Bhiwani, January 6
Various trader organisations announced a bandh in protest against hefty electricity charges on January 10. They have rejectede relief given by the government that includes Rs 200 subsidy on power bills and restoration of a slab system.

The decision was taken at a meeting of several traders' bodies. The meeting was presided over by Sunder Gotewala.

The traders termed the relief insignificant and said they would intensify their agitation if the government did not slash power tariffs to make it affordable to the common man.

A number of taxes and fuel surcharge coupled with high tariff have resulted in hefty power bills.

They alleged that the distribution companies-Uttar and Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitram Nigams- had been
imposing "unreasonable" charges and they would hold Bhiwani bandh to express their resentment on January 10.

The traders demanded a high-level probe into the purchase of electricity meters, reduction in power tariffs by half, removal of various charges, including fuel surcharge, sundry allowances, municipal tax and development tax from the electricity bill.

Many other social organisations and political parties have announced to support the bandh call, the traders claim.

Sonepat, January 6
The Bijli Vitran Nigam joined issue with the activists of the All-India Students' Federation who are on a chain hunger strike for the past three days at Shubhash Chowk here. They are demanding reduction in electricity charges.

The activists has planned to continue their hunger strike till January 17 and organise a demonstration in front of the DC office on January 18. The door-to-door visit to make consumers aware of the issue in the evening hours is also a part of their agitation.

VS Maan, superintendent engineer (SE) of the Sonepat operation circle of the nigam, said the nigam had already slashed electricity charges, providing monthly benefit of around Rs 96 for monthly consumption upto 100 units and of Rs 260 for monthly consumption upto 250 units.

Moreover, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had also announced the bi-monthly relief of Rs 200 for electricity consumption upto 1,600 units, he added.

He refuted the allegations of frequent increase in electricity bills and claimed that the last increase of 13 per cent was made in March last year and there was no further increase in the charges. — OC

Karnal, January 6
All-India Congress Committee (AICC) member Suresh Gupta Madlauda demanded that electricity charges for domestic consumers be reduce by 25 per cent. He demanded to reduce the rate of domestic and commercial cylinders. He also demanded to increase the annual quota of subsidised LPG cylinder.

In a letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Suresh Gupta stated power tariffs should be reduced because as it was very high.

In an another letter to PM Manmohan Singh and AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi, he demanded to reduce the rate of LPG cylinders. He said the government had increased the rate of LPG cylinders, which was not affordable.— TNS

Rohtak, January 6
The INLD has released a fresh list of nearly 60 candidates selected in the HCS and allied services for allegedly being close to certain state government functionaries.

Addressing a news conference here today, Dushyant Chautala, the elder son of jailed INLD leader Ajay Chautala, alleged that favouratism and nepotism had reached a new peak during the tenure of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He alleged that the state authorities had sidelined meritorious candidates and selected those who were close to ruling party leaders or government officers. The INLD leader sought a high-level judicial inquiry into the matter.

“Candidates close to Hooda and other Haryana government functionaries were given maximum marks with the intent to benefit them while the meritorious ones were given low marks to keep them out of the race,” alleged Dushyant.

He released a list of candidates selected in HCS and allied services and also mentioned their relation to the Chief Minister, his MP son, relatives of his close aides as well as personal staff, certain Haryana ministers, ruling party MLAs, HPSC members, IAS, IPS and HCS officers and Vice-Chancellors.

Dushyant maintained that they would start a statewide signature campaign tomorrow to register their protest against the “unfair” selections to the HCS and allied services.

He said party workers would also launch an indefinite fast unto death in front of Hooda’s local residence. The party had sought permission to hold a demonstration at Bapu Park in front of the CM’s local residence or in front of Ch. Devi Lal’s statue.

"In case the district administration thwarts our plan in the name of Section 144,CrPC, we will stage our demonstration in front of the statue of Hooda’s father at IMT on the outskirts of Rohtak town on January 19," the INLD leader maintained.

Chandigarh, January 6
About 5,000 years after Lord Krishna purportedly delivered the holy message of the Gita at Jyotisar in Kurukshetra, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has partly allowed a petition filed by deities and has ruled that the Kurukshetra Development Board has no authority to lease out their land.

