News Analysis India

Tag: Haryana

  • Farmers protesting agri laws block KMP expressway in Haryana

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Farmers protesting the Centre’s three agriculture laws on Saturday blocked the six-lane Kundli–Manesar–Palwal expressway at some places in Haryana to mark the completion of 100 days of their agitation at the Delhi borders.

    The protest, which began at 11 am, would continue till 4 pm.

    The call for blocking the expressway was given by the Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of protesting farmer unions spearheading the agitation against the agriculture-related legislations.

    The 136-km Kundli-Manesar-Palwal (KMP) expressway is also known as the western peripheral expressway.

    The 53-km Manesar-Palwal section was inaugurated by Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in 2016 and the 83-km Kundli-Manesar section was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2018.

    “We will block the KMP expressway. However, emergency vehicles will be allowed,” general secretary, Bhartiya Kisan Union (Dakaunda), Jagmohan Singh said.

    Farmers in Haryana’s Sonipat district brought their tractor-trolleys and parked them in the middle of a stretch of the KMP expressway.

    Protesters, including women, carrying their respective union flags as well as black flags shouted slogans against the BJP-led government at the Centre for not acceding to their demands.

    “Our agitation against three farm laws will continue unless the Centre withdraws these laws. We will not step back,” a protester in Sonipat said.

    In Palwal district too, farmers staged a dharna.

    The KMP expressway was built to decongest the ever-busy roads of Delhi, especially by reducing the number of trucks entering the national capital, thus helping to curb pollution.

    It provides a high-speed link between northern and southern Haryana districts and gives an uninterrupted high-speed link for traffic, especially commercial traffic, from Haryana to neighbouring states.

    Thousands of farmers have been protesting since late November at the Delhi borders with Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, demanding a rollback of the Farmers’ Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020; Farmers’ (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020; and Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act, 2020.

    The protesting farmers have expressed apprehension that these laws would pave the way for the dismantling of the minimum support price (MSP) system, leaving them at the “mercy” of big corporations.

    However, the government has maintained that the new laws will bring better opportunities to farmers and introduce new technologies in agriculture.

  • Haryana DGP tenure row: Anil Vij hardens stance against top cop, questions his functioning

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Hardening his stance against Haryana police chief Manoj Yadava, state Home Minister Anil Vij has accused him of having no adequate command over his officers and mismanaging farmers’ agitation and law and order situation in the state.

    Vij has also accused DGP Yadava of being indifferent to making the Haryana State Narcotics Control Bureau (HSNCB) operational, ignoring requests for funds and staffers for it and “defeating” the state’s “flagship” project to launch the anti-drug department.

    The home minister made the scathing allegations against Yadava days after the Centre extended his tenure as state police chief by a year amid simmering differences between Chief Minister M L Khattar and Vij over his continuation.

    Vij made the allegations in two letters — one to the chief minister and another to the state’s Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Rajiv Arora.

    In a terse letter to the state ACS (Home), Vij asked the officer to seek Yadava’s explanation over his “irresponsible conduct” of being indifferent to making the HSNCB operational and submit the same to him within seven days.

    In his letter to the ACS (Home), Vij said the HSNCB was set up on August 25, 2020, with overall control of the DGP but Yadava has taken no interest in making it operational.

    He said ADGP Shrikant Jadav, who is the chief of HSNCB, has been making requests to provide staff, vehicles and funds to make the bureau functional.

    “Now on February 22, 2021, the chief of HSNCB has submitted that the bureau remains on papers only and it nowhere exists as the DGP is not taking any interest to make it functional,” Vij said in his missive.

    Meanwhile, sources said after the DGP was given a one-year extension early this week, Vij also wrote to Chief Minister Khattar, making scathing observations on Yadava’s tenure as the state DGP.

    In his letter to the CM, Vij alleged that Yadava does not have adequate command over his officers while citing the alleged “mismanagement” of farmers’ agitation and law and order situation in the state under his tenure.

