Fatehabad, May 17
Work for the setting up of the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), which is already behind schedule, is likely to be delayed further now.

The NPCIL has not been able to deposit funds for distribution among farmers as compensation for their land with the district authorities though three months have elapsed since notification under Section 9 of the Land Acquisition Act was issued in February this year.

The NPCIL will get possession of land only after the compensation awarded to farmers is distributed and no construction work will be possible before actual possession of land.

The district authorities had planned that they would take possession of land immediately after harvesting of wheat, but now, farmers have already started sowing the next crop on their land.

If the possession is not taken within the next few days, the authorities may have to wait for another six months, till the farmers picked their cotton in October-November.

Earlier, the authorities had issued the notification to acquire 1,503 acres, four kanals and 19 marla of agriculture land for the proposed project - 1313 acres, five kanals, eight marlas from Gorakhpur, 185 acres, three kanals, seven marlas from Badopal and four acres, three kanals and 14 marla from Kajal Heri village of the district on July 29, 2010.

The authorities had offered Rs 34 lakh per acre for all categories of land to its owners in February this year.

The price includes Rs 20 lakh per acre as compensation, 30 per cent solatium, 12 per cent per annum interest on this amount from the date of notification and 20 per cent of the core price as no-litigation bonus.

The NPCIL, however, was yet to give its concurrence to this price, as its officials, who attended the meeting, were not themselves competent to take this decision.

Sources said the NPCIL Board, which takes such decisions, was not itself empowered to take a decision of such huge financial implications and for that approval of the Ministry of Atomic Energy was sought.

Though the ministry cleared the file sometime in April this year, the board has not been able to hold its meeting first due to the retirement of a senior functionary of the Atomic Energy Commission in April and now due to the impending retirement of a senior functionary of the NPCIL later this month.

In a meeting to review the progress of the project, the DC, ML Kaushik, is said to have expressed his displeasure at the inordinate delay in the deposit of money by the NPCIL.

Yamunanagar, May 17
Four labourers working at a site were buried alive when a mound of earth caved in. A labourer who sustained serious injuries was referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

The victims were identified as Vijay, Ravi, Gaorav and Rania, all residents of Saleempur village.

The labourers were engaged in work under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) scheme in the village. They were digging out earth to fill the low lying ground of a school when, suddenly, the earth caved in and some labourers got buried under it. Twelve labourers were working at the time.

The other labourers raised the alarm for help. Some villagers rushed to the spot and succeeded in extricating the victims.

The victims were rushed to Civil Hospital where four of them were declared brought dead.

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan along with a medical team rushed to the incident site. He ordered an inquiry into the incident which will be conducted by SDM Bilaspur, Ashwani Maingi.

Panipat, May 17
In a written reply filed before the state Lokayukta, the then Deputy Commissioner, Panipat, Rajeev Ranjan, and the SDM, Capt Shakti Singh, today admitted to have furnished wrong information to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) regarding a case registered against trade unionist and RTI activist PP Kapoor under “work burden.”

The two officials have already been indicted by an inquiry conducted by Divisional Commissioner, Rohtak, for submitting a false report to the NHRC. The inquiry report states that Kapoor had been booked by the district police under various sections of the IPC after his trade union held a protest outside a local pit-loom unit in November, 2005. Later, he was even convicted by a court of law and had to undergo imprisonment for 21 months at Karnal jail.

However, Kapoor moved the NHRC stating that he had been implicated in a false case at the behest of the influential industrialist because he had raised his voice in support of the labourers. Following this, the NHRC wrote to the Panipat district administration seeking a report on the matter.

In its reply to the NHRC, which was compiled by SDM Shakti Singh and forwarded by Deputy Commissioner Rajeev Ranjan, the administration had told the commission that no case was ever registered against Kapoor in Panipat for vandalising any factory. Though Kapoor was convicted in the said case and had to undergo imprisonment, Kapoor alleged that the report submitted by the administration had prompted the NHRC to close the case and remove the possibility of him being proved innocent.

However, Kapoor took up the case with the state Lokayukta, which asked the state Chief Secretary to look into the matter and submit a report. After, seeking a report from the Panipat DC, in which it was admitted that wrong information had been placed before the NHRC, the Chief Secretary asked Suprabha Dahiya, Divisional Commissioner, Rohtak, to conduct another inquiry and fix responsibility, in which the two officials were found to be on the wrong side of the law.

Shakti Singh, in his written reply before the Lokayukta (a copy of which is available with The Tribune) stated, “In haste a report was prepared after taking verbal inputs from the labour officer.” He said, “Labour and Police Departments officials during the telephonic enquiry did not mention anything about any FIR against Kapoor and thus I inadvertently mentioned that no FIR was registered Kapoor.”

In his written reply before the Lokayukta, Rajeev Ranjan said “on the basis of the report prepared by the SDM, I prepared a response to the NHRC. Since in his report, the SDM had taken a categorical stand that on November 12, 2005, no case was registered against Kapoor, therefore the said line also got percolated in the response.”

Rohtak, May 17
Eight days after the raid conducted by the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) to rescue the inmates of ‘Apna Ghar’, a shelter home for orphans and destitute women, the police team investigating the charge of child abuse is not clear on the number of children and women who have gone missing from here.

The probe team has also launched an enquiry into the accounts of the NGO running this shelter home.

“Though it has been revealed that at least 10 children and six women had gone missing from the shelter in the past couple of years, the number could be more,’’ said SSP Vivek Sharma. He said the main accused had admitted to sending out 10 children.

