Sonepat, July 6
Four persons, including three children, were killed and three others injured when a wall in Jatawara Mohalla colony in the district collapsed due to heavy rainfall today.

The deceased have been identified as Lali (10), Siraju (15), Amina (5) and their uncle Nabid Husain (50).

The seriously injured have been identified as Shaina, Alifudeen and Saikh Sajan. Hailing from Kolkata, all victims had come here to work as rag pickers.

Sources said they were residing in a temporary abode near Khijar Maquara in the outskirts of the town adjoining the house of one Ajay Kumar.

However, a wall in the house of Ajay Kumar collapsed due to heavy rain, following which the children got buried under the wall, which fell upon them.

The injured were taken to the Civil Hospital here for treatment. Deputy commissioner Ajit Balaji Joshi announced an ex gratia of Rs 50,000 for the family of Nabeed Husain and Rs 20,000 each for the minor children, who died in the incident.

Fatehabad, July 6
Close on the heels of a scam in the Indira Awas Yojna in this district, another scam in the distribution of grants under the house grant scheme for Scheduled Caste families has come to light.

Funds under the scheme have allegedly been distributed among persons already having pucca houses while those who deserved these have been left out.

More that a dozen cases of misappropriation of funds have been detected after a sample survey of persons funded under the scheme.

Additional deputy commissioner C.G. Rajnikanthan, who is probing the matter, maintains that this is only the tip of the iceberg and a big scam running into crores is likely to be exposed soon.

Under the house grant scheme, the authorities provide Rs 50,000 to the poorest of poor among the Scheduled Castes for the construction of houses provided the beneficiary does not have a pucca house, his name figures in the BPL list and has a 50 square yard plot.

The matter came to the notice of the authorities when MP from the Sirsa parliamentary constituency Atma Singh Gill, while presiding over a meeting of the District Vigilance and Monitoring Committee on June 26, complained that grants had been distributed to ineligible persons while those who deserved had been left out.

Deputy commissioner O. P. Sheoran directed Rajnikanthan to probe the matter. “During a sample survey, we have found startling facts that grants have been given to those having kothis in good localities of the town, while others who deserved have been left out,” said Rajnikanthan.

In one such case, a person having a kothi over 200 square yards had been given the grant. Similarly, in some other cases in the Hinjrawan Kalan and Ashok Nagar areas, those having pucca house had been given the grant.

A woman in government service has also been accommodated under the scheme, though a government employee cannot come under the BPL category.

Rajnikanthan said he would get all 563 cases funded this year scrutinised and submit his report to the deputy commissioner.

Chandi Ram, district welfare officer, Fatehabad, whose department releases these grants, maintained that beneficiaries were identified by his tehsil welfare officers and funds were released after approval from committee headed by deputy commissioner.

He said the committee included the ADC, the SP, the district attorney. Meanwhile, six beneficiaries of the Indira Awas Yojna have turned up before the authorities and deposited back the money received as grant by them.

The beneficiaries are Neelam of Mahmada village, Charanjit Kaur of Rozanwali village, Kelo Devi of Dhabi Khurd and Dalip of Dayyar village who have returned Rs 25,000 each, Golo Devi of Bahmanwala village - Rs 18,000 and Satya Narain of Dhabi Khurd - Rs 15,000.

“This has vindicated my stand that large-scale siphoning of funds have taken place in the Indira Awas Yojna,” said Rajnikanthan.

Fatehabad, July 6
Kin and colleagues of an employee of the PWD (public health) yesterday held a demonstration and expressed resentment after his death, allegedly due to the negligence of a doctor in the local general hospital.

The protesters refused to get his post-mortem done at the local hospital and took his body to the PGIMS, Rohtak, for autopsy. Deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran has ordered an inquiry into the matter.

Dal Singar, an operator in the PWD, had an altercation with his neighbours over some petty matter on Friday evening and in the scuffle that ensued, he, his wife Sanwari Devi and son Ram Parvesh were injured.

Singar received head injuries and multiple injuries on his body parts. They were taken to the general hospital for treatment and medico-legal reports.

In the meantime, his neighbours Ishwar and Rajesh also came to the hospital with complaints of injuries.

Madan Lal Guleria, president of the Mechanical Workers Union, Fatehabad, affiliated to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh, and Hari Chand Kamboj, district president of the Haryana Karamchari Mahasangh, alleged that the doctor on duty hobnobbed with the other party although they did not have any injuries.

The doctor shifted Singar to the general ward on the third floor after simple dressing, while he kept members of the opposite party under observation in the casualty, allegedly in connivance with them to make their case strong.

