Chandigarh, August 13
As allegations and counter-allegations fly thick and fast over the Robert Vadra-DLF deal, the Haryana Congress appears in a state of flux. As if a volley of questions from the Opposition was not enough, party dissidents, active and dormant, have begun to close in on Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the government wages a battle to “come clean”.

Sources said as the opposition parties fan the “controversy” at the Centre and in the state, the dissident camp within the state Congress has got a new lease of life.

With the Chief Minister cancelling today’s visit to the city where he was slated to attend a felicitation function for litterateurs and take part in meetings points to his troubles increasing, sources say . However, he chose to stay in Delhi and keep a close eye on the developments. His aides, however, maintain that “something urgent” came up, necessitating cancellation of prior commitments.

Sources said amidst all the hullabaloo around the deals, Congress “dissident” and Gurgaon MP Rao Indrajeet’s has stirred a hornet’s nest, claiming that there are many other land deals that deserve to be looked into. Coming from a Congress MP, it is obviously created quite a stir, both inside and outside the party circles.

The MP, an Ahir and Hooda’s bete noire, after repeatedly alleging “discrimination” in development in south Haryana and feeling alienated within the party, had constituted a Haryana Insaaf Manch to fight for the rights of the Ahirwal belt. Gradually, he was written off by the state leadership as well. Sources said the “outburst” against the Haryana government on land deals had virtually “resurrected” the Rao in a party where he stopped counting. His allegations assume greater importance because they come from a Congress MP while the entire party is busy clearing the controversy over the Vadra-DLF deal.

Party leaders claimed that while Rao Indrajeet was batting for a thorough probe into all land deals over the past few years, Union minister Kumari Selja’s silence is also a reason to worry for the Chief Minister, especially since she is the only minister from the state at the Centre.

Meanwhile, Rajya sabha MP Birender Singh’s August 20 rally is giving anxious moments over whether or not Congress president Sonia Gandhi will address his Jind rally. Though the MP has claimed that she will address the rally, the situation is unclear.

Sources said some “dormant” and other disillusioned Congress leaders had also made a beeline for Delhi and were hobnobbing with the Congress top brass not only to “educate” them on the developments in the state but also lobby for themselves. While the storm on Vadra-DLF deal rages on, which way the wind blows once “things settle down” will decide the course of Haryana politics in the times to come, sources claim.

Chandigarh, August 13
Seeking the dismissal of the Hooda Government for its various acts of omission and commission, the BJP today demanded a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into land deals in Haryana, including the Vadra-DLF land deal.

“Against the backdrop of shady land deals across the state, the state government has no right to remain in office and the Haryana Governor should recommend its dismissal immediately,” state unit president Ram Bilas Sharma said at a press conference here today.

Sharma alleged that the change of land use (CLU) for over 21,000 acres of land in Haryana had become the biggest money-spinner during Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s regime. ”An SC-monitored investigation into land deals will bring out the truth about the shady deals involving VVIPs,” he asserted.

Alleging that the law and order situation in the state was going from bad to worse, Sharma alleged that at least 10 Congress ministers and MLAs were facing criminal cases.

Meanwhile, the BJP will organise a rally in Sonepat on October 6 to be attended by senior party leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh and Leader of the the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

Gurgaon, August 13
A day after rebel Congress MP from Gurgaon Rao Inderjit Singh sought a probe into the CLUs for diversion of 21,000 acres of agricultural land for commercial and industrial purposes in his Lok Sabha constituency, the CM’s camp has accused the Rao of developing an unauthorised colony himself.

In a joint statement issued here today, Health Minister Rao Narender Singh, Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Dan Singh and Anita Yadav, MLAs Rao Dharampal and Aftab Ahmed and party spokesman Jitender Bhardwaj stated that the Congress MP was involved in developing an unauthorised colony on about 50 acres near Rao Gopal Dev Chowk along Narnaul Road in Rewari without obtaining the requisite licence.

“When the state government stopped Rao Inderjit from developing the unauthorised colony, he started levelling wild allegations against the state authorities,” they maintained.

They alleged that the Congress MP, in collaboration with real state company Unitech, had also obtained CLU permission for 70 acres from the Haryana government. They also accused Rao Inderjit of having got the Rewari master plan modified to get the bypass closer to his land to enhance its value.

“Moreover, the MP sought and got favours from the Haryana government to benefit his close aide based in Gurgaon on not one but several occasions,” they asserted.

The CM’s men, however, failed to clarify why the state leadership should not be held guilty for granting favours and undue benefits to the MP.

Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts.

Naraingarh (Ambala), August 13
The police today prevented a clash between two religious groups over the appointment of a temple priest. Tension had mounted after members of the Gowshala committee and Mandir committee locked horns over the appointment of priest.

Five battalions of the police were called from Madhuban in Karnal to bring the situation under control. The matter was resolved in the evening.

Tension gripped the town when the members of Gowshala Committee at Hussani Wala village started protesting against the police. They alleged that they had failed to register a case against the miscreants who had inflicted injuries on their members during a meeting called in to resolve the issue pertaining to the appointment of the priest.

