Sirsa, October 18
Procurement of paddy has been stalled at Rania, one of the biggest grain markets in the district, due to the ongoing tug-of-war between traders of the grain market and the truckers.

The latter have been demanding a hike in fares in view of the increased rates of diesel proces and refuse to lift more load on their vehicles than approved by the authorities.

Though the traders have launched their own transport company by hiring trucks from other towns, the lifting is still very poor.

Tension prevails in the town as the truckers have warned that they will stop overloaded trucks of traders and report to the authorities.

The traders at the grain market have been on strike for the past four days ever since the truckers refused to lift paddy at the rate of Rs 59 per quintal for Karnal and other towns located on GT Road.

They allege intimidation by a group of truckers and have been demanding registration of criminal cases against them.

Traders led by Rania MLA Krishan Kamboj, who runs a shop in the grain market, launched their own transport company last Saturday, but the number of trucks hired from outside are not enough to remove the paddy glut.

Gurdev Singh, president of the Truck Union, alleges that the traders exploit the farmers, evade market fees and now want to exploit the truckers too.

“We have not been demanding any unreasonable hike in the truck fares, but only proportional to the hike in diesel prices. Also, we have refused to take more than the approved load on our trucks,” Gurdev Singh maintains.

He says the government approved 9 tonnes of load on smaller trucks of 6 tyres, 15 tonness on 10 tyres, 23 tonnes on 14 tyres and 28 tonnes on 18 tyres.

However, the traders, he alleges, want them to take much more than the approved load.

Gurdev Singh alleges that their members have to pay Rs 38,000 per month to “middlemen”, who ensure safe passage of overloaded trucks from Sirsa to Karnal via Fatehabad, Narwana and Kaithal.

Gurdev Singh and his men have decided to catch overloaded trucks of the transport company floated by traders and force the authorities to impose a fine on them.

Police deployment has been increased in the grain market in view of the simmering tension. 

Fatehabad, October 18
A poor family is living in panic at Mohammadpur Rohi village near here after one member of the family died of H1N1 infection, another has tested positive for swine flu while two others have developed symptoms of the disease.

To make conditions worse for the family, the general hospital at Fatehabad has allegedly refused admission to an ailing member, Kulwant Kaur, who is suffering from serious symptoms of influenza and has difficulty in breathing.

Family members allege that the condition of Kulwant Kaur is very serious, but she and Mohinder Kaur were sent back without examination, when they were taken to the general hospital today.

The health authorities, however, maintain that proper treatment is being given to the patients and they have been advised to maintain isolation at home.

Gurdial Singh (60), a member of the family, had died after a brief illness in a charitable hospital at Hisar two weeks ago.

Later, the health authorities received information from the Hisar hospital that the sputum swab of the victim, which was sent for testing, had come positive.

Meanwhile, Kulwant Kaur, sister of the victim, also developed symptoms of swine flu and the health authorities allegedly went to the village with an ambulance after her swab sample tested positive for the H1N1 virus on Friday and sent her to the PGIMS, Rohtak.

However, the woman failed to get a bed in the PGIMS and was sent back the next morning, according to the victim’s kin.

Mohinder Kaur, another sister of the victim, and Shalu, a three-year old child of the family, also developed symptoms of swine flu.

Besides the family, other villagers, too, are panicky.

“The health authorities have exposed several persons to the virus instead of treating the woman in its isolation ward,” alleged Ram Niwas, a villager.

Hira Lal Gupta, Deputy Civil Surgeon and nodal officer for H1N1 in the district, however, said proper treatment was being given to the woman at her home.

He said Kulwant Kaur was suffering from the C category of swine flu and the family members had been advised to take precautions.

He said the swab samples of Shalu had also been taken and sent for testing.

Gupta said they did not have the facility of ventilator and hence it was not possible to admit such patients in the general hospital.

He, however, added that they arranged ventilator facilities from outside in cases of emergency.

Fatehabad, October 18
A court directed the police to provide protection to a runaway couple, but the same police has allegedly been harassing the couple at the instance of a kin of the girl.

