Chandigarh, March 20
Haryana is now on the radar of Indian National Defence University (INDU). After exploring possibilities inside and outside Delhi for establishing the university, the defence ministry has finally zeroed in on four sites in Gurgaon.

When the project comes through, India will be the third country in the world to set up a national defence university (NDU). The other two are China and the USA.

Sources said the defence secretary has written to the chief secretary, Haryana, asking him to reiterate the state’s commitment to offer 200 acres for setting up the university.

It is learnt that the Delhi Cantonment was the first choice for setting up the university. However, with space being a constraint in the cantonment area, Delhi’s periphery, including the National Capital Region, was explored by a high-level committee of the defence ministry. This team, sources said, had identified and recommended three sites in Gurgaon district on the national highway-8 and one on the Sohna road.

The sources said after inspection, on March 14, in a letter to the CS, the defence secretary has sought to know the cost of 200 acres. The sources are optimistic about “clinching” this deal, with the Haryana Member of Parliament and union minister for defence production Rao Indrajeet Singh, closely following up the matter and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda amenable to the bringing this coveted institution to his state.

This would be a feather in Haryana’s cap more so because Punjab had evinced keen interest in setting up the university in the state and had even agreed to give 200 acres near the cantonment area.

The sources said the university was to be a multi-disciplinary centre of excellence in the country in education and research on national security issues. The president of the NDU will be a serving three-star officer of the armed forces.

On the recommendations of the Group of Ministers’ report on “Reforming the national security system”, the government in 2001 set up a committee to examine the establishment of an NDU in India. The report of the committee was handed over to the then defence minister, George Fernandes, in May 2002.

After interaction with government and armed forces’ officials, in-depth studies of the national defence universities in the USA and China and visits to armed forces’ institutions in India, the committee has recommended the establishment of the INDU.

It has been recommended that the president of the INDU will be a serving three-star officer of the armed forces, in conformity with existing NDUs in the USA and China. The vice-president of the INDU will be an officer from the foreign service, as is the case in the NDU in the USA.

Chandigarh, March 20
The Indian National Lok Dal and its leader Om Prakash Chautala came under fire for the second day by Bharatiya Janta Party MLA Ram Kumar Gautam.

The triggering off a second verbal duel between the two parties after yesterday’s showdown led to the naming of three INLD members and complete pandemonium in the zero hour.

The proceedings began with Haryana irrigation and PWD (B&R) minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav stating that, during the Chautala regime, a total of 787.23 lakh acres of the irrigation and PWD (B&R) department was sold through public auction in various districts, including 27 canal rest houses, at a cost of Rs 31.62 crore. “What was the financial crisis to dispose of government land and give it to individuals,” Yadav asked.

At the suggestion of parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, a committee was constituted by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker, Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadiyan in the chairmanship of Phool Chand Mullana to probe if the sold land was aimed at benefiting party loyalists of the INLD and if auctions were performed with mutual understanding with very little difference in the reserve and sale price.

Karan Singh Dalal, Sumita Singh, Sher Singh and Ram Kishan Fauzi from the Congress, Naresh Malik of the BJP, Om Parkash Chautala of the INLD, Tejinder Pal Singh Maan and Radhey Shyam Sharma, both independent MLAs, will be its members.

The committee will submit its report before the next Vidhan Sabha session. This done, Ram Kumar Gautam got up to speak on the topic and began with a scathing attack on Chautala, the helplessness of INLD members to stick to the party and the Bhajan Lal-Chautala nexus.

The INLD members raised their voices in protest but the Speaker dismissed these maintaining that Gautam was only highlighting the loot during Chautala’s regime.

This evoked stronger protests and INLD members who had trooped to the well of the House raised slogans against the “dictatorial attitude of the Speaker”.

One by one, Shahida Khan, Balwant Singh Sadhora and Dr Sushil Indora were named after three warnings. Dr Sita Ram and Ishwar Singh Palaka, after slogan shouting, settled down and requested the Speaker to call back their members. They also lodged their protest against the use of “abusive and foul language” by Gautam.

