Chandigarh, October 9
Brushing aside opposition by the Haryana unit, the BJP high command has made up its mind to contest the next Lok Sabha elections in the state in alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal of Om Prakash Chautala.

The high command’s decision was conveyed to office-bearers of the Haryana BJP at a meeting they had with party president Rajnath Singh and party general secretary in charge of the state Vijay Goel in Delhi yesterday. While the meeting with Goel was held at the party office at 11 Ashoka Road, that with Rajnath Singh was held at his residence.

Before the Haryana leaders met Rajnath Singh, Goel briefed them for about 20 minutes. He reportedly told them that the high command, too, had its ears and eyes and it had to take decisions in the overall interest of the party. Some decisions might be unpopular and bitter, but they had to be taken like a bitter medicine for the overall health of the party.

Sources say yesterday’s meetings were convened by the high command. The purpose was not to seek the views of the state leaders, whose opposition to an alliance with the INLD is no secret, but to intimate the party decision to them. There was no debate or argument after Goel had spoken to the Haryana leaders. The meeting with Rajnath Singh was a mere formality after that. A formal decision is likely to be announced by the BJP parliamentary board after its next meeting.

Though no details of the terms of the alliance with the INLD were disclosed to the Haryana leaders, it is expected that while the BJP would contest six of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state, the INLD would contest the remaining four. Thus, the INLD would concede the status of being the major partner to the BJP as far as the Lok Sabha elections are concerned. However, it is not known if the BJP would return the favour to the INLD in the assembly elections, which are due in 2010. The sources say in view of the strong opposition by its state unit, the BJP has decided to formalise its alliance with the INLD at present for the Lok Sabha elections alone. The arrangement for the assembly elections will be discussed only after the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP is likely to contest the Ambala, Karnal, Sonepat, Faridabad, Gurgaon and Rohtak Lok Sabha seats. The Kurukshetra, Bhiwani, Sirsa and Hisar seats will be left for the INLD.

The sources say for some time the BJP toyed with the idea of a “tripartite arrangement” with the INLD and the Haryana Janhit Congress of Kuldeep Bishnoi. But the formula was firmly shot down by Bishnoi, who refused to have any truck with the INLD. 

Bhiwani, October 9
The murder of Dr D.S. Chaudhary, a local heart specialist, was based on the theory of terrorising the doctor community and fixing monthly extortion from them. This was disclosed by SP Sanjay Kumar at a press conference held here today. He said the alleged killers - Anup, alias Kirori, and his accomplices - had planned to spread fear among doctors by murdering Chaudhary.

The SP said Ajit Singh of Mittathal village was under a debt of Rs 6 lakh. He arranged a meeting with Kirori and his accomplices - Anil, Rakesh and Sandeep - in Kolhapur village. All five allegedly planned to terrorise Bhiwani doctors to realise extortion from them.

Under the plan, Sandeep gave a 9 mm pistol and two cartridges to Kirori in Bahadurgarh to kill Dr Chaudhary. Sandeep, Rakesh and Ajit reached Bhiwani on September 22 where Sandeep was sent to the hospital to kill the doctor. After getting his name registered with the compounder, Sandeep entered the doctor’s room and fired two shots at him.

Kumar told that the investigating team arrested Ajit Singh from Bahadurgarh and Kirori of Baliali village from Nangloi railway station. The others involved in the murder - Anil, Rakesh and Sandeep - would be arrested soon.

Kumar further said the most wanted criminal, Kirori, was carrying a reward of Rs 20,000 on his head and several cases of loot, dacoity and murder had been registered against him at different police stations. The police had registered a criminal case against Kirori at Civil Lines police station on August 23, 2002.

In December 2002, the police had registered cases under the Arms Act against him at Buwani Khera and Tosham police stations.

According to the police, several cases had been registered against Kirori in Rohtak, Jind and Hisar. As many as 36 cases, including five of murder, had been pending against him.

The SP said the killer, Sandeep of Titoli village, wanted to take revenge of his brother’s murder from his uncle, Chaudhary.

According to Sandeep, his uncle had allegedly murdered his brother by immersing him into water. Kirori accepted his condition and promised to kill his uncle. Sandeep had shot dead Chaudhary on September 22.

Gurgaon, October 9
Traditional policing in Gurgaon is on its way out and technology will stand in for the “missing” cops. CCTVs will keep vigil at all busy intersections and carry out surveillance at all public places in Gurgaon.

While these cameras will be in place over the next three months, the police department has been holding talks with builders, MNCs and mall owners to emulate this model and install cameras on their respective premises as a security measure.

This experiment has been evolved as an alternative to deputing cops all over the city given its fast-expanding boundaries and population. Also, the number of cops available for Gurgaon is far less that the requirement in a city, which has a population of nearly 25 lakh, leaving a large number of “uncovered” pockets.

