Chandigarh, September 9
Friends-turned foes of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala turned the heat on his family for its various acts of omission and commission in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha today.

Intervening in the discussion on the cash-for-CLU ‘scam’, which put the Hooda Government on the back foot, several Congress MLAs like Sampat Singh, Gopal Kanda and Jarnail, who were considered close to Chautala in the past, spew venom on the Leader of the Opposition and his MLA sons — Ajay Chautala and Abhay Chautala — for allegedly amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.

The Congress charge was led by Sampat Singh, Chautalas’s erstwhile Finance Minister, whose son has been accused of demanding money in lieu of grant of CLUs by the INLD through the release of a CD. The veteran leader, whose association with the Devi Lal clan goes back to several decades as he was political secretary to Devi Lal, gave a tell-tale account of the wrongdoings of the family, specially Chautala and his sons. “Not to talk of downtrodden sections of society like Dalits and backward classes, Chautala always tried to suppress even Jat leaders like me,” Sampat Singh asserted.

Vehemently denying allegations against his son, Sampat Singh asserted that he owned every action of his son as opposed to Devi Lal, who once contemplated disowning his son (Chautala) for his wrongdoings.” It is because of the actions of leaders like Chautala that politicians were being portrayed as virtual criminals, “ he added.

Chautala’s former aide, Gopal Kanda, accused in the airhostess Geetika Sharma suicide case, alleged that Chautala’s various acts of omission and commission were an open secret. “The divine justice has prevailed as Chautala and his son Ajay were already in jail for their nefarious activities.”

Echoing similar sentiments, Ratia MLA Jarnail Singh, who once representated the INLD in the Assembly, termed the allegations against him as “politically” motivated as he had snatched the Ratia seat from the INLD after over 30 years in the last Assembly elections. 

Chandigarh, September 9
The cash-for-CLU "scam" and the Hooda government's questionable land deals, including the Robert Vadra-DLF land deal, dominated the parallel mock session organised by the INLD in front of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha today.

With former minister Mohammad Ilyas in the chair as "speaker", the session had all similarities of a regular session with adjournment motions, call-attention motions and usual tongue-in cheeks comments of the members - all to embarrass the Hooda government.

Senior INLD leader Abhay Chautala came down heavily on Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Speaker Kuldeep Sharma for not allowing the Opposition to raise important issues, including the cash-for-CLU "scam", IAS officer Ashok Khemka's report and alleged bid to stop the CAG audit of land deals midway. "In the absence of the Opposition, the session has virtually become a Congress meeting," he alleged.

INLD state president Ashok Arora alleged that the government had given a clean chit to the MLAs allegedly involved in the scam even before a formal inquiry could be ordered into the allegations.

Kalayat MLA Ram Pal Majra alleged that only achievement of the Hooda government in the past about nine years was the grant of hundreds of CLUs in lieu of consideration.

Earlier, the INLD staged a noisy protest outside the main gate of the Vidhan Sabha. As soon as vehicles carrying Congress ministers and MLAs made their way into the gate, the INLD raised slogans against the government.

Heated arguments took place between INLD leaders and Chandigarh Police officers, who claimed that they could not hold protest as Section 144 was in operation in the Assembly complex. Thereafter, the MLA squatted in the groups of four MLAs each to evade Section 144, CrPC.

Chandigarh, September 9
Leader of the BJP Legislative Party Anil Vij, who was also suspended by the Speaker on Friday, sat in a dharna separately at a short distance from the parallel session. 

At one point of time, Abhay went up to Vij to persuade him to join the parallel session. However, Vij turned down the invitation.

Chandigarh, September 9
As many as 93 court cases have been started under the PNDT Act and 25 under the MTP Act up to July 2013. So far, 32 have been convicted under the PNDT Act. Health Minister Rao Narender Singh said this in the Vidhan Sabha here today.

He said various steps were being taken by the Health Department to bridge the gender gap in Narnaul, Rewari, Sonepat, Jhajjar, Panipat and Rohtak from April 2012 and June 2013.

Growth plans

To ensure planned development of the controlled areas and prevent haphazard development, the government has prepared 71 development plans during the last eight years. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said out of the total 71 notified plans, 23 had been finalised whereas 48 have been drafted.