    Yadava was granted a one-year extension as state police chief by the Centre.

    Vij was in favour of the DGP’s replacement after his two-year tenure ended while the CM was keen to retain him.

    Yadava, a 1988-batch Haryana-cadre IPS officer, was appointed Haryana DGP on February 21, 2019 for two years.

    The Intelligence Bureau had absorbed Yadava but had sent him to his home cadre in 2019 on deputation to become the state police chief.

  • Is it safe for a 14-year-old to terminate 26-week pregnancy, CJI-led SC bench asks Haryana hospital

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the medical board of a government hospital in Haryana to examine if it would be safe for a 14-year-old girl to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice of India SA Bobde has asked the medical board to submit its report by next week on abortion of the girl.

    The top court will next hear the matter on Friday.

    ALSO READ: ‘Are you willing to marry her’: SC asks man accused of raping girl; grants him protection from arrest

    The 14-year-old girl, in her plea, has stated that she was raped by her cousin leading to an unwanted pregnancy. She approached the apex court seeking permission to terminate her 26-week pregnancy.

    Under the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, 1971, termination of pregnancy exceeding 20 weeks is not permissible without the leave of the court.

  • Haryana wants Aravalli mining 

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Citing unemployment caused due to Covid-19, the Haryana government wants to start mining in Aravalli Hills saying it will generate employment and would boost the economy and state revenue.

    The state government has approached the Supreme Court, which has banned mining activities since 2002. The matter is listed for hearing later this week. 

    “If the mining activities be permitted according to law, the same will go long way in generating employment which, in turn, will help the poorer of the poor person in the state. It is humbly submitted that the state needs to boost the economy and state revenue, which otherwise has badly affected during the current situation,” the Haryana government’s petition in the apex court states. 

    Vikrant Tongad of the Social Action for Forest and Environment (SAFE) has filed an intervention application in the matter saying the state has proposed to allow mining activities on 600 hectares of fresh forest area. 

    “The state has proceeded to demarcate and assign the area for mining without following any due process or laying down any criteria and (is) merely relying on private consultant report. The ecologically fragile Aravalli ought to be saved at all costs as it has a direct bearing on the lives and health of people in NCR,” according to the intervention application.

    Tongad said fresh mining areas sought by the state are covered under Sections 4 and 5 of Punjab Land Preservation Act, 1900.

  • Milk new tool to fight agri laws discontent? Haryana khap panchayat to sell it to govt for Rs 100 per litre

    Express News Service
    CHANDIGARH: Milk may soon become a tool in the agitations against farm laws. Upset also by the rise in fuel prices, a khap panchayat in Haryana has decided to sell milk for Rs 100 a litre to government procurement agencies and cooperatives from March 1.

    For general consumers, they have decided to stick to the normal price of Rs 45-50 per litre. Until now, that was the price the government agencies paid.

    This was decided at a meeting of the Satrol khap at Narnaud in Hisar. Ramnivas, an officer-bearer of the body, told this newspaper: “The meeting has taken this decision. Milk will be sold to government procurement agencies and cooperatives for Rs 100 a litre. The government is not listening to the farmers, despite protests at Delhi borders for the last three months.

    At the same time, it is increasing the burden on the public by increasing prices of petrol and diesel. The government is working only for the cooperates.”

    The Satrol khap has influence in nearly 42 villages of Hisar and Jind districts. “If the government keeps on increasing the price of fuel, we will also increase the price of milk. Roughly, one quintal of milk is procured by the government on a day from one village. There will be no change in prices for the normal people,” he said.

  • Implementation of farm laws will increase food prices: Haryana BKU chief

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Haryana BKU chief Gurnam Singh Chaduni on Saturday said food prices will increase like that of fuel if the Centre’s farm laws are implemented in the country.

    Describing the farmers’ agitation against the Centre’s laws as a “dharma yudh”, the Haryana Bharatiya Kisan Union chief exhorted all sections of society to be part of the movement.

