Gurgaon/Mewat, September 25
All-India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary and Haryana affairs in charge Shakeel Ahmed said the party high command had taken cognisance of media reports on Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit's announcement of quitting the party.

"We will tell Rao Inderjit to clarify his stance as we have not received any written communication from him in this regard. Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mulana has submitted his report and we will go through it as well," Ahmed said in an interaction with mediapersons at Bhondsi village in the district.

In response to a query, he maintained that the party could not stop somebody if he had made up his mind to resign even though it did not want any Congress man to leave. The AICC general secretary was attending a tea party on his way to Mewat, where he was going to address a district Congress workers' meeting.

Almost all speakers at the meeting demanded that Nuh MLA and District Congress Committee president Aftab Ahmed should be elevated and given the Congress ticket in the next General Election. Some speakers demanded that Aftab should be made a state Cabinet minister. Ahmed assured the workers that he would convey their sentiments to the party leadership.

AICC secretary and co-in charge of Haryana affairs Asha Kumari observed that Mewat had witnessed considerable infrastructural development during the last few years. She exhorted local residents to send their daughters to school.

Mullana claimed that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government would secure a hat-trick in the Assembly elections. Accusing the Chautalas of misleading the people, he cautioned workers against getting misled by their propaganda. Aftab's father and former minister Khurshid Ahmed also addressed the gathering.

Chandigarh, September 25
The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has clipped the wings of power distribution companies (discoms) regarding financial matters.

“The commission directs the discoms not to issue any sales circular which impinges, directly or indirectly, on the tariff orders issued by the commission,” a recent order passed by RN Prasher and Rohtash Dahiya, chairman and member of the HERC, respectively, said.

Disposing of a petition filed by the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN), the commission said: “The discoms are under statutory obligation to abide by all rules, regulations, orders and directives issued by the commission.” “The commission, thus, has the jurisdiction to direct the distribution licencees not to issue any circular having financial implications without prior approval of the commission,” the order asserted.

Now, the discoms would have to clarify in their circulars that these did not impinge on any part of the tariff order issued by the commission. If the discoms require approval from the commission for any proposed sales circular, the commission would try to accord the approval within three months.

The UHBVN had moved the commission claiming that prior approval from the HERC before issuing any circular with financial implications “was seriously affecting its day-to-day functioning”. “A large number of commercial and sales circulars issued by the discoms would have significant financial impact and therefore it was not practicable for the distribution companies to seek prior approval before issuing any such circular,” the UHBVN had pleaded.

The application of the UHBVN had also contended that being a distribution licencee, it was entitled to issue circulars, including those having financial implications.

Gurgaon, September 25
A local court has acquitted of attempt to murder and other charges all 62 accused, including workers' union office-bearers, in the Honda scooter and motorcycle plant violence case.

The accused were acquitted of charges by the court of Additional District and Sessions Judge Phalit Sharma. The matter pertains to 2005 and had rocked the Manesar plant of the company.

The Haryana Government had withdrawn the charges levelled against the workers in 2008. The Honda workers' union welcomed the decision. Describing the decision as a triumph of truth, union president Ashok Kumar said justice had been done to workers as they were not involved in violence. 

Chandigarh, September 25
A visit by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today left the Punjab and Haryana High Court Bar Association richer by Rs 50 lakh. Invited by the association for the inauguration of a new Bar complex along with Union Law Minister Kapil Sibal, Hooda initially offered Rs 25 lakh to the association for the welfare of lawyers and Rs 10 lakh for furniture for the new complex, but later announced a total grant of Rs 50 lakh.

The Chief Minister reiterated his earlier demand for a separate high court for Haryana. "Everywhere I go, I am asked which is your high court? We need a separate high court. The problem has to be solved," he said.

Addressing the gathering, Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul made it clear that he was in favour of planned development of the high court.

He said he had been insisting on a master plan for the whole area and long-term planning keeping in view the needs of the next couple of decades.

Karnal, September 25
As many as 53 confirmed and nearly 250 suspected dengue cases have been reported from Karnal alone. Civil Surgeon Vandana Bhatia said stagnant water was responsible for the spread of malaria and dengue.

She said free test facilities were being provided at 19 primary health centres, six community health centres and two general hospitals in the district. Anti-larva and regular spray and fogging were being done in sensitive areas and awareness campaigns were being carried out to inform the public about sanitation and cleanliness, she added.

Faridabad, September 25
Unhappy over the quantum of compensation announced by the government for their land acquired by the Railways, farmers in 19 villages today said they would resort to an agitation from tomorrow.

