Ulahwas/Ghata (Gurgaon), August 5
Senior BJP leader Rajnath Singh has stated that the Haryana government was indulging in open loot of farmers’ land in connivance with builders and the party would raise the issue in Parliament and also apprise the President of the gross irregularities in shady land deals in the state.

“The state-sponsored racket of issuing Sections 4, 6 and 9 notifications to acquire farmers’ land and subsequently releasing it from acquisition proceedings after big builders have purchased land in panic sale from hapless farmers has even surpassed the definition of scam,” he maintained.

Addressing a gathering of villagers at Ghata village in the district today, the former BJP president categorically alleged that the state government was grossly misusing its powers to indulge in the open loot of land to benefit builders.

Earlier, Rajnath, along with Haryana BJP president Krishan Pal Gurjar and other national and state leaders of the party, visited Ulahwas and Behrampur villages and listened to the grievances of residents.

The BJP leader demanded that all land-acquisition proceedings be stopped till a fresh Central law was enacted and implemented across the country. He also sought a high-level judicial probe by a Supreme Court Judge into the leasing of Ulahwas shamlat land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust and other “shady” land deals struck during the Congress regime in the state.

However, Rajnath was clueless on being questioned about the panchayat of Sadhrana village in Gurgaon district having gifted 30 kanal and 6 marla of shamlat land to the People For Animals Society for the construction of Maneka Gandhi Veterinary Hospital while the BJP was a coalition partner in the state regime.

He referred the query to Haryana BJP president Krishan Pal Gurjar, who defended the gifting of land on the plea that it was a collective and voluntary decision of the village panchayat.

Gurjar alleged irregularities in the purchase and subsequent grant of CLUs of nearly 170 acres of land in Sectors 62 and 63 of Gurgaon in favour of a close relative of Arun Nehru, a descendant of the Nehru clan, stating that the collaboration with farmers in the case had been registered in a back date.

Gurjar further alleged that several acres of prime public land in Sectors 29 and 58 of Gurgaon had been leased to a nautanki company at nominal rates by giving the rules the go-by, adding that several top functionaries of the state government were stakeholders in the project. He also pointed out that more than an acre of shamlat land in Ulahwas village had been given to a dentist who had served a former Prime Minister and President and was considered close to the Gandhi family.

Kurukshetra, August 5
INLD activists led by state unit president Ashok Arora burnt effigies of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Rahul Gandhi in front of the mini-secretariat here in protest against giving Ulhawas panchayat shamlat land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. They also raised anti-government slogans.

Addressing the workers Arora demanded resignation of Hooda. He also demanded that a white paper should be issued explaining how much land had been acquired during Hooda’s tenure, how much land had been released and to whom. All this should be probed by a Supreme Court judge.

Sirsa: Activists of the INLD staged a protest against the state government for giving away the prime land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust for pittance. The protesters burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the local Ambedkar Chowk.

The party organised a rally at the local Grain Market, where the leaders alleged that the state government had caused a huge financial loss to the state exchequer just to please UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. The protesters marched through the Janata Bhawan Road, Rori Bazar, Subhash Chowk, Hisaria Bazar, Parsuram Chowk to reach Ambedkar Chowk, where they burnt the effigy of the Chief Minister.

Fatehabad: Protesters led by district INLD chief Nishan Singh took out a protest march to the Laal Batti Chowk, where they blocked the traffic for a while. The district INLD chief alleged that the state government had given away land worth over Rs 250 crore to the trust on a 33-year lease for only Rs 3 lakh per year.

Faridabad: Activists of the INLD burnt an effigy of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to protest against the state government for giving away the land to the trust. They took out a procession in the city from the BK Chowk. The agitation continued for more than an hour during which the traffic movement was disrupted.

SONEPAT: Hundreds of INLD activists led by party’s state spokesman KC Bangar and district president Padam Singh Dahiya took out a protest march in the town against the land acquisition policy of the state government and burnt an effigy of the Chief Minister at Geeta Bhawan Chowk here. They also handed over a memorandum, addressed to the Governor, to the Deputy Commissioner, demanding immediate release of the land given to the Rajiv Gandhi Trust.

