Jind, January 24
As the Sarvajatiya Sarvakhap Mahapanchayat and the authorities failed to reach an agreement, tension gripped the district today with a buildup by both the protesters and the police force.

The use of force to remove the protesters from the rail tracks and the highways seems imminent. The DGP, who reached here today, described the situation as alarming. The district authorities claim to have launched a drive to clear some roads.

The protesters blocked the Jind-Rohtak rail track today, the only one functional till now. A new 41-member committee was formed to spearhead the agitation.

Even as the Mahapanchayat issued an appeal to the residents of various villages to remove the roadblocks on various routes within a radius of 20 km of the main town, the DGP, Ranjiv Dalal, claimed that the police was fully prepared to meet any situation.

Speaking to mediapersons, Dalal, who reached here by a chopper, said the situation was grim with nearly all roads and rail tracks under the control of protesters. He declined to disclose the police strategy or the likely action in the next 24 hours.

A spokesperson of the new committee said its members discussed various matters, including the problems faced by the residents on account of the stir. He said the Mahapanchayat had asked the khaps and panchayats to remove some blockades within a radius of 20 km of the dharna site.

He claimed that blockades on the main roads and highway would continue.

The movement of trains on the Jind-Rohtak section came to a halt today after residents of Kinana and Jaijaywanti villages obstructed the track.

Reports said the district authorities had set up teams to get the blockades removed in the district to help the stranded commuters.

Meanwhile, HPCC spokesperson Ved Prakash Vidrohi has described the stir as a political conspiracy hatched by the Opposition and appealed to the Mahapanchayat to call off the agitation in public interest.

KAITHAL:Protesters blocked roads in Kithana on the Kaithal-Jind road for the second day on Monday. Bus service in the district remained suspended. Blockades near Kasan village and Pai village were lifted on the persuasion of officials of the district administration. Train services on the Jind-Kurukshetra sections remained suspended. — OC

Fatehabad, January 24
Additional police force was deployed in the district after members of the Jat community intensified their agitation on the Mirchpur issue today.

Youths blocked roads at five places, affecting traffic on the Fatehabad -Chandigarh road near Jandli and Saniana, the Tohana-Hisar road near Kanheri, the Tohana-Delhi road near Kamalwala and at Gajuwala near Tohana.

Traffic on the Fatehabad-Hisar road was disrupted and diverted via Kharakheri-Fransi after the protesters took over National Highway No. 10 near Agroha in Hisar. The police succeeded in removing a blockade near Jandli and Saniana.

The SDM of Tohana, Ashwani Maingi, today constituted a peace committee of prominent citizens to prevail upon the protesters to withdraw their protest.

Rewari: The INLD chief and former Chief Minister, Om Prakash Chautala, at a press conference here on Monday ,described the Hooda regime as a government of “property dealers”. He alleged that all land scams in the state put together would surely exceed the magnitude of the 2G scam. 

Hisar, January 24
Major highways, link roads and alternative routes to Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab and Rajasthan remained closed to traffic for the third day here. The agitation spread to more areas and inched closer to the city today. The Delhi road remained blocked at Mayyar, Ramayan, Sorkhi and Mundhal villages. The highway to Chandigarh was blocked at several places, including Uklana, Dinoda and Sissaud Bichpadi.

The Hisar-Sirsa section of National Highway 10 was blocked hear Agroha, about 20 km from here. The roads to Rajasthan were also blocked at several border villages. In Hisar city, roads were blocked at a bridge over a canal near the mini secretariat. Several other roads on the outskirts were taken over by the protesters.

The administration has so far shown no inclination to clear the blockades. Petrol stations are running dry. Essential commodities are in short supply and the prices are shooting up. Marriage parties are being turned back by the protesters while patients have been denied access to better medical facilities elsewhere.

Chairman of the Zila Parishad Rajinder Sura and several other members of the parishad have appealed to all communties to join hands to end the stir. Addressing a press conference, Sura said the agitation was slipping out the hands of the khap panchayats. Bajrang Das Garg, chairman, Haryana Beopar Mandal, appealed for peace as the stir was hurting the state economy.

INDL spokesperson Rajmal Kajal accused the Congress of playing votebank politics in Mirchpur. He said the Congress leadership and the Hooda government had caused irreparable damage to the political and social fabric in Haryana.

Karnal, January 24
With problems of overweight and obesity becoming a cause of concern for a population of about 1000 million worldwide, the demand for nutrient-rich milk products is likely to go up considerably and India must come out with a “designed range” of healthy milk products to boost exports, observed renowned dairy scientist Dr Sayeed Rizvi from the Institute of Food Science, Cornell University Ithaca,New York.

Participating in discussions at the “Alumni Meet 2011” at the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Dr Rizvi stressed on the need to shift focus from basic milk products to export of seasonally invariant, safe, affordable and nutritious milk products.

