Chandigarh, November 19
Close on the heels of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s “sop opera” at the Gohana rally, decks have been cleared for regularisation of 743 illegal colonies.

The last legal hurdle in the implementation of the populist decision ahead of next year’s Lok Sabha and Assembly elections has been removed with the Punjab and Haryana High Court recently dismissing a petition challenging Haryana Government’s decision to regularise illegal colonies.

During the recent monsoon session, the Assembly passed the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Haryana Management of Civic Amenities and Infrastructure Deficient Municipal Areas (Special Provisions) Bill, 2013, to notify such areas and provide essential services there. The main criteria for the declaration of “civic amenities and infrastructure- deficient municipal areas” was that construction had taken place on more than 50% plots prior to June 30, 2009, and a resolution to this effect was passed by the municipality concerned and recommended by the competent authority concerned.

Earlier, the government had identified 1,340 illegal colonies across the state. “However, 543 illegal colonies had already been notified for regularisation and another 200 had been recommended for regularisation,” P. Raghavendra Rao, Principal Secretary, Urban Local Bodies, told The Tribune today.

The state government has approved policy parameters for the regularisation of plots in the “civic amenities and infrastructure deficient municipal areas”.

Officials said a regularisation fee of Rs. 250, Rs. 200 and Rs. 150 per square yard for areas falling within the limits of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees, respectively, would be charged. Besides, development charges would be collected at the rate of Rs 200, Rs 150 and Rs 75 per square yard for the areas falling within the limits of Municipal Corporations, Municipal Councils and Municipal Committees, respectively. The regularisation would be primarily for residential purposes.However, small shops (up to 50 square meter plot area) situated within the declared area would be considered for regularization. Regularisation fee for shops or establishments would be five times the regularisation fee for residential plots.Integrated shopping complexes or malls and plotted markets would not be regularised, the officials highlighted. The amount collected by way of regularisation charges would be invested for carrying out development works in the declared areas.

Charges for regularisation 543 illegal colonies notified for regularisation; 200 recommended to government for regularisation HC dismisses petition challenging the regularisation of illegal colonies Rs 150 to Rs 250 per sq yard regularisation fee to be charged Rs 75 to Rs 200 per square yard development charges also to be levied Besides residential plots, shops up to 50 sq yard also to be regularised

Chandigarh, November 19
Nineteen persons were killed in accidents across the state in the past 24 hours.

Sirsa
Five killed
Five persons were killed when their car rammed into a tractor-trailer loaded with paddy near Nejia village on the Sirsa-Chopta road late last night. The victims from Rajasthan villages near Bhadra were coming to a marriage palace in Sirsa.

The victims have been identified as Karamavir (22) from Dobhi village, who was driving the car; Ajay (28) from Utradabad village, Om Prakash (20) from Lalana village and Ramesh (45) and Ramesh (24) from Dobhi village. Ramesh Kumar (45) was a veterinary doctor while Karambir was his nephew.

Jhajjar
Three killed
At least three persons were killed and another was seriously injured in a collision between a truck, a scooter and a motorbike on the Bahadurgarh-Beri road near Tandaheri village under Bahadurgarh subdivision here on Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Neeraj, Rohit and Nitish of Matanhale village here while the injured, Ram Chander of Mehrana village, has been admitted to a hospital where his condition is stated to be critical. The police have booked the truck driver.

Yamunanagar
3 of family die
Three members of a family, including two women, were killed while another woman was seriously injured when their car collided with an oil tanker near Dholra village in the Radour segment of the district late on Monday night.

Kapil, his mother Neelam and sisters Neha and Payal, all residents of the camp area, were returning home from a wedding celebration in Shahabad when the accident took place. While Kapil, Neelam and Neha died on the spot, Payal was seriously injured in the mishap and was rushed to the civil hospital. The police have booked the tanker driver.

Kaithal
2 killed in Kaithal
A pall of gloom descended on Batta village in the district after two relatives of a girl, who was to get married on Tuesday, were killed in a road accident here. Bhushan (38) and Pardeep (23) were killed when a Scorpio hit their motorcycle. They succumbed to their injuries after some time. The Scorpio driver fled the spot after the accident. The bodies were handed over to their relatives after a post-mortem examination at the civil hospital here. The police have booked the driver.

