Chandigarh, December 19
The Haryana Vidhan Sabha today passed the Haryana Special Economic Zone Bill, 2005, to set up Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the absence of the Opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

All the eight INLD members were earlier suspended from the Assembly for the rest of day after they stalled the proceedings in the Vidhan Sabha over the Volcker issue, leading to adjournment of the House twice.

The Bill had been necessitated because under Section 50 of the Central Special Economic Zone Act, 2005, the state governments have to formulate an Act for granting exemptions from state taxes, levies and duties to the developer or entrepreneurs of SEZ and delegate powers to the development commissioners of SEZ.

The Vidhan Sabha also passed the Punjab Passengers and Goods Taxation (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2005, to bring school buses under the ambit of the Act following a High Court judgement which excluded the school buses from payment of passenger tax. The amendment would also make liable the companies and other organisations for deducting passenger tax from those contractors whose vehicles were being hired by them for transporting their employees.

The Haryana Murrah Buffalo and Other Milch Animal Breed (Preservation and Development of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Development Sector) Amendment Bill, 2005, passed by the House today would exempt the chilling centres which collect milk for the milk plants from payment of a cess of 10 paise per litre. The cess was imposed for improvement of genetic stock of the milch animals, specially the prime breed of Murrah and local breeds like Sahiwal and Hariana of the buffaloes, to improve the skill and technology in dairy farming and for taking steps for the development of the animal husbandry and dairy development sector.

The House also passed the Haryana Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (Amendment) Bill, 2005, to enable the State to avail the Debt Consolidation and Relief Facility (DCRF) recommended by the 12th Finance Commission during 2005-10. Mr Karna Singh Dalal and Mr Dharam Pal Malik, both of the Congress, said the provision of setting up an agency independent of the State Government to review the compliance of the Act should be retained as it would bring greater transparency.

In his reply the Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, said the amendments had been brought as suggested by the Union Finance Minister. He said the government could not disclose all information to an agency which was not under its control.

The other Bills passed by the House today included the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2005, and the Haryana Legislative Assembly Speaker’s and Deputy Speaker’s Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, 2005, to increase the salary and allowance of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker. Now the salary of the Speaker and Deputy Speaker would be raised from Rs 11,000 per month to Rs 12,000 per month. Also, they would be paid daily allowance at a rate of Rs 600 per day instead of Rs 500 per day while on tour. As a result of this decision, there would be a financial burden of about Rs 48,000 per annum on the State exchequer.

The House also passed the Haryana Salaries and Allowances of Ministers (Amendment) Bill, 2005, to enhance the salary of each Minister from Rs 11,000 to Rs 12,000 per month. Also, each Minister would now be paid daily allowance at a rate of Rs 600 per day while on tour instead of Rs 500 per day earlier. As a result of this decision there would be a burden of about Rs 2.16 lakh per annum on the State exchequer.

The Vidhan Sabha also passed the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Allowance and Pension of Members) Second Amendment Bill, 2005. Now the salary of the Leader of Opposition would be enhanced to Rs 12,000 per month from Rs 11,000 per month. This would be in addition to the allowances payable to the Leader of Opposition. Also, those who have served as a member for a period not exceeding five years would be paid a pension of Rs 3000 per month. In case any person has served as a member for more than five years, he would be paid additional pension of Rs 600 per month for every year in excess of five years.

Earlier, pension was admissible at a rate of Rs 1400 per month if a person had served as a member for two years, Rs 2500 per month for a period exceeding two years but not exceeding five years. An additional pension of Rs 500 per month for every additional year or part thereof exceeding five years was also admissible. The decision would put an extra burden of Rs 65.57 lakh per annum on the State exchequer.

The House passed the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Facilities to Members) Amendment Bill, 2005, to enhance the present ceiling of house building advance and repair of house for the members. The limit of Rs 12 lakh for construction of house has been increased to Rs 20 lakh and for repair of house the limit of Rs 1 lakh has been increased to Rs 1.75 lakh. The member would also be able to avail second house loan after 10 years provided he or she has paid the entire principal and interest on the first loan or agrees to pay the same, if any amount remains outstanding.

The Vidhan Sabha also passed the Punjab Agricultural Produce Markets (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2005, to provide for contract farming.

Chandigarh, December 19
The Haryana Transport Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala’s alleged letter introducing Mr Jagat Singh to Iraqi officials has turned out to be a godsent opportunity for the tainted INLD and the party has grabbed it with both hands.

The INLD legislators tried to take the moral high ground over the Congress in the state Assembly today on the issue of corruption and demanded Mr Surjewala’s dismissal from the Cabinet. The eight INLD members disrupted the proceedings to such an extent that the Speaker was compelled to suspend them for the day after two adjournments failed to restore order.

