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Mullana may stay as state Cong chief
Grain traders use fake bills to evade VAT
Haryana’S shame
Hooda inaugurates Gurgaon Rapid Metro
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fatehabad land
Jats threaten to show black flags on January 26
HC sets aside DFSO’s transfer
Will win in Haryana, claims Amit Shah
Ashoka Edicts Park catches Tourism Ministry’s eye
No headway in missing women case
Farmers educated on deworming
V Kamaraja nodal officer of SC/ST cell
Two IPS officers promoted
MP opposes pumping station near water tank
Budding singer dies of jaundice
Man kills wife, injures son
12 security personnel of dera chief hurt in mishap
43 mobile phones seized from district jail
Two held for cheating PNB
Man murders wife, injures son
Dangi is state livestock board chief
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Mullana may stay as state Cong chief
With the announcement of the parliamentary elections a couple of months away, insiders feels that the party could well continue with Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana. Sources maintain that the two arguments in the favour of retaining Mullana are that elections are just around the corner and any change may not augur well for the party, especially since he is backed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Also, though the detractor camp within the party was, not so long ago, keen on a change, the leaders are not too sure if pressing for replacement at this stage will serve any purpose, since setting the Congress house in order with no time in hand may be a tall order. Besides, the performance of the new president will immediately be put to test, first in the parliamentary elections and subsequently in the assembly polls in October, with or without giving him a chance to settle down. For these reasons, there are not many takers for the position unless the new president happens to be from the pro-Hooda camp and takes off from where Mullana leaves. However, despite these considerations, the party has a handful of contenders for this top slot, given the compulsions of the Haryana Congress of addressing the caste factor and keeping a check on the polarisation of the Jats and non-Jats. From the dissident camp, Union Minister Selja, a Dalit leader known for her proximity to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, has already staked her claim for the post and is a political heavy-weight also because she already has the support of at least two MPs and two MLAs and many more Congressmen. The dissident camp is also pitching in for Suresh Gupta, a lesser-known face from Karnal, in case Selja is not interested. Once a Shamsher Singh Hooda loyalist, he travelled to the Hooda camp before moving into dissident MP Birender Singh’s camp. The pro-Hooda camp, meanwhile, is staunchly in favour of Mullana. However, if replacing him becomes inevitable, Hooda confidant and Ambala MLA Venod Sharma could be Hooda’s best bet given his stature as a non-Jat leader of standing within the party. Presently touring Haryana, his brief is not only to address the growing problem of polarisation of the non-Jats as is being projected by other parties eyeing this vote bank, but also to bring them back in the party fold. The name of Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal, also a Dalit leader, has been repeatedly doing the rounds if replacing one Dalit with another is the only option before the party is taken into account. MP Ashok Tanwar, whose claim to fame is that he is seen as a member of Team Rahul, is also in the race, though his lack of experience in the state politics and his youth are cited as reasons that go against him. The Chief Minister also has MP Ram Prakash as an option. MPs Arvind Sharma, Avtar Singh Badhana and Haryana Power Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, without belonging to either of the two camps, are learnt to be making their independent efforts to wrest this position. However, with the decision lying entirely with the party top brass, the Congressmen can only deliberate which way the wind will blow. In the race
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Grain traders use fake bills to evade VAT
Sirsa, December 15 The scam came to light when some cotton ginners, who had duly paid their VAT while purchasing raw cotton from farmers through traders (katcha arhtiyas), approached the sales tax authorities for refund of extra VAT were refused the refund because the traders concerned had not paid the tax. The Haryana Cotton Industries’ Association has approached the taxation authorities seeking refund of their money and permission to deposit the VAT directly to the government account rather than paying it to katcha arhtiyas in future. The taxation authorities, however, have not yet given any satisfactory reply to the cotton ginners, who are agitated and plan to take up the issue with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. “Some unscrupulous traders have been duping the government by managing fake purchase bills of commodities like cement, iron rods or cigarettes, which