Jind, May 23
Kisan leader Mahendra Singh Tikait, accompanied by his supporters, today attended a sarv khap meeting at HUDA grounds here. He, however, declined to preside over the meeting.

Addressing the meeting, attended by at least 200 members from villages in the state, UP, Delhi and Punjab, Tikait, head of the Balian khap (caste council) in Uttar Pradesh, said the Jat community would continue to agitate till the Hindu Marriage Act-1955, was amended banning same-gotra marriages. "We cannot tolerate such marriages. If the central government fails to bring a legislation to ban such marriages, there will be no option but to gherao Parliament," he had told mediapersons at Bharatiya Kisan Union headquarters at Sisauli near Muzzafarnagar before leaving for Jind.

The meeting served an ultimatum on the central government to meet its demand by June 19 after which all supply lines to the Capital would be snapped. It adopted a resolution to socially boycott those legislators and members of Parliament who did not take up their cause with the Centre. The khap members decided that no marriage would be solemnised with the kin of these MPs and legislators and they could “ marry within the same gotra.”

The meeting also decided to impose a token penalty on such leaders. The demand for banning marriages within the same gotra came after a court in Karnal awarded capital punishment to five persons in the double murder of a young couple, Manoj and Babli, who had married within the same gotra. Haryana Arya Pratinidhi Sabha Vice President Satyavir Singh Shastry declared that all the Arya Samaj temples had been directed not to solemnise such marriages. Strict action would be taken if any Arya Samaj temple violated the directions in this regard.

In recent days, several cases of khap panchayats harassing couples have come to the fore.

Sonepat, May 23
After Rajya Sabha MP Shadi Lal Batra, Lok Sabha MP from Sonepat, Jitender Singh Malik has come out in support of amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act.

In a press statement here today, Malik said he would write to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Union Law Minister Veerappa Moily on the issue.

“I will bring a resolution in the Lok Sabha on the need for amending the Hindu Marriage Act in order to preserve our cultural values,” he said.

Malik contended that people in the region were mostly followers of the Arya Samaj whose founder Swami Dayanand disfavoured same-gotra marriages. Scientifically too these were unhealthy.

Meantime, All-India Jat Mahasabha spokesman Tara Chand Mor, in a statement, said amendment in the Hindu Marriage Act was necessary for preserving social and cultural values.

He claimed that if a referendum was held in northern India, an overwhelming majority would support a ban on same-gotra marriages. — OC

Sonepat, May 23
The Congress today appeared to be all set to claim the chairmanship of the Gohana Municipal Committee.

On the initiative of the Congress legislator from Gohana, Jagbir Singh Malik, 13 of the total 21 councillors today assembled at his residence for a meeting.

They submitted in writing that they would abide by the directions of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for electing the MC chairman.

When contacted, Malik confirmed that the councillors had held a meeting at his residence and unanimously resolved to support the Congress nominee for the MC chairmanship.

The Congress member of Parliament, Jitender Singh Malik, and MLA Malik are both ex-officio members of the municipalit committee.

They have considerable clout in the city.

Sources say that Raj Kumar Sharma representing Ward No. 17 is a strong contender 
for the post of chairmanship.

His wife Meena Sharma was elected from Ward No. 19.

Soon after the civic poll results were declared, the Indian National Lok Dal leadership had claimed that eight of the elected councillors owed allegiance to the party. 

Jhajjar, May 23
The loss prevention incentive scheme launched by Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) to curb the menace of theft of energy/unauthorised use of electricity is turning out to be a medium to fleece power consumers for its employees.

Just to avail the benefit of the scheme, the nigam employees are not only violating the official instructions with impunity by recording additional workload of consumers in the name of meter checking, but also giving a bad name to the nigam as well.

Following this, a significant numbers of complaints seeking re-checking of load are pending with the nigam, wherein it has been alleged that raiding teams of the nigam have not been noting down their power load as per the instructions.

