Rohtak, September 7
Several students of MD University were injured in a clash that took place between two groups of students, mostly hostellers, last night.

At least four students were arrested by the police this morning in connection with the incident.

Menawhile, girl students staged a march in the city and submitted a memorandum to the district authorities against the poor quality of food and other facilities in the university hostels.

The police has been deployed in the university.

Trouble started around 7.30 pm yesterday during a meeting of the mess committee of Hostel Number 6 for boys when some students alleged that a hosteller, Joginder, alias Joga, enrolled in the Law Department had allegedly misbehaved and threatened them over the alleged violation of the rules by him. This resulted in a clash in which some students were allegedly beaten up by the accused and his supporters.

The victims approached the VC, R.P. Hooda, who who was at Sabarmati, the hostel for girls, after the girls had raised a banner of revolt around nearly the same time over the alleged poor quality and rate of food and other facilities provided in the hostel.

It is reported that a clash erupted at the spot in the presence of the VC and the security officer of the university after the arrival of some other students, resulting in a mob violence-like situation. Some students entered the hostel for girls in a bid to escape the attack. It is claimed that around 50 students and youths armed with sticks and baseball bats attacked their opponents.

While a majority of the students involved in the clash belonged to the Law Department, the injured have been identified as Joginder, Vaibhav, Dharamjit, Yogesh, Vineet and Veerbhan.

The police has arrested four accused identified as Joginder, Dharmbir, Yogesh and Virender in connection with the violence.

It is revealed that some accused had come from the outside the campus and were armed with crude weapons.

Meanwhile, girl hostellers staged a demonstration to seek an improvement in the quality and price of the food served and other facilities. Hundreds of girls took out a march and submitted a memorandum to the Deputy Commissioner. “We are being served substandard food whose rates are hiked frequently without taking us into confidence,” claimed a student on the condition of anonymity.

The Indian National Students Organisation (INSO) has sought the intervention of the state government in the matter and the removal of the security officer as it claimed that the security on the campus had been poor.

MDU officials, on other hand, claimed that the situation was under control and all measures would be ensured to prevent the recurrence of such an incident.

Gurgaon, September 7
Even as the Right to Education Act mandates reservation of 25 per cent of entry-level seats for disadvantaged children, none of Gurgaon’s 75 schools has emade any declaration about this reservation or invited applications for it.

However, none of the schools has either submitted any declaration to the local authorities specifying the number of entry level seats, reserved ones, criterion of this reservations, age of admission and process of admission or issued a public advertisement for RTE-reserved seats and sought any applications.

“They have to first seek recognition and then only can they admit students. We have not even declared result of child mapping as yet. No nursery admission is complete until schools admit disadvantaged children on 25 per cent of the total seats. We will look in to the matter and urge the disadvantaged parents to go to a nearby school and claim a seat,” said District Elementary Education Officer Prem Lata.

While the department is looking into the matter, schools are winding up admissions as over 29 schools had a massive admission fair recently where some of them made admissions while others counselled parents.

Some popular schools such as Delhi Public School, Scottish High International School and GD Goenka World School have closed the admission process, while the process is on in other schools.

Gurgaon, September 7
Taking a serious note of the potholed roads in Gurgaon, Haryana Chief Secretary PK Chaudhery pulled up the local officials concerned and ordered them to get all major arterial roads in Gurgaon repaired within a month.

Addressing a meeting of the district administration, HUDA and the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) officials here today, Chaudhery asked them to ensure that the roads were made pothole-free and the footpaths should be repaired and painted within one month.

“I have come to Gurgaon on directions of Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda as the state government wants immediate steps to improve the infrastructure here. ?Gurgaon is the showcase of Haryana and the state government wants that the infrastructure of the city should be commensurate with the investment here,” he maintained.

The Chief Secretary pointed out that though many big-ticket long-term projects had been envisaged for Gurgaon, but at the same time, the local officials needed to address the immediate requirements to provide relief to the local residents. “You people need to take urgent short-term measures to facilitate the residents and adhere to the timeline; funds are no issue for Gurgaon,” he asserted.

He directed the MCG and HUDA authorities to complete the task of filling up potholes on all major arterial roads within a month and also to repair footpaths along those roads. The internal roads of HUDA sectors would be repaired within three months.

Chaudhery cautioned that he would again visit Gurgaon after a month and would inspect the roads here.

