Ambala, August 7
With no legislator holding any important position in the state government even this time, Ambala cantonment constituency is still struggling for political prominence.

Other than being represented twice by Sushma Swaraj in the cabinet many years ago, this constituency has not seen any of its legislators make it big in the government after that. Thus, the constituency has not only remained neglected politically but also in terms of development too.

She was elected from here 1977 when she contested on the Janta Party ticket and went on to become the youngest cabinet minister for Labour and Employment by defeating Dev Raj Anand. In 1987, she contested on a BJP ticket and defeated Ram Dass Dhamija of the Congress to and was inducted as minister for Education, Food and Civil Supplies.

Other than her two stints as minister, Ambala saw no other legislator getting into a position of power which could have reflected in development of this area and resolution of the pending local issues.

Earlier, Ambala had voted in favour of BharatiyaJanata Party (BJP) (formerly Bharatiya Jan Sangh and the Janata Party) in five assembly elections while the Congress candidates won this seat four times. The seat went to an independent candidate in 1996 and in 2000 when sitting BJP legislator Anil Vij contested from here. But the voters here have been cold to the overtures of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and other political outfits who never won from here.

The constituency, which is located 50 km from the state capital on NH1, has 31 villages which have 1,70,991 registered voters as on March 22, 2014. The electorate mainly comprises Punjabis and Aggarwals’ while Brahmins and other communities form a large vote bank. They are mostly working class with a considerable part of population engaged in trading and business. Voters from the army — which has a cantonment here and Air force which has a base at Ambala form a small part of the electorate — 712 voters in all.

Main issues

Even proximity to the state capital and strategic location on the NH1 has so far failed to result in any major development activity in Ambala cantonment. The major issues include incomplete projects - such as the Rs 93-crore Sewage Treatment Plant at Rangiya Mandi, the National Martyr Memorial and setting up of the Industrial Model Township (IMT) — which never took off.

The issue of conversion of the lease land in the Sadar area of the cantonment to free hold plots has also been hanging fire since long. Flooding caused by the untamed Tangri and Markanda rivers is also a matter of concern for the locals. Upgradation of the Ambala railway station, ban on registration of property deeds and redressal of sanitation and traffic problems across the constituency are other issues will weigh on the minds of the voters on polling day.

The locals are also upset against the neglect of the Cantt Civil hospital and not starting the four-laning of the Ambala-Jagadhri road.

During the 2009 assembly elections, Anil Vij defeated former Congress minister Nirmal Singh by 6,338 votes by bagging 49,219 votes (36. 5 percent). Even during the recently concluded parliamentary elections, 36.1 percent voters voted for BJP as 61,501 votes were polled in favour of Rattan Lal Kataria.

Sirsa, August 7
Despite dissent by party workers in some assembly segments in Haryana, the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) will not change any of the 62 candidates the party has announced.

State INLD president Ashok Arora has made it clear that the list of 62 candidates announced on August 1 was final and the names of the remaining 28 candidates would also be announced soon.

The party has already given Ambala City and Kalanwali seats to the Shiromani Akali Dal (Badal) under an electoral alliance with that party.

The party has been facing opposition from a section of the party workers at Tosham, Beri, Barwala, Panipat (rural) and some other places.

“The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) is not a party of leaders but is a party of workers as the party supremo, Om Prakash Chautala, has always considered committed workers more important than MLAs and MPs,” said Arora.

Arora called upon the party workers to launch an aggressive campaign for the party throughout the state forgetting everything as the important task at this stage was to see “Chautala Saab” as the Chief Minister.

Arora claimed that the party had been getting a massive response in Assembly constituency-level meetings that started in Haryana on August 4.

The state INLD president said the party could give the ticket to only one person in one assembly segment, but that did not mean that others were less important.

He brushed aside rumours being spread by some vested interests that the party could have a second thought on some seats. 

