Chandigarh, June 8
The Haryana Government has transferred eight IAS and 33 HCS officers with immediate effect.

Atul Kumar, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC)-cum-Chief Executive Officer (CEO), District Rural Development Agency (DRDA), Jhajjar, goes to Mewat at Nuh vice Anita Yadav, who becomes Joint Commissioner, Municipal Corporation (MC), Faridabad. KM Pandurang, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Karnal, goes to Gurgaon vice VS Hooda. Chander Shekhar, SDM, Jhajjar, has been posted as ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Karnal, vice Pandurang.

Nikhil Gajraj, SDM, Ellenabad, goes as ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Hisar, vice Ashok Kumar Garg. Anshaj Singh, SDM, Narnaul and Estate Officer, HUDA, Rewari, has been posted as ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Narnaul vice SS Ghoswal. Rajiv Rattan, SDM, Narwana, has been posted as ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Sirsa. Pankaj, SDM, Rohtak, is new SDM, Bhiwani, and Estate Officer, HUDA, Bhiwani, vice Yash Garg, who goes as SDM, Hodal. Sunita Verma, MD, Cooperative Sugar Mills, Palwal, goes as Secretary, MC Faridabad.

SS Ghoswal, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Narnaul, goes to Palwal vice Pushpender Singh. Geeta Bharti, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Yamunanagar, is now Additional Director (Admn.), Higher Education, vice Mahavir Singh. VS Hooda, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Gurgaon, goes as MD, Cooperative Sugar Mills, Palwal. Ashok Kumar Garg, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Hisar, goes as such to Fatehabad. Pushpender Singh is new ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Jhajjar.

RS Verma, ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Panipat, will also work as Secretary, Haryana Backward Classes Commission. SS Saini, Additional Director (Administration) and Deputy Secretary, Secondary Education, and Member Secretary, UTKARSH Society, goes as ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Yamunanagar. SK Setia has been posted in place of Saini.

Shiv Parshad, SDM, Samalkha, goes as such to Narnaul and Estate Officer, HUDA, Rewari vice Anshaj Singh. MK Ahuja, SDM, Ambala, will also work as Deputy Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department. Mahavir Singh, Additional Director (Administration) will now be Additional Director (Administration), Primary Education.

Jagdish Sharma, Secretary, RTA, Rohtak and Hisar, will be SDM, Rohtak. Aurbind Sharma, SDM, Rewari, will be SDM, Narwana. G.L. Yadav, SDM, Jind, will replace Aurbind Sharma in Rewari. Pardeep Kumar-I, SDM, Indri, is new SDM, Jhajjar. Sat Pal will be new SDM, Samalkha. Munish Nagpal, SDM, Sirsa, goes to Ellenabad.

Ranjit Kaur, City Magistrate, Rewari, will be MD, Cooperative Sugar Mills, Kaithal. Prem Chand Gangle, SDM, Barara will be GM, Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar. Sushil Kumar-I, SDM, Shahabad, goes as such to Barara.

Satbir Singh, GM, Haryana Roadways, Yamunanagar, will be SDM, Shahabad. Manisha Sharma, City Magistrate, Bhiwani, goes as SDM, Tosham. Amit Kumar, City Magistrate, Palwal, goes as such to Rohtak. Sushil Kumar-II, City Magistrate, Karnal, goes as SDM, Indri.

Virat, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Sonepat, has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Hathin against a vacant post. Dalbir Singh, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Chandigarh, has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Jind and Estate Officer, HUDA, Jind vice GL Yadav.

Amarjit Singh, Joint Director (Admn.), Medical Education, Haryana, has been posted as Sub Divisional Officer (Civil), Sirsa vice Munish Nagpal. Ajay Chopra, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Hisar, has been posted as City Magistrate, Rewari vice Ranjit Kaur.

Tarun Kumar Pawaria, General Manager, Haryana Roadways, Faridabad, has been posted as City Magistrate, Palwal vice Amit Kumar. Gaurav Kumar, Joint Controller, Civil Defence, Ambala, has been posted as City Magistrate, Bhiwani, vice Manisha Sharma. 

New Delhi, June 8
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) Express Corridor would be completed by May next year.

The corridor would connect Delhi also. Hooda’s announcement came after his meeting with his Delhi counterpart, Sheila Dikshit, today. The Delhi government has to pay a part of the expressway construction cost. The two CMs reportedly discussed ways as how the Delhi government would pay its share of the construction cost.

