Chandigarh, September 6
But for timely intervention by Speaker HS Chatha, the Haryana Assembly would have seen INLD and Congress members exchange blows.

Ugly scenes were witnessed during zero hour when Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala raised the issue of gangrape in a car, which, he alleged, belonged to Minister of State for Home Gopal Kanda. He also alleged that when the crime took place, Kanda was driving the car.

Kanda, once a confidante of the Chautalas, said he did not own the car and Chautala was lying. He alleged that the vehicles of certain members of the Chautala family were being driven by persons facing rape charges. Intervening, Kuldeep Sharma (Cong) alleged that a luxury vehicle belonging to Kanda was still in possession of the Chautala family. No denial came from the INLD benches. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda intervened to say that it was a serious matter and no guilty person would be spared after the police had completed its investigation.

Chautala demanded that the inquiry into the incident be conducted by a House committeee, to which the government did not agree.

Incensed at the government refusal, the INLD members walked out of the House for a short while. Kanda, who was repeatedly interrupted by the INLD members, used their absence to dare Chautala to prove that the car used in the alleged crime belonged to him.

“If it is proved that the car ever belonged to me, I will quit the House, otherwise Chautala should quit,” he added, amidst thumping of benches by Congress members. After the INLD members returned, certain members from both sides started passing comments against each other, which led to frayed tempers.

Suddenly members of the two parties, including Chautala, were on their feet. Many started moving menacingly towards one another.

Sensing trouble, Chatha adjourned the House for 30 minutes.

This did not cool down tempers. Senior members of both parties had to work hard to persuade their colleagues from creating any further unpleasantness.

After the House reassembled, Chatha got annoyed with Chautala, with the latter casting aspersions on him. Chatha insisted that either Chautala should withdraw what he had said or he would not conduct the proceedings.

Chandigarh: HJC president Kuldeep Bishnoi today announced to boycott the remaining monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, which is likely to conclude tomorrow.

Bishnoi’s decision came as a protest against the rejection of his adjournment motion on the law and order situation in the state by Speaker HS Chatha. Later, talking to newspersons in the press lounge, Bishnoi said the functioning of the House was “most undemocratic”.

He said he was ashamed to be a member of a House which was being presided over by a person like Chatha. He said Minister of State for Home Gopal Kanda should immediately quit or he should be dropped till the investigations into the alleged gangrape in his car were completed. — TNS

Gurgaon, September 6
The girl, who had levelled allegations of rape against three persons, including a driver reportedly associated with state Home Minister Gopal Kanda, was brought to Gurgaon this evening.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal said the Delhi police officials, who accompanied the girl, had maintained that as per her complaint she had been raped in Gurgaon.

“They wanted that the Gurgaon police should take over the case...I have asked them to get the girl’s statement recorded before a lady magistrate...if a case is made out, we will take appropriate action as per the law,” Deswal asserted.

The process of recording of the girl’s statement was on till the time of filing the report.

The girl used to work as a domestic help at flat No 405-A of Janpratinidhi Apartments in Sector 28 here. The flat, which is owned by former INLD MLA Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, has been rented out to the family of Ajay Aggarwal, brother-in-law of Kanda.

Kanda’s reported driver Sunil and two of his accomplices have been accused of raping the girl. A white Hyundai Tucson, which was fitted with a red beacon and had a poster of Kanda on its rear windscreen, has also been impounded by the Delhi police.

Kanda has denied any link with the driver.

Chandigarh, September 6
House tax notices issued by certain municipal committees and corporations will be treated as withdrawn till the Haryana government frames a new policy in this regard.

This was announced by Minister for Urban Local Bodies Mahendra Pratap Singh while replying to a call attention motion moved by Anil Vij (BJP) in the Assembly today.

Moving the motion, Vij alleged that before the elections the Congress withdrew the house tax and reintroduced it after the poll.

This, he said, was “political dishonesty”.

The minister said on November 1, 2007, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had exempted self-occupied houses from house tax, but it remained on commercial and rented buildings.

However, the notification was withdrawn after the Centre insisted that unless house tax was levied, it would not give grants to urban local bodies. Once the notification was withdrawn, he said, the status quo ante was restored. Certain local bodies, therefore, issued notices for house tax.

A committee of ministers formed by the Chief Minister to find out a “just and transparent” formula to calculate house tax had finalised certain broad principles. It was yet to submit its report.

When Vij insisted that the minister should clarify the status of the house tax notices, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, after consultation with the Chief Minister, passed on a slip to the Local Bodies Minister, who immediately announced that the notices should be deemed to have been withdrawn.

Intervening, Hooda announced that houses up to 250 sq yd, which constituted almost 90 per cent of the houses in urban areas, would be charged only a token house tax at the rate of Re 1 per sq yd per annum.

