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H A R Y A N A |  |
 Friday, December 25, 1998 |
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2 railmen jailed for 1984
mishap |
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 DCs to have say in postings of SHOs CHANDIGARH, Dec 24 — In order to further tighten its stranglehold on the State Police, the Haryana Government has ordered that postings and transfers of SHOs should be done by the district police chiefs in consultation with the Deputy Commissioner. |
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Appointments land MDU in soup
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2 railmen jailed for 1984 mishap ROHTAK, Dec 24 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr R.K. Sharma, has held the Assistant Driver of 2 DR Rohtak-Delhi train, Siya Nand, and cabinman Tal Singh responsible for the 1984 train accident of Bahadurgarh, which had claimed 43 lives besides injuries to 58 persons. Both accused have been awarded rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs 1,000 each for commission of an offence punishable under Section 175 of the Railways Act. They have been further sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for six months and to pay a fine of Rs 500 each for an offence under Section 337, IPC. They have also been awarded rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs 1,000 each under Section 338, IPC. The judge ordered that both the accused would further undergo rigorous imprisonment for two years and a fine of Rs 1,000 each for offences punishable under Section 304-A, IPC. The fine totalling Rs 3500, as awarded by the court, was deposited by both accused. Announcing the order, the Chief Judicial Magistrate said that 43 persons had lost their lives and 58 sustained injuries due to rash and negligent act of the accused. The accident had brought a bad name to the Indian Railways and in such a serious case, a lenient view could give wrong signals to others. The accident occurred on February 10, 1984 when the 2 DR (Rohtak-Delhi) train rammed into the rear coaches of the stationary 38 Dn Punjab Mail on platform No 3 of Bahadurgarh station. This resulted in death of 43 passengers and injuries to 58 persons. The 2 DR train was on the fateful day driven by Mr Roshan Singh, driver and Siya Nand, Assistant Driver, Roshan Singh had died during the trial of the case which took over 14 years to decide. Tal Singh was the cabinman on duty at Bahadurgarh station when the accident took place. Assistant Driver Siya Nand had argued that the accident happened as the cabinman had not changed the point from loopline to mainline after the passing of the Punjab Mail. As such the 2 DR rammed into the Punjab Mail. The cabinman argued that train 38 DN Punjab Mail was a very long train consisting of 21 coaches. As the loopline was not free due to the length of the train, the point could not be reversed from loopline to mainline. The Assistant Station Master, Mr Rajinder Kumar, told the court that the speed of the 2 DR was 60 to 70 km per hour at the time of the accident whereas it should not have been more than 15 km. Due to the high speed of the 2 DR, the accident had taken place. The Chief Judicial Magistrate said that the cabinman did not inform the Assistant Station Master that the point could not be changed. Moreover, the photographs of the accident site leads to the conclusion that the cabinman had misinformed that the rear coaches of the Punjab Mail were on the loopline. The order said that had the driver and assistant driver controlled the speed of 2 DR sensing the presence of another train on the same platform, the accident could have been averted.
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1.42 cr spent on 4 Haryana towns CHANDIGARH, Dec 24 — A sum of over Rs 1.42 crore has so far been spent for the comprehensive development of four towns of Haryana under the integrated development of small and medium town scheme. The four towns selected under the scheme are Barwala, Charkhi Dadri, Pehowa and Yamunanagar. An official spokesman today said under this centrally-sponsored scheme, development of small and medium towns was taken up in an integrated manner to create infrastructure in the towns for generation of economic activities and providing employment opportunities to rural and urban poor to check their migration to big town in search of employment. Under the scheme, grant was being provided to the local bodies by the Centre and State Governments in the ratio of 60:40 and institutional finance was also being made available. Five more towns, namely Ambala City, Bhiwani, Palwal, Jhajjar and Bawal would also be included under the scheme and the Government of India would be approached for the release of grant during the current year. He said a grant of nearly Rs 4.74 crore had been approved for the comprehensive development of Yamunanagar town under the scheme. Under the scheme shopping-cum-office complex would be constructed at a cost of Rs 1.61 crore besides development of city centre and town parks, construction of sheds in vegetable market and upgradation and improvement of road network. After the completion of the scheme, the income of municipality would increase substantially besides infrastructure of the town would also be strengthened so as to create more economic activities and employment opportunities for the poor. He said under this scheme, a sum of Rs 1 crore had already been spent in Barwala and Charkhi Dadri towns for the construction of commercial complexes. He said that income of revenue from these commercial complexes was being spent on the development of these towns. After the completion of the scheme, Barwala town would have proper disposal of waste water. He said that for the development of Pehowa town and to give this place of pilgrimage a new face lift, a grant of Rs 11.66 lakh had already been released under the scheme and Rs 38.33 lakh more would also be released soon.
