Yamunanagar, July 22
With more rain pouring in the catchment areas of the three rivers — Somb, Pathrala and Yamuna — which pass through the district, trouble seems to be far from over for the district which today again stood against the huge inflow of water from the neighbouring hill state.

The Yamuna, which carried 40,000 cusec of water on Sunday, today swelled and carried 1.48-lakh cusec, inundating low-lying villages downstream. The Somb and Pathrala also continued to flood low-lying villages in Bilaspur, Sadhaura and Chhachhrauli segments of the district.

Many villages in the three segments were reportedly cut off from the district headquarters as the flood water submerged a large number of roads, here. The road connecting Kahnuwla to Prithvipur was washed away and the district administration rushed to the spot to initiate the repair work.

Locals said the two seasonal rivers, Somb and Pathrala, which had remained dried for more than a decade, this year wrecked havoc on thousands of acres of land on which the crop now stood submerged in the flood water, leaving farmers worried.

Yamunanagar and Jagadhri received more than 250 mm rainfall in the morning, bringing to the fore the problem of water-logging in many plush areas. Areas around Fountain Chowk, Camp Area, Laljpat Nagar and Jagadhri got inundated. In some areas, water up to 4ft had accumulated on roads and seeped into houses.

Movement of trains was suspended on track No 2 at the railway station as it remained inundated for a few hours in the morning. Deputy commissioner MS Brar said the administration was working round the clock and all the logistic support was being rushed to the affected areas. He further said there had been reports of some damage to the standing crop but the exact losses would be assessed only after the flood water completely receded. 

Kaithal, July 22
Deputy Commissioner NK Solanki, accompanied by officials of various departments, inspected arrangements for controlling floods in Kaithal and Kalayat towns of the district today.

In Kaithal, he inspected Kaithal drain, Manas drain, Hansi-Butana link canal, the bridge constructed on the Ujhana-Geong link road and nullahs in various localities here. He directed officials to expedite de-silting and cleaning of drains and nullahs. He issued directions for completion of the pending work on the Manas drain near Khurana road and cleaning of the entry points of the drain. He also directed to ensure that excess water of the Amin drain did not enter the town.

During his inspection in Kalayat, he directed the officials to start the repair work of the Railway road, which is in a bad shape. He directed officials of the Public Health Department to clean the Kapil Muni drain on a war-footing. He inspected the pumping sets installed at various places to drain out excess water in case of floods or rain. 

Rewari,July 22
Alleging that the recently prepared voters’ lists in the state contained fake voters, Haryana BJP Chief Ram Bilas Sharma asserted that such fraudulent practices posed a danger to democracy.

Veer Kumar Yadav, a BJP spokesman, said here that Ram Bilas Sharma had constituted a high-level three-member panel, headed by Anil Vij, Leader of the state BJP Legislature Party, which would soon meet the Chief Electoral Officer and seek fresh voters’ lists in the state.

He said senior leaders of the state BJP were of the opinion that the Congress brass in Haryana had secured success in the 2009 assembly poll by resorting to such corrupt practices .

Charging Congress legislator Sukhbir Kataria with manipulating victory on the Gurgaon seat with the help of about 32,000 fake votes in his favour. Yadav also charged the state Congress brass with insertion of 20,000 to 40,000 fictitious voters in the voters’ lists of Rewari, Panchkula, Panipat, Rohtak an other segments . 

Chandigarh, July 22
The Haryana Government has issued the transfer and posting orders of 13 IPS and eight Haryana State Police officers .

Anil Kumar Rao has been posted as IGP, Crime, Gurgaon, with additional charge as IGP, Rohtak Range.

Dr Suman Manjari goes as IGP, Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban . Maheshwar Dayal has been posted as Joint Commissioner of Police (HQ), Gurgaon while Vivek Sharma has been posted as Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Gurgaon.

Satender Gupta has been posted as SP, CID, while Anil Dhawan goes as SP, Mewat, replacing Sukhbir Singh, who goes as DCP, Ballabhgarh.

Abhishek Garg goes as SP, CID, while Naazneen Bhasin, DCP, Rural, Ambala, has been posted as DCP, East, Gurgaon. Hamid Akhtar has been posted as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Rural, Ambala.

Vikas Dhankar goes as SP, Jhajjar, while Shiv Charan has been posted as SP, Fatehabad.

Sulochna Gajraj, ASP, Rohtak, goes as such to Kurukshetra.

Among the Haryana State Police Officers, Ombir Singh, Additional Superintendent of Police, Narnaul, has been posted as Commandant, 1st Battalion, HAP, Ambala, with additional charge as SP, Telecom. Rajesh Duggal has been posted as SP, Rohtak.

Ravinder Kumar goes as DSP, SCB, Hisar, while Satish Kumar will be the new DSP, HQ, Sonepat. Dalbir Singh has been posted as ACP, DLF, Gurgaon.