The temple was built on the land in the joint possession of the Gowshala committee and Mandir committee and was also being managed by the two.

The committee members alleged that their members had been attacked in the presence of the local SHO but no action was taken against the accused.

The committee members shut down the local market and blocked the Panchkula-Naraingarh road demanding that the attackers be booked.

The police tried to pacify the agitators, but the situation soon got out of control following which Commissioner of Police, Rajbir Deswal, and other senior police officers reached the spot. They then called in police force from the Madhuban Police Academy.

Later, a meeting of the Gowshala committee and Mandir committee members was convened at the office of the Commissioner of Police at Panchkula where the issue was resolved. Members of both committees agreed to form a joint committee to resolve under the ACP and the Tehsildar.

The agitators repeatedly blocked the Panchkula-Naraingarh and raised slogans against the police.

Commissioner of Police Rajbir Deswal said the police had called in more than 500 policemen to prevent any untoward incident.

Sonepat, August 13
Two law students of Delhi University were burnt alive when their car caught fire after an accident on the GT Road near Kundli this morning. The victims were identified as Vikas of Sehri and Monu of Rajpur villages in the district.

Another law student Praveen, resident of Tharu village, who was driving the car, was injured and has been admitted to a hospital in Delhi. The victims were reportedly returning to Sonepat from Delhi in a Honda car owned by Delhi government officer.

The police said, around 4 am, their car dashed against a truck-trawler parked along the road and after the accident, the car caught fire. Vikas and Monu could not come out of the car and were burnt alive. An injured Praveen was taken to a private hospital in Delhi. After receiving information, the police reached the spot and brought the burnt bodies in the Civil Hospital here for the post-mortem examination. A case has been registered against the driver of the truck-trawler, who escaped after the accident.

Chandigarh, August 13
For two decades, aspirants for the posts of gram sevika lived on the hope of being employed. But when their petition finally came up for hearing, the Punjab and Haryana High Court indicated it was too late to do anything.

Justice K. Kannan said it was unfortunate that the selected candidates were allowed to continue for all these years. The selection was 'bad' indeed, but there was no way the court could declare the petitioners selected.

The ruling came on petitions by Kanta Madan and other aspirants for appointment on the basis of an advertisement issued on March 7, 1987, for filling 39 posts in the scale of Rs 400-600.

The case is just one of the 2 lakh pending cases; and it is suspected that many of the petitioners in other cases are no more there to pursue their grievances. When some of these cases are suddenly listed, counsel are often at a loss in the absence of complete records or instructions. Attribute it to the shortage of judges or filing of frivolous petitions, the fact remains that the delay tends to change the course of outcome.

Justice Kannan asserted: "As tardy and clumsy as the selection process could be, we have come by an unfortunate situation that we have allowed this selection to stay on and allowed the selected candidates to continue without any fetters for more than two decades.

"The consolation given to the petitioners at the time when notice was issued was that the selection would be done subject to the final outcome of the writ petition. When the final result is to be undertaken now, the query before me is, if I find the selection to be bad, as indeed I find, I still have no way for declaring the petitioners as selected."

"There is no material available to hold that the petitioners were in any way more suitable than the private respondents. I, therefore, merely record the fact that there existed no criteria. The selection was bad in law, but still I find no reason to interfere with the same. Both writ petitions are disposed of with the observations".

Chandigarh August 13
Governor Jagannath Pahadia today exhorted the litterateurs and acharyas to continue guiding society through their intellectual and spiritual knowledge.

Pahadia was speaking at the Sahityakar Samman Samaroh organised by the Haryana Sanskrit Academy at Haryana Raj Bhawan here today.

Those honoured on this occasion for the year 2010 included Rameshwar Dutt Sharma from Bhiwani (Haryana Sanskrit Gaurav Award), Sudhikant Bharadwaj from Delhi (Maharishi Valmiki Award), Kamla Bhardwaj from Delhi (Banbhatt Award), Dharamvir Kundu from Rohtak (Maharishi Vedvyas Award), Swami Charan Sharma from Pataudi (Guru Virjanand Acharya Award) and Surender Kumar Pant from Bhiwani (Vidhyamartand Pandit Sitaram Shastri Acharya Award). Similarly, Pramod Sharma from Kurukshetra was honoured with the Pandit Yudhistermimansak Acharya Award, Reshmanand Shastri from Ambala with the Vyovridh Sanskritsewi Award and Mahavir Prasad Sharma and Jaidrath Sharma, both from Karnal, with book prize for 2010.

For 2011, Ram Gopal from Chandigarh was honoured with the Haryana Sanskrit Gaurav Award, Ishwar Chander Sharma from Bhiwani with the Maharishi Valmiki Award, Hari Singh Shastri from Gurgaon with the Maharishi Vedvyas Award, Ashutosh Aangirash from Ambala with the Maharishi Banbhatt Award, Acharya Vijaypal from Jhajjar with the Guru Virjanand Acharya Award and Acharya Ranvir Singh from Samalkha with Vidhyamartand Pandit Sitaram Shastri Acharya Award. Similarly, Acharya Pradhyuman Shastri from Narnaul was honoured with Pandit Yudhistermimansak Acharya Award and Acharya Dharamvir Kundu from Rohtak with book prize for 2011.

