Chandigarh, July 29
The Haryana government is surprised over the demand of over Rs 230.43 crore raised by the Punjab government towards the cost of land acquired by the latter for upgrading the Chandigarh airport into an international airport.

Senior officers of Haryana say their state is committed to making the payment as agreed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda when an MoU was signed here on April 4 last among the Airports Authority of India (AAI), Punjab and Haryana for being partners in a joint venture company (JVC), which would develop and run the upgraded airport.

However, they say the question is: Whom to pay? The MoU clearly says a JVC would be constituted, in which the AAI will have 51 per cent equity, while Punjab and Haryana each will have 24.5 per cent equity. The JVC is yet to be constituted. Once the company comes into existence, Haryana will pay its share.

The three intending partners held a meeting in Delhi in this regard on July 4 last. Among other things, it was decided at the meeting that a tripartite committee would be formed comprising representatives of the three partners to “steer the project further”. The committee would be in existence till the JVC is formed with a board of directors.

The Haryana officers say it was also decided at the meeting that the JVC would be formed with a nominal subscribed capital of Rs 10 crore with equity contribution of Rs 5.10 crore by the AAI and Rs 2.45 crore each by Punjab and Haryana.

Haryana will readily contribute Rs 2.45 crore as and when asked by the AAI, which being the lead partner is to take the initiative in this regard through the union ministry of civil aviation. Till the JVC is formed, how could Haryana pay over Rs 230 crore as demanded by Punjab.

Meanwhile, Samir Mathur, secretary, Haryana civil aviation department, said a controversy was being unnecessarily raised over the name of the airport. He said after the signing of the MoU, union minister for civil aviation Praful Patel made a categorical statement that the airport would be called “Chandigarh International Airport”.

He said the AAI operated a civil enclave at the Indian Air Force station, Chandigarh. Now, the Chandigarh airport was being upgraded to have an international terminal. Because of geographical constraints, the international terminal of the Chandigarh airport would be located in Mohali, but this terminal would be part of the existing airport. Therefore, it was wrong to call the international terminal of the existing airport as “Mohali airport”. Even the foundation stone of the new integrated terminal building of civil terminal at the Chandigarh IAF station described it as “Chandigarh airport.”

He said since the AAI would be the lead partner in the JVC, Punjab had no right to refuse equity in it to Haryana.

Chandigarh, July 29
Decks have been cleared for setting up an industrial model township (IMT) in Faridabad with the announcement of award for the acquisition of 1,832 acres in sectors 66, 67, 68 and 69.

Stating this here today, Rajeev Arora, MD of the HSIIDC, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced in August 2005 that an IMT on the lines of the Manesar IMT would be developed in Faridabad for reviving the old industrial glory of the city. Immediately after that, the HSIIDC drew up plans for setting up this IMT and initiated the process of acquisition.

The land acquisition officer had announced the award for 552 acres in the revenue estate of Mujeri, Nawada Tigaon, Satoi and Unchagaon villages; 627 acres in Chandawali village and 605 acres in Muchhgar village. The possession of the land had been taken over by the corporation and the development of the basic infrastructure of the IMT would be taken up immediately.

Arora said the regional plan prepared by the NCR planning board had identified Faridabad as one of the Delhi metropolitan area towns which was to be planned and developed to check the inflow of migrants to the national capital. In the final development plan of the Faridabad-Ballabgarh complex, sectors 68 and 69 had been designated as industrial sectors and sectors 66 and 67 for warehousing, transport and communication use.

He said the HSIIDC was also setting up IMTs at Rohtak, Kharkhoda in Sonepat district and Jagadhri to boost industrial development in the state and to exploit the locational potential of the area. 

Hisar, July 29
The Haryana revenue department will start issuing computerised copies of land records instead of handwritten copies from September 1 for all villages of the district.

Besides this facility, one-touch screen kiosks will also be installed in the building of the district administration in Hisar, which will facilitate in providing detailed information about collector rates, copies of jamabandi and various schemes of the Haryana government and the Information Act.