Yamunanagar: Former INLD leader and two-time MLA Balwant Singh joined the BJP at a rally in Bilaspur town today in the presence of state unit president Ram Bilas Sharma. He quit the INLD on August 3 after he was denied the ticket from the Sadhaura (reserved) Assembly segment. The INLD has fielded Pinki Chhappar, wife of party leader Brijpal Chhappar, from Sadhaura. Ram Bilas Sharma welcomed Balwant into the BJP and assured him that he would be given due regard in the party. Sources said the BJP might field him from Sadhaura as he was the seniormost and strongest leader of the Sadhaura. Addressing the rally, Sharma said people of the state wanted a change by voting the BJP tp power. He said at least one person from every house would get employment if the BJP was voted to power. Sharma said land acquired in a wrong manner by the Hooda government would be returned to the owners. “The BJP will launch ‘Vijay Sankalp Yatras’ to expose the Hooda government by raising issues such as discrimination in development, favouritism in government jobs and corruption,” said Sharma. — OC

Chandigarh, August 7
With Assembly elections round the corner, the Haryana Cabinet today unveiled a bonanza for a cross-section of society to offset the anti-incumbency sentiment.

The Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today, took major decisions days ahead of the model code of conduct is expected to be imposed.

Modifying the sports policy, the Cabinet decided to enhance monetary compensation for participation in the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 5 lakh. Besides, the cash award for the medal winners of Asian Masters Athletics Championship and World Masters Athletic Championships will be increased from Rs 35,000 to Rs 70,000 for gold; from Rs 25,000 to Rs 50,000 for silver; and from Rs 15,000 to Rs 30,000 for bronze.

Hooda said the Cabinet decided to double the cash award for medal winners of National School Games, All-India Inter-School Sports contest, National Women’s Sports Festival, National Masters Athletics Championships, All-India Rural Sports competition and Special Olympics. Now, a gold medallist will get Rs 30,000, a silver medallist Rs 20,000 and a bronze medallist Rs 14,000.

The Cabinet decided to appoint Anisa Sayyad (shooter) as Assistant Director in the Sports Department, while a cash award of Rs 62.5 lakh for Gagan Narang was given the go-ahead for his achievements in the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, in relaxation of the sports policy.

Widow pension scheme

The Cabinet revised the income limit from Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh per annum under the scheme. A Budget provision of Rs 734.70 crore has been made for 2014-2015 for the scheme, under which social security allowance of Rs 1,000 per month is given to women who are unable to sustain themselves from their own resources.

Laadli Scheme

Under the Ladli Social Security Allowance Scheme, the rate of allowance has been enhanced from Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 per month. Benefits of the scheme are admissible to those parents having only daughters.

Dwarf Scheme

Now, dwarfs and eunuchs will get monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 instead of Rs 500.

Destitute Children Scheme

The Cabinet increased the income criteria from Rs 30,000 to Rs 2 lakh per annum under the scheme. There is a Budget provision of Rs 95 crore for the current financial year 2014-15 for the scheme.

Under the scheme, parents of children up to the age of 21, who are deprived of care because of death or long imprisonment of their parents, long illness or mental retardation, are paid financial assistance of Rs 500 per month.

Kanyadaan scheme

The Cabinet approved the kanyadaan scheme to provide an incentive of Rs 11,000 per girl if her marriage is solemnised through mass marriages. An organisation of at least 11 marriages will be construed as mass marriage for the purpose of the scheme.

VAT rebate

The Cabinet approved that value-added tax (VAT) would no more be levied on pulses and reduced the VAT on oilcake (khal) from 5 per cent to 2 per cent. With the exemption of VAT on all kinds of pulses, the government will lose more than Rs 3 crore of revenue.

Housing scheme

The Cabinet approved a proposal for relaxation in the Affordable Housing Policy (AHP), 2013. With this, Omaxe Limited’s housing society in Rohtak will be come under the ambit of the AHP. Omaxe had made a representation for providing 18,000 built-up flats for serving and retired defence and paramilitary personnel in Rohtak. 

Karnal, August 7
Ellenabad MLA and INLD leader Abhay Chautala appeased urban voters and appealed them to come forward and support INLD candidate Manoj Wadhwa from the Karnal Assembly seat.

He also hit at Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for dividing the Sikh community over the issue of a separate committee for the state and said if voted to power they would discard the HSGMC Act.

