Fatehabad, April 18
Irked at the delay in the purchase of their crop, hundreds of farmers today blocked the national highway near Laal Batti Chowk in Fatehabad. Accusing the authorities and the government procurement agencies of harassing farmers, the farmers did not allow any vehicle to cross the main square of the town near the grain market for over two hours.

“We have been sitting with our crops in the grain market for the past seven days, but the government agencies have not been purchasing our wheat,” alleged farmers Satbir from Shahidanwali, Sandeep from Kharaitikhera, Brij Lal from Bodiwali, Satpal from Dhingsara and many others, who blocked the traffic on the highway today.

Farmers alleged that they had been braving inclement weather and had been protecting their crop with great difficulty, but the authorities had been adding to their woes rather than mitigating them.

Efforts by the DSP, Jagdish Kumar, and SDM Baljit Singh succeeded in ensuring free flow of vehicular traffic, but the deadlock between the farmers and the procurement agencies, which maintained that the wheat contained more moisture than the permissible limits, persisted.

“We have gauged the moisture content in different heaps in the Fatehabad grain market in the presence of the SDM after the farmers’ protest today and found it ranging from 14 per cent to 16 per cent in most cases. The government norms allow us to purchase wheat with 12 per cent moisture only,” maintained Rajbir Singh, District Food and Supplies Controller, Fatehabad.

Rajbir Singh appealed to the farmers to bring their crop to the mandis after drying it properly. Meanwhile, farmers in Jakhal town blocked Tohana road for some time protesting against the delay in the procurement of their wheat. 

Chandigarh, April 18
It is raining plots for rural BPL families in Haryana. The government has allotted nearly 3.84 lakh free plots measuring 100 square yards among BPL families under the Mahatma Gandhi Gramin Basti Yojna. Leading the state is Karnal district with 33,807 plots allotted followed by Sonepat (27,684) and Sirsa(26,359).

Fatehabad (5,949), Panchkula (6,028) and Faridabad (8,207) were the three districts with least plot allotments. Chief Minister

Bhupinder Singh Hooda’s home district, Rohtak, also fared poorly with just 8,701 plot allotments, sources said.

With property prices even in villages near major cities and towns skyrocketing, these free plots would go a long way in mitigating the sufferings of the pooras far housing was concerned, a senior government functionary told The Tribune.

Sources said large tracts of barren land in the state were suited for housing the poor. As a majority of the homeless in the state either belonged to the econonomically weaker sections or BPL categories, housing for them was high on the agenda of the state government.

Meanwhile, Panipat (25,225), Rewari ( 21,258), Mewat (23,012), Yamunanagar (22,851), Hisar (21,648), Mahendragarh (20,308) and Palwal (21,228), Ambala (17,520), Bhiwani (19,209), Gurgaon (8,532), Jhajjar (17,320), Jind (12,614), Kaithal (18,725) and Kurukshetra (17,632) were the other districts with a substantial number of plot allotments. 

Chandigarh, April 18
The CBI court today acquitted Haryana cadre IAS officer Sanjeev Kumar and three others of the charges of corruption in the infamous textbook scam of 1999. Besides Sanjeev Kumar, the court acquitted co-accused Tikhta Hussain Mustafa, Sushant Kumar Vaid and Nirmala Singla of the charges of corruption.

A 1985-batch officer, Sanjeev Kumar was accused of approving tenders for printing books at inflated rates. While the alleged corruption occurred in 1999, the CBI had registered a case in 2004 after an inquiry.

According to the CBI case, the IAS officer was accused of taking Rs 2 lakh as bribe for awarding printing tenders at higher rates. Sanjeev was booked under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The scam had surfaced in 1999 in the District Primary Education Project (DPEP) of Haryana. Sanjeev, the then state project director of the Haryana Prathmik Shiksha Pariyojna Parishad (HPSPP), a registered society formed for the implementation of the DPEP, allegedly approved tenders of printing and publishing books to three private agencies at rates much higher than the government rates.

For a bribe of Rs 2 lakh, he handed out tenders worth Rs 98,15,895 to firms based in Delhi, Chandigarh and Panchkula. The CBI court acquitted all four after the investigating agency failed to prove the charges.

Karnal, April 18
Hundreds of people today blocked the Karnal-Hansi road for more than an hour to protest against alleged "inaction" of the police in mysterious death of a Polytechnic student.

