Chandigarh, October 16
The assets of Haryana MLA Naresh Yadav have come under the scrutiny of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. After taking a serious note of allegations regarding the investigating agency's attempt to shield him in an alleged bid-to-grab-land matter, Justice Surya Kant of the high court has sought the details of immovable properties acquired by the MLA, his family and relatives during the past three years.

Pronouncing the directions in an open court, Justice Surya Kant observed: “Based upon series of allegations and counter-allegations, it was sought to be contended that the investigating agency, in a tactic manner, was shielding an influential person, namely MLA Naresh Yadav, purely for extraneous and political considerations. The material on record, on the other hand, established prima facie complicity of the MLA.”

The Judge added: “Before the formation of such an opinion and consequential handing over of further investigations to some other investigating agency, let the head of the special investigating team (SIT), set up earlier, file his affidavit.”

The Judge asked him to specify the details of Yadav's family and his relations, the immovable property acquired by them with effect from January 1, 2005, till September 31, 2007. The SIT head has also been asked to specify their sources of income.

In his detailed order, the Judge also asked for details of the statement of accounts, along with the income tax returns of Yadav, his family and relatives for financial year 2003-04 onwards.

A petition in the matter was earlier filed by Sita Devi of Gurgaon district. She had contended that her husband, his brothers and sisters were owners of prime 60-65 acres in Narungpur village, which was a part of newly developed urban estate of Gurgaon. Two brothers and a sister of the complaint's husband were 
deaf and dumb.

The Judge had previously observed: Prima facie, from the facts which have clearly emerged, it is apparent that there are two sets of persons, who are indicatively involved in misappropriating prime and valuable land, co-owned by the husband of the petitioner and his physically disabled brothers and sisters through various dubious means.." The case will be heard on November 23.

Fatehabad, October 16
A newly-wed couple from Kharaiti Khera village in the district, which had been facing elimination threats from the girl’s kin, was provided police protection today after the intervention of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Geeta (22), a resident of the village and BSc second-year student of National College, Sirsa, fell in love with Ram Avtar of the same village.

Both belong to the Gujjar community and were having an affair for the past six months.

They wanted to marry, but the kin of the girl were against marrying their daughter to a boy of the same village.

While the mother of the girl had bowed to the wish of her daughter, some others like the girl’s uncles, cousins and other distant relative opposed it.

The couple decided to go in for court marriage and their marriage was registered on September 30, 2007.

When Ram Avtar came to his village residence with his bride on October 1, Geeta’s kin, including her uncles, cousins and others allegedly attacked them with the intention to eliminate them.

The couple managed to save their lives by running away on a motorcycle in the thick of night.

Geeta’s kin chased them but somehow the couple reached the Hisar railway station and caught a train for Ludhiana.

From Ludhiana the couple reached Jammu, but Geeta’s kin continued to give them threatening calls.

The couple then moved a petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court on October 4 and sought protection.

The couple had named Santro Devi, Chanan Singh, Rajesh Kumar, Hoshiar Singh, Ram Murti, Rai Sahib, Mehtab, Krishan, Subhash, Radhey Sham, Rajinder and Surjeet, all kin of the girl, for threatening them.

The bench of Justice Nawab Singh of the Punjab and Haryana High, which took up the case, directed the superintendent of police, Fatehabad, in his orders dated October 11, 2007, to provide protection to the couple so that Geeta and Ram Avtar could live comfortably in the village without threat from Geeta’s kin.

The couple today met SP Saurabh Singh with the court orders and sought police protection. 

Chandigarh, October 16
A mini crisis in the unborn party of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his suspended MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi has blown over.

The crisis erupted on October 2 when two main supporters of Bishnoi — Krishan Murti Hooda and Subhash Batra, both former ministers — clashed with each other after a workers’ meeting addressed by the suspended MP in Rohtak.

