New Delhi, January 9
A multi-crore forest scam in Haryana, allegedly involving a state minister, a legislator and some bureaucrats, could be probed by the CBI as the investigative agency has found the charges "worthy" of an independent probe.

The CBI has conveyed its opinion to the Central Vigilance Commission in response to its query following a request by the Environment Ministry.

The ministry had referred the matter to the CVC after an inhouse inquiry found merit in allegations levelled by whistleblower Indian Forest Service officer Sanjiv Chaturvedi that there was corruption in the setting up of a herbal park on private land of a legislator under pressure from a state Cabinet minister.

Chaturvedi also alleged financial irregularities like siphoning of funds to the tune of crores of rupees in plantation at the park in 2007 and 2008.

"The issues raised by Sanjiv Chaturvedi were analysed by the CBI and were found to be worthy of an independent probe.... the CBI is willing to take over investigation of this matter, provided an FIR pertaining to the offences is first registered with the Haryana police and the state government issues a notification...," said the CBI's letter to the CVC .

After Chaturvedi blew the whistle, he was frequently transferred and he complained of harassment to President Pratibha Patil, who referred the matter to the Cabinet Secretariat.

Acting on the directions of the Cabinet Secretariat, the Environment Ministry in 2010 constituted a two-member panel which confirmed the harassment of Chaturvedi through 12 transfers in five years, suspension and "a fabricated chargesheet for exposing large-scale irregularities" in various projects in the state.

]The panel consisting of Inspector-General of Forests AK Srivastava, Assistant Inspector-General Shally Ranjan had also recommended quashing of the chargesheet and referring the matter immediately to the CBI for impartial investigation.

Accordingly, the chargesheet was quashed by the President on January 19.

The panel, which probed the case, had also indicted the Haryana Chief Minister,s Office, the then Forest Minister, a legislator and some senior state government officers for the "harassment" of Sanjiv Chaturvedi.

Haryana had rejected the findings of the inquiry committee and asked the Environment Ministry to have a fresh look at the case.

However, the Centre had rejected the demand. — PTI

Jhajjar, January 9
Notwithstanding the rising trend of growing paddy in the state, it will not be easy now for the farmers of the Salhavaas region here to grow the paddy crop as the Jakhar khap panchayat, which is active in 36 villages of the region, has clamped a ban on cultivating the paddy crop in the villages.

If any one dares to violate the verdict of the panchayat, he may be boycotted socially besides having to bear a financial penalty as well.

The verdict has been pronounced not only to avoid a flood-like situation in the villages but also to prevent desertification of land, say representatives of the panchayat.

A 36-member monitoring committee (one representative from each village of the panchayat) has been constituted with Kashmir Singh as president by the khap panchayat to ensure the execution of the verdict in the region besides keeping a tab on the farmers who used to cultivate the paddy crop on a priority basis in the past.

Earlier, a long discussion over the deteriorating condition of the land of the villages, located on both sides of the Jawahar Lal Nehru Canal crossing the Salhavaas region, was held at the khap meeting which was attended by a large number of people of all 36 villages at Patwar Bhawan in Salhavaas village here.

“The condition of the land in these villages, which is already afflicted with high-level ground water, worsens during the rainy season every year owing to failure of the district authorities in draining out the stagnant water from there in time.

“Though this situation favours cultivation of the paddy crop, which requires a lot of water to grow, but it is harmful to all other crops which are cultivated here going by the season. That is the foremost reason why the farmers prefer to sow the paddy crop here but they cannot be allowed to do so at the cost of the fertility of the land,” said Mehar Singh, secretary of the Khap panchayat during the meeting, adding that the farmers of the region had already paid the price of this condition to a large extent and now the time had come to impose a ban on cultivation of the paddy crop in the region.

He said the khap panchayat had decided to impose a fine of Rs 5,100 on those farmers who may try to plant the paddy crop. Besides they would be boycotted socially. In this situation, no one would talk and maintain social relations with the persons facing a boycott.

“No one from 36 villages has so far raised any objection over the decision and all representatives of the villages supported the decision by raising their hands at the meeting,” he claimed.

