Karnal, August 27
Normal life was disrupted after several colonies in low-lying areas inundated following 208.2 mm rainfall in the past 24 hours, which was a record in the past two decades.

The rain wreaked havoc as water and power supply was disrupted and water gushed into houses. Vehicular traffic was disrupted as roads were flooded with knee-deep water.

The Committee Chowk, Jundla Gate, Subhash Gate, Bansu Gate, Chaman Garden, Gandhi Nagar, Shanti Nagar, Anand Vihar, Hansi Road, Ram Nagar and New Shivaji Colony in the heart of the town were submerged and even situation in HUDA sectors was no better as streets were flooded with rainwater.

The situation was worst in Chand Sarai, Indira Colony, Shayam Nagar, Sri Ram Colony, Khera Colony and Shiv Colony as water entered hundred of houses in the low-lying areas and residents had a tough time to pump water out of their houses as a majority of houses in theses colonies were kachha or make-shift shelters.

The Nagar Nigam office gave a look of a swimming pool and walls of two houses collapsed in Shiv Colony while a number of houses developed cracks.

Sonepat, August 27
Normal life in Gohana town and adjoining areas was thrown out of gear following a downpour in the morning and intermittent rain during the day today. Several areas, including the Old Tehsil premises, DSP’s office and the judicial complex, were inundated.

Reports said the area witnessed around 176 mm of rainfall during the day.

There was no power supply during the day after the power substation was submerged in water.

Though it was restored for some time in the afternoon, it was switched off again owing to a downpour.

Water entered houses, shops, school buildings.

A portion of the boundary wall of the Gohana Civil Hospital was damaged as water entered the hospital and houses of the hospital staff.

Sirsa, August 27
There is fresh trouble for former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda, presently in custody of the Delhi police for allegedly abetting his former staffer Geetika Sharma’s suicide.

On the direction of its national president Smriti Irani, MP, the state unit of the BJP Mahila Morcha has decided to launch a drive to inform people, particularly women, about Kanda’s “real face”.

During a drive from August 29, the morcha will cover every village and urban wards to awaken people on Kanda’s role in the Geetika Sharma suicide case and other “hidden and sordid” facts about him coming to the fore during investigation of the case.

Renu Sharma, president of the BJP Mahila Morcha, alleged that Kanda grabbed votes of unsuspecting Sirsa voters, particularly women, by presenting himself as a religious person and a devotee of Tara Baba.

However, the Geetika Sharma suicide case, she said, had exposed Kanda’s real face. She said it had also been reported in media reports that a woman, Ankita, had claimed to be Kanda’s wife and had a child from him.

“If found true, Kanda should be divested of his membership of the State Assembly as he had mentioned in his nomination that he had only one wife,” she demanded.

Sirsa, August 27
Geetika Sharma, a former staffer of MDLR Airlines, who committed suicide on August 5 accusing her former employer, Gopal Kanda, and another functionary of the defunct airlines Aruna Chadha, had, in fact, participated in the poll campaign of the former minister, when he contested the Sirsa assembly seat as an Independent in October, 2009.

A video clipping available with reporters of some media channels show Geetika Sharma and some other girls on the dais with Gopal Kanda in an election meeting in Sirsa town.

The election rally was held in the heart of Sirsa town a few days before the October 13, 2009, Assembly poll.

Several television celebrities like comedians Bharti Singh, Sugandha Mishra and Saloni, former leading lady of Bollywood Rati Agnihotri and Komal Chautala of Chak De India fame had participated in the rally held in Bhagat Singh Chowk of Sirsa town.

Chandigarh, August 27
In a clear embarrassment to the Bhupinder Singh Hooda Government, two senior Congress MLAs -- Sampat Singh and BB Batra -- today took Health Minister Rao Narinder Singh to task on ailing health services in the state.

Raising the sorry state of affairs in the health sector through separate Calling Attention Motions on the second day of the ongoing Monsoon Session of the Haryana Assembly, the two leaders virtually put the state government in the dock by claiming that all was not well in the health sector.

Mincing no words, former Finance Minister Sampat Singh went to the extent of comparing Haryana to the BIMARU states (Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajsthan and Uttar Pradesh).

