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Rain, hailstorms damage rabi crop
Rape victim’s family seeks death penalty for
convicts
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NOC for Petrol Pump
67 HCS officers' selection during Chautala rule
Help comes for AIDS patient
District hospitals to have MRI, CT scan facilities
Gurgaon police now on Facebook
25.2 lakh kids given polio drops
Jhinda group to gherao House
Not keen to hand over son’s custody to wife
Two held for murdering sarpanch
TMC to give 60% seats to youth, says KD Singh
Guest teachers hold demo
Youth gets 7-yr jail
Student strangled, two arrested
Youth held on abduction charge
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Rain, hailstorms damage rabi crop
Rohtak, February 24 Hailstorms damaged crops in some parts of the district. Sunil Kumar of Dobh village said the rain and hailstorms had caused extensive damage to crops. Surender of Kishangarh village of Meham subdivision said the downpour and hailstones had hit the prospects of a good rabi harvest. Farmers sought compensation as they were not in a situation to suffer such a huge damage being marginal farmers. While CPM leader Inderjit Singh sought immediate survey and adequate compensation, the district INLD demanded compensation of at least Rs 25,000 per acre for the affected farmers. Sonepat: A number of villages in Gohana subdivision were lashed by a hailstorm and heavy rain on Saturday night Extensive damage was caused to the standing crops of wheat, mustard and vegetables. Reports said rooftops and streets in over 10 villages, including Nizampur, Issapur Kheri, Nunan Khera, Butana and Gangagana were full of hail stones. Jagsi villagers said they had not seen such a hailstorm in the past 50 years. Waterlogging in wheat fields was reported in many villages, including Rindhana, Dhana, Banwasa. Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal said a report would be sent to the government after collecting initial estimates of damages. |
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Rape victim’s family seeks death penalty for
convicts
Sachakhera (Jind),
February 24 Visiting politicians, strangers to share their sorrow, assurances and help last came when their minor daughter was gang-raped on October 6, 2012. She had later doused herself with kerosene, set herself on fire and died. The court last week sentenced two accused to life imprisonment while two others, including a Haryana policeman, were acquitted. The fifth accused is still being tried in a juvenile court. The family is convinced that it is fighting a lone battle. The “support” was an illusion and the sympathetic words were only mere lip service. “The VIP visits made our tragedy public. Sonia Gandhi came to our home, hugged me and assured me that the guilty would be severely punished. We took her word and presumed that justice would be done and that it would avenge our daughter’s death and salvage our family honour. Instead, we are hiding our faces as if we are the accused,” the victim’s mother said. She hasn’t gone to work because of the “looks” her presence invites from fellow villagers. As if the pain of losing the daughter wasn’t enough for the nine-member family, headed by an 85-plus frail grandmother, confined to bed, there are everyday threats, snide remarks and brazen mocking from the family of the accused. “The police van posted outside our home is what has kept us back. The Haryana Government offered a financial help of Rs 2.5 lakh and gave a job to our son. However, our main concern and that of the witnesses is security in the face of threats, some of which we have reported to the police. Despite this, even five months later, the district administration is dragging its feet on issuing four arms licences we have asked for,” the family members said. Their other grudge is that the police “connived” to save a police personnel, an accused in the case. “The police held back vital information on his location based on call records to weaken his case. That’s why he stands acquitted. Our statements were also altered. We will definitely file an appeal in the high court. This is unacceptable. We want death penalty for all guilty,” the family insists. Unhappy with the trial of one of the accused in a juvenile court since he is a minor, the mother, asks “Isn’t this grossly unjustified? My daughter was a minor too. Does it mean that all rapists who are major will get a more severe sentence? Then, how does it matter that the accused was over or under 18 years?” The family is more worried since the verdict as “the families of the accused keep underling that they have been acquitted and ask what Sonia Gandhi or Selja or Hooda have been able to do. We have become a laughing stock. Our daughter has gone, honour has gone and we haven’t even got justice,” they claim. |
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NOC for Petrol Pump