Sources said the total project cost is about Rs 2,500 crore. The construction cost to be borne by the Delhi government is Rs 445 crore.

During the meeting, it was decided that the once the project was completed, the Delhi government would pay its full share of the construction cost.

The 136 km, four-lane expressway will have orbital railway and a dozen specialized hubs including world trade, fashion, entertainment, leisure and dry ports.

The KMP corridor passes through the districts of Palwal, Faridabad, Mewat, Gurgaon, Rohtak, Jhajjar and Sonipat of the state. The specialized hubs would be developed along the expressway. The width of the Express Corridor would be 1 km and the remaining area would be kept as an agriculture zone.

As per the plan approved, the Right of Way (ROW) of Expressway would be 100 meters with green belt of 100 meters on either sides and a 50-meter wide orbital rail corridor on the Delhi side.

The Entertainment Hub, World Trade Hub and Fashion Hub would be set up in Gurgaon.

New Delhi, June 8
The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Haryana Government, seeking its response to a plea for dismantling all illegal and defaulting stone crushing units in the state, particularly in Faridabad, Gurgaon, Mewat, Mohindergarh and Bhiwani districts.

A Bench comprising Justices KS Radhakrishnan and JS Khehar also sent notices to the Rajasthan Government and the Centre as the petition, filed by the Society for Awareness and Development, has sought closure of all illegal mines in Alwar district of Rajasthan.

According to the petition, the minerals from thousands of illegal mines in Rajasthan are taken to the crushers in neighbouring Haryana.

The stock registers of the crushing units in Haryana must be scrutinised to ascertain as to whether they were showing that minerals were being received from Rajasthan, the petition said.

Officials in Haryana should also be directed to ensure that all the stone crushers had environmental clearance and valid permits and that the units maintained proper records for the stone chips/dust received from Rajasthan.

The state should also collect value added tax (VAT) from these units. “All defaulting/illegally functioning stone crushers should be dismantled immediately,” the Society for Awareness and Development pleaded.

The society pointed out that in a recent judgment relating to mining in Haryana, the SC had made clearance by the Union Ministry of Forests and Environment mandatory even for leases of minor minerals involving less than five hectares.

But this was not being followed in Rajasthan, particularly in the forest areas of the eco-sensitive Aravalli region.

Further, the SC had also taken cognisance of the report of a court-appointed panel, the Central Empowered Committee, on the supply of illegally mined material to stone crushers in Haryana.

The SC directions “are not being complied with in letter and spirit as there is failure to identify the illegal functioning of the stone crushers in Haryana, while illegally mined mineral continues to be supplied across from Alwar district,” the petition said.

Further, the illegal mines had no safety measures for the workers in place as mandated in law.

This resulted in the death of six labourers in Bhiwari in August 2011 and 10 workers in Choharpur village on May 18, 2012, the petitioner said.

Both the places are in the Alwar district.

Gurgaon, June 8
Ved Prakash (26) and Monica (24), who eloped and got married in a temple against the wishes of their parents over a year ago, were shot at allegedly by the girl’s relatives at Pataudi township in the district last night.

They were rushed to the Civil Hospital, Gurgaon, but were shifted to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi in view of their critical condition.

Ved Prakash hails from Todapur village near Pataudi while Monica is from Patauda village in Jhajjar district. Both belong to different castes and their families were against their marriage.

However, they tied the nuptial knot at a temple over a year ago. Since then, they were living secretly at various places in Haryana and Rajasthan to evade the wrath of their families.

Recently, the girl’s family traced them and assured them that they would solemnize their marriage now. Police sources said Monica’s family members took the couple on a car in the name of marriage ceremony last evening. Later in the night, the duo were shot and left on a roadside near Safeda Nagar in Pataudi. Later, they were spotted and rushed to a hospital.

DCP Praveen Kumar Mehta said an FIR had been lodged against seven persons, including two women, regarding the matter.

The persons named in the FIR include Monica’s mother, Jyoti, brothers, Raju and Bhola, their friends, Ashu and Praveen, sister, Lata, and her husband. They have been booked on the charges of attempt to murder along with other sections of the IPC.

A massive manhunt is on to arrest the accused and several police teams are on the job, though no arrests had been made so far. 

Gurgaon, June 8
A girl student of a local college was allegedly raped by four youths for nearly six months. The youths also filmed the girl and threatened to upload the videos on the Internet in case she reported the matter. One of the youths is a relative of the girl, the police said today.

