H A R Y A N A

HCS examinees threaten stir
CHANDIGARH, June 16 — There seems to be lack of professionalism on the part of conductors of the Haryana Civil Services examination. The examination scheduled for today has been postponed indefinitely. The examination was postponed in March this year. Compared to the IAS examination, the HCS does not follow a regular pattern of recruitment.

Farmers told not to pay power bills
JIND, June 16 — The Bharatiya Kisan Union, Haryana, has called upon farmers of the state not to pay their electricity bills until they get regular power supply. Speaking at a rally organised by the state unit of the union here yesterday, Mr Ghasi Ram Nain, the state president, alleged that the government was ignoring the interests of the farmers and exploiting them.

Illicit liquor factory detected: three arrested
ROHTAK, June 16 — All three accused involved in the large scale manufacture of illicit liquor in a factory near Ismaila village were today remanded in police custody till June 30.

Order to curb plying of autorickshaw
ROHTAK, June 16 — Irked by unbridled growth of autorickshaws on city roads, the district administration has taken shelter under Sections 144 Cr PC to put brakes to provide some cleaner environment.

Victim’s father threatens self-immolation
PANIPAT, June 16 — Virbhan, whose three-year-old daughter Anita was allegedly kidnapped and killed about two and a half months ago has threatened to immolate himself on June 22 if the police does no arrest the alleged killers of his daughter.

Jail warden held for helping criminals
JIND, June 16 — The Jind police has arrested Satpal, a constable and warden of district jail here for helping hardcore criminals. This was stated by Mr Raj Pal Singh, SP, here today.

HCS examinees threaten stir
By Sanjeev Singh Bariana
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH, June 16 — There seems to be lack of professionalism on the part of conductors of the Haryana Civil Services examination.

The examination scheduled for today has been postponed indefinitely. The examination was postponed in March this year. Compared to the IAS examination, the HCS does not follow a regular pattern of recruitment.

Aspirants in large number left their home towns and shifted to the city months before the examination to prepare ‘better’. Engaged in ‘over-hours’ of study, the reaction to the postponing of the examination came as shock to most of them.

Most examinees ask ‘‘postponed, till when?’’ Majority of aspirants have already completed their studies up to the post-graduation level and spent months preparing for the examination.

Mr Chand Madaan, Chairman of the Haryana Students Association, has threatened to stage a dharna in case the new dates were not announced within a week. Similar is the mood of number of examinees who were contacted at the Panjab University library.

Dinesh Kumar said there should at least a calendar for the examination. He said when other States can chalk out a schedule for such an examination, why can’t Haryana? they ask.

In March the State Public Service Commission postponed the examination on the pretext that ‘‘normal staff was engaged in panchayat elections".

Now it has been postponed because the examination clashed with regular examination of normal classes’. Students of a Haryana university went to the Punjab and Haryana High Court on the issue.

The court has dismissed the petition seeking postponement of the HCS (executive branch and allied services). "We only clarify that it is up to the authorities concerned to take decision and prima facie it appears to us that there cannot be any legal hurdle in postponing the date of examination."

It was pronounced in the open court that ‘‘ no writ lies to direct either those who are conducting the examination like the IAS and HCS to postpone the same”.

The Bench observed that ‘if such a course is to be adopted, no competitive examination shall ever achieve finality.”

The posts for which the examinations were slated were advertised in1998.

Farmers told not to pay power bills
From Our Correspondent

JIND, June 16 — The Bharatiya Kisan Union, Haryana, has called upon farmers of the state not to pay their electricity bills until they get regular power supply.

Speaking at a rally organised by the state unit of the union here yesterday, Mr Ghasi Ram Nain, the state president, alleged that the government was ignoring the interests of the farmers and exploiting them.

The leaders of the union pointed out that the union had been agitating since 1992 for the regular supply of electricity. That was why the electricity bills had not been paid and would not be paid until their demand was met. They demanded that the government should negotiate with the farmers regarding the pending electricity bills. The leaders said that the BKU would not tolerate the use of force for realising the payments.

The BKU criticised the increase in the rate of abiana by the government and said that it was injustice to the farmers. They demanded the withdrawal in the hike in abiana. The union leaders warned that if the hike was not withdrawn, they would stop paying the abiana.

The BKU leaders criticised the government for not replacing the burnt transformers in the rural areas. The farmers were facing difficulty due to the burnt transformers as they were not getting adequate electricity to run their tubewells. They also demanded that the damaged electricity wires should be replaced to avoid accidents.

The BKU adopted several resolutions, demanding a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the families of those farmers who were killed during the farmers agitation; government jobs to the dependants of the deceased; an inquiry into the firing on the agitating farmers by the CBI and implementation of the crop insurance scheme. They warned that if their demands were not met, the agitation would be intensified.

