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HUDA chief in dock over plot allotment
Tanwar Farmhouse
Rains bring cheer to Sirsa farmers
Battlelines drawn for SGPC poll in Ambala
Metro to Faridabad, Bahadurgarh cleared
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5 more fake bitumen units detected
Gurgaon Land Acquisition
LAND ACQUISITION
Helpline to check corruption, crime
9 armed youths nabbed on court premises
3 scientists felicitated
Illicit Smuggling of Livestock
Schools closed on Aug 16
Undertrial ‘kidnapped’ by brother-in-law
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HUDA chief in dock over plot allotment
Chandigarh, August 9 In a stern one-page order, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that they may actually be guilty of fraudulent allotment of plots. The striking assertion came on a bunch of about 10 petitions filed before the high court, alleging allotment of 43 industrial plots against three advertised. Justice Rajive Bhalla asserted: “The counsel for the petitioners asserts that though three industrial plots measuring 1/8 acres were advertised in Sectors 27 and 28 of Hisar, a total of 43 were allotted”. Mincing no words, Justice Bhalla added: “In the absence of any cogent explanation for the increase in the number of plots, this court is prima facie satisfied that the members of a committee, consisting of TK Sharma, IAS, RP Gupta, Administrator, HUDA, Hisar, TC Gupta, Chief Administrator, Panchkula, and Ashok Kumar Gupta, representative of the Director of Industries, may be guilty of fraudulent allotment of plots of public property”. Referring to the legal position, Justice Bhalla further added: “A fundamental rule governing allotments of public properties is that only such plots can be allotted or auctioned as are advertised”. As Justice Bhalla took a serious view of the alleged irregularity in the allotments of plots, counsel for HUDA sought from the court to reconsider the matter. Accepting the request, Justice Bhalla adjourned the hearing of the case. HUDA will now make clear its stand when the case comes up on September 9 for further hearing. |
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Tanwar Farmhouse
Chandigarh, August 9 Coming to their rescue, Justice Mahesh Grover directed the Haryana Director-General of Police to assess the threat perception of the petitioners and initiate necessary steps if need be. The directions came on a petition filed against the State of Haryana along with Hisar Superintendent of Police and the Deputy Commissioner on behalf of the families by four of the “victims” - Gulab Singh, Satyavan, Suman and Dilbagh. Taking up the petition, Justice Grover ruled: “The DGP is directed to look into the threat perception, which the petitioners may face in the emerging situation of a judicial verdict pertaining to the violence which took place on April 21 last in Mirchpur, commonly referred to as the Mirchpur carnage. “In the eventuality of any such threat perception visualised by the competent authority, necessary and adequate steps to provide protection to the petitioners shall be taken”. Claiming to have been authorised to approach the court for filing a petition for protection, the petitioners contended the plea was indeed being made by the Mirchpur Pidit Balmiki Samaj Sanghathan. Elaborating, the petitioners added they along with 52 other families, including 64 children, were staying at the farmhouse in Hisar after the carnage. They asserted that the decision of the trial, pending before the Special Court at Rohini in Delhi, was likely to come in the second week of August. “There was a reasonable apprehension of an attack, prior or after the judgment, on the Tanwar Farmhouse by the relatives or the friends of the accused and also by the people of the dominant community….” Going into the background of the controversy, they asserted that the friction between the Balmiki community and the dominant community saw about 150 to 200 Dalit families being targeted in the village. Two persons were killed and 25 others injured in the clashes. As many as 35 houses were burnt and destroyed. As many as 50 other residences were ransacked, they claimed. |
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Rains bring cheer to Sirsa farmers
Sirsa, August 9 It rained heavily in Sirsa and surrounding areas yesterday after a long wait by the farmers, as it had not rained much in the district ever since the monsoon arrived in the region. According to official figures, 65 mm rain was recorded in Sirsa and surrounding areas, 60 mm in Panjuana, 22 mm in Ellenabad and 20 mm in the Ottu areas. However, almost no rain was observed in the Dabwali and Aboobshahr areas of the district. The rains, according to the agriculture experts, would prove to be a boon for the kharif crops particularly cotton and paddy. A spokesperson of the Agriculture Department advised farmers to keep vigil for the pest management of their crops in this season. The authorities said they had enough stock of urea and DAP fertilisers with them in view of the increase in demand at this time. The Deputy Commissioner, Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, said 12,000 metric tonnes of urea and 10,000 metric tonnes of DAP was available in the district. If the farmers are happy at the advent of the much-awaited monsoon rains, the residents of Sirsa town are facing a lot of problems due to water logging and poor drainage of rainwater. The sewer system of Sirsa town, which remains clogged almost throughout the year, has made life miserable for residents of several localities of the town. Almost all roads and lanes of the town are flooded with rainwater even after 24 hours of rain, making it difficult for people to move about. “Due to choking of sewers, rainwater started coming into our homes as it started exerting back pressure through our sewers,” said Monica Gupta, a resident of Barnala Road. Efforts to contact Jagdish Jagra, Executive Engineer of the Public Health Department, proved futile as he did not answer the calls made on his mobile phone.
