Ambala, August 6
The functioning in public sector banks in the state, including the State Bank of India in Ambala district, was disrupted today as the employees joined the two-day nationwide strike to press for their demands, including pay hike. The strike has been called by the United Forum of Bank Unions.

Raising slogans against the union government, employees of various banks staged a demonstration in front of Indian Bank at Ambala Cantt.

Senior leaders of different bank unions - Ashok Jain, VK Verma and Parveen Goel - addressed the bank employees.

Customers, especially traders, had to face a great difficulty due to the bank strike. People were unable to withdraw money from some of the automated teller machines (ATMs) as cash was not available in them.

KURUKSHETRA: Banks in the district wore a deserted look as all bank employees observed a complete strike here on Thursday.

The striking employees assembled under the banner of the National Confederation of Bank Employees (NCBE) in front of the State Bank of India, Thanesar branch, situated on the Railway road demonstrated and raised slogans in support of their demands.

BHIWANI: Employees of public sector banks across the district went on a two-day strike from Thursday to press for their demands, including wage hike.

“We are on strike from today as the Indian Banks Association (IBA) did not concede to the bank unions’ demand for the wage hike,” said a unionist. All banks in Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri and Loharu observed a complete strike. The employees sat on dharna outside the UCO bank and raised slogans.

SIRSA: Banking activities were paralysed in the district as employees observed strike on Thursday in response to the call given by the United Federation of Bank Unions is support of their demands.

Harbans Narang, Regional Secretary of the federation, said bank employees would remain on strike on Friday too.

“Wage settlement of the bank employees is due since November 2007. Several rounds of talks by our leaders with the Indian Banks Association have failed to yield any result,” alleged Narang.

FATEHABAD: Demanding higher wages and a better social security net, bank employees went on a two-day strike on Thursday. Banking transactions remained paralysed in Fatehabad, Ratia, Tohana and Bhuna.

KAITHAL: Services in nationalised banks in Kaithal town and other parts of the district remained paralysed on Thursday due to strike observed by the staff.

Tohana (Fatehabad), August 6
Owing to a skewed sex ratio, marriageable youths are finding it difficult to find brides. Several instances where brides have been purchased for money have been witnessed in the past. In one such instance, a 28-year-old woman was allegedly sold to a youth in Pirthala village in this district for Rs 50,000 by three go-betweens.

The victim, Harpeet Kaur, a resident of Shimla Puri in Ludhiana town, was rescued from Pirthala village by a police party from Ludhiana on Tuesday.

The victim’s mother, Resham Kaur, had lodged an FIR with the Ludhiana police accusing Amarjit Kaur, Gurmail Kaur and Pappu of having sold out her daughter for Rs 50,000 after promising to get her a job in the village.

“The accused had taken away my daughter one-and-a-half-months ago on the promise of getting her a job. They even gave me Rs 4,500 as her salary for last month,” alleged Resham Kaur.

However, when she went to Pirthala village on the address given by the accused, she was shocked to learn that her daughter had been sold for Rs 50,000 and the man with whom she was living claimed that he had married her. Bimla Devi, SHO of the Tohana Sadar police station, said a police party from Ludhiana arrived here on Tuesday with search warrants under Section 97 of the Criminal Procedure Code (search for persons wrongfully confined) and cops from Tohana accompanied them to the village, where Harpreet Kaur was recovered.

Dharana (Jhajjar), August 6
The Kadyan Barha khap panchayat, whose members have been staging indefinite dharna outside Dharana village since a week in protest against a “forbidden” marriage with a girl of Kadyan gotra, has allegedly started adopting “pressure tactics” means to get its “exile” verdict for the Gehlout family enforced.

Sources said some representatives of the panchayat had been mounting constant pressure on a villager, who supplies drinking water through pipelines to the village houses, to get the water supply to the house of the Gehlout family cut at the earliest.

Significantly, the water supplier has also apprised the family about this act of the khap panchayat, but the family is helpless in tackling the “unfair” practice.

Speaking to The Tribune, Naseeb Gehlout, one of the uncles of groom Ravinder, said the water supplier had informed the family two days ago that some representatives of the khap panchayat had been forcing him to disconnect the water supply to their house immediately, lest he would have to pay the penalty in return of helping the family notwithstanding the panchayat’s order directing the villagers to “socially boycott” the family.

“All residents of the village are scared of the khap panchayat, which has pronounced a penalty of Rs 25,000 for those who will maintain social relations with us. We have been facing social boycott since a month. Even some of our close friends have been keeping distance from us like other villagers fearing the panchayat’s verdict,” said Naseeb Singh.