SC scheme

In reply to a question, Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said the government had introduced "One-time allowance to SC students" scheme during the year 2008-09 to facilitate the purchase of necessary material required by students belonging to the Scheduled Castes studying in Class I to XII. Bhukkal said under this scheme during 2008-09, 1,27,084 students were benefited, in 2009-10, 1,76,408 students, in 2010-11, 2,07,402 students, during 2011-12, 2,26,819 students and during 2012-13, 2,33,581 students were benefited.

Drinking water

Public Health Engineering Minister Kiran Choudhry said 26,51,330 households were provided drinking water by the department in the rural areas and 9,38,955 households were sanctioned drinking water connections.

She said under the Indira Gandhi Drinking Water Scheme, 1,55,134 and 8,53,369 drinking water connections have been provided free of cost to the households of the Scheduled Castes in the urban and rural areas.

Chandigarh, September 9
Though the inclusion of wrestling in the 2020 Olympic Games has brought cheer in Haryana, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is still a worried man. He expressed his worries in the House today.

“We are very happy that the International Olympics Committee (IOC) voted wrestling, the oldest sport, back into the Olympic Games to be held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2020. But our players can win medals only when we can participate in the games. We will not even get entry if tainted individuals continue to head the Indian Olympics Association (IOA),” he said.

In an obvious reference to IOA chief Abhay Chautala’s “tarnished reputation” since he has already been charge-sheeted by the CBI in a disproportionate assets case, Hooda lamented that some individuals could not put their interest behind that of the nation.

“Their personal interests take precedence over the country’s. What is the use of the IOC including wrestling as a sport in the Olympic Games when none of our players can go with a tainted head at the helm of affairs,” he rued.

The IOC had recently announced that individuals with “tarnished reputation” cannot contest for the executive board of Olympic associations, especially in the IOA.

The IOA is already suspended by the IOC, meaning thereby that the sportpersons can participate as individuals but cannot participate as a team from the country.

Chandigarh, September 9
Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal said the government had directed the officers concerned to carry out regular checking of food being served to schoolchildren under the mid-day meal scheme.

Bhukkal was replying to a Call-Attention notice given by Congress MLA Aftab Ahmed and Sampat Singh on the second day of the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Vidhan Sabha here today.

She said under the mid-day meal scheme, over 20.88 lakh students were covered in the state during the current financial year which included more than 13.72 lakh primary schools, over 7.08 lakh of upper primary schools and 7,453 students under the National Child Labour Project.

She said effective steps had been taken to maintain quality, hygiene and nutritional value and prevent incidents of pilferage of meal. The officers concerned had been directed to ensure quality and quantity before lifting the foodgrains from Food Corporation of India depots.

They would be held responsible if any complaint was received regarding the quality of foodgrains.

Besides, all District Elementary Education Officers would ensure the presence of members of Self-Help Groups during the delivery of foodgrains by Hafed in their districts.

She said to maintain proper hygiene while preparing mid-day meal, it had been directed to ensure that meal was being prepared and served in neat and clean utensils.

She said all District Elementary Education Officers or Block Education Officers or Block Elementary Education Officers conducted regular monitoring in schools and ensure that nutritional food was being served to students. A daily report was also being sent to the Directorate.

Gurgaon, September 9
Resentment prevails amongst teachers of government colleges over arbitrary service conditions and anomalies in the pay structure.

At a state executive meeting of the Haryana Government College Teachers Association held yesterday, the agitated teachers aired their grievances like limited promotional avenues, lack of incentives for associate professors wishing to pursue Ph.D, irrational state policies on posts of professor in colleges and posting in rural areas and so on.

The college teachers also demanded rationalisation of their workload in accordance with the UGC/university norms, increase in the retirement age from 58 to 60 years, grant of one increment to the teachers who had joined between February and June, increment for associate professors pursuing Ph.D, sanctioning posts of professor at the college level and an additional increment on the change of grade pay.

Haryana Government College Teachers Association president Iqbal Sindhu said they would take up the matter with the state authorities.

As regards the issues pertaining to the Central/UGC authorities, the association members plan to participate in a demonstration slated to be staged at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi later this month.

Sonepat, September 9
Entire record of the Rajiv Gandhi Education City was burnt in a fire at the Haryana Urban Development Authority’s (HUDA) main office here. It took nearly two hours for two fire tenders to distinguish the fire that was reportedly caused due to a short circuit in the wee hours today.

