Chandigarh, November 18
The financial meltdown has hit revenue collections in Haryana. Though the state continues to show a growth of 16 per cent in its VAT collections for October, the growth momentum has slowed down as compared to the first six months of the year.

This was revealed by Haryana finance minister Birender Singh while talking to The Tribune after presiding over a meeting of excise and taxation officials.

He said as compared to a growth of 23 per cent in VAT collections in the first two quarters of this fiscal (April-September), the revenue collections had grown by just 16 per cent in October.

This has prodded the minister to now ask his department to increase VAT collections by realising more revenue from mining and luxury tax.

“Because of the general recessionary sentiment in the market, there is a dip in VAT collections. In October, the VAT collection in Haryana was to the tune of Rs 603 crore. Comparatively, the VAT collection for October 2007 was Rs 522 crore. Since the growth in revenue was just 16 per cent last month, we have asked excise and taxation officials to rectify the dip in collections,” said the finance minister.

The officials have also been asked to tighten their grip on traders and initiate recovery of Rs 1,400 crore, which is due over the past few years.

A number of traders have not paid their taxes, and these cases are being examined by the department.

“We have asked the officials to realise as much revenue as possible by expediting these cases. Though we have been realising about Rs 100 crore per year from such cases, the department has been asked to increase these collections by at least 200 per cent,” said the minister.

The department has also been asked to increase the VAT collections on mining from the present Rs 35 crore-Rs 40 crore to Rs 100 crore.

The luxury tax (which was imposed two years ago) collections in the state, too, will be increased from the present Rs 30 crore-Rs 35 crore to Rs 100 crore this year.

“This will ensure that Haryana is able to maintain the annual growth of 23 per cent in VAT collections this year,” added the minister.

Karnal, November 18
With the deadline of December 16 set by the High Court to remove all unauthorised construction along the National Highway-I fast approaching, the district town planning authorities today stepped up its drive for demolition of illegal structures.

Ten dhabas and 20 shops between Namasta Chowk and Madhuban Chowk were demolished while 15 dhabas were demolished at Khund on November 12.

The demolition work would be over before December 16 and about 45 dhabas in the vicinity of Karnal would be razed to the ground in compliance of the orders of the High Court, district town planner S.K. Punia said.

He said the orders were passed by the High Court on a civil writ petition filed by
some people.

He said notices were issued to all such dhaba owners to remove the encroachments three months ago, but only a few of them had complied.

These dhaba owners and shopkeepers were also offered auctioned plots in Sector 4, but they did not come forward to avail of the opportunity.

Dhaba owners on the other hand maintained that the place was obscure and the business would suffer if they relocated their shops and dhabas to Sector 4.

Naresh Kumar, a dhaba owner, rued that no formal legal notice was given to him and officials verbally asked him to vacate the place.

Karnal, November 18
The Dr Shashi Bhushan Madan assault case took a new turn today with members of the National Integrated Medical Association (NIMA) and other medical organisations threatening to launch a statewide agitation in case the accused were not arrested.

The NIMA, the IMA and Beopar Mandal representatives today rejected the suggestion of the police to constitute an 11-member committee for working out a compromise and demanded strict action against the assailants.

The reports that Dr Madan had a hairline brain fracture and sub-dural haemorrhage provoked doctors and local shopkeepers in the Hansi road area and they pulled down their shutters.

Pawan Arora, a local doctor, alleged that 10 people were involved in the attack while the police booked only five persons and two of them admitted to the hospital were not involved in the clash at all.

He demanded the arrest of the seven other accused and alleged that the blood samples of victims had not been sent to the laboratory so far.

Dr Markanda of the IMA demanded the arrest of all 10 accused of Gogripur village otherwise the association would be forced to give a call for a statewide strike.

Meanwhile, some shopkeepers at Nissing, Nilokheri and Tawari also kept their shutters down to express their solidarity with Dr Madan.

The agitating doctors and shopkeepers also received support from Rajesh Sharma, head of the medical cell of the INLD.

Karnal, November 18
Defiant BJP MLA Ram Kumar Gautam, under attack from party leaders for opposing the BJP-INLD alliance, today stepped up his ante against INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala and dubbed the alliance as “suicide” by the BJP.

“I fail to understand that how the BJP top brass has forgotten the humiliation suffered by its leaders and cadres at the hands of Chautala during the INLD rule and really feel ashamed when I see the photograph of BJP prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani with Chautala,” he told mediapersons here.

He alleged that Advani had planned this alliance only for becoming the next Prime Minister and also hit out at former union minister of state for home affairs I.D. Swami for betraying Haryana BJP workers.

The INLD has always betrayed the BJP and even after forging an alliance, its workers always worked for the defeat of BJP candidates, he alleged.

