Faridabad, December 22
The All-India Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti (AIJASS), the leading organisation of the Jat community spearheading the agitation to seek reservation in the government jobs, has asked the Union Government to either issue a gazette notification by January 31 next year or face the wrath of the community in the next Lok Sabha polls.

Describing the announcement of recommending the issue to the National Backward Commission for consideration and hearing at this point of time as only a publicity stunt, president of the Samiti Yashpal Malik has claimed that despite the rout of the ruling Congress in the states of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chattisgarh, the UPA government has taken the issue lightly, perhaps only to mislead the Jat community as no deadline has been set for the Backward Commission to submit its report.

In a statement here today, Malik said if the report was not submitted within a month or two and no gazette notification was issued prior to the elections, the issue would get stuck in the process of the elections and would meet the same fate, which had been noticied in the past several years. Adding that it would send a clear message that the Congress was not at all serious and all the moves so far had been aimed at duping the community politically, he said the samiti would continue its stir over the issue till the demand was finally met and implemented.

Malik said the community would be left with no option but to teach the UPA a lesson in the next Lok Sabha polls if the notification was not issued by January end, as the community had been feeling cheated due to the dilly-dallying attitude and actions of the Union and state governments. This unreliable behaviour had been visible from the action of the Union Government, which on May 3, 2011, had issued a gazette notification overruling the provisions that any community was not eligible for a second hearing with the National Backward Commission and this allowed the government to reconsider the case of Jats, but the commission, which was to submit its report within six months, failed to do so even after a period of two and half years and so far.

He said while this spoke volumes of the real intention of the government, the raking of the matter now also indicated towards the embarrassment faced by the Congress in the recently concluded Assembly polls of Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhatisgarh, where it had been completely routed.

Claiming that the community was up in arms against the Union Government and this would result in another whitewash for the Congress in the next Lok Sabha polls if it fails to ensure notification soon and before the polls.

Sirsa, December 22
Haryana Assembly Speaker Kuldeep Sharma today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of doublespeak and alleged that the saffron party had been trying to fool people for winning the forthcoming parliamentary elections.

Sharma, who was the chief guest at the Yuva Shakti Sammelan organised at Mallekan village in Ellenabad Assembly segment of Sirsa today, alleged that saying something and meaning exactly the opposite had become the habit of the BJP.

Pointing to the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narender Modi’s campaign for setting up Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel’s statue in Gujarat, Kuldeep Sharma alleged that his only aim in this project was to grab votes by arousing people’s emotions.

Coming down heavily on Modi, the Haryana Assembly Speaker alleged that the Gujarat Chief Minister did not have the normal etiquettes of respecting elders, as he had been addressing Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with all kinds of derogatory adjectives.

Sharma also castigated Modi for calling Rahul Gandhi as "shahzada" in his speeches and said the Congress vice-president is "shahidzada" and not "shahzada" because he had lost his father as well as grandmother for the sake of country.

The Speaker termed the BJP a party in the habit of ditching its own allies, let alone the opponents.

“The saffron party has deceived Devi Lal, Bansi Lal and Om Prakash Chautala at different points of time and the party is now dating both with the INLD as well as the Haryana Janhit Congress,” he said.

Kuldeep Sharma hit out both at the INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala as well as Kuldeep Bishnoi, who he alleged, were trying to project themselves as clean after indulging in corruption during their own regimes.

“When Chautala went to support Anna Hazare, he was rebuffed and had to make a hasty retreat, but now his grandson Dushyant has gone to Ralegan Siddhi to express the INLD’s support for the Jan Lokpal Bill. Bishnoi’s father is credited with corrupting politics in Haryana, and now, he, too, claims he will clean politics,” Kuldeep Sharma said in a mocking manner.

Lauding Bhupinder Singh Hooda government’s functioning in Haryana, Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar claimed that Haryana had witnessed unprecedented progress during his tenure. Tanwar said Sirsa had witnessed a myriad of development activities during the past five years.

