Chandigarh, September 9
On the directions of the Election Commission, the Office of Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, today issued instructions regarding the expenditure on security cover to ministers, star campaigners and candidates during the Assembly elections.

State Chief Electoral Officer Shrikant Walgad said under the directives of the Government of India, the persons provided with Z-plus security cover were permitted the use of one state-owned bulletproof vehicle.

Walgad said such persons whether they were holding office or out of it, and whether they were candidates or not, would be permitted the use of the said state-owned bullet proof vehicle during the election period, covered under the model code of conduct.

He said the use of multiple vehicles in the name of stand-by would not be permitted unless so specifically prescribed by the security authorities in any particular case. The cost of propulsion of such vehicles would be borne by the person concerned when it is used for non-official purposes during such period, he added.

The Chief Electoral Officer said in case of the visiting political functionaries who were ‘star campaigners’ sponsored by political parties in pursuance of explanation of the Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, the expenditure in this regard would be accounted for in the party’s account.

If the star campaigner is a candidate, the propulsion cost of vehicle in the constituency would be accounted for in his election expenditure account. However, if the party functionary enjoying the security facility is not a star campaigner and he campaigns for the candidate, the cost of propulsion of the security vehicle used for such campaign would be added to the candidates account, he further added.

He said the number of vehicles to accompany the cavalcade, including pilots and escorts, would be strictly in accordance with the instructions laid down by security authorities and would not exceed them under any circumstances. He made it clear that the cost of propulsion of all such pilot or escorts vehicles whether owned by government or hired vehicles would be met by the state government. However, no recovery need to be made also on the cost of the manpower provided, he said.

Chandigarh, September 9
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has said it would continue to raise the issue of Change of Land Use (CLU) during its ongoing election campaign to expose the “wrong doings” by the current government during its two consecutive terms in office. Accusing the Congress of selectively giving out facts about the leisure project at Wazirabad and Gurgaon, INLD general secretary RS Choudhary said the party had never denied that the process of acquiring about 278 acres as the entire process was above board.

He said, “The notification under Section 4 was issued under the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on August 8, 2003, and under Section 6 on January 20, 2004. But it should be noted that this process was completed only on January 19, 2006, with the announcement of the award for approximately 275 acres of land.”

The High Court has not found any fault with the acquisition process. It has found that the land was acquired for public purpose, namely development of recreational/leisure project and other public utilities and that is why it has upheld it. This vindicates the role of INLD in the project. This role had come to an end in March 2005, much before the acquisition process had been completed, Choudhary added.

It is worthwhile to point out that the Chief Minister assumed office in March 2005. He claims that his government only decided to continue with the project that was already in place “is a distortion of facts with a view to shift the blame and evade responsibility,” Choudhary said.

The INLD, he said stood by its allegation that the bid for the said project was tailor made for DLF. The CAG report, often referred to by INLD, has commented upon the way the DLF managed to make the government undertake the onus of getting all requisite clearances from various government departments.

Sirsa, September 9
The INLD has won over disgruntled leader Veer Bhan Mehta, who had been keeping a distance from party programmes ever since Makhan Lal Singla was chosen to contest from Sirsa on August 1.

Ellenabad MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, who spent almost an hour at Mehta’s A-Block residence last evening, is learnt to have told Mehta that his position in the party was higher than that of MLAs and he would be suitably accommodated after the party came to power. He also told him that the party has to take several factors into consideration while allotting ticket. — TNS

Ratia (Fatehabad), September 9
Former minister and HLP supremo Gopal Kanda today claimed that CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda owed his chair to him because had he (Kanda) not helped Hooda win the Ratia bypoll in December 2011 he would have been forced to resign.

Addressing a Parivartan Rally today, he said the CM had already lost the Hisar LS bypoll as Congress candidate Jai Parkash had finished a poor third after the HJC and the INLD. He said had Hooda lost the Ratia seat which was with the INLD for the past 29 years he would have lost his chair. The INLD’s 2011 bypoll candidate Sarfi Bai, widow of former INLD MLA Gian Chand Odh, whose death had necessitated the byelection, shared the dais with Kanda today.

