Karnal, June 2
Former BJP president Rajnath Singh today came down heavily on the UPA government for its “utter failure” to fight growing Naxalism in several parts of the country and said it was “in a confused state, incapable of taking a clear stand”.

“Differences exist within the UPA on the line of action to be adopted to curb Naxalism and it is wary of exercising the option of using the Army for combat operations,” he said, hitting out at the “weak policy” of the government on Naxalism and terrorism.

“When will the Army be called if it is not called now to take on the Naxalites head-on?” he asked, suggesting that all political parties, especially the Congress, should rise above vote-bank politics on this sensitive issue.

Talking to mediapersons at the residence of district BJP president Chander Prakash Kathuria, he also lambasted the government for “neglecting” rural and tribal areas in development and said Naxalism was the fallout of discrimination in development which led to stark poverty and frustrated people joined Naxal ranks to demonstrate their anger and indifference towards the government.

Accusing the UPA government of being soft on terrorism, Rajnath Singh said the Congress-led government did not have the courage to hang Afzal Guru and said the Prime Minister owed an explanation to the people of the country as to why the file was delayed. “Was it for buying time for elections that the execution of the death sentence to Afzal was put on hold?” he asked.

Accusing the UPA government of failure on both the economic and internal security fronts, he said the inflation rate had gone up to 16 per cent while in the neighbouring countries, the inflation ranged between 2.5 and 3.5 per cent.

On the imposition of President’s rule in Jharkhand, he said it would have been better if the Governor gave more time to all political parties and explored the possibility of forming a democratic government.

Asked about the BJP’s stand on the Ram Temple, banning same-gotra marriages, honour killings and khap panchayats, Rajnath parried the questions and avoided a direct answer.

Rajnath Singh described forward trading as one of the causes for inflation. When pointed out that forward trading was allowed by the NDA government led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee, he was a little uncomfortable but stood by his demand to stop forward trading in commodities.

Chandigarh, June 2
The Congress and the BJP have now come face to face on the Mirchpur violence, in which a teenaged polio-affected girl and her father were burnt alive when certain members of the dominant community set their houses on fire on April 21.

The incident got nationwide publicity after AICC General Secretary Rahul Gandhi made a surprise visit to the village on April 29, keeping even the state government in dark.

After Rahul’s visit to Mirchpur, the tragic incident assumed political overtones with the anti-Hooda factions of the Haryana Congress sensing an opportunity to embarrass Bhupinder Singh Hooda before the party high command. No doubt, Hooda’s opponents have succeeded to an extent in their purpose.

But now the BJP has fired a salvo at Rahul in context of his Mirchpur visit. Party spokesman Ramnath Kovind has accused the Congress leader of “merely posing as a well-wisher of the Dalits”. Kovind said the Congress government had failed to provide security to the affected families. He said Rahul’s “drama has proved to be a sham”.

Denying the BJP accusation, Haryana Congress spokesman Ved Prakash Vidrohi said the concern and love shown by Rahul and the Congress towards the Dalits was a genuine heartfelt reaction and both were working with complete honesty to safeguard the Dalits and other weaker sections of society.

He said the Congress was aware that no compensation was enough to return the dead. Still its government in Haryana had taken every possible step to provide justice to the victims.

Describing the BJP as a party “having a tradition of hating the Dalits”, Vidrohi alleged that the BJP was using the Mirchpur incident merely to gain some political leverage. He said the miserable state in which the Dalits lived in the BJP-ruled states was no secret. The Congress did not need a certificate from parties like the BJP regarding its attitude towards the Dalits and other weaker sections of society. Vidrohi maintained that it was the democratic right of the victims to approach the court. The Congress was ready to answer any question put up by the court.

Sirsa, June 2
Candidates fielded by Ravi Singh Chautala, son of former CM Om Prakash Chautala’s brother Pratap Singh Chautala, are giving a tough fight to those fielded by the INLD in Chautala village, one of the biggest villages in the state.

Abhey Singh Chautala, INLD legislator from Ellenabad and younger son of the former CM, is spearheading his party’s campaign in the district.

He has fielded Dr Sita Ram, a two-time MLA, for the Zila Parishad from this zone. “I have fielded my candidates for the post of sarpanch, members of the panchayat and of the Block Samiti from our village that has 9,362 voters,” Ravi Singh said, claiming that all his candidates were in a winning position.

However, his cousin Abhey Singh disagrees. “The INLD candidates will register their victory in our native village too. There is no challenge to our candidates,” he stressed.