Karnal, December 22
National spokesperson of the All-India Congress Committee Raj Babbar said today that the Congress wanted to pass the women reservation Bill, but the Opposition did’t want the Bill to be passed and hence walked out from Parliament before the Bill could come up in the House.

Interacting with mediapersons here, he said the Congress had always supported 33 per cent reservation for women.

On the issue of the AAP he stated that the Congress realised in retrospect that the connection with common man was lost, which resulted in the defeat and efforts were on to rectify what had gone wrong in the elections to four states in which Congress lost.

"We were unable to take our ideologies and agenda to the masses," he said, adding that the AAP was trying to run away from power as its leaders knew that they could not deliver what they promised in the election manifesto.

"People gave them mandate and they should form the government as we are willing to support them," he said.

Asking about the next step after defeat, he said the issue in the Assembly and Union elections were different.

"We are ready for the 2014 General Election and Modi is no competition," he said. He also showed concern over the no law and order situation prevailing in UP and said that the SP government had failed on all fronts.

Gurgaon, December 22
Decks have been cleared for former Union Minister and rebel Congress MP from Gurgaon, Rao Inderjit Singh, to join the BJP.

According to many, Singh’s joining the BJP will boost its prospects in about half a dozen assembly seats in the Ahirwal belt in south Haryana, apart from improving its chances of winning the Gurgaon seat in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.

Sources said Singh was slated to meet BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi in Delih on December 24. The BJP central leadership had directed senior leaders from Haryana, including state president Ram Bilas Sharma, to be present in the meeting.

Speculations in the political circles are rife with regard Singh’s quitting the Congress since he publicly raised questions about Robert Wadra’s land deals in Haryana. Also, politically, he was not getting on well with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

A source in the BJP said only the timing and the modality of the announcement of Singh joining the party needed to be finalised. Whether the announcement would be made at a public meeting in Haryana or at BJP’s national headquarters was to be determined. The details will be worked out at the crucial joint meeting of Singh and party leaders with Modi.

The broad indications are that the announcement will happen by the first week of January, if not by the end of this month.

Kurukshetra, December 22
The final seat sharing between Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) and the BJP, for the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections due in 2014, will be finalised by the coordination committee.

But the HJC has given an indication that the Karnal seat will be its first preference and in a situation of denial, the party was ready to contest on the Kurukshetra or Ambala seat.

State general secretary, HJC, Rakesh Kamboj said, “The Haryana Janhit Congress (BL) is interested in contesting in north Haryana and Karnal is our first preference as Chowdhary Bhajan Lal had won the Karnal seat in 1998”. There is no dispute but the matter was yet to be discussed and the coordination committee would finalise the distribution of seats, he said.

As per their alliance, BJP will contest on eight seats while the HJC will get two seats to contest. — TNS

Ambala, December 22
Former Chief of the Army Staff General VK Singh today distanced himself from Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stating that he had nothing to do with the political party and that he only stood by the movement launched by Anna Hazare.

General VK Singh, who refused to rule out the possibility of his contesting the upcoming parliamentary elections, said it was too early to make any formal announcement, but if right circumstances prevailed, he would not desist from contesting the polls.

In reply to a query, the former Army Chief said given the fact that the AAP had secured 28 seats and that it had the support of the Congress, the party should form a government in Delhi and deliver what it promised to people.

Earlier, addressing a rally of ex-servicemen, he called upon them to come out and openly participate in politics to gain rightful representation in Parliament and state Assemblies to protect national interests.

General VK Singh said the ex-servicemen should gear up to contest elections so that they could voice their concerns at the highest levels in the Union Government as well as the state governments and seek justice for lakhs of former Army men of the country.

He said there were a large number of ex-servicemen in the country and they needed to come together and emerge as a force to reckon with. While, serving Army personnel could not contest any elections, there was no bar on the ex-servicemen and they should gain much relevance in the changing political scenario of the country by contesting elections, he said.

Kurukshetra, December 22
At the two-day All-India Teerth Purohit Mahasabha (AITPM) national executive meeting, which concluded at Punjabi Dharamshala here today, a resolution was unanimously passed that a national-level ‘teerth vikas nigam’ should be established.

