Rohtak, March 6
A girl and her lover, who had killed seven members of the girl's family, have been awarded death sentence by a local court. Another accomplice of the duo has been sentenced to life imprisonment.

Rohtak District and Sessions Judge Sushil Kumar Gupta today awarded death penalty to Sonam (22) and Naveen Kumar of Kabulpur village in the district.

Their accomplice, Jasbir Singh(25) of Chhara village in Jhajjar district, has been awarded life sentence.

The court also imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 on Jasbir. In case of non-payment of the fine, Jasbir would have to undergo imprisonment for six months.

Sonam of Kabulpur village was in love with Naveen of the same village. Apprehending rejection of her relationship by the family, Sonam allegedly served food laced with sedatives to her parents, Surender and Promila, brother Arvind, grandmother Bhuri Devi and three cousins Sonika, Monika and Vishal in September, 2009.

Later, Sonam, with the help of Naveen and Jasbir, allegedly strangled her family members.

In order to evade suspicion and mislead the investigators, the girl was found lying unconscious when the police arrived at the scene of crime.

She pleaded ignorance and indicated that the incident could be an outcome of loot or a property dispute.

However, the police cracked the case within a few days. Jasbir, who had allegedly arranged the sleeping pills for executing the crime had also been convicted though Omvir, the chemist from whom the pills were procured, has been acquitted. 

Chandigarh, March 6
Justice Surya Kant of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today asked Haryana and HUDA to respond to the allegations of arbitrary allotment of industrial plots till May 13. He also called for the record related to the matter. The issue was first raked by two retired Colonels.

They had filed a petition in the High Court alleging arbitrary allotment of industrial plots by the government. Challenging the allotments, Colonel SK Jain and other residents of Panchkula had sought quashing of the allotment.

The petitioners had alleged that industrial plots in Panchkula worth crores had been allotted to benefit those close to the Chief Minister at low rates. A huge difference in the allotment and market prices of the plots was also alleged.

As per the petition, the prominent beneficiaries include Mona Beri, daughter-in- law of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s OSD BR Beri; Nandita Hooda, wife of Narender Hooda, Senior Additional Advocate-General.

Pardeep Kumar, son of Singh Ram, is also a beneficiary. He is posted as a Secretary to the Chief Minister's office. Renu Hooda of Sector 28A, Chandigarh, has been allotted a 1000 square metre industrial plot at Panchkula. She is allegedly a close family relative of the Chief Minister.

Aman Gupta, M/s Mohan Rice Mill, Hinori Road, Ladwa, Kurukshetra, has been allotted a 496 square metres industrial plot. Gupta is the son of Ramesh Gupta, a former Congress MLA from Thanesar. Lt Col OP Dahiya, stated to be relative of the Chief Minister, too has been allotted a 1000 square metre industrial plot at Panchkula.

Ambala, March 6
After the exit of Venod Sharma from the Congress, party workers have started distancing themselves from the leader.

Congress insiders said the party leadership was feeling betrayed by the development as it was inconceivable till a few days ago. They said the party workers had decided not to participate in the Sharma’s March 9 Kurukshetra rally and today, they went to tear posters of Sharma’s Kurukshetra rally.

Nirmal Singh, a former Congress minister, said: “It’s a betrayal, but Sharma’s exit from the party is not going to affect its electoral prospects in the Lok Sabha elections.”

Sources said the private secretary of Shrama today called a meeting of the Congress councillors at the leader’s local residence. Six out of nine councillors attended the meeting and expressed displeasure over Sharma’s leaving the Congress, the sources said.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Anil Vij said party’s senior leader Sushma Sawraj had already made the party’s stand clear on Sharma joining the HJC. He said if Sharma was taken into the party fold by the HJC leadership, then they would think over the next step.

Sirsa, March 6
Will the state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar contest his next election from Sirsa again or will he shift base to Ambala? Sources close to the Sirsa MP reveal that Tanwar and his close associates are weighing options of contesting the parliamentary poll from Ambala, where the party has a vacancy after Kumari Selja’s election to Rajya Sabha.

