Panipat, July 11
Industrial unrest in the textile industry here took a new turn when more than 1000 owners of pit looms and blankets and bed sheets making units declared lockout till a solution to the ongoing agitation by the workers here today.

Mr PP Kapoor, state convener of IFTU, Haryana, terming this action of factory owners as illegal said it was a move to crush the agitation of poor labourers who were demanding of implementing of labour laws in the factories in a peaceful manner for the past one year.

Even as IFTU called off its proposed indefinite strike from July 10 in these units yesterday only after Mr R. K. Singh, SDM, Panipat assured the workers to expedite the work of registering the units of district under the Factory Act, the owners of factories termed agitation as an arm twisting exercise by vested interests in the Labour unions.

Mr Yashpal Malik, chairman of newly formed Small Scale Industries Federation, Panipat, said the lock-out would remain in force till the agitation by the workers was not called off and security to the factory owners provided since the factories and entrepreneurs were being attacked by the anti- social elements who have sneaked into labourers. Many factories and industrialists had been attacked by these elements in the recent past, alleged Mr Malik.

We would ask the police to verify these labour leaders also before they joined their duties, added Mr Malik.

Mr Roshan Lal Gupta, state spokesman of the Haryana Vyapar Mandal and patron of the federation without disclosing the name alleged that the agitation was a move by anti-social elements at the behest of a senior minister in the state Cabinet .

Declaring unconditional support of the state Vyapar Mandal to the action of industrialists, Mr Gupta said the Panipat industry was contributing Rs 5500 crore revenue in the kitty of state and the Centre governments still the government remained a mute spectator to their problems being faced by them for the last one year due to labour agitation in the city.

The entrepreneurs could decide not to deposit the revenue with the government if the government did not take remedial measures to the problems of the industrialists, added Mr Gupta.

Karontha (Rohtak), July 11
Traffic on the Rohtak-Jhajjar road remained diverted for the fourth day here today although followers of a controversial preacher who had his ashram near the village lifted their blockade last night.

The preacher’s followers had been demanding the release of two persons detained by the Jhajjar police in connection with a criminal case registered against them last month.

Residents of nearby villages refused to lift the blockade of the road leading to the ashram, fearing that more followers of the preacher would reach the ashram as the annual gathering of ashram devotees was scheduled for today.

The day passed off peacefully and traffic to Jhajjar remained diverted via Dighal village.

The panchayat of 27 nearby villages, residents of which met the Chief Minister at Bahadurgarh on July 9, would meet again tomorrow to decide its strategy.

The panchayat had given the authorities a four-day period to resolve the issue, which ended today.

There was tension in the area as resentment against the preacher and his followers had been mounting.

Hundreds of villagers, angered at the preacher’s tactics, wanted to go to his ashram to demolish it last night, but elders of the area convinced them not do so.

Ashram devotees had alleged that the administration cut off water and power supply to the ashram.

They were depending on water from a hand pump installed in the ashram premises hurriedly 
yesterday.

The administration seemed to be no hurry to talk to the preacher and had decided to let his supporters get tired.

The preacher, a former employee of the state government, had been offering his followers his interpretation of some scriptures, which had outraged residents of nearby villages.

Rohtak, July 11
Video conferencing was introduced in the Rohtak revenue division today when Commissioner N.C. Wadhwa, seated in the conference hall of the secretariat here, interacted with Chief Secretary Prem Prashant, who was at his Chandigarh office.

After inaugurating the facility, Mr Wadhwa said this was another step towards e-governance, which was a priority of the Hooda government.

He said the Chief Secretary could now get a feedback on development works from Commissioners or Deputy Commissioners through video conferencing and for this the officer concerned need not go to Chandigarh.

He said video conferencing would also prove helpful in monitoring progress on development works in districts far away from Chandigarh. He hoped that the frequency of video conferencing would be increased to every week.

He apprised the Chief Secretary of the progress on development works to be undertaken by various departments in the division.

He said some departments had started the process and government sanction had been received. But some departments were lethargic and this had been conveyed to their administrative secretaries. He requested the chief secretary to intervene.

The Commissioner said all offices dealing with public in the district were being computerised and brought under one roof so that a person coming to district headquarters for getting a document prepared received it on the same day after completing all formalities on the spot. 

Hisar, July 11
In a classic case of slipshod planning in bureaucratic functioning, top officials of five districts have been called here for a videoconferencing session, though it is contrary to the basic utility of the technology involved.

Haryana Chief Secretary Prem Prashant today held a videoconferencing session with Hisar Divisional Commissioner R.R. Fuliya to review the development activities in the division.

The primary benefit of the advanced technique of videoconferencing was that instead of reaching a common point to hold face-to-face discussions, all participants communicated from their respective places through a network of computers at a pre-fixed time, saving a lot of man hours, travel time, money and fatigue.

The Deputy Commissioners of all five districts falling under the division were called to the conference hall of the district administrative building, defeating the very purpose of videoconferencing.

Hisar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Arun Kumar Gupta, Sirsa DC V. Umashankar, Fatehabad DC O.P. Sheoran, Bhiwani DC Mahendra Kumar, Jind DC Yudhvir Singh and other senior officials were present.

The Divisional Commissioner announced after the session that the videoconferencing network would be strengthened under the e-governance system and asked the district officials to use e-mail for correspondence.

While several officials admitted that there was no point in calling officials from different districts for videoconferencing, nobody took the initiative in raising an objection over the matter.

Fatehabad, July 11
Former Haryana minister and INLD leader Sampat Singh said here yesterday that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s recent visit to Bhattu Kalan in the district had left people cheated by the government.

Mr Sampat Singh, who has represented the Bhattu Kalan Assembly constituency four times, said people and panchayats, who had gone to the rally addressed by the Chief Minister last week had hoped that he would announce some bonanza for the region, but they had to return home empty-handed.

Talking to mediapersons here yesterday, Mr Sampat Singh said the Bhattu Kalan MLA, Mr Kulbir Beniwal, had propagated that the Chief Minister would listen to the demands of individual panchayats after the rally. Many panchayat members and sarpanchs, he said, had gone to the rally with memoranda. But what to speak of listening to the individual woes of panchayats, the Chief Minister failed to give any assurance on the collective demands raised by the MLA.

The INLD leader said people were still wondering as to what objectives were sought to be achieved by the rally. He said that while the organisers had named the rally as “vijay rally”, it was not clear why it was named so. He said perhaps it meant the victory of one faction of the Congress in the state over the other as the overall mood of the speakers of the rally was anti-Bhajan Lal and not against the Opposition.

Sugarcane growers, mill reach accord
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 11
A long standing dispute between over 50,000 sugarcane growers and Saraswati Sugar Mill, Yamunanagar, said to be Asia’s biggest sugar mill, was resolved today following intervention by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and the acting president of the Haryana Congress, Dr Ram Prakash.

The dispute was over the payment of the state advisory price (SAP) of sugarcane for 2002-2003 to the growers. The growers were demanding the SAP, varying from Rs 104 per quintal to Rs 110 per quintal, for different varieties. But the mill had been insisting that it would not pay more than the statutory minimum price (SMP) of about Rs 70 per quintal. The SAP is fixed by the state government, while the SMP is fixed by the Centre and is invariably lower than the former. Since the SMP is linked to the recovery of sugar, the Haryana farmers were paid Rs 87 per quintal to Rs 91 per quintal.

The mill moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which directed it to pay the SAP with the stipulation that if the Supreme Court, which was hearing a similar case related to Uttar Pradesh, decided in favour of the growers, the mill would have to pay 18 per cent interest per annum on the amount of arrears. The apex court decided in favour of the farmers of Uttar Pradesh.

However, the Haryana case remained pending before the High Court.

The contention of the mill before the court was that under the Haryana laws, it was not mandatory for the mills to pay the SAP to the growers in 2002-03, while it was so under the Uttar Pradesh laws.

The state government indirectly acknowledged this contention when it amended the law after the Supreme Court judgement. The growers were a little apprehensive about the outcome of the case.

The arrears for 2003-04 were paid to the farmers without interest after the previous government intervened in the election year. But the arrears for 2002-03 remained unpaid.

A delegation of the cane growers led by Dr Ram Prakash met Mr Hooda at his residence here today and apprised him of their problems. Representatives of the mill led by its chairman, Mr Ranjit Puri, were also called. The two parties agreed to authorise Mr Hooda to find a solution after they failed to reach a decision after about one-hour-long tough negotiations. The mill representatives were bitter that a section of the growers was resorting to unjustified strikes, even though the mill was one of the best pay masters.

Mr Hooda asked the mill to pay the arrears amounting to about Rs 30 crore to the farmers, sans interest. Both sides agreed.

The Chief Minister inquired from the growers if the payment of any other mill was also due. He particularly wanted to know about the Bhadson sugar mill, owned by the family of the Power Minister, Mr Venod Sharma.

The growers informed him that the Naraingarh sugar mill had promised to follow the Yamunanagar sugar mill, while the Bhadson mill had cleared the dues of the farmers long ago.

Panipat, July 11
The proposed indefinite strike by workers of pit looms and blanket and bed- sheet manufacturing industries was postponed here yesterday when Mr R K Singh, SDM, Panipat, assured them of implementation of the Factories Act and labour laws in the district as soon as possible.

