Rohtak, September 23
Dr Krishna Chaudhary, principal (under suspension) of MKJK Girls College run under the aegis of the Jat Education Society here, has accused society president Dharamvir Hooda of sexual harassment.

Dr Chaudhary has alleged that Hooda used to visit the girls’ hostel at odd hours and when she objected to it, she was placed under suspension.

She maintained that after her suspension, a male lecturer of All-India Jat Heroes Memorial (AIJHM) College had been arbitrarily made the principal of the girls’ college, which in itself indicated the intentions of the society president.

Similarly, C.V.S. Ahlawat, senior lecturer (also under suspension) of AIJHM College here, has also alleged that he had been illegally suspended by the society president on flimsy grounds.

Talking to The Tribune here today, Dr Chaudhary and Ahlawat asserted that their suspension was completely against the rules and norms, adding that they also perceived a threat to their lives by the society president.

They also sought a vigilance inquiry into the matter and registration of FIR against the society president.

The educationists, who have been running from pillar to post to seek justice, have already met the higher education commissioner as well as top state leadership.

“We have now written to the Haryana chief secretary, Chief Minister, National Human Rights Commission, National Commission for Women, state secretary of higher education, DGP and other authorities concerned,” they said.

Dr Chaudhary as well as Ahlawat maintained that they had been suspended on false, flimsy and unfounded charges, adding that prior to this episode, they had not been issued any explanation call or show-cause notice, neither had they faced any disciplinary proceedings during their long and impeccable teaching careers.

In the letters, they have urged the aforesaid authorities to revoke their suspension and protect their human and fundamental rights provided by country’s constitution.

The teachers have maintained that if they met with any casualty, the responsibility would lie on the society president.

Dharamvir Hooda said Dr Chaudhary and Ahlawat had been suspended following allegations of financial and other irregularities.

He said they had been found guilty in a preliminary fact-finding inquiry conducted by the general-secretary of the society.

A former Sessions Judge, Hari Ram, was now probing the matter, he added. Hooda refuted the allegations of sexual harassment.

On the other hand, Dr Chaudhary and Ahlawat asserted that they had not been asked to join any inquiry prior to their suspension, adding that entirely one-sided action had been taken against them.

They said institution of inquiry in such circumstances was unacceptable to them.

Panipat, September 23
A local court here has convicted two brothers of Namunda village of having killed a fellow villager two years ago.

The court sentenced them to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5,000 each.

The court held that Sanjay and his brother Mukesh had killed Munshi Ram of the same village in September 2006.

The police had registered a case against the two brothers and their mother Sundra after the brother of the deceased Ram Prasad accused them of attacking and killing Munshi Ram.

It was stated that the two brothers had lent Munshi Ram some money, which he could not pay back in time.

According to the police, the two brothers, along with their mother Sundra, attacked Munshi Ram with rods and sticks, injuring him seriously.

He was admitted to local Civil Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries next day.

After conducting investigations into the allegations levelled against the three by Ram Prasad, the police moved the court for the prosecution of the accused.

After listening to both the defence and the prosecution, the court pronounced a verdict against the two brothers under Section 302 of the IPC.

However, their mother Sundra was acquitted as no evidence was found against her.

Bilaspur (Panipat), September 23
People in at least 23 villages of the district, who were facing a threat of floods, heaved a sigh of relief as the waters in the Western Yamuna Canal (WYC) started receding this morning.

Officials monitoring the situation at Bilaspur, which is considered susceptible to breaches, said the situation was now completely under control as the WYC was flowing 2 ft below the danger mark of 203.83 metres.

Jatinder Dahiya, SDM, Samalkha, who was on a round-the-clock duty at the temporary camp at Bilaspur, said the worst had passed and now there were no reason to be apprehensive of any floods.

Meanwhile, the district administration continued to dump more sand bags and stones along the WYC banks to ensure that even if more water was released into the canal, it did not breach from anywhere.

Officials maintained that they had been successful in preventing floods in the district by taking due precautions.

The district had yesterday come under the threat of floods after the 4.09 cusecs of water, released from the Tajewala barrage on Saturday, had entered the 24-km stretch of the WYC in the district on Sunday.

The district administration remained on its toes with such a huge volume of water passing through the WYC, which has a history of frequent breaches.

Chandigarh/Yamunanagar, September 23
With large tracts of land in Ambala, Yamunanagar, Karnal, Panipat and Sonepat remaining submerged, the Haryana government has decided to take up the matter of construction of dams on the Yamuna river by the governments of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

Talking to The Tribune here today, irrigation minister Capt Ajay Yadav said the Yamuna Water Agreement had laid that dams should be constructed on the river to avoid flooding of villages in the state along the river.

However, there had been an inordinate delay in the construction of dams at Renuka, Kishau and Lakhwar Vyas.

