Karnal, August 3
Enraged over an acute power shortage, residents of Padhana and adjoining villages went on rampage last night, ransacking the Nilokheri powerhouse and assaulting vidyut nigam staff, injuring three of them.

Power Department employees who appealed to villagers not to damage the control room and the powerhouse were beaten up. Three injured employees, including a junior engineer and a lineman, were admitted to a hospital.

Injured JE Manoj Kumar said the domestic feeder broke down at 1 pm and the routine power cut started at 7 pm. Before power could be restored, angry villagers of Padhana targeted the powerhouse. “About 50 villagers wielding lathis descended on the powerhouse and started damaging it. When we tried to stop them, they attacked us,” he said. The Bhutana police has registered a case against 30 residents of Padhana village.

Karnal also saw public anger over the power shortage. People gathered near the SE office, but there was no violence.

Angry residents blocked the Karnal-Kaithal and Karnal-Pehowa roads for more than an hour late last night. Earlier, villagers had locked power staff at Rambha on July 22.

Fatehabad, August 3
Piqued at “abysmally poor” supply of power to their village, farmers from Ahlisadar village today laid a siege to the 132-KV powerhouse on the Bhodia road here and raised slogans against the authorities.

The villagers had come to the DHBVN office with their grievances that they had been getting power for their tubewells for an hour daily against the scheduled six hours.

They were irked when they found that no officer was present in the office to listen to their grievances.

The villagers alleged that due to the apathetic attitude of the DHBVN authorities, a transformer of a higher capacity, which was already available, was not being installed leading to frequent tripping of power. Farmers from six villages blocked the Tohana-Bhuna road against poor power supply.

The roadblock started at 10 am and continued till afternoon. They alleged that they had been getting negligible power supply in the past one week.

Ambala, August 3
Even as the northern states are blaming each other for the recent grid collapses which caused complete blackouts in many northern and eastern states, the National Load Dispatch Centre (NLDC) has hinted that it might have been caused due to a heavy flow of power on a single circuit during the inter-regional power transmission.

The NLDC has revised the limits of inter-regional power transmission from 765-KV and 400-KV transmission lines in view of the recent grid failures.

The NLDC has pointed out that in the cases of both grid failures, there was a heavy power flow on the 400-KV Bina-Gwalior-Agra single circuit section, crossing 1000 MW on the single circuit available.

The 765-KV transmission line was being operated at 400 KV. The second circuit of 400-KV Bina-Gwalior-Agra line was under outage since July 28 as it was being upgraded to 765 KV. A grid failure was averted earlier at 3.10 pm on July 29 under similar conditions. The grids had failed on July 30 at 2.32 am and again on July 31 at 1 pm.

A senior power sector expert said that since the upgradation of the 400-KV Bina-Agra transmission line was planned work, it should have been taken up during the lean period. It was known that the power load in the northern region was at its peak during the paddy season. Moreover, the demand for power had also shot up due to poor monsoon.

Meanwhile, the NLDC in consultation with Central Electricity Authority and CTU has worked out the Short Term Open Access (STOA) approvals to be given by Regional Load Dispatch Centres (RLDC). Further, it was worked out how during an emergency RLDCs would take action necessary to ensure system security, including curtailment of transactions.

The available margin for short-term open access from the western grid to northern grid through the 400-KV Bina-Gwalior-Agra line has been fixed at 790 MW. Similarly, the power transfer from the eastern grid to northern grid has been fixed at 2,492 MW through the 400-KV Kahalgoan-Biharsharief transmission lines. Similar power transfer limits have been revised for other inter-regional power transfers also.

Power experts said it was unlikely that overdrawals could have caused the grid failure as the frequency of the gird during the first collapse was 50.46Hz which was within the permissible limit and during the second collapse, the frequency was 49.7Hz.

Chandigarh, August 3
*Ashok Bhatia, a general power of attorney(GPA) holder of a 10-marla house in Sector 9, Panchkula, for about one and a half years, wants to transfer his property to his son. However, against the backdrop of the Haryana Urban Development Authority(HUDA) insisting on affidavits both from the original seller and GPA holder, he cannot do so.“I am sick and tired of making rounds of the HUDA office which is insisting on getting affidavit both from buyers and the GPA even for pre-October 11 property transactions,” says a harassed Bhatia.

