Jhajjar, March 19
Three members of a family belonging to the Schedule Caste (SC), were allegedly hacked to death by unidentified armed assailants at their cattle house in Mandhothi village located in Bahadurgarh subdivision, here on the Sunday night.

The deceased have been identified as Sonu (20), his cousin Narender (16) and nephew Manjeet (12).

The Bahadurgarh police has started investigation after the registration of a case of murder against unidentified killers on the complaint of Sonu’s brother Rinku in this regard.

Sonu was a conductor with a private bus while Narender and Manjeet were students.

The reason behind the killings is yet be ascertained.

Though there is an ongoing war between two gangs of the village, the police has denied any connection of the incident with the gang war.

Alok Mittal, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) of Rohtak range, told The Tribune that the incident, which occurred between 1 am to 2 am, came to light when Sonu’s father Randhir woke up to answer nature’s call around 2 am.

“He spotted a man jumping over the fence of their cattle house located near their home. Sensing something untoward, he rushed to the cattle house and found Sonu, Narender and Manjeet lying in a pool of blood on two charpais there,” said the IGP.

Randhir immediately called his family members to the spot and they rushed them to the PGIMS, Rohtak, where all the three reportedly succumbed to their injuries after some time.

The bodies bore injury marks on the heads and private parts, indicating that they might have been inflicted by some sharp-edged weapons.

A team of forensic experts visited the scene of the crime and collected some blood samples, said Mittal.

The IGP maintained that the trio used to sleep at the cattle house everyday after dinner.

“The bereaved family has denied any enmity with anyone,” said Mittal.

Chandigarh, March 19
Congress member of the Rajya Sabha Shadi Lal Batra today filed his nomination papers for the lone seat of the upper house of Parliament here today, the last day for filing the nominations.

The renomination of Batra, a close associate of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, was a foregone conclusion because his first term was for just about two and a half years. Normally, the Congress renominates those members to the Rajya Sabha, who do not get a full term. Moreover, there was no serious claimant for the Rajya Sabha ticket from Haryana in the face of known support of Hooda to Batra, who remained MLA from Rohtak (home town of the Chief Minister) twice before he was elected to the Rajya Sabha.

Batra was accompanied by almost all Congress MLAs and Independents supporting the government, when he went to file his papers before the Returning Officer, Sumit Kumar, who is also the Secretary of the Vidhan Sabha.

He filed two sets of nomination papers. The proposers in the first set were Chief Minister Hooda, Raghbir Singh Kadian, Randeep Singh Surjewala, Bharat Bhushan Batra, Shiv Charan Lal Sharma, Sampat Singh, Shakuntla Khatak, Aftab Ahmed, Jagbir Singh Malik and Ram Kishan Gujar.

The second set was proposed by Jaiveer Singh, Savitri Jindal, Anand Kaushik, Sultan Singh, Prahlad Singh Gillankhera, Satpal Sangwan, Jaleb Khan, Ram Niwas, D.K. Bansal and Rajender Singh Joon.

Before Batra filed his nomination papers, the Congress Legislature Party passed a unanimous resolution thanking party president Sonia Gandhi for renominating him.

Batra said he would safeguard the interests of the state at the Centre.

The papers would be scrutinised tomorrow at 10 am. The nominations can be withdrawn up to 3 pm on March 22. Since, no other nomination paper has been filed, no polling would be required. 

The net worth of Congress nominee to the Rajya Sabha from Haryana Shadi Lal Batra and his wife, Kanta, is about Rs 8crore, according to the affidavit filed by him before the Returning Officer along with his nomination papers. While Batra has a bank deposits and cash totalling about Rs 7.77 lakh, his wife has bank deposits and cash totalling about Rs 78,000. He owns two vehicles - Toyata Fortuner and Honda City. While his wife has about 600 gm of gold, he possesses 15 gm of gold. Among the immovable assets of Batra are about 205 kanals of land in Kalanaur village, the approximate market value of which is Rs 5 crore. He has inherited this land. He also inherited a 600 sq. yrd house at Rohtak. He had purchased 324 sq. yrd on Bhiwani Road, Rohtak on June 26, 2009, for about Rs 7 lakh, while his wife purchased three bighas on Bhiwani Road, Rohtak, for Rs 1.35 lakh in 2006. He has to repay a loan of about Rs 6 lakh to the Haryana Vidhan Sabha.

