Chandigarh, March 13
The one-man commission constituted by the Haryana Government to probe last year’s Mirchpur incident of April 21 has sought a second extension to complete its probe. Two Dalits, a father and a daughter, had lost their lives in the incident and over a dozen houses belonging to members of the community had allegedly been set ablaze by members of the dominant community in the village.

The commission, constituted under Justice Iqbal Singh, a former judge of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, was set up on June 18 last year for a period of three months. However, it was given a six-month extension in September and a deadline to submit a detailed report on Mirchpur was set for March 16.

Sources maintain that with the six-month extension set to expire this week, the government has received a formal request for extending the term of the commission by another six months. While the recording of statements of witnesses is still on, the commission is learnt to have sought an extension on the grounds that the proceedings considerably slowed down owing to the agitation seeking “justice” for the accused in the Mirchpur case in January this year.

The commission’s terms of reference include probing the Mirchpur muddle in its entirety and studying the circumstances leading to the death of two Dalits - Tara Chand and his physically challenged daughter Suman. Besides the death of the father-daughter duo in the incident, several other persons sustained injuries in the arson and rioting and houses of Dalits were damaged and set ablaze.

The commission is also to identify those responsible for the loss of life and property, violence and assess the damage caused to the houses of Dalits and consider the steps taken by the state government, including compensation, to the affected families.

While the initial three-month period seemed inadequate to study the run-up leading to the incident and the subsequent developments, the commission did not receive much cooperation from various quarters.

After failing to get any response to its public notices urging witnesses to come forward and depose in the case, the commission has drawn up its own list of witnesses. This includes people and officials who can shed light on what transpired that fateful day of April 21 last year.

The sources maintain that while the commission has sent out notices to witnesses who could shed light in the matter, the statement of the then Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police has been recorded. Tara Chand’s son has already submitted an account of the unfolding of events as per his understanding and has named 20-odd persons in his statement.

Sources in the government maintain that though the commission will be given an extension, it remains to be seen if the government will extend the term by another six months, especially since the courts are also looking into the matter. 

Hisar, March 13
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today appealed to pro-reservation Jats to end their agitation.Addressing a “Jal Rally” at Azad Nagar here, he said the rail track blockade had disrupted supply of coal to thermal power plants as a result of which power generation had gone down. The suspension of rail traffic was also causing great inconvenience to the general public.

Hooda appealed to Congressmen to meet the protesters and explain to them that their stir was not in public interest. He had already written to the Centre to provide reservation to the community under the OBC category and the process was on.

He said “politicians unable to digest their ouster from power by the people were instigating and misguiding some members of the Jat community”.

Hooda claimed that the hike in the Budget from Rs 2,108 crore in 2005 when he came to power and Rs 20,358 crore now was proof that Haryana under the Congress was making rapid strides.

He said he had never discriminated against any district of Haryana for political reasons. Hisar had been given Rs 1,331 crore after he came to power for development projects. He said equitable distribution of the state’s resources had always been his priority.

He announced that a new bypass would be constructed at Hisar at a cost of Rs 40 crore to relieve traffic congestion in the town. The proposed bypass would start from Satrod village on the National Highway No. 10 and would end at the Bagla road on the highway towards Sirsa and pass through the Balsmand road.

The Chief Minister announced that a new waterworks would be built at Azad Nagar at a cost of Rs 10 crore. Besides, Kanwari, Dhamana and Nalwa villages would be linked to the new Siwani feeder for the supply of raw drinking water. The project would cost Rs 5 crore.

He appealed to the people to conserve water as it was fast becoming an increasingly scarce resource.

Former minister Sampat Singh, MLA from Nalwa, who had organised the rally, came down heavily on the Indian National Lok Dal leadership. He said he did not join the Congress for any “office”.

“That I was admitted to the Congress after 30 years in the INLD was an honour. That I was elected a legislator as the Congress nominee was another honour. That I defeated former Chief Minister Bhajan Lal’s wife among others was also an honour,” he said, adding that after this he did not want anything more from the party.

He said he had never opposed the demand for reservation for Jats and had always favoured the idea. “In fact, those who were terming him as anti-Jat had never clearly spelt out their stand on the issue,” he said in an obvious reference to the INLD.

Others who were present at the rally included former ministers Phool Chand Mullana and Savitri Jindal and former MP from Hisar Jai Parkash.

Ambala: Former legislator and president of the Haryana Vanchit Varg Sangharsh Samiti Roshan Lal Arya has asked Jats to withdraw their agitation immediately because it is unnecessary and baseless.

Arya said Jats have cornered more jobs than they deserved. There were 19 per cent Jats in the state who have acquired 80 per cent government jobs.

He blamed Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala for playing the political game to harass the non-Jats of the state.

Arya, while interacting with mediapersons here today, said there was no law and order and people of Haryana were suffering due to the Jat agitation.

Jind, March 13
A large number of residents representing various villages and khaps remained squatted on the railway track connecting Jind with Ferozpur in Punjab in support of the demand of provision of reservation to the Jat community under the OBC category in government jobs.

