Chandigarh, January 15
The Haryana Government is unlikely to ask the state police to register an FIR and then issue a notification for investigation by the CBI into the allegations levelled by an Indian Forest Service officer Sajiv Chaturvedi regarding irregularities and embezzlement of funds in certain projects.

The Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) had conducted an inquiry into the allegations of Chaturvedi. The inquiry report had upheld the contentions of Chaturvedi and quashed the charge sheet against him. However, the state government had rejected the report and had urged the ministry to have a re-look into the matter.

The MOEF had first sought the opinion of the Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court. But the CEC returned the ministry’s request on the plea that the inquiry report on the basis of which the charge sheet against Chaturvedi was quashed, had also made certain adverse comments against the CEC.

Thereafter the MOEF sought the opinion of the Chief Vigilance Commissioner (CVC), who referred the matter to the CBI. The investigating agency is reported to have written to the CVC that it could investigate the allegations provided the state police first lodged an FIR and then the state government issued a notification entrusting the matter to the CBI.

Official sources say since the state has already rejected the MOEF inquiry report, it is unlikely to accept a request for a CBI inquiry, if the ministry so requests.

Principal Chief Conservator of Forests CR Jotriwal told The Tribune here today that the allegations levelled by Chaturvedi broadly related to the construction of the Hansi-Butana canal through the Saraswati wildlife sanctuary, development of a herbal park allegedly on a private land in Gillan Khera village, and irregularities in the Jhajjar forest division and Jui-Meethathal feeder plantation in Hisar forest division.

Jotriwal said Chaturvedi stopped the movement of vehicles for the construction of the canal, which was a prestigious project of the state government, on the plea that it was a violation of the Supreme Court orders. He said the standing committee of the Indian Board of Wildlife had approved the denotification of the sanctuary in lieu of notification of an equivalent area of the Morni forests in February 2002. The state government, after completing all the formalities, had denotified the sanctuary in October 2007.

Jotriwal said the issue was also examined by the CEC, which did not recommend any action.

Chaturvedi, he said, “without getting the matter properly and legally examined drew his own conclusion that the land was private and stopped the work.”

According to a judgement of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the land, which was a part of the village pond and used for common purposes, fell within the definition of Shamlat Deh and vested in the panchayat. The CEC did not find any irregularity in this case also. He said about Rs 28.50 lakh was spent on the park and not crores of rupees as was being made out.

Regarding the allegation about the irregularities in the implementation of the National Afforestation and Eco-Development Board and Japanese International Cooperation Agency in the Jhajjar forest division, Jotriwal said the department had already charge-sheeted 40 officials after the first investigation by a team of officers and a regular enquiry was ordered in September 2009. He said Chaturvedi, too, had spent Rs 42.14 lakh under these programmes in Jhajjar when he was posted as DFO there. He said the department had asked the government to initiate action against him also as well as another DFO, MS Malik.

Karnal, January 15
Two days after the Delhi police arrested two persons with fake currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations worth Rs 6 crore, the Karnal police today arrested a youth with 10 fake currency notes of Rs 1,000 denomination.

Following a tip-off that two youths, who appeared to be outsiders, were trying to encash the fake currency notes of Rs 1,000, Virender Singh, ASI, came to Ibrahim Mandi and tried to overpower them. One of the youths escaped while the other, identified as Mohidur Rehman of Kuriali village in West Bengal, was arrested with fake currency notes.

He tore eight notes of Rs 1,000 denomination into pieces while two notes were in his hand when the police caught him. The police seized two notes of Rs 1,000 and eight torn notes from him and arrested him. A case under various sections of the IPC has been registered against the accused, who would be produced in the court for seeking his remand, DSP, Surinder Bhadoria, said.

The police was interrogating the arrested person to find links and suspected that he might be a member of a fake currency racket gang.

Meanwhile, the cops also arrested five persons of a gang indulging in petty cases of theft and robbery and recovered the purse and two mobile phones of a local journalist, Manoj, from them.

Some people had robbed Manoj on January 2 when he was returning home after his duty and took away his wallet and mobile phones.

The police had constituted a special team and following information received last night that five persons, suspected to be involved in the crime, were standing at Gharaunda bus stand, the police raided the place and arrested them.

All five accused hailed from Panipat and are suspected to be involved in several other incidents of theft and robbery.

Kurukshetra January 15
Following arrest of four persons, an inter-state gang of ATM card cheaters, has been busted. Parul Kush, district police chief, said mastermind Kuldip Kumar and his three accomplices had been arrested while a stolen car and three ATM cards had been recovered from their possession.

During interrogation, they confessed that they had been operating in Kurukshetra, Yamunanagar, Haridwar, Dehradun, Saharanpur, Meerut, Shamli and Muzaffarnagar. The gang members have been identified as Kuldip Kumar, Sawaran Kumar and Ombir, all residents of Alamgirpur district, Muzaffarnagar in UP, and Ramesh Kumar of Araainpura village in Karnal, Haryana.