Alleging discrimination towards north Haryana, especially Karnal, the INLD leader said, “The CM is concerned about a specific area only and has utilised all the funds of the state for its development only.”

Addressing a public meeting held in support of Manoj Wadhwa, at Sector-13, late Wednesday evening, the MLA said, “The INLD is the first party, which announced its list of 62 candidates and also the elections manifesto before any other party.”

Ashok Arora, state president, alleged: “Under the Congress’ rule , the state has become number one in crime. Nobody is safe here.” 

Sirsa, August 7
The Sirsa Assembly seat is witnessing a show of one-upmanship between Haryana Lokhit Party (HLP) chief Gopal Kanda and INLD nominee Makhan Lal Singla as far as distribution of money among voters is concerned.

Singla, who started his tour of villages in the segment from Wednesday, distributed money lavishly among villagers. A press release issued on his behalf stated that Singla gave Rs 12 lakh to a gaushala in Kanwarpura village, Rs 5 lakh for the development of a cremation ground in Bajekan village and Rs 2.25 lakh for a gurdwara in Begu village.

Besides, the INLD candidate gave Rs 6 lakh in Ramnagaria villag. The moment Singla announces the grant, his men sitting in a car give the money in cash to villagers.

Before Singla’s candidature was announced, sitting MLA Kanda had already completed his village tour.

The HLP chief had given Rs 1 lakh to Rs 2 lakh each to gurdwaras, temples and gaushalas falling under his constituency, comprising 31 villages and 31 wards of Sirsa town. He, too, showed off his “generosity” in press releases issued by his office.

Hoshiari Lal Sharma, former spokesperson for the Pradesh Congress Committee, alleged that the INLD candidate had distributed more than Rs 2 crore in 31 villages of the segment in the past two days and, earlier, Kanda distributed more than Rs 1 crore among voters.

Sharma demanded that the EC and I-T Department should intervene. 

Money power

Fatehabad, August 7
The Election Commission of India (ECI) will keep a constant watch on the money spent by various candidates in the upcoming Assembly elections and any expenditure above prescribed limits will be strictly dealt with.

Shalini Chetal, subdivisional magistrate posted at Siwani, who was appointed state-level Master Trainer by the Election Commission, told senior administration officers that the poll panel was very serious about checking huge expenditure during elections to influence voters.

“The expenditure a candidate makes after the announcement of polls would be included in the party’s account while the money spent after filing of nominations will be counted in the candidate’s account,” Chetal said.

She said paying money to the voters was a punishable act for which both the payer as well as the receiver is liable to be imprisoned for one year. The ECI Master Trainer said failure to provide details of expenditure were also punishable under the law.

Jind, August 7
The forthcoming Assembly elections may cause a sharp division among the khaps as the issue of supporting a single political party appears to have divided the leaders.

Some prominent leaders of Sarv Khap Panchayat (SKP) have announced their to support a single party while others say they are not in favour of politicisation of khaps and would not allow anyone to misuse them for political gains.

“During our meeting at Hansi on Tuesday, we decided to participate in politics and support a single party at the state level. Like me, many other senior leaders believe if we support a party jointly, we will be able to get our demands accepted at the earliest. We have decided to support a single political party in the Assembly elections and to select a political party, we will hold discussions during our August 20 meeting in Jind,” said Sube Singh Sumain, SKP spokesman.

Though the khaps have never joined politics, many khap presidents have been openly active in politics for the last many years and have been supporting various political parties. But, these presidents never accepted that they had gained prominence only because of their importance as khap leaders, but always maintained that they had been working with political parties at the ‘individual’ level and their khaps had not played any role in their political career.

Political pundits believe that if khaps join politics and decide to support a single political party at the state level, it could tilt the scale in favour of any party as they had a strong base in majority of the districts. Many times these councils were in news for wrong reasons for their medieval diktat and have faced criticism at the national and international level. But these caste councils still enjoy a good reputation among voters. There are around 150 khaps in Haryana, which command immense influence in Bhiwani, Jind, Sonepat, Rohtak, Panipat, Mahendergarh, Gurgaon, Jhajjar, Karnal, Kaithal, Faridabad and Palwal areas of the state.

