Chandigarh, October 13
Members of the 5,500-strong Mustafabad Farmers Cooperative Society spread over 25 villages of Jagadhri in Yamunanagar district are beside themselves with joy. Not only has their battle against a nationalised bank ended, but has provided them a Rs 45 lakh refund as well, courtesy the Committee of Petitions of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

At a time when most House committees suffer quorum pains and end up being drawn up only on paper, the Committee on Petitions, headed by Rohtak legislator BB Batra, has proved that it means business, getting the bank authorities to slash the rate of interest from between 11 and 13 per cent to 9 per cent for the disputed period of nearly six years from April 2004 to June 2012.

Taking up the case first brought before it in July 2011, the committee provided the much-needed relief to the farmers’ society after a series of hearings during which the society and the bank authorities traded charges. The society, in its petition, had alleged that it was being financed by the bank’s Agriculture Development Branch, Jagadhri, since 1976 for credit facilities. The dealings continued smoothly till 2006, when the Centre announced that the farmers would be charged 7 per cent interest for loans.

However, despite the society’s repeated representations to the bank, the rate of interest being charged from the society continued to vary between 10 per cent and 13 per cent from April 2006 to Junr 2012. The society, in turn, charged between 12 and 14 per cent interest from its members in violation of the Centre’s directions, claiming that the bank was unwilling to lower interest rates.

The society also maintained that if the bank refunded the amount overcharged as interest, the same would be refunded to the members as well. However, after many rounds of hearings in the case, being closely pursued by the committee, the members finally got the bank around to their point of view.

The bank not only agreed to charge 9 per cent interest for the period in question, but also agreed to refund the excess amount charged by way of interest. The bank would recommend to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to give subvention of 2 per cent in favour of the society and the society would be charged 7 per cent interest from July 2012. The society was told to give in writing that it would withdraw the case.

“The society approached us after the court refused to intervene. Bank officials argued that the society had agreed to pay between 10 and 13 per cent interest as per terms and the bank could not lower it. The society reasoned that its members had already been excessively burdened and would stop all payments if the bank continued to be adamant. During the course of the hearing, we exchanged correspondence with the RBI. Finally, we managed to help both parties arrive at a mutually beneficial understanding in which neither was at a disadvantage,” explained Nuh legislator Aftab Ahmed, a member of the committee.

Rohtak, October 13
Residents of Mokhra village, located under the jurisdiction of Meham subdivision in the district, staged a dharna outside the residence of the Superintendent of Police (SP) here today in protest against the abduction of 30-year-old Suresh, a resident of the village, allegedly by the henchmen of a financer.

The protesters lifted the dharna on assurance of the SP that the victim would be recovered and the culprits would be arrested soon.

In her complaint to the police, Suresh’s wife Preeti (25) had stated that her husband, who was working as labourer, went missing on October 10. She alleged that her husband had been abducted by the henchmen of a financer of the village from whom Suresh took a loan of Rs 10,000 a few months ago.

She said they had returned the majority of the amount through monthly instalments. However, the financier rebuked and threatened her husband and other family members to return the money or face consequences, she alleged.

She alleged that the accused had not only fenced the two bighas of their land in the village but also threatened to occupy their house in the wake of nonpayment of the loan.

She said her husband was abducted on Thursday, but the police had failed to recover him.

Hisar, October 13
After its failure to provide textbooks to over 1 lakh students of government schools in the first semester of the current academic session, the Education Department has floated tenders for textbooks with amended terms and conditions.

The Haryana School Siksha Pariyojna Parishad, Panchkula, the implementing agency for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in the state, has invited bids for printing and supply of 2,23,16,000 textbooks for Classes I to VIII for the next academic session.

Sources said the Education Department had decided to allot tenders for each class separately. One printer would not be allowed to apply for more than two classes, the sources added.

Learning a lesson from the past, the department has decided to divide the printing and supply work among different agencies. Last year, only one printing firm was given the tender for printing books for Classes III to VIII. However, the agency failed to honour its commitment, leaving the students in the lurch.

The Haryana Board of School Education, Bhiwani, had to terminate the printing order of the firm and the government had to reallocate the tender for the textbooks.

The matter also reached the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Assuring that the books would reach the students by October 4, the government also gave an undertaking that the schedule for inviting tenders and supply of the books for 2014-15 academic session would be strictly followed.

Education Minister Geeta Bhukal had recently stated that they would take steps to avoid the past mistakes. She had also promised to take action on officials responsible for the delay.

Hisar, October 13
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) and Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) have decided to extend the out-of-court settlement scheme up to November 30. The attractive scheme was launched in view to avoid prolonged litigation and to settle long-pending court cases. The cases can be settled in the Lok Adalats being held regularly at all district headquarters.

A spokesman for the DHBVN said here today the scheme would be available for settlement of all cases of consumers pending in courts, District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, State Commission and Arbitration as on February 28. However, the cases already decided would not be re-opened and the scheme would not be applicable to the cases which had been decided in favour of the Nigam, the spokesman added.

