Chandigarh, January 2
Land acquisition may have raised the hackles of the Opposition in Haryana, but now this “anger” seems to be spreading to the Treasury Benches as well with the Finance Minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, coming out strongly in defence of Rewari’s aggrieved farmers facing a “threat” of land acquisition.

Holding a brief for the farmers, Yadav, in a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has strongly put forth their cause and concern, stating that acquiring “fertile and prime land” is, anyway, against the government’s policy.

Farmers of Kapriwas, Joniawas and five other villages in Rewari had represented to the Finance minister, seeking his intervention in stalling the process of land acquisition by the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC).

The farmers, in their memorandum, have mentioned that the HSIIDC has issued a notification for acquiring 500 acres in Dharuhera. It mentions that there is widespread resentment over the move which is compounded by the fact that the land is being acquired for a pittance which is not even enough to buy land elsewhere in the area.

Sources said Yadav’s letter stated that the land was being acquired by the government at floor rates while the market rate of the land in question was very high, inviting the displeasure of the farmers.

Maintaining that the Haryana Government had already acquired land in Dharuhera which was still “under-developed”, Yadav’s letter maintains that the industrial growth centre in Rewari’s Bawal was not fully developed with several plots still lying vacant.

He is learnt to have added that the industrial town at Bawal and Manesar are a stone’s throw from Dharuhera where plots can be given to boost industrialisation. “Therefore, I feel that acquiring more land around Dharuhera for the industrialists is of no point as, in this way, no agricultural land would be left for farmers and their livelihood. As of now, there is a saturation point of urbanisation and industrialisation in Bawal and Rewari blocks,” the letter says.

Urging the government to reconsider the issue and stall the process of acquisition of land in the “identified” villages, Yadav has said that, alternatively, land can be acquired in industrially backward blocks like Nahar, Khol and Jatusana and other parts of the state to encourage the industry to come up.

The government is already facing flak from the Opposition for acquiring fertile land for peanuts and “selling” it to private parties. In Fathehabad’s Gorapkpur, the dharna by farmers protesting against the acquisition of land for a nuclear plant completed 140 days today. The farmers are demanding annulment of the notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act

A few weeks ago, Ambala farmers, too, had sought the intervention of Union Minister Selja following initiation of land acquisition proceedings in five villages of the district by the HSIIDC for an industrial model township.

Fatehabad, January 2
The sudden deterioration in the health of another Gorakhpur farmer left the authorities in a tizzy today. Ram Kumar (65), a protester sitting at the dharna site against the acquisition of land for the nuclear power plant, complained of headache and severe pain in his chest in the afternoon. The farmer also complained of unsteadiness.

The authorities immediately swung into action and summoned a doctor from the general hospital, who advised him hospitalisation after examination.

Dr Sameer Kumar, who examined Ram Kumar, said the farmer’s condition had worsened due to sitting in the open in extreme cold conditions.

Ram Kumar had earlier fallen ill with Bhagu Ram, the farmer who died later, leading to a standoff between the protesters and the authorities.

He, however, came back to the dharna site immediately after his discharge from the general hospital.

Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, who accompanied Ram Kumar to the general hospital, said his own condition was also not good.

The dharna of the Gorakhpur farmers entered its 140th day today.

SDM JK Abhir said these farmers had come back to the dharna site again against medical advice.

Meanwhile, the authorities are concerned over the practice of farmers in their sixties and seventies sitting at the dharna site in this chilly weather.

Even before the death of Bhagu Ram, intelligence agencies had submitted a report to the government expressing apprehension of a law and order problem if some farmer died sitting in such chilly conditions.

The agencies prepared a list of 45 farmers, who sat on dharna by rotation, and much to the trepidation of the authorities, over 60 per cent of these were in their sixties and seventies, who run a greater risk to life by spending their days and nights in the open.

Sirsa, January 2
Will Congress leaders from Sirsa district pay heed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s advice and stop their infighting that cost them all Assembly seats in the last elections? This million-dollar question is being asked in political circles here after the “Badhte Kadam” rally, held recently, where Hooda not only launched a scathing attack on the main Opposition party, the INLD, but also took jibes at his own party men for losing all seats in the district due to “their infighting”.

Addressing the rally that witnessed a scramble among senior Congress leaders for a seat in the front row with the Chief Minister, Hooda advised his party leaders to unite for the sake of the party’s strength in the district.

The Congress had lost all five seats in the district in the last Assembly elections and could win only the Tohana seat of the nine Assembly seats coming under the Sirsa parliamentary seat, though the party’s nominee, Ashok Tanwar, had won the last parliamentary election. On infighting among senior Congress leaders, Hooda said a close friend had advised him during campaigning to take away all five candidates contesting the Assembly poll from Sirsa and confine them in Chandigarh to ensure their victory.

“Had I acted upon the advice, the Congress would have won all seats in the district. But, they (candidates) lost because they worked against each other in the elections,” he said.

