News / Author / Pawan Sharma

Pawan Sharma

Pawan Sharma, based in Chandigarh, is Assistant Editor in HT and presently writes on Haryana's politics and governance. During different stints over the past two decades, he covered Punjab extensively for 10 years and before that judiciary and Himachal Pradesh with focus on high-impact news breaking and investigative journalism.

Articles by Pawan Sharma

RS ticket to outsider, Sukhu ignoring party MLAs led to revolt: Rajinder Rana

The 57-year-old three-term legislator, who is putting up at a private hotel in Chandigarh with the five other expelled Congress MLAs, said, “We voted in favour of the BJP candidate to uphold the honour and self-respect of Himachal and its people. Was there no leader of stature in the Himachal Congress who deserved a berth in the Rajya Sabha?”

Former Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel, Karnataka deputy CM DK Shivakumar, senior Congress leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Himachal Pradesh CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu and deputy CM Mukesh Agnihotri attend a consultation being held in Shimla on Thursday. (ANI)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 29, 2024 10:33 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Rajinder Rana, one of 6 expelled MLAs, explains why they rebelled in Himachal

The rebel Congress legislators say the party brushed their grievances and that backing BJP candidate was a conscious decision to uphold honour of Himachal

Expelled Congress MLA Rajinder Rana said (Facebook/rajinderranahamirpur)

India News

Updated on Feb 29, 2024 07:39 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma

Haryana to hand over INLD state chief Rathee’s murder probe to CBI: Vij

Haryana home minister Anil Vij announced that the CBI will probe the murder of INLD state president Nafe Singh Rathee, agreed upon after Congress demand.

People gather at the site after Haryana INLD chief Nafe Singh Rathee was shot dead by unidentified assailants at Bahadurgarh in Jhajjar district on Sunday evening. (ANI Photo)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 26, 2024 02:11 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma

In development push, Haryana shifts gaze towards housing in urban and rural areas

The Haryana government on Friday announced to launch an Urban-SVAMITVA scheme under which property ownership certificates will be issued to owners of properties in abadi areas of erstwhile villages that have now been included in Municipalities.

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 24, 2024 10:18 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana budget: Govt announces interest waiver on crop loans

While giving the top priority to the cultivators and describing them as “the backbone of the economy of the state”, Haryana CM Khattar also brought under the spotlight of his budgetary proposals sections such as poor, youth and women by coining a “GYAN framework”, a catch phrase.

Clearly, the vote-catching populist pitch was missing in the 48-page budget document of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who is also a finance minister, even as the government is bracing for the Lok Sabha and later assembly elections due in October this year. (Keshav Singh/ HT)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 24, 2024 09:38 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana mulls waiving farmers’ ₹125 cr pending canal water charges

In his budget estimates for the next financial year to be presented in the assembly, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to formally announce waiving the outstanding pending canal water charges

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar (HT File)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 22, 2024 09:54 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

How direct seeding method is growing on Haryana farmers

In 2023 Kharif farmers grew paddy using DSR technique in 1.78 lakh acre; a peasant opting for DSR scheme gets ₹4,000 per acre incentive and subsidy for buying a DSR machine

Not only does a farmer opting for the DSR scheme get <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>4,000 per acre incentive, but also there is a subsidy for buying a DSR machine. (HT Photo)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 08, 2024 09:32 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana plans to hire electric, CNG buses under kilometre scheme

A committee headed by additional chief secretary (ACS, finance) and comprising ACS (town and country planning) and principal secretary (transport) in a meeting held on August 3, 2023, had allowed the state transport department to take a decision at own level keeping in view the ground requirements and feasibility to hire buses under the kilometre scheme

Haryana transport minister Mool Chand Sharma. (Twitter)

Chandigarh

Updated on Feb 01, 2024 06:12 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Protests with bodies set to invite jail in Haryana

Cabinet clears draft of bill that proposes making demonstrations with dead bodies a non-bailable offence with a minimum imprisonment of six months, to be tabled in upcoming budget session

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar chairing the cabinet meet on Tuesday. (HT Photo)

Chandigarh

Updated on Jan 31, 2024 08:50 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Keeping tabs: Haryana upgrades e-learning devices to prevent misuse by govt school students

The ₹620-crore flagship e-Adhigam programme, under which e-tablets were distributed among over five lakh students of Classes 10 and 12 of Haryana’s government schools in 2022, had come under cloud last year as the clamour for withdrawal of the tablets grew across Haryana.

