Chandigarh, September 2
History was created in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha today when Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian named a ruling party MLA, Ram Kishan Fauji, who was speaking on a Bill to amend the Haryana Salaries and Allowances of Ministers Act, 1970, so that each minister could be provided with two official cars. At present a minister is entitled to one official car.

Fauji was demanding that MLAs should also be given official vehicles. Kadian told him that many MLAs had told him that they were “comfortable” with per km charges paid to them for using their personal vehicles. When Fauji, who was supported by Anand Singh Dangi (Cong), persisted with his demand, Kadian named him.

Fauji left the house in a huff. However, after some time Kadian, on the request of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda revoked the suspension of Fauji. Soon, parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala walked to Fauji’s seat and spent some time with him.

Obviously, Surjewala was trying to pacify his party colleague. When Fauji did not seem to be pacified, Surjewala went to Hooda. After talking to him, he again came to Fauji.

Meanwhile, Kadian declared the Bill passed with a voice vote though the voices of “Nays” were louder than those supporting the Bill. The House also passed the Haryana Underground Pipelines (Acquisition of Right of User in Land) Bill after the Chief Minister on his own raised the amount of compensation from 10 per cent to 20 per cent.

The Haryana Regulation of Property Dealers and Consultants Bill was passed after the parliamentary affairs minister accepted an amendment suggested by Karan Singh Dalal and Shamsher Singh Surjewala (both Cong) to raise the quantum of punishment proposed under the Bill. Shadi Lal Batra (Cong) wanted that the duties of the property dealers to be registered under the proposed legislation should have also been prescribed.

The House also passed the Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak, (Amendment) Bill and the Indian Stamp (Haryana Amendment) Bill, which will take place of an ordinance issued earlier to reduce the rate of stamp duty to 5 per cent in the state.

Chandigarh, September 2
The special report of the Committee of Privileges recommending that former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala should be reprimanded for his “disorderly and disrespectful” conduct before the committee was tabled in the Haryana Assembly today amid slogan-shouting by INLD members.

As soon as Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadian asked chairman of the committee Karan Singh Dalal to table the report, the INLD members moved to the well of the House and started raising slogans. One by one Kadian named four INLD members - Ramphal Chidhana, Ishwar Singh Palaka, Balwant Singh Sadhaura and Gian Chand. The other three party MLAs - Sita Ram, Sushil Indora and Sahida Khan - staged a walkout in protest against the tabling of the report, which they described as “illegal and unconstitutional”.

The Speaker had yesterday deferred the tabling of the special report following a noisy protest by the INLD members. Perhaps as a matter of strategy, Kadian called upon Dalal to table the report after the completion of the legislative business listed for the day today. Obviously, he was aware that the INLD members would again disrupt the proceedings of the House when the report against their leader would be tabled.

Tabling the report, Dalal said Chautala should be reprimanded at the bar of the House so that in future nobody could hold the functioning of the House or its committees to ransom. He said if a person who showed scant respect to the House was not dealt with severely, it would set a wrong precedent and would also encourage other members to indulge in indiscipline.

He suggested that the debate on the report should be continued till Chautala was brought to the House and reprimanded.

Dalal elaborated how Chautala avoided accepting notices issued to him to appear before the committee to tender his evidence on a notice of breach of privilege given by parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala. He said it was only after the committee asked the DC, Sirsa, to paste the notice outside the residence of Chautala that the latter appeared before it. Even then his attitude towards the committee was disrespectful and he walked out of its meeting, daring it to do whatever it wanted to do against him.

Ram Kumar Gautam of the BJP blamed Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for the “arrogant” behaviour of Chautala. He said when Hooda became Chief Minister, the people of the state had expected that he would put the INLD leader behind the bars for “looting” the property of Haryana. Describing Hooda a gentleman, Gautam said too much of gentleness was also not good. When Kadian pointed out the possibility of an alliance between the INLD and the BJP, Gautam said even for that Hooda was to be blamed. “If Hooda had taken action against Chautala under the Prevention of Corruption Act, there would have been no possibility of an alliance between the INLD and the BJP,” he added.

Radhey Shyam Sharma (Ind) also supported Dalal’s request to reprimand Chautala. K.L. Sharma (Cong) was on his legs when the House was adjourned till tomorrow. 

Chandigarh, September 2
The number of BPL families is substantially up in Haryana and every fourth family in the state has been placed in the category of “poor”.

