Chandigarh, September 27
The state government and the Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, differ on the requirement of central police forces for the Hisar byelection. Consequently, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has received two requests in this connection.

Departing from convention, the Home Department, basing its assessment on the feedback from the Police Department, has directly communicated its demand for 22 companies of central police forces to the Ministry of Home Affairs, with a copy to the CEO.

The CEO’s office, through which such requirements have been channelised in the past, has sought nearly twice the number of companies asked for by the government and, through the Election Commission of India, sent its request to the MHA. This requirement was based on the suggestions of polling officers.

Sources in the CEO’s office said the state government, through two letters to the Police Department, was asked to send its request for central police forces. However, instead of replying to these letters, the Home Department directly sent its request to the MHA.

An official of the Home Department confirmed that a request for 22 companies had been sent to the MHA after DGP Ranjiv Dalal held a meeting with IGs and SPs and sent in its requirement.

On the other hand, given the fact that there are 1500-odd polling booths in the Hisar parliamentary seat with nine assembly segments, the CEO’s office forwarded a requirement of 40 companies to the ECI.

Sources said while the Jind and Bhiwani DCs have asked for five companies each, the Hisar DC has asked for 30. They have specifically asked for deployment of the CRPF or the Rapid Action Force only.

“Each company has 75 personnel which means that, according to the Police Department’s estimate, we will be able to cover just 300 polling booths. However, our effort is to get the maximum central forces to ensure a peaceful poll ,” sources said. The Police Department, however, is confident that it will “manage” a peaceful election with 22 companies.

Fatehabad, September 27
In a significant development, a group of farmers supporting the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project has sunk its differences with those opposing it and has come under the umbrella of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti spearheading the 410-day long agitation on the issue.

The decision was taken at a meeting of farmers held in Gorakhpur village yesterday on the initiative of Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sanghasrh Samiti, who had sought the support of all villagers on the issue.

“We have constituted a 34-member committee under Siwach and the committee will meet within one week to plan a joint charter of demands,” said Ram Phal, a leader of the farmers, who had earlier given undertakings to the authorities expressing their willingness to give their fields for the nuclear plant.

Expressing his gratitude to the group of farmers, Siwach said the entire village was united now and they would not allow the nuclear power plant to come on their lands.

Sumit Siwach, another member of the group and a member of the 34-member committee, however, said that the group was still not opposed to the plant as such.

“We have sunk our differences as we wanted the entire village to stand united at this juncture. The fate of the 410-day old, agitation, however, will be decided on the basis of the outcome of the meeting,” he said.

Sumit Siwach said if the majority decided in favour of raising a demand for a handsome compensation instead of opposing the project, the villagers, including those opposed to the plant, would have to agree to it.

The state government had issued notifications under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act for over 1,313 acres of land from Gorakhpur village. The authorities claim that owners of over 1,100 acres were ready to give their lands.

Manesar, September 27
The Maruti management inducted another batch of 120 trained and experienced technicians at the Manesar plants today. With their joining, the strength of trained and experienced technicians at the company’s Manesar plants has reached 1,120 while the overall manpower has now touched 1,500.

“Ninety engineers moved from the Gurgaon plant and 290 supervisors of the Manesar plants are also engaged in production activities at Manesar, the company said in a statement issued here today.

Maruti Suzuki produced 725 Swift cars today at its Gurgaon and Manesar facilities. The company has decided to scale up production and start manufacturing models other than Swift at Manesar. Today, the company started production of SX4 model at the Manesar plants. From tomorrow, The company will also start “B” shift in Plant B at Manesar.

Naraingarh, September 27
Six persons have been booked for allegedly keeping huge stock of DAP fertiliser and urea bags in a closed rice sheller at Badagaon without having a storage licence.

On the directions of Ambala Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Srow, a team of officials accompanied by the police found 607 bags of DAP fertiliser and 1750 bags of urea stored in a rice sheller, situated on the outskirts of the Badagaon village during a raid on Sunday night. — TNS

Rohtak, September 27
Ravinder, alias Kala, a mentally challenged boy, who was found tied up in his house on Monday at Chanakypuri Colony here, was today set free.

As the family denied reports of torturing the boy, the victim was today found lying on the floor at the main gate in the same manner but without a rope around his neck and limbs.

Suman Devi, mother of the boy, claimed that every treatment had been tried to cure the boy, but these had failed to yield the desired results. The boy was affected acutely by mental illness and had been dependent on the family for survival. Meanwhile, the family has been offered help today, in case it was financially weak, by a Patiala-based NGO after a report appeared in these columns.

