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‘Land worth 500 cr auctioned for 4 cr’ Plunder in Haryana — III
Sanitation award for 55 villages
SGPC to hold international convention
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Illegal structures along NH 20
A jail that fails to imprison neglect, apathy
MLA’s volte-face on SDM’s transfer
Ban on filling promotional posts goes
Award for village herbal park
Protest over boy’s death
Ambala boy among ‘Indian Idol’ finalists
School principal honoured
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‘Land worth 500 cr auctioned for 4 cr’
Hisar, May 2 Talking to mediapersons here, he termed the deal as “one of the biggest land scams” in Haryana. He said the land was worth at least around Rs 500 crore. Citing an example, he said the board had auctioned shopping booths in the area in 2003 at the rate of Rs 12,000 per sq yard. At this rate the 20 acres were worth Rs 120 crore. He added that the land price had gone up four times since 2003. He said “the minimum rate at which deeds could be registered in the area, technically known as the ‘DC rate’ - the rate prescribed by the collector - was around Rs 4 crore per acre. The normal market rates were even higher than this. There was no way this deed could be registered at the price that had been paid”, he said. The INLD leader said the land was sold by the Haryana Agricultural Marketing Board after declaring it surplus. The board itself had acquired 47 acres belonging to the Government Livestock Farm in 2004 at a reserve price to set up vegetable, fodder and fish markets on the land. Thus, it had no right to sell it. He said if the land was surplus, then it should have been surrendered to the government and not sold to a third party for setting up a school. The advertisement for the auction was published on Saturday and the auction took place on Monday which itself indicated that the board was in collusion with the Jindal family. He said there was no truth in the plea that the school would be run for charitable purposes since the Jindals already had two schools in the town which were purely commercial ventures. He said the late Om Parkash Jindal was certainly an ideal that young Haryanvis should emulate, but acquiring land through dubious means to perpetuate his memory was not proper. He said he had sent a communication to the Chief Minister seeking the cancellation of the deal. |
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Plunder in Haryana — III
Chandigarh, May 2 Labourers can be seen digging the earth without wearing helmets or other protective gear. The Khanak mining zone in Bhiwani district is one of the worst when it comes to dangerous mining. High-rising hills are being mined here for stones, but the laid down procedures for safe mining are seldom followed. The rules say that while mining a hill, roads should be built to reach the top, from where the mining should start, coming down in such a manner that stones do not fall on the labourers engaged in mining. The rules also say that while mining a hill, the "bench system" must be followed. Under this system, as a hill is mined, small benches are formed along the hill at regular intervals so that if a stone falls, it should not fall on the labourers working under a particular bench. A bench also helps if a labourer slips while working, checking his fall. In the absence of a bench, a labourer may fall deep into a gorge. Deputy director-general of mines safety, Ajmer region, Deepak Gupta admits that the situation in the Khanak mining zone is "very bad". He told TNS that he was informed that the mining in Khanak had been stopped. He promised to soon send one of his officers to Khanak to study the situation and take suitable action. President of the prayavaran avam van vikas morcha Ramesh Arya says labourers work without any safety equipment, adding that "unfortunately if an accident takes place, a labourer is sure to fall to his death.” Arya says greedy miners frequently use explosives without obtaining the requisite licences. They do not have proper magazines to store the explosives. To beat the explosives law, the miners engage licence-holders on contract. These contractors do blasting on behalf of the mining lease-holders. He says there is no provision in the law to engage "contract blasters". In Mewat, stone mining is being done at five places --- Gudawali, Beghawali, Ransika, Bajida Pahari and Utawar. Residents of these areas allege that explosives are freely used close to the "abadi" areas of villages. Many houses have developed cracks due to the impact of the blasts. Two writ petitions have been pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, urging it to ask the government to take corrective measures. One writ petition has been filed by Shekhar and other residents of Beghawali village, seeking a ban on mining in their village. The other writ has been filed by Ashok, who is also a resident of Beghawali. He has sought a ban on mining in the entire region, on the ground that the mining and subsequent crushing operations have led to unprecedented pollution in the area. Both writs have been filed through Daya Choudhry, the first woman to be designated as senior advocate by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. After a TV channel recently highlighted how small crushers(chakkis) installed along a public road in Mewat were causing pollution, making the life of villagers miserable, the chakkis were shifted from the road and re-installed in the interior under pressure of the pollution control authorities. However, the problem of pollution continues, only the location has changed. (To be continued)
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Sanitation award for 55 villages
