Chandigarh, August 5
Even as efforts are afoot to urge Congress MLA from Panipat Balbir Pal Shah to withdraw his resignation, more trouble is brewing for the the party top brass in the state.

While coming out in Shah's support, Union minister Selja’s loyalists and Congress MLAs, Rajpal Bhukri and Naresh Selvel, say they might be forced to follow suit in protest against the lop-sided development

“We are also ready to put in our papers. We will consult our senior leaders, even meet Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to ask what he has done to fulfil his assurances to us and decide the future course of action,” says Bhukri, MLA from Sadhaura in Yamunanagar.

Alleging discrimination in the sanction of projects and development for Uklana, Selvel says his constituency has been ignored. “Our demands are being overlooked. The Chief Minister has come for three programmes to my constituency but I was not informed. He is coming again on August 7 but he hasn’t bothered to consult me,” he rued.

He claims that no work has been initiated on the ITI sanctioned nearly two years ago in Surewala while sarpanches get money sanctioned directly from the Chief Minister instead of going through him. “The CM is pampering them and putting us down. We feel ignored. The promised bus stand at Agroha still has not come through, the roads are in bad shape while the file of development works has been gathering dust. We are considering resigning our seats if our demands are not met. The entire development is limited to certain pockets in Haryana. We will try and meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party vice-president Rahul Gandhi soon,” Selvel said.

On the first day of the budget session this year, the two leaders had gone “public” with their grievances. They first tried to raise the issue of lop-sided development during the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting just before the session began. The duo then tried to raise the issue in the presence of Bhupinder Singh Hooda but their attempts almost went unacknowledged as the Chief Minister, scheduled to inaugurate a gallery of former and sitting MLAs, left the hall without giving any response.

The two MLAs reached the gallery venue and claimed that while Hooda did not bother to give them a hearing, the CM’s staff, too, refused to accept their list of development works. Later, Hooda met Bhukri and assured him that his demands like Bilaspur college, bus stand etc would be considered favourably.

“Hooda then called a meeting and accepted my demands, including upgradation of the primary health centre (PHC) in Bilaspur, a bus stand and a mini-secretariat, besides a grant of Rs 8 crore. After that, nothing has moved,” Bhukri said.

Hooda, however, emphasised that the government was pursuing a policy of “inclusive development” and projects were being sanctioned all over the state. “The old age pension, stipend schemes are the same in the state. Yamunanagar has a power plant but we cannot sanction a power plant in every district. Similarly, all projects cannot go to one district. The information of my programme goes to the party MLA everytime I visit a constituency. Also, the sarpanches are getting money directly under the Rural Development Fund and it is not a phenomenon limited to one constituency,” he asserted. 

Panipat, August 5
A day after tendering his resignation from the Assembly, Congress MLA from Panipat Balbir Pal Shah fired a fresh salvo at Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, accusing him of discriminating against his constituency in development works.

“Less than two per cent of development works were announced in my constituency from 2005 to 2012, as compared to 24 per cent announcements made in Rohtak,” alleged Shah. “Of the total 5,135 works announced by the government, only 61 projects are in Panipat. Of these, 42 projects have been completed, six are pending and eight are not feasible. On the other hand, of the 1,237 projects announced for Rohtak, 1,082 have been completed and work on 58 is underway,” he further alleged.

Shah (68) was also harsh on official machinery; he accused it of creating hurdles in the implementation of development works. “As an elected representative, it is my moral duty to ensure development of my constituency and look after the welfare of my people. But I am unable to do so due to the non-cooperative and insensitive attitude of the state leadership,” he alleged.

“The canal water scheme was changed; the map of Drain Number 1 in Panipat has been approved after eight years. I don’t know when the funds will be sanctioned and work would commence,” he said and added he had resigned from the post and not from the party.

Shah’s resignation will give credence to allegations of discrimination leveled by Union Minister and Ambala MP Kumari Shelja, Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh and Rajya Sabha MP Ishwar Singh against their areas in development and jobs.

Political analyst Ranbir Singh believed that the rebellious postures of Shah would have serious impact in the Panipat urban constituency and the Karnal-Panipat Parliament seat as he is well entrenched in his constituency.

