Chandigarh, June 6
At least three persons were killed, two in Mewat district and one in Palwal district, during the first phase of the Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) elections in Haryana today. Several persons were reported to have been injured in group clashes relating to the panchayat elections.

The polling was disrupted at a number of places in Mewat and Palwal districts after supporters of various candidates either snatched ballot papers or damaged electronic voting machines (EVMs), which were used for the election of sarpanchs.

The authorities here said it was still being ascertained if the Mewat killings were poll-related or not.

In a Kaithal village, the election of a panch was countermanded because the symbols of two candidates were wrongly printed.

State Election Commissioner Dharamvir said heavy polling was reported from the entire state. According to tentative figures available so far, the poll percentage would be over 70 per cent.

He said the decision to countermand elections at the booths where violence had been reported or EVMs developed a snag would be taken after the receipt of reports from the district administration.

Dharamvir has convened a meeting of Home Secretary Krishan Mohan and Director-General of Police Ranjeev Dalal tomorrow to discuss security measures during re-poll as well as during the second phase of the panchayat elections on June 12.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, June 6
Heavy polling was reported in Sirsa and Fatehabad districts during the first phase of the panchayat elections today.

Except for an incident at Nagli village in Fatehabad, polling remained almost peaceful in both the districts.

Rajbir Singh, a polling agent of zila parishad candidate Nirmala Nain, sustained a bullet injury on his leg when Krishan Kumar, a candidate for the sarpanch post of the village, and his brother allegedly fired at him.

The incident occurred when Rajibir Singh allegedly tried to stop Krishan Kumar to accompany a woman inside the voting cabin. A scuffle was witnessed, during which a gunshot hit Rajbir Singh.

“Reports of over 85 per cent polling were received from the Baragura block, while polling for the voters, who had reached inside the polling booths by 4 pm continued well past 5.30 pm in rest of the administrative blocks,” said polls officials from the control office in Sirsa.

They said over 85 per cent polling was expected from all blocks of the district.

“Over 75 per cent polling had been witnessed by 3.30 pm in Tohana, Ratia and Jakhal blocks that went to polls today,” said a poll official in Fatehabad.

Here too, the polling was expected to remain more than 80 per cent. Meanwhile, 14 persons were injured in poll-related violence at Gandha village in Ratia block of Fatehabad last night. An altercation started after allegations and counter allegations of purchase of votes. Fourteen persons from both the sides were injured in the incident.

Minor scuffles between two rival groups were witnessed in Bappan village of Sirsa district last night on the issue of purchase of votes.

Jind, June 6
Though the first phase of the polling for the Panchayati Raj Institutions in the district passed off peacefully, residents of two villages did not take part in the polling process.

The polling was held for 195 villages in three blocks of Jind, Safidon and Narwana subdivisions. The second phase of the poling for the election of the village panchayats, panchayat samitis and the zila parishads will take place on June 12.

Residents of Sangatpura village here boycotted the elections. Not even a single voter of the total of 1,450 eligible voters came out to cast their vote.

A total of three booths had been set in the village. Though polling booths had been set up in the village, residents did not turn up, said an official.

While four persons had filed their nominations, they withdrew it after a meeting of the village panchayat that decided to boycott the elections in protest against inadequate development and failure of the district administration to address various problems, including acute shortage of drinking water.

It is claimed that while there had been shortage of water for irrigation and power supply, the dispensary in the village was being used to dump garbage with no doctor and staff posted there.

Residents of Singhpura village of Narwana subdivision also boycotted the elections, where polling could not be held as nobody filed the nominations for the posts of sarpanch, panch and other posts of the local bodies.

The village has a total of 2,000 voters. No polling booth was set up here today. The main cause behind the move was the villagers’ demand to amend the Hindu Marriage Act and release of all persons who had been arrested by the police in connection with the lynching of a youth, Vedpal, who had married a girl from this village violating the brotherhood norms.

Jhajjar, June 6
Over 10 persons, including a candidate and four policemen, suffered injuries during poll violence that broke out in Bhambheva village here today.

An electronic voting machine (EVM) was reportedly broken while ballot papers were flung during the violence. The police resorted to lathicharge on a group of villagers to control the situation. The injured have been admitted to nearby hospitals where condition of all is stated to be out of danger. The police has registered a case against candidate Mahipal Singh and his supporters.

