Panipat, September 8
The district courts today found a city doctor guilty of removing kidney of an unsuspecting patient and sentenced him to an imprisonment for five and a half years.

The court of ACJM JB Gupta, while pronouncing the verdict, also imposed a penalty of Rs 7,000 on the doctor, who runs a nursing home in the district.

According to the case, Suresh Kumar, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, had filed a complaint alleging that his wife Omal Malik had reported pain in the abdomen, following which she was admitted to Geeta Nursing Home in June 2003. Dr SN Gupta told them that his wife had a stone in the kidney and she had to be operated upon at the earliest.

He got his wife operated at the nursing home, but Omal again reported pain in the abdomen in November 2005.

Suresh got her examined by other doctors, who reportedly told him that one of her kidneys was missing, following which he and his relatives held a protest outside the nursing home.

The police registered a case under Sections 326, 420 and 406 of the IPC and Sections 18 and 19 of the Transplantation of Human Organs Act against the doctor in November 2005.

The couple then moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking justice. After hearing the prosecution and the defense counsels, the local court held the doctor guilty and sentenced him to five and a half years.

Fatehabad, September 8
Former Haryana minister Sampat Singh, former parliamentary secretaries - Dura Ram and Paramveer Singh - and Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s son-in-law Kunal Bhadoo were among prominent Congress leaders of the district who presented their claims before AICC observer Avtar Henry here today.

Henry, former Punjab minister, was here today on the directions of the AICC to meet Congress workers from Fatehabad, Ratia (reserved) and the Tohana Assembly constituencies and know their mood. Ticket seekers used the opportunity to exhibit their strength and their supporters thronged Shri Sobh Raj Batra Dharamshala, where Henry met them and listened to their views.

The supporters raised slogans in the building as their respective leaders went inside a room to meet the observer. Maximum number of applications came from the Ratia (reserved) Assembly seat, where 34 persons handed over the bio-data to Henry. As many as 23 applications came from Fatehabad and only three came from the Tohana seat.

Sampat Singh, Dura Ram, Kunal Bhadoo, Pahlad Singh Gillankhera, Arvind Sharma, Sharad Batra and Atam Parkash Batra are among those who have staked claims from Fatehabad.

Sushil Indora, who recently quit his Ellenabad seat to shift loyalty from the INLD to the Congress, former MP Atam Singh Gill’s son Gurdeep Singh Gill, zila parishad’s vice-chairperson Mandeep Kaur Gill, former minister Ram Swaroop Rama, former MLA Jarnail Singh and Jagdish Mistri are among those, who are seeking the Congress ticket from the Ratia (reserved) seat.

Of the three applications received from the Tohana seat, two are from former parliamentary secretary Paramveer Singh and district Congress president Randhir Singh, who are brothers, and another is from Gurdeep Singh Cheema.

“I will review the applications, scrutinise and then shortlist these to form panels of three candidates each from the three Assembly constituencies and will submit my lists to AICC general secretary Prithvi Raj Chauhan by Saturday,” Henry said while talking to mediapersons.

He said as per the guidelines of the AICC, all sections, including women, youth and those from the Backward Classes, would be accommodated in the panels.

Faridabad, September 8
The ruling Congress in Haryana will see party leaders from Bihar campaign for it in the coming Assembly elections in the state.

One of the reasons being cited for the support to the state unit of the Congress from its Bihar counterpart is the help extended by the Hooda government to the flood-affected people of Bihar last year.

Recently Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar wrote to the Chief Minister of Haryana thanking him for his contribution of Rs 5 crore for setting up “raised flood shelters” for the people of Bihar.

Hooda, during a recent visit to Bihar, had announced to give a sum of Rs 5 crore to the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund for setting up flood shelters. Hooda had gone to Musheri village in Saharsa district in Bihar to dedicate houses and other infrastructure set up by the Sonepat administration for the rehabilitation of the people of the flood-affected village.

A senior Congress leader said it was perhaps on account of the benevolent gesture shown by the government and Congress leaders of Haryana that leaders of the Congress from Bihar will come in “jathas” to campaign for the party during the Assembly elections.

Chandigarh, September 8
The Election Commission of India has decided that there will no relaxation in the instructions regarding the use of aircraft during the Assembly elections in Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh.

Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Sajjan Singh said here today that there would be a ban on the use of aircraft, owned by government and public sector undertakings, by political functionaries, including the Chief Ministers and ministers. The only exemption, he said, was in the case of the Prime Minister.

He said certain Chief Ministers had requested that these restrictions should be relaxed for various reasons, including security. However, he did not elaborate if the Haryana Chief Minister had also made such a request.

He said the commission reviewed the matter in depth and obtained further inputs from the appropriate quarters in this regard. After taking into consideration all relevant factors, the commission decided that there would be no relaxation.

Sajjan Singh said the commission's restrictions did not, however, prohibit the use of private aircraft by political functionaries, including a Chief Minister. Such political functionary could hire private aircraft and use it for the political campaign and other election-related activities. The expenses on the use of such aircraft could be paid by the political parties concerned and the parties would have to account for the expenses suitably.