“Khaps are non-political bodies and must stay the same. We will never support any political party,” said SKP convener Kuldeep Dhanda.

Chandigarh, August 7
The Punjab and Haryana High Court was today told that TC Gupta, Principal Secretary, Department of Town and Country Planning, was allotted more than one plot though the first one in his wife’s name was alienated before the second one was allotted.

HUDA also tried to defend his action by claiming that nothing was amiss; and the claims made by Gupta at the time of applying for a plot in HUDA-developed sectors of Haryana were beyond fault.

The court was also informed that two gardeners too had been allotted plots in HUDA Sector in Faridabad under the quota reserved for advocates. Taking a note of the developments in the multiple allotment of plot case, Justice Daya Chaudhary has called for fresh district-wise status report in the matter.

Justice Chaudhary also directed the HUDA authorities to furnish an affidavit on the number of FIRs registered so far in the scam. Information has also been sought on FIRs not registered. The case has now been fixed for October 16.

The matter had reached the HC after a serving Colonel, who was booked for such a fraud, moved it seeking stay on his arrest. Following the intervention of the HC, the HUDA has recommended to register an FIR against all those persons who were allotted more than one plot under the reserved defence quota. As of now, more than 400 FIRs have been registeredon recommendations of HUDA against the persons who have procured multiple plots in the names of his daughters, son and wife in Panchkula, Hisar, Karnal and Faridabad.

Bahadurgarh (Jhajjar), Aug 7
A woman was today forced to give birth to a baby outside the General Hospital here as her family could not reportedly find a trolley or wheelchair to take her inside.

Sheela, who belongs to a poor family from the local Shyam Colony, was brought to the General Hospital today morning with labour pain. Her family members reportedly tried to find a trolley or wheelchair to take her inside, but could not find one. In the meantime, she started delivering the baby at the hospital’s entrance.

While her attendants frantically searched for a wheelchair, Sheela delivered the child at the gate. Doctors and nurses reached the spot and took Sheela and her new-born inside for treatment.

Dr Renu, a gynaecologist at the hospital, said the infant was healthy, but his mother was found to be anaemic and was referred to PGIMS, Rohtak. “We provided her medical treatment as soon as the case came to our knowledge,” she said.

The incident exposed the shortage of wheelchairs and trolleys in the hospital. Attendants shuffling around the hospital premises to find a wheelchair is a common sight. “It is next to impossible to find a wheelchair in the hospital. Patients who have difficulty walking or standing are the worst affected. The attendants find themselves helpless,” said Kamal Sehrawat, an attendant.

Chandigarh, August 7
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today hit out at his detractors, alleging that some leaders in Congress were speaking against him to camouflage their own failures.

“They (some Congressmen in Haryana) speak against me to camouflage their own failures,” he told reporters here when asked about senior state leaders who have quit the party and some others who have voiced their opposition against his style of functioning and “regional bias” in the matter of development and jobs.

“One can very well understand that certain leaders in the Haryana Congress had become vocal against me after10 years. It is for their vested interests and political opportunism,” he said.

Hooda has faced criticism from his Cabinet colleagues Ajay Yadav and Kiran Choudhry, besides Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh and former Union Minister Kumari Selja.

I am not unhappy with anybody in the party,” he said. About his reported differences with Cabinet colleague Ajay Yadav , Hooda said there were no differences between them.

When asked that Yadav, who was placated by the party high command by reshuffling his portfolio after he recently resigned as the state Power Minister protesting “regional bias” by Hooda, Hooda said: “Yadav never complained about any regional bias in the matter of development.”

Sonepat, August 7
Under the Haryana Victim Compensation Scheme, 2013, an acid attack victim was today sanctioned financial assistance of Rs 2.15 lakh by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA), Sonepat, for rehabilitation.

According to the Harshali Chowdhary, Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum- Secretary, DSLA, the compensation which includes Rs 15,000 for medical expenses, was given on the recommendation of the trial court.

