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Appointment of State Information Commissioners
Gorakhpur farmers spend relief amount wisely
NIT students continue strike
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Consent management exemption for industries in green category
Illegal mining around
Tangri, Ghaggar
High Court
4 officials get jail for corruption
Man shot dead, 5 of ex-wife’s family booked
20 carcasses of cattle found
Fire at Honda showroom
Lightning kills two schoolgirls
Death due to ‘vaccine reaction’ raises questions
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Appointment of State Information Commissioners
Chandigarh, August 30 Even as a high-level committee headed by Hooda, also including Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal and
Chautala, today zeroed in on three names — former IAS officer Sajjan Singh, former IPS officer PC Meena and
Maj-Gen (retd) Jagbir Singh Kundu, Chautala put a dissenting note, demanding that the selection process be initiated
again. SICs are appointed by the Governor on the recommendation of the committee. The search committee headed by Chief Secretary PK
Chadhery, also including Finance Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary Sarban Singh and Lt-Gen DDS
Sandhu, Vice-Chancellor, Kurukshetra University, had reportedly recommended nine names to the high-level committee. The nine names were Sajjan Singh, Manik
Sonawane, Rajiv Sharma and MP Bansal, all former IAS officers, Gurjit
Malhi, an IPS officer, Hemant Kumar Sharma, Shyama Dogra, Maj-Gen (retd) Jagbir Singh Kundu and Rajesh
Jindal. The name of PC Meena was opposed by Chautala, who alleged that the name from outside the list recommended by the search committee could not be taken up at the
meeting. Chautala alleged that the selection criteria adopted by the search committee were faulty as it did not invite applications from the general public, which was evident from the fact that only 17 candidates applied. “The selection process should be initiated again by giving it wider publicity,” he demanded. Against the backdrop of allegations of rehabilitating favourite bureaucrats as
SICs, the Hooda government had constituted a search committee following directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court had directed Punjab and Haryana to strictly adhere to various provisions of the RTI Act, including recommending thrice the number of names than the vacancies notified.
at it again
It is not the first time that Chautala has raised an accusing finger at the selection of
SICs. In May, he had put a dissenting note on the appointment of former Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati as SIC. His dissent did not have any effect on Gulati’s selection as a majority decision of the other two members was enough for recommendation to the Governor. |
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Gorakhpur farmers spend relief amount wisely
Gorakhpur (Fatehabad), August 30 With the new land costing him Rs 12.63 per acre and the authorities yet to pay him nearly Rs 18 lakh as no-litigation incentive, he would be cash rich as well with Rs 28 lakh in his kitty after doubling his landholding. “I am happy and my new land is very fertile,” Ram Phal told The
Tribune. Jagdish had received about Rs 3.7 crore for his 12 acres. He now owned 12.5 acres, which he purchased at Bhattu on the Thuian road at Rs 25.5 lakh per acre. He also invested Rs 25 lakh on three plots. He was left with nearly Rs 35 lakh and was scheduled to get Rs 48 lakh as no-litigation
incentive. Sumit Siwach, another farmer, who had got Rs 5.7 crore for his 19 acres, was anxiously searching suitable land in Fatehabad and neighbouring districts. Contrary to the general apprehension, no farmer in Gorakhpur squandered the money on liquor, luxury items, cars or motorcycles. “I have not witnessed such fiscal discipline anywhere else,” said Krishan Swaroop
Gorakhpuria, a farmer leader from the village. Unlike Jhajjar and other NCR villages, where people spent liberally on cars and sports utility vehicles when their land was acquired for special economic zones, only a few cars have been bought in Gorakhpur in the last two months, which was routine, he added. Local trader-cum-moneylender Suresh said farmers here were in the habit of depositing money with him for interest whenever they had surplus money due to better crops. This time, no farmer came with his money as all of them were running frantically in search of suitable land with money lying in their bank accounts, he added. No farmer purchased land at his native village and a few in Fatehabad and surrounding areas. They opted for land in
Rania, Ellenabad and Dabwali areas of Sirsa, Bhattu and Kulan in
Fatehabad, Narwana in Jind and some areas of Hisar and Bhiwani. “Land prices skyrocketed in Fatehabad as property sharks purchased all available land in the vicinity in the hope of earning profit,” said a local property consultant. In
Gorakhpur, those willing to sell land hiked prices by between Rs 5 lakh and Rs 8
lakh. |
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NIT students continue strike
Kurukshetra, August 30 They also met Naveen Jindal in
Kurukshetra. “Our problem is not being solved. Hence we had to take this step. We had requested the higher authorities to look into the matter,” said a student. “Yesterday, when we came to know about the death of the director’s mother we had gone to express our condolences to the director’s residence. A message was sent to us by the director to meet him by making a panel. We had made a panel of 20 students and when we went to meet the director he was not there,” said some students. “In a meeting yesterday, the dean (the acting director) and other top 10 professors were present and they again tried to threaten us. We are just demanding the director’s resignation as this is not the first incident that has happened here. Last year a student, Ravishankar
Meena, had an accident in front of the director’s office. No ambulance was called by the director. We somehow managed a car and took him to a nearby hospital and now he is in AIIMS and
paralysed. The director has always shown negligence,” said the students. The students also marched in the city raising slogans against the director. They also alleged that a teacher present in meeting was recording our faces and they fear that the teachers might fail them. |