have heavy VAT on them. Since a trader has to pay the difference of the VAT received and VAT paid during a particular period, such traders manage to neutralise the tax received from us with the VAT shown to have paid on such managed bills,” alleged a leading cotton ginner from Sirsa. “Some corrupt officials of the Excise and Taxation Department conveniently close their eyes on this fraud as they also get a piece of the pie,” the ginner said. “Last year, ginners in Haryana purchased 1.21 crore quintals of raw cotton, which by conservative estimates of Rs 5,000 per quintals was billed for nearly Rs 6,000 crore. Ideally, the government should have received Rs 240 crore as VAT from traders. But when we asked senior officials of the department whether they could recover this amount, they had no answer,” alleged cotton ginners in Sirsa. Hanuman Singh, Additional Excise and Taxation Commissioner, Haryana, whom the cotton ginners met on his recent visit to Sirsa, said he was not aware if any traders had evaded tax on basis of fake bills of cement, iron rods or cigarettes. “Scrutiny of bills is done at the district level and not at our level in Panchkula. I am not in a position to comment on these allegations. As far as the exact amount of VAT recovered by the government on cotton last year is concerned, the department cannot have an exact figure, as VAT is paid on several byproducts like cotton seeds also,” Hanuman Singh said, when The Tribune confronted him with the allegations of cotton ginners. While cotton ginners in Haryana purchase all raw cotton from within the state after paying 4 per cent VAT on it, most of their end product goes either out of the state on a Central Sales Tax of 2 per cent or in export, where there is no tax at all. Hence, at the end of the year, almost all ginners of the state are entitled to refunds. |
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Haryana tops the chart in rape cases
Bhanu P Lohumi Tribune News Service
Karnal, December 15 The official figures do not reflect the exact number of incidents of rape as in a large number of cases either the complaints are not made by the victims or they are pressurised not to file the complaint. The adjoining state of Punjab comes next with 1,705 cases, followed by Jammu and Kashmir (825) Himachal (511), Uttarakhand (398) and Chandigarh (85). The total number of rape cases in the county rose from 22,172 in 2010 to 24,923 in 2012 but the situation was better in UTs where the number of rape cases increased from 569 in 2010 to 766 in 2012, while the cumulative number of rape cases increased from 21,603 in 2010 to 24,157 in 2012 in the Indian states. While the Union Territory of Lakshadweep was safest for the women, with no case of rape registered during this period, Delhi was the worst with 1,785 cases of rape, as per the information procured through RTI by advocate Rajesh Sharma from National Crime Record Bureau. Only seven rape cases were registered in Daman and Diu, 10 in Dadar and Nagar Haveli, 23 in Puducherry, 49 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and 85 in Chandigarh. The number of cases increased from 720 in 2010 to 733 in 2011 in Haryana but dropped significantly to 668 in 2012. But the women activists claim that it was due to non registration of cases as large number of victims remained quiet. In Punjab, which reported 546 case in 2010, the situation was different as the number came down to 479 in 2011 but shot to 680 in 2013. Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal showed gradual increase in the number of cases, going up from 245 and 160 in 2010 to 277 and 168 in 2011 and 303 and 183 in 2012. Uttarakhand followed the same pattern with the number of cases going up from 121 in 2010 to 129 in 2011 and 148 in 2012. Chandigarh has shown consistent improvement in the situation with the number of cases coming down from 31 in 2010 to 27 in 2011 and 2012. The five states with maximum cases of rape from 2010-2012 included Madhya Pradesh (9,966), West Bengal (6,720), Uttar Pradesh (5,568), Rajasthan (5,420) and Maharashtra (5,189), closely followed by Assam with 5,137 cases. The number of sexual assault cases is less in the five north eastern states and out of the total 993 cases, Nagaland accounted for 60, Sikkim (68), Manipur (150), Mizoram (272) and Meghalaya 443. The police officials claimed the mere registration of cases was no parameter to judge the magnitude of crime against women as prompt registration of case on the complaint of the alleged victim had been made mandatory under the amended anti-rape law. ADGP, Crime against women, Haryana, K K Misra said immediate registration of complaint in rape cases, followed by medical examination, recording of statement and arrest of the accused in 24 hours have motivated women come forward for registration of rape cases. He attributed the increases in rape cases to awareness and empowerment among women who feel safe to register their complaints in the state and the addition of sections in 376 of the IPC for rape. The possibility of a section of complaints being false cannot be ruled out, he added.
