Chandigarh, May 28
The Haryana Government is keeping a close watch on the response from the Sikh clergy to the “apology” issued by the Dera Sacha Sauda yesterday before it slackens the heightened presence of security forces in Sirsa and other sensitive areas of the state.

The dera, which annoyed the Sikh clergy by a controversial advertisement, issued the apology on the eve of the deadline set by Akal Takht for the sect to pack off from Punjab. The written statement seeking apology, however, was not signed by anyone. This is worrying the authorities in Haryana as they fear that rabid Sikh organisations may make an issue out of the absence of signature on the statement.

The state government was today also put in a bit of fix by the arrival of a request from the Rajasthan Government for sending forces to the desert state to tackle an agitation by the Gurjar community there seeking inclusion of Gurjars in the lists of STs. The Gurjar Sangharsh Samiti has resolved to begin a ‘chakka jam’ agitation in Rajasthan from tomorrow and police units from Madhya Pradesh and Maharastra have already been deployed in the state along with central paramilitary forces to prevent any breakdown of law and order there in the wake of the call.

The Haryana Government, however, decided to decline sending any of its forces to Rajasthan in view of the volatile law and order situation in Haryana. It is felt since Haryana has itself hired central paramilitary forces for maintenance of law and order, sparing forces for Rajasthan at this juncture will not be a good idea.

Haryana had asked for 20 companies of paramilitary forces from the Centre but were allotted only 15 companies. The central forces were slated to leave the state after May 25. The Union Home Ministry has now agreed to keep the central forces stationed in the state till May 31 when a meeting of the Sikh clergy on the dera issue is scheduled to take place. The Haryana Government on Friday requested the Centre to allow it to retain the forces in Haryana till June 10 to offset any design by miscreants to create law and order problem in the state after May 31.

R S Dalal, director-general of police, Haryana, who returned to Chandigarh today after having spent two days at Sirsa, talked to the home secretary K S Bhoria and briefed him about the law and order situation in the district. The home secretary also had a lengthy conversation with the deputy commissioner of Sirsa on the apology issued by the dera and its likely fallout. 

Chandigarh, May 28
Inquiry against M S Malik, a former Haryana director-general of police (DGP), has hit a roadblock in the wake of the agriculture secretary S P Sharma’s refusal to become the inquiry officer.

Sharma, it is learnt, has given in writing to the state government that he may be spared the responsibility of becoming the inquiry officer in this case since he and Malik are “batchmates”. While Sharma is an IAS officer of the 1974 batch, Malik is an IPS officer of the same batch. Some trainings that are imparted to members of both the IAS and the IPS have been done by them together at the same time and this familiarity has been cited by Sharma to excuse himself from conducting the probe.

Malik, whose role in the raising of the Haryana State Industrial Security Force (HSISF) is being probed by the state government, was earlier put under suspension by the Haryana Government following a preliminary inquiry conducted by the then DGP Nirmal Singh.

After Nirmal Singh retired in October last year, the state government appointed Promilla Issar as the inquiry officer. Issar was home secretary of Haryana when the HSISF, banned by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led government after it came to power, was raised by the previous government.

Issar had several times objected to the manner in which the HSISF was raised by the then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala with the help of Malik who was then the DGP. The Bhalla commission of inquiry, set up by the Hooda-led government to look into the alleged irregularities in the creation of the HSISF, has on several occasions recorded the objections raised by Issar with regard to the allegedly anomalous steps initiated by the government from time to time for creation of the force.

Malik challenged Promilla Issar’s appointment as the inquiry officer to probe the case against him and the government had no choice but to remove Issar and appoint S P Sharma in her place.

Now with S P Sharma’s refusal to conduct the inquiry, the government is on the lookout for another civil servant to do the job. It, however, will not be an easy job to find Sharma’s successor since carrying out the probe will entail annoying a powerful lobby of bureaucrats and politicians.

Yamunanagar, May 28
Many villagers, led by sarpanches of three villages, pulled down the shutters of the government high school at Kota village of Bilaspurpur block here today after the teachers failed to reach on time.