Representatives of the BJP and the BSP and Independent legislators did not join the INLD in attacking the minister. Rather, they showed interest in a discussion on the charges against the INLD supremo, Mr Om Prakash Chautala.

The INLD, which has been heavily cornered owing to the numerous corruption charges haunting its top leadership, today came fully prepared to be on the offensive on the issue of corruption. Under the watchful eyes of a former Finance Minister, Mr Sampat Singh, and the party’s Haryana unit chief, Mr Ashok Arora, both of whom were present in the visitors’ gallery, the INLD legislators put up a performance with an eye to get themselves forcibly removed from the House and become “martyrs” in the cause of a righteous battle.

As soon as question hour began the INLD members led by Mr Sushil Indora and Mr Sita Ram got up and demanded a discussion on Mr Surjewala’s role in the Iraqi oil deals. Mr Surjewala was then trying to answer on behalf of the Chief Minister a question asked by Mr Dharampal Malik. His voice could not be heard in the din created by the INLD legislators.

The Speaker, Mr H.S. Chatha’s appeals to the INLD to raise the issue during zero hour had no effect. The House was then adjourned for 10 minutes. When it resumed, the same scene was witnessed. This time the INLD legislators were displaying photocopies of the letter. Some Congress members were also seen obtaining copies of the letter and having a quick look at it. The Speaker, failing to control the situation, adjourned the House for half an hour.

On its resumption, the INLD legislators trooped into the well of the House and started raising slogans. Mr Chatha had no choice but to remove the MLAs. The motion was hurriedly passed and the marshals called who guided the agitated MLAs outside.

While protests from the Treasury Benches against the INLD were not missing, these were no match to the rampaging Opposition legislators. Once the INLD members were removed, a shower of compliments from MLAs cutting across party lines greeted the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, on his seeking a CBI probe against Mr Chautala. The general opinion of the MLAs was that the ruckus had been created by the INLD to avoid any discussion on alleged corruption by the Chautala regime.

Those who complimented Mr Hooda included an Independent MLA, Mr Tejendra Pal Singh Mann, BJP member Ram Kumar Gautam and BSP representative Arjan Singh. Mr Gautam, however, mentioned the name of a Congress top central leader in connection with the Volcker report. Mr Hooda and the Finance Minister, Mr Birender Singh, rose with a start at the mention of the name even as the Speaker got the remark expunged from the proceedings.

Hisar, December 19
Resentment prevails among candidates who had applied for the post of college cadre lecturers and fulfilled the eligibility criteria, but were not called for interview by the authorities concerned.

The Department of Higher Education had advertised 381 vacancies of college-cadre lecturers in July. They had to be appointed on a temporary basis under Haryana Education Service (Group-B). Thousands of aspirants applied for the posts in various disciplines.

However, a number of applicants approached The Tribune here today, stating that though they possessed the requisite qualifications and fulfilled all eligibility criteria, they were not even called for the interview conducted recently, without assigning any reasons.

In the advertisement it was mentioned that “the prescribed essential qualifications are minimum and mere possession of the same does not entitle the candidate to be called for interview. Where the number of applications received in response to the advertisement is large and it will not be convenient or possible for the department to interview all candidates, the department may restrict the number of candidates for interview to a reasonable limit.”

The resentful applicants, however, maintained that they either possessed a Ph.D degree in the relevant discipline or had cleared the UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) for lecturership or State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET).

They asserted that when these qualifications had been standardised by the UGC for appointment as lecturer anywhere in the country, then how could any state government ignore these or set its own criteria.

Still, if the authorities concerned had devised some formula for calculating the merit of candidates, it should be told to all applicants to maintain transparency in the selection process.

Some aspirants even alleged that on being approached, the DHE officials denied to furnish any details in this regard. They complained that the department was maintaining this “unnecessary secrecy” despite the right to information has been legally provided to all citizens.

While some eligible applicants who had applied for the post but were not called for the interview have moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, others were also planning to follow suit.

Some candidates had even been issued provisional call letters for interview following court’s intervention into the matter.

Many candidates pointed out that the interview schedule was not published in any newspaper and they were shocked to learn that the “secretive” interview had already been conducted.

The applicants demand that the Haryana Government should come clean on the issue by disclosing the criteria for inviting only a few selected candidates for interview.

Fatehabad, December 19
The three-day biennial convention of the Sarva Karamchari Sangh Haryana concluded here today with the passing of a report. The report placed by the general secretary, Mr R.C. Jagga, was passed by the house unanimously with some modifications. The sangh president Mr Poonam Chand Ratti announced the passing of the report amidst pro-sangh slogans by the delegates.

