Gurgaon, August 28
After ending his 12-day-long fast to press for the enactment of the Jan Lokpal Bill, Anna Hazare was admitted to Medanta Medicity multi-specialty hospital here today.

Hazare's cavalcade was greeted by thousands of his jubilant supporters who had assembled along the path leading to the hospital.

Wearing white caps bearing "Main Anna Hoon", carrying Tricolours and raising slogans, hundreds of supporters accompanied Hazare to the hospital.

After examining 74-year-old Hazare at the hospital, renowned cardiovascular and cardiothoracic surgeon, Dr Naresh Trehan, who is also the chairman of the hospital, said he was fine, though exhausted and dehydrated.

Dr Trehan, who has been examining Hazare during the latter's fast at the Ramlila Grounds in Delhi, said his pulse rate was above normal.

Hazare has been put on a liquid diet, primarily coconut-water and honey. Tests are being conducted to assess the functioning of his vital organs and the reports will be available by tomorrow.

"On the whole, he appears to be doing well, despite the long fast...he is under observation right now and we'll be able to comment on his health by tomorrow afternoon," said the doctor.

SONEPAT: Volunteers of different organisations, Ram Singh Guhna (72), Bhim Singh (74), Mahipal Arya, Daryao Singh Nakloi, Raj Singh Dalal and Ravinder Jatheri at Subhash Chowk and Satpal

Ahlawat and Narender Bhutani in the local Civil Hospital today ended their indefinite fast by taking juice.

They were offered juice by prominent citizens of the town, including MLA Kavita Jain, Rajiv Jain, Raj Kumar Ridhau, Shanta Jain, freedom fighter Kundan Singh, Dr Adish Jain and others.

Later the volunteers were taken in a procession in the town and were accorded a warm welcome by the people.

The occasion was also celebrated by distribution of sweets, firing of crackers and playing of the patriotic songs during the night and in the morning hours.

KURUKSHETRA: Celebrating today’s achievement as Vijay Divas (victory day), the pro-Anna supporters distributed sweets, congratulated each other and danced to the tune of drums. Before taking out a victory procession from Jindal House to Mohan Nagar Chowk, they were addressed by the representatives of various social and political organisations. Team Anna, Kurukshetra Committee, organiser Chander Mohan Singla and spokesman Ram Pal Sharma thanked all supporters for their cooperation and participation in the movement.

SIRSA: Anna Hazare’s supporters celebrated his victory at various places in the district on Sunday.

The social activist’s supporters, who had been sitting in the Town Park here for the past 12 days, expressed their joy over Anna’s victory by bursting crackers and distributing ‘laddoos’.

A victory procession was organised, which passed through main markets of the town with Anna supporters dancing to the beat of drums.

FATEHABAD: Amids jubilations by Anna Hazare’s supporters in different parts of the district, Lakhwinder Singh, a villager from Bisla, ended his 12-day old fast here on Sunday.

While, most of the pro-Anna movement was centred at the Ambedkar Chowk of the town, Lakhwinder Singh had been sitting on fast outside the mini-secretariat ever since the Delhi Police arrested Hazare.

KARNAL: Karnal revelled in the victory and festivity gripped the town as Anna Hazare broke his 12-day old fast after “scripting” a new history and reviving the Gandhian way of peaceful protest.

People gathered at Nehru Palace market in big numbers to celebrate the “victory of democracy over bhrasht-tantra (corruption)” and burst crackers and distributed sweets.

New Delhi, August 28
In a setback to the CBI, prosecution witness and former Haryana minister Karan Singh Dalal has blamed the Congress for the woes of former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, facing trial in a Delhi court in a disproportionate assets case.

Testifying before special judge PS Teji, Dalal alleged that members of the inquiry committee, constituted to look into the allegations against Chautala, were "directed by the Congress" to collect material against Chautala.

The agency, which arrayed Dalal as its second prosecution witness, was in for a shock as he did not support its case.

"The committee was constituted as per the decision of the Congress in Haryana and it was decided by the party (as to who would be) the chairman and members.

"All members of the committee were directed by the party to collect material against Om Prakash Chautala and his family and consolidate the same," Dalal, a former agriculture minister, testified.

INLD leader Chautala is facing trial for allegedly possessing wealth exceeding his legal income. The CBI, on March 26 last year, had filed the chargesheet against Chautala, indicting him for allegedly possessing assets worth Rs 6.09 crore, far exceeding his legal income between 1993 and 2006.

The chargesheet had said Chautala's wealth was 189 per cent more than his income of Rs 3.22 crore during the period.

Dalal said the nine-member committee was headed by Shamsher Singh Surjewala, the complainant in the case. He aid Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was one of the members of the committee.

The examination of Dalal as inconclusive and would continue on September 14.

The CBI had registered the case against Chautala in April,2006, ad had searched his 24 premises in Delhi, Haryana, Rajasthan, HP,Uttarakhand and Chandigarh. It had seized Rs 13 lakh in cash,besides freezing five bank accounts having Rs 1.34 crore. — PTI 

Panipat, August 28
The All-India Power Engineers’ Federation (APIEF) has called upon the government to review the power sector reforms as these had failed to yield the desired results.

