Sirsa, January 30
All is not well with the Public Health Department here with residents of several localities complaining of choking sewers despite protests on several occasions. Gobind Kanda, the younger brother of the Minister Gopal Kanda, was seen reprimanding a senior officer of the Public Health Department during his visit to some colonies last evening.

“I have been receiving complaints from residents of Khanna Colony, Kirti Nagar, Begu Road and Agarsen Colony for almost a year that their sewers are blocked and the authorities are doing nothing about it,” Kanda said. He said stern action would be taken against officials who did not perform their duty well. The functioning of the Public Health Department has come under a scanner with the state government suspending XEN Vikramjit Singh and two SDOs working under him for irregularities in the allotment of works to contractors.

The officials are accused of allocating major works by splitting them into tenders worth less than Rs 5 lakh each to skip the due procedure for allotment of contracts. These officers reportedly enjoyed a good equation with the Kandas and those who have replaced them have been at the receiving end of the Kanda brothers’ ire. After the suspension of the three engineers and an inquiry, the government has rescinded as many as 67 works allotted to various contractors valued at over Rs 2 crore, say sources.

Angad Bishnoi, Superintending Engineer, Public Health, inquiry officer in the case, refused to comment. Sources in the department said in all 479 works had been allotted to the contractors in a period of 18 months starting January 1, 2009. Out of these works, 424 were valued at less then Rs 5 lakh each. These works allotted at the XEN level were under the scanner now.

With the inquiry still in progress, more contracts could be annulled, the sources added.

Chandigarh, January 30
The tug of war between the Haryana government and Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, who also holds the portfolio of Environment, on the expiry of the three-year term of the Haryana Pollution Control Board Chairman, is set to reach a flashpoint.

The Chairman, Dr AS Chahal, was appointed to the post for a term of three years on January 29, 2008. Now, a ping-pong match between the government, pressing for his retention, and Yadav, seeking his ouster, is on.

Sources maintain that the government initially pressed for extension of Chahal’s term. The proposal was turned down by the minister who argued that the incumbent (Chahal is 76) was way above the “admissible” age limit.

Subsequently, the government recommended that Chahal’s term be counted from the day the board was notified about the appointment in November 2008 and not the day he was appointed to the post.

This recommendation is backed by the opinion of the legal remembrancer.

This, too, has not found favour with Yadav who has shot off another noting with the bottomline that Chahal has to go. Sources said the minister, in his noting, has stated that the term of the Chairman cannot be as per the whims of the government. Stating that if the term is to be counted from the day of the notification, Chahal must deposit all emoluments and benefits he had enjoyed from January to November, 2008, till the board was notified.

He has further questioned the wisdom of such a decision, maintaining that the government should, in such a case, also decide whether the decisions taken by him in the corresponding period are valid or invalid, thereby indicating that he is in no mood to relent.

The ball, once again, is in the government’s court. While a decision will have to be soon taken, the minister has already expressed his “dissatisfaction” with Chahal’s working. Chahal, who courted controversy soon after his appointment, is embroiled in court cases challenging his appointment. The then Minister of State Kiran Choudhry, too, had expressed her displeasure over the working of the Pollution Control Board in general and Chahal in particular. It remains to be seen how far the government is willing to stretch this controversy.

Chahal has already made it clear that he has achieved the goals he had set for himself and has left the decision on the completion of his term to the government.

Sonepat, January 30
As many as 125 police personnel, including officers, today donated blood at a camp organised in the Police Lines here. The blood camp was organised as a tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary.

A “sarva dharam” prayer meeting was organised at the local Geeta Vidya Mandir Girls College. NSS and NCC students were among those who took part in the meeting.

College Principal Jyoti Juneja exhorted the students to follow the teachings of the Father of the Nation.

Tributes were paid to Mahatma Gandhi by DCC (urban) president Pradeep Gautam at a prayer meeting at the party’s office here. A two-minute

silence was observed during the prayer meeting. Later, office-bearers and activists of the party paid floral tributes at the statue of Mahatma Gandhi.

FATEHABAD: Ashok Tanwar, Congress MP from Sirsa, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at a function organised at Tohana.

A T-20 cricket match between the Bar Association and the Chandershekhar Azad Club was organised on this occasion.

Congress leaders, led by block president Tek Chand Midha, paid tributes to Mahatma Gandhi at the local Congress office.

Sirsa: Led by Malkiat Singh Khosa, president of the District Congress Committee, party workers paid tributes to the Father of the Nation by cleaning streets with brooms in the local Goshala Mohalla.

A free medical camp was organised by the Maryada Sewa Sansthan and Shri Ganesh Dharmartha Trust to mark the occasion.

Chandigarh, January 30
The government has reversed its two-decade-old policy of allowing collaboration between landowners and builders for grant of licence till the issuance of award.

The new policy debars anyone from claiming release of land on the pretext of application for grant of licence submitted after the declaration of public purpose under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act.

“The modified policy will reduce litigation to a great extent and will impart transparency in licensing,” said TC Gupta, DG, Town and Country Planning.

The earlier policy, in effect since 1991, had become a major issue of litigation in courts with the government approaching the Supreme Court against several orders of the High Court. In view of the widespread criticism of the policy, which appeared to favour the builders, the government now appears to have taken a more pragmatic stance on the issue.

In order to make the implementation of such policy directives more transparent, it has been decided to get all collaboration agreements registered. Thus any collaboration agreement entered after the Section 6 declaration shall automatically be void for the purpose of any grant of licence or release purposes.