Chandigarh, March 19
The Haryana Staff Selection Commission will fill 473 posts of physically handicapped by the end of this year as these have already been advertised.

This was stated by Haryana Chief Secretary Urvashi Gulati at a meeting here today regarding filling of backlog of physically handicapped in the services of the government, public sector undertakings and universities.

Out of these 473 posts, interviews for 65 posts have already been conducted. The maximum number of these posts were of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam where 228 assistant linemen and 25 lower division clerks would be recruited, followed by 29 posts of patwari in the Directorate of Land Records, 23 junior engineer of Irrigation, 18 canal patwari of office of Engineer-in-Chief, Irrigation, 17 staff MPHW (Male) of Health (Malaria), 13 staff nurses of Health Services and 10 inspectors of the Transport Department. These posts would be filled by year-end.

Gulati said instructions had been issued from time to time to the departments to clear the backlog of vacancies for posts reserved for physically challenged persons in consonance with Section 33 of the Persons with Disability (Equal Opportunities, Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act 1995.

The state government would clear the backlog of posts for physically challenged for groups A to D posts in all the departments. The departments were directed to mark out the backlog of such vacancies and send the requisition to the Haryana Public Service Commission and Haryana Staff Selection Commission on a priority basis.

The recruiting agencies were also directed to fill these posts by launching special campaigns and fairs and recommend candidates as early as possible. Under the Act, at least 3 per cent of posts in government departments were to be reserved for disabled persons.

General Secretary, Rashtriya Drishtiheen Sangh, Haryana Shakha and Advisor of Government Institute for Blinds, Panipat, Mr Jageram expressed gratitude to the State Government for its initiatives for filling up the backlog of posts for physically challenged and requested that these posts would be filled at the earliest. 

Chandigarh, March 19
A basement is not an independent residential floor; and cannot be transferred independently, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has made it clear.

Referring to a circular, the Bench of Justice Hemant Gupta and Justice AN Jindal has added that it “provides for transfer of the basement, along with the ground floor…”

The ruling came on a petition filed by Nivedita Sharma against the state of Haryana and other respondents.

She had challenged the legality of the circular dated March 27, 2009, issued by the Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary to the Haryana Town and Country Planning Department.

The petitioner alleged that “floor-wise registration of the property has been permitted” vide the circular. But “it is stipulated therein that the basement cannot be registered independently and can be registered only along with the ground floor.

In the written statement, the respondents claimed the circular “clarifies that the basement, if any, allowed in a residential building, shall not constitute a separate subdivision/floor. However, in case owners of different independent floors in a building intend and agree to use basement as a common area for facilities such as parking or other plant and equipment required for different floors in the building, they may have undivided proportionate right in the basement”.

After hearing arguments, the Bench concluded: “In respect of the area being developed by HUDA, the basement is not permitted to be used for human habitation…. The basement is not habitable and cannot, therefore, be transferred as an independent unit”.

Rohtak, March 19
Three members of a family, including a one-and-a-half-month-old girl died in a road mishap near Brahaminwas village on the Rohtak-Panipat road today.

The victims, hailing from Rukhi village of Sonepat village, were going to their village from Rohtak when their Scorpio collided with a truck.

Those killed in the mishap have been identified as two brothers, Naveen Kumar and Anil Kumar, and Anil’s newborn daughter. Three other family members suffered injuries in the mishap.

The police said villagers rushed the injured to the PGIMS at Rohtak where three of them were declared brought dead.

Hisar, March 19
Research has proved that buttermilk, known as lassi or chhach in Haryana, is one of the most effective fungicides to treat plants infected with fungal infections.

