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Rewari clashes: Over 600 villagers booked
Dedicated freight corridor to blame for farmers’ discontent
Maruti arson: Mahapanchayat demands CBI probe
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GM (HR) had put in his papers six months ago
Power Crisis
Technical snags in Chinese equipment led to power crisis
Gorakhpur N-plant
220 farmers collect cheques so far
Presidential Election
Registration of Cases
Licence to Builder
Meham panchayat to support Anna’s stir on corruption
Rainwater harvesting must for houses above 100 sq m
Death: Victim’s kin gherao police station
KU contractual staff go on mass leave
5 water supply staffers caught drinking
2 ITI students killed in mishap
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Rewari clashes: Over 600 villagers booked
Rewari, July 23 Meanwhile, activists of the Bhoomi Adhigrahan Virodhi Sangharsh Samiti, including BKU district president Ram Kishan Mahlawat, Rajender Singh, advocate Ajay Yadav, Col (retd) Ganpat Ram Chokan, Gur Dayal Nambardar, among others, held a press conference here today. The samiti has been invited to a meeting with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on July 25. Briefing mediapersons, they said they had a meeting with Inspector General Akeel Ahmed, Superintendent of Police Abhishek Garg and Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaantthan last night in which it was decided that their stir would remain suspended till their meeting with Hooda. Besides reiterating their three main demands, they said they wanted a total cessation of the land acquisition proceedings until the enactment of a new legislation by the Union Government. Secondly, they said, all criminal cases slapped against villagers in June, on July 16 and July 22 must be withdrawn unconditionally. Thirdly, they said the state government should immediately order a judicial inquiry by a sitting judge of the high court into “police brutalities” perpetrated on villagers at Aasal yesterday. Reacting to the framing of two criminal cases against the villagers, they said there was no cause whatsoever for such brutalities. Of the three villagers, Satbir, Om Prakash and Lala Ram, who received bullet injuries in the police firing yesterday, Satbir and Om Prakash were getting treatment at a private hospital in Rewari while Lala Ram had been admitted to a private hospital in Gurgaon. |
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Dedicated freight corridor to blame for farmers’ discontent
Chandigarh, July 23 While they seem reluctant to part with their land for now, their main grouse is that the Haryana Government acted in haste by issuing notices under Section 6 despite repeated assurances to stall proceedings till Parliament’s nod to the Land Acquisition Bill. Contrary to this, just before the one-year period after the issuance of Section 4 on July 14, 2011, was to lapse, Section 6 notices were slapped on the farmers on July 11, causing considerable resentment. Sources in Rewari said the farmers graduated from seeking the release of their residences to the complete stalling of land acquisition proceedings in a few days, claiming their objections against acquisition had not even been considered. Reviving a full-throttle agitation against the land acquisition, matter came to a boil when the farmers gave an ultimatum to the government to either stall this process and drop land acquisition proceedings or face the music. While the Chief Minister’s office and the Industries Department were informed of the simmering discontentment, sources said the protest was fuelled further by opposition parties. They lent active support following “disenchantment” of the protesters with local Congressmen who, they felt, had failed in protecting their interest despite being from the ruling party. While the farmers were unwilling partners, political representatives of the area, gauging the mood of the protesters of 21 villages, were of the considered opinion to drop proceedings for the time being. Also, there was a growing feeling that since “enough land” has been already acquired in the name of industrialisation in south Haryana, the farmers should not be “forced” to give up their lands against their wishes and Rewari’s choice for the project was also questioned. However, sources in the Industries Department said these were “unfounded” allegations and that Rewari was especially zeroed in by a consultancy consortium appointed to identify the “best location” for the hub which was one of the three early-bird projects the state had staked its claim for. |
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Maruti arson: Mahapanchayat demands CBI probe
Gurgaon, July 23 Village heads from Aliyar, Dhana, Manesar, Kasan, Basskusla, Kankrola, Bangrola, Kho, Pukharpur, Naharpur, Mohammedpur, Farukh Nagar, Nawada and Wazirabad villages among others, expressed their support to Maruti and condemned the incident. Claiming that the case was not Gurgaon’s police’s cup of tea, village representatives headed by Gurgaon Zila Parishad former
chairman Rao Abhay Singh said the state government should be more serious in the inquiry. “The formation of a special investigation team (SIT) is nothing but a mere eyewash. To date, the Gurgaon police has made no headway into the case. The police has arrested all the workers they could in Manesar while the real culprits fled away. We don't have faith in the SIT and the case should be handed over to the CBI,”
said Yadav. Last week, the Haryana government had constituted a SIT headed by Assistant Commissioner of Police Ravinder Tomar to probe the incident. "They may be arresting people but where are
the key accused and masterminds? If the police doesn’t hurry up then we stand to lose a major investment here, which will have far-reaching effects, “ Singh said. As part of a six-point agenda passed in the meeting, it was resolved to form a committee of villagers to look into the incident and help the company’s management in their probe and in making better recruitments in future. Struggle to get media glare
