Karnal, November 11
The INLD chief, OP Chautala, presided at a state executive meeting today to analyse the election results in which all MLAs, defeated candidates, presidents of block and district units and workers participated.

He said state president Ashok Arora had been authorised to act as “disciplinary committee” to initiate action against all those who had revolted against the party or opposed the official candidates.

Action would also be taken against leaders and workers who had remained “silent or inactive” during the campaign, harming the interests of party candidates, he added.

Talking to mediapersons later, he lashed out at the Congress-led government in the state for indulging in horsing-trading to muster a majority and said the “selling and buying” of elected members to save the government had sullied the image of the state.

The defection of five HJC members to the Congress was “illegal and unconstitutional” and they attracted disqualification under the anti-defection law, he said.

Recalling that in 1990, 41 Janata Dal MPs had formed a new party and a day later three more MPs joined that party, but they were disqualified by the Speaker as it was tantamount to defection. Chautala said the same principle must be applied to HJC members.

He said these MLAs had joined the Congress without forming a separate group and attracted the provisions of the anti-defection law.

Dubbing the government as a government of the unscrupulous, the INLD chief said it was driving the state into “darkness”. Launching a blistering attack on the Haryana and Delhi Chief Ministers for allowing the Jessica Lal murder case convict Manu Sharma to be released on parole, Chautala said Manu had worked for his father Venod Sharma in the elections and money and muscle power were in play. The matter would be raised in the House and also brought to the notice of the Speaker, he added.

Blaming a section of the media for playing a “negative” role against the INLD in the elections, he said but for the bias, the results would have been different. Despite this, the CM could not get a clear majority, he said. 

Rewari, November 11
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said the state government would review and update its industrial policy. He was speaking at the opening of the Hollister Plant at Bawal.

The plant would involve an investment of Rs 250 crore and provide employment to at least 1,100 persons.

Hooda said the government realised that availability of world-class infrastructure was necessary to facilitate sustainable development and the flow of foreign direct investment to the state.

“We are one of the leading states in the country in terms of a number of consumer products like passenger cars, motorcycles, refrigerators, washing machines and bicycles. “It is home to several export-oriented units. Multi-national companies like Honda, Suzuki, Denso, Norcool, Baxter, Yokohama, Yakult-Danone, JCB, Mitsubishi, to name a few, have set up their manufacturing base in Haryana.

During the past four-and-a-half years, the state has attracted investment to the tune of Rs 40,000 crore from both domestic and international sources and investment worth Rs 90,000 crore is in the pipeline.”

He congratulated the project team for acccomplishing the task of manufacturing disposable medical devices in a short span and also thanked the management for keeping faith in the government.

He said it was the government endeavour to reduce regulatory burden by facilitating time-bound clearances. The Industrial Policy 2005 and Industrial Promotion Act 2005 addressed these objectives.

Claiming his government had been voted to power again, he said the government had taken a number of major initiatives, especially to improve connectivity.

The Kundli Manesar Palwal (KMP) Expressway, upgradation of highways and metro rail connectivity would be landmarks in this area. The government had also taken up a number of new power projects and he was sure that soon “we will be able to meet the expectations of our stakeholders in this area too”.

But the success achieved on various fronts would be nullified unless backed by skilled workmanship.To achieve this, the government had adopted a two-pronged strategy, which included reforms in education system and upgrading educational infrastructure.

Rajiv Gandhi Education City was being set up in Kundli in Sonepat where institutes of excellence for higher learning and research would be set up.

The government had allotted land for institutes like the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs at IMT Manesar, the National Institute for Food Technology and the Entrepreneurship and Management (NIFTEM), Kundli.

The government had also devised a comprehensive Rehabilitation and Resettlement Policy under which developers were under an obligation to create facilities for capacity-building for the population displaced. 

New Delhi, November 11
The Union Government today announced the setting up of a three-member committee that will study the feasibility of having a metro train link to Faridabad and Bahadurgarh.

The Union Urban Development Secretary will head the committee that will have the Chief Secretaries of Haryana and Delhi, respectively, as its members.

Union Minister for Urban Development S Jaipal Reddy today announced the constitution of the committee to seek a report at the earliest on the proposal of the Haryana government to link Delhi to Bahadurgarh and also to Faridabad with the metro rail network.