Gurgaon, July 6
The opposition by farmers to the SEZ being developed by Reliance in collaboration with the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) in Harsaru village over the issue of enhancement of compensation has predictably got political colour.

Not to be left behind, the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), which staged an impressive show in Gurgaon on Friday in the name of supporting the agitating farmers, the INLD and BJP too, a day after, announced their support on the issue.

While INLD leader and former deputy speaker Gopi Chand Gehlot said they would organise a mahapanchayat in Khandsa village, co-in charge of the BJP affairs, Haryana, Harjit Singh Grewal said their party delegation would visit Harsaru village to meet the farmers.

Though leaders of both parties deny it, the timing of their sudden awakening to the cause of farmers after the HJC show amply conveys the political stakes involved in the issue.

Political observers feel that the urgency shown by both parties on the issue stems from the fact that the HJC turned out to be the first political party to espouse the cause of the farmers.

Especially after its workers were lathicharged and its president Kuldeep Bishnoi detained, the media coverage of the whole incident is perceived to have sent a positive message to the farming community across the state in contrast to its image of being a party of non-Jats.

For the INLD, political inaction on the issue of farmers after erosion of its traditional support base among Jats, seen in the state assembly elections and in the results of the recent three assembly byelections could be nothing but suicidal.

Knowing fully well that the district administration and the police would not allow them to organise any political event in or around any of the five villages whose land has been acquired for the SEZ as it is sure to be taken as provocative from the law and order point of view, still both parties went ahead with their respective plans.

If this was not so, the HJC workers and its leader would not have been stopped and dealt lathi blows. They, too, were going to Harsaru village.

Saying that they felt having been “pipped” by the HJC, insiders of both parties termed their announcements on Saturday as face-saving tactics.

Hisar, July 6
With the divide in the UNPA following the Samajwadi Party’s deal with the Congress, the Indian National Lok Dal supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala is once again likely to gravitate towards the Bharatiya Janata Party for an electoral alliance in the next Lok Sabha and Haryana assembly polls.

Political pundits feel that the INLD and Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK are likely to return to the NDA fold in the changed scenario in the coming months which would see pre-poll alignments take place throughout the country.

Although the Haryana BJP is wary of Chautala and has been insisting on going it alone in the next polls, its central leadership is likely to welcome the INLD in a bid to strengthen its chances of returning to power with the help of regional allies.

Despite the shabby treatment Chautala meted out to the BJP after the 2000 assembly polls, which swept him to power, the central leadership realises that it cannot hope to win more than one seat out of 10 in Haryana on its own.

It is this “fact” which the Chautala camp is now likely to exploit to the hilt in order to revive links with the NDA.

Chautala knows that his chances of sweeping back to power in Haryana depend greatly on this tie-up.

In fact, his party in its present as well as earlier avatars has won the mandate to rule only in conjunction with the BJP.

This has been the case right from the days his father, the late Devi Lal, became the Chief Minister for the first time in 1977 under the Janata Party banner of which the BJP was a major constituent.

In 1982, Devi Lal and the BJP were together, but he missed the bus by a whisker thanks to some deft political machination by the Congress, the then Governor and Bhajan Lal.

Again in 1987, Devi Lal occupied the office of Chief Minister only in the company of the BJP. Chautala did not make the grade in 1996 when the BJP was not on his side.

In the 2000 Vidhan Sabha polls, Chautala swept to power joining hands with the BJP but he made sure he would defeat as many of his ally's candidates as possible during the campaign itself.

However, in case the tie-up happens now, the BJP is sure to impose certain pre-conditions on Chautala to avoid the repeat of post-2000 assembly polls.

One of these could be that the BJP contests all or at least eight Lok Sabha seats and a minimum of 25 to 35 seats in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha poll.

He said the accused were apprehended within 12 hours of the incident. Dr Sharma works with Jindal Hospital here.

Kaithal, July 6
President of the Jat Arakshan Sangharsh Samiti Chief Justice D.S. Tewatia (retd) today said the government should include the Jats in the OBC reserve category and provide them with all other facilities which were available to other reserved categories otherwise the community would be forced to launch an agitation.

He said this while talking to mediapersons at Jat College after presiding over a meeting of prominent community leaders.

He said in the next Lok Sabha elections, their community would support only that political party which would provide them reservation or would include their demand in its election manifesto.

The community would launch a peaceful agitation to achieve the object and would pursue the state and the union government to accept their demands.

Working president Col O.P. Sandhu clarified that their organisation is non-political and they would not allow any political leader to interfere in the affairs of the body, which had vowed to work for the benefit of the community.

