Chandigarh, June 12
Stray violence was reported from different places as the second and final phase of the panchayat elections in 12 districts of Haryana was held today with nearly 80 per cent turnout.

There were reports of group clashes at a few booths in Mewat district which had witnessed large-scale violence in the first phase of panchayat poll held on June 6.

At a group clash in Mewli village in Mewat, miscreants damaged some EVMs while a firing incident was also reported. However, there were no casualties, State Election Commissioner Dharamvir said. He said a repoll was likely be held at five booths in Mewat.

Rival groups clashed at Ravalo village close to Ambala city between the supporters of two candidates and a case was registered against eight persons. The districts where elections were held today included Ambala, Bhiwani, Fatehabad, Jind, Jhajjar, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Mahendragarh at Narnaul, Sirsa, Sonepat, Mewat at Nuh and Palwal. — PTI

Jhajjar, June 12
An electronic voting machine (EVM) was damaged at Babra village and some ballot papers were reportedly snatched at Silana village during the panchayat and zila parishad elections that were conducted at 71 villages in Jhajjar and 63 villages in Bahadurgarh block here today.

All results related to sarpanches and panches were announced by the evening, but ballot boxes used for panchayat samiti and zila parishad poll were deposited at election offices in Jhajjar and Bahadurgarh as the counting will be done on June 14.

A supporter of a contestant reportedly broke an EVM by throwing a brick on it at Silani village and fled from the spot. Jhajjar SDM, along with the DSP and other officials, rushed to the spot and got the damaged EVM replaced with another.

Besides, ballot papers were thrown around by a villager at booth no. 12 in Silani village when an agent and other members of his rival group reportedly tried to curb bogus voting. A resident of the same village also suffered head injuries when the two groups clashed over some poll issue.

Kaithal, June 12
Only two voters turned up to exercise their franchise in the zila parishad elections in Karora village in this district today.

The village boycotted the elections for the posts of sarpanch and panch to press for its demand for an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act to ban same-gotra marriages.

All candidates for the posts of sarpanch and panch had withdrawn their nominations. Manoj and Babli had married against the wishes of khap panchayats. The two were later murdered. Those who exercised their franchise were Manoj’s mother, Chanderpati, and another resident, Sat Pal.

In the neighbouring Kukurkanda village, too, a call for boycott of the poll was given to press for the same demand. However, two candidates, Brij Lal and Jagbir, alias Jaggi, refused to withdraw their nominations for the post of sarpanch. To avoid the wrath of villagers, they stayed away from the village and returned to participate in the elections only today. Brij Lal defeated Jaggi by 180 votes. A total of 532 residents had cast their votes.

Palwal, June 12
Polling for the panchayat elections in villages falling under the revenue blocks of Hassangarh and Palwal was marked by an incident of violence with supporters of a candidate for the post of sarpanch at Chhapraula village blocking the National Highway No. 2. They clashed with the police in which six personnel received minor injuries.

The violence today was a sequel to yesterday’s late night development in Chhapraula in which a former sarpanch of Chhapraula, Ram Singh, and his two sons allegedly opened fire on supporters of a rival candidate, Brijendera Singh, who was in the fray for the post of sarpanch. One of Ram Singh’s son was also contesting for the post of sarpanch. The police has rounded up some persons in the village. Ram Singh and his two sons reportedly fled the village after the incident.

Residents of the village today decided to cast their votes peacefully. However, supporters of one of the candidates blocked the national highway near Prithla village, demanding that the polling be stopped.

Fatehabad: Supporters of rival groups clashed at Bhuna village here on Saturday, resulting in injuries to two youths. One person has been shifted to the community health centre with injuries, while the police has taken a youth in its custody in this connection.

Supporters of two rival groups came to blows outside a polling booth on the Hisar road of Bhuna and opponents beat up a youth with a wooden stick.

The polling was peaceful in Fatehabad, Bhuna and Bhattu, barring a few incidents. Over 80 per cent polling was reported in the district. The polling was disrupted in Badopal for some time due to a snag in an EVM. — TNS

Panipat, June 12
Prompt action initiated by the authorities of the IOC’s Panipat refinery prevented a fire incident from turning into a major tragedy after one of the chemical storage vessels installed along the naphtha cracker plant caught fire here today.

