Sirsa, March 7
There is news of partial relief for hundreds of victims and their families of the Dabwali fire tragedy, who have been waiting for compensation for the past 15 long years.

The Haryana Government has sanctioned Rs 16.77 crore for disbursement among victims as per the orders of the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

“The state government had earlier released a sum of Rs 4.49 crore, making the total amount released so far to Rs 21.26 crore,” said an official spokesperson.

The Deputy Commissioner, Sirsa, Yudhbir Singh Khyalia, confirmed having received the funds and said the money would be deposited in the account of the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Dabwali, for further distribution among the victims and their families. The funds sanctioned by the government, explained the spokesperson, were against the compensation awarded by the High Court against the Haryana government, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam and the Municipal Committee, Dabwali.

Together, the three are to pay 45 per cent of the total compensation awarded.

The rest is to be paid by the DAV School, Dabwali, whose annual function turned into tragedy on December 23, 1995, and Rajiv Marriage Palace, whose premises was being used by the school for the function on that fateful day.

“The DAV Centenary School, Dabwali, has already moved the Supreme Court, where the case is listed for March 15,” said advocate Anju Arora, who represented the victims in the Punjab and Haryana High Court. “The fire victims had expected the DAV Management Committee to show some compassion towards the victims.

“The school authorities collected a lot of money through donations after the fire, but has not given account of the money,” alleged Vinod Bansal, convener of the Dabwali Fire Victims Association.

The tragedy had spelt disaster for hundreds of families as the inferno that engulfed the venue of the school function devoured 442 persons and resulted in burn injuries to over 150.

Among the victims are Suman, now a young girl of 24, who was left with a disfigured face, a septuagenarian, who lost both his sons and another who lost six members of his family. The victims and their families have waited for 15 long years for justice now. The TP Garg Commission that was constituted for determining compensation took over six years and over a dozen extensions.

Ajay Singh Chautala, INLD legislator from Dabwali, had recently organised a day’s dharna in the city to press for the victims’ demand for early compensation. The issue of compensation has been an important one during the past several elections.

The fire victims feel the authorities have not done enough to provide succour to their bruised lives. By releasing the amount of its share of compensation and opting not to appeal against the High Court orders, the state government has now provided some relief to the fire victims, yet more than half of the amount awarded by the court is likely to be delayed due to the school’s decision to move the apex court. 

Chandigarh, March 7
Even as Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) supremo Kuldeep Bishnoi and his workers are nursing wounds from the “tyranny” unleashed by the police against them on March 5, the Chandigarh Administration has decided to add salt to their wounds.

Sources said the administration today decided to cancel the permission to the HJC to hold dharnas at the rally ground. The reason: The HJC violated the terms of agreement for holding a peaceful protest and indulged in rioting. The status of the appointment given by Punjab Governor Shivraj Patil to the HJC, which had prepared a representation against the “involvement” of the Haryana police on the day their workers were cane-charged, too, is now unclear.

The HJC had sought permission from the Chandigarh Administration to organise dharnas at the rally ground in Sector 25 during the on-going Budget session of the Haryana Assembly to protest against the “misdeeds” of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government and press for the disqualification of five MLAs who had, post-election, joined the Congress.

Speaking to The Tribune, Bishnoi said in withdrawing the permission, the administration had succumbed to political pressure. “They have sent nothing in writing so far though they sent back our workers who had gone to put up tents for tomorrow’s dharna in Sector 25. I will go to the protest site tomorrow morning as per schedule since I have permission till March 12 in writing. Let’s see what happens. The cancellation is unjustified because Chandigarh is the capital of Haryana and we do have the right to voice our protest in the city,” he said.

Bishnoi maintained that following their request, the Punjab Governor had given an appointment for tomorrow morning. “However, today, I got a call saying the Governor may not be available at the appointed time,” he said.

With the registration of cases against unnamed worked of the HJC, the party is apprehensive about the police arresting all its senior leaders. “In the light of this development, we will have to change our strategy. Unlike our decision to have prominent leaders to mark the beginning of the dharna and follow it up with district-wise representation, only a few faces will come forward on day one. If the police arrests them, we will take our protest to various districts of Haryana,” HJC spokesman Rann Singh Mann said. 

Chandigarh, March 7
The Haryana Congress has asked its leaders to contribute to the party exchequer as early as possible. Otherwise, they will not be eligible for contesting any of the party posts during the ongoing organisational elections.

This step has been taken following a letter by treasurer of the All-India Congress Committee (AICC) Motilal Vora drawing the attention of the state unit to the recommendations of the Manmohan Singh Committee set up by Sonia Gandhi to find out measures to raise funds for the party.

The committee had recommended that all party office-bearers, either at the state level, the district level or the block level, along with delegates to the AICC and Pradesh Congress Committees, must contribute a particular amount every year.

Haryana Congress spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi said here today that a circular had been sent to all office-bearers of the party to send in their contribution for 2010-11 as early as possible.

All PCC members and office-bearers of the district and block units are required to pay Rs 300 per annum.

The office-bearers of the state unit and AICC members are to pay Rs 600 per annum

The Manmohan Singh Committee has asked ministers, members of Parliament and MLAs to contribute one-month salary to the party every year.

So is the case with Congress chairpersons/ members of boards/ autonomous bodies and similar institutions, said Vidrohi. Members of municipal corporations or municipal committees or zila parishads are to donate Rs 200 per year. 

Ambala, March 7
Seven persons of a family, including three children, were killed when the car they were travelling collided head on with a Haryana Roadways bus on the Ambala-Hisar road near Naggal village, 15 km from here, today.

The incident took place when two brothers along with their families were on the way to Kaithal from Zirakpur after attending the marriage of one of their relatives.