Speaking to The Tribune, commissioner of police Mohinder Lal said the cameras would be installed to cover traffic violations, carry out surveillance for any suspicious movements and help control the crime graph.

“We have got a nod and financial sanction for installing 173 cameras in the first phase. We expect the builders and others in the private sector to follow suit and install another 10,000 cameras. In four years’ time, we plan to cover every nook and corner of Gurgaon and install nearly 50,000 cameras. These will capture everybody right from the moment they cross the toll barrier for entry into Gurgaon,” he said.

While the police will lay the network for this exercise under this Rs 8.5 crore project, it will also have an access to footage of cameras installed by private parties in their complexes. Besides, a citizen-centric programme using technology being tested in-house presently will be launched in about a week’s time.

Introducing a single-window system, all kinds of queries from status of passport investigations to status of FIRs and complaints, lodging of fresh complaints or seeking help of the police will be available on dialling 100.

The police is also testing the introduction of an SMS for lodging complaints, informing of traffic bottlenecks and accidents seeking police assistance. In addition, the department is in the process of introducing a digital trunking system, which will allow monitoring of resources available. Installing the GPS system in all its vehicles for quick response will be the high point of this system which will help cops reach any place in the shortest possible time by communicating with the nearest PCR.

Yamunanagar, October 9
After malaria and dengue, now Jagadhri town is under the grip of diarrhoea, which has claimed two lives, while more than 500 cases have been reported since yesterday. The deceased have been identified as Ankit (5) and Puja (16) of Mukherjee park locality of the town.

According to sources, the unhygienic conditions prevailing in colonies and absence of clean drinking water in these areas is said to be its root cause. A large number of industrial units situated in the town also released their water in the open drain, which passes through the town, the sources added.

Residents rued that many areas of the town lack proper sewage and drainage system.

After viewing the gravity of the situation, deputy commissioner Amit Aggarwal held meeting with officials of all departments concerned to make proper arrangements to tackle the situation.

“Yesterday we gave medicines to 300 patients and 200 more patients came today, while 17 seriously ill were admitted in different hospitals,” said civil surgeon J.R Bansal, adding that the sample of water had been taken from different places.

“Most of the affected residences have hand pumps as the source of drinking water.

“We visited various areas and made proper arrangements of clean water supply and proper medical care,” said SDM R.K Singh.

Sonepat, October 9
As many as 15 confirmed and three suspected cases of dengue have been reported in the district so far. However, death has been reported in only two cases.

A number of cases were reported from villages in Yamuna belt and the health authorities have been taking extra precautionary measure, including fogging of pesticide, to check the growth of dengue larvae in these villages, including Teha, Janti, Nangal and Khurd.

Commenting on the situation, civil surgeon Dr M.S.Ahlawat said health teams along with school students visited around 2 lakh houses in urban localities and villages to check the presence of dengue larvae. He said the larvae were found in around five per cent of the inspected houses.

He claimed that despite favourable weather conditions for the breeding of larvae, there were only 15 confirmed cases this year so far against the 55 confirmed cases of dengue during the last year.

Similarly, as many as 1,023 cases of malaria have been reported from different hospitals, including private hospitals, against 1,883 cases last year, Ahlawat added.

Rohtak, October 9
Laying down of the Rs 18 crore underground power supply system is in full swing in the town. The project, which is the first-of-its-kind in the state, aims at enhancing the overall safety level, ensuring system reliability and minimising interruptions.

Giving details, a spokesperson for the Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam here today said it was planned to remove the existing overhead 33 KV and 11 KV lines, high -tension/low-tension lines, distribution transformers and poles to ensure power supply in the target areas through underground cable system under this pilot project.

The work has been completed on turnkey basis in the areas identified for the purpose, which include old bus stand to Mata Darwaja road, Ashoka turn to Jhajjar chungi, Jhajjar chungi to Jhajjar turn, Gohana stand to Ambedkar chowk, Shant Mai to Sukhpura chowk and Dayanand math to Mata Darwaja road.

These roads lead the passengers coming from Delhi, Jhajjar, Jind and Panipat to the town. The nigam has removed 3 km overhead 33 KV lines, 12 km 11 KV lines, 110 km low tension lines and feeding distribution transformers.

To give a modern look, the new power supply arrangement has been made through fully guarded 20 new package substations (PSS) set up on safer points and 1,050 feeder pillars, including streetlight pillars and 250 streetlight poles. Simultaneously, almost 95 per cent of the existing power supply system has been dismantled.

Referring to the new arrangement, the spokesperson said the PSS was a compact substation having 11 KV/bus bar with two insulator and intermediate vaccum circuit breaker with over current and earth fault protection to protect the transformer. This is a fully covered compartment having no effect of rain, spark or windstorm. The new system also minimises voltage fluctuations and helps reduce the line losses.

