Sirsa, May 15
The police today sounded an alert in the district following a clash between followers of the Sirsa-based Dera Sacha Sauda and Sikhs in Punjab and other states.

Besides it, Section 144 CrPC has been imposed in the neighbouring district Sriganganagar of Rajasthan.

Keeping in view the tension additional force has been deployed in some sensitive villages where the dera has its followers and also on the border areas, especially in Dabwali town on the Punjab border.

The police is also keeping strict vigil on vehicles entering the district from Punjab.

The SP Sirsa, Vikas Arora, said keeping in view the fight between the Sikhs and followers of the Sacha Sauda, they had made appropriate arrangement in the district.

All SHOs in the district have been alerted.

The situation turned serious at Sriganganagar when a large number of Sikhs burnt the effigy of dera chief in front of the Deputy Commissioner’s office in the afternoon. Both the groups pelted stones on each other for more than an hour.

The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse members of the two groups, said the police sources.

The police was holding meeting with the members of both groups to sort out the issue.

Jhajjar, May 15
Brick kilns here are reverberating with the sound of laughter of small children and the light of education.

In a district where brick-kilns are a near industry, the district administration has initiated the novel “bhattashalas” to educate children of labour employed at these kilns.

Nearly six months into the pilot project, the results of these "seasonal schools" are for all to see.

These schools, started at 25 different locations, have transformed 1,200 children by infusing new confidence, creating awareness about sanitation and making them learning fun.

Seven-year-old Ram Dulari had never heard of school until she landed in Pahasaur with her parents.

Able to sing poems and numbers as also the English alphabets with utmost ease, she admits, "My parents are illiterate and had no intention of putting me in a school. Today, they are proud of the way I can count and recite poems."

For these children, school begins with a morning prayer. They are taught maths and English by relating these to what they see around them.

The specially evolved curriculum has been chalked out keeping their cultural identities in mind and songs are frequently used as a medium to teach.

"We are taught to read and write, we play with other children and even get food at recess. The school is an enjoyable place to be in," remarks Sundari as she finishes her classwork at her “bhattashala” in Jahangirpur.

Interestingly, the “bhattashalas” got their song "Dene wale kisi ko garibi na de" also from one of the children.

"They are a talented lot and need some channeling of energy to be able to do well in life. We are giving them that direction," said Ajit Dulip Sinh, an instructor.

Teachers are working on improving the kids under their charge.

"Initially, these children would come soiled and dirty to the school. That's when we began insisting on cleanliness and the improvement has been remarkable. Besides, we don't share a student-teacher relationship and try to be their parents. We even sew torn clothes they wear to make them feel at home," says Poonam M Kumar, another teacher.

A one-of-its-kind project, the “bhattashalas” were set up to educate never-enrolled children in the age group of three to 12 years.

"We realised that despite all our efforts to take education to every child, an important segment was being left out because labour at the brick kilns was not keen to send its wards out to study. It was then that we came up with the idea of seasonal schools to cater to this population particularly and set them up at the kiln premises," discloses Ajit B Joshi, the brain behind “bhattashalas”.

So, the classes begin at the time when the migrants arrive in the area around November and the examination is conducted in May, just before the families prepare to return to their native places.

“We even took special permission to extend the mid-day meal scheme to these schools and have opened more schools at kilns where the number exceeds 50 students," explains Joshi.

The district has about 400 kilns and 5,000 such students, who have hardly any formal education.

"We will gradually extend the project to other bhattas and will cover at least 100 kilns this year alone when the labour returns," Joshi adds.

Chandigarh, May 15
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice to Haryana and Kurukshetra University over a petition seeking directions to the respondents to follow the instructions issued by the commissioner and secretary, department of scheduled and backward classes welfare, Haryana.

The instructions are related to the reservation in admissions to the candidates of Scheduled Castes in various technical, educational and professional institutes.

The petitioners, Haryana Valmiki Maha Sabha and Haryana Scheduled Castes (Block A) Forum, submitted that the Haryana Government (respondent no 1) was duty bound to direct all its technical, educational and professional institutions to follow the instructions issued by it relating to social justice and equality.

It was further submitted that Kurukshetra University (respondent no 2) was also duty bound under the law to follow the Haryana government’s instructions.

