Bhiwani, February 5
“The Indian Army is in high morale and is capable of facing any challenge to the nation’s security,” said the Chief of Army Staff, Gen VK Singh, while addressing a press conference after inaugurating a two-day Army mela at the local Bhim Stadium today. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was also present on the occasion.

General Singh said such fairs would be organised from time to time to apprise the people of the Army’s functioning and to provide health and financial aid to working personnel, ex-servicemen and their families. He said the Army was facing a shortage of officers and efforts were on to inspire the youth to join the force.

On the alleged involvement of Army personnel in scams like the Adarsh Housing Society scam, he said steps were being taken to ensure that such cases did not take place.

To a question, he said there was no plan to open a cantonment in Bhiwani.

Asked about quota for states for recruitment to the Army, he said recruitment to the Army would not be made on a quota basis. To a question, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the state had two Sainik Schools and a defence university and there was no need for opening any other Sainik School in the state.

Earlier, addressing a gathering after inaugurating the mela, Hooda said the state government had set aside Rs 37 crore for the welfare of ex-servicemen and their families during the current financial year. He said it was a matter of pride that an Army fair was being organised in this area for the first time. Bhiwani had a great contribution to the Army with 26,719 serving personnel and over 37,000 ex-serivcemen belonging to the district, he said, adding that the Army chief, too, belonged to Bapora village in the district.

Addressing the Army mela, General Singh said the mela was being organised in this area to attract the youth to the Army. He said daughters of war widows would be given Rs 25,000 as financial aid for pursuing higher education.

Paratroopers of the adventure cell of the Army displayed hot air balloon and motor skills. Mizo dance, bhangra, a dog show, a horse riding show and a para-gliding show were also presented.

Hooda and General Singh presented tricycles, scooters to the differently abled ex-servicemen. Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Choudhry and Bharti Singh, wife of the Army chief, presented cheques as financial aid and sewing machines to war widows. A free medical camp was also organised on the occasion.

Chandigarh, February 5
A separate High Court for Haryana is still a distant dream. The Union Minister for Law and Justice, Dr M Veerappa Moily, said today that the law ministry had indeed received a proposal for a separate high court, but so far it had not been taken up seriously.

At Chandigarh Judicial Academy to attend a “Regional Consultation for Electoral Reforms”, Moily said the entire process was still at ministers’ level.

Elaborating, Moily said Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was moving in the direction of bifurcation of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. However, the Law Ministry needed to consult not just the two states of Punjab and Haryana, but also the Chief Justice of the combined High Court. The nod of the Chief Justice of India too was essential.

Clarifying his own stand on the issue, Moily said almost all states had their own High Courts. In fact, 21 full-fledged High Courts were functional for 28 states and three Union Territories.

As of now, the place for setting up a High Court is also a contentious issue. Hooda has already given his verdict in support of the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s bifurcation and has been insisting that he wants the newly carved institution to be located in the state’s common capital with Punjab, Chandigarh.

Punjab, of course, does not wish to see the split of the High Court, a “worthy successor” to the Lahore High Court. The state has another reason to oppose the move. Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal says Haryana getting a separate High Court in Chandigarh will adversely affect the Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh.

Responding to the assertion, Hooda, also present at the seminar, said the state would have a separate High Court and that too in the same building and it was just a matter of time before a consensus was arrived at.

Additional Solicitor-General of India-cum-Haryana’s former Advocate-General Mohan Jain reiterated that there was nothing wrong with a separate High Court in the same city, as already two Chief Ministers and two secretariats were in the city. 

Gurgaon, February 5
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has asked the private sector to invest in health for setting up quality healthcare institutions. “Haryana has a great potential for development as a centre of medical tourism?. Under its Industrial and Investment Policy-2011, projects involving an investment of Rs 100 crore and above will be accorded the status of industry and given incentives to promote health tourism,” he said while speaking at the inaugural session of the 39th National Conference of Indian Association of Dermatologists, Venereologists and Leprologists (IADVL) here recently.

