Chandigarh, July 11
Haryana’s former Director-General of Police MS Malik has been indicted in an inquiry for getting raised Haryana State Industrial Force, and also for making appointments of 60 sub-inspectors “through the back door”. He has also been blamed for getting an Act passed for creating the force and causing a loss of approximately Rs 19 crore to the state government “due to his illegal actions”.

A copy of the report was placed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court Division Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Gurdev Singh during the hearing of a petition filed by Malik.

The inquiry report dated December 7 has been submitted by IAS-cum-inquiry officer Naresh Gulati. The report says: “It is proved that Malik remained posted during the period when the proposal for the creation of a separate force, HSISF, was mooted. He directed the office to send a proposal to the government in this regard, without there being any concrete demand for the force from the banks, post offices, industrial units, etc.

“He, without objectively assessing the need for the creation of the force, proposed the enactment of the HSISF Bill. Based on a fraudulent demand projection, the HSISF Act 2003 was passed by the Haryana Legislative Assembly.”

The report goes on to say: “Without enforcement of the Act, Malik started the process for the recruitment of the personnel of this force, assuming himself to be the DGP of the force, though no such order appointing him as the DG of the HSISF was issued by the state government. This action of Malik was totally against the law and the provisions of the Act.”

It also says that Malik recruited personnel for the force “without sanction and authority and, thus, caused a loss of approximalety Rs 19 crore due to his illegal actions… Malik acted totally illegally and arbitrarily in making the appointments of 60 sub-inspectors through the back door in the Police Department, when no vacancies were available in the Police Department”.

The Bench asserted: “Three weeks’ time has been stipulated in the covering letter for sending representation/comments by the petitioner, if any. After the receipt of the reply to the inquiry report, necessary order shall be passed by the respondents within two weeks by August 31.”

Karnal, July 11
Taking notice of a complaint regarding the “misuse” of Red Cross funds, filed by RP Malhotra, state convener of the Haryana BJP Human Rights Cell, the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has issued a notice to the secretary-general of the Indian Red Cross Society, New Delhi.

Malhotra had filed the complaint on the basis of a story published in these columns regarding the misuse of the Red Cross funds by the administration in Karnal last month.

In his complaint, Malhotra pleaded that gross “misuse” of Red Cross funds in Karnal district was contravention of the Indian Red Cross Society Act 1920, amended in 1992 by the Parliament.

Under the Act, the Red Cross society had bounden duty to utilise the funds to provide relief to the sick or suffering people. The Haryana BJP Human Rights Cell filed a complaint to the NHRC New Delhi, he added.

The audit of 12 district Red Cross societies of Haryana had said funds amounting to Rs 2.86 crore were frittered away on items such as maintenance of government office buildings, purchase of gifts, furniture, mobile phones, telephone bills, purchase and repair of vehicles for Deputy Commissioners and sub-divisional officers.

What was shocking was that the blatant “misuse” of funds continued in spite of objections raised by CAG.

Sirsa, July 11
As many as 18 students were hurt as a makeshift school bus overturned near a canal bridge at Rori in the district today.

The accident occurred when the driver of the Tata Sumo, which was carrying nearly 24 schoolchildren and two helpers, lost control over the vehicle near the canal bridge.

The children from Rori were going to their school, Akal Academy, situated at a distance of 4 km on the Suratia road. The driver was allegedly driving the vehicle at a high speed and could not maintain control over it near the bridge.

Farmers working in the fields rushed to rescue the crying children. They were later taken to hospitals in the another school’s bus.

Paramjit Kaur, Principal of Akal Academy, maintained that all children except four were sent back to their homes after administering first aid to them. She said four injured children had been shifted to a hospital in Sirsa.

The vehicle driver, Gulab, has also been seriously hurt.

The Principal maintained that the bus did not belong to the school, but the parents had arranged for it through their own contributions.

Karnal/Kurukshetra, July 11
Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma today suggested raising the age of marriage for girls from 18 to 21 years to contain population and said it was imperative to check population growth.

Further, “the literacy rate should be increased and the people should be made aware of benefits of a small family to curb population growth”, he asserted, while flagging off an awareness rally at Civil Hospital, organised on the occasion of World Population Day by the district heath authorities.

He said there was a need to adopt a pro-active approach and take strong steps in this direction and observed that such rallies for “mass awakening” would yield the desired results.

The Speaker said the country was emerging as a major economic power and had produced world-class doctors, engineers and professionals, but we were lagging in human resource development and lack of education was affecting the population growth.

Speaking on the occasion, civil surgeon Vandana Bhatia said another reason for higher rate of population growth was that due to the efforts of the government and other organisations, the death rate had come down to eight per thousand but the birth rate was as high as 23. While in countries like Japan and Germany, the death rate was 11 against the birth rate of 10 per thousand.

Deputy Civil Surgeon Anita Aggarwal said in order to boost family planning programmes, camps would be organised for men and women from today.