Consumers get electricity through ‘C’ type feeder pillars. One such pillar, on an average, supplies power to 30 consumers. Six or seven consumers are being fed from one service cable connected with the pillars. Thus, in the event of damage of service cable, the electricity supply of a small group of consumers is affected. The system also minimises complaints, pilferage of power by hooking the low-tension lines and electrical accidents.

The spokesman further said the drive had played a significant role in the beautification of the city.

Fatehabad, October 9
The city police has registered a cheating case against the chairman and the branch manager of the LIC of India and a development officer working with the conglomerate. The case has been registered on the directions of a local court.

Raj Kumar Garg, a local advocate, had alleged in his complaint filed in the court of Sub-divisional Judicial Magistrate Roopam Singh that he purchased a Market Plus policy of the LIC of India in the name of his wife Poonam Garg on November 15, 2006.

Under the terms of the policy, which was to attract one-time premium, he handed over a cheque of Rs 1 lakh to the development officer.

Garg alleged that the development officer in collusion with the then branch manager issued him 10 policies of Rs 10,000 each in his endeavour to achieve his target and show more business in the papers.

Later, he came to know that he had suffered a loss of more than Rs 20,000 by way of miscellaneous expenses charged from him due to the action of the officials.

Garg maintained that the fact that he filled and signed a single proposal form made it explicitly clear that he intended to get a single policy.

He alleged that the very charges were against the spirit of the terms and conditions mentioned on the proposal form and hence prayed to make the chairman of the company as one of the parties.

The court directed the police to register a case on the complaint of Garg. The police has registered a case against the trio under Sections 420, 467, 478, 471 and 120-B of the IPC and begun investigations.

Panipat, October 9
The Indian Federation of Trade Unions (IFTU) organised a meeting to mourn the deaths of 11 mill workers who were charred to death in a fire incident that had occurred in one of the local mills last year.

The union later submitted a memorandum to the deputy commissioner that was addressed to the Chief Minister. The memorandum sought a better deal for workers. The union stated that workers continued to work in adverse and unprotected conditions in various factories in the city. The IFTU demanded that the government should initiate appropriate measures for the welfare of the workers and should ensure that proper working conditions were provided to them so that incidents like the fire were not repeated. Besides, the union also called upon the government to ensure proper implementation of the labour laws, minimum wages, safety at work place, facilities like provident fund, eight-hour duty and weekly offs.

The union said the workers were the backbone of an industrial unit but the capitalists had never thought about their safety or welfare just to make extra profit.

P.P. Kapoor, state convener of the union, said it was high time for the government to look into the labour violations being committed by the industrialists. He said overlooking the interests of the working class could have far reaching consequences that could prove unfavourable for the overall growth of the industries in the state.

Sirsa, October 9
Standing crops spread over several acres was inundated due to a breach in the Kutiana distributary here today. According to the irrigation authorities, the breach took place due to rat holes and was increased because of the current of water.

Sources said the water channel broke at RD number 33,900 and the water entered in the agricultural fields of Lilu Ram, Dalip, Partap Singh, Mani Ram and others causing damage to the crops.

The irrigation authorities closed water supply to the channel from Nehrana and started plugging operations. A breach in the Gigorani distributary was also reported, which also caused damage to crops.

Meanwhile, the agriculture authorities are busy plugging the Sheranwali minor, which had inundated agriculture fields due to a breach yesterday.

Executive engineer V.K. Gulati said the plugging operations were on and would be completed soon. Gulati maintained that the rat holes were responsible for frequent breaches.

Chandigarh, October 9
The Haryana government yesterday transferred one IAS and four HCS officers with immediate effect. 

C.G. Rajini Kaanthan, ADC-CEO, DRDA, Panipat, has been posted as the ADC-cum-CEO, DRDA, Fatehabad, against a vacant post. Ashok Sangwan, secretary, Utkrash Society, Panchkula, and deputy secretary, secondary education department, has been posted as additional director (administration), public relations-II, against a newly created post. 

Karnal, October 9
In order to keep an eye on the nefarious activities of terrorists in the state, all security branches have been put on high alert and sleeping cells activated, said director general of police Ranjeet Singh Dalal.

Replying to a question regarding the recent terror mail threatening to strike in Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, Dalal said, “We have directed the inspector general of police (Security) to hold a meeting with mobile service providers to ensure that no fake SIM cards were issued to prevent their misuse by anti-national and anti-social elements.”

The IG (Security), Yashpal Singh, would hold a meeting with the CEOs of mobile telecom companies in this regard, he informed. He warned that the distributor of a SIM card would be solely responsible for any lapse or laxity on this account.