Those who spoke at the rally included state General Secretary, Mr Ram Phal Kandela, state Vice-President, Mr Harikesh, President of the unions, Jind district, Mr Mahender Singh, and President of the Hisar district, Mr Vijender Singh.

Illicit liquor factory detected: three arrested
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, June 16 — All three accused involved in the large scale manufacture of illicit liquor in a factory near Ismaila village were today remanded in police custody till June 30.

Factory owner Mahender, his pregnant wife Bala and Kuldeep alias Khelu, all of Ismaila village were arrested yesterday.

SSP, P.K. Aggarwal, claimed that it was the first factory in the state detected which so far made illicit liquor on such a large scale. According to the police, nearly three lakh liquor pouches could be made at the factory in 24 hours.

The police seized latest machinery and chemicals used for making illicit liquor, polypacks and a large number of liquor pouches from the factory located in fields outside the village. Factory owner had placed two large plastic tanks of the roofs of two rooms giving the impression of these being water containers. Two latest machines were installed in the basement located under a fodder store. Chemical from the plastic tanks was transmitted through iron pipes to the machines installed in the basement and liquor was packed in pouches by automatic machines.

The SSP gave detailed information to reporters regarding the refined technique and functioning of the factory.

According to the police, the factory owner earned in lakhs by smuggling liquor during prohibition. Several cases are pending against him in Rohtak and neighbouring districts under the Excise Act and the Arms Act.

Order to curb plying of autorickshaw
From Jatinder Sharma

ROHTAK, June 16 — Irked by unbridled growth of autorickshaws on city roads, the district administration has taken shelter under Sections 144 Cr PC to put brakes to provide some cleaner environment.

This is perhaps the first instance of its kind in the region that the district authorities have to resort to impose prohibitory orders to overcome traffic hazards created by these unruly autorickshaws and control air pollutions.

Imposing the prohibitory orders the District Magistrate, Mr Rajesh Khullar, said that the “extra-ordinarily large number of autorickshaws” ply within the municipal limits of the city which cause “annoyance” to the common man.

The smoke emitted by these autorickshaws, he said, caused a high level of pollution dangerous to the health of residents. Therefore, the orders were being issued to regulate the plying of these autorickshaws to prevent danger to human health.

The District Magistrate, as such, has prohibited plying of autorickshaws with odd registration numbers on any Monday, Wednesday, and Friday and those with even numbers on any Tuesday. Thursday and Saturday. There would, however, be no ban on the plying of all autorickshaws on Sundays.

Mr Khullar said that he had taken the association of the three-wheelers in confidence before issuing the prohibitory orders. These orders would remain in force initially for a period of one month from June 18 and might be extended further if found effective.

Victim’s father threatens self-immolation

PANIPAT, June 16 (PTI) — Virbhan, whose three-year-old daughter Anita was allegedly kidnapped and killed about two and a half months ago has threatened to immolate himself on June 22 if the police does no arrest the alleged killers of his daughter.

He has already sent letters to the Prime Minister, the Chief Minister and the Director-General of Police about the decision.

Parts of the body of Virbhan’s daughter were found in a field in his native Kachroli village.

He was taken to the SP and the DSP by the Sadar police on Tuesday and was reportedly threatened that he would be arrested if he did not withdraw his threat of self-immolation.

According to Virbhan, he has met police officers several times and has given the names of alleged killers but he blamed that the police had not arrested them.

“I have no faith in the police in this case now”, he said.

Jail warden held for helping criminals
From Our Correspondent

JIND, June 16 — The Jind police has arrested Satpal, a constable and warden of district jail here for helping hardcore criminals. This was stated by Mr Raj Pal Singh, SP, here today.

The police had arrested three criminals, Mukesh, Rakesh and Parmender for committing robberies at two brick kilns in the district. During interrogation they revealed that they had a meeting with a criminal Satbir, alias Jabbal, in the office of the Deputy Superintendent of Jail in connivance with officials where they hatched a plan of robbery and kidnapping for ransom.

The SP said that Satbir misused the telephone in jail and made calls to extract ransom. He also illegally met criminals in the jail and made plans to commit various crimes, the SP added. He said that while in jail, Satbir, got a number of crimes committed in a planned way in Jind, Kaithal and Sonepat districts.

The SP said that Satbir even made weapons available to his accomplices while being in the jail and in connivance with the jail officials he had made the Jind jail a place for planning crimes.

3 killed, 10 hurt in accident
From Our Correspondent

ROHTAK, June 16 — As many as three persons, including an old woman, were killed and 10 others injured in a head-on-collision between a Maruti Zen and a Gypsy near Kharawar bypass on NH-10 today.

