Chandigarh, October 9
The cash-for-CLU scam, unveiled in a series of clippings showing Congressmen, including five party MLAs striking deals to get government permission, may end up as an open-and-shut case for want of evidence.

The state government had referred the matter to the Lokayukta for inquiry after the clippings were released by the INLD during the monsoon session last month.

The Lokayukta had given one month’s time for submission of evidence in the case. While the one-month deadline to submit evidence expires tomorrow, the Lokayukta office has not received any evidence so far.

Senior INLD leader Abhay Singh Chautala said that his party had no interest in giving any evidence to the Lokayukta. “We have already rejected the government decision for an inquiry by the Lokayukta and demanded that it be conducted by a sitting judge of the high court. If the government agrees to that and hands over the inquiry to a sitting judge, we will not only produce all evidence against the Congressmen but the persons who struck the deals will also come before the inquiry commission. We have no faith in a government-appointed retired judge to give us a fair hearing,” he said.

The Lokayukta, who has said that he does not have any infrastructure at his disposal, will now proceed by issuing notices to various parties involved in the case.

Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal said today that he would hold a meeting in this tomorrow to finalise the future course of investigation.

Meanwhile, sources maintain that nothing is likely to come out of the inquiry since no money transactions actually took place. The clippings only show a conversation between the MLA and a decoy which proves nothing. Further, the government’s terms of reference clearly state that the Lokayukta should examine if money actually changed hands which does not hold good in this particular case. “Also, with the INLD stating that the clippings were the handiwork of ‘some Congressmen’ who handed over the compact discs to it proved that they too are not certain about the veracity of the clippings,” sources in the Congress said.

The INLD had released clippings of five Congress MLAs, Ram Kishen Fauji, Vinod Bhayana, Naresh Selwal, Jarnail Singh and Ram Niwas Ghorela, two clippings of Congress MLA Sampat Singh’s son and Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jaleb Khan’s son, besides Congressman Sanjay Chokkar’s clippings on September 6. They were shown agreeing to secure government permission for CLUs in return for cash.

Toba (Ambala), October 9
Following the death of one person and 40 others falling critically ill after the outbreak of diarrhoea in Toba village, the health authorities have launched an extensive campaign to curtail the spread of the disease in Indira Awas Colony of the village in Mullana segment of Ambala district.

The local authorities said insanitary conditions led to the outbreak of the disease. It was learnt that water pipelines were laid through unhygienic areas, which probably resulted in the spread of the disease.

Villagers stated that eight-year-old Kalpana, who was undergoing treatment by a private doctor at the village, died due to the disease yesterday while several more cases were being reported from the colony. Girl's father Mam Raj said his daughter suddenly had diarrhoea and vomiting and was taken to a local doctor. However, the girl could not recover and breathed her last yesterday.

Meanwhile, waking up to the gravity of the situation, the administration dispatched rapid response health teams to the village. The teams started attending to patients and distributing medicines among those affected by the disease. Health officials maintained that contaminated water supply had been disconnected and samples were being taken to ascertain the exact cause of the spread of the disease.

Officials were distributing chorine tables among local residents and urging them to consume only boiled water to rule out further infection. A team of doctors was stationed at the village. It was learnt that 15 persons were undergoing treatment at the village while 30 were admitted to different hospitals in Ambala Cantonment.

Meanwhile, there were reports of two persons being critically ill. However, the district administration played down the outbreak and said all measures had been taken to make sure that further spread of the diseases was checked promptly.

Jind, October 9
A majority of the 30-odd elected members of the Municipal Council, Jind, are up in arms as the city has been completely ‘ignored’ by the government in the matter of development of unauthorised residential colonies.

The local authorities had submitted a list of 61 such colonies in 2010 but none of these had been able to find a place in the list of 543 colonies selected for civic development through a notification on October 4 . The aggrieved councillors have threatened to resign in case the government fails to include Jind colonies in the list.

‘’ We met the Deputy Commissioner here yesterday and submitted a memorandum expressing our resentment,’’ said Zile Singh Jaglan, councillor from Ward 7 here. He said a majority of the councillors were upset as thousands of residents living in 61 such colonies had been awaiting basic civic amenities for the past several years.

