Rohtak, March 13
Nearly a dozen persons were injured in a clash between members of the Arya Samaj Pratinidhi Sabha (ASPS) and the police here today. Representatives of the sabha were on a protest march and wanted to submit a memorandum to the local authorities for lifting prohibitory orders from the local Dayanand Matth.

The police stopped the protesters near the Civil Hospital. Tension mounted as the protesters demanded to meet a senior officer.

Additional Deputy Commissioner RC Bidhan reached the spot and assured them that their demand would be forwarded to the state authorities. The samaj members then handed over the memorandum to him.

However, just when the protesters were about to return, somebody threw sticks at the police, which triggered a clash. The policemen swung into action and started caning the protesters.

The police also used teargas shells and water cannons and chased the protesters to the Dayanand Matth. Sabha members alleged that the policemen even broke glasses of their vehicles parked on the Matth premises.

The injured samaj members were rushed to the Civil Hospital and the PGIMS. ASPS vice-president Brahmanand, who was also injured in the incident, said nearly 6 acres of the Matth had been illegally occupied by a person close to the Chief Minister.

He said the local administration had taken over the control of the land under Section 145, CrPC, and they were urging the authorities concerned to lift the section and release the land.

Chandigarh, March 13
Ved Pal Gupta, District Judge, Family Court, Hisar, is facing departmental proceedings for allegedly indulging in the sale-purchase of immovable properties.

Available information suggests that a chargesheet dated April 30, 2012 has been served on him in this connection.

It has been alleged in the chargesheet that he acquired a "number of residential and commercial properties" not for his personal requirement but for "indulging in the business of sale/purchase of immovable properties".

Refuting the allegations, Gupta has claimed that "whenever any immovable property was either acquired, inherited or sold by him or his spouse, it was always done with the prior knowledge and with the sanction of the High Court".

Gupta has even moved the HC for quashing the chargesheet against him. He was appointed to the Haryana Judicial Service in September,1987, before promotion as a member of the Haryana Superior Judicial Service in June 2001.

As his case came up for hearing, the Division Bench of Justice SS Saron and Justice Navita Singh was told that the inquiry proceedings were midway.

Taking up the matter, the Bench asserted that the cross-examination of one witness was yet to be conducted and another witness was to be examined. "Besides, documents may have to be tendered in evidence. Therefore, keeping this position in view, the midway interference with the inquiry would not only be unjustified but even otherwise not warranted".

Disposing of the petition, the Bench added: "A sitting Judge of the High Court on the administrative side is seized of the inquiry and proceedings are going on. Evidence is being recorded. The petitioner would have every right to submit his point of view in accordance with law before the inquiry officer."

Chandigarh, March 13
The state government has upgraded four municipal committees to the municipal councils.

Sources said a notification to upgrade the municipal committees of Mandi Dabwali (Sirsa), Charkhi Dadri (Bhiwani), Gohana (Sonepat) and Hodal (Palwal) had been issued by the Department of Urban Local Bodies.

With inclusion of the four more civic bodies, the number of councils had gone up to 18. However, the number of the committees has been reduced to 50. There are nine municipal corporations in the state.

The municipal committee is constituted in a town having a population between 15,000 and 50,000 besides meeting other parameters, whereas the municipal council constituted in a town having a population between 50,000 and 3 lakh. The towns having a population of more than three lakhs are classified as the municipal corporations.

Besides population norms, municipality concerned should have sufficient funds to meet their own establishment charges, including salary, provident fund share, pension, gratuity and local mandatory obligations likes audit fee, directorate supervision charges and repayment of loan. Moreover, the expenditure on these heads should not be more than 80 per cent of the total income of the municipality.

Moreover, the population density should be a tleast 400 persons per square km. At least 60 per cent of the people should be engaged in non-agricultural activities.

The gram panchayat concerned should pass a resolution for the constitution of the municipal committee followed by a recommendation of the Deputy Commissioner concerned, the order said.

The state government has reiterated these norms on the directions of the Punjab and Haryana High Court last year.

Chandigarh, March 12
With Gammon Infrastructure Projects Limited pulling out of the four-laning project of the Yamunanagar-Panchkula highway (NH-73), the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) has decided to invite fresh bids for the project.

In a communication to the Haryana Government, the NHAI urged the government to take “ expeditous wildlife and forest clearances and disbursement of compensation to enable the authority to invite bids for the project”.

