Chandigarh, June 26
The Haryana government has decided to waive the entry tax on goods destined for CSD canteens in military stations located in the state. At present this levy is 2 per cent.

Announcing this at the annual Civil-Military Liaison Conference (CMLC) between the Haryana government and the Western Command at Chandimandir today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda stated that henceforth, exclusive defence colonies being set up for military personnel in eight cities in Haryana would be given a 10 per cent rebate on the cost of land.

The Chief Minister also announced a one-time grant of Rs 10 lakh to the Paraplegic Rehabilitation Centre (PRC), Mohali, besides sanctioning an increase in the yearly support to the PRC inmates belonging to Haryana from Rs 60,000 to Rs 85,000.

The conference was attended by top officials from the government and the Western Command.

In his welcome address, the General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Command, Lt-Gen T.K. Sapru, said the Haryana government had given a positive response on various issues taken up by the Army with it. He also lauded the decision taken by the Chief Minister to enhance the cash rewards to gallantry award winners and the other benefits announced for the welfare of the serving, ex-servicemen and next of kin of the martyrs.

The Army Commander said Haryana had been in the forefront for the welfare of the servicemen and their families and the entire nation was taking a cue from it. Expressing satisfaction at the close rapport that existed between the Haryana government and the armed forces, General Sapru assured his civilian counterparts that the Army would assist the civil administration in every possible way.

In his inaugural address, Hooda thanked the Army Commander for holding the meeting, which, he said, provided an opportunity to discuss and resolve issues of mutual interest. He lauded the role of the armed forces and stated that he was proud of the traditional bonds that existed between the armed forces, the people and the government of Haryana. He assured that his government, the administration and the people of Haryana would never be found wanting in providing any possible assistance to the armed forces.

Bhiwani, June 26
Even after four days of the murder of the local chief of the municipal council, Nand Lal Chawla, the police has failed to arrest the killers of Chawla.

The police is waiting for the report of the lie detection test, which was conducted on three persons, including two municipal councillors.

However, it has released a sketch of one of the three suspected killers. The police has also sealed the chairman’s office situated in the municipal council building.

The Laghu Udyog Sangthan and other social organisations are gearing up to hold indefinite dharna in protest against the non-arrest of the culprits.

Meanwhile, hundreds of supporters of the two municipal councillors met the deputy commissioner in protest against their illegal detention here today.

They were of the view that the said persons had nothing to do with the murder and since they were involved in bringing no-confidence motion against Chawla they had been made the target.

They alleged that the police had taken the above three persons stating that they would be interrogated. Though the relatives protested against this illegal action, the police forcibly lifted them from their houses.

They alleged that the police misbehaved with them and also beat them up. The two councillors were involved in bringing no-confidence motion against Chawla in October 2007. The councilors, including Satender Mor and Ravinder Soni, had recently met the deputy commissioner to fix a date for the no-confidence motion. The administration had fixed the date for the motion.

They alleged that the trio had been targeted under political rivalry, as they were not in Bhiwani the day the MC chief was murdered. The supporters threatened to stage a dharna if the three were not released by the police.

Meanwhile, former Chief Minister and the Haryana Janhit Congress founder Bhajan Lal today visited Bhiwani to console the bereaved Chawla family.

He said the state police had failed in arresting the accused and demanded a CBI probe into the murder. The state government should provide a government job to a kin of the Chawla family and Rs 50 lakh.

Karnal, June 26
In an ambitious move to facilitate prompt medical aid to accident victims on various national and state highways, the Haryana police has decided to outsource 50 paramedics who will be fully trained in handling the victims in traumatic conditions at the accident spots.

Sharing details of the ambitious project exclusively with The Tribune, AIG (Highway Patrol) Rajpal Singh said 50 new spots had been identified for traffic assistance stations on various national and state highways and even on other roads.

At present, these stations are offering help in case of accidents only on national highways.

According to official data, each year about 3,500 persons die in road accidents in the state. During 2007, 525 persons lost their lives in 1,000-odd road accidents on the NH-1 alone.

In 2006, the figure of fatal accidents was 575 from the total 1,025 road accidents on the GT Road.

Scores of these deaths were attributed to the non-availability of prompt medical aid to the accident victims.

AIG Singh said on the lines of the existing traffic stations, the upcoming stations, too, would be equipped with ambulances, cranes and trained manpower.

“It is for the first time that we have got permission to outsource 50 pharmacists who will be stationed at these assistance posts to attend to any emergency call to provide timely medical help to the injured,” he said.

He said DSP-rank official Dheerj Setia, who is a qualified doctor and currently posted at the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban, and 12 other regular pharmacists of the police force would be given special training at the PGI, Rohtak, to provide critical help to accident victims.

“Though the PGI authorities had agreed in principle to impart special two-week training to the squad, a formal nod is awaited. Once the training session is over, the outsourced paramedics would also be given training by the team,” he added.

Sirsa, June 26
The Government Railway Police has registered a case against Sikh activists for forcibly halting a train yesterday thereby providing inconvenience to passengers.

