Chandigarh, February 2
Decks have been cleared for 3 lakh students belonging to economically weaker sections (EWS) to get admission to private schools across the state in the next academic session.

With the Education Department coming out with a mechanism for effective implementation of Section 134-A of the Haryana School Education Rules, 2003, poor children (whose parents’ income is up to Rs 2 lakh per annum) can hope to get free education in private schools.

“There are about 28 lakh students in private schools and 2.8 lakh students stand to benefit from the new rules. While private schools will reserve 10 per cent seats for poor students, schools on the HUDA land will reserve 20 per cent seats for EWS students, taking the number of beneficiaries beyond 3 lakh,” Satyavir Hooda said here yesterday. The Punjab and Haryana High Court directed the state government to come out with the mechanism for admission of EWS students on his petition.

Under the new mechanism, district and block committees would be constituted to implement the decision. The district-level committee, besides having representatives of the government, private schools and parent-teacher associations, would have two persons of social repute.

The role of private schools was limited to admission as the list of students sent by the district committee after draw of lots would be final. For web-based admission, the help of Haryana Knowledge Corporation Limited would be taken, said an order issued by D Suresh, Secretary, School Education Department.

To have transparency in admission, all vacancies would have to be published on school and Elementary Education Department websites. Separate log-in and password would be issued to private schools by the department. Students would have the option to seek admission on online and offline modes.

Besides District Institute of Education and Training centres, the department would set up 121 facilitation centres for assisting parents. Students would be able to give 25 preferences for desired schools in the respective district without block or area restriction.

Sources said a proper grievances redress mechanism had been put in place as schools failing to comply with provisions of the Rule 134-A of the Haryana Education Rules, 2003, would face de-recognition.

Hisar/Sirsa, February 2
Hisar Divisional Commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia (59) has resigned. He was also Haryana Urban Development Authority Administrator here.

Khyalia said, "I have put in my papers and want to be relieved immediately.” He refused to comment on his future plans.

Sources said he was likely to take the political plunge and could contest the Lok Sabha elections on the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) ticket.

Aam Aadmi Party national executive member Navin Jaihind said the party was in touch with Khyalia and he could join the party very soon.

"Officials like Khyalia are eager to work with the party," he said.

Hailing from Jhanwari village in Bhiwani district, Khyalia joined the Haryana Civil Services in 1984 and was taken into the Indian Administrative Services in 1995.

Khyalia has also served as Commissioner, Ambala Division, Deputy Commissioner, Hisar and Jind besides holding many other key posts in the state.

Khyalia has contributed a lot in social field as well, as he is considered a pioneer in voluntary blood donations and his contribution in sanitation drive as ADC at Sirsa and Fatehabad was immense.

He had his share of controversy too.

Last year, the Supreme Court ordered trial against him for allegedly barging into the house of a married woman in Panchkula at 10pm in 2001 (when he was the Sub-Divisional Magistrate) along with a police team and two cameramen just to check whether the woman was living with another man.

Gurgaon, February 2
Gurgaon continues to be on priority for the Aam Aadmi Party as out of 46 candidates, shortlisted for the LS poll, four are from the city and the number is likely to increase.

A total of 46 applications have been shortlisted from the 10 the LS poll in the state and the final list may be out soon. The details of the candidates were put on the official website of the party on Friday for public scrutiny. However, it was reportedly withdrawn today as rejected candidates created trouble for local party officials. " The process for shortlisting candidates is on and these are not the final names. The party had put these names on the official website but this left hundreds of aspirants hassled who kept on calling party officials, seeking reasons for their presumed rejection," Said Rameah Yadav, district coordinator of the party.

AAP had concluded its membership drive in Gurgaon recently. Over 1.6 lakh offline registrations were received at many party offices. Notably, hundreds people have filed nominations for contesting the LS poll on the AAP ticket.

Meanwhile, the party held its Haryana state executive meet today, which was addressed by Yogender Yadav. While the details of meeting were not made public, sources said it was held to lay down the key agenda of for the elections, launching of a separate fund-raising drive for the parliamentary elections in Haryana and nomination of probables. "We are working on a local manifesto after taking into account concerns of the residents. It will be finalised through a door-to-door campaign," said a party representative.

Jind, February 2
Jind residents will have to wait longer before they have smooth traffic on city roads. Reason: The administrative problems have slowed down the construction of the Jind bypass.