For bigger sizes, instead of the local bodies calculating the tax, the owners’ self-assessment would be accepted.

He said the committee of ministers was finalising the formula for self-assessment. The work would be completed soon.

Chandigarh, September 6
The Chief Minister today announced increase in the compensation for damage to tubewells and crops due to floods.

The Chief Minister, who concluded the reply on a call attention notice of Sampat Singh, said now a compensation of Rs 7,500 would be given for damage to tubewells instead of Rs 5,000. Also, there would be an increase of Rs 500 per acre for damage to crops.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said a sum of Rs 111. 9 crore had been released on the basis of the special girdawari to provide relief to the farmers of flood-hit districts. As many as 3044 tubewells had been damaged in these districts. their damaged tubewells. -

During question hour, the Rs 1600 crore waiver of farmers’ power bills in the last term of the Hooda-led government t generated a lot of heat with the Opposition demanding White Paper on it.

Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala said if the government had waived loans of farmers, as it claimed, there should be no loan on the farmers at all. “But that is not the case,” he observed.

To another question by INLD’s Pradeep Chaudhary on installing tubewells in Kalka, Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said that tubewells were nobody’s baby after the winding up of the Minor Irrigation and Tubewells Corporation (MITC) during the Chautala regime.

Karnal, September 6
A resident of Karnal yesterday died of swine flu at the PGI in Chandigarh. The victim, Shelly Pandey (24), was referred to the PGI three days ago. With this, the total number of swine flu deaths in the state has risen to 40 of whom 14 died at the PGI.

Shelly was ailing for the past one week and after treatment at two private hospital here, she was taken to Chandigarh. The hospital authorities confirmed that the woman was suffering from swine flu.

Meanwhile, of the three samples of suspected swine flu cases sent for test yesterday, one sample has tested positive. Three more samples of Ashok, Niharika and Ratni have been sent for test.

Dr Vandana Bhatia, Civil Surgeon, Karnal, confirmed the death of the Karnal woman at the PGI. She said relatives of the victim and the other woman who had tested positive had been administered Tamiflu tablets and there was no cause for panic.

She said about 1,000 malaria cases had been reported following which people had been advised to keep their houses and workplaces clean and check waterlogging. The Irrigation Department was also taking steps like regular chlorination of water and keeping storage tanks clean.

Rohtak, September 6
The Sarv Karamchari Sangh has urged residents of the state to avoid travelling by Haryana Roadways buses tomorrow in view of a nationwide strike by trade workers’ organisations in protest against the privatisation and liberalisation policies of the union and the state governments.

According to a spokesperson for the federation, the appeal had been issued to the commuters to save them from inconvenience, as several services, including the functioning of the state roadways buses, would be affected as all employees, including the Roadways Workers’ Union, had decided to join the strike. Besides the public transport, services of other departments, including civic agencies, public health and power supply, would remain paralysed, he said. Claiming that almost 15 crore employees and workers affiliated to various trade unions, including the INTUC, AITUC, Hind Mazdoor Sabha, CITU, AIUTC, UTUC, TUCC and the AICCTU, had joined hands to observe strike in support of their demands.

Their demands included ending of privatisation and outsourcing of the government staff and their work, removal of anomalies in the pay scales, raising the minimum monthly wage to Rs 10,000, regularisation of employees working on contract or daily-wage base, filling up vacant posts in the government departments and reemployment of thousands of employees retrenched in the name of privatisation.

Chandigarh, September 6
The functioning of the Kaithal police today came under the Punjab and Haryana High Court scanner, with Justice Nirmaljit Kaur issuing a notice to the state of Haryana and other respondents on a petition indicating attempts by senior functionaries to hush up a corruption case against a cop.

Taking judicial cognisance of the petition filed by Kaithal district-based scrap dealer Ved Parkash, the complainant in the case against the alleged erring cop, Justice Nirmaljit Kaur also fixed October 25 as the next date of hearing. In his revision petition filed before the high court through counsel Sandeep Gahlawat, Ved Parkash had earlier claimed that the cop, sub-inspector Gheesa Ram, was taken into custody after he informed the Vigilance Bureau regarding a bribe demand.

He alleged that Gheesa Ram, posted at that time as in charge of the Anaj Mandi police post at Kaithal, was demanding Rs 4,000 as bribe for registering an FIR in a theft case.

Ved Parkash added that subsequently Haryana deputy superintendents of police Ram Sharan and Radhey Sham recommended the cancellation of an FIR against the cop. In fact, the cancellation report was filed before the court concerned by the SHO of the state Vigilance Bureau, and was accepted by the Special Judge.