DK Ahuja, Executive Engineer, HUDA, said the watchman on duty noticed the fire at 4am and he immediately informed the fire brigade. The hard copies of the record as well as other furniture, including computers, had been burnt in the fire, he added.

“The incident will be investigated and we hope to complete the record with the help of soft copies available in the office,” he said and added that it would take time to complete the record.

A team of the police and FSL officials reached the spot and after preliminary investigation, a case was registered at the Sector-15 police post.

Chandigarh, September 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today imposed Rs 10,000 as costs on Haryana for not filing an affidavit in response to public interest litigation seeking implementation of the Right to Education Act in schools.

The Bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul also directed the Principal Secretary and the Director, Education Department, to appear in person before the court on the next date of hearing.

The court also asked the state government to file an affidavit on or before the next date of hearing on October 11.

The High Court had asked the state government to file its reply as to why it had reduced the 25 per cent quota under Rule 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules to 10 per cent for children belonging to BPL families in private schools. 

Hisar, September 9
The Hisar police has served a notice on Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray in Mumbai in a case of sedition and making provocative speech. Sources said the police had asked him to join investigation by November 5 at the Hansi police station in the district.

A police team led by Assistant Sub-Inspector Mahavir Singh went to Mumbai to serve the notice on Thackeray last week. Personal assistant of the MNS chief received the notice, the sources said.

The police had registered a case against Thackeray under various sections of the IPC on September 5 last year for spreading hatred against north Indians. The case was registered on the directions of a Hansi court on a petition filed by lawyer Rajat Kalsan.

Gurgaon, September 9
In the wake of on going communal clashes in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh, the Gurgaon police has stepped up security across the district with special attention to ‘sensitive’ areas.

As a precautionary measure, the district police took out a flag march in the city today.

“We have taken a slew of precautionary measures in the wake of the communal disharmony in our neighboring state. The flag march conducted in the city was aimed to act as deterrent to any anti-social or communal element,” said Police Commissioner Alok Mittal.

“Rumour mongering triggers chaos and we are following a zero tolerance to this. Peace and law stands supreme for us and no rumours will be tolerated by the police. We look forth to keep the district’s peace untouched by the unfortunate incidents in Uttar Pradesh,” added Mittal.

Jind, September 9
A youth allegedly gave sedative-laced food to family members of a 20-year-girl and raped the Dalit girl at Bhambewa village of the district last night.

Five members of the family, including the victim, have been shifted to the hospital. The police has registered a case but no arrest has been made so far. Reports said the victim told the police that the youth identified as Naseeb came to her house last night and mixed some sedatives in vegetable which she had prepared. While the girl and her family members, including her mother and her two sisters, who consumed the food fell unconscious. With no male member of the family around, the accused took the girl to a secluded spot and raped her.

It is revealed that the victim, in semi-conscious state, narrated everything to her father, who reached the house late at night. The girl and other members of the family were rushed to a hospital, where they had been undergoing treatment. Though a medical examination of the rape victim had been conducted, the report was still awaited, said a doctor. The victim told the police this morning that the boy was her neighbour.

3-year-old raped

Kaithal: A three-year-old girl was allegedly raped by a 30-year-old married man here today. It is learnt that a labourer family was living in a hut in Ram Nagar erected on a piece of land owned by Sharvan Kumar. Sharvan allegedly picked up the girl on finding her alone around 4 p.m. today and took her to his house located near the hut.

As the girl’s mother heard her cries, she rushed towards Sharvan's house. She found that her daughter had been sexually assaulted. On seeing the woman, the accused ran away . The victim’s parents informed the police who arrested the accused. The victim’s medical examination confirmed rape. The accused will be produced in a court tomorrow.

Four booked for raping minor girl

Ratia (Fatehabad): Two minor girls were allegedly kidnapped from their school at Bharpoor village in Fatehabad district by four youths. One of the girls was allegedly raped in agricultural fields.

The youths also made a video clip of the rape and threatened the girls with dire consequences if they revealed the matter to anyone.

Superintendent of Police Shiv Charan Attri said the victim's statement had been recorded before a magistrate.

Ratia SHO Jugal Kishore said they had booked Pawan, Sanjay, Vikas and another youth .