The railway police registered a case against scores of unidentified persons of whom six have been named last night after conclusion of the protest.

The protesters had blocked the railway line demanding arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the Mumbai killing incident, in which a Sikh was killed by a bodyguard of the dera chief.

The persons named in the FIR are Rajpal Singh, Satpal Singh, residents of Jiwan Singhwala village in Bathinda district, Baljit Singh, granthi of a gurdwara at Dadu village here, Randhir Singh of Gurdaspur and Gurwinder Singh and Jasbir Singh of Bathinda.

The FIR stated that the protesters allegedly forced the driver of the 2RF Rewari-Fazalka train to stop before it could enter the railway station.

Flaying the move of the authorities, president, Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Committee, Haryana, Sukhwinder Singh Khalsa urged the government to withdraw the case immediately. He added that if the case was not withdrawn, they would be compelled to intensify the agitation.

Jind, June 26
Residents of Kharakbura village allegedly beat up three employees of the 132 kV substation located in the village here today. They were demanding that the substation, which had been under construction, should be started immediately.

Residents of Gangoli village had yesterday locked up the newly constructed 132-kV substation in protest against poor supply of electricity.

The substation is to be formally inaugurated on June 28 by the Chief Minister.

The police today booked a case under Sections 323, 332, 353, 452, 186, 148 and 149 of the IPC against eight persons hailing from Kharakbura village in connection with beating up of the three employees of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam.

The victims identified as Anil, Ajit and Satpal have been admitted to the Civil Hospital here with minor injuries.

The incident enraged the employees union of the power department, which has started a dharna in protest against the assault.

Demanding security, the employees have threatened to go on indefinite strike if the accused were not arrested within a time period of 48 hours.

Earlier, over 25 persons hailing from Laxmi Nagar, Ram Nagar and the Gurdwara road here were booked for damaging a Haryana Roadways bus on Tuesday.

SONEPAT: Executive engineer of the Bijli Vitran Nigam at Gannaur M.S. Dahiya and SDE of the nigam Rajbir Saroha were allegedly manhandled by residents of Udeshi Pur village here on Thursday.

The villagers were protesting against the disruption in the power supply to the village for the past three days due to some faults in electricity transformers. A case has been registered against a number of villagers, but no one has been arrested so far.

The villagers complained that due to technical faults in transformers, there was no power supply in the village for the past three days. The drinking water supply to the village also remained disrupted.

Fatehabad, June 26
Irate villagers blocked vehicular traffic at Kulan in this district today in protest against erratic power supply to their area.

The blockade was lifted after about four hours, when A.K. Virdi, executive engineer, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, assured the villagers that the power supply would be improved soon.

The villagers, angry over the irregular power supply to their village, came on the main chowk of Kulan and blocked traffic towards all four sides.

The traffic towards Ratia, Bhuna, Tohana and Jakhal remained disrupted for over four hours and the commuters had to face a harrowing time in the scorching heat.

The traffic going towards Chandigarh, Ludhiana and Fatehabad remained stranded for hours.

The villagers alleged that though a three-phase line had been constructed by the authorities for long, power supply to their village had not been connected through it.

They alleged that they hardly got two to three hours of power in a day and had to go through sleepless nights in the absence of power.

Villagers alleged that they were asked to contribute about Rs 1.50 lakh by the DHBVN authorities for making payments to the labour and the purchase of some equipment, but there was no improvement in their plight despite the payment of the money.

Though the subdivisional officers of Bhuna and Tohana visited the site to persuade the villagers, they were adamant on meeting the executive engineer.

It was only after XEN Virdi reached there and assured the villagers on the power front that the villagers lifted the blockade.

Talking to mediapersons, Virdi denied the allegation of payment of contribution money by the villagers.

Regarding connection to the newly constructed three-phase power supply line, Virdi said 132 kV lines fell under the HVPN authorities and not under the DHBVN, and added that their team had already arrived for the “panel testing”.

Kaithal, June 26
A special campaign has been launched in the district to create awakening among the people about the ill effects of drug addiction on the family life of the addicts and its implications on society as a whole.

SSP Anil Kumar Rao said this while addressing mediapersons on the campus of the Police Lines here today.

Rao said the evil of drug addiction could not be eliminated until a vigorous campaign was launched by way of educating people about the pitfalls not only for the drug addicts but its negative effects on their family.

A documentary was also shown on the occasion.

Deputy commissioner Vikas Gupta, SDM Hawa Singh and DSP Vinod Kaushik were among those present on the occasion.

The documentary was on the life of a prosperous farmer, who fell in trap of his relatives and became a drug addict, following which his life changed for the worst and gradually he lost everything.

He sold his land and household articles, which added to the miseries of the family. Later, he was taken to a drug de-addiction centre, where he was treated and provided counselling.

The SSP said the documentary would be shown in various parts of this district.