Stating this to mediapersons, AITPM national president Shriprakash Mishra said in another resolution passed unanimously, the AITPM demanded that representation to local teerth purohits should be given in the development of teerthas of their respective areas. Reservation in government job was also demanded.

In addition to this, if the government constituted religious development boards, some posts should be reserved for the wards of teerth purohits.

Tributes were also paid to the people killed in the flash floods at Kedar Nath Dham in Uttarakhand in June. The Mahasabha demanded that the victims be given compensation and be rehabilitated at the earliest.

Earlier, inaugurating the meeting here yesterday, chief guest, Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker Kuldeep Sharma, called upon the teerth purohits to get united on one platform for their own as well as the pilgrims’ interests.

Haryana Finance Minister Harmohinder Singh Chattha said keeping in view the importance of theerthas in the district; the Saraswati gate would be constructed at Saraswati Teerth in Pehowa, 20 km from here. Special attention will be paid to cleanliness and security of the teerthas, he added.

Haryana Local Bodies Minister Savitri Jindal congratulated the purohits for the successful conduct of the meeting. She also announced a grant of Rs 1 lakh from her own fund.

In his presidential address, Rajya Sabha Member Dr Ram Prakash, Chancellor, Gurukul Kangri University, Haridwar, said purohits had played an important role in the preservation of Indian culture by memorising all the religious epics. He also assured the teerth purohits that every effort would be made to connect all teerthas by rail.

Welcoming the delegates, Shriprakash Mishra said to provide better facilities, security and safety to the pilgrims and better management of the teerthas, the AITPM would remain in contact with all the states as well as Centre government.

Shahabad MLA Anil Dhantori, Kurukshetra MLA Ashok Arora, Haryana Finance Commission Member Subhash Sudha, former Haryana Minister Devender Sharma, Haryana Punjabi Academy former Director CR Moudgil, Haryana Brahman Dharamshala and Hostel patron Pawan Sharma and Kheri Markanda Sarpanch Rubal Sharma also spoke on the occasion.

The stage was conducted by Pt Rajender Joshi, General Secretary, AITPM.

About 250 representatives drawn from 32 theerthas, including Prayag, Haridwar, Som Nath, Kedar Nath, Ganga Sagar, Ramshewaram, Mathura, Varindavan, Varansi, Allahabad, Pushkar, Pehowa, Soroji, Nasik, Trayambkeshwar, Baijnath Dham and Jawalaji, are participating in the executive meeting of the AITPM.

Ambala, December 22
A sergeant, posted at Ambala Air Force Station, stabbed his 30-year-old wife and then attempted suicide at Ambala Cantonment Railway station today. However, he was arrested by the police.

Sergeant Anil Kumar (33), residing in the Vasist Nagar area, allegedly stabbed his wife Anita (30) repeatedly, which proved fatal for her and she died while being rushed to the Military Hospital. Father of two daughters, Anil then went to the Cantonment railway station to commit suicide. As the daughters of the couple saw Anita lying in a pool of blood, they immediately raised an alarm, following which some of the neighbours reached their house. They rushed Anita to the hospital, where she was declared brought dead.

The neighbours got to known that Anil had left the house and had gone to the railway station and reported the matter to the Mahesh Nagar police, who reached the railway station and arrested him before he could jump before a train.

The post-mortem examination of Anita revealed that she had been stabbed 16 times. The police said a case under the relevant sections of the law had been registered against Anil Kumar who, during questioning, had said he was not having cordial relations with his wife. Last night also, the two had a fight after which he lost his cool and in a fit of rage attacked his wife with a kitchen knife, he added.

The police said the murder weapon had been recovered and the matter was being looked into.

Chandigarh, December 22
In a first, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has called for curbing with a heavy hand the tendency among chemists to sell narcotics for intoxication purposes. The clarion call by Justice Mehinder Singh Sullar came on a petition filed by Parmanand and other petitioners against the State of Haryana.

