New Delhi, April 2
The Haryana police is upset over Congress president Sonia Gandhi’s grandson Raihan Rajiv Vadra’s secret stay in Kurukshetra some days ago. Raihan is Priyanka Gandhi’s son.

Raihan and his seven classmates went quietly to the historical city of the Mahabharata epic and the birthplace of the Bhagvadgita from here to stay for two nights and three days last weekend without the district and the police authorities knowing about their presence.

Raihan and his friends stayed at their classmate Ahan Sabharwal’s grandparents’ house in Sabharwal Street on Railway Road. The house belongs to well- known social worker Vijay Sabharwal. Ahan is the son of Vijay Sabharwal’s son Sameer.

Raihan and his classmates are students of Class VI at Sri Ram School, Gurgaon. Up to Class V, they studied at the school’s Vasant Kunj primary branch in South Delhi.

When contacted, Vijay Sabharwal refused to confirm or deny the stay of Priyanka Gandhi’s son and his classmates at his house.

The trip of the VIP children was kept a secret. The city CID police got a whiff of it after their departure. When contacted, a senior police officer from Kurukshetra said, “Of course, the children were under the supervision of plainclothes men of the Special Protection Group, ?but I think they took a big risk by not informing us in advance.”

However, one of the Sabharwals’ neighbours, when contacted from here, told this correspondent, “We and the others in the mohalla came to know about Sonia Gandhi’s grandson and his friends’ stay in our area only after they had left. We had seen some policemen in plainclothes around the house, but we had assumed that some VIP’s children had come for a retreat. But we were surprised when we learnt later that among them was Priyanka Gandhi’s son.”

The neighbour said, “A maid who works in the Sabharwals’ house told us that the children had good fun and she remembers Sonia Gandhi’s “nati” experimenting to cook a dish ?while at home.”

According to information now available with police agencies, the children took keen interest in the historical and religious aspects of Kurukshetra narrated to them by their host family. They visited the sacred Brahm Sarovar where they saluted the National Flag on a 100-foot high mast in Puroshotumpura Bagh.

Besides other historical places around the city, police sources said, the children also visited Sheikh Chelli ka Makbara, the tomb of a Sufi saint, and the archaeological sites on the ruins of “Harsh ka Till” located on the west side of the tomb at Thanesar.

Before returning to Delhi on Monday, they also spent a major part of a day at the Sabharwal farms in Bagthala village, near Kurukshetra, to have the feel of rural life. They worked on agricultural machines and enjoyed horseriding.

Sirsa, April 2
A survey of the families included in the below poverty line (BPL) list has revealed that several persons having posh houses have been cornering the benefits meant for the poor, while many of those who really deserve these have been excluded from the list.

In the survey of 2,358 families, whose names are included in the BPL list, over 1,300 were found to be undeserving.

People living in nicely decorated pucca houses were found to be availing of the facilities of subsidised foodgrains given through the public distribution system to the BPL families, while over 1,000 families living in huts and kacha houses have been left out.

The district authorities had recently ordered a review of the list and teams of the Jila Saksharta Samiti, working under the literacy mission, were entrusted with the job.

The teams have already completed the survey in Kalanwali, where they went to 2,358 houses of the town for a door-to-door survey.

The teams also conducted photography and videography of the houses visited by them for the purpose.

Sukhwinder Singh, district coordinator of the Zila Saksharta Samiti, who is leading the survey teams, said the district authorities had handed over the task of surveying 25,612 families in the five towns of the district.

These included 2,358 families in Kalanwali, 11,128 in Sirsa, 4,513 in Ellenabad, 3,075 in Rania and 4,538 families in Dabwali.

He said the teams were surprised to note that persons having well-established business had managed to get their families included in the BPL list.

These families had been duly receiving subsidised wheat from the PDS channel. However, to save themselves from the “social stigma”, they had wiped out the sign marked on their houses to show their BPL status.

As many as 31,773 families of the total 60,000-odd families living in urban areas of the district have got themselves registered in the BPL list.

As per the Government of India (GoI) norms, only 10 per cent of the total urban families are to be declared as BPL, based on their monthly income and some other parameters.

The GoI parameter for the BPL families is a monthly income of Rs 250 per member of the family.

Under those norms, 6,057 families in the five municipal towns of Sirsa district have been registered as BPL. Of these 6,057 families, 3,713 families are registered as poorest of the poor under the Antodaya Ann Yojna (AAY) and have been given pink cards.

