Radaur, September 15
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today took on the INLD in its own bastion by launching a scathing attack on its leaders for neglecting the interests of the people and betraying them in the name of development.

Addressing a Radaur Vikas Rally at Grain Market which coincided with his 66th birthday here today, Hooda said the last INLD regime had deprived the state of the development. He said Om Prakash Chautala had remained the Chief Minister for six years yet he did nothing to uplift farmers.

The present government had implemented separate schemes for the welfare of all sections of society. Hooda claimed that during the six-year tenure of the INLD-BJP government from 1999-2005, only Rs 58.27 crore was spent in Radaur whereas during his tenure, Rs 412.98 crore had so far been spent on various development works.

Elated at a mammoth gathering, Hooda announced a slew of incentives, including grant of tehsil status to Radaur, Rs 50 crore for the repair of roads, Rs 10 crore each for all four Assembly constituencies in Yamunanagar namely Radaur, Yamunanagar, Jagadhari and Sadhaura from the Haryana Rural Development Fund (HRDF), Rs 20 crore for the Municipal Corporation, Yamunanagar-Jagadhari, and Rs 2 crore for the development of Radaur.

He also announced the upgrade of primary health centres and village schools, besides strengthening of banks of the Yamuna to avoid flooding of the areas.

He stated that the second phase of the Dadupur Nalwi project would be completed by December this year, which would facilitate irrigation in over 92,000 hectares in three districts of Yamunanagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra.

He also claimed the credit for implementing the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna to provide free residential plots measuring 100 sq yards to the beneficiaries belonging to the SC, BC-A and BPL. So far 3.82 lakh beneficiaries had been allotted plots, asserted Hooda. Apart from this, the government also implemented Priydarshini Awas Yojna (PAY) under which two lakh houses would be constructed in the rural areas for the poor.

Besides, HPCC Phool Chand Mullana, MP Naveen Jindal, Rajya Sabha MP Ram Prakash, AICC secretary and in charge of Haryana affairs Asha Kumari also spoke on the occasion.

New Delhi, September 15
Major Balwan Singh (retd), a 1971 war disabled veteran, is hoping against hope of getting a plot of land. Bureaucratic jugglery made him lose his plot after 34 years of having possession of the plot.

He was allotted a plot of 1,100 square yards in 1976 in Shastri Colony, Yamunanagar, as part of a scheme. He paid the entire amount and built a godown with the requisite permission from the Yamunanagar Improvement Trust.

In January, 2010, 34 years after the allotment, his plot was cancelled following a court ruling. “The government’s version in the court was a falsified account. The premise is that I was never allotted the said plot,” said the retired Major. Narrating the harassment that led to the cancellation he produced letters of 1979 of a sanctioned building plan and a no-objection certificate.

The plot cancellation procedure also included an allegation that he had never made any construction on the said plot. Ironically, after the cancellation of the plot he was paid money for the debris and the trees he had planted and also the original cost of land.

“If I did not construct and I did not own the plot, why was I paid compensation?” asked Balwan Singh. He had written letters to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda seeking justice and allotment of an alternative plot.

In 2008, before the courts ruled against him, the retired Major’s pleas had forced the government to hold an inquiry. A flying squad of the Haryana Police under the CM was told to probe the case.

The report submitted to ML Tayal, then Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister, said the plot had been wrongly cancelled and despite directions from the state government, nothing had been done to undo the cancellation. “It would be appropriate to allot the disabled soldier a plot,” the report said.

In his fresh plea to the government, he requested an alternative plot and action against those who had deprived him of his plot.

Sonepat, September 15
For the sake of money, a mother of a 14-year-old son married two persons-one in UP and another in a village near Gohana in Sonepat district.

The lady charged Rs 90,000 for her marriage with Jaideep of Romala village in UP, while an amount of Rs 70,000 was given to her for her marriage with Sunil of Bhainswan Khurd village. According to sources, the marriages were arranged by a middleman.