The prosecution in their case had claimed that huge commercial quantity of narcotic drugs and psychotropic substances was recovered from their possession without valid permit, licence and relevant record.

The recovery was made after the drug control officer and senior medical officer constituted a raiding party before inspecting the premises of Sharma Medical Agency at Dabwali.

An FIR was subsequently registered in July 2012 under the provisions of the NDPS Act. Seeking the quashing of the FIR, the petitioners had claimed implication before contending that they were merely selling allopathic and other manufactured drugs.

Taking up the matter, Justice Sullar asserted: “No one can lose sight of the fact that the tendency and frequency of selling such drugs for the purpose of intoxication by chemists without any valid licence/permit for illegal gain, ruining the health of the youths have been tremendously increasing day-by-day in our society, which needs to be curbed with heavy hand.”

Referring to the role of the State in curbing the menace, Justice Sullar added: “Exhibiting the great concerns with regard to public health, Article 47 of the Constitution of India mandates and postulates that the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavour to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purposes of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injuries to health.”

Dismissing the petition, Justice Sullar also referred to another High Court judgement before asserting that “the manufacturers of drugs or prescription drugs, chemists, wholesale licence holders under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act are required to comply with the provisions of NDPS Act, Rules and Order, 1993, for the possession of narcotic drugs, psychotropic and controlled substances, failing which they would be liable to be prosecuted under the NDPS Act.”

Jind, December 22
Infamous for their love for male child and alleged opposition to love marriages in the same village and gotra (surname), the Haryana khaps have been working hard for an image makeover.

A special campaign started by them to improve the sex ratio of their villages seems to be showing results.

Khaps have formed seven- and 11-member groups for small and big villages, respectively, to conduct special sessions and disseminate information about the importance of girl child. At every weekend or after a fortnight, the presidents and other seniors of khaps meet the special groups to take feedback. During special sessions, the members of these groups not only give lectures about the importance of girl child, but also interact with the women.

“The number of girls has improved in many villages since we started our special campaign. We are not against the birth of a girl child as we know their importance. Had the government taken the issue of female foeticide seriously, the situation would have improved earlier, but they preferred to blame only the khaps rather than taking any concrete step,” Tek Ram Kandela, president of Kandela khap, said.

As per the health department figures, the village has seen the birth of 64 boys and 63 girls, Harpilal 55 Boys and 53 girls, Rupgarh 32 boys and 40 girls, Shahpur 49 boys and 55 girls and Khokhri village has also seen the birth of more girls than boys, during the last one year.

Some women said they had never discriminated against a girl child, but the pressure of their families had been compelling them for abortions. Others alleged that many a times, women were beaten up when they refused to undergo an abortion, as the male members of family did not want a female child.

“But things are improving now as we have got the protection of the khaps to raise our voice,” said a woman from behind the veil.

Hisar, December 22
A Hansi resident, who had sexually abused three minor girls (all sisters) in his car during a visit to Gurgaon in April, was sentenced to 10 years of imprisonment by a Gurgaon court yesterday.

The convict, identified as Roshan Lal, 50, a taxi driver, had raped two of the sisters, aged 10 and eight, and also sexually assaulted youngest of the girls, aged 6, when their parents had gone for the "mundan" (the first hair-cutting ceremony of a child) at Sheetla Mata Temple in Gurgaon on April 23. The parents went inside the temple leaving the girls in the custody of the taxi driver, who got drunk and abused the girls inside the car.

The eldest of the girls, however, disclosed the incident to her mother later. The family lodged a complaint at the Hansi police station, after which a case under the POSCO Act was registered. The local police nabbed Roshan Lal and handed him over to the Gurgaon police, where the incident had occurred.

According to complainants, they hired a taxi from Hansi to visit the temple in Gurgaon and took three girls along with them. The parents went inside the temple at around noon for the "mundan" ceremony of their son and left the girls with the taxi driver Roshal Lal, who was their neighbour in Hansi, and asked him to take care of them. It took around two hours for them to return after performing the rituals and offering prayers due to heavy rush of visitors. In the meantime, the taxi driver committed the crime and threatened the girls with dire consequences in case they disclose about the incident to anyone.

