This Week Haryana

Bhajan lal seat is must-win for cong’s jai prakash

The Hisar byelection, scheduled on October 13, will be the Congress’s first test following the government’s standoff with Anna Hazare, and it has asked its state unit to ensure the victory of its candidate, Jai Prakash. The three-time MP has a tough fight ahead; the other contestants include two former Chief Ministers’ sons, Ajay Chautala of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and Kuldeep Bishnoi of the Haryana Janhit Congress. Bishnoi, son of Bhajan Lal, is an MLA from Adampur, one of the nine Assembly segments that form the Hisar parliamentary constituency, and is expected to ride a sympathy wave following the death of his MP father which led to the seat falling vacant. Chautala, an MLA from Dabwali, is banking upon anti-incumbency and a tie-up with the BJP.

Blow to Lobby for Haryana’s own SGPC

Elections to the 11 Shiromani Gurudwara Prabandhak Committee seats in Haryana saw the rout of those demanding a separate SGPC for the state. Eight of the 11 winners were Shiromani Akali Dal candidates supported by the Indian National Lok Dal. The self-professed president of the Haryana Shiromani Gurudwara Prbandhak Commitee (HSGPC-ad hoc), Jagdish Singh Jhinda, and all the candidates he fielded lost. Jhinda had been a member of the SGPC for seven years and was the lone voice within on this issue.

Clean-up drive in tehsil offices

The government has directed all deputy commissioners to collect information on the functioning of tehsildars and naib-tehsildars in the districts. The exercise has been undertaken to ensure that tehsildars facing disciplinary inquires are not posted in such offices. A list of all such officers will be submitted to the CMO shortly. Additional principal secretary to the Chief Minister R S Doon said the aim was to ensure only persons who are above board be allowed to have an interface with the public. It is often alleged that tehsil offices are dens of corruption.

Few takers for engineering seats

The Haryana State Counselling Society counselled students ahead of admission to engineering colleges and reported that most seats in these colleges are still vacant after its interactions. The society was able to fill only 4,377 B Tech seats in engineering colleges, less than one per cent of the total of almost 54,000. The colleges have now been asked to fill these seats on their own. The last date of admissions is September 30. Most of these engineering colleges are finding it difficult to get students.