Chandigarh, March 17
The absence of the INLD supremo and former Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala, attracted criticism from Congress legislators on the inaugural day of the Budget session of the Haryana Assembly here today. This time Mr Chautala had excused himself from attending the session saying that he was in the USA for health reasons. Significantly, none of the four previous sessions of the present Assembly had been attended by Mr Chautala and each time he had sought leave from the House on medical grounds.

There are a number of MLAs in the House who feel that they were harassed by Mr Chautala in some way or the other when he was the Chief Minister. These MLAs would like to confront the INLD leader on the floor of House where the strength of the INLD has been hugely depleted.

After question hour was over, the Speaker, Mr Raghubir Singh Kadiyan, read out Mr Chautala's letter to the members and asked them to voice their opinions on whether leave should be granted to the INLD representative. Mr Anand Singh Dangi, Congress MLA and former Revenue Minister, who was put in prison during the INLD regime for his alleged involvement in a scam, was the first to get up to speak. Mr Dangi said Mr Chautala was attending public meetings and private functions regularly. But when it was the question of the Assembly session, he fell ill.

“He is actually scared of coming to the Assembly”, Mr Dangi said. The INLD legislators objected to Mr Dangi's allegations and trooped to the well of the House raising slogans. This angered Mr Dangi. Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala also had a dig at Mr Chautala as well as the INLD members.

Eventually, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, got up to speak and that ended the din in the House. Mr Hooda said there was no reason for Mr Chautala to keep away from the House. The Chief Minister said the legislators, including he himself, could learn a thing or two from Mr Chautala, who was a very senior MLA. Mr Hooda then requested the Speaker to grant leave to Mr Chautala and it was accepted by Mr Kadiyan.

The INLD had another round of confrontation with the Speaker soon after when the latter refused to entertain their notice for discussion on the deletion of the late Devi Lal's name from the Panipat Thermal Plant. The Speaker said there was a convention that there would be no zero-hour discussion on the day the Budget was presented. The INLD members walked out of the House in protest but returned after a while.

Chandigarh, March 17
Eighteen criminals got killed in police encounters in Haryana after the Congress came to power in the state 12 months ago. This was stated today by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, in the Assembly here.

The Chief Minister said this in a written reply to a starred question asked by a ruling party MLA, Mr Chattar Pal Singh. The first criminal killed by the police in an encounter was on May 12, 2005. No date was given regarding the death of the last person in the list. It was, however, stated that the deceased had three cases under Section 302 (murder) of the IPC against his name.

Replying to a question asked by an Independent MLA, Mr Radhey Shyam Sharma, about the damage caused to the mustard crop in the southern districts of the state by frost, the Revenue Minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, said the rules governing the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) prevented the state government from giving compensation to the farmers from the fund. He said frost was not listed as a calamity for releasing money from the CRF.

Mr S. S. Surjewala of the Congress said the initiative must be taken to include frost in the list of natural calamities. “ Damage of crops by frost is a recurring phenomenon in Haryana”, he said. An Independent MLA, Mr Naresh Yadav, said farmers in the southern districts were facing an acute shortage of irrigation water as well. The farmers were being hounded by bank officials for loan recovery, he said. Mr Sushil Indora of the INLD suggested the making of a budgetary provision to compensate frost-affected farmers.

Intervening in the discussion, the Chief Minister said the government agencies were purchasing mustard in a big way. He said the total amount of mustard procured by the official agencies was likely to touch 5 lakh tonnes this season. He added that the state government had suggested changes in the crop insurance scheme so that the village was taken as the unit instead of the block for coverage under the policy.

Responding to INLD legislator Sita Ram's question on the desilting of canals, Captain Yadav, who also holds the Irrigation portfolio, said desilting was an annual feature. The INLD representative said in many areas the desilting of canals was not being done. Mr Dharampal Malik of the Congress alleged that funds meant for desilting were being misused.

The INLD legislators kept up their tirade against the Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, for his alleged connection with Mr Jagat Singh, whose name had figured in the oil-for-food scam. They plugged their ears and said they would not like to hear Mr Surjewala. The Chief Minister came to his colleague's defence and said that the CBI was investigating various corruption charges against the INLD supremo, Mr Om Prakash Chautala.

Chandigarh, March 17
Counsel for the petitioners in the PIL challenging the illegal actions of self-styled khap panchayats today alleged that the failure of the authorities to take strict action against these caste-centric panchayats in Haryana was the result of vote bank politics.