The violence broke out when supporters of one of the five candidates for the post of sarpanch allegedly tried to cast bogus votes. The situation turned violent when policemen and supporters of other candidates resisted the move.

Additional police force was called that resorted to lathicharge on villagers, who retaliated by stone pelting on policemen that led to injuries to over 10 persons, including Mahipal Singh and four policemen. Deputy Commissioner Chander Prakash and SSP Sourabh Singh rushed to the spot and took stock of the situation.

SONEPAT: The polling for three-tier panchayati raj institutions in four blocks of the district was held peacefully amidst tight security here on Sunday. Havildar Anil Kumar, who was on election duty in Panchi village, was seriously injured when he fell down from the roof of the village school building. He was referred to the PGIMS, Rohtak. Rinku Sharma, voter in Puthi village, was allegedly beaten up when he refused to vote in favour of a candidate for the post of sarpanch reserved for the Scheduled Castes category. — OC

Ambala, June 6
The polling for the elections of sarpanches passed off peacefully in the first phase of the panchayat elections of Ambala district today.

The polling started at 7 am and picked up momentum at around 9 am. Around 80 per cent polling was recorded for the three blocks of Ambala district, including Barara, Sehzadpur and Saha in the panchayat elections.

According to Deputy Commissioner Sameer Pal Srow, voting throughout the district remained peaceful and no untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the district. INLD supporters at Samalkha village raised hue and cry alleging that there was an attempt to capture a booth. However, the Deputy Commissioner arrived on the spot and said only the sanctioned police would stay there.

Srow said as many as 2,547 employees and 11 Duty Magistrates were deployed at 463 polling booths.

Sarpanches for Sullar village, Naniyola, Chota Badola, Dhanyori, Barsu Majra, Berkheri, Seewan Majra, Bhedsan, Segta, Allahpur, Channi, Haryoli, Langar, Malikpur, Panjato, Berpura, Sontli, Shahpur, Dhanora, Rampur, Fatehpur, Sehla, Aajanpur, Gelri and Khanpura have already been elected unanimously.

The prominent winners included Mukesh Rana from Barara, Suresh Kumar-Saha, Sheela Mittal-Shehzadpur, Satish Kumar-Majra, Sham Singh Dhiman-Dhanaura, Aruna Aggarwal-Kesri, Ajay Chauhan-Samalkha, Jagdishwer Rana-Samlehri and Mandeep Singh Boparai from Hema Majra.

Kaithal, June 6
The city police has registered a case under Sections 332, 353, 186, 188 and 506 of the IPC against Punjab minister Sucha Singh Lehnga, Sahib Singh of Dera Gadla, three commandoes of the minister and three other persons.

The minister had come here in support of Sahib Singh Virk of Dera Gadla near here, who was contesting for the post of sarpanch.

The minister reportedly accompanied by his three armed commandos, Sahib Singh and three other persons was canvassing in support of Sahib Singh last evening in three vehicles. He was told by a police party headed by Sub-Inspector Pale Ram that the model code of conduct was in force in the district and he was violating the election code.

The minister and his security staff allegedly threatened the police party with dire consequences. Later, on a complaint lodged by Sub-Inspector Pale Ram, a case was registered at city police station here under various sections of the IPC against minister Sucha Singh Lehnga and others.

Meanwhile, barring a few violent incidents, the elections to the Panchayti Raj Institutions concluded peacefully in the district. In Kheri Rai Wali village under Siwan block, some miscreants entered the polling booth and damaged two electronic voting machines. In another incident in Guhla block, members of two groups clashed near the polling booths and bricks were used by the warring groups.

Sirsa, June 6
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s recent statement on gotra and khap issues has started a fresh political debate between the ruling Congress and the INLD on amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act on the issue. Hooda is reported to have said as per the old customs of the state, the marriages within the same gotra were considered prohibited and society does not approve such marriages.

Responding media queries, the Chief Minister reportedly said the issue was not that of the khap panchayts, but related to the old customs of the state as per which such marriages were not solemnised in any of the caste.To a query on the need to amend the Hindu Marriage Act, the Chief Minister said provisions already existed in the Act.

Castigating Hooda on his statement, the INLD, whose leaders have already sought a special session of the state Assembly for passing a resolution for amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act, asked the CM to make his stand clear on these issues.“Hooda is trying to mislead people by his doublespeak on the issue,” alleged INLD secretary-general Ajay Singh Chautala yesterday.

