Panipat, October 7
Eleven persons were killed and three sustained burn injuries when a major fire broke out in a textile mill here this morning.

As many as 10 of the 11 dead labourers had been identified, deputy commissioner Mahinder Kumar said, adding that most of the victims hailed from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The exact cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained, though short circuit was believed to be the reason behind the tragedy.

The fire broke out at around 3 am when workers at the unit, located in the old industrial area near the DC office, were working allegedly beyond the permissible time limit.

Nine of the 11 who perished in the incident, were identified as VP Singh, Sikander, Santosh, Shanker, Ranjan, Devesh, Ashram, Puran Thakur, Radha. The deceased were cremated this evening by the district authorities after their identities were confirmed.

Additional deputy commissioner Amit Agarwal will conduct a probe into the incident, Mahinder Kumar said. Firefighters battled the leaping flames for several hours before extinguishing them.

According to authorities heaps of rags used to prepare thread caught fire due to a short circuit at a plot from where two factories, RR Spinning Mills and Jai Maa Industries were being run.

According to sources the workers apparently became unconscious due to the smoke and were charred to death.

Owner of the factory Rohit Garg was arrested by the police whereas his partner Rajesh Jain was absconding.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda expressed grief over the death of labourers and announced a compensation of Rs 1 lakh to each bereaved family.

Mahinder Kumar said a sum of Rs 20,000 each would also be given to the next of kin of those killed in the blaze by the district Red Cross Society while Rs 5,000 each would be given to the injured who would be treated free of cost.

State labour minister A.C Chaudhary visited the factory premises in the evening.

Expressing grief over today’s incident, he said labour laws would be implemented at all costs in this industrial township.

Chandigarh, October 7
The state has emerged a frontrunner in terms of development in the field of information technology and enabled services. After being described as an “aspiring” leader in the field, the state that has been rated among the top five in the country has won the “Telecom India Excellence Award 2007”. It has also become the third largest exporter of software from India.

The news has come as a welcome note for Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who leaves for a 12-day foreign tour to invite investment tomorrow. The officials accompanying the Chief Minister have armed themselves with all latest achievements of the state for showcasing potential of investment in Haryana before overseas investors.

“We are slowly moving ahead in the field of IT and we hope that we will soon compete with other manufacturing industries to maintain the top slot in the country”, state agriculture minister H.S. Chatha recently told a visiting Chinese delegation.

Incidentally, Haryana claims the number one position in the country as the largest manufacturers of cars, motor cycles and scooters and produces more than 50 per cent of tractors in the country.

Emerging as a hub of information technology, textiles and auto components manufacturing, exports from the state had touched Rs 25,000 crore ($5 billion).

During 2006-07, the state exported software worth over Rs 14,000 crore, a substantial boost over its 1998-99 figures that stood at a mere Rs 400 crore. The state, according to chief secretary Promilla Issar, is all set to house the largest SEZ of the country. Besides, a nano-technology park is planned in over 4,000 acres of land at Panchkula. This would further boost modernisation of the state.

Jharli (Jhajjar), October 7
In yet another move to please the farming community, the Haryana government has decided to provide residential plots measuring 100 yards to the landless Dalit, backward and economically weaker residents of the state villages.

The state government has also increased the royalty for the land acquired by it after March 5, 2005, for any purpose (except for Army activities) from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per acre per year. The royalty will also be increased by Rs 500 per acre every year.

Announcements to this effect were made by Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda at the “bijli rally” organised here today. The homeless poor residing in the urban areas will get low-cost housing facility, he added.

UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the 1500 MW Indira Gandhi Super Thermal Power Project on the occasion. On completion, this will be the biggest power plant in the state and will supply power to Haryana and Delhi.

The Rs 7,892-crore project will be executed by Aravali Power Company, a joint venture of the National Thermal Power Corporation, the Haryana Power Generation Corporation and Indraprastha Power Generation Company.

Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, All-India Congress Committee general secretary Margaret Alwa, Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee president Phool Chand Mullana and a number of other senior central and state Congress leaders were present on the occasion. Rohtak MP Deepender Singh Hooda proposed the vote of thanks.

