Kurukshetra, July 14
Panic gripped teachers and children as 42 children of two primary schools in the district were suddenly taken ill after they were served the midday meal.

The children started vomiting after eating the meal and, realising the gravity of the situation, the school authorities took them to hospital and directions were issued by the officials not to serve food in the other schools.

Jeet Kaur, who was serving the mid-day meal in Government Primary School-III at Thanesar, spotted a lizard in the food (khichdi) and informed the District Elementary Education Officer immediately through an SMS. The latter issued instructions to all schools not to serve the meal.

However, the meal had already been served in primary schools at Gobindgarh and Doda Kheri by the time instructions reached there as six children in Doda Kheri and 36 children in Gobindgarh primary schools started vomiting after consuming the food.

The signs of food poisoning were apparent but the doctors avoided making any comments. The meal samples were sent for a test and the report was awaited.

The District Elementary Education Officer, Kurukshetra, Saroj Siwach, said the instructions to stop the distribution of the midday meal were issued immediately after Jeet Kaur informed her about the lizard in the food and due to prompt action of the officials, the food was not served in most of the schools and the problem did not assume alarming proportions.

She said the contract for the midday meal of three blocks of Thansewar, Ladwa and Pehowa was with the ISKCON and samples of the food had been sent for test and anyone found guilty of negligence would be punished.

The news of children falling sick spread like wildfire and parents came to the school to enquire about their wards. A large number of parents gathered outside the government hospital and were seen enquiring frantically about their children.

However, the condition of most of the children was stable and some of the children in the acute phase were gradually recovering, said a doctor.

Chandigarh, July 14
Reacting sharply to the threat of Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal to stop the supply of water of Haryana, Deepender Singh Hooda, MP from Rohtak, has described it as “unconstitutional and irresponsible”.

Hooda said Badal was not only the Chief Minister but was also considered a sagacious leader and such threats were not expected from him. He should not undermine the federal system and inter-state arrangements. He should also not forget that the supply of water, which he was threatening to stop, was coming to Punjab through Himachal Pradesh. He should also not forget that many things to Punjab pass through Haryana but the people of Haryana neither have such a short-sighted approach nor do they believe in issuing such threats.

Hooda said the Hansi-Butana canal was a matter of “life and death” for people of the state, particularly those of southern Haryana. The Congress government in the state wanted equitable distribution of water available in the state. The southern parts of the state were in dire need of water.

Hooda also said he fully understood the political compulsions of Badal, the former Chief Minister, Capt Amarinder Singh and other Punjab leaders in view of the impending Assembly elections, but they should not try to make such an issue. He said the bandh being strengthened by the state to safeguard its people would not cause floods in Punjab. Leaders of Punjab should not misguide its people on the issue as it would not carry even a single drop of Punjab’s share. It would help the state in distributing the available water in a just and equitable manner, he added.

Hooda said Badal and other Punjab leaders should not feel triumphant on the statement of Om Parkash Chautala on the Hansi-Butana canal issue, as he and his party had been rendered politically irrelevant in the state. 

Chandigarh, July 14
The Punjab and Haryana High Court’s former Judge, Justice Nirmal Yadav, is apparently left with no option but to appear before the trial court. Hearing arguments on her petition against the sanction order, Justice Permod Kohli refused to pass a favourable order on her application seeking exemption from appearing before the trial court in the cash-for-judge scam.

The entire record in the case, including documents with the Union Department of Legal Affairs, also stands summoned. Notice has also been issued to the CBI along with the Union Department of Personnel and Training. It was accepted in the court, during the hearing, by Union Government counsel, Ajay Kaushik.

The proceedings running into hours saw Justice Yadav’s application seeking exemption from personnel appearance being withdrawn as Justice Kohli made it clear that she could take up the issue with the trial court.

As the case came up for hearing, the Union of India’s affidavit, filed in compliance with the high court’s earlier orders, was placed before Justice Kohli. The premier investigating agency made it clear that the prosecution sanction in Justice Yadav’s case had not been declined earlier.

The assertion assumes significance as the prime issue for consideration before the court is whether the prosecution sanction was declined once before being eventually granted. Justice Yadav’s counsel, KTS Tulsi, is insisting that once rejected, the decision on sanction to prosecute cannot be reviewed.