Referring to the problem of traffic, Dalal said drunken driving was the main cause of accidents and disclosed that 20 modern speedometers to check rash driving and alcohol analysers would be installed at numerous places to prevent untoward incidents.

Dalal, who was here on the closing ceremony of the 40th Haryana police sports and duty meet, said sports were only stress releaser that helped in motivating and inspiring individuals to work efficiently. He said the department was taking other steps to release stress among policemen and 2, 300 houses were being constructed for them.

He said the government had released an additional amount of Rs 135 crore for the purpose. 

Fatehabad, October 9
Panic gripped Bhutana town when an unclaimed bag was found here yesterday. Police teams from the district headquarters rushed to the spot to rule out the possibility of bomb.

The bag, however, turned out to be of a labourer, who had accidentally dropped it from his motorcycle, while going for work.

According to sources, residents found the bag lying in the middle of the road and got panicky due to the recent incidents of bomb blasts in various parts of the country.

The police closed the road and called a police party from Fatehabad, which found that it was nothing but the bag containing clothes.

Later, its owner reached and claimed it from the police. 

Kurukshetra, October 9
Up in the arms against the entry of anti-social elements in politics, former director-general of police K.P.S. Gill launched “Tehreek-e-Watan Parastan-e-Hind” - a movement of Indian nationalists - at a press conference held at the Gymkhana Club here today.

Dharambir Singh Dagar of Kurukshetra and Kanwal Kishore of Khizrabad in Punjab were appointed as the presidents of the Haryana and Punjab wings of the movement, respectively, while rest of the office-bearers will be appointed shortly.

Addressing the press conference, Gill said the organisation would struggle against the participation of criminal and anti-national elements in democratic institutions, elections and also in government by exposing the antecedents of such elements by mobilising public support against them in the country.

He said the movement would provide a wide opportunity to the masses of the nation who see no viable political alternatives to the venal and visionless leaders forced on them by cynical political parties in the parliamentary and Assembly polls.

We would ask the common masses to extend support to the movement of Indian nationalists, he added.

He said the movement was a non-denominational movement that rejects communal, caste, regional and divisive political mobilisation.

“We will take all other existing organisations, which are already working against such evils single-handedly in the country to support this cause and we are in touch with them, Gill said.

Hisar, October 9
Haryana Agricultural University has developed three new varieties of onion and marigold. The State Seed Sub-Committee for Horticultural Crops has given its approval for the release of these varieties for cultivation in the state.

Director of research B.S. Chhillar said here yesterday that the onion variety, Hisar Onion 3, was a high yielding variety with long shelf life. Among marigold varieties, he said Hisar Jafri-1 (Hisar beauty) was a dwarf variety suitable for exhibition, bedding and potting. Its flowers were dark red with yellow petals on the margins. It was suitable for landscaping also. Likewise, Hisar Jafri-2 was suitable for flower production and landscaping. Chhillar said these varieties were expected to boost earnings of farmers.

Jind, October 9
A large number of commuters travelling by 2JPR, a passenger train between Jind and Panipat, had a tough time when some anti-social elements forcibly halted the train by pulling the chain on the Jind-Safidon route here today. The train got late by at least an hour.

Though the police was able to restore the train movement, the accused have not been booked yet. It was the second time in the past 15 days that a train had been stopped in such a manner in the district.

According to railway police sources, the train, which leaves Jind at 10 am daily, was first stopped near Buddhakhera village when a person reportedly pulled the chain. The train started again after about 15 minutes when nothing unusual was found. However, the driver had to apply the brakes again after a distance of about 10 km near Sheelakhera village. While the driver and the guard asked the passengers to cooperate, the train was again made to halt a few km away from the Safidon railway station.

This development, which left the passengers and the driver irritated and harassed, was informed to the police authorities in Safidon. The train resumed its journey again after the police intervened and tried to nab the group of youths, who however managed to escape.

Sources said the youths were pulling the chain just for fun and ignored the requests of fellow passengers. The police was yet to register a case and arrest the accused, claimed police sources.

Earlier, the railway track was blocked about two weeks back when residents of two villages had squatted on the track.

Sirsa, October 9
Strike by the owners of chemist shops in the district entered fourth day today, causing a lot of inconvenience to people. The association of the drug dealers has yet not clarified when and how it plans to end their strike.

Sources in the association said at a state-level meeting held in Rohtak yesterday, it was decided to meet the health minister, the health secretary and the state drug controller in connection with the demands.

Representatives of the chemist association have planned to meet these authorities in Chandigarh tomorrow.

Chemists have been demanding withdrawal of the criminal cases registered against their members as well as opening of shops that sealed by the drug control authorities.

On Monday seven shops and two godowns had been sealed and criminal cases registered against a number of chemists after they allegedly attacked on a raiding party of the drugs control department.