Ex-CM launches 4th phase of rath yatra | Concerned over crime against women

Tohana (Fatehabad) :
Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda launched the fourth phase of his Jan Kranti Rath Yatra from Tohana with the promise of 50 per cent cut in electricity tariff if the Congress returned to power in the state.

“Karenge ek khaas kaam, poori bijli aadha daam (will perform special task, full electricity at half rate),” said Hooda atop his makeshift rath made by fabrication work on a minibus.
Interestingly, the announcement came within days of Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s statement that his government was contemplating reduction in power tariff in the state as power discoms had started earning profit after a long time.

Hooda castigated the BJP on what he termed as its attempts to mislead farmers on remunerative prices for agricultural commodities.

“The government claims to have implemented recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission and is patting itself on the back after raising the MSP of paddy to Rs 1,750 per quintal and cotton to Rs 5,150 per quintal, saying farmers are being given 50 per cent profit,” he said.

“Farmers know that they were getting Rs 5,000 per quintal for paddy and Rs 7,500 per quintal for cotton during the Congress regime,” he said.

He alleged that the revised MSP was based only on part of input costs and not comprehensive costs, as suggested by the Swaminathan Commission. He promised that the Congress would provide 50 per cent profit to farmers.

The former Chief Minister said the Congress had always stood with farmers and Congress president Rahul Gandhi had asked them raise issues concerning farmers after the death of farmers in police firing in Mandsaur, Madhya Pradesh.

“We started kisan mazdoor panchayats after the meeting as sought to highlight the problems of the farming community in the state,” he said.

He attacked the government for its failure to deliver on its promises to the youth of the state. He repeated his promise of raising old-age pension to Rs 3,000 per month. “We wish our elderly a long and healthy life and we hope to give them whatever we can,” he said.

“In 2014, Haryana was number one in per capita income, per capita investment, agriculture, sports and other fields. The BJP has pushed the state into despair. If people vote the Congress back, we will bring the state to its old glory and make Haryana the number one state in progress and development,” he added.

He took on the state government for its failure to maintain law and order in the state. He said it was a matter of shame that Haryana had become number one in cases of crime against women.

“The situation has become so bad that the police have stopped registering cases with the horrible incident in Panchkula being the latest example,” he said.
The former Chief Minister took on the INLD, accusing it of being hand in glove with the BJP government and indulging in shadow-boxing. He said the INLD’s agitation against the BJP was a sham and it would not make any impact even if it continued to agitate for 50 years.
Former state Congress president Phool Chand Mullana, former Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadyan, former minister Sampat Singh and former Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera also addressed the rally.

The choice of Tohana for the launch of this phase of Hooda’s yatra was significant because state BJP president Subhash Barala represented this constituency.
It formed a part of Sirsa parliamentary constituency, considered a stronghold of the INLD. Barring Tohana, the INLD had won eight Assembly seats in the Sirsa parliamentary seat in 2014.

‘Stay away from drugs’

Former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Sunday raised the issue of drug addiction and called on the youth to stay away from drugs. Mentioning the news item “For Rs 500, get drugs at de-addiction centre in Fatehabad within minutes” published in these columns on Sunday, Hooda said the report showed the enormity of the situation. He attacked the government for failing to control the rise of the epidemic. “There was a time when Punjab was way ahead of Haryana, but 10 years of SAD-BJP rule pushed the state back by several years because of drugs that ruined the lives of the youth,” he said.

Shahabad Markanda (Kurukshetra) :
Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said the present agriculture reforms were conducive for crop diversification.

At ‘Surajmukhi Dhan Kisan Dhanyawad Rally’ organised to laud the Central Government’s farm reforms, Khattar said the government had floated a policy to ensure no-loss in the agriculture sector. He laid stress on optimum use of natural resources in the farm sector.
“Now, we have a programme where a farmer will get assured 50 per cent extra on the cost of production on all crops, including pulses. Farmers sow water-guzzling paddy due to assured profit due to the minimum support price (MSP). Whereas, the south Haryana is facing a chronic problem of water shortage. Farmers in the paddy belt should now switch over to horticulture or other crops as the government scheme rules out of losses under any condition,” said the CM.

Khattar said the state government had decided to procure entire crop of sunflower seeds as a permanent policy.

He said the government procured oilseed on behalf of the Central Government but the growers would get better prices even the Centre had a limited requirement.
“Processing units will be established in Haryana to use every grain of sunflower purchased in the state on the MSP. Assured sunflower purchase will continue in the state,” said the CM.

Quoting the World Bank-backed ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ratings, Khattar said Haryana had emerged as the most preferred choice for the investors in north India.
He said the good governance and transparency in the government functioning was major success of the BJP regime in the state.

“More than 26,000 persons have been given jobs during our regime in the complete transparent manner. Let anyone produce any evidence of bribery in securing government jobs, I assure action against the erring person,” said Khattar.

He claimed as the BJP had ended casteism in the electoral politics in Haryana, the opposition parties were indulged in levelling baseless allegations against the state government, including neglecting farmers’ issues and promoting caste politics.
Police detain BKU activists

Kurukshetra : The district police on Sunday rounded up more than 60 activists of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (Haryana). The organisation had threatened to hold a protest during the CM’s public rally at Shahabad town. Sources said the BKU activists were taken into preventive custody at the Babain police station. The BKU has been protesting against the delay in due clearances of sugarcane growers. The organisation had announced to boycott Khattar’s rally by showing him black flags in protest.

