Kaithal, June 30
A spell of rain this afternoon in Kaithal and various parts of the district accompanied by high-velocity winds not only provided much-awaited relief from prevailing scorching heat but also added to woes of people, as it caused heavy losses to electric installations in the Keorak area of the district.

According to information, high tension line polls of 11,000 volts got twisted at some places. However, the lines supplying power to tubewells suffered heavy damage and about 125 -150 polls and more than a dozen transformers were damaged in the storm resulting in total disruption of power supply in the area. The roof of a farmer’s tubewell room was completely blown by the winds.

Keorak sarpanch Ranbir Singh said the storm caused extensive damage to the electric poles and transformers in the southern side of the village. “Heavy tin shed of a religious place on the Keorak-Kathwar road was blown by the winds. Impact of the storm was so much that heavy tractor trailors standing on the village roads were overturned.

Many streets in Kalayat town, 25 km from here, were flooded after the rains and at some places rain water entered in to the residential houses. Poor drainage system added to the miseries of the residents there.

AMBALA: High-velocity winds accompanied by heavy rain brought much awaited relief from scorching heat for residents here. For once, the residents neither minded long power cut, which accompanied the rain late last night, nor objected to streets filled with water and slush as they left their offices in the evening after a heavy downpour today.

The happiest were the farmers, who had feared the worst and were expecting a loss of their crop. A few stray incidents of eucalyptus trees being uprooted were reported from across the district. The state highway between Ambala and Yamunanagar was blocked for a while due to fallen trees, as was the Ambala-Hisar road. However, no major traffic jams were reported.

Many low lying areas in Ambala Cantt and city, however, faced problem of water logging and the residents complained of water entering their houses. In city, the residents even staged a protest. The affected areas include the Nahan House, Boat road, Jagadhri gate, wholesale cloth market, railway road, Shukalkuld road, HUDA in Ambala City, railway colony, housing board and the Model town police chowki.

The district administration has set up centres with 24-hour telephone helplines to monitor any flood like situation.

Fatehabad, June 30
A 15-year-old girl from Rajli village of Hisar district would have been a married woman today, but for the timely intervention of the authorities.

Satyawan, a resident of Rajni village in Hisar district, met Fatehabad Deputy Commissioner CG Rajnikanthan on Monday and informed him that how his daughter, a student of class VII, was being married by the girl’s maternal family with connivance of his wife Murti Devi today.

“My minor daughter was being married to Nathu Ram, son of Gulab Singh of Kuleri village, and in exchange my daughter’s maternal uncle, Mahavir Singh, was to marry Gulab Singh’s daughter,” Satyawan alleged in his affidavit given to the DC.

Satyawan also attached a certificate from the principal of senior secondary school in the village, which showed the date of birth of his daughter as August 8, 1995.

He alleged that his wife Murti Devi, brother-in-law Radhey Sham and his wife’s kin, all residents of Jandli Kalan village, Fatehabad, parental village of his wife, were trying to get his minor daughter married.

Skewed sex ratio in this part of Haryana has forced villagers to go for “barter system” in marriages in order to find brides for their sons.

While families having handsome landholdings hardly face any problem in finding brides for their sons, those with small and marginal landholdings have no choice but to marry their own daughter or relative into the family from where they expect to get a bride for their son.

A team comprising SDM JK Abhir, Child Development Project Officer Mamta Thakral, Naib Tehsildar Mohinder Singh and some others were sent to Jandli Kalan village with a police party.

The bride’s family immediately submitted to the authorities but requested that they be allowed to marry another girl of their family on the same day so that marriage of Mahavir Singh was not put off.

Though the family said the changed prospective bride was a student of class XII and was a major, they could not produce her birth certificate on the authorities’ demand.

“We will get the second girl medically examined to find out whether she is a major or not before allowing her marriage,” said Rajnikanthan.

Meanwhile, the girl was saved from getting married at a tender age of 15. Her maternal uncle Mahavir Singh will be married tonight, while the marriage of her cousin, if found major, will be held tomorrow.

Chandigarh, June 30
Mining contractors of Faridabad and Yamunanagar are continuing with their exploitation of Mother Earth though their contracts expired on March 31 last. They have been helped by legal loopholes. In the process the Punjab and Haryana High Court’s message to the lower courts to be proactive on issues of environment has been defeated.

