Hisar, February 5
Government employees owing allegiance to the Sarv Karamchari Sangh, Haryana, today staged dharnas at block and tehsil-level towns to press their demands.

A spokesperson for the sangh here said the demonstrators handed over memoranda to the administration, which were addressed to Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda.

The memoranda pointed out that the Chief Minister had held talks with employees’ leaders five times in the past three years. There was agreement on implementing many of the long-standing demands but the Chief Minister had not kept his word.

The sangh alleged that instead of solving the problems the Chief Minister had added to the employees’ woes by denying pension to new government employees and ending the benefit of ex gratia appointment of children of government employees, who died in service.

It was alleged that over 1 lakh posts were vacant in government offices but there was no move to fill these. This was putting an additional burden on the rest of the employees but the government was unconcerned.

Most jobs were being outsourced to exploit educated jobless youth. The contract system, which had been implemented almost in every field, had affected public service institutions.

The sangh demanded the scrapping of the new pension law, filling of vacant posts, restoration of all benefits withdrawn, curbing inflation and increasing the rate of interest on the general provident fund.

JIND: Hundreds of government employees owing allegiance to the Sarva Karamchari Sangh (SKS), Haryana, and guest teachers of the state education department on Tuesday staged demonstrations in support of their demands, including regularisation of part-time teachers, dropping of the privatisation policy in the state-run departments and filling up of the vacant posts in various departments. Memoranda were submitted to the state government through district authorities.

Members of the SKS organised a one-day dharna at all block-level offices in the district, which nearly paralysed work in many offices.

The guest teachers working in various government schools demanded continuance of their contract during the examination period also. Protesting against the termination of their teaching contract on February 15, they said they should be put on examination duty and be given some kind of job security.

KAITHAL: Guest teachers held a dharna outside the mini-secretariat here on Tuesday to convince the Haryana government to accept their demands. They also submitted a memorandum, which was addressed to the Chief Minister.

District president Sunil Bura condemned the statement of the education minister stating that the services of guest teachers could not be continued and they would be replaced by freshly recruited teachers.

He gave a call to hundreds of guest teachers present on the dharna site to join the state-level rally at Jind on February 9.

Fatehabad, February 5
The civil surgeon, Dr J.K. Bishnoi, and multipurpose health workers (MPHWs) working under him are at daggers drawn over the orders of transfer on deputation of some MPHWs issued by the former.

The district unit of the Multi-Purpose Health Workers Association has been on agitation mode after the civil surgeon, allegedly, refused to pay heed to the request of the association to cancel his orders.

Dr Bishnoi has justified his orders and said the MPHWs, who had been transferred through deputation orders, had not been doing their jobs honestly.

The association has alleged that the civil surgeon had issued autocratic orders through which he had deputed a woman health worker from Bighar village to Bangaon village, though she was a permanent resident of Bighar.

Similarly, the woman health worker, who had been sent to Bighar from Bangaon, wanted to work at her original place of posting.

Women health workers of Mehuwala and Banawali villages had also been displaced, the association alleged.

The civil surgeon, according to the association, had been adopting a vindictive approach towards the workers.

The association has threatened to intensify its agitation in case the women workers were not rehabilitated.

Bishnoi, however, alleged that the association had been trying to unduly pressurise him by resorting to agitation.

He maintained that the women health worker, who had been transferred from Bighar, used to keep the money paid to women under the ‘Janani suraksha yojna’, who came to village delivery huts for delivery, with her.

He further added that there were also complaints against the worker employed at Bangaon village and hence he ordered their transfers.

He denied the allegations of despotism levelled against him and said rather the association was trying to browbeat him, as it had not allowed the workers to join their new places of postings though he had issued the orders on January 9.

Ambala, February 5
Poor visibility on account of thick blanket of fog that engulfed most parts of the region today disrupted rail traffic between Delhi and several stations in Haryana and Punjab while some trains plying between Jagadhari and Saharanpur got delayed due to snapping of one of the power cables.

A large number of passengers on various trains running between Jagadhari and Saharanpur had to wait for hours till the power cable was repaired and rail traffic was restored.

Sources said snapping of power cable partially affected the northern grid. This led to delays of the Saharanpur-Nangal train by 2 hours and other passenger trains also faced a similar postponement.

Trains connecting New Delhi stations to stations in Haryana and Punjab faced delay for hours together due to fog.

According to information with railway authorities, the Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi was delayed for about 1 hour and 10 minutes, Malwa Express from Bathinda to Delhi got late by 3 hours and Himalayan Queen was delayed by 1 hour and 40 minutes.

Railway authorities stated that the delay in the movement of the trains was caused by reasons that were beyond their control. They, however, maintained that every possible effort was put in by the railway staff to reduce the train stoppages. They said a team of technical experts was rushed to the spot where the power cable had been snapped and speedy work carried out by the team ensured early resumption of the trains on this track.