Sonepat, June 26
The district administration appears to be in a fix over taking a decision to arrest Sudha Malik, state president of the mahila wing of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and wife of Dharam Pal Singh Malik, in a case registered against her at the Gohana police station on June 17 for allegedly beating up an employee of the forest department on May 17 during campaigning for the Gohana assembly byelection.

In compliance with the directions of the Election Commission, a forest guard, Jai Karan, was getting election posters of political parties removed from roadside trees near Naggar village on May 17 when Sudha Malik, along with party supporters, reached the spot and allegedly slapped the employee. He was also allegedly beaten up severely by the supporters and suffered fractures in his chest bones. He was admitted to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

Though the administration was reportedly reluctant to register a case, the union of the forest department employees mounted pressure and finally a case was registered against Sudha Malik and the others after one month of the incident.

Now, the union has mounted pressure on the administration for the arrest of the alleged accused.

Meanwhile, the HJC has also threatened to organise protests against any attempt to arrest the woman leader and the others. The party alleges that the case is politically motivated and Sudha Malik was not involved in the incident.

Dharam Pal Malik had unsuccessfully contested the byelection as the candidate of the HJC.

Chandigarh, June 26
Former Haryana minister and senior INLD leader Sampat Singh today alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had thrown all rules and norms to the wind by alienating costly land belonging to boards and corporations and providing it to his nears and dears one at throwaway prices.

In a statement issued here today, he said the latest example of the nepotism on the part of the Chief Minister was allotment of industrial plots in Sectors 27 and 28 of Hisar and in the technology park of Panchkula.

Sampat Singh said the state government had invited applications for allotment of 11 industrial plots of HUDA in Hisar in August 2007. The plots were for general category though priority was to be given to ex-servicemen, women and ITI trained persons. But, the government allotted 69 plots instead of 11 that were advertised, he alleged.

He said it was a big irregularity as the Supreme Court had ruled on several occasions that in case plots more than the advertised number were to be allotted, the authorities must give a fresh advertisement for the same so that others could also apply.

The INLD leader alleged that the state government had distributed these plots amongst its near and dear ones besides giving these to colonisers and property dealers.

The former minister said similarly the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) had issued an advertisement for the allotment of two industrial plots of 10 acre each in Panchkula. But when it came to allotment, the authorities carved out eight plots from one plot of 10 acre.

He alleged that 26 industrial plots were allotted by the government on January 8 in an Industrial Estate in Bhiwani but most of the persons who benefitted from the benevolence of the government were not even distantly related to industry.

Sampat Singh said the industrial plots allotted by the Hooda government in industrial Sectors 18, 32 and 44 of Gurgaon had already been quashed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court in a case of Delhi Assam Roadways Vs HUDA.

The court, he said, had directed the HUDA to frame a policy for the allotment of industrial plots and in the absence of a policy; these should be sold through open auctions.

These directions of the high court had been clearly violated while allotting the plots in Hisar.

He said it was quite surprising that the authorities were able to interview 86 persons in a single day for the allotment of plots in Sectors 27 and 28 in Hisar. He said Article 38 of the Constitution provided the right to the government property to all citizens with the government merely being a trustee of it, but the Hooda government had committed the breach of the trust by distributing the plots to the Chief Minister’s friends and relatives at throwaway prices.

He demanded immediate cancellation of the allotment and a probe in the allotment by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court. He warned that in case the government failed to accept his demand, the INLD would take up the issue at a legal forum.

Rohtak, June 26
The CPM has supported the campaign launched by the Haryana Rajkiya Adhyapak Sangh against the state cabinet decision to give land of government primary schools in four districts to the Bharti Foundation of Airtel company on 33 years’ lease.

The state cabinet had taken a decision to this effect amid widespread opposition of teachers’ organisations and an assurance by the state education minister that the government had no plans to privatise the schools. In a statement issued here yesterday, CPM state secretary Inderjit Singh criticised the decision as unilateral and arbitrary.

“The manner in which the resolutions have been procured from the village panchayats in order to facilitate the transfer of shamlat land to a private company having nothing to do with education raises doubt over the real motive behind the move,” he maintained.

Describing the government move as a step against the very spirit of education, the CPM leader alleged that the decision smacked of some hidden agenda over the actual use of land.

Inderjit Singh said his party apprehended that this was only the beginning and this could be extended to more districts in the future.

He appealed to all sections of society to resist the move and get it withdrawn . “Through such measures, the government is trying to evade its most important constitutional duty of imparting education to citizens,” he added.

The CPM has also expressed concern over the “deteriorating” law and order situation in the state. The Haryana state secretariat of the party has condemned the recent ghastly murder of Bhiwani MC chief Nand Lal Chawla.

The CPM state secretariat has asserted that it was not an ordinary incident of crime, but appeared to be part of a planned conspiracy of some powerful lobby like land mafia.

Expressing surprise over the “continued silence” of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda despite repeated failures of law-enforcement agencies, the CPM has demanded that the murder case be probed by some independent agency to nail the culprits and safety of residents’ life and property be ensured.