Chandigarh, October 5
Concerned about reports of Haryana being used as a safe haven by anti-national elements, kidnappers and extortionists operating in the National Capital Region (NCR), Delhi and adjoining states, the Haryana Government has decided to revamp its intelligence network. A concrete proposal is being worked out for “micro-level planning to meet threats to internal security and prevent crime”.

Sources in the Haryana Police said “district-specific plans” were being prepared in consultation with the district police chiefs and officers posted at the headquarters who had worked in key positions earlier. “We are taking inputs from everyone to build an intelligence network that works”, a senior officer said.

Giving details of various proposals to revamp the intelligence set-up, the official said that Haryana had proposed to set up five inter-state intelligence support teams. These teams would work closely with security personnel from adjoining states. Besides sharing information and data on criminals, these teams would look out for persons wanted in Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and other states who may be hiding in Haryana.

Besides, Haryana has also decided to establish “labour intelligence units” and strengthen the CID Special Branch and District Security Branches by providing them with more modern intelligence gathering and surveillance equipment. The state police is also contemplating establishing an exchange programme with the police departments in other states. The possibility of a tie-up similar to the Punjab Police arrangement with the UK police is also being considered.

Inputs from in-house sources have led policy makers to accept that the state will have to ensure better coordination with the central intelligence agencies to improve the state intelligence network. In this regard, informal inputs have been sought from the Haryana cadre officers on deputation with the central agencies like the Intelligence Bureau and the Central Bureau of Investigation.

Besides laying emphasis on training in revamping of the intelligence network, Haryana has also proposed to put up hi-tech toll plazas on National Highway number 8 that will have an integrated checkpost to prevent the ferrying of arms and ammunition.

Keeping in view the importance of bomb-disposal squads in counter-insurgency and anti-terrorist operations, Haryana has taken a decision to increase the strength of such squads, which will now be stationed at all range headquarters.

Haryana has asked the Central Government for an additional grant to fund police reforms, evolve an institutionalised mechanism for the online sharing of information and closer coordination among various security agencies as well as funds for reforms in the criminal justice system.

In fact, Haryana has told the Centre that its reform proposals are suffering because of the non-release of sanctioned central funding. Haryana has told the Centre that in 2003-2004 it received Rs 6.67 crore short of the sanctioned central funding of Rs 26.52 crore.

In 2004-2005, too, Haryana received only Rs 21.22 crore against the sanctioned amount which was the same as the previous year. However, in 2005-06 Haryana received only Rs 15.89 crore against the sanctioned funding of Rs 33.15 crore. The shortfall of Rs 17.26 crore has adversely impacted the state’s police reform plans.

Chandigarh, October 5
Passions are running high in Haryana following court orders to the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) and the municipal authorities to take immediate steps for stopping commercial activities in residential areas. Reports of violent resistance to the authorities trying to close down shops being run from houses have come from various towns of the state. People are upset because of the ongoing festival season, normally considered to be good for business.

Disturbed by the strong popular reaction, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, today asked the bureaucracy to prepare a notification to take care of public convenience and to ensure that self-employment opportunities are not denied to people coming from the lower middle class. A notification is likely to be issued allowing over 20 commercial activities in residential areas. These activities will be broadly on the pattern of those allowed by the Supreme Court in Delhi.

Surprisingly, the political leadership had the vision to foresee the situation taking an ugly turn even 10 months before the court gave the final directions. However, an insensitive bureaucracy did not act in time to mitigate the sufferings of people likely to be caused by an adverse court decision. It is not that the court decision caught the bureaucracy unawares. The court had been issuing repeated directions in this regard since 1996.

A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Mr Hooda on December 30, 2005, at which it was decided, among other things, that the rules would be appropriately amended to allow certain commercial activities in residential areas, of course after levying conversion charges and other levies. For 10 months no action was taken to implement the decisions of this meeting. So much so the bureaucracy took two months just to circulate the minutes of the meeting. Sources say Mr Hooda was of the view that since the court wanted the HUDA and other authorities to implement the rules, these could be suitably amended to protect the interests of all concerned.

Those affected by the court judgement have two main complaints. One, they say all these years they had been bribing the enforcement staff of the competent authorities like HUDA to turn a blind eye to the violations. Action should be taken against those officials during whose tenure the violations initially took place. Secondly, there has always been mixed land use in old towns. Houses and shops exist side by side. People ask how shops could be closed now when they existed even before the Independence of the country.

Experts feel that the concept of separate zones for separate activities is a Western concept, which has failed even in those countries where neighbourhood shopping is as popular as in India. Therefore, mixed land use has to be allowed.