Hooda observed that the pharma sector had a vast growth potential and needed to be developed on a sustainable basis. More than 5,000 of the 7,000 registered members of the association are participating in the four-day conference.

“The Government of India has selected Haryana for setting up a pharma-industrial park and a bio-technology park,” the Chief Minister announced, adding that the state government had decided to earmark/acquire about 1,000 acres of land for the a pharma park in the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal Expressway Global Economic Corridor.

The organising secretary of the conference and Dean of the PGIMS, Rohtak, Dr VK Jain, welcomed the guests. He said more than 700 papers would be presented at the conference. The past president of Dermacon, Dr Hemangi Jerajani, and the new national president, Dr SDN Guptha, also addressed the gathering.

Haryana Minister of State for Sports and Youth Affairs Sukhbir Singh Kataria was the guest of honour. Badshahpur MLA Rao Dharampal and Rohtak MLA BB Batra were also present.

Hisar, February 5
Even as the Dalit families staging a dharna at the mini-secretariat here left for their village last evening, the other faction currently still camping at a private farmhouse here came out with “outrageous” demands for their resettlement by the government.

In a memorandum submitted to the district administration today, they demanded that each Dalit family of Mirchpur should be given built-up houses at Hisar on 200 sq yard plots; allotment of five acres of agricultural land to each family and a government job for one member of every family.

It said, “If Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda can allot 40 acres of government land for the samadhi of his father, then each Dalit family from Mirchpur should be given five acres of land”.

The memorandum, listing 12 demands, said the new colony where these Dalits would be resettled should be named Maharshi Balmiki Colony. Besides, statues of the two victims of the violence against Dalits in Mirchpur - Tara Chand and his daughter Suman - should be installed in Hisar and both the victims should be accorded the status of a martyr.

It added that the government should build a special hospital, schools and waterworks at the place where the Dalits would be settled in Hisar.

All the Dalit families should be adequately compensated for the “financial losses” suffered by them during the past nine months after the violence.

It added that all the 300 accused named by the Dalits, including women, should be arrested forthwith. Besides, criminal cases should be registered against the khaps which had organised Jat protests, leading to road and rail blockades last month.

The Dalits demanded that the agreement reached last month between the government and the Jat khaps be made public and all cases registered against Ved Pal Tanwar, in whose farmhouse they had taken shelter, be withdrawn immediately.

The memorandum said 15 persons had threatened reprisals against Dalits in the village on January 19 and all of them should be prosecuted.

Meanwhile, 118 families squatting at the mini-secretariat here for the past one week returned to their village late last evening following assurances by the administration. They had been demanding resettlement outside the village.

Chandigarh, February 5
Haryana’s land acquisition policy, under fire from the Opposition, seems to have put the state government on the defensive, especially with senior Congress leaders, too, having offered some “constructive suggestions” on the issue.

In an attempt to nip the growing criticism of the state’s relief and rehabilitation policy, Industries, Public Works (B&R) and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala today came out strongly in favour of the policy, maintaining that it had made a “profound change” in the lives of farmers and landowners.

Surjewala, in a statement issued here today, said the INLD and its chief Om Prakash Chautala had launched a malicious campaign of misinformation about the policy to hide its own “anti-farmer and anti-poor” stance.

He said the government’s policy had brought about a transformational change in the fortunes of farmers, prompting other states to emulate it.

Listing out the high points of the new policy with “increased” floor rates and various clauses protecting the interests of the farmers, Surjewala said the average compensation paid by the present Congress government worked out to Rs 22.74 lakh per acre. Against this, for the acquisition made by the HSIIDC during the INLD rule between July 1999 and February 2005, the average compensation 
paid was a mere Rs 6.53 lakh per acre.

While the Opposition has been picking holes in the policy, claiming it is violative of the farmers’ interests, Cabinet Ministers Ajay Singh Yadav and Mahender Pratap Singh have come up with suggestions to “improve” the existing policy. While they have repeatedly held that fertile land should not be acquired, the two leaders maintain that ensuring job security for the owners whose land is acquired, offering them plots and incorporating the Rajasthan model where the farmer gets 20 per cent of the developed land would further stengthen the policy. 

