Gurgaon, November 3
The issue of rampant factionalism in the Congress came to the fore today as even party’s senior leaders were reprimanded for dividing the workers by the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and in charge of Congress affairs in Haryana, Margret Alva, at a party function here today.

Speaking at a state-level convention of the Haryana Youth Congress organised at the local Gymkhana Club, Alva exhorted the state youth Congress members to rise above groupism and work unitedly to strengthen the party.

The AICC general-secretary minced no words when she categorically warned the leaders sitting on the stage against dividing the Youth Congress. Simultaneously lashing out at the BJP, the Congress leader maintained that some parties were bent upon dividing the nation in the name of caste, creed and religion for their ulterior motives to gain power.

Holding the BJP responsible for the recent violent incidents, she termed the policy of the BJP as “politics of electoral ballot box”.

“This is the reason that when elections draw near, there are bloodshed and riots,” she said, adding that in such a situation, the responsibility of Youth Congress workers increased, as they had to keep the integrity of the nation intact.

The AICC general-secretary said as the population of the youth was the highest in the country, their potential should be fully utilised. She asked the Youth Congress workers to contribute their mite during the Assembly elections in the neighbouring states of Delhi and Rajasthan.

Asserting that the youth had been given due representation in these Assembly elections, Alva pointed out that in Delhi, the youth had been given eight seats, while in Rajasthan more than 12 seats had been offered to the youth.

She appealed the Youth Congress office-bearers to work in coordination with other organisations of the party. Showering praises on Rahul Gandhi, Alva pointed out that Rahul was the leader who had introduced elections for the first time in the history of the Youth Congress. “As a result, the hardworking and dedicated youth would get an opportunity to come forward,” she added.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda called upon the Youth Congress leaders to work dedicatedly to strengthen the party. “You should maintain cordial relations with society and help in redressal of people’s grievances,” he advised the young workers.

Coming down heavily on the INLD and BJP move of forging an alliance, Hooda termed it an unholy tie-up made for the sake of grabbing power. He called their joint rally in Sonepat a failure.

Congress MP from Rohtak Deepender Singh Hooda, HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana, working president Kuldeep Sharma, AICC secretary Dr Shakeel Ujman Ansari, Haryana Youth Congress president Sanjay Chhokkar, IYC general-secretary Pardeep Zaildar and Kuldeep Soni also addressed the “manthan shivir” organised on the occasion.

Local Congress MLA Dharamvir Gauba, Pataudi MLA Bhupinder Choudhary, former minister Rao Dharampal and HPCC vice-president Chakarwarti Sharma were among those present..

Chandigarh, November 3
The CBI Special Court of Jagdeep Jain ordered to issue non-bailable warrants against IAS officers of the Haryana cadre, Sanjeev Kumar and Tikka Hussain Mustafa, in a corruption case at district courts today. The warrants will be issued on November 22.

Taking note of the exemption sought by the IAS officer, the court issued non-bailable warrants. Elaborating on the reason for seeking exemption, the court held, “The accused, instead of appearing in court, moved an application for exemption on grounds that he has to be personally present in hospital where his aged father has an appointment with a doctor.”

A 1985 batch pass out, Sanjeev, was working as the state project director in the Haryana Prathnik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HPSPP), a registered society formed for implementation of the Districts Primary Education Programme (DPEP), in Haryana from April 20, 1998 to April 16, 1999.

Going by the guidelines of the DPEP manual, as per the HPSPP, Sanjeev had financial powers to sanction Rs 15 lakh of the teaching learning material for free distribution to students of Class I to Classs VIII.

However, the CBI alleged that on the basis of the rates mentioned by Sanjeev, all DPEP placed supply orders and purchase of books were to the tune of Rs 2.44 crore. It was further stated that a bribe of Rs 2 lakh was given to Sanjeev for official favour in awarding the contract for printing textbooks. It was also alleged that Sanjeev had received hefty bribes through his contacts namely Tikka Hussain Mustafa and Subash Gupta for the said favour that resulted in publishers Media Magnetic getting an award of contract worth Rs 47 lakh from the government.

Furthermore, the CBI alleged that as per the records, 14 firms stated that they had submitted bids. However, some bidders namely Charanjit Singh of Balhar Printers, Suresh Chandra Mittal of Swastic Packer and R.K. Garg of Rana Krishna Press, denied submitting bids.

Earlier, in June 6 this year, former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala was chargesheeted by the CBI in Patiala House, Delhi, for allegedly being involved in irregularities in the appointment of junior basic trained (JBT) teachers. A public suit filed in 2003 had alleged widespread corruption in the appointment of JBT teachers in Haryana in 1999-2000 and said that Chautala was directly involved in the scam. Chautala was the Chief Minister from 1995-2000.

