Jhajjar, June 28
After Rewari farmers challenged the state government’s land acquisition move in the High Court to protect their land holdings, farmers of Jhajjar district, the political bastion of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, have opened a front against the government for the same reason.

Angry over the government’s move to acquire their land to develop Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) sectors in Jhajjar, farmers have announced their decision to neither give up their land nor accept for land award, stating that no one can snatch their land without their consent.

The farmers have convened a panchayat of various villages at the community centre near Chhara Chungi on Sunday to decide the course of action to get their land freed from acquisition. The government has been carrying out the acquisition process for around 1,500 acres to develop sectors 7, 8, 9-A and 10 in Jhajjar. District officials reached the PWD rest house on Friday to hear the objections of farmers regarding the land acquisition process.

The farmers protested against land acquisition in the presence of the officials and told them that they had not received the award for the land acquired, stating that they were not willing to give up their land holdings.

“We will not give a single inch of our land to the government for developing HUDA sectors, which are not necessary as far as development of Jhajjar is concerned. We are ready to sacrifice anything if the government tries to force acquisition,” said Anoop Singh, a local farmer.

“The government is working on ruining the future of poor farmers by acquiring their land on nominal prices. It should provide basic amenities to local residents instead of snatching the land of farmers, ”said Mahabir Singh, another farmer. “Two sectors for which land was acquired some years ago are yet to be developed. In this situation, how can the government acquire our land for the same purpose? It should provide facilities in sectors already announced before setting up other sectors,” said Dharampal, yet another farmer.

“We have been running from pillar to post to get our land freed from the acquisition process, but no one is paying any heed to us. Now, we are left no other option but to open a front against the government for justice,” said Krishan, also a farmer.

Shahabad, June 28
The Delhi-Lahore bus — as Sada-e-Sarhad — developed a technical fault near the Ratangarh village, Shahabad-Markanda in in Kurukshetra district, due to a broken axle.

The bus was stationed for more than six hours on the Delhi-Amritsar National Highway number 1, on Saturday. Due to security issues, the bus was under scrutiny and the passengers were asked to stay inside, despite the hot weather.

The bus was on its way from Delhi to Lahore when the incident occurred. Shahabad-Markanda, DSP Sheetal Kumar, who reached the spot along with the SDM Rajiv Mehta, said, “The pilot escort of the bus informed the control room that due to some fault in its rear tyre, Sada-e-Sarahad had stopped near the Ratangarh village around 9:30 am. Considering the security measures, additional police personnel were moved to beef up security and lady constables were also deployed.”

The DSP added: “The bus is old and since it was manufactured in Pakistan its spare parts were not available in the local market. However, we are trying to get its spare parts from some old spare part dealers.”

About the arrangements made for passengers, he said, “The passengers did not want to turn off the air-conditioner and it ran continuously. All the facilities were being provided to them as per their demands. All 40 passengers are safe and higher authorities have been informed.”

A few policemen and mechanics searched the Ambala market, including the scrap bazzar, in search of the nut-bolts for the stranded bus. Keeping in mind the security concerns and the lack of availability of spare parts, the administration had already arranged a Haryana Roadways bus and a dog squad was called to check the bus. However, the Sada-e-Sarahad was repaired by the time the Haryana Roadways bus reached the spot. This is not the first time when the passengers of this bus had to suffer; for the fifth time in a month the bus was stationed for hours due to its poor condition. Previously, the same bus was stationed for hours on end, near Kohand in Karnal, when its wheels got jammed, on Friday evening. The district officials heaved a sigh of relief when the bus left for its destination around 3:30 pm. — TNS

Karnal, June 28
The Government Railway Police (GRP) have recovered four ladies bags with nine passports of seven Pakistani and two Indians that were stolen by unknown persons from Samjhauta Express, which runs between Delhi and Attari (Pakistan), on the intervening night of June 2 and 3. The accused failed the trains’ signals to commit the crime.

No arrest has been made in the case so far.

GRP SHO Om Pal said, “A special investigation team (SIT) is going to investigate the case.”

