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Several charges against INLD activists dropped
Rs 204-cr fine imposed on Reliance Infrastructure
INLD chief Chautala sees threat to democracy
Former Haryana CM Om Prakash Chautala addresses a press conference in Kaithal on Friday.
Photo: Satish Seth |
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Bhajan Lal asks Antony to act against
Maj-Gen
Mining after rehabilitation plan, rules apex court
HC Diary
4 get life term for killing doctor
Varsity waives admission fee for SC/ST students
Panel set up for Cong anniversary celebrations
Highway to be made better
Youth confesses to killing sister
Yadav reviews wheat procurement
Explosion in BSNL junction box creates panic in Ambala
School board nullifies pvt publishers’ claim
CM’s gifts donated to religious places
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Several charges against INLD activists dropped
Sirsa, April 9 Hans Raj, SHO, who dropped the charges of attempt to murder (Section 307) and rioting with deadly weapons (Section 148) of the IPC, Sections 25, 27, 54, 59 of the Indian Arms Act and Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to the National Honour Act-1971, has been sent to the Police Lines. The Superintendent of Police, Satinder Kumar Gupta, has replaced him with Mauji Ram. Gobind Kanda had lodged an FIR on April 3 after the Kanda brothers entered into a scuffle with some INLD activists during the bandh in Sirsa. The bandh was held by the INLD to protest against poor water and power supply and “bias” against the district in development projects. Naming INLD activists Pardeep Godara, Mahavir Bagri, Leela Dhar Saini, Raja Kaswan, Yogesh Sharma, Suresh Darba and Ram Singh Saini besides 25 to 30 unidentified persons in his complaint, Gobind Kanda had alleged that when he and his minister brother were in Hisaria Bazar to take stock of the arrangements for Hooda’s visit, the accused, armed with pistols, guns and lathis attacked their cavalcade, opened their car window and tried to kill them. He had also alleged that Godara and Saini had fired a shot each and torn the Tricolour installed on the minister’s car. The police is yet to arrest any of the identified accused though two other persons, Sanjay Saini and Satnam Singh, have been arrested. The police submitted remand papers in a local court for judicial remand of the two accused. Copies of the remand papers are with The Tribune. The police said in its application that the FIR under Sections 148, 149, 323, 382, 307 and 506 of the IPC, Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Indian Arms Act and Section 2 of the Prevention of Insult to the National Honour Act 1971 was registered on the complaint of Gobind Kanda on April 3. However, on investigation, Sections 148 and 307 of the IPC, Section 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Indian Arms Act and Section 2 of the Prevention of the Insult to National Honour Act-1971 had been dropped and Section 147 of the IPC added. SP Satinder, however, denied that any of the charges had been deleted from the original FIR. He said the transfer of SHO Hans Raj was an administrative matter. |
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Rs 204-cr fine imposed on Reliance Infrastructure
Yamunanagar, April 9 Out of the total penalty, Rs 158.19 crore has already been recovered, while Rs 46.27 crore is yet to be recovered. Even after two years of commissioning of the two units of 300 MW each, the HPGCL has not taken over the units of the Yamunanagar thermal power station and some demonstration tests of unit-1(300MW) and unit-2(300MW) are still pending. These tests had to be completed by the Reliance Infrastructure before the final takeover of the thermal plant by the HPGCL and this fact came to light under the RTI Act. The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission had recently passed an adverse comment on delay in commissioning of the Yamunanagar power station. Similarly, the CAG report has also indicted the HPGCL for the delayed commissioning and resulting in losses. According to information given by the HPGCL to an RTI application, the commercial operation of unit I was declared on April 14, 2008, whereas the performance guarantee (PG) test was carried out on July 12, 2008. In case of unit II, commercial operations began on June 24, 2008, while the PG test was carried out on August 12, 2008. However, the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) did not accept these claimed dates of the PG tests. Besides, the HERC stated that there was an abnormal delay in completion of the PG tests, due to which the units had not been taken over by the HPGCL, so far. The HPGCL, through under secretary-general-cum-SPIO, HPGCL, Panchkula, had provided answers in response to queries raised by one Gurnek Singh Brar under the RTI Act. He had sought information from the HPGCL last month and received the reply yesterday, a copy of which is available with The Tribune. |