The bureaucracy started moving only after the Chief Secretary, Mr Prem Prashant, constituted a four-member committee under the chairmanship of the Commissioner, Urban Development, Mr P.K. Gupta, on October 3, to find ways to help those affected by the court orders. The committee submitted its report yesterday.

The shops, which have been recommended to be allowed in the residential areas by the committee are those selling vegetables, fruits, flowers, bakery and confectionery items, stationery and books, gifts, paan and cigarettes, and medicines. Establishments like cyber cafes, telephone and fax public call offices, tailoring, beauty parlours, hair cutting shops, photo studios, ATMs and pathology laboratories have also been favoured by the committee. The establishments providing services like repair of electrical and electronic goods, cycles and shoes, photostat and ironing may also be allowed.

Doctors, lawyers, tax consultants, architects, town planners, engineers, chartered accountants, company secretaries, property consultants, tourist guides, IT consultants and insurance and financial consultants would also be allowed to carry on their professional activities in the residential areas. Some of these activities are already allowed by HUDA in the residential sectors, subject to certain conditions.

The committee has also recommended that pre-nursery schools, preparatory schools, kindergarten schools, crèches, health clubs and gymnasiums should also be allowed in the residential areas.

Of course, there would be certain conditions for carrying out all these activities.

The case started when the All Sectors (HUDA) Market Welfare Association, Faridabad, moved the Supreme Court in 1995, urging it to direct the Haryana Government to stop commercial activities in the residential areas because these adversely affected its members who paid huge amounts to purchase shops in the commercial areas earmarked by HUDA. In November, 1996, the apex court, while directing various authorities of the state government to take action against those who were using their houses for commercial activities, referred the case to the Punjab and Haryana High Court for monitoring.

In August last, the High Court constituted a committee, comprising the Advocate-General of Haryana and a senior advocate, Dr Balram Gupta, with a mandate to monitor the action being taken by various authorities to implement the court orders. The case will now come up before the High Court on October 11. The government is likely to seek time from the court.

Chandigarh, October 5
Infighting in the ruling Congress in Haryana is set to increase when the dissident Congress leader and three-time former Chief Minister, Mr Bhajan Lal, and his MP son, Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, arrives at Yamunanagar on October 15 for attending a so-called tea party.

Three such “tea parties” have already been held, at Kurukshetra, Narnaul and Sirsa. However, the meeting on October 15 is being given some special importance in view of reservations allegedly expressed by the Congress chief, Ms Sonia Gandhi, against the proposed SEZ projects.

Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, who has earned a reputation for himself for relentless criticism of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led regime in the state, claims that the caution expressed by Ms Gandhi is a vindication of his stand against the SEZ. He is expected to be particularly scathing in his attach against the Hooda regime at the meeting at Yamunanagar.

Mr Satpal Kaushik, secretary of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, it is learnt, is playing a key role in holding this meeting. Others organisers include Mr Lehri Singh, former DCC chief and also a former MLA.

A Congress member from Yamunanagar said there was enough reason for them to be aggrieved with the installation of Mr Hooda as Chief Minister. It was Mr Bhajan Lal who was the PCC chief when the Congress won the Lok Sabha and Assembly poll in Haryana with a thumping majority, he pointed out.

He said ever since the government was formed in Haryana, veteran Congress activitists from Yamunanagar had been “ignored” There was resentment at the inclusion of Ms Veena Sharma of Yamunanagar in the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) as her husband the late Rajesh Sharma, was made Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Board by the previous government headed by Mr Om Prakash Chautala, the Congress member said.

Mr Kuldeep Bishnoi, it is learnt, has got posters printed for building up the tempo for the Yamunanagar meeting. “Kuldeep Bishnoi is deeply grateful to Ms Sonia Gandhi for upholding his stand on SEZ projects”, says the posters in bold letters. The posters also carry pictures of Ms Gandhi and Mr Bishnoi.

Alarmed by the spurt in dissident activities, Mr Ram Prakash, HPCC working president and a Hooda loyalist, today held a meeting here of PCC office-bearers and DCC chiefs, where he cautioned Congress members, including MLAs and MPs, against publicly criticising state government policies.

It is, however, unlikely that Mr Mangeram Gupta and Mr Dharampal Malik, two staunch Bhajan loyalist MLAs, will pay attention to Mr Ram Prakash’s warning and keep away from the meetings of the Bhajan Lal supporters being organised as “tea parties”.

Incidentally, Mr Bishnoi was earlier given a show-cause notice by the AICC for his alleged anti-party activities. Since then the AICC has not made any further attempt to curb his criticism of the Hooda regime.

