Sonepat, August 2
On the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as many as 73 unauthorised constructions at Bhainswal Kalan village were today demolished by a team of the administration led by Gohana SDM Vivek Chaudhary.

In the presence of the police force, two JCB machines were used by a team of the administration and there was no opposition from the affected villagers.

A number of villagers had made illegal constructions on the left side of the 44-foot wide street in the village and the street width was left just around 12 feet. Puran Mal, a resident of the village, knocked the door of the high court against the unauthorised constructions and the high court had issued directions for demolition of the unauthorised constructions.

The team reached the village in the morning and asked the villagers concerned to demolish their unauthorised constructions. As many as 23 villagers demolished their structures of their own and the remaining constructions in the street were demolished with the help of JCB machines in the afternoon. 

Sonepat, August 2
The Haryana Government has planned to introduce the same curriculum in all three science and technology universities — DCR, Murthal, GJU, Hisar, and YMCA, Faridabad, — in the state.

This was stated by Mohinder Kumar, Secretary to Haryana Governor, while talking to mediapersons after taking over the additional charge of the Vice-Chancellor of the DCR University of Science and Technology, Murthal, today.

In a meeting of the state body of the National Higher Education Council, held in the recent past and presided over by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and attended by the Vice-Chancellors of all universities in the state, a sub-committee headed by the VC of Kurukshetra University was formed to give its recommendations on bringing uniformity in curriculum, he added.

He stressed that there was a need to provide quality education to the students from the rural areas and the teachers in higher education institutes had to shoulder this responsibility.

Though the state government had opened such institutes including universities in every part of the state, but the teachers’ role was very important to improve the teaching standards, he said.

In reply to a question about the reported declining standard of education in some of the private engineering institutes affiliated with the university, he said it would be checked whether such institutes follow the UGC’s guidelines or not.

Karnal, August 2
With a view to reducing malnutrition among children, the Haryana government has launched an incentive-based scheme in which districts doing good work in providing nutritious food to children will be given cash awards.

Under the scheme, the districts securing the first, second and third position will be given cash award of Rs 1.5 lakh, Rs 1 lakh and Rs 50,000, respectively, an official spokesman here said.

The government has also enhanced the supplementary nutrition money for overall development of mothers and children and the revised rates of nutrition money are Rs 5 per day for mothers and adolescent girls, Rs 4 per day for children and Rs 6 per day for severely malnourished children.

The scheme runs under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) to provide supplementary nutrition to affected mothers and children. The responsibility of preparing nutritious food has now been entrusted to self-help groups (SHG) of mothers, the spokesman said.

The SHGs are working under the supervision of village-level committee and provide nutritious food to beneficiaries identified by ICDS and about 75,000 women have got employment under the scheme.

The objectives of the programme are to reduce malnutrition, elimination of micro-nutrients deficiencies relating to iron, iodine, Vitamin A and others.

Gurgaon, August 2
The special board of forensic experts, constituted to probe the circumstances leading to the death of Gurgaon Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Ravneet Garg’s wife, held its first meeting today.

The meeting was held a day after The Tribune highlighted that how even after seven days of its constitution the board had not even met once, leave aside making any breakthrough in the case where the CJM is the key accused.

The panel members TD Dogra, former director of AIIMS and presently vice-chancellor of SGT University, Gurgaon; SK Dhattarwal, professor of forensic medicine at PGIMS, Rohtak; and Sanjay Narula, head of the team that conducted Geetanjali’s postmortem exanimation, visited the crime spot.

The panel had consensus on having more experts on the board to solve the “mystery” and has asked for inclusion of a representative from CFSL, Delhi, and AIIMS.

Ironically, even after almost a fortnight of Geetanjali’s death, investigators have failed to establish whether her death was murder as alleged by her family or suicide. The team has to review the postmortem report.

Gurgaon, August 2
Congress Member of Parliament from Gurgaon Rao Inderjit Singh has denied having any plan to join the BJP or any other party ahead of the upcoming elections to the Lok Sabha and the Haryana Assembly.

"There is no move to join the BJP or any other political party, as is being spread by a section of the media and some vested interests," Rao Inderjit Singh told The Tribune today.

He asserted that there was no question of his approaching any political outfit as his own public forum, the Haryana Insaaf Manch, was getting a substantial response from people in the state.

About his plans to convert his public front into a political party, the former union minister said a decision would be taken only after due consultation with his supporters and sympathisers.

Sources close to the Gurgaon Member of Parliament, however, said next month would be crucial.

Owing to political vacuum prevailing in the state due to the imprisonment of INLD leaders Om Prakash Chautala and his son Ajay Singh, rumours are doing the rounds about the final stance likely to be adopted by the BJP.

