Fatehabad, May 16
Six persons, alleged to be members of a gang of cattle thieves, were beaten up by residents of Buwan village here today. The incident took place when they were trying to load buffaloes of a villager in their vehicle near a village pond.

The villagers also smashed the windowpanes of a police Gypsy and deflated its tyres, when the police reached there to save the alleged thieves.

The villagers alleged that the police was hand in gloves with the thieves and questioned as to how the police arrived within minutes without any information.

The angry villagers also blocked the Bhuna-Tohana road. They alleged that the “miscreants” came in a canter and started loading buffalos in their vehicle.

The villagers rushed towards the pond, when a boy informed them about the presence of strangers near the pond. The villagers, including women, surrounded the alleged thieves and beat them up with lathis.

A police vehicle that reached the village soon after the incident met with the wrath of villagers, who smashed its windowpanes and deflated its tyres.

Later, SDM JK Abhir and DSP Shiv Charan reached there and pacified the villagers.

The police booked the six youths and took them to a hospital for treatment.

Fatehabad, May 16
Notwithstanding tall claims of facilities for institutional deliveries even at the village level in Haryana, an expectant woman in labour first lost her baby and then lost her life within hours, though her kin lost no time in bringing the woman to hospital.

The incident occurred on Friday but came to light today after some sources in the hospital alleged that gross negligence of the health authorities and undue delay in performing a surgery were responsible for the tragic deaths.

The victim, Sunita, a Dalit and wife of Sant Lal from Lalwaas village in the district, was taken to the Community Health Centre, Ratia, early on Friday morning after the woman felt labour pains in the night, said the victim’s mother-in-law, Guddi Devi.

After keeping the woman in the CHC for over three hours, doctors told them that a caesarean surgery was needed and they did not have the services of a surgeon at Ratia.

Sunita was later taken to the general hospital, Fatehabad, around noon and after keeping her in the hospital for some time, the hospital authorities referred her to Hisar.

However, the authorities called her back when the ambulance carrying her crossed Dhangar village, a distance of 12 km.

A private surgeon carried out the caesarean operation in the local general hospital, but a stillborn baby was delivered in the surgery.

Soon, the condition of the woman started deteriorating and she, too, lost her life within hours of the birth of her stillborn child.

“She was alright when we took her to the CHC, Ratia, in the morning, but her condition started deteriorating when we had to wait in the local hospital without any medical aid,” alleged Sarbati, mother of the victim.

Sources in the general hospital said while one surgeon of the hospital was not available, the other had expressed his inability to handle the case.

Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj, Senior Medical Officer in charge of the general hospital, who also looks after the charge of civil surgeon, maintained that the hospital surgeon, Dr OP Dahmiwal, was on some official duty on that day and thus the hospital authorities decided to refer the woman to Hisar.

“However, soon we called a private doctor and called the ambulance back, but the woman and the child could not be saved,” Dr Kamboj said.

The private surgeon, who performed the surgery, said she could have been saved had the surgery started earlier.

Dr VK Jain, senior medical officer of the CHC, Ratia, denied that there was any delay in referring the woman to Fatehabad.

Yamunanagar, May 16
Taking serious note of the fact that some affluent persons too were making attempt to include their names in the below poverty line (BPL) families list to get various benefits, the district administration has directed the police to register an FIR against one person of Bhamboli village who had applied for a BPL card on false grounds and names of 2,628 persons of six blocks were also deleted from the BPL list after their claims were found false during the survey.

Giving details to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said: “We have involved total 74 officials to conduct a survey in 660 villages of the district. The officials visited 41,228 families in different six blocks. While total 2,265 fresh applications were cleared for BPL families. The state government has finalised the BPL survey 2007 in July 2008. In this survey, total 1,60,315 families were surveyed”.

“As per the new directions, the state financial commissioner and Principal Secretary of the Rural Department, a committee headed by the DC, SDM, DDPO, XEN (Band R) was constituted to redress the grievances pertaining to BPL families,” he said.

