Nagli (Karnal), September 11
At least 12 persons, including two photojournalists and a reporter, had a miraculous escape when the government jeep they were travelling in overturned after being swept away by the strong currents of the flood waters while crossing a bridge near Nagli village.

The occupants had a difficult time coming out of the half-submerged vehicle and steer past the gushing flood waters.

Though the water on the bridge had receded as compared to yesterday, the currents were still very strong and the vehicle lost balance. Though the water on the bridge was 2 to 3 ft deep, some areas along the road were submerged under deeper water and the occupants could have drowned had they not struggled to come out of the vehicle and formed a chain to walk through waist-deep water.

The incident took place when social workers were going to flood-affected villages of Nabiabad, Nagli, Kamalpur and Sayeed Chhapra to distribute medicines and relief material and mediapersons were accompanying them.

Villagers also reached the spot and came to the rescue of the jeep occupants.

The relief material and medicines got damaged. Photojournalists suffered the maximum loss as their costly cameras, mobile phones and other gadgets were completely damaged.

Yamunanagar, September 11
Though the water level in the flood-affected areas in Yamunanagar district has started to recede, thousands of marooned people continue to suffer due to lack of relief.

Residents of 10-odd villages in the flood-hit district complained that they were without drinking water, food and power supply.

Water and power supply had not been restored in most villages in the district, adding to the woes of the people, sources said.

Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said here today that over 60 villages in Yamunanagar district were flooded due to the overflowing Yamuna waters. Traffic on the National Highway 73-A remained hit as parts of the road near Urjani and Yakipur villages had been washed away on September 8. Traffic on main roads and some link roads also remained affected, he added.

Sangwan said efforts were being made to provide eatables and other necessary items, including fodder for the cattle, in all affected villages in the district. Army personnel and officers of the district administration were engaged in the rescue and relief operations.

People living close to the river banks had been advised to shift to safer places. Tehsildars and sarpanches in the district had been directed to keep a close watch on the water level and the affected villages so that relief material could be immediately dispatched.

According to the sources, nearly 350 katcha houses have been damaged in these floods and 25 villages have been identified as the worst affected in the district, which will be provided immediate relief. Paddy and other crops on thousands of acres have been destroyed due to stagnant flood water.

Sangwan said a special girdawari to assess the damage would be conducted and compensation given to the affected farmers. He said no death had been reported in the district. Ten persons, including women and children, who were trapped at Kaitmandi village on the night of September 9, had been rescued in boats arranged by the district administration.

He said the situation was under control and there was nothing to panic as the water level had come down and it was expected to come down further. “Now, our focus is on relief measures. Rescue teams have been asked to remain stationed in the affected areas,” he added.

Chandigarh, September 11
Strong-arm tactics seem the only language private colonisers in Haryana understand when it comes to fulfilling social obligations or so it seems. It is only after the Town and Country Planning Department, Haryana, dove-tailed approval of elite projects with proportionate completion of homes for economically weaker sections (EWS) that the colonisers have set the ball rolling for the allotment of plots and flats to the latter.

While completely doing away with the discretionary quota of allotting 20 per cent of total number of plots and 15 per cent of total number of flats for the EWS, the Department has decided that 50 per cent of plots meant for the EWS in residential colonies will be handed over to the Housing Board at Rs 500 per sq yd.

The Board will construct flats on this land and allot the same at reasonable rates to BPL families. For the remaining 50 per cent, the colonisers can invite applications from BPL families by advertising the same before making any allotment through the draw of lots in the presence of representatives of the government. A condition that these plots and flats cannot be sold for a period of 10 years has also been laid down.

The Department has also linked approval of building plans with the status of EWS allotment. According to the policy, the colonizer is required to get commensurate number of building plans of EWS component approved while submitting the building plans of those meant for the elite in group housing colonies.

Also, at the time of granting of occupation certificate in case of group housing societies and grant of part completion certificate for plotted colonies that the proportionate number of EWS units stand constructed and allotted and plots reserved for EWS are also allotted.

It has been provided in the new policy that allotment of plots or flats, as the case may be, can also be made with the approval of the government to a specific category of people in public interest on the recommendation of a high-powered committee of the district. It lays down that this category may include slum-dwellers or those occupying government land and needing rehabilitation or oustees among others.

