Fatehabad, August 11
Residents of the Samain village forcibly stopped the construction work at the 220-KV power sub-station, locked its building and sat on a dharna in the district today.

Agitating villagers, led by village sarpanch Nasib Singh, former sarpanch Sube Singh Samain, former Zila Parishad chairman Balbir Singh and former sarpanch Dharam Pal, alleged that the government had promised 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply to the village before taking their land for the project. “Now, the senior officers of the department are reluctant to give any assurance on the issue,” they alleged.

The Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) had started the construction of 220-KV power sub-station on 17 acres given two years back by the village panchayat.

The agitating farmers have demanded a written assurance from the government, allowing direct supply from the 220-KV campus to their village for domestic and agricultural use. The agitating villagers have also demanded compensation for the land acquired by the government.

Sube Singh said, “Farmers also met senior officials of the HVPN at Hisar and Chandigarh, but are not satisfied with their attitude. We stopped the construction work at the sub-station as a last resort and will not lift the dharna till the government gives a written assurance in this regard.”

Superintending Engineer of the HVPN Subhash Sharma said, “Our office has written to the higher authorities apprising them of the farmers’ demands. The decision, if any, is to be taken at the higher level. The department has also informed the police about the action of the farmers.” Meanwhile, no FIR was registered till the filing of this report. 

Chandigarh, August 11
Taking potshots at the judiciary, the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s former Judge, Justice Nirmal Yadav, today minced no words to say that she was asked to either recuse from judicial work or have it withdrawn after the surfacing of the cash-for-judge scam .

She also claimed the Chief Justice of India was “oblivious” of the fact that the issue of sanction for prosecution “once decided attains finality; and he has no powers to review or reconsider it”.

The assertions were made orally by her counsel, KTS Tulsi, before Justice Permod Kohli during the hearing of Justice Yadav’s petition against the prosecution sanction order dated March 1.

Appearing before Justice Kohli this noon, Tulsi said Justice Yadav was without judicial work for 18 months after it was withdrawn from her.

Responding to the assertion, Justice Kohli asserted the work was not withdrawn, but she recused herself from it.

In his reply, Tulsi indicated Justice Yadav was not given a choice. “I have instructions to say this. The then Chief Justice told her if you do not make a request to be recused from judicial work, he would have to withdraw it,” Tulsi said. “It could have been the view of the Chief Justice of India. But after that Justice Yadav wrote several times that she should be assigned work”.

Refusing to go deep into the issue, Justice Kohli told Tulsi he was deviating from the issue. But the senior counsel said the assertion was relevant to the case as the question of restoration of work and transfer came only after the sanction was refused and the case closed.

Justice Yadav is contesting the sanction order on the ground that the law does not permit the sanction to be granted again, once it has been refused. Her argument is that former Chief Justice of India KG Balakrishnan had refused the sanction, but without any change in circumstances fresh orders granting sanction were issued. The court, on the other hand, wants to know whether the sanction was ever declined.

Tulsi said the Supreme Court collegium was informed regarding the order declining the prosecution sanction; and that led to her transfer and restoration of work. “The present Chief Justice was a part of the collegium,” he insisted. Moreover, not only the Government of India, but several ministries and departments understood that sanction has been declined, he added. As the arguments remained inconclusive, the case will now come up on August 30.

Chandigarh, August 11
Strange as it may seem, in a 90-member strong Haryana Vidhan Sabha, there is a “paucity of business”, necessitating holding of short sessions. At least that is the justification of the government for yet another short session that begins on August 19.

While the Opposition claims that the government is trying to stifle its opinion by rushing through matters, the party leaders are critical that the hurriedly organised session will not leave them enough time to even send in their questions regarding the projects and schemes in their areas.

The Haryana Cabinet, which met today under CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda, decided to convene next session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha from August 19 at 2 pm.

According to sources, the session is likely to conclude on August 24, though it could be extended by another day if the government feels. The Business Advisory Committee will decide the length of the session, which is essentially a formality.

When the Assembly first meets on the afternoon of August 19, a Friday, the first sitting will conclude with the “obituary references”. The next three days are holidays on account of Saturday, Sunday and Janamashtami, which falls on August 22. The House will again meet on August 23.

The Opposition, in the past, has also expressed its resentment over holding of the short Assembly sessions and even raised the matter in the House. However, the government offers the same excuse of “not enough business” in the House every time.