Chandigarh, May 15
The Haryana Congress has issued a show-cause notice to its secretary Satpal Kaushik to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against him for violating the party discipline and damaging the reputation of the party.

The notice issued under Article XIX(5) of the Congress constitution and signed by Working President Dr Ram Prakash on May 10, asked Kaushik to explain his position within 15 days.

Pointing out to two newspaper reports of April 23 and May 9, pertaining to letters written by Kaushik to AICC President Sonia Gandhi, Ram Prakash said the nature of these statements was derogatory.

"Being an office-bearer of the party, you are well aware that the criticism of the party and the government in the press is prima facie breach of party discipline as provided in Article XIX(4)(c) of the party constitution, which says "Deliberately acting in a way calculated to lower the prestige of the Congress".

Dr Ram Prakash said these statements were also clear-cut violations of the directions of the party high command that the party issues should be discussed in the party fora and not in the press.

In his letters Kaushik had alleged nepotism in recruitments being made under the Congress government in Haryana as well as Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's bias towards his native Rohtak region in the matter of development.

Incidentally, Kaushik is the first office-bearer of the Haryana Congress who has spoken out against the Hooda government.

So far, all those who had quit the party in support of former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal and his MP son Kuldeep Bishnoi, sources in the party claim, were not even active members of the party.

The sources also claim that though the supporters of Bishnoi claimed before the press that they had resigned from the Congress, their resignations had not been received in the party office so far.

Chandigarh, May 15
There is a good news for medical interns in Haryana. The government has announced a hike in stipend of interns of various medical institutions in the state.

The hike comes into force with immediate effect and varies from Rs 800 to Rs 1500.

Disclosing this here today, an official of the health department said that the interns undergoing training at the Pt B D Sharma Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Rohtak, will now get Rs 4500 per month. Earlier they were getting Rs 3000.

The internship allowance of students of the Bachelor of Ayurvedic Medicine and Surgery (BAMS) of Shri Krishna Government Ayurvedic College, Kurukshetra, has been raised from Rs 1200 to Rs 2000 per month.

In yet another significant decision taken by the Haryana Health Department, the State would soon have a network of trauma centres across the province.

Sirsa now has the State’s second functional trauma unit at the General Hospital.

The State’s first trauma centre is functioning at Karnal and mainly caters to the road accidents in the state.

Besides Karnal and Sirsa, three more trauma centres are being constructed in the General Hospitals at Rewari, Ambala City and Yamunanagar.

The four trauma units have cost the state exchequer around Rs 6 crore. For the recently completed trauma centre at Sirsa, the central government provided a grant of Rs 63 lakh while the remaining out of the Rs 1.5 crore was borne by Haryana.

Pehowa, May 15
Supporters and officer-bearers of the HSGPC (ad hoc) here protested against Akali leaders from Punjab for their alleged interference in the religious activities of Sikhs in the state.

The rally held today by SAD leaders was last in the 16-day long awareness drive launched by the SGPC to awaken the Sikhs of Haryana against the formation of the separate Sikh religious body.

Prem Singh Chandumajra and Balwinder Singh Bhunder were among those who addressed the SGPC rally at Gurdwara Bauli Sahib.

They criticised the role of the Congress government for dividing the Sikh community for votes.

However, president of the HSGPC Jagdish Singh Jhinda said by opposing the constitutional demand of a separate Sikh body, the Badals were hurting the feelings of the Sikh sangat of Haryana.

“After years of struggle when Sikhs of the state have given mandate in favour of the HSGPC to look after the religious places, the Badals are scared of losing their control in the state,'' said Jhinda.

He accused Parkash Singh Badal of treating the SGPC as a tool to get political benefits. “Participation of Sukhbir Badal and other SAD leaders in the rallies is interference in the functioning of our religious matters,'' he added.

General secretary of the HSGPC Didar Singh Nalwi said a Sikh delegation met Congress chief Sonia Gandhi and apprised her the condition of the minority community.

Following the clashes in Punjab between Dera Sachha Sauda and Sikhs, most SAD leaders and SGPC officer-bearers were absent from the rally.

On the speculation if such notes were in circulation in the market, the police appealed to the public to deposit the fake currency with the police to avoid any legal implication.