Karnal, June 27
Rohtak IGP V. Kamaraja today dismissed the Nissing SHO, Jai Singh, who had allegedly raped a married woman at his official residence yesterday, from his services with immediate effect. He was arrested yesterday.

It is learnt that the DGP had announced his dismissal earlier in the day but the IGP had denied any such move at the press conference held in the afternoon in Karnal.

The police also decided to conduct a DNA test on Jai Singh to match it with the semen samples. He was produced before the Illaqa Magistrate, who sent him to a 14-day judicial remand.

Earlier in the day, various Left organisations and the HJC (BL) had demanded that the accused cop should be dismissed.

Addressing a press conference, Kamaraja said even as the medical report had confirmed the incident, there was a need to match the semen samples. He said the police needed to double-check the evidence before initiating any legal and departmental action against the accused.

He said blood samples of the accused had been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Madhuban, and work on the DNA profiling would commence from Monday.

The IGP rubbished the reports that the complainant and her husband were under house arrest by the Karnal police. The police clarified that no co-accused was named by the complainant.

The couple was granted a police security on court orders, but was later withdrawn on the woman’s insistence.

The victim had married a man from another caste and faced stiff opposition from their families. The couple used to visit the Nissing police station regularly to meet the girl’s parents for security reasons.

Rohtak, June 27
The administrative authorities of Maharshi Dayanand University (MDU) here seem to have landed in a controversy over a recent decision to suspend deputy registrar and former controller of examinations Sukhbir Singh.

The official, who had been suspended on charge of willful absence from duty, today attended his office and submitted his joining report at the registrar’s office. However, a piquant situation arose when Sukhbir Singh - who denied having any intimation regarding the action against him - was told that he had been suspended.

Sukhbir Singh maintained that he had duly sent a leave application to the registrar’s office regarding the period for which he had been treated “absent” from duty. He even produced a copy of the application bearing the diary number and signatures of the receiving official.

On this, neither the registrar nor any of his office staffers could give any satisfactory reply. The registrar, Dr S.P. Vats, could not be contacted for his version despite repeated attempts.

Sukhbir Singh refused to comment on the entire episode. He merely maintained that he had got interim bail from the Punjab and Haryana High Court in the vigilance case registered against him regarding the MD/MS entrance row.

“I have apprised the Vigilance Bureau’s investigating officer of the situation and offered full cooperation in the inquiry,” he asserted.

Regarding the issue of his suspension, Sukhbir Singh stated that he had produced the relevant details and documents with the MDU authorities concerned.

However, university sources observed that by suspending a senior official on unfounded charge, the MDU authorities had put themselves in deep trouble.

According to insiders, damage-control measures were being planned by the key functionaries of the MDU regarding the matter.

Hisar, June 27
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) has offered out-of-court settlement of all legal cases pending in courts, district consumer disputes redressal fora, state commissions and arbitration tribunals as on August 31 last year.

Cases in which penalty had been levied by the DHBVN would be settled out of court under this scheme; however, the scheme would not be available in cases relating to the theft of electricity. The out-of-court settlement scheme will remain in force till July 31 next.

A spokesperson for the nigam said here recently that for settling a case out of court, the consumer or litigant would have to pay 50 per cent of the disputed amount initially assessed along with simple interest of 15 per cent per annum on this amount.

The scheme would also be applicable in cases where the dispute is on account of the applicability of the multiplying factor wherein the amount calculated as per the multiplying factor would be charged along with simple interest of 15 per cent instead of surcharge. In cases where unauthorised load detected results in a change of the category from low tension to high tension industrial, LT surcharge at the prescribed rate of 25 per cent of sale of power (SoP) would be payable in addition to the amount charged for out-of-court settlement.

Where the court cases had arisen on account of surcharge levied and principal amount had already been paid, the matter would be settled under the scheme by levying simple interest of 15 per cent per annum from the date of charging the amount till the date of payment of the principal amount.

The scheme would also be applicable to the cases where the amount had been charged on average consumption of electricity basis on payment of 50 per cent amount along with simple interest of 15 per cent per annum on the unpaid balance amount of the reduced amount, he added.

The nigam had authorised its subdivisional officers to settle the cases. They would personally contact those consumers whose disputed amount was less than Rs 1 lakh and instructions had been given to executive engineers to contact those consumers personally whose disputed amount was more than that.

Chandigarh, June 27
Loans of farmers in the state will be either completely waived off or reduced to the extent of Rs 2108.46 crore under the farm loan waiver scheme announced by the union government in its budget this year.

According to official sources, banks in the state would waive off loan of over 6.64 lakh farmers. These farmers would now be again eligible for taking loans from the banks.

