Jhajjar, August 4
Eight murders in merely six days, this is not a script of any Bollywood thriller, this is the state of deteriorating law and order situation in this historical district located at the border of Haryana and Delhi. The crime graph of the district has shot up significantly in the recent time, which not only raised a big question mark over the functioning of the Jhajjar police but also forced the common man to worry about his security.

Though the police has claimed to have nabbed the accused in most of the criminal cases registered during in the recent past, people are of the view that failure of the police could not be hidden by merely arresting the accused after the occurrence of the heinous crimes.

Of the eight murders, the first took place at the Shakti Nagar locality in Bahadurgarh town on July 30 night when a truck cleaner, identified as Shivaji, was stabbed to death following a monetary dispute. The police had registered a case of murder against Sanjay, the truck conductor, on the complaint of the deceased’s uncle.

The very next day, a truck operator, identified as Virender, was killed by unidentified persons with a sharp-edged weapon and the body was thrown in a street at Ladrawan village here. Virender had gone out with two co-villagers in the evening, but did not return home. Villagers spotted his body bearing multiple injury marks in a street the next morning. The police had arrested two youths, Vijay and Deepak, in this connection and claimed to have recovered the weapon used in the crime.

Two days after the incident, double murder in Kheri Jassaur village here rocked the district. Ravi and Rakesh, engaged in cable network business, were gunned down by four assailants outside their shop near bus stop at Kheri Jassaur village, following a dispute over cable network operation in the village. Bhola, another friend of the deceased, also received bullet injuries in the assault.

Though the police had booked four persons, Pradeep, his brother Manjeet, father Rishal Singh and cousin Sumit, under sections 302/34, 307 of the IPC and the Arms Act, but only succeeded to nab Pradeep.

Another big incident of shootout occurred in the district within 24 hours of Kheri Jassaur killing when four youths, including the son of a former sarpanch, were gunned down by a group of assailants on the Jhajjar-Bahadurgarh road near bus stop at Dulhera village here. The assailants fled the spot after committing the crime.

The four victims, identified as Sonu of Pelpa village and Sandeep, Godha and Satte, all hailing from Mandhothi village, were coming back to Bahadurgarh from Jhajjar in a Maruti car after deposing before a court in connection with a criminal case when they were assaulted.

They were near bus stop of Dulhera village, a black Santro car hit their Maruti from behind while a van stopped in the front. Nearly eight youths came down from both vehicles and started firing indiscriminately upon them from a close range. All four reportedly died on the spot while the assailants fled the spot in the van after abandoning the Santro car on the Sudani road here.

Meanwhile, feeling insecure with the eight murders apart from other crimes within the past six days, the residents have pressed the panic button. They feel that the police really needs to get its act together.

“The police pats its back on its own every time after arresting the criminals, but the officials must also realise that to prevent the crime is also the most vital part of their duty, hence they must make arrangements that the crime-related incidents could be prevented,” said a social worker, Raghuvir Singh.

The recent incidents of killings have certainly put the Jhajjar police in the dock. The police authorities must clear that why they have been unable to check the murder incidents which have taken place in a short period of time, said Om Prakash, a retired employee.

Rohtak, August 4
The well-known and the one-of-its-kind tourist spot in the district, the Tilyar Lake resort is facing the loss of tourists and customers, thanks to delay in its extension work. The water body has been running out of water for the past few months due to the ongoing work. The authorities concerned seem to be unsure of the date by which the work would be completed and the lake resort would be ready for visitors.

The spot, which attracts thousands of locals and visitors from other states due to its location on the main road leading to Delhi, has become a victim of the low arrival of visitors as soon as the extension work of the lake began. Due to this project, the artificial lake was emptied and the visitors were told that they would not be able to take a boat ride till the work was over.

“The spot used to be a favourite place for hundreds of visitors, including families who preferred to spend weekends at this resort, and boating was an important leisure activity for many of them,” claims Manoj Kumar, a local resident.

