Gohana, May 8
Lambasting former Chief Ministers for their “failure” in taking any long-term decisions for the benefit of farmers and the downtrodden, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has dared them to confront him in an open debate on issues of development.

Not naming anybody but apparently targeting Bhajan Lal and Om Prakash Chautala, Hooda maintained that these former Chief Ministers had ruled over Haryana for long, but failed to do anything worthwhile for the people of the state.

Addressing a series of public meetings in different villages of the Gohana assembly constituency here today, the Chief Minister asked the people to vote on the voice of their conscience. He covered several villages of the area, including Shamri, Khanpur Kalan, Bhainswal, Joli, Lath, Anwali, Rithal and Rukhi, besides Gohana.

Hooda got a rousing response from villagers when he urged them to vote for Congress nominee Jagbir Singh Malik in the byelection to be held on May 22. The people present at the meetings raised their hands to assure the Chief Minister of their whole-hearted support.

The Chief Minister was welcomed to the villages by his supporters and party loyalists who braved the intense heat while waiting for their leader. In some villages like Khanpur Kalan, Hooda was led to the meeting site by a cavalcade of motorcycles and horses.

Veiled rural women carrying Congress flags and garlands were seen waiting for the Chief Minister in the streets of villages. Youth and children also accorded him a warm reception. Even elderly persons were seen breaking into a dance amidst beating of drums on Hooda’s arrival.

“Weigh the options before you and consider who has done what for you. Then decide whom to vote in these elections,” said Hooda, who was accompanied by Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana, Haryana power minister Randeep Surjewala, party nominee Jagbir Singh Malik and other party leaders.

Emphasising that he did not believe in “politics of falsehood and oppression” like his predecessors, Hooda asserted that instead of suppressing people’s voice by bullets and lathis, he would garner their support through development.

Striking a chord with the masses, the Chief Minister pointed out that the Gohana assembly was close to his own Kiloi constituency and he had family ties with the area. He sought votes for the Congress candidate, stating that this would strengthen his hands.

Gurgaon, May 8
Facing a daily shortfall of around 10 lakh units, Millennium City, that Gurgaon has come to be known as, is reeling under unprecedented power crunch. The situation looks all the more grim due to uncertainty about any augmentation of supply at least in several days to come. Therefore, the residents should expect longer stay of power cuts.

The situation is no different if the power requirements of the whole district are taken into account. During this month, the demand exists for 110 lakh units daily against a supply of 90 lakh units. Officially, the overall gap of a whooping 20 lakh units in the district is due to a sudden increase in temperature that in turn caused an increase in demand. The available sources of generation are not able to cope with the requirement. Around 1,800 MW power is generated in the state against its requirement of 4,500 MW.

At present, the demand in urban sector of Gurgaon, dotted with Malls, highrise corporate buildings and apartments, is hovering around 52 lakh units daily against the availability of 42 lakh units. So power managers at the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) have resorted to cuts lasting six to seven hours daily. As the uncertainty looms large over any augmentation of supply, the power-starved residents have no option but to bear with the situation. The peak season requirement of this sector, comprising domestic, commercial and industrial consumers, in June and July is estimated to be around 55 lakh units. “As of now we don’t have a clue from where the gap and supply will be filled. This not a local problem but of the entire northern region,” said a top official of the DHBVN here.

According to A.K. Jain, superintending engineer (operations), Gurgaon has witnessed a 20 per cent increase in demand as compared to last year. This is in sharp contrast of the 8-9 per cent increase in other Haryana towns. In March last year, the total sanctioned load was 1,815 MW as compared to 2,015 MW in the corresponding month this year. The situation could well be imagined if another 200 MW pending to be released is taken into account. Of the 20 mega malls here, some have a captive generation capacity while five or six are dependent on supply from the DHBVN. The demand is likely to shoot up further when connections are released to the remaining ones whose applications are being processed.

The supply situation would have dipped further if the DHBVN authorities had not streamlined and strengthened the local system of transmitting power. Besides increasing a number of 11 kV lines, five new substations have been added. The capacity of the substations in Sectors 34, 10, 56, Maruti Kunj and Q- Block has been strengthened. But the residents still have complaints. They suspect the reliability of the field staff in fixing the faults. As a glaring example, recently a snapped transmission line that rendered the residents of Sector 22 powerless, was rectified almost after 24 hours.

Chandigarh, May 8
To ameliorate the suffering of the labour employed in brick-kilns and give them their rights, the labour department, Haryana, has got cracking against errant kiln owners and issued directions to rein them in while carrying out raids.