Though Tanwar himself has maintained that he would abide by party high command’s directions in this regard, sources revealed the MP’s close associates have already conducted a survey in Ambala and found it more suitable than Sirsa for the leader.

Sirsa is the home turf of INLD’s top leadership and though Tanwar won the last election from Sirsa by a thin margin, it has always been a tough seat for the Congress since 1987. When Congress fielded him from Sirsa last time, Tanwar got the benefit of having the reputation of being a close associate of Rahul Gandhi and local party leaders supported him wholeheartedly.

With some prominent ruling party leaders like former minister LD Arora’s son-in-law Rahul Setia and former minister Gopal Kanda’s family opposed to him this time, a contest from Sirsa may not prove a smooth ride for Tanwar.

On the contrary, Ambala has different conditions, where being a newcomer Tanwar will get all the benefits of proximity to Rahul Gandhi, besides having the advantage of being the state chief. Secondly, Ambala has quite a large number of voters from Tanwar’s Ramdasia community.

Ambala, according to political analysts, has a committed vote base of nearly 2.5 lakh votes for the Congress, two lakh for INLD, two lakh for BJP and 1.5 lakh for BSP with swing voters deciding the fate of candidates. Sources believe that if the INLD and the BJP contest these polls together, no Congress candidate has any chances of victory in Ambala this time.

However, under the present conditions, Tanwar stands a fairly good chance in Ambala, despite a wave in Narender Modi’s favour.

Chandigarh, March 6
In a complaint to the Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, the INLD today claimed that the party had found nearly 10,000 “bogus” voters in the Kaithal assembly constitutency.

Stating that the party had carried out a booth-wise survey and detected that nearly 10,000 voters were not residing at the addresses mentioned in the voter's list. The party submitted the “bogus” names along with the I-card numbers and addresses.

The party leadership has urged the CEO to conduct an inquiry and update the list excluding the names of bogus voters. The party secretary, who has filed the complaint, has stated that disciplinary action be initiated against the officers concerned for the inclusion of the names of “bogus” voters.

In a separate complaint to the CEO, the INLD charged the Haryana Government of violating the model code of conduct by releasing Rs 74 crore under the Haryana Rural Development Fund (HRDF). In the complain, the party's general secretary, RS Chaudhry, said the model code came into effect immediately after the general elections were announced. However, the Haryana Government transferred Rs 74 crore through RTGS for various gram panchayats through the Harco bank, Sector 17 branch.

He further said it was done on the directions of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He also claimed that the government was pressurising the bank officials to show that the debit notice for the same was received on March 4.

Chaudhry demanded that all Deputy Commissioners be directed to stall these payments to the gram panchayats.

Sirsa, March 6
The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (HSGPC) today resolved to boycott the Congress in the upcoming parliamentary elections, accusing the party of befooling the Sikhs in the state for the past 10 years in the name of separate gurdwara panel.

The HSGPC has also temporarily postponed its agitation and lifted its dharna outside state Congress president Ashok Tanwar’s residence till the elections are over.

“The 11-member committee of the HSGPC will take a decision on which party to support in a day or two,” said HSGPC president Jagdish Singh Jhinda.

“As the model code of conduct for the poll has already come into play and there can be no decision on their demand for a separate SGPC for Haryana, our members have decided to lift the dharna till the completion of the poll process,” he said.

Chandigarh, March 6
Any biased news report 48 hours before the election is a violation of the model code of conduct and an offence under the Representation of the People Act attracting imprisonment up to two years with a fine, a senior Election commission (EC) official said addressing a media workshop on election regulation here today.

Akshay Rout, Director-General, Election Commission of India, said here today that the Media Certification and Monitoring Committees had been constituted at the district, state and commission levels for certification of advertisements and to monitor media with regard to paid news. These committees would give daily reports on all advertising expenditure of a candidate, including cases of paid news and also investigate cases of doubtful news.