Chandigarh, January 9
After the Congress victory in the Ratia Assembly byelection while other dissidents in the Haryana Congress took a back seat, Gurgaon MP and former Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh has taken up the fight against Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He has accused Hooda of discriminating against southern Haryana, or to be more precise, the Ahirwal, from where Rao comes. Southern Haryana extends beyond Ahirwal. Inderjit has also accused the state government of taking credit for several Central projects started in southern Haryana, in which the former minister sees his role also.

These allegations were made by him at a rally organised by him at Mahendragarh as well as during the run-up to the rally.

Rao had drifted away from Hooda during the latter’s first tenure as Chief Minister itself. However, it was believed that the two had made up after Inderjit Singh sought the help of Hooda during the 2009 Lok Sabha elections. But the peace was short-lived.

Supporters of Rao claim that whatever is being done by their leader is in the interest of the party. He, they say, wants to strengthen the party by voicing the sentiments of the common man. However, political observers link the sudden flexing of muscles by Inderjit Singh to his possible desire to become the president of the Haryana Congress. The present incumbent Phool Chand Mullana has been working under an ad hoc arrangement.

Since the Congress follows the principle of “one man, one post” (for the state units), there are not many takers for the presidentship of the Haryana Congress among senior leaders. Some of them are holding ministerial posts, which they do not want to relinquish. Union Minister Selja and Haryana Power Minister Ajay Singh Yadav fall in that category.

Another prominent dissident Birendra Singh knows that he cannot become the party president till a Jat is the Chief Minister. It is an unwritten law in the Congress that both posts would not go to one community. Since this principle is not applicable to the MPs and MLAs, Inderjit has nothing to lose and everything to gain.

Inderjit Singh, a keen shooter, knows where he is aiming at. The presidentship of the state unit now will definitely put him in race for the post of the Chief Minister in 2014. He knows that he cannot aspire to be the Chief Minister now because of the TINA factor.

Chandigarh, January 9
The state unit of the Congress is in a combat mode, shielding the government, yet again, against allegations of lopsided development. This time the salvo has been fired by Gurgaon Member of Parliament Rao Inderjit Singh who minced no words in alleging discrimination by the government against southern Haryana at his “Chetna rally”.

In response to this, the state unit has done the only thing it possibly can — shot off a complaint to the party high command against the MP. Sources in the party said the state unit chief, Phool Chand Mullana, had complained against Rao Inderjit for levelling baseless allegations against the state government, to the general secretary in charge of Haryana, BK Hariprasad.

The sources said that Mullana, in his letter, has stated that it does not behove a party MP to level such allegations since the Congress government is in power in Haryana and working for the all-round development of the state.

Maintaining that the Congress government had taken a number of initiatives in southern Haryana, Mullana has dismissed the allegations as “baseless” on grounds that a number of centrally funded projects, including the defence university and the central university, have gone to the region during the Congress rule.

The sources said the complaint to apprise the party high command of the goings-on in the state was sent for information since recommending action against an MP was not under the preview of the state unit.

At his rally, Rao Inderjit has already made it clear that southern Haryana has benefited from the centrally sponsored scheme only for which the state government is trying to take undue credit. His contention is that while Gurgaon contributes a fortune towards the earnings of the state, it does not get its due share as far as development goes.

This complaint by the state unit chief is being seen as a ritual given the fact that complaints forwarded by the Haryana Congress in the past have not invited any kind of reprimand or action from the central leadership.

While a handful of complaints of sabotage by senior leaders against fellow Congressmen during the 2009 Assembly elections were forwarded to the party in charge immediately after elections were over, some with evidence comprising video footage, it has failed to elicit any kind of response. Similarly, the complaint of sabotage in the Hisar parliamentary seat byelection, too, has elicited no response.

Sirsa, January 9
Airing his views against the “lopsided development” and “disregard of old and loyal Congress workers” in Haryana has cost former Haryana minister Jagdish Nehra the security cover provided to him by the government since 2008.

The district police today withdrew the security guard provided to Nehra after the news item, “Now, Jagdish Nehra charges Hooda with discrimination” was published in The Tribune today.

The cop, Chander Pal, who was on security duty with the former minister, was summoned by his superiors to the SP’s office this morning and was asked to report for duty in the Police Lines.

Incidentally, the cop, Chander Pal, was seen standing behind Nehra in the photograph published in The Tribune today.

The senior officers of the police while confirming the withdrawal of the security guard remained tight-lipped on the reason behind it. Sources in the district police said the action had been taken on commands from the higher-ups.