Rohtak
Three crushed to death
A pall of gloom descended on the joint family of three brothers Ashok, Ramesh and Inderpal at Shivaji Colony here, which had to cremate three of their children on Tuesday.

Family members said Shivam and his sister had gone to attend a wedding function on the Bhiwani Road last night.

Ashok’s son Shivam and daughter Sakshi and Ramesh’s daughter Deepa were killed in the accident, while Inderpal’s daughter Isha is undergoing treatment at the ICU of the PGIMS, where here condition is stated to be critical.

The driver of the bus fled the spot. The police has registered a case in this regard.

Bhiwani
Couple, daughter killed in Bhiwani
Three members of a family were killed while one was injured when their motorcycle collided with a car near Bapora village on the Bhiwani-Tosham road in the districton Tuesday.

The deceased have been identified as Sunil Kumar, 28, his wife Tina, 25, and their four-year-old daughter Rachna. Their two-and-a-half year-old son Yash, who suffered serious injuries, was admitted to the PGIMS, Rohtak. Kanwar Singh, an uncle of Sunil, said the couple along with their children was going to attend a marriage function at Dhani Harsukh village on a motorcycle. When they reached near Bapora, a car coming from the opposite direction hit their motorcycle.

Chandigarh, November 19
After dragging its feet on filing an appeal against the acquittal of four accused in the Dabra gang rape case in Hisar, the Haryana Government lodged its appeal in the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the accused, Mahender, Rajkumar, Kuldeep, alias Moosa, and Sunil.

A case was registered on September 19, 2012, against Pawan, Baljeet, alias Seetu, Rajkumar, alias Raju, Vikas, alias Daaku, Dharmender, alias Mahender, Anil, alias Lita, Kuldeep, alias Moosa, Sunil, Suresh and Rajesh.

While the office of the Advocate-General (AG) had turned down the district administration’s request for an appeal against the acquittal, the victim had expressed her apprehension that the government would not file an appeal against those acquitted since they belonged to influential families and the dominant community.

In a series of reports carried in The Tribune on the fate of a few rape cases registered last year, the victim had said despite repeated enquiries, the AG office had failed to respond to their queries on the appeal.

It later became known that the AG office had turned down the appeal. Following this, Haryana DGP SN Vashistha stepped in and urged the AG office to reconsider the decision.

Palwal, November 19
Two rapes have been reported in the district in the past 48 hours. The police have arrested a person in one of the cases. The first incident took place at Deeghot village of the district on Monday. A 32-year-old widow was raped by a resident of the same village in her house. The accused, identified as Chaman, entered her her house and whipped out a pistol, threatening to kill her if she did not cooperate. Though the accused fled away after committing the crime, the police were able to nab the culprit after few hours. A case has been registered after the medical examination of the victim.

In another incident that took place at Vijaygarh village of Hodal subdivision, a married woman was raped in fields on the outskirts of the village on Friday evening. It is claimed that the woman was on her way to home when she was overpowered and raped. The accused has been identified as Krishan Kumar.

No arrest has been made in this connection so far.

Chandigarh, November 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court wants to know from Justice Nirmal Yadav under what provision of law can a High Court stay trial in a corruption case. Taking up the matter, Justice NK Sanghi made it clear that notice to the CBI would be issued only if Justice Yadav was able to convince the court on the issue.

Justice Sanghi was also told that the special CBI Judge had decided to proceed with the trial after the original case record, summoned by the High Court, had been returned vide an administrative order. Clarifying the situation, Justice Sanghi observed that the trial court should not have sent the original record; and added the "wrong committed by the trial court has been rectified by the High Court".

Justice Sanghi also referring to an administrative order issued by the High Court in 2010, wherein it was decided not to retain original records.

As the case came up for hearing, Justice Sanghi questioned Justice Yadav’s counsel SK Garg Narwana: "Under which provisions of law can I stay the trial?" The petition came soon after Justice Yadav was chargesheeted by the CBI on charges of corruption. Justice Sanghi also referred to a Supreme Court judgment pronounced in 2001 on corruption trials.

