Hisar, June 27
High drama was witnessed at the meeting of Congress workers held here on Friday when a group of protesters led by a Kumari Selja supporter raised slogans against the Hooda government and in favour of the Rajya Sabha MP.

Taking a tough stand, state party president Ashok Tanwar immediately announced the expulsion of the protesters’ leader, Yogesh Sihag, who was leading around 10-15 supporters. The meeting at Anaj Mandi here was attended by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

Carrying placards accusing the Hooda government of ignoring the development of Hisar, the group reached the venue and raised slogans in favour of Selja and against the government. As the group moved towards the stage, party workers tried to stop them. The police used mild force to drive away the protesters and detained eight party workers, though no case was registered against them.

Addressing the meeting, Tanwar said indiscipline will not be tolerated in the party. He asked the gathering what action should be taken against such persons. When the workers replied “show them the door”, Tanwar announced Sihag’s expulsion from the party.

“Discipline is necessary in the party. This is not a private limited company like some other political outfits. Workers might have grievances, but the Congress has several fora where these can be taken up. Disruption and anti-party activities will not be tolerated. Any worker or leader, big or small, will have to face the music if he or she works with the intention of weakening the party,” he said while addressing the workers.

Talking to The Tribune, Uklana (reserved) MLA and Selja protégé Naresh Selwal termed the detention of party workers and use of force by the police as unfortunate. “I condemn the incident. Apart from Sihag, one of my relatives was also rounded-up by the police. They were only raising slogans in favour of party leader Selja. The party leadership should ask them about their grievance, if any, and try to sort it out instead of cracking the whip,” he said. He denied the group was raising anti-Hooda slogans.

Hisar, June 27
Taking a dig at the Gujarat model of development, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda dared the BJP MPs from Haryana to make it a poll plank in the Assembly elections.

Claiming that Haryana has been way ahead of Gujarat in a number of indices of development and growth, Hooda told the party workers here today that he listened Narendra Modi boasting of a per capita income of ~75,000 during an election speech in General Election in UP, while Haryana has a per capita income of ~1.35 lakh.

Comparing various government scheme for the benefit of elders, schoolchildren and the prices of oil, Hooda maintained that while the Haryana Government gives ~1,000 as old-age pension, Gujarat gives ~400.

“Similarly, Haryana has Rs 10 paisa per unit electricity charge for agriculture while Gujarat farmers shell out 2.70 per unit. Haryana gives scholarship to all the SC and BC students in schools while Gujarat only five percent of such students as beneficiaries. It's a long list. I dare the BJP MPs from Haryana promise the people to replicate this Gujarat modal", Hooda maintained. The Chief Minister said people voted for the BJP not on the basis of its policies but on the promises being made by Narendra Modi. — TNS

Sonepat, June 27
The state government has sanctioned Rs 30 lakh for the renovation and maintenance of the historical Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial, Badhkhalsa, located on GT road near Beeswan Meel in the district.

This was stated by Rai MLA Jai Tirath Dahiya during a joint meeting of the Guru Teg Bahadur Memorial Society and the Sonepat Beautification Society, held here last evening. Samir Pal Srow, Deputy Commissioner, presided over the meeting.

Besides sanctioning five new posts of employees for the memorial, Dahiya said the first installment of Rs 15 lakh would be released soon by the government.

During the meeting, the DC said the district administration had also decided to construct toilets, an ATM booth and a Vita milk booth facility on the premises of the memorial as well as at the historical Khizar Makbara in Sonepat.

The Badhkhalsa Memorial had been neglected after its construction in 2003. Social and religious bodies, including the residents of Badhkhalsa, had been making repeated demands to develop the memorial as a tourist spot.

First installment soon The first installment of Rs 15 lakh will be released soon The government has sanctioned five posts of employees for the memorial to come up at Badkhalsa village in Sonpat district

Karnal, June 27
As a setback to the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), one of its members, Bhupinder Singh Assandh, today supported the demand for a separate gurdwara committee for Haryana.