“Bhai ab ke bhi nahi sudhre to mein vahi karunga jo mujhe salah di gayi thi (If you do not mend your ways this time, I will act upon the advice),” Hooda said laughingly.

Though the statements were said in a lighter vein, the message was loud and clear. Hooda cautioned them that he would not tolerate infighting. Hooda advised his party leaders to put up a united front if they wanted to fight against the INLD on its home turf.He also complimented the efforts of Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar for bringing all senior Congress leaders of the district together for the “Badhte Kadam” rally.

Tanwar managed to bring former deputy chairman of the State Planning Board Ranjit Singh, former OSD to CM KV Singh, former minister LD Arora and former MLAs Bharat Singh Beniwal, Sushil Indora and Mani Ram Keharwala together for mobilising support for the rally.

However, a tussle between Congress leaders and Independent MLAs Gopal Kanda and Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, now minister and CPS, respectively, in the government, was evident during the rally and their mobilisation campaign, too, remained separate from that of the Congress leaders.

Kanda even stayed away from the lunch hosted by Tanwar, though his younger brother Gobind Kanda was present and he said that the minister had to leave for Delhi.

The success of the “Badhte Kadam” rally must have boosted the morale of the local Congress leaders, who had been lying low after their defeat in the last Assembly elections.

It is to be seen whether they act upon Hooda’s advice and put up a united face in the INLD’s citadel in the future.

Sirsa, January 2
Four agencies have been probing the case of dumping of blood units on the roadside near Panjuana village near here on December 23 last. While the health authorities at the district level have already completed their inquiry, the investigations by the state drugs control authorities, the Pollution Control Board and the police are yet to be completed.

The regional office of the State Pollution Control Board (SPCB) has served notices to the local Shiv Shakti Blood Bank, whose expired blood units were found dumped on the roadside, and the Synergy Waste Management, the service provider for the district, for the management of biomedical wastes.

DB Batra, regional officer of the SPCB, said notices under the biomedical waste rules of the Environment Protection Act have been served to the two parties and both have been asked to explain their position within 15 days.

Batra said the Shiv Shakti Blood Bank had also been asked to furnish a copy of the agreement they had with the service provider.

He said further action in this matter would be taken only after the receipt of replies from the two parties.

A team of drugs control authorities led by senior drugs control officer NK Ahuja inspected the blood bank after complaints regarding the dumping of blood bags.

Ahuja has submitted his report to the State Drugs Controller, who is also the licensing authority in case of blood banks.

The police, on the other hand, has registered a case under Section 269 (negligent act likely to spread disease dangerous to life) of the IPC.

Jitender Kumar, SHO of the Sadar police station, said investigations were in progress. However, the health authorities have already completed their probe and found the service provider company - Synergy Waste Management - guilty of the act.

Dr Viresh Bhushan, Deputy Civil Surgeon, Sirsa, said copies of the report had also been sent to the police, the State Pollution Control Board and the drugs control authorities.

The committee headed by Deputy Civil Surgeon Dr GS Somani, that conducted the probe, reached its conclusion on the basis of biomedical waste of some other doctors found at the same place, where blood units of the Shiv Shakti Blood Bank were found.

Out of the 82 blood bags - 77 filled and five empty - found from the roadside, 75 filled bags belonged to the blood bank, while seven others were allegedly delivered by three other doctors of the town to the service provider.

Besides these bags, some other biomedical waste like used blood transfusion sets, syringes, needles, used swabs and yellow bags used by the doctors for keeping the waste before delivering it to the service provider were found from the heap of waste.

Incidentally, it is not the first instance that the biomedical waste, considered perilous to human health, has been finding its way to the open fields instead of being disposed of as per the environmental rules.

The dangerous waste has been found dumped several times in the past three years in Sirsa and Fatehabad. The Synergy Waste Management, however, has been denying its negligence.

Director of the service provider company Neeraj Agarwal has maintained that the blood units were never handed over to his company.

Kurukshetra, January 2
Elaborate arrangements are being made for pilgrims reaching here to have a holy dip in the Brahm Sarovar and the Sannihit Sarovar on the occasion of a partial solar eclipse on January 4 from 3.02 pm to 4.02 pm.

Stating this here today, Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal said all banks and educational institutions in the district would observe a holiday on January 4 on account of the solar eclipse.

He said each pilgrim entering the mela area from January 3 after 6 pm to January 5 till 6 pm would be covered under an insurance cover of Rs 1 lakh.

SDM Ashok Bansal and District Development and Panchayat Officer Surender Kumar had been appointed the mela administrator and mela officer, respectively, he added.

Aggarwal said the mela area had been divided into 10 sectors and 15 magistrates had been appointed. Special arrangements had been made near the Brahm Sarovar for parking vehicles. He said alum had been added to the water of the Brahm Sarovar and the Sannihit Sarovar here as well as the “Saraswati teerath” at Pehowa, 25 km from here, to keep the water bacteria-free.

Four special buses would ply between Pipli and the local old bus stand here to ferry pilgrims. Express and super-fast trains would halt here during the mela period.

