Sirsa, August 27
Over 100 girl students of Government Girls Senior Secondary School at Kalanwali village in this district were taken ill after they were administered Vitamin A drops by the health department today.

Over 40 girls complaining of nausea were hospitalised at the primary health centre in Kalanwali town.

The health authorities said 35 children needed medical aid . All of them were shifted to the general hospital in Sirsa. late in the evening. said Dr CP Dadhich, Senior Medical Officer

Deputy Commissioner CG Rajini Kaanthan, additional Deputy Commissioner Pankaj Chaudhary, civil surgeon OP Hooda and several other officers rushed to Kalanwali.

Samples of the Vitamin A bottles bearing November 2010 as the expiry date, have been sealed and sent for testing. “We will recall the entire stock of this batch if the samples are found adultrated,” said Kaanthan.

The DC said the Vitamin A drops were administered to the schoolchildren under the National School Health Programme to prevent night blindness.

Sukhwinder Kaur, principal of the school, said a team of health workers led by Dr Mamata arrived in school a little before noon and began administering the drops to children from Class VI to Class VIII.

The children started complaining of nausea, vomiting and restlessness soonafter. “I stopped the team from giving any further doses, asked for an ambulance and shifted the children shifted to the primary health centre in the town,” the principal said.

Of the 148 girls who were given the drops, as many as 115 complained of nausea stomach pain. Over 40 of them were hospitalised and put on the drip.

Kurukshetra, August 27
The police resorted to a mild lathi charge at Kurukshetra University to disperse angry SFI activists protesting against the alleged misuse of educational institutions by AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi to pursue his political agenda.

Mediapersons were kept at bay during his interaction with students at the NDRI here today.

Hundreds of SFI workers holding placards and banners held a protest outside Gate No. 3 of Kurukshetra University, which was the only entry and exit point and raised slogans for almost two hours.

The police allegedly resorted to a mild lathi charge to disperse the protesters and forcibly lifted the SFI workers minutes before the arrival of Rahul. The situation became so tense that the main gate had to be kept closed for about an hour to facilitate a hassle-free entry of Rahul.

SFI leaders said their protest was against “misuse” and “politicisation” of campuses of educational institutions by Rahul.

They rued that while the cost of education had multiplied manifold, public machinery was being used for such programmes.

Rahul, who was here to interact with university students, called upon them to actively participate in the electoral process to cleanse politics and change the system.

Rahul, who interacted with about 2,500 students of the university and the National Institute of Technology, said he felt honoured to be standing at the place where Lord Krishna gave his discourse of the Bhagwadgita.

Emphasising that the future of the of the country, lay in the hands of the youth, he asked them to come forward and creatively contribute towards nation-building as also the political process.

REWARI: Some activists of the ABVP, led by their college unit chief, Mahesh Katiwal, burnt an effigy of Rahul Gandhi outside the entrance gate of Ahir College here.

Describing his interactive session with students at Hisar as an exercise to “politicise” the student community, they sought the revival of elections for college and university unions if he (Rahul Gandhi) had any genuine love for the student community.

The students dispersed peacefully later. — OC

Chandigarh, August 27
After the parliamentarians, it’s the turn of Haryana MLAs to ask for more - allowances, perks, salaries et al. The legislators, especially those of the Congress, are busy building their case for a “better deal” ahead of the assembly session which begins on September 3.

The political leadership seems inclined to consider this “just” demand of the MLAs “favourably”.

Sources in the government say they could bring a Bill during the three-day session for revising funds allocated to MLAs under various heads.

Asked if the MLAs could hope for a hike this assembly session, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda indicated that the government was open to such a demand, if raised by the MLAs.

The MLAs have already started a campaign to press for a hike, especially since unlike their counterparts in Punjab and Rajasthan, Haryana MLAs get nothing in the name of salary.

According to information on the official website, the MLAs get a daily allowance of Rs 1,000 per day, Constituency allowance of Rs 15,000 per month, office allowance of Rs 2,500 per month and other funds totalling Rs 8,000 per month. This is in addition to Rs 5,000 per month for “maintaining” a secretary besides Rs 10,000 per month for the phones. The MLAs also get Rs 12 per km as travelling allowance. Congress MLAs maintain that they are the “real grassroots representatives” working in the constituencies but are “most underpaid” and deserve a hike. “We meet so many people, attend marriages and deaths in our constituency, are expected to solve people’s problems and give funds where-ever required. “Our constituency allowance is so meagre that we can’t do anything despite our best intentions,” an MLA explained. Another MLA who has written a letter to the state leadership on the issue, said: “We are writing individually to our party for revising the funds at our disposal.