“While the session is not only short this time, they have put us at a disadvantage by giving us no time to send our questions. The government should give us at least 15 to 20 days to prepare for it,” said BJP state president and MLA Kishen Pal Gurjar.

“The government may be failing on all the fronts, but it cannot bear to hear criticism. That probably explains the decision to hurry through the monsoon session and leave no time for the MLAs to prepare themselves,” maintains INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala. 

Chandigarh, August 11
The Haryana Cabinet today approved the Transport Department proposal for revision of the fee for issue and renewal of stage carriage permits to private operators.

The revised fee for issue and renewal of stage carriage permits to private operators will be Rs.10,000 for a full-body bus and Rs 5,000 for a mini-bus.

In the draft scheme the department had proposed a permit fee of Rs.50,000 and Rs.30,000 for a full-body bus and a mini-bus, respectively. However, after hearing objections and suggestions, the department proposed to fix the permit fee at reasonable levels of Rs10,000 and Rs.5000. This would increase the viability of private buses.

The Cabinet also approved an amendment to the Haryana State Litigation Policy, 2010. An explanation has been added to clause 7.2 (dealing with the land acquisition cases) of the Haryana State Litigation Policy, 2010. As per the amendment approved in the litigation policy there will be no restriction on the instrumentalities of the state to be a co-appellant in the appeal filed by the state. The state litigation policy also does not restrict the rights of the instrumentalities of the state to engage their own counsel in addition to state counsel to assist the court in the same appeal. 

Karnal, September 11
The revenue authorities, assisted by the police, today removed structures in unauthorised colonies being developed on 15 acres of land.

Karnal Town Planner Satish Punia and Tehsildar Hari Om Atri, accompanied by SHO Preetam Saini, reached these illegal colonies with JCB machines and dismantled all structures in five colonies at SS Farm, Suhana road and Karan Vihar.

The district authorities bulldozed illegal structures, removed the boundary walls of three plots, dismantled three shops and removed the foundations of 17 houses under construction.

Deputy Commissioner Neelam Pradeep Kasni visited certain illegal colonies in and around Karnal yesterday and issued instructions to the authorities concerned to book the developers of these colonies.

Complaints about unscrupulous property dealers and builders developing colonies without proper sanction and selling flats and plots to buyers had been pouring in for some time.

The local authorities have also initiated action against seven of the 24 property dealers executing land deals without valid licences. 

Chandigarh, August 11
The National Capital Region Planning Board has approved seven projects costing Rs 397.96 crore to augment drinking water supply and improve sewerage facilities in towns of Haryana falling in the NCR.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said here today that three projects related to the augmentation of drinking water supply and four to improvement of sewerage.

The drinking water projects had been approved for Panipat, Samalkha, Nuh and Nalhar Medical College.

The sewerageprojects had been sanctioned for Pataudi and Haili Mandi, Punhana, Nuh and Hathin.

At present, drinking water supply in Panipat is 115 litres per capita per day . After the completion of the Rs 230-crore project, water supply would be augmented to 135 litres per capita per day, benefiting about 12.75 lakh persons.

The project for Nuh and Nalhar Medical College envisages increasing water supply to 135 litres per capita per day from the present 112 litres per capita per day, benefiting over 1.30 lakh persons.

After the completion of the new project, water supply in Samalkha would go up from 115 litres per capita per day to 135 litres per capita per day, benefiting a population of 70,000.

At present Pataudi and Haily Mandi towns do not have any sewerage. The NCR Planning Board sewerage project would help a population of 68,000. Similarly, Punhana also lacks sewerage. The Rs 12.50-crore project would benefit a population of over 37,000.

At present, only 60 per cent of Nuh has sewerage . The new project envisages 100 per cent coverage. A Rs 12.30-crore project has been approved to provide sewerage in Hathin.

Sonepat, August 11
While supporting the demand of the Badhkhalsa village farmers, who have been seeking the release of their acquired land for setting up Rajiv Gandhi Education City, BJP legislator Kavita Jain and state media in charge of the BJP Rajiv Jain today demanded a probe by the sitting Judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court of all the alleged land-acquisition scams in the state.

The BJP leaders reached the site where the villagers had been staging an indefinite dharna for the last 12 days and assured support of the party to their demand.

“By imposing Section 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act, the government has forced the farmers to sell their land to the builders at cheaper rates,” said Kavita and adding that after the release of the land from acquisition, the market value of the same land increases up to Rs 2 to 4 crores per acre.