The girl broke down before her brother who persuaded her to report the matter to the police. The police has arrested three of the four youths named in the FIR.

DC Maheshwar Dayal said a hunt was on for the fourth accused. It all began in December when Manish, who belongs to the girl’s village, promised to get her employed at a reputed hospital in Gurgaon. Later, he took the girl to a flat near Subhash Chowk here and allegedly raped her while his friend Bheem allegedly filmed the act.

Bheem is also from the girl’s village and is a relative. They allegedly threatened the girl that they would circulate the videos and upload these on the Internet if she refused physical relations.

Manish and Bheem allegedly raped the girl repeatedly. Nearly a month ago, Bheem called the girl near Basai and allegedly forced her to have sex with two more youths, Rohit and Praveen.

The girl narrated the tale to her brother who her persuaded her to lodge a complaint. On his insistence, the girl lodged an FIR against the four youths.

Fatehabad, June 8
Farmers opposing the acquisition of their land for the proposed nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur, intensified their agitation here today.

Hundreds of farmers assembled at the dharna site of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti and raised slogans against the proposed project. “This is no more issue of Gorakhpur farmers alone but it has become vital for farmers from all over the state. The manner in which these villagers have been fighting to save their lands, we will not allow their struggle to go waste,” said Prahlad Singh Bharukhera, state president of the Haryana Kisan Manch.

Rajender Chaudhary, the district president of the HJC, alleged that Gorakhpur Atomic Power Project (GAPP) was a clear example of regional bias of the Congress government. He said a project that might cause harm to the well-being of the local populace had been given to Fatehabad while all universities, medical colleges and other institutions had fallen in Rohtak’s kitty.

INLD’s Kuljeet Singh Kuleria, Ram Raj Mehta and Balwan Singh Daulatpuria also addressed the dharna and assured the agitating farmers of the party’s support to them through thick and thin. Kisan leader Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria said the farmers had already given three sacrifices for the cause and they would not look back if the need arises.

Hans Raj Siwach, the president of Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, announced that a Maha Rally of farmers would be organised on August 17 when the farmers’ agitation would complete its two years.

Later, the farmers gave a memorandum addressed to the Chief Minister through city magistrate Shalini Chetal demanding annulment of the project. Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL) had recently written to the local authorities giving its concurrence to the rates of award money decided for the acquisition of farmers’ land.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, June 8
The pace with which the Dakshin Haryana Bijlee Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) authorities have been working to replace its electricity poles damaged due to this week's windstorms has angered the farmers of Sirsa and Fatehabad.

Six days after the first of the three windstorms that felled over 500 electricity poles in Sirsa and Fatehabad, the DHBVN authorities have not so far been able to replace even one-fourth of the poles.

Sources said the replacement work might take over a month. And with the paddy transplantation season around, the farmers fear they may not be able to plant their crop in time.

The authorities said 305 poles were damaged in the windstorms on June 2, 3 and 5 in Sirsa area of the DHBVN, while 269 were uprooted in the Nigam's Fatehabad division. Besides these, a large number of transformers installed in the fields have also been grounded. "We have approached the DHBVN authorities several times for restoring the power supply to our tubewells, but all our requests have fallen on deaf ears," alleged a farmer from Kalanwali area.

The DHBVN authorities, sources said, just don't have the poles. "We have received 106 new poles. We have replaced 80 damaged poles," said RK JainDHBVN superintending engineer. "We are trying on a priority basis to restore supply to waterworks and areas inhabited by villagers," he said.

BK Ranjan, DHBVN executive engineer at Fatehabad, said he had received 105 new poles and 80 of these had been sent to the sites. "We are trying our best to speed up the work," he said.

Much to the relief of the authorities, light showers in the last few days have considerably brought down the temperatures. "Normally, we had a demand of 225 to 230 MW these days, but due to fall in the temperature, it has fallen to 190 to 200 MW," said the Sirsa SE RK Jain. 

Panipat, June 8
Despite being indicted by two government inquiries, and even after admitting their wrongdoing before the state Lokayukta, the then deputy commissioner Panipat Rajeev Ranjan and SDM Capt Shakti Singh are unlikely to face any action.

