Jind, June 22
A man has been booked for opening fire at his brother and sister-in-law in a village here on Thursday. The accused fled after the incident. Reports said the victims, Rajesh Kumar, a resident of Dalamwala village, and his wife, Manisha, suffered bullet injuries after Krishan, a brother of Rajesh, came over to his house and opened fire on him after a verbal duel over a land dispute.

It is reported that Krishan used his licensed weapon to commit the crime and as soon as he opened fire, Manisha who tried to intervene was also injured. She was hit by a bullet in her back while Rajesh got injured in his hand and other parts. They were taken to the Civil Hospital which referred them to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where their condition is reported to be stable.

“Rajesh was having a dispute over the ownership of about one acre of agriculture land with Krishan and the latter came over to his house around 10 am, accompanied by four persons, including a woman,” says the complaint lodged with the police. The persons who had come with the accused at the spot have been identified as Anil, Vicky, Bhupender and the mother-in-law of Krishan.

A team of police officials led by a DSP who reached the Civil Hospital conducted a raid to arrest the accused, but he is said to be missing. 

Chandigarh, June 22
Overcoming the jolt it got yesterday after Dalip Chawla, alias Bittu Chawla, quit as convener of its Haryana unit, the Trinmool Congress (TMC) launched a membership drive for the northern region.

Launching the drive, the in charge of the north zone chapter of the TMC KD Singh said in the first phase, the party would concentrate on Himachal and Haryana, where four lakh members would be enrolled in each state. The party will later start a membership drive in Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir.

Sunder Pal, who recently quit as media adviser to Haryana Chief Minister, joined the TMC. Welcoming him in the party, KD Singh said he would be his deputy for the five states of the region.

While he alleged discrimination against the Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal Lok Sabha constituencies in the matter of development by all Chief Ministers who ruled the state after 1966, Sunder Pal avoided directly criticising Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He said the way various political parties brought “migrant” candidates to contest from these constituencies was an insult to the people of this area. Similarly, these areas were discriminated against in the matter of jobs and other development works.

He said he was not against the development of any area but was a strong advocate of the development of the districts along the GT Road. It would be good if Rohtak, Hisar and Sirsa made a mark on the world map, “but why should Ambala, Kurukshetra and Karnal be left out.”

He said if INLD president Om Prakash Chautala or HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi named any leader of these three districts as the next CM, he and the TMC would support them.

Otherwise leaders of these parties belonging to the GT Road should join the TMC.

Chandigarh, June 22
Builders not initiating layout and development works on the approved residential colonies three months after the grant of licence will face penal action in Haryana.

In a development that would go a long way in timely possession of residential plots to the investors and end users, the Haryana Government has amended the Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas Act, 1975, providing for penalties for compounding of various violations under the Act, sources told The Tribune here today.

A penalty at the rate of Rs 10 per square metre per quarter calculated over the licensed area for residential/industrial plotted colonies and over the permitted covered area on all floors for other colonies will be levied for the colonies granted licences after March 31, 2012. For the pre-March 31, 2012, cases, Rs 1,000 per annum per licence case will be charged.

However, a senior government functionary made it clear that no layout plan and construction could begin without the approval of layout plans in case of plotted colony and building plans in case of other colonies.

The penalty for the transfer/issue of advertisement for transfer of plots without obtaining licence will be Rs 500 per square metre for high potential areas. For the medium-potential area it would be Rs 200 per square metre while for the low-potential area the rate has been fixed at Rs 100 per square metre.

The compounding charges for the delay in submission of copy of advertisement (delay beyond 30 days of issue of advertisement) for the pre-March 31, 2012, cases would be Rs 10,000 per licence. For the cases after March 31, it would be Rs 10,000 per quarter.

Now delay in the submission of accounts statement for each financial year for pre-March 31, 2012, cases would be Rs 1,000 per annum per licence case. A hefty amount of Rs 1 lakh per annum would be charges for delay in the submission of accounts statement after March 31 this year.

The sources added that the delay in submission of account details for the cases before March 31, 2012, would attract a penalty at the flat rate of Rs 10,000 per licence. For the case after March 31, a penalty of Rs 10,000 per month will be charged.

Hisar, June 22
BJP activists staged protests all over Haryana today as part of the party’s countrywide protest against inflation, shortage of water and power, deteriorating law and order situation and the issue of black money stashed abroad.

HJC workers also supported its alliance partner in Haryana.

In Hisar, workers of the two parties led by Veer Kumar Yadav, general secretary of the Haryana unit of the BJP, staged a demonstration at the mini-secretariat here. They gheraoed the building and courted arrest.

Yadav said the Congress had ruled the country for most of the time after Independence, but it had failed to offer anything to the people in return. It had failed to ameliorate the lot of the poor because of lack of political will, corrupt leadership and pro-rich policies.

He said the BJP-led coalition led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee had performed remarkably. He said Haryana had become unsafe for the common people because of a total breakdown of law and order. Hisar district BJP chief KL Rinwa also addressed the protesters.