Bhiwani, February 24 The officers booked are KS Chauhan, Chief Conservator of Forests (Production) and Vinod Kumar Jhanjharia, Conservator of Forests (West), Hisar, both IFS officers, Raj Kumar Jangra and Rajinder Singh, both Divisional Forest Officers of the rank of the Haryana Forest Services (HFS) and Kashmir Singh, a Forest Range Officer. The police has booked these officers and a person Devat Ram of Daroli in an FIR registered in Siwani police station. Rekha Devi, had alleged that after her husband, Ashok Kumar, laid down his life for the country fighting enemies on the Kargil frontiers in 2000, the government allotted her a petrol pump under its rehabilitation scheme. The martyr’s widow alleged that the forest officers procured some false complaints from some villagers, including one of the accused Devat Ram, who, she alleged, was hand in glove with the officers and started demanding illegal gratification for issuance of NOC. She alleged that while DFO Rajinder Singh demanded Rs 40,000 for issuance of NOC, Chief Conservator Jhanjhria demanded Rs 40,000 for disposing off the pending inquiries on the complaints filed by villagers. She said when inquiry on her complaint was entrusted to another IFS officer KS Chauhan, he also “hushed up the matter on the basis of false documents without affording an opportunity of proper hearing” to her. She said Jhanjharia and another accused officer, Raj Kumar Jangra, came to her petrol pump in 2012 and started creating hurdles in the installation processes. They demanded Rs 1 lakh for allowing the installation of the petrol pump. When she refused to pay the money and reported the matter to the Army authorities, NOC already issued in her favour was cancelled and documents were allegedly tampered with in a forged manner. Meanwhile, Jhanjharia denied allegations and maintained that he had been considering her case sympathetically. He said Chauhan’s name had also been wrongly dragged as he merely conducted a probe into the case. |
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National highways a commuters’ nightmare in Yamunanagar
Yamunanagar, February 24 National Highway 72 links Ambala in Haryana with Hardwar in Uttarakhand. This 200-km highway passes through Dehradun. National Highway 73 (NH 73) connects Panchkula in Haryana to Roorkee in Uttarakhand and is 188 km long. However, as the two highways pass through the district, these are reduced to local link roads with hardly any metal road, giving a hard time to the commuters. Slow movement of traffic on these roads lead to long traffic jams. Former HPCC secretary Satpal Kaushik has also shot off a strongly worded letter to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda alleging that the authorities concerned were indifferent towards the problems being faced by people. He claimed that even though Rs 9 crore had been sanctioned for the Yamunanagar-Karnal state highway, little work had been carried out on this road so far. Parveen Kamboj, a local resident, said despite having the status of national highways, condition of the two roads in the district is worse than many city roads. He said in the name of repairing the roads, the authorities only do patch work, which gets eroded within a few days due to the heavy traffic here. Naresh Sharma, another local resident, said though a project to six-lane the two roads had been approved by the state government as well as the national highway authority, it had not even been started. Most of the time, the traffic moves at a speed of less than 5 km an hour, creating problems for the commuters. Pritam Singh, who frequently visits Haridwar, said the road was in a bad shape and caused a lot of inconvenience. He said the government seemed to have turn a blind eye to their woes. He said Hardwar was visited by a large number of devotees from Punjab and Haryana. Meanwhile, travelling from Yamunanagar to Karnal on state highway numbers 6 and 7 is also a Herculean task. Both these roads have been in a bad state for several years. Mahinder Pal, a resident said, the 70 km of travel, which should take less than 1.5 hours takes, more than two and a half hours because of the bad condition of the road. |
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DC-led demolition squad razes illegal structures in Gurgaon
Manesar, February 24 The Deputy Commissioner reached Kasan village with Manesar SHO Narender Kumar despite heavy rain. They saw a 2.5-acre chunk of land where sewer lines were laid along with manholes. Meena asked the area patwari and kanoongo to reach the spot along with the land record of the area. DTP (Enforcement) Anil Dabas and Gurgaon Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) Virender Chaudhary were also asked to report along with JCB machine. After examining the record , the DC directed the DTP (E) to pull down the structures. The sewer lines were also demolished. Half-built structures of a number of quarters being built on about 2 kanals near the cremation ground in the same village were also razed . The squad then proceeded to Naharpur village, where an illegal colony was being developed stealthily in a farmhouse named RB Farms measuring about 3 acres. Here, the road network and sewer lines were laid. The road network and sewer lines were demolished on the spot. Similarly, half-built roads, houses and DPC-level structures found in Kakrola, Bhangrola and Sihi villages were also demolished in the presence of the DC. Meena appealed to the people to invest their hard-earned money only after ascertaining the status of the colony or housing society from the DTP
office concerned. |
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67 HCS officers' selection during Chautala rule
