Sirsa, July 13
Inmates of Sirsa District Jail have been living in miserable conditions with no proper healthcare facilities and only worn-out clothes to wear.

The pitiable conditions of the prisoners came to light when Harish Gupta, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Legal Services Authority, made a surprise visit to the jail and spoke to its inmates.

“At least 200 out of 800 inmates are drug addicts, who have been suffering a plethora of health problems for want of any drug de-addiction centre in the jail,” Gupta said after the visit.

Some of the inmates had boils and infections on their body and needed immediate medical attention, including antibiotics.

However, when the judge saw the medicines given to them by the jail pharmacist, he was surprised to see that they were given ‘albendazole’ tablets meant for worm infections.

Many of the inmates were found wearing worn-out clothes and one of them had bloodstains on his shirt.

When asked about the reason, the prisoner told the judge that he had been wearing this dress for the past three years ever since he had come to the jail, as the authorities had not provided any uniform and he had no one else to give him clothes.

“Once convicted, it is the responsibility of the jail to provide uniforms to all the prisoners,” the judge said.

Jail Superintendent Shamsher Singh Dahiya said the government had not provided any clothes for the past three years.

“The District and Sessions Judge, who is the highest judicial officer in the district, visits the jail every month and he has never raised any issue,” said Dahiya.

He added that the function of chief judicial magistrates associated with the legal service authority was to look into the legal aid issues of the prisoners only. 

Rohtak, July 13
In what could be the first of its kind development in the state and the country, officials of the Health and Drug Control Department raided the premises of a wholesale distributor of infant milk substitute food products in the city.

The team seized some of the samples of products meant for supply to retailers in the district. The manufacturer and the seller (distributor or retailer) of such products are likely to be booked under various sections of the Infant Milk Substitute Feeding Bottle and Infant Food (Regulation of Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 1992, which prevents deliberate advertisement and promotion of such products in the market.

A joint team of officials, including the Civil Surgeon, the District Health Officer (DHO), the Food Safety Officer, the Senior Medical Officer and the the Senior Drug Inspector, reached the sale-cum-godown office of the wholesale agent of a leading brand at the local Anaj Mandi and seized some of the samples of the food supplement for children.

“The packets and cans containing the food supplements had been labelled in a manner that promoted the use and consumption of such foods for babies up to the age of two years while the Act has banned such promotion,” claimed Manmohan Taneja, Senior Drug Inspector. He said the accused dealer, identified as Sat Narayan and Company, was working as a wholesaler dealer of such products.

Officials said some of the products recovered by the team include PreNan and NanPro (Lactogen-1). While the retail price of NanPro was Rs 370 per unit, Lactogen has been priced at Rs 210 per pack. “The main accused in this case could be the manufacturer and supplier of the products as the state government has already notified to proceed against companies or dealers promoting such products under the provisions of the Act,” claimed Dr GL Singhal, the Director-General of the Food and Drug Adminstration (FDA) of Haryana, who added that the company could be booked under sections 3 and 6 of the Act for such a violation.

He added that the case would be booked after confirmation of the charges regarding the supply of products labelled in the current form.

New Delhi, July 13
The Minister for Excise and Taxation, Kiran Choudhry, today at a meeting of a committee of finance ministers of states in the national capital, demanded full compensation vis-a-vis the Central Sales Tax (CST) claims of Haryana.

According to the Haryana government, there was a compensation claim of Rs 6,639.91 crore from 2007 to 2011. The state has been given Rs 4,105.16 crore. Government officials claim that no compensation has been given for 2011-2012 for a claim of Rs 1,353.88 crore.

Choudhry said this after a meeting held in the Delhi Secretariat. She added that the arbitrary deduction and stoppage of CST compensation after 2011 had seriously hampered the progress of the introduction of the Goods and Service Tax (GST). Until the GST is implemented, the rate of CST should be restored to the original rate of 4 per cent.

After listening to the views of other states also on the issue of CST compensation claims, Sushil Kumar Modi, Chairman of Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers, said the Finance Ministry was being looked after by the Prime Minister himself now. “We will approach the Prime Minister at the earliest and we hope that due consideration will be given to the problem of states, which are suffering from revenue losses and deductions in the CST compensation claims,” Modi said.

Choudhry said there are certain areas in states’ taxation domain, which are subject to levy of service tax. They include areas like land and buildings, sale of goods, transport, advertisement, entertainment etc. Such activities should not be subjected to levy of service tax till the introduction of GST.