The verdict by Justice Surinder Gupta came on a bunch of two appeals filed by “Tirath Jyotisar”, the “idol of Lord Mahadev Ji of Mandir Mahadev Ji and idols of other lords” through counsel Amar Vivek. Available
information suggests the idols are in the temples over the land.

The ruling is significant not only from the historical and religious point of view, but also because this is the first time in recallable past that the judicial process has been set in motion in the high court here by the deities.

Justice Gupta also ruled that Tirath Jyotisar was the “owner in possession” of 137 kanals and 19 marlas of land. The board could take steps for the overall development, landscaping, renovation of Tirath Jyotisar and the lake located there. It could also provide 
facilities to the pilgrims and tourists. But it has no authority to lease out the land.

Justice Gupta has also set aside a lease deed dated March 26, 1998, executed by the board in favour of International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) for six acres of Tirath Jyotisar land for 99 years. ISKCON has also been restrained from raising any construction over the land.

Vivek had told the court that in 1988 the entries of possession of the suit land were changed in the board’s name against instructions issued by the Haryana Financial Commissioner (Revenue). The entries were also incorporated in the ‘jamabandi’ or the revenue records for 1989-90.

Referring to a news report published in August 1997, Vivek said the ‘mohitmim’ or the manager came to know that a “cultural centre” was being developed over six acres of their land by ISKCON. Inquiries revealed a lease deed had been executed by the board in favour of ISKCON.

Taking up the matter, Justice Gupta asserted: “If the board is doing some development work such as landscaping and providing facilities to the pilgrims, it cannot be taken that the title of the property, temples, sarovar etc. has vested with it.”

“The board cannot transgress its domain or establish its title over the religious property like Tirath Jyotisar adverse to its interest. There is no doubt with regard to the fact that the Kurukshetra Development Board has spent lakhs of rupees on the maintenance, upkeep and beautification of the lake and for development of the surrounding areas, but in the process, the board has exceeded its jurisdiction and has started leasing out the land of Tirath Jyotisar to various individuals like banks, tourism department, ISKCON etc…..” said Justice Gupta.

“The most unfortunate part of this transaction is that even part of the lake existing at the spot has also been leased out to raise construction of building…. The act of the board is not only illegal, unethical, beyond jurisdiction but also sacrilegious, tempering with the ecology, heritage, importance and sanctity of Tirath Jyotisar”.

Justice Gupta added there was no legally appointed manager or caretaker. As such the state would take over its control for purposes of administration, management and maintenance before constituting an authority, society or trust.

Justice Gupta also directed the Haryana Chief Secretary to take immediate steps for compliance of the directions. “Till a trust/society/authority is constituted by the state, the Deputy Commissioner, Kurukshetra, shall take control of the suit land and other assets of plaintiff for its proper maintenance”. 

Jhajjar, January 6
After a doctor on duty at the General Hospital in Bahadurgarh town of the district was manhandled by villagers yesterday, the Haryana Civil Medical Services (HCMS) Association has threatened to go on strike from Thursday if the accused are not arrested within next two days. The doctors have also decided to wear black badges to express their anguish over the incident.

The police have registered a case against Rajbir, a resident of Silothi village, Sonu, a resident of Jassaur Kheri village, and three others on the charges of voluntarily causing hurt, criminal intimidation and creating obstacles in the way of a government servant on duty on a complaint lodged by Dr Sushant Sharma. However, no arrest was made till filing of the report.

Notably, Kuldeep was shot dead by a group of assailants at his house at Silothi village on Saturday night. The body was brought to the hospital for the post-mortem examination. But delay in conducting the post-mortem angered villagers who allegedly misbehaved and manhandled Dr Sushant Sharma.

“The doctors conducted the post-mortem after we blocked the vehicular traffic by placing the body on the road against the delay,” alleged a villager.

Criticised the incident, Dr Sukhpal Dhariwal, district secretary of the association, said there was no fault of Dr Sushant in the delay as he was waiting for the X-ray examination which could not be done due to power failure.