Chandigarh, February 24 Around 67 HCS (Executive) officers were selected by the Haryana Public Service Commission in 2002, when Om Prakash Chautala was the Chief Minister. The matter was brought to the high court's notice initially by Haryana's former Advocate-General Mohan Jain, now Additional Solicitor-General of India at Delhi. Jain was appearing as the petitioners' counsel in a PIL for a CBI probe into alleged irregularities, jointly filed by former MLA Karan Singh Dalal and two candidates. Taking cognizance of the matter, the high court had summoned the entire record of the selection. The petitioner-side argued that the inspection report of the selected candidates' answersheets clearly showed tampering and overwriting. It was also argued that some of the meritorious candidates were given lower marks while those having lower marks in the written examination were given maximum marks so that they could be selected. It was alleged that Kuldhir Singh, son of Chautala's then political adviser Sher Singh Badshami, attempted four questions. But marks were given for five. Badshami is also behind bar with Chautala for his alleged role in the JBT recruitment scam. In the case of Jagdeep, a close relative of HPSC's then chairman Dr KC Bangar, it was alleged that some questions were attempted afterwards, maybe outside the examination hall. The selected candidates, on the other hand, have been arguing that their records were tampered with after the present Congress government came into power. It was also stated that one HCS officer, appointed as HPSC Secretary by the present government, had tampered with their record. The locus standi of Karan Singh Dalal has also been challenged in this petition on the grounds of his affiliation with the Congress. |
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Help comes for AIDS patient
Karnal, February 24 A number of queries were received after The Tribune published a story about the AIDS patient, Prakash (name changed), a resident of Suraj Singh Dera on the Gharonda-Raipur Jatan village road. He has been provided shelter by Raipur Jatan Suraj Singh, a former sarpanch. The victim wanted to end his life along with his HIV-infected wife and nine-year-old daughter as the family was starving and had no money for treatment. Gurjeet Singh of Australia and Anup Singh Phagura have offered help to the family. Gurjeet has committed to give financial help on a monthly basis for sustenance of the family, while Anup has deposited money in the bank account (1716000102077990) in the Gharonda branch of Punjab National Bank opened by a former DC. With very little help coming for Prakash during the past two years, he was full of despair and wanted to end his life and give poison to his HIV positive wife and daughter. But he was worried about his two-year-old daughter who is fortunately not infected by AIDS. It was then that people started offering help. The AIDS Society and Red Cross, which have no dearth of funds, have failed to provide any succour to the AIDS victim and his family. Gurjeet Singh is not a rich man, but is willing to provide financial assistance on a monthly basis and donate clothes and other articles of use. His wife is expected to come to India during Divali and meet Prakash. Some more people have inquired about Prakash's plight. The family needs continuous help. The silver lining is that Prakash got his 10-year-old girl treated at a private hospital with the financial assistance and she would rejoin school on Monday. |
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District hospitals to have MRI, CT scan facilities
Chandigarh, February 24 Haryana will be the first state in the country to provide this facility in all government district hospitals through public-private partnership (PPP) mode. Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said the equipment for MRI and CT scan services would be installed under the PPP mode. Instructions had been issued to initiate the process of inviting bids and establish MRI and CT scan facilities at district hospitals within next six
months, he added. The Chief Minister said the rates charged for this service would be affordable, reasonable and the state government would bear the differential in rate between the government and the market rates. As per the rates fixed by the Health Department, Rs 600 would be charged for CT head, plain/contrast. Rs 1,125 would be charged for CT body like spine/ chest/abdomen/pelvis/PNS. Rs 2,500 would be charged for MRI of single region. The decision to introduce this facility in the PPP mode was taken in a meeting of the Committee of Secretaries on Infrastructure chaired by Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery. |
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Gurgaon police now on Facebook
Gurgaon, February 24 The social media is inevitable in today’s time. I believe that it has to be an integral part of our policing as well. The forum will make us more accessible to residents who can use this medium to voice day-to-day concerns, which otherwise are not generally reported to police stations, said Mittal. The account, which was functional since afternoon was loaded with praises of the Commissioner for starting this initiative. Along with few residents many members of the local police and other high ups logged onto the account to congratulate the Commissioner and give their feedback on existing police system and woes of the residents. Sources say that the Police Department plans to merge its helplines with the facebook where the people accessing them can log on and submit their complaints. “Its first step and we will get on the things slowly. The response on the very first day has been encouraging and we will use the Facebook as a major tool to achieve our aim of crime prevention and control,” he said. |
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25.2 lakh kids given polio drops