If the allegations of the couple are to be believed, the two were beaten up in the local Sadar police station several times where the girl suffered a miscarriage.

The boy, Prem Kumar of Majra village, ran away with Sanju Bala of Bhirdana in March 2009.

The couple married and started living in Sardulgarh town in Punjab.

Later, the couple moved a court in Mansa to seek directions for their protection and started living in Dhangar village in Fatehabad.

Prem Kumar alleged that the local police started harassing them by taking them to the police station on the plea that the girl was underage and in the process, Sanju Bala suffered a miscarriage.

He alleged that the police, at the instance of the girl’s family, pressured her to marry another boy of her caste.

The two were in the local general hospital today for a certificate of the girl’s age.

“When the court has given us protection, how can the police question Sanju’s age at the instance of her kin?” Prem asked and maintained that he would move court again with a certificate of his wife’s age, who, he claimed, was an adult.

SP Jagwant Singh Lamba, however, said the couple had not brought the matter to his knowledge.

He added that a complaint regarding Sanju’s age had been received and he had asked the Sadar police to investigate it. 

Chandigarh, October 18
Haryana Director-General of Police’s action of imposing a bar on head constables with less than two years’ experience from attending intermediate school course for promotion has failed to find favour with the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

Acting on a petition filed by Dharambir Singh and other petitioners, the Division Bench of Justice MM Kumar and Justice Ritu Bahri has quashed orders dated March 19 issued by the Director-General of Police. Another order passed by the Gurgaon Commissioner of Police on July 19 in this regard, too, stands quashed.

On the basis of instructions dated March 19, the DGP had “restricted the detailing of head constables for intermediate school course, a requirement for becoming eligible for promotion as assistant sub-inspector, only to those who have completed two years’ service”.

Counsel for the petitioners, Ravi Partap Singh, argued: “Rule 13.8 and Rule 13.9 of the Rules dealing with promotions to the posts of head constable and assistant sub-inspector, respectively, do not contemplate any bar for deputing a probationer constable or head constable to the lower school course or intermediate school course, respectively”.

The Bench ruled: “We do not entertain any doubt that the instructions issued by the Director-General of Police are patently against Rule 13.9 of the Rules as interpreted by a Full Bench of this court and various other judgments. Therefore, the same are liable to be set aside”.

In its detailed order, the Bench also ruled: “Sections 3 of the Punjab Police Act, 1861, vests in the state government the power of superintendence of the police throughout a general police district.

“It also postulates that no person, officer or court is to be empowered by the state government except as authorised under the Act to supersede or control any police functionary.

“Section 7 of the Act deals with appointment, dismissal, etc of inferior officers. Accordingly, the state government had framed the Rules. It follows that the Director-General of Police independently cannot issue any instructions restricting the right of the inferior officers of police for detailing them on training courses.

“Accordingly, it follows that no instructions could have been issued by the Director-General of Police.

“The argument raised by the state counsel is devoid of any merit and does not need any serious consideration. Hence, we do not have any hesitation to reject the aforesaid argument.

“This petition succeeds. Instructions dated March 19 and order dated July 19 are hereby quashed.

Hisar, October 18
Commonwealth Games discus throw gold medallist Krishna Poonia was accorded a warm welcome at her ancestral town, Agroha, today.

Poonia was taken to the village in a procession by family members and hundreds of villagers. She was accompanied by her husband and coach Virender Poonia. Congress leader and her namesake Krishna Poonia garlanded the star athlete on arrival at home.

Krishna first sought the blessings of her father and then interacted with childhood friends. She said winning the gold was a dream come true.

She said she was now training for the forthcoming Asian Games in China next month. After that, she would begin a long training schedule for the 2012 Olmpics.

She said it was encouraging to see more and more women participating in sports, especially wrestling and shooting, which were hitherto considered male bastions.

She lauded the state government for its sports policy. She said the government incentives had played a big role in the recent achievements of sportspersons from Haryana.

