Chandigarh , August 2
Following a controversy on the release of Ullawas panchayat land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust in Gurgaon, a shaken Haryana Government today sought to clear the air in the matter, stating that it had followed the policy to the letter and there was nothing “illegal and irregular”.

Addressing a hurriedly convened press conference here today, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning Department, SS Dhillon, said the 5.01 acres of land had been leased to the Trust by the Ullawas panchayat on July 2, 2009.

“The panchayat initially wanted to sell this land for which a resolution was passed in May 2008. However, the government rejected the resolution because there is no provision to sell panchayat land. Then again the panchayat passed a resolution, approving lease of land to the Trust. The government gave its nod on December 14, 2009,” Dhillon said.

Giving the chronology of events, he said the Trust, considered an owner if it takes land on a lease of 33 years under the government policy, applied for change of land use (CLU) in October 2010 and the approval for the same was given on December 1, 2010. The letter of intent was issued on December 6 the same year while the final permission was granted in May 2011, he said.

Dhillon clarified that nothing was amiss and no undue relaxations were given to the Trust. “The Section 4 notification was issued in June 2009 while the Section 6 notification came on May 31, 2010. Under the law, the government can withdraw a piece of land from acquisition of which possession has not been taken. In this particular case, the possession was not taken because the award is yet to be announced.”

Further, he added that after the Gurgaon Development Plan got its environment clearances in 2005, the southern extension of Gurgaon planned in consultation with all stakeholders. The government issued a Section 4 notice for 1,417 acres after which the original landowners are given a chance to file objections against acquisition.

“The Section 6 notification took place for about 850 acres of land while the rest was left out of acquisition. Also, Section 6 happened much after the land was leased to the Trust.”

In fact, following the lease, the panchayat land, which had been lying unutilised for years has now become an income source, earning Rs 3 lakh per acre per year, with 5 per cent increase after every five years, Dhillon said. 

Chandigarh, August 2
Even as 56 out of 70 petitions challenging the acquisition of land in Gurgaon for the development of Sectors 58 to 65 stand withdrawn, the internationally renowned artist-cum-Padma Shri awardee, Anjolie Ela Menon, is contesting the State’s action on merits.

The petitions were withdrawn after Haryana came out with an offer, asking the landowners to apply for the release of their land being acquired. Menon’s counsel Manmohan Lal Sarin had, on the previous date of hearing, put his foot down.

Rejecting the offer to apply for release of land, Sarin had minced no words to say that the State had failed to come up with any assurance.

Disposing of the “withdrawn” petitions this afternoon, Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Augustine George Masih asked them to appear before the high-powered committee, looking into the issue, on September 6 at 11 am.

The Bench also directed the listing of the remaining cases, including Menon’s petition, for arguments on merit on Wednesday.

The development is significant as Sarin and Avi Singh, on Menon’s behalf, have been contending that in Ghatta village, 262.07 acres were surveyed and proposed for the development of Sector 58.

But only 92.61 acres were declared for the purpose of acquisition under Section 6. Almost all of the remaining land was excluded or released from acquisition process only because there has been a change of land use plea, or licence had been granted to a developer, or in some cases just applied for.

They added while people's houses and farms were being acquired, a mere application to develop a high-rise structure on a coloniser’s land was sufficient for the State of Haryana to exclude the land from the acquisition process.

The only "public purpose" apparently was to facilitate the colonisers. They were not even required to buy the land from the government at an auction, but simply strike deals with the farmers.

Giving the break-up, they said the land surveyed in Ghatta village was 262.07 acres; area excluded from Section 4 declaration for licences applied or granted was 72.84 acres. Land excluded from Section 4 declaration for other reasons was 45.19 acres. The land excluded from Section 6 declaration was 45.19 acres.

They elaborated, only 35 per cent of the land actually surveyed for the public purpose was considered necessary for acquisition. 

New Delhi, August 2
The BJP has alleged today that the Congress-led Haryana government acquired ‘Shamlat’ land in Ullawas near Gurgaon belonging to the villagers and allotted it to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust whose trustees are Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said of the 1,400 acres of land acquired from the Ullawas villagers, the Collector released another piece of land to Dr HR Prem Sachdev, a RMP dentist, ostensibly to run a dentistry clinic also connected to the family and some 300-350 acres to private builders.

