Chandigarh, March 9
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today dwelt on the contentious inter-state issues-transfer of Chandigarh, SYL canal waters and the naming of the upcoming international airport in Chandigarh.

Replying to the debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor, he said Punjab’s Akali leaders had raised the issue of transfer of Chandigarh to divert the attention of the state from the core issues.

He said Chandigarh was the joint capital of Punjab and Haryana. However, if Punjab wanted a separate capital, it was welcome to construct one elsewhere, but Haryana would keep its headquarters in Chandigarh.

Hooda maintained that Punjab had been issuing misleading advertisements, describing Chandigarh international airport as “Mohali airport”. He said no airport by this name existed. It was “Chandigarh airport” as both states had equal stakes.

He reiterated that the state government was trying its best to make the SYL canal functional at the earliest so that Haryana could get its due share of the river waters. The apex court had already decided a case concerning the canal in favour of Haryana.

Now, a presidential reference was pending before the court and the state government was vigorously pursuing it.Hooda said the Hansi-Butana multipurpose link canal had been constructed for equitable distribution of canal waters and it would benefit 16 districts.

Hooda highlighted various development projects undertaken by his government.

Earlier, moving the motion, Kuldeep Sharma of the Congress said the INLD was able to win 31 seats because of certain mistakes committed by the Congress during the election process.

But the people’s mandate was in favour of the Congress as proved by the huge gap between the poll percentage of the Congress and the combined Opposition.

Dharambir Singh seconded the motion. Aftab Ahmed (Cong) said due to bureaucratic bungling, people of Mewat region were not getting subsidised foodgrain through the public distribution system.

Rao Narinder Singh, who had joined the Congress along with four HJC MLAs, claimed the decision was taken in public interest.

Chandigarh, March 9
Even as the INLD and the BJP met Governor's Jagannath Pahadia to seek his intervention on their "undemocratic" suspension from the House, Vidhan Sabha Speaker HS Chatha and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda maintained that the suspension stood revoked.

The INLD legislators, three of the BJP and one of the SAD, led by INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala met the Governor and submitted a joint memorandum against their suspension and sought his intervention. The Opposition leaders, barring BJP MLA Kavita Jain, who was not present when pandemonium broke out yesterday, were suspended for the remaining period of the Budget session for acting in the "most irresponsible behaviour.”

Terming their suspension as "undemocratic and unprecedented", they said it was not proper for the House to carry on with its proceedings in the absence of the entire Opposition. In the House today, the proceedings began with first-timer Kavita Jain standing in for the entire Opposition. At the beginning of zero hour, Jain put up a brave front as she made fervent appeals to the Speaker to take up the adjournment motion on price rise, highlighting the need for a debate. All the time, a few leaders from the treasury benches kept chiding her.

While her pleas continued, the Chief Minister, who is Leader of the House, stood up and said yesterday’s happenings were unfortunate. “We realise that we need the Opposition for a healthy discussion and debate. They are welcome back if they agree to let the House function peacefully,” he said. Jain insisted that the members of the Oppostion should be called back at which Speaker HS Chatha said the House she could could call them back.

“I am nobody to call them back. Let the government bring in a resolution revoking their suspension,” Jain retorted.Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala intervened and said the adjournment motion introduced by the Opposition was not relevant and it was the discretion of the Speaker to convert it to a call attention motion. “We have not shied away from a debate on price rise... The Speaker kept stating the Opposition was free to air its views . But the Opposition had come with the pre-meditated plan to disrupt proceedings,” Surjewala claimed.

Chandigarh, March 9
If there were any apprehensions on today’s sitting of the assembly session being dull without the usual clamour of the Opposition following their suspension yesterday, these were soon dispelled with those on the treasury benches picking on the government during the question hour.

Donning the role of the Opposition, one after the other, they fired questions, giving some very uncomfortable moments to their own ministers. The fiery Kiran Choudhry “grilled” Education Minister Geeta Bhukal on the upgradation of schools in her constituency, prompting Speaker HS Chatha to remark that she was performing the role of the Opposition. Choudhry, whose question was listed second, sought to know the norms for upgradation of schools and the number of such schools likely to be upgraded in Bhiwani. To this, Bhukal said the norms were being revised after which further upgradation would be considered.

Not convinced, Choudhry enquired the time-frame for finalising the new norms since the delay was taking a toll on education in her area. “The future of the children is at stake. I want to know the fate and number of those schools which fulfilled the upgradation norms in the past,” she asked even as the Speaker urged her to address him instead of asking the minister directly. Bhukal repeated her reply. Aftab Ahmed took the baton from Choudhry and complained that teacher shortage ailed most schools in Mewat. Bhukal admitted that there was a shortage of staff which would be overcome shortly.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda intervened and said the government was setting up a separate teachers cadre for Mewat.

