Sirsa, February 23
The district unit of the All-India Kisan Sabha today held a demonstration and staged a dharna in front of the mini secretariat against the “anti-farmers” policies of the state government.

The agitated farmers gathered at Town Park in the morning where Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, state vice- president, Dayanand Punia, state joint secretary, and Labh Singh Bharukhera, district president, addressed them.

“The state government is yet to honour its commitments by the then Revenue Minister Savitri Jindal at Hisar on September 3,” said Gorakhpuria.

He said earlier the government had three slabs for assessing compensation to farmers for natural calamities. For losses from 26 per cent to 50 per cent, it was calculated at Rs 3,000 per acre, for loss es between 51 per cent and 75 per cent Rs 4,000 per acre and between 76 per cent and 100 per cent Rs 5,000 per acre.

Now, the 26 per cent to 50 per cent slab had been scrapped and compensation for the other two slabs reduced to Rs 2,100 per acre and Rs 2,700 per acre, respectively.

Bharukhera said the farmers of Sirsa district had been discriminated in the matter of payment of compensation for loss of crops due to drought last kharif.

“While a special girdawari for one lakh acres was ordered in Bhiwani and over 50, 000 acres in Hisar, in Sirsa it was for only 7,000 acres,” he alleged.

The agitating farmers demanded a rollback in the hike in prices of urea fertiliser and a minimum support price of Rs 1,500 for wheat crop this year.

They sought proper implementation of the Haryana Relief of Agriculture Indebtedness Act.

The legislation provides that the interest on agriculture loan should not increase to 10 per cent and the interest on the loan should not be more than the principal amount.

Kurukshetra, February 23
Condemning the brutal beheading of two Sikhs held hostage by the Taliban in Peshawar, Raghujit Singh Virk, senior vice-president of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee has urged the Government of India to intervene in the matter without delay to protect the life and property of the Hindu-Sikh minority in Pakistan living under the shadow of the gun.

In a statement by Kuldip Singh on behalf of Kirpal Singh Chauhan, in charge of the Sikh Mission in Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, here today, Raghujit Singh asked the government to grant Indian citizenship to Sikhs and Hindus desirous of settling in India.

He sought permission for a Sikh delegation to visit Peshawar as demanded by SGPC Avtar Singh Makkar. Virk said in today’s multi-ethnic culture, people belonging to different religions lived in harmony in all parts of the world.

But such barbaric incidents in one country could disturb the communal balance worldwide. He also urged the Government of Pakistan to act in time to rein in this communal virus.

Karnal: Enraged by brutal killing of Sikhs by the Taliban in Pakistan and lack of a “strong”response of the government, members of various social, religious, trade organisations staged an angry demonstration near Committee Chowk.

Gurgaon, February 23
Following direct intervention by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the district administration today got an FIR lodged against some persons who were developing a colony in Naharpur-Rupa village of the district in an unauthorised manner.

An FIR has been registered at the Sadar police station on the complaint of the District Town Planner (Enforcement), in which Jaipal Singh of Jharsa village and Dinesh and Umesh Aggarwal of Mansarovar Properties were named.

The land on which the colony was being developed is under stay of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The issue assumes significance as Umesh Aggarwal, who has been named in the FIR, is a local BJP leader and had contested the recent assembly elections.

The matter was brought to the notice of the Chief Minister during his visit to the city today. Hooda promptly directed Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria to get the land vacated and ensure compliance of the High Court orders.

Soon after the CM left, the local authorities concerned, including Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria and HUDA Administrator Deepti Umashankar, swung into action. After going through the revenue record, the Deputy Commissioner told that this land measuring about 5.5 acres and falling in Naharpur Rupa village was acquired in 1990 for developing Transport Nagar.

This was part of Sector 33 and 34. Notifications under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act 1894 were issued on January 30, 1989, and January 25, 1990.

Following that, the land owners filed a civil writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which was admitted and the court passed a dispossession order granting stay on the land. Thereafter, awards were announced by the Land Acquisition Officer in 1992. Since 1990, this prime land situated on the NH-8 is under the stay order of the High Court and was lying vacant.

Seeing this, some people started developing an unauthorised colony on it and they were selling plots. The site plan was supplied to various property dealers in the city.

Today after the CM’s intervention, senior district officials rushed to the site, following which the persons working there fled the scene.

The officials found that some kutcha roads were being constructed at the site, which were got levelled. After making inquiries from the people there, the DTP (Enforcement) gave a complaint to the SHO of the Sadar police station, in which it was stated that an unauthorised colony was being sold openly. The complaint said Jaipal Singh of Jharsa village and Dinesh and Umesh Aggarwal of Mansarovar Properties were also involved in the encroachment on government land and unauthorised colonisation on it. The previous owners, namely Jagdish, Raj Singh, Satbir, Surender and others, were also named in the complaint for not abiding by the court’s orders.

