Chandigarh,October 25
After turning the heat on the powerful 'business-politico-bureaucratic-police' nexus, which cornered prime chunks of land under the garb of consolidation in four villages of Gurgaon and Faridabad districts, whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka formulated a new set of rules aimed at checking 'benami' land transactions and curtailing the role of black money in land transactions across the state.

The new rules — the Haryana Registration Rules,2012 — which were notified by Khemka on October 10 and sent to the deputy commissioners-cum-registrars the next day were aimed at bringing transparency in land transactions. The new rules make the quoting of the Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India for individuals and Corporate Identity Number (CIN) issued by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs for companies mandatory in land registrations.

Urging the state government to publish these rules in the official gazette, Khemka, in an official letter to the additional chief secretary-cum-financial commissioner, Revenue Department, on October 11 had reported huge misappropriation of panchayat lands during the inspection of the records.

“The government may consider compiling the list of misappropriated panchayat land by way of changed ownership or unauthorised possession. A judicial inquiry is recommended to go into the question of the continuing large-scale mis-appropriation of panchayat lands despite a large number of judicial verdicts,” the letter asserted.

Khemka was transferred as Haryana’s Director-General of Land Consolidation and Land Records-cum-Inspector-General of Registration, on October 11 night for probing land deals involving UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra. Later, before joining as the Managing Director of the Haryana Seed Development Corporation on October 15, he had cancelled the mutation of a 3.531-acre plot of land in Shikohpur (Manesar) that Vadra had sold to DLF for Rs 58 crore.

Under the new rules, “no transfer of immovable property of gram panchayat or shamlat deh land vesting in the gram panchayat will be registered unless authorised by a resolution of the gram panchayat and approved by the Department of Development and Panchayats.”

Similarly, “no transfer of possessory rights on gram panchayat or shamlat deh will be registered unless authorised by a resolution of the gram panchayat and approved by the registrar.”

While others rules were to come into effect immediately, the rules regarding compulsory mentioning of the Aadhaar and CIN numbers were to come into effect with effect from October 1,2013, so as to give ample time to the prospective vendors/ vendees to obtain these cards.

Meanwhile, in his letter to the additional chief secretary, Khemka said: “In some cases, relying upon some order dated 10.01.2006 of the Development and Panchayats Department, large areas of panchayat lands were mutated in favour of ‘owners’. Another modus operandi adopted was to transfer the possessory rights on panchayat lands without authorisation of the panchayat. In some cases, the unauthorised occupants are industrial houses and senior officers,” he alleged.

He said that there were 'benami' transactions where black money was recycled to evade the clutches of law.

Sirsa, October 25
Owing to the indifferent attitude of the authorities, several farmers have been selling their paddy in distress at rates much less than the minimum support price (MSP) guaranteed by the government in various grain markets of Sirsa.

The government has set an MSP of Rs 1,250 for the common grade of parmal paddy and Rs 1,280 for A-grade.

However, some farmers have been forced to sell their produce at a price as low as Rs 1,100 per quintal.

“I am selling my crop for Rs 1,150 in distress as I have been waiting for the government agencies to purchase my paddy for the past three days and I am not in a position to wait anymore,” lamented Satnam, a farmer in the Sirsa grain market.

Farmers alleged that the government procurement agencies, millers, authorities and traders had connived to fleece farmers.

While the government procurement agencies delay procurement on some pretext, normally citing higher moisture contents, millers purchase the same lot at lower rates.

Mani Ram, who sold his crop for Rs 1,200 per quintal, alleged that the authorities, including officials of the Market Committee and Food and Supplies Department, look the other way when the millers fleece the farmers.

Gurdial Mehta, former president of the Sirsa Grain Market Traders Association, said parmal paddy was being purchased for Rs 1,100 to Rs 1,300, depending quality of the crop.

Diwan Chand Sharma, District Food and Supplies Controller, Sirsa, however, said the procurement agencies had been purchasing paddy above the MSP.

“I cannot rule out the possibility of some farmers selling their inferior quality paddy for lesser rates, but this is not a general rule,” he added.

The government allows 14 per cent moisture contents in the paddy and the procurement agencies can refuse if the dampness increases this limit.

Sonepat, October 25
A sharp decline of 10 to 20 per cent in the procurement prices of basmati varieties paddy within the past one week has put farmers at receiving end allegedly due to a nexus between the market committee officials, commission agents and buyers.

When the procurement prices of the past one week are compared, Sharabti prices had gone down from Rs 1,450-1,500 per quintal to Rs 2,000 per quintal. Similarly, there is a decline of Rs 200 to 300 per quintal in prices of 1,121 basmati and of muchhal pusha. Initial purchase of basmati 1,121 and muchhal was around Rs 2,500 per quintal.