The girls, however, were so terrified after the incident that they did not reveal about the incident when their parents returned from the temple in the evening and until they reached home. However, the eldest of the victims disclosed about the incident to her mother when the driver left after dropping them back at night.

The Additional District and Sessions Judge, Gurgaon, Alka Malik, pronounced the accused guilty on the basis of evidences and sentenced him to 10 years in jail. The court also imposed a fine of Rs 15,000 on the convict.

Faridabad, December 22
An accident in a factory claimed the life of a woman worker Rekha (38), a resident of Jivan Nagar, at a manufacturing unit on the Sohna road in the district yesterday.

An accident took place around noon when the victim reported to work at a factory manufacturing paper cardboard on the first day of her job. It is learnt that her dupatta got entangled in a machine and she got strangulated before co-workers could rush to her help. The police sent the body for post-mortem examination.

In another incident, a mason, identified as Inderjit (37), working at a building in Sector 80 here, died after he fell from the second floor of the building on Friday night.

The body was handed to the family after post-mortem examination. The police started a probe into the incident.— TNS

Faridabad, December 22
Crimes against women seem to be spiralling upwards in the district. It has gone up by at least 38 per cent in five main categories of crime that include rape, molestation, dowry death and dowry harassment during this year against last year. The police authorities, however, attribute this rise to the increased awareness and the boldness on the part of the victims to report the matter to the police instead of concealing it.

“The Delhi gang rape incident did raise a lot of hue and cry but the reported alertness and safety drives on this aspect appears to have a little impact on the crime graph in the district,” claimed the sources in the local administration. The figures indicate that the number of rape cases has gone up to 54 this year as against 38 last year. The sharpest increase has been in the incidents of molestation that has gone up from 30 last year to 82 this year. The cases of dowry death have also shot up from eight to 21. Similarly, the number of cases of dowry harassment has risen to 232 this year from 173 last year. However, the number of chain snatching, which was recorded at 98 last year, has slipped down to 89 this year.

Describing the rise in the number of such incidents as a fallout of a sharp rise in awareness, especially among women, the authorities concerned claimed that women residents safer in the city and the district than the previous years due to various factors. “We have intensified efforts and have ensured various measures to provide a safe and secure environment to women,’’ claimed Police Commissioner AS Chawla. He said Faridabad was the first district to have launched a new mobile software application for the benefit of the residents to seek immediate police help in case of an emergency. Named as ‘Imsafe’, this software application was handy and open for any resident. One has to press a button on the mobile phone and message would sent to the Police Control Room.

Karnal, December 22
The campaign for shifting Kalpana Chawla Medical College Hospital, coming up over 43 acres in the heart of the city, to the outskirts at Kutel and Anjanthali villages, where village panchayats have offered 100 acres to the Haryana Government, today gained momentum with about 8,000 families signing the campaign pamphlet for shifting the present site.

AICC member Suresh Gupta, who started the signature campaign on December 1 last, collected signatures of people every Sunday and till date, about 8,000 signatures had been collected from wards 10, 14, 15 and 18.

“We are taking signatures on a pamphlet with name, ward number and contact number of one resident from every home and convincing residents to sign the petition. We are telling them that the town, named after Karna, hero of the Mahabharata, has maintained its tradition and the twin villages of Kutel and Anjalthali have shown the same gesture by offering to donate 100 acres for the project which should be accepted,” Gupta said.

Arguing that the hospital was being built over 43 acres in Karnal compared to the mini-AIIMS coming up over 274 acres in Jhagger and medical colleges being set up on 100 acres at Sonepat and Mewat, Gupta alleged that the government was serving the agenda of local MLA Sumita Singh, who was interested in building the medical college at the congested hospital chowk.

“This site is not suitable as the area is congested and there is no scope for future expansion as the city grows,” he said, adding that the two villages where land was available were very close to National Highway 1 and convenient for the public.

