Fatehabad, September 20
Farmers opposed to the proposed Gorakhpur nuclear power plant in this district will hold a “Bhoomi bachao sammelan” at Fatehabad on November 1 to coincide with Haryana Day.

A decision to this effect was taken at a condolence meeting held in Gorakhpur to pay tributes to Ishwar Singh Siwach, who died on September 6 after he was taken ill while sitting in dharna against the proposed project. The agitating farmers had kept Ishwar Singh’s body at the dharna site for four days before social activist Prashant Bhushan persuaded them to cremate it.

Several prominent figures like DR Chaudhary, a former member of the Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission; Inderjit Singh, state secretary of the CPM; Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, a former MLA; Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria, district convener of the Akhil Bhartiya Kisan Sabha; Shakuntala Jakhar, state secretary of the All-India Democratic Women Association; Rajender Singh, president of the Berozgar Manch, Haryana, were among those who paid tributes to the deceased farmer.

“The “bhoomi bachao sammelan” will see the participation of Team Anna’s civil society, nuclear scientists, farmers’ bodies and political parties supporting our movement,” said Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spearheading the agitation.

Representatives of farmers from 30 adjoining villages resolved to oppose the power plant and constituted five-member committees for this purpose. They also reiterated their resolve not to part with even an inch of their land for the nuclear plant

“Apart from the fear of losing their land , people of the area are worried about safety of their families in view of the Fukushima (Japan) nuclear plant calamity ,” said state CPM state Inderjit Singh. 

Samalkha (Panipat), September 20
In a move that seems to be setting a bad example for government employees complying with the official orders, the EO-cum-secretary of the Samalkha grain market, who had been instrumental in demolishing the illegal structures at the local grain market was asked to report at Chandigarh for explanation within hours of following the orders issued by the Chief Administrator to remove the encroachments.

Chander Prakash, EO-cum-secretary of the local grain market, was replaced by another official, who joined duty at the local office this morning, while Chander Prakash was beckoned to Chandigarh where an explanation was demanded from him.

Following intervention by the state Lokayukta, the Chief Administrator of the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board (HSAMB) had on August 30 ordered the EO-cum-secretary and the Encroachment Removal Committee of the local Market Committee to remove the encroachments which existed here for the past 17 years within a month and file a compliance report.

The gravity of the situation can be assessed by the fact that even the Chief Minister had to send his Agriculture Minister to find a solution to the problem in November last year, but none could be found.

Meanwhile, RTI activist PP Kapoor said that he was writing a letter to the state Lokayukta highlighting the high-handedness of the government which was targeting an official for performing his duties for which orders had been issued by the top brass of the board.

The officials of the local Market Committee who held an informal meeting outside the office in the morning, on condition of anonymity, said that it was quite unfortunate that an honest official had been ‘punished’ for following orders and performing his duties.

While those who were on the wrong side of the law had again managed to score a point. They lamented that given the prevailing circumstances, it had become impossible for officials to perform their duties as they were being made to succumb to political pressure. 

Hisar, September 20
The police has arrested three youths--Sandeep Yadav, Vinod Sain and Monu Yadav-- suspected of murdering Prem Jain, a local hosiery trader, at Hansi, about 25 km from here, on September 14.

Two of the suspects, Sandeep and Monu, are Class XII students of a government school at Hansi.

According to the police, the mastermind of the gang, Sunil Saini, is at large. These four youths had planned to snatch money from Jain and followed Jain’s movements for several days.

On the day of the murder they followed him to the Hansi bus stand and tried to snatch the bag containing money from him. When the victim resisted one of them hit him on the head with the butt of a pistol. Another youth fired at him. They had to flee without the money as a motorcyclist happened to arrive on the scene. 

Naraingarh, September 20
A school student was found near Ambala Cantt railway station after he was kidnapped by two persons.

