Panchkula :
Prof Brij Kishore Kuthiala, chairman, Haryana State Higher Education Council, stated that the practical aspects of earning a livelihood would be included in the curriculum for graduation in the next academic session.

He said the decision was taken during a state-level workshop, in which 28 experts in 25 subjects, including seven Vice-Chancellors (VCs), participated.

He said it had been decided to initiate steps to make college students competent enough in such a manner that they could acquire academic qualifications as well as professional values and ethics.

The council chairman said the primary objective of the workshop was to make teachers aware of the importance of earning a livelihood and inclusion of human values in curriculum.

The workshop was intended to motivate educationists to find out practical solutions for their respective subjects, he added.

Prof Wazir Nehra, workshop coordinator, said as per schedule one-month time has been given to subject experts to provide practical solutions for earning a livelihood.

Prof Rajendra Kumar Anayat, VC of Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, stressed that to meet the needs of corporate sector, 25 per cent syllabus should be changed every three or four years.

Raj Nehru, VC of Haryana Vishwakarma Kaushal University, Gurugram, suggested starting a certification system at the end of every year of graduation for skill development of students.

Prof Dinesh Kumar, VC of YMCA University, Faridabad, Prof Rajbir Singh Solanki of Ch Ranbir Singh University, Prof Rajbir Singh of State University and Visual Arts, Rohtak, Prof RK Mittal of Bansi Lal University, Bhiwani, and Prof HL Verma of Jagan Nath University, Bahadurgarh, also shared their views.

Chandigarh :
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday announced the Faridabad Metro Development Authority (FMDA), 47 sectors by the Haryana Shehari Vikas Pradhikaran (HSVP) and four-storey residential buildings, among other things.

He made the announcements at a press conference here.

“As Faridabad is the second largest city of the state after Gurugram, it had been decided to constitute the FMDA on the pattern of the Gurugram Metro Development Authority (GMDA). With this, Faridabad people will have access to all infrastructure facilities in the city,” the CM said.

Khattar said that of the 47 new sectors, nine —including a defence sector — will be floated in the current financial year. Three sectors will come up in Mahendragarh, and one each in Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Dabwali, Taoru and Pinjore A sector exclusively for defence personnel is likely to be carved out in Jhajjar.
The HSVP plans to float 30,470 plots in 47 residential sectors across the state.

The state government has allowed the construction of four-storey residential buildings, he said, adding that floor-wise registration would start “The Haryana Building Code 2017 had been framed to bring uniformity in bylaws adopted by development agencies.”

To address the problem of parking in residential areas, a provision of stilt parking had been made, Khattar said.

The government has decided to constitute an appellate tribunal to hear complaints of allottees against decisions of the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority (HRERA). The office of the appellate tribunal will be in Karnal.

To bring transparency in the allotment of sites for petrol pumps and CNG filling stations, the government has decided to allot the sites through auction.

Land licence ‘lapsed’
Chandigarh: Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the licence of a piece of land in Gurugram’s Sector 83 which was sold by Robert Vadra’s firm Skylight Hospitality to realty major DLF had “deemed to have lapsed”. “Licence, if not renewed, is deemed to have lapsed,” Khattar told the media.

On anvil 

• Formation of the Faridabad Metro Development Authority
• Floor-wise registration and construction of four-storey buildings allowed
• Appellate tribunal to hear complaints against the Haryana Real Estate Regulatory Authority 

Jhajjar :
Students of Pt JL Nehru PG Government College here disrupted vehicular traffic on the Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh road for nearly an hour against the private and Haryana Roadways bus operators.

The students alleged that they had deposited the fee for their bus passes and the college had also issued them fee receipts, but the bus conductors asked them to buy tickets.

“Even, they misbehave with us when we show them the fee receipts. As per college staff, the fees have been deposited with the roadways department for issuance of the passes, but the roadways authorities are not paying any heed to it,” said a protester.

Following an assurance from City police post in charge Rajesh Kumar to raise their issue before the higher authorities, the protesters cleared the road.
Mehtab Singh, General Manager, Jhajjar Depot, could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

SIT arrests accountant of security agency

Rohtak :
In a classic case of too little, too late, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Rohtak police has arrested an accountant of a security agency previously engaged by the PGIMS authorities in the matter pertaining to gross irregularities in the appointment of security guards at the institute.