While the Gurgaon police has failed to make any concrete headway into the case, it’s the media glare which is their current priority. The police high-ups are busy fighting among themselves over who will be authorised to “have his name printed in paper”. While initially it was the DCP’s office which was sharing updates on the issue, sources say now they have been barred by the senior officials to speak to the media. Now, the Commissioner’s office will deal with the media. |
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GM (HR) had put in his papers six months ago
“He knew that trouble was simmering and that is why he resigned six months ago but the Maruti top brass made him stay. Had he moved on he would have been with us. He was not the owner of the company but paid a price for trying to maintain cordial industrial relations at the plant,” said Awnish’s brother, Avinash, who owns a pharmacy in Ranchi. In what places the company in the dock, Awnish’ wife, Suparna Prasad Dev, has raised questions over the top brass’ failure to foresee trouble. “They have vigilance and intelligence officials inside the plant but they could not assess the threat perception. My husband knew that things were not good and shared information with the top brass but no security was provided to officials like him at the facility. The company is extending its support to us now which is of no use,” she said. Maruti officials refused to comment on the claims made by the GM’s family. |
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Power Crisis
Jind, July 23 The protesters resorted to violence at Kinana village located on the Jind-Rohtak road and partially damaged the substation building before locking it. The protest ended and the lock on the substation was removed after the intervention of some senior officials of the department and the local administration. The longest blockade took place on the Jind-Rohtak highway this morning when residents of Bishanpura village squatted there for five hours in support of their demand for adequate power supply. “We are not getting supply even for four hours a day for the past two weeks,” said a villager. He said three transformers in the village had gone faulty and were not repaired by the department despite complaints and reminders to the officials concerned. While the blockade resulted in long queues of vehicles on both sides, the protest came to an end around 2 pm after senior officials, including the Tehsildar, reached the spot and assured steps would be taken to improve the situation Residents of Kinana village located on the same highway resorted to violence when they laid a siege to the substation near the village. The protesters damaged the windowpanes and furniture lying there and locked it. The staff posted there was allegedly manhandled by the protesters. The village were getting just two to three hours of power supply “We had given land for the substation on assurance that adequate power supply would be made to the village, but it was meager,” said a villager. The blockade was lifted after the intervention of the Executive Engineer. |
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Technical snags in Chinese equipment led to power crisis
Chandigarh, July 23 The two units at the Deen Bandhu Chottu Ram Thermal Power Plant in Yamunanagar, each of 300 MW, have remained out of order for quite some time now. In Khedar, while one unit of 600 MW at the Rajiv Gandhi Thermal Power Plant has been brought back into operation last night, the second unit of 600 MW is not operational. Sources in the Power Department said all four units set up using Chinese equipment and the rotors in these units had developed snags. Though officials deny it, but technical staff in the Power Department said besides developing technical snags because of usage of coal adulterated with stones these plants were also consuming much more fuel than the plants made by using Indian turbines. Moreover, since Chinese manufacturers of these equipments do not have any workshops here, these parts could not be repaired and have to be sent back to the manufacturers in China. It is learnt that earlier too, one 300-MW unit at Yamunanagar had developed a fault in its rotor, which the government got repaired from Seimens India. In Khedar, the plant stopped working after a bend developed in the rotor because of a low foundation of the plant. “While this plant has been repaired, we are hopeful of getting the other unit of 600 MW operational soon. The equipment in the second unit at Yamunanagar has been sent to China for repair and we will get it back within a few months. We expect the plant to become operational by December. We are now thinking of calling some representatives of the Chinese manufacturers here for the maintenance of these power plants,” said Haryana Power Minister Capt Ajay Yadav. He added that during the recent conference of the Power Ministers he had raised the issue of the government asking the Chinese manufacturers to set up a repair and service centre in India. So, while the Haryana Government is trying to get the equipment repaired and re-commission the plants, the state is facing a shortage of 1,200 MW of power from its own generation capacity, thus leading to power cuts on all categories of consumers. The total demand for power as of today is 1,400 lakh units (LUs). As against this, the total power availability, which includes the state’s own generation capacity, the power purchased through short-term arrangements, power bought on the power exchanges through unscheduled interchange and through power banking is around 1,250 LUs. This means that there is a shortfall of about 100-150 LUs of power each day. Officials in the Power Department said other than the four plants made using Chinese equipment, one unit of 100 MW at the Panipat thermal power plant had not been operational. Besides, erratic coal supply to the 1300-MW power plant commissioned in Jhajjar earlier this year, was also leading to less generation from the plant. |
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Gorakhpur N-plant