Chandigarh, February 24 This campaign will continue for another two days when teams would go from house to house to administer drops to children who could not come to polio booths today. A total of 16,669 booths were set up in the state and these were manned by about 66,000 health officials, volunteers, Anganwadri workers and ASHA workers. During this round, special attention has been paid to high-risk areas like slums, isolated hutments, brick- kilns, floating or migrating population and construction sites. About 1,500 mobile teams will cover all children in poorly approachable areas. |
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Jhinda group to gherao House
Kurukshetra, February 24 Jhinda said a memorandum containing the HSGPC demands was
submitted to Haryana Governor Jagannath Phadia on February 1 and to President Pranab Mukherjee, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and the Minority Commission on February 11. The HSGPC would continue its agitation till a separate Sikh Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC) was formed in Haryana, he said. Jhinda asserted although the Congress had in
its election manifesto promised to form a separate SGPC in Haryana, nothing had
been done. |
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Not keen to hand over son’s custody to wife
Ambala, February 24 Bharat Bhushan reported to the police that his son had been kidnapped but investigations found discrepancies in his version. However, the police made efforts to trace the boy but in vain. Rekha called up the police this morning to say that her house was filled with a foul smell. Police officials searched the house and found the boy’s body from one of the gutters. On quizzing the parents, the police found that Rekha had recently decided to divorce Bharant Bhushan to marry again.Though Bharat Bhushan had no objection to Rekha getting a divorce and marrying again, he did not want to part with his son. As Rekha refused to let Bharat Bhushan keep Abhinav, he decided to murder the boy. The police has arrested Bharat
Bhushan. |
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Two held for murdering sarpanch
Sirsa, February 24 Senior Superintendent of Police Raj Shri Singh said they had arrested Ashwani from Chattargarh Patti and Rajinder from Panjuana village for the murder. She said the two had confessed that they had throttled Jasbir Singh after he was drunk and then threw his body into the canal. They have cited illicit relations with the sarpanch’s wife as the motive behind the murder. The slain sarpanch’s brother Satbir Singh had lodged an FIR on February 14, alleging that his brother had been kidnapped. During investigations and perusal of call records, the Crime Investigation Agency (CIA) of the police succeeded in solving the case and arrested the two accused. The SSP said the slain sarpanch’s wife would be soon interrogated to find out her role in the crime. |
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TMC to give 60% seats to youth, says KD Singh
Panipat, February 24 Addressing a rally at Sanauli village, Singh said students’ elections in the state should be held to give platform to youth. The irony was that Haryana had been deprived of leadership with a vision and there had been a conspiracy hindering young leadership. Expressing shock over the increasing incidents of suicides among youths and farmers, he said every year nearly 400 youths and equal number of farmers take their lives because of unemployment and debt. Terming the Hooda government as anti-farmer, Singh said the government had acquired the large tracts of fertile land to develop a special economic zone. Referring to spurt in crime against women in the state especially rape cases, Singh said there was no law and order prevailing in the state. |
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Guest teachers hold demo
Ambala, February 24 Addressing the demonstrators, president of the teachers’ union Arun Malik said that most of the guest teachers had been working in various schools for past seven years. Even though they had worked hard to improve the quality of education in government schools, the government had not been regularising their services. He said the union had decided to launch a statewide agitation to compel the government to accept their demands. |
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Youth gets 7-yr jail
Fatehabad, February 24 The victim’s father had lodged a complaint on August 24, 2012, that a youth MP Singh had kidnapped his minor daughter. The police had recovered the girl on August 27 and arrested the accused. The victim's medical examination confirmed that she was raped. Holding the accused guilty of the offence, the court yesterday sentenced him to seven-year imprisonment. |
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Student strangled, two arrested
Sonepat, February 24 On the complaint of the victim’s father, Suresh,
the police has arrested Deepak and Digvijay. The victim’s body was today handed over to his family members after a postmortem examination. Balbir Singh,
DSP, said both the accused had confessed their involvement in the murder. Digvijay had taken Shubham’s mobile phone about a week ago but did not return it. When Shubham kept on demanding his mobile phone, he was strangulated with a wire and a rope by the accused. |
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Youth held on abduction charge
Rewari, February 24 Earlier, on a complaint by the girl’s mother, the police booked Sonu. The girl,
who refused to go with her mother, was sent to Nari Niketan in Karnal. — OC |
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