Karnal, February 5
The Madhuban-based Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) will start laboratory tests of the samples lifted from the blast site, where the convoy of the controversial head of the Dera Sacha Sauda was targeted near Nilokheri on February 2, from tomorrow.

Sources said the state lab received the material this evening and it might take some time to undertake tests before ascertaining the kind of explosive used in the attack.

It is learnt that parts of truck and other scattered objects had been selected for the tests, which were crucial from the evidential point of view in the court of law.

Deputy director of the FSL Dr R.K. Kaushal said it was premature for them to comment conclusively on the kind of explosives used in the blast. “It may take 10-15 days to confirm if RDX or some other explosives were used,” he added. He clarified that the FSL had not submitted any report to the state agencies on the blast tests.

However, sources said it was indeed a powerful blast that could have proved disastrous if the attackers had not “misfire” the target.

Sources said on the basis of the information provided by the two arrested accused about the colour and texture of the explosive used by Baksheesh Singh in making the crude bomb that the police firmly opined that it was RDX.

AMBALA: Haryana director general of police Ranjeev Dalal held a high-level meeting with the inspector generals of Ambala and Rohtak ranges to discuss the recent incident of the attack on the convoy of the Dera Sacha Sauda chief here on Tuesday. The DGP said from the investigations carried out by the police so far, it had come to light that the terrorist had evolved a new way of attacking his target. He said it was for the first time that terrorist had planned an attack in which the explosive-laden truck was run on the same route as that of the dera chief’s convoy. He said the police had studied several attacks on VIPs across the country but such a planning was never executed by terrorists. The police had decided to provide additional security to the dera chief during his visits to Ambala.

The DGP said the state police was coordinating with the police of other states to track down the suspect in the blast case and a positive outcome was expected soon.

Chandigarh, February 5
Haryana today became the first state in the country to implement the State Wide Area Network (SWAN) under the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) of the ministry of information technology, government of India.

This was stated in an official press note issued here today. It said Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today inaugurated the network called “ADHAAR” at the state network management centre in the new secretariat here. With this, the citizen-friendly public services got a new meaning, said the press note.

The Chief Minister also had a videoconferencing session with the deputy commissioners of Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Ambala, Mewat, Sonepat, Panchkula, Rohtak, Panipat, Jhajjar, Kurukshetra and Sirsa districts.

Later, Hooda said by implementing this network, the way had been paved for benefits of e-governance to percolate to the masses. Also, the government departments would be able to exchange information at a much faster rate, he said. Hooda also released a logo of the National Conference on e-Governance to be hosted by Haryana on February 7 and 8 at Panchkula. Principal secretary, electronics and information technology, P.K. Chaudhery said

Haryana had already improved its national ranking in e-readiness by six positions - from 15th to 9th - in the past two years as per the e-readiness assessment report.

He said “ADHAAR” would help in speedy implementation of various e-governance projects already initiated by the state government.

Chandigarh, February 5
The newly constituted Administrative Reforms Commission under the chairmanship of Congress MLA from Palwal, Karan Singh Dalal, has started stepping on too many toes.

Though the commission is hardly three months old, it has started questioning officers of various departments about improving the government functioning, in the process causing resentment among vested interests. Now the commission has taken on the elected representatives also.

Recently, Dalal wrote to all MLAs to “ponder over what executive and legislative functions the MLAs should do but are not doing and what are those such functions which the MLAs are doing but should not do.”

In between the lines, Dalal has told his colleagues not to remain busy with recommending or opposing transfers of government employees, which in many cases has become the full-time agenda of the MLAs. Sources close to Dalal said he felt that the transfers should be left to the government and the MLAs should not waste their energies in such activities.

Similarly, they said, the chairman of the commission, which was to recommend “appropriate changes in the organisational structure and methods of operation of the government towards promoting greater efficiency, economy, transparency and responsiveness in the overall delivery of services by the government, among other things, felt that the elected representatives should not engage themselves in controversial activities like recommending cases of change of land use or grant of licences for housing schemes to the Chief Minister.

Over the years these activities have become a moneymaking industry for politicians.

Dalal has also requested his colleagues to give their suggestions to make the administration transparent and responsive. Going by the reaction of the MLAs in private, not many are likely to respond to Dalal’s letter.

Fatehabad, February 5
After several deaths of poultry in Lali village in this district during the past few days, the district authorities have constituted 23 rapid response teams to meet the possible threat of bird flu.

The authorities have, however, maintained that deaths of chicken in Lali village were due to cold conditions and not due to the dreaded disease.

According to a press note issued by deputy commissioner O.P. Sheoran, each team will comprise two veterinary surgeons, two stock assistants and three class IV employees. It said all necessary arrangements had been made to meet any challenge of bird flu.

S.K. Bagoria, deputy director, animal husbandry, said the teams had been set up as a precautionary measure though there was little chance of the spread of the disease.