An investigation conducted by The Tribune into the matter reveals that the employees are committing the “illegality” deliberately with an intention to get incentive.

Though the consumers have brought the prevalent corrupt practice to the notice of senior officials of the nigam several times, they have turned a blind eye towards it, leading to resentment among the public.

As per the scheme, every member of the meter checking team are entitled to get incentives only when load of a consumer, found to be guilty of power theft, is over 5 kW and if the load is below 5 kW they cannot avail the benefit.

This is the foremost reason, the raiding team, most of the time, does not hesitate to mention the load over 5 kW in the checking report, whether the load is much below it.

According to the scheme, an incentive of Rs 200 to each member of a checking party is given on detection of every unauthorised use of electricity/theft of energy. Besides, 20 per cent of the amount realised on account of the final statement of case is also distributed among XEN/ SDO/JE/police men/ SDO/OP/CE and clerks.

As per the nigam instructions, the name of electrical equipments cannot be mentioned in the checking report as the rating of various domestic appliances have already been specified by the nigam for the purpose of computing the actual connected load of consumers. Notwithstanding all, the raiding teams are noting down names of various domestic appliances like washing machine, iron and water rod with its self-computed load in the report.

Surprisingly, this corrupt practice of the checking team is also in the knowledge of the nigam’s senior officials. An SE of the nigam has recently written a letter to the XEN, vigilance, UHBVN, wherein he has admitted that the load recording is not being done as per rules.

In the letter, the SE has urged the XEN to advise his checking party officials to record the load of consumers as per the nigam’s rules to avoid any controversy. The SE also mentioned that investigation of a complaint has revealed that the load of power plugs has been added additionally though load of total equipments installed such as geyser has also been counted for.

“Checking teams of the nigam have been misusing their power to extort money from consumers. Though the nigam’s senior officials are well aware of these “illegalities” being committed by the checking team, they are wilfully not paying any heed towards it,” said Sushil Kumar, a consumer. 

Panipat, May 23
Introduced nearly two decades ago, flexible ureterorenoscopy or retrograde intrarenal surgery (a technique to remove kidney stone without open surgery) has finally started to become popular with patients in the region. The technique, which involves minimal complications, allows a patient to be discharged on the day of the operation itself.

Extensively used in many urological centres around the world, this was introduced in the country about 12 years ago by Dr Pawan Gupta, a leading urologist, who is considered to be a pioneer of this technique in the country. However, for over a decade, the high cost involved and reluctance on the part of patients to undergo operations with the new technique, remained major deterrents to this technique gaining acceptance.

Speaking to The Tribune, Dr Gupta said the procedure had finally started to find preference among patients as there were no open surgeries involved to remove stones from proximal ureter (portion of the ureter between the kidney and the bony pelvis) and the kidney.

The procedure was entirely different from the percutaneous surgery of kidney stones (which involves making a hole in the kidney) and extra corporeal shock wave lithotripsy, he said.

Dr Gupta, who had organised the first workshop on the new technique in 1998 at RP Stone Clinic in Panipat, said the technique was first used in the country in 2000 to remove fungal ball from the kidney.

Dr Gupta, who single-handedly revolutionised the treatment of urinary tract stones in the region, said though the high cost involved in the procedure continued to keep it out of the reach of the common man, with the technique gaining popularity, the cost was likely to come down considerably in the future.

Chandigarh, May 23
The Punjab and Haryana High Court has issued a notice of motion to the state of Haryana and other respondents on an application alleging non-compliance of orders on installation of speed governors in passenger vehicles.

The petitioner, Suraksha Foundation, is seeking directions for the initiation of contempt proceedings against the officials responsible for non-compliance of orders. Taking up their earlier petition, the high court had observed the authorities were aware of the issue’s importance and had already entered into a reciprocal common transport agreement with neighbouring states.

