quality.The state has set a target to procure 90 lakh MT of wheat this year.

This was stated by Executive Director of the Northern Region of the Food Corporation of India Sudhir Garg at Dhand, near here, recently. He said the Adani Group was already using godown of two lakh-MT capacity for storage. Earlier, large quantity of wheat used to get damaged due to want of storage facility. He said storages had been made using the latest technology to overcome the issue.

He said last year, 30 lakh MT of wheat was exported from the state and this year, this target could be increased to 65 lakh MT. Last year, 20 lakh MT of wheat was stored in open, but now this year, the FCI has earmarked places for wheat storage by setting up pucca platforms.

Garg said high quality wheat was produced in the state, but due to lack of proper post-harvesting technology, the prepared wheat could not be exported to other countries.

Problems of villagers addressed during night camp
Our Correspondent

Kurukshetra, April 15
The camp-cum-overnight stay of the district administration, led by Deputy Commissioner Mandeep Singh Brar, at Thana village proved to be a boon for the villagers. As many as 900 problems of the villagers were solved on the spot.

While addressing the villagers, the DC warned the officers against showing laxity in implementing the government schemes and harass people.

The gram sachiv was placed under suspension with immediate effect for not disbursing payment among villagers under the MNERGA scheme while a show-cause notice was issued to the assistant register, Cooperative Bank, for keeping the consumers' passbooks in his custody and remaining absent during the camp.

On a complaint of some villagers, Brar ordered the officers concerned to initiate action against the ineligible families, who had below poverty line (BPL) cards.

About 290 persons submitted their complaints regarding driving licences to the SDM office. Brar directed the authorities concerned to appoint six teams for making Aadhar cards of all the villagers within ten days. He also asked the Deputy Superintendent of Police and the station house officer to remove illegal liquor vends in the village. A grant of Rs 7.70 lakh was also given for the construction of the wall of village school.

Due to a special efforts of the Secretary, District Legal Service Authority, Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajender Singh Dhanda and subdivisional legal service authority chairman and judge Sumit Garg, a stall was put up on the occasion and information regarding free legal service and various government schemes was given.

A documentary film on the theme of saving water was also screened. Pehowa Subdivisional Magistrate Kamal Preet Kaur, Chief Judicial Magistrate Rajinder Singh Dhanda, Civil Surgeon Shiv Kumar, Deputy Director (animal husbandry) Dr Satbir Berwal were also present on the occasion.

Somany is chief of Maheshwari Sabha
Nawal Kishore Rastogi

Ashok Somany

Rewari, April 15
Ashok Somany, an icon of the stone Industry and a social activist of the Rewari region, has been elected unopposed president of the Maheshwari Sabha, a prominent social organisation of the North India, for the second time in a row.

This zonal outfit is a representative body of the Maheshwari Samaj residing in Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.

An electoral conclave was recently held at Bahadurgarh (Haryana) in which over 200 delegates of the Maheshwari Samaj from these four states and other parts of the country took part. Somany, whose services for the betterment of the samaj were appreciated during the conclave, was unanimously re-elevated to the presidential post for a second consecutive three-year term.

Besides, Rajender Kalantri (Gurgaon), Rama Nand Maheshwari (Bahadurgarh) and PP Maheshwari (Bhatinda) were elected vice-presidents and Chander Prakash Kabra (Gurgaon) general secretary. Sajjan Saboo ( Hisar) and Naresh Maheshwari (Sirsa) were nominated as joint secretaries and Ashok Godani (Ludhiana) was appointed treasurer of the sabha.Somany said disbursement of a monthly pension of Rs 2,000 to each widow of the samaj as well as provision of a loan of Rs 3 lakh on 5 per cent annual interest for pursuing technical education and grant of a loan of Rs 3 lakh on 5 per cent interest to aspiring youth of samaj to start their own business ventures would be on their agenda.

Besides, a survey of needy families of the Maheshwari Samaj in these four states would be clandestinely conducted by specified functionaries following which they would be given adequate financial assistance, he added.

Vaish samaj body aims at political ascendancy

Rewari, April 15
The Agarwal Vaish Samaj ( AVS), a premier socio-political organisation of the vaish community in Haryana , has emphatically pleaded for the induction of Savitri Jindal , Congress MLA from Hisar, and DK Bansal, Congress legislator from Panchkula, as ministers in the state cabinet.

AVS chief Ashok Buwaniwala said despite the presence of the community in Haryana, it sorely lacked effectual representation in the state government. He said it was all the more agonising that their repeated requests, seeking appointment of the vaish samaj aspirants as chairpersons of various state boards and corporations, had remained unheeded.

