Sonepat, august 23
Three police personnel — head constable Narender Singh and constables Jagpal and Rajesh — of Sonepat police have been suspended for their suspected involvement in the escape of a criminal Rajesh, an alleged accused in a double murder case, from their custody while bringing him back after producing him in a court at Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh on last Saturday.

After suspending them, the Superintendent of Police Yogender Nehra has ordered at inquiry into the incident to the DSP Subhash Chander. The police personnel are reported to be in the custody of Muzaffarnagar police.

According to information, the police personnel reportedly took the alleged accused in a private vehicle to Muzaffarnagar. And while returning after appearing in the court, they stopped at a hotel in Shamli for taking food. While taking food, police personnel reportedly unshackled the alleged accused who managed to escape alongwith his beloved Kavita who was also present in the hotel at that time.

The police personnel reported the matter to Shamli police and also to the authorities here. The Shamli police has reportedly arrested Kavita, but whereabouts of Subhash are not yet known.

The DSP Subhash Chander informed that police parties had been raiding the suspected hideouts of Subhash and hoped that he would be nabbed soon.

Chandigarh, August 23
In a major relief to sugarcane growers who suffered because of natural calamities and different crop diseases during 2005-06, the Haryana Government has decided to give them relaxation in the short supply of bonded quantity of cane to sugar mills from 15 per cent to 25 per cent.

Announcing this here today, the Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, said that as per the agreement the sugarcane growers had to supply at least 85 per cent of their bonded quantity to the respective sugar mills. A penalty was imposed on the farmers for not supplying the bonded quantity of sugarcane. However, the area under sugarcane had come down from 1.30 lakh hectares to 1.27 lakh hectares during 2005-06 due to several natural causes. Similarly, diseases had also affected the yield in some part of the reserved areas of different sugar mills.

Mr Hooda said that in view of this, some of the farmers had failed to supply 85 per cent of the bonded sugarcane to the sugar mills. Keeping in view the difficulties faced by the farmers, the government had decided to give them relaxation in the percentage of sugarcane to be supplied to the mills.

Morni, August 23
Seventy-eight-year-old Prem Singh, great grandfather to two toddlers, has lived in hope of better times for his village and village folk. In the twilight years of his life, his dream is beginning to take shape and the first indication has come by way of electrification of Nagnasu, one of the 45 remote villages provided electricity using solar energy under a project of Haryana’s Department of Renewable Energy.

Way off the Raipur Rani-Morni road, across a dry river bed, atop a hillock and a 2 km steep climb later arrives Nagnasu, Prem Singh’s baby, nurtured with the sweat of his brow. “The hill was virtually a thick forest when we first arrived with a couple of other families. Today its every corner is bubbling with life. I have watched it evolve and grow over the years but the arrival of electricity is a great milestone in Nagnasu’s history. For the very first time, there’s light in the village well after dusk and it’s not from kerosene oil,” he proclaims, excited about the new fittings, three tubes and a ceiling fan run by solar power in his house.

Six-year-old Poonam, too, can’t contain her excitement as the clock needle inches towards 6 pm. “The moment the clock strikes 6 pm, the lights come on and everybody awaits the moment eagerly. I sit and finish my homework while my mother cooks. My father completes his farm business and before we know it, the lights go off, exactly at 11 pm,” she says. The power house for the electricity supply is now the village children’s favourite hangout.

Chips in Rajeshwar, a class III student of the local government school, “I used to envy the boys from Plasra who had electricity at home. It used to be a pleasure sitting under the fan in the comfort of the house while the sun shone outside.

The day we got electricity, nearly a fortnight back, I walked down to school a wee bit taller, happy that I had spent the evening doing my homework in tubelight while the fan cooled the room. It was bliss,” he exclaims.

In their mid 30s, Rampal and Ranjeet, both farmers, state, “After coming back from the farm, there’s lot of preparation to be done at home for the next day. We were forced to work under light from earthen lamps or battery-operated lights. It used to cost us anywhere between Rs 700 to Rs 900. The solar energy-fuelled fan and lights are a blessing for us and they come at zero cost to us. We are thankful to the government for sparing a thought for us and bringing light into our homes and lives.”

Sheesh Pal, a shop owner from Plasra whose entire family lives in the village, remarks, “After sunset, we could not see each other’s face even a few steps away. It used to be pitch dark.

This project of the Department of Renewable Energy is a boon for us though, let me admit, initially, I was skeptical if it would ever take off, see the light of day. I thought we would be condemned to spend our evenings in darkness forever since our village cannot be connected through the conventional grid for electricity.”

Peeping from behind a half-shut door, her face covered, 40-year-old Belawati, barely manages to nod her head to express her happiness over the light from the tubes after a lot of prodding. She’s too shy to speak in the presence of the male members of the family but is happy, her husband says.

Seated on a charpoy, his grand children standing on attendance, Prem Singh believes it’s only the beginning. His wrinkled face is testimony to the number of years he’s spent in the sun, on the farms and in difficult times.

“This monsoon, we have had good rains. It’s good sign. The day is not far when we will have regular supply of electricity, a water connection and a road that comes right up to our homes.

Tomorrow holds a bigger promise. I’ll live to see that day as well,” he philosophically concludes. The clock strikes 6pm and the village lights up, breathing new life into the villagers and sending a wave of excitement through the children.

