Chandigarh, April 4
The change of guard has brought about a change in the strategy of Haryana’s Congress unit, so it seems. If there is one phrase that sums up the proceedings of the state unit’s first general body meeting held today under its newly appointed party in charge BK Hariprasad, it is “guarded aggression.”

While the agony of the “ignored” Congress worker prominently figured in the speeches of Congress men, the divided Congress house agreed that there was an urgent need to strengthen the party. Member of Parliament Avtar Singh Badhana spoke first, inviting Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to hold party rallies in all 10 parliamentary segments. “There have been a number of rallies in the state of late. However, these have been more of government rallies and less of party rallies. Somehow, we are conveying the impression that the Chief Minister is single-handedly running the Congress show,” he said.

Finance Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav suggested that the process of appointing chairpersons of boards and cooperations should be hastened to “accommodate”committed party workers. He said senior party leaders should be co-opted in the AICC and Congress leaders and party workers in constituencies represented by non-Congress men should also be given their due.

Public Works (B and R) Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala was of the opinion that the district units as also the party workers’ network should be strengthened to facilitate better coordination between the government and the party. “There is a need for a channel to point out shortcoming so that these can be rectified,” he said. Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Choudhry said it was important that the worker felt “happy and secure” if the party was to be strengthened, inviting a big round of applause from partymen. Karam Singh, president of the party’s unit at Indri, said the Chief Minister alone could not be expected to keep all the workers together, insisting that MLAs should also take the workers along. “We have seen that an MLA usually promotes his friends at the cost of loyal party workers,” he observed. “The Chief Minister gives nothing to anybody. So, we can’t ask him for anything,” he added, sending shock waves. This prompted Hooda to retort: “He’s a little confused. He wanted to say that I don’t keep anything with me. I give everything away.”

Cooperatives Minister HS Chatha gave a “certificate of credibility” to the Chief Minister as also himself, stating that neither had ever accepted a garland of currency notes. Hooda took on the dissidents, stating he knew exactly “how much Congress there is in every leader as also the leaders who are in the Congress”.

He said: “I have seen many a leaders go, float parties and return to the Congress fold,” he maintained, urging the workers to gear up for elections in Punjab. Hariprasad made it clear that he was not here to play politics but to convey the workers’ sentiments to the high command. 

Chandigarh: General Secretary of the All-India Congress Committee and in charge of the Haryana state Affairs BK Hariprasad today said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was far better than his Gujarat counterpart Narender Modi. He was responding to a query at his first press conference as the Haryana Affairs in charge at the Haryana Congress state office here today.

He said Gujarat and Haryana could not be compared because Gujarat was among the leading state since its inception, while Haryana’s progress was recent. Hariprasad said the decision regarding the re-constitution of the state coordination committee would soon be taken in consultation with the Chief Minister and the Pradesh Congress Committee. He said as per the decision of the Burari conclave of the AICC, the state and district-level committees would be constituted for monitoring the working and implementation of the UPA and the state government flagship programmes.

He said “Jan Jagran Abhiyaan” would be launched in the state and Vidhan Sabha-level meetings would be organised in which Hooda and HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana would participate. — TNS

Faridabad, April 4
Amidst reports of the district administration reviewing its recent decision to hike the collectorate rate in Faridabad district, former Chief Minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala today gave a call for Faridabad bandh on April 11 if the decision was not scrapped.

Chautala, while addressing his party men staging a hunger strike outside the mini-secretariat here, alleged that the government was indulging in an unethical practice by raising the revenues of the state exchequer through the backdoor.

He alleged that the government had been gloating over its decision not to impose new taxes in its annual budget just passed by the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. However, the collectorate rate in Faridabad had been raised on the heels of the budget, he added.

He wondered why the district administration had increased the rate by a lesser margin in the trans-canal areas in comparison to other areas of the district. He alleged that in some areas, other than trans-canal, the rates had been increased twenty times. He called upon his workers to be ready step up the agitation if the government did not revoke its decision to increase the collectorate rate even after the proposed April 11 bandh, adding that his party would go in for a Haryana bandh if needed.

Significantly, the BJP and the Haryana Janhit Congress workers have also been staging dharna at the mini-secretariat in protest against the decision to increase the collectorate rate. The leaders of the two parties today also addressed their workers at the dharna sites along with the leaders of the INLD. 

Gurgaon, April 4
Deputy Commissioner PC Meena today appealed to people to get water meters installed on their registered tube wells and borewells as the deadline fixed by the Central Ground Water Authority (CGWA) in this regard was drawing near. The CGWA has directed that all registered and permitted tube wells in the notified area of Gurgaon should be fitted with water meters by April 9 to maintain a record of the withdrawal of groundwater. After installation of the water meter, the Deputy Commissioner should be informed about it.

