Jind, January 24
After lawlessness and stone-throwing at police personnel yesterday, the police registered cases against around 150 persons, including nine by name. The registration of cases took a political colour as the personal assistant (PA) of the local INLD MLA was among the persons named.

"They were residents of Jind who came on the streets to protest the non-supply of power and water. The police named Mohit Sharma, PA of local INLD MLA Harichand Middha. Mohit was not involved in any attack and the police named him in the case because of political reasons," said Surender Barwala, district INLD president.

The police named nine persons, including Mohit Sharma, Jai Singh, Om, Sandip, Sajjan Kashyap, Sunny, Amit and Dilbagh. The police registered cases under attempt to murder and obstructing officials from performing duty. Local residents blamed the police for mismanagement, which led to a riot-like situation at many places.

"At many places, youngsters threw stones at passersby. They did not spare vehicles of the DC and police officers who struggled till late in the night and went to various places to end demonstrations. It happened as the police were small in number and initially took protests lightly," said Ramkishan, standing near the bus stand.

Local residents blocked traffic at 14 places. The lack of preparedness of the police could be gauged from the fact that the protesters outnumbered the police at Safidon chowk. A PCR vehicle was set on fire.

"I suffered a fracture in my right hand when the protesters attacked me and my team when I tried to remove them," said Jind City SHO Kamaldeep.

When contacted, DSP Dharmveer Punia refuted allegations of political interference and delay in action. "We have registered cases after investigations. Further investigations are on and we will not spare anyone. It took many hours to remove all protesters since simultaneous protests were going on across the town," he said.

Rohtak, January 24
Doctors and other staffers at the local Civil Hospital have been registering, examining and treating patients sans electricity for the past four days.

Initially, the power failure was attributed to the strike by government employees. When the power outage persisted after the strike was over, some technical fault was blamed for the situation.

A visit to the Civil Hospital revealed that X-ray, surgeries, laboratory tests and proper medical examination of patients had been stalled.

Employees manning registration counters were seen using candles, cellphone lights and torches. Several aspirants for government jobs were seen quarreling with the hospital staff for no back-up power arrangement.

A large generator set had been installed on the Civil Hospital premises several years ago, but it was lying unused and rusting away.

Hospital sources maintained that the issue was stuck as the authorities concerned (read SMO and CMO) were not able to decide who should be responsible for getting fuel for the generator set.

Sirsa, January 24
A research scholar doing her PhD from Chaudhary Devi Lal University here has lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against her supervisor, an associate professor. She accused him of “inappropriate and unwelcome verbal and non-verbal gestures of carnal nature”.

In her complaint to the university registrar, the research scholar said she had been doing PhD under the supervision of the associate professor and had been visiting his department for research work since the date of her registration.

“I have been granted a year extension for submission of the PhD thesis up to August 31, 2013. I have applied to seek second year extension to complete my research work in June 2013 and again in August 2013. But I have not received any letter regarding extension for the second year. I have an apprehension that the associate professor has not processed these applications,” she said in her complaint.

“Further, I am being continually harassed by my supervisor by subjecting me to inappropriate and unwelcome verbal and non-verbal gestures of carnal nature during my visit to his room and delaying my research work. I submitted my research work to my supervisor a year ago, but he has not responded yet. I came to know from the registration branch that my progress report has also not been sent by the department to the branch,” the victim alleged.

Registrar Manoj Siwach said he had sent the complaint to the establishment branch for examination.

The associate professor said he was not aware of any such complaint. He, however, said some teachers inimical to him had been hatching a conspiracy against him to malign his image. When The Tribune confronted him, the associate professor denied all allegations.

Jind, January 24
The time when repeated honour killings are earning bad name for Haryana, the new initiative of Bibipur village to convince it’s youngsters against marrying in the same ‘gotra’ may bring desired positive results.

Residents of the village have pledged today not to support any villager, who commits or helps in any honour killings.