Haryana’s share of Rs 2108.46 crore out of the national waiver amount of Rs 71,600 crore will account for almost 3 per cent of the national waiver. It would be considerably higher from the neighbouring Punjab’s share of 1 per cent.

Small and marginal farmers, whose entire loan would be waived off, number about 3.82 lakh. The total amount of their waived loan would be over Rs 1436 crore, while that of the “other farmers”, numbering over 2.82 lakh, would be about Rs 672 crore.

The Haryana Cooperative Apex Bank would waive off the highest amount of loan. It would waive off Rs 1,113.32 crore of over 4.24 lakh farmers. Commercial banks, which include 25 nationalised and 10 public sector banks, would write off Rs 558.52 crore of over 1.35 lakh farmers.

The sources say the regional rural banks would give a relief of Rs 137.44 crore to 22,228 farmers.

The Haryana State Cooperative Agriculture Rural Development Bank (HSCARD) will give advantage of Rs 299.19 to 82,727 farmers.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda says any eligible farmer who finds his or her name missing from the list compiled by the banks must apply at their nearest branch.

He says the waiver of debt is a vote of thanks and gratitude to our farmers from an indebted nation and more so to the farmers of Haryana who continue to contribute record volumes to the nation’s foodstock.

Bhiwani, June 27
A panchayat held at the local Durga temple in Kamla Nagar here today gave an ultimatum of two days to the administration to arrest the killers of the local chairman of the municipal council, Nand Lal Chawla.

The panchayat was presided over by a former minister, Ram Bhajan Agarwal.

The speakers deplored that the police department had failed to find any clue in the Chawla murder case during the past five days of the incident.

They threatened to stage a statewide demonstration if no concrete results came by Monday.

The panchayat also decided to keep boxes at each chowk in the city in which common men would be invited to submit their reactions.

The deputy commissioner, who also attended the panchayat, assured them that he was now satisfied with the police investigation as the case was being investigated from every angle. He said special police parties had been constituted to solve the murder mystery.

Following the DC’s assurance, the panchayat gave two days’ time to the administration.

People from Hisar, Mahendergarh, Sonepat, Panipat, Gohana and other parts of the state attended the panchayat.

Later, they took out a silent procession from Kamla Nagar through main markets of the town in protest against the murder.

Sirsa, June 27
Sikh activists today claimed that the police named a deceased in the FIR, which had been registered against Sikh protesters for blocking railway traffic on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said the anomaly was identified few hours after the registration of the case and the name of the deceased was immediately dropped from the FIR.

The name of Jasbir Singh, son of Baljit Singh, a resident of Rameana village in Bathinda district of Punjab, figured in serial number 6 of the FIR.

However, Jasbir had succumbed to his injuries at a Bathinda hospital on March 18. Earlier, he had sustained serious injuries in an accident at a railway crossing in Kalawali Mandi, following which he was rushed to a hospital.

Other five persons named in the FIR were Rajpal Singh, Satpal Singh, residents of Jiwan Singhwala village in Bathinda district, Baljit Singh, granthi of a gurdwara at Dadu village here, Randhir Singh of Gurdaspur and Gurwinder Singh of Bathinda.

Activists of various Sikh organisations demanding arrest of Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh had blocked the railway line for nearly six hours at the local railway station on June 25.

Baljit Singh, who was also named in the FIR, said the grave error occurred despite the fact that an ASI rank official of the Government Railway Police had visited the Bathinda hospital where Jasbir had been admitted.

He alleged that following a deliberate plan dictated by the Congress run government of Haryana, only religious leaders and sewadars (assistants) were booked while prominent leaders like Balwant Singh Nandgarh, jathedar, Damdama Sahib, were overlooked.

He said it was done to divide the community and added that they were undeterred and would continue their peaceful agitation till the dera chief was arrested.

He even doubted the credibility of the peace committee.

Fatehabad, June 27
Sikh organisations have said that they would not allow Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh to travel with a convoy of vehicles while going to Ambala to appear in the special CBI court. They have also announced that they would not allow the Dera chief to address a congregation at Ambala after his court appearance.

This was decided at a meeting of the Sikh organisations, which was held today at the old Gurudwara at Ratia in this district. Joginder Singh Ahrewan, state president of the Shiromani Akali Dal, presided over the meeting.

The Sikhs appealed to the state government to ensure that no other vehicle accompanied the vehicle of the Dera chief when he goes to Ambala to appear in the CBI courts in connection with the cases of rape and murder registered against him.

They warned that in case the state government did not pay heed to their appeal they would stop vehicles accompanying him. The Sikhs have also warned against allowing the Dera chief to address his followers in Ambala.

