Chandigarh, November 19
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held a land acquisition collector blameworthy for acting without “any authority of law” before burdening him with costs of Rs 20,000. The amount is to be paid personally by the collector.

Virtually passing strictures on the collector for acting in a “wholly unjustified” manner on a petition filed by Surinder Singh against the state of Haryana and another respondent, a Division Bench of the High Court asserted: “DR Kairon shall personally pay a cost of Rs 20,000 to the petitioner for passing the unwarranted and illegal order. The cost will not be reimbursable by the state government”.

Just more than 14 bighas of the petitioner’s land was acquired vide notifications dated November 30, 2006, and November 28, 2007, under Sections 4 and 6 of the Land Acquisition Act.

The Land Acquisition Collector announced the award on November 26, 2009, and determined Rs 20 lakh per acre as the market value of the land under acquisition. But, the amount was not disbursed to the petitioner.

During the course of arguments, it was pointed out that DR Kairon, Land Acquisition Collector, has made a reference to the court for adjudication and has also passed an order that the compensation should not be paid to the petitioner.

Taking up the matter, the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice Rajiv Narain Raina asserted that while referring the matter, “the Land Acquisition Collector should have remitted the amount to the reference court but withholding the payment of compensation is wholly unjustified”.

Allowing the petition, the Bench directed the Land acquisition Collector “to disburse the amount to the petitioner along with the interest from the date of possession was taken till disbursement, subject to any other order as the reference court may pass”.

Sirsa, November 19
Uneasy calm prevails in Sirsa after a scuffle between Dera followers and those opposed to it, first at Ellenabad on November 15 and then in Jeewan Nagar yesterday.

The district police has requisitioned four reserves of additional forces and deployed two of these in Sirsa and one each in Rania and Ellenabad. A meeting under the chairmanship of Sukhwinder Singh Khalsa, president of the Guru Granth Sahib Satkar Sabha, was held in the local Dashmi Patshahi Gurdwara today.

Giving the police an ultimatum till November 23 to book for attempt to murder those who had attacked five persons going in a car near Jeewan Nagar yesterday, Khalsa threatened to block the highway on November 24.

Dera Sacha Sauda spokesman Aditya Insan today accused the police of taking one-sided action in yesterday’s incident.

“A dera follower Jagtar Singh has received stab injuries in the incident and he is in hospital. But the police has not acted on our complaints,” he alleged.

Rajshree Singh, SSP, however, said the person is question was not in a condition to give his statement and the police would register an FIR on his complaint.

The police had booked nearly 14 persons for showing black flags to Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh near Ellenabad when he was on his way to Rajasthan on November 15.

The police yesterday booked unidentified persons for attacking five persons near Jeewan Nagar.

The SSP today called a meeting of representatives of Sikh organisations as well as the Dera Sacha Sauda to find a solution to the imbroglio. However, no solution could be found in the meeting.

Karnal, November 19
Slogans such as "Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams Banao"(Save and educate the girl child and make them Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams) rent streets of Karnal as local residents and representatives from Vietnam, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia organised a 22-km long marathon to make people aware against discrimination towards the girl child.

Hira Lal Yadav, a social activist and reformer from Maharashtra, also participated in the marathon at the age of 56 along with Prithpal Singh Pannu, president, National Forum of Artists and Activists (NIFAA), to spread the message of "Save the girl child".

The marathon was flagged off by Tagore Public School principal Rajan Lamba. Indo-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla had studied at the school.

In his message, Yadav said he had traversed the length and breadth of the country on cycle seven times to create awareness about drug addiction and plead the cause of families of soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the country. He said the day was significant as another Indo-US astronaut Sunita Williams was returning from space today.

The reason behind keeping the focus of the run on Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams was to motivate and encourage girls to emulate them and carve out a place for themselves.

The marathon, which passed through various sectors, culminated at Doon International School.

Gurgaon, November 19
With the Haryana government notifying the 2031 Development Plan of Sohna, over 25,000 residents of Gurgaon are up against the Town and Country Planning Department for ‘substantially’ reducing their natural water recharge in the Aravalli hills.

