Chandigarh, January 15
Fighting with his back to the wall on several fronts, including Robert Vadra’s questionable land deals, law and order and khaps’ unpredictable diktats, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is finally buying peace with his detractors within the state government and the Congress.

In fact, for the past couple of months, Hooda seems to have spent quite some time in allaying the fears of “regional bias” of two senior ministers Kiran Chaudhary and Ajay Yadav and other senior Congress leaders, who did not see eye to eye with Hooda in the past on several issues relating to development and party organisation.

While these two ministers seemed to have buried the hatchet with Hooda for the time being, Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh seems to be the lone ranger and flexes his political muscles at regular intervals on the issues of “north-south divide” as far as development and land acquisition in the state is concerned. Hooda’s “peace-making” efforts started on November 17 when Hooda announced projects worth Rs 67.64 crore at Tosham (Bhiwani) in the presence of Kiran Chaudhary. He followed it up with the inauguration of several projects in Chaudhary’s fiefdom Bhiwani recently.

And by inaugurating the Rewari-Jhajjar-Rohtak train on January 8, the Chief Minister was able to mollify Ajay Yadav, a prominent leader of south Haryana, to a certain extent. Now, both Hooda and Yadav are slated to address a joint rally at Rewari on April 28. It may be recalled that relations between the two deteriorated when Yadav was “forced” to cancel the September 1, 2012 rally to be addressed by Hooda, allegedly due to reluctance of the Chief Minister to upgrade the Indira Gandhi Regional Centre at Mirpur village to a university. Yesterday, Hooda tried to reach out to his another detractor and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh. Hooda claimed at a rally in Uchana Kalan, the assembly segment represented by leader of the Opposition and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala that he and Birender Singh had “deep relations”.

Sources said though there was no immediate threat to the government against the backdrop of Speaker Kuldeep Sharma’s recent judgement on recognising the merger of five HJC MLAs with the Congress, the Chief Minister’s “conciliatory” gestures were the need of the hour on account of several reasons.

One, Hooda does not want any factionalism in the government in the run-up to the impending Cabinet expansion. Second, Hooda would have to carry all leaders with him if he wanted to get a person of his choice nominated as the HPCC chief, particularly at a time when the anti-Hooda lobby wanted Rao Inderjit Singh as the Congress chief.

Chandigarh, January 15
The police today claimed to have busted a sex racket in Rohtak district with the arrest of four persons, including a woman, from a hotel. Acting on a tip-off, a police team raided the hotel at Kharawad village and arrested a woman involved in the racket, an official spokesperson said.

During questioning, she told the police that she was forced into flesh trade by one Sandeep.

Based on her inputs, the team arrested three other persons, including hotel manager Jai Kishan, Rajesh and Sanjay, the spokesperson said, adding that a case had also been registered against the hotel owner and hunt was on to arrest Sandeep. — PTI

Chandigarh, January 15
Haryana has bagged Krishi Karman Award for the best performing state in wheat category for the year 2011-12. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda received the award from President Pranab Mukherjee during a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhawan in New Delhi today.

Two farmers from the state have also been given award of Rs 1 lakh each along with citation for the highest production of wheat per hectare. Ram Kumar of Sisai Bolan village of Hisar district produced 7,700 kg wheat per hectare, which is the highest ever. The other is a woman namely Anita from Pasina Khurd village of Panipat district, who produced 6,320 kg wheat per hectare.

Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh, Principal Secretary to CM Chhatar Singh, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Roshan Lal, Director General, Agriculture, AK Singh and former Director- General, Agriculture, Ashok Yadav were among those present on the occasion. — TNS

Chandigarh, January 15
Haryana will ask the Centre to contribute towards the development of the NCR, which serves as the backbone for the national Capital but the state alone is asked to develop and maintain its infrastructure.

The state would raise this issue at the meeting of the state Finance Ministers in Delhi tomorrow. Highly placed sources said Finance Minister HS Chatha would urge the Union Finance Minister to announce a national project for the NCR.

