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Rs 211-cr defective transformers dumped
Man kills wife, infant son, daughter
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Illegal colonies: Officials hand in glove with builders
Lease rates for petrol stations on highways up
PREVENTING HONOUR KILLINGS
Villagers lift dharna after molester
teacher’s suspension
Portion of newly built NH-1 flyover collapses
CIC allows inspection of state info panel records
Mechanics told to record details of vehicles repaired
Farmers protest hike in diesel, fertiliser prices
2 cops held for youth’s death in custody
Advocates oppose Justice Jain’s appointment
Gangraped girl’s father commits suicide
2-month-old dies after taking vaccine shots
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Rs 211-cr defective transformers dumped
Jind, September 19 The authorities are reported to be sitting on an amount of over Rs 211 crore in the form of burnt-out and outdated transformers and machinery lying waste in the yards of the department. In response to information sought by RTI activist Sandeep Malik, the department stated that there were over 1.25 lakh transformers lying waste in the office complexes of the power department. At present the market value of these transformers, if disposed as condemned items was well over Rs 211 crore. Malik had sought details of the number of transformers lying condemned and unused in the state and the value of such items if sold as waste in the open market. The number of such transformers dumped as waste in Jind district has been over 2,400. It is reported that the main dump yard of such transformers has been in Ambala district. The figure of defective transformers supplied by the department relates to the period of about six years (between 2005 and 2011) only. “The number of total defective equipment lying unused with the state power department in the state could be more as the query sought was regarding the transformers only,” said the RTI applicant. The number of equipment dumped as waste could be around 100 each month in the state, he said. “The situation appears pitiable as the department which purchases and install thousands of new transformers each year across the state can take steps to reuse or dispose them well in time before they get devalued each month in order to improve its financial condition,” said a spokesperson of the All Haryana Power Corporation Workers’ Union. Alleging that the so called power reforms in the state had resulted in a miserable failure, he said the overall losses of the power utilities in Haryana, which were around Rs 400 crore, had increased to around Rs 17,000 crore. Blaming corruption and inefficiency at the management level, he said outsourcing of work had made the things miserable. The issue of outsourcing emerged in a meeting held between the state government and the workers’ federation in August this year in which Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had reportedly pulled up the officials and asked for a review of the policy, claimed sources in the department. The sources said the state government could go for merger of the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) and the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam(DHBVN), the two power distribution agencies of the power department in view of rising losses. |
Man kills wife, infant son, daughter
Sirsa, September 19 The accused, Malkiat Singh, a moneylender-cum-property dealer, escaped after the incident. The matter came to light in the morning when someone noticed smoke emanating from the house. The police was informed. It found the burnt bodies of Amarjit Kaur (32), her daughter Navdeep Kaur and infant son Sahaj in the ‘sandook’. The fire had spread in two rooms of the house and several other household items were lying burnt. Preliminary investigations by the police have revealed that the victims were hit on their heads and other parts of the body before being set on fire. The police has shifted the bodies to General Hospital here for postmortem. It would reveal whether the three had died before they were set on fire or they were burnt alive. Malkiat Singh was married to Amarjit Kaur, a resident of Abholi village near Rania in this district, in February 2010. The victim’s brother Randhir Singh alleged in his statement to the police that Mukhtiar Singh had illicit relations with some other woman. He alleged that due to this, he always quarrelled with Amarjit Kaur. It is not known what drove Malkiat Singh, who is missing after the crime, commit such an appalling act last night. |
Illegal colonies: Officials hand in glove with builders
