Karnal, September 10
Life was thrown out of gear in Karnal as intermittent heavy rain submerged low-lying areas in the main bazars and some sectors of HUDA, causing panic among residents. Vehicular traffic and pedestrian movement came to a near halt due to waterlogging and the residents clamoured for relief.

Community Chowk, Bhasu Gate, Kunjpura Road, Gato Gate, the bus stand and several other areas were the worst affected by the rain and people were put to great inconvenience as the municipal authorities virtually looked helpless in draining out water. The situation was even worse in the bus stand area as people waiting for buses had no place to take refuge.

While people were forced to drag their cycles and scooters to cross roads in flooded areas, rainwater entered parked vehicles at several places.

“We can do little to drain out the water as it had to be pumped out by the Public Health Department, but as far as opening the drains and keeping the water flowing is concerned, we have done our job,” said Balwinder Kalra, chairman of the municipal council.

So far the rain has not affected crops and in some pockets where paddy was sown late, it is likely to prove beneficial. However, it can damage crops in other areas as more rain could result in waterlogging in fields, say farm experts.

Karnal received 55 to 60 mm of rain since morning, causing a fall of 4 to 5°C in the maximum temperature but there was a marginal decline of 1°C in the minimum temperature, which remained steady at 25.1°C.

The rain also hit life in low-lying areas in the adjoining villages and farmers were seen working in the fields to drain out water, braving the downpour.

FARIDABAD: Rain has brought cheer to farmers, but disrupted urban life here due waterlogging in major parts of the city.

The waterlogging, even in posh sectors of HUDA, has once again exposed the lack of preparedness and contingency planning on the part of the district administration.

Although waterlogging was widespread in colonies and sectors of HUDA, the notable accumulation was on the road connecting the Delhi-Agra highway to the mini-secretariat in Sector 12. Areas around the mini-secretariat looked like swimming pools.

Pools of water were witnessed at various places on the highway, resulting in the disruption of vehicular traffic.

Movement of traffic in the city was badly affected, resulting in chaos.

Although major areas of the city were submerged, the situation in Janata Colony, Dabua Colony, Sanjay Colony, Jawahar Colony, Parvartia Colony, Sectors 15, 15A, 7, 8, 9 and the Old Faridabad area was the worst. The entire NH area, the heart of the old part of Faridabad city, was waterlogged. Rainwater entered some houses.

AMBALA: Incessant rain in the district on Thursday threw life out of gear. The Northern Railways also reported a few delays as passengers had to wait for trains, delayed due to a “collapse” of the signal system.

Divisional Railway Manager HK Jaggi said it was a common thing to happen during rain as the system short-circuited, causing the signalling sytem to collapse.

“The signal remains red; we then make a physical check of the route and give a written authority to the engine driver to proceed.” Waterlogging was also witnessed at a few stations and the yard in Ambala.

Elsewhere in the district, residents were forced to stay indoors as the rain showed no signs of stopping.

BHIWANI: Heavy rain in the city threw life out of gear. Several areas of the city were inundated and a “collapsed” drainage system made the situation worse. In several areas of the city, rainwater reportedly entered houses.

Water also entered some prominent buildings in the city like Vaish Model School, Chetna Sadan and FCI godowns.

The flood-like situation forced shopkeepers to pull down their shutters. Families reportedly shifted to either the first floor of their houses or the nearest safe areas.

All main roads in Charkhi Dadri, 29 km from here, were also inundated.

Yamunanagar, September 10
Tension continues to mount in the low-lying areas of the district after over a dozen villages were inundated by the Yamuna following rise in its water level here today. The condition in the low-lying areas deteriorated after the water level of Yamuna crossed 1.30 lakh cusecs early this morning. However, the water level was reduced to 99,000 cusecs at 4 pm at the Hathni Kund barrage.

The sudden rise in the water level of the river was attributed to continuous rainfall in its catchment area including Himachal Pardesh and Uttarakhand and also in the district for the past two days. Keeping in view the threat, the district administration has also sounded an alert in the low-lying areas. However, the threat of further increase in water level of the river continues to loom large as rainfall still continues in its catchment area and the water level of the river is expected to rise more during the night, said an official of the irrigation department.

