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74 freed in
Hisar, Martyr’s status for Sandeep sought
27 agitators released in Fatehabad
Martyr’s status for Sandeep demanded
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Hodal MC chief asked to prove majority on March 16
Property Details of Bureaucrats
Nine years on, Transport Dept fails to finalise smart card tender: CAG
Checking illegal colonies
Violation of DPCO
Residents air grievances about cops’ misconduct
Cotton export ban ‘setback’ for millers
15 buffaloes fall prey to disease
Two-day job mela from March 14
Hepatitis C outbreak
Police team attacked in Faridabad
Police station gheraoed
A Sirsa village rises against intoxicants
Youth killed in firing at marriage function
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74 freed in
Hisar, Martyr’s status for Sandeep sought
Hisar, March 11 However, the cases have not been withdrawn. The investigation into the charges of arson and other sections of the IPC will continue. The police requested the court to release the arrested activists on personal bonds. The police reports were filed by the SHOs concerned and verified by the respective DSPs. While the court at Hisar ordered the release of 74 persons, a court at Tohana released 27 persons. The released persons included senior Jat Sangharash Samiti leaders Dharampal Chhot, Ram Bhagat Malik and Nirmal Dahiya. Dharampal Chhot told newsmen after his release that the pro-reservation stir had not been withdrawn. The final decision would be taken after the cremation of Sandeep, who had died in a clash with the police on Monday. Dhara Singh Dhariwal, a senior Khap leader, said the decision to suspend or carry on with the agitation would be taken by the All-India Jat Aarakshan Samiti leaders, but the khaps would extend them cooperation, if sought. |
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27 agitators released in Fatehabad
Fatehabad, March 11 The Railway Protection Force (RPF) prepared papers for the release of 17 agitators arrested from Gajuwala on March 6 and the Tohana Sadar Thana police completed formalities for setting free 10 agitators arrested from Parta on March 8. The police then approached a Tohana court and obtained orders for the release of the agitators. Of these, 17 agitators were arrested from Gajuwala on March 6 after they clashed with the police, which had gone there to clear the railway track blocked by the protesters, while 10 persons were arrested from Parta for attacking a police party that went there to clear a road blockade. The release of the agitators have been facilitated as per the agreement reached between the khap leaders and the representatives of the state government last night. |
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Martyr’s status for Sandeep demanded
Balah (Karnal), March 11 The villagers, who met here today at Balraj Chopal, took the decision after deliberating the
reservation issue and the ongoing agitation for several hours. The Jat leaders and villagers observed a two-minute silence to mourn Sandeep’s death and decided to send representatives to attend the latter’s cremation. "Sandeep’s sacrifice would not go “jaya” (waste) and Jats are ready for any sacrifice to get their demands accepted", the gathering announced in one voice. Jats had blocked the highway at Kurukshetra yesterday in support of their demand for reservation and the agitation
had now spread to Karnal and Kaithal. |
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Hodal MC chief asked to prove majority on March 16
Hodal , March 11 Sarot, a Congress leader, has been challenged by her own party’s rebel councillors. The Deputy Commissioner said the rebels would move a no-confidence motion against Sarot on March 16. His intervention is in response to a joint representation made to him this week by 13 councillors, urging for Sarot’s removal. The councillors claimed she had lost trust of a majority of the elected members of the municipal body. The total strength of the elected members in the municipal committee is 17. Besides, the area MLA and the MP also have voting rights on affairs relating to the municipal body. According to the Haryana Municipal Act, the rebels will need to have two-third members, i.e. 13 votes to carry through their no-confidence motion successfully. On the other hand, Sarot must have support of seven members to defeat the no-confidence motion. The rebels have gone to an undisclosed destination since Tuesday so that their members are not poached upon. They are tipped to arrive at the municipal committee’s office on March 16. Meanwhile, the functioning of the municipal committee has virtually come to a standstill on account of the tussle among the
councillors. |
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Dulina shootout planned in Jhajjar jail: SP
Jhajjar, March 11 Jhajjar SP Patram Singh said the shootout conspiracy was financed by Rajesh, sarpanch of Karor village in Rohtak, as he also wished to avenge the murders of his wife and aunt by Shri Bhagwan and his gang. Shri Bhagwan, his brother Dilbagh Singh and Anil were killed when a jeep carrying them back to the Bhondsi Jail in Gurgaon after producing them before a trial court in Rohtak was ambushed by armed assailants near Dulina village on the Jhajjar-Gurgaon road here yesterday. “Shri Bhagwan was the enemy of Anil Chhippi and Rajesh as he had murdered Anil’s father and his uncle in 2002. Since then Anil had been nursing a grudge against Shri Bhagwan and his family members. Anil, along with Rajesh, hatched a conspiracy to murder Shri Bhagwan,” said Patram Singh. He said Rajesh had been arrested with the help of the Rohtak police this morning while Anil had also been taken on police remand. The police had recovered three SIM cards and a burnt cellphone from a barrack of the Jhajjar jail where Anil Chippi was lodged. |
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Property Details of Bureaucrats