The Chief Minister urged Sonia Gandhi to get the wheat MSP increased to Rs 1,100 per quintal and provide bonus on paddy. In response to the request, she assured him that the UPA government would take a decision in favour of the farmers.

Hooda also declared that Jharli, Mohanbari, Khanpur and Gouria villages, in which land had been acquired for the power project, would be developed as model villages.

He said members of the families whose land had been acquired for the purpose would be given employment according to their qualification in the projects. The landless labourers working on these fields would also be given priority in jobs, he added.

Sonepat, October 7
Congress president Sonia Gandhi today laid the foundation stone of the National Institute of Food Technology, Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM) at the HSIIDC’s industrial complex, Kundli, in the district.

The institute will be set up on 100 acres at an estimated cost of Rs 246 crore. The first academic session will commence in 2009 with 430 seats in different courses. — OC

Hisar, October 7
The ‘bijli rally’ at Jhadli in Jhajjar district today has virtually dethroned the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) as the virtual king of king size rallies in Haryana. Having picked up the nuances of crowd mobilisation from the INLD, the Congress party managers have proved when it comes to mobilising crowds, they are now way ahead of their arch rivals.

But size alone is not what a rally is all about even though it is the first parameter by which such an event is usually judged. That issue being settled, the issue of who gained what comes to the fore. On this count, the Congress as a party has gained the most. Sonia Gandhi’s decision to take on the Left from this stage, thus putting the party in virtual poll mode, shows how important she considered the occasion for the party in a national perspective.

Next in the list of beneficiaries are Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and his son Congress MP from Rohtak, Deepender Hooda.

Hooda senior has successfully demonstrated to Sonia Gandhi that under his leadership, the party continues to be popular among the voters, the voices of dissent from Bhajan Lal clan notwithstanding.

Inversely, he has also proven to his own partymen in Haryana that he continues to enjoy the high command’s faith.

Outside his own party, the rally is his response to the INLD which had staged a rally at Ambala on September 25. The message he has sent to INLD supremo Om Parkash Chautala is that he still has to work a lot harder to think of dislodging the Congress the next time round.

Secondly, with today’s show, the Chief Minister has given Bhajan Lal and his son Kuldeep Bishnoi a stiff target to meet. Bishnoi has announced that he would organise a rally at Hooda’s hometown Rohtak on December 2.

In simple words, Bishnoi’s Rohtak show has to be bigger than the Jhadli rally if he is to make any headway in his quest for political power in the next Assembly poll.

Deepender Hooda has gained in more ways than one. Firstly, he has proved that he is coming out of his father’s shadow. Being the virtual director of the entire exercise, the junior Hooda has demonstrated considerable organisational ability through this rally.

Having spent nearly a fortnight touring his Lok Sabha constituency gathering support for the rally, he has successfully created a platform from which he can start his campaign should there be a snap parliamentary poll.

Through the rally he has also brought to limelight the major development projects that he has successfully brought to his constituency from the Centre.

The Rohtak-Rewari rail link, electrification of Shakurbasti-Rohtak rail line and the new trains on Delhi-Rohtak and Delhi-Rewari route are projects he is very excited about.

There could not have been a better advertisement for these than the rally. His office claims that no other MP has been able to get so many central projects sanctioned within the first two years of his term.

In political backwaters, there is always something there in names.

By christening it as ‘bijli rally’, Hooda has given a strong message to the masses that he is seriously making efforts to increase power generation. 

Karnal, October 7
The situation in Shergarh Tapoo village today remained calm and no untoward incident was reported. Yesterday, following a dispute over 58 acres of shamlat land the police used tear gas and lathicharged agitating villagers which resulted in injuries on both sides.

Spokesperson for the protesting villagers Harpal claimed that under police pressure the medical test of the injured was not being done at the Karnal civil hospital. Alleging police highhandedness, Harpal said the village was under siege and the police was arresting anyone leaving the village.

However, deputy commissioner B.S. Malik refuted the allegation and said he had not received any complaint in this regard.

Karnal SP A.S. Chawla said, “The injuries suffered by the protesters were minor and did not require hospitalisation or a medical test. Moreover, if any of them had sustained major injuries they would have been admitted to the hospital”.

