Nuh (Mewat), May 7
The much-hyped legal awareness programme organised here today turned into a virtual war of words between Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court Adarsh Kumar Goel.

Citing figures, Justice Goel resorted to some “plain-speak” as he categorically pointed out that the literacy rate in Mewat was much lower as compared to other parts of the state. Especially the rock-bottom rate of literacy among the girls of Mewat and their alarmingly high school dropout rate were a big cause of concern for all, he observed.

Mincing no words, the Acting Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, who is also the Executive Chairman of the Haryana State Legal Services Authority, maintained that Mewat had grossly inadequate educational and health infrastructure and teachers, doctors and other government servants considered a transfer to Mewat as a “punishment posting”.

“They try their level best to get their transfer orders cancelled, seek re-transfer to some other station and even prefer to resign from service to avoid working here,” Justice Goel remarked. He asserted that a change in attitude of people at large was the key to improving their lot.

Later, Hooda categorically told Justice Goel that the facts and figures presented by him regarding the literacy rate in Mewat were incorrect and advised him to update his information.

Apparently upset over Justice Goel’s “plain-speak”, the Chief Minister pointed out that the country’s first mobile court launched in the Mewat area in 2007 by the then Chief Justice of India with much fanfare had been rendered immobile (stationary).

Taking a cue from the HC Judge’s advice on changing one’s attitude, Hooda said some change of attitude was desirable from their (judiciary’s) part as well in the larger interest of society.

Curiously, this on-stage drama went on in full public view in the presence of several senior Judges from the Supreme Court, the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Gurgaon district courts.

However, Supreme Court Judge-cum-Executive Chairman of the National Legal Services Authority Altamas Kabir, who was the chief guest at today’s function and spoke after the Chief Minister, took the things in his stride in a graceful manner.

Meanwhile, PR officials, who are supposed to facilitate the mediapersons, preferred to confine themselves to the VVIP enclosure at the legal awareness programme.

Fatehabad, May 7
Rain, accompanied by thunderstorm, came as a bolt from the blue for 30-year-old Soni and her four children last night as the roof of their one-room rented house came crumbling down on them in the Ashok Nagar locality last night.

The woman and her children - Vicky (9), Laxmi (8), Khushi (6) and Shiva (5) - were trapped under the debris of the house. They were rescued by local people and taken to the general hospital. The condition of Soni and Laxmi is stated to be serious.

Soni’s husband Ranjit, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh, eked out a living for the family by selling juice and was out of the house at that time. The family had taken the house on rent from a local resident, Krishan, who had constructed this house only six months ago.

Almost all household items of the family have been damaged under the debris of the house. No relief has so far reached the poor family in distress after the accident and none from the district authorities has so far visited the family. — TNS

Kaithal, May 7
An engineering college girl student was found dead while a middle-aged man was found unconscious in a Scorpio near Mohna village on the Kaithal-Karnal road, about 22 km from here, this morning. The man later died in a hospital.

Some villagers noticed the duo in the vehicle, which was parked on the roadside after which they informed the police. The police took the two to the Kaithal multispeciality hospital, where doctors declared the girl brought dead while the man died after some time. Preliminary investigations revealed that both had consumed poison. The man has been identified as Ishwar, a resident of Amin in Kurukshetra district, while the girl was studying BTech at a college in Yamunanagar.

It is learnt that on April 29, a case regarding the kidnapping of this girl was registered in Yamunanagar in which the man was named as an accused.

Rohtak, May 7
Hundreds of tonnes of wheat lying in the open at the local grain market became wet as rain, accompanied by a squall, lashed the area last evening. The rain, which continued for around two hours, left a large number of bags of wheat, stacked in the open by the authorities after procurement, drenched. About two lakh tonnes of wheat has been procured in the grain markets of the district this season.

While the department concerned had issued an advisory to farmers earlier this week about the impending bad weather and had urged them to collect and remove the wheat lying in the open, the authorities at the grain market seem to have ignored the warning, resulting in the soaking of a large number of bags of wheat stored in the open, claimed an employee of the local mandi. He said the bags of wheat could have been covered with polythene sheets by the department, which would have saved the wheat from getting moist.

“The procurement agencies face a problem of “covered storage” as these these don’t have many godowns and have to depend on makeshift arrangements till the stock is shifted to a safer place,” said sources in the department.

“The government may have been spending crores on the procurement process, but what’s the point unless there are proper arrangements for storage as hundreds of tonnes of wheat gets damaged after being drenched,” said a commission agent.

The arrivals and procurement of wheat at the nine procurement centres in the district have reached around 1.90 lakh tonnes so far. While the process is nearing its final stage now, the agencies have been purchasing the crop at an MSP of Rs 1,120 per quintal.

Sirsa, May 7
Haryana Urban Local Bodies Minister Gopal Kanda today said the state government would charge only 10 per cent of the collector rates for land given to social and religious charitable trusts for the construction of their buildings or dharamshalas.

The minister was speaking during his felicitation function organised by the local Agarwal community for helping them get 2600 yards of prime government land in the heart of the town for the construction of a dharamshala.

The state government has given an adjacent piece of land of equal dimensions to the local Arora community for the construction of a dharamshala.

The minister announced that the Murli Dhar Charitable Trust managed by his family would pay the entire cost of Rs 1.04 crore towards the cost of both pieces of land to the government.

Kanda announced that Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda would lay the foundation stones of both these dharamshalas on his visit to Sirsa next month, when he would also lay the foundation stone of a multi-speciality hospital to be set up by the Murli Dhar Charitable Trust on the local Rania Road.

Later, talking to mediapersons, Kanda said the state government had begun the process of regularisation of unauthorised colonies in different towns and cities in Haryana.

Sirsa, May 7
The functioning of the district police has come under criticism from local people and opposition parties as the police is yet to get any clue to the double murder at Ellenabad, where a woman and her granddaughter were murdered in their house on Thursday.

A team of forensic experts visited the house of the victims today and collected evidence from there.

The police recorded the statements of the house owner, Ashok Kumar, and some others in this connection.

SP Satinder Pal Gupta has shifted the in charge of the Ellenabad police station, though he claimed that it was a routine exercise and had nothing to do with the murders.

Residents had blocked vehicular traffic and closed their shops after the killings yesterday and had accused the local police of being insensitive and indifferent.

The angry residents had alleged that the police took more than two hours to reach the scene of the crime despite information, though the police station was situated at a distance of less than 100 meters from the victims’ house.

The SP said the police had detained nine persons on suspicion and was interrogating them in an effort to get to the bottom of the case.

Nilokheri (Karnal), May 7
The Polytechnic Lecturers Welfare Association, Haryana, has decided to boycott the State Board of Technical Education examinations and the diploma entrance test in protest against the non-implementation of the revised pay scales recommended by the All-India Council of Technical education.

The state executive of the association, which reviewed the situation at an emergency meeting, expressed resentment over the delaying tactics being adopted to deny the polytechnic lecturers their due. They recalled that the 22-day strike by lecturers in September 2009 was called off following an assurance that the revised pay scales would be implemented as soon as the same were notified. — TNS