Ambala, March 20
Dr Amit, the alleged kingpin in the Gurgaon kidney scam, has denied the charges that the CBI had framed against him.

Talking to mediapersons in the court complex here today, he said: “I have not removed the kidney of any person on gunpoint. Kidneys were transplanted with the mutual consent of donors and beneficiaries.”

When asked whether some political leaders were also involved in the scam as alleged by Dr Upender earlier, he said he was not aware of it. He said the CBI had falsely implicated him in the case and now had frozen his bank account of Canada without any justification.

He along with other 10 accused was produced in the court of the Special CBI Magistrate, Dr Abdul Majid, who remanded them to judicial custody till April 2.

The other accused, who were produced in the court, included Dr K.K. Aggarwal, Dr Upender, Dr Surz, Linda, a nurse at Dr Amit’s clinic, Manoj, Harpal, Ramesh, Suresh, Umesh. Dr Jeevan, who is in the police custody of the Jaipur police, was not present in the court. Pooja, wife of Dr Jeevan, also appeared in the court. The court had granted her anticipatory bail for 30 days last week.

Talking to mediapersons, she said her husband had nothing to do with the scam. When asked whether she was aware that her husband was dealing in kidney transplantations, she said she was not. 

Yamunanagar, March 20
The names of 1,700 persons are missing from the voters’ list of Sadhoura block where the panchayat elections are scheduled for March 30.

As per the voters’ list there are 7,194 voters while there were 8,900 when elections to the panchayat were held in 2002.

The missing names were noticed when candidates for the elections collected the voters’ list. The list was prepared by the panchayat department.

Some persons who were planning to contest the elections also found their names missing from the list. Jasmer Singh said the names of several persons of ward no. 20 were missing. According to him those persons had been voting in assembly and panchayat elections. In wards 2 and 10, however, there were 33 and 57, respectively, more voters as compared to the figures for the 2002 panchayat poll. The maximum number of names (149) were missing in ward 16.

BJP leader Avinash Kalra alleged that this had happened because of the lackadaisical attitude of employees of the panchayat department.

Rajbir Singh,block development and panchayat officer, said the voters’ list was prepared on the basis of the lists for the assembly and Lok Sabha elections. According to him, people were given ample time to check the voters’ list. 

Chandigarh, March 20
Shortage of power and water in Haryana is the main area of concern for industrialists in the state. In spite of rapid progress made by the state on all accounts, the industry is suffering from the power pangs and water woes.

This was discussed by industrialists during the management committee meeting of PHD chamber of commerce and industries held here today.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while addressing delegates at the meeting conceded that the state was facing a power and water shortage. “We had inherited power problem from the previous governments, but we have now given top
priority to the power generation. As many as 5,000 MW of additional power will be generated in the state in the next two years as a number of power projects are in the pipeline,” he said, adding that efforts were on to set up nuclear power plant in Fatehabad district.

The Chief Minister also conceded that water was getting scarce. “The water level in Yamuna is just 2,200 cusecs as against 8,000 cusecs at this time last year. We have asked the central government to ensure that all water bodies are treated as a national property and everyone has equal share. On our part, we are promoting sprinkler irrigation,” he said.

He said in spite of these problems, Haryana was the third largest exporter of software amongst the Indian states with an export of Rs 14,000 crore. The state had also achieved a growth rate of 10.5 per cent last year and the target for the 11th Five Year Plan had been fixed at 11 per cent. Exports from the state had also exceeded Rs 30,000 crore in 2006-07, he said.

Chairman of the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industries L.K. Malhotra, principal secretary to Chief Minister M.L. Tayal, managing director, HSIIDC, Rajeev Arora, director, Industries, D.R. Dhingra were also present on the occasion.

Yamunanagar, March 20
A 24-year-old married woman of Rampura Colony sustained 80 per cent burn injuries under mysterious circumstances here today. She was admitted to a private hospital.

Satpal, husband of the victim, Pooja, also sustained burn injuries in an effort to douse the fire.

Varsha, mother of Pooja, has alleged that her daughter was set on fire by her in-laws. She also alleged that Pooja was being harassed for dowry ever since her marriage in May 2005.