Chandigarh, July 13
The Haryana Congress today urged Union Minister for Home Affairs P. Chidambaram to use his good offices to persuade Punjab to complete its portion of the SYL canal so that Haryana gets its rightful share in the river waters.

A delegation of the party led by its president, Phool Chand Mullana, met Chidambaram at Punjab Congress Bhavan here today and took up various inter-state issues with him. Mullana said Haryana had completed its portion of the SYL canal several years ago, but the canal was lying unused because of the ‘stubborn’ attitude of Punjab.

Former minister Venod Sharma, MLA from Ambala, complained to the Home Minister that Haryana was not getting its full quota of 40 per cent of the posts in the Union Territory of Chandigarh.

Pawan Jain, in charge of the Haryana Congress media cell, told Chidambaram that unless inflation was controlled, the party would suffer badly in the next elections.

Chidambaram’s response, as one member of the delegation put it, was, at best, “giving a patient hearing” to the delegation. Other members of the delegation included former minister Tejinder Singh Mann, Ashok Mehta, former Information Commissioner; and former president of the Panchkula civic body Manbir Gill. 

Dabwali (Sirsa), July 13
Intoxicants have been found dumped at four different places around Dabwali town in Sirsa as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tightened its noose on chemists selling drugs used for a kick.

Parma Nand Sharma of Sharma Medical Agencies and Deepak of Neel Medicos, two chemists who were yesterday arrested under the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Act after recovery of intoxicants from their premises, were today produced before a Dabwali court.

The court sent Sharma to a five-day police custody and Deepak to a three-day police lockup.

As the raids by the FDA continued for the fourth day in succession in Dabwali today, those in this business are believed to have started cleaning up their shops of intoxicants.

A few farmers found large quantities of drugs dumped in the fields at four different places near Dabwali. The drugs were found in cement bags, gunny bags and also lying in the open.

Similarly, a bag full of medicines was found dumped near the Ghaggar river in Kharekan village.

Meanwhile, GL Singal, State Drug Controller-cum-Joint Commissioner, FDA, Haryana, said two of his department’s drug control officers Vijaya Raje and Raman Sheoran have started raids on chemist shops since morning.

“We have sealed Sharma Medical Agencies, where huge cache of intoxicants were recovered during raids in the past two days and have checked three more drug stores since morning,” Singal added.

He said most of the drugs found in the fields were “expired drugs”.

Crackdown against the chemists selling drugs used for a kick began with the efforts of some NGOs and social organisations that held a meeting here on July 9 and expressed anger at the menace.

Chandigarh, July 13
The CBI today started investigations into the infamous Rohtak Apna Ghar case. An FIR was registered by the CBI after the case was transferred to its Chandigarh branch. Teams have been despatched to Rohtak for investigations.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Thursday had given a week's time to the Centre to take a decision on the Haryana government's recommendation for a CBI probe into the sexual abuse of inmates at the Rohtak shelter home.

The investigation was handed over to the special crime branch (SCB) of the CBI, Chandigarh, and case records, including FIR, interrogation reports of arrested accused and statements of victims would be taken over from the Haryana Police.

The FIR was registered under the same charges as slapped by the Haryana police against the arrested accused, including head of the shelter home Jaswanti Devi and Haryana retired sub-inspector Bhim Singh Ranga, who initially investigated the case.”

A CBI official said the custody of all arrested accused would be taken from the Haryana Police in the coming days. The National Commission for Protection of Child Right had rescued 103 persons, including children and women, from the house after a raid on May 9.

The Haryana government had recommended a CBI probe into the allegations of sexual abuse and torture, including by police personnel, of Apna Ghar' inmates. A four-member advocates' committee, appointed recently by the High Court here, had apprehended that evidence might be destroyed if the CBI did not take over the case.

Rohtak: The local court has extended the judicial custody of the accused in the Apna Ghar case to July 27. As many as 10 persons, including four women and a retired Sub-Inspector, have been booked in the case so far.

While the main accused, Jaswanti Devi, and her daughter, Simi, were arrested on the day the NCPCR team raided the shelter home on May 9, other accused, including Jaswanti’s son-in-law Jai Bhagwan and brother Jaswant were arrested later. The latest arrests were carried out by the SIT a few days ago when it took into custody former Sub-Inspector Bhim Singh Ranga and two youths in this connection.

Ranga, chowki in charge in the locality, where Apna Ghar is located. had close relations.