The victim, a Gohana resident, was married on January 26, 2004, and the couple had a son. Unfortunately on February 16, 2005, her husband died due to a clot in his brain. Since she never had cordial relations with her in-laws even before the death of her husband, she along with her son left the house. The victim then started living with her parents at Gohna.

To sustain her living, the victim started her own beauty parlor at Gohana. On April 17, 2006, her brother-in-law came to the parlor and threw acid on her due to which her eyes were damaged and she suffered severe burns on her body.

A case was registered at the City police station, Gohana, and the accused was arrested.

The victim also submitted that she was a widow and had a nine-year-old son, who was studying in Class 4.

She further submitted that she had six sisters and one brother and three of her sisters were handicapped and were unable to do any work and were completely dependent on her father and brother’s income while her mother was also suffering from cancer, therefore she must be helped. 

Karnal, August 7
As many as 122 ticket aspirants are in queue for the BJP ticket from the five Assembly segments of Karnal, Nilokehri, Assandh, Indri and Gharaunda.

With 39 aspirants, the Assandh segment has the highest number of ticket seekers, followed by Nilokehri (reserve) with 29, Gharaunda 24, Karnal 18 and Indri 12.

Though at present there is no BJP MLA in the district, the workers are full of confidence after the historical win in Lok Sabha elections from Karnal seat.

Sensing a victory in the upcoming elections, a large number of leaders are aspiring to contest on the BJP tickets. They have appeared for interviews also.

BJP national executive member and party Election Committee chairman in Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar, has also sought a ticket from the Karnal Assembly seat.

State general secretary Chander Parkash Kathuria, state spokesman Jagmohan Anand, Mayor of Karnal Municipal Corporation Renu Bala Gupta, district president Ashok Sukhija and former Union minister ID Swami’s son Rajinder Swami also showed their interest for contesting elections from the Karnal seat.

Ex-MLA Ramesh Kashyap, advocate Vedpal, Harvinder Kalyan, Jaipal Sharma, Jang Bhadur Singh Chauhan are among the ticket aspirants from Gharaunda segment.

Advocate Balkishan, Dharampal Sandilya, Meena Kamboj, Neelam Kashyap and others have sought ticket from Indri.

Bakshish Singh Virk, Jagdev Padha and Prof Virender Chauhan are in queue from Assandh while Bhagwan Dass Kabirpanthi, Dharampal Gonder and Amarnath Sauda are seeking ticket from the Nilokehri segment.

Ambala, August 7
Three persons sustained serious injuries as armed men fired at them on the state highway in Barara segment of the district this evening.

The police stated that six persons— Monu, Vikram, Deepak, Kala, Gandhi and Ghanora, all from Barwala— opened fire at Mustaq, Mohit and Ashok at a barber’s shop in Barwala and fled.

After reporting the matter to the police, Mustaq, Mohit and Ashok launched a hunt for the six accused. They intercepted them on the state highway in Barara where the six again opened fire at them. As the accused went berserk, commuters fled the road, leaving their vehicles. The three youths were rushed to MM Hospital, Mullana, which referred Mustaq and Mohit to the PGI, Chandigarh. The police said while the six accused manage to flee the spot, they confiscated three vehicles involved in the clash and seized weapons. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 7
The BJP thumbs-down to dynastic politics has come as a dampener for many newly-elected state MPs looking to field relatives from “safe seats” in the Assembly elections.

Sources said with BJP president Amit Shah having made it clear that the party was not in favour of “family politics” and not fielding more than one person from a family, the MPs have little hope of “extracting” the party ticket when the state goes to the polls.

Sources said Ambala MP Rattan Lal Kataria was keen on getting the Assembly ticket for his wife, Banto Kataria, who has been active in the party and in the field while Congressmen-turned-BJP leader, Bhiwani-Mahendragarh MP Dharmbir Singh was eyeing Tosham for his brother. Sonepat MP Ramesh Kaushik, too, was pushing his brother’’s name.

Faridabad MP and Union Minister of State for Road Transport and Highways, Krishan Pal Gurjar, was planning to launch his son into politics by handing him the Tigaon seat the former vacated after getting elected as MP.