Bhupinder hit out at SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar for playing with the emotions of the Sikh community in Haryana. “Makkar is playing into the hands of the Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and his deputy Sukhbir Badal who are harming the interests of the state Sikhs,” he told the media here today. He is a member from Karnal.

“The feelings of state Sikhs have driven me to support the demand for a separate gurdwara committee and I will campaign for it. I will participate in the maha sammelan to be held in Kaithal on July 6,” Bhupinder said.

The SAD senior vice-president accused the party of taking away collections from gurdwaras in Haryana and not providing any representation to the Sikhs from the state.

Pointing to another alleged discrimination against the state Sikhs, he alleged that after laying the foundation stones of a school at Dhamtan Sahib and a sub-office of the SGPC in Kurukshetra, the projects were hanging fire. “The construction of an engineering college in Jind has been going on at a snail’s pace.”

Claiming that several members of the SGPC are with him, Bhupinder said, “They had contested the SGPC elections on the assurance that state Sikhs would get their due. But the SGPC and the SAD have always ignored us.”

Bhupinder said he would back all those fighting for the cause. Nalvi and Jhinda, meanwhile, have praised Bhupinder for his decision to support them.

Makkar said, “Bhupinder Singh is like a brother to me. There are no differences between us. The Congress is interfering in the religious affairs of the Sikhs and is not issuing a no-objection certificate to the SGPC for setting up a medical college in Shahbad.”

Chandigarh, June 27
The BJP today demanded a “court-monitored probe” into the irregularities in the land acquisition and change of land use cases during the last 10 years of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda-led Congress government.

“We expect the Punjab and Haryana High Court to take cognisance of large-scale irregularities in the land acquisitions in the state over the past 10 years and order a probe under its supervision,” BJP national spokesperson Abhimanyu told reporters here today.

If the Hooda government feels that all land acquisitions had been above board, it should release a White Paper on all land acquisitions, grant of change of land use and the High Court’s adverse remarks on the land acquisition in the state, Abhimanyu asserted.

Demanding the resignation of Chief Minister on “moral grounds” as there was a “virtual revolt” in the Congress after its defeat in the Lok Sabha elections, Abhimanyu claimed that the Independent legislators supporting the Hooda government would pull out support soon, paving the way for the fall of the government.

Abhimanyu, who is one of the front runners for the top job, mea nwhile, parried the questions on BJP’s chief ministerial candidate, saying the party high command would decide this at “the right time and right platform”.

Picking holes in the “Haryana No 1” claims of the Hooda government, the BJP leader alleged there was large-scale economic disparity in the state as per capita income was Rs 5.5 lakh in Gurgaon, while in Mahendragarh it was just around Rs 55,000.

Similarly, in literacy rate Haryana was placed at 10th spot while in the gross enrollment ratio the state was placed from 20th to 22nd in different parameters.

All not well with BJP-HJC alliance
Conceding that all was not well with the BJP-HJC alliance, Abhimanyu, said efforts would be made to continue the alliance as the people of Haryana wanted a non-Congress alternative. Hinting that the party would go "alone" in the Assembly polls, the leader said though the BJP was competent to form the next government on its own, it was committed to work with allies to form a more stable government in Haryana.

Chandigarh June 27
The Fourth State Finance Commission, Haryana, has recommended a financial devolution of Rs 3,573.12 crore for the local bodies for five years — from 2011-12 to 2015-16.

The amount includes Rs 2,322.52 crore for the panchayati raj institutions and Rs 1,250.60 crore for the urban local bodies. This devolution is over and above the funds already transferred to these bodies through the state Budget and other transfers.

This was stated by finance commission chairperson LSM Salins while presenting the final report for 2011-12 to 2015-16 to Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia at the Raj Bhawan here today.

Salins apprised Pahadia that resource base of local bodies was inadequate as compared with the vast responsibilities cast on them. Therefore, these bodies need more funds to discharge their constitutional duties of providing minimum acceptable levels of civic amenities.

