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Over 86,000 trees face axe
The axing of trees in progress along National Highway 2 on the Faridabad-Ballabgarh stretch on Saturday. Photo: Rakesh Kashyap
Wheat seed scam: Focus shifts to role of |
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Save Khemka from Hooda govt, CPM urges Governor
Issue will be raised in Rajya Sabha: Gangwa
Charge sheet politically driven, claims
BJP
Sushma sees huge support in rural areas
Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and former BJP national president Venkaiah Naidu attend the Yadgar Divas rally at Sonepat on Saturday. Photo: BS Malik
Tax payment: MC office to remain open today
CM upgrades Sampla to subdivision BPL families not to pay meter rent
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Over 86,000 trees face axe
Faridabad, December 7 The Forest Department has already started axing the trees lying in the corridor on both sides of the highway. The project of six-laning of the NH-2 was conceived a few years ago in view of an acute congestion on this stretch. “As thousands of vehicles pass from this highway daily, the residents and the commuters were facing a lot of inconvenience due to traffic jams and accidents,” said an official of the district administration. He said since the highway was strategic in terms of transportation and movement of commuters, the government approved widening in order to meet the traffic needs. The Forest Department is expected to compensate the loss by planting saplings near the stretch. Admitting that the removal of trees was important for the completion of the work, Project Director of the NHAI MK Gupta said the department concerned was required to remove at least 25,000 trees in Haryana and another 61,000 in the UP section of the highway. The project costing Rs 1,928 crore was expected to be complete in three years, said a department official. The length of the highway to be widened is 180 km. The work will involve construction of as many as 16 flyovers. Fact file
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Wheat seed scam: Focus shifts to role of top officials
Sirsa, December 7 He had been given extension after his retirement in November this year without approval from the Board of Directors (BoD) for the purpose of liquidating huge stocks of last year’s seed lying with the corporation. The DBW-17 variety supplied to the dealer was being pushed by dealer Sunil Chawla in other states by putting the tag of brands and varieties popular among farmers in violation of the Seed Act, 1966, to the detriment of farmers’ interests. There is no taker for the DBW-17 variety of the HSDC in Haryana. Sources in the corporation said nearly 87,000 quintals of this seed from last year’s stock was left unsold. The Sirsa unit of the HSDC had over 30,000 quintals. In fact, this is the same unsold seed for which a war of words was recently witnessed between the HDSC and IAS officer Ashok Khemka over the reasons for shortfall of sales. Before the scam came to notice on Wednesday, Panwar had sold 18,500 quintals, most of the stock, to private traders, said the sources. By doing so, he and the dealer cornered Rs 500 per quintal government subsidy meant for farmers, they added. The sources said farmers in Haryana were loath to buy the DBW-17 variety because those who used it two years back had to face yellow rust affliction on wheat and this was the reason that large quantities of this seed was left out last year. The sources further said this year, many farmers had already approached the HSDC with complaints that the seeds supplied by it had failed to germinate and they demanded compensation. Rajinder Singh Beniwal of Kairanwali village in Sirsa and Bhagwan Dass of Bothan Kalan in Fatehabad, both HSDC Directors, said the issue of Panwar’s extension was not placed before the meeting of the BoD when it met on October 27. HSDC Managing Director BS Duggal granted him extension on November 26. When contacted, Duggal admitted that he granted extension to Panwar, but said he would get his order approved from the BoD in its next meeting, which was not unusual. He said though the purpose of granting extension to Panwar was to meet sales targets and liquidate last year’s stocks, he was supposed to sell it to farmers and not in bulk to traders. He admitted that the HSDC had received complaints of lack of germination from certain parts of the state and HSDC experts would examine those complains before refunding the cost of seed to farmers. |
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Save Khemka from Hooda govt, CPM urges Governor
Rohtak, December 7 A disgruntled writer, who was an unsuccessful aspirant for the post of Information Commissioner in Haryana, has been circulating his articles carried in certain online news portals stating that the “real motive” behind charge sheeting Khemka was that Hooda wanted to embarrass Congress president Sonia Gandhi by keeping the issue alive. Now, the Haryana state unit of the CPM has sent a memorandum to Governor Jagan Nath Pahadia, expressing deep concern over “continued victimisation” of Khemka. In a statement issued here today, CPM state secretary Inderjit Singh has alleged that rampant corruption was being perpetuated through gross irregularities and misuse of political power for looting the financial and natural resources of the state. The party memorandum maintains that many corruption scandals, especially those relating to land and formation of recruitment commissions and boards, had been proved even by the higher judiciary in recent years, but it had no effect on the government. “If the government takes recourse to victimisation and harassment of upright and honest officers, it is bound to send a very wrong signal,” the memorandum states. It points out that the latest move was “nothing but an act of vendetta, obviously to teach Khemka a lesson for his order cancelling the mutation of the Robert Vadra-DLF land deal”. The party has observed that if the order of the officer was inappropriate, the affected party should have challenged it in court, but the Haryana government should not have interfered in the matter. The party has urged the Governor to use his good offices, being constitutional custodian of the state, and “advise the state government to desist from victimising Khemka”. Meanwhile, the INLD and the BJP had also backed Khemka and termed the state government’s actions against him as unfortunate. However, some old-time journalists ridicule such statements, recalling that the same officer had been harassed and humiliated during the tenure of the INLD regime in Haryana. Govt followed rules: CM
