Rattak (Karnal), April 17
A tantrik father allegedly killed his two-year-old son in the wee hours today at Rattak village near Assandh in the district. The father chopped off the head of his youngest son with a spade in front of his house.

The child was believed to be sleeping when his father ‘sacrificed’ him.

The Assandh police has arrested the accused father.

When a Tribune team reached the spot this afternoon, Prakashi, mother of the deceased, was inconsolable and cursing her husband Ratan for killing Rahul, her innocent child. Entire village was shocked by the incident.

Talking to this correspondent, Prakashi said she got up early today when her husband asked for a lock.

“I got suspicious when I noticed that Rahul was missing from his cot. I went out looking for him but was shocked to see Rahul lying in a pool of blood in the middle of the road,” she said.

The child was lying dead, with his head chopped off in front of his house as his father had killed him with a spade, she added.

Prakashi said Ratan had probably lifted his sleeping son from the cot and killed him as the mother and the neghbours denied listening to any noise by the deceased.

Ved Prakash, an eyewitness of the incident, said when he was coming out of his house in the morning he was shocked to see the body of a child. The child’s head had rolled few metres away from the body and a patch of the village road was drenched in blood. Ratan was also there, he added.

“On seeing me, Ratan tried to run away but soon stopped by other villagers. We got the shock of our lives when Ratan admitted to killing his son,” said Ved.

Bhupinder Singh, former village sarpanch, said that the accused had been regularly practising as a tantrik for the past several years. “On a number of occasions, he was seen in the village while sacrificing animals in the name of pooja,” he said.

Villagers said that about two year ago, the panchayat had strongly objected when the accused had ‘stolen’ remains of bodies from the local cremation ground. Villagers said that he was a drug addict and his wife was the only earning hand in the poor family comprising of six persons, including four children.

Hisar, April 17
In a major consumer service initiative, Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has prescribed the timeframe for redressing different types of consumer complaints.

As per standards fixed by the nigam, a normal fuse blown will be replaced within four hours in the urban areas and eight hours in the rural areas. The time limit for the restoration of supply in case of a breakdown will be eight hours in the urban areas and 16 hours in the rural areas.

In case any transformer develops a snag, the supply will be restored within 24 hours and 72 hours in urban and rural areas, respectively. For major power failures involving power sub-station level transformer or equipment, the prescribed time will be 30 days although alternate arrangement for power supply will be made within 24 hours.

Any complaint relating to the replacement of stuck and burnt out meters (due to consumer's fault) will be addressed within a week. If a meter is required to be replaced in any other circumstances, it will be changed within 24 hours of the payment of prescribed charges by the consumer concerned.

New connections, sanction of additional load and temporary connections will be given within a month if service is feasible from the existing network.

Complaints relating to bills will be resolved within 24 hours if no additional information is required and within seven days if additional information is required. Reconnection of supply, following disconnection, will be done within 36 hours of receipt of payment in the urban areas and within 72 hours in the rural areas.

Refund of advance consumption deposit, consumption security or meter security will be made within 30 days of receipt of request. A no dues certificate will be issued latest by 5 pm on the following day.

In case any grievance is not redressed within the prescribed period, consumers can contact the general manager, Consumer Care Centres (CCCs). If there is still no response, consumers can contact the director (operations) for the Hisar zone (Bhiwani, Sirsa, Fatehabad and Hisar districts) and the director (projects) for the Delhi zone (Mewat, Rewari, Narnaul, Gurgaon and Faridabad districts).

In case, a consumer is not satisfied by the response of these senior officers, he can contact the managing director of the DHBVN after the expiry of the prescribed period.

The nigam has provided specific telephone numbers for this purpose at each level. In case the complaint is not attended to within the given time, the consumer may contact the GM, the CCC on mobile number 9992100030. After two hours, if he is not satisfied at the level of the GM, he may contact the director (operations) on mobile number 9992100040 or the director (projects) on mobile No. 9992100050, depending upon the district to which the consumer belongs.

Fatehabad, April 17
Three persons, who were reportedly drunk, trespassed into a house and molested a woman and her teenaged daughter at Lali village, near Rattia town, in this district yesterday.

When the woman’s son resisted the miscreants, they attacked him with sticks, injuring him.

The police, who recorded the statement of the girl and her brother at the Rattia General Hospital, said a compromise between the two sides would soon be reached.

