New Delhi, August 30
The parliamentary panel looking into the April 21 attack on Mirchpur Dalits has said that inaction by the local administration and the police had led to the arson that claimed two lives. Houses of at least18 Dalit families were gutted.

It has directed the state to give land to the Dalits to halt their exodus and asked it to honour the Home Ministry advisory on the treatment of SCs/STs. The Tribune had earlier reported how Haryana had ignored this advisory.

In the 67-page report submitted to the Parliament today, the SC/ST Welfare Panel concluded that the Mirchpur attack was preplanned and avoidable.

The committee said it apprehended police role in shielding the culprits belonging to a dominant community as it delayed their arrest, despite an FIR on April 21.

Four months on, only 48 of the 130 accused had been arrested and charge sheets served on 28 alone.

The state had told the panel that seven more had been held but 75 were still at large. “We are perplexed that the police and administration didn’t expect the April 19 incident to turn into serious violence on April 21. The undercurrent of hatred and revenge ran deep and manifested when the controversy over a barking dog turned into a pre-planned attack by Jats on Balmikis in Mirchpur. The dominant caste indulged in violence to prove its dominance over Balmikis. “Had the police taken preventive measures, the systematic torching of Dalit houses and the deaths could have been prevented. Police inaction can’t be overlooked. Even after we visited Mirchpur on July 2, all accused haven’t been arrested.” The report pointed out that Vinod Kajal, the now suspended SHO of the affected Narnaund taluk of Mirchpur, was also officer in charge in 2005 when some Dom SCs were paraded naked. The panel wondered how a Jat Maha Khap was allowed in Mirchpur with tension still simmering. It also objected to the constitution by Haryana of a single-member judicial commission (headed by a Punjab and Haryana High Court judge) to probe the Mirchpur arson and said the panel should have had SC members to inspire confidence among the victims fleeing Mirchpur under Jat pressure to compromise and withdraw the FIR.

“Such a commission should be a multi-member body,” the panel said, directing immediate arrest of the accused and posting of SCs at the new police post Haryana has set up in Mirchpur. The report said it was strange that of the 31 members of the peace committee set up after the arson, only one came to meet the parliamentary panel in Mirchpur. “We hope the committee holds regular meetings to maintain harmony,” the panel chaired by TMC’s Gobinda Naskar said, wondering why the state had no human rights commission. Asked to set up one, Haryana told the panel that it needed no separate commission as complaints were being addressed by the National Human Rights Commission located in its vicinity in Delhi. “That’s no excuse,” Naskar said.

Finding the compensation inadequate, the panel directed the Union Social Justice Ministry to revise SC compensation rules framed in 1995 and asked Haryana to re-assess monetary damages to Dalits though it had paid Rs 25.57 lakh to 17 families.

With the torched houses yet to be repaired, the committee directed that this may be done urgently. Further, shooting down Haryana’s proposal for a separate primary school for SC children near Mirchpur, the panel said it would be better if the state could book under the SC Prevention of Atrocity Act schools that denied admission to SC children.

The panel has documented cases of such denial.

Chandigarh, August 30
Four states - Haryana, Punjab, Bihar and West Bengal -which constitute the working group on agriculture production set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, have demanded that amount of financial relief to farmers in case of natural calamities should be increased and the centre should give more aid to the states to fight against floods.

The group, which met here today under the chairmanship of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, also demanded that the states should be given funds to deal with the problem of floods on a permanent basis. A 107-point draft report was approved at the meeting. Now, Hooda will finalise the report within a week. The report will be later submitted to the Prime Minister.

Besides Hooda, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal and Bihar Agriculture Minister Renu Kumari Khushwaha attended the meeting. The West Bengal Chief Minister was represented by AK Aggarwal, Principal Secretary, agriculture, of that state.

Hooda said the country should launch a technology mission on farm mechanisation to cross the productivity barriers.

He criticised the methodology adopted by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and Prices (CACP) for calculating cost of cultivation, describing it as “highly flawed and unscientific”. “It needs to be revisited to make it realistic either on the lines of Bureau of Industrial Costs and Prices (BICP) formula used for estimating industrial costs or, in the alternative, the minimum support price should be 50 per cent higher than the cost of cultivation,” he added. He said agricultural technologies being used by smaller land holding countries like Japan and Korea should be utilised. He pointed out that at present they were using the technology prevalent in bigger land holding countries like Canada. Since the country would need 294 million tonnes of foodgrains before 2020, the annual growth rate in food grain production had to be a consistent 2.5 per cent.

Special attention must be paid to seed sector for ensuring timely and adequate availability of quality seed.

Hooda stressed the need to further liberalise the ambit and scope of the debt swap scheme for protecting the farmers from the clutches of moneylenders and to make it more acceptable to the stakeholders.

Badal said the states should be allowed to use up to 10 per cent of the amount available under the calamity relief fund for flood protection works as the losses were caused not only to the farming community but also affected the food availability in the country.

Khushwaha said the farmers were facing a shortage of labourers due to the implementation of the MANREGA scheme.