Chandigarh, September 8
Haryana today said as many as 144 students had been illegally admitted to the BDS and MDS in the state for 2005-06 to 2008-09 sessions.

In an affidavit, Deputy Secretary, Health and Medical Education, said in an attempt to curb the practice of illegal admissions without affecting the future of already admitted students, the state government had recommended that admission to as many as six dental colleges be reduced by 25 per cent of their present intake every year for the next four years.

The Dental Council of India (DCI) had earlier recommended de-recognition of five dental colleges in Haryana for violating the conditions of admission. It has also “disapproved” another dental college.

In a letter to the Secretary, Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, on illegal admissions made to the BDS course by private dental colleges in Haryana during 2005-06.

The letter stated the executive committee has noted that SGT Dental College at Gurgaon, Sudha Rastogi Dental College at Faridabad, MM Dental College at Maulana, Jan Nayak Dental College at Sirsa, BRS Dental College at Panchkula and Swami Devi Dayal Dental College at Barwala had violated the regulations on admission conditions.

The regulations were violated by admitting students having less than 50 per cent marks in the CET. While the executive committee has recommended to the Central government to “disapprove” Swami Devi Dayal Dental College, it has recommended the authorities to de-recognise the other five colleges.

The communiqué was placed before the Division Bench headed by Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur in a petition filed by Mohan Lal Pippal against the Union of India and other respondents.

Chandigarh, September 8
The Samalakha flyover and Pasina Khurd underpass have been thrown open to public, easing flow of traffic on the national highway to Delhi.

In an affidavit submitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court Division Bench of Chief Justice Tirath Singh Thakur and Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia, Ircon International Limited said the basis structure work of both the sides of the Samalakha flyover was completed on June 30 and it was opened to traffic on September 1.

Naraingarh, September 8
Many of them did not know what it feels to have a stomach full of food. Most had not ever worn new clothes and none had ever lifted a book to read.

This is the story of those children who were doomed to live in abject poverty after their parents died in some of the most backward and strife-ridden areas in the country. With no hope for a future and drifting in the alleys of darkness, it was nothing short of a miracle that they landed in this ashram here.

A home for the parentless, run by the Swami Rama Foundation Trust, has proved to be a heaven for these children from Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh. The ashram campus is spread over 50 acres and for the time being houses a residential school only for the boys. “The girls are in another ashram at Panchkula,” said Dr V Anand Swami, the founder president of the trust.

Buildings in the campus hav been home to 45 boys between the age of four years to 15 years. “When these children came they did not know of any food other than rice water. They rarely got to eat proper food. Their clothes were torn, they did not know about personal hygiene and were suffering from skin infections,” said Deepak, the in-charge of the place.

Today, these children are a totally changed lot. Well groomed, well-dressed and bearing smiles, they are going to school and all of them know how to read and write. All of them paint and sing and many are excelling in sports.

“My children wear new clean clothes. We do not accept any old clothes or hand downs. I don’t want my children to feel that they are any less fortunate than others. They live just like other children of their age,” said Dr Anand Swami.

The life at the ashram is comparable to some of the better residential schools in India. “The day begins early with yoga and other exercises. Then breakfast followed by school. The children have enough places to play in the afternoon after lunch. We have arrangements for basketball and volleyball. The kids have their own team and has also won prizes,” added Deepak.

Swamiji, who is the force behind the entire project has big plans for the future. “I intend to build a separate place to house parentless girls. Also we have plans to run a hospital for the poor,” he said.

Gurgaon, September 8
As many as 20 post offices of Haryana will be modernised under Project Arrow initiated by the Department of Post.

The project envisages the beautification, modernisation and upgradation of post offices in terms of appearance, work environment as well as service quality level in all spheres, including mail, savings bank and all IT-enabled services. This was stated by the Chief Postmaster General, Haryana circle, Ambala, Indu Gupta, here today. She was here to dedicate the modernised head post office of Gurgaon to the public.

Gupta said 52 post offices across the country had been modernised in the first phase and 500 under the second phase of the project. “In phase III, as many as 1,100 post offices will be modernised,” she said, adding that the same process would be continued to modernise 1,50,000 post offices throughout the country in a phased manner.

To implement this project, the entire work had been divided into two segments, which included modernising the “look and feel” of the post offices and improving the quality of the traditional services provided there.

To modernise the “look and feel” of these post offices, the Department of Post had launched a new logo throughout the country. All post offices identified under Project Arrow would have a uniform exterior and interior look.

Special counters had been designed for the selected post offices, besides making new hardware like computers, passbook printers, scanners, etc, available to these. Information boards had been displayed prominently inside the public halls.

Apart from the “look and feel”, the quality of services would be improved by ensuring same-day delivery of mail and money orders, computerising savings bank work and scanning and storing the signatures of the customers for speedy transactions. The staff members posted at these post offices had been given special technical as well as soft-skill training for better customer management and satisfaction, she added.