Meena said the CGWA had made it mandatory for all the registered as well as permitted tube well owners in the notified area of Gurgaon to install water meters on their tube wells within 60 days of the date of its order dated February 8. So, all tube well owners in the district were required to get water meters installed on their tube wells by April 9 so that an audit of the extraction of groundwater could be carried out.

The DC warned that the tube wells of those violating this instruction would be sealed and strict action taken against the violators as per the provisions of the Environment Protection Act - 1986. He pointed out that it had also been made mandatory for the owners of houses or buildings having a rooftop area of more than 100 square metres to have storm-water drainage system installed on their premises. Similarly, big industrial units should have their independent treatment plants for treating effluents.

Taking the fast depletion of the water table in Gurgaon into consideration, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had passed an order on December 24, 2010, that the water of borewells could be used only for domestic and drinking purposes. Even government departments like Public Health and HUDA, the drinking water-providing agency in Gurgaon, have been restrained from digging any new borewell and if there is any exigency, they will have to seek prior permission from the High Court.

In compliance with the court’s orders, 18 teams of officers have been constituted by the district administration with directions to ensure that water from the tube wells and registered borewells, other than those installed by farmers for agriculture land, will be used only for domestic and drinking purposes and not for any other purpose, including construction, in the notified area of Gurgaon district.

Gurgaon city, the municipal corporation area, the industrial area and 105 villages in the district come under the ‘notified area’ where no new borewell can be dug.

According to the directions of the High Court, if any tube well is found violating the rules, it should be sealed and dismantled, besides disconnecting its power supply. An FIR will also be registered against the violator.

Chandigarh, April 4
More than six months after a mob turned unruly during a pro-reservation rally in Hisar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked the state to explain why no arrest had been made so far.

The Bench comprising Justice MM Kumar and Justice TPS Mann posed the query after Haryana Joint Secretary (Home) VP Vats, through an affidavit, informed the court that 39 criminal cases under various Sections of the Arms Act and the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act had been registered in various police stations.

The affidavit said of the 39 cases, a challan under Section 173 of the CrPC had been filed in the court of the area magistrate in 23 cases after completing investigation against the identified accused.

A challan in three cases was ready and would be filed in the court of the area magistrate after completing formalities. As many as 13 cases were still under investigation.

The affidavit came on a PIL by a Ludhiana-based NGO seeking directions to the state and other respondents “to appoint a claims commissioner to assess the loss and recover the same from the culprits, including organisers of the Jat Arakshan Sangarsh Samiti.

The petition also sought protection of private and public property and questioned the grant of compensation to the kin of the three victims who died during the agitation.

Advocates Suman Jain and Vaibhav Jain, counsel for the NGO, said that Rs 10 lakh each and a government job was to be given to the relatives of three youths. “If they were a part of the rioting mob, under no stretch of imagination can they be compensated.

“Although their death is unfortunate, their act cannot be ignored.

“The compensation should have been given to their kin only after a thorough inquiry.

Panchkula, April 4
Showing grave concern over the declining sex ratio in Haryana, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today gave a clarion call to the people of the state to eliminate the blemish of foeticide.

Addressing mediapersons after paying obeisance at Mata Mansa Devi shrine in Panchkula today at the start of the nine-day Navratra festival, Hooda said it was high time to work for the protection of the girl child, which symbolises the holy Goddess. He said they worship “Goddess Durga” and should also work for the betterment of girls.

When asked whether the government planned to open an academy for the upcoming cricketers, Hooda said an academy of Virender Sehwag was coming up at Silani village in Jhajjar district, for which land had been provided by the village panchayat.

The Chief Minister also inaugurated the online donation system at the holy shrine. The system has been especially developed to facilitate donors from different parts of the country and the world and also to ensure more transparency and quick accounting. Now, the devotees who are unable to offer donations at the temple in person or for some reason can log on to Mansa Devi website www.mansadevi.nic.in to make the donations.

The Mata Mansa Devi Shrine Board has signed an MoU with the HDFC bank in this regard.

Chief Parliamentary Secretary Ram Kishan Gujjar, Panchkula MLA DK Bansal, Deputy Commissioner Ashima Brar and Additional Deputy Commissioner Sanjeev Verma were also present on the occasion.

Fatehabad, April 4
Engineers of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) visited Gorakhpur village today to clear the apprehensions of villagers regarding the safety concerns on nuclear projects.

Sanjay Gumasta, Chief Engineer and project manager of the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project, and executive engineer VK Sharma today visited Gorakhpur on the invitation of a group of farmers, whose land are sought to be acquired for the nuclear plant.

