Faridabad, September 3
An alleged land scandal worth more than Rs 500 crore has come to light in Kot village of the district , highlighting an unholy nexus between government officials and the land mafia.

Though the scam took place in 2008-09, the matter has come to light now in the wake of recent correspondence between the authorities in the matter. No one has been made accountable in the case yet though documentary evidence (in possession of The Tribune) shows that the authorities concerned knew about it.

Revenue officials allegedly illegally transferred more than 2,500 acres of shamlat deh land in the village to private persons. The land was characterised as “gair mumkin pahaar”, which cannot be used for agriculture or residential purposes. This is a hilly stretch of the Aravalis.

Shamlat deh is a common land in a village. A common pool is carved out by taking away a portion of holdings of landowners at the time of the settlement. The original owners and their descendants lose proprietory rights on shamlat deh.

Officials allegedly tampered with the revenue record to create new illegal “record of rights” pertaining to the land in favour of the descendants of original owners.

Subsequent to the transfers of ownership rights, the beneficiaries sold a major portion of the land as farmhouses. Signficantly, registeries of the sale and purchase of land was allowed by the revenue authorities.

The then patwari allegedly tampered with the records which were vetted and attested by the kanungo and tehsildar concerned. As per the rules, the final authority to allow changes in the record vests with the District Collector.

Significantly, members of the village panchayat also did not raise any objection when the fraud and subsequent mutations in favour of the beneficiaries was enacted.

In this particular case it is possible that the then District Collector and the Subdivisional Magistrate (SDM) may not have been taken in the loop by lower officials. However, they will have a lot to explain in this case .

Balraj Singh,Deputy Commissioner, Faridabad, who took charge recently, said, “I am seized of the matter and action will be taken against those found guilty.” When specifically asked as to who would be made accountable in the case, he did not give a direct reply.

The extent of the scam can be ascertained from the fact that the present market value of the land in Kot village is more than Rs 20 lakh per acre.

A new dimension was added to the scam when the Director, Consolidation of Holding, Haryana, issued a controversial notification in December last year to conduct “consolidation” of 3,184 acres, including the chunk forming gair mumkin pahaar, in Kot. Subsequently, it was annulled by the Director-General, Consolidation of Holding, Haryana, vide his August 23 order.

In the order, the Director-General reasoned, “The aims and objects of the Consolidation Act were to consolidate landholdings for the prevention of the fragmentation of holdings and for the reservation of land for common purpose of the village.”

The order further said the object of the Consolidation Act would be “defeated’ in case gair mumkin pahaar is included in the scheme of consolidation. It also reads, “The consolidation would wrongly benefit certain influential outsider-purchasers of gair mumkin pahaar.”

Rohtak, September 3
The police appears to be in a tight spot over action to be taken against the rioters who torched a Haryana Roadways bus and damaged a few other vehicles, including a police Jeep, even as villagers stopped the movement of two trains on Sunday night and demanded that all cases against the villagers be withdrawn without any condition. They threatened to block the highway again if their demands were not met.

The mob had resorted to arson during the blockade of Highway Number 10 near Ismaila village on Saturday night on the issue of short supply of power in the village. The blockade lasted several hours and was repeated the next day for two hours.

The police has booked around 200 persons and arrested four accused.

“We asked the villagers of Ismaila to identify the accused and hand over those responsible for the violence and torching at a meeting held with a delegation of the protestors who blocked the highway again in protest against the registration of a case and arrest of the accused on Sunday night,” said a police official. He said the villagers had sought withdrawal of the cases against 200 persons and did not want the accused to be arrested.

The police claimed that four of the main accused had been arrested and sent to judicial custody and more arrests were likely to be made soon.

Both the SSP and IG, Rohtak Range, were unavailable for comment when an attempt was made to contact them.

A Haryana Roadways bus was torched and another damaged by the mob that had assembled on the highway in protest against power cuts in the village.

The police has, meanwhile, registered another case against 60 persons from Kharkara village of Meham subdivision on charges of blocking the national highway near the village on Saturday night.

Jhajjar, September 3
The Jhajjar police has booked 10 residents of Birohad village on charges of arson, sabotage and theft at the 33-KV power station in Saasrauli village here last night.

The police started a probe into the matter after launching a hunt to nab the accused.

Infuriated over unscheduled long power cuts for past several days, residents of Birohad village allegedly stormed into the power station and misbehaved with officials.

“When the officials opposed them, the villagers turned violent and set two motor- cycles on fire and damaged office property after breaking open the locks of store and the complaint centre. They also took a 100-foot aluminium cable, 80 km aluminium wires, a tool box, 50 kg scrap of aluminium, two mobile phones with them after causing multiple injuries to SA Krishan Kumar, linesmen Om Prakash and Surender, gunman Ramphal and ALM Jai Bhagwan,” said SDO Sunil Kumar in his complaint lodged with the police.

He maintained that the villagers also snatched 11 cartridges from gunman Ramphal during the assault. They managed to flee the spot before the police arrived.

