Chandigarh, May 14
Haryana had a ray of hope of seeing water flowing down the Hansi-Butana link canal today when the Supreme Court reacted favourably to its proposal for lifting water from the Bhakra main line canal.

Initially only 500 cusecs of water would flow in the canal of about 2,000-cusec capacity, if the proposal is approved by the apex court.

According to information received here, during the hearing of a civil suit filed by Punjab on the prestigious project of the Hooda government today, a Bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan asked counsel for various parties if water could be taken out of the Bhakra canal for the newly constructed Hansi-Butana canal without puncturing the banks of the main line. Rajasthan is also a party to the suit and is opposing the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal.

Haryana financial commissioner and principal secretary (irrigation) R.N. Prashar immediately informed the court through the counsel for the state that water could be siphoned from the Bhakra main line to the Hansi-Butana canal.

Counsel for Haryana had earlier pleaded before the Bench that the Hansi-Butana canal had a capacity to carry 2,086 cusecs, half of which was meant for drinking water in the arid southern districts of the state. Haryana pleaded that it should be allowed to carry at least 500 cusecs of water for drinking purposes through the canal during the summer months.

At this the CJI posed the question to the Haryana team if there was any method to take the water from the Bhakra canal to the Hansi-Butana canal without puncturing the banks of the main line.

Haryana’s response came like a googly for its opponents, who said since this was a new proposal they could not react immediately on its technical and other aspects.

The Bench asked Haryana to submit its detailed proposal to all the parties by tomorrow and fixed the case for next hearing on May 16.

Chandigarh, May 14
Hopes of Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) of having any sort of electoral ties with the BSP have been dashed to the ground with the latter coming out strongly against the former.

The Haryana BSP has reacted sharply to certain statements purportedly made by Bishnoi as well as the defection of certain Brahmin leaders from the former to the Janhit Congress in Karnal yesterday.

President of the Haryana BSP Prakash Bharti said in a statement issued here today that the “so-called defections” were a drama enacted by Bishnoi in an attempt to defame the BSP and confuse its cadre. Bharti said those Brahmin leaders who joined Bishnoi’s party in Karnal yesterday had also joined the Janhit Congress in Bhiwani a week ago.

He said certain persons were enacting such dramas as they had been unnerved by the growing popularity of the BSP.

Bharti said three leaders who claimed to have left the BSP yesterday were expelled from the party a year ago after they were found involved in “cases of fraud, objectionable conduct and indiscipline”.

He said Bishnoi’s recent claim that he had reached an understanding with the BSP and that its supremo Mayawati had indicated at the March 2 Karnal rally that Bishnoi would be the next Chief Minister of Haryana was “false, baseless and a pack of lies”.

Criticising the allegations of corruption levelled against the national general secretary and in charge of BSP affairs in Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh Mann Singh Manhera by the defecting leaders in the presence of Bishnoi, Bharti said his party would sue them for defamation. He described the allegations against Manhera as “totally baseless and motivated”.

Bharti said the party had convened an emergency meeting of its state executive in Rohtak tomorrow to chalk out its strategy to deal with those persons who wanted to weaken the BSP.

Fatehabad, May 14
The Adampur byelection has put Dura Ram, parliamentary secretary and MLA from the Fatehabad assembly constituency, in a tough situation.

The Congress leader, who is a nephew of former Haryana Chief Minister and Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) candidate from Adampur Bhajan Lal, is still undecided on how to wriggle out of the situation he finds himself embroiled in.

Though he had already deserted his political mentor while siding with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, he may not have ever thought that he will have to pass through the test to loyalty so early in his career. Dura Ram was a political nonentity when Bhajan Lal projected him as a local leader here in the early eighties.

Though he had been trying to get the Congress ticket during every assembly elections after that, his turn came when the Congress had to contest a byelection in May 2003.

Bhajan Lal, who was the HPCC president at that time, was asked by the party high command to field his own family member for the election. Though Dura Ram lost that byelection, he was returned to the state assembly in the 2005 elections. But when Bhajan Lal was outsmarted by Hooda in the race for the post of Chief Minister, Dura Ram initially preferred to keep a low profile.

Then gradually, the Congress leader joined the Hooda camp and was elevated to the post of parliamentary secretary. Kuldeep Bishnoi’s advent on the political arena has distanced Dura Ram from Bhajan Lal.

Nonetheless, things were going fine for Dura Ram in the government till the Adampur byelection was announced and the party directed him to campaign for party candidate Ranjit Singh.

The party’s directive has put the Congress leader in a quandary.His predicament is that in case he campaigns against his uncle, his move will not be taken kindly by his Bishnoi community, loyal to Bhajan Lal.

