Panipat, March 17
The one-and-a-half-month-old criminal examination of the Nilokheri blast case had been seriously hampered as the state authorities had failed to sanction the reward money on Baksheesh Singh, the alleged mastermind in the dera chief attack case.

Investigations made by The Tribune revealed that the Karnal police had written to the home department in the first week of this month for releasing the reward money for informing about the accused.

Though the police had prepared the sketches of the accused, it had failed to release the same for public support in nabbing the accused for the want of official sanction.

Sources said senior officials were not convinced whether the sketches really matched with that of Baksheesh and his brother-in-law Pinda, who are wanted by the police in this case.

Baksheesh had reportedly cut his hair and beard to conceal his identity.

Even as the Karnal police has arrested five persons, including a 21-year-old girl, for their alleged involvement in the attack but the prime accused is still at large even after being identified.

Karnal SSP A.S. Chawala told The Tribune that they were waiting for the official nod for releasing the reward money and sketches of the accused.

An official remarked: “These are two crucial factors in nabbing the accused and any delay in sanctioning the reward money will only affect the investigations.”

Inquiries revealed that the state police had prepared at least six different sketches of the main accused but the same had not been released in the Press for public assistance in nabbing him.

According to the police, Baksheesh, a former Khalistan Commando Force (KCF) activist, had allegedly plotted to eliminate the head of the Sirsa-based dera chief to take “religious revenge” on February 2 near Nilokheri in Karnal district.

He had allegedly “motivated” like-minded persons from Punjab and Haryana to carry out the attack.

Mewat, March 17
In sequel to the setting up of mobile courts in Mewat district to provide quick and cheap justice to the people of the area, a long-pending demand of appointing Additional District Judge (ADJ) has also been fulfilled with the appointment of D.S. Shauran as the first ADJ of Mewat district.

Talking to The Tribune, Shauran said even after the establishment of a mobile court at Mewat, the people of the district had to face the problem of going to Gurgaon for filing any appeal, as there was no authority available in the district. He said with his appointment, a long-pending demand of the people of the area had been fulfilled. He said in view of the number of cases filed by the people here, there was need for appointing two more ADJs in the district. He hoped that one more ADJ would be appointed in the district soon.

He said around 1,200 cases from the Gurgaon court had been transferred to the ADJ court here, but cases relating to accidents and some other cases were still with the Gurgaon court as these were likely to be decided within three to six months.

Shauran said with the establishment of a mobile court in the district, the poor people would get cheap and speedy justice “on the doorstep” and the appointment of the ADJ would further speed up the delivery of justice to the people. Asked about the need for setting up a District and Sessions Court in Mewat district, Shauran said it would be possible only after the availability of proper infrastructure for the court and its staff.

Fatehabad, March 17
Mota Singh, son of a Sikh farmer from Buwan Kothi village here, completed his graduation in science and left for England for further studies in 1963.

After settling in that country, he went on to become the councillor of Warwickshire, the county of William Shakespeare. Later, he became the mayor of the Royal Limington Spa.

His son Gurpreet, fondly called Gilly by his friends, worked for Inquest, a charity fighting for the cause of those, who die in custody in England. He married an Italian woman, Debbie, but the couple organised ceremonies of their marriage at his native village in December 2005.

Overwhelmed by the warmth and hospitality of villagers during their month-long stay, Gilly and Debbie resolved to open a quality community school for the local people in their native village and float a trust, Buwan Kothi international trust, and get it registered in London with a family friend, Deborah Coles, as its chairperson and many Indian and English friends of the couple as its members.

Gilly (36), who died on March 17, 2007, donated 13 of his organs, including eyes, kidneys, liver, heart and lungs.

Gilly Mundy’s father Mota Singh, who is still the councillor of Warwickshire for the past over 24 years now, left no stone unturned to complete his son’s dream project.

Exactly one year after Gilly’s death, the family today dedicated a state-of-the-art school to the local people, Gilly Mundy Memorial Community School, at Lehrian, a village in the vicinity of their native village, Buwan Kothi.