The deceased have been identified as Jai Dev Singhal (30), Naresh Singhal (34), Suman (32), Poonam (25), Arnam (1), Shreya (3) and Abhinav (6).

The car was badly damaged in the accident.

The bodies were extricated from the mangled car with the help of the police and villagers.

Naresh was driving the car. The brothers used to run a shop in the grain market in Kaithal.

They are survived by their mother Urmila.

The police handed over the bodies to the shell- shocked relatives after a postmortem examination at the civil hospital here.

A case has been registered by the police. 

Fatehabad, March 7
The unearthing of units manufacturing spurious milk by the police in some parts of the district during the past few days have exposed the large-scale fraud having inter-state ramifications.

The police on Saturday raided two dairies at Kanwalgarh village near Ratia town in this district, where the police recovered 800 litres of spurious milk, 38 bags of glucose powder, 40 tins of refined oil and a lot of caustic soda.

Two brothers were running those two units from their respective houses and the police also seized machines used for preparing spurious milk.

The accused, Satnam and Rama, who have been arrested by the police, have reportedly confessed that they prepared milk from glucose, refined oil, soda and some other materials.

The milk, the accused told the police, was being supplied to Ratia, Tohana, Fatehabad and several towns of Punjab. The police raided the dairies on a tip-off.

Earlier, the police unearthed a unit in Khasapathana village near Bhuna in this district on Friday night, where synthetic milk was being produced from chemicals for the past over two years.

The milk produced in this factory was being supplied to several reputed milk food factories in Punjab and Haryana.

The police had arrested Som Nath, Prem Chand and Rajender of Khasapathana village and Rajesh from Dholu village in this connection.

The police had recovered huge quantities of spurious milk, five sealed drums of chemical used for manufacturing spurious milk, one open drum and 17 empty drums of the chemical from the premises, where the milk was being produced.

The accused revealed during interrogation that they used to supply chemical milk to a Tohana-based dairy from where it was sent to milk food factories.

Interestingly, while the police has been able to unearth the illegal factories with huge dimensions of fake milk trade, the health authorities have not been able to pin a single such unit.

“We do not have a regular Government Food Inspector (GFI) in the district and the one from Hisar district is looking after the duties as dual charge,” said Dr OP Arya, Civil Surgeon, Fatehabad. “We have a number of cases pending in the courts, for which the GFI has to devote much of his time in courts,” he added.

The state government had issued a notification providing the powers of GFIs to several senior doctors, but none has yet exercised these powers, according to sources. “We are yet to receive any formal orders or the requisite training for this purpose,” said Dr VK Jain, SMO, Community Health Centre, Ratia.

Gurgaon, March 7
With a view to creating awareness on the rising kidney ailments in the country, a weeklong programme to address the issue commenced at Leisure Valley Park here today.

Conceptualised around World Kidney Day that falls on March 11, the inauguration witnessed a gathering of over 200 persons towards a common cause - to raise awareness on the importance of kidneys and to reduce the occurrence of kidney diseases in the community.

Nearly 100 participants took out a candle light march from Leisure Valley Park to Hotel Crowne Plaza, which was followed by a novel fashion show by kidney patients, doctors and caregivers. Themed as “Black & White” depicting “Good & Bad”, the show was aimed at attracting the attention of people towards the issue.

The programme was organised by Medanta Medicity and the Society for Kidney Support, which has been formed by kidney patients, caregivers and doctors for raising awareness.

“Our objective is to create awareness on the preventive aspects of kidney problems. We want to give a single-line message that life never stops after kidney diseases; with support and quality kidney care, there is hope, health, and happiness,” maintained Dr Vijay Kher, chairman, Department of Nephrology at the Kidney and Urology Institute, Medanta Medicity.

Rakesh Kochhar, president, Society for Kidney Support, said: “We are certain that the community awareness programme and health camps will help us in sensitising the masses against this silent-killer disease and demonstrating the zest for life of these patients.”

A painting competition and a gift distribution for the needy children was also organised. Experts pointed out that one in 10 Indians have some form of chronic kidney disease. Early diagnosis and treatment for kidney diseases could prevent kidney failure and the need for dialysis, they asserted. 

Jhajjar, March 7
For bringing significant improvement in the sex ratio in Haryana, Jhajjar district has been ranked on top followed by Gurgaon and Faridabad as per the statistics available for 2009.

For this achievement, Jhajjar Deputy Commissioner Nitin Yadav will be given away a state award of Rs 5 lakh by Chief Minster Bhupinder Singh Hooda at a function to be organised on March 8 at Haryana Niwas, Chandigarh, to mark International Women’s Day.

A communiqué in this regard has recently been shot off by MP Bansal, Director of the Women and Child Development Department, Haryana, to the Jhajjar DC.

The communiqué states that “the Jhajjar district administration, under the leadership of DC Nitin Yadav, has made sincere efforts in bringing considerable improvement in the sex ratio in the district.

Hence, the state government has identified Jhajjar district for presenting an award for its best performance in the field of sex ratio.”

In 2008, Jhajjar district had 803 girls per 1,000 boys whereas in 2009, this figure of girls increased to 825.

Expressing satisfaction over the government’s decision, the Jhajjar DC said officials had done a lot of work for the improvement of the sex ratio in the district during the past couple of years.

“Awareness camps with the help of the Health Department, panchayats, municipal councils, anganwari workers, social and religious organisations were organised in rural areas of the district at regular intervals to make people aware about this social evil. Besides, raids were carried out from time to time at numerous ultrasound scan centres to ensure the compliance of the ban on pre-natal tests.

Besides, NGOs were also motivated for consistent monitoring and mobilising the masses to turn the war against the evil of female foeticide into a mass movement, maintained Yadav.