Chandigarh, August 5
Residential and commercial property is set to cost more across the state with the Hooda Government substantially hiking the licence fee.

Close on the heels of a steep hike in the allotment rates of residential, institutional and industrial plots by HUDA, the government has framed new rules--Haryana Development and Regulation of Urban Areas(Amendment) Rules, 2013-to increase the licence fee. These rules will come into force from June 1,2012, according to official sources.

Now, builders wanting to develop residential zones in areas located in the hyper-potential zone forming a part of the Gurgaon-Manesar urban complex will have to shell out Rs 10 lakh per acre. For the group housing projects in these areas, the fee will be Rs 20 lakh per acre.

Similarly, the licence fee for commercial areas on the prime Gurgaon-Mehrauli road will be Rs 4.3 crore per acre for the floor area ratio (FAR) above 150. And for the FAR of up to 150, the rate would be Rs 3.2 crore per acre.

For other areas located in the hyper-potential zone, the rate would Rs 2.7 crore for FAR above 150 and Rs 2.15 for FAR below 150. For industrial use, the promoters would have to shell out Rs 2 lakh per acre as the licence fee.

The new rate for for high-potential zone forming a part of the Faridabad-Ballabhgarh complex, Pinjore-Kalka complex, Gwal Pahari, Sonepat-Kundli Urban Area complex, Panipat and Sohna will be Rs 7.5 lakh for the residential plotted colonies and Rs 15 lakh for the group housing colonies.

The licence fee for the commercial area for FAR above 150 would be Rs 1.65 crore and Rs 1.1 crore for the FAR below 150. For industrial plots, the licence fee would be Rs 1 lakh per acre.

For the promoters intending to develop plotted colonies in medium potential zone of Karnal, Kurukhetra, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Jagadhari, Bahadurgarh, Hisar, Rohtak, Rewari, Gannaur, Palwal, Hodel, Bawal, Dharuhera and Prithla, the licence fee will be Rs 5 lakh while for group housing projects it would Rs 7.5 lakh per acre.

An amount of Rs 75 lakh will have to be paid as the licence fee for commercial areas for FAR above 150 while the licence fee for FAR below 150 will be Rs 50 lakh. A sum of Rs 50,000 will have to be paid as the licence fee for industrial plots.

For other urban areas of the state, Rs 1 lakh will have to be paid for the plotted colonies. For the group housing societies, the amount will be Rs 2 lakh.

For the industrial areas, the licence fee for the FAR above 150 will be Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 for the FAR below 150. For the industrial areas, the licence fee will be Rs 10,000 per acre, the sources added.

burning hole in pocket Hike in licence fee to push prices of residential, commercial property Licence fee double for group housing colonies than plotted ones Maximum rate of Rs 4.3 crore per acre for Gurgaon-Mehrauli for commercial use

Rohtak, August 5
Seven persons, including four women and two minor children, were killed when a truck-trailer rammed into a car on the Rohtak-Gohana highway near Brahmanwas village, about 10 km from here, on Sunday midnight.

The victims were on way to Gohana of Sonepat district in their Honda City car after attending a satsang at the New Subzi Mandi here. Since one side of the highway was closed for the movement of the kanwariyas, the truck-trailer coming from wrong lane rammed head on into the car.

The occupants of a car following the ill-fated Honda City noticed the mishap and rushed to help the victims. While five persons died on the spot, two others succumbed to their injuries in the PGIMS, Rohtak.

An ambulance reached the spot within 15 minutes of the accident and rushed the victims to the PGIMS. Those killed on the spot included four of a family. Rajender, (50), his wife, son and daughter (both minor) died on the spot, while another daughter (15) was admitted to PGIMS in a critical condition. All the victims were residents of Chopra Colony of Gohana and were associated with the religious sect for the past few years.

Karnal, August 5
The faction led by local Congress MLA Sumita Singh received another jolt today as the BJP and the INLD bagged the posts of Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor of the Karnal Municipal Corporation.

Krishan Garg of the BJP and Manoj Wadhwa of the INLD were elected unopposed Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor, respectively, in the presence of Deputy commissioner Vikas yadav. Nine out of 20 councillors abstained from voting.

The unanimous election of Garg and Wadhwa has established beyond doubt that the combined opposition has managed to thwart the Congress attempts to install its own nominees to three key posts.

