Chandigarh, February 12
Eight months after renowned artist and Padma Shri awardee Anjolie Ela Menon painted a grim picture of the “ecological degradation” in Gurgaon in a writ petition against the taking over of her land, she has said that the State of Haryana and other authorities concerned “have failed to apply their minds”.

She has filed the plea before the Punjab and Haryana High Court along with author Primila Lewis against the “illegal” acquisition of 19 kanals and four marlas in Ghatta village in Gurgaon owned by her.

The purported public purpose behind the move is construction of sector roads for the proposed Sector 58.

In a replication, she has said that the three statements filed by each of the respondents, State of Haryana included, suggest “they have failed to apply their minds to the facts and circumstances of the case, and the material issues raised in the writ petition”.

Menon has reiterated that the “acquisition is for proposed development that is clearly violative of several environmental laws and directions of the Supreme Court, and additionally is apparently detrimental to the sensitive ecological balance and water-table of this region since it forms catchment area of the Aravalli mountains.

“In these circumstances, even after a full appreciation of the responses provided, it is submitted that not only is the entire acquisition process flawed, but the public purpose for which it is being acquired is patently illegal, violative of constitutional and traditional rights, premised on wrongful assumptions, based on inaccurate surveys and unequivocally arbitrary”.

Elaborating, her counsel Anand Chhibbar and Avi Singh have said:

“The notifications were issued for implementation of the Gurgaon-Manesar Master Plan, 2021. There is no explanation as to why the Master Plan for the area east of the Ghatta Bandh was issued without consideration-that it abuts the ecologically sensitive Aravalli range, will lead to construction over a seasonal lake and land that is designated moderately dense forest land in the Forest Survey of India.

“The part of the proposed Sector 58 east of Ghatta Bandh of the Master Plan, if implemented, would be in violation of environmental laws and result in the destruction of forest land and a seasonal lake essential to the ecology of the sensitive and protected Aravallis, and the replenishment of the already depleted aquifers in the area.

Haryana has now sought time to look into the factual and legal averments in the rejoinder. The next hearing is on February 23.

Karnal, February 12
A glaring example of how erring officials were shielded by high-ups “has come to light” in the Karnal Civil Hospital where no tangible action has been taken on an FIR registered by Dr Shalini Mehta, an eye specialist, against a former ophthalmic assistant even after four days.

The police has registered a case of alleged tampering with records and other irregularities against the accused under Sections 332, 353, 186 and 506 of the IPC, but it is yet to record the statements of the staff, including the storekeeper, a key witness. The hospital authorities are allegedly dithering on the issue.

Dr Shalini, who joined the hospital on March 13, 2009, said she was being constantly harassed and troubled by the ophthalmic assistant, Purshottam, who was working in the hospital after retirement but his services were later officially discontinued and he was finally relieved on December 17.

Dr Shalini alleged that the hospital administration was shielding the accused and claimed that the storekeeper was ready to give a statement that Purshottam had tampered with the records.

She alleged that Purshottam was also working with a charitable trust in Indri as “doctor” and used to take the equipment there and even in the Civil Hospital, Karnal, he used to portray himself as a “doctor” and also gave prescriptions to patients.

She revealed that during 2008, only 125 eye operations were conducted while she was operating, on an average, 70 patients every month. To cover up the lapse, evening operations were started in the hospital in which data of patients was manipulated and the storekeeper was aware of the malpractices being indulged in by the people concerned, she alleged.

She said the complicity of higher authorities was also evident from the fact that the services of Purshottam were discontinued by the department vide a letter released on March 13 but it was acknowledged on November 23 and implemented on December 17.

Chandigarh, February 12
To bring his government closer to his party’s grassroots workers as well as to strike a direct rapport with the public, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has decided to launch a two-pronged mass contact programme in the state after March 15, after the conclusion of the Budget session of the Assembly.

The programme will be divided into two parts - “Karyakarta Milan” and “Janata Chaupal”.

Hooda has planned to visit each district headquarters at regular intervals. In the forenoon, he will meet his party workers in the party office under the programme, “Karyakarta Milan”. In the afternoon, he will meet the public in government rest houses and listen to people’s grievances under the “Janata Chaupal” programme.

The Chief Minister will interact with the party workers to have a feedback on how various government programmes are being implemented in their district and what improvements they need. He will also have first-hand knowledge from the party workers about how the bureaucracy is functioning in the field.

