Chandigarh, March 16
Calling for a report on action taken against the “entire staff” in the Sonepat jailbreak case, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has minced no words, saying that the incident could not have occurred without the connivance of jail staff.

Justice Ranjit Singh has added even the jail superintendent may have to come out with an explanation. The assertion came on a petition filed by three accused in the case, including jail warders Amir Chand and Suresh Kumar. The trio is seeking regular bail in the case registered on January 18.

Justice Ranjit Singh asserted: “This is a serious case, where some convicts and undertrials were able to escape by scaling the wall with the help of a rope and by cutting iron rods. This could not have happened but for the connivance on the part of some jail staff. Even the superintendent may have to explain these serious happenings in the jail. The weapons for cutting iron rods could not have reached the jail premises without being detected if proper checks had been carried out.”

The court issued notice of motion for March 30 to ascertain what all action has been taken against the entire jail staff.

In their petition, the trio has stated that it was difficult to keep a regular watch on 60 acre in the absence of adequate staff. They added the jail was currently facing acute shortage of jail warders and other staff. The high court has made it clear that it was in favour of “futuristic concepts” like laser locking and e-surveillance to keep the inmates behind bars.

Taking suo motu cognizance of the jailbreak case, Justice Mahesh Grover had also recommended “immediate strict action” against all wardens on duty when eight undertrials escaped from the district jail on the night of January 17-18.

Chandigarh, March 16
While ruling party politicians led by Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda have hailed the Budget, the Opposition parties have described it as inflationary.

Hooda said the Budget was pro-people and progressive and would boost economy by benefiting all sections, especially farmers, students, senior citizens, women, salaried class and those belonging to the weaker sections of society.

He also thanked the UPA leadership for giving a grant of Rs 50 crore to Chaudhary Charan Singh Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, for research work. His MP son, Deepender Hooda, also appreciated the grant to the agriculture university.

Haryana Finance Minister HS Chattha said the Budget would ensure sustainable growth. Education and Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Geeta Bhukkal appreciated the proposal to increase by 18 per cent the outlay for the Scheduled Castes Sub Plan during 2012-13. INLD chief Om Prakash Chautala said the Budget was anti-people as it would unleash inflation.

He said the Budget would put additional burden of Rs 1 lakh crore on the people due to increase in various taxes like excise duty and service tax.

Haryana BJP president Krishan Pal Gurjar said the Budget was against the self-professed claim of the Congress to be pro “aam aadmi”. He criticised the Finance Minister for increasing the rate of excise duty and service tax. He was also critical of reduction in interest on employees provident fund.

Rohtak, March 16
The local police has arrested a dreaded criminal who was wanted in the Dulina shootout case in which three undertrials had been killed. The accused has been involved in at least 11 cases of loot and murder in Haryana and Maharashtra.

Police officials said the accused, Naresh, alias Sethi, was arrested after a raid at Kheri Sadh village in the district after he had come here to meet a friend. A pistol and five cartridges were seized from him. The raid was carried out by a special staff team led by Sandeep Singh.

“Naresh was the main shooter in the Dulina shootout case in Jhajjar district recently in which three undertrials were killed and five others were injured when a group of armed assailants intercepted a police van and opened fire. Naresh was leading the attack and was in the truck that was made to collide with the police van. He had fired at least 13 rounds from his gun targeting the undertrials, Shri Bhagwan and his brother, hailing from Karor village of the district. The police had also arrested an accused on Wednesday from Sunarian village of the district,” said a spokesperson for the department.

The Maharashtra police had been looking for him in a loot case in which he had looted Rs 65 lakh from a person in Dhulia district in August last year.

A police official said Naresh and his accomplices, Rakesh, Sonu, Sunny, Kale and Raju, had forcibly took away a truck from Nunamajra village of Bahadurgarh on March 10 and drove it to Dulina, where Nareshcrashed into the police van before opening fire.

Chandigarh, March 16
Hailing the Union Government’s decision regarding the allocation of Rs 50 crore as grant to Chaudhary Charan Singh Agricultural University at Hisar, Vice-Chancellor Dr KS Khokhar said the fund would be spent on research.

Dr Khokhar said though Rs 50 crore was not too big an amount, the university would utilise it on research in the field of crop biotechnology. “We will also divert a part of it for conducting research on how to mitigate the impact of climate change on crops grown by our farmers. Besides, it will be used for research on conservation of natural resources like soil and water,” he said.

Besides, the farmers have hailed the decision to track fertiliser movement and the continuation of interest subvention on the timely repayment of loans.

However, there was another section of farmers and economists who felt the Budget did not have anything substantial for Haryana, the state that was main contributor to the country’s food bowl.