Anticipating that the demand for basic dairy products would exceed the supply in India in the coming years, Dr Rizvi underscored the need to shift to dairy byproducts with a wide range of nutrient-rich, disease-resistant and affordable products to boost exports.

Stating that 2.5 billion of the world population would become overweight and another 700 million obese by 2015, Dr Rizvi said that the people in advanced countries preferred healthy and disease-resistant food products and about 77 per cent of them read the product ingredients before use.

As such, these food products would be great demand and fetch more money. Eating habits of the people were bound to change in the years to come.

Taking note of the fact that climate change had reduced the stocks of wheat, rice, sugar and cotton, Dr KD Kokate, DDG (Agriculture Extension), said that livestock, fisheries and horticulture had a key role in supplementing the incomes of farmers.

“Quality products, infrastructure development, technical collaboration and market tie-ups are necessary to carve out a niche for our dairy products in foreign countries,” he stressed.

Dr Venkat Subramaniam, ADG Research (ICAR), said while foreign products like Fanta and Coke had made their way into every household in India, it was a shame that domestic products like butter milk (lassi) were vanishing from the food itinerary of the people. He called for reversing this trend.

NDRI director AK Srivastav said out of a total milk production of 714 million tonnes, India produced 112 million tonnes with a 4 per cent annual growth.

The website of the NDRI Alumni was launched on the occasion. 

Jhajjar, January 24
Children studying in government schools in the state now need not bring utensils from their homes for midday meals as the state government has decided to provide them utensils free of cost.

Haryana Education, Health, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal disclosed this while addressing a gathering at the inaugural function of the newly constructed computer lab set up at a cost of Rs 50 lakh at Government Aadarsh Sanskriti Senior Secondary School in Ladayan village here recently.

She said the first installment of Rs 2,500 for every school had already been released for purchasing utensils. An arrangement of gas stove had also been made for cooking food under the midday meal scheme in the schools, the minister added.

“Besides, the state government has taken yet another vital decision under which anganwadi centres will be opened in the school buildings so that children coming to these centres may attend school regularly. With the implementation of the decision, the number of children coming to anganwadi centres in the age group of 3 to 6 years will improve,” said Bhukkal, adding that the layout plan of the buildings of anganwadi centres had also been changed to make provision of cooking place, store and turf underwater tap.

She maintained that the government had sanctioned a sum of Rs 4.25 crore for the construction of 86 anganwadi centres during the current financial year. Besides, the NABARD would also provide a sum of Rs 150 crore for the construction of 3,000 anganwadi centres, the minister added.

Bhukkal said a number of initiatives were being taken to provide quality education to students in government schools. Keeping in view the health of children, nutritious diet was being served to them under the midday meal scheme. She added that Indira Bal Swasthya Yojna had been implemented under which children up to 18 years of age would get a free-of-cost health check-up. 

Chandigarh, January 24
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has decided to implement the recommendations of the Sixth Pay Commission relating to enhancement of quantum of child adoption leave, introduction of child care leave and extension of the facility of paternity leave to adoptive fathers.

An official spokesman said here today that the maternity leave for 180 days and child care leave for 730 days would be admissible to the eligible employees. The nigam would also allow child adoption leave for 180 days and paternity leave to adoptive fathers for 15 days.

He said the nigam had also decided to revise the limit of advance for purchase of personal computer/laptop to its employees. The nigam would allow maximum Rs 35,000 or actual price of computer/laptop, whichever was less.

Meanwhile, The Director, Industrial Training Department, has asked all those in charge of Industrial Institutes to decide whether to declare holidays at the exam centres keeping in view the number of the candidates appearing in supplementary examinations to be held this month.

Chandigarh, January 24
The state government has constituted the State Nutrition Council under the chairmanship of the Chief Minister to coordinate, guide and review the implementation of the nutrition policy.

As per a gazette notification issued by the Women and Child Development Department, Finance Minister, Education Minister, Health Minister, Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, Public Health Minister, Food and Supplies Minister, Rural Development and Panchayat Minister, Women and Child Development Minister, Financial Commissioners and Principal Secretaries of Finance, Social Justice and Empowerment, Rural Development and Panchayats, Food and Supplies, Public Health, Education, Health, Women and Child Development and Labour Departments, Joint Secretary to the Government of India, Ministry of Women and Child Development Department; Director, National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development, New Delhi; Managing Director, Cooperative Supplies and Marketing Federation (HAFED); Managing Director, CONFED; Representative of Food and Nutrition Board; Dean, Home Science College, Hisar; Principal, Home Science College, Chandigarh; one representative each from the PGIMER and the GMCH-32 will be its member.