At the “Janata Chaupal”, Hooda’s effort, according to his political adviser Virender Singh, will be to promptly redress public grievances. Among others the Chief Minister will be accompanied by the minister in charge of the respective district.

The two programmes will be held the same day. Hooda will stay at the district headquarters to provide an opportunity to people from various walks of life to meet him.

Virender Singh said Hooda had decided to launch this programme to give an impetus to the developmental works and implement more new schemes after feeling the pulse of the masses. It would also ensure transparent administration and involve workers of the party as well as individuals in the developmental process.

After completing this programme at the district headquarters, which is expected to take two months, similar programmes would be held at subdivision level for micro 
management.

Ambala, February 12
The Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) has allegedly been polluting a river of Ambala by throwing effluents into it.

Many sectors of HUDA in Ambala do not have a treatment plant to distil wastewater.

In Ambala City, HUDA has five residential sectors, including Sectors 1, 7, 8, 9 and 10. Two more sectors are in the pipeline. HUDA does not have any water treatment plant for these sectors. As a result effluent is thrown into the Tangri river that crosses through the state.

According to information, around 10 million litres of effluent from various HUDA sectors go down the Tangri river every day.

The sewer waste of municipal areas of Ambala City and Ambala Cantt also enter the river. It also pollutes the groundwater of adjoining areas.

HUDA had set up Sector 7 in Ambala City three decades ago, but no treatment plant has been constructed there so far. Recently, HUDA had planned to construct two treatment plants for its sectors in Ambala City, but it will take another two to three years to complete.

The welfare committees of various HUDA sectors have been raising the issue of defective sewer lines and treatment plants since long. They have alleged that HUDA has not made any proper arrangements for disposal of the sewerage. The HUDA sectors, which are considered to be posh colonies, were still sans basic amenities, they added.

Sources said the Haryana Pollution Control Board had issued a number of notices to HUDA, Ambala, in this regard and asked it to construct water treatment plants. The board had requested the state government to grant it permission to impose penalty on those government agencies that were not taking care of its repeated reminders.

An officer of HUDA, Ambala, refused to comment in this regard.

Ambala, February 12
The leader of the BJP legislature party in the Assembly, Anil Vij, has said the party will oppose the move on constituting municipal corporations in three twin cities by merging Ambala City and Ambala Cantt, Panchkula and Kalka and Yamunanagar and Jagadhri in the coming Assembly session.

Talking to mediapersons here recently, he said Ambala City and Ambala Cantt were separate cities and facing different problems. Moreover, geographically both cities were not interconnected as a big piece of land between these was owned by the Army.

The distance between the two cities was around 10 km and in case the office of the municipal corporation was set up at Ambala City, residents of Ambala Cantt would have problem visiting the corporation office for their day-to-day work.

He said he was in favour of setting up a separate municipal corporation for Ambala City and Ambala Cantt.

Vij said similar problems would rise in Panchkula-Kalka and Yamunanagar-Jagadhri. — OC

Fatehabad, February 12
Another case of “suspected polio” has been detected in Ratia town in the district. The victim, one-and-a-half-year-old daughter of a staff nurse, developed symptoms of “left foot drop” six days ago and was brought to the Community Health Centre (CHC).

Earlier, she was treated in Fatehabad and Hisar, but there had been no improvement in her condition, said sources.

The doctors, who term the condition as acute flaccid paralysis (AFP), have taken stool samples of the child. Doctors, according to sources, use the term AFP for any kind of paralysis suffered by children below the age of 14 and samples of the victim’s stool are tested to rule out the possibility of polio.

“We will send the stool samples to the government laboratory for testing on Monday,” said Dr VK Jain, senior medical officer of the CHC. He said the child had regularly taken polio drops and the chances of polio were very sparse. Dr Jain said the WHO office in Hisar had been informed about the case. This is the second such case in Ratia within a span of 10 days.

A two-year-old child had developed symptoms of paralysis 10 days ago and his sample too was sent for testing.

Sirsa, February 12
Actor Sanjay Dutt and Suneil Shetty are coming here on a two-day tour of the Ellenabad Assembly constituency scheduled for February 14 and February 15.

The two film stars will hold a roadshow during which they will visit several villages of the Ellenabad Assembly seat to thank voters for electing Indian National Lok Dal leader Abhey Singh Chautala in the January 20 byelection.

Earlier, both Sanjay Dutt and Suneil Shetty had visited Ellenabad on January 17 and sought votes for Abhey in a road show held on that day. The actors, who described themselves as close friends of Abhey, had promised to come again to thank voters if the junior Chautala won the bypoll.