Gurgaon, September 19 Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner P.C.Meena recently withdrew the power to register sale deeds of immovable property from Sohna tehsildar Pankaj Setia and Pataudi tehsildar Rajender Singh after he found irregularities pertaining to sale deed registration in unauthorised colonies, evasion of stamp duty and other matters in their areas of jurisdiction. On being contacted for comment, Meena said the tehsildars had been divested of their registration powers till further orders and the relevant records were being examined. Meanwhile, on complaints of DTP (Enforcement), first information reports have also been registered against several persons allegedly involved in developing illegal colonies in the Bhondsi area and Sector 10 of Gurgaon. Sources said the devious colonisers first cut plots on a chunk of land and sell these on the basis of general power of attorney (GPA) obtained from other states to dodge the local authorities. At times, the deal is struck merely on the basis of notarised agreements. Primarily, the low prices of such plots attract prospective customers to the trap. Such colonisers are usually backed by some prominent political figure(s), by virtue of whom they assure the buyers of getting the colony regularised. Subsequently, the colonisers approach the revenue officials to get the sale deeds registered in the colonies developed by them. Political clout as well as financial prowess are freely used in the game. Such rackets and nexus between unprincipled realtors and corrupt government officials have been flourishing in Gurgaon owing to the high prices of property in the district. |
6 illegal houses, shops demolished
Kurukshetra, September 19 The DTP said he was shocked to see to a number of illegal houses in the area and when he enquired from residents, they informed him that some of the houses had been constructing from the past two years. An official of the department said illegal houses and shops could be regularised as it was a compoundable offence. “It has become a common practice here, first to construct a house and then get it regularised by paying extra building fee. Due to this reason, most illegal constructions go unchecked,” said the official. |
Lease rates for petrol stations on highways up
Chandigarh, September 19 According to the new guidelines issued by the Office of the Engineer-in-Chief (General), PWD B&R, Chandigarh, the lease amount for a period of 15 years on the state highways would be Rs 80,000 while for the major district roads it would be Rs 60,000. For other district roads, the amount has been hiked to Rs 40,000. Earlier, a negligible amount was charged for leasing out the government land. While the superintending engineer of the circle will be the chairman and the executive engineer concerned will be the member secretary of the committee deciding a no objection certificate to the parties concerned. The committee will meet monthly to decide the no objection certificate cases and submit a report to the head office. |
PREVENTING HONOUR KILLINGS
Hisar, September 19 The khap leaders now propose to back inter-caste marriages provided the boy and the girl do not belong to the gotra of their parents, paternal grandmother and the village. These leaders will help such couples get their parents’ consent for their matrimony. The national head of Sarv Khap, Swami Karampal, said here today that a khap panchayat proposed to be held at Bibipur village in Jind district on September 30 would discuss the issue in detail. He said the khaps were keen to end honour killings. It was proposed to move a resolution in the panchayat for amendments to Section 5 and Clause 5 of the Hindu Marriage Act which ruled a marriage legal, provided it was not solemnised between members of five generations of the father and three generations of the mother’s side. It would also seek to amend Section 29, Clause 1 of the Act to make a marriage between a boy and a girl belonging to the gotra of their parents, paternal grandmother and the village illegal. Swami said a marriage between members of the gotra of their parents, paternal grandmother and the village was not socially acceptable in Haryana because of several reasons, all of which had a scientific basis. If this clause was inserted in the Act, there would be no honour killings in Haryana. He said the khap leaders would offer help to couples marrying outside their castes, provided they met these conditions. He also disclosed that the panchayat would seek effective implementation of the direction to schools to give 25 per cent seats to children from deprived sections of society. He said despite a high court order, the directive was not being implemented in Haryana due to resistance of the school managements. terms for INTER-CASTE MARRIAGES
The khaps have decided to back inter-caste marriages, provided the boy and the girl do not belong to the gotra of their parents, paternal grandmother and village |
Villagers lift dharna after molester
teacher’s suspension
Gharaunda, September 19 The villagers were adamant on the suspension of the teacher, who had allegedly molested some minor girls on the pretext of conducting medical examination, and transfer of some other teachers of the school. Demanding suspension of the teacher, Sukhbir, the villagers yesterday locked the school gates and sat on a dharna. The villagers ended their dharna within a few hours after Deputy District
