Ambala, August 22
Panic gripped Nurpur village in Naggal after more than 300 residents fell ill late last night.

Villagers complained of diarrhoea and vomiting. The first case was reported at about 1 am. Others complained of similar symptoms. By early morning, the number had shot up. Some villagers faced acute dehydration.

Cases continued to trickle into the primary health centre at Nurpur throughout the day and by the evening, the official statistic stood at 284.

Deputy Commissioner R.P. Bharadwaj said city magistrate Sushil Kumar has been directed to enquire into the matter.

Even as doctors managed the medical emergency, public health officials tried to find out the reasons behind the large number of villagers falling ill.

Former sarpanch of Nurpur Dalbir Singh said no major function was held at the village yesterday which could have led to the villagers falling ill. “It is the first time that such a large number of villagers have taken ill at one go in the village,” he said.

Civil Surgeon Dr V.K. Sharma said out of the reported cases, 56 were suffering from dehydration. “One patient, Banto Devi, has been referred to the PGI, Chandigarh, and 18 are under observation,” he said.

He said for the time-being, water supply to the village had been disconnected and water would be supplied through tankers.

A visit to the PHC at Nurpur showed the situation was grave. Some patients were lying in the open due to lack of space. Beds had been kept under trees. At Nurpur, the number of women and children suffering were more than men.

A fresh stock of medicines was rushed to the PHC.

Chandigarh, August 22
The Haryana Government will abolish market fee on all kinds of wood, except poplar and eucalyptus. It would also set up a separate timber market at Yamunanagar for the benefit of the plywood industry.

This was decided at a meeting between Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda with representatives of the Haryana Timber Merchants Association and the Haryana Saw Mills Owners Association led by president of the Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal Bajrang Dass Garg here today.

Timber merchants and saw mill owners had been demanding the abolition of market fee on timber for long. The decision would benefit about 5400 saw mill owners.

There is a legal hitch in abolishing the market fee on poplar and eucalyptus wood. The Supreme Court had banned felling of trees, following which the plywood industry, which is the main user of poplar and eucalyptus wood, was on the verge of the closure in the state. Farmers, who had taken to poplar and eucalyptus cultivation in a big way, also felt cheated following the apex court ban. The prices of these crashed following the closure of several plywood units.

The state government pleaded before the apex court that the felling of poplar and eucalyptus should not be banned because these trees were being grown as part of agri-forestry, meaning thereby that these were agricultural produce. The apex court accepted the government's plea. Since these trees have been accepted as agricultural produce, they are subject to market fee charged by the Agriculture Marketing Board.

Hooda told the timber merchants that the slashing of VAT on various items by his government had benefited the trading community to the tune of about Rs 60 crore.

President of the Haryana Timber Merchants Association Shish Pal Mittal said the timber traders contributed Rs 25 crore to the state exchequer in the form of tax this year against Rs 16 crore during the corresponding period last year.

Radaur (Yamunanagar), August 22
The 25-year-old graduate woman sarpanch of Radaur panchayat today set an example for all elected women representatives of the state by not allowing husbands of the seven panches to attend the first meeting of the panchayat.

It is a common practice in Haryana that men attend or act on part of their wives who have been elected sarpanch, panch or even chairperson of the Municipal Committee.

The 21-member panchayat has seven women panches and a woman sarpanch.

Husbands of the seven panches reached the venue at the scheduled time and took seats along with their wives.

Sarpanch Reena Rani objected to the presence of non-elected members in the meeting and asked them to leave.

Shocked, the husbands refused to buzz. “After all it is a practice. Husbands attend and act on part of their wives,” said a villager adding that women panches or sarpanches were just rubber stamps.

The decision created a furore in the area. The husbands left the meeting with their wives threatening resignation of their wives from the post of panch.

Later, after a lot of pursuance the men agreed to wait outside while their wives attended the meeting.

“All our women panches are capable enough to take decisions. Women panches are free to seek suggestions from their husbands but they should attend the meetings alone,” said Reena.

Later, four resolutions were passed in the meeting attended by all 20 panches, including the seven women.

Panipat, August 22
The much ambitious project of common service centre (CSC) launched here by the commissioner of Rohtak division on August 9 has failed to take off.

Though on the inaugural day commissioner J.P. Kaushik issued a railway ticket to a local resident, but the company that is running the centre admitted that it had not yet got official authorisation from the Indian Railways to start bookings.

Inauguration of the centre named ‘e-disha’, the first in the state, was widely publicised but the residents have lamented the district authorities for its non-functioning.

Inquiries by The Tribune revealed that Comet Technologies Private Limited was authorised by the state government to provide several services of public interest.

Under the project, there was a plan to provide several public services under one roof, including booking tickets for railways and airways.