Sakhsham (12), a student of St Francis Academy at Kala Amb and son of drug dealer Mohan Lal of Naveen Colony, Naraingarh, was reportedly kidnapped when he went to the market to purchase some stationery items two days back at around 5 pm. His family lodged a complaint with the police when he did not return till 8 pm.

The sources said Saksham’s parents received a telephone call from him that he was standing at an STD booth outside the Ambala Cantt railway station. In a statement to the police, Saksham said two persons had taken him away in a white van from Ambedkar Chowk. He later lost consciousness.

After regaining consciousness, he found himself in a train ready to leave the platform. When he resisted, they pushed him out.

The child has been handed over to the parents.

Chandigarh, September 20
The trainees at the Army’s Ambala-based Industrial Training Institute (ITI) have accomplished a rare-feat by fabricating a battery-operated utility van that has five gears, including one reverse gear.

Though gear-less battery operated carts or vehicles have now become a common thing in India, a battery-operated vehicle with gears is an unusual thing.

Students who fabricated it belong to motor mechanic, electrician and welder streams, according to a statement issued here today.

The idea germinated about six months back when the dean and instructors at the ITI decided to fabricate a battery-operated vehicle that is unique and at the same time has training value commensurate with the cost incurred.

Christened “Cleanlander”, this vehicle is pollution free and energy efficient four-wheeler. The Chief of Staff, Kharga Corps, while inaugurating the Cleanlander, commended the team for translating a path-breaking idea into reality. He also presented a special prize to Nk Kalka Prasad who had worked overtime for timely completion of the project.

Army ITI is engaged in imparting technical training to the soldiers as well as their male wards to equip them with marketable skills to help them in post retirement rehabilitation or for career development. It is planning several new innovative projects during the current academic session.

Chandigarh, September 20
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) today accepted the demand of various Residents Welfare Associations to allow the construction of “mumti” in residential houses to make the second floor approachable through stairs for proper maintenance of water tanks, solar water-heating system, etc.

This decision was taken at a meeting of HUDA, which was presided over by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here.

Hooda directed HUDA to set up an independent vigilance wing and bring more transparency in its functioning, especially in the case of issue of completion certificates. He also directed the authority to issue reminders to allottees online for regular payment of installments.

The meeting also approved the budget estimates of HUDA for the current financial year. Against the total expected receipt of Rs 5,208.66 crore, HUDA will incur an expenditure of Rs 5,396.15 crore. About Rs 1,100 crore will be incurred on the development works; Rs 1,868.89 crore on land acquisition and Rs 1,600 crore are expected to be paid on account of the enhanced compensation awarded by various courts. A provision of Rs 50 crore has been made towards the payment of annuity to the landowners under the Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy of the state government.

The authority also approved the Estate Management Procedure-2011 for the industrial plots allotted by HUDA, allotment of 13 petrol pump sites in the Urban Estates of Sonepat, Rohtak, Panchkula and Panipat and 14 religious sites in Sonepat and Gurgaon.

Sirsa, September 20
The district authorities have decided to conduct a fresh survey of all families listed as living below poverty line (BPL) in the rural areas of the district.

The survey will be conducted by the volunteers of the Sirsa Saksharta Samiti, an organisation working under the district administration for the literacy campaign in the district. The Deputy Commissioner, Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, said that according to the 2007 list, there were 47,640 BPL families in the rural areas of Sirsa.

However, the authorities are flooded with complaints where allegations of wrongful inclusion or omission of names have been levelled.

Earlier, the authorities ordered a fresh survey of the BPL lists in the urban areas of Sirsa after receiving complaints and the volunteers of the Sirsa Saksharta Samiti conducted a videography of all houses surveyed by them in Sirsa, Kalanwali, Dabwali, Rania and Ellenabad.

The volunteers found 13,760 families out of a total of 31,791 BPL families as ineligible and have recommended deletion of their names from the BPL lists.

A large number of well-off people had managed to include their names in the BPL lists to corner benefits for the poor while those who genuinely need such benefits have remained out of the BPL lists. 