The district authorities and the NGO celebrated the World Population Day with the messages of population control inscribed on a 121- metre-long banner, symbolising India’s 121-crore population.

The banner prepared by members of NGOs, the Youth Affairs Association and Delite Society, Karnal, was given a green signal by SDM Mukul Kumar.

Meanwhile, civil surgeon Sushma Saini while speaking at a function on the occasion of World Population Day at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Hospital in Kurukshetra, said the common man would only be benefited from the economic and welfare policies of the government, if the population kept under control.

Chandigarh, July 11
The heat was clearly on the Haryana Police, here today, with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressing his “displeasure” with the functioning of the department and directed its officials to tour the district regularly.

Upset with the delay in disbursement of old-age pensions, Hooda directed officials to give four months’ interest at the rate of savings account along with the pending pension to the beneficiaries and added that the date of disbursement also be fixed.

The Chief Minister presiding over a meeting of Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police, here today, was particularly dissatisfied with the Irrigation Department for the lack of preparedness to tackle floods especially given last year’s experience.

Emphasising that officials should increase their interface with the public, he pointed out that they needed to tour their districts extensively to be connected to the public and their problems.

Sources said that Hooda maintained that while the police was losing its grip on maintaining law and order, he categorically mentioned that “a field tour” by an SP did not imply merely leaving the district headquarters late in the evening and coming back in the morning.

Holding that such visits served no purpose, the Chief Minister said the SP should leave in the afternoon, visit police stations and interact with the public to know what went on and to check corruption in police stations and tehsils besides other offices of public dealing.

While the top brass of the police, too, got a dressing down, the Chief Minister insisted that information collected by the CID wing should be first shared with the district officials to enable timely action.

Holding that police officials had become “media shy”, he was critical of their media management, adding that they should not only talk to the media whenever an incident so demanded to give the administration’s point of view to counter bad Press but also clarify false items which earned the force a bad name.

Hooda maintained that there could be no excuses for complaints about lack of response from officials to communication received from Members of Parliament and MLAs. He insisted that the officials must be courteous and get back to the elected representatives whether or not their work in question was possible.

Directing the Deputy Commissioners to ensure possession to the allottees of 100 sq yards plots under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojana by August 15, the performance, or the lack of it, of Palwal and Rewari did not go down well with him.

Reviewing the flood control arrangements in the districts, Hooda sought to know why the Irrigation Department had not bought water pumps for draining the flood water. He directed officials to complete all tasks related to this at the earliest and review the same within a week and submit a report of the measures taken in last year’s flood-hit districts.

The sources said that Hooda reviewed a number of flagship programmes, including the MGNAREGA and the Mahatma Gandhi Grameen Basti Yojana, new Public Delivery Mechanism, State Litigation Policy, Right to Education and National Health Insurance, among others.

Rewari, July 11
Deepender Singh Hooda, MP and the son of the Chief Minister, made a whistle-stop tour of Nimoth, Dhawana, Dahina, Maseet and several other villages of the Kosli segment of his Rohtak parliamentary constituency here today.

He unveiled a statue of martyr Ashok Kumar, Nayak of 26 Rahstriya Rifles (Kumaon Regiment), who had laid down his life in a counter-insurgency operation in Jammu and Kashmir on August 3, 2010, at Nimoth village, 28 km from here, today.

Addressing the gathering, he said it was a matter of pride that the Ahirwal region was an acclaimed nursery of soldiers and every tenth Jawan in the Indian Army belonged to this region.

He exhorted the youth to maintain this glorious tradition of heroism and win more laurels for the state as well as the country in the future.

He also felicitated members of the martyr’s family and stated that they had done a noble deed by raising his statue.

In response to the demands ventilated by elders of various village panchayats, the junior Hooda assured that he would look into their concerns and these would be addressed expeditiously.

Jind, July 11
The Haryana Government has sanctioned the opening of as many as 8,255 new Anganwari centres in the state during the current fiscal. These would be located in various districts and were likely to be functional soon. Setting up of some more training centres for Anganwari workers was also under consideration.

Stating this, a spokesperson of the department concerned said here today that while about 10 training centres located at Panchkula, Gurgaon, Bhiwani, Faridabad, Rohtak, Hisar, Rewari, Sirsa and Yamunanagar had been functional at present, some new centres were also proposed to be set up in the near future. In order to strengthen the Anganwari network in the state, the government had sanctioned around 8,255 new Anganwaris during the current fiscal.

Advising Anganwari workers and helpers to get training in the government-run centres only, the spokesperson claimed that training from an unrecognised institute was not valid.

Training centres had been receiving all kind of help from the state and the Centre and these were armed with proper infrastructure. It was also claimed that an Angandwari worker could go for further training to get the skills required for the post of supervisor in the department.

The workers and helpers need to undergo the job training and refresher course after every two years in the job. The training and the refresher course must be done from a government-run or recognised institute, the spokesperson added.