The victim alleged that she was given a cold drink laced with an intoxicant and raped by Pawan and molested by the other three youths.

7-year jail for rape

Faridabad: A man has been sentenced to seven-year imprisonment for raping a minor girl. Rakesh had raped the victim in her house in Dabua Colony on February 2.

Woman's suicide notes blame kin

Rewari: The receipt of three hand-written suicide notes of Sumitra Devi (24) brought about a U- turn in the case pertaining to her dowry death. The victim's husband, Dinesh Kumar, a resident of Jaisinghpur Kheda village, was booked on a complaint filed on August 30 by Jai Singh, father of the deceased and resident of the nearby Sulkha village.

All three suicide notes, one addressed to Sumitra's father-in-law Sardar Singh and the remaining two to her husband Dinesh, were handed over to the police by Sardar Singh on September 2.

The suicide notes were delivered through a messenger to Sardar Singh by Sumitra before she reportedly committed suicide by jumping into a village pond from which her body was taken out on August 30.

The suicide notes pointed a finger at Gainda Ram (35), husband of Sumitra's cousin Saroj Devi and resident of Sohna of Gurgaon district. The notes also pin-pointed that her husband Dinesh was not responsible for her death.

The police registered a case of rape and abetment to suicide and arrested Gainda Ram who was today remanded in 14-day judicial custody by a local court.

Sources said Gainda Ram had been allegedly exploiting Sumitra sexually for the past several years and had not spared her even after she got married to Dinesh in November 2012.

Kurukshetra, September 9
The police has arrested Raj Kumar, a resident of Khawaja Ahmadpur village in the district. District Police Chief Rakesh Kumar Arya said he was booked under Section 379 of the IPC on February 25, 2002.

The court had declared him a proclaimed offender on August 25, 2006.

He was produced in a court here today, which remanded him in judicial custody.

Hisar, September 9
Chhattisgarh Health Minister Amar Agrawal, who laid the foundation stone of the Sati temple here on Thursday, said there was nothing objectionable as the temple already existed on the site.

Talking to The Tribune on the phone today, the Health Minister said the fresh move was to renovate the existing temple. “The temple is already there and I have attended the function to start the renovation work on the structure,” he said.

When asked that the Sati temples were banned across India under the anti-Sati law, Agrawal reiterated that it’s not a new temple. “This temple is a matter of the faith for the people who visit it regularly to perform pooja. No Sati rituals are being performed here”, he said.

Meanwhile, animal rights activist Naresh Kadian lodged an online complaint with the Hisar administration and the police authorities regarding the Sati temple construction, urging them to take action. In an e-mail sent to the Commissioner, the Deputy Commissioner, the Inspector General of Police and the Superintendent of Police, Hisar, he sought strict legal action against organisers and promoter of the event who wanted to glorify social evil.

However, social organisations, including the All-India Democratic Women Association led by state president Shakuntala Jakhar, the Janwadi Navyuvak Sabha and the Democratic Forum, could not submit a memorandum against the construction of temple to the district administration as none of the senior officials were available at their offices. Jakhar said they would approach the administration tomorrow with their memorandum. 

Karnal, September 9
Floral tributes were paid to Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, founder of The Tribune and the Dyal Singh College Trust, on his 115th death anniversary at Dyal Singh College here today. Director, CSSRI, Dr DK Sharma, who presided over the function, exhorted the students to follow the path of their founder and work with devotion.

Principal of the college Rakesh Bhardwaj highlighted the sacrifices and services of Sardar Majithia and acquainted the students with the varied facets of his life. A tree plantation drive and blood donation camp in which about 180 students participated was also organised in his memory.

Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia was a social reformist, educationist par excellence and visionary with a difference, who did for North India what Raja Ram Mohan Roy had done for Bengal. 

Ratia (Fatehabad), September 9
Members of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today held a demonstration and burnt effigies of the Chief Minister and local MLA Jarnail Singh on the issue of change of land use (CLU) here.

Ratia MLA and Haryana Agro Industries Chairman Jarnail Singh is among the seven Congress leaders whom the INLD has alleged to have demanded money for CLU.

The INLD had released CDs of Jarnail Singh and others, though the Congress has termed these videos as doctored.

The INLD members led by district president Nishan Singh gave a memorandum addressed to the Governor to the SDM in which the party demanded a probe into the truth of the CDs from a High Court judge.