Faridabad: Workers of the HJC-BJP combine led by BJP state president Krishan Pal Gurjar courted arrest in response to the NDA’s call for a nationwide “Jail Bharo” agitation on Friday. Protesters were detained by the police in buses and were later taken to the Sports Stadium in Sector 12 where they were let off.

A large number of activists of the two parties assembled at HUDA market, Sector 19, on Friday morning. They raised slogans against the UPA and the state government. The protesters took out a march from the market to the Old Faridabad Chowk.

Sonepat: Hundreds of BJP and HJC activists staged a dharna at the Geeta Bhawan Chowk for more than an hour in protest against the anti-people policies of the UPA and state governments.

After staging the dharna, protesters took out a march from the Geeta Bhawan Chowk to the Civil Lines police station raising slogans against the Central and state governments. When the protesters attempted to gherao the police station, they were taken into custody; but released later.

Rewari: Activists of the BJP and the HJC from various parts of the district jointly held a demonstration at the district secretariat here on Friday in protest against the anti-people policies of the UPA government and the Hooda regime in Haryana. Former state BJP chief Om Prakash Grover, state BJP vice-president Santosh Yadav, district BJP president Laxman Singh Yadav, district HJC chief Rajender Singh Thekedar and others denounced the Congress for rampant corruption, spiralling inflation and increasing unemployment. Later, the activists courted arrest.

Hisar, June 22
The protest by the Dalit families from Bhagana village of the district entered the second month today. They are demanding disbanding of the village panchayat for its failure to protect their interests.

The Dalit families have been squatting outside the mini-secretariat here since May 21 after the upper caste villagers constructed a wall around their residential colony in the village. The administration has been providing them with basic facilities like drinking water and sanitation.

The administration and the Dalits have neared a solution to the imbroglio several times during these four weeks, but the impasse somehow continues. The Dalits had met Union Minister Kumari Selja last evening. The minister had asked the administration to find a solution immediately.

Chandigarh, June 22
The Haryana Government has given additional charge to four IAS officers and transferred one HCS officer.

SS Dhillon, Principal Secretary, Town and Country Planning and Urban Estate Departments, gets additional charge of Principal Secretary, Public Works (Building and Roads) and Architecture Departments during the leave period of SC Choudhary.

Arun Kumar, Director-General, State Transport, Special Secretary, Transport Department, and Advisor, Civil Aviation and Special Secretary, Civil Aviation Department and Director-General, Renewable Energy, gets additional charge of Excise and Taxation Commissioner and Special Secretary, Excise and Taxation Department, during the leave/training period of Anurag Rastogi.

Mohinder Kumar, Secretary to Governor and Director-General, Medical Education and Research, has been given the additional charge of Director-General, Urban Local Bodies and Project Director, Swaran Jayanti Shehri Rozgar Yojna and State Urban Development Society.

Ashok Kumar Yadav, Director-General and Special Secretary, Social Justice and Empowerment Department has been given the additional charge of Director-General and Special Secretary, Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes, Managing Director, Haryana Scheduled Castes Finance Development Corporation Limited and Managing Director, Backward Classes and Economically Weaker Sections Kalyan Nigam and Director General and Special Secretary, Employment during the leave period of Mahavir Singh.

RS Verma, Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-Chief Executive Officer, District Rural Development Agency, Panipat and Secretary, Haryana Backward Classes Commission has been asked to relinquish his Panipat assignment.

Hisar, June 22
Union Minister for Housing and Poverty Alleviation Selja said here yesterday that the local Municipal Corporation had been given Rs 27 crore under the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Deveopment Mission for construction of 424 houses under Ekikrit Vikas Avum Malin Basti Vikas programme.

Talking to newspersons here, she said construction of 256 houses had been completed and the rest were under various stages of construction and would be completed soon.

She said people of 17 residential colonies, including Iibba Danaser, Navdeep Colony, Shiv Nagar and Azad Nagar would be benifited.

The minister said the programme was aimed at improving living conditions in such colonies. Provision of infrastructure like roads, water supply, toilets and sewerage was also being done under the project.

She said another project of Rs 18 crore for Azad Nagar was under consideration of her ministry.

The minister said the UPA government was trying its best to check migration of people from the villages and smaller towns to bigger towns and metros. 

Hisar, June 22
Petrol pump owners and transporters of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation ended their week-long strike today after the company was forced to scrap the tenders it had received for transporting oil from its depots.

Sandeep Singhal, general secretary of the Petroleum Dealers Association, said the company received so few tenders at its prescribed rates that it was forced to scrap them in view of the poor response.

He said the strike had achieved its objective at least partially as the company would now have to take a look at its rates. He said the HPCL was paying transporters Rs 1.17 per litre of oil per kilometer which was half of what the other PSU companies were paying.

Supplies have strated coming to the HPCL pumps and normal business was expected to resume from tomorrow.