“X-ray was required in the case before the post-mortem to ascertain the exact location of the bullet in the body,” he said.

“The association has decided to go on strike from Thursday if the police fail to arrest the accused within next two days. We will also don black badges to register our protest against the incident,” said Dhariwal.

Rewari, January 6
Manju Devi (22) committed suicide by hanging herself with a ceiling fan at Mohalla Jogian here last night.

The post-mortem examination was conducted by a board of two doctors at the local Civil Hospital today.

The city police have registered a case of dowry death against her husband Sanjay, father-in-law, mother-in-law and an another person on a complaint filed by Tara Chand, a brother of the deceased and a resident of Alwar in Rajasthan.

He alleged that his sister, who got married to Sanjay six years ago, was ill-treated for dowry by her in-laws.

Tara Chand said when the situation became unbearable, she committed suicide. Manju is susrvived by a son. 

Sonepat, January 6
A case of fraud has been registered against Mahavir, sarpanch of Baiyan Khurd village, for fraudulently drawing pension of 18 widows and disabled persons for eight months. The case was registered on the complaint of the BDPO, Sonepat. The BDPO was directed by Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar to initiate legal action against the sarpanch.

A number of widow and disabled persons had lodged a complaint with the DC alleging that the sarpanch had drawn their pension for eight months but they did not get it.

The DC directed City Magistrate (CTM) Nishu Singhal to conduct an enquiry into the complaint. In the enquiry, the CTM found the sarpanch guilty of drawing pension fraudulently. — OC

Gurgaon, January 6
An employee of a local call centre has accused her director and two senior officials of molesting and raping her.

In a Zero FIR registered at the RK Puram police station in New Delhi, the 32-year-old victim had alleged that the Golf Course road-based Aonhewitt Call Centre director Rahul Singh would often call her to his cabin and indulged in activities which amount to rape according to the new legislation.

She has also accused two other senior officials Rajat Tiwari and Pawan Bhalla of calling her to their cabins and molesting her.

The victim accused five other executives, including women, of aiding the accused by asking her to visit them and also pressurising her to accept all this as a part of the BPO culture.

The Sushant Lok police have started investigations into the matter after the FIR was forwarded to them.

Sources said the call centre had already approached the police expressing apprehensions that the victim could create trouble for them after she was thrown out of the job.

"We have got the FIR from the Delhi Police and investigations are on," said Police Commissioner Alok Mittal.

Karnal, January 6
Along with the demand for a separate Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC), the newly launched political outfit Haryana Janshakti Party (HJP) will fight for farmers. The party will start its campaign from Sirsa on Wednesday.While stating this here today, party president Didar Singh Nalvi said, “Farmers are being exploited by the government, they have been used for vote bank. No agricultural policy was framed by the successive governments. Neither are they getting good quality seeds, nor sufficient water for irrigation.”

He said if voted to power, not only would a separate Committee be built, an agricultural policy would also be framed for the prosperity of farmers. Nalvi alleged that no work had been done on canals after 1966. The Narwana branch was built by former Chief Minister of Punjab Partap Singh Kairo while the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) was built by the Britishers. The government built the Satluj Yamuna Link (SYL) by acquiring costly land, but the result was still zero, he added.He said the party would contest from Kurukshetra and Sirsa parliamentary seats in the coming Lok Sabha elections and also field candidates with a clean image from 16 constituencies with a sizable population of Sikhs and the backward classes. — TNS

Gurgaon, January 6
Yet another former bureaucrat, retired Haryana IAS officer Hukam Singh Rana (66), joined the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) today.

Rana was welcomed into the party-fold by Yogendra Yadav at a party workers’ meeting, held at Badkhali chowk in Nagina, Mewat district.

A former 1988 batch IAS officer, he was appointed as chairman of the State Police Complaint Authority (SPCA), but decided to join the party on the expiry of his term.

"Members like him prove to be a milestone in serving people as they are not just well versed with policy making but also have experience of people's expectations and ways to fulfill them. We wish to have more such heads to make our campaign in Haryana a success," said Yadav. 