From 8.72 lakh BPL families identified during the rule of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government, the number of such families has gone up to 12.96 lakh families according to the latest figures available and compiled by Haryana’s panchayat and development department.

Of a total of 47.59 lakh families in Haryana, every fourth family, that is 12.96 lakh families, in the state have been found to be eligible for BPL benefits. Of these BPL families, 8.58 lakh are rural families and 4.38 lakh urban families.

These statistics were placed on the floor of the House on the second day of the monsoon session here today. However, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was quick to clarify that the number of poor had not gone up in the state as it would appear prima facie.

Speaking to mediapersons in the press gallery, he said the increase in the number of poor was the outcome of the “anti-poor” policies of the then Om Prakash Chautala-led INLD regime which had not played fair.

“Their survey was rigged. The number of poor was shown to be far less that the real population. We have only rectified that mistake,” he said.

The Chief Minister said as per the parameters of the Planning Commission there should be 6.71 lakh rural BPL families and 1.70 lakh urban BPL families, totalling to 8.41 BPL families in the state. However, the number identified in the state had far exceeded the target of families set by the Planning Commission. “We don’t want any eligible family left out which is why we have decided to bear the expenditure of these excess BPL families,” he added.

He added that persons who were still aggrieved could submit their representations to the additional deputy commissioners and block development panchayat officers (BDPOs) concerned by September 30.

The issue of a separate SGPC, Hooda said the report of the committee constituted under agriculture minister H.S. Chatha was still awaited.

Chandigarh, September 2
The opening of malls and retail outlets will not adversely affect small-time businesses in the state. Maintaining that the Haryana government was alive to the need of safeguarding the interests of small shopkeepers, parliamentary affairs minister Randeep Singh Surjewala informed the House that there was absolutely no cause for worry.

To a question by Dr Sushil Indora, Surjewala said there were 1.03 lakh traders in cities with an annual turnover of Rs 1 lakh as the lower limit while there were 118 malls and retail outlets in the state.

He added that the ratio of the latter was too small to impact the traders, but the government was not oblivious to the interests of the traders.

Earlier, industries minister Lachhman Das Arora, in his reply, had said there was no restriction on the entry of big industrialists or capitalists in retail trade in Haryana.

To a question by Radhey Sham Sharma, the public works minister, Capt Ajay Yadav, was bogged with water issues of the state with a number of MLAs complaining about waterlogging in villages falling in their area. To a question posed by Naresh Yadav about non-availability of drinking water in villages of his constituency, the minister told him that providing drinking water was not his responsibility. 

Pandemonium reigned after question hour when INLD MLA Sushil Indora wanted to speak during zero hour. However, Speaker Raghubir Kadian denied him permission and asked Dr Sita Ram to proceed with his call attention motion.

Meanwhile, Karan Dlal stood up to make a point and was given permission at the behest of Randeep Singh Surjewala. INLD members opposed this, maintaining that their member had been disallowed from making his point while Dalal was given permission.

After raising slogans against the government and during the heated exchange that followed, Indora was named by the Speaker while Balwant Sadhaura was warned a couple of times. Later, Indora, too, was called back.

Sirsa, September 2
Tears rolled down the cheeks of Tara, wife of a poor rickshaw-puller, Ramesh, when her four-year-old child Sandeep sat on her lap after a gap of 20 days.

These were tears of gratitude for members of a Jaipur-based NGO, Children Helpline, which made their reunion possible.

As days passed by, Tara was losing hope of meeting her son again.

Her three sons - Sandeep, Sanjay and Pankaj - aged four, five and six, respectively, went missing from their Dabwali residence on August 10.

Ramesh had lodged an FIR against another rickshaw-puller for the disappearance of his sons.

In the meantime, the eldest son Pankaj returned home on August 13.

He informed his parents that someone had boarded them on the Jammu Tawi train at the Dabwali railway station.

He informed that he lost touch with his two brothers while on train.

All efforts to trace Sanjay and Sandeep failed to yield results.

Meanwhile, volunteers of Children Helpline found a four-year-old child roaming in the streets of the city, who told them that he came from Sirsa.

The volunteers brought the child to Sirsa yesterday and contacted the local police.

Ajay Sharma, SHO of the city police station, Sirsa, tried to find out the parents of the child on the basis of information given by him, but to no avail.