Chandigarh, June 27
The Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, an insurance scheme for providing health care facilities to below poverty line families, will be implemented through ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company in Haryana.

Stating this here today, Haryana labour and employment minister A.C. Choudhary said an agreement for this had been signed with the company.

He said the scheme aimed at providing financial assistance for meeting expenses of hospitalisation and surgical procedures of beneficiary members up to Rs 30,000 per family (consisting of five members) per year.

The ESI wing of the labour department had been made nodal agency for the scheme.

Jind, June 27
A group of armed miscreants struck at a petrol station on the Hansi road here today and decamped with Rs 18,000 and three mobile phones .

The miscreants, who came in a Tata Sumo, were armed with revolvers and some crude weapons. They made petrol station employees captive before breaking open the lock and took away the cash kept in a safe of an almirah.

According to the complaint, the accused came at the station at about 2.30 am and held two salesmen of the petrol station captive on gunpoint. It is claimed that they asked them to handover the cash kept in the office and threatened to eliminate them if they did not oblige. The accused broke open the safe of the steel almirah and managed to grab Rs 16,000.

While the miscreants were busy in their act, an owner of a dhaba located on other side of the road came at the petrol station. But he was also overpowered and was pushed along the two salesmen inside a room there. They also snatched about Rs 2,000 from and three mobile phones from the there victims before escaping.

Kurukshetra, June 27
Girls outshine boys in the BA-III examinations of Kurukshetra University held in April, the results of which were declared here today.

All first eleven positions in the merit list released by the university were captured by girls.

Stating this here today, examination controller, KU, Dr Hukam Singh said Shilpi Gupta of University College, Kurukshetra, topped the examination by securing 1,008 out of 1,200 marks while Manpreet Kaur of KVADAV College for Women, Karnal, secured second position by getting 1,006 marks and Imran Sachdeva of Manohar Memorial College, Fatehabad, was declared third. She got 1,004 marks.

Panipat, June 27
Reluctance on the part of qualified doctors to take up government jobs in the district seems to have crippled health services here. As of today there are only three specialist doctors working in the general hospital against a total of 12 sanctioned posts.

There is a population of around 10 lakh in the district. The situation is no better in primary health centres and other state-run health centres. According to sources, well-paid jobs in the private sector have been keeping qualified doctors away from government jobs.

In order to tide over the crisis, the state government had recently approved a plan to appoint qualified doctors on a contract basis. The government had proposed to give a consolidated amount of Rs 25,000 a month to these doctors. However, even this failed to lure the doctors.

Locals maintain that private hospitals that had mushroomed in the city were paying more than what the government was offering. Private hospitals pay around Rs 50,000 a month to a doctor. Some even offer more.

District health department sources said the senior officials of the department had been making an all-out efforts to recruit doctors, but not many had applied for the job here. Ever since it was decided to appoint doctors on contract, only one doctor applied for the post, who was immediately recruited by the department, the sources said.

Mohinder Kumar, commissioner, Ambala division, who also holds the additional charge of deputy commissioner, said the department was ready to hire doctors, but none was coming up to take up the jobs. Meanwhile, the funds sanctioned by the government for appointing doctors on contract are lying almost unused with the district administration.

Kurukshetra, June 27
The District Karamchari Cell (DKC) of the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) at its monthly meeting here today expressed its anguish over the deteriorating law and order situation in the state. The meeting was held under the chairmanship of INLD state president and former Haryana minister Ashok Arora on the premises of the Punjabi Dharamshala.

Arora said the present government was not caring for the farmers who were supplied insufficient power at a time when they were badly in need of it to run their tubewells for irrigating the paddy fields.

Arora criticised the central government for importing poor quality wheat at exorbitant price, which was unfit for the human consumption and many state governments have even refused to take the delivery of said wheat. 

Rewari, June 27
Power minister Randeep Singh Surjewala along with local bodies minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav inaugurated the 1st Rao Abhey Singh Memorial Twenty20 Cricket Championship at Rao Tula Ram Stadium here today.

Eight teams from Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi are participating in the three-day tournament which is being organised by Chiranjeev Rao, son of Capt Ajay Singh Yadav and grandson of late Rao Abhey Singh. The first match of the tournament was played between Rajasthan Colts and Rewari Rainbow.

While addressing the gathering, Surjewala said Rao Abhey Singh, the first Congress legislator of the Ahirwal region elected from Rewari constituency to the Punjab Assembly in 1952, was a dedicated politician, who assiduously worked to bring about a radical transformation in the region from 1952 to 1972.

Surjewala also announced a cash incentive of Rs 5,000 each for the participating teams.