Officials of the irrigation department monitoring the situation further said that the situation was much worse in Lakar and Behalpur, where the Yamuna water has entered the fields. The water level of the Yamuna was increasing since last night and had gone up to 1.30 cusecs at 1 am. As a result, the water was released from the Hathni Kund barrage downstream of the Yamuna, the official added.

“We received more than expected water at the Hathni Kund barrage last night triggered by the overflow of water from three seasonal rivulets from Himachal Pardesh and one from Uttarakhand that converged in the Yamuna here. The situation, however, is under control and not critical as was last year. The water level of the Yamuna had reached 4.25 lakh cusecs this month last year and had caused much damaged in the areas situated along the Yamuna, the official said.

While the deputy commissioner, Amit Kumar Agarwal, said the situation was under control, he added that they had sounded an alert in the low-lying areas situated along the Yamuna.

Chandigarh, September 10
A “murdered” mother, a “murderer” father and sold-off land! Things could have been worse for four minor girls, but for the Punjab and Haryana High Court, which has come out with an ingenious order.

Deploying the law as a leverage to bring about collective justice for the hapless girls, Justice Surya Kant of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Kurukshetra Deputy Commissioner “to evolve some mechanism to ensure crops are timely sown (on the land), looked after and harvested, as the crops alone are the source of maintenance for the minor girls”.

“If the petitioners (land purchasers) show any reluctance against the sowing, the land can be auctioned on a yearly contract basis and the auction proceedings be deposited in the trial court for disbursement to the girls”.

From the perusal of the petition and the previous orders, it transpires FIR number 173 for the murder of their mother was registered under Sections 302 and 120-B of the IPC on December 29, 2003, at the Ismailabad police station; and the father is confined to jail.

The minors moved an application for maintenance, and for the attachment of land owned by their father. Directions were also sought to restrain the father from alienating the land. The civil court, on February 8, 2005, permitted father Joginder Singh to alienate the suit property, subject to the condition that the maintenance of his daughters “will be the first charge on the suit property”. The civil court also passed orders granting Rs 3,000 per month to the four minor daughters out of their father’s property income. But not even a single penny was paid.

Joginder Singh sold the suit property to Manjit Singh from whom the petitioners claimed they purchased the land. The petitioners, Vijay Kumari and two others of Pehowa, then moved the court for setting aside the orders dated March 3, for attaching the property.

Before parting with the order, Justice Surya Kant also directed “the sale proceeds of the crop harvested may be disbursed to the minor girls by the civil court”.

Rewari, September 10
Agitating girl students of DAV Mahila College, Kosli, held a dharna and blocked traffic on the Rewari-Kosli road for the second day today.

A large number of youths as well as women from the surrounding villages also joined the agitating girl students.

The girls demanded the transfer of the college principal, Rita Sehgal, takeover of the college by the state government, refund of the “exorbitant” tuition fee charged from them, elimination of the “arbitrary” imposition of hefty fines, revocation of the expulsion of certain girl students and a firm assurance regarding non-victimisation of the girl students participating in the protest.

Rita Sehgal was roughed up by women.

Sources said when the agitating girls intercepted the official vehicles of DC Satya Prakash and SP Rajender Singh Gahlot, who were returning to Rewari without talking to the girls resorting to the blockade, both officers (DC and SP) went to the office of the SDM, Kosli, and directed the police to initiate action to remove the blockade.

Consequently, while women police personnel used force to remove the girls from the venue of the blockade, other police personnel also reportedly made a lathi charge to disperse the youths.

The infuriated youths threw stones at the police force.

Ram Phal, DSP, Kosli, who sustained an injury in the melee, shut himself in a shop to escape the mob fury. He was taken out of the shop after about two hours by a heavy police contingent which also fired into the air. The DSP was admitted to hospital at Kosli.

Talking to mediapersons in the hospital, the injured DSP blamed the DC, the SP and the SDM regarding handling of the situation and alleged that he had virtually been left to die at the hands of the mob.

Several girl students and others also sustained injuries in the melee.

Eventually, the police force succeeded in removing the blockade.