“Besides, the government has again reconsidered the matter and has directed that the DC should reactivate the committee for the redressal of grievances pertaining to the BPL list,” the DC said.

“The DC is permitted to delete ineligible persons and include genuine left out persons in the BPL list, provided the overall figure does not exceed the already reported figure based on the 2007 BPL survey,” he said.

“In order to identify the houses of BPL families, painting work on their houses have been completed in Jagadhri, Radaur, Mushtafabad, Sadhaura and Bilaspur blocks and about 95 per cent work have also been completed in the Chhachhrauli block,” he added. 

Gurgaon, May 16
Gurgaon Police Commissioner Surjeet Singh Deswal yesterday launched a programme for residents’ security, under which any resident can place a request for the police verification of domestic help, tenants and drivers online.

The programme, “Hamari Suraksha”, was launched from Sector 23 in Gurgaon.

Malti, 20, hailing from Assam and employed at Dr JL Baweja’s House No. 646-A in Sector 23 here became the first domestic help to be registered under this programme.

“The programme, based on the public-private partnership model, has been started on an experimental basis. A company had approached the Gurgaon police for preparing a database of the floating population, especially the domestic help, tenants and drivers, and the work has been entrusted to it as an experiment. If some more companies approach us, we will allot them other areas,” Deswal maintained.

The Police Commissioner appealed to residents’ welfare associations to come forward and participate in this exercise.

He also listened to the grievances of residents there.

Ashwani Narula, CEO of Hamari Suraksha Software Solutions, said the residents could apply for police verification on the website www.hamarisuraksha.com.

Following this, a representative of the company would visit their house and upload the photo, scan identity proof like driving licence or PAN card and fingerprints with a biometric device.

The data so collected would be handed over to the police, which would get it verified from the police authorities at the person’s native place.

For this facility, Rs 50 per application would be charged initially, he said, adding that in case of a domestic help, the charges would be paid by the house owner while the tenants would pay the charges themselves. 

Hisar, May 16
To minimise complaints of wrong billing, non-receipt of bills and long queues for depositing bills, the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam has introduced spot billing system in the town.

Half of the town has already been covered under this plan and rest of the areas will be covered by the weekend.

Sudhir Rajpal, Managing Director, DHBVN, said here recently that it was yet another step towards improving service to electricity consumers. The meter readers would now generate energy bills on the spot in presence of the consumer.

For the purpose, the nigam has purchased electronic machines with built-in printers, in which the meter reader will feed the current reading of the meter on the spot. The previous reading will be available in the machine’s memory.

On giving the print command, the machine will generate the electricity bill which will be handed over to the consumer. The consumer can make payment against this bill by cheque to the meter reader there and then.

The work of meter reading, bill distribution and cash collection is being done by members of the Haryana Ex-Services League (HESL) in the area of the DHBVN.

Though there has been considerable reduction in complaints relating to billing service with the setting up of consumer care centres at all district headquarters, the introduction of spot billing system will further satisfy the consumers and will bring about transparency in the service.

Faridabad,May 16
The Punjabi community in Haryana has decided to organise “Punjabi Mahasammelan” in Kurukshetra to express gratitude to the government for according second language status to Punjabi and to impress upon the need for more welfare measures.

The proposed event is part of a mass mobilisation campaign by a section of Punjabi leaders to spread awarness among the community members on their social and political rights.

A similar event was orgnised in Hisar recently under the leadership of Congress Rajya Sabha MP Shadi Lal Batra.

Batra said here that the proposed event in Kurukshetra would be held in September. He said the first such convention in Hisar saw participation by Punjabis from Fridabad,Palwal,Gurgaon, Bhiwani,Rohtak,Mahendragarh,Hisar,Sirsa,Fathehabad and Sonepat.

The sammelan at Kurukshetra was meant for Punjabis of the the remaining districts.

Batra,considered the mastermind behind the move to galvanise the community, said now debates and deliberations in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha could also be held in Punjabi.