Kaithal, August 2
The closure of Saraswati distributory canal by the administration has angered farmers in Kaithal and Kurukshetra. The farmers have questioned the timing of the closure of the canal as their paddy crop has been facing a severe shortage of water for the past couple of weeks. Also, the rainfall in the area has been scanty this year which had added to the farmers’ woes.

The Saraswati distributory emanates from the Bhakra canal, which is filled to capacity this year. A major part of Kaithal and Kurukshetra is irrigated through the canal, which even carries water to the Kahnouri area in Punjab.

Officials of the Irrigation Department said they had to close the canal in view of the wild growth in the canal, which had resulted in fall in its water-carrying capacity.

However, taking exception to the department’s move, farmers said the canal should have been cleaned before June 15 to ensure availability of sufficient water for irrigation during the paddy season. The canal closure at this crucial time, that too when the rains are not sufficient, has forced them to save their crops by irrigating their fields through tubewells.

Superintending Engineer, Bhakra Water Services, Kaithal Circel, AP Singh said the closure of the canal was necessitated to remove the wild growth from it. He assured the farmers that the water supply in the canal supply would be resorted shortly. XEN, Canal Water Services, Kaithal, RK Latka said the canal was almost clean and the water would be released in a day or two.

Chandigarh, August 2
The Haryana Government has submitted four new mega projects of road network and sewerage system for Faridabad having an estimated cost of Rs 495.13 crore to the Central Government for approval under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM).

This was informed at the second meeting of the state-level steering committee on the JNNURM chaired by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here yesterday.

These four mega projects included improvement of road network in Faridabad town, Phase-I NIT Zone, at an estimated cost of Rs 153.80 crore, improvement of road network in Faridabad town, Ballabgarh zone, at an estimated cost of Rs 128.15 crore, revamping of sewerage system and sewage treatment works in the Ballabgarh zone, Faridabad, at an estimated cost of Rs 158.98 crore and sanitary landfill scheme for Faridabad town at an estimated cost of Rs 54.20 crore.

On the issue of 2217 dwelling units constructed in Dabua Colony and Bapu Nagar in Faridabad lying unoccupied due to non-shifting of eligible beneficiaries from identified slums, Hooda directed the officers concerned to make arrangement for early shifting of the eligible beneficiaries to these dwelling units. Hooda also directed that the capacity of solid waste management plant for Faridabad at Bandhwari should be increased from 600 tonnes per day (TPD) to 1,000 TPD. Hooda directed in the meeting that solid waste management projects should be prepared for Gurgaon-Sohna and Manesar.

Chandigarh, August 2
In the backdrop of poor result in the recently-declared matriculation examination, the Haryana Government has decided to teach its prospective teachers.

In a unique initiative, the state government has decided to set up Prarambh, a school for teacher education, to hone the professional skills of the prospective teachers. “Prarambh will seek to address the quality issues in elementary and secondary teacher education with built-in mechanisms for innovation to improve educational standards in the state,” an official spokesman said here today.

To be set up over an area of 10 acres in Jhajjar, Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal’s home district, the autonomous institute will offer a four-year integrated BEd programme to the candidates. A high-powered committee under the chairmanship of Surina Rajan, Principal Secretary (School Education), has been constituted for finalising curriculum for the programme.

Meanwhile, CN Bharti, general secretary, Haryana Vidyalaya Adhyapak Sangh, has welcomed the state government’s decision to set up an exclusive educational institution for the prospective teachers for the government schools. “The setting up of the institute will ensure that only those candidates would join the institute, who wanted to make a career in teaching,” he added. 

Fatehabad, August 2
Residents observed almost a complete bandh at Jakhal town in Fatehabad today in protest against the alleged police inaction in tracing a young girl who had gone missing on July 24.

The residents, who had been holding dharna outside the police station and blocking vehicular traffic for the past three days, closed all markets and schools today.

Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar and Superintendent of Police Shiv Charan Attri went there and assured the protesters that four teams would be constituted to trace the girl against two teams working at present.

Meanwhile, in another incident at Kanheri, a man jumped in the Bhakhra canal accusing the police of taking no action to trace his stolen truck.

The villagers, however, fished him out safe and blocked vehicular traffic on Hisar road. Shiv Kumar Bishnoi, SHO of the City Police Station said the police was doing its best to trace the truck. 

Kaithal, August 2
As part of the government’s drive to set up common service centres in villages throughout the state to provide essential services to people, a common service centre was set up at Khurana village of Kaithal district today.

Deputy Commissioner NK Solanki said residential, birth, death and marriage certificates, mutations, meter reading and power bill deposit services would be provided at the centres.

