Chandigarh, September 18
The Yamuna is in spate, threatening to inundate Haryana politics. The irrigation minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav’s statement on the 1994 Yamuna accord in the assembly today left no one in doubt that in the coming days the Hooda government will target former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal for “bartering away” the interests of the state as well as the Indian National Lok Dal for not doing anything during its six-year rule to rectify the mistake.

Yadav was replying to a call-attention motion moved by Karan Singh Dalal, Congress MLA from Palwal, on the acute shortage of water in the command area of the Yamuna canal system. As soon as he started his reply, INLD members staged a walkout, alleging that they were not being given time to speak. Later outside the house, INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala told newsmen that his party would boycott the rest of the session.

The minister said under the 1954 Yamuna water agreement, Haryana had about two-thirds share in the river water against one-third share of UP. However, the 1994 accord not only reduced Haryana’s share by 20 per cent but also made three more states, Himachal, Rajasthan and Delhi, partners in the Yamuna waters.

He shocked the house by asserting that the final agreement was different which was approved by the cabinet in 1994. In an aggressive tone, he said it was surprising why “ the hands of those who signed the agreement hitting the interests of the state did not shake before doing so.” In an obvious reference to Bhajan Lal and Chautala, Yadav said : “Perhaps, those who signed the agreement were not worried about the reduction of Haryana’s share in the Yamuna water because it did not irrigate the fields of their native districts of Sirsa and Hisar.”

Elaborating on various steps taken by the Hooda government to speed up the construction of various dams on the Yamuna, he said the Chief Minister had written to the centre, the latest being September 16, that the construction should be taken up by a central agency with adequate funding by the union government.

When Dalal specifically asked under what circumstances the 1994 accord was signed, Yadav said this could be explained only by “Bhajan Lal or his son who is roaming around in the state.” He was obviously referring to Kuldeep Bishnoi.

Intervening, the Chief Minister said every step would be taken to protect the interests of the state. Earlier, finance minister Birender Singh had suggested that a committee under the chairmanship of the Speaker should be formed to study the issue in totality.

Chandigarh, September 18
The Haryana assembly today passed two bills by voice vote.

When the bills were taken up, members of the main opposition party, the INLD, were not present as they had earlier boycotted the house in protest against the Speaker’s alleged partisan attitude.

The Haryana Panchayati Raj (Second Amendment) Bill, 2007, passed by the house prescribed disqualification for a period of six years from contesting elections for anyone found giving a false caste certificate at the time of filing nominations for contesting elections to the panchayati raj institutions.

The bill also prescribed that making a false declaration or submission of false contents in the affidavit or hiding of information at the time of filing of the nomination for contesting panchayat elections would be considered an offence and attract a penalty.

The bill also made sections 20B, 33A, 134B, 135B and 135C of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, applicable to the provisions of the Haryana Panchayati Raj Act.

Discussion on the bill veered away from the subject matter with senior Congress MLA Shamsher Singh Surjewala urging the government to make available panchayat land to landless families in villages. Ramkumar Gautam of the BJP moved further away from the bill and said the policy of reservation for backward classes prescribed by the Mandal report should be implemented in Haryana.

Phool Chand Mullana, Congress MLA and chief of the Haryana Congress, put the ball back on track and said none of the points raised by the members necessitated any amendment to the proposed bill. Mullana said panchayats already had the right to give surplus land to the landless. This policy, introduced by the late Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, was yet to be fully implemented in Haryana, he said.

Birender Singh, finance minister, who had moved the legislation on behalf of the Chief Minister, said the state government was working on a plan to distribute land to landless families in villages. He said the government would need to acquire land for this purpose and about Rs 1,000 crore would have to be paid to land owners as compensation.

Speaker Raghuvir Singh Kadian then asked the minister to place the bill for voting following which it was passed by voice vote.

Next it was the turn of cooperation minister H. S. Chatha to move the Haryana Cooperative Societies (Amendment) Bill for consideration of the house. The amendments, which will give full voting rights to the depositors, freedom of investments and borrowings to cooperative societies, autonomy with regard to the personnel policy and also carry out other changes, were already notified in the state in the form of an ordinance.

Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Karan Singh Dalal, Ramkishan Fauzi and Randhir Singh of the Congress, Naresh Malik of the BJP, Arjun Singh of the BSP and Naresh Yadav and Radheshyam Sharma, Independent MLAs, spoke on the bill.

Chatha, however, remarked that the MLAs had simply beaten around the bush without touching the subject matter of the bill. He then placed the bill for voting and it was passed by voice vote.

The house also approved the excess demands over grants and appropriations for 2004-05 and the first instalment of the supplementary estimates for 2007-08.

Kaithal, September 18
Health services in the district were paralysed today as paramedical staff, laboratory technicians, radiologists and class four employees went on a strike to protest against the arrest of district drug inspector Sunil Dahiya in a bribery case by a state vigilance bureau (SVB) team here yesterday.

Doctors in the Civil Hospital, here, though did not join the strike formally but except two doctors others did not check patients in the OPD. However, the paramedical staff and doctors on duty were available in the emergency ward.

Patients in indoor wards were allegedly not attended by doctors till 1.30 pm.

Meanwhile, keeping in view the sentiments and demand of the striking employees, deputy commissioner S.K. Goel ordered an inquiry by SDM Jagdish Sharma into the episode of raid conducted by the SVB leading to the arrest of the drug inspector.

Hundreds of patients faced inconvenience due to the strike. Dhanpati (45) from Bhagal village in Guhla subdivision of the district sitting outside the emergency ward said she was waiting since 9.30 am to get her injured arm bandaged but the staff concerned was not available.

Challu (90) of Kithana village suffering from allergy said he had been doing rounds of the OPD ward since morning but no doctor was available. Later, a doctor in the emergency ward provided him medicines in afternoon.

A doctor in the emergency ward said they were under pressure to join strike by the employees so they did not check the patients in the OPD, however, they were operating from the emergency ward.

The striking employees staged a dharna outside the hospital building and raised slogans against the government and the vigilance bureau staff. The employees complained that their colleague was falsely implicated in the bribery case and was innocent. They said their protest would continue till the government withdrew the case registered against Dahiya.

Sarv Karamchari Sangh leaders - Romesh Harit and Dhanapt Ram Kaushik - said the arrest of the drug inspector was not justified and demanded a magisterial inquiry by a senior officer. Those present at the dharna site claimed that the functioning at all PHC’s and CHC’s in the district had come to a stand still and their colleagues had extended support to them.

A visit to the indoor patients ward of the local Civil Hospital at about 1.30 pm revealed that no doctor had visited the patients since morning. However, they said the nursing staff administered them injections.

Ballabgarh, September 18
The demolition squad of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad today demolished unauthorised parts of more than a dozen shops in the Library Market here. The demolition had to be stopped due to alleged interference in favour of the shopkeepers by Ajay Rathore, brother of local Congress MLA and parliamentary secretary Sharda Rathore.

Policemen, led by the area SHO, accompanied the demolition squad. The demolition was supervised by the joint commissioner of the MC for Ballabgarh, Anil Sharma.

However, a scene was created during the demolition drive. While the drive was on, Rathore came to the spot in favour of the shopkeepers and raised objections against the move. He and his supporters also had an altercation with the staff of the demolition squad.

Sources said the matter reached the MLA in Chandigarh who had a word with the commissioner, MC, R.K. Khullar. Thereafter, the demolition squad was called back.

The shopkeepers blocked traffic in protest at Ambedkar Chowk. They marched to the office of the joint commissioner, MC, for Ballabgarh. They raised slogans against the MC authorities.

President of the Punjabi Manch Dhanpat Kalra, who owns shops in the market, alleged that the MC was on the wrong side of law as the shopkeepers had already paid penalty as compound fees for covering up the veranda attached to the shops. However, the MC functionaries said the civicbody was under strict injunction from the Punjab and Haryana High Court to demolish the illegal constructions. In fact, hearing in the case pertaining to it was listed for September 25 in the court. However, the shopkeepers say their application in the high court was listed for September 22 and the MC should have waited till then.

Rewari, September 18
The Masani Barrage, an over Rs 50 crore mega project of the state, which had then been aptly described as a boon for the flood-prone areas of south Haryana, has virtually been lying in the doldrums for a pretty long time for obvious reasons. Needless to say that it has become a curse for the farmers of about 200 villages of Rewari and Gurgaon districts.

