Hisar, April 8
A large number of people gathered in front of the mini-secretariat here today to collect packets of ration, which were distributed free of cost by activists of Kuldeep Bishnoi’s party Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) in protest against skyrocketing prices of essential commodities.

The party workers brought the ration in a truck and the crowd jostled to collect the packets. Several women and children fainted in the process and many of them received minor injuries also.

The truckload of packets disappeared within minutes. The disappointed crowd then headed to the residence of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal asking him for more ration packets.

KURUKSHETRA: In response to the call given by Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) chief Kuldeep Bishnoi, essential commodities, including wheat flour, rice, common salt, red chilly powder, turmeric powder, oil, potatoes and onions, were distributed free of cost among the poor near Panchayat Bhawan here on Tuesday.

District rural president of the HJC (BL) Pawan Garg and district urban president and former MLA Banta Ram said ration of about Rs 1 lakh was distributed free of cost by Kuldeep Bishnoi.

FATEHABAD: Activists of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) on Tuesday protested against the price rise by distributing wheat and other edible items free of cost among the poor in front of the local mini-secretariat.

Ran Singh Beniwal, a former MLA, led the party workers in distributing the ration.

Rajinder Chaudhary, president of the district unit of the HJC (BL), said goods worth Rs 2 lakh were distributed to the needy. He alleged that the inflation was the “gift” of the Congress to the people of the country.

He alleged that the Congress had sold interests of the country into the hands of multinational companies and that was the main reason behind the recent hikes in prices of essential commodities.

PANIPAT/KARNAL: In an apparent move to appease voters, members of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) on Tuesday distributed food items free of cost near the offices of the respective DCs in Panipat and Karnal. The party workers carried nearly 500 bags of wheat flour, vegetables and salt.

They blamed the Congress government for being anti-people and initiating programmes not in favour of the masses.

YAMUNANAGAR: Leaders of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) had to call for extra grocery when the turnout at the free of cost grocery distribution to the poor people opposite the mini secretariat exceeded the expectations of the leaders here today. The organisers had made arrangements for 1,000 persons but more than 6,000 persons turned up at the venue. People in hope of getting free grocery had reached the venue well before the schedule time leading to utter chaos.

Satpal Kaushik, a senior HJC leader, said the rising prices of commodities had made lives of general public very difficult.

Rohtak, April 8
The much-hyped programme of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) to distribute free of cost ration among the poor turned out to be a complete fiasco here with party leaders vanishing from the scene in no time.

In pursuance of an announcement made by HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi in this regard, party leaders and former Haryana ministers Subhash Batra and Krishan Murti Hooda went to distribute free ration near the deputy commissioner’s office this morning.

Their supporters had stocked ration material, including pulses, salt and potatoes, in a small tent erected for the purpose.

Seeing the number of people assembled there in hope of free of cost ration, the HJC leaders could not restrain themselves from making speeches before distributing ration.

The people also listened to their speeches in hope of getting something afterwards. However, as soon as the distribution of ration started, a large number of ration-seekers mobbed the tent.

Sensing that the limited ration available with them would be insufficient for the large number of people gathered there, the HJC leaders hurriedly fled the scene, leaving the other party men at the crowd’s mercy. The small-time leaders distributed the ration, but it lasted only a few minutes.

The seekers, who were left empty-handed, approached deputy commissioner R.S. Doon and complained that they had not got any ration. Doon had a tough time convincing them that the “camp” was not organised by the district administration.

Finally, many people, who had assembled there in hope of getting ration, went back getting only “bhaashan”.

Jind, April 8
Women of Sudkankalan and Kabarcha villages in the district today took up cudgels against a contractor to get a liquor shop opened near the boundary of the two villages closed.

They not only pulled down the makeshift structure but also warned the supplier and the local authorities against opening such a shop near the villages in the future. The protesters were supported by the respective village panchayats, who later submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner asking him to direct the department concerned against any such move.

Over a hundred women and children from both villages gathered at the spot where the liquor shop had been set up by a contractor and started raising slogans and demanded that the shop be closed down, said police sources.

The women, who had informed village elders and sarpanches, then brought the structure down, forcing the owner to pack up and take away liquor brought there in a vehicle.

Rajesh Kumar, sarpanch of Sudkankalan, said the village had banned the sale and consumption of liquor. Residents, especially women, got enraged when they learnt about the opening of the liquor shop.

The sarpanch of Kabarcha village also supported the stand taken by the womenfolk and demanded that the administration should ensure that no liquor shop be allowed near the villages without the permission or resolution of the panchayat.