The villagers said they had run from pillar to post for getting their grievances of power shortage redressed, but to no avail. “Neither any power official nor administrative official is ready to pay heed to our plight. We have to bear the brunt of long power cuts owing to government apathy,” they complained.

“Anil, Ravinder and Ajit and seven other unidentified accomplices of Birohad village have been booked on the complaint of SDO Sunil Kumar in this regard,” said a spokesman of the Jhajjar police.

Jhajjar, September 3
Girl students of various colleges and schools today blocked vehicular traffic on the state highway no.71-A near Dighal village under Beri subdivision in the district for over an hour.

The protesters were demanding restoration of a bus service for women. The bus was withdrawn by the Haryana Roadway authorities some months ago. The girl students said they had to face lot of difficulties in travelling in overcrowded private buses.

The protesters lifted the blockade following an assurance made by the district administrative and police officers that they would talk to the roadways authority to get the bus service restored.

Girls from Dighal, Gochhi, Lakariya, Dhandhlan and other adjoining villages assembled at Dighal Chowk in the morning and blocked the road.

Commuters had to face a tough time as their vehicles struck in long queues on both sides of the road.

The protesters said two buses especially for women were being plied by the roadway authorities, but service of one of the buses was withdrawn without any reason some months ago.

The protesting students said they met officials of the roadway and district administration several times to get the bus service restored but all turned blind eyes towards their plight. “Hence, we decided to take this hard step of road blocking to attract the attention of the authorities concerned,” they said, adding that they had to travel in private buses or jeeps to reach their educational institutes, which was not secure for girls and women.

They demanded immediate restoration of the bus service so that girl students and women could travel safely.

Hisar, September 3
The rainy weather has brought out public anger over lack of proper sewerage in several colonies of the city. There have been numerous instances of residents of different colonies staging angry protests against accumulation of rainwater and overflows from blocked sewers.

The worst-affected areas are located in the walled city. These include: Mill Gate, Mohalla Sanian, Mahavir Colony and Kunj Lal Garden to name a few. Mohalla Sainian has seen the maximum number of protests over the past few weeks. The residents blocked traffic to express their anger over flooded streets and supply of contaminated drinking water.

Forced by public protests, Deputy Commissioner (DC) Amit Aggarwal toured the walled city areas on Sunday to take stock of the situation. Even as he began his visit, people in the Mill Gate area had blocked traffic protesting against flooded streets. In Mahavir Colony he found long stretches of streets with stagnant water making it difficult for even a car to pass.

He immediately directed the officials accompanying him to use mechanical drainage equipment to flush out the water and then remove the root cause. He later visited several colonies and asked the departments concerned to prepare a plan to end the problem.

Aggarwal said a drain would be constructed in Kunj Lal Garden area to drain out storm water.

Residents of Sabzi Mandi and Mohalla Sainian brought tap water and asked the DC to find out for himself if it was fit for consumption. Aggarwal assured that work would be taken up on war footing to solve this problem.

Gurgaon, September 3
Thanks to official apathy, a proposal to set up a department of geriatric medicine at the PGIMS, Rohtak, has been hanging fire even as elderly patients are running from pillar to post to claim their rightful dues.

The extent of red tape can be gauged from the fact that Central funds meant for the purpose could not be released to Haryana as the Health Department/PGIMS babus failed to complete the requisite formalities on time.

Documents in possession of The Tribune reveal that in July,2011, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare wrote to the state Health Secretaries, including the then Haryana Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare), to submit mandate forms urgently for release of funds under the National Programme for Healthcare of the Elderly with the ministry.

However, the state health authorities did not do the needful due to which the funds could not be released.

“Elderly patients continue to suffer due to the apathetic attitude of the authorities concerned despite there being a provision for the establishment of a department of geriatric medicine at the Rohtak PGIMS,” said Dr Prem Singh Dahiya, president of the Senior Citizens Council, a state-level association which has been making concerted efforts in this regard.

Council members said they had met top state as well as PGIMS authorities in this connection but had got only assurances.

“Prof (Dr) S.S.Sangwan, Vice-Chancellor of Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences, introduced the system of special OPD cards and queues for senior citizens and also forwarded the proposal with favorable comments but it is still stuck in officialdom,” they maintained.

In June , the Haryana Financial Commissioner-cum-Principal Secretary (Health and AYUSH) shot off a communiqué to the Director, Medical Education and Research as well as the PGIMS Director for immediate necessary action and comments on the matter.

However, many such letters, memorandums and guidelines regarding the matter notwithstanding, the department of geriatric medicine is yet to see the light of the day. 

Chandigarh, September 3
Heralding a new era of transparency in the selection of judicial officers, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has signified that it is not averse to the inspection of answersheets by the candidates .

“We are inclined to accept the petitioner’s prayer qua inspection of his OMR answersheet,” a Division Bench of the Punjab and Haryana ruled while disposing of a petition by a candidate, Ravi Dahiya.

The development is significant as OMR answersheets of the Haryana Superior Judicial Service preliminary examinations were not shown despite an application under the Right to Information Act.