Earlier, the concessionaire had issued notice to the NHAI for the closure of the project citing reasons of uncertainty for obtaining approvals from the Departments of Forest for protected forest and wildlife sanctuary, non-availablity of land and escalation of the cost of construction material for the unviability of the project.

Meanwhile, Vijay Bansal, president of the Shivalik vika Manch, who has been taking up issue with the NHAI and the Haryana Government for a long time, urged the state government to get all clearances before the bids were invited again by the NHAI.

The project had been hanging fire for the past over two months as the mandatory clearances from the Forest Department were yet to be obtained forcing Gammon India to withdraw from the project.

Sirsa, March 13
Over 1,900 voters of Sultanpuria village of Sirsa will not vote in the parliamentary elections.

They say the authorities were indifferent towards their long-standing demand of a minor water channel to supply flood waters of the Ghaggar to their fields. The elections are on April 10. They have started indefinite sit-in.

The villagers even prevented the authorities from setting up polling booths in the village, though block development and panchayat officer Jitender Ahlawat said the polling booths had already been established and booth numbers had been marked on them.

The flood water of the Ghaggar is collected by the Irrigation Department in a big pond set up near Ottu village of Sirsa.

Two big canals, Northern Ghaggar Canal and the Southern Ghaggar Canal emanate from the Ottu head.

The Irrigation Department had set up Sheranwali Parallel Channel, Kasaba Minor, Mangala Direct Minor, Bani Sadeva Mamankhera Link Channel, Ghaggar Sukhchain Link Channel, Ghaggar Barwali Link Channel and two offshoots of the Mangala Minor and the Kasaba Minor to supply water to agriculture fields in the area.

Water from these channels is available to the farmers free of cost and they do not have to wait for their turn as is the case with water coming from Bhakra canal system.

“We have been raising this demand for the past almost 12 years now. But neither the Congress nor the INLD has paid any heed to this issue,” alleged Kalu Ram Khichar, sarpanch of Sultanpuria village.

He alleged that while several other neighbouring villages were getting flood water from the Southern Ghaggar Canal, their demand to set up a minor from this canal between Jhorarnali and Dhottar up to their village had fallen on deaf ears of the respective governments.

Deputy Commissioner Anshaj Singh said he had summoned the records from the Irrigation Department and found that the case had last gone to the government four or five years back, but there was no action taken on the issue.

Chandigarh, March 13
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said here today that the state had got 60 companies of the central para-military forces, besides six companies, for conducting free and fair Lok Sabha elections on April 10.

Walgad said security companies were being deployed at sensitive and hypersensitive polling stations in consultation with the Deputy Commissioners and nodal police officers concerned.

He said notification for the elections would be issued on March 15. Nominations could be filed from March 15 to 22.

He said a "sankalp patar" would be sent to guardians through school students for the first time, asking them to participate in the election process. In addition, photo voter slip was also being sent to every voter.

Rewari, March 13
To provide medical facilities to electors on the polling day, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed all District Election Officers (DEOs) to make proper arrangement for first-aid at every polling station.

The commission has also asked the DEOs to make available a small first-aid kit containing basic medicines with user instructions to each polling party besides ensuring the services of paramedical staff along with mobile patrol unit for instant medical assistance.

The office of the commission’s secretary had recently written to the Chief Electoral Officers of all states and union territories.

“A small first-aid kit containing basic medicines should be made available at every booth on the polling day,” said the communiqué.

Lack of proper guidance, long waiting hours and chaos at the polling station often dissuaded people from voting, whereas hassle free voting encouraged voters for greater participation, it added.

“The DEOs should make sure the services of paramedical staff and one such staff member should accompany every mobile patrol unit and sector officer in their vehicles along with essential medicines. Such units will touch every polling station once in every hour so that immediate medical aid could be provided to voters,” said the communiqué.

New Delhi, MARCH 13
The HJC has finally been able to make its ally, the BJP, to give in to its demand for the Karnal Lok Sabha seat. The HJC is likely to announce its candidates for the Hisar and Karnal Lok Sabha seats tomorrow.

HJC general secretary Hemant Batra said here that the two parties formally clinched the Karnal issue yesterday. Senior BJP leadersfrom Haryana were in the capital yesterday.

In the seat-sharing formula between the two parties, the HJC was to get two seats, including Hisar represented by HJC chief Kuldeep Bishnoi.