Earlier, delegated from all 45 associations affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh participated in the debate on the report. Prominent among those who expressed their views were Mr Jarnail Singh Sangwan and Mr Ram Nath Dhiman from the Public Works Department, Ms. Jasbir Kaur, Ms Sunita Devi and Ms Asha Sharma from the Health Department, Mr Devinder Singh Hooda and Mr R.C. Jagga from the power utilities, Mr Kartar Singh and Mr Jiwan Singh from the Forest Department and Ms Santosh Rawal and Ms Ratnesh Kumari from the Anganwadi Union.

The sangh passed resolutions demanding the restoration of trade union rights of the government employees, provision of ex-gratia jobs to the kin of those who had died in service and putting a curb on the atrocities on Dalits.

The sangh activists also resolved to celebrate the 2-th year of its inception in a fitting manner, collect funds for the construction of a building for the Sarva Karamchari Sangh Bhavan, create awareness among workers towards trade union literature, organise workers of the unorganised sectors and to create unions of the employees working in the Panchayat Department, DC offices, private educational institutions, hospitals and directorates and secretariat at Chandigarh and Panchkula.

It was resolved to strengthen its base in Panchkula, Ambala, Kurukshetra, Mahinderagarh, Rewari and Mewat districts by launching a special campaign in these areas, to enroll more women activists in various organisations of the sangh. The Sangh leaders Ms Jasbir Kaur, Ms Asha Sharma, Ms Nirmal Balhara, Ms Nirmala Rathi, Ms Bimla Yadav and Ms Savitri Devi were included in the state level organisation committee.

The Sarva Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, President, Mr Poonam Chand Ratti, thanked local people, employees, social organisations, educationists and media for the cooperation extended by them towards the success of the convention. 

Chandigarh, December 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today adjourned till December 21, hearing of the application filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking three months more to complete investigation in three separate cases involving the Dera Sacha Sauda, Sirsa.

In its application, the CBI has stated that due to fear psychosis generated by the dera management, people were not coming forward to assist it in the investigations. It, therefore, sought three more months to complete the investigations.

It may be recalled that the CBI had been directed by the High Court to probe three cases involving the dera.

While one of the cases being investigated by the CBI pertains to murder of journalist Ram Chander Chattarpati in 2003, another relates to the alleged murder of dera follower Ranjeet Singh.

Ranjeet's father Joginder Singh had sent a letter to the High Court, alleging that his son was killed after he tried to part ways with the dera.

The third case pertains to the anonymous letter sent by an alleged female resident of the dera, who alleged that women at the dera were being sexually exploited. Having received the letter, the High Court had ordered investigation by the CBI in this case also.

On March 1, the High Court had given six more months to the CBI to complete investigations.

On September 16, the court again gave three more months to it to complete investigations. The Bench of Mr Justice Amar Dutt and Ms Justice Kiran Anand Lall had also directed the CBI to submit a report regarding the investigations by December 19.

Jhajjar, December 19
A former woman sarpanch has leveled allegations of sexual exploitation and usurping of a petrol station, issued in her name, and other property against a former MLA from the Salawas Assembly constituency.

The woman, besides lodging a complaint with the police today, has also written to the Chief Minister, the National Commission for Women and the Director-General of Police. She has urged them to protect her as she was facing a threat to her life.

Bimla Yadav, former sarpanch of Lilaheri village in the Salawas constituency, accused former Salawas MLA Hukan Singh of forcibly confining her in his house at Kosli for the past three years.

She alleged that she was physically exploited repeatedly during this period by the former MLA and another person, Rammehar, also a resident of Lilaheri village.

The woman held that she was hiding at a secret location to protect herself as she was being threatened.

Bimla (35), who is unmarried, complained that she was elected the sarpanch of the village in 2000 and got the dealership of an Indian Oil petrol station in 2002.

Rammehar introduced her to the former MLA and both assured her that they wanted to assist her in running the petrol station.

However, the former MLA and his accomplice forced her to sign a power of attorney transferring the petrol station in the name of Gabbar Singh, son of the former MLA, she alleged adding that they also got her signatures on many plain papers in 2002.

Bimla further alleged that when she tried to resist, they threatened to kill her and claimed that their party (INLD) was in power and no one could harm them.

The former sarpanch said she had now got the power of attorney cancelled as signatures and photographs of the witnesses had been forged.

Bimla said she had written to the Punjab National Bank in Badli 
to freeze the account of the petrol station. She also asked the police to register a case against the persons named in the complaint.

On the other hand, the former MLA, Hukam Singh, has termed all these allegations as baseless and an attempt to defame him.

He said he had nothing to do with the woman and brushed aside all her charges.

The district police has not registered a case so far.

Chandigarh, December 19
The power situation in Haryana is expected to improve within next two days when additional 165 MW electricity would be available. Another 210 MW would be available from the middle of next month, here today said the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He said there would be no power cuts in the state in the next three-and-a-half year as new power projects being planned would start the generation. He said due to the paucity of electricity in the state, the government was purchasing it at the rate of Rs. 7 per unit. He also said that there was no proposal to hike the rates of electricity in the state.