Sources revealed that Sanjana was married to a youth in Kurukshetra about 15 years ago and soon after the marriage, her husband committed suicide. After giving birth to a son, she left Kurukshetra and started living with a woman in Karnal.

Her marriage with Sunil was solemnised on May 29 this year and after staying for a few days with him, she went back to Karnal for around 40 days.

In the meantime, she was married to Jaideep on August 1 this year. After a few days, she returned to Bhainswan Khurd to live with Sunil.

Incidentally, Sunil was playing a game on her mobile phone when he noticed 10 missed calls on her phone. When Sunil contacted on the same number, the phone was attended by Jaideep’s father Bhopal Singh.

During the conversation, it was revealed that she was married to both Sunil and Jaideep.

Sanjana was then sent back to Karnal by Sunil and both families decided to lodge a complaint against her at the Baroda police station. After receiving a complaint from both the families, police has reportedly rounded up Sanjana with another woman and two middlemen for investigation.

Chandigarh, September 15
The Congress has been unable to find a ‘suitable face’ to head the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee(HPCC) even three years after the state unit authorised party president Sonia Gandhi to nominate a leader.

In September, 2010, the state unit met in Chandigarh to pass a unanimous resolution authorising Gandhi to make a new appointment. Since then, the two groups, that of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the detractors’ camp headed by union minister Selja and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh, within the party are constantly engaged in a tussle to secure the position.

While it is an unwritten rule that the post will fall in the lap of a non-Jat since the Chief Minister belongs to the Jat community, sources in the party claim that the leadership is taking its time to consider candidates from among the ‘limited’ options available.

While the Hooda camp is inclined to let ‘yes-man’ Mullana continue, the detractors are aspiring to bag the position in the name of ‘balancing’ the power equation in the state currently tilted in the former’s favour.

The detractors’ camp is clearly unhappy with the present set-up. With the recent CD expose showing Congressmen striking deals for change of land use certificates, sources say workers are feeling demoralised and the party is hounded by issues of ‘deals’ and corruption.

On the other hand, the Congress seems very clear that until a replacement comes through, Mullana continues to be the HPCC president. 

Karnal, September 15
The annual ritual of celebrating 'Hindi Divas' was performed yesterday. Several organisations observed the day. But, Hindi lovers and scholars were peeved over the sad reality that Hindi has failed to earn its due place and remained subservient to English even after 66 years of Independence.

"The country started celebrating September 14 as 'Hindi Divas' since 1949, but inspite of declaration of Hindi as an official language, the dominance of English in all sphere of life is visible all around and celebrating this day is just a formality," said Sarita Vashishth, head of the Hindi Department, Kurukshetra University.

"Hindi is our mother tongue. But unfortunately, it has been overshadowed by English," she added.

She said unless preference was given to Hindi language in employment and official work, it will not prosper and will not become the national language. The future generations will thus, take pride in knowing and learning English.

Kuldeep Bishnoi, HJC supremo, said it was a matter of grave concern for all Indians that richest language like Sanskrit has almost disappeared, while Hindi was struggling to find its place as a national language.

"Hindi has been denied its due place as the governments have failed in making Hindi, the language of employment and it has been reduced to the status of spoken language and we use it only for communication," Bishnoi added.

Abhay Chautala, INLD MLA, said Hindi was our mother tongue but unfortunately, it is dominated by English. With respect to all the languages, preference should be given to Hindi and all the official work should be done in Hindi. Though, option for other languages including English should be open for those not fluent in Hindi.

Upset over the denial of due status to the national language in Haryana, Anand Kumar Sharma, a social activist, fighting for the cause of Hindi for years said the situation was so pathetic that even the name plates of officers and names of the offices are written in English.

Chandigarh, September 15
When Rewari was chosen as the venue for Narendra Modi’s ex-servicemen’s rally, it was perhaps because the Ahirwal belt of Haryana has a large concentration of serving and retired defence personnel. But the timing of the rally that coincided with his anointment as the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate has lent a whole new meaning to the rally.