Chautala alleged that on the one hand, Hooda termed marriages within the same gotra as unjust and contrary to the centuries old customs of the state, but on the other hand, he observed silence on the issue of amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act for banning such marriages. Ajay Singh maintained that while the INLD had a very clear stand on the issue, the CM, his ministerial colleagues, MPs and MLAs were speaking in different tones over the issue.

While Hooda is yet to respond to Chautala’s criticism, Ved Parkash Vidrohi, spokesperson for the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee, responded to Ajay Singh’s diatribes today. “The Chautala clan does not have any moral right to seek clarifications from Hooda as their own house is not in order,” said Vidrohi, reacting to the INLD’s allegations today.The HPCC spokesperson alleged that while Chautalas had been supporting the khap panchayats on their stand against the “same-gotra and same-village” marriages, they had themselves been participating in marriages held within their own Chautala village.

Vidrohi alleged that the INLD’s demand of special session of the state Assembly was politically motivated as the powers to amend the Hindu Marriage Act vested in Parliament only and passing of resolution by the state Assembly would not make any difference. Interestingly, the Sarva Jatiya Khap Panchayat has also welcomed the statement of Hooda. The panchayat, according to reports, has asked the CM and the ruling party to bring a resolution in the Assembly and ban marriages within the same gotra and the same village in Haryana.

Chandigarh, June 6
Following a marathon meeting with a team led by Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary Rajan Gupta here today, the state government have decided to withdraw their call for two-day mass casual leave from tomorrow.

According to informed sources, the government has accepted that parity between the doctors and HCS officers would be restored as it was before the implementation of the Sixth Pay Commission. The government has also accepted that the non-practicing allowance would be considered part of the basic pay for all purposes.

After the first meeting with the officers, the doctors also met Health Minister Geeta Bhukhal at her residence.

While the official team included, besides Gupta, Special Secretary (Health) PK Dass and representatives of the Finance Department, the doctors’ delegation was led by their president Kamla Singh and general-secretary Ramesh Khayalia.

It is learnt that the government has agreed to constitute a committee to discuss the issue of postgraduation increments to the specialist doctors. At present these increments are given only to those doctors who joined service after 2006.

The doctors relented on their demand for Class I status for them at the entry level itself after the officers pointed out that in no other service of the state this status was accorded at the entry level.

A detailed written memorandum of understanding between the governments and the doctors would be signed tomorrow.

Karnal, June 6
Garima - India’s lone surviving cloned buffalo - would be ready for breeding in the next 4-5 months and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) would produce two more cloned calf by the end of the year. This was stated by NDRI director AK Srivastav at the first birthday celebrations of Garima here today.

“If everything goes fine, two more cloned calf will be produced by the end of the year. Garima will be ready for breeding when her weight increases to 400 kg in another 4-5 months,” he told mediapersons.

Observing that data pertaining to blood parameters, enzymes, growth, behaviour and physiological changes collected after monitoring Garima for one year would be helpful in the growth of other cloned calf, Srivastav said physiologically there was no difference between Garima and any other normal calf. On the contrary, growth of Garima was more than the normal buffalo as she gained about 770 gm per day against 400 gm in a normal buffalo, he said attributing it to the extra care taken for the cloned animal.

Srivastav said shortage of quality semen and good progeny of tested bulls with known history of their parents was a major handicap and there is dire need to produce good quality cloned bulls to overcome this and increase milk production.

Sonepat, June 6
A number of accredited social health activists (ASHA) in the district have not received remuneration for the past nine months making it difficult for them to sustain their living.They had even handed memorandums of their demand to the health authorities in the past, but to no avail.

State president of the health activists’ union Suman Sharma, who was in Gohana on Monday and handed over a memorandum of their demands to the authorities concerned, said she was shocked to know that many health activists in the district had not got their remuneration since September 2009.

Demanding immediate release of the payment, she also demanded opening of bank accounts of the activists with zero balance and the pending salary amount be deposited in their account.

She said the activists were engaged by the state Health Department about two years ago under the “Janani Suraksha Yojna” to promote institutional deliveries in rural areas of the district.

Each activist was enrolled to cover a population of 1,000 and she was required to motivate the expectant women for availing prenatal, natal and postnatal health services in government medical units.

“The Janani Suraksha Yojna is part of the Reproductive and Child Health Programme under the National Rural Health Mission,” she said, adding that it was being financed by the mission.