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Battlelines drawn for SGPC poll in Ambala
Ambala, August 9 The SAD has fielded Gurdeep Singh Bhanokhri for the general seat and Surja Singh Mattheri Jattan for the reserved seat. The SAD (Haryana) has fielded Harpal Singh Pali and Amrik Singh for the general and the reserved seat respectively. Ambala had only one SGPC seat in the last elections. The seats have now been increased to two and this covers the districts of Ambala, except for the Barara area, and Panchkula. With the nominations of the two parties having been announced, a grim electoral battle is on the anvil as the two have started aggressive campaigning. The INLD has decided to support Bhanokhri, fielded by the SAD. On the other hand, the Nalvi and Jhinda groups of the HSGPC (ad hoc) have decided to back Harpal Singh Pali and Amrik Singh for the general and the reserved seat respectively. The SAD nominees have an additional advantage by way of support from the BJP which has an electoral alliance with the SAD in the adjoining Punjab. The SAD had fielded a candidate from Ambala in the last Assembly elections and even though the candidate had lost, it is likely to give it an edge in the forthcoming SGPC elections. Avtar Singh Makkar, SGPC president, will accompany Bhanokheri to file his nomination papers on August 10, party sources said here today. Sant Singh Kandhari, a leader of the SAD, said that Bhanokheri was bound to be re-elected. For Harpal Singh Pali this is his electoral debut after he launched the SAD (Haryana). |
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Metro to Faridabad, Bahadurgarh cleared
Chandigarh, August 9 The meeting, held in Delhi, was attended, among others, by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P.Chidambram, Urban Development Minister Kamal Nath, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dikshit and Delhi Lt. Governor Tajendra Khanna. It was decided that out of the total cost of Rs 2533 crore for the Badarpur-Faridabad line, 80 per cent of the amount (Rs 1588 crore) would be borne by Haryana and Rs 544 crore by the Centre. For the rolling stock, the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation would spend Rs 400 crore. The work is expected to be completed by August 31, 2014. Regarding extension of the Metro from Mundka to Bahadurgarh, it was decided that from Mundka to the Tikri border the work would be completed by the Delhi Government through the DMRC and for the remaining portion of about 5 km from Tikri Border
to Bahadurgarh, the expenditure would be borne by Haryana. |
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5 more fake bitumen units detected
Panipat, August 9 The operation was carried out jointly by the police of the two districts during which thousands metric tonnes of fake bitumen was confiscated by the police. District police chief Pankaj Nain said while interrogating the two persons, Balwinder and Rajesh, who had been arrested from the Khotpura unit yesterday, it was found that more units were functional in the area. He said the five units were located on the Khotpura-Alipur Khalsa road. A team of officials under his supervision raided these units and confiscated a number of trucks, which were filled with fake bitumen. However, the police learnt that these units fell under the jurisdiction of the Karnal police, which was duly informed. Following this, SP, Karnal, Rakesh Arya also reached the spot along with his team of officials and took over further investigations into the matter. The Karnal police also rounded up 12 persons for questioning from these units. Sources in the police said that the owners of these units had selected isolated places to set up the units. These sources said that the name of an influential politician had also cropped up during the investigations but the police was yet to verify his involvement in the illicit practice. The sources said that earlier there was only one unit in operation here, which had been raided by the police. But, due to the political clout being enjoyed by its owner, it was never sealed and instead more units mushroomed. It is already being suspected that illicit trade worth crores of rupees was being run through these units and it could be yet another bitumen scam waiting to be unravelled. The police said that the investigations were still on. |
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Gurgaon Land Acquisition
Chandigarh, August 9 With her withdrawal, just about seven petitions are now left for adjudication before the Bench of Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Augustine George Masih. Initially, as many as 70 petitions were filed before the high court challenging the acquisition of land for the development of nine sectors in Gurgaon. But most of these were withdrawn after Haryana came out with the offer of reconsidering the matter by setting up a committee. In the absence of a cogent assurance, Menon had earlier refused to take back her petition. The decision to move the committee came a day after the Bench questioned Haryana on why could it not hear objections to land acquisition afresh. In response, Haryana Advocate-General Hawa Singh Hooda had came out with the assurance. He said: “There were no ifs and buts. We have constituted a high-powered committee so that people do not have any grievances”. Apparently taking into consideration Hooda’s assurance, Menon, too, agreed to withdraw the petition. The remaining petitions will now come up for hearing on Wednesday. |