Anil Wilson, who recently resigned from the post of the vice-chancellor of Himachal Pradesh University, Shimla, was the chief guest of the occasion, while Bhim Singh Dahiya, a former vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra, presided over today’s function.

Primary classes have already started running in the school, while senior secondary classes will be soon introduced once the expansion of the building is complete.

Mota Singh and Debbie told The Tribune that ever since Gilly’s death, his friends and family members had worked tirelessly for completing the project visualised by him.

Mota Singh said on July 14, 2007, at a memorial function held in London, over 400 friends and family members of Gilly assembled and raised enough funds for the purchase of 13.2 acres for the school.

Sheila Alone, an English friend of Gilly, would run in the London Marathon on April 13 to raise Rs 28 lakh for the school, while around 40 friends of Gilly associated with his NGO would organise a cycle march from Oxford to Gilly’s birthplace Limington Spa on July 20 to raise Rs 15-20 lakh.

The trust was also planning to organise a football celebrities’ match on August 8, with which they hoped to generate enough funds for the project.

Mota Singh said having dedicated the school to the people, it now belonged to the people and would be run by a society comprising of local people with no commercial motives in mind.

Chandigarh, March 17
A brief appearance of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala in the Vidhan Sabha when Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address here today led to sharp repartee between INLD members and the treasury benches.

Hooda said the INLD had threatened that the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal to ensure equitable distribution of water would lead to a civil war in the state. He also said that the INLD government had estimated the compensation for land to be acquired for the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal expressway to be Rs 170 crore. But the fixation of the floor rate of acquisition of land by the Congress government led to payment of additional Rs 500 crore to the farmers.

Chautala said the INLD had never threatened a civil war on the Hansi-Butana canal issue. Hooda and irrigation minister Ajay Singh Yadav contradicted him by displaying newspaper clippings in the House.

Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian intervened to say that there was no use of showing newspaper reports to Chautala, who had said on the floor of the House that he would remain the Chief Minister of the state till his death. “I do not know if it is Chautala’s ghost, who is present in the House today,” he quipped. Even Chautala could not help smiling.

Chautala claimed that the land compensation went up because the market value of land had increased. Finance minister Birender Singh said Rs 170 crore as land compensation was estimated towards the end of the Chautala government. The prices had not increased within a month of the Congress taking over the government. Still the farmers were paid additional Rs 500 crore.

Chautala immediately took a dig at him by saying: “I know, Birender Singh’s value has gone up after March 15.” He was obviously referring to the reports that Birender Singh had joined hands with three of his colleagues to ensure the Congress nomination to the Rajya Sabha for a candidate whom Hooda had not sponsored. March 15 was the last date for filing nomination papers.

When Hooda and parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala asked Chautala to make his stand on the Hansi-Butana canal in categorical terms, Chautala avoided giving a direct reply.

During the repartee, Chautala asked Hooda to sit down. This enraged the Speaker, who asked him how he dared to tell the leader of the House to sit down. This was enough to provoke INLD member Sita Ram to troop into the well of the House. Kadian immediately named him. The INLD members immediately walked out of the House.

After that there were no interruptions during Hooda’s reply.

He highlighted various schemes of the government and steps taken by it for welfare of various sections of society.

His reply was punctuated by several urdu couplets. When he recited a couplet to say that Chautala had no moral right to criticise the government, tourism minister Kiran Choudhary thumped the table most vigorously. Kiran’s name had also appeared among those leaders who had reportedly opposed Hooda’s candidate for the Rajya Sabha.

Later, the House passed the motion of thanks with a voice vote.

Chandigarh, March 17
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said both candidates had been chosen with his consent and there was absolutely no controversy involved in the nominations to the Rajya Sabha.

Addressing a press conference after giving his reply on the Governor’s Address, he vociferously defended the nominations, maintaining that the attempt was to “take all classes together and go forward”.

Stating that the controversy over the nomination of Ishwar Singh, as was being made out by newspapers, was “a figment of their own imagination”, he said there was no dissension within the party.

To a question, the Chief Minister said the “rising or falling value of finance minister Birender Singh” was only determined inside newspaper offices. The Chief Minister went on to add that “reporting on the RS issue has been completely baseless” and divorced from facts.