Rohtak, September 8
The Vice-Chancellor of Maharshi Dayanand University, Dr RP Hooda, has described the ongoing strike by university teachers over the revised pay scales as illegal, stating that the latter had not given any notice to the university administration, which was legally mandatory to proceed on strike.

The Vice-Chancellor has said disciplinary action will be taken if teaching work does not resume shortly.

He said, “I have repeatedly appealed the teachers to resume their work, but they have taken undue advantage. Though officially the Maharshi Dayanand University Teachers Association (MDUTA) has suspended the agitation, a section of the teachers is still on strike.”

Claiming that teaching work had started partially and it was likely to become normal soon as a dialogue was under way between the government and the teachers, he said he would personally check the attendance of the teachers and if any violation was found, he would initiate disciplinary action.

The MDUTA got divided over the issue after one faction declared to call off the strike.

While president of the MDUTA WS Nehra had announced to suspend the agitation on September 5, a section of the teachers refused to call off the agitation.

Meanwhile, a university Professor, who did not want to be identified, said the strike was illegal as a notice of at least 14 days was required to go on an indefinite strike.

However, according to Prof Rajinder Chaudhary, convener, MDUTA Action Committee, the strike is legal as it has been carried out under the banner of the HFUCTO, which represents all bodies of university and college teachers in the state.

The teachers are seeking the implementation of the UGC scales without any change.

Rohtak, September 8
The police today recovered the skeletal remains of two youths of Chuliana village here from the fields of Ashodha village of Jhajjar district. They had been missing from their village since October 24, 2008.

The skeletal remains were recovered after the arrest of a person, who revealed that the bodies of the victims had been dumped in the fields after they were shot dead over some dispute.

The youths identified as Anil, son of Kaptan Singh, and Karambir belonged to the same family. Karambir is reported to be the uncle of Anil. They had left the village on October 24 last in search of employment.

It is reported that they had come to Rohtak where they met an advocate and then left for an undisclosed place. However, they failed to return to their house in the village, which left their kin concerned as there was no information about their whereabouts till the next day.

A complaint was lodged with the police regarding their missing. However, the failure of the police to trace the two youths agitated the kin and the villagers and they blocked the rail and road traffic after a few days.

The breakthrough in the case came last night after the arrest of an alleged gangster identified as Bhupender of Jasor Kheri village of Jhajjar district. He led the police to the spot where the bodies had been dumped after the murder on the same day on which they had gone missing.

A dispute over a relationship with a woman is stated to be behind the murders.

The police exhumed the skeletal remains from the spot this noon. The samples have been sent for examination at Forensic Science Laboratory in Karnal.

Yamunanagar, September 8
Tension gripped the Chopra garden locality here for over three hours today after residents, protesting against the authorities’ alleged failure to construct internal roads in their locality, blocked the National Highway No. 73 here.

The residents alleged that the money meant for constructing internal roads in their locality was being spent on roads in lacalities where residents were “well connected”.

The situation took an ugly turn when the protesters stopped construction work on roads in a nearby area alleging that it was being done “out of turn” and blocked the national highway at around 1 pm.

The police had to be called in to disperse the crowd. The police even resorted to a mild lathicharge, in which two persons reportedly sustained injuries.

The locals alleged that they had brought the matter to the notice of the Deputy Commissioner, but to no avail.

The panchayat secretaries and employees of municipalities would function as nodal officers for this awareness campaign.

Kaithal, September 8
Villagers of Rajound blocked the Kaithal-Panipat highway this morning demanding the arrest of suspended SHO Ghisa Ram, allegedly involved in the “killing” a woman of Narwal village a fortnight ago, and withdrawal of cases registered against them in the case. The blockade was continuing at the time of the filing of this report.

Deputy Commissioner Amneet P Kumar and SSP Sandeep Khirwar reached Rajound to urge the protesters to lift the road blockade.

All vehicles passing through this route were diverted to other routes, causing inconvenience to road users.

The residents of Rajound blocked traffic on the highway this morning and squatted on road.

The villagers had served a 24-hour ultimatum on the district police and the civil administration on Sunday seeking the arrest the suspended SHO, who allegedly hit the woman with his official vehicle at the Rajound police station where she had gone along with her son to meet another son, who was in police custody. The woman later succumbed to her injuries.

Though the SHO had denied the charge, angry villagers had thrown stones at the police station and damaged some vehicles. Following this, the police had registered a case against about 150 persons.

Kaithal, September 8
Three UHBVN employees were reportedly looted of Rs 72,000 at gunpoint near Matour village of Kalayat sub-tehsil yesterday.

The incident took place when three meter readers, who also collect bill amount from power consumers, had collected the cash from consumers and were coming to Kalayat to deposit the same in the office.

The employees left for Kalayat on two motorcycles. Balraj and Balwan were on one motorcycle and Devi Chand was on the other. As they came out of Matour village, four car-borne persons intercepted their vehicles and snatched the bag containing cash at gunpoint.

The miscreants fled from the spot and also took away the motorcycle keys with them.

Later, the employees reached Kalayat and informed the police and the power board officials about the incident.

The police has registered a case and started investigations.