Naseeb Singh today went to Jhajjar to inform the Deputy Commissioner and the SSP about the “other” means of the khap panchayat. However, he had to return to the village as both the officials were not in the office, he said.

Meanwhile, acting president of the khap panchayat Raj Singh confirmed that they had asked the water supplier to disconnect the supply to the Gehlout family’s house as the panchyat had already announced “social boycott” for the family.

“We are ready to adopt other ways besides getting the water or electricity connections disconnected. The Gehlout family has insulted the khap panchayat by not honouring its verdict. Hence, it will now have to pay the penalty for that,” said Raj Singh, reiterating that the panchayat would leave no stone unturned to drive out the family from the village as it had violated the social custom.

Chandigarh, August 6
All major road and other construction projects, including the four-laning of the Zirakpur-Kalka highway, have come to a halt. Not for the shortage of funds, but for the unavailability of materials like stones and bajri.

The full impact of the Punjab and Haryana High Court judgement declaring a large tract of the state as forest land, in which no non-forest activity like mining can take place, has been felt now. The judgement had come in mid-May last on a writ petition filed by an advocate of Panchkula, Vijay Bansal.

Interestingly, Bansal, who is associated with the Congress, had filed the petition when the INLD was in power in the state. But the judgement came after his party formed the government. Since mining in almost the entire state has been stopped, bajri and sand are in acute short supply. Their rates have skyrocketed, putting the common man, who wants to construct his house, in a difficult situation.

The price of bajri has gone up from Rs 10 per cubic feet to Rs 13 and that of sand from Rs 7 per cubic feet to Rs 10.

Now, bajri and sand are coming to Haryana from Himachal Pradesh and Punjab.

The sources say the quality of bajri and sand being supplied from Himachal and Punjab is not up to the mark and does not meet the norms laid down by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI). The companies which are constructing roads for the NHAI are not accepting bajri and sand from Himachal and Punjab. This has led to the stoppage of work.

Meanwhile, the auction for mining rights in Yamunanagar district was suddenly put off today by the district administration after the bids touched almost four times the reserve price of about Rs 11 crore for six months.

Gurgaon, August 6
As elections to the state Assembly draw near, the Haryana Government, which had recently ordered the regularisation of illegal structures along scheduled roads and bypasses across the state, has now decided to regularise unauthorised colonies as well.

The government has directed all municipal bodies to submit their survey reports in this regard by August 11 so that the process of statewide regularisation of unauthorised colonies can be initiated.

Addressing representatives of all 78 municipal bodies of the state at a meeting held here today, the Director, State Urban Development, Dr Mahavir Singh, asked them to submit their reports by Tuesday.

The last time the regularisation of unauthorised colonies took place was in December, 2004, during the previous Chautala regime. At that time, 1,054 colonies on about 10,000 acres were regularised in the state.

This is for the first time that the state government will use satellite imagery which will be then superimposed on revenue maps in order to prepare the final draft.

The maps will include details of the colonies regularised in December 2004, besides those of the new colonies which have come up since then. The maps will also highlight whether these non-regularised colonies fall within the scope of private developers, the Haryana Urban Development Authority, the MC, the HSIIDC, etc. The survey report will include details of both residential as well as commercial areas. However, according to official sources, the state government plans to develop the residential areas in the initial phase.

The state government, which had been directed by the Punjab and Haryana High Court to get illegal structures along the scheduled roads removed, played a deft move to circumvent the court’s orders and avoid the wrath of the encroachers.

Now, under pressure from its MPs and MLAs and owing to vote-bank politics, the state government has decided to regularise the unauthorised colonies.

Chandigarh, August 6
Five persons belonging to Haryana are still under treatment in a Delhi hospital for swine flu. So far, 22 persons, suffering from H1N1 virus in the state have been treated and discharged from various hospitals.

A spokesman for the state Health Department said here today that out of these 27 cases, who were reportedly tested positive for swine flu in the state, 26 hailed from Gurgaon and one from Bhiwani. These persons had either come from abroad recently or were in contact with those who were already suffering from swine flu.

He said so far 155 suspected cases of swine flu had been reported in Haryana. No death had been reported due to swine flu in the state so far.

He said the department had activated its rapid response teams, both at the state as well as the district levels. The units of Integrated Disease Surveillance Project (IDSP) had been directed to upgrade surveillance for fever in their respective districts, especially for cases having symptoms of swine flu.

