Hisar, September 16
Miscreants torched a Haryana Roadways bus and a jeep belonging to a bank in fresh incidents of arson late last night. In Hisar, a jeep belonging to the State bank of India parked outside the main gate of the Mini Secretariat was set afire by two motobike-borne youths at 11 pm.

Eyewitnesses said the youths alighted from their bike and one of them entered the ATM room. The other sprinkled petrol on the parked vehicle and set it on fire.

A fire engine was summoned by security personnel to douse the fire. In another incident, a mob demanding reservation in govt jobs stopped three Haryana Roadways buses at Dhirenwas village, near here. The buses were coming to Hisar from Goga Mairi in Rajasthan.

The mob torched one bus and damaged the other two. The bus crew informed their superiors who rushed to the village with a police force. The mob dispersed soonafter. Meanwhile, bus services from here to Delhi, Panipat, Sirsa, Gurgaon and Bhiwani remained suspended today with Haryana Roadways deciding not to ply buses on these routes as a precautionary measure.

. Hundreds of passengers were stranded at the bus stand. Meanwhile, a complete bandh was observed at Barwala town, 30 km from here, for the second day in protest against the violence on Tuesday. All educational institutions remained closed. The Haryana Pradesh Beopar Mandal today demanded compensation for private businesses that suffered heavy losses in the arson.

BHIWANI: Protesters attacked a roadways bus in Dadri town in Bhiwani district. At least 100 persons, mainly youths, entered the bus stand and raised slogans. They smashed the windscreen and windowpanes with rods and stones, creating panic among passengers. The protesters later tried to set the bus ablaze but the police intervened and dispersed the crowd with a mild cane charge. However, it later denied having used force on the protesters.

Sirsa: Agitating youths blocked traffic on the Bhuna-Agroha road near Gorakhpur in Fatehabad, even as the Haryana Roadways started plying buses on some local routes. Bus service is yet to be resumed on the Chandigarh and Delhi routes.

Jind, September 16
With road blockades continuing for the third day today, roadways buses remained off the road. Policemen in large numbers were deployed at various points in the city and the district.

A protest was staged on the main road passing through the town where students of the local Jat college blocked traffic for over two hours.

Demanding the arrest of the police officials responsible for the death a youth of Mayyar village in Hisar district in police firing on Monday, they blocked traffic twice in three hours at noon. At Shamdo village in the district hundreds of residents squatted on the road connecting Jind with Kaithal for about two hours.

The blockade was lifted on the intervention of the DSP. Bus services to Kaithal, Tohana , Hisar and some local routes remained suspended for a major part of the day.

Bus services to Patiala and Narwana were normal as was the movement of trains on the Jind-Narwana section. 

Chandigarh, September 16
Three days after a mob turned unruly during a reservation rally in Hisar, the Punjab and Haryana High Court wants to know from the State of Haryana what action it is initiating against identifiable rioters and also against the Superintendent of Police concerned.

The directions by Chief Justice Mukul Mudgal and Justice Ajay Tewari came on a PIL by Ludhiana-based non-government organisation Anti-Corruption Federation of India, seeking directions to the state and other respondents “to appoint claim commissioner to assess the loss and recover it from the culprits, including the organisers of Jat Aarakshan Sangarsh Samiti”. Directions have also been sought for protecting private and public properties, along with the life and liberty of the residents.

The petition questions the grant of compensation to the deceased protesters. Issuing directions in an open court, the Bench said the state would inform the court as to what action was being taken against the rioters as many were clearly identifiable from the photographs in newspapers as well as the TV footage. In their petition filed through advocate Suman Jain and Vaibhav Jain, the Federation argued that Rs 10 lakh each and a government job had been promised to the kin of the three youths killed in the quota stir, along with the status of martyr.

“If they were part of the rioters, under no stretch of imagination can they be compensated. Although their death is unfortunate, their act cannot be ignored. The compensation should have been disbursed to their family only after a thorough inquiry”.

Blaming the state for letting the situation go out of hand, the petitioner asserted: “In spite of clear notice of the proposed agitation, the respondents failed to perform their duty due to reasons best known to them. It seems the police was either not interested in controlling the situation, or was not in a position to do so”.

“The rioters were looting and destroying properties at will. The peace-loving people of Hisar district are shocked and in a trauma because of the rioting. The the state machinery absolutely failed to protect the life and liberty of the citizens”. The case will now come up on September 30. 