An official spokesman said after the starting of “Naqal Seva Kendra” (copy service centre), farmers would get their land revenue record easily.

He said services at the centre would be provided to the people through a single window system with the help of six computers.

Five patwaris had also been appointed for updating the entries in computers and to attend the queries of the public pertaining to land records. The spokesman said land records of 100 villages had already been updated and computerised.

With the working of this centre, long-standing grievances of the common people pertaining to the delay in the availability of copies of land records would now be addressed.

He said as the old and important land records were in Urdu, the department had taken the services of retired Urdu professionals to translate these into Hindi. — UNI

Ambala, July 29
Taking serious note of the traffic congestion on NH-72 in Kala Amb near the Himachal Pradesh border, the state government today served notices to the police post and the excise post, Kala Amb, for encroaching upon the government land. At least 19 other commercial properties have also been issued notices, many of which are shops. The national highway wing of the Haryana PWD (B&R) has issued notices under the National Highway Act.

The notices issued by the executive engineer, construction division (NH-Panchkula), has asked the encroachers to explain why their property should not be demolished. A meeting has been fixed for August 11 where officials will hear the grievances of the party to whom notices have been issued.

“We will give a fair chance to the person to explain or show us proof if he has any right to be on the land, we say, he has encroached on,” stated a senior official.

Vehicular traffic on this stretch has increased with a large number of industries based in the area, especially at the border, where encroachment is maximum. Reacting to the notice, Ambala SP Sibash Kabiraj said they were unaware that they had encroached upon the government land. He added that they would shift the police post as soon as possible. “We have started the process of finding a new site for the police post. The encroachment was unintentional. It was initially a temporary nakka that was set up in 1980 to check vehicles. Later, it was developed into a traffic aid police post,” he said.

Bhiwani, July 29
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today claimed that various steps taken by the state government for women empowerment and welfare of the girl child had improved the sex ratio in the state. The ratio, which was 819 in 2001, had increased to 860 this year, he added.

Addressing a seminar on “Eradication of female foeticide” in the judicial complex here, the Chief Minister said Haryana was the first state in the country to punish a doctor under the PNDT Act. The government had been taking all necessary steps for eradication of this social evil.

The Chief Minister said campaigns of social nature could succeed only with the active involvement of people from every section of society. Various welfare schemes, scholarships and other incentives for girl students had helped in creating an atmosphere of goodwill for the opposite sex in the state, he said.

Hooda praised the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Vijender Jain, for involving himself and the judiciary in eradicating this social evil.

The state government had taken all possible steps to strengthen the judicial infrastructure in the state, he said, adding that the construction of judicial complexes in 18 districts and 25 subdivisions had already been completed.

Referring to the demand of the Bhiwani Bar Association, the CM announced a grant of Rs 10 lakh and assured that the government would provide land to the association for the construction of lawyers’ chambers.

Chief Justice Vijender Jain, who has spearheaded a campaign in Haryana and Punjab against female foeticide, praised the Chief Minister for his active involvement in improving the judicial infrastructure in the state and taking various steps for the welfare of women and girls.

The need of the hour was to change the thinking of people towards the girl child, he added. He announced that after his retirement on August 2, he would involve himself in programmes aimed at the welfare of society. Justice K.C. Puri of the Punjab and Haryana High Court also addressed the seminar.

Earlier, Jain inaugurated a newly constructed complex of 86 chambers of the association, which has been constructed at a cost of Rs 82 lakh.

Ambala, July 29
The Haryana Wakf Board has touched new heights in income generation during the financial year 2007-2008 by earning Rs 11.83 crore, which is an all-time high income of the board and is Rs 4.50 crore more than the previous financial year.

This was disclosed at the fifth annual general meeting held here today.

Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai was the chief guest at the function.

Addressing a large gathering of the board, including members of the board, imams of mosques, heads of mosques, heads of madrasas and other senior officers, Dr Kidwai said the madrasas should impart modern education apart from religious teachings and the Wakf Board should play a pivotal role in it.

