Jind, November 18
The local administration has set up 10 isolation wards in various hospitals in the district to deal with the threat of swine flu.

So far, three positive cases of swine flu have surfaced in the district and have already been discharged after treatment.

The authorities, however, have sent the blood samples of two new suspected cases for test at the PGIMS, Rohtak.

Deputy Commissioner M Shayin said while 14 cases had reported for test in the district, only three had been tested positive and they had recovered from the disease.

There had been no death in the district so far.

He said, however, the administration had taken all measures to treat any case in the near future. He said while a special ward has been set up in the Civil Hospital here and some private hospitals had also been authorised to test any suspicious case free of cost and report any development to the authorities concerned immediately.

The administration has set up several cells in villages and towns, including sub-divisional headquarters, for information and consultation in this regard.

A rapid response team comprising three doctors has been set up to coordinate and take prompt action into any complaint of any suspected case of H1N1.

A helpline number 01681- 247441 has been set up by the department concerned to help and guide residents on swine flu.

Gurgaon, November 18
In a strange political development, a former Congress MLA (who was also the party’s nominee in the recent elections to the state assembly) and the BJP as well as BSP candidates for the Gurgaon assembly seat have alleged that more than 25,000 fake voters had been added to the existing voters’ list by an Independent contestant who won the poll.

Addressing a joint press conference here yesterday, former Congress MLA and unsuccessful Congress candidate Dharambir Gaba, BJP nominee Umesh Aggarwal and BSP candidate Bhim Singh Rathee said they had informed the local Deputy Commissioner, the Police Commissioner and the SDM about the matter, but no action had been taken due to political influence.

The politicians coming from different parties told the media that they had joined hands and sought help from the civil society to find out the truth.

“We carried out a ground survey to verify the latest updated voters’ list made public by the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in Gurgaon,” the group said, adding that the electoral rolls contained the names of many fake voters.

They elaborated that a sample survey of six booths (located mainly in Sectors 4, 5, 10, 11, 12, 14 and 17 of old Gurgaon) of the total 217 booths in these areas (i.e. 3 per cent of the total booths) was carried out. “It was found in the survey that the ERO, Gurgaon, had registered voters even against addresses of vacant plots. As many as 326 voters in these booths appear to have been fraudulently registered in 111 vacant plots and non-existent houses,” said Aggarwal.

He added that there was evidence suggesting that 137 family members of the successful candidate, Sukhbir Kataria, had been shown in the Gurgaon assembly electoral rolls as having 312 votes. “Of these, as many as 32 family members do not reside in Gurgaon and are registered as voters in Delhi or other constituencies of Haryana,” he added.

The team alleged that they had traced more than 50,000 voters who appear to be duplicate. Booth-wise filtering process is being carried out to find out the exact number of duplicate votes in each booth.

Aggarwal asserted that they had adequate proof and would move the court.

Sukhbir Kataria refused to comment on the matter.

DC Rajender Kumar Kataria said the poll arrangements, including the electoral rolls, were foolproof this time and everything was under the observance of the Central Election Commission. “Still, if some irregularity is established, appropriate action will be taken,” he said, but added that the voters’ lists had been duly publicised and the RWAs or other parties should have objected then. 

Sirsa, November 18
Irked over refusal to allow them to board a bus, a group of students allegedly beat up the driver and the conductor of a Punjab Roadways bus near the bus stand here today.

Conductor Vikram, who was seriously injured, was shifted to the local general hospital, following which roadways employees stopped traffic outside the bus stand for over an hour.

The incident took place when some students signalled a Punjab Roadways bus coming from Jalandhar to stop at Farwai Kalan village. However, when the driver did not stop the bus, the students reached the Sirsa bus stand on some other bus and allegedly beat up driver Richhpal Singh and conductor Vikram Singh. Sharp-edged weapons were also used in the attack.

The students escaped when the police intervened. However, the police caught two students from the scene.

The roadways employees, who had blocked the traffic, lifted the jam after the police assured them that the guilty students would be nabbed soon. 

Rohtak, November 18
The district courts today awarded death sentence to two persons for murdering four members of a family, including two women and a child, in Lakhanmajra village here in 2004.

Four others, including a woman, have been sentenced to life imprisonment in the case. A fine of Rs 7000 each have been imposed on those awarded death sentence while the rest have been asked to deposit an amount of Rs 12,000 each. Three of the convicts were related to the victims.

According to the prosecution, the convicts identified as Ashok, Sangeet, Ram Phal, Nahni, Anil and Narender had murdered four persons identified as Ranvir (48), his wife Bimla (42), Seema (22) and her son Rahul (3).