The blockade resulted in disruption and diversion of several passenger and goods trains on the track. The dharna on the track was launched yesterday on a call given by the Akhil Bharatiya Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti.

The protest has affected the movement of over 20 passenger and good trains. The movement of the trains on the Jind-Panipat and Kurukshetra route has also been adversely affected, claimed Railway sources.

The trains whose movement has been affected include Punjab Mail, Dhauladhar Express, Awadh Assam Express, Ferozpur-Jind and several passengers running on the Jind- Panipat and Kurukshetra routes.

“The only section which has been functioning is between Jind and Delhi via Rohtak,” said an official. While the dharna today was led by the Nain Khap headed by Nafe Singh Nain, representatives of some other khaps, including, Binain, Narwana, Ujhina and Daran, joined the protest.

Fatehabad, March 13
Voices against the Gorakhpur Atomic Power Plant have become louder after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan and the subsequent blast in a nuclear plant in the island nation.

Hans Raj Siwach, president of the Kisan Sangharsh Samiti that is spearheading an agitation against the nuclear power plant, maintained that the agitating farmers had already been warning about the ill-effects of the project, but the government had been claiming that the proposed plant would be safe.

“If a developed country like Japan cannot ensure foolproof safety of its people from a nuclear plant, one can very well imagine what is going to happen in a country like India,” said Siwach.

He said the samiti had time and again been highlighting the dangers associated with the installation of a nuclear plant before the authorities as well as the local people, but its voice had remained unheard so far.

He said the recent unfortunate incident in Japan should act as eye-opener for the government and it should stop “playing with the lives of local people”. Siwach said the panchayats of 20 surrounding villages had already passed a resolution against the proposed plant and some more were following suit. Siwach said that the agitating farmers would now intensify their stir.

Meanwhile, Ajay Singh Chautala, secretary-general of the INLD, today termed the government’s decision to install a nuclear plant at Gorakhpur as a “dictatorial action”.

Addressing party workers here, he said if a country like Japan could not ensure the safety of the plant from natural calamities, how could the government guarantee people’s safety in Haryana. 

Sirsa, March 13
Residents of Kumharia village in this district today decided to ostracise the family of a person, who they suspect, tipped off the authorities regarding the marriage of four siblings in the village, alleged to be minors.

The village panchayat that met in the morning today resolved that no one would have any financial or social dealing with the family of the villager, Rameshwar.

The panchayat went to the extent of “disconnecting” the power and water supplies to the Rameshwar’s house.

Besides the village Sarpanch, Vinod Beniwal, former sarpanchs Dei Ram Neol and Ram Singh Beniwal, Hari Singh Sihag, Sampat Singh Beniwal, Hari Singh and Mani Ram Beniwal participated in the meeting. Later, the police intervened to restore power and drinking water to his house on a complaint by Rameshwar, who has denied that he ever made any complaint to the authorities.

Child Marriage Prohibition Officer Sadhna Mittal had visited the family with a police force last evening after a complaint that a widow was about to marry her son and a daughter, both minors.

Later, enquiries made by her revealed that the family had planned the marriage of all four siblings - two daughters were to married on Saturday, while the barats of her two sons were to leave for a Rajasthan village today.

Mittal had to face stiff opposition from the villagers, who alleged that the authorities were trying to tarnish the image of the family as well as the village. However, Sadhna Mittal stood her ground and refused to allow the marriages unless the family members furnished the proof of age of the siblings.

The widow maintained that she was marrying only two siblings now and claimed that both were majors.

However, she failed to produce any proof of their age to the satisfaction of Mittal and the health authorities expressed their inability to conduct any medical examination for determining the age before Monday.

Villagers alleged that due to a “false complaint” lodged by Rameshwar, the barat of the girl had to return empty-handed and that the marriage party of her brother, too, could not leave for Rajasthan today.

Denying that the elected panchayat was in any manner connected with the decision to ostracise Rameshwar’s family, Vinod Beniwal, Sarpanch of the village, alleged that the complainant had brought a bad name to the village by making a “false complaint”.

He alleged that Rameshwar had created problems for a poor widow of the village to settle a personal score. He also denied that the panchayat had disconnected the power and water supplies to Rameshwar’s house and maintained that it could have occurred during repairs by government officials.

SHO Dharambir Singh said having a dealing with a villager or not was a social decision of the panchayat and the police had nothing to do with it.

Jhajjar, March 13
A college lecturer, Mohit Hooda, who was abducted by some miscreants from the parking lot of the college in Bahadurgarh town here yesterday, returned safely to his home in Rohtak late last night.

According to the report, the abductors sped away with Mohit’s car after leaving him on the Jaipur highway near Gurgaon district late last night. Mohit made a call to his family members and informed them about his wellbeing, said sources.

Jhajjar SP Sourabh Singh and Bahadurgarh city police in charge Pradeep Khatri are keeping mum on the incident. — OC