Chandigarh, July 19
Two prominent leaders of the Haryana Congress will be on the streets tomorrow, not to fight the Opposition but to settle scores with each other. Interestingly, both had held the post of president of the Haryana Congress.

A former Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, will start his much-awaited public-contact programme from Kurukshetra tomorrow. Instead of holding a public meeting, as normally politicians do, he will meet his supporters at the residence of a former president of the Kurukshetra District Congress Committee, Mr Pawan Garg, who is a son of a former MLA from that town. Mr Bhajan Lal recently resigned from the post of party president to protest against what he termed as the sidelining of his supporters in the Congress set-up.

The Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will address a public meeting at Narwana, which is the constituency of the Transport Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala. Mr Surjewala, who had been the working president of the Haryana Congress, is the organiser of the rally.

Interestingly, the Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, who too had been the president of the Haryana Congress, had also planned a meeting of his supporters at Kaithal for tomorrow. But he cancelled it in view of the programmes of Mr Bhajan Lal and Mr Hooda.

While Mr Hooda will naturally highlight the achievements of his government, what is to be watched is what Mr Bhajan Lal says at his first public function after he quit the party post, particularly when his MP son, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, has launched a fresh campaign against the party’s government in the state. Mr Bishnoi has not only demanded a change in the leadership but also launched an agitation against the government, giving a fresh impetus to the party infighting.

It will also be worth noting how many MLAs attend Mr Bhajan Lal’s programme. According to sources, his own nephew, Mr Dura Ram, MLA from Fatehabad, is unlikely to be with the former Chief Minister tomorrow. Mr Dura Ram had described Mr Hooda as “the most honest Chief Minister the state had ever got” at a public rally organised at Bhattu Kalan in Fatehabad district on July 7. The Fatehabad area, being the centre of Bishnois, a community to which Mr Bhajan Lal belongs, is considered to be his stronghold.

With Mr Bishnoi’s latest offensive, the battlelines in the party have been clearly drawn. Yesterday, five Ministers described his outburst as a sign of immaturity. His criticism by leaders owing allegiance to Mr Hooda continues unabated. A member of the Pradesh Congress Committee, Ms Swarn Lata Malik, said instead of creating indiscipline in the party, Mr Bishnoi should better quit it. A former general secretary of the Haryana Youth Congress, Mr Surinder Hooda, said Mr Bishnoi wanted to become a “martyr” by forcing the party high command to expel him from the party.

Kaithal, July 19
The police has arrested a candidate who tried to get recruited for the post of constable on the basis of fake documents. He was produced in the court of the CJM Mr Surya Partap Singh, here who remanded him in 14 day’s judicial custody.

Giving this information, the SSP said today that Jagroop Singh, a resident of Bhana, filled a form in the name of Subhash and attached his photograph on the form. During the physical test when he was asked to reveal his name, Jagroop became hesitant which created suspicion.

Further inquiries revealed that he had attached the matric certificate of his brother Subhash with the application form but pasted his own photo. He also forged the signatures of his brother.

The police seized all documents and registered a case under Sections 419, 420, 465,467,468, 471 and 120-B IPC.

Meanwhile, the police has arrested a motorcycle thief, Sunil Kumar, a resident of Chhatar village of Jind district, and recovered a motorcycle from his possession.

During interrogation, the accused confessed to his involvement in the theft of other two-wheelers.

Rohtak, July 19
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has embarked upon a plan to galvanise the administrative machinery at the grassroots level and to make it more responsive to the people.

Mr Hooda kicks off this state-wide campaign tomorrow at Hisar where he is scheduled to address the officers to apprise them of his views on how the administration needs to fulfil the aspirations of the people by bringing in transparency in its functioning. He will hold similar meetings at each of the 19 remaining districts in the coming months.

According to sources the Chief Minister will also review district development plans for the coming years and decide vexed issues on the spot to speed up development projects. The sources said Mr Hooda plans to direct the administration to give him time-bound schedules for the completion of the projects.

About a month ago he had directed Chief Secretary Prem Prashant to convene divisional-level meetings with the Deputy Commissioners to draw up development plans for the districts for the next decade. This exercise has now been completed. Armed with these reports the Chief Minister has a clear idea of the needs of all the 20 districts of Haryana. He now wants the district administrations to take up the projects which need to be implemented immediately.

The sources said the Chief Minister also plans to meet people after these meetings to redress their grievances. Mr Hooda is credited with the view that this exercise will not only give him a glimpse of the functioning of the district administrations but also provide him first hand feedback on the functioning of his government in general.