The Chief Minister reiterated that he was not opposed to Ishwar Singh’s nomination because the latter had been president of the District Congress Committee in Kaithal for seven years when he was the state president of the Congress.

However, he chose to keep mum on the meeting that took place at the UPA charperson’s residence in Delhi to choose the candidate. He also made no mention of why two ministers of his cabinet and two union ministers of state from Haryana had jointly met the UPA chairperson the day the nominations took place as also the reason for the delay in filing of nominations.

The Chief Minister, however, specified that he was in favour of the selection of a candidate from the Schedule Castes and the Backward Classes for the two Rajya Sabha seats and that was how it had ultimately worked out, thereby implying that he had been “heard” in Delhi. He said the decision to field a candidate from the SC and BC category had been taken in accordance with the Congress policy and not due to any fear of UP Chief Minister Mayawati’s clout.

Referring to the decision of his government to “stake claim” to the international airport coming up in Mohali, the Chief Minister said those opposing it could never be well-wishers of Haryana. He said Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and its basic structure could not be changed. According to the Reorganisation Act, Haryana has 40 per cent share in it.

When Hooda’s attention was drawn towards INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala’s reply on the Hansi-Butana Link canal, which was neither affirmative nor negative, Hooda said the Congress had made it clear in its election manifesto that it would ensure equitable distribution of canal water. He said it was Chautala’s habit to oppose any good decision.

On his recent visit to Mauritius, Hooda said the people of that country had keen interest in the development of Haryana. He had discussed with representatives of the Mauritius Business Council proposals of investment in Haryana, especially in education.

He welcomed the union finance minister P. Chidambaram’s announcement during the debate on the loan waiver scheme in the Rajya Sabha that the scheme would be amended. As a result of it, Hooda added, a large number of farmers would be able to avail of its benefit. 

Chandigarh, March 17
Haryana animal husbandry minister Harmohinder Singh Chatha today said the study leave of Virender Singh, joint director, would be probed to establish whether he was really engaged in studies or it was simply an excuse to avoid coming to office.

Chatha was replying to a question asked by Congress MLA Karan Singh Dalal during question hour in the assembly here. Dalal said Virender Singh, who was deputy director in the animal husbandry department, was appointed joint director by the previous regime in 2003 by bending various rules because he happened to be a son-in-law of the then Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

Chatha said it was true that various rules were changed for appointing Virender Singh as joint director. He said he, too, had heard that the joint director was a son-in-law of the INLD chief. Chatha added that the long leave (711 days) of Virender Singh was sanctioned after taking the approval of the finance department.

Answering a question by Congress representative Nirpender Singh, Randeep Singh Surjewala, parliamentary affairs minister, replying on behalf of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said landowners of Dadri would get paid at the floor rate of Rs 8 lakh per acre from HUDA for the acquisition of their land. The total compensation would be to the tune of Rs 10.40 lakh per acre, plus Rs 15,000 annually for three decades, Surjewala said, adding that interest at the rate of 12 per cent would be given for the period between the acquisition and the payment.

Hooda said since Rs 8 lakh was the minimum floor rate, it was possible that the landowners could get more for their land.

In reply to a supplementary question asked by Congress MLA Sher Singh, Surjewala said money collected by HUDA from residents of Julana would be returned since HUDA had dropped its plan with regard to Julana. He said the money would be returned within the next three months with 5 per cent interest.

Later, answering a question on unauthorised construction, Hooda said buildings constructed before the introduction of section 4 of the relevant law had not been demolished.

In reply to a question asked by INLD deputy leader Sushil Indora, L. D. Arora, industries minister, said Rs 2.39 crore was spent on four foreign tours by the Chief Minister and his team between November, 2005, and October, 2007. Arora also explained the purpose of the tours and the investments materialising from these.

Hisar, March 17
Magsaysay Award winner Rajendra Rana today urged the centre to frame a law to save the country's rivers from disappearing by October 1 next failing which he would launch a water conservation satyagraha on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday.

