Ad hoc panel to take control of K’shetra shrine on Aug 5
Karnal: The Haryana Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (HSGMC) today geared up its campaign and announced to take control of Gurdwara Chhavi Patshahi, situated in Kurukshetra, on August 5, in a peaceful manner. Amrinder Singh Arora, member of HSGMC and youth president of the HSGPC, said at a meeting that the HSGMC would take control of the historical gurdwara of Kurukshetra on Tuesday. In a message to Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal and SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar, he said the HSGMC wanted peace and would take control of the shrines peacefully. “We are ready to sacrifice our life for the rights of the Sikh Community in Haryana,” he said. “Taking control of the shrines in Haryana is a right of the committee,” he said. Elaborating on their programme, the HSGMC member said they would assemble at Dera Kar Sewa on Tuesday and will leave for Kurukshetra after paying homage to Guru Granth Sahib. He appealed to the Sikh Community to come forward for the Tuesday programme. — Parveen Arora

Chandigarh, August 1
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda administered the oath of office to the newly appointed Chief Commissioner and Commissioners of the Right to Service Commission here today. They include former Chief Secretary SC Choudhary, who heads the Commission, and Lt-Gen Virender Singh Tonk (Retd).

Gurgaon, August 1
The Gurgaon police today arrested the son of R P Bhardwaj, former Deputy Commissioner (DC), Gurgaon, for allegedly raping his live in-partner and threatening her to stay quiet about it or face dire consequences.

The victim, a divorcee, had been living with accused Ajay Bhardwaj for the last three years and has a child with him. She alleged that despite promising a marriage repeatedly after the birth of their son, he did not do so.

She has lodged an FIR against him and four of his family members. Ajay has been booked under Sections 376 (rape) and 506 (attempt to murder).

Police said Ajay met the victim in 2009 when the duo resided in Aardee City Township in Sector 43. They soon moved in together and shifted to Noida as both of them worked there.

It was there that she conceived and gave birth to the child. The victim alleged that though Bhardwaj promised to marry her, he started evading her after two years of the relationship and she returned to her flat in Gurgaon. He allegedly continued to visit her but of late had been avoiding her calls and threatening her to leave him alone.

“He has been misbehaving with me and when I tried talking to him about marriage, he threatened to ruin me and asked me to leave his life. I approached his family for help but they had the same attitude. My child’s future is at stake so I have moved to the police,” the victim said.

The police claimed that given the live -in status, they had done thorough preliminary investigation before booking Ajay.

“The woman had come to our police station on July 26 to register an FIR against her live-in partner. We found her claims true enough to be registered so we went ahead with filing an FIR. He has been arrested and sent to judicial custody. We are still investigating the role of other family members,” said Vijendra Hooda, SHO of Sushant Lok police station. 

‘He refused to marry’

* The victim, a divorcee, had the accused, Ajay Bhardwaj, in 2009 when they lived in Aardee City Township in Sector 43 of Gurgoan

* They soon moved in together and shifted to Noida as both of them worked there

* She alleged that despite promising to marry her after the birth of their son, he did not do so

* She has lodged a case against him and four of his family members

New Delhi, August 1
Former Congress working Committee member and Punjab Congress leader Jagmeet Brar today came out in defence of Haryana leader Birender Singh urging Congress president Sonia Gandhi to reconsider the expulsion of Singh from the CWC.

He said the party should review its order keeping in view 42 years of Singh’s contributions to the Congress.

“The closest advisors to the Congress President and Rahul Gandhi should own moral responsibility and quit with immediate effect to build confidence of the Congress workers and potential leaders in respective states instead of targetting genuine Congress men,” Brar said in a statement.

Brar also urged the party to discuss the report of AK Antony committee threadbare to come up with constructive remedies to improve the health of the party and discuss its worst drubbing. Brar said a Chintan Shivir should be called at the earliest saying these points need to be raised in the interest of the party.

Brar said,”The party should think twice before acting against Birender. In fact the show cause notice issued to him should be recalled. I urge Soniaji to think deeply before taking any action against Birender Singh who is a tall leader not just of Haryana but of the entire northern India.”