The draft notified today states that in view of the scarcity of water in Gurgaon, an attempt should be made to develop the sectors or colonies on the zero discharge concept to encourage the use of recycled water. “An area of about 340 hectares has been reserved as the water recharge zone to check the run-off that will replenish the depleting water table,” reads the draft.

The department had released the draft in July, inviting objections. As many as 25,000 residents under the banner of the Gurgaon Progressive Forum had submitted an objection letter, claiming that the proposed recharge zone of over 300 hectares was inadequate and that at least 14,000 hectares was needed.

“The notification is a huge shock to us. Though the department had asked for objections, it did not consider our proposal. The department never called us to any meeting though we had sent them the objection letter. They have misused the Aravalli region,” said Raman Sharma, president of forum.

The objection letter sent to the department claims that the Sohna DDP 2031 includes over two-thirds of the forest cover of Gurgaon district which falls mostly in the Aravalli hills. This plan has been prepared in defiance of the environmental and other prescriptions of the Regional Plan 2021 prepared by the NCR Planning Board (NCRPB) which bars any activity like industry, mining, construction, cutting of trees and electrification in the Aravalli range and says that master/development plans for the towns in the region should incorporate land suitability analysis for land use allocations.

“Due to groundwater flow in all directions, the Aravalli area has been identified as a recharge zone for groundwater for Delhi, Faridabad and Gurgaon by the Central Ground Water Board. Over 70 per cent of Gurgaon is dependent on groundwater supply for drinking and domestic water supply and is suffering from over 300 per cent overwithdrawal of groundwater. The proposed groundwater recharge zone of 342 ha is grossly inadequate. We are happy to note that perhaps for the first time in the history of Haryana, a groundwater recharge zone has been proposed in a master plan. However, it is not clear on what basis the area for this zone was calculated. As per our calculations, a groundwater zone of 342 ha is barely sufficient for sustainable recharge for 43 ha of residential area,” reads the letter.

The residents have also highlighted the fact that the Damdama lake is the last remaining perennial lake of the Aravallis of the Central NCR and its catchment in the Aravallis, mostly in Roj ka Gujjar village, is virtually unbuilt. “In Gurgaon district itself, of over 200 water bodies, a majority have been lost to development. The master plan does not identify or provide any zoning protection to the catchment of Damdama lake, which falls within the Sohna DDP 2031 area,” adds the letter.

Sonepat, November 19
Former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today chided the UPA Government for working against the interests of farmers and announced that if the minimum support price (MSP) of sugarcane was not increased to Rs 300 per quintal, the INLD would gherao Parliament on December 4.

Talking to mediapersons after addressing a convocation function at Chhotu Ram Arya College here, he said with the increase in prices of diesel, electricity and fertilisers, the input cost had increased considerably and the MSP of Rs 250 per quintal was not at all remunerative.

On prevailing political situation in the country, Chautala said people had lost their faith in the Congress and the BJP and there would be mid-term elections.

In his convocation address, he paid rich tributes to Chaudhary Chhotu Ram for promoting education among rural youths during pre-Independence era.

On the occasion, Chautala distributed degrees to around 350 students of the college.

Jhajjar, November 19
Two persons, Rohtash of Jhadauda Kalan village and Sat Narayan of Bahadurgarh, were drowned while Krishan Kumar sustained injuries after a car fell into Jawaharlal Nehru canal on the Jhajjar-Dadri road late last evening.

Krishan Kumar has been admitted to the Civil Hospital here where his condition is stated to be out of danger.

The incident took place when the three were returning home from Dadri town in a car. As they reached on overbridge across the canal near Barani turn, the driver lost control over the car which fell into the canal after breaking the railing, said the police.

The police fished out the car from the canal with the help of a crane. The three car occupants were taken to the Civil Hospital where Rohtash and Sat Narayan were declared brought dead. 

Hisar, November 19
The Haryana government has dissolved the Jat Education Society and appointed the Deputy Commissioner as administrator to run the society for two years.

The society was last elected in July, 2010. There were complaints that ineligible members had cast votes in the election. The complaints were examined by the District Registrar of Societies and his report recommended dissolution of the society and appointment of an administrator.

