Chandigarh, May 14
The Haryana Cabinet today gave more powers to the Haryana Staff Selection Commission.

The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, not only allowed dearness allowance to the chairman and members of the commission but also raised the retirement age of the Chairman from 65 years to 68 years.

The Cabinet also decided that henceforth the commission would also recruit Group B employees. Earlier, the commission was authorised to recruit only Group C and Group D employees.

The power to recruit Group B employees was with the Haryana Public Service Commission(HPSC), which was packed by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala by his men before he was voted out of power.

It also decided to take 182 posts of Class-I (Group A) of Pt. B.D. Sharma PGIMS, Rohtak, out of the purview of the HPSC on the plea that its selection process was very long.

The Cabinet also gave its ex-post facto approval to the government's decision to create a separate Directorate of Employees State Insurance (ESI) Healthcare.

The Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Labour, would be its Administrative Secretary. In addition to already sanctioned 1863 posts, one post of Director and four posts of Civil Surgeon alongwith their supporting staff have been created at the headquarters.

The Cabinet approved the proposal of the Urban Local Bodies Department to allot 407 acres of land of the Faridabad Municipal Corporation to the Defence Reserch Development Organisation (DRDO) at a cost of Rs 73.26 crore.

It also amended the Haryana Finance Commission Rules, 1994, to raise the strength of members of the commission from four to five, excluding its chairman.

Chandigarh, May 14
The Haryana Cabinet decided to reduce the rate of tax on inverters from 12.5 per cent to 4 per cent.

However, the battery sold with inverters or otherwise, will not be taxed at the reduced rate.

The Cabinet met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.

The decision would check diversion of trade outside Haryana as in neighbouring Delhi the inverters are taxable at the rate of 4 per cent.

It also decided to tax tobacco and its products (except bidi and cut tobacco used in Bidi and Hookah) at a rate of 12.5 per cent with effect from April 28, 2007.

The decision to levy VAT on tobacco and its products has been taken following the recommendation of the Empowered Committee of the State Finance Ministers as one of the measures decided by the Central Government to provide long-term non-budgetary support to the states.

The Cabinet decided to tax Guar at the last stage of purchase. As a result of this decision, tax on Guar will be payable by the manufacturers alone and as most of them are exporters also they would not have to pay tax on that part of value of Guar which relates to Guar gum exported from India.

It may be recalled that almost the entire guar grown in Haryana is used in the manufacture of guar gum and most of it is exported from India.

The by-products -- guar churi and guar korma are already tax-free.

The Cabinet decided to rationalise infrastructure development charges being levied by the Town and Country Planning Department by coverting the same from rupee per square yard to per square metre and by rounding it off.

In case of residential and institutional categories of land, the charges would be Rs 500 per sq.metre in hyper potential zone; Rs 375 per sq.metre in high potential zone; Rs 250 per sq.metre in medium potential zone and Rs 70 per sq.metre in low potential zone.

In case of industrial category the charges would be Rs. 250 per sq.metre in hyper potential zone, Rs 190 per sq.metre in high potential zone, Rs 125 per sq.metre in medium potential zone and Rs 35 per sq.metre in low potential zone. In case of commercial category these charges would be Rs 1000 per sq.metre in hyper potential zone, Rs 750 per sq.metre in high potential zone, Rs 500 per sq.metre in medium potential zone and Rs 190 per sq. metre in low potential zone.

Similarly, in case of group housing, it would be Rs 625 per sq.metre in hyper potential zone, Rs. 460 per sq.metre in high potential zone, Rs 320 per sq.metre in medium potential zone and Rs 90 per sq.metre in low potential zone.

The Cabinet also allowed establishment of IT parks and cyber parks in residential sectors. However, the size of these parks would not exceed 5 per cent of the area of the residential sector.

Chandigarh, May 14
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today assured members of the Manesar panchayat of Gurgaon district that neither their houses falling within the acquired land would be demolished not the land along their houses would be acquired for the Special Economic Zone coming up in the area.

Residents of Manesar village had blocked the Delhi-Jaipur road yesterday in protest against the acquisition of land for a special economic zone.

The members of the Manesar panchayat, who called on Hooda here today, made it clear to the Chief Minister that they had nothing to do with yesterday's roadblock by some anti-social elements

Sarpanch of Manesar Capt. Net Ram said the road blockade was unjustified and outsiders were present among the agitators. These people, he said, appeared to have been used to gain political mileage by those who were not able to digest the increase made by the state government in the floor rates for acquiring the land. He said the Chautala government imposed section 4 to acquire this land and no one had protested against it at that time. Therefore, it was clear that yesterday's protest was politically motivated.

