Gurgaon, May 29
Barring an abortive attempt of self-immolation by a youth and sporadic incidents in which the police dispersed protesters by using mild force, the day-long bandh in the National Capital Region (NCR) organised by the Gujjar community in support of the ongoing agitation by the community in Rajasthan passed off peacefully here today.

The blockades put up by the protesters at some places in the district were more or less symbolic which Gujjar leaders here termed as a step to build pressure on the Rajasthan government to accept demand of their community to accord it ST status.

The protesters burnt effigies of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. No incident of causing harm to any public property was reported. At most places, the blockades did not last more than an hour.

In Nathupur village on the Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, a youth tried to immolate himself but his attempt was frustrated by DCP (East) Satheesh Balan.

Balan said a case was being registered against the youth. The blockade here lasted more than an hour.

Led by a 21-member committee formed by panchayats of 40 villages of Gurgaon, the protesters blocked the Gurgaon-Faridabad road in Gwalpahari village as well as the Delhi-Jaipur National Highway in Narsingpur village for an hour.

But traffic resumed on these roads without much delay when deputy commissioner Rakesh Gupta and joint commissioner of police Manjeet Singh Ahlawat persuaded the agitators not to cause inconvenience to the public.

The committee members also announced to hold a panchayat on the issue on June 1 at Shahjahanpur near the Haryana-Rajasthan border.

The police, however, had to use mild force in Sohna town, Badashahpur and Gujjar-dominated Baliyawal village on the Faridabad-Gurgaon road that witnessed traffic disruption for around two hours.

“We had made it clear that our protest would remain peaceful. No harm would be done to public property. The protest was meant to highlight our solidarity with our community people who are spearheading the agitation on the issue of the ST status in Rajasthan,” said Sukhbir Jaunapuria, Independent Gujjar MLA from Sohna.

REWARI: Gujjars of the district blocked traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur national highway at Banipur Chowk, near here, on Thursday.

Traffic on the Delhi-Jaipur highway from Dharuhera, Garhi Bolni, Shahjehanpur and Jaisinghpur Khera terminals was diverted to alternative routes by the administration. The blockade lasted over two hours.

SIRSA: Raising slogans and holding sticks, members of the Gujjar community held a protest march here on Thursday to show solidarity with their brethren in Rajasthan.

The march passed off peacefully and no untoward incident was reported. However, as a precautionary measure shopkeepers en route the march closed shops for some time. The agitation began at Gandhi Ashram and passed through various markets.

Chandigarh, May 29
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has extended its support to the Gujjars, who are agitating for the ST status.

The decision to support the Gujjars was taken at a meeting of the executive of the party held here today under the chairmanship of INLD president and former Haryana Chief Minister Om Parkash Chautala.

The INLD has said the demand of the Gujjar community should be accepted immediately. It may be recalled that the INLD has electoral interests in Rajasthan, which will go for the assembly elections later this year.

Briefing mediapersons about the decisions of the meeting, INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala demanded Rs 10 lakh as financial assistance and government jobs to the family members of those killed during the agitation.

The INLD demanded the resignation of all Gujjar MLAs and Backward Class representatives in the Haryana government.

Faridabad, May 29
The call for the NCR bandh given today by the Gujjar Mahasabha in support of the ongoing agitation in Rajasthan for the Scheduled Tribe status to the community got a good response in some parts of the district.

The response was good in the areas dominated by the Gujjars. However, no untoward incident took place.

Many members of the community blocked the Delhi-Agra national highway at Rajiv Chowk in old Faridabad for about an hour.

Consequently, vehicular traffic was disrupted putting the commuters on the road to hardship. The agitated members burnt an effigy of Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje. They also raised slogans against the Rajasthan government.

The members staged a sit-in dharna at Rajiv Chowk. Haryana Gujjar Araakshan Samiti chief R. S. Chandila led the agitation here. Chandila criticised the Rajasthan government for not recommending the case for the ST status to Gujjars to the Centre.

The villages dominated by Gujjars witnessed overwhelming response to the call for bandh. The response in Tigaon, which has emerged as a moffusil town, was complete as all markets, shops as well as academic institutes remained closed.

The link roads passing through the villages were also blocked, especially the Tigaon-Ballabgarh and Mohana-Ballabgarh road.

The members of the community involved in the supply of milk and vegetable business remained off the business.

The district administration had made elaborate security arrangements. Two extra battalion of the police force was requisitioned to deal with any emergency.

Yamunanagar, May 29
Anticipating trouble due to blocking of two roads by the Gujjar community in Saharapur district of UP, the Haryana Roadways did not ply buses to Uttar Pradesh from Yamunangar side today.

Rail services to Uttar Pradesh were also partially disturbed by agitating members of the community.