Bishnoi, who visited farmers staging a dharna near the proposed site for the atomic power project, alleged that while Hooda had misled both his party high command as well as farmers on this issue, Chautala too was shedding merely crocodile tears for villagers. “If Chautala is with you, why does he say that he will dismantle the project if the government succeeded in establishing it ?” Bishnoi asked Gorakhpur villagers. “I am here to tell you that I will not allow even a brick to be laid for the projec and if it comes to confronting the government, I will be the first to take bullets and lathis on my chest,” added the HJC MP from Hisar. Bishnoi alleged that the Hooda government was trying to acquire Gorakhpur land against the stand of his own party’s central leadership that no fertile land would be taken away for any project against farmers’ will. “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that no fertile land should be acquired for any development project. Sonia Gandhi had also said that no fertile land would be taken away without the consent of farmers. But here in Gorakhpur, not only farmers but women also have been forced to sit on dharna in hot and humid conditions under the sun, leaving all agricultural and household chores because the Congress government wants to take away their land,” said Bishnoi. Bishnoi said if Hooda was too keen to set up the project, he should take this to his own constituency in Rohtak. Bishnoi had also brought some pictures of children born with deformities and claimed that residents of this area would suffer such miseries if the plant was set up. |
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220 farmers collect cheques so far
Fatehabad, July 23 District Revenue Officer Ram Singh Bishnoi, who is also the Land Acquisition Collector of Fatehabad, said owners of nearly 403 acres had so far received their cheques. Of this land, 313 acres is from Gorakhpur, 88 acres from Badopal and 1.78 acres from Kajalheri village. He said Rs 124 crore (approx) had so far been distributed among farmers. The authorities have acquired 1,503 acres, 4 kanals and 19 marlas of agriculture land for the proposed project - 1,313 acres, 5 kanals and 8 marlas from Gorakhpur, 185 acres, 3 kanals and 7 marlas from Badopal and 4 acres, 3 kanals and 14 marlas from Kajal Heri village of the district. The land belongs to 847 farmers. Initially, when the authorities started issuing cheques of compensation after they announced the award on July 18, the Information and Public Relations Department released the names of farmers, who accepted their cheques. However, today, the authorities refused to divulge the names of farmers and said the owners of nearly 450 acres had taken away their payments. Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik said the authorities did not intend to use force against farmers for taking possession of their land. He said farmers were coming forward to receive their cheques on their own and soon those who were opposing the project would also collect their
cheques. |
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INLD holds protest marches
Chandigarh, July 23 Reports of similar protests were also received from Kaithal, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Rewari. Faridabad: The local unit of the INLD today held a demonstration against the state government on the issue of corruption. INLD workers led by senior leaders Ram Kumar Saini, Nagender Bhadana and Rajiv Jaitly submitted a memorandum to the Haryana Governor through the Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad. They took out a protest march around the mini-secretariat. Senior leaders addressed party workers on the occasion. Sonepat: Hundreds of INLD activists led by Capt Inder Singh(retd), national organising secretary of the party, today took out a protest march here against the Congress government in the state and handed over a memorandum, addressed to the Haryana Governor, to Pankaj Aggarwal, Deputy Commissioner. Addressing the protesters, he alleged that the Hooda government had become the centre of corruption and people had lost faith in the democratic and constitutional institutions of the government. Other senior party leaders, including district president Padam Singh Dahiya, Brig OP Chaudhary(retd) , Sri Krishan Gupta, Babita Dahiya, Pawan Taneja also participated in the demonstration. |
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Presidential Election
Chandigarh, July 23 The Congress has a strength of 46 (41 MLAs of its own and five former HJC members, whose “merger” with the ruling party is under challenge). It is supported by seven Independent MLAs, besides the lone BSP member, Akram Khan. Thus, the ruling party candidate should have got 54 votes out of the Haryana electoral college of 90. But it got 53 votes. The INLD has 30 MLAs of its own, while it has the support of one Akali MLA. The number of the BJP MLAs is four while the lone HJC MLA, Kuldeep Bishnoi, also supports the BJP. All opposition parties had decided to vote for NDA candidate PA Sangma . Sangma should have received 39 votes in the Haryana Assembly but he got only 29 . While there was no cross-voting from any party, the votes of eight MLAs were declared invalid. The poll managers of both sides try to explain the unusually high number of invalid votes by saying that if seasoned leader Mulayam Singh Yadav could commit a mistake, Haryana MLAs, many of whom are first-timers, could also do so.But the explanation does not seem convincing. |
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Registration of Cases