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Hooda inaugurates Gurgaon Rapid Metro
Gurgaon, December 15 The phase 1 of the ambitious project has been built at a cost of Rs1,088 crore. The 5.1-km stretch has six stations- Sikanderpur, DLF Phase-2, Belvedere Towers, Cyber City, Moulsari Avenue and Cyber Green Infinity Towers. Under the project, five fully automated trains, with a frequency of four minutes, run between five stations. Each train carries over 800 passengers on one trip. Officials said the service had reduced the existing road traffic by almost 30 per cent. |
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SC fixes compensation at Rs 770 per sq yard
R Sedhuraman Legal Correspondent
New Delhi, December 15 A Bench comprising Justices SS Nijjar and AK Sikri arrived at the rate after deciding the cost at Rs 520 per sq yard as of 1993 and adding an annual escalation of 12 per cent till 2001. The Bench, however, said it would grant the escalation only for four years as land prices had fluctuated up and down during this period. “We cannot be oblivious to the fact that from 1993 to 2001, there was a period when instead of an increase in the land price, there was attrition in the land rates,” the Bench said. “Therefore, we would like to enhance the value by applying the formula of a 12 per cent per annum increase for four years instead of taking the entire period,” the Bench said and clarified that “this would not be treated as a precedent” in other cases. On this basis, the valuation of the land in 2001 was placed at Rs 770 per sq yard and after making a deduction of one-third on account of development charges, the net valuation worked out to Rs 514 per sq yard, up from Rs 350 per sq yard determined by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Compared to the land value in this very area in 1993 which was fixed at Rs 350 per sq yard, “we have increased the same by about 50 per cent over a period of seven years or so, which we think, is quite reasonable as this much compensation is legitimately due to the appellants,” the Bench ruled while disposing of eight appeals filed by several landowners. The Collector had fixed the rate at Rs 2.75 lakh per acre for chahi, Rs 1.75 lakh for tibba/tall and Rs 3.25 lakh for gair mumkin land. The Additional District Judge had raised it to Rs 8 lakh for category A and Rs 6.5 lakh for category B.
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Jats threaten to show black flags on January 26
Jhajjar, December 15 Om Prakash Dhankhar, general secretary of the samiti, said this while interacting with mediapersons here today. He said Jats would not sit calmly before getting their due right of reservation and would step up their campaign to mount pressure on the government. “The samiti has decided to dispatch 200 different groups of Jats having 10 members each in the group to Delhi on January 26 next for showing black flags to the Republic Day parade to register their protest against the government,” said Dhankhar, adding that the flags would be distributed among the Jats by organising a programme on January 15 next. “We will wait for the government’s decision regarding reservation till January 15. If the Centre does not meet our demand, we will launch a national-level campaign against it,” added Dhankhar. |
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TMC to field Punjabis on 4 LS, 30 Assembly seats: KD Singh
Rohtak, December 15 Addressing a convention of Punjabi brotherhood here today, the community leaders and other prominent figures maintained that Punjabis deserved to have the reins of legislative power instead of seeking the fulfilment of their demands. The state-level convention was organised by the Akhil Bhartiya Punjabi Jagriti Manch led by former Haryana minister Subhash Batra. Famous Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan enthralled the gathering on the occasion. Prominent global Punjabi industrialist Rajesh Satiija Ram was the guest of honour. The convention was addressed by Rajya Sabha MP and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader KD Singh, former Army chief Gen VKSingh and Ashwini Chopra, Editor of a Hindi daily. “The Trinamool Congress will contest all Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Haryana. We will field Punjabi candidates on four Lok Sabha and 30 Assembly seats in the state,” announced KD Singh. Batra lamented that members of the community had not got due respect, political representation and job share in Haryana ever since its formation despite their notable contribution in the state’s development. General Singh advised members of Punjabi brotherhood to come ahead for strengthening their political base in the state. The leaders asserted that millions of Punjabis had sacrificed their families, property and other valuable assets in order to retain their religion and patriotism towards India. Still, members of Punjabi brotherhood were being deliberately neglected under a conspiracy. “ Punjabis lag behind in politics, socio-economic position and government jobs,” said KD .Singh, pointing out that not even 2 per cent government jobs were occupied by members of the brotherhood despite the fact that they comprised one-third of the state’s population. The community leaders called upon the Punjabi youth to join hands for turning the dream into reality by their proactive contribution in politics to bring about a change in a democratic set-up. |
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HC sets aside DFSO’s transfer
Chandigarh, December 15 Taking up his plea against Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has now categorically ruled that the
transfer order appears to be a consequence of obvious mala fide. Justice MMS Bedi also ordered the setting