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DCs to have say in postings of
SHOs CHANDIGARH, Dec 24 — In order to further tighten its stranglehold on the State Police, the Haryana Government has ordered that postings and transfers of SHOs should be done by the district police chiefs in consultation with the Deputy Commissioner. Perhaps, the State Government has not yet fully achieved the desired results by its order soon after the installation of the HVP-BJP Government through which it reversed the order of the erstwhile Bhajan Lal Government. Under the HVP-BJP government order, the annual confidential reports of the SPs are now written by the Deputy Commissioners. However, it was found that certain SPs having strong political links did not care much for the bureaucrats heading the district administration. The Bhajan Lal Government had earlier withdrawn the powers of the Deputy Commissioners to write ACRs of the SPs. Although the Punjab Police Rules, applicable to Haryana, already provide that the postings/transfers of SHOs should be done in consultation with the Deputy Commissioners, these rules have been followed more in the breach than in observance over the years. Under the new order sent to the Deputy Commissioners and Superintendents of Police by name, a practice which is generally not followed, the postings/removal/transfers of officers in charge of police stations are to be regulated through provisions laid down in Chapter 1 of the Punjab Police Service Rules (as amended from time to time and as applicable in Haryana). The State Government has told the SPs that "under no circumstances the postings, removal and transfers of officers in charge of police stations within the districts should be ordered in exception to the provisions of Rule 1.7 of the Punjab Police Service Rules." According to these provisions, if the Deputy Commissioner considers the presence of a police officer of or below the rank of sub-inspector prejudicial to the welfare of the locality in which he is posted, he may direct his transfer elsewhere within the district. In the case of dissatisfaction with the work or conduct of officers above the rank of sub-inspector," the District Magistrate shall communicate his complaint to the Deputy Inspector-General of the range." Under the same Punjab Police Service Rules, postings, transfers of SHOs of the rank of Inspector have to be done by the Director-General of Police and of SHOs below the rank of Inspector by the SPs in consultation with the Deputy Commissioners/Magistrates. In fact, the rules provide that the SPs may post/transfer constables/head constables and others below the rank of Inspector within the district on their own. An interesting situation had arisen at Hisar some years ago when a Deputy Commissioner had informed the Sessions Judge that a number of SHOs had been holding the said positions "unlawfully" as their postings had been done without consulting him.