As per police sources, the agitating members of the community had blocked roads in Sarsawa and Sahzadpur areas of Saharanpur.

On an average, a bus enters into Saharanpur from here after every 15 minutes. The Haryana Roadways suffered an estimated loss of Rs 2 lakh, said sources.

Sources in the railway department said agitators had stopped Golden Temple Mail from Mumbai to Amritsar in morning but later they let it resume its onward journey.

Chandigarh, May 29
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has found faults with the Haryana government’s policy for releasing land from the acquisition process and has stayed the operation of a clause.

With this, Haryana for the time being will not be in a position to release land after a year of award’s announcement.

The court has also ruled that careful planning by state could avoid unnecessary harassment to people.

Holding that the clause 1 of the policy dated October 26, 2007, suffers from patent illegality, the Division Bench of Justice M.M. Kumar and Justice Sabina has ruled: It is well settled that once the possession of the land has been taken, it would vest in the state, free from all encumbrances, as per the provisions of Section 16 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894.

Elaborating, the Bench has added: The usual mode of taking possession adopted everywhere is to make an entry in the ‘rapat roznamcha’ in the revenue record on the date of announcement of award and thereafter mutation is also entered in the name of the state.

As a result, the ownership and the proprietary rights stand transferred to the state and the previous landowner does not remain.

It has, therefore, not been understood as to how the power to release the land, given by Section 48 of the Act, could be exercised by the state…. In this view, we stay operation of clause 1 of the policy till further orders.

The Bench has also ruled that other clauses 2, 3 and 4, “dealing with constructed area, factory, commercial establishment, religious institutes or buildings owned by communities”, was working “to the disadvantage of the masses”.

“If the constructed area is to be released from acquisition, there is no reason in the first place to include the same in the notification under Section 4 of the Act.

Any careful planning by the state government could avoid unnecessary harassment to the citizens whose houses, commercial buildings or religious places etc. are notified under Section 4 of the Act.

“The unnecessary visits of such persons to the office of the collector would also result in blocking administrative work. Even the work of the Land Acquisition Collector would suffer, which can easily be avoided.”

Asking the state to file a detailed affidavit on steps to be taken in this regard, the Bench has fixed July 24 as the next date of hearing in the matter.

Panchkula, May 29
The week-long Haryanvi Saang festival, being organised by the department of public relations and cultural affairs in collaboration with the North Central Zone Cultural Centre, Allahabad, got off to majestic start at Indradhanush auditorium here today.

The otherwise tranquil ambiance of the centrally located auditorium reverberated with rich folklore as aficionados of Haryanvi traditional art and culture thronged the venue in large numbers.

Inaugurating the festival, Dharmavir, chief secretary, Haryana, complimented the department for organising the festival.

He stressed the need for preserving the rich cultural traditions of the state.He announced cash rewards of Rs 51,000, Rs 31,000, Rs 21,000 to the best three performing groups and Rs 5,000 to other participating groups.

K.K. Khandelwal, IAS, felicitated the guest of honour, A.J. Philip, senior associate editor of The Tribune, special guest Anoop Lather, director, youth services, Kurukeshtra University, and K.C. Sharma, vice-chairman, Haryana Kala Parishad.

Acclaimed saang director Shyamuddin and party took the center stage amid an applause to present “Puranmal”.

The popular romance-filled drama based on a folk legend has already been immortalised by “qissa” writer Qadar Yaar and Shiv Kumar Batalvi.

However, Shyamuddin presented it in a different way, adding mystical aspects to the medieval romance as retold by the legendary folk playwright Pandit Lakhmi Chand, revered as the “Shakespeare of Haryana”.

Legend has it that with the blessings of Guru Gorakhnath, a son, named Puran, was born to elder Queen Icchhran De, wife of King Suleman of Sialkot. As “forewarned” by Gorakhnath, Puran was made to live in a dungeon for 12 years. As he went to meet younger Queen Loona De, she took fancy to the handsome Puran and persuaded him to “surrender to her lust”.

Determined not to oblige her, Puran had to face the wrath of Loona De and King Sulemen, who ordered that Puran’s body be mutilated and dumped in a dry well. He was, however, brought to life by Guru Gorakhnath after another 12 years.

The audience relished the saang laced with drama, dance, poetry and mimicry. Besides Shyamdin, the other actors included Ashu, Sajid, Hassen, Sandip, Manjit
and Raju. Abha Sharma compered the programme. Saang “Jaimal Fatta” will be staged tomorrow.

Hisar, May 29
Agricultural universities in the country are likely to adopt new syllabi for their postgraduate and doctoral courses after the National Core Group (NCG) appointed by the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) submits its report by the month-end.