Chawla said the police force was camping at Kunjpura police station, which was about 6 km from the village.

“We are keeping a close watch on the situation and will only act if peace is threatened. No restriction is being imposed on the villagers, they are free to come and go as they please,” the SP said.

He added that earlier the mischief mongers among the protesters convinced them that the disputed land would be distributed equally among the villagers after settlement was reached.

“But now when they were informed that the land will go back to the panchayat and not to them, they have lost all enthusiasm for an agitation. Hopefully, this will cool things down,” he said.

Chandigarh, October 7
Pawan Kumar, a resident of Badli village in Jhajjar district and his relatives have been running from pillar to post for the past two months to move the Haryana Police to take action against the alleged kidnappers of his wife and two minor children.

In spite of their having met the Governor, the Chief Minister, and senior officers of the Haryana Police, the Jhajjar police is yet to trace Pawan’s wife, his daughter Karishma (13) and son Harbir (11).

A harried Pawan now wants the investigation to be handed over to the CBI.

It was on August5, 2007 when Pawan, on his return from Delhi, found no one in his house. Later, he found his mother and father in the fields, but there was no trace of his wife, Karishma and Harbir. A few villagers told him that two sons of his neighbour had taken away his family members.

Next day Pawan submitted a written complaint at the Badli police post, naming the alleged kidnappers, two brothers and their mother. But the police did not lodge any FIR. Pawan’s brother-in-law, Om Pal Dabas, says the FIR was lodged only after they met ADGP, Law and Order, V.B Singh, 23 days after the incident.

Dabas told TNS here today that Pawan, along with a large number of villagers, met the Jhajjar SP several times. Every time they were assured that the kidnappers would be arrested within two days. But “the promised two days are turning out to be a never-ending wait for us,” he added.

Every senior functionary of the state, including the Governor, the Chief Minister, the DGP and the Rohtak range IG, had given them just empty assurances, Dabas claimed.

After the Badli police failed to take any action, the case was transferred to the Bahadurgarh CIA staff, which also failed to nab the suspects. Then the investigation was handed over to the Rohtak CIA staff, which too did not achieve any breakthrough in the case. Dabas alleged that the investigating agencies had failed to arrest the culprits because of “vested interests”.

Ironically, it is not that the identity of the suspects is unknown. A suspect and his father assured the village panchayat a number of times that they would return the kidnapped woman and her children to Pawan. But every time they backed out and even threatened Pawan of dire consequences after the panchayat meetings.

Pawan and Dabas said one of the suspects had been awarded life sentence in a murder case. After spending six years in jail, he was released on bail a few months ago by the Punjab and Haryana High Court, where his appeal is pending. They also alleged that recently the same suspect was involved in a firing incident in the village, in which one person had been killed and five others had sustained injuries. He was again named in the FIR. 

Hansi (Hisar), October 7
Former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat today expressed concern over India’s failure to eliminate terrorism.

Speaking at a function held at Qutubpur village, near here, to honour widows of two martyrs, he said the centre should accord the highest priority to tackling the problem of terrorism. He said despite all efforts over the years, the country had been unable to root it out and it was time the issue figured at the top of the nation’s agenda.

He said terrorism was a threat to a nation’s security and integrity. It also caused unnecessary bloodshed. Besides, it affected the victim nation’s economic progress. In short, he said, it was the greatest threat any civilised society could face.

He said it was unfortunate that so many young men had to make the supreme sacrifice for the nation during the Kargil war.

But the war had created an awareness in society to honour and cherish the memory of those who achieved martyrdom.

He had earlier raised the issue of terrorism and the need to eliminate it during an informal interaction with mediapersons at Hisar too. However, he beat a hasty retreat when he was asked why the then NDA government had released so many jailed militants after a plane was hijacked to Kabul. Shekhawat left saying that the two issues should not be linked.

Fatehabad, October 7
Vijay Khayal, a local social activist, was recently provided misleading information under the RTI Act about a private organisation which, according to him, had been unlawfully occupying a government property for the past two years without paying rent to the government.