Rohtak, October 5
Senior bureaucrats in Haryana are making a mockery of the Right to Information (RTI) Act by providing false, misleading and often ambiguous information to the public.

In a glaring case, the Commissioner, Higher Education, Haryana (CHE), and Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) submitted conflicting information to an applicant who had sent identical letters to the public information officers of the two offices seeking their replies.

Mr Anil Bhatia, a senior lecturer in English at Dayanand College, Hisar, applied for information under the RTI Act. He asked the CHE and the MDU to let him know the constitution of governing bodies of non-government-affiliated colleges and whether the DAV colleges were under the rules supposed to have a common governing body for all its colleges or a separate body for each college.

The MDU clearly stated in its reply that the governing body is constituted “in accordance with Clause 25 (i) of Statute 38 of the university Act” and also supplied the extract of the relevant clause which stated clearly that each college must have a separate governing body of its own.

On the other hand, the CHE gave a terse reply in Hindi saying “DAV mahavidyalayon ki governing body ek hi hai (DAV colleges have one governing body). The CHE did not provide him the rules under which the governing bodies of affiliated colleges were constituted. The CHE also failed to say whether rules provided for a common governing body for the DAV colleges.

Mr Bhatia had asked for rules governing appointment of Principal and Lecturer in the DAV colleges. The MDU clearly stated in its reply that “the post of Lecturer/Principal in a DAV college was a selection post by way of direct recruit ment through a duly constituted selection committee”. As against this the CHE stated that principals and lecturers of non-government colleges were recruited directly.

It is another matter that despite admitting that the posts were to be filled by way of direct recruitment, the CHE has been allowing DAV colleges to appoint principals and lecturers by way of transfer from one college to another.

The applicant had also asked whether under the rules the seniority of teachers of the affiliated DAV colleges was maintained college-wise. The MDU stated in reply that the “seniority of teachers is drawn college-wise”.

The CHE once again sent an incomplete and misleading reply stating that the seniority of non-teaching employees in the DAV colleges was maintained college-wise. It failed to mention how the seniority of principals and lecturers was supposed to be maintained.

Mr Bhatia asked whether an employee of a government-aided DAV college was an employee of that college or the so-called common governing body of the DAV institutions. The MDU clearly stated that “a DAV employee is a wholetime employee of the college to which 95 per cent grant-in-aid is paid by the Haryana Government”.

However, the CHE’s reply to this query was that the employees of the DAV colleges were entitled to 95 per cent grant and not the employer. This again is not the correct reply.

Mr Bhatia had sought similar information from Kurukshetra University also. His letters were returned to him as nobody was prepared to accept it on behalf of the Public Information Officer. He then sent it to the Vice-Chancellor after which he was asked to send the required fee in the form of postal orders. When he sent these by post, officials again refused to accept the letter from the postman.

Even influential politicians are being treated in a similar fashion. Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi had applied for information on the Reliance SEZ from the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) on August 30. He claimed that even after the expiry of the stipulated period of 30 days, he did not get the information he had sought.

He now plans to appeal to the Chief Information Commissioner, Haryana. He also threatened to take the HSIIDC authorities to the court on this issue. 

Ambala, October 5
The wreckage of the MiG-29 fighter aircraft, which had crashed at Saddopur village, has been cleared from the area.

The MiG-29, being piloted by Sq Ldr V Naik, had crashed in an open field in Saddopur village on September 28. The pilot had bailed out safely and there were no casualties on the ground.

Air Force personnel have extricated the wreckage of the aircraft which had got stuck in a large crater formed due to the tremendous force of the impact. Taking out the wreckage with due care posed a challenge since different parts of the MiG-29 are required for further analysis to detect the reason behind the crash.

Unlike in other fighter aircraft crashes, most of the wreckage of the MiG-29 was in a limited area. More than a 10 foot deep crater has been formed at the crash spot. JCB machines and recovery cranes were used to take out the wreckage from the large crater.

The wreckage parts were loaded onto a large Air Force vehicle and taken to the Ambala airbase. The black box had already been taken away for analysis.

During the process of extricating the wreckage, a few rounds of cartridges were also found. While some of the cartridges were destroyed in the fire which broke out due to the crash, the rest of the cartridges were fine. Air-force personnel at the spot carefully separated the cartrdiges from the destroyed ones.

Chandigarh, October 5
The Haryana Government has issued appointment letters to 31 Judges(Junior Division) for their posting in the State Civil Service(Judicial).

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had recommended the names of 36 persons after conducting a written test followed by an interview.

