Om Prakash Chautala, Leader of the Opposition

Double standards

While construction by owners on their own land is termed as unauthorised, the state government regularly acquired the same land at “throwaway prices” to develop urban estates. Intriguely, the state govertment routinely allowed commercial activities such as hotels, educational institutions and industries by influential people around villages by levying change-of-land-use charges. It shows the double standards of the Hooda government.

— Vijay Bansal, PIL petitioner in HC

Sonepat, August 29
Standing crops of Mehmoodpur and Rukhi villages were reportedly submerged in 2-4 foot water following breaches in drain no-8 and 9 on Tuesday.

Sources said around 200 acres of the total area of the villages had submerged under water. Water flow in drain no. 8 was around 6,000 cusecs at the time of breaches.

Before the heavy downpours in Gohana and adjoining areas three days ago, the Irrigation Department had released water in drain no-8 from the Munak head of the West Yamuna Canal system to meet the irrigational requirements of the farmers.

There was a sudden and sharp increase in the water level of the drain before reaching Gohana, which resulted in back flow of water in the subsidiary drains, including drain no-9.

On the other hand, there was some failure reported in the embankment of drain no-9 on a spot where a railway bridge is being constructed. The increasing water in the drain widened the breach and flooded around 150 acres of the cropped area.

Similarly, more than 100 acres of the cropped area was also reportedly submerged under 2-3 foot water after a breach in drain-8 near Rukhi village. However, the breach was plugged.

After receiving information , Satyavan Indora, SDM, Gohana, and executive engineer of the Irrigation Department Rajesh Khatri reached the spots and got the breaches plugged. The supply of the Yamuna water from Munak head was also stopped.

The SDM claimed that there was hardly any damage to the standing crops.

Kurukshetra, August 29
About 800 B.Tech third-year students of the National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra, were suspended today and told to vacate hostels immediately.

The students were sitting on a strike since last evening in front of the director’s office and were demanding the resignation of the director of the institute.

They were sitting on a strike after the death of a student, Tejasvi Arora, in the Bhakra Canal near Jyotisar, alleging that the life of the student could have been saved if the director had acted timely.

“The director is focused on his attempt to get us suspended. We are from various far-off places and as per the order to vacate hostels, we don’t have any place to go. We are just demanding justice and teachers are threatening to fail us in examinations,” said the students.

“Teachers are asking us to call off the strike and the notice will be removed from hostels and classes,” said a student.

They said Ashwani Kumar, security in charge, had beaten the students who were caught in the director’s office yesterday. However, Ashwani refuted the allegations.

“Students were standing in front of the hostel when chief warden RK Deswal came and said ‘what are you doing here, you were ordered to vacate the hostels’. Teachers are showing dictatorship and treating us like we are not here to study, but to follow what they say,” said a student.

Registrar GR Samantra said: “This was the only option left with us. We tried to convince the students, but they were not ready to listen”.

Chandigarh, August 29
As many as 12 Municipal Councillors (MCs) of the Municipal Council, Bhiwani, representing various political parties joined the Congress here today in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana.

Eight of them belong to the INLD, two to the BSP and one each to the BJP and the HJC. The MCs accompanied by HPCC general secretary Sandeep Singh called on the Chief Minister here and expressed their willingness to join the Congress.

Hooda said their joining would strengthen the Congress base. He urged them to work dedicatedly for the development of Bhiwani. Welcoming the Councillors into the Congress, Phool Chand Mullana said they had shown faith in the progressive policies of the state government and in Hooda’s leadership.

The eight INLD Councillors are Maman Chand, working chairman of the Municipal Council, Bhiwani, Govind Ram Sharma, Narender Singh, Lalit Saini, Saroj Bala, Kamlesh, Meenu and Sudarshan Jindal. Similarly, those of the BSP are Shiv Kumar and Hari Ram and of the BJP and Santosh and Nirmala of the HJC, respectively.

A large number of INLD workers of Bhiwani also joined the Congress.

