Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana MLAs today voted themselves to higher allowances and facilities. The allowances which will see an increase vary from the constituency allowance to the daily allowance.

The MLAs will now get Rs 1,000 per day while they are on "assembly duty", i.e. attending sessions or committee meetings or visiting various places on behalf of the assembly instead of the present Rs 600 per day.

Their sumptuary allowance is up from Rs 1,000 per month to Rs 3,000. Their pension also goes up from Rs 600 per month to Rs 1,000 per month.

They will also get Rs 2 more if they travel by their own vehicle. At present they get Rs 10 per km. Now this rate goes up to Rs 12 per km.

The proposal to increase the constituency allowance of the MLAs met with "resistance" from MLAs. A bill moved by parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala in this regard proposed that it should be raised from Rs 8,000 per month to Rs 10,000. The members were not satisfied with it. Anand

Singh Dangi(Cong) said the constituency allowance of the MLAs should be raised to at least Rs 15,000.

Sensing the "mood" of the House, Surjewala, after consulting Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, suggested that it should be raised to Rs 12,000. But the members expressed displeasure. Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian also supported the MLAs’ demand.

Hooda gave in and the constituency allowance was raised to Rs 15,000 per month.

The MLAs will now be able to get a house-building loan of Rs 40 lakh instead of the present Rs 25 lakh. Similarly, for purchasing vehicles, they will be given Rs 10 lakh as loan instead of Rs 6 lakh at present.

Naresh Yadav (Ind) said instead of a loan, the MLAs should be given vehicles by the government on the pattern of Punjab. However, he did not find any supporter.

The MLAs also voted in favour of increasing the salary of the Speaker, the ministers, the deputy speaker and the leader of the opposition from Rs 12,000 per month to Rs 20,000 per month.

Ambala, March 28
More than 5,000 ex-servicemen from four districts of Haryana -- Ambala, Kurukshetra, Kaithal and Yamunanagar -- attended the ex-servicemen rally here today. The rally was organised under the aegis of Kharga Corps.

The aim of the rally was to ascertain their problems, render financial assistance to the needy widows, provide medical assistance and apprise ex-servicemen of the services being provided by the Army and civil administration.

Addressing the gathering, Dr A.R. Kidwai, Governor of Haryana, stated that though Haryanavis contribution to the country’s population was only 2 per cent, the states contribution to the Indian Armed Forces was 11 per cent.

Lt Gen J.P. Singh, AVSM, GOC Kharga Corps, stated that all efforts had been taken by the Army to ensure that their troops were taken care of even after they retired. “After retirement, an ex-servicemen has to face many changes and the Army is trying to help as much as they can.”

An information booklet “Hum Safar” on welfare schemes and entitlements as applicable to ex-servicemen and widows/war widows was also released by the Governor.

The Army had also put various stalls to solve problems of ex-servicemen. A stall of the Army Welfare Education Society (AWES) was put up to guide ex-servicemen on various courses in education and incentives available for their wards. A civil grievance cell was also put up with the help of the district administration of the four districts where the ex-servicemen could have their documents like driving licence made.

A stall by the pension controller of defence account (PCDA), Allahabad, was put up to address grievances regarding pension of ex-servicemen. An ex-servicemen helpline was also made available.

For the first time, an initiative was also taken for listing ex-servicemen keen on donating their organs.

Dr Mahavir Singh, commissioner, Ambala, Mohammad Shayin, deputy commissioner, Ambala, Maj Gen N.S. Vidyarthi, GOC, 40 arty div, Brig K.S. Budhwar (retd), secretary, Rajya Sainik Board, Haryana, Wg Cdr Rajan Ananad, Dy Dir, DGR, Army HQ, Col Sanjay Shah, regional director, ECHS, Delhi were also present.

Later, Rita J.P. Singh, president, Kharga AWWA, gave away financial assistance to 25 war widows. Four handicapped ex-servicemen were also given assistance in the form of wheelchairs. 

Gurgaon, March 28
After rescuing 10 acres of panchayat land in Bajghera village costing about Rs 100 crore from the land mafia, the Gurgaon administration yesterday made another move and restored about 12 acres of precious land to the village panchayat in Daultabad.

Earlier in April 2005, the then SDM-cum-assistant collector gave the decision against the panchayat in Daultabad panchayat land case and Ram Kumar and others were declared as owners.

The panchayat challenged the decision and appealed in the district collector’s court. The collector-cum-deputy commissioner accepted the contention of the panchayat and reversed the decision of the lower court, thereby making the panchayat as the owner of the land.