Renu Bala , an independent supported by BJP, INLD, Independents and a section of Congress candidates, had defeated Congress-backed candidate Kailash Goel in election for the post of Mayor on July 2. It appears that all nine councillors who voted in favour of Goel stayed away from the election today.

The newly elected Senior Deputy Mayor and Deputy Mayor pledged to work for overall development of Karnal. 

Kaithal, August 5
The elections to elect 13 members of the Pundri Municipal Committee in this district concluded last evening. As many as 84.99 per cent voters exercised their franchise. There were 91 candidates in the field.

The following were declared winners:

Ward 1 — Jai Pal , ward 2 — Sewa Singh, ward 3 — Kanta Devi, ward 4 — Mahaveer, Ward 5 — Multan, ward 6 — Matlesh, ward 7 — Sanjiv Katyal, ward 8 — Veena Rani, ward 9 — Keemat, ward 10 — Saroj saini, ward 11— Kavita, ward 12 — Kuldeep and ward 13 — Rajwanti.

Chandigarh, August 5
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today made it clear that it was content with the amendment carried out in the rules for selection of Information Commissioners.

As a petition filed in public interest by Sanjay Tyagi challenging appointment of Urvashi Gulati as the State Information Commissioner came up for resumed hearing, Haryana Advocate-General Hawa Singh Hooda produced a notification dated July 23, incorporating amendment in the selection procedure for Information Commissioners.

It said: “The government shall finalise a panel of names after considering the list submitted by the search committee for consideration of the statutory committee. The names, along with bio-data and other relevant information of the persons on the panel shall form part of the agenda forwarded to the statutory committee not less than seven days in advance of its meeting.”

Satisfied with the amendment, the Bench of Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Augustine George Masih observed: “This amendment shall ensure that no such issue arises in future”, and disposed the PIL.

The Bench, however, did not pass any order on the appointment of Urvashi Gulati although a request was made by counsel for the petitioner.

In the PIL, the petitioner had contended that the statutory selection committee had disregarded the dissent note of the Leader of the Opposition, who had protested against non-supply of agenda of the meeting to him well in advance. He had also demanded the holding of a fresh meeting after supplying him with the agenda along with the list of prospective candidates. But the other members overruled his objection, and recommended the name of Urvashi Gulati for appointment as Information Commissioner to the Governor.

Gurgaon, August 5
Thanks to the inciting statements issued by local politicians, the row over a 2.75-acre land in the Palam Vihar area is set to get snowballed into a major controversy.

The land in question was in custody of the Waqf Board before being acquired by HUDA in 2007. The board has been writing to the HUDA officials to release the land, but no final decision has been reached so far.

Members of the Muslim community have been using the said land for offering prayers. A boundary wall and a shed were erected on the land, which was later demolished by HUDA officials.

Then, an organisation called Hindu Samaj Sangharsh Samiti emerged on the scenario and demanded that the said land be cleared of the encroachment. The Deputy Commissioner constituted a committee comprising Gurgaon-North SDM Satender Duhan, HUDA Estate Officer-I Dharmender Singh and an Assistant Commissioner of Police to look into the matter.

Members of the samiti met Congress MLA from Badshahpur Rao Dharampal, who assured them of full support. As per the samiti members, the MLA stated that the said land belonged to HUDA and not to the Waqf Board. The samiti has decided to hoist the national flag on the land on August 15.

On the other hand, All-India Mewati Panchayat president and former MLA Zakir Hussain said the HUDA authorities had wrongly acquired the land in 2007, and Chief Minister had been apprised of the matter. "The Chief Minister had assured us that the land meant for mosque would be released to the Waqf Board," he maintained.

Sirsa, August 5
A day after farmers of Talwara Khurd in Sirsa laid siege to Ellenabad-Hanumangarh road in protest against the alleged pilferage of water on upstream of the Southern Ghaggar Canal, farmers whose land fall upstream came on to the road to thwart the move of the irrigation department to plug the openings in the canal.