The parents of the deceased, Vijay kumar, a second year student of Vidyawati Polytechnic, Sambhli, alleged that their son was pushed into the Bhakra Canal by his friends but the police was not taking any action against the culprits.

Vijay had gone missing two days ago and his family members made intensive searches but he could not be traced. They came to know the next day that Vijay had been pushed into the Bhakra Canal and had died.

The family members said Vijay’s friend, Navin, ranged Vijay and asked him to come to his house where he had called his another friend, Himanshu.

Later, Himanshu and Vijay went to the canal, where Himanshu allegedly pushed him into the canal, Navin said.

Vijay’s mother, Santosh, alleged that the police was in league with the accused and was not taking any action and they were forced to resort to a road blockade.

However, the police said their first task was to trace the body and any further action would be taken after the body was recovered.

Meanwhile, DSP Rajesh Bhardwaj pacified protesters and assured that the accused would be brought to the book.

Chandigarh, April 18
The Punjab and Haryana High Court today directed Haryana to ascertain the actual number of B.Ed colleges required in the state. It has been asked to keep in mind the “ground realities” while making the inquiry.

A Division Bench has also asked the National Council for Technical Education (NCTE) to submit a report on defaulting B.Ed institutions by July 11. Action to be taken against defaulting institutions will be subject to approval by the high court, the Bench of Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Mahesh Grover made it clear.

The directions came during the resumed hearing of a PIL seeking action against defaulting B.Ed institutions.

Counsel for the NCTE submitted that reports of 145 institutions have been perused and show-cause notices have been issued to the defaulting institutions. These have been asked to show cause why their recognition should not be withdrawn or cancelled.

Chandigarh, April 18
In the face of a tirade launched by the INLD student wing against the MDU Vice-Chancellor, accusing him of corruption, the latter has offered to face an inquiry “by any person or agency” decided by the government.

For the past few days, activists of the INSO have been sitting in dharna outside the office of the Vice-Chancellor, demanding a judicial inquiry into, what they call, corruption charges against him. INLD Secretary-General Ajay Singh Chautala also sat in dharna yesterday and demanded an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court.

Vice-Chancellor RP Hooda said here today that he had been much pained by the false allegations and derogatory reporting in a section of the media. Hooda said he would be happy if an inquiry was ordered into the allegations levelled against him. 

Hisar, April 18
The Haryana unit of the All-India Jat Aarakshan Sangharsh Samiti has warned the Haryana government and the Centre to finalise reservation for Jats in government jobs by mid-August or face an agitation by the community once again.

In a statement issued here today, samiti chief Hawa Singh Sangwan said the Haryana Backward Classes Commission had to submit its report by the end of March. However, it had not been done yet. Jat delegates from 19 districts had submitted their memoranda to the commission by February 19.

Representatives of Jats from Fatehabad and Sirsa were unable to submit their representations because a section of the community members launched an agitation, which was totally uncalled for. If Jats of these districts did not get the benefit of reservation, those who launched the agitation in February would be solely responsible.

He said the agitation had done much damage to the interests of the Jat community. The community, he added, should stay away from self-styled leaders who were inciting them for political gains.

Sangwan said 90 per cent of the Jat farmers were left with just about two acres of agricultural land rendering them economically backward. As this fact was well known, there was no need for conducting any survey which could delay the decision on reservation.

He said both the state and the Centre should take a decision expeditiously as any further delay would cause unrest among Jats. 

Jind, April 18
Even as the menace of copying continues in the ongoing exams, the invigilators have opposed videography of the examination process. The School Lecturers Association has asked the authorities to either stop the video recording of tests or face agitation. Around eight candidates have been booked for use of unfair means in the past 24 hours.

“The decision to conduct a video recording of the matriculation and plus two exams of the Haryana Board was quite embarrassing and insulting so far as the interests of the teachers and the invigilators were concerned,” said Rajbir Redu, the district general secretary of the School Lecturers Association.

He said it appeared that the authorities had no faith in the invigilators who did their job in quite a fair and unbiased manner and did their best to prevent any incident of copying by taking help of videography. Claiming that such a decision could be based on the vested commercial interests of officials in the Education Department, he said the process ought to be stopped or the association would be forced to boycott marking the answer sheets in protest.