Interestingly, if the fathers of Abhey Singh and Ravi Singh are brothers, their mothers are sisters. However, the families are not on speaking terms.

“I do not exchange pleasantries with Abhey or Ajay if I come across them during campaigning,” says Ravi Singh. However, he hastens to add that he respects his “Tauji” and touches Om Prakash Chautala’s feet whenever he happens to meet him.

In Chautala village, a majority of candidates, whether of the INLD or, those fielded by Ravi Singh or those in the fray as Independents, are using the photograph of the late Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal in their posters.

Fatehabad, June 2
The CPM today criticised other mainstream political parties of Haryana for not fielding their candidates openly in the elections to panchayats, which are grass-roots democratic bodies.

Talking to mediapersons today, party leader Inderjit Singh said these parties believed in “political opportunism” and instead of fielding their candidates, they made bogus claims of their victory once the results were announced.

Inderjit Singh cautioned the authorities against the misuse of alcohol and other malpractices to woo voters by some unscrupulous candidates.

The CPM leader said his party was focusing on the 18-point charter of issues, including enhancing employment under the NREGA, strengthening of the public distribution system, regularisation of services of rural workers like anganwaris, sweepers and mid-day meal workers.

He said his party was also taking up issues like health, education, environment, water conservation, agriculture and animal husbandry in these elections.

The CPM has fielded five party nominees on zila pariashad seats and six on panchayat samiti seats in Fatehabad.

Chandigarh, June 2
After five years, Neem Khera village in Mewat has lost its unique position- that of having an all-women panchayat. With the unanimous election of Sorab Khan as panch, the village, which attracted a number of foreign delegations and acquired a celebrity status, getting more than its share of grants, is now one of the many panchayats in Haryana.

Though there are more women candidates contesting the panchayat elections here than men, in a couple of wards there are no women candidates at all.

While Rasma has been elected unopposed from another ward, no candidate has come forward to fill nominations in the only ward reserved for the Backward Castes. Of the remaining six wards, three are reserved for women. In the remaining three, it’s an all-men contest in two wards.

For the post of sarpanch, too, Asubi, a former sarpanch, is pitted against six men all of whom are adamant that power cannot be left in the hands of a woman for the second time running.

While Asubi continues to quietly go about her campaigning in a village, which has 926 votes, on the basis of development carried out in the village, the men seek votes claiming nothing has been done for the upliftment of the village.

A candidate for the post of sarpanch, Sakir Khan, explains: “The village could not arrive at a consensus on having an all-women panchayat. Many of us are sore over the way money was frittered away. We can’t work under women anymore. That’s why we decided to have an election,” he says.

The Tribune had published a report on the disillusioned all-women panchayat whose members, faced with administrative indifference, were ready to resign and hand over the reins of control to men.

After the report, a team from the Ministry of Panchayats, Government of India, had visited the village to learn about the problems of the panchayat, even as the government stepped in to carry out a number of development works.

A team from Norway, too, had visited the village to meet the members of the panchayat.

Karnal, June 2
President of the All-India Kisan Khet Mazdoor Congress and former minister Shamsher Singh Surjewala yesterday queered the pitch for khap leaders asking them to establish their credentials and command respect by taking effective steps to rid society of evils like female foeticide, dowry deaths, child marriages and other crimes.

“The khaps should become a role model for the youth by dispensing justice to people in cases pertaining to murder, rape and land dispute, and inspire them so that it becomes easy to persuade them not to marry in the same gotra”, he told The Tribune here.

Surjewala said khaps were talking in different tones on the issue of same-gotra marriages and asked them to arrive at a consensus so that there was uniformity and unanimity in the demand raised by these. “The opinion is split as some khaps oppose same-gotra marriages, some object to same-village marriages and some include the adjoining villages also; this confusion must end,” he observed.

The khaps should concentrate more on fundamental issues like electricity and water. — TNS

Ambala, June 2
Six persons were killed and six others seriously injured when the mini-bus they were travelling in collided head-on with a truck on the GT Road near Ambala City today.

The deceased were identified as Hunny (37), Kusum (32), Gulshan (37), Paarth (10), Karan (14) and Sonu, driver of the mini-bus. Three of the seriously injured occupants of the bus - Priyanka, Ridam and Kamal - were referred to the PGI, Chandigarh. Ridam (18) and Nancy (19), who sustained minor injuries, lost their parents Hunny and Kusum in the accident. A couple - Kamal Manchanda and Preeti - lost their young son in the mishap.