Modi has reversed his stand from being a “statesman” who lent a hand of friendship to Pakistan and talked of peace and extending an olive branch to those agitating in Kashmir during his earlier rally in the region at Madhopur in Punjab. Within months Modi has realised that his appeal is in taking a hardline posture against the nation’s “aggressive” neighbours’ and hitting out at Delhi for being weak-kneed.

Primarily a rally for ex-servicemen, the BJP claimed attendance of over 5 lakh persons. Modi repeatedly tried to strike a chord with security personnel and their families clearly building a case for the BJP as being a more “soldier- friendly” party and the need to vote out those who have not shown “courage at the Centre”. “The problem is not at the borders, the fault lies with Delhi and a change lies in a tackling the problem there,”he reasoned .

Cleverly weaving a relationship between Haryana and its martyrs starting from Rao Tula Ram (hero of 1857 mutiny) and sacrifices of people in various wars, Modi asked them to fight for their honour by hitting at the politicians who had belittled their sacrifices. Without directly asking the people to vote for the BJP, he asked them to fight the challenge to the nation from rulers that buckle down to pressure from Pakistan and China.

There was a clear attempt to tell the people that he was well aware of their problems. He said he had served as party in charge of Haryana from 1995 to 2000 and worked closely with Chaudhary Devi Lal and Chaudhary Bansi Lal, besides visiting Haryana numerous times with Atal Behari Vajpayee.

Since the rally was mainly related to ex-servicemen and security issues, he did not deviate from the subject but said what he had to say in his own style. He told ex-servicemen that Gujarat had built a war memorial on the border. Also he had laid a 700-km water pipe to take drinking water to soldiers on the border, Modi said thereby highlighting development in his state. When he said this in a parched region of Haryana, he was making a point.

Though, it may have appeared extempore, his speech was very carefully prepared that touched all aspects from issues of ex-servicemen like “one rank, one pension” to his party affiliation with other parties. He did not say anything against Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, but the comment that Hooda had “studied at a Sainik School” in Gujarat and had “eaten Gujarat’s salt” was laden with meaning. Modi’s rally has set the ball rolling for Haryana politics.

Fatehabad, September 15
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) may have an electoral understanding with Kuldeep Bishnoi’s Haryana Janhit Congress in Haryana. But the party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has found another major ally in the state in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

Ellenabad MLA and a senior leader of the INLD Abhay Singh Chautala today announced that his party would extend its unconditional support to Modi for the post of the Prime Minister.

“Our relations with Narendra Modi are not merely at the political level, but we enjoy family relations with him since the times of Chaudhary Devi Lal. My father Om Prakash Chautala too has very cordial relations with Modi, who invited him during his swearing in ceremonies in Gandhinagar too. Hence, we wish from the core of our hearts that Modi should become the next Prime Minister of this country and for this, our all MPs who are elected in the 2014 parliamentary polls will vote for him,” Chautala said while talking to mediapersons at Fatehabad today.

Singh said that it was not the first time that his party had announced to extend its outside support to the BJP for ensuring that a deserving person was elected the Prime Minister of the country.

Even in 1999, his party extended its outside support to the BJP to ensure that Atal Behari Vajpayee became the Prime Minister of this country, though the BJP had an alliance with Bansi Lal’s Haryana Vikas Party. Chautala said though the INLD was not a part of the NDA, he wanted to congratulate the BJP for selecting Narendra Modi, whom he described the most suitable person for the post, as the party’s prime ministerial candidate.

Answering a question, Chautala alleged that the Hooda Government raised issues of Chaudhary Devilal’s trusts and societies in the Assembly just to defame their family whereas the CBI had already investigated about Devilal’s trusts and the case was pending in the court.

He said none of trust had taken government’s land for free and there were no irregularities in any of the trusts.

Later, Chautala addressed the INLD workers for the upcoming September 23 rally of the party on Martyrs’ Day.