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Chautala's charge
"baseless" CHANDIGARH, Dec 24 — Mr Rajiv Jain, General Secretary of the Haryana Vikas Party, has termed as baseless the allegation levelled by the President of the Haryana Lok Dal (National) and former Chief Minister, Mr Om Parkash Chautala, that criminal minded people were uniting on the behest of Mr Surender Singh, MP. Mr Jain, who is also Press Adviser to Chief Minister, said the law and order situation was under control in the State and the allegation was only a figment of the imagination of Mr Chautala. While referring to the incident of the alleged beating up of an officer in Bhiwani by Suresh Sharma, he said that soon after getting the information of this incident, the Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, had directed the district administration to arrest the culprit and take stern action under the law. He said that Suresh Sharma was immediately arrested and action under the law was being taken against him. He said that the Government would not spare those who would take law in their own hands. He said that the officers of the State Government were being provided full protection to deal sternly with the anti-social elements, whereas everybody knew the kind of treatment meted out to the officers during the tenure of Mr Chautala. Mr Jain said that the political history of Mr Chautala was witness to the fact that anti-social elements had their own brigade during his tenure which used to take law in its own hand to commit crimes of loot and encroachments. He said that the Meham incident was such a slur on the political life of Mr Chautala which could never be erased. The killing of Mr Amir Singh at Meham had unveiled the face of Mr Chautala, he added. He said that one could prepare a volume of history by recollecting such incidents of crime occurred during the tenure of Mr Chautala. He said that some newspapers had recently published a list of politicians having connection with Ramesh Sharma and Mr Chautala's name figured at the top. He said that as Ramesh Sharma was keeping the 'Nyay Yudh Rath' of Mr Devi Lal, it was indicative of Mr Chautala's relations with Ramesh Sharma. In fact, Mr Devi Lal would have not given the rath to Ramesh Sharma without the consent of Mr Chautala. Similarly, he said that Mr Chautala had also family relations with a notorious criminal Krishan Lal Pahalwan of Delhi. This criminal had taken shelter at Teja Khera farm several times. Not only this, Mr Om Parkash Chautala had himself attended a family function of Krishan Lal. The CBI was still interrogating the case of Krishan Lal and Mr Ajay Chautala, son of Mr Om Parkash Chautala had also been interrogated. Mr Jain said that the main criminal named Baljit involved in the kidnapping of a petrol pump owner at Jhajjar some days ago, was also associated with Mr Ajay Chautala. He said that their association had been proved from the fact that when in April, 1996, violence erupted during the byelection at Narwana, Ajay Chautala and his associates had fired at the supporters of Mr Jai Parkash. Baljit and Ajay Chautala were together among those who had fired at the supporters of Mr Jai Parkash. Mr Jai Parkash had got a case No. 75 registered against them at police station, Narwana city, on April 27, 1996, under Sections 285 and 336.
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Appointments land MDU in soup ROHTAK, Dec 24 — The seeking of an explanation by the state government about the appointments made allegedly during the ban period by Maharshi Dayanand University authorities have put the latter in an embarrassing position. According to sources a fax message sent by the Director, Higher Education, Haryana to the VC on December 17 asked for reasons and grounds on which the university had made certain appointments on contract basis during the ban period. The ban had been imposed by the state government in August this year. The letter bearing the number UNP (1) 98 sought an explanation about at least six such appointments which include two in the Political Science Department, one in the Education Department, one in the Law Department and two others. The state government reportedly expressed unhappiness over violation of the ban. The Registrar of the University, Mr Srikant Walgad, IAS, when contacted confirmed that the university had received such a letter and said that a reply had been sent. He claimed that no violation of the ban had been committed as the appointments were made on contract basis and the university can make such appointment to cope with the shortage of teaching staff. About the controversial appointment of a Visiting Professor in the Directorate of Distance Education recently by the authorities, the Registrar said it was also not a violation of the ban as the post had been created under the UGC guidelines and provision and it was to be paid for by the UGC. However, some members of the teaching faculty claimed it was illegal saying the VC was not empowered to make such appointments even under the emergency powers vested in him by the university act. The state government is also reportedly upset over some decisions concerning promotions of some non-teaching officials and alleged regularisation of some employees who had been appointed under an 89-day contract system. One such beneficiary is reported to be close relative of a Haryana minister. This is the second instance when the University authorities have been put in such a situation. Earlier the authorities had postponed the 144th meeting of the Executive Council (EC) without assigning any reason to be held on December 22. It is learnt that the meeting of the EC was postponed on the direction of the state government after it learnt that the EC had the item of appointments on its agenda despite continuance of the ban.