Chandigarh , October 18
Haryana’s EDUSAT, the education through satellite programme, is off air. In fact, it has been so since the new academic session began after ISRO, the implementing agency, began the process of switching from the EDUSAT satellite to INSAT CR4.

After gobbling up nearly Rs 90 crore, the programme is now crying for more. While the upload transmission devices will need upgradation to catch the signal being beamed by the new satellite, the School Education Department has come up with a contingency plan to tide over the “No signal” period. Sources said the Haryana government will cough up an additional Rs 3.3 crore which will be spent for procuring DVD players for nearly 1,1000 schools.

The idea is to take the study material to the students it is meant for and put the defunct EDUSAT equipment to use.

Sources in the department said ISRO began the process of shifting the EDUSAT programme to the new satellite in March this year It was only later that it realised that the equipment procured by ISRO, including the set boxes, provided to the government was not compatible with INSAT CR 4, which required higher level transmission devices.

Sources add that the process of procurement of these devices is already underway. At a recent meeting between the department officials and the unit of ISRO handling this school education programme, the latter made it clear that the equipment could only be supplied by January this year.

Further, the programme could become operational only after March next year, maintaining that installation of the equipment, too, would take time. Given the fact that the study material is available with the department, a proposal to procure DVD players has been finalised.

Officials maintain that the process of duplicating CDs of study material for various classes has begun while a tender for DVD players would shortly be floated. A proposal for the same has been sent to the State Project Director.

“Once the DVD players reach the school along with the study material, the children, so far denied its benefit, will be able utilise the lessons. Further, the use of DVD players for showing the study material can continue even after the EDUSAT programme becomes operational,” an official said. Ever since the EDUSAT programme was launched in 2007, it has been problem-ridden. Initially, only course lessons were beamed through the satellite. Later, the department graduated to imparting coaching to higher classes.

However, power woes, poor signal and “uninteresting” course content have plagued this programme. Even though it could have opened a chapter of academic excellence in school education, it has failed to take off in the way it should have. 

Rohtak, October 18
After lying low for over two weeks, the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Samiti has announced to revive its agitation next month.

“We have not given up our demand and are ready to launch the stir again as there has been no response from the Union Government to our demand for quota in government jobs though the Commonwealth Games are over,” said Yashpal Malik, president of the samiti, while talking to mediapersons here today.

The samiti held a meeting of its executive committee earlier today.

The agitation spearheaded by the samiti had resulted in violent incidents in several parts of the state last month. The samiti had decided to suspend its agitation during the Commonwealth Games in response to a request by certain Congress leaders at the Centre. It has now decided to organise a rally named as “Jawab Do” at Jantar Mantar in Delhi in November. He claimed the agitation would be carried out in a peaceful manner and other parts of the country.

“The agitation has now wider acceptability across other castes and regions. The Jat community has been at the receiving end of the biased policies of the Centre for many decades and now the community has realised its reservation demand is justified,” he said.

The Jats were ready to make any sacrifice in pursuing their agitation, he added.

The samiti would not tolerate any indiscipline and acts of violence during the agitation and any member found indulging in such acts would be shown the door.

“We had suspended the agitation for a brief period as some elements had resorted to violence which led to clashes with the police and damage to public property. This brought a bad name to the community and resulted in a setback to the agitation.”

State president Hawa Singh Sangwan said they would mobilise more support and would not rest till their demand was met. 

Bhiwani, October 18
Local MLA Ghanshayam Saraf today lashed out at the district administration for its alleged failure to keep the city clean.

After taking a tour of the local railway station, orphanage, railway road and railway line areas, Saraf said in a statement issued here today that heaps of garbage welcome visitors to the city. He also met shopkeepers and residents and listened to their woes.

He said the sanitation arrangements were not up to the mark in the area.

The area was under purview of the municipal council when its office was on this road.

However, with the shifting of the office, no cleanliness drive had taken place for months,” said Saraf.

Shopkeepers told the MLA that they have made their own arrangements for sanitation, but the road from the railway station to Neki Ram Sharma Chowk was in a dilapidated condition with pits filled with dirty water.

