Karnal, February 4
Following his failure to target the convoy of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh, intelligence sources believed that there was a strong possibility that Baksheesh Singh, the alleged mastermind behind the Nilokheri blast, may attempt to cross into Nepal with the help of his relatives settled along the Indo-Nepal border.

According to intelligence inputs, Singh’s in-laws were settled at a village in Lakhimpur Kheri (UP) district bordering Nepal and he was also familiar with the area.

Indicating the possibility of overseas links in targeting the controversial dera chief, investigators are looking closely about the involvement of his relative, whose name has been surfaced during interrogations.

Sources said the truck driver, Mahinder Singh, and Swaran Singh, who had allegedly executed the blast from the truck, said they had met the brother-in-law of Baksheesh Singh at Patiala about 3-4 days before the incident.

However, sources clarified that they had no record about any criminal involvement of Singh’s relative. The truck driver and cleaner were on a “suicide mission”.

During the last week, the three accused had reportedly made several visits on the Kurukshetra-Karnal stretch of the GT Road, where the convoy was targeted.

Sources said the duo hailing from a lower- middle class, were persuaded for the act under the garb of religious revenge. Mahinder Singh, a resident of Dera Gama village in Assandh (Karnal), was driving his own truck whereas Swaran was his accomplice and not his employee.

Inquiries revealed that Mahinder had used fictitious number of an old truck owned by him, which was sold in scrap. The duo was not familiar with each other but was introduced by Baksheesh Singh. Meanwhile, sources said dera followers had handed over the mobile phone to the police.

The local court today sent the two accused to eight days of police remand. Following specific intelligence inputs on the possible attack on the accused from certain quarters, the local police produced the duo in front of illaqa magistrate Vijay Singh at his residence in Model Town.

The entire area was sealed by the local police and heavy deployment of force was made to avoid any untoward incident.

AMBALA: Baksheesh Singh, the mastermind behind the attack on Dera Sacha Sauda chief’s convoy, was present in Pipli on February 2, the day the convoy was attacked, in a four-wheeler. He was accompanied with one of his close relatives, a resident of Lakhmipur Kheeri close to the India- Nepal border.

According to police sources, Baksheesh was directly in touch with the truck driver, Mahinder Singh, and cleaner Swaran Singh on mobile phone, who were in the truck in which the RDX was planted.

Baksheesh Singh had supplied RDX, detonator and other accessories of explosion to them in Patiala, which was kept in the toolbox atop the truck and later it was brought to Kurukshetra.

Sources said Baksheesh on January 30, had stayed in his car and on January 31 he passed the night at a village in Kurukshetra and on February1 he stayed at a hotel in Kurukshetra. The explosive was planted in the truck on February 1 on the Dand road.

Earlier, he had planned to set the explosive close to an overpass but later the strategy was changed.

He continuously informed the location of the convoy of the dera chief to the truck occupants on mobile phone. They triggered off the button of the explosive as soon as they got the direction of Baksheesh to target the black colour car of the convoy. — OC

Chandigarh, February 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has, after reviewing the functioning of the public works (buildings and roads) department, ordered the transfer of six chief engineers with immediate effect.

While stating this here today, an official press note said A.K. Jain, chief engineer, bridges, has been shifted as such to the Haryana Police Housing Corporation, replacing B.S. Singla, who was also holding additional charge of managing director, Haryana State Roads and Bridges Development Corporation. Singla has now been posted as chief engineer, NCRPB project, and managing director, Haryana State Roads and Bridges Development Corporation.

Chaman Lal, chief engineer, Bharat Nirman, has been transferred as secretary-general, Haryana Rural Roads Infrastructure Development Agency, and secretary-cum-chief engineer and in charge of NABARD works. Mahabir Singh, chief engineer (N&P), will be chief engineer, roads. R.K. Gandhi, chief engineer (buildings), has been transferred as chief engineer, bridges (other than NCR and NABARD), chief engineer, quality control, and director, Haryana State B&R Academy of Research and Training. G.D. Goel, chief engineer, roads, will be the chief engineer, buildings.