And if he does not follow the directive of the Congress, he may have to face a bleak political future and even his political post can be in peril.

Dura Ram said on the telephone that he had been working for the victory of Congress candidates.

Adampur (Hisar), May 14
As campaigning in the Adampur assembly segment enters its last week , it is becoming increasingly evident that this byelection is totally issueless.

The Congress is dangling the carrot by promising to open floodgates of development funds if its nominee is elected. But the voter is asking what if the Congress nominee is not elected. Will the government then starve the area of funds? The answer is obvious to all. So, development is certainly not an issue. These promises have strings attached.

The INLD, too, has nothing to offer to the voter. So, it is harping on issues like inflation, corruption, failure to fulfil promises and the “deteriorating” law and order situation. These issues matter more in a general election but are absolutely impertinent in a byelection. The BJP suffers from the same problem. It is raising the issues of inflation, shortage of cooking gas and is blaming the Congress-led UPA for undoing whatever good the NDA had done for the country. Again, these issues have no place in a byelection in this god forsaken place.

Likewise, the CPM has also nothing much to say. As Sitaram Yechury explained yesterday it is contesting the byelection to increase the number of its elected representatives to enable it to carry forward its policies. This has nothing much to do with the locals. Coming to former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal whose expulsion caused the bypoll, he has nothing to say except curse the Congress for everything.

In this scenario the only issue that remains pertinent is whether Bhajan Lal will retain his seat. So, the voters tend to liken the contest to a cricket match whose outcome is awaited. No wonder then that candidates are accusing each other of joining hands with their opponents. INLD nominee Sampat Singh says Bhajan Lal and Bhupinder Singh Hooda have joined hands to defeat him because the Congress is certain to lose all three seats which would spell doom for the Hooda government.

On the other hand, the Congress accuses Bhajan Lal and Om Parkash Chautala of joining hands to defeat its nominee. Congress workers point out that every time Ajay Chautala contested from the Bhiwani Lok Sabha seat of which Adampur is a part, he got unexpectedly high number of votes because of Bhajan Lal’s covert support.

Ambala, May 14
In view of the recent incidents of thefts and robberies on trains in the district, SP Railways has issued orders to shoot the miscreants. The orders will be applicable on trains that enter and leave Haryana.

SP Railways Bharti Arora said: “I have issued orders to shoot when and if required. The order has been issued considering the seriousness of the matter.”

“Other initiatives have also been taken to check the incidents of robberies, which have been on rise. Inspectors of the Government Railway Police Force (GRPF) will be deployed on the night trains to keep a check,” the SP added. Track patrolling had also been initiated and 30 home guards would be deployed for track patrolling for a month.

Instructions had also been issued to the passengers to keep their windows closed, especially at railway stations.

Many incidents of snatching of gold chains on trains, especially night trains, have been reported recently. The miscreants also attacked and injured those who tried to stop them.

The steps would remain in place till the culprits were nabbed, she added.

Chandigarh, May 14
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has restrained the State of Haryana from using coercive measures for the realisation or recovery of recently imposed entry tax on goods reaching 
the state.

The order were issued by the high court Division Bench of Justice Rajive Bhalla and Justice Rakesh Kumar Garg after hearing at lenght two writ petitions filed by the Indian Oil Corporation and Tata Teleservices, challenging the validity of the tax notified on April 16.

The petitioners claimed it was only an attempt to re-impose a tax, which had been held unconstitutional by the high court here.

Though the matter pertaining to imposition of the Haryana Local Areas Development Tax is pending before the Supreme Court for adjudication after the same has been held invalid by the high court Bench headed by justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, but the Haryana government has brought into force the new legislation known as the Haryana Tax on entry of Goods Into Local Areas Act, 2008, through its notification of April 16, 2008.

It was argued by the counsel for the petitioners Puneet Bali that the Haryana government had introduced the Haryana Local Area development Tax (LADT) in 2000 but the same was declared invalid by the high court and subsequently a five-judge Constitution Bench of the apex court in the matter Jindal Stainless had held that any such tax had to be compensatory in nature implying that the benefits of the tax collected from traders should have direct nexus and measurable relation to services provided by the state to the tax payer.

From the previously imposed tax, the state had collected crores of rupees but in the absence of any measurable services to the tax-payers, the authorities had now devised new escape route in the latest legislation to charge entry tax on all goods, including those which reached the state through pipeline.

The mention of “including through pipeline” was primarily aimed at taxing the crude oil that came to Panipat Refinery of IOC, the counsel explained when contacted.