After pronouncing of this decision by the DC, the panchayat moved the case in the court of district development and panchayat officer-cum-assistant collector for ejection under Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Land Act, who passed the order in favour of the Daultabad panchayat.

These orders were implemented yesterday and the possession of panchayat land measuring 51 kanal 8 marla was restored to it by revenue officers with the help of the police.

The administration had rescued the panchayat land in Bajghera measuring about 10 acres, which was sold to Sri Shankar Shiksha Yatan Trust of Delhi through Renuka Mishra, wife of R.K. Mishra, a resident of Vasant Vihar, Delhi, in 2002 with the condition that it would raise an educational institution on that land within two years from the date of registration.

Accordingly, the village panchayat registered the sale deed on May 27, 2002, in favour of the trust. But the trust did not do anything concrete on this land for almost three and a half years.

Seeing this, the village panchayat filed a case in the court of the district collector on December 29, 2005, saying that the trust had violated the terms and conditions laid by the state government, so the aforesaid land be handed over back to the panchayat.

The trust, further sold the land to Rishi Shesh, son of Pyare Lal of Bajghera village itself, on March 28, 2007, that is when the case was pending.

Now, accepting the claim of the panchayat, the court of district collector Rakesh Gupta passed an order in which the trust and the buyer were asked to vacate the land and declared panchayat as the owner of the aforesaid land.

Panipat, March 28
Demanding the formation of a higher education council in the state, the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Association (HFUCTA) today stated that the education system had been left in the hands of indifferent bureaucrats, who were ignorant about the ground realities related to the education sector .

Talking to The Tribune here today, office-bearers of the association lamented that the state education authorities had not sought the views and comments of academicians before working on a new education policy.

“The academic environment in Haryana is certainly passing through a bad phase and there is need for a complete overhaul. But the teaching fraternity in various universities and colleges has been totally ignored by an indifferent bureaucracy, which seems to be interested in chalking out a policy that suits certain influential segments,'' said Dr Rajbir Parashar,general secretary of the HFUCTA.

He said Haryana should adopt the pattern of Delhi University where the semester system was only at the postgraduate level and various undergraduate classes were run on the annual system.

“Since education has become a diversified sector there is need to include respected academicians, including VCs and senior teachers, technocrats and bureaucrats in the formulation of any education policy,'' he added.

It was a matter of concern that though scores of engineering, BEd and other technical institutes had been opened in the state there was no official mechanism to regulate these, said Dr U.V Singh, vice- president of the association.

Prof Ajmer Singh from the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association said instead of developing autonomous colleges the existing rural colleges should be improved and libraries stocked to give a boost to the education system at the grassroots level.

Faridabad, March 28
A section of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad (MCF) as well as those retrenched today staged a demonstration outside the office of the civic body.

The agitating workforce of the civic body was demanding re-absorption of the employees, who had been retrenched by the INLD government in 2001.

Spokesperson of the Nagar Palika Karamchaari Sangh, Haryana, Rohilla, who is also an employee of the MCF, stated that a meeting of the sangh has been convened at Gurgaon on April 5 to discuss the issue.

If the demand for re-absorption of the employees was not met, the Gurgaon meeting would make a call for direct action against the government, he added.

The demonstration, which was staged for about two hours, was held under the banner of the Nagar Palika Karamchaari Sangh.

The employees had also staged demonstration last Wednesday. They had also submitted a memorandum that day to the authorities, which had many demands.

While one of the demands was for taking back the retrenched employees, the other major demand was for not sending the files of the MCF to the director of the Local Bodies, Haryana.

The reason cited was that the post of the director was junior to the post of the commissioner of the MCF. Hence, the practice of referring the files to the state headquarters to the office of the director, Local Bodies, was neither justified morally nor technically.

The government in 2001 had retrenched 1519 employees, who are mainly in Class 1V category in two phases. The order of retrenchment passed by the INLD government was challenged by the employees in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. 

Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana Janhit Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi has threatened that he will go to court so that he is given security cover when he is in Haryana.

In a letter to the union home secretary today, Bishnoi said during his visit to Guhlachika in Kaithal district of Haryana yesterday, he suddenly found himself without any security cover. The letter, written on Bishnoi’s letterhead as Lok Sabha member, said the security personnel provided to him in Delhi left him as soon as his car entered Haryana. The Delhi security personnel did not bother to hand over charge to their counterparts in Haryana, Bishnoi said.

He added that the security personnel of Haryana did not turn up to escort his vehicle despite advance intimation given to the police in Sonepat, Panipat and Kaithal.