Batra complained to Bishnoi that he was assaulted by supporters of Krishan Murti led by his son. Reacting sharply, Bishnoi appointed Batra the convener of his proposed much-publicised rally to be held in Rohtak on December 2. Batra’s appointment was interpreted as a snub to Krishan Murti, particularly in view of the fact that no opportunity was provided to him to explain his position. Krishan Murti, who had been a long-standing follower of Bhajan Lal, had joined the BJP after Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his bete noire, became the Chief Minister of the state. However, after Bishnoi announced his plan to hold a rally in Rohtak, Krishan Murti was persuaded by him to quit the BJP and join his camp.

Sources say Bishnoi perhaps preferred Batra over Krishan Murti to send a message to the public at large that the non-Jats would enjoy precedence over the Jats in his proposed party.

Naturally, Krishan Murti was depressed and stopped working for the rally. However, things started turning better for Krishan Murti after October 7, when Sonia Gandhi addressed the “bijli rally” near Rohtak. The massive turnout at her rally posed a challenge to Bishnoi. But he lacked sufficient manpower in Rohtak. It is also a fact that the main component of any political rally comes from the rural areas, where Batra has only a limited influence. With Krishan Murti becoming indifferent, it would have been difficult to mobilise people in the rural areas of Rohtak.

The Bishnoi camp suffered two tragedies also in the past few days. His staunch supporter, Inder Singh Chhokkar of Samalkha, was killed under mysterious circumstances. Another supporter, Hari Singh Saini, a former minister, suffered serious injuries in an accident. The sources say Bishnoi called Krishan Murti to his Delhi residence last evening, where all “misunderstandings” were removed.

Chandigarh, October 16
The Haryana government has stripped two forests of the state of the status of wildlife sanctuary.

The state government has simultaneously notified as wildlife sanctuaries other forest areas of the state to compensate for the withdrawal of the wildlife sanctuary status of the two forests, located in Kurukshetra and Jind districts.

A state government notification dated October 11, which was circulated here today, said the Saraswati Conservation Reserve located in Kurukshetra district would be no more a wildlife sanctuary. The forest, spread over 11,003 acres, will be now only a conservation reserve and can be made available to contractors for the exploitation of its resources, including the felling of trees.

The notification also rescinded the status of wildlife sanctuary from the Bir Bara Ban of Jind. This forest, spread over 1,036 acres, will also become a conservation reserve and its wealth will be accessible for exploitation.

Explaining the move of withdrawal of the wildlife sanctuary status from the two forests, official sources here said both forests were partly manmade as a huge number of eucalyptus trees were grown in them with initiatives launched by the forest department. Except for the hog deer, not many species of animals could be found in these forests, they said.

The sources added that the exercise to de-notify the two forests had started back in 1998. It finally materialised under the present government’s tenure with the acceptance by the union government of Haryana’s proposal of notifying two other forests of the state as wildlife sanctuaries in exchange for the Saraswati and Bir Bara Ban forests.

Thus, two separate notifications, covering, respectively, 2226.58 hectares and 2656.38 hectares of forest areas in the Morni belt of Panchkula district were issued. The notifications declared these areas as wildlife sanctuaries.

The first notification covered the core forest area known as the Khol-Hi-Raitan forest. It was already specified as a reserve forest and,therefore, according the wildlife sanctuary status to the area was easy. This notification preceded the other one that declared the peripheral 2656.38 hectares of the forest also as a wildlife sanctuary.

The state government has also made it mandatory for contractors, engaged in the exploitation of the wealth of the two denotified sanctuaries, to contribute 10 per cent of the value of the forest resources obtained by them toward the development of the new wildlife sanctuaries at Morni.

Yamunanagar, October 16
Mr Ajay Chautala, MP, said coalition governments had become a political necessity and were here to stay. He was inaugurating a two-day seminar on coalition governments at DAV College, Sadhaura, here the other day.

In his keynote address, Dr Ranbir Singh, formerly of Kurukshetra University, dwelt on the rise of coalition governments since Independence. He said regionalisation of politics was the main cause of coalition governments at the Centre and in the states.

Dr S.S. Narang of Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, said that coalition governments had moderated the approach of political parties and made defections very difficult.

