Kaithal, October 6
As the 150-strong procession found its way through village roads at Choshala of Kalayat block as early as 6 am to descend at the Harijan basti, 60-year-old Murti Devi, leaning against the iron gate of her house, was amused.

The “crowd” made its way through the basti’s slushy lane, trying hard to land its feet on the dry patches, prompting her to remark, “Yeh chipsan pe chaalan waley log hain (These are the people who walk on chips flooring),” and inviting peals of laughter from other veiled women at the “city crowd”.

Led by Deputy Commissioner Chandra Shekhar and his battery of administrative officers, the procession, accompanied by village elders, had arrived at the basti in response to the night camp by the district administration at the village.

As he exited the lane, the DC announced that paver-block laying would begin in a week’s time. “We have got the money for this but if I smell any politics, I will stop all work and never come back to this village,” he threatened.

The demand for shifting the cremation ground, offering a matching grant for a retaining village pond’s wall and other issues were addressed in less than a day. This was the fifth night camp since he rolled it out in August this year.

If many like Surinder queued up to get illegal power and water connections regularised, 60-year-old Roshni Devi enrolled for old-age pension after a Health Department certification, while names of school dropouts were read out, lists of BPL families circulated to wipe out anomalies, cheques under various schemes distributed to bring about transparency and everything from ration-card to birth-death certificate-making was available under one roof.

“The camping idea is to ensure speedy disposal of grievances since every officer is around only for the villagers. Being among the villagers provides us an opportunity to counsel them to fall in line and helps in expediting issues that may take months. Also, for the first week after the camp, we do an exhaustive follow-up exercise to make sure everything we have agreed to, starts. After all, our credibility is at stake,” the DC explains.

ADC Dinesh Yadav adds the camp is a way to address burning social issues like female foeticide, water conservation and the like. “We show movies, use folk songs, recognise families with girls, ask pregnant women to pledge against female foeticide and counsel parents to send their children to school, making it a multi-faceted programme,” he explains.

Superintendent of Police Kuldeep Singh chips in that a movie on clippings of accidents from CCTV cameras is shown to drive home the point of adhering to traffic rules.

The morning dawned with a tree-plantation exercise and the camp ended with a round of the village.

Jhajjar, October 6
Five skinless carcasses of cows were recovered from near the site of the AIIMS-II in Bhadsa village under Bahadurgarh subdivision here today.

All the carcasses, which were in decomposed condition, were later cremated by the villagers.

Infuriated over the incident, villagers have demanded the registration of a case of cow-slaughter and the setting up of a police post at Badhsa.

The incident came to light in the morning when some villagers spotted the carcasses lying near the AIIMS site. They informed the sarpanch and other residents about the incident.

A significant number of villagers gathered at the spot and lambasted the police authorities for not opening a police post in the village despite a demand in this regard.

Later, the Bahadurgarh sadar police station SHO Vijay Dahiya reached the spot and took stock of the situation.

A team of veterinary doctors also collected some samples from there.

The villagers- Jogender and Ajit Singh- informed media persons that this was the second incident of cow-slaughter in the region in one and a half years. Earlier, 15 cows were found slaughtered in the nearby Munda Khera village.

Ambala, October 6
Faced with a severe shortage of specialist doctors and infrastructure the civil hospital of Ambala cantonment is crying for a cure. Even as the matter has repeatedly been raised by the locals at various levels, little has changed at the hospital, which now has been reduced to a "referral centre" from where patients are referred to the PGI, Chandigarh.

The cantonment hospital, which was built as a charitable hospital by the British, had been the only lifeline for the locals. Strategically located near the NH1 on the national highway 73 which connects Ambala with Yamunanagar, the hospital is considered to be of great significance as it can provide immediate aid not only to victims of road accidents, but also other emergency cases.

However, the there is a shortage of specialist doctors, including that of a surgeon and a physician. Due to this, in cases of emergency, the other doctors working at the hospital prefer to refer the patients to the PGI, Chandigarh, as no emergency operations can be performed here.

Sources in the hospital, on the condition of anonymity, said there were 11 doctors working in the hospital, who put in their best to provide healthcare services to the patients. But as the hospital is short of specialists, the services get affected and the doctors are left with no other option but refer the patient to a better hospital where more facilities are available.

It is learnt that the hospital only has an X-Ray machine and there is no other equipment to diagnose other aliments. The hospital, built on around 3 acres of land, only has five wards out of which two have been lying closed for want of maintenance. Of the two operations theatres, only is one functional.

Meanwhile, the building plan of the hospital is also such that it affects the working of the doctors as the wards, test labs, operation theatre and blood bank are located in far corners of the hospital compound, making it a tough for the patients.