Yamunanagar, January 6
Infuriated over police inaction in the kidnapping case of Chhachhruali Naib Tehsildar Anand Rawal, members of the Gurjar community today locked the gate of the Chhachhruali tehsil and also held a demonstration.A mahapanchayat, which was attended by hundreds of members of the community of the area and residents of Kohand village in Karnal , was also held on the issue. Ratan Singh Devdhar, who is the president of the 11-member committee formed yesterday to deal with the case, warned the administration of arresting the persons involved in getting a false case registered against the Naib Tehsildar.

“We demand recovery of the missing official and arrest of the dhaba owner, the SHO and other police officials who implicated the Naib Tehsildar in a false case,” said Devdhar. Family members of the official also demanded transfer the case from DSP)Rajesh Kumar to other officer.

The mahapanchayat was also attended by DSP (Headquarters) Virender Vij and DSP (Bilaspur) SS Chahal. They assured the mahapanchayt that action would be taken against the guilty persons. Meanwhile, the investigation of the case was handed over to DSP Ajay Rana from DSP Rajesh Kumar.The mahapanchayat extend its deadline to take further step in the case to January 9.

“On the request of the administration, we will wait till January 9. If the administration fails to trace the missing official and take action against the guilty persons, we will be forced to take to the streets after January 9,” said Devdhar.

The Gharaunda police had registered a case against the Naib Tehsildar, Naresh of Jai Bharat Vashno Dhaba. The Naib Tehsildar had gone missing on Friday. 

Karnal, January 6
Claiming that they had not been paid salaries for the last five months, computer teachers from different parts of the state held a protest march in the city today. They also handed over a memorandum to Vikas Yadav, Karnal Deputy Commissioner, stating their demands.

The protest was led by Sandeep Kumar, under the banner of Haryana Computer Teachers Association. He said around 2,600 teachers were engaged with various schools in the state on contract, but their salaries had not been paid.

The government should regularise them and the contract system should be abolished, he demanded.

Earlier, the members of the association from Ambala, Karnal, Kurukshetra, Palwal, Hisar, Kaithal, Jind, Panipat, Rohtak and Jhajjar assembled at Karan Park and started their protest, which passed through prominent areas of the city. 

Kaithal, January 6
Hundreds of people from the Brahmin community reached in a procession at Pehowa Chowk, held a dharna and blocked the road.The movement of vehicles was not allowed in this part of the town, causing inconvenience to commuters. The protesters demanded an action against some policemen, including ASI Mohinder Kumar, for misbehaving with villagers, including women, during a raid in search of some youths belonging to the community at Baba Ladana village today.

DSP Ravinder Tomar recorded the statement of some of the protesters who complained against the "erring" policemen. He assured them of taking an appropriate action against the guilty after the completion of an enquiry.

However, the protesters remained adamant and demanded an immediate action against the policemen.— OC

Bhiwani, January 6
In what seemed to be insensitivity towards accident victims, a seriously injured driver remained stuck inside the vehicle as the police remained busy in completing formalities at an accident site near Bond Kalan village of the district yesterday.

The driver later succumbed to his injuries, putting the death toll at six, as five people were killed on the spot.

The victim, Sukhvinder Singh, who was driving the ill-fated autorickshaw that met with an accident, was critically injured but alive when the police arrived at the accident site. “Though they pulled the five bodies out of the auto, the driver and a seven-year-old girl did not get medical aid until we reached the spot. They finally received attention around an hour after the accident and the loss of time proved fatal for my brother”, alleged Sukhvinder’s brother Satender Kumar.

“When I reached the spot, nearly 30-40 minutes after the accident, and checked his pulse, he was still alive. I rebuked the police personnel for ignoring him but they remained busy in completing their formalities. One of them told me that they had called the ambulance to take the injured to the hospital. When I said they should firstly provide medical aid to the injured, they remained unmoved”.

Rajesh Kumar, the village sarpanch, said they had also complained about the callous attitude of the police to senior police officers and the local MLA, who arrived at the spot later.