Some farmers, Hawa Singh and Maha Singh of Rohat, Ram Chander and Satbir of Kami and Mukesh of Sandal Kalan village, who had come with their produce in the Sonepat grain market today alleged that only a few paddy heaps were being auctioned and there was no auction of the remaining paddy heaps. Such kind of procurement procedure had spread resentment among the farmers, they added.

Ganga Ram and Subhash of Mehandipur village and Ranbir Singh of Tharu village said because of scanty rains and hike in the prices of the fertilizers, diesel and other inputs, the cost of production had increased considerably. “We hoped that we will get remunerative prices of our produce, but we have been put at the mercy of buyers, commission agents and government officials,” they alleged.

The state vice-president of the All-India Kisan Sabha, Shradha Nand Solanki, said a majority of the farmers had taken crop loans from the banks as well as land on lease for paddy cultivation. If they did not get the remunerative prices, it would be difficult for them to repay the loans and recover the lease amount, he said and demanded proper supervision of the auction process in the grain markets and bonus to the farmers.

Yamunanagar/Ambala,Oct 25
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) has directed the state power authorities to liquidate the dues of Rs 243.83 crore, which the utlities have to pay for overdrawing power from the Northern Grid.

It is learnt that the Northern regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) had reported that Rs 282.63 crore and Rs 243.83 crore was outstanding against Punjab and Haryana, respectively, towards unscheduled interchange payments as on August 31.

Following this, the CERC directed the the two states to liquidate all their dues by October 31 or face non-compliance action as per the provisions of unscheduled interchange (UI) regulations.

Sources within the power utilities stated that as per the provisions of UI regulations, payment of UI charges should be accorded highest priority and should be cleared within 10 days of the date of issue of UI account. If the payment is delayed beyond 12 days, state is liable to pay interest of 0.04 per cent per day.

The central authority has directed the chairman and managing director of Punjab State Electricity Transmission Corporation and the Haryana Vidyut Parsaran Nigam to personally ensure liquidation of arrears by month-end. The states have been asked to file their replies by November 11 and the matter has been listed for further hearing on November 20.

Gurgaon, October 25
The poor financial health of the DHBVN and the UHBVN warrants strict financial discipline, said Devender Singh, Chairman-cum-Managing Director of the state power corporations, here today. The state discoms were under a massive debt burden amounting to Rs 19,000 crore and even banks had started denying loans to them.

He said Haryana’s power distribution companies had to bear a loss of Rs 2.50 per unit.

Sharing his strategy for a financial turnaround, he asserted that power engineers and workers of the discoms had been given the responsibility of reducing the cost of supply by 60 paise per unit by reducing the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses from 30 per cent to 15 per cent in the next three years.

The financial restructuring programme had given relief to the discoms from the pressure of payment of loans for three years, he said.

Under the restructuring, the payment of the principal amount had been deferred for three years and half of the outstanding short-term liability converted into equity to be held by the government.

Singh pointed out that the benefit of huge power-generation capacity could not reach the consumers if the discoms were unable to purchase electricity due to financial stress and strengthen the power distribution system in accordance with the given load and demand.

The CMD appealed to the power consumers to contribute their mite in the power reforms by way of checking theft of electricity, timely payment of electricity bills and optimum use of electricity.

Kurukshetra, October 25
Though the authorities claim to have abolished the menace of child labour from the city, the practice is going on unabated in the region.

According to law, no child below the age of 14 can be employed for any work. An Act to this effect came into force in 1986.

Children can be seen working in hotels, restaurants and mechanic shops and even as conductors with trucks and passenger vehicles here. Many children below the age of 14 have been employed as domestic helps.

While the children say that they have to work out of family compulsions, law enforcing agencies remain mute spectators.

“There is no other means of income in my family. That’s why I have no option but to work at the restaurant near Kurukshetra University,” 11-year-old Pappu says.

In the absence of any check, it becomes easy for the people to employ minors on hazardous and risky jobs. Children can be seen selling eatables at the bus stand, risking their lives in the midst of speeding vehicles.

“Everyday our employer wants us to sell the maximum number of eatables and many times we get hurt by fast moving vehicles,” said Ravi (14).

“As these children don’t argue and don’t know the ill effects of the job that they have been assigned, they easily accept any work,” says a social activist, Devender Rana.

Chandigarh, October 25
The government has notified the Haryana State Commission for Women Act , 2012, to constitute the Haryana State Commission for Women, Sumita Misra,

Director-General, Women and Child Development Department, said here today. The Act had been enacted to strengthen the State Women Commission by providing it statutory status.

Misra said the Act was necessitated because as per the existing status of the commission, it did not exercise all powers of a civil court like summoning, enforcing attendance, requiring the production of any document, receiving evidence on affidavit, examination of witnesses and documents, implementation of laws enacted to provide protection to women, compliance of policy decisions, guidelines aimed at mitigating hardships and ensuring welfare and providing relief to women.