As per the earlier practice, as the date of announcement of award approached, several such landowners entered into a collaboration with builders and filed court cases.

They then applied for grant of licence in case all other technical parameters were fulfilled. Under the new policy, no such case would be eligible for grant of licence, even in case of a stay against dispossession from the courts, if they didn’t apply before the Section 6 declaration.

The policy however, continues to be soft on onstructions meant for residential use. Such owners shall continue to enjoy the benefits of the old policy. However, any owner constructing a house for rental income has been debarred from the benefits of such policy.

Karnal, January 30
A hapless hearing and speech impaired inmate of the local Nari Niketan was allegedly raped by the chowkidar of a school for hearing impaired where she had gone to study.

Sources said the victim was molested and subjected to sexual assault seven months ago and had to go in for an abortion. However, the molestation continued even after her abortion.

The Nari Niketan authorities have no explanation as to why the matter was not reported to the police.

The girl, an orphan, was brought to the Nari Nikaten, Karnal, from Bahadurgarh in 2006. She was living under fear following the alleged sexual assault. She finally ran out of patience and told her fellow inmates about the incident in sign language following which the matter was reported to the police yesterday.

The police registered a case under Section 376 of the IPC against the chowkidar and some unidentified persons. The victim was sent to the Trauma Centre for medical examination. The police has rounded up one of the attendants of Mata Prakash Kaur Vani Viklang Kendra and the chowkidar, Ajay.

Rakesh Arya, SP, Karnal, said the case had been registered against Ajay and some unidentified persons at the Civil Lines police station. He said the chowkidar had been rounded up. “We are investigating the case to find out the role of the attendants at the school for the hearing and speech impaired. The Nari Nikaten has also come under the scanner,” he added.

The Nari Niketan has been in the news for the wrong reasons in the past as well. On May 10 last year, a 17-year-old inmate had escaped from the Nari Niketan and the authorities had no explanation for it.

Around three years ago, inmates of the Nari Niketan had gone on the rampage and had levelled serious allegations of maltreatment. Later, a team of the human rights commission also visited the institution.

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman of the National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Dr Raj Kumar Virka, who was in Karnal, visited the Nari Niketan and the Civil Lines police station to know the details of the incident. He ordered a high-level probe into the incident by a joint team of senior health officials, police officers and members of the Social Welfare Department. 

Hisar, January 30
The Dalits of Mirchpur village in this district continued their dharna at the mini secretariat here for the second day today.

They were led by Amar Lal, son of Tara Chand, who was killed when houses of Dalits were set afire by Jats in April 21 last year.

Amar Lal said he was trying to unite all Dalits for a joint struggle for justice. He was referring to the Dalit families staying in a farmhouse owned by Ved Pal Tanwar heading a non-Jat organisation here.

He said the goal of both groups was the same and a unified fight would benefit all victims.

The protesters squat on the premises of the secretariat for the whole day, with women cooking meals in the lawns. Most of them shift to a local dharamshala during the night. The Dalits are demanding government jobs and allotment of plots outside Mirchpur.

Ved Pal Tanwar told mediapersons that he was being wrongly accused of detaining the Dalits inside his farmhouse against their wishes. He said a police party had raided his farmhouse last night and harassed the Dalit families there.

He said these families had come on their own, pleading for temporary shelter. The widow of Tara Chand and one of her sons visited these families at the Tanwar farmHouse today to enquire about their welfare. They refused to respond to queries by the mediapersons.

Hisar, January 30
Former minister and Congress legislator Sampat Singh today claimed that the five legislators from the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) had merged their party with the Congress under the provisions of the Anti-Defection Act and had not “defected” to the Congress.

Addressing mediapersons, he said it did not behove of former Chief Ministers Om Prakash Chautala and Bhajan Lal to criticise the Congress for what they erroneously termed as “engineering defections”. These two leaders, he said, had encouraged defections in order to gain the high office of the Chief Minister.

He said Bhajan Lal had gained notoriety in the eighties for mass defections after he joined the Congress to continue in office in 1980. Later, he again formed a government by engineering defections in 1982 when he did not have the numbers. Devi Lal’s party had the right numbers then, he said.

He said likewise Om Prakash Chautala had formed the government in 1999 with the help of legislators from the HVP of Bansi Lal. “What would Chautala term the then defections?” he asked. Asked whether he was being elevated as Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha as reported in a section of the Press, he said he had not been sounded about it by the party. However, he said, he was prepared to serve his party in any capacity.

Jind, January 30
A Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) has been nabbed while accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a sarpanch for passing a tender concerning a pond for fisheries on Friday.

A case has been registered against BDPO Surender Sharma under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The raid was conducted on the complaint of the sarpanch of Amrawalikhera village, Sanjay Bairagi. When the complainant handed the powdered currency notes to the officer, he was nabbed by a team led by Naib Tehsildar Jagdish Rai, said a police official.

Karnal, January 30
Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar will inaugurate the three-day National Dairy Mela at National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) here on February 26.

NDRI Director Dr AK Srivastav said selected progressive farmers from different states, who have achieved excellence in various fields of agriculture, would participate in the dairy mela being organised by the Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries, Government of India, National Dairy Development Board (NDDB) and the NDRI. The Union Minister would also confer awards on farmers.

He said the dairy mela was an annual feature of the NDRI, but this time it would cover a number of new activities. It would showcase latest technologies and address new opportunities in the dairy sector. Dr SL Goswami, mela coordinator and joint director (research), NDRI, said an exhibition encompassing new technology, products, tools and machinery would be a major attraction at the mela. — TNS