He said they would not rest until political ascendancy at various levels was achieved in Haryana.— OC

Fighting social evils through creativity, folk arts
Bhanu P Lohumi
Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 15
The man who emotionally surcharged the audience including anti-corruption activist, Anna Hazare by thematic dance-drama “Oh Ganga Behti ho kyon” (Ganga why you flow), with tears rolling down their eyes, is emerging as a living legend.

The performance of ‘Oh Ganga Behti ho kyon’ (Ganga why you flow), a dance-drama highlighting corruption in every walk of life and eroding moral values, presented during the Harmony 2013, which conclude on April 7, was so touching that the spellbound audience wondered as to who was the brain behind the show.

Gaurab Hazarika, a 29-year-old folk artiste hailing from a sleepy village of Nagaon in Assam, is using his creative talent and carrying out his mission to fight social evils by focusing the attention of people on burning issues through his folk arts.

With over 100 theme-based plays to his credit, Gaurab’s theatre group Sutradhar has performed widely in the country to aware masses about social issues like shortage of water, terrorism, drug menace, dowry, corruption, child labour and female foeticide through plays, skits, songs and dance performances.

He is not only doing his bit to create awareness regarding social themes, but also encouraging and guiding budding talents back home and also giving boost to art and culture.

“We will organise a three-day dance festival, ‘Sutradhar’, in April-May every year to search for budding talent in the field of art and culture in Assam and give one year scholarship of Rs 1,100 per month to the winner and also train the top 10 performers free of cost” says Gaurab.

Teaching a combination of ‘Nrit, Nritya and Natya’, Gaurab emphasises on promotion of rich Assamese culture and heritage. He teaches Kathak, Bharatnatyam and Sattriya forms of dances and is also known for fusion of western modern dances with the classical ones.

Gaurab said there were 64 forms of arts and he believes in the all-round development of his students by mastering them all forms of art from music, dance, yoga, instruments to Choreography, acting, painting, direction, concept-writing and photography, says Gaurab, who himself is a diploma holder in photography, traditional creative dance and western dance and at present pursuing postgraduation in Assamese. He is still connected with the National School of Drama.

“It all started in Class IX when I was given an opportunity to perform a traditional Assamese drama based on physically challenged. I gathered confidence that I can speak with my expressions and gave one of the best performances in Mauritius,” he said.

“I believe in performance with a difference to make the difference and tell all my students that no matter you are in front or back but there are two eyes in the crowd who are just watching you, so perform for that two eyes,” stresses the multi-talented actor, who hates people who create indiscipline and discredit the art.

Gaurab, who also performed in a reality show ‘Hindustan Ke Hunarbaz’ on Life OK channel and has also been selected for the final round of Mumbai auditions for an upcoming show, ‘dancing superstar’ on Star Plus.

Gaurab, who has a dream to build a theatre in his native village to provide a platform to young artists, laments that “there is lack of basic facilities like space, sound and light equipment and I pray to God to give me courage to work more vigorously to achieve my goal”.

Rohtak Gymkhana Club faced with 'poor' upkeep
Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service

Rohtak, April 15
The state-of-the-art-Gymkhana Club, built and operated by the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) in Sector 4 here, appears to have become a victim of ‘poor’ upkeep and sloppy management.

The club built at several crores of rupees and thrown open to use formally in October 2008 has started showing signs of depletion in its physical structure as tiles put up on the outer walls of the club have started peeling off. At least three to four tiles were missing from the back wall of the main building recently when this correspondent visited the premises.

The swimming pool which starts functioning in April was found to be dry as the contract for operating this facility was yet to be renewed or awarded formally to a competent bidder. "The club which was formally inaugurated by the Chief Minister on October 30, 2008, and which has several VIPs as its members has no tennis court with flood lights. It appears that it was meant primarily for the esteemed members only as a group of children getting training in the Rajiv Gandhi Sports Complex in Sector 6 were denied permission to use the court by the staff , said a parent of one of the budding players.

While the club allows its members and residents of HUDA sectors to use the facility here, the children had to practise outside the court, though the manager of the club, Shamsher Sheoran, claimed that the children had been allowed to practise here for the time being.

The security staff of the club, which ought to ensure discipline regarding entry and parking inside the premises, finds itself helpless in the case of senior district officials and influential political persons visiting the club. While the guard was found to be asking the visitors to park their vehicles in the parking space, he could not stop the vehicle of an HCS officer who parked his car right in front of the tennis court gate around 6.50 pm, claimed an eyewitness. It may damage the lawns, he added.