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LAND ACQUISITION
Sonepat, August 9 In reply to a question on the ongoing tussle between Punjab and Haryana on the construction of a toe-line along the Hansi-Butana Canal, Sharma said it was being opposed by the Akalis for political reasons; whereas the farmers on both sides accepted it as a flood-protection measure and were supporting its construction. When his attention was invited towards the statement of a senior Congress leader, Sampat Singh, for a JPC probe on the land allotments to various charitable trusts in the country and their activities, Sharma said the best way was that Sampat Singh should raise it in the Assembly session and let the House take a decision on the matter. |
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Helpline to check corruption, crime
Rohtak, August 9 The complaints at the helpline will be monitored by the district chief and the complainant will be informed about the action taken. “The new helpline number is 9996781049. It will be handled by a public relation officer,” said SSP Satish Balan. Providing details about the helpline service, he said any type of complaints regarding corruption and crime would be handled by it. He said the residents could also inform the police about any criminal activity, adding that the names of the complainants would be kept secret. Admitting that complaints against the cops had been on a rise, the SSP said strict action would be taken against anyone found guilty. Claiming that the recent campaigns launched by the police had started yielding good results, he said incidents of theft and chain snatching had gone down sharply in the past few months due to its ongoing drive against traffic violations in the district. Praising the role of the Road Safety Organisation in the drive, he said over 11,000 vehicles had
been challaned in the past six months. |
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9 armed youths nabbed on court premises
Jhajjar, August 9 The police has recovered a .315-bore rifle, a revolver and many cartridges from their possession. A case under sections 148, 149 and 120-B, IPC, and the Arms Act has been registered against the accused who are being grilled. Jhajjar SP Patram Singh said those arrested included Ashok Kumar of Bhagwatipur village, Sombir of Khidwali village, Parmesh and Deepak of Asthal Bohar in Rohtak district, Amit of Muradpur Tekna village, Akash of Canal Colony and Sanjeet of Tilak Nagar in Rohtak, Kulbir, alias Sanju, of Jatwara village, and Vinay of Mundia Khera village here. |
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3 scientists felicitated
Hisar, August 9 Dr Pal and Dr Chaudhry have registered a patent for India and Europe in the field of biotechnology. Dr Khatkar has developed a technique for detection of urea in milk. The awards were presented during a national workshop on awareness about patents in the context of intellectual property rights. Addressing the participants, Ranga said scientists should sell patents to such research institutions, as it would make it commercially viable at
economic rates so that the common man could benefit from it. |
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Illicit Smuggling of Livestock
Fatehabad, August 9
Anant Kumar Dhull, IG, Hisar Range, announced this while presiding over a tree plantation function organised by the Gaushala Sewa Samiti and the Youth Welfare Club at Dhand village here. He said with a view to checking the smuggling of cows and to ensure their security, a special security cell had been set up at the Range Level in Hisar. Complaints regarding smuggling of cows could be lodged at the special security cell or with the nearest police station, Dhull added. — TNS |
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Schools closed on Aug 16
Chandigarh, August 9 While stating this here today, an official spokesman said that in the Independence Day celebrations in schools, apart from the children, their parents, panches, sarpanches and counsellors would be invited to join the celebrations. He said the holding of such functions in schools would infuse among the students a sense of patriotism. He said these directions would also apply to all private schools.
— TNS |
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Undertrial ‘kidnapped’ by brother-in-law
Palwal, August 9 The undertrial was with his brother Akbar when the incident occurred and on whose complaint an FIR was registered. According to the complaint, Shahbuddin, a resident of Korth village, was allegedly kidnapped by four persons after they fired two rounds in the air. They also threw chilli powder in Akbar’s eyes and managed to escape. The police has booked four persons, but no arrests have been made so far.
— TNS |
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