Chandigarh, September 29
A day before the Ayodhya verdict, the Haryana Police today declared a high alert in the state and identified eight districts as “hypersensitive”.

While three companies of the Rapid Action Force have been deployed, the state has sought four more companies to maintain law and order to meet any eventuality arising out of the verdict, besides deploying its entire force in the sensitive districts.

Sources said while Mewat had been given two companies of the RAF, Ambala had been given one. The district police of Palwal, Faridabad, Bhiwani, Gurgaon, Panipat and Yamunanagar had been asked to be especially alert. These districts have been identified as “hypersensitive” in view of the violence they witnessed in 1992 after the Babri Masjid demolition.

The state had then witnessed tension and sporadic violence in these districts. The police also carried out flag marches in Mewat, Palwal and Panckhula. Flag marches will be carried out in other districts tomorrow as well to instill a sense of confidence among the people.

“We have made elaborate arrangements to maintain law and order in the state. Police personnel working at the state headquarters, in the state crime branch, the vigilance, telecommunication and at the three training institutes have all been put on duty.

“The force accompanying the Queen’s Baton has been redistributed while all reserve battalions have been pressed into service,” the ADGP, Law and Order, BS Sandhu, said. In districts, the Deputy Commissioners have been asked to take the help of peace committees to maintain harmony post-verdict.

The Haryana Director-General of Police, Ranjiv Dalal, said the leave of all police personnel had been cancelled and more than 30,000 cops would be on duty. The state has deployed five battalions of the Haryana Armed Police and three battalions of the India Reserve Battalion.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has appealed to the people to maintain peace and communal harmony. Cautioning the people against the ill-designs of anti-national elements that might try to vitiate the peaceful atmosphere in the state, Hooda urged the people to exercise restraint.

Panipat, September 29
The half-a-century-old machines at Panipat Cooperative Sugar Mills will finally be overhauled.

The authorities have decided to go ahead with the project that was stalled five years back.

The sugar mill was set up here in 1954. With time, many machines that were used to crush sugarcane started to develop snags. With the state government’s proposal to shift the mill to Chhajpur village in 2005, the overhauling of the machinery was deferred.

However, following stiff opposition by residents of the Matluada and Israna segments of the district, the proposal to shift the mill was dropped.

The incumbant legislator from Samalkha Dharma Singh Chhokar tried his best to get the mill shifted, but in vain.

The new mill at Chhajpur village was to be brought at an estimated cost of Rs 140 crore with a crushing capacity of 35,000 tonnes per day along with a distillery of 15 kilo litre per day capacity.

There was a proposal to set up an 8 MW power plant on the mill premises at a cost of Rs 32 crore and Rs 25 crore were to be spent on the distillery.

It was decided that funds for the project would be raised by selling the mill site. A piece of 200 acres was identified for the project. The idea behind setting up a new sugar mill was to make it more financially viable.

However, this year with more area brought under cane cultivation in the region, the authorities decided to overhaul most of the defunct machines and put these back into use.

Last year a total of 11,346 acres of land was under cane cultivation. This rose to 18,000 acres this year. Knowing well that in case all machines were not put back into use, it would be difficult to crush all sugarcane, the authorities decided to repair these. Work on revamping the machines is likely to start soon and will be completed before November when crushing commences.

Besides, the mill authorities will renovate the farmers’ service centre on its premises. The centre would have beds, TV sets and warm water facility for the farmers visiting the centre. 

Bahadugarh/Jhajjar, September 29
The Queen's Baton relay was accorded a rousing welcome by people of Jhajjar district on its arrival here today.

The baton reached Bahadurgarh town from Rohtak in the morning where Member of Parliament Deepender Hooda, along with local Congress leaders and sportspersons, received it. Jawans of the Rapid Action Force and the Haryana police guarded the route taken by the baton.

Welcoming the baton, Deepender Hooda termed Bahadurgarh as a nursery of sportspersons and said the baton relay had filled sportspersons of the area with a new zeal and enthusiasm.

“As many as 44 players of Haryana will represent the country in various competitions in the Commonwealth Games,” said the MP.

Later, the baton relay proceeded to Jhajjar where it was received by Education and Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal at Kuldeep Singh Chowk in the afternoon.