The Bench had stated that the state government would endeavor to ensure all passenger transport vehicles were duly fitted with speed governors.

Chandigarh, May 23
Under fire from the Centre over the “handling” of the Mirchpur incident, the Haryana government yesterday gave its nod to a slew of incentives to protect vulnerable sections of society.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda directed the state police to take effective steps to safeguard the vulnerable sections of society, including setting up of a special cell to protect them, improving the grievance redressal mechanism and constituting peace committees at the level of police station and subdivision.

The Chief Minister was presiding over a meeting of senior police officers here yesterday. Hooda said the special cell would work on the pattern of the women cell and also prevent crime against the weaker sections of society. He also directed the Police Department to be more vigilant and sensitive towards the issues concerning the weaker sections of society. He stressed for timely action and pro-active approach so that untoward incidents could be averted.

The CM directed the SPs and IGPs to visit all villages along with the local Deputy Commissioner. He said Mirchpur incident should have been handled efficiently and such incidents should not be repeated.

Though the Chief Minister ruled out any action against the district authorities over the Mirchpur incident, he said in case such an incident occurred again, the SP concerned would be held responsible. Dereliction of duty would not be tolerated, he added.

The Chief Minister also reviewed the crime situation in all districts of the state. The SPs and IGs concerned briefed him about their performances, problems and achievements.

In another decision, the Chief Minister asked the police department to form coordination committees at district and state levels for follow up on prosecution in case of registered cases. The committees would involve the departments of police, prosecution, jail and advocate-general offices and monthly review meetings would be held regularly.

Fatehabad, May 23
The mass 24-hour hunger strike by activists of the Sarv Karamchari Sangh (SKS) that began under the sheds of the local grain market yesterday against the alleged anti-employees policies of the Haryana government concluded today.

Rohtash Jyani, organising secretary, and Prem Prakash, vice-president of the state body, said the state government had promised to fill all vacant posts in the health department by regularising the services of those who have been working under the Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) scheme for several years on contract basis.

However, the government has instead advertised 379 posts of female multipurpose health workers (MPHW) through the Haryana State Services Selection Commission in violation of its agreement with the employees.

The striking leaders said a memorandum of their demands was sent to the Chief Minister through the MLAs and again copies of the memorandum have been sent to him through the civil surgeon.

They said the association would organise dharnas in Karnal and Hisar on May 25 and 28, respectively, and a huge rally would be organised outside Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s residence in Rohtak on August 8.

SIRSA: Sharbat Singh, vice-president, and CN Bharti, cashier of the state union of the SKS, today addressed their striking members in Sirsa. The SKS activists had been sitting on 24-hour hunger strike since yesterday.

Bhiwani, May 23
The result of senior secondary (educational and vocational) examinations, March 2010, conducted by the Haryana School Education Board, Bhiwani, will be declared 
tomorrow.

Stating this here recently, a spokesman for the board said students could get their result through helpline number -01664-254000 and websites - hbse.nic.in and haryanaresults.nic.in. BSNL users could SMS - hr12<ROLLNO> to 56666 from 6 am on Monday.

He said the heads of senior secondary (educational) schools could get the gazette of their schools from the office of the District Education Officer (DEO) concerned or from the institution recommended by the DEO at 11 am and they should ensure that the gazettes were available in the schools by 3 pm on the same day so that students could see their results in the school.

The spokesman said on the basis of the result, students, who were to take re-appear examination in September 2010, could send their application form to the board either by hand or by post by June 14 without late fee and by June 21 with a late fee of Rs 100, by June 28 with a late fee of Rs 300 and by August 2 with a late fee of Rs 1,000.

After these dates, no application forms would be accepted by the board except result late (RL) cases.

In RL cases, the students could send their application forms within 20 days of the declaration of their results, he added. 