Talking about their modus operandi, she said one of them used to enter ATM cabin when it was being used by an elderly person, especially in the absence of a guard on duty. When the customer operated the ATM, the gang member kept a watch on the ATM code number fed by the customer. Then the second accomplice entered the cabin while their remaining two accomplices wait for them sitting in a car parked at a short distance.

One of the gang members inside the cabin, drawing customer’s attention, asks him to count the cash coming out from the ATM machine. The moment the customer is engaged in counting the cash, the ATM card comes out from the machine and is replaced by the gang member with a bogus ATM card. Later, they withdraw money with the help of customer’s ATM card.

Kush added they had told the police that they had withdrawn Rs 3.5 lakh from the ATMs during their six attempts committed in this district.

Panipat, January 15
In an attempt to trace their history that was scripted by their brave ancestors while fighting the third Battle of Panipat against the invasion of Ahmad Shah Abdali, a large number of Marathas converged at Panipat yesterday.

Mudgoji Raje Bhonsley, from the royal family of Nagpur, who travelled all the way here to participate in a ceremony organised by the Maratha Jagriti Manch to commemorate the anniversary of the third Battle of Panipat said he felt a deep association with Panipat as many valiant Marathas, including his own family and Bhikhajirao Mahurkar Salunke, had fought the historic battle. He said it was indeed an experience visiting the Veer Bhoomi of the ancestors.

Another Maratha, Tukoji Raje, from the royal family of Dewas in Madhya Pradesh, who was at the pandal listening to President Pratibha Patil praising the sacrifices being made by the Marathas to maintain the national integrity, said the unmatched bravery shown by their forefathers had instilled a feeling of pride in all of them. He said visiting Panipat was an opportunity to connect with their heritage and the Maratha brethren. He said his great grandfather Yaswant Rao Pawar had fought in the battle and had been killed.

Dr Charta Ram, member of organising committee of the Maratha Jagriti Manch, said great deeds done for the nation by the Marathas were simply unparallel in history. He said despite losing the battle, the Marathas had left indelible mark on the history, which became evident by the fact that Ahmad Shah Abdali himself paid tributes to his rivals when in a letter to the then Jaipur ruler Madhav Singh he wrote : "The Marathas fought with the greatest valour, which was beyond the capacity of other races. These dauntless blood-shedders didn't fall short in fighting and doing glorious deeds. But ultimately we won with our superior tactics and with the grace of the Divine Lord."

Jhajjar, January 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said all social security pensions in the state would now be credited directly into the accounts of panchayats by the eighth day of every month and these would be distributed by the 10th day.

The Chief Minister addressed a public meeting here today after laying the foundation stone of a multipurpose hall at Government Girls Senior Secondary School here. He also announced a number of new development projects while addressing public meetings at Chhuchhukwas, Matanhail, Bahu,Birohar and Salhawas villages on the second day of his two-day tour of the Jhajjar assembly constituency .

“During the past seven years, the Congress government has taken decisions for the welfare of all segments of society and the state has become a front-runner in terms of development,” said Hooda.

The Chief Minister stated that rapid development could be well judged by the fact that the plan budget of Punjab had increased from Rs 3600 crore in 2005 to Rs 9090 crore in 2011-12 whereas that of Haryana had increased from Rs 2200 crore to Rs 20340 crore during the same period, more than two times.

Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda said the pace of development in Haryana during the last seven years could be well judged by the fact that the Planning Commission recently said that three states in the country were in the forefront in terms of development on the basis of statistics of the 12th Five-year Plan, with Haryana at the top with an 11.6 per cent growth rate.

Panipat, January 15
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has demanded a public debate on the franchisee (distribution of power and collection of bills handed over to private players) system which has been proposed to be introduced in the Panipat and Gurgaon circles.

While opposing the proposed franchisee system to distribute power in the best maintained and high-revenue circles of the state, the association claimed that the state power engineers were committed to reduce the line losses to improve the financial position of utilities.

The decision was taken during a special meeting of the association that was convened on Saturday during which the participants deliberated on the problems being faced by the engineers and utilities. The meeting was chaired by RS Dahiya, president of the association.

Dahiya said the association had welcomed the recommendations of the Shunglu Committee on restructuring of loans by the public sector banks and annual revision of tariff, but it was against the suggested privatisation of power distribution in all main cities of the state where the population exceeds three lakhs.

He said the government should debate the issue of privatisation of the power sector with all the stake holders as it could generate suggestions on ways to improve the technical and financial performance of utilities.

He claimed that the franchisee system had failed to produce the desired results as these proved beneficial only for the private players while the state-owned utilities did not benefit from it.