Perhaps in the first-of-its-kind initiative in Haryana, the village today organised a gram sabha to prevent honour killing not only in their village but elsewhere also.

Over 50 college and school students pledged not to marry in their neighborhood, village and same gotra while parents pledged to improve their bonding with their children through open discussion over all youth-related issues.

Discussions on the topic lasted for almost four hours. During the discussion, many students alleged unnecessary restrictions while elders complained about lack of respect from their youngsters.

Rewari, January 24
The bodies of a teenaged boy and a girl, tied together with a piece of cloth, were today found floating in the Nehru canal passing through Nahad village under the Kosli police station in the district.

The boy, identified as Gopal (17) of Nahad village, and the girl of Koharad village, were students of the Government Senior Secondary School at Nahad village.

Both the victims belonged to different castes.

They had been missing since January 17. In a complaint to the police, the girl's father had alleged that Gopal had kidnapped his daughter.

The police sent the bodies to the General Hospital here for the post-mortem examination.

Sources said the boy and the girl were in love and they feared that their parents would not agree to their marriage.

“No case has been registered so far. The case is being investigated from various angles. The bodies have been sent for the post-mortem examination. Further action will be taken as per autopsy report,” said Superintendent of Police Pankaj Nain.

New Delhi, January 24
The Delhi High Court today extended the interim bail of MLA Ajay Singh Chautala, who along with his father and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, has been sentenced to 10-year jail in the 1999 JBT recruitment scam.

Justice Siddharth Mridul extended Ajay's interim bail till February 7 on medical grounds. The court asked the CBI to verify the medical records produced by Ajay, an Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) MLA from Dabwali.

On January 22, the trial court had convicted and sentenced Chautala and nine others, including Ajay, to 10 years jail term for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior teachers in 2000.

Among other convicts, 44 have been sentenced to four years in jail and one was sentenced to five-year jail term.

All of them were held guilty of cheating, forgery, using fake documents as genuine, conspiracy and for abusing their official position under the Prevention of Corruption Act. — PTI

Chandigarh, January 24
The Finance Department (FD) has cracked the whip on wasteful expenditure during the January-March quarter of the financial year. Now, the departments will not be able to spend more than 25% on any scheme under the State Plan in the last quarter.

The departments will have to spend 50% outlay on the scheme till December to avail the remaining 50% in the last quarter,” a circular issued by the Additional Chief Secretary(Finance) on January 23 stated.

In case, the department spent less than 50% Plan outlay, it would be allowed to spent only 25% during the last quarter. Similarly, if the department did not spent any amount till December, it would be allowed to spent only 25% outlay in the January-March quarter.

Currently, a majority of the departments draw unspent money under various Plan schemes in February and March. “This money is, in turn, distributed either among boards/corporations or released to field offices for withdrawal from the Treasury and then parked in certain bank accounts for subsequent ‘wasteful’ expenditure,” official sources said.

In fact, the Haryana Government already has guidelines in place under which the departments can incur an expenditure up 25% in the first quarter, 20% in the second quarter, 25% in the third quarter and 30% in the fourth quarter without any reference to the Finance Department. However, these guidelines are hardly adhered to by the respective departments.

Meanwhile, the circular made it clear that in the case of centrally funded schemes, expenditure in the last quarter should be incurred only if the corresponding share of the Central Government had already been released. The total expenditure from the state share during the financial year should not exceed its proportionate share.

Where incurring of expenditure from the state share is a pre-requisite for the release of the central share, it should be ensured that the expenditure in the last quarter is incurred only if the corresponding central share related to the already-incurred expenditure has been released by the Government of India, the circular added.

FD cracks the whip Departments to over 50% amount by December to avail rest of the grant. Only 25% money to be released in the last quarter if the amount spent is less than 50%. Now departments draw unspent money under schemes in February and March. Elaborate guidelines on centrally funded schemes also issued.

Fatehabad, January 24
The Parmanu Virodhi Morcha today organised a protest against Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s upcoming visit to India here.