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Gurgaon
roads to get facelift GURGAON: There is hope yet. The district administration has decided to take up repair of roads in Gurgaon in a big way. The focus has shifted from attractive roundabouts to the roads that connect them. To quote the Deputy Commissioner, Mr Krishan Kumar, "Road repair work has been taken up on a war footing". Indeed several roads that are in a state of neglect have finally started being attended to. According to Mr Kumar, the Gurgaon Municipal Council has spent Rs 1.12 crore on the repair of roads since April 1. During this period 3.05 km of CC roads, 1.14 km of water-bound roads, 9.97 km-long tarkol roads and 282-metre stretch of footpath have been constructed in the town. An amount of Rs 5.27 lakh was spent on the construction of 782 metre -long water drain. Three new parks were developed in this period while seven existing ones were repaired and renovated. Among these, the Swarn Jayanti Park is being developed at a cost of Rs 10 lakh. New community centres are also being constructed by the municipal council at Surat Nagar, 4-8 Marla Colony, and New Basti. In the past four months, the municipal council has fixed 40 sodium lights and 50 tubelight points besides carrying out repairs of 280 sodium points and 1675 tubelight points. * * * To underline the claim of the Haryana Vikas Party that development is its middle name, Mr Sita Ram Singla, Chairman, Bureau of Public Enterprises, Haryana, directed all district officers at a meeting here recently to complete all development projects in hand over the next six months. Mr Singla said that Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal had issued strict instructions that all-round development projects in the state should be completed within two years and that no project should be allowed to get delayed due to lack of finance. He said any hindrance in the approval or completion of any project may be brought to his notice immediately by the department concerned. Giving details of development projects being executed by the local municipal council, Mr Singla said an amount of Rs 1.64 crore had already been spent by the municipality on the construction of new roads, drains and parks. An additional amount of Rs 1 crore would be further spent in this direction, he added. According to Mr Singla, new roads constructed in Gurgaon include the new railway road, road from Pataudi chowk to New Colony and to Bhim Nagar, the old DLF Ranbir road to Khandsa road, and the Sadar Bazar road. * * * A committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of the Deputy Commissioner to chalk out an elaborate plan to drain out rain water from various colonies, including Awadhpuri, Rajender Park and its adjoining villages of Dhanwapur, Dharampur, Basai and Chandu. The committee includes officers from the PWD, Revenue and Irrigation and Drainage departments and is to submit its report to the state government at the earliest. * * * An Integrated watershed development project is underway in 15 villages of Sohna block in Gurgaon district. Under the project, an area of 5473 hectares is to be treated. Initiated in mid-1996 as a Central government-sponsored project, the objective of the project is to promote economic development of the village through optimum utilisation of natural resources like land, water, vegetation that will mitigate the adverse effects of drought and prevent further ecological degradation of the region. A team of young professionals under the banner of Ana RDe Foundation has been selected to implement the project. Keeping in view the topography and climatic conditions, earthen dams have been built in Kherla, Abheypur and Bhondsi. Deepening of ponds has been carried out in Kherla, Harchandpur, Nimoth, Rithoj, Qadarpur, Bhondsi and Abheypur. Stone work has been carried out over ponds in several villages to prevent soil erosion. Approximately 22,000 forest species and 13,000 horticulture species have been planted in the project area. * * * According to official records, the district of Gurgaon achieved a 125.86 per cent administration of polio immunisation drops against its target of 220,588 children. Terming the drive against polio a huge success, the Deputy Commissioner lauded the efforts of various social organisations, students and social workers in ensuring the success of the effort, specially in the backward areas of Mewat.