The Haryana education department has upgraded 65% e-tablets allotted to Class 10 and 12 students of government-run schools with the latest operating system (OS) following disturbing reports about students breaching the security codes of the tablets and accessing objectionable websites, it is learnt. (Shutterstock)

Chandigarh

Updated on Jan 16, 2024 08:02 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Another setback: Hard-fought gains on sex ratio front at risk in Haryana

Health minister Anil Vij blames neighbouring states for not cracking down on touts and those involved in gender detection

Health minister Anil Vij (HT File Photo)

Chandigarh

Updated on Jan 04, 2024 09:06 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Shah’s Karnal visit: Haryana Police Academy director flags security concern, says his team wasn’t kept in loop

“The HPA staff was “at the mercy of” juniors when “second prominent protected person of the country” was visiting the academy for a state-level function,” reads the letter (a copy with HT) written by HPA, Madhuban, director Dr CS Rao to DGP Shatrujeet Kapur

Chandigarh

Updated on Nov 29, 2023 06:02 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Jind school teachers were ‘non-vigilant’: Probe report

There can be individual lies but not a collective lie when 50-odd children are stating this fact... there appears to be a strong possibility of the staff being complacent and wilfully oblivious to misdeeds of the Principal

Kartar Singh, principal, was posted in this school from September 8, 2017, and continued till his suspension on October 28, 2023.

Chandigarh

Updated on Nov 25, 2023 08:50 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Files pile up as Khattar-Vij tussle drags on

Stuck in this logjam are over 900 files of the health department, official records show. As per Vij’s own admission, he has not cleared a single file of the health department after October 5.

Haryana chief minister (CM) Manohar Lal Khattar and cabinet minister Anil Vij have been having frequent run-ins over administration issues. (HT File)

Chandigarh

Updated on Nov 23, 2023 10:05 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Delay in investigation: Officers are misleading govt: Vij

In another missive, Haryana home minister says police have submitted contradictory status reports about action taken in year old FIRs

Vij had also directed the DGP to hand over the investigations of these FIRs pending with 372 IOs to the concerned deputy superintendents of police (DSPs) and finish the probe in a month. (HT File)

cities

Updated on Nov 22, 2023 07:16 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana: Municipalities directed to ensure refund of development charges

Haryana urban local bodies directorate says development charges ‘should not have been charged at first instance’; govt says property owners ‘erroneously paid’ the charges

The directorate of urban local bodies (ULB), Haryana, has identified 1,589 properties where the municipalities concerned charged development charges from the property owners to the tune of <span class='webrupee'>₹</span>5.19 crore. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

cities

Updated on Nov 21, 2023 09:04 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Portal pangs: Property owners in urban Haryana belts paid undue development charges

Top government sources say the mandarins of Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar’s secretariat were in a tizzy when it emerged that the affected property owners, who deposited development charges to get no dues certificate (NDC) needed to sell property, were owners of properties in areas where developmental charges at present are not applicable.

Hundreds of property owners in urban areas of Haryana were subjected to “unnecessary harassment” after they were forced to pay “development charges” which they had already paid, according to official records. (Getty Images/iStockphoto/ Representational image)

cities

Updated on Nov 20, 2023 07:00 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana clocks 36% farm fires in 14 days

The state registered an overall 40% dip in the farm fires this year so far as compared to last year: Official data

cities

Updated on Nov 16, 2023 06:16 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

BJP appoints OBC MP Saini as Haryana party president

Political analysts say electoral and caste calculations appear to have catapulted the Lok Sabha MP to the top post as the Haryana chief minister apparently wanted a leader of his camp to head the state unit

Lok Sabha MP Nayab Singh Saini, who became MLA for the first time in 2014 and remained a minister, is considered a confidante of chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar (HT Photo)

cities

Updated on Oct 28, 2023 06:22 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana Civil Services Exam: HC directs HPSC to upload results of all candidates

To be uploaded within a week; unsuccessful candidates had moved HC saying that HPSC was not revealing the subject-wise marks

cities

Updated on Oct 21, 2023 08:14 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Hindi halts march of Haryana youths aspiring to become HCS officers