Trying to dispel their misgivings on the safety of nuclear projects, particularly in the wake of radiation leakage in Japan, Gumasta said the plant being set up in Gorakhpur was completely safe.

The group of villagers, including sarpanch Kashmiri Lal and two former sarpanchs Jagdish Chander and Diwan Singh, asked questions about the safety features of the proposed project.

Gumasta invited farmers to visit the NPCIL’s project at Narora in Uttar Pradesh and see the functioning of the plant. He also arranged a telephonic conversation of some villagers with KB Dixt, executive director (Engineering and Procurement), who also tried to dispel apprehensions of the villagers. Gumasta said Dixit would visit the village between April 20 and 25.

Sumit Siwach, a member of the Parmanoo Sanyantra Lagao Samiti of the village, said those who met the NPCIL engineers have sought early notification under Section 6 of the Land Acquisition Act so that the project could start soon.

The government had issued its first notification under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act for acquiring 1,313 acres 5 kanals and 13 marlas for the project on July 20, 2010, and as per the law, the notification under Section 6, if it is to be issued, has to be issued within one year.

The farmers started agitation against the plant in August last. Initially, all farmers, whose lands fall under the notification, opposed the plant. However, later a splinter group started favouring the project on certain preconditions.

Till now, farmers owning nearly 650 acres have giving written undertakings that they are willing to part with their land provided the government gave them Rs 50 lakh per acre as compensation and provided government jobs to one member of each family.

Gumasta said a group of farmers had met him in his Hisar office on March 29 and sought his intervention for early beginning of the project. 

Kaithal, April 4
Residents of Harsola village of the district led by sarpanch Sarjit Singh demanded shifting of a liquor vend from the populated area to outside the village. The villagers called on Deputy Commissioner Amneet P Kumar at the mini-secretariat here today and submitted a memorandum in support of their demand. The DC assured the villagers that the matter would be inquired.

In the memorandum submitted to the DC, the villagers alleged that the liquor vend situated in the heart of the village had become a source of nuisance for the residents.

Some villagers drink outside the vend and indulge in brawls and create nuisance. Besides, some miscreants, under the influence of liquor, pass lewd remarks on women and girls. Some even use foul language and hurl abuses at passersby, which has led to a sense of insecurity among the residents, especially among women.

The villagers threatened to start an agitation if the administration failed to remove to address their grievance.

In another similar case, residents of Janaidpur in the Siwan block have expressed resentment over the location of a liquor sub-vend in their village near a school.

In a memorandum submitted to the DC here today, they pointed out that residents of neighbouring villages also come to their village and create nuisance for them. Sarpanch Sohan Lal, former sarpanch Raghbir Singh, Paharpur panch Giani Ram, former panch of Janaidpur Jarnail Singh and others maintained that their respective panchayats had already passed resolutions against the opening of the liquor sub-vend.

Sirsa, April 4
Teachers of Chaudhary Devi Lal University observed strike and staged a dharna against the alleged police inaction in a case of beating up of an assistant professor of the physical education department of the university.

The teachers assembled outside the CV Raman block of the university in the morning and expressed resentment at the inaction of the police to arrest those responsible for the attack. The teaching and the non-teaching staff of the university met the Vice Chancellor, Dr KC Bhardwaj, DC Yudhbir Singh Khyalia and SP Vivek Sharma and demanded immediate arrest of the accused. Later, the teachers sat on dharna and maintained that their dharna would continue till tomorrow if the assailants were not arrested.

Ishwar Singh Malik, an associate professor of the university, was allegedly attacked with iron rods while he was on the way to his house from the university. In his complaint to the police, Malik had said he had stopped some students and outsiders from playing cricket in the parking area of the shopping complex. — TNS

Chandigarh, April 4
Haryana’s former top cop SPS Rathore today moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court for “reconstruction” of a file, alleging that certain documents in it were missing.His counsel-cum-wife Abha Rathore told the High Court that the former Director-General of Police had sought the quashing of a case registered against him by the Central Bureau of Investigation under Sections 354 and 509 of the IPC in October last.

On March 18, she sought the inspection of the file, but found some pages missing. As such, directions should be issued for the reconstruction of the file.

Taking up the petition, the Bench comprising Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia issued a notice to the CBI and other respondents. 

Chandigarh, April 4
State Excise and Taxation Minister Kiran Choudhry today urged the officers of the department to maintain complete transparency in their functioning and work with dedication without any political or administrative pressure on the issue of tax collection.

Choudhry said this while presiding over a meeting with the officers of the Excise and Taxation Department to review the collection of taxes in financial year 2010-11 here today.

It was informed in the meeting that revenue receipts of Rs 14,934.50 crore were targeted for financial year 2010-11 whereas revenue receipts to the tune of Rs 14,266.88 crore had been collected up to February 2011.