Deshraj Singh, SHO of the Bond police station, however, refuted the allegations and said the driver had died on the spot. “The family members took the body to the hospital hoping against hopes”. 

Faridabad, January 6
Faridabad has topped the National Capital Region (NCR) in recording the least rise in crimes against women in the NCR this year. This has been stated by the local police.

Describing it as a silent positive change, Commissioner of Police AS Chawla said the sharp rise in overall awareness level had made women more confident to come out against victimisation or harassment. This has led towards the efforts to make the city safer.

Stating that crimes against women continued to make the headlines, he said figures from January 1 to December 21 this year spoke for themselves.

He said Faridabad had recorded the lowest percentage (39 per cent) increase in the number of rape cases compared to other NCR districts of Gurgaon (248 per cent), Noida (74 per cent), Ghaziabad (148 per cent) and Delhi (135 per cent).

Regarding molestation cases, he revealed that Faridabad had a much lower percentage increase (181 per cent) compared to Gurgaon (429 per cent), Delhi (419 per cent) and Ghaziabad (306 per cent).

A near similar trend could be seen in cases of kidnapping and elopement where Faridabad had a percentage increase of 49 per cent compared to 303 per cent of Gurgaon and 68 percent of Delhi.

About cases of dowry harassment, it was claimed that the city had a much lower increase of 28 per cent compared to Gurgaon (88 per cent), Ghaziabad (84 per cent) and Delhi (48 per cent).

The authorities also attributed credit for “one of the lowest percentage increases” to the promising “building a safe city for women” campaign, which they claimed had been a success.

Describing the drive as innovative and the first of its kind initiative under this umbrella campaign, the officials said besides creating awareness among women, the department launched the first of its kind mobile application “i am safe” for women's safety and for residents in distress to seek immediate help of the police.

Claiming quick and prompt disposal of complaints could be easily seen as out of 3,245 complaints received till December 30, around 3,235 were resolved and 39 criminal cases were registered.

It was pertinent to highlight the tremendous success Faridabad had achieved in the recovery of snatching cases as 90 cases out of the total 73 snatching cases were solved and stolen items recovered, said a spokesperson of the department.

Karnal, January 6
The Hotel and Restaurant Association of Haryana (HRAH) has demanded relief for the industry. In a memorandum to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, the association made a plea for reduction of luxury tax and waiver of fixed electricity charges.

HRAH president Manbir Choudhary said the hotel industry was already burdened with many state and Central taxes. For more than a year, they had been paying Rs 170 per KW every month on sanctioned load as fixed charges on electricity, besides paying regular tariff, electricity duty, surcharge and fuel surcharge in their monthly bills.— TNS

Chandigarh, January 6
The Haryana Government has constituted a committee to search candidates for appointment as Chief Commissioner and Commissioners in the Haryana Right to Service Commission (HRSC) under the Right to Service Ordinance, 2013.

An official spokesman said Chief Secretary SC Choudhary would be the Chairman of the committee and Principal Secretary(Agriculture) Roshan Lal and KU Vice-ChancellorDDS Sandhu its members.

The government would finalise a panel of candidates after considering the names submitted by the search committee. The names along with biodata and other relevant information of the persons on the panel would form part of the agenda forwarded to members of the statutory committee not less than seven days before its meeting. 

Chandigarh, January 6
With a view to improving the nutritional status of children, adolescent girls and women, the Haryana Government has implemented the state nutrition policy for women and children.

A press note issued here today stated that the nutrition policy aimed at reducing the number of moderately underweight children of 0 to 5 years of age by 10 per cent, reducing the number of severely underweight children in the 0-5 age group by 50 per cent and reduction in incidence of low birth weight by10 per cent by the end of the 12th Plan.

Similarly, elimination of blindness due to vitamin A deficiency and reduction in Bitot's spot in children and reduction in iron deficiency and anaemia among women, pregnant women and children by 20 per cent.

Karnal, January 6
The detection of adulteration in milk has become easy now. NDRI scientists have developed two paper-based tests for this . They claimed that the tests could detect adulteration within three minutes.