Alterations in the existing policy were necessitated after the Department noticed that the colonizers were shirking from their commitment towards the EWS. While most f them had gone ahead with their elite project while forgetting the EWS component completely, there were other colonisers who had partially constructed EWS had given these away on rent, defeating the very purpose of making low-cost housing available to the needy.

Director, Town and country Planning Department, TC Gupta, who conceived the changes in the policy, says, “Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda is very particular about giving benefits to the have-nots. In consonance with directions from him, we changed the policy to ensure 100 per cent delivery. Of late, a number of colonizers have advertised in the papers and 1,638 EWS plots have been handed over to the Housing Board while 2,157 EWS flats have been advertised,” he said.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, September 11
Eid was celebrated with zeal and fervour in Sirsa and Fatehabad today. Hundreds of people assembled to offer prayers at Idgah situated on Rania road in Sirsa.

Cricketers from the Pakistan Badshahs and Bangladesh Tigers, who are here to play in the JCDICL T-20 cricket league, also joined prayers with the locals.

The cricketers donated Rs 22,000 for the Idgah. However, the festivities were marred by a squabble between two groups, who came to blows and threw stones at each other.

The incident occurred when a Muslim leader, Yunis Khan, announced that the funds donated by the cricketers would be utilised for whitewash and paints at the Idgah.

However, Mohammed Yaqub, head of the Muslim community in the town, objected to it and soon two groups came to blows.

The police reached there soon and separated the two groups. No case has been registered.

Meanwhile at Fatehabad, hundreds of Muslims assembled at the Idgah grounds to offer their prayers.

Municipal council president Virender Narang and others belonging to different communities reached there and congratulated their Muslim brethren.

Babu Khan, a leader of the Muslim community, said INLD leader Om Parkash Chautala called him up to convey his wishes to the community.

Sirsa, September 11
The much-hyped claims of the Health Department regarding improvement in the health services in the state were exposed when an expectant woman died for want of medical aid at Rania town of this district last evening.

A doctor at the government hospital was allegedly busy attending to her guests even as the expectant woman was crying in pains. The victim died later, when her kin were shifting her to the Sirsa General Hospital.

Krishna Rani, a kin of victim Indu Bala (28), said they had been consulting Dr Ruku Kalra, medical officer at the local community health centre, and that she had assured us that Indu’s condition was normal.

“We took Indu to the hospital about 10.30 am yesterday and after examining her, the doctor told us that the delivery might take some time. When the victim started feeling pains in the evening, the doctor refused to come despite several requests made by me and victim’s husband Sanjay Kumar. She told us that she was busy with some guests and would come soon,” Krishna alleged.

Later, the doctor allegedly issued instructions to a nurse from her house and asked her to give an injection to the victim without even examining the victim.

“My niece started feeling uneasy after the injection. However, our requests to the doctor fell on her deaf ears and she directed a nurse to refer the patient to Sirsa General Hospital,” she added.

She said Indu died on way to Sirsa and the nurse, accompanying her, informed the doctor on phone who later issued some instructions to the ambulance driver. Later, doctors at Sirsa declared the woman and her unborn child dead after some resuscitation exercises.

The victim’s kin have sought an action against the erring doctor and have also written to Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda in this regard.

Dr Ruku Kalra, however, denied all allegations and claimed that the best medical assistance was provided to the patient. She claimed that all vitals of the woman were fine, when she referred Indu to Sirsa as the delivery was not progressing and the death did not take place due to any negligence. Civil surgeon Dr Narender Chaudhary, who visited Rania for a preliminary inquiry, said it was too early to reach at any conclusion as he had not been able to ascertain the views of Dr Ruku Kalra and the doctor who examined the victim at Sirsa.

Fatehabad, September 11
Sirsa MP Ashok Tanwar today inaugurated health sub-centres in six villages of Fatehabad.

Inaugurating the centres at Sardarewala, Lali, Rattakhera, Bhirdana, Bhothan Khurd and Shekhupur Sottar, Tanwar said 58 sub-centres were coming up in the district at a cost of Rs 17 lakh each.

He said new primary health centres had been set up at Pili Mandori and Nagpur at a cost of Rs 3.50 crore and the new building of the community health centre at Bhuna was coming up at a cost of Rs 4 crore.