Dr J.C. Katyal, vice-chancellor of Haryana Agricultural University, who heads the NCG, said here today that the ICAR had constituted a group of experts in August last year for restructuring masters and doctoral course curricula.

The main purpose of the group was to address the emerging issues concerning higher agricultural education, particularly the quality and relevance in the context of globalisation of the economy.

He said the NCG had almost completed its job and its recommendations, if implemented, would introduce major changes in agricultural education for improving its quality, relevance and uniformity across the country.

Katyal said with the implementation of the new course curricula at the postgraduate and doctoral degree levels in all agricultural universities of the country, there would be uniformity not only in the course curricula but also in the number of hours of teaching and nomenclature of these courses.

Katyal said priority had been accorded to subjects which promoted agricultural productivity in proportion to the decreasing area of agricultural land, increased profitability and stabilised agriculture.

Panihari (Sirsa), May 29
Farmers of the area are no longer angry with the neighbouring state of Punjab for releasing industrial effluents in the Ghaggar river, which is very precious for this water-scarce area.

Rather, they are elated on seeing water in the river at least a month in advance. Thanking rain gods, they said it happened because of the recent rainfall in Punjab, which fed the river.

A visit to the river showed that water was nearly five feet deep and has infused happiness into the lives of people residing along it.

From Mansa district of Punjab, the river enters Sirsa from Musahibwala village and passing through several villages, including Burj Karamgarh, Nagokim Pharwai Khurd, Nejadela, it eventually enters Rajasthan’s Hanumangarh district.

It is the timing of water that has brought cheers on the faces of tillers. The sowing of crops was in progress when the stream of water suddenly arrived a few days ago. It is expected that the farmers would go ahead for paddy in a large way in this area.

Sarpanch of Panihari village Sona Ram said besides paddy, cotton and vegetables were grown in the area. However, the rain water would drift the farmers to sow paddy, especially pusa basmati (P-1), as lately its prices had risen considerably in the international market.

Another farmer, Joga Singh, said the rain water was enriched with manure like qualities, which would help the tillers in getting high quality and quantity yield.

The Ghaggar river originates from Morni Hills and passes through Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan. In Haryana, it receives effluents from Kalka, Pinjore, Panchkula and Ambala. It is polluted by the discharge of untreated industrial sewage from Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Punjab.

Normally, the river receives water either at the fag end of June or early July. Otherwise, round the year, it receives untreated polluted industrial wastes. Farmers do not use this water for irrigation as it results in skin and other kinds of diseases.

Jind, May 29
A large number of residents of Gatauli village here came out on the NH-71, which connects Jind with Rohtak, and blocked traffic for about one and a half hours today.

They were protesting against the alleged failure of the administration to permanently remove a liquor shop, which is located near the village. The shop has been authorised and allotted by the excise department.

The villagers, including a large number of women, claimed that despite an assurance given to them about two weeks back, the shop had not been removed.

They said they had staged a demonstration outside the camp office of the deputy commissioner on May 16 seeking arrest of the accused involved in assault on two youths of the village, who had opposed the operation of the liquor shop and demanded closure of it on permanent basis.

They alleged that the police had not been able to arrest the accused and the contractor had reopened the liquor shop after a few days of the protest.

Blaming the administration for laxity, the protestors claimed that their demand had not been met.

The blockade was lifted after the intervention of senior district officials and a former minister, Kulbir Singh Malik. They assured them of proper and time-bound action regarding the issue.

On the other hand, deputy excise and taxation commissioner (DETC) Z.S. Kharab said there had been no illegality in the location or functioning of the liquor shop at the village.

He claimed that the issue had been a result of rivalry and vested interest of two groups and one of them had been inciting the villagers on one pretext or another.

However, according to reports dozens of protests and demonstrations had taken place in the past few months over the alleged functioning of illegal liquor shops or supply centres in the district.

Women residents of at least two villages had forced closure of liquor shops located in their villages in the recent past.

Meanwhile, according to the department, there were 120 liquor shops, including 56 outlets in rural areas, in the district. The number of liquor shops, which was 35 last year, has gone up to 90 this year.

As many as 80 cases were booked under the Excise Act in the past one year and the department had imposed a penalty of over 50 lakh on the offenders.

The annual revenue in the district under the excise head has gone up to Rs 52 crore from Rs 48.72 crore last year.

Chandigarh, May 29
Shamlat land of villages in various districts will be leased to the Bharti Foundation, New Delhi, for establishing Satya Bharti schools to impart primary education.

This decision was taken at a meeting of the Haryana cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, here today.

Shamlat land of the Mahmoodpur gram panchayat and Ghasitpur has been leased out to the Bharti Foundation to provide education free to weaker sections of society.

The cabinet also approved the leasing out of shamlat land of Kutubpur and Deeg villages in Kaithal district for the same purpose. Land of 10 villages in Mahendragarh district and 13 in Kurukshetra district has also been leased out.