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Relatives protest woman’s death, say doctor gave expired medicine
Karnal, August 30 The relatives, joined by residents of Model Town, demanded action against the doctor concerned. Angry residents ransacked the clinic and broke windowpanes. The police was deployed to keep the situation under control last night. Deceased Sunanda Kharbanda’s brother Sonu Handa said that his sister was unwell for the last few days and the doctor gave her the expired medicine which resulted in her death. They raised slogans against the administration outside the Civil Surgeon’s house, who directed the drug control officer to collect samples of the medicine. The stock of the medicine was sealed. A notice was served on the doctor to reply within a week. Deputy Commissioner Renu S Phuliya marked the inquiry to the Additional Deputy Commissioner. |
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Consent management exemption for industries in green category
Chandigarh, August 30 These are assembly of acid led battery; polythene and plastic processed
product manufacturing; poultry, hatchery and piggery; printing press (large and medium); ready mix concrete plants; and mineral water and carbonated bottling plants. Green categories of units will have to instal pollution control devices and in case of non-compliance, action would be taken against them as per law. A decision to this effect was taken in a meeting of the HSPCB held today under the chairmanship of PK Gupta, Chairman of
the board. Regarding the criteria for existing screening plants, the board gave some
relaxation in parameters of screening plants operating before October 2, 2007, provided the units took
pollution control measures such as three settling tanks and boundary wall
of 10 feet. Provisional consent would be given to new units provided they met all other conditions except environment clearance. It would only be for the purpose of obtaining clearance from other government departments. For the grant of consent
to units located in non-conforming areas, the board decided that these units would be considered on a year-to-year basis for grant of consent provided they installed necessary pollution control devices. This would be applicable only to those units which were operational before April 1, 2011. However, no such consent would be granted to units located in approved residential areas developed by the Haryana Urban Development Authority, the Town and Country Planning Department, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation and housing board and municipal authorities. Green category units included aluminium utensils from aluminium circles, assembly of coolers and air-conditioners, repair and servicing, assembly of bicycles, baby carriage and other small
non-motorised vehicles, automobile fuel dispensing outlet, ayurvedic and homoeopathic medicines without boiler. The demand for exemption to green industries was raised by small units in Faridabad with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh
Hooda. They had explained that a number of units were either not causing any pollution or causing very less pollution, but
were feeling harassed. The Chief Minister had assured them that units in the green category
would be exempted and covered under a self-regulatory mechanism. |
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Illegal mining around
Tangri, Ghaggar
Ambala, August 30 In an order issued today, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Rural) Nazneen Bhasin said in compliance of an order pronounced by the High Court, a complete ban was being imposed on the movement of tractor-trolleys with hydraulic jacks, tractor-trolleys with four tyres and tractor-pulled iron carts within 200 metres of the river beds. In addition, digging machines and other excavation machinery, vehicles like dumpers and screening or stocking of mining material would not be allowed within a radius of one kilometre of the riverbeds. He also said steps taken by the district administration to curb mining activities like digging of trenches were not to be interfered with in any manner. He said fresh instructions were sent to all police stations in the district to treat complaints regarding the carrying out of illegal mining on priority so that there were no violation of the High Court orders in the district. |
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High Court
Chandigarh, August 30 The ruling came as a blow to the Haryana Police as the High Court noticed operation cover-up by the police in its 11-page judgement and added that an independent probe was essential to instil confidence in the general public that “the rule of law was prevailing in the country”. The directions came on a petition by Karam Singh’s son Rajender for appropriate action against the MLAs and their accomplices “who killed not only his father, but also Chamel Singh, a key witness and his relative”. “The court is mindful of the fact that allegations have been levelled against two prominent people and, therefore, it will not be safe to entrust the investigation to any state agency,” Justice Mahesh Grover asserted. The development was significant as the state and other respondents had claimed that the role of the two MLAs had not been established and “rather, it was a case indicating suicide”. Justice Grover minced no words to say the conclusion arrived at by the investigating agency, in his opinion, was “too simplistic” and merely aimed at “wishing away the aspects of the violent death of two persons related to each other”. Giving reasons, Justice Grover asserted, “There are as many as 58 punctured wounds on the person of the deceased (Karam Singh), with corresponding marks on the vest he was wearing. These injuries have been wished away as self-inflicted. The thing which disturbs the court is that a person will not go on a jabbing spree of this kind to inflict injuries upon himself. He further said, “While most of them are on the abdomen, one or two injuries are at places where it is difficult for a right-handed person to inflict a jab wound, that is, the right scapula, and, similarly, some on the legs. It does not conform to be prudent behaviour and needs a deeper probe. He also observed, “Likewise, the presence of aluminium phosphide in the body and an attempt by the investigating agency to wish away the death as suicide by saying it cannot be consumed by an individual without his knowledge is also a superficial explanation.” Justice Grover said Karam Singh’s cousin Chamel Singh’s murder within days was intriguing as “he was said to be an important link to unravel the cause of the death.” |