Chandigarh, February 4
New service rules for the Haryana Civil Service (executive branch) were approved by the cabinet which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.

The Haryana government was following the Punjab Civil Service (executive branch) rules, 1930, since its inception in 1966. The cabinet felt certain provisions in the rules had outlived their utility.

The new rules will be known as Haryana Civil Services (executive branch) rules, 2008, and shall come into force from the date of their publication in the official gazette. According to it, the strength and composition of the Haryana Civil Service(HCS) cadre will be determined by the government from time to time, which will be re-examined by the government at an interval of every three years.

The chief sercretary shall maintain four registers of accepted candidates. Register A-1 will be of district revenue officers/tehsildars, Register A-II will be of members of the Group C service, Register B of persons accepted as candidates as a result of a competitive examination for the post of HCS (executive branch) and Register C of district development and panchayat officers/block development and panchayat officers.

In case of recruitment from Register A-I, only district revenue officers and tehsildars will be eligible. District development and panchayat officers will be eligible for appointment in the service from Register C.

The government will not be able to change the essential qualifications, except age for appointment from Register A-I, A-II and C, because qualifications for appointment against a post are prescribed in view of the job responsibilities of the post. In case of appointment from Register A-I, A-II and C, it has been decided to increase from five years to eight years the period of continuous government service as is the provision in case of promotion from the HCS to the IAS.

Employees of certain state public sector undertakings shall not be eligible for appointment from Register A-II. A candidate, who is a graduate of a recognised university, will be eligible for appointment from Register A-II.

The revenue secretary shall prepare a list of district revenue officers/tehsildars not more than five times of the number of vacancies and submit it for the consideration of a committee with the chief secretary as the chairman and two other officers nominated by the government as members. Eligible candidates must complete eight years continuous service and should be less than 45 years and graduate of a recognised university.

The committee will prepare a list of names twice the number of vacancies.The list shall be sent to the Haryana Public Service Commission for recommendation for selection against the vacancies.

The chief secretary may make three recommendations followed by two recommendations by the revenue secretary and one each by all remaining heads of departments regarding induction into the HCS of members of Group C service. The final selection will be made by the HPSC and those selected shall be entered in Register A-II.

In case of Register B, the examination will be known as competitive examination for the post of HCS (executive branch). It can be held at any place in the state. There will be a preliminary examination of 200 marks for screening. The main written examination will carry 600 marks and the personality test will be of 75 marks. The preliminary examination shall comprise two papers of 100 marks each. Both papers will be objective type/multiple choice and in English only. There shall be no negative marking. The first paper will be of general studies. The second paper will be of one optional subject to be chosen by the candidate from 19 subjects. The course content of the syllabi for the optional subjects shall be of graduation level and each paper will be of two hours duration.

The main written examination shall be of 600 marks. Paper I shall be of English (including English essay), paper II will be of Hindi (including Hindi essay) and paper III will be of general studies. For papers IV and V the candidate will have two subjects to be selected from the list of 23 optional subjects. Papers IV and V will be of 150 marks each, while the remaining three papers will be of 100 marks each. Each paper will be of three hours duration and the candidates will have the option to answer all question papers (except the language or literature papers) in English or Hindi.

The HPSC shall invite applications for appearing in the examination. No person shall be allowed to sit in the examination, who is less than 21 years or more than 40 years. The minimum qualification for the examination will be degree of a recognised university. 

Chandigarh, February 4
The Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today, approved a proposal of the home department to promulgate the Haryana Compulsory Registration of Marriages Ordinance,2008, to provide for the compulsory registration of all marriages solemnised in the state irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

The promulgation of this ordinance has been necessitated as the Vidhan Sabha is not in session even as the Supreme Court had on October 25, 2007, directed that the registration of marriages should be made compulsory without any delay in the matter.

After the date of enforcement of this ordinance, every marriage solemnised in the state will need to be registered under the provisions of the ordinance. If a marriage is already registered outside the state, it will not need to be registered again in Haryana. In the case of residents of Haryana, if they have got married outside the state, they can get their marriage registered in Haryana. Persons who got married before the date of commencement of this law may also get their marriage registered if they are residents of Haryana.