GURGAON: Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav, Minister of State for Agriculture and Cooperatives Sukhbir Singh Kataria and Director-General of Police Ranjeev Dalal received the Queen’s Baton at Nehru Stadium here on Wednesday.

Earlier, Beri MLA and former Haryana Assembly Speaker Raghubir Singh Kadiyan handed over the baton to Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria at Farrukhnagar block in the district. A number of schoolchildren and villagers, including a considerable number of women, gave a rousing reception to the Queen’s Baton.

Enthusiastic children as well as elders, who had assembled along the Jhajja-Gurgaon road to welcome the baton, waved the Tricolour at the baton.

Sirsa, September 29
Irked at the withdrawal of special bus service for girls on the Sirsa-Ellenabad route, girl students from various degree colleges and vocational institutions today staged a demonstration and blocked the way of Haryana Roadways buses at the local bus stand.

The special bus service was started by the government around the Ellenabad bypoll held in January, the students said.

“We used to pay Rs 400 per student towards the monthly pass, but now the authorities have withdrawn the bus service, demanding more money for the continuation of the service,” alleged the girls.

They maintained that most of them came from poor families and could not afford what the roadways had now demanded.

They alleged that the roadways authorities wanted to recover the whole fare of the bus from the girls.

Persuasions by Lajpat Rai, general manager of the local depot of the Haryana Roadways, failed to move them. Later, the police came and dispersed the agitating girls.

Lajpat Rai maintained that there was no provision of special bus for girls with the Haryana Roadways.

“I have shown them letters from the Transport Commissioner, but they were not willing to listen,” the GM said.

He said he had no idea who started the special bus services earlier and under which rules.

Faridabad, September 29
The safai karamcharis employed with the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad have demanded appointment of more staff in the interest of the city’s cleanliness.

They have also sought immediate withdrawal of the services of their colleagues from the residences of politicians and senior officers posted here.

The workers, agitating under the banner of the Municipal Corporation Safai Karamchari Union, have warned that they would intensify their struggle if the government did not heed to their demands.

A few days ago, they had held a procession from Payali Chowk to the residence of a minister Shiv Charan Sharma to press for acceptance of their demands.

The employees alleged that the strength of regular safai workers had dwindled to 1,550.

As per the Safai Mazdoor Service Rules,1976, the workers were to work for a specified duration and carry specified load in a day.

This meant the corporation needed 7,000 scavengers.

The safai workers alleged that instead of making regular appointments, the corporation was outsourcing work vide contractors who exploited them.

Also, outsourcing of safai work was against the ruling of Supreme Court which had said that outsourcing should be done only for jobs of temporary nature.

Cleanliness, they argued, was a permament job.

The deputy general secretary, Nagaar Nigam Karamchari Sangh, Rattan Lal Rohilla, said out of the existing strength of safai workers, 400 were “illegally” deputed at the residences of politicians and senior officers.

Only 150 of them were put on the task of lifting garbage in the city. On an average, there were about 100-150 absentees daily.

The safai workers alleged they were deputed at the residence of senior officers and politicians for private work in violation of instructions of the goverment instructions.

Rohilla alleged that the practice was rampant in the entire state.

Hisar, September 29
Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Prakash Karat today appealed to countrymen to accept the Allahabad High Court verdict on the Ayodhya issue to be delivered tomorrow.

Addressing party activists here, he said the CPM had always favoured a negotiated settlement of the issue through bilateral talks. Now that the court had come to a conclusion, it was the duty of every Indian to accept the verdict and maintain peace.

He said any party to the case which considered the judgement as unjust should make an appeal to the apex court. However, this should not lead to any communal tension. Karat said his party was in favour of a joint strategy against Maoists and piecemeal implementation of any plan against them would not succeed.

With the withdrawal of CPM support, the UPA government had started ignoring public interest. The CPM had kept the government in check and the interests of the common man were zealously guarded.

He accused the UPA government of not keeping its promise on providing food security to the poor. 

Chandigarh, September 29
An inordinate delay of approximately four years in the filing of an appeal in a land matter has cost five HCS officers dear. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the issuance of a charge sheet to the erring officers.