Chandigarh, February 5
Miners and those dependent upon the mining industry in Haryana are sour with the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) for allegedly being soft on the mining industry of Uttar Pradesh, which is continuing its work without the mandatory environmental clearances.

Mining is banned in Haryana following the court orders. The court has asked the state to get environmental clearance prior to commencement of mining.

Sources in the industry say unabated illegal mining of minor minerals such as sand, bajri and boulders from the riverbed is going on in Saharanpur and Muzaffarnagar districts, adjacent to Haryana. The sources do not rule out the complicity of officials and politicians in illegal mining in that state.

Interestingly, while about 30 lease holders in UP have applied to the ministry for environment clearance, the UP government has taken a stand in a PIL being heard by the Allahabad High Court that no prior environmental clearance was required for minor minerals found in the riverbed.

Earlier, the High Court had appointed a committee to verify the allegations that illegal mining was taking place in Saharanpur. The committee supported the allegations. In September last, the court issued notices to the state government and the ministry.

The ministry supported the contention of the petitioner that prior environment clearance was mandatory and only after it was obtained a state government could execute the mining lease. It also informed the court that it had prescribed the terms of reference (TOR) to 31 mining projects in Saharanpur and one project in Muzaffarnagar district.

The ministry further told the court that the permission to operate a mine merely on the basis of the TOR was not automatic.

However, the UP government took the stand that the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) notification was not applicable to the minor minerals found in the riverbed.

The sources said it was obvious that the state government was siding with the miners for reasons not difficult to guess.

The Haryana miners say that the least the ministry can do in the UP case is to cancel the TORs issued to the miners in that state and stop considering their applications for environment clearance till they stop illegal mining.

In view of the “helpful attitude” of the UP government towards illegal mining, many screening plants located in Haryana have shifted their operations to the adjoining state. Since there is a severe shortage of construction material in Haryana, the owners of the screening plants send sand through village roads.

Recently when residents of some villages in Yamunanagar district protested against the plying of heavy trucks on village link roads, the district administration imposed Section 144, banning the plying of heavy trucks on the link roads.

A petition was filed in the Punjab and Haryana High Court a couple of days ago seeking quashing of the prohibitory orders in Yamunanagar.

However, the court refused to intervene. 

Kaithal, February 5
Haryana PWD (B&R) and Industries Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala awarded degrees to as many as 1,100 graduate and postgraduate students at a convocation function of Local Indira Gandhi Mahila Mahavidyalaya here today.

Surjewala said the educational institutions should provide best education to the students so that they could easily face tough competition in life and ensure a bright future for themselves in the competitive age.

The minister expressed his happiness over the achievements made by girls in academic and other fields. He said keeping in view the public demand, Dr BR Ambedkar Government College was set up here to impart professional education to the students of the area a few years ago.

Surjewala also awarded prizes to college students for achievements in various fields. 

Assandh (Karnal) Feb 5
Amidst a rousing reception on his arrival in the Assandh Assembly constituency for the first time after being appointed Chief Parliamentary Secretary (CPS), Zile Ram Sharma today announced a bundle of developmental schemes.

Speaking at a felicitation function at Bansa village here, he announced that Rs 350 crore was being spent in Assandh and a soil and water testing laboratory would be set up for farmers by the month-end.

The laboratory would start functioning from Phapharana Sugar Mill complex till its own building was constructed, he added. He said all farmers visiting the laboratory would be issued a card in which details about the type and quality of soil and suitable crops, which could be cultivated in their land, would be provided.

In a unique gesture, Sharma, who was garlanded with currency notes by his supporters, returned the garlands and asked people to distribute the money at religious places.

Referring to power shortage, the CPS said four power projects were under execution and people would get uninterrupted supply for 22 hours after these projects were commissioned.