Birender says he will reply

Birender Singh spent a quiet day at his residence here. A visible shaken Haryana Congress leader when contacted said he would reply to the show cause notice sent to him by the party and to his expulsion from the CWC and will formally make his view known to Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

Panipat, August 1
Infighting in the BJP’s district unit came to the fore today when several local leaders levelled allegation against district party president Gajendra Saluja of “ignoring” them.

“Saluja did not want a few leaders and workers to meet a central party team that visited the city today to zero in on the candidates for Assembly segments in the district. So, he excluded their names from a list of 126 workers that met the team,” alleged Rajiv Ahuja national executive member of the BJP Vayapar Cell.

The three-member team, comprising Kurukshetra MP Raj Kumar Saini, Mahila Morcha national vice-president Rosy Malik Anand and former MLA Ramesh Kashyap, held separate meetings of workers of the four Assembly segments — Israna, Samalkha, Panipat rural and Panipat city.

A ticket aspirant from Panipat city, Ahuja alleged that district BJP president had deliberately excluded the names of those party leaders and workers who were not close to him.

Apart from Ahuja, the names of Mahila Morcha state spokespersons Mehak Dewan and Rashmi Sharma, BJP district spokesperson Dinesh Pujara, former district vice-president Savita Taneja, and district Mahila Morcha president Mona Sharma were reportedly not in the list.

Saini and Saluja could not be contacted in spite of repeated attempts. Ahuja and Rashmi Sharma reached the meeting’s venue lodge their protest against Saluja’s move.

Yamunanagar, August 1
A 17-year-old girl was set on fire allegedly by a couple in Malikpur Bangar village, under Bilaspur sub-division of Yamunanagar district, last evening. With over 40 per cent burn injuries, the victim is undergoing treatment at trauma centre, Yamunanagar.

In her statement to the police, victim Reena Rani said the children of her neighbours were playing in the street on Wednesday. A minor argument between her and the children took place but was pacified.

She alleged that later in the evening, the neighbours-Amrit Pal and his wife Sunita Rani, came to her house and threatened her with dire consequences.

The next day, she was alone at her house. The couple came to her house with kerosene and allegedly set her on fire. After committing the crime, they fled the spot.

Villagers rushed the victim to Community Health Centre, Bilaspur, from where she was referred to the trauma centre due to her critical condition.

Balwan Singh, investigating officer of the case, said the couple had been booked under various sections of the IPC and efforts were being made to arrest them.

It is the second case of a girl being set on fire in the Bilaspur area within a month. Earlier, a girl of Milak Khas village was set on fire by a boy of the same village and she died at PGI, Chandigarh, after a week-long struggle for life. 

What transpired

* The victim, Reena Rani, alleged that her neighbours — Amrit Pal and his wife Sunita Rani — quarreled with her over a tiff with their children on Saturday

* The next day, when she was alone at her house, the couple came to her house with kerosene and allegedly set her on fire

* Police said the couple had been booked under the IPC 

Karnal, August 1
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today inaugurated five projects and laid the foundation stones of four projects here today. He started his day-long visit in Karnal from the foundation lying ceremony of a bus stand in Sector 12, a long-pending demand of the residents. Sources said the place had been rejected by the higher authorities earlier as it was not suitable for a bus stand.

Meanwhile, the CM also inaugurated a synthetic tennis court at Sector 12. He also inaugurated a library at the Karnal Bar Association.

Responding to demands of Raj Kumar Chauhan, Bar president, the CM announced to provide Rs 21 lakh to the bar. After this, the CM inaugurated a community centre and an agro mall at the new grain market. He also laid the foundation stones of two sheds in the grain market and Ambedkar Bhawan in Sector 16.

On Jat reservation

* The Chief Minister also inaugurated a Rs 26 lakh-senior citizen day care and yoga centre at the Jat dharamshala

* Giving out a message to the Jats, he said, “I have strengthened the base of the next generation and have done what I could. Now its your turn”

* Col OP Sandhu, national president, Jat Aarakshan Samiti, also appealed to the community members to give a third chance to Hooda

* The CM visited Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College Hospital and reviewed the progress of the project

Sirsa, August 1
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has taken suo motu notice of a report, “Bathinda refinery a nightmare for 12 Sirsa villages”, published in The Tribune on August 14.