Gurgaon MP and Minister of State for Planning and Defence Rao Indrajeet, too, before joining the BJP, had launched the Haryana Insaaf Manch which was registered in the name of his daughter. Sources said that he wanted a party ticket for his daughter from his constituency.

Karnal MP Ashwini Chopra, despite wanting his wife to contest the Assembly elections, has chosen to keep mum on the issue. He is learnt to have applauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attempt at “cleansing politics” by not limiting it to a few families during a meeting of MPs. This, sources said, did not go down well with the other MPs at the meeting but they could not give a contrary view since the idea had come from Modi himself.

Most leaders believe that the door is not shut yet and the party might consider allocating the party ticket to “deserving” relatives. Sources said a number of leaders, besides these MPs, who are looking at launching the next generation in the Assembly elections might find it difficult to ignore the claims of “winnable candidates”. However, senior party leader Anil Vij, said it was very unlikely for the party todeviate from its stance.

Karnal, August 7
The ministry of civil aviation has exposed the claim of the state government regarding sanction of a domestic airport in Karnal as ‘absurd.’

According to information sent by the ministry to Karnal MP Ashwini Chopra, “No approval for the project has been sanctioned for construction of domestic airport in Karnal till now.”

In reply to the question asked by the MP in parliament about the status of the airport, Minister of state GM Siddeshwara clarified there was no approval for the project at present.

However, the minister revealed that the Centre had identified 50 locations to promote regional air connectivity in tier-2 and tier 3 cities across the country — keeping the criteria of population, distance and potential like tourism, industry in mind — Karnal is among them.

It is learnt that the state government had announced the approval of the facility in almost each public meeting they addressed in the region during the general elections.

MP Ashwini Chopra, after exposing the truth, blamed the Hooda government for playing with the feelings of the Karnal public, which had been neglected by several years with no development in the region. They tried to mislead the electorate by giving false information, he added.

The public knows the reality of Hooda government and will teach a lesson to the Congress in the upcoming Assembly elections as they have done in the Lok Sabha polls, the MP added.

INLD also made it an election issue and mislead the public on this account. 

Jhajjar, August 7
Concerned over the rising numbers of age determination test cases referred by civil surgeons of various districts in the state, PGIMS Rohtak authorities have urged the state health authorities to direct surgeons to refer these cases to their nearest medical colleges instead of the PGIMS.

The PGIMS authorities had recently shot off a communiqué to Director General Health Services (DGHS), Haryana, in this regard wherein it had been stated that civil surgeons had persistently been referring age determination cases to the PGIMS despite having medical college near their concerned area.

“Cases of age determination test being referred by the civil surgeons from different districts hamper the teaching work of undergraduate, postgraduate and postdoctoral students, also the clinical research takes a toll, as these tests take a lot of time and resources,” said the communiqué.

A significant numbers of referral cases are coming to the PGIMS for age determination and medical board examination from across the state.

In the letter issued by the PGIMS authorities, they said, “The BPS Medical College for Women at Khanpur Kalan in Sonepat, Saheed Hasan Khan Medical College at Nuh in Mewat, and Maharaja Aggarsen College in Hisar, have adequate facilities including qualified experts in all the fields hence the civil surgeons should refer the cases to their nearest medical college.”

Ashok Chauhan, PGIMS Medical Superintendent (MS), said “We have requested the Director General Health Services to direct the civil surgeons to refer only those cases to the PGIMS which cannot be managed at the nearest medical colleges.” He maintained many staff members, including senior doctors, had to be roped in for conducting these tests, which took a lot of time and energy.

Chandigarh, August 7
JC Anand, who retired from the Department of Political Science, Panjab University, died here today after a prolonged illness. He was 94.

He is survived by three daughters, Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry, Urvashi Gulati and Keshni Anand Arora. While Meenaxi Anand Chaudhry and Urvashi Gulati have retired as Chief Secretaries of Haryana, Kesni Anand Arora is serving as Deputy Director-General, UIDAI.

Anand was extremely popular with his students, many of whom joined the civil services. Anand was also a regular columnist of ‘The Tribune’, and wrote a weekly column, “Market Scan”, for several years. He was also the founder president of the Chandigarh Investors Club. His cremation will take place tomorrow at the Sector 25 cremation ground at 12.30 pm. 