In his the petition before the Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice RP Nagrath, the petitioner had earlier argued his short grievance was that he was not shown the OMR answersheets despite an application under the RTI Act.

He had added that only eight or 10 questions were left unattempted as per his memory. Referring to the result displayed on the Punjab and Haryana High Court website, Dahiya claimed it suggested that 24 questions were either left blank or were left unattempted by the petitioner.

As the case came up for hearing, the Registrar (Recruitment), present in the court, agreed to allow the petitioner to inspect his original OMR answersheet.

Made a respondent by Dahiya in his petition, the Registrar also agreed that the unattempted questions, if so required, would be manually calculated in the petitioner’s presence.

Taking on record the Registrar’s statement, the Bench in its detailed order observed: “The other relief mentioned in the writ petition, though not pressed at the time of hearing, is otherwise contrary to the settled law and we are inclined to accept the petitioner’s prayer qua inspection of his OMR answersheet only”.

Chandigarh, September 3
Governor Jagannath Pahadia administered the oath of office to three newly appointed State Information Commissioners at a function held in Haryana Raj Bhawan here today.

These new State Information Commissioners are Maj-Gen. Jagbir Singh Kundu (retd.), former IAS oficer Sajjan Singh and former IPS officer Prahlad Rai Meena.

Those present on the occasion included Finance Minister HSChattha, Chief Secretary PKChaudhery, Principal OSD to Chief Minister MS Chopra, Chief Information Commissioner Naresh Gulati, senior officers and members of the families of the new State Information Commissioners. 

Panipat, September 3
Alarmed over the falling groundwater table in Panipat and adjoining areas, the district administration has put some restrictions on the exploitation of groundwater and made the registration of new tubewells mandatory.

“Since the falling water table in Panipat is a cause of concern and the situation is worsening restrictions have been imposed to check the over-exploitation of groundwater,” Deputy Commissioner Mona Srinivas said while chairing a meeting of the advisory committee on the exploitation of groundwater here today.

The Deputy Commissioner said the Central Ground Water Authority had notified Samalakha and Bapauli as over-exploited groundwater areas.

Registration would be mandatory for the installation of tubewells or submersible pumps. The registration forms could be obtained from the SDO of the Power Department, she informed.

“The no objection certificate (NOC) for drinking water and industrial use of water would be available at the office of the deputy commissioner and a screening committee would decide individual cases on merit,” she added.

Srinivas also directed the officials to stop the extraction of groundwater in the region and ensure that no borewell was kept open.

Gurgaon, September 3
The much-awaited National Vocational Education Qualifications Framework (NVEQF) kickstarted in the state with Union Human Resource Development Minister Kapil Sibal launching four vocational courses in the fields of automobile, retail, IT and security, for students of classes IX to XII at Government Sanskriti School in Sushant Lok, here. NVEQF has been launched in 40 schools in eight Haryana districts

“There is a need for education which ensures good employment. If someone has to work in automobiles, where is the need to teach him history? Those who want to pursue studies after schooling can do so. But those wanting to work should be professionally prepared to get work,” said Sibal.

He said100 community colleges would soon be opened in the country for this purpose.

However, the minister and the Haryana government seem to be oblivious of the plight of similar courses which were recently introduced by CBSE schools. A majority had to abort them midway because there were hardly any takers and apparently there was no planning to ensure quality teachers. While employment happens to be the key aim of these courses, lack of any MOU with the sector concerned leaves students to fate’s mercy. Many universities did not even consider vocational courses for admission to higher courses.

“The idea behind the project is great but it is unrealististic. To achieve this, higher education also has to change and even the industry scenario. We had started a financial management course, but had to shut it down. But students ended up facing the music,” said the principal of a renowned private school.

NVEQF, an ambitious national programme to integrate skills, training and qualifications in schools, has been launched in Haryana on a pilot basis before being implemented in other states.

Sonepat, September 3
The INLD supremo and former Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, has alleged that the Congress leadership in the state was out to divide society on caste lines for political gains.

He was addressing a public meeting under the party’s parivartan rally programme here last evening.

Claiming that the INLD had give representation to the Balmiki community, Chautala said eight candidates from community were fielded by the party in the last assembly election out of which four were elected.

He also charged the Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, with playing the politics of regionalism. Even leaders of his party had been levelling the same charges, he alleged.

Karnal, September 3
Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) president Phool Chand Mullana has taken strong exception to yoga guru Ramdev’s demand for the Prime Minister’s resignation and advised him to confine himself to yoga activities.

"Ramdev is an exponent of yoga and he should train people in yoga for healthy life instead of indulging in political activities and seeking the Prime Minister’s resignation ",  he told mediapersons here.

Dismissing the rumours about a mid-term poll to the Lok sabha, he said the UPA enjoyed full majority in the House and the poll would be held as scehduled in 2014.

Accusing the opposition of adopting double standards, the HPCC chief said that it ‘turned a blind eye’ to all "misdeeds and corruption" when in power but made it an issue when thrown out of power by the electorate.