Karnal, August 16
A hike in the pension of freedom fighters and their widows from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 per month and setting November 19 as the date for laying the foundation stone of Kalpana Chawla Medical College at Karnal were the major Independence Day announcements by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda here yesterday.

Addressing the people at the state-level Independence Day function after unfurling the Tricolour, Hooda said he had taken up the matter regarding the setting up of two civil airports at Karnal and Hisar with union minister of civil aviation Ajit Singh.

He said November 19 had been chosen for laying the foundation stone of Kalpana Chawla Medical College as the Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla started her first space mission on this day which coincided with the birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

Terming the land acquisition and rehabilitation policy of the government as farmer friendly, Hooda said the government had come up with a land pooling scheme which offers an option to the landowner-farmers to get 'developed land' in return for their acquired land and make the farmers stakeholders in the development process.

Hooda said the government was formulating a new agriculture policy to improve the economic condition of the farmers and farm labourers. The government had made available adequate water, electricity and other inputs to the farmers on time, Hooda claimed.

He said agricultural research had been given a boost and proper arrangement for marketing of agricultural produce had been made.

He said besides AIIMS-II coming up in Badhsa, Jhajjar, three medical colleges - Bhagat Phool Singh Government Medical College for Women at Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat district, Shaheed Hasan Khan Mewati Government Medical College at Nalhar in Mewat district and Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College in Karnal were being set up in the state.

Free water connections had been provided to 9.95 lakh Scheduled Caste families under the Indira Gandhi Drinking Water Scheme and a Rs 1085.20 crore scheme implemented to augment drinking water supply and extension of sewerage in 14 cities.

Scholarships ranging from Rs 75 to Rs 400 were being given to 20 lakh poor and needy children.

Earlier, Hooda paid floral tributes to the martyrs at the War Memorial.

Freedom fighters from Karnal Ram Sharan Arya, Vir Singh, Khushi Ram, Darshan Singh and Balkar Singh were honoured and presented with a shawl and gift pack each. He also honoured widows of freedom fighters.

Hisar: Industries and public works minister Randeep Surjewala unfurled the national flag and took the salute at the Independence Day parade here.

He said Haryana was developing economically at a much faster pace than the national average of 6.9 per cent.

Kurukshetra: While unfurling the flag at Dronacharya Stadium here yesterday, the Haryana power, forest and environment minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, called upon the people to strengthen the country’s unity.

As many as 3,113 schoolchildren presented a colorful cultural programme.

Kaithal: Harmohinder Singh Chatha, finance and irrigation minister, unfurled the flag here. The minister honoured 24 persons for their outstanding contributions in various fields. 

Chandigarh, August 16
Just about two months after the Gurgaon police claimed that the number of vehicles crossing the toll barrier on the Gurgaon-Delhi Expressway was double than what it was designed for, the Punjab and Haryana High Court was today told that 14 additional toll collection points were being set up.

As the issue of traffic congestion on the Expressway came up for resumed hearing this morning, an undertaking was given to the Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh that seven toll collection points would be set up on the either side.

For the purpose, the Bench set September 3 as the deadline and asked the Additional Commissioner of Police, Gurgaon, to oversee.

The Acting Chief Justice, on the previous date of hearing, had verbally observed in the open court that the toll barrier was to be designed to save both fuel and time. But, neither fuel nor time was now being saved and long queues of vehicles on either side of the road were a common sight.

The directions are significant as Bharti Arora, Deputy Commissioner of Traffic-cum-IPS officer, Gurgaon, had on a previous date claimed that the toll barrier’s design was also affecting the free movement of vehicles inside Gurgaon. She had minced no words to assert this was resulting in traffic chaos.

In an affidavit filed before the High Court, Bharti had asserted that the toll barrier had been designed to handle only about 100 to 120 vehicles per hour, per lane.

Kurukshetra, August 16
Kurukshetra has become the first district in the state by introducing video bulletin service for the electronic media (TV channels) through the Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department, Haryana.

The video cassette of the first bulletin, sponsored by the local District Information and Public Relations Officer (DIPRO), was released by Deputy Commissioner Mandip Singh Brar at his camp office here yesterday. The first bulletin included the Independence Day celebrations held here yesterday.