In another strange turn of events, only 61 candidates out of over 1,200, who wrote the HCS main examination on August 12-13 to bag one of the 111 advertised posts, passed the main examination

The Haryana Public Service Commission on Monday allotted a cadre to all the selected candidates as per their order of merit. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

cities

Updated on Oct 17, 2023 06:34 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana govt to relax norms to fill vacant Group-D sports quota posts

Govt had stopped appointments on 1,518 advertised posts after finding that a large number of recommended candidates did not have valid sports gradation certificates, services of some already appointed were also terminated

The Manohar Lal Khattar-led Haryana government has decided to relax norms and fill the vacant Group-D posts which were advertised in 2018 under the Eligible Sports Persons (ESP) category, it is learnt. (HT File)

cities

Updated on Oct 04, 2023 10:57 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Haryana to present Parivar Pehchan Patra as dynamic census model

At Northern Zonal Council meeting, state govt will give presentation on its sports policy, while the trial court in Kaithal awarding death sentence last week within 11 months in the rape and murder of a minor after police presented challan within six days will be cited as an example of effective policing.

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar will showcase the Parivar Pehchan Patra as a dynamic census model before the heads of states and UTs during the Northern Zonal Council (NZC) meeting in Amritsar on Tuesday. (HT file photo)

cities

Published on Sep 26, 2023 11:34 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh:

Haryana banks on in-situ methods to put a stop to farm fires this year

The plan is to dispose of 43% stubble with in-situ management, 34% crop residue is likely to be used for fodder and 23% will be used in the industries via ex-situ management

Last year, Haryana recorded about 3,661 farm fires in comparison to 6,987 in 2021, 4,202 in 2020 and 6,364 in 2019, as per official data. (HT File)

cities

Published on Sep 24, 2023 12:45 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Congress keeps suspense going over presence at INLD’s Kaithal rally

Linked directly to the presence of Congress in Kaithal rally will be the possibilities of this bonhomie graduating into an electoral alliance with the INLD ahead of Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly elections due next year

All eyes are set on the Congress as most of the constituents of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), of which Congress is the largest party, have confirmed their participation (HT File)

cities

Published on Sep 22, 2023 12:19 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Centre forms panel to study Yamuna flood management

The committee has been tasked to identify possible drainage congestion in Delhi in case of high spate in the Yamuna.

The panel headed by the Central Water Commission (CWC) chairman will also review the utility and functional requirement of the ITO barrage, a bone of contention between Haryana and Delhi governments. According to a letter sent by the Union ministry of Jal Shakti (flood management wing) to the Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, and Delhi governments, the committee has been tasked to identify possible drainage congestion in Delhi in case of high spate in the Yamuna. (HT File Photo)

cities

Published on Sep 13, 2023 12:18 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Centre forms panel to study Yamuna flood management

The committee held its first meeting last week and will submit its report within six months, officials said

The development comes after incessant rain in Delhi and states upstream led to the Yamuna swelling to a record 208.33m in July, inundating large parts of the Capital in some of the worst flooding the city had seen in decades. (Sanchit Khanna/HT)

cities

Published on Sep 12, 2023 10:29 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma

Misuse malady: Haryana govt to keep tabs on tabs

Haryana government is set to rope in final-year students of polytechnic colleges to examine tablets allotted to Class 10 & 12 students for e-learning

The Haryana government, in 2022, had implemented its ambitious e-Adhigam scheme and distributed e-tablets to over five lakh students of Classes 10 and 12 in government schools. (Shutterstock)

cities

Updated on Sep 03, 2023 05:02 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Nuh violence echoes in House even as speaker disallows debate

A large part of House proceedings, beginning from Zero Hour at 12 noon and till lunch break were marked by Congress pressing for discussion on Nuh episode.

Haryana home minister Anil Vij with CLP leader Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the Vidhan Sabha on Monday.The communal violence in Nuh echoed loudly in Haryana assembly on Monday even as repeated pleas of the Congress to discuss July 31 clashes were rejected by speaker Gian Chand Gupta on the grounds that law doesn’t allow Vidhan Sabha to debate a matter pending before the court. (Keshav Singh/ HT)

cities

Updated on Aug 29, 2023 01:30 AM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

Sexual harassment case: Won’t remove Sandeep Singh from cabinet: CM Khattar

About six minutes after the ruckus, the chief minister turned down the opposition’s demand and repeatedly said that the resignation will not be taken. The ruling BJP benches, including Sandeep Singh, responded with thumping of the benches. CM Khattar said the Opposition cannot compel anyone to take action.

Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar on Monday rejected the Opposition’s demand of resignation of cabinet minister Sandeep Singh who has been chargesheeted in an alleged sexual harassment case. (Keshav Singh/ HT)

cities

Updated on Aug 28, 2023 11:33 PM IST

ByPawan Sharma, Chandigarh

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Pawan Sharma

The rebel Congress legislators say the party brushed their grievances and that backing BJP candidate was a conscious decision to uphold honour of Himachal

Haryana home minister Anil Vij announced that the CBI will probe the murder of INLD state president Nafe Singh Rathee, agreed upon after Congress demand.

The Haryana government on Friday announced to launch an Urban-SVAMITVA scheme under which property ownership certificates will be issued to owners of properties in abadi areas of erstwhile villages that have now been included in Municipalities.

While giving the top priority to the cultivators and describing them as “the backbone of the economy of the state”, Haryana CM Khattar also brought under the spotlight of his budgetary proposals sections such as poor, youth and women by coining a “GYAN framework”, a catch phrase.

In his budget estimates for the next financial year to be presented in the assembly, Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar is likely to formally announce waiving the outstanding pending canal water charges

In 2023 Kharif farmers grew paddy using DSR technique in 1.78 lakh acre; a peasant opting for DSR scheme gets ₹4,000 per acre incentive and subsidy for buying a DSR machine

Cabinet clears draft of bill that proposes making demonstrations with dead bodies a non-bailable offence with a minimum imprisonment of six months, to be tabled in upcoming budget session

The ₹620-crore flagship e-Adhigam programme, under which e-tablets were distributed among over five lakh students of Classes 10 and 12 of Haryana’s government schools in 2022, had come under cloud last year as the clamour for withdrawal of the tablets grew across Haryana.

Health minister Anil Vij blames neighbouring states for not cracking down on touts and those involved in gender detection

“The HPA staff was “at the mercy of” juniors when “second prominent protected person of the country” was visiting the academy for a state-level function,” reads the letter (a copy with HT) written by HPA, Madhuban, director Dr CS Rao to DGP Shatrujeet Kapur

There can be individual lies but not a collective lie when 50-odd children are stating this fact... there appears to be a strong possibility of the staff being complacent and wilfully oblivious to misdeeds of the Principal

Stuck in this logjam are over 900 files of the health department, official records show. As per Vij’s own admission, he has not cleared a single file of the health department after October 5.

In another missive, Haryana home minister says police have submitted contradictory status reports about action taken in year old FIRs

Haryana urban local bodies directorate says development charges ‘should not have been charged at first instance’; govt says property owners ‘erroneously paid’ the charges

The state registered an overall 40% dip in the farm fires this year so far as compared to last year: Official data

Political analysts say electoral and caste calculations appear to have catapulted the Lok Sabha MP to the top post as the Haryana chief minister apparently wanted a leader of his camp to head the state unit

To be uploaded within a week; unsuccessful candidates had moved HC saying that HPSC was not revealing the subject-wise marks

In another strange turn of events, only 61 candidates out of over 1,200, who wrote the HCS main examination on August 12-13 to bag one of the 111 advertised posts, passed the main examination

Govt had stopped appointments on 1,518 advertised posts after finding that a large number of recommended candidates did not have valid sports gradation certificates, services of some already appointed were also terminated

The plan is to dispose of 43% stubble with in-situ management, 34% crop residue is likely to be used for fodder and 23% will be used in the industries via ex-situ management

Linked directly to the presence of Congress in Kaithal rally will be the possibilities of this bonhomie graduating into an electoral alliance with the INLD ahead of Lok Sabha and Haryana Assembly elections due next year

The committee has been tasked to identify possible drainage congestion in Delhi in case of high spate in the Yamuna.

The committee held its first meeting last week and will submit its report within six months, officials said

Haryana government is set to rope in final-year students of polytechnic colleges to examine tablets allotted to Class 10 & 12 students for e-learning

A large part of House proceedings, beginning from Zero Hour at 12 noon and till lunch break were marked by Congress pressing for discussion on Nuh episode.

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