“We will now take up the matter with the Government of India, as 4.09 lakh cusecs of water was released leading to flooding in large parts of Haryana and massive destruction of standing crops,” he added.

In fact, much of the damage due to the swollen Yamuna could have been avoided had the irrigation department officials of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand informed their counterparts in Haryana about the inflow of water in Yamuna reaching at Hathni Kund barrage in Yamunanagar.

Since there was no communication among the officials, the administration remained unaware about the gravity of the situation.

Officials in Yamunanagar said the inflow of water in Yamuna in the district came from the rainfall in the catchment areas in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The three rivulets - Giri, Dansna, Patti - of Himachal Pradesh converge in Yamuna at Paonta Sahib and inflow of water in Yamuna in the district also came from Koti Dam, Dal barrage and Aasan barrage in Uttarakhand.

“Though we had no communication from officials in HP and Uttarakhand, our own officials had made estimates of the water that could reach here. Had the officials of these two states informed us in time, we could have evacuated the villagers in much advance,” said SDM R.K. Singh.

He also said the Hathni Kund barrage was meant to channel the water reaching here. “We cannot store water here and we had no option but to release all water reaching here,” he added.

Yadav also blamed the Punjab government for releasing 7,000 cusecs of water in the disputed Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal.

“This led to large tracts of land getting submerged in Ambala district. On one hand, Punjab has been fighting with Haryana for not giving any water through SYL and on the other hand they just released all excess water in the canal, without giving us a hint,” he rued, saying they would now take up this matter in the Supreme Court.

Yamunanagar, September 23
Union law and justice minister H.R. Bhardwaj today categorically denied the need for special act to deal with terrorist activities in the country saying that they have Modified Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act to deal with such situations.

There was no need of act like POTA as it could be misused by persons to settle their scores. However, he said there was a need for a special investigating agency to deal with the cases of militancy.

There was an urgent need to provide special high-tech facilities and training to intelligence agencies and also to the police forces in the states to prevent such cases, he added.

He was talking to mediapersons after inaugurating the National College of Polytechnic in Jagadhari here today.

Gurgaon, September 23
A person was allegedly shot dead in a fight over gambling in Arjun Nagar here last night. The accused allegedly shot from the pistol of the deceased identified as Mahesh, alias Chhotu, a resident of the Basai road area here.

As per preliminary investigations, the incident took place around 10.30 pm when the deceased along with the accused identified as Baba, alias Montu, and five other persons were gambling in the house of Om Prakash in Arjun Nagar.

A fight broke out when others alleged that Mahesh was cheating. Mahesh took out his pistol, but Baba snatched it and allegedly fired two shots.

While one hit the wall, another hit Mahesh in his chest. He died on the spot. The neighbours, on hearing the shots, informed the police.

However, all fled the spot before the police reached there. A case was registered against the accused.

Though Baba had run away from the spot, he went to the police post in the area to narrate the incident to the police.

Sirsa, September 23
Weather permitting, cotton-producing farmers in this district are likely to reap a rich harvest of “white gold” this year.

Sirsa is the cotton bowl of Haryana with a share of almost 40 per cent of the cotton sown in the state.

This despite the fact that a large number of farmers shifted towards “muchhal” paddy this year due to attractive prices the crop fetched last year.

The deficit in the sowing of cotton has been compensated by the unexpectedly high yield of crop the farmers are getting this year.

Interestingly, the recent rain that lashed most parts of North India, causing damage to crops in many areas of Haryana, remained away from Sirsa district.

The farmers are praying that it does not rain for the next few days so that they could get returns of their investment and labour.

“The arrival of cotton has just started. But the trends indicate that the crop is going to be bumper this time,” said Gurpreet Singh Nagpal, a director of Royal Cotgin, a leading cotton ginning mill of Sirsa and secretary of the Cotton Association, Sirsa.

“Though the sowing of cotton was lesser this year in comparison to last year, the yield has been fairly good,” he added.

Last year the area under cotton in the district was 1.80 lakh hectares, but this year the area has fallen to 1.50 lakh hectares, according to Pardeep Meel, deputy director, agriculture, Sirsa.

He said almost 90 per cent of the cotton sown in the district was of Bt variety.

But against a yield of 19.8 quintals per hectare last year, the farmers were getting 25 quintals per hectare this time, Meel added.

Interestingly, when the farmers got a yield of 19.8 quintals per hectare last
year, it was a record in itself but this year that record is going to be surpassed
by a big difference.

Several reasons have contributed to record yield of cotton in this district this year.

“Weather gods have been kind to the farmers this year,” said Surinder Singh, a farmer from Vaidwala in this district.

It rained when it was needed the most by farmers and the rain gods kept away from Sirsa, when the farmers did not need it.

“When the mealy bug became a major cause of worry for farmers, it rained heavily washing away the pests with it,” said a jubilant farmer in a local cotton mill.

To cap it all, the prices of cotton crop the farmers are getting this year are also much better than those of the last year.

