Rohtak, March 27
The Kisan Morcha of the Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded the setting up of a judicial commission to probe complaints and alleged irregularities in land acquisition in the state.

At its mahapanchayat held here today, the morcha called upon the government to acquire land of farmers on lease basis and provide compensation on the basis of the prevailing market rates for the acquired land.

The morcha has submitted a memorandum to the state and the union government regarding its demands on the issue.

President of the morcha OP Dhankhar said the cell was concerned over the growing number of complaints and the grievances of farmers regarding land acquisition in the state. He claimed that while the owners were being deprived of their precious agricultural land, the acquired land was being transferred into the hands of industrialists and builders without the guarantee that it would help or benefit those who had given up their land in the name of development.

Accusing the state government of playing the role of middleman, he said the state government, which ought to look after the interests of farmers, had been rather working for the welfare of private companies.

He said though thousands of acres had been acquired by the present government in the name of developing SEZ in the past few years, nothing had come up on that land so far.

Dhankar challenged the government to come out with facts and figures on the development of SEZs.

He said the party had drafted a resolution to seek amendments in the land acquisition policy to provide a share to farmers in the profit of the project that comes up on acquired land in the state.

He also demanded the facility of the change of land use for farmers. Charging the government of it failure to release a white paper on the issue, he said the morcha had set up a five-member committee to prepare a “black paper” on the matter within a period of four months. 

Kaithal, March 27
Hundreds of trees, which added to the beauty of the town, have been axed during the past one month to widen the Kaithal-Ambala road that falls in the municipal council limits of the town here.

This will not only affect the ecology and environment, but also deprive a large number of birds and animals of shade, which saved them from the scorching heat in summers.

Sources said the Forest Department fined the PWD Department for cutting the trees. Residents are perturbed over the unmindful cutting of trees, thus reducing the green cover. They feel that had the officials of the PWD (B&R) and the Forest Department taken a little care, a large number of trees at least on the road berms could be saved from being axed.

Residents demanded that before launching and executing road widening projects, the government should direct the departments concerned to ensure that there was no unmindful cutting of trees and every effort should be made to save the green cover.

Chandigarh, March 27
With the three-week-long protest by Jats, who are seeking reservation in government jobs, over, the Haryana Government may just have ended up with nothing more than a breather. However, unlike other commissions, the Haryana Backward Classes Commission may well have to act fast with the Jat bodies spearheading the recent stir giving only six months to the government to act on their demand.

The national general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Samiti, OP Dhankar, said the government had sought a month’s time for the constitution of the commission. “We will give them time till September 13 this year which happens to be the death anniversary of our martyr, Sunil Sheoran, who was killed in police firing at Mayyar village last year during an agitation seeking the OBC status for Jats. If the government fails to deliver, we will intensify our agitation further,” he said. While the government is likely to constitute a one-man Backward Classes Commission headed by a retired high court judge, the Jats are in no mood to give a long rope to the government.

“During our talks with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the PWD (B&R) Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala before that, we had made it amply clear to the government that the Centre had sought three to six months’ time. We added that we expected the Haryana government, too, to act within that time frame and make its recommendations. In six months’ time, we will get a clear idea of whether we are being bluffed or the government really intends to do something about our demands. This has been decided at a meeting of the samiti,” explains Ram Karan Hooda, who was present during the talks between the 33-member Jat delegation and Hooda, accompanied by Surjewala.

Following protest by the Jats, the government, following the intervention of the court, intensified its attempts to strike a compromise with the agitators. Various rounds of closed-door talks between the agitators and Surjewala, who has unofficially been designated as “trouble-shooter” by the government, were held to arrive at a consensus. Following these negotiations, Hooda had announced the setting up of a commission.

This commission will not only look into the demand of the Jat organisations seeking the OBC status for its community but also look into similar demands made by other castes.

Sources maintain that while the constitution of a commission is provided for under Atricle 340 of the Constitution, in the judgment in the Mandal Commission case, the court had directed the Government of India as also the state government to have a Backward Classes Commission in place to look into inclusion, over-inclusion and under-inclusion of castes seeking the status.

Sirsa, March 27
After a 15-day standstill, normalcy returned to the Sirsa railway station today with most passenger and express trains arriving on time and leaving for their onward journey amid the usual hustle and bustle.

The train services had been paralysed for the past 15 days due to the agitation by the Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti, who had been sitting on railway tracks to press for their demand.

“Though the first passenger train (54751 Rewari-Ganganagar) had arrived here at about 8 pm yesterday after the end of the Jat agitation, normal train services resumed only today. All four Up and Down passenger trains and two Up and Down express trains were on schedule,” said Kirpal Singh, Station Master, Sirsa.

He said the only exception was the Jaipur-Amritsar Express, which was to start from Jaipur at 6 pm yesterday, but could not begin journey due to uncertainty over the clearance of railway tracks.

The resumption of the train services has brought with it the usual activity on the railway platform.

“We had lost our business completely in the past two weeks. We are ordinary people and cannot afford to remain idle. Had the train services not resumed for the next few days, our families could have run into hardships,” said Devender Kumar, a tea vendor at the Sirsa railway station.

Like him, eight other vendors, who have their stalls at the Sirsa railway station, are happy to see their business back to normal.

The resumption of railway services has also eased the hardships of daily commuters, particularly on routes where bus services are poor or are very costly. Kishori Lal, who has to travel between Sirsa and Rama Mandi in Punjab, said he had to spend three times the railway fare during the Jat agitation and yet the bus services did not suit him due to their odd timings.

Passengers on the Sirsa-Bathinda route were particularly happy as the resumption of the rail services will cut the extra expenditure they were incurring on their travel during the agitation.