It was found that a large number of private-run centres had come up in both urban and rural parts of the state, which claim to be providing training and courses for the Anganwari workers and helpers.

It was also announced that the state government would soon fill as many as 160 posts of supervisor in the department under the Integrated Child Development Services.

Meanwhile, the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund has sanctioned a loan of Rs 128.53 crore for strengthening and widening of some of the rural roads in six districts and construction of 754 Anganwari centres in 17 districts.

The project for construction of 754 Anganwari centres will lead to improved nutrition, health status and education to over 51,000 children, pregnant and lactating mothers etc. in 608 villages.

Sirsa, July 11
Hundreds of senior citizens, widows and differently abled persons today participated in a demonstration organised by the INLD against “inordinate delays” in the distribution of social security pension in the district.

Carrying placards of “Bujurgon ka samman karo, pension ka intezaam karo (respect senior citizens and arrange for distribution of their pension)”, a large number of beneficiaries of the social security pension today assembled in front of the local mini-secretariat and raised slogans against the authorities for delay in the distribution of their pension.

The demonstrators submitted a memorandum to the authorities demanding streamlining of the distribution of their pension.

Addressing the agitating beneficiaries, district president of the INLD Padam Jain alleged that the authorities had been harassing and humiliating senior citizens in the name of old-age pension.

He said the former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal had started the old-age pension as a mark of respect for the senior citizens, but the present government had been humiliating them to make them run from pillar to post for their due.

He demanded that the old system of distribution of pension through municipal councillors and village sarpanches should be revived, as the government, he alleged, had failed to deliver the funds through biometric cards, as announced earlier.

The party alleged that most of the beneficiaries have did not get their pensions for the past three to four months.

Krishan Kamboj, MLA from Rania; Charanjit Singh, MLA from Kalanwali; Dr Sita Ram, chairman of the zila parishad; Bhagi Ram, a former MLA from Ellenabad; Amir Chawla, a former chairman of the Subordinate Services Board and Krishna Fogat, president of the mahila wing of the INLD spoke on the occasion.

The INLD served a two-month ultimatum to the state government to streamline the distribution of pension within two months, or else it would paralyse the road traffic across the state.

Ellenabad MLA Abhey Singh Chautala had earlier announced paralysing vehicular traffic in Sirsa on this issue today, but the INLD later relented and revised its programme and announced to organise a demonstration by senior citizens on the matter.

Bijendra Ahlawat adds from Jind: Senior citizens in the district, who are the beneficiaries of the old-age pension scheme, seems to have been left as a harassed lot, thanks to the alleged failure of the department concerned to smoothen the newly adopted Biometric Card System for the distribution of pension, leading to delay in distribution of the same.

This has resulted in protests and demonstration by residents over the past couple of months. The district unit of the INLD staged a demonstration here led by its leaders which included some of party MLAs and a former MP.

There had been a total of around 1,33,766 old-aged pensioners in the district.

The district president of the INLD, who presided over the protest, claimed that the state government had ignored the issue so far and this had resulted in insult of senior citizens in the district and state.

Hisar, July 11
All shops and commercial establishments in the busy Patel Nagar area of the city remained closed for the third day in a row today following the failure of the police to arrest the culprits responsible for the murder of a juice vendor on Friday night.

There were violent protests on Saturday in protest against the murder, which disrupted traffic in the city for over six hours. The administration had assured arrest of the culprits as soon as possible.

The protesters had given a 72-hour ultimatum to the authorities to nab the accused. The deadline expired today. Shopkeepers have constituted a 21-member panel to decide the future course of action.

Meanwhile, the police today released the sketches of two culprits. These were prepared on the basis of the description given by the father of the deceased. However, no arrests have been made yet.

The Indian National Lok Dal has expressed concern over the deteriorating law and order situation in the city.

The party said in a statement that there had been a spurt in crime within the past few weeks that had left the city shocked.

The Janvadi Naujawan Sabha has also expressed dismay over the issue. Activists of the sabha staged a dharna here seeking immediate arrest of the culprits responsible for the murder.

Sonepat, July 11
Former Chief Minister and the INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala today alleged that the cases of atrocities on scheduled castes people had increased in the state during the Congress rule.

He was addressing a public meeting organised by the district unit of the scheduled caste cell of the party at Rai in the district. In support of his allegations, Chautala said that as many as 179 cases of this nature had been registered in the state after 2005 against 55 cases registered during the INLD rule before 2005.

The Congress government in the state had weakened the economic position of the state as the debt amount on the exchequer had increased up to Rs 52,702 crore, he said, adding that the government employees, pensioners and even the MLAs were not getting their salaries and monthly remuneration on time.

Chautala also chided the Congress-led UPA government for “protecting” the interests of the rich and working against the interests of the common man, adding that it was evident from the soaring prices of the essential commodities. The state president of the cell, Balwant Singh Sadhora, district president, Padam Singh Dahiya, state treasurer, Sri Krishan Gupta, district press secretary, Pawan Taneja and other party leaders were also present.