“We purchased cotton for Rs 3,050 a quintal on Friday, Rs 3,000 per quintal on
Saturday and even on Monday, the the rate was the same,” maintained Gurpreet
Singh Nagpal.

The price was much higher than the price of Rs 2,400 per quintal the farmers received last year, he added.

Ambala, September 23
Former state DGP M.S. Malik withdrew his anticipatory bail application today filed in the CBI court.

He had filed the anticipatory bail application in the court of Special Judge A.K. Verma last week in the GRP recruitment scam.

Malik was the DGP of Haryana during the regime of former Chief Minister Om
Prakash Chautala.

The recruitment of GRP constables was made in Ambala in 2003. Later, a candidate, Shailender Kumar, had filed a writ petition in the Punjab and Haryana High Court alleging that the recruitment was not made in a fair way. The court had handed over the investigation to the CBI.

Later, the CBI had registered a case against the then SP, Railways, and two DSPs of the Ambala GRP in this regard.

The CBI had also held the DGP responsible in the matter as he had constituted the recruitment board.

During arguments on the anticipatory bail application, the CBI counsel requested the court to cancel the bail plea of the DGP.

On the other hand, counsel for the DGP stated that his client was falsely implicated in the case. The court had reserved its order on Monday in this case.

Today, the counsel for Malik filed an application in the court in which he stated that he wanted to withdraw anticipatory bail application of Malik due to certain reasons.

Rewari, September 23
INLD supremo and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala today gave a clarion call to residents of Ahirwal to oust the Congress in the coming Lok Sabha elections, which he said, could take place even in November.

He gave the call while addressing a state-level martyrs’ memorial conference organised by the state vice-president of the party, Rao Ajit Singh, a descendant of Rao Tula Ram, a hero of 1857, to mark Haryana Heroes and Martyrs’ Day in the open ground near Rajesh Pilot Chowk here today.

Paying homage to Rao Tula Ram, Chautala announced that if the INLD was voted to power in Haryana, “Rao Tula Ram university” would be established in Rewari.

KURUKSHETRA: Deputy commissioner Pankaj Aggarwal paid tributes to the martyrs by laying a wreath on Shaheed Samarak in front of the mini-secretariat here on Haryana Heroes and Martyrs’ Day on Tuesday.

Father and mother of Shaheed Major Nitin Bali, S.S. Bali and Adarsh Bali, respectively, Parvati Devi, mother of Shaheed sepoy Sanjeev Kumar of Kaolapur village and Usha Rani, wife of Shaheed nayak Jagdish of Hawana village were honoured by the district administration.

KARNAL: Glowing tributes were paid to martyrs at a function organised to observe Shaheedi Diwas here on Tuesday.

A large number of people, including senior officers, army officers, freedom fighters and relatives of martyrs, attended the function and shared their experiences.

KAITHAL: Deputy commissioner Vikas Gupta honoured as many as 50 persons, including freedom fighters, war widows and gallantry awardees, by presenting them shawls by at a function held on the occasion of Martyrs’ Day here on Tuesday.

The awards were sponsored by the District Red Cross Society and district sports and youth departments.

Earlier, the deputy commissioner offered floral tributes to the statute of martyr Vikas Bhardwaj, BSF commandant, who laid down his life while fighting militants in Kashmir few years ago.

ADC Ramesh Verma flagged off a rally in which about 400 students of various local
schools participated.

SIRSA: Six war widows were honoured by the district administration on Tuesday on
the occasion of Martyrs’ Day. ADC Yudhvir Singh Khayalia honoured the widows of
those soldiers of the district who had laid down their lives for the country during
various wars.

FATEHABAD: Deputy commissioner J.S. Ahlawat on Tuesday said state government had taken several steps for the welfare of ex-servicemen and families of war heroes.

Bhiwani, September 23
The police today released the sketch of the suspected killer of Dr D.S. Chaudhary, who was shot dead by an assailant here yesterday.

The police also announced a prize of Rs 50,000 for giving clue of the killer. The identity of the informer will be kept secret.

Dr Chaudhary, leading heart specialist of the city, was shot dead while he was attending patients at his private hospital yesterday.

A staff boy ran after the accused to nab him, but he escaped in the street of Baba Nagar located just in front of the hospital.

Dr Chaudhary was taken to the Civil Hospital, where doctors declared him dead.

The police sounded an alert and put barricades around the city. A dog squad and fingerprint experts from Hisar and Rohtak were summoned today.

Sniffer dogs were taken to the particular street. The police recovered a red colour shirt and shorts, suspected to be a killer as per information given by eyewitnesses.

The police raided several restaurants and hospitals today, but failed to get a clue.

Expressing grief over the demise of Dr Chaudhary, the newly appointed media coordinator to the Chief Minister, Ashok Buwaniwala, appealed the people to cooperate with the police administration in solving the murder mystery.