After the Director, Mines, turned down the request of the contractors to extend their contracts under Rule 28(1) of the Punjab Minor Mineral Concession Rules, 1964, they moved the courts.

The Faridabad contractor filed a civil suit on March 28. Jarnail Singh, Civil Judge (Junior Division), Faridabad, ordered status quo on March 31 and fixed the next date of hearing on April 6, when it was adjourned to April 30. When the department sought an early hearing as the quarrying of sand was continuing, the hearing was advanced to April 10. However, the matter was adjourned for April 21 on the request of the plaintiff.

The case was again adjourned for May 8. On that day the judge was on leave. The case was fixed for May 22. The plaintiff again got the case adjourned to May 28. That day orders were reserved for June 5, when it was adjourned for June 8. Ultimately the orders were pronounced on June 9. The director’s orders were set aside on the ground that the request for extension could be turned down only by the state government.

The Yamunanagar contractor seemed to have been inspired by his Faridabad counterpart, in whose footsteps he followed. He moved the court 22 days after his contract expired on March 31, 2009. The case was filed despite his having obtained a short-term permit from the department to lift the already excavated material from the area leased to him.

Ashwani Kumar Mehta, Civil Judge (Junior Division), Yamunanagar, passed an interim order on April 24 that the plaintiff “may continue with the mining operations as he is still in possession of the area in question as claimed by him, which has not been controverted with documentary evidence by the respondent.” The case was to be heard on May 15. After the department sought an early hearing on April 29, the case was advanced to May 6, on which day the contractor was given time till May 11 to file a reply to the department’s application for an early hearing. The case was again adjourned to May 15 on the request of the plaintiff.

On May 15 the court said as it had to decide some urgent old cases, the mining case would be heard on May 20. That day the case was fixed for May 26 for the pronouncement of orders. However, the case was again fixed for May 30. It was adjourned for June 8, to be again adjourned for June 15. On that day the court allowed the stay application of the contractor and directed the state government to decide his representation for extension.

The Yamunanagar contractor did not appear on June 26 when Secretary, Mining, Yudhvir Singh Malik was to decide on his application for extension. The contractor informed Malik that since a copy of the court order was still not available, personal hearing was of no use. Now Malik has asked him to appear before him on July 2, when he would decide the case on the basis of his plaint filed in the court even if the copy of the judgement was not available.

Malik has already heard the Faridabad contractor and has sent his decision to his minister for approval.

(Concluded)

Kaithal, June 30
Residents of Kalayat town of the district, including municipal councillors, today marched to the Kalayat Primary Health Centre (PHC) in protest against the death of a newly born child last night.

The child allegedly died due to lack of proper facilities at the centre.

Deputy Commissioner Amneet P Kumar sent civil surgeon RP Dahiya to Kalayat to redress the grievances of the people and ensure proper facilities at the PHC.

Manjeet, wife of Jasbir, a resident of Ward no 7 of Kalayat, gave birth to a baby boy at the PHC. A staff nurse on duty reportedly conducted the delivery, as the doctor was not available at night. However, after some time the condition of the newly born baby started deteriorating and the nurse on duty asked the parents to take the child to some other hospital for better treatment.

Jasbir Singh decided to take the child to Kaithal in a government ambulance, but no driver was available to drive the vehicle. Later, Jasbir Singh took the child and the mother to a local private hospital on a motorcycle. However, the child died.

The aggrieved parents then took the child’s body to the PHC and sat on dharna to lodge their protest over poor arrangements at the centre.

The councillors and locals protested against poor facilities at the PHC and demanded legal action against the doctor, who was reportedly at his residence, but did not respond to the call.

However, the doctor said he did not get a call from the hospital otherwise he would have attended the case.

The DC has reportedly announced Rs 25,000 as financial assistance to the affected family from the Red Cross funds.

Meanwhile, the CMO said a team of three doctors would inquire into the incident and submit a report to him at the earliest.

Yamunanagar, June 30
A team of Andhra Pradesh police has also interrogated some of the suspected Maoists held in Haryana, said Yamunanagar SP, Vikas Arora. The Maoists here appeared to be in touch with members of the central committee of CPI ( Maoist), banned as a terrorist organisation under the Unlawful Activities ( Prevention) Act, and received arms, funds and literature from AP, said the SP.