He added that it was a matter of shame that the state stood 27th in the infant mortality rate (IMR) in the country and was bracketed with Bihar.

Even in the case of maternal mortality rate (MMR), Haryana was not very favourably placed as the rate was 153-- worse than West Bengal (145).

Batra said while the IMR was on the increase, the hemoglobin level in children, including newly-born, and women was on the decline.

While the government was quick in creating infrastructure, maintenance of the existing infrastructure and recruitment of specialists, still much was needed to be done, Sampat Singh alleged.

However, in his reply, Rao Narender Singh claimed that the government was constantly making improvement in health indicators over the years. While the IMR had declined from 66 to 48 from 2005 to 2010, the MMR was pegged at 153 as compared to 186 in 2006. The institutional deliveries had also increased from 49 per cent in 2006 to 77.3 per cent in 2011.

“Haryana ranks twelfth in the country in MMR and seventh in total fertility rate (TFR) is far above the all India average. However, 27th rank of the state in IMR is a matter of concern”, he rued.

The major causes of MMR are haemorrhage (24 per cent), sepsis (15 per cent), high blood pressure (12 per cent), unsafe abortion (13 per cent), obstruction of labour (8 per cent) and others (28 per cent). Meanwhile, the budget of the Health Department has increased 3.25 times from Rs 488.87 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 1,585.96 crore in

2012-13. The state government is committed to provide free medicines to all outdoor, causality, pregnant women and indoor and outdoor patients belonging to BPL families, he added.

Chandigarh, August 27
During the second day of the ongoing Monsoon session of the Haryana Vidhan Sabha, five Bills were passed.

The Bills include the Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2012, the Haryana Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institution Bill 2012, the Haryana Private Technical Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Fee) Bill 2012, the Haryana Shri Durga Mata Shrine Bill 2012 and the Haryana State Commission for Women Bill 2012.

The Haryana Legislative Assembly (Salary, Allowances and Pension of Members) Amendment Bill 2012 has been passed to provide the facility to travel in air-conditioned coaches to the members of legislative assembly and ex-members. Presently, the members of legislative assembly and ex-members are entitled to travel free in any public service vehicle of the Haryana State Transport Undertaking, including deluxe coaches and if they travel in air-conditioned coaches they have to pay the difference between the fare of such vehicle and that of a deluxe coach.

The Haryana Prohibition of Ragging in Educational Institution Bill 2012 has been passed to stop the menace of ragging in schools, colleges, universities and professional institutions.

The Haryana Private Technical Educational Institution (Regulation of Admission and Fee) Bill 2012 has been passed to regulate admission and fee structure in private technical educational institutions in the state as per orders of the Supreme Court in TMA Pai and others versus State of Karnataka and others dated 31.10.2012 and judgment in Islamic Academy of Education and Others versus State of Karnataka and others dated 14.8.2003.

The Haryana Shri Durga Mata Shrine Bill 2012 has been passed to take over Shri Durga Mata temple at village Banbhori, district Hisar so as to provide better amenities and facilities to the visiting devotees and for proper maintenance of the temple.

The Haryana State Commission for Women Bill, 2012, proposes to strengthen the commission by providing statutory status to the it.

Chandigarh, August 27
During the ongoing Monsoon session of the Vidhan Sabha, Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has announced to increase the petty grant of the Members of the Legislative Assembly from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 3 lakh annually.

Haryana Parliamentary Affairs Minister, Mr Randeep Singh Surjewala, on the demand of members of the Assembly, announced that while on tour to other states as members of Vidhan Sabha Committees, they would be entitled to get Rs 5000 per day for their accommodation, which would be reimbursed .

However, the MLAs would have to submit bill for the same, he added.

Chandigarh, August 27
While “killer roads” claim 12 lives in Haryana daily, nearly 25 persons are injured in accidents, the Haryana Vidhan Sabha was informed here today.

Replying to a question by Congress MLA Sampat Singh, Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said 2,592 persons were killed and 5,284 injured in 5,674 road accidents from January 1 to July 31 .

However, there is slight decline in the number of accidents as compared to 2011. The “killer roads” claimed 4,595 lives — 13 lives daily — in 2011 while 9,320 persons (26 per day) were injured.