Dharmender Pahalwan, husband of Mukesh Devi, president of the local civic body, said while 16 such colonies of Safidon, nine of Julana and 10 of Narwana had found place in the list of colonies selected for development, none of the 61 colonies of Jind city had been included. It was a gross injustice with residents of the town who would be left with no option than to launch an agitation.

Karnal, October 9
With a view to ensuring supply of fertilisers to farmers at their doorstep on demand, HAFED has revised the policy of supplying fertilisers through primary agriculture corporative societies (PACSs) and cooperative marketing societies (CMSs) for strengthening the institutions engaged in the supply of fertilisers to farmers in rural areas.

This was stated by Ashok Yadav, Managing Director, HAFED, today. Addressing a state-level meeting at the Karna Lake here, he said the initiative was taken to motivate PACSs and CMSs to make advance stocking of fertilisers during the off season to ensure timely availability and hassle-free distribution of fertilisers at the doorstep of farmers at all times.

He said it would ensure optimum utilisation of storage space available with cooperatives, strengthen the network at the village level by making them financially sound, reduce retention period of stock in godowns and increase sale flow. He said under the fertiliser supply policy 2013, HAFED had substantially increased distribution margin for PACSs and CMSs on sale of fertilisers and credit facility had also been extended to farmers.

The share of PACSs and CMSs in the annual sale of diammonium phosphate (DAP) and urea, which was 45 and 30 per cent, respectively, had been increased to 55 and 70 per cent, respectively. The distribution margin for PACSs and retailer CMSs on the sale of DAP and urea had been increased from Rs 60 to Rs 200 per MT in case of DAP and to between Rs 60 and Rs 90 per MT in case of urea.

The margin for wholesale CMSs had been increased from Rs 10 to 20 for DAP and between Rs 10 and Rs 15 for urea. There were 630 PACS and 62 CMSs in the state and the consumption of DAP and urea in Haryana was 7.5 lakh tonnes and 16 lakh tonnes, respectively.

Lalupur (Karnal), October 9
In a last-ditch effort to save their land, women residents of five villages in Gharonda have left their kitchens, children are not attending schools, farmers have left their fields and camping at Liluwala dera near Lalupur village in the open to foil any attempt by the alleged “land mafia” to harvest the crop.

The villagers of Kalram, Araipur, Bharatpur, Lalupur and Amritpur are fighting a “do-or-die” battle to retrieve their land snatched from them during consolidation.

It is for the first time that women members have formed an “action committee” and made “Lalupur” fields their make-shift homes.

Pradeep Kalram, who is spearheading the agitation, said : "We would resort to “self-immolation” if the land mafia made any attempt to bring combines to harvest the crop. Determined not to let the “land mafia” have its way, these women are armed with lathis and other home-made weapons while armed men are guarding the crop.

They have lost all hopes of justice from the government to get 3,500 bighas allegedly encroached upon by the land mafia in connivance with the administration and entered in their names in revenue records. The villagers have decided to boycott all political parties, not to celebrate Dasehra. They have sought a CBI inquiry into the “consolidation scam”.

Sirsa, October 9
A married woman was allegedly gang-raped by three youths at Fatehapuria village of Sirsa on Monday night. The victim approached the police today.

The police registered a case of gang rape against Rakesh, Subhash and Chander Shekhar, residents of Tejia Khera village in Sirsa.

She reported that she was going to Bharokha village to meet her daughter. She was waiting for a bus at the old bus stand at Sirsa when the three youths in a jeep told her that the vehicle was going towards Bharokha.

Instead of taking the jeep towards Bharokha, they took it to some deserted place, where they allegedly drugged her before gang-raping her.

The police said a case was registered on the basis of the allegations levelled by the woman and an investigation was started in the case.

Rohtak, October 9
A most wanted criminal booked in 12 cases managed to give a slip to the police while undergoing treatment at the PGIMS hospital this afternoon. The police has booked he cops accompanying him for negligence.