Talking to mediapersons, Brar said the time had changed and day-by-day technical development expansion needed update. Keeping this in view, the local DIPRO was keen to introduce the Public Relations (PR) video bulletin, which was need of the hour, he added. He hoped that the video bulletin would be a regular feature now.

Dr KK Khandewal, Additional Principal Secretary to the Haryana Chief Minister, and Financial Commissioner, Information and Public Relations, Haryana, conveyed his best wishes, while Anand Mohan Sharan, Director General of the Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Haryana, shared the happiness of introducing new PR content with the DIPRO, Kurukshetra, on telephone yesterday.

DIPRO Dev Raj Sirohiwall said the new service, which was started on an experimental basis, would cater to the needs of the electronic media. Now, important programmes held in the district would be covered through video bulletin, he added.

Sirsa, August 16
A special investigation team (SIT) comprising police officers from districts other than Sirsa in the Hisar range will now investigate the controversy surrounding a police party from Barnala (Punjab). The police party was detained by the Sirsa police after outcry from villagers at Bhawdin, who alleged that the Punjab police shot at and injured a villager whom they wanted to kidnap.

Six Punjab policemen, who were detained by the local police on August 13, were released after negotiations with senior officers from Punjab that continued till late in the evening on Tuesday. Superintendent of Police Devender Singh Yadav said the SIT would soon submit its report.

Hundreds of angry villagers had held a demonstration alleging that the Punjab police wanted to kidnap a youth, Lakhbir, at the instance of some business rival in Punjab on Monday.

Lakhbir’s brother Sukhbir Singh alleged that Lakhbir was in the business of financing and the Punjab police wanted to trap his brother in a case of opium smuggling. He said when Lakhbir sped away in his car, the Punjab police chased him and opened fire on him, thereby injuring the accused.

After hundreds of villagers surrounded the Punjab police at Bhawdin, the Sirsa police detained them in Ding police station. The Punjab policemen, the local police maintained, did not take the Sirsa police into confidence before its action.

Sonepat, August 16
Vinod (23) of Attal village under Ganaur police station was beaten to death allegedly by seven youths of the same village late last night. The victim was reportedly returning from his fields when he was allegedly attacked with lathis near Balmiki Basti in the village.

On the complaint of the victim’s uncle, Ranbir Singh, a case has been registered against seven persons --Shyama, Anil, Rajesh, Ratan, Chandro, Ram Dutt and Kitab Singh. However, none has been arrested so far. A dispute between Vinod and Anil three days ago was reported to be reason for the murder. The police has sent Vinod’s body for a postmortem. 

Hisar, August 16
The Haryana Power Utilities - Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) — have decided to revive the Theft Informer Scheme under which a person giving information on theft of electricity and the employees who detect the theft will be given attractive rewards.

A spokesman for the utilities said here today that under the scheme, a person giving information on theft of electricity, will be given 20 per cent of the amount realised as penalty, excluding the compounding amount assessed. As much as 10 per cent of the realised amount would be distributed among the officials involved in detecting theft and realising the penalty. 

Of this, 6 per cent would be given to the members of the raiding party (to be distributed equally), 2 per cent equally to the SDO, commercial assistant and lower divisional clerk, 1 per cent equally to the Executive Engineer, head clerk and divisional accountant, 0.5 per cent to the Superintending Engineer concerned and 0.5 per cent to the Chief Engineer concerned. Thus, 30 per cent of the realised amount of the assessed loss of revenue (excluding compounding amount) would be given to those who help detect theft of electricity and those who realise penalty under this loss-prevention incentive scheme.

He said thefts could be reported at 01662-221527 or toll free number 18001801011 during working hours. The informer would give a secret code word to claim the award. The operator would record this code word in the register and provide him a unique number.

On detection of the theft, the informer may claim Rs 500 immediately on providing the secret code word and the unique complaint number and the remaining 20 per cent of the penalty would be given to him after recovery of the amount. The information could also be given through email at

hookacrook4dhbvn@yahoo.co.in, uhbvn@gmail.com, or hookacrook4dhbvn@gmail.com.