The students were sent back to their respective homes.

Only after the officials of the Education Department reached the school and assured the villagers of appropriate action against the erring teachers, did they open the locks in the afternoon.

Neamudin, Amr Singh and Satish, sarpanches of Kotla, Bholiwala and Todarpur villages, respectively, led the villagers to the school.

The mob had reached the school well before 8 am, the time at which the school starts. The teachers, including headmaster Hargobind Singh Bhatia, reportedly reached school after 8.30 am. This irked the villagers, who locked the headmaster's room and asked the students to go back home.

The villagers alleged that the headmaster was not taking interest in the activities of the school. They also leveled allegations of misappropriation of school funds against him. The headmaster, however, denied the allegations.

Block education officer S Bhardwaj and other officials and DSP Ram Chander reached the school and assured the villagers of proper action.

Hisar, May 28
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has decided not to allow the cable TV and internet network operators to use electricity poles to lay their cables.

A spokesman for the DHBVN said here today that these cables were obstructing the technical staff from climbing up the poles for rectifying the faults in power supply lines. There also had been several serious accidents involving its staff.

The nigam’s recent decision to relocate meters outside consumer premises on poles had also necessitated the removal of cable TV and Internet cables. Therefore, the nigam had decided to refund the balance of rent deposited by cable TV.

New Delhi, May 28
Haryana today urged the Centre to ensure that the 1500 MW thermal power project at Jhajjar, which is being set up as a joint venture of Haryana, Delhi and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), should be implemented on a fast track basis so that it is commissioned before the commencement of the ensuing Commonwealth Games.

This request of the State Government was made in a speech of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, which was read in his absence by the Haryana Irrigation Minister, Capt. Ajay Singh Yadav in the Chief Minister’s Conference on Power Sector Issues here today.

Capt Ajay Singh said that the Chief Minister had expressed his gratitude to the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh for his assurance to speed up the process to set up Nuclear Power Plant of 2800 MW (4x700 MW) capacity in Fatehabad district of Haryana for which a suitable site has been identified. He urged the Prime Minister to include this Nuclear Power Plant Project in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan.

The minister said this project could come up in a short period and help in reducing the power shortage in the National Capital Region area falling in the State. He said there was a lot of uncertainty prevailing in the country regarding the availability and price of gas, which has put on hold the plans of many power producers who had planned their investments in Haryana in the expectation of gas becoming available.

Capt Ajay Singh said Haryana had consented to purchase about 1500 MW power from the four ultra mega power projects being set up at Mundra, Sasan, Orissa and Jharkhand.

The minister said Haryana had no worthwhile hydel potential but they were exploring possibilities to join hands with the neighbouring States to execute hydel projects jointly. He said the hydro potential rich States were demanding 12 per cent free electricity as royalty as well as upfront premium for hydro power projects.

He said that this coupled with a bidding process for allotment of projects acted as hindrance against State sector participation.

Capt Ajay Singh said the power surplus States were at present exploiting the acute deficit condition and selling their surplus power through bidding and the power deficit States had no option, but to buy power at exorbitant rates. The minister said the existing provisions regulating this needed to be strictly enforced and new provisions be incorporated to curb this trend and tendency. 

Kaithal, May 28
Kaithal MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to constitute a committee that would conduct a survey on the implications of the opening of a huge number of shopping malls in the country.

Addressing a press conference today, Surjewala said he had also opined in his letter that the proposed committee suggest measures for the rehabilitation of traditional retailers whose business was threatened by the mushrooming of the shopping malls being set up by MNCs and big corporate houses.

Surjewala, who is also president of the All India Kisan Khet-Mazdoor Congress, said there were 8 crore traditional retailers in the country and “it is our duty to ensure that they keep on earning their livelihood with dignity and also prosper”.

Surjewala also urged all state governments to take steps to ensure that retailers’ business continues as it has in the past. He made a particular request to the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government to ensure that present retailers be allowed to continue with their businesses with respect and dignity as they had voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Congress in the last Assembly elections.