But the cases disposed of on the jurisdiction ground would be treated as pending cases, if the consumer had gone to the civil court,” he said.

He said, “All such disputes where penalties have been levied can be settled under the scheme provided the consumer pays a reduced amount of 50 per cent of the amount initially assessed, along with simple interest @12 per cent per annum on the unpaid balance amount of the reduced amount. Disputes on account of levy of development charges are also covered under the scheme.”

The scheme is applicable to the cases where unauthorised load detected, change of category from low tension (LT) to high tension (HT) industrial and LT surcharge at the prescribed rate of 25 per cent of sale of power (SOP) has been charged.

In theft cases, the scheme is available only if the theft case is booked for the first time. In such cases, full amount of compounding charges along with 50 per cent of assessment amount along with simple interest at 12 per cent per annum will be charged.

Faridabad, October 13
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said his government had pumped in more funds on development of Faridabad than the government headed by Om Prakash Chautala.

He was addressing a public rally to mark Dasehra. Responding to demands forwarded by Labour Minister Shivcharan Sharma, who organised the event, Hooda agreed on construction of a gymkhana club at NIT.

Hooda accepted the demand that the government should earmark an open space where people of NIT could organise public festivities. The rally was organised in the NIT constituency, represented by Sharma.

Hooda said only about Rs 431 crore was spent on development in Faridabad during the tenure of Chautala from 1999 to 2005.

He said his government had spent more than Rs 4,000 crore on Faridabad since 2005. Amid cheer from the crowd, he said more development projects would be undertaken in Faridabad.

He said Faridabad, which was once ranked among the top 10 industrial towns of North India, lagged behind due to neglect by successive governments. He said its development was back on track during the last eight years.

He cited the extension of the Delhi Metro and the construction of the Badarpur flyover to support his argument. Addressing the rally, Sharma thanked Hooda for his attention to NIT.

Hooda laid the foundation stone of the project of beautification of the four-kilometre-long Gochi drain. The project would cost more than Rs 13 crore. He inaugurated Ranbir Singh Hooda Memorial Leisure Valley Park at NIT. The nine-acre park had cost Rs 6 crore.

Fatehabad, October 13
The authorities at the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) have not been able to set up their office in Fatehabad, where the corporation is in the process of setting up a nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur village in the district.

Though the NPCIL shifted the residences of its entire staff, including the project director, from Hisar to Fatehabad in March, it has been operating from Hisar for the past three years, resulting in a lot of inconvenience to the people as well as its own officials.

Due to the partial shifting, the engineers and other officials of the corporation have to travel a distance of over 120 km on each working day for the past more than six months.

Ever since the NPCIL set up its office in Hisar about three years ago, a clamour to shift it to Fatehabad had begun, as the local people wanted to know more about the nuclear projects to clear their doubts about their safety.

A source of the NPCIL, on the condition of anonymity, admitted that despite incurring lakhs of rupees on the shifting of residences, which included paying of transfer grant and packaging allowances and allowing10-day joining time to the officials, their problems had increased rather than decreasing.

He said the transfer grant-cum-packaging allowance as well as the joining time is normally allowed only when an official is transferred from his place of posting.

Hoshiar Singh, manager (HR) and spokesperson for the NPCIL, however, said the corporation was making efforts to find a suitable site for its office in the mini-secretariat building at Fatehabad.

The spokesperson denied that there was any irregularity in paying packaging allowances and joining time to the officials who shifted their residences from Hisar to Fatehabad without their actual transfer from their place of posting. 

Sirsa, October 13
As many as 121 poor women from Trilokewala village received ownership documents of their 100-yard plots given to them under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna here yesterday.

J Ganesan, Deputy Commissioner, distributed the registered deeds of the plots to these women in the village.

Ganesan said under the Priyadarshani Awas Yojna (PAY), grants had already been sanctioned for nearly a hundred women of the village.

The poor women will use the grant received under the PAY to construct houses on the 100-yard plots allotted to them.

“Under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna, 100-yard plots have been distributed to nearly 27,000 poor families in Sirsa district. Under the rules of the schemes, registered gift deeds are executed against the names of women members of the families. Under the PAY, as many as 8,120 families in the district have applied for grants. First instalments of Rs 25,000 each have already been issued to 3608 families,” said the Deputy Commissioner.

Under the PAY, a sum of Rs 90,000 is given to each family for the construction of houses on the plots given under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna.

The amount is paid in three installments of Rs 25,000, Rs 35,000 and Rs 30,000 respectively.

Ganesan said under the Indira Awas Yojna, a target of providing grants for the construction of houses to 1,391 people had been set in the district.

He said a sum of Rs 5.79 cr had been distributed among 828 people under the Indira Awas Yojna.

Hisar, October 13
The biographical movie 'Shahid' which is set for release this Friday has a Hisar connection. Local theatre artiste and teacher Baljinder Kaur has played the role of the protagonist's mother.