Three couples and their family members were on the way to Dharamshala from Delhi. The couples belonged to New Delhi.

The mini-bus was badly damaged in the accident. The police with the help of passersby took out the bodies from the bus.

One of the passengers of the mini-bus said the driver lost control when one of the front tyres of the bus got burst. The mini-bus ran into the opposite lane by breaking the road divider, following which it collided with the truck.

Anil Vij, MLA Ambala Cantt, was also present as a few of the deceased were relatives of a senior BJP leader of Delhi. The police registered a case against the truck driver.

Sirsa, June 2
Chaudhary Devi Lal University has introduced entrance examination for admission to various courses run by it from this year.

Earlier, the university allowed all admissions based on the merit list prepared on the basis of marks obtained in the qualifying examination.

“The admission to all courses will be made on the basis of combined merit of entrance test and the qualifying examination plus weightage(s) admissible, if any. There will be 50 per cent weightage for the qualifying examination and 50 per cent weightage for the entrance test marks,” said a university source.

The university had taken this decision in a meeting of its academic council held earlier, but the system is being introduced from this academic session.

The one-hour entrance test will have 50 multiple choice questions of two marks each and there will be no negative marking.

The entrance tests, university sources said, would be conducted from July 1 to 6 and would be conducted by the departments concerned on the basis of syllabus of the qualifying examination.

The last date of submitting applications for all courses is June 26, except for LLM, MPhil and MTech, for which the last date of submitting application is July 28.

Admissions to the MCA and MBA are made through the Haryana State Counseling Society, Panchkula, and to the BEd course through the state-level entrance test.

This is for the first time since the university came into being in 2003 that entrance test has been introduced for admissions to various courses by the university.

Jind, June 2
A newly born baby died at the civil hospital here yesterday soon after his mother was referred to the hospital for treatment.

The agitated kin of the victim staged a demonstration at the main gate of the hospital demanding an action against the doctor, who they claimed had failed to treat the baby which led to its death.

The dharna was lifted after the SDM and the police officials assured the family of a probe and an action against the guilty if proved. This is the third such incident that has been reported in the past two years.

Suman, wife of Mahender of Dahola village in the district, had been referred to the civil hospital after the health of her newly born baby had turned worse after the delivery at the PHC located at the village this morning.

It is claimed that while the doctor on duty asked the woman to take the baby to the room of the child specialist, but it is alleged that the doctor was not present there and this led to an altercation between the kin and the doctor.

It is reported that this altercation consumed about 45 minutes and the child, whose condition had turned worse, succumbed to illness at the spot, which left the kin and other patients enraged.

The agitated parents of the child and locals who staged a dharna at the main gate raising slogans against doctors and other staff also reached the camp office of the Deputy Commissioner and lodged a complaint.

The DC then deputed the SDM and the DSP to enquire into the matter. The officials who reached the hospital soon after the incident recorded the statement of the kin of the deceased.

It may be recalled that the DC had conducted a surprise visit to the civil hospital a few days ago after some residents of a village had complained of problems and harassment by the staff of the civil hospital in issuing birth and death certificates.

The DC had pulled up the hospital officials, including the CMO, for the alleged irregularities in the functioning of the hospital and had directed them to improve their work.

Panipat, June 2
The state government has launched a special campaign to conserve and rehabilitate endangered species of plants and animals in its forest areas.

Speaking to The Tribune, the Forest Minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, said the Forest Department had identified several endangered species of plants and animals following which corrective measures had been initiated by the state government.

According to sources in the department, a number of such plant species, including guggal, jaal (which is also known as miswak tree), desert rose, marwarh teak (roherha), salar or frankincense tree, dhak (flame of the forest), chebulic myrobalan, sorrowless tree mahua, sacred barna, sacred garlic pear, jand, khezri, bhel and bare caper had been identified.

The threatened species of animals include three vultures species - white-backed vulture, slender-billed vulture and long-billed vulture - along with Indian gazelle or chinkara and peafowl.

Emphasising the need for the conservation of miswak tree, the minister said traditionally it was an integral part of village forests, particularly in western and southern parts of Haryana. However, the Forest Department, in its recent surveys, found that the tree had not been “setting seeds due to unknown reasons” as a result of which its number had gone down drastically.

The minister said the department had been asked to raise about 30,000 plants of this species in the current year. Regarding guggal, he said the national medicinal plant board, the Department of AYUSH and the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had already sanctioned a project for the conservation and propagation of guggal in Mahendragarh and Rewari districts. He said the project would start in July.