The society runs several educational institutions in the city, including a college, a law institute, a college of education and a school.

Speaking on behalf of the society, Sunil Lamba, president of the dissolved society, said the dissolution was politically motivated. The society's office-bearers were elected democratically two-and-a-half years ago. 

Chandigarh November 19
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today offered to give land for a railway unit in the state and urged Union Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal to send a team to Haryana to choose appropriate land for the purpose.

Hooda was reacting to a statement made by the Union Railway Minister, asking the state governments of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh to give land to develop railway industry. Hooda appreciated Bansal’s plan to develop railway industry on the pattern of West Bengal in the states adjacent to Chandigarh.

The Chief Minister said Haryana already had units of many multi-national companies and public sector undertakings because of its distinct geographical location. Also, the state government had implemented an investment and industrial-friendly policy, which was yielding encouraging results. Haryana was today the first choice for industrial investors as the state had adequate technical manpower.

Hooda said with the setting up of a railway unit in the state, not only the auxiliary units would come up but it would also generate ample employment opportunities. He assured all cooperation for setting up a railway unit.

Gurgaon, November 19
The NCR channel of 800 cusecs capacity has been completed which will help quench the thirst of growing population of Gurgaon. The state government has incurred Rs 322 crore on its construction. Gurgaon is currently getting 175 cusecs of water through the Gurgaon water supply channel (GWC).

The water availability in Gurgaon will now to be enhanced almost four times of what is available today. The people of Gurgaon can hope to have more water to use during the summer this time. The 71-km-long NCR channel originates from Kakroi village in Sonepat district and culminates at Chandu Budhera village of Gurgaon district after passing through Sonepat, Rohtak and Jhajjar districts. Officers of the Irrigation Department said 30 cusecs of water was currently being released in this channel which could be enhanced later.

About 600 cusecs of water from the NCR channel will be for Gurgaon city and IMT Manesar while some of it will also be used by townships proposed to be developed at Bahadurgarh, Sampla, Badli and Kharkhoda.

Presently, the drinking water needs of Gurgaon city are met by the lone Gurgaon water supply channel and tubewells. 

Chandigarh, November 19
With a whopping Rs 655 crore outstanding dues, the Jind circle has the dubious distinction of having one-fourth of the total power arrears in the state.

Bhiwani electricity circle is way behind Jind with a figure of Rs 325 crore followed by Rohtak and Hisar circles which are bracketed at number three slot with nearly Rs 314 crore each, according to a data accessed by The Tribune.

Out of the total outstanding power bills pegged at around Rs 4,000 crore, an amount of Rs 2,475 crore is pending with power consumers, who still have electricity connections.

The lowest outstanding amount is accounted by the Sirsa circle (Rs 11 crore) followed by Kurukshetra (Rs 18 crore) and Yamunanagar (Rs 19 crore).

The data showed that a majority of the defaulters were from rural areas. After the state government came out with a bill waiver scheme on June 16, 2005, unscrupulous power consumers, mostly from rural areas, virtually stopped paying bills leading to piling up of the huge defaulting amounts, an official said.

Following is the outstanding amount from different electricity circles: Karnal (Rs 55 crore), Kaithal (Rs 64 crore), Panipat (Rs 97 crore), Sonepat (Rs 106 crore), Jhajjar (Rs 124 crore), Faridabad (Rs 189 crore), Gurgaon (Rs 83 crore), Narnaul (Rs 47 crore) and Rewari (Rs 32 crore).

Claiming that the power department had chalked out a multi-pronged strategy to recover the outstanding amount, the official said monthly recovery targets had been set for different circles to bring the distribution companies out of the red as part of the financial restructuring plan announced by the Central Government for the state power utilities.

“A monthly target of Rs 20 crore has been set for Faridabad circle followed by Bhiwani (Rs 18 crore) and Hisar (Rs 17 crore).

The recovery target has been set on the basis of the recovery potential of the respective circles and is not commensurate with the outstanding amount,” the official added.

Sirsa, November 19
Sirsa has become the first district of Haryana where students in government schools would get education through smart classes.

Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar inaugurated a digital classroom programme in Sirsa today.

The digital classroom has been started in 71 schools in district.

