Rohtak, January 3
A member of the Sonepat Zila Parishad who was elected from a ward reserved for the Scheduled Castes allegedly by impersonating another voter of the same name but different parentage continues to roam free despite a case registered against him on the orders of a court.

Accused, Ramesh son of Mr Telu Ram currently a resident of the Rainak Pura area of this town. He contested the election in March last year from ward No. 4 of Sonepat Zila Parishad and was declared elected. In the nomination paper he had claimed himself to be a resident of Jagsi Sehrawat village in Sonepat district. He mentioned his father’s name in the papers as Mr Bhale Ram. There is another registered voter with the same name and parentage in the village but he is a Jat and not a member of the Scheduled Castes. There is no Dalit voter in the ward with these particulars.

The accused was even otherwise was ineligible to contest the election since he was not a member of any panchayat under the jurisdiction of ward No. 4 of the Sonepat Zila Parishad. Being a resident of Rainak Pura here he is also registered as a voter here at serial No. 4079 of Ward 5. The next voter in the list is his wife.

The matter was brought to the notice of the authorities by the defeated candidate from this ward Mr Mahavir Singh. Besides, when the SDM, Sonepat sent an official communication to Ramesh son of Bhale Ram of Jagsi Sehrawat asking him to attend a meeting of the parishad to elect its office-bearers on May 18 last year, it was returned to the sender by the village chowkidar stating that there was no dalit voter with those particulars.

The voter whom the accused allegedly had impersonated also wrote on the original letter that he had not contested the election and was not a member of the parishad. Meanwhile defeated candidate Mahavir Singh represented to the authorities for action against the accused, but his pleas fell on deaf ears. Subsequently, he moved court, which ordered the registration of a case.

An FIR was registered by the Baroda police station on November 19 last year, but no action has yet been taken against the accused. The SP of Sonepat was not available for comments.

However, Mr Ramesh told The Tribune on telephone that his father’s name had been mentioned wrongly as Telu Ram in the identity card and that caused the controversy. He said the case against him was also a result of this “clerical mistake”.

The buck does not stop here. A few days back the accused was “honoured” in a village near Meham on his “nomination” as a member of the Planning Board, Haryana. The report of the function was carried by Hindi newspapers.

Earlier on December 5 last, he also had issued a press note here on a letterhead which carries seal of the Haryana government. He had claimed that he was felicitated by three different organisations “on his nomination as a member of the Haryana Planning Board by the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda”.

Inquiries reveal that the Hooda government is yet to constitute the board. .Even the local administration has failed to take action against him for this claim. When contacted Mr Ramesh said he was a member of a “District Planning Board” without specifying which.

Chandigarh, January 3
Partially conceding the demand of the workers’ union of Honda Motorcycles and Scooters Ltd (HMSL), the Garg Commission of Inquiry has decided to hold its next hearing in Haryana Bhavan in Delhi on January 8. The lawyers representing the workers have been already intimated about the date and the venue, sources in the commission said.

Justice G.C. Garg — who has been heading the inquiry into the incidents of violence in Gurgaon in July involving the police and workers — is learnt to have informed the state government that it will not be possible for him to shift the inquiry office to Delhi. He is also stated to have written to the state government that he can go to Delhi only once a week to record the evidence of workers. The last hearing of the commission, which was scheduled to take place in Chandigarh on December 6, did not materialise as the workers’ union insisted that the commission must sit in Delhi or Gurgaon. The union had earlier represented that the commission’s hearing should take place in either of the two places.

According to the union, this would facilitate the presence of witnesses and members of the public who are mostly from Gurgaon or Delhi or other areas of the NCR. The witnesses faced various constraints in travelling to Chandigarh, including leave from their respective jobs, the union stated. The inquiry appeared to have reached a dead end following the events on December 6. The situation seems to have been salvaged somewhat in the wake of the decision to hold the next hearing of the commission in Delhi. One thing is, however, clear. The inquiry is slated to be a long-winding process since recording evidence presented by the aggrieved workers only once a week will automatically slow down its progress.