Referring to the developmental schemes, the Chief Parliamentary Secretary said the Primary Health Centre at Ballah village would be upgraded to Community Health Centre at a cost of Rs 10 crore, 48-km-long roads and seven bridges would be constructed, Rs 6 lakh would be provided for Prajapati Bhawan and Sikh Community Bhawan and Rs 3 lakh each would be given for Valmiki and Scheduled Caste chaupals.

He disclosed that 200 youths had been provided jobs on merit while 11 girls had been recruited in the police force. 

Kurukshetra, February 5
Tension prevailed in the holy city of Kurukshetra as president of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (ad hoc) Jagdish Singh Jhinda arrived at Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi along with his supporters and handed over a protest letter to SGPC president Avtar Singh Makkar.

Jhinda expressed deep resentment over denial of rights to Haryana Sikhs to perform “path” and carry out other religious activities in gurdwaras under the control of the SGPC and reiterated the demand for a separate SGPC for the state. A large number of police personnel were deployed to avoid any untoward incident.

Makkar, who was here to attend the executive committee meeting of Gurdwara Chhevin Patshahi in connection with Prakash Divas of seventh Sikh Guru Har Rai Sahib falling on March 14. Makkar asked the Sikhs to plant maximum trees on that day, as Guru Har Rai Sahib was a environment lover.

Later, Makkar said an international museum was being set up in Amritsar at a cost of Rs 60 crore to make the world aware about Sikhs, Sikhism, tenets of Sikhism and its activities. A committee had been set up to prepare Sikh literature in English, French, Spanish, German and other foreign languages, which would be distributed in different Embassies, he added.

Jind, February 5
A minor Dalit girl was allegedly raped at Karsindhu village here last night. The police has booked Mangu for the crime, but he is yet to be arrested. According to the complaint, Mangu allegedly threatened the girl of dire consequences.

A medical examination of the victim at the Civil Hospital confirmed the allegation, said a police official. He said a case has been registered in this regard.

In another incident, the police has registered a case of abduction and kidnapping after two minor girls went missing from their homes in the district within the past 24 hours. The first incident was reported from Ram Nagar here. A student of class XI in a private school left the house on Friday morning, but did not return till late evening.

The grandfather of the victim has suspected that Dharmender of Ram Rai village could have abducted her. Another case was reported from Hakikat Nagar, in which a woman alleged that her 17-year-old daughter was abducted by one Sham Lal, a neighbour, on Friday.

In another incident, the police has arrested a woman in connection with the death of her husband. The victim, Yaman Khan, hailing from Buddhakhera village, had died of burn injuries about 18 months ago.

Ambala, February 5
The sale of banned mangoor fish goes unchecked in Ambala district despite a Supreme Court order, which has banned the sale and cultivation of this variety of fish.

The Thai mangoor fish is boneless, which can also survive in dirty ponds and cause cancer.

The district health authorities, Fisheries Department and the civil administration have turned a blind eye to the sale of the fish, which is readily available in fish markets dotting peripheral colonies of various towns in the district. It is easily available in the Maheshnagar market and other meat shops on the Ambala-Jagadhri road.

Wastewater ponds are being openly used for the cultivation of this fish. A fish farmer disclosed that returns from the cultivation of Thai mangoor fish was much more than any other variety of fish, due to which it has caught the fancy of fish farmers of the region.

Farming of Thai mangoor fish is also popular in some districts of Punjab that are near to Ambala.

A source disclosed that the seed for this variety of fish usually came from Kolkata. A meat shop owner revealed that there were ponds in the districts, where Thai mangoor fish was reared.

Environmentalists had moved the apex court seeking a ban on the cultivation of Thai Mangoor fish since this variety is known to destroy other varieties too.

Despite repeated attempts, no official of the Fisheries Department could be contacted for comment. Mangoor fish is poor man’s favourite as it is available in the market at Rs 60 per kg while malhi sells at Rs 200 a kg.

Sources in the fish market said the mangoor fish was purchased in bulk by caterers for marriages and other functions.