The number of coaches of trains running on the Narwana-Kurukshetra railway track had been increased from 10 to 15. For the physically challenged, two special buses would ply from the old bus stand to the theme park and from the Kurukshetra University third gate to the theme park.

Assuring representatives of various social and religious organisations, Aggarwal said special arrangements had been made for the proper supply of electricity, drinking water and cooking gas cylinders.

SP Sultan Singh said elaborate security arrangements had been made for the pilgrims. He said 200 Home Guards and 1,290 employees and officers would remain on duty. Five temporary bus stands had been earmarked and 29 police barricades erected where the pilgrims entering the mela area would be checked. As many as 48 motorcycle riders, PCR Gypsies and horse riders would patrol the mela area round the clock. A dog squad, an anti-sabotage system and a bomb disposal squad would be pressed into service while CCTV cameras had been installed in all sectors.

The CIA staff, the detective staff and SHOs had been directed to check hotels, dharamshalas, dhabas, bus stands and railway station areas to keep tabs on anti-social elements. Similar arrangements were being made in the Pehowa mela area also, he added.

Panipat, January 2
To curb the ongoing practice of piracy in the industrial hub of the region, the IG’s special anti-piracy squad again carried out raids in the city and arrested four persons allegedly involved in producing fake DVDs.

The anti-piracy squad that was constituted by Rohtak range IG V Kamaraj about three months ago raided four different places last week and rounded up four persons, including Rajinder of Sanjay Colony, Janeshwar Jain of Matlauda, Deepak Mahajan of Jain Colony and Nand Gopal Arora of Bapoli village.

The IG said all four accused were arrested on the charge of violating the Anti-Piracy Act. He said the accused used computers to prepare pirated music DVDs and CDs. The squad confiscated three computers, one laptop, memory cards and other equipments used for Internet connection.

He said the miscreants used to download famous songs from the Internet, burn those on CDs or DVDs and sell on the black market.

Sources said those involved in this illicit trade procure blank DVDs from Delhi, which costs them Rs 6 per disc. The pirated discs were sold for Rs 8 or Rs 9. On an average, lakhs of fake discs are produced in the city, which are circulated across the region. Sources said the city had emerged as a major hub of pirated DVDs and CDs and the daily earnings of some of the accused ran into lakhs.

The IG said the accused had been handed over to the Panipat police. Kamaraj said the raids were conducted after his office received a complaint from Sanjeev Bhardwaj of Panipat.

This was the third instance that the anti-piracy squad had conducted raids in Panipat. Earlier, the team had arrested five persons on October 20 last and seven persons on December 23. Besides, a large number of fake CDs were also recovered by the squad during the raids.

The IG said the department would continue with its campaign against piracy and no efforts would be spared to put an end to the practice.

Sirsa, January 2
The district police kicked off a road safety campaign here in a unique manner by offering flowers to erring vehicle drivers to convey the message of “safe driving”. In its distinctive Gandhigiri style, traffic cops stopped vehicle drivers flouting traffic rules and made them realise their mistake by offering them flowers and candies.

SP Satinder Kumar Gupta formally launched the drive from Laal Batti Chowk in the town today.

Speaking to mediapersons, the SP said the “traffic safety week”, normally observed in the first week of January throughout the state, would be observed for the whole month in Sirsa this time.

He said the police would create awareness among people to ensure safety while driving their vehicles and added that the main objective of the event was to minimise road accidents.

Gupta said the district police had planned awareness rallies in coordination with the Road Safety Organisation (RSO), an NGO working in tandem with the police in this field.

During these rallies, vehicle drivers would be advised to use headlights during fog and to drive their vehicles at a slow speed. He said the police would advise them to park their vehicles on the roadside, if necessary, and to keep the indicator lights of the vehicles on in such conditions.

“I am simply bowled over by the Gandhigiri of the police,” said Neha, a student.

She said a woman constable immediately stopped her, when she tried to drive past her scooty from the wrong side and delivered her a red rose with a smile on her face.

Sonepat, January 2
State president of the intellectual cell of the INLD Brig OP Chaudhary and the district president of the party Padam Singh Dahiya, former MLA, flagged off “Two-vehicle Rath Yatra” from the party office here yesterday.

It is being seen as a move to counter the “Haryana Vikas Rath Yatra” of the Congress government.

Brigadier Chaudhary said the vehicles would go to every village in the district to convey the party’s best wishes to the people as well as to make them aware about the scams, corruption and undemocratic activities of the state government and the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre.

He was of the opinion that state government, which came into power by engineering defections and using money, would not complete its full term. “The fate of the Central government is also uncertain because of the exposure of the CWG and land scams which are being inquired,” he added.

Dahiya said the soaring prices of the essential commodities had broken the backbone of the poor and the common man, which constitute 70 per cent of the country’s population.

During the yatra, the party leaders would also work to bring more youth into the party fold and acquaint the party leadership about the problems being faced by villagers, he added.