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INLD chief Chautala sees threat to democracy
Kaithal, April 9 This was stated by former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala while addressing a press conference here today. Expressing concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state, Chautala alleged that the government had miserably failed to maintain the law and order. The situation had become so alarming that an ASP-rank official and other police personnel had been found involved in an extortion racket and the government had no knowledge about it, he added. He said the increasing number of violent incidents in different parts of the country were a matter of concern. Pointing to the recent incident in Dantewada, Chhattisgarh, in which 76 CRPF personnel were killed, he said if ultras could kill so many police personnel then no one was safe in the country. He also expressed concern over the government’s mismanagement on the economic front. He said while farmers were getting minimum price for their produce, consumers had to pay a very high price for purchasing the daily-use items. Huge funds were being misappropriated while implementing the Edusat programme in government schools in the state. Despite huge funds being spent on education, schools were facing staff shortage and lacked facilities. The NREGA scheme was not being implemented properly and the funds earmarked for the scheme were not reaching the beneficiaries. Commenting on the role played by khaps, Chautala said khaps and panchayats had been playing a very important role from time immemorial and had remained very useful for the society. However, lately some people had tried to take law in their hands, which was not good for society. |
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Bhajan Lal asks Antony to act against
Maj-Gen
Chandigarh, April 9 Bhajan Lal, who is member of the Lok Sabha from Hisar, alleged that a Major-General of the Army Service Corps (ASC) was involved in serious corruption cases and, therefore, should not be promoted. The officer, who is not attached with the Northern Command, Bhajan Lal alleged, did not purposely finalise several contracts last year for supply of essential commodities to the Army. As a result, the Army had to procure these commodities as “local purchase” at exorbitant rates, causing a loss of about Rs 8 crore to the public exchequer. In his three-page letter, Bhajan Lal said the items, which were procured as “local purchase” by the Army included mutton and chicken, contract for civil high transport (CHT) and fruit and vegetables. Pointing out that under the rules, only that officer who had at least one more year in service could be promoted as Director-General of Supply and Transport (DGST), Bhajan Lal urged Antony that this Major-General should not be promoted as he would have only eight months left in service before the incumbent retired as DGST. The former Congress leader also urged the Defence Minister to order an inquiry against the Army Service Corps officer. |
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Mining after rehabilitation plan, rules apex court
New Delhi, April 9 The Forest Bench, headed by Chief Justice KG Balakrishnan, however, permitted the state government to go ahead with the environment impact assessment (EIA) and environmental management plan (EMP) in the area identified in the Aravalli Hills. The Central Empowered Committee (CEC), appointed by the apex court, had yesterday submitted a report to the Bench, which included Justices SH Kapadia and Aftab Alam, recommending that mining be allowed in the area as the state government had complied with all conditions, except the one on rehabilitation. The CEC said it was studying the draft rehabilitation plan submitted by the state and would take some time to finalise it in consultation with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest. At this, the court said permission for mining could be considered only after the plan was in. According to the CEC, though the 600 hectares identified was a virgin area, 400 hectares of this fell in the mine lease area. Senior counsel KK Venugopal, appearing for some of the affected mine lease- holders, pleaded that his clients be allowed to mine in the 400 hectares. Justice Alam, however, said this would affect the proposed rehabilitation fund which would be created by using 10 per cent of the revenue generated through auction of mining sites. Solicitor-General Gopal Subramanium, arguing for Haryana, also felt “co-habitation” of the existing lease-holders with the new ones was not possible. The lease-holders sought 10 weeks to reply to the CEC’s proposals. The Bench posted the next hearing for July 16. |
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Jail superintendent transferred