The injured Gola Ram informed mediapersons that three youths Makhan, Prem and Suresh had caught his teenaged sister Manju Bala, while she was on way to her residence and molested her.They also tried to take her away with them.

He said his sister somehow freed herself from their clutches and rushed home. But the accused chased her to her residence. They then started molesting her and her mother Shimla Devi too. They even torn her clothes and those of her mother,Gola Ram said.

Gola Ram said he had then raised an alarm, but the youths attacked him with sticks and ran away after injuring him.

SHO, Rattia police station, Kulwant Singh said both victims and the accused were relatives and efforts were being made to bring about a compromise between the two sides.

Panipat, April 17
The Haryana Government has come out with a scheme to provide 30 lakh potable water connections to those living in urban as well as rural areas, of which 8 lakh connections will be given free of cost to Scheduled Caste families. This was stated by Chief Minister’s wife and vice-chairperson of the Haryana State Council for Child Welfare Asha Hooda.

Addressing a gathering after inaugurating a water distribution system at Chichrana village, she said while the government was committed to implement welfare schemes, it was the duty of the populace to keep an eye on their implementation. The NABARD project worth Rs 72.3 lakh would facilitate clean drinking water to 4,000 villagers. Later, she opened another water distribution system at Israna, which would benefit 7,000 residents.

General secretary of Haryana Mahila Congress Brij Rani Sharma welcomed her. Later, Asha Hooda inaugurated a blood donation camp to mark the death anniversary of khadi ashram’s founder Swayam Bhai.

Bhiwani, April 17
Five policemen, including an ASI, have been charged with beating an advocate, snatching his motor cycle and threatning him with dire consequences at a police post three days ago.

According to a report, advocate Krishan Goraya, a resident of Lalita colony, was standing near a railway station three days ago.

Policemen who were patrolling the area entangled with Krishan and later took him to the Dinod Gate police post. Krishan reportedly introduced himself but the constables allegedly started beating him up. He was let off only after that.

After receiving report about the incident, advocates of the local Bar Association met the SP and sought action against the accused. They also submitted a memorandum to the finance minister. 

Rewari, April 17
Sat Narain, a petition writer, was caught by a Vigilance Bureau squad, headed by DSP Jagdish Prasad, while accepting bribe during a raid conducted at the Bawal Tehsil complex yesterday.

It is alleged that Sat Narain had accepted some amount of illegal gratification on behalf of Deep Chand, naib tehsildar, who had demanded 1 per cent of the total amount of a registry from its owner-cum-complainant, Rajesh Kumar Sharma.

Rajbir Deswal, SP, Vigilance, Gurgaon, informed that the squad also seized Rs 1.70 lakh from the accused and now investigation was on to ascertain whether the amount collected by him was through corrupt practices.

The bureau has registered a case of corruption against Sat Narain, Deep Chand and other members of his staff.

Rohtak, April 17
The Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association is up in arms against the state government’s move to review the workload of university teachers and teaching departments.

Terming the state government’s aforesaid decision as “unwanted and unnecessary interference”, the association has demanded that the move be withdrawn forthwith.

On the other hand, the university authorities maintain that the exercise is being undertaken in accordance with the UGC/AICTE norms and MDU Acts and Statutes and the issue will be settled amicably.

The matter began with the circulation of a letter from the commissioner, Higher Education, Haryana, regarding the assessment of workload among the university officials.

“A similar exercise had been undertaken around two-three years ago. The whole exercise was quite arbitrary and its implementation was held in abeyance in spite of the MDU Executive Council having approved it at one point of time,” said Dr Rajinder Chaudhary, president of MDUTA, while talking to The Tribune here yesterday.

He pointed out that to sort out these issues and clarify the university norms, the MDU authorities had appointed a committee under dean, Academic Affairs. “The report of this committee, approved by the Academic Council in January 2006, has not been notified as yet. Without notification of this AC decision, how can a fresh restructuring exercise be undertaken?” the MDUTA chief questioned.

He demanded that before restructuring or reviewing the workload of the individual departments, the ambiguities in the university norms be sorted out and AC decision on the issue notified.

Yamunanagar, April 17
Enraged over poor result of Class VIII of Government High School of Kathwara village (Jagadhri block) villagers locked the school gate. Only 18 of the total 69 students have passed the examination.