He said they had found four ladies bags with nine passport, two identity cards, residential proof and other documents from the bushes near the NDRI railway crossing.

“Four FIRs have been registered against unknown persons. The police are trying to nab the accused,” he said.

Om Pal said the team members also checked the records of all criminals who were involved in theft and robbery cases.

Ambala, June 28
INLD leader Abhay Chautala said today that his party would not forge an alliance with the BJP in the Assembly elections even if it insists.

Talking to mediapersons here today, he said the INLD would contest the Assembly elections in alliance with the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD). He said the INLD-SAD would get absolute majority in the Assembly elections and form government in the state.

He said the name of the candidates would be declared by July 15, so that they get sufficient time for campaigning. However, party supremo Om Parkash Chautala would take final decision in this regard.

Replying to a question, he said the increase in railway fare had disappointed the common man and it would encourage price hike. He said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should implement the Swaminathan Commission report as he had promised in the Lok Sabha election. He said Modi had not given representation to any farmer leader in his cabinet.

Congress leader Jai Singh Khera announced to join the INLD on the occasion.

Sirsa, June 28
The Congress will launch its Assembly segment-wise public meetings for the Assembly elections from Kalanwali in Sirsa from July 5.

A severe drubbing in the parliamentary elections notwithstanding, the Congress in Haryana seems to have decided to launch an aggressive campaign for the Assembly elections.

After holding district-wise workers’ meetings that ended in Gurgaon today, the Congress is due to start the Assembly segment public meetings from July 5.

Besides holding public meetings in all 90 Assembly constituencies in Haryana, the Congress will also hold meetings of its frontal organisations pressure groups in between.

Chief Minister Bhupunder Singh Hooda and state Congress chief Ashok Tanwar will address the meetings.

Tanwar, who was here last evening to preside over a meeting of workers from the Kalanwali Assembly segment in this regard, said the party would do a hectic campaigning in the state from July 5 to 30.

“The party had set a target of preparing a force of 2 lakh workers before the Assembly elections. By now, we have been able to identify over 1.75 lakh committed workers in the past one month,” Tanwar said while speaking to The Tribune after the meeting.

He said besides the assembly segment meetings, the party had also planned mahila sammelan, Sikh sammelan, backward classes sammelan, panch sarpanch sammelan, yuva sammellan and mamberdar sammelan.

Addressing Congress workers, Tanwar said Hooda would fulfil some longstanding demands of the Kalanwali Assembly segment on July 5.

Kalanwali is a reserve constituency and was represented in the state Assembly by newly elected MP Charanjit Singh Rori as the SAD (B) MLA before the INLD fielded him for parliamentary election.

Senior Congress leaders Mani Ram Keharwala, Om Parkash Keharwala, Jagsir Singh Gill, Anand Biyani, Sube Singh Chaharwala, Gopi Chand Kamboj and Reena Birat were present. 

Rohtak, June 28
Congress MP from Rohtak and Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son Deepender Hooda reprimanded BJP MPs from Haryana for not raising their voice against the steep hike in rail fares.

Addressing a felicitation ceremony after his third consecutive election to the Lok Sabha here today, Deepender pointed out that the Maharashtra BJP and Shivsena MPs had forced the government to rollback the hike in railway fares within 80-km radius of the state’s capital, Mumbai, while the Haryana BJP MPs had not even raised their voice in this regard.

Demanding that the rollback be affected in the Delhi-NCR as well, the Congress MP threatened that they would stall the Parliament if the Union Government did not do the needful in this regard by July 6.

He condemned the Modi-led NDA government at the Centre of making false promises to check inflation and prices of essential commodities, which was not a good sign.

Not sparing the INLD, the Congress leader commented that senior leaders from INLD needed to introspect and put their own house in order. He remarked that the situation in the INLD had come to such a pass that the party leaders forgot their patriarch Ch Devi Lal and sought votes in the name of BJP’s prime-ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.

Haryana Congress president Ashok Tanwar asserted that the Congress would emerge victorious in the forthcoming Assembly elections and form a government under the leadership of the present CM.