The MP said 103 sub-centres, 12 primary health centres and four community health centres had been functioning in Fatehabad at present.

Later, Tanwar laid the foundation stone of the Bharat Nirman Rajiv Gandhi Sewa Kendra in the block development office of Ratia town.

The centre will be used by elected representatives to listen to the grievances of the public.

Fatehabad, September 11
The health authorities here have sealed an ultrasound machine at Jakhal town here for alleged violation of the Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act.

On the orders of the civil surgeon, Dr OP Arya, who is also the appropriate authority to take actions under the Act, Deputy Civil Surgeon Ramesh Chakarvary on Thursday sealed the machine of the nursing home.

The action came in the wake of an inspection by Tohana SDM Ashwani Maingi at a nursing home some days ago.

The SDM had found the doctor conducting an ultrasound test on an expectant woman without filling Form F, which is mandatory under the PNDT Act.

Maingi and a doctor accompanying him had also found some other irregularities in the observance of the PNDT Act. The SDM had sent a detailed report of his inspection to the civil surgeon.

The civil surgeon has also issued a show-cause notice to the nursing home at Tohana after the health authorities found some discrepancies in the record. The nursing home owner had been asked to explain his position with regard to the lapses, said Dr Arya.

Chandigarh, September 11
The Haryana Government today urged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh to immediately convene a meeting of the Upper Yamuna River Board (UYRB) to harness the waters to meet the growing drinking and irrigational needs of the basin states, and save them from the rampaging fury of the floods during rains.

The state wants the UYRB empowered to construct upstream storage dams that alone could provide a lasting solution to the problem posed by the floods in the Yamuna.

In a communication to the Prime Minister and Union Minister for Water Resources Pawan Kumar Bansal, Haryana Irrigation Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav said the Chief Ministers and Irrigation Ministers of the six basin states should be invited to the meeting. The storage dams planned on the Yamuna and constructed by the UYRB, should be maintained by an umbrella organisation patterned on the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), he suggested.

Besides being harnessed to meet the drinking and irrigational needs, this could help reducing the expenditure incurred year after year on the flood control measures, Capt Yadav said. The communication elaborates that how the recent floods in the Yamuna led to its waters inundating hundreds of villages in Yamuna Nagar, Karnal and Panipat districts damaging the crops and wreaking havoc all over. The damage could have been prevented had the upstream storage dams been constructed, Capt Yadav added.

Between July and September 9, about 6.18 MAF of invaluable water flowed downstream the Hathnikund Barrage. Capt Yadav recalled that an MoU had been singed by the five (now six) basin states on May 12, 1994, for interim seasonal allocation of the annual utilisable flow of the Yamuna, pending construction of the upstream storages in the upper reaches of the river. Separate agreements were signed between the basin states for the construction of Kishau, Lakhwar-Yyasi and Renuka dams.

The minister stated that the proposal to construct three storage dams on the Yamuna namely, Renuka, Kishau and Lakhwar Yasi Dam, was being deliberated for decades. But, little concrete action had been initiated, except for the preliminary work on Renuka Dam, even though the Centre had declared these projects national, he pointed out.

Sirsa, September 11
Girl students of Chaudhary Devi Lal University will soon become eligible for maternity leave of three months at the time of childbirth.

The academic council of the university that met here yesterday under the Vice-Chancellor, Dr KC Bhardwaj, passed an agenda granting three months’ maternity leave to girl students at the time of childbirth.

Though the decision will be implemented only after the executive council of the university, that is scheduled to meet on September 18, gives its nod to the academic council’s recommendation, it is more or less certain that the new rule will see the light of day.

The agenda was listed for the academic council meeting after it was approved at a meeting of deans of the university recently.

The issue was discussed at the meeting as a girl student pursuing her MTech degree applied for maternity leave by supporting it with a decision of the Delhi High Court in some other case.

Giving details of some other decisions taken yesterday, the university Registrar, Dr Manoj Siwach, said the academic council recommended an increase in the number of seats of MPhil in physical education and public administration by five each and filling of vacant seats in MPhil till September 15 subject to the availability of students in the waiting list.

The council also recommended the introduction of BA and BCom classes in the University Centre for Distance Learning, subject to the approval of the Distance Education Council.