A senior Punjabi leader said that the sammelan at Kurukshetra would mark the end of the first phase of the campaign to mobilise members of the community.

Next, a non-political body would be constituted to give a sense of direction and leadership to the community.

The proposed body would build a link with Punjabis living of other states.

Also, there were efforts to raise a memorial in Kurukshetra in memory of members of the community killed during Partition.

Sirsa, May 16
The University of Texas at Arlington has set up a memorial to Indian-American astronaut Kalpana Chawla in its College of Engineering.

The memorial was set up in Nedderman Hall, one of the primary buildings in UT Arlington’s College of Engineering on May 3, said Kalpana’s father Banarsi Lal Chawla, who was invited for the function.

Although Chawla could not make it to the function, the late astronaut’s friends have sent him details of the function along with the photographs.

Kalpana Chawla, who perished with American space shuttle on February 1, 2003, was one of the university’s most celebrated graduates.

She earned her master’s of science degree in aerospace engineering from UT Arlington in 1984 before becoming an astronaut.

“The display includes one of Chawla’s flight suit, several photographs and historical and biographical information about her and the space programme. Also included in the display is a flag flown over Johnson Space Center during the memorial to the astronauts, who perished in the Columbia disaster,” said Chawla.

Jean-Pierre Harrison, Chawla’s husband, had donated these items to the university, he added.

Astronauts Janet Kavandi and Dominic Gorie, both colleagues of Chawla, who were present in the dedication function, described Kalpana as one of the best friends they ever had.

Harrison said his wife would be happy to know that she was an example and an inspiration to others.

Chandigarh, May 16
Principals of government schools in the state will now have to submit affidavits stating that they are not charging money from students to pay power bills of the schools.

The School Education Department has issued these instructions to district education officers (DEOs) across the state. Action comes a fortnight after The Tribune highlighted that some government schools in Haryana were charging Rs 2 each from students to pay the electricity bills of the schools.

Justifying the “contribution” from the students, principals and staff of various schools had maintained that there was no provision for payment of bills at the level of the government. In the absence of a head for such expenditure in the funds allocated to the schools, they were forced to collect money from the students while taking the remaining balance from the amalgamated funds at the school’s disposal to make the payment.

Sources in the department said the principals had been given 10 days to submit these affidavits to the DEOs so that these served as a deterrent to making such “unapproved collections” from students. The “errant” schools collecting money for bills had been asked to present their side of the story as well. They had been asked to explain the specific rules and instructions under which they had been collecting money from schoolchildren without permission from the department and in contravention to the policy of the state government.

The department has also informed the schools that though they have not been provided a separate fund for payment of electricity bills in the funds allocated to them, the department does not expect them to pay the bill at all. “In fact, they are required to forward the bills to the head office which will do the needful,” an official said.

However, officials in the department admit that not many schools forward their electricity bills for payment and the practice of collecting money from children for payment of bills is the usual norm.

What is more shocking about the “collections” is that though education is free in Haryana, money is being collected under various heads by schools at their level and is used for the “institution’s welfare”.

Sirsa, May 16
The Haryana government has dismissed Mohinder Singh, a social studies teacher posted in Government High School, Dharampura, after he was arrested for the alleged molestation of girls. District Education Officer Asha Kiran confirmed this today.

The police had earlier booked him on May 1 for outraging the modesty of girls (Section 354 of the IPC) after villagers complained that the teacher had molested some girls and was in the habit of making obscene actions in front of them.

“The fact of molestation of girls came to our notice, when our daughters refused to go to the school alleging that their teacher did obscene gestures in front of them and molested them,” alleged villagers from Harni Khurd, who had assembled in the primary school of the village on May 1 and locked the school building.

“The school in our village is up to the fifth standard only and after completion of their primary schooling, our children have to go to Dharampura, where the accused misbehaved with our girls,” they had alleged in front of DSP Dharampal Bhardwaj, who asked the SHO, Rania, to register an FIR. The police later arrested him. Mohinder Singh is the second teacher in the district to have been dismissed on such charges in a month.