Meanwhile, the authorities booked as many as six students for cheating in the Open School exam in the district on Tuesday. While two youths were nabbed on charges of appearing on behalf of others in the test at the Government Senior Secondary School here yesterday, it is learnt that several other candidates who were impersonating managed to flee after a raid was conducted on some of the test centres. The candidates who have been booked for impersonation have been identified as Sombir, Nitesh, Amarjit, Sandeep, Vikas, Balwinder, Baljit, Rammehar and Baljit.

While only Sombir and Nitesh could be nabbed during the swoop by the officials, six others managed to flee from there, it is claimed. Around 30 cases of impersonation have been detected in the ongoing exams in the district.

Sirsa, April 18
The medical fraternity here is outraged after a late night police raid on a leading nursing home near Balmiki Chowk of the town last night. A team of the city police that was later joined by two doctors from the Health Department searched the hospital after a tip-off regarding an illegal abortion.

The team, however, did not find anything objectionable.

Local doctors, who held a meeting under the aegis of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) today, alleged that the role of the city police was highly objectionable and the policemen went to the extent of invading the residence of the doctor, including the bedrooms, where his family members were sleeping.

“We will lodge a written complaint tomorrow and will seek action against the erring cops,” said Dr Ved Beniwal, patron of the Haryana chapter of the IMA.

Incidentally, it is the second instance in less than a week that the authorities raided Dr Bansal’s hospital.

“Last time, our team found some discrepancies and we have served a show-cause notice to the doctor in this regard,” said the Civil Surgeon, Dr Daya Nand.

Efforts to contact Dr MR Bansal, whose hospital was raided, proved futile as he did not respond to the calls made on his mobile.

The SP, Devender Singh Yadav, said the doctors had met him in the morning and he had asked them to give their complaint in writing, if they felt something wrong had been done.

He said he had not yet received any complaint.

He, however, said that the police conducted the raid with two doctors after a tip-off and it was according to the law. 

Gurgaon, April 18
A newborn was found abandoned in Dundahera village on the Gurgaon-Delhi border today. Some auto-rickshaw drivers spotted a four-day-old girl lying in a garbage dump.

They informed the police, following which the girl was taken to the local Civil Hospital. As of now, the newborn has been admitted to the neo-natal intensive care unit.

It is learnt that the girl is underweight and seems to be prematurely born. She also has some respiratory infection and injuries on her body.

Another child, a 45-day-old girl, was found abandoned under a tree on the Civil Hospital premises on Thursday. There is no trace of her parents and she is also lodged at the same hospital.

Hospital sources said several childless couples were keen to adopt the girl, but were discouraged by the stringent adoption rules and procedure.

Karnal, April 18
The Haryana Police Complaints Authority (HPCA) will soon launch its website to facilitate the victims of police excesses or misconduct to file complaints, said HPCA chairman HS Rana, who was here to educate people the modalities for filing complaints.

Rana said 68 complaints had so far been received from five districts of Faridabad, Gurgaon, Sonepat, Panipat and Karnal.

As many as 14 of the 68 complaints received so far by the authority had been disposed of .

An aggrieved person could file a complaint, supported by a sworn affidavit and send it to the authority which would initiate necessary action within 90 days. The authority would suo motu take cognizance of reports appearing in the media about the misconduct or excesses and atrocities committed by the police.

Jind, April 18
A call was made from a mobile phone to a tent house dealer to extort Rs 10 lakh. The mobile phone was found to be missing from its original owner. The police has launched a hunt to trace the person who had called up the victim and had threatened with dire consequences in case the extortion money was not paid. A case has been registered.

A complaint regarding extortion has been filed by Kamal Bindra, owner of Bindra Tent House, on the railway road here. He told the police that the call was made to him on Monday night when he was in his house and the caller had threatened him to pay the extortion money on time. It is learnt that the police traced Sube Singh, a resident of Barsola village in the district, as the owner of the mobile phone. It was, however, revealed that Sube Singh had lost his mobile phone set a few days ago, but could not lodge a complaint.

It is learnt that while the police initially booked Sube Singh in this regard but investigation revealed that it was someone else who made a call to Bindra from this handset. He has not been traceable so far. The police has asked the mobile phone company to keep track of the number and inform the police in case the call was made from this number again.