Finally, when he enquired from the Dabwali police station, he came to know the fact of two missing children from there.

When a police party from Dabwali brought Sandeep’s parents to Sirsa, the boy immediately slipped into his mother’s lap.

It was a tearful union of the mother with her child after a gap of 20 days. 

Yamunanagar, September 2
Tension prevailed in Khijrabad town, 35 km from here, after activists of Hindu fundamentalist organisations allegedly set afire meat shops belonging to the Muslim community here today.

Alleging that Muslims had brought cows for slaughter here, the Hindu activists said Muslims allegedly beat up the Hindu activists who wanted to stop them from carrying the animals to their places. The police had to lathicharge and burst tear gas shells to disperse of the mob.

All senior officials, including the deputy commissioner, additional deputy commissioner and IG, Ambala Range, B.S. Sandhu were camping at the site to review the situation. They also held a meeting with members of both the communities to solve the crisis.

The tension between the two communities surfaced after members of the Cow Raksha Samiti intercepted a truck of members of the Muslim community, who were reportedly carrying cows, and raised objection to it last evening.

Later, the members of the samiti were allegedly detained by the truck owner and other members of his community. They also beat up the samiti members.

One of the members of the samiti managed to escape from their custody and informed others about the incident. The members of the samiti were released late last night after the police intervention.

The situation deteriorated today morning after a large number of activists of the Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena and the samiti reached Khijrabad and set afire at least 10 meat kiosks of Muslims.

The activists were aggrieved at the fact that their activists were not only detained but also beaten by the other community.

They also alleged that the police did not show up courage to arrest the accused, who had allegedly brought the cows for slaughter and had beaten up their activists.

However, when things got worse, the police lathicharged and fired tear gas shells to disperse of the crowd.

Even the deputy commissioner, Ambala, who is also holding the additional charge of Yamunanagar, Mohamad Shayin, had to face the wrath of the Hindu organisation, which alleged that the DC was favouring the other community and also slapped a youth activist.

Denying the allegations, the administration officials said the activists levelled allegations against the DC after he stopped the youth activists from using derogatory language.

Meanwhile, members of the Bajrang Dal, VHP, BJP and the Shiv Sena blocked the road near Fountain Chowk here and damaged some of the vehicles protesting against the beating up of the their activists in Khijrabad by the police.

Additional deputy commissioner Narender Singh said the situation was tense, but under control.

The administration has called leaders of both communities to hold a meeting on September 6 to resolve the issue. The two sitting MLAs of the district, the deputy commissioner and the SP will discuss the issue. Besides, the police has released an activist, who was arrested following the protest, said the ADC. 

Sirsa, September 2
The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti today organised a victory procession to celebrate the resolution of the land issue by the Jammu and Kashmir government.

The procession started from the local Nehru Park and went through all important markets of the town.

Veer Bhan Sethi, president of the samiti, Ramesh Mehta, vice-president, and Hira Lal Sharma, president of the Vyapar Mandal, led the procession.

Mehta said the Amarnath Yatra was a symbol of secularism and had been continuing for centuries.

He said residents of the valley had always welcomed the Amarnath yatris with open hands but it was the state government that created unnecessary difference between the two communities.

Chandigarh, September 2
Haryana Subordinate Service Selection Board’s former secretary A.P. Jain’s plea for suspension of the five-year sentence awarded to him in a corruption and cheating case has failed to find favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Similar pleas raised by co-accused, five board members included, too have been turned down. In all, 20 accused in the selection case were awarded sentence by the trial court. Among them was A.P. Jain’s son Punit Jain.

The sentence and conviction orders were passed almost 19 years after the taxation inspectors’ recruitment scam had surfaced. A.P. Jain and others were earlier accused of misconduct. They had allegedly circumvented the process for recruiting excise and taxation inspectors in the state.

The records were allegedly forged for selecting candidates who had not even qualified the written test. Further, candidates, who had not even appeared for the interviews, were allegedly selected.

Taking up an appeal filed by Jain and other appellants against conviction and sentence handed down by a Special Judge, Chandigarh, in the matter, Justice S.D. Anand of the High Court ruled: “The prosecution allegations are indicative of the fact that the appellants acted in criminal unison to subvert the selection process.

