Sirsa, January 12
Defying the prohibitory orders enforced by the district administration under Section 144 of the CrPC, a large number of Dera Sacha Sauda followers held noisy protests and blocked the Barnala road outside the court complex once again today during the court appearance of dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

The dera followers have been holding protests outside the court since Friday in protest against the daily hearing of cases against the dera chief.

The CBI court in Ambala has been hearing cases against the dera chief daily since Wednesday.

The dera chief’s cavalcade of vehicles arrived in the court complex at 1.35 pm, while his followers started assembling there an hour before his arrival.

The dera chief remained inside the court for a little less than an hour, during which his followers staged a noisy demonstration on the road. The followers also damaged the barricades erected by the police and many of them clashed with the cops, giving the police a tough time to control them.

Sirsa, January 12
The team of Haryana State Cooperative Supplies and Marketing Federation (HAFED) that came from Panchkula to look into the possible pilferage of wheat from its storehouse at Kalanwali left after completing its inquiry today.

Additional General Manager (Systems) Karnail Singh Lathar, who led the inquiry team, said they would compile the data recorded by them after going to their corporate office in Panchkula tomorrow.

The team constituted by HAFED Managing Director Anil Malik had arrived here on January 10 after a news report “Unclaimed wheat pointer to a bigger scam” was published in The Tribune on January 9.

The Kalanwali police had intercepted a truck carrying 523 bags of wheat after a tip-off that foodgrain, siphoned off from the local storehouse of HAFED, were being transported for sale in the open market.

The team verified the entire stock of wheat in the two storehouses at Kalanwali and also weighed some bags.

The inquiry team has recorded statements of Gurjant Singh, District Manager of HAFED in Sirsa, Chhabil Dass, centre in charge of the agency at Kalanwali, and storekeepers Chander Grover and Harmesh Kumar.

The team also went to the Kalanwali police station, where the wheat bags are stacked. Meanwhile, the police has not yet been able to arrest driver Kala Singh, who had managed to escape when the police had seized the truck on January 3. 

Sonepat, January 12
The government has approved the setting up of a Chair in memory of Sir Chhotu Ram at Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science and Technology, Murthal, VC of the university HS Chahal said here today.

He said it would be headed by a person with a knowledge of allied subjects to be able to foresee problems arising of global warming.

The Chair had been instituted to address the issues of energy conservation and harnessing non-conventional sources of energy, assisting the agrarian economy with better engineering practices, water conservation and water harvesting and helping the farmer to be more judicious in managing the soil and the soil water.

Chandigarh, January 12
The Congress has started a damage-control exercise following the criticism of the HCS and allied examination result declared by the Haryana Public Service Commission recently.

Former INLD Finance Minister Sampat Singh, now Congress MLA from Nalwa, today termed the Opposition allegations as “an attempt to hog the elusive limelight.” Chairman of the Haryana Administrative Reforms Commission Karan Singh Dalal has convened a press conference tomorrow to rebut the allegation that two candidates close to him had been selected by the HPSC.

Maintaining that complete transparency was observed in the recruitment process, Sampat Singh said the HPSC had selected candidates, who had cleared the written test, on 183 posts of HCS and allied services. among them were those who had cleared the IAS examination too.

The former INLD leader said while the Congress government had appointed suitable persons as members of the commission, the INLD government had made ineligible persons as members. As a result, the lists of selected candidates remained disputed and several recruitments were quashed by the courts. He said it was for the first time in the history of the country that the President of India had intervened to get the HPSC dissolved. Defending the selection of the daughter of HPSC Chairman, Sampat Singh said she had secured 411 marks in the written exam and 58 marks in the interview.

There were 31 other candidates who had got less than 411 marks in the written exam but were awarded up to 66 marks in the interview. At least 40 candidates were awarded more marks in the interview than the daughter of the Chairman. He said the candidates were selected on merit. As a result, the number of successful women candidates had gone up. Meanwhile, Leader of the Haryana BJP Legislature Party Anil Vij has demanded a high-level probe into the alleged irregularities in the HCS selections .

