Yamunanagar, July 26
The overflowing waters in Bilaspur subdivision due to a breach in the Som rivulet today claimed the lives of three schoolchildren. They were drowned in a pond while on their way to home from school this afternoon.

The three, Yatit Khan (8), Tahir (9) and Sharif(9) of Sherpur Majra, were drowned near village Sunderbahadurpur. Passersby noticed the floating bodies and informed the police.

Several areas in Chhachhrauli and Bilaspur, mainly agricultural land and roads, remain submerged in water. As many as 60 villages are facing a flood-likesituation.

Villagers spent last night on the rooftops with no assistance from the district administration whatsoever. Link roads in many areas have been washed away, cutting off villages.

Villagers were today seen undertaking rescue operations, making efforts to fill the breaches along the seasonal rivulets and helping women, children and the elderly to move to safer places.

The state government’s prestigious Dadupur Nalvi canal project has suffered major damages with the bridge over the canal near Bhaganpur having collapsed under heavy showers.

This irrigation scheme was inaugurated by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda nearly a year ago. At least 12 villages have been cut off with the bridge collapsing. The scheme envisaged providing surface irrigation to areasalong the canal. State Revenue Minister Shiv Charan Lal Sharma accompanied by Deputy Commissioner AshoK Sangwan visited the affected villages in the evening. The DC said: "We are making every effort to provide help to the flood-hit villages.”

In Chhachhrauli, 24 villages have suffered heavy damage with the paddy and sugarcane crops submerged in the waters.

"Neither any motor boats have been sent to our villages to move people to safer places, nor an attempt has been made to drain out the water. We spent the whole night on rooftops yesterday without food, fearing for our lives said Jagir Singh and Sikha and Ramesh of Churpur Khurdaa.

Sirsa: A team of the Indian National Lok Dal on Sunday arrived in Sirsa for the party’s on-the-spot survey to assess loss due to floods in the district. The team comprising MLAs Krishan Panwar and Kalli Ram and former ministers Surender Barwala and Subhash Goyal will give their report to party chief Om Prakash Chautala in three days.

Introducing the team members to mediapersons, INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala said the party had been preparing report of losses due to floods in the entire state and would submit its report to the Governor.

“The recent floods in Haryana is not a natural calamity, but a part of conspiracy,” Ajay alleged, demanding a probe by a sitting judge of the High Court in this regard. Chautala maintained that had the government ensured the cleaning of Hansi-Butana Link Canal, the SYL canal and the Dadupur Canal, the floods would not have caused havoc in Haryana. He said technically, the Hansi-Butana canal should have at least 40 siphons under it to allow passage of floodwaters, but not a single had been provided.

He alleged that the government did not ensure the cleaning of Ottu Weir. Rather, the soil from its digging was allowed to be sold.

He maintained that when Ambala areas were flooded, people knew that the Ghaggar waters could now cause damage in Sirsa and Fatehabad — TNS

Sirsa, July 26
Lahmo Devi (40), a widow, is putting up with her family in a Government School in Nathor, a village located at a distance of 3 km from her native village Bani.

Her two sons, one a barber and the other a tailor, owned two small shops. Now, their shops are completely submerged in floodwaters. Their house, too, is under water. Like Lahmo, 15 members of the families of Dungar Ram and his two brothers have taken shelter in the school building, where several other flood victims are putting up.

Families from Bani, Amritsar Kho, Dharampura and Santokhpura have taken shelter in Kaluana village. Others are living in make-shift tents in the open fields.

Most are very poor.

“No ration has reached our camp for the past three days. We are living on the mercy of others and sometimes sleep on an empty stomach,” said Lahmo Bai.

The mosquitoes in the school has made matters worse. Snakes are yet another worry.

There seems to be no immediate respite for the flood-affected people of Bani village. The authorities have now decided to set up a camp in Nathor village, where over 500 families living in Government Schools of Kaluana, Balasar, Bacher and Nathor will be accommodated under tents.

“The tents have been erected and the families will now be shifted so that teaching work in schools is not affected,” said Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan.

Chandigarh, July 26
An educational institution cannot retain fee if a student does not pursue his studies in that institution, the Punjab and Haryana High Court today ruled.

Declaring that an educational institution cannot be permitted to act like a business establishment, Justice Ranjit Singh ruled that a student would be entitled not just to refund but also interest at 18 per cent per annum in a case related to a Karnal student.