Haryana is the second state of the country after Karnataka where this programme has been implemented

Tanwar said Rs 2 crore would be spent on this project implemented under the Backward Region Grant Fund (BRGF) Programme.

The district administration had signed an agreement with Pearson Education Service Private for the scheme. The company would provide all facilities related to smart classes in all 71 schools.

Classes I to XII would be provided smart boards.

All subjects in the Hindi and English languages would be taught through smart boards.

Interestingly, there will be one smart classroom in each of these 71-government schools, said Tanwar.

How the school authorities would manage to teach classes I to XII in both Hindi and English languages in one smart classroom at their disposal is yet to be seen. 

Fatehabad, November 19
Adampur MLA Renuka Bishnoi today toured over a dozen villages in Fatehabad district to mobilise support for December 2 rally of the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) at Sirsa.

Addressing public meetings at Bhuna, Gorakhpur, Khajuri, Chinder, Dhangar, Badopal and other villages, Renuka said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala were two sides of the same coin.

“These leaders have been hobnobbing with each other to befool people of Haryana and both of them believed in caste based politics,” Renuka alleged in her speeches.

She said Haryana Janhit Congress supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi was the only leader who believed in taking all the 36 castes and communities together.

Terming Bishnoi as a man of principles and integrity, Renuka said her husband had rejected offer of the deputy chief minister to choose the path of struggle for the betterment of people. She invited people for December 2 rally of her party, which, she said, would be addressed among others by BJP president Nitin Gadkari and senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj. 

Hisar, November 19
Hisar and its surrounding areas were hit by a mild earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale around noon today.

There were no reports of any loss to life and property from anywhere in the district. Officials said the epicentre of the quake was Rohtak, 90 km from here. 

Rohtak: A low-intensity earthquake shook Rohtak on Monday, the Met Department said. The tremors measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale were recorded at 11:55 am.

Chandigarh, November 19
Haryana has bagged seven awards, including the shield for commendable Scout and Guide activities in the state.

The state got the first position in the Scout section and the second in the Guide section in the National Commissioner Shield Competition-2012.

These awards have been given for membership growth and overall achievements. Haryana was awarded for an increase in census in the Cub Section, Rover Section and Bulbul Section.

Haryana also got the Laxmi Mazumdar Award in the Scouts and Guides Section.

The awards were given on the occasion of 62nd National Council Meeting of Bharat Scouts and Guides in New Delhi today.

The meeting was presided over by the president of the association, Rameshwar Thakur, former Governor of Madhya Pradesh.

About 200 leaders of Scouts and Guides from all over the country participated in the annual meeting.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda congratulated the Haryana State Scouts and Guides for their achievement.

Hooda himself has been a Scout since school days. He has given special grant of Rs 4 crore to the Haryana State Scouts and Guides for various training facilities.

The state Chief Commissioner for Scouts and Guides, Dr K.K.Khandelwal, who is also the Vice-President of Bharat Scouts and Guides, said that there are more than four lakh Scouts and Guides in Haryana. 

Faridabad, November 19
The deputy mayor of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad, Rajender Bhamla, and his son Dhavneesh are imbroiled in a criminal case for beating a man and his family members, late last night.

The police has come in for flak for not arresting the accused even though an FIR has been registered against them.

The police says action would be taken after the investigation is completed.

A speeding BMW in which Dhavneesh and his friends were travelling allegedly hit the car of the victim, Sanjeev Mahajan, in Sector 22 when the latter was returning home along with his family members from a wedding party.

The victim’s wife, children and sister-n-law were in the car.

The culprits fled the scene, but the victim followed the BMW which eventually pulled up outside the deputy mayor’s residence in Sector 22.

When the victim confronted Dhavneesh, the latter along with his friends allegedly physically attacked him with rods and sticks. They also assaulted his sister-in-law who tried to intervene.

The deputy mayor allegedly came out of his house with a lathi and joined his son in the assault.

Police personnel who were on patrol duty in the area arrived at the spot on hearing the commotion and rescued the victim.

Meanwhile, the residents allege that the police has diluted the case against the accused by invoking weaker sections of the IPC against them.