Tipper Chand Sharma, convener of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said they would sit on an indefinite dharna outside the Mini-Secretariat.

The Railways had acquired more than 400 acres in the district for its dedicated freight corridor. The villages include Neemka, Khedi Kalan, Machgaar, Nawada, Tigaon, Nacholi, Gadholi, Fathehpur Biloch, Faphuda, Dayalapur and Prahladpur.

The farmers alleged that the compensation amount announced yesterday was far below what was recommended in the amended Land Acquisition Act. The statute was amended by Parliament recently.

They said the amended Act provided for four times the market rate while the award announced was based on the collectorate rate, which was much below the market rate.

They said there was a huge difference in the collectorate rate compared to that in adjoining villages which were covered under the same panchayat.

Citing a case, Shivdutt Vashisth, a BJP leader, said while the rate in Sadhora was Rs 40 lakh per acre, it was Rs 1.44 crore in Faridpur.

The farmers had submitted a memorandum to Faridabad Deputy Commissioner Balraj More, urging him to redress their grievances, but were not enthused by the response of the district authorities.

Sirsa, September 25
After keeping pulses off the list when it launched the Food Security Ordinance of the Centr under a name ‘daal roti’ scheme in August, the Haryana Government has now supplied ‘daal’ for distribution among the poor, thus completing the scheme in its letter and spirit.

Earlier, when the government launched the scheme in August, it supplied only wheat and kept off pulses from its ‘daal roti’ menu.

Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa, J Ganesan said 165 MT of chana daal had been received in the district and allocated to its various sub-divisions - 80 MT for Sirsa, 45 MT for Dabwali and 40 MT for Ellenabad.

In Fatehabad too, District Food and Supplies Controller Rajbir Singh confirmed that chana daal had been received and its distribution had already started from the current month.

Under the ‘daal roti’ scheme launched in the state on August 20, the birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi, the government had announced to supply 35-kg wheat per family per month at a price of Rs 2 per kg to all families covered under the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY).

The priority households from below poverty line (BPL) and above poverty line (APL) families of Haryana were to get 5 kg wheat per member of the household per month at a rate of Rs 2 per kg. Besides, all AAY and BPL families were to get 2.5 kg daal per family per month at a rate of Rs 20 per kg.

However, owing to a legal hassle, the government had to keep daal off the list while launching the scheme.

In Haryana, the scheme is slightly different from the Food Security Ordinance of the Centre Government, which provides for rice and coarse grain besides wheat to the poor. The state government has added daal instead of rice and bajra.

Ganesan said 1,320 quintal of sugar had also been received in Sirsa for distributing 2 kg per AAY and BPL family for Rs 13.5 per kilogram. 

Ambala, September 25
Differences between Union minister Selja and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda camps have come to the fore again, this time over the halt of the Chandigarh-Delhi Shatabdi in Ambala.

Haryana Congress chief Phool Chand Mullana announced at a press conference in Chandigarh that the Ministry of Railways had decided to have a halt of the Shatabdi in Ambala due to his persistent efforts.

Selja's supporters stole the limelight by holding celebrations at the railway station here as the train chugged in this afternoon, claiming that the ministry had taken the decision because of her efforts.

The supporters claimed that Mullana wrote a letter after Selja got the stoppage approved by the ministry, on the basis of which he was claiming credit now.

The lobby supporting Hooda, comprising Venod Sharma and Mullana, had started warming up to Selja. They had participated in social programmes and held a joint political meeting in May.

Differences between Selja and Hooda had cropped up after her supporters started claiming that she was a strong contender for the post of Chief Minister.

The differences took a toll on development projects brought in by the local Member of Parliament as those were never completed in Ambala and Yamunanagar districts. 

Sirsa, September 25
Rich tributes were paid to former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal on his 100th birth anniversary today. A blood donation camp and a function were also held in Jan Nayak Chaudhary Devi Lal Vidyapeeth here.

Hundreds of Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) workers assembled in the Tau Devi Lal Town Park, where Padam Jain, Pradeep Mehta and several others garlanded the Devi Lal’s statue.

In Fatehabad, Nishan Singh, district president of the INLD led his party workers to pay tributes to Devi Lal.

The INLD workers assembled in Devi Lal Market and garlanded his statue. Former MLA Swatantar Bala Chaudhary, Ram Raj Mehta, Kuljeet Singh Kuleria, Balwan Singh Daulatpuria and several other leaders were present.

