Kurukshetra, August 28
The women’s wing of INLD held a statewide protest on the issue of price rise today.A large number of women assembled on the premises of Jat Dharamshala here from where they marched through main bazaars of the town. They raised slogans against the state government as well as price rise. The protesters also burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda near the old bus stand. As a result, the vehicular traffic remained blocked for about half an hour.

INLD state president Ashok Arora said it was painful to know that the Prime Minister had indicated further price hike in the near future.

Arora accused the Congress of being subservient to the capitalists, which was resulting in prices of commodities going through the roof. However, Congress supremo Sonia Gandhi was tight lipped on this issue, he added.

Yamunanagar: Party workers headed by the women’s wing president of the INLD, Vijay Babbar, carried out the procession from Canal Rest House to Fountain Chowk, here on Friday, raising slogans against the state government. Besides, the protest was also held in Bilaspur, Radaur and Sadaura.

Here too, the INLD was resenting against the indifferent attitude of the state government towards the burning issues like water shortage, unemployment, etc.

Rewari: Moti Chowk also echoed with the slogans against the state government here on Friday. Led by their district chief Kamla Sharma, women activists burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister. Erratic power supply and price rise were the burning issues here. Mens activist of the INLD led by their district president Sunil Chaudhary also participated in the protest.

Sirsa: The women’s wing of the party held demonstration in Ellenabad town. Women activists of the INLD led by Krishna Fogat, district president of the women wing organised a meeting at Udham Singh Chowk on Friday morning.

Fatehabad: Women activists of the party here too stepped up the ante against the Hooda government and burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister on Firday. Reports of demonstration were also received from Ratia and Tohana. 

Hisar, August 28
University and college teachers in Haryana continued their strike for the fourth day today and rejected the modified notification issued by the state government last night regarding implementation of new pay scales.

Dr Rakesh Dhar, vice-president of the Guru Jambheshwar University Teachers Association (GJUTA), said in a statement issued here that the fresh notification was not acceptable as it still fell far short of the recommendations made by the University Grants Commission as well as the Union Human Resources Development Ministry.

Dhar said it made no mention of new academic posts proposed by the UGC. Besides, it did not take care of the pay increase for professors.

He lamented that while the government was establishing new institutions of higher education speedily, it was denying the teaching community its due. This, he said, would lead to exodus of quality teachers from Haryana to other states offering better incentives.

He said the teachers would continue their strike and protest demonstrations till their demands were met. Meanwhile, teachers of local-affiliated colleges also continued their strike.

KARNAL/KURUKSHETRA: University and college teachers of the state continued their strike for the fourth day on Friday as confusion prevailed among teachers over the response of the government on their main demand to implement the revised UGC pay scales in toto.

The Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (HFUCTO) had given a call for three-day strike from August 25 to 27 and decide the future course of action after the Rohtak rally, but there was no clear direction from the HFUCTO to call off or continue the strike.

The HFUCTO leaders were tightlipped about the progress of talks. However, the leaders said the talks were on and another notification redressing the grievances of the teachers might come in a day or two.

The HFUCTO had objected to the fitment table released by the state government and demanded that the authentic fitment table released by the UGC on June 4 be followed without any deviation or dilution.

Another point of contention which the government was not inclined to accept was raising of the retirement age. At present the retirement age of university teachers is 60 years while the UGC has recommended that the age of superannuation be raised to 65 years.

ROHTAK: The teaching work remained suspended in Maharshi Dayanand University and its affiliated colleges in the district here on Friday as the fresh notification issued by the state government on Thursday failed to move the teachers’ body.

Rejecting the amendments made by the government in the fresh notification, a spokesperson for the teachers’ organisation said they had been awaiting changes as per their demand on the issue.

He said the strike would continue indefinitely till the MHRD notification was implemented in toto and without any changes at the state level.

He said the HFUCTO was still waiting for the next move of the state government for which talks had been on with the authorities in Chandigarh till the last reports came in.

Fatehabad, August 28
In a case of suspected illicit relations, a youth was subjected to brutal treatment. He was allegedly beaten black and blue, tied with a tree and his tormentors put red chilli powder in his anus and urinated in his mouth at Pilchhian village of this district.

Gurpreet, the victim, who is currently getting treatment in a hospital at Ratia, remained tied to the tree for the whole night before he was rescued by some villagers on Thursday morning. In his complaint, Gurpreet alleged to the police that villagers Gopi, Birbal, Kewal and Jassa suspected his relations with a woman of their family and had beaten him up at previous occasions too.