“Hooda made a slew of announcements after his candidate Jarnail Singh’s victory from here. But not a single commitment has been honoured so far. People are forced to live in the same poor conditions,” he alleged.

Free medical treatment was promised to hundreds of Hepatitis C patients who contracted this disease due to the government’s apathy but nothing has been done till date, he added.

Hitting out at the “Number One Haryana” slogan of the Hooda government, Kanda alleged that almost every household in Ratia had a Hepatitis C patient, but the community health centre did not have any arrangement to treat them.

Kanda also hit out at the INLD and said that the party leaders could not see beyond themself. He asked the INLD leadership to get Haryana’s share of water from Punjab before calling Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal to campaign for them.

Party leaders Gobind Kanda, Deepak Bhirdana and several others were present on the occasion.

Ambala, September 9
The state unit of the BJP will file a charge sheet against the government by next week.

The chairman of the charge sheet committee, Anil Vij, told that the document had been prepared and after the approval of the core committee of the party it would be submitted to either the Governor of Haryana or the President. — OC

Chandigarh, September 9
The Congress today flagged off 21 high-tech ‘raths’, carrying advertisements and publicity material for campaign in all districts of Haryana.

The high-tech vehicles were flagged off from the Congress’ headquarters here by Haryana Congress election campaign committee chairman Capt Ajay Yadav and committee co-chairperson Kiran Choudhry in the presence of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the party’s state unit chief, Ashok Tanwar.

Yadav said the campaign would be carried forward under the supervision of the persons in charge of districts already been nominated for this purpose.

The vehicles carry the pictures of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, vice-president Rahul Gandhi, party in charge Shakeel Ahmed, Hooda and Capt Yadav, besides other senior leaders.

The vehicles are fitted with high-tech audio-visual gadgets. Messages like the development undertaken by the Congress government have been pasted on either side of the ‘raths’.

Fatehabad, September 9
Former MP Sushil Indora, who contested the Lok Sabha elections from Sirsa as the BJP-HJC nominee, today quit the HJC six months after he joined it.

“I have sent my resignation to party supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi through the district presidents of Sirsa and Fatehabad and communicated my decision to former Deputy CM Chander Mohan,” said Indora, who was the party’s state vice-president. He said he would hold a press meet in Fatehabad tomorrow and give reasons for his decision.

Indora, who became the MP from Sirsa in elections held in 1998 and 1999 but lost the 2004 poll on the INLD ticket, quit the party when the Chautalas fielded Sita Ram in 2009. He joined the Congress and contested the Kalanwali seat in the 2009 Assembly poll, but lost to SAD’s Charanjit Singh Rori.

In March, Indora joined the HJC when Bishnoi decided to field him from Sirsa against HPCC president Ashok Tanwar. “Bishnoi and I were the only two HJC candidates who contested the parliamentary polls. Yet, news of my party snapping ties with the BJP came to me through TV reports,” said Indora.

He said Bishnoi admitted in a press conference that the BJP forced him to swap Karnal with Sirsa, which meant that he (Indora) was merely used by the HJC. He alleged the HJC neither campaigned for him nor spent money on his campaign, which resulted in his defeat.

He said Renuka Bishnoi’s inauguration of Dura Ram’s election office in Fatehabad yesterday proved the last straw for him. “Having secured over 55,000 votes from Fatehabad in the LS polls, I had a right to contest from there,” he said.

Mullana, September 9
Despite being the centre of dalit politics in Haryana, this reserved constituency has not seen development even as several MLAs have remained ministers in many governments.

The Congress retained this seat four times, while the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won this seat twice.

BJP’s Suraj Bhan, a former Ambala MP, contested from here in 1987 while Sher Singh who won this seat in 1977 on a Janata Party ticket.