“What we get is a pittance compared to how much we spend. we will also raise the matter at the Congress Legislature Party meeting before the session commences.” The party has the backing of the Opposition on the issue. Indian National Lok Dal secretary general and MLA Ajay Singh Chautala says that the goverment should at least ensure that the salaries and funds of the MLAs are equivalent to their counterparts in the neighbouring states of Rajasthan, Punjab and HP

"The higher the salaries, the less will be the corruption among elected representatives," he said.

Karnal, August 27
The clean chit to khaps on the issue of “honour killings” by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda notwithstanding, the khaps are under tremendous pressure to moderate their “social agenda” and are turning towards the youth for preserving the cultural heritage.

A clear indication about the change in stance was given by State President of the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Mahasabha Om Prakash Mann who, while appreciating Hooda for absolving the khaps of any involvement in honour killings, stressed the need for motivating the youth to follow rich traditions to preserve the cultural heritage.

Asserting that the khaps were against killings and had never ordered or prompted any such killing, Mann said: “It is the lurking sense of guilt of family members and mindset of the society as a whole that leads to such killings.”

Maintaining that there was no dilution of demand for legally banning “same-gotra marriages”, Mann urged the government to frame legislation in this regard in the ensuing session of the state Assembly next month.

“The government should not provide any security to runaway couples who marry in the same gotra and same villages. They should be rather punished for defying the social norms,” he said. He added that a stringent law to ban such marriages would put an end to honour killings.

Mann also asked INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala to clarify his stand on “same gotra, same village” marriages and make sincere efforts to stop such marriages, particularly in his native village, Chautala.

Demanded reservation for farmers irrespective of their caste, he said all farmers with 2.5-acre land should be given reservation.

Observing that the growing impact of western lifestyle was diluting our socio-cultural values, he admitted that the generation gap between the youth and elders was widening. He also demanded a blanket ban on live-in and same-sex marriages to preserve our values.

He said wings had been set up at the state and district level to educate the youth (women also) about our values; traditions and culture and these would be set up in villages as well. The process started six months ago when there was a spurt in honour killings and a state-level women wing was established to involve more women and youths, he added.

Yamunanagar, August 27
Finally, after days of anxiety, people living in the low-lying areas of the state had some relief with the water level in the Yamuna at the Hathnikund barrage going down significantly.

It will take three or four days for the situation to improve in the affected villages, provided there is no rainfall in the catchments area of the Yamuna in Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.

The Yamuna has been overflowing for the past five days as it’s water level was recorded at 3.46 lakh cusecs on August 22, 2.20 lakh cusecs on August 23, 1.06 lakh cusecs on August 24, 2.72 lakh cusecs on August 25 and 1.79 lakh cusecs on August 26. The situation continues to be grim in 15 villages of the Radaur and Jagadhri subdivisions. The wortst-hit villages are Pauwari, Ghauri Pipli, Nukumb, Gumthala, Sandhala, Sandhali and Lal Chhapar.

Chandigarh, August 27
The Education Department continues to be bogged down by controversies around purchase of books for school libraries. Hardly a year passes when charges of irregularities are not hurled at its officials. This year is no exception.

A publisher has complained to the Director-General of the department that certain district education officers (DEOs) are favouring particular publishers and discriminating against others for “obvious” reasons.

The titles of books are approved by the head office and recommended to the DEOs for further circulation among principals under their jurisdiction for purchasing those books.

Here comes the discretion, first of the DEOs and then the principals. It depends upon the “business sense” of the publishers how to persuade the purchasing officials to relent in their favour.

A Delhi-based publisher, Sigma Publications, has alleged in a letter to the Director-General of the department that a DEO posted in a district along the GT Road had sent the list of approved books published by a particular publisher to the principals but had not done so in respect of books published by the complainant.

The head office had approved the books of both publishers vide a common letter dated March, 2010.

The complainant pointed out to the Director-General that certain books published by a Rohtak-based publisher were approved and a letter in this regard was sent to the DEOs by the head office on April 13. However, the approval was withdrawn vide a letter issued on May 12. However, the officer concerned circulated the approval letter issued on April 13 on May 25, but the withdrawal letter of May 12 was withheld.