*Ashu Batta, executed a GPA for a residential plot in Sector 21, Panchkula, about five years back in his favour. Though the SC judgement came only last year, HUDA officials are declining the transfer of property without an affidavit from both seller and GPA, stating that it is not a GPA sale.

Like Bhatia and Batta, thousands of property owners having GPA prior to October 11, 2011 -- when the Supreme Court (SC) delivered a judgement banning property transactions through the GPA -- are a harassed lot with the Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) going by the rule book and insisting on affidavits from both the original seller and GPA holders for the transfer of property.

Though in the eye of law the property transactions through the GPA never had any legal standing, thousands of both residential and commercial properties were sold on GPA in Haryana and never registered, thus evading stamp duties and other levies.

While the apex court judgement specifically ruled that the “decision should be made applicable prospectively to avoid hardship” to the general public, HUDA’s decision to make it mandatory for both the buyer and GPA holder to submit an affidavit stating that it was not a GPA sale has sent the property buyers and sellers in a tizzy and dampening the recession-hit real estate market, alleged Haryana State Property Dealers’ Welfare Association.

However, what has come a bolt from the blue for the property buyers and sellers is a recent HUDA order. The letter from the HUDA Chief Administrator to the HUDA Estate Officer says, “The GPA, even if executed before October 11, 2011, cannot be accepted regarding transfer. The affidavit from the allottee and the GPA is required to ensure that it is not a case of GPA sale.”

Since the GPA was never a valid legal document, there is no question of relaxing the affidavit clause, argued DPS Nagal, HUDA Chief Administrator.

In the judgment, the Supreme Court had on October 11 last year held that the GPA method of immovable property sales was not a valid form of transfer of property. The order was delivered to curb evasion of duty and flow of black money into the real estate and save people from being cheated by unscrupulous owners selling the same property to several persons.

Jhajjar, August 3
An inquiry carried out by the Jhajjar SDM has exposed a tale of “injustice” with a disabled educated man belonging to the Schedule Caste by the then District Education Officer (DEO) who not only relieved the former from service as a Hindi teacher 14 years ago but also misguided him by furnishing wrong information.

In his inquiry report (accessed by The Tribune) submitted to the Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner (DC) recently, the SDM has stated that “the DEO has done injustice to the handicapped man, Manphool Singh, by not complying with the directives of the Directorate of Secondary Education, Haryana. Keeping in view his disability, it will be pertinent to provide him a job of a Hindi teacher in a school where the post is lying vacant.”

Investigation into the matter was conducted after a communiqué received by the district administrative authorities from the office of the President of India in this regard. Manphool Singh had written a missive to the President last year for seeking permission to end his life voluntarily pleading that the education authority had failed to do justice to him. Manphool Singh said he was appointed as a Hindi teacher on daily wages in 1997 for 89 days under the government policy.

“I was relieved in 1998 following regular recruitment of teachers in the state but my several colleagues were not removed from service by the authority and they were adjusted to other schools where the posts were vacant but the authority did not accommodate me and relieved from the service by adopting indifference attitude with me,” he said.

He said the Directorate, Secondary Education, Haryana, at that time had also dispatched a letter to the DEOs of all districts of the state that no teacher working on daily basis for 89 days be not relieved till further order but the DEO did not comply with the order.

The SDM in his inquiry report said the then DEO should not have allotted the school to any regular teacher where Manphool Singh was working. Keeping in view his 75 per cent disability, the newly appointed regular teacher should have been posted at other school where the post was vacant but the DEO could not do so. Moreover, the DEO’s office made a serious omission by not providing correct information to Manphool Singh about posts of Hindi teachers lying vacant in the government schools of Jhajjar district.

The Jhajjar DC, Ajit Balaji Joshi, chose not to comment anything on the issue except informing that the inquiry report had been forwarded to the President’s office.

Sirsa, August 3
Notwithstanding its network of canals, Sirsa faces a serious threat of drought this year, mainly due to an acute shortfall of rains.