Farmers of Kutabar, Rattakhera, Himanyukhera, Shekhupura, Kripal Patti, Maujukhera, Budhimeri, Pratap Nagar, Amritsar Kalan, Amritsar Khurd and Dhani Mauju villages gathered near Budameri Chowk in Ellenabad to hold the protest. Vehicles going towards Dabwali and Rania had to be diverted through a longer route from the Ghaggar Bridge near Jeewan Nagar.

As soon as farmers from these villages came to know that the Irrigation Department was planning to close the openings in the canal that supplies water to their villages, they assembled at the office of the department at Ottu Weird.

When they came to know that the department had already sent a JCB machine to Budhamedi village for closing the openings in the canal, they blocked the traffic in protest.

Farmers alleged that the irrigation department was harassing them without any reason and claimed that the openings in the canal to their land were as per the norms and there was nothing illegal.

On Sunday, farmers from Talwara Khurd, who have been sitting on dharna for the past 20 days, had blocked Ellenabad-Hanumangarh road, alleging that their village fell on the tail end of the Southern Ghaggar Canal and due to “illegal openings” upstream, they failed to get any water.

Jagpal Singh, an XEN of the irrigation department, said Ellenabad SDM Prabhjot Singh had called both sides for a meeting in his office for conciliation.

Chandigarh, August 5
Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal has said that all the pending cases of Assured Career Progression (ACP) of teachers would be cleared shortly. Grievances redressal committees would also be constituted at the state and district levels.

Bhukkal was presiding over a meeting with representatives of Haryana School Teachers’ Association to discuss their various issues here today.

The minister said that rationalization policy was issued after discussion with teachers association and teachers were being adjusted according to the workload. She said that the recruitment process of teachers was in progress. After selection, the new teachers would be deputed in schools, she added.

She sought the cooperation of Teachers’ Association in further bringing qualitative improvements in the educational standards in the state and urged the teachers to discharge their duties with upmost dedication.

Jind, August 5
Students and staff of Government High School at Radhana village of the district had a narrow escape when the roof of the verandah caved in all of a sudden on Friday.

The school, located about 10 km from the Jind-Gohana road, has 300 students enrolled in it but has no room to hold classes at present.

Out of the total 18 rooms in the school, nine have been shut down due to their dilapidated condition. The remaining rooms are also lying unused as they, too, are on the verge of caving in.

“One section of the school building, which was built in 1954, has two rooms which are in use at present as a kitchen and a laboratory. The other section of the building with nine rooms was built in 1985 but its condition is so poor that it has been closed down. There is no room available for holding classes,” said Prem Singh Malik, the headmaster of the school.

He said as the building was unsafe, classes were being held either in the verandah or under trees. He said the caving in of the verandah’s roof had left both the teachers and students scared as there could have been a casualty had there been a class at that time.

The incident happened when students were in the ground for morning prayers.

“We have already written to the authorities concerned regarding the state of the building and have asked them to declare it condemned and construct a new building,” said the headmaster. He said they were yet to receive funds in this regard.

The school is also facing shortage of teachers, especially for mathematics.

Rohtak, August 5
The police has booked five youths for allegedly gangraping a married woman in Sanghi village on August 1. However, no arrest has been made so far in this regard.

The police said the incident took place on August 1 when the victim, a resident of Sanghi village, was allegedly drugged by one of the accused and taken to an unidentified spot where the other four accused joined them. All five of them took turns to rape her.

Kurukshetra, August 5
The police has booked five persons for allegedly demanding dowry and beating up a woman.

The police said Ghanshyam Das of Pehowa complained that his daughter was married to Davender Kumar of Panipat on January 13, 2003. Her husband Davender Kumar, father-in-law Laxman Das, mother-in-law Ishwar Devi, Davender's brother and his wife had ben demanding dowry and beating her. 

Rewari, August 5
A man and his two minor children were killed and his wife critically injured when the motorcycle they were riding on was hit by a truck on the National Highway No. 8 near Malpura village at Dharuhera today evening.

The mishap took place when the family was returning to Bawal after attending a function at Gujjar Ghatal village and the truck, which was on way to Rewari, hit the motorcycle. The truck driver fled the spot after the accident.

The deceased were identified as Manoj Kumar (29), Nitin (6) and Shivani (4). Suman Devi was admitted to a hospital with critical injuries.While the two children died on the spot, Manoj succumbed to his injuries in a hospital at Dharuhera.