In her affidavit, Secretary to the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, Neela Gangadharan, asserted, “The proposal for prosecution sanction was sent to the President of India only in February 2011… Accordingly, having due regard to the provision of Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, the sanction order dated March 1 has been issued. Thus there is no question of declining the prosecution sanction on any earlier occasion.”

Hisar, July 14
The police has identified three suspects in connection with juice vendor Vicky Arora’s murder in Patel Nagar here on Friday last.

They were: Raj Kumar and Vikas of Patel Nagar and Bodhu from Rohtak. The police have released their photographs also. All of them belong to the Balmiki community.

The police has already announced a reward of Rs 10000 for clues leading to their arrest.

Meanwhile, a condolence meeting was organised at Patel Nagar to pay homage to the slain youth.

On the other hand, the INLD youth wing took out a candle march last night in protest against the dterioratinglaw and order situation in the city.

The Hisar Jan Sangharsh Samiti has given a call for Hisar bandh tomorrow in protest against the failure of the police to nab the vendor’s killers.

Fatehabad, July 14
Hundreds of villagers today blocked the Fatehabad-Chandigarh road near Jandli Khurd village against ‘erratic’ supply of power and “rude behaviour” of an SDO of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN).

The villagers, who alleged that the SDO, PD Sharma, posted at Bhuna subdivision of the DHBVN behaved in an uncouth manner, when they went to him for his intervention last night after calls made to the line staff of the department failed to sort out their power problem.

Hundreds of commuters had to face a tough time on the highway due to the road blockade.

The road block was lifted after over two hours when the authorities assured to look in to the matter and improve power supply to the village.

The Deputy Commissioner, Ashok Meena, has sought a report on the incident from the SDM.

“The power situation in our village is very grim ever since the kharif season has set in and the DHBVN authorities have been making a mockery of the state government’s claims of eight hours’ power supply to tube wells and uninterrupted supply for domestic use,” alleged villagers.

Sharma, however, accused the villagers of being rude to him.

Meena said he had asked the SDM to send a report, adding that he would take action only after the report was received. 

Sirsa, July 14
Hundreds of villagers today held a demonstration in front of the SP’s office accusing the police of framing an innocent person in a case of murder of a woman at Sangatpura in the district on May 24.

The villagers, including some panchayat members, alleged that the police had arrested an ‘innocent’ person Kanha Ram because it was under criticism for its failure to solve the case.

Miscreants had killed Krishna (55) while she was sleeping alone inside the house. The police arrested Gurmel Singh and Lakhwinder Singh on June 20 and claimed that they had confessed to having committed the crime at the behest of Kanha Ram, who nursed a grudge against Krishna’s husband. Later, Kanha Ram, too, was arrested.

Satinder Kumar Gupta, SP, said he had asked the DSP to probe the villagers’allegations but he was yet to send a report.

Naraingarh (Ambala), July 14
On the orders of Deputy Commissioner, Ambala, Sameer Pal Srow, SDM, Naraingarh, OP Sharma, has recorded the statement of over 192 farmers who secured loans from the local agriculture branch of the State Bank of India.

A few days ago, Srow had directed Sharma to hold investigations immediately and take action against the sugar mill, allegedly misguiding or causing inconvenience to the farmers as he had received a complaint recently.

Sources said the farmers were paid a token amount of Rs 4,000 by the sugar mill management for signing the loan documents in spite of the fact that the farmers did not own land and were not involved in sugarcane cultivation.

They said most of the farmers were provided with the loans by the bank for the sugarcane crop in spite of the fact they did not have agriculture land to cultivate the crop.

It is a mystery as to how and under what circumstances loans worth lakhs of rupees were sanctioned and disbursed to the farmers on the basis of fake documents, without verification of the land, by the Field Officer, violating the norms of the Reserve Bank of India to meet their loan targets and why action has not been taken against these officials.

The SDM, Naraingarh, said notices were being sent to the sugarcane growers, the sugar mill management and officials of the banks, adding that stern action would be taken against all those found involved in irregularities.