Lohchab (Jind), September 26
Breaking his silence over the outbursts of Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi against the functioning of his government, Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda today asserted collaboration between former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala and the Congress MP had come to the fore.

“His (Kuldeep’s) stating that the Meham rally organised by the INLD had been a big success clearly reveals that they are hand in glove,” Mr Hooda said at a rally organised by the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Haryana, here today.

Without naming anybody but apparently aiming at late Devi Lal’s clan and Mr Bhajan Lal’s faction led by his son Kuldeep, Mr Hooda vowed to wipe out the “lal” dynasty from the state politics amidst an applause from the gathering.

Earlier, Mr Hooda was honoured by BKU leader Ghasi Ram Nain, in whose village the rally was organised. On this occasion, the Chief Minister agreed to various demands put forward by Mr Nain and Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, local MLA and Minister of Transport and Public Health in his Cabinet.

The demands, include making Lohchab and Dhamtan model villages, upgradation of a girls’ middle school to high school level, grant of jobs to the next of kin of the persons killed in police firing connected with protesting farmers.

Terming SYL canal as the lifeline of Haryana, Mr Hooda asserted that 90 per cent of the work done on the canal had been accomplished during Congress regimes. Only the Congress government would get the canal completed for the benefit of Haryana, he added. The Chief Minister said various power projects involving an expenditure of Rs 100 crore were under way in Jind district alone. He also laid the foundation stone of a 33 kv power substation at Lohchab village. As many as 2,905 consumers, including 101 tubewell owners of 13 villages of the constituency are likely to benefit from the project.

Mr Hooda ridiculed the allegations of rampant corruption levelled by Mr Chautala stating that how the previous regime looted the state was an open secret. He maintained that anybody found giving or receiving money in the name of granting a job would be dealt with an iron hand.

State Congress working president Dr Ram Prakash, Congress MP from Hisar Jai Prakash, Haryana Finance Minister Birender Singh, Education Minister Phool Chand Mulana, several sitting and former MLAs and other party leaders also addressed the gathering.

Most of the speakers castigated Mr Chautala for his “wild” allegations against the Hooda regime. Many of them referred to the leaders assembled at the Meham rally as “rejected goods”.

Leaders of rival factions within the Congress, including Mr Jai Prakash and Mr Surjewala, also made veiled attacks at each other in their respective addresses.

In his long speech, Mr Nain made a faux pas when he threatened that BKU activists would block all roads leading to Punjab if the government did not take effective steps towards the completion of SYL canal by November 15.

A local artiste rendered a “raagni” in praise of Mr Hooda. He also amused the gathering with his Haryanavi jokes. Mr Chautala naturally was the butt of these jokes.

Chandigarh, September 26
The Union Government’s directive to states on setting up special economic zones (SEZs) has come as bad news for Haryana. The timing of the Prime Minister’s edict comes when officials were giving final touches to their preparations for showcasing the state to foreign investors during Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s five-nation tour early next month. The state was banking upon highlighting its newly drawn up SEZ policy to woo investors.

The timing of the Centre’s observation has triggered a panic reaction among bureaucrats, many of whom are suggesting that the Chief Minister should defer his trip till there is more clarity on what the Union Government expects of the states. Haryana has recently formulated its SEZ policy which was notified on May 4. Resentment among various quarters over acquiring fertile agricultural land for setting up SEZs echoed at the Congress Chief Ministers’ recently concluded conclave at Nainital leading to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi making specific observations on the issue.

This development has also put a question mark on Haryana’s proposal to set up two new townships in the National Capital Region (NCR). The Haryana Government’s policy regarding the “acquisition of land for private development and in public-private partnership for setting up special economic zones, technology cities, industrial parks and industrial model townships, etc”, came into force in May.

After developing industrial areas on over 8,000 acres at different locations in the state that include two growth centres at Bawal and Saha and an Industrial Model Township at Manesar (Gurgaon), the Haryana State Industry and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) has been asked to take immediate steps to acquire and develop 10,000 acres all over the state.

The Union Commerce Ministry has approved in principle the setting up of 23 SEZs in Haryana. Some of these proposals are for big SEZs which are multi-product and require huge investment. Most of these SEZs are expected to come up in the NCR region. The state government also proposes to assist the private sector in developing another five or six multi-product SEZs in the NCR region, besides two industrial model townships in the same region.

The SEZ does not specifically mention the word “agricultural land” anywhere, but references imply that the land that will have to be acquired for the purpose of setting up SEZs in the proposed area is agricultural land. Detractors of the Congress government like the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) leader, Mr Ajay Chautala, say there is hardly any land in the NCR region that can be called “unfit for cultivation”. He has filed a case in the Punjab and Haryana High Court challenging the state government’s agreement with Reliance, accusing the state of “forcibly acquiring fertile agricultural land”.

Political observers in Haryana say that the observations of the Congress leadership have come at an inappropriate time for the Hooda government in Haryana and the Amarinder Singh government in Punjab. The Opposition in both states is exploiting the land acquisition issue to hit out at the government. In Haryana, the observations of the party high command have in a way vindicated the stand of Mr Bhajan Lal and his son, Mr Kuldip Bishnoi.

Senior officers are now preparing to scrutinise the SEZ policy and get ready for questions that may be posed to Chief Minister Hooda during his five-nation foreign tour starting on October 7.

