Chandigarh, March 8
Allegations, clarifications and a walkout. This was the gist of the day’s proceedings at the Vidhan Sabha today. While an aggressive INLD repeatedly interrupted Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to “expose the lies” in the Governor’s Address, the government vociferously defended its stand.

The CM, who spoke after members of the treasury benches and those in the Opposition both were given ample time to raise their concerns during the debate on the Governor’s Address, said he was disappointed. “I was hoping some constructive suggestions would come from the Opposition but we have only ended up with baseless allegations,” he said, as he dwelt on the state’s “exemplary” fiscal management whereby fund allocation to various sectors, including health, power and education, had gone up manifold.

As Hooda gave out figures on government’s land acquisition, the INLD members tried to run down the claims. Amidst the din, INLD legislator Ajay Singh Chautala was heard saying that a minister of the state Cabinet, too, had reservations about the policy, obviously referring to Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav’s “suggestions” that the policy be improved.

Perturbed at the remark, the Chief Minister, challenging the INLD, said: “If any minister of my Cabinet says that the policy is wrong, I will resign.” Yadav was quick to clarify that Haryana’s policy was the best and he had only made a few suggestions.

“I’m open to suggestions from the Opposition as well,” Hooda remarked, prompting Chautala to propose that the government should provide for the landless as well. To that, the CM read out the provisions in the policy. As Hooda claimed credit for lowering the interest rates of loans from cooperative banks from 11 per cent to 4 per cent, adopted by the Centre in the Union Budget, the Opposition benches erupted again with INLD members, waving papers, claiming that the farmer was getting loans at 14 per cent interest.

The INLD members rushed to the well of the House, waving papers at Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, asking him to check the authenticity of their claim. Sharma rejected the suggestion, even as Abhey Singh Chuatala reiterated the demand. Not finding support, the INLD staged a walkout, raising slogans against the government.

Hooda said efforts were on to get the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal functional. Taking a dig at Chautala, Hooda said the latter was unlikely to take up “sanyas” despite his age.

The Speaker had to extend the sitting five times to enable the members to air their views. 

Chandigarh, March 8
The BJP staged a “symbolic” walkout to protest against the “dissatisfactory” reply of Revenue Minister Satpal Sangwan to a question on the state’s land acquisition policy during question hour.

BJP MLA Krishan Pal Gurjar sought to know the amount of compensation fixed by the government in various districts for acquiring land. “I want to know the collector’s rate for Faridabad and Gurgaon. The government seems unclear whether the market rate or the collector’s rate was used as baseline,” he alleged.

While Sangwan made futile attempts to put across his point, the BJP staged a walkout. INLD MLA Pradeep Chaudhry raised the issue of upgradation of a girls’ school in the Morni block in his constituency to enable girl students to attend classes while Rao Bahadur Singh raised the issue of “inadequate” bus service.

Transport Minister OP Jain said the department had purchased 700 new buses and every area would be catered to. On a supplementary about bus service in Mewat, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala said that the Chief Minister had already announced a separate depot for Mewat.

To a question on the damaged road from Uncha Chandana to Radaur, Surjewala said an estimate for the road had been prepared and approved. “However, till the work begins, we will carry out special repairs,” he said. INLD’s Sher Singh Badshami said the minister had assured him during the last session that work on a road in Ladwa would be completed by December 2010 but work on the same was yet to begin.

To this, Surjewala said the ban on mining had adversely affected the availability of raw material, putting several projects on hold. “However, with the court lifting the ban, we will complete the road by December 2011,” he stated.

Later, participating in the discussion on the Governor’s Address, INLD’s Ram pal Majra raised the issue of officer Sanjay Chauturvedi, maintaining that the herbal park had been made on private land.To this CPS Praladh Singh Gillankhera explained that the land was, in fact, under the Forest Department.

The then Minister of State for Forests Kiran Choudhry also said that nothing “illegal” had been done as was being alleged by the INLD and that the park had come up on the village common land which now belonged to the Forest Department.

Speaking to mediapersons, INLD’s Ajay singh Chautala claimed that the land belonged to Gillankhera and it was transferred to the department when the government felt cornered on the issue. 