aside of the order dated June 28, whereby he was to be transferred as the DFSO from Bhiwani
to Chandigarh. Dilawar Singh had contended in his petition that he was ordered to be transferred seven times within two-and-a-half years on the basis of a false complaint. Dilawar Singh also told the
court that he had already been exonerated in the complaint. Referring to the transfer policy, the DFSO added an
employee should normally not be transferred before three years. Refuting the allegations that he has been transferred six times in a short span, the respondents admitted only four transfers. Attempting to justify the latest order, the respondents claimed that the transfer was ordered in “extreme emergency as two posts of District Food and Supplies Officer at had been lying vacant in the head office ”. Claiming that there was an acute shortage of DFSOs in the department, the respondents added six out of 23 sanctioned posts had been lying vacant as the recruitment was
under process. “The petitioner has been transferred from Bhiwani to the head office so that work may not suffer,” the respondents pleaded. After hearing rival contentions, Justice Bedi asserted: “Perusal of the transfer order dated
June 28 indicates that 15 DFSOs were transferred and the petitioner was deputed at the
head office, Chandigarh. But the factum of petitioner having been transferred four times within two-and-a-half years
is admitted by the respondents. “These transfers are allegedly made because
of his being charge-sheeted as mentioned in the written statement. The administrative order of transfer of the petitioner appears to be result
of patent mala fide….. The petition is allowed and order qua petitioner
is set aside.” |
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Run for Unity organised
Sirsa/Fatehabad, December 15 Subhash Barala, state BJP secretary and state convener of the statue of unity iron collection cooperation committee, flagged off the run at Fatehabad and state BJP leader Mahabir Prasad
at Sirsa. BJP leaders said a 600-foot-tall statue of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel was the dream project of BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi. Karnal: Thousands took part in the 3-km run here on Sunday. BJP state president Ram Bilas Sharma said the contribution of every individual and every village was significant. As part of the campaign, old farming tools would be collected from villages across India as a token and used to construct the statue. Yamunanagar: Former Member of Parliament Rattan Lal Kataria led the run here on Sunday. Kataria said the statue of unity would be the tallest statue in the world. Kanwar Pal, Pawan Bittu, Ghanshyam Das, Raman Tyagi, Rakesh Kamboj, Sandeep Rana and others addressed the participants. Kurukshetra: Kurukshetra Gurukul Director Devvaratt Aacharya flagged off the 2-km run here on Sunday. It was led by BJP state sports cell joint convener Paramveer Amin. BJP district president Dhuman Singh Kirmach supervised the event. Ninety-year-old Ranbir Singh Arya of Amin village and his 73-year-old-son Raj Kumar Arya participated in it. |
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Address social concerns, demographers exhorted
Rohtak, December 15 This conference is being hosted by Ch Ranbir Singh Institute for Social and Economic Change (CRSI) at the MDU. Chahal exhorted sociologists and demographers to address the glaring social issues of Haryana like female foeticide, skewed gender ratio and gender bias etc. Dr P.K. Bhargava, Director, Ch. Ranbir Singh Institute of Social and Economic Change, welcomed the delegates. He briefed about the progress made by CRSI, and shared the future road map of the institute. IASP general secretary KK Singh outlined the conference agenda. Noted demographer SC Gulati was felicitated on the occasion for his contribution to the field of demographic studies. Eminent demographers Subrata Lahiri and Dr Deepak Grover were felicitated in absentia. |
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Will win in Haryana, claims Amit Shah
Faridabad, December 15 He was here in connection with the Run For Unity. Asked about the future of the party in view of the recent political developments, he claimed that the BJP would come into power at the Centre and the Haryana. He claimed that there was a BJP wave across the country in view of the failure of the UPA. He said the BJP had not only retained power in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, but overthrown the Congress in Rajasthan as well. He evaded a direct reply on the possibility of the BJP going for a super-alliance which could include the INLD, but said there was no proposal for a super-alliance at the moment. |
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Ashoka Edicts Park catches Tourism Ministry’s eye
Yamunanagar, December 15 A mail has been sent by RK Dhawan, personal secretary to the Tourism Secretary, inviting Sidhartha Gauri, Buddhist Forum president, and Rajinder Bhatti, INTACH district convener, Yamunanagar chapter, to meet the Secretary. Gauri and Bhatti said financial and other issues were expected to be discussed. They said the AEP would come up on 10 acres provided by the panchayat and around Rs 10 crore would be required for completing the project. The design of the AEP had been technically evaluated and approved by the Roorkee IIT. |
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No headway in missing women case