Demanding that all unauthorised colonies should be regularised, Gupta said the protest by the Mayor and councillors of was a protest against the local MLA, who he alleged was not interested in development.

Faridabad, December 22
The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) has found parks as the new sources of generating funds and to cut down the cost of their maintenance and lighting. It has allotted sites in 89 parks across the city for installation of 4-G towers by a private telecom company in return for a revenue and the agreement to maintain the parks by the company seeking the lease. This move is likely to prove an additional source of revenue for the fund crunched civic body of this metro city.

“We have leased out sites in various parks for setting up the towers of a private company for providing 4-G connectivity in the city and this would prove quite helpful in meeting out certain expenses of the body which include ground rent, installation of high mast lights and overall maintainence of the parks in the selected areas,’’ claimed Ravi Singla, DTP of the MCF.

Stating that one of the leading private service providers had approached the civic body for setting up towers in the park, he said the company allotted the sites has agreed to provide highmast lights in each park, besides ensuring the maintenance of the parks, which was till the responsibility of either the civic body or the Residents Welfare Associations.

This will save the civic body a chunk of funds which was used for the lighting and upkeep of the parks, he claimed.He said besides the one-time payment of Rs 75,000 per site, the company would be paying 6 per cent of the collector rate of the locality as ground rent and the provision of the highmast light at each of such site.

On other hand, RK Gupta, head of one of the RWAs, here claimed that mobile phone towers had emerged as a menace in majority of the residential and commercial areas as there was no authority to check the level of emission of radiation from such structures. The MCF was perhaps interested only in collection of revenue, he alleged.

Yamunanagar, December 22
Poverty and apathy of the society forced two old-aged persons to start dwelling at a cremation ground at Kansapur village, a part of municipal corporation of Yamunanagar-Jagadhri.

The administration shifted them to an old-age home on Saturday evening after some people brought the matter to the notice of the administration.

Kasturi Devi (80) and Balak Ram (75), who was a family servant and has been serving the latter till now, had been living at the ground for several days, after they were shown the door by their landlord due to their inability to pay the house rent.

“In this age, we are unable to do any work. We have no source of income except Rs 1,300 we get as the old age pension every month (each gets Rs 650 per month). So, we are forced to live in the cremation ground,” said Kasturi Devi.

Balak Ram said Kasturi Devi belonged to Mustafabad village of Yamunanagar.

Her husband was a landlord and a moneylender.

“Everything was fine until the death of Babuji (Kasturi’s husband). After his death, times changed and she turned poor. We both had to work as labourers in Yamunanagar, but when we found it unable to feed even ourselves and to meet other expenses, we decided to stay at the ground and wait for our death,” said Balak Ram, who had promised Kasturi’s husband before his death that he would look after her till the last breath.

On the other hand, when the matter was brought to the notice of Red Cross secretary Shyam Sunder Sharma, he reached the ground and rushed both to Civil Hospital, Yamunanagar, where they underwent a checked up.

“I brought them to a home where they can live without any problem. Now it is our duty to look after them. I will make a visit to them tomorrow and supply them with some pairs of cloths and other useful things,” said Sharma.

Chandigarh, December 22
It is raining universities in Gurgaon. Close on the heels of India’s first defence university, the millennium city is set to have another state-run university - a development which will give a boost to the higher education sector in southern Haryana.

In fact, the state government has fast-tracked the university project by initiating the acquisition process for 215 hectares in Sector 68 of Gurgaon. The District Town Planner has forwarded the proposal to acquire land for the project to the state government, paving the way for chalking out modalities for the completion of the project, sources said here.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had announced the setting up of the state university in Gurgaon apparently to checkmate his bete noire within the Congress and estranged Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjit Singh, who had openly alleged bias in development and jobs by the Chief Minister against his constituency.

The fast-tracking of the Gurgaon university project comes close on the heels of the upgrade of Maharshi Dayanand University’s Indira Gandhi Postgraduate Regional Centre at Meerpur in Rewari into a full-fledged university and setting up of the country’s first defence university - the Indian National Defence University, at Binola village in Gurgaon.