More than one-and-a-half years after the acquisition of land in 13 villages for the project, the government has paid only six villages. Fearing non-payment, farmers have refused to surrender their land without getting payment in advance.

Sources said to construct the proposed bypass from Pindara, Virjav, Baibatpur, Jind, Amarheri and Ahirka villages to the Narwana road, the government has acquired more than 300 acres spread over 13 villages. Though many farmers denied giving their land initially, they agreed when the government offered handsome amounts in return.

Details show that in November 2012, the government paid six villages and had fixed the dates for the payment to other seven villages. The District Revenue Officer (DRO) was appointed nodal officer for the process. But before the scheduled date, the DRO was suspended due to some official reasons and since then, no action has been taken to release the payment to the remaining seven villages.

“Many farmers have threatened to launch an agitation if the authorities do not pay them at the earliest,” said a government official associated with the bypass project.

Farmers have demanded from Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda to take strict action against the officials concerned.

“The government has released the amount. I have joined here some days back and the payments of the remaining seven villages will be released soon,” said Ami Chand Saini, DRO, Jind.

Gurgaon, February 2
The Haryana Government's ambitious plan to utilise Mangar Bani land for eco-tourism has come under the scanner with city environmentalists yet again moving the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) against the land being removed from the category of forest area.

They oppose the change in the provision of 0.5 per cent limit on construction, except with the approval of the Competent Forest and Environment Authority of the state in the Aravalli, the Yamuna riverbed and other ecologically sensitive areas.

They have asked the authorities to review the decision reportedly made on the proposal of the Haryana Government in January.

The environmentalists said the change would give a free hand to builders who have already bought land there to construct a concrete jungle. This would endanger the ecology of the area and affect the ground water recharge.

“This is one of the last forest patches we are left with and Gurgaon has no where to go except the Aravallis for it water needs. The change of the provision would open many floodgates for increasing construction in this eco-sensitive and natural conservative zone. Builders who seemed confident of the amendment had already bought acres of land there and will now have a free hand to do anything they want. The government, in a bid to benefit builders, are playing with our future and lives," said SP Gupta, former IAS officer and an expert on urban development, planning and environment.

Objections have also been raised on the clearance of the land pooling policy by the DDA. Earlier, the minimum requirement was 20 hectares, now it has been reduces to 2 hectares. Under the policy, about 70,000 acres in 200 villages will be urbanised.

The Mangar forest is one of the last patches of the natural Aravalli forests. With its native tree species, the area has been protected by the villagers for centuries as a sacred grove.

It is also a habitat to several wildlife species and acts as a ground water recharge zone in the denuded Aravalli hills.

Faridabad, February 2
Haryana Tourism complexes in Faridabad have been holding their own in the face of competition from private players in the hotel and entertainment industry, thanks largely to their size and scenic locations.

They are far removed from their monopolistic days from the 1970s to 1991. With more attention from the government, those could have attracted more footfall and register greater profit even after 1991.

After the impact of prohibition enforced by the Bansi Lal regime in the end of 1990s, it took a while for those to be reorganised after the policy was scrapped.

After prohibition was scrapped, revival was not easy, especially as private players entered the industry with economic liberalisation.

There are over half a dozen tourist complexes in the district, including Badkhal and Magpie, among the oldest complexes of Haryana Tourism. Officially speaking, all are running in profit on a varying scale.

A quick survey suggests that more than good managerial practices followed at the tourist complexes, their large size and location has contributed to keeping those competitive.

Except for the Magpie Tourist Complex, all others have scenic location. Located along the Delhi-Mathura highway, it has 29 AC rooms, two banquet halls and a restaurant-cum-bar.

On account of location, it has walk-in tourists visiting Agra and Mathura. There are only 'dhabas', but hardly any other eatery of note.

Mewat is yet to get a resort of the Tourism Department despite demands of residents and promises of political leaders. This is despite high traffic on highways, including the 150-km Gurgaon-Alwar highway.

“We have a major state highway, but there is no good stopover. Commuters avoid 'dhabas' and a state tourism resort is required,” says Noordin Noor, Mewat Zila Parishad chairman.

“Certain districts have two or three resorts on the same highway, but we are yet to get one. The government can have a profitable resort at the Kotla, a natural lake. Despite plans, things are yet to move,” he says.