However, in the list prepared under the Haryana Government’s guidelines of monthly income of Rs 443.21 per month per member, the number has reached 31,773 families.

Those having the pink card get foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg, while other BPL families with the yellow card are provided foodgrains at Rs 5 per kg.

Besides, the BPL cardholders get several benefits under social schemes of the Central Government and the Haryana Government. 

Chandigarh, April 2
More than three months after the Punjab and Haryana High Court asked former Chief Justice AP Shah to look into allegations of favouritism, corruption and nepotism in HCS selections, the Supreme Court has asked the HC to decide the matter as expeditiously as possible. Haryana’s former MLA Karan Singh Dalal, and two candidates, had initially brought the matter to the High Court’s notice through Haryana’s former Advocate-General Mohan Jain, now Additional Solicitor-General of India at Delhi.

So far, the probe into the selections carried out in 2001, 2003 and 2004 has placed the examiners in the dock. The probe has found that “the examiners re-checked the answer sheets on their own, whereas there are no such rules”. The forensic report, too, has indicated irregularities in the checking of the answer sheets.

Taking up the matter, the High Court had requested Delhi High Court’s former Chief Justice Shah to submit his report on or before April 30, 2011.

The interim order was challenged by the selected candidates through a special leave petition, in which a notice was issued for March 31.

As the SLP came up for hearing, Jain, appearing on Dalal’s behalf, conceded that it would be proper to direct the expeditious disposal of the writ petition on the basis of the pleadings, the records already produced or the records summoned from the state government or the Haryana Public Service Commission.

In view of the submissions, the apex court disposed of the SLP by requesting the High Court to decide the writ petition filed by Dalal as expeditiously as possible. 

Gurgaon, April 2
An incident of alleged brutality by the local police has come to light with a 13-year-old boy accusing some policemen of subjecting him to torture.

The boy, who was reportedly arrested on the charge of stealing a two-wheeler earlier this week, has alleged that the cops not only thrashed him mercilessly after stripping him, but also injected petrol into his rectum and put chilli powder in his eyes during interrogation.

The boy, a student of Class V and resident of Krishna Colony here, was sent to a rehabilitation centre in Faridabad after the alleged torture. The boy’s father, who works in a local company as a helper, got him released on bail. The boy is presently undergoing treatment at the civil hospital.

Delhi-based NGO Shakti Vahini, which runs Child-line helpline in Gurgaon, counselled the boy and is monitoring the case.

In a letter to the Gurgaon Police Commissioner as well as the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), the NGO has termed the episode as a serious violation of the Juvenile Justice Act and demanded immediate action against the police personnel involved in the matter.

Following this, a team of the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights reached Gurgaon today and has initiated an inquiry into the matter.

Gurgaon Police Commissioner SS Deswal confirmed the arrival of the team and maintained that they would make relevant records and information available to the team members. 

Sirsa, April 2
The District Consumer Forum has rejected four complaints filed by brick-kiln owners against New India Assurance Company Limited for repudiating their claims for the loss of mustard straw stacked in their kilns due to a windstorm.

The forum comprising president KK Bali and member Gurpreet Kaur Bali held in their order that the mustard straw that was allegedly blown away or burnt to swirling winds on June 9, 2005, did not come within the definition of raw material.

The forum also held that mustard straw was used as fuel in the brick kilns while the complainants had paid premium for the insurance of raw material and manufactured goods stacked in their brick kilns.

M/s Bhim Sain Jhunthra Brick Kiln Owners, Liwalwali/Madhosinghana village; M/s C Parkash Brick Kiln Owners, Bajekan village; M/s Bhim Sain Jhunthra Brick Kiln Owners Bhamboor village; and M/s Sheetal Jhunthra Brick Kiln Owners Rangri Road village had filed similar complaints before the District Consumer Forum on July 29, 2005.

The complainants had alleged losses of Rs 11.45 lakh, Rs 3.05 lakh, Rs 3.01 lakh and Rs 2.96 lakh, respectively.

Major part of the alleged loss was attributed to the damage to mustard straw stacked in the brick kilns, which was either alleged to have burnt or flown away.

After report of the surveyor, the insurance company had repudiated the claims of the complainants.

The forum observed in its orders that the policies issued by the insurance company described the risk covered under these as “on stocks of all kinds of raw materials and finished goods which are used in the manufacturing of bricks and properties of the firms” in their documents.

