Chandigarh, December 28
In a year that will see the parliamentary and Assembly elections, Congress activists were today urged to strengthen the party at the grassroots level while publicising its public-interest initiatives.

Sources said the block and district units were asked to activate their cadre following the success of the Aam Aadmi Party in the Delhi elections. A few workers expressed their displeasure over the detractor camp within the party going public on party matters.

They were speaking at the 129th Foundation Day of the Congress party held at the headquarters of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC) here today.

The detractors, including Union Minister Kumari Selja and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh, were absent at a meeting. HPCC president Phool Chand Mullana chose to downplay the absence of ministers and MLAs, saying that his office had been informed that some leaders were pre-occupied.

“The MPs are attending the party’s Foundation Day function in New Delhi. Though they were invited, the AICC is obviously every leader’s first choice,” he said.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has urged the party workers to play a vital role in the implementation of accountability law. He also asked them to complain about those officers who derelict their duties in execution of policies and programmes of the government.

Describing workers as eyes and ears of the party, Hooda said the state government would soon finalise the Accountability Law. Under this law, every employee and officer would have to complete the work of people within the prescribed schedule.

He said it would also be the duty of the party workers to make sure that the people get benefits of the schemes.

He said the party workers would have to ensure their reach to every single house and to understand the problems of the people.

He said, “It is not necessary that solution to every problem is at the government level. Therefore, it is necessary that party workers should understand the problems and play their vital role in resolving them.”

A secretary of the Hisar unit of the Congress created a flutter outside the venue of the meeting when he alleged that he was facing a threat to his life and had been running from pillar to post but to no avail.

Identifying himself as Surajmal, he said “In July this year, I found out that a contract for my killing had been awarded to a party. I have approached the police and the Chief Minister who even asked the police to act but nothing has happened. If I’m being harassed like this despite being an office-bearer, I can only imagine the fate of the common man.”

Kurukshetra, December 28
Kurukshetra University has not dispatched the roll number slips separately to the candidates for the University Grants Commission (UGC-NET) examination, for the eligibility of junior research fellowship and lectureship, which is scheduled to be held here tomorrow.

Stating this here today, Dr Hukam Singh, Controller Examinations, KU, and Coordinator, NET, said according to the new guidelines given by the UGC, the candidates were required to note their roll numbers and their respective examination centres from the university website.

Dr Singh said KU was one of the identified test centres of the exam and as many as 11,325 candidates in 45 subjects had been registered at the university.

He said elaborate arrangements had been made as per guidelines of the commission. The senior superintendent of police (SSP) and District Magistrate, Kurukshetra, have been requested to deploy adequate police personnel at exam centres to check any untoward incident, he said.

The seating arrangements have been made for all the candidates registered online with the KU. The venue of test, along with subject name and range of roll numbers, may be noted from KU website www.kuk.ac.in.

Directions for the candidates and specimen copy of OMR sheets of paper I, II and III can also be seen on the above stated website, Singh added.

Sirsa, December 28
After distancing itself from Rania MLA Krishan Kamboj bypassing power meters to connect houses directly to power lines of Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) initially, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) today rallied behind him in castigating Bhupinder Singh Hooda government for registering an FIR of power theft against him.

Sirsa district INLD president Padam Jain, INLD’s state executive member Jasbir Singh Jassa, former MLA Bhagi Ram and other local leaders were present at a press conference in Sirsa, where Kamboj alleged he had been framed for raising voice of the poor, and that his drive against inflated power bills would continue despite the FIR.

He, however, clarified that he would not indulge in connecting the houses to the power lines of the DHBVN, but would mobilise people to launch an agitation against the inflated bills.

Ashok Arora, state president of INLD, had yesterday said the way Rania MLA dealt with the complaints of inflated power bills in his constituency was his own decision and the party did not subscribe to it.

Sources in the INLD had disclosed that senior party leader Abhey Singh Chautala had also made his displeasure known to Kamboj, who had bypassed electricity meters of several consumers at Matuwala and Keharwala villages of Sirsa and had gone from door-to-door, urging people to boycott their bills.