One of the junior engineers, Kuteshwar, and another employee Chander Bhan, who were present near the vessel at the time of the incident, sustained burn injuries, but there condition was stated to be out of danger.

The vessel that contained 5 tonnes of triethylaluminum (TEAL), a chemical used as co-catalyst in the industrial production of polymers, caught fire at around 12:30 pm.

According to sources, there was some leakage in the vessel containing triethylaluminum, which is known to catch fire immediately after coming in contact with atmospheric air.

Immediately after the incident was reported, the disaster management cell (DMC) of the refinery swung into action and cordoned off the area around vessel and initiated measures to bring the fire under control.

One of the senior officials, who monitored the rescue operations, said the fire in triethylaluminum could not be doused using water or foam. Therefore, it was decided to let the 5 tonnes of chemical burn out completely.

The DMC also pressed a number of fire tenders into action to sprinkle water around the burning vessel to keep the temperature under control so that no further damage was caused to the machinery installed at the plant.

It took over four hours for the chemical to burn out completely.

One of the senior officials of the refinery, S Pahadhi, told The Tribune that it was not a pressure vessel, which otherwise could have resulted in a blast on the refinery premises. As the vessel was installed near the main plant (naphtha cracker), any such incident could have caused huge damages.

He said the authorities would order an inquiry into the incident to find out as to what caused the leakage in the vessel and the subsequent fire. A separate team would be deployed to assess the loss caused to the vessel and other machinery installed in its vicinity, he said.

Meanwhile, the two employees of the refinery, who had sustained burn injuries, were rushed to a private hospital in the Panipat city soon after the incident, where their condition was stated to be out of danger. They were, however, not allowed to interact with mediapersons.

Surajkund, June 12
The Haryana government is working on a new industrial and investment policy, which will be ready soon. Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati, speaking at the 57th Annual General Body meeting of the Faridabad Industries Association (FIA), said the present industrial policy would be “revisited” and work on it was in progress. She said the new policy would take into account the problems being faced by the industry.

Gulati said the new policy would have a committee representing both the government and the industry.

The Chief Secretary said the Centre had agreed in principle to extend the Delhi Metro to Faridabad. It would be first extended till the YMCA and later to Ballabgarh.

Speaking on the occasion, the Commissioner of the Municipal Corporation of Faridabad said a park would be set up on 18 acres in the Dabua colony with modern facilities.

FIA president Sajan Kumar Jain expressed concern over the erratic supply of power to the industry and the sewerage problem. The FIA demanded the setting up of an autonomous body which could address the industry’s problems and offer swift, single-window solutions.

Yamunanagar, June 12
Members of the special investigation team (SIT) today collected vital documents from complainant Arvinder Kaur in a molestation case registered against former IG MS Ahlawat.

The documents included a copy of the tape allegedly carrying conversation that took place between Ahlawat and the complainant in 2002. The four members the CIA staff and Inspector of the women cell Amarjit Kaur met the complainant at her residence in Bridgepuri and sought vital documents to support her allegations against Ahlawat.

Besides, the SIT team also collected a paper carrying mobile number, landline number and two emails addresses, which was allegedly handed over to Arvinder Kaur by Ahalawat in 2002. However, no fresh statement of Arvinder Kaur was recorded in the case.

Taking to The Tribune, Arvinder Kaur said she had handed over a copy of the tape and papers given to her by Ahlawat carrying his mobile numbers and email address to the members of the SIT team.

“This is the first time in eight years that a woman police officer came for investigation at my residence. Earlier, I was called to the police stations a number of times in connection with my case and I had to reveal various sensitive things before male officers,” she added.

The purpose of setting up a special cell was to pay proper attention to grievances of weaker sections and take prompt action to redress the grievances, Rakesh Arya said.

The special cell would provide relief to the weaker sections and at the same time the perpetrators of crime and injustice would be booked, he added. — TNS

Karnal, June 12
A BSF jawan was killed and 30 others were injured when a private Volvo bus hit a BSF truck on the GT Road near Kohand today.

The deceased identified as Nikhil was sitting at the back of the truck when it suddenly stopped as the driver of the truck in front suddenly applied brakes, following which the Volvo bus following the vehicle rammed into the truck from the rear.

Nikhil was rushed to a Panipat hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The BSF truck was on its way from Jammu to Delhi.