Reason: the registrar of the Lokayukta has concluded that it was a “clerical mistake and the officers had no mala fide intentions” in not providing complete information to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

An inquiry conducted by divisional commissioner Rohtak indicted the two officials for submitting false report to the NHRC. According to the inquiry report, an RTI activist and trade unionist, PP Kapoor, was booked for rioting, causing hurt, extortion, attempt to murder and criminal intimidation under various sections of the IPC after his union held a protest outside a local pit-loom unit in November, 2005. He was convicted by a local court and had to undergo imprisonment for 21 months at Karnal.

However, Kapoor moved the NHRC saying he had been implicated in a false case at the behest of an influential industrialist. The NHRC wrote to the Panipat district administration seeking a report.

In its reply to the NHRC, which was compiled by SDM Shakti Singh and forwarded by deputy commissioner Rajeev Ranjan, the administration told the commission that no case of vandalism was ever registered against Kapoor in Panipat. Kapoor alleged that the report submitted by the administration had prompted the NHRC to close the case and wipe out 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 law.

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

In his written reply before the Lokayukta, Rajeev Ranjan said: “On the basis of the report prepared by 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.”

Karnal, June 8
A week after the serial LPG cylinder blasts and explosion of a liquid gas tanker in Kohand, the police claimed to have identified the four accused reportedly undergoing treatment in Delhi and Panipat. The driver of the tanker Gulab is still at large.

About a dozen persons were injured in the blasts on June 1 at Kohand, 25 Km from here when fire broke out while siphoning of liquid gas into empty cylinders led to blasts and subsequently the LPG tanker also exploded.

The police had constituted a number of teams which carried raids at the hideouts of the suspects. After investigations, cops were able to identify four persons involved in LPG pilferage during transit, Karnal Superintendent of Police (SP) Shashank Anand said.

The Driver of the tanker has been identified as Gulab of Jaunpur in Uttar Pradesh and efforts are being made to nab him to ascertain if there was any complicity of the owner of the tanker in this, the SP added. While the eye-witnesses said that at least half a dozen persons involved in siphoning of liquid gas were injured in the blasts, no person was caught on the spot as all of them managed to flee.

The blasts were so massive that earth caved in at seven places and the parts of the tanker which blasted with a bang were scattered over a 100 meter radius.

Meanwhile, locals have alleged the complicity of cops in the illegal pilferage of LPG and said that this practice had been going on for quite some time. The village panchayat has also given a written complaint to the administration in this regard. 

Karnal, June 8
District and Sessions Judge Raj Rahul Garg yesterday sentenced Sanjeev Kumar, a patwari with the Revenue Department, to five-year imprisonment and also imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 on him in a bribery case.

The accused Patwari was caught by the Vigilance Bureau (VB) inspector last year while accepting bribe from a farmer for issuing property status report at Rod Dharamshala here. The complainant, Sher Pal Rana, of Aungad village had then filed a complaint with the VB officials alleging that the said patwari was asking for a bribe from him. It is pertinent to mention here that one witness turned hostile in the court later on. However, the court found the accused guilty and convicted him for taking bribe and announced the sentence here today.

The Vigilance Bureau officials said they would register a case against the witness who turned hostile in the case.

Hisar, June 8
A Dalit youth of Putthi Samain village, who had alleged that the village panchayat had “exiled” him from the village for 11 years and also imposed a fine of Rs 21,000 on him because he had an affair with a girl belonging to a backward caste of his village, today sought police protection saying he is being threatened by the accused.

The youth, Manoj Kumar, said the police was still investigating his complaint and had not made any arrests. The accused had been threatening him for the past few days. Although the village panchayat had denied that it had taken any such action, the police had registered a case against 15 persons under various Sections of the IPC and the SC & ST Act. The investigation of the case had been entrusted to Hansi DSP Wazir Singh.

The youth said the girl was studying at a coaching centre with him in Meham and they fell in love. However, when the girl’s parents came to know of their affair they married off the girl on June 2.

Later, he alleged, the village panchayat scolded him, blackened his face and “exiled” him. The sarpanch and the panches, however, denied the allegation and stated that he could stay in the village with his family. They said the boy had been disowned by his father. 

Faridabad, June 8
An employee working with a milk plant located in Ballabgarh was murdered late last night when he was returning home from his workplace. The body of the deceased, Aazi Ram, was found under mysterious circumstances on Milk Plant Road, Ballabgarh today.

The police said the deceased was returning home after his duty and was on way to Ballabgarh railway station to board a train to reach Palwal when he was murdered. Several wounds on his body suggest that he was stabbed many times which caused his death. An FIR has been registered but the police has not been able to identify the culprits. — TNS