The Janhit Congress leader said the security personnel of Delhi were not supposed to abandon him as soon as his car entered another state. This was a serious lapse on the part of the security agencies of Delhi, he said.

Bishnoi then mentioned exactly one dozen letters written by him to the union home ministry during past six months on the “indifferent attitude” of the agencies of Delhi and Haryana towards his security. Strangely, the ministry had never responded to any of these letters, Bishnoi wrote, adding that the silence of the ministry gave the impression that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had got the better of the ministry.

Bishnoi urged the home secretary to rise above the pressure of politicians and provide him security befitting a person with Z category security status.

Claiming that he had been receiving threatening calls from inside the country as well as abroad, Bishnoi asked the home secretary to intimate him within 72 hours about the action taken on the basis of the complaints made by him from time to time about the problems related to his security.

Otherwise, he would go to court seeking protection for his life, Bishnoi said.

Kurukshetra, March 28
Legislature, executive and judiciary are the three pillars of a parliamentary democracy and the development of any democratic country depends upon these pillars.

This was stated by Justice Vijender Jain, Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, at a prize distribution function organised by the Institute of Law, Kurukshetra University, under its “distinguished lecture series” at university senate hall here today.

Jain said the judiciary had the most important role to play as it maintained the rule of law. The freedom of Press was also an important pillar in maintaining the rule of law but the Press should be objective, free, fair and constructive. There should be cordial relationship between legislature and judiciary.

In power of judicial review, India was far ahead in comparison to other democratic countries but judicial review should be within the constitution of India. Articles 19, 20 and 21 make golden triangle among legislature, executive and judiciary of the constitution.

He said law was a multi-dimensional institution, which affects even powerful personalities.

While addressing law students, Justice Nawab Singh shared his experiences as a judge as well as alumnus of Kurukshetra University.

Vice-chancellor Prof R.P. Bajpayee said since it was difficult to interpret judgements, efforts should be made to make them simple and understandable to a common man.

He expressed hope that students of India would lead the world.

Jain also released the institute’s training and placement brochure for 2008 and gave away prizes to the winners of the Law Fest-2008.

Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who is also the chairman of the Haryana Sahitya Akademi, has announced awards of the akademi for the year 2007-08.

The most prestigious award of the akademi, Haryana Sahitya Ratan Samman, which carries a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh, has been conferred on Sansar Chander. The Haryana domicile writer got the award for lifelong outstanding service in the field of literature. As many as 40 books have so far been written and got published by Sansar Chander.

Mahakavi Surdas Samman, which carries a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh, has been bestowed upon Manmohan Singh of Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak. The writer has made outstanding contribution in the promotion of Hindi and Haryanavi literature. Five books written by Manmohan Singh have been published so far.

Tara Panchal of Kurukshetra and Raj Kishan Nain of Ajaib village in Rohtak district have been chosen for Babu Balmukund Gupt Samman (literature) and Babu Balmukund Gupt Samman (journalism), respectively. A sum of Rs 50,000 each is given under these awards.

Pandit Lakhmi Chand Samman has been awarded to Kanwal Haryanavi and Shyam Sakha Shyam. Both the awardees will be given Rs 50,000 each.

Haryana Gaurav Samman, which carries a cash prize of Rs 51,000, has been given to Abhay Maurya of Padla village of Kaithal district. This award is given to litterateurs who are born in Haryana but have been living outside the state and brought laurels to the state for their contribution in the field of literature. More than 40 research books and articles by Maurya have been published.

Chandigarh, March 28
If Haryana finance minister Birender Singh was in a fiery mood during his reply to the debate on his budget proposals in the assembly two days ago, he was a mellowed man today.

Replying to the brief debate on the Appropriation Bill, Birender Singh went out of his way to appreciate the functioning of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He said during his long stint in politics, he had seen the functioning of several Chief Ministers. There were many who were adamant, and there were some who would not hesitate to tell a lie.

Birender Singh said he could say that Hooda was a reasonable man, who was open to reason. Comparing Hooda with Bhajan Lal, Birender Singh said when the latter became the Chief Minister in 1991, he had declared on the floor of the House that the SYL would be completed within six months. After the deadline passed, Birender Singh said he in his capacity as president of the state Congress asked Bhajan Lal what he would tell the House now. Bhajan Lal, he said, remarked that he would put a counter-question "which six months."

On the contrary, Birender Singh said, the Hooda government believed in meeting the targets set by it. In a lighter vein, he said he had appreciated the Haryana bureaucracy during his reply to the debate so that it could expedite the projects, because if these were delayed, people tended to deny the credit to politicians.