Chandigarh, August 27
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda today said that the INLD is in a habit of misleading the people and they maintain dual face. While showing copies of the comments made by INLD MLA Abhay Singh Chautala on Twitter dated August 5 about performance of players of Haryana in London Olympics saying , “Bhiwani Boxers, Saina, Narang and Poonia…..Haryana is seriously over representing India at the Olympics. Proud to……” , Hooda said now they were saying that only one player hailing from Haryana had won medal in the recent Olympics.

Hooda, accompanied by the Parliamentary affairs Minister Randeep Singh Surjewala, was interacting with mediapersons here today. He said while on the one hand they feel proud of Haryana players’ win in Olympics on social-networking sites like Twitter, on the other they criticize the state government for honouring these players stating that the government is letting the plunder of the government treasure by showering prizes on these players.

While reacting to the Opposition’s statement of letting the plunder of state to the players, Hooda said that they (INLD) used to loot, but we are honouring the players. We would continue to honour them for their achievements, he added.

Earlier, addressing another conference in the lobby, Leader of Opposition Om Prakash Chautala alleged that Jaiveer Balmiki’s complaint was a “distracting” tactic of the ruling Congress since they did not want any discussion on the issues the state was facing.

“The Speaker, like we have said, is biased and totally playing into the hands of the Congress. We had brought an adjournment motion against collapse of law and order in the state. We wanted a discussion on the slow progress in cases of nine MLAs and wanted the government to reply why it was shielding people with criminal intent. Like all our adjournment and call attention motions, this too was disallowed. Where should the Opposition raise issues of such grave importance if the Speaker does not permit discussion on the floor of the House,” he asked.

The Speaker is virtually running the House like a courtroom, taking up cases, hearing both sides and passing judgements. The Congress, he claimed, was up to its old game of dividing society on caste lines which explains Balmiki’s complaint.

“If there is an iota of truth, let the Speaker show the recordings and we will accept if anybody is guilty. The truth is that the Congress is shying away from facing the burning issues of the present times,” he said.

Jhajjar, August 27
Krishan Murti Hooda, a former Haryana minister and spokesman of the Haryana Pradesh Congress Committee (HPCC), has castigated opposition leaders who are resisting the state government’s sports policy offering attractive posts in the Haryana Police and cash rewards to those international players who either clinch the medals in international events or qualify for the Olympic Games.

Interacting with mediapersons in Bahadurgarh town today, Krishan Murti said it was the government’s sports policy that 18 players from Haryana had forthe first time succeeded in qualifying for the London Olympics. Four of them had brought laurels for the nation and the state by bagging medals in their disciplines.

“Neither the INLD nor the HJC and BJP have any firm issue against the state government to raise. That’s why, their leaders are trying to misguide the people by opposing the sports policy of the Congress government ,” said the former minister.

He said that the opposition parties should also inform the public what steps they had taken to promote sports in the state and how many international players they had honoured with cash rewards and jobs in government departments when these were in power.

Karnal, August 27
Furious over the murder of a village youth, the residents of village Bras yesterday blocked the Karnal-Kaithal road, near Nissing and squatted on the road with the body.

The relatives of the deceased, identified as Mukesh, alleged that some mysterious persons attacked him with sharp-edged weapons, inflicting deep injuries on his arm and stomach last night and fled.

Mukesh was taken to the trauma centre where the doctors declared him brought dead but the police did not take the matter seriously.

The villagers, led by relatives of Mukesh blocked the road at Nissing for hours and demanded action against the culprits. Naresh, brother of the deceased, alleged that the assailants were some villagers but the police had failed to identify them.

DSP Madan Lal pacified the residents and informed that a case has been registered against thirteen persons, including the sarpanch. Sensing the gravity of the situation, SHO Ishwar Sharma has been sent to police line for not acting, he said.

Sources revealed that four, among the thirteen accused had been detained by the police. Mukesh is survived by a son and a daughter.

Ambala, August 27
Moved by the plight of the family of Neelpal, who had hacked his eight-year-old polio-stricken daughter Rajni to death on August 19, the All-India Pingalwara Charitable Society (AIPCS), Amritsar, has come forward to help the destitute family.