New Delhi, September 10
The Congress, faced with the dilemma of having a huge number of aspirants for party tickets, today empowered its Pradesh election committee to suggest names for each of the 90 seats to the Haryana Assembly. Elections are slated on October 13.

A decision was taken after the 26-member election committee met in the national capital for the first time today. The election committee will forward the names to the core central leadership looking after the state affairs. They are: Prithvi Raj Chavan, BK Hari Prasad and Mohinder Singh Kaypee. The committee will then form a panel after holding discussions and taking appropriate names from each of the suggestions. These names will be then forwarded to the screening committee led by senior leader Mohsina Kidwai. A panel will be formed to avoid any groupism and division among camps, said a source. The Haryana Congress is spilt vertically with Birender Singh, Rao Inderjit Singh, Kumari Selja and Kiran Chaudhary forming the anti-Bhupinder Singh Hooda camp.

The election committee also stressed that some core guidelines should be given. This included if ticket will be given to new entrants and also what will be the status of the sitting MLA’s.

The party is learnt to have told the committee that “win-ability” will be sole deciding criteria in deciding tickets. It will be not that some senior leaders will be given a ratio of tickets to chose from. In case a sitting MLA is to be dropped, appropriate action will be taken, a source added. The party is worried that the cadres may not get complacent seeing a dis-oriented opposition.

Sirsa, September 10
The authorities today impounded the “Pol Khol Theatre”, a publicity vehicle of the Indian National Lok Dal, at Kalanwali for being run allegedly in violation of the model code of conduct.

SK Setia, SDM, Sirsa, who is also the returning officer of the Kalanwali (reserved) Assembly constituency, stopped the publicity van of the INLD, a “rath” fabricated on a canter with hoardings and other publicity material for the forthcoming elections, when he was on a visit to the town for election-related arrangements.

He ordered impounding of the vehicle after it was allegedly found not having the necessary permission.

Confirming the impounding of the vehicle, Setia said the vehicle had neither the permission to be used for campaigning, nor did the party obtain any permission to use loudspeakers on it.

Padam Jain, district president of the INLD, alleged that the action had been taken in an arbitrary manner.

“Pol Khol Theatres” of the party have been working throughout the state for many days and there was nothing new in it today. The authorities should have given a notice to the party before taking any action. The INLD had no problem in obtaining the necessary permission,” Jain added.

NARNAUL: Additional Deputy Commissioner-cum-election officer of the Ateli Assembly constituency today impounded five vehicles involved in poll publicity without having valid permission. In a press note issued by the election office, these vehicles were being used for poll publicity in violation of the model code of conduct. The impounded vehicles included a “Pol Khol Theatre” of the INLD.

Fatehabad, September 10
The District Committee of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has decided to contest the Ratia and Fatehabad seats in this district, while the Tohana seat has been given to the CPI in the coalition of the two parties.

A meeting of the committee was held today under senior party leader Krishan Swaroop Gorakhpuria.

Ram Kumar Bahbalpuria, district secretary of the CPM, said that proposals for the names of Ram Swaroop Dhani Gopal and Bira Ram Rattakhera had been sent to the state unit of the party for Fatehabad and Ratia, respectively.

Sampooran Singh Puri, district secretary of the CPI, said he would contest the Tohana seat.

Karnal, September 10
A newborn girl child was found abandoned on the roof of a house in Anand Vihar, near Ghogripur Gate, here today.

The baby was left to die in heavy rain but providence saved her as neighbours spotted her and informed the owner of the house, Dulal Malik.

He immediately informed the police.

The police took the baby to the Civil Hospital and admitted her to the children’s ward. The child was in good health.

Residents were outraged and demanded action against the parents of the child.

The police has registered a case under Section 317 of the IPC against unknown persons on the complaint of Dulal Malik.

A childless couple residing in Anand Vihar has expressed the desire to adopt the child but the police is yet to take a decision on the custody of the baby.

Chandigarh, September 10
The Jhajjar police admitted today their account of an incident that took place in October 2008 in which a man was killed in a ‘police encounter’ had indeed been fabricated.