Reports of INLD workers’ protests and burning of the Chief Minister’s effigies were also received from Hisar and Rewari.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, August 5
HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana today castigated the opposition parties for misleading the people on the leasing out of land belonging to Ulahwas panchayat in Gurgaon to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust.

Interacting with mediapersons at Sirsa and Fatehabad today, Mullana alleged that the opposition parties, particularly the INLD, have been acting out of frustration and making false propaganda on the issue.

“As a matter of fact, the village panchayat has leased out the land for Rs 3 lakh per acre for the setting up of a hospital by the trust. While the panchayat would get an annual income of Rs 15 lakh per annum, the villagers will also get the benefit of quality medicare at their doorstep,” the HPCC president added.

Coming down heavily on the Leader of Opposition Om Parkash Chautala, Mullana alleged that farmers’ land was forcibly acquired at throwaway prices during the INLD regime.

Chautalas, he alleged, misused the Chaudhary Devi Lal Trust to grab hundreds of acres of land in Haryana and demanded an account of that land.

Mullana maintained as Congress workers recently burnt effigies of INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala on a vital issue of corruption after his indictment by a court, the INLD had been raising this issue out of sheer frustration.

Answering a question, Mullana alleged that his son-in-law Rajinder Kataria’s name was unnecessarily being dragged into the controversy as the sarpanch of Ulahwas had already said that he had signed the agreement without any pressure.

Faridabad, August 5
Subash Batra, a former Home Minister and senior Congress leader, today asked the government to issue a White Paper on the land officially allotted to various trusts and foundations formed in the name of politicians. Moreover, the document must also specify public land illegally occupied by such organisations.

He also demanded a probe into the records and sources of funds of such trusts and foundations.

Batra made the demand in the wake of opposition parties in the state raking up the issue of leasing out of five acres of Ulhawas village panchayat land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust. He said the land was earlier leased for five years to a person in November, 2004, for only Rs 15,000 during the INLD regime.

The same piece of land had now been given on a 33-year lease by the panchayat for Rs 15 lakh per year to the trust. The trust was to set up an eye hospital on the land. It had already paid Rs 30 lakh in the past two years to the panchayat, which utilised it on development works in the village.

He criticised the INLD and the BJP for raking up the issue though the Congress government had ensured better returns to the panchayat on the land.

Chandigarh, August 5
Just over a month after the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruled that Haryana cannot proceed with the process of granting mining rights without environmental clearance, the state was today allowed to grant only short-term permits and mining contracts through public auction up to December 31.

The directions come as a reprieve to Haryana’s mining industry as the High Court had earlier allowed the state to continue mining of minor minerals without prior environment clearance till July 31.

Mining in Haryana had come to a standstill on March 1, 2010, after the high court refused to permit the state to continue the mining operations without obtaining environment clearance.

The court had initially stopped mining on May 15, 2009, while deciding a writ petition filed in 2004 by Pinjore-based advocate Vijay Bansal. Later, it allowed mining without environment clearance till February 28, 2010.

The latest extension came during the hearing of a petition filed by the Chandi Mandir Stone Crushers Consumer Company.

In an application seeking extension of time, the state asserted that the court had earlier modified its order dated May 15, 2009, to the extent of granting short-term permits and mining contracts, as a one time measure, up to July 31.

It was added that the matter relating to the procedure to be followed for getting environmental clearance was pending in the Supreme Court.

Even on the settlement of the issue regarding the procedure to be followed, about 12 to 18 months would be required to obtain the requisite clearances. As such, the mining operations may remain suspended, resulting in an acute shortage of construction material.

After going through the application, Justice Surya Kant granted extension till December 31 while fixing January 13, 2012, as the next date of hearing in the matter. 

Chandigarh, August 5
An application seeking the transfer of HCS selections’ case from the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bench headed by Justice Hemant Gupta was today withdrawn. But Justice Hemant Gupta’s Bench, at the same time, referred the matter to some other Bench.

The application was moved by a respondent, Veena Hooda. Seeking the transfer of the case to some other Bench, she asserted that the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Vijender Singh Malik were hearing cases on the criminal side.

