Chandigarh, May 31
Desperately looking for the restoration of certain grants by the Central Government, the Haryana Government is finally gearing up to impose property tax on residential and commercial property

While the final call on the imposition of property tax and the rate of taxation would be taken at the meeting of the Haryana Cabinet on June 1, a consensus is emerging on the reimposition of property tax, sources said.

“While the re-imposition of property tax would help the state get central grants amounting to over Rs 750 crore, particularly under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNRUM), it would not put much burden on residents as the tax charged would be notional for a majority of the property owners,” a senior official said.

Under the proposed formula, a token amount of Re 1 per square yard is to be charged for houses up to 250 square yards and flats up to 500 square feet. The self-occupied houses would, however, be given 50% concession on the payment of property tax.

As far as the houses above 250 square yards are concerned, the proposed property tax rate is 0.000375% of the collector rate for self-occupied houses and 0.000750% of the collector rate for rented accommodation for commercial property the proposed rate is 0.0015% of the collector rate.

Terming the proposal as “people-friendly”, the official claimed that since about 80 % of the houses were up to 250 square yards, there would not be much burden on public. Since religious institutions, war widows, a section of the ex-servicemen, agricultural plots measuring over 500 square yards, besides government buildings, would be exempt from the property tax, a substantial section of society would be outside the ambit of the property tax.

The property tax was scrapped in 2010 by the Congress government. As a consequence, the Central Government stopped the release of central grants, saying urban local bodies must generate resources as part of the urban reforms to get matching grants. Even the 13th Finance Commission had termed the abolition as a “wrong” step and against constitutional provisions.

Chandigarh, May 31
The prestigious All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi, took its first step for expansion outside the national capital when Union Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda laid the foundation stone of AIIMS Outreach OPD ()OOPD at Badhsa village in Jhajjar district last evening.

The OOPD is the first stage for setting up the second campus of AIIMS.

Azad said the AIIMS-II campus would be bigger than the Delhi AIIMS.

The people of Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Rajasthan would benefit in a big way as a national cancer institute, a medical college and a nursing college would also be set up as part of AIIMS-II.

Azad said the AIIMS OOPD, having most modern facilities, would be completed in four months. There would be 5 per cent to 10 per cent reservation for the youth of Badsha village in class-IV and non-technical jobs in AIIMS-II.

“This AIIMS will house many such facilities which cannot be provided in Delhi for lack of space. It will not only have a research institute, where the health policies would be drafted but would also have a national institute where cancer, heart and infectious diseases will be handled. New technologies to provide treatment at reasonable prices will also be researched here,” said the minister.

The cancer institute would be set up over 50 acres. It would have advanced research facilities in various fields. It would have various departments like radiation oncology, medical oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine, tumor patho-biology, lab medicine, anaesthesiology and hospice and preventive oncology.

While accepting the demand put by local MP Deepender Singh Hooda and appreciating the urgency of providing quick relief to the people, the Union Government decided to set up the OOPD on a priority basis as the AIIMS generally takes five to six years to complete. The OOPD has been designed to handle about 1,000 patients per day.

Azad also acknowledged the emergence of Haryana as number one state in different fields of development like education, agriculture productivity, milk productivity, sports, bravery and secularism.

Hooda said the AIIMS would prove a milestone in the development of the state. He also announced three new link roads connecting Badsha village to Khera, Jaalampur and Rawta villages.

Ever since the Union government had announced that the AIIMS-II would be set up, the governments of Uttar Pradesh and Delhi and been trying to get it in their respective territories. However, the relentless efforts made by the Rohtak MP tilted the balance in favour of Haryana.

Panipat, May 31
With six thermal units in the state out of operation, the state is reeling under a severe power shortage which has not only affected routine life but also hit the state industry hard.

Both units at the 600-MW Yamunanagar thermal plant have shut down after the failure of turbine blades. The rotor of turbine of Unit 1 is under repair at the works of Siemens in Baroda and it can be expected only in November after 14 months of outage.

The turbine blades of the second unit were also found damaged when it tripped on March 31 and this unit cannot be expected to start generating power before June-end, highly placed sources in Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL) said.

According to these sources, the turbine blades of the 600-MW thermal unit 1 at Khedar had also been found damaged and HPGCL engineers had observed that even the foundation of Unit 1 was in a twisted condition. This unit was commissioned in August, 2010, and was to undergo a performance guarantee test.

Both units of the supercritical 1320-MW plant at Jhajjar are not producing any power. One unit is under shutdown for general maintenance since May 11 while other is down due to coal shortage. Unit 4 at the Panipat thermal plant is down due to boiler leakage.

Due to the prevailing circumstances, the state is facing a power shortage of over 257 lakh units daily, while the supply in state is restricted to 1,035 lakh units.

People are facing a minimum of eight-hour cuts in cities and the villages get power for only a few hours daily.