Blaming the government for the same, Rajiv Jain said, “The farmers of the NCR are paid Rs 72 per acre, whereas the farmers in Sirsa and Hisar are paid Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1 crore per acre. The BJP will soon expose all these misdeeds before the public,” he added.

Karnal, August 11
The battle lines are drawn for the SGPC elections slated for September 18 with Shiromani Akali Dal (B) fielding all 11 Haryana seats and rival factions of the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (HSGPC) headed by Jagdish Singh Jhinda and Didar Singh Nalvi contesting from Karnal and Kurukshetra, respectively, and supporting SAD (Haryana) on two Ambala seats.

Both Jhinda and Nalvi filed their nomination papers from Karnal and Kurukshetra, respectively, on the last day of filing the nominations. Harbhajan Singh Saran and Harpreet Singh filed their nominations as covering candidates for Jhinda and Tarlochan Singh Handa is covering candidate for Nalvi.

The Nalvi faction has fielded president of the Sarv Hind Akali Dal Dider Singh Habri against Jhinda from Karnal, making it clear that he would not allow Jhinda to have an easy win. The Karnal constituency, consisting of Rohtak, Jhajjer, Panipat, Sonepat and Karnal districts, has 68,000 Sikh voters, while the adjoining Kurukshetra constituency, consisting of Babain, Thaneswar, Shahbad, Pehowa and Ladwa, has 58,000 Sikh voters.

Bhupinder Singh Assandh from Karnal, Harbhajan Singh Masana from Kurukshetra, Gurdeep Singh Bhanokheri and Surja Singh from two Ambala seats filed their nominations in the presence of SGPC President Avtar Singh Makkar. Both factions of the HSGPC (ad hoc) are supporting SAD (Haryana) candidates Harpal Singh Palli and Amreek Singh from two Ambala seats, while HSGPC (Nalvi) faction would be opposing the Jhinda faction on six seats.

While the key election issue for the HSGPC factions was separate SGPC for the state, the SAD (B) was banking on its achievements. During his visit to Haryana towns, Makkar listed achievements of the SGPC and accused the HSGPC of playing into the hands of the Congress.

Ambala, August 11
Four persons, including two children, were killed and 12 injured in a bus-Canter collision near Tepla village on the Ambala-Jagadhri road around 9.30 a.m. this morning.

Police sources said the accident took place as the Canter driver tried to overtake a motorcycle driven by Ravinder (35) with his wife and two children, Sarabjit (6) and Suraj (4), riding the pillion. Ravinder and both children died on the spot, besides the Cantre driver.

According to the sources, four persons, including Shalu of Barara, Neeraj Tewari of Aligarh, Baldev of Ferozepore and Balwant, conductor of the bus, have been rushed to the PGI, Chandigarh. All other injured persons-- Mohit, Gurjit, Vipin, Bittu,Sitara, Shiv Kumar, Partap and Sonam-- were shifted to the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantonment.

Shashank Anand, SP,Ambala, supervised the rescue operation at the scene of the accident. The bodies of the accident victims have been taken to the Civil Hospital, Ambala Cantonment, for a post-mortem examination. The police has registered a case at Saha police station.

Sirsa, August 11
The State Crime Branch today began investigations into the Desu Jodha double murder case. Raj Pal Singh, DIG (Crime), today visited Desu Jodha, where two real brothers were gunned down, allegedly over a property dispute, on May 15 this year.

The DGP transferred this case from the district police to the State Crime Branch last month.

The victim’s kin alleged that the police was trying to save the real culprits.

The victims, Darshan Singh and Kaur Singh, both sons of Gurdev Singh, had a property dispute with their father’s cousin, Natha Singh, who wanted a share in the property for his two daughters.

On the fateful day, some villagers informed the victims that Natha Singh and 10 others, including a woman, were destroying the standing crops on their fields.

Bullets greeted Darshan Singh and Kaur Singh when they reached their fields. They later succumbed to their injuries.

The police had booked eight persons in this case.

Ambala, August 11
Ahead of the Independence Day, security has been beefed up at all the railway stations in the state in view of blast threat received by Station Master, Barara Railway Station, Ashok Kumar.

SP (Railways), Haryana, Nazneen Bhasin said the GRP and RPF forces have been alerted in this regard. “It is believed that unidentified people are trying to spread terror by writing such letters,” said the SP to mediapersons. “The threat letter is sent by a person named Karim Ansari, an active member of Lashkar-E-Toiba,” she added. — TNS