AIPEF secretary-general Shaliendra Dubey said in a statement here today that the policy of liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation in the power sector had completely failed and it was high time that it was reviewed.

He said after unbundling most of the state electricity boards were facing power shortages, outages, load- shedding, poor power and soaring transmission and distribution losses. He claimed many power utilities across the country were faced with a survival crisis due to huge debts. The utilities were surviving on borrowed money and now even banks had started refusing more loans to them.

AIPEF chairman Padamjit Singh said that a number of states like Punjab and Uttar Pradesh had adopted the MOU route to allow setting up of new thermal projects. The setting up of projects without the bidding process would escalate the generation cost, leading to higher power tariffs which would directly affect the common consumer.

He said some states had allowed private players to set up new thermal projects with huge capacities, which was being perceived as corporate corruption by the APIEF. He said even the union government had filed an appeal before the Supreme Court in favour of the competitive bidding process as against the MOU route.

The backdoor entry of private companies in industrial cities and urban areas by way of franchisee is a major cause of concern for the AIPEF. The franchisee system had shown negative results in states where it had been introduced The revenue being earned by the franchisee was not being passed on to utilities on one pretwxt or the other.

The franchisees who got cheaper power and all facilities sold power to consumers at higher rates. Thus privates companies were earning handsomely while the utilities were facing bankruptcy. 

Narnaul, August 28
Amid reports of a number of well-off families fraudulently using Below Poverty Line (BPL) cards to avail the facilities meant for the poor, all 87 BPL families of Gomla village in Kanina block of Mahendragarh district have voluntarily given up the BPL status as well as the accompanying facilities.

Setting an example and precedent, the BPL families of the village shunned their tag during a recent resurvey of the BPL families carried out on directions of the high court.

With this, there is not even a single BPL person/family in the village any more. Gomla sarpanch Shanti Devi said as a government facilitator read out the terms and conditions at a meeting of the gram sabha as a part of the BPL resurvey, all members unanimously decided that there was no person/family deserving the BPL status as per the guidelines. “Following this, the families who were under the BPL category earlier, got their names withdrawn from the BPL list voluntarily,” she asserted.

The sarpanch maintained that former BPL residents of the village felt that they had availed themselves of the benefit of the government’s welfare programme and got concrete houses constructed and they did not require the benefits meant for the poor any more.

Dr Saket Kumar, Deputy Commissioner, appealed to residents of the other villages to help the administration in the BPL survey by giving the names of actually needy and deserving persons/families only.

Gurgaon, August 28
Residents of Harsaru, Gadauli Khurd, Narsinghpur, Mohammedpur, Khandsa and other nearby villages in the district today held a mahapanchayat at Harsaru village in protest against the acquisition of farmers' land and its subsequent allotment to Reliance Industries for development of a special economic zone (SEZ).

The matter pertains to the acquisition of about 1,700 acres of land of the said villages by the HSIIDC about six years ago. The protesters alleged that the land was acquired at very low rates and handed over to the Reliance group in lieu of a huge commission.

The mahapanchayat decided to take the legal recourse in this regard and expressed a firm resolve to get their rightful claim from the government. A committee was also formed to chalk out the future course of action.

The protesting farmers further alleged that the acquisition proceedings had been carried out by threatening farmers by using the police . They cited several other instances in which notifications had been issued to acquire certain chunks of land, but the same were later withdrawn after some unscrupulous builders entered the scene.

However, the farmers' leaders at the mahapanchayat could not explain the reason for the long time gap of about six years to initiate the campaign against the acquisition of land.

Gharaunda (Karnal), August 28
As many as 84 cases were decided through conciliation at the Lok Adalat, presided over by the Additional Civil Judge (Senior Division), Hem Raj Verma, here today.

Eighty cases of mutation, two civil cases, one case of cheque bounce and a criminal case under Section 323, IPC, were also decided by the Lok Adalat.

In all 288 cases were presented at the Lok Adalat and the litigants were urged to get their cases settled in the Lok Adalat through conciliation to save time and money.

Presiding Judge, Hem Raj Verma, said the basic objective of the Lok Adalat was to settle the cases through conciliation to provide speedy justice.

He said free services of advocates were also given to the poor litigants so that they could get speedy and inexpensive justice. Cases decided in the Lok Adalat are final and no appeal can filed against the decision in any court, he added.

Advocate Raman Malhotra told the people about the free legal services provided to the poor by the Haryana Legal Services Authority while advocate Sanjiv Kapoor explained in detail about the MNREGA scheme. A documentary film about dispensation of free legal aid by the Haryana Legal Services Authority was also screened on the occasion.

SIRSA: As many as 135 cases were settled through mutual compromise between the opposite parties in the two Rural Lok Adalats organised in two different villages in the district on Sunday.

Judicial Magistrate, Dabwali, Dr Atul Marya, presided over a Rural Lok Adalat at Diwan Khera village, where he resolved 51 civil cases, two cases of petty crimes and 20 of mutations.

Judicial Magistrate, Ellenabad, Amarjit Singh presided over a Rural Lok Adalat at Ottu, where he settled 62 cases, including 15 civil matters.