Recalling Rahul Gandhi’s campaign in Bhatta Parsaul, Noida, against arbitrary acquisition of the farmers’ land, Jaitley said what was good for the farmers of Noida was good for the farmers of Haryana as well.

He mentioned a petition filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court and said the petitioners in this case had complained of discrimination and favouritism. They claimed that the Haryana government had acquired land and later, released it to the trust as well as the builders.

He asked the Congress and the “first family” of the Congress to come clean on it. But the Congress seems to have been caught off guard and tried to take refuge behind technicalities saying it would not be right to comment on the matter that was sub-judice.

Instead, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed harped on how his government was bringing a strong land acquisition Bill to resolve all contentious land acquisitions in future.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had on Monday pulled up the state government for flouting laws to grant eight acres to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. The court said it was clear that the state government had favoured the trust run by the Gandhi family by exempting the land from the process while acquiring land for the development of sectors 58-63 in Gurgaon's Ullahawas village. 

Faridabad, August 2
The BJP leaders have gone in an overdrive to mobilise support for the programme of the Bharatiya Kisan Morcha, BJP’s frontal organisation, to gherao Parliament tomorrow to press for the enactment of a new land acquisition Act.

Senior BJP leaders, including members of the national executive of the kisan morcha, have been campaigning here for the past two days to mobilise the farmers.

The president of the Faridabad unit of the BJP, Ajay Gaur, said a contingent of about 800 farmers from Faridabad would take part in the programme.

The farmers from all over the country would assemble at Jantar Mantar in the national capital from where they would proceed towards Parliament, he added.

Chandigarh, August 2
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court in the alleged land scandals of the Haryana government, including release of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust in Gurgaon and to the Reliance and the DLF.

In a statement issued here today, secretary-general of the party Ajay Singh Chautala alleged that in the Karnataka mining scam, the family of a Congress MP and an MLA belonging to Haryana was indicted by the Lokayukta of that state, following which the Chief Minister had to quit.

He said though the Lokayukta had recommended the registration of a criminal case against the family of the MP and the MLA, so far the Congress government had not taken any step to implement the recommendation.

He alleged that this showed the complicity of the Congress high command in the scam.

Chautala said during the hearing on the petitions challenging the acquisition of land in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, it had come to the notice of the court that precious land had been released for the Rajiv Gandhi Trust as well as a dental surgeon, who had been associated with a former Prime Minister and the President. The court had asked the government to file its reply.

The INLD said it was shameful that the land of the farmers was being acquired and given to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and persons close to her. 

Chandigarh, August 2
A war of words has broken out between the ruling Congress and the opposition INLD following demonstrations at all district headquarters by the former to demand the resignation of the Chautalas from the Assembly.

The Congress has made this demand after charges were framed against INLD president Om Prakash Chautala and his elder son Ajay Singh in the JBT teachers’ recruitment scam.

While a former secretary of the Haryana Congress, Satpal Kaushik, justified his party’s demand on the basis of morality in politics, Ashok Arora, president of the Haryana unit of the INLD, described it as a political gimmick.

Kaushik said when several leaders had quit their posts merely on the allegations of corruption, the Chautalas, against whom the court had found prima facie evidence to frame charges, must quit the Assembly and politics.

Arora said it did not behove the Congress to talk of corruption when its governments at the Centre as well as in the state were steeped in corrupt practices.

He said the Congress organised yesterday’s “political gimmick” of burning effigies of the INLD leaders to divert public attention from its own misdeeds. 

Jind, August 2
The Union Government has raised the subsidy on setting up private dairies from the existing 15 per cent to 25 per cent under the National Agriculture Development Scheme.

The scheme was applicable to those who want to set up new dairies having two to 25 milch cattle at one time.

Stating this, a senior official of the department concerned said here today that the government would provide a financial help of Rs 50,000 per cattle (buffalo) and the beneficiary would be eligible for a subsidy up to 25 per cent on the total amount paid by the government.

Claiming that the amount of financial help on purchase of cattle had been increased substantially, he said the amount was Rs 30,000 per cattle earlier. The financial help and the subsidy to the applicant would be paid by NABARD, he added.

The department had proposed that the applicants ought to get the map of the shed of the dairy and the details of the project cleared from the agency concerned. To avail the benefit of the help and the subsidy, one should have a plot or land measuring at least one acre and up to 10 acres at the most for such a project.