Bhupinder Singh goes as DSP, CID, while Anoop Singh, on promotion, has been posted as DSP, 2nd Battalion, HAP, Madhuban.

Ajmer Singh, DSP, Siwani, goes as DSP, CID, against a vacant post.

Chandigarh, July 22
The trumpet blown by Gujarat Chief Minister Narender Modi has fallen flat once again, thanks to the survey report put up by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO).

MLA BB Batra said today that Haryana had prospered and made it to the top under the leadership of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. Gujarat has slid from fourth to eighth in the ranking of states for rural spends, and from seventh to ninth in urban expenditure, according to a comparative analysis of data on monthly per capita spending between 2011-12 and 1999-2000, both of which are put out by the National Sample Survey Organisation.

He said Gujarat had slid in economic rankings. Consumption expenditure of people in Gujarat is growing at a slower rate than the national average, according to a comparative analysis of data on monthly per capita spending. Haryana, Kerala, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Punjab are the top five in urban households. Kerala, Punjab, Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh are the top five states in rural households. It can be made out from the average spending of a person per month to have an indication about what people are earning. 

Chandigarh, July 22
Allottees of Phase I of Gurgaon’s Manesar are up in arms against the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) for having resumed 34 plots while a similar threat looms over 300 more units there.

Sources maintain that the bone of contention between the HSIIDC and the industry is the recovery of enhancement changes of Rs 3,500 per sqm from the 2,000-odd allottees, imposed last year for plots sold between 1998 and 2002.

Manmohan Gind, general secretary of the Manesar Industries Welfare association (MIWA), said the plots were allotted over four years at Rs 1,500 to Rs 5,600 per sqm. “We paid Rs 60 lakh per acre at Rs 1,500 per sqm and Rs 2.20 a crore per acre at Rs 5,500 per sqm. The farmers filed a case for enhanced compensation and the courts ordered that an additional Rs 20 lakh be paid to them. To meet this enhanced cost, the HSIIDC passed on the burden of Rs 3,550 per sqm to us which means that the plot owners will have to shell out more,” he said.

This led to protests from the allottees who approached the court. The court ordered that the money be recovered in two instalments till June 15, 2013. While most of the allottees paid the enhanced rates, notices were served on the others who could not pay.

“The HSIIDC then resumed 34 plots, leaving an 8,000-strong force employed in these units jobless. Another 300 units face the threat of resumption for making only a part payment to the HSIIDC,” Gind said.

Sources in the HSIIDC said that there was no deviation from the norms . “At the time of allotment, their letter clearly mentioned that they would be required to pay enhanced rates, if any. The courts ordered that compensation to the farmers be enhanced. This works out to be Rs 80 lakh per acre. Also, most of the plots were in the category of Rs 1,500 per sqm. We proceeded accordingly,” the sources said.

Gind added that a delegation of MIWA had met HSIIDC MD Tarun Bajaj and urged him to suspend action against the defaulters and extend the deadline to clear the balance payment.

“He has agreed to allow more time. We are trying not only to persuade our members to pay up but also chip in for those who cannot arrange the pending amount immediately,” he claimed.

Confirming that the HSIIDC had resumed 34 plots of allottees who had not bothered to pay even the first instalment, the sources said action would have to be initiated against the defaulters. 

Chandigarh, July 22
About 15 lakh children were administered iron and folic acid tablets in schools of 20 districts today . The Health Department today launched its weekly iron and folic acid supplementation (WIFS) campaign to combat anaemia.

A spokesman of the National Rural Health Mission, Haryana, said today the campaign would be launched in Jind district on July 29.

Chandigarh, July 22
With a view to bringing more transparency in property transactions, the government has made it mandatory to attach the photographs of buyers, sellers with the sale deeds.

Krishna Mohan, Additional Chief Secretary and Financial Commission, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, said today that this decision had been taken to supplement the government to check the undervaluation of property.

He said the photograph should have been taken by a camera which automatically indicated the date on which it was taken.

All Divisional Commissioners and Deputy Commissioners had been directed to ensure strict compliance of these instructions.

Chandigarh, July 22
The government has decided to implement the semester system in all ITIs for the Craftsman Training Scheme (CTS) course from the next academic session.

Haryana Education and Industrial Training MinisterGeeta Bhukkal said today that such students taking admission to the CTS course in Augus would be take their examinations under the semester system in January, 2014. — TNS

Kaithal, July 22
Three persons have gone missing in two cases in Kaithal. The police has registered two cases.

In the first case, a man has lodged a complaintthat his 13-year-old daughter has been missing since July 11. The police has begun investigation.

In the other case, Ranjit Singh, a resident of Kharoudi village in Guhla subdivision of the district, has lodged a complaint that his wife, Raj Rani (28), had gone to pick up her son, Manpreet (8), from a government school at 11.30 am on July 17. But both hadn’t returned home since then. 