Sudhir Kumar Kaura, Director, Kisan Gyan Kendra, said these research findings had been proved at the international level and buttermilk could be used under supervision of agriculture experts. However, buttermilk should be tested on a few plants before spraying it in the entire field.

He said buttermilk could prevent fungal diseases like yellow and white rust in wheat crop. He said after filtering five-day-old buttermilk, a small quantity diluted with water could be sprayed on plants within 10 days. Buttermilk should not be stored in aluminium or bronze containers.

He said intensive use of insecticides and uranium-rich phosphate fertilisers had not only poisoned foodgrains, but also raised the cost of crops. Thus, it was best to avoid these as far as possible.

He said farmers could get expert advice on any agricultural, animal husbandry and environment-related problem by calling the free helpline number 01662-229163 between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m.

This helpline facility had been in service at the Kisan Gyan Kendra for the past 10 years.

Chandigarh,March 19
After initial reluctance, the backward district of Mewat in Haryana, which recorded urban decadal growth rate of 109 per cent during the 2,001-2,011, is finally waking up to family planning. In fact, a first-of-its-kind scheme of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry of providing contraceptives, including condoms, has started showing results, with the health authorities distributing nearly 36,000 condoms among the eligible couples in the past two months.

In fact, figures for January and February showed that the health department had distributed 3,240 female contraceptives and over 700 emergency contraceptives. “The trend seems to be encouraging as the male and female contraceptives have been requested by the beneficiaries themselves to the Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) volunteers. It is a departure from the past when there was a slight resistance to the use of contraceptives by the Mewat population,” Dr KS Rao, Mewat Civil Surgeon, told The Tribune over the phone today.

On account of backwardness and higher level of illiteracy, family planning seemed to be last on the agenda of the Mewat residents during the recent years. A close look at the 2,011 Census figures for the district showed that it had recorded a decadal growth(2,001-2,011) rate of a whopping 109 per cent with the rural decadal growth being highest (32 per cent) in the state. While the overall literacy rate was around 56 per cent, the female literacy rate of 38 per cent was lowest in the state.

Against the backdrop of these facts and figures, the Union Health Ministry had selected Mewat as one of the 233 districts in the country last year to make male and female contraceptives available at people’s doorsteps in a bid to boost population control efforts.

The scheme was intended to promote the use of contraceptives - both male and female - at the household level in targeted districts. Under the scheme, the Centre made contraceptives available free of cost at the block level for distribution by ASHA volunteers among “willing” couples.

Meanwhile, Dr Narveer Singh, Director-General of Health Services, said the state government was committed to implementing the scheme among the residents to get best results.

Panipat, March 19
The district police has constituted special VIP and commando security squads to step up security in the city. District police chief Pankaj Nain said the VIP security squad had been constituted so that regular policemen did not compromise their routine work to provide security to VIPs visiting the district. The commando squad would be entrusted with providing more security to commoners in the district.

He said both squads would have different dress code and their sphere of activity would be well-defined. 

Rohtak, March 19
With a number of cattle head succumbing to a mysterious disease almost everyday at Sundana village in this district, the situation seems to have reached an alarming point. A buffalo of the Murrah breed for which Haryana is famous all over the world died last evening. It was giving a yield of 17 kg and had been selected to represent the village in competitions.

A total of 40 cattle head have allegedly died in the village in the past about six weeks, though officials disagree with the figure.

“I have lost all my cattle wealth to this disease. Perhaps for the first time, there is not a single animal in my house,’’ lamented Dharambir Singh. He lost his prized buffalo that had a daily yield of 17 kg on Sunday evening. ’’It had been showing symptoms of the foot and mouth disease (FMD) and galgontu (haemorrhagic septicimia),” he said.

It was the last of the four cattle head he had lost in the past about five weeks.

He claimed that the village has been under the grip of an endemic and more than 40 cattle head had succumbed to the disease in a short period. Several dozens of cattle head have been either been suffering from the disease or could be a victim soon, said Mahender, who has also lost three head during this period.