The orders said the mustard straw was not a raw material used in the manufacturing of bricks, but a fuel used in place of coal/charcoal, which was not covered under the insurance policy. 

Kurukshetra, April 2
Thousands of pilgrims today offered prayers for their ancestors and had a holy dip in the sacred Saraswati Tirtha in Pehowa on the second day of three-day Chaitra Chaudas mela.

Pilgrims from Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh visited the mela signifying Hindu-Sikh unity and deep cultural bonds between both communities.

Dhruv Ram and Roshan Lal of Bahalpur village, district Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh), said they had been coming to the fair regularly for the past six years and offering prayers for salvation of their ancestors. A resident of district Una (Himachal Pradesh), Surender Kumar told this reporter that though he had been hearing from his elders about the mela, he had got the opportunity to come here for the first time.

Jora Singh of district Sangrur (Punjab) said he had been visiting the fair, commonly known as Pehowa Mela, for the past 10 years and pray for the departed souls. Similar views were echoed by Sardar Sukhdev Singh and Jagdev Singh of Ajnound village, district Ludhiana.

According to Pandit Sumant Sharma of Pehowa, all the tirthas falling within the radius of 48 kosas of Kurukshetra are considered sacred and Saraswati Thirtha in Pehowa has a special place. Its reference can also be found in the Mahabharata and the Puranas.

Subdivisional Magistrate Baljit Singh said elaborate arrangements had been made to facilitate the pilgrims. CCTV cameras have been installed in the mela and a police contingent has been deployed in the mela area, he added.

On this occasion, various voluntary organisations have organised langars for the pilgrims and literature regarding the importance of the area is being distributed among the pilgrims.

Chandigarh, April 2
In Haryana, not only women lag behind men in numbers, their literacy rate is also much lower than that of the men.

According to provisional data released by the Registrar-General and Census Commissioner of India, in 2011 total literary rate in the state is 76.64 per cent. While for men it is 85.38 per cent, for women it is just 66.8 per cent, notwithstanding schemes like free education for girls and scholarships for them launched by the state government. Perhaps the implementation of these schemes is lacking.

The government would have to evolve a proper and effective monitoring system to ensure proper implementation of its various schemes to promote girl education as well as to increase their population soon than later. The detailed census date for Haryana is yet to be released. According to official sources, it is likely to be released after a week or so.

It seems society at large is still reluctant to educate their daughters on which not much should be invested. On the contrary, they are taking pains to educate their sons so that they can get a reasonably good job.

The total sex ratio in Haryana is 877 women per 1,000 men. But in the age group of 0-6 years it is alarmingly low at 830 with two of the state’s districts - Jhajjar and Mahendragarh - among the worst districts in the country as far as child sex ratio goes.

Haryana’s population 2,53,53,081 is just 2 per cent of the country’s population. Out of this 1,35,05,103 are men, while 1,18,47,951 are women. There are about 33 lakh children. In the previous decade the state’s population growth rate stood at 19.9 per cent. 

Kaithal, April 2
Manifold increase in the collector rates by the administration that have become effective from April 1 has caused wide-spread resentment among the people. Following the increase, those purchasing property will have to cough out substantial amount as stamp duty that will help in mobilising huge revenue for the empty coffers of the state government, but will also put extra burden on the purchasers already reeling under increase in prices of daily use items.

People here feel that 10-20 per cent increase in collector rates, which is effected every year in April, can be justified, but increasing the same by 200-300 per cent is beyond any body’s comprehension as there can not be 100-300 per cent increase in the property prices in a year. Interestingly, most of the property deals entered months earlier are executed in May-June due to substantial cash flow in the markets following arrival of wheat crop in the market. Some of those who will get their properties registered now will have to bear heavy financial burden. Some purchasers and property dealers told this reporter that possibility of disputes between the purchasers and the sellers in some cases could not be ruled out .

Fatehabad, April 2
In a shocking incident, the bodies of three kids have been recovered from a house at Kalotha village in this district.

The police has also recovered pieces of human flesh and from the house. Blood stains were also found in the house.

Villagers allege that the house owner, Pala Ram (40), used to exhume bodies of little kids from the village cremation ground and eat them.

The police has registered a case under Section 297 of the IPC for trespassing of burial places and has arrested the accused.

SP Vivek Sharma said the accused was a mentally challenged person and an addict.

He said it had come to light that he used to exhume bodies from the burial place, but the allegations of eating the bodies were not confirmed yet.