He was addressing mediapersons here after participating in a function. He said real estate developers had been given permission to develop resorts on both banks of important rivers which had led to pollution and encroachment on the banks.

Rana said unless immediate steps were taken to save the rivers, the nation would have a major problem on its hands in a short time. He said already the flow of water in most rivers had reduced drastically because of real estate development on the banks.

The centre, he said, wanted to shed its responsibility to safeguard natural resources like water by setting up a water commission. He said the government would have to play a more pro-active role in saving the rivers.

The water conservation crusader, popularly known as Johad Baba, said it was unfortunate that every Chief Minister in Haryana raised the issue of the SYL canal before the elections and forgot to take it up after assuming political power. He specifically mentioned the names of Devi Lal, Bansi Lal, Om Prakash Chautala and Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Rana said it was unfortunate that the SYL issue had remained unresolved after decades because it had become a tool to climb to power in Haryana.

Karnal, March 17
A three-day All-India Youth Festival Reverie 2008 was inaugurated here today at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI). Ten teams from various universities of different states are participating in the festival.

The chairman of the Agricultural Scientists’ Recruitment Board (ASRB), New Delhi, Dr C.D. Mayee, while addressing participants as chief guest, said such fests provided platforms for personality development amongst the youth and to share different cultures.

He stressed that the participating team members should see different activities in various laboratories of the institute and should also interact on different issues to learn about the academic and research institute of the NDRI.

While quoting the example of various television and theatre artists having professional academic backgrounds, Dr Mayee said such fests provided the youth to express their inherent talent.

The director, National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Dr Sushil Kumar, said: “As a host Reverie 2008 we have planned various competitions in different categories of cultural, fine arts and literary events.”

Dr S.L. Goswami, joint director (research), Dr G.R. Patil, joint director (academic) and Dr S.K. Kanawjia, convener and chief hostel warden, NDRI, were also present on the occasion.

Kaithal, March 17
The police arrested a person for allegedly demanding Rs 20 lakh from a reputed doctor in the town by issuing threats to eliminate him and his family members.

The extortionist was produced in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Ajay Prashar today, who remanded him in two-day police custody.

Giving details of the case, SSP Anil Kumar Rao told mediapersons here that the doctor received a letter on March 16 in which the extortionist had threatened to eliminate the doctor and his family if he failed to pay Rs 20 lakh. The extortionist had asked the doctor to keep the money at a specific place. After being informed by the doctor, the police registered a case under Sections 387 and 506 of the IPC. The SSP handed over the case to Remesh Chand, in charge of the anti-extortion cell of the CIA.

As part of a strategy, the doctor put a “parcel” wrapped in polythene in a municipal council dustbin kept outside the Canal Colony on the Kaithal-Karnal road here at about 7.30 pm yesterday. The police kept a watch on the spot.

The SSP said the police noticed a person doing the rounds of the dustbin. At about 10.30 pm, the power supply was interrupted and taking advantage of it, the extortionist picked up the packet, but was overpowered by the police.

On interrogation, the accused revealed his identity as Subhash Chand, son of Hukam Chand Balmiki, a resident of Khurda under the Rajound police station in Kaithal district. He was residing with his father, a watchman in the Canal Colony.

The accused confessed to writing the letter demanding Rs 20 lakh from the doctor. 

Rohtak, March 17
A large number of members of the Saansi community staged a protest demonstration in front of the city police station here today.

They were protesting against the arrest of six women of their community on theft charge.

Maintaining that the women had been falsely implicated, the protesters even alleged that some police personnel had molested the arrested women. The women were later produced in a local court, which granted them bail.

SSP Hanif Qureshi said eight persons of the Saansi community belonging to Khokhra Kot area of the town had been arrested while they were allegedly planning to rob a petrol station.

“During their interrogation, the arrested persons admitted having committed several metal thefts. They stated that some women of their community were also involved in the thefts. On the basis of their statement, we arrested those women,” he maintained.

Qureshi said as per the legal procedure, a medical examination of the arrested women had been conducted.