    Chaduni was among several farmer leaders who addressed the first “kisan mahapanchayat” held here.

    The event was orgainsed by the Naujwan Kisan Ekta.

    “We call it (agitation) “dharma yudh”. If agri-business laws are implemented, then the country’s foodgrain will go into the godowns of a few people. Then the food prices will go up the way petrol prices are rising now,” said Chaduni, seeking to assert the “adverse” impact of the legislations.

    “So, this is not a fight of farmers’ alone and we appeal to all sections of society that they should join this agitation. It is a movement to save the country. It is a ‘dharma yudh’,” said Chaduni.

    Chaduni said if the new farm laws were implemented, farmers will no longer remain owners of their land.

    The next thing which will be seen is companies doing farming on huge chunk of land, he stated.

    “If that happens, how will 65 per cent population which is dependent on agriculture survive. So, the question is of our survival, our future. If we lose this battle, then no one can save us from economic slavery,” he asserted.

    He accused the Centre of doling out financial relief to corporates and claimed the government could not spare money for relief to farmers in the shape of debt waiver.

    The Bharatiya Kisan Union leader said the question is not just of farmers but these three laws will impact cross section of people.

    Chaduni asked people not to vote for those who do not stand by farmers today.

    He asked farmers to stay at the protest sites near the Delhi borders for some days on rotational basis.

    Addressing the gathering, Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) president Joginder Singh Ugrahan slammed the BJP-led Centre for bringing the three “black” laws which are “against” the interest of farmers.

    He alleged that these farm laws will “benefit” the corporate sector.

    He asked the government to repeal the laws rather than sticking to its stand of putting these on hold for some period.

    Farmers from Punjab and Haryana have been camping at the Delhi borders since late November, demanding the repeal of the farm laws and a legal guarantee on the minimum support price for crops.

  • ED attaches assets worth over Rs 280 Crore in Manesar land PMLA case 

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The ED has attached assets worth over Rs 280 crore in connection with a money-laundering case related to “illegal” acquisition of land in Haryana’s Manesar between 2004 and 2007 with the alleged connivance of senior government functionaries and bureaucrats.

    The central probe agency said it has issued a provisional order for the attachment of the properties, registered in the name of various accused in the case, under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

    The role of Congress leader and former Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in this instance is under the scanner of the agency.

    The attached assets include a 54-per cent portion of a project in the name of Dove Infrastructure Private Limited of Atul Bansal and his group companies at Faridabad worth Rs 108.86 crore.

    A 50-per cent portion in the “Business Bay Project” in the name of Seriatim Land and Housing Private Limited of Bansal and his group companies worth Rs 78.09 crore, flats and fixed deposit receipts of Anglique International Limited worth Rs 3.39 crore and Rs 25.53 crore of refund from the HSIIDC sanctioned to Guru Nanak Infrastructures Developers Private Limited have also been attached.

    Also, 13.77 acres and 5.65 acres of land valued at Rs 29.48 crore of the Frontier Home Developers Private Limited, 20 flats worth Rs 22.72 crore of the same company and 95.09 bighas of agricultural land at Behror and Neemrana in Rajasthan worth Rs 13.31 crore of Lalit Modi have also been attached, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said in a statement.

    The agency had filed a fresh chargesheet last year against Atul Bansal of the ABW Infrastructure Limited, the company ABW Infrastructure Limited (ABWIL), Bansal’s wife Sona Bansal, Mahamaya Exports Private Limited, Shashikant Chaurasia, Dilip Lalwani, Varinder Uppal, Vijay Uppal, Viney Uppal, Ravinder Taneja, TDI Infrastructure Limited, Wisdom Realtors Private Limited and AB Rephcons Infrastructure Private Limited.

    A total of three — one primary and two supplementary — chargesheets have so far been filed by the ED in the case against a total of 30 accused and a special PMLA court in Panchkula has taken cognisance of these prosecution complaints.

    The ED case was filed after studying a 2015 FIR lodged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against the accused.