Many of the arrested Maoists, the SP informed, are educated. The person believed to have been heading the Maoists in the state, Dr Pradeep, did his graduation from Rohtak Medical College. The next in line of command, Sanjay, is an engineering graduate. Sanjay’s wife, Poonam, also held with others, is a postgraduate who was teaching in a school. Yet another Maoist, Mukesh, has a PG degree in English.

Dr Pradeep is said to have been an outstanding student and a gold medallist, who got swayed by Maoist thought in his college days. While the doctor hails from a well-off family of Kurukshetra, Sanjay is from Panipat while Mukesh is from Yamunagar.

Dr Pradeep had launched four organisations including Jagruk Chhatra Manch, Shiwalik Sangharsh Manch, Mahila Mukti Morcha and Krantikari Kisaan Morcha for mobilising different sections and highlighting their plight.

While the police claim to have evidence that Dr Pradeep attended a secret meeting of Maoists in Bihar in 2007 and also that he was in contact with the CPI( Maoist) leader N.P. Reddy, who had visited Haryana and was put up at Pipli, people who have known the arrested lot claim to be shocked at media reports and police claims.

They remember the group putting up street plays based on the life of Bhagat Singh. Some remember the doctor spearheading a students’ organisation demanding lower fees and exemption of fees for poor students. Others acknowledge the role of the group in taking up the cause of labourers exploited by landlords in the Chachchroli area.

The lawyer representing the Maoists in the court here, claimed that the members of the group were not involved in any armed struggle against the state. Contrary to claims made by the police, the lawyer added, the members did not have any financial muscle and commuted on bicycles to make poorer people aware of their rights. They had also successfully highlighted the exploitation of landless farmers and their womenfolk by landlords, he added.

But the SP is confident that timely action by the police foiled a major bid to carry out disruptive activities in the state. “They were involved in armed struggle and were instigating people to boycott the Lok Sabha elections and join their movement. We have rooted out the Maoist movement in the state and there is no possibility of their revival here. We have constituted a special Maoist cell, five teams headed by the DSP Mukesh Kumar, to apprehend remaining Maoists and to monitor their activities”, added the SP.

“We have recovered CDs depicting naxalite activities in Jharkhand. They were using the CDs to motivate villagers to join them,” he informed.

The police also claims to have recovered a grenade, four detonators, country made and foreign made pistols and publicity material etc from their possession.

Chandigarh, June 30
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) will launch a four-day statewide agitation from tomorrow to protest against what it calls the “indifferent and callous” attitude of the state government towards the power and water crises in the state.

Announcing this here today, secretary-general of the party Ajay Singh Chautala said five teams of senior leaders had been constituted which would lead the demonstration at various district headquarters and submit memorandums to the Governor through the DCs urging him to direct the government to take immediate steps to mitigate the misery of the people.

Interestingly, party supremo Om Prakash Chautala will not lead the agitation anywhere in the state.

Ajay Chautala claimed that the results of the next Assembly elections would be different from those of the recent Lok Sabha elections, which, he said, were contested on national issues. He said the people had preferred the UPA over the NDA and Manmohan Singh over LK Advani. He said the INLD and its alliance partner, the BJP, would shortly sort out the issue of seat sharing and the alliance would announce its candidates on September 25 at a rally to be held to celebrate the birthday of former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal.

The INLD leader said the HJC-BSP alliance would have no impact on the elections because it did not enjoy support at the ground level. He said the fight would be between the INLD-BJP alliance and the Congress.

Answering a question, he said he did not expect the Assembly elections to be advanced in Haryana, though his party was fully prepared to meet the challenge.

Fatehabad, June 30
All dairy owners, milk vendors and any other category of businessmen dealing in milk will now have to get themselves registered with the local municipal council to continue their avocation.

The district authorities have given them seven days’ time to complete the formalities of their registration with the council, failing which they will be debarred from selling milk.

The orders were issued by Deputy Commissioner CG Rajnikaanthan after a large number of milk vendors met him today in support of Satish Pardhan, whose dairy had been sealed by the health authorities yesterday.

Pardhan alleged that he had been discriminated against by the health authorities by sealing his establishment, while in the case of others only samples had been taken.

He denied any sale of fake or adulterated milk in his dairy and said the boxes of skimmed dry power found in his unit were for sale as packed boxes.

The Deputy Commissioner has given directions to open the seals of the dairy after the taking of samples.