Heavyweight candidates

Bhan later went on to become the governor of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, and Bihar. Sher Singh became a social welfare minister in the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) government, Phool Chand Mullana, a former HPCC chief who headed various ministries and remained at the helm of political affairs of the Congress, Risal Singh, who won on Samata Party ticket in 1996 and then again on an INLD ticket in 2000 became the Social Welfare Minister.

Primarily a rural constituency, Mullana witnessed intense political activity during the 1998 Lok Sabha elections when in an attempt to make it a stronghold of the BSP politics in Haryana, both Kansi Ram and Mayawati remained stationed here during the election.

As a result, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidate Aman Kumar Nagra won the Ambala seat. Since then, the BSP considers this seat as its stronghold despite the fact not even a single BSP candidate won from here.

Education hub

Mullana did emerge as an educational hub over the last one decade with more than 10 professional private colleges and a deemed university that came up here.

The constituency has also been a centre of pro- farmer agitations and even witnessed Dalit-Rajput clashes followed by curfews during the earlier days.

Issues that matter

Despite having a track record of sending the maximum number of Dalit ministers in the Assembly since 1967, Mullana has failed to develop in tandem with the political power enjoyed equated with this constituency.

Even as thousands of students converging here every year to gain education, this segment has remained bereft of a bus stand. The problem of transportation has been one of the major issues of this constituency. Mullana falls on National Highway 73 that connects Panchkula to Roorkee in Uttarakhand but all this stretch does not have regular bus shelters.

Besides, four- laning of the Ambala-Jagadhri, bad shape of the roads, embankment of the Markhanda river, which wrecks havoc every year due to flooding, bridge on the said river connecting Tandwal-Harioli villages, water sheds for irrigation and Dadupur-Nalvi canal that has failed to become a source of irrigation for the farmers.

The project of the industrial tool room at Saha has been stalled, the growth centre remains under developed and a toll barrier on the Saha-Shahabad road has not been removed are some of the major issues in this constituency.

As many as 8,000 sugarcane farmers have to resort to agitations outside the Naraingarh sugar mill to get their dues.

Sugarcane farmers allege that despite repeated assurances this recurring problem had not been redressed.

Karnal, September 9
Students and faculty of Dyal Singh College paid homage to Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, the founder of The Tribune, on his 116th death anniversary today by donating blood.

In all, 102 units of blood were donated.

Chief guest Group Captain (retd) Inder Mohan Dhammi, Dyal Singh College Trust Society general manager Brigadier (retd) NK Bhandari, principal RK Bhardwaj and other dignitaries paid floral tributes to the illustrious personality.

The chief guest told the students about the life and achievements of Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia and motivated them to follow path shown by him.

Bhardwaj threw light on the contribution of Sardar Dyal Singh to liberal education, politics and social reform.

Faridabad, September 9
Illegal constructions in the prohibited area around the Faridabad Air Force station have put the Municipal Corporation in a spot.

An MC team led by the Joint Commissioner (NIT) that visited the area on Monday found around 4,000 illegal constructions that have come up over the years resulting in “problems” for the defence authorities. It gave the residents 24 hours to remove the constructions.

The High Court has directed the corporation to file a status report by September 16, but it is reportedly finding it difficult to act against the encroachers ahead of the Assembly election. Though the MC team said mass demolition could result in unwanted damage to many buildings, officials are reportedly under pressure from political quarters to delay the demolition drive. The area comes under the constituency of a Cabinet Minister in the present government.

The matter of illegal constructions was taken up in the High Court by one Suresh Goyal, a local resident, in 2011.

The authorities had found 3,906 illegal constructions in the area in earlier surveys and had expressed its helplessness to remove these in view of the large population settled there. They, however, imposed a ban on fresh constructions and additions in existing buildings. According to reports, illegal constructions and additions have continued despite the ban.