Holding banners reading ‘Mr Abe, you are welcome to India, nukes are not’, the protesters said they did not want any Fukushima-like nuclear accident in India.

Abe will be India’s chief guest during the Republic Day ceremony in Delhi on January 26.

“Any India-Japan nuclear agreement is absurd in the post-Fukushima world for both the countries. We want that the two Asian countries should have closer relations and work together on renewable and sustainable energy sources,” said Subhash Punia, convener of the morcha.

Kumar Sundaran of the Coalition of Nuclear Disarmament and Peace said the deal would fuel the Indian government’s insane nuclear expansion drive, which it was doing in complete denial of the lessons from Fukushima.

He said Japan would probably not sell any reactors to India directly, but a mutual agreement was necessary for the French and American reactor projects to take off in India because US companies Westinghouse and GE had a majority of Japanese ownership now and crucial components for their reactors were manufactured by Japanese suppliers.

These countries had denied abiding with the Nuclear Liability Act in India and had been pressuring the Japanese government to sign the agreement at the earliest, Sundaram said.

Faridabad, January 24
Despite an overall lull in the real estate sector, illegal construction and encroachment in certain parts of the district appear to be going on in “full swing”. These include the hilly terrain of the Aravallis.

However, the authorities have removed certain encroachments from the Surajkund area in the past.

“Several construction activities have been noticed in the area, including the Surajkund road. As the non-forest area comes under the jurisdiction of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF), it has removed certain encroachments in the past,” said a source in the civic body.

Admitting that illegal construction poses a threat to the green cover of the Aravallis, an official said illegal construction or mining could not be done without the involvement of influential persons.

“Panchayat land of several villages, including Ankhir, Lakadpur, Badkhal, Anangpur and Mewla Maharajpur, located under the jurisdiction of the MCF has been used for construction activities on a large scale,” said the official.

District Forest Officer Bhup Singh Yadav said around a dozen FIRs had been lodged at various police stations in the region regarding anti-forest activities.

A memorandum seeking tough action against the violators was submitted to the District Forest Officer by the Vanya Jivan Bachao Sangharsh Samiti here yesterday.

Sirsa, January 24
Members of the Haryana Civil Medical Services Association (HCMSA) wore black badges throughout the state today to protest the alleged indifferent attitude of the government to their long-pending demands.

Dr Ashish Rana, state HCMSA secretary, alleged that shortage of doctors had reached critical levels while the authorities concerned had done little to address the problem.

HCMSA members had been demanding Group A status at the entry level, allowances at a par with those in Punjab, rationalisation of conditions for assured career progression (ACP) scales, change of designation with each ACP and emoluments in line with those of contractual doctors.

Rohtak: The HCMSA took exception to the government’s move to recruit doctors on contract. It asserted that the difference in salaries of regular and contractual doctors and disparity in responsibilities was a cause of concern.

Dr Kuldeep Singh, state HCMSA president, said a state-level meeting of the association was called for Sunday to chalk out the further course of action.

Dr Sheel Pajni, district HCMSA general secretary, said, “Specialists recruited on a regular basis get between Rs 45,000 and Rs 50,000 a month. Doctors appointed on contract get between Rs 80,000 and Rs 90,000 a month.”

He added, “Contractual doctors are not supposed to do casualty, postmortem and VIP duties like their regular counterparts. They have to be on duty for just six hours a day and are free to run private practice.”

Dr Kuldeep and Dr Pajni pointed out that several regular HCMS doctors had resigned and rejoined on a contractual basis in the recent past.

Karnal: Dr Babu Ram, district HCMSA president, said 2,000 doctors wore black badges in the state. He said doctors were moving to others states and posts of doctor were lying vacant.

Dr Sandeep Abrol, district HCMSA secretary, said the rural job criterion in the ACP formula should be withdrawn and specialists should be given special increment for emergency duty.

