Karnal, September 20
At least half a dozen villages were cut off as fresh floods washed away stretches of roads and inundated large tracts of cultivated land in a dozen villages.

Nabiabad, Sayeed Chapra, Japti Chapra, Nagli and Chandrao were cut off and the district administration had to provide boats to ferry the villagers to safety. Khukni near Chandrao had been marooned.

The discharge of water (3.80 lakh cusecs) is receding and situation may improve if there are no rains in the catchment areas.

The administration ias taking all possible steps to provide relief to the people and a team of doctors with medicines has been rushed to the affected villages.

Some houses in low-lying areas have been flooded as well, say villagers. Meanwhile, three kids were injured in Darad village as the roof of their house collapsed following heavy rains in the wee hours today.

Kesh Raj, owner of the house, said while his family members sleeping in the verandah escaped unhurt, the three children, Meenakshi, Sangeeta and Jasbir, sleeping inside were injured and admitted to the trauma centre here.

Panipat: More than 4,000 acres of agricultural land has been once again inundated in the Sanuli segment of the district. With excess waters released into the Yamuna from the Tajewala barrage in Yamunanagar, the level in the Yamuna rose drastically in the past 12 hours, which resulted in the waters spilling into the fields along the embankments.

The river was carrying 3 lakh cusecs of water this morning which increased over the day to 7.44 lakh cusecs. There was a breach in the river embankment between Tamsabad and Pathergarh villages again. This led to flooding as repair work on the breach was yet to be completed. The administration has deployed rescue boats and booster pumps wherever required.

Deputy Commissioner JS Ahlawat said the waters had not entered the houses as yet. Residents of Rahimpur village who were evacuated on September 10 are yet to return to their houses.

The DC said special teams had been formed to undertake patrolling of the areas along the Yamuna.

Yamunanagar: As much as 7,44,507 cusecs of water was discharged into the Yamuna at the Hathnikund barrage in Yamunanagar district on Monday.

The amount of water discharged broke the 32-year-old record when 7,09,000 cusecs were discharged at Tajewala on September 3, 1978, officials said.

The water from the river entered agricultural land in 22 villages in the district, damaging standing crops.

The Haryana government has sought assistance of the National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) for rescue operations.

Karnal, September 20
A 39-member mountaineering expedition of Sainik School, Kunjpura, that set out to conquer an unnamed virgin peak (21,770 ft) in Uttarakhand was stranded near Rangaudi village as flash floods caused by heavy rains reportedly washed away the Chamauli Bridge, providing vital link to the peak.

The team, comprising four teachers, 35 students and led by ace mountaineer JS Gulia, had left on September 14 and was set to return here on October 5.

School principal said after some TV channels showed the clippings stating that the students were stranded and phone calls were pouring in enquiring about the wellbeing of the expedition members.

The expedition was at the first base camp at Donagiri village, near Joshi Math, where the member were being imparted training in snow and ice crafting, glacier walking, step making, crevasse rescue, crampon walking, front-point climbing and route opening.

“As the members are out from the base camp for acclimatisation, we cannot establish contact with them as the mobile phones are also not working due to network problem, but the expedition members are in contact with the ITBP post and are safe and sound,” added Dutta.

Due to the continuous heavy rainfall in the Uttaranchal hills, the expedition has been called off and as soon as the members return to the base camp tomorrow, they would be able to contact their parents and reassure them that they were safe.

The expedition would leave for Karnal after the weather cleared, he added.

Fatehabad, September 20
An unruly mob of villagers today damaged a roadways bus and blocked the Fatehabad - Chandigarh highway near Saniana in protest against the failure of the police to arrest persons responsible for a murder on Saturday night.

Angry villagers, who blocked traffic in the morning, stopped a roadways bus of the Sirsa depot and smashed its windowpanes. The driver as well as passengers abandoned the bus as soon as the villagers started hurling stones.The demonstrators also set the bus on fire. But timely intervention by the police saved the vehicle from major damage. The fire was doused and only a few seats were burnt.

Anil, a liquor contractor, was gunned down by his partner at Saniana on Saturday night while he was at a religious function.The accused committed the murder in full public glare and pumped in four bullets into the body of the victim. The accused, Jagdish and his brother Dharam Pal, escaped after the murder, leading to protests by villagers, who blocked traffic, torched a shop and ransacked an eatery belonging to the accused. The villagers also pelted stones on the house of the accused.

The villagers blocked the highway again this morning, alleging the police was hand in glove with the accused and was deliberately not arresting them. DC Vijay Singh Dahiya rushed to the village and called a meeting of prominent persons. The SP, Jagwant Singh Lamba, who was present, assured that the accused would be arrested by tomorrow. Three persons, including the main accused Jagdish,were arrested later in the evening. Kuldeep, alias Laadi, and Virender, alias Sonu, who had helped the accused escape, were also apprehended.

Hisar, September 20
Although the call for a bandh by the Haryana Jat Mahasabha evoked no response here today, apprehending violence, school and college students shunned classes.

The administration had deployed police in strength in the colleges to ensure peace. But few students, mostly hostellers, turned up.

Students were allowed to enter Haryana Agricultural University and Guru Jambheshwar University only on producing identity cards.