She said that the commission would consist of a chairperson, a vice-chairperson and a maximum of five members to be nominated by the government from amongst persons of ability, integrity and standing. At least one member would be from the Scheduled Castes.

Its member-secretary would be nominated by the government preferably from amongst women officers of the IAS or the HCS, not below the rank of koint or deputy secretary.

Sirsa, October 25
Teams headed by SDMs have been constituted to check the sale of adulterated sweets in the district.

J Ganesan, Deputy Commissioner, held a meeting attended by the SDMs of Sirsa, Dabwali and Ellenabad today.

civil surgeon Daya Nand and several other officers were present.

Under the Food Safety and Standards Rules, 2011, powers to take samples have now been vested in senior medical officers.

Earlier, these powers were vested in government food inspectors, now named food safety officers.

Chandigarh, October 25
The Haryana Secondary Education Department has decided to constitute committees in each district to redress the grievances of employees working on sanctioned or aided posts in privately managed schools in the state.

A official spokesman said here that the District Education Officer (DEO) concerned would be chairman of the committee.

The Additional District Education Officer-cum-DEEO and Block Education Officer concerned would serve as members whereas the principal or headmaster working on sanctioned post in each privately managed aided school would be the member-secretary of the committee.

All District Education Officers had been directed to submit a complete report within three days regarding the defaulter privately managed aided schools that were not complying with the orders of the directorate and also not paying salary or dues.

Sirsa, October 25
At least 12 children sustained burn injuries in a fire that erupted after a bottle of spirit burst near a fire pan on a tableau during the Dasehra procession last evening.

The condition of 12-year-old Mohit is said to be serious, as the fire has affected large parts of his face and chest.

The children hurt in the fire were standing on the tableau in the dresses of ‘asuras’. Acting on the directions of the organisers, they were pouring spirit from a bottle in a ‘handi’ (pan) to keep the fire burning.

Suddenly, the bottle burst, resulting in a fire on the portion of tableau where the children were standing.

People rushed towards the children after hearing their cries and doused the fire with pieces of cloth.

Mohit and 16-year-old Rahul were rushed to General Hospital, Sirsa, by the organisers while the kin of Ravi, Veeru, Sunil, Vikram, Vicky, Rahul, Vikas, Tilak and Bhanu took them to their homes in view of minor burns.

While Rahul was discharged from the hospital after first aid, Mohit has been shifted to a private hospital due to his critical condition.

Eyewitnesses said a child was assigned the duty of pouring small quantities of spirit in the pan to keep the fire going, but suddenly the cap of the bottle came out and it immediately exploded after catching fire.

The organisers had not made any arrangements to extinguish fire in case of emergency.

Meanwhile, members of the Dalit community prevented the burning of Ravana’s effigy at Odhan in Sirsa yesterday.

Describing Ravana as their ancestor, the Dalits maintained that the demon did not do anything wrong except kidnapping Sita, but he did not cause her any harm during the captivity.

Chandigarh, October 25
The Haryana Government has revised the rates for dearness allowance (DA) relief for its pensioners and family pensioners from 65 to 72 per cent from July 1, 2012.

Finance Minister HS Chattha said the DA relief to pensioners and family pensioners would be admissible on the pattern of the Union Government. The government would spend Rs 8.35 crore per month to give this DA, he said.

The minister said to provide the relief from July, 2012, to Feb, 2013, an additional amount of Rs 66.80 crore would be incurred, resulting in an additional annual burden of Rs 100.20 crore on the state exchequer. — PTI

Rohtak, October 25
A state-of-the-art telecobalt machine, Theratron Equionox-80, used for external radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer was commissioned recently in the Regional Cancer Centre of the PGIMS by the local MP, Deepender Singh.

He also laid the foundation stone of a water treatment plant, costing around Rs 3.7 crore, was purchased recently by the institute.

Hisar, October 25
Three persons were killed and 11 injured in road mishaps in the district yesterday.

A Cruiser collided with a Canter on the Sirsa Road, killing one person. Six others were injured. They were admitted to private hospitals.

A youth was run over by a vehicle near Talwandi Rana village of the district. The driver of an auto-rickshaw was killed when his vehicle overturned near Bhanu Chowk here while trying to save a dog. Five were injured in another accident on the Balsamand Road.

Hisar, October 25
Sukhbir Singh of Juglan village was shot dead at Badho Patti village. His body was found lying near a canal.

His father said Sukhbir had gone out on his motorcycle after taking dinner on Tuesday. He left his motorcycle at a relative’s house and borrowed his car on the pretext of going to his wife’s village. The car was found near the place where he was shot. A bullet shell was also found near the body. —TNS