Faced with the situation, Narwana sought additional time to answer the queries. The case will now come up for further hearing on November 22. Already, special CBI Judge Vimal Kumar, on July 31, had ruled that there is "overwhelming evidence" against Yadav and other accused in the scam.

On September 13, less than two months after the special CBI court ordered the framing of charges against Justice Yadav in the cash-for-judge scam, the proceedings before the trial court had virtually came to a halt with Justice Sanghi summoning the entire trial court record.

Sirsa, November 19
The murder by a Junior Engineer (JE) with the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) at Kharia in Sirsa, allegedly to avenge his mother's murder, has not only shaken the people, but also put a question mark over the functioning of the Fatehabad police, who closed the JE's mother's mysterious death case a few days back as an accidental death.

Sunil Machra, a JE with the DHBVN posted at Badopal village in Fatehabad, allegedly called car mechanic Kashmir Chand (30) on some pretext last evening and then went to his maternal uncle's house at Kharia to tell his family that he had avenged his mother's death. Villagers found Kashmir Chand's body on the seat beside the driver's, with three bullets pumped into his body. Some gold ornaments were found in the car.

Sunil lives in Model Town at Fatehabad. His widowed mother had died under mysterious circumstances some days back while she was alone in the house. Sunil found her body in the kitchen when he came home. She had injury marks on the head, suggesting that she could have been hit on the head with an iron rod or a wood log.

The police maintained that it was a case of accidental death and proceedings were conducted under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Code. Gaurav Sharma, SHO of the Fatehabad City police station, maintained that the police proceeded under Section 174 on Sunil's statement. Kashmir's family informed the police that the victim and Sunil were good friends and Kashmir frequently went to Sunil's house.

Sunil called up Kashmir on his telephone yesterday, asking him to come to Fatehabad as he wanted him to accompany him to Sirsa. He reached his maternal uncle's house at Kharia later in the night and allegedly told them that he had avenged his mother's death.

Senior Superintendent of Police Saurabh Singh and Additional Superintendent of Police Rajinder Meena went to the village after getting the information and the police began an investigation. Saurabh Singh said the police was interrogating Sunil to know the motive behind the crime. 

Hisar, November 19
The all-caste peace committee of Mirchpur village has called upon Dalit families who have left to return, giving the assurance of safety and cooperation to restore ties between upper-caste and Dalit communities.

Master Chander Prakash, president of the 60-member committee, said the situation had normalised. “The peace committee extends a guarantee of security and cooperation. There has not been even a minor skirmish or untoward incident after the violence in April 2010. Dalit families at the village have been living in peace,” he said.

On the other hand, around 100 Dalit families living at the farmhouse near Hisar maintained that they would not return as their wounds were yet to heal. “There are fault lines between the two communities. We cannot risk the lives of our families and children by returning to the village. Those who claim to provide us security are talking nonsense”, said Satyawan, heading the Dalit Vidhi Chetna Manch.

He is a petitioner in the Supreme Court, demanding rehabilitation. “Dalits living in the village are secure only till the CRPF is deployed. Pull out the force and Jats will be at it again. Congress leader Jai Prakash claims that all Dalits barring a couple of families have returned. It is a lie. He is anti-Dalit.”

In a related development, advocate Rajat Kalsan said the team appointed by the Supreme Court had recommended in its report that Dalits needed to be rehabilitated somewhere else where they did not face discrimination.

Shimla, November 19
The HP High Court yesterday issued notice to Capt Ajay Singh, who is a minister in the Haryana Government, on alleged land scam whereby 11.1 bigha was purchased on fake documents.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DD Sud also issued notice to the Centre, state governments and the CBI. The court passed this order on a petition filed by MP Nagar, president, Anti-Corruption Front, Faridabad, alleging that he had learnt from media reports that a fraudulent land scam connecting a land transaction had taken place in Solan on fake documents.

He alleged in the petition that the land was purchased on August 14, 2008, by 17 persons posing as partners, which included son, daughter and wife of Captain Yadav.