In response to a petition by the deceased’s wife, Puja, seeking a CBI probe into the death of her husband, Jasbir Singh, in a fake encounter, Jhajjar SP Saurabh Singh stated constable Ashok Kumar, who was later found to be the real culprit, had said in his disclosure statement that subinspector Satbir Singh Rathi and head constable Ashok Kumar had made up the story after he had killed Jasbir. Ashok, he added, was arrested on August 25 and sent to four day’s police remand.

Going into the background of the case in his reply placed before Justice KC Puri of the Punjab & Haryana High Court, Saurabh said on October 12, 2008 a police team had asked a group of five or six people to identify themselves but they had not responded. He said when one of the group, Jasbir, fired shots from a double barrel gun, Ashok fired his gun in retaliation and the bullet hit Jasbir in his head.

The Jhajjar district magistrate later held an inquiry into the incident and an FIR was filed under section 304/34 of the IPC on June 25, 2008.

Saurabh said the case’s investigating officer later added sections 202, 203 and 218 of the IPC on August 28 after Ashok’s disclosure statement against the other two officials. As of now, efforts were on apprehend the latter and a CIA inspector was conducting the investigation, he added.

In her petition, the victim’s wife had earlier dismissed the entire account of the police encounter as being “palpably false and baseless”, saying the police had stated several shots were fired from both sides. “The police had fired from sophisticated weapons but only Jasbir sustained a gunshot wound but none among the police team suffered any injuries”, said Puja, who had also sought directions for protection of her family members’ lives and property.

Chandigarh, September 10
The Punjab & Haryana High Court has, perhaps for the first time, held a lawyer accountable for filing “frivolous” litigations. Imposing a cost of Rs 20,000 on the lawyer, Justice Mahesh Grover said: “Counsels are expected to play a more responsible role and cannot be permitted to file baseless petitions, which are not in consonance with the provisions of law and procedure. They are supposed to be trained persons with adequate legal acumen, which should be reflected in the pleadings and the remedy availed, and not show ignorance and stubborn indifference to the procedure”.

Taking up a petition filed by city resident Kewal Krishan Sharma, Grover observed: “Two similar petitions filed by the same person and through the same counsel with the same prayer had come up earlier, both of which were dismissed as withdrawn. This court on an earlier occasion had also specifically put a question to the petitioner as to how the petition, filed under provisions of section 482 of the CrPC, was maintainable for quashing a notification (on section 506 of the IPC, relating to criminal intimidation being a cognizable offence)”.

“Now the petitioner has once again filed a criminal writ petition with a similar prayer seeking quashing of an FIR and of a notification. The case has been called twice but no one was present on behalf of the petitioner. Obviously, the petition is frivolous and has resulted in sheer wastage of the court’s time...The petition is dismissed with costs of Rs 20,000, which shall be recovered from the counsel who filed it”.

He added the costs recovered shall be deposited with the state legal services authority and the UT chief judicial magistrate shall ensure compliance.

In his petition Sharma had sought the quashing of FIR filed on February 5 last year under sections 504 & 506 of the IPC at Thanesar police station in Kurukshetra. Directions were further sought for quashing the Haryana government gazette notification dated September 23, 1986 wherein section 506 of the IPC was made a cognizable offence in the state.

Karnal, September 10
The teaching staff of Haryana polytechnics today decided to continue the 14-day-old strike in support of their demands for pay scales recommended by the All-India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) and time scale for lecturers on the central pattern as talks between the Polytechnic Lecturers Welfare Association (PLWAH) and the Commissioner,Technical Education, ended in a deadlock.

The commissioner said their case had been recommended to the government but did not give any firm assurance in this regard, leaving them with no choice but to continue the strike, Parminder Mann, president of the PLWAH said.

The teaching staff of the polytechnics united under the banner of the PLWAH to press its demands as there had been no response from the government for the past one year, Mann added.

The polytechnic staff were being given “stepmotherly” treatment by the government and given lower pay scales after the implementation of the Fifth Pay Commission report, disturbing the parity with their counterparts at the Centre. Neighbouring states like Delhi, UP and Punjab had been implementing the AICTE pay scales since 1996, Mann added.