The renovation and extension work of the lake is too slow and whenever one asks from the authorities about its completion, the ususal reply is that the work is going on, but nobody tells the date by which it will be completed.

The Tilyar Lake resort is spread over 84 acres and the lake, which is one of the largest artificial water bodies in the state, maintained by the Haryana Tourism, was serving as an extension to provide easy access to the nearby canal which feeds it with water, said the sources in the department.

“The presence of a mini zoo adjacent to the resort is another reason for attracting the visitors, besides the resort being a nice picnic spot,” said Pawan Bansal, another resident.

The arrival of visitors had dropped by more than 50 per cent and the occupancy of the rooms at the motel had also got affected, admitted an official.

Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had directed the officials to get the work completed some time ago when the matter was reported to him.

Jhajjar, August 4
The state government has decided to set up observation homes and special homes for looking after the children in conflict with law as provided under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act - 2000.

This was stated by Haryana Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary, Woman and Child Development Department, Shakuntala Jakhu, while addressing programme officers and child development project officers here recently.

“A child protection home will be set up over an area of 2 acres in Jhajjar and the land has already been identified for the purpose,” she said. She directed programme officers and child development project officers (CDPOs) for the proper implementation of integrated child development service (ICDS) schemes.

While reviewing the progress of ICDS, she stressed the need to further improve the functioning of ICDS schemes. “The scheme has been launched to provide nutritional food to pregnant women and children so that they could remain healthy,” said the commissioner.

Jakhu directed the CDPOs concerned to be punctual and check anganwari centres by visiting the villages. She also directed the concerned offices to expedite the construction of new anganwadi centres, besides ensuring the facility of toilets, electricity and water in these centres.

Naraingarh (Ambala), August 4
The Labour Welfare Department, Haryana, has registered nearly 2,239 workers involved in construction work to get benefits of health cards at Naraingarh in Ambala 
district.

Talking to The Tribune, Surinder Singh, assistant director, Labour Department, Haryana, said nearly 2,046 men and 193 women between the 18-60 age group had been registered at Naraingarh.

Sources said under the scheme, beneficiary may get self-treatment or treatment for his or her dependents as indoor patients from public sector hospitals and get medical bill reimbursed against the actual expense, but not exceeding Rs 1 lakh a year.

In order to meet health care requirements of beneficiaries, mobile dispensary vans, along with requisite medical staff and medicines, are already in operation in Ambala and some other districts.

The sources further said among those registered include 962 uneducated, 370 studied up to primary class, 450 qualified up to middle class, 264 matriculates and 192 studied up to class XII.

The assistant director said those registered under the scheme would have benefits of all developmental schemes announced by the state government like health insurance, pension scheme and financial aid for marriage of daughter, aid for purchase or repair of house, compensation for death while on duty and privilege of loan for purchase of tools.

He further said the facilities of shelters with civil amenities were to be provided to labourers on availability of land from the local authorities. The tasks of laying foundation stones of three labour sheds, including one at Yamunanagar and two at Faridabad had been completed.

Efforts were also being made to construct such labour sheds in other towns, the sources added.

Chandigarh, August 4
The Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court and a white paper from the Haryana Government on all the land deals during the Congress rule.

The party will organise protests at all the district headquarters on August 5 and burn effigies of the UPA chairperson and the Chief Minister against the acquisition of land.

The party also demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on grounds that he had, all along, claimed that not an inch of land had been given to any private party during his regime. This, party leaders maintained, stood belied in the land deal of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Addressing a press conference here today, the president of the state unit of the INLD, Ashok Arora, and Dabwali MLA Abhay Singh Chautala, slammed the Congress government in the state for giving away the panchayat land for peanuts by “pressurising” the village panchayat of Ullawas, adding the CM did so only to save his chair.

“The panchayat is under tremendous pressure. The sarpanch has already stated that the son-in-law of the Congress state president, Phool Chand Mullana, who was the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon when the resolution was passed, had forced the panchayat to give away its land. A Chief Parliamentary Secretary is now pressurising the sarpanch and members of the panchayat to submit affidavits stating that they gave the land willingly,” alleged Chautala.