Besides, the company was supposed to offer applications for passport, ration cards, domicile, telephone and electricity bills payment and many others.

Interestingly, on the inaugural day the centre had arranged an online academic class with a reputed institution and the commissioner had also attended the same.

But when the centre, located near the historic Qila ground, was visited today, it was found that none of the services were available.

Centre’s manager Nain admitted that the services were not yet operational. “The booking of railway tickets may start from next week after attaining official authorisation from the railway authorities,” he added.

Expressing ignorance, Kaushik said the center management did not inform him about the centre’s functioning.

He said a railway ticket was issued as the centre had assured him that the railways had authorised them for the same.

Hearing on dera chief’s bail plea to continue today
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, August 22
The marathon hearing on dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh’s pre-arrest bail plea, marked with an extensive debate on the contours of bail, evidence and court’s discretion, resulted in no quick relief for the beleaguered dera head.

With Justice Surya Kant at his analytical best and the petitioner’s counsel going full steam against CBI’s motives, skills and competency in handling the investigation into two murder cases, the jam-packed courtroom was left spellbound. The hearing will continue tomorrow at 10.30 am.

As soon as the proceedings began, the judge fixed the parameters of the debate saying: “The issue before the court is only the pre-arrest bail. The court need not go into the merits of the case.” Incidentally, the judge is hearing the bail plea of the dera head relating to Ranjit Singh and journalist Ramchander Chattrapati murder cases.

The petitioner’s counsel, S.K. Garg Narwana, cited various apex court judgments, including Gurbax Singh Sibia’s case, Sunita Devi case and Adri Dharan case, to buttress his point that his was the fit case for court’s leniency.

He emphasised that there was no statutory bar on his right to seek the pre-arrest bail before the high court and he need not go to the sessions court first. It was the petitioner’s right to choose the forum, which was convenient to him, he added.

Making an important averment, he said the CBI had never sought his custody during interrogation continuing for the past five years and thus it was not necessary now that the petitioner should be sent to jail.

Reflecting strongly on the caliber of the CBI, the petitioner’s counsel said the agency, though touted to be premier and independent, was no better than the police force and in fact had significant proportion of policemen on deputation.

Importantly, he said the FIR against dera was lodged by Joginder Singh, Ranjit Singh’s father, only after an FIR was lodged against Paramjit Singh, Joginder Singh’s son-in-law, over an LIC dispute. Ranjit Singh’s family had alleged that the FIR against Paramjit Singh was at the behest of the dera.

“The CBI purchased these persons to implicate the petitioner,” Narwana averred, infuriating the CBI counsel Rajan Gupta in the process.

Gupta took strong exception to the remarks and requested the court to ensure that the petitioner’s counsel did not go beyond law and court decency.

He threw up a surprise by saying that Ranjit Singh had executed two sale deeds in favour of the dera and how it could be possible if his sister had been raped. In fact, his wife had gone to ‘gufa’ while he stayed outside, Narwana asserted trying to project dera head’s good image.

“In fact, Ranjit Singh’s family had gifted a gold ring to the dera head during a bhandara on January 25, 2002, but the dera head returned the same,” Narwana submitted.

Significantly, Narwana asserted, the statement of CBI’s star witness Khatta Singh was recorded first on December 26, 2006 but the statement was never attached with the second challan, dated February 1, 2007.. This, Narwana averred, implied that Khatta Singh had never made any statement.

On June 21, 2007, Khatta Singh’s statement was recorded under Section 161 CrPC while the next day only, another statement was recorded under Section 164 CrPC, Narwana averred.

He added that Khatta was now staying in Mohali under the Punjab police protection. He summed up saying investigation by the CBI was not fair and without bona fide.

Rajan Gupta took up the cudgels on the CBI’s behalf and said the petitioner should seek regular bail once the case is committed to sessions and pre-arrest bail was not an appropriate remedy for him.

He too cited various apex court judgements in support of his arguments.

Yamunanagar, August 22
The Yamunanagar municipal committee has asked dairy owners to shift to dairy complexes by August 29 or else allotment of their plots in the complexes would be cancelled.

On the other hand dairy owners said they would shift only after all facilities were provided at the complexes.

The MC has asked dairy owners to shift to complexes at Dadwa and Raipur by August 24 and 29, respectively.

The dairy owners today held a meeting and said the MC was pressuring them to shift. "How could we shift at the dairy complexes when there were no facilities there", said Beant Singh Bhatia, president of the Dairy Owners Association. He said that the MC had agreed to develop the complexes from the instalments collected from plot holders.

He said the MC had collected about Rs 1.25 crore as instalment from plot owners but failed to provide proper infrastructure at the complexes.