The government would also be paying financial aid and subsidy for erecting a shed for which an amount of about Rs 6 lakh was given as loan with the provision of 50 per cent subsidy. The district administration has proposed to set up at least 20 major dairy farms and 350 dairies of various sizes during the current financial year in the district, said the Deputy Commissioner, Amit Aggarwal.

He said the district that had already been a major hub of poultry farming was also likely to come up on the dairy map of the state and the region as the interest in the sector had been growing. 

Gurgaon, August 2
With a view to minimise the violation of traffic rules in the city, the Gurgaon Traffic Police joined hands with the Nokia India, Millennium City Welfare Society and the Denave India to launch a traffic management project, 3rd Eye, here today.

Under this project, the traffic personnel on duty will click photos of traffic rule violators with Nokia E5 handsets fitted with Tselina software. The pictures will instantly land on the server of the Gurgaon Police. The spot and time of the incident will also be recorded in the server.

The police team deputed at the server will then send challan to the home of the violators. The pictures stored in the server, along with other attributes, can be later used as evidence against the violators.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner Surjeet Singh Deswal launched the project at Shankar Chowk here today. He said mobile phones would be used in an organised way for the first time in north India to keep a watch on the violators of traffic rules.

Interacting with mediapersons later, Deswal said an outdoor surveillance system would be installed in eight cities, including Gurgaon and Faridabad in Haryana, for keeping an eye on the violators of the traffic rules.

“An amount of Rs 15 crore has already been paid to the HARTRON, nodal agency, for installing the system in Gurgaon,” he maintained and added that the outdoor surveillance system and the 3rd eye would complement each other.

Joint Commissioner of Police Alok Mittal said the 3rd Eye project had been used on an experimental basis in the city for 15 days and the shortcomings noticed during that period had been removed by the software-designing company.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (Traffic) Bharti Arora said the project, aimed to leverage technology as an enabler to curb traffic disruption in the satellite city, would be implemented across the east, west and highway traffic zones in the first phase.

“Up to 300 traffic police personnel stationed at different locations in the city will be equipped with 3rd Eye sets to monitor traffic violations. As many as 50 traffic personnel have already been given Nokia E5 sets installed with Tselina software, which will allow them to capture photo evidence of the traffic violations, including the vehicle, its surroundings, license plate and the driver’s face, as far as possible,” she asserted.

Suresh Vedula, director (enterprise sales), Nokia India; Subinder Khurana, president, Millenium City Welfare Society; and R Narayan, CEO, Denave India were present on the occasion. 

Kaithal, August 2
The Didar Singh Nalvi faction of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC-ad hoc) held its state executive meeting at Manji Sahib Gurdwara here today and released its election manifesto for the coming SGPC elections.

Nalvi presided over this meeting which was attended by members of the executive who represented various districts of Haryana. Talking to mediapersons after today’s meeting, Nalvi said the HSGPC-ad hoc and the Punjab Panthak Morcha would put up joint candidates against Badal-supported SAD nominees in these elections. He said the Sikh sangat in Haryana felt that despite the SGPC control over Haryana gurdwaras under the Sikh Gurdwara Act 1925, not much had been done for the upkeep of holy shrines and uplift of the Sikh community. He said though the Punjab Re-Organisation Act had the provision for the constitution of a separate gurudwara parbandhak committee, no step had been taken in this direction. Hence the top priority would be to work for the fulfilment of this demand and to have a separate body for Haryana. They would take all necessary steps for the constitution of a minorities commission for Haryana. Effective steps would be taken for the implementation of the state government’s announcement of March 28, 2010, giving the second-language status to Punjabi in schools and colleges of Haryana.

The SGPC had not taken proper care of Sikh shrines in Haryana and if the Sikh sangat in the coming elections on September 18 reposes confidence in them, then it will be ensured that Gurbani and Katha Kirtan were recited in all gurdwaras for 18 hours daily. All Durbar Halls would be renovated and proper arrangements for the stay of pilgrims would be made and langar would be served. Steps would be taken to ensure complete transparency in maintaining records of income and expenditure and details of all movable and immovable property and details of donations in the name of religious places will be computerised .