It’s celebration time again as families rush into their home to enjoy the breeze from the fan and the light of the lamps. The dark ages are over.

Chandigarh, August 23
The Haryana Chief Minister, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda, seems to have been offended by derogatory words used for the Jat community in the NCERT book for Class VII. 

He has written to the Union Human Resources Development Minister, Mr Arjun Singh, urging him to “screen thoroughly all the publications of the NCERT and expunge all derogatory remarks contained in them about any community, creed or region of the country.”

He drew the attention of the Union Minister towards the ongoing “unsavoury and unwarranted controversy” over the derogatory words used for the Jat community in one of the NCERT books. He also attached a copy of the extract from the book containing controversial remarks with his letter for the perusal of Mr Arjun Singh. 
Mr Hooda said such remarks about any Indian community vitiated the minds of students and weakened the diverse social fabric of the country, which, in turn, “will undermine our national unity and integrity.”

He wrote that “historically, the Jats are a hardworking, honest and patriotic peasant community, which has always made tremendous sacrifices for the society and the nation. The undesired and undeserved comments have hurt the sentiments of the community. I may also point out that such distortions of historical facts appear in several of the publications of the NCERT.”

Hisar, August 23
A number of local journalists today staged a dharna to register their protest against the alleged misbehaviour of a police official with a Hisar-based reporter and a cameraman. Mr Harpal Gautam, in charge of the Sadar police station here, had allegedly misbehaved with the journalists on the police station premises a few days ago.

Following this, a delegation of journalists had met the Inspector-General of Police (Hisar Range), Mr Yashpal Singal, and apprised him of the matter. The delegation submitted a memorandum to the IGP and demanded action against the official concerned.

However, when no headway was made regarding the matter in the stipulated time, the journalists decided to lodge their protest and stage a dharna. They had staged a token dharna yesterday also.

Representatives of the protesting journalists later met the SSP, Mr Arshinder Singh Chawla, who assured them of prompt action in this regard.

Sirsa, August 23
The Department of Information Technology Haryana Government, will soon launch a state-level area network project to link all government departments through computer network.

The objective behind the project is to interlink various departments through computer networking for easy, smooth and prompt exchange of information. The officials concerned were directed to compile the data of their respective departments.

This was stated by the Hisar Divisional Commissioner, Mr R.R. Fuliya, after a meeting with the Special Secretary (Information Technology), Mr Anurag Rastogi, at the PWD Rest House here today.

Mr Rastogi maintained that all villages of the state would be brought under the project. An information centre would be set up in a cluster of five villages to enable the common masses to access information regarding any government department.

Various certificates issued by different departments would also be available at information centres. Besides, the villagers could also apprise the officials concerned of their grievances through video-conferencing.

The Special Secretary pointed out that the present broadband Internet service employed by government offices was proving to be costly, adding that the state-level area network project would prove to be an effective alternative.

The Deputy Commissioner, Mr V. Umashankar, informed that the district administration had already initiated the process of data compilation for the purpose. He said the system was being adopted at the block-level and to begin with, the data regarding the birth and death registration was being computerised.

Jhajjar, August 23
The body of a13-year-old, Rinku, kidnapped boy was recovered from a well situated outside Mahndipur Daboda village of the district today. The killer turned out to be the cousin of the deceased boy, who had been staying with them for about five years. The accused, Sonu, who is the son of sister of the boy's father, kidnapped him on Sunday from his village in Lagarpur.

The family of Rinku, a student of Class VII, stated searching for him on Sunday evening after he did not return. Sonu also joined them in searching Rinku on Monday, but went missing by late evening. At this point of time, Rakesh, father of Rinku, lodged a complaint of kidnapping and suspected the hand of Sonu.

The police said the accused was arrested from Kharman village today. Initially, he was a tough nut to crack, but later confessed to his crime. He disclosed that he along with two other persons called Rinku on phone.

They took him on a motor cycle outside the village and later a car was used in the crime. The accused took the police party to the spot. The badly decomposed body of the boy was extricated and sent to the Civil Hospital in Bahadurgarh for a post-mortem examination.

The police suspected that the accused strangled the boy on Sunday night itself and threw his body in the well situated about 16 km away from his village. The family of the boy told that Sonu had been staying with them since childhood but his maternal uncle sent him back to his family in Kharman village about six months ago due to his association with anti-social elements.

The SP, Mr K.K. Rao, said besides the main accused, two of his accomplices were also involved in the crime. He said they were further interrogating Sonu to locate his other accomplices. The car and the motor cycle used in the kidnapping have also not been recovered.

Ambala, August 23
Workers of the INLD burnt the effigies of Union Minister Kumari Selja and Mr Davinder Bansal, MLA, Ambala Cantt, in Ambala City today for their alleged involvement in Agrofed scam. They demanded her resignation.

Earlier, the INLD workers took out a protest march in the city led by Mr Surender Dahiya, president, youth wing of INLD, Haryana. Later, he addressed a workers’ meeting at Karan Palace. Former minister Rasal Singh, former MLA Jasbir Mallor and president of the district unit Surjeet Singh Sonda were also present on the occasion.

Mr Dahiya said he would visit all district units by September 6 and after that the state body of youth wing would be constituted on the advice of Mr Ajay Chautala.