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Acrimony marked Hisar campaign
Tight security in place
Anna effect may prove double-edged sword
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Many Sirsa, Fatehabad cops won’t be able to cast vote
Hisar Byelection
Petition for postponing poll dismissed
Defection of Five MLAs
EVM, poll material distributed
HC notice on land for memorial to CM’s father
Three killed, two hurt in Karnal accident
Power cuts go as CM lands in Rohtak
Order to improve power supply
Substantial fall recorded in dengue cases
Inter-country adoption of children
Clearance of arrears
Protest outside Health Dept office
2 women strangled in Sonepat village
Rs 1.53-cr penalty in 3,411 liquor smuggling cases
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Acrimony marked Hisar campaign
Hisar, October 12 Chautala stated this in his speech at an election rally that marked the end of his party’s campaign. To be fair to Chautala, his call meant that INLD workers should ensure that they are inside the booth before 5 pm after which no voter is allowed inside. But the expression “barge in” provided Mullana a handle to raise the spectre of the infamous Meham mayhem two decades ago when Chautala contested that Assembly seat. As for the INLD, it had pleaded with the EC a week ago to initiate action against certain government employees who were managing the publicity campaign for the Congress candidate. It levelled charges of widespread misuse of government machinery by the Congress. Even otherwise, campaigners of all parties referred to leaders of opposite parties in derogatory terms throughout the campaign. In the past elections barring second-rung leaders, senior leaders never named another leader without ‘ji’ with the name. Bloodlines were frequently mentioned in speeches. While Kuldeep Bishnoi was often described as “carrying the blood of notorious Bhajan Lal who introduced mass defections to Indian polity”, Ajay Chautala was referred to by his opponents as “carrying the blood of Om Prakash Chautala who resorted to widespread violence in Meham”. Though every party condemned the attempts to divide the electorate on caste lines, the same parties also went out of their way to somehow proclaim what castes were supposedly backing them. The INLD specially flew in Prakash Rao Ambedkar, a grandson of Dr BR Ambedkar, for its rally. It also kept Kanta Aldia of the Bahujan Sandesh Party in good humour throughout the campaign. The leaders did not shirk from telling white lies in their speeches. While addressing the rally in favour of Bishnoi Sushma Swaraj claimed that “Team Anna is going door to door seeking votes for Bishnoi”. That this claim boomeranged on their nominee is another matter. The presence of almost the entire Congress state leadership in the constituency also added to the bitterness in the campaign. Local leaders generally tend to use restrain, but outsiders are prone to ridicule. Team Anna’s anti-Congress campaign also contributed to the acrimony. |
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Tight security in place
Hisar, October 12 CRPF personnel put up checkposts all over the city and the countryside checking vehicles. Motorists and motorcycle riders were stopped and asked for an identity proof. Many were frisked to ensure that they were not carrying any firearms. All licensed arms have already been deposited with police stations or authorised firearm dealers. |
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Anna effect may prove double-edged sword
Hisar, October 12 Team Anna has a huge following here, Hisar being the home district of Arvind Kejriwal. But it was evident throughout the three-day campaign that even diehard supporters of Anna Hazare here were sceptical of singling out a party without offering a choice. There is sound logic behind the scepticism. One, Team Anna landed here after the campaign was more than two-weeks old. By this time most voters had made up their minds to vote one way or the other. Had it come earlier, it might not have left the voters confused. Two, Team Anna did not have an answer to the one question everyone was asking “who is the alternative? This was a logical question. This was the question Kejriwal faced at almost every other meeting The general refrain among voters was that Team Anna should not have asked supporters not to vote for the Congress. Instead, it could have explained to them that the Congress was the biggest hurdle in the way of the Jan Lokpal Bill but could have left it to the voters to decide which candidate was most likely to support the Jan Lokpal Bill. Hisar is an area where the voter is politically very savvy. This is an area where political discussions are the favourite subject every day whether you are sharing a cup of tea or an evening drink with friends. Every move is analysed and its likely effects deliberated articulately. And Team Anna’s campaign was no exception. It was discussed, supported and criticised threadbare all at once. But in the end no voter likes to be told not to vote for a particular candidate. Thirdly, even though Arvind Kejriwal and Manish Sisodia or, for that matter, Kiran Bedi, who joined the campaign only in its very last leg have a considerable following here, the presence of Anna Hazare himself would have