Rather, the eastern states had been given preference as the government had increased the allocation to them by Rs 400 crore for bringing a “second green revolution”, they said.

Gaganpreet Singh, a farmer in Nilokheri in Haryana, said the introduction of a mobile-based tracking system for fertilisers would ensure their timely delivery to the farmers and that too without having to pay any extra premium. The dealers were often accused of cheating the farmers by claiming the poor availability of fertilisers.

Panipat, March 16
The divers today managed to locate CBI constable Dalbir Singh’s body after a week from the parralel canal.

Dalbir Singh, who was on his way to Kard village on March 9, had gone missing under mysterious circumstances after he took lift in a car from Gohana crossing. His brother, Satbir, had told the police that around 10 30 pm Dalbir informed him that he had taken lift in a car from Gohana crossing and was now on his way to Israna. After this his mobile went off and he went miising.

Dalbir’s family and relatives had even blocked the Gohana-Panipat highway a few days ago in protest against the failure of the police to trace his body.

The police have already arrested two criminals, Sonu and Kewal, who have confessed to having given Dalbir lift in their car and later killed him and dumped the body in the parallel canal . They had also admitted to having kidnapped Chandra Prakash Mukija, an assistant administrative officer of the LIC and Ved Prakash, production manager of Micro Max Mobile who was posted at Nalagarh in Himachal Pradesh, who too had met the same fate. Their bodies were also recovered from the canal.

Madhuban (Karnal), March 16
Police vans fitted with fingerprint-based live scanners will be launched in all major cities of Haryana in April to keep a constant vigil on suspicious people and anti-social elements.

The hi-tech vans will be equipped with live scanners having criminal records, including fingerprints of criminals, operating in the state as well as bordering districts in the adjoining states.

The police van, “Pehchan Kaun”, will patrol the city to keep a vigil on suspicious people to act as a deterrent. The identity of suspected anti-social elements will be established by checking just one finger print. It will shorten the lengthy procedure of verifying the credentials of suspects from police records.

Locations in major cities have been identified to deploy 30 police vans and live scanners have been purchased, said Director, State Crime Record Bureau, Laik Ram Dabas.

Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rohtak, Panchkula and Ambala will get two vans each while Kurukshetra, Pehowa, Sonepat, Gohana, Jhajjar, Bahadurgarh, Jind, Narvana, Bhiwani, Loharu, Yamunanagar, Kaithal, Karnal, Hisar, Fatehbad, Sirsa, Palwal, Mewat, Rewari and Narnaul will be provided one van each.

Dabas said the decision was taken after the successful launch of the van in Panipat district on March 9.

Each patrol van will have crime records and finger prints of about 5,000 criminals of the districts concerned and the neighbouring areas. This will be connected to the central crime data bank at Madhuban that maintains crime records of about two lakh criminals.

The hi-tech patrol vans will save innocent people from harassment and at the same time people with a crime record will be identified and arrested immediately at any place.

Rohtak, March 16
The menace of a mystery disease claiming milch cattle’s lives, including Murrah buffaloes and cows, in the nearby Sundana village has been continuing with several cattle succumbing to the disease.

Though villagers claim that an “endemic” combining the foot-and- mouth disease (FMD) and ‘galgontu’ (Haemorrhagic Septicimia) had gripped the village and was posing a danger to the lives of at least 150 other head of cattle in the village, the authorities claim to have collected samples of the affected cattle to control the problem.

“The problem appeared to have become acute with at least seven heads of cattle, including two calves, having died in the village since Wednesday,’’ said Dharambir, who lost two head of cattle. He said over a 100 animals had fallen ill due to the mystery disease. “As many as 28 animals, including several buffaloes, have died so far in the village,’’ claimed Deva Singh, whose three buffaloes have died due to the disease in the recent past. Alleging that the officials concerned had failed to control the problem, he said the village residents had been at the receiving end as they continue to suffer losses besides stress.

“A veterinary team had camped at the village recently. The department has requisitioned the visit of a specialist team from Hisar that was likely to arrive here soon,” said Dr Rakesh, the veterinary doctor posted in the village. Admitting that some cattle had died of a “mystery” disease recently in the village, he said the figures of death had been exaggerated and did not match the official record.

He said results of the samples were likely to be received in a day or two. While the officials deny any endemic, it is learnt that the dead cattle had recently contracted the FMD and later exhibited signs of ‘galgontu’. “As the department claims to have vaccinated nearly all cattle, the village residents, however, allege irregularities in the matter. “We will soon be taking up the matter with the Deputy Commissioner to lodge our protest,” said a resident.

