Hisar, September 26
Taking the bull by the horns, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son, Deepender Singh Hooda, MP, have launched a no-holds-barred campaign to wrest the Hisar Lok Sabha seat in the coming byelection.

While the elder Hooda stormed the pocket borough of the Bhajan Lal clan - the Adampur assembly segment today, his son whistlestopped in the INLD stronghold of the Narnaund assembly segment.

The Chief Minister launched a frontal attack on the opposition parties, saying that he had waived arrears of pending power bills of farmers to the tune of Rs 1600 crore. Besides, it was his decision to amend the law that empowered the government to arrest farmers unable to pay back their loans. Again, it was his government that decided not to auction farmers’ land to recover loans, the Chief Minister claimed.

He said all other parties had only garnered farmers’ votes and then forgotten them. He said his government had given Hisar one of the biggest power-generating plants at Khedar. It was his decision to establish the veterinary university in Hisar, making it the only district-level town to have three universities. How could the opposition claim Hisar had been ignored? he asked.

Unlike his generally soft demeanour, Deepender Hooda, too, made strident speeches during his whistlestop tour of the Narnaund constituency. He said if two important political families of Haryana gave up corruption, Haryana would be free of graft.

He said these two families had raised graft to unbelievable levels in Haryana and the Congress government was doing its best to end it.

Hooda said he was no match financially for the scions of these two families and, therefore, could not afford super luxury cars. But, he claimed, he was a man of his word and went on to promise that he would look after the interests of the Narnaund constituency in future.

The younger Hooda said it was most unfortunate that the Opposition was banking on caste divisions to win the poll. Such politicking had no place in a modern democracy, he said, adding that the voters should reject such attempts.

The Chief Minister started his nine-day tour of the Hisar Lok Sabha seat today, which ends on October 4. He will touring all nine assembly segments included in the Hisar Lok Sabha seat. Deepender Hooda began his tour yesterday from the Bawani Khera constituency. He, too, is likely to campaign extensively in the constituency in the coming days. 

Hisar, September 26
Ajay Singh Chautala, INLD nominee for the Hisar Lok Sabha byelection, today filed his nomination.

He was accompanied to the office of the returning officer by his wife, Naina, and son. Others present on the occasion included Ashok Arora, President of the state unit of the INLD, Dr KC Bangar and Sher Singh Badshami.

With this nomination, all three main contestants have formally entered the fray. Congress nominee Jai Prakash and HJC-BJP nominee Kuldeep Bishnoi had filed their nominations last week.

Talking to mediapersons, Ajay Chautala said the Hisar byelection marked the beginning of the end of Congress rule in Haryana. He said the Congress had become synonymous with organised corruption in the country and the people wanted to banish such parties from the political scene. 

Panipat, September 26
The Panipat Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to take stern action against a number of multistoreyed buildings that have come up in the city in the recent past, the building plans of which have not been approved.

The PMC has already identified around 30 such buildings which were constructed without the approval of the authorities. According to sources in the civic body, the owners of these buildings did not apply for approval in order to save money which they were to deposit as fee. Instead, they went ahead with the construction, causing loss to the exchequer.

The sources said the corporation had already issued notices to the owners of the buildings to bring down the structures that violated the building bylaws. In case they did not comply with the notices served on them, the civic authority would launch a demolition drive to raze these buildings and the cost would be recovered from the violators, the sources said.

These building were identified by a special team of the corporation which discovered three such buildings in Pachranga Bazar, one in Jain Mohalla, two at Salar Ganj gate, four were found on the Asandh road, 10 buildings had come up on Sanauli Road and 10 more buildings were in violation of the norms in other places of the city.

The sources said that some builders had not applied for approval of the building plans while others were approved one storey, but they had constructed multiple storeys.

Executive officer of the PMC Pratap Singh said legal proceedings against the violators had been initiated and the corporation would soon go ahead with the drive to demolish the illegal buildings. Besides, the corporation had also served notices on the owners of the buildings, which have been declared unsafe, he said. 

Chandigarh, September 26
Finding fault with an appeal filed by HUDA and others appellants in a plot allocation matter against a retired Air Commodore , the Punjab and Haryana High Court has dubbed it as easily avoidable.

Coming down heavily on HUDA, a Division Bench asserted: “We have heard counsel at some length and find that the instant appeal is ill-advised and could have easily been avoided by HUDA”.

Dismissing the appeal against Air Commodore BS Gathwala (retired) and another respondent, the Bench of Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar and Justice Gurdev Singh asserted the appeal had been directed against judgment dated March 17.

In the March 17 verdict “the single Judge had held that the writ petitioner-respondent, who participated in the 1962, 1965 and 1971 operations , is entitled to allotment of a substituted plot number 600, Sector 27, Gurgaon, as the original allotment had remained in dispute and possession thereof was never delivered to him”.