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 9 Nasib, wife of Rajbir Singh, in her complaint had alleged her husband was asked to pay bribe to jail superintendent Dahiya. The family paid some amount, but Dahiya asked for Rs 15,000. When the amount was not paid, Rajbir was given severe beating, Nasib had alleged. Notice issued
Less than two months after a Single Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court had set aside the “allotment of plots to the reserved categories of MPs and MLAs”, a Division Bench today issued notice of motion for August 18 on an appeal against the judgment. The Single Bench had set aside the allotment nearly five years after the Haryana Urban Development Authority had launched the group-housing scheme in seven cities. The directions had come on a bunch of three petitions by Param Vaibhav Co-operative Housing Society Limited and others. They had applied for the “benefit of allotment of housing plots in a group-housing scheme of 2005, but had challenged HUDA’s decision of excluding their societies from consideration. In the appeal placed before the Division Bench of Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Jasbir Singh, HUDA and another petitioner claimed that the Single Judge had erred in law by setting aside the allotment of plots to the reserved categories of MPs, and MLAs. HUDA through senior counsel Dharam Vir Sharma contended the Single Judge erred in misreading the documents. |
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4 get life term for killing doctor
Karnal, April 9 According to prosecution lawyer Sunil Rana, the four attempted to rob the doctor, who was on his way back home on the night of January 17, 2007. They tried to snatch the bag that the doctor was carrying and when he resisted, they shot at him using a pistol. The doctor was killed on the spot, following which the four fled from the scene along with the bag and the doctor’s motorcycle. They were later nabbed by the Asandha police, which recovered the bag and the doctor’s bike. They were booked under Sections 302 and 397 of the IPC. After listening to the prosecution and defence counsel, the court concluded that there was enough evidence on record to establish their involvement in the crime and held them guilty on April 7. The punishment was awarded today. Interestingly, after the accused were held guilty of the crime on April 7, two of them - Charanjit and Jasbir - had fled from the court complex, giving the police a slip. A hunt was launched immediately. Though Charanjit was nabbed the same day, Jasbir was rounded up the following day. The district police had then registered another case against the duo under Section 224 of the IPC for fleeing from the police custody. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on each of the the accused.
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Varsity waives admission fee for SC/ST students
Sirsa, April 9 The university will admit such students without charging any fee and adjust the amount from the scholarship amount given to them by the government. Earlier, the university would charge fee from such students at the time of admission and the government would reimburse the amount in the shape of scholarship later. However, the practice caused much hardship to the students as many from economically weaker sections found it difficult to pay the fee. Further, the scholarship amount received from the government was often delayed, sometimes for more than a year. The Ambedkar Students Welfare Forum brought the problem to the notice of the Vice Chancellor - cum - Commissioner, Hisar Division, Balbir Singh Malik. He took up this issue during the meeting of the Academic Council yesterday, though it was not listed in the agenda. “It has been resolved that the university will not charge any fee from students belonging to the SCs and the STs and the amount so left unpaid will be adjusted from their scholarship, as and when it is received from the government,” Malik said. He said this would be mentioned in the university prospectus so as to rule out any ambiguity on the matter.
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Panel set up for Cong anniversary celebrations
Chandigarh, April 9 The committee will be headed by party president Phool Chand Mullana. Its members will be Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, party’s working president Kuldeep Sharma, MP Dr Ram Prakash, MLA Rao Dharmapal, Haryana Congress vice-president Chakravarty Sharma and party general secretaries Asha Sharma and Sandeep Chaudhary. All members of Parliament and MLAs of the party will be special invitees to the committee. As part of the yearlong celebrations, the Haryana Congress will organise a state-level function at Theme Park, Kurukshetra, on April 14 to commemorate the birth anniversary of Dr Bhim Rao Ambedkar. The Kurukshetra function will be presided over by Mullana. The Chief Minister will be the chief guest.