Ashok, alias Doga(26), a resident of Baliyana village in the district, was lodged in the Bhondsi jail of Gurgaon district after his arrest in April. He was brought here for treatment this morning under police security but fled the hospital around 2.15 pm today.

Doga was convicted in a case of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. He carried a cash reward of Rs 20,000 prior to his arrest in April last. He was among the state's 20 most wanted criminals. The SP and the DSP (headquarters), who visited the PGIMS soon after the criminal's escape, said teams of cops had been constituted to nab the criminal.

Kurukshetra, October 9
Expenditure on defence is necessary for the security of citizens of a country, particularly one with a democratically elected and legally constituted government. But this expenditure should be affordable and executed in such a manner that it becomes an engine of economic growth of a country.

This was stated by Lt-Gen (retd) SS Mehta, a former Army Commander, while delivering a lecture on ‘Affordable defence expenditure is an engine of economic growth’ organised by the Department of Political Science of Kurukshetra University (KU) at the Senate Hall here today.

“Keeping in view the strategic boundaries of India and the kind of activity that takes place around it, spending on defence becomes necessary. Whatever happens near the strategic boundary has a great consequence for the whole country. Therefore, expenditure on security becomes imperative on the government, but the government should make it affordable,” said Lt-General Mehta.

Talking about the affordability principle, Lt-General Mehta observed that the government spent a lot of money on producing well-trained human capital in the Indian forces. He said 70,000 people retired from the Army every year, but this well-trained human capital was not utilised in a proper manner. The government should devise strategies to make use of this capital, he added.

“While buying arms and ammunition from abroad, which India has been doing as an importer for a long time, the country should raise the threshold of its technology by incorporating the technology in indigenous production. If the technology is not transferred from the exporter, you will remain an insecure nation. Such a technology may be more expensive, but will be affordable in the long run,” opined Lt-General Mehta.

“We may buy technology for the Army, but it can later be incorporated in the civil sector. Engines which were initially used for fighter jets had been incorporated in civil passenger planes, as was done in other countries,” said Lt-General Mehta, who is also a Tribune Trustee.

He differentiated between national defence and national security by saying the armed forces took care of national defence, but national security was the duty of every citizen and it concerned issues such as water, security, health, environment and globalisation.

In his presidential remarks, the KU Vice-Chancellor, Lt-Gen (retd) DDS Sandhu, said we could not be self-reliant and self-sufficient in everything.

“In the age of globalisation, we have to rely on expertise of different nations and have to buy things at affordable rates and of best quality. We have to spend at least 2 per cent of our GDP on research and development. Technology gets obsolete very fast and we need to keep updating ourselves by innovation,” he added.

Chandigarh, October 9
Over 20,000 Class I to Class IV government jobs are up for grabs in the run-up to the elections next year.

The recruitment drive would be in addition to the clearance of backlogs of vacancies for different sections of society, a senior functionary told The Tribune here today.

The largest recruitment would be in the Police Department and set in motion the process to recruit over 11,000 constables has already been set in motion. The government recently constituted the Police Recruitment Board for the job.

Similarly, thousands of Class IV jobs, including peons, would soon be advertised. Besides, hundreds of posts have either been advertised or being advertised in various state government departments, public sector undertakings, universities and municipalities.

he state government recently decided to fill the backlog of the vacancies for SCs and BCs. Instructions have also been issued to clear the backlog of vacancies meant for ex-servicemen in all departments.

The government also recently started the process to recruit 59 HCS officers,including 20 through nomination.

Since government job is a major patronage at the disposal of the government of the day, regional bias in recruitment is rampant in Haryana.Rebel Congress MP Rao Inderjit Singh has repeatedly gone on record alleging regional bias in development and jobs in the Hooda regime.

“The recruitment to thousands of posts could be a perfect antidote to the anti-incumbency factor against the government’s alleged acts of omission and commission,” the functionary asserted. Ved Prakask Vidrohi, President of NGO Grameen Bharat, said recruitment drives in the run-up to elections had virtually become a ritual in Haryana.