Chandigarh, April 6
Estranged Congress MP Kuldeep Bishnoi wants UPA president Sonia Gandhi to step down alleging “she is hand in glove with corporate houses and is ignoring the interests of farmers of the country”.

Talking to The Tribune on the telephone, Bishnoi held that a meeting of the empowered group of ministers (EGoM) held yesterday was not only called in haste but was merely eyewash as it cleared 99 per cent of the total proposals before it.

“Sonia Gandhi as head of the UPA owes an explanation as to what she has done to safeguard the interests of the farmers. At the Naini Tal Chief Ministers’ conclave she had declared that no cultivable and fertile agricultural land would be acquired for any special economic zone.

“ The holding of the meeting in tearing haste and clearing 99 per cent of the proposals clearly indicate that Sonia Gandhi has failed to honour her own commitment to the farmers. She should step down as the chairman of the UPA,” said Bishnoi.

Holding that it was ridiculous for the EGoM to clear 83 new SEZs yesterday in addition to 63 already cleared without waiting for the relief and rehabilitation policy to be finalised. Though the Prime Minister had announced the setting up of a committee under the ministry of rural development, no relief and rehabilitation was in sight.

Nowhere in the world would any state go ahead with a policy without getting relief and rehabilitation in place for the people to be uprooted. “In my opinion yesterday’s meeting was illegal and reflected the anti-farmer bias of the UPA government,” he said.

He said the meeting of the EGoM was only a “cosmetic exercise” as the core issues were given the go-by. Protecting fertile and cultivable agricultural land, foodgrain security and the interests of farmers and landless workers working on cultivable land were not considered at the meeting.

The UPA government was so much hand in glove with corporate houses that it did not even finalise that SEZs should be spread over all states in an equitable manner. “It will be unfair to have 40 SEZs in Maharashtra and none in Bihar,” he added.

Bishnoi reiterated his demand that all state governments should be asked to frame a law so as to prohibit the use of fertile agricultural land for SEZs.

Haryana surpasses Punjab in tax collection
Yoginder Gupta
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 6
Haryana's economy is much better placed than that of Punjab, if tax collection is taken as an indicator of the health of the economy of a state.

Punjab collected about Rs 5,150 crore as value-added tax(VAT) in the financial year ended March 31, 2007. On the other hand, Haryana, though comparatively smaller and younger to Punjab, collected about Rs 6,900 crore during the corresponding period.

According to sources in the Haryana excise and taxation department, the combined collection from VAT, central sales tax (CST), entertainment duty, passenger and goods tax and the local area development tax, the state collected about Rs 7,620 crore during 2006-07 against about Rs 6,362 crore collected in the previous financial year.

Haryana has surpassed Punjab even in the growth of tax collection. The growth in tax collection in Punjab has been recorded as 11 per cent, whereas this rate in Haryana is 19.77 per cent.

Haryana has also done remarkably well in the collection of excise from liquor vends. Last year it introduced the new system of allotment of liquor vends through draw of lots to break the monopoly of the cartels and bring about transparency in the system. All states which introduced this system suffered a financial loss in the first year. Punjab was also not an exception. But Haryana was able to collect Rs 1,223 crore against the target of Rs 1,200 crore, registering a growth of 10.48 per cent.

This year also Haryana has continued with the system of allotment of liquor vends through draw of lots. The last round of allotment will be held on April 13 because vends worth about Rs 117 crore remained unallotted by March 31, when the financial year ends.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has asked the excise department to take steps to allot the vends but without compromising with transparency in the system.

Muscle power over land row
Vishal Joshi
Tribune News Service

Karnal, April 6
High drama was witnessed today when scores of gun-trotted masked men tried to take possession of a piece of land in the Jundla gate area here.

When residents were seeking clarification about the incident, all district officials were busy in attending the closing ceremony of Oasis Kraft Mela.

The miscreants fired into the air and policemen were mute spectator to the incident. At least two shots were fired, said eyewitnesses.

The residents said the miscreants reached the spot at 3 pm and started demolishing a cold storage. Even two JCB machines were used in the demolition.

SP Sibash Kaviraj said the landowner from Kurukshetra was there to take possession of the land. He said the owner had won the case regarding the possession of the land.

“We are vigilant enough.” He claimed that both the seller and the buyer were present on the spot,” SP said.

He said certain mafia members from the Gagsina area had forcibly captured the land and demanding money to vacate it. He said the present occupants must have licensed weapons.

Rohtak, April 6
The authorities of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here will explore the possibilities of joint-degree programmes, faculty and student exchange, technology transfer, consultancy in technology park development and corporate consultancy, etc with Montgomery County Community College, University of Maryland, USA.

Further, collaborative academic programmes to prepare students for corporate and industrial employment as well as appointments in services sector may be developed jointly by MDU and Montgomery Community College. A delegation of the college visited MDU today in this connection.

MDU vice-chancellor R.S. Dhankar maintained that various short-term and long-term joint courses could be developed with Montgomery Community College in future.

The leader of the foreign delegation and vice-president and provost of the college, Dr Hercules Pinkney, said their institution was looking forward to long-term collaborative relationship with MDU.

The college delegation included Prof Sanjay Rai, dean of maths and engineering, Dr Cathy, instructional dean, Dr Barbara, director, nursing courses, Marshal, college business officer, and Elisha Pulivarti, executive director, Maryland-India Business Council.

MDU registrar S.P. Vats, dean,humanities, Prof S. P. S. Dahiya, dean, commerce, Prof R. Vinayak, dean, law, Prof K.P.S. Mahalwar, dean, pharmaceutical sciences, Prof A.K. Madan, dean,life sciences, Prof C.S. Pundir, dean, social sciences, Prof Rajbir Singh, dean, visual & performing arts, Prof R.N. Mishra, director, advanced centre for biotechnology, Prof B.K. Behera, head, Department of Business Economics, Prof S.K. Bedi, and director, ILMS, Gurgaon, Dr S.C. Gupta, were present at the meeting.

Panipat, April 6
Appreciating their rescue work after the blast in Samjhauta Express, union railway minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has sent a special gift to the residents of Siwah village.

He has sanctioned Rs 10 lakh for the construction of a community centre at the village.

Sources said the minister has also written a letter to the villagers lauding their humanitarian service in the aftermath of the tragedy.

They said the site for the construction of this community centre had already been finalised and railway officials had also paid a visit to it. The villagers had donated a piece of land for the community centre and subsequently the panchayat passed a resolution to this effect. The centre is likely to come up within next three months.

Surprisingly, the village, which is now hogging the limelight for showing its humanitarian face, was once notorious for criminals.

Jind, April 6
A robber hailing from UP was killed last night in an encounter with the police at Alewa village, near here.

According to sources, the deceased, Sunil, alias Sanju, along with his aide Sohil,was passing through Dilluwala route when their Tata Indica broke down.They then tried to snatch a private vehicle passing by that road at gunpoint, but failed.

In the meantime, the police got a tip-off about the incident. Anticipating trouble, the robbers tried to run away through nearby fields. One of them started firing at the police party near Shahpur-Nagura border.However, his luck ran out and he died when the police fired in retaliation.