Say plots not handed over in Karnal despite depositing amount

Karnal :
After depositing almost the entire amount over more than seven years, around 400 families have been left in the lurch as Soni Realtors Private Limited has reportedly not handed over possession of plots in Sector 32-A here.

The residents have been running from pillar to post to get their land registered from a licensed coloniser. A large number of residents alleged that even after getting possession letters and depositing the full amount since 2011, they could not get their land registered.

They approached Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar at the PWD Rest House to raise the issue. The Chief Minister assured them that injustice would not be meted out.
He asked them to meet the Director, Town and Country Planning Department. Earlier in the day, they met a delegation of the National Company Law Tribunal and submitted their claims.

Mukesh Sharma, one of the affected, said Soni Realtors had got a licence from the Town and Country Planning Department in 2011 to develop a colony on 55 acres comprising commercial plots on around two acres.

He said the coloniser had sold more than 400 plots and plot holders were assured of possession by 2015. He said after failing to get possession of their land, the residents had approached officials of the department, but no action had been taken.

Dr Rakesh Jindal, also among the affected, said he had purchased a 250-yard plot in the colony and deposited around Rs 23 lakh between 2011 and 2013, but was waiting for registration of the plot in his name. “The company owner has left us in an awkward situation as we do not have registry of plots,” he said.

One of the affected said she had procured a 359-yard plot and deposited full payment by 2016. “We have been assured of possession and registry of land, but are still living in rented accommodation and paying instalment on home loan,” she said.

Sandeep Chauhan, who was also affected, said the Town and Country Planning Department should take over the colony for the large interests of residents.
District Town Planner Amrik Singh said the company had not deposited government fee and so they had issued a notice under Section 18. If the fee was not deposited, the licence of the company would be cancelled, he said. Despite several attempts, officials of the company could not be contacted for comment.

Rohtak :
The authorities of Pt Bhagwat Dayal Sharma University of Health Sciences (UHS), Rohtak, and the British Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (BAPIO) have signed an MoU for the training of the local PGIMS doctors in the UK.

The UHS Vice-Chancellor, Prof OP Kalra, maintained that the doctor visiting the UK for the training would bear his/her own expenses and get the salary for the training period from the UK government.

“After returning to India, the doctor would have to serve at the PGIMS only,” he asserted.
The MoU was signed by the UHS Registrar, Prof HK Agarwal, and BAPIO training academy chairman Prof Parag Singhal on Sunday. An Indo-UK symposium on affordable healthcare was also organised on the UHS campus.

Addressing the participants at the symposium, Professor Kalra said getting affordable healthcare was the right of everyone, but much work needed to be done for the provision of quality healthcare in villages and urban slums.

The UHS Vice-Chancellor pointed out that economical healthcare services were available in India, due to which patients from various countries visit our country for treatment.
He observed that the government was laying emphasis on the public-private partnership model so as to ensure the provision of quality healthcare services at affordable cost.

Police had registered 239 FIRs

Panchkula :
In yet another blow to the Haryana Police, the Panchkula court dropped sedition charges against 19 followers of Dera Sacha Sauda in connection with 2017 violence that killed 36 people and left more than 200 people wounded.

Top aides of dera chief, including Panchkula dera in charge Chamkaur Singh and media coordinator Surender Dhiman, Pawan Insan, are among 19 accused.

The orders were passed on Monday but the copy was made available on Thursday.
Importantly, the Haryana Police had sent reminders to the state government for prosecution sanction for sedition charges, but no sanction was given by the government.
While framing of charges, Additional Sessions Judge Rajan Walia said, “At the very outset, the public prosecutor has fairly conceded that for prosecuting
the accused for the commission of offence punishable under Sections 121, 121-A and 124 of the IPC, sanction has not been accorded by the government and impressed upon the framing of charge under the remaining offences”.

The court framed charges for attempt to murder, rioting and criminal conspiracy under Sections 147, 148,149, 353, 186, 188, 332, 333, 307, 435 read with Section 148, 177 and 120B the IPC against 19 dera followers.

In the FIR no. 343, registered at Sector 5 police station, it was stated that these accused had caused damage to government buildings, LIC building, Fire Brigade property and vehicles of journalists near Hafed Chowk.

After the violence in August last year, the Panchkula police had registered 239 FIRs at different police stations. Of the total FIRs, sedition charge was slapped against the accused in 10 FIRs only. The SIT had sought prosecution sanction from the state Home Department for slapping the sedition charge against dera followers in all these 10 FIRs. However, the state government gave sanction only in two FIRs – the main case of violence in Panchkula and the dera chief’s escape bid.

This is the third dera violence case to see sedition charges being dropped. In February, the court had dropped sedition charge against 53 dera followers in another FIR related to the violence in Panchkula. Similarly, in the first week of July, the court had dropped sedition charges against 41 dera followers in FIR no. 333.

Six persons acquitted in April 

In April, in the FIR no. 415, District and Sessions Judge Ritu Tagore had acquitted six persons charged with rioting and snatching at Hafed Chowk — the epicentre of violence on August 25 last year after the arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda head Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.