Narnaul, March 27
A two-day national seminar titled “Republic of India@61” organised on the temporary campus of the Central University of Haryana here concluded today.

The concluding session witnessed intense panel discussions on the theme and valedictory remarks from AK Motwani, director of the International Institute of Education.

Prior to this, Dr S Lakshmi Devi from Delhi University laid stress on the need to end children’s exploitation and give them relevant education.

Commenting on papers dealing with issues of the industrial and the service sector development, Prof GL Sharma from the Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management opined that the country needed to adopt models of management, which envisage a sensitive approach towards issues of the social and economic development.

Earlier, Justice SK Mittal from the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony, noted that India had made phenomenal progress in all walks of life in 61 years after the creation of the Constitution.

In his keynote address, Prof Satish C Shastri, former dean and head of the law faculty at Rajasthan University, observed that the concept of “Republic” was not new to India. Prof Mool Chand Sharma, Vice-Chancellor of the host university, maintained that the 61-year journey of the Indian Republic was a complex story of aspirations, opportunities and successes.

The director of the seminar, Prof DC Vashist, summed up the observations made by the university students during the seminar and hoped that the perspective developed at the seminar would go a long way in facilitating better learning and understanding of different aspects of various multi-disciplinary issues of crucial relevance.

Narnaul, March 27
The district administration has launched a multi-pronged initiative aimed at improving the lot of the brick-kiln labourers in the district located in the backwater of Haryana.

As part of the ongoing drive, nearly 2,500 labourers working at more than 100 brick-kilns in the district have been provided with temporary ration cards to take care of their basic needs.

“We have already covered 95 per cent brick-kiln labourers and the remaining will also get temporary ration cards by the end of this month,” asserted Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar, the man behind the mission.

Talking to The Tribune here, he maintained that as many as 47 new kiln schools had been set up for the children of the labourers working there, adding that these were in addition to the 12 schools already functioning in this area.

These schools would cater to labourers’ children in brick-kiln clusters and all of these had also been covered under the mid-day meal scheme, Kumar disclosed.

The Deputy Commissioner has also warned the brick-kiln owners not to have any bonded labourers and told them to maintain a proper record of the labourers working in their enterprise.

The brick-kiln owners have also been asked to ensure due compliance with the safety norms and provide helmet and gloves to the labourers.

“We are also making efforts for provision of an insurance cover for the labourers to ensure financial support to their families in case of some untoward happening,” Kumar said and added that the Red Cross, banks and insurance companies would be roped in for the project. 

Uchana (Jind), March 27
Rajya Sabha member and former HPCC chief Birender Singh has dared Chautala to contest from Uchana again. He was addressing a public meeting on his 65th birthday here today. Union Minister Selja, Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and Tourism Minister Kiran Choudhry and leader of the Opposition in the Himachal Pradesh Assembly Vidya Stokes were among those who attended the rally. Birender Singh has recently been appointed national secretary.

Looking buoyant at his elevation and the presence of several leaders and ministers, he claimed that he continued to enjoy the support of the residents of this constituency.

He announced that he would contest the next elections from Uchana against Chautala and would win the seat. Expressing gratitude to Congress president Sonia Gandhi, he said the recent appointments had rejuvenated the party.

Attacking the Opposition, especially the INLD, he cautioned the people against the “false” promises. Leaders like Satwinder Rana, Sumita Singh and Naresh Sherwal, all MLAs, and Kiran Walia, Health Minister of Delhi, were among those who attended the rally.

Ambala, March 27
Solar lights installed at different parts of the town, including public places like parks and chowks, are being targeted by thieves even as the municipal corporation has been turning a blind eye to the problem. The Manav Seva Kendra, Ambala cantonment, has taken up cudgels against the theft of public property, including solar light fittings, their batteries and the grill installed on the boundary wall of public parks and the metal benches in the parks.

Its office-bearers, including Bimal Parkash and RP Garg, have been highlighting the increasing incidents of theft in parks but the corporation has failed to take any action. In a joint statement, they said they had sent a number of communications to the Municipal Corporation seeking immediate action in the matter but in vain.

Owing to utter neglect by the municipal corporation, there was no greenery in the parks, the fountains had been removed by anti-social elements and the ill-maintained Children’s Park had no equipment, they said.

The two leaders of the Manav Seva Kendra said that solar lights fittings from HN 89 in the Housing Board Colony had been stolen two days back and they had reported the matter to the Municipal Corporation and the police.

They regretted that no case had been registered so far.

The upkeep of these parks was poor with garbage piles all around.

Bahadurgarh, March 27
The police has arrested two youths for the murder of ASI Bijender Singh of Kasar village here. The police recovered a car, two pistols, four live cartridges and Rs 2,000 from the accused.

Interacting with mediapersons here, Bahadurgarh DSP Rajeev Deswal said Bijender was shot by his co-villagers with an intention to loot him near Noona Majra village here on March 18.

The arrested have been identified as Navin and Vinod. The duo, during the police interrogation, confessed to have committed the crime besides revealing that two more youths committed the crime with them, said the DSP.

The duo was today produced before the court which remanded them in two-day police custody. Deswal said raids were being conducted to arrest the other two.

Notably, ASI Bijender Singh was found murdered near a farm located along the Noona Majra-Kasar road here on March 18. He was posted at the Jhajjar Police Lines and was coming back to Kasar village in his car.

The Bahadurgarh police had registered a murder case against unidentified youths on the complaint of deceased’s brother Surender, who had expressed suspicion over some co-villagers, whose candidate had lost the panchayat elections wherein Bijender’s wife, Sunita Devi, was elected.