Chandigarh, January 9
The Haryana government has prohibited the strike by officers of public sector oil companies in Haryana for six months under the Haryana Essential Services Maintenance Act, 1974.

Stating this here today, Chief Secretary Dharam Vir said the decision was taken because it was felt that any strike in the public sector oil companies would adversely affect the functioning of essential services necessary for residents of the state.

Meanwhile, the Haryana BSNL Sanchar Nigam Executives Association supported the stir of oil sector officers. In a statement issued here today, the association said the hard work done by the second pay commission for the public sector undertakings had been nullified by the bureaucracy, denying justice to the staff of the public sector undertakings.

YAMUNANAGAR: Residents of the district on Friday suffered a lot of inconvenience as most petrol stations went dry here. Of the 66 petrol stations in the district, only 15 were reportedly open and witnessed long queues of vehicles.

REWARI: The supply situation at most petrol stations in the district worsened on Friday.

Pappu Yadav, district president of the Haryana Petroleum Dealers’ Association, said while nearly 50 of the 70 petrol stations in the district had gone dry, the remaining 20, mostly in rural areas, were functioning with a paltry stock of petrol and diesel.

SONEPAT: State president of the BJP Atam Prakash Manchanda on Friday said officers of oil companies had submitted their plea for better pay scales and allowances to the government before the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission, but the government “ignored” it and the officers were forced to go on strike.

There was no supply of fuel at 69 petrol stations, including 49 of the IOC and 15 of Bharat Petroleum, in the district, he said, quoting District Food and Supply Controller KS Dahiya. “Fuel was available only on 19 petrol stations run by Hindustan Petroleum in the district on Friday,” he added.

BHIWANI: The strike being observed by officers of the oil companies has worsened the situation in the district. Most petrol stations have run dry and owners of two-wheelers could be seen dragging their vehicles for want of petrol. At a few petrol stations, however, diesel and petrol were sold, but in small quantities.

GURGAON: Deputy Commissioner Deepti Umashankar has ordered rationing of petrol and diesel in the district so that all residents get a reasonable quantity of petroleum products to meet their requirements.

The Deputy Commissioner has fixed the one-time filling limit for each type of vehicle and directed the petrol station owners to give petrol and diesel to ambulances and fire brigades on a priority basis so that essential services are maintained.

She has asked both SDMs to enforce these orders in their respective areas. As per the orders, a bus or truck can take up to 50 litres, car or jeep up to 20 litres, three-wheelers 10 liters and two-wheelers 5 litres at a time.These directions will remain applicable in Gurgaon district till the crisis is over.

SIRSA: Petrol and diesel remained scarce commodities on Friday as a majority of petrol stations went dry.

A heavy rush of vehicles, mostly two-wheelers, and of people wanting to store petrol in jars, was witnessed at a few stations that had stocks of oil.

Fatehabad, January 9
The claims of the Health Department in Haryana regarding providing free and better medical facilities to its people are tall claims if the version of Mandeep Kaur Gill, vice-chairperson of the Fatehabad Zila Parishad is to be believed.

Mandeep, who delivered a baby on December 15, alleged at a meeting of the zila parishad yesterday in the presence of Additional Deputy Commissioner CG Rajnikanthan and many other senior officers of the district that she was dissuaded from getting her delivery performed at a government hospital by none other than the then Civil Surgeon, Dr JK Bishnoi.

Dr Bishnoi, who retired from government service on December 31, said Mandeep had misinterpreted his conversation and he did not mean undermining the government healthcare services.

Mandeep alleged that when she felt labour pains on December 15, she called Dr Bishnoi on his telephone at about 10.20 in the night and requested him to make arrangements for her delivery.

However, the Civil Surgeon allegedly told her that no doctor would be available in the hospital in the odd hours and she better visit some private nursing home for her delivery.

The doctor allegedly told her that the facilities in the local general hospital were not up to the mark and it would be better if she went to some private nursing home.

She was later shifted to a private hospital in the town, where she delivered a baby girl.

She said she had also reported the matter to Deputy Commissioner JS Ahlawat and the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana.

A furore was witnessed at the meeting of the zila parishad after the allegations of the vice-chairperson and members demanded action against the erring doctors.

The Deputy Civil Surgeon, Dr DK Dadhitch, who was present at the meeting, informed the members that the Civil Surgeon had since retired from government service and also apologised for the lapse on behalf of the Health Department.