The driver of the Zen, Anand and the driver of the Gypsy, Ranbir died on the spot while Prem Kumari of Bohar village died at the PGIMS.

The injured include Jai Singh, Sheela, Basanti, Satyawanti, Dilbagh, Kamlesh, Sheela and Indrawati, all of Bohar village and Naresh and Neelam of Narela (Delhi). All injured of Bohar belong to the same family. The injured have been admitted to the PGIMS.

It is learnt the driver of the Zen lost balance of his vehicle while overtaking a truck and hit the Gypsy approaching from opposite direction.

The passengers of Bohar village travelling in the Gypsy were going to express grief over the death of a relation in the family.

BJP leader arrested
From Our Correspondent

REWARI, June 16 — Dr B.L. Bhardwaj, owner of a private clinic at Kund Mandi, 24 km from here, and a former President of the Khol block unit of the BJP and his associate Banwari Singh, a resident of Padla village near Kund Mandi, have been arrested by the Kund police. Two young Assamese girls — Silloonath (25) and Renunath (22) have also been recovered from their custody.

Both the suspects — Dr B.L. Bhardwaj and Banwari Singh were today produced in the court of Mr Suraj Bhan, SDM, here today who remanded them to police custody till June 28. Meanwhile, both girls have been sent to the Women’s Cell of Gurgaon Jail and information in this regard has been conveyed to their parents residing in Rangia Madhukoosi village of Kamroop district of Assam

Medical officer sentenced
From Our Correspondent

KURUKSHETRA, June 16 — The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr R.K. Sondhi, has sentenced a doctor, Mrs Deepti Bhardwaj, a former medical officer of the local LNJP hospital, to undergo rigorous imprisonment for a period of two years and to pay a fine of Rs 5,000 for giving incorrect record to save the rapists.

In his judgement, Mr Sondhi said, ‘‘This case is a glaring example of an attempt of a woman to deny justice to a woman despite the fact that she was bound, morally as well as legally being a public servant and specially a medical professional, to help innocent victims of rape to bring the guilty to book. However, at the same time, a woman named Sudesh Kumari, an advocate and a social worker took pains to bring to light the crime committed by the accused and lodged a complaint’’.

After registration of the case with the police, both girls were produced before Dr Deepti Bhardwaj, the then medical officer at LNJP Hospital and were medically examined. 

Dass is chief of Ambala civic body
From Our Correspondent

AMBALA June 16 — Mr Shankar Dass of the BJP was elected as president of the Ambala Sadar Municipal Council here today. Mr Suresh Garg, a close supporter of local MLA Anil Vij, was elected as vice-president. The Congress lost both the seats.

Mr Dass secured 21 votes, while the Congress candidate, Mr Heera Lal Yadav, would get 10 votes. Similarly for the vice-president seat the Congress candidate, Sudhir Jaiswal, got 15 votes, while Mr Suresh Garg, the candidate of the local MLA, secured 16 votes. The local MLA, Mr Anil Vij and Mr Rattan Lal Kataria, MP, were present during the election.

The Returning Officer, Mrs Renu Phulia, said the election was peaceful. Earlier, on May 23 the election was postponed due to the lack of quorum. At that time the Congress supporters boycotted the meeting.

Villagers demand bridge
From Our Correspondent

KALKA June 16 — During the rainy season, dozen of villages located across a small river near here are cut off from this town.

For the past many years, the residents of these villages have been demanding a bridge over the river, but without results. Consequently the residents have to made through water to reach their villages. With increase in the flow of water, these vehicles are also unable to cross the river. During the monsoons, the worst-affected are school-going children and government employees. The business, too, is affected.

Newly elected Senior Vice President of the Block Panchayat Samiti Ashok Kumar Rathor, who is also a resident of one of these villages, has promised the residents to take up the matter with the government.

Yashwant Rai remembered
Tribune News Service

CHANDIGARH June 16 — The 15th death anniversary of a former minister of Punjab, Prof Yashwant Rai was observed at the Valmiki Bhavan here today. Prof Rai was the Founder President of the All-India Safai Mazdoor Congress.

Mr S.S. Behl, President of the Chandigarh Territorial Congress Committee, president over this shradhanjali samaroh, organised under the aegis of the SC and STWelfare Federation and Dr Ambedkar Welfare Council.

Speakers on the occasion were Mr Amar Nath Sarhadi, President, SC and ST Welfare Federation, Mr Phool Chand, President, Dr Ambedkar Welfare Council, Dr K.S. Raju (retd) IAS, Mr R.L. Sabharwal, Mr Bishan Lal Tank, Mr Gain Chand, Mr Gandhi Ram Gandhi and Mr Dina Nath Sandhu.

They all highlighted the work done for the uplift of the poor and downtrodden by the Dalit leader.