Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Hunted and defended
Olympic boxer Vijender Singh,also a Haryana deputy superintendent of police,is the darling of one force while being hunted by another. The Punjab police have been hunting him for over a month in a drug-haul case,but Vijenders own Haryana police have given him a clean chit. He was recruited into the police on the basis of his achievement in sports. His whereabouts remain unknown. He has been attending neither boxing training camps nor police training these days. Haryana officers say he is clean and what their counterparts in Punjab claimi is based only on allegations.
Lieutenant stays on
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hoodas principal secretary Chhatar Singh,his most trusted lieutenant,has had his tenure extended by three months,a move that will have caused heartburn to many other senior IAS officers who had been vying for the coveted post for the past one month. Some half a dozen officers known to be close to Hooda are believed to have been in the running after 1980-batch officer Singhs scheduled retirement on March 31,which did not happen. Names discussed in bureaucratic circles as possible principal secretaries had included those of K K Khandelwal,Ashok Lavasa,S S Dhillon,Yudhvir Malik and K K Jalan.
Road tax hike
In a move aimed at uniformity with other states,Haryana has revised road taxes for vehicles of personal use. The tax is 4 per cent (of cost) for two-wheelers worth Rs 20,000 to Rs 60,000,6 per cent for those worth Rs 60,000-2 lakh,and 8 per cent for those worth Rs 2 lakh. For cars,the tax is 3 per cent for a cost up to Rs 6 lakh,6 per cent for those worth Rs 6-10 lakh and 9 per cent for costlier cars. Road tax rates in Haryana,however,remain lower than those in Chandigarh,Punjab and even Delhi.
PCC chief
Phool Chand Mullana remains Haryana Congress chief even after submitting his resignation. The high command has reportedly not been able to make up its mind,though it has appointed new chiefs in both Punjab and Himachal Pradesh. Mullana,who lost the assembly polls,has been in the post for four years. A group of detractors are said to be lobbying against him with 10 Janpath.