Gurgaon, August 28
With a view to bringing down the mother-infant mortality rate in the state, the state government has decided to set up special newborn care units (SNCUs) in all 21 districts, besides establishing a web-enabled surveillance system.

This was stated by the Mission Director of the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), Dr Rakesh Gupta, at a news conference here on Wednesday. Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner PC Meena and civil surgeon Dr Praveen Garg were also present.

The SNCUs are already operational in six districts, including Gurgaon, Faridabad, Yamunanagar, Mewat, Ambala and Kaithal. The state government has now decided to open an SNCU in the general hospital of every district.

"As per the figures of 2009, the infant mortality rate (IMR) in Haryana is 51 per 1,000 living children, which is above the national average of 50 and the state ranks 27th in the country on this front. The mother mortality rate (MMR) in the state is also 153 per lakh live births," he said, adding that it was a matter of concern for the state government.

Dr Gupta said every general hospital would be provided an ambulance fitted with advanced life support system (ALSS) to help keep the condition of patient stable during transportation.

He further disclosed that that a scheme for home-based post-natal care of the infant would also be started, for which the ASHA health workers were being trained.

He said a web-enabled surveillance system would also be started to keep a track of the deaths and to remove the shortcomings. 

Panipat, August 28
The district police, who had been on a lookout for Surinder Kala, the most wanted criminal, finally managed to get his custody from a Gurgaon court, where he had recently surrendered.

Kala was wanted in the Sushil Murder case that rocked the district in May, 2009, and other cases.

In April, 2003, Kala and his gang had executed the sensational daylight murder of notorious gangster Kuldip Kalwa in the district courts. Kalwa was a prime accused in the murder of prominent Congressman and industrialist Pritam Ahuja. Kala and his gang members were also involved in a number of bloody encounters and heinous crimes such as murder, dacoity, kidnapping and extortion.

In May, 2009, Kala and his accomplices murdered 26-year-old Sushil of Nara Village, sparking strong protests by residents of 32 villages. Nine persons were named in the FIR of which only four were arrested while the rest, including Kala, continued to elude the police.

After Rohtak range IG V Kamaraj stepped up a campaign to nab Kala, he moved a petition in the high court, pleading that investigation into cases pending against him be shifted out of Rohtak range as he feared for his life if he surrendered in that range. The HC then asked Kala to surrender before a court in Gurgaon from where the Matlauda police brought him here on a production warrant. 

Karnal, August 28
While the district administration has ordered an inquiry into the devastating fire in a cracker factory at Mougal Majara village on August 22 and the police and forensic experts are investigating its cause, hapless victims are yet to get any compensation.

Five persons were charred to death in the explosions and another succumbed to his injuries at a hospital while nine seriously injured persons were undergoing treatment at PGI, Rohtak.

Although Labour Minister Shiv Charan Pal Singh had announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh to the next of kin of the deceased and Rs 2 lakh to each injured person, within hours it was clarified that the factory owners would be made to pay the compensation.

However, neither the government nor the factory owners have paid any compensation to the victims who had been left to fend for themselves.

While the administration was conducting the inquiry into the fire incidents, the police, forensic science experts and ballistic experts were yet to ascertain the cause of the fire.

"It is too early to say whether the fire was caused by short circuit or some other reason and experts are doing their job," Rakesh Arya, SP, Karnal, said .

"It is difficult to get the record of the names, number and addresses of the migrant labourers hailing mainly from Bihar and UP as many of them were dropped at the railway station next morning after the incident and a large number of the workers in the factory are nowhere to be seen," sources said.

The fact that three children were also hurt in the explosions proved that children were also employed there, which was a clear violation of the labour laws.

Ambala, August 28
Panic gripped Baldevnagar Chowk on Ambala-Chandigarh Road near Ambala City this afternoon when a suitcase was found abandoned there.

Fearing that the suitcase may contain a bomb, the police summoned a dog squad and a bomb disposal team there, but it turned out to be a hoax. The Additional SP, Devender Yadav, along with a police team immediately reached the spot. The police partly evacuated the area as a precautionary measure.

The bomb disposal team found clothes in the suitcase. The police felt that some passenger waiting for the bus might have left his luggage behind. The police has impounded the suitcase.

Rewari, August 28
Kiran Devi, 32, was stabbed to death by some assailants, who then dumped the body at a deserted place, near the HUDA Complex, Kosli, last night.

Sube Singh, father of the deceased, today filed a complaint following which the police had registered a case against the assailants.

Police sources said after the demise of her husband Surender Singh, who committed suicide in 2009, Kiran along with her three children was living at Kosli in a separate portion of her in-laws’ house with whom her relations were strained.

Sirsa, August 28
A labourer was electrocuted and three others sustained burn injuries, when they were erecting electricity poles at Panniwala Mota village in the district late on Saturday evening.

The victim, Bansi Lal, was perched on a pole, while others were standing below, when the pole fell bringing down the 11KV lines with it. Bansi Lal died on the spot, while his brother Satpal and two others, Vinod and Shera, sustained burn injuries. — TNS