Jind, December 15 Satish Jain, national president of the Youth Jain Samaj and member of the struggle committee, said Santosh’s husband Ram Daya had remarried and had a son from his second wife. Ram Daya did not want to give half of his agricultural land to Santosh and he could have a role in the case. Anganwari worker Santosh did not have any child and stayed alone while her husband stayed with his second wife at Ballan village. Santosh’s neighbour Brahami started staying overnight in her room on Santosh’s request. On November 9, when Brahami did not return home in the morning, her son Rajinder went to check, but found the women missing. The families had been running from pillar to post since then. Repeated attempts to contact Superintendent of Police Balwan Singh Rana were futile. City Station House Officer Kaptan Singh admitted that the police had failed to make any breakthrough despite arresting two persons. “We arrested Ram Daya and Monu, but found nothing pointing to their involvement in the case. They are in judicial custody at present,” he said. |
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Farmers educated on deworming
Karnal, December 15 NDRI scientists led by Dr Gopal Sankhala and Dr MS Chauhan said an innovative approach-- Dairy Education at farmers’ door-- was initiated by the Director Anil Kumar Srivastva in February, 2009, to disseminate dairy production and processing technologies among the farming community. The programme runs on the second Saturday of every month where multidisciplinary teams visit farming households in the villages to disseminate technologies related to dairy science. Dr BS Chandel, Dr Manju Asutosh, Dr Rajiv Kapila and Dr RK Pundir answered farmers’ queries on feed and health problems. They advised the farmers to provide clean water to animals to curb stomach disorders and internal parasites. |
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V Kamaraja nodal officer of SC/ST cell
Chandigarh, December 15 Director General of Police (DGP) Shriniwas Vashisht said the Haryana Government had constituted the SC/ST cells at the state, district and police station level. All the district cells had also been constituted. Besides, one NGO-level officer belonging to SC was being posted at every police station. |
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Two IPS officers promoted
Chandigarh, December 15 While Yash Pal Singal was posted as Director General of Police (Prisons) in the rank of ADGP, Mohinder Lal was posted as Director Vigilance and Security, HVPNL, Panchkula.
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MP opposes pumping station near water tank
Hisar, December 15 Addressing a press conference after forcing the workers to stop the construction work at the site, the INLD MP maintained that as the pumping station was being set up in close proximity of a water tank that supplied water in the village, the STP could result in water pollution. The villagers had submitted a memorandum to the district authorities several months ago opposing the construction of the pumping station near the water tank but to no avail. |
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Budding singer dies of jaundice
Gurgaon, December 15 His body was taken to his hometown Bikaner, where the last rites would be performed. He had won the second season of the singing reality show Indian Idol in 2006. He had released his first album 'Mere Saath Saara Jahaan' and was scheduled to release his next album 'O Sanam Tere Bina' in mid-December.
— TNS |
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Man kills wife, injures son
Sirsa, December 15 Reports said Amar Singh (40) allegedly had an illicit relationship and Shakuntala used to object to it. The couple had an altercation last night and Amar Singh attacked his wife as well as his son with a sharp-edged tool. The police registered a case. |
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12 security personnel of dera chief hurt in mishap
Sirsa, December 15 The chief’s cavalcade was moving from the old dera near Sirsa town, where he had come to witness matches being played under the 51st National Roller Skating and Inline Hockey Championship to the new dera situated on the Chopta road, when the accident occurred. The dera chief’s vehicle had overtaken a school bus standing on the road and gypsies following his cavalcade were to follow when a motorcyclist suddenly came ahead and tried to overtake the bus. |
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43 mobile phones seized from district jail
Faridabad, December 15 The state-of-the-art
jail complex, having around 1,800 inmates, was constructed a few years ago. Led by ACP (Crime) Sumit Kumar, the team, consisting of around 80 personnel, entered the jail this evening and recovered the mobiles phones. The raid was going on till the time of filing of this report. |
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Two held for cheating PNB
Sonepat, December 15 Both were produced in the court today which remanded them in police custody. The police had earlier arrested Parihar, an advocate of Delhi, in the same case. The police said the case was registered on July 24 on the complaint of branch manager Dinesh Mittal. The branch manager said the papers submitted by the accused in the name of Tirupati Batteries, Patparganj, Delhi, for taking the loan were fake.
— OC |
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Man murders wife, injures son
Sirsa, December 15 Reports said Amar Singh (40) allegedly had an illicit relation with a woman and Shakuntala used to object to it. The couple had an altercation over the issue last night and Amar Singh attacked his wife as well as his son with a sharp-edged tool. The police have registered a case and said efforts were on to arrest the accused.
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Dangi is state livestock board chief
Chandigarh, December 15 A recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from Haryana, he has been the founder President of the Haryana Veterinary Council and now vice-president of the Veterinary Council of India. |
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Chandigarh, December
15