Rout said publicity material released by political parties on social media would also be covered under the Act.The contesting candidates would have to submit the details of their accounts on social media while filing nominations. Expenditure on managing such accounts and publishing the content on these sites would also be added in the total limit of contesting candidates.

Referring to the guidelines of the Supreme Court for prohibiting promises of gifts to people by political parties during elections, he said it was a corrupt practice under Section 123 of the Act. On such promises, political parties would have to explain from where they would mobilise resources to meet such promises.

Hisar, March 6
Youth INLD leader Umed Singh Lohan has alleged that Gaurav Singh, son of Nalwa Congress MLA Sampat Singh, had violated the model code of conduct as he disbursed papers of the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna to beneficiaries in Arya Nagar yesterday.

He said sarpanch Suman Devi had given a complaint to the district returning officer in this regard.

Dismissing the charges, The Congress MLA said the papers were handed over to the beneficiaries before the code of conduct came into force. — TNS

Kurukshetra, March 6
The state has achieved the highest resource mobilisation of 192 per cent during the 11th Five Year Plan as compared to the national average of 95 per cent and 96.5 per cent of other states, said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

He said this while addressing advocates at a felicitation function organised by the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court here recently.

Hooda said, “Haryana is at number one in all spheres of development, be it per capita investment, per capita income, per capita planned budget expenditure or the resource mobilisation.”

Being an advocate, Hooda said, he acknowledged their problems and had done whatever possible for their welfare. Many decisions, including a reservation in HUDA plots, creation of the state advocates welfare fund, financial assistance for Bar libraries, books, furniture and matching grant for the construction of chambers for advocates in Judicial Complexes of the state, had been taken in the past nine years for their welfare.

Hooda announced to give a discretionary grant of Rs 10 lakh to the Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court. Randhir Singh Badhran, chairman, Bar Council of Punjab and Haryana High Court, said the Chief Minister had so far given financial assistance of Rs 8.36 crore to the council in the past nine years.

Kaithal, March 6
Activists of the INLD took out a protest march here today. The protesters demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda over his alleged extramarital relationship.

Pardeep Gill, president, state INLD youth wing, led the protesters. The protesters submitted a memorandum of their demand to the Deputy Commissioner. They said if Hooda failed to resign, he should be dismissed by the Governor.

The protesters alleged that the Chief Minister had brought a bad name to the state by his various acts of omission and commission. 

Rohtak, March 6
A leading multinational medical device company sponsored six faculty members of the Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences (UHS) here to attend training courses in Switzerland and other places.

The matter came to light when a professor at the local Post-Graduate Institute of Dental Sciences (PGIDS) said he had attended the Davos course in Switzerland at the expense of the said company.

On being asked by the PGIDS authorities to furnish the details in this regard, Synthes Medical Private Ltd revealed that it had sponsored not only the said PGIDS professor but also several other senior faculty members at the university.

These include a senior professor of orthopaedics, who is the director of a medical college in Haryana, besides four other consultants at the PGIMS, Rohtak. They were sponsored to attend different courses within the country and abroad between December 2009 and June 2013.

In the letter, a copy of which is in possession of The Tribune, the company has admitted that it had spent Rs 2.93 lakh for sponsoring just one of the said surgeons to attend a course in Switzerland. The company management has, however, clarified that it had only sponsored part/full course registration fee and not paid any additional TA/DA to the doctors.

On receiving confirmation from the company, the authorities concerned decided to stop two annual grade increments of the PGIDS professor and recover the amount (Rs 2.63 lakh) spent by the company from him.

However, the executive council of the university took a lenient view at a recent meeting and reduced the punishment to the stoppage of annual grade increments without cumulative effect, apart from exempting him from the recovery.