The arrested men were, however, in police custody, he said, adding that the police authorities of Bhiwani, Hisar and Kaithal had been informed about the arrest as some theft cases pertained to areas under their jurisdiction. The SSP refuted the allegations of molestation of women by police personnel and said they were baseless.

Karnal, March 17
Impressed by the success of an eco-friendly pilot project developed by a globally renowned Japanese scientist to treat wastewater, the Punjab government is all set to install a maintenance-free sewage treatment plant (STP) in Jalandhar.

The Karnal-based demo project was set up in 2002 by the central government as part of the Yamuna action plan, being funded by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC).

The project, the first of its kind in India, was encouraged to develop a technique to bring down the level of pollutants from sewage in the city before discharging it into the Yamuna.

The unique down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) system treats nearly one million litres/day (MLD) generated by Karnal households on an experimental basis.

Experts claim that the project had recorded an efficiency of more than 98 per cent for the removal of organic matter and nitrogen removal was also around 70 per cent.

Besides being cost-effective, the project needs less power than the existing systems running the STPs. It is also easy to use with near-zero maintenance.

Talking to The Tribune at the project site here, Dr Hideki Harada of Tohoku University, Japan, said the project to treat five MLD would soon be installed in Jalandhar town.

He said work on preparing the project outlines of the “bio tower” was in the initial stages as state agencies had agreed in principle to adopt the technique. He said such small STPs were recommended for a population of nearly 5,000 households.

“The technique is ideal for developing countries like India as it costs only one-tenth of the conventional upflow anaerobic sludge blanket (UASB) wastewater treatment plants,” he said.

Elaborating on the project, Dr Harada said the DHS technique developed by him had yielding the desired results.

The DHS system takes little space and the multi-lawyered sponges filter wastewater, which is fit to be discharged into rivers, says Dr Harada. The size of the “bio tower” can be designed according to the need without affecting the results, he adds.

Yamunanagar, March 17
People in the district are facing a lot of problems as several government departments and nigams are without administrative heads, while various departments are facing staff shortage.

Sources said the problem was due to mismatch between promotions and retirements of officials and less recruitments.

Deputy commissioner Nitin Kumar Yadav said work was being affected in the absence of department heads.

He, however, claimed that people’s work was not being affected.

According to him, in the absence of heads, it was difficult to start new campaigns like enrollment campaign in schools to check dropouts.

The education department is also without administrative heads. The post of district education officer (DEO) is lying vacant since December last after the then DEO was suspended following a vigilance inquiry.

Similarly, there is no district elementary education officer (DEEO). The principal of the DIET has been given the additional charge of the DEO and the deputy DEO is looking after the works of the DEEO.

The post of a regular district food and supplies controller (DFSC) is also lying vacant. For quite some time now, the DFSCs of other districts had been looking after the works of the Yamunanagar DFSC. These days, the charge was with the DFSC of Panchkula.

Another important post, assistant registrar of cooperative societies, is lying vacant as the official had to go on a long leave following an illness. The charge was given to the MD of Central Cooperative Bank but he too got a promotion a few days ago. Registration of societies cannot take place without the assistant registrar. The official is also entrusted with the filing of FIR in case of a scam or fraud.

The office of the district welfare officer (DWO) is yet another department which is concerned with a significant part of the population. The office has not got any regular DWO since 2004. Besides, there is no regular field officer (FO) in the district and the work is being looked after by the FO of Ambala, who visits the district twice a week.

Beneficiaries of Priyadarshani vivah shagun yojna have been making rounds of the office to get “shagun” after marriage.

The Haryana Harijan Kalyan Nigam also does not have a head and the DM of the Ambala nigam, who also has a charge of the DM of Kaithal, has been entrusted with the charge of the Yamunanagar DM.

The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam here too does not have a head. The superintending engineer was recently promoted as the chief engineer and his work has been delegated to a lower functionary.

The work of the district public relation officer (DPRO), divisional employment officer, works manager in the Haryana Roadways Depot and the naib tehsildar (elections) have either been entrusted to lower functionaries or delegated to officials of other departments.

Interestingly, heads of other departments and the deputy commissioner are working with stenographers. The stenographer of the deputy commissioner was recently promoted.