Presenting the annual report of the board, Hanif Qureshi, chief executive officer of the board, said the board had spent a huge amount of Rs 1.26 crore on various educational and welfare schemes launched by the board for the benefit of the minorities.

Projects to set up women polytechnic in Panipat and a polytechnic/medical lab technicians/physiotherapy college in Yamunanagar district were in the offing.

The fifth Lhawaja Altaf Hussain Hali Award for 2008 was conferred on to Urdu prose writer and litterateur of Haryana (Mewat), Hakim Ajmal Kha, by the Governor. The award carries a cash prize of Rs 20,000, a citation, shawl and a memento.

During the past five years, the board has recovered 288 encroached wakf properties through courts by way of compromise.

The state government has now appointed divisional commissioner of Ambala, Rohtak, Hisar and Gurgaon as survey commissioners to trace out wakf properties which were not registered as wakf properties in the survey conducted during 1963-1969 period of erstwhile Punjab state.

The survey work has already been completed in six districts of Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonepat, Karnal, Kurukshetra and Yamunanagar and work has started in Ambala district. During the ongoing survey, as many as 392 new wakf properties worth Rs 134.17 crore and measuring 1,594 kanals and 2 marlas have been traced out.

Sirsa, July 29
Security has been intensified at the Sirsa railway station after the serial blasts in Bangalore and Ahmedabad.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has been checking the luggage of every passenger on all trains stopping at the railway station.

Babu Lal Meena, in charge of the RPF at Sirsa, said checking had been intensified in view of the serial blasts and the recovery of explosive material at some places in the country.

Faridabad, July 29
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) reconstituted its Faridabad unit here today. It appointed eight vice-presidents and 12 general secretaries.

Announcing the names of the new officer-bearers, president of the district unit of the IYC Summit Gaur said three block presidents have also been appointed.

He said 40 per cent of the members of the preceding executive committee of the district unit had been retained.

Praising Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Gaur said the present Congress government in the state had been doing a lot of work to encourage the youth.

He said the local unit of the IYC had done a number of works to increase the party’s base in Faridabad. He named a number of blood donation camps and other social-oriented works undertaken by the organisation.

Sirsa, July 29
In view of the ongoing controversy between followers of Dera Sacha Sauda and Sikh organisations, the district authorities have launched a campaign for the verification of weapons of all residents of the district having arms licences.

In his orders issued under Rule 62 and 63 of the Arms Rules 1962, district magistrate V. Umashankar has said that keeping in view the circumstances prevailing in the district and the possibility of sectarian conflict, it has become necessary in public interest to get all arms licences and arms in possession of the licensees physically 
verified.

“The comprehensive physical verification of all licences and arms in respect of prohibited-bore and non-prohibited-bore arms issued from this district will be carried out within three months,” said Umashankar while talking to The Tribune.

“The verification will be with respect to the antecedents of the arms licensee and whether he has been keeping it with himself or has handed it over to someone else. The fact that the licensees are actually alive or not will also be verified,” he added.

Meanwhile, Sukhwinder Singh Khalsa, president of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Sabha, has accused Dera Sacha Sauda of providing shelter to the “killers” of Harminder Singh, who died during clashes over “naam charcha” at Dabwali on July 18. Khalsa demanded arrest of these persons.

He also accused the dera of “swindling agriculture property” of farmers of 
this area.

Giving copies of revenue records to mediapersons at Dasham Patshahi Gurdwara here today, Khalsa alleged that the dera had transferred 60 kanals and 2 marlas belonging to Gurdev Singh, son of Kirpal Singh, a resident of Begu, by way of a gift deed on March 14, 2005, while Gurdev Singh had died on April 1, 2000.

He also produced the death certificate of Gurdev Singh before the 
mediapersons.

Aditya Insan, a spokesperson for the dera, however, refuted the allegations of Khalsa, terming these as false and baseless.

He said the land was sold by Gurdev Singh to a follower of the dera in 1994, who in turn gifted it to the dera in 2005.

Insan demanded that the authorities should arrest Khalsa and others for rioting and attacking dera followers on July 18 at Dabwali. 