The state government will appoint a chief registrar for the whole state, a district registrar for each revenue district, additional district registrars and a registrar for each local area comprising the area within the jurisdiction of a tehsil or sub-tehsil or a combination of two or more. In the case of municipal corporations, municipalities or other local authority or a group of villages, an officer or an employee will be appointed registrar.

The parties to a marriage will prepare and sign a memorandum in the prescribed form and deliver or send it by registered post in duplicate to the registrar of the area concerned within a period of 90 days from the date of the marriage. The memorandum should be accompanied with the prescribed fee in the form of court fee stamps and would require attestation by an authorised person.

On the scrutiny of the documents or on further verification if the registrar is satisfied that there is no objection to the registration of the marriage, he will register the same within the prescribed period. If in his opinion the marriage is not fit for registration, he will pass an order of refusal in writing after recording the reasons and send the duplicate copy to the district registrar. Any person aggrieved by the order of the registrar refusing to register the marriage can appeal to the district registrar within 90 days.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Haryana Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today, approved a proposal of the home department to promulgate the Haryana Compulsory Registration of Marriages Ordinance,2008, to provide for the compulsory registration of all marriages solemnised in the state irrespective of caste, creed and religion.

The promulgation of this ordinance has been necessitated as the Vidhan Sabha is not in session even as the Supreme Court had on October 25, 2007, directed that the registration of marriages should be made compulsory without any delay in the matter.

After the date of enforcement of this ordinance, every marriage solemnised in the state will need to be registered under the provisions of the ordinance. If a marriage is already registered outside the state, it will not need to be registered again in Haryana. In the case of residents of Haryana, if they have got married outside the state, they can get their marriage registered in Haryana. Persons who got married before the date of commencement of this law may also get their marriage registered if they are residents of Haryana.

The state government will appoint a chief registrar for the whole state, a district registrar for each revenue district, additional district registrars and a registrar for each local area comprising the area within the jurisdiction of a tehsil or sub-tehsil or a combination of two or more. In the case of municipal corporations, municipalities or other local authority or a group of villages, an officer or an employee will be appointed registrar.

The parties to a marriage will prepare and sign a memorandum in the prescribed form and deliver or send it by registered post in duplicate to the registrar of the area concerned within a period of 90 days from the date of the marriage. The memorandum should be accompanied with the prescribed fee in the form of court fee stamps and would require attestation by an authorised person.

On the scrutiny of the documents or on further verification if the registrar is satisfied that there is no objection to the registration of the marriage, he will register the same within the prescribed period. If in his opinion the marriage is not fit for registration, he will pass an order of refusal in writing after recording the reasons and send the duplicate copy to the district registrar.

Chandigarh, February 4
The state cabinet today revised the schedule for licence fee by 2 per cent. In case of hyper-potential Gurgaon, the licence fee will be Rs 5.40 lakh per gross acre in residential plotted area, Rs 6.70 lakh per gross acre for residential group housing and Rs 55,000 per gross acre in industrial area.

In case of commercial areas on the Gurgaon-Mehrauli road, it will be Rs 4.30 crore for 175 Floor Area Ratio (FAR), Rs 3.20 crore for 150 FAR, In case of other roads, it will be Rs 2.70 crore for 175 FAR and Rs 2.15 crore for 150 FAR.

In case of high-potential-one category, it will be Rs 4.30 lakh in residential plotted area, Rs 5.40 lakh in residential group housing and Rs 55,000 in industrial area.

In case of commercial areas, it will be Rs 2.15 crore for 175 FAR and 1.85 crore for 150 FAR.

In high-potential-II category, the licence fee will be Rs 4.30 lakh per gross acre for residential plotted area, Rs 5.40 lakh for residential group housing and Rs 55,000 for industrial area. In case of commercial area, it will be Rs 1.10 crore for 150 FAR.

In the category of medium potential, the licence fee will be Rs 3.10 lakh per gross acre for residential plotted area, Rs 4.10 lakh for residential group housing and Rs 21,000 for industrial area. In case of commercial area, the licence fee will be Rs 51 lakh for 150 FAR.

