Sirsa, December 24
Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA from Rania Krishan Kamboj today asked villagers not to pay their electricity bills and connected houses of four villagers directly to the DHBVN power lines at Matuwala village in Sirsa district.

Kamboj, who had gone to the village to express grief over the death of a villager, exhorted villagers to stop paying their power bills, as the DHBVN was sending them inflated bills.

Dhanna Ram, a Dalit villager, had met the MLA with a complaint of inflated bills, when he made this call.

Kamboj went up to Dhanna Ram’s house located at some distance and himself connected his house directly with the power lines of the DHBVN.

Then, he went to the houses of three others, including a Dalit, and provided them connections directly from the nigam’s power lines bypassing the meter.

Krishan Kamboj said a poor villager approached him with a complaint that he had received a bill of Rs 10,000 though he used only two electric bulbs in his house.

His allegation was echoed by several other villagers too, he added.

“How can a poor Dalit pay Rs 10,000 electricity bill to the government?” the Rania MLA asked.

Vikas Thakral, SDO in charge of the area, said the matter was not in his knowledge.

Police sources said they had not received any formal complaint from the DHBVN authorities.

GURGAON, DECEMBER 24
Notwithstanding the public posturings of the BJP and the INLD, efforts are on to work out a common strategy to prevent a split in anti-Congress votes in Haryana in the next Lok Sabha elections.

However, the BJP will continue with its alliance with the HJC and adhere to the agreed seat-sharing ratio of 8:2 even if the INLD joined the anti-Congress plank.

Earlier, the INLD leadership was rigid on severance of BJP-HJC ties for it to ally with the BJP but now its priority is to wipe out Congress.

Well-placed sources said BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and party president Rajnath Singh are in favour of including the INLD. BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi is handling the BJP-INLD issue.

A section in the BJP feel that roping in the INLD had become important on account of the Congress’ efforts to wean away Jats with its quota offer. Also, INLD presence would stand the BJP in good stead in western UP and Rajasthan, which have a sizeable chunk of Jat voters.

A section within the BJP is in favour of giving three out of eight seats of its share with the HJC to the INLD. The seats that could go to the INLD are Kurukshetra (once contested unsuccessfully by Abhay Singh Chautala), Sirsa (home district of Chautalas) and Sonepat or Bhiwani (once represented by Ajay Singh Chautala). The INLD is said to be rooting for four seats. 

Fatehabad, December 24
With Prime Minister Manmohan Singh due to visit Gorakhpur in Fatehabad for laying the foundation stone for a nuclear power project in January, a group of farmers today started a dharna against the non-payment of compensation for tubewells, ponds, dhanis, pipes and other fixtures based on a recent resurvey. A rival group opposing payment has termed it an effort to siphon government funds through blackmailing tactics and threatened to begin a parallel dharna against them.

Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar yesterday asked Rajnarain Kaushik, ADC, to probe the matter after District Revenue Officer Ram Singh Bishnoi found certain irregularities in the resurvey.

“Our legitimate claims of fixtures on our land acquired by NPCIL are being denied at the instance of a disgruntled group of farmers. When the first survey was done, many of our tubewells, ponds and other fixtures had remained unnoticed, as it was done in haste due to the farmers’ opposition to land acquisition,” said Sunit Siwach, who along with Hans Raj Siwach is leading farmers' dhana .

On the other hand, farmers opposing the payment of compensation on the basis of resurvey have termed the dharna as a blackmailing tactic by some unscrupulous farmers, who wanted to siphon government funds in collusion with some obliging officials.

He alleged that unscrupulous officials were instigating farmers to stage the dharna and take delegations to the CM so that they could easily siphon government funds.

Fauji announced that their group would not allow government funds to be squandered away.

Kurukshetra, December 24
If it has been a long time since you applied for the Aadhaar card and have not received it yet, it is better to pay a visit to your area post office as you may find it lying there.

Hundreds of Aadhaar cards are lying at post offices as the Department of Posts (DoP) has not been able to find the applicants at the address mentioned on the cards.

The Aadhaar project of the Government of India has become a headache for the postal authorities as Aadhaar cards are being sent to people through the department. But because of incorrect details they are compelled to keep the cards with them.

Post Master, Kurukshetra, Vijay Arora said postmen complained that they often found it difficult to deliver Aadhaar cards as the applicants were not residing at the given addresses.

Sometimes a postman cannot deliver them as nobody is present at the house and signatures have to be taken after delivering the card, he added.