Another purpose of these meetings is to send a clear message to the senior bureaucrats in the districts that he would be personally monitoring their functioning on regular basis and any laxities in implementation of government schemes will not be tolerated. Besides, he is expected to give clear directions that government officials must be responsive to the public.

The sources said Mr Hooda has been striving to bring in complete transparency in the functioning of his government and that he wants that transparency should be ensured all the way from the village to the state secretariat level – the seat of the government. By reaching out to the government machinery at the grassroots level he plans to drive home the point that the key to ending corruption is to make the administration transparent.

Karnal, July 19
Students including girls students in uniforms, were made to sit for more than three hours in scorching heat and humid weather this morning to attend a function where Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda arrived more than two hours late.

Students and teachers from a private school were “ordered’’ to sit in the audience gallery at the Karan Park. The Manav Seva Sanghathan organized the function where Mr Hooda unveiled the bust of Chander Shekhar Azad, this afternoon.

Mr Hooda was scheduled to arrive by air from Chandigarh at 10.30 am but he arrived at 12.30 pm and the students and teachers were not allow to move out of the place despite humid and hot weather.

A teacher said that students and teachers were sitting since 10 am and then complained of uneasiness due to humid weather.

In his speech, Mr Hooda thanked the students and others but the teachers present at the function lamented the district authorities of allowing the students to sit for such a long duration.

Criticising the state government, teachers said that they were forced to listen to the VIP politicians in humid day at the cost of teaching work.

A senior district official said that through a notification issued by the Chief Secretary the state government had banned the presence of students at the government functions other than Independence Day, Republic Day and other significant occasions.

Much to the embarrassment of the organisers and audience gathered at the day dedicated to Chander Shekhar Azad, the ``overzealous’’ supporters raised slogans in favour of Mr Hooda and Congress chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi.

Visibly upset local MLA, Ms Sumita Singh signalled from the dais to slogan-raising brigade to halt.

At the function, Mr Hooda laudded freedom fighters. He appealed to the audience to follow in their footsteps for flourishing society. He also announced a sum Rs 10 lakh to the Manav Sewa Sangathan.

However, MLAs from Karnal district, including Rakesh Kamboj (Indri), Jai Singh Rana (Nilokheri) and Meena Mandal (Jhundla) were not present at three functions attended by the CM.

The CM also announced a sum of Rs 10 lakh each to the District Bar Association and the Jat Dharamshala at two different functions held, here today. Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of the Yoga Centre and Old Age Home Centre on the premises of the Jat Dharamshala.

Chandigarh, July 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court yesterday asked a former High Court Judge, Mr Justice D.S. Tewatia, to inquire into the alleged anomalies in the voter list of the Jat Education Society, Rohtak.

The former Judge will submit a detailed report in this matter to the High Court so that the final decision can be taken with regard to elections of the Society.

The court was hearing the petition, filed by Mr Satpal Hooda and another person, seeking holding of elections of the Society. The petitioners have also challenged the February 4 order of the Haryana Government.

The government had, through the said order, appointed the Deputy Commissioner, Rohtak, as Administrator of the All-India Jat Heroes Memorial College, Rohtak, for a period of six months.

The petitioners alleged that the government had been refusing to hold elections for a new executive since the last many years on flimsy grounds, including anomalies in the voter list.

The term of the previously elected body had ended on November 13, 2002. The government had then constituted an ad hoc working committee, headed by Mr Uday Singh Mann, to manage the affairs of the college.

After Mr Mann resigned on April 27, 2003, another president was appointed.The petitioners also pointed out that elections were scheduled to be held on July 6, 2005, but were cancelled just a day prior to the date.

In an earlier hearing, the Advocate-General, Haryana, Mr Hawa Singh Hooda, had been asked by the High Court to apprise it about the plans for holding elections of the society.

The government had claimed that elections could not be held due to serious anomalies in the voter list.

A report, submitted by the DGP, Haryana, also said irregularities had been detected in the voter list.

Hisar, July 19
The Deputy Commissioner, Mr Arun Kumar Gupta, has ordered that the pink ration cards issued to two government employees be cancelled with immediate effect as these were meant for below the poverty line (BPL) families.

Chairing a meeting of the District Public Grievances Committee, the Deputy Commissioner directed the authorities concerned to initiate departmental action against Sohan Lal of Sisai Bolan village and Chandi in this regard.

Mahender Singh of Sisai village had complained that the said government employees were availing themselves of the benefit of the facilities available under the public distribution scheme.