In case of low-potential category, it will be Rs 51,000 per gross acre for residential plotted area, Rs 62,000 for residential group housing and Rs 5100 per gross acre for industrial area.

The licence fee will be Rs 10.10 lakh for 150 FAR, in case of commercial area.

The revised licence fee will be effective from the date of its publication in the government gazette.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Haryana Cabinet today approved rules under the Haryana Tax on Luxuries Act, 2007.

Luxuries available for consumption in hotels and banquet halls have been taxed irrespective of the location of the hotels and banquet halls. In hotels, tax will be charged in respect of rooms the lodging charges for which are Rs 2,000 or more per day or part of the day. In the case of banquet halls, tax will be charged if the charges per occasion are Rs 20,000 or more. Charges for food and drink will not be counted. The rate of tax will be 10 per cent and the government may increase it up to 15 per cent. The tax will be collected and paid by the proprietor of the hotel or banquet hall.

The proprietor will get himself registered with the department of excise and taxation after depositing a registration fee of Rs 500. Once registration is granted, it will remain valid till it is cancelled. He can be asked to deposit security before registration.

The tax will have to be paid every month by the 15th day of the following month. Only one return for the whole year will be filed by the proprietor.

However, he will have to submit a monthly statement with proof of payment of tax for the month.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Haryana government has written to the high court to shift the ongoing trial of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to Sirsa from Ambala.

The cavalcade of the religious head, who is facing charges of murder and rape, was attacked near Karnal on Saturday by suspected Sikh extremists who triggered off a blast and inflicted serious damage to a vehicle.

Official sources here said they had urged the high court to designate one of the Sirsa-based additional session judges as a special judge to conduct the trial of the dera chief following the chargesheet submitted against him by the CBI.

At present the dera chief has to come all the way from his residence at Sirsa to Ambala to appear before the special CBI court. “That way he travels a long distance and it exposes him to possible attacks from militants,” the sources said and added that their request to the high court was limited to the dera chief’s case only. On the possibility of providing additional security to the dera chief, the sources said he had already been given security cover similar to the Chief Minister and the Governor.

Chandigarh, February 4
The Haryana Punjabi Sahitya Akademi today announced the awards for outstanding contribution to the field of Punjabi literature for 2007-08.

Education minister Mange Ram Gupta said Rajinder Singh Bhatti, professor, Punjabi department, Kurukshetra University, would be awarded with the Mahakavi Bhai Santokh Singh Puraskar which contains Rs 1 lakh cash prize.

G.D. Choudhry of Sirsa and Master Amrik Singh of Jeevan Nagar would be awarded with the Baba Shekh Fareed Puraskar and Sant Taran Singh Puraskar, respectively, worth Rs 51,000 each. Vinod Sehgal of Ambala would be honoured with the Lok Gayak Puraskar Ragi Dhadi worth Rs 21,000.

Award winners under the Sahityik Pustak Puraskar Yojana were also announced. In the poem category, awards would be given to Kulwant Singh Chawla of Shahabad and Kabal Singh Virk of Karnal for their books “Cheekh Khamoshi Di” and “Heer Kabal Virk”.

In the novel category, the award would be given to Gurdas Singh Palana for his novel “Chahivan”, in the child literature category to Gurdarpal Singh for his book “Akashro ki Phulkari”, in the story category to Kesra Ram for his book “Pulciya Kyon Marda Hai”.

In the review category, the award would be given to Narvinder Kaushal for “Surat Samvedna” while in the play category the award would be given to Jeevan Bakshi for his book “Poh Futan To Pahla”.

All of them would be awarded a cash prize of Rs 21,000 each and would be provided with lifetime free travel facility in Haryana Roadways buses.
Gupta also announced the grant for Punjabi manuscripts under the Sahityik Pustak Parkashan Sahayata Anudaan Yojana.

In the poem category, these awards would be given to Zubaida of Faridabad for his manuscript “Tarail De Moti”, Lakhwinder Singh Bajwa of Sirsa for “Duniya Jihada Peetha Khandi” and Hari Singh Dilbar of Sirsa for “Sanjivani”.