Chandigarh, August 29
They came charging at the slightest “provocation” by the Opposition in the just-concluded monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha. They stood their ground through heated exchanges with members of the Opposition. They even matched the more “seasoned” leaders of the Opposition, as they “fought” allegations and “hurled” these back to establish a balance. They are the Congress’ new line of aggression in the Vidhan Sabha.

Unlike previous sittings when Parliamentary Affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala single-handedly held the fort this time the Congress finally seemed to have support from its MLAs.

The charged Opposition, especially the INLD, buoyed with its numbers in the House, often took on the Congress in the House in the past. Everytime, its party MLAs would come storming into the well of the House even as Congressmen, seemingly without a voice, looked on as mute spectators.

Consequently, the defence was left entirely to Surjewala who not only had to counter allegations but even had to turn around the entire course of the discussion. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, too, would “give a befitting reply” but restricted himself to doing so occasionally.

This time, however, it was different. As the INLD MLAs charged to lodge their protest, the Congress MLAs, sitting in the rows behind the Chief Minister, responded with descending in the well of the House.

Among those who were in the forefront were Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Rao Dan Singh, Jaiveer Balmiki and Anita Yadav. The MLAs included Rajpal Bhugri, Aftab Ahmed, Naresh Sharma and Shakuntala Khatak.

While Surjewala kept up with his “fact-based cornering” of the INLD, these MLAs, constantly “guided” by the minister, provided the much-needed aggression to the Congress.

Though Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, Mahendra Pratap, Paramvir Singh and Harmohinder Chatha, hardly spoke or defended the party or government, this display of new aggression seemed to take the Opposition by surprise. Leader of the Opposition Om Prakash Chautala even admitted this though in not so many words. He said: “We have heard of the Opposition members coming into the well of the House. However, this must probably be the first time that members of the ruling party, too, have come into the well of the House.”

The Congress leaders, in turn, happy with its performance and having put the Opposition on the mat, say that tit for tat seemed the only language the INLD would have understood. In previous sessions, the Congress MLAs were been asked to “respond” to the Opposition vociferously but it failed to elicit any results. This time, the larger message from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to the MPs to take the Opposition head-on may just have done the trick for the Congress, propelling them into action.

Chandigarh, August 29
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed the applications of 195 “ineligible” guest teachers for modification of the August 13 order.

The High Court had on August 13 asked the Director, Secondary Education, Haryana, to pass appropriate orders within three weeks on the basis of reports received from three committees.

These were set up for giving personal hearing to guest teachers issued notices to show cause why their services should not be dispensed with since they did not fulfil the requisite qualifications at the time of their engagement.

As the matter came up for resumed hearing, Acting Chief Justice Jasbir Singh and Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain dismissed the two applications filed by Vaneeta Devi and 20 other guest teachers and by Samriti and 172 others.

Apprehending the termination of their services, the applicants approached the high court for seeking clarification or modification of the August 13 order.

During the hearing of their applications, counsel for the applicants pleaded that the Supreme Court had vide its interim order dated March 30 had allowed all guest teachers to continue till the regular recruitment of guest faculty.

But, despite repeated queries from the Bench, counsel could not show even a single line in the directions issued by the Supreme Court in its interim order to the effect that even “ineligible” guest teachers were also to be allowed to continue in service till March 31, 2013.

The Bench, therefore, observed in its order today that it was not convinced with the arguments raised by the applicants, and dismissed both applications filed by ineligible guest teachers.

Chandigarh, August 29
The Punjab and Haryana High Court was today informed that no senior party leader had actively participated in the Jat reservation stir.

As the case came up for resumed hearing in the court, counsel for the state of Haryana said their non-participation in the stir was corroborated from the fact that none of the photographs exhibited active involvement.

Responding to a query by the court on steps taken by the state government in the context of destruction of public property and the details of arrest, counsel for the state reiterated that 39 cases had already been registered in the matter.