Chandigarh, May 2 The villages — 16 in Panipat, 11 in Karnal, eight each in Bhiwani and Mahendragarh, three each in Yamunanagar and Kaithal and two each in Kurukshetra, Rewari and Hisar — now have the toilet facility in all houses. Dharam Bir, chief parliamentary secretary, will receive the award on behalf of the panchayats from the President of India at a ceremony at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Friday. The number of NGP recipient villages in Haryana in 2006-07 is much higher than the figures for the previous years. Moreover, villagers were persuaded to build toilets at their own expense during the campaign instead of giving them subsidy for the purpose. |
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Stone of school building laid
Kaithal, May 2 Justice Pritam Pal called upon the students to set up high goals in life and work with discipline, devotion and dedication to achieve such goals. He said hardwork was key to success. He gave away prizes to the students who made outstanding achievements in academics and brought laurels to the institution. Earlier, Justice Pal laid the foundation stone of a new building to be constructed for primary wing of the school in Sector 20, HUDA, here. Suman Nijhawan, school principal and regional director, read the school annual report. Poonam Suri, secretary, DAV schools managing committee, presided over this function. Vijay Sabharwal, secretary, DAV college managing committee, New Delhi, welcomed the chief guest. H.S Bhangoo, District and Sessions Judge, Rajinder Kataria deputy commissioner, Navdeep Singh Virk, SSP, Subhash Goel ADJ, S.P Singh, CJM, were prominent among those present on the occasion. The students presented a colourful cultural programme on the occasion. The presentation of a Hindi light and sound show ‘Kaljayi Karamyogi: Swami Dayanand’ directed by Dr Sanjeev Chaudhry was the highlight of this function.
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SGPC to hold international convention
Karnal, May 2 Talking to The Tribune here today the senior vice-president of SGPC Raghujit Singh Virk said several Sikh intellectuals and other prominent political and social personalities of the same community from India and abroad had confirmed their participation in the convention. The proposed meeting would either be held in Karnal or Kurukshetra,
he added. Earlier on May 6, a meeting would be organised in Karnal where the Sikh sangat from the state and other parts would participate. SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar and working president of SAD Sukhbir Singh Badal will be among the prominent personalities scheduled to attend the May 6 meeting, he said. When asked about the reason for calling the convention, Virk said the Sikh community has started feeling suffocated as the Congress regime was meddling in their religious affairs . He said the meetings were being organised to bare the evil designs of the Congress, that, he alleged, was trying to divide the minority community. |
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Illegal structures along NH 20
Sirsa, May 2 Officials said illegal structures fell within 60 metres on both sides of the highway. As the price of land along the national highway is in crores per acre, many people have raised structures violating the Controlled Area Act. Most of the illegal structures were raised between 1983 and 2007. Despite reminders, the violators failed to comply with the orders. The demolition drive will start from the Hisar road tomorrow where 19 illegal buildings, including 14 houses and five buildings were being used for commercial purpose said Sudhir Chouhan district town planner.He added as the owners had been given time till May 2 evening to demolish the illegal structures themselvesn now after the expiry of the stipulated period, the department would start demolition from tomorrow. After the Hisar road illegal structures on the Dabwali road and nearby areas would be demolished. Police personnel would also accompany the demolition team to maintain law and order , he added. |
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A jail that fails to imprison neglect, apathy
Sirsa, May 2 Out of a total of 657 inmates, as many as 329 are drug peddlers. The jail has capacity to accommodate 567 prisoners. At present the inmates are lodged in 17 different barracks. Most of them belong to Mansa, Bathinda and Muktsar districts of Punjab and some are also from Hanumangarh and Ganganagar districts in Rajasthan. A visit to the jail revealed the sorry state of affairs as far as the provision of proper medical care facilities for the inmates was concerned. The jail is poorly equipped to handle any emergency faced by any of the large number of drug addicts lodged there. The jail has only one doctor and a pharmacist. If the condition of any prisoner or drug addict deteriorates then he has to be sent to the civil hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, the government hospitals too lack facilities for the proper treatment of addicts. As many as two prisoners facing NDPS cases died in the jail last year, and this year one prisoner has died so far. The condition of inmates herded in congested barracks and lack of medicare facilities here shows that the implementation of the SC directives and National Human Rights Commission’s guidelines to protect the rights of prisoners is still a distance dream. Given the large number of drug addicts lodged in the jail special vigilance is required to prevent the inflow of drugs into the jail. Some former drug peddlers, who are now out on bail or have completed their jail term, revealed that there was a nexus between the addicts and internal security personnel and bidis, cigarettes and drugs could be procured in the jail through them. These persons allegedly charged exorbitant rates for this stuff. At present 60 security personnel are deployed in and around the jail while five Haryana Police personnel are deployed at the entrance of the jail. The Deputy Superintendent of district jail Harinder Singh, however, said, “We have enough space in the jail for the prisoners. The construction of building for 30-bed hospital and school for prisoners has been completed. We had also sent a proposal to the headquarters for advertising various posts”. He added that no drug is being smuggled into jail and strict vigilance was being maintained.