According to sources, the power cuts in the state are set to increase from present minimum eight hours in the upcoming for paddy season which commences on June 10. The power demand is expected to rise by another 300 lakh units daily.

As of now, the state has been overdrawing more than 110 lakh units daily on frequency-based rates.

Hisar, May 31
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said with the blessings of the people of Haryana, he would led the Congress to victory for the third time in a row in the next Assembly polls.

Addressing a public meeting today on the occasion of Shri Ganga Dussehra Mela at Bheri Akbarpur village near Uklana in the district, he said when he came to power in 2005, his opponents had predicted the fall of his government within six months.

However, we not only completed the first term but also led the Congress to victory in the 2009 elections because of pro-people policies, he said, adding that if the people continued to back him and the Congress, he would form the government for the third term also.

Hooda said the state government had raised old age pension from Rs 200 a month to Rs 700. Children belonging to the economically weaker sections of society, Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, who sought admission to government schools, were being given scholarships from the day of the enrollment. As of today, the government was paying scholarships to the students up to class XII, which are worth Rs 16 lakh a year.

The Chief Minister said the rate of interest for farmers for crop loans had been reduced from 11 per cent to four per cent. If the farmers failed to repay their loans, their land would not be auctioned now, he said.

Hooda said his government was fast tracking development projects, including educational infrastructure, rail network and health facilities for faster development of the state.

Faridabad, May 31
The call for “Bharat Bandh” given by the NDA and Left Front to protest against the recent hike in the prices of petrol received a mixed response in various districts of the state today.

A majority of markets in all five NITs of Faridabad, Old Faridabad, Sarai, Sector 7, SGM Nagar and Ballabgarh remained closed.

The shops were closed in the morning but started doing business in the afternoon. The state vice-president of the Vyapaar Prakosht of the BJP, Jagdish Bhatia, said shopkeepers were urged to keep their shops closed till 2 pm.

Ambala: Most of the commercial establishments, including Sadar Bazaar, Sarafa Bazaar and other markets, remained closed in the Ambala Cantonment, however, emergency services like chemist shops and nursing homes were exempted from the bandh. MLA Anil Vij claimed that the bandh was successful. However, the bandh effect was partial in the city.

Rohtak: The bandh call evoked a lukewarm response in the district, as a majority of commercial establishments and markets remained opened and there was hardly any impact on the services, including transport and banking sector. Members and activists of the BJP, HJC and INLD, staged a demonstration in the city to mark their protest and demanded its rollback.

Workers of the CPM, BJP and HJC also took out a protest march in Rohtak.

Sonepat: The call evoked a mixed response in the town. A protest march led by former MP Kishan Singh Sangwan, BJP legislator Kavita Jain, state media in charge Rajiv Jain and senior HJC leader Ranjit Kaushik was also organised.

Led by CPM’s district secretary SN.Solanki and CPI’s district secretary S Giri, activists of both parties staged a dharna in front of the DC’s office at the mini-secretariat and handed over a memorandum to DC Pankaj Aggarwal.

In the memorandum addressed to the President of India, the protestors demanded immediate rollback of the hike.

Sirsa: The nationwide bandh call evoked a mixed response in Sirsa. Workers of the BJP-HJC alliance had altercation with some shopkeepers, as they refused to close shutters of their shops on their appeal at the Ghanta Ghar Chowk.

Fatehabad: The call failed to evoke much response here. Though activists of the political parties assembled near the Laal Batti Chowk in the morning and blocked vehicular traffic for a few minutes, they failed to get any response from the public.

Kurukshetra: Almost all shopkeepers in and around Kurukshetra pulled down shutters of their respective establishments in response to the call, thereby giving a deserted look to the bazaars here today.

Panipat: Normal life was affected in the district due to the bandh. Commercial establishments remained closed, while some factories and industrial units were operational. Though vehicular movement was not affected largely, commuters faced trouble as a large number of auto-rickshaws kept off the roads during the day. Meanwhile, elaborate security arrangements were made by the district police to prevent any untoward incident.

Karnal: A near total bandh was observed here. The call evoked tremendous response and all shops, commercial establishments and institutions remained shut, while buses, rail services, water and power supply remained unaffected. Leaders of the BJP-HJC burnt an effigy of the UPA government.

Rewari: In response to the nationwide call, shopkeepers and traders in main markets of the town observed a bandh. Activists of the BJP and HJC took out a procession, shouting slogans against the UPA government.

Panipat, May 31
Facing charges of having abducted and murdering a girl, four youths from Kanupura village of Sultanpur district of Uttar Pradesh dug out evidence to prove themselves innocent as they found the girl alive and leading a happy married life at the Manmohan Colony of the district.

The four youths, Mahesh, Seshram, Raj Kumar and Santosh Kumar Yadav, were accused of abducting and later murdering Tarawati, daughter of Ganga Ram of their native village in August 2009, traced the whereabouts of Tarawati, who had eloped with Guddu of Dasaipur village just days before the youths were booked under various sections of the law and remanded in judicial custody by a court.