He alleged that the power of attorney used for the purchase was registered at Yadav’s residence on the directions of his private secretary. It was alleged in the petition that the CBI owing to Yadav’s influence had submitted an incomplete inquiry report and had ensured that his name was left out.

Karnal, November 19
The construction of Kalpana Chawla Medical College and Hospital on 43 acres in Karnal compared to the mini-AIIMS coming up on 274 acres at Jhajjar and medical colleges on 100 acres each at Sonepat and Mewat is the biggest example of disparity in development.

This was stated by All-India Congress Committee (AICC) member Suresh Gupta, who would start a Jan Jagriti rally from December 1 to collect signatures of between 50,000 and one lakh residents every Sunday for a medical college on 100 acres in the vicinity of the town for which land had been offered by villages.

He pointed out that stepmotherly treatment was being meted out to Karnal as an OPD has been made functional at Jhagger and the first phase of the medical college was completed in Khanpur while there was no progress in Karnal even one year after laying of the foundation stone. He said, “It took 11 months for the government to finalise tenders.”

“We shot off a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on December 15 last year, informing him that the panchayat of Kutel village, 5 km from Karnal on National Highway 1, had expressed its willingness to give 100 acres, and apprised Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi about it, but local Congress MLA Sumita Singh was adamant on constructing the medical college on 43 acres for reasons best known to her,” he said.

Asked why it took him so long to mobilise support on the issue, he said, “When the incomplete solid waste management plant inaugurated a year back is still not functional, there should be no problem in shifting the site of Kalpana Chawla Medical College, where work has just begun. The shifting of the Police Lines and the Shaheed Smarak and demolition of Pash library will be avoided and problems of congestion will not aggravate.”

Kurukshetra, November 19
Senior state Congress leader and former minister Venod Sharma launched the “Jan Sampark Abhiyan” here today. The Ambala MLA would cover all 90 Assembly constituencies during his 75-day yatra, aimed at reaching out to the masses, especially in the rural heartland.

Jyotisar was chosen to launch the yatra as it was here that Lord Krishna gave his discourse to Arjuna. Sharma would focus on eliciting the views of people on politics and development and make an effort to develop a rapport with them ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.

Sharma said, “We will hold about 500 public meetings in all Assembly constituencies in the state and apprise the people of the achievements of the government.” The INLD and the BJP-HJC combine had already launched yatras to garner the support of the people.

Bhiwani: Venod Sharma embarked on a state-wide public contact programme from Mundhal village of Bhiwani district on Tuesday.

The campaign is apparently aimed countering HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi's non-Jat plank who has been trying to polarise non-Jat communities in support of the HJC-BJP combine.

In an indirect attack on Bishnoi, Sharma stated that some leaders had been running a campaign by projecting themselves as the next Chief Minister.

He said a 10 per cent quota in government jobs had been given to the financially weaker people belonging to the general category on the recommendations of the Haryana Backward Classes Commission.

Sharma is scheduled to visit several village of Bhiwani in his three-day tour of the district. 

Sonepat, November 19
The first university of the Indian Tourism Development Corporation will be opened in Rajiv Gandhi Education City near Rai in Sonepat and the state government has allotted 32.83 acres of land to the corporation for it.

DS Malik, subdivisional engineer, HUDA, said that after the inspection of site by a high-powered team of the corporation last year, the corporation had applied for the allotment of 40 acres and the government allotted 32.83 acres. "After the completion of formalities, the corporation can take the possession of the land and start the construction work,” he added.

This university will be the 13th institution of higher learning as the state government has already allotted land to 12 other institutions in the education city, a dream project of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. The government had acquired about 2,006 acres of land of six villages for the city in 2006.

Karnal, November 19
The Jhinda faction of the ad hoc Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) today took out a ‘Shav Yatra (funeral procession) of the Congress party and also burnt its effigy for not creating a separate committee for the gurdwaras of the state. The procession, which was led by Jagdish Singh Jhinda, started from Gurdwara Kar Sewa and culminated at Committee Chowk, where the effigy of the Congress party was burnt. A large number of Sikhs took part in the procession.