The Division Bench concluded: “There is no scope of interference in the findings recorded by the single Judge, which are well-based and well- reasoned. Accordingly, the appeal fails and the same is dismissed.

Coming to his rescue, Justice Ranjit Singh has initially passed strictures on HUDA, and also directed the authority to allot a plot to him in Sector 27, Gurgaon. A cost of Rs 25,000, too, was ordered to be paid to him.

The retired officer was initially made to wait for seven years for the plot’s possession as the one initially allotted to him was under litigation. But, that was just the beginning of the battle.

He was informed that the plot transferred to him stood allotted to somebody else; and was asked to take the plot initially allotted to him.

Rohtak, September 26
In a shocking development, a teenaged boy, reported to be mentally challenged, has been found tied up in his house. While no formal complaint has been lodged against anyone so far, the matter has been highlighted by some neighbours, who have sought the intervention of authorities to save the boy from torture and inhuman treatment.

The boy, aged around 17 years, was found tied with a rope around his limbs and neck and was tied to the main gate of his house, located in the Chanakyapuri locality near the Shiela bypass here.

“The victim, Ravinder, was being subjected to this treatment by the family members frequently and especially when the family members were out for some work,” said a local resident, residing in the neighbourhood.

He said on condition of anonymity that he had noticed the boy being tied to the gate like a pet dog. He also alleged that the boy was beaten up and treated in a shabby manner by his family members which was a matter of discussion in the locality.

Even as some of the residents had approached the family, no solution had been found so far. It is learnt that the boy’s mother is a widow and is employed with the Haryana Tourism here. She is posted at the Myna tourist complex at present.

Though an employee of the tourism complex admitted that the boy was mentally challenged, he claimed that he had no information if the boy was being mistreated.

As the house was found locked this morning, no member of the family, including the mother of the boy, could be contacted for their version.

Officials of the district Red Cross Society, which runs a school and a shelter for the mentally challenged, also claimed that they had not received any information or complaint in this regard so far. 

Sirsa, September 26
Asha Rani and Karam Chand again became a couple again after a seven-year-long legal battle that saw the latter and his father convicted by a court on a dowry charge .

The first Mahila lok adalat organised here today by the District Legal Service Authority (DLSA) proved a boon for the couple, who has decided to make a fresh beginning.

Asha Rani was married to Karam Chand of Lohgarh village on August 29, 1999. However, owing to petty domestic disputes, the marriage was totally shattered, making Asha Rani file a criminal case of harassment for dowry against Karam Chand and his kin on September 17, 2004.

A lower court decided the case in woman’s favour and sentenced Karam Chand and his father to nine-month imprisonment each, besides a fine on October 28, 2010.

The case was pending before the district court when the DLSA put up the case for hearing in the special lok adalat.

As many as 125 of 308 cases related to women were settled in the special adalat.

Jind, September 26
The local Grain Market Agents Association went on a two-day strike today in support of the demand for reduction in the market fee from 4 to 2 per cent raised by cotton ginners and mills in the state.

According to Jai Bhagwan Mittal, President of the association, agents at all grain markets in the district and the state had decided to observe a a two-day strike in support of the demand raised by the Cotton Mills Association in the state . 

Samalkha, September 26
The district police has arrested the hostel warden of the local DPS School on the charge of sodomising a 10-year-old boy, who had been studying at the school.

According to the police, the parents of the student, who live in Mahavir Nagar, New Delhi, had approached the police with a complaint that Satbir, warden of the hostel in which their son lived on the school premises, had been sodomising their ward for the past six months. On the basis of the complaint, the police arrested Satbir from the school premises.

He was booked under the relevant sections of the law and would be produced before a local court tomorrow, the police said.

Meanwhile, none of the authorities of the school were available for their comments on the issue. — TNS

Fatehabad, September 26
Three persons were killed and five others were injured in an accident involving a canter, a pick-up van and a motorcycle near Badopal village on the National Highway No. 10 today.

The accident occurred when the driver of a canter coming towards Fatehabad lost control over the steering wheel and hit a pick-up van going towards Hisar.

A motorcyclist, Satpal, was also trapped in the accident and was injured.

Dharam Pal, an ex serviceman, who was travelling in the pick-up van died on the spot, while Diwan Chand, a bank guard and Bhagi Ram, a villager succumbed to their injuries in Maharaja Aggarsain Medical College, Agroha.

Manish, Sunita and two others, travelling in the pick-up van, sustained serious injuries and were being treated.

The canter overturned after the accident and its driver managed to escape, the police said.

A team of the highway police arrived at the accident site soon after the mishap and took the injured persons to hospital.