Yesterday, residents of Tigra village of Jagadhri block performed a similar act after forcing school teachers out. Nine students had appeared in the examination and all of them failed.

Today morning villagers led by Suresh pal and Jagir Singh reached the school and raised slogans. Villagers complained that the school was not showing good results for the past many years. They informed that the 18 students who had passed, four failed in science. Last year also only 15 students reached Class IX and 47 had to sit in the same class again.

The villagers were also unhappy with school in charge (who teaches the science subject) Dharam Pal. They alleged Pal's attitude towards students students was not good. They also alleged irregularities of funds on the part of the in charge. Dharam Pal, however, denied all allegations. He was appointed in charge of the school in 1995 and claimed that during his tenure the condition of the school had improved.

At around 7.30 am villagers reached the school before the start of classes and locked the gate. The villagers removed the lock after the authorities assured them the school in charge would be shifted to other place. 

Kurukshetra, April 17
Reacting sharply to the utterances made in a section of the press against former Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, former state forest minister Devender Sharma said such utterances had created anguish among people of the state.

In a statement issued to mediapersons here yesterday, Sharma claimed that Bhajan Lal was one of the most popular leaders of the state. The Congress came to power in the state under the leadership of Bhajan Lal. However, if such utterances continued, the Congress would suffer a great loss.

Sharma said nowadays, Haryana citizens were facing so many problems like acute power shortage and water scarcity because of the failure of the government. Such irresponsible conduct would create more difficulties for the state government, he added.

Kurukshetra, April 17
On a complaint lodged by the assistant director (colleges), the higher education commissioner, Haryana, Chandigarh, a case under Sections 420, 467, 468 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at Kurukshetra University (KU) situated police station here against a lecturer for allegedly getting his appointment on the basis of forged documents.

Confirming this, the district police chief said according to the complaint, Mahender Singh Sabharwal, a resident of Shiv Colony, Karnal, had joined Government College, Safidon, as a lecturer in geography on September 3, 2004.

College principal Daya Gupta had revealed in a statement submitted to the vigilance panel that during interview Sabharwal did not produce his state-level eligibility test (SLET) certificate, obviously, fearing exposure of the forgery of his documents.

The police further said SLET was conducted by the university on October 19, 1997, and it was found that the name of Sabharwal did not appear in the list of successful candidates of SLET. However, a candidate, Kanwar Bhan had qualified the test and got a SLET certificate. The certificate produced by Sabharwal also bore these same particulars.

Ambala, April 17
Work on the solid waste management plant in Patwi village is in the initial stages even though the deadline for the completion of the project is approaching fast.

The delay will prove to be a matter of concern as the solid waste management plant is expected to provide a major relief to the Ambala airbase. Once the plant becomes operational, garbage will be systematically processed which would lead to a reduction of birds flying in the area. This would ensure that no fighter aircraft suffers a bird hit while operating from the airbase.

A visit to the plant site revealed that the work on the main plant seems to have just started even though construction work of a block of offices at the site is well under way.

National Building Construction Corporation DGM Trilochan Singh said that they would be able to meet the September deadline.

He said that the delay in starting the project took place due to a delay in acquiring land.

Green Circle president S.K. Sharma and General Merchant Association president R.P. Gupta said that there seemed to be an inordinate delay in the completion of the plant. "We have noted that the work is going on at a snail's pace there," they said.

The demand for the plant was made way back in 2000. Thereafter, Green Circle and other associations pursued the matter so that the plant could be constructed near Ambala. The foundation stone for the plant was finally laid last year in Patwi village.

Ambala, April 17
The Shiksha Adhikar Yatra was flagged off by Haryana education minister Phool Chand Mullana today.

The rally was flagged off from the Sarvshiksha Abhiyan complex in Ambala Cantt. 150 social activists were divided into 13 teams and will go to different schools all over the state. They will assess the state of education there. The teams will also identify children who are not able to go to school due to some reason. Speaking on the occasion, Mullana said that the state government is according top priority to education and during this financial year, the budgetary provision for education is Rs 2,700 crores.

He said that the semester system has been introduced in schools and 9,080 schools will be linked through Edusat for providing high quality education. He said that English will be taught to students from Class I.

Mullana said that a helpline has been started by the education department to check complaints about excess fees being charged by recognised schools. He said that guest teachers have been appointed and the government is in the process of filling 11,000 posts of teachers.