Appointment of senior professor under cloud A senior professor at the PGIDS is also in the dock for reportedly concealing vital facts about her foreign visit(s) and submitting dubious experience certificate(s) at the time of her selection. A preliminary fact-finding inquiry conducted into the matter by the Chief Vigilance Officer and the Additional Chief Vigilance Officer at the Department of Medical Education, the Haryana Government has raised questions over the doctor's eligibility for the said post. The inquiry report has even recommended a probe by the Vigilance Bureau.

Yamunanagar, March 6
The tussle between the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) and Yamunanagar-Panchkula Highway Private Limited (YPHPL) of Gammon Infrastructure Private Limited over the responsibility of maintaining National Highway 73 has made travelling on this highway hazardous.

A large number of potholes have developed on this 105-kilometre stretch which covers Yamunanagar, Ambala and Panchkula districts. The concessionaire agreement for development and four-laning of the highway was signed between the YPHPL and the NHAI on July 30, 2012.

Sources said about 35,000 vehicles were being plied on this highway everyday and the bad condition of this road was causing accidents which had claimed a number of lives. They said the NHAI had been urging the YPHPL to repair the road, but the latter had reportedly not shown interest.

The YPHPL could not commence work due to non-availability of construction material and delays in payment of land and structure compensation, forest clearance and clearance of 20-kilometre stretch in eco-sensitive zone and wildlife sanctuary.

Former state Congress general secretary Satpal Kaushik had written a letter to the Union Road and Surface Transport Minister, highlighting the plight of the highway. He said, “There is an urgent need to repair and widen the highway as it connects Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.”

OC Mathur, project director, National Highway 73, said, “There is no tussle between the NHAI and the YPHPL over maintenance. The process of repairing the highway is going on.” The YPHPL had requested the NHAI to quit the project due to delay in clearances.

Karnal, March 6
Despite tall claims by the state government, over 300 families of accident victims in the district are yet to receive compensations under the Rajiv Gandhi Parivar Bima Yojna even after one year. Sources in the District Social Welfare Office said even though the state government had announced the policy, it did not have enough funds for distribution.

“My soon died in 2012 and someone told me about the scheme. I applied for it, but nothing has come my way,” said Kamlesh Rani of Karnal.

Mahinder Singh of Nigdhu village said he had lost his son in an accident and applied for compensation.

He too, like Kamlesh, is yet to receive the benefits of the scheme. As per the 'yojna', only one person of the family could get the benefits under the scheme for death, permanent disability, disability due to accident, riots, terrorism, snakebite etc. A compensation of Rs 1 lakh will be provided in case of death and permanent disability, while Rs 50,000 would be provided in case of loss of two limbs and eyes. A compensation of Rs 25,000 would be given for the loss of one eye or one limb. “Due to non-availability of funds, we could not provide compensation to the families of the accidents victims. As soon as we get the funds, compensation will be allotted to every applicant,” said Baljit Singh Grewal, District Social Welfare Officer.

Bhiwani, March 6
Recognising the success of girls of Alakhpura village of the district in soccer, the Haryana Government has decided to set up a football academy at the village.

Sports Department Deputy Director ML Vairgai told The Tribune that the Chief Minister had approved the plan of the academy. “The Sports Department is finalising other details for the academy which will have 25 girl players. We hope that the academy would start functioning in the next couple of months,” he said.

The district sports officer had submitted a proposal for setting up the academy after girl footballers brought laurels at the national and international level. Three of the girls-Anju, Sanju, Munesh-had represented the country at the World School Football World Cup in France in April last year. They played against the teams of France, Brazil, Romania and Denmark.

These girls have showed their supremacy at the national level in school football by winning the U-19 National Championship. They also secured second and third spots in U-14 and U-17 categories, respectively last year. They were the runners-up of the Subroto Cup 2013 where they lost to the Manipur in a penalty shootout after finishing 1-1 during the playtime. 

Sirsa, March 6
Over 400 students of the local CMK National Postgraduate College for Women today received their degrees at the convocation .