Arora said “we have urged people to visit the post office in case they have not received their Aadhar cards yet”. The number of Aadhar cards with the postmen is increasing daily, he added.

District President, Bharatiya Janata Party, Dhuman Singh Kirmach said the government had no planning and policy to implement such projects. Un-skilled teams were appointed by private companies to make such an important document and it was now clear with wrong names, date of birth, addresses, pictures and sometimes even gender, he added. 

Yamunanagar, December 24
The auction of mining blocks in the district made the state exchequer richer by Rs 328.82 crore. The auction of minor mineral of all six units of the district was held here today after a ban was imposed on mining in the state on March 1, 2010, on the directions of the court.

The Unit-5, containing Mandewala, Gulabgarh and Bhilpura blocks, fetched the highest revenue of Rs 80 crore against the reserve price Rs 17.93 crore, the Unit-1, containing Tajewala block, was auctioned for Rs 61.55 crore against the reserve price Rs 4.25 crore.

The Unit-3, containing Bibipur, Bhir Tapu, Odhiri and Kalanaur blocks, was auctioned for Rs 60 crore against the reserve price of Rs 13.48 crore. While Unit-4, containing Gumthala block, was auctioned for Rs 58 crore against the reserve price Rs 11.56 crore.

The Unit-6, containing Balewala, Ismailpur and Telipur blocks, fetched Rs 45.11 crore against the reserve price Rs 15.10 crore. The Unit-2, which contains Gorabani, Manakpur, Ranjitpur and Pammuwala blocks, managed to fetch only Rs 24.16 crore from the auction against the reserve price Rs 14.80 crore.

Earlier, the auction of minor mineral fetched about Rs 40 crore for six months in 2009, but the mining work could not be initiated.

As the action date drew nearer, residents were hopeful that they would now get construction material easily and at reasonable rate as Yamunanagar has mines of boulder, gravel and sand in abundance. But the auction, which concluded at Rs 328.82 crore, may shatter their dreams of constructing cheaper homes.

The residents said now the contractors would charge hefty amount in the form of royalty charges on boulder, gravel and sand. Secondly, unlike Punjab, the state government has not fixed any cap on the maximum royalty to be charged on mined material.

Jind, December 24
Three days after the Congress-led UPA took a big step to woo the Jats with the issue of reservation in government jobs, the Jats seem not to be fully impressed with the move.

They announced that they would hold a mahapanchayat at the Bhiwani temple of Cheeka tomorrow to announce their future course of action in this regard.

As per Jat leaders, over 90 khaps of the state will participate in the mahapanchayat. After the meeting, they will announce the dates of their demonstrations.

They said till the issuance of a notification they could not rely on any political party. They would withdraw their struggle only after getting the copies of the notification. “We have thanked the UPA government for announcing reservation. But after the announcement there was no further action.

The government could have issued a notification on the next day of the announcement. We want the immediate issuance of the notification,” said Chaudhary Nafey singh Nain, president of the Sarv Jatt Mahapanchayat, Haryana.

Some other Jat leaders also expressed their suspicion over the delay in issuing the notification for reservation. Leaders have decided to meet senior Congress leaders in New Delhi soon for the early release of the notification.

Kutel (Karnal), December 24
Despite efforts by the district administration, the body of Ravinder, who was allegedly killed and thrown into a canal on December 13 by a family of the minority community in Kutel village has not been found yet.

Though peace prevails in the village, members of the majority community smell a rat in the whole story.

When the Tribune team visited the village, members of the majority community were sitting at the village chaupal, mourning the youth’s death. Members of the community said the accused’s house should be searched as the possibility of the body having been buried there could not be ruled out.

However, social worker Seva Singh said villagers and the administration are trying to convince the victim’s family to perform rasam kriya on Friday as 40 per cent of the women of their community work as labourers and until the rasam kriya is performed, they cannot resume work. Moreover, it would further ease tension in the village.

Singh said the boy and the girl liked each other but their families disapproved the relationship. Once the youth’s body is found, the girl could also be booked for hatching a conspiracy as she had called him that night.

Sirsa, December 24
A girl from Kartarpur in Punjab, who had come to Sirsa to meet her Facebook friend, was gangraped by two youths, including her friend.

The girl informed the police that she befriended a boy, Vinod, a resident of Sirsa, on Facebook and used to chat with him often.

She came to Dera Sacha Sauda and called him on his phone and expressed her desire to meet him.

Vinod came on a car with a friend to pick her from the place decided by them. He allegedly offered her fruit juice and the three then left for a drive.