Terming the move as vindictive, Nehra, who is also a vice-president of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee , alleged that his security had been withdrawn for speaking against the “neglect of old and loyal Congress workers” and “regional discrimination in the matter of development” in Haryana during the Bhupinder Singh Hooda regim.“I said only what others in the party like MP Rao Inderjit Singh have been saying openly, but I alone have been targeted by the government,” Nehra alleged.

“After former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, I am the only Congress leader from Haryana to have faced the maximum security threats from the extremist elements of Punjab,” Nehra claimed.

Nehra said he had received threats from Sikh hardliners first in 1985, when he secured resolutions from residents of Kandukhera village of Muktsar in Punjab for their willingness to merge with Haryana.

Later, the police assessed a threat to his life in the early 1990s, when terrorists gunned down three sarpanches of his Rori Assembly segment in three different incidents.

Panipat, January 9
The petitions filed by local lawyer Momin Malik in the Karachi and Lahore high courts to bring home a large number of Indians languishing in Pakistani jails finally yielded results as Pakistan released 185 Indians recently.

Malik, who visited Pakistani in May last year with a special delegation comprising Dalbir Kaur, sister of Indian prisoner Sarabjit Singh, who is facing death in Pakistan, said he had come across more than 270 Indians lodged in various jails of Lahore and Karachi who had either completed their jail term or against whom no cases were pending.

Following this, he had filed petitions in the two high courts, challenging their imprisonment . After admitting the petitions, the two courts had issued notices to the authorities concerned. In reply to these notices, the authorities had told the court that they were willing to release Indians against whom no cases were pending.

This led to the release of 185 Indians, including 179 fishermen and six others, claimed Malik. The cases for release of 87 more Indians were also under active consideration of the authorities there.

Jind, January 9
The police has booked at least seven persons in connection with the incident of an alleged assault on the marriage party of a Dalit groom and a clash between two groups at Gurthali village of Narwana subdivision of the district last night. A team of policemen has been deployed to prevent any further violence and untoward incident.

The police said the incident took place around 9.30 pm last night when some residents hailing from an upper caste objected to the loud DJ music played during the marriage function of a Dalit youth in the village and allegedly disrupted it by assaulting members of the marriage party.

The assault led to injuries to around eight persons, it is learnt. It is alleged that some youths who objected to the loud music tried to forcibly stop the DJ being played at the wedding venue and attempted to ’molest’ women.

On being opposed, they assaulted the groom’s family and guests, it is claimed in a complaint lodged with the police. The police, which reached the venue soon after, has registered a case against seven persons and has deployed several cops in the village as a precautionary measure and to check any violence.

The persons booked by the police on the complaint of the Dalit youth have been identified as Zodha , Makkar, Ramniwas, Surender, Balraj, Desa and Jasminder. No arrest has been made so far as it is learnt that the accused absconded after the incident. Though some raids have been carried out, tension prevails in the village over the incident, said a police official.

Gurgaon, January 9
The task of socioeconomic and caste census survey is of national importance and legal action can be initiated against a person who do not cooperate with the enumerators carrying out the survey.

This was stated by Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena today after he was told by the enumerators that the local residents, especially those living in group-housing societies, were not cooperating with them.

Meena maintained that all residents were bound to give correct information to the enumerators appointed for the survey. He asked the enumerators to give a complaint in writing against the persons who do not cooperate with them so that action could be initiated against them.

He pointed out that 3,591 blocks had been made for the census survey, of which 2,353 blocks fell in the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) area. He asked the enumerators to expedite the census survey and submit their report, following which claims and objections would be invited.

Meanwhile, Raj Kumar, Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary (Rural Development), reviewed the progress of socioeconomic and caste survey and allotment of 100-square yards free plots under the Mahatama Gandhi Grameen Basti Yojna of the state government through videoconferencing.

During the session, Meena informed that the panchayat land was available in 162 villages of the district for allotting 100-square yards plots to the poor and homeless villagers. Of these villages, plots had already been allotted in 141 villages and physical possession of plots given to the beneficiaries in 127 villages.

