Karnal, May 6
Fours members of a family were killed while two were seriously injured when their Swift car rammed against a tree near Hameda village , 8 km from here, after the driver lost control over the vehicle.

The family was on its way back from Sevan village in Kaithal after attending the the ‘kirya ceremony” of a close family friend.

Balbir Singh (62), his wife Shanti (57) and brother-in-law Karam Singh (60) died on the spot while two-year-old grand-daughter Doli, who was critically injured, succumbed to her injuries in the local Civil Hospital.

Krishna and Guddi, who sustained serious head injuries, were referred to PGI, Chandigarh.

Jundla DSP Madan Lal reached the spot after the accident and sent the injured to the Civil Hospital.

A pall of gloom descended on the family’ neighborhood here as the news of the tragedy reached there, making family members and wailing relatives and friends rush to the hospital. 

Rohtak, May 6
The police has registered a case against former INLD MLA from Meham Balbir Singh, alias Bali Pehalwan, and 21 others in connection with the death of a youth at Kalanaur town here last night.

The victim died due to a bullet injury fired during a group clash at the grain market following a dispute over collection of donation for a cow shelter. No arrest has been made so far and heavy police force has been posted at the spot to avoid any untoward incident.

According to the police, the firing took place following a row between a commission agent and a group of persons, who had come to his shop to collect donation in the form of grain for the cow shelter located at Mokhra village.

The agent identified as Sita Ram Rathi of Basana village told the group that Bali Pehalwan, who also hails from Mokhra village, owed him a huge amount and they could recover the dues from him for donation.

The former MLA reached the spot with his supporters and a verbal duel turned into a clash as some of the persons opened fire, which led to injuries to several persons, including Sita Ram, who is also the sarpanch of Basana village.

While one of the injured identified as Vishnu succumbed to his injuries on the way to a hospital, others, including Ramchander, Navin, Krishan and Ram Mehar, have been admitted to a hospital.

“We have registered a case against 22 persons, including the former legislator from Meham,” said district police chief Satish Balan. 

Fatehabad, May 6
After a married woman accused his in-laws of harassment and causing forcible miscarriage of her baby, the police today booked a nurse as well as the husband, father-in-law and mother-in-law of the victim.

Nurse Suman is alleged to have carried out abortion on Seema in her official quarter in the Tohana general hospital complex.

The police said a case has been registered against husband Rajinder, mother-in-law Harbans Kaur, father-in- law Mukhtiar Singh and the nurse.

Hospital SMO Joginder Singh, however, said the nurse had denied having conducted the abortion. 

Chandigarh, May 6
The delay by the Congress high command in deciding the name of the new party president in Haryana is prompting new claimants to stake their claim.

So far the tussle for the party post has been between Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s camp and that of his opponents represented by Union Minister Selja and Rajya Sabha member Birender Singh.

Now a demand has arisen that the post should be given to a member of the minority communities-Muslim, Christian or Sikh.

Though those who has raised the demand talk of all minority communities, it is obvious that their preference is for a Sikh.

Jagdeep Singh Cheema, a former chairman of the Minority Department of the Haryana Congress, has written to AICC president Sonia Gandhi, pointing out that while various communities like the Jat, Aggarwal, Brahmin, Scheduled Castes, Punjabis and Ahirs have held this post from time to time, no Muslim, Christian or Sikh has been given this post in Haryana.

Cheema, who was brought into politics by Rajiv Gandhi, said the Sikh population varied from 5,000 to 80,000 in 30 of the 90 Assembly constituencies of Haryana.

The state leadership of the party, he said, should introspect whether it had been fair in promoting leadership amongst the minorities in the state.

Urging Sonia Gandhi to appoint a senior Sikh leader as the next president of the Haryana Congress, Cheema had a word of caution that if the minorities were ignored further, the party might suffer in future.

Chandigarh, May 6
Concerned over the low standard of education in government schools, the state Education Department has decided to set up a learning evaluation cell at the head office to monitor the learning levels of students.

The idea was conceived following the “poor showing” by government schools in the annual status of education report (ASER), 2010, prepared by the Assessment Evaluation Research Centre, New Delhi.