Baljinder (37) hails from Bhandian village of Jalandhar and is married to her NSD colleague Brijesh Sharma of Hisar. She has been teaching acting to children at the Holi Angels Public School here for the last six years. She said she was destined to play the character of 'Ammi' as she had made no effort to get the role. She said casting director Mukesh Chhabra, her NSD colleague, offered her the role.

“He had seen my theatre work during plays at the NSD. About one-and-a-half years ago, I got a call from him for an audition from Mumbai. I sent my photographs, but was hesitant to visit Mumbai for audition. Mukesh assured me that he had almost finalised my role,” she said. She admitted that she was initially nervous to face the camera, but director Hansal Mehta made her feel comfortable.

“On seeing me, he realised that I needed a little make-up. My complexion was given a little dark shade. I do not sport a 'bindi' as I play the role of a Muslim woman. The director told me that I needed to act more through expressions. He applauded Mukesh for selecting me for the role without an audition. They started shooting my part as soon as I reached Mumbai,” she said. She added that it was a sensitive movie which gave her the experience of acting in 100 plays.

The movie is about terrorist-turned-human rights activist Shahid Azmi, who was shot dead in Mumbai in February 2010 at the age of 32. He had defended those wrongly implicated in cases of terrorist attack, including the Mumbai attacks. Shahid had served a jail term on charges of conspiring to kill political leaders, but was acquitted by the Supreme Court after he served around seven years in jail. Shahid was arrested by the Govandi police in Mumbai when he was just 14 for violence during the 1992 Mumbai riots.

Rohtak, October 13
The district administration has announced to start the distribution of the compensation for standing rabi crop damaged this year from October 14. A total of Rs 42.44 crore is likely to be distributed among the farmers whose rabi crop on around 85,000 acres of land was damaged.

The move comes in the wake of a special survey conducted by the authorities concerned after reports of large-scale damage to crops due to heavy rainfall and flooding across the district.

A spokesperson for the authorities concerned today said the compensation would be provided against the damage caused to wheat crop (irrigated) on about 79,713 acres and 6,451 acres on which other crops got damaged due to the natural calamity. Revealing that while the total compensation crossed Rs 42.43 crore, the compensation for wheat (irrigated land) was a whopping Rs 39.57 crore. The agricultural land in Rohtak tehsil accounts for the maximum compensation of Rs 18.57 lakh for the crop spread over 34,112 acres while Meham tehsil would get a compensation of Rs 5.61 crore. However, Sampla region where the damage had been more than the Meham region would get a compensation of around Rs 9.55 crore. According to Rohtak SDM Amardeep Jain, the process of handing over the compensation would start from October 14 and go on till November 14. He said the detailed timetable of the release of compensation village wise had been prepared and circulated among the offices concerned, including the gram panchayats of the affected villages in the district.

Sirsa, October 13
Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar today turned former minister Gopal Kanda’s dream project into a reality by unveiling a statue of Maharana Pratap seated on his horse Chetak, on the National Highway 10 on Hisar road in Sirsa.

Kanda, who is in jail in Geetika Sharma suicide case, could not attend the unveiling ceremony, his younger brother Gobind Kanda represented him in the function presided over by Senior Superintendent of Police Saurabh Singh.

“Two years ago, presiding over Maharana Pratap Jayanti, Gopal Kanda had taken a vow to set up the country’s first and a huge statue of the Rajput Maharana. We are grateful to Tanwar for showing Kanda’s dream project light of the day,” said Kunwar Puran Singh Rathore, district president of the Rajput Sabha.

Tanwar said Rajput community had sizeable presence in the state.

Rajput community has considerable presence in Sirsa and a representative of the community, Thakur Bahadur Singh had represented the erstwhile Darba constituency in the state assembly.

Veer Karan Singh Rana, president of the Haryana Rajput Sabha, Hoshiari Lal Sharma, spokesperson of HPCC, Naveen Kedia and several other leaders were present on the occasion. 

Rewari, October 13
The Model Town police has registered a case of cheating against 16 allottees for getting a second plot allotted fraudulently on a complaint filed by SK Kaushik, Estate Officer, Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA).

The allottees are Karam Singh, Dharam Singh and Surender Kumar of Gurgaon district, Manohar Lal, Sant Raj, Ram Singh, Daulat Ram and Surender Kumar of Rohtak district, Mahender Singh, Suresh Kumar and Raj Kumar of Hisar, Krishan Kumar and Desh Raj of Rewari, Sunil Kumar of Fatehabad, Vijay of Sonepat district and Sher Singh of Mahendergarh district.

It was found on scrutiny that they had got a second plot allocated to them by furnishing false affidavits while one plot each had already been assigned to them in the reserved category. — OC

Bhiwani, October 13
About a dozen armed robbers looted cash and valuables from a house at the city station locality in Bhiwani last night. The robbers fire in the air to terrorise the family and scare away neighbours.

They barged in the house and thrashed the family. Rohtash Singh, his wife and a tenant were held hostage before the robbers decamped with Rs 10,000 and valuables.

The victims were admitted to a hospital with injuries. The police started an investigation into the case. — TNS