The issue was raised by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in the 31st meeting of the National Capital Region Planning Board (NCRPB) here today.

Hooda said the Haryana government had decided to link Gurgaon with Indira Gandhi International Airport through high-speed metro expressway and the matter had already been taken up with the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC).

Further, he urged the DMRC to reconsider the state’s proposal to connect Sonepat-Kundli multi-functional urban complex with metro and prepare a detailed project report.

Haryana has offered to bear the entire cost of the extension of the metro from Badarpur - located on the Delhi-Haryana border - up to Faridabad.

A detailed project report has already been prepared for the same and the project has also been approved by the DMRC. However, the clearance of the Delhi government and that of the Government of India is still awaited.

The Haryana government said not only the movement of people between Faridabad and Delhi was getting affected, but the capital cost of project was also increasing day-by-day.

Haryana has also offered to bear the entire cost of construction of this project, including that of the Delhi portion of some 42 metres. The state government was also keen to extend metro line beyond Inderlok to the city park in Bahadurgarh.

In the last meeting of the NCRPB, the Chief Minister said he raised the issue and Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit had agreed to extend this line.

Fatehabad, November 11
The police today arrested a doctor couple after a team set up by the health authorities caught them red-handed while determining sex of a foetus.

The team had earlier laid a trap to nab the couple and sent a decoy expectant woman to nab them red-handed.

“The doctor couple - Vandana and Rajesh Bansal - has been arrested under Section 420 of the IPC and Section 6 of the Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act 1994,” said police sources.

Civil Surgeon Dr OP Arya said a trap was laid to nab the doctor couple red-handed after the authorities received several complaints of determination of sex of foetus in Bansal Janana Hospital of the couple at Kulan town here.

“The ultrasound machine being used in the test is not registered with my office and has been sealed by the team. Neither of the doctors was trained and authorised to conduct ultrasound tests under the PNDT rules,” Dr Arya added. Bimla Devi, SHO of the Tohana Sadar police station, reached there after receiving information from the team and took the couple into police custody.

Dr Jain, who headed the raiding team, said the couple had been running the ultrasound centre in gross violation of the PNDT Act and rules and no record was being maintained by them regarding tests being performed in their hospital.

Ambala, November 11
The city police has registered a case of negligence against a doctor couple of Ambala City, who run a private nursing home, under Sections 336, 304-A and 34 of the IPC.

The case was registered on the complaint of Gurinder Pal Singh, whose wife was admitted in the said nursing home for delivery. She later died in the Forties hospital in Chandigarh on October 29.

Gurinder Pal submitted a complaint to the DSP, Ambala City, today.

Gurinder said in the complaint that his wife Damanpreet, who was expecting, had been taking treatment from the nursing home for the past nine months. In this period, the doctor conducted her ultrasound around 10 times. On October 27, she was admitted to the nursing home for delivery. At around 9 pm, the doctor concerned informed him that his wife was blessed with a child and ensured him that his wife was quite well. The doctor did not allow him to meet his wife in the operation theater.

He said in the meantime the doctor asked him to arrange three units of blood, which was arranged. He said he had asked the doctor to allow him to take his wife to the PGI if her condition was serious. Later, his wife was sent to Fortis hospital in Chandigarh, where she died the next day. He alleged that his wife died due to the negligence of the doctor.

Refuting the charges, director of the nursing home Dr Raj Kumar said his wife was given all necessary emergency treatment in the hospital. He said no negligence was carried out in this case.

Meanwhile, local president of the Indian Medical Association Dr Ashok Sarwal said before registering the case against the doctor couple the police should have taken the opinion of a medical board, which was mandatory according to the guidelines of the Supreme Court. 

Dabwali (Sirsa), November 11
Will the Punjab and Haryana High Court announcing compensation for 493 petitions in the worst fire tragedy in the country return what Suman Kaushal and many others had lost in the Dabwali Fire Tragedy 14 years back? As a bubbly nine-year-old, Suman had never imagined that life ahead would be so dark and disfigured for her.