Former MLAs Swatantar Bala Choudhary and Ran Singh Beniwal, Zila Parishad Chairman Angrez Singh Lali, Kuljeet Singh Kuleria, Ram Raj Mehta and Balwan Singh Daulatpuria were among other leaders who took part in the protest.

Seek probe into CLU scam

Rewari:Activists of the INLD held a demonstration and burnt an effigy of the Congress regime at Rajiv Chowk here today.

The demonstration was led by Sunil Chaudhary, district chief, INLD.

Addressing the protesters, Chaudhary, former minister Jagdish Yadav, Satish Yadav and Abhimanyu Rao alleged that while Congress legislators and other prominent Congress leaders had made bids to grab huge amounts by misusing the CLU, the Chief Minister had issued CLUs for about 22,000 acres in the state.

Seeking a judicial probe into such CLUs, they submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner which was addressed to the Governor. 

Faridabad, September 9
With barely a week to go before the rally to be addressed by Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi at Rewari, the party cadre has launched a mass mobilisation drive in Faridabad for the event.

The rally would be organised by the BJP’s ex-servicemen wing on September 15. The party’s campaign is being carried out meticulously in each of the six Assembly constituencies in the district.

Tigaon MLA and former state BJP president Krishanpal Gurjar said nearly 5,000 persons from Faridabad would take part in the rally.

Gurjar, who has been made in charge of the resource management committee for the rally, said about 100 buses would be deployed to ferry participants from Faridabad to the venue.

Party leaders said they were getting good response for the proposed rally. Reports of a number of former army generals joining the BJP at the rally have added to the hype relating the event.

Rewari, which is considered to be the nerve-centre of the Ahirwals in the state, has a sizeable number of ex-servicemen.

Rohtak, September 9
A youth was allegedly beaten to death by residents of Muradpur Tekna village in the district last night after they mistook him to be a member of the dreaded ‘kachha-baniyan’ gang.

The police has registered a case in this regard. Meanwhile, the police issued an appeal to the residents not to get swayed by rumours connected with the gang.

“The murder appears to be a case of mistaken identity as the residents took him to a member of the ‘kachha-baniyan’ gang,” said a police official. He said the victim could not be identified and he was reported to be mentally challenged. A spokesperson of the police department said no incident related to the gang had surfaced in the district so far. 

Hisar, September 9
The Hisar police will install CCTV cameras on all strategic places in the town which will be helpful in cracking the crime incidents. The police has identified 33 spots in the town where around 70 cameras will be fitted. These will be connected to the control room at the SP office at the Mini Secretariat.

The police hoped that the cameras would also prove to be a deterrent for the unscrupulous elements indulging in eve-teasing, chain snatching and assault at public places.

SSP B Satish Balan had submitted the proposal to the state government for clearance and a meeting of the police, the district administration and municipal corporation officials is scheduled to be held in a few days to finalise the modalities for the project.

Police spokesperson Harish Bhardwaj said they had finalised the spots where the CCTV cameras would be installed which included the court complex, the Mini Secretariat, the railway station, the bus stand, Rajguru Market, Dabra Chowk, Nagori Gate, Parijaat Chowk, Malik Chowk, the four-wheeler chowk, Tilak Bazaar, besides the strategic police posts.

Police sources said the plan was finalised in February but it hanged fire due to unavailability of funds as the project required Rs 2 crore. Now after a spate of eve-teasing and chain-snatching incidents, the police again woke up to the need for installing the cameras.

Faridabad, September 9
Tension prevails in Mirzapur village in this district after a clash between two groups yesterday. An upper caste student of class XII had been harassing a Dalit girl of class VIII of the same school in the village. The boy was beaten up by her brother.

In retaliation some people from the boy’s side went to the house of the victim and attacked her family members. As many as 6 persons from both sides were injured in the clash.

A police contingent was rushed to the village to defuse the tension.

However, neither an FIR has been registered nor any arrest made in the case.

Chandigarh, September 9
The Haryana Human Rights Commission (HHRC) today launched its website to provide easy and direct access to people to check the status of their cases and queries related to human rights. Justice Vijender Jain, chairman of the Haryana Human Rights Commission, launched the website www.hhrc.gov.in. — TNS