Yadav said the department had planted 16,000 saplings of sorrowless tree, raised thousands of trees of sacred garlic pear and planted around 5,000 plants of bare caper in an effort to rehabilitate these varieties.

As part of the conservation strategy, the department was in the process of establishing germplasm banks for jand and roherha at Jhumpa in Bhiwani district.

Jind, June 2
Drivers and conductors of the Haryana Roadways, who miss the route timing of their buses, will not be eligible for the release of overtime benefits. The overtime payment and bonus of the errant staff, who do not ply buses on the given time, will be deducted by the office concerned.

The direction has been made in an order issued by the department here recently. The state government has revised the salary and grades of the staff of the Roadways Department and certain measures to improve the state-run public transport system.

According to the directions issued by the department, the authorities have expressed concern over the reports of buses missing the timing of their operations on the routes of various depots that leads to inconvenience to passengers.

This had also resulted in loss in overall revenue of the depot and the department, sources said. Staff of buses had been found missing the usual time of their service mainly due to technical problems in buses that could be easily avoided if the staff was more vigilant towards the maintenance of the buses and the infrastructure, claimed sources.

The total number of buses in Jind and Rohtak depots is 3,500 each at present. Five to 10 per cent of these buses remain off road due to various faults and several buses in functional condition also fail to leave the depot and reach the destinations on time due to breakdowns, it is revealed.

According to reports, as many as 30 to 35 complaints had surfaced in the head office each month in the recent past and this made the authorities issue an order making the staff accountable.

Fatehabad, June 2
A local court today sentenced a woman and her paramour to life imprisonment for brutally murdering her husband and seven-year-old daughter of the woman and throwing their bodies in the canal in Salemkhera village two years ago.

Additional District and Sessions Judge AK Singh Panwar held the woman, Santosh Devi, and her paramour, Naseeb Singh, guilty of the brutal murders and sentenced them both for life and imposed a fine of Rs 36,000 and Rs 41,000, respectively.

Santosh had told the police on October 5, 2008, that her husband Hanuman did not return from the fields on October 3 and some persons, who came to deliver his motorcycle and mobile phone, forcibly took away her daughter Rachna.

The police was suspicious of the statements of the woman from the very beginning and after finding several discrepancies in her statements; the police took her in custody on October 12 and interrogated her.

The woman revealed that she had illicit relations with Naseeb, who took her husband Hanuman (30) towards the canal on the night of October 3 on the pretext of taking beer.

Naseeb mixed some intoxicants in the beer and when Hanuman fell unconscious, he and Santosh killed him with a spade and threw his body in the canal.

When Santosh reached her residence with Naseeb at around midnight, she found her daughter weeping. She thought that Rachna would disclose before everyone that the duo had come around midnight, so she took her towards the canal and threw her in it.

Later, Rachna’s body was recovered from a canal in Sirsa district, while Hanuman’s body was found from a canal near their home.

The police had registered a case under Sections 452, 364, 302 and 201 of the IPC on the complaint of Hanuman’s father Bhadar Singh.

Finally, the police had arrested the duo on October 16 and it was later learnt that after killing Hanuman and Rachna, the two had gone to a photographer at Agroha for their photograph as a couple. The photograph was later recovered by the police.

Yamunanagar, June 2
The district consumer forum has directed a soft drink company to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to a local resident who had filed a complaint that he had found a “gutka” pouch in a soft drink bottle that he had purchased.

Satish Kumar Gogia (39) of Mandauli village in Jagadhri had approached the forum pleading that he purchased a crate (24 bottles of a soft drink) from a local distributor. Later, he found a pouch of “gutka” inside one of the bottles. He approached the distributor to replace the bottle but the latter refused. The soft drink company claimed before the forum that the complaint was false. The manufacturing process involved strict quality checks at various stages and there was no question of any foreign matter having entered any bottle.

After hearing arguments, president of the forum Dina Nath Arora and its member VK Sharma observed: “In this case, a pouch of “gutka” was found inside the soft drink bottle. Moreover, the soft drink, which was sent to a laboratory for analysis, was found adulterated and unfit for human consumption.”

“It is clear that there has been a deficiency in service on the part of the company. This lapse could have been hazardous to human life. Hence, the complainant is entitled to relief.” “We direct Kandhari Beverages Pvt Ltd, to pay Rs 10,000 as compensation to the dcomplainant. The order be complied within 30 days,” the forum said.