Dr Radhe Sham Sharma, Vice Chancellor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University delivered the convocation address and gave away the degrees on the occasion.

Exhorting girls to work hard in their endeavour to attain higher education, Dr Radhe Sham Sharma said women were outsmarting men in all fields of life.

Sirsa, March 6
Chaudhary Devi Lal University’s move to invite applications for recruitment to the posts of professors, associate professors and assistant professors has further embroiled in a controversy with two elected members of the Executive Council (EC) of the varsity raising questions over the “selective” reservation of some posts for Persons with Disabilities (PWD) and advertisement of posts without approval from the EC just a few hours before the implementation of the model code of conduct.

Dr Abhay Singh Godara, an associate professor in Economics Department, and Dr Rani Devi, an assistant professor in Environment Science and Energy Department, both elected members of the EC, raised concern over giving away financial and other benefits to some teachers in a meeting of the EC that began after the model code of conduct for the parliamentary elections had already come into force yesterday.

Speaking to mediapersons, both Godara and Rani Devi alleged that the meeting began at 11.30am yesterday while the Election Commission had already announced the beginning of the code of conduct.

Denying the allegations, Registrar Dr Manoj Siwach said there was no violation of the model code of conduct.

Dr Siwach said the reservation of posts for the PWDs had been done as per the revised guidelines of the state government issued on February 28, 2013.

Jind, March 6
The health authorities have failed to make an alternative arrangement after the lone surgeon met with an accident and has been on leave for the past two weeks.

“Wealthy people can avail services of private surgeons, but what about poor people who do not have enough money to buy medicines,” said Suresh, a patient at the civil hospital here.

Dr Anil Birla, who met with an accident, was the lone surgeon for 12 lakh residents of Jind.

Sources said despite repeated requests made by the office of the Civil Surgeon, the authorities could not appoint a surgeon.

“We have written to the health director and hopefully, the problem will be solved in coming some days. We are also trying to arrange a surgeon from some adjoining districts,” said Civil Surgeon Dr Deepa Jakhar.

Out of the 122 sanctioned posts of medical officers, 77 are lying vacant. At many primary health centres like Kandela, Uchana and Ujhana, all posts of medical officer are lying vacant.

“We have sought staff for other posts also. We are trying our level best to fill the posts at the earliest,” said the Civil Surgeon.

Kaithal, March 6
Despite tall claims of municipal council officials, there is hardly any improvement in sanitation of the town. Though some main roads have been widened, delay in lifting accumulated garbage and desilting choked drains in many localities is a source of concern.

Heaps of garbage scattered in residential and commercial areas is a common sight. Pigs roam in some areas and scatter the garbage. Bins worth lakhs have been dumped outside the cremation ground near the old hospital building.

About 400 'safai karamcharis' are on the rolls of the civic body. Many of them reportedly perform duty at officials' houses or as per councillors' wishes.

Eight tractor-trolleys are being used to carry the garbage collected to the dumping site. Garbage bins are overflowing for days and are not emptied on time.

Hundreds of tonnes of garbage lifted in the last few years has been dumped on vacant land along the Khanouri bypass near the district jail. It has become a nuisance for people living in the area.

Thakur Lal Sharma, Executive Engineer, municipal council, says it has been decided not to dump garbage on or near the outskirts of the town. He says the garbage collected will be taken to a new site on the Khurana road, where a waste management plant is likely to be set up.

Ambala, March 6
A number of micro water dams constructed on some of the seasonal rivers in Ambala under the Integrated Watershed Management Programme of the Union Government have helped in reviving water table in these segments where water level had gone down up to 300 feet.

The Rs 95.51-crore project, which was implemented in Ambala in January last year, started showing results, as the water table in areas adjoining the Amri river rose by about 30 feet in the last six months after five micro dams came into being on the river.

Local farmers said with the micro dams in place, rainwater started to get accumulated in the seasonal river, which would otherwise remain dry throughout the year.