Taking up a regular first appeal and plea for condoning the delay, Justice Rakesh Kumar Jain had earlier directed the filing of an affidavit in the Faridabad land acquisition matter. Initially, another Bench of the high court had asked the Haryana Chief Secretary to get an inquiry conducted into the delay of 1,282 days in filing the appeal.

The probe was, subsequently, entrusted to the Additional Director, Urban Estate. The inquiry came out with findings against 18 officials. Eventually, action was recommended against five officers posted at Faridabad from time to time.

As the case came up for hearing, Justice Jain observed: “In compliance with the order dated September 1, an affidavit sworn by Urvashi Gulati, Chief Secretary of Haryana, has been filed in the court.

“In her affidavit, she has explained about the action being taken against officers responsible in causing the delay in the filing of the present appeal in this court. It is mentioned that a charge sheet to all five erring officers is likely to be issued shortly.”

The Bench in its detailed order added: “In the meantime, the Chief Secretary is directed to issue a charge sheet against all five erring officers, who have been named in the affidavit.

Fixing October 12 as the next date of hearing in the matter, Justice Jain also directed the state to submit a status report to the court. 

Chandigarh: A fortnight after a youth was killed in police firing at Mayyar village in Hisar during a protest by Jats seeking reservation, the governmenton Wednesday posted IPS officer Subhash Yadav at the police headquarters in Panchukula.

Immediately after the violence, Yadav was removed as Hisar SP and Additional SP Pankaj Nain was named as his successor. Subsequently, a case under Section 302 of the IPC was registered against Yadav and other policemen in connection with the violence.

Meanwhile, the government has suspended a tehsildar and two naib tehsildars for dereliction of duty.

Revenue Minister Shiv Charan Sharma said they included Ferozepur Jhirka tehsildar Radhey Shyam Bundela, Ballabhgarh naib tehsildar Sampuran Singh and Faridabad naib tehsildar Sant Ram Tanwar.

Fatehabad/Sirsa, September 29
A teenaged girl died of dengue at Nikuana village in Fatehabad today even as malaria and viral fever have gripped several areas of Sirsa and Fatehabad.

The girl, Sandeep Kaur (19), was suffering from fever for the past 15 days and was being treated by a village doctor.

She was taken to the Community Health Centre, Ratia, yesterday, from where doctors shifted her to a charitable hospital in Hisar after her condition worsened today, but she died there.

“Doctors attending on her have told us that Sandeep died of dengue,” said her uncle, Karnail Singh.

Meanwhile, malaria, viral fever and dengue have spread tentacles in the Ratia and Tohana areas of Fatehabad and parts of Sirsa.

Most of these areas have been affected by floods or heavy rain till recently.

At least two confirmed cases of dengue have been reported in two different hospitals of Tohana town, while patients with low platelet count, a condition reported in dengue-infected patients, abound in these areas.

While a large number of patients have been visiting private and government hospitals with complaints of fever, the health authorities continue to be in a state of denial.

“We avoid reporting the matter to the health authorities, as they do not like reports that put them in a quandary,” confided a private doctor at Fatehabad.

“The state government has authorised only one laboratory, set up at Maharaja Agarsen Medical College, Agroha, for blood tests for dengue for this district. Hence, we believe only the cases tested in that laboratory as genuine cases of dengue,” said Dr HL Gupta, Deputy Civil Surgeon (Vector-Borne Diseases), Fatehabad.

Experts on the other hand maintain that fall in the platelet count in a patient’s blood indicates that he or she may be suffering from dengue.

“Platelet count between 1.50 to 4.50 lakhs is taken as normal. When the count comes lower than 1 lakh, we have to be watchful, while patient runs the risk of bleeding once the count comes less than 40,000,” said Dr Sunil Sethi, a physician at Sangam Hospital in Tohana.

Meanwhile, 533 cases (laboratory tested) of malaria have been detected in Fatehabad district in the current year, of which more than 450 have been reported in the past three months alone, according to official figures.

In Sirsa, Deputy Civil Surgeon (VBD) Sheel Kaushik said 849 cases (laboratory tested) of malaria had been found during this period, of which over 770 pertained to the past three months.

She said suitable measures had been taken to remove conditions congenial to the spread of the disease.