Today, at the age of 23, even after a series of plastic and cosmetic surgeries, her face remains so disfigured that she can’t muster the courage to look into the mirror. Suman is among those affected by a fire incident who have been awarded compensation by the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Life took the turn for the worst for Suman on December 23, 1995, when a fire broke out during the annual function of the DAV Centenary School at Rajiv Marriage Place here.

As many 442 persons, including 258 women and 136 children, perished in the fire and 150 received serious burn injuries. “The TP Garg commission of inquiry had assessed a compensation of Rs 16 lakh for each of us, but the High Court in its judgment has hiked it to 33.50 lakh each. “Compensation is fine, but it is not going to last for my whole life. I want a job. This loneliness is difficult to bear,” said Suman, talking to The Tribune.

She has BA and BEd degrees, but has not found a job because of her disfigurement. Septuagenarian Roshan Lal is a broken man today. A photographer by profession, his two sons Ravinder and Ashame, were at Rajiv Marriage Place on the fateful day to click photographs of the event.

The inferno devoured both. Roshan Lal’s wife has been confined to bed after a canter hit her rickshaw while on her way to hospital.

The elder son was married but his wife decided to leave Roshan Lal’s house with her son. The compensation of Rs 6.35 lakh that he will receive for his younger son has no meaning for him now. Ravinder Midha’s wife, his brother Bhupesh Mehta’s wife and children of both brothers perished in the fire.

Bhupesh found the grief too much to bear and committed suicide a few days later. Ravinder breaks down as he recalls the incident.“Compensation can’t erase the pain of losing our dear ones,” he says. 

Chandigarh, November 11
In a judgment that would bring cheer to teachers from Haryana who have worked in aided schools, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has held the service rendered by them in such institutes would be considered for pension and other retirement benefits.

Allowing a bunch of three petitions, Justice Ranjit Singh has asserted: “Service rendered in a private school or an aided post, which is receiving grant-in- aid is also made pensionable and as such, the same is required to be taken into consideration for the purpose of pension and retiral benefits”.

The ruling came on the petitions filed by Randhir Singh and others against the state of Haryana and another respondent. The petitioners were seeking directions to the state to consider “the period of service rendered in the aided schools as qualified period for the purpose of pension and other retiral benefits”.

Randhir Singh was promoted as the headmaster of Janta High School at Kaithal. The school was taken over by the government on February 14, 1990; and Randhir Singh was absorbed in government service, which as also regularised by May 31 the same year. But the service rendered by Randhir Singh while he was on an aided post in a private school was not being taken into consideration.

The other petitioner, Kamlesh Kumari, was appointed as social studies teacher in a government-aided private school in 1980. She later left service to join as SS teacher in the education department, Haryana, in 1989 and retired in 2004. The service rendered on the aided post was not taken into consideration for grant of pension and other benefits. After hearing rival contentions, Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “The issue raised in the three writ petitions already stands adjudicated by this court in a decision rendered in a civil writ petition number 16817 of 2007, decided on July 22.” 

Panipat, November 11
After a four-year-old boy from the city lost his life to swine flu at a Delhi hospital a few days ago, three more cases of swine flu have been detected in the city which have put the health authorities on alert. Arnav (4), a resident of Model Town, had recently tested positive of swine flu, following which he was admitted to a hospital in Delhi where he died last Thursday.

The Health Department immediately swung into action and took samples of all his family members living in the city. As the report of the samples came, it was confirmed that Arnav’s cousin Akash (10) and his sister Avni (6) were also infected with the H1N1 virus.

Both the children studied with Arnav in a local school. None of the other members of the family were tested positive.

The doctors said children were more prone to the H1N1 influenza as compared to adults and thus only these two fell ill in the family.

Besides, another student of the school - Dwaj Singla - was also tested positive of the influenza on Monday.According to the district health officials, all three children were undergoing treatment and there was considerable improvement in their condition and they were completely out of danger.

Meanwhile, the health officials took samples of eight more children, who went to the same school as that of children who were tested positive.

These samples were sent for examination at the government lab and the reports are expected to be available in two days time. The health officials said paediatric antiviral medicine that was given to children suffering from swine flu was available at the Civil Hospital and there was nothing to fear. There was no reason for panic whatsoever.

They said required measures were being taken to check any further spread of the disease by the health authorities.