Ambala, July 23 BKU president Gurnam Singh demanded that the cases registered against the farmers for venting out their ire against the power officials should be immediately withdrawn as the farmers were already apprehensive of losing their crop due to erratic monsoons and the non-availability of power had created a new set or problems for them. The farmers descended on the Barada police station at around 10 am and continued to protest till the evening. The farmers even started a community kitchen on the premises of the police station. The farmers of the Padlu village in the Shahbad segment of the district had on June 28 locked up the employees of the Ugala powerhouse to protest power cuts, following which the employees lodged a complaint with the police and a case was registered against five of them. A team of district officials, including ASP Kushal Pal Rana and Tehsildar Chandi Ram, reached the spot and finally managed to pacify the farmers. The ASP said the matter had been resolved as the farmers were assured that no inappropriate action would be taken against any of the farmers. However, the BKU president said no cases should be registered against the farmers for demanding power to irrigate the fields to save the paddy crop, which had already started to suffer damage due to shortage of water. |
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Licence to Builder
Chandigarh, July 23 The matter pertains to two Gurgaon Sectors 63 and 67. After the two sectors were developed, it was found that some internal roads were culminating into dead-ends. This was not all. A nullah or a drain was also flowing between the Sectors. The Haryana Government then decided to further develop and extend the sectors in an attempt to solve the problems. The intention was to ensure that internal roads were connected to an outer road; and also to align the drain. Instead of naming them as new sectors, it was decided to christen them as Sector 63-A and Sector 67-A. The action was, however, challenged before the Punjab and Haryana High Court. Taking up the petition against the same, the high court ordered the maintenance of status quo in the matter. But, the authorities concerned went ahead and issued a licence for plotted colonies, resulting in the initiation of contempt proceedings. As the case came up for resumed hearing this morning before the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, Haryana Additional Advocate-General Randhir Singh defended the action. He asserted that the order of status quo was on new allotments and the issue before the court pertained to group housing societies and the common area while the licence was issued for a plotted colony. The case will now come up on July 30. |
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Meham panchayat to support Anna’s stir on corruption
Rohtak, July 23 A spokesperson of the panchayat said the demand for a strong Lokpal by Anna was justified and there was no reason that the Union government should keep it in abeyance. He said hundreds of residents would take part in the demonstration in the National Capital, besides staging a dharna outside the SDM’s office at Meham. He informed that eight teams had been set up in the Meham subdivision which would create awareness at the village, state and national level. He said a total of 42 villages would be covered in the next few weeks. The teams had pledged a support to the movement of Arvind Kejriwal, who had toured the region a few days ago. According to the panchayat, the present post of Lokayukta in Haryana and some other states had been defunct as it had no powers to arrest and prosecute the corrupt officials directly. |
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Rainwater harvesting must for houses above 100 sq m
Gurgaon, July 23 In the orders issued by District Magistrate PC Meena today, it was clarified that the supervisory officers would be held responsible for any lapse or discrepancy or violation of the orders. The Superintending Engineer of HUDA and Municipal Corporation Gurgaon (MCG) have been appointed overall in charges for compliance of these orders in their respective jurisdiction. The DGM, Gurgaon, and Manesar are overall in charges for the industrial areas of HSIIDC in Gurgaon and Manesar, respectively. Similarly, Xen, Development and Panchayati Raj, has been appointed overall in charge for all villages in Gurgaon (excluding MCG & HUDA areas), Sohna, Farukhnagar and Pataudi blocks besides the MC areas located in these areas and for HUDA sectors from 58 to 115.
— TNS |
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Death: Victim’s kin gherao police station
Karnal, July 23 Kala said his brother has been murdered as there was no power in the village. How could a person be electrocuted without electricity? he asked. The police has booked three persons in this connection. |
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KU contractual staff go on mass leave
Kurukshetra, July 23 “Around 1,200 employees were on leave today. We have given the memorandum to the VC regarding our demands. We
have demanded the fixation of the date of salary every month and the provident fund account number should be given to each employee,” said Subash, president of the Kurukshetra University Daily Wagers Workers Association. He said if our demands were not fulfilled till tomorrow morning by the VC, we would take out a protest march from the university to the Deputy Commissioner’s office. “The work at the university seemed to be affected as the contractual staff were on leave and the number of regular employees are less than the contractual staff,” said an employee. |
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5 water supply staffers caught drinking
Hisar, July 23 They noted down his complaint and assured him that the supply would resume in an hour. However, when the supply did not resume, he again went to the centre where he found all of them drunk. When he asked them about his complaint, they misbehaved with him. The consumer lodged a complaint with the SDM, who raided the office with the police. One employee was caught while four managed to escape. A medical examination of the employee revealed that he had consumed a large quantity of alcohol. Officials said departmental proceedings would be launched against them. |
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2 ITI students killed in mishap
Sirsa, July 23 They were returning to Dariyapur village from their institute after taking an examination when the accident occurred. Both died on the spot. |
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Gurgaon, July 23
Gorakhpur (Fatehabad), July 23