Being a pre-election year, Haryana is not in a position to impose new taxes in its own budget. Therefore, it is hoping to get a higher financial allocation from the Centre.

Haryana's view is that the population in the NCR is growing at a fast pace in the country putting pressure on resources like water, power, affordable housing, health infrastructure, etc.

Based on the recent incidents of violence and crime in the NCR, specific funding will be sought for improving the infrastructure for enforcing better law and order.

With a large part of the NCR falling in Haryana, the state is made to pay for things that are used by people from all over the country. Some financial help to the state is a very reasonable demand the Finance Minister will take up, an official told The Tribune

Haryana will mainly fight for the release of central sales tax due to the state from the Union Ministry of Finance.

Besides the arrears of about Rs 3,000 crore due to Haryana from the Centre, the state is also pressing for a correction in calculations on account of tax levied on Maruti.

This is a small clerical error as tax has been deducted whereas it should not have been on account of some offers made to the car manufacturer by the state government.

One of the major concerns of the state is that services sector being the fastest growing one is generating huge revenues. But since service tax falls under the domain of the central taxes, Haryana does not benefit from its growth. It, therefore, wants a share in the taxes collected from the services sector or otherwise some powers to impose tax on the services sector. The state has also prepared a presentation to seek more funds for the agriculture sector, mainly a higher subsidy for vegetable growers and floriculture. Haryana wants higher financial allocations for urban development, power and irrigation as well.

Chandigarh, January 15
The Haryana power distribution companies (discoms) have decided to adopt at least one 11-KV feeder in each operation circle for implementing the Punjab model of power supply as a pilot project in the state, said Chairman and Managing Director of the discoms Devender Singh while discussing this issue with PSEB engineers and senior engineers of the UHBVN after seeing a presentation on the Punjab model here today.

He said that a core committee of the adviser and directors of the discoms would be constituted to study the system in detail. The report of the committee will be placed before the Board of Directors.

Bhupinder Singh, secretary-general of the Northern India Power Engineers Federation, made the presentation and highlighted the gains from this low-cost model. He said investment made on improving the system could be recovered within one-and-a-half years of implementation.

Meanwhile, the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam released 3,920 domestic connections on the spot in 249 villages by holding open darbars last month to minimise kundi connections, .

The nigam had set up 1,065 complaint centers in urban and rural areas to redress power-related complaints.

Devender Singh felicitated Bhagat Singh, assistant lineman, Hisar; Sarwan Kumar, head draftsman, Sirsa; Narain Prakash, junior engineer, Bhiwani; Anil Kumar Sharma, assistant sub-station attendant, and Anand, lineman, Gurgaon; for rendering laudable service in their respective areas. 

Rohtak, January 15
Local leaders and workers of the HJC and the district BJP staged a demonstration in protest against the decision of the Speaker recognising the merger of the five HJC MLAs into the Congress.

The protesters burnt an effigy of Speaker Kuldeep Sharma at Chottu Ram Chowk here today as a mark of protest.

Yoginder Nath Malhotra of the HJC said the party would not accept this politically motivated decision and challenge in the high court soon.

He said this development was a murder of democracy as the Speaker had acted like a member of the ruling Congress.

Sirsa/Hisar: HJC and BJP activists on Tuesday held a demonstration and burnt an effigy of the Speaker against his decision on the petition against five former HJC MLAs.

Led by district presidents of the HJC and the BJP Veer Bhan Mehta and Gurdev Singh, respectively, workers of the two parties assembled at Subhash Chowk in Sirsa and burnt the speaker's effigy. Workers of the two partys burnt Sharma's effigy in Hisar as well.

Rewari: BJP and HJC activists jointly held a demonstration at Moti Chowk here on Tuesday in protest against the Speaker's decision approving the merger of the HJC with the Congress and dismissing all 14 petitions seeking disqualification of the five HJC MLAs. They also burnt an effigy of the Speaker.

The protesters also burnt the flag of Pakistan. Former state BJP chief Om Prakash Grover said time was ripe to give a befitting reply to Pakistan for its monstrosity.