Seeking intervention of the court in checking the growing activities of these panchayats, counsel told a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the first incident of khap panchayats interfering with the fundamental rights of the citizens had been reported from Killoi, the constituency represented by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the Vidhan Sabha.

He pointed out that this case had also come before the High Court as the local law enforcement agencies had failed to act effectively.

The Bench was hearing the PIL filed by the Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), Panchkula, Haryana, seeking action against the members of the Sheoran Khap Panchayat that had sometime back ordered two newly-married couple to leave their village for marrying within the same sub-caste.

Two sisters Manju and Amit, daughters of Mr Mahavir Singh of village Nangla, had married two brothers, Jagdish and Krishan of village Ladawas. However, the panchayat had ordered them to annul their marriage on the ground that they were against the norms of the sub-caste.

The petitioners have prayed for declaring these panchayats illegal besides directing them from issuing prohibitive diktats that interfere with the fundamental and human rights of the citizens.

Today, counsel also moved an application seeking permission to place on record an article on khap panchayats published recently in The Tribune. The article, written by former Haryana Public Service Commission (HPSC) Chairman D.R. Chaudhry, points how the Rajasthan High Court had successfully intervened in a similar case, which led to effective action by the police. The article was taken on record by the Bench.

Meanwhile, the SP, Bhiwani, in his reply, has stated that four persons have been arrested in connection with the incident, while police protection has been provided to the newly-weds.

The case would now come up for further hearing on April 19.

Kurukshetra, March 17
The police has arrested Bonu, alias Monu (16), a resident of Landi village, under Shahabad police station in this district under Sections 377, 506 and 34 of the IPC for allegedly criminally intimidating and committing unnatural offence with Mohit (six), a son of Mr Surender Kumar, of the same village.

Stating this here yesterday, the district police chief, Mr Sanjay Kumar, said the offender, accompanied by his two accomplices, forcibly took the victim to a sugarcane field where the victim was criminally intimidated and unnaturally offended by Bonu.

In another case, the local police has arrested Rajeev Kumar, alias Bobby (28), under Sections 452, 323 and 506 of the IPC for allegedly trespassing, criminally intimidating and causing hurt to the complainant, Raj Rani, a resident of Chakravarti Mohalla here last night when they were sitting in their house.

Mr Kumar said that Raj Rani told the police that when Bobby knocked at the door, her brother-in-law opened the door. Immediately Bobby, who was armed with an iron rod, started abusing and beating the family members.

Chandigarh, March 17
Haryana’s debt burden increased by 74 per cent during the five-year rule of the Indian National Lok Dal. It went up from Rs 13,928 crore to Rs 24,255 crore and grew 2.18 times the revenue receipts during this time. Interest payments increased by 50 per cent during this period and constituted 20 per cent of the revenue expenditure.

This has been highlighted in the report of Comptroller and Auditor-General of India for 2004-05 placed on the table of the Vidhan Sabha here today.

The report pointed out that during the year, salaries, pensions, interest payment and subsidies consumed 72 per cent of the revenue receipts of the state. Arrears of revenue increased by 174 per cent from Rs 396 crore to Rs 1,087 crore in the five years, indicating poor tax compliance.

Coming down heavily on the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA), the report said it acquired and developed land of the reserve forest and constructed a road on it, blocking Rs 62.84 crore. Extra expenditure of Rs 11 crore was incurred due to a delay in paying enhanced land compensation, while the authority had to pay Rs 2.20 crore, which could be avoided, due to delay in giving the possession of plots to allottees. The report covered only the urban estates of Faridabad and Gurgaon.

The report said that a test-check of the Irrigation Department revealed that 44 per cent of the cultivable area remained unirrigated. As many as 39 irrigation channels constructed at a cost of Rs 21.30 crore remained either non-functional or functioned negligibly as there was no water.

It also pointed out that the Haryana Police Housing Corporation spent Rs 33.25 crore on the construction of several buildings without obtaining financial sanction from the government.

The District Rural Development Agencies of Ambala, Kaithal, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar misappropriated about 20,000 quintals of wheat worth Rs 1.19 crore. Similarly, Rs 4.73 crore spent on the construction of 213 old-age homes was unfruitful as no tangible benefit could be provided to the aged persons.