In a statement, Vij said that dishonesty in recruitment to government jobs was a serious matter. Not only did corruption dishearten meritorious candidates, but it also subverted the system. 

Chandigarh, January 12
A sulking Finance Minister, Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, today turned down the government’s proposal to make him member of the monitoring committee for the government’s 20-Point Programme.

Yesterday, the government had proposed the re-constitution of the body while Capt Yadav had been removed as chairman and made a member of the committee.

Sources said while Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had assumed the charge of chairman of the committee, state unit president of the Congress Phool Chand Mullana had been retained as Deputy Chairman The Finance Minister had been made member of the committee.

Sources said Capt Yadav was irked by the fact that from being the chairman, he had been reduced to a mere member on the panel.

Mullana, on the other hand, who earlier worked under him, would now be in a senior position.

The Yadav camp is unhappy with this new development

Sirsa, January 12
Krishan Pal Gurjar, president of the state unit of the BJP, today alleged that the Congress always came to power by seeking votes from the common people, but after coming to power, the party worked for the rich.

Gurjar said this after addressing a meeting of his party workers here today.

The BJP leader alleged that scams after scams had surfaced in the UPA government during the past one year, making 2010 a year of scams.

He alleged that even the state government was not behind in the matter of frauds. He accused the government of misusing land acquisition laws for minting money and selling government jobs in the state. He said the BJP would organise a “Mahasangram Rally” in Rohtak on February 6 to expose the “misdeeds” of the Congress government. — TNS

Faridabad, January 12
Residents of Khedi Gujran village, located 10 km from here, killed a leopard after shooters from the wildlife department failed to tranquilise it.

The leopard injured two persons. It was spotted by a woman identified as Satyawati (40) while she was working in her fields. She raised the alarm. In a jiffy, the leopard pounced on her, wounding her grievously. She was admitted to the Escorts Hospital where she received more than 60 stitches.

The leopard climbed a tree and perched itself on a branch at a height of 40 ft.

Soon, more than 5,000 people had gathered at the site, a large number of them armed with lathis. The leopard was killed late in the evening when it jumped from the tree in order to escape. It jumped over a boundary wall and attacked a person on the other side.

As shooters from the wildlife department failed to accomplish their task, the villagers encircled the beast and rained lathis on it.

The leopard, about 70 ft long, weighed about 80 kg and could be three-year-old, said sources. The Deputy Commissioner said it was well nigh impossible to stop the enraged mob from going after the beast and killing it.

Karnal, January 12
Dr S Ayyappan, Secretary, Department of Agricultural Research and Education (DARE), and Director-General, Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), has stressed the need for strengthening post-harvest technologies and improving the processing method to reduce transit losses of milk, vegetables and fishery products, besides developing an appropriate marketing mechanism.

Presiding over the 21st ICAR regional committee critical review meeting at the CSSRI here, he expressed concern over the “stagnation in crop production”, especially the yield of cereals and pulses.

Observing that the country was doing well in fisheries and milk production, he emphasised the need for high quality seeds and a 100 per cent seed replacement mechanism to enhance the production in the region.

He also advocated breeding of poultry species resistant to the avian influenza.

He complimented the CSSRI for its contribution to the field of reclamation and management of salt-affected soil and for devising technologies for the management of frequent droughts.

The most critical problem of states was the declining water table in fresh groundwater zones, he added.

The two-day meeting was attended by over 150 top farm scientists, including Rajeev Mehrishi, Additional Secretary, DARE, Dr JS Samra, Chairman, National Rainfed Authority of India, secretaries/commissioners of Agriculture, Horticulture, Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Forestry from the Union Government and Haryana, Punjab and Delhi, Deputy Directors-General, ICAR, five Vice-Chancellors of agricultural universities, directors of ICAR institutes, senior state government officers, members of the farming community, NGOs and officials of the ICAR.

The ICAR has divided the country into eight agro- climatic regions and constituted a regional committee for each region to periodically assess, review and prioritise agricultural research and developmental needs.