The Bench has issued notices for May 29 to the Haryana government and other respondents for filing their response.

Karnal, May 14
As the entire political leadership of Haryana, including Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, continues to remain silent on the honour killings that took place in a Haryana village, Rajya Sabha MP Tarlochan Singh has said it seems that such incidents are not taken as a serious law and order problem.

Terming the recent murders of Sunita and Jasbir at Balla village as a black spot on the state, Tarlochan Singh urged all political parties to rise above their vote politics to condemn such incidents.

“It is superficial to talk about women empowerment or industrial development unless such inhuman incidents are condemned in public and strict measures are adopted to stop these,” said the former chairman of the National Minority Commission.

He said the episode had given a bad name to the state and society and serious efforts should be made to avoid any similar incident in the future.

The Tribune had earlier reported in these columns that none of the political parties had visited the village. The opposition parties who leave no chance in taking dig at the establishment are completely silent on the issue that has rocked the nation.

The Jasbir’s family had yesterday alleged that they were under pressure from villagers to compromise on the murder of their family member. Today they met the Karnal SSP and complained about the threat to their lives as they had refused to bury the murder case.

“Even after six days of the couple’s murder, Congress Assandh MLA Rajrani Poonam and Congress MP from Karnal Dr Arvind Sharma have not reacted on the incident that took place in the village that falls in their respective constituencies,” he added.

Singh claimed that it was only the fear of loss of votes that had deterred the politicians to comment against such community mindset. He said the political leadership should approach the masses to motivate them to shun such primitive thoughts.

He said it was not the first case of honour killing in the state and official silence only encouraged repetition of such heinous crimes committed in the name of village or khap traditions.

Jhajjar, May 14
An incident of applying sindhoor on the head of a minor girl by a minor boy in Jahangirpur village led to a controversy here today.

A panchayat over the issue, which was called today, ordered the boy’s family to leave the village and imposed a fine of Rs 5,100.

However, maintaining innocence, the boy’s family refused to accept the punishment, which created chaos at the meeting.

According to sources, a minor boy of Jahangirpur village reportedly took the girl, a class X student and resident of Suhra village, to a temple and applied sindhoor in her head. Two other classmates of the boy accompanied them.

As the girl’s family came to know about the incident, it called a panchayat on the issue.

The panchayat was held in the presence of sarpanches of Jahangirpur and Suhra villages. The panchayat pronounced to whip the two boys with a shoe 50 times publicly and ostracised the family of the boy, who had applied sindhoor.

The villagers today locked up the school, in which the girl studies.

The families of the minor boys, however, opposed the panchayat’s decision alleging partiality on part of the panchayat as one of the three boys, who were allegedly together at the time of incident, had been spared.

The boy, who is said to have applied sindhoor, which is a mark of marriage, however, denied the act. The meeting, however, ended on a chaotic note as the families refused to accept the panchayat’s decisions.

Sirsa, May 14
An online driving test laboratory for driving licences was opened at the police lines here today.

It was inaugurated by K.C Bhardwaj, vice-chancellor, Ch Devi Lal University. He hoped that it would bring about transparency in the system and only deserving applicants would be able to get driving licences.

Vikas Arora, SP, said for the purpose 10 computers had been installed with software containing a bank of 4,000 questions pertaining to driving.

He said before sitting in the 12-minute-long test, the applicants would be shown an hour-long documentary on driving.

At a time, a batch of 10 candidates could sit in the test where they would have to successfully answer at least six questions out of 10. A candidate would be given only three chances. 

Gurgaon, May 14
The court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Balbir Singh today sentenced Devinder Singh of Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, to death in a murder case involving a Gurgaon-based taxi driver.

The accused was charged under sections 302, 364, 201 and 34 of the IPC in the case registered in 2002 on a complaint of the family of the deceased Naresh, a taxi driver living in the Patel Nagar locality here. The accused had hired the taxi of the deceased, who went missing and was subsequently found murdered in Sohna town on the Gurgaon-Alwar road.

His modus operandi in around 20 cases he confessed to have been involved in after his arrest in 2005 by the Faridabad police was to hire a taxi and subsequently murder its driver and later dispose of the vehicle in the grey market. His victims belonged to different locations in Delhi, Ghaziabad, Noida, Faridabad, Alwar, Jaipur and Gurgaon. He used to dump the bodies of his victims in a canal near Aligarh. He was running a clinic as a registered medical practitioner in Aligarh before indulging in the criminal activities.

The accused was convicted for life last year in a separate case by a Faridabad court and was lodged in Bhondsi jail till his conviction today. His arrest in Faridabad was widely reported as the police came to know about his notorious criminal record only then.