Dr Rajan Sharma, a scientist of Dairy Chemistry Division, said he, Dr YS Rajput, Dr Bimlesh Mann and Dr Pachal Bhavesh Kumar had developed rapid paper-based strip tests for the detection of caustic soda and urea in milk.

Dr Sharma said the prepared strip, which was yellow in colour, changed its colour to deep red in the milk containing neutralisers while in a pure milk sample retained its original colour.

Explaining another paper strip-based test, Dr Rajan said the test involved dipping of the yellow strip into milk. The colour of the strip changes to red in urea-adulterated milk while in pure milk, the strip colour either remains yellow or changes to light red due to the presence of natural urea in milk.

Kurukshetra, January 6
Going by the number of applicants seeking admission in German language certificate course in Kurukshetra University, it seems German is in vogue. However, due to the limited seats and lack of interest shown by the university in order to provide better infrastructure, a large number of students get disappointed as they fail to get admission in the course. The language department has been receiving about 400 applications against 120 seats for the past three years.

Of 83 per cent students who pass out every year, 50 per cent clear the A1 level, international certificate exam of the language. The department is also helping people to clear the A1 level as European countries have made it compulsory.

Dr Anand Dubey, an Associate Professor of German language in the university, said BTech degree with proficiency in German fetched higher salaries for students. An MoU has been signed between India and Germany to introduce the language in more than 1,000 Kendriya Vidyalyas by 2017.

Anand Dubey said the university was not showing interest in the department and their legitimate demands remained unfulfilled, He said a MoU about a student exchange programme, which was presented by University of Tubingen, Germany, was in pipeline. "We ask for extra seats every year when some other departments fail to fill their seats. The department is not only overbooked but also overlooked," said Dubey.

Karnal, January 6
Additional Sessions Judge RK Jain had sentenced two persons to 10 years imprisonment for kidnapping and sexually assaulting of a minor girl. A third accused in the case is facing trial before the juvenile court.

Sources said Deepak, Samsher and a boy kidnapped a minor girl from her residence located at Model Town here on March 20 last year and allegedly raped her.

The Additional Sessions Judge found them guilty of the crime and sentenced them to 10 years in jail.

Rohtak, January 6
Thanks to criminal activities like murder, loot, robbery and thefts, Rohtak, the hometown of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, is fast acquiring the reputation of being the crime capital of Haryana.

The lackadaisical approach of the law-enforcement agencies leaves much to be desired, with the incidence of criminal cases increasing with every passing day.

At the same time, local residents also find the almost-permanent imposition of Section 144,CrPC, deployment of a heavy posse of police personnel around the Chief Minister’s local residence irksome.

Social and political leaders as well as other prominent residents of the town decry the practice. They maintain that while the law and order situation was pitiable, the Chief Minister was more concerned about his own safety and security.

Meanwhile, the Rohtak range police authorities have constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to investigate the incident of loot in which miscreants recently robbed a furniture merchant of lakhs of rupees after holing the merchant and his family members captive. The SIT, led by DSP Karan Goel, will also look into the looting of Rs 13,000 from a trader near Gohana Stand in the town.

On the other hand, activists of the Bhartiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) staged a demonstration and burnt an effigy of the district and police administration at Bhiwani Stand to register their protest against the surge in criminal activities in the town during the past week. 

Yamunanagar, January 6
A girl student committed suicide by jumping before Jan Shatabdi Express near the Jagadhri Workshop railway station in the evening.

The 18-year old girl was a student of ITI and belonged to Rapauli village. Eyewitnesses said the girl had been sitting on the station for long. Brijpal, SHO, GRP, said the post-mortem examination would be conducted tomorrow. — OC

Sonepat, January 6
Three armed persons looted about Rs three lakh at gunpoint from a petrol pump on the Bahalgarh-Meerut road near Garh Mirakpur village late last night. The miscreants also took away the DVR of CCTV cameras installed at the petrol pump.

They escaped on a motorcycle of a petrol pump employee. The motorcycle was found abandoned about two kms away from the petrol pump. On receiving the information, Additional SP Balbir Singh reached the spot. The ASP said the miscreants would be arrested soon.