Panipat, March 11 In a reply to an RTI put up by activist PP kapoor, the HSIC stated that a PIL pertaining to the same issue was pending before the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the commission would not take any final decision on the matter till the PIL was settled in the high court. Incidentally, the HSIC itself had on August 9, 2010, ordered disclosure of assets of DP Jangra, district food and supplies controller, Yamunanagar, and his family members while settling an appeal filed by Shamsher Singh. DP Jangra moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court against the verdict, where the decision pronounced by the HSIC was upheld, thus allowing disclosure of his assets. However, the HSIC is still considering the cases involving the state bureaucrats. Kapoor said many of the state bureaucrats had given their consented for disclosure of their details, but the commission was holding this information back for reasons best known to them. It is pertinent to mention that early last year the department of personal and training of the Union Government had passed an order directing all IAS officers to submit their annual property returns by April 4, each year, which was uploaded on the official website of the department for public scrutiny. The state’s Chief Minister had also directed his own ministers and legislators to disclose their assets. In November 2010, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had also decided to make the assets public and liabilities of his ministerial colleagues. Details about the assets and liabilities of all ministers were placed on the website of the Prime Minister's Office. Toughening its stand on the IPS officers who had fail to submit their immovable property returns (IPRs) by January 31, the Union Government had last year decided to deny promotion to them. On November 4, last year, the Home Ministry had asked the state governments to ensure that the IPS officers in their cadre submit their IPRs by January 31. The Central Information Commission (CIC) had on August 28, last year, pronounced a verdict in which it had stated that the property details of the bureaucrats could be made public, as these were not confidential. Kapoor said his fight was in public interest as the property details of the bureaucrats could enable law-enforcing agencies to initiate required action against those suspected of having amassed assets over and above their known sources of income. |
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Nine years on, Transport Dept fails to finalise smart card tender: CAG
Chandigarh, March 11 In its latest report, which was presented in the Vidhan Sabha yesterday, the CAG said though Vahan and Sarathi softwares were installed in 72 of the 76 locations in the state, enforcement modules had not been implemented
anywhere. As a result, smart cards for registration and licences were yet
to be issued at any of the locations. “The citizen-centric service for online downloading of forms, submission of forms, online applications, online appointments for driving tests and making payments are yet to be introduced providing a field day to the commission agents for these services.” Saying that delay in mapping revision in road tax rates in the Vahan software resulted in the loss of about Rs 1.26 crore, the report said the “financial data captured through these softwares is neither complete nor reliable as the cash books and issuance of receipts was still manual in a majority of offices.” Alleging that 2.91 lakh records (about 18 per cent) out of 15.45 lakh records, was “redundant”, the report said there were a number of cases of registration of two or more vehicles with
common insurance cover note number. Raising a question mark over effectiveness of the Sarathi software, the report asserted it did not block the invalid data and facilitated issue of licences to persons below the age of 18 years, issuance of double licences and issuance of driving licences before the the prescribed time limit of 30 days from the issue of the learning licence. All is not well in Transport Dept
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Checking illegal colonies
Gurgaon, March 11 In a novel move, Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner has directed the patwaris — the grassroots-level revenue officials — to submit the reports to him or the District Revenue Officer within 15 days. In order to maintain confidentiality, the patwaris have been asked not to put their name on the envelopes containing the reports. Addressing a workshop of the revenue officials here today, Meena maintained that any upcoming illegal colony could not escape the sight of the patwari concerned and if he made sincere efforts, no illegal colony could be developed in his area. The Deputy Commissioner observed that at times, the patwaris could not report illegal colonisation and other land-related irregularities in their areas and the move to seek anonymous reports from them was aimed at overcoming this barrier. Meena pointed out that it was because of secret information that the district administration could save government land belonging to the Sohna Municipal Committee and Nainwal village panchayat from going to land grabbers. He said strict action would be taken on the reports of the revenue officials. The workshop was attended by all SDMs, Tehsildars, Naib Tehsildars, Kanoongos and Patwaris. Meena asserted that illegal colonisation was not merely a concern to be addressed by the government or administration, but a matter of public interest as the persons who purchased plots in such illegal colonies could lose their hard-earned money. The Deputy Commissioner appealed to the people to take due care before purchasing any immoveable property and check all records from the administration before entering into any agreement. He assured the residents of all help and support from the administration. Pointing out that the girdawri padtaal (verification of standing crops on the fields) will be done from March 1, Meena directed the revenue officials to get their records rectified if there was any mistake, however longstanding, during the said survey. He also asked the revenue officials to clear the backlog of the pending cases of mutation entries. |