Taking cognizance of the report that Guru Gobind Singh Refinery at Bathinda, Punjab, was emitting heavy smoke and therefore causing asthma, cough, eye infections and allergic conditions to residents of 12 villages in Dabwali Assembly segment of Sirsa in Haryana, the NHRC has issued notices to the chief secretaries of governments of Punjab and Haryana and chief managing director (CMD), Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, calling upon them to submit a detailed report within four weeks.

The refinery, owned by the Hindustan Mittal Energy Limited, is a joint venture of the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Mittal Energy Investment Private Limited, Singapore.

The Tribune report said Guru Gobind Singh Refinery, a unit located at Kanakwal village in Bathinda district of Punjab, is proving to be a nightmare for residents of nearly 12 villages of Dabwali, falling under Kalanwali sub division, as the smoke coming out of it is causing grave health problems.

Quoting residents of Hassu, Asir, Norang, Desu, Tigri and some other villages of Sirsa, which fall near the refinery, the report said neither Haryana nor the Punjab Government had taken any action to address the problems of the residents of these villages. The villagers alleged that refinery was least bothered about the health hazards, as the villages did not fall under Punjab.

The refinery authorities, meanwhile, have been maintaining that the emissions from the unit were within permissible limits and that they have been adhering to the norms prescribed under the environmental laws.

Rohtak, August 1
The newly opened Ch Bansi Lal University (CBLU) at Bhiwani is all set to start academic activities in the coming days. The university will function from the building of B.Ed college till the creation of its own infrastructure, and the faculty members would be arranged on deputation from other universities, chiefly MDU, Rohtak.

The CBLU Vice-Chancellor, Prof Surendra Kumar Gakhar, said admissions to 20 postgraduate study programmes would be commenced soon. The issuance of a notification in this regard is already in process.

Gakhar said establishing a university was a challenge, but he had accepted it on a positive note and would put in his best efforts to ensure its success. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 1
Haryana is set for a big fight in the last week of September. An indication to this effect was given by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) VS Sampath after reviewing arrangements for the upcoming Assembly elections here today.

“After visiting Maharashtra and Haryana, the Election Commission(EC) is of the opinion that October is the festival season in the two states while it is heavy monsoon in September in Jharkhand,” he said while being non-committal on the possible date of elections.

Sampath, who was flanked by Election Commissioner HS Brahma, said the commission had so far visited Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Haryana and the election dates would be announced after taking a feedback from officials and state political parties. “The poll panel would visit Jammu and Kashmir shortly to firm up the dates for elections.

Sampath also sounded “non-commital” on whether the elections would be held simultaneously or in a phased manner.”

The option of simultaneous poll is also open,” he added.

Earlier, Sampath reviewed poll preparations in Haryana with parleys with Deputy Commissioners (DCs), SPs, IGPs, Divisional Commissioners, Chief Secretary and the DGP.

Expressing satisfaction with poll preparations, he said EC officials were holding meetings with officials of four poll-bound states to zero in on the definite polling dates.

Sampath met representatives of political parties to seek their suggestions for smooth conduct of the elections.

Sirsa, August 1
Some senior Congress leaders from Sirsa, who Ashok Tanwar believes did not work for his campaign during the parliamentary poll, may find it hard to get nomination for the Assembly tickets this time, particularly if the young state Congress president has his way in the distribution of tickets.

Tanwar gave enough hints of this during his press conference at his residence here today.

His attention was drawn to former minister Ranjit Singh’s reported statement published in a section of vernacular press that giving him ticket from the Rania Assembly seat was Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s compulsion because he did not have another winnable candidate.

“Some individuals may have compulsions, but the party does not have any such constrains and I will see to it that those who did not work for the party in Sirsa or elsewhere do not get ticket in these Assembly elections,” said Tanwar.

He said 1,205 applications had been received for 90 Assembly seats of Haryana by August 31, the last date fixed by the party.