Hisar, September 26
A local court has granted bail to Maya Mishra, Principal of Vishwas Senior Secondary School, and Rishi Gautam Vishwas, chairman of the Vishwas Education Board, in connection with the infamous case of sexual harassment of girl students of the school.

Both were brought under the ambit of police investigation in the case under Section 176 of the IPC. The police had told the court that the principal as well as the chairman knew about the complaints of sexual exploitation of girl students by the school director, Rishi Sagar Vishwas, but they did not inform the police of the offence.

Meanwhile, the court of Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Sukarm Pal has remanded the prime accused in the case, Rishi Sagar Vishwas, in judicial custody for 14 days. He was produced in the court yesterday after the expiry of his police remand.

Chandigarh, September 26
Time has stood still for the Haryana Assembly’s website launched with much fanfare last month.

The Assembly session that concluded on September 20 was the first one after the House went online on August 22. However, if anyone opens the site to obtain information about the last session, he will be sadly disappointed.

The site only gives information about the House session held in March, 2005. It has no information about business in the Assembly carried out in any of the previous sessions, nor anything regarding business in the House since March, 2005.

Whatever information is available on the site now could be had even when the site was first launched.

The website, which is supposed to supply information on the Haryana Assembly to interested persons worldwide, also lacks sophistication in the presentation of information. The profiles of MLAs, available on the site, were incorporated without any editing.

The column on social activities by Mr Om Prakash Chautala has a whopping 295 words and actually summarises various steps of his political career. The description of social activities by the Speaker, Mr Raghubir Singh Kadiyan, has a cool 321words. Mr Kadiyan, however, strays less into politics than Mr Chautala while giving an account of his social activities.

The slots of “notice board” and “press release” on the site are empty. The provision of getting feedback from the visitors to the site gives an idea about the kind of persons expected by the creators of the site as visitors. The profession of the visitor is a must-fill column and the professions have been categorised as accounting/ finance, political worker/social worker, computer programmer, system analyst and advocate.

Bhiwani, September 26
The story of Prince of Halda Heri village in Kurukshetra district, who had fallen in a disused bore dug for a tubewell and the whole country had stuck for about two days to television sets to see the rescue work accomplished by military personnel, has now awakened the district administration which issued orders for public at large today to cover all the disused bores.

While issuing the order under Section 144 of the CrPC, the District Magistrate, Mr Mohinder Kumar, directed that such disused bores as were left unpatched could prove nuisance and cause serious threat to human life. He ordered that such bores, pits or holes dug for any purpose and lying unprotected in the district, should immediately be covered within next 30 days.

He directed the gram panchayat sarpanches to ensure covering of all the abandoned and unprotected bores within the stipulated time. 

Fatehabad, September 26
Ms Ritu Bala, a resident of Bighar village was adjudged the “best mother” of Fatehabad block at a function organised for this purpose by the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) Department here today. She was given a prize of Rs 1,000 by the chief guest of the function, Ms Asha Setia, Project Officer, ICDS, Fatehabad.

Ms Darshana Devi of Khumbar village and Ms Amarjeet Kaur of Haripura village were adjudged the second and third, respectively, and were awarded prizes of Rs 750 and Rs 500, respectively. Ms Asha Setia also awarded prizes of Rs 2000, Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,000, respectively, to Anju of Dhangar village, Anu of Nagpur village and Suman of Barsin for securing the first three positions in the matriculation examinations held by the Haryana School Education Board, Bhiwani. 

Yamunanagar, September 26
A woman’s foetus got aborted and 14 others, including children, were injured in a clash between two families at Bakala village in the Sadhoura block here today.

The reason behind the clash is a piece of land.

As per police sources, during a panchayat held some days ago, the two families had agreed on a compromise but the rivalry continued.

The children of the families entered into an altercation which took a violent turn and members of the families, including women, attacked one another. A woman’s foetus got aborted in the clash.

The police is investigating the matter.

Sonepat, September 26
Rani (20), wife of Rajesh, and Naveen (5), a son of Inderjit, both of Jatwara in the town, were allegedly crushed to death under a truck near level crossing in front of the local Hindu College today.

The police has impounded the truck and taken the driver, Sunil from Uttar Pradesh, in custody.

According to information, Rani along with her sister-in-law and her two children, was returning from Gur Mandi in a rickshaw when it was hit by a truck on a turning near the level crossing.

Rani and Naveen reportedly fell down and were crushed under the tyres of the truck. The victims were rushed to a nearby private hospital and then to the local Civil Hospital where doctors declared them brought dead.

Jhajjar, September 26
A nine-year-old boy was crushed to death by a truck at Kabalana village which led to the road blockade by protesting villagers today.

According to information, Amit, a son of Rajaram, was disembarking a roadways bus when the truck run over him at the bus stop. The boy, hailing from Muradabad district in UP, had come to the village with his father. 

Ambala September 26
Two girls were crushed by a train at Ambala City railway station today noon. The diseased belonged to Patiala.

According to information, Rimpi (18) and Tamana (4) had come to to the city along with relatives to purchase clothes from the wholesale cloth market. When they were crossing the railway line to reach the main gate of the station, a superfast train arrived there. The two girls were run over by the train. The railway police has registered a case in this regard. The bodies were handed over to the relatives after postmortem.

Jhajjar, September 26
In an incident of road rage, a person was shot at by some car-borne youths in Bahadurgarh today. The injured person, Mahesh of Barahi village, had parked his scooter outside a property dealer’s office when two youths arrived there in a car. Their car slightly brushed his scooter which led to a verbal dual.