Dalvir Singh, a representative of the society, today approached the family and offered to provide shelter to the other four daughters of Neelpal, who is in jail. Neelpal was the only earning member of the family.

He said the girls had been offered shelter in the Pingalwara, where the trust would make arrangements for their education. Their mother, Harjit Kaur, could also work as a caretaker at the Pingalwara or undertake any other task of her choice.

Dalvir Singh said trust members would soon visit Ambala to take the family.

Neelpal, who was depressed due to financial problems, had killed his daughter out of frustration after which he was arrested and sent to jail. The remaining members of his family, including Harjit Kaur (40), Sunita (15), Geeta (12), Satwinder (6) and Akki (2), had none to look up to after Neelpal’s arrest.

Madhuban (Karnal), August 27
"Make every possible effort to reach the truth and protect the human rights of all sections of society" was the advised to public prosecutors at the three-day "Training of trainers" programme on "Combating trafficking in persons" for Public Prosecutors (PPs) organised by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Haryana Police Academy at Madhuban in Karnal that concluded yesterday.

The need for adopting a pro-active approach by PPs to dig out the truth, which was an essential and integral part of justice was stressed and the participants were explained that how their task had become more difficult and challenging to several new dimensions added to issues related to crime, prosecution and justice.

Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jails, Dr KP Singh underlined the fact that the criminal justice system was not confined to police, courts, PPs and jail administrators several organizations, including media, NGOs, opinion groups and other concerned parties, were also influencing hearing in cases in such a scenario. Public Prosecutors must work only for truth.

As many as 42 PPs from Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Chandigarh participated in the seminar and shared their experiences.

District Attorney of the Academy, Shashi Kant Sharma said the academy had been conducting programmes on combating human trafficking, various aspects of juvenile justice and related laws, prevention of flesh trade and issues like relief and rehabilitation of the victims.

Chandigarh, August 27
The Haryana Roadways General Manager has called for initiation of departmental action against those who had participated in the May 3 strike. The Punjab and Haryana High Court has also made it clear that it is not averse to action against the roadways employees for applying brakes to the running of buses.

A Division Bench of the High Court made this clear while deciding a petition filed in public interest by Harender Singh Kundu against the state of Haryana and other respondents. In his petition , Kundu had sought directions to the state and other respondents to take action against those responsible for “illegal call” on May 3 to Haryana Roadways conductors and drivers to go on a strike.

The petition came soon after passengers had to face hardship as 238 buses went off the road due to a day-long statewide strike by nearly 16,000 employees of Haryana Roadways. The employees had gone on strike in protest against privatisation and non-regularisation of workers.

Taking up the matter, the court observed nothing was available on record to show that the employee mentioned as a respondent in the petition had actually participated in the strike and brought the buses to a halt by arranging a “dharna” on the road.

The Bench added nothing was there on the record to show that the employee had caused damage to public property. “Action has already been taken against those who were actually present at the spot and creating some nuisance, ” the court observed.

In its detailed order, the court took note of the action proposed to be initiated against the employees. Disposing of the petition, the court added: “It goes without saying that the higher authorities will take appropriate action against all those who had participated in the strike and created hurdles in running of buses”.

Chandigarh, August 27
Recently, a drug haul worth Rs 8 lakh was made at Sadhaura in Yamunanagar from the bus stand. A local chemist was ferrying the consignment from Delhi for sale in Himachal Pradesh when he was nabbed with eight boxes of "medical intoxicants" comprising cough syrups and narcotic painkillers.

In Ambala, medical drugs, essentially Schedule H, were found stacked in a toilet of a chemist shop while bottles of cough syrups and analgesics were hidden at a juice bar in Rohtak and similar stocks were seized from an STD booth in Faridabad. A scrap deal had stocked the intoxicants and did brisk business selling these in Ratia before he was discovered. So much is the demand that "illicit trafficking" of these drugs by selling from cars or through individuals is the latest experiment to reach out to the clients.