Dr Dadhitch confirmed that he had received a complaint of Mandeep, which had come to his office from the Deputy Commissioner’s office.

“We will send the complaint to the Director-General of Health Services, Haryana, for necessary action, if any,” he added.

Dr Bishnoi, however, maintained that he had been misunderstood by Gill.

“Over 80 per cent of the delivery cases these days were institutional deliveries and being conducted in government hospitals,” he claimed.

Alawalpur, January 9
A blame game has started between villagers and the Haryana police regarding the controversial Alawalpur raid in which a team of 200-odd policemen, led by CIA Inspector Sunil Kadiyan, had allegedly attacked villagers on Wednesday, claiming that it was search for a truck (HR-38-4798) which was allegedly stolen by a local villager. However, the documents of the truck were handed over by the owner of truck and it turned out be his property.

Villagers alleged that the police “unnecessarily” wanted to take the possession of the truck, which was opposed by them. As a result, a scuffle took place between the police and villagers follwing which a 200-strong police team arrived and allegedly attacked the villagers “mercilessly”.

A team of The Tribune visited the village today and found that goods in two houses, the owners of which had no connection with the truck owners, were badly damaged. One of the occupants of the house had purchased the items for the marriage of his daughter and now they are in a state of shock as the items have been destroyed by the action of the Haryana police.

The rooftop and walls had blood stains, which spoke of their own. One of the victims, Samiri (70), whose leg was allegedly broken by the police, said she was sitting at home when the police came and started hitting them without assigning any reason. She said no male member was present at home when the incident happened.

Mariam, a pregnant woman, said she was dragged by the policemen and they broke her hand. She said since then her bleeding had not stopped and she feared that she might have to abort her child. A midwife in her village has asked her to visit to some specialist. Her three-year-old daughter Memona also became a victim as she suffered serious head injuries.

Interestingly, no women police constables were present in the team. Villagers alleged that policemen flung some children from the first floor to the ground floor.

The incident has led to a feeling of shock and hatred against the police among people of Mewat and Gurgaon.

The police is reportedly changing its version. Initially it said it was searching for a stolen truck and later it said it was searching for an interstate gang, which used to rob owners of trucks in Madhya Pradesh and sell their parts here.

Among those injured in Alwalpur, 25 with serious injuries were admitted to the Civil Hospital. Seven persons were arrested by the police.

The police had also kept two boys in custody for two days. The boys were released today after their kin went to the police station.

The boys, Wasim (9) and Saddam (8), told The Tribune that they were taken away by the police on Wednesday and were not given anything to eat. They were also beaten up, they alleged.

They had injury marks on their faces and bodies.

Mohammad Talha, advocate from Nuh, said he was sitting in his office with two other advocates when he received a phone call regarding the incident. They went to the hospital where medical examination of police personnel was going on, but no one was attending to the injured villagers.

KK Rao, SP, Mewat, said, “Two persons of the seven whom we have arrested have a criminal background. As many as 19 cases have been registered against them. Villagers threw stones at policemen, some of whom are admitted to hospital and still recovering. Their medical examination has been done.”

He said they were rewarding the injured policemen with Rs 5,000.

Nuh, January 9
A panchayat was organised at Yasin Meo Degree College here today to chalk out the future couse of action against alleged police atrocities on residents.

A 200-member police team had entered Alwalpur village and allegedly beaten up several people, including women and children, on Wednesday. The panchayat also condemned the Gurgaon Jama Masjid incident in which a police team had entered a mosque and had allegedly beaten up people.

The panchayat unanimously decided that a demonstration would be organised against the police atrocities by all communities of Mewat and Gurgaon at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. A meeting would again be held on Sunday to plan the demonstration. The action of the police was criticised by the panchayat.

Chaudhary Zakir Hussain, a former MLA and BSP candidate for the Gurgaon Lok Sabha seat,

told The Tribune that he had spoken to the SP, Gurgaon, who said that the Haryana police would reward the police team by giving cash incentives. The announcement of the rewards had sent shock waves among the people of Mewat, he said.

Nilokheri (Karnal), January 9
A two-day national seminar on “Democratic decentralisation and good governance” organised by the Haryana Institute of Rural development (HIRD) concluded here today.