The Fourth State Finance Commission was constituted to recommend sharing of state revenues with the rural and urban local bodies and to suggest measures of augmenting their internal resources.

“While framing scheme of fiscal transfers, the commission scrutinised the overall fiscal capacities and status of core civic services of local bodies and financial position of the state,” the chairperson said.

He hoped the financial devolution would be sufficient to meet the expenditure of the local bodies on the Operation and Maintenance (O&M) cost of basic public services. At the same time, he cautioned that the local bodies would need to utilise their enabling taxation powers and raising internal resources through their own efforts to work as viable and effective units of local governance.

Salins reiterated that the approach of the commission has been guided by the constitutional objectives of empowerment of local bodies through the process of democratic decentralization, and the principles of equity and efficiency aiming at providing citizens of each unit of government a comparable standard of services.

However, the distribution criteria of the commission takes into account issues such as socio-economic backwardness, fiscal capacities and financial needs of local bodies, he added.

Pahadia said the basic objectives of constitutional amendments of strengthening functional and financial autonomy of local bodies had not been achieved in several states.

Jind, June 27
Buoyed by the good showing in the district’s three of the five Assembly segments in the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP is contemplating to contest all five seats in the coming state elections.

The BJP-HJC candidate from Sonepat, Ramesh Kaushik, got a lead of 34,000 votes from Jind, 20,000 votes from Safidon and 10,000 votes from Julana. He, however, ceded ground to the INLD in the other two segments — Uchana (Hisar parliamentary constituency) and Narwana (Sirsa constituency).

These five seats are represented by the INLD legislators in the Assembly.

“The lead from Jind, Safidon and Julana is pointer to the mood of voters,” said BJP Jind district president OP Pehal, who has prepared a confidential report on the BJP’s chances from the district if the party decides to go it alone in the elections.

He said for every seat in the district, there were 20 to 25 aspirants.

Pehal, who has visited all 879 booths in the district after the Lok Sabha elections, said that during his interaction with people, he got a strong pro-BJP feedback, suggesting that the BJP must fight all seats in Jind.

On the report, prepared on the directions of the senior BJP leadership, he said its conclusion was the BJP had high chances of winning in the district if the party decided to fight all five seats. Asked about the alliance with the HJC, he said: “I do not have the authority to comment on the alliance.”

All geared up BJP report says it has high chances of winning from the all five segments in Jind district if it goes it alone in Assembly elections BJP got a lead from three Assembly seats — Jind, Safidon and Julana — in the Lok Sabha elections; these seats are represented by the INLD in the House BJP leaders have started preparations for elections as they believe the party will go it alone in Assembly elections

Faridabad, June 27
Union Minister of State for Roads, Transport and Shipping Krishan Pal Gurjar today urged the Centre to release a “special grant of Rs 1000 crore” for the development of Faridabad, his Lok Sabha constituency.

The Minister also demanded that the city be connected with Gurgaon, Noida and Palwal through a Metro Rail Link.

Gurjar, who met Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu this morning, submitted a memorandum to him in this regard.

“This is perhaps for the first time in the history of this constituency that a Member of Parliament, who is also a Minister in the Union Cabinet, has raised the demand of special grant for the development of the district,” claimed Ajay Gaur, the district BJP chief. He said Gurjar, who had won by a record margin over his Congress rival in the recent Lok Sabha polls, had promised a “speedy development” of the city, which had been ignored so far.

Gaur said Faridabad had been “exploited” by various state governments so far and made to suffer despite contributing handsomely to the state exchequer.

According to the memorandum, the condition of civic amenities including roads, sewerage and drinking water supply in the city and the district was poor and required comprehensive measures.

For this a special grant was required for the city, which was an important and integral part of the National Capital Region (NCR), the memorandum stated.

Claiming that transportation facilities between Faridabad and other parts of the NCR were inadequate, Gurjar has asked for the state-of-the-art network, which include a direct Metro Rail Link to Gurgaon and Noida from here in near future.

He has also sought linking of Palwal, 30 km from here, with the Metro Rail in view of several thousand of residents commuting daily from the satellite town to Delhi and other parts of the NCR daily.