In the very next question on violations of the Forest Conservation Act, 1980, Sampat Singh took on Forest minister Capt Ajay singh Yadav, seeking to know how many violations were regularised and if responsibility for the same had been fixed.

Chandigarh, March 9
The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests notification of September 14, 2006, under the Environment Protection Act, 1986, made it mandatory to get environment clearance prior to commencement of mining of even minor minerals in areas of more than 5 hectares (earlier this condition was applicable only for major minerals), though it exempted existing projects. Instead of meeting these requirements, the Haryana Mines and Geology Department started looking for loopholes in the notification to circumvent it.

Indeed, it found one. After the mining contracts of stone quarries of Bhiwani and Mahendragarh districts ended on March 31, 2007, the department divided the natural stone quarries into plots of sizes less than 5 hectares to avoid prior clearance. Obviously, the decision was to benefit the mining lobby. One Charan Singh challenged the auction notices before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Though auctions were held as scheduled, the court stayed the mining on April 3, 2008.

The stay was vacated on July 21, 2008, following a plea by the state government that it had hit development projects. In March, 2008, a year later than the Bhiwani and Mahendragarh auctions, the department, which had become wiser now, auctioned the mining contracts for river sand in Sonepat and Panipat districts for five years. The contract was to come into effect from April 1, 2009. The intervening period of about a year was given to the contractors for obtaining environment clearance. It is another matter that the clearance is yet to come though said to be in “an advanced stage”.

At the same time, the department held mining auctions for Panchkula district. However, it was challenged by the Chandimandir Stone Crusher Company on the plea that the ministry notification was not applicable on minor minerals. Even if applicable, then environment clearance should be obtained by the state government. The court stayed the operation of the ministry’s notification as far as it related to minor minerals on April 7, 2008. As a short-term measure, the department started giving monthly short-term permits for quarrying stones.

Yamunanagar, March 9
The power crisis further aggravated in the state today with the closure of unit-8 of the 250-MW super thermal plant, Panipat. The unit-8 was shut down last night following leakage in boiler. Besides this, three units, including one unit of 300 MW of Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram Thermal Power Plant, Yamunanagar, and two units of super thermal plant, Panipat, of 110 MW each, had already been shut down due to technical faults.

As a result, power cuts of six to eight hours were today extended to the urban areas also in the state.

According to sources, the state has been facing shortage of 110 lakh units with the closure of four units of two major thermal plants of the state. The state has been getting 783 lakh units of power a day from all sources while the consumption in the state has been increased to 893 lakh units per day.

The sources further said the state had been purchasing more power from the northern grid in comparison to a fixed quota due to non-functioning of these four units. The state has been withdrawing 398 lakh units against a fixed quota of 211 lakh units from the northern grid.

The power shortage in the state had surfaced after 110 MW unit- 3 of the Panipat thermal plant was shut on December 29 last year due to inflow of lubricating oil in turbine. Thereafter, the shortage increased with the closure of unit-2 of 300 MW of Yamunanagar thermal plant on February 22 and unit-1 of 110 MW of super thermal plant Panipat nine days ago, the sources further added.

Rohtak, March 9
A 17-year-old boy was rescued from a gang of eunuchs operating in the district. He was rescued with the help of an NGO and the police. The victim hailing from Kurukshetra had come here along with two of his friends and had been allegedly held captive by the gang.

However, no case was registered as the complaint was withdrawn after the accused pleaded guilty and tendered an apology to the complainant. President of the NGO alleged that the victim, Shivam, had not only been beaten up, but was also being threatened to be turned into an eunuch by the accused.

Karnal, March 9
The police today raided a godown here and arrested five persons for allegedly carrying out an illegal trading in petrol and oil.

Following a tip off that illegal oil trade was being done from the godown, a team headed by Sadar police station in charge Gorakh Pal Rana raided the premises and arrested the main accused , Ashish Kumar and Amit Gupta - from the spot. Later, it arrested their three associates - Sant Lal, Bittoo and Sachinand from the Phusgarh road.

The police seized a tractor, a tanker loaded with 1,000 litres of petrol, five drums filled with oil and 65 empty drums from the godown.

The accused were produced in the court that remanded them in judicial custody till March 11. Investigations are in progress and the police is trying to know the modus operandi of the culprits, especially the source from where the oil was procured and the parties that received the supply. Meanwhile, the police has arrested another accused in the Hira Singh poultry farm theft case and recovered Rs 2.40 lakh from him.

The police has so far recovered Rs 8.25 lakh. All arrested are in judicial custoday.

Jind: As many as 27 filled gas cylinders were recovered from a tempo, transporting them in an unauthorised manner.

The owner and the driver had no documents of the cylinders that were being taken illegally to some place.

The police has arrested four persons, including the owner of a gas agency here, in connection with black marketing of gas cylinders in the district.