The MLA of Sohana Sukhbir Jaunpuria said the people of Gurgaon had nothing to do with the agitation. He said those who did not like the peaceful atmosphere in the state were adopting such political gimmicks.

Chandigarh, May 14
The Haryana Government today gave one year to those private schools which are yet to fulfil the norms prescribed for their recognition by the Haryana Education Department.

The decision was taken at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today to discuss the issue of recognition to private schools.

It was decided that such private schools would be granted provisional affiliation with the Haryana Board of School Education for the academic session 2007-08, provided they would give an undertaking that they would fulfil the prescribed norms for recognition before December 31, 2007.

Also, they would not run the school for the next academic session starting from April 1, 2008, without fulfilling the norms.

All schools which did not fall under the category would apply to the education department before September 30, 2007, and the department would convey the decision regarding recognition by December 31, 2007.

President of the Haryana Federation of Unrecognised Schools Welfare Association Kul Bhushan Sharma welcomed the decision, which, he said, would save the future of lakhs of students.

Forest Minister Kiran Choudhry also hailed the decision.

Chandigarh, May 14
A speciality hospital for spastic children would be set up at Panchkula with focus on treatment of cerebral palsy.

An ambitious project of Rs 11.86 crore for setting up the hospital was approved by the Executive Committee of the Haryana Saket Council which met here today under the chairmanship of Haryana Governor and President of the Saket Council, Dr A.R. Kidwai.

The Governor also stressed the need for setting up a physiotherapy training centre in the institute as with the growing population the need for physiotherapist was increasing.

The Governor appreciated the working of the Haryana Saket Council which was benefiting the physically handicapped persons in this region and directed that its status quo be maintained.

Dr Kidwai gave prizes to the good workers of the Saket Hospital and aids and appliances to the physically handicapped.

Karnal, May 14
Karnal has become the first district in the state to launch the "no polythene" campaign.

The eco-friendly movement initiated by the district administration has completed seven months and has started getting support from the local residents.

Launched in October last year, deputy commissioner Balbir Singh Malik terms it as an attempt to make people aware about the hazardous effects of plastic on the environment.

``We do not claim 100 per cent success, but residents have started responding to our message. Residents of certain pockets, including Sury Enclave in Sector 7, have stopped using polythene. They ensure that their streets remain free from polythene,'' claims Malik.

Every Sunday, free fabric bags are distributed among the residents at the mandi.

The administration has divided the entire township in 19 beats and a government official is given the charge of each beat.

For the last seven months on every Saturday morning, officials, including the DC, reach their beats for the cause. Welfare associations and the residents are also roped in for the operation cleaning.

Motivated to make it a people's movement, volunteers pick plastic waste from the open spaces, drains and streets.

After spreading the message, the administration has now directed the vegetables vendors to stop using recycled polythene bags.

Strict instructions have been issued to officials of the market committee and the MC to keep a check on the use of such bags by shopkeepers.

He said due to plastic waste, the drainage system of the district was almost collapsed causing flood in an area of about 1.25 lakh hectares this February.

Kaithal, May 14
The police has arrested alleged human trafficker Sushil Tandon alias Natwar Lal, who took two proclaimed offenders, Joginder Geong and Baljeet Badsikri, wanted by the Kaithal police in the Arora murder case, to South Africa on fake passports.

This information was given to mediapersons by the SSP here today who also revealed that Sushil had travelled to 22 countries and remained in jail in many countries on the charge of illegal immigration. The SSP said three proclaimed offenders in the custody in South African police would be soon extradited to India .

The SSP said on receiving information about the arrest of Baljeet Badsikri, Joginder and Surinder Pehalwan by the South African police, a team of the Haryana police went to South Africa in March, 2007.

During perusal of documents seized from these accused, the police came to know about bank account number.

After coming back to India, the police during investigation learnt that this account number had been issued in the name of Sushil Verma, Bappa Nagar, Delhi, and some money from this account had been withdrawn on February 7, 2007, in South Africa and subsequently the money from this account was withdrawn at Jalandhar and Delhi .

The police obtained the photo of this account holder and came to know that this photograph was of Sushil Tandon of Kaitha.

A team of Kaithal CIA branch visited Delhi and subsequently when on May 13 Sushil came to withdraw money from an ATM at Vikas Puri, he was overpowered by the police team and ATM cards of ICICI Bank were seized from him.

The SSP said Sushil took Baljeet and Joginder to South Africa as he knew that India had no extradition treaty with South Africa.

Fatehabad, May 14
In a bizarre incident, a teenaged boy was tortured to death by his father and stepmother at Bighar village near here.

The boy's tortured on April 30 and he died on May 8 but it came to light today that the parents fled with the body soon after his death.