Claiming that the BJP had lost the last elections mainly because of “wrong distribution of tickets”, Gautam predicted a complete rout of the BJP-INLD alliance in the coming Lok Sabha polls.

Unfazed by the demand of the Haryana BJP to remove him from the leadership of the legislature party, Gautam said he was not at all bothered about it and ready to resign even as MLA, if required.

He said feelers had been sent to him to stop opposing the alliance and he was even offered ministry of his choice by the INLD, but spurned all theses offers and vowed to work for breaking the alliance till the end in the interests of the masses.

He said 90 per cent of the BJP workers were against the alliance and recalled that in the last elections Advani had reportedly said that it was better to vote for the Congress than to vote for Chautala.

Jind, November 18
A Narwana court in the district has directed the police to register a case against six persons, including a woman, for alleged abduction and illegal confinement of a teenaged girl, who has been missing from her house since November 2.

The order was passed on a petition filed by a local resident after the police “failed” to register a case and arrest the accused.

The girl is reported to have been abducted from Railway Colony at Narwana after some dispute with the family.

Complainant Jai Bhagwan has claimed that the accused - Anil, Vijay, Ajit, Surender, Hariram and Nirmala - had allegedly abducted the girl from her house on November 2 when she was with her mother at their house and no male member was present.

The accused came to their house and allegedly tied her mother with a rope and forcibly took away the girl and since then the girl has not been traced.

It is alleged that the accused demanded Rs 5 lakh from the family for the safe return of the girl and the police had not taken any action to recover the girl and arrest the accused despite requests.

Meanwhile, in another incident, the police has registered a case of murder against a resident of Nagura village after the recovery of a farm labourer’s body this morning.

The deceased, identified as Gulab Singh (40), had been employed by Shamsher of the same village. The body of Gulab Singh was found on the Nagura-Assandh road.

He had been reportedly strangled over a dispute pertaining to some payment by the farm owner. No arrest has been made.

Sirsa, November 18
Megha Bhardwaj did not receive the government help when she needed it the most. Bhardwaj, a young promising boxer, who played at the national level, died fighting cancer three days ago.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and state minister for sports and youth affairs Kiran Choudhry today expressed deep shock over Megha’s death, for whose treatment Hooda announced financial help of Rs 1 lakh earlier this morning.

Choudhry in a press note said the state government made efforts, but she could not survive her illness.

Interestingly, the release mentions that the relief is for her treatment. It has not been made clear whether the family, which is under huge debt due to the prolonged treatment of Megha, will get the relief or not.

Megha died after fighting a one-and-a-half-year battle with cancer. She had exceptional qualities in the field of academic, cultural and sports. She had won many laurels in various boxing championships at district, state and national levels.

The Chief Minister and the sports minister said the state had lost a promising sportsperson. Ironically, the government help has come in for Megha at a time when she is no more in this world.

To be fair to the state government, the delay did not occur at its level. As a matter of fact, the district authorities in Sirsa handled the case in an insensitive manner.

When Megha’s father Dinesh Bhardwaj was virtually begging to pay for frequent chemotherapies and radiotherapies of her daughter in SMS Medical Hospital, Jaipur, after exhausting all his savings and proceeds of his residential plot and jewellery of his wife, the authorities here kept him running from pillar to post when he applied for a relief from the Chief Minister’s relief fund.

The health authorities refused to issue an estimate for the treatment of Megha on the plea that they were not treating her and officials in the deputy commissioner’s office refused to move the file without an estimate.

However, Dinesh Bhardwaj got an estimate prepared from the general hospital, Fatehabad, and submitted that after getting it countersigned by civil surgeon, Sirsa.

However, the file is still lying in the office of the deputy commissioner, Sirsa, due to red tape prevalent in the administration.

The Tribune had highlighted the plight of the family and help had started pouring in for Megha though in bits.

The family got financial help from Karnal and Kalanwali besides some social organisations of the town.

Schoolchildren from Government High School, Nehrana, had started contributing their pocket money for the treatment of Megha and Priyanka Chaudhary, an old fellow boxer of Megha, had contributed her scholarship amount for the young boxer.

The bodies of the victims remained lying on the road for hours before these were taken to the general hospital, Dabwali, for postmortem by the police. The police has registered a case against the canter driver.

Sirsa, November 18
While she was in jail in connection with the murder of her husband, her minor daughter was allegedly raped repeatedly by those claiming to be her well-wishers and ostensibly facilitating her bail.

A woman friend of hers, whom she relied upon the most, helped others rape the
hapless girl.

The woman, who was released on bail on October 31, came to know of the fact from her daughter.

