I am no longer the Irrigation Minister and during my tenure, I did what was the best for the state. — Ajay Yadav, Power Minister

Gurgaon, May 7
After Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Power Minister Captain Ajay Yadav has come under fire for rendering ‘special benefits’ to his constituency.

According to a recent representation made to the Chief Minister by the Mewat Vikas Sabha, Yadav got the approved course of the irrigation canal altered and included Rewari during his tenure as Irrigation Minister before submitting it for appraisal by the National Water Commission.

The sabha approached the CM alleging that this change could have a disastrous affect on the rain-fed agriculture of the district. They added that the changed course had increased the length of the canal from 67 km to around 108-km which had increased the project cost from around Rs 338 crore to Rs 600 crore.

Yadav, however, refuted the claims and said: “I am no longer the Irrigation Minister and during my tenure, I did what was the best for the state. A number of places included in the canal shall have no effect on the total provision of water. The representation is politically motivated. I shall never be biased against a particular area.”

It may be noted that Mewat is the only district in the state which still thrives on rain-fed agriculture. Though an irrigation canal was first proposed in 1967, it is yet to see the light of the day.

The government had devised a plan to provide water to Mewat from the Jawaharlal Nehru feeder where a direct canal was proposed from Salawas to Tawdu in Mewat. However, according to the new plan submitted by the government to the water commission during Yadav’s tenure, Rewari, Jatusana and Khosli were also added.

“We are completely an agriculture-dependent district. We have been rain-fed and have suffered a lot due to the delay in the making of the long-promised canal. The Hooda government had proposed a direct canal to our district from the feeder and submitted a plan but it was during its second term, when Captain Ajay Yadav became the Irrigation Minister, that the course was changed and the already-benefited turf of Rewari got a share. With the canal route being lengthened, the final output in terms of quantity of water will surely be affected,” reads the representation submitted by the Mewat Vikas Sabha.

Chandigarh, May 7
On the eve of Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi's visit to Haryana, the Inderjit faction has fired a salvo at Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Rahul is coming to Panchkula to meet party workers tomorrow.

The Congress faction led by Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh has been accusing Hooda of being selective in sanctioning funds for the development of various areas of the state. Inderjit Singh recently floated an organisation, Haryana Insaaf Manch, to fight against what he calls "regional imbalances" in areas of development and recruitment to government jobs.

It is not yet known if the Rao would attend tomorrow's meeting.

However, a close associate of the Rao, Ved Prakash Vidrohi, today issued a statement urging Rahul to direct the Chief Minister to furnish figures showing the money spent on development of various Assembly constituencies during the past eight years to senior leaders of the party within seven days.

Vidrohi, who heads an NGO, is a delegate to the HPCC . He was a spokesman of the party before he fell out with Hooda and joined hands with Inderjit Singh.

The government , Vidrohi said, should also furnish data on recruitment to government jobs to help clearing doubts about its perceived bias in the development and recruitment policies.

Sharpening his attack on the government, Vidrohi said the government should also release the relevant information regarding release of land from acquisition to counter the opposition propaganda that huge chunks of land had been released in favour of real estate developers. 

Chandigarh, May 7
Fireworks seem inevitable in the divided house the Congress has come to be with the party leadership in Haryana all set for a tete-a-tete with party vice-president Rahul Gandhi tomorrow.

While the government and party top brass was on its toes all day, planning Gandhi's visit to the minutest detail, Panchkula's Indradhanush auditorium where he would interact with the leadership and grassroots workers, virtually turned a fortress in the name of security. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, too, reviewed the arrangements for Gandhi's day-long visit.

Sources said since this was the first official 'public meeting' with '' Congressmen, Hooda-baiters could raise the issue of regional bias in development.

However, more importantly, the lobby of Dalit leaders within the Congress and more specifically among the detractors are also likely to raise the issue of growing atrocities on Dalits in the state. Sources in the detractors camp said since the grievances had gone unaddressed in the Hooda government, the idea would be to raise it at a forum where the government and the "indifferent state leadership" is forced to give a reply.

While Union Minister Selja has been the face of the 'regional bias' campaign against the Hooda government for some time now, Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh, a close aide of Selja, has taken on the government for the rising incidents of crime against Dalits.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that the government, too, is clearly in the combat mode and had prepared its reply well. Sources said the state leadership was ready to present a report card of all its achievements and incentives doled out for all sections of society, besides arming itself with data to lend credence to its argument.

According to the schedule of the visit , Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to hold three meetings during the visit . The most crucial meeting with 250-odd delegates is that of the extended PCC . At this meeting, he will interact with the MPs of the state, MLAs, DCC presidents, the chairpersons of the party's frontal organisations and defeated candidates of all constituencies of the last election.

He will separately meet members of the local bodies, municipalities and the zila parishad. He will end his visit with a meeting of all local leaders of the parliamentary segments in the state, including the assembly seats . He will meet leaders and elected representatives of two parliamentary seats at a time, sources said.

However, the feeling among Congressmen is that while Gandhi may be visiting the state for a feedback, nothing much may change in the divided party even after his visit. Also, while the detractors are prepared to raise their issues , they may not even get a chance to put forth their point of view if Gandhi decided it would be a monologue where he speaks and they hear.