The directions came on a petition by Atam Parkash and his daughter Raveena. The latter deposited Rs 61,000 while taking admission in Anupama College of Engineering, Gurgaon, on August 20, 2008.

The petitioners applied for refund after getting admission in Dhoon Valley Institute of Technology and Engineering College, Karnal, on August 25, 2008. The petitioners approached the Haryana director, technical education, for the refund but no action was taken on the plea and they moved the HC.

Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “The respondent is an educational institution and cannot act like a commercial establishment; and there is no justification on the part of the respondent institute in retaining the substantial fee paid by the student... “The sum, Rs 61,000, is not a small amount and the respondent-institute would not be poor in case it is to refund the fee.

“The writ petition deserves to be allowed. Direction is issued to the respondent institute to refund the sum of Rs 61,000 within two weeks from today. This shall be with interest at the rate of 18 per cent per amount from the date it was deposited to the date of payment.”

Fatehabad, July 26
But for some exemplary courage and presence of mind exhibited by the two pilots - Flt Lt Arunima Vidhate and Flt Lt Haseer Hamid, IAF Chetak helicopter Z 1810, that made an emergency landing near Chindhar village in this district yesterday, could have ended up in a major tragedy.

The pilots landed the chopper on agriculture fields after its engine caught fire midair.

A technical team of the IAF was in the village today for repairs.

The team will replace the old engine of the chopper with a new one and then it will be flown to the IAF Station at Hindon.

Earlier, an effort was made to load the helicopter on a large truck for shifting it to Sirsa for repairs, but its wheel base was found wider than the loading surface of the vehicle.

The repair work continued till the evening, and sources said the helicopter might be in a position to fly by tomorrow.

A major mishap that could have cost the IAF two young pilots besides possible loss of lives and property on the ground, was averted by the safe emergency landing of the chopper yesterday.

“The engine of the chopper had developed a snag and caught fire,” said Gp Capt Anil Sabharwal, Station Commander of the IAF, Sirsa, adding that a potential tragedy had been prevented by the wise step taken by the two young pilots.

He said the pilots not only made a safe landing, but also selected the most suitable place for it by sheer presence of mind and calm composure.

He added that any wrong decision by the pilots could have proved costly for them as well as for those living below.

Jind, July 26
A 30-year-old married woman, who went missing about two and a half years ago, has returned to her in-laws’ house in quite a dramatic manner at Dahola village here.

She was allegedly abducted by some unidentified persons when she had been waiting for a bus to go to her parental house in December 2007. Her seven-year-old son was found alone on the spot later.

The victim identified as Guddi, wife of Ajeet Singh of Dahola village, had left her in-laws house to go to her parental house at Masudpur in Hisar district on December 7, 2007. However, she went missing and did not return home. Her minor son Gurmeet, who was along with her, was later found and handed over to his father.

While the minor boy could not disclose anything about the incident and how his mother went missing, kin of the woman lodged a complaint with the police that she had been abducted.

The police had registered a case of abduction and rape against seven persons, but their arrest could not lead to the recovery of the woman. The panchayat of the Thua khap had also set up a 25-member committee to launch a stir and get the woman traced, but all these moves failed till yesterday evening when the woman’s parents brought her back to her in-laws’ house.

They said they were told about the whereabouts of the woman by a person residing in Satroad village of Hisar district, where she had been living with a person stated to be a truck driver by profession.

All seven accused, who had been arrested, were let off after the police could not produce any proof against them in March 2009.

Fatehabad, July 26
Mystery shrouds the death of a woman, whose body was found hanging from a tree on the outskirts of Fatehabad town last evening. The 30-year-old victim is yet to be identified and even the postmortem examination has failed to solve the mystery of her death.

“The doctors have sent her viscera for examination to the Forensic Science Laboratory and the cause of death will be known only after that,” said Shamsher Singh Dahiya, SHO, Sadar police station, Fatehabad.

He said the victim’s body had been kept in the mortuary of the local general hospital, where it will be kept for 72 hours to allow people identify it.

The body was found hanging from a tree near a water channel passing under the national highway on the outskirts of the town on the Sirsa road. Preliminary evidence suggested a foul play.

The police said marks of the body having been dragged were found near the place where it was found hanging and clothes worn by the victim were also found covered with soil.