The four-room guest house, built separately, has also been lying unused. It is claimed that it was perhaps a wastage of funds as these rooms could have been built on the top of the main building initially.

The swimming pool, which could have been larger, also required immediate repairs. The manager of the club claimed that the club did not face any problem at present and the swimming pool would soon be operational. None of the senior officials, including the Estate Officer of the HUDA, were not available for giving their version in this regard.

Sonepat school gets national education award
Our Correspondent

Sonepat, April 15
The Gurukul Senior Secondary School, Matindu, in the district, was decorated with the National Education Excellence Award-2013 by the Union Human Resources Development Ministry in a national-level programme in Delhi recently.

The award was given by the Union Minister of Human Resources and Development, MM Pallam Raju, for the outstanding performance of the school in the fields of education and social service.

The award was received by the chairman of the Gurukul Education Society, Brig (retd) Satya Dev Singh, and the school Principal, Naresh Paliwal.

According to Brigadier Singh, around 200 schools, colleges and universities applied for the award from every part of the country and Gurukul Matindu was among the four educational institutions of Haryana which were awarded on the occasion.

The school had concentrated not only in providing a humane education, the students had also participated actively in other social welfare activities like cleaning and eradication of social evils.

Shivalli Chauhan selected for arms deal training

Dr Shivalli Chauhan

Kurukshetra, April 15
The Central Government has short-listed Dr Shivalli Chauhan for special procurement and arms deal training in London.

Dr Chauhan is currently posted in Chandigarh as Controller of Defence Accounts, Ministry of Defence.

The study tour will consist of an intensive training at the renowned leadership training institute, RIPA International, London.

Dr Shivalli had earlier worked as Integrated Financial Adviser to the Ministry of Defence. She was the first lady officer who was selected by the Prime Minister for a United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in 2005. She had also been praised for her work by the UN as Continent-in charge in the USA and Africa for the UN mission. — OC

Seminar on Mahadevi Verma's works
Our Correspondent

Tomoko Kikuchi, a Hindi scholar from Japan, inaugurates an international seminar on 'Mahadevi Verma Ki Sahitya Sadhna' by lighting the traditional lamp while Lt-Gen (retd) DDS Sandhu (extreme left), Vice-Chancellor, KU, looks on at the KU faculty lounge recently. Photo: DR Vij

Kurukshetra April 15
A one-day international seminar on ‘Mahadevi Verma Ki Sahitya Sadhna’ was organised by the Department of Hindi, Kurukshetra University (KU), recently.

Tomoko Kikuchi, a Hindi scholar from Japan, was the chief guest and Mridul Kirti from Georgia, USA, was the guest of honour on the occasion. Lt-Gen (retd) DDS Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor of KU, presided over the function.

In her address, Tomoko Kikuchi praised the poetry of Mahadevi Verma and said it occupies a great place in the Hindi literature. She also talked about the similarities in the poetic qualities and themes of Mahadevi Verma and Akiko Yosano, a famous Japanese poet.

In his presidential remarks, Dr Sandhu said one needs to relate literature with life and try to understand poetic sensibilities of a poetic creation.

He also appreciated the efforts of Prof Pushpa Rani from the Department of Hindi for successful organisation of the seminar.

Prof Sarita Vashishth, Chairperson, Department of Hindi, KU, Prof Sarla Malik, former Chairperson of Public Administration Department, KU, and Dr Ved Vyathit, renowned Hindi littérateur from Faridabad, were among those present on the occasion.

As many as 100 research papers were presented during the technical session of the seminar.

Couple celebrates daughter’s birth
Our Correspondent

Lilawati, mother of the baby girl, along with other women performs the Kua Pujan ceremony at Bithwana village near Rewari.

Rewari, April 15
A middle-aged couple, Ram Autar and his wife Lilawati, who were united in wedlock 22 years ago, have now been blessed with a daughter at Bithwana village, 3 km from here.

The baby girl, who has been fondly named as Chahat, has brought immeasurable joy to the family.

Lilawati accompanied by her relatives and other women of the village went for the ‘Kua Pujan’ ceremony, which is held on the birth of a male child only, at Bithwana.

Chahat’s grandfather Chhitar Mal and other elders of the family arranged a big feast for residents of over 20 surrounding villages at Bithwana recently.

