Chandigarh, June 26
The Haryana Cabinet will be expanded after the election of the President of India. This was stated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.

He was talking to newsmen at his residence after addressing office-bearers and the Haryana unit of the Youth Congress. Hooda, however, denied having ever said that former Minister Mange Ram Gupta would be inducted in the Cabinet.

He said AICC President Sonia Gandhi would decide who would be inducted in the Cabinet.

The Chief Minister said Independent MLA Tejinder Pal Maan accompanied by some other MLAs had met him earlier in the day and assured him that they would support the UPA presidential candidate Pratibha Patil. Discounting the possibility of any cross-voting, Hooda had earlier told the Youth Congress office-bearers that the percentage of votes in favour of Patil would be higher than the party's strength.

Hooda said at least one Youth Congress worker in each district would be made a member of the District Public Relations and Grievances Committee. He was responding to the demand made by Haryana Youth Congress President Sanjay Chhokkar in this regard.

The Chief Minister urged members of the youth wing of the party to monitor the implementation of various government schemes at the grassroots level and make people aware of them.

Pointing out that many former Youth Congress members, including he himself, were occupying important positions in the government, Hooda said due respect would be given to its members. He said while the Congress was the only party which had a specific ideology, the other parties like the BJP were interested only in grabbing power.

Working President of Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee Ram Parkash suggested that the Youth Congress should organise training camps at district level so as to popularise the basic ideology of the party and policies and programmes initiated by Sonia Gandhi for the welfare of the masses.

Among others who spoke were President of the All-India Youth Congress Ashok Tanwar; Transport Minister Randeep Surjewala; MP from Rohtak Deepender Hooda; and General Secretary of the party Pradeep Zaildar.

Bhiwani, June 26
Yesterday’s pre-monsoon showers shattered tall claims of the district administration of making adequate arrangements to face flood like situation in the town.

Rain, which continued for about an hour last evening, inundated almost one-third area of the town.

Earlier, the Water Supply and Sanitation Department had claimed that a generator would start operating if power goes off during rains at the disposal station to drain out the sewerage water.

Every season, the department officials claim that water would not be allowed to accumulate on roads but their claims fall every rainy season.

About six months back, Shiv Nagar Colony residents resorted to agitation to get installed a standby motor on the main sewerage line. The department after finding that the existing sewerage was blocked installed a motor near Jogi wala temple and claimed that no water would be collected on the road.

But this system also proved inefficient and the entire road, which connects the district to Rajasthan got flooded.

When asked of arrangements of draining out the water, a departmental official, on condition of anonymity, said the system was not enough to face the threat of flood.

Whatsoever departmental authorities describe through their statements, the worst hit are the residents of the town.

Raj Kumar, a resident of Sarai Chaupta, said the state government had shut its eyes towards Bhiwani.

“There are two ministers from the district but none of them has ever cared to improve the system,” he opined.

Naresh Kumar, a JBT teacher, said the district administration had no efficient officer to improve the situation.

Official sources said the state government has chalked out an extensive scheme to make the rural Bhiwani flood-free zone and a sum of Rs 110 crore would be spent on it.

Sources said the Irrigation Department that had been entrusted the construction work of this drain had received money for the construction of 37 drains under the project.

The town had witnessed devastating flood in 1995 and crores of rupees were spent on various arrangements of disposal and draining out the sewerage and rainwater.

Ashok Kumar of Shiv Nagar colony said neither the district administration nor the state government ever took any initiative to set up another disposal station. The existing disposal had been set up to cater to the need of 45,000 persons about 50 years ago. Now the population of this town had risen to over 2 lakh persons while disposal to drain out the waste was still the same.

Regarding measures of flood control, the deputy commissioner said the cleaning drive of all drains and canals of the district would be completed by June 30.

The Irrigation department has kept 50 pumps in ready condition while repairing of remaining 9 pumps was on, he said, adding that the flood control cell would start functioning from July 1 and administration was fully prepared to meet every kind of situation related to flood.