Surkhab in red Proceeds less than monthly staff salary bill Room occupancy hardly 50%, on an average Officers, politicians get room for Rs 150 a day Entry not easy for those coming from Hisar side

Sirsa, January 24
Once considered the pride of Sirsa, Surkhab Tourist Complex is now a pale shadow of what it used to be three decades back.

With its banquet hall leased out to a Congress leader for a pittance and rooms offered for a subsidised tariff of Rs 150 per day to administrative, police and judicial officers, ministers, Members of Parliament, legislators and certain other categories of persons, the complex, which has a market value of hundreds of crores, is running into heavy losses.

Situated at a prime location, Surkhab, named after the migratory bird "Brahminy duck", used to attract hundreds of customers during evenings in the '80s and '90s as it was the only place people could visit for evening booze.

However, the resort is now a picture of neglect and though the government is in the process of constructing a new building, Surkhab is running into losses and attracts only a few customers.

“The construction of our new building is in progress and almost 80 per cent of the work has been done,” said Vijender Malik, manager-cum-accountant at Surkhab Tourist Complex, said the new building would have a bar, a restaurant, a lobby, a meeting hall and 12 rooms.

Local residents rue the decay over the years. Surinder Bhatia, a local entrepreneur, said, “Surkhab was inaugurated in 1980 by then Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and Union minister Selja’s father Chaudhary Dalbir Singh, then MP from Sirsa. Its restaurant used to attract hundreds of people, who came for lunch and dinner with families. With the passage of time, better restaurants have mushroomed and the Tourism Department has failed to keep the complex up to date, resulting in loss of footfall.”

The construction of the railway overbridge on the National Highway 10 has, in a way, eclipsed Surkhab as there is no divider on the road to allow people coming from the Hisar side to enter the complex without taking a turn from the next chowk.

Spread on over three acres, Surkhab has three rooms, a restaurant, a bar and a banquet hall. Room occupancy is hardly 50 per cent if one takes the monthly average.

While normal tariff for rooms is Rs 1,182 and Rs 1,600 for two categories of rooms, the privileged class like officers and elected representatives get these rooms for Rs 150 a day.

Sources say monthly total receipts (not profit) are nearly Rs 5 lakh per month in summer, but fall in winter. At times, sale proceeds are less than the monthly salary bill of nearly Rs 3 lakh for 14 persons working at Surkhab.

The banquet hall, with sprawling lawns, which could fetch the government handsome receipts by way of bookings for weddings, has been given on lease to a local Congress leader on a monthly rent of Rs 50,000 for three years.

(To be continued)

Rohtak, January 24
Two security guards at the Kahnaur village branch of State Bank of India in the district not only foiled a robbery bid, but also nabbed one of the robbers.

Three armed youths entered the bank today and asked the staff members to stand up. Bank’s security guards, Naresh of Ritauli village and Rajesh of Kahnaur village, pounced on the miscreants.

The robbers fired at the security guards. Despite being injured, the guards overpowered one of the robbers and snatched his pistol. Other staff members of the bank came to their aid.

The robbers tried to escape but the security guards and bank staff nabbed one of them. He was handed over to the police.

Naresh and Rajesh were taken to the PGIMS. IGP Anil Rao said they would be honoured on the Republic Day. — TNS

Ambala, January 24
As part of the Supreme Court’s initiative to provide legal help to the people at the subdivision level, District and Sessions Judge Harnam Singh Thakur today inaugurated a legal acquaintance centre at Patrehri village in Naraingarh subdivision of the district.

Senior advocate Rajan Gupta, paralegal volunteer and Kherki resident Arjun Singh and Kadasan resident Randhir Singh will give free legal help to the people on every Wednesday and Sunday from 3 to 6pm. They will also acquaint them with welfare schemes run by lok adalats and the government. — TNS

Chandigarh, January 24
Haryana will get a commendation certificate under the Krishi Karman Awards for achieving high productivity in wheat and rice cultivation.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh said here today

The awards will be presented by President Pranab Mukherjee during the inaugural ceremony of the World Congress on Agro-Forestry 2014 in rice New Delhi on February 10. — TNS