Kurukshetra, September 16
Chief Judicial Magistrate-cum-Additional Civil Judge Gurvinder Kaur today remanded president of the HSGPC (ad hoc) Jagdish Singh Jhinda and his 44 supporters in 14 days of judicial custody after he refused to apply for bail.

Jhinda and his supporters were booked under Sections 506, 341, 186,188, 148 and 149 of the IPC for criminal intimidation, wrongful restraint, obstructing public servant in discharge of duty, defiance of order duly promulgated by public servant, rioting, armed with deadly weapon and unlawful assembly.

The arrests were made under bailable offences but Jhinda and his supporters refused to seek bail and announced to continue the stir for separate gurdwara prabandhak committee from behind the bars till their demand was accepted.

Jhinda along with his supporters, including youth leader Kanwaljit Singh Ajrana, was arrested around at 1.30 am last night when he was sitting on dharna near the barricades erected by the police to stop the mob from entering Gurdwara Chhevi Patshahi and avoid any untoward incident.

Vice-President of the HSGPC (ad hoc) Karneil Singh said they would not come out of the jail till a separate committee was established and 11 persons would court arrest every day from tomorrow.

“We have decided that “jail bharo aandolan” would continue and no arrested person would seek bail. The HSGPC leaders would go to all districts, tehsils, blocks and villages to mobilise support and fill all jails of Haryana,” he added. 

Sirsa, September 16
The police today registered a case after local residents lifted an SDO of the Public Health Department on their shoulders and threw him into stagnant sewage water in a plot at Agarsen Colony here.

A case under Sections 332, 353 and 186 of the IPC (voluntary hurt, assault and obstructing a public servant in performing his duty) has been registered against unidentified persons on the complaint of SDO Tarun Garg.

Earlier, a deputation of engineers met the DC and the SP under the banner of the Haryana Federation of Engineers and demanded registration of a case against the miscreants.

within 48 hours.

The federation threatened to stall all civic services in the district in case this was not done. SDO Garg was on a visit to Agarsen Colony follwing complaints on overflowing sewers. “I tried to explain to them that the sewer disposal near Kelnia village was not functioning properly as the farmers nearby had blocked an outlet. I also told them that Agarsen Colony was a low-lying area and, hence, the trouble. But they manhandled me and threw me into filthy water,” Garg said.

He brought the matter to the notice of his superiors, who took up the matter at the federation level. 

Karnal, September 16
An elderly woman of Kalsera village, Vimla, reportedly died of diarrhoea at a hospital here this evening. While 94 diarrhoea patients from Kutel village have already been admitted to hospital, 30 fresh cases were reported at the trauma centre today.

Concerned over the increasing number of cases of diarrhoea, state Health Minister Geeta Bhukkal reached here this morning to take a stock of the situation.

Besides the disease, the patients’ miseries were confounded by several other problems like non-availability of beds, unhygienic conditions, extra charges for beds and shortage of doctors, para-medical staff and stretchers.

The situation at the trauma centre was pathetic. Jyoti and Seema of Kutel village were forced to share the same bed as no spare beds were available.

A kid was heard telling his parents that he was fine and wanted to go home. “I am fine, please take me home. If I stay here any longer, I will definitely fall sick,” he said.

The trauma centre, which was set up to cater emergency cases, has belied the hopes of the people and virtually become a referral centre. It has no neuro surgeon and CT scan facility, the bathrooms stink and even the attendants have to put up masks before entering the wards.

The track record of the centre in treating serious patients was also dismal and in most of the cases, the patients were either referred to the PGI, Chandigarh or the PGI, Rohtak.

The only de-freezer at the postmortem house has been lying non-functional for the past several months and the stink has enveloped the entire campus.

Civil Surgeon Vandana Bhatia said the proposed Kalpana Chawla Medical College would solve the problems, but there was no answer how to cope up with the present situation. When mediapersons apprised the Health Minister of the staff crunch in the Civil Hospital, Karnal, and other health institutions, Bhukkal said the process of rationalisation of the staff was in process and a new transfer policy, which was on the anvil, would take care of such problems.

Bhukkal said the authorities concerned had been directed to take all possible steps to ensure supply of safe water and take preventive precautionary steps to check contamination of water.

Village sarpanch Krishan Kalyan rued that the authorities concerned were informed in advance about the supply of contaminated water, but no action was taken.