The SDM promised the workers holding rally that their other demands would also be sympathetically considered. Thousands of labourers had started assembling at the Gumbad Maidan since morning after Indian Federation of Trade Unions, Panipat, called for an indefinite strike and a protest march alleging that the administration was not willing to implement the laws in the industry.

Mr Singh who reached the spot assured the labourers that efforts would be initiated immediately to implement all their genuine demands.

It was decided at the rally that the union leaders would assemble on July 21 to assess the progress in the implementation of the labour laws in the industry and decide the future course of action.

Hisar, July 11
The Union Government has approved 18 special economic zone (SEZ) projects for the state. Preference will be given to parties willing to set up SEZs in the surrounding areas. This was stated by the Haryana Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, while addressing mediapersons here last evening.

The Congress leader admitted that a number of his supporters had been ignored while constituting the state executive of the party. Mr Birender Singh denied any move to project himself as the Chief Minister. “There is no question of my being in the fray for the Chief Minister’s post at this stage,” he asserted.

He said that the entire state would be covered by the Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme within two years. Talking about Mr Bhajan Lal’s resignation from the post of president of the state Congress, he said that no one was above the party and that the resignation would not have any impact on the party. 

Kurukshetra, July 11
Following a spate of thefts on the Kurukshetra University campus in the past one month, the university authorities today proposed to divide residential premises into clusters to provide more security staff for the teachers’ colony. Six cases of theft had been reported.

The decision came a day before Kurukshetra University Teachers Association (KUTA) members were to proceed on mass leave. A total of 200 teachers had applied for leave.

KUTA secretary Dr Bhagwan Singh said there was an atmosphere of terror on the campus.

He added that miscreants had targeted houses of teachers when they were away.

He said the Vice-Chancellor invited KUTA members for a dialogue and agreed to their proposals.

Walls would be constructed to earmark zones and 18 more security guards would be deployed, he said.

A member of the faculty of the Department of Physical Education would be made assistant security officer.

The university authorities asked the teachers to form a committee to suggest more security arrangements.

A panel to supervise the security measures would be constituted shortly, he said.

New Delhi, July 11
It is a state that is yet to balance its skewed sex ratio, but Haryana has set an example for other states by including 28,445 children with special needs into the Integrated Education Programme under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

The state has started Home Based Education programmes to meet the learning requirements of the 31,907 children identified so far. The programme is being imparted through model inclusive schools, an experiment, which is now being considered worth replicating.

“Discovering new paths in inclusion”, a report compiled by the HRD Ministry that documents Home Based Education practices, has noted that Haryana is aiming to start a model inclusive school in each block so that children do not have cover long distances.

The model inclusive schools that have been set up in the districts of Gurgaon, Panchkula, Hisar and Rohtak have already been extended to Sirsa, Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Faridabad, Fatehabad and Kaithal districts.

Providing education to more than 1,200 children, these model schools are inclusive as they have on their rolls a sizeable number of non-disabled students.

With inclusive education having been identified as a means of meeting the goal of the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the programmes have been started in those districts of Haryana where there are no schools or where the special children live in remote areas.

For the benefit of the 2,200 children, the government has made available transport facilities, special learning material and equipment, trained staff and incentives like books, uniforms and special furniture.

Rewari, July 11
Miscreants broke into the house of INLD leader and member of the State Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum Shakuntala Yadav in Shiv Colony at Kosli on Sunday night and ransacked the house before setting some important documents on fire.

Ms Yadav and her husband Pratap Singh Yadav were away to Chandigarh when the incident happened.

Alleging that it was the handiwork of some persons involved in a land dispute, Mr Yadav lodged a complaint. The police has registered a case under Sections 457 and 436, IPC, against six suspects, Yatender Kumar, Jagdish Prasad, Vijay Kumar and three others. — OC

Fatehabad, July 10
To ensure the optimal use of rainwater, the district authorities have prepared a scheme for storage of rainwater in underground tanks for use. The administration will spend Rs. 1.80 crore for the implementation of this scheme.

The Commissioner, Hisar Division, Mr R.R. Fuliya, told media persons here today that under the first phase of the rainwater management scheme, the district administration had selected 10 senior secondary schools and five other government buildings in the district. The administration planned to implement the scheme in 36 senior secondary schools and 89 high schools during the next four years.

Mr Fuliya said that under the watershed scheme of the government, 147 new ponds would be dug up in the district. A sum of Rs 3.68 crores would be spent on these ponds, he said.

Fatehabad, July 11
Former Haryana minister and INLD leader Sampat Singh said here yesterday that Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s recent visit to Bhattu Kalan in the district had left people cheated by the government.

He said people, who had gone to the rally addressed by the Mr Hooda last week, had hoped that he would announce some bonanza for the region, but they had to return home empty-handed. — OC