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Youth Festival begins in Sirsa
Sirsa, August 30 Tanwar said the Haryana Government was celebrating year 2012 as the Year of the Youth and with a view to promote sports and other youth activities in the state, the government would spend Rs 127.17 crore during the current financial year. He said this year, the Sports and Youth Affairs Department would organise training programmes of adventure sports, including mountaineering, along with sports and cultural activities. Tanwar said the new sports policy implemented by the state government was yielding encouraging results as the youth had brought laurels to the state not only in sports, but also in other activities. He said the state government had set an example by giving Rs 44 crore as cash prizes to these players. OP Singh, Director of the Sports Department, said youths getting first position in different events would get a chance to represent Haryana in the national-level Youth Festival. |
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4 officials get jail for corruption
Rohtak, August 30 In the second case booked on November 4, 2008, in Gurgaon, Vinod Kumar, divisional accountant, DHBVN, Sohna, had been convicted of taking a bribe of Rs 5,000 from a resident of Gurgaon for releasing a higher scale of another employee. He
has been sentenced to three-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine Rs 6,000. Mahavir Singh, a patwari, had been booked after being caught taking a bribe of Rs 2,000 from Dhira Singh, in May, 2009. Mahavir Singh has been sentenced to two-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 5,000 after his conviction by a court at
Fatehabad. The fourth case pertains to the Agricultural Marketing Board at Fatehabad. Gurbaksh Singh, a mandi supervisor at the HSAMB office in Fatehabad, had been nabbed taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from Ajay Kumar of Kansal Industries for filing a notice issued by the Haryana State Agriculture Marketing Board. The convict has been awarded one-year rigorous imprisonment with a fine Rs 2,000. He had been booked in April, 2009. |
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Man shot dead, 5 of ex-wife’s family booked
Kaithal, August 30 In his complaint, Mohan Lal stated that his son Kamal (28) was married to Virender’s daughter Geetika about three years back, but their relations got strained and they got divorced about a year back. After some time, Kamal had shifted to Gurgaon. The woman’s parents wanted Kamal to remarry her, but he was reluctant, Mohan Lal said. He further stated that his son had come from Gurgaon recently and suddenly left his house this morning. He said he heard after some time that someone was shot dead in the neighbourhood. When they reached the spot near Virender’s house, they found Kamal, who was shot in the head, lying in a pool of blood, Mohan Lal said. He alleged that Geetika’s family had hatched the conspiracy to murder him. The police handed over the body to the victim’s family after post-mortem examination and registered a case. |
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20 carcasses of cattle found
Jhajjar, August 30 All carcasses, which were in decomposed condition were later cremated by the district authorities after getting their medical examination done. Cause of death of these cattle is yet to be ascertained while residents of Jahadpur village have lodged a written complaint with the Dulina police post wherein they have demanded thorough probe into the matter. The incident came to light when some villagers spotted the carcasses lying near the pond.
— OC |
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Fire at Honda showroom
Hisar, August 30 The fire was noticed around 10 pm by the security guard. He informed the owners, who in turn, alerted the fire staff. One fire engine was rushed to the spot, but firemen realised that they needed more men and equipment. Three more fire engines were rushed to the spot. Firemen brought the flames under control in over two hours. The firemen found it difficult to enter the showroom as they were unable to unlock the shutter. They went to the first floor and broke big windowpanes. They had a narrow escape when a large glass pane fell on them. A group of devotees of a dera staying nearby brought out a number of motorcycles. The owners said the cause of the fire and the exact loss would be known later after checking records. |
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Lightning kills two schoolgirls
Assandh (Karnal), August 30 The deceased were identified as Juli (12), a student of class VI, and Sonia (14), studying in class VII. DSP Madan Lal and Tehsildar Jagdish Chand reached the spot and sent the bodies for post-mortem examination. The victims were sisters and residents of Dehra Raada on the Bal Pangala road. Their eldest sister Rita was behind them when lightning struck. She started crying and rushed home. She informed her parents, who were traumatised. They and other village residents reached the spot and later went to the hospital where the bodies were sent. Gloom descended on the village. |
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Death due to ‘vaccine reaction’ raises questions
Karnal, August 30 Doctors attending on the patient who died at the Civil Hospital last evening have maintained that the death occurred due to vaccine reaction, but it was merely a presumption as postmortem of the deceased had not been conducted due to insistence of the family members. The boy, bitten by a stray dog, had been administered the vaccine from the same batch three times earlier also but it never reacted but this time it led to fatal reaction, a doctor said. When asked that how the doctors reached to the conclusion that the boy died due vaccine reaction when no postmortem was conducted and the report of the vaccine from the Central Research Institute (CRI), Kasauli, in was yet to come, the doctor said it was on the basis of a clinical report.
— TNS |
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