Such is the rising addiction of "medicine intoxication" in the state that the Department of Food and Drug Administration has been forced to crack the whip in view of the rising number of addicts. The department has already sealed 67 chemist shops and suspended or cancelled licence of 70 other shops. A trend, which was fast spreading its tentacles among the youth of Haryana in the villages of Sirsa bordering Punjab, "medical intoxication" has now also spread in Kundli and Bahadurgarh. However, the seizure of stocks from other places like Yamunanagar and Gurgaon indicates that there is a growing market for such intoxicants in other pockets as well. "Though 'medical intoxication' was prevalent in the villages along Punjab where the incidence of drug addiction is very high, we were alarmed at the rising number in the area. On investigation, our field officers found that cough syrups and painkillers were the main culprits and were being sold over the counter without any mandatory prescription. Besides, chemists had kept stocks without any proper bills," said GL Singhal, State Drug Controller.

As information of errant chemists selling drugs without prescription started coming in, the field staff began seizing stocks and sealing shops to send out a message that the department means business. Given the extent of addiction in villages of Dabwali, Kalanwali and Ratia where these is a concentration of these addicts, the department has launched an awareness programme. "In Dabwali alone, we have sealed or cancelled the licence of 20 such shops. Besides, the district administration has initiated a sustained programme to educate the public about the ill-effects of drugs" Singhal added.

Chandigarh, August 27
Haryana Environment Minister Capt Ajay Singh Yadav, while replying to a Calling Attention Motion of Bharat Bhushan Batra in the Vidhan Sabha today said it was not correct to say that only petty shopkeepers or rehriwalas were being challaned for violating the notification banning the use of polythene carry bags in the state.

The Minister said during the last three years, 386 challans were issued against the distributors or stockists of the polythene bags in the state. Moreover, Haryana State Pollution Control Board had conducted survey of industrial units and issued closure orders against four defaulting manufacturing units in Faridabad.

He said, “It is also important to explain distinction between manufacturing of polythene carry bags and different products packed in plastic. While manufacturing of polythene carry bags per se is covered under January3, 2011, notification, which banned use of polythene carry bags, the Haryana State Pollution Control Board is empowered to enforce it.”

“Presently, it has been reported that there is no manufacturing unit in the state which is manufacturing polythene carry bags. However, polythene carry bags are reported to have been transported in Haryana from adjoining states and in such cases, challan can only be issued against stockists/vendors/shopkeepers”, he added.

Hisar, August 27
Unauthorised extension in connected load by power consumers of various categories has become the bane of state power utilities in Haryana, throwing their planning process for transmission infrastructure out of gear.

Official sources said the trend to extend connected load without informing the power utilities cuts across all categories of consumers. Between 2005 and 2011,more than 1.15 lakh consumers declared their unauthorised load under the Voluntary Disclosure Scheme (VDS) launched as many as nine times during these six years in the area of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Haryana Vitran Nigam alone.

The agricultural consumers accounted for about 60 per cent of the people who declared their unauthorised load. As many as 63,000 such consumers had declared their illegal load during these six years. They were followed by domestic consumers whose number was in the range of 10,000. The number of industrial consumers with unauthorised load extension came to around 1,500 only.

The highest number of consumers (46,574) who declared their extended loads under the VDS was in 2005. Of these, 27,872 were agricultural consumers. The number fell to 9,087 the following year but shot up to 20,080 again in 2008-2009.

DHBVN engineers say the unauthorised extension of load upset their plans for augmentation of transmission infrastructure. All expansion plans were prepared on the basis of connected load figures available with them.

However, the expansion failed to serve its purpose when the augmented transmission system too was found inadequate because of undeclared load. That is what prompted them to launch the VDS from time to time and prepare their plans accordingly. The foremost reason for unauthorised extension of connected load is the falling watertable in the countryside due to over-exploitation. As water levels fall, farmers replace their motors with higher rating and capacity to draw water. This increases load on the rural transmission system, leading to frequent interruptions in the supply.

They said there was no theft of power involved as the farmers paid their bills according to consumption by the bigger motors. But, the increased load overburdened the transmission system, resulting in system collapse.

In the domestic category, the increasing use of electrical appliances like air-conditioners, washing machines and geysers had led to a greater load on the system. The consumers did not bother to get their connected load extended before installing new gadgets.

Over the six years the unauthorised load declared under VDS came to a whopping 2 lakh KW-- enough to throw planning for the transmission system out of gear. They said financial gains to the utilities from the declaration of load were miniscule as no penalties were imposed and no theft of power was involved.