According to reports, Raj Kumar of the Bajigar community, who eked his living by driving a jeep, lived at Bighar village with his third wife Sharda.

Raj Kumar had a son Sandeep (13) and an eight-year daughter from his second wife.

On April 30, the couple found Rs 5,000 lying in the box missing and blamed Sandeep.

They beat up Sandeep mercilessly and made him stand on burning coals for over an hour.

When Sandeep fell unconscious, they did not take him to doctors.

Even after he regained consciousness, the couple tied him in a room and kept him without food and water.

The poor boy could not withstand the torture and eventually died on May 8.

Sandeep's younger sister and grandmother spilled the beans today, when neighbours asked about sudden disappearance of the couple.

They revealed that Sandeep had died and their parents had cremated him at Ghanau of Churu district of Rajasthan, where Sharda's parents lived.

No FIR has, so far, been lodged with the police about this incident.

Rohtak, May 14
Coming Sunday is polio Sunday. The district administration is going to undertake a massive Pulse Polio campaign on May 20, during which more than 1 lakh children of the district up to 5 years of age will be administered polio drops.

Deputy commissioner R.S.Doon convened a meeting of the local administrative officials in this connection here today.

Doon told the officials to ensure that 100 per cent children of the age group got polio drops.

The DC warned the employees against showing any sort of carelessness in their duty.

"Action will be taken against the employees found not doing their duty of administering polio drops properly," he asserted.

He asked the officials to lay special focus on the residential localities of the weaker sections of society.

Doon directed the government officials to rope in the representatives of local bodies such as municipal councillors and sarpanches to ensure cent per cent success of the drive.

He further asked them to involve the people's representatives and local leaders of different political parties.

Civil surgeon Dr K.C.Aggarwal maintained that 364 booths had been set up in the rural and 186 booths in the urban areas of the district.

"Apart from this, 26 mobile and 29 transit teams have been constituted for the purpose," he added.

Later, chairing a meeting convened to combat malaria, the DC appealed to the local residents to observe "dry day" once a week.

"On this day, all family members should use minimum possible water. Besides tackling the shortage of water, this move will also help in checking the spread of malaria and dengue mosquitoes.”

He urged villagers to refill the tanks containing water for animals regularly and not allow accumulation of water around their house.

SDM Vatsal Vashishth, city magistrate Mukul Kumar, deputy CMO Dr Narender Singh were also present at the meeting.

However, they could not send the money this month which must have led to the murder of his sister.

According to the SHO, Murthal police station, as the kidnappers had been identified, two teams of the police had been constituted to nab the accused.

Ambala, May 14
A section of municipal councillors today met the Ambala deputy commissioner to seek permission for moving no confidence motion against council president Neelam Sharma.

The councillors, cutting across party lines, met DC R.P. Bharadwaj this evening. They submitted the application in which they have sought that a special meeting of the House for the moving the no confidence motion.

A meeting of the councillors was held at the Ambala Cantt rest house this afternoon in which discussions on the motion had taken place. Initially, there was a lack of unanimity among the councillors. However, later 16 municipal councillors appended their signature to the application favouring the no confidence motion.

Out of the 16 councillors, six belonged to the Congress, five BJP, two Sangharsh Vahini, one INLD and one independent.

Councillors Omkar Nath said MC president Neelam Sharma had lost the confidence of the House. He said the development work had been affected and the emergency provisions had been misused.

Candidates take part in an Army recruitment rally in Ambala Cantt on Monday. — A Tribune photograph

Ambala, May 14
An Army recruitment rally was held at Parade Ground in Ambala Cantt today.

A large number of candidates from different states participated in the recruitment rally that was held for the Assam Rifles. A large number of police personnel were present at the recruitment site to ensure that no untoward incident took place.

Meanwhile, the candidates complained that they faced a lot of difficulties. They said that they could not find any place to spend the night.

A number of candidates roamed around the town throughout the night. Some of them slept on the footpaths. A group of candidates clambered onto the roof of the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantt.

Ruchika Jain along with her parents. — A Tribune photograph

Ambala, May 14
Ruchika Jain, a resident of Ambala Cantt, has cleared the Civil Services examination.

Ruchika, 23, said she learnt about the Civil Services result this evening. “I have secured 112nd rank and I am happy with the result,” she said.

She stated that it was her first attempt. She had passed out from Chaman Vatika school, Ambala City, and she had done BE (Biotechnology) from Panjab University.

“I had taken geography and psychology as the optional subjects and was confident of clearing of the exams,” she said.

Her family members are delighted with the result. Her father Sudhir Jain, who runs an electrical goods wholesale shop, said he had complete faith in the abilities of his daughter and she had done Ambala proud by clearing the examination.