In reply to another question relating to the chargesheet filed against Mr Om Prakash Chautala, Mr Hooda said his government had received a letter from the CBI seeking its comments on the chargesheet seized by the investigating agency in raids conducted by it during the investigation of the JBT teachers recruitment scam. Since the agency was already investigating a number of allegations contained in the charge-sheet, it was decided to ask the CBI to investigate the other allegations also.

Hisar, December 19
Resentment prevails among candidates who had applied for the post of college cadre lecturers and fulfilled the eligibility criteria, but were not called for interview by the authorities concerned.

The Department of Higher Education had advertised 381 vacancies of college-cadre lecturers in July. They had to be appointed on a temporary basis under Haryana Education Service (Group-B). Thousands of aspirants applied for the posts in various disciplines.

However, a number of applicants approached The Tribune here today, stating that though they possessed the requisite qualifications and fulfilled all eligibility criteria, they were not even called for the interview conducted recently, without assigning any reasons.

In the advertisement it was mentioned that “the prescribed essential qualifications are minimum and mere possession of the same does not entitle the candidate to be called for interview. Where the number of applications received in response to the advertisement is large and it will not be convenient or possible for the department to interview all candidates, the department may restrict the number of candidates for interview to a reasonable limit.”

The resentful applicants, however, maintained that they either possessed a Ph.D degree in the relevant discipline or had cleared the UGC National Eligibility Test (NET) for lecturership or State-Level Eligibility Test (SLET).

They asserted that when these qualifications had been standardised by the UGC for appointment as lecturer anywhere in the country, then how could any state government ignore these or set its own criteria.

Still, if the authorities concerned had devised some formula for calculating the merit of candidates, it should be told to all applicants to maintain transparency in the selection process.

Some aspirants even alleged that on being approached, the DHE officials denied to furnish any details in this regard. They complained that the department was maintaining this “unnecessary secrecy” despite the right to information has been legally provided to all citizens.

While some eligible applicants who had applied for the post but were not called for the interview have moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, others were also planning to follow suit.

Many candidates pointed out that the interview schedule was not published in any newspaper.

Ambala, December 19
The Ambala Railway Division has decided to hand over sanitation service of Chandigarh and Shahranpur railway station to private contractor as the department had been facing shortage of regular sanitation employees.

While inaugurating the sanitation fortnight at Ambala Cantt railway station here today, the Divisional Manager of Ambala Railway Division, Mr R.K. Tandon, said that at present Ambala Cantt was the only railway station in the division where a private contractor controlled the entire sanitation work.

He said that the result of this new scheme was satisfactory therefore it was decided to implement it at some other important stations of the division like Chandigarh and Sahranpur too.

He said that besides traditional manual system, mechanised sanitation process had also been introduced at several railway stations to get the better and immediate results. He said that strict action would be taken against the vendors who would found defying cleanliness norms.

Replying to a question he said that the railway authorities had taken intensive steps to get the encroachments vacated on railway lands. He said that 20 cases were already pending in the courts in this regard. He said that the railway had also decided to plant saplings on vacant land. 

Ambala, December 19
A religious competition was organised at the Sohan Lal DAV College of Education, Ambala City, today. In order to spread the Vedic thinking among the people, every year Arya Samaj DAV College Road, Ambala City, celebrates the “Rishi Bodh” festival by organising various activities like havan yajya competition, portrait making and slogan writing.

Dr D.P. Asija, Principal of the college, welcomed the guests. Ms Ved Ramphall Hooda, wife of Dr R.P. Hooda, Vice-chancellor, Kurukshetra University, was the chief guest and Ms Vijay Ram Prakash, wife of Dr Ram Prakash, acting president of the HPCC, presided over the function. In her presidential address, she appreciated the efforts of the Aray Samaj in inculcating moral values among the children.

At the junior level, the teams of DAV Senior Secondary Public School, Police DAV Public School, and DAV Public School, all of Ambala City, were declared first, the teams of Police DAV Public School, Ambala City, and DAV Centenary Public School, Barara, were declared second and the teams from DAV School, Naraingarh, and DAV School, Ambala City, stood third.

At the senior level, team of KPAK Mahavidyala, Ambala City, bagged the first position while the team of Sohan Lal DAV College of Education stood second. The team of Sohan Lal DAV Girls Senior Secondary School got the third position. Dr Vivek Kohli proposed a vote of thanks.

Chandigarh, December 19
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today said allegations of irregularities and illegalities had come to the notice of the state government regarding the nomination of Class III employees to HCS posts during the previous government’s tenure.

He said the matter had been referred to the CBI for inquiry. The Chief Minister stated this in his written reply to a question asked by the Congress MLA, Ms Kiran Chaudhary, during question hour in the Assembly.