The organisation, which runs a school from the building, has been allegedly stealing power from the lines of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam without getting any regular power connection.

All this, Khayal alleges, is being done in connivance with the authorities.

Khayal moved an application under the RTI Act to seek information in this regard from the public information officer in the office of the deputy commissioner, Fatehabad, on August 7, 2007.

However, the information supplied by the officer “is not only amusing but misleading too”, alleges Khayal.

To a question as to under which capacity a private institute had been occupying a building constructed on government land adjoining the local Jat Dharamshala, the authorities provided him a letter from the tehsildar, Fatehabad, informing that Lakshwinder Singh, project director of the institute, told him that he occupied the building after getting verbal consent of a former president of the Jat Mahasabha.

Lakshwinder Singh, according to this letter, admitted that his institute was not paying any rent in lieu of the possession of that building comprising five rooms and a bathroom, besides open land of hundreds of yards.

The authorities also provided Khayal a letter from the state government dated November 9, 2004, through which the government transferred 5,370 yards to the Jat Mahasabha.

Khayal alleges that while it is true that 5,370 yards on which the office of the deputy commissioner existed at one time was transferred to the Jat Mahasabha, the land in question, where many other offices existed, was kept by the government with itself.

But the authorities tried to mislead him by providing wrong information, he alleges.

Even, a government letter dated November 9, 2004, supplied to him says that as per the proposals made by the deputy commissioner, the Governor of Haryana is pleased to accord sanction for the sale of 5,370 square yards of the total 66 kanals 12 marlas (39,960 square yards) which belonged to the subdivisional officer (civil), Fatehabad, for the construction of Tau Devi Lal Dharamshala at a cost of Rs 100 per square yard.

To the question of stealing of power by the institute, the information officer supplied a letter stating that a penalty of Rs 4,727 was imposed on the institute, which it paid.

When this correspondent contacted tehsildar Gian Parkash Bishnoi to verify the status of the property on which the private school was running, he confirmed that the land belonged to the government and not the Jat Mahasabha. 

Karnal, October 7
The four-day international conference on animal nutrition in tropics, “TROPNUTRICON-2007”, organised by the Animal Nutrition Society of India (ANSI) and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), concluded here today.

Dr K. K. Singhal, organising secretary of the conference, said in different technical sessions as many as 500 delegates, representing India, US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, Iran, Pakistan, Zambia and Myanmar, participated in the conference.

In the plenary session held today, Dr K. Pradhan, former vice-chancellor of Rajasthan Agriculture University (RAU), was the chief guest and Dr Sushil Kumar, director, NDRI, was the guest of honour.

Dr Pradhan said majority of the dairy farmers in the country belonged to marginal and small farming situations, therefore, the demand driven and need based livestock production technologies should be evolved.

He added that scientific feeding had a direct bearing on milk production and the reproduction of dairy animals.

Dr Sushil Kumar said the conference provided newer insight to various issues of dairying.

During the conference, Dr Nagendra Sharma, vice-chancellor, Shere-E-Kashmir University of Agriculture Science and Technology, Jammu, Dr V.K. Taneja, vice-chancellor, Guru Angad Dev University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, Ludhiana, and Dr V.D. Mudgal, former director of Buffalo Research Institute, Hisar, chaired vaiours technical sessions.

Fatehabad, October 7
A team of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) today raided several places in the town to check power theft and imposed fine of Rs 2.76 lakh on as many as six consumers.

The team, including Ashok Sharma and Kuldeep Singh, both junior engineers, first went to a nursing home situated at Tau Devi Lal market here. On detecting power theft, the officials imposed a fine of Rs 1.14 lakh on the nursing home.

The officials also raided some residential premises at local Aggarwal Colony and imposed fine of Rs 1.62 lakh on five consumers, who were found guilty of power theft.

Rewari, October 7
Two young factory workers - Kamal and Vikesh - died on the spot when their motorcycle collided with an unknown vehicle on the Kapriwas-Pataudi road near Parasoli village, 18 km from here, on Friday night.

The mishap occurred when the two, residents of Bhokarka village, near Pataudi, were returning to the village after finishing off their duty at a factory in Dharuhera. — OC