The petitioner claimed that she and some other respondents were appointees of the previous regime and were being made to suffer for about a decade on account of political rivalry between the present and the previous regime.

Haryana’s former MLA Karan Singh Dalal and two candidates had initially brought the matter to the High Court’s notice through Haryana’s former Advocate-General Mohan Jain, now Additional Solicitor-General of India at Delhi.

So far, the probe into the selections carried out in 2001, 2003 and 2004 has placed the examiners in dock. The probe has found “the examiners re-checked the answer sheets on their own, whereas there are no rules”. Forensic report too has indicated irregularities in checking of the answersheets.

Karnal, August 5
The BSP today launched a frontal attack on the UPA government and charged it with serving the interests of corporate houses at the cost of poor people.

Addressing party workers, who sat on a one-day dharna at the Old Grain Market here against price rise, corruption and the deteriorating law and order situation, BSP vice- president and Rajya Sabha member Raja Ram hit out at the government for gradually and systematically curtailing subsidies on petroleum products.

Critising the government for delaying the Land Acquisition Bill, Raja Ram said the state government was claiming that his land acquisition policy was the best in the country but the recent agitation by farmers for higher compensation had exposed its claims.

Referring to the law and order situation in the state, he said the track record of the state was dismal and it ranked seventh and ninth in cases of murder and dacoity in the country.

Sonepat, August 5
On the call of the United Forum of Bank Unions (UFBU), employees and officers of local nationalised banks under the banner of the Haryana Bank Employees Federation held a demonstration here this evening in front of the Model Town branch of the State Bank of India in support of their demands. Their demands included opposition of the banking sector reforms and outsourcing, scrapping of the Khandelwal Committee report and a revised scheme for appointments on compassionate grounds etc.

NP Munjhal, state general secretary of the federation, said if no negotiations were initiated by the Centre, the agitational programme, including strikes, demonstrations, rallies etc would be continued.

Kurukshetra: In response to the call given by the All India State Bank of India Staff Federation, local bank employees demonstrated in front of the Thanesar branch of the State Bank of India here today in protest against the non-fulfilment of their demands. All local banks remained closed.

Reports of bank employees’ strike were also received from Sirsa and Fatehabad.

Hisar, August 5
A clerk working in the office of the Haryana Urban development Authority (HUDA) here was caught accepting a bribe of Rs 7000 by Vigilance Bureau officials yesterday.

Vigilance Bureau officials said Ajay Goel ,a resident of Fatehabad, near here, had complained that the clerk had demanded the bribe for transferring a plot in Sector 3 in the name of his brother’s wife, Anita Goel.

He was accompanied to the HUDA office by a team of the bureau. When Rattan Singh accepted the bribe the cops pounced on him and recovered the amount from him.

The local HUDA office is notorious for corrupt practices. About a year ago several employees were sentenced to prison for accepting bribes. 

Rohtak, August 5
The alleged mismanagement in the process of distribution and collection of the application forms for the Haryana Teachers’ Eligibility Test (HTET) to be conducted by the Board of School Education, Haryana, has resulted in inconveniences to candidates, who have to wait for hours at the centre set up by the authorities at a house in the Old Housing Board Colony here.

Though the board claimed to have provided the facility at the book sellers registered with it, this was the only centre in the district that had been authorised to do the job. The cost of the form is Rs 600 and the test is scheduled for September 24 next.

“Waiting outside for more than an hour was very difficult in this hot and humid weather,” said Navin Kumar, a candidate appearing for the HTET.

He added that its distribution and collection could have been made easier by setting up various other centres in the district.

The manner in which the forms were given and collected through a single centre in the district makes one believe that the authorities concerned wanted to make the process of the test difficult, so that minimum candidates should apply for it, said Monika, another candidate.

In view of the increasing candidates every year, the board should learn from other institutions that provide online facilities, she added. 

Sonepat, August 5
One of the three charred bodies, which was recovered from Jatoli village in Gurgaon a few days ago, was identified as that of Kuldeep, a criminal who was wanted in the Rajinder Singh murder case. It had lead to the apprehensions that it could be yet another revenge killing.