Rohtak, January 9
The well-known D Park here, which was rechristened as the Bapu Park in the memory of Mahatma Gandhi a couple of years ago, has now virtually turned a hot spot for putting up hoardings by some politicians and supporters of the ruling party. The hoardings and banners have resulted in making the statute of Bapu nearly invisible to residents passing by. These hoardings are unauthorised as no permission has been sought from the authorities concerned for displaying these. “The park has been renovated and upgraded with a statute of the Father of Nation installed in middle of it and as the park is located in the heart of the city it attracts a large number of people for evening stroll,” says Sonika, a local resident.

“Putting up hoardings by political people at this spot is mainly done in view of the fact that the residence of the Chief Minister is located just opposite of the spot and majority of persons putting up such hoardings want the CM and his near and dear ones to note their presence and it is mainly done to publicise themselves rather than to achieve a work of social importance,” says Raj Singh, a social activist.

Karnal, January 9
The farmers suffering huge losses due to damage to sugarcane crop beause of the dreaded “white grub” disease can heave a sigh of relief as the scientists at the Sugarcane Breeding Centre, Karnal, have discovered a pesticide for effective control of the disease.

The disease was rampant in several districts of UP, parts of Haryana and Punjab and, at many places, the farmers had been forced to root out the crop to get rid of the disease.

A senior scientist of the Sugarcane Breeding Centre, Karnal, Dr SK Pandey, started experimenting to control the disease in the farms near Simbhawali Sugar Mill in Muzaffarnagar (UP) and after using different pesticides for three years, it was found that Clothianidin was effective in controlling and eradicating the disease.

The pesticide was available in the market under the brand name of De tatsu and 150 gm of the pesticide dissolved in 400 litres of water or mixed in sand was sufficient for controlling the pest.

Dr Pandey said it was suggested that the application of Clothianidin should be done during May and June after the first summer rains as the male and female larvae emerge from the soil after the rain and feed on the root system and the underground stalks of sugarcane.

In the initial stages, the attack can be noticed in patches but later on the infestation spreads to the entire field and the adult beetles, after the first shower, emerge from the soil and congregate on tree leaves in and around the sugarcane fields.

The pesticides used so far had failed to control the disease but mass spray of Monocrotophos or Imidacloprid on trees after the first summer rains also helps in reducing the damage.

Rohtak, January 9
A small quarrel over a cigarette between two friends lead to a murder of another youth who didn’t even know both of them on the night of December 31. The police has arrested three youths in this connection and had been looking for another three accused who had been absconding after committing the crime.

The main accused, Vivek Saini, who surrendered before the police told that the victim, Manoj Sindhu, who was stabbed to death, was not known either to him or Sachin, with whom he had an altercation over sharing a cigarette while standing at a spot at the HUDA complex on the fateful night.

According to Vivek, the quarrel over a cigarette made him to beat up Sachin, who later informed and called one of his friend, Amar. Amar was at a local market with Jaideep and Manoj Sindhu at that time. The trio rushed for Sachin’s help there, Vivek also reached on the spot with three of his friends, Siddharth, Govind and Lalit, who were armed with some sharp-edged weapons and a baseball bat. Vivek was also joined by three other youths who were in his relation and all of them pelted stones on the new Alto car owned by Jaideep before attacking them with the sharp-edged weapons, which resulted in death of Manoj, a college student in Meghalaya. Manoj had come here during the winter holidays and had gone with his friends for shopping that evening.

While the main accused has surrendered before the police, Siddharth and Lalit were arrested by the police after a raid last evening. The police was looking for the three other accused, Lalit, Mayank and Varun, in this connection.

Hisar, January 9
Anil Sharma, Principal of a government senior secondary school, was killed in a road mishap near Anipura village late last evening.

The deceased was travelling by a car along with his three children and driver when it collided with a Canter. His two daughters and a son were injured. The driver, Satyavan, was injured seriously.

The victims were referred to the local General Hospital for treatment but Sharma died on the way. The driver and the cleaner of the Canter fled after the accident.

Hisar, January 9
INLD workers led by Ranbir Gangwa, MP, today staged a demonstration at the Mini Secretariat here in protest against the unavailability of fertilisers, water, power and agricultural inputs.

They walked in a procession to the Mini Secretariat where they held a demonstration and presented a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. The memorandum was addressed to the Governor.

It demanded that the Governor direct the government to take immediate steps to make available all agricultural inputs freely all over the state.