In May last, the state government approved and notified plans to develop the Kotla, Ootu in Kurukshetra and Bibipur in Kaithal as natural water reservoirs.

(To be continued)

Karnal, February 2
Kanwaljeet Singh, who lost his father in the 1984 anti-Sikh riot, is still waiting for justice. Even after 30 years, not even an FIR has been lodged against the accused.

Kanwaljit said he had written several letters to the Prime Minister, but to no avail.

Narrating the incident, Kanwaljeet, who is a resident of Shiv Colony, said at the time of the riots, his father, Dr Puran Singh Bhalla, was working as a doctor at Sakurpur, Delhi.

“The riots of 1984 changed our lives forever. An armed mob set our house and clinic ablaze and attacked my father. No FIR was not registered even after we complained at the Sakurpur police station,” said Kanwaljeet.

He said after the brutal incident, they came to Karnal and his father succumbed to injuries. In a hope of justice, he had been sending letters to the Prime Minister Office. The Chief Secretary and Finance Commissioner of Haryana were directed to look into the complaint by the PMO, but nothing had been done till date, he said.

He said a gleam of hope appeared in 2012, when the then Deputy Commissioner of Karnal Neelam Pardeep Kasani sent a letter to the Deputy Commissioner of North-West Kanjhawala, Delhi, for granting them a compensation for rehabilitation, but like always, they received nothing.

He said he was living in a rented house and his financial condition was not good. He had no money to write yet another application for justice, he said.

Karnal, February 2
With an eye on the general elections, the local unit of the Youth Congress has written to AICC vice-president Rahul Gandhi, seeking completion of the Jalandhar-Panipat highway six-laning project and abolition of toll here.

Fearing that the Opposition will make it an election issue, it has demanded that work on the project should be expedited. Pankaj Gaba, president of the Karnal block of the Youth Congress, said people using National Highway 1 had been facing inconvenience due to delay in completion of the project.

He added that accidents were being reported on the highway every day and many casualties had been reported due to the incomplete work. “Local residents are facing difficulty in accessing and crossing the highway. Children are finding it difficult to reach school due to the incomplete work,” he said.

He said this had become a major issue which was being highlighted by the Opposition. He added that people wanted toll at Nilokheri to be abolished as the booth had been charging toll for 15 years. He requested Rahul Gandhi to look into the matter and provide them a solution as it would affect the party’s performance.

Kurukshetra, February 2
Two candidates were caught cheating during the Haryana Teacher Eligibility Test at different examination centres in the district today.

A boy was caught red-handed with a mobile phone when a flying squad conducted a checking during the exam at SKIET College.

The centre superintendent said the candidate had hidden a mobile phone in his socks and was using it for cheating.

Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Rajesh Kumar said the accused, Manjeet, had sent five questions through an SMS.

The police has registered a case on the complaint of the centre superintendent in this regard. On the other hand, a girl appearing under her sister-in-lawâ’s name at Agersen Public School was arrested.

Centre superintendent Meenu Bathla stated the accused, Kiran from Narvana, had appeared under Rituâ’s name, her sister-in-law.

Kaithal, February 2
A special lok adalat released eight undertrial prisoners here yesterday.

The adalat was organised under the guidance of the District and Sessions Judge-cum-Chairperson District Legal Service Authority, Kaithal, Ritu Tagore, at District Jail.

Amarjit Singh, Chief Judicial Magistrate presided over the lok adalat. DLSA coordinator Arvind Khurania and newly appointed (under training) Judicial Magistrate Bharat, Suman Patlain, Vinit Narwal, were also present.

The adalat disposed of the cases of the under trial prisoners who had opted for "plea bargaining" under Section 265 of the CrPC.

Seven of the prisoners--- Balbir, Jasbir, Satish, Krishan, Sadhu, Rinku, Karamveer confessed their crime in 18 cases related to the Excise Act, theft, gambling etc. DLSA coordinator Arvind Khurania administered the oath to them for not indulging in crime or wrong act in future.

Kurukshetra, February 2
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has selected Dau Majra village in the district for development as a model village through meaningful financial inclusion.

The RBI organised an outreach programme with the Bank of Patiala at the Government Senior Secondary School of Dau Majra in Shahabad on Friday. RBI Executive Director B Mahapatra presided over the initiative.

He said the RBI intended to create awareness about banking services among the rural masses through such village outreach programmes.