Local legislator Anil Vij, who had recently raised this issue with Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that a trauma care center had been planned at the hospital, but later the centre was built at the city hospital. He said that a building plan to add another 100 beds to the hospital had also been approved by the state government, but it existed only on paper.

He said a demand had been raised to rebuild the hospital in a planned manner, following which the director-general health had visited the hospital to take stock of the situation. But nothing concrete has been done.

It is leant that the state government had recently sanctioned Rs 72 crore for the hospital, but most of the money was spent on giving the building a fresh coat of paint, rather then adding to the facilities here.

Vij said he had even raised the matter in the state assembly, but the ground realities did not change.

Ambala, October 6
An inmate of the Central Jail here died on the way to hospital this morning. Jai Pal (66), who was sentenced to life imprisonment, was given some medicines by a jail doctor when he complained of severe chest pain last evening. The jail authorities today brought him to Civil Hospital where he was declared brought dead.

Four days ago when Jai Pal, a resident of Sonepat, complained of chest pain, the police brought him to the hospital and his handcuffs were not removed even during the treatment. He was discharged from the hospital after two days.

His handcuffs were removed after the publication of his photograph along with news in these columns. Taking note of the news item, the Deputy Commissioner of Police had stated that action would be taken against the police official if permission for handcuffing of the inmate was not taken from the court in advance.

After the post-mortem, conducted by a board of doctors, his body was handed over to son, Devender. DSP (Jail) Vishal Chibbar, who was present in the hospital, said Jai Pal was not well for the past several days. He was given all possible treatment, he added.

Kurukshetra, October 6
Superintendent of Police Rakesh Kumar Arya called upon representatives of the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRI) to make villages of the district crime free by joining hands with the police.

Addressing members of the PRIs at a function here yesterday, Arya said the police would appreciate assistance of panchayats for speedy information network. “In the changing scenario, criminals use modern techniques to commit crime and for curbing their anti-social activities, the police administration needs common man’s cooperation. PRIs can play an important role in this direction,” he added. He alerted the panchayats to be more careful about anti-social elements of their villages.

About the challenges of modern social values, the SP said parents of young girls and boys should be more conscious about the day-to-day activities of their wards to avoid any type of complications and incidents.

He said panchayats should keep extra watch and vigil on the behavior and actions of any suspicious persons residing in the villages.

Arya said the police was always at the disposal of public to solve their problems and grievances and it would be better to have friendly and mutual understanding between public and the police for keeping trust and faith for the common cause.

During interaction, Kalheri sarpanch Kabul Singh, Phul Singh of Dyalpur and Pratapgarh sarpanch Dharmpal alleged that liquor venders, besides opening their vends, had opened illegal retail outlets either near schools or along the main roads and these should be closed. Arya said a stern action would be initiated against such liquor venders. 

Sirsa, October 6
Students of Chaudhary Devi Lal Memorial Government Engineering College (CDLMGEC) at Panniwala Mota in the district, who were on strikes and fasts less than a fortnight ago, cleaned the entire college campus during a sanitation drive launched today.

Deputy Commissioner Dr J Ganesan, who was given the additional charge of director-cum-principal of the CDLMGEC on September 25 after the government removed Devender Singh Mor from his post, has been able to channelise the energy of the students towards positive works. More than 1,000 students wearing robes of their respective "houses" participated in the sanitation drive that began early in the morning.

Ganesan, who inaugurated the event, himself participated in the cleanliness drive along with faculty members of the college. He said cultural and sports activities would be resumed now. The college, which was in news for all wrong reasons in the past some years, witnessed an unprecedented strike by the students for removal of its director-cum-principal Devender Singh Mor in September this year.

Development activities in the college had come to a standstill and despite sufficient funding from the state government, several important projects, including the construction of a library hall and a computer hall for which Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had laid the foundation stone in April 2010, were hanging fire.

Similarly, all extracurricular and co-curricular activities in the college were suspended for long. 

Sonepat, October 6
A 23-year-old wrestler of Purkhas village was killed allegedly by another youth of the village. Police said the body of Ajit with deep head injuries was found lying near a wrestling ring on the outskirts of the village.

On the complaint of victim’s brother, Ashok, a case has been registered against Bhagat Singh and others at the Gannaur police station. An old enmity was stated to be the reason behind the murder.

The police said like other days, Ajit had gone from his house to the wrestling ring for routine practice in the morning around 4 am today. After sometimes, his body was found lying near the wrestling ring by some villagers.

After receiving information, the police reached the spot and took the body to civil hospital for post-mortem examination. No one has been arrested so far.