He said when the government released 40 per cent of the 1,471 acres in the seven villages of Gurgaon, it had intended to acquire to favour “influential people”, the entire sequence reeked of a “conspiracy”.

“Let the CM present a white paper on all such lands leased out by the government. Also, the CM has claimed, at rallies and in the Vidhan sabha, that he is willing to resign from his post if anybody proves that an inch of land was given to any private party by the government. Now, let him honour his word,” Arora maintained.

Ridiculing the justification of assured income to the panchayat, Chautala stated, “The government doesn’t seem to know that the land price in Gurgaon is very high. So, the Rs 3 lakh annual income is no favour to the panchayat. Moreover, the Rajiv Gandhi Trust has only three members to its credit and they are UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and her two children, Rahul and Priyanaka. How come this Trust has no fourth member and everything is limited to a single family,” he asked.

Kaithal, August 4
After violent protests following an accident which witnessed deployment of heavy police force here, normalcy returned to the town following the efforts of the district administration when representatives of protesters and a team of officials arrived at a settlement.

Before reaching an agreement, hundreds of local residents and family members of three accident victims, who were killed in a road accident recently, marched to the local mini-secretariat and sought the acceptance of their demands.

Some of their representatives had a talk with officials and the administration agreed to pay Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of the deceased and employment to the husband of Veena, one of the accident victims. This amount is in addition to Rs 1 lakh paid to the families of the deceased under the Rajiv Gandhi Bima Yojna.

The administration also agreed to take action against DSP Ravinder Tomar as demanded by the agitators. Kalayat MLA Ram Pal Majra and INLD workers supported the agitation and expressed solidarity with the members of the bereaved families.

Haryana Minister for PWD and Industries and the local MLA Randeep Singh Surjewala accompanied by the president of the All-India Khet Kisan Mazdoor Congress, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, Kaithal DC Amneet P. Kumar and SP Simardeep Singh visited the houses of the deceased to mourn the death of the victims.

Surjewala handed over cheques of Rs 1 lakh each to all three families under the Rajiv Gandhi Bima Yojna. He said the administration would provide free education to the daughters of the deceased. He said he would strive to get more help for the bereaved families from the government.

The Minister said from now onwards, maxicabs would not be allowed to ply on the railway over bridge and their parking near the Old Bus Stand would also be banned.

He said an underpass would be constructed on the railway crossing at a cost of Rs 3 crore and it would be completed within eight months. Rumble strips would be constructed on both sides of the ROB. DSP (HQ) Tomar would also be transferred from here, he added.

It may be recalled that three local residents, including two women of the local Sargodha Colony, died in a road accident on the newly constructed ROB recently when their bike was hit by a maxicab.

Kurukshetra, August 4
Veteran educationist and president of Yadav Samaj Sabha, Kurukshetra, Dr JS Yadav, today appealed to the prominent Yadav and Ahriwal leaders to join hands to get justice for the region.

He said sharing of platform by Gurgaon MP Rao Inderjeet Singh and senior minister of Haryana Ajay Singh Yadav had created a wave of exhilaration in Ahirwal, in general, and among the Yadavs, in particular. He added that it was the right moment for other politicians of Ahirwal like Rao Narender Singh, Rao Dan Singh and Anita Yadav to join hands and to “slowly and gradually” get the justice done.

Yadav said Ajay Singh Yadav was divested of the finance portfolio a few days ago and the entire region felt insulted, but the Chief Minister would not have dared to do this, had the two leaders come together earlier.

Alleging that the region had been neglected in development, he said all the institutions of higher learning, including the Deen Bandhu Chhotu Ram Technical University at Murthal, the only women university of the state at Khanpur Kalan in Sonipat district, MDU and BD Sharma Medical University in Rohtak, were located in the same region.

“A branch of the AIIMS has been allocated to Jhajjar district, only a few kilometers from Rohtak, whereas Ahirwal does not have even an ayurvedic college, not to mention a medical college,” he rued.