Following the suit, Sanjeev Kumar, a self proclaimed whistle blower, then filed a petition alleging that the list of the candidates to be recruited for 2,000 posts of teachers was changed at Chautala’s behest.

However, Chautala, the president of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), contended that Sanjeev had indulged in “corrupt” practice and had changed the lists. The Supreme Court had then marked an inquiry to the CBI to investigate the case.

Sirsa, November 3
The All-India Students Federation (AISF) has demanded a CBI inquiry into the killing of a student in an “encounter” by the Hisar police near Bhiwani.

Terming the killing of the student, Kuldeep, as an act of barbarism, Roshan Lal Suchan, state convener of the AISF, alleged that the state government had lost control over the police.

Suchan alleged that it was not the first incident of police killing innocent persons in encounter He maintained that the police act of opening fire on Kuldeep while questioning tantamounted to terrorism and not policing.

Chandigarh, November 3
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has condemned the killing of an innocent student by the Haryana police in an “encounter” in Bhiwani. INLD secretary-general and Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Singh Chautala demanded the “sacking” of the Hooda government and imposition of President’s rule in the state as there was “jungle raj and total anarchy”.

Maintaining that the police had become uncontrollable and unruly, he said the Chief Minister was working like a despot rather than a public representative. It was highly condemnable that the police and the government were trying to protect the “guilty” policemen by issuing irresponsible and contradictory statements like “accidental death”.

The INLD leader said killing innocent people had become a habit or a matter of routine for the Haryana police and this was yet another incident involving police cruelty.

Two weeks ago, the Haryana police had “killed Jaswir Singh Jassa, a resident of Dhakla village, in a fake encounter”. A schoolgirl of Bharatnagar, Bhiwani, and another villager from Gaaranpura Tosham were also killed in another fake encounter. Vikas, son of Jaipal, a resident of Dulhera village in Bahadurgarh, was also killed by the police in a fake encounter. He sought an inquiry into all these incidents by a sitting judge of the High Court and demanded that the Hooda government should be sacked immediately.

Chautala said the law and order situation had “collapsed” in the state as “government-protected people” were demanding ransom and people not accepting their demands were being killed by those gangs.

Referring to Sarita rape and suicide case, the Yamunanagar incident, the Gurgaon lathicharge, the Panipat police “brutality”, Rohtak police firing case and several other cases, he said the Haryana police had ruined the good name of peace-loving Haryanvi people. No action had been taken against the “guilty” police officials despite all earlier “misleading” announcements by the Chief Minister, which had further emboldened the police to commit more brutalities and cruelty on innocent people.

Jhajjar, November 3
Seeking the transfer of a maths teacher, students of Gubhana village today locked the main gate of Government Senior Secondary School and staged a dharna outside the school in the village for around two hours.

The angry students opened the lock only after the district education officer (DEO) pronounced the transfer orders of the maths teacher on the spot and implemented it with immediate effect. According to reports, the students assembled outside the school in the morning and locked the main gate after holding a meeting on the issue.

Later, the students sat in dharna outside the school and started raising slogans against the maths teacher. When staff members reached the school, they found the gate locked.

Information was given to administrative officers and DEO R.P. Sangwan. The DEO reached the spot with the police and tried to pacify the protesters, saying that the maths teacher would be transferred soon, but the students remained adamant on their demand.

The students alleged that the maths teacher had not been performing her duty properly. That was one of the reasons why the school was not getting good results.

“Dismal performance of the students in the first-semester examination is the result of dereliction of duty by the maths teacher,” alleged the students and demanded her immediate transfer. Sources said the maths teacher had been transferred to Baapdauda village with immediate effect.

Yamunanagar, November 3
Despite tall claims of the administration, farmers in the district have been facing shortage of DAP fertiliser.

HAFED claims to have a stock of 2,900 metric tonnes of fertiliser and private sector 800 metric tonnes in the district, which is much below the fertiliser requirement of farmers.

Sources said farmers in the district required above 6,000 metric tonnes of fertiliser only for sowing of wheat. The situation is much worse in Chhachhroli, Bilaspur, Sadaura and Raduar towns of the district where farmers keep waiting for the supply of fertiliser.

Farmers rued that the stock, which was supplied to this area, was not enough to start sowing. “If some stock of fertiliser had reached mini-banks and cooperative societies, it disappeared within an hour,” they added.

The farmers alleged that due to shortage of the fertiliser, they had been forced to buy seeds and pesticides along with the fertilisers.

“The administration has been making tall claims, but the ground reality is completely different. We have not got DAP fertiliser as yet,” said farmers of Chudpur Khurd, Jangsher and Baam Chand.

Juna Ram and Phool Singh of Kulchandu of Mushtafabad have complained that they have been facing harassment because of non-availability of the fertiliser.

