Chandigarh, May 29
Mr Ajay Singh Chautala, secretary-general of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD), has asked the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, to come clean on various “scandalous” deals involving thousands of crores that the state government was entering into.

In a statement issued here today, he alleged that in the recent past, the state government had entered into several agreements that gave benefit to the tune of thousands of crores to some individuals and private companies at the cost of the state exchequer.

Raising the issue of handing over of 1,700 acres of land, acquired by the Haryana State Industries Development Corporation for developing a special economic zone (SEZ) at Garhi Harsaru, to the Reliance Industries, he said the fact that the land having a market price of around Rs 8,150 crore had been handed over to that company for only Rs 350 crore called for a probe into the role of various individuals in the deal.

He also sought an explanation from the Chief Minister over the deal to purchase power at a “very high price” from a company that was owned by a Congress MP.

Terming it as a blatant act of looting the state, he asked Mr Hooda to make a statement on these deals rather than fielding his junior functionaries to defend these.

Accusing the Hooda government of indulging in corruption, he said apart from the “mind boggling figures” in the Garhi Harsaru land transfer deal, other decisions taken by the government conclusively proved that the property dealing was the one-point agenda of the present government.

He said apart from the land at Garhi Harsaru, the state government had committed 25,000 acres of land to the Reliance Industries in the name of developing SEZs. It amounted to carving the state into plots of various sizes for the benefit of “chosen land developers”.

Had the government been serious about the development of the state, it would have developed SEZs in Mewat, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Sirsa, Fatehabad, Jind and Kaithal districts, which were in dire need of development.

He further alleged that in order to help property dealers, the Hooda government had recently released land that had been acquired for residential sectors and other development activities. Such chunks of land, acquired by HUDA and other government agencies, had been released in Rohtak, Sonepat, Kurukshetra and Kaithal, he asserted.

The INLD leader said given the “serious nature and magnitude of corruption” in these deals, the Chief Minister should personally clarify his role as none of the decisions could have been taken without his knowledge and consent.

Yamunanagar, May 29
Mr Dalbir Singh of Jathlana in Radaur block here, who had rescued two pilots of the Indian Air Force from a chopper that had crashed into the Yamuna river after catching fire in 1994, yesterday urged the Chief Minister to provide him a job as promised by the district administration 12 years ago.

Incidentally, his name was recommended for the Jeevan Raksha Puruskar by the IAF authorities and he was honoured for his bravery by the district administration.

Dalbir had approached Mr Hooda with the same request last year also. He runs a PCO-STD booth to earn his livelihood. Despite requests to all Chief Ministers during the past 12 years, nothing has been done in this regard.

“On June 14, 1994, a helicopter caught fire and crashed into the river,” recalls Dalbir Singh. “I was grazing my cattle. I jumped into the water and rescued one man. The injured man was later identified as N.P. Singh (pilot). I noticed another man in the chopper. After leaving the first man on the banks, I again jumped into the water to rescue the second man. He was M. Dalal, also a pilot.” The pilots told me that there was another man in the helicopter.

“I again dived into the water and with great difficulty found the third man but he was dead by then. He was an engineer,” recalled Dalbir. Dalbir became a hero and the Haryana Government promised him a job. “I was summoned twice to face the court of enquiry, but never for a job,” he laments.

Karnal, May 29
Three persons, including a tubewell digger, were killed in separate mishaps in different parts of the district during past 24 hours.

A labourer was buried alive when a mound of earth collapsed on him during the digging of a tubewell at Chogawa village falling under Assandh police station. The body of the deceased labourer, Balwinder Singh of Pritha Bahri village, has been extricated.

The incident occurred when the wife and a son of the owner of a tubewell, Hoshiar Singh, hired four labourers, including Balwinder Singh and Balwant Singh of Pritha Bahri village, for digging the tubewell.

According to a police spokesman, the labourers started digging the tubewell. During their work, they found the earth very loose and stopped the work of digging the tubewell fearing any mishap.

However, Hoshiar Singh’s wife and son told them to finish the work, otherwise they would not be given any labour, said Balwant Singh. At this, Balwinder Singh again went down the well and restarted digging. All of a sudden, he slipped into the well and with him a mound of earth collapsed into it.

In another incident, the body of an unknown middle-aged person was found outside HDFC Bank on the Kunjpura road yesterday. While the cause of the death could not be known, his body was kept in the mortuary of the local Civil Hospital for identification.

Apart from this, a beggar was killed when he was hit by a vehicle outside the Shani temple near Kohand falling under Gharaunda police station.

Rohtak, May 29
A senior IAS officer of Haryana heading one of the revenue divisions as Commissioner is in the news for all the wrong reasons. His wife, who accompanies him on his official tours, allegedly goes on shopping sprees and his subordinates mainly Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars are being forced to foot the bills.

