Ambala, April 11
Thousands of passengers were inconvenienced and rail traffic disrupted to the region ahead of Ambala after a goods train carrying high-speed diesel (HSD) derailed here early this morning.

A major tragedy was averted as the highly inflammable diesel, which had spilled on to the tracks, did not catch fire. The incident occurred at about 4.10 am when three wagons of the goods train carrying the HSD derailed near the crossing No. 103 of the Ambala Cantt railway station.

Electricity supply to the rail route had to be stopped due to the highly inflammable material on the track.

While one of the wagons was empty, two wagons contained the HSD used by the railways to run its engines.

The train, comprising 58 wagons, was carrying the HSD from New Delhi to Bathinda for the railways.

Though Ambala Division is equipped with a special crane to lift wagons in case of such accidents, a delay occurred in clearing the tracks as the crane had been sent to New Delhi and another crane from Ludhiana had to be called in.

Talking to TNS, driver Jaspal said he did not know how the derailment took place. “I stopped immediately and raised the alarm about the derailment.”

Wagons, which were behind those which derailed have been shifted to the Mohri railway station, while those ahead were moved to the yard in the Ambala Cantt railway station.

Rail traffic on the route ahead of Ambala was opened only after 1 pm.

Senior officials of the railways, including additional divisional railway manager R.K. Saxena, senior DSO Karan Singh, RPF commandant S.Z. Khan, DSO Nar Singh, inspector Darshan Kumar Sharma and DSP, Ambala Cantt, Rajesh Kumar, besides the GRPF and the RPF, rushed to the spot and supervised work. The police and fire engines were also called in.

More than a dozen trains were delayed by more than five hours. Trains had to be re-routed through Ludhiana and Saharanpur, many trains were also cancelled, inconveniencing passengers.

A committee has been constituted by the railways to hold an inquiry into the incident. The exact cause of the incident could not be ascertained.

According to an official statement, many long distance and local trains were affected by the early morning accident, thus resulting in cancellation, short termination and diversion of a large number of trains bound to various destinations, including New Delhi, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Jammu, Pune, Nanded, Mumbai and Katihar.

Four trains - the Bathinda-New Delhi Inter-City Express, the Mumbai-Jammu Tawi Sarvodhya Express, the Dadar-Amritsar Express and the Indore-Jammu Tawi Malwa Express - were diverted through the Rohtak-Jakhal-Ludhiana rail route.

Seven trains - the Jammu-Pune Jhelum Express, the Jammu Tawi-New Delhi Summer Special, the Kalka-New Delhi Shatabdi, the Amritsar-New Delhi Shatabdi, the New Delhi-Amritsar Shatabdi, the Allahabad-Chandigarh Unchahar Express and the New Delhi-Kalka Shatabdi Express - were diverted via Saharanpur delaying them over five hours each.

Five trains - the Nizammudin-Amritsar Express, the Amritsar-Nizammudin Express, the Delhi- Ambala passenger train, the Ambala-Kurukshetra passenger train and the Himalayan Queen from Nizammudin to Kalka - were cancelled.

A few trains, including the Jaipur-Chandigarh Express, were terminated at Kurukshetra, while the Panipat-Ambala passenger train terminated at Kurukshetra.

Several other trains, including the Amritsar-Katihar Express, the Amritsar-New Delhi Express, the Chandigarh-New Delhi Jan Shatabdi, the Kalka-Bandra-Mumbai Paschim Express, the Amritsar-Nanded Sachkhand Express and the Amritsar-Mumbai Paschim Express, were running behind schedule. 

Faridabad, April 11
Residents of Sector 55 here and those residing in nearby villages today staged a demonstration outside the Sector 55 police station in protest against the registration of a case against those agitating against an alleged flesh trade racket being run from a house.

The police registered a case against at least six residents of Sector 55 when they went to a house in protest against the running of a flesh trade by a woman inmate.

The police registered the case against the protesters on charges of creating violence and misbehaving with the woman inmate.

The residents had reportedly complained to the police a couple of months ago regarding the alleged flesh trade being run from a house in Sector 55. The police had then raided the premises. The woman inmate then left the house. However, it is now learnt that the house is being illegally occupied by her.

She returned to the house a few days ago following which the residents alleged that flesh trade had restarted.

The residents allege that the police has implicated them in a false case. They also allege that a couple of months ago when the police had raided the premises, some women and men were nabbed but let off while some innocent men were arrested. 

Yamunanagar, April 11
Muslim leaders and opinion leaders in the community have agreed to allow the youth of other religions belonging to BPL families to learn vocational skills in madrasas of the district.

Several madrasas of the district have better infrastructure to impart vocational training in wood, electricity and plumber trade.