Streetlights on the Railway road had not been repaired for several months, added Saraf. 

Rohtak, October 18
Mystery surrounds the death of a young girl, whose body was recovered from a spot near her house in Dairy Mohalla locality here today. The police has registered a case of rape and murder against some persons, including an uncle of the deceased. However, no arrests have been made so far in this regard. It could also be a case of honour killing, said the police.

The deceased has been identified as Vartika, alias Vimmy, aged about 20 years. Her body was found lying in the backyard of her house here today. The postmortem report states that she was strangled to death. The girl’s father, Ranbir Singh, complained to the police that his brother identified as Chand Singh was allegedly behind the girl’s murder. The police said the victim might have been raped before the murder.

SSP Satish Balan said the police was investigating the case. The girl’s father had levelled serious allegations on his brother and the police was looking into all angles.

The vaginal swabs have been sent to Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). 

Faridabad, October 18
Alleging doctors’ negligence, kin of Balwant Kaur (60), who died in Central Hospital here, clashed with the hospital staff here today.

Balwant Kaur, a paralytic and resident of the NIT area, was admitted to the hospital on October 3. According to her relatives, since she was admitted, she had been kept on ventilator.

The kin alleged that the doctors did not provide proper medical care. They said the patient was fine when she was admitted to the hospital. According to them, the hospital staff gave her soup today, following which she died.

The irate relatives wanted to meet the doctor concerned, but when the security personnel of the hospital stopped them, they clashed with them.

Tejinder Singh and Darshan, son and daughter of the deceased, respectively, received minor injuries in the incident. The security staff alleged that the relatives got injured when they tried to break the windowpanes of the hospital.

The relatives, however, alleged that the doctors of the hospital as well as the security staff manhandled them. They also alleged that one of the doctors attacked Tejinder Singh with a knife during the scuffle.

The police reached the spot, but no case has been registered as nobody lodged a complaint.

The relatives left the spot along with the body. According to the police, the relatives refused to get the postmortem done. 

Faridabad, October 18
Farm experts and leaders of associations related to agriculture today lamented that the youth of today were dissociating themselves form farming and termed this as threat to the future of the nation.

The experts, mainly scientists from the Delhi-based Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI), IFFCO, KRIBHCO and NABARD, stressed on crop diversification and the use of modern farming techniques.

Speaking at a one-day seminar and workshop organised by the Progressive Farmers Forum, Haryana, in Ballabgarh near here, the Vice-Chancellor and Director of the IARI, Dr HS Gupta, said it was a cause for concern that farming was losing charm among the youth and the situation called for immediate remedy on the part of the polity to reverse the trend.

According to him, the main reason for farming losing importance was lesser profits and the high cost of labour and inputs.

He, however, said farming could become profitable if practised in a new way by value additions, diversification and proper marketing of goods. He said at present about 30 per cent of the foodgrains were getting damaged.

Dr Gupta lauded the farmers of Haryana and Punjab for providing food security to the country by making the country self-sufficient in foodgrains. Earlier, the country had to depend on the USA for wheat.

Speaking in the same vein, a scientist from the IARI, Dr JP Sharma, said the quantity of foodgrains lost on account of damage in the country was equal to the quantity produced by Australia.

Hisar, October 18
Haryana is all set to introduce a system wherein an eligible adult will be registered voter within 24 hours of applying for the same.

The new system is based on computer software “Electoral Roll Management System.” Chief Election Commissioner SY Qureshi will launch the system at Gurgaon on October 27.

Under this system, an applicant can submit the relevant form duly filled in and the official incharge will have to complete all formalities the same day so that the name appears on the voter list by night.

A voter will be able to check his or her registration on the department website.

There had been several complaints that despite applying for registration repeatedly, the applicants’ names did not still figure in the electoral rolls. The new system will rule out the possibility of any such delay.

The government plans to train all election officials to use the system effectively. A meeting of election tehsildars will be convened shortly at Ambala to work out the modalities.

Officials said the ECI wants all states to prepare a complete database of voters based on the new software.