After drinking the juice, she started feeling giddiness and soon fell unconscious, she added.

She alleged that Vinod and his friend raped her at an unknown place and then left her on the roadside.

She added that the two threatened her of dire consequences if she told about the incident to anyone.

The girl narrated the incident to a relative who lives in Darbi village of Sirsa.

The relative then accompanied her to Sadar police station, where she narrated the matter to the police.

Sonepat, December 24
Search for Mahabir (55) of Karkroi village, since April 8 this year, ended today with the police arresting his daughter Suman and her lover Pradeep of Gadhwal village for his murder.

Suman and Pradeep have confessed to their crime. The court has sent in Suman to judicial custody and Pradeep to police custody today for further investigation.

The police said Suman lodged a complaint here in Sadar police station on April 8 stating that her father had gone missing. She repeatedly inquired from the police about the efforts made to trace her father.

However, the matter came to light when Suman’s 15-year-old daughter disclosed to her companions, a few days back, that her mother had murdered her grand maternal father, Mahabir. Subsequently, Pradeep and Suman were arrested.

SHO Sadar police station Dalbir Singh Dangi said that the alleged accuseds confessed that on April 8, Mahabir saw both of them in compromising position and strongly objected it. But, Suman and Pradeep did not tolerate it and strangulated him. After his murder, SHO said, Mahabir’s body was thrown in Gurgaon canal near Kakroi village. Suman’s daughter, who was present in the same room where Mahabir was murdered, was threatened not to disclose it to anyone.

Jind, December 24
After more than a year, the district police last night registered a case against its two inspectors for molesting a woman head constable. The victim has been running from pillar to post for justice from the past one year, but to no avail.

“On December 5, 2013, the Jind court has directed the local police to register a case against two inspectors who molested and threatened me. But there is no action as all seniors have ganged up to save the two officials,” alleged the victim, now posted in the IG reserve of Hisar.

She alleged that on December 6, 2012, when she was working at the Tillukhera police station the then SHO Satyaparkash came in her room and held her in his arms.

She said she objected to his behaviour and informed it to her colleagues. Later, she lodged a complaint with the then Jind SP, who suspended the SHO and posted Mayaram as the new SHO.

But the new SHO also allegedly harassed the victim and pressurised her to withdraw the complaint.

“Both Mayaram and Satyaparkash have visited my quarter many times and threatened me with dire consequences if I don’t withdraw my complaint. Seniors have given a clean chit to both in a departmental inquiry concluded before the court direction. I want justice and will keep fighting till my last breath,” she said.

Sirsa, December 24
Three members of a family were killed and two others critically injured when their Maruti car collided with a canter near Sahuwala village on Dabwali road here this morning.

The canter driver fled leaving his vehicle after the accident.

Passersby shifted the injured persons to the local General Hospital where the doctors referred them to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

The police took the bodies to the General Hospital for a postmortem.

Purshotam, a 40-year-old carpenter from Dabwali, was coming to Dera Sacha Sauda here along with his wife, Manpreet Kaur (35), mother Gurpreet Kaur (65), son Gursharan (16) and daughter Sanjot (8) in early hours today.

When his car reached near Sahuwala village, a canter collided with his car while overtaking a Haryana Roadways’ bus.

The accident was so fierce that the canter dragged the car for over 20 feet.

Purshotam, his mother Gurpreet Kaur and daughter Sanjot died on the spot.

The condition of Purshotam’s wife and son is stated to be critical.

The canter was returning to Dabwali after unloading vegetables in Sirsa vegetable market when the accident occurred.

The police said the canter driver has been booked on the complaint of Purshotam’s brother, Narotam Singh. Purshotam ran a furniture shop in Dabwali town. 

Hisar, December 24
A man today hanged himself at Gardhi village, in the Hansi subdivision of the district, after allegedly being harassed by two persons.

The deceased, identified as Radhe Shyam, 30, was reportedly duped of Rs 15 lakh by two persons, whom he had given the money for setting up a brick kiln in a partnership. But the project did not materialise and the two did not return the money to him.

In his suicide note, Radhe Shyam alleged that a police ASI had also been hand-in-glove with the accused as he did not take any action against them after he lodged a complaint. The deceased had reportedly borrowed the money from some private lenders for setting up the brick-kiln and now the borrowers had been demanding their money back.

The Hansi Sadar police station SHO Jagbir Singh said a case of abetment to suicide had been registered against the two persons, identified as Prahalad Singh and Magan Singh, who had taken the money from Radhe Shyam. He denied any role of the ASI in the incident.