The participatory role of women and the Dalits and problems created by inadequate financial powers and over bureaucratisation of panchayati raj institutions (PRIs) were discussed at the seminar. As many as 70 scholars from universities and research institutes participated in it.

In his concluding remarks, director of the HIRD Suraj Singh said the seminar was aimed at finding out conceptual and operational dimensions of democratic decentralisation and good governance. He urged experts to suggest strategies for strengthening the PRIs and empowering the Dalits and women.

He said the aim of the seminar was to identify the areas to be addressed for achieving the objective of good governance at grass-roots level, genuine democratic decentralisation and sustainable growth and use of the RTI as enabling tool.

Dr George Mathew, director, ISS, New Delhi, laid stress on the empowerment of PRIs in general and the empowerment of PRIs in particular. He was of the view that unless this happened, the objective of the 73rd Constitutional Amendment would remain incomplete. He maintained that good governance was not possible without democratic decentralisation.

Chandigarh, January 9
The Haryana BJP today sought the intervention of Governor A.K. Kidwai to check what it called the fast deteriorating law and order situation in the state.

In a memorandum submitted to Kidwai, the party alleged that members of the business community in the state were receiving threat and ransom calls. In view of these calls, businessmen were not feeling secure about their life and property. Quoting instances of kidnapping, ransom demand and robbery at several places in the state, the BJP regretted that the law-enforcing agencies were unable to apprehend the culprits.

The memorandum said a trader of Charkhi Dadri, who refused to pay extortion money, had to pay with his life.

Among those who met the Governor were Gian Chand Gupta, in charge of the BJP trader cell of Punjab and Haryana; Bharat Bhushan Bharti, party spokesman; Shyam Lal Verma, vice-president of the Haryana BJP; and Subhash Ajvaan, vice-president of the Haryana BJP trader cell.

Sonepat, January 9
Bhagat Phool Singh Women University at Khanpur Kalan in the district will get the “first human resource management department of the country” and world-class education facilities will be provided in the department.

This was stated by the Vice-Chancellor of the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, Prof Abhai Morya, while talking to mediapersons on the university campus last evening.

Professor Maurya was leading a 10-member team of the University Grants Commission (UGC) to assess the facilities being provided in the university. The other team members were Prof Tai Vasu of Kolkata University, Prof GB Dube of Banaras Hindu University, Prof Dulal Goldar, Prof Ghanshyam, Prof Dhanender Kumar, Prof VK Bhalla, Prof RK Kale, Financial Commissioner of Higher Education, Haryana, Jyoti Arora and Deputy Secretary of the UGC Surender Saini.

He said Rs 2 crore had been sanctioned for the development of infrastructure, the faculty and the promotion of sports by the UGC, which would pave the way for world-class facilities at the university.

The university Vice-Chancellor, Dr Pankaj Mittal, said the suggestions and observations made by the team would help the faculty and students achieve their targets.

Sirsa, January 9
Sahil Sethi, a Dabwali fire victim, has scored 99.4 percentile in Common Admission Test (CAT) 2008, securing his position in Indian Institutes of Management by his sheer hard work despite odds. The result of the test was declared today.

Sahil had received 65 per cent burn injuries in the fire, which broke out on December 23, 1995, at Dabwali.

Giving this information, Sahil’s grandfather Ram Parkash Sethi, who is president of the Haryana Pradesh Vyapar Mandal, said Sahil had been brilliant in studies throughout his career and despite the injuries worked hard to achieve his goal.

Gurgaon, January 9
A 35-year-old woman alleged that one Kharak Singh raped her early in the morning here today. She told the police that she was working as a maidservant at Sector 37 and was a resident of Sarhol village.

She claimed that she was waiting for a bus at the Iffco Chowk when suddenly a white Innova car stopped near her from whom she asked for a lift as many other passengers were also sitting in it. She alleged the driver dropped all others at the express highway and told her that he would drop her to the desired destination.

But instead of dropping her to the required location, he took her near Tau Devi Lal stadium and allegedly raped her inside the car.

She said later she went to her owner’s house and told him everything, who took her to the Sadar Thana and lodged a complaint in this regard.

Within eight hours, the police recovered the car and the alleged accused, Khadak Singh, a resident of Almora, who is working as a driver in a call centre. The police has arrested him on the basis of the complaint filed by the women.