Ranvir’s son Amardeep (26) had survived with grievous injuries. The assault was made while the victims were sleeping in their house on July 26, 2004.

While all victims were shot, head injuries were also inflicted on them to ensure that they did not survive.

Sources said the accused believed that Ranvir and his family were responsible for the death of a son of Ramphal, one of the convicts. It was alleged that his son died due to some tantrik’s activity done by the victim’s family. Ranvir and Ramphal were brothers and lived in the same village.

The court of Additional Sessions Judge Puneesh Jindia today sentenced Sangeet, son of Ramphal, and one Narender to death (by hanging), while four others, including Ramphal, his wife Nanhi, Ashok and Anil, to life imprisonment in connection with the murders.

It is reported that Ramphal and his son Sangeet had allegedly hired Ashok and Narender for killing Ranvir, his wife, his son, his daughter-in-law and a grandson. The police had registered a case.

While five of the convicts, including Sangeet, RamPhal, Anil, Ashok and Narender, were in judicial custody, Nanhi had been on bail when the sentence was pronounced

Chandigarh, November 18
President of the Hisar municipal council Bihari Lal Rahra is in trouble. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has not only dismissed his anticipatory bail plea in a tender allocation case, but also fined him Rs 25,000 for making a false submission. The matter also saw Justice LN Mittal of the high court issuing a warning to a DSP for not being “forthright”.

Rahra had sought anticipatory bail in a cheating and forgery case registered on February 14 under Sections 409, 420, 467, 468, 471 and 120-B of the IPC. The prosecution version was that 43 works were allotted, even though the tenders were invited for just 26 works. On inquiry, it was found that the contractors were allowed to attach cheques, which could not be accepted, instead of accepting demand drafts or cash as security. The prosecution had also claimed that the cheques were accepted subsequent to the last date of submission of tenders. The petitioner was the president of the Hisar MC at that time and continues to be so. Two of the contractors who were allotted works are the petitioner’s relatives, the prosecution had contended.

Justice Mittal observed: The state counsel, on instructions from DSP Het Ram, state vigilance bureau, stated that the final acceptance of the tenders was done by the petitioner as the president of the council. “Without meaning to comment anything on merits, the instant petition is dismissed. Since the petitioner obtained interim relief on the preceding date of hearing by making false submission, the petitioner is subjected to Rs 25,000 costs to be deposited with the registry of this court within a month.”

Before parting with the orders, Justice Mittal observed: “It has also been noticed that DSP Het Ram, who was present on the last date of the hearing, did not point out that the tenders had been accepted by the petitioner as the municipal council president.

“Even today, he is not forthright on this point and for this reason the file had to be shown to the state counsel to depict as to who had accepted the tenders. DSP Het Ram is accordingly directed to be careful in the future,” he added.

Sirsa, November 18
The proposed November 23 Ellenabad rally of the Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has been postponed to November 29, Hoshiari Lal Sharma, president of the District Congress Committee, said here today.

He gave no reason for the same.He said HPCC president Phool Chand Mulana, Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar and several other central and state leaders, ministers and MLAs would address the rally.

Haryana Minister of State for Home, Industries, Commerce, Sports and Youth Affairs Gopal Kanda had announced at a press conference here on November 15 that Hooda would address a rally at Ellenabad on November 23 as part of his rallies to thank the electorate for their support. Kanda had announced that along with leaders of the Congress from Sirsa, he would work for making the rally a success.

Sources said certain Congress leaders of the district were upset that Kanda, who had contested against the official candidate as an Independent, had been allowed to make such a vital announcement. Congress leader Ashok Tanwar reportedly left just before Kanda made the announcement.

When contacted, Tanwar simply said the rally was put off as he would be busy in Rajasthan on account of the scheduled visit of Rahul Gandhi to that state. 

Rohtak, November 18
The INLD supremo, Om Prakash Chautala, has blamed the media for the party’s defeat in the recent assembly elections and vowed to strengthen the party base for better results next time. On the coming byelection for the Ellenabad seat, Chautala said his party was ready for it and would be the first to declare its candidate.

Talking to mediapersons before addressing a workers’ meeting here this evening, Chautala said but for the “disinformation” campaign by the media, including print and electronic, the INLD would have secured more than 50 seats.

He claimed that despite the “negative” media reports, the INLD had secured 32 seats. Chautala charged the Congress with returning to power on basis of money power.

“This will prove detrimental to the democratic setup in the country and my party will strive to check this trend so that democratic values are retained,” he said.

Gurgaon, November 18
Haryana Governor Jagannath Pahadia paid tributes to the Rezang La martyrs who laid down their lives on November 18, 1962, while safeguarding the Rezang La post in Chushul sector of Ladakh during the Indo-China war at a Rezang La Day function held here today.

