Rohtak, January 6
Despite the road safety drive in the town, traffic rules continue to be violated. Influential political activists and officials of the state government are unabashed in the use of the red beacon atop their private and official vehicles against the rules.

Though the police has issued hundreds of challans in the past one week, there are many offenders who still need to be reined in. “The roads in the Chief Minister’s hometown are dotted with vehicles fitted with the red beacon and no policeman dares stop such a vehicle,” claimed Kapoor Singh, a retired university official. Sources in the traffic police say that most politicians cannot resist the temptation of flaunting power. Many district-level junior officials also have the red light atop their official vehicles.

Political appointees functioning from the CM’s camp office here have been using the red light and so have officials of Maharshi Dayanand University and HCS officials, ignoring the directions of the state government that only the DC, SP, IG, Commisioner, District and Sessions Judge, MLA and the MP are authorised to use the beacon.

Chairpersons of bodies like the improvement trust, block samiti, sports associations, heads of various wings of the ruling party and kin of MLAs also continue to use the red beacon atop their vehicles.

When contacted, SSP Satish Balan said four challans had been issued for misuse of the beacon in the past 10 days. Admitting that there had been violations by political activists and some officials, he said he would take up the issue with the authorities concerned.

The police and the security officials have been on the tenterhooks with several criminals nabbed using vehicles with the red beacon in the recent weeks

Karnal, January 6
Karnal today experienced the coldest day “in living memory of the people” as the maximum temperature touched an all-time low of 7.2°C. People reeled under piercing cold wave conditions as the minimum temperature also plummeted to 3.2°C. The cold wave conditions, aggravated by the thick morning fog, affected life and hampered movement of traffic. The state government has ordered the closure of schools for a week in Karnal to provide relief to children from the cold.

The humidity was 94 and 91 per cent in the morning and evening, respectively, while the vapor pressure was 6.1 and 7 in the morning and evening, respectively. Cold breeze was blowing at the rate 3.1 km per hour.

Karnal had earlier experienced the coldest day of the decade on January 4 with the maximum day temperature dipping to 10.4°C.

The maximum temperature had dipped to 21.4°C in 2000, 20.8°C in 2001, 21.5°C in 2002, 15.7°C in 2003, 16°C in 2004, 19.8°C in 2007, 18.4°C in 2008 and 19°C in 2009.

The New Year has been unbearably cold with the maximum and minimum temperatures falling from 14.0°C and 2.3°C, respectively, on January 1 to 7.2°C and 3.5°C, respectively, today.

Old timers say that January has always been cold, but the cold wave this year is unbearable as the temperature has dipped sharply and there is no respite from fog. Poor people living in slums and daily wage earners are the worst hit.

Kurukshetra: All the schools in the district will remain closed from January 7 to 15 due to severe cold.

This was announced by Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal while addressing a meeting in connection with the preparations for the Republic Day celebrations here on Thursday. Aggarwal said strict action would be taken against schools which do not follow the order. — OC

Hisar, January 6
Jats today began an indefinite dharna at the Mirchpur bus stand in protest against the transfer of the case registered against members of the community (after the violence against the village Dalits in April last year) from Hisar to a New Delhi court.

The village was rocked by violence when a mob comprising members of the Jat community set afire houses of Dalits in the village following a petty altercation. Tara Chand and his teenaged polio-stricken daughter were burnt alive after their house was set ablaze. The accused, numbering 100, were facing trial proceedings in a local court. However, an organisation approached the apex court which ordered the transfer of the case to Delhi to ensure there was no pressure on witnesses.

The accused were presented in the Delhi court earlier this week. The court ordered that they be shifted to the Tihar Jail in Delhi after the next hearing scheduled for January 14.

Irked by the developments, Jat residents of the village started a dharna, which they said would continue till the issue was decided at the social level in the village.

Rajbir Dhanda, head of the Barah Khap panchayat, which has been trying to resolve the dispute between the two communities, said members of the two communities were on the brink of a compromise when certain politicians stepped in and made things worse.

“The dharna will continue till politicians are forced to withdraw and the matter is settled by the village elders,” he added. 

Fatehabad, January 6
The district authorities are on the alert in view of the visit of Baljit Singh Daduwal of Dadu Sahib Gurudwara to Chandpura village on January 8 to participate in a procession being organised by the village gurdwara committee.