Providing a direct link to Noida will also help in connecting Ghaziabad. A large number of migrant workers employed at Faridabad belong to Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Gurjar has also taken up the issue of cleaning up of the Yamuna, Agra and Gurgaon canals passing from Faridabad, which he claimed were polluted.

The move, however, was described as a “political stunt” by a local Congress leader, who claimed that it was to counter the achievement of the ruling state government. He said the attempt was aimed at garnering advantage in the upcoming Assembly polls.

Memorandum of demands In a memorandum submitted to Union Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, Union Minister of State for Roads, Transport and Shipping Krishan Pal Gurjar said the condition of civic amenities in the city and the district was poor and required comprehensive measures He sought state-of-the-art network connecting Gurgaon and Noida with Faridabad in near future The minister also took up the issue of cleaning of the Yamuna, Agra and Gurgaon canals passing through Faridabad

Kaithal, June 27
A large number of trade union workers and residents, under the banner of Nagrik Adhikar Sangharsh Samiti, held a demonstration in Kaithal today.

They demanded the reinstatement of dismissed Maruti employees and withdrawal of cases against workers and their relatives. They also demanded release of all Maruti workers who were languishing in jails since about two years.

The police tried to stop the procession at the mini- secretariat but in vain. Later, a delegation comprising Telu Ram, president of the Sangharsh Samiti, Inderjit Singh, CPM state secretary, Surender Malik, CITU state president, Kundal Lal, Prem Chand, Mohinder Singh of Kisan Sabha and Manisha Raj Pal of the Maruti Workers Union were invited by the Deputy Commissioner to discuss the issues. A memorandum of demands, addressed to the Chief Minister, was submitted to him. He assured to take positive steps in this regard.

Kurukshetra, June 27
The Centre’s decision to increase the Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy by Rs 50 per quintal has failed to cheer up Haryana farmers as members of the Bhartiya Kisan Union (Charuni group) and the Aam Aadmi Party jointly took out a protest march in the town against the “meager hike”.

The protesters gathered at the Ror Dharmshala and raised anti-government slogans. They latter reached the old bus stand and burnt the effigy of the BJP-led NDA government. The protesters also submitted a memorandum to the Tehsildar.

BKU president Gurnam Singh Charuni, also a member of the AAP national executive, said: “Such kind of a decision from Narendra Modi was not expected.”

“Last year, cost of production was Rs 1,757 per quintal, which is expected to be at Rs 1,886 a quintal in the current season. The declared MSP is just Rs 1,360 a quintal, which is still Rs 526 less than the cost of production,” he said.

“In his speeches during the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections, Modi had claimed that he would change the parameters for deciding MSP and make sure that prices were fixed in such a way that would ensure at least 50 per cent profit to farmers,” he said. Charuni said the new government had started walking on the path of previous establishment and was making anti-farmer policies.

On the increase of MSP for pulses, the leader said: “Similarly just 10 paisa per kg has been increased in the MSP of pulses which is very low. It will discourage farmers.”

Rohtak, June 27
Power corporation employees today protested against the alleged assault on their colleagues by residents of Sanghi, the native village of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

They accused villagers of beating up their colleagues who were trying to restore power supply to the village. The villagers, however, have refuted the charge.

The employees at the Jasia power sub-station, which supplies electricity to 17 villages, including Sanghi, went on strike to protest the police inaction. They refused to rectify any fault in the power supply and threatened to snap the line.

Villagers, for their part, threatened to block road in case power supply to the village was disrupted, and lay siege to the sub-station.

On the intervention of the local administration and police, the employees suspended the agitation. They, however, threatened to re-launch the stir in three days if the assaulters were not arrested.

Senior officials of the power corporation are monitoring the development and efforts are being made to end the deadlock. Police force has been put on alert to deal with any untoward situation.