State IT officials R Sumanthra and Ashvani Kumar briefed the administrative officers through a presentation at the mini-secretariat. The district administration had proposed Khurana, Chandana and Rohera villages for setting up common service centres and at last Khurana village was selected for the centre.

The government has selected Kaithal, Ambala and Panchkula districts to set up these common service centres as a pilot project. The first common service centre was set up at Barwala village of Panchkula district.

DRO Rajbir Dhiman, DDPO Rajesh Khoth and DIO Deepak Khurana were present on the occasion.

Karnal, August 2
While Congress leaders are vying for credit for the domestic airport here hailing it as a big achievement, the BJP has dubbed it as a political stunt.

Congress MLA Sumita Singh said it was one of the development projects under execution or in pipeline in the district.

While the inclusion of Karnal in the NCR would ensure flow of more funds for development, the domestic airport would help promote tourism and industry, employment generation and give boost to the economy, Sumita Singh said.

Karnal MP Arvind Sharma termed the airport as victory for the people of Karnal in which he was instrumental. The MP said it would also benefit the adjoining districts of Kurukshetra and Panipat.

He said a separate ministry should be created for planned and systematic development of the NCR and the state capital region (SCR).

The state BJP has dubbed the move as a "political stunt" saying that the government which had failed to shift Karnal bus stand to a suitable place even after 10 years and start construction of Kalpana Chawala Medical College after seven years, was just playing with the sentiments of people by offering them a "lollypop" in the name of domestic airport".

The announcement had been made only to divert the attention of people from burning issues like rampant corruption, price rise and unemployment, state BJP spokesman Jagmohan Anand said in a statement issued here today. 

Hisar, August 2
After a failed attempt in nineties, the local airport, which was recently upgraded to a civil airport, would soon operate domestic flights after a gap of nearly 20 years.

Hisar was the first town in the state to start domestic flights in 1993-94. However, the services had to be terminated within six months due to lack of passengers.

Located nearly 5 km from the town along the National Highway No. 10, the airport is presently managed by the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation (HICA) which provides flying and gliding training to youth.

The flying club owns two aircraft -- 4-seater Cessna 172 and 2-seater Cessna 152 -- and two motor gliders. It has 4,000 feet strip which will be extended up to 6,000 feet for landing of aircraft like ATR Turboprops and jets.

The airport was constructed in 1965 for the Hisar Aviation Club which was merged with the Haryana Institute of Civil Aviation in 1999.

Officials at the airfield said private airlines had started domestic flights from Hisar to Delhi and other places in 1993-94. The Air India's Yayudoot had also started its flights from this airport but terminated after a period of six months.

“But the services had to be stopped as the airlines faced financial crunch as well as shortage of passengers,” said aviation club in charge Isreal Mohammad.

Jagdish Jindal, a local industrialist who had travelled from Hisar to Delhi in the nineties, said, "At present, the situation is quite different as the volume of trade and industries has increased manifold. Now, Hisar city and other nearby towns have potential air travellers and hopefully, the past experience would not be repeated this time."

Rameshwar Dass, president of the Hisar Goldsmith Association, said the air services would prove economical for the traders, as presently they had to go to Delhi. “I hope the Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Rajkot routes should be taken on priority.”

Sampat Singh, Congress MLA from Nalwa segment in Hisar, said it would emerge as a transit route for traders, industrialists and other prospective passengers.

People travelling to adjoining towns of Rajasthan like Pilani, Jhunjhunu, Bikaner and Punjab towns on Haryana borders will find it economical to board flights from here, he said.

Ambala, August 2
In its latest report, the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) has found that the thermal units in Haryana had generated power much below the targets.

The report stated that the power generation in the state took a nosedive as HPGCL's own generation fell short by 22.6 per cent from the assigned targets in June.

The CEA report mentioned that the thermal power plants in state were supposed to give plant load factor (PLF) of 74.07 per cent in June but their generation was limited to equivalent of 57.36 per cent PLF.

The report further stated that the three major thermal plants in the state had generated 2,100 million units (MUs) less in the first quarter of the current financial year against the given targets.

The Panipat, Khedar and Jhajjar thermal plants had generated less power in the first three months of 2013-14 against the assigned targets. The 1,360 MW Panipat thermal plant generated 1,667 MUs against the target of 2,362 MUs. The 1,200 MW Khedar thermal plant missed the target by 270 MUs and was able to generate only 1,027 MUs.

The maximum shortage was reported from 1,320 MW Jhajjar thermal plant which produced only 759 MUs against the target of 1,892 MUs. The Yamunanagar thermal plant though generated less power but was not in the CEA list as it contained names of only those plants which missed targets by at least 100 MUs.