Education Officer Veena Katpalia reached the spot and informed them that the said teacher had been suspended. Sub-Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Vivek Chaudhry said the matter would be investigated and stringent action would be taken if the teacher was found guilty. However, the villagers were adamant on their demand that the entire staff of the school should be transferred immediately and steps be taken to ensure that no such shameful incident was repeated in future. The administration found a way to settle this demand and left the matter left to the Gram Sabha. Village elder Teg Chand said a committee would be constituted at the Gram Sabha meeting on September 28, which would name the teachers to be transferred from the school. Bhim Singh, a resident of the village, said they had been complaining against the headmaster of the school for the past two months but all their complaints fell on deaf ears. |
Farmers, civil society oppose GM maize trials
Chandigarh, September 19 “It is undesirable that the Haryana Government has given a tacit approval for conducting open air trials of GM maize by the multinational companies while other state governments such as Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh have denied this permission. It is also deplorable that the state government had opened up Haryana for conducting genetically modified maize experiments for multinational seed companies, which are eying the control of our crops and agricultural operations through their proprietary genetically modified seeds and patents,” Gurnam Singh, state president of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), told The Tribune here today. Claiming that even the report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture tabled in Parliament on August 9 this year had recommended “stopping of all field trials under any garb”, Kapil Shah, co-convener of the Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture(ASHA), demanded that the Haryana Government should suspend all genetically modified maize trials till a national policy on the genetically modified crops was put in place. Two Congress Members of Parliament from Haryana --Deepinder Hooda and Shruti Choudhary-- are part of the committee. He alleged that the field trials in Haryana, which were being spearheaded by multinational companies such as Monsanto, Pioneer, Syngenta and Dow Agro Sciences, were happening in the absence of any bio-safety assessment. “The information about the field trials has not been shared with the public, raising genuine doubts about issues related to public safety and food security in India,” Shah alleged. Sunder Pal from the Svashaasan Mission, Khori(Rewari), alleged that the genetically modified crops, in general, and genetically modified maize, in particular, posed a grave threat to the health of the people of the state. “The pro-farmer Hooda government should listen to its own people and scientists rather than the biotech companies that promote genetically engineered and modified seeds for profit only,” he asserted. “Open air trials can lead to contamination of our regular crops and genetically modified maize trials might finish the time-tested seed varieties, affecting food supply and hitting hard at the cooperative fabric of the agricultural communities,” said Neha Saigal, a campaigner at Sustainable Agriculture, Greenpeace India. The speakers alleged that ever since Bt Brinjal was put under moratorium, biotech seed producer companies and their supporters in the state and central governments had intensified efforts to get genetically modified crops introduced in India through backdrop methods as tacitly-conducted open air field trials. Congress’ doublespeak
While two state MPs from the ruling Congress — Deepinder Hooda and Shruti Choudhary — reportedly agreed with the recommendations of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture on “stopping of all field trials in any garb”, the Hooda government “tacitly” decided to allow multinational companies to conduct field trials at six state-controlled research stations under the aegis of Choudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural Univeristy, Hisar, without any public debate. |
Portion of newly built NH-1 flyover collapses
Karnal, September 19 However, there was no casualty as no vehicle was passing through the flyover when the incident took place last night. The villagers were up in arms against the construction company and alleged that substandard material had been used for the construction and it did not last even a month. Five of the 10 flyovers constructed in and around Karnal were open for traffic last month, but the rain exposed the fragility of the structure raised by the company, said Amrit Singh a villager. Vehicular traffic came to a halt as a number of Delhi and Chandigarh bound vehicles were stranded. The villagers also informed the National Highways authority of India and complained about the poor quality of the material used in the construction.