Those who have been appointed are Ms Jasmin Sharma, Mr Ashu Kumar Jain, Mr Rajesh Gupta, Mr Ravneet, Mr Amit Kumar Arya, Mr Amit Garg, Ms Ekta Gauba, Ms Saurabh Gusain, Mr R.P. Singh, Mr Anmol Singh Nayyar, Mr Puneet Sehgal, Ms Rashmi Sharma, Ms Suruchi Atreja, Ms Gomti Manocha, Mr Vijay James, Ms Monica, Ms Yashika, Ms Parminder Kaur, Ms Shakha Bansal, Mr Vijayant Sehgal, Ms Payal Mittal, Mr Sunil Chauhan, Mr Peeyush Gakhar, Ms Anupamish Modi, Ms Jyoti Rani, Mr Varun Nagpal, Ms Shelly Arora, Mr Virinder Singh, Mr Prashant Rana, Ms Renu Rana and Ms Harshali Chowdhary.

The posting orders of the Judges would be issued by the High Court.

Sonepat, October 5
A court here sentenced a person and fined him Rs 5,000 for murdering an undertrial in the judicial complex on July 7, 2004.

The accused Mangal Singh, an associate of a gangster of Farmana village shot and wounded Kulbir, a undertrial prisoner at Sonepat district jail while the police was escorting him to the judicial complex to be produced before the magistrate.

Kulbir of Haldipur village later succumbed to his injuries in a hospital.

The police registered a case of murder against Mangal Singh and gangster Ram Dhan alias Leela.

Mangal Singh was arrested some days after the murder whereas Ram Dhan was declared proclaimed offender by the court. — PTI

Bhiwani, October 5
Bhiwani Civil Surgeon, Dr. K.D.Sharma has alerted the ultrasound centres in the district, which had not got their registrations renewed, under the PNDT Act.

A decision was taken at a meeting of the District advisory committee of Pre-natal Detection Test Act here today. Dr Sharma, who presided over the meeting and attended by district medical officer Dr. Ram Chander Singh, District Family Welfare officers Dr. Randeep Singh Punia, Dr. N K Garg, Dr. Sushil Dhamija, Dr. V B Dixit, ADA Bhupinder Singh, MEIO Ram Chander Nayak.

He directed that inspection must be carried in all the 36 approved ultrasound centres in the district and legal action be taken against gender testing there. He also said that action would be taken against the persons who buy or sell ultrasound machine without the approval of the department.

Sonepat, October 5
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar inaugurated a Rs 1,000-crore cold storage and food park at Kundli industrial complex, last evening. It has been constructed by Central Warehousing Corporation Cold Chain Limited with an initial investment of Rs 300 crore.

Mr Pawar said “the farmers suffer losses of around Rs 55,000 crore every year for want of storage facilities as around 3 per cent losses are caused while taking the produce of fruits and vegetables to the market.”

He said the Central Government had also planned to develop big agriculture marketing centres, Nasik, Mumbai, Patna and Rai in Sonepat district.

Union Minister of State for Food processing Subodh Kant Sahai, Haryana Agriculture Minister, Harmohinder Singh Chatha, Parliamen-tary Secretary Anil Thakkar were also present on the occasion.

Ambala, October 5
Municipal Councillors of Ambala Sadar have opposed the drive to cut power and water connections of commercial activity in residential areas at a meeting held in the Municipal Council today.

Although the agenda of today’s meeting was the formation of the three sub-committees, the Municipal Councillors expressed their resentment against the drive to cut connections.

The MC, Mr Kamal Kishore Jain, said the drive could be held in Ambala Sadar since it is an Excised Area. “The area neither comes under HUDA nor under Housing Board. We fail to understand how the drive has been initiated in the Ambala Sadar area,” he said.

He said the matter must be taken up with the minister concerned so that the area is not affected by the drive. He stated that the history of Ambala Sadar dated to more than 150 years and was specially developed during the pre-Partition era. “In Ambala Sadar, all shops are on the ground floor while the residences are on the first floor,” he said.

Mr Hira Lal Yadav stated that the Haryana minister, Mr Randeep Surjewala, had said that the drive was limited to HUDA and Housing Board areas. “It seems that the officials are interpreting the court order according to their own wishes. Even a minister’s statement is not being given due weightage,” he said.

The MC president, Ms Neelam Sharma, said she would seek an appointment with the Haryana Local Bodies Minister so that the ground situation could be briefed to the minister. She said the minister has gone to Delhi and would be available on October 9.

The MC, Mr Suresh Trehan, stated that the science industry would be worst affected due to the drive. He said that the small industries are working in the Ambala Sadar for the past several decades and they had the support of the Industries Department of the Haryana Government. Despite that, the industries were facing closure.