Additional deputy commissioner Narender Singh said they had distributed 44,000 bags of fertiliser through mini-banks and cooperative societies to the farmers. Besides, they would get another supply of 1,200 metric tonnes of fertiliser from Gurarat and 2,400 metric tonnes would be provided by the IFFCO, he added.

“In order to ensure proper supply of the DAP fertiliser, we have ordered farmers to get their ration card to buy five bags of the fertiliser so that farmers from other states are not able to purchase it,” he added.

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), November 3
Over a month after a hoax bomb call was made to the Polka restaurant here, the Bahadurgarh police has succeeded in arresting a youth, Jai Singh of Dabauda Kalan village, and a girl, Radha, in this connection.

Jai Singh is the authorised agent of a cellphone company whose cell number was used in making the hoax bomb call to the Polka restaurant while Radha worked as a computer operator in his shop situated on the Rohtak road here.

According to police sources, the sim card used in the hoax bomb call was issued from Jai Singh’s shop and the documents required for getting the sim card were verified by Radha. When both failed to give any information regarding the sim card holder during interrogation, the police registered a case under Section 420 of the IPC and produced them in a local court, which sent Jai Singh to judicial remand and granted bail to Radha.

Panic was created in Bahadurgarh on October 2 last when someone made a call to the Polka restaurant and informed that a bomb had been planted in the restaurant. The staff immediately got the restaurant vacated and informed the police. The anonymous caller again made a call informing that the bomb had been planted in the toilet. The police rushed to the restaurant and called the anti-bomb squad from Delhi after taking all precautionary measures at the spot. The bomb squad removed the object, which appeared similar to a bomb, but comprised fire crackers connected with a wire. The police had traced the number of the mobile phone from which the calls were made.

A case was registered under Sections 285 (negligent conduct with respect to combustible matter), 182 (false information with intent to cause public servant to use his lawful power to the injury of another person) and 211 (false charge of offence made with intent to injure) of the IPC against an unidentified person in this regard.

Chandigarh, November 3
UP Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati will visit Haryana tomorrow.

She is coming to participate in the Fatiah ceremony of a former minister, the late Tayyab Hussain, a highly respected leader of the Meo community. The only person in the country who remained minister in three states, had died on October 7 last.

According to information received here, Mayawati will reach Nuh in Mewat district at 12.30 p.m.

She will also participate in the Dastar-bandi ceremony of Zakir Hussain, elder son of Tayyab Hussain.

On the face of it, the purpose of Mayawati’s visit is social. But it certainly has political undertones because the BSP has already announced the candidature of Zakir for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha constituency, which has a large Meo population.

The Dastar-bandi ceremony will be a high-profile function because the heads of all 12 Pals of the Meos will present pagris to Zakir, signifying his acceptance as the “choudhary” of the community, which is spread over Mewat and the adjoining areas of Rajasthan. Zakir will succeed his father as the “choudhary” of his community.

Arrangements have been made to serve food, both vegetarian and non-vegetarian, to over three lakh persons, who are expected to participate in the ceremony. People have already started reaching Nuh.

When Tayyab Hussain was anointed “choudhary” of the Meo Muslims in 1970, the Pahat Pal of the community had presented him with an elephant as a token of respect. Former Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir Sheikh Abdullah had specially come to Nuh to participate in the ceremony.

The Hussains have been in politics for three generations. Tayyab’s father, Yasin Khan, remained an MLA or MLC from 1926 till 1962. In 1952, he was elected unopposed to the Punjab Assembly. In 1962, he passed on the baton to his son, Tayyab, who rose to become a minister in Punjab when he had just completed 25 years of age, the minimum age for becoming an MLA. Later, he remained a minister in Haryana as well as Rajasthan.

In one of the episodes of a popular TV programme, “Kaun Banega Crorepati”, a question carrying a reward of Rs 50 lakh was asked about Tayyab being the only person in the country to serve as a minister in three states.

According to sources in the BSP, Mayawati has also convened a meeting of her party’s candidates for the Lok Sabha elections from Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan after the ceremony.

Karnal, November 3
While the prices of Pusa 1121 rice have shot up by Rs 800 to Rs 1,200 per tonne after the notification giving the basmati status to this variety was issued on October 29, the issue of withdrawal of export tax of Rs 8,000 per tonne is still unresolved.

Scientists and farmers have won the battle for getting the basmati status to Pusa 1121, but rice exporters are grappling with the problem of high prices in the domestic market and burden of export tax.

Exporters are pinning their hopes on the meeting of the union ministries concerned, slated for tomorrow, to discuss the demand for withdrawal of export tax. The meeting scheduled for today was deferred for tomorrow, official sources said.