Panipat, July 6
The district administration has asked the owners of cyber cafes to install CCTV cameras on their premises and maintain the recordings for at least three months.

The order also directed the cyber cafes to keep a complete record of the visitors to check activities of unwanted elements.

Senior officials maintained that the orders had been passed to ensure law and order in the district.

The orders stated that cyber cafes should check identification proof of all
Internet users.

Sources said the orders had been issued as a part of the ongoing efforts to thwart militant activities across the country.

The cyber cafe owners have been asked to make entries of all Internet users in a register along with their contact numbers and addresses.

Besides, a picture of visitors should be taken from the cameras installed in the cafes to preserve their identity.

Pattikalyana (Panipat), July 6
Agitated over the non-fulfilment of their demands and suspension of their union leader, workers at the Nestle plant stopped production work to register protest against the apathetic attitude of the company management here yesterday.

Workers have been agitating in support of their demands for the past one month, demanding an increase in the dearness allowance in view of the rising prices.

They alleged that their basic salary was deliberately being reduced over a period of time. Though the company is compensating the decrease in basic salary by increasing other allowances, the workers alleged that this was affecting their gratuity and provident funds.

They also lamented that regular employees were being discriminated against other employees, who were being frequently promoted, while the regular ones had not been promoted for the past 15 years.

They alleged that instead of providing any relief, the management suspended their union leader Bejinder Singh, following which they were left with no other option but to close down all operations at the factory.

They said they would not withdraw the strike until their legitimate demands were met by the company.

Bhiwani, July 6
The Shiva temple land at Hansi Chowk, which came into light with the murder of the local municipal council chairman, Nand Lal Chawla, is again in news.

Trustees of the temple, Ras Behari and Kunj Behari, claimed at a press conference held here yesterday that the temple was the property of their family trust and the land mafia was looking to encroach upon it.

Showing court documents that proved their claim as right on property, the duo said the temple land belonged to the Naurang Rai Sawadia Family Trust. A court order dated March 13 said the temple was the property of the trust.

Kunj Behari, who is the chairman of the trust, alleged that few persons connected to the land mafia wanted to grab the land, as it was located in the main business market. He added that such people were threatening them to leave the claim on the land and temple.

The trust had lodged a complaint with the concerned police station, he said, but the police administration had not been extending cooperation and protection.

He alleged that the administration was not serious in connection with the security of the temple. They urged the administration to provide security and save the historical temple.

Bhiwani, July 6
The police today arrested one of the shooters allegedly involved in the murder local municipal council chairman Nand Lal Chawla.

SP Sanjay Kumar said the suspected shooter, Rakesh, a resident of Didwadi village, was arrested from Sunaria Chowk, Rohtak.

Rakesh had been arrested under Sections 302, 506, 34, 120-B and 216 of the IPC and Sections 25, 27, 54 and 59 of the Arms Act, he said.

The police was intensively interrogating the arrested accused to know about his other two associates.

He would be produced before the court tomorrow, he said. Earlier also arrests have been made in the case.

Chandigarh, July 6
A long-standing demand of the Ahirwal region will be met soon when a central university in the name of Lord Krishna will be set over 500 acres in Mahendragarh.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda announced this today while addressing a rally in Mahendragarh organised by local MLA and parliamentary secretary Rao Dan Singh after laying foundation stones and inaugurating various development projects costing Rs 35 crore in the district.

Hooda said 525 water courses would be lined at a cost of Rs 150 crore to irrigate 99,383 hectares in districts of Jhajjar, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mahendragarh and Bhiwani.

Out of these, 104 water courses were in Mahendragarh alone. He suggested to farmers to dig ponds in their fields so that they could irrigate their fields whenever need arose.

Financial aid was being provided by the centre as well as the state government for the construction of these ponds. He assured the farmers of Mahendragarh that adequate irrigation water would be provided to them.

Responding to the demands raised by Rao Daan Singh, Hooda announced that a new building on a ten-acre plot would be constructed on the Mahendragarh-Narnaul road for the government college for women and new trades would be introduced in the local industrial training institute.

Reiterating his commitment to ensure equitable distribution of available canal water, Hooda said water was being supplied through 23 out of 32 water channels in the district by his government, while only seven channels were supplying water during the previous regimes.

He recalled that they were holding a protest in front of the residence of agriculture minister H.S. Chatha in February 2006 when Mullana, accompanied by four MPs, had assured them that their demand would be fulfilled following which they decided to suspend their agitation after 110 days.

He said the Congress, in its manifesto, had supported the demand for setting up a separate committee for managing Sikh shrines in Haryana.