The sources said the new university would go a long way in meeting the educational needs of the people of southern Haryana, particularly Rewari, Mewat, Jhajjar, Faridabad and Palwal districts, which had been alleging discrimination in development at the hands of the Hooda government.

With the National Capital Region (NCR), of which Gurgaon formed a significant part, bursting at the seams in the wake of large-scale urbanisation, the new university was the need of the hour, a senior government functionary asserted.

In view of proximity to Delhi, Gurgaon and other parts of the NCR have several private colleges and universities, drawing students from across the country. In fact, Gurgaon’s proximity to Delhi seems to be its USP. Haryana already has 21 universities - 13 in the private sector and eight in the public sector.

Faridabad, December 22
With the power department adopting all means to get cleared the outstanding bills towards thousands of defaulters in the operation circle of Faridabad and Palwal, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) authorities here are still to recover an amount of 215 crore from the consumers who are enjoying power supply. The Nigam has announced to disconnect all the power connection which fail to clear their dues by December end.

“The department has been working on various strategies to recover the pending amount from the defaulters and these include disconnection of the supply as the last resort”, claimed R S Yadav, the superintending engineer of the Faridabad Operation Circle. Claiming that an amount of Rs 34 crore had been recovered in the past couple of months, he said the total pending amount from the defaulters enjoying supply at present in the circle was around Rs 95 crore, as a large amount was still stuck in legal cases or wrong billing.

Revealing that an amount of around Rs 8 crore had been settled through bill correction in the month of October and November, the main priority before the department was to recover the defaulting amount from private consumers and those who failed to clear the payment in the due period were likely to face disconnection, he added.

Admitting that several state government departments were also among the defaulters, he said reminders had been served to these departments as disconnection was nearly impossible as in some departments supply was important in view of the nature of their job.

According to a report, around 86,000 connections had been disconnected during the past couple of years in the Faridabad and Palwal districts, who owed a defaulting amount of about Rs 199 crore to the department. The number of connections of the state government department which have been in the defaulters list is around 15,000, who owe around Rs 40 crore as power bills. The authorities concerned have fixed a target for each of the subdivision to recover the pending amount from the defaulters whose number could be between 100 and 125 in each of the subdivision. The Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) here owed around Rs 19 crore, while departments like HUDA, Agriculture, Irrigation, Public Health, PWD, Police also owed certain amount as pending bills, among others.

Kurukshetra, December 22
The dense fog and intense cold weather have disrupted normal life. Following continuous drop in temperature and the intense cold wave, Deputy Commissioner Nikhil Gajraj has rescheduled the timings of schools.

As per his directions, school timings will be from 10 am to 3 pm from December 23 to January 15 and there will be no outing or cultural event during the winter vacation. Schools can conduct examinations scheduled.

Gajraj said due to heavy fog in the morning, school-going children were facing problems due to less rickshaws and autos on roads and did not reach school on time. Teachers were also finding it hard to reach school on time, he added.

He further said the decision had been taken in order to decrease the possibility of accidents due to fog, besides concern for children's health.

Superintendent of Police Y Puran Kumar said police patrolling had been increased and they would ensure that everyone followed traffic rules.

Faridabad, December 22
With the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) attaining over 97 per cent of targeted recovery in terms of overall revenue last month, the difference between recovery and line losses among various districts falling under the jurisdiction of the DHBVN appears to be large.

While Gurgaon has attained the top position in revenue recovery and Faridabad has secured second position, Jind has topped in terms of losses. According to details accessed, Rs 233.94 crore has been recovered from consumers in Faridabad in the form of bills and recovery from defaulters during November.

The revenue recovery has been Rs 342.46 crore in the Gurgaon circle in this period. The DHBVN has recovered a total amount of Rs 836.16 crore last month, which is reported to be around 97.78 per cent of the target. This includes Rs 84.91 crore as arrears.