Though there is no bonded labour in Haryana, the department realises that the labour - migrants from UP, Bihar and Rajasthan - are made to work in “bonded conditions”. Some owners, it is learnt, withhold their wages as a guarantee for a whole season’s stay at the kiln while others give them food instead of money as compensation for work. This, reiterated by the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), has woken the department to the “injustice” being meted out to the labour which is deprived of its due wages and made to work and stay in inhospitable conditions.

To address these issues, the labour department held a series of meetings with the Brick-kiln Owners Association in the state. The outcome of these meetings has been that brick-kiln owners have been asked to display boards announcing wages for all kinds of jobs on their premises.

Further, to ensure that the labour gets its due, the kiln owners have been asked to maintain log books listing out the work put in by every labourer during the day and make payments accordingly. Also, the brick-kilns will have to maintain a register listing out the names of labour and their wages.

Making registration of labour with the labour officer of the area mandatory, the department has made it clear that any violation of the Inter-state Migrant Labour Act could invite punitive action.

“There was zero registration of labour till recently. However, nearly 200 kiln owners have got their labour registered in the last fortnight or so. We have also asked owners to take safety measures for the labour working inside the kilns by providing it gloves, goggles, shoes and jackets. Some have already done the needful and raids are on to ensure that all kiln owners fall in line,” labour commissioner N.C. Wadhwa said.

Agents bringing in labour, too, have been asked to obtain a licence for the same from the labour officer as is mandatory under the Contract Act. In addition to this, the deputy commissioners of kiln-intensive districts have been asked to hold special campaigns near the brick-kilns to educate the labour about its rights. 

Saalwan (Karnal), May 8
In an attempt to ease communal tension among village communities, Congress MLA Venod Sharma today initiated kar sewa to construct a temple in the Balmiki locality of Saalwan village.

Volunteers did sewa for about two hours with the help of local Balmiki population.

Last year, the village remained tense for several days after a person was found murdered near the village. Later, the incident had led to communal tension between two communities.

Today, after performing pooja of Lord Parshuram at the village temple, members of the Karnal Brahmin Sabha reached the Balmiki basti.

Venod Sharma held a meeting in the basti for the proposal to construct a temple with the community support.

Villagers said due to paucity of funds, the construction work of the temple was stalled for past several years.

Venod Sharma said the sabha would provide raw material and ensure that the construction work of the temple was completed well in time.

“We have decided to perform such kar sewa projects regularly to motivate all for a social cause,” he added. 

Panipat, May 8
Even as kids of Rajasthani nomads ran to save their lives, as many as 50 lambs were charred to death, in a fire that broke out in their tents late this evening.

The incident took place in Vashari village, about 20 km from here, when a sudden change in wind altered the direction of fire that was lit in the stubble in the nearby fields.

As many as 10 families of nomads had put up their tents in the vacant area around the fields.

The incident took place at around 6.30 in the evening, when the men had taken their sheep for grazing while the woman were away to collect water.

The kids were playing around the tents while an entire flock of lambs was kept in one of the tents.

The fire took less then half an hour to engulf all tents and turn these into ashes.

Though some of the villagers initiated rescue measures, but the intensity of the flames foiled their efforts to bring down the flames.

The fire department was informed about the incident at around 7.20 pm, almost an hour after the fire had broken, but by the time firefighters reached the spot everything had been reduced to ashes along with the lambs.

Eyewitness said so intense were the flames that even the metal utensils kept in the tents melted.

The nomads stated that Rs 1.5 lakh in cash and a number of articles of daily used had been brunt completely in the fire.

Fatehabad, May 8
A road accident victim was left to die at the mercy of God in the local general hospital last night. The doctor on emergency duty did not care to provide the necessary treatment to the victim and referred him to Agroha Medical College.

As the victim had been brought to the hospital by a good Samaritan, there was no one to shift him to Agroha.

Eventually, the victim's brother reached the hospital well after midnight and shifted the patient to Agroha.

Sita Ram (42), a resident of Kaimri village near Hisar, was injured in a road accident on the local Sirsa road last evening.

He was conscious, but had multiple injuries.

When a passer-by brought the victim to the local general hospital, there was no doctor in the casualty department.

Someone called the doctor from his residence, but he allegedly told the victim to go to Agroha Medical College for further treatment after bandaging his injured arm.

As the victim had no attendant and he was bleeding profusely, he was made to lie down unattended on a stretcher leading to a deterioration in his condition.

It was only when the victim’s brother reached the hospital after midnight that the victim could be shifted to Agroha.