Necessary medicines like Oseltamivir, VTM kits and personal protective kits had been made available at Faridabad and Gurgaon for Gurgaon division; at Hisar for Hisar division; at Rohtak for Rohtak division and at Ambala for Ambala division as these were required for testing and treatment of H1N1 virus. The supply of medicines and logistics was regularly being updated at these five centres.

He advised the people not to spit at public places and neither shake hands with others nor embrace or kiss others socially. He cautioned the people against taking any medicine without the consultation with a doctor.

Sirsa, August 6
The call of mass casual leave given by the Haryana Federation of University and College Teachers Organisation (HFUCTO) evoked a good response in Sirsa today as a majority of the permanent teachers remained on leave in Chaudhary Devi Lal University and various colleges of the district.

“The response was overwhelming in the CDLU and a majority of the teachers remained on leave today,” claimed Rajesh Malik, a lecturer in the law department of the university.

Dr Suman Gulab, Principal of Government National Postgraduate College, Sirsa, said 85 of the 94 permanent teachers remained on casual leave today.

Teaching work remained suspended today as students, who came in the morning, went back seeing their teachers sitting on dharna outside the college.

FATEHABAD: The functioning of Government College, Bhodia Khera (Fatehabad), and Indira Gandhi Government College, Tohana, was badly affected as teachers went on mass casual leave.

Striking teachers said their agitation would continue till their demand for the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission as per the UGC recommendations was accepted.

KURUKSHETRA: Teaching work in universities and government and aided colleges remained paralysed throughout the state as university and college teachers went on mass casual leave on Thursday.

The mass casual leave call evoked an overwhelming response from teachers across the state and teaching work came to a standstill, Prof Bhagwan Singh, a spokesman for the HFUCTO, said.

Dr Parmesh Kumar, secretary of the Kurukshetra University Teachers Association, and RS Kundu, president of the Haryana College Teachers Association, also claimed that the response was nearly 100 per cent.

All teachers of Kurukshetra University, including deans, directors, chairpersons, principals and professors observed mass casual leave and assembled in front of the Vice-Chancellor’s office seeking implementation of the revised UGC pay scales in toto, Parmesh Kumar added.

NARNAUL: Lecturers of the local government college went on mass casual leave and staged a dharna on Thursday.

Dr Yashpal, president of the Government College Sangh, alleged stepmotherly treatment with colleges and university teachers.

Karnal, August 6
The Haryana Rajya Gaushala Sangh today convened a sarva khap mahapanchayat in Charkhi Dadri on August 8 to chalk out its future course of action for seeking the release of Dandi Swami and a ban on cow slaughter.

The sangh had served an ultimatum on the government to release Dandi Swami by today. Dandi Swami, who was on fast seeking a ban on cow slaughter since July 22, was whisked away by the Karnal police from Amupura village on July 28 and later shifted to a hospital in Rohtak.

Following the detention of Dandi Swami, the Haryana Rajya Gaushala Sangh and some organisations like the Vishwa Hindu Parishad and the Bajrang Dal joined the agitation spearheaded by villagers. President of the sangh Acharya Baldev announced to launch a statewide agitation.

Acharya Baldev had given a call for Karnal bandh today, but it did not evoke much response. Protesters gathered at Karna Park and held a procession via Community Chowk, Ghanta Ghar Chowk, Hospital Chowk, Kunjpura Road and Mahatma Gandhi Chowk. Shopkeepers pulled down the shutters for a while when the procession passed but later opened their shops and did business as usual.

Addressing the protesters, Acharya Baldev said the mahapanchayat would take a decision regarding intensifying the agitation for the release of Dandi Swami and for seeking a ban on cow slaughter.

Chandigarh, August 6
Deepender Singh Hooda, MP from Rohtak, has demanded that the Metro rail project should be extended up to Kundli in Haryana and Nazafgarh.

Thanking the Union Government for extending the Metro to Gurgaon and considering the Metro project for Chandigarh, Hooda said here today that states where the Delhi Metro would reach should be considered as a stakeholder in the project on the pattern of the Delhi government. He said Haryana and UP should be made a shareholder in the Delhi Metro Corporation as these states had borne most of the cost on the extension of the Metro to their areas.

He said the Centre’s grant-in-share in the extension of the Metro to the areas outside Delhi should be enhanced to compensate these states. Hooda said Bahadurgarh should also be connected with the Delhi Metro.