Kurukshetra, July 24
Prince, the five-year-old boy from Haldhaheri village who was taken out from a 60-foot-deep borewell yesterday, is physically fit. However, he has been kept under observation at the Lok Nayak Jai Prakash (LNJP) Hospital here.

A medical team, under the CMO, Dr D.S. Saini, has been constituted to monitor the health of Prince. Dr Jagmal, the paediatrician looking after the rescued boy, said Prince had suffered no serious injuries.

Ruling out the reports that an arm of Prince had been fractured, he said he was perfectly all right and out of danger. He said the blood pressure, HB and movement of his body parts was satisfactory.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr T.K. Shamra, said the condition of the boy was stable and needed no major medical aid. He said the boy was responding well and was in a playful mood.

Meanwhile, the DC handed over a cheque for Rs 2 lakh to Mr Ram Chandra and Ms Karmjeet, parents of Prince, on the premises of the LNJP Hospital here today.

The cheque was given following an announcement by the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupender Singh Hooda, in that regard. Mr Ram Chandra expressed gratitude to the Army personnel, the district administration and the state government for extending their all type of help for rescuing his son safely.

The DC assured the parents of the boy that all medical and other facility would be provided to Prince on behalf of the district administration.

Earlier, Mr Ramesh Gupta, local MLA, called upon the parents of the boy in the hospital here and enquired about his health.

Chandigarh, July 24
The Haryana Government's effort to familiarise its top rung with information technology (IT) has stopped short of officers of the IPS cadre. The cops, since August last year, have been trying to get broad-band Internet facility at their personal computers at homes but the proposal is yet to be approved by the state government.

For IAS officers, the same facility was provided about a year ago. The IAS officers, holding the ranks of Joint Secretary and above, are given Rs 425 per month for the broad-band Internet facility. Interestingly, at least two Financial Commissioners have already opted out of the arrangement on the ground that Rs 425 per month is not enough for maintaining broad-band connections in their home computers. However, by and large the civil servants are happy with the facility.

But the government is showing definite signs of indifference when it comes to giving broad-band connections to IPS officers. The Police Department is untiringly corresponding with the government about the “necessity” of having Internet facility at the residence of IPS officers at the official expense.

It all started with a letter written by the Chief Secretary in July last year urging all departments to take active interest in the use of information technology (IT) in performing their official duties. The same letter announced that IAS officers from Joint Secretary rank and above would be provided Internet facility at their homes to enable officers to get accustomed to the use of Internet.

The cops, who are the second favourite to the IAS officers as far as the government is concerned, did not want to miss the bus and moved in a proposal for the same facility for the IPS officers. To this, a query was made from the government side asking the Police Department to explain how exactly internet would help them improve the law and order situation.

A reply was written by the Police Department explaining how it would. It was not a very convincing one but was found good enough by the government.

The Police Department here is hopeful that eventually the government would concede to its proposal. However, nearly a year had passed since the proposal was first moved. It is still awaiting the government nod.

New Delhi, July 24
The Indian National Lok Dal today took out a protest march to Parliament seeking cancellation of the land transfer agreement by the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government with Reliance Industries Limited for setting up Special Economic Zone and a high-level probe into the matter.

The party also gave a memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam alleging a huge scam in the land transfer agreement. Seeking the President’s intervention, the party sought cancellation of the agreement and a high-level inquiry into it.

Addressing the gathering which included party activists and farmers, senior INLD leader Ajay Singh Chautala accused the Hooda government of “selling interests of farmers to a corporate house.” He alleged that the Congress government in the state had given land worth hundreds of crores near Gurgaon “at a pittance to RIL for real estate development.”

He said HSIDC-acquired land was being given by the state governemnt to RIL for only Rs 275 crore while its market value was at least Rs 8,000 crore.

He alleged that the land was being given to the RIL without auction or tendering process.

Mr Chautala said the party was not against SEZ or RIL investment in industry but was opposed to government selling land “at a pittance” to companies interested in real estate business.

He said HSIDC and HUDA had experience of setting up modern facilities such as in Manesar and Gurgoan “while RIL had no such experience.” 

Fatehabad, July 24
Scared by the threats of some upper-caste families of Dhingsara village in the district, a Dalit family from the village has been forced to take shelter in some other village.

Complaints to the police and district administration have fallen on deaf ears. Dalit families from the village organised a dharna in front of the local mini-secretariat today and demanded action against the accused. Activists of CITU, led by Mr Joginder Singh, also participated in the dharna.

The intimidation of the Dalit family began on July 6 when the victim Bhup Singh had organised a function on the occasion of the marriage of his two sons, Jai Parkash and Vinod.

Peeved at a good function organised by a Dalit family in the village, some youths belonging to the Jat and Thakur communities reached there and started creating trouble.

The youths — Bhanwar Singh, Jaspal Singh, Satbir Singh, Pawan, Lela, Jadish, Harden Divider, Bit too, Rajesh, Sander, Blair — and some others disconnected the DJ system and ransacked the pandal.

They also beat up Davits and warned them against organising such functions.

The Dalit family reported the matter to the police but the police did not take any action against the hooligans.

Since then the hooligans had been threatening the Dalit family of dire consequences and the family had been forced to flee from the village and take shelter in the nearby Bhana Bhoda village.

Jhajjar, July 24
The police has arrested two brothers and their father in a case of dowry death at Kanonda village in the district today. They had reportedly poisoned two sisters who were married to the brothers to death on Sunday.

According to information received here, Lakshmi and Suman, daughters of Jai Narayan, were married to Sander and Anil, sons of Sant Ram, in May, 2005.

Both the women were rushed to the Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh after they were reported to have consumed poisonous substance. Later, they died in the hospital.

The father of the victims lodged a complaint with the police that his daughters were poisoned by their husbands and in-laws.

The police today arrested the husbands of the victims and their father. — OC