Gurgaon, June 28
Striving for a third term for the Congress government in the state, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is banking on the ‘unpopular’ price hike by the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.

Close to the heels of his address in Mewat, Hooda’s meeting with Congress workers in Gurgaon on Saturday was more or less a public meeting.

“Ask the masses where the ‘achhe din’ promised by the BJP during the General Election are. Can these days be termed as ‘achhe din’ when rates of diesel and sugar have been increased and train journey has become costlier?” he said.

“They plan to enhance the rates of an LPG cylinder by Rs 10 every month, but the decision will be implemented after three months, when Assembly elections in Haryana are over,” he said.

He said he was not opposed to anyone in the party. “We are a democratic party, where everybody has the freedom to voice opinion,” he said.

“Difference of opinion, which is healthy for the party’s progress, is being blown out of proportion,” he added.

Hisar, June 28
Two and a half months after the Lok Sabha elections, where Congress suffered a humiliating defeat from Hisar, the party nominee, Sampat Singh broke his silence in the presence of the Chief Minister and the HPCC president, alleging that the people within the party had sabotaged his election.

Without naming people, Sampat, who is also an MLA from Nalwa Assembly segment, pointed fingers at the local party leaders who helped the rival parties in the Lok Sabha polls.

Ambala, June 28
The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) will field its candidates in the Haryana Assembly elections in alliance with the INLD.

Talking to mediapersons here today, the general secretary of the party and MP Prem Singh Chandumajra said, “No doubt the SAD is one of the allies of the NDA, but in Haryana it has alliance with the INLD. In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the SAD had offered support to the INLD candidates from Haryana.”

He said the Akali Dal would make every effort that the BJP and the INLD come together in the state Assembly elections to beat the Congress. He admitted that the SAD, being a political partner of the NDA, could play an important role in it.0

Criticising the move for constituting a separate gurdwara prabandhak committee for Haryana, he said some of the Sikh leaders of the state had been conspiring to weaken sanctity of the Akal Takht. He alleged that the Congress had been encouraging conspirators to divide the Sikh community for its political benefit. He said the Akali Dal would take up the matter with the Akal Takht and the SGPC (Amritsar), so that the conspirators could be penalised.

Chandumajra said the state government had not granted an NOC for the Miri Piri Medical College being constructed by the SGPC in Shahbad (Kurukshetra) even after repeated requests. He refused to comment on the SYL issue, which has been a matter of dispute between Haryana and Punjab for long time.

Panipat, June 28
Two minors have allegedly been raped in Panipat district. One of them was allegedly raped by her brother and uncle in Jorasi Khas village under the Samalkha police station and the other in the area under the Chandni Bagh police station.

In a shocking incident, an 11-year-old girl reported that her 18-year-old brother raped her on June 13 and threatened her to kill her if she spoke to anyone about the incident.

In her complaint to the police, the girl said her 20-year-old uncle had raped her two years ago when she was a student of class IV. A case was registered.

In the other incident, a 15-year-old Nepalese girl reported that Sujit of Khadi Ashram raped her on June 25. A case was registered on her statement.

Karnal, June 28
A team of Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), (anti-corruption branch), Chandigarh, raided the residence of BSNL’s, general manager (GM), (telecom), at Sector 8 here, and arrested him on charges of demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh.

The raid was carried out following a complaint by a junior telecom officer (JTO) at the BSNL office in Karnal, who alleged that the GM was demanding Rs 3 lakh on pretext of favouring him in a departmental enquiry being conducted against him.

Sources said the CBI team laid a trap and seven-member team raided the residence of the GM late Friday night. The GM was caught red-handed while accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from the complainant. A case has been registered under section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against the GM. — TNS

Faridabad, June 28
Two motorcycle-borne youths reportedly snatched a bag containing Rs 7 lakh from two employees of a private transport company on Saturday.

Around 12:30 pm when Rattan Lal and Suresh, employees of East India Transport Company, were on their way to office after drawing the cash from ICICI Bank in Sector 16. They were riding a scooter when they were intercepted by two motorcycle-borne youths in Sector 16-A, who snatched the bag and sped away. — TNS