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Physics symposium from Dec 27 CHANDIGARH, Dec 24 — A five-day international symposium on "Solid State Physics" will be organised at Kurukshetra University by the Department of Physics in collaboration with the Department of Atomic Energy, Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences and Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. Dr ML Ranga, Vice-Chancellor of Kurukshetra University said today that the symposium, which would start on December 27, was being held after 26 years in the region. About 500 scientists from India and abroad would attend the symposium which could be termed the mini science congress of India. He added that Dr R Chidambram, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission and Secretary to the Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy, would inaugurate the seminar at the Shrimad Bhagwad-gita Sadan of the university. Eminent foreign physicists who would address different sessions of the seminar, include Prof BV Mckoy (Caltech, USA), Prof Priya Vashyasht and Dr Rajiv Kalia (Lousiana State University, USA) Prof TJ Ahrens and Prof Lindrews Philippines). Dr SK Sikka, who was instrumental in the simulation of the Pokhran blast would inaugurate one of the tutorial sessions at the symposium. Prof ND Sharma, Chairperson of the Physics Department of the university stated that Dr Chidambram would give a special talk on "Solid State Physics Aspects of Indian Nuclear Tests (1998) in Pokhran." About 400 papers focussing on the latest developments and research in Physics would be presented at the symposium. The important scientific deliberations would focus on topics like super-conductivity, novel materials, experimental techniques, instrumentation, surface science, electronic structure, liquid glass and amorphous systems. Dr Ranga would preside over the inaugural session and would release a souvenir on the occasion.
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Insurance cover for murrah buffaloes HISAR, Dec 24 — The Haryana Government has decided to provide insurance cover free of cost for murrah buffaloes in the state. This will also include the hariana and sahiwal breeds of cow, Chief Minister Bansi Lal said here yesterday. The Chief Minister was presiding over a prize distribution function for owners of the murrah buffaloes, organised by the State Animal Husbandry Department. About Rs 30 lakh was distributed among 558 owners. He said the state government had approached the union government for funding the Rs 34 crore project that envisaged providing free breeding services to the farmers at the doorstep. He said the Rs 4.48 crore Haryana women dairy scheme had already been introduced in the state from the current financial year. He disclosed that about 10000 women would benefit from the scheme. Mr Bansi Lal also inaugurated a mushroom technology laboratory on the campus of CCS Haryana Agricultural University. The lab has been built at a cost of Rs 45 lakh.
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Cong workers asked to unite FATEHABAD, Dec 24 — Former union minister Selja has called upon Congress workers to unite. She was addressing a party meeting at Ratia in the district today. The former minister said the results of the recent assembly elections had shown that people were fed up with the BJP government. She said the Congress would not have to make any efforts to oust the central government as it was bound to fall under its own pressure. Later, addressing a
meeting at Dhani Irs village, she said the HVP-BJP
Government in Haryana had failed to live up to the
expectations of people.
CM orders fresh probe into 4
cases HISAR, Dec 24 — Chief Minister Bansi Lal is not satisfied with the inquiries conducted into various cases by the district administration. Presiding over the monthly meeting of the District Grievance Redressal Committee here yesterday, the Chief Minister reordered inquiries into four cases which came up for hearing in the meeting. Of the eleven complaints put forth, the Chief Minister reordered inquiry into the two police cases. He asked the Hisar Divisional Commissioner to conduct fresh inquiry into the case of a doctor as also into the dispute among some teachers of a school. Mr Lal also directed the district administration to ensure supply of clean drinking water in the town. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr PC Bidhan, said of the 26 water samples collected by the Health Department, 12 were found to be unhygienic and unfit for consumption. He said, the public health authorities have been directed to take necessary steps to provide clean drinking water to the people.
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Guru Gobind Singh Chair at KU FATEHABAD, Dec 24 — The Haryana Government has decided to set up Guru Gobind Singh Chair at Kurukshetra University. This was announced by the Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bansi Lal, while addressing a public meeting at Ratia today. The Chief Minister said the state had already constituted the Punjabi Sahitya Academy and added that the state government was officially celebrating the tercentenary of the birth of the Khalsa. Mr Bansi Lal said his government had fulfilled all its poll promises. He said his opponents were spreading false propaganda that his government was privatising the power board. His government, he said, had taken certain steps for the reformation of the power structure. He said no employee would be retrenched after the completion of the reformation process. Earlier, the Chief Minister laid the foundation stone for Rs 75 lakh panchayat bhavan at Fatehabad. The Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Raja Shekhar, assured the Chief Minister that the bhavan would be ready within a year.