Interestingly, the Haryana government has recently appointed specialists of almost all common fields of medicine and surgery in the local general hospital to improve its functioning.

Even, the casualty wing of the hospital was renovated last month at a huge expenditure. Hira Lal Gupta, senior medical officer, said he had no knowledge of the incident.

But he said later that the victim was drunk and hence it was not possible to treat him here.

He said the doctor on duty did provide him first aid, but the hospital had no provision for shifting such patients to other institutes on its own and only the attendants could shift the patients. 

Chandigarh, May 8
As many as 77 candidates of different political parties are left in the fray for the bypoll to the assembly seats of Indri, Gohana and Adampur after withdrawal of nomination papers by candidates.

Of these, 13 candidates are contesting from Indri, 23 from Gohana and 43 from Adampur. The contest will see 58 independent candidates battle it out in the bypoll which has a maximum of 34 such candidates from Adampur alone, 17 from Gohana and seven from Indri (Karnal).

After withdrawal of eight candidates for the Gohana seat, prominent candidates include Dharam Pal Malik of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), Krishan Chander Bangar of the Indian National Lok Dal, Jagbir Singh Malik of the Congress, Pardeep Singh Sangwan of the BJP, besides independents.

In the Indri assembly constituency, after withdrawal of nomination papers by three candidates, Bhim Sain Mehta of the Congress, Ram Kumar Arya of the BJP, Ashok Kashyap of the INLD, Zile Singh of the CPI, RaKesh Kamboj of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), Virender Verma of the Ekta Shakti Party are among those contesting.

For the Adampur seat, the prominent candidates are Ranjit Singh of the Congress, Bhajan Lal of the Haryana Janhit Congress (BL), Sampat Singh of the INLD and Swami Raghwanand of the BJP.

Gurgaon, May 8
District Magistrate Rakesh Gupta today cancelled the arms licence of Bollywood actor Soha Ali Khan. She was held guilty of suppression of facts at the time of renewal of her licence and also for misuse of her rifle by her father and former cricketer Mansoor Ali Khan Pataudi in the alleged black buck poaching case.

Announcing the decision here, the DM said the arms licence of Soha Ali Khan was cancelled under section 17 of the Arms Act but she could file an appeal against this order in the court of the Divisional Commissioner, Gurgaon, within 30 days. The Jhajjar district police would also be informed about the decision with the request not to release the weapon to her, he said, adding that the weapon was in the custody of the Jhajjar police which was alleged to have been misused by her father, who was its retainer.

Though Soha Ali Khan was issued the arms licence in November 1996 when she was not eligible for it, the responsibility could not be fixed because the original file went missing. So, now it was difficult to ascertain as to what documents were submitted by the actor in support of her eligibility in terms of her age as well as whether she suppressed facts or it was a lapse on the part of the DM’s office, he said. The inquiry into the issue of the missing file was entrusted to ADC Abhe Singh Yadav who reported that despite all efforts the original file of her arms licence could not be traced.

The DM said had the Jhajjar police intimated the Gurgaon administration about the seizure of her rifle in the poaching case, the administration would not have renewed her licence. Saying that the home department would be informed about this lapse on the part of the Jhajjar police, the DM added it was the duty of the actor to inform the district administration that her rifle was in police custody at the time of the renewal of its licence. She was found guilty of knowingly suppressing this fact, he said, adding that had the crime taken place in the jurisdiction of Gurgaon district, the district police would not have recommended renewal of her arms licence.

Rewari, May 8
The police has booked four persons - Manoj Kumar, Sheo Chand, Tota Ram - all residents of Alwar district in Rajasthan, and their accomplice Sube Singh of Pathuhera village, 15 km from here, on charges of duping a farmer Pooran Chand of Peevra Ki Dhani village, near here, of Rs 26 lakh and also snatching the deed of a land sale agreement from him.

A case under Sections 382, 420, 406 and 120-B of the IPC has been registered against them on a directive which has been issued under Section 156 (3) of the CrPC by the court on a petition earlier filed by Pooran Chand.

The petitioner alleged that an agreement was signed here on November 15, 2007, between him and the accused for sale of their land at Mataur village in Rajasthan following which he had paid them Rs 26 lakh as earnest money.

However, in February 2008, they changed their stance, forcibly snatched the deed of agreement from him and then refused to repay the earnest money as well, he further alleged.

Thus when he failed to get back his advance money from them even after repeated attempts, he filed a petition for relief and justice in the court.

ASI Daya Nand of the economic cell here was now investigating the matter after which the accused could be apprehended.