The civic authorities reduced the prohibited area from 900 to 100 metres several years ago in view of the intensity of the problem.

Political pressure? Nearly 4,000 constructions have come up in the area around the Faridabad IAF station over the years resulting in problems for the defence authorities The High Court has directed the MC to file a status report, but it is reportedly finding it difficult to act against the encroachers ahead of the elections Officials are reportedly under pressure from political quarters to delay the demolition drive as the area comes under the constituency of a Cabinet Minister in the present government

Chandigarh, September 9
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has prescribed strict action to prevent even an inch of encroachment on the veterinary hospital land in Kaithal.

“Since the general public and agriculturists would be adversely effected if the land of the veterinary hospital is encroached upon, we direct Kaithal Deputy Commissioner, Kaithal Senior Superintendent of Police and Kaithal District Development & Panchayat Officer as well as the State Government to take necessary remedial measures to ensure that not even an inch of land of the veterinary hospital owned by the gram panchayat or the state government is encroached upon by anyone,” a Division Bench has ruled.

Justice Surya Kant and Justice Jaspal Singh have also made it clear that the matter would be “viewed seriously” in the “event of any lapse”. The directions came on a petition by the Baakal gram panchayat in Pundri tehsil of Kaithal district.

The petitioners had contended that a chunk of land, owned by the gram panchayat, was given to the state government to set up a vet hospital in the village that had been functional since July, 1984.

The adjoining land was owned by a religious society. But the boundary wall between the society site and the hospital was partially dismantled and a gate installed, with intent to take forcible possession of the gram panchayat land in the veterinary hospital’s possession.

The next step would be to take physical possession of the hospital’s vacant area where domestic animals brought for treatment were temporarily tied and looked after, the petitioners alleged.

The Bench added: “The petitioner’s precise case is that the land owned by the gram panchayat has been partly encroached upon by opening a gate and is likely to be further encroached upon. Such action, in our considered view, can be effectively repelled by way of summary eviction proceedings under Section 7 of the Punjab Village Common Lands (Regulation) Act, 1961, as applicable to Haryana… If the gram panchayat files a petition under Section 7 of the Act within two weeks, we direct the Collector to take up the matter on a day-to-day basis, if need be, but not to adjourn it beyond a week, to ensure that such proceedings are decided on merits after giving reasonable opportunity to both parties before December 31, 2014”.

Land matters The petitioners said a chunk of land, owned by the Baakal gram panchayat, was given to the state government to set up a veterinary hospital in the village, which had been functional since 1984 The adjoining land was owned by a religious society and a boundary wall was partially dismantled and a gate installed with intent to take forcible possession of panchayat land in the hospital’s possession

Chandigarh, September 9
Haryana Government has transferred three IPS and eight HPS officers.

Among the IPS officers, B. Satheesh Balan, SP, Panipat, has been given additional charge as Commandant, 5th Battalion, HAP, Madhuban, during Krishan Murari’s leave period .

Deepak Gahlawat, Assistant Superintendent of Police, goes as ASP, Rewari. Jashandeep Singh Randhawa, Assistant Superintendent of Police, goes as ASP, Hisar.

Among the HPS officers, Omvir Singh, Commandant, 4th Battalion, HAP, Madhuban, has been given additional charge as Commandant, 2nd Battalion, HAP, Madhuban, during Krishan Murari’s leave period.

Virender Singh goes as DSP, Hathin; Bhagwan Dass as DSP, Siwani; Rajbir Singh goes as DSP, Barwala; Rajbir Singh ;as DSP, Hisar; Jagat Singh as DSP, Loharu; Jai Parkash ;as DSP, Jind; and Narender Singh as DSP, SVB. The transfer of Dinesh Yadav, ACP, Tigaon, as DSP, Hathin, has been cancelled. — TNS

New Delhi, September 9
Haryana Power Minister HS Chattha today urged the Union Ministry of Power for relaxation of rules to bring smaller “dhanis” (hamlets) in the ambit of the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyutikaran Yojna.