Some social organisations have also asked the government to cut down the number of liquor shops in several areas of the district where, they claim, the youth are getting addicted to liquor.

Meanwhile, in another woman-related case, the police has registered a case against a woman in connection with the death of her mother-in-law. In a complaint lodged by Bhavneet, a local resident and husband of the accused, his mother had committed suicide by consuming poison on April 5 after being undress stress due to the misbehaviour of his wife.

He told the police that his wife used to threaten his mother with a case under the dowry act, which forced his mother to take the extreme step. 

Chandigarh, April 8
The Haryana State Administrative Reforms Commission will submit its interim report in the first week of May. This was stated by Karan Singh Dalal, chairman of the commission, here today.

He also said the reports of various subcommittees on administrative reforms were expected by the end of this month.

He asserted that the role of the police was of paramount importance in state administration but it was not limited just to registering FIRs and arresting people on flimsy grounds.

The police had to change its colonial image. The commission was of the view the police should have an investigation wing to probe the validity of complaints received and a prosecution wing which could pursue such cases in courts .

The major objective of the commission was to bring about transparency in recruitment and the transfer policy of the department concerned by making the head of the department more accountable.

This would help curtail undue political interference in administration.

On the health side the commission would aim at providing better sanitation facilities, especially for women.

He said it was ironical that even after 61 years of independence the administration in the state was still running on the same old British pattern of rules and regulations.

Such rules and regulations not only acted as a hindrance in the smooth working of the administration but also made the administration non-accountable.

The ultimate aim of the commission was to recommend far-reaching changes in the administrative set-up to make the administration people friendly and people participative.

Kurukshetra, April 8
A delegation of the Haryana College Teachers Association (HCTA) called upon Haryana higher education commissioner Shiv Ramah Gaur in Chandigarh yesterday and expressed concern over the haste in which the government had come out with an agenda of bringing drastic changes in higher education.

Stating this in a jointly signed statement released to mediapersons here today, HCTA general secretary Rajbir Parashar and press secretary Ravinder Gasso have conveyed to the government that education should be treated with “due care and thoughtfulness”.

The HCTA has demanded the constitution of a higher education council in the state.

They said the higher education commissioner had assured the delegation that the government would not be discriminatory in its promotion of subjects and disciplines. 

Chandigarh, April 8
The Haryana government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) for the six-laning of the Delhi-Rohtak road at a cost of Rs 487 crore. The work would be completed within the next 30 months.

This was stated by the Haryana PWD (B and R) minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, while interacting with mediapersons after flagging off a highway maintenance van here today.

Yadav said the project of six-laning would be 63 km long and have 16 flyovers and three railway overbridges. He said a 16 km-long bypass would be constructed at Bahadurgarh and a 23 km-long bypass at Rohtak.

Captain Yadav said the main aim of introducing the maintenance van facility was to enable the carrying out of patchwork on highways. These vans would be eco-friendly, pollution free, economical and easy to handle. In the first phase, 10 such vans would come into operation from tomorrow.

Kurukshetra, April 8
The township witnessed strong protests after the body of a local arhtiya’s son was found from the Brahmsarovar this morning. Suspecting foul play, the police has decided to look into the mobile call details of the the deceased.

The body of Saurabh (20), who was reportedly missing since April 5, was spotted this morning floating in the sarovar. He was last seen with some of his friends on April 5. His parents had lodged a complaint with the police.

Agitated family members and relatives of the deceased gathered at the flyover in Mohan Nagar and disrupted traffic for more than two hours in protest of the death of Saurabh. Local traders also observed a complete bandh in support of Phool Chand Garg, the aggrieved father.

Garg alleged that the police was shielding the suspects named by the family.

He alleged that the case was registered only after local traders collectively approached the police.

Kurukshetra ASP Mahinder Parashar said the body had been sent for a postmortem to the PGI, Rohtak. He said the police had seized his mobile for investigations.

He added that Saurabh’s friends, who were with him on April 5, told the police that the deceased was feeling “uncomfortable” after talking to certain persons on the phone.

Yamunanagar, April 8
The Haryana State Pollution Control Board has issued a show-cause notice to the Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Plant of the Haryana Power Generation Corporation (HPGCL) here for allegedly running the first unit of 300 MW without obtaining the consent of the board under the water and air acts.

The notice has been issued under sections 25 and 26 of the Water (Prevention and Control of Pollution) Act, 1974, and sections 21 and 22 of the air act. Violation of the water act is punishable under sections 33-A, 43 and 44 of the water act and violation of the air act is punishable under sections 37 and 38 of the air act. Violations of the provisions of the acts are punishable with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than one year and six months, but which may be extended to six years and a fine.