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MLA’s volte-face on SDM’s transfer
Jhajjar, May 2 At a press conference in Bahadurgarh today, the MLA 'clarified' he was not part of the Congress workers, who blocked the Delhi- Rohtak road on Saturday in Bahadurgarh. Stating he had no ill-will against SDM Manoj Kumar, the MLA said it were some party workers, who blocked the road and he went to the spot to pacify agitated workers and clear the road for traffic. Joon however added some Congress workers were enraged over the functioning of the local administration and they blocked the highway to register protest. Blaming the media for the whole affair, which apparently boomeranged on the MLA, he said the media tried to depict him as a sympathiser of the Bhajan Lal camp which he never was. The MLA apparently took U-turn following two days of hectic lobbying by his supporters. — OC
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Fly Menace Panchkula, May 2 Dissatisfied with the spray by the poultry farm owners, each shop now has its own bottle of medicine tucked in one corner, pulled out every alternate day for the one “bitter dose” that will keep the flies at bay. Munnu, a sweetmeat shop owner, says, “We were so sick of the flies because at the end of the day we managed to get no business. The flies would gorge on everything we cook and leave the rest for people. The sales never went up. Now, I spray the medicine immediately after our items are ready and there is temporary relief. That’s the best we can do”. Another groceries store owner in the locality, Maddu Ram, added, “It was only after the living conditions became miserable for us that we decided to join hands and improve things for ourselves. We began spraying the medicine to make life better for us. Consequently, you see lesser flies. However, the poultry farm owners have played no role to bring about this improvement”. While the urban area has shown improvement courtesy the efforts of the shopkeepers, the “buzz” is as loud in the adjoining anaj mandi and other areas of the block. “Initially, the flies just vanished from our lives ever since the poultry farm owners began administering the medicine dose to the hens. We almost felt we had been transported to another world and life became much cleaner and easier. However, good things do not last forever and the flies are beginning to grow and torment us,” Raj Gopal, a 65-year-old villager, explains. Another villager, Suresh Kumar, who frequents the mandi, adds, “After the administration cleaned up the entire area and persuaded poultry farm owners to put medicine in the feed of birds, we heaved a sigh of relief. Today, as the number of flies is beginning to grow, we are keeping our fingers crossed that the farm owners will come to our rescue again”. The villagers are of the opinion that though the poultry farm owners carry out regular sprays in the area, they said the doses are high on water and low on medicine which nullifies any likely impact of the spraying. Meanwhile, the district administration, too, has got cracking by registering cases against two poultry farm owners and by conducting surprise checks to rein in the culprits.
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Ban on filling promotional posts goes
Chandigarh, May 2 Such vacancies will henceforth be filled to the sanctioned strength in accordance with the instructions of the government communicated to its departments from time to time. An official spokesman said that in 1996 a ban was imposed on the filling of promotional posts up to 90 per cent of the cadre strength. |
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Yamunanagar, May 2 The Forest Department had invited entries from all over the country for award in two categories - private and government. Spread over 184 acres the park has more than seven lakh herbs and 317 rare herbs, said District forest officer M.S Malik. — TNS
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Protest over boy’s death
Yamunanagar, May 2 Aggrieved family members, relatives and villagers later reached the hospital and blocked traffic by placing the body on the road. It took more than one hour for the police to pacify the protesters who were demanding action against the doctor. Ranmeet Batra, son of the hospital owner, when contacted by The Tribune, said it was too early to tell the exact cause of the death. |
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Badal playing vendetta
politics: Captain
Ambala, May 2 Capt Amarinder Singh stopped over at Gurdwara Manji Sahib in Ambala City this afternoon while on way to Delhi. He said false cases had been registered against Congress activists in Punjab. As many as 40 such cases had been registered against Congress activists recently, he said, adding that if the Badal government continued to target the party workers they will be forced to launch an agitation against it. A number of party activists from Punjab had also come to receive Capt Amarinder Singh. The stopover programme was organised by Anti-Terrorist Front of India president Viresh Shandilya.
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Ambala boy among ‘Indian Idol’ finalists
Ambala, May 2 A panel of judges, comprising Annu Malik, Alisha Chenai, Javed Akhtar and Udit Narayan selected Gill, who is among top 28 contestants. The selections were carried out through theatre round in the last week of April. |
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School principal honoured Ambala, May 2 Virk, who also won Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini Awardee in 2005, was conferred with the award at a function held in New Delhi recently. She was presented the award by Uttarakhand minister D.P. Choudhary. — TNS
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