“In the detailed judgement, the trial judge noticed the respective allegations against the appellants and also the material adduced by the prosecution thereof. Those allegations being fairly serious in character, I do not find it a case to order the suspension of sentence”. Justice Anand also observed the trial court had directed the preservation of the record relevant to the selection. Jain too had given a statement to “that effect”. But, it was proved during the trial that the record was shown to have been destroyed even before the selection results were declared.

The accused were initially booked for cheating, conspiracy and forgery under Sections 120-B, 420, 468, 471 of the IPC and under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. Jain was the secretary, while appellants Bachan Ram, Samay Singh Kamboj, Devi Dayal, Rao Inderpal Singh and Sukhdev Singh were members. The other appellants were candidates-cum-beneficiaries in the selection process.

Kaithal, September 2
The court of Additional Sessions Judge here has sentenced a youth to 10 years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 10,000 on him after holding him guilty of raping a minor Dalit girl on December 19, 2006, at Sirsal village here.

According to the prosecution, the accused, Balwan Singh, had raped the minor girl when she had gone to answer the call of nature.

Initially, family members of the accused prevailed upon the father of the victim, Pala Ram, to desist him from lodging a complaint.

However, when the accused continued to harass the rape victim, Pala Ram lodged a complaint with the police.

The defence took the plea that there was delay in lodging an FIR and the complainant had falsely implicated the accused in the rape case due to other reasons. However, ADJ A.K. Shori after hearing the arguments of the prosecution and the defence and holding Balwan guilty of rape mentioned in the order that no father would scoop so low and put forth his daughter to make wild allegations of rape with a view to take revenge from any one.

The defence advanced the argument that there was a delay of 21 days in lodging the FIR. The court held that the delay could be due to variety of reasons.

Sonepat, September 2
Deputy commissioner Aji Joshi has suspended the sarpanch of Asawarpur village, Sher Singh, after inquiring into the complaints of irregularities and misappropriation of gram panchayat funds. The action to suspend two other sarpanches and three panchayat secretaries has also been initiated by the deputy commissioner.

The DC said crores of rupees received by the panchayats for the acquisition of the panchayat land by the government were deposited in the accounts of 47 village panchayats concerned. However, after receiving complaints regarding misappropriation of funds by gram panchayats, an inquiry was ordered to verify the accounts. It was found that eight gram panchayats had allegedly withdrawn the amount from the banks. The DC said after the inquiry conducted by BDPO Hari Singh Sheoran, sarpanch Sher Singh, panchayat secretary Ranbir Singh and five panches were found guilty of misappropriation of funds of more than Rs 3.80 crore.

The inquiry report of BDPO Arvind has established that Ravinder Kumar, sarpanch of Rewali village, withdrew Rs 1.66 crore by using the signature of Pradeep Kumar as panchayat secretary, whereas Randeep was the panchayat secretary during that period. Chander Bhan, sarpanch of Turakpur village, and panchayat secretary Brijesh Kumar guilty of withdrawing over Rs 89.27 lakh.

Gurgaon, September 2
Former municipal councillor and alleged accused in several criminal cases Vinder Gujjar escaped a bid on his life after he was shot at by two persons while he was travelling in a car on the Khandsa road here today.

The area where the incident took place became deserted soon after. The shopkeepers also downed their shutters. The police reached the spot immediately and a case was registered against two unidentified persons on the complaint of Gujjar.

Gujjar was elected from ward no. 22 in the erstwhile municipal committee, which was dissolved after the creation of the Municipal Corporation.

As per the complainant, two motorcycle-borne youths came from behind and opened fire at the Indica, which was moving ahead of the Scorpio in which Gujjar was travelling. The accused shot at the car believing that Gujjar might be sitting in it, but the car belonged to one of Gujjar’s men.

Sources said he was under threat from a rival gang therefore he always moved in the company of his supporters. DCP (west) Rakesh Arya said the police recovered two empty shells from the spot.

The attackers abandoned the motorcycle at some distance and absconded. 

Jhajjar, September 2
An employee of the health department was killed in a road accident near Kadoda village on the Jhajjar-Kosli road here today. The deceased has been identified as Ajit Singh, resident of Narnaul village.

Ajit Singh’s car collided with a tractor coming from the opposite direction.

In another incident, the Bahadurgarh police has booked two youths - Mota and Jeet of Chhara village - on a charge of attempt to murder. They allegedly opened fire on Naresh, resident of same village, this morning over a personal grudge.