Satya Parkash, a farmer from Sonta village, said the accumulated water in the micro dams on the Amri river was not only helping raise the underground water level, but was also being used by farmers to irrigate their fields using water pumps, which was saving them a lot of money as they do not have to operate their tubewell.

Deputy Commissioner Saket Kumar said under the project, micro water dams were being developed on seasonal rivers to provide irrigation to a total of area of 79,579 acres in the district. He said a total of Rs 31.77 crore had already been spent under the project during which 26,482 acres had been covered.

The main objectives of the project were to develop wastelands and degraded lands, harvesting rainwater for irrigation, promoting plantations and encouraging village community for further development of potential watershed.

Under the project activities like water conservation, development of stock ponds, water channels, gully plugging, percolation of embankment, field bounding, afforestation, pasture development, land leveling and piped water supply for irrigation would be taken up.

Karnal, march 6
Even after 67 years of Independence, women in Haryana still await empowerment. Over 90 per cent of the women living in Karnal, Jind, Hisar and Kaithal districts have reported that they are against the veil (purdah) system and want to get rid of it.

To spread awareness among women, a state-level programme, ‘Samajik Badlav Mein Mahilaon Ki Bhumika’, would be organised at Kalidas Ransala in Karnal on March 8 and they will start a campaign against the social evil. It would be spread throughout the state in the coming year.

A survey conducted by the Search State Resource Centre and the voluntaries of Haryana Gyan Vigyan Samiti (HGVS) indicates that women in these districts have admitted that they had adopted the system due to social and family pressure.

Prof VB Abrol, an adviser at the Search State Resource Centre, said the survey had been jointly conducted in 70 villages of these districts.

While talking to mediapersons, he said the volunteers interacted with as many as 700 men and 800 women. The primarily report shows that over 85 per cent of the men were in favour of the ‘purdah' system. Many others said they had been compelled to adopt the orthodox system due to societal and family pressure.

He said a majority of women reported that they wanted to get rid of it, but narrow mindedness was a big hurdle in the way.

He said the male domination prevailing in the state was responsible for the continuation of the old ritual.

Kosli (Rewari), March 6
A large number of residents of Kosli village disrupted traffic by placing the body of the man who was killed in a fatal assault on villagers yesterday on a road near the bus stand today. The protesters were adamant on not cremating the body till their demands were met.

They were demanding Rs 50 lakh as compensation, a government job to the next kin of the deceased, and naming the newly constructed railway overbridge (RoB) after the deceased. The situation remained tense in the town even as police personnel were deputed there to prevent any untoward incident.

The district authorities tried negotiating with the protesters but failed to persuade them.

The protesters have now threatened to stop the water supply to Bhakli village if the authorities do not take any firm decision about their demands.

Earlier, the body of Mahavir, who was killed in the assault, was brought here from Rewari. Villagers then held a meeting and decided not to cremate the body until their demands were fulfiled. The police have booked 17 persons in in the case.

Karnal, March 6
To promote small, micro and medium industries in the state, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) Development Institute is going to organise a two-day national-level Vendor Development programme-cum-Industrial exhibition from March 8 at HUDA Ground, Sector 12 here.

Interacting with mediapersons, MSME Director Vijay Kumar said industrialists from all over India would participate in the exhibition with their technology.

Ambala, March 6
The Additional Sessions Judge, Ambala, RC Dimri, sentenced six persons to life imprisonment in a double murder case here today.

The accused include Nishan Singh, his brother Rantej Singh, Gulshan Sonu, Banti Kaushal, Vikas Manchanda and Ankush.

Ritu was shot dead in the Subhash colony at Ambala Cantt on September 1, 2009, when she was coming out of the house of her mother. Later on the complaint of Parkash Kaur, Ritu’s mother, a murder case was registered against nine persons. Ritu, Rakesh’s sister, had been perusing the cases of her brother in court and the rival gang wanted to eliminate her.

Six months after Ritu’s murder, Rakesh was also shot dead on the court premises.