Appearing on his behalf before Justice Nirmaljit Kaur, counsel Gahlawat sought the setting aside of the order dated October 8, last year, whereby the special judge, AK Shori, accepted the FIR cancellation report dated May 30, 2009. The grounds for cancellation were not just flimsy, but also non-existent, he added.

Gahlawat contended that the FIR was registered against Gheesa Ram on August 20, 2008.

Sirsa, September 6
A civil surgeon, who was posted in the district from August 11, 2009, to December 23, 2009, signed vouchers for payments for the “repairs” carried out from the funds of National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) till December 29, 2009.

Some of the payments made during this period are so erroneous that it appears that either the vouchers have been made in haste or “deliberate mistakes” have been made in a manner that these may appear as bona fide errors.

After receipt of report of on-the-spot inquiry by SDM Satish Kumar Jain, Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan today ordered another inquiry into the financial aspects of the case to verify the account books of the health department.

Jain had conducted an on-the-spot inquiry in the general hospital and the civil surgeon’s office on September 3 following allegations of “misuse” of Rs 50 lakh from the NRHM funds.

The goal of the NRHM, according to its website, is to “improve availability and access to quality health care for those residing in rural areas, the poor, women and the children”.

Interestingly, the health authorities say the forwarding letter that came with the funds received under the NRHM was “missing” and hence the actual purpose of the grant was unknown.

The funds were spent on the repairs of residences of senior doctors and fixing the problem of leakage and seepage of water in the general hospital and the civil surgeon’s office.

Jain has said in his inquiry that nothing appears to have been done in the name of repairs and recommended that the departments concerned be asked to remove the problem of leakage within one month.

Meanwhile, several irregularities have been found in the accounts of the health department. A civil surgeon, who as per the incumbency board was posted in the district till December 23, 2009, signed three vouchers of release of payment on December 24 and one on December 29. The one signed on December 29 is for 42 trolleys of earth at a rate of Rs 275 per unit.

However, the actual payment approved and paid to the vendor is Rs 17,550 instead of Rs 11,550. According to the accounts, a sum of Rs 1,92,169 has been spent on the repairs of nurses’ hostel in the general hospital.

The total break up of expenditure has also been mentioned in a very vague manner by suffixing the words “and other repairs” with every specific head of spending.

The matter would not have come to light had Dr Gulab Singh and Anand Biyani, both private members of the construction committee, raised the issue in a meeting held on March 9, 2010.

Upon this, Dr Hooda stopped further payments of the public health authorities and sent the unused funds of Rs 3.16 lakh back to the government.

Ambala, September 6
Special Judge of the CBI court, Haryana, AS Narang sentenced life imprisonment to one of the accused - Shiv Kumar - in the Baljeet murder case of Gohana while the other seven accused were acquitted for lack of evidence.

Baljeet Siwach’s murder had sparked off riots in Gohana and at least 50 houses of Dalits were burnt by the agitated crowd of upper cast.

According to the prosecution, Shiv Kumar, a resident of Balmiki Basti, Gohana, had gone to Sawan Digital Studio on August 27, 2005, and asked the studio owner to come to his house for clicking a photograph of his family for a ration card.

A quarrel took place between Shiv Kumar and Ashok over some issue. Baljeet, who was present there, intervened to sort out the dispute. Several persons from the Balmiki Basti started beating up Ashok and Baljeet. Ashok managed to escape, but Baljeet could not run away.

Baljeet sustained serious injuries in neck bone and head. Later, Baljeet succumbed to his injuries. The Gohana police booked several persons in the case. The CBI had filed a chargesheet in this case on November 26, 2005.

Sirsa, September 6
At least 12 persons were injured in a clash between two groups at Kheri village in Chopta block of this district last night. Rivalry over the recent panchayat elections is stated to be the reason behind the clash. The injured have been admitted to the local general hospital.

Lathis and sharp-edged weapons were allegedly used in the clash.

The police has registered a case under Sections 148, 149, 323, 324, 452, 506 and 285 against three identified and 14 unidentified persons on the complaint of Jagdish.

SHO Dharam Vir said the case appeared to be related to poll animosity. The two sides had clashed on the day of polling for the panchayat elections and had even broken an EVM.

Jind, September 6
The police has arrested a local resident, Tilak Raj, for attempting to burn alive Pravin, a Dalit youth from Randhana village, here yesterday. He has been remanded to police custody.

Pravin suffered seroius burn injuries and was admitted to the PGIMS Hospital, Rohtak.

His condition was stated to be serious. According to the police, the victim was working as a waiter in a private eatery (dhaba) on Apollo Road.

He resided in a house nearby. His neighbour, Tilak Raj, allegedly sprinkled kerosene on him and and set him on fire last evening as he walked down the road.

Engulfed in flames, he was saved by onlookers who rushed to his help and doused the flames.

He suffered 70 per cent burn injuries.