Fatehabad, September 15
Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma is worried over the shrinking duration of Vidhan Sabha sessions in the state and said it was a matter of concern for everyone who values democracy.

He said though he wanted that the Assembly too had sessions for nearly 60 days in a year, as is witnessed in Himachal Pradesh, but he could not do much as the agenda for the Assembly was set by the government and not by the Speaker.

Sharma added that the trend of smaller sessions had not been started for the past four decades.

Kuldeep Sharma, who interacted with mediapersons here yesterday, said it was not the fault of governments only for the dwindling duration of Assembly sessions, but the opposition parties were more to blame for this.

Lambasting the opposition parties, particularly the INLD for their role in the Assembly session that concluded earlier this week, Sharma said as a Speaker, he had always tried to keep restraint, but the manner in which he had been criticised, he had been forced to react.

"Abhay Chautala had alleged that I suspended the opposition members within 15 minutes on the first day of the session, though the fact of the matter is that the House was adjourned thrice due to a ruckus created by them for reply on a CD, which neither he had seen nor the Chief Minister was privy to. Even after that I requested them to allow the House to function, but they did not relent," Sharma alleged.

He said the Opposition could have played a positive role by taking part in deliberations, as he had allocated 17 out of 20 questions on day 1, 16 out of 20 on day 2 and 14 out of 20 on day 3 to the opposition. Similarly, for discussion on the Budget, he had allotted 5 hours 38 minutes to the Opposition against 3 hours 30 minutes to the Congress.

Kuldeep Sharma alleged that the issue of CDs raised by the INLD was a camouflage to escape from Assembly proceedings as they knew that issues like the allotment of lands to trusts headed by the Chautalas and the Indian Olympic Association were to be discussed there. — TNS

Kaithal, September 15
A minor Dalit girl of Kalayat in this district today set herself afire. Her family members said she took the step after she was constantly tormented by two boys — Vicky and Amit — of the town. The girl's father complained to the police that his 14-year-old daughter, student of Class VIII, was harassed by the youths.

He also approached their families but they did not show any interest in setting the things right which even resulted in an argument. The girl, after being harassed by the youths again this morning, came home and poured kerosene on herself and set herself afire. When the girl's father heard her cries, he rushed to her room. His family members took her to Indira Gandhi Multi-Speciality Hospital in Kaithal where the doctors referred her to PGI, Chandigarh, in a critical condition.

However, she succumbed to her burns on the way. According to information received late this evening, the police has registered a case under Section 306 IPC (abetment to commit suicide) against the two boys.

Sirsa, September 15
A primary schoolteacher has been booked for molesting a 10-year-old girl at Kalanwali town in Sirsa. The accused teacher, Surender Kumar, alias Babbal, who works in a government school at Dharampura village in Sirsa, has been absconding after the incident. The girl's mother alleged in her complaint to the police that her daughter was not well for the past few months and the accused assured of treating her by performing some puja.

She alleged that the teacher started coming to her house and performed puja to treat the girl and for that, the teacher locked himself in a room with the girl. The woman alleged that on Friday, the teacher came at about 8 in the evening and took the girl inside a room in the name of puja. She said when she peeped through a window, she was shocked to see her daughter lying without clothes on the cot with the teacher.

She protested and threatened to call neighbours, but the teacher fled the scene. He has been absconding since then.

The woman approached the police with a complaint after the family members of the teacher came to her and threatened to lodge a complaint against her for Surender's disappearance.

Youth held for molestation

Rewari: The Kosli police has arrested a youth, Inderjit Yadav (28), who intruded into his neighbour’s house and made a bid to outrage the modesty of his neighbour’s wife on Friday night. However, when the woman, who was alone in the house, raised an alarm, the accused fled the scene.

He was today produced before the Duty Magistrate at Kosli who remanded him in judicial custody. Earlier on a complaint filed by the victim, the police registered a case of molestation and criminal trespass against the accused. 