Rohtak, August 7
A government college lecturer who objected to a “lewd” remark passed by a top Haryana bureaucrat about women lecturers has been transferred. The said lecturer was transferred to his present place of posting just about a month ago.

The Haryana Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA) has taken strong exception to the transfer of the association’s organising secretary Sunil Kumar from Government College, Dubaldhan, to Bahu Jholri. The association termed the move as malicious and demanded cancellation of the transfer, failing which they would re-launch their agitation.

“I was transferred to my present place of posting just about a month ago. Transferring me again within such a short span clearly indicates the spiteful intention of the authorities,” Sunil Kumar said.

Representatives of the association had gone to discuss their concerns with the Principal Secretary (Higher Education) on July 23.

When they put forward their demand to include six months’ maternity leave as part of the mandatory rural-area deputation of women lecturers, he reportedly said: “Do they conceive with my permission?” Delegation members, prominently Sunil Kumar, objected to this remark.

Various organisations, including the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisations (HFUCTO), Haryana Government College Teachers Association (HGCTA), the CPM and the All-India Democratic Women’s Association (AIDWA) had condemned the episode and demanded strict action against the officer.

The HGCTA has convened a state-level meeting of the association at Rohtak on August 11 to chalk out the future course of action.

Kaithal, August 7
The United Federation of Indian Journalists (UFIJ) and Haryana Union of Journalists (HUJ) have condemned the brutal attack on mediapersons, who were covering the clash between the HSGMC and SGPC-Akali Dal task force, here on Wednesday.

United Federation of Indian Journalists president Ranvir Parashar and HUJ vice-president Vijay Mehta on behalf of the union termed it as a blatant attack on the freedom of press and demanded immediate action against those responsible for this act. They said the fact that the incident took place while Kurukshetra Deputy Commissioner and the SDM were not far away from the spot showed the administration had no control over the police force. 

Ambala, August 7
Haryana power engineers today held gate meetings at Ambala and Kurukshetra and wore black badges against indifferent attitude of the state government on their long-pending demands.

The meetings at Ambala and Kurukshetra were chaired by RK Sharma, Superintending Engineer, Ambala circle. RK Tewatia, Executive Engineer, Kurukshetra, and VK Gupta, spokesperson of the All-India Power Engineers Federation.

The executive committee of the Haryana Power Engineers Association, would meet on August 9 at Rohtak to chalk out the further course of action. Ranbir Deshwal, general secretary of the association, said as far as proper pay scales to assistant engineers, restructuring of discoms as per work-load norms, new promotion policy, among others, was concerned. — TNS

Rohtak, August 7
Dental surgeons at government-run health facilities across the state assembled here last evening and took out a candle march in protest against unequal treatment vis-a-vis their medical counterparts.

Members of the Haryana Civil Dental Surgeons Association sought removal of their pay anomalies and ensured pay and perks on a par with MBBS doctors.

Association president DS Narwal and secretary Ravish Sharma said dental surgeons had the same workload and responsibilities but got lower pay and perks than their MBBS counterparts.

The protesters pointed out that general physicians and dental surgeons got the same pay scale and perks at Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences, Rohtak. Their leaders maintained that it was a symbolic and peaceful protest. — TNS

Karnal, August 7
Subham (6), who was kidnapped for a ransom of Rs 5 lakh on Tuesday evening from near his house at Madanpur Gamdi in this district, was recovered by the Karnal police within 22 hours of the incident.

The cyber cell played a vital role in tracing the victim and accused by zeroing in of the cellphone used by the kidnapper.

The kidnapper used his own phone for calling Subham’s father for ransom.

Abhishek Garg, Karnal Superintendent of Police, said that Subham was kidnapped by Raju, a resident of Mahasari in Samastipur Bihar, on the evening of August 5.

On the morning of August 6, Raj Kumar, Subham’s father, received a phone call seeking a ransom of Rs 5 lakh.

The cyber cell team put the kidnapper’s phone on surveillance, leading to the latter’s arrest. The accused was in jail.