Chandigarh, March 16
Haryana may be having one of the highest per capita incomes in the country yet the poverty and deprivation levels are still alarmingly high in the state. At least 4.5 lakh households (9 per cent) do not possess even one of the five basic assets- radio, TV, computer, telephone and mode of transport.

In fact, the latest figures on houselisting released by the Registrar General of India as part of the Census 2011 data in New Delhi recently should prove to be an eye opener for the Hooda government, which misses no opportunity to blow its own trumpet on the development front. The data shows how India lives, how they light their houses and where they get their water from, and things they own.

The biggest shocker seems to be fact that despite a widespread road network 12 per cent of the 47.18 lakh households do not have any mode of transport such as bicycle, scooter, motorcycle, car and jeep. While bicycle remains the favourite mode of transport with nearly 45 per cent households, about one-third of household had scooters and motorcycles. Only about 10 per cent of the household owned cars and jeeps.

In a reflection on the living standards of Haryana’s population, the data showed that at least 34 per cent of the households have no kitchens. While 27 per cent households, which do not have a kitchen, cook their food inside their houses, at least six per cent households have to cook their food outside their premises.

While nearly 18 per cent of the households have no bathroom facilities, about 68 per cent households have this facility. At least 17 per cent of the households have bathing facility in the enclosures without a roof. As far as drainage system is concerned, only 21 per cent of the households have closed drainage with 65 per cent having open drainage system creating insanitary conditions. As many as 14 per cent households have no drainage system at all.

The data also revealed that about 17 per cent households do not have access to the radio/TV and 21 per cent of households do not have access to telephone. A substantial number of households (31 per cent) have no access to a toilet.

Hisar, March 16
The Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) will launch a special campaign for recovery of bill arrears and checking theft of electricity.

DHBVN Managing Director Anurag Agarwal said here today that under the campaign, the DGMs (Operation) concerned would monitor the progress daily. In the case of default, the defaulters’ power supply would be disconnected and the Junior Engineer concerned would keep a regular watch for any theft of energy by such consumers. The DGMs and AGMs concerned would also carry out random checks.

He said efforts should be made by all officers jointly to improve financial health of the nigam by checking losses.

The MD asked officers to make more efforts to bring down the aggregate technical and commercial (AT&C) losses. He observed that there was need for launching intensive campaigns against theft of electricity and recovery of arrears. He also specified targets for officers for detection of theft cases.

Penalty will be imposed as per rules on the erring consumers and each case of theft will be reported to the police for lodging an FIR. The consumers on feeders of higher line losses will be the first targets during the campaign.

Each junior engineer has been allocated one high=loss feeder to reduce the losses to the minimum level.

Panipat, March 16
The Haryana Power Generation Engineers Association (HPGEA) has opposed the extension and re-employment of the present director (thermal) and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO).

The thermal engineers on Tuesday again held simultaneous gate meetings at all three thermal power stations, including Panipat, Yamunanagar and Hisar, to express resentment against the approval of the extension and re-employment of engineers beyond the superannuation age of 58 years of Haryana Power Generation Corporation Limited (HPGCL).

The engineers lamented that the people lacking the technical know-how of generation were being given extension merely on whims and fancies of those in authority. The engineers said it had been collectively decided to intensify their agitation if such extension granted to the director and the CEO were immediately withheld. RK Jangra, president of the association, said the engineers had put a strong plea before the state government to intervene in the matter and withhold the extension of the director and the CEO. The association also demanded that a executive engineer at the Yamunanagar thermal unit who was suspended for a technical snag in one of the units there should be immediately reinstated.

Rohtak, March 16
Doctors of the Neurosurgery Department of the PGIMS here have provided a new lease of life to Mahabir Singh (62), suffering from trigeminal neuralgia, a disorder caused by the blocking of sensation nerves on the face from the brain. The patient was not able to eat, walk and speak because of the pain.

The patient who was operated upon recently has been discharged after he was cured of the acute pain he had been suffering from for the past eight years.

“I had tried all kinds of treatments and had almost lost hope of getting any relief from this rare disease. I then met a dentist who referred me to the PGIMS’ Neurosurgery Department for further tests. I was operated upon after about a month of investigations by doctors,” said Mahabir Singh.

“Now I am feeling relieved with my problem over and I hope to resume my daily routine undisturbed,” he said.

Dr Vineet Bhai, Associate Professor in the department, who conducted the surgery, said this was a disease in which the irritation of the nerves of the face causes severe pain in the face. He said in the initial stage, the patient was given medication to unblock the nerves. But the patient was not relieved by the multi-drug therapy. “After meticulous planning, surgery was performed on him after which doctors unblocked the nerves from the brain stem of the patient. The patient has recovered almost fully and has been discharged,” he said, adding that the operation took five hours.