The commission was set up by the state government on July 29 initially for a period of three months. But not much could be done during this period as a result of which the tenure of the commission was extended till January 26, 2006. Under the circumstances, another extension in the tenure seems inevitable. The workers’ union has objected to the terms of reference of the inquiry which mentioned the agitated workers as an “unruly mob”. 

Panipat, January 3
Crop in this district was badly affected due to hailstorm early this morning. Mustard and vegetable fields were badly affected. The administration has started the process to evaluate the loss.

Several areas, including Samalakha and Israna, witnessed hailstorm for around 45 minutes.

According to officials of the state agriculture department, hailstorm hit the production of mustard, potato, cauliflower and tomato.

Mr M.S. Nain, Deputy Director, Agriculture, said reports of crop damage was reported from various village but exact loss was yet to be ascertained. He said hailstorm in this season was not good for crops.

Dr Arvind Sharma, the local MP, said the Deputy Commissioner started the process to evaluate of loss and assured that the farmers would be compensated accordingly.

Rohtak, January 3
Dr Dipak C. Jain, Dean, Kellogg School of Management, North-Western University, USA, has said, India could achieve global success in all fields on the basis of ‘samaskaras’ (values) enshrined in its rich culture.

Delivering a lecture on ‘Global Competitiveness: Role of India’ at Maharshi Dayanand University here yesterday, he said although India had a vital talent pool, highly educated youth well versed in English language and the reputation of Indian diaspora to bank upon, but its cultural heritage was its core strength.

He called for promoting ‘Brand India’ aggressively for the next 20 years so that the world would have an entirely different view of India and its people. He said, global opportunities called for customer centricity and India needed to keep this in mind while promoting its economic policies.

This was the first of a series of lectures to be arranged by the university during the current year as part if MDU lecture series.

Dr Jain said India had the potential to play a key role in global competitiveness in the coming years and no effort should be spared to achieve global success to put the country’s economy on a sound footing. 

Chandigarh, January 3
The Haryana Government has issued the posting and transfer orders of three Indian Police Service officers.

Mr John V. George goes as ADGP, Crime, Law and Order, against a new post.

Mr V.B. Singh, on return from the Government of India, goes as ADGP, Vigilance, vice Mr Rakesh Malik, who has been posted as ADGP, Headquarters.

Mr Satyender Kumar, IGP, Crime, Law and Order, becomes IGP, Home Guards, against a vacant post.

The state government today also gave additional charge to two IAS officers. Mr K.K. Khandelwal, Director and Special Secretary, Secondary Education, will also look after the work of Director and Special Secretary, Higher Education, during the leave period of Mr Anil Kumar.

Mr S.K. Monga, Director, and Special Secretary, Food and Supplies, will also look after the work of Commissioner and Secretary, Civil Aviation, and Transport Commissioner during the leave period of Mr D.S. Dhesi.

Chandigarh, January 3
Not content with fulfilling its promise of providing jobs to dependants of 10 persons who were killed in the police firing on the BKU activists at Kandela village in Jind district on May 31, 2002, the Hooda Government has now decided to expand its generosity.

The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today announced that government jobs would also be given to dependants of 18 persons killed in the police firings on the agitating farmers at Kadma and Mandiali villages in Bhiwani district.

It is an act which would further consolidate the grip of the Hooda Government over what had never been the traditional constituency of the Congress, especially when the party never made such promise before the elections.

The decision to provide government jobs to the dependants of the Kandela victims was taken by the Cabinet on October 28, 2005, when it also decided to relax age limit and educational qualifications of the intended beneficiaries.

Five farmers were killed and four suffered serious injuries when the police fired at them at Kadma village on August 23, 1995. The dependants of the victims have been identified as Ombir Singh, son of Dharamvir Singh; Krishan Kumar son of Deep Chand; Bhoop Singh son of Subedar Hawa Singh; Satyavir Singh brother of Sat Parkash; and Sombir son of Ram Prasad. The firing took place when the Congress was in power under Mr Bhajan Lal’s stewardship.