The case will now come up on October 9 when the petitioners will file a replication to the claims of the state government and other respondents.

Sirsa, August 29
Gurjeet Singh Mann, a progressive farmer from Kirpal Patti village in Sirsa, will participate in the Borlaug Global Rust Initiative world conference in Beijing from September 1 to 4.

Mann’s daughter, Aman Mann, a budding biotechnologist, will also participate in this conference, a project by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which aims at reducing vulnerability to wheat rust the world over.

The main objective of conference was to systemetically reduce the world’s vulnerability to wheat rust - yellow, brown and black (peela ratua, bhuraa ratua and kala ratua in local parlance)-- and to advocate and facilitate the evolution of a sustainable international system to contain the threat posed by rust.

Mann will represent India from the farmer’s perspective while wheat experts and scientists from the Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR), New Delhi; Directorate of Wheat Research (DWR), Karnal; wheat breeders from PAU, Ludhiana, and Hyderabad shall highlight the scientific perspective at the conference.

Aman Mann, a young budding biotechnologist, has also been offered an invitation to attend the early graduates’ interaction programme with scientists and leading biotechnologists from Cornell University USA; College of Agriculture, China and other delegates. She was chosen during one of the several visits of scientists to Mann Farms in Kirpal Patti, to monitor the wheat crop in Sirsa.

Karnal, August 29
Additional Session Judge RK Sondhi has sentenced a man to 10-year imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 for raping a three-year-old girl.

Convicting the accused, Om Prakash, a resident of Bijna village, Ganaur, under Sections 376(2) (f) of the IPC for raping a minor, the judge said in case the fine was not paid, the accused had to undergo two more months of imprisonment.

As per the prosecution lawyer, Satinder Kumar, the Taravari police had on November 23 last year registered a case against Om Prakash on the complaint of the victim’s father who alleged that the accused working as a chowkidar took his minor daughter and raped her.

Hisar, August 29
Two students of Guru Jambheshwar University (GJU) of Science and Technology have been suspended for a year and fined Rs 5,000 each on charges of ragging. Two others have been fined Rs 5,000 each.

During the suspension period, these students will not be allowed to attend classes or take any examination.

It is learnt that some senior students had locked over 10 B. Tech students in a room in hostel No. 1. The juniors were asked to remove their clothes and dance .

When the administration came to know of it, the Proctor and Chief Warden raided the hostel and caught the seniors.

The incident was probed by the Proctor who submitted the report to the Vice-Chancellor.

The university administration said there was no question of pardoning the students as the government had issued an ordinance banning ragging.

Chandigarh, August 29
The Haryana Government has promoted KK Jalan, Principal Secretary, Irrigation Department, in the pay scale of Rs 80,000 with effect from September 1, 2012.

Consequent upon his promotion, Jalan has been designated as Additional Chief Secretary, Irrigation Department.

The government has also granted performa promotion to DS Dhesi, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Department of Commerce, New Delhi in the pay scale of Rs 80,000 with effect from September 1, 2012. — TNS

Nilokheri (Karnal), August 29
Enraged over the regular challaning of three Sumo vehicles that take schoolchildren from Nilokheri to Karnal, parents of 30 children today protested in front of a house of a local resident who they alleged was behind the act.

The parents said the RTO was challaning the vehicles on the directions of Madan Katyal. — TNS

Fatehabad, August 29
The Health Department took blood samples of patients suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting at Badalgarh in Fatehabad, where nearly 200 persons were taken ill after eating food in a langar three days ago.

The team headed by Dr Lata Sangwan went to the village and took blood samples. The team also took samples of potable water being used by the victims.

Dr VK Jain, Senior Medical Officer of the Community Health Centre, Ratia, said doctors from his centre had also taken samples of water from different places in the village. He said it would be known only after the results of testing whether the outbreak occurred due to contamination of water.

Nearly 200 villagers had taken ill at Badalgarh after they ate food in a langar organised in the village on August 25.