Interjecting, Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian asked if the factual position (about the state bureaucracy) was different from what he had said. Birender Singh did not reply.

Kadian again interrupted him when Birender Singh was telling the House that to cut delays in the execution of various projects, the government would have to take a policy decision to discontinue the contractor system.

Later the bill was passed.

Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana today revived the post of pro-vice-chancellor in its universities. For this, the state assembly amended the acts of Kurukshetra University, Bhagat Phool Singh Mahila Vishwavidyalaya, Khanpur Kalan, Maharshi Dayanand University and Chaudhary Devi Lal University.

However, the government did not revive the PVC’s post in Guru Jambheshwar University of Science and Technology, Hisar, though its act was also amended today to convert its faculty of management studies into an independent school to be known as the Haryana School of Business.

It is not known whether the PVC’s post in the case of Guru Jambheshwar University was not deliberately revived or it was merely oversight.

While the other universities fall within the domain of the education department, Guru Jambheshwar University is under the administrative control of the technical education department.

The Haryana School of Business would be headed by a director and have total academic and administrative autonomy in its day-to-day working.

This change has been made on the recommendations of a committee headed by Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, former director of the Ahmedabad Indian Institute of Mangement.

A PVC will have a tenure of three years, which can be renewed for not more than one term. His maximum age will be 65 years and he must not be below the rank of professor.

The House also passed the Haryana State Board of Technical Education Bill, 2008, which provided for the establishment of the state board of technical education. The assembly also cleared the decks for establishing the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak.

Chandigarh, March 28
An MiG-21 Bison combat aircraft crash-landed at the Ambala airbase on Wednesday following a bird hit, it is learnt. While the aircraft suffered extensive damage, the pilot was reported to be safe.

The incident occurred in the afternoon when the aircraft was returning to base after a routine training sortie, IAF sources said. A court of inquiry has been ordered into the incident.

A bird-hit, where a bird is ingested into the aircraft’s engine is one of the most common factors for air crashes. An ingested bird often results in an engine flame-out.

The Bison is the most advanced variant of the venerable MiG-21, which incorporates some structural changes and advanced avionics to extend its life and enhance its combat capability. The Ambala-based No.3 Squadron was the first unit to induct the Bison version a few years ago.

The Ambala incident is the second-known MiG-21 accident this year. An MiG-21 had crashed minutes after taking off on a routine sortie from the Bhuj airbase in Kutch on February 15. The pilot had bailed out safely. Earlier this year, the IAF had also lost an MiG-27 fighter from the Hasimara airbase in eastern India.

The IAF’s accident rate has come down over the past few years. According to information released by the Ministry of Defence this month, the IAF had suffered five crashes during the 2007-08 financial year as compared to eight in 2006-07. There had been 11 air crashes in 2004-05.

Chandigarh, March 28
Haryana has decided to hand over the investigation into the murder of ACP Rajbir Singh of the Delhi police to the CBI.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here that this decision was taken by him after he talked to members of the family of the slain police officer last night. He said the wife and a son of the much-decorated officer talked to him on the phone.

He said this morning he directed director-general, Haryana police, R.S. Dalal to initiate the process for referring the case to the CBI.

Rajbir Singh was murdered on Monday night in Gurgaon allegedly by a property dealer with whom the officer had a money dispute.

Sonepat, March 28
Ram Kumar Malik, district inspector of the wildlife protection department at Gohana, and his family members spared no effort in treating an almost blind peacock.

The bird was set free yesterday after the treatment.

Malik said about a fortnight back, a farmer of Rathdhana village brought the bird in the office of the department at Sonepat and department officers sent the bird to him at Gohana. During the check-up, it was found that due to some problem in the eyes, the bird was not able to see.

Malik and his wife Geeta along with their children looked after the bird and treated it for around 15 days. They succeeded in treating the temporary blindness of the bird.

Fatehabad, March 28
The police is yet to arrest the father and son duo of Jakhal town in the district, who allegedly used abusive language against an executive magistrate and threatened him of dire consequences on Wednesday.

The police had registered a case under Sections 353, 332, 186, 506 and 34 of the IPC against Jagdish Chander, his son, Ankush Kumar, and one Major Singh yesterday for criminal use of force to deter public servant from discharge of duty, after officials of the tehsil department went on strike against police inaction.

The employees said they would not resume work till the accused were brought to book. While the police nabbed Major Singh yesterday, the main accused are still at large.

The accused had gone to naib tehsildar Ballor Singh in connection with some work and after an exchange of words, they allegedly started using abusive language against the officer.