SIT incharge DSP Mohammad Jamal confirmed that Manoj, an accountant of Orion Security Solutions Pvt Ltd, the security firm previously engaged by the PGIMS, had been arrested.

As per sources, notices have also been issued to some former top officials of the PGIMS to make them join the investigation and produce the record pertaining to the matter.
The snail’s pace at which the investigation is progressing can be gauged from the fact that the matter had come to the knowledge of the University of Health Sciences (UHS)/ PGIMS authorities on April 1, 2017, when PGIMS security officer Badam Singh and assistant security officer Sanjay Sangwan apprised them of some serious irregularities over guards.

“We were receiving complaints that many security guards were on our rolls, but they were not physically present on duty. Investigation made by us confirmed that many security guards provided by the private security agency were present only on paper,” Sangwan said while talking here on Friday.

On being apprised of the matter, the UHS authorities asked the security officers to inquire into it and submit a detailed report. Badam and Sangwan filed their report on May 25, 2017.

As per the report, 103 of the 625 security guards deployed on the PGIMS campus existed only on paper. Further investigations revealed that those “missing” security guards had been working at the office of the Haryana Board of School Education in Bhiwani.

The shocking revelations notwithstanding, the UHS/ PGIMS authorities kept on sitting over the report for several months.

Curiously, even the contract of the security firm was extended by several months despite all this.

Ultimately, the authorities concerned woke up from their slumber and asked the security officers to get an FIR lodged regarding the matter on October 24, 2017.

In the meantime, the UHS authorities got the matter probed at their own level and decided to suspend Badam Singh as well as Sanjay Sangwan, both of whom claimed to be whistleblowers.

The UHS Registrar, Dr HK Agarwal, said the university/ PGIMS authorities had earlier dealt with the matter at their own level and then decided to hand it over to the police.

‘Ghost’ guards

• A total of 103 of the 625 security guards deployed on the PGIMS campus exist only on paper
• ‘Missing’ security guards work at the office of the Haryana Board of School Education in Bhiwani
• The UHS, PGIMS authorities keep sitting over the report for months
• The contract of the security firm extended by several months despite this
• The authorities concerned wake up from their slumber and ask the security officers to get an FIR lodged regarding the matter on October 24, 2017
• The UHS authorities get the matter probed at their own level
• The UHS authorities decide to suspend Badam Singh and Sanjay Sangwan, who claim to be whistleblowers

Chandigarh :
Haryana is pinning hopes on single-screen theatres to spice up its entertainment sector with an ambitious plan underway to open over 500 cinema screens, including miniplexes, across the state to achieve the ration of one screen for 50,000 persons.

With the grant of industry status to the film industry by the Haryana Government making it eligible for various incentives available to the industry, the state government proposes to significantly reduce current ratio of one screen per 1.5 lakh persons to 50,000.

Official sources said there was tremendous scope for development of miniplexes (70-100 capacity) in the areas beyond the National Capital Region (NCR) and rural areas as these areas currently lacked entertainment facilities.

Sameer Pal Srow, Director, Information, Public Relation and Languages, said the aim of the new Film Policy was to increase the number of screens from current around 171 to over 500 so that a population of 50,000 could have one screen. “The industry status for the film industry would act like icing on the cake since investors would get all incentives available to the industry under the Enterprise Promotion Policy, 2016,” he said.

Besides opening new miniplexes, the revival of the existing single-screen theatres was high on the agenda of the state government. The state government wanted to achieve this “in synergy with departments concerned for ensuring provisions of speedy relevant clearances.”

Currently, a majority of 171 cinema screens are in Gurugram (40) and Faridabad (27) with some of the districts like Nuh and Charkhi Dadri having no screen. The state has 52 multiplexes and 25 single-screen theatres.

“In fact, the state government could hire a private consultant to oversee the processes for setting up and running all miniplexes,” the Film Policy said.

With a liberal subsidy up to Rs2 crore on offer, the content for the miniplexes could include Haryanvi, non-Haryanvi, children and educational films.

New policy

The aim is to have one screen for every 50,000 persons against current 1.5 lakh persons
At present, there are around 171 screens, most of them in NCR
State to hire private consultant to oversee process of setting up and running miniplexes