Earlier, Anil Ahlawat, a Hindi teacher from Government High School, Shahpur Begu, was dismissed for raping a student

In another incident, the police today arrested a priest for raping a minor girl at Bansudhar village in this district. A police spokesperson said Hanuman, a priest in the village temple, was booked by the police on April 28 on a complaint of the victim’s father and had been absconding since then.

Sirsa, May 16
The Haryana government has dismissed Mohinder Singh, a social studies teacher posted in Government High School, Dharampura, after he was arrested for the alleged molestation of girls. District Education Officer Asha Kiran confirmed this today.

The police had earlier booked him on May 1 for outraging the modesty of girls (Section 354 of the IPC) after villagers complained that the teacher had molested some girls and was in the habit of making obscene actions in front of them. Mohinder Singh is the second teacher in the district to have been dismissed on such charges in a month. Earlier, Anil Ahlawat, was dismissed for raping a student. — TNS

Chandigarh, May 16
Jail bars have failed to arrest Surinder Kumar’s spirits. Lodged in Karnal jail, he wants to pursue management studies. Coming to his rescue, Justice Permod Kohli of the Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the Kurukshetra University VC to consider his request for waiving fee for MBA through correspondence.

Sentenced to 20 years’ jail, Surinder Kumar, in his petition before the High Court, has claimed that he has done his graduation from KU. For acquiring further knowledge, he wants to do MBA. Surinder is 80 per cent medically unfit. After hearing the arguments, Justice Permod Kohli held: “From the circumstances, it appears the petitioner is a convict, but he wants to acquire knowledge and qualification. This is an indicator that he is in process of transformation”.

Issuing a notice of motion to the state of Haryana and the KU, Justice Kohli has asserted: “The petitioner should be encouraged to acquire knowledge and qualification and to become a refined man, which may be beneficial for society as a whole”. Justice Kohli directed the VC to take a considerate view.

Chandigarh, May 16
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has ordered an inquiry into the gas leak at an ice factory in Hisar affecting several persons, including children. The probe will be conducted by Hisar SDM, an official spokesman said here today.

The factory has already been sealed and its owner arrested, he said.

Many children who were affected by the leakage yesterday, were discharged after being given first-aid.

Ammonia gas had leaked from the ice factory located at Parao Chowk in Hisar causing panic among school -children. Several others complained of irritation in the eyes and some of nausea. The residents had demanded immediate shifting of such factories on the outskirts of the town to avert such mishaps in future. — PTI

Panipat, May 16
Timely intervention by the istrict administration thwarted a well-planned attempt by the sarpanch and two panches of Manana village to usurp 1,600 kanals of panchayat land, which they had got registered in the names of over 226 persons in connivance with the tehsildar.

The matter came to light when villagers filed a detailed complaint with the DC about two months back, alleging that panchayat land had been fraudulently registered in the names of some villagers. The DC asked the additional deputy commissioner (ADC) to look into the matter.

After conducting an inquiry, the ADC submitted a report in which he held that sarpanch Bhim Singh and panches Bhram Dutta and Mohar Singh had connived with the tehsildar and got the land registered in the names of beneficiaries. The purpose was to sell the prime land and pocket profits, the ADC stated. After the ADC’s report, DC Vijay Singh Dahiya asked the District Development and Panchayat Officer (DDPO) to initiated action and guilty as per the law.

The DDPO got an FIR registered against the sarpanch and the two panches. The matter against tehsildar Raj Kumar was referred to the Commissioner, Revenue.

During inquiry, the ADC recorded the statements of over 35 persons and concluded that rules had been overlooked while registering the land in the name of the said persons.

Rajinder Rathi, one of the panches, said for the past many years this plot of 1,600 kanals was leased out by the panchayat to farmers. But in January this year, the sarpanch and the two panches got it registered in the name of 226 residents of the village. He alleged that the tehsildar went out of his way to help the sarpanch grab land that had been established beyond doubt in the report prepared by the ADC.

The villagers got to know about the matter in March and approached the district administration.