Sirsa, May 23
Amit Sangwan, one of the two assistant professors of the Journalism and Mass Communication Department of Chaudhary Devi Lal University booked for obscenity on the complaint of a student, surrendered before a local court today. Jagdish Chander, in charge of the HUDA police post, who is the investigating officer in the case, said Sangwan was formally arrested and released on bail on the orders of the court.

Sangwan along with another assistant professor Sewa Singh Bajwa was booked by the police under Sections 294 and 509 of the IPC after a complaint of sexual harassment against them by a girl student of the department. Earlier, the university had suspended Bajwa and chargesheeted both these teachers in this case at a meeting of its executive council held on May 15.

The council had also decided to send its report to the SP for police action, if warranted. In her complaint, the victim had alleged that Amit Sangwan, her guide for dissertation, had been delaying the finalisation of the questionnaire for her research work.

Yamunanagar, May 23
A case of dowry harassment has been registered against former minister of Madhya Pradesh Rushtam Singh on the complaint of his daughter-in-law Deepti Arya, a resident of Model Town here.

Deepti, daughter of local former Congress MLA Roshan Lal Arya, has alleged in her complaint that her husband Kuldeep Singh, father-in-law and mother-in-law have been demanding more dowry, including a BMW car and Rs 50 lakh cash. She alleged that she was subjected to mental and physical harassment, as she was unable to fulfill their demands. Deepti said she got married to Kuldeep Singh of Bhopal on February 27, 2009, at Taj Palace in New Delhi. “My father wanted to marry me in Yamunanagar, but on my in-laws’ demand my father booked Taj Palace for marriage,” she added.

Her parents have given gold jewellery and other items at the time of marriage and also on other occasions. Her father had booked Mercedes to give to her in-laws, but they refused to take it, she said.

“Besides regular harassment, my in-laws threatened to eliminate me. Last week, I managed to call my parents and they rescued me and brought here,” she alleged.

“We have registered a case under Sections 498-A, 406 and 506 of the IPC against Rushtam Singh, Kuldeep Singh and Kamesh and a police team will visit Bhopal to arrest the accused,” said ASI Devinder Singh, investigating officer of the case. 

Jhajjar, May 23
With a view to finding out how serious Haryana police officials are towards their duties and how they behave with persons who come to police stations to get their complaints lodged, Inspector-General of Police (IGP), Rohtak Range, V Kamaraja conducted a sting operation in police stations in five districts - Rohtak, Jhajjar, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal - under the jurisdiction of the range.

Speaking to The Tribune, the IGP said the sting operation had been carried out in 32 police posts/ stations during the past two days. During the operation, 13 policemen behaved politely with the complainants and took keen interest in redressing their grievances while three policemen not only misbehaved with complaints but also categorically refused to lodge their complaints.

“The erring policemen - Rohtas of the Civil Lines police station in Rohtak, Sandeep of the Kharkhoda police station in Sonepat and Surender Singh of the Chandni Baag police station in Panipat - have been placed under suspension,” said the IGP, adding that department inquiries had also been ordered against them.

The IGP said though 15 cops behaved well with the complainants but they did not show interest in lodging FIRs on their complaints. These cops were left unpunished this time after being issued a warning that stringent action would be taken against them if they failed to register complaints in the future.

“Under the drive, 13 policemen have been rewarded with cash prizes for performing their duty nicely. They are Krishan of the Ghiloud police post, Gyan Singh of the Urban Estate police station, Jagdish of the City police station, Vidyanand of the Indira Colony police post, Dilbagh of the Lakhan Majro police station, Dalel Singh of the Kharawar police post and Ramphal of the Bus Stand police post in Rohtak district; Ramesh Chander of the City police station, Bahadurgarh, and Ram Niwas of the Line Paar police station, Bahadurgarh, in Jhajjar district; Subhash of the Mundlana police post, Dharmvir of the Sadar police station and Rana Pratap of the Sector 6, 7 police post in Panipat and Azad Singh of the Jharothi police post in Sonepat,” said V Kamaraja.