The Masani Barrage was envisaged after the devastating flood in Sahibi river, which had caused unprecedented havoc in parts of Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi in 1977. Consequently, the then Prime Minister Morarji Desai decided to have a master plan for the entire Sahibi basin for flood moderation and optimum utilisation of its water. Thereafter, the Central Water Commission formulated a master plan and the construction work of the barrage on the National Highway 8, near Masani village, 12 km from Rewari, began in February 1979, which was accomplished in 1989.

It was estimated that the barrage would provide flood protection to about 1.60 lakh acres in Haryana and about 40,000 acres in Delhi apart from providing irrigation facilities to about 50,000 acres in south Haryana. Besides, it was hoped that it would perennially recharge the subsoil water and improve the brackishness of ground water in the region.

However, the plan completely went haywire when the average annual rainfall continually declined and several dams were constructed over the Sahibi river in Rajasthan, which drastically reduced the flow of water from Sahibi to Haryana. Consequently, the entire basin of the Masani Barrage has been lying waterless (dry) for the past over two decades.

The subsoil water level has steeply declined to about 100 feet, causing unprecedented hardships to the farmers of about 200 villages of this region, who are now solely dependent on tubewells to irrigate their fields.

However, the Lal Bahadur Shastri Recharge Channel, whose foundation stone was laid by Chief Minster Bhupinder Singh Hooda at a place near Sangwari village, 10 km from here, on September 22, 2005, has now enkindled hopes for the conversion of this “cursed” barrage again into a boon for the hapless peasantry of the region.Irrigation minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav too has been taking pains for expeditious completion of this Rs 11 crore project.

The 8 km long Recharge Channel is expected to be functional by August, 2008. After that surplus water of the Yamuna Canal will then be released through the JLN Canal into the Masani Barrage Basin. Thus, the recharge will not only sweeten the subsoil water but its rapidly declining level too will gradually register an increase to the delight and good luck of the hapless farmers of this region. Besides a 10 km long ‘Nandrampur Bas Minor’ is also being constructed as its appendage.

Chandigarh September 18
A Gurgaon district resident has alleged that the deputy and assistant superintendents of the district jail conspired with the assailants of her father-in-law to eliminate her husband. To make the matters worse, the police has not initiated any action

Taking up the petition of widow Sudesh, Justice L.N. Mittal of the Punjab and Haryana High Court today issued notice of motion to the State of Haryana , the director-general of police and two other respondents for November 2.

Seeking the registration of a first information report against the two officials -- Anil Kumar and Dinesh Yadav--, the petitioner had also sought inquiry into the matter by an independent agency, along with directions for protecting her life and liberty.

Giving details, the petitioner had contended that her husband Sudesh was forced to board a police vehicle even though he was not to attend any court hearing. He was taken from Bhondsi Jail to Rajiv Chowk in Gurgaon on the pretext of boarding a bus to Jaipur.

While he was waiting for the bus in handcuffs on December 18 last year, the same group of murderers responsible for her father-in-law’s elimination pumped seven bullets into her husband while cops escorting him made no efforts to protect the victim.

Going into the background of the matter, the petitioner stated that her father-in-law was eliminated in broad daylight by hardcore criminals on August 5, 2006 . Subsequently, on November 8, 2006 , her husband was put behind the bars in a false case.

In his detailed order, Justice Mittal observed that the petitioner had sought registration of an FIR. However, FIR number 1108 dated December 18, 2006 , related to the alleged occurrence already stands registered in Sadar police station, Gurgaon.

Jagadhri, September 18
Gunjan, a two-month-old baby, died at a private hospital in the wee hours here today. Parents and relatives of the baby alleged negligence on the part of the doctor and ransacked the hospital. Later, the body was sent to the PGI, Rohtak, for a post-mortem examination. The report is awaited.

Dr Jitinder Gupta dismissed the allegations as baseless and alleged that he was beaten up by relatives of the girl and went to the Jagadhri Civil Hospital for treatment.

The police was deployed at the Civil Hospital as a large number of people, including politicians and doctors, gathered there in the afternoon.

The district unit of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) came in support of Dr Gupta and chemists of the twin towns of Yamunanagar and Jagadhri downed shutters.

At the Civil Hospital, parents of Gunjan raised slogans against doctors.