The scheme’s ambit should be enlarged to include the work in the fields of the farmers to fill the gap. She said another green revolution was possible in the eastern parts of the country as there was a huge scope of increasing agriculture production. Among others who attended the meeting were chairmen of Punjab and Haryana Farmers’ Commissions GS Kalkat and RS Paroda, respectively; and Union Secretary, Agriculture and Cooperation PK Basu.

Chandigarh, August 30
The visit of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to Haryana on August 27 has triggered a war of words between the INLD and the ruling Congress.

Rahul Gandhi was on a daylong visit to the state to address activists of the National Students Union of India.

INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala has described Rahul’s visit as a “gimmick” aimed at misleading the youth and students in the state.

His statement has provoked a sharp reaction from Congress leaders led by their president Phool Chand Mullana.

Mullana said here yesterday that the entire Opposition was unnerved as Rahul as a youth leader had caught the people’s imagination and become a youth icon as proven by a poll conducted by a national magazine.

He said the INLD leaders should understand that the AICC general secretary was a leader of national stature while they themselves had no standing even at the state level.

Congress spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi claimed that Rahul’s visit had left a positive imprint on the minds of the students.

It ignited passion in them to work for the nation with dedication and honesty.

Vidrohi said the INLD leaders felt threatened at the support received by Rahul during his visit to Haryana.

Chautala had ridiculed the claims of the Congress leaders that the land acquisition policy of Haryana was a model for other states. He said because of its land acquisition policy, the state government was being censured by various courts almost everyday.

He said the Punjab government was paying over Rs 1 crore per acre to farmers for their land while Haryana paid just a fraction of the market value of the land.

Mullana said the farmers in the state had not forgotten the deaths in in police firings during the INLD regime, Mullana added.

Bhiwani, August 30
Activists of the Rajput Vikas Manch blocked traffic at seven places - Devsar, Jatu Luhari, Sanwad, Sanjarwas, Satnali and Pali - in the Bhiwani-Mahendergarh area during the second phase of their agitation today. The Rajputs had convened a mahapanchayat at Pali village in Mahendragarh district on August 15 and announced to intensify their stir in support of their demands, including 13 per cent reservation, due representation in the government and 5 acres for a martyrs’ memorial on the national highway.

Manch president Vedpal Tanwar said their fight would continue till their demands were met.

They submitted a memorandum to Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda at Bond village today. Deepender was on a one-day tour of Bond and several other villages of Charkhi Dadri subdivision.

Tanwar said the Rajputs were feeling betrayed as the Baniani firing victims had not been provided with a government job and Rs 10 lakh compensation as announced by the Chief Minister.

Fatehabad, August 30
Viral conjunctivitis, also called eye flu, has spread in several parts of the district. It is particularly severe in areas affected by the recent floods.

“I have been receiving a large number of patients suffering from viral conjunctivitis for the past over 15 days.

“The numbers are increasing by the day,” said a private medical practitioner in Ratia. Jaswant Singh, a farmer from Meond Kalan near Jakhal, said several persons from his village were suffering from red eyes.

Viral conjunctivitis is associated with inflammation that results from swelling of small blood vessels which, in turn, makes the eyes red.

Highly contagious, it can spread from one person to another through direct contact. Overcrowded places and dirty surroundings can worsen the ailment. People may be infected by a handshake, through use of common towels/clothes or even exchange of currency notes.

“The humidity in the area after the rains and floods has created conditions congenial to the spread of eye flu,” said Dr VK Jain, SMO, Primary Health Centre, Ratia.

He, however, maintained that the disease was now on regression and the number of cases coming to hospitals has started to decline.

Fatehabad, August 30
Gorakhpur farmers, who have been staging a dharna against the acquisition of their land for the proposed nuclear plant being set up by the Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited (NPCIL), today got a boost when INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh 
Chautala assured them of his party’s support, both inside the state Assembly and outside it.

Ajay, who sat on dharna with the farmers today, said his party was against the setting up of the plant at the first place and acquiring fertile land of the farmers was not acceptable at all. “When developed countries like the USA have banned nuclear power plants and countries like China and Germany are also in the process of doing so, the Congress is trying to install one at the cost of highly fertile agriculture land,” he alleged.

Ajay said his party had been opposing this plant from the moment the government announced this as the plant involved many health hazards for residents of Gorakhpur and the surrounding areas.

Besides, it would also damage crops in the nearby fields.

Ajay alleged that the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government had a long history of acquiring agricultural land for big industrial houses, colonisers and property dealers.

He said his party would not allow the government to snatch the land of farmers and would take their fight to the state Assembly as well as to the streets.

Meanwhile, the indefinite dharna of the Gorakhpur farmers entered its fourteenth day today.

Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti, said the farmers were determined to take their fight to its logical conclusion and would not allow an inch of their land to be acquired for the proposed plant.