Addressing a Shaheedi Samman Samaroh organised on the premises of John Hall to mark the occasion, Pahadia lauded Haryana’s contribution to the defence forces. He laid a wreath at the war memorial to pay homage to all martyrs of the nation.

“The Indian soldiers fought so bravely that even the Chinese army men saluted them,” the Governor observed. He asserted that Haryana was ahead of other states in providing facilities for the welfare of the ex-servicemen and their dependants.

Referring to the points raised by the earlier speakers, the Governor said a meeting of soldier boards would be convened in the near future to discuss various issues concerning the welfare of ex-servicemen and their dependants.

He also honoured ex-servicemen and presented mementos to the persons who had contributed in organising the function. Governor’s wife Shanti Pahadia also accompanied him in honouring war widows. Presiding over the function, the Haryana Minister for Finance, Irrigation, Forests and Environment, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, pointed out that of the 124 soldiers posted at Rezang La, 114 sacrificed their lives on this day in 1962. “Of these 114 martyrs, 82 were from south Haryana,” he maintained.

The secretary of the Haryana Rajya Sainik Board, Brig KS Budhwar, said the state government had started a new scheme, under which financial assistance of Rs 51,000 would be given at the time of the marriage of daughters of the late ex-servicemen.

Earlier, chairman of District Soldier Board-cum-Deputy Commissioner Rajender Kataria welcomed the guests.

The president of Vijay Diwas and Rezang La Shaheedi Samaroh Samiti, Major TC Rao, proposed a vote of thanks.

REWARI: The 47th anniversary of the historical battle of Rezang La was observed under the auspices of the Rezang La Shaurya Samiti with full military honours here on Wednesday.

The function commenced with the laying of wreaths at the Rezang La War Memorial, near Dharuhera Chowk here, by Col Ashok Mishra, Commanding Officer of 19 Kumaon.

Delivering his keynote address, Colonel Mishra said the battle of Rezang La was unparallelled in the annals of war in the world.

Former Union Minister Ram Singh presided over the function.

As many as 92 war widows of the Rewari region were honoured on the occasion. 
— OC

Chandigarh, November 18
To make Haryana bureaucracy more responsive to the common man, CM Bhupinder Singh Hooda has instructed administrative secretaries, department heads, commissioners and DCs to be prompt in redressing the grievances of the people.

At a meeting of grassroots party workers after the assembly elections, it had come to light that one of the main reasons behind the dismal performance of the Congress was the unresponsive and unbridled bureaucracy. In a circular today, Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati instructed senior officers to remain available in their offices between 11 am to 12 noon on all working days for meeting the public. In case, a senior officers is out of station, the next officer is to be designated for the job.

Gulati also directed the senior officers to hold meetings between 9 am to 11 am and after 4 pm, to streamline the functioning of their offices, bringefficiency and curtail absenteeism. The department heads have been told to regularly visit the field and administrative secretaries field offices at least two days in a month and cover all districts once in a year to review the progress of development works. While distributing work, Hooda has kept in mind the aptitude of individual officers for better delivery.

His Principal Secretary Chattar Singh will look after sensitive departments like town and country planning, industries and mines and geology. His Additional Principal Secretary (APSCM)-I Anuradha Gupta has been asked to look after the departments relating to social sectors like health, education and social welfare. Similarly, APSCM-II K.K. Khandelwal will look after mainly infrastructure development. APSCM-III Shiv Ram Gaur will also work as director, public relations. Deputy Principal Secretary RS Doon will look after development and panchayat, excise and taxation, transport, cooperation and the CM’s Relief Fund. OSD-I MS Chopra, one of Hooda’s most trusted men, gets tourism and public relations, while OSD-II BR Beri gets food and fupplies, archives, archaeology and museums and architecture. 

Panchkula, November 18 
Ayush (ayurveda, yoga and naturopathy, unani, siddha, homoeopathy) department plans to promote yoga in a big way. And to make it popular among the masses, it plans to rope in Patanjali Yogpeeth of Swami Ramdev, which has already begun to impart training to instructors.

Financial commissioner and principal secretary of the health department Navraj Sandhu says initially yoga instructors will be deputed in 100 villages and gradually the entire 

state will be covered. The DG of Ayush, RK Sapra, said the instructors would be given training for three weeks. 

They would be recruited from villages where the department already had its sub-centres. 

Anyone, including schoolteachers, panchayat members or NGOs, could volunteer for the service for an honorarium of Rs 3,500 per month. he said. 

Also, those with graduation or postgraduation in yoga medicine would be appointed at the district hospitals, 427 primary health centres and 93 CHCs, said sources in the health department.