Rewari, May 7
The police has arrested a schoolteacher Vikram Singh of Jholri village, who allegedly made a bid to outrage the modesty of his colleague, a woman clerk of Kosli, yesterday. He was produced in a court today, which remanded him in judicial custody. Both woman and Vikram Singh are employed at Government Girls Middle School, Jahidpur, 8 km from Kosli.

Yesterday, after the school got over, the woman was retuning home on a scooter when Vikram started molesting her following which she fell down from her scooter near the Kosli- Bhurthala railway crossing and sustained injuries. Subsequently, she filed a complaint following which the police registered a case of causing hurt, molestation and criminal intimidation and then arrested the accused.

Ambala, May 7
After struggling for over 16 hours, firefighters managed to douse the flames at Parijat Chemicals Private Ltd, which had been engulfed in a major fire on Monday night.

It took around 55 fire tenders to bring the situation under control at the factory, located on the outskirts of Mandour village in the district. Even as the exact assessment of the loss is yet to begin, sources said the losses could run into several crores of rupees as almost the entire factory had been damaged in the fire. Some of the houses located in the vicinity of the factory also suffered damages, however no loss of life was reported.

Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi said a magisterial probe had been ordered into the incident and the reasons behind the fire were being looked into.

A case against the owner of the factory RD Bhatia was registered under Sections 336 (Act endangering personal safety of others), 436 (mischief with fire or explosive substance with intent to destroy house), 285 (negligent act with respect to fire or combustible matter), 284 (negligent act with respect to poisonous substance) of the IPC and Sections 3, 4 and 5 of the Explosive Act and under the Pesticide Act. However, no arrests had been made till the filling of the report.

The fire at the factory was followed by a series of blasts creating panic in the village. Several fireballs and splinters of drums fell on the nearby houses. Five persons sustained injuries due to these blasts and were taken to the nearby hospitals.

According to the firefighters, the fumes from the burning chemicals made their work tougher.

Meanwhile, residents of the village alleged that they had been demanding that the chemical factory be shifted from the present site, but in vain. 

Hisar, May 7
Members of the Valmiki community stopped the screening of Bollywood movie “Shootout at Wadala” at Sun City Mall in Hisar today.

Activists of the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharma Samaj led by its state secretary Gaurav Bhim went to the Sun City Mall where filming of “Shootout at Wadala” was in progress and forced its managers to stop the screening. The film was released throughout the country on Friday. The activists collected posters of the movies and set them on fire outside the mall. A police party soon arrived there on the request of the mall owners and pacified the protesters.

Bhim alleged that some dialogues in this movie were derogatory towards the Valmikis. He maintained that the film had already been banned in Punjab and now they would not allow it to be screened in Haryana.

Jagmohan Lohia, manager of the mall, said the organisers had themselves stopped the afternoon show of the film looking into the growing anger among the Valmikis. “We have no intention of hurting religious sentiments of any community and hence we will not resume the film’s shows till the matter is resolved,” he added.

ML Sarwan, secretary general, Haryana Valmiki Mahasabha, has also condemned the derogatory words for the community used in this film. He demanded a permanent solution whereby such dialogues were filtered at the time of censure certification.

KARNAL: The screening of “Shootout at Wadala” was stopped at cinema halls here.

Valmikis held protests against some remarks in the film outside the cinema halls. They tore the posters and set hoardings on fire.

The film was being screened at Novelty Theatre and another theatre at a mall. Protesters forced the cinema halls to stop screening of the film and warned them of serious consequences if they dared to screen the film again.

The protesters under the banner of the Bhartiya Valmiki Dharam Samaj (BVDS) burnt the effigies of producer and director of the film Ekta Kapoor and Sanjay Gupta, respectively. They said mere apology for including “defamatory and objectionable” remarks against the Valmikis would not be enough and the screening of the films would not be allowed unless all remarks, which hurt the sentiments of the Valmikis were removed.

Kurukshetra, May 7
The state INLD president and MLA Ashok Arora has alleged that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is misleading people on Vikas Rally scheduled to be held here on May 26.

Arora said first of all Hooda should issue a white paper on development made in the state during his regime. In fact, no development had been made in the state in the eight-year Hooda regime. On the other hand, Congress leaders had developed themselves in the name of development made in Haryana, Arora alleged.

On the misuse of the CBI by the Congress, Arora said this had been proved by the Supreme Court through an affidavit submitted by the CBI Director. He alleged the Congress had sent INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala to jail by misusing the CBI .

Talking about various scams committed by Congress leaders, the INLD leader said the rail and coal scams had exposed the real faces of corrupt Congress leaders while Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was keeping mum on the issue.

Even Haryana Congress leaders have started criticising Hooda and levelling allegations of regionalism and corruption against him openly.

Chandigarh: The INLD has demanded the resignation of Law Minister Ashwini Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal for allegedly changing the CBI report on the coal scam and the rail bribery case, respectively.