The main reason for less generation by the thermal plants mentioned in the report was reduced demand in the state even as the power demand in the state had grown by more than 10 per cent. However, the government's decision to purchase 1,424 MW power from Adani group on a long-term basis was the only reason for shutting down its own units.

Sources said by shutting down its own thermal units, HPGCL incurred fixed charges and it only saved the running cost. The expenditure incurred on keeping the units idle would be reflected in its balance sheet.

Karnal/Kurukshetra, August 2
The Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (HFUCTO) has extended its support to the protesting teachers of Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University (CCSHAU) and Lala Lajpat Rai University of Veterinary and Animal sciences (Hisar) for implementation of the revised pay scales of the 6th Pay Commission.

In a statement, HFUCTO general secretary Attar Singh here today said it was unfortunate that the teachers of the two premium universities of state had to go on strike to press the demand for implementation of the revised pay scales. Even five years after the Central Government had notified the revised pay scales as per the recommendation of the 6th Pay Commission, the revised scales had not been released to the teachers of the two universities while the same had been implanted in case of other categories, he said.

Chief Minister Bhupender Singh Hooda had personally visited the dharna site on the university campus a few months ago and gave an assurance to the teachers to solve their problems following which the teachers withdrew their agitation at that time.

Attar Singh requested the state authorities to implement the career advancement scheme for teachers of both the universities. 

Jind, August 2
While government schools often complain of shortage of teaching staff, a large number of teachers have been found to be surplus in various schools of the district.

As per the new rationalisation policy, the education department has started transferring teachers, sending scare among many who feel that they might be shunted out of the posting of their liking or could be left jobless in the wake of surplus teachers. Over 50 guest teachers have reportedly been found surplus in the district.

Sources in the Education Department said the transfer and posting of the surplus teachers have begun in the district as per the new policy, which states that at least one teacher is required for 25 students in a school. There are many schools in the district where the ratio of teachers in comparison to the students is very low, while those located close to the town headquarters have surplus teachers.

The department has found at least 156 JBT teachers surplus, of which several are employed as guest teachers. If the department officials are to be believed, around 50 guest teachers could lose their job in the wake of a large number of regular teachers joining their new postings in the reshuffling.

In 2000-2001, the norms recommended one teacher for 40 students in a middle school, while one teacher for every 49 students in the primary schools. There are around 600 government schools in the district which include 475 primary schools. Various teachers' associations, including the Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh, have opposed the counselling in relation to the new transfers and postings. They alleged that the new policy was irrational and could result in victimisation of teachers awaiting retirement in next couple of years.

A department official claimed that the rationalisation will help in filling the vacant posts and adjusting the surplus teachers. Admitting that some guest teachers had been found surplus, he said the department would focus on adjusting the regular teachers, which include the JBT and those included in C and V categories.

Gurgaon, August 2
Residents of Mewat are up against the state government for yet another ‘step-motherly’ act. Being accused of indifferent to development of railway line and irrigation canal, the state government has now come under fire for not going ahead with the development of Kotla Lake while the work at its Kurukshtera and Kaithal counterparts is in full swing.

In May this year the state government approved and notified its plans to develop Kotla Lake in Mewat, Ootu in Kurukshtera and Bibi Pur in Kaithal as natural water reservoirs. The plan aimed at spending around 122 crore to transform this natural water lake in district’s life line for solving drinking and irrigation water scarcity. Ironically, while Kotla has so far not got a single penny the around 46 crore have already been spent on Ootu project and around 20 crore on Bibipur Lake. The residents who had sought the details of this expenditure through RTI have blamed the government for ignoring them due to political reasons.

“The Kotla Lake has long been an election promise for us. This lake, if developed, with not only be a boon for our rain-fed agriculture but will also solve water table issues in nearby Gurgaon and areas of Rajasthan. The government had raised our hopes by getting a go ahead from the Water Commission. However, we are being ignored because we are virtually politically barren district. They have political interests and our people continue to be ignored,” said Noordin Noor, president, Zila Parishad, Mewat.— TNS

Rewari, August 2
The Khol police today found the body of Hoshiar Singh Yadav (40) near Government High School, Khaleta, about 30 km from here.

Following a complaint by Abhay Singh Yadav, elder brother of the deceased, the police has booked Chuni Lal and Sarjit, both residents of Khol village.

Abhay alleged that his brother Hoshiar had last night attended a function
at Khaleta from where he was kidnapped by Chuni Lal and Sarjit, who later killed him.

The postmortem was conducted at the civil hospital here today.