Yamunanagar, July 15
Several villages in Yamunanagar district have been flooded following several breaches in the bundh of Som river due to a downpour during the past two days.

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan reviewed the situation at a meeting. He directed the heads of various zonal committees to tour the flooded areas to take stock of the situation.

The Deputy Commissioner along with other senior officers visited villages near the swollen Yamuna today. The situation is being closely monitored round the clock. An alert had also been sounded in villages alongside the Yamuna, he added.

Bilaspur subdivision of the district bore the brunt with 110 mm of rainfall yesterday. The Yamuna level was rising with each passing hour. Chhachhrauli experienced 70 mm of rainfall and incessant rain caused breaches in the newly constructed embankment of Som river, damaging a stretch of about 3000 feet.

Water from the Som river was gushing into Bamnoli village, submerging vast stretches of agricultural land. According to locals, Bamnauli village was submerged under 4 feet of water.

According to official sources, a 200-foot bridge collapsed in Rampur Gainda while a newly constructed bridge across Adibadri got damaged. Some villages were also flooded in Chhachhrauli block. These included Mehdipur, Rampur, Kathgarh, Bhedthal, Peeruwala and Udhamgarh.

The Deputy Commissioner assured the villagers that the administration was fully geared up to meet any eventuality.

Kurukshetra, July 15
Avinash Rai Khanna, a senior BJP leader and Rajya Sabha member from Punjab, has urged the NHRC to take a serious note of the incident of a lizard found in a midday meal served to schoolchildren in Kurukshetra yesterday as a result of which 42 children were taken ill.

Quoting the news report published in The Tribune today, Khanna said it was a violation of rights and the commission should take necessary action in this regard.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner CG Rajnikantam today ordered a probe to fix responsibility for the lapse.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sumedha Kataria has been asked to probe the incident and fix responsibility so that action could be taken against those found guilty.

To avoid such incidents in future, the DC also constituted a supervisory committee to keep vigil on the Mirjapur plant where the midday meal was prepared for students of elementary schools in Thansewar, Ladwa and Pehowa blocks.

Chandigarh, July 15
Oustees left without a shelter will now get a chance to own land, once again. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed HUDA to invite claims from “all oustees” as a one-time measure.

Admonishing HUDA for violating its own policies for accommodating oustees, Justice Ranjit Singh directed it to invite claims through a newspaper advertisement, giving sufficient time to the oustees.

Justice Ranjit Singh clarified that it was a one-time measure “to satisfy the claims of those left out either because of ignorance or because of HUDA not following its policies in letter and in spirit.

The directions came on petitions by Sandeep and others. Justice Ranjit Singh observed the oustees were to be treated as a separate class and their claims could not be considered along with those of the general public.

Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “HUDA has not performed its obligation in inviting the claim of oustees as laid down in the policies dated March 19, 1992, and a subsequent policy….The land losers have the option to buy first before applications are invited from the general public. In none of the cases, it was so done.”

Justice Ranjit Singh added: “A majority of the claims are being denied on the ground that applications are not sent with 10 per cent of the price of the plot. This is also not in conformity with the policy so formulated…. The price is to be deposited once the claim is finally accepted and when the sector scheme is floated.”

Justice Ranjit Singh added: “Those who make applications pursuant to such an advertisement may be asked to deposit 10 per cent of the price if the plots are still available.The plots be allotted to such applicants in the sector for which their land was acquired if such plots are available in the said sector or in the adjoining sector”.

Naraingarh (Ambala), July 15
The Ambala district Health Department raided several nursing homes and ultrasound centres at Naraingarh after an incident of aborting 26-year-old woman Sonia’s foetus was reported at Sharma Nursing Home a few days back.

A Health Department team raided the nursing home and caught Dr Sushil Sharma conducting the sex determination test at Naraingarh. The ultrasound machine had been sealed. A case has been registered against him. He was produced in a court which sent him to judicial custody.

On Sonia’s statement, the Health Department sealed an ultrasound machine at Shivam Ultrasound Centre and registered a case against its owner, Shiv Kumar.

A team sealed ultrasound machines at two other ultrasound centres — Gulati Nuring Home and Dang Nursing Homes — at Naraingarh after finding irregularities in their record.

Ambala: The Haryana Drug Control Department got a case registered against Rakesh Chand Aggarwal, proprietor of Lincoln Pharmaceuticals at Saha police station on Friday on the instructions of the Drug Controller.

Fake medicines worth Rs 50 lakh were seized during a raid on Lincoln Pharmaceutical at Khanpur village in Ambala district on July 13. The seized stock would be sent to a lab for examination.

Hisar, July 15
Dalit families of Mirchpur village in this district have sought additional security as the decision in the case by a Rohini court in Delhi is expected soon.

A delegation of the affected families, currently residing in Tanwar Farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, today met the SP and handed over a memorandum to him in this regard.

It said the court decision could endanger the lives and properties of Dalits in the village, especially those who had appeared as witnesses in the court. It added that the lawyers representing the Dalits and office-bearers of the NGOs could also be affected.

SP Hanif Qureshi said additional forces had been sought for increased security in the village and these would be deployed soon. He said adequate security measures would be taken, where necessary.

The hearing of the case regarding violence against Mirchpur Dalits has been completed in a Delhi court. The case was transferred to Delhi on orders of the apex court.

Tara Chand and his teenaged polio-stricken daughter had been killed when several houses in the Dalit colony of the village were set afire by upper-caste villagers last year.

Jind, July 15
The police raided a hotel today and rounded up 19 persons, including nine girls, who were allegedly involved in immoral activities. While the majority of those nabbed have been found to be college students, the accused also include the owner of the hotel. The police has summoned and informed their parents.

The police carried out a raid after receiving a tip-off that the hotel premises was being used for immoral activities.

One of the couple was a brother-in-law and sister-in-law.

“Almost all boys and girls, who were nabbed by the police were found in compromising positions and they could not explain their presence in the hotel,” said a police official.

The police has arrested the hotel owner. No case has been registered so far in this connection.

Sirsa, July 15
Students of Government Senior Secondary School, Raghuana, in this district refused to take midday meals when fungus-infested food was served to them today. Some students spotted fungus on grams supplied to them.

More than 25 students refused to accept the meal and brought the matter to the notice of the village sarpanch.

Children alleged that as the food was smelling bad, it was not possible for them to eat it.

Sarpanch Jagtar Singh inspected the foodstocks stored in a dingy room of the school and found that grams were infested with fungus.

Efforts to contact District Education Officer Kumkum Grover on her mobile were not successful. — TNS