Jhinda said in case a separate Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee for Haryana was not constituted soon, the Sikhs would be forced to start anti-Congress campaign.

Jhinda said the Congress had promised to create a separate committee in its election manifesto in 2004 and 2009 elections but backed out after winning the elections.

Kaithal, November 19
Additional Sessions Judge Rajan Walia has sentenced Nathu Ram, a resident of Kaul village in the district, to seven-year rigorous imprisonment (RI) and also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for murdering his uncle Jagdish and injuring the deceased's wife and son.

The incident took place on the night of January 21, 2012, when Jagdish Chander along with his wife Roshni and son Rajinder was sitting near a fire outside his house. Nathu, who lived in their neighbourhood, objected to the fire.

An altercation took place following which Nathu attacked Jagdish who later died.

Kurukshetra, November 19
On the call given by the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers' Organisation (HFUCTO), members of the Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) held a demonstration in support of their demands in front of the Vice-Chancellor's office here today.

The protesters also submitted a memorandum of their demands to the Registrar, addressed to the Chief Minister. Association president HK Sharma, secretary Parmesh Kumar and joint secretary Avnesh Verma addressed the protesting teachers.

Sharma said the Central Government had already announced the constitution of the Seventh Pay Commission, but some of the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for university and college teachers were yet to be implemented in the state.

The teachers also urged the government to restore old pension scheme for the newly appointed teachers, uniformity in implementation of five-day week in the universities, regularisation of private universities and institutes in the state for maintaining quality of higher education.

Indri (Karnal), November 19
Buoyed by the shifting to vegetable cultivation by farmers of Samora village in Indri subdivision of Karnal, the district Horticulture Department has sent a proposal for setting up a horticulture collection centre here.

The centre would help farmers sell their horticulture produce at remunerative prices. Progressive farmers of Samora village have shown the way to other farmers in the region by diversifying to the vegetable cultivation and achieving record production of radish.

The farmers adopted crop diversification techniques and took especially to radish cultivation. The farmers switched over to vegetable, fruits and flowers cultivation and also continued to cultivate conventional crops like wheat and rice which not only helped in raising their income but also promoted water conservation.

The residents of Samora village achieved record production of radish and also developed a market for procurement and sale of vegetables at highly competitive rates. Adjoining villages also started coming to the village for selling their horticultural produce.

Some farmers passed on the produce to Delhi market by producing a good variety of radish and the returns were phenomenal.

Sarpanch Balbir Singh said the demand for radish was so high that quintals get sold within an hour.

Farmers of adjacent Bibipur, Garhi Jatan, Churni and Kheri Man Singh villages also throng Samora for sale of radish.

The per acre production cost of radish is between Rs 8,000 and Rs 10,000 and the income ranged between Rs 70,000 and Rs 80, 000.

Rewari, November 19
Following a directive issued by SP Pankaj Nain on a complaint yesterday submitted by Praveen Kumar, a resident of the nearby Pahrazwas village, the city police have registered a case of negligence for endangering the life of the complainant’s wife, Poonam Devi, against Dr Sharda Dabas, director of a private hospital here.

Praveen said he had admitted his pregnant wife Poonam for delivery to Dr Sharda’s Sanjeevani Hospital here on November 6. He alleged that owing to profuse bleeding when Poonam’s condition worsened, Dr Dabas, instead of providing proper treatment to the patient, referred her to another hospital, where she delivered a child through operation.

Jhajjar, November 19
While the school lecturers are adamant to boycott evaluation of the answer sheets of Class XII until their demands are accepted, the Haryana School Education Board (HSEB) has failed to make any headway even after 12 days of the date for initiating the evaluation work.

Though the board authorities have urged the agitating lecturers to join the evaluation work by issuing an appeal in newspapers in this regard but the school lecturers seem to be in no mood to withdraw their decision.

The lecturers alleged that the state government was not serious towards the demands as so far they had not been invited to resolve the standoff.