Yamunanagar, June 26
In a strange development the panchayat of Bal Chhappar village of Mustafabad block resigned here yesterday, saying 'they were not able to face the public' because they had not been able to carry out development works in the village due to the apathy of certain district officials. They handed over their resignations to the deputy commissioner and would be meeting the chief minister in next couple of days.

Interestingly, the deputy commissioner is not the competent authority to tender resignation. DC Nitin Kumar Yadav said he would forward the letter to the competent authority (director of panchyats). “I have also ordered officials to look into the complaints and allegations of the villagers,” said Yadav.

Sarpanch Mahipal Singh and panches Nirmal Singh, Swaran Singh, Bachana Ram, Subhash Chand, Gian Chand, Jaipal, Sarjeeto Devi, Sukhdevi and Shimla Devi tendered their resignations. The resignation letters would be faxed and mailed to the director, panchayats, said sarpanch Mahipal Singh.

In the three-page resignation letter they said the panchayat had passed resolutions to remove encroachments on panchayat and shamlat land by villagers, construction of streets and shed and the same were forwarded to senior officials. It has been alleged that the BDPO (Mustafabad) even after carrying out inspection did not let the development works start.

The panchayat members said that a request to construct a boundary wall around a common well was made to the administration. On June 22 officials, including the BDPO with police force, had reached the spot. But the BDPO did not allow the construction, citing a court's order. The panchayat claims that there was no such order. “The panchayat felt insulted on that day,” is written in the letter.

Fatehabad, June 26
Ten armed persons led by Subhash Fauji, a notorious criminal, on Saturday forced their entry in a private school and tried to take forcible possession of land adjoining its building. The police arrested them under Sections 147, 148, 451 and 506 of the IPC.

Fauji, however, maintained that he was lawful owner of the piece of land and that he had purchased it for Rs 4 crore from its owner Ram Lal Bajaj.

J P Heyer, director of the local Dayaram Public School, lodged a complaint with the police that a group of armed youths led by Fauji forced their entry into the school after breaking open the locks and beating up the chowkidar posted there.

A police party led by DSP Harish Dutta reached there and began investigations.

Fauji showed papers of the land to the police and claimed to be its true owner. The police, however, took all youths into custody and booked them for trespass, criminal intimidation and rioting. The school, it may be recalled, has been at the centre of controversy for the past five years when the new management led by Heyer took over charge of the school.

Heyer and family members of the Bajaj family, who opened the school, have been embroiled in a legal battle over its ownership.

While the Bajaj's have been maintaining that Heyer has ‘usurped’ the school after he was entrusted with running the school on lease basis, Heyer maintains he is lawfully elected secretary of the Dayaram Education Society.

Karnal, June 26
In the absence of any official check on the overloaded jeeps, plying of these 'illegal’ passenger vehicles continues to create nuisance on the Karnal-Jind road.

Even as the commissioner of Rohtak range had reportedly directed the deputy commissioners, past year, to ensure that those travelling on rooftops and bonnets should be booked for attempting suicide but the deadly business goes unchecked.

A visit by The Tribune team in the Karnal and Jind districts revealed that the overloaded jeeps were frequently plying on road. It was a common scene on Karnal-Jind stretch, where the passengers were travelling on rooftop, bonnets and even rear doors of jeeps and other passenger vehicles.

Due to the breakneck speed, passengers travelling in these vehicles were exposed to any eventuality.

The illegal taxis had not only been responsible for increased risk on the road due to violation of traffic rules and regulations but also causing heavy losses to the state exchequer, sources said.

Official sources admit that due to the rash driving and indiscriminate overtaking by jeeps, number of accidents have reportedly risen sharply but showed their inability to take any action.

Interestingly, officials blamed the political involvement that resisted them to initiate any action against the offending jeep drivers.

An official admitted that lackluster attitude of the various district administrations had allowed flourishing of the business posing serious treat to the road users.

However, officials said that due to non-availability of Haryana Roadways buses on the shorter routes and approach roads have largely resulted in the growth of a large number of private vehicles, including jeeps and other passenger vehicles.

A large number of these vehicles have been plying without permits, sources revealed.

Reports indicate that these passenger vehicles were technically account for over 50 per cent of the total road mishaps in the state annually.