For the Kiloi Assembly seat, which is represented by Hooda, Tosham represented by Kiran Choudhry and Mahendergarh by Rao Dan Singh, the Congress has received only one application each.

The party received 59 applications for five Assembly seats of Sirsa, including eight for the Sirsa Assembly seat.

Tanwar said with the receipt of applications, the first phase of the distribution of party tickets have been completed and now the candidates will be decided after meetings of the Pradesh Congress Committee, screening committee and the All India Congress Committee.

The names of the candidates, he said, would be announced by the end of this month.

He said the office bearers of the state, district and block committee of the Congress would also be announced this month.

Replying to a question on the expulsion of Rajya Sabha MP from the CWC, Tanwar said indiscipline in the party could not be tolerated from anyone, howsoever tall the leader might be.

He claimed that the Congress would win the Assembly elections and form government for the third time. “The results of the Uttarakhand bypoll have shown that people have rejected the Narendra Modi led NDA government due to its anti-people policies,” he said.

Kurukshetra, August 1
Two boys sustained burns today after they climbed a goods train at the Kurukshetra railway station and came in contact with a live wire. The victims have been identified as Kamal (13) and Karan (15). They are said to be rag pickers.

Sources said they climbed up an Adani Agro’s goods train stationed at the Kurukshetra railway station. They were rushed to Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital in a private vehicle from where they were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

Doctors said they had sustained 35 per cent and 20 per cent burn injuries, respectively.— TNS

Ambala, August 1
Jan Chetna Party chief Venod Sharma today alleged that youth of the state, barring those from the Chief Minister’s home district Rohtak, were discriminated against in terms recruitment in government jobs.

“Recently, 1,100 patwaris were recruited and, of them, only four from Ambala. Either the youth from Ambala are incapable or the state is biased against them,” he said at the district Bar room here today.

“The Hooda government denied Ambala a fair share in development. What to talk of industrialisation, a residential project, the Industrial Model Township (IMT), was scuttled. The project could have been approved, provided Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had agreed to pay adequate compensation to farmers,” the former minister claimed.

Confident that the recent political developments (unstable HJC-BJP alliance and defections in the Congress) in the state have created enough space for his newly formed party, Sharma said the state was facing an uncertain future as far as politics was concerned. “Under the prevailing circumstances, people are looking for an alternative and my party intends to effect the change,” he said.

On leaving the Congress, he said the decision was not taken on the spur of the movement. “I was feeling constricted in the Congress.”

About his party, he claimed: “There has been an overwhelming response to the Jan Chetna Party. I have toured all 90 constituencies in the state and we have teams in place in most of them. We will be contesting the elections on maximum number of the seats and hope to fare well.”

Balali (Bhiwani), August 1
It is a double delight for the family of Mahavir Singh Phogat of Balali village as after Vinesh, her cousin sister Babita too has won the gold medal at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The village, which emerged as the hub of women wrestling, has not stopped celebrating since last night when Babita floored her rival to win a gold medal and make amends for her defeat in the finals of the Delhi Commonwealth Games four years ago.

A dusty lane of this small village, located about 40 km from the Dadri-Bhiwani Road, leads to a house of the famed women wrestlers at the far end of the village bustling with activities. The visitors kept flowing in, congratulating each other for the success of Babita and Vinesh.

Babita’s father, Mahavir, keeps a low profile, sitting amid village elders smoking hooka in a hall adjoining the akhara. The discussions in the meeting centred around the technical moves of the wrestlers which earned them winning points. As they started analysing their chances in the next Olympics, Mahavir got serious.

“The Commonwealth Games are a stopover on the way to a bigger journey to the Olympics. The girls would have to work harder to compete at the Olympics stage. They have the talent but need better exposure and grooming,” the proud father tells the gathering.

Six girls of Mahavir Singh’s family, including four daughters – Geeta, Babita, Ritu and Sangita, and two nieces (daughters of brother) Vinesh and Priyanka, have won medals at Commonwealth Games. Mahavir, along with his nephew Dharmender (Vinesh’s brother), runs the affairs of the akhara and puts the budding grapplers to a tough regimen every day.