Sonepat, September 15
Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda today claimed that Haryana was far ahead of Gujarat in welfare of people. He was addressing Vikas Samman Rally at Kharkhoda, organised by Chief Parliamentary Secretary Jaiveer Singh, to celebrate the 67th birthday of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Referring to Narender Modi's ex-servicemen rally at Rewari, Hooda gave accounts of the various welfare schemes being implemented for the welfare of the freedom fighters, ex-servicemen and gallantry awards winners and said the amounts of these incentives were more than 10 times in Haryana in comparison to Gujarat.

He said the state government had given reservation to ex-servicemen and their dependents in government jobs.

Sonepat MP Jitender Singh Malik, CPS Jaiveer Singh, MLA Jai Tirth Dahiya also addressed the meeting and listed various development activities started by the government in the district. 

Sirsa, September 15
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has appointed 18 more judicial officers as wholetime secretaries of the District Legal Services Authorities (DLSAs) in Haryana. All districts of Haryana now have Chief Judicial Magistrates as full-time secretaries of DLSAs.

Till now, the Haryana State Legal Services Authority (HSLSA), which has been constituted to provide legal services to people, besides holding Lok Adalats, had 10 CJMs as full-time secretaries, some of them having the charge of two to three districts each. However, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had recently promoted seven of these CJMs as Additional District and Sessions Judges and transferred them.

As per the orders issued by the Punjab and Haryana High Court on September 12, Jasmine Sharma, CJM, Bhiwani, has been appointed Civil Judge (Senior Division)-cum-Chief Judicial Magistrate as wholetime Secretary of the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Faridabad.

Among other judges who have been appointed Civil Judges (Senior Division)- cum-Chief Judicial Magistrates at various districts of Haryana are Ravneet (Jagadhari), Anmol Singh Nayyar (Narnaul), Suruchi Aneja Singh (Gurgaon), Parminder Kaur (Panipat), Payal Bansal (Fatehabad), Sunil Chauhan (Panchkula), Prashant Rana (Palwal with additional charge of Mewat at Nuh), Renu Rana (Karnal), Swati Sehgal (Bhiwani), Sanjay Kumar Sharma (Rohtak), Sushil Kumar-I (Jhajjar), Harshali Chowdhary (Sonepat), Sumit Garg (Kurukshetra), Akshdeep Mahajan (Sirsa), Gagandeep Mittal (Kaithal), Hem Raj Mittal (Ambala) and Harleen A Sharma (Jind).

Deepak Gupta,a District and Sessions Judge and member-secretary of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority in the Punjab and Haryana High Court, the DLSAs would now have a bigger role to play.

“Besides performing routine duties of providing legal aid to the poor and certain other categories of litigants and hold Lok Adalats, the DLSA secretaries will now have to hold inquiries under the newly introduced Victims Compensation Scheme introduced by the government whereby victims of crime will get monetary relief,” Gupta said.

The CJMs holding the charge of DLSA secretaries would also head the mediation and conciliation centres.

Kurukshetra, September 15
Hemal Thaanki of Gujrat bagged the first position in the 13th All-India BSNL Chess Championship which concluded on the premises of Neel Kanthi Yatri Niwas here yesterday. The championship was organised by the BSNL Haryana Circle Sports and Cultural Board. Declaring the final results, the Chief Judge, Pandit Prem, said Raj Kumar Chauhan of Bihar was declared the first runner-up while P Jaya Kumar of NCR was the second runner-up.

Prem said in the state-level circle competition, Gujrat got the first position while Arunachal Pradesh was declared the first runner-up.

As many as nine teams participated in the national championship. Rakesh K Upadhyay, chairman and managing director, BSNL, said as many as 2.5 lakh panchayats would be connected online with broadband network by March 31 next year, while 6,000 gram panchayats of Haryana would be connected with high-speed network, costing Rs 20,000 crore. He also gave away prizes to the winners. — OC

Gurgaon, September 15
Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Oscar Fernandes visited Hero Honda Chowk here yesterday. He interacted with the local residents about the difficulties faced by them in commuting around the chowk. He assured them of a concrete solution by the end of this month.