Chairman of the district Sarv Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) and additional deputy commissioner Narinder Singh, while talking to The Tribune, said the administration had also planned to start alternate innovative education centres (AIECs) for the benefit of school dropout children of the community.

Volunteers would teach the children and would be paid Rs 2,500 as honorarium per month. Besides, the education department would provide Urdu teachers in government schools.

Farmana (Rohtak), April 11
In a significant archaeological development, excavators working on a site in Farmana village of the district have unearthed a cemetery supposedly belonging to the Harappan era.

This discovery is in addition to a full-fledged urban settlement complex of the mature Harappan era unearthed during the excavation.

“The most important aspect that has been uncovered during the exercise is the definite links between the pre-Harappan, early Harappan and mature Harappan cultures found by us,” observed Prof Vasant Shinde from the department of archaeology at Deccan College (deemed university), Pune, who is the director of excavation here.

The excavation is being carried out jointly by the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan; Deccan College, Pune; and Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU), Rohtak. The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has sponsored the excavation exercise.

Shinde disclosed that the skeletal samples from the cemetery would be sent for DNA analysis, adding that dating of the samples would also be carried out to ascertain the period to which these belonged.

He further stated that from the way the Harappans buried their dead, it seemed that they believed in life after death. “This is indicated by the fact that several vessels and dishes (supposedly containing food material and water) had been placed along with the dead. Moreover, the dead had been laid to rest with ornaments on their bodies,” Shinde pointed out.

Prof Shinde and Prof Manmohan Kumar from the department of history at MDU asserted that a systematic and well-defined urban settlement pattern of the mature Harappan era being unearthed at the site was for the first time in Haryana.

“It is an important finding as so far, only small town settlements have been unearthed so far,” said the experts. The findings assume significance in view of the fact that clear-cut regional variations have also been indicated from the settlement pattern as well as the artifacts found from this site of the Ghaggar basin.

Akinori Uesugi, research fellow from the Research Institute for Humanity and Nature, Kyoto, Japan, said a proper rectangular pattern had been found in the mature Harappan urban settlement at the site.

Archaeology experts, students and research scholars from different parts of the country have visited the excavation site during the exercise.

Gurgaon, April 11
The state government today removed the president of the municipal committee, Sohna, for misusing his official powers.

On the recommendation of urban local bodies minister, Haryana, A.C. Chaudhary, the principal secretary of the department, P.K. Gupta, ordered the removal of Gurdev Singh from the post of the president as well as membership of the municipal committee under Sections 22 and 14 of the Haryana Municipal Act, 1973.

He was given a show-cause notice, but he had refuted the charges in his reply. The order also recommended action against other municipal councillors involved in the case.

The dismissed MC chief was found guilty of passing the TP scheme without inspecting the site. He also overlooked the fact regarding the ownership of the land belonging to the municipal committee, Sohna.

Under him, MC secretary Rajbir Singh Tewatia was reinstated despite ongoing inquiry against him. An FIR was registered against Gurdev Singh in 2006 at Sohna police station. His anticipatory bail application was rejected by Sanjeev Kumar, Vacation Judge, Gurgaon.

Jind, April 11
A woman was arrested today in connection with the murder of her husband in Budhakhera village in the district about 10 days ago.

The victim, a photographer, was found dead in his house with his head chopped off. The wife’s alleged illicit relations are stated to be the cause of the murder.

The arrested woman is reported to have confessed to her involvement in the murder.

The accused, Sushma, was married to Bhoop Singh (28) about a couple of years ago. According to police sources, the woman is reported to have developed illicit relations with Mahender Singh, a cousin of Bhoop Singh. This affair resulted in the hatching of a conspiracy against Bhoop Singh who was found dead in his house on March 31.

His wife Sushma lodged a complaint of murder with the police. She claimed that three persons had come with her husband in the night and stayed with him, while she had to stay at a relative’s house due to shortage of accommodation. Her statements, however, made the police suspicious.

The police recovered the body of Mahender Singh, who had committed suicide by hanging himself two days ago. He had left a suicide note stating that he was upset after the woman told him on the phone recently that she had apprised her parents about the murder.

The police arrested the accused this morning.

Chandigarh, April 11
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today ordered the maintenance of status quo on construction work over recently allotted industrial plots at Bhiwani.

A Division Bench of Chief Justice Vijender Jain and Justice Jaswant Singh after hearing arguments on an application by Bhiwani residents Surinder Kumar Sharma and another issued the directions. They had contended that the allotees had expedited the process of carrying out construction on the plots.

In an attempt to substantiate their contentions, the applicants had annexed photographs. They added the respondents included influential persons. They could argue huge investments have already been made by way of construction. The matter will now come up for further hearing on July 8.