Meanwhile, nine persons of Kutel village tested positive for cholera, adding to the worries of the Health Department. Fifteen samples were sent for test, out of which nine tested positive for cholera.

Hisar, September 16
The damage to two industrial units which were set afire by arsonists here on Tuesday following the death of a youth in police firing at Mayyar village on Monday has been assessed at Rs 50 crore.

Arsonists first targeted the Dora group’s HP Cotton Mills at Mayyar. They set on fire several warehouses where cotton and finished yarn was stored. They also set on fire the office building, time office and the main plant. The factory’s staff cars and buses were torched after removing music systems from the vehicles. The miscreants also looted cash from the factory’s office and these on fire. Cotton bales are still smouldering in the factory godowns. A factory official said it would take about six months to resume production. This would mean more losses and the government too would lose revenue.

The factory employes more than 500 residents of Mayyar village. The village’s economy is heavily dependent on this factory. The villagers now face the prospects of being out of job for the next six months till the factory resumes production. They are also likely to lose rent as migrant workers rendered jobless by the closure of the factory have begun vacating their rooms.

The second unit targeted by the rampaging mob was Gopal Vanspati located opposite Hisar cantonment’s main gate. The crowd burnt several vehicles parked inside the factory. They set the generation room afire and also ransacked its office.

The entire stock of vanaspati stored in the warehouse and factory outlet was looted. The main plant has suffered severe damage. Local industrialists are peeved at the authorities as no official has bothered to visit these factories to assess the damage and pay compensation.

Hisar Industries Association chief Kuldeep Bhargava said the administration had failed to provide security to these units and the government must pay compensation to these units. He said such incidents could trigger shifting of industries to neighbouring states.

It is now apparent that on Tuesday, goons from neighbouring villages mingled with the crowd at Mayyar. These elements were interested in looting alone and targeted the Hisar cantonment branch of the SBI from where they looted the entire cash after uprooting the ATM.

Chandigarh, September 16
Several Haryana ministers today alleged that the recent violence in the state was the result of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD).

In a joint statement issued here, Ajay Singh Yadav, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Mahender Partap Singh, Om Prakash Jain, Paramvir Singh, Geeta Bhukkal, Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, Gopal Kanda and Sukhbeer Kataria, all ministers, alleged that taking shelter behind the agitation launched by the Jat reservation samiti, the INLD drafted its workers to indulge in large-scale arson and destruction of public property.

They claimed that “this cycle of violence was led across the state by INLD office-bearers, their sympathisers and supporters.”

The ministers also named several office-bearers and workers of the INLD, who, they alleged, took an active part in the violence and destruction of public property at various places in the state.They alleged that INLD president Om Prakash Chautala and his party were “systematically trying to divide the social fabric of the state on caste and communal lines.” Stating that the state government led by Bhupinder Singh Hooda was determined to scuttle and stop with all might any attempt to divide Haryana society, the ministers said anyone indulging in violence would be dealt with sternly. Meanwhile, president of the state unit of the INLD Ashok Arora described the allegations levelled by the ministers against his party as “an attempt by the government to cover up its failure in saving people’s life and property”.

Arora said the ministers’ statement was nothing but a cheap tactic to divert public attention from their own failure.

Rohtak, September 16
The jat stir for quota in government jobs will go on till the demand is accepted and there is no division in the leadership on the issue, said national general secretary of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Samiti, Ram Karan Hooda, speaking to mediapersons here today.

This body is led by Yashpal Malik. Defending the stir, he claimed that the agitation had started in a peaceful manner but it was the “barbaric” behaviour of some police officials that had triggered violence.

The samiti would immerse the mortal remains of the young man killed in police firing in Mayyar into the holy Ganges tomorrow.

He said the samiti would stick to its earlier agenda of boycott of the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi from October 3.

He reiterated that the stir would go on through democratic means and its members would not target private or public property.

Head of the Hooda Khap Kishan Hooda claimed that some vested interests had been trying to create confusion by spreading rumours on a division among the leaders over the matter.

Hisar: Haryana Additional Director-General of Police BS Sandhu said here that those who had indulged in arson and looting at Mayyar village would be booked under the relevant law.

He said all policemen injured on duty while controlling violent mobs would be suitably compensated.

He said SP Subhash Yadav had not been suspended from service and had been sent to the police headquarters pending an inquiry.

Significantly, the Haryana government had declared that no action would be taken against rioters as part of the peace deal it had reached with leaders of the Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti.