GN

"Majority of the complaints are made in respect of damage to bumper of cars, especially those of luxury cars. The contractor should use rubber tyres during towing process and exercise precautions to prevent damage while it is being towed away," a senior police officer said.

In the event of any damage caused to private vehicles while towing, the officer said, the owner of the crane "must reach the site of occurrence or traffic circle office immediately to settle the issue." The claim against damage, if any, caused to the vehicle during the process of towing will have to be compensated by the contractor, the officer said, adding these clauses were incorporated in the tender. "Traffic Police will not be responsible in any manner for any damage caused to the vehicle or claim sought by the vehicle owners in consequence to the towing activity," he said.

Traffic personnel on duty on the crane will maintain a register of vehicles towed or lifted along with time and exact location. "They will also take photographs of every vehicle towed as proof for justification of its removal from the location. The photograph will clearly show the registration number of the vehicle and the description of the location.

Source: The Pioneer Towing contractors to pay for damage to vehicles

The Haryana Tourism is gearing itself for the Commonwealth Games (CWG) being held in Delhi in October, 2010. All tourist complexes in the National Capital Region (NCR) are being renovated and upgraded while rooms are being done up and provided with new furniture, fabrics and additional facilities to draw tourists, an official spokesman said here today. He said LCD TV sets, mini-refrigerators, split ACs and other facilities were also being provided in the done-up rooms to raise the comfort level of visitors.

The Commonwealth Games are being held at a time when Haryana Tourism is celebrating 36th year of its existence. Camping sites with tented AC accommodation and attached toilets have been set up at Surajkund near Faridbad and Dundahera in Gurgaon district for the stay of visitors during the CWG. Similar camping sites are also being set up at Damdama, Hodal and Dharuhera, the spokesman said.

It is now being studied as a benchmark by the central government to have a uniform policy and rates across the country for land acquired from farmers, the backbone of India's agrarian economy.

The reason the policy is suddenly getting all this attention is that farmers in Uttar Pradesh have been protesting for weeks, demanding higher compensation for their lands acquired to build the 165-km Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway.

The Haryana government says it is offering the "highest market rates in the country" for land acquired from farmers for development projects.

"When we brought the land acquisition policy in 2007, I had said in the assembly that this policy is so good that it will be adopted in the entire country. That has come true now," Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda told IANS here.

Source: Thaindian.com In spotlight: Haryana's land acquisition policy

The 2010 CWG, the biggest sporting event to be held in India, are being held in New Delhi Oct 3-14 this year.

Haryana had earlier announced that Oct 14 will be observed as a public holiday in the Gurgaon district in view of the closing ceremony of the CWG.

State Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati said the Haryana government has decided to observe Oct 14 as a public holiday in all its public offices, including educational institutional, boards and corporations, situated within the limits of Gurgaon.

A decision to this effect was taken at the meeting of the board of directors of the corporation held here under the chairmanship of Chhatar Singh, principal secretary to CM, Rajeev Arora, MD of the corporation said. "The cost estimate for the development work for phase-III of Barhi industrial estate over an area of about 647 acres was also approved by the board," he said

The works have been awarded for all the projects at a total value of Rs 32,984 crore, including Rs 16,622 crore for Panipat project, Rs 8,522 crore for Bahadurgarh and Rs 7,840 crore for Rai.

The work would involve creation of services like roads, water supply, sewage system, water drainage system, horticulture works, electricity distribution network etc. The development works were awarded to L&T and the work is to be completed within 18 months.

The stations will be integrated and commissioned as soon as the AMEL opens for the public, DMRC officials said.

Travelling from the IGI Aiport to Dwarka or West Delhi would soon be a brief ride on the AMEL costing a maximum of Rs 30. One can shift to the Delhi Metro network at the Dwarka Sector 21 station, which is just a stop away from the IGI Airport Metro station, and take Line 3 to reach the city.

"The Dwarka Sector 21 station is designed in a way that commuters will not even have to change platforms to board AMEL trains," said DMRC spokesperson Anuj Dayal.

"This station will be unique as it will essentially be two stations merged into one. It will have four levels the platforms will be underground, concourse at ground level and two more levels for commercial development. Each level will have an area of about 12,500 sq m," he added.

Construction and finishing work on the Dwarka Sector 8 as well as Sector 21 lines are over, and trial runs have already been conducted. DMRC sources said statutory clearances from the Commissioner of Metro Rail Safety would be obtained once the AMEL is complete.

Source: The Indian Express By Sweta Dutta New stations ready, Dwarka set to connect with IGI

Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah rejected the plea of Department of Personnel and Training that these records were held "in confidence" by the government and are hence exempted from disclosure.

"It is clear that the property statements are statements regarding private individuals serving in government and (they) become part of Government records," he said.Habibullah said by no means these records can be treated as information held "in confidence" by the government.

He said these records come in the category of "personal information" the disclosure of which could amount to invasion of privacy and would attract section 8(1)(j) of the RTI Act.

Source: business-standard Property statements are not 'confidential' info: CIC

The NHAI has decided to set up five call centres covering the eastern, western, northern, southern and central regions. It is proposed to set them up in backward districts and tribal areas so that they also serve a social development purpose.

These decisions were taken in the light of the fact that more than one lakh people die in road accidents in India every year, the highest in the world. The poor sections of the people account for 70 per cent of the fatalities.

The social cost of road accidents has been estimated at three per cent of the GDP.

Save lives

The objective behind the move is to provide timely treatment to the injured and save their lives.These call centres will also arrange for services for clearing obstruction of highways due to falling of trees, dharnas, flat tyres,and bad road conditions, and improve maintenance of roads and facilities to serve the road users better.

Each call centre will have at least 15 persons working in each shift, five of whom will have to do bilingual servicing in Hindi and English. The other 10 are expected to be proficient in languages specific to the region, covering about 19 languages of the country.

The NHAI has floated the tenders and officials expect the call centres to be in place by the beginning of next year.

While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that amongst the sub events, the little toddlers will also have their share of fun and frolic. The Kids Carnival will be an 11-day carnival for kids to participate in various activities to bring out their creative talent.

He said that the Kids Carnival will have activities, stalls and festive celebrations to entertain the guests from Delhi-NCR. It will be an evening to remember with the joy of Navratras, Dussehra and the Commonwealth Games-2010. The event would start with a baby show and would have activities like Dance Mania, Skit, Singing, Kids Fashion Show, Drawing and a Talent Hunt. The daily winners would be awarded the prizes in an Award Ceremony to mark the end of a happy-go-lucky event for kids. The Event will help provide elaborate branding opportunities for sponsors and stalls will give the guests a variety of shopping options. This will be for the sponsors, a lucrative platform for advertising.

He said that the highlight of the event is an "Education Fair" showcasing schools, institutions and book shops to provide the most suitable education opportunities to children. The education Fair will have participation of schools and institutions from all over Delhi-NCR.

Source: www.indianews.org.in Gurgaon Shopping Festival From September 27

Mr Hooda, who was addressing a mammoth Samman rally at ITI Campus, Mahendragarh today, said that Southern-Western Corridor would be constructed in the State at a cost of Rs 1100 crore. About 200 kms long corridor would be constructed from Bhiwani to Kotputli via Mahendragarh-Narnaul. He said that the Government would provide wheat and rice at a rate of Rs three per kilograms to the BPL card holders. Aero Sports Club had also been opened at Bachhod in Narnaul and hanger would also be constructed in this Club.

Accepting almost all the demands raised by Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Rao Dan Singh, the Chief Minister made a number of announcements for the development of the area. He said that he had laid the foundation stones and inaugurated projects of about Rs 250 crore today.

He said, “Seeing is believing. Development works worth Rs 1040 crore had been undertaken in district Mahendragarh during last five years and in future also, the area would witness a new era of development.” He said that Industrial Estate would be set up at Mahendragarh by HSIIDC.

Source: www.indianews.org.in Many new projects in Haryana: Hooda

Officials sources said here the recent spurt in international crude prices had not helped the situation and the Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) were losing around 50 paise to Re. 1 a litre on petrol. The average crude oil basket is around $81 a barrel and shows no signs of moderating.

After it decontrolled petrol prices on June 25, the government contemplated issuing guidelines to the OMCs for adjusting the price of petrol against the movement of crude oil price in the international market. However, those guidelines are still to come. The State-owned OMCs are likely to raise petrol prices by at least Re.1 per litre by early next month. A hike is imminent to keep the mounting under-recoveries under control.

"Petrol price hike is imminent. Only the quantum of increase will have to be decided," said an official.

Even after Delhi high court pulled up the state government on the issue, few steps have been taken to curb the use of harmful chemicals at vegetable markets. ``The chemicals can cause gastric ulcer, liver problems and kidney failure. People must be careful and wash fruits and vegetables properly before use,'' said Dr M P Sharma of Rockland Hospital.

Experts said bottle gourd is often injected with chemical like oxytocin for faster growth that can cause abnormal growth and other complications in human beings.

``Fruits and vegetables are brought to Delhi from several parts of the country. To maintain their `freshness' and get a better deal out of them, suppliers and hawkers apply synthetic colours on vegetables and fruits which contain heavy metals like mercury and lead. Vendors and hawkers apply these colours particularly on vegetables like okra, beans and bitter gourd,'' said Sugriv Dubey. He filed a PIL in HC on the issue following which the court sought explanation from the government on Thursday.

Fruit sellers use chemicals like copper sulphate and calcium carbide to ripen bananas and mangoes. Sources added that in farms, pesticides and herbicides are used to excess to get better yield.

Source: Times OF India BY Durgesh Nandan Jha Chemicals used in fruits & veggies

Sources in the Panchayat and Development Department maintain that of the 6,598 villages with families eligible under the scheme, suitable shamlat land is available in 5,001 village only. This will cover 4.21 lakh of the Scheduled Caste, Backward Class and below poverty line families who are eligible for the 100-yard plots announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's government in 2008 against a target population of nearly six lakh. For the rest, the officials in the department are working overtime to finalise a strategy for plot allotment. Pegging the "difficult pockets" at 1000, the department maintains there is little that can be done and there are only two options before the government, exchange of land in the village itself or land acquisition. Sources maintain that the department is busy reviving the scheme which had been in the cold storage for four months owing to panchayat elections. However, in the next four months, the department will have to deal with allotting land in the "difficult pockets".

The department is planning to write to the Deputy Commissioners of these 1000 villages to explore the possibility of facilitating exchange of land within the village to allot plots near the abadi area. "Our first effort will be to urge villagers to willingly exchange land in the abadi area for a piece of land at a distance within the same village so that these families can be accommodated in the abadi areas.

Source: The Tribune By Geetanjali Gayatri Gramin Basti Yojana : To House The Poor, Land Search On

The municipal elections in Gurgaon could be held sometime in the middle of next year, Mahender Pratap Singh, the minister, said on Tuesday.

Under the Haryana Municipal Corporation Act, the state government is duty bound to hold municipal election within six months of formation of corporation.

However, it was recently only when the state government had issued a notification for the third time for extending the time limit for holding the elections to December 31, 2010.

"Though the work of survey and formation of 35 municipal wards had been completed in Gurgaon but the data so accumulated has to be processed. The process is quite lengthy," Singh said.

The minister said there had a been a number of changes in the jurisdiction of the MCG, including addition of villages on two occasions. He said, "All such formalities take a lot of time. Therefore, if need be we may have to come out with another notification for extending the time limit for holding municipal elections in Gurgaon beyond December 31, 2010."

Singh said the elections could be held in mid-next year.

The Representation of the People (Amendment) Bill, 2006, which aims to allow Indians working or studying overseas to vote, is likely to be introduced in Parliament during the current session.

The new version of the Bill, originally introduced in the Ra- jya Sabha in 2006, allows expa- triates to vote based on the resi- dential address mentioned in their passport, according to an official in the ministry of over- seas Indian affairs. The earlier version only mentioned that NRIs were eligible to be includ- ed in voter lists.

Currently, those who live abroad for more than six months cannot be enrolled in the voters' list. While the people of Indian origin overseas is estimated at around 25 million, Mint could not independently ascertain how many of these were NRIs and, hence, are eligible to vote when the legislation takes effect.

Source: Live Mint By LIZ MATHEW & RUHI TEWARI Cabinet Clears Bill On Voting Rights For NRIs

"We have partially started refusing pet owners space for burial as we are not left with any. Therefore, we have plans of buying power or CNG fuel-run cremation machine, for which some pet lovers have also agreed," he added.