According to sources, the couple have adopted a novel modus operandi. Tehsildars and Naib Tehsildars are informed by his office of their boss’s visit to their respective areas and they are asked to receive him at a rest house. Contrary to protocol, Deputy Commissioners and SDMs concerned have no information of the visit.

After reaching the rest house, the couple meet junior officials in the drawing room. After a while, the IAS officer retires to his room leaving his wife and the subordinates alone. The wife then asks them to accompany her to the best department store of the town where she buys ration and general merchandise goods. The bills usually run up to Rs 10,000, which are picked up by the subordinate officials.

The sources said on a recent visit to a sub-divisional town, the wife directed a Tehsildar to buy her a solid gold ‘kangan’, which cost him Rs 20,000.

On another such visit, the Tehsildar and his deputy were asked to take her out for shopping at a newly opened department store in a town well known for its religious importance. The wife first bought ration and other goods worth Rs 8,000 and then selected a mobile phone worth Rs 15,000 without footing the bill.

The officer is fond of hosting parties. According to one of the victims of the couple, the Commissioner recently threw a lavish party on his daughter’s birthday. All the Tehsildars and their deputies were invited to it. The party cost more than Rs 1.5 lakh. The Commissioner’s subordinates jointly paid the bill.

In another instance, the wife directed a Naib Tehsildar to present her a set of pazebs (a silver ornament worn round the ankle). When he did so, he was rebuked and asked to present gold version of the ornament. The official’s pleas that pazebs were always made of silver did not satisfy her.

According to the sources, the wife often uses foul language to force reluctant officers to fall in line. A Naib Tehsildar who failed to correctly “take” the cues had his five increments stopped. He is now planning to appeal to the Financial Commissioner (Revenue) and also the high court for remedial measures.

The subordinate officers have approached their respective DCs about the problem who understandably enough failed to find a solution.

Jagadhri, May 29
More than 300 lawyers practicing at the District Courts here do not have chambers and are carrying out their activities under the open sky. The bar room-cum-waiting room-cum-library-cum-meeting room is also functioning in a single ‘borrowed’ room in the courts complex.

The Bar Association members, during their meeting with Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, had demanded that the resources of the library should be increased and it should be computerised also. Another advocate complained that the lawyers faced lot of difficulties in carrying out their research work in absence of a proper library.

General Secretary of the Bar Association Balinder Pal Singh said there were about 700 advocates practicing in the courts and on average 30 lawyers join the courts every year. Those without chambers face of lot of difficulties in carrying out their practice.

The association has demanded from the Chief Minister that the advocates chambers in the judicial complex should be constructed as per the master plan and an advocate colony should come up as per the rules of the HUDA.

The bar members also urged Mr Hooda that the labour court and environment court should be set up at Jagadhri. Presently, the labour court is in Ambala and environment court is at Kurukshetra.

The Chief Minister later agreed to sanction Rs 10 lakh for the library. Regarding the chambers for advocates, Mr Hooda asked the Deputy Commissioner to take up the matter.

The Chief Minister also promised to look into the demand of four-laning of the national highway (no. 73) from Gobindpuri to the judicial complex.

Meanwhile, the Registrar General has approved the construction of the litigation shed project in the courts complex. Mr Yashpal Rajheri, President of the Bar Association, said the shed would come up at the cost of Rs 87 lakh and would house a library, canteen, waiting room and meeting room.

He said the Chief Minister has assured them that construction work would start soon.

Ambala, May 29
In order to stop the sale of drugs to students, Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Mr J.P. Kaushik, today formed a committee to carry out inspections, at chemist shops and school canteens.

Mr Kaushik said the committee would be headed by SDM Mukesh Ahuja. He said he had received complaints that some chemist shops were selling drugs to students. A serious note had been taken of these complaints and a thorough probe would be carried out, a press note said.

He also said health camps would be held at schools. If any student was found to be suffering from an eye ailment, treatment would be carried out at the Civil Hospital. In case of any other major ailment, DEO would inform the civil surgeon so that proper medical care could be given.

Ambala, May 29
A regional exhibition of paintings and sculptures began at Ambala Cantt this evening.

The exhibition showcases paintings and sculptures by Mr K.N. Anand, Mr Bijoy Prasad, Mr Shiv Singh, Mr H.S. Purewal, Mr R.C. Singla, Mr Ram Vinod and Mr Balwinder Singh. The exhibition being held at Vyanjan near Phoenix Club will be on till June 1.

A large number of paintings, including symbolic, expressionist and landscapes are on display. The exhibition has been organised by The Creators.