Chandigarh, February 5
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has set aside a trial court’s order in a drugs case after ruling that the accused could not have been held guilty for commission of an offence as alternative charge for transporting offensive goods was not framed against them. Moreover, they were not examined on the issue during the trial.

The ruling on an appeal filed by Gurbachan Singh of Karnal and two others is significant, as the main thrust of the prosecution is, more often than not, on proving “conscious possession” of contraband in drug cases.

As such, the case falls apart if the prosecution fails to prove the same. Once charges are framed for transporting the “offensive” stuff against the accused, the chances of success improve for the prosecution.

Pronouncing the orders in an open court on the appeal against the orders of Patiala’s Additional Sessions Judge sentencing the three accused to 10 years’ imprisonment, Justice R.S. Madan of the High Court ruled: It is not disputed that no alternative charge has been framed against the accused as envisaged under Section 8 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act for transporting goods.

It is also not disputed that no question was put by the prosecution to the accused with respect of conscious possession of the contraband when they were examined under Section 313 of the CrPC that they were transporting the offensive goods in the vehicle at the relevant time. Thus, in the absence thereof, the accused cannot be held guilty of commission of any offence.

Justice Madan added: In the light of the discussions and keeping in view that facts and circumstances appearing in this case, it is held that the prosecution has miserably failed to bring home the guilt of the accused beyond any shadow of doubt.

Before parting with the judgement, Justice Madan added: In the net result, these appeals are not accepted. The order and sentence passed against the accused-appellants by Additional Sessions Judge, Patiala, is set aside. The accused are acquitted of the charges framed against them.

Earlier, a case under the provisions of the NDPS Act was registered against the accused after the police intercepted a truck they were travelling in on October 17, 1997. The prosecution had claimed that 40 bags of gram husk and 55 bags of poppy husk were found in the truck during a search.

Chandigarh, February 5
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam here today said the nigam had already allowed use of electricity during the peak load hours to the high-tension industrial consumers, who would be required to pay Rs 2 extra per unit over and above the normal tariff.

The consumption of electricity during the peak load hours would be recorded on the basic of the formula circulated by the nigam to the industries, associations and other prominent organisations, a UHBVN statement said.

Industrial consumers having electronic tri-vector meters could avail 10 per cent electricity of the sanctioned contract demand during the peak load hours at the rate of Rs 2 extra per unit.

In case, the consumption exceeded prescribed limits, the consumer would have to pay Rs 4 per unit extra on consuming electricity during the peak load period.

Continuous process industries required electricity round-the-clock to run the plant and had urged the nigam to allow consumption of electricity during the peak hours. — PTI

Gurgaon, February 5
A joint team of the Gurgaon district town planning (encroachment) office and HUDA demolished illegal structures on the MG road on Tuesday.

Deputy commissioner Rakesh Gupta said a drive to remove illegal construction had been launched from IFFCO Chowk towards Sikanderpur. The team had so far demolished all illegal construction up to 2 km from IFFCO Chowk.

He said during the drive structures at a distance of 30 m on both sides of the road were demolished. Illegal dhabas, tea stalls and other construction had also been removed. 

Faridabad, February 5
A schoolteacher was today found murdered at his residence in Mahavir Colony in Ballabgarh, near here. The victim, Ramvir Shastri, was a teacher of Sanskrit at a government school in Chandrauli village.

According to the police, the version of the wife of the victim, who is a nurse with the Municipal Corporation of Delhi, is that the room in which she and three of their children were sleeping was bolted from outside when they woke up in the morning. She rang up her brother, who is with the Haryana police. Her brother asked one of his acquaintances to visit his sister’s place to provide her help.

Family members found Ramvir Shastri lying in a pool of blood in the other room where he used to sleep alone.

It appears that the culprit(s) broke into the house late last night to murder the teacher. Nothing appears to be missing from the house.

A case has been registered. The district police chief has handed over the case to the CIA staff for investigation. The body of the victim bore several knife injuries.

Yamunanagar, February 5
Looting of two trucks here today has created panic among truck owners.

Another truck was looted on January 21 in the Gulab Nagar area here.

In both incidents today five or six persons tied up the hands and legs of the occupants and thrashed them before fleeing with the vehicles. They also took away Rs 50,000 lying in one of the trucks.

The police believes that the same persons were behind both incidents. Amrik Singh of Jammu Colony said that his two sons, who were sleeping in a truck, were beaten up by the goons. His sons, Harvinder Singh and Ranjit Singh, were later found injured.

The second incident took place near the Goel Plywood factory. In this case also the robbers tied up the occupants, who were sleeping in the truck, and threw them along railway lines. The attackers took away Rs 50,000 lying in the truck.

A senior police official did not rule out the possibility of an organised gang behind such crimes. Sources said that a stolen truck fetched up to Rs 70,000. Such vehicles found a market in Meerut and Delhi.