Kurukshetra: Party state president and local MLA Ashok Arora, vice-president and former minister Jaswinder Singh Sandhu, Zila Parishad chairman Praveen Umri and others garlanded the statue of Devi Lal while fruits were distributed among patients at LNJP Hospital under the leadership of district president Kuldeep Singh Multani, Halqa president Om Prakash Hathira and Beopar Cell president Khairati Lal Singla here today.

Youth Wing and Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) workers led by Youth Wing president Kuldeep Jakhwala, state vice-president Dharam Pal Chaudhry and district president Sunil Rana celebrated the birth anniversary of Devi Lal by sweeping streets.

Sonepat: Former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal was remembered as a man of the masses, a kisan messiah and a great organiser of his period in a programme organised by the district unit of the INLD on the occasion of his 100th birth anniversary here today.

Senior party leaders who paid their tributes included Telu Ram Jogi, Padam Singh Dahiya, Surender Singh Dahiya, Raj Kumar Ridhau, Brig OP Chaudhary (retd), Satpal Goyal, Babita Dahiya, Satpal Chauhan and Pawan Taneja.

The leaders reiterated their commitment to follow the policies and programmes of the kisan leader in the interest of the farmers and other common men of the society.

Panchkula, September 25
In a relief to legislators OP Jain and Zile Ram Sharma in the Karnal sarpanch abetment to suicide case, the CBI court today allowed B-class facilities to them at the Central Jail in Ambala.

In a further respite to Jain, the court directed the CBI to release the cash and jewellery seized from his house. The CBI had seized cash and jewellery amounting to Rs 27.5 lakh from Jain's house.

Regarding the provision of private vehicle to the legislators due to security concerns, their counsel Vishal Garg said the Panchkula Deputy Commissioner of Police may be asked for it.

Rohtak, September 25
The police has registered a case against a resident of Kiloi village in the district for allegedly raping a married woman at knifepoint on September 16. Sources said the accused, identified as Raju, forcibly entered the victim’s house when she alone and raped her at knifepoint.

In her complaint to the police, the victim had stated that the accused had threatened to kill her if she revealed the matter to anyone.

The sources said the victim kept mum for a few days but lodged the complaint when she confided the incident to a kin who persuaded her to lodge a complaint with the police.

The police has registered a case under Sections 376 and 342 of the IPC against the accused who is still at large.

Jhajjar, September 25
Shri Bhagwan, sarpanch of Mehrana village and Santosh Devi, sarpanch of Utlaudha village in Jhajjar district, have been placed under suspension with immediate effect on corruption charges.

An order to this effect was issued by Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Ajit Balaji Joshi, while exercising his special powers under Section 51 (1) of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Institution Act, 1994. The sarpanches have also been proscribed to attend any official meeting and other activities of the village panchayat concerned, under Section 51 (2) of the Act.

The DC has also directed the suspended sarpanches to hand over all movable and immovable government property controlled by them to the panches.

“Shri Bhagwan has been suspended following serious complaints lodged against him by some villagers, wherein he was charged with embezzlement in development works. Serious allegations of encroachment on public property have been levelled against Santosh Devi,” said Joshi.

He maintained that enquiry of the complaints had been handed over to Jhajjar Additional Deputy Commissioner. The sarpanches would also be terminated from their posts if the charges were found to be true, the DC added.

Joshi called upon people to lodge complaints with his office if they knew about any illegal activities being carried out by any village sarpanch in the district. Every complaint would be inquired properly and the guilty would be punished as per law, he added.

Rohtak, September 25
The police today recovered the body of a 21-year-old girl from the rooftop of the CR Polytechnic here. The body, which was found in a highly decomposed condition, had been sent for post-mortem examination to the PGIMS, here.

In a suicide note recovered from the spot, she had stated that a group of youths had been blackmailing her and threatening her to make public a video clip of her if she failed to give an amount of money to them.

The victim, who was presently pursuing a computer course from a private institute, had gone missing on September 20, after she had come to the city for her classes.

In a complaint to the police, the victim’s father said his daughter Monika was under stress for the past few months.

He said Monika had passed her Diploma in Electronics and Communications from this polytechnic.

He said she did not reveal the cause of her tension to any member of the family and she had gone missing on Friday last.

He said an amount of Rs 96,000 and some ornaments had gone missing from the house in the past couple of months. The family had lodged a complaint at the Sampla police station on September 21.

SS Dagar, principal of the institute, said the body was first noticed by some students of the institute when they went to the top floor to have lunch.

He said the victim, who had passed out from the institute last year, was a sober girl and had no complaint of any kind against her.

The police recovered a bottle from the spot and the suicide note lying with the body.

Though nobody was named in the note, but sources said names of two students of the institute had surfaced in the incident. No arrest has been made so far.