been an altogether different story. Haryanvis in general have a marked preference for the man right at the top of anything. For them, the second string leadership does not carry the same halo. Kejriwal should have known this as he is from Hisar. As elsewhere Anna Hazare enjoys blind support in this area. But this blind support is not passed on to Team Anna in the same measure. Had Anna Hazare toured the area himself, it would not have led to any scepticism among the voters. No one would have asked Anna who the substitute candidate was. Anna’s absence, therefore, has given the Congress a lot of respite. The BJP tried its best to convey the impression that Team Anna is backing Bishnoi. Sushma Swaraj addressing an election rally here even claimed that Team Anna was “going door to door” seeking votes for Kuldeep Bishnoi, which was a blatant lie. Kejriwal was quick to deny it. But that was unnecessary. Sushma’s tall claim might cost Bishnoi a number of votes as a reaction. Such is the awareness about political issues among voters
of Hisar. Nobody can dare take them for granted. |
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Many Sirsa, Fatehabad cops won’t be able to cast vote
Sirsa, October 12 More than 900 cops from Sirsa and nearly 700 from Fatehabad have been assigned election duty in Hisar this time. Sources in the police said that a good number of these cops hail from any of the nine Assembly segments, falling under the Hisar parliamentary seat. Though care has been taken not to deploy these cops in their respective home district, they have been put on duty in parts of Bhiwani and Jind, which constitute parts of the Hisar seat. However, these cops would not be able to cast their votes in this all important bypoll. The Chief Electoral Officer, Haryana, Sumita Mishra, said in all such cases, the Election Department issued 12-A forms to the officials, who were required to perform duty during election. She said it was the duty of the head of the department to provide Form 12-A to such officials. Form 12-A is an application form for issuance of election duty certificate (EDC), which entitles the official to exercise his right to franchise at the polling booth he is deployed at. SP Satinder Kumar Gupta said care had been taken not to deploy the cops in their home district, but he was not sure whether any of those assigned election duties had their votes in the Hisar parliamentary seat. Sources said Form 12-A could not be issued in cases of these cops as the duties were assigned at the last minute. Nearly 700 cops from Fatehabad, having a total strength of 1,101 personnel, were sent to Hisar for poll duty, while 250 cops from other districts have reached Fatehabad for doing policing duties. Similarly, Sirsa has received nearly 300 cops from other districts, while more than 900 cops from this district have been sent on election duty at
Hisar. |
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Hisar Byelection
Sirsa, October 12 He said there was a separate “political affairs wing” of dera followers, which undertook such exercises whenever there were any elections. “However, to my knowledge, no such exercise has been taken by the wing this time,” Insan said. The Dera Sacha Sauda has a considerable following in the nine Assembly segments that constitute the Hisar parliamentary seat and their votes, if cast collectively, could make a difference to the outcome of this bypoll. Though Insan refused to confirm or deny, sources in the dera said all the three main contenders of the bypoll, the INLD’s Ajay Singh Chautala, the HJC-BJP combine’s Kuldeep Bishnoi and the Congress’ Jai Prakash, had visited the dera to seek “blessings” of dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh. |
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Petition for postponing poll dismissed
Chandigarh, October 12 The petition was filed by Dhruv Pal Singh, an election agent of candidate Ved Pal. Claiming Ved Pal’s implication in connection with the Mirchpur carnage, the petitioner sought directions to the state of Haryana and three other respondents to enable Ved Pal to approach the voters and supporters of his constituency. In the petition placed before Justice Permod Kohli, he added Ved Pal was currently lodged in Hisar Central Jail. He added since the Jats were the dominant community in Haryana, Ved Pal was implicated in a number of false cases as he had been helping the Mirchpur victims.
— TNS |
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Defection of Five MLAs
Chandigarh, October 12 The Bench also fixed October 21 as the next date of hearing. The directions came less than three months after the high court reserved orders in the matter after hearing arguments on day-to-day basis for nearly three days. The defecting MLAs, Satpal Sangwan, Vinod Bhyana, Narender Singh, Zileram and Dharam Singh, had joined the Congress in November, 2009. The matter was placed before the Division Bench after the single judge’s order fixing four-month deadline for the Vidhan Sabha Speaker to decide Bishnoi’s plea was challenged. |
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EVM, poll material distributed
Bhiwani, October 12 Bidhan said 208 polling stations had been set up in the Buwani Khera election area where 90 polling stations had been declared sensitive and 49 hyper-sensitive. Adequate police arrangements had been made around these polling stations.
