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Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings
(Amendment) Bill
Bandh observed in Hisar, Kurukshetra
Govt to change regularisation policy to benefit temporary staff
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Village mourns death of Anna supporter
Meet on mining in Faridabad on August 29, SC
told
PWD workers protest govt apathy
Witness turns hostile
No-trust move against Gohana MC chief
DHBVN staff booked
Youth duped of Rs 7.20 lakh, four held
Painters’ workshop concludes
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Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings (Amendment) Bill
Chandigarh, August 26 The Bill seeks to remove the ceiling on land holding of an individual, a company or an institution if the land is used for non-agriculture purposes. A farmer is permitted to own 7.23 hectares (about 18 acres) having assured irrigation having two crops a year. If the land has assured irrigation but gives only one crop a year, such land can be held only up to 10.9 hectares (about 27 acres). For non-irrigated land, including orchards, the limit is 21.8 hectares (About 54 acres). The Opposition parties like the INLD, the BJP and the CPM described the Bill as pro-big builders and industrial houses and anti-farmer. The INLD had urged the Governor to withhold his assent to the Bill. INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala said when a farmer could have only a limited land, why the big companies should have the freedom to own as much land as they want. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala termed the Opposition allegations as “far from reality” and born out of prejudice. They said the Bill was the demand of the urbanisation and development and it was in the interest of the farmers. Surjewala said if the ceiling for non-agriculture land were not removed, all development would come to a standstill. No power plant or big industry would be able to function. Quoting instances, he said Maruti owned 1,500 acres at Manesar and Rohtak, Hero Honda had 100 acres at Dharuhera and Gurgaon, and Saraswati Sugar Mill, the largest in Asia, had 100 acres in Yamunanagar. If the land ceiling were applied to these industries, there would be no development in Haryana. Surjewala said the land prices were directly linked to the pace of urbanisation. Today a farmer in Gurgaon could sell his one acre of land for crores of rupees, only because of rapid urbanisation in the city. If the land ceiling were applied to the non-agriculture land in Gurgaon, the prices of the farmers’ land would tumble down like anything. He said the potentiality of land created the value of it. If the potentiality was removed, the value of land would decrease immediately. He said there were many cases where the farmers sold their small holdings near towns like Gurgaon and Rohtak and bought large chunk of land elsewhere. The purpose of the present amendment was to harmonise the objectives of the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, which envisaged a plotted colony of 100 acres, Surjewala said. The Opposition said the government brought the Bill only after the Punjab and Haryana High Court said why the land ceiling law was not being applied to the big builders and companies. Surjewala said in 1999, the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976, was repealed by the NDA government, of which the INLD was a partner and it had voted in favour of the Bill. “Just as the NDA government realised the shortcomings of the Urban Land Ceiling Act, 1976, only in 1999, we also realised the problems which can be created by the Haryana Ceiling on Land Holdings Act, 1972, now, and acted accordingly,” he added.
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Bandh observed in Hisar, Kurukshetra
Hisar, August 26 Though educational institutions remained open, attendance in colleges was almost nil. Banks and government offices, however, functioned as usual. Members of the District Bar Association passed a resolution supporting the demand for bringing even the lower judiciary under the ambit of the Lokpal. Kurukshetra: In response to a call given by “Team Anna Kurukshetra” Committee, a complete bandh was observed here on Friday. All commercial establishments, social and educational institutions remained closed and political parties, including the INLD, BJP and Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) workers, supported the bandh by joining dharna in front of Jindal House. Even auto-rickshaw drivers kept their auto rickshaws off the road supporting the bandh. Two groups of supporters started their processions from Pipli and Birla Mandir Chowk and reached in front of Rajya Sabha members Dr Ram Prakash and Ishwer Singh’s residence where they demonstrated by raising slogans in support of Anna Hazare. Fatehabad: A complete bandh was observed in Tohana and Bhuna towns of this district in support of Anna Hazare’s fast on the Jan Lokpal issue . Hundreds of schoolchildren took out rally in the main markets of Tohana shouting slogans against corruption. Residents assembled at Kanwar Sen Chowk near the Railway Station and then moved in a procession through the closed markets of Tohana. Sirsa: Anna Hazare supporters organised a large procession in the town today. The procession started from the mini-secretariat and passed through all markets of the town Anna supporters continued their dharna outside MP Ashok Tanwar’s residence. |
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Govt to change regularisation policy to benefit temporary staff
Rohtak, August 26 A spokesperson said the breakthrough came after a high-level meeting was held between senior officials led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the SKS at Chandigarh last evening. He said the government had agreed to regularise the maximum number of employees in various departments by amending its present policy. The employees’ delegation presented several demands before the state government, which included the regularisation of staff, filling of about 30,000 posts, ending the contractual system and better service conditions, among others. He said Hooda promised that while a maximum number of daily wagers and ad hoc staff would be absorbed soon, temporary employees would get half the total salary received by a regular employee. The government would also ensure immediate payment of risk allowance to employees working in the Health and Sanitation Department. |
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Village mourns death of Anna supporter
Fatehabad, August 26 Sandeep (23), a computer instructor in a school, was taken ill and fell unconscious at the Ramlila Maidan, where he had gone to support Hazare’s movement on Tuesday. His family members received a message from the Delhi police yesterday that Sandeep had died at a hospital in the national capital. The family members reached home with his body late last evening. The victim’s father, Sadhu Ram, had died a few years back in a road accident. His uncle Radhu Ram told mediapersons that Sandeep had left on Tuesday after telling family members that he was going to Gurgaon to attend counselling for admission to the JBT course. However, he was at the Ramlila Ground for Hazare’s rally in the evening, when some volunteers informed the police that a youth was lying unconscious on the ground. Radhu Ram said the SHO of the Kamla Nagar police station, Surinder Jeet Kaur, told the family members that the police had shifted Sandeep to the hospital where he died.