A farmer looks at his drying crop due to a shortfall of rains at Kanganpur village in Sirsa. A Tribune photograph

Although the situation is not yet alarming in the district which is responsible for more than one-third of Haryana’s production of cotton every year, failure of monsoon in August would aggravate the situation.

Sirsa is known for its network of canals with 14 canals, minors, seasonal drains.

Farmers in most parts of the district have their own tubewells too.

However, the failure of rains - the shortfall being 60 to 70 per cent according to the authorities - has made the conditions difficult for the farmers.

“Till now, we have been pulling on by burning costly diesel to run our tubewells. But in case the monsoon fails in the next some days, most of us will be left with no other option, but to abandon a part of the paddy crops to save the rest, as it will not be possible to irrigate all,” said Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti.

He said some farmers had already abandoned 20 to 30 per cent of their paddy crop to provide whatever irrigation means they have to the rest of the crop.

Amardeep Kuleria, Deputy Director (Agriculture), said nearly 15,000 hectares of land in the district had remained without sowing this season due to scarcity of rains.

Out of the 3.60 lakh hectare land fit for agriculture, cotton has been sown on 1.75 lakh hectares, paddy on 59,000 hectares and guar on 80,000 hecatres.

While the cotton crop is unlikely to suffer damage, paddy would be affected, as it needs a lot of water and guar crop is also under threat, as it is normally sown in areas, which are dependent on rains for irrigation.

Deputy Commissioner J. Ganesan maintained that there is no drought in the district as such, but the authorities have sought an additional allocation of Rs 10 crore for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), as loss of job for farm labourers was feared in some areas of Ellenabad and Chopta blocks of Sirsa.

Fatehabad: In Fatehabad, out of the 2.08 lakh hectares land where kharif crop is sown, 4,000 hectares have remained without any crop, according to Fatehabad Deputy Director (Agriculture) Anup Singh.

“We have a rain deficit of 50 per cent so far. As against 43 mm rains in July last year, Fatehabad had 21 mm rain in the corresponding month this year,” he added.

Deputy Commissioner ML Kaushik said he was regularly seeking reports on this issue and maintained that there was no immediate threat of drought in Fatehabad.

Sonepat, August 3
Five youths, including two brothers, Shiv Kumar and Jitender, their cousin Ankit of Jakholi village and Ravi and Virender of Baroli village were feared drowned in the fast flowing Yamuna waters this noon.

Divers later took out the body of Shiv Kumar. An intensive search by the divers and the villagers is being conducted to locate the other bodies.

Jag Niwas, SDM, Sonepat, along with revenue officials and police personnel, reached the Yamuna bank near Jagdishpur village to supervise the search operation. The administration has requisitioned boats for the operation.

The victims had gone to the Yamuna to take a bath.

Chandigarh, August 3
The controversy over the allotment of land to the Rajiv Gandhi Charitable Trust (RGCT) run by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, her son Rahul Gandhi, and daughter Priyanka Gandhi, was today given a silent burial.

As the case came up for a resumed hearing before acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain, the petitioners communicated to the Bench their decision to withdraw the case. At the time of the hearing, five of the six petitioners were present in the court. The entire proceedings did not last more than five minutes.

The high court had earlier issued notice to HUDA, the Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner, the sarpanch of Ullawas village and other respondents on the petition filed by Dharamvir and five other villagers.

They had challenged the government’s decision to allot around five acres to the RGCT run by the Gandhi family. A challenge has also been thrown on the allotment of nine kanals to another trust, Church Gate Medical Society.

The petitioners had contended the government allotted land to the RGCT with the sole purpose of pleasing the trust. Seeking directions to quash the December 6, 2010, orders vide which the chunk of land was directed to be released from the acquisition despite issuance of notification under Section 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act in order to facilitate the RGCT to set up an eye hospital and research centre.

Alleging the state government’s decision to allot the land to the RGCT was completely arbitrary, they added the transaction would serve no benefits to villagers.

The land was part of the acquisition process initiated by the state government to acquire around 1,417 acre for developing Sectors 58, 63, 65 and 67 of Gurgaon. The government issued a notification under Section 4 on June 2, 2009, while the notification under Section 6 was made on May 31, 2010, and the land was permitted to be transferred in favour of the trust on December 6, 2010.