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Violation of DPCO
Rohtak, March 11 A team of the FDA has seized around 85,000 tablets worth Rs 6 lakh from a wholesale agency here. This is perhaps the first such raid in the past few years though a firm based in Gujarat had been convicted and penalised recently. According to Dr GL Singhal, State Drug Controller, the raid was carried out on Friday evening after reports that a C&F agency of a drug manufacturer from Ghaziabad had been selling a drug meant for the asthma patients at much higher rates than what was allowed under the DPCO provisions. He said the raid conducted under the supervision of Manmohan Taneja, Senior Drug Control Officer, found that the accused agent lodged at Gopal Complex here was found to be prima facie violating the DPCO as two tablets identified as Unicontin-E 400 and Unicontin-E 600, which had the salt of Theophyline Anhydrous (400mg and 600 mg) were being sold at a rate of Rs 86.55 and Rs 111.45, respectively, instead of the price of Rs 13.17 only for 10 tablets, recommended by the National Pharmaceutical Pricing Authority (NPPA). He said the price list on Form-V was not available with the firm and the C&F agent could not produce any document vide, which company had got such a high price fixed Taneja said the team had seized medicines and a notice under various section of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, and the DPCO, 1995, had been handed over to the accused firm. The authorities have launched an investigation after which the department would be taking legal action if the charges were found to be true. |
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First Anniversary of Fukushima Disaster
Fatehabad, March 11 Farmers observed a two-minute silence for over 20,000 persons, who lost their lives in blasts at the Fukushima nuclear plant. They also paid homage to three farmers, Bhagu Ram, Ram Kumar and Ishwar Siwach, who lost their lives while sitting on a dharna outside the mini-secretariat here. Farmers took a vow that they would fight to save their land till the last drop of their blood. “The government will have to walk over our bodies to take possession of land,” said Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti. He alleged that the state government was insensitive to the woes of farmers and despite their opposition; it was bent upon snatching their fertile land for the nuclear project. Siwach also criticised Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar and CPS Prahlad Singh Gillankhera for not listening to the voice of their voters on this issue. Rajender Sharma and Subhash Punia, both activists of the Parmanu Virodhi Morcha, alleged that the government was ignoring the health hazards, which the people of this area would have to face in future after setting up of this plant. Punia said when a technologically sound country like Japan could not stop the Fukushima disaster; the fate of a country like India could be easily imagined. He said the government was misleading people that their power problems would be solved by this plant, while the fact was that farmers of Fatehabad were not going to get any power from this plant. |
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Residents air grievances about cops’ misconduct
Gurgaon, March 11 Interacting with newsmen, Rana maintained that the authority was empowered to enquire into the allegations of serious misconduct against police officials ranging from constable to the Director-General of Police (DGP) and send its recommendations to the state government. He said according to the Act, the recommendations of the authority would be binding on the government and it would have to take action against the guilty police officials. “An enquiry is normally completed in 60 days, though it can take a maximum of 90 days in complicated cases,” he said. Rana clarified that the authority could enquire into the allegations of serious misconduct, which included any act by a police official that led to death, outraging of modesty or grievous hurt in police custody, provided that the authority was prima facie satisfied about the genuineness of the complaint. He, however, pointed out that a majority of complaints received so far were related to police inaction or delayed action, which did not come under the purview of the authority. Rana asserted that no anonymous complaint would be entertained, though the authority could also take up enquiry of a case suo motu or any case referred to it by the DGP or the state government. He said as of now, the office of the authority was situated at Old PWD (B&R) Building in Sector 19-B, Chandigarh, where complaints could be made on all working days. More information could be sought on phone number 0172- 2772244. |
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Cotton export ban ‘setback’ for millers
Sirsa, March 11 Sushil Mittal, president of the Haryana Cotton Industries Association, said the government’s decision would have serious consequences, as millers as well as these traders have already booked the commodity in forward trade. He said with the ban on exports, several of them would back out leading to disputes and consequential arbitrations. Besides this, the exporters would also face problems, as they have registered exports worth 25 lakh bales with the authorities before the ban was imposed. The ban would also affect farmers’ interests, as the prices of raw cotton are bound to fall. In fact, the price of ‘narma’ (raw cotton) has already fallen from Rs 4,450 per quintal to Rs 4,250 per quintal in Sirsa, the biggest cotton market of the state, ever since the government has imposed the ban. The prices of cotton, which went up to Rs 7,500 per quintal last year, are already lower this year. Better remunerative prices of guar this year has attracted several farmers towards it leading to the chances of area under cotton declining this year. Mittal demanded that the government should immediately open exports of cotton, as the ban, if continues, would demoralise farmers. Mittal also demanded that the reduction in the market fee and the HRDF from 4 per cent to 1.60 per cent given by the state government on cotton should be extended for the future. Earlier, the government had given this reduction for the financial year ending March 31 only. |