Bidhan said 1,54,745 voters would exercise their franchise in the Hisar Lik Sabha
byelection. |
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HC notice on land for memorial to CM’s father
Chandigarh, October 12 The land was acquired for an industrial township in Rohtak district. In their petition placed before the Bench headed by Acting Chief Justice MM Kumar, Sunil Kumar and 11 others of Garhi Bohar village have asserted the land was originally acquired by the Haryana State Industrial Development Corporation (HSIDC) for developing an industrial township. But, later it was arbitrarily transferred for Savindhan Sathal. Dubbing the action as illegal and with ulterior motive, the petitioners said “Apart from this, there cannot be transfer of public land in memory of private persons and that too 42 acres of land.” The case will now come up for hearing on November 16.
— TNS |
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Three killed, two hurt in Karnal accident
Karnal, October 12 The impact of the collision with the bus was so high that the vehicle crossed the road divider and got hit by another truck, causing death of three persons and injuring two others. The victims were on their way back to Delhi after attending a rasam kriya ceremony at Ambala. Two of the deceased were identified as Pradhuman, Baby and the third was the driver, Chander, who was removed from the vehicle after cutting a portion of it. The injured persons who were rushed to a trauma centre here were referred to AIIMS, Delhi. They were identified as Vinod Grover and Mangat Ram. The bus driver fled from the spot along with the bus. |
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Power cuts go as CM lands in Rohtak
Rohtak, October 12 The power supply that had been erratic till 3 pm on Tuesday stabilised in the past over 27 hours, which saw no cut. “The power supply appears to be following the Chief Minister ever since he came to the city since Tuesday evening,” claimed Sewak Singh, a local resident. He said the city and the district had been witnessing long cuts daily for the past about two weeks, making the life of the common man miserable. Several residents faced the problem of disruption in water supply. The power cuts had also affected commercial and industrial activities and resulted in a huge loss to the owners during the past many days, claimed a shop owner at the local Quilla market. |
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Order to improve power supply
Chandigarh, October 12 He said those who were regularly paying their power bills would be provided sufficient power supply and those involved in power theft would be dealt with sternly. He directed the officers to replace old wires, remove wires passing over buildings and install new transformers. |
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First dental college in state to have postgraduate course
Rohtak, October 12 He said the institution would be known as the Postgraduate Institute of Dental Sciences (PGIDS) now. It has been a constituent college of Pt BD Sharma University of Health Sciences. The state government had recently passed a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha to upgrade Dental College, Rohtak, as the PGIDS and declared it as an autonomous institution affiliated to the health university. The college would have a separate management and not function as a part of the PGIMS, claimed the officials concerned. The college, which came into being in 1981, received 800 patients daily in its OPD and has capacity to accommodate 20 patients. The OPD and other departments had been equipped with ultra-modern equipment and had its own state-of-the-art laboratories in oral pathology, oral anatomy and casting and ceramic labs. The institution admitted 60 students in BDS and 13 in MDS
per year. |
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Two days on, crackers still lie at Karnal fire site
Karnal, October 12 The unexploded fire crackers are scattered all around even after two days of the mishap. The residents are spending sleepless nights as even a spark could trigger a major fire. They are so scared that they don’t dare even to light a match stick in the congested area near Baba Mastnath Giri Akhara in Sri Ram Colony. They are eagerly waiting for the firecrackers to be removed by the local administration. Ramesh, whose nephew, Vikas, succumbed to his injuries in the PGI, Chandigarh, wondered why the godown in the congested residential area had not been sealed. Further, no compensation or interim monetary help has been given to the next of the kin of the deceased and the injured persons admitted to the PGI, Chandigarh, and the PGI, Rohtak. Another resident, Rajinder, said a police team visited the site yesterday for taking samples but the firecrackers piled on the spot were not removed by it. Alleging that the devastating fire was caused by the negligence of the cops, the residents in a letter to the Deputy Commissioner said the “fire broke out after a policeman dropped a box of crackers while removing it from the godown and it caught fire. Some of the cops were drunk and coerced the children to shift the boxes of crackers to other places.” Deputy Commissioner Neelam Pradeep Kasni said Deputy Director, Explosive Department, had directed the fire brigade to sprinkle water at the site repeatedly after a few hours. |
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Substantial fall recorded in dengue cases
Chandigarh, October 12 Haryana Health Minister Rao Narender Singh said that no case of chikungunya and encephalitis had so far been reported in
