The Tribune, Chandigarh, India

Friday, May 31, 2002, Chandigarh, India

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BKU blocks roads leading to Jind
Shubhadeep Choudhury
Tribune News Service

Villagers of Gulkani village show the blood marks where Rajbeer Singh was killed in police firing on Thursday.

BKU activists block the Jind-Kaithal road at Pegan village on Wednesday.
— Tribune photos Pankaj Sharma

Gulkoni (Jind), May 30
Jind district is reeling under the call given by the BKU yesterday to block Haryana roads. Three major roads of the district, linking Jind with Hansi, Bhiwani and Rohtak, respectively, have been paralysed by the agitators.

Since one person was killed in police firing at this village last evening, the police has apparently abandoned any attempt to clear the Jind-Hansi road running by the side of Gulkani. The Jind-Panipat road, which was blocked at Lochab was opened by the police by firing in the air an resorting to a lathicharge early this morning. The SDM of Jind, Mr Inder Singh, and the DSP, Mr J.S. Lamba, were seen lying on a cot by the shade of a tree in an agricultural field near Lochab. They were in charge of a large police contingent which had been deployed to prevent possible disruption of traffic on the road by agitators.

The Jind-Gohana road was also blocked for a while, though it was by the agitators near the Nidana village. The roads linking Jind with Narwana and Rohtak, however, continue to remain open. However, the police is keeping its fingers crossed as far as the blockades of roads are concerned.

“Jind has become the Afghanistan of India, and Ghasiram Nain, President of the BKU in Haryana, has become Bin Laden”, stated a police officer while describing the situation. A police officer manning the forces on one of the highways said he might soon have to rush to another spot to chase away the agitators.

The Jind-Hansi road has been completely blocked by felling trees on the road at several places between Rajpura and Gulkani making vehicular movement of traffic an impossibility. This was by far the most severe blockade put up by the agitators in Jind district.

This reporter, accompanied by The Tribune cameraman, reached Gulkani after walking for about 3 km from Rajpura even as villagers from Rajpura eagerly accompanied them upto Gulkani.

The inhabitants of Gulkani, which saw the death of Rajbir Singh, an inhabitant of this village, in police firing last evening, were seething with anger against the Deputy Commissioner of Jind, Mr H.S. Dhankar. It was Mr Dhankar who had ordered firing by the police on a peaceful assembly of people standing by the roadside, the villagers alleged.

Rajbir Singh, who was aged about 40 years, apparently ran towards the village when the police party led by Mr Dhankar and the SP, Mr K.K. Rao, arrived on the spot where the agitators had allegedly set up a blockade. However, he got a bullet in his head and died on the spot.

The slain villager’s brain is still splattered on the boundary wall of a building set up in the memory of his father, Swaran Singh, who too had died at the hands of the police during the Hindi agitation.

At least 15 persons were injured in the firing, the villagers said. Saroj, wife of Jaswinder, who was reportedly making chapattis sitting on the terrace of her house, was also hit by bullets. “All the roads are blocked, I do not know how I can put her in a hospital”, said Jaswinder, her husband.

Police denies farmers’ deaths
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 30
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Om Prakash Chautala today made it clear that those instigating violence and provoking farmers not to pay their electricity bills would be dealt with firmly. He said the protection of life and property of the people was the prime duty of the state government and he would not allow “jungle raj” to prevail in the state. He criticised the Opposition parties for misleading the farmers by instigating them not to pay their electricity dues. He said their sole aim was to gain cheap publicity and create hindrances in the development of the state. He said such acts would prevent entrepreneurs from setting up their units in Haryana, thus adversely effecting its socio-economic development.

Meanwhile, the Haryana police today denied reports that two farmers had fallen to bullets of the police at Gulkani village in Jind. A spokesman clarified that only one person — Rajbir of Gulkani village — had died and 26 persons, including 12 police personnel, were injured in a scuffle between the police and villagers. The cause of the death of Rajbir would be confirmed only after a postmortem, he said.

The spokesman said police personnel of Jind and Hisar districts were deployed to maintain law and order as the activists of the so called Bhartiya Kisan Union had blocked the Hisar-Hansi road and caused damage to public property. They had also attacked a police party with lethal weapons, he added.

Rivals fuelling farmers’ stir: Chautala
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, May 30
Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala has accused his political opponents of engineering an agitation to defame his government, even as he asserted that Haryana would get its share of SYL water by January next year, despite opposition from Punjab.

Addressing mediapersons here, Mr Chautala said some disgruntled politicians were fuelling the agitation through anti-social elements against the collection of pending electricity bills from farmers in Haryana.

“Action will be taken against those who have taken the law into their own hands,” Mr Chautala said.

Denying that a farmer had been killed in police firing in Kandela village of Jind district, where two DSPs were held hostage by farmers protesting against the collection of one-fourth of pending power bills, Mr Chautala said according to the post-mortem report, “he was not killed by police bullet but by a sharp-edged weapon.”

“There is no agitation by the Bhartiya Kisan Union or by the farmers. The agitation is fuelled by some disgruntled elements who want to disturb peace in the state. The farmers are with us,” he said.

The Chief Minister said the state government had collected Rs 901.56 crore from farmers whose bills were pending for over a decade. Under the settlement worked out by the state government, farmers are to pay one-fourth of their dues to settle their pending bills, he said. “We want that bills get settled and money is spent on development,” he stated.

Mr Chautala alleged that while the previous Congress and Bansi Lal governments had failed to realise the dues, several farmers were killed in various incidents of firing.

Dismissing the allegation of farmers being against the state government, he described it as a propaganda of those political parties who were responsible for the accumulation of the bills.