He was going to his residence on Wednesday night, when the accused picked him from the street and dragged him in to their house. After beating him up severely, the youths urinated in his mouth and put red chili powder in his anus.

They later, tied him to a tree after gagging his mouth with a cloth. Gurpreet said he, somehow, loosened the grip of rope tied to him and raised an alarm in the early hours today, when some women noticed him and called villagers to rescue him. 

Chandigarh, August 28
The Haryana BJP today ruled out the possibility of an alliance with any party in the state. Talking to newsmen here president of the party unit Kishan Pal Gurjar said his party would not enter into an alliance with any party either “before or after the elections”.

INLD President Om Prakash Chautala had said here yesterday that after the elections, his party would have “floor coordination” with the BJP. His statement gave rise to speculation that the two parties might again enter into an alliance to form the government after the poll.

Gurjar took pains to clarify that his party would have no truck with anyone “before or after” the elections.

He demanded that a White Paper should be issued giving details of recruitment made to government jobs during the Hooda regime along with the areas from where the recruitment was made. He also wanted a White Paper on the development of various districts of the state.

Gurjar accused the Hooda government of frittering away state resources after the dissolution of the Assembly. He said the government had allotted 48 industrial plots in various districts on August 25 though its status was that of a caretaker government.

He demanded that the industrial plots should be auctioned instead of being allotted. He alleged that various announcements made by Chief Minister Hooda had not been implemented. 

New Delhi, August 28
Riding a high after wining nine out of 10 seats in the Lok Sabha, the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government is now riding the airwaves in Delhi over the radio and television stations. Besides this, advertisements have been placed in leading news magazines. The target is the forthcoming Assembly elections in the state.

The Haryana leaders’ media managers have flooded local radio stations and television channels with his achievements ranging from an increase in pension for widows to addition of power generation capacity to roads, health services and even eulogising the appointment of teachers who have been appointed to teach English in rural areas.

Each message ends with a catchy jingle “aisa pehli baar hua hai” (this has occurred for the first time). His associates are quick to tell that some 500 jingles were made and then it was narrowed down to end each laudatory message with “aisa pehli baar hua hai”. It is an in house effort, said a functionary who has been associated with the project.

Sources pointed out that a sum of Rs 6 crore had been earmarked for this publicity drive in TV, radio and the print media. Sources also said the party high command was initially surprised on seeing messages in “Haryanvi dialect” on leading English television channels and a senior leader even reportedly suggested to Hooda to focus on hindi channels, which the masses in Haryana are perceived to be viewing. The high command has also asked Hooda to “slow down and space out” the media blitzkrieg.

Hooda loyalists have defended the move saying in the urban areas like Gurgaon, Panchkula, Karnal and Faridabad, the English channels hold sway. “It is an image projection of the state’s achievements and not just targeted at the rural voter,” said a functionary in Delhi. Haryana is also projecting itself in in-flight magazines available on domestic airlines. It does not mean that there are voters on each flight, it is just a matter of over all projection of the state as an investment friendly destination, he added.

Hooda’s media team has suddenly stopped the radio jingles running on popular Delhi-based FM radio stations. These would be resumed on Saturday evening with a new message so that people did not feel it was repetitive, added a source. Delhi-based radio stations usually broadcast music and chat shows. The reach of these stations is also in districts of Sonepat, Rohtak, Jhajjar, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Mahendragarh.

Chandigarh, August 28
The Haryana Government today increased the minimum wages of all categories of labourers from July 1, 2009. The minimum wage of an unskilled labourer has been increased to Rs 3914 per month or Rs 151 per day.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here today that now the minimum wages were the highest in Haryana except one or two states.

The minimum wages for the semi-skilled A category would be Rs 4044 per month or Rs 156 per day. In the case of the semi-skilled B category these would be Rs 4174 per month or Rs 161 per day.

In the case of skilled labourers, the monthly wages for the A category would be Rs 4304 or Rs 166 per day. For skilled category B, the minimum wages would be Rs 4434 per month or Rs 171 per day.

For the highly skilled category, the revised rates of wages would be Rs 4564 per month or Rs 176 per day.