A few days ago, Karnal and Hisar units passed resolutions urging Bishnoi to contest the respective seats. Batra said Bishnoi would take the final call on his seat. The issue would be deliberated upon in the parliamentary board meeting tomorrow.

Sources say if Bishnoi chooses to shift to Karnal, his wife, Renuka (sitting MLA from Adampur), is likely to be fielded from Hisar.

In case Bishnoi chooses Hisar, the party could field Ambala MLA Venod Sharma, who quit the Congress recently. However, a strong section within the BJP is opposed to Sharma. A party leader said Bishnoi was in touch with senior BJP leaders to persuade them in this regard.

Chander Mohan, a former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana and brother of Bishnoi, former minister Jai Singh Rana and Abhinash Paliwal are also in the race for the seat if the HJC move on Venod Sharma fails.

Rewari, March 13
Charging the Congress with pushing the nation on the path of devastation, MP and BJP ticket contender from Gurgaon Rao Inderjit Singh said today that the Congress had been turned into a private limited company.

He was addressing a meeting of the Insaaf Manch here. "I worked hard for strengthening the Congress for over 36 years, but it drove the nation and the state towards destruction," he said.

"The party implemented anti-people policies and gave a free hand to opportunists to fulfil their vested interests," he said. He added that he would work to teach these people a lesson.

He claimed the nation was going through a crisis due to worthless policies of the UPA and only the BJP could save the nation.

Exhorting party workers to mobilise the people in favour of the BJP, he said the time had come to give a reply to those who had discriminated against south Haryana.

Rewari, March 13
The selection of a suitable candidate from Gurgaon seems a challenge for the Congress. Several local leaders are lobbying for the ticket.

Transport Minister Aftab Ahmad, Chief Parliamentary Secretary Rao Daan Singh, Badshahpur MLA Rao Dharampal and Power Minister Capt Ajay Yadav's son Chiranjeev Rao are staking their claim to the ticket.

Capt Yadav is advocating his son's candidature. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is interested in Aftab Ahmad and Daan Singh.

Aftab Ahmed, MLA from Nuh in Mewat, is the lone representative of Meo Muslim in the Cabinet. Daan Singh had won the last three Assembly elections.

The Congress had attempted to field Sharmila Tagore to woo voters of the Pataudi region. The constituency, comprising nine Assembly seats in Gurgaon, Rewari and Mewat districts, is dominated by Ahirs and Muslims.

Sirsa, March 13
As many as 16 static surveillance teams (SSTs) constituted by the authorities will check movement of illegal cash, liquor and arms during elections in the Sirsa parliamentary constituency.

Senior Superintendent of Police Saurabh Singh said the SSTs had been constituted under each police station of the district, comprising a duty magistrate, three to four police personnel and one videographer.

The SSTs would put check posts on major and arterial roads to check movement of illegal cash, liquor, arms and gift items meant for bribing voters.

Flying squads had been constituted at the district level to supervise the posting of SSTs, Saurabh Singh added.

Chandigarh, March 13
The INLD has demanded the transfer of Ram Singh, Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO), Dabwali (Sirsa), for alleged violation of the model code of conduct.

In a representation to the Chief Electoral Officer, INLD office secretary NS Malhan alleged that free and fair elections would not be possible if Ram Singh remained posted at his present place of posting since he was a close relative of Congress leader Hari Singh.

Sirsa, March 13
Chaudhry Devi Lal University has been forced to withdraw its advertisement for teachers, courtesy the model code of conduct. It will face an inquiry by the Election Commission as the local authorities have received a complaint in this regard.

Vinod Kumar of Sisai village in Hisar had lodged a complaint that the University published an advertisement in a Hindi daily on March 6, inviting applications for posts of teacher even as the election code of conduct had come into force.

Demanding withdrawal of the advertisement, Vinod Kumar sought action against the university authorities for violating the code of conduct.

The complaint has been forwarded to the Additional Deputy Commissioner- cum- Assistant Returning Officer for the Sirsa parliamentary constituency.

Earlier, The Tribune had published a story "Varsity beats poll code deadline" in on March 6 about Devi Lal University beating the deadline for the code of conduct by advertising nine posts of professor and 19 each of associate professor and assistant professor hours before the announcement of poll.

Manoj Siwach, Registrar, said though the university was not at fault as the advertisement had been issued well in time, a decision had been taken to withdraw it.