Similarly, shamlat land of Kishangarh village in Rewari district, measuring 24 kanals and two marlas, has been leased out to Gurukul Kishangarh Ghasera for establishing a school up to the 10+2 level. The period of lease would not exceed 33 years.

The cabinet also approved the renewal of the land lease period for establishing a stone crusher in Burj Kotian village in Panchkula district. The sale, exchange, extending of lease of shamlat land in other villages of various districts has also been given the go-ahead.

The cabinet also approved the draft of the Indian Stamp (Haryana Amendment) Ordinance, 2008, to reduce stamp duty on conveyance deeds/sale deeds from 6 per cent to 5 per cent.

The rates of stamp duty on conveyance deeds and sale deeds has been reduced to discourage alienation of property on the general power of attorney (GPA) and to raise greater revenue from stamp duty.

The government approved the institution and operationalisation of “Samvad” as a society to coordinate the publicity and advertising activities of the government.

International wrestler Geetika Jakhar and hockey player Sardar Singh were offered the post of DSP in Haryana while the cabinet amended the Haryana Police Service Rules, 2002, for making recruitment of outstanding sportspersons in the rank of DSP.

As per the amendment, 3 per cent of the total permanent posts of DSP would be reserved for outstanding sportspersons in the state who win a gold, silver or bronze medal in Olympic Games or those sportspersons who bring laurels to the country and the state.

Similarly, 70 per cent posts of DSP would be filled by promotion from the rank of inspector and 27 per cent by direct recruitment. The rehabilitation department has been merged with the revenue department.

Chandigarh, May 29
The state government has decided to calculate family pension at a uniform rate of 30 per cent of basic pay plus dearness pay in all cases subject to a minimum of Rs 1,913 per month and a maximum of 30 per cent of highest pay plus dearness pay.

Approving an amendment to the Family Pension Scheme, 1964, the cabinet decided that in case of government employees, who died in harness, family pension would be admissible from the date following the date of completion of period of financial assistance as per the Haryana Compassionate Assistance to the Dependants of the Deceased Government Employees Rules, 2006.

The family pension would be payable at an enhanced rate of 50 per cent of the pay for seven years subject to the fulfilment of the condition of a minimum seven years service at the time of the death.

Thereafter, the family would be entitled to family pension at the rate of 30 per cent of the pay. It was also decided in the meeting that in case of death after retirement, the enhanced family pension would be admissible at the same rate at which the pension was sanctioned to the government employee at the time of retirement, which would include the pension which the retired government employee might have commuted before death.

The enhanced family pension shall be admissible until he would have attained the age of 65 years or for a period of seven years, whichever is less. Thereafter, the family would be entitled to family pension at the rate of 30 per cent of the pay.

The proposal to bifurcate Gurgaon (civil) subdivision - subdivision (north) and subdivision (south), for the convenience of people was also given the nod. The old existing subdivision (civil) would be named subdivision Gurgaon (north) and the new subdivision would be named subdivision Gurgaon (south).

The cabinet also gave its ex post facto approval to a proposal of the revenue department for the exclusion of Baghanki and Kherki villages from Nuh tehsil to Gurgaon tehsil.

Hisar, May 29
Following directions of the Haryana government to discourage the sowing of saathi variety of paddy, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has decided to disconnect tubewell connections of those farmers, who have sowed this variety.

A spokesman of the nigam here today said tubewell connections of such consumers would be disconnected.

These would be disconnected by the end of May and would remain disconnected
for one month.

Panchkula, May 29
The Haryana government has decided to upgrade PGIMS, Rohtak, to the level of a medical university so that better healthcare facilities can be made available to the people of the state.

This was announced by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today. The Chief Minister was addressing a gathering after inaugurating Alchemist Hospital constructed at a cost of more than Rs 100 crore.

The Chief Minister said Rs 684 crore had been earmarked to provide better healthcare facilities to the people during the current year.

He urged the management of Alchemist Hospital to provide affordable health services to the poor.

Union Minster of State for Food Processing Industries Subodh Kant Sahai, who was also present, said healthcare was the fastest growing sector in the country.It required increasingly competitive healthcare services.

Earlier chairman of the Alchemist Group K.D. Singh said Haryana could not compete without a world-class medical institution, which combined the best in modern day medical and healthcare technology.

The hospital would provide an array of world-class technologically loaded
systems, he said.

Later the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone of a technical training school of the HVPN to be constructed at a cost of Rs 23 crore in Madanpur village.

Addressing a gathering, the Chief Minister said the government was purchasing power at the rate of Rs 9 per unit from other states to meet the demands of the agriculture and other sectors so that the development of the state was not hampered due to the paucity of power.