No untoward incident was reported from anywhere in the district. — TNS

Chandigarh, September 20
Seven staffers of The Tribune will be honoured by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda for their outstanding contribution to journalism at a state-level Patrakar Puruskar Samman Samaroh to be organised at Haryana Niwas here tomorrow.

Staff correspondent from Fatehabad Sushil Manav has won Shri Satpal Saini Award for excellence in journalism carrying a cash award of Rs 1 lakh, a commendation certificate, a memento and a shawl.

Senior staff correspondent, Faridabad, Bijender Ahlawat, freelancer from Rewari Nawal Kishore Rastogi, chief artist Sandeep Joshi and staff photographer Vinay Malik have been chosen for the state-level awards while Aarti Kapoor and Rajinder Bhatnagar Suman, a part-time correspondent from Ambala, have been selected for the district-level awards.

Out of the total awards to be given away tomorrow, there are three lifetime achievement awards, two state-level commemorative awards, 12 state-level awards and 15 special state journalism encouragement awards for journalists based at New Delhi and Chandigarh covering Haryana.

There are 120 district-level awards also.

A spokesperson for the Haryana Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs Department said Editor-in-Chief of The Tribune Raj Chengappa would deliver the keynote address and Chief Parliamentary Secretary, Information, Public Relations and Cultural Affairs, Sharda Rathore will grace the occasion.

Meanwhile, the state government has chosen veteran journalist Niranjan Singh Parwana for the lifetime achievement award in the field of journalism.

He has been in active journalism for almost half a century and has covered three generations of four major political families of north India - Ranbir Singh Hooda (Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Deepender Singh Hooda), Partap Singh Kairon (Surinder Singh Kairon and Adesh Partap Singh Kairon), Devi Lal (Om Prakash Chautala and Abhay and Ajay Chautala) and Beant Singh (Tej Parkash Singh and Ravneet Singh Bittu) besides campaigning actively for the past 10 years to get Punjabi the status of second language of the state.

He will be presented a cash prize of Rs 1.5 lakh besides a memento and a shawl at a state-level Patrakar Puruskar Samman Samaroh here tomorrow.

Madhuban (Karnal), September 20
“Elaborate security arrangements are in place in National Capital Region for smooth conduct of Commonwealth Games and we are determined to make the mega event a big success,” DGP Ranjiv Singh Dayal said today.

“The Haryana police has completed the groundwork,” said Dalal, while addressing the Indian Reserve Battalion’s (Chandigarh Police) 132 women constables, who passed out from the Haryana Police Academy, Madhuban.

Dalal exhorted the new recruits to discharge their duties with dedication with a spirit of service and added that women were excelling in every field today. He asked the new recruits to keep family problems at bay while discharging duty, as it was important for a soldier to remain physically and mentally fit and maintain a balance between workplace and home.

He also felicitated the promising women constables Rimple, Savita Sharma and Rinki Rani, who secured first, second and third position respectively, in their final examinations. Out of the 132 women recruited, one is post graduate, 41 graduates and 90 are high secondary pass. As many as 80 recruits hail from the rural areas, while the rest were from the urban areas.

Dalal said, under the new sports policy of the state, talented male and female sportspersons were not only being re-established in state, but most of the sportspersons were given recruitment in the police. Later, Dalal inaugurated a new training building, raising the training capacity from 1,500 recruits to 2,500.

Faridabad, September 20
The judiciary here has made special arrangements to safeguard the rights of foreign women tourists expected here during the Commonwealth Games.

Under an initiative by the Haryana State Legal Service Authority, with the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High court, Justice Mukul Mudgal, as its patron, a list of women counsel has been prepared.

Each of the 18 police stations in the district have been assigned a woman lawyer for assisting women and children in case they face harassment of any kind.

The arrangement has been made following the judgment delivered by the Supreme Court in the Delhi Domestic Working Women’s Forum vs Union of India (2005) in which the court had held that women subjected to sexual assault are often not in a position to express themselves because of the the trauma they suffer.

Therefore, they needed the assistance of a person well-acquainted with the criminal justice system.

At a meeting headed by District and Sessions judge Dr Bharat Bhushan Prasoon and attended by Faridabad Commissioner of Police PK Aggarwal, it was decided to give a larger role to the legal aid woman counsel.

It was also decided that the women counsel would act like a help-line to foreign women and children attending the Commonwealth Games, on a trip to religious places like Mathura and Vrindavan or on a recreational trip to places like Agra.

Chandigarh, September 20
The Haryana Government issued posting and transfer orders of one IAS officer and eight HCS officers with immediate effect on Monday.

Anshaj Singh has been transferred as sub-divisional officer (civil), Hodal, GL Yadav, awaiting order of posting, has been transferred as sub-divisional officer (civil)-cum-additional collector, Pataudi, and Ram Kumar Singhhas has been posted as sub-divisional officer (civil)-cum-additional collector, Assandh, and general manager, HAFED Sugarmills, Assandh.

Satpal goes as sub-divisional officer (civil), Narnaul, Bir Singh Kaliramana, awaiting order of posting is sub-divisional officer (civil), Beri and Om Parkash goes as sub-divisional officer (civil), Palwal.

Sushil Kumar is sub-divisional officer (civil), Barara, Samwartak Singh Khangwalhas has been posted as joint director (admn), secondary education against a vacant post, Yogesh Kumar Mehta is sub-divisional officer (civil), Loharu, in addition to his present assignment. — TNS