Sirsa, September 20
While the miseries of local residents battling with potholed roads, choked sewers and poor sanitation refuse to end despite repeated protests and roadblocks, Prehari, an NGO working in the field of RTI, has taken a unique initiative to awaken the authorities.

The NGO, which includes among its members some local lawyers, journalists and people from different walks of life, has installed hoardings in the town displaying the poor sanitation prevailing in the town.

The hoardings carry a hard-hitting message “Sharm Karo Ya Karm Karo” (perform or be ashamed) for the authorities concerned. “We are not only trying to wake up the authorities, but we are also appealing to the local people to keep their surroundings clean,” said the Prehari president, Dheeraj Bajaj.

Nagrik Parishad, Sirsa, and several other organisations of the town had taken up the matter with the authorities earlier this month and the SDM, Roshan Lal, had issued instructions to the officials of various departments for time-bound execution of works at a meeting held on September 8.

The Deputy Commissioner, Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, convened another meeting of various departments and representatives of several local organisations today and asked the departments concerned to mitigate the problems of the residents in a time-bound manner. Jagdish Chopra, president of the Nagrik Parishad, complained that the authorities had not even done 10 per cent of what they had assured them of at the meeting held on September 8.

Officials of the Public Health Department, PWD, Municipal Council, HUDA and some other departments, who were present at today’s meeting, said that intermittent rains stopped them from meeting the deadline promised by them.

Karnal, September 20
Peeved over the “insensitive” attitude of the cops, the family members of Shabnam, who allegedly hanged herself on July 24, have sought the intervention of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) for justice.

Sanjeev Kumar Garg, a brother of the deceased woman, Shabnam (29), a resident of Prem Nagar who was married in the Chaudhry colony here on February 13, 2005, alleged that she was “tortured” for dowry by her in-laws from the first day after marriage and they had paid Rs 6 lakh in cash and 75 tolas (750 grams) of gold to her husband and in-laws till her death.

Shabnam’s in-laws had demanded Rs 1.5 lakh just a week before her death on July 24. In the early morning, he received a call from Shabnam’s in- laws that his sister had hanged herself and the doctor in his post-mortem report had stated that the girl was brought dead, he added.

“We have filed a complaint against seven persons, including the mother-in-law, Usha Rani, the father-in-law, Ram Karan, the husband, Mukesh, the brother-in-law, Praveen, the sister-in-law, Kamini, the uncle, Sita Ram, and the aunty, Suman Devi, as it was a joint family and all of them were booked under Sections 304 B, 498 A and120 B, IPC, but no action was taken by the police to bring the culprits to justice,” he said.

Sanjeev alleged that the father-in-law and the brother-in-law were handed over by the public to them while the husband himself surrendered but the police neither sent the viscera to the FSL for test nor the investigations were done in a proper manner and finally they had to approach the NHRC.

He also alleged that the cops were providing time to the other party to get a stay and had taken no initiative to arrest the culprits. However, the police said that three of the accused had been arrested while warrants had been issued against the remaining four persons whose names figured in the FIR. 

Gurgaon, September 20
The president, general secretary and another office-bearer of the Maruti Suzuki Employees Union (MSEU), who were arrested late on Sunday night, were released on bail today.

The protesting workers met Deputy Commissioner PC Meena and apprised him of the situation. They demanded that all suspension and dismissal orders issued by the Maruti management be revoked.

The workers’ union has refused to talk to the Haryana Labour Commissioner, alleging that the official had been favouring the management.

On being contacted for her comments, Labour Commissioner Satwanti Ahlawat refuted the accusation and asserted that it was within the right of the management to act against indiscipline .

“Even the Supreme Court had upheld a company’s right to get good conduct bonds signed by its employees,” she maintained.

Jind, September 20
As many as 15 sector magistrates have been appointed to ensure a free and fair poll in the Uchana Assembly segment of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat on October 13. The authorities have also designated sites for holding rallies and displaying posters and election-related banners in this segment.