Surjewala said he had also called a meeting of all Gram Panchayats of the district on June 2 to consider the issue of allotment of land to ‘kumhars’ and basket makers in the villages by panchayat bodies.

Ambala, May 28
The residents of colonies adjoining the Tangri in Ambala Cantonment are living in fear as the monsoons are barely a few weeks away and they will have to once again bear the fury of floods.

The residents want the district administration to raise a bundh along the river so that the floods do not cause loss of life and property. They have demanded that the bundh be raised before the monsoons.

The residents of Vashisht Nagar, one of the colonies, had moved an application in the Khula Darbar last month over this matter. Acting on the application, a team of officials had visited the site and a response was forwarded to the deputy commissioner.

"As per orders of the ADC, the site was inspected by the district town planner, the assistant town planner and junior engineers. It is noticed that petitioners and several others have constructed houses near the river edge inside the peripheral bundh, which is illegal and wrong. They have purchased land from private persons and have constructed their houses there," a letter sent to the DC by the team of officials stated.

The letter further states, “They have constructed the houses near the edge of the river knowing well that the river can change its course at any time during the floods, causing havoc. Copies of the registered deeds were scrutinised, showing that the constructions are illegal. All such inhabitants should be evicted immediately, keeping in view their safety. Police cases should be registered against them."

The residents of these colonies, however, are reluctant to vacate their homes. They say that they have constructed these with their meagre resources and it is not possible for them to leave it and settle down elsewhere.

Pradeep Kumar, a resident of Vashisht Nagar, said they had been running from pillar to post to ensure that the bundh was constructed. “We have a registry in our names and fail to understand as to how it (homes) could be termed as illegal. We had bought the land more than a decade back," he said.

Pradeep said land near the river was comparatively cheaper. "For a poor person, it is difficult to find land at a reasonable price. Land near the river is the only option. Our problems will be solved if the government constructs a bundh," he stated.

Kaithal, May 28
The police arrested Kuldip, alias Ajay, for withdrawing Rs 2 lakh from the bank account of a local commission agent by forging his signatures.

SSP Navdeep Singh Virk told mediapersons that the police had recovered the entire amount from the accused, who was produced in the court today and remanded to judicial custody till June 8.

The SSP added that Krishan Lal, partner in a local firm Ram Sarup Krishan Lal, had lodged a complaint with the police on May 23 that someone had stolen a cheque from his chequebook and withdrawn Rs 2 lakh from his current account with the New Mandi branch of State Bank of India, Kaithal, by forging his signatures.

The fraud came to his knowledge when he checked his account. He immediately informed the branch manager and lodged a complaint following, which police registered a case under sections 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC.

In charge of the Anaj Mandi police post ASI Kashmir Singh arrested Kuldip alias Ajay, son of Bhim Singh, of Kotra village. The accused was working as Krishan Lal’s driver.

During interrogation, he told the police that he became familiar with the bank procedure and in his desire to become rich, stole the chequebook and withdrew the money after forging the signatures.

The SSP added that the police had obtained signatures of the driver in the court and forwarded the same to handwriting experts to collect evidence against the accused.

Ambala, May 28
The power cut schedule for Ambala was announced today.

A press note issued by the executive engineer, "Op" Division, UHBVN, Ambala Cantonment, stated that besides the scheduled power cuts, unscheduled cuts could also take place.

In the urban and semi-urban feeder, there will be power cut from 6 am to 7 am and 10 pm to 11 pm. In the independent feeder, the power cut will be from 5 am to 7 am and 7 pm to 11 pm.

In the rural feeder, group A, the power cut for three phases will be from 11 pm to 4 am and 5 pm to 6 pm while in the two phase format it will be from 5 am to 7 am and 7 pm to 11 pm. In group B, the power cut for three phases will be 6 am to 11 am and 3 pm to 4 pm while for the two phase format, it will be 5 am to 6 am and 7 pm to 11 pm — TNS