The DHBVN has around 25 lakh consumers in 11 districts. Of the revenue realised, Hisar is placed third with Rs 84.26 crore, Rewari fourth with Rs 54.08 crore and Bhiwani fifth with Rs 41.58 crore. Sirsa is placed sixth with Rs 34.91 crore, Jind seventh with Rs 25.42 crore and Narnaul eighth with Rs 19.51 crore.

Regarding losses in terms of supply distribution, aggregate losses are around 23 per cent. In terms of aggregate technical and commercial losses, Jind is placed first with 58.7 per cent. This is around 153 per cent higher than the aggregate loss of the DHBVN, it is claimed.

Jind was brought under the jurisdiction of the DHBVN a few months ago. Gurgaon is placed first in terms of lowest line losses with 13 per cent and Faridabad second with 16 per cent. The overall line losses have reduced slightly this year compared to the figure last year, a DHBVN spokesperson has claimed.

Rewari, December 22
The Kosli police have arrested Om Prakash Yadav (60) of Bahala village, about 50 km from here, for making obscene calls to a woman and threatening her family. He was today produced before the Duty Magistrate at Kosli, who released him on bail.

The police registered a case of obscenity and criminal intimidation against the accused on the complaint of victim’s son Jaipal.

Ambala, December 22
Additional Sessions Judge Vimlesh Tanwar yesterday sentenced Roop Chand and his son Navneet Kumar to seven-year imprisonment and Roop’s wife Shamshero Devi to three-year imprisonment for abetting the suicide of Navneet’s wife Archana.

Archana got married with Navneet, a resident of Naraingarh, nearly nine years ago. She had committed suicide by consuming some poisonous substance.

After the death, Archana’s brother Praveen had filed a complaint with the Naraingarh police, alleging that Roop Chand and Shamshero Devi used to harass his sister and Navneet used to torture her as she was childless. Praveen said his sister had committed suicide following the atrocities of her in-laws and husband.

The police had registered a case of abetment to suicide against Roop Chand, Shamshero Devi, Navneet Kumar and Navneet’s brother Sumit. However, Sumit was acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence.

Jhajjar, December 22
Member of Parliament (MP) from Rohtak Deepender Hooda dedicated three projects, costing Rs 35 crore, to residents of Machhrauli village here today.

He inaugurated a water works, costing about Rs 14 crore, and a 132 KV substation, set up by the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam at a cost of Rs 17.5 crore, and laid the foundation stone of the District Institute of Education and Training (DIET) to be set up at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore.

Speaking on the occasion, Deepender said the water works would provide water to Bhatera, Kahri, Chandpur, Jahidpur, Chhota Jahidpur, Bhatera Dhani (Ghatauli) and Dhani Kahri villages, through the Salhavaas Link Channel, on regular basis. Likewise, the power substation would make power available to 34 villages for domestic use, tubewells and other proposes, benefitting 18,718 consumers, he added.

“Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Hooda had announced to open a DIET institute in Jhajjar district so that youth of this area can make their career in the field of education,” said the MP, adding that these projects of power, water and health, would benefit people of Machhrauli and nearby villages to a large extent.

Deepender said the state government had established a number of important institutions in the field of health, management and technical education in the state. The state had also got Extension Centres of the IIT Delhi, which was well-known at the international level, he added.

The MP also honoured hockey player Lokesh and laid foundation stone of an eye hospital set up by the Sant Garib Das Foundation in the village.

Earlier, Haryana Education Minister Geeta Bhukkal inaugurated a park in Machhrauli, which has been developed under the Mera Gaon-Meri Bagiya scheme by the district administration.

Former Speaker and MLA Dr Raghubir Kadiyan, MLA, Badli, Naresh Sharma, and other Congress leaders were present.

Chandigarh, December 22
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has expressed his gratitude to AICC President Sonia Gandhi for giving reservation to the Jat community in eight states of the country.

The Chief Minister, accompanied by a large number of members of the jat community, visited the residence of Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi today to thank her for considering the demand of the jats.