District Election Officer ML Kaushik said here today that each sector magistrate would look after 12 to 15 polling booths on an average. The sector magistrates include naib tehsildar Navneet Kumar Kalia for polling stations in Dumarkhan, Jheel, Dohanakhera and Mangalpur villages. Surbura, Kakdhod,Nacharkhera and Durjanpur villages would be looked after by Sushil Sharma . While Jagdish Rai would look after booths in Dumarkhan, Sudkain Kalan, Sugkain Khurd, Lodhar villages, Suresh Ravish would supervise polling stations in Gashokalan, Ghasokhurd, Kherisafa, Taarkha and Karakbura villages.

Other sector magistrates are Shamsher Singh for Bhagwanpura, Sedhamajra, Uchanakhurd and Darolikhera; Dharampal for Khapar, Bhongra, Budayan, Makhand and Badoda villages. Naib Tehsildar Surajmal would look after 16 booths located in Uchana Kalan, Kheri Masania and Palwan. Mohinder Singh would supervise Khatkar, Kahsoon, Bhonsla, Mohangarh, Chhapra and Dhankhari villages. Devraj Dangi, Ashok Kumar, Ishwar Singh, Om Prakash, Roshan Lal, Rajan Singla and Jai Singh.

Chandigarh, September 20
Promoters have proved to be destroyers. This, in the nutshell, is the story of the movement for the Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC), independent of the Amritsar-based SGPC, which is dominated by the SAD of Prakash Singh Badal.

The demand for a separate gurdwara management committee for Haryana arose after a section of the Haryana Sikhs felt that the Amritsar-based SGPC was not spending as much on the welfare of Sikhs in the state as it was earning from them.

Two main persons, who spearheaded a movement for a separate HSGPC, were Didar Singh Nalvi and Jagdish Singh Jhinda. The possibility of the two having indirect support from certain Congress leaders cannot be ruled out because the SAD uses its influence over Haryana Sikh farmers to support the INLD in the elections due to close family ties between the Badals and the Devi Lal family.

At one time, the movement for the HSGPC was about to succeed, which unnerved the SAD leadership. The SAD leadership even held talks with Haryana leaders. A compromise formula was to the grant “dominion status” to the HSGPC, which would remain under the SGPC but would have complete functional autonomy.

However, later the SAD left Haryana leaders in the lurch. Haryana Sikh leaders allege that the SAD refused to accommodate them only after its leadership received an assurance from one of the top Congress leaders that the authority of the SGPC would not be diluted. They also allege that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda also dilly-dallied on their demand due to the intervention of this Congress leader.

The promoters of the HSGPC movement, Nalvi and Jhinda, however, fell apart, leading separate factions but with the common aim. The recent SGPC elections, therefore, assumed importance. These were seen as a referendum on the HSGPC demand. Efforts were made to bring Nalvi and Jhinda together but their egos proved too big to allow them to join hands. Both fought separately and both were badly bruised and vanquished. And the HSGPC movement suffered a big setback. It would take years for the movement to regain momentum.

On the other hand, the SAD contested the SGPC elections in Haryana with a seriousness never seen before. It was helped by the INLD, its alliance partner in the last Assembly elections.

If the two factions of the HSGPC movement had contested together, the results might have been different as shown by the two seats of Ambala, which the SAD lost. On these seats, the two factions had supported the candidates of the Haryana Akali Dal.

The undivided HSGPC had won six seats out of 11 seats in the last SGPC elections.

Accepting the verdict of the people, Jhinda refused to buy the argument that with the defeat of the HSGPC candidates, the HSGPC campaign had died and asserted that the “issue would be raised more vociferously and the entire strategy would be re-drawn”.

On the other hand, Nalvi attributed the defeat to the division of votes and “open support” of the INLD to SAD candidates.

(With inputs from Bhanu P. Lohumi and Sushil Manav)