Chandigarh, September 7
Digging deep into the issue of children falling prey to abandoned borewells in Haryana, the government has finally framed guidelines for audit of all hazardous structures. Nodal officers would also be appointed to “prevent loss of life”; and fresh surveys would carried out every three months. Barbed wire fences and reflectors would also be put up around the wells, and abandoned borewells would be filled up.

The state has also come out with 19 commandments in its policy dated August 24 for dealing with the issue. The measures suggested in the policy for the prevention of accidents include identification of “all structures, which include open manholes, broken sewers, hazardous buildings etc that may pose hazard to members of the public in towns and cities”.

It has also been suggested that a register of hazardous structures should also be maintained in each municipal body, under the direct supervision of the executive officer or the secretary. The register would be checked by the SDO (Civil) at least once in three months.

Nodal officers in MC should be appointed for each ward to conduct the survey and to take remedial measures; and the survey should be repeated every three months. The nodal officers would ensure that the Supreme Court directions in the matter are strictly implemented; and would be personally held responsible for non-compliance.

It has also been recommended that the joint commissioner, executive officer, or the secretary of the MC concerned should get dangerous buildings vacated immediately. Steps to demolish the building and rehabilitation would then be taken as per the rules.

The land or premises owner must inform in writing at least 15 days in advance to the authorities concerned in the area, before taking any steps for digging borewells or tubewells.

Jhajjar, September 7
As many as 25 students of Government Senior Secondary School in Saray Aurangabad village under Bahadurgarh subdivision here were admitted to a hospital today after eating mid-day meal served to them by the school authorities.

It is learnt that students of Classes I to V were served curry and rice in the mid-day meal. About 20 minutes after consuming it, five students started vomiting in the classrooms and thereafter, 20 more students also complained of stomachache and anxiety. The staff immediately took them to nearby PDM General Hospital.

KL Kathuriya, medical superintendent of the hospital, said the students complained of stomachache, vomiting and uneasiness. “As many as 20 students were sent to their homes after checkup while remaining five have been kept here under observation. The students are out of danger,” said Kathuriya.

Parents of the students concerned have demanded a serious investigation into the matter to find out the fact.

Meanwhile, Bahadurgarh SDM Nar Hari Bangar said a team led by the Block Education Officer (BEO) had been constituted to investigate the matter. Besides, the health officials had also been asked to take samples of mid-day meal for testing at a laboratory, he added.

Chandigarh, September 7
Power, Forests and Environment Minister Ajay Singh Yadav has urged Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan to look into the matter of discharge of effluent from Rajasthan’s Bhiwadi industrial area into the Dharuhera area of Haryana and ensure compliance of directions issued to the Rajasthan Pollution Control Board under section 18(1) (b) of Water Act, 1974.

In a communication to the union minister, Yadav said that effluent was being discharged intermittently into an open drain leading to Dharuhera . He said the highly polluted effluent was affecting habitation and crops in adjoining villages, namely Mahashawari and Malpura. He said a number of complaints had been received from residents of these villages regarding discharge of this untreated effluent. This polluted effluent had been stagnating near HUDA sectors and the National Highway No 8, causing nuisance to residents of the area, he added.

Yamunanagar, September 7
Bal Kunj in the Chhachhrauli segment, which had hit the headlines in June for wrong reasons, is again hogging the limelight as a 10-year-old boy who had been brought here from Delhi about three days ago has gone missing.

According to the police, Amarjit, the 10-year-old boy brought from Delhi to Bal Kunj, home for the rehabilitation of destitute children aged six to eight, went missing under mysterious circumstances on Thursday evening.

After conducting a search around the home, the local authorities reported the matter to the police, expressing apprehension that the boy could have been kidnapped. A case of kidnapping has been registered.

Sukhwinder Singh, a senior official of the home, and Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan could not be contacted despite repeated attempts.

A 14-year-old girl, Khushbu, had gone missing from here on May 31. An FIR was registered on June 1 and the city magistrate had been asked to conduct an inquiry, the findings of which were not made public. The inmates had alleged mental and physical torture during the visit of the magistrate Pooja Chavvaria then.

Hisar, September 7
Ashwani Mehta, Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate, Hansi, has directed the police to register a case against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on charges of Sedition (Section 124A), provocation for causing a riot (Section 153), promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and performing actions prejudicial to maintenance of harmony (Section 153A) and imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration (153 B).