It was last year that Mahesh, Seshram and Raj Kumar were granted bail by a court in UP, but Santosh remained in jail. Out on bail, Mahesh started looking for evidence to prove their innocence and stumbled upon clues that suggested that Tarawati was never killed. Tarawati’s father, Ganga Ram, who had some land dispute with them, had framed false charges against them after Tarawati eloped with Guddu. Ganga Ram identified a decomposed body of a young woman, which was found by the police 17 days after Tarawati disappeared as that of his daughter and on the basis of this the court sent the youths in judicial custody pending a final verdict in the case.

Mahesh said he met Awadhesh Kumar of Dasaipur village who told him that Tarawati had eloped with his nephew and was now settled in Panipat. However, to reveal the full details of the girl, he demanded Rs 50,000 from him.

But, Mahesh started to follow Guddu’s father, Ram Bhadur, who came to visit his son and daughter-in-law, Tarawati, at the Manmohan Colony in Panipat on May 27. Thereafter two days, Mahesh spotted the girl for whose abduction and murder, he along with three others were facing the charges and even had to under go imprisonment for over two-and-half year.

Mahesh then brought here a team of policemen from Sultanpur, who along with the local police arrested Tarawati and her husband, Guddu, and took them back. Mahesh said besides proving themselves innocent in court, they would now be filing a complaint against Ganga Ram and his daughter for hatching a conspiracy to implicate them in a false case.

Chandigarh, May 31
Even as the working of shelter homes continues to be under the scanner, a teenaged girl has gone missing from the government-run shelter home, Bal Kunj, in Chhichhroli (Yamunanagar) within hours of arriving there.

The girl, about 14 years, was one of the two inmates shifted from Karnal’s Nari Niketan yesterday. They had arrived around 3.30 pm and one was missing at 5.30 pm, when all the children assembled for the evening prayer.

The house mother, Usha, sources said, had taken the girls to freshen up before they were to be taken for a medical examination.

The Superintendent at the Bal Kunj, S Singh, informed the District Child Welfare officer and the staff even tried to search for her in the vicinity before informing the police for a “missing person” report.

Sources at the Bal Kunj said that the other girl from Nari Niketan disclosed that the runaway girl behaved erratically at the earlier home fand was usually kept bolted in a room.

The staff at the Bal Kunj, realizing that the girl came from Saharanpur, said that they had decided to move an application for her transfer to a home in Saharanpur.

The District Child Welfare Officer, Manisha Khanna, said that the girl, in her conversation, had come across as “mentally unstable”. 

Panipat, May 31
The district police today claimed to have arrested three persons on charges of kidnapping a four-year-old boy, Subham, from Ashok Vihar Colony on May 21.

The three persons, identified as Rahul, Vijay and Sant Lal, were arrested from the Kutani road in a joint operation carried out by the city police and staff of CIA-I.

District police chief KK Rao said three persons had picked up Subham while he was playing outside his house on May 21. After remaining silent for three days, they called up Subham’s father Sunil and demanded a ransom of Rs 15 lakh. However, given his economic standing, Sunil expressed his inability to pay the ransom and instead informed the police.

The police started to track the mobile number of the kidnappers and eventually arrested them from a hideout on the Kutani road. The SSP said on being interrogated, the kidnappers told the police that out of fear of being arrested, they took Subham to Delhi where they left him in a local train to Ghaziabad and returned back to Panipat.

Rao said the police was now trying to locate the boy for which teams had been sent to Delhi and Ghaziabad.

Hisar, May 31
Representatives of different social organisations have appealed to the Jat community to come forward to restore peace in Bhagana village of this district where certain persons had raised a wall around the area housing Dalit families, leading to their exodus from the village.

Rajesh Sindhu of the Haryana Jagriti Morcha, Sarvodaya Mahila Development Samiti’s Jai Singh Kataria, Republican Party of India’s Kundan Chaudhary, Jan Kalyan Parishad’s Chand Comrade and Ambedkar Samaj Sewa Samiti’s Jitender were among those who visited the village yesterday.

In a statement, they said all 80 houses belonging to the Dalits were locked as the families had been camping outside the Mini Secretariat here for the past several days after the wall was first raised.

They said the influential persons who had constructed the wall were still roaming about in the village because of which the Dalits were unwilling to return to the village for fear of reprisal.

Bhiwani, May 31
In the recently announced CBSE class XII results, Nikhil Gupta, a student of BPS School, achieved 20th rank at the national level and topped in the commerce stream.

Nikhil Gupta, who gave credit of his success to his parents, teachers and friends, said he secured 97.2 per cent marks.

Nikhil said the key to success was thorough study and optimising the output. “I studied regularly for two to four hours,” said Nikhil, further adding that focus is the key.