The DHBVN had lodged an FIR of power theft against him and some villagers in the case.

“My drive against inflated power bills will continue. I will create awareness among people to rise against overcharging by the Nigam,” Kamboj said.

Bhiwani, December 28
Girl students of Government Senior Secondary School, Talu village, today locked up the school in protest against authorities’ inability to fill posts of teacher.

As the academic session is drawing to a close in three months, the school has no teacher for the senior secondary classes leaving the students in the lurch who are scheduled to take exams soon.

They alleged that there had never been adequate staff for them ever since the school was upgraded to the senior secondary level about five years ago.

“We took admission with the hope to complete our education in a nearby school as our families are reluctant to send us to schools located away in towns. But the absence of teachers affects our studies and most of the girls failed to get admission in colleges due to lesser marks,” said a girl.

The girls remained seated in front of the school gate for hours. Villages, including panchayat members and parents of the students, also supported them in their protest. “If there are no teachers, there is no meaning to keep the school open. We have urged the education authorities to deploy adequate teaching staff in the school, but to no avail.

Joginder Singh Jog, a villager, said there was no teacher for the senior secondary classes in the school for the past two years. “Presently, the school has strength of over 100 girls in Classes XI and XII. A drop in the strength has been witnessed in previous years due to shortage of teaching staff in the school,” he said.

He said the girls had threatened to block the village road if the teachers were not posted in the school by Tuesday.

District Education Officer Nirmal Sheoran said the block education officer assured the students that the vacant posts of teacher would be filled by Tuesday.

Hisar, December 28
As Arvind Kerjiwal’s Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) stormed to power riding on broom as symbol, broom manufacturers in the state have alleged harassment at the hands of tax officials.

The Haryana Broom Manufacturers Association (HBMA) has alleged that taking advantage of confusion over a comma in the Sales Tax Act, the authorities have been harassing them.

In a memorandum submitted to CONFED chairman Bajrang Dass Garg, who is also the president of the Haryana Beopar Mandal, the association urged the Chief Minister to resolve the confusion at the earliest.

Shriniwas Tayal, president, HBMA, said broomstick was among the exempted goods in the Sales Tax Act. “As per Column 26 of the Schedule B of the Sales Tax Acts, ‘sarkanda’, ‘phoolbuhari’ and ‘jharu’ are exempted goods items. Since ‘phoolbuhari’ and ‘jharu’ are not separated by a comma. It led to confusion, leaving it at the will of the tax authorities to exempt it or not,” he said.

Tayal said, “Our ‘jharu’ is made from parts of the coconut plant. It is made manually and requires no machines and electricity.”

Taking advantage of this confusion, the tax authorities argued that it was taxable and demanded bribe to let them off, he alleged.

Many broom manufacturers had to pay the bribe and tax was imposed when they refused to grease their palms, he alleged.

Association general secretary Praveen Kumar said the HBMA was formed about a month ago to launch an agitation on the issue.

Garg said he would raise the issue with the higher authorities. “The confusion will be cleared within in a day or two. Strict action will be taken if any taxman harasses anybody,” he stated.

Karnal, December 28
Zila Parishad bypoll for the ward no1 will be held on December 29. The result will be announced on Monday at BDPO Indri office. The seat got vacant after the death of Zila Parishad chairman, Angrej Singh Dhumsi.

ARO of the election, ADC, Girish Arora has conducted a meeting of polling parties and gave directions to them for peaceful election. He said they would maintain transparency in election. — TNS

Rewari, December 28
The Dharuhera police have registered a case of attempt to murder against a 23-year-old woman on a complaint filed by her husband Birender Kumar, a resident of Maheshwari village, yesterday.

In his complaint, Birender alleged that when he came to know about illicit relationship of his wife, she gave him liquor mixed with slow poison recently. A senior police official said the matter was under investigation.