The export tax imposed last year in the wake of the steep price rise has not been withdrawn in spite of a bumper crop this year and Indian exporters are in a disadvantageous position as compared to their competitors in the neighbouring country.

Pusa 1121 is selling between Rs 2,600 and Rs 3,000 per tonne while the seed quality rice is fetching between Rs 3,200 and 3,400 per tonne, almost Rs 800 per tonne more as compared to last year.

President of the All-India Rice Exporters Association Vijay Sethia hopes that the unjustified export tax will be withdrawn in the interests of farmers and the country and added that the rise in export of basmati will not have any impact within the country.

Sethia expressed concern over the attack of blight disease which resulted in shrinking of the grain size and reduced the yield. He said scientists should tackle this problem by developing more disease-resistant varieties so that the farmers could get their due.

At present Pusa 1460 is the only variety resistant to blight while all other varieties of basmati, including Pusa 1121, are prone to the disease.

Setia said the share of all types of basmati was only 3 per cent of the total foodgrain production while the share of Pusa 1121 was negligible.

Nuh (Mewat), November 3
Union minister for urban development S.Jaipal Reddy has assured the residents of the Mewat region that the central government will approve a proposal of the Haryana government to establish a medical college in the district at an estimated cost of Rs 250 crore.

Reddy disclosed this while addressing a public meeting after laying the foundation stones for four-laning, widening and strengthening of the Gurgaon-Nuh-Rajasthan border road (State Highway no. 13) and the Hodal-Nuh-Pataudi road along with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here today.

Referring to the other demands of the Mewat region, the minister also gave an assurance to approve a Rs 60 crore project for four-laning of the Nuh to Rajasthan border road and the project of the road linking Nagina in Haryana to Tijara in Rajasthan.

Reddy promised that various projects involving an estimated cost of Rs 600 crore submitted by the Haryana government would be sanctioned within a week.

The union minister advised the state government to formulate long-term plans of urbanisation and gave an assurance that the centre would provide all possible assistance to the state.

"The National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) has already sanctioned Rs 1,200 crore for the construction of 13 roads and seven overbridges," he said, adding that the central government had sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 1,800 crore for the construction of the KMP Express Highway; Rs 1,400 crore for the Gurgaon Metro project; and Rs 1,500 crore for the Faridabad Metro project.

The Chief Minister announced a grant of Rs 1.25 crore for the construction and repair of roads and another Rs 1 crore for the construction of sheds in the local grain market. He maintained that the crossing of the Gurgaon-Nuh-Rajasthan border road and the Hodal-Nuh-Pataudi road at Nuh would be named Shaheedi Chowk.

Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister asserted that the new projects involving an expenditure of Rs 580 crore would prove a milestone in the all-round development of the Mewat area.

Hooda said that during his tenure as Chief Minister, the Haryana government had spent Rs 3,355 crore on roads and bridges during the past three and a half years. The previous state regime had spent only Rs 1,744 crore during its tenure of five years.

"Drinking water is being provided in the Mewat area through the rainy well scheme," he said, adding that the Mewat canal was being constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 325 crore to supply irrigation water to the region.

The Haryana minister for PWD and irrigation, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, local Congress MP Avatar Singh Bhadana and local MLA Habib-ur-Rehman were among the speakers.

Deputy Speaker of the Haryana Assembly Azad Mohammad, Trade Commissioner of the Russian Federation M.A.Rapota and chairman of the local market committee Abdul Shakoor were also present.

Kurukshetra, November 3
Inaugurating a four-day Haryana Day state-level festival - Ratnawali - on the premises of Kurukshetra University here today, commissioner of the Haryana Higher Education Jyoti Arora called upon the students to participate in extra-curricular activities in addition to their regular studies.

Arora said: “Extra-curricular activities are a medium of self-expression. To succeed in life, one must be an all-rounder.”

Talking about the culture of Haryana, she said although the state had a rich culture, efforts to promote it started only after 1966 when Haryana state came into existence. She gave credit to Kurukshetra University, where Haryana’s first cultural programme was organised in 1985 as Haryana Day and since then the promotion of Haryanvi culture had been in progress.

Arora said through Ratnawali, new discoveries in Haryanvi culture were being made and Haryanvi pop and ghazal were the outcome of these discoveries. She suggested that the Kurukshetra University Cultural Society should initiate some steps to cope up with the changes, which were continuously taking place in the Haryanvi culture in the national capital region.

In his presidential address, the vice-chancellor of Kurukshetra University, Prof R.P. Bajpai, said culture and society were co-related and students acted as ambassadors to propagate the culture. He suggested that these programmes clubbed with new ideas were needed to be commercialised.

Director of the youth and cultural affairs department, KU, Anoop Lather said two decades ago this programme was confined only to one stage and was held for a day only, but now, it had been expanded to six stages simultaneously and was performed for four days consecutively.