Haryana Agriculture Minister Paramvir Singh lauded the ICAR and agricultural universities for their contribution to agriculture, animal husbandry, horticulture, fisheries and forestry.

He said Haryana had managed to maintain a high productivity in wheat and rice, besides becoming the second largest contributor to the Central pool after Punjab despite being a water-deficit state.

Chandigarh, January 12
Just about three months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court issued a slew of directions for protecting runaway couples, including counselling gram panchayats to prevail upon resisting parents and relatives to reconcile with the couples, a Division Bench today asked the states of Haryana and Punjab along with Chandigarh to give due publicity to the instructions. The state legal services authority has also been roped in for generating awareness.

As the case came up for resumed hearing, the Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Augustine George Masih asserted that they were of the view that the two states and the union territory be directed to give due publicity to the directions dated October 15 last.

The Bench also directed the secretaries of the state legal services authority of the two states and the union territory to ensure that the directions contained in the order reach the people concerned.

The Bench further added that the secretaries would inform the legal services authority the mode of publicity and the results thereof. Directions with regard to mediation and counselling would also be complied with by the authority and the report of compliance shall be filed by March 4, the Bench added.

Amidst hullabaloo raised by the khap panchayats against the daring couples, the Bench on October 15 last had made it clear that a writ court cannot “abandon its bounded duty to be sentinel of rights of young citizens, who have dared to challenge the rigid social structure”.

The Bench had also attributed the phenomenon to exposure brought about by the electronic media. At the same time, it had expressed hope that “obscurantist norms” would break down gradually.

The assertion came as the Bench put its stamp of approval on recommendations made by Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for the protection of runaway couples. The Tribune was the first one to underscore the issue after Justice Kanwaljit Singh Ahluwalia took suo motu cognisance of the matter.

The directions include granting couples the liberty “to approach the district and sessions judges in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh for grant of protection”. The Bench had also reiterated its decision of asking police officers to “deal sternly with parents, relatives and other members of the society, who threaten such couples and create law and order situations”. 

Jhajjar, January 12
The data of the door-to-door survey conducted by enumerators or supervisors under the Census-2011 programme will be compiled by the midnight on February 28.

Neerja Shekhar, Director, Census Operations, Haryana, stated this while overseeing a training programme at Government Senior Secondary School here recently. She said instructions to this effect had been issued to the administrative officers concerned.

“Adequate security is being provided to the enumerators and supervisors during the survey in order to achieve the target in time. The revision of the data compiled by February 28 will be conducted from March 1 to 5 and the data will be filled in the prescribed pro forma after verifying all the facts,” she said, adding that the Census operation had been made transparent to ensure that a person was not counted twice.

Terming that the data played an important role in formulating five-years plans, she said on completion of the programme, grants for development of villages would be allotted to the panchayats on the basis of this Census.

Jhajjar, January 12
Three labourers sustained burn injuries in a fire that broke out in a factory manufacturing surgical items in the old industrial area in Bahadurgarh town here late last night. Raw material and machinery worth lakhs were damaged in the fire.

The victims - Manoj, Sandeep and Shishpal - have been admitted to a private hospital in Bahadurgarh where the condition of two of them is stated to be serious. The reason behind the fire is yet to be ascertained.

The fire was first noticed on the ground floor of S. Surgical India Private Ltd and within minutes it engulfed the entire factory.

The labourers, who were working in the factory, tried to control the fire, but had to abandon their efforts as the fire spread quickly and gutted the manufacturing unit of the factory.

The labourers informed the Bahadurgarh fire brigade office, which pressed two fire engines into service. However, firefighters failed to control the flames, which reached the rear portion of Goraiya Tourist Complex on the NH-10 in Bahadurgarh. Later, 14 fire engines brought from Rohtak, Jhajjar and Delhi took nearly six hours to extinguish the fire. The factory manager, Raghu Kapoor, said all floors of the factory had been gutted in the fire.