He claimed that the number of women could be more as there was no record of how many had been sent out or abandoned during the past several years.

Sources said some girls had been “married off” by the shelter home officials when they turned 18, , but details regarding such developments were unavailable or missing from the records of the home.

“Apna Ghar has been getting grants on a regular basis from both the state and central governments, but the manager of the Bharat Vikas Sangh, the NGO operating this shelter home, failed to provide the account details ,” claimed an official.

Chandigarh, May 16
Making clear its intentions of monitoring the issues arising out of Jat agitation in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today gave the State of Haryana a week’s time to furnish the details of agitators and leaders spearheading the stir.

Justice Paramjit Singh of the high court also made it clear that the Principal Secretary (Home) would have to be present in the court, in case of failure of the State to file its reply.

The high court had, on the previous date, asked the State to place before it the details of mob violence and any damage to public property. The details of burning a judicial officer’s car were also sought.

Issuing the directions in an open court, the Bench had asked the State to come out with the identity of the agitators and the names along with the particulars of the leaders leading the agitation.

This was required so that the guidelines laid by the Supreme Court in the Destruction of Public and Private Properties versus the State of Andhra Pradesh and others could be adequately implemented, the Bench said.

Gurgaon, May 17
A local court today rejected the police demand for a test identification parade (TIP) of Suraj Sehrawat, the main accused in the BMW hit-and-run case in which two persons, including a pregnant woman, were killed at Iffco Chowk here on May 5.

The prosecution had maintained that a TIP was needed as two cab drivers were witnesses to the accident and had seen the BMW driver run away from the spot.

On the other hand, Sehrawats’s lawyer objected to the police demand for a TIP, saying his visuals had already been published and aired by the media. The court had reserved its decision on the police plea yesterday.

The court today turned down the TIP request, but granted permission to collect a blood sample of the accused so that it could be matched with the blood found on the window of the BMW car involved in the accident.

The court also asked the police to ensure that the investigation reports did not become media headlines.

Sehrawat was granted bail by Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) Jasbir Singh’s court, where he surrendered himself on Tuesday.

Pregnant woman Kshama Chopra and driver Sanjay Gulati were killed in the accident.

Faridabad, May 17
A drunken brawl between two brothers ended in the murder of one of them by another at Bharatpur village near here. Although the incident occurred in the wee hours of Tuesday, the police registered a case of murder against the accused, Vijay, last night.

Vijay had a tiff with his wife on late Tuesday night. He later picked up a quarrel with his younger brother, Sanjay, in their house. Subsequently, he attacked Sanjay with stones in a fit of rage.

He allegedly threw stones on the deceased, causing serious injuries on his head which led to his death. The victim died on the spot.

Subhash, youngest brother of Vijay, said the fight between his brothers started when Sanjay objected to the accused’s desire to share his room. Vijay wanted to sleep in Sanjay’s room after he quarrelled with his wife.

The accused and the deceased were reportedly drunk when they clashed.

Chandigarh, May 17
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who was admitted to the PGI here last evening after he complained of uneasiness, today made a public appearance by attending a function to mark the launching of the membership drive of the Youth Congress in the state.

Hooda was discharged from the PGI this morning.

His decision to attend the function held at Congress Bhavan here was obviously intended to scotch rumours about his health.

Kaithal, May 17
At the time of consolidation in 1957-58, the Nouch village panchayat of this district had 7,357 kanals and 15 marlas of land, but now it has 5,685-16 marlas, thus losing ownership of about 1672 kanals (209 acres).

This fact came to light when Uday Singh of the village, at present living on the Ambala road in Kaithal town procured information from the revenue authorities under the RTI Act.

However, the authorities, while confirming reduction in the area of the panchayat vide letter dated April 25, have asked the applicant, Uday Singh, to deposit Rs 2,400 if he wanted to have certified copies of mutations regarding the beneficiaries and transferees of about 209 acres.

Talking to this reporter here yesterday, Uday Singh said he needed this information to support his public interest litigation (PIL) pending in the Punjab and Haryana High Court for which May 17 had been fixed as the next date of hearing.

He had filed an application on March 24 , 2012 seeking information from the office of the tehsildar of Kaithal about the land standing in the name of the panchayat at the time of consolidation in 1957-58 and at present.

Uday Singh said he had already spent thousands of rupees pursuing the PIL to save the property of the panchayat and expose the functionaries and officials who had caused a loss to the panchayat, but he could not afford to pay Rs 2,400 to the revenue authorities. He said that he would take up the matter with the deputy commissioner, Chander Shekhar.

Kurukshetra, May 17
The Haryana unit of the Bharatiya Kisan Union today held a protest rally and later gheraoed the house of state Finance Minister H.S. Chatha in support of its demands.

President of the union Gurnam Singh said the government had not facilitated a meeting of the farmers with the Prime Minister.

Gurgaon, May 17
Self-proclaimed godman Nirmaljeet Singh Narula (Nirmal Baba to his followers), who is facing allegations and court trials regarding amassing wealth by cheating unsuspecting people and using donations to buy a hotel in the Greater Kailash area of Delhi, has reportedly bought a big chunk of land in Gurgaon district.

Sources said nearly 6.5 acres of land in Bhondsi village in Sohna have been bought in the name of Nirmal Darbar for Rs 21.12 crore.

According to the land record, the land has been sold by one Saurabh Gupta.