“They are coming again to keep their word to the Ellenabad voters,” said Hari Singh, in charge of the INLD office here today.

Gurgaon, February 12
Instead of inculcating a humane attitude and good moral values amongst our children, today the focus of education has been reduced to providing them merely bookish knowledge and help them become money-making machines.

This was stated by eminent Sarod maestro Amjad Ali Khan in an interview with The Tribune on the sidelines of a musical event organised at Epicentre here recently.

Expressing concern over the increasing westernisation of culture and lifestyle in the country, Khan lamented that people were fast losing their cultural identity and the media, especially electronic, was accelerating the trend.

The music maestro maintained that the children should be given moral education and told about their rich cultural heritage from an early stage so that they grow up to be more cultured and compassionate human beings. Castigating the electronic media for giving excessive coverage to cinema, he advised the media managers to adopt a balanced approach and give due share to traditional and folk m usic as well.

“It is very unfortunate that the premiere of a Bollywood movie today makes it to the national news, while the scheduled performance of an exponent of vocal or instrumental music is nowhere to be seen,” he noted.

Earlier, Khan lighted a lamp to inaugurate the musical evening, which was titled “Ekmulaqaat…Ghazalon aur Geeton se” and presented by Class Apart Productions.

His disciple-son Amaan Ali Khan was also a star attraction at the event. Delhi-based singer-businessman R Venkatraman regaled the audience with his rendering of several classic songs and ghazals. He was accompanied by Arshad Khan on the tabla, Mohammed Yunus Warsi on the violin, Ustad Khalid Mustafa on the sitar, Taskeen Ali Khan on the keyboard and Sushil Kumar on the octopad.

Karnal, February 12
The state is fast becoming notorious for vehicle thefts with 25 to 30 cases being reported from every day.

The disturbing part is that young people in the age group of 18 to 32 years are involved in more than 80 per cent vehicle theft cases, according to Layak Ram Dabas, Director, State Crime Record Bureau.

The increasing involvement of young people in crime like vehicle theft is a disturbing trend which needs to be checked and reversed, he says. A record 49,680 cases of vehicle theft have been registered in the state during the past 10 years and there has been an increase in the number of cases every year.

Dabas says steps are being taken to check vehicle theft and places infamous for such crimes have been identified. A special police force, along with securitymen in plainclothes, can be deployed to keep tabs on criminal elements, he adds.

Letters have also been written to vehicle manufacturers to provide more security features in vehicles to ensure their safety, he says.

Haryana shares borders with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Himachal, Punjab, Delhi and Chandigarh, and easy road connectivity has made the task of the police to nab the culprits ifficult.

The casual approach of the police in such crimes and lack of coordination between police forces of neighbouring states is adding to the woes of vehicle owners. 

Narwana (Jind), February 12
The police has booked two persons for allegedly duping the local branch of a bank of Rs 1.30 crore by taking a loan against fake documents of property. No arrest has been made so far.

The fraud has been reported by the branch manager of the Oriental Bank of Commerce here, who told the police that the accused - Mahender and Vikal Chand, residents of Uchana Kalan village, had taken a loan for opening a tractor agency and had submitted documents of agricultural land against the money advanced to them.

However, the bank authorities got a rude shock when it found that the duo had stopped the loan repayment soon after and were not traceable.

The bank found that the property documents submitted with it were fake and there was no property as such in the name of the accused, who did not open any tractor agency either as per the loan agreement.

The police has registered a case of cheating and forgery against the accused, said a police official.

Fatehabad, February 12
A teenager was killed and five others were injured when the mini-truck he was travelling in collided head-on against a car near Kharakheri village here yesterday.

The victim has been identified as Ravinder (18), a student from Banawali village. The incident took place when he was going to Sonepat in the mini truck carrying a buffalo.

The accident was so fierce that both the vehicles were badly damaged.

Five persons travelling in the car were also seriously injured and have been admitted to Agroha Medical College. 

Sirsa, February 12
The District Planning Committee (DPC) headed by Deputy Commissioner Yudhbir Singh Khyalia has prepared a draft scheme of Rs 25 crore under the District Development Plan for 2010-11.

The draft scheme provides for setting up of gyms and providing better sports facilities in villages, better job avenues to the unemployed youth, strengthening self-help groups in villages, toys to anganwadi centres in villages, aid to persons suffering from chronic diseases and several other schemes.

Khyalia said besides the district would get a sum of Rs 21 crore under the Backward Area Development Scheme. — TNS