Ambala, March 13
District Consumer Forum president AK Sardana has directed Aneja Hospital to pay a compensation of Rs 4.42 lakh to Dheeraj Kaushik of Rajpura whose gallbladder was removed following a complaint of stones in it.

The forum said the amount would be paid by the United India Insurance Company since the nursing home was insured with it and the amount should be paid within 30 days failing which it would attract interest at the rate of 10 per cent per annum for the period of the default.

In his complaint to the forum in 2009, the victim had stated that after a severe pain in stomach, he went to Aneja Hospital in March 2005. After some tests, he was informed that stones had filled his gallbladder and needed to be removed.

He said after some days, he was operated upon and told that his gallbladder had been removed. The doctor had assured him that he would get relief from the pain after the operation. He said after sometimes, he again suffered serious stomach pain. He went to Forties Hospital in Mohali where after the examination he was told that his gallbladder had to be removed.

He said he informed the doctor of Forties Hospital that his gallbladder had already been removed at Ambala but the doctor confirmed the opposite. He again underwent a surgery for removing the gallbladder.

Yamunanagar, March 13
People living near Vishwakarma Chowk blocked National Highway-73 for about one-and-a-half hour today to press the local administration to trace a three-year-old boy who had gone missing on Tuesday.

Sunni said his son Suhel went missing on Tuesday while playing outside his house in the slum area near the Vishwakarma Chowk. A nullah flows by the slums and the boy might have fallen in it while playing there. But they went to police, the Municipal Corporation and the Municipal Councilor of the area for help but in vain, Sunni added.

"We ran from pillar to post and requested the police and the officials of the Municipal Corporation to get the water of the nullah stopped so that Suhel could be traced. However, when they paid no heed to our requests, we were forced to block the road," he said.

DSP Ashok Sabbharwal and Farakpur SHO Dayal Chand reached the spot and assured the agitators that the missing boy would be traced soon. The blockade was lifted after the assurance. 

Fatehabad, March 13
The inter-state border issue prevented an executive magistrate from rescuing bonded labourers from a brick kiln situated at Rattangarh village in Fatehabad.

Executive magistrate Karan Singh, a naib tehsildar posted at Ratia in Fatehabad, said he could not take any action because though the brick kiln was situated in Fatehabad, situated on Haryana’s border with Punjab, the neighbouring land on which the labourers were working fell under the Punjab territory.

In a complaint sent to the Labour Commissioner, Haryana, Lal Jhanda Mazdoor Union president Madan Singh and secretary Rattan Lal had expressed dissatisfaction at the “lackadaisical” attitude of the authorities in rescuing the bonded labourers who were being forcibly detained by the kiln owners in the district.

“Due to inter-state issues, I could not take any action in the area, which was beyond my territorial jurisdiction, without seeking help from the Punjab Police,” Karan Singh said.

He had raided the brick kiln on the directions of Deputy Commissioner DK Bahera. Karan added that he had videographed the entire exercise and prepared his report to be submitted to the higher authorities.

Some workers had approached the authorities with a complaint that their co-workers were kept as bonded labourers in a brick kiln at Rattangarh village.

Sirsa, March 13
No solution could be found to the impasse between brick-kiln owners and their labourers on the issue of labour rates as negotiations initiated at the instance of the district authorities failed with both sides sticking to their stand.

Labourers have been demanding Rs 750 per 1,000 as labour rates for molding of kutcha bricks, while the brick-kiln owners, led by their president Bhim Jhunthra, were ready to pay Rs 530 per 1,000.

Sirsa SDM Manjit Singh presided over the negotiation meeting and several officials of the Labour Department and the Food and Supplies Department were also present.

After the five-hour-long meeting, Jhunthra said against the government rate of Rs 316.07 per 1,000 the brick kiln owners had already been paying Rs 511 till June 2013.

The labour rates were increased to Rs 518.37 when the government hiked the rates by Rs 7.37 from July 2013.

Now, the government had increased the rates by 11.72 per 1,000 so they were ready to pay Rs 530, but the leaders of the Lal Jhanda Mazdoor Union were trying to blackmail them and were demanding Rs 750 as the new rate.

Jhunthra said he had requested the authorities to provide security to brick kilns or else all owners would be left with no other alternative than to close their business.

The Union, however, alleged that their members were being exploited in connivance with the authorities and they had been forced to start a dharna outside mini-secretariat.