The bus was also hit by another bus on the trail and about 30 passengers in both the buses sustained injuries.

One of the occupants of the BSF bus, Ram Mehar, said the driver of their vehicle applied brakes as the truck ahead abruptly stopped midway but a Volvo bus coming from behind did not stop and hit their vehicle from the rear.

Rewari: Two pilgrims died on the spot while 15 others were injured, several of them seriously, when the canter they were travelling in abruptly overturned after it was reportedly hit from behind by a speeding tractor-trailer in Dharuhera here on Saturday.

The deceased have been identified as Harish Gujjar (25) and Manoj (24), both residents of Ghaziabad area of Uttar Pradesh.

The mishap took place when the canter driver suddenly applied brakes, following which the trailer coming from behind rammed into it.

Fatehabad, June 12
Villagers blocked traffic on the Kulan-Jakhal road for over two hours following the murder of liquor vend worker in Talwara village here today. They were demanding the arrest of a liquor contractor for the murder.

Jagrup Singh (45) was found murdered outside the liquor shop he was working at Talwara village. People found his body lying in a pool of blood and informed the police.

His kin alleged that liquor contractor Balbir Singh, his son Anil and two others had murdered Jagrup as they suspected that the victim brought liquor from some other vend and sold in their area.

Villagers blocked the road when the police showed reluctance in registering a case. The villagers refused to let the police take away the body for autopsy and parked their tractor-trolleys on the road in a zigzag manner.

They alleged that the police was trying to save the accused, as they were influential persons.

However, the police later relented and agreed to register a case as per the allegations of the victim’s kin and only then the villagers allowed the traffic to move.

In another incident, a man allegedly killed his cousin by cutting his blood vessels with the help of a broken glass piece after a drunken brawl in Fatehabad town late last night.

The deceased has been identified as Ram Chander, a labourer, and the accused as Suresh. The two, according to the police, had consumed liquor together last night and had a spat, following which Suresh allegedly attacked Ram Chander.

A neighbour noticed Ram Chander crying for help and informed the police, but the victim died before the police reached. The police has booked Suresh, who absconded after the incident.

Fatehabad, June 12
A face-off between Chief Parliamentary Secretary Prahlad Singh Gillankhera and former Parliamentary Secretary Dura Ram is on the cards for the election of president and vice-president of the Fatehabad Municipal Council.

The newly elected councillors will meet on June 16 for taking oath and they will also elect the president and the vice-president of the council.

Although the Congress has an absolute majority in the 21-member House with at least 17 members owing allegiance to the ruling party, neither Gillankhera nor Dura Ram appear to have a clear hold over a sufficient number of councillors to get their candidates elected to the two coveted posts.

Gillankhera had emerged as the biggest gainer in the recently held municipal elections as nine of his supporters won against six owing allegiance to Dura Ram.

Gopal Sharma, Chanchal Mehta, Virender Narang, Suman Mehta, Jyoti Mehta, Surinder Midha, Lalit Goyal, Sunil Bansal and Subhash Naik are being perceived to be close to Gillankhera, while Darshan Nagpal, Sushila Papiha, Kulwant Sawna, Wazir Jakhar, Madan Bansal and Chander Chiraipotra are know for their proximity to Dura Ram.

Balwant Mistri, Jaswant Kangra, Shakuntala Dhingra, Ramesh Gilhotra, Raju Munjal and Sunita Ratti have been maintaining an ambivalent stand.

Going by the numerical strength, Gillankhera should not have any problem in getting his men elected to the two posts, given the fact that he himself has a right to vote in this election.

However, ambitions of his supporters are coming in his way, as practically every councillor is a candidate for the posts.

Dura Ram, who lost the Assembly elections and hence the race for power to Gillankhera in the last Assembly elections, is looking at this opportunity to avenge his defeat besides getting control over the municipal council through his men.

With six councilors clearly at his disposal and two others being fence sitters, the Dura Ram faction is banking on the support of non-Congress councillors as well as some “disgruntled” ones from the Gillankhera camp.

The role of Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar, who also has a vote in this election, will prove vital, if a close contest is witnessed.

Sources close to Dura Ram claimed that Tanwar’s vote will go in favour of their candidate.

“So far, neither of the two leaders have given any hint of the choice for the coveted posts and sources close to them maintain that they will not open their cards till the last moment.