Kaithal, June 26
The anti-extortion cell of the police has arrested three extortionists who had come to collect Rs 10 lakh from a local businessman. The police has also recovered a pistol, two live cartridges and a motorcycle used by the criminals .

SP Rajinder Singh said here today that a team led by SI Ramesh Chand, in charge, anti-extortionist cell of CIA, while investigating a case relating to the demand of Rs 10 lakh from a local businessman by the gangsters were present in the Model Town area. Three youths on a motorcycle came to the residence of a commission agent . The police force overpowered two youths but the third tried to flee on the motorcycle . The police party gave hot chase to the youth who was also overpowered. The youth identified as Subhash was fully searched, which revealed that he was carrying a pistol and two cartridges.

The SP added two other youths were identified as Shish Pal of Devigarh and Ram Mehar of Kharak Pandva village. The former had earlier been arrested by the police for car theft and the latter for making preparations to commit a dacoity in Kalayat. Both were on bail in these cases.

The third Subhash Belarkhan had remained associated with Surinder Geong gang for a long time. He was in judicial custody in that case and was released on bail about two months back. On his directions he purchased a mobile phone in the name of Subhash and then established a contact with Baljeet alias Jeeta and Joginder Geong who are in jail in South Africa. The SP added that under human rights provisions any person lodged in a jail in South Africa can talk to his acquaintance on phone.

Narrating sequence of events the SP said that on June 22 two youths came to a local businessman and made him talk on a mobile to Jeeta who threatened the commission agent and asked him to pay a ransom to Subhash or be ready to face dire consequences . The three were produced in the local court and were granted two days’ police remand.

Rohtak, June 26
The Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) authorities have decided to introduce an internal assessment in postgraduate courses like MA, MSc, MCom, LLB first-year (annual scheme) and LLM courses in the university teaching departments (UTDs), PG Regional Centre, Rewari, and university affiliated colleges, where these courses are available.

This academic reform measure is a decision of the Academic Council of the university, which resolved to introduce the internal assessment scheme in its meeting held on March 15, this year.

As per the Academic Council (AC) decision, the internal assessment scheme will be introduced in Part-I of the PG courses from the academic session 2007-2008 and in Part-II from the session 2008-2009.

Under the new regime, 20 per cent marks in each paper have been earmarked for the internal assessment. Of this, 5 per cent marks will be for assessment/term paper and presentation, 5 for attendance and 10 per cent for internal class tests. The internal test(s) will be conducted by the Department/College concerned.

This decision of introduction of internal assessment is the outcome of the Recommendations of Academic Reforms Committee constituted by the vice-chancellor. According to the university administration, this measure has been introduced to inculcate serious academic culture amongst students.

Ambala, June 26
After failing to placate rebel Congress municipal councillors, District Congress Committee president Narinder Pal Singh Shera today again issued a whip on the eve of a no-confidence motion meeting against municipal council Ambala Sadar president Neelam Sharma to be held tomorrow.

DCC president N.P.S. Shera asked Congress municipal councillors to not participate in the voting process for the no-confidence motion.

The order was issued after a stormy meeting at the Congress Bhavan in which the rebel Congress municipal councillors refused to toe the party line. The seven-member coordination committee, which was formed to reach out to the rebel Congress MCs, was present during the meeting.

The municipal councillors who were present include Omkar Nathi, Ajay Walia, Roop Chand, Nisha Goel, Vikas Bhateja, Dr Ved Prakash Sharma, Nisha Parmar, Suresh Trehan, Mahesh Goyal and MC president Neelam Sharma were present, among others.

It was clear that the rebel Congress municipal councillors were in no mood to submit to the directive of the party leaders to not pursue the no-confidence motion against MC president Neelam Sharma. The coordination committee had held several meetings with the rebel MCs, but the result had been inconclusive.

The rebel councillors have stated that they would defy the party whip. They stated that their objective was to dislodge Neelam and they would not go back on their aim. They added that irregularities had taken place during Neelam’s tenure and it was not appropriate for her to continue as the president.

The no-confidence motion was slated to be held earlier this month, but the meeting had to be called off as the officer concerned was on leave. The new date of June 27 was then set for the meeting.