Dr V. Eshwar Anand, Assistant Editor, The Tribune, in his presidential remarks, stressed the need for electoral reforms to make political parties accountable. He said if the right to recall was introduced, the MPs and MLAs would work and show results for fear of losing their seats.

Gurgaon, October 16
India and China should follow in the footsteps of Germany in evolving and using smart technologies in order to save the world from extinction.

Prof Daniel Schrag, Harvard Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences, said this at Gurgaon Management Development Institute (MDI) today.

Highlighting the dangers the usage of modern technologies entail and their impact on global warming, Professor Schrag portrayed a grim scenario warning if timely steps were not taken to contain greenhouse effects, coastal places like Bangladesh, Florida, New Orleans and the Netherlands would face deluge.

The Harvard Professor said consumption of fossil fuels had increased and in the next 50 years the levels would increase manifold, which would increase the percentage of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This would result in melting of the ice cover over Greenland at a greater pace due to the vulnerability of polar ice sheets.

Prof Schrag felt that adaptation could be a step forward in this direction. Building 'world energy' infrastructure across all sectors would consume only around 1 to 2 per cent of the GDP of the countries involved, which was meagre compared to the mammoth issue of global warming.

Kurukshetra, October 16
A deputation of mediapersons of the district submitted a memorandum, addressed to the Haryana Governor, to the deputy commissioner here today demanding an impartial inquiry into the arrest of Kharkhoda-based journalist Ajit Ram Bansal.

In the memorandum, the mediapersons said Bansal had reported the truth, which could not be digested by the superintendent of police, who allegedly implicated Bansal in a false case.

Moreover, they alleged that the telecast of “Haryana News Channel” had also been stopped due to heavy police pressure.

The mediapersons have demanded that all police officers responsible for arresting Bansal should be suspended.

FATEHABAD: Local journalists on Tuesday protested against the arrest of Bansal.

The journalists, led by Arjun Jagga, district president of the Patarkar Sangh, Haryana, met Deputy Commissioner O.P. Sheoran and submitted a memorandum.

SONEPAT: Members of the District Press Club on Tuesday handed over a memorandum demanding withdrawal of the case against Bansal.

Ambala, October 16
Bhiwani MP, Kuldeep Bishnoi, strongly criticised Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi for failing to finalise the nuclear deal with the United States. Kuldeep Bishnoi was here today to attend a workers meeting. He said the Congress led UPA government has shown its weakness by acceding to the Left parties pressure.

He said the nuclear deal would have been a welcome step and UPA government must ensure that the n-deal is operationalised.

He said there had been a strong possibility of mid-term election but it seems that Congress president Sonia Gandhi developed a cold feet as she was aware that her party would fare poorly in case snap polls are held. He added that the possibility of mid-term elections forced Congress to backtrack and toe the Left party line.

Bishnoi said development process has come to a standstill in the state.

He also added that the Rohtak rally is going to be historic and they are working round the clock to ensure that the rally is a grand success.

Karnal, October 16
A two-day course on the Right to Information Act started today at the Haryana Institute of Rural Development (HIRD), Nilokheri.

Inaugurating the course, P.S. Rana, chief information commissioner, Himachal Pradesh, described the background and objectives of the Act.

He described the Act as a landmark development and said its introduction would go a long way in ensuring good governance in the country.

The director, HIRD, Dr Surat Singh, discussed the main features of the Act and the key resource person, Prof B.P. Maithani, state coordinator, Uttarakhand, analysed the major issues in the Act.

Around 32 officers from the departments of agriculture, food and supplies, forest, public health, irrigation, education and women and child development are participating in the course.

Jhajjar, October 16
The district police has registered a case of damage to public property and stealing crude against unidentified persons on a complaint of officials of the Indian Oil Corporation. The IOC officials learnt about two days ago that crude was being stolen from its Salaya Mathura pipeline that supplies crude to a refinery in Panipat.

A lineman of the IOC spotted a suspicious point in Silani village in the district. When he found the pipeline damaged, he informed senior officials. After inspection, the officials came to know that the pipe had been damaged and a valve was installed on it which could be used to extract crude.