Referring to the revenue administration, he said tehsils in Jat land were being converted into sub-divisions and questioned why these were not made tehsils. He added that Gurgaon had developed because of its own momentum and location and not because of the government.

He asked the Ahriwal and Jat leaders to press the Chief Minister to upgrade the Regional Centre at Mirpur to a university when he visits Rewari to inaugurate the overbridge on the Jhajjar road on August 4.

Faridabad, August 4
Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has lamented that India is currently spending less on academic research while there is an utmost need for creating facilitative environment so that the corporate sector comes forward to work with universities in the field of research and development.

Speaking on the occasion of the first convocation of YMCA University of Science and Technology (YMCAUST) here, Hooda said according to an estimate, India spent one per cent of its GDP on research which was far less than many developed and developing countries.

He made it known to the students and the staff of the university that his expectations from the university was that its researchers competed with the best in the country and became the engine of socio-economic growth.

Sounding like a statesman in vision and encapsulating pan-India perspective on the core sector of education, he said: “The story of Indian academic research needs to be rewritten. There are miles to go in the research race”.

Looking into the future, he said, “We are living in the 21st century which is widely acclaimed as the ‘knowledge century’. The former premier, late Rajiv Gandhi, visualised a stronger and more prosperous India in the 21st century. Our youth have to participate effectively and meaningfully in the ongoing progress story of the world. Fortunately, the present India is young India,” he added.

He said the country had immense innate strength, but there was a challenge to convert the young India into a skilled India for which schools, colleges and universities had a major role to play.

Dwelling on the works done by his government to enhance educational status of all sections of society, he said it was not only completing the ongoing projects but also taking up new ventures to provide world-class educational and research facilities in the state. Also, the government had implemented incentive-based schemes so that the parents of students belonging to the weaker sections of society did not feel hard pressed and their wards were not deprived of education, he added.

Kurukshetra, August 4
introduce life skills to teachers, a one-day workshop on “life skill education” was organised by Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Senior Secondary Public School, Ladwa, in collaboration with Smt Sugni Devi Arya Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladwa, 25 km from here, recently.

Meenakshi Chhabra, principal, Smt Sugni Devi Arya Girls Senior Secondary School, Ladwa, said: “Life is an art and to get trained in this art, we not only need knowledge but also some skills which are known as life skills. Similarly, life skill education means such education that brings change and development in human behaviour. It is a balance of three areas - knowledge, attitude and skills”.

She said the CBSE had introduced life skill education for classes VI to X for the behavioural development of students and following this programme, this workshop was organised to focus on 10 life skills - self awareness, empathy, creative thinking, critical thinking, problem solving, decision making, effective communication, interpersonal relationship, coping with stress and emotions.

The main resource persons, Gurmeet Singh, principal, DAV Public School, Kapurthala, and Praveen Dhillon, principal, MKJ Public School, Amritsar, presented each of these skills through a number of activities like role playing, assessment of a story, chart making, formation of objects by joining pieces, word puzzle, writing qualitative words, solving a maze, etc. Through another activity, it was shown that how in anger we lose our most precious things.

The most touching quality of the workshop was that the speakers didn’t say even once that we should have these skills, but they stressed on the fact that we have all these skills within us. If we know how to manage a difficult and unexpected situation, then we also have life skills within us.

All the members participated with full enthusiasm in the workshop and realised the importance of these skills which make us flexible in our approach to adapt to various situations in life, generate hope in difficult situations and help in monitoring our understanding and learning to become a productive and effective member of society.

Ambala August 4
Seema (26) has decided to give one of her kidneys to her husband whose kidneys had failed following some serious illness about four months ago.Seema got married to Sanjeev, a resident of Binjalpur village near Mulana, four years ago. Sanjeev has been put on dialysis in a private hospital at Mohali where a surgery for kidney transplantation would be conducted.

Seema recently met deputy commissioner Samir Pal Saro and requested him to issue her a certificate for allowing her to donate her kidney. The certificate is required to be submitted with the hospital before the transplantation. Saro has referred the case to a six- member committee headed by the ADC, SS Phulia. The ADC has summoned the parents of both the donor and the patient on August 5 for taking their consent.