Ravinder, who responds to his kin only, had been a regular student at an institute for the mentally challenged persons here for the past few years, said Pravin (14), his younger brother and a Class IX student at a local public school. Admitting that Ravinder had been tied up recently, he said this was done to prevent him from getting violent.

Echoing the same view, his mother, Suman Devi, a widow and an employee at the Myna Haryana tourism complex here, said there was no alternative with the family but to deal with the boy in this manner at times when he failed to listen.

She said Ravinder had been examined by various doctors and at various hospitals but as he had been retarded since birth, the problem could not be solved even after long periods of treatment and medication. “We are prepared if any government or non-government agency offers Ravinder any kind of help in his treatment or rehabilitation,” said Suman Devi. No help has come so far from the district administration in this regard except that the boy had been admitted to an institution for mentally challenged children, she added.

Chandigarh, September 27
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today cleared the pitch for cricketer Virender Sehwag to run a cricket academy in Jhajjar district on land allotted by the state government.

Justice SK Mittal dismissed a petition challenging the state government’s decision of allotting land to Sehwag.

The petition was filed by Rakesh Chahar and others of Jhajjar district. They were seeking directions for quashing the memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by the government to transfer the land in favour of the cricketer. The petitioners contended that the land was allotted to Sehwag for setting up of a sports academy but he had set up an international school on the land. The school was charging hefty fees.

Sehwag's Krishna Drishti Educational Society was given over 23 acres in Jhajjar's Shilani Kesho village in October 2008 on a 33-year lease. The land was allotted by the Hooda government for a sports complex and a school at Rs 3 lakh per acre. — TNS

Hisar, September 27
With the campaign for the byelection to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat hotting up, family members of various candidates are jumping on to the bandwagon in a bid to woo voters.

The latest to join the string of close relatives canvassing for their candidates are HJC-BJP nominee Kuldeep Bishnoi’s sister, Roshni, and her husband, Anoop Bishnoi. The latter toured the Uklana constituency today and sought votes on behalf of Kuldeep Bishnoi. Roshni toured various residential areas in Hisar city yesterday.

Bishnoi’s teenaged son, Bhavya Bishnoi, has been campaigning with his team of youngsters for the past week.

On behalf of INLD nominee Ajay Singh Chautala, his two sons, Digvijay and Dushyant, have been campaigning extensively ever since the party announced their father’s nomination two weeks ago. In a way they are the proverbial chip of the old block having picked up the art of seeking votes early on in their lives during their father and grandfather’s electoral campaigns.

Congress nominee Jai Prakash’s brother, a former legislator, is lending a helping hand in campaigning.

Since this a prestigious contest for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, his son, Deepender Hooda, MP, is toiling alongside his father in the constituency.

The gen next campaigners are hogging a lot of limelight in the process. Their main advantage is that during door- to-door campaigning, they are welcomed even in the homes of diehard opponents of candidates. This is because of a social norm in Haryana which mandates that opposition to a person will not be extended to his or her offspring.

Leaving aside children of the main candidates, even children of scores of former and aspiring legislators are campaigning for their party nominees in areas assigned to their fathers.

Meanwhile, the Congress focus shifted to the Bawani Khera Assembly segment today where the Chief Minister addressed meetings in 10 villages. This was Hooda’s second day of campaigning in the Hisar area.

In his meetings the Chief Minister said that the INLD and the HJC-BJP combine had nothing to do with development of the area. These parties were only trying to grind their own axe at the cost of the people.

Hooda appealed to the people to vote for the Congress candidate as the Congress alone could ensure development. He said he would speed up development during the remaining three-and-a-half years of his tenure.

He said the Congress government had provided 100 square yard plots free to cost to BPL families. Apart from giving scholarships to about 18 lakh school students of BPL families, free bicycles were also being provided to girl students. He said safai karamcharis had been appointed in all villages and representatives of panchayati raj institutions had been empowered.

The nominations of five candidates for the byelection to the Hisar Lok Sabha seat were today rejected after scrutiny, leaving 48 candidates in the fray.

An official press note issued here said the nominations of Randhir Singh, covering candidate for Congress nominee Jai Prakash; Renuka Bishnoi, covering candidate for her husband, Kuldeep Bishnoi, of the HJC-BJP combine; and Naina Singh, covering candidate for her husband, Ajay Singh Chautala of the INLD, had been rejected since the nominations of the main candidates of these parties had been accepted. The nominations of Independent candidates- Ved Prakash and Kaptan (Indian Justice Party), had also been rejected.