Despite all efforts, the Civil Surgeon, Dr Ramesh Sethi, was not available for comments. However, Dr Neeraj Singla, SMO, Civil Hospital, Gohana, said almost all activists had been paid their remuneration during the last financial year. The delay in payment in certain cases might be because of some other administrative reasons, he said, adding that the delay in this year’s payment might be because of no availability of funds from the mission for the current financial year.

Sirsa, June 6
Area under cultivation of cotton crop is likely to fall drastically in Haryana this year.If the present trend continues for the next few days, the state may witness the lowest cultivation of cotton in the past over two decades.

Against a target of bringing 6 lakh hectares under cotton cultivation, the crop could be sown on only 3.83 lakh hectare till May 31. By conservative estimates, hardly 20,000 to 25,000 hectares more have come under cotton cultivation since May 31.

With the sowing period almost complete, the target is likely to remain way short of last year’s figure of 5.07 lakh hectares, not to speak of reaching anywhere near this year’s target.

“If the present conditions continue, we can witness cotton cultivation in another 50,000 hectares before the sowing ends approximately by June 10,” said Ravi Singh Punia, Joint Director (Cotton), Agriculture Department, Haryana.

However, the recent showers have brought some relief for the farmers and the exact area under cotton will be known in the next three to four days, he added.

Cotton, being a cash crop, is very important for agriculturists as their prosperity depends largely on this crop, particularly in this area, considered the cotton bowl of Haryana.

However, owing to paucity of water resources and the continuing hot conditions, the agriculture economy of this area is likely to be hit hard this year.

Going by the estimates of the agriculture department, the area under cultivation of cotton is likely to touch 4.33 lakh hectares, which precisely was the cultivation area in 1988-89.

The cotton cultivation went up every year after that till 1996-97, when the highest ever cotton was sown in Haryana on 6.53 lakh hectares. The average yield of cotton lint too hovered around 400 kg per hectares at that time and it was 392 kg per hectare in 1996-97.

However, severe attack of American Bollworm hit cotton crops around that year and continued to affect both the yield as well as the area under cotton cultivation in Haryana for the next five years.

Though the average yield of cotton lint went as low as 195 kg per hectare in 2001-2002, the area under cultivation did not go below 5.18 lakh hectares (2002-03), the lowest witnessed in the past 10 years.

The area under cultivation as well as the average yield registered an increase with the introduction of Bt cotton and in the past one decade, the maximum average yield of 694 kg cotton lint per hectare was witnessed in 2008-09 and maximum area under cultivation 621 lakh hectares in 2004-06.

With area under cultivation to remain around 4.33 lakh hectares, unless rain gods smile on farmers, it is going to be the lowest in the past more than two decades.

Chandigarh, June 6
Prof Teja Singh, a renowned teacher trade unionist of Haryana, died today after a prolonged illness. For his struggle to restore the status and dignity of teachers when Bansi Lal was the CM of the state in early 1970s, Teja Singh was detained under the dreaded Maintenance of Internal Security Act for 18 months during the Emergency.

It was during his detention in the Mahendragarh jail, he came in contact with former Deputy Prime Minister Devi Lal, with whom he developed a long-standing association.

Teja Singh was appointed deputy chairman of the 20-Point Programme Implementation Committee when Devi Lal became the CM. The professor was again appointed to the same post after Devi Lal’s son, Om Prakash Chautala, became the Chief Minister in 1999.

Born on October 26, 1931, to Mehar Chand Aggarwal of Daska village in Sangrur district, Teja Singh joined Vaish College, Rohtak, as lecturer in history in 1962. Soon after he associated himself with the teachers’ trade movement.

Karnal, June 6
Maninder, the Chandigarh-based mechanical engineer who stabbed his girlfriend to death yesterday, has been remanded to 14-day judicial custody today.

SHO Gorakh Pal Rana said Maninder had confessed to the killing of Renu at Karna lake last night and said he had committed the crime in a fit of rage as he suspected that she was having an affair with another boy.

“I had given her a mobile phone and was regularly talking to her. But during the past one week she had stopped talking to me and I found that she was sending SMS to another boy. I got the details of her phone calls and wanted her to confess, but she kept on telling lies,” Maninder stated.

Renu, a student of MCM College, Chandigarh, had come to Karnal for training at the NDRI.

Maninder said he had planned to kill her if she did not confess of her second affair. A murder case under Section 302 of the IPC has been registered against him.