Chandpura, located on the Punjab border, is a sensitive area with almost half its population Sikh and the other half comprising followers of Dera Sacha Sauda.

There was tension in the village when some dera followers allegedly stoned the village gurudwara on June 14, 2007.

The tension resurfaced on November 1, 2007, when six dera followers were arrested for allegedly beating up a Sikh youth for playing a religious cassette on the tape-recorder attached to his tractor.

The police averted a possible standoff between the Sikhs and the dera followers when Daduwal addressed a religious congregation in the village on March 1, 2009.

The police “arrested” Daduwal on his arrival but he was “freed” by his supporters and taken inside the gurudwara, where he held a congregation for three days.

The congregation went off peacefully though the situation remained tense with 10 companies of the police and two of the Rapid Action Force standing guard.

The recent developments in Bhikhi village in Punjab, where a curfew was imposed after violence erupted following a congregation addressed by Daduwal, have made the authorities cautious.

Daduwal is known for his inflammatory speeches against Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. The SP, Vivek Sharma, said the police was well-prepared to deal with any eventuality.

Chandigarh, January 6
The Haryana Police is in for a make-over with the approval of a Rs 125.76 crore IT roadmap and Phase III of the IT plan. A meeting for the same was held under the chairpersonship of Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati here today.

Outlining the contours of the IT plan, Gulati said the department had been directed to fix timeline for the completion of each module and ensure that citizen-centric services became operational within the given timeframe.

The thrust was on building infrastructure. Directions had been issued for evolving a monitoring mechanism and preparation of status reports. The review of effectiveness of the IT plan, to be implemented over the next five years, had been made mandatory and would be held regularly to facilitate corrections, if required.

Gulati said as many as 24 application modules would be implemented under five heads. A “special functions” module would cover the police station surveillance system and mobile surveillance vehicle system. The sub-modules, traffic challan system, vehicle challan system, vehicle tracking system and motor vehicle control system, would be integrated with the software of the Transport Department, wherever appropriate.

The department would build a strong security plan and maintain security of the confidential data. Technical specifications for fingerprint analysis and criminal tracking system would be made consistent with the UID project of the Government of India.

Meanwhile, the government has asked all heads of departments, Divisional Commissioners, DC and SDOs (civil) to decide hold meetings of village committees on fixed days. 

Chandigarh, January 6
A fortnight after the Congress government in Haryana gave its nod to replacing the Toyota Camarys with the Honda CRVs as the official vehicle for ministers, the Chief Parliamentary Secretaries have now joined their league.

Instead of the Toyota Fortuners chosen for the CPSs to allow the ministers that extra bit of indulgence, it’s now decided that all nine CPS will also get a Honda CRV each as their official vehicle.The CRVs will replace their Sonatas and are likely to be purchased “very soon”.

Sources say Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav has approved the same, implying that the government will purchase 21 CRVs instead of the earlier approved 12 SUVs. With this deal, the government will be “poorer” by nearly Rs 5 crore.

The CRVs will cost the government Rs 21.88 lakh each while the price of the Fortuner had been negotiated with Toyota and would have cost Rs 18.95 lakh.

The ministers had made a lot of noise about replacing their Camarys, citing lower ground clearance of their vehicles as the main drawback.The ministers had maintained that the lower ground clearance hindered their movement in villages.

While nine vehicles will go to Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State, nine new SUVs will be added to the list for the CPS while the Chief Secretary and the Principal Secretary to Chief Minister will also get a replacement each. The one remaining car will go to the Chief Minister’s residence.

Interestingly, the demand of the CPSs for replacing their Sonatas was first considered by the high-powered purchase committee.This was shelved only to be re-considered after the CPSs insisted on the same. 

Yamunanagar, January 6
The District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Yamunanagar, has directed Aradhana Soft Drinks to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to a complainant for mental agony, harassment and as litigation expenses.

Vinay, a resident of Balwant Rai Colony, Yamunanagar, in his complaint said he purchased six bottles of Lehar Pepsi from Mathura Sweets, Yamunanagar, which were manufactured by Aradhana Soft Drinks, Ali Asgarpur, in Panipat district.

He said one out of the six bottles of 300 ml had the manufacturing date as April 17, 2008, and contained some foreign material. Vinay went to Mathura Sweets and showed him the said bottle, but the owner refused to replace the same and asked Vinay to contact Aradhana Soft Drinks, distributor for Pepsi Cola Company.