State INLD president Ashok Arora said here on Tuesday that after the CBI’s affidavit in the Supreme Court admitting that the PMO And Law Minister Ashwani Kumar had made major changes in the original report on the coal scam, the minister had no moral right to remain in office. Similarly, Railway Minister Bansal’s nephew was caught red-handed by the CBI while taking a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a senior railway officer Mahesh Kumar . Bansal’s nephew apparently took the bribe to promote Mahesh Kumar on behalf of the Railway Minister, he alleged.

Arora alleged senior Congress leaders were silent on the rail and coal scam reports and were trying their level best to get a clean chit for the ministers.

Chandigarh, May 7
The Scheduled Caste students, studying in classes I to XII in government schools all over Haryana, will now get higher monthly stipend. This decision will benefit 11.79 lakh students and cost the state exchequer Rs 458.48 crore during the current financial year.

While SC boys studying in class XI and XII will now get Rs 400 instead of Rs 300 per month, girls studying in these classes would get a stipend of Rs 600 instead of Rs 400 per month.

Education and Welfare of Scheduled Castes and Backward Classes Minister Geeta Bhukkal said SC boys studying in classes IX and X would now get a monthly incentive of Rs 250 instead of Rs 200 while girls would get Rs 400 instead of Rs 300. She said boys studying in classes VI to VIII would get a monthly incentive of Rs 200 instead of Rs 150 while for girls the stipend would be Rs 300 instead of Rs 200.

Boys in classes I to V would now get an incentive of Rs 150 per month instead of Rs 100 and girls would get Rs 225 instead of Rs150.

Bhukkal said the state government had started monthly scholarship scheme in 2008-09 with a view to check the drop-out rate among the students belonging to the weaker sections of society. 

Fatehabad, May 7
In the midst of craze for vanity registration numbers for their vehicles, a man today purchased a registration number for Rs 1.75 lakh for his two-wheeler worth Rs 50,000.

Daya Kishan Chhillar, who gave the highest bid of Rs 1.75 lakh for registration number HR-22J-2222, will use the number on his two-wheeler Activa Honda.

SDM Baljit Singh, who presided over the auction, said the number 7777 from this series went for Rs 1.30 lakh to Pawan Kumar, while the number 4444 fetched Rs 30,000.

The registration numbers 5000 and 7000 went for Rs 22,000 each.

Bhiwani, May 7
Two persons, including a woman, were killed and nine seriously injured when an auto- rickshaw collided head-on with a dumper near Nandha village in Bhiwani today.

The police has impounded the dumper and arrested its driver.

The accident occurred around 10 am today when an auto-rickshaw packed with passengers was going from Nandha towards Badhra.

A dumper coming from the opposite direction hit the auto head-on. The accident was so fierce that the passengers were thrown out of the auto- rickshaw.

The injured were rushed to the Primary Health Centre, Badhra, where the doctors referred the injured to Bhiwani.

Ram Chander and Reshma succumbed to their injuries before the ambulance reached Bhiwani.

Sirsa, May 7
Sirsa Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Saurabh Singh said the functioning of the district police would be improved to curb crimes against women and children.

Saurabh Singh joined as the SSP here today after the state government shifted Raj Shri Singh to 3rd Battalion of the Haryana Armed Police at Hisar.

Before this, Saurabh Singh was SP (CID), Panchkula.

Calling upon people to support the police in its endeavour to check crimes in the district, Saurabh Singh maintained that no police could function without support from the public.

The SSP said curbing illegal activities like “satta”, drug trafficking and gambling would be his other priorities.

Saurabh Singh, who has earlier served as district police chief at Fatehabad, Jhajjar, Bhiwani and Jind, said the police would also improve traffic conditions in Sirsa.

He said in order to instill people’s confidence in the police, night patrolling would be increased.

Sonepat, May 7
Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda and All-India Youth Congress president Rajiv Satav today flagged off the “Yuva Sandesh Yatra-2013” for motivating people in the Sonepat Lok Sabha constituency to avail the recently launched Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme.

The yatra, which has been organised by the Sonepat Lok Sabha Yuva Congress, will cover a distance of 285 km in nine assembly segments of the Lok Sabha constituency. The 14-day yatra will terminate at Moana village in Safidon assembly constituency.

Deepender Hooda said the all-round development and social welfare had been the watch word of the Congress government in Haryana during the past more than eight years.

The state had been gifted with major projects like new railway lines, metro, rail coach manufacturing projects, RoBs on level crossings, widening of the national and state highways and opening of institutes of national and international fames, he added.

Sonepat MP Jitender Singh Malik also addressed the gathering.

Sirsa, May 7
A government school in Sirsa is under scanner after a bundle of unevaluated answersheets of Class XI of the school for the year 2011 was recovered from a scrap dealer at Rori in the district.

The answersheets of political science exams of Government Senior Secondary School, Rori, for the academic session 2011-12 were found without any evaluation with a scrap dealer. The school authorities had announced the results of this exam last year. The matter came to light when a shopkeeper purchased rough papers from the dealer for the purpose of preparing bags for grocery items. Block Education Officer Bhim Singh Beniwal, who was principal of the school in 2011-12, said a committee of teachers constituted for this purpose had prepared the results. He said he had no idea how the committee awarded marks to students without evaluating the answersheets.