Panipat, February 23
Just two days after the state Congress appointed local legislator Balbir Pal Shah as deputy leader of the Congress Legislator Party (CLP), the MLA has stated that the new post was completely unacceptable to him.

Speaking to The Tribune here today, the five-time MLA said the post came with no duties, powers or facilities and thus held no significance. “I was not even consulted by any of the party leaders before making the announcement,” said Shah.

On being asked if he would resign from the new post, he said till date he had not received any formal communique in this regard and there was nothing on paper. “In case I am sent in written, I will resign on paper,” he said.

After the last assembly elections, Shah had been elected from the Panipat city seat.

He was a strong contender for the cabinet ministership, but due to certain political reasons he could not be accommodated in the state cabinet.

A former transport minister, Shah is know for his honest ways of working and is even credited with leading the state Congress at a time when there were only five legislators from the party in the state assembly.

With a strong base amongst the Punjabi community, Shah had won the last assembly elections from the Panipat city seat by defeating BJP’s Sanjay Bhatia. He secured 36,924 votes.

According to sources, his not having been included in the Cabinet had sent wrong signals amongst the Punjabi vote bank of the Congress, which was feeling alienated by the state Congress leadership. With the state Congress aware of this fact, Shah was given the new post to placate the Punjabi community, said sources.

However, Shah turned down the post. He said he had full faith in the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and was content with working for the people of his constituency and the state.

Jhajjar, February 23
Having remained stuck in official formalities during the past more than three years, the Central Council for Research in Yoga and Naturopathy, an autonomous body under the Department of AYUSH, Union Ministry of Health, has finally succeeded in getting the nod from the state government for a 100-bed research institute in yoga and naturopathy at Deverkhana village in this district.

The Development and Panchayat Department has accorded its approval to the project granting permission to the Deverkhana gram panchayat for leasing out 10 acres of shamlat (common land) at the rate of Rs 1 per acre per year for a period of 33 years under Rule 6(5) of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation)-1964.

Notably, the gram panchayat had unanimously resolved to make available 10 acres of the village common land for setting up the institute.

The project proposal was sent to the director, Panchayat, by the Jhajjar district administration two months ago for the final nod. Earlier, the project was to be implemented in Badhsa village but the director, Panchayat, raised objections in connection with the allotment of land in the village. Thereafter, the district administration shifted the project to Devarkhana, pleading that the site there was more suitable as it had connectivity with Gurgaon, New Delhi and other surrounding states.

Also, drinking water was readily available in the village from the NCR water channel and the Gurgaon water supply scheme. The authorities in December 2006 were to invest Rs 11 crore in the project infrastructure. The money to be spent now is not known.

Gurgaon, February 23
To strengthen the power transmission system in Gurgaon, the Haryana government is executing an ambitious plan involving an expenditure of Rs 1,000 crore. The plan is slated to be completed by 2011.

This was disclosed by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda while talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the state’s first gas-insulated grid substation (GIS) of 66 kV level in Sector 43 here today.

The CM also inaugurated a 220 kV substation in Sector 56 and a 66 kV substation in Sector 15 here and laid the foundation stone of a 220 kV substation in Sector 20.

The new substations inaugurated today have been constructed by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) at a cost of Rs 60 crore. The 220 kV substation, of which foundation stone was laid today, is likely to cost Rs 94 crore.

Haryana Power Minister Mahender Partap Singh revealed that the state government planned to spend Rs 4,609.77 crore to strengthen the power transmission system in Haryana.

He said under the plan, the Haryana Power Utilities would construct 205 new substations and augment the capacity of 129 existing substations. The work was planned to be completed in two to three years.

In all, the Chief Minister dedicated and laid the foundation stones of infrastructural projects worth Rs 163 crore, including the third unit of a water-treatment plant of 91 MLD capacity at Basai village in the district.

He said in view of the rapid urbanisation and industrialisation in Gurgoan, the state government planned to establish 27 new substations having a total transformation capacity of 1,600 MVA in the district.

With the completion of this short-term plan of strengthening power transmission system in Gurgaon by the end of 2011, the total capacity of the system at the levels of 66 kV and 33 kV would increase to 2,292.5 MVA (including a capacity of 312.5 MVA to be added by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam at 33 kV level), as against the expected demand of 1,994 MVA. At the level of 220 kV and 400 kV levels, the capacity of the system would be 2,890 MVA and 2,660 MVA, respectively.

Replying to a question, the Chief Minister asserted that by the end of next year, power situation in Haryana would be comfortable as 5,000 MW additional power generating capacity would be created.

To strengthen the power distribution system in Gurgaon, the DHBVN was erecting 49 new feeders of 11 kV level in rural areas.