New Delhi, July 22
The Supreme Court today directed the Haryana government to explain within two days the status of implementation of the laws relating to prevention of atrocities against the Dalits.

A Bench headed by Justice GS Singhvi asked Additional Advovate General Manjit Singh Dalal and the senior counsel representing the state government in a PIL case relating to the attack on Dalits in Mirchpur village in Haryana’s Hisar district on April 21, 2010, to come with responsible officers for the next hearing on July 24.

Haryana sought at least a week’s time for the purpose, but the Bench did not agree.

The Bench said it was unfortunate that most states were reluctant to enforce the provisions of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989. Some of the provisions pertained to setting up of special courts to hold trial in such cases and appointment of law officers exclusively for the purpose.

The SC also pulled up the Railways for its reluctance in recovering the losses sustained by it during the agitation in the wake of the prosecution of about 100 people for their role in the 2010 attack which had resulted in the killing of two persons and torching of several houses.

In October 2011, a Delhi court convicted 15 persons for attacking the Dalits and sentenced three of them to life term and five persons to imprisonment for varying periods up to five years.

Additional Sessions Judge Kamini Lau let off the remaining seven convicts on probation for one year.

Tara Chand, a 70-year-old Dalit, and his physically-challenged daughter had been killed in the violence by a mob that set ablaze the houses of the Balmiki community.

Chandigarh, July 22
The Haryana Government has been caught discriminating. Taking up a bunch of petitions, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has minced no words to say that landowners in the revenue estate of Safidon “have clearly made out a case of discrimination in the matter of release of acquired land”.

The ruling by a Bench of Justice Surya Kant and Justice Surinder Gupta came on the petitions filed by Shiv Kumar and other petitioners against Haryana and other respondents

In one of the petitions, the landowners had asserted that Haryana proposed to acquire 142 acres for development of a residential and commercial Sector 7, vide a notification issued under Section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act in August, 2007.

After considering objections by the landowners, just 74.10 acres was decided to be acquired while issuing a notification under Section 6 of the Act. Alleging hostile discrimination, counsel for the petitioners argued that even out of 74.10 acres of acquired land, 67.90 acres have since been released.

Responding to the assertions, counsel for the state and other respondents claimed “a big chunk of land was released as it was thickly populated with residential houses”.

After hearing rival contentions, the Bench asserted: “The photographs on record, in no uncertain terms, reveal that most of the land released is vacant and/or small rooms with four walls have been constructed. The nature of construction leaves no room to doubt that it was raised after issuance of the notification under Section 4 of the Act”.

The Bench added the plan also revealed that four acres belonging to the petitioners were surrounded by released land from three sides. The fourth side was abutting the road. “We also find from the plan that rest of the acquired and vacant land is far away from the isolated piece of land of the petitioners.

“There is no explanation whatsoever by the respondents as to how an ambitious project like the development of a residential and commercial Sector 7, Safidon, can be successfully achieved or made viable on a piece of land less than four acres when the surrounding land measuring more than 67 acres has been released. The petitioners, thus, have clearly made out a case of discrimination in the matter of release of the acquired land”. 

New Delhi, July 22
The Delhi High Court today extended the interim bail granted to former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala till tomorrow.

Justice Veena Birbal extended the interim relief just for a day as the bail was expiring today and Justice Siddharth Mridul, who has been hearing the case, did not hold the court today.

On July 4, Justice Mridul had extended the bail till today after going through the INLD leaders’s medical reports and the CBI’s status report filed in response to the notice issued by the court on July 1 on the plea for extending the bail period.

The Judge had then asked Chautala to file a detailed report on his health condition within 10 days. On May 21, the HC had granted six-week interim bail to Chautala to enable him to have a pacemaker implanted.

Chautala has been sentenced to a 10-year jail term for cheating and forgery in the appointment of 3,032 JBT teachers in 1999-2000 when he was the Chief Minister. A CBI court here also sentenced his son, Ajay, to 10-year imprisonment in the case on January 22following which they were lodged in Tihar jail. In all, the CBI court had convicted and sentenced 55 accused in the case. 

Faridabad, July 22
A woman (25) allegedly committed suicide under mysterious circumstances here on Sunday last night.

The deceased, who had a three-year-old son, had an estranged relationship with her husband. She had left her house located at Meethapur in New Delhi and had been staying with her sister and brother-in-law in Sector 4 here for the past four months.

An FIR has been registered on the statement of the deceased’s brother. Police said he said his family did not suspect any foul play in the death. Her in-laws and parents arrived here after being informed about the death.

Police post in-charge Ajay Kumar said prima facie the deceased appeared to be mentally unstable.

Her body was found hanging by a ceiling fan in the house located at the ground floor of the building. She was alone when she allegedly committed the suicide.