Chandigarh, March 8
Haryana has decided to increase the old-age pension of all those who were registered under the scheme between March 1, 1999, and April 1, 2010, from Rs 500 to Rs 550 per month with effect from April 2011, payable in May 2011.

The government has also decided that if an ineligible person takes the pension, it will be recovered from him with 12 per cent interest. He will also lose benefit under any other pension scheme.

This was stated by Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal while replying to a call attention motion moved by Ashok Kumar Arora, Raghbir Singh Badhra and Rameshwar Dayal, all INLD MLAs, in the Assembly here today. She said now senior citizens would not have to wait for the survey team to come to the village. They could apply for pension as and when they attained the age of 60 years. This would redress the grievance of eligible persons being left out to a large extent.

At present, 10,88,438 persons are getting a monthly pension of Rs 500 while 3,14,871 beneficiaries receive a higher pension of Rs 700 per month. The INLD MLAs had alleged that pension was being disbursed to ineligible beneficiaries, while eligible persons were being left out. Bhukkal said if the members gave her a list of ineligible persons, action would be taken against them. 

Hisar, March 8
Pro-reservation Jat protesters today blocked rail traffic at three places in the district, cutting off rail link to the town. 

While activists of the Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti continued to squat on the Hisar-Rewari track at Ramayan village for the third day today, the protesters also stopped trains at Gajuwala and Siwani, cutting off rail link to Punjab and Rajasthan.

Samiti chief Hawa Singh Sangwan said his organisation had decided to give the government 24 hours more to accept their demand.

He warned that if the government failed to respond, the situation could worsen.

Meanwhile, former minister and Congress legislator Sampat Singh was shown black flags at Surewala Chowk near here.

He was touring the area to canvass for a rally to be addressed by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here on March 13. The samiti had asked Sampat Singh to apologise for his remarks on the reservation issue or face social boycott. Earlier this afternoon, the state government was stated to have reached a compromise with the protesters.

The Public Relations Department even arranged for transportation for mediapersons to go to Ramayan village for a press conference which was to be addressed by leaders of the samiti. However, the press meet was cancelled even as mediapersons were on their way to the village which indicated that the samiti leadership had rejected the government offer. 

Chandigarh, March 8
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today allowed an appeal of SC Girhotra, Ruchika’s father, against conviction by the Patiala Special Judge in a cheating, forgery and corruption case.

Girhotra was booked by the police in 1985, along with two others, for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and under Sections 420, 120-B, 467 and 468 of the IPC.

It was alleged that Girotra had conspired with co-accused NS Chauhan in 1983-84 and had sanctioned a loan of Rs 25,000 to a fictitious firm, Pal Industries, of Chandigarh-based PK Khanna.

It was alleged that the loan was actually utilised by Naresh Inder Singh Chauhan of Shivalik Rubber Industries, Chandigarh. As such, Girhotra, who was a manager of UCO Bank, Nayagaon, sanctioned the loan by using his discretion. He, being a public servant, had committed an offence falling within the purview of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Counsel for the appellant, Pankaj Bhardwaj, argued before the High Court that the loan was not issued to a fictious company.

The draft was issued on March 16, 1983, in the name of Naveen Engineering, which had to supply a machine for Rs 25,000. The company, after the receipt of the draft amount, had sent the machinery and was duly received by Pal Industries.

Another argument raised by the counsel for the appellant was that Girhotra, being the bank manager, had only countersigned on the loan debit voucher.

Bhardwaj argued that the appellant neither caused any pecuniary loss to the bank nor any pecuniary gain was obtained either by himself or any other person as the money had been deposited by the guarantor.

Justice Jora Singh, after hearing the lengthy arguments from both sides, handed down the judgment, allowing the appeal filed by the appellant. 

Chandigarh, March 8
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the state of Haryana to confirm within four months the services of all teachers in the state Education Department.

The directions, by the Division Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih, will be applicable to all teachers, who have completed the probation period and are eligible for confirmation.

The directions are significant as the state government had not confirmed the services of teachers, including masters, lecturers, headmasters and principals, serving with the Education Department for years together even after the completion of the probation period.

According to an estimate, more than 20,000 teachers serving in the state of Haryana will be benefited from the orders.