the state during the current year. Giving details, he said that 125 cases of dengue were reported in the state in 2009 as compared to 1,159 cases reported in 2008, which shows six times decline in such cases in the state. However, during 2010, there were 866 confirmed cases of dengue with 21 deaths reported in the state out of which 631 cases and 13 deaths were from district Gurgaon alone, that is 72 per cent of total cases reported in the state. Though there had been an increase in the incidence of dengue during 2010, yet as compared to the adjoining states of Delhi and Punjab where a large number of cases were reported, the incidence in Haryana was very low. During the current year, up to September 30, 2011, a total of 56 confirmed cases had been reported in the state, out of which 44 cases were from Gurgaon district. In August this year, only 14 cases with one death due to dengue were reported in the state as compared to 274 cases and no death and 66 cases and one death reported in the adjoining states, Punjab and Delhi, respectively. Therefore, a huge decline in the cases of dengue was continuing in the state, he added. Rao Narender Singh said the department was more vigilant in the rainy season and had taken several steps to contain the vector-borne diseases. It is presumed that vector-borne diseases increase rapidly during rainy season because mosquitoes breed in stagnant water. |
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Inter-country adoption of children
Chandigarh, October 12 While stating this here today, a spokesman of the Women and Child Development Department said the Programme Manager (Non-Institutional Care-State Adoption Resource Agency) and Dr Karuna, play therapist-cum-psychiatrist, Government Medical College, Sector-32, Chandigarh would be its members. He said in case of siblings and other children, the ARC would ensure that there was no waiting Indian Prospective Adoptive Parents (PAPs) within the region for such child or children and it would satisfy itself about the suitability of PAPs. The committee would also verify the documents filed by the Recognised Indian Placement Agency (RIPA) and ensure that procedures had been correctly followed by the RIPA. In case, at any stage, State Adoption Resource Agency or Adoption Coordination Agency or Adoption Recommendation Agency was not satisfied with the documents produced for obtaining a recommendation certificate, the ARC would conduct appropriate investigation before disposing of the matter. |
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Clearance of arrears
Jind, October 12 The dues pending towards the exporters in the district are said to be around Rs 100 crore. According to a spokesperson of the association, the decision to suspend the sale of paddy to the exporters was taken at a meeting of the executive committee of the association held on Tuesday. He said the meeting, chaired by Jai Bhagwan Mittal, the Chairman of the association, decided that there would be no sale of paddy till the exporters and mills in the district cleared the dues up to March 31 this year. Strict action would be taken against any member or agent who helps the defaulters in the procurement of paddy till the dispute was resolved. The exporters had purchased about 40 lakh quintals of paddy last season. The MSP of the PR-A grade has been raised to Rs 1,110 per quintal this season from Rs 1,030 last year. For grade- B, the MSP has been kept at Rs 1,080 instead of Rs 1,000 earlier. The farmers have been seeking an MSP of Rs 1,800 to 2,000 per quintal of these varieties. While the government purchases only the PR variety, majority of the paddy grown and marketed was of the basmati variety which fetched between Rs 2,500 to Rs 2,700 per quintal and it was procured mainly by the private mills and exporters. The rate of basmati has, however, been hovering between Rs 1,800 to 2,000 per quintal this time, said
an agent in the local grain market. |
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Protest outside Health Dept office
Sonepat, October 12 Vikki Bhardwaj said the department had failed to provide drinking water in most of the areas of the locality from the past 13 years. Despite assurances, the department had been delaying the work on one pretext or the other, he added. Sunaina said all MCs with the chairperson of the municipal council had met the Superintendent Engineer of the department here for laying of sewer lines in the locality, but without any result.
— OC |
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2 women strangled in Sonepat village
Sonepat, October 12 Pooja, who was married on May 6, came to her parents’ home yesterday to observe her first “karva chauth”. Both were sleeping on the ground floor of the house. When Subhash came down from the first floor to arrange fodder for buffaloes in the wee hours today, he found them unconscious . The police was informed and both women were brought to the Civil Hospital where the doctors declared them as brought dead. The injury marks on the victims’ necks make it a suspected case of strangulation. Meanwhile, the police has arrested two brothers- Anil and Sunil- of Murthal village in connection with the murder of Manjit of the same village on Sunday evening. |
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Rs 1.53-cr penalty in 3,411 liquor smuggling cases
Chandigarh, October 12 She also directed the officials concerned to constitute inter-district teams to keep a check on these illegal
activities. — PTI |
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