The incident took a political turn as supporters of Kuldeep Bishnoi, including HPCC secretary Satpal Kaushik, Baldev Singh and Kirpal Singh, came in support of the family and alleged that the administration was under pressure not to proceed against Dr Gupta.

Sanjeev Bhatia, father of the deceased and resident of Srinagar Colony, said Gunjan fell ill yesterday morning and was taken to Jitinder Hospital located near the Jagadhri bus stand.

Dr Gupta attended to Gunjan. At night, the condition of Gunjan worsened and she was again taken to the hospital.

“Dr Gupta again attended to Gunjan and she was admitted to the hospital. Her condition deteriorated again and when we called the doctor, he said he would examine Gunjan in the morning,” alleged Bhatia.

However, in the morning Gunjan was declared dead. “Had the doctor attended to Gunjan in the night, she could have been saved,” said Bhatia, after the death of his only child.

The hospital staff alleged that after the death, parents and relatives of Gunjan ransacked the hospital.

The police is investigating the matter.

Jind, September 18
A 40-year-old man, who was on parole, was hacked to death by a rival gang outside the judicial courts complex in Safido in the district this evening, the police here said.

The attackers pounced on the victim, identified as Randhir of Bittany village, as soon as he emerged from the judicial complex. They attacked him with sharp-edged weapons in the presence of a large number of people, none of whom dared to come to the victim’s help. The police said Randhir was hacked to death by the assailants, who, after committing the crime, escaped on motorcycles. While fleeing, they claimed that they had taken revenge.

Randhir, who was sentenced to life imprisonment in a double murder case, was out on parole and had to go back to prison after two days. He had come to the judicial complex to get a copy of a court document in some other case against him. The police claims to have identified the culprits and a case has been registered. — UNI

Chandigarh, September 18
Nabard has sanctioned a major grant of Rs 554 crore for Haryana to strengthen the Integrated Murrah Development Project using modern bio-techniques as part of its Rs 15,000 crore national programme for purchase of animals, breed improvement, upgradation of livestock and infrastructure.

The grant is expected to directly uplift the socio-economic status of the rural population in Haryana, which is the native of the state.

Director-general, Animal Husbandry, Dr K.S. Dangi said for the Nabard, animal husbandry was a top priority and the Haryana Chief Minister too had prevailed upon the Nabard to sanction the project for the state which in turn would not only improve the genetic stock and productivity of livestock in Haryana, but would also serve as an important source of germ plasm for breed improvement and for maximising productivity of buffaloes in the entire country, doubling the national milk production in the next five years.

The Nabard approval of Rs 554 crore is for a tripartite venture involving the Nabard, Haryana and Punjab National Bank. Dr Dangi said yet another project of Rs 164 crore had been approved for modernisation of infrastructure and setting up of new labs, providing cattle sheds, veterinary care units, etc.

“Doubling national milk productivity over the next 5 to 7 years is a reality based on a model that divides the population of buffaloes on their milk yields.

The percentage of high milk yielding animals would be increased by selective breeding. The target is to identify 1.5 lakh top quality animals for which cash incentives are being offered to farmers,” Dr Dangi disclosed.

Under the project, the state has identified 40 to 50 Murrah villages across Haryana, mainly in Jind, Hisar, Bhawanigarh, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sonepat and Fatehabad districts.

All buffaloes meeting the benchmark of 10 kg peak yield or 2,200 kg lactation yield would be properly identified (with ear tags) along with their progeny. Cash incentives ranging from Rs 3,000 for animals yielding 15 kg milk per day to Rs 6,000 to 10,000 for cattle yielding 20 kg per day are being given to farmers, who would then be obligated not to sell the buffaloes or their progeny for at least a year.

Hisar, September 18
Students of the College of Veterinary Sciences of Haryana Agricultural University went on a strike here today demanding an increase in internship allowance.

They gathered outside the office of the vice-chancellor and grappled with the security guards in an effort to storm the office. However, their attempts were foiled.

A spokesperson for the striking students said the internship allowance at Rohtak Medical College had been recently raised to Rs 4,500 a month but in their case it remained at Rs 3,000.

They wanted their allowance to be brought on a par with medical college interns. Officials told them that the matter would be referred to the board of management of the university and, if approved, the allowance would be raised.