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15 buffaloes fall prey to disease
Rohtak, March 11 With a team of doctors of the Animal Husbandry Department camping at Sundana village of the district the death toll of the cattle has touched 15 and 12 others are stated to be seriously ill. The disease, which is still to be brought under the check, threatens to become an endemic as several cases have been reported from Rohtak and Jhajjar districts in the past four weeks. Sundana has been one of the prominent villages of the district where deaths of cattle, including those of Murrah buffaloes, have surfaced in the past few weeks. It is reported that all cattle, which had died recently had initially become victim of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) and later exhibited signs of galgontu (Haemorrhagic Septicimia), before succumbing to the disease, though the Animal Husbandry Department officials claim that no such endemic has been reported so far in the village or the district. It is meanwhile reported that a team of officials and doctors has reached the village and launched a house-to-house drive to get a control over the disease. The team has been administering medicines and giving injections to all cattle in the village, said a resident. Though the department claims to have vaccinated nearly all cattle, residents of the village, however, allege discrimination in this connection. |
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Two-day job mela from March 14
Faridabad, March 11 Sunita Yadav, Faridabad’s Employment Officer, said representatives of 70 local-based private firms would take part in the mela. The department’s target was to enable about 1,500 youths to get jobs in skilled and unskilled categories. Haryana Minister for Labour and Employment Shivcharan Lal Sharma would be the chief guest at the mela to be held in the NIT-based ITI. Yadav further said youths besides those whose names had already been registered with the local employment office, could also participate in the event and avail job opportunities as per their qualifications. All ITIs of the state have also been informed of the development, she added. |
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Hepatitis C outbreak
Sirsa, March 11 Tanwar said he had taken the outbreak seriously and would take up the matter at every appropriate level besides raising this in Parliament. A recent survey conducted under the guidance of medical experts
of the PGIMS, Rohtak, had found over 1,800 cases of hepatitis C in Ratia
with a large majority of them concentrated in a particular area. Tanwar said he was optimistic for his Sirsa parliamentary constituency from the coming Union Budget. The MP, who is also a secretary in the AICC, said he recently met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek his intervention for the early start of work on the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project. |
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Police team attacked in Faridabad
Faridabad, March 11 Zaid “nambardar”, husband of the sarpanch, slapped ASI Narpat Singh, heading the five-member team, warning that he would get the latter suspended . The police said it raided the village and nabbed five persons gambling in a field . The sarpanch’s husband arrived on the scene minutes after the raid and started abusing the policemen. Soon a big crowd from the village led by the sarpanch’s husband got the five gamblers freed from the police team. The crowd attacked the police PCR vehicle and damaged it. An FIR has been registered against 13 persons, including the sarpanch’s husband. |
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Police station gheraoed
Karnal, March 11 Kuldeep had gone to the canal along with his friends on Holi but did not return. When his family members searched for him and enquired from his friends, they were told that he had drowned in the canal. The family members, suspecting foul play, asked the police to register a case and arrest the suspects but
the police did not act swiftly and angry relatives and villagers gheraoed
the police station and blocked the road for several hours. Kuldeep’s relatives said his friends who had gone to the canal with him were responsible for his death and demanded their arrest. After three hours, the police assured the agitated villagers that immediate action would be taken against the accused and road blockade was lifted. |
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A Sirsa village rises against intoxicants
Sirsa, March 11 “Drug addiction and illicit liquor have become the bane of our youths, who get all kinds of intoxicants, including cough syrups and tablets used for a kick, virtually on their doorstep,” said sarpanch Surjeet Singh. Villagers alleged that medical stores running in the village and neighbouring Punjab villages openly sold intoxicating drugs to youths, Illicit liquor is supplied on their doorstep by those involved in this illegal trade. Drunkards and drug addicts roam in the village streets at night. The villagers have now resolved to catch anyone found selling intoxicants in the village. “Such people will be handed over to the police with a complaint to ensure that action is taken against them,” the villagers said. |
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Youth killed in firing at marriage function
Sonepat, March 11 The alleged accused, Jitender of the same village, escaped from the spot. A case section 304, IPC, has been registered against him on the complaint of Suresh’s brother, Rakesh. |
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