Chandigarh, March 30
Come April 1, electricity consumers will have to pay more. The increase in power tariff, approved by the Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) today, would range from 10 per cent to 15 per cent for various categories of consumers, except for agriculture consumers, already enjoying subsidy, who have been given further relief. The approved hike in the tariff will generate an additional revenue of Rs 1,795 crore.

While approving the new rates, the commission observed that an increase of about 42 per cent was required to meet the entire revenue gap of over Rs 4,200 crore projected by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) jointly. This increase, it said, was required primarily because there had been no increase in the tariff since 2000-2001 except for about 13 per cent increase in 2010-2011 and marginal increase in 2011-2012 and also because of the reason that utilities had not been able to bring down their distribution or commercial losses to the level indicated by the commission in its various tariff orders.

Justifying the increase, the commission said unless the power utilities were allowed to raise additional revenue to wipe out some of their losses, their financial condition would further worsen. This will neither be in the long-term interest of consumers nor in the interest of the state.

Hisar, March 30
The HAU Board of Management has approved a Rs 292.28-crore budget for the next financial year, Rs 23.53 crore more than last year’s budget, a spokesman for the university said here today.

He said Rs 83.69 crore would be spent on research activities, Rs 49.53 crore on education while Rs 23.13 crore had been earmarked for buildings and maintenance. Administrative expenses would account for Rs 87.14 crore of the budget.

Sirsa: Chaudhary Devi Lal University on Friday approved its Rs 39.84 crore budget for the year 2012-13. Registrar Manoj Siwach said Rs 12.80 crore would be spent on construction activities and Rs 10.57 crore on salaries and arrears.

Fatehabad, March 30
Voices against the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad grew louder today as farmers from 29 villages held a demonstration and demanded shifting of the project from here.

Leaders of all major opposition parties of the state, including the INLD, HJC, BJP and the CPM, participated in the demonstration, which was the biggest demonstration since the notification for the project.

They vouched their support to Gorakhpur farmers holding agitation and sitting on a dharna against the project for the last 598 days.

Belligerent in their tone and tenor, farmers as well as leaders of political parties warned the government to wind up the project, or they would forcibly resist any activity at the project site. Under the aegis of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, agitating farmers organised a rally outside the grain market.

Shamsher Singh Arya, state president of the BKU; Dharam Pal Malik, a former MP and a senior HJC leader; Inderjit Singh, state secretary of the CPM; Subhash Barala, state president of the BJP Kisan Morcha; Nishan Singh, district president of the INLD; Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, a former INLD MLA; and Krishan Swaroop, district president of the All-Indian Kisan Sabha, were among the leaders of the opposition parties addressing farmers.

Later, the demonstrators marched to the mini-secretariat, where they gave a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner addressed to the Prime Minister. Farmers demanded that the Prime Minister should immediately annul the project looking into the quality of land giving three crops in a year — being acquired for the plant and the perils involved in setting up the plant in a densely populated area like Fatehabad.

While Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, declared that they would not yield an inch of their land for the nuclear plant, political leaders, who addressed the rally assured them that they would not allow the laying of foundation stone, what to speak of the start of the project.

Chandigarh, March 30
Just about a fortnight after the Punjab and Haryana High Court observed that the Sonepat jailbreak case could not have occurred without the connivance of the jail staff, the Bench was today informed that the employees were only negligent, and not involved. The Bench was also told action has been initiated against them.

Taking cognizance of the assertion, Justice Ranjit Singh has called for the inquiry details.

Taking up the matter, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: Reply has been filed to indicate the action, which has been taken against various employees of the jail. Some of them had allegedly connived with the convicts to facilitate their escape.

“Some action has also been taken against officers. However, no information has been provided in the reply whether investigation was conducted to see if they were also involved in this case or were only responsible for negligence.”

“The investigating officer, present in court, however, states that this aspect was investigated and finding is that they were only negligent and have not been found involved. Let the inquiry and the basis of the conclusion be placed before the court in a sealed cover”.

Law officer Shalini Attri was present during the hearing. The case will now come up for further hearing on April 30 .

Justice Ranjit Singh, on the previous date of hearing, had asserted that even the jail superintendent may have to come out with an explanation.

The assertion came on a petition filed by three accused in the case, including jail warders Amir Chand and Suresh Kumar. The trio was seeking regular bail in the case registered on January 18.

Justice Ranjit Singh had then asserted: “This is a serious case, where some convicts and undertrials were able to escape by scaling the wall of the Sonepat jail with the help of a rope and by cutting the iron rods. This could not have happened but for the connivance on the part of some jail staff. Even the superintendent may have to explain these serious happenings in the jail. The weapons for cutting iron rods could not have reached the jail premises without being detected if the proper checks had been carried out.”

Nuh (Mewat), March 30
Uneasy calm prevailed in the town, which witnessed violent protests following allegations of a police inspector's alleged misbehaviour with an elderly person last evening.

An FIR has been lodged against the mob for damaging public property, causing inconvenience to people and obstructing government officials from discharging their duty.

On the other hand, Inspector Ratan Lal, whose misbehaviour triggered the violent protests, has been suspended and booked under Sections 323 and 295-A of the IPC.

The CIA staff had rounded up Javed of Rajasthan in connection with some criminal case. Yesterday, Javed's guardian, Ismail, came to visit him. While they were interacting, CIA Inspector Ratan Lal allegedly started abusing them. He also allegedly manhandled Ismail and pulled his beard, which infuriated the other persons present there.