The Municipal Councillors demanded be addressed at the earliest so that there is no unrest among the people. They said that the livelihood of the common people was at stake due to the drive.

The sanitation sub-committee members are Nisha Goel, Rajesh Kumar, Vimla Nagar, Ajay Walia and Anju Bindra. The building sub-committee members are Vinod Kumar, Suresh Trehan, Dr Ved, Naresh Sharma and Pushpa Vaish while the finance sub-committee members are Suresh Garg, Naveen Yadav, Roop Chand, Riya Ratra and Subhash Sharma.

Sonepat, October 4
Rajesh of Garhwal village the only eye-witness in the murder of Baljit of the same village allegedly six youths of Balmiki basti, Gohana, last year in August, was today attacked by Narender, an alleged accused in Baljit murder case and who was on bail and his five six accomplices at a gas agency godown on the Meham Road in Gohana Town. Seriously injured Rajesh was admitted in PGIMS Rohtak The alleged accused have absconded after the crime. The Gohana Police registered a case under section 307,148 and 149 of the IPC against Narender alias Gola and others who have not been identified.

Superintendent of Police, Yoginder Nehra said Rajesh along with his relative jaroop had gone to agency godown to collect gas cylinder yesterday morning. In the meantime, Naresh with five six other also reached the Godown to collect gas sylinders.

When Narender tried to take cylinders without joining the queue, it was objected to by Rajesh and others and they attacked Rajesh with sticks, the SP said and added that after inflicting serious injuries, the alleged accused escaped from the place. The police reached the spot and brought Rajesh to Gohana Civil Hospital from where he was taken to the PGIMS Rohtak. He is reported to be out of danger.

Yamunanagar, October 5
Several persons, including children, of three colonies in Chhachhrouli block are suffering from diarrhoea after consuming water supplied by the Public Health Department this morning.

The Health Department distributed chlorine tablets in the affected area.

More than 30 persons today complained of loose motions and vomiting and were treated at health centres. As many as 183 persons were given medicines, said sources in the Health Department.

Jalan Mohalla and Telean Mohalla were the most-affected areas of the block.

Fatehabad, October 5
The Young Farmers Association (YFA) has alleged raw deal with cotton growers in Haryana and has demanded remunerative price for American cotton in the state. Alleging discrimination against the Haryana farmers by the Central agencies, the association has demanded a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 2500 per quintal for the cotton crop in Haryana.

Mr Ranbir Singh Chaudhary, district convener of the YFA, said that the Haryana farmers were paid lower than their counterparts in Punjab and Gujarat for the similar varieties of cotton crop. He said that last year the MSP for cotton was Rs 1780 per quintal in Haryana, Rs 1835 in Punjab and Rs 1980 in Gujarat. This year too, he said, there was huge difference in the MSP in Haryana and the other two states.

The MSP this time was Rs 1845 in Haryana, Rs 1890 in Punjab and Rs 1990 in Gujarat. As if it were not enough, the Cotton Corporation of India (CCI), which is the only central agency for purchase of cotton, prefers to ignore Haryana mandis, when it came to purchase of crop. — OC

Kaithal, October 5
The court of Additional Sessions Judge Subhash Goel here has sentenced two youths to 10 years imprisonment and fined them Rs 2,000 each for raping a minor in 2000. The third accused was acquitted by the court.

SSP Navdeep Singh Virk told reporters that Premi wife of Sunehra of Batta village had complained to the police that her daughter a student of Class VII went to school on a day but did not return home. She searched for her at a number of places. Satbir Singh told her that Anil Kumar of Batta and two other unknown persons took his daughter in a car.

The police registered a case under Sections 363 and 366 of the IPC and arrested Anil Kumar of Batta, Vijender of Sismor and Balwinder Singh and recovered the girl whose medical examination revealed that she was sexually exploited.

Following this Section 376 of the IPC was also added in the case.

The judge after perusal of the evidence on record and arguments put up by the prosecution and the defence held Anil and Vijender guilty of rape and acquitted Balwinder Singh driver of the car.

Hisar, October 5
Traders and shopkeepers affected by sealing operations staged demonstrations, blocked traffic and raised slogans against the government in protest here today. A number of shops and other commercial establishments remained closed.

Members of the local unit of the INLD, led by Rajya Sabha MP Sumitra Mahajan, staged a dharna to oppose the sealing operation.

The affected traders held a meeting at the local Krantiman Park, where they decided to continue their agitation. A newly constituted Vyapar Parishad has also called for Hisar bandh on October 9.