The feet of the victim were about one foot over the ground and nothing was found that could have been used by the victim to climb, if it were to be a case of suicide.

The police said there was no locality nearby and hence it had become difficult to identify the body.

Kaithal, July 26
In the wake of the increasing number of beneficiaries under the old-age pension after the last survey in urban areas in December, the district administration has ordered fresh inquiry and constituted seven teams for the work.

Deputy Commissioner Amneet P Kumar said here yesterday that the work would be accomplished before July 28. The four teams for Kaithal town would be headed by ADC BB Kaushik, SDM Hawa Singh, City Magistrate Ram Kumar Beniwal and DRO Deep Kaushal.

These officers will inquire into such cases in their respective offices in the mini-secretariat.

The team for Pundri town will be headed by SP Parmar.

The team for Kalayat town will be headed by DDPO Chand Ram Sharma and it will inquire into the claims of beneficiaries in the office of the Kalayat municipal committee.

The team headed by Ashok Bansal, SDM Guhla, will inquire into the cases falling in all wards of the Cheeka municipal committee.

She said all those beneficiaries, who had been identified during the November-December survey should present themselves before the respective committees with all relevant records to justify their claims.

Faridabad, July 26
The local unit of the BJP led by the president of Haryana unit of the party, KP Gurjar today organised a camp for getting the signatures of residents on price rise outside Nehru Government College, especially targeting students.

Ajay Gaur, president of the Faridabad district unit of the party, said more than 3,000 signatures, were obtained today. He said their target was to obtain one lakh signatures in the district.

The national leadership of the BJP is scheduled to submit the signatures collected from across the country to President Pratibha Singh Patil on July 29, drawing her attention to the rise in prices and the plight of the common man.

Addressing a gathering at Nehru College, Gurjar said his party would launch an agitation throughout Haryana if inflation was not checked.

Hisar, July 26
The newly appointed in charge of Haryana affairs of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), Rajbir, said here today that the new state executive of the party would be announced next month.

Addressing party workers, he said the entire unit of the party would be recast to strengthen the party in the state.

He demanded that the Haryana government pay compensation to landless agricultural labour as they had also suffered financially due to floods. It was unfair to limit compensation to farmers alone, he added.

Rajbir criticised the local police for cane-charging protesters belonging to the Backward Classes here last week. Demanding the release of 16 persons detained for blocking traffic, he said in a democratic set-up people had the right to protest. He said the cases against the protesters should be withdrawn.

Talking about the Mirchpur violence, he said Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi’s visit to the village was a mere “political drama”. He said the Congress first created trouble and later exploited such incidents politically.

The newly appointed chief of the Haryana unit of the BSP, Naresh Saran, was also present.

Hisar, July 26
Indian National Lok Dal secretary-general and Dabwali MLA Ajay Chautala today accused the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government of promoting regionalism to garner votes.

Addressing a district-level workers’ meeting here, he said the Congress government had been giving undue advantage to a particular area at the cost of the rest of the state to consolidate its political position in the area. This was a dangerous trend which would leave the people of Haryana divided.

He said Hooda had promised equitable allocation of resources to all districts but this had remained only on paper. Other promises like creation of jobs and recruitment to government jobs on merit had also not been fulfilled.

Accusing the government of wasting Rs 400 crore on constructing the Hansi-Butana canal, he said it had become a source of floods in the state. The project was never needed in the first place.

The government, he said, had been caught napping on the issue of floods. Canals were not maintained properly and drains were not repaired despite massive expenditure shown on paper.

Chautala said “not a brick had been laid in various SEZs in the state and no jobs had been created”. Instead, he said, farmers’ land had been handed over to industrial conglomerates at throw-away prices. He blamed the Congress-led UPA government for failing to control inflation, making it difficult for the poor to make both ends meet.

Jhajjar, July 26
A student of class XII died after he reportedly slipped from a local train at Aashoda railway station in Bahadugarh town here today. The deceased has been identified as Gaurav, a resident of Aasauda Siwan village here.

Gaurav used to go to Government Senior Secondary School, Bahadurgarh, by train daily. As he boarded the train from Aasauda railway station in the morning, he accidentally slipped and fell on the railway tracks. He died on the spot after being crushed under rear coaches of the train.

The Railway police rushed to the spot and sent the body for a postmortem to the Civil Hospital here after taking stock of the situation. A pall of gloom descended at the native village of Gaurav as the news of his demise reached there.