The order was given on an application filed by Rajat Kansal, an advocate of Hansi, here.

Hisar, September 7
Five persons, including three officials of the Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam, have been arrested on charges of stealing electric poles and transmission cable.

They were Sachin, junior engineer, and assistant linemen Bijendra and Tek Chand, besides three others.

The nigam is laying a transmission system on the Chandigarh Road. The equipment had been lying near Talwani Rana village.

The suspects came to the village in a tractor-trolley and started loading poles and transmission cable. Several erected poles were also uprooted. The villagers got suspicious and informed the nigam authorities and the police. The villagers surrounded the tractor-trolley, frustrating the suspects’ attempts to carry the stolen equipment. The police reached the spot and arrested the five suspects.

Rewari, September 7
The Dharuhera police has booked Pinkcity Expressway Company of Jaipur for causing obstruction on the NH-8 and endangering the safety of the people travelling in vehicles on the highway.

A senior police official said while the company is engaged in the construction of a flyover on the NH-8 at Dharuhera, it ignored its responsibility towards the smooth flow of vehicular traffic, owing to which thousands of vehicle operators had to face troublesome traffic jams during the past several days.

He said it was obligatory for the company to carry out construction of the flyover in such a way that did not hamper the flow of traffic. — OC

Sirsa, September 7
The Indian National Students Organisation (INSO), the student wing of the INLD, is up in arms against an assistant professor of Chaudhary Devi Lal University. He has lodged a complaint against two leaders of the organisation under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

The INSO is demanding removal of Rajesh Vaid, an assistant professor in the department of physical education of the university, from the post of warden of Sardar Patel Hostel on the plea that he has been indulging in political activities in the university.

It held a demonstration against Vaid and submitted a memorandum to the university authorities.

“Vaid has been working for a political party without taking leave from the university. He participated in the Ratia assembly poll and even performed duties during the Uttar Pradesh elections while he was shown present here in the university record,” alleged Yogesh Sharma, in charge of INSO for Sirsa, Fatehabad and Bhiwani districts.

Rajesh Vaid contested the parliamentary and assembly elections in 2009 on the Bahujan Samaj Party ticket and the Haryana Janhit Congress, respectively, and later joined the Congress. He alleged that he was being harassed by the INSO activists ever since he led a group of Dalits in burning an effigy of INLD leader Abhey Singh Chautala on the Jaibir Balmiki issue.

“I received calls from INLD leaders Parveen Atri and Yogesh Sharma on September 3. The callers threatened me with dire consequences for burning the effigy of Abhey Singh Chauatala and used abusive language against him with regard to his caste,” Vaid has alleged in his complaint given to Sirsa Superintendent of Police Devender Singh Yadav.

Rohtak, September 7
The stand of the Haryana government on its land acquisition policy has been exposed in view of the decision of the Supreme Court which has set aside the acquisition of around 230 acres of land in Rohtak.

This was stated by the INLD supremo Om Prakash Chautala while addressing a public gathering at Sundana village here.

He demanded a probe into the allegations by an independent agency. He said while his party had always questioned in the manner in which thousands of acres was acquired by the authorities during the past seven years, the decision of the apex court on Wednesday had exposed the alleged irregularities in the process.

He said the court had set aside the land acquisition done for Sector 36 in Rohtak in 2006 on charges of providing benefit to a private builder.

Alleging large-scale corruption and financial irregularities in the policy, he said the real picture and the dimensions of the scam would come out after a probe by an independent agency.

Gurgaon, September 7
Out to help colonisers and builders, the district administration has decided that city builders who have been barred from using groundwater for construction purposes will get 24-hour treated water supply from the sewage treatment plants (STPs) of HUDA rather than during the usual 9 am to 5 pm time.

The Punjab and Haryana High court has barred colonisers and builders from using fresh underground water in construction activities.

Regarding drinking water for workers engaged on the site, builders having already registered borewell at the site can use its water for drinking purposes only, provided a water meter and a separate electricity meter is installed on it so that a track on the extraction of underground water could be kept.

The HUDA Administrator said the builders could buy drinking water for labourers from the HUDA Boosting Station of Sector 16. The water can be poured in a tank on which it is clearly written "drinking water".