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Highway to be made better
New Delhi, April 9 The Yamunanagar-Saha-Barwala-Panchkula stretch of NH-73 will be developed at an estimated cost of
Rs 662 crore. The committee also gave clearance for the four-laning of the Beawar-Pali section and the Pali-Pindwara section of NH-14 in Rajasthan at an estimated cost of Rs 1,102.10 crore and Rs 1,326.54 crore, respectively. The concession period, for which the developer will own and operate the road, will be 21 years for the first project and 19 years for the second, Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said after the CCI meeting. Welcoming the Centre's decision to approve the upgradation project, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the highway would expedite the improvement of infrastructure in the state, provide
jobs and reduce traffic congestion. |
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Youth confesses to killing sister
Sonepat, April 9 Ravi is reported to have confessed to have committed the crime before the police after he was arrest yesterday. He was sent to judicial custody by a Gohana court. In the FIR registered against him under Section 302 of the IPC at the Baroda police station, Ravi’s father Subhash submitted that his daughter had loose morals and his son could not tolerate the disrepute she was bringing to the family name. Meanwhile, the postmortem examination of 18-year Rakesh, a youth of the same village, hasconfirmed that he had died a sudden death and there could be something suspicious. When contacted, the police authorities at Gohana said police investigations showed there was no link between the murder of the girl and the death of the boy.
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Yadav reviews wheat procurement
Fatehabad, April 9 She directed the officers associated with the procurement operations to see to it that each grain of wheat brought by the farmers was purchased. She also urged farmers to bring their crops after proper drying so that they did not have to face any problem. Later, talking to
mediapersons, she said as many as 10.52 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been arrived so far in the mandis of the state during the current Rabi season up to April 8. She said out of the total, 10.51 lakh metric tonnes of wheat had been procured by the government-procuring agencies while the traders procured only 47 metric tonnes of wheat. She said 2.37 lakh metric tonnes of wheat was procured by the Food and Supplies Department, 3.19 lakh metric tonnes by
Hafed, 2.42 lakh metric tonnes by the Food Corporation of India (FCI), 55,292 metric tonnes by Haryana Agro Industries Corporation, 99,397 metric tonnes by Haryana Warehousing Corporation and 97,014 metric tonnes by
Confed. |
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Explosion in BSNL junction box creates panic in Ambala
Ambala, April 9 One man, who was sitting close to the junction box at the time of blast, sustained a minor burn injury. The injured was admitted to the local Civil Hospital and was discharged after the first aid. The cause of the blast could not be ascertained so far. The cover of the junction box was displaced after the blast. An eyewitness told the police that he noticed some sparking in the junction box at around 10 pm and after a few minutes there was a light explosion. Teams of the bomb disposal squad and the FSL took samples from the site. They ruled out the possibility of planting any explosive in the junction box. One of the BSNL officials said there was no explosion in the junction box. It was found intact and in working condition. The explosion occurred behind the junction box adjoining the police post boundary. |
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School board nullifies pvt publishers’ claim
Bhiwani, April 9 A spokesman for the board said today that the board had released the design and distribution of syllabus of the first semester of the academic session - 2010-2011 - on its website. The board directed all heads of the schools concerned that they should prepare their students for the examination according to the prescribed syllabus and design of the board as questions would be asked from this syllabus. The list of books was available on the website of the board, he added. The spokesman further said as per the affiliation rules it was the responsibility of the teachers and heads of the educational institutions to teach from the books prescribed and published by the board. |
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CM’s gifts donated to religious places
Panipat, April 9 Close on the heels of a controversy courted by UP Chief Minister Mayawati, who had accepted a garland of currency notes, Hooda had refused to accept the gifts presented to him on behalf of the people of Samalkha by legislator Dharam Singh Chhokar during a public rally in the constituency. During the rally, the Chief Minister had stated that respecting the sentiments of his supporters, he would accept the gifts, but had immediately asked the legislator to donate these to religious places.
— TNS |
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The democracy is in danger as the legislature and the executive has become irrelevant and the contempt against the judiciary is increasing, which is not a good sign for the largest democracy of the world. In such a situation, the role of media becomes very important.