Vinay complained to the consumer forum saying that it was the duty of the manufacturer and owner to keep the bottles in safe and pure condition.

Vinay further said the respondents were negligent and deficient in providing goods in safe condition and thus they have violated the implied conditions with regard to the quality and fitness of goods in question.

After getting a notice from the consumer forum, Arvind Bhardwaj, counsel for Aradhana Soft Drinks, filed a written statement, stating that he supplied soft drinks to Mathura Sweets whereas the complainant had mentioned the name as Batra Sweet House in his complaint and prayed for dismissal of complaint.

However, the other two respondents failed to file their written statement within the stipulated period. Vinay, after filing the complaint through his counsel Ajay Arya, also moved an application to send the bottle of Lehar Pepsi to a public analyst for analysis with the complaint.

The bottle was sent to the public analyst on January 19, 2009, and the report was received on March 6, 2009. President of the forum Dina Nath Arora and members of the forum said: “It is clear from the laboratory report that the soft drink was adulterated and unfit for human consumption. Hence it is proved that respondent Aradhana Soft Drinks is guilty and the complainant is entitled for relief.”

The consumer forum directed Aradhana Soft Drinks to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation.

Chandigarh, January 6
A Full Bench of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that “pre-deposition” of the entire penalty is not a mandatory provision for entertaining appeals by the collector under the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act.

The development is significant, as two Division Benches had come out with different findings. The Full Bench judgment has now laid to rest the controversy by ruling that the prerequisite can be dispensed with by passing a detailed order.

The Bench, comprising Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal, Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel, Justice AK Mittal, Justice Ranjit Singh and Justice Ajay Tewari, ruled: “We have no hesitation in holding that the imposition of blanket liability of pre-deposit of penalty is an onerous condition”.

The ruling came on a petition by Ranjit Singh against the state of Haryana and other respondents. The petitioner had challenged the order dated August 25, 2000, passed by the Yamunanagar assistant collector (first grade), directing his eviction under the provisions of the Regulation Act. A penalty of Rs 10,000 per hectare annually was also imposed from 1993.

He had also challenged another order passed some three years later by the Yamunanagar collector, “declining to entertain the appeal in view of default of the petitioner in depositing the penalty in view of Section 13 B of the Act”.

The Bench observed: “The challenge is to the provisions of Section 13 of the Act”. The Section provides for the right of appeal against an order passed by an assistant collector.

A Division Bench “in view of the conflict of opinion” had referred the matter to the Full Bench. In one of the cases it was held that the condition of pre-deposit of the entire penalty was mandatory, while in another it was held the pre-deposit was not mandatory.

The Bench ruled: “It is held that Section 13 B of the Act would be read down to incorporate within it the power in the appellate authority to grant interim relief in an appropriate case, where grounds exist by passing a speaking order, even while normally insistence may be made on pre-deposit of penalty….

Sirsa, January 6
With an increase in the demand for urea for rabi crops, the fertiliser has suddenly become a scarce commodity in the district.

Farmers in Rania and Ellenabad blocks in the district allege that they have not received a single bag of urea since December 31, while this is the most opportune time to use the fertiliser for the wheat crop.

Even, where the fertiliser is available, long queues of farmers can be witnessed to get the urea.

Angry farmers blocked vehicular traffic at Panchmukhi Chowk in Ellenabad town recently and protests by harassed farmers on this issue have become the order of the day.

“I stood in a queue for over four hours for two days but failed to get even a single bag of urea,” alleged a farmer, Sahib Ram, of Kishanpura
village.

Ram Swaroop from Neemla village alleged that his crop had started turning pale in the absence of the fertiliser. Finally, he had to purchase the fertiliser for Rs 320 per bag instead of the actual price of Rs 267.50 per bag, he added.

Swaran Singh Virk, state vice-president of the Haryana Kisan Sabha, alleged that the scarcity was man-made and officials of the Agriculture Department were involved in it.

Virk maintained that in case the farmers failed to get urea within three days, their crops, which had already started turning pale, would wither away.

Jagdeep Brar, Deputy Director, Agriculture, while admitting the shortage of the fertiliser, claimed that the situation would improve within three days.

“Sirsa has a quota of one lakh tonnes of urea for the rabi season, of which 55,000 tonnes have already arrived and have been distributed.

The remaining 45,000 tonnes have been delayed due to several factors, including the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan,”Brar said.