He said that there was no provision of power supply and drainage over there.

Deputy commissioner Nitin Kumar Yadav said that the administration was committed to develop the complexes. He, however, asked the dairy owners to take possession at the complexes.

Meanwhile, MCs of Jagadhri and Yamunanagar have decided to challan dairy owners who throw cattle dung and other garbage on roads. There were more than 700 functional dairies in the twin towns of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri. 

Rohtak, August 22
Former Haryana minister Krishan Murti Hooda, who has recently joined hands with suspended MP Kuldeep Bishnoi, has stated that many Congress members would join their fold in the coming days.

In a statement issued here, the former minister said most of the Congressmen in the state were feeling insecure and disillusioned.

Claiming that their group was getting overwhelming support in the entire state, Hooda said their proposed rally at Rohtak on December 2 would show the massive backing for the Bhajan camp and would spell doom for the Congress government in the state.

Pointing out that the Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh had decided not to acquire agriculture land for developing SEZs, Hooda criticised the Haryana government for acquiring cultivable land for the purpose.

The former minister maintained that they would oppose the acquisition of land in Bohar, Kharawar, Garhi Bohar, Kheri Sadh, Kanheli, Baliana, Pahrawar, Mayana, Chamaria, Makrauli Khurd, Makrauli Kalan, Sunderpur, Bahu Akbarpur, Dobh-Bhali and Sunarian villages and would launch a joint agitation with the villagers in this regard.

Hisar, August 22
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has decided to immediately disconnect power supply to all those consumers who fail to pay their bills in time and will not reconnect it for 72 hours even after the payment of the bill.

A DHBVN spokesman said here today that the nigam had launched a massive campaign to disconnect the supply because of non-payment of bills.

Field officers have been given a target of disconnecting supply to 50,000 defaulters by the end of this month in Sirsa, Fatehabad, Hisar, Bhiwani, Mahendragarh, Rewari, Gurgaon, Mewat and Faridabad districts.

The electricity bills waiver scheme had evoked a good response in the area. Out of 6.23 lakh, more than 4.03 lakh consumers have opted for the scheme, he added.

Chandigarh, August 22
A three-day national seminar on a legendary Urdu poet Raghupati Sahai, better admired as “Firaq Gorakhpuri”, was inaugurated by Dr A.R. Kidwai at the conference hall of PU here today.

He lauded the role of the Haryana Urdu Akademi and the National Council for the Promotion of Urdu for evaluating and appreciating the unique literary works of Firaq. This is their positive endeavour aimed at the promotion and propagation of Urdu as well as a befitting tribute to Firaq, who had lifted the conventional Urdu poetry to the spectacular level, he remarked.

His poetry was a curious artistic work. Because of its characteristic of elegant expression, it had become the language of the common man in the films, TV and radio. The works of Urdu poets must be translated into Hindi and other languages so that the masses could relish the felicity and elegance of the Urdu poetry.

Presiding over the function, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed good wishes for 30 scholars from India. He opined that Urdu academies must be opened in more states.

Enamoured at the rhymes of Firaq, he doled out couplets like “Ek muddat se teri yaad bhi aayi na hamein, Ham tumhen bhool gayen hon aisa bhi nahin”. Firaq defined the country's national psyche and inspired the people in the struggle for freedom.

A professor of English, Firaq had qualified for the IAS as well as IPS but refused to join the lucrative service setting an example of patriotic zeal, disclosed K.L. Zakir, the akademi secretary.

Earlier, Ranjan Gupta, IAS, welcomed the chief guest and delegates and Dr Ali Zaved, director NCPUL, spoke about Firaq while Shiv Raman Guar, IAS, proposed a vote of thanks.

The first session of seminar begins at 10 am while the second session will commence at 2 pm tomorrow.

Ambala, August 22
A seminar on the role of the Army Wives Welfare Association (AWWA) and stress management was organised yesterday as part of the ongoing AWWA week.

The seminar was inaugurated by Bharti Singh, president, Kharga AWWA. Colonel John from the Military Hospital, Chandimandir, was the guest speaker on stress management. His speech was followed by a lecture on diet control by Colonel Khare.

Bharti Singh also inaugurated a sports competition. A tug of war was also held. The Artillery Brigade won the contest while the PH & HP (I) Sub Area was the runners up. A fancy dress competition was also organised. Raj Dulari stood first in the women’s category while Bindiya was the winner in the under 18 category.

A talent show was also held. Mehjba Bin Ali, wife of lance naik Asgar Ali, was adjudged the winner while Piyu Chakravarti, wife of havildar U.K. Chakravarti, was the runners-up.

Meanwhile, Kharga AWWA week concluded here today.