Raghubir Singh, a school teacher of the village, recalled the days when Mahavir started the akhara and introduced his daughters Geeta and Babita to the game, considered only-for-boys. “Initially, the villagers used to crack jokes on Mahavir for making his girls wrestle in akhara. Now, around 10-12 girls have joined in and practice every evening”.

The family members said it was Mahavir’s obsession for wrestling which made him open the akhara. He virtually dragged the girls to the akhara, even though they were reluctant to take up the sport. “The family members too objected and neighbours asked their daughters to stay away from the akhara. But the achievements of his daughters have changed the mindset of the entire village,” a villager said. 

Hisar, August 1
After a gap of three years due to knee injury, the Haryana cop Geetika Jakhar’s silver medal winning performance have earn laurels from her family especially her father Satyavir Jakhar.

“It was no less feat for a wrestler to relaunch in sportsafter a major injury. But her performance in the Glasgow has proved that determination can do wonders. I am proud of her”, he said as hedistributes sweets to the visitors in Lajpath Nagar locality in the town today. Geetika is the first women wrestler to be conferred the Arjuna award as she had won silver medal in 2006 Asian Games. The Haryana government had recruited her as DSP in 2008.

He stated that the family had migrated to Hisar town fromtheir native Agroha village to provide good education to Geetika. “She had been a good sportsperson from early days and we used to visitMahavir Stadium for practice. One day, the wrestler coach advised me to introduce Geetika to wrestling. Her good physical trait and talenthelped her grow as wrestler.”

He said that Geetika was now eyeing Asian games next andwould continue to practice. “I am sure that she would continue to bring medals for the country.

Sirsa, August 1
Haryana Lokhit Party president and former minister Gopal Kanda today said that he would re-contest from Sirsa assembly segment, a seat he represents in the state assembly.

Addressing a public meeting in Sirsa at his camp office, he said his opponents have been spreading rumours that he was not keen on contesting from Sirsa. I still enjoy immense support of the people here and would definitely contest from here, he added.

Kanda claimed that he had undertaken development works in the town during his tenure that that were unparalleled in the history of the town.

The HLP leader alleged that none of the chief ministers till date have worked for the inclusive development of Haryana. I would work for development of all parts of the state and not concentrate on my constituency, he added.

He said once his party was voted to power, the government will give a pension of Rs 2500 per month to senior citizens and a kanyadaan of Rs 1.51 lakh to poor families on the occasion of their daughter’s marriage.

Kanda castigated State Congress president Ashok Tanwar for not co-operating with on development works in Sirsa. Had the former MP worked in oordination with him, he would have made the district an industrial hub, he pointed out.

Others present on the occasion included Gobind Kanda, Umesh Sharma, Krishan Saini and Shilpa Verma. 

Chandigarh, August 1
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has refused to accept a compromise in the “Grand Masti” case. As of now “Grand Masti” is off the big screens as the High Court has stayed its screening. As the case came up for resumed hearing before Justice Rajan Gupta, an affidavit on compromise was filed by the complainant in the case.

Taking up the matter, Justice Gupta asserted: “Prima facie, this court is not convinced that an offence against general public can be compromised on the basis of an affidavit filed by the complainant”.

After counsel for the state prayed for additional time to seek instructions and file a reply in the matter, Justice Gupta fixed September 1 as the next date of hearing. Justice Gupta also directed the continuation of the interim orders.

The orders by Justice Gupta came on a petition filed by Vikesh Sharma and another petitioner against Haryana and another respondent. The petitioners were seeking directions for quashing FIR No 524 dated September 17, 2013, registered in Faridabad. The FIR was registered against them for running the show of “Grand Masti” at City Mall in Faridabad.

The FIR was lodged on the allegations that the movie was totally adult and a company instead of restricting its display, gave its tickets to all employees. They, in turn, went to watch the movie with their kids. “This had an adverse effect on their minds, as it contained objectionable content”.

Counsel for the petitioners, on the other hand, argued that offence under Section 7 of the Cinematograph Act was not made out as the movie had been cleared by the Censor Board.

This is the second time that stay orders have been issued. A day before its scheduled release on September 13 last year, a Division Bench of the High Court had paved the way for the movie’s screening by vacating the stay.