Expressing satisfaction over the functioning of the department, she urged the district officers to apprise the head of the department and the financial commissioner and principal secretary about any difficulty being faced by them so as to ensure the smooth functioning of the department.

The districts, which had not received the desired level of revenue, were asked to make concerted efforts to achieve their goal.

She directed the officers to review their working and prepare a report within the next 10 days and submit the same in the meeting scheduled to be held on April 21.

She directed them to make inter-district teams to make surprise checks of private transport vehicles and lay emphasis on checking during night. She said infrastructure in districts would be developed on priority basis.

Those present in the meeting included Chief Parliamentary Secretary Sharda Rathore, Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Excise and Taxation Department, Ramender Jakhu, Commissioner, Excise and Taxation Department, Anurag Rastogi and other officers of the department. 

Chandigarh, April 4
The Haryana School Education Officers Association has objected to the proposed filling of 25 per cent posts of Block Education Officer (BEO) and Block Elementary Education Officer (BEEO) directly through the HCS and allied services examination.

The patron and the president of the association, Sudhir Kalra and Mohinder Singh Chauhan, respectively, said the new move would adversely affect the promotional avenues of school principals, who got these posts after a long experience ranging from 25 years to 30 years.

They said in no other state were civil servants given such administrative posts. Even in Central Schools, the post of Assistant Commissioner (both supervision and administration) was filled from among the principals through promotion. They also opposed the test for promotion to the posts of BEO, Deputy District Education Officer (DDEO) and District Education Officer (DEO). Instead of a test, the government should organise special orientation and management skill development training programmes for these posts.

The association said the government was adopting the Central pattern with regard to the nomenclature of teaching posts. Similarly, it had given the Central pay scale to all categories of the Education Department barring school principals.

Demanding a grade pay of Rs 7,600 and Class I status for the school principals, they claimed that a study made by the department regarding the pay scale and status of the school principals in Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh had found that the demand of the principals was justified.

The association also demanded that a fresh seniority list of the school principals should be prepared as per the 2005 rules and the principals should be granted earned leave for working during summer vacations also. At present, the teachers do not get earned leave on the plea that they get summer vacations.

Gurgaon, April 4
The water-deficient residents of Haryana, especially south Haryana, will urge the President to recommend speedy disposal of water-related issue pending in the Supreme Court at a “Jal Rally” to be organised in Nangal Chaudhary village of Narnaul district on April 10.

At a meeting of Congress workers here yesterday, Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjeet Singh appealed to them to participate in the rally in large numbers. He said Union Minister for Water Resources Salman Khursid had also been invited for the rally.

Referring to the water dispute between Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan, the Congress MP said the three states had reached an agreement, which was signed by the Chief Ministers and the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. “But in 2004, the then Punjab Assembly passed a resolution to cancel that agreement. Afterwards, the matter was taken up with the President who referred it to the Supreme Court to examine the legal position of the Punjab Assembly resolution. Since then, the matter is pending with the apex court,” he added.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Rao Inderjeet stated that a decision regarding the distribution of water should be taken either by the Prime Minister or by the Lok Sabha and not by the state governments. He also hinted at shifting of the Kherki Daula toll barrier as it lies within 15 km of the Delhi-Gurgaon border toll plaza.

In response to a query, the MP admitted that as per norms, two toll barriers could not be there within a distance of 15 km.

He said he was in touch with central minister CP Joshi to get the matter resolved and hoped that a decision to shift the toll barrier was taken shortly.

On being questioned about the demand of reservation for Jats in Haryana, Rao Inderjeet asserted that reservation should be on economic basis and not on caste consideration.

Regarding the recent Jat agitation for reservation, the MP said in any case, nobody should act in a way which created problems for fellow residents. 

Rohtak, April 4
The federation of employees’ unions of various municipal bodies in the state has decided to launch an agitation from April 26 in support of its demands, including ending the contract system and regularisation of all workers employed on a temporary basis in the state.

Stating this, a spokesperson for the Nagarpalika Karmachari Sangh, Haryana, said here today that hundreds of safai karamcharis in the state were working either on a part-time or a contract basis. Alleging that contractors and officials of the civic bodies were exploiting the employees, he said this had affected the overall work environment.

Alleging that embezzlement of crores of rupees had been going on in each district in the name of employment and cleanliness work on a contract basis, he said the authorities concerned had been misusing the manpower for their personal work, adversely affecting cleanliness work at public places. Seeking the regularisation of the services of all part-time employees and removal of alleged anomalies in the pay and pension of the staff, he said the union had decided to launch a stir from April 26. He said safai karamcharis would hold protests from April 26 to May 13.