Likewise, Ramdutt Sharma from Delhi was honoured with the Haryana Sanskrit Gaurav Award, Sipra Banarjee from Ambala with Maharishi Valmiki Award, Mathura Dutt Pandey from Panchkula with Maharishi Vedvyas Award, Satyapal Sharma from Karnal with Banbhatt Award, Acharya Pradeep Kumar from Karnal with Guru Virjanand Acharya Award and Raj Kishore Shastri from Yamunanagar with Vidhyamartand Pandit Sitaram Shastri Acharya Award.

Similarly, Acharya Hari Singh from Fatehabad was honoured with Pandit Yudhistermimansak Acharya Award, Swami Pranwanand from Faridabad with Swami Dharamdev Sanskrit Samaradhak Award, Madan Gopal Shastri with Vyovridh Sanskritsewi Award.

Mithilesh Sharma from Hisar, Dr. Satyapal Sharma and Anju Sharma from Karnal and Hari Prakash Sharma from Yamunanagar were honoured with book prize for 2012.

Fatehabad, August 13
Nearly two-thirds of the agriculture land in Haryana have salinity contents higher than the normal level, rendering its sub-soil water unfit for irrigation purposes.

Land in Yamunanagar, Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal is free from salinity and districts such as Jind, Panipat and Kaithal have partial effect of salinity, while sub-soil water in the rest of the districts has salinity problems of various degrees.

Dr SK Kamra, Principal Scientist and head, Division of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering of the Central Soil Salinity Research Institute (CSSRI), who led a team of scientists to Fatehabad today, said nearly 1.5 lakh hectares agriculture land in Haryana was hit by salinity and waterlogging.

To reclaim over 4,000 acres agriculture land affected by the problems in Fatehabad, scientists of the CSSRI will prepare a plan.

Fatehabad DC Dr Saket Kumar, who had called the team after his visit to the areas hit by salinity recently, said the problems would be addressed under the Haryana Operational Pilot Project (HOPP).

Officials from HOPP also accompanied the scientists.

"Nearly 13 villages of Fatehabad have salinity and waterlogging. Due to increase in the salinity, portions of agriculture land have been rendered unfit for agricultural use," said the DC.

Dr Kamra said out of the 15 samples taken from various villages of Fatehabad, the salinity level had been found at 25 deciSiemens per metre (dS/m) at one place, 15 dS/m at two others and 0.8 dS/m to 10 dS/m at some other areas.

Of these, only two samples had been found fit for agriculture.

He said the CSSRI would prepare a plan under which saline water would be drained out from the fields gradually through horizontal tubewells.

Rohtak, August 13
The state unit of the CPM will hold demonstrations in Haryana on August 16 in protest against the alleged back-door hike in power tariff.

In a statement by the party state secretariat here today, it flayed the abolition of slab tariff system by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) and arbitrarily amending it to drastically enhance the power rates.

According to Inderjit Singh, state secretary of the party, the issue of hike in power tariff in a secret manner and the move to amend rule to put additional burden on the consumers was like cheating the people who had elected the Congress government in the last elections.

He said besides it, there were many burning issues which required a public awareness and a protest so that the government did not take any decision which was arbitrary and against the interest of the masses. He said the party would raise it through demonstrations.

The party had described the Food Security Bill placed in Parliament "short" of meeting the food needs of people and claimed that the Haryana version of the food security legislation covered only half of the population and excluded the remaining half. It had demanded immediate roll back of the new power tariff mechanism.

Sonepat, August 13
The police has arrested Pradeep of Pancham Nagar here for lodging a false complaint about the theft of his truck (HR-69A-6723) on August 30, 2012.

The police has also seized the truck from his possession which was being used by him with a fake registration number.

During investigation, it was found that Pradeep had been using the same truck with a fake registration number (HR-63A-4940). He was nabbed with the truck near the local ITI 
yesterday.

The police said Pradeep had concocted this drama to pocket the insurance claim. Other persons involved in the case would also be arrested. 

Rewari , August 13
Bijender Yadav (22) of Khalilpur village ( Gurgaon), who was returning home on a bike with his associate, Navin, was intercepted by youths travelling in two cars on the Rewari-Pataudi road yesterday. While Navin slipped away, the youths caught hold of Bijender, thrashed him before shooting him dead in the hill area of Khol village, about 28 km from Rewari.

On a complaint filed today by Suresh Yadav, the deceased’s father, the Rohrai police has booked seven youths- Kapil, Yogesh, Yashpal, Vinod, Mohan, all residents of Khalilpur village in the Pataudi area of Gurgaon district, and their two accomplices. — OC