Chandigarh, January 6
Bhiwani is all set to wear a new look for a modern design for the city has been planned by the Central Government under the urban infrastructure development scheme for small and medium towns. The process will be carried out in collaboration with the state government. A city development plan has already been prepared.

Information in this regard was furnished to the Punjab and Haryana High Court this morning, as a petition filed in public interest on cleaner environs came up for hearing.

The development is significant, as the implementation of the city development plan after receiving the Centre’s nod, is expected to go a long way in eventually putting to an end problems hovering around sanitation, along with industrial and solid waste management.

In an affidavit placed before the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih, municipal council secretary Sharwan Kumar said: “The vision of the city, within a time-frame of 2009-25, emerges as a multi-dimensional town with old parts of the city redeveloped to bring it closer to modern urban planning criteria of the surrounding contemporary urban developments, where all citizens, irrespective of social and economic status, enjoy access to basis amenities”.

He goes on to say: “For achieving this, the government of Haryana has prepared a city development plan for Bhiwani city. The final report, duly recommended by the Bhiwani Deputy Commissioner, has been forwarded to the Chief Administrator, Haryana Infrastructure Development Board-cum-Director, Urban Local Bodies, for approval and onward submission to the state government and thereafter approval for further submission to the Ministry of Urban Development of the Central Government for approval”.

Karnal, January 6
Activists of the Haryana Samajik Nyaya Party have threatened to take to the streets in case of any “distortion” on the issue of reservation in the proposed film “Aarakshan” by noted producer Prakash Jha.

In a letter to Jha, general Secretary of the party, Mohan Lal Dhiman, has asked him to “update his knowledge” on the issue before going ahead with the film and warned:

“In the event of any wrong, not only this organisation but many others in the country will come on the streets against your film and its actors in lead roles.

“It would be better to study and analyse the subject fully to get a thorough knowledge on reservation (aarakshan) or the proposal to make the film be dropped.”

Dhiman said the script (as I have come to know from the media) if not changed, could lead to protests and create a law and order problem across the country for which the producers and actors would be responsible.

Dhiman has also sought the intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Union Law Minister M Veerappa Moily.

He has asked prominent OBC leaders DPYadav, former MP Ranbir Yadav, Lalu Prasad Yadav, Chhagan Bhujbal (NCP), and president of the Dravida Kazhagam to use their good offices to ensure that the film was not prejudiced against the OBCs.

Kurukshetra, January 6
Undeterred by the biting cold, executive committee members and office-bearers of the Kurukshetra University Teachers’ Association (KUTA) were seen contacting teachers to muster support for their protest tomorrow. Dr Nafa Singh, president, and Dr Parmesh Kumar, secretary, said on a call given by the Federation of Haryana Universities Teachers’ Association,demonstrations would be held in front of the offices of VCs throughout the state.

The teachers are peeved at the inordinate delay in the issuing of a notification for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission recommendation. These include advance increments for MPhil/PhD/M.Tech./MPharma, entry-level pay of directly recruited Readers and the equivalent cadre recruited on or after January 1, 2006, at Rs 23,890, Professor’s scale not below Rs 43,000, re-designation of Reader and Lecturer in the selection grade after three years of service as Associate Professor and retirement at 65. — TNS

Sirsa, January 6
The Communist Party of India organised a dharna in front of the Subdivisional Magistrate’s office at Ellenabad against the shortage of urea and in support of some other demands of the people.

Swaran Singh Virk, a member of the state committee of the CPI, who presided over the dharna and demonstration, alleged that farmers had been facing a lot of hardships due to the scarcity of the fertiliser.

He alleged that the wheat crop of the farmers was on the verge of withering away and in case they did not get the fertiliser within three days, they would suffer irreparable loss to their crop.

The CPI also demanded allotment of 100 sq yard residential plots to all eligible families in rural and urban areas.

Sirsa, January 6
The police has booked the husband, brother-in-law and his wife for the death of newly wed bride.

Suman (24), who was married to Jaibir of Ram Nagaria here 10 months ago, was admited to the local General Hospital unconscious where she died Her father, Hanuman, a resident of Manawali, filed a complaint with the police alleging that his son-in-law, his brother Satbir and his wife Santro had killed Suman by poisoning her.

The police has registered a case under Sections 304-B and 34 of the IPC against them. — TNS