— TNS |
CIC allows inspection of state info panel records
Rohtak, September 19 Local RTI activist and Haryana Soochna Adhikar Manch convener Subhash, who had sought the information, has been allowed to carry out an inspection of the relevant records of the office. This is perhaps the first time when the CIC has passed orders for inspection of records the SIC. Subhash said he had sought information from the State Public Information Officer (SPIO) of the State Information Commission on seven issues on August 18, 2011, but the SPIO did not bother to furnish information even after lapse of 60 days. In response to the first appeal filed in this regard, information on only four issues was provided. The reply to the remaining three questions which included furnishing the names of the officials who were yet to pay the fine to the department for delay in providing information, the travelling expenses of the Information Commissioners and details of their tour programmes of different departments, were the other points in the query posed. For these three points, the SPIO demanded Rs 360 as expenses from the applicant, who filed first appeal against this order. The convener then faxed his viewpoint to the First Appellate Authority on the date of hearing regarding non-furnishing of the information by the SPIO. It is reported that after considering all the facts, the commission decided that the applicant could either deposit the additional fee or can inspect in the SIC office. Subhash through his second appeal demanded information and action against the SPIO of the commission. The CIC then ordered that the applicant be allowed to inspect the record and upto a maximum of 30 pages marked by him be supplied to him without any fee. The applicant, who had written a letter to the commission asking for the date and time for inspection of records, claimed that the number of pending cases in the SIC had been on rise despite the fact that leave availed by officials concerned was low. |
Mechanics told to record details of vehicles repaired
Hisar, September 19 The workshop owners will have to maintain a register of a record of the details of the persons bringing vehicles for repairs. The mechanics will have to check the identity of the customer, record his address and phone number and also note the vehicle’s complete description, including its chassis and engine numbers. In case the mechanic suspects a vehicle owner, he would inform the police on its emergency number 100. Any mechanic or workshop owner violating this order would be liable for prosecution under Section, 188 IPC. The order has been provoked by the increasing number of thefts of cars and other vehicles in the area over the past few years. The stolen vehicles are generally taken to a workshop where their number plates are replaced and engine and chassis numbers altered. With the new directive, it will be possible for the police to check immediately if a stolen vehicle was taken to a mechanic. In another order issued under Section 144 CrPC, the administration has directed all hotels and dharamshalas to maintain registers of guests staying there. Any violation of the order will invoke prosecution. |
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Farmers protest hike in diesel, fertiliser prices
Sirsa, September 19 Holding both the central and state governments responsible for the poor plight of farmers, Bharukhera alleged that the policies of privatisation adopted by the government had done a great damage to the farmers. “The government had given a free hand to the oil and fertiliser companies, who had been increasing prices of these commodities at will,” he alleged. He alleged that farmers all over the country were in a miserable condition and some had been forced to commit suicides. Daya Ram Fatehapuria, district president of the Haryana Kisan Manch, alleged that the farmers were being looted from all sides. “While the government has been increasing prices of diesel and fertilisers at will, farmers were being fleeced by some unscrupulous arhtiyas in grain markets,” he alleged. The Haryana Kisan Manch also opposed the UPA government’s decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail and its leaders said they would oppose the opening of any such retail chain in Haryana. |
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2 cops held for youth’s death in custody
Hisar, September 19 The two arrested cops were produced before a magistrate last evening. The court remanded them in police custody till September 21. The police demanded the remand, saying the duo was not cooperating in the investigations. The youth, Praveen, was found dead in the police station’s bathroom. The police maintain that he had committed suicide by hanging. He was employed as a driver for a taxi owned by Surjit Singh. The owner had accepted the booking for transporting a runaway couple from Talwandi Rana village to Delhi on September 11. Praveen was taken in illegal custody by the police last week after he was summoned by the taxi owner on some pretext and handed over to the police. The police took him away, saying that there was a threat to his life from the family of the girl who had eloped with a boy. The youth had not been named in any complaint lodged by the girl’s family. No case was registered on the complaint of the
girl’s family. |
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Advocates oppose Justice Jain’s appointment
Chandigarh, September 19 In a requisition signed by more than 80 advocates, it has been stated Chief Justice Jain was yet to be absolved in the infamous Radia tapes case. The appointment of such persons to highly sensitive office gave rise to many doubts in the minds of every man, the requisition added. |
Gangraped girl’s father commits suicide
Hisar, September 19 There she was picked up by a youth identified as Mahendra. Instead of dropping her at her uncle’s house, he took her on his bike to a secluded place and summoned his eight friends. They allegedly gangraped the girl and then dropped her in the village late at night. Although the girl concealed the incident from her father, she confided in her mother the same day. The mother informed her husband last evening after which he became deeply depressed. He consumed pesticide this morning and died. |
2-month-old dies after taking vaccine shots
Sonepat, September 19 In her complaint to the police, the boy’s mother, Pooja, alleged that her son was administered three injections by an employee of the health department at the dispensary today. Later, when she was feeding the boy, he vomited and started bleeding through his nose. He was taken to a private clinic where Dr Adarsh Sharma declared him brought dead. Senior Medical Officer Dr JS Punia said the incident was being inquired into. |
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