She went to the local city police station last evening and lodged her complaint against the woman and five others.

The police has registered a case. Makhan, a resident of the local Jan Kalyan Colony, had died two years ago.

His wife had informed the police that he died of excessive drinking. However, the victim’s parents alleged that he had been poisoned by his wife in connivance with her paramour Om Parkash.

Reports of the viscera of Makhan’s body revealed that he had been poisoned and consequently his wife and Om Parkash were arrested and put in jail.

The woman was released on bail on October 31 and on coming back home, she came to know that her minor daughter had been raped by Raju, Palvinder and three others by promising her to help her mother get bail.

Amarjit Kaur, a friend of the woman, whom she trusted the most, allegedly helped the five accused in the crime.

“The police has registered a case under section 376 of the IPC and is investigating
the matter. The woman has yet not given the clothes of the girl and the medical
examination of the victim is yet to be done,” said Ajay Sharma, SHO of the city
police station.

Gurgaon, November 18
Rezangla martyrs, who made the supreme sacrifice on November 18, 1962, during the India-China war to stop the enemy forces from reaching the Chushul (Ladakh) air strip, were remembered today.

A Renzangla Day memorial samaroh and an ex-servicemen sammelan were organised at the war memorial.

Haryana Governor A.R. Kidwai was the chief guest. He laid a wreath at the war memorial to pay tributes to the martyrs.

Jawans of 9 Maratha Infantry reversed their arms as a mark of respect to the
martyrs. The Governor presented a shawl and a memento each to war widows
and gallantry awardees.

Addressing the gathering, the Governor said 114 soldiers of Charlie Company of 13 Kumaon Battalion laid down their lives at the Renzangla post on November 18 and thwarted an attempt of the Chinese forces to capture the Chushul air strip.

Even the enemies praised the heroic deeds of these soldiers and their commander, Major Shataan Singh, was conferred the Paramvir Chakra posthumously.

Kidwai said, “The heroic deeds of martyrs should always be remembered because these infuse a feeling of patriotism among the youth and children.” Kidwai said, “The Sainik Board should constitute committees to take care of war widows.”

Kidwai also conceded the demands put forth by Major T.C. Rao, president, Renzangla Shahidi Samaroh Samiti, which included five acres for the construction of DGR Bhawan and the naming of the roundabout at Palam Vihar and Sector 23 in Gurgaon as Rezangla Chowk. He also announced Rs 1.01 lakh for war widows.

Earlier, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, PWD (B&R) and irrigation minister, Haryana, said, “The country is united because of the soldiers.”

Captain Yadav said the government was planning to set up a defence university in Binola village near here.

REWARI: A function was held under the auspices of the Rezang La Shauriya Samiti to commemorate the 46th anniversary of the historic battle of Rezangla at the Rezangla War Memorial complex here on Tuesday.

Tributes were paid to the martyrs by Col Ram Singh, former union minister and chief guest, Swami Sharanananda, president of the Brahma-Vart Research Foundation and Mahender Singh Yadav among others.

As many as 35 war widows of Rewari region were honoured on the occasion. Rao Ajit Singh Khaira, a social activist of the region, donated Rs 1 lakh to the samiti.

Faridabad, November 18
Employees of the local office of Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) staged a demonstration in protest against the registration of a corruption case against a subdivisional engineer of the department posted in Jind.

The employees alleged that the case was registered at the behest of the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau against the engineer on November 6 as part of a false charge by a private contractor related to HUDA office in Jind.

They alleged that the contractor wanted some illegal favours from the personnel, who did not oblige. Hence, the contractor framed a charge against him, they added.

The demonstration was staged at the mini-secretariat under the aegis of the HUDA Employees Joint Action Committee.

They also submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda vide the office of the SDM, Faridabad.

In the memorandum, they have urged for a high-level probe into the entire episode relating to the registration of case against the engineer.

The employees cautioned that they would continue their agitation till their demand
was met.

Chandigarh, November 18
Haryana is all set to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission for its employees by the beginning of next year.

The report of Pay Revision Committee, set up by the state government, is expected to be tabled in a month, paving the way for implementation of revised pay scales.

Official sources informed TNS here today that the Pay Revision Committee had heard out representations from over 220 associations/ unions.

“The four-member committee, headed by chief secretary Dharam Vir, is expected to submit its report to the state government within a month. A three-member committee of the state government has also heard out pensioners, and is expected to submit its report shortly,” confirmed finance minister Birender Singh.

Once the government receives the report, it will go ahead and implement the recommendations made by the two committees.

With parliamentary elections round the corner, the state government is believed to be keen on implementing the report at the earliest and thus appease the voters among the state government employees.