Sanjeev has five brothers. Anil, one of his brothers, said when the blood and other tests of their family members were conducted, only the blood group of Seema was found matched with Sanjeev. She came forward happily and said Sanjeev was her soul mate and she could go to any extent to save his life.

Anil said Sanjeev’s problem came into notice when he went to Devband (UP) to meet her sister and there he complained of swelling in the abdomen. He told that all five brothers were contributing the expenses of kidney transplantation as Sanjeev was unemployed and had no source of income.

Anil said initially, they went to PGI, Chandigarh, but after two months they took Sanjeev to a private hospital in Mohali.

Dr Rajiv Aggarwal, a local surgeon, said there was less risk for a donor these days as generally the kidney was removed with laparoscopic. He said the nature had provided everyone with two kidneys which filtered the blood and the waste material came out as urine. One kidney was sufficient for survival, he added.

Sonepat, August 4
In order to promote, preserve and enrich the folklore and folk culture of Haryana universally, the Haryana Sahitya Akademy has taken up a decision to publish the anthology of folk dramas and songs of Haryana.

A committee of experts of the academy has decided to publish this anthology in four volumes and has finalised the name of Dr Sant Ram Deswal, associate professor of the Hindi Department of CRA College, Sonepat, to work as an editor of the anthology on the leading and noted folk play writers and saangis which included Pandit Lakhmi Chand, Baje Bhagat, Mange Ram, Deep Chand, Kheema, Tula Ram and many others.

Renowned educationist Hoshiyar Singh Malik thanked the academy for its meticulous and well thought out considerations and deliberations and remarked that the publication of the anthology of the representatives of folk dramas would raise Haryanavi dialect towards the claim for becoming a standardised language of form and content, education and pleasure.

“Certainly, being a renowned author and poet, Dr Deswal will prove his mettle by editing this anthology of saangis of Haryana,” he hoped.

Commenting on this decision of the academy, famous script and songwriter on folklore and culture of Haryana, Manphool Singh Dangi, who has been decorated a number of times for his contributions, said: “The publication of the proposed anthology will contribute to the creation and rejuvenation of a literary culture and cultural awakening among the common and simple folk of Haryana”.

Kurukshetra, August 4
To solve the problems of traders, Beopari Aayog will be constituted on the pattern of the Scheduled Caste and Backward Classes Commission in the state if the INLD comes to power and more facilities would be provided to the traders by implementing the recommendations of this commission.

This was stated by former Chief Minister and INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala while addressing traders of Thanesar at a conference here recently. He said after coming to power, the INLD would compensate the traders for the damages incurred by them due to natural calamities. Similarly, five per cent tax would be returned to those traders who would pay their taxes honestly while the unemployed would be paid Rs 3,000 per month as unemployment allowance.

He said form no. 38 would be abolished and small-scale industries would be provided raw material while the sale of their products would be the responsibility of the state government. Industrial plots would be provided at cheaper rates and the opening of shopping malls would be discouraged to save the small shopkeepers from being ruined, he added.

Chautala also alleged that Haryana was on the verge of collapse as the state government had failed miserably in releasing the old-age pension. Even the allowance declared for the MLAs by the state government had not been paid so far, he asserted.

The INLD chief appealed to the traders to join the party and fight for the downfall of the Congress-led government by forgetting caste, creed and religion.

Severely criticising the Hooda government, INLD state president Ashok Arora said the law and order situation was deteriorating day by day. He demanded resignation from Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. He also appealed to the traders to join INLD for all-round development in the state.

MLA Sher Singh Barshami alleged that the rice traders were being given step-motherly treatment as they were denied those benefits which were being extended to their counterparts in Punjab.

Former Kurukshetra University vice-chancellor and INLD national spokesman RS Chaudhary described Hooda government as a morally corrupt government.

Former ministers Subhash Goyal and Jaswinder Singh Sandhu also alleged the state government had failed in protecting life and property of its people.