Ram Autar said these festivities mainly aimed at decimation of gender bias, which, he pointed out, had been affecting the healthy advancement of society in various ways.

Hisar constituency first to get power supply in urban mode
Sushil Manav
Tribune News Service

Hisar, April 15
The Nalwa Assembly segment of Hisar will soon become the first constituency in Haryana to get electricity supply in urban mode as consumers in the area are responding enthusiastically to a scheme of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) being implemented to this effect.

Sampat Singh, MLA from Nalwa, said this while addressing villagers at Mangali in Hisar district after inaugurating unique transformers at a 33-KV substation.

He said he was persuading villagers to reduce the Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses to below 25 per cent and get meters relocated outside houses in pillar boxes to get power supply in urban mode for 20-22 hours a day.

He said the AT&C losses in 13 villages in his constituency had come down to a level below 25 per cent. With the relocation of meters, villages would start getting supply in urban mode. Some of the villages have already started getting supply for 20-22 hours a day.

Sampat said electricity consumers residing in dhanies (hamlets) in fields and waiting for shifting their connections from agriculture feeders to domestic supply feeders and prospective consumers waiting for new connections in their dhanies were likely to get big relief as the DHBVN had found a transformer that allows only single phase power supply in an 11-KV feeder.

New transformers have been installed on three agricultural feeders on a test basis at 33-KV substation at Mangali from where 55 dhanies have started getting power in domestic mode.

The new system of power supply to dhanies known as a specially designed transformer is set up at the starting point of the feeder that allows only one phase power supply.

During the schedule of power supply for agriculture purpose, three phase electricity can be supplied in the feeder through the existing system with which the agricultural tube wells can be operated.

One specially designed transformer costs only Rs 4 lakh and there are about 2,800 agricultural feeders in the state to which 43,000 domestic consumers are connected and 11,700 persons are waiting for new domestic connections from these feeders or nearby domestic feeders in fields.

At present, consumers in electrified dhanies in the state were required to pay half of the estimated expenditure to be incurred on construction of needed additional distribution system for connecting to nearby domestic feeder.

Half of the amount of the expenditure was borne by the government and the transformer was set up at the cost of the power distribution utility. With the setting up of the specially designed transformers at all agriculture feeders, this expenditure could be avoided, said engineers of power utilities.

BTech course in footwear technology begins

Rewari, April 15
In view of the fast-increasing footwear-oriented trade as well as employment opportunities in the National Capital Region (NCR), the twin Prannath Pranami Institutes of Footwear Technology (PPIFT) at Hisar and Bahadurgarh in Haryana have started BTech classes in footwear technology for aspiring youths in right earnest.

Specifically mentioning about the anticipated availability of employment for one lakh persons annually in the footwear sector in Haryana and the NCR, Rajesh Shrivastav, technical director of PPIFT, said at a press conference here that the BTech students at their institutes would be made proficient in CAD (computer-aided designing course) as well as CAM (computer-aided manufacturing ) in accordance with international norms.

Similarly Mohan Thakral, senior manager of PPIFT, said that while India ranked second in the domain of footwear production globally, the footwear industry promised a bright future for traders as well as technicians. — OC

Rs 5 cr to be spent in Ambala segment on development
Our Correspondent

Ambala, April 15
A sum of Rs 5 crore will be spent in the Ambala Lok Sabha constituency by Kumari Selja, Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment and MP from Ambala and Rs 160 lakh will be spent in Ambala district while Rs 172 lakh in Panchkula and Yamunanagar districts each on development.

Satish Saini, a member of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, said this while talking to mediapersons at a rest house in Ambala Cantt recently.

Saini, a supporter of Selja had been again nominated as the member of the Zonal Users Consultative Committee, Northern Railway, on the recommendation of Selja.

He said by the efforts of Kumari Selja Rs 5 crore had been sanctioned for the upgrade of the Ambala Cantt Railway Station. A sum of Rs 4.5 crore had also been sanctioned to construct a foot overbridge at the Yamuna Nagar Railway Station to connect Hamida.

He said a new train would be introduced to New Delhi from Ambala Cantt via Brara, Jagadhri and Saharanpur. A rail line had also been got sanctioned from Chandigarh to Paonta Sahib due to the efforts of the minister worth Rs 3,300 crore, which was a dream of residents of Naraingarh, Sadhura and Bilaspur blocks.

District Congress committee president Narendra Pal Shera, block Congress committee (Ambala Cantt) president Heera Lal Yadav, and mahila Congress committee Ambala district president Nelam Shrma were among those others present.