As per the Central Pay Panel report, the employees will get an average hike of 21 per cent in their salaries.

It is learnt that Haryana had made a provision of Rs 1,550 crore in its annual budget this year to meet the requirement for implementation of pay panel recommendations.

However, since the new pay scales will have to be implemented with effect from January 2006, the arrears for the last two years, too, will have to be paid.

Thus, the state will require over Rs 5,000 crore to meet this expenditure. The minister said the government was yet to work out how to meet this expenditure.

“There is no dearth of funds, but we have to work out modalities to make an
additional allocation of over Rs 3,500 crore (other than the budgetary allocation),” he said.

Birender Singh also said the annual burden on the state exchequer, after the implementation of the pay panel report, would be to the tune of Rs 1,200 crore.

Chandigarh, November 18
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear it is in favour of legislation to curb the menace of tantriks promising magical cures within minutes.

Taking up a public interest litigation against the danger posed by tantriks advertising in newspapers, television channels and even web sites, the Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Jasbir Singh verbally observed that the Act dealing with the prescription of medicines was categorical that no one can guarantee cure for maladies.

But if it was not sufficient for acting against the tantriks assuring treatment, they would consider the feasibility of asking the law commission to see if a legislature could be enacted for ensuring suitable action.

As the matter came up for hearing, the petitioner gave instances to elaborate on the havoc played by the tantriks, active in areas like Fatehabad, Karnal and Rajpura.

Quoting an example he said a tantrik persuaded the relatives against cremating a body. He assured them of bringing the dead back to life by performing a ceremony.

Another person was asked to sacrifice his son for curing his wife suffering from a
kidney problem.

UT counsel Alka Chathrath, meanwhile, said they were initiating action whenever a complaint was received.

As a result, four consumer forums remained non-functional for more than six months, causing inconvenience to consumers.

The administration had even roped in various voluntary, social and business organisations in order to make the drive a success.

A complete ban had been imposed on the use of polythene bags by invoking certain sections of the Haryana Non-Biodegradable Control Act and the Environment Act.

Ambala, November 18
Haryana DGP Ranjeev Dalal today said a security plan was being prepared to check intrusion of unsocial elements and smuggling of illicit arms from neighbouring states like Uttar Pradesh.

He was here to inaugurate a renovated police complex in Ambala City.

Talking to mediapersons, he said a close circuit TV camera and a hidden camera would be fixed at the entry of borders from Yamunanagar to Sonepat so that a close watch could be kept on the entrants.

He said the police was aware that country-made pistols were being smuggled from UP and a special drive had been launched to put a stop to it.

Referring to police-public relations, he said public should be involved in making decisions related to law and order and public issues.

He said he had directed district police chiefs to constitute police public committees.

On being questioned about the misuse of red light by some officers and others, he said the state police had strictly implemented the prescribed norms and action was being taken in a number of cases in this regard. A special cell had been constituted to check the activities of Maowadi.

After visiting the entire police complex, he said the Ambala police complex had been made a model complex in the state. Later, he inaugurated a function at DAV Police Public School.

This was stated by state general secretary of the sangh Shamsher Singh Tyagi, after holding a meeting with farmers at Kisan Bhawan here.

Chandigarh, November 18
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today announced the institution of a Lifetime Achievement Award of Rs 1.51 lakh for journalists.

He also announced several other facilities for mediapersons, including grant of accreditation facility at the block level.

Hooda was interacting with mediapersons shortly after dedicating a newly set up
hi-tech media centre equipped with all modern facilities at the Haryana Civil
Secretariat here.

Spread over 7,000 sq feet, the centre has been set up at a cost of Rs 1 crore in view of the changing scenario of the media.

Clarifying the definition of a journalist for the purpose of the Journalist Welfare Fund set up by the state government, he said now it had been decided that those whose principal avocation was journalism would get financial assistance from the fund irrespective of the fact whether they were accredited or not to state government.

He said in case of the sudden death of a journalist or any person associated with journalism, an ex gratia grant would be provided to his or her next of the kin out of the fund.

Hooda also introduced the facility of press accreditation to mediapersons at the block level by giving press accreditation cards to three mediapersons.

With this, Haryana has become the first state in the country to give accreditation to mediapersons at the block level.

For the first time, the mediapersons would be provided with electronic lockers, thus giving them 1 GB space to store their data.

He said the work to set up a hi-tech web studio was in progress at the centre and it would be functional within a couple of months.

Haryana would become the first state in the country to introduce electronic press notes from January 1.

Today being World Epilepsy Day, Hooda announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh each for the Haryana Child Welfare Council and “Prayas”, a Chandigarh-based organisation, as these organisations are engaged in the welfare of the differently abled and those suffering from epilepsy.