Karnal, January 15
Panic gripped the health authorities as eight job aspirants showed swine flu symptoms during a recruitment drive at the local Commando complex. Three of them were admitted to hospital after taking their blood samples.

Swine flue symptoms were noticed in a job hospirant, Sadhu Ram, who had come to the hospital two days ago and a team of doctors reached the Commando complex for a medical checkup and took samples of eight others.

The medical team administered medicines to 25 aspirants and admitted three of them to hospital.

The job aspirants taken to the trauma centre for blood samples were Arshad, Sumit, Navin, Subhash, Ashok, Wasim, Pradeep and Mohammad. Arshad and Sumit were admitted to hospital. Dr Vandana Bhatia, Civil Surgeon, said athe condition of three patients was improving. 

Karnal, January 15
Lying low after a humiliating defeat in the SGPC elections in September 2011, the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (adhoc) today announced to revive its agitation for a separate SGPC and threatened to gherao the Haryana assembly during the budget session.

Jagdish Singh Jhinda, president of the HSGPC (adhoc), said that a 15-member action committee had been constituted to launch the agitation with renewed vigour in case “a bill for creation of a separate SGPC is not introduced by February 20 during the budget session”.

Accusing the Congress of “betraying the Haryana Sikhs and not fulfilling the election promise to set up a separate SGPC for Haryana”, Jhinda did not rule out the possibility of supporting a party other than the Congress and the INLD in the coming Lok Sabha and assembly poll in the state.

Jhinda said six HSGPC leaders, Didar Singh Nalvi of the rival HSGPC, Kavaljeet Singh Ajrana, Balbir Singh Khalsa, Nawab Singh Singra, Bibi Ravinder Kaur and Jarnail Singh, have been suspended for six years for allegedly having a tacit understanding with Badal to help opponents win the SGPC poll.

He said that a memorandum would be submitted to the Governor of Haryana and Prime Minister, Defence Minister February 1 and February 10 respectively, demanding creation of separate SGPC for Haryana .

However, Didar Singh Nalvi, working president of the rival faction of the HSGPC, said Jhinda should know that a rival faction of the HSGPC had been constituted four years ago.

Chandigarh, January 15
Business tycoon-cum-politician and in charge of the north unit of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) KD Singh has taken the sports route to revive the fortunes of his party in sports-loving Haryana.

The Rajya Sabha MP today said he would patronise sports and set the ball rolling by announcing a grant of Rs 3.5 lakh for a Hanuman wrestling akhara at Nirjan village in Jind district.

Two of the state’s wrestlers - Sushil Kumar and Yogeshwar Dutt - won medals at the Olympic games in London. By patroning the sport, which is a rage in rustic Haryana, the TMC leader wants to strike a chord with rural masses particularly against the backdrop of his party that was jolted by the recent exodus of leaders.

The leading businessman had announced the launch of northern region unit of the party on June 14 last year in a bid to provide an alternative to the political parties in the state.

In the initial days, the joining of the party by several prominent Congress leaders like Sundar Pal, former media adviser to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was designated as number two in party organisation, provided the TMC much publicity.

However, with Sundar Pal and other senior leaders like Anil Saini, Dalip Chawla, Lakhwinder Singh Lakha and JP Maan bidding the party the good bye, KD Singh was left to plough a lonely furrow in the jatland.

New Delhi, January 15
A Delhi court is likely to pronounce tomorrow its verdict in the case of alleged illegal recruitment of over 3,000 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in which state's former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, his son Ajay Chautala and others are facing trial.

Special CBI Judge Vinod Kumar had reserved his judgement on December 17, 2012, in the case after conclusion of the final arguments by the CBI and the defence counsel.

“The judgement in this case will be announced on January 16, 2013. All the accused persons shall remain present at 10 am on that date," the judge had said.

Out of the 62 accused, six had died during the trial while one had been discharged by the court at the time of framing of charges.

The court had earlier found prima facie evidence against Chautala, his son Ajay and 53 others, including IAS officers Vidya Dhar and Sanjiv Kumar, who too was made accused by the CBI after he exposed the JBT recruitment scam.