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Issue will be raised in Rajya Sabha: Gangwa
Jhajjar, December 7 While interacting with mediapersons in Bahadurgarh town here last evening, the MP said IAS officer Ashok Khemka was deliberately being teased by the government as he dared to “unearth the land scam” committed by the son-in-law of Congress president Sonia Gandhi. “The Congress government is leaving no stone unturned to suppress the voice of all those who are exposing its unlawful activities in the public interest but the people have now identified the real face of the Congress government and are ready to oust it from power by exercising their franchise against it in the next poll,” said Gangwa, claiming that the Congress would have to face a debacle in the Assembly polls of all five states. Terming the Congress government in the Centre and the state as synonyms of corruption and scams, the Rajya Sabha MP said the governments had entirely failed to deliver and live up to the expectations of the people. “The Congress government has failed in checking the rising prices of essential commodities. This has taken a toll on poor people who are facing hardships in arranging bread and butter for their families. Instead of taking vital steps for curbing the corrupt practice from the government setup, it has worked for spreading corruption by extending undue benefits to its leaders and their relatives,” said Gangwa, adding that the time had come when the party would have to face the anguish of people for its “misdeed”. In reply to a question, the MP said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had also come to know that the Congress government was not retaining in the next Assembly elections, hence he had tried to woo the voters by
making so many announcements during the Gohana rally. |
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Charge sheet politically driven, claims
BJP
Karnal, December 7 He said it was intriguing that on one hand the Haryana Government was claiming that the matter pertained to a land deal between two private parties and on the other it was charge-sheeting a senior IAS officer in connection with the deal. He questioned the real motive behind the move. Pointing out that the government had maintained that the charge sheet had been issued to Khemka for “illegally
cancelling” the deed, Jain asked the government give the precise list of the officers who had been charge-sheeted in the past on the same grounds. Demanding inquiry into the land deals by Robert
Vadra, Jain said the facts should be made public and strict action should be taken against the guilty. Joining issue with Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma for his “rubber shoe” remarks against the
BJP, Jain said by using such intemperate language, he had lowered the dignity of the high office of the Speaker. “If he is a speaker only inside the House and a Congress man outside, in what capacity is he using a government car and house?” Jain asked, while describing his decision on the defection of five HJC MLAs as unconstitutional. He said, “The contention of the Speaker that these MLAs had merged with the Congress is untenable, as the HJC is still a recognised party in the Assembly and is represented by Renuka
Bishnoi. Besides, there is no record of the merger.” |
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Sushma sees huge support in rural areas
Sonepat, December 7 She was addressing a Yadgar Divas rally organised by BJP state secretary Pradeep Sangwan on the first death anniversary of his father Kishan Singh Sangwan here. Reiterating that the party was committed to the welfare of farmers, she said states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, ruled by the BJP, were advancing loans to farmers on zero per cent rate of interest. She said farmers in these states were being given bonus on the purchase of wheat and paddy, besides round-the-clock power supply. She claimed that the BJP would win in all four states where elections were held recently because of support from farmers and workers in these states. Former BJP national president Venkaiah Naidu criticised the Congress for reportedly neglecting the interests of farmers by increasing the prices of fertilisers and other agricultural inputs. The price of the DAP fertiliser had been increased from Rs 9,000 per tonne to Rs 24,000 per tonne and of potash from Rs 4,450 per tonne to Rs 17,000 per tonne, he said. He alleged that the anti-farmer policies of the Congress had made agriculture an occupation without benefit. He asserted that the BJP was committed to the welfare of the farming community.
— OC |
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Tax payment: MC office to remain open today
Ambala, December 7 A large number of residents of the twin city have been depositing the property tax to avail the benefit of 30 per cent concession. The Mayor of the corporation said the amount collected during the fortnight is around Rs 1 crore. The entire staff of the corporation has been engaged in collecting the property tax. Over 20 temporary tax-collecting counters have been setup on the premises of the corporation. Senior officials have been deputed to supervise the arrangements. Commissioner of the corporation KM Pandurang had directed the officials to make every arrangement for the tax depositors. Separate counters have made for the senior citizens and women. The corporation has not sent the property tax bills for the past three years to the house owners. The people have been depositing the property tax based on self-assessments. Dr DS Jaspal, a doctor at a private nursing home here, had sent a letter to the commissioner of the corporation, complaining that he had been charged the property tax at the rate of Rs 36 per yard, while as per the guidelines of the urban local bodies department, the private nursing homes had been included in special categories. |
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The six-laning of National Highway 2 between the Badarpur border and Agra in Uttar Pradesh has begun. But this seems to be too costly a project in terms of the environment, as over 86,000 trees will be axed for the purpose.
Sonepat, December 7