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Prolonged power cuts hit life ROHTAK, Dec 24 — Though the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam (HVPN) had imposed peak-load restrictions on industrial consumers only, domestic consumers too are reeling under heavy power-cuts. Power-cuts in the town including in HUDA sectors range from between 4 to 6 hours daily for the past week. Rural consumers get power from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m only. The power-cuts have created a drinking water scarcity in most villages and in certain localities of the town. The Superintending Engineer, Mr H.K. Sharma rebutted charges that mis-management of available power was behind the prolonged and unscheduled power cuts. He defended power restrictions on the plea that the availability of power to the district has been reduced from 20 lakh units to 17 lakh units per day due to a power scarcity in the northern grid. However, the chairman, HVPN, Mr Ranjit Issar told TNS on the phone yesterday that no restrictions had been imposed on supply to domestic consumers. The power-cuts at Rohtak could be due to local reasons, he said.
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Bid to loot bank ROHTAK, Dec 24 — Three youths made an unsuccessful bid to loot a branch of Punjab National Bank at Dadri Town village about 14 km from Jhajjar town, yesterday. According to the police the three entered the bank during lunch break and locked the employees in a room. Then they looked for cash at different counters but failed to get any money from there. Meanwhile, someone knocked at the door from outside and the youths fled away from the bank. The police has registered
a case.
Agitating staff for ESMA withdrawal BHIWANI, Dec 24 — Hundreds of members of the Sarvkaramchari Sangh, Haryana bank and LIC employees and CETU workers took out a torch procession last night in the town in protest against the anti-employee policy of the Government. The agitators demanded the withdrawal of black laws like ESMA and asked for the reinstatement of dismissed employees. They resolved that on the call of the Jan Sangathan March, Haryana, December 30 would be observed as 'daman virodhi diwas' in the state. The rally was addressed by various union leaders.
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Two car thieves arrested JIND, Dec 24 — The Jind police has arrested two car thieves — Naresh and Slammudin and recovered two stolen Maruti cars and two pistols from them. Stating this here on today, Mr Ranbir Sharma, Superintendent of Police said following a tip off the police intercepted Naresh and Slammudin after they could not give proof of ownership of their car. Mr Sharma said during interrogation Naresh admitted they had stolen the car from Chandigarh. He also admitted stealing another car from Delhi and changed its registration number in connivance with Om Parkash, a resident of Jind. The police has also arrested Om Parkash. The police has registered
a case under Sections 420, 411 and 120-B of IPC and under
the Arms Act.
1 held for murder, five abscond SONEPAT, Dec 24 — The Gohana police has registered a case against six persons for killing Howa Singh, a mason, and injuring other members of his family at their house in Gohana town, 35 km from here, on Tuesday night. Suspects identified as Ram Dutt, Ranbir, alias Kukoo, Bishan, Raj Kumar, Sanju and Telu, are said to be close relatives of the deceased. They absconded immediately after the crime. However, the police has arrested one of them. Mrs Darki Devi, wife of the deceased and her son Dinesh, who sustained multiple knife injuries, have been shifted to the Medical College Hospital, Rohtak. According to the police, the accused armed with deadly weapons, forced their way in the house and attacked Howa Singh and other family members. Altercations between two women of rival groups were given as the main cause of the crime.
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Train commuters go on rampage FARIDABAD, Dec 24 — A mob of angry commuters went on the rampage today at the NIT railway station in protest against the late running of trains causing disruption of traffic for several hours between Delhi and Mathura. A large number of daily passengers collected at the station indulged in stone pelting, breaking window panes of the booking office. The signal posts were also damaged in the brickbatting. Some persons put sleepers on the tracks at the Bata Chowk level crossing. The commuters also stopped the trains at old Faridabad, Ballabgarh and Palwal. Later, the police dispersed the mob and traffic was restored around noon. The commuters said the railway authorities were giving preference to mail and express trains to pass at the cost of local trains.
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