Ismail was taken to a government hospital for medical examination and treatment. By then, the news spread among a large number of people and they assembled to protest against the officer's conduct. Mewat being a minority-dominated area and the maltreated person also belonging to the same community, the episode assumed a communal tinge.

The protesting people blocked traffic on the Gurgaon-Alwar road. Local police officials tried to persuade the protesters to lift the blockade, but the situation worsened. The protest turned violent and two state roadways buses were torched. The police fired several rounds in the air to bring the situation under control.

Sirsa, March 30
The police today booked former Congress MLA Bharat Singh Beniwal for criminal trespass and criminal intimidation after angry residents blocked the Begu road against the high-handedness of some anti-social elements, allegedly at the behest of the leader.

The residents alleged that goons of the former MLA entered the house of Sandeep and asked him to vacate the house. They said the goons of the former MLA had been threatening people and trying to grab their lands. Efforts by the police failed to move the angry residents.

The residents lifted the blockade only after a Congress leader Gobind Kanda and SP Devender Yadav assured them of action. The police later registered a criminal case against Beniwal and another person, Dharmender. When contacted, Beniwal said the complainant was his own man and the matter had now been resolved.

Hisar, March 30
Hisar MP and HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi has demanded that the government should order a special girdawari to assess the loss to crops due to frost for payment of adequate compensation to farmers.

Addressing a series of public meetings in villages of the Barwala assembly constituency today, he said cold weather conditions in the recent months had caused much damage to standing crops. The government should, therefore, order a special gurdawari to asses the loss and pay compensation.

He said the government should have done this by now but the Hooda-led Congress government in Haryana had been neglecting the interests of farmers for several years. The HJC would launch an agitation if this attitude continued, he added.

Accusing Hooda of not fulfilling his promises to the people he said the Chief Minister had promised to supply power round the clock. However, the government was barely managing to supply power for 10 to 12 hours a day. This had thrown industry and business out of gear. The shortage was, in turn, causing heavy revenue losses.

Pehowa, March 30
Pehowa will soon get a co-educational government college and a general hospital while Islamabad would be upgraded to a block, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced today.

Addressing a “Navyug rally” after laying the foundation stones for a canal rest house, a sewerage plant and a bridge over Saraswati drain in Pehowa, Hooda also announced Rs 10 crore for the development of villages in the Pehowa assembly constituency and Rs 5 crore for the local municipality.

Claiming credit for the development of Pehowa and other areas, Hooda made a scathing attack on the INLD and said even INLD workers believed that only the Chautala family had benefited during INLD rule. Though the INLD government lasted only six years, Chautalas had land or other properties in all cities, Hooda claimed.

Referring to the cases against Chautalas in different courts of Delhi, Hooda said: “I am not in the habit of criticising others. Everyone knows that they are facing the consequences of their deeds.”

Hooda said the present government had so far spent over Rs 345.55 crore on developmental works in Pehowa whereas the INLD-BJP Government had spent a meagre Rs 95.69 crore during six years. Similarly, in Kurukshetra district, the present government had spent Rs 1667.28 crore as against Rs 445.96 crore by the previous government. 

Assandh (Karnal), March 30
All 26 accused in "Salwan arson" case which rocked the state five years ago were acquitted by a local court here on the ground that charges against them could not be proved.

Mahipal, a Rajput, was murdered in Salwan on February 27, 2007. Members of the Rajput community had allegedly attacked and set ablaze houses of Valmikis while returning from the cremation ground after picking up the ashes on the fourth day .

The police intervened in the matter and some policemen were also injured. As many as 26 persons were arrested in this connection. The assailants had also used objectionable casteist remarks against Valmikis which further provoked them.

The case had been pending in the court of Ravi Sondhi and 70 persons, including the witnesses produced by the prosecution, were examined in the case but the charges were not conclusively proved.

Chandigarh, March 30
A member of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission(HBCC) has obtained a retail liquor licence in Kaithal district.

Challenging the action of the Deputy Excise and Taxation Commissioner Ravinder Kaushik in granting the licence for 2012-13 to Arjun Dev Gulati, petitioner Sukhwant Singh of Kaithal district has described it as “illegal and liable to be set aside”.

The petitioner has asserted that “the private respondent was not eligible to participate in bids invited by the official respondents, the state of Haryana and others, for the allotment of a retail liquor outlet, as he is holding the post of a member of the of Haryana Backward Classes Commission and is getting all the benefits as permitted to him by the state of Haryana.

“Being a commission member, he is holding the office of profit and comes under the definition of a public servant, which bars him from engaging in any private business, other than his job”.

Taking up the petition, the Bench of Justices MM Kumar and TPS Mann today put the state of Haryana and other respondents on notice. The case will now come up for further hearing on April 3. 

Fatehabad, March 30
A man killed his father, who was trying to intervene in the dispute between two brothers at Chinder village in Fatehabad today.

The victim’s son, Manohar Lal, informed the police that his brother, Mahabir, had harvested fodder from a land of another brother, Jagdish. He said Mahabir attacked on him accusing him of bringing the fact to the notice of Jagdish.

When their father Bhajan Lal intervened, Mahabir allegedly hit him with a brick, killing him on the spot. — TNS