Dabwali (Sirsa), July 29
Simran (11) does not know when she will be able to attend her school again.

A class VII student of Raja Ram Government Senior Secondary School here, she had gone to her school at 7 am as usual on July 18 but returned after a while as she was told that the school was closed due to some violence.

By the time she returned to her residence near the railway crossing, she found hundreds of rioters ransacking her house.

Her father Gurdeep Singh’s workshop situated in the corner of the street had already been vandalised.

She found her mother, Paramjit Kaur, standing petrified and bleeding profusely in the corner of the street along with other women. Someone from the crowd hit Paramjit Kaur with a sword while she was trying to save her belongings. She has received five stitches on the web between the thumb and index finger of her right arm.

Simran has not seen her father and two brothers since July 18.

Paramjit Kaur has alleged that the police has been hounding them for Harminder’s murder though, she says that only one of her sons was present at the naam charcha when the clashes occurred.

Simran’s father used to eke out a living by running a welding workshop and earned sufficient money to provide reasonably good education to his three children.

Simran does not understand the nuances of religions and sects. What she understands is that her father was always ready to meet her demands of chocolates and candies, but now she is too frightened to even ask for one from her mother.

From the conversation of her mother and other women of the surroundings, where the family is putting up after riots, she has understood that life will never be the same for her in future.

Simran misses her schoolmates and often sheds tears when alone.

Her case is not an isolated case of innocent sufferers, who have been paying a heavy price for the Dera- Sikh clash in the town on July 18.

Over 50 families have been affected by the fury of crowd on the fateful day.

The parents of sisters, Veer Pal Kaur (23) and Preity (21), will again have to gather articles bought for their marriage.

Their father Baldev Singh, a scrap dealer, had saved every penny he could from his meagre income to purchase articles for his daughters. The articles were gutted on July 18.

Having lost everything they had, they now fear arrests for Harminder’s murder.

Deputy commissioner V. Umashankar said the authorities were waiting for the directions from the government and they had already got the damage surveyed.

Sirsa, July 29
The police today unearthed a factory manufacturing spurious Pepsi in Rania town in this district.

According to police sources, Rajinder Singh, a marketing official of the cola giant, had complained to the police that Mohan Lal, a resident of Guru Nanak Mohalla in Rania town, had been supplying fake Pepsi drinks in the market.

The CIA staff of the Sirsa police raided the factory of Mohan Lal and seized a filling machine, a cylinder, eight crates of filled fake Pepsi bottles and seven crates of empty Pepsi bottles from there.

The police also seized seven bottles of colours used in manufacturing the soft drink.

The police has arrested Mohan Lal under sections 272 and 273 of the IPC. 

Rewari, July 29
The police arrested a most-wanted criminal, Jasbir (35), during an improvised barricade on the Kund-Khol road last night. It also seized a knife from his possession. He was wanted by the Punjab police.

The police has registered a case under the Arms Act against him.

Disclosures made by the accused during the police interrogation reportedly revealed his involvement in several cases of murder and dacoity, which were committed by him in various districts of Punjab in the past few years.

Jasbir, a resident of Naya Gaon village in Rajasthan, was today produced before the court, which remanded him in judicial custody.

Jind, July 29
The police has registered a case of assault and molestation against three residents of Haat village in the district. The accused include the husband and brother-in-law of the complainant. No arrest has been made so far.

The complainant, wife of Hamid, alleged that her husband and two other persons, including her brother-in-law, molested her and beat her up when she protested after a quarrel over some domestic issue last night.

She told the police that in the presence of her husband, her brother-in-law Sadiq and Veerbhan used vulgar remarks against her and assaulted her when she protested.

She claimed that it had been done at the behest of her husband, who had been working as a “tantrik” in the village. Meanwhile, in another case, the police has arrested Rajesh, a resident of Asharfgarh village, in connection with the death of his wife, who was found dead in her in-laws’ house on July 26. Relatives of the victim, identified as Babli, have alleged that she consumed poison after being harassed by her in-laws for dowry.