    “It was alleged in the FIR that the government of Haryana had issued a notification under section 4 of the Land Acquisition Act, 1894 on August 27, 2004 and a notification under section 6 of the said Act on August 25, 2005 for the acquisition of land measuring about 912 acres for setting up an industrial model township in villages Ike Manesar, Naurangpur and Lakhnoula in Gurugram district.

    “A large number of land owners, in distress, had to sell about 400 acres of their land at throwaway prices to private builders, who caused a wrongful loss to the land owners of these villages,” the ED said.

      The agency’s probe found that the land was later freed from compulsory acquisition by the state government as a result of a “conspiracy” by politicians, bureaucrats and private builders, causing a huge loss to the land owners and the state exchequer.

    “Most of the land were purchased by the ABWIL Group controlled by Atul Bansal and after obtaining licences, ABWIL had sold the licensed/un-licensed land and licences to the other private persons/developers, thus making profit worth crores.

    “ED investigation revealed that the above properties worth Rs 281.42 crore are proceeds of crime under the PMLA,” the agency said.

  • Rats nibble farmer’s body kept at mortuary in Haryana

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: The body of a 72-year-old farmer was allegedly gnawed at by rats at the mortuary of the civil hospital in Haryana’s Sonipat district, prompting the authorities to order a probe.

    The incident came to light on Thursday morning when the family of Rajender found injury marks on his face and foot.

    The body of Rajender, who died of heart attack, was kept at the mortuary on Wednesday night, the officials said on Friday.

    There were three rodent bite marks on the body, they said.

    Sonipat Principal Medical Officer Jai Bhagwan said a team of three doctors Deputy Medical Superintendents Ginni Lamba, Sandeep Lathwal and Senior Medical Officer Sushil Jain has been formed to inquire into the matter.

    “A team of three doctors are inquiring into the matter and they will see on whose part the negligence has been in this incident,” said Jai Bhagwan.

    The team of doctors will submit the report within a day, he further said.

    Rajender was a resident of Baiyanpur village in Sonipat.

    Senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala described the incident as shocking.

    In a tweet, he said a farmer’s body is nibbled by rodents and the “BJP government acts as a mute spectator”.

     

  • High Court notice to Haryana on labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur’s case

    By PTI
    CHANDIGARH: Taking suo motu notice of the matter pertaining to jailed labour rights activist Nodeep Kaur, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice of motion to the Haryana government, seeking its reply by February 24.

    Kaur, lodged at Karnal jail in Haryana, is facing three cases that include charges of attempt to murder and extortion.

    The 23-year-old activist is a member of the Mazdoor Adhikar Sangathan and is a resident of Giadarh village in Punjab’s Muktsar district.

    Along with others, she was arrested for allegedly gheraoing an industrial unit and demanding money from the company in Haryana’s Sonipat district on January 12, the Haryana police had earlier said.

    While taking up matter through video conference on Friday, Justice Arun Kumar Tyagi observed, “Complaints dated 06.02.2021 and 08.02.2021 have been received through e-mail regarding illegal confinement of Nodeep Kaur, Dalit Labour Activist by the Haryana Police.”

    Haryana’s Additional Advocate General Ranvir Singh Arya accepted the notice of motion.

    The next date of the case has been fixed for February 24.

    Notably, Punjab Minister Aruna Chaudhary on Thursday had urged the National Commission for Women (NCW) to intervene and ensure Kaur’s release.

    Social Security, Women and Child Development Minister Chaudhary had appealed to the NCW that the Punjab government, through the State Women’s Commission, would lend legal assistance to Kaur.

    The Punjab State Women Commission on Thursday had sought a status report from the Sonipat Senior Police Superintendent by February 15 in Kaur’s matter.

  • Haryana government mulling law to make protesters pay for damage to public properties: CM Manohar Lal Khattar

    Manohar Lal Khattar said the Haryana government is considering to enact a strict law to make protesters pay for damage to public properties.