While talking about the idea of starting a pet cemetery, Dr. Sharma said, "The requirement for such a service emanated from the emotional needs of people who treat their pets like their family members and are deeply hurt when these pets die. They not only want memories of the pets, who spent years with them, to remain with them, but also want to accord honour and a dignified burial by performing their last rituals."

Some of the buried pets here include Timoshka, who died of a heart attack and was buried with rituals at the Garden of Eternal Peace. Timoshka was a Russian cat owned by a diplomat.

Other graves here are those of Ricky, Rojer, Soupy, Chiku, Max and many more pets, owners of which buried after death. "Those who have space in their gardens or farmhouses, bury them there. However, people living in hi-rises come to the cemetery. People availing the service are mostly from Gurgaon, Delhi, Faridabad and Noida," Dr. Sharma said.

A team of top state officials led by state cabinet secretary Sashankh Sekhar Singh and some senior ministers of the Mayawati government held parleys with farmer leader Ram Babu Kateria at the Aligarh airstrip in the early hours on Tuesday.

Senior Superintendent of Police, Aligarh, Satender Veer Singh said that "The package offered by the state government includes the provision of raising the compensation price offered to the farmers to Rs 570 per square metre (about 20 per cent higher than the earlier price)".

It is expected that the farmer leaders will place this offer before the kisan panchayat at the dharna site at village Jikarpur and seek its "ratification".

Kateria, who is under arrest, is expected to be produced before a judicial magistrate today. He is presently at a private nursing home after he had complained of some "discomfort" yesterday.

The state government has also decided to set up a high-level committee headed by the divisional commissioner to further review all other issues related to acquisition of farm land along the Noida-Taj Expressway in the district, officials said.

After clashes between protesters and police left four persons, including a PAC jawan, dead, farmers were continuing their sit-in in the village.

Source: The Hindu U.P. govt. hikes compensation for Aligarh farmers

At least three farmers were killed in police firing while an officer of the Provincial Armed Constabulary ( PAC) was beaten to death by an angry mob in clashes that began on Saturday evening.

One of the victims of police firing was 13- yearold school student Prashant Sharma. The others have been identified as 25- year- old Dharmendra Singh and 26- year- old Anil Kumar. The PAC man killed was Vijendra Singh.

Zikarpur in Mathura and five neighbouring villages of Tappal, Kansera, Jahangarh, Udaipur and Kirpalpur on the Aligarh- Palwal highway have become the centre of the farmers' protest for close to three weeks.

The farmers in this Aligarh- Mathura stretch want compensation parity with those in the Noida and Greater Noida areas. They want Rs 700 per sq m offered for land acquired for the expressway in Noida and Greater Noida and not Rs 439 a sq m offered to them.

What was till now a battle of nerves, and included negotiations with the Mayawati government took a sudden and deadly turn on Saturday. " Don't go to the Zikarpur- Tappal area, bullets are raining there," motorists were advised by villagers.

Source: Mail Today By Amandeep Shukla & Piyush Srivastava "Blood Spilis On Maya's Yamuna Expressway As Farmer Protest Poor Compensation"

Speaking after unfurling the national flag at Narnaul, Hooda said the monthly pension of freedom fighters of Haryana and their widows would be increased from Rs 6,000 to Rs 11,000 per month.

Earlier, the Congress-led government had increased the pension from Rs 1,525 to Rs 6,000 per month.

The chief minister said the decision would cost the state exchequer an additional financial burden of Rs 7.50 crore.

Hooda said the government would give a cash prize of Rs 7 lakh to sportspersons from the state on winning gold medal in the October 3-14 Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi.

Players winning silver and bronze medals would be given Rs five lakh and Rs three lakh each respectively, he said, adding Haryana would extend its full cooperation to make the Games a success.

Paying rich tributes to freedom fighters, Hooda said the state Government was providing a number of facilities to the families of martyrs, freedom fighters, serving soldiers and ex-servicemen.

The government announced a number of relief measures for victims of recent floods in the state, the chief minister said.

Source: dnaindia.com Haryana chief minister announces increase in pension of freedom fighters