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Meet on mining in Faridabad on August 29, SC
told
New Delhi, August 26 Attorney-General GE Vahanvati also informed the three-member Forest Bench headed by Chief Justice SH Kapadia that individual cases would be taken up as per the list drawn up by the court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC). The cases would be decided under the proposals submitted by the Haryana government and none of the cases that did not figure on the CEC list would be considered, he said. Last week, the SC had asked all the stake-holders in mining in Haryana to sit together and thrash out a solution in two weeks for allowing mining of construction material (minor minerals) in Faridabad under a proposal submitted by the state government. The meeting would also come out with a plan for rehabilitation of the areas affected by mining in the Aravalli Hills region for over 40 years. According to Haryana’s Additional Advocate-General Manjit Singh Dalal, there are 170 subsisting mining leases in the 600 hectares in Faridabad where the ban on mining is sought to be lifted. Allowing mining in limited areas of Faridabad and Gurgaon would be sufficient to meet the requirements of construction material for the next 20 years, he said.
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PWD workers protest govt apathy
Jhajjar, August 26 Shiv Kumar Parashar, state president of the union, alleged that following the apathetic attitude of the government, the employees had to face a lot of problem to get service benefits. “The government has neither framed the field rules of any department nor made the payment of the LTC for the past three years. Moreover, there are many irregularities in giving due promotions to the employees,” Parashar said. He added that they had apprised the government of their problems several times but to no avail. Krishan Lal Gujjar, state secretary of the union, said a strong resentment prevailed among the employees as the state government had so far not given them revised pay scales and allowances equivalent to the Union government’s employees. “In this situation, the employees are left with no other option, but to choose the path of agitation,” Gujjar added.
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Witness turns hostile
Panchkula, August 26 In August 2007, a gang of six criminals, including Sanjay Butania, had eliminated Rakesh allegedly to capture his “extortion business running into lakhs of rupees”. Rakesh was shot dead outside Khasa School in Gohana. The murder had led to a widespread agitation by Balmikis in the state. |
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No-trust move against Gohana MC chief
Sonepat, August 26 Vice-chairman Jorawar Singh, Anil Sharma, Raja, Shushma Sehrawat, Savitri Jangra, Inderjit, Jyoti Sethi, Vonod Razora, Hoshiar Singh, Radhe Shyam, Sri Krishan, Meena Kumari, Om Pati and Rajbir alleged that development grants received from the government were not being spent equally in wards. They also complained that the chairman was not entertaining wards-related demands of MCs. Despite repeated pleas, the chairman had not been convening a meeting of the municipal committee for the past three months. The DC reportedly assured the MCs that further action would be taken as per the rules.
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DHBVN staff booked
Sirsa, August 26 The police today registered a case under Section 304-A of the IPC on the complaint of the victim’s father, Parveen Garg. Amit, a student of class X of GRG School was electrocuted when he was wading through the rainwater where a live wire of the DHBVN’s system had fallen two hours before the mishap. The police had earlier registered a case under Section 174 of the CrPC on the statement of the victim’s uncle, Raman Garg.
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Youth duped of Rs 7.20 lakh, four held
Kaithal, August 26 SP Simar Deep Singh told mediapersons here that Naresh Kumar, a resident of Nidana in Jind district, had lodged a complaint in Pundri police station on June 21 in which he alleged that Baldev Singh of Ramana-Ramani village in Kaithal district in 2009 had said that his son, Gurmel Singh, was settled in Cyprus and getting Rs 2 lakh as salary there. Naresh was given an assurance that he, too, would be settled in Cyprus but failed to keep the promise.
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Painters’ workshop concludes
Karnal, August 26 Addressing the artists and students who participated in the event, he said painting had no repetition, a song or a tune could be sung and played time and again, but a painting was forever. Participants from various states who were honoured on the occasion included Nidhi Aggarwal (Delhi), Harpreet Singh (Chandigarh), Bhuneshwar Bhasker (Delhi), Sheikh Hifjul (Delhi), Suchishmita Sahu (Delhi), Jagmohan Bangani (Dheradhun), Kumari Ranjeeta (Delhi), Prashant Kalita (Delhi), Milan Sharma (Jammu) and Tanmay Samanta (Faridabad). |
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All shops and business establishments remained closed in the city on Friday.
Shopkeepers responded to the bandh call voluntarily and Anna Hazare supporters did not have to request any shopkeeper to do so.