Residents of Dahima, Bhojraj and Gunjar villages complained of acute shortage of drinking water in their villages. These villages are located at the tail-end of canal and are facing scarcity of water for drinking as well as irrigation. The Tribune had also highlighted their plight through these columns.

Mr Gupta directed the department concerned to ensure that adequate drinking and potable water was available in the villages. He asked Irrigation Department officials to get the water level at tail-end measured and inform him of the development at the next meeting.

The Deputy Commissioner also directed the Irrigation authorities to check the theft of water so that adequate water could reach the fields located at the tail-end of the canal.

Chandigarh, July 19
The Haj Committees of Chandigarh and Haryana have been merged following a directive from the Haj Committee of India (HCOI).

The decision is being savoured by Haryana Government officials, who feel that the HCOI's step to choose Haryana over Punjab for merging the Haj Committee of Chandigarh is a small victory scored by Haryana in the ongoing battle between the two states on various inter-state issues, including the control of Chandigarh.

It is learnt that two members from Chandigarh will be included in the Haryana Haj Committee to loo67k after the welfare of pilgrims from Chandigarh.

Haryana has a quota of 950 pilgrims for Haj, but this time the HCOI has increased it to 1,054 in view of the merger of the Chandigarh committee with that of the state. Yet, the quota has fallen short of the number of persons keen on participating in the coming Haj (1427 Hijri).

It is learnt that the Haryana Haj Committee has received 3,100 applications from the state alone. At least 100 more applications are expected from Chandigarh.

“Occasionally, the number of applications from the state had exceeded the quota of pilgrims. But the mismatch has never been of the scale it is this time round”, a key state government official, who is associated with the Haryana Haj Committee, said.

The official said all applications would be forwarded to the HCOI for the latter to take a decision regarding the acceptable number of pilgrims and their eligibility criteria.

Bhiwani, July 19
Pro and anti-SEZ statements were delivered by two MLAs here today. The Haryana Yuva Kisan Sangharsh Samiti president and MLA from the Ateli Assembly seat, Mr Naresh Yadav, while addressing a press conference here today alleged that the state government was acquiring the land of farmers and “delivering” it to big companies and capitalists in the name of special economic zone (SEZ). The establishment of SEZ would ruin the farmer, he said.

Mr Yadav, who had been associated with l the formation of the Haryana Vikas Party, said local unemployed youth were not being given jobs in the industries in south Haryana. He alleged that the present government was also following the footsteps of previous governments of discrimination in development, employement and canal water distribution with regard to south Haryana. Later, he submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner regarding certain problems. Taking a dig at the MLA, the Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Mr Dharmbir, while addressing a press conference at Baya Tourists Complex, said the special economic zone would prove a boon for the development of Haryana. He contradicted the statements of Mr Yadav on farmers. — OC

Ambala, July 19
A debate competition in memory of martyr Capt Atul Somra was held at SD Senior Secondary School, Ambala Cantt, yesterday.

Capt Atul Somra had made the supreme sacrifice while fighting terrorists at Banihal in the valley. The debate competition was organised by Shaheed Capt Atul Somra Memorial Trust. Haryana Service Selection Board member Ashok Jain was the chief guest.

The subject of the debate was reservation. Teams from 11 schools from different areas participated in the competition. The trophy was won by Rajni and Sonam of Sanatan Dharma Kanya Mahavidyalaya.

In favour of the motion, Rajni of SD Kanya Mahavidyalaya stood first, Raman of DAV Public School second and Priya of Major RN Kapoor DAV Public School third.

Against the motion, Bhavna Sharma of Jain Girls School stood first, Supriya of Bharatiya Public School second and Sonam of SD Kanya Mahavidyalaya third.

Ambala, July 19
The former MLA of Ambala Cantt, Anil Vij, today sought information about the status of the memorandum regarding the Agrofed scam, which was forwarded to the Haryana Governor.

Mr Anil Vij sought information under the Right to Information Act. He said he had sent a letter to the State Public Information Officer seeking the status of the memorandum, which was submitted to the Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, for further forwarding to the Governor on June 28.

He said the Agrofed scam needed to be investigated by the CBI. He said there were indications of the involvement of Congress leaders in the Agrofed scam.

He claimed that Ambala Cantt MLA Devender Bansal was known to the fake Agrofed chairman, Mr Sandhu. He said despite this fact, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had visited the residence of Mr Devender Bansal on July 15. This raised doubts that a fair and transparent probe into the Agrofed scam was not possible.