“All categories of hamlets will have electricity connection if the rules are relaxed,” he said. Speaking at the state power ministers’ conference in the Capital, Chattha said the move to cover all dhanis under the Central scheme would entail an additional expenditure of Rs 250 crore.

He said 10,678 “deras”/dhanis in the state were out of the loop of the scheme due to non-fulfillment of criteria of minimum population of 100.

He also urged the Union Ministry for inclusion of more geographical areas under the Restructured Accelerated Power Development and Reform Programme to strengthen power distribution system in the state. Presently, 36 towns have been selected under part-A and 33 under part-B of the programme.

He said three sub-stations of 400-kv capacity were required to be constructed expeditiously by Power Grid Corporation of India Limited at Qadarpur, Sohna Road Gurgaon and Prithla (Palwal) to cater to the load demand of Gurgaon and Faridabad districts. — TNS

Jind, September 9
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the police on Monday recovered a teenage girl, who was allegedly kidnapped from her home in Amarheri village of the district on August 29, and arrested the accused.

On victim’s statement, the police have added Section 376 (rape) of the IPC to the FIR registered against the accused, Anil, who was remanded in two-day police custody. He was earlier booked on the charges of kidnapping (Section 365) the girl and running his car over her mother (Section 302) when she confronted him.

On a tip-off, the SIT on Monday evening found the girl (17) from a bus stand at Katra in Jammu and Kashmir. Anil had planned to take her to Delhi.

“The girl has said Anil first took her to Amritsar (Punjab) and then to Katra. They lived in hostels. The accused threatened to kill her if she tried to resist the sexual assault. The accused wanted to take the girl to Delhi,” Jind Sadar police station SHO Vikram Nehra said. Under Section164 of the CrPC, the victim recorded her statement before a local judge in court today.

On August 29, Anil from Shyam Nagar of Jind city allegedly dragged the girl out her house and bundled her in his car. Her mother and brother confronted him. He ran the car over the victim’s mother who died later in the day. Her brother suffered injuries.

Several NGOs and locals had started an indefinite hunger strike in front of the DC’s office to protest against the alleged police inaction.

“The police took the case seriously from the day it was reported. The force is aware of the gravity of the matter. I was in touch with all three SITs formed to crack the case. The police have secured the accused’s remand for two days. The investigation is on,” Jind Superintendent of Police (SP) Anil Dhawan said.

Chandigarh, September 9
The state on Monday fixed the state advised price (SAP) of sugarcane for the crushing season 2014-15 at the rate of Rs 310 per quintal for early varieties, Rs 305 per quintal for mid-varieties and Rs 300 per quintal for late varieties as against the last year’s price of Rs 301, Rs 295 and Rs 290 for early, mid and late varieties, respectively.

This rate will be payable for sugarcane supplied at mill gate of sugar mills.

The decision was taken keeping in view the recommendations made by the Sugarcane Control Board, Haryana, at its meeting held today under the chairmanship of Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh.

Giving this information, Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh said the state advised price fixed by the Haryana Government was the highest in the country.

Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh said the increase in the state advised price over the last year had been made keeping in view the increase in the cost of cultivation of sugarcane and to motivate farmers to increase the area under sugarcane.

Sonepat, September 9
The police have arrested five persons, including a hotel owner, for “siphoning” oil from tankers on the Kharkhoda-Bahadur Garh road today afternoon.

The police impounded two oil tankers and a Sumo and seized the oil. The accused have been identified as Satish, Push Raj, Krishan Kant, Manish and Jitender, all driver and conductors of tankers from UP.

A police team noticed illegal siphoning of oil from tankers. The team raided the hotel premises and caught five persons. They said they had filled the tankers from the Assauda Oil Depot of Hindustan Petroleum and were to be taken to Panchkula. — OC