Hooda said the wages had also been revised in the case of the brick kiln industry. For pathera the rate of wages in the case of bricks would be Rs 223 and tiles Rs 251. In the case of bharaiwalas (loading of bricks in kiln) the rate for category A would be Rs 100 per 1000 bricks and Rs 83 for category B. The keriwala would be paid Rs 18 per 1000 bricks. The nikasiwala would be paid Rs 74 per 1000 bricks. Similarly, chunaiwalas would be paid Rs 4304 per month.The mistri would also get Rs 4304 per month.

Panipat, August 28
The district police is believed to be awaiting permission from the Delhi High Court to proceed against the metropolitan magistrate posted at Tis Hazari court complex in Delhi, who had been detained after he was allegedly caught enjoying the hospitality of a call girl in Samalkha on Thursday.

The district police had sent a formal commune to the Registrar of the Delhi High Court through a fax yesterday, following which the investigating officer in the said case had been summoned to the Delhi High Court today with all details related to the case.

However, the police could not confirm whether the permission had been granted or not till the filing of this report. The investigating officer of the case went to Delhi High Court in the morning and had not retuned till late evening.

As per the privileges enjoyed by the magistrate, the police is required to seek permission from the high court before initiating action against a magistrate.

Sources said the police had allowed the magistrate to leave late last evening as it did not have the permission to arrest him even as his name had been mentioned in the FIR that was registered against three other accused, including Subhash Duhan, Shamsher Singh and the call girl.

Meanwhile, a local court today granted bail to Shamsher and the girl while Duhan was still kept in judicial custody.

The accused, including the magistrate, had been rounded up from a room in Punjabi Colony in Samalkha on Thursday morning after some neighbours had called up the police informing them about the suspicious activities going on in the room that had been rented by Duhan.

The police has been maintaining that it can proceed against the magistrate only after necessary permission is granted by the high court.

Kaithal, August 28
A meeting of the HSGPC (ad hoc) held at Gurdwara Neem Sahib here today remained inconclusive regarding a decision on extending support to some political party in the coming Assembly poll. It was decided that a special meeting of the sangat would be held at Kurukshetra on September 13 at which a final decision on the extending of support to a political party would be taken.

Didar Singh Nalwi, Jagdish Singh Jhinda, Joga Singh, Avtar Singh Goraya, Ravinder Kaur, Sarjit Singh, president of the local Gurdwara Committee, Angrej Singh Goraya, Kanwal Deep Singh and Kush Pal Singh were among those who attended the meeting.

Speakers accused the Congress of “betraying” Haryana Sikhs who had overwhelmingly extended support to the party during the last Assembly poll. Various speakers said they would continue their fight to achieve the objective of the formation of a separate SGPC for Haryana.

They also criticised Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and other SAD leaders for opposing the formation of separate SGPC.

Chandigarh, August 28
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held Haryana Urban Development Authority’s approach towards a Karnal-based plot holder as “totally inhuman, senseless and brutal”.

Its estate officer (EO) had refused to give three months time to the owner in case of resumption of plot following her son’s death, saying Hindu rites required just 15 days time. Taking exception to the way the authority conducted itself, Justice Surya Kant also slapped a fine of Rs 30,000, recoverable from the erring estate officer or other officials in accordance with law.

The estate officer had on May 6 last year passed the impugned order for resuming Kalawati Verma’s plot in Sector 7 and forfeiting 10 per cent of the consideration amount. The ground was the petitioner had failed to get the building plans approved by June 30, 2007, and complete the construction by December 31, 2007.

Justice Kant observed: “After issuing the show cause notice for the resumption of the plot, the petitioner was to be afforded personal hearing by the estate officer, HUDA, Karnal. The petitioner, unfortunately, lost her son, who expired on March 18, 2008.

“Her younger son informed the EO on March 24, 2008, that the petitioner was in deep shock and would take some time to reconcile to the tragedy and, therefore, three months may be granted.

“The reply sent in response thereto by the EO dated April 2, 2008, exhibits total inhuman, senseless and brutal approach by a public authority. The petitioner was informed only 15 days time is required, according to Hindu rites, which would expired on April 17, 2008, and, therefore, she should immediately appear on that day, failing which the plot would be resumed”.

Justice Kant asserted: The response is self sufficient to hold that the respondent authority acted in a most biased and prejudicial manner against the petitioner. Allowing the petition, Justice Kant quashed the impugned order and held the petitioner entitled to construct the house within two years in accordance with the HUDA policy from the date of now sanctioned building plans.