Dahiya said the restructuring of discoms, which had not been undertaken even once after the unbundling of the power board had also resulted in deficient consumer services.

In the absence of regular staff, the-day-to-day working was largely affected while restructuring of discoms could help in reducing line losses and increase revenues.

Gurgaon, January 15
The recent visit of Congress MP from Rohtak Deepender Hooda to the city is being seen as a bid to offset the charges of discrimination against south Haryana being levelled against the state government.

Congress MP from Gurgaon and former Union Minister Rao Inderjit Singh has been accusing the Hooda regime of subjecting south Haryana to step-motherly treatment despite the fact that southern city of Gurgaon alone contributes more than 50 per cent to the state exchequer.

Interestingly, while six sitting MLAs of south Haryana, including a minister in the Haryana Cabinet, have vociferously refuted the discrimination charges, Gurgaon MLA Sukhbir Kataria, who is also a minister in Haryana, preferred to remain neutral in the standoff.

It was in this backdrop that Deepender visited Kataria’s local residence and sang paeans to the functioning of his father’s regime in the state. He also visited a number of local Congress leaders in an apparent attempt to strengthen the local support base of the CM’s camp.

The Rohtak MP acknowledged that Gurgaon had played a major role in the progress made by Haryana, but he also maintained that the millennium city had also witnessed “unprecedented” development in the past few years.

The Chief Minister’s son also offered Kataria to shoulder the responsibility of Gurgaon’s development. Deepender claimed that according to an analysis carried out by the Planning Commission of India, Haryana had figured among the three states where the growth rate was more than 11 per cent, the other two being Gujarat and Karnataka.

He honoured international kabaddi player Pooja Sharma by presenting her a cheque of Rs 25 lakh. Pooja was a member of the Indian Kabaddi Team, which won gold medals in five international championships. Playing his part, Sukhbir Kataria thanked the Chief Minister for sanctioning a package of Rs 1,393 crore for the development of Gurgaon. Kataria also demanded laying of underground electricity cables in the local Sadar Bazaar.

The MP, who was officially here to attend a function organised by the minister on the occasion of Lohri festival, greeted the people on the occasion of Lohri, Makar Sankranti and New Year.

Deepender also inaugurated a three-day state-level Junior and Sub-Junior Badminton Championship on the premises of Dronacharya Government College here.

Gurgaon, January 15
In an apparent bid to cash in on the allegations of the state government's step-motherly treatment towards south Haryana, the Janata Dal (United) organised a rally near Manesar today.

Apart from making its intentions and priorities clear by organising a rally in the heart of south Haryana at a time when even ruling-party leaders are accusing the state regime of anti-South bias, the rally was also a show of strength of the JD(U), which does not enjoy a considerable mass base in the state.

Addressing the gathering on the occasion, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav tried to strike a chord with the local residents by focusing on the multifarious problems being faced by them and the government's failure to redress their grievances.

Yadav cited the example of clean and positive governance in Bihar under the stewardship of JD(U) leader Nitish Kumar, the state Chief Minister, and promised a similar regime in Haryana, given the people of the state supported the party candidates.

Talking to newsmen on the sidelines of the rally, Yadav said there was every possibility of their party forging a poll alliance with like-minded parties in Haryana.

Rao Kamalbir Singh, the president of the Haryana unit of the JD(U), also addressed the gathering. He gave a call for getting south Haryana its due share in power in the state.

As the rally was organised on a Sunday, it was largely attended by migrant labourers (primarily from UP and Bihar) from the Manesar industrial hub.

The presence and performance of popular Bhojpuri artiste Manoj Tiwari played a crucial role in attracting a number of people to the rally and making them remain seated for long hours.

Kurukshetra January 15
Rich tributes were paid by Kurukshetra University Vice-Chancellor, Lt-Gen Dr DS Sandhu, and representatives of various religious and social organisations to former Prime Minister, Bharat Ratna Gulzari Lal Nanda, on his 14th death anniversary at Sadachar Sathal here today.

Dr Sandhu said Nanda was an embodiment of truth, simplicity and honesty, who worked for the uplift of the poor. He said that the Gulzari Lal Nanda Centre for Philosophy and Ethics, set up by KU at Sadachar Sthal, disseminated Nanda’s philosophy and teachings. The youth of the nation coold learn a lot about life, politics and social justice from Nanda’a life .

KU Registrar Surinder Deswal, Kurukshetra ADC Sumedha Kataria and Kurukshetra Development Board CEO Ashok Bansal were among those who paid tributes to Nanda.

Gurgaon, January 15
Taking a serious note of HUDA and Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) authorities’ failure to prepare action plans for the finalisation of the district crisis-management plan, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena has told them to submit their plans within 15 days.

Addressing a meeting of the District Crisis Group at his office recently, the DC expressed resentment over non-finalisation of the crisis-management plan despite repeated reminders. According to official sources, action plans of HUDA as well as the MCG are must for preparing a comprehensive crisis-management plan for the entire district as a major part of the city falls under their jurisdiction.