Fatehabad, August 3
The Fatehabad authorities today initiated action against some illegal colonies here.

A demolition squad led by SDM Baljit Singh today reached Kamboj Colony, which is being illegally developed on five acres of land on the Kulan road of Bhuna and knocked down roads carved out in the colony with the help of JCB machines.

The demolition squad also acted against the Green Enclave made on four acres of land, New Saini Colony made on five acres on the Tohana road and Hanuman Colony carved out on four acres.

District Town Planner Arvinder Dhull also accompanied the squad.

Chandigarh, August 3
The Directorate of Technical Education, Haryana, has issued a list of 17 institutions conducting technical programmes without the approval of the All-India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

Cautioning parents against such institutions, the directorate has advised them to verify the approval status at www.aicte-india.org and www.techeduhry.nic.in.

Amongst the unapproved institutions, the maximum number -- 12 -- is in Gurgaon. They include the Algol School of Management and Technology, Ansal Institute of Technology, Sector 55, College of Hospitality and Tourism, G.D. Geonka World Institute, G.D. Geonka Education City, ICFAI Business School, ICFAI National College, IILM for Higher Education, Institute for International Management and Technology, Institute of Apparel Management, International Institute of Hotel Management, Skyline Business School and Fazlani Altius Business School.

These institutions are not just well known but even charge huge fees.

“We have uploaded the list of these institutions on the website and strongly recommend approved technical courses. Parents should check the approval status of college before paying hefty fees,” said a senior official of the department.

However, the managements of the listed institutions said they had not got any notice and nor had they checked the website.

Meanwhile, thousands of students have received a rude shock.

“I paid Rs 5 lakh as management fee to get my ward admitted in one of these instutions and pay an annual fee of Rs 2 lakh. If this college is derecognised, my money will go waste. We will drag them to court," said Dinesh Shrivastav, a city businessman.

The directorate has stated that as far as the programmes run under distance mode by deemed universities were concerned, the approval of the UGC-AICTE-DEC joint committee was mandatory and the matter was being dealt by the Distance Education Council, Indira Gandhi National Open University, from where information regarding approval status can be sought.

Hisar, August 3
A large number of Team Anna supporters today staged a dharna at Parijat Chowk here to express their support to the team’s decision to offer an alternative political platform to the people of India.

They said under the circumstances prevailing in the country, there was no option but to give the people an opportunity to send honest and diligent persons to state legislatures and Parliament.

Criticising the UPA government for failing to create a powerful and independent Lokpal, they said the failure of the government to hold talks with fasting members of Team Anna was a proof of its arrogance and anti-people policies.

Fatehabad, August 3
A total compensation of over Rs 189 crore has so far been given to 387 farmers for their 615 acres of land since the announcement of award for land acquired for the upcoming nuclear power plant at Gorakhpur in Fatehabad.

The District Revenue Officer-cum-Land Acquisition Collector, Ram Singh Bishnoi, said farmers of Gorakhpur, Baropal and Kajalheri had been sitting outside his office regularly to receive their compensation. He said 268 farmers of Gorakhpur had been given a compensation of over Rs 154 crore for 503 acres of land.

As many as 118 farmers of Baropal were given compensation of over Rs 34 crore.

Chandigarh, August 3
The Haryana Lokayukta has settled 784 of the 1,184 complaints received during the past 16 months, Lokayukta Justice Pritam Pal informed officers at Panchayat Bhawan in Narnaul (Mahendragarh district).

He said if the administration worked with honesty and transparency, problems of common people could be diagnosed at the primary level.

Rohtak, August 3
The state government and the Sarva Karamchari Sangh (SKS), Haryana, the largest employees’ federation in the state, seem to have locked horns on the issue of the ongoing standoff regarding the acceptance of their demands.

The SKS has served an ultimatum to the authorities concerned to implement its demands by September 15 or face a stir on the issue. The talks that the SKS had with the state government on July 25 failed to make a clear headway.