The Director, Women and Child Development Department, will be its convener. The other functions of the council will be to redress nutrition challenges through preparation of state-specific strategies; analyse nutrition relevance of various programmes and strengthen the same and issue policy guidelines based on latest nutrition surveillance feedback.

The council will meet at least once a year or as often as necessary in the interest of business. It will continue to function till it is reconstituted or modified. Its headquarters will be at Chandigarh. 

Chandigarh, January 24
The state government is planning to create new water bodies and remodel the existing ones to store floodwater during monsoon and prevent floods as well as provide water for irrigation to farmers in the state.

All Divisional Commissioners, Deputy Commissioners and Superintending Engineers in the state have been directed to prioritise flood protection schemes. An allocation of Rs 120 crore had been proposed for flood works for the next financial year 2011-12. It has been decided that work on developing water bodies, such as Kotla lake and Bibipur lake will be taken up in a phased manner and acquisition of land will be started for the purpose. As much as 500 acres for Bibipur lake and 100 acres for Kotla lake is proposed to be acquired.

To recharge the underground water table, the village ponds in the state are also being renovated and the works on rehabilitation of 56 village ponds has already been completed.

The rehabilitation of 10 village ponds has been undertaken by the Irrigation Department and of 46 by the Command Area Development Authority. Maximum work of rehabilitation of village ponds will be executed under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. 

Karnal, January 24
The president of the Brahmin Kalyan Manch, Karnal, KC Sharma, today backed the demand of the BJP for abrogation of Article 370 but advised the party against going ahead with its plan to hoist the Tricolour at Lal Chowk in Srinagar in view of the volatile situation in the Valley.

“The decision of the BJP to hoist the National Flag at Lal Chowk on Republic Day to reassert that Kashmir is an integral part of the country cannot be disputed but any provocative action will further consolidate the separatist forces in Kashmir and vitiate the political atmosphere, besides creating a law and order problem,” he said.

The UPA government must act against the separatists in Kashmir to prove that it considered Kashmir an integral part of India.

Chandigarh, January 24
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued a notice of motion on a petition filed in public interest for directing the State of Haryana and other respondents to “initiate an independent inquiry and investigation into the guest teacher scam”.

The Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih issued the notice for April 18.

In his petition, Bijender Singh of Jind district has also asked for directions to the state to withdraw financial powers from respondent Suman Nain, working as district education officer, Mewat.

The petitioner has also sought initiation of proper departmental action as per law against the respondent. In the petition filed through counsel RS Dhull, Bijender Singh asserted that the respondent was appointed the district education officer having an additional charge of district elementary education officer, Jind, in 2010.

The petitioner alleged that after her appointment, a scam of guest teachers’ appointment and adjustment came to light, wherein they were appointed and adjusted without prior sanction of the department.

The petitioner further alleged that the department had already banned fresh appointments, adjustments and transfers of guest teachers. Despite that, the teachers were not only appointed, but were also adjusted and transferred according to the will of the respondent. 

Chandigarh, January 24
Ruling that the police “cannot be allowed to escape the responsibility for its negligence” in two custodial death cases in Haryana, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has ordered a compensation of Rs 10 lakh to the families of the victims.

One of them, Virender Kumar, was a 16-year-old artiste, acting in Haryana movies. Directing the payment of Rs 5 lakh each to the kin of the two victims, Justice Ranjit Singh added: “Two persons have died while in police custody. To keep them safe and to safeguard their lives was the responsibility of the police. The police officials concerned are, therefore, liable”.

The ruling came on two related petitions filed by victim Virender Kumar’s father Hawa Singh and his mother; and the other victim’s wife Geeta.

Justice Ranjit Singh observed that Virender Kumar was allegedly picked up illegally on August 11, 2007, and died at the PGI, Chandigarh, on August 13, 2007. According to the postmortem report, the cause of his death was “consumption of celphos”.

Referring to the other case, Justice Ranjit Singh observed: “The petition has been filed by Geeta, whose husband was picked up by the police on August 13, 2007. Geeta’s husband and Virender Singh died while they were in police custody. “The petitioner, Geeta, had averred that the police, in order to hide its illegal action, registered a case against her husband and Virender Singh on August 10, 2007, under Sections 392 and 34 of the IPC.

“In the FIR, an allegation of snatching of Rs 7,000 was levelled against unidentified persons. The police, in a bid to cover up its action, registered another FIR on August 13, 2007, under Sections 307 and 309 of the IPC with the allegation that the petitioner’s husband and Virender Singh administered poisonous substance to each other while in police custody.

Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: Once the two were taken into custody, to keep them safely was the responsibility of the police….

“No doubt, the death of both may seem to be due to consumption of some tablets supplied by one of the deceased, but how he managed to get these has not been explained in any manner. A serious poser will beg an answer as to from where these detainees got these tablets. Upon that would depend whether it is suicide or homicidal death.”