Panipat, July 13
The Haryana Power Engineers Association has condemned the Haryana State Vigilance Bureau for falsely implicating a subdivisional officer of Uttar Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam (UHBVN) in a corruption case. They also submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner, Yamunanagar, on Monday demanding an impartial inquiry into the case. The association has alleged that the case was registered at the behest of a local politician.

Association president RS Dahiya said no money was recovered from the SDO and the money was given to a contractor instead to install a transformer under the self-financing scheme. The upright officer has been implicated at the behest of a local politician, he alleged.

Under the revised self-financing scheme transformers are supplied by the UHBVN and the cost of material and line Installation charges are borne by the consumer and given directly to the contractor, he said.

Vigilance Bureau authorities claim that they caught Balwan Singh, SDO, Radaur subdivision, Yamunanagar, and a contractor Shish Pal Mehta on Monday while accepting a bribe of Rs 50,000 from a farmer hailing from Radaur.

The money was recovered from the contractor, the officers claimed. The complainant Subhash had accused SDO Balwan Singh and contractor Shish Pal of demanding a bribe from him to install a transformer. — TNS

Kaithal, July 13
Tragedy struck three families of Kailram village of Kaithal last night when four children were drowned in a village pond. A pall of gloom descended on the village as the news spread in the area.

According to information, Sahil (8) and Sudesh (6), both sons of Sukhdev Sharma, Mohit (8), son of Mohinder and Aman (6), son of Suresh Jangra, died due to drowning. As the children had not reached their houses till late evening, their parents got worried and started inquiring about them. Someone told them that he had seen the children near Nakha pond situated in the village late evening.

However, when the parents, accompanied by other villagers, reached the spot, they noticed a child floating on the surface of the water. A few youth jumped into the pond and recovered other children. The victims were rushed to Kaithal hospital, but the doctors declared them brought dead.

After the postmortem, the bodies were handed over to the family members. On behalf of the district administration, Roshan Lal, tehsildar, reached the village to condole the deaths.

Meanwhile, Deputy Commissioner Chander Shekhar condoled the deaths and ordered a magisterial inquiry into the incident.

Haryana PWD Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, MP Naveen Jindal, Kalayat MLA Ram Pal Majra, Shamsher Singh Surjewala, president of the All-India Kisan Khet Majdoor Congress, and Tejinder Pal Mann, former minister and DCC president, expressed grief over the deaths.

Ambala, July 13
Agitated residents of Ravi Dass Basti of Ambala City threw stones on police personnel late last night injuring several police personnel, including ACP Raj Kumar Walia. The mob also ransacked police vehicles parked there. The dispute started over a runway couple of the colony.

Relatives of the boy allegedly thrashed the girl’s father and other relatives who are admitted in the Civil Hospital here. However, the boy’s father has refuted the allegation.

About four months ago, a youth and a girl of the colony got married without the consent of their parents. The panchayat of the colony opposed the alliance and banned the couple’s entry into the colony. The couple approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court which directed the Ambala police to provide security to the runaway couple in a police protection home. After living in the protection home for one month, the couple went somewhere else.

Late last night, the runaway couple reached the colony. When the relatives of the girl came to know about it, they went to the house of the boy and asked the family to hand over the girl to them. After a heated argument, the relatives of the boy attacked the family members of the girl. The girl’s father and three other relatives sustained serious injuries and were rushed to the local Civil Hospital.

When the police attempted to enter the colony to escort the runaway couple, the crowd started throwing stones at it.

SDM Mukesh Ahuja and ACP Raj Kumar Walia, who were leading the operation, restrained the police from reacting. Around 5 am, the police succeeded in escorting out the couple from the colony. The couple has been kept in the protection home at present.

Later Deputy Commissioner Shekhar Vidyarthi and DCP Simardeep Singh in a joint press conference said that on the complaint of the girl’s father, a case had been registered against the girl’s husband, his father and a few others. Another attempt to murder case was registered against several persons on the charge of attacking police personnel on the complaint of an ASI. The situation was defused to some extent but tension is still prevailing in the colony. 

Rohtak, July 13
The police today arrested a youth on a charge of sodomising an elderly person at Farmana village in the district. Rambhaj had allegedly sodomised the victim (64) years a few days ago and fled the village. He was later remanded in judicial custody by a local court.

In another incident in the same village, the police has arrested a woman in connection with opening fire with the intention of killing a person recently. The gun used in the incident has been seized, said the police. — TNS