If the sangat throws its weight behind HSGPC candidates in elections, the management of Sikh shrines would be run in a most democratic way and the executive and other bodies would work in a most transparent manner and only those having faith in Sikh traditions and culture would be eligible to get elected to the executive body.

To promote religious and academic education, schools, colleges and medical colleges, wherever required, will be started. All employees serving in religious places would be paid proper salary and jobs would be given on merit. Special steps would also be taken to increase income from huge chunks of agriculture land standing in the name of gurdwaras and it would be used for the betterment of Sikh shrines and economic uplift of the community and providing jobs to the youth. 

Fatehabad, August 2
A local court has rejected the bail pleas of Raja Ram, an Inspector in the Food and Supplies Department, and five others in the case of watering of bags of wheat at a storehouse in Fatehabad.

Chief Judicial Magistrate Mohinder Singh found no merit in the bail pleas of the six accused and dismissed their bail petition.

Four labourers and a guard of the department were caught watering wheat bags stacked in the storehouse of the Food and Supplies Department on the night of July 27. SDM Baljit Singh had caught them red-handed.

The accused told the police that they had watered 11,200 bags of wheat, which were to be supplied to ration depots under the PDS next day, on the directions of Raja Ram.

Chandigarh, August 2
Nearly two months after an ex-sarpanch in Karnal district was “brutally murdered”, the Haryana Police today claimed the MLAs Zile Ram Sharma and Om Parkash Jain have been questioned in connection with the case.

The assertion by the Deputy Superintendent of Police came on a petition filed by victim Karam Singh’s son, Rajender.

He had moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for a probe by the CBI or some independent agency as “no action has been taken by the police” due to the alleged involvement of two “influential politicians”.

As the petition filed through counsel NS Shekhawat came up for hearing before Justice Mahesh Grover, the affidavit was placed before the Bench.

Among other things, the affidavit said the two MLAs were summoned twice in the matter. The affidavit added that fair investigations into the matter were on by the special investigating team; and they had already questioned auto-rickshaw drivers and truck union members in connection with the case.

After taking the affidavit on record, Justice Grover fixed October 19 as the next date of hearing in the case for enabling the petitioner to file a counter-affidavit to the affidavit. The permission to file counter affidavit came after Shekhawat raised serious objections to the claims being made by the police in the affidavit.

The petitioner had earlier sought directions to the police to take appropriate action against the MLAs and “their accomplices” “who killed not only the petitioner’s father, but also Chamel Singh, key witness and his relative”.

Seeking protection, he alleged “certain bad elements” visited him and his family on June 6 before threatening them against pursuing the matter, lest they met the same fate.

Sirsa, August 2
A team of the Forest Department today marked an inquiry into the illegal felling of trees near the Ottu Lake in Sirsa.

The team headed by SS Saini, Additional Divisional Forest Officer, Jind, recorded the statements of the complainants as well as the contractors, who allegedly felled hundreds of trees of the department.

A few range officers of the department are also part of the inquiry team.

The team visited the site where illegal felling was going on unabated before The Tribune highlighted it in its report “Hundreds of trees felled near Ottu Lake in Sirsa” on July 22. Saini said he would soon submit the report to the department. 

Rohtak, August 2
A woman pickpocket was caught with Rs 2,000, which she had stolen from a fellow passenger in a maxi cab on the Rohtak-Bhiwani route yesterday.

According to the police, the woman, identified as Sunita, a resident of Anaj Mandi, had been caught with the stolen money. She had stolen Rs 2,000 from the pocket of a co-traveller, Vijender of Basana village. She was caught when a thorough search was carried out and the money was recovered from her possession.

The accused was handed over to the police. A case has been registered against her. Later, she was produced in a court, which remanded her to judicial custody.

Rewari (OC): The police has arrested another woman pickpocket, identified as Raj Bala (30) of Berli Khurd village, for stealing Rs 40,000 from the pocket of a co-passenger, Tek Chand Yadav of Gulabpura village, in an auto rickshaw here yesterday. She was today produced before the Duty Magistrate here who remanded her to the judicial custody.

Sources said when Tek Chand boarded the auto-rickshaw at the bus stand for Naiwali Chowk, the woman took out money from his pocket.

Later, at Naiwali Chowk when Tek Chand found his money missing, he caught hold of the woman and recovered the money from her. — TNS