He advised residents to avail themselves of the services offered by banks for taking up economic activities and be a part of the banking system by opening bank accounts.

He inaugurated a branch of the Bank of Patiala. About the move of withdrawing currency issued before 2005, he said the RBI was doing so to ensure that all notes in circulation were of similar design.

"The design and security features of notes have been changing regularly. These are old series notes which need to be phased out. Counterfeit currency will be eliminated by this move," he added.

Identifying the notes to be withdrawn was easy as the notes issued before 2005 did not carry the year of printing on the reverse side.

Sonepat, February 2
Additional District and Sessions Judge Manisha Batra sentenced Surender of Rasoi village to life imprisonment and fined him Rs 25,000 for murdering Raj Pal.

Raj Kumar Saini of Sainipura village had lodged a complaint on August 30, 2012, alleging that his brother, Raj Pal, a property dealer, was shot dead by an unidentified motorcycle-borne armed youth near Raju Palace on the Kami Road.

The police said the victim had some old enmity with the accused.

Jind, February 2
Khap leaders are generally against Bollywood as they believe that a majority of movies convey wrong messages and promote love affairs, leading to honour killings.

In a first-of-its-kind initiative, Bibipur village, led by its sarpanch and Nogama khap leader, decided today to go by the social message of “helping three other people” given in the recent release 'Jai Ho'.

The villagers were so excited after watching the movie that they held a meeting this morning and called a 'gram sabha' for February 6 to convince all villagers to go by the idea.

In the last two days, farmers prepared a list of 70 villagers who were active in social welfare. “The 70 persons will address villagers during the 'gram sabha'. Our aim is to convince others,” said Bibipur sarpanch Sunil Jaglan. Villagers decided to name their initiative 'Help 1 to 3'. Some villagers hoped that it would help tackle honour killings, land disputes, female foeticide and crime.

Rewari, February 2
In protest against the FIRs registered under the PNDT Act against ultrasound clinics in Rohtak and Mahendergarh recently, the Association of Ultrasound Centres (AUC) has sent a communication to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda seeking immediate cancellation of the FIRs.

Copies of the communication were also sent to Governor Jagannath Pahadia, Health Minister Rao Narender Singh, the Chief and Health secretaries.

Stating that the police had no role to play in any minor or major violation (s) of the PNDT Act, association president Dr Ishwar Singh Yadav, secretary Dr Shiv Rattan Yadav, joint secretary Dr Rajesh Goyal, and organising secreatry Dr Urmila Yadav alleged that it was a well-planned move and conspiracy of the higher health officials to threaten functionaries of the ultrasound clinics who were otherwise doing their job lawfully.

They said several government hospitals had been indulging in gross violations of the PNDT Act, but private ultrasound centres were being targeted for minor discrepancies in their records pertaining to Form-F, a mandatory document under the PNDT Act for performing ultrasound tests on pregnant women.

They said if such tactics were not stopped and appropriate action against the erring officials was not initiated, the AUC would be forced to intensify its agitation. “The criminal misuse of the PNDT Act is deliberately being done by the health officials in the name of a special drive. It is taking a toll on private doctors who are now hesitating in carrying out ultrasound tests of expectant women. In the given situation, we have no other option left but to oppose the move at the state-level to check this ‘unfair’ practice,” alleged officer bearers of the association.

Jhajjar, February 2
The body of a 14-year-old girl, who had gone missing a week ago, was found in a well in Hasanpur village here today. The police have sent the body to the civil hospital for a postmortem.

The incident came to light this morning when villagers noticed a foul smell emanating from the well. They were shocked to find a human body in the well.

The police with the help of villagers took the body out of the well. Forensic experts lifted some samples from the spot.

The girl, a Class VII student at the government school in the village, had gone missing a week ago.

Sirsa, February 2
The cold wave is being considered as a good sign for wheat crop in Haryana and Punjab and experts are hoping for a bumper crop this year, provided the climatic conditions remain suitable till the harvesting season. However, agricultural experts say if the foggy conditions continue for long, it may affect the crop as sunshine is required when the crop is at the pollination stage.

“The cold conditions are conducive for the growth of the crop but there is a need of sunlight for a few hours in the day. Rain at this stage will damage the crop,” said Dr Indu Sharma, project director, Directorate of Wheat Research, Karnal.