A spokesperson of the federation said though the talks held with the state government led by the Chief Secretary had been assuring, there appeared to be a lobby which was trying to put a hurdle in the process.

He said the employees’ body had made it clear to the Chief Secretary that there had already been quite a delay on the matter and announced the deadline of September 15.

He claimed that the state government had accepted the main demands in the meeting held on August 25 last year, but they had not been implemented till date.

He said the main demands include the regularisation of part-time/ad hoc staff and removal of anomalies in the pay scales and allowances.

Also, over 20,000 posts lying vacant in government departments had not been filled despite assurances. The SKS would hold a state-level meeting of the members of the federation on September 16 at Rohtak.

Chandigarh, August 3
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has approved the proposal for the augmentation of water supply and sewerage facility in Bhiwani involving a total investment of more than Rs 210.66 crore under the Economic Stimulus Package programme.

An official spokesman said here that a detailed project report involving an investment of over Rs 105.43 crore had been prepared for augmentation of water supply in Bhiwani. Meanwhile, the detailed project report for providing sewerage facility costing Rs 105.23 crore had also been prepared.

While giving details of the augmentation scheme for water supply in Bhiwani, he said various works would be undertaken at three waterworks. These included renovation and replacement of pumping machinery and renovation of pumping machinery and rehabilitation of civil works for boosting stations at waterworks no. 1. The components to be undertaken at waterworks no. 2 included RCC channel for raw water and distribution channel, filtration plant of 10-MLD capacity, two tanks of 368-ML capacity, one raw water sump, pumping machinery, road work and replacement and rehabilitation of existing civil works and pumping machinery of boosting station.

He said similarly, waterworks no. 3 included inlet channel and distribution chamber inside waterworks, one tank of 321-ML capacity, filtration plant of 10-MLD capacity, clear water tank of 1-ML capacity, pumping machinery, road work and providing independent feeder for third water works. He said four boosting stations would be constructed and independent electricity feeder for boosting station would be provided. Also, for boosting station, the components to be undertaken would include rehabilitation and replacement of existing civil works and pumping machinery for boosting station.

While referring to the detailed project report for sewerage system for Bhiwani, he said the project report had been prepared to provide sewerage facilities in the left-out area. The components of the project included laying of sewers, renovation of existing sewers, setting up of intermediate pumping station, renovation of existing disposal machinery, sewerage treatment plants of 15-MLD capacity at the Dadri road and of 10-MLD capacity at the Dhana road.

The two detailed project reports for water supply and sewerage in Ambala City had already been submitted to the government for its approval.

Fatehabad, August 3
Piqued at inaction of the police against two animal traders caught by them on suspicion of trafficking of bullocks for slaughter, villagers from Dhani Thoba blocked the national highway near Laal Batti Chowk.

The villagers allowed movement of vehicles only after the police assured them that suitable action would be taken against the accused. “The villagers found two traders from UP loading bullocks in a truck. When they signaled the vehicle to stop, the truck driver tried to run over them. The villagers, however, managed to stop the vehicle by placing obstructions on the road and brought the traders to police station where the police did not show any interest in their complaint,” alleged Ravi Garhwal, the village sarpanch, who led the protesters.

The villagers alleged that traffickers were taking animals away from their village for the past three days, but the police was not taking any action despite complaints.

Later, the villagers opened the highway for traffic, when the police informed them that the two accused, Kala and Abaad, have been arrested and their vehicle has been impounded. — TNS

Sonepat, August 3
A student of an engineering college Amit (21) of Rajlu Garhi village was today shot dead by five motorcycle-borne armed gangsters near Kami village on the Sonepat-Gannuar road. The victim was returning to his village after meeting his elder brother, Kuldeep, who is lodged in a Sonepat jail.

DSP Balbir Singh said the alleged accused had been identified and they belonged to the same village. It appeared to be a case of old enmity as Kuldeep lodged in the jail had fired on another Kuldeep of the same village two months ago. On the complaint of Amit’s brother, a case has been registered at Sonepat sadar police station.

In another incident, Sanjay (32) of Issapur Kheri village was shot dead by some persons while he was sleeping in his house. The assailants fired at him from a window. A case has been registered in this regard.