The report had pointed out that 50 per cent of the classV students were unable to read a class III textbook while 50 per cent of the classV students could not do simple division, among other things.

The cell comprising lecturers and masters will be headed by a principal-rank official and would have three wings-one each for maths, English and Hindi.The cell will cover schools fromthe primary to senior secondary levels.

The cell will be entrusted the task of carrying out learning level evaluations of the three subjects in randomly chosen schools. Vijender Kumar, Director-General, School Education, said that the plan was to identify the problem areas in education by evaluating the learning levels of students.

“The team will carry out evaluations tests of any class in two government schools every week. Right from finalising the question paper to checking the papers, this team’s only job will be to provide us an insight into the children’s learning levels. The findings, along with the name of the teacher and the detailed result of the test, will be put up on the website to help teachers understand where the system is failing to deliver,” he says.

“Based on the findings, the teachers will not only be able to pinpoint the weak links in the system but also help the department train them accordingly. “The cell should be in place within a fortnight. This team will be imparted specialised training for conducting the learning evaluation tests by the National Council of Education Research and Taining,” the officer said.

The feedback from the tests conducted in various schools will help the department raise the standard of education in government schools. 

Chandigarh, May 6
The Haryana Government has decided to give financial assistance of `12,000 per acre to those flood-hit farmers, who have suffered substantial loss of land due to landslides and change of course of rivers during floods in 2010.

Announcing this here today, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said out of this financial assistance, `6,000 per acre would be provided from the calamity relief fund. The financial assistance would be given only to those small and marginal farmers, who have suffered substantial loss of land. Normal soil erosion caused due to the flow of river would not be covered, he added.

The Chief Minister said during 2010, floods caused by the Yamuna river had played havoc in many districts of the state. Land in Yamunanagar and Sonepat districts suffered substantial loss due to abnormal flow of river. It was very difficult for the farmers to make it arable again as it entailed a lot of labour, time and money.

As much as 1,642 acres in Yamunanagar district and 1,537 acres in Sonepat district was eroded completely due to heavy floods in 2010, he added. 

Panipat, May 6
The All-India Power Engineers Federation has condemned the suspension of a senior engineer of the state power utilities alleging that the power engineers were being subjected to harassment in the state.

The federation came out openly in support of SS Yadav, Chief Engineer Operation, Delhi, who was recently placed under suspension. The federation claimed that he had to face the action as he had refused to bypass the norms to release a load of 75 MVA to a coloniser from Faridabad. As required, the coloniser was to build a 220 kV substation so that the load could be sanctioned to him. As the coloniser had failed to do so, the chief engineer had not released the load to him, following which he was suspended.

The federation also lamented that engineers were being falsely implicated in corruption cases. While some engineers were being made to pay a huge penalty, others were being demoted by two ranks just a day before retirement.

The Haryana Power Engineers Association also shot a letter to the DHBVN managing director, expressing discontent over Yadav’s suspension.

The association claimed that no irregularity was found by the committee that had been constituted by the nigam to inquire into the sanctioning of load of coloniser in Faridabad and the suspension orders were issued without even allowing the chief engineer a chance to explain his position.

Daljit Singh, general secretary of the association, said the association had urged the authorities to revoke the suspension as it had demoralised the rank and file of engineers.

Chandigarh, May 6
The government has decided to implement the electronic payment system (EPS) partially in its treasuries at Ambala, Jagadhri, Sonepat, Faridabad and Delhi from May 1 but it would be fully functional from May 16. It will also be implemented partially in treasuries in Mewat, Mahendragarh, Rohtak, Jind, Bhiwani, Jhajjar, Rewari and Hisar from May 15 and fully from June 1.

Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav said here today that during partial implementation, all bill payments exceeding Rs 10,000, including salaries, to government employees would be made through EPS only while for full implementation EPS would be applicable to all kinds of bill payments.

The treasury officers concerned had been directed to impart training to all drawing and disbursing officers (DDOs) falling under their jurisdiction, he added.

The minister said EPS was already working in the treasuries at Panchkula, Chandigarh, Kurukshetra, Karnal, Kaithal, Panipat, Fatehabad, Sirsa and Gurgaon and at the Kalka sub-treasury.