Sonepat, August 30
After facing humiliation in the elections for the post of chairperson and vice-chairman of the Sonepat Municipal Council at the hands of the BJP, the Congress suffered another setback today when the party-supported candidate, Chand Singh, was defeated by INLD-backed candidate Shanti Devi (13-11) for the post of Sonepat Zila Parishad chairman.

INLD’s Kushal was elected vice-chairman, defeating Sanjay Badwasnia by the same margin. After postponement of the election twice, it was held today at Vikas Sadan. Additional Deputy Commissioner Dr SS Dalal was the returning officer.

As many as 13 of the 24 members of the Zila Parishad reached Sonepat accompanied by INLD secretary general and MLA, Ajay Singh Chautala who camped in the town till the election results were declared

Expecting a win, hundreds of INLD leaders and their supporters had gathered before the office of the returning officer at the mini-secretariat.

The protest of INLD’s student organisation against the alleged police lathi charge on students during the visit of AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi coincided with the election timing, ensuring a big gathering of INLD supporters.

Dr KC Bangar, INLD spokesman, attributed the victory to the united efforts of party workers.

“The people in general and Congress workers in particular are disillusioned with the functioning of the Hooda government,” he claimed.

Fatehabad: INLD-supported candidate Angrez Singh Lali was elected chairman of the Zila Parishad, Fatehabad, by defeating Mamata Kataria, supported by the Congress. Lali polled nine votes against eight bagged by Kataria.

However, Congress-supported candidate Deepak Bhirdana surprised his opponent by winning the election for the post of vice-chairman by defeating Kailasho Devi, supported by the INLD, by a margin of one vote. He polled nine votes.

The election had assumed significance after the drama witnessed yesterday in which the INLD had accused the police of “kidnapping” a Zila Parishad member, Raj Kumar Sihag, at the behest of Congress leaders.

The police had, however, maintained that Sihag was provided police security on his request. INLD workers had gheraoed the Baliala Rest House in Tohana, where Sihag was allegedly taken by the police for a meeting with Haryana Minister Paramvir Singh.

The police had been deployed in strength for the election today and kept patrolling the area around Panchayat Bhawan, where ADC Ashok Meena conducted the election. — TNS

Chandigarh, August 30
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has held that the state of Haryana and other respondents are apparently raising baseless objections in transferring the family pension of a widow from Sonepat to Delhi.

Ignoring infirmities that accompany age, the state had delayed the entire process on the grounds of non-submission of the necessary documents, an action held unjustified by the High Court.

Coming to her rescue, Justice Ranjit Singh held that as a result of the unwarranted resistance “she would rather need help”.

The judgment is significant, as the Bench has made it clear that the authorities concerned need to take a more sympathetic view of the matter; and hand over the pension to the aged at a place of convenience.

Taking up Manorama Devi’s petition against the state of Haryana and other respondents, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “The petitioner is a widow, who is in receipt of family pension with effect from February 6, 2005.

“She has shifted from Sonepat to New Delhi. She, accordingly, made a request to transfer the family pension case from the bank or Treasury Officer, Sonepat, to the State Bank of India, Tiz Hazari, or the Treasury Officer, New Delhi”.

In his detailed order, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “The petitioner avers that due to her old age, it was difficult for her to travel from New Delhi to Sonepat for receiving family pension and, accordingly, she had made this request….

“In the reply, a number of objections have been raised to the effect that the petitioner had not submitted the necessary documents, but these apparently are not justified.

The petitioner is in receipt of family pension and is only praying for the transfer of the case because of her old age. She would rather need help”.

Before parting with the order, Justice Ranjit Singh ruled: “Accordingly, the present writ petition is disposed of with the direction to the respondents to transfer the pension of the petitioner within one month from today so that she is able to draw her pension at New Delhi.

Chandigarh, August 30
The Election Commission of India has disqualified 39 candidates, who contested the last Haryana Assembly elections, for three years due to their failure to submit the account of election expenses.

Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Sumita Misra said here on Monday that the disqualified candidates included Anil Kisore (Ambala Cantt), Bajrang and Sita Ram (Tohana), Anil Kumar and Ishwar Singh (Narnaund), Vaid Rattan Dev Jangra and Vijay Kumar (Hansi), Jitender Jog, Roshan Lal, Arvind Kumar, Baljeet Singh Poonia and Rajiv (Barwala), Rajender Sharma, Ganga Singh and Harish Goyenka (Hisar) and Virender Singh, Surender Singh, Amilal, Inder Singh, Kuldeep Singh, Krishna Panghal, Rajender Singh, Rajender, Ran Singh, Sajan Lawat and Satish (all from Nalwa). — TNS

Faridabad, August 30
Two miscreants riding a motorcycle looted Rs 3 lakh from a person after throwing chilly powder into his eyes here today.

The incident occurred in the posh market of Sector 16 in broad daylight. While the person riding the motorcycle remained on the vehicle, the pillion rider snatched the money from the victim as soon as he got down from his car. It appears that the miscreants had been following the victim.

The police said a case had been registered and a manhunt launched to nab the culprits. — TNS