The board had mentioned in the notice that a unit of the plant was being run without the consent of the board.

The board has asked the officials concerned of the plant to submit before it an application for obtaining consent under the two acts, failing which necessary legal proceedings will be recommended.

Reliance Energy Limited is setting up the plant. The first unit of 300 MW was set on synchronisation on November 1, 2007, but it started commercial production only on April 1. The second unit (of 300 MW) is likely to become operational soon.

D.B. Batra, a scientist of the board, confirmed that a notice had been issued to the thermal plant.

An official in the board said consent to operate the first unit was not required during the time of trial runs of the unit, but it was mandatory now as the unit had started commercial production.

The board had also asked the authorities to set up three high-value samplers (ambient air quality stations) in the plant.

Though no official of the HPGCL was ready to go on record, a senior official said on condition of anonymity that online environment monitoring was being done at the plant and several crores had been spent in order to check pollution.

He said the department was in the process of completing formalities for obtaining the consent of the board.

Gurgaon, April 8
The byelections to the three Haryana assembly seats will be conducted as per the assembly constituency structure existing before the delimitation order of 2007.

Presiding over a meeting of electoral officers of all five districts in Gurgaon division here yesterday, chief electoral officer, Haryana, Sajjan Singh said the byelections to the assembly constituencies of Gohana, Adampur and Indri, which fell vacant due to disqualification of three Congress MLAs - Bhajan Lal, Rakesh Kamboj and Dharampal Malik - would be held according to the present constituency structure. This is so because an MLA is elected for a term of five years and if his membership is cancelled in between the term, a new MLA gets elected for the remaining period of the tenure of the assembly.

The meeting reviewed the issue of electoral photo ID-cards and photos in the electoral rolls in Gurgaon division. He asked the officers related with election duty to issue photo ID-cards to all voters and ensure that the photos of all voters appeared in the electoral rolls. For this, notices in form 22-A should be issued to the voters whose photo was missing from the rolls and if the voter did not turn up after the notice, his name be struck off from the rolls.

Sajjan Singh said the final publication of electoral rolls had been done on January 25 and work of removing mistakes from the electoral rolls and photo ID-cards would be completed by May 31.

He said there should be no bogus voter in the rolls. For this, electoral returning officers would have to be more vigilant and whenever they see more than 10 voters in a household, they should verify the facts related to their identity themselves and make necessary corrections.

The Election Commission has appointed observers for checking the electoral ID-cards and electoral rolls. R.R. Phulia, an IAS officer of the commissioner rank, has been appointed observer for Gurgaon division. These observers would start checking from April 15 onwards and send their report directly to the commission.

Chandigarh, April 8
The Haryana government has decided to take up explorations for locating aquifers of the holy river, Saraswati, as well as to develop the Saraswati channel.

This was disclosed by Haryana irrigation minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav while presiding over a meeting of the irrigation department here today. He said the decision had been taken to look into the historical evidence and deep sentiments of the people associated with the Saraswati river.

He further said it was also decided that the Oil and Natural Gases Corporation (ONGC) would take up the explorations to locate the bed of Saraswati river in Kalayat area of Kaithal district on priority basis. He said the state government would give all assistance for this purpose, including making land available for exploratory bores.

Gurgaon, April 8
In reply to the show-cause notice issued to her last month, Bollywood actor Soha Ali Khan has requested the Gurgaon district administration to grant her personal hearing in the case related to misuse of the weapon by her father and former cricketer, Mansur Ali Khan Pataudi, in the infamous Chinkara killing case that took place in June 2005.

She was asked to explain the misuse of the weapon, as she was the licence holder. She was also asked to surrender the licence in the office of the licensing authority.

District Magistrate Rakesh Gupta said the actor submitted her reply yesterday and the decision on this would be taken tomorrow.

The decision might entail cancellation of the licence, exoneration of the charge, as she has pleaded not guilty or granting her personal hearing.

The notice was issued upon receipt of the report by the district police chief, Jhajjar, in the case. The notice also read that the actor was not eligible for the licence, as she was below 21 years of age when it was issued to her.

Gurgaon, April 8
The police recovered a badly decomposed body of an unidentified youth hanging from a tree in the forests of Begumpur Khatola village near here today.

The police is yet to establish whether the youth was murdered or committed suicide.

The victim was clad in jeans. The body has been sent to the PGI, Rohtak, for a post-mortem. The body was spotted by the villagers.