The case

The orders came on a petition filed by Vikesh Sharma and another petitioner against Haryana and another respondent. The petitioners were seeking directions for quashing FIR No 524 dated September 17, 2013, registered in Faridabad. The FIR was registered against them for running the show of “Grand Masti” at City Mall in Faridabad. The FIR was lodged on the allegations that the movie was totally adult and a company instead of restricting its display, gave its tickets to all employees. They, in turn, went to watch the movie with their kids. 

Uchana (Jind), August 1
After waiting for more than three years for its monthly charges, the Haryana power department last night disconnected supply to the mini-administrative block of Uchana, making seven government offices powerless.

The department has categorically conveyed to all departments that it cannot supply power any longer without payment.

Sources said the building has offices of the tehsildar, CDPO, BDPO, Treasury officials, Food and Civil Supplies Department, cooperative department and temporary CID office. Despite housing so many offices, the power department has installed a joint electricity meter to assess power consumption, which seems to have become the main troublemaker.

The sources said many officials did not sit here regularly as they had to take tour of various areas under their jurisdiction. Many other officials sat here for all day, they said.

“Touring” officials believe that they do not use electricity as much as the others do and are unwilling to pay the share of their money for electricity charges. It has come to light that since April 2011, the block has not paid the electricity charges and owes total Rs 1.03 lakh to the power department. Repeated notices to pay have fallen on deaf ears as no office took the notices seriously due to a joint electricity meter.

“The power department must have installed separate electricity meters for all departments so that someone could be responsible for it. Now due to a joint meter, no one is willing to take the responsibility,” said an official.

Some senior officials confirmed that they had applied for a separate power connection.

“We have disconnected power supply to the block as the departments have not paid the bills April 2011. They owe the power department Rs 1.03 lakh. We would restore the supply only after getting our due payment,” said Surinder Singh, SDO, power department. 

Faridabad, August 1
Even as the strike by employees of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) enters its eighth day today , the standoff continues between the protesters and the authorities concerned . The agitating employees are demanding immediate regularisation of around 2,500 employees working on a contractual basis.

‘’ Though a meeting was held with the MCF Commissioner yesterday, the problem remains unresolved ,’’ said Naresh Shastri, president of the Nagarpalika Karamchari Sangh, Haryana. He said while the primary demand was to get regularised over 2,100 employees working on a contractual basis for the past 15 to 20 years as per the 2003 policy, he said the future of 1,400 others appointed in the recent past was also at stakein the absence of a clear-cut policy of regularisation.

While the authorities had promised to hand over the regularisation letters to the staff within a few days, Shastri said the strike would continue till the promise was fulfilled.

The MCF authorities said the matter had been brought into the notice of the state government and further action would be taken as per the directions of the Urban Local Bodies Department.’’ With the continuation of the strike, complaints about choked sewers and non-removal of garbage have starting piling up in the MCF offices here.

Ambala, August 1
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has resented the lukewarm attitude of the state government and expressed shock over the direct recruitment of an official to the post of executive engineer against all norms.

In a statement here today, the association said engineers were perturbed over the direct recruitment of LC Chouhan as executive engineer in the DHBVN which was against the recruitment and promotion policy.

The post of executive engineers is a promotional post and no person could be directly recruited as Xen.

KD Bansal, president of the association, said the decision of DHBVN would have a far reaching effect on the promotion prospects of DHBVN engineers. The association has written to the Chief Minister to interfere in the matter and stop the wrong decision in the interest of power engineers.

Gurgaon, August 1
A special team of the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) officials seized different varieties of electronic cigarettes from a ‘paan’ shop, being run by Greenleaf Tradex Private Limited, at the amusement hub, Kingdom of Dreams, Sector 29, here today.

The Chinese e-cigarettes contain poisonous nicotine. The team has also recovered their cartridges. The department has sent the samples for testing to ascertain the quantity of nicotine and other such poisonous substances. These were being sold openly at such elite place despite prohibition. FDA authorities said its director, Pawan Jain, could not show any valid purchase records of these products. — TNS