Justice Ranjit Singh asked the state to pay the compensation within three months of receiving a copy of the order.

Karnal, January 24
The State Vigilance Department today caught a Superintending Engineer (SE) of the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (Transmission Corporation) for accepting a bribe of Rs 15,000 from Satbir Singh. The accused has been identified as Avdesh Kumar Gupta.

Satbir Singh, Manager, Shyam Enterprises, alleged that he had approached the SE for passing the bills and releasing a payment of Rs 4 to 5 lakh for December 2010 for supplying labour, but he asked for a bribe.

He approached the Vigilance Department and the Deputy Commissioner, Karnal, constituted a team consisting of Duty Magistrate Ramesh Singla, Vigilance Inspector Sat Narayan, two Sub-Inspectors and a head constable to catch the SE red-handed.

The team raided the office of the SE after Satbir made a payment, 15 currency notes of Rs 1,000, marked by vigilance sleuths. The SE was apprehended along with the currency notes. A case has been registered under Section 7.13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act against the SE, who will be produced in the court tomorrow. 

Fatehabad, January 24
The police today claimed to have solved the loot and murder case, in which armed miscreants had snatched a bag containing Rs 22 lakh from a farmer, Bhim Singh (55), after gunning him down near Chimmo village in this district on January 18.

Bhim Singh and his brother-in-law Daljit Singh had received Rs 48 lakh as earnest money for the sale of their agricultural land. The desperadoes had attacked Bhim Singh while he was going with his sons to deposit his share of money in a bank.

Vivek Sharma, Superintendent of Police, said the police yesterday arrested Sheesh Pal, a henchman of Daljit Singh, in this connection and ironically the victim had trusted the accused and asked him to accompany him as gunman when he brought the money from the buyer.

Sheesh Pal, after learning about the delivery of the money from his master, shared the information with Dharam Pal and Mahesh, both owners of a dhaba near Dharsul, and the three made a plan to loot the money.

The police had already arrested four persons, including a UP-based criminal, Surender Thakur, whom Sheesh Pal had given the contract to perpetrate the robbery.

Sheesh Pal had planned to loot the entire amount of Rs 48 lakh from Daljit Singh and Bhim Singh, but the two distributed their share at Bareta, where the money was delivered and went towards their respective villages in different vehicles.

The SP said Sheesh Pal buried his mobile phone used in his communication with the miscreants on the banks of a canal.

Incidentally, canal officials had burnt weeds when a police party went there to trace the mobile and it found the mobile identity number intact on the partially burnt mobile.

The police has also arrested Ajmal Khan, the Tata Indica owner who provided his vehicle to the miscreants for committing the offence. 

Kaithal, January 24
The police has arrested three persons for allegedly kidnapping and murdering a property dealer of the district. The incident had sent shock waves in the area.

All accused were produced in the local court, which sent them to a five-day police remand to enable the police to recover the weapons used in the crime and for further investigation.

A police spokesperson said here today that Kuldip Singh, a property dealer of Rajound village, left his home on December 31 on a motorcycle. He parked his vehicle near a liquor vend in Rajound and left in a Bolero along with his friends to celebrate the New Year.

All his friends returned in the night, but Kuldip did not return, following which his family members lodged a complaint with police.

However, on January 17 a bike was recovered from a canal near Dathrath village and on January 19, Kuldip’s body with deep injury marks was found at the same place.

Acting on the complaint of Kuldip’s brother, the police arrested Mukesh, alias Mannu, liquor contractor of Rajound, Roshan Lal of Khanda village, accountant at the vend, and an employee, Ram Phal of Beerbangra village.

During the interrogation, Mukesh confessed that he had an old enmity with Kuldip and he bore a grudge against him.

He along with others kidnapped and murdered Kuldip and threw his body into the canal. 

Faridabad, January 24
A large number of residents of Faridpur village today blocked the Delhi-Agra national highway at Badkal Chowk here to press for immediate arrest of former councillor of the Municipal Corporation Faridabad (MCF) Kailash Bainsla for allegedly murdering a person.

The protesters lifted the blockade after two hours on the intervention of the police. The traffic movement was disrupted, causing inconvenience to the public.

Mahender Fauji, a native of Faridipur, who had a criminal record, was allegedly shot in Machghar village, about 15 km from here, in Ballabgarh area today where he had gone to attend a marriage. Sources said he had verbal duel with the former councillor and his brother at the marriage function, following which Bainsla opened fire at him.

He succumbed to his injuries on the spot.

The police has named Bainsla and one Roop Singh Naagar as accused in the FIR.

Bainsla’s wife is presently a MCF councillor. Bainsla is also wanted in an attempt to murder case.