However, Satpal said Pooja had gone to the kitchen to make tea and he was out with his son. When he heard Pooja’s cries, he rushed to the kitchen and found that her clothes were on fire. He claimed that he tried to douse the fire with the help of a bed sheet.

In another incident, the police has registered a case under Section 304-B of the IPC against Neelam’s husband and his parents.

The body of Neelam, who got married to Amit on March 9, was found lying along railway tracks near Jogindernagar here last morning.

Neelam’s mother-in-law Kanta, father-in-law Karam Raj, brother-in-law Mohit and husband Amit have been booked.

Kaithal, March 20
The extortionist who had demanded Rs 20 lakh from a local doctor by issuing threats to eliminate him has turned out to be a part-time waiter. The accused was produced in a local court which sent him to judicial custody.

According to the police, the alleged extortionist wanted to build a house and decided to extort money from some influential person. He chose a local doctor as his aim and started issuing him threats.

During the two-day police remand, the accused provided information about the place from where he posted threat letters to his victim.

The accused reportedly revealed during the police remand that he had been working as a waiter at marriage functions and could not earn enough to lead a comfortable life. To extort money, he wrote letters to a local doctor, M.S. Shah. The accused had asked the doctor to keep Rs 20 lakh in a municipal dustbin outside the local Canal Colony.

The doctor lodged a complaint with the police. The accused fell into the police net three days ago.

Chandigarh, March 20
The Haryana government will soon register cases against officials of the education department found guilty of irregularities in the purchase of gas stoves for cooking of mid-day meals.

This was stated by education minister Mange Ram Gupta in reply to a question by Dr Sushil Indora in the Haryana assembly. He informed the House that stoves worth Rs 400 had been purchased for Rs 3,200. After inquiry, the department had suspended eight officials.

Further, the minister stated that cases had been registered against officials wherever irregularities were found in the mid-day meal scheme. He added that the government had decided to do away with the “approved sources” clause which had proved to be the biggest culprit for the irregularities since officials had purchased items from these sources at inflated rates. Gupta maintained that a vigilance inquiry had also been initiated.

To another question about the “irregular” appointment of environmental engineers in the Haryana Pollution Control Board, minister of state Kiran Choudhry told the House that a vigilance inquiry was on and strict action would be taken against those found guilty.

On the issue of damage to crops, especially mustard and vegetables, due to frost and cold and relief to farmers, minister of state Savitri Jindal said no financial assistance could be given under the Calamity Relief Fund as this was not covered under the provisions. 

Faridabad, March 20
Jaswant (20), a resident of Palwal in this district, has complained that he was “ambushed” on a train while returning from duty in Ballabgarh, near here, by three persons on June 9 last and taken to Akbarpur in Uttar Pradesh where he was handed over to eunuchs.

Jaswant, who escaped from capitivity and returned home on March 17, complained to the local railway police that while he was on the train, three fellow passengers started a conversation with him. He had boarded the train at the Ballabgarh railway station. He used to work in a shop in Ballabgarh.

According to him, the passengers soon got friendly during the course of the conversation and said they could offer him a better job. They surreptitiously made him inhale something. When he regained consciousness, he found himself at Ayodhya.He was then taken to Akbarpur near Ayodhya in Uttar Pradesh and handed over to eunuchs.

He alleged that the three persons threatened him with dire consequences if he did not obey them while on way to Akbarpur from Ayodhya. He alleged that he used to be sexually exploited by his captors in the evening and made to beg during daytime in the surrounding villages of Akbarpur.

Relatives of Jaswant allege that the police “does not seem serious in pursing the case”. They allege that the police has so far not even registered a case. However, it is unofficially learnt that it has rounded up four persons from Akbarpur. 

Chandigarh, March 20
Haryana police today said the preliminary probe into the death of Pakistan national Khalid Mehmood after he was shifted to hospital from a Gurgaon jail last month has “established” he was suffering from chronic liver disease.

“The internal inquiry by jail officials and magisterial probe have established that Khalid Mehmood alias Azad died due to chronic hepatitis and rupture of blood vessels in liver,” Haryana Director-General of Prisons Dr John V George said.