The court had framed charges against them under various provisions of the IPC and the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The CBI had on June 6, 2008, chargesheeted the Chautalas and others in connection with the scam relating to the appointment of 3,206 junior basic teachers in the state during 1999-2000.

Sanjiv Kumar and Chautala's former Officer on Special Duty Vidya Dhar were the two civil servants named in the CBI chargesheet in which it was alleged that the father-son duo had used forged documents to appoint 3,206 teachers. — PTI

Karnal, January 15
Army Day was today marked by a protest by exservicemen against the brutal killing of two Indian soldiers by Pakistani army.

Under the banner of Rashtriya Sainik Sangh, the protesters took out a procession in the city. They shouted slogans and demanded action against Pakistan. A memorandum addressed to the President of India was handed over to Deputy Commissioner Renu S Phuliya.

Sangh president Rajbir Singh Chauhan said, “We have written to the President to save the honour and glory of the nation as well as the armed forces.” The ex-servicemen felt disheartened by India’s miserable approach to the issue, he said.

“Pakistan always plays double game, at one time they are heading for peace talks and on the other hand they are killing our men. The issue should be resolved at once,” said Chauhan.

Kaithal: The Haryana Exservicemen League (HESL) paid homage to lance naik Hem Raj Singh and lance naik Sudhakar Singh who became victims of the brutality of Pakistani soldiers on the Indo-Pak border a few days ago and attained martyrdom.

Capt GD Tewari, president of the HESL, Kaithal district, presided over the condolence meeting in which scores of retired ex-servicemen paid tributes to the two soldiers and observed a two-minute silence.

Condemning the Pakistani army, they urged the government not to adopt a soft approach towards Pakistan, but act firmly.

Ambala, January 15
Telecommunication services of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), including customer service, mobile network and Internet, remained suspended in the state for more than seven hours due to a technical snag today.

Sources said the main exchange of the BSNL, which provides power to mobile and Internet exchange, developed some problems at 11:20am.

Lakhs of mobile users across the state could not make or receive calls till 6 pm when the telecom engineers restored the services after rectifying the fault. The fault, however, did not affect landline consumers but broadband users could not access Internet till 4:30 pm.

Senior officials of the Haryana telecom circle rushed to the main exchange to ensure that the services were restored at the earliest. A senior BSNL official said the services to the emergency numbers, including 100 and 101, were also affected for a short period but were restored soon.

Chandigarh, January 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved over Rs 28.85 crore for special repair and strengthening of roads in Faridabad district.

An official spokesman here today said a sum of over Rs 32 lakh would be spent for special repair and strengthening of road from Sector 9, Faridabad, to Barauli Road, over Rs 1.32 crore would be spent for the same purpose on road between Barauli and Pehladpur road and more than Rs 4.77 crore for special repair on Faridabad-Tigaon road.

He said similarly, over Rs 3.56 crore would be spent on repair and strengthening and putting cement concrete blocks and hard shouldering on Badshahpur to Dalelpur road. He said more than Rs 18.86 crore would be spent on widening, strengthening and constructing cement concrete pavements with improvement of junction on Faridabad Jassana Chirsi Manjhawali Road.

Kaithal, January 15
Members of the Haryana Government Computer teachers and Laboratory Assistants Association today took out a protest march in support of their pending demands in the town.

Carrying placards and banners, the protesting teachers raised slogans against the state government for not accepting their demands. After the march, the protesters reached the residence of PWD and Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala and resumed their dharna, which they stated about three weeks ago.

Association president Surinder Peont and general secretary Ajaib Ranu said the government had not paid their salaries for the past eight months. They said their salaries were much lower than unskilled labourers working under the MNREGA. The computer teachers and laboratory assistants were being paid Rs 120 and Rs 117 per day, respectively, they said.

Their main demands included regularisation of their services, payment of their outstanding dues, salaries as per their technical qualification and EPF and ESI scheme benefits.

The state government should formulate a policy to safeguard their interests, he said, adding that thousands of computer labs in government schools were lying closed due to their ongoing strike.