The complainant has also alleged irregularities in the disbursal of grants to schools by the officer.

Gurgaon, August 27
The Haryana Electricity Regulatory Commission (HERC) has directed the power utilities not to cut the connections of the apartments which had not paid the bills of outstanding amounts sent to them till a decision was made.

The commission, represented by its Chairman Bhaskar Chatterjee, member Rohtas Dahiya and ombudsman SP Gupta, held the hearing of two cases here today. The other case was of levying extra charges on industrial units during peak-load hours.

The apartments and power utilities are in dispute over tariff. The contention of apartments was that bulk domestic supply tariffs were fixed at Rs 3.50 per unit in 2006, following the instructions from the HERC. The commission had provided relief to the apartments having sanctioned electricity load of 70 kW or more vide its instructions dated October 13, 2006.

The commission had stated that such apartments should be given a single bulk power connection from an 11 kV supply line, provided that 85 per cent of sanctioned load was used for domestic purpose and 15 per cent for common facilities like lifts, water and fire services. The tariff for non-domestic supply was Rs 4.09 per unit.

The power utilities, represented by Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) managing director Sudhir Rajpal, maintained that they had raised the demand bill as per the instructions of the HERC.

Rajpal said the utilities had checked the load of 54 apartments, of which the load on common facilities was found to be more than 15 per cent in as may as 40 apartments.

[Rajpal asserted that the Act empowered the utilities to register a case of theft if the consumption was found to be more than the sanctioned load but the utilities did not do that on humane grounds, nor did they impose any penalty for this violation.

He further stated that the utilities were authorised to check the power consumption on the premises of consumers and while checking the apartments, it was found that they were running clubs, shops, hair-cut saloons, swimming pools and gyms. So, they should pay the tariff at the rate of Rs 4.09 per unit, he said, pointing out that the common consumers were paying tariff at the rate of Rs 4.28 per unit.

The contention of the apartment owners’ association was that the provision for lifts, water supply and fire engines was made in pursuance of legal statutes in high-rise buildings and these facilities should be included in the domestic supply as these were not used for any commercial purpose. Moreover, they maintained that demanding arrears retrospectively was also not justified.

Panipat, August 27
The campaign started by Neena Gaba, mother of 10-year-old Tejas, who was kidnapped by some persons on the morning of December 12, 2008, has picked up momentum, with a large number of students, an NGO and prominent residents taking out a peace march in the city.

Students from 11 public schools in the city participated in the march carrying banners with pleas to find Tejas. Some of them were wearing T-shirts carrying pictures of Tejas. Before proceeding on the march, the students, along with Rajesh Gaba and Neena Gaba, held a prayer meeting for the early recovery of Tejas.

The assembly was held at Shivaji Stadium. Those speaking on the occasion said kidnapping of innocent children was a big threat being faced by society and all should come together to fight such crimes. Tejas was just eight when he was kidnapped from the local Paruthi Chowk while waiting for his school bus. The kidnappers had fired a shot from their 9 mm pistol and fled with Tejas while his mother, who was accompanying him, could not do much to thwart the kidnapping. The police failed to make any breakthrough in the case.

Rewari, August 27
Over 350 Scheduled Caste families of Manethi village, 25 km from here, are sore over the inordinate delay by the District Water Supply and Sanitation Department in providing them free water connections under the Indira Gandhi Scheduled Caste Drinking Water Supply Project.

A spokesman of the aggrieved families said while about 200 Scheduled Caste families of the village had been given the benefit of the scheme, they all stood deprived of the water connections for no fault of theirs.

Village sarpanch Suresh Yadav said the provision of water connections to these families had been hanging in the balance for about 12 months to their chagrin.

Since Manethi village is situated in a hilly region, the department is facing problem in laying the water supply line, executive engineer of the department Umesh Bhardwaj said.

Simultaneously, he said, water connections would be provided to these families at the earliest.

Sirsa, August 27
The Haryana Sports Department will appoint yoga trainers (volunteers) for the 119 administrative blocks of the state. They will get a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,000 per month. This is a part of the government’s plan to promote yoga in the state. Minister of State for Home, Industries, Sports and Youth Affairs Gopal Kanda said camps had been organised to train the volunteers at the district level from August 23 to August 27.

The physical education teachers and instructors working in the government schools have imparted training to the volunteers.