After the site inspection, Fernandes had a meeting with the officials of the district administration, police and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). He directed the NHAI authorities to prepare a plan to address the needs of the day.

“I have met local residents who were very agitated over the problem of commuting around the Hero Honda Chowk. I have assured them that I will sit with all the stakeholders, including Haryana Chief Minister, and find out a long-term solution to the problem,” he said.

Residents of Khandsa, Naharpur, Kherki, Narsinghpur and Khatola villages are the worst-affected lot. They met Fernandes and apprised him of the nagging inconvenience they had to face in their day-to-day life.

Rao Dharampal, MLA, Badshahpur was also present on the occasion. He supported the residents' and demand for a flyover on the chowk. He pointed out that the cremation ground was on the other side of the National Highway No.8 and the villagers had to face grave hardships in cremating the dead.

During the meeting, Alok Mittal, Police Commissioner, Gurgaon, apprised the Union Minister that the local authorities, including the district administration, HUDA, the municipal corporation and the Police Department, had held several meetings with the NHAI and the expressway concessionaire, to get the traffic flow eased, but the NHAI and the concessionaire had failed to do the needful in this regard.

Mittal also pointed out that despite paying toll tax at all the four locations, one took more time reaching Jaipur from Gurgaon.

The NHAI officers also complained against the concessionaire, stating that it was supposed to complete the repair of the main carriageway and the service road by January 31, 3013. The minister also asked the representative of the concessionaire to come to his office with replies to all the questions on Sunday evening.

Bhiwani, September 15
A newly married woman committed suicide by immolating herself in Rampura village yesterday. The woman has been identified as Anju Bala, wife of Vikram Singh, who is a farmer. The deceased got married about eight months ago. The police has registered a case of dowry death against the deceased in-laws, including her husband. 

The police said the in-laws of the deceased had demanded dowry from her family, which resulted in a dispute between the two families.

The issue was also taken up to a social panchayat, which settled the dispute. However, the woman immolated herself on Saturday morning in her house. She was rushed to a hospital and later died.

The police has started an investigation in the matter.

Faridabad, Septembet 15
Four jail officials, including two Deputy Superintendents, have been booked for allegedly subjecting an inmate to third degree treatment to him. The accused are Rai Sahab and Hussain Khan (DSPs), Raj (Legal Officer), and a constable. The case was registered yesterday on the directive of a court here.

The undertrial, Sandip Dhankar, had alleged before a judge that the officials abused him physically for not giving bribe for using a cellphone in the jail.

He alleged that he had got a cellphone from the accused in lieu of Rs 20,000. However, they wanted him to shell out Rs 10,000 every month as bribe for use of the phone, he added.

He had further alleged that the officials physically abused him as he was unable to pay the money.

The court ordered for a medical test on the undertrial to verify about the injuries on his bodies inflicted by the accused. Following the report, the police was directed to register the case.

Ramesh Kumar, SHO, said the matter was being investigated by an Assistant Commissioner of Police.

Rohtak, September 15
A team of the State vigilance Bureau of the Rohtak range on Friday arrested a patwari of a nearby village after being caught red handed while taking a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a resident yesterday.

Raj Singh, a patwari of the Dattaur area in the district, had sought the bribe in lieu of issuing a document regarding the ownership of a piece of land from Rajender Singh of Brahmanwas village.

Rajender Singh complained to the local State Vigilance Bureau(SVB) office here that the patwari had demanded money for registering his papers regarding 71 canals of land owned by him and his brothers at Dattaur village. The SVB set up a team of officials and arrested the patwari while taking Rs 10000 as a bribe today, said the police. The SVB has released the mobile numbers of various officials, including the SP(9729990006), DSP(9050910570), Inspector(9050910574) and sub-inspector(9050008242) of the SVB office for lodging complaints. — TNS