The prisoner died due to “medical problems he was suffering from for several years”, but the matter was being thoroughly probed by Inspector-General (Prisons) M S Mann who would be filing a detailed report to the Centre, he told PTI.

“Khalid himself did not know he had serious medical problems. He was taking treatment periodically and his condition deteriorated in the last four months,” he said.

The DG said on February 11, the prisoner vomited blood while in Gurgaon’s Bhondsi jail and was shifted to All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi the same evening.

He died the next day and his body was handed over to Pakistani officials at Attari-Wagah border on March 10.

The 35-year-old from Lahore had come to watch an India-Pakistan cricket match in Kanpur in April 2005, was arrested a year later when found roaming aimlessly in Faridabad and lodged in Bhondsi jail for overstaying his visa permit.

“Khalid was living in Faridabad under several aliases.

The police arrested him in May 2006 and since then he was in Bhondsi jail under the Official Secrets Act, Foreigners Act and Passport Act,” George said.

Pakistan asked India to investigate the death following which the Centre ordered the inquiry. — PTI

Hisar, March 20
The voluntary disclosure scheme (VDS) for unauthorised extension of load launched by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has evoked good response with 17,000 consumers declaring 63 MW load and getting it authorised.

A DHBVN spokesman here today said the maximum response to the scheme had come from farmers. About 13,500 agriculture consumers declared 47 MW load, which was extended by them on their tubewells illegally.

The nigam regularised the load, under the scheme, without imposing any penalty. As many as 3,250 domestic, 150 non-domestic and 111 industrial consumers also declared unauthorised load.

He said as the underground water table was going down steadily due to excessive pumping and scanty rainfall, extension of load had become necessary for farmers. The DHBVN had given farmers a chance to get the load regularised by declaring unauthorised load voluntarily.

On persistent demand of electricity consumers, the VDS for unauthorised extension of load had been extended up to April 30 and a large number of additional applications for extension of load were being received by the nigam.

He said the consumers of domestic and non-domestic categories, who were willing to declare their load, would be required to deposit advance consumption deposit (ACD) and complete usual formalities to get their unauthorised load regularised.

There would be no need to submit a test report for 20-KW load and the applicant would need to submit a certificate that the wiring for the extended load had been carried out by an authorised electrician and the same had been tested as per the electricity laws.

For extension beyond 20 KW of load, the applicant would be required to submit a test report. The extended load would be considered as regularised with immediate effect after completing the formalities as per existing terms and conditions. The nigam would not charge any penalty from applicants for regularisation of their unauthorised load.

The applicants of the agriculture category would submit a test report for the extended load along with ACD. The extension of load would be regularised with existing system where the lines and transformers were in a position to take up the additional load.

In case, the existing system was required to be strengthened, the DHBVN would lay additional lines and transformers. If the capacity was not available at the feeding substation, then the consumer would be asked to remove the unauthorised load.

The industrial consumers might also declare their load by submitting the prescribed form along with revised test report. They need not submit any other documents. They would have to deposit the requisite ACD and service connection charges for the extended load.

For HT industrial consumers, in case the consumer revised his contract demand, he would have to submit the revised contract demand undertaking as per the existing practice.

If the extended load required installation of metering equipment of higher rating, the consumer would provide it, if the same was not available with the nigam.

Panipat, March 20
Annoyed with the delaying tactics adopted by various state governments in implementing the 73rd amendment of the Indian Constitution, 1993, a group of nearly 2.50 lakh elected representatives will congregate in New Delhi on April 22 to press their demand for the implementation of the Panchayati Raj Act for a healthy democratic functioning.

Stating this to the Press this afternoon, Jitender Ahlawat, member of a core committee on panchayati raj, said union minister for panchayati raj Mani Shankar Aiyar had motivated members to fight for their right.

He said an agenda for the uniform implementation of the Act in the entire country would be raised at the meeting in which Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi were expected to participate.

“The unprecedented delay has made people in rural India not only suffer but also made the fulfilling of dreams of Mahatma Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi a distant reality,” he added.