Over 54,000 answer sheets are lying unchecked at two evaluation centres of the district for the past 12 days following the Haryana School Lecturers’ Association (HSLA) boycotting the evaluation work in support of their demands. — OC

Sonepat, November 19
Rohtas, a truck conductor and a resident of Bhainswal Kalan village, was beaten to death by four car-borne gangsters near Tihar Kalan village on Farmana-Sonepat road late last night.

Truck driver Bijender managed to escape from the spot. The victims were on way to Sonepat when the truck was stopped between Tihar Kalan village and Mehlana by the gangsters. They demanded Rs 2,000 from them.

When the driver and the conductor refused to submit to their demand, the gangsters started beating them with wooden sticks.

Due to serious head injuries, Rohtas died on the spot. However, Bijender managed to escape from the spot and informed the police.

A case of murder had been registered against Rohit, Mohit, Neeraj and Sunil of Tihar Kalan village and they would be arrested soon, DSP Balbir Singh said. 

Jhajjar, November 19
One of the most wanted criminal of Bihar was nabbed by a joint police team of Haryana and Bihar at the Anaj Mandi area of Beri town today. Manoj Sada of Peepar Poti village in Khagariya district, Bihar, is wanted in several cases of murder, attempt to murder and kidnapping.

Anjani Kumar, head of the Bihar police team, told mediapersons that Manoj had been staying with other residents of Bihar in Beri for the past some months and was working as labourer.

“Manoj had perpetrated four murders and some other criminal activities before escaping from Bihar in 2008. He chose Haryana to take shelter,” said Anjani. Randhir Singh, SHO, Beri Police Station, said Manoj did not have any criminal record in Beri.

Gurgaon, November 19
Asha Chauhan was today elected as the president of the Zila Parishad (ZP) at a specially convened meeting of the House after her predecessor Kavita Yadav was forced to quit on losing trust of councillors.

The rebels, who had voted out Kavita a few months ago, voted in favour of Asha.

The post of president is reserved for a general category woman candidate.

Out of the 10 elected councillors, seven, including Asha, took part in the meeting. Kavita and two others, Paramjeet Thakran and Umesh Devi, did not turn up even though a 10-day prior notice was served.

The councillors who were present and unanimously elected Asha include Bijender Singh, Usha Devi, Aman Bhardwaj, Rajbeer Dahiya, Sonu Devi and Suman Devi, besides Chauhan.

Bijender Singh proposed Asha’s name for the top post which was seconded by Aman Bhardwaj. She was the only candidate in the fray. Asha and her supporters took out a victory procession in the city.

Rewari, November 19
The Government Railway Police (GRP) yesterday recovered a newborn girl from bushes near the platform number 1 at the railway station here. The girl, who was wrapped in a blanket, was first spotted by some passersby who informed the GRP.

Doctors at the local civil hospital found her suffering from minor chest infection. She was, therefore, referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak for better treatment.— OC

Rewari, November 19
In view of the notice served on Haryana Power Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav in a case of fraudulent land deal by the Himachal Pradesh High Court, Vijay Somany, national convener of the Rashtriya Nav Chetna (RNC), a voluntary organisation of Haryana, has urged Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to dismiss the Power Minister on moral grounds immediately. he has also requested also to ensure a hassle-free inquiry into the matter

Somany felicitated the activists of the Anti-Corruption Front on whose petition the High Court had asked the Power Minister to file his reply in the case by December 17. He said the Power Minister, along with his close relatives, had purchased a piece of land, measuring 11 bighas, fraudulently in Kumar Hatti town of Solan.

Faridabad, November 19
The Joint Action Committee (JAC) of the associations of government employee federations of Haryana have served an ultimatum on the state government to either accept all pending demands by December 21 or face an renewed stir.

A JAC spokesperson said here today that the state government had no interest in issues concerning employees and associations and federations representing over 3 lakh government employees were unanimous after the two-day strike on continuing the agitation in a united manner till all justified demands were met.

He said the JAC had decided to hold a state-level rally of employees at Rohtak on December 22 to chalk out the fresh strategy. Claiming that almost 60,000 posts were lying vacant in various departments, he alleged the policy of outsourcing had resulted in poor governance and corruption.