In the review category, Arkamal Kaur for “Shabd”, Kuldeep Singh Deep of Fatehabad for “Vishav Upera Sidhant Ate Sarokaar” and Chanderkanta for “Charchit Kahaniyan” would be awarded Rs 10,000 each.

Ikbal Singh of Fatehabad for his story “Bavrola”, Prem Singh Barnalavi of Ambala for “Jad” and Joginder Kaur for “Sewadaar” had bagged the first, second and third positions and would get Rs 3,500, Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,500 as cash awards, respectively, under the Kahani Competition Yojana.

Kurukshetra, February 4
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has called upon farmers to sow sugarcane in addition to other crops as the state government will enhance the MSP of sugarcane by Rs 8 to 10 per quintal from next year.

Hooda was addressing a public meeting on the premises of Sant Issar Singh Academy after laying the foundation stone of the Sant Mohan Singh Dental College and Research Institute at Pehowa, 25 km from here, today.

This college will have 100 seats and a 500-bed hospital having all modern facilities of dental treatment.

Highlighting the development made by the state, Hooda said with the efforts of agriculture minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha, “patedaars” had been given ownership rights by giving them agricultural land on lease for 99 years.

He said the government’s priority now was power generation. He said during the next two and a half years, 5,000 MW generating capacity machines would be installed.

Assuring all help for the construction of the dental college, Hooda announced a grant of Rs 11 lakh from his discretionary fund.

Hooda announced the construction of a bridge on the Jaorassi-Morthali road, besides sanctioning three roads.

The three roads are from Gumthala to Thaimalbora, Jalbera to Thaska and Lukhi to Gurdwara.

He also gave an assurance regarding upgrading the school in Talheri village.

The scheme of storage of 20 units of blood at Community Health Centre, Pehowa, was also sanctioned.

Agriculture minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha said while upgrading schools in the state, the government had given priority to the education of girls. 

Fatehabad, February 4
In an appalling revelation, only one out of over 400 adolescent girls tested for haemoglobin in the local Government College for Women here was found normal.

All other girls were found to be suffering from mild to moderate anaemia.

The women cell of the college had organised a health check-up camp for the girls of the college.

Deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran inaugurated the two-day camp that concluded here today.

Civil surgeon Dr J.K. Bishnoi and his team of doctors besides checking the general health of students administered hepatitis-B vaccines.

Dr Anamika Bishnoi, who conducted the tests on girls, informed The Tribune that as per the specifications of the World Health Organisation (WHO) for India, an adolescent girl with haemoglobin of 12 gm percentage or more was considered normal.

She revealed that only one girl of the lot was found normal, three had haemoglobin level of 11 gm per cent while all others had haemoglobin level of 7 to 10 gm per cent, which suggested that they were suffering from mild to moderate anaemia.

She attributed this to dietary deficiencies and in some cases it could be due to worm infestation. She suggested iron and folic acid pills to girls suffering from anaemia.

Principal of the college Ashok Bhatia and in charge of the women cell Jasbir Kaur said the college would now organise such camps on a regular basis.

Interestingly, the government claims to provide ‘supplementary nutrition’ to adolescent girls besides children and mothers in anganwaris set up in villages under the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS).

The aim of the scheme is to ensure better health of adolescent girls.

But, none of the girls present there had ever received supplementary nutrition from anganwaris set up in their villages. Most of the girls had no knowledge of this scheme, though they knew that such nutrition was provided to children and mothers.

Project officer, ICDS, Asha Setia maintained that supplementary nutrition was being supplied to children, adolescent girls and mothers in all villages falling in her district.

She said while children were provided nutrition worth Rs 3 per day, adolescent girls and mother were being provided supplementary nutrition worth Rs 5 per day.

Additional deputy commissioner C.G. Rajnikanthan, who monitors the scheme, said he would summon records of the health camp from the local general hospital and take suitable action in this regard.

The ICDS, it may be recalled, had been in news recently for all wrong reasons.

A sum of Rs 2 lakh per day was being spent under this scheme till recently in the district but the amount came down to almost half after the ADC demanded reports of the funds utilised after complaints of rampant corruption.