HUDA and MCG officials concerned have been asked several times to submit their respective action plans, but to no avail. Expressing displeasure at the lackadaisical approach of the authorities concerned, Meena asked them to take the assignment seriously on view of the larger public interest involved. The plan also aims at mitigating the aftereffects of any crisis erupting out of chemical/fire outburst as Gurgaon houses many chemical industries.

Meena asked the officials concerned to prepare the plan after studying the types of crisis and the quantum of danger and hazardous effects caused by various types of chemicals used in the industries located here. “The officials should prepare a list of such industries and identify the chemicals used there as well as the harmful effects of those chemicals. Then they should suggest how those harmful effects can be avoided and which department has the machinery to combat it or play a pivotal role in rescue operations,” he maintained.

He pointed out that in the action plans, the departments should clearly mention the fire-fighting or crisis-handling equipments in their possession. The crisis-mangement plan would include an Emergency Response Guide to educate the general masses and also an Emergency Response Plan according to which the departments and the general public would react. The general public would also come to know about their role and responsibilities to be played in the event of a crisis situation.

Sonepat, January 15
Alleging that the Congress government in the state had failed to fulfil the promises made in its manifesto in the

2005 Assembly elections, INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala said every section of society except the rich lobby of capitalists, was dissatisfied with the functioning of the state government.

Addressing a public meeting here, the INLD leader said the promises to improve the law and order situation, eradicate corruption, bring water through the SYL and Hansi Butana canals, set up SEZ to generate employment for lakhs of educated youths, removal of VAT and simplification of the tax structure, give employment to every family etc were still on paper.

Taking dig at the state government over its policy on old-age pension, Chautala alleged that senior citizens, widows and destitute women were being insulted at every step by pension-distributing agencies. A large number of eligible pensioners of these categories had been deprived of this incentive on one pretext or the other, he alleged.

The party’s state spokesman, Dr KC Bangar, said this government in the state was out to render farmers of Sonepat district landless. While the present government had already acquired about 30,000 acres of fertile land, it was planning to acquire another 30,000 acres in near future, he alleged.

Sirsa, January 15
The Haryana Sahitya Akademi will assist in the publication of 1,000 books in Haryanavi in its endeavour to get for it the status of a language.

Haryanavi is at present a dialect and is not among the 22 languages listed in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution of India.

Shyam Sakha Shyam, Director of the Haryana Sahitya Akademi, today said the organisation had taken several other steps for the promotion of Haryanavi in particular and Hindi in general.

He said once enough literature was published in Haryanavi, the Akademi would pursue the case of grant of the status of language to Haryanavi.

He was speaking to mediapersons after a literary function organised jointly by the Haryana Sahitya Akademi and Nai Subeh Jan Chetna Samiti, Haryana, at the Yuvak Sahitya Sadan here today.

Reading and singing of Haryanavi folk stories has been introduced in the schools up to the VIII standard.

Workshops on story writing have been started at the district level and one such workshop has been already held at Rohtak, he said.

He said earlier the Akademi provided grant to 10 books, but now any number of manuscripts, which got 60 per cent or more marks in assessment, would get funding for their publication.

Dr RS Sangwan, a local philanthropist was the chief guest while Kamlesh Bhartiya, vice-chairman of the Haryana Granth Akademi was a special guest.

“Zara Si Pyas Rahne De”, a ghazal compilation by Dr Radhey Sham Shukla, “Kahin Bhi, Kuchh Bhi”, a book on short stories by Sheel Kaushik, “Patthar Mein Ankh” and “Gazal ke Sath Sath”, compilation of ghazals by Dr Raj Kumar Nijat were released on the occasion.

The programme began with the Saraswati Vandana by Tarranum Bharti and several poets and littérateurs read their poems and short stories.

Karnal, January 15
Perturbed over the proposed Higher Education and Research Bill, 2011, Karnal advocates have decided to stay away from the courts on January 20 in response to call given by the Bar Council of India to protest against the Bill. The Bar Council also threatened to go on an indefinite strike, if the proposed Bill was not withdrawn by January 23.

Terming the move of the HRD Ministry to bring the Bill as “an attempt to restrict the rights of lawyers”, Bhupinder Singh Rathore, member of the Bar Council, said the advocates were governed by the Advocate Act, 1961, and by proposing the Higher Education and Research Bill and amending legal practice law, the HRD Ministry was trying to curb the independence of the advocates.

The advocates would assemble at the Jantar Mantar, New Delhi, on January 20 to protest against governments’ decision, Rathore said adding that the government should be more concerned about the judicial reforms rather than amending the already existing Acts.

Advocate Harish Arya said when the Bar Council already exists, what was the need for the National Commission or any other body with similar functions.