The directions came on a petition filed in public interest by one of the aggrieved teachers, Ramesh Malik of Jind district.

The petitioner had claimed that non-confirmation of services of thousands of teachers working in various capacities in the state Education Department has created a sense of insecurity and instability among them.

Appearing for the petitioner, counsel Ravinder Singh Dhull said in March last year, the department had stated that the services of masters in the department was last time confirmed in 1979-80. 

Gurgaon, March 8
Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena has asked the district revenue officials to pull up socks and get the local land records computerised within a certain period. Meena directed the SDMs to accord top priority to the project and review its progress on a regular basis.

With the computerisation of land records, these would be available online. The land owners would get computerised copies of the land record without depending on the patwari for the same.

The DC ordered that by the end of the month, the land records of 15 villages in Gurgaon subdivision should be computerised and placed online. Similarly, in Sohna subdivision the land records of five villages should be placed online.

Meena also directed the District Information officer of the National Informatics Centre to make arrangements for issuing computerised affidavits and certificates for caste and residence.

The DC also directed the officials concerned to interlink the Haryana Registration Information System (HARIS) with the Haryana Land Record Information System (HELRIS) so that the mutation is automatically updated when a sale deed is registered. 

Chandigarh, March 8
The Haryana Government has made a special proposal to have a separate education cadre for Mewat district and its rules will soon be notified. Besides, efforts are being made to provide Urdu teachers on a large scale in Mewat and a proposal for 687 Urdu teachers and 54 Urdu masters covering 270 schools has been sent to the union government for its approval.

This was stated by state Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal while replying to a call attention motion submitted by Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed. — TNS

Sirsa, March 8
The police today booked an officer of the Excise and Taxation Department in Punjab and five policemen of the Punjab Armed Police, 6th India Reserve Battalion, in connection with the firing incident at Kalanwali in which three persons were injured.

It registered a case under Section 307 (attempt to murder) against Malvinder Singh, an Excise and Taxation Officer posted in the mobile wing of the Excise and Taxation Department at Bathinda, ASI Balwant Singh and constables Amandeep Singh, Darshan Singh, Buta Singh and Gurjant Singh, all from the PAP, 6th IRB, Sangrur.

The case was registered on a complaint by Bal Krishan, one of the three persons who sustained bullet injuries from the shots allegedly fired by the Punjab policemen.

Bal Krishan alleged in his complaint that the policemen came to his brother Sanjiv Kumar’s transport company in an Armada at Kalanwali on Sunday morning and tried to snatch a truck at gunpoint. When the driver resisted, the policemen opened fire, injuring him, his son Yogesh and the driver. The police had yesterday registered a case for rioting, criminal assault on a public servant, wrongful confinement and criminal intimidation against Bal Krishan’s brother Sanjiv Kumar, another person named Bitta from Doomwali in Punjab and at least four other unidentified persons. Meanwhile, Excise and Taxation OfficerMalvinder Singh has termed the allegations levelled against him and others as a “bundle of lies.”

“I was not even present in Kalanwali at the time of the incident,” he claimed. 

Jhajjar, March 8
Jhajjar SP Sourabh Singh has dismissed SI Virender Singh from service. He was placed under suspension after being found guilty of taking bribe from a resident of Delhi last month. He was on probation.

The SP said a resident of Delhi had complained that Virender Singh had taken a bribe of Rs 1.50 lakh from him, threatening that he would implicate him in a theft case. — OC

Sonepat, March 8
Three members of a family of Gurgaon were killed and two others were seriously injured when the car they were travelling in was hit by a canter on the Sonepat-Kharkhoda road near Rohat village today.

The injured were referred to the trauma centre in Delhi and the police has registered a case against the canter driver, who escaped after the incident.

Chander Prakash (26) along with his wife Rachna, cousin Sumit (17), nephew Priyanshu (5) and brother-in-law Anuj of Gopalpur village were returning to Sonepat from Bhiwani after attending a marriage of a relative this morning.

Sumit and Priyanshu died on the spot and Chander Prakash succumbed to his injuries while being taken to the local Civil Hospital.

Irked over the increasing number of accidents on this road of the village, the villagers blocked the road for over an hour.