Rewari, June 27
To ensure 14-hour power supply in a day to all hamlets (dhanies), the state government has decided to set up a special designated transformers on agricultural feeders. The system would enable 14 hours a day supply to hamlets for domestic use, instead of eight hours given to tube wells. The system would be set up on government expenditure.

Power Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav disclosed this while interacting with mediapersons after laying the foundation stone of a 33 kV sub-station at Subasehdi village in the district today.

Later, he also laid the foundation stone of a 33 KV substation at village Mohanpur. The substations will be constructed by the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) at a cost of over ~4 crore.

The government had been making efforts to solve all electricity problems and provide supply to all villages on urban mode. The new model of power supply would help reduce AT&C losses. The new system was being laid with the consent of the villagers, he added.

Yadav said to strengthen power transmission and distribution system in the state, the government had proposed a comprehensive plan of Rs 4,400 crore to be completed by the end 2016-17.

Chandigarh, June 27
Haryana Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said a special campaign to update draft electoral rolls of all assemblies in the state would be carried out on June 28 and 29.

Walgad said all Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would be present at their respective polling stations the same day and would facilitate eligible persons who wanted to enroll themselves as new voters.

He said as per the directions of the Election Commission of India, photo electoral rolls of all assemblies in the state had been amended as on January 1, 2014 so as to include eligible voters aged 18 or above in the electoral roll.

He said the draft publication of these lists that has 1,59,95,012 voters was carried out on June 9. Out of these, 86,47,396 voters were male and the remaining 73,47,616 female.

Ambala, June 27
A jhuggi dweller of Ambala City has been arrested for raping his minor daughter on Thursday night. The accused was produced in the local court that remanded him to judicial custody.

The girl, around 14 years of age, went to the police today morning and complained about the incident.

She was brought to the city police station by two woman constables where her statement was recorded.

Karnal, June 27
A mob hacked a 40-year-old man to death, while two others were seriously injured, in Ainchla village, around 23 km from district headquarters. This was the second murder in the district during the past 24 hours.

The deceased was identified as Navab Singh of Bodwal Majri village, Panipat. The murder took place in the wee hours of June 27, at a farm of Ainchle village.

Confirming the incident, Shyam Lal, DSP Assandh, said Navab was going in a vehicle with Rampal of the same village, Deepak of Gagsina and two others late last night. They stopped near a farm to drink water from a tube well.

Meanwhile, some villagers reached there and taking them to be transformer thieves, attacked them, which resulted in the death of Navab, while Rampal and Deepak were injured. They were hospitalised, the DSP added.

“A case has been registered against villagers under Section 304 of the IPC and the investigation is on,” he said.

In another incident, a 70-year-old man was allegedly killed by his younger brother and other relatives during a clash between the families over the issue of water on Thursday evening in Munak village. The victim was identified as Ramdhari.

Raj Kumar, DSP (city), said Maha Singh, the younger brother of the deceased, and other family members attacked Ramdhari and others.

“A case has been registered against Maha Singh and other family members,” the DSP said.

Sonepat, June 27
Two persons travelling in a car were killed and its driver injured when the vehicle was hit by a bus of the Haryana Roadways’ Panipat Depot at a crossing under the Gannaur flyover on the GT road late last night.

Rajinder (42) and Hawa Singh (38) of Gannaur were declared brought dead at the Gannaur Civil Hospital. The driver, Vinod is being treated for injuries at a private hospital in Gannaur.

They were returning to Gannaur from Panipat after making. The driver and conductor of the bus fled the spot after the accident.

The bodies of the deceased had been handed over to their family members after a post-mortem. — OC

Sirsa, June 27
The bodies of all three family members who drowned in Rajasthan canal near Jandwala Bishnoian on Wednesday have been recovered by the police.

The divers fished out the bodies of 26-year-old Suman and her one-and-a-half-year-old son Harsh from the canal today. Her husband Ami Lal’s body had been recovered yesterday.

The police sent the bodies to the General Hospital for postmortem. After a tiff with his family members, Ami Lal had rolled his jeep in the Rajasthan canal with his wife Suman and son Harsh with him in the vehicle.— TNS