This has been perhaps the first-of-its-kind surgery in the state as only a few centres in India offer this type of operation.

The team, which assisted Dr Bhai in the operation included Dr Virender Singh, head of Oral Facial Surgery, Dental College, and Dr Seema of the Department of Anaesthesia.

Hodal, March 16
The general house meeting of the Municipal Committee, scheduled today to consider a no-confidence motion against its president, Urmila Sorot, has been deferred.

Palwal Deputy Commissioner Vijay Singh Dahiya said the meeting had been postponed as it clashed with today’s schedule of the Excise and Taxation Department to auction/allot liquor vends.

The Excise Policy-2012-13 makes it obligatory on deputy commissionersto be physically present throughout the process of bidding and allotment of vends.

Dahiya said the Punjab and Haryana High court had directed him to preside over the meeting to consider the no-confidence motion against Sorot.

In a related development the police today produced a councillor, Satish, in the Punjab and Haryana High court. Satish’s father had alleged that the former was kidnapped on February 29 by councillors opposed to Urmila Sorot. The councillor’s father had moved the high court when the police did not entertain his complaint about his son’s kidnapping . The court had directed the police to produce the missing councillor before it.

Sirsa, March 16
Lawyers continued their strike for the third consecutive day today in support of their demand for the setting up of a rural court in Rania town, paralysing work in the tehsil office.

Typists, clerks, stamp vendors and others have also joined the strike. The lawyers, who had been raising their demand with the authorities for the past two years, have now toughened their postures in view of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s proposed visit to Rania on March 25. Two rural courts, one in Rania and the other in Shahbad, had been announced on October 23, 2009. While the one at Shahbad started functioning more than a year ago, there are no efforts to set up the rural court in Rania, said Krishan Kumar Saharan, president of the Rania Bar Association.

He alleged that the delay was unreasonable and the people of Rania had to face hardships, as they had to go to Ellenabad and Sirsa for their legal issues. He said they had brought the matter to the notice of Hooda during his last visit to Ellenabad and they had been in touch with the authorities since then.

J Ganeshan, DC, said the authorities had sent a proposal to set up the rural court in a hall at the block development office, where the actual process had to be taken up.

Panipat, March 16
The Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) has constituted a special committee to make recommendations on withdrawing the uniform allowance of Rs 2,000 given to its employees for the past four years.

Ajit M. Sharan, financial commissioner and principal secretary, said a decision in this regard was taken by the Board of Directors at a meeting recently. The uniform maintenance allowance was extended to UHBVN employees on the pattern of the Dakhsin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (DHBVN) in July 2008 the financial implications of which was assessed to be more than Rs 2 crore in the past two years.

However, the Accountant-General (Audit) and the Haryana Bureau of Public Enterprises raised objections against the introduction of the dress code stating that no approval from the competent authority had been sought before introducing the code. Besides, serving the power utilities with a show-cause notice, the Haryana Bureau of Public Enterprise also asked the nigam to recover the amount of uniform allowance paid to the employees during the past four years.

Aware of the fact that recovery of the allowance could cause resentment amongst the employees, the UHVBN Board of Directors in its meeting in September 2011 decided that stitched uniforms be given to the employees instead of cash reimbursements. Accordingly, the matter was referred to the state government but as no reply had been received by the utility till date, the Board of Directors decided to review the dress code.

Rohtak, March 16
Perhaps for the first time an effort by some young artists to showcase their art through collaborative work of poems, drawings and installations concluded here today with hundreds of local residents, especially the youth, visiting the unique exhibition organised at Jhang colony here.

The exhibition, “Ehsaas”, focusing on the life of women and their conflicts, concluded today.

Surekha, one of the artists said it was a collaborative work by her and Yugashri, an artist belonging to Rohtak. “The common thing among them (female artists) is their concern not only towards art but also about society and its core problems,’’ she said.

The exhibition, she claimed, had attracted a large number of residents and that, too, without any formal publicity or promotion.

“’Ehsaas’ reflects the life of women and their issues and such a move becomes special as society was undergoing a major change with focus on women and the state faced with the problem of foeticide,’’ claims Yugshree.

She said it was a mobile exhibition that had been experimented in a private space and would be moving into more such spaces after the success of the present effort.

Dushyant, the director of Action Theatre, said the purpose of “Ehsaas” was to make the people around us aware and sensitive towards art. Raghuvender Malik, a veteran artiste, said the exhibition attracted a large number of residents, especially the youth.