She advised farmers to prevent stagnation of water in fields, if it rained. With the area under wheat cultivation increasing from 29.6 million hectares to 31 million hectares in the country this year and weather conditions remaining favourable, experts are hopeful that India’s wheat output may cross 100 million metric tons this time.

The wheat output had hit a record high of 94.88 million metric tons in 2012 but due to inclement weather last year, the production had fallen to 92.4 million metric tons.

Besides, the threat from yellow rust is another fear factor for farmers.

"Wheat crop in pockets of Punjab and Haryana has been attacked by stripe rust (yellow rust) fungal disease since the beginning of January but its spread was contained by farmers using fungicides. However, farmers will have to take care of their crop till March 10 as this atmosphere is conducive to yellow rust infection," Dr Indu Sharma added.

Gurgaon, February 2
The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) yesterday ordered the second postmortem of the maid who allegedly committed suicide four days ago.

Acting on a complaint of the deceased’s family, the magistrate ordered the police to get the postmortem done at the PGI in Rohtak.

The court of CJM Rajesh Sharma summoned the DLF-II police station SHO, seeking details of the case in which the police were being accused of avoiding the arrest of employers.

The court directed the police to get conducted the medical examination of the employer and his sons to verify the allegations of having raped the maid.

The family and friends of the 17-year-old victim were protesting for the last four days, accusing the police of shielding her employers, who they alleged raped and killed her.

Protesters under the aegis of the Gharelu Kaamgar Sangathan threw stones on the employer’s house and car. They refused to take custody of the body, claiming that the postmortem was fudged to term murder as suicide.

The Justice for Domestic Workers Alliance called for a demonstration at the Haryana Bhavan in Delhi tomorrow from 12 noon to 2 pm.

It would demand immediate removal of the police official who ordered a lathi charge on and arrest of women’s rights activists on the night of January 30.

It would submit a memorandum to the Chief Minister for immediate removal of the police official concerned and arrest of the employer and his two sons.

Palwal, February 2
An Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) has been booked after 60 cartridges were found missing from the malkhana of the Gadpuri police station in the district. No arrest has been made so far.

Sources said the case was registered on the complaint of a munshi (clerk) of the police station. The munshi said 60 cartridges kept in the malkhana went missing on November 30 when he had gone for dinner. He said the malkhana keys were in ASI Raj Pal’s custody when he was out. "A probe has been initiated after registering a case against the ASI," said a police official. — TNS

Kaithal, February 2
The police have arrested Suresh, a resident of Kithana village in district, for allegedly buying and repeatedly raping an Assamese girl.

The victim, who hailed from Udargari village in Drang district of Assam, told the police that she was allegedly sold to Suresh by her aunt for Rs 80,000 in May last year.

She said Suresh took her to his village and repeatedly raped her. She said on January 26, she managed to escape from the custody of Suresh and reached Kurukshetra railway station and contacted the police.

After recording her statement in the presence of the Kurukshetra SDM, the police sent her to Nari Niketan in Karnal.

On getting the victim's statement from their Kurukshetra counterparts, the Kaithal police registered a case under Sections 370, 370-A, 376, 342 and 120-B of the IPC.

Sonepat, February 2
Though the khaps are non-political bodies, if they field a candidate in the coming Lok Sabha elections, the Gathwala (Malik) khap will support him.

This was stated by Dada Baljit Singh Malik, head of the Malik khap, the largest khap of the Jats in the country, while talking to mediapersons here at the PWD rest house today.

He welcomed the statement of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal in which he had said that the khaps fulfilled cultural requirements of society and there was no need to ban them until they committed a crime. The khap panchayats had never supported honour killings. The incidents of honour killings were a matter of individual families, he claimed.

“We are organising a mahapanchayat of the Malik khap at Daboda village in Jhajjar district on February 19 on the occasion of the birth anniversary of late Dada Ghasi Ram Malik,” he said.

Chandigarh, February 2
The Town and Country Planning Department has notified guidelines for erecting security gates in licensed colonies.

A spokesman said residents welfare associations of licensed colonies had been approaching the department for seeking permission to construct gates on roads leading to their colonies. It was decided to permit additional gates on roads leading to licensed colonies.

The permission would be considered by a committee headed by the Deputy Commissioner. The SP or DCP and Senior Town Planner concerned would be members of the committee.

The committee would grant permission only on the boundary or intersection of a sector dividing road or 24-metre wide internal sector road. — TNS