Kuldeep, along with Amit and Jitender, had murdered Rajinder on May 26 to avenge the killing of Neetu, who was Kuldeep’s cousin, about 18 months ago.

He had allegedly been murdered by Rajinder’s cousin Vijender, who at present was lodged in a local jail.

The police said the three persons hatched a conspiracy and killed Rajinder to avenge Neetu’s murder, as Vijinder was lodged in a jail.

About 15 days ago, the police managed to arrest Jitender, but the other two were believed to be still at large. However, on June 10, the Gurgaon police recovered three bodies at Jatoli village, the identity of whom could not be established.

Though, the family members of Kuldeep affirmed that one of the bodies was of Kuldeep, the other body was identified as that of Sudhir, one of their friends, while the third body could not be identified.

The police had been suspecting that Kuldeep could have been killed by kin of Vijinder to avenge Rajinder’s killing.

Meanwhile, a senior official of the Gurgaon police said the real motive behind the killing of the three persons was yet to be ascertained.

He said the bodies had been recovered from an isolated spot near Jatoli village.

It was being suspected that the three had been murdered elsewhere and the bodies had been dumped and set on fire there to destroy the evidence.

A case has been registered and investigations are on.

Hisar, August 5
The police has booked a sarpanch and seven members of his family on charges of vandalising Sant Bapu Asaram Ashram located on Sirsa Road here.

According to a complaint filed by asram caretaker Gopal Bhai, sarpanch Kartar Singh and seven members of his family, including three women, forcibly entered the ashram on Tuesday and damaged property. He said the sarnpanch’s family had a property dispute with the ashram.

The complaint added that the trespassers looted stalls and also took away cash after causing extensive damage to property. Many of them carrying illicit arms threatened the ashram volunteers.

It said earlier on August 1 when Bapu Asaram was delivering a discourse in the ashram, some persons entered the ashram by climbing its boundary wall and manhandled volunteers.

The police arrested two of them that day. They were released on bail on Tuesday.

Kaithal, August 5
The CIA branch has arrested three persons for the death of a Dalit youth of Badsikri Kalan village. They were sent to police remand to facilitate the recovery of lathies, dandas and arrest of other accused.

A police spokesperson said Ruhla Ram had gone to purchase liquor from a vend on August 1 evening where he had some altercation with a liquor contractor, Dharmender, and his staff. After that Ruhla returned to his kiryana shop. At 10 pm Dharmender and his men armed with lathies and dandas reached Ruhlas’ shop and allegedly attacked him. Next morning the victim was admitted in a multi-speciality hospital in Kaithal and on his statement the police registered a case against six persons.

The victim succumbed to his injuries on the night of August 3. Following the death of the victim Section 302 was added to the already registered case. SP Simardeep Singh constituted a special CIA team headed by Inspector Randhir Singh, which arrested Dharmender and Virender of Badsikri and Sunil of Bhagal on murder charge and efforts were on to nab the other three accused named in the FIR, the spokesperson added.

Hisar, August 5
Seven mobile phones had been recovered in a surprise raid from barracks of the local Central jail. However, no SIM cards were found in any of the mobiles.

Officials said generally inmates hide the SIM cards separately so that in case a mobile phone was confiscated jail officials could not find inmate who had been using it. More than 50 mobile phones had been recovered from the jail within the past three months. — TNS

Ambala, August 5
A state vigilance team from Ambala, led by Inspector Rajinder Singh and SI Raj Pal, today arrested head constable Kuldeep Singh for taking a bribe of Rs 1,500 from Sukhvinder Singh of Rolan village, to settle a case registered at the Saha police station. Kuldeep was posted at the Saha police station, 12 km from here.

Sources said Sukhvinder had lodged a complaint with the State Vigilance Bureau alleging that the head constable had been demanding and threatening him for the payment for settling a dispute, which was settled at Rs 1,500.

Acting on the complaint, a vigilance team laid a trap near the Ambala Cantt Bus Stand and caught Kuldeep red-handed while accepting the bribe. — TNS