In the Mandiali police firing also, five persons were killed on October 10, 1997, when the HVP-BJP Government was in power. The prospective beneficiaries have been identified as Santosh widow of Dharamvir Singh; Lalit Kumar grandson of Amar Chand; Narender brother of Mahender Kumar; Darshna widow of Ved Parkash; and Santra widow of Mani Ram.

Today four persons who are either matriculate and above have been given jobs as clerk and those who were under matric have been appointed as chowkidar or peon in various depots of the Haryana Roadways.

Those who have been appointed as clerk are Dharmendra, Sikander and Amit Lohan, all of Rajpura Bhain village in Jind district and Satbir of village Shimla in district Kaithal. Those appointed as peons and chowkidars are Raghbir, Devender, Sombir and Ramesh, all of village Gulkani in district Jind, and Bishno Devi village Kandela in district Jind and Suresh Kumar of village Khurana in district Kaithal.

Chandigarh, January 3
Representatives of the Netarheen Jagreeti Sangh, an organisation of unemployed visually challenged people of Haryana, today called upon the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, and presented him a memorandum of demands.

The Chief Minister assured them of looking into their grievances sympathetically and also asked the members of the sangh to call off their agitation.

In a related development, the state government decided to nominate the Commissioner and Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, in the selection committees constituted by different departments, boards and corporations. The Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department, is expected to oversee selections to the posts meant for aspirants from the physically handicapped categories.

An official spokesman said this would help fulfil 3 per cent vertical reservation provided to physically handicapped persons in groups A and D posts to be filled by direct recruitment in all departments, barring the Police, Home Guards and Fire Services departments.

The spokesman said various departments often failed to inform the Social Justice Department about the position of vacancies as well as schedule of the interview and list of persons selected against these reserved posts.

He said where requisitions for such posts had been sent to the Haryana Public Service Commission or Haryana Staff Selection Commission, the procedure as laid down by the respective commission would continue.

Sirsa, January 3
Following the old tradition, the state roadways department is observing a Road Safety Week from January 2 to 8. All drivers and conductors serving in the district are undergoing medical check up during this week.

Mr Joginder Singh, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Sirsa Depot, said here today that during the medical camp, main focus would be on examining the eyes and detecting and treating high blood pressure of the drivers and conductors.

The GM said with the cooperation of the Traffic Police, a training programme would be organised during which a Deputy Superintendent of Police (Traffic) would detail the participants on traffic rules. Drivers and conductors of private vehicles, including trucks, tractors and jeeps, would also be invited on the occasion, he added.

“The primary objective for observing the safety week is to try to bring down the number of road accidents,” Mr Joginder Singh said, adding that nearly 80,000 persons were killed in road accidents every year.

Chandigarh, January 3
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today announced that Janani Suvidha Yojana would be launched to enable those residing in urban slums to avail themselves of services like ante-natal care, free delivery and immunisation of children from select qualified doctors or nursing homes within their own residential areas through pre-paid vouchers.

Addressing a press conference here, he said Rs 1 crore had been earmarked for the implementation of the scheme which would be implemented through non-government organisations already working in the state. A resident woman of the slum area would be selected as a link worker between clients and private health care providers. She would be given performance-based honorarium.

The government would pay for the vouchers on behalf of the clients availing themselves of the services. He said that out of a total population of two crore, 17.5 lakh people live in urban slums according to Census 2001. — TNS

Sonepat, January 3
Two inspectors of the Employees General Provident Fund office were caught red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from the owner of an automobile company of Ganaur near Kundli village last evening.

The arrested persons were identified as Subhash Chander and Krishan Chugh. A case under the Anti-Corruption Act has been registered at the Kundli police station.

Officials of the raiding party, headed by the Duty Magistrate, Mr V. P. Sharma, and the DSP, Headquarters, Mr Subhash Chander Sharma, also recovered the cash from them.